We haven’t talked much about this chick Bethenny Frankel and she knows that. She’s the annoying single woman who stars in the reality show “Real Housewives of New York” despite the fact that she is not now, and doesn’t seem to have ever been, a housewife. Frankel is a natural foods chef and has written a book about staying thin. She gets press for whatever petty arguments she’s having with her co-stars and for talking smack about more famous and successful people.

Bethenny, supposedly 38, stepped out at an event on Monday wearing a see through catsuit. She obviously wasn’t wearing a bra because her boobs completely showed through. (These pictures don’t do the outfit justice, Huffington Post has better versions.) She does seem to be wearing some tiny underwear, however. Is this as lame as all the crotch-flashing that was the rage two and a half years ago? In my opinion, not really. It’s just as desperate though. She’s in good company – Posh does this frequently and just nipped out in London yesterday. (Photos below.)

Frankel has a new blog up on E! Online with her bitchy thoughts on the New Jersey housewives. One commenter says she’s like the “skank calling the whore trash.”

Photos of Victoria Beckham credit Bauergriffinonline.

Victoria Beckham has a new interview in the latest edition of Hello! Magazine. The 35 year-old clothing designer and model for Armani underwear says that contrary to rumors, her family is staying put in LA. It was widely reported that Victoria, her husband David and their three children would pick up stakes and move to Milan for David’s soccer career. He’s now on loan from the LA Galaxy team to Milan and it was thought that Victoria and their boys would join him there permanently. It’s not true that they’re moving, Victoria maintains, and says that her family loves it in LA and isn’t about to leave:

There has been a lot of talk about you and David buying a house in Milan…
“There’s no truth to that whatsoever. So many people have been coming up to me saying, ‘I hear you’re moving…’ but we’re not – we’re staying in LA. It has been great for David being in Milan, and we’ve all enjoyed spending time there – I’m going over there in a couple of days to see him. He’s coming back to the States in June, though – he has his first game in New York on the 16th of July, which he is very excited about.”

So you’re still very much a California girl?
“You know, LA is our home and the boys are happy. We’re not looking for a house in Milan – I don’t know where that story came from. The last thing I want is another house!”

Victoria also talks about how she keeps her relationship strong when she’s apart from David, and about their plans for global style domination:

With you and David both so busy, what’s the secret to keeping your relationship so strong?
“We are parents, best friends, and soulmates, and we appreciate the time we spend together. We spend hours on the phone when we’re apart. David has loved spending time playing football with AC Milan, but we’re all really excited about being together again in June.”

What’s the next project we can look forward to?
“Just this week we announced two significant steps forward in the growth of our brand. We signed a multi-year manufacturing deal for the sunglasses with the British eyewear firm Cutler and Gross, which is great. We’re also taking control of all denim production and distribution, so all of the Victoria Beckham denim will be handled in-house at the brand’s London headquarters. This structure has worked so well with the dresses so I am excited about pushing and exploring the future development and opportunities for the denim.”

[From Hello Magazine, print edition, May 19, 2009]

Posh really has that marketing speak down, and you can tell why she’s so successful in the fashion business. She also covers how she prepared for her Armani shoot, saying she works out every day still and that “I started running four to five miles a day, and focused on eating healthily.” She says she felt confident posing in her underwear and that “as a 35-year-old mother of three, I’m looking okay.” Such false modesty from the super thin Victoria. At least she’s eating and exercising it off instead of not eating at all. Now that we know the Beckhams will remain in LA we can rest assured that there will continue to be a flood of paparazzi photos of Posh showing off those tiny legs in outrageous outfits and wild shoes. She’s not my favorite celebrity, but I have to say that she does her job well and keeps us talking about her.

Photos of Posh are from 5/7/09 at Heathrow and the 5/6/09 unveiling of her Armani ad. Credit: WENN.com

Posh is going to be pissed! Rumors abound in the fashion world that Victoria Beckham is about to be axed as the face of Marc Jacobs. Not just fired, but replaced with a younger American star – Anne Hathaway.

Posh became “the face” of Marc Jacobs in 2008. Some of the print ads were really cute, like the one of Posh in one of the oversized Marc Jacobs purses, with only her legs hanging out. When Posh launched her own clothing line in late 2008, some people took note of how similar some of her pieces were to some of Marc’s designs. The horror! Even though Marc and Posh still seemed to have a professional and personal friendship, word around the street was that Marc was looking for a new face. He may have found his new muse with Anne Hathaway.

