The Spears family seems to be moving forward in a mostly positive, healthy, normal manner – at least for them. According to several reports, Britney is leaving for her hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana later this week, to be with pregnant little sis Jamie Lynn. She may stay up to a month.

Hopefully Britney won’t be passing on any parenting techniques. Well, maybe a few she learned by trial and error: don’t drop the baby (especially when photographers are around); always use a car seat; don’t drive with a kid on your lap… you know, the kind of lessons most parents really have to just learn for themselves.

While Britney’s spending some quality time at home, her dad Jamie is selling her house. He got permission from the court yesterday – though presumably Britney’s okay with it too.

Earlier today, a Los Angeles court commissioner OK’d a request from Spears’ conservatorship asking for permission to put the property on the market. The court approval comes days after Spears was spotted looking at a $5.6 million, 7,300-square-foot house (above) in the L.A. suburb of Encino, closer to the home base of ex-husband Kevin Federline and the ex-couple’s sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James.

Spears has not exactly endeared herself to fellow denizens of the community, who have complained about the constant presence of paparazzi outside the gates. Some reports have blamed Spears as the reason neighbor Ed McMahon has not received a single offer on his $6.5 million house that’s facing foreclosure.

[From E! News]

It sounds like it’d be a good idea for Britney to get a fresh start. She’s made a lot of big improvements to her life; certainly moving closer to her sons would be another one. And if it helps Ed McMahon, who wouldn’t want to do it?

Britney’s conservatorship is slated to be extended or go to trial in early August. If all parties agree to extend it, nothing will happen, but if Britney doesn’t agree to her dad retaining legal control of her life, she has the right to a jury trial. Can you imagine the drama? Britney wasn’t in court yesterday – her lawyers said she was out of town, but didn’t specify where – but she and her lawyer will be going over her options in the next week.

The evil, gossipy part of me hopes she doesn’t agree to extend her conservatorship, just for the drama of a trial. The slightly more benevolent part of me hopes Britney agrees to keep everything moving forward. Little sister Jamie Lynn is expected to deliver her baby sometime near the end of the month. Hopefully all that family time will be good for everyone.

Lock up your cows: Heather Mills and her bovine mouth really are moving to the U.S. The former Mrs. Paul McCartney has purchased a $5 million condo in the West Village on Perry Street. What a disgusting, disgusting thought. I’m not 100 percent positive, but I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to stable a cow in an apartment building in Manhattan.

I’m not calling Mills fat, but that jaw of hers unhinges in this dramatic fashion – and at a very unseemly angle - when she’s angry (which, let’s be honest, is about 90% of the time she talks), and it makes her look just like a cow chewing its cud. Ironic for a vegan, no?

Heather Mills has splashed out over £2.5 million on a New York apartment.

The former model - who won £24.3 million in her divorce settlement from Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney - will be living in the same exclusive area as fashion designer Calvin Klein and actress Nicole Kidman.

A real estate expert said: “It’s a very special property. She will have important neighbours.” The apartment is in the prestigious 173 Perry Street block, designed by architect Richard Meier.

It is located in the city’s West Village area and lies just half a mile from a store owned by Heather’s ex-stepdaughter, fashion designer Stella McCartney. British-born Heather will live in the apartment with her four-year-old daughter Beatrice, from her marriage to Paul.

[From Female First]

Supposedly Heather is moving to New York because she is tired of the way the London press treats her. Always the victim, no? Heather’s completely unaware that the press hates her because of her horrible attitude – and if she doesn’t change that, New York won’t be any kinder to her.

Now that I know Heather’s address, I plan on parking myself outside her building wearing a sandwich board that says “Eat Heather Mills, Not Cows,” on it. She really can’t argue with it; my message is still vegan-friendly.

Here’s Heather Mills at the ‘Thank the Monkey’ Book Party at the SoHo Grand in New York on April 26th. I really wish there were more information on the last photo; I can’t even imagine what’s going on there. It seems Heather’s trying to ingratiate herself to New York City. Good luck. Images thanks to WENN.

