Vanessa Hudgens isn’t taken with being a celebrity – she probably enjoyed it more before the whole world saw her nude, but I can see other drawbacks in addition to her nudie pics suddenly becoming more valuable.

“It is a dog-eat-dog world,” the singer, who first came to prominence in the Thunderbirds movie, says. “People want to know about people’s business; no one really has a sense of privacy because everyone is trying to get into your business.

“And people become jaded and infatuated with Hollywood. I think it happens to a lot of celebrities and it messes with their head.”

While some actually like the extra attention, Hudgens says it’s not really for her.

“I don’t like people staring at me all the time and I don’t want people following me around,” she says.

“I became an actress and started singing and dancing because I truly loved it. I did not want to be a celebrity; I did it because I genuinely enjoy doing it. I think fame is just something that comes along when you are in something that is such a success.

“Fame is an interesting thing but my fans are very supportive and I thank them so much.”

Daily Telegraph

She also reveals that she was going to audition for American Idol, but couldn’t as the show has a minimum age of 16 to audition.

Zac Efron is also busy these days, playing a role in HSM3 (reportedly paying $3 million) and in a new movie with Matthew Perry titled ‘17’.

Zac Efron is attached to star in the new film, about a middle-aged father who wakes up one day to find that he’s somehow become a teenager. Matthew Perry, star of “Friends” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” will play the older version of Efron’s character.

Access Hollywood

Can anyone say ‘Big’ rip off? Surely this wasn’t a good film to sign up for, it just sounds so lame. The character goes to high school with his teenage kids to get to know them better.

Are the HSM stars cursed? Vanessa Hudgens will probably disappear from film after HSM3, as she says it’s a ‘dog-eat-dog world’. And Zac Efron grows up to be Matthew Perry! That’s a curse if ever I heard of one. Watch out Ashley Tisdale. Then again, I could be completely wrong, it’s been known to happen occasionally.

Madonna has always seemed to be very in control, and very much a perfectionist. Though generally when people call you those things, it’s actually code for ‘complete pain in the arse’. But she manages to pull it off, though it probably makes working for her very difficult.

It seems that even early in her career she was driving people a little crazy with her need to be the best, and keeping them from their dinner. In 1984 she was filming an appearance on Top of the Pops to promote her single ‘Like A Virgin’, scantily clad in fishnets and a wedding dress.

However, the singer managed to make the show’s host, Steve Right, all hot and bothered for very different reasons.

Contactmusic.com reports Wright as saying: “Madonna kept doing take after take and I wanted to get home because my mum was making a shepherd’s pie.

“I went over to Madonna and said: ‘Look love, my mum’s doing me a shepherd’s pie, could you please hurry up?’

“She looked at me as if I was insane and has never spoken to me since,” he added.

New Zealand Herald

As I think shepherd’s pie is the most disgusting food on earth, I can’t say I’m surprised at Madonna’s reaction. Is this kind of perfectionism just a waste of people’s time, or is it worth doing take after take to get it right? It might be fair to say that if you’re a professional, just one or two takes should be enough. Then again, Britney’s performance at the VMA’s was probably rehearsed for days and look how that turned out…Madonna has survived for 25 years in the fickle music business for a reason.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s some vintage Madonna for you. Don’t you feel better about your eighties fashion choices now? Images thanks to PR Photos.

Beauty pageants are a lot scarier than they used to be. Remember that Sandra Bullock movie, “Miss Congeniality?” Whoever would have thought it would be so accurate… and so eerily foreboding. A few months ago Miss New Jersey was blackmailed with some not-very-racy photos that had been on her Facebook page. Now Miss Puerto Rico, Ingrid Marie Rivera, has been poisoned with pepper spray… in a manner of speaking. At first it seemed that one of the other contestants had sprayed it on her gown and makeup. She broke out in a painful rash, and her makeup bag supposedly went missing for a while.

Beating 29 rivals, Rivera took home the crown and the chance to vie in the Miss Universe pageant. Throughout the competition, Rivera was composed while appearing before the cameras and panel of judges. But once off-camera, she was forced to shed her clothes and apply ice bags to her face and body, which twice swelled and broke out in hives, the Associated Press reports.

