Sadly, Helen says she was date raped twice as a young woman and that she didn’t do anything about it or go to the police because it was hard to prove. It sounds like she thinks other women should keep their silence about it too. To bring her convoluted point home, Mirren says that Mike Tyson isn’t a rapist. Tyson was convicted of raping an 18 year-old beauty pageant contestant in 1991 and served three years out of a six year sentence. The woman had gone voluntarily to his hotel room.

The 63-year-old actress said when she was younger she was forced to have sex against her will and was too “naive” to say no.

Asked if she reported the incidents to the police, she told GQ magazine: “No, you couldn’t do that in those days.

“It’s such a tricky area, isn’t it? Especially if there is no violence. I mean, look at Mike Tyson. I don’t think he was a rapist.”

If a woman voluntarily ends up in a man’s bedroom, takes all her clothes off and engages in sexual activity in bed with him she has the right to say “no” at the last second, Dame Helen said.

If the man ignored her it was rape, Dame Helen said.

But she said: “I don’t think she can have that man into court under those circumstances.

“I guess it is one of the many subtle parts of the men/women relationship that has to be negotiated and worked out between them.

“Times have changed. I hate young girls going around beating each other up, but I love the fierceness of young girls nowadays, and the way they just say, ‘f*** off’, because I wish I’d been taught to say ‘f*** off’ when I was younger.

“I wish I’d had those words in my arsenal of self-defence. Instead, I was polite and didn’t have the courage to say that to men who wouldn’t accept ‘no’ for an answer.

“I was pretty naive, I went to a convent school until I was 18, and had never spent a night away from home, or gone to parties, or any of that.

“So I was very innocent when I went to college in London, and I was living on my own. And I found guys were horrible, mean, rude, insulting, and so without feeling.

“And I was looking for love and for someone who just liked me, made me laugh and was nice to me. And instead I just met all these creeps.”

She said of her own experiences: “I was (date-raped), yes. A couple of times.

“Not with excessive violence, or being hit, but rather being locked in a room and made to have sex against my will.”

[From Telegraph.co.uk]

If someone locks a woman in a room and forces her to have sex against her will, that’s rape. Of course there are cases when women “lead a man on,” but rape is never justified and that often seems to be the defense that is usually used in these type of cases. It’s also something that’s very difficult to prove.

By saying that it’s something two people have to work out between themselves, Mirren sounds like she wants to set women back 40 years to what she had to go through. Why should women negotiate with men who raped them, or somehow forgive them at the time? That assumes that it’s a reasonable situation with a reasonable person, which it isn’t if rape is involved. Do you think Mirren is still dealing with the pain of what happened to her as a young woman? If she thinks there was no recourse, maybe she feels that she can close the door on something that she had no control over.

Helen Mirren is shown on 6/30/08 at an Armani fashion show. Credit: WENN

Damn what I wouldn’t give to know what’s in that Victoria’s Secret bag Hilary Duff is carrying.  Well actually, what I wouldn’t give to see Hilary Duff wearing what’s in that bag is more like it.

We haven’t seen too many revealing pictures of Hilary, so my imagination is freaking running wild here and it’s killing me!  For the love of God, please model what’s in the bag!

Ashlee Simpson-Wentz is looking for inspiration to adopt healthier dieting practices after the pregnant singer was told that she has gained too much weight during a recent prenatal visit.

“Ashlee broke down in tears at a doctor’s appointment in early August when she found out she’s gained more weight than is considered in the healthy range,” a Star source says.

A long-faced Ashlee immediately took a trip to Malibu’s Planet Blue and stocked up on six pairs of size zero jeans to motivate her to curtail her eating:

“She can’t wear them now, but she hopes it will give her the incentive to watch what she eats.”

Ashlee will welcome her first child with husband Pete Wentz in October.

[From Star Magazine print version, Sept. 5, 2008]

Give me a break. I’ve seen recent photos of Ashlee and she looks absolutely fine- well within the suggested 25-35 pounds most doctors recommend. This article makes it sound like she’s the size of a whale or something, when anyone with eyes can tell she looks good. She’s been seen attending pregnancy yoga and even has a trainer and nutritionist. And furthermore, while she was thin, I don’t think Ashlee was a size zero before the pregnancy.