Victoria Beckham may have been replaced in the affections of one of the men in her life. Fortunately it is not her husband David, but her friend and designer Marc Jacobs who is on the look out for a new leading lady. Jacobs unveiled Beckham as the face of his eponymous line in 2008 but, with the former Spice Girl focusing on her own design collection, he is reportedly courting a younger woman; actress Anne Hathaway.

Hathaway appeared last week in Beverley Hills to present Italian design legend Valentino with his Walk of Style award. The young actress was nominated for a Best Actress award at this year’s Oscars and was highly acclaimed for her role in 2005′s Brokeback Mountain, but latterly her red carpet appearances have stolen the headlines.

“Marc and Anne have forged a fast but very intense friendship,” a friend of the star revealed to the Mail on Sunday. “They’re going to start doing public appearances together soon.”

“Anne hasn’t signed up to do any advertising yet but, by dressing her, Marc can infuse his line with a fresh but famous face and Anne can revamp her image,” the source continued. “If it works well, Anne would be happy to model for some of Marc’s campaigns.”

From Vogue UK

Yes, I’m sure Anne would be “happy” to model for Marc Jacobs. Spare me! A Marc Jacobs contract is one of the most sought-after modeling gigs in fashion. It has the “cool” factor, it pays well, the ads are hip and fresh, and it’s great exposure for any actress or model. Anne should be thanking her lucky stars that Marc Jacobs is interested in her, even if it’s just a rumor.

Anne Hathaway is shown at the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style Award to Honor Valentino, who looks incredibly orange as usual, on 4/2/09. Credit: Juan Rico/Fame Pictures

The Beckhams moved into a $22 million Los Angeles home in 2007 when David played for the L.A. Galaxy. Now that they are moving to Italy (with David paying off the rest of his Galaxy salary out-of-pocket), they’re looking to sell their home. Even with the housing market the way it is, they have found a potential buyer in the Cruises, who live right down the street. Tom and Katie would use the home as a guest house for visitors.

Now that Becks will be “Bending It” in Italy more often than ever, the dashing soccer ace and his fashionista wife, Victoria, are looking forward to unloading their expansive Beverly Hills estate–and despite the housing crunch, they’ve already attracted a pair of interested owners, their old pals TomKat.

The British couple purchased the home for $22 million in 2007 after moving Stateside for a multimillion dollar deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

According to Star, Tom and Katie, who live around the corner from the Beckhams, hope to use the property as a guesthouse if they are able reach a deal with the Beckhams.

“They would use the place for visitors, but they don’t want to spend much more than $15 million.”

[From PopCrunch]

A $22 million guest house seems excessive, but this is Tom Cruise we’re talking about – he constantly needs to prove to the world that he is better than everyone else. This is probably the same reason there is so much press about the Cruises’ relationship with the Beckhams. The combined star power is, in Tom’s mind, worth the trouble. Between the four of them, they probably have about half a brain somewhere. David has even confessed that he has trouble helping his 6-year-old son with his math homework. As for the guest house, Katie will probably use it as an escape when the stress of Scientology gets too great.

Here’s the Beckham and Cruise families (sans Tom) taking a stroll in Central Park this past Thanksgiving. Images thanks to Fame.com.

The Beckhams might be leaving America. It’s so sad. Just when I was getting used to seeing Posh in her sky-high heels and mini-skirts as she went grocery shopping, she leaves me. Just when I was developing a fondness for Brooklyn and the other two cute little boys, they’re ripped away from me by Italy. It’s like The Great War, I tell you.

So, David Beckham really wants to go back to Europe for some reason. He got to play for AC Milan for several months, and Milan wants Becks to stay. It was up in the air at first as to whether Posh would even join David in Milan, but she came along with the boys, and she seems to be enjoying Italy. Maybe it’s all the leather? OK! magazine says that David’s fate will be decided tomorrow, when LA Galaxy determines whether they will let him out of his contract.

We’ll know by tomorrow whether the Beckham family are sticking around in the US or retreating to Europe early.

Beckham wants to stay in Italy, where he has been on loan from LA Galaxy over the winter — and the Italian team wants to keep him permanently.

But his US team — who, in 2007, agreed to pay him $150m to stay for five years — haven’t yet said whether they’ll let him go.

