As much as we tried to stay optimistic about Amy Winehouse, it appears that she’s worse off than ever. The “skin infection” on her face no longer bears the one large roundish mark but is instead replaced with dozens of spots and scabs, including a nasty one near her lip. Amy also bears fresh cuts on her arms, leading most people to believe that she’s back to cutting again. The scabs on her face look like she’s been picking at them, and almost look worse for the concealer she’s used to try to mask them. Supposedly she’s still suffering from impetigo, though a lot of people think her terrible skin is a result of copious amounts of drug use.

After a harrowing visit to her husband in prison, no one would expect Amy Winehouse to be looking her best. But even by her own standards, the award-winning singer appeared to be in particularly desperate shape. Heavy make-up failed to conceal the spots and scabs on her wrinkled cheeks, chin and nose. There were also angry red welts on her arms, leading to fears that she has started self-harming again.

Miss Winehouse’s spokesman has insisted she is suffering from the bacterial skin infection impetigo - which is highly contagious and can develop by repetitive scratching of a sore. He said the 24-year-old has been put on a course of antibiotics to clear it up. But friends fear the scabs on her face are a sign that her drinking and drug taking is once again spiralling out of control. Her love of junk food has also not helped the condition of her skin. She was pictured emerging from a fast-food outlet with fish and chips and a bottle of Lucozade. A source said: “Her friends are worried these sores have been caused by an excessive use of crack cocaine, which can cause these kind of blemishes.” Pete Doherty used to have similar sores under his nose.

[From the Daily Mail]

When I was in London for six weeks, I found it nearly impossible to get a hold of any fruits or vegetables in restaurants. With the exception of ridiculous amounts of baked potatoes of course. But Amy Winehouse not eating a lot of fresh food doesn’t really come as a major surprise to me. The Daily Mail goes on to talk to a dermatologist who points out that whatever is going on inside the body shows on the skin. Any kind of imbalance – and certainly drug use – could show up there. It’s hard not to wonder how Amy can look in the mirror every morning and think her life is going well. She looks like she’s falling apart, and any health she gained during her brief trip to rehab seems to have left her a long time ago.

Here’s Amy stopping at a kebab shop after visiting her husband Blake in prison. Images thanks to WENN.

An actual photo of Steve-O drinking as a toddler, found on his myspace

Steve-O, the Jackass star who recently checked into rehab for his drug and alcohol issues, has posted a goodbye letter to drugs and alcohol on his official blog. Steve-O addresses his mother’s alcoholism, and the fact he was given the alcohol as a child, which was not uncommon, it was often used to make babies sleep. Don’t try this!

On his childhood exposure to alcohol:

Mom was very alcoholic, and I feel that is a gross understatement. I’d love to say that I first took to alcohol out of affection for my mother (there was never any shortage of that for me) but I think the truth is that I was always powerless over it. I know I was always powerless over alcoholism, because it had such a grip on Mom’s adulthood and my childhood, and I never chose to fight it. Until now. Dad was a corporate executive whose job required the family to travel the world fairly extensively and both Mom and Dad were quite self conscious of how they were perceived by others. We were frequently on airplanes and, before Mom and Dad would find themselves in the embarrassing position of being caught by other passengers with a crying baby, I was fed alcohol.

[From Steve-O's myspace]

Steve-O also talks about his attempts to kick his vices, his abusive behavior towards loved ones, his belief in a higher power to help him (this is a very large part of most rehab programs), and the affect his addictions have had on his work, finances and personal life. He ends the blog with this statement.

A GOODBYE LETTER TO MY DRUGS OF CHOICE
At this point,
All you fucking things are good for is dying. I’m not ready to die. I’m ready to live. I’m ready to breathe (properly, even). I’m ready to fall in love. I’m ready to become ready to start a family. I’m ready to be happy, fulfilled and meaningful. Maybe I’ll see you fukkers if and/or when I’m ready to die.

[From Steve-O's myspace]

I really appreciate how hard it can be to kick an addiction after reading this letter. I hope you can get past your addictions Steve-O. It can take a lot work and many attempts to get beyond a drug and alcohol dependency.

Note by Celebitchy: I’ve been keeping up with Steve O’s blog and he seems like he’s coming to terms with his issues and trying to make sense of his life so far. He also comes off as a lot smarter and self aware than you might assume. We wish him the best.

These photos are from Steve-O’s myspace of him as a baby and a kid.

