Courtney Love Jumps to Defend Britney! October 7, 2007

Rocker Courtney Love has jumped to defend beleaguered singer Britney Spears. The former Hole frontwoman has slammed the department of Children’s Services (DCS) for victimising Spears because she is famous. Writing on her blog, the rocker said that the department is exploiting the singer who recently lost the temporary custody of her two kids to ex-hubby Kevin Federline. Calling the DCS in LA a ‘horror show’, the 42-year-old said that she knows exactly how it functions. “I know everything. The DCS in LA is a horror show they are angry … they hated me for my status wealth etc – and they took it out on the kid,” Contactmusic quoted her, as saying. “Once your in that system it is f**ked up, so B (Britney) get out. Before you judge walk a mile in her shoes,” she added. RECORD LABEL BY HER SIDE Britney Spears’ distressed and messy life has found a supporter in her record label. In a recent statement, American record label, Jive Records, came up to the troubled singer’s side, by calling her “one of the great recording artists of her time.” “Jive is enormously excited about Britney’s new album, and we’re confident that it will secure her reputation as one of the great recording artists of her time. As Britney’s label, it’s not our place to comment on her personal issues, but we do care about her and support her,” Us Magazine.com quoted a rep for the company, as saying. “There’s no question that when performers attain the level of celebrity that Britney has, they tend to be treated by the press and public as if they were cartoon or soap-opera characters, and we forget that they’re actually human beings,” the rep added. Further backing their high-profile client, Jive said that the ‘Toxic’ singer is much stronger than everyone else, as she has faced challenges that most of us can’t really imagine. “People say that’s the trade-off you make for success in the entertainment industry – that if you want to make it big, you have to surrender your privacy or the ability to lead a normal life,” the rep said. “But sometimes you make that bargain before you realize what it entails. Britney’s a grown woman who makes her own choices, and we respect that. But she faces challenges that most of us can’t really imagine,” the rep added. Meanwhile Britney’s “Gimme More” video, her first in more than two years, is set to make its debut on MTV’s TRL. A rep for the network has confirmed that the video will premiere on MTV’s TRL at 3:30 p.m. ET on Oct 8. BRITNEY NAMES IT “BLACKOUT” Britney Spears’ first studio album in four years will be called “Blackout,” her label said. The Jive Records release is due in U.S. stores on November 13, and a day earlier internationally. The album title “refers to blocking out negativity and embracing life fully,” said Jive, a unit of Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Its first single, “Gimme More,” soared 65 places to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart Thursday after selling 179,000 downloads. It marks her first top 10 hit since “Toxic” in March 2004, and her best showing on the chart since her smash debut “…Baby One More Time” hit No. 1 in 1999. Spears lip-synched to “Gimme More” during her infamous performance at the MTV Video Music Awards last month. While her professional fortunes appear to be improving, her personal life remains troubled. Spears lost custody of her two young sons last week to her ex-husband Kevin Federline. A Los Angeles family court on Thursday issued strict rules governing her visitation rights, including a requirement that a monitor be present whenever the pop star is with them. Spears’ last album, 2004’s “In the Zone,” sold poorly relative to her earlier releases.

Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan has checked out of Cirque Lodge Treatment Center in Utah after spending a few months in the rehab facility. The actress was spotted leaving the facility on Oct 5, with her father Michael, who said that Michael Lohan said that his daughter is in “a stronger place than ever” and is approaching sobriety with more confidence this time around. “I will be there in her life as best I can but from here on she’s going to have a lot of decisions to make on her own. Now that she is going out into the world, I can only hope for the best,” E! Online quoted Michael, as saying. The 21-year-old actress is headed back to Los Angeles to begin shooting her new movie, the romantic drama ‘Dare to Love Me.’ The ‘Mean Girls’ star will also continue treatment as an outpatient at a Cirque-affiliated facility in the area. Lindsay checked into the rehab center in late July after being arrested on five counts, including driving under the influence of alcohol, driving on a suspended license and possession of narcotics.

Malaika Refuses to Walk

Gorgeous Malaika Arora has turned down the offer to walk the ramp in a bikini for a pageant. Recently dubbed as the ‘sexiest mom’ in Bollywood by Maxim magazine, Malaika reportedly asked for a big amount of money from the organizers of the Ms Bikini India 2007 contest, which is to be held in Goa in December. The organizers wanted Malaika to scorch the ramp in a bikini for a part of the pageant. Malaika told a Mumbai tabloid that the big money she asked was just a way to refuse the offer. She said she has never worn a bikini either in a film or on the catwalk, and will never do so. However, Malaika did pose in bikini for an edition of Maxim recently. The organizers of the pageant seem determined to have Malaika for the show. So they are now talking with the actress to either host a segment of the show or be the pageant’s brand ambassador. It remains to be seen if Malaika will give her nod. Reports have it that some international celebrities are expected to do the catwalk for lingerie designers and brands like CK and Vanity Fair in the pageant.

