David Beckham posed as a Target employee testing out his cologne on unsuspecting shoppers during a bit shown on and arranged by the Ellen show. Off camera, Ellen directed David on what to say to the ladies who inevitably started surrounding him. He sprayed the cologne on his leg and had them sniff his knee. He told them his name was Ricky and that he was Australian. When one lady said he sounded like David Beckham, looked like him and must be him he answered “I wish. I’m not David Beckham, stop spreading rumors.”
Ellen got a little too bossy with David, but the result was funny. There were about 10 women clustered around him when Ellen had him call out to a random woman with a shopping cart who didn’t want to have anything to do with him. (That’s at 2:30) He started singing “if you stink, come and buy cologne,” although he first said “if you think,” because he didn’t understand what Ellen was telling him. Ellen made him spray everyone indiscriminately and she told him to tell one guy to steal the cologne. It got kind of dumb at the end but David was game for it.
I hate cologne and perfumes and I would have avoided this dude. Beckham really looked like a dorky sales guy acting crazy. I think it was the hat and the glasses that helped disguise his hotness. Plus let’s face it, even if a guy had Beckham’s body, face and accent, if he worked at Target and acted like that would you even give him the time of day?
Beckham is shown in July and August. Credit: WENN.com
Ashton Kutcher was on Ellen yesterday to promote Two and a Half Men, which premieres next Monday on CBS. I watched (scrolled through) the whole CBS fall preview show online to see if there were any clips from the upcoming season, but all they had were some promo videos that Ashton had recorded with the other two lead actors. (That’s at about 7:30 into this video.) They’re trying to keep the show under wraps, and are using shirtless Ashton to promote it.
In a promotional clip for his Ellen appearance (video above), Ashton stripped down to supposedly nothing and quipped that he was “going to do everything nude from now on” since the ad for Two and a Half Men, “Everything will be Revealed,” was supposedly getting a lot of attention. We couldn’t tell if Ashton was really showing his bits, since they were heavily pixelated. I’m sure he had on some flesh-toned underwear. The entire bit was kind of lame and underwhelming, and it made me grateful that I didn’t have to see Ashton’s junk. He’s superficially attractive, but the guy does not do it for me at all.
I was able to watch some clips from this interview online (they’re out of order, but you can see them here) The best part was when Ellen gave Ashton a candy-covered negligee and thong to give Demi for their sixth anniversary. (The sixth anniversary present is supposed to be candy.) Ashton tried to put them on and then started eating off the bust of the lingerie. He’s a goofball, and he’s the funniest when he’s acting like one and not trying to play it straight. As for the character and the plotline that he’ll be playing on Two and a Half Men, he was really vague and said he couldn’t reveal much.
“I think that there’s a lot of interest in what’s going to happen. I think that in a day and age when everything [is] shared all over the place all of the time, I think sometimes it’s really good to try and keep it a secret.
“I think there was a lot of drama about what was going to happen with Charlie and how they were going to introduce this new character. I can say that I’m playing an original character on the show. I’m not playing Charlie Harper… I think it’s been revealed that I am a billionaire Internet investor guy, but that’s all I can really say.”
TMZ pretty much already revealed how Charlie’s character is going to bite it, and we’ve heard that there’s a funeral for him and everything. It’s not like the news has been kept under wraps this whole time.
Ashton did bring a clip to show on Ellen, that’s at 5:00 into this video, but all you see is his naked back at the refrigerator and then he turns around and introduces himself as “Waldo.”
Then he joked that he’ll be nude a lot on the show.
“It feels so nice and breezy. I can’t be nude at my house, because my stepdaughters are there. So it’s like the only place I can be nude is at work and it’s great.”
They’re doing whatever they can to promote this show. I get it, and we’re repeating it so it’s working. I’ll watch the first episode, but if it’s the same as it was before it’s not like I’ll be watching it every week. It just was so hackneyed. I guess that’s perfect for Ashton.
