Morning Links: Jon Gosselin, young girlfriend are guests of designer in Saint-Tropez
Jon Gosselin was photographed holding hands with Hailey Glassman on a trip to Saint-Tropez, a world away from his estranged wife Kate and their eight kids in Pennsylvania. Glassman, 22, is the daughter of the surgeon who did Kate's tummy tuck after she delivered the couple's sextuplets. Gosselin and Glassman spent some time aboard the yacht of designer Christian Audigier, who is one of the top designers at the Ed Hardy clothing line Jon favors. The two then shopped in Prada and Hermes boutiques. Audigier told E!Online, "I'm taking care of them," referring to Glassman and Goesslin, and may be on the verge of actually hiring Goesslin, who hasn't worked in some time and has no background in clothing design. "We would like to do a line of children's clothing," Audigier said. But Radar Online says it's Glassman who is being wooed by the designer to design a line of footwear.
Michael Jackson's sister LaToya says she believes her brother was murdered as part of "a conspiracy to get Michael's money. She echoes the claim made by their father Joe, who said earlier that he suspects foul play. She said the people who killed her brother "tried to keep the family away at all times." She also said Michael was given drugs by his killers, and "had many needle marks on his neck and on his arms, and more about those will emerge in the next few weeks. But nothing has changed my mind that this was murder.” In the exclusive interview with Britain's News of the World, which used photos of her dying or dead brother as he was being treated by paramedics, she said some $2 million worth of money and goods were taken from Jackson's house as he lay dying.
Meanwhile, Jackson's ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, who is the mother of his two oldest children, Prince Michael and Paris Michael, says she will attend the July 20 court hearing on the custody of the children. Rowe has not said whether she intends to seek custody, or contest Jackson's will, which gave custody of his three children to his mother, Katherine Jackson. His third child, Prince Michael II, nicknamed Blanket, was born to an unidentified surrogate.
Evidence is emerging that Jackson may have sought anesthesia and other drugs not only from doctors but also from dentists, TMZ.com says. And a Las Vegas doctor tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he was summoned to Jackson's suite at the Mirage in 2003 and pressured by Jackson's handlers to prescribe pills in other people's names for an sore throat Jackson said he had. "It was all a lie," the doctor said. "The whole thing was staged."
The man who was in charge of Jackson's planned return concerts in the United States two years ago says the singer was not physically capable of performing in the back-to-back series of concerts they had planned for Las Vegas. Jack Wishna, president of the consulting firm CPAmerica told E!Online, "It would have happened had I assessed that Michael was capable mentally, emotionally, vocally to do it. At the end of it, we decided no, he wasn't." Wishna says Jackson was in a "weakened state" and never could have done the 50-concert engagement that was planned for London.
Victoria and David Beckham treated themselves to a 10th-anniversary cruise in the Seychelles for some "quality time without the kids."
Ryan Reynolds has won the leading role in the latest comic to be made into a movie. He will play the Green Lantern, beating out Jared Leto and Bradley Cooper, who appears on "The Hangover." Reynolds played Deadpool in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and starred opposite Sandra Bullock in "The Proposal."
Mercy James, 4, the newest addition to Madonna's family, laughed as she enjoyed rides and slides at a children's fair in Paris with Madonna's other children, Lourdes, Rocco and David. The group also rode in bumper cars with nannies and other staff. The group will stay at the exclusive Ritz hotel while Madonna prepares for her Paris show on Wednesday.
Charlie Sheen had a $50 pedicure and left a $100 tip, sources told TMZ, calling him "one of the nicest clients ever."
-- Anne Neville
I like what a letter-writer said today: No more "reality TV" shows; let's focus on the reality of solving society's REAL problems.
Posted by: Lloyd Marshall, Jr. | July 14, 2009 at 05:33 PM