Remember when Heath Ledger’s family swore that they would provide for Matilda, his daughter with Michelle Williams, even though his will had been written before she was born? Back in March:
“Matilda is our absolute priority and Michelle is an integral part of our family,” Heath’s father Kim Ledger says in a statement. “They will be taken care of and that’s how Heath would want it to be.”
Ledger’s rep quickly squashed any speculation that Williams and 2-year-old Matilda would not be provided for. “The story is getting taken out of context and media is speculating that this means Matilda and Michelle will not be taken care of. I want to make it very clear nothing could be farther from the truth.”
I’m sure Michelle Williams remembers this very clearly. But fast forward to now and apparently she and her daughter haven’t seen a dime of that inheritance. Michelle is reportedly planning to boycott the premiere of The Dark Knight next month over the dispute.
Not that I blame her. Kim Ledger made news a while back for his financial incompetence, so it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if he’s already spent it all on boomerangs and dingoes.
Anne Hathaway heeded some very good advice and dumped Raffaello Follieri, her boyfriend of forever, now that he’s being investigated for shady financial deals involving his charity.
An insider tells the Mail Online that Hathaway made the painful decision to end their relationship because of the effects his controversial business dealings could have on her career.
Hathaway served as a director on the charity’s board until some time last year, with her rep saying: “Since she is no longer associated with the foundation, why would you expect her to be familiar with all of this,” when asked about the investigation.
A source said: “It’s heartbreaking for her to dump him, and she’s devastated that it’s come to this, but she really didn’t have a choice. His scandals were hurting her reputation.”
See what happens when you deceive? Your pretty, pretty girlfriend leaves your sorry butt curbside! Well played, Anne.
A charity headed by Anne Hathaway’s Zach Braff-lookalike boyfriend is under investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office for what looks to be tax fraud.
Italian businessman Raffaello Follieri is kind of a sketchy dude to begin with, what with the writing bad checks and the lavish spending paid for by his company, but stealing from charity would be a new low.
Now investigators are demanding that he provide financial records for the Follieri Foundation, which has never filed the required forms with the IRS.
Hathaway’s hands might not entirely be clean here. Until very recently, she was a board member for the foundation and it’s unclear why she stepped down from her post.
Two years ago, the pair went on a philanthropic mission to Nicaragua and gave some sound bytes about how important the foundation was in providing vaccines to children:
“The Follieri Foundation is dedicated to creating and funding programs that will make a difference in peoples’ lives. Each program is designed to meet the needs of the local communities,” said Raffaello Follieri, Founder and Chairman of The Follieri Foundation.
It would be sad if the foundation were also dedicated to the couple’s private jet travel and penthouse apartment in Trump Tower.
Denise Richards went on Larry King to talk about how she was forced to do her reality show because she needed the money.
Not so much, say friends of her ex Charlie Sheen, who tried to block the program because he was afraid she would exploit their children.
A source tells Page Six:
“Denise gets $52,000 a month tax-free in child support,” a Sheen insider fumed. “Most people in America can figure out how to live on that, but Denise can’t?”
In addition to the child support, Richards got $60,000 a month (also tax-free) for two years in alimony — adding up to a whopping $1.44 million. Richards also gets a chunk of Sheen’s hot sitcom, “Two and a Half Men,” which “eventually will net her up to $25 million,” the source said.
That is some crazy cash right there for someone who does nothing other than bone her best friend’s husband and complain endlessly about her ex’s sperm.
No, not Saddam Hussein, silly, he’s dead. Even worse: Michael Lohan!
Earlier this week Dina was honored as a “top mom” by something called the Mingling Moms Organization (which is admittedly ridiculous), and Page Six quotes him as saying:
“Are you kidding! Top celebrity mom? Look at her off-screen antics, her lack of morals and how she conducts herself. I guess they forgot to mention how this top super-mom leaves her kids alone at night and even parties in their presence. Just wait until we go back to court. She comes stumbling out of Butter at 3:15 a.m. with bloodshot eyes and a red runny nose, yelling ‘Oh, [bleep],’ when she saw the paparazzi.”