Bosses of Major League Soccer don’t want negotiations to drag on — so they’ve said that Galaxy and Milan have to reach an agreement about his future no later than Friday, or the league won’t approve the deal.

According to ESPN, the league’s commissioner, Don Garber, said: “[AC Milan] needs to understand that this is getting very close to the start of our season.”

“We have plans that we need to make if David Beckham is part of those plans.”

From OK! Magazine

What hurts more is that the Beckhams lied to America. They claimed they’d never leave! At least, they would never leave until Victoria conquered the American media by appearing on the cover of American Vogue. Alas, Anna Wintour does not care for Posh. Boo, Anna Wintour! Who else wears those get-ups to the park? Give her a cover!

I’m half-joking, of course. I do enjoy seeing pictures of the Beckhams and reading some gossip about them, but I’m not loonie for them. Still, it’s got to hurt both David and Victoria that they’re most likely leaving America without having conquered it. David wanted to bring American soccer to a whole new level – which was met a “meh”. Posh wants to be as famous as all the other Hollywood celebrities, but the media just didn’t embrace her. So sad. They shall be missed.

David Beckham is shown on 2/8/09 in a match for AC Milan v Reggina in Milan and training on 2/10/09 in Seville, Spain. Victoria Beckham is shown on 2/7/09 outside a hotel in London. Credit: WENN

Ricky Gervais is a crazy, hilarious genius. He plots and plots away in his lair, which I think is probably a nice rental in Los Angeles. What is he plotting, dare you ask? He’s plotting a way to get rid of both Victoria “Posh” Beckham and Paris Hilton.

Ricky was really upset that not only is Paris Hilton filming her horrid BBF show in London, she actually dared to buy a house in London, not far from Ricky’s house. Ricky feels that this insult to his country is some sort of cosmic payback for America accepting Posh into our hearts and our country.

Attempting to rectify the situation, Ricky wrote an open letter to President Obama on his blog, This Side of Truth, with a proposal for sending both of the paparazzi targets back to their home countries. Here’s the letter, in it’s entirety.

Dear Mr President,

Firstly, congratulations on your historic win. I have never been so behind a candidate for what must be considered the boss of the world.

You seem to be a man of grace and integrity, who would never shirk responsibility in any way.

I’ll get to the point.

As I’m sure you are aware, one of your flock has strayed. A Miss Paris Hilton, who is, I believe, a resident of Beverley Hills, is in England doing a reality game show for ITV2 called Paris Hilton’s British Best Friend. Fine. I have no problem with that. I don’t have to watch. But now it has come to my attention that she has bought a house in North London a few miles from me, and is out and about ingratiating herself with the Great British public.

Mr President. We are not stupid. This is clearly a retaliatory strike for Posh Spice moving to LA. I know it, and you know it, so let’s cut the “it’s a free country” nonsense and come to some agreement.

I propose an exchange.

This is how it would work. We call them both and tell them that we’ve found a giant “paparazzi nest”, in New York say. (half way home for both of them already)

At first they may be confused that they’d never heard of such a thing before, but the thought of that many photographers in one place will be irresistible.

Once we get them there, while they are having their photos taken (we will have hire a few guys with cameras to make it look good) we will swap their limos around. It’s fool proof.

This is a covert operation of which Mr Gordon Brown knows nothing. (I’ve got him working on finding a synthetic fur for The Queen’s guards’ bearskin hats.)

Have your people call my people. They may have to call a few times as my people are useless to be honest.

Thank you,
Ricky Gervais

From Ricky Gervais’s This Side of Truth blog

I had a great time reading Ricky’s blog – he does weekly posts and of course, all of the material is the kind of profane genius that loses something in translation. There’s another kind of covert operation not mentioned by Ricky – to get Gervais to host the 2010 Oscars. Brilliant.

Ricky Gervais is shown on 1/11/09 at the Golden Globes and on 1/7/09 with his partner Jane Fallon outside The Late Show. Credit: WENN

On December 7th, David Beckham and an unnamed bodyguard got into an altercation with a paparazzo. Da Mata, the photographer, was following Posh and Becks in a car before Beckham and his bodyguard harassed Da Mata, throwing his camera into a trashcan and beating him up.

Per the suit, [the bodyguard's] “oppressive and despicable” actions included grabbing the plaintiff’s camera and throwing it in a trash can, and then “violently” beating him when he got out of his car to retrieve it.

