Women Affairs

Arifa Akbar Alfie Owen-Allen, the younger brother of the singer Lily Allen, is to star in the psychological stage drama Equus after his performance in a marginal film role so impressed the play's scriptwriter, Peter Shaffer, that he ordered its producer to recruit him. Shaffer, who wrote the play in 1973, was struck by Owen-Allen's acting abilities in the film adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel Atonement, in which he plays the minor character Danny Hardman. He will replace the Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, who played the lead in the West End revival to critical acclaim earlier this year. David Pugh, the producer, said Shaffer phoned him after watching Atonement to say he had found the perfect actor for Equus. When Owen-Allen auditioned for the part, his portrayal of the main character, a disturbed teenager who blinds horses, was so dramatic that it moved the play's director, Thea Sharrock, to tears. As the 21-year-old brother of Lily and the son of the actor and com...

Nicoletta Mantovani, Luciano Pavarotti's widow has spoken out saying she hoped a media furor over the late opera star's inheritance would soon be over and insisted the tenor was in no way mentally impaired when he made his final will. In a TV interview Nicoletta Mantovani, the singer's second wife, 34 years his junior, said she had no quarrel with his three daughters from his first marriage who are older than herself -- the subject of media speculation since Pavarotti's death last month. Italian media have speculated that Pavarotti signed his last will, leaving his US assets including a New York apartment to her, while too sick to know what he was doing. An Italian magistrate has said he may look into the press reports. The trust controlling Pavarotti's US assets is reported to be worth 15 million euros. His total fortune is estimated at up to 300 million euros ($431.1 million). In her first interview since Pavarotti died of pancreatic cancer aged 71, Mantovani said...

Vanessa Hudgens must be getting pretty comfortable again. The adorable girlfriend of Zac Efron was photographed in various poses earlier this year including some lingerie photos and one very famous full frontal shot that made her the most typed term into search engines world wide. Did she learn anything from it? Time will tell. It was one of her rare appearances since nude photos of her surfaced on the internet. Hudgens clammed up when she was asked to discuss her favourite looks of the evening, inspiring Efron to pipe in: "I'm not really an underwear kind of guy, but she is." Indeed, Efron did look bored as celebrated stripteaser Dita Von Teese performed in a gilded bird cage. Keeping a tight grip on her man, Hudgens would say only that she liked the feathers that appeared on models throughout the evening. Von Teese, a collector of vintage lingerie, ended her striptease with a douse of water. She described her nearly nude costume as "a glamorous 1950s bird of par...

A Judge today dismissed a hit-and-run case against pop star Britney Spears after her lawyer revealed an out-of-court settlement was reached with the person whose car she struck in a parking lot. But the 25-year-old performer is still on the hook for a misdemeanour count of driving without a valid licence in connection with the August 6 fender bender in Los Angeles, said City Attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan. Spears's lawyer today entered a not guilty plea on her behalf for that charge. She was not in court and is not required to be present for the next hearing, set for November 26. Britney had faced jail sentence Spears had faced up to six months in jail and a $US1000 fine on each of the two counts she was originally charged with. But the judge agreed to drop the hit-and-run case once the civil claim stemming from the incident was resolved, Mr Mateljan said. Details of the settlement were not disclosed. Video footage on TMZ.com of Spears's auto mishap shows her driving a conve...

Charlize Theron, Jessica Alba and Halle Berry are regularly named the world's sexiest women. But who are the unsexiest women alive? A men's magazine decided to find out. The list, published in the latest edition of Maxim Magazine, named Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker as the No. 1 Unsexiest Woman Alive. The magazine said Parker was the "least sexy woman in a group of very unsexy women" that ironically starred in a show with the word "sex" in the title. Troubled soul singer Amy Winehouse was voted No. 2 because of her "hemorrhaging translucent skin, rat's nest mane and lashes that look more like surgically attached bats". The mag listed Grey's Anatomy Sandra Oh at No. 3 for her "cold bedside manner and boyish figure". Pop star Madonna took out the No. 4 spot for her "self-righteous bellyaching and rapid postnuptial deterioration". "Combine a Paris Hilton-like pet accessorising fetish only for dirt-poor for...