It turns out that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie aren’t nearly as impulsive when it comes to their real estate purchases as we thought. The couple were widely reported to have purchased a 1,000-acre 35 bedroom estate in the south of France, running them about $60 million. Which certainly isn’t that much for the couple, but is a sizable investment, nonetheless. However People is reporting that Brad and Angie actually made a much more sensible decision – choosing to lease the place for the next three years.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have signed a long-term lease for a chateau on the French Riviera, according to reports.

The couple, who have four children and two more on the way, signed a three-year lease on the 880-acre estate called Chateau Miraval, where neighbors will include Johnny Depp and David and Victoria Beckham, according to the French newspaper Nice Matin.

The estate, reportedly valued at $70 million, comes with its own vineyard, olive groves, lake, moat, 20 fountains and even a forest to help ensure privacy.

“They’ll have total privacy, which is exactly what they’re after,” a source told E! Online. “No one will ever be able to get pictures of them relaxing at home, it’s just impossible.”

At the Cannes International Film Festival, Jolie, 32, who is expecting twins this summer, told reporters that she was thinking of giving birth in France, and that French is the “second language” in the family’s home. A rep for Pitt and Jolie had no comment on the estate.

[From People]

Angelina has said that the couple wants to adopt more children after she gives birth to their twins. They’re also considering starting a foster home. I know it’s cheesy as hell, but I am once again nominating myself for adoption or fostering. I can be remarkably immature, I’m sure I’ll fit in great with the kids. And one of my housing requirements is that the grounds be surrounded by a moat. Which the Chateau Miraval reportedly has, so it seems like the perfect deal.

It seems like Brad and Angelina will definitely be spending the bulk of their next few years in France. Their children attend the Lycée Français schools, which are based on the French national curriculum. And there are over 400 schools worldwide, making it somewhat familiar when the kids move from school to school. Clearly the Jolie-Pitts have a special spot in their hearts for France – and their new home will give them a good deal of privacy as well.

As we reported earlier today, Angelina Jolie claims that she’s still not sure where she’ll give birth, but says she’ll probably lay low for a month or two after her twins, thought to be fraternal girls, arrive. She says she also wants to adopt again and that they may even start a foster home, although not necessarily on their own property.

The Jolie-Pitts can add another sprawling mansion to the homes in which they can choose to raise their children around the world. They have a home in New Orleans’ French Quarter, a mansion in Los Angeles, an expansive apartment in the former East Berlin, and can now count a 1,000 acre estate in the South of France among their real estate holdings. Given that they’ve been staying at the estate of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in France, it’s not a far stretch to assume that they’re planning to remain in that area after their newest babies arrive. Their new digs sound just as amazing as you would expect for a multi-home estate and land that costs $60 million, and includes a moat, lake, vineyard, 20 fountains, indoor pool, 2 gyms, and plenty of surrounding forest to discourage the rabid paparazzi:

Expectant parents Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have plunked down a cool $60 million on a sprawling 1,000-acre estate in the south of France. With 35 bedrooms, plus a vineyard, lake, forest and moat, Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and the soon-to-be-born twins are going to be playing house in high style.

“It’s called Chateau Miraval in a village called Brignol, which is near from Aix-en-Provence,” a source tells E! News. “And it’s absolutely unbelievable.

“Brad and Angelina are thrilled, they love the place and have already been furniture shopping to fill the place as it’s massive,” the insider added. “They’ve already spent almost another million on furniture and the whole family can’t wait to move in.”

The pre-Roman estate also boasts a swimming pool, billiards room, indoor pool, his-and-hers gyms, sauna and jacuzzi and a huge banquet hall.

Magnificent cascading stone-walled terraces have been replanted with 13 different varieties of olives, and water is everywhere on the sprawling estate—20 fountains, aqueducts and a stream that runs through hidden tunnels, passes through the moat and fills the lake.
Except for the ponies and goats grazing in the nearby fields, “the house is surrounded by a forest so they’ll have total privacy, which is exactly what they’re after,” the source tells E!

[From E! Online]

From the looks of the aerial photos, there are four separate houses and stables on the land. It has an expansive front yard and it should be pretty simple for them to station security around the perimeter at all times. Maybe this will result in the privacy the Jolie-Pitts probably crave. And they’ll have plenty of room to start that foster home.

Thanks to Splash News for the photo of Brad and Angelina’s new estate and WENN for the picture from the Kung Fu Panda premiere on 5/15/08.

