Are you guys watching “Ringer”? I’ve heard mixed reviews for it, like it’s supposed to be super cheesy but soapy and fun. Sarah Michelle Gellar is enjoying a comeback of sorts with the show, and she has a large loyal fanbase from “Buffy.” The 34 year-old mother of one is on the cover of Self’s December issue looking hot in a little gold sequin mini and off the shoulder sweater. She tells Self that she doesn’t own a scale, that she doesn’t believe in weighing herself at all and just goes by how her clothes fit. She exercises and eat healthy though, and also tries to buy fresh food every day with her husband, Freddie Prinze, Jr.

On working out
I still work out, but not five days a week. I do Pilates, I run on the treadmill, I walk to the soundstage rather than taking the cart. I wish I could say I was in the best shape of my life right now, but I don’t put the same pressure on myself that I used to. So I don’t rock a bikini on Wilshire Boulevard — but I don’t know many people who do!

On not owning a scale
You can’t live your life by the scale. We don’t even have one in our house. I’ve never believed in them, because your weight fluctuates. It’s more about how my clothing fits than a number. Besides, if you deny yourself everything because you’re so focused on the mirror or the scale, then when do you get to enjoy life?”

On being judged by her weight
If you wear one bulky sweater, you’re pregnant or you’re fat. When you’re 5-foot-4 like me, any weight gain can look like a lot. People dissect you for 2 pounds. That can be incredibly difficult, but I don’t take it as personally anymore.

I care only that I’m healthy. Besides, I’m not an actor who is known for her body necessarily. I hope I have a few other things going for me!

On having cake when she wants
Every weekend we’re at two or three parties. Now I’m not going to eat the cake at every one, but when it is homemade or looks particularly good, I’ll indulge.

Really, how is eating a piece of cake bad? Being bad is murdering someone. That’s bad. Don’t do that.

On unplugging
Everybody is on text and Twitter. People don’t have conversations. I turn off my iPhone every evening, and my games aren’t on it. I keep my games only on my iPad, so I don’t have to hear the buzzing of Words With Friends all the time.

On not googling herself
I never Google myself. There has to be something better I can be doing than reading about myself!

On being a mom to 2 year-old Charlotte
Charlotte is my best friend and any free time I have, I want to spend with her. But … I can’t define myself as only Charlotte’s mother — one day she’s going to be an adult, and then where am I?

On her relationship with her husband
Freddie and I get our time together, too. Relationships are like flowers: They need attention to grow and develop.

On shopping every day and clipping coupons
People think it’s so expensive to eat like that, but there are ways to do it so it’s not as pricey. We shop at Whole Foods, but we ask which fish is on sale.”

And I clip coupons all the time. Why should you pay for something that someone else is paying less for?

[Self online and via US Weekly, People]

I can’t relate to not using a scale because I usually weigh myself every morning and then I write it down in a little book. This may sound obsessive to some of you, and I know that a lot of diet plans, like Weight Watchers, recommend that you weigh in just once a week because you can get frustrated by the daily changes. For me, though, I need to know that I’m on track and weighing myself is my way of doing that. When you see those numbers go up, you are motivated to rein it in. By the time my clothes start getting tight, that feels too late, you know? Other people have different relationships with food though.

Anyway Gellar also told Health Magazine a couple of months ago that she never looks in mirrors and probably has body dysmorphic disorder. So she may not be stepping on a scale or even looking in the mirror but she’s looking amazing by everyone else’s estimate. She also seems really candid and down to earth. I love that she’s still with Freddie Prinze, Jr. Can you belive that they’ve been married for 9 years!

These photos are from Self, where there are more. Cover image via glamorous-smg.com.

Whenever we run photos of Alex Skarsgard, there are always a few of you who say he doesn’t do it for you. That’s fine, you know, it takes all kinds and that just means there’s more to go around for the rest of us. I personally don’t get the Fassbender love that Kaiser and Bedhead have. I mean I wouldn’t kick him out of bed or anything but he’s not my type. That’s part of the reason I’m surprised that Kaiser has so much love for Alex Skarsgard. He’s not her type, I wouldn’t think, in that he’s so angelically lovely. (She likes ‘em a little rough around the edges.) The guy is perfection on a tall perfectly toned… stick.