After making headlines for everything but music, Britney Spears is back with an album industry insiders say should top the charts despite her. Over the past year the one-time Mouseketeer shaved her head, spent time in rehab, went through an ugly divorce, lost custody of her children and attacked a photographer's car. And in an odd habit yielding endless tabloid references to the title of her biggest album - Oops!... I Did It Again - she kept getting photographed without her underwear. Now Spears is hoping that the release of Blackout, her first studio album in four years on Oct. 30, will revive her reputation. The album has already produced Gimme More, which topped US digital charts and critics expect a hit. But some critics who have heard her latest opus say the album's likely success has little to with her abilities and more to do with the producers. The New York Daily News noted all the "studio trickery" made her sound like a "Brit-Bot" machine. "If ...

Best Actress Nominee Cate Blanchett tonight played down the Oscar hype surrounding her latest portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I. Speaking at the London premiere of Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Blanchett put Academy Awards talk surrounding her reprisal of the role which won her a Best Actress nomination in 1998 down to the "time of year". "Oscar who?" Blanchett said in a red-carpet interview with Sky News. When pressed on the film's chances at the awards next year, Blanchett said: "I don't know. Who knows? "In the end, when you reprise a role, you just hope the film is going to stand on its own two feet, which I think this does. "That's all you can hope for really." Blanchett, her Australian supporting cast, Geoffrey Rush and Abbie Cornish, and the film's editor, Jill Billcock of Melbourne, had been early front-runners for Oscars, which will be awarded on February 24. But the movie's hopes were hit by negative reviews in America ear...

Comedian Ellen DeGeneres returned to her television show on Tuesday after taking a long weekend to escape a national uproar over an adopted puppy, saying she hoped the drama would not discourage people from adopting pets. DeGeneres, one of the country's best known entertainers, sobbed on television last week as she recounted how an animal rescue group took back a puppy she had adopted but then given to her hairstylist's family without the animal agency's permission. The on-air tears stirred an outpouring of public support, and footage of her begging for the agency to return the dog, Iggy, was replayed endlessly. DeGeneres later made a public appeal for an end to death threats that had been reported against some of those involved. After taking a long weekend to recover from the shaggy-dog tale that went too far, DeGeneres returned to her show on Tuesday saying the reaction to her crying on air had taken her totally by surprise, making headlines from Australia to England. ...

She has been called the face of Africa. She inherited her long body from her father, her smile from her mother, and showed the fashion world that beauty could encompass more than the blonde of Claudia Schiffer or the oomph of Elle Macpherson. Alek Wek never intended to be a model. At 19, she was approached by an agent while walking in a south London park with an English girlfriend, whom Wek considered much prettier. In her memoir, Alek, the 30-year-old Dinka woman from southern Sudan tells the story of her flight from civil war, her time as a refugee in London, and 10 years on the catwalks of Milan, Paris and New York. Wek may not be on a first-name basis with fame - like, say, Kate - but the regal, 181-centimetre-tall model has been recognisable since 1997, the year Gilles Bensimon photographed her for the cover of American Elle and proved jet black could be beautiful. Her brilliant career almost stalled early on when assistants to photographer Steven Meisel advised the agency promoti...

Britney Spears' friends have begged her fans to not buy her latest album, Blackout, until she cleans up her act. The unnamed pals have set up their own group, Be Proactive to Help, to urge the public to boycott the troubled star's new LP. Writing on their MySpace page, they begged: "Our message is simple, don't buy her stuff until she's better." The group - who include a former bodyguard, a backing dancer and a make-up artist, as well as several old friends  want fans to contact Britney's record label Jive, her management team and MTV to air their concerns. They said: "Let them know you'll buy her album, but not until she is clean and sober and realises the amazing life she has created for herself. "Let them know you'll be around to buy her music and her merchandise when she sets a better example of how to be a performer." Britney has seen her life spiral out of control since splitting from ex-husband Kevin Federline last November. ...

