Jessica Alba says listening to very loud music in the gym is the key to keeping fit and sexy.
The Fantastic Four star hates exercising so much that she has to listen to her favourite tunes on full volume to stop her wanting to "kill herself".
She said: "I have to look good but I hate to exercise. I get so bored so I just do anything that keeps me from wanting to kill myself when I am in the gym, like listening to my music on level 100."
Alba's exercising methods obviously work as the actress has topped many sexiest women polls.
Her role as the Invisible Woman in the Fantastic Four films recently saw her crowned Sexiest Superhero in a poll by Pearl and Dean.
Alba is eager to be known for more than her sexy curves, insisting: "I hope all my new work will help producers in getting past my hotness."
Alba can currently be seen in cinemas in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Jessica Alba on top of her game
Jessica Alba has been slowly crawling up the Hollywood power list over the past few years, but 2007 looks like it's going to be her year.
The actress has no less than six films coming out this year - the first of which is Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in which she plays the part of Sue Storm, the invisible woman with a force-field.
After the comic book adaptation is released, Alba is set to appear on screen in horror film The Eye, three comedies - Good Luck Chuck, Bill, and The Ten, plus another thriller titled Awake.
Earlier this year, she topped FHM's poll as being the sexiest woman on the planet.
Alba often appears in men's magazines - but the actress said it is strictly for movie promotion.
She added: "I do men's magazines to promote movies. Women's magazines don't have as many polls. The polls seem to get publicity for the magazine. So when you are in the public eye and when you are in films, they just sort of keep putting you on it and it's very flattering."
The actress has no less than six films coming out this year - the first of which is Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in which she plays the part of Sue Storm, the invisible woman with a force-field.
After the comic book adaptation is released, Alba is set to appear on screen in horror film The Eye, three comedies - Good Luck Chuck, Bill, and The Ten, plus another thriller titled Awake.
Earlier this year, she topped FHM's poll as being the sexiest woman on the planet.
Alba often appears in men's magazines - but the actress said it is strictly for movie promotion.
She added: "I do men's magazines to promote movies. Women's magazines don't have as many polls. The polls seem to get publicity for the magazine. So when you are in the public eye and when you are in films, they just sort of keep putting you on it and it's very flattering."
Jessica Alba has it all, but she wants more
There's plenty to cover in the few precious seconds we have with Jessica Alba. Why has she made another Fantastic Four movie? Is she still The It Girl? Can The It Girl carry a movie?
And why didn't the hordes who worship her online buy tickets to her bomb, Into the Blue?
But first things first. Jessica Alba has just turned 26, so here's a box of semi-expensive chocolates to mark the occasion. She is surprised, elated. And does she plan to share them? "No way."
So, 26. It sounds young but in Hollywood terms Jessica Alba is now officially...
"In my late 20s!" she quips.
How about "old"?
"I don't know. Really? In Hollywood terms?"
You tell us. You're the It Girl.
"I think if you're a model, yeah, 26 is old. But if you're an actress you can really do it for as long as you want to."
And she wants to.
After treading water in TV guest spots and forgettable films such as Idle Hands and Never Been Kissed, Alba first hit big in 2000 as the star of the sci-fi TV series, Dark Angel.
This led to two successful films, Sin City (2005), in which she played an erotic dancer with a heart of gold and Honey (2003), in which she played a dance choreographer with a heart of gold.
Both films bolstered her box-office appeal and her reputation for being the new millennium's reigning "hot" girl.
She let all this get to her head, she admits but in the right way. When Alba made the first Fantastic Four movie two years ago, she wasn't doing it for the art. She was consciously capitalising on her Dark Angel and film success. She knew that being part of a hit movie franchise would give her the leverage she needed to start doing films where being the Hottest Girl on Earth didn't matter so much.
And the film seemed scientifically designed to serve her. Made by Fox, it took two other stars from hit Fox TV shows (Michael Chiklis from The Shield, Julian McMahon from Nip/Tuck) and used the film to turn them into big film stars.
So, did Fantastic Four do its job?
"Absolutely," says Alba, beaming. "A movie making over $100 million at the box office does nothing but open doors wide. A lot of people in the business will just read a headline and not necessarily see a movie, or if they do they don't really have creative opinion of it. A lot of what happens depends on 'the buzz' around somebody, and the thing that drives buzz is box office.
"A lot of artsy, independent filmmakers hate that. They hate the buzz aspect of how Hollywood makes films, so (as an actress) you are sort of snubbed by artsy people while being embraced by the commercial filmmakers and so you have to be careful with what you do. You can just go and do every movie that's offered to you and have nothing creative or artistic. No integrity there."
Hence, she was careful to parlay her Fantastic Four success into projects that offered new challenges. These include parts in films such as The Ten (a comedy about the Ten Commandments), Bill (a comedy about infidelity), Good Luck Chuck (a romantic comedy), Awake (a thriller) and The Eye (a horror thriller), all of which are yet to be released.
Clearly, one opportunity Alba was anxious to seize was the chance to show off her hitherto undisplayed comedy chops.
"I had been wanting to do a comedy for a long time and it was difficult for people to grasp that, so I hosted the MTV Movie Awards and I did a few skits on there. I used it as an audition to show people that I can take the piss out of myself and have a good time. I actually got Good Luck Chuck out of that."
Franchise success has certainly put a permanent smile on Alba's face. She feels that "everything I ever imagined a career could be like in this business has been exceeded, tenfold". She very much feels she's in the right place at the right time.
"Before, it was about me trying to convince people to get me a job. Now I have the choice, more than ever. Absolutely. It's allowed me to really tell people in this business what I want to do, because obviously you're going to get offered roles that everybody gets offered, the most popular things that are happening at the moment."
And it's not that Alba doesn't want to do what's popular. She just wants to do it her way. Thus, she was keen to jump into the horror genre - all the rage at the minute, she says - but it had to be "something that was going to be memorable, that was going to be special and different and, most importantly, smart".
