A month ago, I gave the most famous teenage mother in America, Bristol Palin, a break. She had done a PSA for Candie’s “Pause Before You Play” campaign, encouraging teens not to have sex, lest they become teen mothers and fathers as well. I thought the ad was done well, and although there was a whiff of “do what I say, not what I do” I liked that Bristol was pretty much admitting that her circumstances are totally different from the overwhelming majority of teen mothers. She stepped out again last night to support the Candie’s program, and she spoke to People Magazine about how much she works and supports herself financially:

Think teen-mom Bristol Palin has it easy as the daughter of a famous, wealthy politician? Think again.

“[My parents] are there for support when I need it emotionally, but I’m on my own financially. I work an 8-to-5 job, five days a week,” Palin, 19, who’s raising 16-month-old Tripp, tells PEOPLE. “My parents help out, but they’re not at my disposal. I think that’s a huge misconception.”

Bristol’s mother, Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate, has earned millions since leaving office last July. But not a lot of that money is apparently going to buy diapers for Tripp.

“I’m doing it by myself,” Bristol says. “I live by myself, I’m working to provide for [my son]. It is difficult. Financially, it’s very difficult. I’d say the majority of any paycheck I ever receive is going to Tripp. Child care is very expensive, formula is expensive, diapers are expensive – and you don’t think about that as a kid, at all.”

The young mother was in New York on Wednesday for a Candie’s Foundation benefit – having recently filmed a PSA for teen-pregnancy prevention group.

What’s a typical day like for her and Tripp? “When I wake up from the few hours of sleep I do get, I’m getting him ready for the babysitter’s house, I’m off to work providing for him, working for him,” she says. “[Then] I’m coming home from work exhausted, I’m bathing him, feeding him dinner, playing with him, trying to get him to bed. It’s just repetitive work constantly.”

Still, she’s not giving up on her dream to continue her education. “I’m trying to chip away as much as I can on college, but this semester it was nearly impossible,” she says. “I want to beat that statistic of teen moms not graduating from college.”

[From People]

Eh. What is she doing financially? I know she gets some money from doing all of these events for Candie’s, but is that her job? For a second I thought she was talking about being a mom as her job, but she’s clearly talking about something else. And while I think Bristol’s goals are great – going to college would be a wonderful experience for her – I am absolutely flabbergasted that former governor Palin (with her new multi-million dollar career) isn’t helping her oldest daughter financially, especially with her education. Or do you think Sarah Palin is helping her, and Bristol is lying? I don’t know. This interview has left me mystified.

UPDATE: CB wanted me to point out that Bristol’s baby-daddy Levi is paying her $1,750 every month, according to TMZ, and that he paid off a $21 K back-support payment to her a few months ago. While I’m sure that’s not enough for Bristol and Levi to live on by themselves, it’s weird that she doesn’t mention it.

Header: Bristol at “The Harsh Truth: Teen Moms Tell All” panel in NYC on May 5, 2010. Credit: WENN.

The Tiki Barber scandal grows and grows. Earlier this month, Tiki and his wife Ginny split up, even though she was 8 months pregnant with twins. The rumors started immediately, and it was pretty much confirmed within days: Tiki had dumped his wife for a 23-year-old NBC intern, whom he had been screwing for nearly two years. Tiki has been getting slammed in the press, especially in the New York media, and it’s easy to see why. Now comes the news that not only is Tiki shacked up with his mistress, but he’s not even trying to financially support his pregnant wife. Ugh:

Tiki Barber, onetime NFL hero is facing a divorce suit after heartlessly leaving his 8 months-pregnant wife, Ginny, hospital-ridden while he wined and dined his 23 three year-old mistress, for a week!

Tiki Barber — have you no shame or any concern at all for your estranged wife of 11 years, who used to be your best friend and biggest supporter? Obviously not. You were spotted all over New York City, reports the New York Post, with 23 year-old Traci Lynn Johnson, the former college student turned NBC intern who you preferred over your wife, two little boys and the twins on the way.

Not only that, you’ve been lowballing Ginny in out-of-court negotiations over financial support, a family friend told the NYPost. “Tiki refused to give her anything close to what she needs,” the friend told the paper. Guess it’s more important to buy expensive gifts, clothing and take her out to dinner, than take care of sons AJ, 7, Chasen, 6 and your new babies, Tiki. No wonder our Hollywoodlife.com readers voted you THE WORST Dad of 2010 by a wide margin with 55 per cent of the vote. You easily beat out Jon Gosselin and Tiger Woods.

