Archive for August, 2008

Berry - whose marriages to baseball legend David Justice and musician Eric Benet were so bad she said she’d never wed again - has been sporting a huge diamond engagement band on her left ring finger. Berry has been dating model Gabriel Aubry for several years and just gave birth to their daughter, Nahla Ariela Aubry, earlier this year. Berry’s rep didn’t return e-mails.

(source)

KATHIE Lee Gifford’s cheesy Chinese imitation on the “Today” show this week is under fire. “It’s difficult to believe in this day and age . . . [she] chose to relate on national television an ‘amusing’ anecdote about Al Roker sending birthday greetings to her in a mock ‘Chinese’ accent,” the Asian American Journalists Association fumed in a letter to NBC brass demanding an apology. “If that weren’t bad enough, Gifford decided to spice up her performance by squinting her eyes into slits . . . All that were missing were the buck teeth and Coke-bottle glasses.” Gifford’s rep didn’t get back to us.

(source)

Johnny Depp went back to one of his first loves – playing the guitar – at a benefit concert in Pompano Beach, Fla., Friday night.

The Oscar nominee played a 90-minute set with his bandmates from The Kids, a power-pop group formed in 1978 when Depp was a South Florida high schooler, at the 2,800-seat Club Cinema.

And Depp had two of his biggest fans in the audience watching him: girlfriend Vanessa Paradis and their 9-year-old daughter Lily-Rose, who sat together in the venue’s box seats as Depp smiled up at them from the stage (son Jack, 6, was not at the show).

Last year, Depp reunited with his band for a similar gig, held in honor of the band’s late manager, Sheila Witkin, with proceeds donated to the Dan Marino Foundation. The former Miami Dolphin football player’s charity funds programs for children with special needs – including the Marino Autism Research Institute. Marino’s 17-year-old son Michael has autism.

Earlier in the day, the actor – who arrived in South Florida with his family on Thursday to give him some time to rehearse – posed for photos with Marino and his bandmates.

Onstage at Club Cinema, Depp – who dressed down in a blue T-shirt with holes, torn jeans and a flannel shirt tied around his waist – blended in with his fellow band members, playing lead electric guitar and singing background vocals on some of the band’s original tunes, as well as covers of classics like The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby.”

Lily-Rose cheered on her dad during the performance, and the proud daughter even snapped some photos of him with a disposable camera.

(source)

Fuel prices have grounded an unexpected frequent-flyer: Diddy.

Sean “Diddy” Combs complained about the “… too high” price of gas and pleaded for free oil from his “Saudi Arabia brothers and sisters” in a YouTube video posted Wednesday. The hip-hop mogul said he is now flying on commercial airlines instead of in private jets, which Combs said had previously cost him $200,000 and up for a roundtrip between New York and Los Angeles.

“I’m actually flying commercial,” Diddy said before walking onto an airplane, sitting in a first-class seat and flashing his boarding pass to the camera. “That’s how high gas prices are. I’m at the gate right now. This is really happening, proof gas prices are too high. Tell whoever the next president is we need to bring gas prices down.”

DNA evidence has linked an air conditioning repairman to the stabbing deaths of three women, including a former girlfriend of actor Ashton Kutcher, police said Friday.

Michael Gargiulo, 32, of Santa Monica has been in custody since July for a separate knife attack and could face murder charges as soon as next week, police said.

Santa Monica police Lt. Darrell Lowe said DNA collected from a crime scene last spring helped link Gargiulo to the stabbing deaths of women from Los Angeles, suburban Chicago and Monterey Park.

One of the cases involves 22-year-old Ashley Ellerin, Kutcher’s former girlfriend, who was found dead in February 2001 in her Hollywood Hills home.

Kutcher, who starred in the television series “That ’70s Show” and is married to actress Demi Moore, told police he went to pick up the fashion student-model for a post-Grammy Awards party, but she did not answer the door. He checked a back window and spotted what he thought were red wine stains on the carpet and then left. Her body was discovered the next day by a friend.

Kutcher’s agent, Stephanie Simon, said the actor had no comment.

Police said they have a DNA match that links Gargiulo to another fatal stabbing of a Monterey Park woman in 2005. They also suspect Gargiulo in the 1993 killing of a high school girl in the Chicago suburb of Glenview, where Gargiulo lived at the time. Tricia Pacaccio, a senior at Glenbrook South High School, was found stabbed to death on her front doorstep, clutching her door key.

Gargiulo was being held in lieu of $1.1 million bail on attempted murder and burglary charges stemming from the April 28 stabbing of a Santa Monica woman in her home, Lowe said. Detectives matched a DNA sample taken from blood at the crime scene to Gargiulo. Lowe said further database cross-referencing found that Gargiulio’s DNA matched genetic evidence in the three killings.

Gargiulo’s attorney, Anthony Salerno, said his client denies involvement in any of the attacks and “thinks the police are out to get him.”

Salerno acknowledged Gargiulo will possibly be charged with murder for the three slayings. He said that Gargiulo lived near the four victims at the time of the attacks and a garment of his was found in one of the victims’ homes. But, he said, that does not make Gargiulo guilty.

Salerno said he was not aware of any DNA matches in the three killings and questioned why police have taken so long to charge Gargiulo. “If there is any DNA evidence, that would be a surprise to me,” he said.

He said Gargiulo has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder and burglary charges from April and is scheduled for a pretrial hearing Sept. 4.

When asked about the Pacaccio case, John Gorman, a spokesman for the Cook County (Ill.) state’s attorney’s office, said he could not talk about an open investigation. “I can’t comment on any evidence that may be out there,” he said.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles police are using DNA evidence to track down another suspected serial killer in Southern California. A special police task force has linked the fatal shootings of 10 black women prostitutes and one black man in South Los Angeles to one assailant who has been killing since 1985. Police said they have no known suspect because the DNA does not match any sample in national crime databases.

One victim survived an attack in 1988, giving police the only description they have of the suspect: a black man in his 30s driving an orange Ford Pinto.

The last killing in the series occurred in January 2007 with the discovery of 25-year-old Janecia Peters’ body. DNA tests showed she was killed by the same assailant as the others.

Ashlee Simpson loves her growing bump!

“Today I read on a blog that I went to the doctor and he said I was overweight and I cried and went to Planet Blue (because I was blue) and bought 6 pair of size 0 jeans,” Simpson 23, wrote on her MySpace page. “My doctor says I am right on target with my weight gain, have not been to Planet Blue in at least two years, love my maternity jeans… they have stretchy tops it is awesome!”

“Carrying a child is the most inspiring, emotional, amazing experience of my life,” Simpson blogged. “My weight and my pant size are the absolute last thing I am concerned about. I am only concerned with having a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. People who talk and judge pregnant women’s weight need to get a life!!!

So what’s the mom-to-be- craving these days?

“Green olives and pickles!” Wentz, 29, has revealed “Green olives on everything!”

He called her cravings an “anytime kind-of-thing. You always have to be ready.”

(source)