That's why she was eager to make The Eye for Cruise/Wagner, the production house run by Tom Cruise and his former agent, Paula Wagner. Alba admires their modus operandi, alternating huge hits with edgier fare.
"It's been blockbuster after blockbuster mixed with really great, smaller movies like Shattered Glass, The Others, Narc. Really interesting, darker, very artsy movies. I think you can have your cake and eat it, too. You can do your Mission Impossible franchise and then you can go and do stuff that you really care about. I mean Tom doing Collateral. That's so risky. He was a sociopathic killer."
So, of course she was eager to don the dark blue catsuit again for the Fantastic Four sequel. "What's brilliant is that we know what kind of movie we're making. We know what this franchise is, we all get that what we're doing is a very broad comedy. It's a tongue-in-cheek family of super-heroes."
You certainly can't fault Alba for confidence. She has yet to carry a film with her acting skills alone - the success she has enjoyed thus far has been in films where strong ensembles and expensive visual effects play a huge part. Yet when you ask by what age she feels she will have built that artistic bridge between success in blockbusters and non-blockbusters, she's ready with an answer.
"I feel like I have. I feel like I've found a happy medium. Good Luck Chuck, I'm not the star of it, it's not a humungous movie. I did it because I wanted to explore if I could do physical comedy and hold my own. So that was really a creative choice. Bill is an independent movie. The guys who produced Awake asked me to do it. They said, 'Can you come to St Louis in three days' and I was like, 'OK'."
As a sex symbol with a strictly enforced "no nudity" clause hard-wired into her contracts, raising the issue of sex in pop culture gets Alba fired up. But not about sex.
"You know, sexuality doesn't scare me as much as violence. We put kids through a month of training, give them automatic weapons and send them to the desert and expect them to go kill people and survive in an environment that's completely foreign to them, and when they come home they can't order a f---ing beer. I think that's bullshit. I think that is much more destructive than nudity or sexuality or any of that. Violence to me is much more destructive and much more dangerous in every way."
Certainly when it comes to sex appeal, Alba, even at the ripe old age of 26, has retained her heat. She recently earned the title of World's Sexiest Woman courtesy of the British readers of FHM magazine and she remains a cyber goddess to millions of web worshippers. Indeed, Playboy deemed her so hot they put her on the cover of its March issue last year.
This enraged Alba, as it implied a nude pictorial inside. Legal action was averted when Playboy founder Hugh Hefner apologised. Alba forgave him, and as penance they forwarded some large donations to some of her favourite charities.
But hot as she may be, it didn't translate into ticket sales for her 2005 dud, Into the Blue. Where were her legions of fans when she needed them?
Again, Alba is ready.
"Here's the thing, though. Into the Blue was made before I made Fantastic Four or Sin City, and MGM, who made Into the Blue, was bought by Sony. So Sony had to distribute all of the movies it had slated for the year as well as all of MGM's movies. So they just threw it away. There was no press, no anything.
"And I wasn't the star of the movie. I was barely in it! It was Paul Walker's movie. He was the lead and I thought it was unfair that anybody thought I should have been the one to carry that movie, because frankly it wasn't mine."
One could argue that Alba still has "It". One could also argue that the height of her "It" phase was during her stint on Dark Angel, when she was fresh and hot and not a blonde. What say she?
"I don't really know what it is to be the It girl," she muses, still beaming. "I feel like Halle Berry is an It girl, and she's 40. Helen Mirren is an It girl and she's 60! So it's just about people who are doing good work and who are in the media and have positive buzz.
"Your It girl status goes up and down, and I'm not going to complain when it's up. But I'm certainly not going to fret when it's down."
And why didn't the hordes who worship her online buy tickets to her bomb, Into the Blue?
But first things first. Jessica Alba has just turned 26, so here's a box of semi-expensive chocolates to mark the occasion. She is surprised, elated. And does she plan to share them? "No way."
So, 26. It sounds young but in Hollywood terms Jessica Alba is now officially...
"In my late 20s!" she quips.
How about "old"?
"I don't know. Really? In Hollywood terms?"
You tell us. You're the It Girl.
"I think if you're a model, yeah, 26 is old. But if you're an actress you can really do it for as long as you want to."
And she wants to.
After treading water in TV guest spots and forgettable films such as Idle Hands and Never Been Kissed, Alba first hit big in 2000 as the star of the sci-fi TV series, Dark Angel.
This led to two successful films, Sin City (2005), in which she played an erotic dancer with a heart of gold and Honey (2003), in which she played a dance choreographer with a heart of gold.
Both films bolstered her box-office appeal and her reputation for being the new millennium's reigning "hot" girl.
She let all this get to her head, she admits but in the right way. When Alba made the first Fantastic Four movie two years ago, she wasn't doing it for the art. She was consciously capitalising on her Dark Angel and film success. She knew that being part of a hit movie franchise would give her the leverage she needed to start doing films where being the Hottest Girl on Earth didn't matter so much.
And the film seemed scientifically designed to serve her. Made by Fox, it took two other stars from hit Fox TV shows (Michael Chiklis from The Shield, Julian McMahon from Nip/Tuck) and used the film to turn them into big film stars.
So, did Fantastic Four do its job?
"Absolutely," says Alba, beaming. "A movie making over $100 million at the box office does nothing but open doors wide. A lot of people in the business will just read a headline and not necessarily see a movie, or if they do they don't really have creative opinion of it. A lot of what happens depends on 'the buzz' around somebody, and the thing that drives buzz is box office.
"A lot of artsy, independent filmmakers hate that. They hate the buzz aspect of how Hollywood makes films, so (as an actress) you are sort of snubbed by artsy people while being embraced by the commercial filmmakers and so you have to be careful with what you do. You can just go and do every movie that's offered to you and have nothing creative or artistic. No integrity there."
Hence, she was careful to parlay her Fantastic Four success into projects that offered new challenges. These include parts in films such as The Ten (a comedy about the Ten Commandments), Bill (a comedy about infidelity), Good Luck Chuck (a romantic comedy), Awake (a thriller) and The Eye (a horror thriller), all of which are yet to be released.
