Deluxe Celebrities

Shia LaBeouf speaks about his Rihanna affair

Shia LaBeouf has revealed that his friends constantly sang ‘Umbrella’ to him when he was rumoured to be dating Rihanna.

LaBeouf was spotted having dinner with the singer last August, sparking speculation that they were an item.

Despite denying reports of a romance, the Transformers star admitted that his pals took pleasure in teasing him with their renditions of her biggest hit.

He told GQ: “My friends were like, ‘Are you serious, bro? Why didn’t you tell me about that?’ I was like, ‘I really don’t know her like that.’

“For weeks they were singing that ‘Umbrella’ song everywhere I walked. And those are my people!”

LaBeouf, who plays Harrison Ford’s sidekick in the new Indiana Jones movie, recently claimed that women are his favourite vice.

The decoration of Eminem’s house

What do you think Eminem would put in his house after all those album sales?

I’ve often wondered what Eminem might have in his house. I wonder what decor a rapper from Detroit would want. I read his bio in several places, watched his movie 8 Mile and I’ve thought about this a lot. I actually grew up a block from 7 Mile. I think my life was quite a bit different than what I read about him, but still, I visualize 8 Mile, I know I traveled daily down 8 Mile’s east and west side on my way to school (which was across town for me).

I have some collectible items that I imagine would suit him. I might be way off the mark. I’d like to think someone like him would not indulge in mega bucks for sofas, paintings and extreme high ticket items because he’s seen success, but rather would want to live amongst a more down-to-earth collection or decor. I’ve read descriptions of his early years as being part of the “white lower-class experience”. Somehow, this doesn’t line up with a home decked out from fancy Design Center furnishings, but oh well. This is my fantasy:

I think Eminem should have his walls covered with tin signs - memorabilia - like one for Ford Trucks (made in Detroit), or a tin sign of a Remington Shotgun and Duck. I have no clue if he drove a Ford or went hunting, but I do know these are big things in Michigan. And if he is a hunter, maybe he likes Deer things - a Deer Key Rack, or a shelf with a moose head.

I picture him in a kitchen with some corny things - I know he has the best appliances and cabinetry available, and maybe his counters are costly granite imported from who knows where. But I just hope he has a Kitchen Fairy on a Pie to bring it all down to reality. And a Half Eaten Apple Salt and Pepper Set. Those fans he raps to, they are more likely have that in their kitchen than an original Andy Warhol painting.

Well, maybe not. We don’t mind our celebrities living it up to the hilt. We just want to relate to them and in Eminem’s particular case, he’s carved himself a space in the limelight that draws attention from ALL walks of life, not just those in his newly acquired (hopefully) wealthy class. I just hope he keeps some reminders of those early years by surrounding himself with some of the simple delights around.

Angelina Jolie in a fight bikini with Jennifer Aniston

Surely everyone loves to see Angelina Jolie in a bikini, right? They used to. The one time voluptuous Hollywood starlet used to fill out a swimsuit with the best of them and she dripped with sexuality. But since she took up with Brad Pitt that seems to have dripped away. Meanwhile, her one time love rival Jennifer Aniston continues to wow her fans with new bikini photos each week. Angelina Jolie Bikini Body Photos From France: Blame Jennifer Aniston?

Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie split man fans into camps three years ago when Jolie swooped in and devoured Brad Pitt on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. After many denials it was finally revealed that the Hollywood “Golden Couple” of Jennifer and Brad were finished. Pitt would then try all sorts of denials about the affair with Jolie and still does to this day but they certainly wound up together right after the film.

Jennifer Aniston seemed to move on quite quickly and even as the pressure mounted for her to trash Jolie and or Pitt she took to the high road and said very little about the reason behind what really broke up her five-year marriage. But both Jolie And Pitt have used Jennifer from time to time and draw her name out when they have promotions for films to create a bit of a buzz.

There have been reports from the tabloids citing friends of Brad Pitt as insiders that have claimed that he still logs on to see the fabulous bikini body of his ex-wife. She has certainly given him an eyeful of late with some stunning celebrity photos of Jen’s toned body in the pool with her new beau John Mayer.