Laura Demasi HOW we've missed Lindsay Lohan. Or at least the mags think we have, given the saturated coverage they've afforded the starlet this week, now that she's finally out of rehab. Months of intensive rehabilitation may have quelled Lohan's lust for booze and drugs (for today, anyway) but it appears to have done little for her compulsive habit of making trouble. In the 10 minutes since her release Lohan's been busy providing the world's tabloid media with an excess of material, becoming a home wrecker, broke and homeless in one fell swoop. According to NW, Lohan's new boyfriend, an ex-con called Riley Giles, whom she met during her latest stint in rehab, is actually someone else's fiance. "Lindsay stole my boyfriend and wrecked my life!" cries Giles's jilted bride in the magazine. The couple reportedly found love discreetly in a stairwell of the treatment centre, presumably in lieu of a proper bed in a more appropriate setting, given ...

Britney Spears has regained temporary visitation rights of her sons, her lawyer said today. "Yes, she has visitation with the children," her lawyer, Anne Kiley, said in an email to The Associated Press, without elaborating. Spears was seen driving with the boys, Preston, two, and Jayden James, one, yesterday in California, People magazine reported on its website. A presumed court-appointed monitor was in the passenger seat, and her sons were in the back seat. A court commissioner told Spears on Wednesday she may not visit her two children without a parenting coach present until she complies with a court order. The ruling was the latest move in a custody battle between Spears and ex-husband Kevin Federline. Among other things, Spears was ordered to undergo random weekly drug testing. A hearing in the matter was scheduled for this Friday. A phone message left with Federline's lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, was not immediately returned today.

Nicole Kidman has begun piling on the pounds - not because she's pregnant, but for her next movie. The 40-year-old Australian movie star has already added 4.5kg to her svelte frame and plans to double her weight gain in coming weeks before she starts filming The Reader. "She is naturally very slim and loves to run and swim so she is always very toned," an unnamed close friend of Kidman's told The Mail on Sunday newspaper. "The part she plays demands that she gets fatter throughout the movie as her character slips into middle age. "Nicole was originally planning to use prosthetics but was told by the director, Stephen Daldry, that it would be more realistic if she gained the weight." Kidman is following in the footsteps of fellow actress Renee Zellweger, who packed on more than 13kg to play Bridget Jones in two movies by chowing down on pizza, peanut butter sandwiches and fast food. Kidman's new diet includes drinking daily protein shakes and eating ...

Actress Pamela Anderson says she and Rick Salomon took their 17-year friendship to the next level during a poker game. "I left the table and Errol (Lyon, Anderson's driver) played in my place," the 40-year-old ex-Baywatch star tells OK! magazine. "I came back to find myself $US250,000 ($A282,214) in the hole to Rick!" So Salomon - best known for making a sex tape with ex-girlfriend Paris Hilton - struck a flirty deal. "Rick, being the gentleman, said he would wipe my debt if I gave him a kiss, so I have to thank Vegas for our relationship switching gears!" Anderson says in the magazine's latest issue, on newsstands tomorrow. "It evolved into spending every day - and then nights - together." Salomon tells OK!: "I've been plotting and scheming for the past 15 years, and I finally got the girl." The couple married on October 6 at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, squeezing in their vows between Anderson's performances as an as...

Nicole Kidman has fame, money and success in droves, but the Australian actress has revealed they did nothing to ease her loneliness before she married country singer Keith Urban. Oscar winner Kidman found it hard to meet a potential partner after her decade-long marriage to Tom Cruise ended in 2001, she said in a candid interview published in Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper. "When I was alone I became very isolated and felt very lonely and it was difficult to meet someone," Kidman was quoted as saying. "I realised you can have so many beautiful things around you and if you don't have someone in your life to share it with, it doesn't mean that much." Kidman, 40, spoke of her love for 39-year-old Urban, whom she married in June last year, less than four months before he entered rehab at the famous Betty Ford Clinic for alcohol abuse. "We were two lonely people who met at a time when we could open up to each other," Kidman said. "I'm ju...

