Eminem
Slim Shady is off the hook.
Days after Eminem was accused of attacking a man in the restroom of a Detroit nudie bar, the alleged victim has decided to drop assault charges without explanation, authorities confirmed.
"The case is now closed," a spokeswoman for the Detroit Police Department told E! Online Tuesday.
The hip-hop superstar, real name Marshall Mathers III, had been spending semi-retirement with his entourage late last Wednesday at the Cheetah Club located along Eight Mile Road when the supposed scuffle broke out.
The victim, who identified himself as Miad J., told local ABC affiliate WXYZ that the fight was triggered when another unidentified patron began chatting up Eminem in the restroom while the rapper was using the urinal. One of the hip-hopster's bodyguards warned the man not to talk to his boss, at which point, Miad J., who was also present, intervened and told the guard to go easy on the fan.
According to an account in the Detroit Free Press, Emimen's bodyguard then shoved Miad J. The 48-year-old attempted to leave, and that's when the rapper allegedly came out "swinging."
"Eminem got done and boom," Miad J. said. "I wasn't even expecting it. I was just minding my own business, taking a leak."
The 33-year-old entertainer and his crew fled the club following the incident. Eyewitnesses quoted in the Free Press said that another member of the posse, described as a longtime Eminem friend and protege named Trick Trick, flashed a gun outside the club, but did not aim it at anyone.
A manager at the club confirmed a fight had gone down involving Eminem but declined to discuss specifics. Calls to the Grammy winner's publicist at Interscope Records, Dennis Dennehy, were not returned.
However, after police confirmed Monday that they were investigating the alleged altercation and seeking Eminem for questioning, Miad J. told them that he changed his mind and didn't want to pursue charges.
While Eminem won't have to face the music in this case, it's not his first brush with the law.
In 2000, Mathers was busted on a pair of gun-related charges. One involved a heated dispute with an associate of rap collective Insane Clown Posse. The other came when Eminem used an unloaded 9mm to threaten and then pistol-whip a man at a bar who allegedly kissed then wife Kim Mathers.
He subsequently cut a deal with prosecutors that saw him plead guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for two years probation and paying a $10,000 fine in lieu of jail time. Both experiences inspired the tracks "Soldier" and "The Kiss."
After remarrying his high school sweetheart last January, Eminem unexpectedly filed for divorce from Kim just three months later without giving a reason and the two are currently seeking joint custody of their 10-year-old daughter, Hailie Jade.
After announcing he was taking a break from recording, Eminem has stayed busy in the studio producing pal Obie Trice's sophomore album, Second Round's on Me, due out next month. He also recently agreed to star in a big-screen update of the classic TV western Have Gun Will Travel.
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Oprah Winfrey says she is not gay
Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. television talk show queen Oprah Winfrey on Monday moved to quash rumors about her relationship with her best friend, saying she is not gay.
In the August issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, the TV star says some people misunderstand her close friendship of 30 years with Gayle King, an editor on the magazine often seen with Winfrey in public.
"I understand why people think we're gay," Winfrey tells the magazine. "There isn't a definition in our culture for this kind of bond between women. So I get why people have to label it -- how can you be this close without it being sexual?"
In the article, Winfrey and King, who is divorced with two children, discuss their 30-year friendship and "four-times-a-day phone calls."
The friends say they would have no problem telling the public if they were in a sexual relationship.
"The truth is, if we were gay, we would tell you, because there's nothing wrong with being gay," says King.
King says the rumors used to bother her as "it's hard enough to get a date on Saturday night" but said she doesn't care anymore. Winfrey, 52, who has never been married, agrees.
"I've told nearly everything there is to tell. All my stuff is out there. People think I'd be so ashamed of being gay that I wouldn't admit it? Oh, please."
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Brad Dishes on Daddyhood
Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt sat down for his first post-Shiloh interview Monday, using his appearance on NBC's Today with Ann Curry to bring attention to his latest pet project, teaming with the nonprofit organization Global Green to bring environmentally-sound housing developments to the people of New Orleans.
And, more importantly, he talked about his burgeoning brood.
"Man, I got kids now," Pitt said. "And it really changes your perspective on the world.
"It completely changes your perspective. And certainly takes the focus off yourself, which I'm really grateful for."
