Troubled rocker RONNIE WOOD's return to rehab has cast doubt on a children's book the ROLLING STONE was writing with British comedian NOEL FIELDING. The Mighty Boosh star Fielding had teamed up with Wood for an updated version of the 1963 children's story Where The Wild Things Are.
But after Wood entered rehab last week (16Jul08) for the second time in a month, Fielding has reportedly been forced to shelve the project.
A source tells British newspaper The Sun, "Noel's been pulling his hair out as he really wants to finish their work together, but he admits it's looking likely they'll have to shelve that section of the book.
"Ronnie and Noel had been motoring along quite happily. They've come up with some fantastic illustrations and the project was well on course to being a major part of the book.
"But with Ronnie back on the booze and shacked up out of the country, he is uncontactable and deadlines are looming."
Wood was rumoured to have left his wife, Jo, for Russian waitress Ekaterina Ivanova, reportedly whisking the 20-year-old away on a romantic trip to Ireland earlier this month (Jul08).
News of the alleged subsequently forced the guitarist into rehab to tackle his drinking problem.
Troubled British star AMY WINEHOUSE wants five children with jailed husband BLAKE FIELDER-CIVIL - including identical twins. The singer plans to settle down and start a family with her husband, who was sentenced to 27 months in jail on Monday (21Jul08) after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) and perverting justice.
And the Back To Black hitmaker is convinced Fielder-Civil will make an "amazing" dad - even though he faces being behind bars until early 2010 for his attack on a pub landlord.
Winehouse tells Britain's OK! magazine, "I want to have at least five kids. I want twins. Blake is gonna be the most amazing dad. When Blake was about we talked about it all the time.
"We'd like to have identical twins. Blake had a dream that we had a girl who was dark like me. And then I had a dream that I had one older, like 18 months old, dark like me, and identical twin babies.
"I want twins so I'll keep going until we have them."
R+B star USHER regrets not spending more time with his father before he died in January (08). The Yeah! singer reconciled with Usher Terry Raymond III after spending much of his life estranged from his parent - and now wishes he had had more time to get to know his dad.
Usher admits he was too busy to sit down and talk to the man he always thought had deserted him as a child.
He says, "Instead of being there when he was sick, I was working.
"There was no amount of money that could have fixed my father's health, but I could have just spent that time with him."
Now a father himself, Usher accepts there were reasons why his own dad couldn't be around for him when he was younger.
He adds, "I forgave him for anything he'd ever done to hurt me unintentionally... It was very difficult for him to be in the situation he was in and be the example he wanted me to follow. So he intentionally stayed away.
"He was kept away from me too. He didn't like it, but he didn't fight it because he knew he wasn't living right."
His father's final words to him inspired Usher to write a heartfelt song for his son, Prayer For You.
Usher explains, "He asked me to forgive him for not being there. He let me know that he never stopped praying for me. This compelled me to write a song to my son."
And his father's mistakes will make Usher a better dad: "I'm gonna be the father that my dad wished he was to me."
COURTNEY LOVE's business managers are suing the singer over claims she failed to pay them after selling a portion of the NIRVANA song catalogue. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday (22Jul08) in Los Angeles County Superior Court, London + Co. allege their client owes them five per cent of the sale of a portion of her stake of Nirvana's back catalogue, owned by frontman Kurt Cobain's widow Love and his former bandmates Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ.com, the financial firm claims they are entitled to $975,000 (GBP487,500) as the rights were sold for $19.5 million (GBP9.75 million) in 2006.
Actor HUGH JACKMAN has decided against passing along parenting advice to new mum NICOLE KIDMAN. The X-Men star, a father of two, confesses he didn't like receiving advice when he was a new parent, so he spared friend and Australia co-star Kidman and her husband Keith Urban any tips when they welcomed daughter Sunday Rose earlier this month (07Jul08).
He says, "I didn't give any advice because anyone who's actually had kids knows there's nothing more annoying than all the advice you get on how to do it.
"You know you're going to stuff it up in some way or other. Actually the best bit of advice was from the guy who delivered the baby, when my first son Oscar was born.
"He came in and the birth happened about two minutes later and as he was leaving he said, 'Congratulations, don't rock the baby.'
"Cut to two weeks later, the baby won't sleep and we're rocking it. That's the only advice I give. Don't rock the baby because you end up spending your life doing it. But I didn't give that to Keith or Nicole."
Kidman also has two adopted children, Connor and Isabella, from her previous marriage to Tom Cruise.