So here we have Alex for German GQ Style’s Fall/Winter issue and in September’s InStyle adding so much joy and meaning to hump day. He does look like a typically gorgeous male model, but to me he’s also a man of substance. Yes I’m overstating my case, but he just seems so nice, normal and humble in interviews. He does have poor taste in women, so we know he’s not perfect.

Skars is blowing up the newsstand this coming month. He’s also on the covers of Wonderland (along with Kiki Dunst) and Blackbook (along with his ex and upcoming co-star, Kate Bosworth.) I doubt that his parts in Straw Dogs or that Battleship movie are going to be breakout roles for him, but it’s still nice to see him get so much exposure. He’s a talented actor and oh-so-easy on the eyes.

[some photos via ONTD]

This week’s OK! Magazine has the news that Britney Spears’ turned down a live radio interview with Carson Daly and refused to do anything unless it was pre-recorded and pre-approved. This seems to be supported by her print “interviews” to date and her recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel, where she did two pretaped segments and no interview. She also made a quick appearance on the Kids’ Choice Awards where she got grossed out by Jack Black’s Kung Fu Panda character eating some noodles, but that was obviously also pretaped as I didn’t even see her in the audience or on the red carpet.

As we’ve seen from her stints on How I Met Your Mother and Will & Grace, Britney is a passable actress but we also know she has a hard time with live interviews. (Remember when she chomped gum, cried and got defensive with Matt Lauer in 2006?) Judging from her print interviews it’s doubtful that they’re conducted in person or that she even partially writes the answers herself. Kaiser covered her US Weekly “25 Things You Don’t Know About” article and noted that it was like someone was trying to sound like Britney but was just slightly off.

Her people are working hard to make us forget the past few years, and to present Britney as this devoted mom in a steady relationship. She’s on the cover of US Weekly (with a lovely photo, she’s so pretty when she’s styled) and an accompanying “interview.” It’s all so predictable and packaged. It also includes some adorable pictures of Britney with her boyfriend, Jason Trawick, and her boys. Here’s some of what Britney “said” and given her past interviews it’s clear she’s not actually saying this. They don’t even use the pretense of describing where they met her or what she’s wearing so I’m guessing this interview was conducted via e-mail, like some of her other recent interviews.

Congratulations on Femme Fatale! How did making this record compare to making your first, Baby One More Time?
I’m at such a different point in my life now than I was back then. I’m more mature and much more hands-on now. I know exactly what I like and what I don’t like. I guess that can make the recording process difficult, because I’m very particularl about songs I put my voice on.

You’re a parent now too. How has motherhood changed you?
It really puts life into perspective. You have to think about all your decisions so much more carefully, because they are affecting your kids too. My priorities have changed, and I do everything for [the boys]. They remind me what life is all about.

Tell us about Preston and Jayden
Jayden is the youngest, and he might be the mama’s boy. He’s very outgoing, always making us laugh, and he’s very creative. Preston is definitely the big brother. He’s very independent. He’s really, really smart and thinks everything through.

What are they into these days?
Their new favorite thing is dressing up as different superheroes, and they’re just so cute! They especially love Batman and Spiderman. We love watching Disney movies together. I also love reading them Fancy Nancy books [a children's series by Jane O'Connor and Robin Priess Glasser] before bed…

What’s your parenting style? And what about Jason’s?
With some things I’m strict, and with other things I’m easygoing. I guess I’m right in the middle. Jason is just amazing with the boys. They look up to him so much – they adore him. He’s their hero.

What else do you love about Jason?
We have such a great time together! He makes me laugh, and we are so comfortable being ourselves. We like to stay home, order in, watch movies, go to dinner with friends. And we love getting away for the weekend. Some of our favorite spots are Las Vegas, Hawaii or Mexico.

Do you see yourself getting married again?
Maybe. Never say never!

[From US Weekly, print edition, April 18, 2011]

Does that even sound like Britney? You would think they would make more of an effort to make it sound casual. I get that she needs to be rolled out as “Britney 2.0: sane and better than ever,” and she seems to have made a big improvement, but I don’t think these staged articles are fooling anyone. She’s still lip syncing and kind of strutting around the stage and she just doesn’t seem into it. We’ve seen her struggle with fame, the paparazzi and with bathing before she leaves the house. I really want Britney to be happy and content in her life. I just get the feeling that she’d rather be doing something else instead of touring and putting out another album. It’s all she knows though, and she has a lot of people on the payroll depending on her.