Britney Spears’ parents seem to be doing a pretty good job of getting their eldest daughter back on track – but that’s left a lot of people wondering exactly what they’re doing with pregnant 17-year-old Jamie Lynn. Jamie Lynn has been back home in Kentwood, Louisiana for a few months now, while mom Lynne Spears shuttles back and forth and dad Jamie stays in Los Angeles. On Jamie Lynn’s birthday a few weeks ago, the entire family was in Los Angeles having dinner with Britney - leaving their youngest daughter back in Kentwood.

Jamie Lynn seems to be poised to assert her independence – according to Contact Music, she went house hunting with fiancé Casey Aldridge this past weekend.

Pregnant teen Jamie Lynn Spears and her boyfriend Casey Aldridge are looking to welcome their first child in a new home - the parents-to-be are househunting in Mississippi. According to reports, the couple has already made their first offer on a three-bedroom house in the town of Liberty.

Zoey 101 star Spears, who is seven months pregnant, has offered close to $300,000 for the house. It boasts a loft, marble floors, a remodeled kitchen and games room. An insider says, “Jamie Lynn is really excited over having a home of her own.”

[From Contact Music]

It seems pretty clear that Jamie Lynn is planning on raising her baby in Kentwood, despite previous reports that she was going to return to L.A. to work on her acting career. The National Ledger reports that Jamie Lynn has turned to Casey’s family for support during her pregnancy.

So what is Jamie Lynn doing to get some help from a parent? According to a report from Life & Style Weekly she is looking outside the Spears family and has honed in on her fiancé Casey Aldridge’s mother for advice and support as she enters her seventh month.

“With her whole family in Los Angeles, Jamie Lynn has turned to Casey’s mom Joyce,” and insider spilled to the weekly entertainment magazine. “I think she sees her as a surrogate mother.” She is putting on a brave face, the insider claims, but she is hurting without any support from her family.

[From the National Ledger]

Jamie Lynn has been taking on a huge amount of responsibility for a 17-year-old. From the baby to a fiance to a house – it’s amazing she’s holding it together so well. She’s balancing a load meant for someone a lot older. It’s surprising to see how much her parents are around Britney versus Jamie Lynn. Britney is an adult, and though she clearly needs help right now, you would think Jamie Lynn would be getting a bit more attention. Life & Style says that Jamie Lynn is acting like she doesn’t care about Lynn being gone all the time, but that she’s actually pretty hurt by it. Hopefully the Spears parents will rally around their youngest daughter when she needs it.

Here’s Jamie Lynn leaving Connie’s Jewelry and Gifts in Kentwood on Paril 9th. Images thanks to Splash.

I love a celebrity that practices what he preaches. Leonardo DiCaprio has championed a lot of environmental causes – Vanity Fair even put him on the cover of the magazine for it, along with an in-depth article about his passion for green causes. Leo drives a hybrid car and had solar panels installed on his home in Los Angeles. And to further walk the walk, Leo just purchased an eco-friendly condominium in the Battery Park City area of Manhattan.

Every time he comes home, Leonardo DiCaprio is practicing what he preaches. The environmentally conscious actor has bought an apartment in Riverhouse, an eco-friendly building overlooking the Hudson River. The purchase was confirmed on Friday by Christopher Daly, president of Sheldrake Organization, the developer of the Battery Park City complex. Occupancy is slated for this summer.

The 264-unit condominium glass tower overlooks the river and a park, and boasts low emission paints, a 24-hour fresh filtered air system, a water treatment facility and rotating solar panels. DiCaprio seemingly also will have everything at his fingertips. The David Rockwell-designed high-rise features an indoor 50-foot lap pool, media cafe, fitness center, landscaped terrace and dog spa.

[From the Huffington Post]

Riverhouse’s website states that 1 bedrooms start at $835,000; 2 bedrooms from $1,185,000; 3 bedrooms from $1,725,000; and 4 bedrooms from $2,975,000. They also say they’re “High performance Oxygen Green condominium residences.” The building sounds amazing – DiCaprio is certainly not roughing it by any means. The building’s main floors will also have a branch of the New York Public Library and a City Bakery. It sounds just as sophisticated as any other building a celeb would inhabit – and in a way that’s a good thing. DiCaprio is showing people that they don’t need to have a diminished quality of life in order to be good to the earth.

