As you may know, country singer Kellie Pickler shaved her head in solidarity with her best friend, Summer Miller, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer at 35. Prior to Summer’s first chemotherapy session, Kellie went with her to shave their heads together. They documented the process in a video and series of photos they shared with Good Morning America. Kellie has been very low-key about this whole process. She did her first interview recently, with Ellen DeGeneres, and her segment airs today. Too Fab had a clip (above) in which you could see how personal this was for Kellie and how genuine she is about helping her friend. Kellie got choked up when talking about her grandmother passed away from cancer, just one day after she was diagnosed. Here’s the story from Too Fab. Kellie said she was with Summer for her first cancer treatment and that she’s doing well:

Kellie Pickler is bald and beautiful after shaving her head to support one of her best friends who was diagnosed with breast cancer — but she was very nervous about getting buzzed.

“I will be honest with you. I was a little nervous and she was too,” Pickler says in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres. “We were both a little nervous, hope we don’t have some crazy birthmark or a wart or a mole!”

Despite their reservations, Kellie and Summer both still went through with it — and Kellie has no regrets.

“That is probably one of the most beautiful moments of my life. Just being able to do that with her,” she adds. “The last thing that you want for anyone that you love …is that you don’t want them to walk through the valley lone.”

She adds, “I think it’s important to have a cancer buddy.”

Pickler also gives an update on Summer, who just started chemo.

“She’s doing good,” Pickler says. “Of course it’s hard. It’s hard on your body. It’s hard on your mind. It’s not an easy thing to go through. But she’s a storing woman and she’s handled it with such grace.”

[From Too Fab]

Kellie explained that she thinks of Summer as her big sister, adding that “I don’t think blood makes a family.” She added later “it’s just hair, you know.”

I have to say I found Kellie so genuine and real, and that I admire what she did for her friend. She’s the kind of friend you need in a crisis, someone who will stand by you when you need them the most. Those type of friends are very rare.

I don’t know too much about American Idol alum Kellie Pickler, but I like her from what I’ve heard. She keeps a low profile and doesn’t pimp out her personal life. She’s on Twitter but she’s really low-key with it unlike some other country singers we know about. Anyway I wanted to give Kellie some positive press for shaving her head in solidarity with her good friend, Summer Miller, who has breast cancer at 35. She sent a video in to Good Morning America of the two of them getting their heads shaved ahead of Summer’s first chemotherapy session. (That video is at this link, but it ends at :55.) They’re trying to spread the word about early detection. Here’s a report on this story from E!

Kellie Pickler appeared on Good Morning America today and, in a touching show of bravery and solidarity with her best friend, a breast cancer survivor, buzzed her long blond locks clean off.

Pickler was joined for the momentous occasion by her longtime BFF, childhood friend and “sister” Summer Holt Miller, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in June.

The girls got together in Nashville and jointly went under the razor.

“If this compels even one person to change their mentality toward waiting until the age of 40 for their mammogram, then it will be worth it,” Miller, who underwent a double mastectomy and begins chemotherapy this week, said.
“Cancer does not discriminate,” Pickler said.

Kellie herself tweeted hints about her transformation yesterday and today, writing yesterday (presumably when the taped morning show segment was recorded), “It’s been a great life-changing day.”

“Be sure to watch ‘Good Morning America’ tomorrow morning (Sept 5th). You won’t want to miss this!!! ” she added.

[From E! Online]

Check out the video at this link. All Kellie did was send in a segment to GMA while she got her head shaved with her best friend. She didn’t call the paps, she didn’t tweet incessantly about it, she didn’t even do an interview and you know that any of the morning shows especially would have her.

The last we saw of Kellie, she was in Maxim in a “salute to the military.” It wasn’t just a sexy photoshoot for Kellie, she regularly entertains the troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the USO and has been on five tours overseas. Take note, famous chicks who are tweeting bikini photos and going on vacation constantly, there are better ways to spend your time.

Photos via E! and Wonderwall. Credit: Russ Harrington

Kristen Bell wore a gold, sequin-embellished Reem Acra gown to the CMT Music Awards last night. Since she hosted the event, she later took to the stage in a variety of looks including Collette Dinnigan & Monique Lhuillier dresses as well. As for this red carpet look, the Reem Acra dress fits the mood of the venue but also makes her look much more “grown up” than her petite frame and usual fresh, youthful looks would otherwise suggest. I bet she gets really tired of being called “cute,” you know? Kristen’s make up looks gorgeous here, and the big hair suits Kristen well. She’s so damn pretty.

