January’s Vanity Fair includes an article by Buzz Bissinger that accuses Augusten Burroughs of embellishing many facts in the memoir Running with Scissors, according to an item in The Times-Herald. In the autobiography, Burroughs writes of how his crazy mother gave him away to her shrink and his dysfunctional family. The real-life family that raised Burroughs is now suing the author for defamation.
Richard Hatch—the openly gay winner of the first season of TV’s Survivor and who is serving more than four years in prison for failing to pay taxes on his $1 million prize—has filed an appeal of his conviction, according to 365Gay.com. In the appeal, filed in Boston, Hatch is arguing that the judge prevented him from declaring that the show’s producers struck a deal with him to pay his taxes if he won.
On a recent edition of the entertainment news show Extra, Bette Midler criticized Britney Spears and her actress pal Lindsey Lohan, calling them ‘wild and woolly sluts,’ according to ABClocal.go.com. Midler also quipped that the celebrities need to ‘get a life [and] get a grip. I mean, someone should sit those ladies down.’
Many Asian Americans were unhappy with Rosie O’Donnell after she explained comments she recently made on TV’s The View, Boston.com reported. Talking about Danny DeVito’s apparently drunken appearance on the show, she said: ‘The fact is that it’s news all over the world…. In China it’s like: ‘Ching chong. Danny DeVito, ching chong, chong, chong, chong. Drunk. The View. Ching chong.” O’Donnell later said she was sorry, stating ‘ [t] o anyone that felt offended by my Chinese-Asian-pseudo-Japanese-sounded-Yiddish accent that I was doing—and was never intended to mock—I apologize.’
The nominations for the 64th Golden Globes were announced Dec. 14 in Los Angeles. According to CNN, among the nominees are Jennifer Hudson (Best Supporting Actress for Dreamgirls), Penelope Cruz (Best Actress in a Drama for Volver) and Leonardo DiCaprio (two nominations for Best Actor in a Drama for The Departed and Blood Diamond). The movie Babel garnered seven nods, more than any other film. The ceremony is scheduled for Jan. 15.
Self-proclaimed original supermodel Janice Dickinson was involved in a hit-and-run accident, according to TMZ.com. Dickinson and three passengers were on the freeway when an unknown driver in a semi-truck sideswiped their vehicle into a median and sped away. Dickinson, who was wearing a seat belt at the time, was thrown head first into the windshield and suffered a concussion. However, she was given a clean bill of health by doctors.