What relationship is complete without a sex tape? If you follow the Paris Hilton school of thought, practically everyone’s made a sex tape or two, famous or not. So by that logic, Verne “Mini-Me” Troyer and ex-girlfriend Ranae Shrider are perfectly normal.

Troyer sued TMZ to get his sex tape taken off their website; however a judge ruled they could put it back up because Shrider gave TMZ permission to post the tape – and the camera used to make the video was hers.

Shrider just gave an interview to AVN about their relationship, how she and Troyer met, and how they came to make a sex tape. Here are a few excerpts:

Shrider - who grew up in Kentucky and attended the University of South Florida before moving to Hollywood in July 2007 to pursue an acting career - said she and Troyer met on New Year’s Eve 2007 at a party at the Playboy Mansion. “I was totally not in my element there,” she said. “A friend I was with said, ‘Let’s go over there and meet Mini-Me.’ I was hoping to meet someone like Ian Ziering, but hey.” Shrider said Troyer asked her for her phone number several times, but she said he asked several other girls for theirs, too. She said she eventually gave in and gave him her number, never expecting to hear from him.

“The next day, he called and told me it was his birthday,” she said. “I was like, ‘Um, well, happy birthday.’” Shrider said the relationship progressed through phone calls during Troyer’s three-week stay in England while filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. When Troyer returned to the U.S. on Jan. 23, Shrider said, the two met up and began a full-fledged relationship.

As for the sex tape, Shrider said, the couple had been dating for several months when they decided to document their intimate moments during a romantic getaway. “Neither of us had ever done anything like that before,” she said. “We thought, ‘Why not?’ We were in a beautiful setting, and we thought it would be something good for our personal use.”

However, Shrider insisted, filming sexual romps was not a normal activity for the couple. A lot of their life was “all about normalcy,” she said. On more than one occasion, they discussed marriage, she added, but the relationship soured in June. They still live together, but they lead separate lives with separate bedrooms and try to be “civil to each other.”

[From AVN]

Ranae of course claims she’s not trying to cash in on her 15 minutes of fame, and says if she were, we would have heard about her “months ago.” Okay… but since she revealed that she gave permission for TMZ to show the sex tape, wouldn’t that indicate that she is trying to become famous? Otherwise, shouldn’t that tape have ended up in a fire?

I find it crazy that she and Verne are still living together. That’s got to be awkward. According to In Touch, they’re staying in separate rooms while waiting out their lease. Something tells me that’ll be a tense few months.

Here’s a video clip of Ranae’s interview with AVN. The video content itself is sorta-SFW, but the ads preceding the video are a little racy. And there are some nude images hanging behind Shrider during the interview. The other content on the page is NSFW.

Here are pictures of Ranae Shrider with Verne Troyer. They appear to be her own private pictures, which I’m assuming she sold to AVN, since they have the rights to them. They are SFW, but the ads on the page are NSFW. Thanks to AVN for the images, where they have many more.

Chris Martin got a good deal of bad press last week after he walked out of an interview on BBC’s Radio 4. The interviewer had stuck to Martin’s rule about not asking personal questions – especially concerning his famous wife, Gwyneth Paltrow. Yet Martin bolted anyway. Celebitchy thinks he probably regretted being so candid in a Rolling Stone interview he did right before then. It must have left him quite on edge. In the Rolling Stone interview, Martin admitted that he hasn’t exactly been a legendary romancer of women.

“I’ve only been in one serious relationship,” says Martin.

And you guessed it. It’s with Gwyneth Paltrow.

“…This is the only one. Is that weird? I don’t think it’s that weird. It wouldn’t be weird 200 years ago.”

[From Cover Awards]

I don’t think that’s weird in and of itself, it’s just very unusual for a famous musician. Coldplay doesn’t have groupies? Or they didn’t back in the day when Martin was single? I could jump on the “bash Coldplay to death” bandwagon right now, but I’ll refrain. But I actually think that’s pretty sweet. No wonder Martin has admitted to feeling jealous of Paltrow’s ex, Brad Pitt.

Martin also gave his thoughts on the upcoming presidential election, and his hopes for Barack Obama.

[Rolling Stone]: Do you see any reason for hope?
[Chris Martin]: As soon as Barack Obama becomes president, people will be a bit more optimistic. If Obama was to be president, it would immediately change the whole outside world’s opinion of America overnight. America’s public image at the moment is really bad. And it’s a bummer, because over half of Americans are the coolest people on the planet. But they’ve been so misrepresented.