Oh and Demi Moore, Ashton’s wife, recently tweeted a photo of her bare back. It may have been a homage to Ashton’s appearance on Two and a Half Men, or she may have been desperate for some attention and positive affirmation.
Christina Aguilera has that new singing competition reality show The Voice premiering tonight, and I’m sort-of looking forward to seeing it. The concept of a blind audition is interesting, and if they try to make it even somewhat more fast-paced that neverending Idol it could be fun. Plus, it’s hard to find shows I can watch with my six year-old that aren’t just for kids. I think that explains the popularity of Dancing With The Stars more than anything else.
Anyway as part of her new gig Christina has to talk about the fact that she’s been too drunk on several occasions to remember the words to the National Anthem, to walk properly, or to remember where she lives. She’s previously called her very public issues with drunkenness “hiccups” and explained that she just went through “a really hard divorce.” In an appearance on the Ellen show today, Christina expands on that theme. She doesn’t say that there’s no excuse for forgetting the lyrics during the most important US sporting event of the year to a song that celebrates national pride, she doesn’t say she’s sorry and embarrassed, she just offers a bunch of excuses and justifications as is typical for her.
Ellen: I saw you sing (at the Super Bowl)
Christina: That’s right, I did sing at the Super bowl.
Ellen: I saw it and didn’t see anything. Then it was this huge thing…then I felt stupid that maybe I didn’t know the lyrics.
Christina: I had been singing that song my entire life. I was the youngest anthem singer in my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. I sang for the “Steelers” when I was this big (as a child.)
Ellen: How old were you?
Christina: I think 7 or 8 years old. I would sing for them. I think had a moment where I was at the “Super bowl” at 30 years old. I took in the moment a little bit too much. Shoot me for appreciating the moment but here I am at the “Super bowl”…singing for a team and in front of the world. And remembering what it was like to be that young and look where I made it now. And then it was like, oh. That night I knew, I just made myself a Trivial Pursuit question…In 2011 what female singer, ya know, flubbed the lyrics. It’s just insane. But I have a really good laugh about it and you get over things. You get back up again and you just prove to yourself and to everyone you that much stronger.
It’s all about Christina and how she feels and how she’s been labeled and is recovering from that after screwing up. We’re all judging her (read this earlier interview, she said people were judging) for being overwhelmed with national pride (in the form of some Jack Daniels) when she was just trying to do her job that she gets paid seven figures for. Well now Christina has another job to laugh about if (when) she shows up too blitzed to do it properly.
Ryan Phillippe appears on Ellen today to promote The Lincoln Lawyer with Matthew McConaughey, which is out next Friday. I think he plays some kind of sociopath to McConaughey’s grifter lawyer with a heart of gold. The trailer makes it look cheesy, but it could do well at the box office.
In today’s interview, Ellen asks Ryan about his lovelife and he’s noncommittal as usual. He says he’s dating, but it’s not like he’s going to mention Amanda Seyfried by name or say that he has a girlfriend. He also tells a very funny story about how his mom regularly reads the blogs and then calls him up and asks him why people call him a tool. His mom also had no clue what DILF meant and thought it was an insult!
On his love life
Ryan: I’m dating. Not nearly as veracious as the magazines like to make out. I am dating. Boos from audience
Ellen: Don’t give up. He’s dating. He’s not in a relationship. You can still snatch him away. What kind of qualities are you looking for in a woman?
Ryan: Sense of humor. I like a strong woman. I have three sisters and I have a daughter and I like individuality. I like a woman who’s self possessed. Who knows who she is. Who knows what she wants….
On his mom reading the blogs
Ellen: Do your parents pay attention to these things and call you up and say, “Are you dating these women?”
