I really don’t care for false modesty from celebrities – but a sufficiently grounded celeb gets my vote anyway. It’s a little hard to tell which camp Penelope Cruz falls into. Though she is absolutely beyond stunning, the actress claims that she’s not beautiful by her own estimation.

OK — there is officially no hope for the rest of us! Penelope Cruz, without doubt one of the most gorgeous women on the planet, thinks she’s (ready?) not beautiful! When Parade magazine asked the Spanish star her secret for looking so amazing in both her new movies, Vicky Christina Barcelona and Elegy, she said simply: “I don’t have any.

“I don’t think I am beautiful. I can look good and I can look ugly. What’s funny is that when I was younger I wanted everyone to look at me. Now I like to watch other people because you can learn a lot of interesting things.”

But it sounds like the cast of Vicky Christina who showed up for the filming of her love scene’s [sic] with Scarlett Johansson don’t quite agree with her self-assessment. “The set was very crowded that day and I’m not sure everyone had a reason to be there,” she said.

[From OK! Magazine]

Given the context, I believe Cruz is just being humble and realistic. We all have ugly days. It’s like what Cindy Crawford once said about how even she doesn’t wake up looking like Cindy Crawford. But I still can’t imagine waking up looking anything like Penelope Cruz and not thinking, “Damn, I look fine.” Or some variation.

Here’s Penelope Cruz arriving at the Ed Sullivan Theater for the ‘Late Show With David Letterman’ on Friday. Photographer: Anthony Dixon. Images thanks to WENN.

I always saw Scarlett Johansson as very glamorous – yet very down to earth – sort of starlet. To hear her in interviews, she seems intelligent and appears to have depth rarely seen by celebrities her age. But apparently those qualities don’t preclude her from being a diva. She made such exorbitant demands of her accommodations at Cannes that the studio promoting her film “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” was unable to foot the bill. Scarlett chose to stay home rather than compromise.

Scarlett Johansson was left at home in New York after a film studio refused to pay for the star’s bloated demands to attend the Cannes Film Festival to launch Woody Allen’s latest movie. The French branch of Warner Brothers Films, distributers of Vicky Cristina Barcelona in France, had spent weeks negotiating with Johansson’s representatives about flying her to Cannes.

They were willing, and happy, to pay for flights, hotel, provide a limousine, arrange for designers to show her gowns and for her to share hair and make-up designers with costars [Penelope] Cruz and [Rebecca] Hall. However, Johansson demanded her own exclusive make-up consultant at a cost of 5,000 Euros a day, which was felt a tad too much for a four day trip where looking after the star’s tresses and powdering her nose would cost a total of 20,000 Euros.

Then there was the problem over an hotel. The film’s director and his leading ladies were delighted to be staying in the centre of Cannes to make it easier for them to attend screenings, public events and to do interviews for TV and press. Johansson wanted to be at an hotel way out in the sticks, some 25 to 30 miles away.

“It was crazy. Penelope and Rebecca were going to be working very hard and it wasn’t acceptable that Scarlett would be having to come in from that distance every day, most likely turning up late and it would have thrown schedules into a lot of confusion. Also, I think, while Woody’s terribly fond of Scarlett, he was a little upset that she wasn’t being a team player”, an executive connected to the film told the Daily Mail.

[From the Daily Mail]

Keep in mind the source is the Daily Mail, and they enjoy putting a particularly pessimistic and critical spin on any story they can. Yet Scarlett wasn’t at Cannes, even though she’s widely been reported to be Woody Allen’s newest muse. That’s quite the slap in the face to him. The film did get rave reviews, and many said it was a return to form for Allen. However she has agreed to do the traditional press and promotion for the film in the U.S.

Hopefully Scarlett won’t be demanding makeup artists that cost $10,000 a day for the press junket. Woody Allen famously said Scarlett wore too much makeup. Maybe he could send her some Maybelline and tell her to suck it up.

Here’s the rest of the cast of - ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ at the film’s Cannes premiere yesterday. Header of Scarlett at Elle’s ‘Women in Hollywood’ 14th annual event on 10.15.08. Images thanks to WENN.

Penelope Cruz has dated some of the most famous leading men in Hollywood, including Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey, but has somehow managed to escape settling down with any of them for too long. Now, sources say her under-the-radar romance with recent Oscar winning actor Javier Bardem is really heating up. The couple met while filming a Woody Allen movie together last summer. They were photographed back in October taking a romantic vacation together, and have been occasionally snapped by paparazzi walking together, but neither of them will comment on the relationship. Since Javier’s career exploded after his star-making performance in “No Country For Old Men,” the couple have had to work a lot harder to keep their relationship under wraps.

