Yesterday we saw some semi-nude candid photos of Christina Aguilera wearing pasties, a bodice draped with chains and little else. It was the same outfit she wore in the Not Myself Tonight video, only we got to see much more of her. Other photos of XTina from that series had her wearing a long robe that she lifted up to show her stomach, and modeling leggings and a white t-shirt without a bra. (Photos are on Egotastic and The Superficial)

It all looked like typical “sexy” photos that a starlet would release to drum up interest, and given what we’ve seen of Aguilera it wasn’t particularly scandalous. Only now her people are insisting the photos were “hacked” from her “stylist’s” computer. Give me a break.

Christina Aguilera and her team are speaking out after personal photos of hers were leaked online earlier today.

“The photos of Christina Aguilera being leaked to the press were illegally obtained by a hacker who tapped into Christina’s personal stylist’s account,” her rep told JustJared.com in a statement. “The photos were taken in the privacy of Ms. Aguilera’s home and were used only in a personal exchange between the star and her stylist.”

“We find the actions of the hackers and the press who purchased and/or obtained these photos to be irresponsible and actionable. We are attempting to determine the identity of the hackers and will pursue them aggressively. Their conduct is reprehensible,” Christina’s rep added.

[From Just Jared]

If a “hacker” did this, why didn’t they send takedown notices to the blogs? Egotastic and The Superficial still have all these photos up. That’s right, because XTina loves the publicity and she loves to show off. She should have just left these photos out there instead of concocting up a ridiculous cover story. There may be something else Christina wants us to notice in these photos. It really looks like she has a large bruise on her cheek and around her eye (photo NSFW) in at least one of the pictures. She also has a large bruise on her knee (linked photo NSFW) and a cut on her leg although that could be a dancing injury. There were rumors of domestic abuse in Christina’s marriage around the time she announced her separation. These photos aren’t going to do much to quash the pregnancy speculation either.

What do I have to achieve in life to get a closet like that? I’ve seen shoe stores with less options.

According to the National Enquirer, Ryan Seacrest and Julianne Hough are taking their fauxmance to the next level. They claim that Ryan, 35, proposed to Julianne, 22, during their well documented Paris jaunt and she accepted. The Enquirer’s gossip guy, Mike Walker, name drops Seacrest practically every week with the most insignificant gossip. If anyone would get an exclusive on Ryan’s engagement, it would be the Enquirer. I know a lot of people think Ryan bats secretly for the other team, and the way the whole “kiss on the beach with Teri Hatcher” played out (particularly the way she explained it) make me think that could be the case and that he plays the media to his advantage. It’s possible that he is straight and just very fussy, though. It happens. I could also see him going for a much younger non-challenging partner like Julianne. (If he goes for chicks at all, other than in photo ops.) Here’s the Enquirer’s report. It’s like Ryan took a page out of Tom Cruise’s book.

The “American Idol” host surprised the “Burlesque” star with a proposal during a recent vacation to Paris, sources say, and he’s even cutting back his workload to start a family!

“Ryan is ready to make Julianne his bride, but he wanted to blow her away with the most romantic proposal possible,” an insider divulged.

“With only a few weeks before ‘Idol’ is back on TV, he organized a quickie trip to Paris and invited his sister and his parents along so they could share in the happy occasion…”

To prove how serious he is about building a solid future together, the ambitious go-getter is scaling back on work, the insider said.

“Ryan is planning top opt out of renewing the contract for his syndicated radio show,” said the insider. “Julianne has transformed him from a work machine into a love machine.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, December 13, 2010]

“Julianne has transformed him from a work machine into a love machine.” Are you kidding me? This is just spin control for the fact that he’s not going to continue with his radio show for whatever reason.

You know, if they’re both happy with this arrangement, whatever it is, good for them. Congratulations on their engagement whether it’s for show or not. I can’t see any self-respecting woman going along with this (if it’s not real, etc) but Julianne did get to go to Paris and I bet she dropped a lot of Ryan’s cash on nice designer things. I also bet he helped her pick them out. And I swear to you – I wrote all that before I saw these photos of them buying Louboutins. Hand to God, to borrow a phrase from Kaiser. (I thought Ryan was staring at the shoes, but he’s entranced with his own reflection. I think we know who his real love is.)

Update: Julianne’s brother, Derek Hough, says that as far as he knows his sister isn’t engaged.

Photos are from 11/26/10, thanks to Fame.

