I have a confession to make: I like Dr. Phil. I know 99% of his show is trash, but I enjoy it, and it makes me feel a little less guilty than if I were to indulge in, say, Jerry Springer. I can pretend I’m learning something useful, and then spout off phrases like, “You teach people how to treat you,” and various phrases involving cats, fertilizer, and brick walls. Obviously the guy’s a bit of a hack, but normally he can justify what he says in such a way that I’ll be nodding along with him in a few seconds flat. This is not one of those times. Apparently Dr. Phil is good friends with Lynne Spears, and has gone on the record, telling People that she’s a good mom, despite the fact that she’s about to be a grandmother for the third time… and her daughters are 26 and 16. Right on.

Ever the optimist concerning the Spears family, Dr. Phil McGraw commends matriarch Lynne Spears – despite the current controversy regarding her 16-year old daughter’s pregnancy. “We know the Spears family, particularly the parents,” he tells PEOPLE at Adrienne Maloof and Dr. 90210 Phil Nassif’s holiday party in Beverly Hills on Saturday. “An asset that Britney and Jamie Lynn both have is a great and dedicated mother.”

McGraw admits that his friend is “troubled right now” but is “really looking for the positives in this.” As her daughters live under the glare of public scrutiny and criticism, Lynne has “her feet squarely and solidly on the ground,” he says.

“They’re a very strong, close-knit family,” says Dr. Phil’s wife Robin, “They’re relying on each other.” And with her book recently put on hold, Lynne is also drawing strength from her faith. “I talked to Lynne yesterday and she said they’re turning to prayer, asked that I pray for them. That’s how they’re going to get through it.”

[From People]

I get so annoyed with people who don’t behave as if they’re religious, but then suddenly start referring to scripture right and left when they’re in trouble. Or when they win a Grammy. It just comes off as hackneyed and trite, and certainly doesn’t make me say, “Oh, well I guess I was wrong, Lynne Spears IS a good mother!” Frankly I think Jamie Lynn getting pregnant at sixteen doesn’t speak nearly as badly as to Lynne’s parenting as does Britney’s psychosis. But while Lynne’s getting a lot of negative attention lately, it’s important to remember that the girls have two parents, and their father is just as culpable. Jamie Spears has kept a pretty low profile, but he’s struggled with alcohol addiction. Probably an excellent reason that he should try being a little more involved with his daughters – maybe to help Britney with her own addiction issues. I think Dr. Phil should move the whole Spears clan into the Dr. Phil house (you have to say that with the bravado with which he says it) with the 88 cameras, lock them in, and do some intensive therapy. For a year. You know an on-camera teenage birth would make for great ratings. And Britney and Jaime Lynn fighting over who gets to/has to breast feed the baby would make for a great Dr. Phil intervention.

We were initially a bit divided as to whether married Tony Parker could be guilty of the hotel romps that were claimed by a French model. Alexandra Paressant went to paparazzi agency X17 with an amusing tale of hooking up with Parker on separate occasions, claiming that he was seeking sex outside his new marriage to Eva Longoria because the petite actress thought sperm was bad for her skin, didn’t want to have sex in front of mirrors, and didn’t like certain sexual positions. Paressant offered four text messages presumably from Parker and her plane ticket to San Antonio as “proof” of their relationship. Parker sued X17 for $20 million, claiming they didn’t do their journalistic duty by failing to report his side of the story and not adequately checking out the woman’s story.

Paressant claimed last year that Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho performed poorly at the World Cup because he was busy bedding her and playing Playstation late into the night. Ronaldinho also sued her for that claim, and while I initially thought that he had actually dated Paressant the real story is that, like Parker, he’s never even met her. She called Ronaldinho constantly, though, pestering him and threatening suicide. She also seems to not be a real model and to be using another woman’s pictures and passing them off as her own.

Dana Kennedy at The Huffington Post investigated the story and concluded that all of Parressant’s claims about both Parker and Ronaldinho were fabricated. In fact she found that many of the photos on X17 were of German model Hana Nitsche, a second runner up on Germany’s Next Top Model’s second season.