Penelope Cruz doesn’t want to publicly show off her relationship with Javier Bardem, but he’s showing her off to his family. Cruz, who was snapped with Bardem’s mom after the Oscars, threw a private party for her trophy-toting beau at Villa on Sunday night. Bardem’s family flew in from Spain to meet Cruz and partied with the couple - along with the Oscar-winning Coen brothers - at the West Hollywood hot spot. One onlooker told us, “He took Penelope for a spin on the dance floor in front of all his family. It’s getting pretty serious.”

[From Page Six]

Friends say Penelope is the one who is trying maintain privacy, after her previous relationships with Cruise and McConaughey were splashed across tabloids and ended so publicly. Penelope and Javier both attended the Oscars this year, but walked the red carpet separately- Javier told interviewers his date for the evening was his mom. The next day, photos emerged of Penelope and Javier trying to sneak away after the ceremony in the same car.

Penelope doesn’t have much of a long-term track record, but I am rooting for this couple. They are just gorgeous, and they both have that exotic flavor in common. I bet they’d have adorable babies.

Note by Celebitchy: Here’s Penelope Cruz out with Javier Bardem’s mom after the Oscars. When I saw these pictures I thought “Wait until she marries that guy, she’ll be fighting with his mom in no time.”

Everyone was all atwitter that Penelope Cruz, 33, was shown making out with her equally hot sister, Mónica Cruz, 30, in a new music video put out by their brother, singer Eduardo Cruz. It turns out that it’s not Monica that Penelope is shown kissing intimately, it’s another lookalike actress named Mía Maestro, 29, who had a part on Alias as Sydney Bristow’s half-sister. E! Online has the news:

While Mónica and Penélope appear in the video as two beauties dubbing a lesbian porn flick into Spanish as well as bathing-suit-clad guitar players, Penólope’s rep tells me there was absolutely no lesbian lip-locking screen time between the two.

Reports even went so far as to claim it was 22-year-old Eduardo’s idea for the smooch, because he always dreamed of watching his sisters get naughty with each other.

The 29-year-old Maestro and the Cruzes have been friends for years. The Argentinean starlet is best known in the U.S. for her work on TV’s Alias, playing Sydney Bristow’s half-sister.

[From E! Online]

Here’s the NSFW video. The two women are shown adding the Spanish voiceover to a softcore film at the beginning while Mia provocatively sucks a lollipop. Eduardo then walks into the music studio and starts recording his song. He alternates between the studio and the pool scene with bikini babes in the sexy film. The makeout scene is very brief and starts at 4:19.

Pete Doherty must be quite a catch, it’s just I don’t see it. Perhaps it’s his ingenuity, making his cat its own little crack pipe? Perhaps it’s his bedroom abilities? I don’t think it’s his musical talent, since as far as I can tell he doesn’t spend a whole lot of time making any. Still, he must have something going for him, with his rumoured engagement to model Irina Lazareanu.

“I very recently got engaged,” the Romania-born, Canada-reared Lazareanu, 25, is quoted by the fashion-industry trade paper as saying at Tuesday’s fashion shows in Paris. No wedding date has been set, the paper adds.

Lazareanu and Doherty have reportedly known each other for 10 years and have long been linked through his band – she was a backup singer – as well as with fellow musician (and friend) Sean Lennon.

A rep for Lazareanu’s agency would not confirm or deny the engagement. But a friend who was with her backstage Tuesday told PEOPLE, “She had a huge rock on her finger and when I asked her about it, she said she was engaged.”

People

Irina is friends with Kate Moss, she was featured when Kate guest-edited Vogue, and was the face of her Top Shop collection.

Pete was given a chance to kick his drug habit before his next court hearing by judge Davinder Lachhar. This is a result of his negative drug test results over the last six weeks. Pete is appearing in court charged with – what else? – drug and motoring offences.

Kate Moss might be feeling like it just isn’t her week – her ex-fiance is now marrying her friend and she’s in trouble for wearing false eyelashes. While most of us think that a well placed false eyelash is the ultimate in flirt power, it seems wearing them in a mascara advertisement gets you in trouble with British television watchdogs.

Rimmel’s “Magnif’eyes mascara” adverts broke the rules by using images which may have exaggerated the product’s benefits, it added. And the television advert’s claim that the mascara gave “70 per cent more lash lift” could have misled viewers because it referred to a change in appearance, not actual lash length.