An eyewitness told E! News at the time that Da Mata had been trailing Beckham and wife Victoria when the Brit got out of his car and approached the paparazzo’s vehicle, enticing him to come out. Per our source, when Da Mata refused to budge, Beckham’s muscle went around to the passenger side and started throwing punches.

“They just can’t do this,” Da Mata said. “They put me on the floor, they got my camera, and they threw it in the trash can. They can’t do this to us.”

A police report was taken at the scene, but no criminal charges were ever filed in the incident.

Da Mata is claiming assault and battery, negligence, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress and conversion. He is seeking unspecified damages.

[from E!]

It’s never fun getting beaten up by a professionally trained bodyguard, but we don’t have the full story here. How close was Da Mata “trailing” the Beckhams? Had he been trying to cut them off? Was he following at an unsafe speed? It can get irritating when celebrities complain incessantly about the paparazzi, and most stars who throw fits in front of the cameras are laughed at rather than pitied. But there’s a difference between getting a good photograph and putting a celebrity in danger for the perfect shot. Still, that doesn’t mean that it’s up to the star to take the law into their own hands.

It may turn out that David was just in an irritable mood that day and the bodyguard was just following his boss’ lead, but we won’t know until it goes to court – if the Beckhams don’t settle out of court. They’ve certainly got a lot in the bank after those joint Armani ads.

Here’s David Beckham playing football for Milan in Dubai on 1/6/09 and in Milan on 1/17/09. Credit: WENN

Victoria Beckham is now posing in an underwear ad for Armani, just like her athletic other half. Posh’s ads are black and white and meant to be evocative. She wears smoky Cleopatra-style eyemakeup, her hair her trademark pixie style. Holy Moly points out that Katie Holmes’ new ad campaign for Miu Miu is now out and that Holmes’ look and styling in the ad is remarkably similar to Posh’s Armani ads. Is this just a strange coincidence based on recent trends in fashion photography and Katie and Posh’s similar look, or is there more too it?

The heat is on for best friends-turned-rivals Katie Holmes and Victoria Beckham…The pair have both modelled for different fashion labels (with the pictures being leaked on the same day) and look almost identical (except unfortunately it’s Posh in her underwear).

Katie and Posh became bosom buddies when Posh moved over to the States with David. And despite the pair reportedly falling out over Posh and Becks’ reluctance to join Scientology (proving that someone in that relationship must have a brain cell) Katie is still morphing into Victoria Beckham.

Because in her latest ad campaing for Mui Mui, she could be Posh. Just younger and slightly better loooking. And as she copies Posh’s hair, figure and style could David Beckham end up with a stiletto being thrown at his head before the week is out (just like in Single White Female)?

[From Holy Moly]

I don’t know if Katie and Posh have a rivalry going, but they definitely aren’t close girlfriends like they seemed to be when they hit Paris in late 2006 and early 2007. Their families did hang out together in New York over Thanksgiving, but Posh was notoriously absent from one of her husband’s soccer matches in LA that Cruise, Holmes, and their three children attended. Maybe they just got busy and grew apart as many friends do. It does seem suspicious that they stopped hanging out around the same time that Katie started looking more like Posh in her hairstyle and fashion. She’s since tried to mix it up with some grungy mismatched separates that just fall flat.

These two don’t seem like they would feud over a silly issue like having similar ads out. It’s something they probably don’t have much control over as the shoots were styled and photographed by professionals. You wonder if some of the same people were involved. Posh’s ads were “shot by fashion photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott,” according to the Telegraph. but I haven’t been able to find out much about Holmes’ ads.

Update: Vogue UK confirms that the same photographers, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, also shot Katie Holmes for Miu Miu. That would explain the similarity.

Victoria Beckham has just been to London to promote her line of ten dresses, to be sold in Selfridges, which mostly feature those calf skimming pencil skirts and waspish waists she’s so fond of. They are obviously completely impractical for anything like catching public transport or running after your kids, but given that her clothing ranges from £650 to £1,900 I’m guessing that her target market isn’t working women or mothers.

Victoria gave a long interview with the London Times, and clearly reporter Lisa Armstrong found her utterly charming. It’s a great article, you can read it in full here.