The inquest into the death of Anna Nicole Smith’s son Daniel is going on in the Bahamas. It’s hard to tell who is the bigger surviving famewhore: Larry Birkhead or Howard K. Stern. Both hangers-on have been called to testify in the investigation and give two very different accounts of Daniel. Larry Birkhead claims that Daniel often dipped into his mother’s formidable stash of prescription drugs, and that Anna herself gave Daniel the drug ecstasy on occasion. Stern, however, says that Daniel was “not that kind of kid.” When Stern was grilled about his motives for taking photographs of Daniel’s dead body, he explained that he wasn’t looking to make money off the photos, but instead took them for Anna’s sake, because she was not able to accept that her son was really gone.

Larry Birkhead said he knew Daniel Smith was sneaking his mom’s methadone and that Anna Nicole Smith gave him Ecstasy to take at home.

Meanwhile, Howard K. Stern was saying, “Huh?”…

“I didn’t believe Daniel died of a drug overdose at all,” Stern said. “Even after the toxicology report came back, I thought that was some kind of setup or something. He wasn’t that kind of kid.”

Smith was found to have died of a toxic combination of methadone, antidepressants and sleeping pills. His passing was originally deemed “suspicious” by the coroner who performed his autopsy. The inquest, which finally got under way in November after a year of postponements, was held to formally determine what killed Daniel and whether any criminal charges should be filed.

The magistrate will likely hand the case over to the seven-member jury on Thursday…

“Daniel said to me, ‘I don’t know why I’m so tired,’ ” Stern testified. “I didn’t think anything of it. I wish I had.”

Stern copped to taking a picture of Daniel’s body after he died, but adamantly denied his intention was to profit from the morbid shot, as the son-in-law of one of Smith’s exes testified earlier.

Smith, who was beside herself with grief and was having trouble accepting Daniel was really dead, requested he take the picture, Stern said. “I did that for her, and I would do it again.”

[From E!Online]

I think this inquest is a giant waste of time. Nobody in this case is going to tell the truth, and the one person who really wanted to know what happened to Daniel– his mother– is dead. As for all the new details about Anna and her son’s drug use, it’s sad, but at this point, it’s nobody’s business. They’re both dead; and nothing is going to be gained by further dragging them through the mud. It just seems like more of an excuse for Larry Birkhead and Howard Stern to be on camera.

Note by Celebitchy: I think there was some funny business in Daniel’s death and would like to see Howard K Stern answer some tough questions about it. It seems suspicious to me that Birkhead is saying Daniel pilfered Anna’s drugs while Stern is saying the opposite, like they planned it together to make it seem believable. The coroner found that Daniel injested so much methadone that he must have be trying to kill himself. Why would he do that when his baby sister was just born? It doesn’t make sense.

Howard K Stern and Larry Birkhead are shown below on April 10, 2007 after a paternity hearing that announced that Birkhead was Dannielynn’s father.

When Keith Richards gives you life advice, you listen. Why? Because he’s freaking Keith Richards. Stories about him are legendary. There is no way to ascertain the difference between truth and legend with this man – but I would wager 98% of what you hear about him is the truth. This was the man who was knocked unconscious – resulting in a pretty serious head injury – falling out of a coconut tree. And this was fairly recent, not during the Rolling Stone’s crazy glory days. Keith and Stones’ singer Mick Jagger were interviewed by the Mail, and Keith told them Amy Winehouse was the only singer he finds worth mentioning - but that she’ll be dead soon if she doesn’t change her ways.

Rolling Stone Keith Richards has revealed the only modern pop star he rates is troubled Amy Winehouse. But the guitarist - famous for his huge consumption of illegal drugs - warned that Amy, who was pictured recently smoking crack, “wouldn’t be around for long” unless she cleaned up her act. The Stones’ lead singer Mick Jagger also said Winehouse’s music would suffer because of the time she spent dealing with the authorities over drugs.

Asked which modern artists he rated, he said: “There’s only one person. That girl Amy [Winehouse]. Mind you, that girl isn’t going to be around long unless she sorts herself out pretty quick. Amy’s got to get smart.” Richards, 64, said he did not expect her to listen. He said: “I’m not a preacher. But I’ve been there and you have to pass it on.”

Jagger, also 64, spoke of the band’s trouble with the police over drugs in the Seventies. He said: “It completely took over our lives creatively and we couldn’t do this and couldn’t do that. You had to spend all your time trying to deal with the police. The same thing has happened to Amy Winehouse.”

