A friend of Lindsay Lohan says the star is settling nicely into rehab, a day after her father told E! Online that the starlet is hooked to booze and the prescription painkiller OxyContin. "She's happy where she is and is just taking time to herself to learn and be okay," said the friend. "I've been in touch with her and she likes it... She's so much in the public eye 24 hours a day that she's gotten so caught up. I think she surrounds herself with good people generally, but all the pressure that she's around has created this alternate universe in a way and it's hard for her to stay grounded... She just needs to be away from everyone and not get attacked by the paparazzi. She's doing really, really well," he added. "She probably should be there and it will be the best for her. I think she's ready for it." As for her next movie project, Poor Things, which was scheduled to begin filming today in LA - both producers and co-star Shirley MacLaine are willing to wait. "In the spirit of helping Lindsay Lohan and her rehabilitation, we have been asked by Lindsay to comply with her wishes to continue working on Poor Things," MacLaine and a producer said in a statement released today. "We are trying to arrange the shooting schedule to facilitate her working at the end of the shoot to coincide with the completion of her rehabilitation. We wish her love and the blending of mind, body and spirit."
In addition to their high-end (and uber expensive) fashion line The Row, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have something else up their fashionable sleeves. The tiny twins announced today that they are working on a more affordable contemporary sportswear line called Elizabeth and James, named for the other Olsen siblings. "We wanted it to be based on a relationship between a young girl and a boy and tell the story through the clothing," Mary-Kate Olsen told Women's Wear Daily. Influenced by her own vintage collection, the line was designed in collaboration with the designers of Seven For All Mankind and LaRok, and reportedly includes shiny slip dresses, hot pants, and a super skinny pinstriped menswear vest.
During an appearance to promote her new gig as host of Canada's version of Project Runway earlier this week, supermodel Iman weighed in on the self-destructive path of young Hollywood. "I have to say, I did my fair share of Studio 54 in my day," the makeup guru said. "But by the grace of God, I have always known when to leave the party. They are very young, these girls...they treat rehab like it's a spa, they go in and out, but at the end of the day I keep asking myself the same question over and over: 'Where are the adults for these kids?'" Iman heeds her own advice and tries to only take on projects that keep her close to her children and husband David Bowie. "So when they approached me to do Project Runway Canada, a couple of things aligned themselves perfectly," Mrs. Bowie said. "First of all, it's in June so school is out so the little one is going to come with me. And it's in Toronto, so it's not that far from New York and I'm able to go back and forth easily." The show, which will air this fall, will see twelve Canadian designers compete for $100,000 to start their own fashion line, as well as the chance to show their work at a premiere fashion event. "It's a really good opportunity to be on a show that's in a genre that's not salacious - I'm not keen on salacious television," Iman says. "I really do like the format of Project Runway USA because it really is about finding talent and nurturing talent. There's no meanness. The critiques are constructive and the judges are designers and really know what they're talking about."
An article published in the New York Times last weekend exposed a new trend in celebrity dating. Just like they hire trainers, chefs, personal assistants and stylists, some big-name stars are also enlisting the help of matchmakers. Rather than turning to their publicists for set-ups, as many celebs do, some A-listers are turning to the pros to help them meet "real" people. "If they wanted to meet someone in Hollywood, they would have done that," says a Chicago-based matchmaker whose clients have included a few big names. "I've had clients say to me, 'My publicist fixed me up, I just met him in the limo, I had to pose for pictures and spend the night with him and he was a dud.'" And although high-end matchmakers sign confidentiality agreements and PR agents deny any knowledge of their clients using these services, independent sources can verify that the list of celebs using matchmakers includes two tabloid regulars, an A-list female star, a leading actor in an HBO series, and a yesteryear movie star. Enlisting the pros could eliminate a few concerns likely felt by those in Hollywood, such as finding someone interested in them for the right reasons and someone not looking to steal their spotlight. And after all, the celebrity dating pool reads like a game of six degrees of separation - except in most cases, six degrees is too generous. Before Brangelina there was Braniston, before TomKat there was TomKid, before Spederline there was Spimberlake. Justin moved on with Cameron, who split from Jared Leto, who then dated Lindsay Lohan, who had a rumored fling with Ryan Phillippe, who had recently split from Reese Witherspoon, who is now dating Jake Gyllenhaal - an ex of Kirsten Dunst...ad infinitum. While this incestuous community may be getting smaller, the list of A-listers hooking up with regular folk seems to be growing. Julia Roberts married a cameraman, Christina Aguilera found her match in a music exec, Matt Damon wed a waitress, Hilary Swank is getting cozy with her agent, and Jessica Alba's longtime beau is a sometime film assistant. Even Halle Berry admits to checking out an online dating service before meeting current beau model Gabriel Aubrey. Going professional with a matchmaker holds the promise of escape from the bubble of Hollywood, and in the current climate of celebrity obsession, I think it's kind of refreshing. Don't you? Or do you see it as poaching from the pond of us regular folks?