Ryan: They pay way too much attention. My mother, who recently had surgery, she’s not in the best of health. She’s recovering. She spends all day in front of the computer. Every other day or so, I’ll see her name come up on the caller ID and pre-emptily open my laptop knowing she’s going to want to address whatever rumor she has read recently. She also gets really, really upset. You know, sometimes they write some pretty negative stuff about you or in the comments they’ll say some mean things. She doesn’t like that. She’s always like, “Ryan, why are they calling you a tool? Why do they think you’re a jerk?” I’m like, “Ma, they say that about everybody!”
On people calling him a DILF
Ryan: And then she took particular umbrage with this. She said, “I always read in the comments that they call you a D.I.L.F.” She goes, “I don’t like that. I don’t know what that means but I don’t like. What is that Ryan?” And I go, “Well, actually Mom, that means I am a dad that they’d like to have sex with.” And then I hear my dad in the background, “Susan, did he tell you what a D.I.L.F is?” Laughs And she’s like, “Yes, it means they want to have sex with him.” Laughs
Ellen: So now she’s not so upset with that one anymore.
Ryan: I think she’s embraced D.I.L.F. [Laughs]
That was really cute and you can tell he cares about his mom and is trying to make sure she’s ok. Ryan was raised in Delaware and his mom ran a day care while his dad worked at DuPont. From what I can tell he had a working class upbringing.
People call Ryan a tool because he cheated on his then-wife, Reese Witherspoon, then gave several “poor me” interviews afterwards. (He continues to give self-pityinginterviews to this day.) His behavior wasn’t extreme given some of the celebrity cheating stories since, but he definitely came out the bad guy. He never trash talked Reese however and has only shown her respect in his interviews and his statements about her.
Ryan proceeded to treat his jump off, Abbie Cornish, the same way he treated Reese. From most accounts he strung Abbie along and cheated on her too. (And he cheated on the next one we barely heard about.) Now he’s seeing Amanda Seyfried and he’s trying to keep it casual so he can keep his options open. He’s 36 and he spent his younger years, from 25 to 33, married with children. It makes sense that he wanted out of his marriage and is a commitment phobe, but he’s given us plenty of other reasons to call him a douche. I do give him credit for handling the gossip with humor and being nonchalant about it in this interview. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t get to him though. Maybe his mom has helped him realize the absurdity of some of it.
Ryan is shown at a screening of The Lincoln Lawyer last night. Credit: WENN. Other photo credit Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.
When I heard that Sister Wives was returning this Sunday I practically squealed. I know the concept of the show bugs a lot of people, but it’s fascinating to watch. The Brown family features patriarch Kody, 41, his four wives, his 13 biological children and 3 stepchildren from his newest marriage to his youngest wife, Robyn, 31. The last we heard of this family they were relocating from Lehi, Utah to Nevada, perhaps due to the fact that they’re under investigation in Utah for felony bigamy as the result of going public.
Kody and his wives make an appearance on Ellen today, and Ellen asks Kody if he ever gets his wives names mixed up. He admits that now that he’s added Robyn to the mix, he does. He was with his first three wives for 16 years before “marrying” Robyn, and she’s caused quite a bit of jealousy and hurt feelings among the other women despite her desire to fit in. It’s got to be worse if he’s calling the other women “Robyn.”
The Brown family also tells Ellen about making ends meet with 16 kids. Two out of three of the original wives worked out of the home, although first wife Meri lost her job in the mental health field after the reality show exposed her as a polygamist. Kody is in advertising sales. It’s unknown what they’re doing for work now that they’ve moved to Nevada, although they probably have more than enough to get by on now that they’re on television. I forsee a Kate Gosselin-style diva emerging among the wives (my vote is on Robyn) with the other wives struggling to keep up, getting makeovers, new clothes and nail tips.
On making ends meet
Ellen: Now, you’re in four houses with 16 kids. That is a lot. That’s costly.
Christine: It is. We cut corners. We use coupons. We don’t own a boat.
Robyn: Hand-me-downs.
Ellen: You don’t own a boat?
Kody: Our neighbors own boats.
Janelle: We do second hand stores. It’s hand-me-downs. Our cars are old.
On getting his wives names mixed up
Ellen: So you have different nights? Is that right?
