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"Make or break" for Madonna's marriage

The rumours have been floating around for months, but now, odds are pretty good Madonna and Guy Ritchie are calling it quits.

Despite reports from the British press that Madonna has secured the services of Paul McCartney’s divorce lawyer—Fiona Shackleton—as Guy Ritchie also lawyer's up, British tabloid The Sun is reporting the couple is making a last ditch effort to save their marriage.

According to the report, Ritchie has made his way to America where Madonna is rehearsing for her forthcoming tour to work on their marriage.

“It is make or break time for Guy and Madonna," a source told the tabloid. "She is completely focused on rehearsals for her tour in America and can’t come back to London.

"They want to make the marriage work, but they are at a stalemate. At the moment they are both trying to rescue the situation. Em has shown a willingness to patch things up. But because almost all rehearsals for the tour are in New York rather than in London Guy thinks she’s not sacrificing much. He has now decided to fly out there this weekend to try to sort things out."

Reports have suggested the marriage has been on the rocks for more than a year, and the couple haven't been seen in public together in months.

Still, despite tabloid rumour, publicists for both Madonna and Ritchie have vehemently denied the couple are splitting up.

Adam Higgins © 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved .

Fan arrested for getting friendly with Cher

A drunken fan was arrested early Wednesday morning after getting a bit too grabby with gay icon and diva extraordinaire Cher. Police took 36-year-old Calvin Hougland into custody after he tried to get too ‘friendly’ with Cher at The World Famous Tootsies Orchid Lounge in Nashville. Houghland was thrown out of the lounge for harassing the singer, but repeatedly attempted to return, resulting in his arrest and incarceration.

According to a report from gossip site TMZ.com, Cher was apparently was enjoying a late night out at The World Famous Tootsies Orchard Lounge in downtown Nashville. The Lounge, a landmark honky tonk establishment in Nashville, is known as a legendary hangout for performers from the Grand Ole Opry back in the day. Country music icons such as Patsy Cline, Tom T. Hall, Waylon Jennings and Mel Tillis were known to frequent Tootsies, along with a bevy of other famous and not-yet-famous luminaries.

Why Cher chose to hang out at Tootsies in the wee hour of the morning is unknown, but apparently the outing turned into anything but a pleasant walk down the memory lane of country music. While Cher was chilling out in the Lounge, she was reportedly accosted by a drunken man out to get her attention, hell or high water. The man, identified by TMZ.com as Calvin Houghland, began harassing Cher and even had the audacity to try to lay hands on the diva. According to the Associated Press, Houghland actually managed to grab Cher by the waist before being tackled by security.

Houghland was thrown out of Tootsies for his behavior, but apparently was not ready to give up on his stalking. After repeated attempts to get back into the Lounge, authorities finally had to arrest him and haul him off to jail around 1:00 a.m. Police charged Houghland with public intoxication and disorderly conduct and left him to dry out until he can raise enough to post his $3,000 bail.

Most amusingly, Houghland actually called the police himself during the incident to say he was being assaulted by the security people attempting to keep him away from Cher. Keeping her cool, Cher declined to press charges for assault against the drunken fan.

Ann Turner © 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved.

Video: Germany's annual Christopher Street Day parade in Berlin.

While the Bulgarian police crack down on Sofia's first gay pride parade after a firebomb of a gay bar, and 150 homophobic mobsers attack gays, the LGBT community party on Christopher Street in Berlin. Buttocks galore.

Amy Winehouse and the potential killer

This just in: Smoking crack can lead to emphysema!

   

 

 

     

British soul-singing sensation Amy Winehouse was diagnosed with an early stage of the debilitating lung disease that could one day render her a virtual invalid, or worse, dead.

The Grammy-winning bee-hived crooner and notorious drug addict was admitted to the London Clinic after she passed out last week, leading doctors to catch the potentially deadly disease early.

"The doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs it won't just ruin her voice, it will kill her,” Winehouse’s father Mitch Winehouse said in a statement to the  Sunday Mirror.

“The doctors have said that if she had continued the way she was going she could have ended up an invalid—she wouldn't have been able to breathe.”