And now it appears that Jolie is following suit by donning a suit. The very pregnant mom to be has been snapped in a black bikini showing off her huge baby bump. Is Jolie still that obsessed with Jennifer that she is trying to mimic her with these new shots? The photos are here at Pop Sugar, do we get to blame Jennifer for this bikini photos display?

Hard Candy Madonna issues

MADONNA has arguably been reigning as the Queen of Pop for the last two decades but, with her new album Hard Candy she has taken an undeniable risk.

Despite changing the music industry when she teamed up with producer William Orbit on her 1998 record Ray of Light, Madonna now seems to be listening to the music currently in the industry and adapting her sound to fit in.

Moving away from the sound that shot her to fame, she has teamed up with producers Pharrell Williams and Timbaland and singer Justin Timberlake on the new record.

But has the risk paid off?

It seems it has with 4 Minutes, the single featuring the soulful voice of Timberlake, hitting the top spot in 21 countries including the UK, Australia and Canada.

The former boy band member also pushed her to experiment with her sound.

“It’s an R’n'B/pop/dance record, but it’s still Madonna. A couple of times I pushed her in a direction where it took a minute before we saw eye to eye,” he confessed.

“Her approach was, ‘Well, I just haven’t done that’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s why you should do it’.”

It’s not only 4 Minutes Timberlake had a hand in - he also co-wrote Miles Away, Dance 2night, Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You and Voices.

“I really enjoy writing with Justin”, Madonna said.

“We had psychoanalytic sessions whenever we wrote songs first. We’d sit down and we’d start talking about situations. And then we’d start talking about issues or problems or relationships with people.

“That was the only way, because you know, writing together with somebody is very intimate.

“I haven’t worked with a lot of songwriters where I’m instantly connected and start riffing and playing with the rhythm of the words. He’s as interested in the rhythm of the words as the meaning of the words.”

Williams was largely responsible for a lot of the album, co-writing seven of the 12 tracks, but Madonna said she was unsure about working with the producer.

“When I was on tour, Pharrell approached me and said he wanted to work with me on some music and I had been a huge fan of his for a long time. I had also heard the work he had done and thought it was good,” she said.

“But I don’t normally work with artists who are performers - they were difficult and I wasn’t.”

The 49-year-old singer also revealed it was only because of Williams’s lucky Mickey Mouse slippers that the album actually got made.

“Pharrell had these lucky charms, including the Mickey Mouse slippers,” she laughed. “He said he couldn’t work without them!”

However, while some fans may be disappointed by the new sound - which couldn’t be more different from the innocent beats of Holiday or the emotion of Like a Virgin - 4 Minutes undoubtedly has the same catchiness as Madonna’s other tracks.

“I just wanted to write things that people couldn’t get out of their heads and hopefully I accomplished that,” she said.

Madonna also receives a lot of attention from both the press and her fans because of her family life.

Married to Snatch director Guy Ritchie, the singer made headlines in 2006 when she adopted David Banda, who was then one, from Malawi.

She was accused of using her fame to speed up the official adoption process, but has always denied the claims and insists David would have died if she hadn’t acted when she did.

“He wouldn’t have lived if I hadn’t taken him,” she sighed. “It’s not even a possibility.”

But as much as her marriage causes her aggravation in terms of having to deny divorce rumours almost daily, Madonna says Ritchie and her children, David, Lourdes and Rocco act as her biggest critics.

“When I was making the album I used to play it to Guy and the kids on our long drives to our house in the country. They would all give their views on the music,” she said.

“Guy isn’t worried about being critical about my stuff. He’s always the first one to groan and say, ‘I don’t like that’. But I like that about him.

“He always has an opinion. Even if it’s the opposite of mine.”

And Madonna - who is a tireless AIDS activist - is already passing on her passion for charity campaigning to her 11-year-old daughter Lourdes, who recently accompanied her to Malawi.

“Lourdes spent several weeks working in the orphanages, particularly one with newborn children, and most of them were HIV-positive,” she said.

“She so came into her own and was so responsible and stayed for eight hours every day and worked tirelessly. I thought, why am I babying her so much?

“She’s capable of so much more. We don’t let kids do anything. We think, ‘Oh, they’re kids - they can’t take care of other kids, they can’t do this and they can’t do that.’ And after you go to Africa, you drop all that silliness.”

