I don’t want to give away my age, but in junior high, I was obsessed with Prince. I must have seen “Purple Rain” 10 times, listened to the soundtrack non-stop, and even started wearing purple clothes and lace gloves. Hey, don’t judge me!

Somehow, Prince has aged since then. The funky pop singer is now 46, and all those years of sexy dancing have taken a toll on his body – specifically, his hips.

Reports surfaced about a year ago that decades of dancing in those high heels the ladies love caused serious damage to one of his hips and that he needs a replacement. That’s a pretty big deal considering that Prince’s stage show has long been a James Brown-styled affair, full of spins, splits and bumping and grinding against pianos, microphone stands, and other inanimate objects. It’s pretty tough to do those things with a bad wheel.

[From ESPN News]

Now, Prince is going to have the hip replaced in a major surgery so he can avoid walking with a limp and a cane. Because that would not be funky.

Pop legend Prince is having a secret HIP REPLACEMENT at the age of just 49—after being crippled by years of sexy dancing.

The pint-sized US star would develop a severe limp and have to use a WALKING STICK without surgery.

So he is booking himself into a private hospital. Aides are keeping his diary clear for two months to recover—but they’re not letting on why he cannot work in that time.

During the two-hour op—more common for OAPs—the Purple Rain singer will have the ball and socket of his damaged hip taken out and titanium replacements cemented in.

A source said: “For months Prince has complained of pain every time he moves.

“He is totally crushed as he knows he will never be the same again.”

[From News of the World]

I hope the surgery goes well and we see Prince back to doing splits, grinding and spinning very soon. And as a long time fan, I don’t even mind if he does it without the high heels. As long as he’s not wearing, you know, Crocs or something.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Prince is shown performing at London Fashion week on 9/19/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

Star Jones’s article for Glamour magazine is out, and she finally admits that she had gastric bypass surgery to lose weight. Star said that she decided to have the procedure after she gained 75 pounds in 17 months. After her fourtieth birthday, things slid downhill, and a lifetime of using food to comfort herself caught up with her. Here are some of the highlights from Star’s article.

On the physical effects of her weight:

“My weight gain began to take a physical toll: I couldn’t breathe without sounding winded; walk without getting tired; sleep without snoring; or take a flight without using a seat belt extender.”

On how she saw herself:

“I used to look in the mirror and take pride in my figure, but that was when I was legitimately a full-figured woman. I’d gradually gone from full-figured to morbidly obese.”

On why she didn’t talk about her surgery:

“Although I’d shared my decision with friends, family and my colleagues at The View, I wasn’t ready to invite the world into my process for a number of reasons: First, I didn’t know if the surgery would work. I had never stuck to a diet or committed to exercise for more than a month, and I had spent my entire adult life telling everyone that I was fine with the way I looked. I also never thought I’d have to explain it. I actually thought that I could say, “None of your business,” and people would say, “OK, she wants to remain private.” If that isn’t evidence of someone not living in truth, I don’t know what is.”

On therapy:

“We started with my need to control everything in my life yet not being able to control my weight… My therapist helped me discover I needed the adoration of others to feel good about myself. I learned that I couldn’t control what others thought; that I had to establish my own truth; that no matter what my truth was, some people were still going to see things differently; and that if I knew the truth, that was all that mattered. So I decided it was time to share my complete weight loss story because I now know that transparency is not humiliating—it is humbling.”

On hypocrisy:

“After I left The View, many women told me they felt empowered by my honesty over having been fired—but wished I was willing to be as honest about my weight loss. They were right: Gastric bypass surgery saved my life, and though I still believe wholeheartedly that health decisions are private and should remain between a doctor and his patient, keeping this decision private started to feel hypocritical and cumbersome. I couldn’t justify it any longer.” [From Glamour Magazine]

I’ve admitted that, though I don’t know why, I like Star Jones. Or at least I like to hear about Star Jones, but I was in college during most of her tenure on “The View” so it’s not like I saw her everyday like a lot of the people who find her irritating. I’m glad she came clean about her surgery. She was right that a person has a right to privacy about medical issues, but she had made so much of her life overly-public, that it was hypocritical to keep this to herself. To me, it came off as kind of vain, at least at the time. Especially because she talked about having a boob job after she’d lost weight, and even called into the show the day after her procedure to discuss it. So that came off as tacky. I’m guessing one of the real reasons she’s come clean about all this is that she has a new show on CourtTV this fall, and her producers knew audiences wouldn’t take her seriously if they thought she was still so vain and materialistic. Who knows if she’s really changed or if this is a PR move.