The ladies of Sex and The City 2 were on The View on Friday and I finally had a chance to watch it. There’s still all this hype around the movie, with audience members holding signs and Elisabeth Hasselbeck declaring “the girls’ night out is reborn!” Given all I’ve heard about it, I would rather sit home and watch whatever happens to be on television while getting my fashion fix online.

Sarah Jessica Parker was inevitably asked on The View about her twin girls, Marion and Tabitha, who were born via surrogate about 11 months ago. She talked about how much she loves them and how her son, James Wilke, helps her out with them. She didn’t mention the fact that she has plenty of professional help and she didn’t talk about her husband, Matthew Broderick.

Cynthia Nixon discussed her engagement, to same sex partner Christine Marinoni. She said that they can’t yet marry in New York and that their friends have plenty of suggestions for destination weddings to where same sex marriage is legal. Cynthia said that they were going to try and wait until same sex marriage was legal in their state. “We’re going to try and stick it out in New York and… fight the good fight, but we’re not going to wait forever.” She said something similar to People Magazine, and explained that she’s not spending much time planning out the details and was more concerned with her basic right to marry. New York recognizes same sex marriages from other states.

On The View, Nixon clarified the hilarious quote she told The Advocate that Christine “was like a short man with boobs.” It was about Christine’s fashion, she explained:

“It is a funny and cute quote… I was actually speaking about Christine’s love of clothes, but how difficult it is for her to find suits that she fits into… She wears men’s suits and she’s a little short for a guy. It’s a challenge.”

The girls then all chimed in about where Cynthia and Christine should get married and how they were all looking forward to a trip.

Kim Cattrall ruled out ever married again after having been married three times. She said “I like being single… I’m very much in a work mode. If I was in a relationship it wouldn’t be a happy one, because I wouldn’t be there.” Kim then said “I wish I had a relationship like we [the SATC women] have. We’ve been together 14 years.”

In earlier interviews Kim said that she would be open to doing yet another sequel, but creator Michael Patrick King and star Sarah Jessica Parker separately said that decision wasn’t made yet. The box office will determine whether they’re drive this series even further into the ground. The numbers are in and they’re not as good as the first film, but not bad overall. Over the weekend Sex and The City 2 was second to Shrek 4, in its second week, but above Prince of Persia, which also premiered this weekend. SATC 2 took in $32.1 million its opening weekend, which was below the opening weekend of the first SATC at $56.8 million.

By popular demand, I’m doing a follow-up on yesterday’s excellent Daniel Craig story. The Enquirer’s online article was too simple (although still very hot), just a story about how Daniel and his special man friend went into a gay bar in Venice, California and starting dancing, drinking and making out. Now that I’ve read the whole Enquirer article in the print edition, I just have to get into all of the steamy details. Note: my hot and steamy man-on-man fan fiction will be at the end of the post. Here’s the Enquirer’s full story:

007 hunk Daniel Craig shared a steamy kiss with a smoking-hot guy in the parking lot of a gay bar – leading patrons to wonder if the action star is bisexual!

Pulses raced when the 42-year-old “Casino Royale” star showed up at the Roosterfish bar in Venice, Calif., with a good-looking man on May 15.

After a few drinks, the two men hit the dance floor, and at the end of the night, they were spotted smooching outside, according to a stunned eyewitness. (The ENQUIRER contacted Craig’s rep about the kissing incident, but got no response.)

“It was definitely Daniel Craig, and he most certainly was making out with a guy,” a patron who observed the men in the parking lot told The Enquirer. “Daniel kissed his friend on the lips. It was an open-mouth French kiss. In fact, Daniel held the guy’s head in his hands and pulled him in for the kiss!”

The source – who passed a polygraph test about his claims – said that when Craig realized he was being observed, “he immediately broke away from the guy. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it!”

Daniel has an 18-year-old daughter, Ella, from a four-year-marriage to Scottish actress Fiona Loudon. He has been with producer Satsuki Mitchell for four years, but he and his male pal blended into the crowd at the well-known gay watering hole, according to another eyewitness.

“When Daniel and his friend walked in, they looked like any other upscale gay couple checking out the scene,” the other source told The Enquirer. Craig ordered a Ketel One vodka and soda, and left a $20 tip. And the actor’s friend soon got very touchy-feely with him, said the source.

“He rubbed Daniel’s leg and his shoulder while they talked, and Daniel didn’t seem to mind,” the source said.

“At first, I thought Daniel might have come in with his gay friend to check out the live music. But when they started dancing together, I thought, ‘This is more than just two friends out for drinks,’” the source said.

When word spread that James Bond was in the bar, “people came up to Daniel to say hello and tell him they were big fans. He was very gracious and shook hands,” the source divulged.

“There have been celebrities in the bar before, but none as big as Daniel Craig. Seeing him on a date with another guy made it a night to remember.”

