Celebrity Scoop
Friends are defending Michael Jackson's latest revelations about his sleepovers with kids. Jackson told a British interviewer that he's "slept in a bed with many children" -- including Macaulay Culkin and his brother Kieran. But Jackson says it's all "very sweet," not sexual. His friend Uri Geller says that goes to show Jackson is "a pure, innocent human being." During the interview, Jackson also admitted to having his nose done twice -- to help him breathe better and hit higher notes. He denied having any other plastic surgery on his face. Jackson also revealed that his third child was conceived by a surrogate mother who was implanted with his "own sperm cells." The interview will air Thursday on ABC.
Just after he was seen on TV being rejected by Trista Rehn on "The Bachelorette," Greg Todtman was arrested on a coke charge. Authorities say Todtman was charged with trying to smuggle a small amount of coke aboard a plane at New York's Kennedy airport. Todtman says it's all a big misunderstanding. He says he had sleeping pills wrapped in aluminum foil.
Ben Affleck and Big Macs, perfect together? Affleck, who stars as a blind comic-book hero in the upcoming film "Daredevil," had to dye his hair red to play lead character Matt Murdock. "I was glad I did, except when I was wandering around in my real life with this big red Afro. I looked like Ronald McDonald," Affleck says in the Feb. 8 issue of TV Guide. The 30-year-old actor says he admires the athletic ability of his co-star, Jennifer Garner (star of television's "Alias''), who performed many of her own stunts and learned how to work with martial arts knives. "She was really tough," said Affleck. "Daredevil," directed by Mark Steven Johnson and also starring Michael Clark Duncan and Colin Farrell, will be released Feb. 14.
ABC has picked up the pilot for a new sitcom written and produced by Michael J. Fox. It's a family comedy about a pro hockey player who retires and moves back home with his wife and three kids. Fox, a big hockey fan, does not plan on starring in the sitcom.
Pete Rose is definitely getting into a Hall of Fame this year -- the Ted Williams Museum Hitters Hall of Fame. Rose, ineligible for the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. because of his lifetime ban from the sport, has been selected to be inducted to the Williams Hall along with Wade Boggs, Dom DiMaggio, Tony Gwynn and Williams, who didn't want to be honored while he was alive. It was easy to select Rose, said Dave McCarthy, who became executive director of the Ted Williams Museum last October. "People come in here and always ask, `Why isn't he in the Hall of Fame? He has more hits than anybody,'" McCarthy said Friday. The ceremonies will take place Feb. 16 in Hernando, Fla.
Comedian Wayne Brady has someone new to entertain -- his daughter. Brady's actress-wife, Mandie, gave birth to the couple's first child, Maile Masako Brady, on Monday. The child weighed 6 pounds, 1 ounce. Brady, 30, stars on ABC's sketch comedy show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" and hosts his own syndicated talk show.
"American Idol" and "Joe Millionaire" have done for Fox what only major sporting events have done previously: made it number one. According to the Nielsen ratings, Fox was the nation's most popular network last week. It's the first time the network has drawn in the bulk of viewers during the traditional TV season. In the two times "American Idol" aired last week, it was seen by about 25 million people each time. "Joe Millionaire" had about 20 million viewers when it aired.
The daughter of Orson Welles is suing two Hollywood studios, saying they should either pay her royalties on her father's masterpiece "Citizen Kane" or hand over the rights to the movie. Beatrice Welles says in the lawsuit filed in federal court that a 1944 agreement discovered by an archivist appears to terminate a 1939 profit-sharing deal the filmmaker signed with RKO Pictures. Welles' lawyer, Steven Ames Brown, said his client either owns the rights under the 1944 agreement or is owed royalties if the earlier deal is still valid. Brown said the judge must decide whether the 1944 agreement transfers ownership rights. The lawsuit names RKO and Turner Entertainment Co. as defendants. Jonathan Marshall, an RKO spokesman, said the company had not yet seen Welles' lawsuit and could not comment. But he said the company would be looking to resolve the case amicably.