BEYONCÉ spent some time in a drug rehab facility last year - but not for an addiction of her own. The squeaky-clean singer wanted to research her role as drug-ravaged R&B legend Etta James in the upcoming movie, “Cadillac Records,” and spent lots of time talking to recovering addicts at Brooklyn’s Phoenix House. As a result of her experience, next week’s premieres of the film in New York and Los Angeles will benefit Phoenix House.

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A Cincinnati man has been found guilty of murder in the 2006 shooting the friend of Grammy Award-winning rapper T.I.

Hosea Thomas was found guilty Wednesday of murdering T.I.’s entourage member, 26-year-old Philant Johnson. The 34-year-old Thomas was also convicted of felonious assault and illegally having a gun after a felony conviction.

T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, testified last week in Thomas’ trial. The rapper told jurors that he believes the bullets fired at his entourage during the gun battle two years ago in Cincinnati were meant for him. He wasn’t injured.

The rapper was in Cincinnati on May 3, 2006, to perform.

Thomas faces up to life in prison at his Dec. 23 sentencing.

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A Malaysian technology conglomerate has repaid $900,000 to Bruce Willis after the actor filed a lawsuit demanding a refund of his investment.

Martin Singer, Willis’ lawyer, says the federal lawsuit filed in Los Angeles has been “amicably resolved.”

The Kuala Lumpur-based Petra Group said Willis invested $2 million last year in its subsidiary, Green Rubber, a developer of technology that can recycle rubber in old tires.

Petra returned $1.1 million to the star of the “Die Hard” action films earlier this year when he decided to pull out his investment. Willis sued last week to get the remaining $900,000, plus interest and other compensation.

Singer says the initial investment has been repaid, but Willis was not given all the interest owed him. The actor remains a shareholder in the company.

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Britney Spears delivered a show-stopping performance at a German awards ceremony tonight as she prepared for her highly-anticipated performance on X Factor.

The pop star showed off her slimmed-down body in hot pants, fishnet tights and a transparent black top at the 2008 Bambi Awards in Offenburg.

Spears – who releases her sixth album Circus next week – showed that she was back to her best as she strutted around seductively on stage and writhed around a large metallic circular cage.

Earlier today the singer’s mother Lynne Spears said that the 26-year-old had finally turned her life around after her much publicised breakdown and was now ready to return to the pop game.

‘We’re going to get this done and it’s all going to be good. You just wait and see.’ she told Lorraine Kelly on GMTV

She said even now she found it hard to understand the level of her daughter’s fame.

‘My friends and I, we talk about it and they go, “What is the deal? I mean, what’s so interesting about Britney?” And people that have known us all our lives are mystified – they go, “What is the deal?”‘

Her upcoming appearance on X Factor will mark a reunion for Spears and her former choreographer Brian Friedman as well as her first performance on British TV screens in five years.

He said: ‘She is such a sweet, endearing person. It will be nice to reconnect.

‘Last year, I asked her to come and do X Factor but she was too hectic. This year it’s happening. I’m so glad to see her back on track. Her performance is going to be incredible.’

X Factor judge Simon Cowell is looking forward to Spears’ performance, having often commented on the singer over the years.

In January this year, when Spears was hospitalised for psychiatric evaluation, he said: ‘She’s welcome to call me any time.

‘I genuinely think that if I sat down with Britney and, No. 1, remind her of all the good things in her life - which are her kids, her money, her success, everything - I’d try to give her a sense of perspective. And then I’d take her out of where she’s living at the moment and ask her to go and live with her family - and live normally - for six months.’

Cowell is glad to see Spears - who has two children, Sean Preston, 3, and Jayden

James, 2, with ex-husband Kevin Federline - making a comeback after previously revealing his fears that her career was over following her disastrous performance at the MTV Video Music Awards last year.

He said at the time: ‘If I had been looking after Britney I’d have taken one look at her in rehearsals and I wouldn’t have allowed her on stage.

‘It would have been worth pulling her off the bill - no matter what the cost - to save any chance she had of resurrecting her career. She wasn’t ready for that show in every possible way.

‘The problem she has now is that she could have killed her career. It’s difficult to come back from that performance, for a while at least.’

After a difficult few years, during which she went through a divorce and was hospitalised twice for psychiatric evaluation, Spears is now looking better than she has in years.

Since dealing with her problems with the help of her father Jamie and mother Lynne, Spears has been focusing her energies of getting her career back on track.

