EXPECTING
Actor Tobey Maguire, 33, and wife Jennifer Meyer, 31, will bring home
their second child this spring.... My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way, 31,
is expecting his first child with wife LynZ, 32, a bassist for Mindless
Self Indulgence. The baby is due next summer.
BIRTHS
It's a boy for Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, 24, and Fall Out Boy frontman Pete
Wentz, 29, who had their first child, Bronx Mowgli, on Nov. 20 in L.A.
MARRIED
The Hills stars Heidi Montag, 22, and Spencer Pratt, 25, reportedly
eloped Nov. 19 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
SPLIT
Jodie Sweetin (Full House), 26, filed for legal separation from husband
Cody Herpin on Nov. 19 in Orange County, Calif. The two wed in 2007 and
have a daughter, Zoie, born in April.
HOSPITALIZED
Winona Ryder, 37, was rushed to the hospital as a precautionary measure
Nov. 19 after becoming ill while on a flight from L.A. to London. She
was released an hour after checking in.
COURTS
Madonna, 50, and Guy Ritchie, 40, were granted a preliminary divorce
Nov. 21 by London's High Court. It will likely become final in six
weeks.... On Nov. 24, Michael Jackson, 50, settled a $7 million lawsuit
filed by Bahraini royalty Sheik Abdulla bin Hamad, who alleged that the
pop star reneged on a recording contract.... Two months after suffering
injuries in a plane crash, rocker Travis Barker, 33, filed a lawsuit
against several aviation companies on Nov. 21 in L.A. The suit claims
that the plane was defective and its pilots were poorly trained. A rep
for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, one of the companies cited in the
lawsuit, said in response: ''While the tires may have been involved, it
is too early to speculate on a cause.''... On Nov. 20 in L.A., Jennifer
Garner, 36, obtained a three-year restraining order against a man who's
allegedly been stalking the actress and her family since 2002.... On Nov.
20 actor Warren Beatty, 71, filed a lawsuit in L.A. against Tribune
Media Services over film and TV rights to the comic-strip character Dick
Tracy. Tribune claims Beatty lost his rights because he hadn't produced
a Tracy-related project since his 1990 film Dick Tracy. According to the
suit, Beatty contends that he began work on a Dick Tracy television
special on Nov. 8 of this year.
ON BREAK
Four-season Dancing With the Stars participant and two-time
winner Julianne Hough, 20, announced on Ryan Seacrest's radio show Nov.
20 that she won't be back next season in order to focus on her music.
Hough's self-titled debut album hit No. 1 on the Billboard country chart
in June.
DEATHS
Longtime theater and dance critic Clive Barnes, 81, who wrote for the
New York Post for 30 years, died of cancer Nov. 19 in New York....
Broadway titan Gerald Schoenfeld, 84, who chaired the Shubert
Organization, passed away Nov. 25 in New York City.... Rapper MC
Breed — best known for his 1993 hit featuring Tupac Shakur, ''Gotta Get
Mine'' — died near Detroit on Nov. 22. Breed was on life support for two
days in September after experiencing kidney failure.... Bye Bye Birdie screenwriter Irving Brecher, 94, passed away Nov. 17 of cardiac arrest
in L.A. Brecher also wrote for the Marx Brothers.... B-movie composer Irving Gertz (It Came From Outer Space), 93, died Nov. 14 in L.A. of
natural causes.... Poet Donald Finkel, 79, who authored 2003's Not So the
Chairs, passed away Nov. 15 in St. Louis of Alzheimer's disease. — Additional reporting by Stewart Allen
WINEHOUSE'S WOES
It's been a rough week for British singer Amy Winehouse. On Nov. 23, the 25-year-old checked into a London hospital for the third time in the past month after suffering an allergic reaction to medication. (Her previous stays were related to chest and lung ailments.) That same day, British papers reported rumors of Winehouse splitting from husband Blake Fielder-Civil...who 24 hours later would lose an appeal of his jail sentence for assault and perverting the course of justice. Winehouse's rep declined to comment on the state of the couple's marriage; the singer remains at the hospital under observation. — Kate Ward
SPEARS SPEAKS OUT
''What the hell was I thinking?'' Britney Spears asks herself during a moment of introspection in the MTV documentary Britney: For the Record, airing Nov. 30. The 90-minute film offers a candid look inside the troubled entertainer's remarkably isolated world as she prepares to drop her new CD, Circus (out Dec.2). Among other revelations — including an accusation that the paparazzi have robbed the singer of her ''cool chick'' status — Spears opens up about her failed romance with Justin Timberlake and Kevin Federline. ''With Justin, he was part of the magnitude of what I had become. So when he was gone I was like, What am I supposed to do with myself? I was devastated [by the break up] but I handled it a lot better that the [split] with Kevin.'' We all know how that ended, but the dark secrets that led to her 2007 meltdown remain a mystery. — Margeaux Watson