[Rolling Stone]: Do you think he can win?
[Chris Martin]: I do. But I think that, really, the fair thing would be, in electing the American president, to let everyone in the world vote, because it affects all of us. If there was a world vote, there’s no question who would win. No question. Of course, Barack Obama is human like the rest of us. He’s going to fuck up. But I’m just trying to look on the bright side. What’s the point of being negative? Where does that get us? It gets you your own radio chat show, but it doesn’t really do anything for the world.

[From Rolling Stone]

I’d never really thought about it in those terms, but I like his point that the whole world should get to vote for the US president. I don’t think I’d want it to happen, but the idea makes a lot of sense conceptually.

The next five months are going to be filled with celebrity comments on politics. Between the economy and all the natural disasters that have happened lately, it feels like everything’s going to hell in a hand basket. It’s nice to hear a bit about the good of staying optimistic. Even if the only reason is what Martin noted: “What’s the point of being negative?”

Here are Chris Martin and Guy Berryman of Coldplay performing a free concert at the BBC Television Centre in London yesterday. Images thanks to WENN.

Gisele Bundchen - the supermodel who, in my opinion doesn’t hold a candle to Heidi Klum - is half naked in GQ magazine. Gisele has been on the arm of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for quite awhile now and has finally solved the mystery of his love for football. During her interview with the magazine she touches base on her relationships, money and sticking her finger down her throat for the sake of being skinny.

Her thoughts on first meeting Brady and being introduced to football:
Look, I’m Brazilian. I had never seen football before. I’m freezing, and all I’m thinking is, When can I go back to New York City? I didn’t understand why they were all hitting each other. Now I do, but I didn’t.

Her money issues…

Do you think [salary]’s important to me? Look, this is my job. I take pictures. There is no big deal. I would like to know who this reporter is finding out all of these amounts. And I would like him to talk to my accountant and figure out where is the cash that’s missing. Because I haven’t seen it.

[NY Magazine]

This is refreshing. I wonder if he had to use Barbie and Ken dolls to explain the game. Regardless, Tom has become more and more mainstream and a bigger target for the press. He embodies the typical high school quarterback with good looks and a bit of charm. Brady even dabbles in modeling now.

You would hope the modeling side of Gisele’s story would be seedy, but Janice Dickinson will have to suffice. Bundchen denies the lure of desperate measures to stay thin in a body image industry that demands perfection. Eating disorders is a subject she rather not chat about.

I don’t think it’s something that people go around talking about. I do think what saved me is that I’ve been very athletic since I was very young. I think your body has muscle memory.

[NY Magazine]

So this bitch is gorgeous, rich, thin and has a “perfect boyfriend.” Yes. I am bitter. I am also a Bears fan, so sorry Gisele. Heidi is still the shiz.

Chris Martin is a rather uppity fellow. The Coldplay frontman has long had a rule that he won’t discuss his wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, or their kids. Yet during a recent interview with the BBC’s Radio 4, he walked off the show when asked a question he didn’t like – which had absolutely nothing to do with his family.

It’s tough at the top. The new Coldplay album may be steaming towards number one but the pressure is telling on Chris Martin. The notoriously highly-strung frontman always makes clear he will not discuss his famous wife - Gwyneth Paltrow - or their children. However, when lobbed a straightforward question on the inspiration for Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends on Radio 4, the singer lost the plot.

‘Did you start with the song Viva La Vida and the idea within that song of the disposed dictator looking back at his life?’ asked John Wilson, the Front Row presenter.

To which Martin replied: ‘I’m not enjoying this. Can I have two minutes?’ and walked out of the studio.

The presenter pressed him for more. ‘Are you feeling under pressure?’ The singer replied: ‘I just don’t like talking about things.’ The interview continued with Will Champion, the band’s drummer, who insisted his colleague was not upset. But when Martin returned, he refused to give full answers and little more light was shed.

[From the Daily Mail]

Martin did break his rule and give an in-depth interview to Rolling Stone recently, in which he admitted that he felt competitive with Brad Pitt, Paltrow’s former fiancé . And really, who could blame the guy? Perhaps he regrets divulging anything personal and has become even more introverted.

While I understand that some people “just don’t like talking about things,” you probably shouldn’t go on a show to be interviewed if that’s the case. The question Martin was asked was not only not personal, but it was a really well thought out, introspective question. I’d imagine it was one of the better ones bands get, and you’d think someone passionate about his music would be eager to answer it.