There are two different videos of a woman who is supposedly this Paressant person on X17, and she looks an awful lot like the German model mentioned in the Huffington Post article, Hana Nitsche.

It turns out that all of the videos and photos were of Hana Nitsche, not this Paressant person, who no one has ever seen, and that Paressant tricked Nitsche into recording the videos and sending the photos to X17 in an elaborate ploy. Nitsche told her story to the German press in which she revealed the plot:

The 22 year old [model, Hana Nitsche] said that some time ago she was contacted by Alexandra Paressant. “A couple of days ago, she called me again. [She said] I should send her a video.” It was meant to be a casting video. “She gave me the text. She claimed it was about a love movie. I should recite the given sentences. Of course I didn’t know which Tony it referred to.”

[From De.News.Yahoo.Com, roughly translated by my husband]

So some model was tricked by a woman no one has ever seen to claim that she had an affair with Tony Parker. As Crazy Days and Nights reports, it’s not likely that Parker’s lawsuit against X17 for reporting the story will be successful. The woman initially appeared to be believable given the “evidence” she offered and the videos, which weren’t even of her. I would like to see what this Paressant person really looks like as she’s led away in handcuffs and/or sued into the ground by Parker and Longoria. They aren’t my favorite celebrity couple, but when weirdos target people like this they need to be made examples of.

Update: Josh Robertson at The Playboy Blog notes that he found out this woman was a fraud who was using models’ photos and passing them off as her back when she tried to smear Ronaldinho. She either has an accomplice or another pseudonym and is running a scam where she uses the Internet to make her claims seem legitimate. As to what her motivation may be, here’s a NSFW link found by the Playboy Blog. It’s to a French escort agency site for the services of a prostitute named “Alexandra Paressant.”

- Top Ten Mug Shots of 2007 [Celebslam]
- 10 Best Pregnancy Announcements of the Year [Best Week Ever]
- Paris Hilton’s 16 year-old brother is shacking up with his girlfriend at hotels [DListed]
- Yung Joc is a fugitive [Bossip]
- National Treasure: Book of Secrets is the same crap you expect it to be [Pajiba]
- Kid Rock Performs For The Troops [I'm Not Obsessed]
- Carol Alt still hot [Bastardly]
- Amy Winehouse’s husband Blake tested positive for drugs while in prison, he now has to see her from behind plexiglass [ICYDK]
- Avril Lavigne’s boy underwear [Drunken Stepfather]
- Nympho Lindsay Lohan Gave Up Cocaine and Alcohol for Sex and Shopping [Hollywood Rag]
- Victoria Beckham had two pairs of shoes worth over 10k each stolen from her dressing room while on the Spice Girls tour in Germany. [Jossip]
- Jordan’s little sister [Seriously? OMG! WTF?]
- Casey Affleck acting like a douche [Agent Bedhead]
- Nicky Hilton in a bikini [The Blemish]
- Chastity Bono is Superbad [CityRag]
- Who terrified an old lady by jumping into her bed? [Crazy Days and Nights]
- Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox had Christmas Eve dinner together [PopSugar]
- Padma Lakshmi Hot Chef in Lingerie Pictures [The Grumpiest]
- Natalie Portman to design shoe line [Evil Beet]
- Heidi Klum and Seal and their kids in Aspen [CelebWarship]
- If you lived in Aspen you might be annoyed right now [Lifeline Live]
- Orlando Bloom painted his house black [Glitterati]
- Angelina Jolie takes Shiloh out again, gets some kind of chips [Celebrity Baby Scoop]
- Nicolette Sheridan in a bikini [Derek Hail]
- The Muppets sing the 12 Days of Christmas [popbytes]
- Leonard DiCaprio and Bar Rafaeli are together for the holidays [Socialite's Life]
- Jay-Z Leaving Def Jam [Just Jared]

Crazy Days and Nights ran a blind item last month that suggested that one of the producers of Jamie Lynn’s show Zoey 101 was the father of her baby and that he was old enough to be her grandfather. They also said that producers were freaking out and trying to find a boyfriend they could pin the pregnancy on.

