Country singer Mindy McCready is the former roommate of Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart’s naked non-sex tape co-star, Kari Ann Peniche. Rumor had it that McCready was the one who leaked the tape, which she denied through her rep, who said “Her story will be told in due time. There’s a lot more to it than just the tape. She did not leak the tape.”

McCready is now reasserting her claim that she didn’t release the video along with making it clear that she really hates Peniche. She calls her “evil personified,” and in case that wasn’t strong enough McCready adds that Peniche “will hurt anyone she can to make money.” The way McCready phrases it makes it all sound a bit supernatural, as if Peniche has powers beyond us mere mortals. Maybe I’ve just been watching too much “True Blood”:

Mindy McCready apparently doesn’t have very fond memories of her Celebrity Rehab days, considering her roomie was the devil.
At least, that’s what the country singer called model Kari Ann Peniche, who’s now more famous for getting naked with Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart than for any solo success or foible.

“She is evil personified, she is evil in human form. She will hurt anyone she can to make money,” McCready told Access Hollywood in denying Peniche’s accusation that the troubled songbird was the one who leaked the graphic Dane-Gayheart-Peniche tape.

“I did not want to be dragged into all this,” McCready said. “I did not want to be a part of this.”

And neither did Peniche, who exclusively told E! News last week she is “not some swinger person or somebody you can pay to have sex with.”

Certainly good to know. Peniche told us she had no idea the tape was not in safekeeping until she got a call from Dane and his attorney asking, “You know the video we did? Somebody has it, and what to do we have to go to get it back?”

Dane, who was “obviously upset,” called her up and asked her something about McCready, as well, Peniche said.

Shortly after the tape hit the Internet, the swimsuit designer told TMZ.com that McCready vengefully stole her computer hard drive when the ladies were bunking together.

“If I was going to leak it, I would have done that a long time ago,” she told E! News. “If someone else was going to leak it, they would have done it a long time ago…I would never leak this tape.”

And by the way, she added: “There was no sex—he’s married! We were just having fun.”

Meanwhile, Dane and Gayheart opted to get out of town for the weekend. (Wonder why…)

The couple and their dogs drove up to Montecito, Calif., Friday for a stay at the luxurious San Ysidro Ranch. They returned to L.A. on Sunday.

[From E! Online]

That’s interesting that Peniche denies that she’s a prostitute, but doesn’t deny that she worked as a madam. Talk on the leaked tape reveals that Eric and Rebecca asked specifically for Peniche instead of one of her “girls.” The NY Daily News reported over the weekend that three sources were willing to go on the record and confirm that Peniche worked as a madam. McCready told the Daily News that it was true that Peniche ran a prostitution business. “Did she say she’d been a madam? She sure did.”

Another Daily News source, author Mark Ebner, revealed that he’s the one who gave the tape to Gawker and added that Peniche was a subcontractor for convicted Hollywood madam Michelle Braun. Were Dane and Gayheart just involved with the wrong sex broker? Is this leaked tape just an instance of someone using celebrities to try and take a Peniche down? Who else did Peniche service and will their names get leaked too? The LAPD confirmed last week that the tape is in their possession but state that they’re not yet sure if there will be a criminal investigation. It sounds like McCready certainly hates Peniche enough to tell the cops about her. Maybe she’s the one who gave them the DVD.

Mindy McCready is shown on 6/7/08. Kari Anne Peniche is shown on 7/15/08. Credit: WENN.com

The LAPD has an active investigation into the strange naked “hangout” tape featuring married couple Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart. The police confirm that they’re investigating and say that a DVD was given to them featuring the footage along with “articles and photographs of porn stars and formally convicted madams, which could readily be found over the internet.” It was reported that the tape was leaked by Mindy McCready, who happened to be the roommate of Dane and Gayheart’s co-star, Kari Ann Peniche. McCready’s rep denies this, however, and from his mysterious statement it kind of sounds like McCready was cooperating with the investigation and that the tape was leaked after it was handed over to police.