Also in attendance with Kristen on the red carpet was her betrothed (or possible husband), Dax Shepard. I know it’s been years, but I still find it so strange that she’s with him. Maybe he’s got a great personality … outside of his public persona.

Kellie Pickler revealed a fair amount of boob in a shiny, blush-pink Herve Leger by Max Azria dress that obviously wasn’t a Herve Ledger bandage dress, but the visual effect was the same. I wasn’t crazy about the dress at all, but I loved her date and his dog! Kellie was escorted to the event by U.S. Marine Sgt. Sean DeBevoise, who (according to a a Memphis news television station) is a wounded Marine. That’s his service dog, Rusty, also on the red carpet. You can’t see it, but Rusty is wearing a bow tie in an effort to look stylish as well, but Rusty needn’t have bothered because he’d look great with or without accessories.

Denise Richards wore a sequined mini dress by Alice + Olivia by Stacey Bendet. Her body looked amazing, but the dress is a bit too escortish for me to take her seriously in a fashion context. Denise has always had great hair, but her makeup is overdone — as is the fake tanner. So much fake tanner!

Lauren Alaina wore a simple black cocktail dress and looked adorable with simple (yet still big) hair and makeup, but those icky blue shoes have got to go. The dress looks a bit “dressier” in the up-close shots.

Photos courtesy of WENN

You barley hear anything about former American Idol star and country singer Kellie Pickler, but from what little I’ve heard of her I find her refreshingly funny, down to earth and normal. This latest story just confirms it for me. Pickler, 24, got married in the Caribbean over the holiday season, but she didn’t release any photos to the press and she only issued two very brief statements about it on Twitter. “Yes, it’s true, @kylecjacobs and I said “I Do!” Thank you Jesus!” and “Private Island. Caribbean. Cigar in one hand, Rum in the other. Someone just called me “Mrs. Jacobs.”….sounds nice ” Here’s a story about it, from Fox:

Country singer Kellie Pickler married her boyfriend Kyle Jacobs this weekend on a private island in the Caribbean, her rep tells FOX411.com.

While no photos or details of the ceremony were released, her rep said the “intimate ceremony” took place on New Year’s Day.

Pickler, 24, and Jacobs, a songwriter, met back in 2007. Jacobs, 37, has penned hits for singers Tim McGraw and Garth Brooks, as well as working on Pickler’s latest album.

Jacobs popped the question this summer, but the couple kept quiet on any plans for the big day.

[From Fox News]

People Magazine has a photo of these two on the beach, but that was their engagement photo and it doesn’t look like they’ve put out any wedding photos at all, not that I’d mind. I would love to see a picture of them on their special day.

Congratulations to Kellie and Kyle! Their names sound so cute together as a couple, like “We’re going over to Kellie and Kyle’s house to watch the game.” If they have a daughter, they should resist the urge to call her Kylie, though. That would be too much.

Kellie is shown performing on 9/25 and 6/13. Credit: WENN.com Header image from her Twitter.

This is an otherwise forgettable little interview with Kellie Pickler, 24, who you may or may not remember as the former American Idol contestant who went on to have a country music career but isn’t Carrie Underwood. Pickler jokes about how people confuse her with Underwood all the time and she seems perfectly ok with it, explaining that they’re different because “I’m crazy and she’s a lady.” She’s currently engaged to a songwriter named Kyle Jacobs and is touring with Rascal Flats. Last year we heard that she had been dating Kid Rock for over a year, (they’ve since quietly broken up) and she also had an incident where she was painfully overbotoxed, but other than that we haven’t heard much from her.

I’m reporting this because, unlike Carrie Underwood, Pickler doesn’t slavishly write down everything she eats in order to keep her weight down. She says she’d just rather drink beer than eat. That’s one way to keep calories down and your buzz up. Here’s what she told OK!

Last time I was mistaken for another celebrity
A lot of people confuse Carrie Underwood and me – we’re blonde, country and both from American Idol. I get called “Carrie Pickler” and she gets “Kellie Underwood.” But we’re totally different – night and day. I’m crazy and she’s a lady.