Britney Spears’ camp has vigorously denied the rumors that it’s her voice on a new tape with her first ex husband, Jason Alexander, detailing abuse at the hands of her boyfriend, Jason Trawick. If you listen to the audio, it doesn’t even sound like Britney or a decent mimic, and there’s a lot of crackling and evidence of editing. Britney’s people have promised to sue over the story, and it sounds like going to follow up on it and aren’t just issuing empty claims. Meanwhile Britney, or more likely her manager Larry Rudolph, has taken to Twitter to give a less formal warning to the outlets with that false story. She tells Star and Radar to ‘kiss my lily white southern Louisiana ass!‘ I’m not really buying that Britney personally writes her own tweets, because that’s genius. I’m sure she cosigned it though:

Britney Spears has a message for anyone claiming she was physically abused by her boyfriend: pucker up.

Addressing her missive to “Star Magazine, Radar Online, Jason Alexander and the rest of you liars,” Spears Tweeted Thursday: “Ya’ll can kiss my lily white southern Louisiana ass!”

The sentiment was prompted by a tabloid report that Spears – who turned 29 Thursday – was abused by boyfriend Jason Trawick.

The allegation came from Spears’s one-time husband, Jason Alexander, whose 55-hour Las Vegas marriage to her was annulled in 2004. In the report, Alexander says Spears told him Trawick “beat on me,” and RadarOnline posted an audio clip of the alleged conversation between Alexander and Spears. The singer’s reps, however, deny the woman’s voice on the tapes belongs to the pop star.

Spears, who announced she has a new album coming out in March, also Tweets she is “off on a romantic weekend with Jason for my birthday. xoxo Brit.”

[From People]

On Wednesday Britney was seen outside the offices of the William Morris agency, where her boyfriend works. US Weekly says that she was there to screen the movie The Secretariat for charity. US also has a new statement from Britney’s manager about this ongoing story. He says a lawsuit is coming soon. “It’s amazing that Star continues to try to defend their story by putting out more and more pieces of a fraudulent recording. Everyone knows it is not her. The more they put out, the more ridiculous they look. The lawyers are drawing up the legal papers right now; there will 100 percent be a lawsuit. We are suing.”

Britney turned 29 yesterday. Happy belated birthday Britney.

Britney and Jason are shown out on 12/1/10. Credit: Fame Pictures

Spoiler for MadMen season four finale below
Earlier this week we heard a rumor from the British press that ginger beauty Christina Hendricks was about to cut down her trademark curves by dieting to lose 35 pounds. The Daily Mail quoted a “source” who had specific details of her alleged diet and motivation to lose weight. They said “Christina has got sick of all the talk of her being the curviest woman in Hollywood. For her it basically meant she was being called fat. Now she’s gone against everything she believed in before by going on the first diet of her life. Christina’s cut out carbs, and alcohol, although she’s not a big drinker. She’s eating fish oil to break down fat and pak choi and edamame nearly every meal. She hopes the first stone will fall off in the next month or so.” I’ve never heard of that pak choi and edamame diet and apparently neither has Hendricks. She told Hollywood Life at an event that she’s perfectly happy with her gorgeous figure and isn’t on a diet at all.

Chloe and I had been so upset about the Daily Mail’s two-day report that curvaceous Christina was planning to start the first diet of her life- to drop 35 lbs!

“I’m completely happy with my body, I’m not dropping 35 lbs!”, Christina told Chloe, who just had to ask her about the report. Hendricks, 35, was genuinely shocked- she hadn’t read the story- and gave Chloe a hug, thrilled that we’d be setting the record striaight!

The actress, with her red hair, was unmistakable at the small party in the Club Room of the Soho Grand Hotel. The premiere itself was hosted by the Cinema Society & Everlon Diamond Knot Collection.

She couldn’t have been sweeter! Hooray for Christina and her curves, which are here to stay!

[From Hollywood Life]

This just goes to show that the UK is behind the US when it comes to the latest episodes of Mad Men. Our UK visitors can correct me if I’m wrong, but according to TVGuide.co.uk, BBC4 is currently airing episode seven out of 13 episodes for Mad Men this season. There’s a massive spoiler to follow so please stop reading now if you’re a Mad Men fan and haven’t yet seen this season’s finale. We learned in the last episode that Christina’s character, Joan Holloway, is pregnant. (We previously thought she aborted the baby, which is her lover Roger Sterlings, but found out that she kept it and is trying to pass it off as her husband’s, who is serving in Vietnam.) So based on her character in Mad Men, it’s highly unlikely that Hendricks would chose to lose weight at this point anyway. Plus we’ve heard from Hendrick’s costar January Jones that producers tell the female actresses specifically not to diet or lose weight so that they’ll look authentic. That warning seems to have been lost on Elizabeth Moss, but I’m sure they wouldn’t want Hendricks to lose weight, especially when her famously curvy character is supposed to be pregnant.

