Celebrity Mound

It might be a while before David Beckham steps on the field again for Los Angeles or England.

Beckham, whose five-year contract guarantees an annual salary of $6.5 million, could miss the rest of the Los Angeles Galaxy’s season because of a sprained right knee. He’s played 310 minutes in six games, which comes to about $21,000 a minute if he’s out for the season.

The English midfielder underwent an MRI exam that confirmed Thursday he sprained the medial collateral ligament in his knee, the team said in a statement.

The injury also means he won’t be joining England’s national team. Beckham had planned to fly to London on Sunday for 10 days with the team as it prepares to play Israel and Russia in two Euro 2008 qualifying games.

The 32-year-old Beckham was injured in a tackle with Pachuca midfielder Fernando Salazar in the first half of Wednesday night’s SuperLiga title match. The Galaxy lost 4-3 on penalty kicks.

He was expected to be out about six weeks, and will immediately begin rehabilitation, the team said.

That would place his return at mid-October, when the Galaxy would have three regular-season games remaining – against Toronto FC on Oct. 13, New York on Oct. 18 and at Chicago on Oct. 21.

”It’s just gone from one thing to another thing,” Beckham said Wednesday night. ”Maybe it’s time for me to just say, ‘I need the rest,’ and get it right and don’t come back until it’s right.”

He already had a left ankle injury that caused him to miss seven games since joining the team July 13. That injury occurred while he was playing for England on June 6.

Beckham’s extended absence deals a serious blow to the already slim chance the Galaxy had of making the playoffs. Its Major League Soccer record is 3-10-5 – last in the Western Conference.

”The biggest thing is that we’re markedly better when he’s on the field,” Chris Klein said after Wednesday’s loss. ”Just having his presence around the guys gives us a much-needed boost. When he’s not there, it hurts us.”

The Galaxy declined to make any team officials available for comment Thursday.

Coach Frank Yallop was clearly frustrated about the string of injuries that has devastated his team this season, especially the ones involving Beckham.

”He shouldn’t play, to be honest. He’s hurt, but he’s playing,” Yallop said Wednesday night. ”That shows the character of him and it shows the character of the team because he lifts the team when he plays.

”It’s hard because he’s struggling with injury. He’s trying his best.”

Meanwhile, the soccer star’s wife, Victoria, has lined up an acting gig. Although Posh Spice has denied she’s interested in an acting career, she is taking a first step by playing herself on an episode of the ABC comedy ”Ugly Betty” this fall.

Backstreet Boy Nick Carter can calm down now…his mom “didn’t” dump his dog at the animal shelter. Right. Well, she claims the whole ‘Nick’s mom dumped his dog Layla at a shelter’ story is “baloney”!

As we all know, Nick’s relationship with his mother, Jane, was already on fragile ground, but after Nick asked her to baby-sit for his pit bull mix Layla, and she took him to a North Tampa animal shelter, without Nick’s knowledge, we can only assume she’s in the doghouse!

Apparently, Nick had asked his mother to baby-sit Layla, while we got ready for his upcoming reunion tour with the Backstreet Boys. Nick was even paying her for the dog’s upkeep, but Jane apparently had no interest in taking care of the dog.

Ranelle Black, who originally rescued Layla from an L.A. County animal shelter and let Nick adopt the pup in March 2006, said she received a call from the Florida shelter on Monday, after volunteers identified Layla through her microchip implant. Black, who volunteers with L.A. Animal Services and regularly fosters pit bulls
“I called Nick and he had no idea that his mother had dumped Layla. He was very choked up,” said Black. She added that Nick had spent more than $7,000 to train the pup!

Nick’s publicist, Juliette Harris said, “Nick is devastated and frustrated, and is doing everything he can to get Layla safely back.”

Well, Mommy says she didn’t drop Layla at the pound, though her excuse is far from believable! Our friends at TMZ scoop: Jane Carter called the MJ Morning Show to slam our story from Wednesday as “baloney,” claiming that she gave Layla, a pit bull mix, to a “friend of her husband” to keep at his kennel. Then, she says, the dog escaped from the kennel, though this kennel-owner “friend” apparently didn’t notice the dog was gone until animal services picked it up and took it to the shelter in Hernando County.

Mama Carter also made some excuse about not having a phone and the dog not being well trained, even though we’re told that Nick spent $7,000 to train Layla.

