Dear Gossips,

On the Chinese calendar, today is the Start of Spring. Which means that, technically, the Year of the Horse is over and the Year of the Goat/Sheep has begun. Chinese New Year is on February 19. But the astrological year actually kicks off today. I know it’s confusing but w…      

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I still remember the horrible scene from 1993 when a man ran onto the court in Hamburg and stabbed tennis great Monica Seles, then just 19, in the back. Seles had amassed eight grand slam singles titles before she was attacked. She returned to the sport in 1995 but had trouble playing at the same superior level. Although she officially retired from professional tennis in 2008, Seles still does exhibition matches. Last year she got engaged to billionaire Tom Golisano, the 73 year-old founder of Paychex payroll processing.

Now Seles has returned to the spotlight to discuss her binge eating disorder. (Note: this is not the first time Seles has revealed this publicly, although outlets are reporting it like it is.) I thought that binge eating was like bulimia, but sufferers do not throw up, they just eat large quantities of food in one sitting and feel shame, guilt and a loss of control. Binge eating disorder was officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in 2013. Seles also has a new partnership with pharmaceutical company Shire, which puts out the first drug approved to treat BED, an amphetamine called Vyvanse. (Vyvanse is also approved to treat ADHD.) Here’s more on her announcement, and you can see a video of her interview on Good Morning America’s site:

In an interview with “Good Morning America”’s Lara Spencer, Seles opened up about her experience in an effort to raise awareness about the disorder.

People with binge eating disorder (B.E.D.) frequently eat an unusually large amount of food but do not throw it up, according U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Women’s Health.

The binges may result in feelings of shame and embarrassment and may lead to obesity and other health problems. According to the Office of Women’s Health, as many as 4 million Americans suffer from the disorder, which tends to affect women more than men.

Seles is a paid spokesperson for Shire Pharmaceuticals, the drug company that make Vyvanse – the first drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of the disorder. Vyvanse is already approved for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Seles, 41, also appears in new public service campaign about the disorder, including a public service announcement that debuted on Tuesday.

“My binge-eating episodes will usually happen in the evenings when I would be back by myself after a long day at the tennis courts and would just eat large quantities of food,” she says in the spot that’s a partnership with Shire Pharmaceuticals, the National Eating Disorder Association and the Binge Eating Disorder Association. “My eating was just uncontrollable. Once the binge was over I felt so upset with myself.”

Seles told Spencer that she wants fellow binge eating disorder sufferers to know that they’re not alone.

“I look at my life and how many years I wasted by being shamed about it, hiding it from my family and friends and doing my binges in private … now there’s help out there,” she said, mentioning the website BingeEatingDisorder.com, which has information and resources about B.E.D.

Seles told Spencer that stressful situations led to her binges.

“My trigger foods were pretzels, potato chips,” she said. “And I would do them alone because I was so ashamed that, here, I was a tennis player who was so controlling on the tennis court. I could direct. I’m very dedicated. Yet, in this one area of binge eating I was out of control.”

[From GMA.Yahoo.com]

This reminds me very much of when Paula Deen announced that she had diabetes – at the same time she revealed her partnership with Novo Nordisk to shill diabetes drugs. While I do think Seles is sincere about having BED, it doesn’t sit well with me that she’s discussing her binge eating disorder at the same time that she’s announcing that she’s a spokesperson. She’s advertising a prescription drug basically. I do wonder how this came about. Monica’s wiki page reveals that she’s spoken about her binge eating disorder in the past, so it’s probable that the pharmaceutical company approached her.

I think it’s hard for me to relate to BED as a disorder because I do overeat, especially after I exercise hard and especially at night as Seles explains. I won’t eat an entire big bag of pretzels or a while pizza or anything, but sometimes I have an extra bowl or three and feel like I’ve lost control when I’m snacking. Many people do this, but people with BED do it to the extent that it interferes with their lives and they feel shame about it. Good for Seles for talking about it, but I still question her motivation. Also, binge eating disorder can be a product of our society. It’s way too easy to get high calorie low-nutrient food and we’re bombarded with images of food p0rn constantly.