Here’s are photos of Britney performing on Jimmy Kimmel on 3/29/11. Credit: WENN.com

I love some Matthew McConaughey, and I usually find him kind of fascinating, like he has this real joy for life and talks in parables. In the latest issue of Esquire, for which Matt is the cover boy, he comes across like a poser, though. He’s like one of those guys in college who thinks he’s the first dude to backpack around Europe and you just have to try it, or you haven’t lived. Only Europe is too good for Matty, he had to go to South American to challenge himself since they have modern conveniences in Europe. It became clear to me after reading a few paragraphs that this wasn’t the McConaughey I loved, though, it was some insecure journalist’s opinion of him.

In this Esquire story, McConaughey is so hospitable and accommodating. He invites the journalist to his spend a couple days with him, to go golfing, to attend a party at his house and to stay overnight on the property in one of his Airstream trailers. Only the journalist kind of sh*ts all over everything and comes across as insecure and out of his element. He portrays McConaughey as a caricature of himself and kind of mocks him. It’s hard to portray in a few segments, because it’s the overall tone of the piece.

Here are some excerpts, and I would encourage you to read the whole thing to get a better picture of what’s going on if you’re interested:

The journalist on McConaughey’s vernacular
Over the weekend he refers to six things as “nectar” — a steak, the wine, the company of his older dog, a hat he found for his two-year-old son, the arrival of his final set of friends, and that one golf shot. Broadly speaking, nectar is good.

McConaughey on his trip to Peru
When things are going right in a golf cart, familiarity builds. And so I ask him the question that is sometimes awkward: why he took time off from making movies. I’m inquiring about the previous two years, before this most recent comeback, but McConaughey goes straight to his own question. The last two years don’t seem to be any of my business.

“I’ve done that before,” he says. “I went to Peru after A Time to Kill. I had a lot to think about. Just grabbed a bag and left. And I went up and further in, until I was about as uncomfortable and unfamiliar with things as I could be. You know why I don’t go to Europe for these trips? Because in Europe everything pretty much works, or it almost works. I mean, it’s almost what I’m used to. But Peru, Mali, Morocco? Nothing works. Nothing. So you have to give up on what you know. At least I do. And for a while it’s very uncomfortable. Extremely. I mean you’re faking the language as best you can, nodding at things you probably shouldn’t be, and you start to miss the things you know. And you need to eat.”

For the first time since we met, the truths pile themselves, emblematic but also pragmatic, hard-earned or maybe stolen from the lyrics of a pop song. I can’t tell yet. But he persists. “And I started to strip things down. I took off my hat and my ring, just this big old gold ring. I’d made it, melted down one of my dad’s old rings and mixed in some gold from I don’t know — one of my mother’s teeth I think. And this ring — big old M on it — I took it off. One morning I get up — Count of Montezuma, the whole bit, threw up, diarrhea, puked. It was a purge, man” — this word he enunciates precise as a birdcall — “and it was sick, but it was a spiritual cleanse, and after that I was high as a kite. I was able to look at all the stuff I’d stripped away and ask questions: What does that ring mean? What does my name mean? What do I make of that old American flag that’s sewn onto the hat I’ve been wearing for eighteen years? All these things that give me pride, what did they add up to?”

He was standing over a putt then, or he’d walked up onto the apron of the green, or he’d reached down to pull his ball from the hole — some golf gesture. I don’t remember; I was listening. “It all comes into balance between day nine and day thirteen,” he said.

“What happens then?”

“That’s about the point where I start to see I can survive. And all my discomfort just disappears and then I pretty much feel free to go home. I try to let the place own me. Then I can go home.”

On his partner, Camila Alves, and their new home
“Before this, I had a super home in the Hollywood Hills that I did by myself — landscaping, detailing pretty much everything. But that house was mine. And yeah, we coulda gone in there right away. Camila would have said, Fine, don’t change a thing. But I thought, I found the woman I wanna do it with, the woman I wanna make a family with, hopefully live our life out together. She needs to have 50 percent of that. I mean, it’s a lot easier for me to be at 100 percent. I’d always been 100 percent. It’s braver for me at 50 percent.”