Meanwhile, Ashlee told People that she and husband Pete Wentz will spend the next two months getting the nursery ready.

The singer, who confirmed the pregnancy back in May, says she and husband Pete Wentz have been knee-deep in baby-proofing their Hollywood home.

“We’re getting the nursery ready,” said Simpson. “I can’t wait to be a mom and he can’t wait to be a dad, so it’s fun.”

“I have the greatest husband,” she said. “He’s so awesome. It’s fun to have somebody that I love to do this with.”

Having her family around has been comforting too. “My mom and my grandmother [have] given me good motherly advice,” said Simpson, “but it’s one of those things where your mother instincts kind of kick in right away.”

Other things on their to-do list? Picking a baby name. But Simpson says they haven’t settled on one yet.

After joking about calling their kid “Orange,” Simpson said, “I don’t think it’s something we’ll decide until the baby comes.”

Wow. Holy TV goodness!

Jennifer Aniston will be returning to NBC’s Must See Thursday this fall, appearing in an episode of NBC’s 30 Rock, a very solid source familiar with the deal just confirmed to me.

“She is shooting now,” says the insider. “We are not giving out any specifics on her character.”

Aniston is actually the second Friends alum to come on the series—David Schwimmer also guested as Greenzo during the environmental episode.

Given that the SNL-nature of the series, Aniston could be playing herself, or a scripted character. As soon as we have more details, we will post them right here.

[From E! News]

30 Rock is pretty much the greatest thing ever. Whenever I walk by Rockefeller Plaza or think about throwing someone under an F train, I bow in their honor. It confuses the crap out of tourists, which I enjoy.

I read an article recently that said the show wasn’t as popular outside of the tri-state region because people don’t get all the jokes. For example there are all these anti-terrorism signs here that say, “If You See Something, Say Something.” 30 Rock had exact replicas that said, “If You Suspect Something, Do Everything.” Or jokes about the random weird smells that suddenly waft throughout the city – like maple syrup – that often result in a lot of federal agents swarming the area. And it’s generally due to something that’s gone wrong in Jersey. I guess I can understand how you could miss the jokes if you’ve never been here. But the show is still so great that you should visit New York, just so it makes more sense when you watch it.

Here’s one of my favorite guest appearances by former Vice President Al Gore. The guy in the cape in the background is David Schwimmer. Hopefully Aniston’s performance will be just as good. Header of Jennifer Aniston meeting Woody Allen for lunch at Madeo on Tuesday in Beverly Hills. Images thanks to Fame.

On the photos of her bikini wrestling in Vegas: I was working

“I wasn’t shocked when those pictures taken of me in Vegas surfaced,” says Sarah. “I knew once I started dating George they’d come out, so I showed them all to him before they were published as they were posted on various websites. Most of them are of me working. All the girls I worked with were my friends so we got paid to have a great time together. I think it’s funny that they are made out to be scandalous. My thoughts on them… ’so what?’”

[From Hello! Magazine, print edition, July 14, 2008]

There aren’t many people who get paid to get on all fours in swimwear, to wrestle with women, or to have men lick their feet. The jobs that usually involve those type of paid activities are legal in the state of Nevada, but are technically not allowed in the city of Las Vegas. I’m not saying that was involved in her job, but you can see how people would get confused as to what it is she did exactly.

On how she got into cocktail waitressing although she has an undergraduate degree in microbiology

“I worked there [at a homeopathic medicines company in Vegas] for about a year but it wasn’t paying my bills,” she says. “So I started modeling and that led to cocktailing.” It was, she admits, a big leap from the world of alternative medicine to the service industry. “Sometimes I feel I had two different lives. I like the fact that I have this obscure degree that people don’t see me as having and I can pull facts out of the air and shock people every now and then.”