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Photo credit: WENN.com and Getty Images

Sean Penn started his Haiti charity/foundation JPHRO shortly after the massive earthquake in 2010. Some say Penn was doing penance for all of his years of douchebaggery. Some say he was inspired to give back after his son survived a bad accident. Some say Sean always had a compassionate side and this was just the latest example. And some said he just absorbed himself in the cause of the moment, and he would forget about it soon enough. Sean lived for a time in Haiti, but he’s back to living full time in LA and wherever he has to go on location for film shoots. But his JPHRO is still raising money for Haitians, and Sean throws a now-annual fundraiser for his foundation. Last month’s star-studded fundraiser raised $6 million for JPHRO.

But I’ve always wondered how much of the JPHRO money actually makes it to Haiti. Penn started the foundation from scratch, and I always assumed the start-up costs and administrative costs must have been significant. That’s the thing about starting your own charity versus simply attaching your name to an already-established charity: it’s all on you to get a significant amount of the money raised to the actual people in need. Well, a Haitian filmmaker named Raoul Peck has made a documentary called Fatal Assistance, and Peck claims that “only a fraction” of the $9 billion pledged to Haiti has actually made it to Haiti or the Haitian people. It’s an indictment of many of the failed charity schemes and half-hearted attempts to help, especially since 350,000 Haitians are still homeless or living in makeshift camps all these years later.

So, obviously, Page Six contacted Sean Penn to see if he would comment on Peck’s film. Here’s what Sean had to say:

“Peck is confusing the funds committed by international donors (foreign governments) in 2010 with the tangible and provable monies raised by JPHRO and others spent to extraordinary effect. His simplification of criticism echoes strategies once used by tyrants and Nazis, and its only result can be that which is injurious to the extraordinary people of Haiti. Self-serving critics like Peck are Haiti’s greatest enemy.”

[From Page Six]

Here’s the thing: I think there probably is a worthy investigation to be done into how much money actually reached the Haitians. There’s also a worthy investigation to be done into which of these little Haitian-charity start-ups are actually working on any level. And if Penn had simply said that “there is confusion” about which funds are which and what is actually working, I would have believed him. But he went straight for the Nazi comparison, Godwin’s Law be damned. When your answer to legitimate criticism and questioning is “YOU ARE A NAZI FOR ASKING QUESTIONS,” then I’m sorry, we need to ask those questions.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

Here are some photos of Brandi Glanville at last night’s “Bloodbath red carpet” for Celebrity Apprentice in NYC. Don’t ask me to care about Celebrity Apprentice, because the well is dry. I know Brandi was having some kind of blood feud with Kenya Moore, and that Kenya Moore is setting herself up to be the major villain of the season. As for these photos… I wish Brandi didn’t feel the need for the Botox and fillers. She’s a pretty woman naturally, and I kind of think the extras make her look older.

What else? Let’s see, there are a bunch of stories about and around Brandi this week, so let’s do some highlights:

*Star Magazine pointed out that LeAnn Rimes is still stalking Brandi on Twitter. Brandi posted some photos of herself in the kitchen and tagged them #Cookingforfamily. Just a few hours later, LeAnn used the exact same hashtag. Pathetic.

*Kyle Richards and Brandi had some kind of crazy blowout on RHOBH and Kyle tells Us Weekly: “I honestly have never met someone like Brandi in my life. She has no regard for your children, your family, your marriage, your businesses; when she decides to go after you she is vicious and relentless.” Their fight was mostly about Kim Richards and how Kim is a mess, and Kyle thinks Kim should not be spending any time with Kim at all – you can read more about it here.