[From The Daily Mail]

Is this a case of the pot calling the kettle black, or is it more like, “Hey, when even Keith Richards is telling you to lay off, it’s probably something you should consider?” Probably a little of each. If nothing else, Keith is a great cautionary tale. Look at that man’s face. Tell me he doesn’t look 92, and I’ll tell you that you’re a damn liar. The man battled a coconut for God’s sakes. I realized I already mentioned that, but I’m a little hung up on it. It’s not your average occurrence. If nothing else, I’d guess that Keith Richards and Mick Jagger are probably musicians Amy respects. Maybe their advice will merit a bit of consideration for that reason.

I just can’t decide if Amy Winehouse’s life is getting much better, much worse, or staying about the same. And I feel that it’s really important for me to come to some sort of conclusion, so Amy can stop calling me every five minutes, anxiously awaiting my opinions about her life. The girl lives and dies by my thoughts, I swear. It’s a lot of responsibility to have on my shoulders, but I deal. I deal. Amy was seen out and about on the town last night with a very handsome, clean-cut, normal seeming young man, singer Tyler James. Who I first misread as my all time musical hero James Taylor, but luckily that’s not who she’s hanging out with.

Amy Winehouse stepped out with a clean-cut young man in London last night, raising hopes that she might yet dump her ‘Blake incarcerated’ and in turn increase the chances of kicking her drug habit. Amy was seen leaving her Camden home last night with clean-cut singer Tyler James to meet up with her celebrity pals at St Martin’s Lane hotel nightclub Bungalow 8. However, despite his presence the singer appears to be making a return to the increasingly chaotic lifestyle she led before checking into rehab for just two weeks.

It adds worrying credence to reports that she has lapsed back into her previous drug-fuelled lifestyle. After leaving the club, Amy and her pals drove back to her north London home and stopped off at the newsagents at after 4am for her usual supply of sweets and munchies.

[From the Daily Mail]

The Mail goes on to make my decision for me, letting us know that Amy has pretty much fallen off the wagon, and will likely be ordered back into rehab by her record company. Which is probably a pretty good plan, since this time didn’t seem to take. I realize she’s got to want to do it, but I really don’t see that happening. I think the best anyone can hope for is minimizing the amount of drugs she’s on at any given moment. The Mail also cites a doctor who says Amy’s much talked about skin lesion/weird thing doesn’t look like impetigo as her agent claims, but appears to be a bruise. The doctor points out that could be an intentional or accidental injury, and that it’s certainly possible Amy fell in some sort of drug-induced… dizziness. Yesterday the internet was flying with the rumor that Amy had actually put a cigarette out on her cheek, which resulted in the bruise. Everything is just speculation, yet very little seems out of the realm of possibility. Still, if absolutely nothing else, the more time Amy spends with men that are not her husband, the better. That can only be a step up. Well, with the exception of Pete Doherty.

Here’s Amy Winehouse out with Tyler James… and making the most frightening face I’ve seen since Britney Spears. Images thanks to Splash.

‘Jackass’ star Steve O, who is best known for stapling his own scrotum to his leg, has been busted for drugs again. The idiot star of Jackass, who is often seen at events smoking pot out of a homemade tin can bong on the red carpet, was picked up this morning after complaints that he was vandalizing his own apartment. When police investigated the complaint– presto! Steve O was found to have drugs on his person. Quelle surprise!

Steve-O is cooling his heels in jail.

The Jackass actor was arrested on drug charges, an LAPD spokesperson confirms to Usmagazine.com.

Officers were first called the scene at 5 a.m. this morning after hearing Steve-O was vandalizing the walls of his apartment.

“It appears there were holes in the common wall adjacent to a neighbor,” the spokesperson tells Us.

Drugs were found on the MTV star after police arrived at the scene.

TMZ.com, which first reported the arrest, says Steve-O was held in a citizen’s arrest. The LAPD spokesperson can’t confirm.

The LAPD spokesperson says Steve-O (real name: Stephen Glover) is still at LAPD’s Hollywood station and that bail has not yet been set.

In May 2003, the daredevil actor was jailed for five days in Sweden after joking about smuggling drugs in the country. Two months later, Steve-O was charged with disorderly conduct at a Lollapalooza concert in Pennsylvania.

[From Us Weekly]

This guy is a total loser and I hope they throw the book at him. He’s 34 years old and acts like he’s 16 and mentally handicapped, and somehow continues to get away with it. In addition to the drug arrests, he’s also been arrested in the past for his frequent love of urinating in public. He’s absolutely disgusting and I can’t think of a better place for him to be than in a jail cell.