McConaughey calls himself religious
“A friend of mine who’s a lawyer said something about me a couple of weeks ago, and it’s true. You know how that is? When a friend you’ve known a long time declares something about you and wham!” Here Matthew McConaughey snaps his fingers so loud it sounds like the cracking of a Lincoln Log. “I mean, you think, Hey, that’s true!” His voice drops. “Good friend,” he says. He speaks in many directions at once. “He said to me, Matthew, you’re into commas. Every time you think you’ve stopped, you always come out of it. Every time you think you’ve reached the end of that long dead-end street, you slip around the edge, past that stopping point, past the right angles. And I thought: Yes.” This is a word he hisses, almost every time, stretching it right into an invitation. “It’s all continuation! Even if you’re dying, that’s a kind of continuation, because you move on. And you have to change. Now, you lose something in your life, or you come into a conflict, and there’s gonna come a time that you’re gonna know: There was a reason for that. And at the end of your life, all the things you thought were periods, they turn out to be commas. There was never a full stop in any of it…”

McConaughey takes that fifth bite of rib eye, then sighs. “Listen,” he says, “I was thinking. Earlier, when I was talking about the commas, and the continuation? You might be tempted to call that ‘spiritual.’ ” He tilts his head, as if weighing the word. “But I think that description would be a dodge. I’m religious. I like that word. You can use it.”

So he’s hunched, quartered toward me, speaking softly, cheek full of rib eye, and he pretty much whispers, “Yes, you can look at the table and say you see spirituality. Fine. Friendship, love, reverence for one another” — he’s darting his eyes in various directions, so I get eye-blink camera shots: heads thrown back in laughter, glasses clinking, women striking a harmony, children climbing into the laps of their fathers. “And I can shake hands with that. Spiritual. It’s perfectly good. But what I see here is ligare.”

“Ligare.” I repeat the word to be sure I got it. I was taught by Jesuits. We’re in for some Latin here.

“It’s the root word of religion. It’s the Latin. Ligare. ‘To bind.’ ”

“So, re-ligare?”

McConaughey starts nodding. “To bind us together again,” he says. He gently pushes away his plate. “That’s how I read it, anyway,” he says. “That’s what I’m after. I’m religious. We are religious. You can say that.”

[From Esquire via Huffington Post]

Not everyone gets McConaughey, and not everyone thinks his way of talking isn’t some kind of affectation. That’s why McConaughey went out of his way to be accommodating, so that he would be portrayed well. Only he got someone who had already made up his mind about him. All the golf and hospitality in the world wouldn’t have made this guy write a positive profile.

Photos from Esquire

Remember when you had to actually do something to be rich and/or famous, like sing, dance, act, be phenomenal at sports, or pick the right combination of two digit numbers? Well the Kardashian family has made an incredibly lucrative business out of exaggerating their personal lives, fertility and minor weight fluctuations. According to a new profile in The Hollywood Reporter, the family made $65 million dollars last year. Let’s say that number was provided by Kris to overestimate her family’s worth. We’ve heard that Kim makes about $35,000 just to show up to an event, but in this new article they estimate her appearance fee at $100,000 to $250,000. On an average week she can do two to three appearances. At 2 appearances per week that’s about $11 million dollars without even accounting for her endorsement deals. Add in all the other family members and whatever they make for their reality shows, merchandising (clothing, jewelry, perfume, etc), interviews and general famewhoring, and that ridiculous $65 million number, more than top celebrities make combined, sounds about right.

They made more money than Jolie, Bullock and Cruise combined
Since their arrival on E! in 2007, thanks to such no-boundaries behavior, the tightknit family has ably defied the laws of 15-minute reality TV fame while building a wildly profitable empire. As the cameras keep rolling on the eight-member clan’s topsy-turvy domestic life, the Kardashians have cashed in, making more money last year than what Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock and Tom Cruise are estimated to have earned combined: a staggering $65 million (a source close to the family confirms the figure). As manager, Kris Jenner personally takes 10 percent.

And in perhaps the most Platonic exploitation of the celebrity-industrial complex, they didn’t do it by picking up paychecks from a network or studio alone. Deploying sibling after sibling, the household, led by Kris, has crafted a wholly modern business model for making money. It’s one that emphasizes accesibility over harnesses three commercial components: fan interaction via social media (the family has a collective 13 million Twitter followers); best-selling products and brand endorsements; and, of course, that hyper-successful reality franchise (Season 5 of E!’s Keeping Up With the Kardashians averaged 3.5 million viewers a week).

In a year when men and women in the entertainment industry with business backgrounds couldn’t turn a profit, Kris Jenner could — even if critics ponder what, if any, redeeming value her family brings.