(source)

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl loves smoking. The rocker insists he has no intention of giving up the unhealthy habit, but admits he limits his cigarettes when at home with his wife Jordyn Blum and their 16-month-old daughter Violet Maye.

He said: “If I’m in the studio, I smoke about a pack-and-a-half a day. If I’m at home, with the wife and the family, I smoke about five cigarettes a day. And if I’m at a rock concert, I just eat them!”

Meanwhile, the Foo Fighters have just announced a winter UK tour.

The band will play nine dates across Britain, kicking off at Manchester’s MEN Arena on November 3 followed by shows in both England and Scotland. The tour ends with two concerts at London’s The O2 arena on November 17 and 18.
The tour follows the release of the group’s sixth studio album ‘Echos, Silence, Patience and Grace’ which is out on September 24.

(source)

Britney Spears wants her MTV Video Music Awards. But does the music impresario orchestrating the night’s performances want Britney Spears?

A well-placed source tells me that execs at the music network are still negotiating with Spears to open the extravaganza, but the show’s musical director, über-producer Timbaland, would rather she stay home.

“He doesn’t want her on the show,” my source says. “Too much drama, and he thinks she is going to take away from the other good performers.”

Reps for MTV, Timbaland and Spears did not comment.

Not only is Timbaland himself performing at the Sept. 9 show in Las Vegas, but the lineup also includes Rihanna, Kanye West, Fall Out Boy, Chris Brown, Foo Fighters, Lil’ Wayne, T-Pain, Cee-Lo and Daniel Merriweather.

While Timbaland’s good pal Justin Timberlake hasn’t been officially announced, I hear he’ll also perform. Timberlake and Beyoncé lead the nominations with seven apiece. (He’s also in talks to perform “Dick in a Box” with Andy Samberg at the Emmys.)

What about those rumors that Timberlake and Madonna will team up for the VMAs? My source says that, as of today, there are no such plans.

(source)

“Dancing with the Stars” champion Drew Lachey is moving to the role of host for another talent contest, “Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann.”

Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba, judges for ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” will be featured in the six-week series airing later this season, the network announced.

Open auditions will be held this month in New York, Nashville and the Los Angeles area for amateur performers who can dance and sing. The contestants will work with Tonioli and Inaba to form “the ultimate dance team,” with viewers picking the winning group, ABC said Thursday.

Former 98 Degrees member Lachey was the second-season winner on “Dancing with the Stars,” which returns Sept. 24 with celebrities including billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, welterweight boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Marie Osmond.

For Audition Information – check out this site:
http://www.abc.go.com/site/casting.html

Usher and his pregnant wife Tameka Foster will renew their wedding vows in Atlanta, Georgia this weekend, according to reports.

The 28-year-old – real name Usher Raymond – married stylist Foster at his lawyer’s office in Atlanta on August 3rd.

The nuptials followed a last minute cancellation of a star-studded wedding ceremony at music mogul Antonio ‘L.A.’ Reid’s Sagaponack, New York home in late July.

Foster blamed a brief hospitalisation for the postponement.

Now the couple is hosting another lavish ceremony, which insiders claim will be more in line with what they’d originally planned, with family and friends invited.

Sienna Miller may have stepped out to make her foray into the world of fashion design, but she ended the night looking anything but stylish.

The actress left the Notting Hill launch of her brand Twenty8Twelve in a right mess, having knocked back one too many celebratory drinks with the help of her new companion Rhys Ifans.

The party pals chalked up yet another wild night together, stumbling back to her home at 3.30am looking bleary-eyed and worse for wear.

Earlier in the night, Miller – whose chipped nail polish did little to help her disheveled look – had to call on friends to help her keep upright.

After the launch party at The Lonsdale, she and Ifans then carried on the celebrations at a friend’s party before eventually making it home.

While Miller has denied she’s dating the actor, he has certainly been a constant presence in her life in recent times and has even been staying at her London flat since they returned together from Ibiza earlier this month.

Sienna recently told the Daily Mail: “Rhys and I are just friends, we’ve known each other for years, we are definitely not sleeping together.

“He’s crashing on my couch because his boat is flooded and I’m being the good samaritan and providing him with a roof over his head.”

Ifans is said to be dating Iris Palmer, whom he met a few months ago.

