There are a bunch of Eva Mendes stories out there this week, which just goes back to my theory that Eva is ready to get back in the gossip saddle, so to speak. She was like this before her pregnancy – playing little games with the press about what she would and would not confirm, managing to let everyone know that Ryan Gosling was her lover but how dare you ask about him! I guess she plays that game pretty well, because some people are buying it. Anyway, these stories aren’t as exciting as yesterday’s “sweatpants lead to divorce,” (she later said it was a joke) but there’s some half-way interesting stuff. Here are some stories making the rounds.

Eva Wants Esmeralda To Get Pap’d. Star Magazine says that now that Esmeralda is getting older, Eva is more comfortable with the idea of bringing the baby outside, even if that means the baby gets photographed by paparazzi. Star says Ryan hates that idea because he doesn’t want Esme to become an “accessory” like North West. Sources say Ryan is the one obsessed with security and privacy and Eva would be fine with showing the baby off a little bit. I kind of believe that.

Eva Loves Footrubs. Like, she really loves them. According to the National Enquirer, she’s so obsessed with footrubs, she hosts all-ladies parties to compare footrubbing tips and exchange actual foot rubs. This sounds totally made up.

Eva Hates Workouts. Eva told E! News this week that “I am not the girl who’s like, ‘Oh yeah, I gotta get my workout in today.’ That is not me. It’s something I accepted quite a few years ago. I was like, ‘OK, this has to be part of my life. Just to stay healthy.’ But working out, it’s not fun. It’s not fun. My entire day is planned on how can I get out of my workout. Like, if I’m even running five minutes late I will text my [my trainer], I’ll be like, ‘I’m on the 101, it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting to you on time.’ She’s like, ‘That’s OK, I’m here…I don’t have anything after you.’ And I’m like, ‘Ugh! Woman, don’t you have other clients? Don’t you have to go?’” Is that supposed to be a cute story? Because it makes me sympathetic towards Eva’s trainer more than anything else. I mean, the trainer is getting paid no matter what, right? I hope so. Because I would absolutely hate to have Eva as a client or work for her in any capacity.

Eva is a Crazy Cuban. In the same interview, she says that she’s never really calm and relaxed because she’s a “crazy Cuban and I do everything really fast.”

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

Eva Mendes’s sweatpants comment made headlines all over the place yesterday. Click here for a refresher. I wrote that it gave us some insight into Ryan Gosling and who he’s in love with.

Ryan Gosling is now giving us some more insight into Ryan Gosling. Because he went on Twitter …      

Parents-to-be Ashlee Simpson and Evan Ross stepped out together on Thursday (March 19). The fit couple were spotted after working out at the Tracy Anderson gym in Studio City, Calif.

Sporting a tank that read “Love Child,” the mom-to-be, 30, wore a tan coat over her workout gear.

The expectant mom recently shared a shot via Instagram while dining with her husband.

“My baby @realevanross is trying to do a #selfie but I’m super focused on the menu. #breakfastforourbaby,” she captioned the image.

This will be the first child – a girl – for Ashlee and her newlywed husband, 26, whom she wed on Aug. 30.

She is already mom to 6-year-old son Bronx with ex-husband, Fall Out Boy rocker Pete Wentz.

My baby @realevanross is trying to do a #selfie but I’m super focused on the menu. #breakfastforourbaby

A photo posted by Ashlee Simpson Ross (@ashleesimpsonross) on Mar 18, 2015 at 10:55am PDT

View Slideshow »»

View All Photos »»

Boy band drama! Fair warning — I’m well over the age of 25, talking about One Direction, and clearly out of my element. Looking at the above photo, I can readily pick out Harry Styles on the left (the one with pretty hair). The dude on the right is Niall Horan (the one with a reputation for stealing people’s girlfriends). This story is about the guy in the middle, Zayn Malik, who just left the band’s world tour to return home. The official word from 1D’s PR rep is that “Zayn has been signed off with stress and is flying back to the UK to recuperate.” He may return to the tour after a few shows, or he may have quit the band.

Zayn’s departure might be an after effect of a cheating scandal. Zayn, 22, is currently engaged to Perrie Edwards of the girl band Little Mix. For Perrie’s 21st birthday last year, Zayn pulled the Bieber-esque move of renting out an entire funfair as a romantic gesture. But of course … he’s a boy band member, so there are complications and groupie rumors. Zayn snapped back on Twitter “I’m 22 years old … I love a girl named Perrie Edwards. And there’s a lot of jealous f***s in this world I’m sorry for what it looks like x.”

The Mail has photos of Zayn returning home (where he shares a house with Perrie). Shortly after, Perrie was spotted leaving the premises with a packed bag. People published some statements from the 1D guys, who are worried about Zayn:

After taking a break from One Direction’s On the Road Again world tour due to stress, Zayn Malik is back in the United Kingdom to spend time with his family.

Set to perform in the Philippines this weekend without him, “the rest of the guys are really worried about him but disappointed he’s not there,” a source close to the band tells PEOPLE. “Their main concern is they want him to get better.”

Adds our source: “They don’t want him to quit. Louis [Tomlinson] is the closet to him and is the most worried.”

Though Malik, 22, is the one who “struggles dealing with being in the spotlight the most,” as a source previously revealed to PEOPLE, he reached his limit on Wednesday, when photos of him looking close to a female fan hit the Internet.

