Hollywood Hot Celebrity: 11/21/10

Prince William 'saves man's life' in chopper rescue

LONDON (AFP) – Britain's Prince William was involved in a military helicopter rescue mission to save a stricken man just 48 hours after announcing his engagement, defence officials confirmed Sunday.

Gym worker Greg Watkins was stuck up Mount Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales, in stormy conditions after suffering a suspected heart attack Thursday.

The 28-year-old prince, a Royal Air Force (RAF) search and rescue pilot based in northwest Wales, was part of a four-man crew scrambled to rescue Watkins.

William, second in line to the throne after his father Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, is known as Flight Lieutenant Wales in the military.

"If it wasn't for him and the rest of his crew, I'd be dead," Watkins told the Sunday Mirror newspaper.

"Hearing his helicopter getting nearer and nearer was the best sound I've ever heard. He and his crew saved my life."

"He'd probably say he was just doing his job but, to me, he and his crew are heroes. The weather was appalling up on that mountain. How he managed to get the helicopter so close defies belief.

"The fog was so thick at times, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. The rain was lashing down and it was howling a gale."

Watkins had been walking with six friends.

"I didn't know much about what was happening at the time," he said.

"I didn't know Prince William was flying the helicopter until we landed at the hospital. Even then, I felt too unwell for it to register much.

"The winchman helped me out and on to a stretcher and whispered 'Prince William's just flown you here'. I looked up at him and just said 'Oh. Tell him thank you'.

"It didn't really sink in until I woke up after my operation. Now I think it's amazing.

Being winched off a mountain by an RAF helicopter was the last thing I thought was going to happen to me. But for it to be flown by Prince William is unbelievable."

He added: "I'd only been watching him announce the engagement on television with Kate a few hours earlier -- it was his first mission since going back to work.

"I feel lucky to be alive but even luckier to have been rescued by the future king."

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "Flight Lieutenant Wales was called out, as part of a four-man RAF search and rescue crew, to assist a man suffering from chest pains on Snowdon.

"The man was subsequently flown to a local hospital for treatment."

William was spotted Saturday in the crowd at Bloomfield Road watching Blackpool beat Wolverhampton 2-1 in the English Premier League.

The prince is president of the Football Association, the sport's governing body in England.

'Harry Potter' leaps to $125.1M opening weekend (AP)

LOS ANGELES - Harry Potter has cast his biggest box-office spell yet with a franchise record $125.1 million domestically over opening weekend.

Actors, from left, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint attend the premiere of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1' at Alice Tully Hall on Monday, Nov. 15, 2010 in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

In terms of revenue, that puts "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" ahead of the series' best previous debut of $102.7 million for 2005's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

But factoring in today's higher admission prices, the latest movie had roughly the same size audience as the franchise's best previous draws — "Goblet of Fire" and 2001's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," which launched the series. "Deathly Hallows" and those two earlier movies each sold around 16 million tickets in their first weekend.

"Deathly Hallows: Part 1" landed at No. 6 on the domestic revenue chart for biggest opening weekends, a list headed by 2008's "The Dark Knight" with $158.4 million. It also was this year's second-biggest debut, behind "Iron Man 2," which is No. 5 on the all-time chart with $128.1 million.

With $61.2 million Friday, "Deathly Hallows: Part 1" had the fifth-biggest opening day ever.

The series finale, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," comes out in July.

Based on J.K. Rowling's seven novels about the young wizard, the "Harry Potter" franchise so far has taken in more than $5.5 billion worldwide.

Bieber wins 4 AMAs, including artist of year

Justin Bieber's first American Music Awards was perfection.

The 16-year-old teen heartthrob went four-for-four on Sunday night, capturing every award he was nominated for, including the top award of the night, favorite artist. He beat a list that featured veterans Eminem and Usher, as well as Katy Perry and Lady Gaga.

Bieber became the youngest person to ever win the trophy. Bieber also won favorite pop/rock album, favorite pop/rock male, and the show's breakthrough artist award.

"I can't stop smiling; this is amazing," Bieber said after he also beat Eminem and Usher for favorite pop/rock male. "Truly I don't know how this is possible because I've been singing Eminem since I was three and Usher is my mentor. So this is big."

Eminem, along with Lady Antebellum, had been the leading nominee with five awards. He didn't come up empty handed though, winning two, along with Usher, who also nabbed a pair. Lady Antebellum took home one.

Other winners included the Black Eyed Peas and Taylor Swift, but Sunday's ceremony at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles was as much a showcase for acts with new albums as it was a celebration of the biggest achievers of 2010.

Rihanna, with her hair dyed a ruby red, gave the show a colorful and sexy start, performing a medley of songs from her just released album "Loud," including the No. 1 hit "What's My Name," wearing a bustier and what seemed like a scarf wrapped around her backside.

"This is amazing!" said an exuberant Rihanna, who danced onstage later to receive her award — favorite soul/R&B female. She ended her speech by yelling, "Wassup! Thank you!"

The Black Eyed Peas, winners for favorite pop/rock band, gave a levitating performance, singing from boxes atop the stage during part of their performance of their new single, "The Time."

Yet some of the prime-time performances were given to acts who weren't nominated, but had albums to promote. Diddy's latest incarnation with the group Diddy-Dirty Money sang material from their upcoming album, while Kid Rock gave a stirring, acoustic performance of "Times Like These," his song lifting up his hometown of Detroit during its recent economic struggles, from his new CD, "Born Free."