The divorce papers were filed in the Manhattan Supreme Court Apr. 26 citing “adultery.” Tiki surprised his wife with news about his affair when he told her he was moving out last fall and into a midtown lovenest. Until, he dropped that bomb on pregnant Ginny, the former football star, who had spoken out about his own father’s philandering, had never dropped a hint to Ginny, that he was unhappy with their marriage, a source told Hollywoodlife.com.

It’s not surprising that NBC has suspended Tiki from his two jobs as a Sports and Today show correspondent after news about his scandalous behavior broke. Reports are surfacing that the Today show has fired Tiki but NBC and Tiki both will not comment.

Ginny is now home at her Upper East Side apartment and according to sources close to her, she’s very upset – no surprise.

“It’s been an emotional time for her,” says the source. “She is, of course, worried about the health of her unborn twins. It’s a lot to deal with and she is still being closely monitored by her doctors.”

We wish you well Ginny. Hopefully your louse of an ex will PAY bigtime!

[From Hollywood Life]

Yeah, Hollywood Life poured it on a bit thick, but you get the point. Tiki is a douche, and we thought he was a better man. It takes a particular kind of slimy douche to leave your pregnant wife for a 23-year-old intern, and then not even concern yourself about supporting said pregnant wife. It’s like he’s had a personality overhaul… maybe it’s a brain tumor or something. Ugh.

There were stories years ago that Lindsay Lohan was rapidly blowing through whatever fortune she had amassed by shopping constantly. She also used to live at the Chateau Marmont hotel and reportedly ran up a million dollars there in 2005 alone. That money could have been used for a down payment on a home, but Lindsay is still living in (very relative) squalor in a rented home, for which she’s missed payments. Now Radar Online is reporting that Lindsay is sadly but unsurprisingly over 1/2 a million dollars in debt to credit card companies and owes over $600,000 on her plastic. With little career prospects and an event fee that isn’t even as high as Snooki’s Lindsay is going to have a lot of problems paying all that back:

Lindsay Lohan has been hitting the party scene hard and hasn’t done much work since her last film Labor Pains, which went straight to DVD. Despite her lack of income, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively that she hasn’t cut back on her spending and is now over half a million dollars in debt.

“Lindsay owes credit cards $600,000,” a source tells RadarOnline.com of the troubled 23-year-old. “One card cut her off last week and it’s only a matter of time before all her other credit cards cut her off too.”

Lohan used to make a good chunk of change by doing club appearances, but as RadarOnline.com previously reported the invites are becoming sparse and the starlet gets only from $5,000 to $10,000 at most.

Lohan’s financial woes are nothing new but the severity of them is. She recently made headlines when it was reported that the actress was two months behind on her rent, prompting her landlord to threaten eviction. Lohan allegedly paid $23,000 to catch up and stay in her place.

“One credit card company is going to discuss a payment plan for Lindsay,” the source continued. “But if she doesn’t have the income and can’t make her payments, they are prepared to sue her.”

[From Radar Online]

Since I’ve been on vacation in the US I’m amazed at how easy it is to spend money here. I’m serious, it’s a little harder to spend like that in Europe as the stores aren’t open as late or on Sunday and the clothes are so much more expensive that you just don’t buy as many things. (And I live in Berlin, where stores are open later and there’s more variety, etc.) There’s a real shopping culture in the US that I didn’t fully notice until I was away for a few years. That said, Lindsay has no one to blame but herself for this financial mess! She has screwed herself out of a very promising career by acting like an entitled brat for years, and she could have cut back on her spending when she realized there wasn’t as much money coming in. Now she’s doing drugs and and has no income to speak of other than whatever she gets for her leggings. There are rumors that Quentin Tarantino wants to work with her, but how much do you want to bet that she’ll screw that up, too? In Lindsay’s world, she’s still a rich movie star, she can still buy whatever she wants, and there’s no one telling her “no.” Pretty soon the credit card companies may be, though. The sad thing is that all that money probably went to clothes, purses and shoes and she still looks like a mess and her house is a pigsty, too!

Here’s Lindsay at Coachella on 4/18 showing off some of her million dollar wardrobe. Credit: WENN.com

I feel like I was one of the few who was actually shocked at the news that Mel Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva had broken up. Not that they seemed like such a tremendously solid couple, or that I thought they were going to make it last forever, but I truly had a higher opinion of Oksana’s golddigging skills. She didn’t even get Mel to marry her! But she did get knocked up with Lil’ Cash Money, also known as their daughter Lucia. Which means that for the next 18 years, Mel is going to be shelling out for child support. People Mag spoke to an attorney who doesn’t really have anything to do with Mel or Oksana, and the lawyer has a guess about what the payout for Oksana is going to be:

What’s his latest breakup going to cost Mel Gibson?

According to a family law specialist, the wealthy actor-director-producer will likely pay a large amount of child support to ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva for their 5-month-old daughter, Lucia, but probably has no legal responsibility to make alimony payments, given the fact they were not married.

“This is not dissolution of marriage action. The mother would have rights to child support, which in the case of Mr. Gibson, will be very substantial,” says attorney Steven Knowles, who estimates support of $12,000 to $15,000 a month. “He is what we call a high-income earner, and there is a high-income earner stipulation that says they must pay any amount reasonably necessary for the support of the child.”

But Gibson, who already is in the midst of a divorce from his wife of three decades, Robyn, likely won’t pay alimony to Grigorieva because they were never married, even under California’s famous Marvin palimony laws for unmarried couples.

“Merely living together and having a child does not give the mother any rights to property and certainly no spousal support,” says Knowles, who’s not involved in the Gibson action.

A close friend of the couple calls the split “amicable,” adding, “They’re still friends and they’ll both raise Lucia together.”

[From People]

So Oksana and Lucia will get somewhere in the vicinity of $144,000 to $180,000 a year? Doesn’t that seem like too little? If Mel’s ex-wife Robyn took anywhere from 30-50% of Mel’s estate in the divorce, Mel is still worth around $500 million, give or take a hundred million. Of course, before they broke up, Mel bought Oksana a $2.4 million home, several cars, jewelry and assorted goodies. My guess is that Mel will end up paying out a lot more to Oksana and Lucia, and this lawyer dude’s guess is an underestimation.

Mel and Oksana in Paris on February 4, 2010, and in Madrid on February 1, 2010. Credit: WENN.

Pamela Anderson is one wacky broad, but I never thought she was hurting for money. Between the Playboy stuff, child support from ex Tommy Lee, and the syndication royalties from her stint on Baywatch, she should be set for life, right? Well, even with all that income and whatever she is getting paid to shimmy her pasties on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” it’s apparently not enough for poor Pammie to pay her taxes. The blond bombshell has been added to a list of “delinquent taxpayers.”

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California officials say former “Baywatch” star Pamela Anderson has failed to pay $493,000 in personal income tax. Anderson is on the annual list of delinquent taxpayers released Monday by the California Franchise Tax Board.

The 42-year-old actress is currently competing on the television show “Dancing With the Stars.”

Anderson is among 250 individual and business taxpayers that owe more than $100,000 in back taxes. State records show a tax lien for $493,144 was filed against Anderson in April 2009.

Her attorney, Robert T. Leonard of Woodland Hills, says he is representing Anderson in the matter but declined to comment further.

[From NY Daily News]

I never knew that this kind of information could be made public. How embarrassing! That seems like an astronomical amount to me, but then again, I’m no Hollywood actress. Maybe Pammie should start playing the victim card on “DWTS” like fellow contestant Kate Gosselin, who keeps trying to justify her presence on the show by saying her kids need to eat, blah blah blah. At this point, it seems to me that Pam is the one who is having a harder time financially as a single mom. I wonder who manages Pam’s money? She doesn’t seem like the type who keeps track of that sort of thing, and now it looks like it’s biting her in the ass. Whatever is going on, not paying your taxes can wreak some serious havoc-don’t do it!

It was just last week that the tabloids were reporting that LeAnn Rimes is desperate to marry Eddie Cibrian in any way he would have her. She would even “elope” with him, if only his divorce would come through (and if only he would, you know, propose to her). I theorized at the time that LeAnn would probably get pregnant right around the time Eddie’s divorce from Brandi Glanville was being finalized, and that LeAnn and Eddie would probably have a shotgun wedding. Which, honestly, is what I would do if I was in LeAnn’s shoes and I really wanted to marry Eddie. A little shotgun wedding never hurt anybody.

