Hockey star suspended for tacky comment

By Laura | Wednesday, December 3, 2008, 09:05 AM

Sean Avery has never been a classy kind of guy, but this is something new, even for him. Still, suspended indefinitely? You be the judge:

Avery was punished indefinitely by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman for using a crude term about his former girlfriends now dating other hockey players. Bettman acted within hours, in time to keep Avery out of the Dallas Stars’ game against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.

Avery’s not-so-cute comment came following a morning skate in Calgary, Alberta. Reporters were waiting to speak with Avery about disparaging remarks he’d made last month about Flames star Jarome Iginla when Avery walked over to the group and asked if there was a camera present. When told there was, he said, “I’m just going to say one thing.”

“I’m really happy to be back in Calgary; I love Canada,” he said. “I just want to comment on how it’s become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my (former girlfriends). I don’t know what that’s about, but enjoy the game tonight.” He then walked out of the locker room. Word is that he called his former girlfriends his “sloppy seconds.” Yeah, yuck.

Avery’s ex-girlfriend, actress Elisha Cuthbert of the television show “24” and the movie “Old School,” is dating Calgary defenseman Dion Phaneuf; she had been romantically linked to Mike Komisarek of the Montreal Canadiens. Avery also dated Rachel Hunter, the former Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model and actress who is now the girlfriend of Los Angeles Kings center Jarrett Stoll.

Bettman said Avery made “inappropriate public comments, not pertaining to the game.” The two will meet before the length of the suspension is determined. That get-together is likely to happen soon.

“I completely support the league’s decision to suspend Sean Avery,” Stars owner Tom Hicks said in a statement. “Had the league not have suspended him, the Dallas Stars would have. This organization will not tolerate such behavior, especially from a member of our hockey team. We hold our team to a higher standard and will continue to do so.”

Avery is the kind of player who delights in doing or saying something to get under the skin of opponents and their fans. He’s led the league in penalty minutes twice, and was doing so again going into Tuesday. He’s not only often called the most hated player in the NHL, he loves hearing it.

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Patrick Swayze refutes tabloid rumors

By Laura | Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 01:19 PM

People magazine is helping Patrick Swayze set the record straight, publishing a statement in which the actor strikes back at tabloid rumors about his health — he’s battling pancreatic cancer.

“I’m very proud of the work I’ve done on my new series The Beast, and I am happy to be back home for the holidays. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment to say you’re gonna do something and do it,” says the actor, 56. “The only thorn in my side being that many tabloids have been consistently reporting lies and false information about me and those close to me. And latest, they’re reporting that I’m on my last legs and saying goodbye to my tearful family!

“Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease and from the moment I was diagnosed, I knew I was in for the fight of my life. It’s a battle, and so far, I’ve been winning. I’m one of the lucky few that responds well to treatment.

“It’s upsetting that the shoddy and reckless reporting from these publications cast a negative shadow on the positive and good fight I’m fighting. For me, my family, and those close to me, it amounts to downright emotional cruelty. That makes me angry when hope is so precious.”

He concludes, “As always, I appreciate all the love and support people have sent and continue to send my way. I thank you.”

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Lindsay denies Sam Ronson breakup rumors

By Laura | Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 01:15 PM

When the rumors begin, can the truth be far behind? We shall see … Lindsay Lohan has taken to the Web to announce that she and Samantha Ronson are still very much a couple.

Writes Lohan, 22, on her MySpace celebrity blog, after exclaiming (in a very New York-like manner), “oy vey! rumors”:

“just to clear this up.. because i have been getting a lot of emails asking me this one question […] samantha ronson and lindsay lohan (me) are NOT breaking up.”

Lohan then added a smile and signed-off with, “take care xxLL.”

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Marg Helgenberger, husband separate

By Laura | Monday, December 1, 2008, 05:24 PM

CSI star Marg Helgenberger has separated from her husband of nearly 20 years, actor Alan Rosenberg.

“After 19 years of marriage, Marg and Alan have decided to take some time apart,” the actress’s rep said in a statement. “They love and respect each other and remain committed to their family.” Helgenberger, 50, and Rosenberg, 57, have an 18-year-old son.

Rosenberg is also president of the 120,000-member Screen Actors Guild, which is at an impasse in contract negotiations with the studios, with the possibility of a strike looming.

Hi CHUCK! Hi LINDA!

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Finally! Here’s the scoop on Tina Fey’s scar

By Laura | Monday, December 1, 2008, 01:40 PM

Tina Fey never liked to talk about her facial scar, which made it all anybody ever wanted to talk about. In her new Vanity Fair cover story, her husband decided it was time to come clean — let’s hope he got her permission. For the record, Mr. Fey is named Jeff Richmond, and he does the music for “30 Rock,” much like he did for “Saturday Night Live” when Tina was there. Here’s the VF excerpt:

Liz Lemon favors her right side. That’s because a faint scar runs across Tina Fey’s left cheek, the result of a violent cutting attack by a stranger when Fey was five. Her husband says, “It was in, like, the front yard of her house, and somebody who just came up, and she just thought somebody marked her with a pen.”

“That scar was fascinating to me,” Richmond recalls. “This is somebody who, no matter what it was, has gone through something. And I think it really informs the way she thinks about her life. When you have that kind of thing happen to you, that makes you scared of certain things, that makes you frightened of different things, your comedy comes out in a different kind of way, and it also makes you feel for people.”

Fey herself rarely mentions the episode. “It’s impossible to talk about it without somehow seemingly exploiting it and glorifying it,” she says. Did she feel less attractive growing up because of it? “I don’t think so,” she says. “Because I proceeded unaware of it. I was a very confident little kid. It’s really almost like I’m kind of able to forget about it, until I was on-camera, and it became a thing of ‘Oh, I guess we should use this side’ or whatever. Everybody’s got a better side.”

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Ivana Trump, fourth husband separate

By Laura | Monday, December 1, 2008, 01:26 PM

Ivana Trump has separated from her fourth husband, Rossano Rubicondi. Trump, 59, issued a statement announcing her split from her 36-year-old Italian entrepreneur husband, whom she married in April.

According to her statement, Trump filed for legal separation three months ago but never went public because she did not want it to interfere with Rubicondi’s participation on the Italian edition of Survivor.

“Rossano wants to live in Miami and work in Milan,” Trump says. “But, I am a New Yorker and my family, friends and businesses are here. As the beautiful song says, `Que sera sera!’”

The two were married in Palm Beach, Fla., at Donald Trump’s estate after dating for six years.

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Amy Winehouse meets with divorce lawyer

By Laura | Friday, November 28, 2008, 12:04 PM

The junkie diva, 25, who is in a London clinic following a seizure, asked her dad Mitch to organize the meeting. Amy is being treated after a phone bust-up with her husband.

Druggie Blake continued to make angry calls to her after she was kept in hospital for tests. The Sun revealed on Tuesday that Amy went on a drink and drugs binge sparked by the screaming match.

Blake then ranted over the phone at cab driver Mitch for “obstructing” their relationship. But pals say Amy wanted to end the marriage and then asked her dad to bring divorce lawyers to hospital for a meeting.

Blake, 26 — out on early release — failed to get a cut in his 27-month sentence for attacking a pub landlord and perverting justice.

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