*Brandi tells E! News that she decided to do Celebrity Apprentice for her kids: “I really wanted to impress my parents and I wanted to do a show that possibly my 11-year-old could watch. I don’t let him watch Housewives because I’m a giant a-hole on that show.” Brandi also says that she’s happy she gets to a different kind of reality show: “I’m excited to have this out and to have a balance between drunk-fun Brandi and now you get to see Brandi doing business deals, tasks and using my brain…instead of my wine glass.”

And finally, there’s still some long-standing conversation about whether Brandi is an alcoholic and whether she would benefit from rehab. As I’ve said, I don’t watch RHOBH so I don’t know how bad it gets. But most of the Real Housewives are constantly drunk, right? I’m pretty sure producers are always making sure liquor fuels the filming. But sure, it does sound like Brandi takes it too far. Dial it back, girl.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

Sometimes we get Celebitchy newbies who are not familiar with my aversion to bad bangs. For the record, I believe nearly all bangs are bad. It’s my hangup and I’m working through it. I have three categories: the worst is “bangs trauma,” where a woman has gotten bangs and it was a really bad decision that she should regret. The second category is “middle ground bangs” – which does happen – where the lady doesn’t really look that different with or without bangs, or when the bangs are done well (which is a spectacular feat). Then there is the unicorn, the rare woman who looks amazing with bangs and should never be without them.

Which of those three options is Behati Prinsloo? I feel sort of sorry for Behati, I think this is the first time I’ve ever covered her without the story having something to do with her new-husband Adam Levine. She’s a successful model in her own right, although she became much more famous when she got with Levine. Can we blame Levine for these bangs? Because I think these are full-on BANGS TRAUMA. Behati debuted The Trauma at a Super Bowl party on Saturday. I guess it’s taken this long for most sites to ID her. Because she looks so different with those hideous bangs.

You know who Behati reminded me of with her new hair? Bradley Cooper’s young girlfriend, Suki Waterhouse. Suki’s been doing a similar fringe for a few years. I kind of think Suki pulls it off better than Behati.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I just realized that Jeremy Renner has been MIA this awards season. He did a back-to-back twofer in 2010 and 2011 with Oscar nominations, and if he wanted to, I would guess that he could totally end up a presenter at the Oscars. Some people do that, especially if they’re not promoting anything – they’ll avoid all of the awards season hoopla except for the Oscars and the Oscar parties. It would be good to see Renner out and about on Oscar night.

Anyway, as we know, Renner’s wife of ten months filed for divorce in December. It seemed very sudden to most of us out here in the cheap seats, and of course there were TONS of conspiracy theories, especially since Sonni Pacheco listed “fraud” as one of the reasons for the divorce. A month ago, Sonni issued her first direct statement to a media outlet, when she told The Daily Mail was she was “fine” and that she hopes everything will be resolved quickly. Renner’s camp insists that Renner was somewhat blindsided by the divorce filing, even though they were having big problems. Renner’s camp insists that he will fight Sonni on custody of their daughter Ava and his biggest worry is that Sonni will take Ava to Canada. Now TMZ has more information about what could be a major custodial/divorce fight:

Sonni is asking for primary custody of their 22-month-old daughter Ava. What’s curious … since they split in December, we’ve learned they have shared 50/50 custody. In California there’s a presumption that a divorcing couple should share joint custody, which is what they’ve had.

In addition, she’s claiming his house is unsafe for the child. Sonni says the pool needs to be properly fenced. She also claims he has a gun collection and one of the weapons [is] out in the open, behind a bar. But we’re told when she lived in that house with their child the pool was protected and the guns were all locked up.

Sonni claims Jeremy’s loaded and she’s not — so she wants lots of child support. She says he made around $3.5 million in 2014 and has $13 million in assets. In the legal docs obtained by TMZ … Sonni says when she told Jeremy he’d have to pay child support he responded, “Get a j.o.b.” But our sources say he’s been paying child support since they split. She also wants $75K in attorney’s fees and another $25K in other legal expenses.