This weeks’ Star Magazine is set to report that the father of Jamie Lynn’s baby is suspected to be an “older executive” on her show who will face statutory rape charges if the news came to light. Casey Aldridge is not the father and hasn’t steadily dated Jamie Lynn, Star claims. Casey has another girlfriend and is said to be being paid to keep his mouth shut.

Star magazine insists that the teenager may not be the dad - and that Spears’ friends and family think it is an older man who would face statutory rape charges.

Friends have said that Jamie Lynn was no longer even seeing Casey - and family members told Star that they believe the real father is a much older executive at her children’s TV show ‘Zoey 101′.

“Casey is being paid off to be the family’s fall guy while the real father remains unidentified,” Star magazine insists.

They say the real reason is that an older man could be charged with statutory rape if revealed to be the father of an under-aged girl’s baby.

But in Jamie Lynn’s home state of Louisiana, Casey would escape charges because a 16-year-old can legally have sex with someone less than two years older than her. “Conveniently, Casey falls under the bar by just 26 days.

“The man many suspect is the father, however, would face charges and probably prison time if he were to come forward and admit he had sex with her,” Star magazine states.

The magazine quotes “two separate Spears family insiders” who believe the father is someone who works on Jamie Lynn’s kids’ show. “Jamie Lynn has been working on Zoey since she was 13,” one of the sources said. “In Hollywood, little girls grow up fast, and she is no exception.

“With everything that has gone on in her family, she needed someone to look up to.

“But the man she found seems to have completely taken advantage of her.”

Another family source added: “Some of us have doubts as to the legitimacy of the claim that Casey is the father.

“Before the news of the pregnancy, how often did you see them together?

“Jamie Lynn has dated Casey on and off over the past two years.

“But it was not steady. In fact, she was looking to date Kevin Federline’s brother about a year ago.

“Jamie Lynn went through a time of partying, and Casey was just a part of that.”

[From Showbiz Spy]

They also say that Jamie Lynn is six months pregnant, not three, and that Casey got a different girl pregnant this year and had to confess to Jamie Lynn. Casey has another girlfriend, they claim, and has made no secret of the fact that he’s dating her:

In fact, Star claims he had a pregnancy scare with a different girl and had to confess to Jamie Lynn. “Casey is a serial cheater who has lied to Jamie Lynn time and time again,” a close friend told the magazine. “This past spring, he was forced to tell Jamie Lynn that he’d cheated on her and gotten that girl pregnant.”

In fact, Star even insists Casey was openly dating yet another girl at the same time as he was supposed to be romancing Spears. “Yes, my sister is dating Casey - they’ve been dating for a while,” said Kevin Seals of his sister Whitney Seals.

“I know Jamie Lynn was real jealous about Whitney’s relationship with Casey.”

[From Showbizspy]

According to this article it sounds like it’s still possible that Casey is the father, but that it’s more likely to be this unnamed producer on her show who took advantage of her. There are at least seven “directors” of Zoey 101 listed on IMDB, and not all of them have ages or biographical data, so it would be pointless to speculate who the father might be. If it’s true that an older man who worked with young Jamie Lynn was preying on her like that, he needs to go to jail. As it is, he’s probably trying to lay low, just like Casey has been doing. The tabloids aren’t going to let up on this one and I bet that guy’s identity will be revealed soon.

Header image thanks to popbytes.

This week’s cover of the National Enquirer reads “Jennifer Aniston’s Pregnancy Secret” and features an older picture of Aniston on set several months ago with a questionable mini-bump, but there are pictures of Aniston out with Courteney Cox on Christmas Eve and she definitely looks pregnant! Jen is shown wearing black leggings and a loose black top while clutching a scarf close to her face. There’s been a lot of speculation that Aniston got another nosejob, possibly her third, and that could be why she’s trying to cover her face, but her face also looks fuller and she’s gained weight all over. I would bet that she is indeed pregnant.

Aniston has also been lying low apart from this public outing with Courteney and hasn’t been photographed over the past few months - and a pregnancy could explain her absence.

Star Magazine reported this week that she’s been living with Sex and The City heartthrob Jason Lewis, and also that Lewis was flying his mother in to meet her over the holidays. Could it be because she’s pregnant with his baby? That’s going to be one gorgeous child.