24-Years-Old Award-Winning U.K. Singer Amy Winehouse was arrested last night at Bergen's Radisson SAS Hotel on the west coast of Norway for possessing some 7 grams (0.2 Ounces) of Marijuana. Also in her company were her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil and two other men identified as Alexander Foden, Lars Morten Lothe, who also faces similar charges. They were held for 12 hours before being fined and released. The couple were ordered to pay 500 euros (£350) between them, while the other arrested man was fined £240. Winehouse, 24, who was admitted to hospital earlier this year after a reported overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol, is due to give a concert in Bergen tonight. Prosecutor Lars Morten Lothe said: "We had a tip from a good source which led to police checking up on the tip." He said the drug had been found in the room itself rather than on any of their persons. "They signed a ticket, a fine, at the police station some hours ago," he sa...

Oprah Winfrey went public yesterday about the thyroid condition that slowed down her metabolism and caused her to gain 20 pounds (9 kilograms). Winfrey, 53, was feeling incredibly sluggish by the time her talk show wrapped up its season in May. She eventually discovered the problem: an out-of-balance thyroid. "My body was turning on me," she says in the October issue of O, the Oprah magazine. "First hyperthyroidism, which sped up my metabolism and left me unable to sleep for days. (Most people lose weight. I didn't.)" "Then hypothyroidism, which slowed down my metabolism and made me want to sleep all the time. (Most people gain weight. I did! Twenty pounds!)" Hyperthyroidism can also cause a fast heartbeat, among other symptoms; hypothyroidism, the opposite condition, can result in fatigue and weakness. Winfrey, exhausted and stressed, took a month-long break in Hawaii to regain her health. Winfrey also discussed her thyroid condition on yesterday'...

Kristie Leong M.D. Infertility is the inability to become pregnant after a year of trying. It may take the form of reoccurance of miscarriages in women and othe forms related to a man too. Infertility can be a frustrating problem with a variety of underlying causes. There's no doubt that a woman who is infertile experiences various levels of stress due to her inability to conceive. More and more evidence is emerging that stress may actually play a potential role as a cause of infertility. Of course before infertility can be attributed to stress, physical causes for this problem must be ruled out by a gynecologist. He or she can conduct a series of tests and examinations to exclude structural problems as well as hormone related abnormalities. Once physical causes for infertility are ruled out by a doctor, a trial of stress reduction training might be in order. What evidence is there that stress plays a role in infertility? Several studies have shown that infertile women wh...

The father of iconic French film star Catherine Deneuve was a low-level Nazi collaborator during World War II, according to a new, unauthorised biography. Deneuve, who is 64 next week, emerges from the biography, which she tried to block, as a calculating and unhappy person, driven by money and an obsessive need for privacy. The actress, who has been described on numerous occasions as the most beautiful woman in the world, is usually presented in France as a warm and rather scatty person, beneath an icy, controlled exterior. But the author, Bernard Violet, a respected investigative biographer, claims that this image is a "legend" constructed by Deneuve herself. Recent revelations that Deneuve had made public appearances for cash for a dubious Algerian businessman were not an isolated case, according to the book, Deneuve, L'Affranchie (Deneuve, the free woman). However, the book's main revelation is on Deneuve's father, Maurice Dorleac, who was also an a...

Following an emergency hearing called by Kevin Federline’s attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, yesterday in the ongoing custody battle between Kevin Federline and Britney Spears, there are indications that Britney has lost the one-night-a-week custody of her two children. The L.A County Commissioner Scott Gordon suspended her visitation rights due to her refusal to comply by the court orders to provide the drug testing people with contact information so they could reach her to facilitate the random tests. The hearing took place behind closed doors at a Los Angeles Superior Court and legal representatives for both teams were present by 9:20am (PDT.) Both attorneys refused to comment on yesterdays proceedings as did a representative for the court. In an earlier report, Gordon temporarily stripped Spears of physical custody of sons Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1. But after hearing a personal appeal from Spears last week, Gordon eased up on his restrictions and allowed her one overnight v...

