Ricky Martin has done an extraordinary amount of charity work in his attempts to bring attention to child trafficking. While a lot of celebs sign on to champion a cause and never do much more than attend a few fancy dinners, a select few remain devotedly committed to their cause – and Martin is definitely one of them. On Saturday he went to Siem Reap, Cambodia, where he met with young victims of human trafficking that were used for sexual exploitation. The stories shared are truly heartbreaking, and highlight how incredibly important this cause really is.

Martin held infants and listened to a 14-year-old rape victim’s song during his visit to a shelter in the northwestern city of Siem Reap, home of the famed Angkor temples. “She sings like an angel,” Martin said after the girl finished a song she composed about the plight of trafficking victims. The girl was among 65 victims sheltered at the rescue center of Afesip, a French non-governmental group working to combat human trafficking in Cambodia.

The pop star also held the 3-month-old daughter of a 22-year-old woman who was sold by her father to a brothel and is now HIV-positive. The woman broke down in tears as she urged Martin to keep fighting against human trafficking. “I’m not going to stop,” Martin said, pounding his fist on his knee as he sat on a tiled floor. “All of you are my heroes. You are a gift of my life.”

Martin, who arrived in the country Wednesday, met with Interior Minister Sar Kheng and visited various projects run by non-governmental organizations fighting child trafficking and sexual exploitation.

[From Yahoo! News]

Ricky Martin first learned about the horrors of child human trafficking in February when he attended a U.N. conference about it. Since then he has actively campaigned to bring attention to the cause in Latin America. He said that Cambodia is a model for change, as they already have over 200 NGOs devoted to ridding the country of the crime. Martin said he plans to take the information he learned in Cambodia home and use it to “motivate people, organizations, governments in Latin America.” Cambodia and Thailand are still the worst havens for child human trafficking in the world, but Martin is right, they’ve made some important inroads. He’s had a ton of publicity in Latin America for his attention to this cause, and hopefully will stick with it and help bring on much-needed change.

Here’s Ricky Martin at the 8th Annual Latin Grammy Awards on November 8th. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Michael Lohan feels that Lindsay made a bad career choice by signing onto the new film “Manson Girls,” chronicling the women who followed mass murderer Charles Manson. Lohan has agreed to play Nancy Pittman, aka “Brenda,” one of the women in Manson’s inner circle while he planned the murder of actress Sharon Tate. Daddy Lohan thinks his daughter should go back to playing more wholesome roles, like the ones that made her famous.

Michael Lohan isn’t thrilled his daughter has signed on to star in Manson Girls. (She will play one of the murderer’s cult followers.)

“I really hope that Lindsay gets back to the kinds of films that led to her success,” he told Usmagazine.com Thursday at the Celebrity Apprentice finale in NYC. “I’d like to see her do more mainstream films.”

Lohan’s past string of films — including I Know Who Killed Me and Bobby — have bombed at the box office. Chapter 27 — her latest movie opening this weekend — centers on the assassination of John Lennon.

Michael told Us those films “were geared to a specific audience.”

“When you’re the kind of star Lindsay is, you have to appeal to a general audience, not just a specific audience,” he added.

Michael also told Us he was relieved those Callum Best sex tape rumors were put to rest.

“You don’t know what people put out there anymore!” he said. “So many people have hidden cameras. Our private lives are our private lives — people don’t respect that.”

[From Us Weekly]

Guess what, pops? The “wholesome roles” ship has sailed when it comes to your older daughter. The reason she’s accepting roles as nut jobs and tramps is because they’re easy for her to play, if you know what I mean. Can you imagine Lindsay doing another Disney film right now?

Picture note by Celebitchy: Lindsay Lohan is shown on 3/23/08 leaving Villa with her girlfriend, Samantha Ronson, thanks to Splash News. Her dress is see through so I guess these photos are semi NSFW. It looks like Samantha is wearing the “SR” ring now.

Late actor Heath Ledger is said to have had an affair at the age of 17 with a 25 year-old woman in his native Australia. The woman was in a relationship with someone else at the time and everyone assumed that the baby she had after she and Heath broke up, a girl, was the other guy’s daughter. The child would be 12 this year and one of Ledger’s uncles, the same one who was talking trash about Heath’s father’s ability to handle Heath’s estate, confirmed that the girl is potentially Heath’s.

The Hollywood star is believed to have been 17 when he had an affair with an older woman.

The mother - in a relationship with another man at the time - is thought to have only learned she was pregnant after the affair with Ledger ended.

Ledger’s uncle, Haydn Ledger, yesterday confirmed there was a “real possibility” his nephew had fathered a girl with the woman.

Family sources said the girl was raised by the woman and the other man, although there were suspicions about the child’s father.

Ledger’s parents Kim Ledger and Sally Bell yesterday refused to comment on the latest scandal.

