Celebrity Mound

Michael Phelps is turning over a new leaf: The former hard-partying Olympian was on his best behavior at Jay-Z’s concert in Atlantic City on Saturday night.

Phelps, who has gotten heat over the past year for gallivanting at Marquee club in New York and the Palms in Las Vegas, seemed especially low key as he partied with a group of guy friends at the Borgata’s intimate show.

“He stayed very under the radar throughout the concert and even later at the club,” one guest noted of the concert’s after party at club mur.mur.

“He kept a hat on and was only drinking casually. He was really nice to girls that wanted to take pictures with him, but would excuse himself right after. He looked like he didn’t want any attention.”

So has the 24-year-old learned his lesson?

An insider adds that Phelps has tried to change his ways since his partying (and pictures of him doing so) got him in trouble with his sponsors, coaches and his fans — namely a photo that surfaced in early 2009 of him taking a bong hit in November of 2008.

“He’s really trying to put that behind him,” says the source.

Other very-famous faces looking like they were having just a little bit more fun at the event included Stevie Wonder, Robin Thicke and Jay’s lady love Beyoncé — who all joined Hova and partied throughout the evening.

After the concert, Jay-Z, Wonder and Thicke had a boys’ dinner at Old Homestead, where they caught the Pacquiao-Clottey fight, and the trio were later seen having cocktails with deejay (and notorious Lindsay Lohan ex) Samantha Ronson.

But by all accounts Jay looked the most thrilled, and “Crazy In Love,” when he spotted Beyoncé arriving to the venue around midnight.

Olympian Michael Phelps has a thing for Miss California. Both of them.

Nicole Johnson, who just days ago was crowned Miss California 2010, admitted to TMZ.com that she had a year-long romantic relationship with the gold medalist.

“Now that it is after the fact, I will admit that we were together,” she said. “We agreed to keep this private because it was the only thing that he could keep private … we remain close friends.”

But it turns out, according to PerezHilton.com, that Phelps, 24, may have cheated on Johnson with none other than former Miss California and solo-sex tapist Carrie Prejean, 22.

“Nicole Johnson dated Michael Phelps for a year during 2007 -2008,” a source tells the site. “The main reason they ended their relationship is because Carrie Prejean started dating Michael… . and bragging about it while he was still with Nicole.”

Unfortunately for Johnson, even Prejean’s grandma said it’s true.

“Carrie and Michael have been out to baseball games and lunch,” Jeanette Coppolla told RadarOnline.com in April. “He always calls her when he is in town and they go out.”

And apparently, casual Carrie understood Phelps is a ladies man.

“Carrie knows that he has dated a lot of girls but she enjoys going out with him and isn’t serious about being in a relationship with him,” she said. “He’s a nice guy and she likes him.”

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Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps was driving with an invalid, out-of-state license and told police he drank a beer about an hour and 15 minutes before he was involved in an accident, Baltimore police said Friday.

The accident Thursday night was not Phelps’ fault and was caused by another driver who ran a red light, police said.

Officers did not administer field sobriety tests because Phelps showed no signs of being impaired by alcohol, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. Police were aware of Phelps’ 2004 conviction for drunken driving and did not give him special treatment, Guglielmi said.

“We had our very best eyes on the situation, and we’re very well aware of his history and his notoriety,” he said. “We wanted to make sure that everything was done completely by the book.”

Phelps, 24, told police he drank a beer around 7:30 p.m. and left his house about an hour later, according to a police report. The accident occurred around 8:45 p.m., shortly after he left Baltimore’s train station with two passengers, the report said.

The swimming star will be cited for driving without a license and failure to establish residency in Maryland, Guglielmi said. The citation carries no fine, but Phelps will have to appear in court and explain why he did not have a valid license.

Phelps presented officers with a Michigan driver’s license, according to the report, and investigators determined it was invalid after consulting with Michigan authorities. Phelps lived in Michigan between the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and moved back last year to his native Maryland.

Fred Woodhams, a spokesman for the Michigan secretary of state, said Friday night that Phelps had not paid a fee to reinstate his license, which had been suspended because he was late paying a different fee for not having proof of insurance in 2006.

“It could very well be something that just slipped through the cracks,” Guglielmi said of the license.

Phelps’ agent, Drew Johnson, and his coach, Bob Bowman, did not respond to repeated messages seeking comment.

According to the report, the driver of a Honda Accord, Amanda E. Virkus of Sandy Spring, ran a red light at the intersection of two one-way streets north of downtown. Phelps’ Cadillac Escalade sport utility vehicle crashed into the driver’s side of her car.