Anyway, the Enquirer is reporting this week that LeAnn’s got ants in her pants about getting this sh-t nailed down with Eddie – so much so that she’s offering to pay off Brandi to speed things up:

LeAnn Rimes wants to be a summer bride – and she’s not letting the fact that Eddie Cibrian is still married stand in her way!

LeAnn is so eager to fast-track a wedding to Eddie that she’s offered to tap into her $35 million fortune to bankroll a divorce payoff to his estranged wife, sources say.

“She’s already talking to dress designers, and she’s telling friends that wants a sunset wedding in Malibu in July or August,” an insider revealed. LeAnn’s divorce from Dean Sheremet is set to be finalized June 19.

However, Brandi is still bitter over being dumped by the 36-year-old actor, and the two continue to bicker over custody issues involving their two youngest sons.

“Brandi doesn’t have any incentive to tie up loose ends with Eddie, and she’s getting a kick out of seeing him and LeAnn squirm,” said the source.

“LeAnn told Eddie that she’s willing to fork over a few million dollars to him for Brandi if she agrees to cut him loose quickly,” the insider divulged. “LeAnn is ready to start a new life with Eddie.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition]

I totally believe this. All of it. I believe that LeAnn wants to get this stuff done ASAP. I believe LeAnn is offering Eddie (Brandi, really) a lot of money to end this, and I believe Brandi gets a kick out of doing whatever she can to c-ckblock LeAnn. And I have to admit, it’s kind of funny. I think Brandi is a scorned ex-wife who put up with multiple dalliances by Eddie, and this is the way she has fun now, seeing how she can screw over LeAnn and Eddie. So, will Brandi take the money? Or will she make LeAnn suffer even more? I think Brandi should hold out a little longer, see how much she can squeeze out of LeAnn. I mean, how high will LeAnn’s offer go? Brandi should hold out for a cool $5 million. And if she gets that, she should take it and then move on with her life.

Here’s Brandi, enjoying herself. I really think Brandi is so pretty:

A few months ago, a rash of stories about Dennis Hopper began coming out. Apparently, Dennis was not only on his deathbed, but he had had enough with his fifth wife Victoria, and had filed for divorce and ordered Victoria out of the house. Then we heard about how it might have been Dennis’s adult daughter probably instigated the whole thing because she wants more access to her dad’s estate. And now TMZ is reporting that Dennis doesn’t actually have much of an “estate” left – he’s broke! Yikes.

Dennis Hopper is extremely ill from his battle with cancer — he weighs a little over 100 pounds and is nearly broke, according to new court documents obtained by TMZ.

Attorney Joe Mannis in Hopper’s mega-divorce case, paints a grim picture of Hopper’s life. One of his doctors submitted a declaration, stating, “It is doubtful that Mr. Hopper will ever recover sufficiently to be subject to a deposition.”

Hopper says in the legal docs he is willing to pay estranged wife Victoria $5,000 a month in spousal support, and that’s all he can afford. Hopper’s CPA says Dennis’ liquid assets total $300,280 … plus another $10,900 in Hopper’s corporations.

The CPA says in recent years, “Hopper has basically lived on income derived from new acting services.” Because of his cancer, Hopper can’t work, and in 2009 he earned $57,000 in residuals. Mannis says that’s what Hopper will pull in this year as well.

Victoria has alleged Dennis is loaded because of art he has created and sold. Dennis counters in legal docs that in the last 9 years he’s sold art to the tune of $1,895,000, but his expenses to create and store the art totaled $1,850,000 — so he’s saying the net profit for 9 years is a measly $45,000.

According to the docs, Dennis has been living off a $450,000 line of credit, but there is “no further borrowing possible.”

[From TMZ]

Um… where are all of Dennis’s big Hollywood friends? Seriously, I would expect Jack Nicholson or Sean Penn to get his back and help him out financially, legally and whatever else he needs. Of course, I do have another theory: maybe Dennis’s daughter is restricting access to her dad, not just for Dennis’s estranged wife, but for everyone. In any case, it’s a sad situation, even if Dennis was once a son of a bitch.