Mad Men photos via Madmen.wikia.com

Bristol Palin is all over the place after her successful first week on Dancing With The Stars. She’s determined to make a media career for herself and it looks like she’s headed there. In Touch has a new interview with Bristol in which she asserts that she’s a good mom and is spending plenty of time with her 21 month old son, Tripp, while she’s training for DWTS. She tells some cute stories about the things that Tripp does and says that she would love to continue her (well paid) public speaking gigs as well as “‘Host something, or do correspondent work’ like Giuliana Rancic.” As for her speaking career she says that “it would be awesome if I could make a career out of it. It’s fulfilling because I’m sharing my testimony, and I love doing that. If I can get one girl to wait to have sex, then this is worth it.” Bristol commands up to $30,000 a speech and reportedly made $14,000 for speaking at a pro-life charity event recently.

Meanwhile Star has some smack talk from Mercede Johnston, the sister of Bristol’s ex, Levi Johnston. Mercede claims that Bristol has had a breast reduction and liposuction, but the evidence she has is just hearsay and the fact that Bristol didn’t want to visit with Levi’s family at Christmas.

“She wants to look like the ideal Hollywood girl,” Mercede Johnston, the sister of Bristol’s ex-fiance, Levi Johnston, tells Star exclusively about Bristol’s body makeover. “I know in time she will get even more done.”

New York-based plastic surgeon Dr. Steve Fallek tells Star that it appears Bristol, 19, has reduced her breast size from a D cup to a B, which will make gliding around the dance floor much easier. “Reductions lessen pain and strain on the back,” says Dr. Fallek, who has not treated Bristol.

Taking her breast size down two cups isn’t the only tweaking Bristol has done, according to Mercede. She’s had liposuction twice – once in December 2007, the other just before her short-lived reunion with Levi in July. The first time, Mercede explains, “She wouldn’t come inside our house to open Christmas gifts my family got her and wouldn’t let anyone but Levi see her, so he brought the gifts to her car. Levi told us she wouldn’t come in because she had a zit. After we kept asking questions, he finally gave in and said she got surgery.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, October 4, 2010]

The before and after photos that Star uses to show that Bristol had a breast reduction are from the early stages of her pregnancy vs. now, so of course her chest is going to look smaller. Bristol works as an office manager at a dermatologist’s office and it’s possible she has easy access to liposuction and other procedures. This just sounds like sour grapes from Levi’s family, though. There’s a long standing feud between the Johnstons and Palins and I wouldn’t put it past either side to make stuff up to earn money from the tabloids.

Whether Bristol got lipo and a breast reduction or not, she claims she’s not going to show too much of her body on Dancing With the Stars. She tells In Touch she’s not going to show her stomach in any skimpy outfits and that “I’m a mom, I don’t want to be out there in a bikini.” She hopes to lose weight on the show, and adds “I haven’t had time to work out in the past year, but I want to get back to where I was right after I had Tripp.” It’s nice that she said she wanted to get back to where she was after she had her baby. That happened to me too, I lost a lot at first after I had my son and then gained some back.

I could not find any photos that make it look like Bristol had a breast reduction at all. Here’s a side by side of her in May, 2009 (black shirt) vs. May, 2010 and I don’t see any difference. It’s clear that she’s ready for Hollywood though, plastic surgery or not.

Bristol is shown on 9/20 at the DWTS premiere with her partner, Mark Ballas. Credit: WENN.com

So Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt have reunited, and it feels so… scripted. We heard well ahead of time that these two had squandered their millions and were staging a fake breakup in order to keep earning headlines. Now that they’re declaring that they’re back together, I feel indifferent rather than particularly duped. In order to be duped I would have had to have invested a smidgen of interest in either of these plastic characters. Spencer and Heidi declared their “rekindled” love for each other after Spencer was detained for 12 hours at a Costa Rican airport for attempting to bring guns through security. I’m sure that was all well planned ahead of time. No one packs guns for a plane trip “accidentally.”

Spencer Pratt says his 12-hour detainment at a Costa Rica airport for arms possession has given him a chance at reconciliation with wife Heidi Montag.