Author J.K. ROWLING will always regret not sharing her HARRY POTTER manuscript with her mother before she passed away. The writer began work on the boy wizard series six months before her mother Anne died of multiple sclerosis in 1990 at the age of 45.
And Rowling admits she is still heartbroken she never had the chance to tell of her ideas.
She says, "I started writing Harry six months before she died. That's obviously a real regret. I never told her I was even writing it.
"She knew I wanted to write. I'm not sure how seriously she took it, but she never knew anything about Harry Potter at all."
Movie musical MAMMA MIA! has seen off competition from WALL-E to top the U.K. box office charts for the second consecutive week. The animated Pixar film, about a trash compacting robot, took in $8.6 million (GBP4.3 million) in its opening weekend - but it wasn't enough to topple the Meryl Streep-starring ABBA musical, which netted $9.2 million ($4.6 million).
Will Smith's superhero film Hancock, previously at number two, fell to third place with earnings of $4 million (GBP2 million), while Eddie Murphy's comedy Meet Dave debuted at number six.
Kung Fu Panda, which came in fourth place with $3 million (GBP1.5 million), and Brendan Fraser's Journey to the Center of the Earth, which brought in $1.1 million (GBP581,488), took fifth.
MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL has vowed never to read articles printed about her - in a bid to protect herself from harsh media criticism. The actress hate being followed by the paparazzi on a daily basis because seeing pictures of herself forces her to obsess over her image.
She says, "The amount of scrutiny can be unbearable. It's sometimes really hurtful. I've decided, in order to protect myself, that I'm not going to look at any pictures (of myself) or to pay attention to anything anyone says about me."
EMILY MORTIMER is convinced she is Hollywood's worst action star - because she relies on computer editing to make her moves look believable. The actress landed her first action role alongside Woody Harrelson and Sir Ben Kingsley in director Brad Anderson's forthcoming film Transsiberian.
And the 36-year-old insists her strides had to be digitally altered to appear realistic.
She says, "They told me I'm not actually that convincing when I'm running. Brad tells me that he really had to edit the hell out of the scene with me running away in the snow, because I look so bad.
"In fact, my friends will make me run for a bus to give themselves a cheap laugh. So I really do have to be edited a bit to be a convincing action heroine."
LATEST: Troubled rapper DMX has been accused of using a false identity to avoid paying hospital medical expenses. The star - real name Earl Simmons - was charged in Arizona on Tuesday (22Jul08) with one count of theft and one count of stealing someone else's identity.
Authorities claim Simmons gave medical officials the fake name of Troy Jones while receiving treatment for pneumonia at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, in April (08). He also allegedly failed to pay his $7,500 (GBP3,750) bill.
The indictment is just one of many legal woes the hip-hop star has faced so far this year (08). In January (08), he was arrested for allegedly speeding down a Phoenix, Arizona freeway. In May (08), he was charged with suspected drug possession and animal cruelty following raids on his Arizona home.
A month later in June (08) the star was arrested for allegedly attempting to buy drugs from an undercover officer, and earlier this month (Jul08) he was taken into police custody for violating his bail terms relating to a previous incident in June (08) of driving without a valid licence.
GEORGE CLOONEY is Hollywood's top bachelor, according to a new TV poll. The movie star has beaten Leonardo DiCaprio and new dad Matthew McConaughey to the top of a new list, compiled by U.S. celebrity news show The Insider.
American Idol host Ryan Seacrest and funnyman Vince Vaughn also made the top five.
LATEST: Rapper RICK ROSS is still denying reports he once worked as a prison officer, despite photos and payroll records posted online as evidence. The Hustlin' star claims he is the victim of an elaborate hoaxer who has doctored photographs and documents to prove the rap star worked at the South Florida Reception Center in his native Dade County, Miami, in December 1995.
Ross insists he would have no problem admitting he did the job, telling MTV, "Why would a grown man who was a prison guard dispute doing something positive with his life?"
And he has even created a new rap slamming the internet 'lies'.
Former HOUSE actress ANNE DUDEK is expecting her first child with artist husband MATTHEW HELLER. Dudek, whose character Dr. Amber Volakis was killed off the medical drama, is nearly five months pregnant.
The 33 year old showed off her bump for the first time at the premiere of season two of her new show Mad Men in Los Angeles on Monday (21Jul08).
She told reporters, "I'm having a baby."
And she revealed her unborn baby will be making its acting debut in another show she has a part in - Big Love.
