• Move over Jon Stewart, Hugh Jackman will be hosting this year's Oscars! "Hugh is the ideal choice to host a celebration of the year’s movies – and to have fun doing it." says a flack. [Deadline Hollywood]

  • Kate Winslet is offended by speculation that her 30-year-old character in The Reader is a child abuser for having an affair with a 15-year-old. "To me, that is absolutely not this story at all. That boy knows exactly what he's doing. And, for a start, Hanna Schmitz thinks that he's 17, not 15, you know? She's not doing anything wrong. They enter that relationship on absolutely equal footing. Statutory rape? Really, please, don't use that phrase…This is a beautiful and very genuine love story and that is how I always saw it," Winslet says. [UPI]
  • Despite earlier reports, Pete Wentz swears up and down that he and Ashlee do not want to hock their photos of newborn Bronx to the highest bidder. "Truth is like every celeb couple we were offered
    mounds and mounds of money by mags from here to Guam to pimp out the baby. We just don’t want to go down that road with him," Wentz says on his blog. [Perez]
  • Zooey Deschanel's fake band in the movie Yes Man is called Munchausen By Proxy Syndrome, and it's actually not half bad. [NYM]
  • Rufus Wainwright is one gay guy who will not be joining the fight against Prop 8: "Oddly enough, I’m actually not a huge gay marriage supporter," Rufus says. "I personally don’t want to get married but I think that any law or amendment to the constitution that deals with sex and love should just be banned in general. I don’t think any government should encroach on what goes on in the bedroom at all. Frankly, if you want to marry a dog, why don’t you go ahead and marry a dog, I don’t care. I’m a complete libertarian and so I really disagree with it." [Perez]
  • Rut roh. Allegedly Denise Richards is in dire financial straits. "She's willing to do just about anything and take any role that's not pure porn," says a source. [TMZ]
  • Rumors abound that Axl Rose has Anthropophobia, or loosely, he's afraid of people, and has been avoiding interviews and his management as a result. His flacks deny it, saying, "He has not been diagnosed with anthropophobia. He hasn't fired Front Line, and no interviews have been canceled." It does sound sort of far-fetched. [Perez]
  • Aw, 9-year-old Angelina Salaiz got to meet her hero, Mariah Carey, earlier today on CBS's morning show. We bet they bonded over a shared love of Hello Kitty and butterflies. [CBS News]
  • Is the world ready for a Mel Gibson comeback? Um E! Online says yes, because he grew a mustache. Yeah…ok. [E! Online]K-Fed was out bowling and he kissed a mystery lady. Riveting news! [TMZ]



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