If the claims are confirmed, it could split his multi-million dollar estate between daughter Matilda Rose and the love child…

Heath was still at school at Guildford Grammar when he began the affair with the woman, then aged 25.

Yesterday another family source said: “She had the baby. Everyone lived under the assumption that she was the daughter of the mother’s boyfriend and that is how she has been brought up.”

The woman is now married with a young family.

[From News.com.au]

Heath’s will was drawn up in April, 2003 before he had Matilda. His father, mother and sisters were listed as beneficiaries and he had only $145,000 in assets at that time. Many news outlets were confused by this number, and assumed Heath squandered his millions before he died. It is assumed that he did have millions in the bank and that $145k represents his savings in 2003 when the will was written.

Heath’s father, Kim, has said that his son’s one known daughter, Matilda, will be taken care of. Kim’s brothers question his ability to handle the multi-million estate, and cite his mishandling of their late father’s estate in the mid 80s. Kim Ledger squandered over $2 million of his late father’s money, leaving his brothers with nothing. He was eventually removed as executor by the Western Australian Supreme court.

If Heath has a 12 year-old love child this could get interesting. Matilda’s mom Michelle Williams has a thriving movie career and her daughter will hardly suffer if her grandfather doesn’t leave her the bulk of the estate. This other woman could potentially gain millions if her daughter is Heath’s. It’s not going to happen without a drawn and highly publicized legal battle, though.

Paris Hilton was on popular German variety show “Wetten, Das?” or “Wanna Bet?” this weekend. Overall she was rather boring, although she got the crowd laughing with a stupid comment that wasn’t meant to be a joke. Host Thomas Gottschalk made two cracks about her high intelligence and it didn’t seem like she understood that he was making fun of her.

When Paris came on stage she kissed the five guests that were already there on both cheeks, although that’s not a custom at all in Germany. She seemed nervous at first, but warmed up as the show went on. The show is broadcast in German and English-speaking guests rely on a translation of the questions from a listening device.

Host Thomas Gottschalk asked Paris about her boyfriend, Benji Madden, and mentioned that she’s on tour with him. Gottschalk asked if she was able to step out of the spotlight and let her boyfriend take center stage.

Paris is “really in love”
She said, “I’m so proud of him. I love the band. I’m really in love so it’s nice being on tour. It’s exciting being here as well.”

Then the host asked Paris about her reputation. He said everyone is talking about her and that some people call her a clever businesswoman and others call her a comic figure. He asked how she would describe herself.

Paris answered “I’m definitely a businesswoman. I have several business projects.”

Paris talked about her upcoming show to find a best friend and said it would include girls and guys.

Gottschalk joked that Paris might chose one of the cute one German male actors on stage, and one guy said he was taken and the other one said “I’m not.”

Paris said “I’m very loyal, especially now.”
Paris said she was taken and that “I’m very loyal, definitely, especially now,” which made the crowd crack up laughing, although she didn’t seem to intend it as a joke.

They had three female German biatheletes on stage and Paris said “I love sports, I love to ski.” She complimented one of the biatheletes on her bright red hair.

On the show the guests bet whether people can complete bizarre tasks and if the celebrities lose they have to do something that’s meant to be embarrassing and/or uncomfortable. For instance the two young German guys, Jimi Blue and Wilson Gonzalez, had to take a bath in a vat of ice water on stage when they lost their bet.

Paris’ lame challenge
Paris’ bet involved whether an Australian guy could hit a squash ball three times into a tiny box outside the court. She bet he could do it and lost, and all she had to do after she lost was pick someone out of the audience and pose with them in a photo booth, something that comes naturally for her.

Host mocks Paris
Gottschalk asked Paris to pose for a photo with another guest, soccer goalie Oliver Kahn, and made a joke that they needed a photo for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (similar to the NY Times) for a report on people of high intelligence. Paris didn’t laugh so they either didn’t translate that it for her or she didn’t get it.

Overall it’s safe to say that Paris remains an object of derision in Germany.

You can watch the video of Paris’ lame challenge on ZDF.de. Pictures from local newspaper thueringer-allgemeine.de.

Minnie Driver, who is reportedly almost five month’s pregnant, has refused to comment on the father of her baby, simply saying that she wanted to keep him out of the media glare. In an interview with Girl Magazine before she confirmed her pregnancy, she said she had a boyfriend at the time that was “not famous and is an Australian.”

Driver’s costar on FX series “The Riches,” Eddie Izzard, made a comment that suggests that the father of Minnie’s baby is already out of the picture. At least that’s what I read into it:

Minnie is keeping mum on the father of her baby, but her The Riches co-star Eddie Izzard says she’s ready: “She’ll be a good parent because you need love, and as long as you have one parent giving love then the kid’s going to do great,” Eddie tells In Touch.

