It turns out that when you bring a good influence into Amy Winehouse’s life, the odds are much greater that Winehouse will mess up the good influence rather than the good influence straightening out Winehouse. Amy’s rumored boyfriend Alex Haines was brought in by her record company to keep Amy on the straight and narrow. Romance rumors started swirling almost immediately, with Winehouse’s family – seemingly joyfully – declaring them a couple. But instead of helping Winehouse clean up, it seems that she instead helped Alex get messed up. He was videotaped smoking crack and then fired by Winehouse’s record label.

Another member of Amy Winehouse’s posse has been busted for drug abuse. Alex Haines, an employee of Winehouse’s label who was instructed to keep an eye on the troubled singer, was fired after he was allegedly caught smoking crack on tape, Britain’s The Mirror reports.

Haines was originally brought into the fold to keep Winehouse, who has a history of problems with drugs and alcohol, on the straight and narrow. The singer’s mom raved about Haines last month, telling the U.K.’s Daily Mail that he’s “a lovely boy” who was a good influence on her daughter. Whoops.

Winehouse and Haines have been plagued by reports that they’re a couple, which didn’t sit too well with Winehouse’s incarcerated husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. “Alex was a good friend to Amy but he caused massive rows for her with Blake,” a pal said. “He couldn’t stand hearing they were sleeping together.”

A spokesman Winehouse’s label has confirmed that Haines is no longer their employee.

[From the New York Daily News]

Poor guy. I mean I’m sure Winehouse didn’t hold a gun to his head and force him to smoke crack, but you can’t help but feel sorry for a guy that was widely reported to be a relative pillar of straight-laced integrity prior to meeting Amy Winehouse. Of their rumored romance, Amy’s father Mitch conceded that it was likely Amy who seduced Alex, and not the other way around. I’m guessing if that’s the case, she’s probably the one who turned him onto crack too. It sucks that he got fired, but in the long run being far away from Amy Winehouse can only be good for Alex.

Here’s Alex s at Amy’s house on April 29th. Header image of Alex with Amy on April 25th. Images thanks to WENN.

Ashlee Simpson is officially a Wentz. I’m not sure if that’s an upgrade or a downgrade. On the one hand, she no longer shares a last name with Joe Simpson. And that can really only be a good thing. On the other hand, there’s no denying that she is now forever a part of Fallout Boy. I’m pretty sure that changing your last name to Wentz comes with a complimentary lifetime supply of eyeliner. Ashlee says she changed her name because she thinks it’s something women should do.

Newly married Ashlee Simpson is changing her name to Ashlee Wentz in honor of her husband, Fall Out Boy Pete Wentz.

“I think that that’s something that a woman should do when they’re marrying a man,” she tells PEOPLE. “It’s a tradition that I think is a great tradition.” The singer, whose May 17 wedding featured an Alice in Wonderland-themed reception, says that privately she’ll go by Ashlee Wentz and professionally she’ll be Ashlee Simpson-Wentz.

Pete Wentz says he left the name change decision to his wife. “These decisions with Ashlee and her name are all completely up to Ashlee,” Wentz says. “I want her to do these kinds of things the way she wants to do them.” Still, he admits, he was flattered. “Oh man, I was like upgrade me! You know what I’m saying? The Wentz family, our Christmas card just got upgraded!” he says. “It feels insane. It feels unreal.”

[From People]

I think it’d be nicer if she phrased her reasoning behind changing her name as something she wanted to do, or thought she personally should do. Applying it to all women - and using the word “should” - makes it come off as very old-fashioned.

Still, she offered the brilliant quotation, “It’s a tradition that I think is a great tradition” so it’s pretty clear Ashlee Simpson-Wentz doesn’t stop and thinking about the words she chooses before spouting off. So something tells me she didn’t exactly pause to consider the implications of her phrasing.

Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz are shown out in NY after the Caribbean honeymoon on May 23rd. Images thanks to WENN.