Last thing I googled
Dalmation adoption centers. I was looking for a local rescue center that has Dalmation puppies.

Last date night.
Kyle [her fiance, songwriter Kyle Jacobs] and I will usually go down to Green Hills [Tenn] to watch a movie at the theater, or we’ll sit home and order one On Demand.

Last thing I bought
I have an obsession with koozies [a fabric sleeve to keep beverages cold]. So I bought me a “Grand Ole Opry” koozie for my beer. I like my beer. I’d rather drink beer than eat.

[From OK! Magazine, print edition, September 6, 2010]

On the beer issue – I’ve been in Germany for a while and it’s tough to go from German beer to American beer, particularly light beer, (microbrews and Sam Adams are fine) unless you just think of it as soda with alcohol. When I was in the states I would occasionally drink that ultra light beer that’s under 70 calories. It’s like flavorless diet soda with a splash of beer in it. If I considered it beer I would think “This beer is awful,” so I would just stick a lime in it and try not to tell myself that it was supposed to be beer. (I know, I should have just had a diet Pepsi instead.) So I understand why she would switch out beer for food if she’s counting calories, as bad as that sounds. (Although she probably drinks some swill like Coors light if she’s drinking it out of a can. Which again is not that bad if you don’t think of it as beer.) Hopefully she’s only doing it occasionally because it’s not healthy to drink beer instead of eating or to get drunk all the time, yada yada.

She seems really nice. I remember how she got owned on “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader” and had no clue that Hungary was a country, but she’s nice. Kellie frequently interacts with her fans on Twitter and likes to tweet about the movies and shows she’s watching. Judging from her tweets the past few weeks, she doesn’t overshare or sound like she’s bragging at all. (I’m looking at you, LeAnn Rimes.) There’s little or no scandal with Kellie and I have to say I like her! It’s kind of nice to see a young singer who isn’t hustling to get her face out there all the time and who acts perfectly normal on Twitter. I’d drink some Coors Light out of a beer koozie with her. At least no one would know that I have crappy taste in beer. (I’m sorry in advance to the handful of Coors Light fans we must have out there.)

Apparently the worst-kept secret in Nashville has still been one of the best-kept secrets outside of it. According to the San Francisco Gate and general internet buzz, Kellie Pickler (of “American Idol” fame) and Kid Rock have been dating – for over a year now! While they haven’t been public, Kellie’s let the word slip a few times, including a vague mention to during a radio interview.

Rocker Kid Rock is secretly dating “American Idol” star Kellie Pickler, according to tabloid reports.

The hitmaker showed up at the recent CMT Video Awards in Nashville, Tenn., with ex-girlfriend Sheryl Crow, but he was really at the award show to be close to his new love, according to the Globe.

A source tells the publication, “The romance between Kellie and Kid has been the worst-kept secret in Nashville.”

Insiders claim Pickler was talking about Kid Rock when she recently told a radio interviewer, “I’m seeing someone. I got a man. He’s a great, great guy. We’ve been seeing each other for over a year.”

Rock, real name Robert Ritchie, has been linked to a string of lovely ladies and was briefly married to Pamela Anderson in 2006.

[From the San Francisco Gate via Associated Content]

As the Gate mentioned, Kid Rock has very recently been linked with longtime friend Sheryl Crow – but somehow that match just didn’t make sense. They seem firmly ensconced in platonic territory, and frankly she seems too smart to date him.

For some reason I really do like Kellie Pickler. Even though she walks a fine line between ditzy and dumb (who could forget her hilarious turn on “Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader” in which she thought Europe was a country, didn’t know that Hungary was one, and asked what country Budapest was the capital of?), you can tell she’s genuinely a sweet, good person. And given her tough upbringing, I find it impossible not to root for her.

That said, I don’t really like the idea of her and Kid. I mean he married Pam Anderson. Beat up Tommy Lee. Has done dirtier things – and there’s video to prove it – than some adult movie stars. Kellie is hot and naive, and that’s a combination that’s bound to get her into trouble. Unfortunately she’ll just have to figure that out for herself – or surprise us when it turns out just fine.

Here’s Kelly on “Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?”