Good for Larson for going to college and I would not have expected that from her. She didn’t give an example of any supposedly shocking facts she knows about microbiology or homeopathic medicine, though. In fact I haven’t heard much that’s all that interesting or unique from her.

On not needing a man to be fulfilled

“I don’t need a man to make me happy. I think you should be happy on your own and if you find someone who complements that happiness then that’s a great thing… I like a guy with a good sense of humor, have their own way of thinking, [sic] and be mature enough to communicate in a relationship.”

On using her fame “for something good”

“Eventually I’d like to start my own business and fade into the background,” she says. “I think fame is only appealing if you can use it in ways to help people. I’ve never had the desire to really want fame, and not that I have it I’m trying to use it for something good.”

Before we all scoff at Larson’s charity lip service, Hello! does say that she has “spent the last four years volunteering with AFAN (Aid for AIDS in Nevada)”

At least she knows her 15 minutes are up and says she’s ready for it. This interview with Hello! was her last hurrah and she doesn’t have delusions otherwise. She’ll pop up occasionally in LA and get her photo taken at some paparazzi hot spots. We may see her in some print ads. Either way, she’s over but she’s doing fine.

I wonder when exactly Larson showed Clooney those pictures, though. Was it before or after that motorcycle accident they were in together last September? There is no way this girl would have stuck around for so long if that didn’t happen. My sister in law had a theory that Clooney kept her around until the statute of limitations on suing him ran out, but that would have been two years and Clooney held out for less than a year.

George Clooney and Sarah Larson are shown below at the Michael Clayton premiere on 9/24/08, a few days after their accident. Credit: PNP / WENN. Inset image: at the 2008 National Board of Review Awards at Cipriani on 1/15/08. Credit: Flashpoint / WENN. Header: on 5/5/08 out for dinner in NY. Credit: Ron Asadorian / Splash

Jamie Lynn Spears appears with little Maddie in the next issue of OK! Magazine. It includes the kind of glowing “everything’s great” interview that also includes some details about her day to day life with the baby. OK! reports that Jamie Lynn had a natural birth and didn’t have a c-section as some outlets reported. It also sounds like she nurses her baby, but she only hints at that. I’m only going on what the website has, though, and it’s possible there is more concrete information in the print version.

Around here, everyone has the same focus,” Jamie Lynn tells OK!. “The focus is family, and that’s a good way to live.”

The 17-year-old actress opens up to OK! about everything — from taking parenting classes to life inside the new home she shares with Maddie and boyfriend Casey Aldridge, to her first experience with labor pains.

“They’d told me it would be an eight- to 12-hour labor, and I was ready to have the baby in three to four hours,” Jamie Lynn tells OK!. “I had a perfect pregnancy and a perfect delivery. I was very blessed.”

While the former Zoey 101 star and her fiancé have not yet set a date for their wedding, the couple remains closer than ever. Jamie Lynn, who tells OK! that while her labor was induced, she gave birth naturally and without complications, says that Casey was the one person she wanted in the delivery room with her.

“Once I got in there, my doctor was just so calm and so good it was not bad at all,” she says. “I was just talking to Casey. And you know what’s so weird? I was asking him if he was okay. He was like, ‘Yeah.’ We were both so excited.”

A baby nursery is set up for little Maddie at the other end of the house, but for now her proud parents like having her next to them at night, so she sleeps in a bassinet in the same room as Jamie Lynn and Casey.

“She is very good,” says Jamie Lynn. “She’ll feed every two or three hours. When she wakes up in the middle of the night, I’ll feed her and she goes right back to sleep. There’s no screaming and crying.”

The proud mama continues, “We get up in the morning, and she gets her little bath. Then I get my bath. We have a routine, and I love routines. I’ve worked one out with her, and we’re happy going about our little life.”

[From OK! Magazine]

The baby sure is cute and Jamie seems like a devoted and caring young mother. She’s only 17 but she manages to sound mature in the interview and like she did her best to prepare for motherhood. It’s a great idea to have the baby sleep in the same room with you and we did that when my son was born. We got a lot more sleep than having him in another room.