Pop princess Kylie Minogue has admitted she was not prepared for how much her weight would balloon while she was being treated for breast cancer. It was on the eve of her Australian tour in 2005 that Minogue discovered she had a malignant lump in her breast and underwent surgery at Cabrini private hospital in Melbourne. Two years later, Minogue has released a documentary film, White Diamond, about her Showgirl world tour, which she revived following her recovery from breast cancer - and called the Showgirl Homecoming Tour for its Australian leg. She said the biggest surprise for her during her intensive cancer treatment was the dramatic fluctuation in her weight. "I went from next to nothing then I just ballooned with the drugs, and I guess now maybe I'm just curvy Kylie," Minogue told the Nine Network in an interview filmed in London and broadcast this morning. "I've been every other Kylie, who'd have thought it would be curvy Kylie," she said. "As...

Ellen DeGeneres' doggie dilemma has taken a nasty turn, with the operator of the animal rescue organisation that took the dog away saying she had been deluged with threatening emails and phone calls. The calls got so bad that Marina Batkis said she had to close her business and stay at home. The twisted dog tale began last month when DeGeneres and her partner, Australian actor Portia de Rossi, adopted a cute, black Brussels-Griffon cross named Iggy. Batkis and Vanessa Chekroun co-own Mutts and Moms, the non-profit dog-rescue organisation that gave the dog to DeGeneres and de Rossi. When Iggy was not able to get along with DeGeneres's cats, the couple gave the dog to DeGeneres's hairdresser. Batkis said that violated a written agreement de Rossi had signed, in which she agreed to return the dog to Mutts and Moms if the adoption did not work out. When the agency called DeGeneres to ask about Iggy, she said she found another home for the dog. The agency sent a representative t...

Actress Reese Witherspoon will appear in a very unusual role in her upcoming movie Rendition . The film portrays her in the role of a Chicago-based woman, Isabella, who is married to an Egyptian-born chemical engineer, to be played by Omar Metwally, suspected by US authorities of having knowledge of a bombing. However, instead of protesting the authorities who fly her husband to North Africa for a cruel secret interrogation, she shows strong belief in the justice system. The 31-year-old actress, who is well known for her commendable performance in the Legally Blonde franchise, considers herself lucky that she has so far not portrayed stereotyped characters, and that Rendition has once again given her a chance to do a different role. “The film addresses an issue you read about, but may not feel connected to. I’m really lucky that I’m able to do movies like this, and that people accept me doing different things,” she said. Film director Gavin Hood has revealed that Witherspoon was no...

British girl band Spice Girls Greatest Hits album will only be available in the US through lingerie chain Victoria's Secret for the first two months of its release. Under a deal announced today, Emma, Geri, Mel B, Melanie C and Victoria -- aka Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm and Victoria Beckham -- will also perform at the 'Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.' Capitol Music Group said Spice Girls: Greatest Hits would go on sale at Victoria's Secret on November 13 and that the fashion show would be broadcast on US television on December 4. The album will be made available elsewhere in the United States from January 15, 2008. Along with 13 of the Spice Girls hits, like Wannabe and Spice Up Your Life, the album will also include two new songs -- Voodoo, and Headlines (Friendship Never Ends), which will be the group's first new single since 2000. The Spice Girls announced in late June that they were reforming, seven years after they split, a...

Kate Hudson is reportedly trying to rekindle her romance with ex-boyfriend Owen Wilson after splitting from Dax Shepard. The Almost Famous actress is said to be desperate to woo back Owen — who was hospitalised in August after a failed suicide bid — after realising she still loves him. A source says, “It was working out between her and Dax, but it’s a clean break. After Owen’s suicide attempt, she realised how much she loved him, and broke up with Dax.” Kate — who has a three-year-old son, Ryder, with ex-husband Chris Robinson — began dating Owen last year after meeting on the set of You, Me and Dupree . However, they split in June following reports they clashed over his wild lifestyle. Pals of Owen say he was devastated by the break-up and was heartbroken when he saw pictures of Kate and Dax canoodling, while shopping.

