Reese Witherspoon’s GMA interview yesterday seemed to inspire mixed feelings from most people. I think many of Reese’s fans will be able to forgive her transgressions and they’ll eventually see her as the same old bubbly, blonde sweetheart. Maybe the only thing Reese won’t be able to get away with – for a while, anyway – is acting like she’s the only “good girl” in Hollywood. No more simpering judgments about nude photos, no more holier-than-thou interviews where she reinforces the idea that she’s the only sane woman in Hollywood. Never again!

So, as I said in yesterday’s post, Reese’s “post-arrest comeback” plan is immediate and multi-pronged. The interview was part of that, and so is this news – that Reese has already quietly taken care of her disorderly conduct arrest.

Reese Witherspoon’s day in court has come and gone, with virtually none of the drama that surrounded her original April 19 arrest in Atlanta, Ga. On Thursday, May 2, the Oscar winner’s lawyer, Bruce Morris, appeared in court on her behalf to plead no contest to the disorderly conduct charge that had been leveled against her, TMZ reports. Her husband, CAA agent Jim Toth, pled guilty to driving under the influence, and was present for the court date.

Witherspoon, 37 — who famously asked the arresting officer if he knew who she was — will reportedly pay just a $213 fine for her infraction. But Toth, 41, will face a harsher punishment.

While he didn’t receive any jail time for the DUI charge, he has been sentenced to perform 40 hours of community service. Additionally, he must attend an alcohol education program and will be on probation for 12 months.

According to TMZ, the judge told Toth he was lucky the damage wasn’t worse. “Consider yourself fortunate you didn’t injure your passenger and didn’t kill anyone,” the gossip site quotes the judge as saying.

The court news comes just hours after Witherspoon’s mea culpa on Good Morning America. Speaking about the arrest on the ABC show, the Mud actress said she “literally panicked” when she saw the police officer arresting her husband.

“I told him I was pregnant. I’m not pregnant,” she revealed. “I said all kinds of crazy things.”

“I was so disrespectful to him,” she added of the cop. “I have police officers in my family. I work with police officers every day. I know better. It’s just unacceptable.”

[From Us Weekly]

That judge sounds pretty no-nonsense. And 40 hours of community service plus an alcohol education class? How easy is that? I bet his lawyer will even be able to work it out so Jim can do his community service hours in LA too. As for Reese’s punishment… only $213 for mouthing off to a cop? Only $213 for refusing a direct order from an officer arresting a drunk driver? I wonder how differently this whole situation would have gone down if Reese and Jim were African-American. Someone would have gotten tasered, at the very least.

Oh, and the dash-cam videos from Reese’s arrest were released and they are a hoot! We already know all of the crap she said, but hearing her say it is pretty awesome/frightening/hilarious. This is how I imagine Lindsay Lohan acts all the time:

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Back in 2011, Angelina Jolie was hit with a lawsuit claiming that she had plagiarized her script for In the Land of Blood and Honey, which she was promoting at the time. She was sued by a journalist named James Braddock who claimed that Angelina based her script on an article (and subsequent book) he wrote about a woman who was repeatedly raped in a POW camp during her Bosnian war. Braddock did himself a great disservice by putting a really long rant online in which he compared Jolie to a Serbian aggressor and pretty much admitted that she “changed” his original story into a “banal love story” which, I mean, he can’t have it both ways? He can’t claim that she plagiarized his story AND that she changed his story into something completely different. Which is pretty much what a federal judge just said:

In a big win for Angelina Jolie, a federal judge has found that her movie In the Land of Blood and Honey is not substantially similar to a Croatian journalist’s novel.

James Braddock had slapped The Lara Croft: Tomb Raider beauty with a lawsuit in 2011 that alleged Jolie’s film about a love affair during the Bosnian civil war violated his copyright on the book, The Soul Shattering.

Braddock’s suit claimed one of the film’s producers, Edin Sarkic, had previously read his book and had discussed making a movie out of it. Three weeks before In the Land of Blood and Honey came out, Braddock sued Jolie, GK Films and distributor Film District.

But on Friday, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee said there weren’t enough similarities between The Soul Shattering and the movie to prove copyright violation and she ordered Braddock to show cause why the action shouldn’t be dismissed without prejudice by April 12.