Here are some images from Riverhouse’s website. It looks like a really beautiful, well-thought-out design.

I understand that a lot of people hate Lindsay Lohan. I’m right there with them. But to hate her so much that you try to keep her from living in her own home? That’s a lot of hate. But again, I understand. Lindsay used to live in the posh Sierra Towers on Sunset Boulevard. While a resident, she threw countless parties and meandered around drunk. I’m guessing she killed a few neighbor’s cats and probably left random condom wrappers around in the hallway, because that just sounds like Lindsay Lohan. She lives her life in that kind-of-crazy-but-we’ve-all-done-it-once-or-twice kind of way.

Lindsay Lohan’s former neighbors are battling to stop her moving back to the Los Angeles apartment block she terrorized last summer. Lohan was arrested for driving under the influence twice while living in Sunset Boulevard’s Sierra Towers, and angered residents by hosting late night parties and flooding ex-boyfriend Harry Morton’s condominium in the complex.

A tenant tells the New York Post’s gossip column PageSix, “She was a disgrace when she lived here, no respect for the other tenants. I’d be leaving for work early in the morning and I would see her staggering in drunk.” The supposedly sober star was spotted swigging champagne at a New Years bash in Italy, prompting a spokesperson to confirm she had slipped on her vow to remain alcohol-free.

[From PageSix.com]

I once lived in an apartment with a crazy-ass nutbag above me. He’d bang on my door at three in the morning screaming about the noise and calling me all sorts of names, even though I’d been asleep in bed. Living around crazy can really ruin your day. I imagine living near Lindsay Lohan is like living near my schizo former-neighbor. You never know what’s going to happen. They could randomly start dropping their television on their floor over and over again to piss you off. They could start having incredibly loud S&M style sex above your bedroom just to piss you off. They could leave a dead chicken on your doorstep. Two of these three things really did happen to me – I’ll let you figure out which two. But I’m guessing living near Lindsay Lohan is no more peaceful. I can understand why people wouldn’t want to spend every minute of everyday wondering when their sanity was about to be put to the test.

LiLo doesn’t have any talent or redeeming qualities to speak of. She really should consider leaving L.A., moving someplace far away and irrelevant, and either getting clean and moving on with her life, or drinking herself into a stupor without bothering the rest of us.

Actress Jane Seymour, described by the townspeople of Bath, England as the “Neighbor from hell” has sold her palatial 700-year-old mansion despite winning a long court battle against town residents over the mansion’s 24-hour liquor license. Jane and her husband James Keach bought St Catherine’s Court in 1984 for about $700,000 (USD) and just sold it to a mystery buyer for a reported $20 million (USD). Not a bad profit. The couple purchased the house after Jane fell in love with it while filming a movie there. But Seymour and Keach live in Malibu and only spent about three months of the year at St. Catherine’s, choosing to rent it out for upscale parties during the other nine months. Unfortunately this didn’t sit well with the residents of Bath, who complained of being disturbed by loud parties and drunken revelers. When Seymour applied for a 240hour liquor license in May, residents stepped up their protestations, taking their complaints not just to the council but to the media too – and they did a pretty good job, getting national attention about the “neighbor from hell.” Though Seymour recently won the permit, apparently she’s soured on the home.

Jane Seymour has thrown in the towel and sold her country mansion after a long-running battle with villagers over late-night parties. The 56-year-old former Bond girl was described as ‘the absent neighbor from hell’ for the traffic and noise problems caused by revelers. Miss Seymour only lived at St Catherine’s Court near Bath for about three months of the year. At other times, she rented out the 13-bedroom Elizabethan manor house for private parties and corporate functions, which neighbors claim repeatedly disturbed their tranquility.

She has now sold the Grade I listed property through an agent for an undisclosed sum, despite recently winning a court fight with residents over her 24-hour alcohol license at the mansion. Precisely what prompted the sale remains unclear, but some believe that she may have tired of the dispute with locals.

[From the Daily Mail]

The neighbors had planned marches to Seymour’s home several times and left petitions with hundreds of signatures in an attempt to get her to stop with the loud parties. Makes it sounds like she’s a raucous teenager. Bath is a small, quaint, very old town that’s mostly paved with single lane cobblestone streets. The large influx of traffic from the parties snarled the roads and made it nearly impossible for residents to drive whenever a party was going on. Residents complained that Seymour ignored them, since she was never there to be inconvenienced. “St Catherine’s Valley residents plan a march on her home on Sunday to hand over a petition of hundreds of signatures.”

