SPICY STUFF
Victoria Beckham (aka Posh Spice) is insisting that her marriage to soccer stud David Beckham will survive despite allegations that he had an affair with his personal assistant. Over the weekend, a British tabloid published sexually explicit text messages allegedly sent between Beckham and Rebecca Loos. "We have been through a lot worse than this," Victoria told The Sun, apparently referring to 1997's Spice World, "and we're definitely going to get through this." |
DEAR SALLY... I'M BACK!
CBS has tapped former Felicity star Keri Russell to headline its latest Hallmark Hall of Fame TV-movie, The Magic of Ordinary Days. Based on Ann Howard Creel's novel, the World War II-set love story finds the sorely missed Russell playing a woman who is banished to an arranged marriage with a local farmer (Skeet Ulrich). Mare Winningham co-stars as Ulrich's sister. The telepic is slated to air next season. |
BIG MONEY!
Jennifer Lopez's 58-year-old mother reportedly won a $2.4-million jackpot while playing $1 slots in Atlantic City on Saturday. Guadalupe Lopez was playing Wheel of Fortune at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa when she hit for $2,421,291.76. According to reports, G.Lo plans to use a portion of her winnings to start a college fund for her two grandchildren. She'll use the rest at the Tropicana's nickel slots. |
FOOD FIGHT
Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito filed a countersuit Monday against investors of Rocco's, the Italian eatery at the center of NBC's The Restaurant. DiSpirito accuses China Grill Management of cooking the books. In February, China Grill sued DiSpirito, claiming he mismanaged the joint and lost in excess of $600,000. And there was that whole fly drama, too. |
SCRUBBING UP
Once & Again grad Shane West will join the cast of ER next season as a medical intern. In other casting news, Scottish thesp Alec Newman (Children of Dune) has been tapped to play Barnabas Collins in the WB's Dark Shadows remake. |
RISKY BUSINESS
Rebecca De Mornay will appear in the final four episodes of ABC's The Practice playing an attorney representing Alan Shore (James Spader) in his wrongful-termination lawsuit. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actress may reprise her role in next fall's Practice spinoff, starring Spader and Captain Kirk. |
MISS MATCH
Miss USA Susie Castillo — who is no relation to Santa Barbara's Cruz Castillo — became engaged to longtime boyfriend Matthew Leslie on Monday's On-Air with Ryan Seacrest. Leslie shocked Castillo when he got down on bended knee during the show and presented her with a diamond-and-pink-sapphire ring. "Everybody started screaming," Castillo told The Associated Press. "All the 51 Miss USA delegates were right behind us. They were crying. I was shaking." |
SUPREME LUCK
Diana Ross will not have to return to Arizona to complete a two-day jail sentence for DUI. Last month, a judge ordered the 60-year-old diva to return to jail after it was discovered that she had been released 90 minutes early during her initial stint behind bars. But the judge reconsidered his ruling at the request of both prosecutors and Ross's attorneys. |
REALITY ROCKS
Spike TV has enlisted Mark McGrath and his cronies from Sugar Ray to star in On the Road, a reality show that is being billed as The Apprentice meets The Real World. Basically, the show will follow eight contestants who go on tour with the band this summer and compete for a job with a music label and a new Kia car. At the end of each episode, one groupie will get fired and sent home in a new Hyundai. |
SERENITY NOW
Someone's about to take the fall for Kingdom Hospital, and it looks like it's gonna be ABC chairman Lloyd Braun. According to Variety, the embattled exec is in talks to leave his post next month. |
SHORT CUTS
Reese Witherspoon has signed on to star in and produce Sports Widow, a romantic comedy about a woman who one-ups her football-obsessed husband by becoming an expert on the sport, according to The Hollywood Reporter... Paramount is developing a remake to Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief. |