Clearly, one opportunity Alba was anxious to seize was the chance to show off her hitherto undisplayed comedy chops.
"I had been wanting to do a comedy for a long time and it was difficult for people to grasp that, so I hosted the MTV Movie Awards and I did a few skits on there. I used it as an audition to show people that I can take the piss out of myself and have a good time. I actually got Good Luck Chuck out of that."
Franchise success has certainly put a permanent smile on Alba's face. She feels that "everything I ever imagined a career could be like in this business has been exceeded, tenfold". She very much feels she's in the right place at the right time.
"Before, it was about me trying to convince people to get me a job. Now I have the choice, more than ever. Absolutely. It's allowed me to really tell people in this business what I want to do, because obviously you're going to get offered roles that everybody gets offered, the most popular things that are happening at the moment."
And it's not that Alba doesn't want to do what's popular. She just wants to do it her way. Thus, she was keen to jump into the horror genre - all the rage at the minute, she says - but it had to be "something that was going to be memorable, that was going to be special and different and, most importantly, smart".
That's why she was eager to make The Eye for Cruise/Wagner, the production house run by Tom Cruise and his former agent, Paula Wagner. Alba admires their modus operandi, alternating huge hits with edgier fare.
"It's been blockbuster after blockbuster mixed with really great, smaller movies like Shattered Glass, The Others, Narc. Really interesting, darker, very artsy movies. I think you can have your cake and eat it, too. You can do your Mission Impossible franchise and then you can go and do stuff that you really care about. I mean Tom doing Collateral. That's so risky. He was a sociopathic killer."
So, of course she was eager to don the dark blue catsuit again for the Fantastic Four sequel. "What's brilliant is that we know what kind of movie we're making. We know what this franchise is, we all get that what we're doing is a very broad comedy. It's a tongue-in-cheek family of super-heroes."
You certainly can't fault Alba for confidence. She has yet to carry a film with her acting skills alone - the success she has enjoyed thus far has been in films where strong ensembles and expensive visual effects play a huge part. Yet when you ask by what age she feels she will have built that artistic bridge between success in blockbusters and non-blockbusters, she's ready with an answer.
"I feel like I have. I feel like I've found a happy medium. Good Luck Chuck, I'm not the star of it, it's not a humungous movie. I did it because I wanted to explore if I could do physical comedy and hold my own. So that was really a creative choice. Bill is an independent movie. The guys who produced Awake asked me to do it. They said, 'Can you come to St Louis in three days' and I was like, 'OK'."
As a sex symbol with a strictly enforced "no nudity" clause hard-wired into her contracts, raising the issue of sex in pop culture gets Alba fired up. But not about sex.
"You know, sexuality doesn't scare me as much as violence. We put kids through a month of training, give them automatic weapons and send them to the desert and expect them to go kill people and survive in an environment that's completely foreign to them, and when they come home they can't order a f---ing beer. I think that's bullshit. I think that is much more destructive than nudity or sexuality or any of that. Violence to me is much more destructive and much more dangerous in every way."
Certainly when it comes to sex appeal, Alba, even at the ripe old age of 26, has retained her heat. She recently earned the title of World's Sexiest Woman courtesy of the British readers of FHM magazine and she remains a cyber goddess to millions of web worshippers. Indeed, Playboy deemed her so hot they put her on the cover of its March issue last year.
This enraged Alba, as it implied a nude pictorial inside. Legal action was averted when Playboy founder Hugh Hefner apologised. Alba forgave him, and as penance they forwarded some large donations to some of her favourite charities.
But hot as she may be, it didn't translate into ticket sales for her 2005 dud, Into the Blue. Where were her legions of fans when she needed them?
Again, Alba is ready.
"Here's the thing, though. Into the Blue was made before I made Fantastic Four or Sin City, and MGM, who made Into the Blue, was bought by Sony. So Sony had to distribute all of the movies it had slated for the year as well as all of MGM's movies. So they just threw it away. There was no press, no anything.
"And I wasn't the star of the movie. I was barely in it! It was Paul Walker's movie. He was the lead and I thought it was unfair that anybody thought I should have been the one to carry that movie, because frankly it wasn't mine."
One could argue that Alba still has "It". One could also argue that the height of her "It" phase was during her stint on Dark Angel, when she was fresh and hot and not a blonde. What say she?
"I don't really know what it is to be the It girl," she muses, still beaming. "I feel like Halle Berry is an It girl, and she's 40. Helen Mirren is an It girl and she's 60! So it's just about people who are doing good work and who are in the media and have positive buzz.
"Your It girl status goes up and down, and I'm not going to complain when it's up. But I'm certainly not going to fret when it's down."
Magazine Bans Hilton
A magazine has banned newly freed socialite Paris Hilton from this week's edition of its publication, claiming staff and readers are suffering "Paris fatigue."
The hotel heiress has dominated the world's media in the past month after spending 23 days behind bars for violating her probation from a previous drunk-driving arrest.
Following Hilton's release on Tuesday, all the gossip magazines are expected to focus on the story, except for Us Weekly.
Editor Janice Min says, "When it came down to it, the staff and I felt what I believe a lot of people in America are feeling. Which is just enormous Paris fatigue.
"I don't think we even mention the city of Paris."
The hotel heiress has dominated the world's media in the past month after spending 23 days behind bars for violating her probation from a previous drunk-driving arrest.
Following Hilton's release on Tuesday, all the gossip magazines are expected to focus on the story, except for Us Weekly.
Editor Janice Min says, "When it came down to it, the staff and I felt what I believe a lot of people in America are feeling. Which is just enormous Paris fatigue.
"I don't think we even mention the city of Paris."
Hilton makes red carpet exit from jail
A beaming Paris Hilton made a red carpet exit from jail here Tuesday, emerging through a scrum of cameras and cheering fans after completing a three-week prison term for probation violation.