“We thought at first it was an allergic reaction, or maybe nerves,” said pageant spokesman Harold Rosario. “But the second time, we knew it couldn’t have been a coincidence.” Later, Rivera’s garments and cosmetics tested positive for pepper spray. Rivera’s bag containing her gowns, makeup and credit cards reportedly had also been stolen before the pageant. Saying that she had wavered about remaining in the competition, Rivera, 24, told reporters at a Sunday news conference, “It was a lot of sacrifice, and my tears were genuine,” reports Reuters.

[From People]

Now authorities seem to be pointing the finger at Rivera, since she was able to turn the waterworks off and on at will during Saturday’s competition. That seems like a pretty extreme measure to go to in order to win a pageant, and it could have very easily backfired. Call me naïve, but I’m more likely to believe that she’s just a consummate professional… or at least someone who can pull it together for something she really wants.

Rivera said the same about herself to Vieira and claimed, contrary to reports of police skepticism over the fact that Rivera’s condition only seemed to occur when she was backstage, that her accusations about the pepper spray are genuine.

“It’s not funny,” she said. “It’s real. I had to go through so much … itchy, burning, reddish, swelling … a horrible feeling.” Crime-lab tests on Rivera’s dress and makeup are to begin Wednesday, says NBC News.

[From People]

If nothing else, it seems most beauty pageant contestants are freakishly determined, at least when they get to the national level. It seems unlikely that someone would do that to themselves to get attention… if nothing else, there’s less unattractive ways to get people to feel sorry for you. In a competition focused on appearance, why would someone sabotage the way they look? I generally refuse to watch pageants, but now I’m intrigued. Maybe someone will come down with Chicken Pox at the Miss Universe competition, and then blame that chicken that was lurking around the dressing rooms all day.

All relationships have their quirks. The beauty is that most relationships are private, and the quirks stay between the couple. For example no one would ever want to know that my ex-boyfriend and I had nauseatingly cute nicknames for each other involving woodland creatures. And no one would ever want to know that Ozzie and Sharon Osbourne have a suicide pact. Yep, if one of them kicks it, the other is supposed to swallow a vat of poison and join them in the beyond. Alright they weren’t detailed enough to specify poison, but that seems the way they’d go.

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne have agreed on a suicide pact - so they can both die at the same time. Rock matriarch Sharon, who is also Ozzy’s manager, has revealed she and her husband agree they cannot live without each other, and so they’ve chosen to go to the grave together.

She explains: “Whatever it was, where you know you’re going to die, we would want to choose the time where we want to leave. I would go with my old man, and he would come with me… (Fortunately) my husband is better than ever, health-wise.”

But the macabre suicide pact doesn’t kick in until 2012, with busy Sharon adding she can’t contemplate taking her life “in the next five years”.

[From Ireland Online]

Um… good for you? I never know what to say in these kinds of situation. Whenever someone tells you they have a suicide pact, it’s always so awkward. First there’s the revelation, and then there’s you trying to act like you’re supportive and non-judgmental, and then you have to tell them that’s great but you don’t swing that way… wait that’s all for coming out of the closet. How does one tell others they have a suicide pact? Well I guess if you’re anything like the Osbournes (and what couple isn’t, at least a little bit?) then you go on “Extra” for that explicit purpose. Can anyone say “attention starved?” Maybe it’s time to put Ozzie back on the pills and let him shuffle down Hollywood Boulevard. Compassionate? No. But probably a little more fun than a suicide pact.

It’s starting to look like R&B singer Brandy won’t get charged in the deadly car crash she caused last December. Brandy was driving along 405 (a few initial reports mentioned that she was possibly talking on her cell phone, though I can’t find any recent articles that mention it) at 65 miles an hour, when she failed to notice that traffic in front of her had slowed down. She slammed into 38-year-old Awatef Aboudihaj’s car, which then flew across the lane and was struck by another car. Aboudihaj died from massive internal bleeding. The one year anniversary of the crash is coming up on December 30th, and the L.A. City Attorney’s office has yet to press any charges against Brandy.