A pregnant Pink was among the evening's performance highlights. Unlike recent appearances marked by a high-wire act, she stayed close to the ground to perform her latest song, "Raise Your Glass," but thrilled nonetheless with a tightly choreographed, high-energy dance number.

Katy Perry had the evening's most explosive performance as pyrotechnics accentuated the performance of her latest song, "Firework."

Swift, last year's artist of the year, took home favorite country female. Sporting sleek blonde hair instead of her usual cascading curls, Swift said simply: "I just want to thank the fans."

Swift later performed her new single, "Back to December," a song she also performed at the CMA Awards earlier in the month, but mixed things up by incorporating some of OneRepublic's "Apologize."

Ke$ha, perhaps trying to make up for the absent Lady Gaga, had the night's most bizarre act: She performed her heavily Auto-Tuned hit "Take It Off" looking like something out of space, with beams of light for eyes and sporting a motorcycle helmet. She then stripped down to a mirrored outfit, segueing into the next song with a pack of male dancers dressed like her, complete with blond wigs and fishnet stockings.

Tony Parker Files to Divorce Eva Longoria

Tony Parker has filed to divorce Eva Longoria, even though the reverse had already taken place. This could very well mean a legal showdown in the making.
Tony's divorce petition was filed in Texas. Eva filed for divorce earlier in the week in Los Angeles, setting up a battle over where the couple's case is heard.
Texas divorces can be handled fast, in as little as 60 days. It's unclear if Tony Parker's Erin Barry sexting would be a lesser factor in one state or another.

Tony and Eva Longoria Parker are divorcing after three years.

Tony's stated reason: "The marriage has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities between Petitioner and Respondent that destroys legitimate ends of the marriage and prevents any reasonable expectation of reconciliation."
Interestingly, they have a prenup, but in Tony's petition he writes, "Petitioner believes Petitioner and Respondent will enter an agreement for the division of their estate."
Since they've already signed a prenup, the word "will" is puzzling.
Tony's petition also states, "Petitioner owns certain separate property that is not part of the community estate of the parties." We'll see if a judge agrees.
Neither Tony's lawyer nor Eva's camp has commented publicly.
Finally, in an ironic twist, Tony is being represented by attorney Richard Orsinger, the same lawyer who is repping Brent Barry ... his former teammate.
His former teammate and the husband of Erin Barry, who was just revealed as Parker's mistress / sexting buddy last week. Conflict of interest much?

Oksana Grigorieva to Lawyer: ONLY $15 Million!?

Oksana Grigorieva disavowed the $15 million settlement her lawyers got from Mel Gibson this spring not because she feared for her baby daughter, as she says, but because she felt the actor would pay a lot more to avoid the bad publicity.
We're not lawyers, but ... sounds a little like extortion to us.

Oksana Grigorieva's actions appear more questionable by the day.

A text sent June 2 from Oksana to Eric George, the lawyer who negotiated her $15 million mediation package, is laden with buyer's remorse, complaining that George never told her about a domestic violence claim, which could up the ante.
Underscoring how important the Mel Gibson tapes were in the mediation, Oksana says, "Forget about the tapes for the moment. This is the case of domestic violence."
The point - no one raised the issue of domestic violence during the mediation - it was about the tapes. Seriously shady stuff here. Was it ever really about poor Lucia?
Oksana says her relationship with Mel ended due to"Mels (sic) domestic violence, the only reason and the fact, with proof, and I run away to save my children."
Then she lays her cards on the table: "If the opposition is buying my silence, please, we have to renegotiate the custody portion and secure the monetory (sic)."
Also in the text, Oksana Grigorieva makes it clear she had a strategy all along, and aware of her strongest bargaining chip: "He doesn't want this publicity."
"I have lots of questions about the moneytory (sic) part also, i'd (sic) like us to get together and discus (sic) everything," she adds, "I am not bluffing."
Law enforcement sources say the text is part of the extortion investigation to determine if Oksana leveraged the tapes to score the $15 million package.
The theory: After signing the agreement, Oksana got greedy and decided she could get more than $15 million by adding a fresh domestic violence claim.
Was that whole "fearing for her life" bit all an exaggeration to get paid? No matter what Mel did, it's getting hard to take anything Oksana says seriously.
In other news, Mel will be front and center in court Monday as his lawyers ask the judge to strip Oksana of custody and award it to him. He'll be there in person because he wants to show how serious he is and how unstable she is.
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Anne Hathaway Makes Pitch to Glee Producers: Cast Me!

Anne Hathaway took a break from posing topless this week to make a pitch to Fox: the actress wants to be on Glee!
But Hathaway has already done the work for creator Ryan Murphy. She already knows what character she wants to portray:
"I would want to be Kurt's aunt," she told reporters this week. "I have thought about it... I would like to pitch to Murphy right now that I go on as Kurt's aunt, his mother who is deceased's younger sister."

Watch Hathaway and Gyllenhaal in the trailer for Love and Other Drugs NOW and then sound off: Do you wanna see Anne Hathaway on Glee?

Wesley Snipes: Finally Headed to Jail

He may have proven that white men can't jump, but Wesley Snipes has also made it clear that felons can't avoid jail time.
The actor - who was convicted of tax evasion in 2008, but spent years going to extreme lengths to avoid his sentence - had his latest appeal rejected by a federal judge this week.
Told he “had a fair trial” and that “the time has come for the judgment to be enforced,” Snipes will finally be heading to the clink.

“Wesley is very disappointed but staying strong and positive,” his lawyer told The Orlando Sentinel.
It’s unclear when or where Snipes will start serving the sentence. So much for always betting on black, though.
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