Frasier alum David Hyde Pierce has come out of the closet, but maybe not by choice. Pierce has never publicly discussed his sexually and has previously said, "I don't want to talk about my personal life," but a recent Associated Press article alluded to the actor's "partner" Brian Hargrove. The website afterelton.com put in a call to Pierce's rep, who confirmed that the AP story as accurate. Afterelton.com claims the actor's sexual preference "has always been an open secret within the artistic community," but it seems he was given a little push in making the info more widespread.
Nicole Richie dropped by KIIS FM this morning to chat with Ryan Seacrest about rehab rumors, Paris Hilton's jail sentence and her own DUI arrest. Richie says the rehab rumors surfaced earlier this month because she was not photographed for over a week while she was "on tour with Joel," her beau from Good Charlotte. She described Hilton as "scarred" about going to prison, and is nervous she may be dealt a jail sentence of her own. "I have to deal with any consequences that come my way," Richie admitted. As for the now-infamous Memorial Day barbecue she hosted last weekend, from which Mischa Barton was rushed to hosptial and Lindsay Lohan made a "five-minute" post-DUI appearance, Richie says she missed both dramas while at the market "buying Sunny Delight." Go here to check out the full interview.
Anne Heche and her soon-to-be ex husband Coley Laffoon have agreed to stop trashing each other in front of their 5-year-old son. Heche and Laffoon reached a short-term custody agreement that will see the estranged couple share custody of son Homer until July 22, when Laffoon will bring him to Vancouver to spend the summer with his mom while she works on Men in Trees. In papers filed May 22 in LA Superior Court, the former couple agreed to "refrain from making derogatory remarks" about each other in front of their child, and Heche will pay Laffoon $19,000 in support for the month of May.
One of the owners of Hollywood hotspot Les Deux, where Lindsay Lohan partied on the eve of her DUI arrest last weekend, released a statement regarding the underage club regular and whether or not she was served alcohol at the premises. "Les Deux is a restaurant, open five nights a week, and there is no age limit for our patrons," reads the statement. "Lindsay had dinner at Les Deux that night and waited for friends to pack up the DJ supplies, thus leaving Les Deux after closing. Because of the enormous paparazzi presence outside of Les Deux that night, we allowed her to stay late and wait for her friends. She was not drinking at Les Deux, and left driven by her driver."
Looks like there may be more than meets the eye to Mischa Barton's emergency hospital visit this weekend, with the starlet learning the hard way that alcohol and antibiotics don't always mix. At a barbecue on Sunday, Barton drank a "s**tload" of alcohol, says a source, while taking antibiotics after falling ill in Cannes. "Her face turned completely white, and she spent over 30 minutes in the bathroom," says a fellow partygoer. "It was really scary."
Lindsay Lohan's rep has released an official statement regarding the Georgia Rule star's admittance to Promises in Malibu. "Lindsay admitted herself to an intensive medical rehabilitation facility on Memorial Day," her publicist said in a statement. "Because this is a medical matter, it is our hope that the press will appreciate the seriousness of the situation and respect the privacy of Lindsay as well as the other patients receiving treatment at the facility."