Kody: Yes, it’s a schedule and we rotate through the schedule.
Ellen: So you have to drive to different houses all the time. Do you ever wake up in the night and bump in the wall because you’re going to the bathroom in the wrong house?
Kody: Wake up, “Where am I?” Laughs
Ellen: Because that must be confusing, right?
Kody: It’s actually not. Packing to come here took me four hours. Because it’s like, “Oh, my favorite socks are at Meri’s house.” And I was packing at Janelle’s.
Ellen: So, Janelle had you last? Laughs Well, you know what I mean because you’re in somebody’s house. Do you ever say the wrong name?
Kody: You know, it’s funny, I never did until Robyn came into the family and lately I’ve been slipping up a lot.
Robyn: It’s true. He can only remember three things at once.
Why Christine wanted to be Kody’s third wife
Ellen: And you’re the third wife?
Christine: Oh my gosh yes.
Ellen: What does that mean, “I want to be the third wife?”
Christine: I don’t want a guy around all the time. I didn’t want to marry a guy by himself. It sounded like too much work.
Meri’s response to criticism
Ellen: What do you say to that [criticism of their lifestyle)?
Meri: I just feel like we're all adults. Anybody, any of us, I feel like are free to do whatever we want if it's not hurting any one else. I think we should all be free to love who we want.
That’s not true that all their cars are old. Kody drives a new two seater convertible Lexus. Maybe he thinks he’s got to keep up appearances for his job, but it’s ridiculous that a dad with 16 kids would drive a car that only fits two people. He could have opted for a sporty sedan. Then again if he was the selfless type he never would have taken on four wives and constantly pressured all of them to have his children. That was probably a motivation for marrying Robyn – he wants even more kids and the other wives are just about tapped out.
Sister Wives airs on TLC this Sunday March 13 at 9/8 central.
Here are photos of Kody with his wives and children in order from newest to oldest. The first one below, Robyn, has her children from her first marriage but the rest are all Kody’s.
Matt Damon says so many nice things about his wife of nearly six years, Luciana, that you wonder if they ever fight. Like what’s life like at the Damon mansion in Miami? When Matt isn’t on set do they play happily with their kids during the day, marveling at the cute things they do and letting nannies change diapers? Do their evenings consist of sitting down to chef prepared gourmet meals and then retiring to their huge master suite to have kinky sex? I’m sure that’s just my fantasy and that life is still a pain in the ass for super rich married people who seem to be hot for each other, but it’s probably less of a pain.
On Ellen, Damon told the story of how he met his wife in Miami where he was somewhat accidentally filming that otherwise bad career move, Stuck on You. (He never names the film, which goes to show how much he thinks of it.) He almost didn’t go out that night, but then he reluctantly went to a bar, saw his wife working there across the room and the rest is history. It’s also a nice tie-in to promote his new movie, about fated romance vs. career, The Adjustment Bureau.
On turning 40 and “the big questions that weren’t answered when I turned 30″
Well I always hoped that I would meet someone that I wanted to spend my life with and start a family with and then that happened. But before that happens, you’re going, “I wonder if I’m ever going to meet somebody.” And then I met her and everything got easy after that.
On meeting his wife at the bar where she worked
I decided to do this movie with the Farrelly brothers in 2002. I met with them and we talked about it. I made the decision to do that which was a big decision. We were supposed to shoot in Hawaii and then the movie got moved to Miami. I had never really hung out in Miami. One night in the middle of the shoot, the crew, a couple guys, said, “We’re going to get a beer somewhere.” I said, “I’m not really into it.” They said, “Come on,” and kind of dragged me along. We ended up at a bar where my wife was the bartender. I literally saw her across a crowded room, literally, and eight years and four kids later, that’s my life. I don’t know how else our paths would’ve crossed if that didn’t happen. If all those things didn’t happen.