If we all got to walk out whenever we were “just not enjoying” things, no one would get anything done. Martin’s behavior sounds incredibly immature, over dramatic, and completely uncalled for.

Here’s Chris Martin leaving the BBC Radio One studios in London yesterday. Images thanks to WENN.

Jessica Alba is out and about doing publicity to get some attention for her next (and sorta crappy looking) movie, The Love Guru, also starring Mike Meyers. Jessica was getting some bad press for some seemingly anti-Latina comments she made, but since her pregnancy the media seems to be more into her. She gave one of those charmingly orchestrated, overly-personal interviews in which she talks about her sexuality to Allure magazine. And posed for some interesting pictures. Oh and shockingly, she doesn’t think you need to wait for marriage to have sex.

On Her Steamy Public Image: “[Hollywood] always play[s] up your sexuality, because that’s what gets men into the theaters. And I never really gave a s— about all that stuff! It’s nothing to be ashamed of. But it is definitely not what I am about by any means!”

On Owning Her Sexuality: “I don’t think I was comfortable with my sexuality until I was an adult, probably, like, 22 – that’s when I stopped apologizing and stopped feeling ashamed. I did the Vagina Monologues in L.A. That made me proud.”

On Sex Before Marriage: “I never believed women had to be virgins when they got married, or that a woman has to fall in love with a guy just because they’re having sex. I don’t think sex is a big deal. I hated the hypocrisy of it. Men can do whatever, and it’s acceptable.”

[From People]

I’m a little confused – were people still plugging the abstinence ‘till marriage bit? I thought that died a while ago. I guess I assumed that was the case, since I haven’t met an intentional virgin since college. And even then, it was just the one. I just love that very pregnant Jessica Alba had to go on the record to note that she thinks waiting until marriage is bull. Really? Because I totally couldn’t tell by looking at you.

Here’s some photos of Jessica from the upcoming issue of Allure. Thanks to jessicaalba.net.

Back in the day, George Clooney worked on Rosanne Barr’s sitcom. He wasn’t quite so hot then – he had sort of a pillowy, Farrah Fawcett -esq hairdo going on – but he was still George Clooney, which means he could still make the ladies want to drop their panties. George has been doing some last-minute promotion for his box office failure Leatherheads, and gave a pretty funny interview to Rolling Stone where he talked about his early acting experiences.

Hand it to George Clooney: He’s sexy, he’s funny, and he’s not afraid to share embarrassing stories about how Roseanne Bar hit on him. The actor, who sat down with Rolling Stone movie critic Peter Travers Wednesday night at the Picture House Theater in Pelham, N.Y., following a screening of his latest movie Leatherheads, revealed secrets about his early days working for Barr on her sitcom Roseanne – as well as his thoughts on Paris Hilton and bombing at the box office (which, he readily acknowledges, Leatherheads did). Choice quotes below:

Travers: “I have this quote (from TIME magazine) to read aloud from your former boss Roseanne Barr. ‘He can drink too much and still while standing in a bar parking lot at 3 a.m. discuss the world with such passion and good sense that you actually stop imagining him nude.’”

Clooney: “Don’t you want Roseanne writing your obit? I worked on her first series, and when I met her she said, ‘You’re really good looking, why don’t you take me out behind the stage and make me stink.’ She was unbelievably kind to me at a time when no one was.”

[From People]

That’s… um… quite the quote. I don’t think there’s anything I could say about it that wouldn’t be wildly, wildly inappropriate. Not that that would generally stop me… but I think it’s raunchy enough that we don’t need to add anything to it. No word on if the Cloons actually took Rosanne out behind the Warner Brothers lot. But I’m guessing that if he’s sharing the story… and he got the job… he must have gone the way of the casting couch.

Here’s George Clooney leaving Dan Tanas restaurant in Los Angeles on April 25th. Images thanks to WENN.

Many an actor has made a failed – and generally embarrassing – attempt at a second career. The most notorious examples of this generally involve anyone putting out an album. But here and there you find a failed clothing line or a ridiculous attempt at dancing. But once in a while, an actor successfully crosses over the threshold into a successful second career. And for whatever reason, they seem to have the most luck in politics. Probably because their egos serve them well in the political arena. Alec Baldwin gave an interview to 20/20 which airs this Sunday night, and in it he says he’s considering running for public office.