Pitt, who plays papa opposite Angelina Jolie to Shiloh, Zahara and Maddox, says he has a "profound love" for his children and that his transition to family man has, like Jolie, led him to become more involved in humanitarian work.
"You know, I've had my day. I've had my day. I made some films and I've really had a very fortunate life. And it's time for me to share that a bit," he said. "I'm so tired of thinking about myself. I'm sick of myself."
The 42-year-old actor continues, "I can't do justice to it anymore than any other parent can. You feel that you want to be there and you don't want to miss out on anything. It's a true joy.
"You know, you can write a book, you can make a movie, you can draw, paint a painting, but having kids is really the most extraordinary thing I've ever taken on. And, man, if I can get a burp out of that [baby], that little thing, I'll feel such a sense of accomplishment."
In addition to the unabashed parental boasting, Pitt also took the time to discuss his newest project--the one not revolving around George Clooney, that is.
Pitt has teamed up with Global Green USA to bring "green" design--design using materials less harmful to the environment and that are cheaper to maintain--to New Orleans. The buildings are expected to cut energy costs and lower some health risks, like asthma.
To jumpstart the effort, the Ocean's Eleven thesp put up $100,000 of his own money "so far" to sponsor an architectural competition to design a 12-unit apartment complex to be the face of the movement.
"My goal is to see something tangible, to see something built that can become an example, a template...a flagship for other people who are rebuilding."
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Teen Says Brinkley's Husband Seduced Her
Christie Brinkley and her husband Peter Cooke, along with children Jack, left, and Saylor Cooke, watch Sen. John Kerry's concession speech on television in a bar next to Faneuil Hall in Boston, in this Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004 file photo. The couple, married in 1996, has separated(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
A 19-year-old former employee of Christie Brinkley's husband, Peter Cook, says he hired her and seduced her with lavish gifts, then attempted to woo her back with repeated notes and phone calls after she broke off the affair.
Diana Bianchi told the New York Post for Tuesday editions that Cook, 47, made advances on her shortly after she took a job at his architecture firm, adding that at the time she was "a little naive."
The interview appeared less than a week after Brinkley, the 52-year-old supermodel, announced through publicist Elliot Mintz that she and Cook, her fourth husband, had separated.
They married in 1996 and have a daughter Bianchi said she first met Cook when she was a 17-year-old toy store clerk, but he made his intentions clear when she was a year older and his employee, typing in a computer document as she stood by his desk, "How would you feel if I told you I was attracted to you?"
"And I was like, 'Uh, I dunno,'" Bianchi said. "I didn't really answer him. I was kind of thinking, 'Are you serious? Are you kidding?' I really didn't know what to do at that point."
Bianchi's attorney, Joseph Tacopina, told the Post that the pair had a sexual relationship that spanned about one year. Speaking to The Associated Press, the lawyer described the couple's relationship as consensual, but claimed Cook's role as employer and his gifts of a car, money and jewelry could possibly constitute sexual harassment.
A message left for Cook at his Long Island architecture firm Monday was not immediately returned.
Mintz said he had no comment on Bianchi's claims, which emerged in press reports Monday, though he told the Post he did not believe Brinkley and the teenager had met.
Brinkley is "just a woman who at this moment is completely preoccupied with the protection of her children, trying to isolate them from all of this coverage, and trying to heal," he said.
Tacopina said that Bianchi, an aspiring singer, quit her job at Cook's firm within a few months after she started in May 2005 because, Tacopina said, she felt uncomfortable.
"Being put in the position that (Cook) put her in, which was to be financially dependent on him ... as long as she provided sex that's the relationship that the law frowns upon when you're an employer and an employee," he said.
Tacopina said he had no immediate plans for a law suit.
Brinkley was previously married to Jean-Francois Allaux, singer Billy Joel and developer Richard Taubman.
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Carmen Electra, Dave Navarro to Split
Carmen Electra and musician Dave Navarro
"`Til Death Do Us Part" not quite. Actress Carmen Electra and musician Dave Navarro are "amicably separating," Electra's publicist, Brit Reece, said Monday.
Reece would not elaborate on the reasons behind the split.
Former "Baywatch" star Electra and former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Navarro documented their 2003 wedding on MTV's "`Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen & Dave."
The sexy pair met on a blind date, and "it was love at first sight," Electra told The Associated Press during an interview in 2004.
Navarro currently co-hosts the CBS talent competition "Rock Star."
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