Her hair tied back in a braid and wearing a short-sleeved jacket and jeans, the 26 year-old hotel heiress smiled to photographers and well-wishers before running to hug her mother Kathy, who was waiting in a black car with father Rick Hilton.
The last time she had been seen in public, on June 8, Hilton was weeping and wailing as she was dragged back to jail after a judge over-ruled a sheriff's decision to free her for unspecified medical reasons after just three days.
But the reality television star's liberation just after midnight (0700 GMT Tuesday) could not have been more different, a blizzard of camera flashes greeting her as she trotted out of the Century Regional Detention Facility.
Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Hilton had thanked guards, nurses and other staff before leaving, describing her as friendly.
"She has fulfilled her obligation. It's now completed," Whitmore said, admitting that the frenzy surrounding the case was almost unprecedented.
"We've had high profile cases before, people like Mr (O.J.) Simpson, and going back to the 1960s there was Charles Manson, so we're not strangers to these sorts of cases," he said. "But this is at a different level. The attention on this case has been remarkable."
Television helicopters pursued Hilton's cavalcade as the car took to the highway shortly after the midnight release.
After stopping at a red light, chasing photographers leapt out to grab shots before Hilton's car pulled away and returned to her parents' home in the exclusive enclave of Bel Air.
A steady stream of visitors arrived at the house throughout Tuesday, media reports said, including one woman delivering full-length, 20-inch, blonde hair extensions, according to the Entertainment Tonight television show.
Hilton's manager Jason Moore told the channel his client would take several weeks rest after media interviews later this week before resuming an "incredible work schedule" later this year.
Hilton was jailed for violating probation over a conviction for alcohol-related reckless driving, drawing frenzied media attention.
The pop-culture icon was sentenced to jail in May. She had been handed 36 months' probation after driving her Mercedes with an alcohol level equal to the legal limit, but was then twice caught driving on her suspended license.
On the first occasion, Hilton signed a statement acknowledging that she was not supposed to drive, and was let off with a warning. But the next month police pulled her over in her 190,000-dollar Bentley Continental GTC when they spotted her driving at night with the headlights off.
Hilton's release from jail after a few days behind bars this month saw accusations of "celebrity justice" leveled at the Los Angeles sheriff's office before Hilton was returned to jail.
However an exhaustive study of similar cases conducted by The Los Angeles Times indicated that Hilton was being treated unusually severely, receiving a much longer jail sentence than normal.
During her time behind bars Hilton said in a telephone interview with a television journalist that the sentence was a message from God to change her party-loving lifestyle and become a positive role model for women.
"I have been thinking that I want to do different things when I am out of here," she said. "I have become much more spiritual. God has given me this new chance."
Hilton is mainly well-known for being rich and famous, and shot to international fame thanks largely to a sex tape of her and an-ex boyfriend which appeared on the Internet.
She has also released a music album and appeared in films such as "House of Wax," "Pledge This," and the forthcoming "The Hottie and the Nottie."
Her first post-prison interview will be held with veteran CNN anchor Larry King on Wednesday. The network and a spokesman for Hilton said the celebrity would not receive payment for the interview.
In a statement released through her publicist, Hilton said she was pleased to go on the show, "to discuss my experience in jail, what I have learned, how I have grown."
Her hair tied back in a braid and wearing a short-sleeved jacket and jeans, the 26 year-old hotel heiress smiled to photographers and well-wishers before running to hug her mother Kathy, who was waiting in a black car with father Rick Hilton.
The last time she had been seen in public, on June 8, Hilton was weeping and wailing as she was dragged back to jail after a judge over-ruled a sheriff's decision to free her for unspecified medical reasons after just three days.
But the reality television star's liberation just after midnight (0700 GMT Tuesday) could not have been more different, a blizzard of camera flashes greeting her as she trotted out of the Century Regional Detention Facility.
Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Hilton had thanked guards, nurses and other staff before leaving, describing her as friendly.
"She has fulfilled her obligation. It's now completed," Whitmore said, admitting that the frenzy surrounding the case was almost unprecedented.
"We've had high profile cases before, people like Mr (O.J.) Simpson, and going back to the 1960s there was Charles Manson, so we're not strangers to these sorts of cases," he said. "But this is at a different level. The attention on this case has been remarkable."
Television helicopters pursued Hilton's cavalcade as the car took to the highway shortly after the midnight release.
After stopping at a red light, chasing photographers leapt out to grab shots before Hilton's car pulled away and returned to her parents' home in the exclusive enclave of Bel Air.
A steady stream of visitors arrived at the house throughout Tuesday, media reports said, including one woman delivering full-length, 20-inch, blonde hair extensions, according to the Entertainment Tonight television show.
Hilton's manager Jason Moore told the channel his client would take several weeks rest after media interviews later this week before resuming an "incredible work schedule" later this year.
Hilton was jailed for violating probation over a conviction for alcohol-related reckless driving, drawing frenzied media attention.
The pop-culture icon was sentenced to jail in May. She had been handed 36 months' probation after driving her Mercedes with an alcohol level equal to the legal limit, but was then twice caught driving on her suspended license.
On the first occasion, Hilton signed a statement acknowledging that she was not supposed to drive, and was let off with a warning. But the next month police pulled her over in her 190,000-dollar Bentley Continental GTC when they spotted her driving at night with the headlights off.
Hilton's release from jail after a few days behind bars this month saw accusations of "celebrity justice" leveled at the Los Angeles sheriff's office before Hilton was returned to jail.
However an exhaustive study of similar cases conducted by The Los Angeles Times indicated that Hilton was being treated unusually severely, receiving a much longer jail sentence than normal.
During her time behind bars Hilton said in a telephone interview with a television journalist that the sentence was a message from God to change her party-loving lifestyle and become a positive role model for women.
"I have been thinking that I want to do different things when I am out of here," she said. "I have become much more spiritual. God has given me this new chance."
Hilton is mainly well-known for being rich and famous, and shot to international fame thanks largely to a sex tape of her and an-ex boyfriend which appeared on the Internet.