Alec Baldwin says he’s ready to be Mr. Nice Guy - and he’s mulling a run for public office. The Massapequa, L.I., entertainer, eldest of the four Baldwin brothers turned actors, says in an interview airing Sunday that politics looks appealing now that he’s turned the corner on 50. “There’s other things I want to do,” besides acting, the left-leaning performer tells CBS’ “60 Minutes.” “There’s no age limit on running for office, to a degree.” It is “something I might do one day,” he said.

Discussing his public divorce from Kim Basinger and the custody battle that led to an angry voicemail to daughter Ireland Eliesse, calling her “a thoughtless little pig,” Baldwin said he is learning something about tact. “You can pretty much bet all you own that I would never leave another voicemail message for my daughter that wasn’t just like something out of a Rodgers and Hammerstein score,” said the “30 Rock” actor.

Over the years, Baldwin has done little to hide his brand of politics. He has called Dick Cheney a terrorist, then said the vice president wasn’t a terrorist but rather “a lying, thieving oil whore and murderer of the U.S. Constitution.”

[From the New York Daily News]

I came down pretty hard on Alec after the whole calling his daughter a pig fiasco. But that was before I ever watched 30 Rock. And now that I’ve seen it, I can say that I really am spineless enough to love Alec Baldwin no matter what the hell he does. He’s THAT good in it. Rarely do I admit I am wrong, but he can call any kid any name he wants, for all I care. And I’m pretty sure if I’d turn this quickly just because he’s a good actor, there’s a pretty decent chance I’d vote for him too. Sad.

Header of Alec Baldwin attending the opening night of ‘Top Girls’ at the Biltmore Theatre in New York City on May 7th. Images thanks to WENN.

I don’t know how it happened, but it seems that someone’s gotten to Tom Cruise – and I’m going to guess it’s someone in PR. Though it boggles my mind, Tom actually gave a reasonably normal and rational (at least for him) interview with Oprah – and from Us Weekly’s excerpts, it seems that the two got along well, though Oprah admitted to being a little hesitant at first.

Tom explains that he jumped on Oprah’s couch because he was just “so in love” with Katie Holmes, and he didn’t know how else to express it. As delusional as he can be, he seems to at least be able to understand that the results weren’t a great thing for his career.

Cruise tells Winfrey, “I just felt that way, and I feel that way about her. I can’t even articulate it, to be honest,” he adds. “That feeling, that connection. Just who she is and what she means to me.”

Of the negative response to his couch jumping, Cruise says, “It just kind of kept going. Those things I kind of go, ‘You just have to take in stride.’ It just kind of became a confluence of things.”

[From Us Magazine]

Tom even goes on to say that he’s relaxed his views about psychiatric medication a little bit. He had freaked out on Matt Lauer about the issue a few weeks following the Oprah couch jumping. Tom obviously still doesn’t support it, but is at least smart enough to say that it should be a parent’s decision.

Tom also says that he regretted criticizing Brooke Shields, who admitted to taking Paxil for post-partum depression. He doesn’t say he thinks she made a good decision, but says he regrets mentioning her in any way.

“I was feeling pressed in the interview with Matt Lauer,” Cruise says. “For me, my issue was really about child drugging. It’s not like it is today, like people are really kind of openly talking about this.”

(Cruise now says of medicating children, “I think the parent should be able to and should make that decision.”)

[From Us Magazine]

Tom glosses over some issues, like whether he thinks he’s targeted more for being a Scientologist, the reasons he and Katie waited so long to “debut” Suri, and the insinuation that his marriage to Katie Holmes is fake. But he actually does admit that he’s made some mistakes and could have done some things better.

It’s hard to tell if he really means it, but at least he’s got some better PR advice and knows to say it. In the past Tom has been so egocentric that he couldn’t seem to even understand how poorly he was coming across. It’ll be really interesting to see the interview in its entirety, which airs this afternoon.

Header photo of Tom and Katie at the LACMA’s Opening Celebration of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum in Los Angeles on February 2nd. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Both Celebitchy and I grew up watching “Family Ties” and were excited to see the cast have their first reunion in 18 years this morning with Matt Lauer on the “Today Show.” The actors were clearly happy to see each other and very much at ease, and it was interesting to hear the stories of how each was cast. I think I must have missed a lot of the premise of the show, which I guess is fair since I was 8 when it went off the air. I had no idea the parents were supposed to be really liberal with fairly conservative kids. To me they were just boring, regular adults. Though I did have a crazy crush on Alex P. Keaton. I think I had a thing for blazers with elbow patches for years as a result.