Sources tell TMZ that the City Attorney’s Office plans to make a decision at the very last moment. If charges aren’t filed, chances are the public wouldn’t notice over the holidays — and the case would quietly go away. TMZ spoke exclusively with Bill Sayed, lawyer for the victim’s husband, Marouane Hdidou. Sayed questioned the delay, saying, “There is a death and obviously reckless driving involved, which is enough evidence for an involuntary manslaughter charge. As to why the City Attorney has taken this long? I think we would all like to know.”

Over the past year, Brandy has pursued her usual activities; shopping, partying and living a normal life. Sayed says, “Brandy continues to live life with really no negative results … doing what Brandy is doing … as if though nothing has occurred here.” He also describes how life has become a roller coaster for his client. “Thanksgiving just passed and he was all alone — he has no family here.”

[From TMZ]

The lawyer does have a point – Brandy should have some kind of consequence. Though it obviously doesn’t appear that she intentionally caused the crash or was doing anything grossly negligent, she failed to slow/stop her car, which was going very fast. There’s no word on just how slow the traffic in front of her was – if it was nearly stopped, or just slowing down. Either way, the victim obviously died a horrible death, and it seems kind of unnecessary for Brandy to be out partying and living it up. She’s been photographed out a lot more in the last year. You’d think she’d want to keep a low profile. Her negligence caused a four-car crash, and she has been sued by the other three drivers. It’s unlikely she’ll do any jail time, but I’m guessing she stands to lose a ton of money. Especially since she reportedly admitted that the crash was her fault.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Brandy at Fashion Week in L.A. on October 16th. Images thanks to PR Photos.

At some point, when you just have catastrophe after catastrophe, I guess it makes sense to call it a day. That’s not really a great life motto, but I’d have to say that in Amy Winehouse’s case, it seems like a good idea. Now if she were calling it a day and heading into rehab, I’d actually swim on over to London to pat her on the back. But she’s decided to cancel her entire tour because she can’t handle life without her incarcerated husband/professional moocher Black Fielder-Civil.

Amy Winehouse has dramatically canceled the rest of her tour, saying she cannot perform “without my Blake”. A statement from her record company said she had canceled her performances on the instruction of her doctor. The cancellation comes after her performances became increasingly erratic. A statement issued on Tuesday night by Island Records said Winehouse, 24, had been told to deal with “health issues”.

The statement said: “Amy Winehouse has canceled all remaining live and promotional appearances for the remainder of the year on the instruction of her doctor. The rigors involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks have taken their toll. In the interests of her health and well-being, Amy has been ordered to take complete rest and deal with her health issues.”

Winehouse said: “I can’t give it my all on stage without my Blake. I’m so sorry but I don’t want to do the shows half-heartedly; I love singing. My husband is everything to me and without him it’s just not the same.”

[From the UK Press Association]

It’s odd ,most people would argue that she wasn’t even doing her shows halfheartedly when Blake WAS around. What the hell was left once he was gone? Amy had a few more pictures taken of her the other day with white stuff up her nose mixed with a bit of blood. She’s drinking and snorting on stage. At some point, can’t they just say, “Amy’s too coked up to sing?” Okay I realize they can’t, but instead of “health problems” or they always-classic “exhaustion” couldn’t they just say, “Amy’s dealing with substance abuse issues?” Probably not, because putting it that way implies that she’ll get help for it, which she won’t. It’s sad, being away from her addict husband is probably Amy’s best shot of getting her life together. But she’s so emotionally entrenched in their dramatic, abusive lifestyle that she obviously can’t see this is an opportunity.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Amy waiting outside the London Clinic for a taxi to pick her up on Tuesday. When she doesn’t find one, she wanders around the street in her ballet slippers for a bit. You’d think she’d be able to afford a driver. I looked up the London Clinic, and it’s a private hospital. Unfortunately their specialties don’t list anything that screams addiction treatment. Images thanks to WENN.

To me, there are only a few things that are truly scary. Nuclear war, being in a car accident, and that little dead girl from “The Ring” climbing through my television set. I just bought a plasma TV under the assumption that she can’t fit in there. The store clerk wouldn’t put anything in writing, but he was pretty sure she wouldn’t like the plasma, since she died in a well. So I’m assuming I’m safe there. The only thought that rivals any of those is the possibility that someday, a child could burst forth from the loins of Paris Hilton. Scary, right? Which would you rather have, Paris Hilton’s baby shooting out of your TV or the dead Ring girl? I know, it’s not really one of those questions that can be answered.