Despite causing controversy with her sexy outfits and raunchy on-stage performances, Madonna says regardless of turning 50 in August, she has no intention of slowing down on her upcoming Sticky and Sweet tour - which starts in Cardiff, Wales, on August 26 and ends in Miami on November 26.

“I’m not going to be defined by my age,” she said. “Why should any woman?

“I’m not going to slow down, get off this ride, stay home and get fat. I feel great and if anything, I’m probably speeding up.

“There’s so much more in my life to deal with. I’ve got work to do, children to raise, a husband to please and a world to save. I have a total sense of urgency about it. I don’t feel I’ve done everything. I do feel I want more, more, more!”

Madonna in Radio 1’s Big Weekend

Twenty-five years after the release of her eponymous debut album, Madonna proved she has still got what it takes to wow audiences with an energetic set at Radio 1’s Big Weekend.

The queen of pop - who turns 50 on August 16 - closed the event at Mote Park in Maidstone, Kent, following acts including Duffy, Usher and The Feeling.

Those who had been waiting all day to see Madonna were not disappointed when she appeared on stage in the main tent dressed in a tight black outfit and black knee high boots and opened her set with song Candy Shop, from her number one album Hard Candy.

She dedicated her next song, Miles Away, to “anybody who’s afraid of falling in love”.

Madonna then launched into her number one single Four Minutes while screens on stage showed images of Justin Timberlake who sings on the track with her.

There was a surprise in store for fans when Madonna picked up an electric guitar, said she planned to sing an old song and launched into the opening lines of the Rolling Stones hit (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.

After only a few bars, she stopped and called out to the audience: “How many of you are drunk?” When they responded with a collective cheer, she replied: “That’s so worrying.”

After teasing the audience with the Stones cover, she then planned to sing “a song from the past, but not too far back from the past” and played her former number one Hung Up.

After finishing it with an impressive guitar solo, she changed into a pair of trainers and showed off some energetic dance moves during another song from her latest album, Give It 2 Me.

The style icon also donned a pair of black rimmed glasses and joked she was having problems with her sight. The spectacle ended with 2000 hit Music which provoked a mass singalong from the crowd.

David Beckham in no good shape against the Red Bulls

David Beckham may be on a level far above that of most of his peers in Major League Soccer, but he has not yet ascended to a plane that spares him any criticism.

Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit made this abundantly clear after the team’s 2-1 loss to Red Bull New York.

“Today, not all the senior players were having a good game,” said the former Dutch great, who bemoaned the ease with which the Galaxy conceded the winning goal in the 78th minute. New York scored merely seconds after the Galaxy had scrapped their way to a 1-1 tie, courtesy of an Alan Gordon strike.

“You need players who tell everyone, ‘Stay tight, go a little bit backwards and do your job,’” said Gullit.

Gullit didn’t single out his team captain, David Beckham. However, if a coach is mentioning that his squad needs more vocal guidance, it’s easy to deduce that “strong and silent” isn’t working for Gullit.

It was comical and yet at the same time sadly disconcerting to watch the Galaxy yield a goal while the celebratory confetti from their own strike was still falling.

Yet it wasn’t entirely surprising. The Galaxy have been in a similar spot before and have fallen apart, perhaps at least partly because of their own ambition. An earlier match this season saw the Galaxy play well for the majority of the match, but the work to twice draw level versus Toronto FC was all for naught when Jeff Cunningham uncorked an impressive counterattack and brought home the full three points for his team.

At the time, Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan bemoaned the attitude among some teammates that a draw was unacceptable. He believed the team should have been more conservative in protecting its slight lead.

This time, the Galaxy faced a motivated New York team that was pumped up by the sellout crowd in L.A.

“For us, [game atmosphere] is the best thing,” said Juan Pablo Angel, the author of the winning goal.

The crowds for games in New York are typically half the size of the announced sellout of 27,000 at the Home Depot Center in Carson. It’s not surprising that the Red Bull players reacted well to the pressure of the crowd. When the teams clashed in New York last season, the Red Bulls pulled out a 5-4 win in a seesaw battle in front of around 60,000 fans.