She has also released a music album and appeared in films such as "House of Wax," "Pledge This," and the forthcoming "The Hottie and the Nottie."
Her first post-prison interview will be held with veteran CNN anchor Larry King on Wednesday. The network and a spokesman for Hilton said the celebrity would not receive payment for the interview.
In a statement released through her publicist, Hilton said she was pleased to go on the show, "to discuss my experience in jail, what I have learned, how I have grown."
Monday, June 11, 2007
Paris Hilton not the only one waiting for visitors
Paris Hilton Watch continued Sunday outside Twin Towers Correctional Facility as reporters waited for someone, anyone, related to Hilton to show up for visiting hours at the downtown Los Angeles facility.
Starting about 7 a.m., a dozen reporters from outlets such as Access Hollywood, People magazine, the New York Post and, well, um, the Los Angeles Times, staked out a strip of sidewalk in front of the visitors' entrance to the jail. One reporter brought her Chihuahua, which periodically stood up and walked on its hind legs.
The media representatives traded notes and scoped out every high-end car with a bumper containing the letters "TCP" — indicating the vehicle was a chauffeured rental — that drove into the parking lot across the street. A TMZ.com cameraman hopped through the bushes to take pictures of a black GMC Yukon, but it turned out to lack any connection to the Hilton family.
Paris Hilton has been at Twin Towers since Friday, when she was returned to jail by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer.
She was originally sentenced to 45 days for repeatedly violating probation on alcohol-related reckless driving charges from an incident last year. But Sheriff Lee Baca released her to her home with an electronic monitoring bracelet after three days because of an undisclosed medical condition.
On Saturday, Hilton said in a press release that she would not appeal the judge's decision.
About 11 a.m., a group of community activists capitalized on the restlessness of the reporters.
Dressed in a smart gray suit, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, looked sternly into the cameras with a message for Hilton.
Now that she had experienced the stresses of incarceration firsthand, Hutchinson said, the heiress should step forward as the "poster woman" for mentally ill inmates.
"What we are asking is this: that you become an advocate, a spokesperson, the poster woman for those who are mentally challenged that have absolutely no chance of getting quality care in the L.A. County jail system," he said.
From time to time, Hutchinson's gaze shifted to his Mercedes, which he worried might be towed from a bail bonds parking lot across the street.
Hutchinson said he wanted to take advantage of the attention on Hilton to make a wider point about the lack of mental health services for inmates.
Hutchinson's group tried to deliver a letter on the topic to Hilton, but was turned down by sheriff's officials.
The mood quieted, but salvation arrived about noon in the form of a black Range Rover.
"It's David!" reporters shouted as they ran across the street to a car driven by David Katzenberg, Nicky Hilton's boyfriend.
Reporters and cameramen surrounded the car in front of the parking lot as Paris Hilton's sister Nicky leaned away from the window and talked on the phone.
The reporters followed Katzenberg's car around the parking lot, until he gave up and drove out of the lot. He pulled up to the curb in front of the visitors' entrance.
Nicky Hilton, who was dressed in a short, white dress and was holding a gold handbag, darted out of the car with Stavros Niarchos, Paris Hilton's ex-boyfriend. They refused to look directly at the television cameras as they entered the jail's waiting area.
They bypassed a line of about 50 people and headed straight for Window 1.
As they checked in with sheriff's deputies, people in the waiting room shouted, "What about waiting in line?" The pair then walked through a metal detector and disappeared.Jamie Kendrick, a 20-year-old Beverly Hills resident who had been waiting for five hours to visit her brother, took up for the beleaguered celebs.
"People should leave Nicky alone," Kendrick said. "She didn't do anything. They shouldn't be making her scared."
Kendrick's sympathy for the Hiltons didn't stop her from pulling out her camera phone, though, and snapping a few pictures of Nicky Hilton and Niarchos. "I'm going to try to sell them," she said.
She wasn't the only one: Several others in line pulled out camera phones to snap pictures of the visitors.
A bail bondsman, who had purchased a digital camera the night before in anticipation of a possible new career as a photojournalist, also got into the act.
Mary Foster, a tourist from Philadelphia, came all the way to Twin Towers to take in the scene.
"I thought I'd take a picture and send it to my family back home, just for comedic value," the 30-year-old said.
When her friend Jennifer Saber, 29, appeared after parking the car, Foster quickly caught up her friend on the day's events.
Seeing her friend's enthusiasm, Saber said, "We can go find Promises and visit Lindsey Lohan if you want."
The frenzy picked up again when Nicky Hilton and Niarchos reappeared in the visiting area about 1 p.m.
Reporters shouted, "How is Paris doing?" as Nicky Hilton and Niarchos headed back to the Range Rover.
"She's being strong," Nicky Hilton replied, softly, as the Range Rover quickly took off.
Starting about 7 a.m., a dozen reporters from outlets such as Access Hollywood, People magazine, the New York Post and, well, um, the Los Angeles Times, staked out a strip of sidewalk in front of the visitors' entrance to the jail. One reporter brought her Chihuahua, which periodically stood up and walked on its hind legs.
The media representatives traded notes and scoped out every high-end car with a bumper containing the letters "TCP" — indicating the vehicle was a chauffeured rental — that drove into the parking lot across the street. A TMZ.com cameraman hopped through the bushes to take pictures of a black GMC Yukon, but it turned out to lack any connection to the Hilton family.
Paris Hilton has been at Twin Towers since Friday, when she was returned to jail by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer.
She was originally sentenced to 45 days for repeatedly violating probation on alcohol-related reckless driving charges from an incident last year. But Sheriff Lee Baca released her to her home with an electronic monitoring bracelet after three days because of an undisclosed medical condition.
On Saturday, Hilton said in a press release that she would not appeal the judge's decision.
About 11 a.m., a group of community activists capitalized on the restlessness of the reporters.
Dressed in a smart gray suit, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, looked sternly into the cameras with a message for Hilton.