Virkus, who also showed no evidence of being impaired by alcohol, will be cited for failure to obey a red light and causing an accident. Those citations carry a maximum penalty of a $180 fine and three points on a driver’s license, Guglielmi said.

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A 28-year-old woman who was slightly injured when her Honda Accord hit a Cadillac Escalade driven by Olympic swimming star Michael Phelps in Baltimore’s Mid-Town Belvedere neighborhood is to be charged with running a red light, a city police spokesman said Friday.

The woman is identified in a police report as Amanda Elizabeth Virkus of Sandy Spring in Montgomery County. If found guilty of the citation, she faces a $180 fine and three points against her driving record. Virkus suffered neck and shoulder injuries, according to the city Fire Department, and was treated and released from Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Phelps and his three passengers – a man from Ann Arbor, Mich., a woman from Staten Island, N.Y., and a woman from Baltimore – were not injured in Thursday’s 9 p.m. accident at North Calvert and East Biddle streets that left the 2009 Escalade with a crumpled front end and its driver’s side air bag deployed.

But the Baltimore Police Department’s chief spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, said Phelps gave officers an expired Michigan driver’s license. The spokesman said Phelps will be issued a $40 citation for driving without a license as well as a citation charging that he has not established a legal residency in Maryland. Phelps, who grew up in Rodgers Forge and recently moved to a waterfront condo in Fells Point, has trained for several years with his coach, Bob Bowman, at the University of Michigan as well as in Baltimore County. Neither Phelps nor Bowman could be reached for comment; his agent did not return several calls on Friday.

(source)

Baltimore police say Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps has been in a two-car collision but not injured.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says Phelps was driving a late-model Cadillac Escalade on Thursday night when it and a Honda Accord collided.

Guglielmi says the female driver of the Accord was “shaken up” and taken to a local hospital as a precaution.

Guglielmi says the accident is under investigation.

Michael Phelps is making the rounds on the small screen.

The Olympic swimmer shot a cameo appearance for Entourage with Kevin Connolly in NYC Thursday, HBO confirmed to Usmagazine.com.

The fifth season of the show debuts September 7.

Phelps — who won eight gold medals in Beijing — is also hosting the season premiere of Saturday Night Live on September 13 and will be a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Monday.

Last week, the 23-year-old landed a book deal for his memoir, titled Built to Succeed.

“The bullying and adversity made him be stronger and work harder,” his mom Debbie told Us Weekly.

“Michael may not have been able to focus in school, but I saw a passion for swimming at such a young age,” she said. “He could be at a swim meet or practice for hours. It was a great outlet.”

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He has the wingspan of a condor and more gold than Flava Flav’s teeth, but is Michael Phelps funny?

Though already accustomed to the spotlight, the hero of the Beijing Olympic games will make his acting debut when he hosts the season premiere of NBC’s Saturday Night Live on Sept. 13.

The show will kick of the 34th season of the venerable comedy institution, which has had recent success when such sports figures as LeBron James and Peyton Manning have hosted. Lil Wayne will be the musical guest.

A holder of seven world records, Phelps, 23, has been at the center of media attention since winning eight gold medals at the Olympics, breaking fellow swimmer Mark Spitz’s record for most gold medals at one game.

He joins skater Nancy Kerrigan and skier Jonny Moseley as past Olympians who have hosted SNL”. No word yet on whether he will be wearing a Speedo.

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Michael Phelps’ estranged father Fred tells the New York Post that he has not had a single conversation with his Olympian son since Michael left for Beijing.

“He’s so busy, I’m sure not even his agent can get a hold of him,” Fred recently told the Post outside his suburban Baltimore home.

Of his eight medals, Fred said, “I’m very proud of him and all he’s done. This is not about me, it’s about him.” He added that he “watched [Michael] every night on TV” last week.

The retired Maryland state trooper has been in and out his son’s life ever since he divorced Michael’s mother Debbie in 1992 when Michael was 9. The same year, the swimmer was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

After the divorce, it was Michael’s mom who drove him to swim practice each day. (Michael has never publicly acknowledged his father as having any role in his success.)

“The bullying and adversity made him be stronger and work harder,” mom Debbie tells Us Weekly exclusively in its new issue, on newsstands now.

On Friday, it was announced that Phelps will detail his life being raised by his single mother in his memoir, Built to Succeed, due in December.

(source)