This Week: The Party's Over
In this season of holiday cheer, the good times came to an abrupt halt for some famous names.
Chief among them was Miss USA, Tara Conner, who chose to dry out before she was hung out to dry. Donald Trump, who co-owns the Miss Universe Organization, said he was ready to strip Conner of her title because of misbehavior which reportedly included underage drinking, cocaine use and serial sex. But he said her impassioned pleas and promise to go into rehab persuaded him to give her a second chance. So, for now at least, Tara gets to keep the tiara.
Another beauty queen was not as lucky. Katie Rees, Miss Nevada USA, was shown the doorThursday after racy pictures of her appeared on the Internet. He lawyer admitted the pictures showed a lapse of judgment but said they were taken when Rees, now 22, was just 17.
Premier party girl Lindsay Lohan is sobering up these days, thanks to Alcoholics Anonymous. Lohan, who has been going to meetings, recently said she hasn't had a drink in seven days. "I feel better not drinking," she said. "It's more fun. I have Red Bull."
Another sobering journey belongs to Tawny Kitaen, who starred in the 1984 Tom Hanks comedy, "Bachelor Party." She entered a drug rehabilitation program as part of a plea deal to settle charges of possessing 15 grams of cocaine.
Photos: The Donald
"Lost" star Evangeline Lilly has another kind of mess to clean up in the wake of an early-morning fire that gutted her Kailua home.. Fortunately, she and the other women who rented the Hawaiian house were not at home at the time.
Newlywed Anna Nicole Smith may have to turn out the lights on her Bahamas rental and return to the United States with her daughter for paternity tests sought by a former boyfriend. A publicist for Larry Birkhead, who believes he is the infant's father, said a Los Angeles Superior Court has ruled that that Smith and 3-month-old baby daughter Dannielynn must submit to paternity testing in California.
After two failed tries, singer Jessica Simpson called it a night and withdrew her tribute to Dolly Parton from a TV show on this year's Kennedy Center honors. When Simpson took to the stage during a taping of the annual show, she stood awkwardly, flubbed the words and rushed off stage. Producers gave Simpson a second chance at the song before a tape of the event airs on CBS on Dec. 26. But after Simpson saw a tape of the "do over," she requested the second attempt also be pulled from the show.
And while the music may not have died, it was silenced for a bit this week at the music world mourned Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records, who fostered such talents as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones. The 83-year-old was buried in a private ceremony in his native Turkey, but a memorial service will be conducted in New York after New Year's.
By Mary Jayne McKay