This week’s National Enquirer reports that Jamie Lynn wasn’t happy with her mom’s deal with OK! for the first photos of Maddie. Lynne made the reported $1 million deal with OK! back when they shockingly announced then 16-year-old Jamie Lynn’s pregnancy in the magazine. Jamie Lynn is said to want to keep Maddie out of the spotlight because she wants to avoid the media circus that surrounds her sister, Britney, and her two sons. It was too late to back out at this point, though, so she did her best with the interview and photo shoot. Jamie Lynn and Lynne are also said to be fighting because Lynne plans to return to LA soon to help Britney.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers singer, 45, and Christie, 22, a former model, recently ended their relationship of more than three years and have been living apart since June, according to sources.

The former couple have a son together, Everly Bear, who was born last October.

“Anthony is a great dad and I will love him forever for giving me the gift of life,” Christie tells PEOPLE. “I really hope he finds what he’s looking for.”

[From People.com]

They’ve been dating since Kiedis was 42 and Christie was just 19. That’s a huge age difference and it’s not like that relationship was going to last anyway. I wonder what she means by “finds what he’s looking for” though. Kiedis is into Kabbalah and it’s possible she’s referring to that, but it’s probably just a standard breakup issue like he’s been looking for companionship elsewhere or they drifted apart and have different interests now. In photos I found of Keidis from May he wasn’t wearing the red string, so he may not be that into Kabbalah at this point anyway.

Anthony Kiedis and Heather Christie are shown on 5/12/06. Credit: Dimitri Halkidis / WENN

The Red Hot Chili Peppers singer, 45, and Christie, 22, a former model, recently ended their relationship of more than three years and have been living apart since June, according to sources.

The former couple have a son together, Everly Bear, who was born last October.

“Anthony is a great dad and I will love him forever for giving me the gift of life,” Christie tells PEOPLE. “I really hope he finds what he’s looking for.”

Kiedis’s rep had no comment on the split.

The singer is premiering the video for “Come On Over” – the hit single off her debut country album Do You Know?, out Sept. 9 – on her Web site Friday. The video will be available online until its TV premiere on EXTRA Monday night.

“I had so much fun making my video, I’m so glad y’all finally get to see it!” Simpson – who celebrated her 28th birthday Thursday – wrote on her Web site.

Liz Friedlander, who has directed clips for Celine Dion, R.E.M., and Blink 182, shot Simpson’s video at the Little Creek Ranch in southern California.

The singer has made some memorable videos: She had fans in a lather over her steamy car wash in the 2005 clip for “These Boots Were Made for Walkin’,” and 2006’s “A Public Affair,” directed by Brett Ratner, co-starred Eva Longoria, Christina Applegate, Eva Mendes and Christina Milian.

For “Come On Over,” there aren’t any celeb cameos – but fans will get a glimpse of the bottle for her new perfume, Fancy.

In May, Simpson became the highest-charting debut solo artist in the history of the Billboard Country Singles Chart when “Come On Over” debuted at No. 41.

Venus Williams finally got the upper hand over younger sister Serena, defeating her in two sets – 7-5, 6-4, to win her fifth Wimbledon singles crown.

Saturday’s championship battle marked the seventh time the sisters had opposed one another in a Grand Slam final, with Serena, 26, winning the last five of those matches.

After sealing the victory, Venus, 28, hugged her sister at the net and later credited her as a touch competitor. “She played so awesome so it was really a task,” said the now seven-time Grand Slam champion of Serena, as reported by the BBC

.

As for her win on one of the sport’s toughest – and most prestigious – venues, the lawns of the All England Club, Venus said: “To know every time I come back, I have the chance to make history… I love this place.”

Despite losing, Serena called the day one of celebration for her family. “I’ve been working really hard and I’m so happy at least one of us was able to win,” she said.

Venus needs one more Wimbledon singles title to match Billie Jean King’s record of six, behind only Steffi Graf (seven) and Martina Navratilova (nine).

The two sisters will play later today – this time on the same side of the net – in the women’s doubles final.