“The majority of [MLS] stadiums should be full,” insisted Angel.

As Gullit can attest, however, things don’t always turn out the way they should.

“You see the possibility [for an attack on goal] and you tell them, ‘OK, use your head,’ and then you give a goal away immediately after that,’” said Gullit. “That is frustrating. It’s a little bit lack of leadership in moments like that. That costs you the game. It’s a pity.”

Gullit smiled a little wistfully when asked if the match left him wishing he could rejoin the playing ranks.

“The moment — you see it coming,” acknowledged Gullit. “If you were there, you would know what to do in those situations. But that is because you have more experience.”

As former captain of the English national team, David Beckham has plenty of experience, but he has to deal with unusual elements in MLS now.

For example, Beckham has to cope with teammates who keep missing his trademark crosses. In another sequence, when it finally seemed a teammate had made the perfect run, Beckham uncharacteristically knocked the pass way high. It was that sort of night.

“We created chances, but in other games we’ve created more,” Beckham stated. “Obviously, when teams are clever enough to stop certain plays, we have to find other ways to get around them, and tonight we couldn’t find that. It was just one of those nights.”

Gullit also believed the Galaxy had slid backward in form.

“They battled well; I don’t think they played well,” said Gullit of his players. “It’s a pity. It’s frustrating because the team has possibilities. They can play very good football in a game.”

In the first half, Beckham dropped back several times, making defensive plays so often that it was easy to forget that he’s an attacking player. In the second half, he camped out on the right wing, waving his hands in vain on various occasions to try to entice a pass out of the Galaxy defenders or midfielders. Beckham might have gone too far in his attempt to jump-start the Galaxy attack by moving forward.

“He played a little too far up,” said Gullit. “When you’re too far up, it makes it easy to mark, especially when your right back and left back have to play against two players who were very quick.”

Beckham acknowledged that his coach had a point.

“It’s always frustrating where you’re not getting the ball,” said Beckham. “There were certain situations where I might have been too forward, but then, first half, there were situations where I was having to go look for the ball.”

One aspect of MLS parity that Beckham is probably still adjusting to is an understanding of how to manage a result versus dangerous, athletic players who can counterattack very quickly. It may be more glamorous to take home winning points, but the humiliation of getting nothing for an exhausting effort at home stings worse.

The match left Beckham philosophical about the situation. He allowed that he was still learning how to mold his game to help the Galaxy find success.

“I was just trying to look forward as much as possible, get the ball upfield as much as possible and look for that killer pass or the goal,” said Beckham. “So there were points where I was probably playing too high, but there were probably points where I was playing too deep or going inside too much. That’s soccer, it happens.”

New problems with law for Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson has dropped a lawsuit against an accounting firm he had accused of making deals and hiring people without his permission, according to court papers obtained on Thursday.

The papers, filed on April 14, did not say whether Jackson had reached a settlement with the firm or dropped the litigation for another reason.

Jackson, through his production company, MJJ Productions Inc., sued the accounting firm of Bernstein, Fox, Whitman, Goldman and Sloan in December 2006, alleging negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.

The lawsuit alleged the firm did not pay workers’ compensation payments on his behalf in 2004 and 2005 and was late paying taxes he owed, in addition to hiring people and entering into contracts without his authorization.

The accounting firm countersued Jackson the day after he filed his court papers, claiming the singer owed nearly $1 million (505,000 pounds) in unpaid bills. That action was dismissed.

Jackson has maintained a low profile since his June 2005 acquittal on child sex abuse charges in California. His lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment.

Accussations against Bill Clinton

There was yet another sign of racial disharmony in the Democratic Party today, as the leader of the influential black online advocacy group ColorOfChange.org lashed out at Hillary Clinton, calling her claim to owning the white, blue-collar vote “race baiting.”

“The politics of division now seems to be her core strategy” to overcome Barack Obama’s lead in the primary, said James Rucker, a co-founder of ColorOfChange who once worked for the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org. “It’s a strategy where everyone loses; we can do better and we should be able to expect better from Senator Clinton.”

ColorOfChange, which has 400,000 members and relies on a large network of black bloggers to spread its message, recently circulated a petition warning the Democratic party that adopting rules that would allow Clinton to overcome Obama’s lead “could be the worst mistake the party has ever made.”