[From Radar]

So it hasn’t been completely dismissed and Braddock still has a week and a half to put up a fight. But… ugh. Seriously? I know so many people are eager to hate on Angelina for anything and everything, but I just don’t see how she’s in the wrong here. She wrote a script and people weren’t really crazy about it, but because she’s Angelina, the film was produced and she got to raise awareness and employ some local actors, etc. It always seemed like this Braddock guy was just trying to “pull a Chelsea Handler” on Angelina. By that I mean he wanted to get some attention off of her name.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Do you remember back in June 2012 when Lindsay Lohan crashed her Porsche on the Pacific Coast Highway and a million cracked-out stories filtered through the tabloid media? I remember specifically a story about Lindsay getting out of her totaled Porsche (getting out of the driver’s side) and taking a moment to throw away all of the containers of alcohol in the car. True, that story was largely unverified (I believe only one witness said it happened), but doesn’t it FEEL right? Doesn’t it feel like Lindsay is constantly behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol and drugs? So… I don’t really get why this TMZ story is all breathless with the breaking news that Lindsay reeked of alcohol after the crash. But there are some interesting details about a plea bargain:

Lindsay Lohan may have been drinking just before she crashed her Porsche last June on Pacific Coast Highway … TMZ has learned. Nevertheless, prosecutors are offering her a brand new plea deal that does NOT involve jail.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … a bottle of alcohol was found next to Lindsay’s Porsche, and we’re told her breath smelled of alcohol. For some reason, cops did not perform a field sobriety test at the scene of the crash.

Sources tell us … the Santa Monica City Attorney is prepared to offer Lindsay 60 days in a residential rehab facility in her lying-to-cops case — where she said she wasn’t driving the Porsche. That’s 4 months less than the original offer.

In addition, we’re told the City Attorney wants Lindsay to attend another set of AA meetings. And he wants her to do community service. We’re told the prosecutor will let her do the community service in New York City, but — unlike Chris Brown — it must be closely monitored.

The wild card is that the L.A. City Attorney is also involved in the case because they’re handling the jewelry heist case where Lindsay is still on probation. Up to now, we’re told the L.A. City Attorney wanted jail time for the probation violation, but the prosecutor may back off that position.

The plea bargain meeting between prosecutors and Lindsay’s lawyer, Mark Heller is today … so stay tuned.

[From TMZ]

For the love of God. Why does the California legal system bend over backwards (or just bend over) for the Cracken? Why has Lindsay’s legal strategy – of firing a quality attorney, and rejecting reasonable plea deals – paid off? Why is she being rewarded for being a cracked-out drunk driver, a crack thief, a dumbass who endangers innocent lives EVERY SINGLE DAY?

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

As we discussed yesterday, Lindsay Lohan did not even make it to court for her arraignment. Just hours before her scheduled arraignment, Lindsay tried to fire her long-time lawyer Shawn Holley, and Shawn actually went to court yesterday to enter Lindsay’s plea of “not guilty” into the court record. Shawn is still Lindsay’s lawyer of record as far as this current LA case is concerned – this is the case about Lindsay lying to the police while she was not-so-allegedly drunk driving down the Pacific Coast Highway and she plowed into a tractor trailer. What’s funny (in a sad way) is that TMZ is totally trying to make this into a situation where THIS (firing Shawn) is the stupidest thing LL has ever done. Really? This?

Lindsay Lohan should kiss Shawn Holley’s butt … because Shawn just saved hers by claiming to rep her even though Lindsay unceremoniously fired Shawn.

As we told you … Lindsay signed a termination letter Monday which her new lawyer Mark Heller sent to Shawn. But Heller — a New York lawyer — is not licensed to practice in California and did not appear in court today for Lindsay’s arraignment. If Shawn told the judge she was fired and formally asked to be relieved, the judge could have and probably would have issued a bench warrant for Lindsay’s arrest.

Shawn dodged the issue in open court by saying she still reps LiLo for now, which is technically true until she is formally dismissed by the judge. A confused judge then clearly called Shawn and the prosecutor up to the bench and asked WTF.