- Did we mention that Heidi Montag reads Biblical Passages? This is confusing, because it implies that she can read [Crazy Days and Nights]
- Speaking of which, is Us Weekly paying Spencer and Heidi or is it the other way around? [Dlisted]
- Is Nicole Kidman finally telling Xenu to shove it up his sparkly ass? [Lainey Gossip]
- Madonna Officially Gets Her (Little) Man, David Banda [Fafarazzi]
- Poor Gary Dourdan. He pleaded guilty to counts of cocaine and Ecstasy possession today and has been sentenced to complete a recovery program [Bossip]
- Postal is easily going to be the best movie Uwe Boll will ever make. But that means almost nothing [Pajiba]
- The Tragic ‘Sex And The City’ Premiere: Tears, Double D Cups, Wedgies, And Only One Pretty Dress [Defamer]
- Liv Tyler’s Son Is Confused About What She Does For A Living. Not that we blame him [I'm Not Obsessed]
- Michelle Williams looking gorgeous at the New York premiere of Sex and the City: The Movie [Celebslam]
- Bette Midler and her daughter Sophie Frederica Alohilani von Haselberg, 21, are pictured at the NYC premiere of Sex and the City. Eeek. [Celebrity Baby Scoop]
- Traci Bingham @ In Touch Weekly’s Summer Stars Party. This creature is easily the most terrifying thing I’ve seen in weeks. I don’t even know what species it is [The Bastardly]
- A soon to be former nanny for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt talked to Star Magazine about the super family’s hectic and sexy life. That sounds like a great career move [The Blemish]
- Kate Hudson has been running around the set of Bride Wars sporting blue hair [PopSugar]
- Angie Everhart and her See Through Shirt (Site NSFW) [Drunken Stepfather]
- Maggie Gyllenhaal at the premiere (is that the right word?) of Ben & Jerry’s new ice cream flavor Whirled Peace. The profits probably go to some good cause… but I don’t really care because now all I can think about is ice cream [Websters is my Bitch]
- Kate and Lance Have Bathroom Sex [Yeeeah!]
- Cindy Margolis Is Single [Evil Beet]
- Hilary Duff breast augmentation questions are on the rise again. The answer is still yes. Actually, maybe a couple of boob jobs [CityRag]
- Driver who hit Sandra Bullock placed on probation [In Case You Didn't Know]
- Former porn star Jenna Jameson joined her boyfriend Tito Ortiz at the Official UFC 84 After-fight party. Man, that thing just gets oranger and oranger. So much so that I had to make up a new word [Hollywood
- Rag]
- Benji Madden runs out of gas [Seriously? OMG! WTF?]
- Evil Dead: The Musical. A truly great idea [Agent Bedhead]
- Jennifer Love Hewitt wore a big giant t-shirt and some baggy sweatpants to walk her dog yesterday. I’m not jumping on the bandwagon and calling her names - but if you were a celebrity and everyone teased you about your appearnace, would you go out in this outfit? [WWTDD]
- Fergie Shows Her Toned Tummy. While wearing white pants. That’s pretty daring for a woman with a known bladder-control issue [The Skinny]
- Ray J got busted for weed [Derek Hail]
- The Two Greatest Spin Doctors Guest Appearances In “Sesame Street” History [Best Week Ever]
- Thousands Of ‘SATC’ Fans Shunned [Mollygood]
- Jamie Lee Curtis Tries To Stay Neutral [Jezebel]
- Liza Minnelli carries on [Popbytes]
- Rainn Wilson Joins ‘Transformers 2’ Cast As University Professor [ShowHype]

In a story that I expected to hear months ago, an insider tells In Touch that George Clooney broke up with his much-younger cocktail waitress girlfriend, Sarah Larson. This news comes a little over two weeks after an interview with “It Girl” Larson was published in Harper’s Bazaar. The 29 year-old Fear Factor winner dished on how she met George, called him “funny and sweet” and said she wanted to get him to wear designer jeans and style his hair in a fauxhawk. The interview came off as lame and bland to me, but maybe I was taking it out of context.

The last time these two were seen out at an event was at the Fashion Institute Gala in New York on May 5. Sarah held her head up high while she posed with George, who seemed to only have eyes for Julia Roberts, who looked serene.

Supposedly George arranged to be out of the house while he had Sarah move her stuff out. It sounds like he let her down easy:

George Clooney has broken up with Sarah Larson after nearly a year of dating. According to a friend of Sarah’s, the Leatherheads star recently moved out of his LA home while the 29-year-old former Las Vegas cocktail waitress removed her belongings. “George is relieved to be single again,” says an insider. “He thinks Sarah is sweet and that is why it was so hard to break up with her.” As In Touch previously reported, George, 47, and Sarah struggled to make their relationship work because of their different backgrounds. “The truth is that they had little in common and he just doesn’t want to be tied down,” explains the insider. George’s rep told In Touch: “I can only confirm that we have never commented on George’s personal life.”

[From In Touch]

In Touch says they’ve been dating for almost a year after getting reacquainted at the Oceans 13 premiere after party, where Larson was working. George and Sarah got into an accident on his motorcycle in late September last year, with some eyewitnesses claiming he told Sarah he loved her in the moments after the crash when she was lying on the ground. Sarah hobbled away from the accident with a broken toe and Clooney’s renewed affections, which predictably waned down the line. There’s likely little she could have done to keep Clooney’s interest. His relationships in recent years have been notoriously short-lived.

Sex and the City’s Willie Garson is joining an elite - though ever-growing – list of Hollywood celebs: he’s becoming an adoptive parent. Garson, who plays Carrie’s gay best friend Stanford Blatch, told People in January that he was taking parenting classes in hopes of adopting a child. According to Us Weekly, Garson is almost done adopting his soon-to-be son.

