Here’s a deceptively contrite looking Justin Bieber on the cover of HERO magazine. He couldn’t look more intentionally angelic unless he was wearing an actual halo. Swaggy’s still on his ridiculous redemption tour, where he keeps issuing empty apologies and wondering whether he’s human or not. For several months, Swaggy has been attempting to charm his way back into his fans’ hearts. The problem is that Bieber’s fanbase is rapidly aging. He’s still bringing in cash, but he’s not winning any new fans. Eventually, his demographic will forget he ever existed except as a menace. Bieber’s also working against himself by doing dumb stuff like crashing a prom. Not only that, but he muscled his way into the dance (which endangered the students who were present) just for kicks.

Swaggy doesn’t get it. He feels that continuing to remind us of his apologies will eventually cause us to believe. Some HERO excerpts:

He wants to be taken seriously: “I hope people felt the sincerity in my apologies. There are a lot of things that have happened in the last couple years that I’m not very proud of, and I feel a responsibility to my fans and to the public who believe in me to make it right. I hope everyone believed it–because it was honest.”

It’s hard to be Bieber: “It’s definitely hard having so many people judge you from a distance. Sometimes you just want to explain yourself, but then that’s giving into gossip and it makes things worse. It’s a tough line to walk.”

His new album will be amazing: “The biggest difference is that I’m older. I was 17 when I recorded most of my last album and I’m 21 now. I’ve been through a lot in a public way, which gives me a much different perspective on things. I am working with producers like Kanye [West] and Rick Rubin who have influenced me and the music I listen to in a big way. The creative process this time around is more personal. When I was younger I would take other people’s experiences, now I have my own to draw from and it makes all the difference because it’s a release. It’s amazing because I’m able to really work out anything I am feeling in my music. I’m nervous whenever I put out new work because it’s such a personal journey, but I try to remember music is meant to be enjoyed–so I try to roll with it.”

[From Hero magazine]

I find it amusing that Swaggy went four years without recording a new album. Such a practice can be the kiss of death for a pop-star career. If the whole music thing doesn’t work out, maybe Bieber can get into acting. He is currently in Rome to film a Zoolander 2 cameo. But he’s run into a problem. TMZ reports that police have surrounded his hotel. He has an outstanding warrant in Argentina (for a 2013 assault claim), which has an extradition treaty with Italy. So he could be deported to Argentina if his legal team can’t prove that a grace period applies. Wouldn’t that be something if Bieber ended up in jail, finally?

Don’t cry for Swaggy, Argentina.

Photos courtesy of Hedi Slimane/HERO magazine & Fame/Flynet

Blake Lively is still talking. She’s still promoting The Age of Adaline, which is already out in theaters. It’s made more than $15 million so far domestically. Which is not Marvel money, but it’s somewhat respectable for Blake in her first film role in years. The press around Blake would make you believe that she’s this major movie star, up for all of the big roles, battling it out with Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett and Scarlett Johansson for the juicy parts. The reality is… she’s an ambitious TV Girl with a great publicist. Which goes pretty far, but not Jolie/ScarJo territory. Anyway, Blake has a new interview with Stylist – you can read the full piece here. I’ve carved out some highlights of just a some stuff I found interesting. Like, I couldn’t care less about Blake’s thoughts on e-commerce, even though she’s now an “expert” because of Preserve. My highlights:

Motherhood surprises: “Just realising that it is all going to be OK. I remember leaving the hospital thinking: ‘I have no idea what I am doing. I have a life in my hands and I’m not equipped to do this, because I don’t have the knowledge I need to take care of the most precious, fragile thing in the world.’ It felt like being a passenger on a plane and being told: “By the way, now you are going to be piloting the plane.” But then you take her home and you figure it out. Sometimes you don’t figure it out and even that is a whole new experience.

She’s making people wait: “It is tough because when you are looking at your child and she’s laughing, it’s hard to do anything else. And it means making people wait while you feed your baby. That sucks, because everyone thinks you are just being a diva. My parents are pretty much the nannies…They haven’t moved in, but they visit for long periods of time and then they’ll go away and make us beg them to come back.

Looking forward to aging: “Right now I am really looking forward to getting older. The older I’ve got, the more enriched my life has become, from a great childhood with my family, to moving to New York, getting married and having a baby. But ask me in 10 years when I get my crow’s feet… or maybe two years, oh my god! I have learned that until you experience something, it’s hard to get on your soapbox and talk about it.