Here’s where it gets totally ridiculous. Sources tell us Lindsay told Shawn yesterday that she was going to have Heller send Shawn another letter cancelling the first, but we’re told that never happened. And sources connected with Heller tell TMZ … Mr. Heller was busy Monday placing calls to Shawn, the prosecutor and the court to make it clear he’s the lawyer.

Since it’s not clear who is representing Lindsay anymore, the judge ordered her to personally appear on January 30, even though ordinarily the matter could be handled without her being present.

In the meantime … if Lindsay asked Shawn to come back (and this would be the second time because Lindsay pulled this stunt on her before), Holley should run for the hills.

[From TMZ]

I’m more confused now than I was before I read that. So… this NY lawyer, Mark Heller, is all “Imma gonna email the judge and get this thing straightened out” and nothing happens. Classic crackie – she can’t even follow through on a horrible cracked-out legal scheme.

Also: Radar reports that not only does Lindsay owe Shawn more than $300,000 (a figure that seems much to low, I think), Lindsay also owes $40,000 to her former assistant too. A source says: “Lindsay owes one of her former assistant’s, Jessica, over $40k in unpaid wages. Lindsay actually also borrowed money from the assistant for her own living expenses… Jessica no longer works for Lindsay, and she recognizes that she is probably never going to see the money. Lindsay has a very long history of not paying people for services/work done for her.” Yep. Pretty much. Serious question: how in the world do people continue to work for Lohan in any capacity? She will NOT pay you. If you try to help her, it will end up costing you money.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

Lindsay Lohan tried to fire her long-time lawyer Shawn Holley yesterday. It was complicated – you can read my recap here. Basically, Lindsay owes Shawn more than $300,000, so of course LL thought this would be the perfect time to get a new lawyer, because she heard it through the crackvine that lawyers don’t care about being paid if they get fired by their clients. After TMZ was all “LL is so dumb for firing Shawn and hiring this other NY dude,” Lindsay was all “OMG, I didn’t mean to fire Shawn!” And then there was another interesting wrinkle – Shawn had been working with prosecutors on a plea deal that would have involved no jail time and six months of crack-lockdown rehab. I personally think that deal probably had more to do with Shawn’s dismissal, don’t you?

Anyway, all of this came just hours before Lindsay was due to make a plea at her hearing today. Lindsay wasn’t actually going to make the appearance in person, but Shawn was supposed to come to court and offer the plea on her behalf, only you know, Shawn got fired. But Shawn’s a pro so she showed up anyway:

Shawn Holley pulled off another miracle — pleading “not guilty” on Lindsay Lohan’s behalf today in court … despite Lindsay firing her yesterday.

When the judge asked if she was still representing Lindsay — Shawn replied, “At this point, yes” … but it’s unclear what that means since she got a letter saying she was fired yesterday. Lindsay has since hired another lawyer in New York, Mark Heller.

The judge was understandably confused — and Shawn said, “The representation issue will be nailed down.”

Consider it another bullet dodged by Lindsay — it was likely a bench warrant would have been issued for her arrest had Shawn not stepped in to help her.

A pretrial date has been scheduled for January 30th. Lindsay has been ordered to appear.

[From TMZ]

Ah, I miss the days when judges would actually order a bench warrant for Lindsay’s ass. Remember that? When was that? Like, 2010? Lindsay was partying at the Cannes Film Festival and she “lost” her passport so she couldn’t make it home in time for a court date and the judge was all “Bench warrant for the crackie!” Memories.

Anyway, it doesn’t sound like Shawn is too jazzed about this situation. Poor Shawn. Do you think she realized that she’s never going to see that $300,000?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

You know how Lindsay Lohan is made of crack-teflon? Like, legally speaking. She’s been charged with so many crimes and if she was an African-American man, she would have already hit Three Strikes. It’s not just “white privilege” or even “the LA judicial system bending over for Hollywood”. There’s something else at work – and that something is Lindsay Lohan’s long-time attorney Shawn Holley. Shawn has kept Lindsay out of so many scrapes, Shawn has kept her out of jail so many times, and Shawn has outright lied for Lindsay so many times, I thought their crack-partnership would last forever. But according to TMZ’s sources (Dina), Lindsay just fired Shawn. WTF?