Paris wants to have a baby, and it sounds like she has really well thought out, unselfish reasons. She wants her kid to be able to play with Nicole Richie’s baby. I wonder what she’s planning on doing with it the rest of the time.

Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie have been best friends – and occasionally the best of enemies – for years. Now that Richie is pregnant, Hilton says she’s hoping their offspring will be second-generation BFFs. “Nicole and I have been playing together since we were two years old,” she told PEOPLE at the Nissan Live Sets One Year Anniversary Party. “I was just telling her, ‘I want a baby so that our babies can play together.’”

Still, Hilton admits, she has a few things to take care of first – like finding a man! “I don’t have a boyfriend right now,” the Simple Life star insisted. “But I would love to start a family.” In the meantime, she’ll be content playing Auntie Paris to Richie’s baby with Joel Madden. (The little one is due in January). “[Nicole] is really excited, and happy, and a little scared,” Hilton said, adding that Madden is “a gentleman. … We all can’t wait!”

[From People]

Well at least she’s got her head on straight. If evolutionary theory is correct, Paris Hilton really shouldn’t be able to mate successfully. Though if that were true, a lot of people wouldn’t be able to reproduce; but it seems like a lot of the worst candidates are also the most fruitful. I wonder if Paris can teach her kid to speak with her unique vocal combination of flat affect with a side of valley girl accent, or if that’s a unique trait that can’t be reproduced. Something tells me she’ll end up being a godmother very soon, and hopefully that little tiny bit of responsibility will scare her off the idea of kids for a while.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Paris hawking her new perfume “Can Can Paris Hilton” at Macy’s in Garden City, New York on November 13, 2007. Seems motherly to me. Images thanks to PR Photos.

In case there was any doubt whether or not Britney Spears really is trailer trash, I give you exhibit A: Britney attempted to try on underwear in a dressing room before buying it. Can you imagine what could happen to you if you bought her discards? I bet those things could crawl away on their own. Sideways, of course. (Get it? Because of all the crabs. Because Britney sleeps around a lot. Okay that wasn’t funny. Carry on).

Shortly before 1 a.m. on November 18, Britney Spears entered the X-rated Hustler Store in West Hollywood. Spears loaded up on naughty skivvies and headed to the fitting rooms. But store employees “told her they don’t allow people to try on underwear,” a source at the scene says. “She was really upset. She looked out of it. There was nothing going on behind her eyes.”

At that point, Spears threw a fit, and took off her own underwear before trying on a pair of boyshorts (with “Barely Legal’ stitched across the rear end) in the middle of the store while 15 other customers looked on. An eyewitness tells Us, “The employees kept saying ‘Don’t change out here!’ She’s just like, ‘Well, I couldn’t take them in the fitting room!’ It was like dealing with a child.”

[From Us Weekly]

Um, Britney, the problem isn’t that you can’t try on un-purchased underwear in the dressing room; the problem is that you can’t try it on at all. You don’t see other customers stripping down in the middle of stores on a regular basis, right? They don’t have that rule as an incentive to get women to flash their ladybits next to the cash register; they have it to prevent your various strains of syphilis from latching on to the person who purchases the underwear you tried on and then discarded.

I have no idea what kind of delusional world Britney’s drug-addled mind lives in. I kind of imagine it’s like the heffalumps and woozles scene in the Winnie the Pooh movie. Britney’s bouncing around, kind of disoriented, and there are a lot of animals with stripes and spots that are constantly changing shapes. And who could really manage to act like a normal person and pay attention to basic hygiene when that elephant’s head just broke off from his body, turned into a balloon, and floated away?

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Brit on her way to Petco on November 18th. No word on what panties she’s wearing in the photo. Or if she bought crabs or brought her own. Images thanks to Splash Photos.

Jennifer Love Hewitt, 28, and her boyfriend of nearly two years, Scottish actor Ross McCall, 32, got engaged last week, according to several sources. The two are vacationing in Hawaii, where Jennifer has gotten a ton of unflattering press in just about every entertainment magazine and blog out there. The curvaceous actress may have put on a little weight lately – and apparently everyone needs to call her out and criticize her for it. To me she just looks normal – she’s never been one of those stick-thin Hollywood types, and I congratulate her for it.