BRAZILIANS are hot right now in the celebrity world. And we're not talking about people who come from Brazil but, rather, that peculiar practice of waxing off the entire expanse of one's pubic hair. It appears that Famous has compiled a dossier on the subject, listing a who's who of celebrity devotees including Jennifer Aniston. "She may be famous for her glossy mane of hair, but it seems the 38-year-old actress is far more concerned about the hair that's growing downstairs," Famous tells. Turns out that Jen "is neurotic about bikini waxes", booking appointments "even when there was no hair to wax" and insisting that the beauty therapist wax off "peach fuzz" because she's "phobic about extraneous, stray hairs". Equally obsessive is Jennifer Lopez. "J.Lo once had a wax in a posh hotel in Miami and allegedly flew into a rage after discovering a stray hair in a very hard to reach place." Other fans include Gwy...

Paris Hilton is on a mission to change her image, heading to Rwanda on a trip she hopes will allow her to leave a mark on the world - and possibly create another reality TV show. The 26-year-old a hotel heiress said she was a changed person and vowed to shed her party-girl image after leaving jail where she served three weeks earlier this year for violating probation in a drunken-driving case. "There are a lot of bad people in LA. Before, my life was about having fun, going to parties -- it was a fantasy," Hilton told Newsweek magazine, opting to speak to the news-focused journal rather than a celebrity magazine. "But when I had time to reflect, I felt empty inside. I want to leave a mark on the world." She has acknowledged she has long enjoyed the Hollywood party scene but she said she spent her time in jail reading the Bible and praying to God for strength, deciding to give new meaning to her life by pursuing charity work. Hilton skyrocketed to fame in 2003 after ...

Scott Ellis Death, and almost anything to do with it, is something most television programs tackle only as a plot device. Someone is killed and the detectives set out to catch the killer; an accidental passing leaves a ghost looking for answers; a parent shuffles off this mortal coil and their children come together; any number of variations on this theme show up daily as a way for writers to help move the action along. And that's where the topic usually ends. Death on screen is something that happens (excuse the pun) in passing and anyone who tries to change that had better have a good reason. The makers of The Gift, premiering on Channel Nine this week, have found that reason. By personalising death, they hope to save lives. From this week, the series hosted by 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown will follow the stories of Australian organ donors and recipients. It's a tough subject, Brown says, but one that has the power to change lives. "I think what this series does so wel...

Some of Australia's top designers have helped wrap up Paris Fashion Week with an array of stunning collections in bold colours and playful prints. Collette Dinnigan and Akira Isogawa were among the Australians to show their spring-summer collections in the City of Lights. Dinnigan's upbeat and sassy show, under the prestigious Louvre museum, had natural-looking models in hot tangerine, grecian-inspired slip dresses and barely-there, micro-shorts topped with tightly belted jackets. The collection was a move away from Dinnigan's signature girly style to a more grown-up cool. "I wanted to create something really confident and strong, but still feminine and ladylike," Dinnigan told AAP backstage. "The look is fresh, young and sporty but luxurious at the same time." But the star designer was careful not to stray too far from her style roots, outing luscious, floor-skimming, satin dresses in dazzling jewel colours, fit for a silver screen goddess. Dinnigan has...

Spare a thought for supermodel Megan Gale. Her comedian boyfriend Andy Lee is traipsing across the country for 2Day FM leaving her all by her lonely self. (Did anyone else automatically get a mental image of her twisting her hair and sighing?) Is the man bonkers? "We normally speak four to five times a day on the phone," she said. "But I haven't been able to talk to him because he's so busy. It's killing me." Lee and his radio DJ buddy Hamish Blake are driving from Perth to Brisbane in the so-called Caravan of Courage. "Hamish doesn't have a licence so Andy's doing all the driving," she said. "He's exhausted, but happy." I caught up with Gale at the New Woman Beauty Awards, where her Invisible Zinc sunscreen picked up the beauty editor's choice gong. And she told me the odd couple are coming up to their first anniversary. It was during Melbourne Cup festivities last year that Lee got the courage to ask her out. "P...