Clinton has vowed to press on with her nomination bid despite a decisive loss to Obama in North Carolina and a razor thin victory in Indiana that did little to boost her campaign. She leads polls in two of the remaining primary states, West Virginia and Kentucky. But pundits say should would have to win a higher fraction of the vote in the remaining states to overtake Obama’s popular vote lead than she has been able to win in states thus far.

Asked how she could win the nomination at a time when she trails Obama in the popular vote and pledged delegates by insurmountable margins, Clinton, citing an Associated Press article about North Carolina and Indiana, had said: “Senator Obama’s support among hard-working white Americans is weakening again, and … whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me. And with Independents I was running even with him and doing even better with Democratic leaning Independents. I have a much broader base to build a coalition on.”

Clinton’s dominance among white voters goes without saying. White women, blue collar workers and the elderly pushed her to victories by sizable margins in Pennsylvania, where the governor said in a television interview that white voters there were not ready to vote for a black presidential candidate, and in Ohio, according to exit poll data.

By the same token, black political observers and activists have pointed out that Clinton cannot win the general election without the votes of African Americans, who favor Obama overwhelmingly. In general election contests dating back to 1968, black voters have favored white Democratic presidential candidates over Republicans by substantial margins, including former president Bill Clinton in two elections, Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. Black voters supported Clinton in the primary until she lost to Obama in the Iowa caucuses.

“We are tired of Hillary Clinton telling America that we are less than American simply because we refuse to vote for her,” said Francis L. Holland, an African American blogger. “Ironically, the Clintons embraced us, and even embraced Pastor Jeremiah Wright for support during their impeachment scandal.” Holland was speaking of the congressional trial that followed former president Bill Clinton’s liaison with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. “She has forfeited the black vote for the forseeable future with her color aroused appeals.”

Where Mariah Carey meet his husband Nick Cannon?

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon’s small-screen pretend love in the video ‘Bye-Bye’ is what spawned a real-life love story and marriage between the two. The two have revealed that it was love at first sight when they first got together six weeks ago, and that they knew that they would end up getting married. “I don’t think anyone realized what we already knew, that we were going to get married,” the New York Daily News quoted 38-year-old Carey, as telling People.

Cannon proposed to the singer on April 25, on the rooftop of her Manhattan apartment with a 17-carat, pink-diamond ring wrapped up like a Ring Pop candy ring. Nobody knew about the wedding plans, and family and friends thought that they had been invited to Carey’s island estate in the Bahamas to join the couple for a music video shoot.

The only people who knew about the nuptials were the ones who had seen the couple’s matching back tattoos. Hers reads “Mrs. Cannon” and his “Mariah.” Only about a dozen guests were invited, including Mariah’s best friend, Da Brat. The two had live Maine lobsters, fine china and Dom Perignon champagne flown in for the beachfront ceremony.

“I haven’t been shy in years, but I was speechless. I was elated, but I was thinking, ‘Don’t pass out,’ ” Cannon told People about the ceremony, conducted by Mariah’s New York pastor, Clarence Keaton. The lovebirds say they are already thinking about having kids. “It’s part of the whole purpose of getting married,” Carey said. “I’d just want our children to have the best childhood and upbringing they possibly could,” she added.

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon on the cover of People Magazine

Jennifer Lopez in reality show?

J. Lo and Marc Anthony very against the reality show idea. Jennifer Lopez is saying that she does not have a reality show in the works for TLC. She insists that the upcoming show is strictly about making a fragrance.

J. Lo says, “There is no reality show at all. We would not have camera’s in our house. It’s just not our thing. That might be fine for other people, but not for us.”

When TLC made the announcement for the show, their press release said the series will “deliver a slice of [Jennifer's] life that audiences have never seen before, as she takes on her career and launches a new fragrance while trying to juggle her new responsibilities as a first time mom.”

Commenting on the release, J. Lo said, “I wanted to die. I was talking about doing a show with TLC about the making of a fragrance…Well, we’ll see, we’ll see.”

Marc Anthony has been equally adament, saying, “there is no reality show, none of that shit.”