The cast reunited to help producer/creator Gary David Goldberg promote his new autobiography “Sit, Ubu, Sit: How I Went From Brooklyn To Hollywood With The Same Woman, The Same Dog, And A Lot Less Hair.” Goldberg was also the creator and producer of Michael J. Fox’s “Spin City,” and before that, one of my favorite shows that no one’s ever heard of “Brooklyn Bridge.” Fox and Goldberg discussed their strained relationship on “Spin City,” with Fox explaining that it was uncomfortable for him to go from the father-son type relationship they had on “Family Ties” to a relationship where they were equals, like on “Spin City.” He said he and Goldberg made the conscious decision to work through it because they were important part of each other’s lives, and hearing them describe it sounds like they really are talking about family.

Goldberg also noted that he didn’t want to cast Fox for “Family Ties” because he played the character a little too snaky in his first audition. His casting director insisted Goldberg let Fox audition one more time, and luckily the second time he was great. Goldberg also noted that the show was originally supposed to focus on the parents and the kids were supposed to be more ancillary figures. However after the fourth episode, it became clear to Goldberg that the audience really loved Fox, and the show’s focus shifted to the kids.

Matt Lauer didn’t touch on the rueful mistake of adding youngest son Andy Keaton to the cast. The kid went from a baby to a five year old in two years. I’d say that’s about when “Family Ties” jumped the shark. Brian Bonsall, the actor who played Andy, was arrested last year after he poured a drink on his girlfriend while she was sleeping, then put her in a chokehold. You can see why NBC chose not to mention him. They kept the interview light and heartwarming, and it was fun to watch the cast, who clearly enjoy each other.

Clay Aiken has been doing a TON of press for his recent starring role in “Spamalot” on Broadway. This is tolerable or terrible depending on your view of Clay Aiken. It’s definitely more tolerable if you only have to read it instead of hear him speak. Clay’s moved to the big city and at 29 years old is living alone for the first time in his life – and seems to feel rather panicky about the whole thing. He gave a surprisingly candid and friendly interview to New York magazine (let’s not forget his terse exchange with Newsweek recently). Clay’s still promoting his family-friendly, nerdy/geeky/dorky, pure-as-the-snow routine.

“Let’s not fool ourselves,” he says with his eyebrows up in his arch, queeny way. “The truth is? There are people like Justin Timberlake, males who are cool on radio right now, and then there’s me. If I heard myself in a dance club? If I went into a dance club—which I never do—and I heard Clay Aiken come on, I’d roll my eyes and get out. But you know what? I’m fine with being kind of vanilla! It’s oh-kye!” In his book, Aiken says that it’s not just clubs but also bars he dislikes: “The only reason people go to bars is to get drunk and have sex. To me, bars are what hell is like.”

[From New York Magazine]

Clay has long refused to talk about his sexual orientation, however he does talk about his personal life a bit – or lack thereof. Apparently Clay’s not interested in the men or the women – his only meaningful relationship is with his dogs.

He imagines his social life here will be “nonexistent, really. I’m not a nighttime person.” He does not plan on dating, and he is not involved with anyone. “Heck, no,” he says. “My dogs.” He has never had a romantic relationship with anyone, unless you count the girls he took to dances back in high school in Raleigh. “I just don’t have an interest in … any of that at all. I have got too much on my plate,” he says. “I’d rather focus on one thing and do that when I can devote time to it, and right now, I just don’t have any desire.”

But Aiken is 29 years old and he is also a human. Surely he must have needs. Urges. He contemplates this in silence for 20 or 30 seconds. “Ah think maybe I don’t! I mean, not really. I’ve just kind of shut it off, maybe. Is that bad?”

[From New York Magazine]

Given that interview, Clay Aiken strikes me as someone who could very well be asexual. I saw a story a while back on ABC News about people who say they’re asexual, and their whole motto was “sexless and proud.” Most of the people interviewed described themselves as asexual and said sex just had no appeal to them. Many claimed they had no inclination towards romantic relationships in general, and they had incredibly happy and fulfilling lives – they just have nothing to do with sex. It really sounds like that’s what Clay Aiken is describing. He’s been pestered by gay rumors for years – which he’s refused to discuss. It’s obviously possible Clay says the things he says as a way of sidestepping the issue. But it is also possible he’s got his own way of doing things and living his life, and he’s perfectly happy with that.

Clay’s been getting pretty good reviews for his Spamalot performance. Although New York magazine was definitely hard on him at several points in the article, they said he really fits into the role well – he even broke his “no cussing” policy. The article also speculates that living in New York may break Clay, and get him to loosen up a bit. Only time will tell.