EXPECTING
On Jan. 7, Nicole Kidman, 40, confirmed that she is pregnant. It's her
first child with her country-singer husband, Keith Urban, 40. Kidman has
two kids from her 10-year marriage to Tom Cruise, Isabella, 15, and
Connor, 12.
BIRTHS
Poppy Montgomery (Without a Trace), 32, and boyfriend Adam Kaufman, 33, became parents to son Jackson Phillip on Dec. 23 in L.A. Trace viewers
may remember Kaufman as the bartender who got Montgomery's FBI agent
pregnant.... It's a girl for Samantha Morton (Elizabeth: The Golden
Age), 30, and fiancé Harry Holm, 27. She was born Jan. 4 in London.
MARRIED
On New Year's Day, Eddie Murphy, 46, and Tracey Edmonds, 40, wed on a
private island in French Polynesia.
HONORS
On Jan. 8, the Directors Guild of America named six men and five films
as nominees for its annual awards: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood), Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men), Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), Sean Penn (Into the Wild), and Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly). The winner will be revealed on Jan. 26 in L.A.
COURTS
To think it all began with mashed carrots: On Jan. 7 in NYC, Missy Chase
Lapine, 43, sued Jerry Seinfeld, 53, and wife Jessica, 36, for
plagiarism and defamation. Lapine, who is seeking unspecified damages,
says Jessica's cookbook Deceptively Delicious — designed to trick kids
into eating veggies — bears suspicious similarities to her own, The Sneaky
Chef. She also cites Jerry's ''malicious'' comments to the press; on Oct.
29's Late Show, he called Lapine a ''wacko,'' joking ''if you read history,
many of the three-name people do become assassins.'' The Seinfelds'
lawyer says they'll ''vigorously challenge'' the allegations.... R&B singer Ne-Yo (né Shaffer Smith), 25, sued Rowe Entertainment on Dec. 31 in L.A. for $735,000 for breach of contract. Ne-Yo, who'd been touring with R. Kelly, says he was fired for getting too much attention. Kelly's
rep did not return calls for comment.... On Jan. 4, an Orange County,
Calif., judge denied a request from Bobby Brown, 38, to set aside terms
of his ''default divorce'' from Whitney Houston, 44; in April 2007, she
received full custody of daughter Bobbi Kristina, 14. Brown says he
didn't have a chance to respond to Houston's 2006 divorce suit. His rep
did not return calls for comment.
DEATHS
Adman/screenwriter Philip B. Dusenberry (The Natural), 71, of lung cancer, Dec. 29, in NYC.... George MacDonald Fraser, 82, author of the beloved Harry Flashman novels, of cancer, Jan. 2, on the Isle of Man. — Additional reporting by Jeff Labrecque
THE WEEK IN BRITNEY...
What do Dr. Phil, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and ambulance-chasing paparazzi have in common? They've all been drawn into the web of Britney. On Jan. 3, cops were called to her L.A. home; Spears, 26, had
reportedly locked herself in a bathroom with son Jayden, 1. She was hospitalized ''for her own welfare'' and released the next day (after a visit from the talk-show host), but Jayden and Sean, 2, won't be sleeping over: On Jan. 4, dad Kevin Federline, 29, was given sole custody. — Adam Markovitz