I would guess that the criminal investigation involves prostitution and not the mild drug use shown on the tape, but that’s complete speculation. Dialogue on the tape between Gayheart, Dane and Peniche suggests that Peniche may be involved in madam-type activities. Gayheart says at one point “I was so bummed when you said we had to call one of your girls.”

The LAPD has confirmed that detectives are investigating a DVD provided to them in July from an unnamed source who claimed it “contained images that could link celebrities engaging in illegal activity.”

But before police could determine if a crime was committed, the tape leaked onto the Internet, the LAPD said in a statement.

The DVD, which included the now-infamous video of Dane, 36, wife Rebecca Gayheart, 38, and former Miss U.S. Teen Kari Ann Peniche, 25, also “included archived articles and photographs of porn stars and formally convicted madams, which could readily be found over the internet,” police added.

Peniche has alleged that the tape was stolen from her by troubled country singer Mindy McCready, who was her roommate after the two women filmed episodes of Celebrity Rehab, according to TMZ. Meanwhile, a source close to McCready told PEOPLE, “Her story will be told in due time. There’s a lot more to it than just the tape. She did not leak the tape.”

Police added: “No determination has been made as to whether or not the DVD contained any information that could be used for a criminal investigation.”

On Monday, a lawyer for the actors released a statement, saying it should not be characterized as a sex tape, since it merely showed “a private, consensual moment involving a married couple, shot several years ago, which was never intended to be seen by the public.”

[From People]

I doubt that Gayheart and Dane will face any consequences from this tape. There’s little way to prove that anything illegal besides pot-smoking occurred, and a lawyer could argue that Gayheart is smoking a hand-rolled cigarette. Maybe they’re going after Peniche, though, and it’s possible she had a sophisticated operation. What could be much more interesting than this non-scandal is Peniche’s potential client list. Did McCready tell the cops about Peniche’s “girls” and offer this tape as evidence?

Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart are shown on 7/8/09. Credit: Fame Pictures

The alleged sex tape between Eric Dane, 36, Rebecca Gayheart, 38, and former Miss Teen USA/Playboy playmate/Celebrity Rehab contestant Kari Ann Peniche, 25, turned out just to be a bizarre tape in which the three hang out naked and make dumb, drugged out comments. People are mildly interested in Peniche following the video, but considering that it isn’t all that explicit the news has kind of quickly died down and we’ve moved on. I watched the full uncensored version on Fleshbot (site is extremely NSFW or around kids) and as one commenter points out, the most interesting piece seems to be the fact that Eric and Rebecca admit asking specifically for Peniche instead of “one of her girls,” suggesting that she’s working as a madam and that Dane and Gayheart regularly hire women for threesomes.

At 1:47 left on the video on Fleshbot (video counts time remaining, not elapsed) Rebecca says, “you’re so nice. I was so bummed when you said we had to call one of your girls. Remember what I said to you?”

Kari Ann answers, “yeah, and then you’re like ‘will we pay you?’ and I’m like ‘no.’” [note: pay is hard to understand, could be pick]

Rebecca says “I was like ‘no you, you’re normal, you’re funny, you’re smart you’re nice, you’re fun.’ She was like ‘no, no, I don’t do it.’”

This is when Dane chimes in with the line that will haunt him for the remainder of his famous years, “you’re like a good hang.”

“No, she’s a friend,” Rebecca continues.

“That’s what I’m saying,” explains Dane. “I see you on the street tomorrow you’re one of Rebecca’s friends.”

So why would Dane say all that about classifying Kari as a friend unless it was a business relationship? Also – where’s the damn sex in this video, did they do it and turn the camera off, or did nothing happen at all? I’m thinking the camera was off, but maybe nothing happened and that’s why there’s all that talk about the fact that they’re friends and just hanging out.