Montag stood by him during what he called the “wildest day ever of either of our lives” and sparked hope that she might drop her divorce filing, Pratt said Monday.

“It was clear we’re soulmates. I don’t see any reason we can’t get back on track,” he said in Los Angeles after Saturday’s incident.

Police in San Jose, Costa Rica, said the couple were briefly detained at the airport for illegal arms possession after security officers found two unloaded handguns in their luggage. Pratt and Montag hadn’t declared the weapons and lacked permits to have them in Costa Rica, police said.

After questioning, they were released and allowed to leave the country, police said Monday.

The couple met on MTV’s popular reality series “The Hills” and their April 2009 wedding was featured on the show. Montag, 23, cited irreconcilable differences in her July divorce filing, which Pratt says won’t become final until early next year.

She indicated Monday she might have a change of heart.

“As far as I’m concerned the last thing in the world after everything we have just been through is to go through with this divorce,” Montag said in a text message. “But we are just taking life second by second.”

In a phone call, she praised Jesus for their release.

[From The Huffington Post]

I’m sure they were both in on the sex tape scam too, and that it was a whole stunt to drum up publicity. Heidi recent posed for bikini photos during which one of her giant boobs just happened to pop out while she was frolicking in the ocean. Was Spencer’s whole breakdown a stunt too, is the guy genuinely crazy or a little of both? I guess the better question would be: does anyone care?

I try to give Jennifer Aniston a chance, I really do, but she’s so obvious to the point that it’s laughable. Take for instance this latest blurb in People Magazine, no doubt sent to them by her well meaning but completely off the mark PR guy, Huvane whats-his-face. People mentions that she went on a date with her Cougar Town co-star, Josh Hopkins, (he plays the hot single neighbor of Courteney Cox’s character) and that they had “a flirty energy between them and Jen looked very happy.” We saw pictures of Jen and Josh after said date, so the message is out there and there’s no need to follow it up with such a lame story. Jen has also been linked to quite a few other guys lately, including Lindsay Lohan’s ex Harry Morton (who may just have been at the same place at the same time as Aniston), and her on-off go-to douche, John Mayer. So was the article a strategic move to dismiss the stories that she’s back with Mayer and show that she’s happily dating other guys? Obviously.

Looks like Jennifer Aniston’s guest starring role on Cougar Town comes with some sweet fringe benefits.

The actress, 40, (who was recently rumored to be back together with John Mayer) shared a two-hour Italian dinner with Cougar Town actor Josh Hopkins at Madeo in Beverly Hills on Sept. 2.

“She seemed very excited about her date,” says a eyewitness. “She and Josh sat at a more private table and they seemed to get along great.”

Aniston, who sipped white wine and ordered fish, shared animated conversations with Hopkins, 39. “It was obvious that they don’t know each other well, but there was a flirty energy between them and Jen looked very happy,” adds the witness. Reps for both haven’t commented on the relationship, but there’s no denying the smile on Aniston’s face these days.

“Jen has been in the best mood lately,” a source tells PEOPLE. “She is trying to do whatever makes her happy, which includes going on fun dates with interesting men.”

And the star’s optimistic attitude could lead to more fun in the dating world.

[From People]

Ok, we get it! Jennifer Aniston is gorgeous, happy and dating. It’s a shame she can’t string a sentence together and is being managed by a team who regularly issues statements on her love life but can’t bother to apologize when she offends people with her thoughtless comments. Think I’m too harsh? She still hasn’t issued a peep about using that word. I’m not condemning her for letting it slip and as many of you mentioned it’s still in common usage. I’m condemning her and her PR team for not even issuing a brief acknowledgement that she offended people. They’ll surely let us known when she goes on a date, though. This is how I imagine how behind-the-scenes meetings on Aniston’s image go. “Let’s ignore the r word fallout, wait three weeks and then send her on a date with a guy who needs the press.”

photos are from 8/19/10. Credit: Fame Pictures

Is Jessica Simpson pregnant? That’s what OK! Magazine is claiming, in a brilliant/stupid piece of passive-aggressive photo assumption. This photo on OK’s cover is the same one I used a few days ago to illustrate A) how unflattering Jessica’s dress was for her big appearance in West Virgina over the weekend and B) how she should have avoided showing her profile. Now that everyone just assumed Jessica had gained some weight in her abdomen (the logical conclusion), OK wants us to know that Jess is just pregnant. No mention of the baby daddy – at least not with OK:

As Jessica Simpson turns 30, the singer/actress has a new man and a new plan — to become a mother! Enjoying an early birthday celebration at the Greenbrier Casino Club gala opening in West Virginia on July 4, Jess caused a stir with her visible bump! OK! brings you the inside story on Jess’ new love, her plans for the future and what kind of a mom she will be!