[From In Touch, print edition, April 7, 2008]

Maybe they asked him “How do you think Minnie will cope with being a single parent?” but it sure sounds like he’s saying she’s single now. That could be why she declined to name the father.

Driver, 38, recently said that she’s doing well with her pregnancy and that she feels “really good, happy and healthy.” She said it was “great just to be able to eat” and that the only thing she craves is olives.

Minnie Drive is shown on 3/20/08 at a screen of “Trembled Blossoms,” thanks to Splash News.

I think it’s safe to assume that Lara Flynn Boyle has a medical condition that is causing her face to look puffy. Faded Youth posted other photos of Boyle from Friday night and said that it could be due to some kind of plastic surgery or injections, but it looks to me like she is on prescription steroids and that she might have slight bell’s palsy, which is where the muscles sag on one side of your face. She was seen outside of Mr. Chow’s restaurant, where she paused for photos and signed autographs.

I checked the photo agencies and it’s been nearly a year since Boyle was photographed at an event, so she may have been lying low due to an illness. Hopefully she’s ok. She’s known for her thin figure and she looks just as skinny, but with some swelling around her face.

According to IMDB, she was on an episode of Law & Order this year and has two movies in the works for 2009. I really think she has some sort of medical condition, maybe an auto-immune disorder, and it’s possible that she went to Mr. Chow to let everyone know what’s going on with her. She might even talk to the press about it soon. I don’t think she owes it to anyone to make it known if she’s suffering from an illness, but celebrities don’t go to Mr. Chow when they want to hide.

She is also shown on 4/13/07 as a comparison. Thanks to Splash News and PRPhotos for these pictures.

If you have children, you were probably subjected to Nickelodeon’s 25th Annual Kid’s Choice Awards ceremony on Saturday night. You have my sincerest condolences. I, too, had to watch, and it was often eyeroll-inducing: lame banter between celebrity presenters; boring and unfunny “behind the scenes” skits; stupid slime stunts that dragged out the show even longer and wayyyy too much Disney product, in the form of Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers. Miley Cyrus won favorite female television star and favorite female musical artist, much to my daughter’s delight.

There were a few bright spots in the broadcast, including host Jack Black’s over-the-top opening musical number, in which he wore a bright green superhero costume and rocked out with a giant octopus playing guitar to the Kiss song “I Was Made for Loving You,” with the lyrics changed to “I Was Made for Sliming You.” (In my opinion, Black was the only funny, high-energy part of the show and should have been allowed to riff and get crazy even more.) The theme of each Kids’ Choice Awards, you see, is that celebs and kids in the audience get buckets of green slime poured on their heads at random moments. Slimed celebs included Harrison Ford, who recreated a famous scene from “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which concluded with him being covered in green slime. Other mildly amusing segments included a celebrity belching contest that featured Jodie Foster attempting to burp along to the song “YMCA.”

All in all, the show had the same problems as most other awards shows: it went on too long, there was too much unfunny dialog, and the host didn’t get enough chances to do what he does best. But if you are at all interested in the winners, here they are.

Favorite TV Show: Drake and Josh
Favorite Reality Show: American Idol
Favorite TV Actor: Drake Bell (from Drake and Josh)
Favorite TV Actress: Miley Cyrus
Favorite Cartoon: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Favorite Movie: Alvin and the Chipmunks
Favorite Movie Actor: Johnny Depp
Favorite Movie Actress: Jessica Alba
Favorite Animated Movie: Ratatouille
Favorite Animated Voice: Eddie Murphy (Shrek The Third)
Favorite Music Group: The Jonas Brothers
Favorite Song: “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne
Favorite Female Singer: Miley Cyrus
Favorite Male Singer: Chris Brown
Favorite Male Athlete: Tony Hawk
Favorite Female Athlete: Danica Patrick
Favorite Book: Harry Potter Series
Favorite Video Game: Madden NFL 2008
Wannabe Award: Cameron Diaz

If anything, the Kids’ Choice Awards gives parents a glimpse into the music, movies, and other pop culture their kids like– which should scare the crap out of you. I know I had a hard time sleeping knowing that the youth of America wants to be just like Cameron Diaz.

I knew it was going to happen, but that doesn’t make it any less disgusting. America’s most famous hooker, Ashley Alexandra Dupre, has been invited by Donald Trump to join the cast of his new MTV reality show. Commence groaning now.

An insider at Donald Trump’s newly announced My Fair Lady-style MTV reality show tells PEOPLE that infamous call girl Ashley Alexander Dupré has been asked to join the cast.

The still-untitled show, produced by Donald Trump Productions (and referred to in some press reports as “Lady or a Tramp”) was picked up by MTV for eight hour-long episodes. Based on a British show called Ladette to Lady, the show will take a group of 15 hard-partying young women and send them off to a boarding school environment where they’ll learn to become more ladylike.