[From The Enquirer, print edition]

First: Did this sh-t really go down? I enjoyed yesterday’s story because I figured it was just some gay dude’s wishful thinking (and mine), but now I’m really wondering. Still, why are there no photos at all? Gay dudes love their gadgets. You know there would be photos of Daniel in the bar, at the very least.

Second, the fan-fiction: Daniel knew what Javi wanted as soon as Javi’s hands began climbing up his leg. Daniel felt flushed, he knew the heat was rising as his pants tightened. Javi wanted it all. Javi wanted an end to charade, the lies, Javi wanted all of him, all the time, everywhere, every way. Javi’s dark eyes never left Daniel’s face. He leaned in, taking his hand from Daniel’s thigh to his shoulder, brushing past Daniel’s nipple along the way. Daniel, throaty, needy: “I need to get out of here.” Javi, sad, hot: “Okay.” They make their way out of the bar, hearing the catcalls, ignoring the stares. Javi was preparing to say goodbye, this time for good. Before he could say a word, Daniel leans in, pushing him against the Porsche, taking Javi’s head in his hands. “Yes,” Daniel says, “This is what I want, you, forever.” Javi knows that Daniel is in control now. He leans in, their bodies pressed against each other fully. Both are hard, everywhere. Daniel pulls his hair back and kisses him… needy, searching, with tongue.

Try to work the rest of the day. I dare you.

Daniel in September 2002; in London on October 14, 2005; and promoting image from Casino Royale.

This National Enquirer story just made my day. I needed this. A hottie, a gay bar, and some hot man-on-man action. You know why I love gay bars? The drinks are always stronger and the music is always better. This is probably how Daniel Craig feels too. According to the Enquirer, Daniel showed up at a gay bar in Venice, California with a “good-looking man”. They had a few drinks, shared a few laughs, danced to a few songs. Then they went out to a parking lot to make out. This story is turning me on so much:

007 hunk Daniel Craig shared a steamy kiss with a smoking-hot guy in the parking lot of a gay bar – leading patrons to wonder if the action star is bisexual!

Pulses raced when the 42-year-old “Casino Royale” star showed up at the Roosterfish bar in Venice, Calif., with a good-looking man on May 15.

After a few drinks, the two men hit the dance floor, and at the end of the night, they were spotted smooching outside, according to a stunned eyewitness. (The ENQUIRER contacted Craig’s rep about the kissing incident, but got no response.)

“At first, I thought Daniel might have come in with his gay friend to check out the live music. But when they started dancing together, I thought, ‘This is more than just two friends out for drinks,’” the source said.

[From The National Enquirer]

It’s like fan fiction for straight girls who get off on the occasional “hot man on hot man” pornographic fantasy (*raising hand*). In my mind, Daniel Craig’s special friend is well-built, dark, but not pretty. A little bit rough trade, a little bit Euro. Like a beefy Ed Westwick, mixed with Javier Bardem. For the purpose of my fantasy, I shall call him Javi. I imagine them dancing to Gaga’s “Bad Romance”. Daniel turns and twirls on the dance floor, and Javi’s hands find their way to Daniel’s slender hips. Their eyes meet… “I want your ugly, I want your disease…” Gaga sings. Daniel moves in, his lips faintly brushing Javi’s ear. “Let’s get out of here,” Daniel whispers. Javi moves in even closer, their chests against each other. “Yes,” Javi says hoarsely. They can’t even make it to the hotel down the road. Daniel presses Javi against a vintage Jaguar in the parking lot, kissing him softly at first, then harder, rougher…

Jesus, I need to stop.

Header: Still from Layer Cake.

MTV Josh’s Horowitz asked Sex and The City’s Cynthia Nixon for her thoughts on a controversial article in Newsweek. You might remember earlier this month when author Ramin Setoodeh called two different gay actors “queeny” and claimed that out gay actors couldn’t convincingly play straight characters. Glee guest star Kristen Chenoweth and Glee’s creator Ryan Murphy are among the people who spoke out against the piece, with Chenoweth calling it homophobic and Murphy urging a boycott of Newsweek. Nixon has a same sex partner and has been outspoken about the fact that she’s gay and in love with a woman. She similarly condemned the article for its antiquated and damaging stance on gay actors:

I think it’s so horrible and I think it’s really terrific that there has been such an enormous response and so much back and forth discussion about it. And people trying to explain to this gentleman why they’re so upset about what he wrote. I feel like it’s hard enough to encourage people to come out of the closet like it’s not going to damage their careers and when you have someone who is so… it’s not even like he’s just negative. He’s making fun of people in a really cruel way. It’s really set us back 10 years.

