Beck/Smith Hollywood

By Stacy Jenel Smith

Anne Hathaway’s unfortunate taste in men was highlighted again last month, with news that the actress won’t be fighting the U.S. government’s plan to auction off the bling given to her by former boyfriend of four years, the now-imprisoned con man Rafaello Follieri. The baubles — including two Rolex watches, gold and silver rings, a Louis Vuitton jewelry box, a five-strand pearl necklace, a Tiffany clock and a Cartier figurine — will be on the block to help pay off the $2,440,000 judgment he has hanging over his head.

Also in May, her beau of the last several months, actor Adam Shulman, was accused of swiping a mural from a Manhattan construction sight. He subsequently gave back the street art and apologized, so all is well. We hope.

Even so, Hathaway fans are once again declaring that she deserves better, and wondering why someone as brilliant, accomplished and well-bred as she would get involved with unworthy men. Shulman is cute, but his biggest credits to date are his small role as a deputy sheriff in ‘The Dukes of Hazzard: the Beginning’ — and dating Anne Hathaway.

Fans wonder, just as they wonder about the also-classy Sandra Bullock and her soon-to-be ex-husband Jesse James. What drew someone smart and savvy enough to succeed as a Hollywood producer — on top of her Oscar-winning career as an actress — to such a cheating low-life?

What caused beautiful, beloved Jennifer Aniston to take back love ‘em and leave ‘em guy John Mayer in 2008, after he had already publicly humiliated her, telling TMZ he had ended their relationship because he just wanted to be alone and not ‘waste someone’s time.’ And that as far as cheating on her, well, those were ‘cheap lies,’ although seeing other people after a relationship has run its course is ‘the most normal thing in the world.’

In fact, for every generation of celebrities, there’ve been princess and bad boy stories.

Whitney Houston was an America’s Sweetheart when she hooked up with carousing, drug abusing bad boy Bobby Brown in 1989. Now, 21 years, a daughter, multiple rehab stints and a divorce later, she’s a wreck of her former self.

Doris Day, the ultimate Girl-Next-Door movie star of her time, had a weakness for men who were bad for her. Her turbulent 17-year union with svengali manager Marty Melcher was marked by his brutal treatment of her son, Terry. It was blamed for her emotional breakdown at one point, and for sieges of extreme ill health. And it was disastrous to her financially. She was presented with a $500,000 tax demand after his death, and was soon to find her fortune had been milked dry and she was broke save for personal possessions.

As Gwen Stefani asks in No Doubt’s ‘Bathwater,’ ‘Why do the good girls always want the bad boys?’

Hollywood shrinks issue answers. Talking about the Good Girl-Bad Boy conundrum in BettyConfidential.com, L.A.-based Dr. Morris Halperin declares, ‘It’s slightly egotistical behavior…It’s just like someone who wants an exotic animal as a pet. They actually think these guys will change their traits and be good to them….It’s out of touch with reality that they think, ‘I’m different. I can dance with this monster and control it.’ The reality is, you can’t have a tiger as a pet and control it.’

Obviously, that behavior certainly isn’t confined to women who are famous and successful. It’s hard-wired into society. Good Woman Reforms Bad Boy is a staple plotline we’ve seen play out in dozens of movies, going back to such chestnuts as John Wayne’s ‘Angel and the Bad Man,’ which was recently remade as a TV movie, through ‘Grease,’ ‘A Walk to Remember’ and the latest retellings of the classic fairy tale ‘Beauty and the Beast’ — the Disney animated film and this coming summer’s ‘Beastly’ with Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer.

Another psychological explanation — that can also apply to the famed and the everyday female alike — was expressed to Ebony magazine by psychologist Carole Stovall: ‘A ‘good girl’ is a woman who has followed the rules all of her life; she’s been taught to go along with the status quo of what everyone else thinks she should do, be and want. These women have not had an opportunity to be who they are, so they are attracted to the men who rebel against the rules, and they live vicariously through them.’