On Kim’s sex tape propelling her family into fame
It was February 2007 when Kris’ second oldest, Kim — then best known as socialite Paris Hilton’s perpetual sidekick — sat her mom down for a confession: She had made a sex tape with her then-boyfriend, musician Ray J. brother of singer Brandy. The kicker? A third party had sold the tape to adult video distributor Vivid Entertainment, and it would be going on sale at the end of the month. The celebrity press soon exploded with every last graphic detail of what the tape contained.

The timing could not have been worse. Inspired by the success of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne’s family, Kris independently produced a presentation tape of a reality show following her family and had recently begun shopping it to different production companies.

“I thought, ‘Oh well, there goes the reality show,’ ” she say. But you can either be a problem maker or a problem solver. And I’m a problem solver. My job as her mom and manager is to take care of the problem — whatever it is. I had to cry and get upset in the privacy of my own room and then come out and help her, because she’s my daughter. What good is it for me to berate her?”

Claiming to have never seen the tape, Kris hired a crisis communications expert to help navigate the scandal. “I was way out of my league,” she says. “I would never think I knew enough to care for a situation like that. What’s that Kenny Rogers line? ‘You got to know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em.’ All I knew was that I had to make some lemonade out of these lemons fast. Real fast.”

The fact that Vivid had to pay Kim a figure that’s been reported at $5 million is almost beside the point. The sex tape — one of Vivid’s best-selling DVDs in 10 years — put the Kardashians on the map.

“My job was trying to take my kids’ 15 minutes and turn it into 30,” Kris recalls. Shortly afterward, her entire family would have to get comfortable in front of the camera.

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

Here’s the thing about Kim’s sex tape. It may have been upsetting to her family at first that it got out, but The Hollywood Reporter completely glosses over the fact that Kris could just have easily hired a lawyer to block it. She didn’t have to hire a “crisis communications expert” after taking the millions Vivid offered. In fact it sounds like Kris is pretty happy it turned out the way it did because she was able to parlay her daughters sex on tape into tens of millions more.

The article in The Hollywood Reporter is pretty fascinating. It would be hard to cover all the points they make about the family and how they’re raking it it, but it’s worth noting that they’re one of the first reality show families to really resonate with the public since The Osbournes. It seems like everyone and their brother has a reality show, but the Kardashians are really unique in that they have no shame and promote the hell out of themselves.

On a final note, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the “lemonade” quote and how it might ironically pertain to certain sex acts rumored to be depicted on Kim Kardashian’s sex tape. I’ve heard that Kim’s tape doesn’t contain anything other than typical sex and that a rumored final shower scene, if it was ever in the tape, was cut before the final release. Kris may have heard those rumors but she supposedly hasn’t watched the video. She should watch it. She owes a lot to Kim’s indiscretion and is responsible for instilling those values in her daughters that would make a sex tape seem like a business opportunity. Her family’s most redeeming quality is their shamelessness.

Photos are from 2/14 and 2/16. Credit: WENN.com

Matt Damon and Emily Blunt make joint appearances on the cover of Men and Women’s Health’s March issues to promote their upcoming film The Adjustment Bureau, out March 4. Matt was much thinner when he made that movie, as it was before he put on some sympathy pounds during his wife’s last pregnancy. (Or maybe he was gaining weight for his role in We Bought a Zoo.) Still, these covers seem so false to me, particularly Men’s Health, which Photoshopped him even thinner than Women’s Health. The dude has put on at least 20 pounds since these photos were taken and he’s hot either way (I would hit that like a house on fire) but he just doesn’t look like this anymore. I don’t think he even looked like that back then.

Anyway Matt and Emily talked about their rapport on set, and it sounds like they got along very well and were fast friends. Matt also made some choice comments comparing star vehicle movies to watching people masturbate. I just love him.

Matt on Emily’s acting abilities: “There are a lot of great actresses her age right now, but Emily is just f—king unbelievable.”

Emily on having fun with Matt: “I met Matt and he was lovely and very funny, and instantly, I thought, ‘Oh, we could be like teenage boys together. Just be weird and stupid and silly.’” Emily on getting in shape to play a ballet dancer: “I looked like an aerobics teacher. My shoulders puffed out, my back looked like there was a barrel of snakes in it and I had an eight-pack!”

Matt on movies that are just star vehicles: “That’s like watching someone jerk off, really. It’s just absolutely not at all interesting, and not something I want to spend any time doing.”