[From People]

Is this a simple case of stress brought on by Zayn’s personal life … or something else? I understand there are also drug rumors. During the band’s recent Phillipines tour stop, Zayn and Louis Tomlinson were required to post bonds promising they wouldn’t use or promote illegal drugs. The two joked about their hand-rolled ciggies (ahem) in the 1D documentary, so who knows. Hopefully, Zayn will get the help he needs to deal with this upheaval.

Photos courtesy of WENN

We’ve known that it’s James for a while now. But we’ve never heard it from Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds…until now.

Reynolds is doing press for The Woman In Gold, opening April 1. Jesus, it is April already???

Anyway, during an interview with The Today Show, Ryan…      

Scandal Season 4 Episode 16 recap.

Would it have been different without the wig?

If she hadn’t had the wig, would this episode have been a little more straightforward and a little less camp? Or were we always going to have the giggles every time Sue walked into the room? I mean, the…      

Like father, like son.

Grammy Award-winning singer Shakira shared a precious photo comparing her son Sasha, 7 weeks, and football beau Gerard Piqué.

The picture includes the words, “De tal palo tal astilla,” which is a commonly used expression in Colombia highlighting a similarity between a child and parent.

The Colombian pop star, 38, is celebrating El Día del Padre, or Father’s Day in Spain. “Padre e hijo. Feliz día del padre! Shak,” she captioned the Instagram post.

Baby Sasha joins big brother, 2-year-old Milan.

Prior to her second son’s birth, she shared: “I would love to have eight or nine kids with Gerard. My own fútbol team.”

Padre e hijo Feliz día del padre! Shak

A photo posted by Shakira (@shakira) on Mar 19, 2015 at 3:32pm PDT

Here are some photos of Helena Bonham Carter at last night’s Cinderella premiere in London. I just wanted to do a post for HBC solo, without poor Lily James (who seems incapable of answering simple questions without saying stupid crap). This is HBC’s first big premiere/red carpet event since splitting with Tim Burton in December of last year (or at least that’s when their split was announced). Helena looked amazing, right? This gown is Vivienne Westwood Couture. Such a fantastic, rich color and design. I will forever love HBC in Westwood.

Here’s how stupid I am: it wasn’t until TODAY, just now, that I put it together that Kenneth Branagh directed Cindrella and he hired his ex-lover Helena to play the fairy godmother. Kenneth Branagh famously left his then-wife, Emma Thompson, for Helena back in the 1990s. Branagh and HBC were together for several years, then it seems like she left him for Tim Burton. Something like that. I wonder if it was awkward when Branagh made that call? Maybe they buried the hatchet long ago.

When HBC was promoting the film yesterday in London (this has been her sole promotional work for the film, she didn’t attend any of the media events in the US), she was asked if she realized this redo would be a big hit. She said:

“I was really scared that it was going to be such a cliché and really boring . I said, ‘What there’s no take on it? No twist?’ Because Cinderella is a story that’s been told a hundred times and everyone knows what’s going to happen. But having seen it I’m amazed and it does work, which is testament to, one – the story is such a classic and was meant to be retold. And also he’s very clever Ken. It could have failed on so many levels and been really naff. But I think all the characters work because they’re not stereotypes.”

[From The Daily Mirror]

Yes, I could see that. So many of the “classic” fairy tale stories are being retold with a “twist” (Maleficent, Snow White and the Huntsman, etc), but from what I’ve read, this version of Cinderella is pretty much a by-the-books live-action version of the cartoon. And I could see how HBC would be like “Really, you want me for THIS?” But the pedigree is great – I think most people were probably relieved once Cate Blanchett and HBC signed on.

PS… I’m pretty sure HBC is wearing boots with her gown, right?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Debbie! Happy Birthday from your son Braden who was so sweet he sent this request in 3 days ago and thought that was last minute. I love a man with excellent time management skills. Braden knows you’d want some Barry Manilow and Benedict Cumberbatch represented here. And even though Cumberb…      

Thank God Ryan Reynolds has stopped playing the “I’m Not Going To Tell You My Baby’s Name” Game. It was getting boring anyway, because A) all of us believed E! News’ “source” who said the baby is named James and B) Ryan played the game too often and everyone stopped covering it. So… what better way to get some headlines than just coming out and confirming the name. The baby is named… James. Which we already knew. But it’s nice to a have a confirmation at long last.

Ryan Reynolds confirmed the moniker on NBC’s Today in an interview with Willie Geist. Of course, he didn’t admit to it without making some hilarious jokes first.

“You did say a few months ago, before she was born, that you were going to name her Excalibur Anaconda Reynolds,” Geist said. “So can we call her Anna at least—short for Anaconda?”

Reynolds confirmed to Geist that he and his Gossip Girl-starring wife didn’t go with Excalibur, but instead went with a more…seasonal choice.

“That is not the child’s name,” Reynolds said, dead seriously. “It’s Butternut Summersquash.”

Of course, he couldn’t keep up the jig for long. “It’s James,” the new dad finally admitted. “Everyone knows.”

[From E! News]

Butternut Summersquash? That’s totally what Blake wants to name their SON, people. The second daughter will be named Anthony Heirloom Tomato (Tony Tomato for short).

So, now that we’ve got the confirmation, can we all roll our eyes at naming this baby “James”? They don’t even say if she’s going to go by a nickname, like Jamie or Jimmy or Jammy. Let’s just call her Sweet Baby James.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Photos courtesy of WENN.