The rumors that actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband, Coldplay front man Chris Martin, are on the rocks have been swirling around for months. The couple, parents to Apple and Moses, are notoriously fierce about guarding their privacy and go out of their way not to be photographed together. It’s hard to say which of them is driving that - I’d say it’s Gwyneth, who was a regular tabloid staple during her engagements to Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck. But everytime one of them appears publicly without the other one, a new cycle of rumors begins.

IS Gwyneth Paltrow heading down the same marital path as her pal Madonna?

Paltrow raised eyebrows last weekend when she went to the Victoria’s Secret fashion show at the reopened Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach instead of flying to see her rocker husband, Chris Martin, on tour with Coldplay.

One insider said, “Gwyneth flew down privately at the behest of [Fontainebleau Resorts owner] Jeff Soffer.” Paltrow and Soffer - a billionaire bachelor who’s regarded as Miami royalty - have become very good friends recently, insiders added.

Adding to speculation, Paltrow didn’t stay at the hotel with other guests, opting to “stay at a friend’s house instead for more privacy,” a source reports. While attending the Victoria’s Secret party and show, she “remained closed off in a private section and hung out with Soffer and Madonna paramour Alex Rodriguez.”

On Friday, Soffer gave Paltrow a private tour of the hotel and then whisked her away in his Bentley. Saturday, she joined him on his yacht with her pal Kate Hudson.

Reports that Martin and Paltrow have been on the rocks for months have circulated in the press as they’ve refused to be photographed together. One wag snipes, “She spent the summer filming a TV show in Spain with Mario Batali and now, instead of hanging out with her husband, she goes to a Victoria’s Secret show? Really? Gwyneth doesn’t have anything to do with Victoria’s Secret. If things were so great with Chris, why wouldn’t she be with him?”

Adding fuel to the fire was the way Paltrow looked in Miami. “She was very, very thin,” a witness noted. “She looked stressed out. And she certainly didn’t act like a happily married woman.”

[From Page Six]

“Raised eyebrows?” For real? This is a non-story, if you ask me. First off, Gwyneth can’t really “hang out” with her husband right now, because Coldplay is in the middle of a huge world tour. What is she supposed to do, follow him around the world like some sort of groupie? Coldplay finish their last leg of U.S. tour dates this week before heading back to the U.K. and then to Japan. Why shouldn’t she get out and enjoy herself once in a while? Secondly, when hasn’t Gwyneth been “very very thin,” except for when she was pregnant? And finally, the comment about her not looking happy: this is Gwyneth Paltrow we’re talking about here. She’s not exactly known around Hollywood for her beaming smile and bouncy personality. I’m not saying it’s not possible that there’s trouble in paradise for these two, but to make assumptions based on some pretty flimsy speculation doesn’t convince me.

Header and gallery photos of Gwyneth Paltrow at the Fountainbleau Resort. Apparently she spend the evening hanging out with A-Rod. Photo credits: Bauergriffin. Chris Martin is pictured at the 2008 Q Awards in October. Photo credits: WENN.

- Chuck Norris is So Weak He’s Terrified of ‘Gay Anarchy’ (thanks Scott M on Facebook) [Queerty]
- Beginner’s guide to Twilight [Moviefone]
- Michelle Obama’s great style[Black Voices]
- X-Men is going to get a younger makeover from the creator of “Gossip Girl.” [Radar Online]
- Dirt cheap stocking stuffers [Stylelist]
- Nicole Kidman keeps repeating that she wants more kids [Bild]
- 100 Movie Spoilers in five minutes [Cityrag]
- Russell Crowe and his boys [Celebrity Baby Scoop]
- Shoshanna Lonstein Bikini Pics From Miami [Bastardly]
- “Real Housewives of Atlanta” smackdown footage. It never gets quite as bad as I was hoping [The YBF]
- Nicole Kidman nip slip [The Blemish]
- Announcement of People’s sexiest man alive on The Today Show [Popcrunch]
- Scientology quashes tell all book by former high ranking member [Agent Bedhead]
- Hilary Duff at MTV’s TRL finale [Use My Computer]
- Scary Juliette Lewis [Evil Beet]
- As many as 4 million may come to Barack Obama’s inauguration [Concrete Loop]
- Megan Fox nearly falling out of her dress [Popoholic]
- Joan Collins thinks Miami is on the west coast [Seriously? OMG! WTF?]
- Ashlee Simpson is getting foot massages to bring on labor [CelebNewsWire]
- Snoop Dogg gives Martha Stewart an educizzle [Best Week Ever]
- Vampire or Amy Winehouse? [PopBytes]