Here are excerpts from Star’s article about these two. They claim they’ve only been dating since November, so Aniston got knocked up in record time if it’s Lewis’ baby. I’ll report on the Enquirer story after I get access to it over the weekend:

“Jason’s mother, Nancy, is flying in from Missouri just to meet Jennifer,” says the insider. “It’s really important to him.” And that’s not all! “He’s so thrilled because he’ll also get to introduce Jennifer to his sister Nicole’s new baby girl, Makela. It’s going to be a very warm and cozy holiday at his grandmother’s house in L.A>, and everyone is thrilled to meet the woman Jason has been raving about!”

Ironically, Jason has ties to Brad Pitt. The two are acquaintances, and Brad even introduced Jennifer to Jason, 36, while they were still married! They eventually reconnected in November, after they’d both become single, and there was instant chemistry.

“Mutual friends at the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital charity thought Jen and Jason would make a great couple,” the insider explains. “So they started e-mailing. After their first date, they began seeing each other every day, nonstop.”

Now they’re virtually living together - they spend all their time at her Malibu house or his place.

[From Star Magazine print edition, December 31, 2007]

The article goes on to say that their relationship progressed so quickly because they have a lot in common. Both Aniston and Lewis like to work out, and are homebodies who would rather stay home than go out. Now that they’re expecting a baby they’re going to have an even more compelling reason to stay home. I bet you it’s true, but hopefully they’ve been dating more than just a month and a half if Jennifer is so pregnant she’s already showing.

Header image from The Daily Mail of Aniston out to dinner on Christmas Eve with Courteney Cox. Image of Jason Lewis below from the Angel Ball on 10/29/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

Update: Aniston’s rep has denied reports that she’s pregnant, but so did J.Lo’s rep at the beginning too.

Cher and her daughter, Chastity Bono, are pitching a new reality show in which they help gay people come out to their families. Chastity is out and proud, but Cher wasn’t so accepting of her daughter’s homosexuality when she was first confronted with the news. Cher kicked Chastity out of her NY apartment when her daughter came out to her, and it took her a while to come to terms with it. Chastity’s father, the late singer and Congressman Sonny Bono, was said to be immediately accepting and to have already realized that his daughter was gay. Cher and Chastity also denied reports in 1990 that claimed Chastity was a lesbian. She came out to the press in 1995.

Chastity is a heavier person who lost 23 pounds on Celebrity Fit Club 3 on VH1 last year but has since gained it back, according to reports. Unfortunately the Daily Mail article about their new reality show typically focuses on Chastity’s weight rather than the news that she may star in a positive show with her mom.

Chastity told The Advocate last year that she wasn’t too fond of reality TV shows, but that she understands how they work and is willing to play the game:

Bono says it’s strange to find herself a reality TV participant, since she hates most of what she’s seen on such shows. But she’s media-savvy enough to know how to convey the impression of “realness” without being entirely real. “There are certainly things that are, if not scripted, at least set up,” she divulges. “And there are often times when they have to do a take 2 of something.” Like maybe they didn’t catch her initial reaction to being told she’d have to run a race inside a giant inflatable hamster wheel. “So,” she says, “you have to repeat the shot of ‘Oh-my-gosh-it’s-a-giant-inflatable-hamster-wheel!’”

[From The Advocate and found at FindArticles.com]

Chastity has been sober for nearly two years, after having beaten an addiction to the painkiller Oxycontin, to which she became hooked while dealing with the grief from her longterm partner’s death.

61 year-old Cher has been having intestinal trouble, and has reportedly gone to the same clinic in Germany where Farrah Fawcett is having cancer treatment. Her reps deny that she has serious medical problems.

There is speculation that Cher is financially strapped after she auctioned off her expensive tchotchkes and is rumored to be considering yet another farewell stint in Vegas. It seems like that rumor is true given the fact that she’s trying to get a reality show. The Daily Mail reports that the title will be “Coming Out With Cher and Chas.”

Chastity Bono is shown at the Outfest Film Festival on 7/16/05, thanks to WENN. Cher is shown in April, 2006 in NY, thanks to Splash News.