Damon’s interview with Ellen will air today and I can’t wait to watch it! The guy always cheers me up when I see him interviewed. He has a real joy for life and he’s genuinely funny. It’s also touching to hear a celebrity gush about their partner and seem to really mean it, too. I don’t get the impression that Damon has much to hide, but he’s also one of the best actors in the world so I could be surprised. He does play “angry” exceptionally well.
Vince Vaughn was on Ellen Friday to promote his upcoming “comedy,” The Dilemma. He spoke at length about his new wife, Kyla Weber, and their newborn daughter, Locklyn, who was born in late December. Vince called his wife “the best girl in the world” and explained that she came into his life at just the right time for him to settle down. It was quite sweet actually.
Vince: Let me tell you something. I met the best girl in the world. It gives you such a great purpose in your life. If I would’ve met her, I would’ve done it a long time ago so I’m very, very happy.
Ellen: I agree with you. You need to meet that one right person.
Vince: It’s being ready for that too. And sometimes, in our industry, well, I speak for myself, maybe that’s an excuse but you don’t mature always at the same time so if I was very fortunate that when I got ready and was open to that, then that person came into my life
Ellen: So maybe if you would’ve met her earlier, then it wouldn’t have worked out. So you met her at exactly the right time.
Vince: Exactly. You have to be ready to receive that. No question.
Ellen: So you have the little baby. Were you in the delivery room when she was born?
Vince: I was.
Ellen: What’s her name?
Vince: Her name is Locklynn.
Ellen: We should start calling her by her name and not “the baby.”
Vince: She’ll have to learn. If I just call her “Baby” then she’ll love the movie “Dirty Dancing” but she won’t know her proper name. No one puts her in a corner. Laughs
It’s so nice when a celebrity reveals how special and meaningful their partner is to them, especially when it’s unexpected.
Showbiz Spy has more from Vince about the birth of his daughter, and he said that he was crying and was an “emotional wreck.” In in earlier interview, Vince enthused about the first time he went to a pediatrician appointment with his wife and their daughter, saying that they were “going to an appointment as a family. It’s just a great feeling.”
I never thought we’d hear such personal details from Vaughn, because he just doesn’t seem the type to share that sort of thing. It’s clear that marriage and fatherhood have changed him – for now at least. Is it super bitchy to say that it will get old soon enough?
Whenever Jenny McCarthy gets a new boyfriend, it seems the press hears about it. She was with Jim Carrey for years, and then dated some famewhore bodybuilder guy, right around the time her new book came out. She dumped the bodybuilder in December and found a new guy just in time to kiss her at midnight during her gig hosting New Year’s Rocking eve. Jenny may roll these guys out to the press after three dates, but she told Ellen Degeneres that she doesn’t introduce any boyfriends to her son Evan, 7, until after she’s dated them for six months. Good for her. Jenny also explained that she met her new boyfriend on a blind date that her sister set up for her, and that she went through a few duds before she found him.
Ellen: Now, how long have you been seeing Paul?
Jenny: For like, 5 weeks, I think it’s been.
Ellen: What do you mean, “I think?” At that point, you know exactly how many days.
Jenny: Okay, it’s like 36 days and two hours but I decided to import this time because I wasn’t doing a very good job with LA guys. These LA dudes had more make up in
their purse than me. They’d literally pull out their knapsack of concealers and I’m like, it’s time to look outside of LA. I found a boy. I went on some blind dates. He was my 5th blind date.
Ellen: Who set you up on blind dates?
Jenny: I told everyone I know, “Please, I can’t pick them. As a friend, find me a man.” So the first blind dates were these really bizarre dudes that were like, “Do you know Sharon Stone?” And I’m sitting on a date going, “Well, I know of her. I’ve seen her in movies.” “Well, you think you can get an autograph?” I’m like, “Oh my god.”
Ellen: What kind of friend set you up with that guy?
Jenny: Not a very good one. So my sister was the one who turned me on to Paul who’s a sports agent and lives in Boston. His accent is so strong it’s like Good Will Hunting strong that I really can’t understand anything he says to me. He could’ve proposed to me and I could’ve said yes by now and I have no idea. And I’m really happy.
Ellen: So he lives in Boston so you went on a date here or there? He came here?
Jenny: No, we met up in New York. We had a blind date there. You know that movie, “Up in The Air?”
Ellen: That’s what’s happening?
Jenny: We’ve been meeting up in the air in both cities and trying to make it work.
Ellen: So you’re very happy it seems.
Jenny: I am. I feel content. Everybody’s asking me the magic question, “Has he met [son] Evan?” Evan is, by the way, on the strictest VIP meet and greet which is like 6 months. I don’t have guys meeting him on a cycle. That boy is very important to me.
Ellen: Good, because that would be very confusing for him.
Jenny: It would be.
[From The Ellen Degeneres show, received via e-mail]
That’s great that Jenny makes sure a relationship is stable before bringing the new guy around her son. I wonder, though, what she does with Evan while she’s jetting all over the place to meet up with this new guy. She probably has a nanny who can watch Evan at home so it’s not disruptive to him and he can stay in school.
I don’t think Jenny is dating too much for a single mom, as much as she’d probably like us to think she is. She’s trying to find the right guy for her, and that involves getting out there and meeting people. Her mistake isn’t dating, it’s telling the press every time she sleeps with a guy. That’s better than bringing him around as another dad or “uncle” to her son, though. If Kate Hudson followed this rule her son would never meet her boyfriends.
Jenny McCarthy is shown on 12/11, 11/21 and 10/19. Credit: WENN.com
Spoilers for last night’s RHOBH
This week’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills didn’t involve the amount of cat fights and bitchiness we’ve come to expect, but that wasn’t for lack of trying on Camille’s part. It just seemed like Kyle and the rest of the women were wise to it and didn’t let her cheap tactics get to them. I won’t do a full recap here as I want to focus on some other stories about Camille, but the highlights were:
- Cedrick’s story of a childhood on the streets
- Camille’s tennis party followed by a swim in which she paraded in a bikini, (As to why the other women didn’t want to swim she said “I guess it’s just female jealousy,”)
- Camille’s passive aggressive gift to Kyle, a book called How to Behave and Why, and
- Kyle’s awesome white party for Mauricio’s birthday, which looked like so much fun.
The main drama this episode focused on Taylor’s problems with her husband Russell, who is a dud in social situations and left the party before Taylor, bringing her to tears. Oh and I have to mention that Camille told Lisa that she wasn’t speaking much with Kelsey in New York. She said “The lack of communication [with Kelsey] is disturbing to me.” It’s about to get a whole lot worse for Camille.
Back in real time, Camille is aware that her husband has ditched her for a much younger British flight attendant. She’s also unsure whether she’ll return to RHOBH next season. We’ve heard that she’s already quit the show, but according to Radar Online that was a negotiation tactic aimed to increase her salary. (As if she’s not set for life with the $50 million she’ll probably get in her settlement.) Camille will appear on Ellen in a segment that airs today, and she told her that she’s still in talks with Bravo for Season 2. She also said that she doesn’t talk to Kelsey:
On the rumors that she is returning for the second season and details about her divorce…
Ellen: And so now, the rumors are that you’re quitting. That you’re not going to do it again.
Camille: We haven’t decided that yet. Right now, as everybody knows, I’m going through a divorce.
Ellen: Well, let me ask you about that. You said Kelsey wanted you to do this. So you got divorced while you were shooting?
Camille: I found out he wanted out of the relationship during the shooting.
Ellen: How did you find out? Did he tell you?
Camille: A mutual friend called me and said, “I don’t like what he’s doing to you and I don’t like the timing because you’re still in the middle of shooting a reality show.” And then I called him that night and texted him. No answer from him. I waited for three hours and then he called me and said, “I don’t want to be married anymore.”