For some reason a lot of celebrities that used to bug the shit out of me are seeming much less annoying, and even a little endearing. Pete Wentz is the latest maybe former douche to grow on me. In recent interviews he seems really happy to be an expecting a baby with his new wife, Ashlee Simpson, and you get the impression he’ll be a great father. Pete showed both a sense of humor and humility in his responses to an Elle reporter’s question about his famous peen photos taken with a cell phone camera. He says that like Diddy he’s usually much more groomed down there and that he would have taken care of his stubble if he knew those photos would get out:

ELLE: Like millions of others, I’ve seen these photos. But if a picture of your penis is going to get leaked online, you could do much worse than yours.

PW: Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. But at the time, I wanted to find a cave and hang out there for the rest of my life and be a cave painter and eat dirt.

ELLE: I don’t want you to think I lingered on the photo, but I did notice that you looked groomed down there.

PW: The manscaping? Honestly, I felt slightly overgrown in those pictures. If I had taken them for public consumption, I would have done it differently - groomed a little closer, better lighting.

ELLE: So-called guyliner: What are the most common mistakes?

PW: Wearing it to the point where people only recognize you as ‘that guy who wear eyeliner.’ I don’t really wear it anymore because of that.

[From Elle Magazine, December 2008 print edition, via Huffington Post]

Why do you have to be all normal and self-deprecating like that, Pete? A few months ago people were laughing at how you kept changing your suicide attempt story to make it more dramatic and now you have to handle your nude photos with humor and panache. That must be what impending fatherhood does to you.

We’ll soon be seeing cute photos of Ashlee and Pete holding baby trendy strangename, looking tired but elated, their hair perfectly tousled in asymmetric strips. Pete won’t forget to groom properly for those pictures and he’ll be sure to smudge the eyeliner so it’s not too prominent. Wouldn’t want the fan base to get sick of your look.

Pete Wentz is shown out at a fashion show with Ashlee on 10/1/08 and out in Hollywood on 10/4/08. Credit: WENN

Ruby Gettinger is the star of the new Style Network reality show “Ruby,” which chronicles her life as she struggles to lose weight. 5′9″ Ruby is now down to 364 pounds from a high of 715 pounds ten years ago. Ruby is determined to lose weight through diet and exercise and while she’s not opposed to gastric bypass surgery she says she needs to learn how to lose weight without it.

A resident of Savannah, GA, Ruby calls eating an addiction and is emotional and honest about her personal trials. She says that she wants to inspire other people by sharing her journey. Her goals and dreams are simple ones and she hopes for many of the things regular-sized people take for granted, like being able to take a bubble bath or paint her toenails by herself.

A friendly, positive person, Ruby helps bring a human face to the obesity issue while shedding light on the struggles of larger people in a sizeist society.

“My doctor said, ‘You’re a walking time bomb and you’re going to die if you don’t do something,’” recalls Ruby, who reached her highest weight of 715 pounds 13 years ago and has since fluctuated between 350 and 550 pounds.

Having lost 113 pounds over the last eight months, the 5′9″ Savannah, GA native is hoping to inspire others. “My dream is to help those who are on the same road,” she tells In Touch. “I want to be able to look into people’s eyes and say, ‘You can do it, too!’”

In Touch: How did you feel when your doctor said you could die?
I knew he was right because I already felt my body shutting down. I thought, “OK, I guess I’m going to die,” but three weeks later, I decided not to give up.

Have people been mean to you because of your weight?
I was walking through the mall once and a man stood up and yelled, “Oh my God!” and started pointing and laughing at me. And another time someone said “Aren’t you embarrassed to look like a circus freak?”

That must have been awful.
I went home thinking, “Do I really weigh more than the woman in the circus?” I looked it up, and I did.

Has being obese affected your love life?
I’ve never been asked out on a date. I have a lot of guy friends, but they just can’t get over the physical.

You’ve lost more than 100 pounds. Have you been exercising?
Yes, I do 20 minutes on the treadmill in the morning and evenings. It takes everything I have to do it!