[From Cynthia Nixon's interview on MTV's Rough Cut, video above]

I completely agree with Nixon and the more interviews I see with her the more I admire how open and honest she is. This clip was part of MTV’s Rough Cut series, and Horowitz has other interviews with the creator of the series, Michael Patrick King, and with stars Kim Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker. Horowitz asked Catrall about a third Sex and the City movie (video below) and she said she hopes there will be another one and that she’s game for it! “I don’t know if there will be a third. I hope there will be. I think there’s more stories to be told… I think the only way it will continue is if Michael feels that there’s more to be said. I think once we start repeating ourselves then it’s time to say goodbye. Maybe that’s in five years, maybe it’s in ten. Who knows? I hope we can do it for as long as the audience is there.” So Cattrall will take the money with a smile.

In the same series of interviews, creator Michael Patrick King cleared up rumors that Victoria Beckham and Katie Holmes were turned down for cameos in the sequel. He said “I didn’t turn down Victoria Beckham and I never turned down Katie Holmes. In fact I bumped into Katie Holmes the other night, and she said to me ‘Tell me that Carrie doesn’t cheat on Big with Aiden.’”

I have to admit that I got the lead for this story when I went over to Perez Hilton’s site to report on the jaw-dropping $20 million offer he’s received. Like I said he gets stories fast.

In the April issue of The Advocate, Sean Hayes finally came out of the closet officially. Sean never played the “no really, I love vadge” closet games, but he did steadfastly refuse to answer questions about his sexuality for many years, claiming that he didn’t want to limit his choices as an actor, or limit the audience’s view of him and the characters he could play. Sean did the Advocate interview as promotion for his role in the Broadway musical Promises, Promises, in which he plays the (hetero) romantic lead opposite Kristin Chenoweth. Well, Promises, Promises premiered, and this was enough to set off a Newsweek culture critic named Ramin Setoodeh – who is gay, HuffPo points out – on some kind of crazy tangent about gay actors playing it straight, and how much they suck at it. No pun intended? Eh. FYI: The full piece is here, I’m just going to edit down the relevant portions – and many are already calling this one of the most homophobic mainstream journalism pieces in a long time:

The reviews for the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises were negative enough, even though most of the critics ignored the real problem—the big pink elephant in the room. The leading man of this musical-romantic comedy is supposed to be a single advertising peon named Chuck who is madly in love with a co-worker (Kristin Chenoweth). When the play opened on Broadway in 1968, Jerry Orbach, an actor with enough macho swagger to later fuel years and years of Law and Order, was the star.

The revival hands the lead over to Sean Hayes, best known as the queeny Jack on Will & Grace. Hayes is among Hollywood’s best verbal slapstickers, but his sexual orientation is part of who he is, and also part of his charm. (The fact that he only came out of the closet just before Promises was another one of those Ricky Martin-duh moments.) But frankly, it’s weird seeing Hayes play straight. He comes off as wooden and insincere, like he’s trying to hide something, which of course he is. Even the play’s most hilarious scene, when Chuck tries to pick up a drunk woman at a bar, devolves into unintentional camp. Is it funny because of all the ’60s-era one-liners, or because the woman is so drunk (and clueless) that she agrees to go home with a guy we all know is gay?

[The] truth is, openly gay actors still have reason to be scared. While it’s OK for straight actors to play gay (as Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger did in Brokeback Mountain), it’s rare for someone to pull off the trick in reverse… Last year, Rupert Everett caused a ruckus when he told the Guardian that gay actors should stay in the closet. “The fact is,” he said, “that you could not be, and still cannot be, a 25-year-old homosexual trying to make it in the … film business.” Is he just bitter or honest? Maybe both.

Most actors would tell you that the biographical details of their lives are beside the point. Except when they’re not. As viewers, we are molded by a society obsessed with dissecting sexuality, starting with the locker-room torture in junior high school.

This is admittedly a complicated issue for the gay community, though it is not, in fact, a uniquely gay problem. In the 1950s, the idea of “color-blind casting” became a reality, and the result is that today there’s nothing to stop Denzel Washington from playing the Walter Matthau role in the remake of The Taking of the Pelham 1-2-3. Jack Nicholson, by the force of his charm, makes you forget how he’s entirely too old to win Helen Hunt’s heart in As Good As It Gets. For gay actors, why should sexual orientation limit a gay actor’s choice of roles? The fact is, an actor’s background does affect how we see his or her performance—which is why the Tom Hankses and Denzels of the world guard their privacy carefully.

It’s not just a problem for someone like Hayes, who even tips off your grandmother’s gaydar. For all the beefy bravado that Rock Hudson projects on-screen, Pillow Talk dissolves into a farce when you know the likes of his true bedmates. (Just rewatch the scene where he’s wading around in a bubble bath by himself.) Lesbian actresses might have it easier—since straight men think it’s OK for them to kiss a girl and like it—but how many of them can you name? Cynthia Nixon was married to a man when she originated Miranda on Sex and the City. Kelly McGillis was straight when she steamed up Top Gun’s sheets, and Anne Heche went back to dating men (including her Men in Trees costar). If an actor of the stature of George Clooney came out of the closet tomorrow, would we still accept him as a heterosexual leading man? It’s hard to say. Or maybe not. Doesn’t it mean something that no openly gay actor like that exists?