She picked up three awards at the MTV Video Music Awards in September for her single Piece Of Me, and continued her success at the MTV Europe Music Awards last week with two trophies - even though she was unable to attend the Liverpool ceremony.

Earlier this month, Spears wowed fans when she joined Madonna on stage during the Material Girl’s Los Angeles gig.

Her sixth studio album Circus is set for release on December 2 - her 27th birthday.

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Michael Phelps has taken another lap with his girlfriend – a big one. She’s spending Thanksgiving in Baltimore with him and his family.

The Olympic champ has been dating Las Vegas cocktail waitress Caroline “Caz” Pal, 26, for about two months. The two met after his record-setting performance in Beijing last summer.

“She’s there [in Maryland] meeting his family for the first time,” a source close to Pal tells PEOPLE.

Along with dating Pal, a waitress at the Palms Casino Resort’s Moon Nightclub, Phelps is spending time in Vegas working on his poker game.

Sources tell PEOPLE he’s hoping to participate in the 2009 World Series of Poker. He recently made it to the final table of the Caesars Palace Poker Classic.

“It was fun!” he told PEOPLE after the tournament. “It’s just like a game that I could become better at and use some of my competitiveness at the poker table.”

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I know things may be a bit hectic with the holiday coming up, but I wanted to make sure I gave you the heads up. Season three of Oxygen’s “The Bad Girls Club” is back!

Season three premieres on Tuesday, December 2nd at 10/9C, on Oxygen.

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In this week’s Page Six Magazine – Victoria’s Secret Angel Miranda Kerr has an income of more than $3 million, a Hollywood boyfriend (Orlando Bloom) and a body that just won’t quit. So what does this Australian beauty have to whine about?

On her jet-setting lifestyle working as a Victoria’s Secret Angel:

“In the last 22 days I’ve been to eight different countries. Honestly, I’m always on an airplane. I spend a lot of time on beautiful little islands, but generally its one day here and then flying, then one day there, then fly. But I feel very grateful to have so much work, especially with the economy how it is.”

On her relationship with Orlando Bloom:

“Everyone asks me to talk about him and they get really annoyed with me when I say no, but if you want to know about him, why don’t you go and ask him? I’m sorry, but that’s just how it is.”

On being approached to model:

“I was so reluctant to do it at first. I was like ‘Eh, models, they’re like this or like that,’ which was totally wrong on my behalf. But I just felt like I wanted to do something with a bit more substance.”

On having a family one day:

“I’ve always wanted kids, so…someday…eventually, yes, it will happen. My ideal situation would be to live on a farm in a solar-powered house with a hammock and a vegetable patch. When this is all over that’s where I’ll be.”

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So, Gordon Ramsay finally broke down and confessed that he cheated on his wife at least four times with Sarah Symonds. That means it was probably eight times. She also said they had phone sex all of the time with each session lasting about an hour. If you combine that with the rumors running around that Gordon has actually cheated on his wife with four or five different women and he had the same time for all of them, then Gordon was a very busy man. It’s no wonder he doesn’t spend any time cooking anymore. He has to spend every waking moment taking care of the women he is cheating on his wife with, making sure he isn’t caught, pretending he loves his wife, write cookbooks, go on television and be pals with celebrities.

I’m also wondering if Gordon got kicked out of his wife’s bed or if he perhaps brought one of his women to the bed he shared with his wife because it seems really strange that the Ramsay’s would choose yesterday of all days to throw away a mattress. I mean is that going to be on the top of your list of things to do when your marriage has been thrust into the international spotlight?

And also, Gordon, you are supposed to be smart. I still haven’t figured out why he would pick a professional mistress to have an affair with. She has kissed and told before which is how she became famous but you thought she would keep quiet about you. Please. It almost makes me think that subconsciously he wanted to be caught by his wife. He must have known that she would spill it all and she did. Hell she got paid to do it by the tabloids and is trying to get even more out of them now to spill even more dirt.

Meanwhile his wife is all grins and giggles in public. I’ve talked in the past about how I have hurt people I love and I can’t imagine them ever just running out in front of the cameras pretending to be all happy and lighthearted about it. Maybe she is doing it for the kids. I don’t know, but either she really is unconcerned or she is one hell of an actress.