That brings to mind those who point to Bullock’s strict upbringing as an explanation for her attraction to James and other bad boys, saying she was fulfilling an old desire to cut loose.

Poor male role models and relationship models in childhood are cited by other experts as a root of some women’s attraction to the ‘bad boy’ types — they go with what they know.

Low self-esteem is also a contributing factor in many of these relationships, on both sides, experts say.

Of course, psychologists can only speculate on the reasons that personalities they’re not treating may act as they do.

Jennifer Aniston’s declaration to Vogue — ‘Love just shows up’ — may be the closest thing to an explanation we’ll ever really have as to why she chose to hang with Mayer, who is now, happily, just part of her history.

Is it helpful – or harmful – to conduct one’s battle against obesity in the public eye? “It’s both,” to hear Carnie Wilson tell it. “It’s definitely both.

”There are days I feel inspired and in control. When I feel that way, I can look at people watching and say, ‘Yes, now I’m sending out a positive influence.’ When I’m not in control, not feeling the results, those days I hear people saying to me, ‘What’s wrong with you? You gained all your weight back.’ Those are the time’s I’m sick and tired, just tired of trying to make it more simple, you know?.”

Wilson, who has weighed over 300 lbs. in the past and publicly pioneered gastric bypass surgery with a procedure shown on the internet in 1999, is at least as famous for her efforts to regain a healthy form by now as she ever was for her Wilson Phillips pop music stardom. Her latest TV go-rounds in the diet realm included a visit to the Dr. Oz show – on which the MD told her that she was pre-diabetic and fell into the morbidly obese category at 65 lbs. overweight. She’s since been attempting to follow his diet plan for her, but Carnie admits it’s even harder to focus on working out and dieting now that she has two young daughters. Viewers of her “Carnie Wilson: Unstapled” reality show on GSN are certainly aware of her struggles in that area.

But Carnie manages an upbeat tone as she talks about her life in general. Her GSN “Newlywed Game” is in its third season. And she has “Unstapled.”

Carnie admits she had trepidations about opening up her life for the reality show cameras, but has found “it’s opened up my eyes to a few things – like just how precious my husband is. He was a little hesitant at first, but once that reserve was cracked open, now I think he’s gotten excited about it. It’s like a little time capsule we get to share of our family unit.”

She and hubby Rob Bonfiglio have been careful about their daughters’ time before the cameras, she says. Luciana – “Luci” — who is eight months old and “my little dunkin’ donut” is too young to know the difference, while four-year-old old Lola seems to be taking it all in stride, as she did the arrival of her simbling, to hear Mom tell is.

”She is just the most beaming child, proud and fun and funny and just loving and – oh my God. She loves her sister. She’s funny because she’s really and she’ll say, ‘I love my sister and I want to kiss her and I want to hold her.’ And she’ll also say, ‘Mommy, I want you to pay attention to me now.’”

Sounds like she might have acquired Carnie’s gift for communication.

RIP Dennis Hopper May 29, 2010

Originally Posted March 30, 2010

Last week’s sad appearance by a rail thin Dennis Hopper at his Hollywood Walk of Fame star unveiling is all the more stunning considering that it was only in September that the Oscar-nominated actor and ‘Easy Rider’ filmmaker was telling this column how happy he was: “I’ve got a wonderful life — and that’s a miracle.  After so many years of drug and alcohol abuse, I should be dead.”

He’d been clean for more than 26 years, he said, and more important, “I haven’t seemed to have had a bad influence on my kids.’  His son, he said, “Went through a program and is sober.”  His three daughters, he said, were “just fine….It’s a great family…I’ve got a son, a daughter and my granddaughter living with my wife and me in our house in Venice.’

Later that same month, Hopper was rushed to the hospital, feeling faint, leading to his diagnosis of prostate cancer.  In January he filed for divorce from wife Victoria — a split that has become extremely ugly, with Hopper accusing her of raiding his home and absconding with artworks and other valuables worth an estimated $1.5 million.  And, as has been widely reported, legal papers that came to light last week show his attorney saying he is so ill and frail with his now-terminal cancer, he was unable to be deposed.  Hopper’s children were among those who turned out for his star unveiling, the last hurrah of a Hollywood counterculture king.