Despite the seriousness of the disease, Winehouse, 24, “has an early form of emphysema,” said her publicist Chris Goodman.

“It’s totally reversible and she’s responded well to treatment.”

Winehouse is slated to perform at a concert in London’s Hyde Park in honour of former South African President Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday on June 27, but it’s yet to be determined if Winehouse will be recovered enough to make the appearance.

The “Rehab” singer has had several bouts with rehab herself, but so far, nothing has appeared to stick.

But her father said he hopes the emphysema diagnosis will be the catalyst that will help his daughter kick the drugs.

“With smoking the crack cocaine and the cigarettes, her lungs are all gunked up. There are nodules around the chest and dark marks. She's got 70-percent lung capacity,” Mitch Winehouse said.

“If she doesn't go back to drugs, then she can lead this magnificent life. We are praying that that's what Amy really wants. She seems resolute."

Tracy E Gilchrist © 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved.

Britney spends time with her kids

Looks like two guest spots on How I Met Your Mother, a getaway to Costa Rica with Mel Gibson and becoming a new aunt have all contributed to the new Britney Spears... at least in the eyes of a court.

 

According to E! Online, the latest custody meeting in Spears vs. Federline resulted in "a change in visitation status," according Los Angeles Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini. 

 

Though Parachini wasn't spilling specifics, he did confirm that Spears had been granted overnight visitation with her sons, which could go in effect as early as this weekend.

 

Spears has been taking baby steps toward getting visitation with her kids back. She lost all rights to see her children earlier this year when she held them hostage at her Hollywood Hills home when a rep for Federline came to pick them up from their scheduled visit with their mom.

 

The singer was subsequently hospitalised in a mental health ward and under 24 hour supervision.

Following her release, Spears' financial affairs were turned over to her father, who has also been influential in getting her career back on track.

 

Access to her children was first restricted last October after Spears failed to show for several court mandated drug tests. The court ruled she was a "habitual and continuous drug user."

     

According to the Associated Press, a further hearing will take place July 15 while the case is expected to go to trial in August.


Adam Higgins © 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved

Blow up doll acts as lifeguard

 

This one simply has to be filed under, “Where the hell was your brain?” There is nothing more we can say about that.   

Now, I have to admit that I swim practically everyday, and that when I head down to Venice Beach or Santa Monica, other than to see if they have their shirts off, I rarely even notice the lifeguards sitting in the towers.

That must have been the mentality of one Italian lifeguard watching over the beaches of a resort in northwest Italy last week. After briefly leaving his post at the Imperia resort, Reuters reports that a lifeguard dressed a blow-up doll to monitor his shift.   

And this guy wasn’t messing around. Not only did he clothe the doll to look just like him, he accessorised his stand-in with sunglasses, binoculars and a whistle!

If only he could get him to blow!   

According the report, the head of the coastguard service noticed the dummy-guard (which dummy he noticed first we’re not sure) and immediately put a stop to the human guard’s ruse.

As it turns out, the guard wasn’t too far away from the scene.   

When all was said and done, the lifeguard was fined a total of 1,032 euros, which converts to about £816.

Mark Umbach © 2008 GaySports.com; All Rights Reserved

IKEA recalls baby sleeping bag

IKEA wants customers who have bought a BARNSLIG baby sleeping bag to bring it back to their local IKEA store for a full refund.

IKEA has received two customer reports where the BARNSLIG zip bottom stop has detached from the zipper during use. This also makes it possible for the zip slider to detach. Both parts could present a choking hazard to small children. No injuries have been reported.

 Customers who have a BARNSLIG sleeping bag with date stamps 0745 to 0824 are asked to bring it back to their local IKEA store for a full refund. The date stamp (YYWW) is to be found on a label sewn inside the sleeping bag.  The article numbers of the sleeping bags are: 30133409, 70130079, 90130078 and 40133404.

The cause of the failure was poor quality of the zipper. IKEA has stopped the sales and production of BARNSLIG sleeping bags and we are now reviewing our routines to improve the quality of BARNSLIG.

Customers wishing to find out more information can call customer services on 0845 358 3364.