[From Men's Health via Popsugar]

I just re-watched the trailer for The Adjustment Bureau (below) and this movie looks so damn good! Damon is such a great actor and it comes through in everything he does. Blunt holds her own too. I can’t wait to see it.

I need to just point something out though – the Bourne movies became a star vehicle for Matt Damon, even if the first one wasn’t written for him specifically. It doesn’t matter though because there are plenty of us who would love to spend a couple of hours watching him jerk off.

Here are promotional photos of Matt and Emily in The Adjustment Bureau. I guess he was that thin. via Allmoviephoto.

*Click the image to see the enlarged cover.

After last year’s “pretty white girl” cover for Vanity Fair’s annual “Hollywood Issue”, the editors must have decided they needed some diversity. Thus, they made sure to put two actors of color on their fold-out cover. Well… one actor of color, and one mixed-race actress. It’s like VF is just placating their haters! Honestly, though, what pisses me off more than the consistent lack of diversity is the simple fact that Ryan Reynolds (ugh) and Jake Gyllenhaal (UGH) both made it to the front section of the fold-out. Seriously? Are those two considered the brightest of youngish actors? For real? Anne Hathaway and James Franco, I don’t have a problem with. Beyond those four, here are the rest of the people on the cover: Jennifer Lawrence, Anthony Mackie (yay!), Olivia Wilde, Jesse Eisenberg, Mila Kunis, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Andrew Garfield, Rashida Jones, Garrett Hedlund, and Noomi Rapace (YAY!)… with Robert Duvall in the back. I completely cosign Mila, Anthony Mackie, JGL, Andrew Garfield, Noomi, Jennifer Lawrence and Jesse Eisenberg (the last two are Oscar-nominated, after all). But Olivia Wilde? Rashida Jones? Garrett Hedlund? Ugh.

Anyway, VF hasn’t put up much of a preview, and there aren’t any good-quality photos from the portfolio hanging around, although there is this bad-quality image of Helena Bonham Carter as “The Changeling”.

Photos courtesy of Vanity Fair.

Huffington Post and several other sites are asking if a new fashion pictorial in Interview Magazine is racist. The photo spread features model Daria Werbowy (who is considered “The Next Gisele”) and is shot by photographer Mikael Jansson, a long-time contributer to Interview, and the photographer behind many ad campaigns, like Gap, H&M and Chloe. I’ll let HuffPo explain why this could be/probably is a racist photo shoot:

This Mikael Jansson-shot editorial titled “Let’s Get Lost” for Interview Magazine is provocative, without doubt, and really got us thinking about what exactly it means for Daria Werbowy to “lose” herself in a throng of black partygoers.

From the differences in their dress (Daria’s in ethereal, angel-like gowns, the others are in knits and leathers) to their body language (A limp yet super-sexual Daria is the main focus, the others feel almost like props), the whole spread has a rather racist vibe that we can’t get down with despite the gorgeous art direction of the spread. Don’t you agree?

After all, regardless of what some say, fashion is at its core a political and social product–how power relationships are set up in editorials can speak volumes. So while the super-sexy, ethno-traditional thing is very of the moment, it all seems to be setting up a 21st century colonial construct that makes us very uncomfortable. What do you think?

[From HuffPo]

You know what it reminds me of? That old Bill Pullman horror movie, The Serpent and the Rainbow, where Pullman plays an anthropologist studying Haitians, and the drugs that are given to some people that turn them into zombies. Daria looks like a drugged-out zombie, and the dark-skinned people look like they’re the ones who drugged her. Racist? Yes. But I’d put it more in the category of “just cheesy, inappropriate and stupid.”

Interview Magazine photos courtesy of HuffPo & Interview online.

Note: We got a legal letter from People’s lawyers telling us to take down the People cover with Sandra Bullock, so we’re not posting it here. You’ve surely already seen it, though

It’s been nearly a week since Sandra Bullock shocked us with her adoption and divorce news after her husband’s infidelity scandal. The question is – did Bullock’s People cover outsell the Brangelina twins? According to an industry insider quoted in Popeater, Louis and Sandra didn’t outsell Knox and Vivienne quite yet, but Sandra’s issue is likely to come out ahead. This was a real coup for People, and given how heavy handed their lawyers have been I’m wondering how much they paid Sandra for the interview and photos and if she donated the money. It must have been at least seven figures.

