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BIRTH
Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis, 37, better start mashing bananas.
Jade, her daughter with hubby Todd Thompson, 44, was born March 29 in
L.A.
COURTS
On March 27 in Atlanta, rapper T.I. (né Clifford Harris Jr.), 27,
pleaded guilty to three gun-possession charges. He struck a deal to do
at least 1,000 hours of community service; upon completion, he's
expected to receive another 1,500-hour stint, a $100,000 fine, and a
year in jail. Before making the plea bargain, the Grammy winner — who was
arrested in October for purchasing several unlicensed machine guns and
silencers — had faced up to 30 years behind bars.... Annie Hall made Diane
Keaton a fashion icon, but Woody Allen wants none of that: On March 31
in NYC, the director, 72, sued American Apparel for putting him on
billboards without his permission. (They used a famous Annie photo — Allen
dressed as a Hasidic Jew — with a Yiddish tagline that read ''the holy
rabbi.'') He wants more than $10 million for damage to his reputation. In
a statement, the clothing company said the display was meant ''strictly
as a social parody'' and that they had ''no intention of selling garments
through the use of Mr. Allen's image.''
APOLOGY
On April 1, Jay Leno, 58, issued a statement expressing remorse after he
asked guest Ryan Phillippe, 33, to give the camera his ''gayest look'' on
the March 19 installment of The Tonight Show. (The actor did not
oblige.) ''I certainly didn't mean any malice,'' said Leno. ''It was a dumb
thing to say, and I apologize.''
RECOVERING
Jessica Simpson, 27, was hospitalized March 28 in L.A. for a kidney
infection. She was released in good health on March 31.
DEATHS
Famously blacklisted director Jules Dassin, 97, who made movies in his
native U.S. (The Naked City) and Europe (Never on Sunday), of
undisclosed causes, March 31, in Athens.... Actor Richard Widmark, 93,
of an unidentified illness, March 24, in Roxbury, Conn.... Dith Pran,
65 — the photojournalist whose time in war-torn Cambodia inspired 1984's
Killing Fields — of pancreatic cancer, March 30, in New Brunswick, N.J.
Fields director Roland Joffé called him a ''testament to the human
suffering caused by the often cynical manipulations of geopolitics.'' — Additional reporting by Stewart Allen
SUPER MESS
Warner Bros. just got handed legal kryptonite. On March 26, a federal
court ruled that the family of Jerry Siegel — who created Superman with
Joe Shuster and sold the hero for $130 in 1938 — is entitled to a share of
the character's copyright...and a chunk of the cash the Man of Steel has
raked in recently. Translation: Pending appeal, Warner Bros. will have
to surrender some profits from The CW's Smallville, now in season 7, and
from 2006's Superman Returns, which grossed $200 million domestically.
(Warner Bros., a division of Time Warner, which also owns EW's
publisher, issued a statement that ''substantial issues...were ruled in
our favor''; e.g., the studio keeps all international earnings.) The
court also said Superman stays at Warner until at least 2013 — which
means, says a studio insider, that neither a Justice League film nor a
Returns sequel should be affected. As for the size of the check the
Siegels will get? That's for a civil court to decide. And something
tells us it won't be happening faster than a speeding bullet. — Adam B. Vary