Whether she’s ‘old-fashioned’: “Yes I am. I only listen to old music. I love Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, Edith Piaf and Josephine Baker. I love fashion of times past, I like modern trends too, but I’m not good about keeping up with them.”

The idea of being a stay-at-home-mom: “It is great to be a mother and a professional and a wife and a daughter, but to choose only one of those things is also incredible. I love being with my niece and baking with her; I also love it when my niece wants to get out there and take the boys down. We’ll take them down together in a game of soccer or go-kart racing. I like being a woman and everything that means for me.”

The changing landscape for women: “Look at what is happening with Hillary Clinton, it’s something to be very proud of. It’s so uplifting. But the fact that we have to be proud of this advancement is a bit upsetting. I think whatever side you stand on, the fact that there’s never been a woman leading this country where there are women leading households and leading companies, is a bit upsetting. What makes people think a man is more equipped to do that than a woman? Nothing.

Her dream: “I have a dream to go to Harvard Business School and one of these days I will do that… in my spare time!”

[From Stylist]

Harvard Business School? Eh, weirder things have happened. What I find funny is that before Blake launched Preserve, she teased it in many, many interviews and promised that it would be unlike anything we had ever seen, that it would be utterly unique and special. And then when she launched her site, it was just a run-of-the-mill shopping site for twee-precious-hipster stuff, interspersed with poorly written mini-essays about how quaint it was when people could still own slaves. And all of the press around Blake this month, as she promotes her film, has basically said that Preserve is just a budget version of Goop. Every single interview name-checks Goop!! It’s amazing. So yeah, maybe she needs some additional education. Or something.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Part of me hates the gleeful way a Rupert Murdoch-owned media outlet has been reporting the on-going Brian Williams debacle. I mean, Page Six would never, ever go after one of the Fox News anchors this way, would they? Of course not, because they have the same corporate ownership. Another part of me thinks it’s completely justified though, especially since NBC News is trying to leave Brian Williams twisting in the wind. Over the weekend, several major media outlets (including WaPo and the NYT) got strategic leaks about the in-house investigation into Williams’ many, many lies. The investigation has found the Williams lied about several major events just in the past few years. I said a few days ago that of course NBC is going to fire Williams or buy out his contract or whatever. He just won’t be coming back. But now Page Six’s sources say Williams is not going to go without a fight.

This time, Brian Williams may not be exaggerating. Talks between the exiled anchor and NBCUniversal have recently become tense — with the 55-year-old newsman saying he will not have his “NBC Nightly News” job taken away without a battle, The Post has learned.

“Brian is saying he’s not going down without a fight and [is] threatening to make it really ugly — worse than Ann Curry,” a source close to NBC told The Post. In 2013, Curry departed NBC’s “Today” in a downpour of negative publicity. She made a teary emotional on-air goodbye as co-host Matt Lauer looked on awkwardly. Curry and Williams are both represented by a pit bull lawyer — Bob Barnett at Williams & Connolly.

“They want Brian to resign,” said one source. “If they have to fire him, they can’t control him.”

The tense state of the Williams-NBCUniversal relationship has become clear of late. On April 24, the newest findings from NBC’s internal probe — which turned up 11 instances of Williams stretching the truth — were leaked. Three days later, a pro-Williams report surfaced saying NBC News boss Andy Lack was looking for ways to save his beleaguered anchor. On Tuesday, the anti-Williams faction seemed to fight back — telling the Hollywood Reporter that Lack is not convinced Williams can return. And so it goes.

Without a doubt, there is an increasing urgency within NBCUniversal management ranks to bring the prickly situation to an end. “ABC World News Tonight,” hosted by David Muir, said Tuesday that for the last four weeks it led “NBC Nightly News” in total viewers — the first time that has happened in years. ABC also won for the third straight week in the key 25- to 54-year-old demographic sought by advertisers — though NBC is ahead season-to-date.

As talks between Williams and Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit heat up, Williams is believed to be trying to ensure that he is entitled to a payout under the five-year $10-million-per-year deal he signed last year.

“They are not going to give him an opportunity to do an Ann Curry,” said a source familiar with news management.

“NBC seems intent on damaging him,” said a friend of Williams. “No one is speaking out in his defense.”