Timothy Hutton’s character in TNT’s ‘Leverage’ will be cleaning up his act again as the third season of the show gets underway.

Hutton, who leads a team of expert criminals in the Robin Hood-style adventure yarn, will be leaving his alcoholism behind when the third season of the show launches on June 20. Says the actor of his Nathan Ford character, ‘Last season he tried to give up drinking, but it didn’t last. This season he’s definitely off the bottle. In the past he would deal with his problems by going back on the bottle. Now he wants to be a good leader and to stay sober.’

How long that will last is questionable. Says Timothy, ‘Some mysterious figure comes out of the shadow about a month into the new season, and that might unravel Nate again. He’s a person Nate would rather not see and he plays such a big part in the story that the show is trying to keep his story a secret for now.’

Hutton recently won a Prism Award for his accurate depiction of a character that’s been described in the past as ‘a functioning alcoholic.’

Asked why he feels so many of the lead characters on TV series (‘Nurse Jackie,’ ‘Breaking Bad,’ ‘House,’ etc.) are flawed, he notes, ‘It’s a reflection of life — people can identify with such problems. They’re the same issues regular people go through.’

Esteemed filmmaker Richard Loncraine reports that his ‘The Special Relationship’ movie — debuting on HBO tonight (5/29) — is being released theatrically in countries around the globe, save for the United Kingdom, where it will be shown on the BBC.

‘It will be interesting to see how a cinema audience accepts this subject,’ he says of the drama that sheds behind-the-scenes light on the relationship between President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair in the ’90s. ‘Is it the kind of film people will spend money on a babysitter to go see?’

With dazzling performances by Dennis Quaid as Clinton, Michael Sheen as Blair, Hope Davis as Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair, ‘The Special Relationship’ will undoubtedly be remembered at awards time. However, Loncraine doubts it could have gotten made for the big screen ‘in the present studio or independent film environment.’ He feels the same way about his Emmy-laden ‘Band of Brothers’ and ‘The Gathering Storm’ as well. ‘This is the fourth film I’ve done for HBO and they’ve been a real pleasure,’ adds the director, whose feature credits include such fare as ‘The Missionary,’ ‘Richard III,’ ‘Firewall’ and ‘My One and Only.’

He candidly tells us that ‘The Special Relationship’ ‘really wasn’t much of a challenge for me, to be honest. It was an odd one for me. Peter Morgan decided directing wasn’t for him on this project, and I came in four weeks before principle photography,’ he says, referring to the play and screenwriter, who’d been planning to make his directing debut with the cable film. ‘Usually, directors have been working six months on a production before shooting starts, the last three months of which are very stressful and involve things like not enough money, or arguing with the studio. I didn’t have any of that, so I wasn’t as exhausted as directors usually are.’

He points out that HBO insisted everything be vetted for accuracy, which he did find demanding, especially since, ‘I’m not a particularly political animal.’ Much of the material was new to him, in fact. ‘I was struck by the realization that without Clinton’s infidelity, the world be a different place today. Obviously it was harmful to his wife and family, but it wasn’t like he declared war on South America. It’s stunning to think that such a relatively small event had such enormous repercussions from then on.’

MEANINGFUL DAY: Joe Mantegna, who marks his ninth year of hosting PBS’s National Memorial Day Concert before a crowd of hundreds of thousands on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol this weekend, has been met with much appreciation from veterans, active service members and their loved ones. But he’s not one to take thank-yous for his participation in the music-filled event that celebrates and memorializes the sacrifices made by troops past and present. ‘I mean, look, there’s no reason to thank us. The whole point of this is to thank them. I realize this is probably the most important thing I do all year,’ says the ‘Criminal Minds’ star.