Have you ever considered having gastric bypass?
I’m fine with people wanting to do that, but I need to learn how to do this, or I’ll never beat it. But I will get plastic surgery after I lose the weight to get rid of the excess skin.

You’ve lost weight before - what makes this time different?
I’m tired of the quick fixes. I really want to learn how to eat healthy and work out for the rest of my life. Plus, for the first time, I’m doing it for myself.

What’s one thing you can’t wait to do once you reach your goal weight?
I’ve never taken a bubble bath, so I’m really looking forward to that!

[From In Touch, print edition, November 24, 2008]

Ruby won’t reveal her age, but is open about most of the other aspects of her life. She says she’s been big since she was young and that she didn’t eat regular meals but had snacks like pop tarts, sweet rolls, and Milky Way bars growing up. She likens food addiction to alcoholism, and there’s a scene in her show in which she points to fast food in a display case and says how hard it is to see that, like an alcoholic walking into a bar every day. Ruby started filming the show seven months ago and is now down to 364 pounds from 477 pounds, which means she’s lost over 100 pounds in just over half a year.

Ruby keeps in touch with her fans on her message board and says she has read all of their messages and is touched and moved by the support she’s receiving. You can learn more about Ruby on her website, which includes many clips from the show. Hang in there, Ruby, a lot of people are rooting for you.

Here’s a video message from Ruby:

Note: this is not an advertisement for the show and we decided to cover this story on our own without any encouragement or contact from the Style Network.

Beyonce isn’t usually the first star that comes to mind when you think loving and sweet. She has a bit of a prima donna reputation and, if you asked a few of the long line of former Destiny Child members, doesn’t take criticism or competition well. So it would have been perfectly reasonable to expect that Beyonce would go all pissed-diva on Kanye West when he said that Rihanna was the best thing to happen to her because Rihanna made her step up her music.

But Beyonce fought cold with warmth and just started gushing about her former Connect Four partner and the woman long considered her rival.

“I love Kanye,” she told radio DJs Ed Lover and Free on Power 105.1 FM. “It’s all from a good place.”

The artist also known as Sasha Fierce didn’t stop there with her praise, however, going on to confess, “I love Rihanna, I think she’s fantastic and she’s done an incredible job. I love all her records.”

[From OK! Magazine]

Another person she can’t stop gushing about is Justin Timberlake. Last weekend on Saturday Night Live, Timberlake donned a leotard and heels and played a backup dancer in her “Single Ladies” video sketch. According to Beyonce, Justin went through the choreography just twice before he had it nailed, and then just played it up for laughs.

And not to leave the little people out, Beyonce also expressed her admiration for the female dancers in the actual “Single Ladies” video. The two dancers with her are very long-legged, muscular women who not everyone believed were both women.

“That is so silly man, that is silly,” she says. “Both of the girls are dancers, they’re ballet dancers, and their bodies are unbelievable, just pure muscle. So I mean I guess people were feeling like, her body is just so strong. But that is crazy!”

[From OK! Magazine]

It’s so sweet how marriage has softened Sasha Fierce. Her next album will have to be called Sasha Saccharine.

Beyonce is shown last night at Gotham Magazine’s Gala at Espace in NY. Credit: PNP/WENN

I have an embarrassing confession to make. I am a member of Hoff Space, the David Hasselhoff social networking site. I signed up a few months ago to write a story – I mean how many celebs make up their own MySpace instead of just joining it? I’d completely forgotten about it until today, when this email popped up in my inbox.

Yep, you’re reading that right. Either The Hoff sure knows how to market himself, or he’s just like the rest of us and a little cash strapped this holiday season. What I really love is the price: $30 for a personalized photo. And you’ve got to admit, those are some sexy pictures. Nothing has ever made me feel so conflicted about my feelings towards Santa Claus as pictures of a shirtless David Hasselhoff in swim trunks, holding a surfboard, and donning a Santa robe. The sex appeal is undeniable.

This is obviously a great “for the person who has everything” sort of present. In fact I’m going to buy at least a dozen and keep them wrapped as good “just in case” gifts. You know how there’s always that one person who stops by with a thoughtful present and it didn’t occur to you to get them anything? Blamo: David Hasselhoff to the rescue. I’m also considering some of the larger prints: like it says, both framing and laminating are available. And nothing says classy like a 4 by 6 foot laminated David Hasselhoff photo hanging above a broken futon. Now go buy half a dozen right now. You know at least six people in your life want this.