[From OK! Magazine]

Now, Us Weekly tried a different tact – calling Jessica out for boning a “married man”. Since Us Weekly hasn’t released their story yet, I’m going to assume that the married man is Eric Johnson, who is actually in the midst of a divorce. According to TMZ, Eric and his wife filed for divorce in February. So… yeah. “Risky!” I think the only thing “risky” about it is that Jessica is a rebound girl for Eric, and she’s probably thinking “Finally, a nice guy who can stand to listen to me without gauging out his eardrums, maybe he’ll marry me!” And Eric is thinking, “Mm, sexual napalm.”

Covers courtesy of CoverAwards.

OK! is running yet another in a long line of misleading covers this week claiming that Jennifer Aniston has “baby news” and allegedly said “Yes, I’m having a baby!” The teaser article on their site reveals absolutely nothing, so I’m sure that they have absolutely nothing other than another weak assurance from Jen that she eventually wants to be a mother after being asked for the umpteenth time about it. (That’s a commentary on how many times Jen is asked that question. It’s in no way a judgment on her choice to live a super rich single girl yoga by day chardonnay-guzzling by night lifestyle.)

There have been some half-assed rumors that Aniston is considering adoption after her friend Sheryl Crow adopted her second son, but I doubt that OK! has anything more than “sources” or a very brief “sure, I would have children at some point” mention from Jen. Her IVF comedy with Jason Bateman, The Switch, is coming out in August so we can look forward to many more breathless “Jennifer is pregnant!” rumors as she does the press tour.

I don’t know what’s worse: this probably worthless article or the way they smudge tooled her face into oblivion. This isn’t the first time OK! has declared Aniston pregnant. They did a “Confirmed: Finally a Baby For Jen” story claiming that she was pregnant with Kaiser’s lover Gerard Butler’s drunken sperm this April. There was an “Exclusive: [Aniston] Pregnant at 40!” cover in September, 2009.

At least they didn’t make Vienna and Jake’s non-shocking split the lead cover story. You know this tired nonstory about Aniston’s alleged baby news is going to sell better than anything with a photo of those two nobodies.

Heidi and Cougar Zank, the guy she allegedly is cheating with

A few days ago, I kicked around the idea of covering a story about Heidi and Spencer suspecting each other of cheating and hiring private investigators to check up on their hunches. Ultimately I skipped that one as there are just too many reports that everything coming out of Heidi and Spencer’s camp, including this “legal separation” and supposed breakup, is staged in order to reel in more cash. Heidi has a new reality series coming up in which she lives in a beach house with another female friend, and she has to be single in order for the show to have some kind of plot. Insiders say that Heidi will reconcile with Spencer as part of the finale and that it’s all pre-planned.

Earlier this week, Radar reported that Heidi was maybe cheating on Spencer with one of their security guards, a guy with the porn star name Cougar Zank. There were vague allegations that Heidi thought Spencer was cheating on her too. Then Radar ran a laughable follow-up that Spencer had fired all his security staff because he was upset that someone was phoning in tips to the paparazzi as to their whereabouts. As if Heidi and Spencer can go two minutes without clamoring for someone to take their picture.

The NY Post is reporting that the adultery story is a total hoax, and that Speidi was trying to sell it to the tabloids for a whopping six figures, which of course none of them were interested in:

Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag won’t let anything get in the way of their quest for fame — not even reality. They’ve been pushing their split by trying to sell a made-up story that Heidi may be cheating with Spencer’s close pal, Marine-turned-bodyguard Cougar Zank. A source told us, “Heidi and Spencer are try ing to play out a fake reality show in the press and get paid along the way. They’ve been approaching magazines and Web sites to buy the fake story of Zank having an affair with Heidi. They’ve been asking for $100,000. But no one is interested as they don’t sell magazines.” A rep for Pratt and Montag didn’t get back to us.

[From The NY Post]

I want to know if Radar paid for that story or if they got a freebie to drum up interest in those two. Heidi and Spencer could definitely use the money. We reported last week on a story from In Touch that claimed they’d already squandered the millions they made on The Hills through huge expenditures including a half million on cars, a half million on “healing/protection” crystals, and $400,000 on security staff. If they wanted to maximize profit they should have gone with the baby plotline instead of the breakup. It’s best that these two never reproduce though.