Rapper-turned-underwear model-turned-Oscar-nominated actor Mark Wahlberg has been enshrined in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The 39-year-old actor was presented with a star Thursday on Hollywood Boulevard’s famed sidewalk monument.
Will Ferrell, who stars with Wahlberg in the action-comedy “The Other Guys” being released next week, was on hand for the ceremony. The comedian got in a couple of digs.
“I’m glad to be here,” Ferrell said. “I first became a fan of Mark’s when I bought his workout video. And I love all your ‘Bourne’ movies.”
The “Bourne” films star Matt Damon, not Wahlberg.
Wahlberg first gained fame in the early 1990s, recording with the hip-hop group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.
That was followed by a ubiquitous ad campaign featuring him in Calvin Klein underwear.
He then turned to acting and got attention with his breakout role as Dirk Diggler in 1997′s “Boogie Nights.” Wahlberg got a supporting actor Academy Award nomination in 2006 for “The Departed.”
His wife and four young children were on hand for the sidewalk ceremony.
“I’m so happy my kids are sitting through this,” Wahlberg said. “When I heard I was getting this star, I felt like it was a practical joke.”
His other movie credits include “Four Brothers,” “Three Kings,” “The Perfect Storm,” “The Italian Job,” “Invincible,” “The Basketball Diaries,” “Fear,” “Shooter,” “Max Payne,” “The Lovely Bones,” “Planet of the Apes,” “The Happening,” “We Own the Night” and “Date Night.”
Wahlberg has also added a behind-the-scenes role to his resume: He’s an executive producer of the HBO series “Entourage,” “In Treatment,” “How to Make It In America” and “Boardwalk Empire.”
Anne Rice has had a religious conversion: She’s no longer a Christian.
“In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control,” the author wrote Wednesday on her Facebook page. “In the name of … Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.”
Rice, 68, is best known for “Interview With a Vampire” and other gothic novels. Raised as a Catholic, she had rejected the church early in her life but renewed her faith in recent years and in 2008 released the memoir “Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession.”
In a telephone interview Thursday, Rice said she had been having doubts for the past two to three years. She was troubled by the child abuse scandals in the church, and the church’s defensive reaction, and by the ex-communication of Sister Margaret McBride, a nun and hospital administrator who had approved an abortion for a woman whose life was in danger.
“I believed for a long time that the differences, the quarrels among Christians didn’t matter a lot for the individual, that you live your life and stay out of it. But then I began to realize that it wasn’t an easy thing to do,” said Rice, speaking from her home near Palm Springs, Calif. “I came to the conclusion that if I didn’t make this declaration, I was going to lose my mind.”
Rice said she is a Democrat who supports the health care legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama and believes gay marriage inevitably will be permitted throughout the country. Although no longer part of any denomination, she remains a believer and continues to read theology and post Biblical passages on her Facebook page. She has no immediate plans to write about her leaving the church and will continue with her metaphysical fiction series, “Songs of the Seraphim.”
Rice will not be taking up vampires again, but she said she is a big fan of the HBO series “True Blood,” enjoyed the first two “Twilight” movies (she has yet to read any of the Stephenie Meyer novels) and is interested in seeing her most famous character, the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, return to the screen.
“We’re in talks about it,” she said. “But then we’ve always been in talks about it. Hope springs eternal in California.”
Ellen DeGeneres is dancing off “American Idol” after one season, leaving Fox’s hit show with two vacancies on its judging panel.
If the singing contest intends to revamp itself to stem a ratings slide, it has the opportunity to bring in two new faces for season 10 in January.
Fox has yet to announce a replacement for Simon Cowell, who left after the season finale in May to start a new talent show for the network.
“A couple months ago, I let Fox and the `American Idol’ producers know that this didn’t feel like the right fit for me,” DeGeneres said in a statement. The comedian-talk show host said she realized that while she “loved discovering, supporting and nurturing young talent, it was hard for me to judge people and sometimes hurt their feelings.”
DeGeneres said she told the network she would delay any action until it had time to “figure out where they wanted to take the panel next.”
A Fox statement contained no announcement of a replacement for DeGeneres. The network could make an announcement Monday, when it presents its 2010-11 programming schedule to members of the Television Critics Association meeting in Beverly Hills.
Judge Kara DioGuardi, who was brought in two years ago to replace Paula Abdul, is not under contract for next year and Fox has not announced whether she’ll return.
“It was a joy to work with Ellen,” said Mike Darnell, president of alternative entertainment for Fox. “She brought an incredible spirit to Idol.”
When DeGeneres joined the show, proclaiming herself a fan of “American Idol” and a pop aficionado, observers noted she didn’t bring music industry expertise to her role. Some observers complained she proved more of a cheerleader than an incisive critic in the mold of Cowell.
She had a reported two-year contract.
“American Idol” was the nation’s favorite program last season, the seventh time it’s held that position. But it showed rare vulnerability, beaten in the weekly ratings several times by ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”
A total of 24.2 million viewers watched the ninth season’s final duel between Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox, compared to the nearly 29 million viewers who saw Kris Allen win over Adam Lambert last year.
She’s spent the past few weeks being the lady of luxurious leisure as she parties her way round Europe.