There’s another scene where Kari is shown on the phone while she’s consulting a credit card and using her laptop. It’s hard to tell what that’s all about, but it looks suspicious. This video was reportedly shot in Kari’s apartment, and as Kaiser speculated – maybe she’s ordering something from J. Crew.

Kari’s mom has talked to both Radar and E! Online about her daughter’s fall from grace. The elder Mrs. Peniche told E! her daughter is “25 years old and she has made some poor choices…. Kari is doing something very different from us, and she’s a grown woman and I have tried, but there’s no way to get her back.” To Radar, she said “She’s a good person but she’s made some poor choices and has obviously been around the wrong people.” One of those wrong people was probably Peniche’s roommate on Celebrity Rehab, singer Mindy McCready, who is said to have stolen the video off a hard drive. Supposedly McCready, Peniche, Dane and Gayheart all made a deal last month to keep the video under wraps, but McCready reneged.

Kari’s manager says she’s “extremely upset over this situation,” but she seems to be recovering well and doesn’t seem to mind the publicity. Kari was out at an event last night and was spotted on a bikini photoshoot yesterday.

Kari Ann Peniche is shown on 8/18/09 in the header and 2/14/08 below. Credit: PRPhotos

Earlier, we shared what we know about the Eric Dane-Rebecca Gayheart-Kari Ann Peniche sex tape. The four-minute version on Gawker didn’t include sex, it was just three naked people hanging out, taking a bath, talking about what their porn names would be. I found it a little sexy, because I enjoyed seeing what a pimp Eric Dane was and is. Both Eric and Rebecca seemed really into “good hang” Kari Ann, and there are still lingering questions about exactly what Kari Ann is doing, in the video and for her profession. The credit card part in the video was definitely strange – but we don’t know for sure if Kari Ann is a hooker, or maybe she was just hanging out naked, ordering something from J.Crew.

However, Eric and Rebecca’s lawyer Marty Singer just released a statement about the “sex tape” and Marty wants us to know that we should really, really stop referring to it as a sex tape. Singer’s denial is pretty classic, so you should just read it in its entirety:

So when is a celebrity sex tape not a celebrity sex tape? Apparently, when it stars Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart — at least according to a lawyer for the couple.

In a statement released about the naughty nude clip featuring McSteamy and now-wife Rebecca, along with disgraced beauty queen Kari Ann Peniche, the couple’s legal eagle tries to downplay the lewdness of the taped situation.

Reads the statement from lawyer Marty Singer:

“This is simply a private, consensual moment involving a married couple, shot several years ago, which was never intended to be seen by the public.”

“Although the participants are nude, the tape is not a ’sex tape.’ It is a private tape made for only my clients’ personal use, and nobody has the right to exploit it. If anyone exploits the tape, they will be violating my clients’ rights and will be exposed to significant liability.”

[From OK! Magazine]

Ah, yes. They were just three naked people, hanging out, taking a bath. There was no sex. So we will not refer to it as a “sex tape”. It is only a “naked hang-out tape” or even a “flirty naked bath tape”. I love when lawyers gets their panties in a bunch about the semantics of situations. It reminds me of that old hounddog, President Clinton, and his “it depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is” and the hair-splitting on “sexual relations”.

Here’s one of the strangest twists to this story. It seems that this non-sex tape was in the possession of Kari Ann Peniche, not Eric and Rebecca. Kari Ann tells TMZ that the tape was filmed in her apartment, not the Dane-Gayheart household, and Kari Ann also has a theory about how the tape got released. It involves Mindy McCready and a “summit” over possession of the tape:

Kari Ann tells TMZ the video featuring the whacked-out naked trio was shot more than two years ago in her apartment. Kari Ann insists there was absolutely no sex involved — they played dress up and the two women then soaked together in a bathtub as Eric called “action” behind the camera.

Kari Ann says the video was stored on the hard drive of her computer, but stolen by Mindy McCready, who was her roommate after the two completed a stint on the TV show “Celebrity Rehab.” Kari Ann says she got into an argument with McCready over money and believes the singer took her hard drive when she moved out. Kari Ann freaked out about certain personal information about her on the hard drive and filed a stolen property report with the LAPD.