“She’s the perfect candidate,” the show insider says of Dupré, the 22-year-old at the center of the Gov. Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal. The show has not yet heard back from Dupré with any reaction to the offer.

Donald Trump could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Donald has had some experience reforming hard-partying young women in the past, of course. He famously sent Miss USA Tara Conner to rehab and gave her a “second chance” to keep her crown in December of 2006.

[From People]

I hate Donald Trump- and now, I have a whole new reason for my hatred. Since his last few seasons of “The Apprentice” were boring and contrived and nobody watched, he’s looking to include controversial people to the cast of his new show. However, the last thing this stupid little hobag Dupre needs is a reality show. She’s already an attention whore in addition to being a professional whore! What should happen is that she becomes a pariah and fades into obscurity where she belongs. I really hope this show tanks.

Paris Hilton is on tour with her boyfriend Benji Madden’s band Good Charlotte, but the fiance of his twin brother and band mate is stuck home with their newborn baby. That may be her choice, but Star Magazine says it’s not and that Nicole Richie is super pissed that frenemy Paris gets to tag along while she’s left holding the baby:

Sources confirm to Star that Nicole was devastated when Joel informed her she would not be coming on the tour. She previously hit the road with the band, even while heavily pregnant, so she assumed this time was no different. She had even begun interviewing nannies to help her with daughter Harlow.

“Nicole begged Joel to let her tag along, but he refused to put the baby through that much traveling,” says a friend of hers. “He thinks a rock tour is no place for a newborn and has put his foot down.”

One insider says Nicole tried to make her case for coming by insisting she was nervous about being away from Joel, 29, for so long and that she was worried about caring for Harlow without his help.

But another source says Nicole, 26, is really just upset that Paris Hilton - who has been dating Joel’s twin brother, Benji, since February - is crashing the tour. And Nicole knows that wherever Paris, 27, goes, there’s usually trouble. “Nicole is livid!” says another source. “The thought of Paris on the road influencing Joel makes her skin crawl. Nicole doesn’t trust Paris as far as she can throw her.

[From Star Magazine, print edition, April 7, 2008]

You can see this being the case even if Star Magazine’s sources all happen to be staffers. It’s got to be hard to be apart from your partner right after you have a baby, and going on tour with a nanny seems preferable to staying home. It’s possible that Benji and Joel didn’t really talk about the fact that Paris was tagging along and that Joel decided that Nicole should stay home before he realized that Paris would be stealing his band’s thunder.

When my husband and I were watching “Wetten, Das?” with Paris on Saturday, he asked “isn’t it bad publicity for Good Charlotte to be associated with Paris Hilton? Like doesn’t that demean their integrity as a band?” It kind of does. They may not be sleeping with tons of groupies but we know at least one of them thinks with his dick.

Paris Hilton is shown clutching her chin after she took a fall earlier in the day on the cobblestones in Prague. The story is that “they were mobbed by fans and photographers, calling Paris to fall to the ground.” Thanks to WENN for these photos.

Johnny Depp was filming 1930s gangster film “Public Enemies” in Wisconsin when his quick reactions possibly saved a group of extras from getting hit by a car. This story is likely exaggerated for effect, but I know Johnny Depp is capable of superhuman feats of heroism and I chose to believe it:

On location for his new flick in freezing Columbus, Wisconsin, Depp - standing by a country road ready to play a getaway scene as notorious Depression bank robber John Dillinger - went into action lightning-fast when a 1933 Ford came speeding toward the set, hit a patch of ice and slid out of control… aimed straight at half a dozen extras who had their backs turned! Instantly, Depp screamed: “Get out of the way…” and literally slammed into the group with arms outspread, shoving them all back just as the car slammed into the cub a few feet away.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, Mike Walker's column, April 7, 2008]

The article says that Depp was pissed and yelled at the driver for speeding on an icy road, and told him he’d have him fired if he did something like that again. Johnny Depp mad after saving people’s lives is almost as sexy as Johnny Depp silent and smoldering.

Depp has directed the latest music video from his longterm girlfriend and the mother of his two children, French singer Vanessa Paradis. He appears as a shadowy figure throughout this video, and the video makes it seem as if she’s performing just for him. You never quite see his face, but the song is lovely and the video is well done so it’s worth seeing. Thanks to Lainey Gossip for linking this.

In related Johnny Depp news, there’s also the smirk-inducing story that Trojan condoms has offered him $10 million to front an ad campaign for them in the US. That story originated in the Daily Star and I doubt it is even remotely true. The title for the article claims it’s £38 million, but the actual article says he’s been offered $10 million USD. Whichever number they claim, it’s probably made up like the “extra saving” story, but I want to believe that one.

Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis are shown at the Oscars this year.