Celebrities: March 2008 Archives

Breast cancer survivor Olivia Newton John is planning a 21-day walk along the Great Wall of China to raise money for a brand new, state of the art, treatment and research cancer center. Her journey begins on April 7th, and, if all goes to plan, will end in Beijing on April 29th. Fellow cancer survivor Sharon Osbourne is one of the many celebrities planning to join Olivia on her 228 km trek.

“The walk on the Great Wall symbolizes the cancer journey," said Olivia in an interview with ET. "It's long and arduous, but we'll triumph in the end." Click HERE if you’d like to sponsor Olivia and her team, which includes Joan Rivers, Leeza Gibbons, Scott Wolf (Party of Five), Sir Cliff Richard, Toyah Willcox, and Danni Minogue (Kylie’s sister).

PETA is no fan of Aretha Franklin. She upset the animal rights organization by wearing a full-length fur coat to a Grammy event last month. But after the TMZ gossip site reported that 'The Empress of All Music' (as she's now calling herself post- Beyoncégate) was about to lose her home due to an IRS claim for approximately $19,000 in back taxes, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk offered to bury the hatchet, and help out the troubled singer.

PETA has pledged to pay Franklin's tax bill on condition that the pelt-loving diva promises never to wear fur again. They are also asking Franklin to donate her furs to the organization as Mariah Carey and Kim Cattrall have done. "Our offer is a win-win situation," says Newkirk in an open letter. "You get to keep your home, and animals get to keep their lives. We are rooting for you to please give animals the R-E-S-P-E-C-T that they deserve by giving up fur." Sounds like a no-brainer to us.

Regardless of whether you're a man, woman or beast, it seems fame at an early age is not good for your mental health. The Daily Mail is reporting that Berlin Zoo's most famous resident, Knut, the once über cuddly polar bear cub, has grown up to become a "publicity-addicted psycho."

Knut and his twin brother were born in December 2006. Their mother, 20-year old Tosca, caught a serious case of post-partum depression, and rejected the cubs, who were subsequently rescued by zoo workers. Sadly Knut's brother died after just 4 days, but Knut survived, spending 44 days in an incubator before being hand reared by zookeeper Thomas Dörflein.

In March 2007 the German tabloid Bild-Zeitung carried a quote from Frank Albrecht, a radical animal rights activist, who claimed it would be better for Knut to die than be raised by humans "as a domestic pet." A massive public outcry ensued, and Knut shot to fame worldwide. 400 journalists showed up for his public debut, and the bear became the zoo's superstar poster child. Visitors increased by 30% after Knut graced the covers of newspapers and glossy magazines, such as the German edition of Vanity Fair, and merchandising, book and film deals followed. But fame took its toll on the impressionable cub.

"He is addicted to the whole show, the human adulation. It is not healthy," said Markus Roebke, who is a key member of Knut's human entourage. Roebke would like to see Knut enter rehab far away from the glare of the public spotlight. "Knut must go, and the sooner the better."

"We are not allowed to have contact with him any more and have received letters that if we breach this order our jobs are on the line. He is too unpredictable to play with now,' Roebke continued. "He actually cries out or whimpers if he sees that there is not a spectator outside his enclosure ready to ooh and aah at him...When the zoo had to shut because of black ice everywhere he howled until staff members stood before him and calmed him down."

It is estimated that Knut has earned his zoo over $12 million since his birth. That may seem like a lot, but Knut has a lot of catching up to do if he is to rival the earning power of fellow child star Britney Spears, whose economy is estimated by Porfolio.com to be worth $110 million to $120 million annually. Like Britney, Knut's dad is trying to get in on the action, with Neumünster Zoo (the conservators of Knut's father) threatening to file a lawsuit demanding a share of the spoils. Sadly, Knut and Britney have far too much in common. Perhaps they should hit group therapy together before they both turn into Gary Coleman (it'd break our heart to see Knut doing infomercials).

Demi Moore shared one of her unauthodox beauty secrets with David Letterman on his show last night. The eternally youthful star revealed that she recently traveled to a clinic in Austria for some leech therapy to help her get in shape before embarking on promotion for her new movie, ironically entitled Flawless.

"I feel like I've always been someone looking for the cutting edge of things that optimize your health and healing," said Moore. "These aren't just swamp leeches, we're talking about highly trained medical leeches. These aren't just some low level scavengers. These are high level blood suckers."

"It detoxifies your blood. They have a little enzyme, that when they're biting down on you, it gets released into your blood. And generally you bleed quite a bit, and your health is optimized. It detoxifies your blood. I'm feeling very detoxified right now."

"They start in a spot for me that is a horrible spot, which is my belly button. They test it out. They're in a little jar...and they pull it out, and they have to stick it in my belly button. Now I'm telling you, my belly button, if somebody just touches it, I want to literally just punch them."

"So we have the little sampler first, which is in the belly button. It crawls in, and you feel it bite down on you, and you want to go you 'bastard'. And then you relax, you work on your Lemaze breathing just to kind of relax, and then you just watch it swell up and get fatter and fatter. Then when it's super drunk on your blood it just rolls over like it's stumbling out of a bar."