Now that she had experienced the stresses of incarceration firsthand, Hutchinson said, the heiress should step forward as the "poster woman" for mentally ill inmates.
"What we are asking is this: that you become an advocate, a spokesperson, the poster woman for those who are mentally challenged that have absolutely no chance of getting quality care in the L.A. County jail system," he said.
From time to time, Hutchinson's gaze shifted to his Mercedes, which he worried might be towed from a bail bonds parking lot across the street.
Hutchinson said he wanted to take advantage of the attention on Hilton to make a wider point about the lack of mental health services for inmates.
Hutchinson's group tried to deliver a letter on the topic to Hilton, but was turned down by sheriff's officials.
The mood quieted, but salvation arrived about noon in the form of a black Range Rover.
"It's David!" reporters shouted as they ran across the street to a car driven by David Katzenberg, Nicky Hilton's boyfriend.
Reporters and cameramen surrounded the car in front of the parking lot as Paris Hilton's sister Nicky leaned away from the window and talked on the phone.
The reporters followed Katzenberg's car around the parking lot, until he gave up and drove out of the lot. He pulled up to the curb in front of the visitors' entrance.
Nicky Hilton, who was dressed in a short, white dress and was holding a gold handbag, darted out of the car with Stavros Niarchos, Paris Hilton's ex-boyfriend. They refused to look directly at the television cameras as they entered the jail's waiting area.
They bypassed a line of about 50 people and headed straight for Window 1.
As they checked in with sheriff's deputies, people in the waiting room shouted, "What about waiting in line?" The pair then walked through a metal detector and disappeared.Jamie Kendrick, a 20-year-old Beverly Hills resident who had been waiting for five hours to visit her brother, took up for the beleaguered celebs.
"People should leave Nicky alone," Kendrick said. "She didn't do anything. They shouldn't be making her scared."
Kendrick's sympathy for the Hiltons didn't stop her from pulling out her camera phone, though, and snapping a few pictures of Nicky Hilton and Niarchos. "I'm going to try to sell them," she said.
She wasn't the only one: Several others in line pulled out camera phones to snap pictures of the visitors.
A bail bondsman, who had purchased a digital camera the night before in anticipation of a possible new career as a photojournalist, also got into the act.
Mary Foster, a tourist from Philadelphia, came all the way to Twin Towers to take in the scene.
"I thought I'd take a picture and send it to my family back home, just for comedic value," the 30-year-old said.
When her friend Jennifer Saber, 29, appeared after parking the car, Foster quickly caught up her friend on the day's events.
Seeing her friend's enthusiasm, Saber said, "We can go find Promises and visit Lindsey Lohan if you want."
The frenzy picked up again when Nicky Hilton and Niarchos reappeared in the visiting area about 1 p.m.
Reporters shouted, "How is Paris doing?" as Nicky Hilton and Niarchos headed back to the Range Rover.
"She's being strong," Nicky Hilton replied, softly, as the Range Rover quickly took off.
Jessica Alba has a crush on Prince William
Hollywood siren Jessica Alba has fuelled speculation that her relationship with boyfriend Cash Warren is in 'royal' trouble by revealing that she has a crush on Prince William.
The 26-year-old actress, who shot to fame after her film "Sin City" became a runaway hit, said she was still searching for a perfect father for her future children, contactmusic.com website reported.
Alba, who has been dating Warren from January 2005, said: "I always felt I had been born into the wrong family. I felt I should have been a royal."
Jessica Alba also expressed her confusion that she could't understand why actresses choose to have plastic surgery.
Alba has vowed that she will never go under the knife because she wants to age gracefully and retain the expressive nature of her face for acting roles.
"As an actress, you express emotion with your face. And if you have plastic surgery, you lose that spark," Alba explained. "People usually look better without surgery - my grandmother aged very gracefully."
The 26-year-old actress, who shot to fame after her film "Sin City" became a runaway hit, said she was still searching for a perfect father for her future children, contactmusic.com website reported.
Alba, who has been dating Warren from January 2005, said: "I always felt I had been born into the wrong family. I felt I should have been a royal."
Jessica Alba also expressed her confusion that she could't understand why actresses choose to have plastic surgery.
Alba has vowed that she will never go under the knife because she wants to age gracefully and retain the expressive nature of her face for acting roles.
"As an actress, you express emotion with your face. And if you have plastic surgery, you lose that spark," Alba explained. "People usually look better without surgery - my grandmother aged very gracefully."
Paris Hilton won't appeal jail sentence
A day after a tearful Paris Hilton was ordered back to jail, the hotel heiress said she won't appeal her 45-day jail sentence and is "learning and growing" from her time behind bars.
Her change of heart came Saturday when she announced in a statement released by one of her attorneys that she won't fight her sentence after a brief stint under house arrest at her Hollywood Hills home.
"Today, I told my attorneys not to appeal the judge's decision," Hilton said in the statement. "While I greatly appreciate the sheriff's concern for my health and welfare, I intend to serve my time at L.A. County Jail."
The celebutante was at a maximum-security detention center, where she was believed to be undergoing medical and psychiatric evaluations to determine the best jail to keep her in as she serves the rest of her sentence.
Hilton, in tears and screaming for her mother, was taken to the downtown Twin Towers facility Friday afternoon after Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer ordered her back to jail.
"Being in jail is by far the hardest thing I have ever done," she said in the statement. "During the past several days, I have had a lot of time to think and I believe that I am learning and growing from this experience."
Hilton added she was "shocked" by the attention her case has received and suggested the public and media focus on "more important things like the men and women serving our country in Iraq."
Her lawyers had sought to keep her out of jail on grounds that the 26-year-old was suffering an unspecified medical condition. Sauer suggested that could be taken care of at jail medical facilities.
Although authorities wouldn't discuss Hilton's condition, citing privacy laws, Sheriff Lee Baca indicated it was psychological.
He said she arrived at her original jail with a condition he hadn't been apprised of and that it immediately began to deteriorate to the point that he feared for her safety.