Roger Clemens has taken beating after beating in the media since his unceremonious return to retirement from major league baseball. First, it was his lackluster return to the NY Yankees, then the allegations that Clemens was a steroid user- which he vigorously but not very convincingly denied - and now, his former mistress, whom he began a relationship with when she was only 16, is talking about their decade-long affair.

McCready, 32, told “Inside Edition” she met Clemens when she was 16, not 15, as reported by the Daily News last April. She told the news magazine they met in a karaoke bar, that her relationship with the pitcher didn’t turn sexual until several years later and the relationship lasted for a decade.

During their relationship, McCready says Clemens treated her “like a princess,” but that she still regrets the relationship with the married athlete.

“Carrying on a relationship with him is not something I’m proud of,” she said, according to a partial transcript released by the show.

Clemens in May denied having an affair with a 15-year-old but didn’t specifically address whether he had a romance with McCready. He issued a statement that “I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry.”

Clemens’ lawyer, Rusty Hardin, did not respond to an e-mail for comment Monday.

“We never had a meeting in secret. We went on vacations together. We went to Palm Springs. We went to Las Vegas, New York City,” McCready told “Inside Edition.” I wanted him to do right by me … and when he wouldn’t, I broke it off.”

But McCready, who was once engaged to “Superman” star Dean Cain, was quoted by the Daily News as saying: “I didn’t want to get married to him and I don’t want to get married now. He should have done right by his family — a person is unhappy in their marriage and spending all their personal time with someone else, you need to do right by your marriage. He should have just told Debbie and been honest with her. If he didn’t want to be with her and wanted to be with me, he should have told her.”

McCready regrets any hurt inflicted on Debbie Clemens’ the pitcher’s wife.

“I have nothing but remorse and nothing but sympathy for what she’s had to go through with this situation, and she has my utmost apology,” she told “Inside Edition.”

[From Fox News]

First Roger gets thrown under the bus by his trainer, then his best friend, fellow Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, and now his former mistress. It’s probably not a good time to be The Rocket right now.

For those of you following the strange saga of Mindy McCready, whose life is shaping up to be a doozy of a country song, the singer has been in and out of jail over the past couple of years on charges tracing back to her fraudulent use of prescription painkillers, alcohol abuse and domestic abuse charges - none of which involved the All-Star pitcher.

Roger Clemens is shown testifying about allegations of steroid use by professional ball players before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on 3/12/08. Mindy McCready is shown on 6/7/08. Credit: WENN

Ashlee and husband Pete Wentz on 5/31/08. Credit: PRPhotos
- Ashlee Simpson may get her labor induced. Hang in there Ashlee! [Celebrity Baby Scoop]
- Cloris Leachman was hospitalized for a “bad cold” but she’s ok now [Popeater]
- Twilight stars unscripted (link leads to video) [Moviefone]
- Most midnight showings of Twilight on Thursday are sold out [Radar Online]
- Getting divorced is even harder in this bad economy [Black Voices]
- Bad celebrity fashion [Stylelist]
- Did Maria Shriver make her husband, CA governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, sleep on the couch until Obama won? [Bild]
- Domino Day 2008. My husband loves to watch this every year [Cityrag]
- Kim Kardashian bikini pics [Bastardly]
- Will Smith and Rosario Dawson at the premiere of Seven Pounds [The YBF]
- Easy five minute recipes for your family [ParentDish]
- Chloe Sevigny bikini pictures [The Blemish]
- Behind the scenes phtoos of Scarlett Johansson for Allure [Popcrunch]
- Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer went on a double date with Nicole Richie and Joel Madden. Or they just ran into each other and hung out. [The Insider]
- Crocs are finally waning in popularity [Agent Bedhead]
- George Clooney: keeper of the stache [Defamer]
- Barack Obama is one of GQ’s Men of the Year [Concrete Loop Sexy GQ Outtake Pictures [Popoholic]
- Amy Winehouse brings the beehive back [Seriously? OMG! WTF?]
- Goldie Hawn steps out without a bra in a sheer top [CelebNewsWire]
- Charlize Theron and John Galliano in a ridiculous outfit. [Best Week Ever]
- Rihanna and Justin Timberlake’s “Rehab” video [PopBytes]

Heartthrob Johnny Depp, 45, is playing the Mad Hatter in a Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland. A photo reportedly of Johnny in costume and makeup has been leaked online. His hair stands out in curly coils from the sides his head and Depp’s face is white with red streaks on his cheeks and around eyes. Talented at playing nearly unrecognizable, eccentric characters, Depp will bring his unique take to the role.