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You know I will be the first to admit that it is possible over the years that I may have allowed myself to make use of a facility other than a bathroom to take care of nature’s call. It happens. I daresay it has happened to many of us. Of course, most of the time it happens is because we drank so much that we couldn’t even wait five more minutes to make it to a bathroom so we tell the driver to hurry up and pull over. We then feel amazing for like ten minutes until the cycle repeats itself. By that time of course though, the driver has said enough and basically left you to hitchhike home when you sober up.

As much as I am willing to admit to the above, I am also willing to say that during the day, in the sight of numerous places with restrooms to use, I have never just dropped the fly and let loose against a wall. I can’t do it. I have seen to many homeless people do it over the years and I just can’t even contemplate it. Apparently though Mark Wahlberg has no such compunctions and it is comfortable just whipping out his peen wherever he may be. I’m sure that as his kids grow older this is the kind of behavior he would want them to emulate. To me there is just no excuse for this. It is obviously in a very public area and you would think he would have some kind of respect for the general public.

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The holidays are a time when you introduce your special someone to the family. It could be because you are looking for any excuse to not spend the holidays with your own family, or it could be that when everyone is bloated with food and wine they will forget the fact the first time they saw your new significant other was when you were groping her at a nightclub.

Such is the case with Michael Phelps. Michael and his girlfriend have been dating for about two months but he decided to take her home and meet the family. Apparently his girlfriend Caz works at Moon nightclub in The Palms. Yes, that is the very same nightclub where those photos were released showing Michael groping a cocktail waitress’ butt. And yes, that lovely gropee is in fact now meeting the family.

That night was the first night they met and hey, I’m happy for them. It also goes to show you that I in fact can be wrong about the intentions of Michael that night. He obviously saw her as something more than an object an I apologize. I’m wrong a great deal in life so this is not the first time I’ve had to apologize.

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National Enquirer is reporting that CSI’s Marg Helgenberger turned 50 and left her husband SAG President Alan Rosenberg.

“Marg hasn’t been happy for a long time, and as 50 approached she finally told Alan she wanted to start the second half of her life alone,” a close family friend told The ENQUIRER.

The strawberry blonde actress – who turned 50 on Nov. 16 – and Alan, 56, have been married since 1989. They have a son who turned 18 on Oct. 21.

“But both she and Alan love their son, and want to minimize any trauma the split would have on him. They’re excellent parents, but they just came to the decision that their lives together were no longer working.”

If this is true, I wonder if that is why Alan Rosenberg is suddenly starting to move forward with the SAG strike vote? You know use it as a distraction?

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David and Victoria Beckham reunited with Tom Cruise (not pictured because who cares) today in NYC and they went to see a matinee of Tom’s wife, Katie Holmes’ show All My Sons. Well since The Beckhams and The Cruises haven’t been pictured together in a while, obviously the paparazzi went crazy trying to get the money shot. One pap went so far she tripped over a bicycle and landed on her a$$. Becks being the gentleman that he is lent her a hand to get back on her feet. How dapper does he look in that suit. I miss the days when people dressed up like David and Victoria Beckham to go see a Broadway show. Maybe some day we will dress posh again to go to the theatre!

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There must be something in the water on the How I Met Your Mother set because Cobie Smulders is pregnant just like her other female co-star Alyson Hannigan. Although Cobie aka Robin Sparkles debuted her baby bump on Friday’s Craig Ferguson, People confirmed the news today the she too will be having her baby in early spring. 

It will be interesting to see how HIMYM is going to handle this second real life pregnancy since they have yet to tell us they plan with the first one. At least Lily’s (Alyson’s) is easy to write in because she is married to Marshall, but Robin’s (Cobie’s) will be harder because she has made it clear she doesn’t want to be mom. No matter what the show does, you know the behind-the-scenes for the DVD will be adorable with the two!
Congrats to both! Let’s Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Radnor and Jason Segel keep their clothes on because I don’t think the producer could handle another pregnancy!!

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Gotta love Cloris Leachman she is 82 years young and she is still getting picked up by younger men! I want to be like her when I am her age, heck I want to be like her when I am half her age!!! 

The true winner of Dancing with the Stars 7 looks she had a great time at the DWTS after-party and she deserved it!!!

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Nicole Riche and Joel Madden have finally set a date and according to OK! it is on their daughter Harlow’s first birthday on January 11th.

A friend of the pair said: “They want to set an example for Harlow. Nicole and Joel are doing this to seal their love legally.”They want the ceremony to coincide with Harlow’s first birthday and be one big joyous occasion for everybody.”

If it is true, that is a sweet date to get married.

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