Last month there was a summit between Eric, Rebecca, Kari Ann and Mindy. Their reps hammered out a deal as to who got what on the hard drive. Eric got full rights to the video and everyone assumed that was that … until the tape surfaced on the Internet today.

So a little song, a little dance a little betrayal down your pants.

[From TMZ]

I actually think Kari Ann’s version might be true. Either that or Eric Dane released it for some extra publicity, because he saw what a sex tape did for Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian? Because he knows we all want to see McSteamy wang? If Eric released it, my guess is that he wouldn’t have his lawyer sending out snotty missives. So, most likely, the tape was released by Kari Ann or someone in her orbit, most likely Mindy McCready.

Here is Eric Dane, shirtless in Malibu shooting scenes for Valentine’s Day on 8/6/09. Credit: Fame Pictures

Sex tape alert! The rumors are true, there is a sex tape out there of Grey’s Anatomy hottie Eric “McSteamy” Dane. And his wife, Rebecca Gayheart. And former Miss Teen USA Kari Ann Peniche. Monday evening Gawker put a short, NSFW “boobs only, no sexin’” four-minute video of Eric, Rebecca and Kari Ann all hanging out naked and maybe doing drugs, it’s a weird video. I actually had problems with the video on Gawker, but You Tube has it up too (also NSFW). Fleshbot (site really, really NSFW) has already announced that they will have the complete sex tape at some point Tuesday morning, and there are some vague promises of McSteamy Wang. Here’s Gawker’s description:

“How did these people end up here?” is the implied question of every sex tape. Especially with the druggy romp Eric Dane (Grey’s Anatomy’s “Dr. McSteamy”) and his wife Rebecca Gayheart filmed with beauty-queen-turned-Hollywood-madam Kari Ann Peniche.

In the video (which we edited down from a 12-minute original), we see the apparently inebriated threesome — at one point Gayheart says she needs to lay down because she’s so high — lounging au naturel in the fallen beauty queen’s Studio City apartment, passing around the camera and, for giggles, discussing what their porn names should be. Dane settles on “Tuff Hedemen” (his favorite champion bull rider). Soon the threesome move to the bathroom where the two ladies disrobe and get into a jacuzzi tub while Dane takes over the camera duties.

The line between Hollywood success and failure is razor thin. The acting couple (the married in 2004) may not be at the pinnacle of the Hollywood talent heap, but they’re about as successful as they could have hoped in their teenage years. Oh, and they’re hoping to start a family!

Dane, 36, moved to L.A. in his teens, landing bit parts in early 1990s TV shows like Saved by the Bell and The Wonder Years, palling around the Hollywood club scene (once dated Lara Flynn Boyle!) before winning stardom in Grey’s Anatomy. Gayheart, 38, had her first big break in 1992 as the Noxema Girl, and aside from accidentally killing a teenager crossing the street, she’s made a career of film and TV roles here and there.

Peniche, 25, probably had a similar future in mind when she was crowned Miss Teen USA in 2002, but it wasn’t to be. She was stripped of her crown for posing in Playboy. Peniche tried to leverage the controversy into a career, and knocked around on the Hollywood Z-list for a while. She got engaged to Backstreet Boy Nick Aaron Carter for a minute.

There were a handful of TV and film roles, but lately, a source in Hollywood tells us, she’s ended up working as a madam, working the Hollywood club scene as “Tristan Bailey.” Her m.o.: When horny club dudes would hit on her, she’d tell them she was seeing someone…but, she could hook them up with someone who knew some smokin’ hotties-for-hire. The dudes would then be redirected back to her service, and she’d occasionally turn a trick herself.

Recently she was thrown off Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab (where she was being treated for sex addiction) amidst back-and-forth accusations that she punched out a cameraman, entertained unsavory drug dealer types at the Sun Valley sober house, and stole money and personal belongings from her roommate, country singer Mindy McCready.