Alice in Wonderland also stars Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, and Crispin Glover. It will be part Beowulf-type live action CGI and part live footage. Alice is due out in theaters in March, 2010 and given how far away the release date is this seems like a genuine photo leak and not an attempt to drum up publicity for the film. You never know, though.

Doesn’t it look like Depp has gained a little weight? His cheeks look a little fuller, although it could be the makeup. Like some of the advance photos of Heath Ledger as the Joker that came out ahead of The Dark Knight, there’s always the possibility that someone cooked this up in Photoshop.

Photo from ComingSoon.net via WeSmirch.

Hello! Magazine has a retrospective on Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ two year marriage, including quotes from insiders on how they make it all work. Some of Hello!’s sources are named, and seem to have dependable, maybe pre-approved, insight on the Hollywood couple who look, dress, speak, and smile vacantly alike. They even have a few tidbits from Cruise himself, who says he was taken by surprise by the romance. Hello! says that Katie met Tom while auditioning for a role on MI3, and it sounds like that information comes directly from Cruise, although it’s hard to tell. Katie was largely rumored to have been among a pool of actresses to have been invited to a personal meeting with Cruise with the purpose of finding him a famous girlfriend. Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Alba are among the other young women who were asked to an interview with him at the Scientology Centre. It turned out well no matter the intent of their meeting, and Cruise says that they proved their critics wrong by lasting two years.

Tom Cruise: ‘And they said it wouldn’t last. I guess we proved them wrong’
“And they said it wouldn’t last.” Those were Tom Cruise’s words a couple of weeks ago after I congratulated him on the approaching second anniversary of his marriage to Katie Holmes.

We were backstage… in NY City after one of Katie’s performances… “I guess we proved them wrong, didn’t we?” Tom laughed.

It’s certainly true that many believed the union of Tom and Katie was destined to fail. “It’s because it came out of left field,” the 46-year-old actor reasoned. “I get it. It was a big surprise to us, so why wouldn’t it be the same to everyone else?”

On how they met: it was a MI3 audition
So, exactly how did it happen? Tom and 29-year-old Katie seldom talk about how they met, preferring to keep such personal stories sacred between them. So, on the occasion of their anniversary on 18 November, here’s the true story of their modern-day fairytale.

Back on 11 April 2005, Katie flew from NY to LA to audition for a possible role in the Tom Cruise movie, Mission: Impossible III However, after she met Tom, the movie became the farthest thing from her mind. “The chemistry between us was instantaneous,” she later explained. “If ever there was love at first sight, that was it. Tom was the most lethally attractive man I have ever met.”

His intellect, his drive, his sense of humour… his good looks - Katie said she was bowled over by all of it. As it happened, he felt the same way about her. “She is an absolutely spectacular woman,” is how he put it. In fact, the two spent so much time savouring each other’s company, they didn’t even discuss the movie.

[From Hello! Magazine, print edition, November 25, 2008]

The insiders quoted by Hello! give some information about the goings-on in the TomKat marriage. Katie is said to have been overwhelmed and afraid by the paparazzi attention right after Suri was born, but Tom told her that it would pass. She soon learned to handle it and matured quickly in the past two years to say the least.

A source claims that Tom was reluctant for Katie to return to work after Suri was born because he thought it would be too much given his dual career experience with his ex Nicole. She gradually convinced him though by waiting and letting him warm up to the idea before she took the role in Mad Money and then on Broadway.

There does seem to be some trouble in paradise as Katie is said to want to stay in NY while Tom is jetting back and forth from LA. That isn’t in Hello! though, and is reported in the November 24 issue of Star, so it’s likely completely fabricated. These two aren’t going away anytime soon unfortunately, although lasting two years isn’t really proving critics wrong. Maybe by Hollywood standards it is.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are shown in the header on 10/31/08 and below on 10/20/08. Credit: WENN