A couple of weeks ago, I covered Amanda Seyfriend’s interview in April’s Esquire Magazine. I claimed that she came across as “kind of an ungrateful snot”. I stand by that, although I would like to add an extra dimension to my take: I think Amanda seems like a girl who is really full of herself, and who hasn’t done enough solid work to back up her attitude. Granted, she’s had a few number-one box office hits (Mamma Mia, Dear John), and she’s been in some critically acclaimed stuff (like Chloe, which is what she’s promoting, and Big Love, which she’s leaving behind because her part wasn’t big enough). So Amanda has way more to proud of then, say, Megan Fox or Lindsay Lohan or someone like that. But still – Amanda is not a household name, yet she’s already giving interviews talking about “I sacrificed six years in L. A. I did my job out here. I made the contacts and did the work I had to do.” Or anything from this most recent interview, in Vanity Fair.

Amanda compares her career to Angelina Jolie’s (except Amanda wants us to know “I don’t want to be in magazines everyday, because I don’t want people to get used to one thing”) and she also has some pretty inappropriate things to say about doing romantic comedies for the money:

You’ve played a pretty wide array of roles. What types of roles do you find yourself rejecting the most?
Horror films. Like very generic horror scripts. And romantic comedies, cause those tend to follow the same pattern, the same structure, and that can be really boring. Also, usually I’m playing a version of myself—I mean, I’m always playing a version of myself, except in Chloe—so the challenge isn’t really there, in terms of playing a lead in a romantic comedy. Those have to appeal to a wider audience and I sometimes have a problem with needing to appeal to a wider audience, because with that comes studio backing, and with that comes pressure to make it mainstream. When you start using test audiences, it becomes more scientific than it is about the work itself, and that’s boring.

You do seem to vary your choices of a lot.
Well it’s the trick of making sure the audience will believe you in any form that they see you in. When I vary my roles, it allows them to lose themselves more, hopefully. I don’t want to become a brand and I certainly don’t want to have a persona. I don’t want to be in magazines everyday, because I don’t want people to get used to one thing. They may know my face, but I feel like Angelina Jolie can still play a character and you can still get lost in it… Even though she’s all over the place, and that’s unfortunate for her. But luckily she still maintains enough anonymity for us to believe her.

Can a young actress really get away with swearing off romantic comedies?
Well, it’s hard because they pay a lot of money. Sometimes, when you want to buy an apartment in Manhattan, you gotta do one or two. But in most cases you don’t need to be doing them—there are enough action flicks to keep you busy… no I’m kidding. Romantic comedies are great, though, if they’re done well. I love watching them; I just don’t necessarily love the process of making one. I like a small production company, a small set. That’s sometimes really wonderful. But if you’re working with a director who’s trusted by the studio, then you get to be freer. And I’m not bashing studios; it’s just a different way of making movies. It’s making movies for a different reason: for money. And that’s all great. We all want money. I mean, I love my apartment in New York.

Did Dear John pay for that?
No, it was Letters to Juliet. But also, I—my God—I got to work with Gael García Bernal and Vanessa Redgrave and it’s like, although it’s a romantic comedy made by a studio [Summit Entertainment, the people behind Twilight and The Hurt Locker] and everything, and there’s all these things attached to it, it was amazing. It was great and we shot in Italy. But I’m not going to say it didn’t get me an apartment.

All those benefits and you don’t want to do it again?
I do! I will! I absolutely will, but just not right now, cause I just did it. It’s coming out in May. Dear John for me was more of a stepping-stone. With that came more opportunities, and also it was my first romantic lead. But now I’ve done two of those, and now I’m ready to not for a while.

You made a big impression with your first film, Mean Girls. Are trying to avoid similarly ditzy roles?
Not anymore.

Was that a concern at first?
Yeah, absolutely. It was really well written. Really well written. And I had a great comedic coach, to help me get the role, cause I was unknown. And it was just for the big-boobed idiot, and for a lot of those roles, were just vacant, and they were just silly, they wouldn’t have been for anything really. But now I’ve various things over the years, and it’s been really good. That’s the trick—and it is a trick: you really do have to like hold off on things, even if they’re throwing you million dollar pay checks. You just have to say, its not right right now. I just did it. I’d be bored. When you’re scared to go to work, at the end of that day, you just feel so great and so tired because you were fulfilled in your job. And if you go home feeling like, another day, like it’s all the same, sometimes it gets so boring you wonder why you’re even doing it.