Jane Jones, 53, tells ThisisLondon: “She just ignores our letters and doesn’t answer the door. “They are the absent neighbors from hell. She will go back to America and just count the money while the rest of us have to live here and put up with the disruption.”

[From Monsters and Critics]

Seymour was probably wise to pack up and move out. It’s a shame, because St. Catherine’s is an absolutely stunning home. I’m a sucker for real estate. But when you piss off an entire town, it’s not going to be a pleasant, relaxing experience when you come for your annual vacation. And while it doesn’t exactly sound like there were rabid teenagers blaring their rock and roll from the open windows, it makes sense that being practically unable to leave your home and go about your regular activities because Jane Seymour wants to have a party isn’t really fair either.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s St. Catherine’s Court. Header image of Jane Seymour and husband James Keach at the Reservation Road Premiere on October 18th. Photos thanks to PR Photos.

What in the world allows a man to live such a crazy, delusional existence? While hunting for a new home in Maryland this past weekend, Michael Jackson harassed staffers at the Inn at Perry Cabin. Just one of his demands? Chicken fingers at 4 in the morning. Because who doesn’t have those ready and available? Jackson also called and blessed the hotel’s manager, according to the New York Post.

Jackson was in the area looking for a new summer home. Is he really in a position to do that?

“And it remains unclear whether Jackson could actually afford a new home: In recent years, prosecutors and former financial advisers have alleged in court that the star is teetering on bankruptcy, a charge his lawyers denied; just a year ago, Jackson agreed to settle some of his mounting debts by selling half of his valuable music publishing catalogue, which includes the rights to the Beatles’ songs.”

[From the Washington Post]

How in the world does this man continue to exist? He supposedly has a ridiculous amount of debt, the kind that would keep a rational person from piling their ten person entourage onto their private plane and heading across the country to scope out some new luxury real estate. So what are Michael Jackson’s main reasons for moving?

“Jackson came east with his children about 10 days ago for meetings because ‘the majority of his advisers and attorneys are on the East Coast,’ Bain said. Meanwhile, Bain told us, ‘He’s always admired the properties on the East Coast because they have a lot of land. Neverland has 3,000 acres — he likes privacy. You can’t find as many properties like that on the West Coast.’”

[From the Washington Post]

I’m sure the East Coast has some gorgeous old beach estates… but now? I thought I’d heard all these rumors that he was evicted from the place he was staying in Las Vegas? Yeah I know he said he just chose not to exercise his option to buy at the end of his lease, but that’s what I’d say if I were kicked out. And why was he renting if he can afford to buy? I would, however, love to see the Gloved One in one of those stuffy, upper crust old money type beach towns. What goes better with fresh lobster than one of his surgical masks?

Oprah is buying a new “condo” in an exclusive Chicago building. Although her new place takes up an entire floor, it’s just half the size of her last place, which was 10,000 square feet. Word is that she’s moving for the sake of her five dogs, who were annoying her neighbors in her last building.

Oprah and Stedman are finally moving in together and Life and Style speculates that they’re going to be married after over a decade of dating:

At last! Life & Style has learned exclusively that Oprah Winfrey, 52, and longtime beau Stedman Graham, 55, are set to make it official — they’re going to cohabitate!

“They will be moving together to a new place,” a rep for Oprah confirms.

Could this be the first step towards marriage?

Insiders tell Life & Style that Oprah and Stedman could finally be ready to walk down the isle. “At Oprah’s age she no longer feels she has to prove anything about being a strong single woman,” says one insider. “She’s happy to let Stedman have what he wants.”

While the rep downplays talk of nuptials, the insider says Chicago would be the frontrunner for the wedding location — and Oprah just bought the perfect love nest there: a $6 million, 5,000-square-foot apartment!

Congrats to Oprah and Stedman!

If Oprah gets married now, it doesn’t really seem like she’s doing it for love. I doubt it will happen though. She’s been with Stedman forever and they’re only just moving in together? I’m not buying it.