‘The fact I have a career and have a good life and all that is due to the fact that we have people in the military who’ve been out there protecting us. There’s nothing to thank us about. I’m glad to do it.’

For the fifth year in a row, he co-hosts with pal Gary Sinise. This year’s event (check local listings) will include Lionel Richie, Brad Paisley, Blythe Danner, Dennis Haysbert, Yolanda Adams and Colin Powell.

THE VROOM VROOM ROOM: Supermodel-turned-super mogul Kathy Ireland has now turned to the world of super motors.  She has become the most recent celeb (David Letterman and the late Paul Newman come to mind) to become part owner of a major racing team — and car 43 will be carrying her brand out onto the Indie 500 this Sunday (5/30) with none other than John Andretti at the wheel.  The Kathy Ireland Home division of her Kathy Ireland WorldWide design and marketing empire is joining racing legend Richard Petty and Window World as sponsors of this top Memorial Day 500 entry.

So Nick Jonas is heading to London’s West End, returning to “Les Miserables” as a star! Did you not see it coming, Jonas followers, that the 17-year-old creative engine of Jonasworld — Nick — would continue stepping out on his own? One year it’s Nick Jonas and the Administration, the next Nick starring in “Les Miserables.” In case you missed it, here’s the Twitter entry he posted last night, unveiling his deal:

“I am so excited to announce that I will be performing in Les Miserables once again! The amazing Cameron Macintosh reached out to me last year about portraying the role of Marius in London at the West End. When I was ten years old I was in Les Miserables as Gavroche. On my closing night in 2003 I told my parents that I would come back to be Marius one day. It is truly a dream come true. More details will be coming soon. Can’t wait to see the fans who make it out to the show! Love you all. Special thanks to Cameron for this amazing opportunity. “I Dreamed a Dream” and they seem to be coming true.”

Congratulations, Nick.

— Stacy Jenel Smith

When ‘Jonas L.A.’ launches June 20, fans will see that the Disney Channel series has matured — along with the superstar trio of brothers who give the show its name.

‘I think the evolution of who we are, growing up in general, is really cool,’ says 22-year-old Kevin, who married wife Danielle last December. ‘It really adds to our characters, and people can relate to it because they see our regular lives. Trying to keep us the same — still being in high school — wouldn’t have worked,’ he notes, referring to their TV counterparts.

Nick, 17, who went out on a tour of his own last year with his The Administration band, adds that he and his brothers ‘looked at all the things we had coming up individually and as a group, and took the time to make sure our focus was still there and drive was still there’ when it came to a second season of ‘Jonas.’

They’re pleased enough with the results that when asked whether they might even go on to a Season 3, Joe, 20,  answers, ‘We might. We don’t know yet. It depends on how the second season goes, I guess.’

We meet with the Jonases in their suite atop the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood, escorted in by none other than famous bodyguard Big Rob. There’s a panoramic view of Los Angeles on one end of the suite’s vast living room, and giant screen monitors on the other. As we arrive, the brothers look like they’re having a blast playing NBA basketball with 11-year-old Disney Channel/Xbox 360 sweepstakes winner Gavin Liddell — and treating him and his mom and dad and little sister like esteemed guests.

The brothers make an entrance by helicopter on the rooftop of this very hotel in ‘Jonas L.A.,’ they let us know. Everything’s been kicked up a few notches. ‘It’s pretty amazing. It’s taken on a life of its own,’ says Kevin. Joe notes that seeing the first episodes all put together ‘was really exciting.’

Their whole summer looks to be really exciting as well. With their ‘L.A. Baby’ lead-off single from their forthcoming album out, they have their three-continent summer tour launching in July (with Demi and other ‘Camp Rock’ talent on the bill) — all part of the ramp up to their highly-anticipated ‘Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam’ debuting Sept. 3 on Disney Channel.

‘We are really excited about the tour,’ says Nick, ‘looking forward to getting out there and starting up again. We love touring and when we’re out on the road it just feels like home.’