On paparazzi and gossip:
The paps and the bodyguards – even her children have them – are facts of life now. Is it worth it? “Sometimes, like today, I ask myself that question,” she grimaces. “But in LA at least we can be freer. I think the obsession with celebrity is actually worse here than in America.”

Victoria’s take is that she is a positive person. “I’m just really happy. I wake up every morning and I think I’m so blessed. I don’t read the stuff that’s written about us. I’m not interested in gossip. Some of the people that I’m friends with in America – you know, Tom and Katie – they get it too and we laugh about all these stupid things.”

On her new collection:
So I ask her (who designs her clothes). Without apparently taking offence (she has been fighting cynicism since she started school), she tells me that she does the designing. “Do I draw? No. Then again, nor do lots of designers. But I put it all on myself and walk around in it, and I know what feels comfortable. I know how a dress should sit. I’ve worn so many in the past and when I see the photographs I think, crikey, my boobs are up round my neck again because the corsets are too short and not cut high enough. Like I knew I would spend a lot on the best-quality zips because, like many women, I’ve had my share of crappy zips. I wanted a zip that undoes from both ends because then you can either put the dress on over your head or, if you don’t want to mess up your hair, you can step into it – and also, you know, going to the loo wouldn’t be this whole big palaver.”

On spirituality:
Does it ever bug her that the Beckhams are caricatured as barbarians when they are clearly not? “Thank you. No, not really. I’m quite spiritual. I’m very good at visualisation.”

Uh oh. This sounds ominously like Hollywood-speak. Or maybe Tom got to them after all. But it turns out that Victoria’s visuals are not the babbling brooks or still mountains kind, but clothes. “I was talking to Gordon Ramsay and David about this the other day and they’re the same. Gordon visualises a meal, then figures out how to prepare it. David visualises the goal. I’ll lie in bed and think, what kind of look do I want to go for tomorrow? Then I find the pieces in my mind to create it.

Sometimes she visualises her and David when they are elderly, but she doesn’t think old age will be a problem for them “because we’re really supportive of one another”. She pauses, thoughtfully. “Yeah, I really believe in creative visualisation.”

On her private life:
As she has it, her idea of a thrilling night is watching a DVD with David, unwinding in the bath and going to bed early with a notebook “because I’m always thinking of things in the middle of the night”. She emphatically does not travel as much as people think she does. Nor is she plastered in make-up and hoiked into a corset dress every day. “We lead our lives in a much more low-profile way than people think. I’m not going to The Ivy in Beverly Hills. I don’t think I’ve been to a premiere since we moved there.

“We’re not courting fame. I can give you a list of numerous restaurants that have underground parking so no one can get any photographs. I know all the restaurant kitchens in LA. Underground car parks and kitchens. That’s my grand entrance.”

The Times

Victoria might not be corseted and made up every day, but I have seen her dressed up to take her kids to stuff a bear, or catching a plane, or taking her son out in a Christmas hat while she wore an elf outfit. She might think she lives a low profile life, but that might just show how out of touch Victoria Beckham is with your average mother. But, bless her, that’s exactly why we love her.

Victoria Beckham is seen leaving her hotel in London on 12/4/08 (Black jeans – credit: Big Pictures/Bauergriffin) and on 12/3/08 (Gray pencil skirt – credit: WENN)

Cruz Beckham left The Grove with his mom and dad yesterday sporting his early Christmas spirit with his Santa hat, and since it’s LA, his shades. Also appearing in holiday style is his mother, Victoria Beckham, who looks like an elf in her little green dress, ankle boots, and pixie hair cut. That dress looks like the little felt cut-out smocks we wore in the kindergarten Christmas play.

Cruz is cool, the coolest of the Beckham boys, so far, and he looks to be taking after his mother and father in the style department. The most stylin’ 3-year old in a Santa cap, khakis and aviators I’ve seen. Pretty soon the kid will have a contract modelling Armani underoos.

David Beckham, Cruz’s devoted dad, is too hot for North Pole gear, so he opted for nicely hung jeans and a corded sweater. I think he would do better as an under the tree gift than one of Santa’s little helpers giving the gifts, anyway.

Update by Celebitchy Here are more photos of Victoria out with Cruz. Notice how she’s wearing an a-line pine green dress with heels that just happen to have red soles. It’s like she’s color-coordinating with Cruz’s Christmas theme.

Photo credit: Fame Pictures and Bauergriffin