Unless you want to upgrade that apartment
Unless you have a kid, and then, you need a bigger apartment. Or like, I don’t know, if your dog is sick, and you need to pay for surgery. I mean there are definitely reasons to do certain things, but for the most part I like to stick to good director, good actor, good script.

So you have a dog?
I do!

What kind?
I have an Australian Sheppard. Finn. He’s five and a half months. Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod! My dog sitter just sent me pictures!

[From Vanity Fair]

Ugh, bitch please. You’re pretty and you’ve got an okay talent and you’ve got big boobs. You don’t really stand out that much, so just be grateful that people are hiring you for anything. Too harsh? I know she said “oh, just jokes” or whatever, but the whole conversation about doing films for the money is just annoying. Gwyneth Paltrow used to talk that way too – she claimed she did that run of sh-tty movies in the 1990s because she wanted a big apartment in New York. Here’s a tip to all young actresses: You are not Gwyneth Paltrow. Stop saying you do films for the money. Just be grateful to have a job, because all of you are utterly replaceable. And if you’re just going to do a film only to bitch and moan and whine about doing it for the money, don’t sign on. Let that part go to another actress who will appreciate it.

Amanda at Showest on March 18, 2010. Credit: WENN.

This is Mischa Barton at Sunday’s Make-a-Wish Foundation’s red carpet in LA. It was… not a good appearance for Mischa. Look at her face. Does she look 24 years old? Or does she look more like 44? A hard 44, too. LaineyGossip points out: “We are obviously far from Season 2 of The OC but Mischa clearly can’t stop clinging to the Young Hollywood It Girl reputation that has long since been taken away from her. Actually no. She pissed it away herself, didn’t she? She did. And now what’s left is the stank of has-been that wafts around her. There’s some has-been settling in around her eyes too, tugging away at the edges of a once fresh, one beautiful face, now irreversibly marked by hard living and irresponsible decision making.”

More proof? Let me ask you this – just how broke is Mischa Barton? Very. So broke that she didn’t have the money to buy a tub of cooked pasta at a grocery store. So broke that two of her credit cards got declined, and she didn’t have any cash on her. So broke that even Lindsay Lohan is like, “Bitch, get yourself together.” Radar reports this sad/weird little tale as if it is an eyewitness account. It might be:

Mischa Barton was so hungry when she went grocery shopping on Monday night that she dipped into the groceries she was waiting in line to purchase and started eating some cooked pasta.

RadarOnline.com was there and watched Mischa and her hungry friend with amusement. But things took at bad turn when the former O.C. star went to pay for the already-eaten item and her credit card was declined! Uh oh. So she tried another card and that was declined too.

It all happened at Whole Foods on Fairfax and Crescent Heights and we watched as Mischa searched her purse for cash. No cash!

We always wondered what would happen in a situation like this. But Mischa’s friend quickly bailed her out, taking out his wallet and paying for their groceries. Poor Mischa looked upset and ducked her head.

Don’t feel bad Mischa — we would have paid for you but we had just enough money on us to pay for our groceries!

[From Radar]

I can’t even imagine. The only faux pas I’ve ever made like that is trying to pay with my check card when it’s someplace that’s cash only. But I had money in my checking account, for goodness sake. I wasn’t just like, “Try these credit cards, even though I haven’t paid the bills in years.” Meanwhile, Mischa is selling her big “starter mansion” that she bought in 2005, back when she was relevant. But don’t worry – she’s marked it up $2 million from what she paid. She must have upgraded the abode with a classy crackden/family room.

Do you notice something about the Mischa Barton situation – it’s a lot like the Lindsay situation, isn’t it? It’s like you don’t really feel bad for her. I mean, this is a girl with issues, with problems, but I’m pretty sure a lot of it is her own doing, her own sense of entitlement, her own biting of the hand that fed her. Did anyone catch her appearance on Law & Order: SVU a few weeks ago? It was terrible. She might have been the worst guest star ever. Horrible, cheesy New York accent, stilted, wooden acting and she looked like hell. I mean, I get that she was playing an abused hooker. But I don’t think the makeup people were trying to get her to look that bad.