‘Whenever we go off and do individual projects or acting individually, I think it’s important to focus on the fact we are still a band and that comes first,’ Kevin adds, ‘and we always come back to this. We really want to pursue this as the main focus and that’s really nice.’

Sam Jaeger, who plays stay-at-home dad Joel Graham on NBC’s so-very-good and so-very-renewed ‘Parenthood,’ is using his hiatus to play stay-at-home dad for real. Jaeger and his wife have a seven-week-old son — who’s in his arms throughout our conversation — in addition to her 15-year-old daughter.

He already knows that Season 2 will crank up production mid-July, and that it will bring ‘a few more hiccups’ in his character’s relationship with attorney wife Julia (Erika Christensen).

‘We’ll see how the relationship changes if two people are not on the same page about their roles in the family,’ he says. ‘Michael Chambon, in his book, ‘Manhood for Amateurs,’ talks about how he was at a grocery store, and someone told him what a great dad he was, just by watching him with his son. What an interesting exchange it was, and what would it take for a woman to get the same compliment? It doesn’t take much to be considered a great, or even a good father, the expectations unfortunately are so low,’ notes Jaeger, as he gives his son a bottle. ‘I really do want to be a great father to my boy and my girl. It’s certainly not easy, but it’s one of those challenges that I’m really excited about in this life.’

The handsome Jaeger hopes the network shows some repeats of ‘Parenthood’ episodes this summer, since ‘a lot of people have just discovered the show. Hopefully, they’ll build on that. It’s interesting, the kind of outreach the show has. I was walking home and I heard, ‘Are you on ‘Parenthood?’ and it was a teenage girl who’d run after me to have her picture taken with me. The show casts a wide net; it’s not just for thirtysomething women.’

THE INDUSTRY EYE: With the internet abuzz about Dwayne Johnson joining Vin Diesel and Paul Walker — caro pra chuchu! — for ‘Fast and Furious 5′ we get word that the film team is busy casting seven Brazilian characters. Actors have to be fluent in Portuguese.

Encouraging news for those who are feeling exhausted by TV scandal, sleaze and brainlessness. Casting notices have gone out for well-groomed, articulate, telegenic doctors, personal finance experts, relationship and lifestyle authorities — with undeniable credentials — to populate programs on OWN. That’s the Oprah Winfrey Network, you’ll recall, which debuts in Jan. 2011.

Christian Slater and Eva Longoria Parker head up the low budget feature ‘Without Men.’ Nice duty. It’s planned as a three week shoot in scenic Santa Barbara.

The history of country stars plying the acting craft is a mixed one. Memorable low point: when a critic deemed Glen Campell in ‘True Grit’ the ideal cowboy to chase a wooden Indian. Memorable high point…Well, here are our Top Ten Country-to-Hollywood Crossover Stars.

Tim McGraw. Hailed by critics for his solid performance supporting Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock in ‘The Blind Side,’ he now has ‘Love Don’t Let Me Down’ with Gwyneth Paltrow and Leighton Meester in the can. With past credits including ‘Friday Night Lights,’ ‘Flicka,’ ‘The Kingdom’ and ‘Four Christmases,’ he’s got a great career going not counting his music. But, by the way, where’s his wife’s acting career these days? Since getting stung with some nasty reviews in 2004′s ‘Stepford Wives,’ Faith Hill’s been sticking to singing.

Reba McEntire. The energetic red-haired songstress proved her TV mettle with the 2001-2007 ‘Reba’ sitcom, sure, but before that she conquered Broadway with ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ and the big screen in the cult fave ‘Tremors,’ among other acting credits.

Dolly Parton. Icon. Legend. Superstar. One of America’s great songwriters. Yes, and she’s been a bona fide movie star — ’9 to 5,’ ‘Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,’ ‘Steel Magnolias,’ etc. Nowadays, she’s known to Miley Cyrus’ fans as Aunt Dolly on ‘Hannah Montana.’