J Walter Thompson, the advertising agency behind Rimmel’s campaign, told the authority that Moss’s eyelashes were “cleaned up and enhanced” in post-production but did not explain the extent to which their appearance had been changed.

It insisted that Moss did not wear false lashes at the shoot but supplied no evidence to support its denial.

Independent

I thought everyone knew that false eyelashes were used in make up advertisements, particularly the recently panned Penelope Cruz ad where her lashes look like a couple of spiders are dancing on her eyelids. Truth in advertising, what next?

Note by Celebitchy: Kate Moss has been blabbing to friends that she’s engaged to her new boyfriend, musician Jamie Hince of The Hills, so it’s possible that Pete and Irina’s engagement was prompted by that news.

People magazine has released their annual best dressed list, ahead of the best dressed issue of their magazine. Then again, with a stylist in tow it’s easy to gain best dressed kudos, so the worst dressed is probably more interesting! I wish that list was longer.

Best Dressed 2007

Beyoncé Knowles – The Showstopper
Cameron Diaz – The Legs
Katie Holmes – The Classic
Penélope Cruz - The Continental
Jessica Biel – The All-American
Drew Barrymore – The Chameleon
Jennifer Lopez – The Glamour Girl
Reese Witherspoon – The Celeb Next Door
Gwen Stefani – The Trendsetter
Ali Larter – The Newcomer

Best Dressed Men

David Beckham
George Clooney
Johnny Depp
Terrence Howard
Brad Pitt

Best Dressed Couples

Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt
Gabriel Aubry & Halle Berry
Gwen Stefani & Gavin Rossdale
Tony Parker & Eva Longoria

World’s Worst Dresser

Eva Green

Most Shocking Fashion Moments

Britney Spears shaves her head
Sanjaya Malakar’s faux-hawk
Kidnapped British sailors in oversized Iranian suits
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s cleavage
Naomi Campbell’s dress-up for community service
Paris Hilton’s get-out-of-jail get-up

Just Plain Wrong

Sienna Miller in black tights
Avril Lavigne’s combat boots & pink frilly dress

New York Daily News

Why have best dressed men lists? Even the most stylish man just tends to walk around in either a tuxedo or a t-shirt. There’s not much complicated about men’s dressing, why not have best punk rocker style for say, Pete Wentz? Or Best male use of make up, which would probably also be won by Pete Wentz.

I’m also confused about the criteria: Avril Lavinge’s lace dress and combat boots is a style no-no, but Lily Allen’s signature look is a dress and hi-top sneakers (Lily is mentioned in a British best dressed section of the magazine). Aren’t these just different versions of the same look? And none of the women on the best dressed list are cleavage shy, but it’s not okay for Hilary Clinton to show off her assets?

World’s Worst Dresser Eva Green is shown at the Casino Royale world premiere on 11/14/06 and the BAFTA awards on 2/11/07. (PRPhotos)

World’s Best Dressed Woman Beyonce Knowles is shown at the VMAs, at the opening of Jay-Z’s 40-40 club in Vegas on 9/6/07 and at the launch of Emporio Armani Diamonds Fragrance on 8/16/07. (PRPhotos)

Just Plain Wrong Sienna Miller in black tights at the Factory Girl UK premiere on 3/13/07 and at the 2006 Costume Institute Gala on 5/1/06. (PRPhotos)

Just Plain Wrong Avril Lavigne in a pink dress with combat boots at her CD release party in April. (via Faded Youth)

Thanks to a discerning consumer who complained about a mascara ad featuring Penelope Cruz wearing fake eyelashes, Loreal has been ordered to add a disclaimer to all commercials for mascara that include falsies:

L’Oréal has been condemned for producing “misleading” mascara adverts featuring Penelope Cruz.

The TV and magazine adverts boasted that women could have up to 60 per cent longer eyelashes with its Telescopic mascara.

The Hollywood star’s voice promised: “Lashes that could reach for the stars.”

But a sharp-eyed viewer suspected the actress was wearing false lashes to exaggerate the length of eyelid hair produced by the product.

She protested to the Advertising Standards Authority, who upheld her complaint.

It found the TV commercial misleading and said the magazine advert failed to be accurate and true. During the investigation, the French company admitted that the star had been wearing individual false lashes.

The ASA has ordered L’Oréal to add a disclaimer to future adverts whenever models are shown wearing false lashes.

[The Daily Mail]

I have a lot of problems finding good mascara, and have often been annoyed at the obvious use of fake lashes in those ads. Good for that woman for doing something about it! Maybe the cosmetic companies will think twice about using fake lashes in their ads from now on.