Sheriff's officials expect Hilton to be at Twin Towers at least through Sunday.
Which jail the heiress will end up at depends on the results of her assessment by the facility's doctors.
Sauer sentenced Hilton to 45 days in jail and said she could not serve it at home. When she was released she had served only three full days but was credited with five because she surrendered to authorities late Sunday night after attending the MTV Movie Awards and was released early Thursday morning. Before her release, she was fitted with an ankle bracelet and ordered not to leave her house until her sentence was up.
Hilton was expected to serve only 23 days because of a state law that requires shorter sentences for good behavior. She was credited with both her time served in jail and at home, so by Saturday she had completed seven days of her sentence. With time off for good behavior, she could be released in a little more than two weeks.
Hilton's path to jail began Sept. 7, when she failed a sobriety test after police saw her weaving down a street in her Mercedes-Benz on what she said was a late-night run to a hamburger stand.
She pleaded no contest to reckless driving and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines.
In the months that followed, she was stopped twice by officers who discovered her driving on a suspended license. The second stop landed her in Sauer's courtroom, where he sentenced her to jail.
Her change of heart came Saturday when she announced in a statement released by one of her attorneys that she won't fight her sentence after a brief stint under house arrest at her Hollywood Hills home.
"Today, I told my attorneys not to appeal the judge's decision," Hilton said in the statement. "While I greatly appreciate the sheriff's concern for my health and welfare, I intend to serve my time at L.A. County Jail."
The celebutante was at a maximum-security detention center, where she was believed to be undergoing medical and psychiatric evaluations to determine the best jail to keep her in as she serves the rest of her sentence.
Hilton, in tears and screaming for her mother, was taken to the downtown Twin Towers facility Friday afternoon after Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer ordered her back to jail.
"Being in jail is by far the hardest thing I have ever done," she said in the statement. "During the past several days, I have had a lot of time to think and I believe that I am learning and growing from this experience."
Hilton added she was "shocked" by the attention her case has received and suggested the public and media focus on "more important things like the men and women serving our country in Iraq."
Her lawyers had sought to keep her out of jail on grounds that the 26-year-old was suffering an unspecified medical condition. Sauer suggested that could be taken care of at jail medical facilities.
Although authorities wouldn't discuss Hilton's condition, citing privacy laws, Sheriff Lee Baca indicated it was psychological.
He said she arrived at her original jail with a condition he hadn't been apprised of and that it immediately began to deteriorate to the point that he feared for her safety.
Sheriff's officials expect Hilton to be at Twin Towers at least through Sunday.
Which jail the heiress will end up at depends on the results of her assessment by the facility's doctors.
Sauer sentenced Hilton to 45 days in jail and said she could not serve it at home. When she was released she had served only three full days but was credited with five because she surrendered to authorities late Sunday night after attending the MTV Movie Awards and was released early Thursday morning. Before her release, she was fitted with an ankle bracelet and ordered not to leave her house until her sentence was up.
Hilton was expected to serve only 23 days because of a state law that requires shorter sentences for good behavior. She was credited with both her time served in jail and at home, so by Saturday she had completed seven days of her sentence. With time off for good behavior, she could be released in a little more than two weeks.
Hilton's path to jail began Sept. 7, when she failed a sobriety test after police saw her weaving down a street in her Mercedes-Benz on what she said was a late-night run to a hamburger stand.
She pleaded no contest to reckless driving and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines.
In the months that followed, she was stopped twice by officers who discovered her driving on a suspended license. The second stop landed her in Sauer's courtroom, where he sentenced her to jail.
Why was Paris Hilton released?
PARIS Hilton's billionaire grandfather donated money to the election campaign of the sheriff who released the 26-year-old American hotel heiress from jail, it has been revealed.
The contribution from William Barron Hilton, 78, co-chairman of the Hilton Hotel chain, to Sheriff Lee Baca's re-election campaign is revealed in financial records.
A friend of the Hilton family said the temporary release of the heiress last week may have been a "quid pro quo".
"A member of her family has been a contributor to Baca's campaign and this may have been payback time," the friend said.
"Her entourage initially were confident she would be out of jail in a few days."
Mr Baca, who has faced heavy criticism for attempting to overrule the judge in the case, has in the past been accused of favouritism towards the Hollywood elite.
He was the officer who failed to report actor Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade after the star was arrested for drink-driving.
Gibson had filmed television advertisements for one of Sheriff Baca's pet causes - an education fund for policemen's children.
Celebrities including Sylvester Stallone and Dustin Hoffman have also backed Mr Baca's election campaigns since 1998.
A spokesman for Hilton declined to comment on the report, as did officials for the sheriff's department.
Last Friday, Mr Baca said Hilton would serve another 18 days behind bars.
Hilton, sent to jail for violating probation in a drink-driving case, will finish her sentence in the prison medical ward where she ended up after a day of house arrest, celebrity website TMZ.com reported today.
New reports today said that Hilton's health collapse last week was caused by dehydration.
"She didn't eat or drink a single thing for three days because she didn't want to use the toilet," a source also told the New York Daily News, adding that Hilton suffered from claustrophobia and hyperventilation.
"She was absolutely terrified that one of the guards or staffers would get her with the cellphone cam and it would wind up on the Internet," a source identified as a Hilton insider told the newspaper.
"She cried the entire time, and that wasn't helping the dehydration," the source told the paper.
Hilton was visited by sister Nicky Hilton and ex-boyfriend Stavros Niarchos today according to news reports.
"She's being strong," Nicky Hilton told reporters after the 30-minute visit at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility's medical ward, according to People Magazine' online edition.
Hilton was being given psychotropic drugs, TMZ reported on Saturday, citing law enforcement sources.
She was being held in a room by herself with a glass door guarded at all times and her psychiatrist spend all day Sunday with her, the report said.
Psychotropic medications affect a person's emotions and behaviour and include drugs like lithium, which is taken for depression, and Valium, which eases anxiety.