Mischa Barton in LA on Sunday, March 14, 2010. Credit: WENN.

Last fall, as the cast of Precious geared up for their promotional tour, there were more than a few articles written about Mo’Nique. Unfortunately, not all of the pieces concentrated on her enormous talent or her stellar performance. It was reported that Mo’Nique was killing her Oscar chances by pulling a diva act for the promotional trail, and demanding to only do paid appearances to promote the film. Those reports were around for about a month, then they kind of died, and Mo’Nique has gone to win a Golden Globe, a SAG award, a BAFTA award, and numerous critics’ awards. So you’d think that someone was just trying to circulate some negative press in the heat of the Oscar campaign, right? Not so much. As it turns out, Mo’Nique is a little crazy about her paid appearances, as a new interview reveals:

Mo’Nique won the Golden Globe. She also picked up a SAG Award. And don’t forgot about her most recent honor at the BAFTAs. So easy money says the actress will be victorious at the Academy Awards next month. Right?

“No. No,” says Mo’Nique.

“See, with any of the awards, I don’t never feel like I got this, ’cause I think the universe would say, ‘Really? So you that special that you already know?’

“So I’m appreciative of when they do call my name and I’m appreciative if they don’t call my name,” said Mo’Nique in an interview from Atlanta, where she was working on a comedy tour “Spread the Love” that kicks off March 19 in New Orleans.

The 42-year-old actress-comedian has had a breakthrough year because of her riveting portrayal as the abusive Mary Jones in “Precious: Based on the Novel `Push’ by Sapphire.”

She talks to The Associated Press about her honors and the comedy tour.

AP: In the middle of this busy awards season, you’re planning a comedy tour?
Mo’Nique: Standup is my first baby. Like, I’ll be doing standup, sugar, when I’m like 97 years old. I hope to God I can still make it happen.

AP: You’ve won so many awards. Will you take them on the road with you?
Mo’Nique: (Laughs) Hell no! No, baby, that’s too much.

AP: There’s been a lot of talk about you not showing up early on to promote “Precious” because you were worried about money.
Mo’Nique: Well, when they say Mo’Nique was worried about money, I wasn’t worried about money. Mo’Nique has a talk show that comes on five nights a week and she tapes six times a week for that talk show. And yes, when I leave my home, I leave my home and get paid to leave my home, so I wasn’t worried about money. They simply said, “You know, well Mo’Nique we can’t pay you to do that.” … We said, “OK, baby. Well, then, that’s not something we can do.” Because, when I leave out, why ever would I go do something for free when I can go and do something and bring money back home to my family?

AP: Has anyone, after watching the movie, come up to you and opened up about the past?
Mo’Nique: It’s been quite a few. But one, it was this Asian brother at the DGA (Directors Guild of America) screening, and he came up to me and he had been crying, and he said, “Mo’Nique, what I’m getting ready to say to you is gonna sound weird. But I am Mary Jones, and I was Mary Jones to my brother and my sister.” And we hugged and we were crying, and I said, “Congratulations for saying it out loud, and go get you some help.”

AP: How does that make you feel?
Mo’Nique: When you hear that you say, “We’ve already won.” So when people say, “Mo’Nique, are you excited about the Oscars and are you excited about the (NAACP) Image awards, are you excited?” I’m excited anytime somebody wants to say, “You know what, we appreciate what you did.” But when you get that, that’s priceless.

[From Huffington Post]

First of all, one of the things Kaiser hates most of all is when Kaiser reads some celebrity talking about themselves in the third person. Second of all, I gave Monique a general pass on some of the early rumors of her diva act because I wasn’t sure that they were true, and because I honestly thought Mo’Nique probably had no idea how an Oscar campaign goes, and how much ass-kissing you have to do. That pass is revoked. Third, beyond the stupid move of putting yourself out there as someone obsessed with getting paid for every appearance during the heat of a campaign, how unattractive is Mo’Nique’s attitude in general? It’s like she spends her life keeping a mental tally of what she’s getting paid for and what she’s owed. Ugh.

Thanks to LaineyGossip for the link!

Mo’Nique at the SAG awards on January 23, 2010. Credit: Jody Cortes/WENN.