Here’s Kellie at the CMT Music Awards in Nashville on June 16th. Images thanks to Fame Pictures . Kid Rock is shown at the People’s Choice Awards in January. Image thanks to Fame Pictures .

In Touch has an article this week that compares country star and former American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler’s very surprised appearance to her cute normal look in the past. I couldn’t find the exact comparison pictures they use, but these are pretty close and you can see how clownish she looks now. You could guess that in the second picture Kellie is just lifting her forehead up, but In Touch has a photos from another series in which she looks even worse.

They quote a plastic surgeon as saying she’s had botox and lip filler while Kellie’s rep denies she’s had “facial sugery”:

According to cosmetic surgeon Dr. Peter Gelder… (who doesn’t treat the star), Kellie, 22, may have gotten Botox around her eyebrows as well as her lips plumped. “Her expression looks very unnatural and exaggerated,” says Dr. Geldner. “And her lips were very likely plumped with a filler. We see a lot more of her lower lip now.”

Kellie’s rep denies that she’s had work – “She has not had any facial surgery of any kind,” he says – and Kellie tells In Touch that she doesn’t worry about what people say about her: “As long as you’re happy with what you see in the mirror, that’s all that matters.”

[From In Touch, print edition, March 2, 2009]

If you look at photos of Kellie taken four days after the surprised pics, on 2/17/09 at Fashion Week, (the photos with the red dress underneath her coat below) she’s not as surprised-looking and looks almost normal, so her rep is probably telling the truth that she hasn’t had “surgery.” This woman is just 22 and she got Botox. The doctor who did it to her probably gave her enough for a much older woman, but it just ended up making her look ridiculous. Maybe she learned her lesson and won’t be getting injections for another decade or so.

Kellie Pickler is shown on 5/15/07 (pink dress with no coat) and on 2/13/09 (pink dress with white coat) and 2/17/09 (white coat with red dress). Credit: WENN

Kellie Pickler is really growing on me. Though I found her sort of annoying on American Idol, she’s carved out a respectable career in country music since then, and has given some fairly interesting interviews. Last year she started crying onstage while performing at the Country Music Awards when she sang a song she wrote about the mother who abandoned her. In several interviews she’s shown that she’s willing to talk about her struggles and has a good deal more depth than her dyed blonde hair and boob job would make you think.

Kellie is promoting her newest CD, and talked about a message that she says runs throughout the album: telling young girls to hold on to their innocence. While it’s sort of cheesy, when she was interviewed she didn’t come off as condescending or holier-than-thou about it. My first reaction was that she’d probably slept with guys she wished she hadn’t, and the song was coming from a place of appreciating yourself.

With her bottle-blonde hair and breast implants, one could argue that Kellie Pickler comes across as the “naughty little minx” that Simon Cowell once called her during the fifth season of “American Idol.” But the country crooner is upholding a moral ground on her upcoming album by encouraging young girls to maintain their “innocence” for as long as possible.

“I need to sing about real things that I relate to and are part of me and my life, I think it’s important to keep it real,” Pickler told us in reference to her self-titled album which debuted at number one on the country charts last week. “The first time people hear ‘Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful,’ they always think I’m singing about outer beauty but its so much more deep than that. My favorite verse is the second verse which goes: ‘Hey there little homecoming queen in that back seat, I bet his brown eyes are promising you everything and I know you want to be just like your friends. But he’ll still love you if you don’t give in, but if those girls were being honest that have been where you’re at, I bet they’ll tell you they wish they had their innocence back.’”

So for all the young women out there who look up to Pickler as their “Idol”, she has a few words of wisdom …

“Hold onto that innocence because it is so beautiful and cherish it because its priceless — and once it’s gone, you cant get it back,” she said. “I think it’s important for all women, young girls as well as adults to love what you see when you look in the mirror, to love your heart.”

[From Fox News’ Pop Tarts]

Normally I would find a song about keeping your virginity trite and boring at best, but it seems like Kellie’s heart is in the right place. I don’t get the sense that she’s judging anyone, just pointing out that there are other ways to go that are just as good. Considering how many songs there are about being a total skank, it’s nice to have a few that present a different option.

Here’s Kellie at the CMA Music Festival celebrity signing in Nashville on June 6th. Photographer Judy Eddy. Images thanks to WENN.