Is it just me or are most drug store mascaras crap? Whenever I try a new brand, like Maybelline Define-A-Lash with the nifty silicone brush, they results are usually clumpy and/or too sparse. I get my hopes up occasionally and try a new mascara and am always disappointed. I usually find a brand and stick to it for years. Right now I’m using Max Factor 2,000 Calorie, which is more expensive in Europe so I buy it online at Drugstore.com and have a year’s supply shipped to my parent’s house in the states. I also used to like Loreal’s Lash Out. Here’s a good list from Fab Sugar of the best drug store mascaras.

Penelope Cruz was photographed at a pool in Ibiza after the launch of her clothing line with her sister, Monica, for the Mango chain. She looked a little annoyed to be photographed as she tried to get some water out of her ear.

Penelope recently revealed that she has a Karaoke machine at her house and that when she hosts parties people are skeptical at the beginning of the night, but after a few drinks they fall over themselves trying to get to it:

“I have a machine at home. Sometimes I do karaoke parties: everyone arrives saying they’re not going to sing, but everybody sings. They all say, ‘I’m too cool for karaoke,’ and then they are fighting for the microphone, Contactmusic quoted her, as saying.

[From China Daily]

Cruz also denied dating Spanish actor Javier Bardem, her co-star in the upcoming Woody Allen film set in Barcelona. She said “It’s not true. He’s a friend and the best actor in the world.” That’s the first I’ve heard of any new romance for Penelope, so we’ll have to see what happens.

There are also cute pictures of Monica in a bikini at Celebslam.

Thanks to SplashNews for these pics.

Penelope Cruz must be hard up if she’s resorted to hanging out with Diddy, who was recently dumped by his longterm girlfriend and the mother of three of his children, Kim Porter. Star Magazine reports that Diddy was trying to make the moves on Penelope Cruz while they were out at an event in LA on June 23rd. Pharrell tried to win her away without success, and Diddy ended up taking Penelope to Prince’s concert afterwards:

Diddy and Pharrell Williams fought like third-graders for Spanish spitfire Penelope Cruz’s attention at the Bombay Sapphire dinner on June 23 at Mr. Chow’s in L.A. When Pharrell spotted Diddy and Pen getting cuddly, he rushed over - and she wound up wedged in the middle! But Diddy did win in the end. After dinner, he escorted the blazing beauty to Prince’s concert at the Roosevelt hotel.

[From Star Magazine print edition, July 16, 2007]

How much sake did Penelope Cruz have to drink before she made the wise decision to let Diddy take her somewhere? Maybe they were both headed there anyway and went as friends. Still, I would pick Pharrell over Diddy anyway. Maybe it’s his baby face, but he seems like a much nicer guy. Compared to Diddy, just about anyone is a nicer guy.

Meanwhile The National Enquirer reports that Penelope’s ex Josh Hartnett and model Helena Christiansen are more than friends. There was a story a short while ago that Helena was trying to set Josh up with her friend Rosario Dawson, but he nixed that idea in favor of dating Helena himself. She’s even said to be taking Josh to Copenhagen to meet her family:

At first Helena planned to fix Josh up with her close plan… Rosario Dawson…

“But before Helena could play matchmaker for Rosario, Josh made it clear that he wanted to date Helena,” said [a] friend.

Josh’s attorney denies that he’s romantically involved with Helena. But she’s already invited Josh to Copenhagen later this summer to meet her family, said the source.

[From The National Enquirer print edition, July 16, 2007]

I can see Josh and Helena lasting, but Penelope doesn’t seem like the type that can stick to a long term relationship. Maybe that’s why Diddy is so keen to get with her.

Thanks to PopSugar for the header image, which is from the Armani fashion show in February, 2006.

Hot Penelope Cruz was presented with an edible faux Oscar at the Sanremo Festival of Italian Song in Sanremo, Italy this Friday. She may have lost the best actress award to Helen Mirren, but she can still bite into a replica.

She looks gorgeous in a tight black scoop neck gown with glittering zig-zag detail. I like that dress much better than the one she wore to the Oscars although it doesn’t look puffy or complicated enough for the biggest Hollywood award ceremony.

The Sanremo festival is a five day Italian music festival that also features acts from outside the country. This year British singer Joss Stone, and American recording artists Norah Jones and John Legend will perform. Cruz was interviewed live on stage to attract television viewership and promote the festival.

Things are heating up in Penelope’s new relationship with Orlando Bloom. The two were seen making out at Prince’s post Oscar party, although an earlier story just had them “flirting outrageously” that night. I hope we see them make the rounds together soon.

Pictures from HotCelebs.