Hilton, who was dragged sobbing back to jail, said being in prison was the hardest thing she had ever done, but she would not appeal her sentence.
"Today, I told my attorneys not to appeal the judge's decision," Hilton said in a statement, reported by the Los Angeles Times.
"Being in jail is by far the hardest thing I have ever done," she said.
She was initally sentenced to 45 days in jail in May for violating her probation and driving on an suspended licence. That was reduced to about three weeks for good behaviour before she even started her sentence.
Her early release last Thursday, after just three days in jail, triggered a wave of outrage and an angry judge demanded she be brought back to court on Friday, when he ruled she had to go back to prison.
Images of a dishevelled, distraught Hilton, far from the cool, glamorous blonde seen gracing catwalks and red-carpet soirees, were seen around the world as she was handcuffed by police and brought before Judge Michael Sauer.
"During the past several days, I have had a lot of time to think, and I believe that I am learning and growing from this experience," Hilton said.
Mr Baca had released Hilton. tagged her with an electronic ankle bracelet, and ordered her to serve out her sentence under house arrest for unspecified "medical reasons".
Stunned prosecutors filed a petition in protest and on Friday Judge Sauer ordered Hilton back to jail to serve out her sentence.
Hilton apparently broke down, wailing "mum, mum, mum", as the judge ordered her back to prison saying "the order is final and forthwith."
In her statement, Hilton thanked her fans for their support which she said she had been reading in her cell, and took a swipe at the relentless media coverage.
"I would hope going forward that the public and the media will focus on more important things, like the men and women serving our country in Iraq and other places around the world."
Ocean's 13 star George Clooney believes the Simple Life star is a hypocrite for manipulating the press attention to create her current "star" status, only for her whinge about the current media frenzy.
WENN reported Clooney as saying, "You can only get so far without discernable talent - then you either work, or use cheap publicity tricks to keep the public's attention.
"Paris has no reason to complain if she is on the end of bad publicity."
Saturday, June 9, 2007
It is splitsville for Lindsay Lohan and Calum Best
Actress Lindsay Lohan has reportedly dumped her beau, TV personality Calum Best, after the latter was photographed in 'a drug-fuelled romp'.
The 'Mean Girls' star, who is in Malibu rehab clinic following her arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence on May 26, has not been returning Best's calls since he arrived at America.
A source said that Lohan had been upset when she heard about his latest quest when she checked into rehab for the second time.
"Lindsay hasn't been returning any of his calls since he got to America. She knew Calumwas no angel but she felt humiliated when she heard what he had been up to just as she checked herself into rehab," Contactmusic quoted the source, as saying.
The source added that her folks kept telling her that an association with Best will only damage her reputation.
The source said that the actress could not help, but accept how right her pals were when she saw the photographs of Best with the hookers.
"People close to her had been trying to tell her that dating Calum would bring down her image but she just wouldn't listen. That is until she saw the pictures of him with the hookers for her own eyes," the source said. (ANI)
Jessica Alba Slams Plastic Surgery
Actress Jessica Alba has vowed never to go under the knife to preserve her celebrated good looks.
(Advertisement)The 26-year-old, who regularly tops sexiest celebrity polls, can't understand why so many Hollywood stars refuse to age naturally.
She says, "As an actress, you express emotion with your face. And if you have plastic surgery, you lose that spark.
"People usually look better without surgery - my grandmother aged very gracefully."
"People usually look better without surgery - my grandmother aged very gracefully."
Hilton jail captain has celeb experience
The jailhouse captain overseeing socialite Paris Hilton for the next few weeks has seen her share of celebrity inmates - and others in the department say she'll make sure that Hilton gets no special treatment.
Capt. Alice Scott, 49, is a 27-year Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department veteran who runs the 2,200-inmate Century Regional Detention Center in Lynwood, where Hilton is serving her sentence.
Hilton won't be the first celebrity in Scott's charge. Last year, "Lost" actress Michelle Rodriguez was sentenced to 60 days in jail for violating probation after her drunken driving arrest in Hawaii. She was released in hours because of overcrowding. advertisement
Actress Daryl Hannah also was there briefly after being picked up for trespassing during a tree-sitting demonstration a year ago.
Sheriff's Cmdr. Dennis Conte described Scott as a consummate professional who will ensure Hilton is treated the same as other inmates.
"She possesses the administrative and interpersonal skills to perform her duties in an extremely competent manner," he said.
Hilton was booked Sunday to serve a 45-day sentence for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case by driving with a suspended license. Good time credit is expected to shrink her term to 23 days.
Scott refused an interview request Monday.
Scott's law enforcement career began in 1980. She has worked in jails, patrol stations and in the food services division of the department.
She was promoted to her current rank two years ago by Sheriff Lee Baca and took command of the downtown Twin Towers Correctional Facility. She later moved over the Lynwood jail.
Capt. Alice Scott, 49, is a 27-year Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department veteran who runs the 2,200-inmate Century Regional Detention Center in Lynwood, where Hilton is serving her sentence.
Hilton won't be the first celebrity in Scott's charge. Last year, "Lost" actress Michelle Rodriguez was sentenced to 60 days in jail for violating probation after her drunken driving arrest in Hawaii. She was released in hours because of overcrowding. advertisement
Actress Daryl Hannah also was there briefly after being picked up for trespassing during a tree-sitting demonstration a year ago.
Sheriff's Cmdr. Dennis Conte described Scott as a consummate professional who will ensure Hilton is treated the same as other inmates.
"She possesses the administrative and interpersonal skills to perform her duties in an extremely competent manner," he said.
Hilton was booked Sunday to serve a 45-day sentence for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case by driving with a suspended license. Good time credit is expected to shrink her term to 23 days.
Scott refused an interview request Monday.
Scott's law enforcement career began in 1980. She has worked in jails, patrol stations and in the food services division of the department.
She was promoted to her current rank two years ago by Sheriff Lee Baca and took command of the downtown Twin Towers Correctional Facility. She later moved over the Lynwood jail.
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