Sex and the City star Willie Garson — who plays Carrie Bradshaw’s BFF Stanford Blatch — says he is “almost done” adopting a son.

He tells E! News the boy will be from “Los Angeles County.”

“It’s a big deal,” the unattached actor, 44, says. “It’s a big decision.”

He says the process wasn’t easy. “You know what, it should be difficult,” he adds. “It’s not like buying a suit or another pair of glasses.”

So will there be playdates with other famous celeb offspring? Perhaps. “If I like their kids,” he jokes, adding, “My kid’s going to be the coolest.”

[From Us Weekly]

Garson strikes me as someone who’d be a really good dad. Funny and interesting, but not a pushover. The process of adoption can be emotionally exhausting and daunting. When he spoke with People in January, Garson said “I kind of knew how difficult it was going to be, and it’s pretty difficult.” In the end it seems like he thinks the difficulty was a good thing – certainly jumping through hoops proves how much you want a child. There’s no mention of the kid’s age – neither Us nor Garson calls him a baby, so he might be an older child, which would be extra great, since they aren’t adopted as often. Either way, congrats to Willie and his new son.

Here’s Willie at the ‘Sex and the City: The Movie’ premiere at Radio City Music Hall last night. Images thanks to WENN.

According to OK Magazine, Owen Wilson isn’t handling his breakup with Kate Hudson very well. The actor tried to commit suicide last summer after the pair broke up for the first time and Wilson saw photos of Hudson kissing Dax Shepard. He went through a lot of treatment and stopped drinking and seemed to be doing really well. Needless to say, their friends and families weren’t so wild about the pair rekindling their romance. When it fizzled out again a few weeks ago, everyone seemed optimistic that the pair could handle it well.

However Hudson immediately started dating Lance Armstrong, who was one of Wilson’s good friends. Owen has recently been spotted drinking heavily in several clubs, causing those close to him to worry that he’s slipping back into his old habits.

Kate Hudson and Lance Armstrong are still going strong with their new romance, but one person who’s not as happy about it is Owen Wilson.

The actor, who went officially off-again with Kate a few weeks ago, isn’t taking his ex’s rebound relationship too well, according to clubgoers who spotted him at club G in Philadelphia.

“Owen looked pretty upset,” an eyewitness tells OK!. “He was drinking and sulking until last call.”

Besides drowning his sorrows in alcohol, the 39-year-old, who attempted suicide in August following his split with Kate, has turned to little brother Luke for support.

“Owen’s been spending time on the phone with Luke,” a Marley & Me set source tells OK!. “There are a lot of people making sure they’re there for him.”

[From OK! Magazine]

Several of their friends have said they assumed Owen would break Kate’s heart, and were genuinely surprised that it was the other way around. It makes you wonder if Kate is dating one of his friends out of spite. Though considering their past, let’s hope that’s not the case. By all accounts Owen has a great family and really close friends. It’s good he’s leaning on them. Hopefully they can get him away from drinking and back on the straight and narrow quickly.

Photo Kate Hudson (on the set of her upcoming new movie ‘Bride Wars’ filming in Manhattan yesterday) and Owen Wilson (on the set of ‘Marley and Me’ in Philadelphia) on May 14th. Images thanks to WENN.

It’s a strange day indeed when you can’t watch Rachael Ray wearing a scarf, but it seems that Dunkin’ Donuts knows how to make one good publicity stunt.

Does Dunkin’ Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men. Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin’ Donuts boycott. “The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,” Malkin yowls in her syndicated column. “Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant and not-so-ignorant fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons.”

The Boston Globe

The keffiyeh is generally worn to protect the head from heat. It is not a particular symbol of any kind of terrorist, but rather an item of clothing worn by people living in hot climates, as it keeps the sun off the head (very important if you haven’t a great deal of hair) and soaks up the sweat. It is also worn by British soldiers, but called a shemaghs, because it keeps the head warm in cooler climates.

It became a symbol of Palestine after Yassar Arafat wore it.

This is more of a cultural garment, and I think Rachael Ray is wearing a scarf as a fashion accessory. The same way she might have worn a kimono, a tartan skirt or kilt, or a mandarin collar, without being a Geisha, Scottish clansman, or Chinese sympathizer.

Michelle Malkin, the columnist who got us all talking, had this to add:

“It’s refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists.”

I know this is going to cause some controversy, but it might have been nice to show some sensitivity to the people across the globe who wears this garment as a way to protect their heads from the weather, not to keep their hair out of their eyes while committing acts of terrorism.

I will also add that I am not American, but Australian, and the terrorists who attacked Australians in Indonesia, and the ones who committed the London tube bombings, did not wear a keffiyeh, so I don’t associate this headdress with terrorism, but maybe it is different to people living in the USA, following the images of Osama bin Laden after 9/11.