Lindsay Lohan has made one of the worst decisions of her life … firing Shawn Holley — the lawyer who has kept her out of jail multiple times — and hired a New York lawyer, who was suspended from practicing law for 5 years back in 1994 … sources tell TMZ.

Lohan is facing criminal prosecution in both California and New York. Attorney Mark Heller is repping Lindsay in the NYC assault case. Shawn Holley was repping LiLo in L.A. in her multiple criminal cases — most recently the car crash where she allegedly lied to cops.

It’s a stunning development — given that Holley has taken heat for being too effective, keeping Lindsay out of the pokey in the jewelry heist case as well as several probation violation cases. And she’s almost magically made some criminal investigations disappear.

Sources connected with the L.A. prosecution of Lindsay tell TMZ … Heller — who according to the New York Times has been called a “menace to the public” by some lawyers — sent a letter to Holley saying he was now repping her on all criminal matters.

Bad timing on Lindsay’s part, because sources tell us … Holley was literally on her way to the courthouse when Heller sent his letter — she was trying to negotiate yet another sweet settlement for Lindsay in the lying-to-cops case.

Calls to Holley were not returned.

[From TMZ]

I have several working theories – Bedhead helped!

Theory #1: TMZ might have gotten it partially wrong – Lindsay is keeping Shawn for her LA legal issues, and LL hired a NY lawyer for her NY legal issues. The Cracken just seems like the kind of mess who needs lawyers on both coasts, right?

Theory #2: TMZ is dead-on and Lindsay really is this stupid, and Shawn just got played by a dumb crackhead.

Theory #3: Shawn was looking for a way out of their crack-partnership and this story is just Lindsay’s “spin” on a bad situation. Keep in mind – Lindsay still owes tens – if not hundreds – of thousands of dollars in legal fees to Shawn. And all of Lindsay’s accounts have been frozen and Shawn is not getting paid. Maybe she’s cutting her losses, you know?

Confession time… I wrote all of that ^^ last night, and this morning there’s a slew of new info. Let’s do some highlights!

*Lindsay claims “she never authorized her New York lawyer to fire Shawn Holley and never instructed him to send her a letter of termination”. Except for the fact that her NY lawyer made her sign the termination letter. In Lindsay’s defense, she was probably high as a mofo when she did that. So Lindsay is telling everybody that she loves Shawn and she wants Shawn to come back onto her legal team, Shawn is her second mother (ha), etc.

*Before she was fired, Shawn Holley was trying to work out a plea deal for Lindsay in which LL would have avoided jail time by agreeing to “lockdown rehab” for six months. Shawn was literally on her way to meet with the prosecutor and the judge to work out the deal, but Shawn never made it because… you know, crackie. There’s a court appearance (in LA) today.

*Radar says that I was right about one thing – LL owes Shawn more than $300,000 in legal fees. Good luck with that, Shawn. LL apparently hasn’t made any payments in six months. Crack disaster! Oh, and LL’s nnew lawyer isn’t charging her any fees (or it’s a reduced fee) because of the publicity.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I had no idea that this case was still ongoing, but apparently it was and has been settled. You may remember that Halle Berry’s ex, Gabriel Aubry, received a beatdown at the hands of her fiance, fellow actor Olivier Martinez. It went down on Thanksgiving at Berry’s house when Aubry arrived for a custody handoff of their daughter, Nahla. Martinez and Berry insisted that Aubry started the fight, despite the fact that Aubry’s injuries were much more severe. Aubry’s entire face looked battered (photos here) while the only damage to Olivier was on his hands. The security cameras at Berry’s house suspiciously never captured the fight, because they were allegedly pointing to the entrance to her home instead of the front door area where the fight went down. It was all rather convenient to support Berry and Olivier’s side. For his part, Aubry filed a restraining order against Olivier, which he eventually withdrew. Well it’s settled now, as TMZ reports:

Gabriel Aubry is in the clear in the Thanksgiving Day brawl at Halle Berry’s house … with one string attached.

TMZ has learned … the L.A. City Attorney conducted two office hearings — one where Halle and Gabriel’s sparring partner Olivier Martinez showed up together and another where Gabriel showed up alone on a different day.