Michelle Williams - the surly actress who used to be with Heath Ledger, not the former member of Destiny’s Child - split with her baby’s father sometime in late summer of this year. In November she was linked with Junebug director Phil Morrison, but that either didn’t work out or she’s playing the field, because she was seen out to dinner with hot Canadian actor Ryan Gosling. They even took a stroll together. His rep insists that they were just discussing a potential project, though:

[Michelle Williams] was spotted enjoying a romantic meal in NYC with Ryan Gosling on November 11! After dining at Italian restaurant Piadina, the two 27-year-olds were seen strolling the city’s famed Bleecker street. Reps for Ryan, who ended his relationship with Rachel McAdams in March and was linked with Hayden Panettiere earlier this month, say the two met to discuss an upcoming film project.

[From Star Magazine, print edition, December 31, 2007]

Gosling had us all gossiping this fall when he gained twenty pounds for a role in Peter Jackson’s film The Lovely Bones, but was dumped from the project and replaced by Mark Wahlberg just a few days before filming was set to begin. Rumor had it that director Jackson thought Gosling had gained too much weight, but Gosling sang Jackson’s praises in a subsequent interview and said that they had creative differences over whether he was too young for the part.

Gosling seems like a great guy considering how mature and thoughtful he comes off in interviews. He has spoken candidly about his breakup with longterm girlfriend and fellow star of The Notebook, Rachel McAdams. He called her “one of the great loves of my life,” and said that they “went down swingin’ and… called it a draw.” If Michelle Williams is getting a piece of that she’s a lucky woman. He’s a major step up from Heath Ledger.

It could be true that Gosling and Williams were just having a romantic intimate dinner to discuss work and all, but since they’re both attractive single people you can’t help but think there’s something going on there.

Ryan Gosling is shown at the premiere of Lars and the Real Girl on 10/2/07. Michelle Williams is shown at the NY film festival on 10/4/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

Oversexed singer Sting found a way to calm down the panicking passengers on a hotel elevator that broke down mid-ride, trapping eight people including him and three of his employees for 20 minutes. At first he was understandably freaked out when the elevator ground to a halt and kept saying he’d be late to his concert. He soon used his superhuman meditation skills to chill the f out and got everyone else to join him chanting cross-legged. I was hoping this story would end in a group orgasm, but maybe an intense calming experience and greater spiritual awareness is better and less skeevy than that:

Leaving Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Palace Hotel for a concert, [Sting] and three of his entorouage entered the lift, joining four guests already aboard - but seconds after the doors slid shut, the elevator jerked violently and stopped dead! Everyone got panicky, one guy yelled for help on the elevator phone and Sting, extremely agitated at first, kept looking at his watch and complaining he’d be late for the concert - but then he abruptly composed himself, dropped to the floor in a cross-legged yoga posture and began deep-breathing and meditation chants. In moments, everyone chilled like Swami Sting until their rescue 20 minutes later.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, Mike Walker's column, December 31, 2007]

I could see this happening, especially if there were three other people on the elevator that worked with Sting and would be quick to meditate with him. If half the people on the elevator including Sting were chanting I could see myself joining in. If it was just some random guy doing it alone I would probably remain standing with my arms crossed and try not to laugh. I need to be more mature about meditation, and I’ve done yoga but chanting in an elevator just seems odd to me.

Instead of meditating, Sting could have told the other trapped passengers riveting stories about his past exploits, or even broke out singing. A little entertainment would have made the time pass much quicker.

Sting and his wife Trudie Styler are shown out to dinner in Buenos Aires on 12/4/07, thanks to Splash News.

The National Enquirer reported this week before the news broke that Jamie Lynn was pregnant that Britney wanted her mother Lynn to get custody of her two boys in a bid to keep K-Fed from maintaining primary custody. I bet this news is no longer true now that Britney had to learn from the press like everyone else that her little sister was pregnant. It says a lot about how desperate she is to take the boys from K-Fed, since she’s had a rocky relationship with her mom. Britney’s said to be upset that K-Fed is supposedly smoking pot around them, and she was set to ask to have her boys tested for drugs, but it’s probably more about her hurt feelings at losing to her ex rather than a true concern for their welfare:

Now that she’s lose custody of her children, Britney’s strategy is to persuade the courts to give custody of Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, to her mom Lynne, sources tell The Enquirer exclusively.