Mario Lopez is hottest batchelor

Last week Mario Lopez faced rejection, but this week he revels in redemption.

Though he may not have been hot enough to snag the spokesperson gig for popular underwear line 2(x)ist, which last week chose his younger Chorus Line co-star Nick Adams over him as the face of their new campaign, People Magazine has named former Saved by the Bell star the hottest bachelor of them all.

Lopez tops this year’s People Magazine list of Hottest Bachelors, joining the ranks of previous romantically unattached ‘honorees’ like George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Matthew McConaughey, who was last year's winner.

Other bachelors featured on this year’s list of single male hotties include tennis player James Blake, American Idol champ David Cook, Britney Spears' older brother Bryan, Gossip Girl stars Penn Badgely, Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, Hills stars Brody Jenner and Frankie Delgado, Poison rocker Bret Michaels, actor Gerard Butler and Saturday Night Live comedian Andy Samberg.

Lopez ,who is currently making a name for himself on Broadway in the hit show A Chorus Line, recreated Mark Wahlberg's famous Marky Mark pose in his Calvin Klein tightie-whities in the pages of the forthcoming People Magazine Hottest Bachelors issue, which hits newsstands on Friday.

Jonas Oliver © 2008 GayWired; All Rights Reserved.

Saved by the Bell star loses out on pants ads

A Chorus Line star Mario Lopez has muscle envy over his hunky co-star Nick Adams' bulging assets—Adams' big biceps!

Dancing with the Stars phenom Lopez reportedly pitched a fit when the producers of his latest vehicle, a sexy revival of A Chorus Line, tried to cover his muscle-bound torso with his character Zach’s traditional long-sleeve tan sweater.

Bucking Zach’s costume since the Tony Award winning show debuted in the '70s, Lopez opted for a short-sleeve brown, bicep-revealing top to show off his “guns.”

But beyond the desire to display his own goods, Lopez’s jealousy over Adams’ hot body came to a head when Lopez demanded the young buck wear a baggy hoodie whenever they danced side by side.

The battle rages on now that men’s skivvy company 2(x)ist has picked Adams as the favorite ripped, shirtless, dancing man to front its latest ad campaign, the New York Post's Page Six reported.

"Mario was originally No. 1 on our radar as we planned the campaign," a source told the Post.

"We were ready to call him with an offer, but then we saw Nick. He's younger, sexy, more interesting.

"On top of that, his body was crazy. We set up a meeting, and when he walked in, that was it. We never even looked at anyone else after that."

The ad campaign reveals Adams in an unbuttoned tuxedo shirt, a bow tie and underwear. Look for it to bust out of the pages of Out's August issue first and then in other magazines.

Jason Scarlatti, 2(x)ist's creative director, gave final approval. He told the Post, "Nick's very masculine, sexy, modern. It's totally all about his body.

"Mario is a good-looking guy, but Nick had it. He's up and coming, the new face of sexy. He's original. He's hot."

Tracy E Gilchrist © 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved.

Queen of Mean leaves millions to her dog

When ‘Queen of Mean’ Leona Helmsley passed away, leaving her Maltese dog $12 million, business partners and those closest to Helmsley speculated the hotel tycoon had been off her rocker in her final days.

Now, her pooch—named Trouble—has seen her fortune dwindle to a paltry $2 million.

A New York Judge has also allowed for $6 million each to go to Helmsley’s two disinherited grandchildren, who argued their grandmother was mentally unstable at the signing of her will.

Trustees for Helmsley’s estate argued that the pooch had no need for the money she was awarded.

The judge redirected the remaining $10m into Helmsley's billion-dollar charitable foundation.

Trouble now lives in Florida with Carl Lekic, the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, according to the New York Post.

Yearly expenses for the dog were estimated at $190,000, according to the Post, including a $60,000 guardianship stipend for Lekic, a $100,000 security bill, $8,000 for grooming and more than $20,000 for food and care.

Helmsley died last August at the age of 87.

The convicted felon did a year and a half in prison in the late ’80s for tax evasion.

In 2002, she was ordered to pay close to a million dollars in damages to an employee she allegedly fired for being gay.


Angela D'Amboise © 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved