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You have to hand it to Giuliana Rancic, she learned a lot from working at E! She’s promoting her new memoir, out tomorrow, called Going Off Script: How I Survived a Crazy Childhood, Cancer, and Clooney’s 32 On-Screen Rejections. Giuliana has been doing interviews and she’s been masterful at giving quotes and getting headlines. She earned four separate stories on People out of a single interview with them, and she saved some good dirt for her employer network, E! They report that in Giuliana’s memoir, she reveals that her ex, Jerry O’Connell, cheated on her with Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice. After Giuliana forgave him, Jerry then cheated again with Rebecca Romijn, whom he of course ended up marrying. The thing is, the article makes it seem like they weren’t that serious anyway. It also makes Jerry look like a doofus and a dumba**. If this is true, I guess that’s Giuliana’s prerogative.

After meeting at the W Hotel in San Diego, the pair developed a special bond that quickly turned into something romantic.

Things suffered a bump, however, when Giuliana found out he was cheating on her with Spice Girls member Geri Halliwell.

“I was being two-timed…?” Giuliana wrote in her new book per Page Six before detailing Jerry’s reaction. “‘Yeah, I know. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened.’ He has as much emotion as the customer-service representative who tells you your bags missed the flight.”

Giuliana proved she was willing to forgive when she gave the relationship a second chance. But when attending Maxim’s 100 Hottest Women Party in 2004, the Fashion Police co-host spotted her man getting flirty with Rebecca Romijn.

“Little did I know he was in the VIP area, talking to Rebecca,” Giuliana dished. “As a prelude to feeling up Rebecca.”

In a matter of days, Jerry stopped taking Giuliana’s phone calls before she eventually decided to confront him at home.
“Nope. Sorry, homegirl,” he said while ending the relationship for good. “Things change, but you take care, OK?”

For those keeping track, Jerry and Rebecca ended up getting married in 2007. They have two kids together. Giuliana also found Mr. Right when she married Bill Rancic the same year.

[From E! Online]

As much as Giuliana bugs with her constant deflection and denial, this memoir sounds interesting. It will probably be as truth y as Giuliana, but it does come across like a fun, easy read. I love how she doesn’t mince details, compares the guy to a “customer service rep,” and makes him sound like a passive aggressive douche.

In the intro I questioned how serious these two were, because I have little memory of the two of them together and the article made it sound like they were just a fling. In fact I found SO MANY photos of them at events from about May, 2003 to June, 2004. The last photo set of them together is at the fated Maxim 100 party were Jerry hooked up with Rebecca Romijn. Look at Jerry’s crazy eyes in that picture. The dude was looking for an escape route. (More photos of Giuliana and Jerry are here.)

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

As part of her tireless promotion, Giuliana was also on The Today Show this morning. (Thanks Jenjennyjenjenjenn!) She addressed the criticism of her weight, (she said “I do not have an eating disorder, I have never had an eating disorder, in fact I eat a lot,”) the sad fact that she lost her final embryo to a miscarriage by her surrogate, er childhood as an emigrant from Italy, and the controversy over her comments on Zendaya’s hair. There are other headlines there, but I’m not going to bite. I’m telling you, she’s a hustler and she’s setting up her post-E! game plan. I do think she should take some time off though.

Here’s Giuliana’s interview on Today. She gets a little nervous talking about her weight and the Fashion Police controversy. When Savannah Guthrie asked Giluiana if she was returning to Fashion Police this September, she said “we’ll see.” I don’t think they know what the hell they’re doing with that show yet.

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Like Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Martin also spent Easter weekend in New York. Jennifer was photographed leaving her hotel on Saturday with her bodyguard and a change of clothes. Page Six reports that she had a quick lunch with Chris at Tavern On The Green …      

I never thought I would write “Gwyneth Paltrow” and “Hustler” in the same sentence, but here we are. Honestly, that’s not even the funniest part of this story. According to Page Six, Gwyneth recently deigned to purchase some commercial property on the Sunset Strip – she (and some investors, I’m assuming) purchased Larry Flynt’s Hustler Hollywood store on Sunset Blvd. Which, quite honestly, I didn’t know still existed. But it did and it probably wasn’t doing that well, or else Gwyneth wouldn’t have been able to purchase it. So what does Gwyneth plan to do with Hustler Hollywood? If your guess was “rock out with her 1970s bush out,” you’re wrong.

Gwyneth Paltrow has purchased a prime piece of Sunset Strip property from Larry Flynt and will replace the publisher’s sex store with a high-end night club, sources said. Flynt’s Hustler Hollywood has been peddling sex toys at 8920 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood since December 1998.

“The building is in escrow and the Hustler Hollywood store will be moving to a new location in Hollywood later this year,” Flynt’s rep, Arthur Sando, said. “The current location will remain open until that time.”

Paltrow and business partner Gary Landesberg quietly made the deal recently, with plans to replace Hustler Hollywood with a super high-end restaurant and night spot, the Arts Club, TMZ reported. The establishment will be modeled on similar clubs in London and Aspen, Colo., with expensive membership fees to join — at least $2,000 — and another $2,000 in annual dues, according to TMZ. There would also be a strict dress code.

[From Page Six]

Replacing Hustler Hollywood with a fancy members-only, dress-code-having “Arts Club”? How gauche. No, but the Arts Club is a thing – we have photos of celebrities coming out of the Arts Club in London all the time. It’s like the Soho House thing, part of an increasing trend to bring the more British-y, members-only, high-school Mean Girl bitchery and elitism to “going out for a drink with some friends.” One simply cannot go out to a bar with some friends anymore, like a peasant. One must join a members-only club, pay exorbitant annual fees for the pleasure and be turned away on sight if you’re A) above a size 6 or B) not wearing $2000 jeans.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Say cheese!

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum, Kyle Richards, celebrated Easter yesterday by taking a picture of her daughter Portia with the Easter bunny. After that, she decided to share the picture on her Instagram account for all of her fans to see. In the picture, we see Portia standing beside the Easter bunny, getting a big squeeze from him. Also, Portia is sporting some ultra-cute bunny ears! Kyle captioned the picture:

“Happy Easter”

Sorry if I’ve gotten the terminology wrong. I just like how this sounds. Military Harry’s final tour. Like a recording artist.

He’s in Australia now to join the Australian Defence Force on secondment for a month before he retires from the British army in June after a decade of service. And th…      

The last half of Mad Men’s final season premiered last night on AMC. And if you were hoping for some huge change, we didn’t get it. But we did get several surreal moments that made everything seem off-kilter, tenuous, Twilight Zone-esque. Matthew Weiner spoke to Vanity Fair about the premiere here, and he uses “Twilight Zone” as a reference too. Anyway, I just had some random thoughts…

The Waitress. She was played by Elizabeth Reaser, although the way she was shot at first gave the impression that she was some kind of hybrid of actresses Maggie Siff (who played Rachel Menken) and Rosemarie DeWitt (who played Don’s mistress Midge in the first season). That’s Don’s old type – sort of mysterious, brunette, intelligent eyes. But… I loathe Elizabeth Reaser. I think she’s a terrible actress every time I see her. Once I realized it was her, I was all, “Seriously? Her?”

The Fur. That was one of the best and weirdest episode openings ever, Don telling that pretty girl what to do with the fur coat. Even Ted Olsen seems to have perked up because of the casting sessions for the fur campaign.

Don’s Single Life. I’m fine with him having a little black book full of the phone numbers of stewardesses, models, actresses, waitresses and whoever else. I just hope he doesn’t marry any of those silly women.

Rachel Menken/Rachel Katz. Don’t first great love affair from Season 1 passed away. He dreamt of her just a few days after she died of lukemia. His reaction – and Hamm’s acting as he entered the apartment where Rachel’s family was sitting shiva – was particularly emotional and moving. It’s the same kind of deep grief he had when Anna Draper passed away.

The ‘Staches. The episode apparently took place in April 1970, less than a year since the last episode of Part 1. Why are there suddenly so many ‘staches?

Pete Campbell. I know he’s no one’s favorite character, but I adore the evolution of Pete. He was so happy and sunny in California and but now that he’s back in New York, parts of the old Pete have returned. But he’s still figuring out a way to be nicer to his coworkers.

Peggy Goes On A Date. Is that supposed to be some kind of signal that the people around Peggy are worried that she’s in her early 30s and still not married? Is she the poor single girl who gets set up on blind dates by her subordinates? Is she prickly about it? She loved being described as “fearless” – because who doesn’t want to see themselves that way? – but in reality and in the cold, hungover morning, we see who she really is: a cynic.

Joan Is Rich. Joan is also the victim of some really awful sexual harassment. I was waiting for her to strike back in classic Joan Holloway style. I wanted her to slap those McCann douchebros in their bro-faces. Instead, Joan took it out on Peggy (to be fair, Peggy absolutely said the wrong thing) and then drowned her sorrows in shopping. Because Joan is too rich to care about douchebros, right?

Ken Cosgrove Gets Fired. I actually really like the Ken Cosgrove character and I like that there’s someone in that office who really doesn’t have major issues with women in general or the women in his life. Ken gets along with people, he’s a glad-hander, he’s pretty good at his job, although not very imaginative. But Ken still got fired. And then Ken got his in a big way. I enjoyed that storyline a lot. I felt like that was a great way to deal with Ken’s storyline.

Stan Rizzo Is Still Peggy’s Work-Husband. I love Stan. I love that Stan came into Peggy’s office and got all up in her business about her date. Those two characters – Peggy and Stan, played by Moss and Jay R. Ferguson – have so much chemistry together.

No Megan Draper. Thank God. All we got was a reference to her when Don told Rachel’s sister that he was getting divorced again.

Dawn the Secretary. Where is she? I forget what happened exactly and how Don ended up with that somewhat flaky blonde secretary, but I miss Dawn.

Peggy Lee. That was the song used at the beginning and end of the episode, Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?”

Photos courtesy of WENN.

The title of this post is somewhat misleading because Rihanna doesn’t write most of her songs. She claims occasional co-writing credit, but she’s usually the voice and face for other people’s lyrics, which is fine. Rihanna’s doing well for herself and bringing in money regardless (although other disgruntled artists have tossed shade about her not being a real “artist“). Rih’s latest single, “Bitch Better Have My Money,” was written by Bibi Bourelly. Kanye West helped produce.

About a week ago, Rihanna dressed up like a Muppet to perform the song at the iHeartRadio awards. “BBHMM” has created an enormous amount of dialogue for what could be considered a simple club tune. Rihanna pranked Jimmy Kimmel (by waking him up on April Fool’s Day) and said her video explain the meaning of the song. Vulture described it as “a slice of rachet heaven.” Lainey called it an “equality anthem“. A columnist (and Yale grad student) named Barbara Sostaita at HuffPo wonders if it’s a call for reparations that carries far-reaching implications. All of these theories are interesting to consider.

There’s more scrutiny, some of the not-so-positive variety. Some people wonder if Rihanna (by way of songwriter Bourelly) plagiarized this catchy tune. Fans of rapper Just Brittany noticed that Rih’s song sounds a lot like JB’s 2014 “Betta Have My Money.” Brittany’s song can be heard here; and for comparison’s sake, Rihanna’s song is here. Both songs reportedly took inspiration from a monologue by Fly Guy from the I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (a blaxploitation parody film). The similarities between Rihanna and Just Brittany’s songs are undeniable. But as Styleite notes, AMG, Drake, and Tyga have all sang or rapped similar lyrics that reference the same movie. So did Rihanna’s songwriter plagiarize, or are all of these songs simply paying homage to the same source?