Sources connected with Jeremy grouse he’s given Sonni everything she’s asked for and this is just a ploy to make what should be a simple divorce very expensive.

[From TMZ]

I think having loaded weapons out in the open is a really big deal. I’m actually pro-gun and pro-gun control – I believe sane people should have access to most guns, but I think reasonable limits should be imposed, like no guns in school zones and if you have children in your home, your guns should be under lock and key. The pool thing seems like a pretty simple fix – Renner could just hire someone to childproof his property and get the whole thing knocked out in a day. As for the money and custody fight… eh. I’m surprised Renner is worth so little (in Hollywood terms). And yes, I kind of think he should just pay her to go away. That’s what she wants.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

This is not surprising in the least. Any Cumberbitch worth her floral knew that Benedict Cumberbatch’s work schedule this year was going to go through some major flux. I don’t even think this one is his fault – Bendy has dropped out of The Lost City of Z, that long-gestating bio-pic/adventure film about Col. Percival Fawcett. Last year, Bendy had these mysterious lulls in his work schedule and I’m pretty sure that was because he truly believed The Lost City of Z would be filming months ago. But the production got pushed back until this year, I think in the Spring. And obviously, Bendy is going to have to find time somewhere to film Doctor Strange. So Z had to go. And now Charlie Hunnam is in.

Charlie Hunnam will star opposite Robert Pattinson and Sienna Miller in The Lost City of Z, Plan B’s adaptation of the book by David Grann. MICA Entertainment has come on board to finance the drama, which James Gray is directing. Hunnam is replacing Benedict Cumberbatch, who was previously set to star but is now due to topline Marvel’s Doctor Strange movie, among other projects.

In the true-life drama, Hunnam will portray British explorer Col. Percival Fawcett, who disappeared in 1925 while searching for a mysterious city in the Amazon.

[From THR]

Brad Pitt and his Plan B team are executive producing. I think at one point, Brad even considered playing a role (the main role, maybe?). Anyway, as I said, this was an obvious call Bendy had to make. It probably makes his workaholic heart sick that he’s turning down projects like this, but it’s happening with more frequency. Last year, he dropped out of Crimson Peak and his role went to Tom Hiddleston, who starred opposite Charlie Hunnam. So it’s coming full circle! And now Charlie gets to use his normal British accent for a role, hurrah.

Meanwhile, Bendy’s former drama teacher at Harrow – from when Bendy was only 13 years old – has spoken out about Bendy’s early talent. The teacher says Benedict was “obviously an outstanding actor – a combination of intuition and intellect.” You can read more here.

Last thing – Bendy is confirmed to present at the BAFTAs, although he was confirmed for the SAGs and never showed up, so it doesn’t mean much. Still, I think Benedict and Sophie will manage to make it to the BAFTAs. Guess who else will present? Felicity Jones, Martin Freeman and… Tom Hiddleston!! God, Hiddles had been SO quiet lately. I genuinely miss him, you guys. I’m more excited about seeing Hiddles than Bendy.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

I never realized how little we see of Paris and Nikki Hilton’s brothers. These days, we rarely even see Nikki! These are photos of Paris and her brother Conrad from 2011. There are two younger brothers, Barron and Conrad. Barron was the one in Miami a few years ago, getting into cracked-out beefs with Lindsay Lohan and her sketchball crew. That should tell you a lot about Barron. As for Conrad, he’s only 20 years old and he’s already got a criminal record, how shocking. In 2012, he was charged with a DUI (for alcohol and marijuana), put on probation and then he violated his probation by getting high.

Well, guess what? Conrad might be attempting to be the most screwed up of the whole Hilton clan. And that’s saying something. Incidentally, I love it when people sound just the way you’d imagine. Like, Kim Kardashian sounds exactly like you’d expect: like a vapid p0rn star doing a baby voice. And Conrad Hilton sounds exactly like what you’d think of a spoiled trust fund d-bag whose daddy writes checks to make the problems go away. Long story short: Conrad went berserk on a plane and he was yelling to and about PEASANTS!!!!