[From Newsweek]

Is this homophobic? I would say yes, probably. But my first thought – knowing that Setoodeh is gay – was that he’s a self-loathing gay dude trying to make a f-cked up point in a really twisted, horrible way. I think he’s throwing the word “queen” around to be light and funny, but I winced every time because it came across like gay-on-gay hate speech. It’s as if Setoodeh’s original piece was called “Sean Hayes: Too F-ggy, Even For This Queen”. In any case, this whole Newsweek situation got even more coverage because Hayes’s costar and friend and Kristin Chenoweth wrote an open letter on Broadway.com defending Sean. Her full piece is here, and here are the highlights:

As a longtime fan of Newsweek and as the actress currently starring opposite the incredibly talented (and sexy!) Sean Hayes in the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises, I was shocked on many levels to see Newsweek publishing Ramin Setoodeh’s horrendously homophobic “Straight Jacket,” which argues that gay actors are simply unfit to play straight. From where I stand, on stage, with Hayes, every night — I’ve observed nothing “wooden” or “weird” in his performance, nor have I noticed the seemingly unwieldy presence of a “pink elephant” in the Broadway Theater. (The Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Tony members must have also missed that large animal when nominating Hayes’ performance for its highest honors this year.)

I’d normally keep silent on such matters and write such small-minded viewpoints off as perhaps a blip in common sense. But the offense I take to this article, and your decision to publish it, is not really even related to my profession or my work with Hayes or Jonathan Groff (also singled out in the article as too “queeny” to play “straight.”)

This article offends me because I am a human being, a woman and a Christian. For example, there was a time when Jewish actors had to change their names because anti-Semites thought no Jew could convincingly play Gentile. Setoodeh even goes so far as to justify his knee-jerk homophobic reaction to gay actors by accepting and endorsing that “as viewers, we are molded by a society obsessed with dissecting sexuality, starting with the locker room torture in junior high school.” Really? We want to maintain and proliferate the same kind of bullying that makes children cry and in some recent cases have even taken their own lives? That’s so sad, Newsweek! The examples he provides (what scientists call “selection bias”) to prove his “gays can’t play straight” hypothesis are sloppy in my opinion. Come on now!

[Thousands] of people have traveled from all over the world to enjoy Hayes’ performance and don’t seem to have one single issue with his sexuality! They have no problem buying him as a love-torn heterosexual man. Audiences aren’t giving a darn about who a person is sleeping with or his personal life. Give me a break! We’re actors first, whether we’re playing prostitutes, baseball players, or the Lion King. Audiences come to theater to go on a journey. It’s a character and it’s called acting, and I’d put Hayes and his brilliance up there with some of the greatest actors period.

Lastly, as someone who’s been proudly advocating for equal rights and supporting GLBT causes for as long as I can remember, I know how much it means to young people struggling with their sexuality to see out & proud actors like Sean Hayes, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Cynthia Nixon succeeding in their work without having to keep their sexuality a secret. No one needs to see a bigoted, factually inaccurate article that tells people who deviate from heterosexual norms that they can’t be open about who they are and still achieve their dreams. I am told on good authority that Mr. Setoodeh is a gay man himself and I would hope, as the author of this article, he would at least understand that. I encourage Newsweek to embrace stories which promote acceptance, love, unity and singing and dancing for all!

–Kristin Chenoweth

[From Chenowith’s open letter published in Broadway.com]

Ah, I love Kristin Chenoweth. I like that she identifies herself as a Christian and a GLBT advocate, and honestly, the GLBT community needs more people like her as their advocates and ambassadors to the “straight” world. As far as the larger argument about gay actors playing straight characters – I know there are some people who really care about it one way or the other, but when you’ve got a truly gifted actor, it really doesn’t matter. I absolutely hated Setoodeh’s example of Rock Hudson – have you ever gone back and watched one of those old Rock Hudson and Doris Day movies? They’re really good! They were two actors who had a lot of chemistry and love for each other, and you could tell how much fun they were having together in every single scene of their movies. And my guess is that it’s exactly the same for Kristin and Sean – who cares if he’s going home to his boyfriend? Does that mean he can’t have chemistry with another actor?

Cynthia Nixon was always my favorite on Sex and the City. I identified with Miranda – mostly because she always seemed like the most realistic, grounded character, and because our caustic, stubborn personalities were similar. During the television series, Nixon left her long-time male partner and began dating and living with Christine Marinoni. That was six years ago, and now Nixon is The Advocate’s newest cover girl, and she talks about her relationship with Christine more candidly than I’ve ever heard. The full Advocate piece is here, and here are some highlights:

For years, people on the street have been calling her “Miranda,” the cynical, type A lawyer Cynthia Nixon made famous on HBO’s Sex and the City. Six years later, now that she’s come out as gay, survived breast cancer, and stepped up as a marriage equality activist, her fans now recognize her for her.

