There’s something about Carla
Carla Bruni, 41, vowed she would put her singing career on hiatus throughout her husband’s tenure as the president of France, but next month, she will make an exception. Bruni has agreed to perform a duet with Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics at New York’s Radio City Music Hall to honour Nelson Mandela on his 91st birthday. If director Woody Allen, 73, gets his way, Bruni will make another exception for him. In Paris last week to promote his latest film, Whatever Works, Allen was asked by the London Telegraph who he would rather cast in a film, Queen Elizabeth or the Dalai Lama. “Without question, Carla Bruni,” he replied. “I’m sure she would be wonderful. She has charisma, and she performs, so she’s not a stranger to an audience, and I would cast her in many different ways.” Allen’s agenda in Paris included a visit to the presidential palace to meet with Nicolas Sarkozy and Bruni. “I don’t have a story at the moment,” he said, “but you know, maybe even I’ll ask her, if she’s interested.”
That’s not cricket!
Sir Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire and cricket enthusiast, was indicted last Friday on fraud charges in connection with a $7-billion Ponzi scheme in which he allegedly advised clients to buy bogus certificates of deposit from the Stan ford International Bank, based in Antigua, and bribed local bank officials to turn a blind eye. He is accused of using client funds to support his own opulent lifestyle. The FBI sought him out at his girlfriend’s home in Fredericksburg, Va. Seeing the agents parked outside, Stanford ventured out to ask if they had a warrant. Unhappily for him, they did.
Mollycoddled prince
Prince William celebrated his 27th birthday last Sunday. As a gift, his girlfriend, Kate Middleton, booked them into a private home near a medieval town in Cornwall under the pseudonyms Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The couple was later joined by a group of friends, including Prince Harry, for birthday festivities. Currently, the princes are living together in Shropshire, England, where they are both undergoing Royal Air Force training. William is learning to be a search and rescue pilot and Harry is training to fly army helicopters. William told reporters last week that he would like to go to war like his younger bro ther, who completed a 10-week tour of Afghanistan in early 2008. “In my eyes, if Harry can do it then I can do it,” he said. “I didn’t join the forces to be mollycoddled or treated any differently.” In fact, at home in their bachelor pad, Harry is the one who is mollycoddled, William joked. “I do a fair bit of tidying up after him,” he said. “He snores a lot too. He keeps me up all night long.” To which Harry replied, “Oh God, now they will think we are sharing a bed!”
When gossip hurts
In the wee hours following the MuchMusic Video Awards last Sunday, an unlikely fight broke out between self-dubbed “gossip gangster” Perez Hilton and Will .i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. It ended with Hilton being pun ched in the eye and the Toronto police getting inundated with calls from his fans who were alerted to the incident via Twitter. On Monday, both Hilton and Will .i.am released online videos describing very different versions of the altercation. According to a tearful Hilton, it began with a war of words over Hilton’s treatment of Fergie, the lone female member of the Black Eyed Peas, on his website. Will .i.am allegedly deman ded that Hil ton stop writing negative things about the band and later, along with his entourage, followed Hilton out back where the Peas’ manager, Polo Molina, punched Hilton repeatedly. According to Will .i.am, it was a Peas fan who roughed Hilton up. The real story inevitably will come out now that Ryan Seacrest is on the case: he has invited both parties onto his show to get to the bottom of this harrowing incident.
Maternal instincts
Maureen Lee and her daughter Maya, 3, were walking their dog along a wooded trail in Brackendale, B.C., when a cougar spied them and attacked the little girl. “All of a sudden it just flew on her, rolled her a couple of times and grabbed her,” Lee told the CBC. “She was on her back and [the cougar] had his paws on her head, and I just knew I had to react quick. So I jumped in there and wedged myself between the cougar and her on the ground. I just got up and threw it off my back and grabbed Maya and ran,” she said. Miraculously, Maya suffered only puncture wounds on her head and left arm.
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