Note by Celebitchy: I saw this guy’s apartment on Cribs and it sounds like he hasn’t moved since then. I was kind of amazed that he was still living like a college student in a generic-looking apartment because I thought he was making bank on Jackass. It must be so annoying must to have to live next to him.

Thank goodness Scientology is around to cure all of society’s ills. Who needs a professional psychologist or addiction medicine expert to help you battle your increasingly debilitating drug addictions when Xenu can jiggle your brain juices around and spruce you right up? Jeff Conaway, star of such hits as “Grease,” “Taxi,” and more recently “Celebrity Rehab” has had quite the challenge sobering up on the reality show. In fact it’s been downright painful to watch him, and has served as a pretty brutal reminder why it’s a good idea to avoid drugs all together. Jeff was wheelchair-bound for much of the show, and suffered horrible convulsions. Most of his speech had to be subtitled for viewers, and it was nearly incomprehensible. He had to be admitted to the hospital for detox almost immediately. Unfortunately Jeff didn’t complete the program, and left after the seventh episode. Over the years he’s been a frequent patient of Dr. Drew Pinsky’s, the host of “Celebrity Rehab.” But apparently all Jeff really needed was a little help from Xenu’s brain-reading machines, because he claims Scientology has finally cured him.

Inside Edition sat down for an exclusive interview with former Taxi star Jeff Conaway, who says he has finally kicked his drug habit by practicing Scientology. According to Conaway, “I’ve been doing Scientology…my doctor was like, Holy cow, he says whatever you’ve been doing keep doing it because it’s really working.”

Conaway says his former Grease co-star John Travolta introduced him to the controversial religion. “John and I stayed friends but he couldn’t watch me going down the tubes…he gave me a whole library of Scientology books and he’s given me an auditor who comes almost every day.”

Conaway, who lost over 40 pounds while participating in VH1’s Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, tells Inside Edition he can’t wait to get back in front of the camera. “I’m going to be strong and healthy and totally together. I’ve got to get ready for my Academy Award.”

[From Inside Edition]

Something tells me the doctor Conaway is referencing is not the good Dr. Drew – who I will admit I have a daddy-issue-based crush on, but I’m sure would spit in the face of Scientology regardless. It’s great that Conaway’s talking positively and expecting big things of himself, a la Academy Awards. But I seriously doubt something as illegitimate as Narconon (Scientology’s anti-drug program, which is named to make it sound legitimate – note that it’s “onon” not “anon” as in all the Alcoholics Anonymous-based programs) magically cured all of Conaway’s many complex addictions. The man was like a walking anti drug ad. Mostly because he literally couldn’t even walk. They should show clips of him to kids in the DARE program. As much as I’d champion anything that helps someone battle such life-destroying demons, let’s not be fooled into thinking drinking some barely water and popping some vitamins has cured the poor guy. Clearly he’s desperate for some kind of change, and that’s great. But it means it’s time to call up a good rehab facility, not John Travolta and Kirstie Alley.

Here is Jeff Conaway and his girlfriend Vikki Lizzi at the 18th Annual Night of 100 Stars Gala Viewing Party at the Beverly Hills Hotel on February 24th. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Life seemed to be looking up for Amy Winehouse for a while, but now it’s a bit hard to tell. The singer has managed to get her Norwegian drug hearing delayed. Norwegian law requires that all parties in the crime show up, and as Amy’s husband Blake Fielder-Civil is currently incarcerated in the U.K., he cannot get himself to Norway. The couple are trying to reverse their guilty plea on pot possessions charges, claiming that they didn’t know that paying the fine was an admission of guilt. To be fair, the way it’s phrased in the press makes it sound like they thought the fee was bail money, not a fine for a crime.

Winehouse and her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, were held overnight in Bergen, Norway on charges of possessing about a quarter-ounce of marijuana. They were released the following morning after each paying fines of $715.

Winehouse later appealed the fine, claiming she was unaware that handing over the cash was tantamount to pleading guilty to the pot charge and alleging that Norwegian police mishandled the case by failing to provide an English translator.

A drug charge on her record could create problems for the singer when it comes to obtaining the proper visas to perform in the United States and other parts of the world.

However, Bergen Police Attorney Rudolf Christoffersen maintained at the time that the singer was only questioned by an English-speaking officer who explained in detail the charges and consequences of paying the fine.