Sources tell TMZ … the case has now been resolved and Gabriel will not be criminally prosecuted, PROVIDED he keeps his nose clean for a year.

TMZ previously reported … anger management was on the table as a possible condition to avoid prosecution, but the City Attorney has a policy of neither confirming nor denying specifics.

[From TMZ]

Note how terse this report is and how they again bring up the anger management issue but “don’t know” if Aubry was ordered to anger management classes. This suggests that their dear source, Halle Berry, isn’t too happy with this outcome.

As Kaiser reported last week, Halle and Olivier were in Paris for Christmas without Nahla. Nahla was with her dad, the one who has been fighting to be with her ever since Halle tried to cut him out of the picture.

There’s a new story about Halle in this week’s Star. Apparently Halle wants Nahla to go to an exclusive private kindergarten in LA called The Buckley School. Parents don’t want her around, though, probably due to the paparazzi. A source whose child supposedly attends the school tells Star that Halle “is full of drama and always has trouble with her men… We pay a lot of money for this school, and the last thing we want is trouble.” So does that mean Halle is going to have to find a different school for Nahla? I only feel for Nahla, who doesn’t deserve to be put in the middle of all this.

Gabriel is shown collecting Nahla from school on 11-30-12. He’s also shown outside the gym, before his beatdown, on 11-14-12. Photos of Halle and Olivier are from 12-23-12 in Paris. Credit: WENN.com and Fame

I didn’t realize that California law is so… slow. When I wrote my earlier post about Lindsay Lohan’s arraignment (which went down just a few hours ago), I thought that more things would be settled today. Not so much. According to TMZ, the judge formally revoked Lindsay’s probation… but there is still going to be a hearing to decide what will happen now. As in, there’s going to be a separate hearing to decide what punishment the Cracken should get for being in violation of her probation:

Lindsay Lohan’s probation was revoked this morning in court … just like we told you it would be … and the judge has now set a hearing to decide whether to lock Lindsay up for the better part of a year.

Lindsay — who wasn’t present — was arraigned this AM on charges that she lied to cops and drove recklessly when she crashed her Porsche on Pacific Coast Highway last June.

TMZ broke the story … Lindsay’s probation in the jewelry heist case would be revoked as a result of the new charges. The judge who arraigned her — Commissioner Jane Godfrey — scheduled a hearing for January 15th on the probation violation.

If Godfrey decides Lindsay did violate her probation, Lindsay could face 245 days in the pokey.

But as we reported … the Commish is not a big fan of jail, so Lindsay may skate yet again.

[From TMZ]

I can’t believe that LL didn’t even show up for her arraignment. She must have been like, “Blah, making court appearances is so 2011.” The next hearing is scheduled for January 15 – that will be when Lindsay gets sentenced to whatever for being in violation of her probation. Here’s my question – and yes, all of Lindsay’s court appearances have melded together, so I may be wrong – but I need to ask: I thought Lindsay’s probation violation automatically meant jail? Isn’t that what Judge Sautner (or whoever) said when Lindsay went on this probation thing? That if she violated, it would be mandatory jail? Just another example of A) California’s justice system being all #YOLO and B) The Cracken’s crazy lucky streak when it comes to facing the consequences of her crack shenanigans.

Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News, WENN.

Here are some new photos of Gabriel Aubry reunited with Nahla on Friday in LA. On Thursday, Gabe and Halle Berry’s lawyers worked through some kind of legal arrangement that is (hopefully) all-encompassing, so it’s a good sign that Gabriel was out with his daughter the very next day. I’m also including some photos of Nahla and Halle the day before. Nahla looks comfortable with both of her parents, for what it’s worth. As Radar mentioned shortly after the lawyers’ agreement was made, part of the deal seems to be that Gabriel and Olivier both drop all of their charges and restraining orders and everybody moves to their own separate corners. TMZ confirmed the news too:

It’s pretty remarkable, but a week after nuclear war at Halle Berry’s house which left Gabriel Aubry’s face a bloody mess, they have figured out a path to peace … and the clearest evidence is that Gabriel’s lawyer just went to court and dropped his restraining order against Olivier Martinez.

