Celebrity Scoop

Rapper Nelly has postponed his planned tour of Britain until the fall because of "an unforeseeable personal matter." The artist behind 2002's second best-selling album, "Nellyville," had planned to perform next month in London; Cardiff, Wales; Sheffield and Manchester in northern England; Birmingham in central England; Belfast, Northern Ireland and Dublin, Ireland. He was to appear with fellow rapper Eve, who had a recent hit with "Satisfaction." "Unfortunately, Nelly has had to postpone the tour due to an unforeseeable personal matter," his promoter, Clear Channel, said in a statement. It did not specify what the problem was, but Britain's Press Association news agency said there was an illness in the rapper's family. Concert organizers told fans they could keep their tickets to use at the rescheduled shows or return them for a refund. Nelly's biggest hits include "Hot in Herre" and "Dilemma." He's up for five Grammy awards on Sunday, including album and record of the year.

After getting engaged in romantic, dramatic fashion before millions of people on TV's "The Bachelor," Helene Eksterowicz said she was dumped unceremoniously at a Starbucks near her New Jersey apartment. Eksterowicz said Aaron Buerge broke up with her five weeks after the ABC reality show's Nov. 20 finale, telling her he was no longer "emotionally invested." "It felt like a bomb dropped," the 28-year-old elementary school psychologist told People magazine for its March 3 issue. "I said, 'I feel very deceived by you. You've told me every single day that you love me, and now this is it?'" Eksterowicz said she and Buerge, a 28-year-old banker from Springfield, Mo., "tried to talk every day on the phone, but it was hard." As for the 2-carat diamond engagement ring, which Buerge paid for himself, Eksterowicz is keeping it in a safe-deposit box.

Even his recent string of tennis tournament wins hasn't helped Andre Agassi persuade his wife, Steffi Graf, to join him for mixed doubles at the French Open in May. "It's hard to convince someone who has five times as many tournaments as I have," he said Thursday. Graf won 107 tournaments and 22 Grand Slam titles before retiring in 1999. She won the French Open six times. Agassi's win at the Australian Open last month gave him his sixth Grand Slam title. His win last week in the Siebel Open gave him 56 tournament wins. Agassi was meeting Thursday with the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation and preparing to break ground on an $11 million expansion of the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, a Las Vegas charter school his foundation supports. He and Graf married in October 2001 and have a 15-month-old son, Jaden Gil.

With the threat of war looming, Miss Germany Alexandra Vodjanikova flew into Baghdad on Thursday, saying she wanted to meet with Saddam Hussein to discuss peace. Stepping off the plane at Saddam International Airport wearing a black shirt and black pants, Vodjanikova, 19, said she would like to visit hospitals and meet with Iraqi children during her three days in Iraq. "I want to meet Saddam Hussein about the peace," she said. "I will go to see hospitals, meet the children and all the people of Iraq." Anti-war activists have been coming to Iraq in recent weeks to denounce a possible U.S.-led military attack. The United States and Britain have massed about 200,000 troops near Iraq in preparation for a possible war. Germany is strongly opposed to military action against Iraq, and says U.N. weapons inspectors should be given more time to do their job.

Tom Welling has learned firsthand: Being Clark Kent isn't easy. That, above all, is the lesson of "Smallville," which finds Clark, even more than the typical teen, consumed with awkward self-discovery. When Welling landed the role, he clearly fit the blueprint for Clark: Boyish good looks, plenty of hustle, and no idea what he was in for. For one thing, Welling was a former model who, apart from a six-episode guest shot on "Judging Amy," came to "Smallville" with no acting experience. "The first season, I didn't know how to act," he admits, chatting with a reporter on a recent visit to Manhattan. "I just tried to believe in the character. But I think my confusion on-set translated into Clark's confusion as a character. If you watch how Clark is now, he's a bit more comfortable. I'm a bit more comfortable, too. I don't know if there's a direct correlation, but I think there's a connection." Welling, 25, lives in Vancouver with model Jamie White, whom he married last summer.

Marc Anthony's wife, former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres, is expecting the couple's second child, the singer's publicist confirmed. The baby is due sometime this fall, said the publicist, Jennifer Nieman-Abad, who declined to provide details Tuesday. Anthony, a Grammy-winning singer born in New York to Puerto Rican parents, married Torres in a Las Vegas civil ceremony on May 10, 2000. The couple renewed their wedding vows in a lavish ceremony at Old San Juan's Roman Catholic cathedral in December. They have a 2-year-old son, Cristian. Anthony has an 8-year-old daughter, Arianna, from a previous relationship. Anthony, 33, will be one of the hosts of this year's Grammy Awards, to be presented Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York, his publicist said.

Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, viewed the exhibit that features portraits of Carter and 40 other U.S. presidents from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. The collection, which has been traveling since 2000, is making its final stop at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. Marc Pachter, director of the National Portrait Gallery, helped lead the Carters through the exhibit Tuesday evening. "That's the way we want a president to look," Pachter said of Carter's portrait, which shows him standing in the Oval Office. However, Carter seemed to prefer the portraits of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. "As I walked down the line and saw the different presidents, I remembered the place that they've had in my life," he said. The exhibit continues through May 11.

Bob Dylan, LL Cool J and Crosby, Stills & Nash will join several hundred jazz, blues and homegrown Louisiana musical acts at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, scheduled April 24-May 4. The addition of a day of Thursday performances to Jazzfest's first weekend created 80 additional performance slots for the festival's 34th year. Louisiana artists will fill most of the new slots, Quint Davis, the festival's producer and director, said recently. The festival includes all-day concerts at stages throughout the infield of the Fair Grounds racetrack, as well as evening concerts at venues around the city. Other notable bookings include Fats Domino, singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, saxophonist Ornette Coleman, New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton and jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. Daily tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the gate.