Here are photos of Rihanna looking gorgeous during her Kimmel visit last Friday.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN

It’s been a while since we’ve had any new pap shots of Michael Fassbender. When he shows up though, he doesn’t disappoint. Here he is in New York on Saturday with Alicia Vikander. They fell in love last year in Australia while shooting The Light Between Oceans. As you can see, that hasn’t changed…      

Mindy Kaling has a younger brother, Vijay. If you’ve read her book, you probably already know that because Vijay gets several shout-outs throughout the memoir. His full name is Vijay Jojo Chokal-Ingam, apparently, and he’s a medical school dropout. Now he’s a part-time blogger who created the site almostblack.com. Seriously, that’s the name of his site. Vijay is stirring the pot and causing controversy because he tried to game the system (??) by applying to medical schools pretending to black instead of acknowledging that he was and is Indian-American. The whole rationale is very convoluted and it’s like “you guys are the real racists, reverse discrimination against Indians!” Or something.

The big brother of Fox sitcom star Mindy Kaling reveals that he got into medical school by pretending to be African American. Fifteen years ago, Vijay Chokal-Ingam shaved off his straight black hair, trimmed what he calls his “long Indian eyelashes” and started checking off the “black” box for race on his med-school applications. Before long, the Asian Indian American was interviewing at Harvard and Columbia, and found himself on wait lists at the University of Pennsylvania, Washington University and Mt. Sinai — despite his relatively mediocre 3.1 GPA and his family’s considerable wealth.

“I love my sister to death,” Chokal-Ingam, 38, told The Post in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where he and his comedienne sibling both live. But they’re fighting over his revelation. “She says this will bring shame on the family.”

Chokal-Ingam wound up dropping out of St. Louis University Medical School two years after he got in under false pretenses. He eventually was accepted at, and graduated from, UCLA Anderson’s MBA program — as an Asian Indian-American. Chokal-Ingam says he’s revealing his race ruse now because he heard that UCLA is considering strengthening its affirmative-action admissions policies. He says it’s a myth that affirmative action benefits the underprivileged. He plans to write a memoir about his experiences, to be titled ­“Almost Black.”

Chokal-Ingam said he came up with the idea of self-identifying as “black” after seeing fellow Asian Indian Americans with better grades than he had struggle to get into med school. “I disclosed that I grew up in one of the wealthiest towns in Massachusetts, that my mother was a doctor, and that my father was an architect,” he said Saturday, describing his med-school applications. “I disclosed that I didn’t receive financial aid from the University of Chicago, and that I had a nice car,” he said. “I was the campus rich kid, let’s just put it on the table. And yet they considered me an affirmative-action applicant.”

On affirmative action in general, Chokal-Ingam said, “Racism is not the answer…. It also promotes negative stereotypes about the competency of minority Americans by making it seem like they need special treatment.”

[From Page Six]

If you check out almostblack.com, Vijay says that the only thing he lied about was his race and, on some applications, he used his middle name (Jojo). But here’s the thing… even going by Jojo Chokal-Ingam, it’s still pretty obvious that Vijay is Indian. It’s not really an “experiment” if all of your school transcripts include your full (Indian) name and the fact that in high school and undergraduate college, your race was “Asian” or “East Indian” or whatever else you checked off.

Oh, and as Gawker points out, during Vijay’s “experiment,” he was only ever accepted into one medical college after applying to more than a dozen as an African-American. I really don’t understand this mind-set at all? Oh, and I perused the Almost Black’s site other posts, and Vijay’s political views on other subjects leave something to be desired. Ugh. Mindy, come get your brother.

Photos courtesy of Vijay’s social media, WENN.

Mad Men Season 7 Episode 8 recap

You know, every Mad Men has a tenor. There’s always a tension as you wonder what’s going to happen next, and a general unease. But this was the first episode in a long time where it felt straight-up sinister. There’s no longer any hiding or pretending about wh…