Billy Ray Cyrus. We can’t get too far away from ‘Hannah Montana’ without mentioning Miley’s achy breaky daddy. In addition to his own ‘Doc’ series, he’s racked up quite a few TV guest roles, telepics and movies, including the big screen ‘Mulholland Drive.’ Extra credit: ‘Dancing With the Stars.’

Dwight Yoakam. But let’s talk about real acting. ‘Sling Blade,’ anyone? Yoakam’s searing portrayal of an abusive alcoholic left moviegoers stunned. And it wasn’t a fluke. He really does have those chops, as he’s proven again and again, in films from ‘Panic Room’ to ‘Crank.’ He has ‘Provinces of Night’ hitting the festival circuit with Val Kilmer, Hillary Duff and Kris Kristofferson.

Kris Kristofferson. Kristofferson’s ’70s-’80s reign as a movie star included a string of memorable films — ‘Blume in Love,’ ‘Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,’ ‘Vigilante Force,’ ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’ and ‘A Star is Born.’ Even in the high-profile failure ‘Heaven’s Gate,’ Kristofferson’s performance was singled out as good.

Willie Nelson. Okay, he’s always Willie Nelson, no matter what his character’s name is. But that hasn’t kept crowds from loving the unrepentant old pot-smoking outlaw in such fare as ‘The Electric Horseman,’ ‘Honeysuckle Rose,’ ‘Barbarosa,’ ‘Bones,’ ‘The Colbert Report’ or any of his other movie or TV acting gigs.

LeAnn Rimes. In addition to her Lifetime movie ‘Northern Lights’ providing her with a new real-life leading man, Eddie Cibrian, the made-for-television film showed she’s a credible thespian. She also starred along with Luke Perry in the comedy ‘Good Intentions’ and says it’s her intention to do more acting.

Randy Travis. A recurring role on ‘Touched by An Angel’ and dozens of parts on TV and in films (‘Young Guns,’ ‘Frank & Jesse,’ ‘The Shooter,’ ‘The Visitation’) put the affable, deep-voiced star on the list.

Taylor Swift. No, she hasn’t done much yet, but mark her name in the Most Promising category thanks to her guest starring stint on ‘CSI’ last year. The show’s viewership jumped by three million when the 20-year-old hot country It Girl was on portraying a murder victim. Then she showed up in ‘Valentine’ with then-boyfriend Taylor Lautner. Next, she’s playing Barbie Roberts in ‘Barbie, the Movie.’ What a doll.

RuPaul is certainly breaking barriers with his popular Logo show “RuPaul’s Drag Race” — which has attracted a viewership across genders, ages, races and sexual orientations, and is already green-lit for its Season 3.  First,  he’ll see whether his new spinoff series, “RuPaul’s Drag U,” debuting in July, will add to his success.

The latter show features RuPaul and drag queen pals taking on the task of makeovers of “biological women.” No doubt, mascara-fueled fierceness will ensue.

Despite the homophobia that still blatantly exists in today’s society, the famous drag queen tells us he’s lucky to have so much support.

“It just goes to show you the power of drag.  The truth is, everybody loves drag whether they admit or not.  Whenever I’m in drag and see babies in strollers, you see their eyes glaze over and all they see is color and dangly, shiny jewelry and they’re in love.  At their heart, that’s what people love about drag – the freedom and the color and all that,” says RuPaul, who hopes the rest of society begins to be more accepting of everyone.

“I think we’ve just come out of a real fear hostage situation.  I think it was self-imposed. People really get off on being fearful.  I think it heightens their experience. I don’t understand it,” he adds.  “Acceptance is really something between each person and themselves.  If you can love and accept yourself then you can love and accept all the people around you.”

However, what people say and what they do are two different things – as this sassy drag queen can attest.  “I’ve been doing drag for 28 years and I know what people are really like.  Our culture is such a hypocrisy and a dichotomy.  We say one thing but we do another thing,” he notes.

– Emily-Fortune Feimster