Qiana's Daily Gossip for 12/26/06

Jessica Simpson Back On The Love Scene, Dating More Than 1 Guy



Jessica Simpson is back in the dating game. If you think John Mayer is the only guy Simpson is stringing along now-a-days, get ready for a real shock! The recently divorced blondie is also reportedly dating her 'Blonde Ambition' co-star Luke Wilson.

A source close to Simpson revealed to the National Enquirer, 'Jessica certainly got back in the swing of things - and she owes it all to Luke.'

'A year after her divorce, she's rediscovered just how much fun dating can be, and Luke is more than happy to play along.'

The Enquirer scoops: 'Luke, 35, first met Jessica, 26, on the set of 'Blonde Ambition' - and the two immediately hit it off. The comedy - an updated version of the Melanie Griffith hit 'Working Girl' - is filming in Shreveport, La. It didn't take long for the on-set friendship to blossom into a surprise romance.'
The source insists, 'The last thing Jessica was looking for was a new romance, but Luke is one of the most charming guys in Hollywood - not to mention handsome.'

'He was very generous with Jessica, constantly helping her run through lines and rehearse to make their scenes magic.'

Fitness Pixie Looks for Lindsay

Donning his gayest apparel, bubbly fitness guru Richard Simmons pranced the streets of Beverly Hills to shop and spread some holiday cheer this weekend.

After dishing out some health tips and picking up a few stocking stuffers, the hyperperky aerobics expert embarked on a search to find Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan ... and 'that other one, the skinny one.'

Ethan Hawke: Uma a 'Phenomenal' Mom

Though both Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman have never publicly discussed the private reasons for the 2004 break-up of their marriage, being in the limelight did not help the relationship, he now says.

'To be honest, it was an undue pressure on my marriage,' Hawke, currently appearing in a New York stage production of Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia, tells Parade magazine for its Sunday issue.

'I didn't like being famous when I was single, and what it did to my celebrity status to be married to another famous person was a huge pressure – one I didn't enjoy. And it had nothing to do with her. Nothing to do with her,' Hawke, 36, says with a shake of his head.

Hawke says he considers being father to his two children with Thurman – daughter Maya, 8, and son Levon, 4 – 'the greatest pleasure in my life. It's the only role that, if I fail, I will consider my life a failure.'

Having had parents who divorced, Hawke is aware of how such a split affects the kids. Speaking of himself and Thurman, he says, 'Our burden is just getting along, not hurting each other's feelings, and letting each other grow – letting the tides take our lives away from each other and dealing with the disappointment of a dream that didn't happen.'

When it comes to speaking about Thurman, also 36, Hawke takes the high road, says the magazine. 'She's my children's mother,' he says. 'You have to keep that above anything else. If you bring two people into the world together, that supersedes anything else.'

He also says about her devotion to raising the children properly, 'She's a great mother, and raising the kids is a priority for both of us. We're so fortunate that we have each other's back in that way. Because I write and act in theater, it's a lot easier for me to stay in the city. But my ex-wife has done a phenomenal job of that as well. She plans all her movies to shoot in New York.'

As for sharing parental duties with Thurman in the big city, Hawke adds, 'We live down the street from each other. If we lived down the street from each other in Minneapolis, I'd have to watch every car go in and out of the driveway. I'd know how late she stayed out. I don't have to know any of that stuff.'

James Brown's Partner Locked Out of Estate


The mother of James Brown's 5-year-old son has been locked out of his South Carolina home – because she and the late singer were never legally married, his lawyer says.

'It's not a reflection on her as an individual,' lawyer Buddy Dallas told the Associated Press of Tomi Rae Brown. 'I have not even been in the house, nor will I until appropriate protocol is followed.'

James Brown died of heart failure on Christmas Day at Atlanta's Emory Crawford Long Hospital. He was 73.

Tomi Rae Brown, 37, who was one of the singer's backup dancers, told the Augusta Chronicle on Monday that she was at a retreat when James died and that when she returned home, security guards informed her that Dallas and accountant David Cannon had barred her from the house.

Speaking outside the residence, Brown said she did not own the deed to the property but had a legal right to live there. 'This is my home. I don't have any money. I don't have anywhere to go,' she said.

'The last thing he said to me was, 'I love you baby and I'll see you soon,' ' Brown said of the Godfather of Soul.

But Dallas, the lawyer, says Brown has no right to live in the home because she and James Brown were never married. They held a wedding in 2001, but it was later discovered that she was already married to a Texas man at the time. Although that previous marriage was later annulled, she and the singer never legally wed.

'I suppose it would mean she was, from time to time, a guest in Mr. Brown's home,' Dallas said, adding that James Brown's estate was left in trust for his children and that Tomi Rae Brown has another residence.

The Browns had long had a tumultuous relationship. In 2004, James Brown pleaded guilty to a domestic violence charge after being accused of pushing Tomi Rae Brown to the floor and threatening to kill her. He was fined $1,388.

Brad & Angelina Spend Christmas with Refugees

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have spent their year helping others, and they didn't take a break on Christmas Day. The couple spent Monday handing out gifts to refugee children in the Costa Rican capital San Jose.

'We had a wonderful Christmas both with the Costa Rican people and the Colombian refugee families we met,' Jolie said in a statement. Her visit was part of her work as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

About 11,500 refugees have come to Costa Rica, most of them from Colombia, where an armed conflict between leftist guerrillas, soldiers and paramilitary forces has forced them to flee, says the UNHCR. All told, an estimated 3 million Colombians have been forced from their homes.

'The conflict in Colombia is the greatest humanitarian tragedy in the Western Hemisphere, but it receives very little international attention,' Jolie said after her arrival in San Jose. 'My Christmas message to Colombian refugees and to the millions of displaced people in Colombia is that the world has not totally forgotten them.'

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In San Jose, Jolie and Pitt dropped in on several small businesses established by refugees thanks to UNHCR economic initiatives. They also talked with young refugees, learning about the problems they and their families have faced.

'It's been sad for me to hear so many negative stories that show confusion between refugees, who are the victims of the conflict, and some criminal elements,' Jolie said.

The UNHCR said this was Jolie's second trip to the region in her five years as a goodwill ambassador. She also went to Ecuador in 2002 and later wrote a personal journal of her meetings with Colombian refugees there.

Holiday visits with the underprivileged has become something of a tradition for Pitt and Jolie. In 2005, they spent their first Thanksgiving together aiding earthquake victims in Pakistan.

That same holiday this year, before visiting Ho Chi Minh City, Jolie paid an unannounced visit to son Maddox's birth country, Cambodia, where she pledged to aid conservation efforts.

Tara Reid