Here’s Popeater’s report:

It’s no surprise that PEOPLE magazine’s shocking Sandra Bullock baby cover was a huge seller, but it hasn’t yet replaced the biggest-selling baby exclusive ever. That would be PEOPLE’s 2008 exclusive photos of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s newborn twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne.

“Sandra’s cover has been on newsstands for a week and it has already sold over 2.7 million copies,” a magazine insider told me, citing early sales estimates for the issue. “That’s only 100,000 less than the 2.8 million copies the magazine sold when Angelina’s twins graced the cover — and a half-million more copies than the June 2006 issue with exclusive baby pictures of Brad and Angelina’s first daughter, Shiloh, which moved 2.2 million newsstand copies.”

So although it looks as if Sandra’s baby will ultimately outsell Angie’s twins, she still has a long way to go be beat the top two seller’s in the magazine’s 35-year history: the Sept. 11 issue (4.1 million copies) and the issue covering Princess Diana’s death (3 million).

[From People]

So tragedy outsells baby covers and Sandra’s story had a little of each with the benefit of a bitter sweet happy ending. It was truly a moving interview and as I mentioned it brought me to tears. (I wasn’t as touched by it later in the day when People’s lawyers told us to remove even the cover of the magazine, but that’s their right and it’s understandable. Again, it makes me wonder what kind of coin they dropped to secure that high selling issue.)

Sandra’s old friend George Lopez is likely to secure the first live interview with her when his show returns in the fall. Lopez told People Magazine that he’s a “proud uncle” to little Louis and added that Sandra and her baby are doing well. “Sandra is a loving, giving person, and Louis could not be in a better home and she could not be happier.” We’re all wishing the best for Sandra and her adorable new arrival.

Sandra may have something else in common with Brad and Angelina – according to reports Sandra is moving to New Orleans with Louis. There have been moving vans spotted outside the mansion she purchased there last September. A source tells Fox411 “Sandra wants to be a part of life in New Orleans and she believes it will be great for Louis to grow up there.” [via Radar] She said in People that she was looking forward to taking a walk with Louis and feeling the sun on her face. Maybe she can do that in her new city with minimal interference from the paparazzi.

Jessica Simpson is the May cover girl for Marie Claire, as well as the guest editor for the issue. She posed on the cover and in the photo shoot without makeup, which is causing some consternation around the interwebs. Some people are questioning whether Jessica is really without makeup here – I kind of think she is. I think this is what she really looks like – very pretty, with good skin and hair, but not the “bombshell” that she often styles herself to be. She tells Marie Claire: “I don’t have anything to prove anymore. What other people think of me is not my business.” Go here for the full Marie Claire slideshow, but here are some highlights, courtesy of Us Weekly:

Glamour girl? For the May cover of Marie Claire, Jessica Simpson went without makeup or retouching.

The reason: To promote her new initiative, “A Beautiful Me,” a program she is launching next month to encourage young women to love themselves and feel comfortable in their own skin.

“I don’t have anything to prove anymore,” says the singer, 29, who once admitted to getting too much Restylane in her lips. “What other people think of me is not my business.”‘

Still, she tells the magazine she likes to get dolled up every once in a while. “If I’m in a mood to go out and feel hot and sexy, I want long hair that I can feel on my back,” she says. “But I also like bed head.”

Although Simpson said she was thrilled to shoot VH1′s The Price of Beauty — which centers on her world travels to discover how other cultures define beauty — viewers aren’t responding. Her show’s March debut attracted around 1 million people, getting beat by a show on The History Channel.

[From Us Weekly]

Jessica also gives some hair care advice to women, although I’m not sure if I would take it. Jessica says: “People think updos are so hard, but they’re not. Your hair should look tousled and undone.” Agreed. Now if I could only get my hair to stay “tousled” instead of flat, I’ll be in business. Jessica also advises: “I’ll usually wash my hair and let it air-dry wavy, but if I’m just in a hang-out mood, I won’t even wash it. I’ll wait until it smells.” Ugh. I’m an air-dryer too (just because I’m lazy, and it doesn’t matter with my hair), but I’ve never waited “until it smells” to wash my hair. I wash it every day. Of course, I also brush my teeth several times a day, so Jessica and I are constantly at odds about our beauty regimens.

Marie Claire pics courtesy of Marie Claire online & HuffPo.