In addition to charging K-Fed uses drugs [pot], Britney, 26, plans to give the judge in her case a list of other reasons why Kevin shouldn’t be raising the children, say sources.

She says he’s playing the role of the “good dad” only to keep the money rolling in, claims he hosts wild parties and has numerous women staying overnight.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, December 31, 2007]

While Britney can make all those accusations against Kevin, it sounds like we have little more than her word and some rumors to go on. In Britney’s case there’s plenty of documentation that she’s sleeping around, partying, and wandering aimlessly through life.

The thing is, Britney doesn’t have much if any pull with the court after failing to show up for multiple depositions, including two court ordered depositions. So this is all probably some half-baked scheme she cooked up in order to stick it to K-Fed, but it’s not like she’s going to go through with it. OK! Magazine reports that Britney faces jail time if she fails to show up for another deposition, for which she could be charged with contempt of court.

The entertainment lawyer at Crazy Days and Nights has revealed that many of K-Fed’s court hearings are frivolous, and that since Britney is paying for his lawyer he’s doing as much as possible to drag her through the mud and make the custody issues very trying for her. She does a good enough job on her own making her life difficult by failing to meet even basic requirements, but you could see how she would rather her mother get her children than her hated ex husband. All that changed when Lynne failed to tell Britney that little Jamie Lynn was pregnant, though, and now Britney is left with just three days a week with her boys and a court appointed monitor, and no backup plan. At least they’ll have a new cousin to play with soon.

Britney is shown out before her date with the paparazzo on 12/23/07, thanks to WENN, and outside a Thai restuarant on 12/27/07, thanks to Splash News.

What’s the best thing to do the day after Christmas? Get up at 4 a.m. to wrestle bargain shoppers at Target of course. Sure you had to hit that old lady with the umbrella when she grabbed that disco dancing robotic Santa that was 60% off before you did, but he ended up in your cart, so it’s all worth it. Or you could just get drunk, which is what I’m guessing 90% of our favorite starlets did. Granted most of them probably didn’t wake up at 4 a.m. to get drunk, they probably just stayed up (and drunk) the night before. Mischa Barton being the notable example of night-after-Christmas drunkenness. The “actress” was pulled over and arrested at 3 a.m. on December 26th for driving under the influence.

Sources tell Hollyscoop EXCLUSIVELY that actress Mischa Barton was arrested in the wee hours this morning! She was handcuffed and arrested at 2:46AM last night and booked at 3:10AM.

Mischa was arrested on the corner of La Cienega and Santa Monica Blvd in Los Angeles late last night in her white Range Rover for Driving Under the Influence and driving without a license.

Her bail amount is set at $10,000.

[From Hollyscoop.com]

PRInsider clarifies that Barton was arrested on December 26th. I know Christmas can be hard, but do you really need to get smashed and then drive? Every time some dumb actress (let’s be honest, more often than not it’s an under-30 actress) drinks her body weight in cosmos, I always ask the heavens why she can’t pay $20 for a cab, or call a friend, or hire a driver. After enough idiots doing this, you start to realize that they absolutely can and they absolutely know that – they’re doing it for attention. And they get it.

A big part of me feels we shouldn’t be reporting on these stories anymore, simply because it seems to encourage these morons. There is no longer this sense of shame – you don’t see most of them issuing statements about how embarrassed and ashamed they are, while quickly being photographed doing volunteer work or rescuing puppies from sewers or anything. They just bask in the attention – especially actresses that were starting to drift towards obscurity, like Mischa Barton. I’m not even going to go through the motions of the whole “I hope you learn your lesson and get help” thing, because we all know this is probably for show. “All the other cool girls are swerving in traffic, why can’t I?” Mischa Barton, I hope you get Paris Hilton’s judge. And I hope he’s cranky.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Mischa at the Save the Children’s 75th Anniversary Celebration at Lincoln Center on September 6th. Images thanks to PR Photos.