The 25-year-old actress recently said she was hoping to settle down and live a more serene “earth mother” life, but with the help of the 40-year-old Welsh actor, she shows no sign of losing her party girl title.

And in an interview with American Vogue magazine she said: “I’m free-spirited and it gets me into trouble. It’s hard to be yourself and be accepted in the world I move in. I look around and see a lot of miserable people. But I am happy.”

Ifans is a close friend of model Kate Moss, and recently joined her in Marbella with her pals Kelly Osbourne, Davinia Taylor, Holly Davidson and Rose Ferguson on her holiday following the break-up of her relationship with Pete Doherty.

Meanwhile Miller is due to appear in court as a defence witness for pro-hunt campaigner Otis Ferry, from Shropshire, when he faces charges of criminal damage.

The son of Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry allegedly leant through the car window of the two photographers, Charlie Pycroft and Ben Brett, grabbed their keys and threw them away.

Miller and Ferry’s younger brother were rumoured to be a couple at the time and had been partying at the Boujis nightclub in South Kensington.

The 24-year-old’s trial was due to start at West London Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday but he failed to appear, blaming a migraine.

Otis recovered in time to make an appearance at Miller’s clothing launch.

Ferry, from Eaton, is accused of preventing photographers from taking pictures of Miller and his brother Isaac when they left a London nightclub together in February.

TMZ has obtained documents from the Britney/K-Fed hearing last Monday, where it was revealed the popwreck rakes in an average of $737,868 a month.

K-Fed’s lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, claims in a declaration filed last Monday that Britney “is clearly the ‘monied party’ in this case.” Kaplan is asking Brit to front $50K for expenses in connection with the custody hearing, claiming his bill will be in excess of $40,000.

The documents reveal K-Fed is receiving $20K a month for spousal support but the payments end on November 15.

As we first reported last Monday, the documents reveal that the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services is investigating Spears for allegedly neglecting her kids. The allegations — poor dental hygiene, as well as poor eating and sleeping habits. The portions of the documents relating to DCFS have been totally redacted.

The heavily redacted docs include the names of the people who have been or are being subpoenaed in K-Fed’s move to grab 70/30 custody — Alli Sims, Promises Treatment Center, Dr. Betty Wyman (Brit’s designated sober companion), Larry Rudolph (Spears’ former manager), Daimon Shippen (former bodyguard), Shannon Funk (former assistant) and Christine Hallet (former nanny).

Click here to see the documents.

(source)

BRITISH actor Steve Coogan is back in the United States and trying desperately to salvage his career after being blamed for Owen Wilson’s drug problems and attempted suicide earlier this week.

Coogan was put in the spotlight for Wilson’s heroin and cocaine problems after his ex-girlfriend, Courtney Love, told Us Weekly, “I went through it with Steve . . . I was just out of rehab, and he was right there with the drugs . . . I hope from the bottom of my heart that Owen stays the hell away from that guy.”

Our source reports, “Coogan was in Hawaii when the news [of Wilson's suicide try] hit, but he came back Wednesday night and is trying to get in touch with Owen, Luke [Wilson] and Ben [Stiller]. He’s trying to make sure that the movie ['Tropic Thunder'] doesn’t fall through now.”

Wilson had a small role in “Tropic Thunder,” an ensemble comedy Stiller is directing that stars Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. as well as Coogan, who had hung out regularly with the Wilson brothers and Stiller, forming what some in Hollywood called the “Frat Pack.”

The spy added, “He used his relationships and his contacts with seedy people to get bit parts in movies and to get famous.”
Coogan fired back on “Access Hollywood,” saying, “I do want to set the record straight and say that the allegations . . . are completely and utterly false.”

He also told BlackBook magazine editor Steve Garbarino that after he and Love broke up, she tried to break into his home and stalked him – allegations that made Love’s friends furious.

“He has stalked Courtney over the years,” a Love pal fumed. “He has gone to her house on several occasions. He e-mailed her nanny. He asked her to marry him and told her, ‘You’re the most intriguing woman alive.’ You name it. His saying Courtney ever stalked him is the biggest lie ever! He has done nothing but go out of his way to hurt her. He’s obsessed with her.”

Love hasn’t had contact with Coogan in months, except for an e-mail she sent him after Wilson’s suicide attempt. It read, “You must feel really great right now. Does this feel life-affirming?” Love has said on her Web site she’ll have no further comment.

(source)