As of late July, the Hollywood vice squad got a hold of Peniche’s client list and the above video, which Peniche herself had been showing around to friends. The most damning part segment: Peniche lying topless in bed reading off a credit card into a phone. (Or maybe she’s just ordering out?) Here’s the evidence receipt, with the identities of the cops and the person who turned it over blurred out.

Oh, and a fun fact: This isnt’t the first time Gayheart’s been seen naked and high in a hot tub. This past June, the National Enquirer printed a 2003 photo of her in a bathtub with an unidentified woman and a crack pipe. As Dane comments while his wife gets naked with another woman again, he pays Peniche, who’s facing a criminal investigation while they are not, a back-handed compliment: “You’re, like, a good hang. I see you on the street tomorrow, you’re one of Rebecca’s friends.”

[From Gawker]

I just watched the four-minute version, and I’ve come away with several general impressions. First, Eric Dane is a pimp. He’s lounging around naked with his wife and a Miss Teen USA/maybe-Hollywood-madam, and he’s totally nonchalant about the whole thing, especially considering his wife is filming him. Secondly, Dane seems way more interested in the strange than the wife, if you catch my drift. For her part, Rebecca seems more interested in Miss Teen USA too. When all’s said in done, I think my favorite part is when Eric is filming Rebecca and Kari Ann naked, in the bathtub, and he declares to Kari Ann “You’re, like, a good hang.” Famous last words, dude.

Kari Ann Peniche is shown on 7/15/08. Rebecca Gayheart and Eric Dane are shown on 7/10/09 at LAX. Credit: WENN.com. Rebecca and Eric are also shown at a film festival in Italy on 7/8/09. Credit: Fame Pictures

The personal lives of the stars of Grey’s Anatomy may be more interesting than last season’s plot lines, at least according to this week’s Star..

McSteamy may be McSeparated

Eric Dane, aka Dr. McSteamy, is having marriage problems with wife Rebecca Gayheart. Star reports Eric has moved out of the couple’s West Hollywood home to stay at Hollywood’s famous Chateau Marmont. The reason is a common one in Hollywood: Jealousy.

“Eric and Rebecca used to love spending time together and were barely apart,” says one insider. “But as Eric’s gotten more famous, Rebecca’s behavior has gotten more erratic. One second, she’s jealous of his success; the next, she’s angry and won’t speak to him. Eric never knew what to expect.”

[From Star, print edition, September 1, 2008]

The two wed in 2004.

Star adds that they’ve also been trying to start a family, adding more pressure to an already stressed relationship.

Besides Grey’s Anatomy, Eric will also star with Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson in Marley & Me. Rebecca’s last TV series Vanished was cancelled after only nine episodes had aired.

Rebecca’s rep told Star that the report saying Eric has moved out is untrue. The rep says both Rebecca and Eric were staying at the Chateau Marmont while work was being done on their home.

Grey’s Gets Green

Eric’s Grey’s co-star Sandra Oh is a vegetarian and is introducing her show’s cast and crew to healthy vegan food. Star reports that on August 1, Sandra spent over $650 for lunch for everyone on set from her favorite Hollywood restaurant, Truly Vegan.

“They couldn’t believe how amazing the food tasted,” a crew member tells Star. “Patrick Dempsey enjoyed the chocolate vegan cake, and Ellen Pompeo has gone to Truly Vegan half a dozen times since trying the food.”

[From Star, print edition, September 1, 2008]

Sharing food like Sandra did is a great way to show people that vegetarian food is more than carrots and lettuce and tastes better than cardboard. Many vegetarians have reputations for lecturing or shaming people about eating meat, but Sandra’s way is more effective. Many people are surprised at how little meat they have to eat to get filling, delicious and healthy meals.

Litter Doesn’t Bug Izzie

On the other end of the both the healthy and earth-friendly spectrums is Katherine Heigl. Katherine’s chain-smoking is well documented, and apparently she’s too young to remember “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute.”

According to Star, Katherine had lunch with her mother at P.F. Chang’s in Santa Monica on August 11. After lunch, she tossed her cigarette on the ground right in front of a policeman, then had to sweet-talk her way out of a ticket.

“The officer told Katherine to pick up the butt and throw it away in the trash, 10 feet away,” the source says. “He added that he’d fine her next time he catches her tossing trash on the sidewalk.”

[From Star, print edition, September 1, 2008]

Sandra Oh should send Eric Dane a vegan chocolate cake to cheer him up, and another in thanks to the policeman who busted litterbug Katherine Heigl.

The fifth season of Grey’s Anatomy will premiere September 25 on ABC.

Katherine Heigl is shown smoking after the SAG Awards on 01/28/07. Credit: Fame. Sandra Oh is shown on 9/14/07. Credit: John Cronise / WENN. Rebecca Gayheart and Eric Dane are shown adopting an injured puppy on 8/17/08. Their relationship must be solid if they’re getting a widdle doggie. Credit: Ghost/ Fame Pictures

Patrick Dempsey had something munching on his groin during his recent film – and it wasn’t a starlet hoping to make Hollywood connections:

The actor was filming in Scotland and was happy to don the country’s native dress (a kilt), which is often worn without undergarments.

Dempsey was determined to wear his kilt in an authentic manner, but found himself covered in bites from local winged flies – forcing him to go back to wearing underwear to protect his most delicate area.
He says, “I wore a kilt for the wedding scenes, but had to wear something underneath. I tried nothing but I was bitten all over by midges.”

Contact Music

I guess the shoot was taking place in a warm climate – I always wonder if Scotsman do wear nothing under their kilts, when it is so cold in Scotland. There is nothing sexier than a masculine man in a kilt, in my opinion. I’m looking forward to seeing the film, titled ‘Made of Honor’.

Patrick also feels the exact same way about Eric Dane as the rest of us – he’s McSteamy!

“I’m not Eric Dane,” he tells Parade in their upcoming issue. “McSteamy is in perfect shape. I definitely have pec envy. There’s a lot of pressure being a man in this town.”

The cycling enthusiast continues, “People are seeing a fantasy. It’s not necessarily me, but it does help your ego. Look, I know TV is a visual medium, so of course I want to be in shape, but I don’t want to be ripped.”

OK! Magazine

Since Patrick Dempsey basically plays the love interest in a run of romantic comedies, I don’t think he needs to be ‘ripped’. Maybe if he’s considering a role in a new action flick he should start working those weights, although lifting weights is significantly less painful then the chest wax that seems to come hand in hand with buff male Hollywood bodies.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Patrick Dempsey is shown at the premiere of Made of Honour at Soho Hotel in London on 4/21/08, thanks to WENN.

I picked up the latest issue of Marie Claire Australia this week, the one where nude, pregnant Christina Aguilera is knocked off the cover by some chick that won Miss Universe, and it’s totally devoted to skin cancer and how to avoid getting it. Normally after reading a women’s magazine I feel like going out and buying some new shoes and maybe trying a new hair colour, after reading this one I feel like taking my (fake) tanned hide down to the hospital and updating my life insurance. Zooming in on my newfound paranoia about the fact that I obviously am going to die of skin cancer before I’m 30, is Eric Dane, McSteamy himself, who has recently recovered with his own brush with death. And selling the story to OK!

“I went to my dermatologist,” Eric reveals in an exclusive interview in the new issue of OK!. But the last thing the 35-year-old expected was to be diagnosed with skin cancer. “He said it was malignant tissue caused by sun damage.”

The malignancy was treated by freezing the cancerous tissue off with liquid nitrogen. Unfortunately for Eric, the actor had a severe reaction to a cream given to him for his lip after the treatment . “My skin is very sensitive,” the actor most famous for playing Dr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan, explains to OK!, “and my lip was traumatized by the procedure I had to go through.”

His lip’s overreaction to the medication created a painful scenario that made eating difficult, if not impossible. “I didn’t eat very well for a couple of weeks and lost a bunch of weight,” Eric explains, estimating that he dropped at least 10 pounds off his 6’1″ frame while dealing with his cancer.

“Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States,” Dr. Micki Ly, a Maui, Hawaii-based dermatologist, explains to OK!. “More than a million cases are diagnosed annually.” But Eric was extremely wise to act quickly in dealing with it, she says. “The mouth is a bad area for a malignancy because they spread faster in mucosal areas, of which the mouth is one.”

OK! Magazine

It’s not only the middle aged and elderly that get skin cancer, but also people as young as twenty can suffer from skin cancer as a result of sun exposure. Recently an Australian 25-year-old woman actually died after repeated exposure to a solarium. I thought they were safe.

If you want to get checked out for skin cancer, check out the Cancer Council website. It tells you how to identify possible melanomas. Interestingly, Marie Claire says that that one of the most common places to get skin cancer is on the soles of your feet, because who remembers to put sunscreen there?

Oh, and Eric Danes has nothing to worry about. He is still completely McSteamy, and is almost cute enough for me to join in on the Grey’s Anatomy obsession everyone seems to have right now.

Note by Celebitchy: I am a very fair-skinned person and freckle and burn easily. Every winter I will do about 3-4 tanning bed sessions total in order to get some sun and boost my mood. Last week, though, I went to a new tanning salon and stupidly asked for 12 minutes on a medium-strength bed, because it was the lowest option listed on the board. I should have asked for 4-5 minutes, which is what I normally do. Of course I got a bad burn, my first in over ten years, and that m’fckr hurt! It is healthy to get some moderate sun for the vitamin D, but use sunscreen and don’t abuse the tanning beds.

Eric Dane is shown in the header at the Primetime Emmy Awards on 9/16/07, and below at the Glamour Magazine “Women of the Year Awards” on 11/5/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

The stars were out at Glamour’s Women of the Year Awards at Avery Fischer Hall in NY City last night. Jennifer Garner was accompanied by her husband, Ben Affleck, to accept her award as “The Icon Next Door.”

Senator John Edward’s wife, Elizabeth Edwards, was named “The Role Model,” and her award was presented by her children, Cate, Emma Claire and Jack. Elizabeth Edwards is a breast cancer survivor and is currently fighting stage four breast cancer that has spread to a spot on her rib. She is being treated with anti-estrogen drugs.

Young Abigail Breslin was named “The American Girl,” and famed author Toni Morrison was given a lifetime achievement award titled “The Voice of Our Time.”

Garner has an interview with Glamour in which she talks about balancing motherhood with her career and admits that she is a “goody-goody,” but is not immune to an occasional diva moment. She also says that she doesn’t pose on the red carpet with her husband Ben because she tries to avoid the needless speculation that goes along with that:

GLAMOUR: Your press is impeccable. Your fans adore you. Do you have a dark side, or are you a goody-goody?

JENNIFER GARNER: You totally called me out. I am a bit of a goody-goody. Not that there aren’t times when I think, I was kind of an asshole today. I work in a world in which people are really catered to; someone will come up to me and say, “Is it OK if this person’s makeup is done before yours for the premiere?” Right now Ben’s in Africa studying malaria and visiting slums with a lack of potable water and maternity wards where many women have HIV. So would I really put my energy into worrying that I’m second to get my makeup done? When you think about the bigger picture, it’s hard to not have some perspective.

GLAMOUR: Have you managed to find that balance for yourself?

JG: I’m trying to, but it’s hard: I just had a year off where I put every spoonful of food into [Violet’s] mouth. Now I’m working and though I’m usually with her more hours than not, some days I just can’t be. That’s hard for me, and for the first time, my daughter. Luckily my husband is a true partner, and he picks up where I leave off.

GLAMOUR: Is being in Hollywood hard on a relationship?