Paris Hilton’s younger brother Conrad Hilton was just arrested in L.A. for allegedly going insane on an international flight back in July … and getting violent with flight attendants … TMZ has learned. According to officials, multiple witnesses on the plane say the 20-year-old went berserk on a flight from London to L.A. … and began screaming and threatening flight attendants.

According to witnesses, Conrad was heard yelling the following things during his meltdown:

– “If you wanna square up to me bro, then bring it and I will f–king fight you.”
– “I am going to f–king kill you.”
– “I will f–king rip through you.”
– “I will f–king own anyone on this flight; they are f–king peasants.”

Witnesses say … at one point during the flight, Conrad was ferociously punching the bulkhead of the plane … 10 centimeters from a flight attendant’s face. Witnesses also say they could smell weed seeping out of the bathroom … and believe Hilton was the culprit. Conrad was allegedly so out of control, children on the plane were crying. At one point, Conrad fell asleep … and the captain authorized crew members to restrain him to his seat for the descent. Conrad was ultimately handcuffed to his seat.

Witnesses told officials Conrad grabbed a flight attendant’s shirt and said, “I could get you all fired in 5 minutes. I know your boss! My father will pay this out. He has done it before. Dad paid $300k last time.”

According to documents obtained by TMZ, Hilton admitted to taking a sleeping pill before the flight and then bragged that he “buried” the flight attendants.

“I told all of them I could get all of their jobs taken away in less than 30 seconds.”

We just spoke with Hilton’s attorney Robert Shapiro — yes, that Robert Shapiro — who confirms Conrad took a sleeping pill before the flight and he wasn’t himself. Shapiro says there are numerous news reports and cases of people experiencing adverse effects, including aggressive outbursts … and he’s suggesting that’s what happened here.

[From TMZ]

What kind of amazing “sleeping pill” was that? Are they putting crystal meth into sleeping pills now? I mean, some people do some freaky stuff on Ambien, but I’ve never heard of someone taking an Ambien and going flat-out cray-cray on a plane and yelling at all of the peasants.

Here’s the thing though… even if his name wasn’t Conrad Hilton, he’s still being treated differently than an Arab-American man or basically any darker-skinned man or woman who tried to pull this kind of stunt. I mean, if this was Mohammed Hilton-al Jabari, they would have put down the plane immediately and he would have been either shot or arrested on terrorism charges. Not only is this a tale of a poor little cracked-out rich boy, it’s also a tale of white privilege.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Katy Perry covers the March issue of Elle in conjunction with her Super Bowl extravaganza and Billboard cover. The Grammys are coming up in a few days, so this must be the week of Katy. She’s nominated for both “Dark Horse” and Prism.

This Elle cover is muted but quite pretty. Katy’s wearing a Giambattista Valli top and skirt with Chanel and Graziela Germs jewelry. Elle notes how Katy chose to wear her own nose ring. The interview was rather extensive (for Elle) and lasted three days in Australia. The journo, Amanda FitzSimons, calls Katy “eloquent, intensely likeable, and smart.” I won’t call Katy dumb, but she seems much more savvy than smart. She’s a shrewd businesswoman, which is more valuable than simply being smart. Here’s some excerpts.

On total control: “In my show, I am boss daddy. I am boss mommy. They call me Boss. Everything goes through my eyes; I call all the shots, 100 percent of it. With the NFL, I have to be accountable to several levels of red tape. There are many committees I have to go through for my costumes, the budgets of my show, every interview—everything, I have to report to somebody. So I am no longer the boss; I have to relinquish that control. We love this opportunity, but once you decide you’re gonna do the Super Bowl, you’re gonna have no f***ing life for six months. It is the biggest thing. Anyone that’s ever done it has been scared sh*tless. You stay off the Internet for the five days afterward.”