According to Wikipedia, "large adults can consume up to 15 grams of blood in a single meal." Vampires could learn a lot from these little creatures. Before feasting, the hermaphrodite bloodsuckers release an anesthetic, and a powerful anti-coagulant (Hirudin), which stops the blood from clotting and allows unhindered feasting.

Medicinal leech therapy has been popular throughout history, and is still used in hospitals today. The creatures have been used to treat numerous conditions including tonsillitis and piles. They can help reduce swelling, and are therefore commonly used after surgery, and have also been used successfully to treat varicose veins. Hmnn, perhaps Moore's not so flawless after all.

Michael Stipe, frontman of the alt. rock band R.E.M., made a surprising statement today during a video news conference (click HERE to view). It seems that, after years of speculation, his fellow band mates, Mike Mills and Peter Buck, have confirmed they are indeed heterosexual. The duo hope their announcement will encourage more straight people to come out of the closet.

According ex-Scientologist Marc Headley, Tom Cruise auditioned several actresses to play the part of his wife after his split with Penelope Cruz in 2004. Headley, who produced promotional films for the church, also claims that Holmes was not Cruise’s first choice.

Headley alleges that the Mission Impossible star complained to Scientology leader David Miscavige about his problems meeting women. Miscavige apparently then sent out a discreet casting call, telling potential partners that they were being considered for an unnamed Tom Cruise project as a ruse to get them down to the Scientology Celebrity Center in Hollywood, CA for some on-camera video vetting.

“They went for Jennifer Garner, Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Alba, in that order," says Headley. "Jennifer and Jessica didn't bite but Scarlett took the bait and came in for an audition. When she arrived and found out it was the Scientology Center in Hollywood, she freaked out and didn't do a tape..." After getting nowhere with his top three choices, the Scientologist's zoned in on Holmes, who had previously spoken publicly about her crush on Cruise. "They got her to L.A. and introduced her to Tom. The moment he meets her, he's enthralled with her and he told Miscavige later, 'I knew immediately she was the one.'"

The interview with Headley was published prominently in the center pages of U.K tabloid the News of The World. Notably, the tell-all on the highly litigious, celebrity-obsessed church and its most prominent member was not reprinted online on the paper's website, which has an international audience, though the fearless NY-based gossip site PageSix.com reprinted Headley's quotes.

The Daily Mantra empathizes with Cruise. In this difficult dating climate, we appreciate the need for the unorthodox methods employed by the actor and his church to find the perfect partner. Indeed the Daily Mantra used a similar system to find a husband. Our shortlist included Al Gore, Dylan McDermot and George Clooney. In our case, Al Gore didn't bite, Clooney had committed to a date with a friend (making him off-limits to us), and Dylan McDermott proved to be too short during an on camera audition (seriously). As with Cruise, our fourth choice turned out to be "the one."

Patrick Swayze’s publicist has confirmed that the Dirty Dancing star has pancreatic cancer. The National Enquirer first broke the story, leading some to question its validity, but sadly it seems the reports are true. The one-year survival rate for those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is just 20%, and the five-year rate is 4%. If you’d like to make a donation to help find a cure for this highly under-researched disease, click HERE to go to the Hirshberg Pancreatic Cancer Research Center’s website.

It seems Paris Hilton was only acting spiritual on Saturday night when she paraded in front of cameras in West Hollywood with a mysterious personal guru in tow (see previous story). TMZ tracked him down. Turns out he’s a 52-year old actor from Quartz Hill, CA called Maxie Santillan. According to IMDB, his credits include CSI, My Name Is Earl, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.

Showbiz guru Perez Hilton called it when he said it was a publicity stunt since we don’t think Paris will find much enlightenment by keeping company with a man who says, “Burbank can kiss my Ass" on his MySpace page. Then again, perhaps he was just auditioning to be a contestant on Paris’ new, as yet unnamed, reality TV show in which she’ll search for a new best friend.

Can you believe this girl has the nerve to pull a stunt like this then complain that people don’t take her seriously? Well, yes, we can actually. Still, we’re happy that our fav commerce-with-a-conscience coffee shop got some free publicity out of the Hilton spin cycle.

Paris Hilton walked on the path of enlightenment at the weekend (see video), taking a trip to the Bodhi Tree bookstore with a personal spiritual guru in tow. After buying several self-help books at the shop, which is a mecca for those seeking wisdom in the metaphysical realm, the unlikely pair went next door to the Daily Mantra's fav coffee spot, the Urth Café (see previous story).

The duo read from a spiritual pamphlet entitled The Path of the Painted Shaman while sitting at a table on the outside patio with their organic drinks. At one point the guru appeared to bless Paris. He then persuaded the material girl to give the large, diamond encrusted gold heart-shaped pendant she was wearing to a bemused customer at the next table. When asked why she did it, Paris responded, "because the greatest gift is to give."

Faux News is reporting that, according to an inside source, "the former prisoner is turning to shamanism to bring 'love and luck' into her life." Meanwhile the more cynical Perez Hilton is convinced the incident was nothing more than a cheap publicity stunt. Regardless of her true intentions (whatever they may be), The Daily Mantra is happy that Paris has given the gift of publicity to two of our favorite haunts. If it helps even one Paris Hilton wannabe find the pavement to enlightenment, then we're all for it.