Dylan McDermott, the lawyer who appeared on The Practice for seven years, is divorcing. It seems that playing a lawyer on television gives you some kind of law degree, because he’s also planning on representing himself.

McDermott, 46, filed for divorce from his wife of 11 years, Shiva Rose, earlier this month.

According to the New York Post, the actor — who spent seven years playing a litigator on the hit TV show “The Practice” — will be handling the case in propria persona, acting as his own attorney.

The star has cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split, following his announcement of the pair’s separation in September last year.

San Francisco Chronicle

Dylan and his wife Shiva Rose, who is really quite beautiful, were married since 1995, and have a 12-year-old daughter Collette Blu and a 2-year-old daughter Charlotte Rose. He will be requesting joint custody.

It seems strange to me to represent yourself in court, but I guess if your divorce is going to be reasonably simple, and there’s no particular reason for you not to share custody of your children, it would save a lot of legal fees.

I wouldn’t recommend representing yourself to everyone though.

I wonder if Dylan will start stalking around the courtroom like they tend to do on American legal shows - I think that isn’t allowed in a real life court.

Dylan McDermott and Shiva Rose are shown at the 2007 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on 2/25/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

Sharon Stone has issued an apology for her ignorant and obnoxious remarks about the Chinese earthquake. She was asked on the red carpet at Cannes what she thought of the crisis in China and she got really haughty about it. Instead of focusing on the terrible humanitarian crisis there or even mentioning the fact that tens of thousands of people are dead with thousands more missing, injured and homeless she said “You know it was very interesting. At first I’m not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans, because I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else… And then all this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and I thought, is that karma?”

The news came out Monday and Stone finally issued an apology that was released today. At least she apologized and said she was deeply sorry, not something like “I regret if people were offended.” The way she’s following up on it sounds kind of half-assed. She said she was “willing” to do charity work. She didn’t pledge money or say she had arranged to work for a charity, she just said she was “willing” to. It’s something I guess and maybe she didn’t have time to make specific plans yet.

“Due to my inappropriate words and acts during the interview, I feel deeply sorry and sad about hurting Chinese people,” the actress, 50, said in the statement. “I am willing to take part in the relief work of China’s earthquake, and wholly devote myself to helping affected Chinese people.”

Christian Dior — which released the statement from the actress — also dropped her from its Chinese ads after her remark last week at the Cannes Film Festival.

Stone (a staunch Tibetan rights advocate) had tied the natural disaster — which has claimed at least 65,000 lives — to Beijing’s policy on Tibet.

[From US Weekly]

There could have been more groveling in there, but it’s not a bad apology as far as they go. I was looking for a large monetary donation from Stone, but her money is probably all tied up in furs and jewelry and it’s not like she’s getting a lot of work lately. She could auction off some of her luxury items for the affected Tibetans, if she only cares about them and not the rest of the innocent people affected by this horrible natural disaster. Saying she’s willing to help is a start I guess. When she’s down on her knees sifting through rubble and helping cleanup efforts, that’s when I’ll consider her apology sincere.

Sharon Stone is shown at the Dior and Elle evening dinner at Cannes on 5/23/08, thanks to WENN.

Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer have managed to keep their burning love under wraps for nearly two weeks. They may be staying in and spending time with friends instead of flaunting it poolside at a resort. This week’s National Enquirer reports that Aniston’s close friend Courteney Cox and her husband David Arquette are hosting a dinner at their place to welcome Mayer to their circle. He is said to be a little wary of the whole thing and hopes Jen’s friends will accept him:

Courtney and husband David Arquette are hosting a dinner for the pair at their Malibu home, says a friend, and “John’s a bit uneasy about it - it’s like meeting your lover’s mom for the first time. Jen laughs and tells him Courtney just wants to pinch and poke the product.” Courteney wants a first-hand look at Mayer because she “never hit it off with Vince Vaughn, and John and Vince have similar reputations,” said the friend. “Courtney guards Jen like a mother hen. Jen just smiles and reminds her pal she’s met John on several occasions - but Courteney comes right back with: ‘Yeah, but you weren’t sleeping with him then!’”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, Mike Walker's column, June 2, 2007]

If it’s true that Courteney didn’t really connect with Aniston’s ex, Vince Vaughn, that’s probably because Vince was conflicted about the relationship and seemed reluctant to even be seen out with her. Mayer on the other hand is anxious to make it known that he’s with the hot older woman, and doesn’t seem to mind when the photos get printed in the glossies. As long as he doesn’t run at the mouth too much during dinner, he’ll do fine.

And kudos to Aniston and Mayer for staying under the radar for two weeks - if they’re still seeing each other, that is.

Photos are older ones you’ve already seen of Aniston and Mayer poolside on May 10. Thanks to Splash News.