This Week: Let's Hear It For The Girls
In a flashback to the '90s (ala the Spice Girls and Girl Power!), the ladies came out on top this week.
The biggest winner of the week was little Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, the infant daughter left behind by the late Anna Nicole Smith. At long last, DNA tests proved that Larry Birkhead is her daddy; he had been a fan favorite throughout the ongoing saga.
Birkhead emerged from that pink Bahamas courthouse with a smile from ear to ear, and somehow it seemed that Dannielynn would be OK when the dust settled.
In the midst of the controversy over Don Imus' disparaging remarks on his syndicated radio show, the Rutgers women's basketball team handled itself with grace and dignity at a press conference earlier this week and on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" Thursday.
"His remarks definitely stole our moment of joy," player Essence Carson told Winfrey via satellite. "We came back from Cleveland hoping to be embraced with warm hearts and just the appreciation … As soon as that moment seemed at its peak, the world came down on us to be the focal point of such a remark. No one actually pays attention to who actually won the game. He didn't just steal from us, he stole from a great team like Tennessee."Photos: Dannielynn's Daddy
Photos: Haley Scarnato's Got Legs!
Feminists everywhere scored a small victory when word came down that "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis was arrested in Florida. Francis, who reportedly receives an annual salary of $30 million for videos that feature women exposing their breasts, was indicted later in the week for tax evasion. Authorities said he allegedly deducted more than $20 million in false business expenses on the companies' tax returns.
Although she was voted off "American Idol" this week, you really gotta hand it to Haley Scarnato for standing tall after relentless criticism from Simon Cowell.Photos: Don Imus
Each week, like clockwork, Cowell would tell Scarnato that the only thing she had going for her in this competition was her legs. She may have lost out on the Idol crown, but she sure found a way to work those gams. Go, girl!
Likeable actress Drew Barrymore, who might as well be every girl's best friend, is the new face of CoverGirl cosmetics, it was announced this week. The "Music and Lyrics" star also co-created the ads, The Associated Press reported. She was consulted on every detail of the photo shoot, which is apparently not the norm.
Supermodel Naomi Campbell is still a tough cookie but perhaps a little wiser after completing court-ordered community service with New York's sanitation department.
"I just got to be with people and learn a lot about people that I would never really get to meet in my job," Campbell told "Access Hollywood" this week of the experience. "Everyone was well-mannered and very straight up with me and I was straight up with them."
It was three cheers for entertainment powerhouse Salma Hayek, who inked a deal with MGM this week to churn out films with business partner Jose Tamez that are Latin-themed or have Latin American actors in them.
According to Hollywood Reporter, Hayek will serve as president and CEO of the venture, called Ventanazul, and Tamez will be president of production.
It's only fitting that two of the pioneers of girl power made news this week. It was reported that former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell landed a children's book deal for a six-book series about a 9-year-old heroine who lives a double life of crime-solving and elementary school studies.
Halliwell told The Associated Press that writing has become the perfect new gig since she had a daughter last year.
"I'm up in my office, so I can still be with my child," she said, "which is really important for me."
It was revealed this week that Melanie Brown, aka Scary Spice, listed actor Eddie Murphy on her daughter's birth certificate. The baby was born in Santa Monica on April 3.
Late last year, Murphy said on a Dutch TV show that he wasn't sure if the baby Brown was carrying was his. She later released a statement that said, "I was astonished at what Eddie said — there is absolutely no question that Eddie is the father."
By Amy Bonawitz