Britney and Sean Preston by X17
Britney Driving Sean PrestonPhoto by X17agency.com
Oops, she did it again! That's Britney Spears, pictured here, out for a Mother's Day drive around Malibu, Calif., in her Mini Cooper convertible. And that's her son, 8-month old Sean Preston Federline, in back. What's wrong with this picture? Well, Sean Preston's baby car seat seems to be too big for him, and he's slumped down with his head unsupported. Worst of all, he's facing forward. That means Brit, 24, is breaking the law — and once again endangering Sean Preston's life. "An infant's neck is not strong enough to withstand a crash when forward-facing," Sgt. Steve Valdez, a traffic safety expert with the California Highway Patrol, tells Star. "Infants up to 1 year old should always ride rear-facing until they are 1 year old."
But Britney's rep, Leslie Sloane Zelnik, tells Star, "Britney didn't violate any laws. Her son is over 20 pounds and can ride facing front, per California State law." Plus, Britney's lawyer, Martin Singer, tells Star, "There is no law in California requiring rear-facing car seats... Britney Spears was in total compliance with California law with the forward-facing child safety car seat with the baby strapped in properly in the back of the car."
This is not the first time Brit's driving has put Sean Preston at risk. On Feb. 6, she was photographed driving her SUV on the Pacific Coast Highway. Where was Sean Preston? On his mom's lap. That time, Brit got off with a visit from sheriff's deputies — but no citation. What will happen if she's pulled over with Sean Preston facing forward? "There are no exceptions to the law," says Sgt. Valdez. "Britney should be fined." And adds said child safety expert Lorrie Walker of www.usa.safekids.org, "We think it would be a good thing if child services intervened and that (Britney) be required to take classes as part of her fine to educate herself on child safety. Some parents just don't know any better. They leave the back door open and just tell their children to go play," Walker told Star.
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Nicole: Keith's My Fiancé
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban
In New York City on Saturday, Nicole Kidman hosted the 30th Anniversary gala for the organization UNIFEM. Her date? Keith Urban, who she admitted is not just her boyfriend.
"He's actually my fiancé," Kidman exclusively told PEOPLE on Monday. "I wouldn't be bringing my boyfriend." The confirmation of the engagement ends months of speculation about the couple, who were first spotted together in July 2005. In November, Kidman was photographed wearing a ring on her wedding finger while walking arm-in-arm with Urban in Boston. At the time, Urban's rep told PEOPLE about a possible engagement, "Right now it's just a rumor."
Kidman, who has been in New York's Hamptons region shooting an untitled film for director Noah Baumbach, is a goodwill ambassador for UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund for Women. The organization works to empower women around the world both politically and economically.
She signed on with UNIFEM earlier this year after learning about it from her mother, a nurse and educator in Australia. "My mother heard a program on the BBC about what they were doing in Cambodia, and she taped it," Kidman tells PEOPLE. "She knew I was looking for something that I can get behind. She told me about the work they were doing, they were giving choices to women. They were doing something rather than just saying, oh this is so dire."
UNIFEM's achievements include organizing women voters in Liberia, who elected the first female president of an African country, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and linking Rwandan women basket weavers with Macy's, which is now selling their wares online and in New York. The organization has also worked to combat violence against women. UNIFEM has helped get female genital mutilation banned in Egypt and other countries where it was common and legal; it has also changed laws in Peru and Costa Rica that allowed rapists to avoid prosecution by marrying their victims. Kidman, who also supports a children's hospital in Sydney, will take her first field trip with UNIFEM, to India, this summer. "It's not about me," she tells PEOPLE. "It's about supporting the people, or helping get the voices heard, and putting money behind the people that are actually doing the hard work."Source
Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey Trade Barbs
Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera
Apparently there's some bad blood between multi-octave divas Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey. According to Access Hollywood, the war of words started when Aguilera said that Carey was "never cool to me" in the June issue of GQ.
"One time, we were at a party and I think she got really drunk, and she had just really derogatory things to say to me," Aguilera told the magazine. "But it was at that time that she had that breakdown, so she might have been very medicated." (In 2001, Carey was hospitalized for exhaustion after several bizarre public appearances, including a near-striptease on MTV's TRL.)
In response to Aguilera's comments, Carey told Access Hollywood, "I had hoped that Christina was in a better place now than the last time I saw her, when she showed up uninvited at one of my parties and displayed questionable behavior. "It is sad yet predictable that she would use my name at this time to reinvent past incidents for her promotional gain," Carey added. "It is in my heart to forgive and I will keep her in my prayers."
Aguilera, whose new album, Back to Basics, is due Aug. 15, seems ready for a truce. "I do not want any bad energy with anyone," she told Access when contacted for comment. "My intentions were not to upset Mariah with any statements that were published or taken out of context. I have all the respect in the world for her."
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