Gandhi Film to Open Australian Film

The largest foreign film festival in Australia will kickoff in Sydney with Feroz Abbas Khan’s Gandhi My Father. The fifth ‘Australian-Indian Film Festival’, commencing from October 17, will feature some of the finest films from India and screen over 20 films besides hosting prominent personalities from the Indian film and fashion industry. The line-up includes Bollywood stars like Akshaye Khanna , Anil Kapoor and director Feroz Khan. At the end of the 10-day festival, awards will be given for the best film and best performance from among the films screened, a statement said in Melbourne Thursday. A special bouquet of four films — Dil Chahta Hai , Chak De India , Salaam Namaste and Heyy Babyy — which were shot in Australia involving their crew, dancers and actors will also be screened during the festival. Apart from these four, films like Shootout At Lokhandwala and Tara Rum Pum will also be displayed. The festival is believed to attract over 40,000 people every year.

Jennifer Lopez has jumped to the defence of troubled stars Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton.

Jennifer Lopez has jumped to the defence of troubled stars Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. The ‘Waiting For Tonight’ singer insisted that the reason behind their messy lives is nothing but the pressures of fame. “People wonder why Britney or Lindsay or Paris is acting crazy, but they don’t know what it means not to be able to walk outside your house. ‘Oh, but she has $10 million!’ they say, but that doesn’t help when you can’t… feel good,” Contactmusic quoted her, as saying. “I feel so bad when I see people going through the beginnings of it. Because it’s not fun. You have to learn to navigate it because if you don’t, it will eat you up,” she added. According to the singer/actress, the best way to deal with the problem is to keep grounded. “It’s a lot of pressure. And you gotta keep grounded and find a way to deal with it and hopefully have love in your life,” she said. As for her own self, she said, that she and her hubby Marc Anthony consciously avoid socialising in places where the paparazzi are likely to be prowling. ANNOUNCING PREGNANCY Jennifer Lopez is reportedly getting ready to share her baby news with world by announcing it at her upcoming concert on Saturday. A source revealed that the singer has decided that announcing her pregnancy at the concert would be the perfect way to break the news. “(She’ll) announce that she and (husband) Marc Anthony are expecting their first child on Saturday night at her Madison Square Garden concert,” the New York Post quoted the source, as saying. And, it seems that the singer has been having a bit of a hard time keeping the news under wraps, especially after the incident at her concert in Connecticut Wednesday night. “A fan blew the side of her top all the way up for a moment, and a definitive baby bump was there. She was very quick to push down her top. Then she talked about how this year is full of firsts for her . . . and every so often her dress would fly up and you would see her belly,” another source said.

Prince William in Paparazzi

British tabloid newspapers opted not to publish paparazzi pictures of Prince William and his girlfriend Kate Middleton on Saturday after he complained they had been aggressively pursued by photographers. William, second in line to the throne, said that paparazzi had chased the couple on motorbikes and in cars as they were driven away from a London nightclub, just days after an inquest opened into his mother’s death in a high-speed crash. Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al-Fayed were killed when their Mercedes limousine crashed in a Paris tunnel in 1997 while being chased by paparazzi. “Having already been photographed leaving a club, he and Kate Middleton were then pursued in his car by photographers on motorcycles, in vehicles and on foot,” the prince’s press secretary Paddy Harverson said in a statement. “This aggressive pursuit was potentially dangerous, and worrying for them. It seems incomprehensible, particularly at this time, that this behavior is still going on.” LONDON NIGHTCLUB Photographers had massed outside the exclusive Boujis nightclub, hoping to capture the couple together in public for the first time since they rekindled their on-off relationship. Alessandro Copetti, whose pictures of the couple in their car were used by some papers, said there had been no initial chase. “When the car drove off first time, nobody followed,” he told BBC radio. “A few minutes later the car … decided to come back and drive in front of some photographers, who … made the wrong decision to follow and chase at that point.” After the prince’s complaint, the Daily Mail newspaper withdrew one of the paparazzi photos it had planned to use on its front page, substituting it with a picture of the couple taken at an earlier date. The Daily Mirror and Daily Express also decided not to use the photos although the mass-selling Sun newspaper did publish Copetti’s pictures, arguing they had been taken before the couple’s car had left. In a statement the Press Complaints Commission, the industry body that oversees the media, warned editors not to publish photographs which were taken through harassment. Williams and Middleton have faced intense media attention since they met while studying at St Andrews University in Scotland in 2001. Middleton was mobbed by photographers and camera crews as she left her London home on her 25th birthday, and she complained to the press watchdog earlier this year after the Daily Mirror published a picture of her walking to work.