It happened just a few minutes ago. Shawn Holley, Gabriel’s lawyer, told the judge her client no longer needed to keep Olivier away from him.

As TMZ first reported … the parties struck an agreement Thursday to end their mega-dispute, which revolves around 4-year-old Nahla.

The remaining issue … Olivier made a citizen’s arrest after the fight and the case is going to the L.A. City Attorney for review. We’re told it’s “highly unlikely” Gabriel will be prosecuted. If Halle can do it, maybe there’s hope for Middle East peace.

[From TMZ]

Radar chimed in too, with one source saying: “Gabe has agreed to drop legal proceedings for the temporary restraining order against Olivier to be made permanent…Gabe suffered horrific injuries from the fight, but as part of the settlement he reached with Halle on Thursday he agreed to drop the bid for the permanent restraining order. Gabe feels that there are enough layers of protection in the settlement agreement that will protect him and Nahla in the future.”

At the end of the day, now that all of this is all over (for now, until something else horrible happens around Christmas), I have to say… I think Gabriel definitely came out of this looking better, but I don’t think he was completely blameless. If everything went down the way Gabe claimed, I don’t really think he would have dropped the restraining order and walked away without getting more of his side out there, pushing for an even better deal. Of course, we still don’t really know what the deal is. I imagine more will come out about it in the coming weeks, and we’ll have a better idea of who had the upper hand in the negotiations.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Pacific Coast News.

Here are some photos of Kim Kardashian departing from Fort Lauderdale airport two days ago, catching a flight to Kuwait. Kim is in the Middle East right now! You know why? She’s promoting her milkshakes. Literally. She’s doing photo ops and promotion for Millions of Milkshakes. I can only guess that the money is fantastic. Funnily enough, Kim wore this same sheer blouse when she arrived in Kuwait, and she even wore this outfit to meet the American ambassador to Kuwait. Because of course. She’s all class!

Meanwhile, did you know that Kim and Kris Humphries are STILL married? True story. And Kim is super-pissed about it too. Her lawyer just released a bitchy statement about how long this is taking:

More than a year after divorce papers were filed, Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries are still unhappily married in the eyes of the law. Now, Kardashian’s lawyer says the reality star wants a trial ASAP to bring the ordeal to an end.

“Ms. Kardashian is now handcuffed to Kris Humphries,” her A-list attorney Laura Wasser told an L.A. Superior Court judge Wednesday. “These delays are forcing her to be married. She wants to dissolve her marriage so she can move on with her life. I don’t think [Kris] has a case, it’s a fishing expedition.”

Added Wasser to PEOPLE outside the courtroom: “We want a trial because that’s the only way this will end. There was no fraud.”

Humphries’s attorneys have been gathering evidence to prove their claim the 72-day union was based on fraud, going so far as to depose Kardashian’s mother, her wedding planner and even her current boyfriend Kanye West. Humphries, who is seeking an annulment (typically used to clear one’s marital record, often for religious reasons), has claimed in documents that Kardashian “had no intent of being married” and that it was all “for the benefit of her TV show.”

“All she has to do is agree to an annulment [based on fraud],” his attorney Marshall Waller said in court.

Waller expressed frustration that “third parties” involved in the case have been slow to surrender evidence, including those involved in the production of Kardashian’s show.

“These are people who are hard to locate,” Waller said, who added that private investigators are seeking out desired witnesses.

Asked outside the courtroom if a trial was inevitable, Humphries’s attorney told PEOPLE, “Every case is capable of settling before trial.”

The judge set a Feb. 15 hearing date to determine when a trial might begin.

[From People]

I know many of you are on Team Basketball Humphries, but I just can’t get on board. I think Humphries is an idiot, and I think his grudge against Kim is particularly immature. He’s still pissed off that he came across like an idiot on the Kardashian show, and that Kim could dump him with such ease. Don’t get me wrong, Kim’s an idiot too, and she’s totally at fault as well. But she’s an idiot who wants to move on and put this whole mess to bed. Humphries just looks so petty and vindictive.

Oh, and apparently Kris’s lawyer deposed Kanye West too. That must have been awesome. Ten bucks says ‘Ye lied under oath about when his sexual relationship with Kim began.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.