But yesterday, Paris actually knuckled down and did some work as she filmed her music video in Ibiza.
However, it wasn’t exactly a day’s hard graft for the pampered heiress who got to dance around in the sun a bright pink swimsuit all day.
Paris, 29, was shooting a video for her new single, taken from her upcoming second album, which has yet to be named.
She showed off her slender figure in the cutaway swimsuit, which she teamed with matching heels and blue-rimmed sunglasses.
And by all accounts, Paris had a great time shooting the video, in which she is surrounded by scantily-clad female dancers.
She took to her Twitter page to tell her followers just how much fun she was having making the video.
She wrote: ‘On set of the music video shoot. What an incredible house were shooting at and the weather is just beautiful! I Love Ibiza!’
Later she added: ‘The music video shoot went amazing today! So many incredible dancers and the clothes were so hot! Had so much fun! Can’t wait to see it! 
.’
The socialite released her first record in 2006, the self-titled ‘Paris’, and she hopes the follow-up will be out by the end of the summer.
And speaking to heat magazine this week, she said she counted Kylie Minogue as her biggest musical influence.
She said: ‘I really have always loved Kylie Minogue – she’s like, one of my favorite artists. I’ve just been really inspired by her. I just wanted my music to kind of… emulate her.
‘I just kind of love her sound and I love the way she is, so I was inspired by her.’
The reality star and her sister Nicky are on a month-long summer holiday travelling round Europe with several of their friends.
They kicked off their summer at the World Cup in South Africa, before heading to London, on to Paris, then down to Corsica where they boarded a yacht which sailed round Sardinia and off the coast of Italy.
From there the girls sailed over to the French Riviera and Saint Tropez and are now on the party island of Ibiza.
But Paris has landed herself in trouble after pictures were published of her on board a yacht enacting what appeared to be a Nazi salute, as he held her right arm straight out and stuck her left forefinger under her nose.
However, she strenuously denied this and her spokesman said she was merely dancing and scratching her face at the same time.
Lady Gaga stayed true to her crazy style today.
The singer, 24, was spotted wearing what looked like an oversized strait jacket as she arrived at the airport in Houston, Texas.
The cream coat featured restraining straps and buckles on the shoulders and hem.
The straps were so tight around her knees that Gaga was forced to take small steps in her giant skyscraper heels.
The singer topped off the look with a huge pair of shades and a giant cup of coffee in hand.
Luckily, she had a couple of bodyguards by her side to catch her in case she was tripped up by her own coat.
However, her on-again musician boyfriend Luc Carl, 29, was nowhere to be seen.
But the pair are definitely back together and were spotted snogging in a Houston hotel pool party during her stay.
They began dating five years ago but split before Gaga became famous and recently they’ve been getting hot and heavy once more.
A source told People.com: ‘Gaga’s first album is entirely about their relationship and her latest song, You and I, is about how they got back together. They’ve been in love for a while.’
Currently on tour, Gaga has been having a lot of fun in Texas. Earlier this week, she stopped by Dallas bar, The Round-Up Saloon after her show at the American Airlines Center.
The owners Alan Pierce and Gary Miller first met Gaga when her tour manager contacted them to ask if she could perform a slot in summer 2008.
They said they weren’t keen, as ‘the next Madonna’ wasn’t the usual type of act to perform at the bar.
But the two gave Gaga a chance and she played a couple of songs.
Two years later she was back in the city as part of her world tour, and surprised them by booking out the roof area and arriving with her 15-strong entourage, including her mother, to celebrate her whirlwind success.
Alan told Thecount.com: ‘She was nice and wonderful now, as she was before she became a big star.’
For ten years Harry Potter has dominated his work and his social life – even more so because of a good behavior clause in his film contract.
Now filming on the final instalment of the hit franchise is over, it seems Daniel Radcliffe is making the most of his new-found freedom.
The actor, who is worth millions, celebrated his 21st birthday in style on holiday with two friends in St Petersburg, and looked increasingly worse for wear as the night went on.
Dressed in jeans and a fitted white shirt, he appeared keen to sample the local Russian liquor, at one point grabbing a bottle of vodka to help ensure the barman poured a suitably sizeable measure.
Thousands of fans were left disappointed last week after he opted not to attend a showcase preview of upcoming film Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, the first of a two-part finale to the series about the boy wizard, at the Comic Convention in San Diego, California.
In the event, Tom Felton, who plays Harry’s rival Draco Malfoy, was the only member of the cast who made an appearance.
Radcliffe said: ‘I apologize to all the wishful thinkers for my disappointing non-presence.’
Speaking after his holiday to Russia earlier this week, he added: ‘It was fantastic. I was in St Petersburg for my birthday, which is probably the most beautiful, the most incredible, wonderful place I’ve ever been in my life.’
Radcliffe begins filming his next major role in October – as a lawyer in a Hammer Films adaptation of ghostly novel Woman In Black.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOULJA!!!!!! LOVE YOU BABE!!!!!
Yo Gotti and Soulja Boy
Soulja Boy and Troy Marshall
Mark Wahlberg and wife Rhea Durham with their children Ella, Michael, Brendan, and Grace