In her new interview with The Advocate (www.advocate.com), Nixon talks about her slow coming-out after she began dating her now-fiancée, Christine Marinoni. After the couple had spent many months together, the press started speculating about their relationship. Nixon hired a publicist who warned her to stay out of the headlines. Uncomfortable with that route, Nixon soon turned to Kelly Bush, an openly gay publicist. Bush suggested Nixon confirm the rumors, and that is just what she did.

“I was like, ‘Really, we can just confirm?’” Nixon tells The Advocate. “So that’s just what we did. It was so fantastic.”

Freshly out, and with two children from her relationship with Danny Mozes, Nixon integrated Marinoni into her life and her family.

“She’s like a short man with boobs,” Nixon says of Marinoni. “A lot of what I love about her is her butchness. I’m not saying I fell in love with her in a sexually neutral way. I love her sexuality — it’s a big part of what I love about her — but I feel like it was her.”

Nixon’s children also quickly adapted to the new relationship, not that her son’s processing started at school. “His teachers were just so great about it,” Nixon notes, “because they were the first people that started referring to ‘Charlie’s moms,’ which is so lovely, and we really hadn’t done that yet. So Charlie came home one day and he said [to Marinoni], ‘You’re my mommy too!’”

With a healthy family life and having overcome breast cancer, in 2008 Nixon opened up about her battle and her first big-screen nude scene. Showing her breasts, in a big way, was not a political response to the cancer battle.

“They didn’t know about it at the time. Generally, my thoughts are, if they ask me to do [a nude scene], I’ll do one,” Nixon proclaims. “I mean, I won’t do anything, but I feel like if Michael Patrick [King] wants me to do it, there’s a reason he wants me to do it.”

[From The Advocate]

Bless her heart. And I mean that in the honest, go-ahead-girl way, not in the condescending way. Even though I think Sarah Jessica Parker was always more than cool with Cynthia coming out, I always got the impression that other people involved with Sex and the City really just wanted to shove Cynthia in the corner and hope that mainstream America wouldn’t realize that Cynthia was suddenly out of the closet. It’s interesting that Cynthia was allowed – by SATC producers and publicists – to do this Advocate cover interview. I wonder if she’s going to be hidden away for this publicity tour?

Regarding the whole “She’s like a short man with boobs. A lot of what I love about her is her butchness.” I breathlessly await Michael K’s take.

Photos courtesy of The Advocate.

Eh. Today’s Gatecrasher is trying to make it sound like James Franco could totally be gay. Apparently, when Franco was doing a panel discussion on the documentary he directed (Saturday Night, a behind-the-scenes look at one week of preparing for Saturday Night Live), he got some questions about his sexuality. Things apparently got “uncomfortable” and Franco’s rep “stopped him from answering”. Also, James and SNL’s Will Forte may have something going on…?

Let the rumor mills roll: James Franco dodged some dicey questions at a panel discussion following Sunday’s Tribeca Film Fest premiere of his doc, “Saturday Night.”

“One of the guests asked James a few things that alluded to his sexuality,” says a panel-goer, explaining that the line of questioning was in regards to Franco’s on-camera kiss with Will Forte on “SNL.” “Franco’s rep stopped him from answering, and the crowd got really uncomfortable.”

But Franco didn’t seem to mind: “Will and James were taking pictures of themselves with a Polaroid at the afterparty [at 48 Lounge],” says a spy. “And then James turned to Will and joked, ‘Uh-oh, this one is going to make people talk!’ Will even told a passerby, ‘James is a very passionate kisser!’”

[From Gatecrasher]

As I said before, “eh”. I don’t really think James is gay, but I don’t really care, honestly. I believe he’s had a girlfriend for a few years, but they may have broken up? He seems to play it close to the vest, so I could see how he could be gay or bisexual and we would have no idea. But he’s probably just a straight dude who doesn’t have any hangups about kissing other dudes. That’s my call.

Header: James Franco in New York on May 2, 2010. Credit: RAM/Fame.

True story: Everybody loves Ellen Degeneres. Middle America loves her, Hollywood loves her, the media loves her, and the gay community loves her too. Out Magazine has declared that Ellen Degeneres is the most powerful gay person in America. She beat out such power gays as Tim Gunn (#47, fabulous), Wanda Sykes (#36), Perez Hilton (#26), Matt Drudge (#15), Neal Patrick Harris (#7), Adam Lambert (#5), Rachel Maddow (#4), and Anderson Cooper (who has never officially come out, at #3). Here’s what Out Mag had to say about her:

Since DeGeneres replaced Paula Abdul as a judge on American Idol in February, millions upon millions of viewers are getting a double dose of the hugely popular talk show host and 12-time Emmy winner. The American Express and Covergirl pitchwoman’s reach is nearly unparalleled, especially after Oprah Winfrey’s announcement that she will be ending her show in 2011. A passionate advocate for marriage equality, an avid opponent of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and staunch defender of animal rights, DeGeneres’s enormous platform is many an American’s gain.

[From Out Magazine]

In addition to that honor, Ellen also covers the May issue of Shape Magazine. She talks about how her wife Portia likes some curves, and what her favorite foods are. Shockingly, Shape didn’t try to force Ellen into a bikini, thank God. I’m sure Ellen has a great figure, but I like it when people put their foot down and say, “You know what? No one needs to know what I look like in a bikini.” Here’s more:

Super slim Portia de Rossi likes her wife Ellen DeGeneres to have curves.

“She loves me no matter what. Whenever I feel bad about myself, or if I’m in a period where I’m not working out, she’s constantly telling me that she doesn’t notice, that I look beautiful. She’ll say, ‘I think you could gain 10 more pounds,’” the American Idol judge, 52, tells the May issue of Shape (via Huffington Post).

Continues DeGeneres, “She would rather have me heavier than thinner, and she really hates that I ever doubt myself. She loves how I look. She wants me to be happy and never think about it.”

She says she’s avoided Hollywood pressure to stay thin.

“Either I wasn’t that stereotypical beautiful girl or they just gave up on me,” she quips. “I was just funny. That’s what I was. I never thought I was supposed to dress a certain way or be a certain size. I never put that pressure on myself, and no one ever put it on me.”

The Ellen DeGeneres Show host admits that she hasn’t always been the healthiest eater.

“Food used to be really important to me. I loved steak, I loved hamburgers, I loved all that stuff…. Cheeseburgers, fried chicken, fried things,” she says. “And then some things happened in my life, and, as a lot of young girls do, I put on weight as a barrier, as protection, to keep people away.”

Afterward, “I was… always struggling, always trying to lose it,” she says. “Diets don’t work. It has to be a way of life.”

Now she sticks to a strict meal plan: “No animals, no dairy, nothing processed; a lot of soup, veggies, rice, beans, legumes.”

Explains DeGeneres of her eating habits, “I want to be on my toes; I want to have energy. And as much as the diet seems like a sacrifice, it’s helping me.”

She also hits the gym.

“I first started doing power yoga in L.A., which really makes no sense. Power yoga?” she jokes. “It’s the opposite of what it should be. Yoga should calm you down!”

[From Us Weekly]

Ellen and Portia seem really happy together, and I really hope they’re doing well. Regarding Ellen’s diet – ugh. I didn’t know she was one of those “no meat, no dairy” people. I’m a little disappointed with that. Well… at least she’s not doing The Zone.

Shape cover courtesy of CoverAwards.

Many of you are probably unfamiliar with singer Rufus Wainwright, but I’ve been in love with him since his self-titled first album (in 1998). He has a gorgeous voice, and he’s one of the better songwriters working today. After he broke through and got some fame and success, Rufus took a bad turn, becoming a crystal meth addict and party boy. After a few years, he got clean and made a triumphant comeback doing a song-by-song tribute to Judy Garland’s iconic performance at Carnegie Hall. He has a new album coming out, so he sat down with Details Magazine to talk about music and everything else. Things sort of went of the rails during the first question, when Rufus declared his love of 50 Cent, and then proceeds to “out” 50. Yikes! Here’s the complete interview, and here are the highlights:

Q: You’ve sung in Latin, you’ve referenced Thomas Mann, and your new album pays tribute to Shakespeare. What’s your beef with the 21st century?
A: I am a little slower in my percolations. I like examining what’s come before. But that said, I’m addicted to Real Housewives of Orange County and Keeping Up With the Kardashians. I get sideswiped by the boobs, the hair, the butts, the jewels, the cars, the bad boys. And I love, love 50 Cent. I think he’s just the sexiest, and a brilliant writer. And I know he’s gay.

Q: What makes you so sure?
A: That cute little voice of his. It’s okay, 50 Cent. Feel free to call me anytime. My boyfriend and I are experts. You can come over for dinner. And maybe dessert.

Q: You were born in America but raised in Montreal. What’s the most Canadian thing about you?
A: My love of maple syrup. I’ve been known to knock back a can over a couple days: A swig here, a swig there, and next thing you know it’s gone. It’s a habit I have to stave off. I don’t want to lose all my teeth. I stopped doing crystal meth—I don’t want to look like an addict.

Q: What’s the best part of a crystal-meth high?
A: There’s nothing enjoyable about it. It gets its hooks in you. I’ve done every kind of drug, and each one has something laudable about it, except meth.

Q: How did your parents—the folk musicians Loudon Wainwright III and (the late) Kate McGarrigle—react when you came out in your teens?
A: I love my folks, and they’ve done a good job coming full circle, but they were terrible: terrified, ill-equipped, confused. They threatened to kick me out of the house. They didn’t want to talk about it and just weren’t there for me. I mean, it was the mid-eighties and AIDS was pervasive, so I can’t blame them totally for their insanity. And they changed a lot over the years.

Q: Musician Stephin Merritt recently advised gay aspiring musicians not to come out. Do you agree?
A: I find that a bit cynical. I don’t have the energy or the emotional repression to bottle that stuff up. It’s true, it’s tougher careerwise if you come out, but this is a human-rights issue, and it’s important to keep putting dents in it. It’s about two teenagers being beheaded for holding hands in Saudi Arabia. It’s bigger than someone’s music career.

Q: Were you afraid when you began cruising bars in Montreal for sex at 14?
A: That was part of the arousal. I kind of sought fear. I was rebelling against parents who were rebellious themselves, which is tough. One could argue it was a bad thing, but on the other hand it’s such an iconic image. A 14-year-old kid at the bar—it’s pretty wild. Talk about the movie rights!

Q: It’s darker than that, though. You were raped.
A: It’s a terrible thing I had to deal with for a long time. But it sort of saved my life, too. I needed a smack upside the head, and after the assault I didn’t have sex for about 10 years. It really straightened out my loose behavior.

Q: The new album is your sparest, most stripped-down release yet. Are you entering a mellower phase?
A: After writing the opera and doing my Judy Garland–cover concert—after I’d dazzled and wowed for a few years—I wanted to just hit ‘em with a bullet. Just me and a piano. And it’s in keeping with the times, too. We’re in a recession. Things everywhere are being stripped down. You have to go with that.

Q: You do have a hard-core fanbase. What’s the craziest thing a fan has ever given you?
A: A few years ago, this woman, God bless her, who must have been experiencing a nervous breakdown, abandoned her children and started following our bus. At one point, in order to get backstage, she made us a crate of pumpkin preserves. We didn’t eat any of it. It was probably laced with roofies and Ecstasy.

[From Details]

Do you think 50 Cent will get the “joke”? Rufus is saying he wishes 50 Cent were gay, or that 50 simply beeps on Rufus’s gaydar, perhaps. Would that make 50 Cent mad? I hope not.

Here’s one of my favorite Rufus songs ever – “In My Arms”:

Jennifer Lopez has an epic, hilarious, diva-tastic interview in the May issue of The Advocate, and I am loving every second of this! The dude interviewing La Lopez is obviously one of her gay peeps, because he is all over her. He calls Jennifer’s trash-tastic single “Louboutins” maybe “the gayest song ever”. The dude also makes Jennifer out every gay dude she’s ever known or worked with, including several of her directors and her manager Benny Medina (I had no idea Medina was gay). Jennifer also gives advice to the drag queens who do her in their act, too. Oh, and she defends that f-cked up catsuit she wore on New Years (hideous) and talks about how she would feel if one of her kids was gay, and her answer is pretty awesome. Jennifer just loves her gay men! I don’t think I’ve realized it before, but Jennifer is definitely a huge supporter of the gay community. The full interview is here, and here are the best parts (there are a lot!):

When you last spoke to The Advocate in 2002, you were giving us a preview of your first lesbian role.
Oh, yeah? Which one was that?

Ricki in Gigli.
Oh, my God, that’s right! I totally forgot about that.

Understandable. So I’ve done some intensive research and concluded that “Louboutins” may be the gayest song ever.
[Laughs] I love that. I’m very happy to hear that, thank you.

Michael Patrick King would be crazy not to stick it on the Sex and the City 2 soundtrack.
I agree. He would be crazy.

Do you keep the gay audience in mind when working on a new album?
To be honest, yes, I really do. I love dance music and I know that’s very big in the club culture and in the gay community, so I feel like you can’t not think about them. I also think about whether or not they’ll want to impersonate me. [Laughs] I’ll be like, “Is this outfit any good? Would any drag queen want to put this on? No? Then forget it — it’s not worth it.”

Those Jennifer Lopez drag queens on SNL looked pretty rough. How should a drag impersonator best emulate you?
The best advice I can give is to really study your character. Like when I play a character, I really study.

Does it hurt your feelings when one of your outfits gets negative criticism?
Not really. I always wear something that I like, so whether or not other people like it isn’t that important to me. It’s always great when people say you look nice or you were one of the best dressed, but if you take that you have to also take it when they say, “Oh, we didn’t like that.” Either way, I liked it.

Your sparkly catsuit on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve got mixed reviews, but a lot of people weren’t feeling your white Versace at the 2010 Grammys.
Really? Oh, my God, that was so gorgeous. Some people have no taste.

Growing up in New York, did you ever go to gay clubs when you took the 6 train from the Bronx into Manhattan?
Yes. Escuelita — that’s the kind of Latin one, right? I’ve been connected with the gay community for a very long time.

Gay directors have helmed two of your most successful movies — Robert Luketic on Monster-in-Law and Adam Shankman on The Wedding Planner. Alan Poul, who directed The Back-Up Plan, is also gay. So that’s a good sign, right?
It’s true. I get along with the gays — what can I tell you? We click. Gay directors have a certain sensitivity when it comes to women’s issues; I don’t know if that makes any sense, but that’s what I feel. They also have a tremendous sense of humor about life, so they know romantic comedy. I love them.

In a recent interview, Shankman told The Advocate, “Did you see Wedding Planner? It’s full of pink, and look at Jennifer Lopez’s hair. It’s the gayest thing you’ve ever seen.” Were you aware of that film’s gayness at the time?
[Laughs] No, but now I see it. It’s totally clear.

Does The Back-Up Plan feature a “gay best friend” cliché — maybe the guy your character asks for sperm in the film’s trailer?
[Laughs] Everybody thinks he’s gay, but I don’t think he was intended to be. It’s not specified, but it’s funny that he’s coming off as that. No, there’s no gay best friend in this one, but out of all the romantic comedies I’ve done, I find this one to be the funniest.

Who’s your best gay friend in real life?
Oh, God, I have so many, but my closest is my manager, Benny [Medina]. He’s the godfather to my child, so he’s become a part of my family. We understand each other, we love each other, we have a certain type of chemistry, we have similar work ethics, and we can talk about everything.

More and more celebrities are supporting the gay community by vowing not to get married until all Americans can marry. I guess you didn’t get that memo, huh?
Yeah, I didn’t get that memo three times. [Laughs] When it comes to gay marriage, I just believe in love. I believe that when two people find each other and love each other, they should be able to spend their lives together. Especially being married now and having been divorced twice — being younger, more immature, and making those kinds of mistakes — I don’t think marriage is to be taken lightly for anybody. You have to work at it.

Ever since you performed at Karen’s wedding on Will & Grace, it’s been a dream of mine for you to perform at my gay wedding someday. Are your rates reasonable?
They’re kind of high.

Do your gay fans behave like they did on Will & Grace — do they wear Glow and know every move of your intricately planned choreography?
Not all, but some. It’s so great, and I, of course, love it.

You made surprise appearances at the 2002 White Party in Palm Springs and at the 2006 Heritage of Pride Dance on the Pier in New York. What’s it like to perform for a sea of gay men?
It’s the best audience ever. You guys enjoy the music, you get into it, and you’re not afraid to let go and express yourself. That’s what I want from an audience. I recently did a show where the crowd was just standing there, staring at me with their camera phones up, YouTubing me or whatever the heck they do now. I was like, “This is crazy! I need vibe!” I’d so much rather have you guys jumping up and down, waving your arms in the air.

It helps that you always have the hottest backup dancers.
Of course, I’m no dummy. I get some good ones.

On Dancelife, the 2007 MTV reality series you created, one of your gay backup dancers at the New York pride event made amends with his estranged father. How would you react if one of your kids ever came to you and said, “Mom, I’m gay”?
Honestly, it wouldn’t bother me at all. I wouldn’t be shocked or anything. Marc even once asked me, “What if one of the babies is gay?” I said, “Who cares?” And he was like, “Yeah, I know. Who cares?” You just love your kids and want them to be happy, because it’s really about love. That’s what this is all about — I sing about it, I do movies about it, and that’s how I live my life.

Would you ever do a reality show about your life?
No, because it demystifies you as a musician, an actress, and an artist. I want to act and make music, but I want people to be able to interpret it on their own terms. I don’t want people to know too much about me. That’s the great thing about the old movie stars and singers: There was an air of mystery about them. Marc and I try to maintain as much of a private life in this public arena as we can.

Not to invade your privacy, but I’d like to address some recent rumors. Are you bisexual?
No, I am not bisexual.

Why would someone say that about you?
I don’t know.

Have you ever kissed a girl and liked it?
No, I’ve never kissed a girl.

Really? Never?
Nope. Sorry!

[From The Advocate]

I know that was epic, but I hope you enjoyed every morsel of that fabulous interview. She really is funny, isn’t she? Regarding her backup dancers: “I’m no dummy. I get some good ones.” And my favorite, “Some people have no taste.” Spoken like a true diva! I would love to see some really great drag queens do her recent catsuit fetish. Oh, regarding the whole “What if your kids are gay?” thing, I really liked her answer. Do you think she really cares (because she’s so “traditional” you know)? I think she’s telling the truth. She would probably love it if Max was gay. She would raise the finest backup dancer the world has ever seen!