I’m not sure why they bleeped out “pshaw,” but I do know that Michael Lohan needs to shut up about partying too much. Being a good tipper up in the strip club does not count as good parenting skills. Even if the stripper is your daughter…
Michael Bloomberg, in 2001 (before he was mayor of New York), when asked if he’d ever tried marijuana:
“You bet I did. And I enjoyed it.”
These days, Mayor Bloomberg better watch his back before smoking spliffs on his Upper East Side terrace. He now oversees what the New York Civil Liberties Union describes as a “marijuana arrest crusade,” as the NYPD locks up more than 35,000 people each year for marijuana possession.
Arrests are up elevenfold since the 1990s, even though most people who are arrested aren’t even smoking up at the time. Why would cops do that? According to researchers:
[B]usting pot smokers is a relatively safe and easy way to pad arrest figures, which creates the illusion of productivity, and generate overtime pay, a practice known as “collars for dollars.”
Additionally, studies have shown white kids ages 18 to 25 are the most likely to light up a fat one, but black and Hispanic New Yorkers are arrested three to five times as often for possession. Which might explain why Mayor Bloomberg himself escaped his youth unscathed, hmm?
Since Victoria Beckham’s career as a fashion designer seems to have fizzled, perhaps she can support herself as a professional litigant.
As previously reported, Posh Spice’s denim line was dropped last month from LA fashionista havens Kitson and Fred Segal due to poor sales. The $290 jeans eventually popped up on sale racks at Loehmann’s for $70.
Now she’s seeking $100-million from Rock and Republic, the premium denim designer that helped her launch her own line, for loss of earnings, because she thinks the jeans should have sold better than they did.
However, the line was dropped reportedly because she declined to promote the jeans or do anything beyond putting her name on the label.
Is this the first time in history that Posh has avoided publicity? I can’t think of any other time when she’s turned down an opportunity to promote herself.
Rob Lowe’s nanny legal mess just became even more of a headache.
Knowing a storm was a-brewin’, he and his wife Sheryl went on the offensive and sued three former employees for extortion, but that didn’t prevent one of the nannies and a chef from suing him for sexual and verbal harassment, wrongful termination, and nonpayment of wages.
Now the other nanny has filed a lawsuit against Sheryl Lowe for the same.
But wait, is this 1988? Sex scandals are so “been there, done that” for him, after seeing his career ruined by the release of a raunchy tape of him with some teenage girls. He’s acknowledged it was a “mistake” and said he’s moved on. I thought we were all past that, no?
Joe Francis has released a bit of the Girls Gone Wild footage that Ashley Alexandra Dupré filmed for them and is suing them over.
No, not the naked bits — the part where she gave her consent to be filmed:
In the new release, Dupre appears covered by a terrycloth towel and gives her name as Amber Arpaio. An unseen questioner asks if she is 18.
“Yes I am,” Dupre answers in a strong Southern accent.
“Do you know what ’Girls Gone Wild’ is?” the questioner asks.
“Yes I do,” she replies with a laugh.
“Can I use this on ’Girls Gone Wild’?” she is asked.
“Of course you can,” Dupre answers.
The video also displays a New Jersey driver’s license with the Amber Arpaio name and a birth date that would have made her appear to be in her 20s.
This pretty much nullifies her whole argument that they filmed her even though they knew she was underage. The defense rests in time for happy hour.
Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s downfall Ashley Alexandra DuprĂ© has filed a $10-million lawsuit against Girls Gone Wild because, she alleges, they coerced her with booze into signing away the rights to her breasts when she was 17 years old.
Far be it from me to defend Joe Francis — talk about a Class-A douchebag — but seriously, an admitted hooker claiming that she had to be plied with alcohol to pull out the funbags for the camera? A bit hard to, um, swallow.
Francis tells TMZ:
“We were very surprised and in fact amazed today that Ms. Dupree filed a lawsuit against Girls Gone Wild. We have not publicly released any new video of Ms. Dupree, due to corporate policy of not using footage of individuals younger than 18. It is incomprehensible that Ms. Dupree could claim she did not give her consent to be filmed by Girls Gone Wild, when in fact we have videotape of her giving consent, while showing her identification.”
That would be her fake ID that said she was 21 at the time. How fast will this be tossed out of the courts? Before lunch, perhaps?
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