Morning Links: Corey Haim, 38, found dead; sources say drug overdose suspected
Actress Lindsay Lohan has sued E*Trade for $100 million, saying that one of the talking babies commercials that features a goofy "milkaholic" baby named Lindsay is about her. In court papers filed Monday in Nassau County, Lohan's attorneys says the star has the same "single-name' identification as such stars as Madonna, Cher, Sting and Oprah. Lohan's papers claim that the use of the baby named Lindsay infringed on her "likeness, name, characterization, and
personality" without permission, violating her right of privacy. She wants $50 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in exemplary damages, and also wants E*Trade to stop running the ad and
turn over all copies to her. In 2007,
Lohan was ordered to spend a day in jail, undergo an alcohol education program,
and spend three years on probation after admitting to drunken driving and possession of cocaine.
The man who tried to extort $2 million from David Letterman by threatening to go public about Letterman's affairs with women who worked for him pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny Tuesday. Former CBS News producer Robert "Joe" Halderman was sentenced to six months in
prison, five years of probation and 1,000 hours of community service. With good behavior, he could be out in four months. Halderman, 52, pleaded nit guilty in October, but said in court, "I have great remorse
for what I have done." Halderman found out about Letterman's affairs because he once lived with Stephanie Birkitt, a staffer on "The Late Show with David Letterman," who had an affair with Letterman. He was reportedly motivated by jealousy. Outside court, Halderman apologized to Birkitt, to Letterman and his own family. On his show Tuesday night, Letterman profusely thanked prosecutors, saying the case was "handled professionally, skillfully and appropriately ... thank you for all your help." He also said he'd
"never been involved in anything like this" and was "concerned and full of
anxiety and nervous and worried."
The woman who rushed up to grab the mic from the winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary Short tells Joy Behar that she was the one who was pushed aside. Elinor Burkett claims Roger Ross Williams raced ahead of her to take the stage alone and was talking only about himself. Burkett, whose name is also on the award for "Music by Prudence," said Williams wasn't giving proper due to the film's disabled star, Prudence Mabhena and "I'm really not very good at keeping my mouth shut."
Next week, Charlie Sheen will return to the studio to film his TV show during the day and return to rehab at night. TMZ reports that he will stay in rehab in Los Angeles until early Monday morning, when he'll fly to Aspen for his felony arraignment. He's scheduled to return to Los Angeles -- and to rehab -- Monday night, and then will retrun to the set Tuesday morning. Four more episodes of "Two and a Half Men" will be filmed to complete the season.
When you're fighting over the toothbrushes and the chip clips, you know things are bad! Victoria Hopper's lawyer, Sorrell Trope, sent an extremely specific letter to the attorney of estranged husband Dennis' lawyer listing a whole dollar-store worth of items she claimed from Hopper's address, including a basket of markers, a laundry basket, an Obama bobblehead and Obama coffee mugs, "a plain white pasta plate," "old storage boxes of junk," a wastebasket, a cotton ball holder, two umbrellas, a dog food bowl and water bowl, and even their daughter Galen's toys, games, books and "blankie." A second letter included photos of many of the items, including a hairbrush and chip clips. According to official documents obtained by TMZ, Dennis Hopper's attorney, Joe Mannis sent Trope a gift basket filled with household odds and ends, including a chocolate bunny, dog bowls and a Spiderman toothbrush. Because attorneys are discouraged from accepting gifts, TMZ reports, the whole basket ended up in a courthouse trash can. Awww!
Tiger Woods's wife Elin Nordegren took the couple's 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Sam, to a spa near their home Tuesday for manicures and pedicures. The mother and daughter "acted like any other customers" at Magic Nails, a source told People, but the source noted that Nordegren is still not wearing her wedding ring. But he has one old flame on his side: Irene Folstrom, who says she dated Woods when they were undergraduates at Stanford University, says, "I support him 100 percent ... Of course, he was unfaithful and he has his faults, but he is really a good person." Folstrom says she has not stayed in touch with Woods, but knows through mutual friends that "He is willing to do whatever it takes to salvage his marriage and his reputation and his professional life ... He is focusing on his family, his marriage and his children."
-- Anne Neville