Meanwhile, NBC News has said no decisions have been made about Williams’ future and several staff tell The Post they are conflicted about their colleague, saying that he deserves punishment but also that he is a talented, popular professional. NBC star Lauer has had several dinners with Williams to discuss the situation and is supportive of his friend, a source told The Post.

[From Page Six]

I’ll admit it – I love these kinds of insidery media stories where you realize that broadcast journalists are just the same as any other grasping, brand-protecting celebrity. And all this report made me feel was another wave of sympathy for Ann Curry. Yes, Curry was a terrible co-anchor at Today, but she got shafted in such a major way by NBC News and her transgressions were nothing compared to Brian Williams. BW needs to go, but NBC is going to have to pay him a lot to make him go away. But here’s what bugs me: unlike the Ann Curry situation, NBC can FIRE Williams FOR CAUSE. What he did was awful and he shouldn’t get some payday from all his ass-covering bros.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

It’s an ugly custody battle between Rosie O’Donnell and her estranged wife Michelle Rounds.

According to Rounds, she wants the couple’s 2-year-old daughter Dakota to have “a normal life.”

“Right now she has 24/7 nannies over there at Rosie’s house,” Rounds told Entertainment Tonight. “I don’t want my child to have a nanny. I want her to be outside playing, I want to be with her. I want to go to all the parent conferences … and that’s just not what it’s about over there.”

Earlier this week, O’Donnell’s rep told PEOPLE that Rounds seeking sole custody is “an absurd and desperate attempt to use a child for her own gain.”

But Rounds insists that she’s the fit parent.

“I’m at my daughter’s every beck and call,” Rounds said. “I give her mild discipline instead of like carte blanche, do whatever you want, which is more or less how Rosie likes to do things.”

When asked if she’s after her ex-wife’s money, Rounds says these claims are a “character assassination.”

“I made my first million before the age of 39, that was before I met Rosie,” she said. “I don’t need Rosie’s money, I don’t want Rosie’s money. … The prenup money means nothing to me. I will walk away from the prenup if Rosie will give me full custody.”

On Tuesday, O’Donnell Instagrammed a shot of Dakota with her hand raised. “Excuse me – do i get a vote?,” she captioned the image of their daughter.

O’Donnell wed the New York-based headhunter in June 2012, and separated last November. The View alum, 53, also has four older children with former partner Kelli Carpenter.

excuse me – do i get a vote?

A photo posted by Rosie ODonnell (@rosie) on Apr 28, 2015 at 1:20pm PDT

Congratulations are in order for Kevin Zegers and Jaime Feld.

The Gracepoint actor, 30, and his talent agent wife, 35, are expecting twin daughters this summer, E! News reports.

This will be the first children for the couple, who were wed in a star-studded ceremony in Aug. 2013.

“I’ve always wanted to become a dad,” the Canadian model-actor told ET Canada after their nuptials. “The more stuff I can do that’s not about me, the better.” He added, “We are certainly trying hard.”

Double the congrats to them!

US Weekly is reporting exclusively that now that Miley Cyrus is done with Patrick Schwarzenegger, she and Liam Hemsworth are hooking up again. According to the magazine’s source:

“They’ve been hanging out in L.A., but only a few people know. Dating could definitely happen.”

Even though…      

US Weekly is reporting exclusively that now that Miley Cyrus is done with Patrick Schwarzenegger, she and Liam Hemsworth are hooking up again. According to the magazine’s source:

“They’ve been hanging out in L.A., but only a few people know. Dating could definitely happen.”

Even though…      

US Weekly is reporting exclusively that now that Miley Cyrus is done with Patrick Schwarzenegger, she and Liam Hemsworth are hooking up again. According to the magazine’s source:

“They’ve been hanging out in L.A., but only a few people know. Dating could definitely happen.”

Even though…      

Justin Bieber is young Simba. So who is Scar? You can’t be the chosen one without a mortal enemy.

When in rome…. @justinbieber @joetermini @allisonjamiekaye @florido

A video posted by Scooter Braun (@scooterbraun) on

Apr 28, 2015 at 6:18pm …      

Justin Bieber is young Simba. So who is Scar? You can’t be the chosen one without a mortal enemy.

When in rome…. @justinbieber @joetermini @allisonjamiekaye @florido

A video posted by Scooter Braun (@scooterbraun) on

Apr 28, 2015 at 6:18pm …