She was the inspiration behind former boyfriend John Mayer’s hit ‘Your Body Is A Wonderland,’ but not even a famous muse like Jennifer Love Hewitt can escape a little weight gain. A combination of harsh sunlight and a skimpy bikini left the newly buxom star with nowhere to hide as she hit the beach for a swim during a Hawaiian getaway.

The star’s curvy, cellulite-riddled physique was in stark contrast to the slender - and airbrushed - frame she showed off during a recent advertising campaign for US label Hanes. Still, the star of I Know What You Did Last Summer, who was enjoying a romantic break with boyfriend Ross McCall, says she happily embraces her imperfections.

In a cheeky nod to Mayer’s hit, Jennifer recently joked: “My body is far from a wonderland. My body is more like a pawnshop. There’s a lot of interesting things put together, and if you look closely you’d probably be excited, but at first glance, not so much.”

[From the Daily Mail]

Well if nothing else it sounds like Jennifer probably won’t care about all the negative things being said about her physique right now. Frankly we have such a ridiculous idea of what women should look like. We can’t walk around air-brushed in real life, and it puts a ridiculous pressure on everyone by saying “this is the norm.” Jennifer just had some ads come out for Hanes in which she’s been airbrushed to into oblivion. I don’t just mean her shape, but they’ve done so much to her face that she just looks like some generic computer-generated model instead of a real person.

While I’m not promoting an unhealthy lifestyle, it’s important to find a happy – and healthy – middle ground between the unrealistic images Hollywood sends us and the McDonald’s addicted lifestyle a lot of Americans have. I think Jennifer going to the beach to celebrate her engagement and not giving a damn about her cellulite reminds us that there’s more important things on her mind. Congrats!

Update: Images removed on request.

The Spice Girls world tour kicks off this weekend, and it’s been a busy week for the girls. Geri Halliwell blogs on the lead up to the first show on Sunday in Vancouver.

I actually feel like I’m in the Spice bubble… we are encapsulated in this world where we are just immersed in each other’s lives constantly. Just before the run through of the show this morning, Mel B, Victoria and I even went to the loo together… in separate cubicles, obviously!

But of course… there’s also my daughter Bluebell. She loves hanging with the Beckham boys. Cruz and Bluebell have play dates, and Romeo – well, he is just gorgeous with her. Actually, it was a beautiful moment when we were rehearsing the other day and all of our kids were playing on the stage at the same time. It made me smile.

As you probably know, Mel B was in the live final of Dancing With The Stars and we surprised her on Monday down at the show. She was so shocked, it’s the first time we’ve ever seen her quiet! She was with us in rehearsals yesterday morning and then went to the studio in evening for the results show. She SO should have won… I’m very disappointed. But we are all so incredibly proud of her. You’re a winner to us Mel!

Read the full entry at thespicegirls.com

Mel B was robbed! Robbed I tell ya!

The girls were also visited by Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes this week, and surprised them with an impromptu performance.

Tom and Katie’s 19-month-old Suri danced around as the band belted out a selection of their greatest hits.

Following the surprise visit, Victoria - who is married to England soccer star David Beckham - said: “David and I are great friends with Tom and Katie. It was lovely of them to come down to rehearsals, a really nice surprise.

“Katie has told me before that she used to be a huge Spice Girls fan, so it was great for her to meet the other girls.”

Stuff

In other Victoria Beckham news, she’s just been announced as the new face of the Marc Jacobs campaign. We’re unsure whether her new boobs have been temporarily added at the designer’s request, or if they are a permanent fixture. They’re definitely nicer than her old half melons.

Sadly, the Spice Girls aren’t coming to my town. Still, video of the shows should be up on YouTube before I even make it out of bed. I’ll be listening to their CDs, and watching their movie this weekend. Not because they’re on tour – I do it most weekends…

Picture note by Jaybird: The Spice Girls made a surprise visit to the studio’s of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ to support Melanie Brown. Images thanks to Splash Photos.