American Idol contestant and country star Kellie Pickler is known for her bubbly, upbeat attitude, but she recently revealed that she’s been dealing with depression brought on by family and relationship troubles over the last year. It was pretty clear during her live performance on “Live with Regis and Kelly” earlier this year, during which she broke down in tears while singing, that Kellie was going through something. Kellie sought professional help and was prescribed some anti-depressants, but she says the drugs had side effects that made her “crazy.” In the end, she reached out to friends about her situation for support and met a new love interest along the way.

Last year, Kellie Pickler battled depression and suffered severe reactions to anti-depressant pills after struggling with family problems and an emotional breakup from her boyfriend, hockey player Jordin Tootoo, the country star reveals in the new issue of PEOPLE, on sale Friday.

“Everything in my professional life seemed great,” says the former American Idol contestant, 22. “But in my personal life, I was just crumbling.”

Anti-depressants made her “crazy,” she says, and the side effects forced her to quit the pills.

At the same time, she watched her father – a convicted felon who had been released from prison soon after her Idol stint – spiral downward again and return to jail, while her mother, who abandoned her at age 2, unexpectedly reemerged.

“I was an emotional wreck,” she says.

Her friendships with singers Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood, along with a new love – Nashville songwriter Kyle Jacobs – and writing songs for her new album (her self-titled sophomore effort was released Sept. 30) helped her find balance again.

“He makes me feel so good about being me,” she says of Jacobs.

[From People.com]

It sounds like Kellie has been having a rough time of it, and she deserves credit for seeking help for her problem. Unfortunately, it sounds like the drugs weren’t the answer for her. I was on anti-depressants briefly a few years ago while going through a divorce, and they really helped me. But I know other people who have reacted badly to them- feeling more depressed and even suicidal. I do think that talking to your trusted friends about your depression does help – but throwing yourself into a new relationship may not be the best idea. Either way, it does seem like Kellie is feeling better about herself and that’s a good thing.

Kelly Pickler is shown posing with a fan outside ‘Live with Regis and Kelly’ on 10/1/08. Credit: Ray Filmano / WENN

Some people know how to work the dumb angle to their benefit. A great example would be Jessica Simpson. She’s worked her lack of intellect every which way and made a good deal of money from it. But she’s what we’d call “regular dumb” – she’s just a little less bright than your average person, but not exceptionally dumb. She’s not so dumb that she’s clueless about her stupidity. Anna Nicole Smith – may she rest – was a bit clueless. She couldn’t really work the dumb angle to her advantage, because she was too dumb to figure out how. Instead it worked against her. Kellie Pickler seems to be right in between Jessica Simpson and Anna Nicole on the dumb scale. Sometimes you’ll see her say something, and it seems like she’s trying to play it up for laughs. But other times you get the feeling that she’s genuinely a few marbles short of a Hungry Hungry Hippos game. Last week Kellie was on “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?” I’ve never seen the show before, but I’m absolutely sure I reached my intellectual peak in fifth grade, so I presume the point of the show is to make the contestants feel stupid.

Kellie certainly managed to look stupid – but something tells me she didn’t quite understand that. During her exchanges with host Jeff Foxworthy, she asked him (in all seriousness – she didn’t appear to be trying to make a joke) if Europe was a country, didn’t know what Budapest was the capitol of – though she thought it might be France – and then was confused if France really was a country or not. She seemed to be thinking out loud in a stream of consciousness fashion, and at some point talked herself into being quite sure that the one thing she DID know about Budapest is that they speak French there. And that was pretty much all she was sure about. Oh, and she’s never heard of Hungary. Turkey she’s heard of. But she seemed to think Jeff Foxworthy was pulling her leg on Hungary.

I know Kellie Pickler had a really hard childhood and probably had bigger things to worry about than geography. I’m not going to fault her for that. But write a check to charity – don’t go on a national game show to demonstrate to everyone that you’re a ditz. Blonds of the world, we need to unite. We need to organize. Women like Jessica Simpson, Anna Nicole Smith, and Kellie Pickler are sending us back to the dark ages – the 1980s – when blond jokes ran amuck. Haven’t we worked too hard to overcome these ditzy stereotypes? No? Alright then. I’m going to go see how long it takes me to screw in a light bulb. Man I hate blond jokes.