On her contemporaries: “Oh my God. I’m such a big Beyonce fan. Beyonce just put out a video! You’ve got to see this video I was like, Finallllly. Finally I see you. I don’t see some propaganda version of you. I see you. I relate to who you are.”

On being a pop star: “It is a hundred times harder a dream than the dream that I dreamt when I was nine … You think you signed up for one thing, but you automatically sign up for a hundred others. And that is why you see people shaving their f***ing heads.”

If pop stars were in a soap opra: “You’ve got to name someone the villain, someone the princess, someone the mom-, the dad-type–you know there always have to be characters. As pop figures, we’re all characters. And the media uses that. Who is the sweetheart, who is the villain? You know. Taylor’s the sweetheart. Kanye’s the villain. That’s the narrative.”

[From Elle]

Now there’s a dig against Taylor. Katy’s calling her frenemy out for playing the role of the cutesey sweetheart, and that’s the best Katy can do. The silly feud is alive and well, but don’t tell Kanye he’s the villain. He’d be flattered. Did you catch the “propaganda” remark about Beyonce? Ouch.

Photos courtesy of Elle & WENN

Emily Ratajkowski has been in London this week. I’m including some photos of her outside of the BBC Radio Studios (black coat pics) and some of Emily at the InStyle pre-Bafta party on Monday evening (the yellow Cushnie et Ochs Spring 2015 dress). I guess she might be around for the BAFTAs on Sunday? Maybe as a presenter. I’m surprised she hasn’t been around more this awards season – her film debut in Gone Girl was reasonably well-received and the film scored some big nominations. Anyway, while in London, Emily gave an exclusive interview to The Daily Mail – you can read the full piece here. Emily has talked about feminism and her feminist views before. Her definition of feminism is “being sexy and sexual and owning her body.” Which, when you think about it, means Emily has a better grasp of feminism than Kaley Cuoco. Some highlights:

Defending the “Blurred Lines” video: “I think you can be a sexual woman, empowered and be a feminist. I think sexuality should be empowering to women, it’s not always misogynistic or exploitative.”

Why she agreed to the video: “I had initially turned it down. I was eventually convinced by the director, who I really liked, to do it. It was kind of a good opportunity for me in a way because I couldn’t really speak to the lyrics as I didn’t write them, but I could about the video. I had all kind of ideas to say so it ended up being a good platform, because on the other side I think people were like ‘well let’s hear what the girls think.’”

Scoring the part in Gone Girl: “It was really surreal. I had read the book when it came out and it was a total page turner and stuck in my mind. I think that because I had gone through the audition process I had a little bit more confidence because they picked me, so hopefully I was there for a reason.”

How she did her nude scene with Ben Affleck: “There was only a few camera guys and David [Fincher] and Ben which made it a lot easier. ‘[Ben] just made me feel comfortable as a friend and that made it all feel good. You don’t really have much time to be overly self-conscience.”

Will she continue to act? “I’m definitely being really selective, especially coming from a modelling background and having an opportunity like Gone Girl where people are taking me seriously. And I have David in my corner… I want to establish myself as someone who can act and doesn’t have to rely on my figure or modelling background.”

She’s not chasing after an Oscar: “I don’t know about winning Oscars, I don’t think you should have those goals. I like acting, it’s creatively fulfilling; it’s fun, it makes me feel good and it’s a hard job, but when you do a scene and you know you’ve nailed it there’s nothing better than that.”

[From The Daily Mail]

Is she a genius? Nope. But she’s not a complete idiot either. She’s a 23 year old model-turned-actress trying to find some footing in a new and exciting career. I wish her view of feminism was more nuanced, political and economic, but frankly, I’ll take what I can get. The freedom to be a sexual person is part of feminism too. As for how Ben Affleck made her feel comfortable… you guys know what I think. Ben hand-picked Emily for that role. He coached her privately too. And David Fincher likes to do a million takes. That’s like a whole day of Ben motorboating Emily on camera.

Photos courtesy of WENN.