[From E! News]

I’m surprised that not much has been made of Amy’s drug using in the U.K. You’d think that would be her bigger problem, versus some pot. But any type of drug conviction is a problem for Winehouse, Visa-wise. And the U.K. hasn’t given her much of a problem over her rampant (and videotaped) drug use there. While Amy did check into rehab shortly after the aforementioned tape was leaked, she got out pretty quickly. Since then, she’s unfortunately been seen holding a bottle of beer, and appears to be back to engaging in self-harm, showing many fresh cuts on her arm last week.

The Norwegian hearing, which had been scheduled for Friday, has been postponed. But classy Blake will still be showing up in court that day anyway – in Snaresbrook Crown Court in London. There he will have to officially enter his plea on a witness tampering charge in his assault trial. This pair just get classier and classier. Obviously Amy still has a lot of issues to deal with – but if she’s trying to clear up her drug charge, that likely means that she wants to be able to get a visa so she can tour. Hopefully she continues looking to the future and cleans up her act.

Here’s Amy leaving her Camden home in London on Monday. Images thanks to Splash.

I must preface this article by assuring you that the only reason I know the name Aaron Carter is because I have a teenaged daughter. Back in the late ’90s-early 2000’s, Aaron was a fresh-faced, gender-neutral looking preteen who pretended to rap and made elementary girls squeal with such profound hits as “Aaron’s Party.” Yeah, this kid was so original, he had his own name in his songs. You may know him now as the pizza-faced kid brother to Backstreet Boy Nick Carter. The brothers, along with their sister and mom, had a horrible reality show for about five minutes on the E! channel that made them look even more dysfunctional than the Osbournes. Anyway, Aaron was pulled over for speeding in Texas and the cops found a little more than they bargained for during this routine traffic stop.

Nick Carter’s baby bro, Aaron, was busted earlier today in Kimble County, Texas with at least two ounces of marijuana!

TMZ has confirmed Aaron was pulled over on I-10 earlier today for speeding — and when authorities decided to search his vehicle, they found his fat stash inside!

Aaron, 20, is currently in jail until tomorrow, when a judge will be present for his arraignment.

[From TMZ]

Is that a lot of marijuana? I have no idea about these things. No word on whether or not Aaron was under the influence while driving. There’s a lesson here, kids: Leave your stash at home!

Note by Celebitchy: You have a right to refuse police searches of your vehicle. You can say “I don’t consent to any searches, officer.” Cops will often say things offhand like “We’re just going to look in your car now, ok?” and it’s up to you to tell them that you don’t consent. Refusal to search doesn’t give an officer any right to detain or search your car. Here is a video on how to refuse a car search in the US. Here’s a website with information on how you can legally avoid searches by police officers in different situations.

We are not advocating drug use, just informing you of your rights. That said, 2 ounces sounds like a lot of pot. According to the Urban Dictionary, it has a street value of around $600.

Aaron Carter is shown at his birthday party on 12/15/06, thanks to PRPhotos.

Blake and Amy in August of last year
That master of junkie manipulation, Blake Fielder-Civil, is at it again. Seems like every time his wife, Amy Winehouse, starts to get her life together again, he pulls a stunt from his cell in Pentonville prison in London– most likely, to get Amy to come running. If you recall, so far Blake has attempted suicide, sent his own mother running to the tabloids to spread rumors about Amy, wrote her a two-page love letter begging her not to leave him, and now there are new reports that Civil overdosed on heroin in his cell over the weekend.

Blake Fielder-Civil was rushed to the jail’s hospital block when he collapsed in agony after taking what he thought was heroin.

Guards found the 35-year-old writhing in pain and vomiting violently in a cell.

They instantly set off alarms and activated emergency procedures to save his life.

A probe was launched and prison officers found he had taken a drug believed to be heroin, mixed with a toxic substance.

A jail source said: “This was a close call, but he might not be so lucky next time.

[From The Daily News]

This is the third time that Civil has been found with drugs in his cell since being incarcerated. At first, it was rumored that Amy herself was slipping him drugs, but since the singer is searched each time she visits, that theory was dismissed. This time around, officials say that Civil got the heroin from another inmate. Obviously, getting sober is not part of his agenda.

It seems like Civil has really stepped up his manipulation game since Amy went to rehab, and is now spending time with another man named Blake, rumored to be her new sober companion. Too bad for Civil that since he’s incarcerated, his options for acting out to get her attention are limited to overdoses and suicide attempts. Hopefully Amy will tire of his antics sooner rather than later, and keep on track with her sobriety.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Blake Fielder Civil is shown below pre-prison on 11/7/07. He is shown out with Amy in August in the header image. Thanks to WENN.