JG: We’ve worked really hard not to be one of those couples who are constantly in the limelight. In the past we’ve both been the kind of people who go along with things—if you’re supposed to be photographed together, you don’t question it. But how does that help your relationship? So now we refuse to walk the red carpet together: It’s a way of not condoning the attention. Plus, it just feels silly to be in that situation with him: Ben was nominated for a Golden Globe [for 2006’s Hollywoodland]. I remember being photographed next to him and thinking, This is ridiculous. You’re not some actor; you’re my husband.

[From Glamour.com]

Garner also talked about the causes she’s involved with, which include Hurricane Katrina victims and the Children’s Defense Fund.

As for whether nearly two-year-old Violet will have a career in show business, Garner doesn’t rule it out but says that she won’t allow her to get her start in it as a child.

Like Julia Roberts, Garner says she wants to help Britney Spears, and that she “wanted to go backstage and mother her” after her performance at the VMAs.

Garner said she doesn’t wear her Alias costumes for husband Ben at home, because that stuff isn’t that important to him since he doesn’t seem to notice how she looks. She said his lack of attention to her appearance is annoying when she’s dolled up for an event, because she wants to get him to comment on it, but that it usually works in her favor because “most of the time I’m a schlep.”

As for whether she’ll have another child, Garner says she will but that she’s not pregnant or trying yet.

Garner’s hero is her sister, who is “a mom and an accountant for the state of West Virginia.” She says that her sister is “able to juggle a job, kids, volunteer work and church, and she still manages to cook dinner every night without feeling bogged down.” If she’s anything like Jen, she probably does it all with a smile while looking fabulous.

Other women honored at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards include Dr. Victoria Hale, Donna Karan, Lara Logan, Lorena Ochoa, Mariane Pearl, Nancy Pelosi, Shonda Rhimes, and Alice Waters. The non-celebrity woman who was honored was Laura Crandall, a 39 year-old woman who founded the Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) Program after losing her 15 month-old daughter to unknown causes.

Thanks to PRPhotos for these pictures of the event. Attendees that were not yet mentioned and are pictured include Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany, Hugh Dancy and Claire Danes, Eric Dane, Portia Di Rossi, Taye Diggs, Iman, Rashida Jones, Fran Lebowitz, James Pickens, Brooke Shields, Diane Sawyer, and Jamie-Lynn Sigler.

It must suck to work on the set of Grey’s anatomy. Somehow people are always hurling insults and smack-talking about one another.

Isaiah Washington choked and shoved Patrick Dempsey in the famous “f-word” incident back in October, in which Dempsey came to the defense of his co-star T.R. Knight, who subsequent came out of the closet after the news broke. Isaiah then denied he said “faggot” at this year’s Golden Globes, bringing up the whole incident and throwing out the forbidden word again, which prompted him to check into rehab for PR control.

Now there’s word that Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane were playing a game of poker with fellow cast and crew during a break from filming when it got ugly. Dane accused Dempsey of cheating and lunged at him, prompting Dempsey to try and punch him out. The crew separated the two before any contact was made, but how much animosity must there be on that set?

The star duo butted heads when Dane suddenly threw down his cards and jumped up howling that “Lucky” Dempsey must be pulling some kind of hanky-panky! Inflamed by the cheating charge, McDreamy cocked a fist and started to swing as McSteamy lunged! In an instant, crewmembers leaped up and separated the angry actors, who kept screaming insults at each other until they were led to cool off.

[From The National Enquirer print edition, Mike Walker's column, January 19. 2007]

Later in the day the two apologized to each other.

Not everyone on Grey’s hates each other. Katherine Heigl and TR Knight are said to be good friends who were perhaps brought together by all the strife on set between Knight and Washington. Heigl came to Knight’s defense earlier, saying Washington just needed to shut up about the gay-bashing incident and that it was not ok that he brought it up again.

Here’s a link to a Grey’s Anatomy spoiler.