Dudek continues, "The thing is I haven't been that pregnant while I've been working on House or Mad Men or Big Love. But Big Love we're going to be filming for a while and I'm starting to get a little bigger now."
NAOMI CAMPBELL has hit out at the current batch of 'supermodels', insisting GISELE BUNDCHEN was the last runway queen to deserve the title. The British beauty believes the supermodel tag is handed out too easily, and that most of the models who claim the accolade don't deserve it.
Campbell says, "Models need to earn their stripes - I just think the term is used a little too loosely.
"Kate Moss is obviously a supermodel but, after Gisele, I don't think there's been one."
Teen movies CLUELESS, MEAN GIRLS and PRETTY IN PINK are set to hit the video game market. Fans of Alicia Silverstone, Lindsay Lohan and Molly Ringwald will get the chance to become the actresses' characters onscreen, thanks to the games, which are being created by Hollywood studio Paramount.
Paramount bosses handpicked the titles to kick-off the studio's collaboration with gaming firm Legacy Interactive, reports Daily Variety.
The three films were chosen because of their appeal to female audiences. Paramount will roll out the trio - which will be low-cost 'casual video games' - before moving on to more expensive projects next year (09).
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO's model girlfriend BAR RAFAELI is set to bring TOMMY HILFIGER's pop culture guide to the small screen as the co-host of new TV travel show IRONIC ICONIC AMERICA. On the show, which will debut in the U.S. this autumn (08), the Israeli stunner teams up with the designer for a road trip across America, stopping off at places of interest.
The programme is based on a book co-written by Hilfiger and George Lois, Iconic America: A Roller-Coaster Ride Through the Eye-Popping Panorama of American Pop Culture.
And Rafaeli so enjoyed the experience, she hopes to film a second series in her native Israel.
British rockers URIAH HEEP's prison gig in Germany on Thursday night (24Jul08) will be the latest in a long line of odd German shows for the band. The group will perform for inmates at Rottenburg prison outside Stuttgart as part of a show funded by local government cash.
But group founder Mick Box insists the band's first prison show won't be his strangest concert in Germany - Uriah Heep once played an acoustic show in a salt mine in Merker, East Germany.
He recalls, "That was December, 2006, and it was just amazing.
"We had to go down in these mine lifts that these guys go down in every day and the lights go out and you just drop - it's the best fairground ride.
"There were a couple of thousand people there and it took four hours to ferry the audience in and out.
"It was incredible. When we first started off, everyone's got a hard hat, so it looked like we were playing to 2,000 boiled eggs.
"They had a bar running down there and everything. It was thrilling. We had a great time."
As he prepares to jet out to Germany for the prison performance, Box admits he hopes the jailbirds have a sense of humour.
He explains, "We've got songs like Free Me, which was a big hit in Germany, Cry Freedom and Stealin' and I'm gonna do them. It'll be a big thrill to get 500 prisoners all shouting 'free me' together.
"I don't know what sort of prisoners are in there, but I know they have a big psychiatric ward."
Indie rock icons SONIC YOUTH have signed up to play the final show at Brooklyn, New York's fabled McCarren Park Pool. The venue, which opened in 1936, initially closed in 1984 but has become a seasonal summer concert mecca for the past two years.
Sonic Youth's show on 30 August (08) will be the site's last before construction work begins to return the space to a pool and ice-skating rink.
LED ZEPPELIN are to celebrate their 40th anniversary with a charity exhibition of band keepsakes. Britain's fabled superconcert venue Knebworth House in Hertfordshire is to host a month-long Led Zeppelin Memorabilia Exhibition throughout August (08).
The show will give fans the chance to check out trinkets, gifts and merchandise the rock legends have collected over the years.
The three existing members of the group - Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones - reformed for a one-off tribute to Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun in London last year (07). Fans have been awaiting news of a full-scale reunion tour ever since.
Pop superstar MILEY CYRUS is laughing off claims she has signed up to play a promiscuous teen in a racy new R-rated movie. The 15-year-old sensation has been linked to new film Undiscovered Gyrl (corr), which is based on a novel by Allison Burnett.
Sources close to Cyrus, who caused controversy by posing topless and wrapped in a bed sheet for August's (08) Vanity Fair magazine, claim the Hannah Montana star is interested in the project.
The part Cyrus is reportedly considering is that of a "lost suburban girl who descends into a life of reckless partying and promiscuity," and insiders insist the project could even contain nude scenes.
Cyrus' spokesperson has refused to comment, but the singer/actress is adamant the report is bogus.
She says, "I'm not even allowed to go see R-rated movies."
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