On deciding to return for season two…
Ellen: Then when you say you haven’t decided yet, I just don’t know why you’d want to put yourself out there. Everybody’s going to have an opinion when you’re on television. People are going to love you. People are going to hate you. I try not to pay attention to any of it because if you believe the good, you have to believe the bad. But there are people, and you know, are saying not nice things about you.
Camille: Oh, they’re saying awful things about me and it’s very hurtful.
Ellen: So why do it?
Camille: If I would do it, it would be to try to change my image. To try to change it around and have people see the other side of me that you don’t see on TV.
Does Camille talk to Kelsey?
Ellen: Since this is happened and it’s airing now, has Kelsey, do you speak at all?
Camille: No, we don’t speak at all.
Ellen: Because I was going to say, “Has he watched and what does he think about this because it was his idea?”
Camille: Everything I find out is through the press with him. Or he writes me an email or text. I think it’s really important for us to speak if we’re going to raise children together. We need to co-parent. So right now, my focus now is that we hopefully become friends and we move on from this and we can become good parents to our two young children.
[From The Ellen Degeneres show, aired 1-7-11 and received via e-mail]
So if you read between the lines, Camille wants to return to RHOBH, but she wants to make sure they don’t portray her as the villain. This seems to be supported by Radar, who claims that she’s waiting to see how she comes across on the reunion episode, which supposedly involved Camille going off as usual. Camille can’t change her image by continuing to appear on that show. She has only one setting, “petty bitch,” and you know she’s not going to change. What little money she’s making from the show isn’t worth it in the end to her either. She’ll probably stay on it though, because she’s delusional like that and has more bikinis to show off.
What, oh what shall we do when Oprah Winfrey ends her talk show to start her TV network? Who will tell us what to read? Where will Julia Roberts promote her movies based on Oprah’s book club choices? Whose couch will Tom Cruise jump on?
Some of you younger readers have never known a world without Oprah. Her talk show has been on for 25 years.
Never fear. Oprah has chosen her successor, and it’s Ellen DeGeneres.
You know it’s serious when somebody besides Oprah appears on the cover of “O” magazine. Ellen was the second woman to achieve that feat. Michelle Obama was the first.
Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres have become Hollywood’s newest BFFs!
Oprah will be wrapping up production of her long-running show after 25 years and launching her OWN network in Los Angeles in January. And she’s now ready to “pass the talk-show queen torch” to Ellen, said a source.
The Enquirer has learned the women recently shared an intimate dinner — Ellen bringing along wife Portia de Rossi and Oprah with her closest friend, Gayle King.
“They’ve always been fond of each other, but Oprah sees Ellen as her successor. She’s wanted to personally give Ellen advice on turning herself into a worldwide media brand,” explained the source.
After spending a great deal of time communicating via phone and e-mail, Ellen invited Oprah and Gayle to join her and Portia at their Los Angeles home for a gourmet vegan dinner.
“At the intimate gathering, Oprah gave Ellen advice on how to carry on with her upbeat, heartfelt approach to TV talk,” explained the source.
Meanwhile, Gayle and Portia chatted in another room, according to the source.
The four have become fast friends. Ellen, 52, became the second woman — after Michelle Obama — to ever appear on the cover of “O” magazine with Oprah in December 2009. And Portia, 37, recently appeared on Oprah’s show to discuss her autobiography, Unbearable Lightness, which chronicles her battle with anorexia and coming to terms with her sexuality.
But the get-together nearly never happened — after Oprah, 56, kept her hosts waiting for more than an hour, explaining that she’d been stuck in traffic.
According to the source, Ellen joked: “You’re an L.A. girl now — get used to it!”
[National Enquirer, print edition, December 20, 2010]
It’s interesting that Enquirer portrays this as a big happy girls’ club, even using the word “intimate” twice, so soon after Oprah’s recent teary admission that she’s not a lesbian.
I’m just relieved Oprah didn’t choose Dr. Phil to be the new talk-show queen, but I wager Rosie O’Donnell is not at all happy.
