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.

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Photos courtesy of WENN.

During a Friday appearance on TODAY, Woman in Gold star Ryan Reynolds confirms his daughter’s name.

After welcoming his first child nearly three months ago with wife, Gossip Girl star Blake Lively, the new dad, 38, has finally made the big reveal.

In his typical humorous style, The Voices star teased one last possibility before announcing her real moniker.

“It’s Butternut Summer Squash,” he jokes, and then confirms: “It’s James. Everyone knows.”

The couple — who welcomed James in late December — were hesitant to share her name in the past, but the actor went on to explain his silence.

“I didn’t want to be the first guy screaming it out to the media,” he shares. “Because as we know, little girls turn into teenage girls and little teenage girls sometimes scan through the archives and go, ‘Why did you do that?’ ”

In February, we reported that James is speculated to be their daughter’s name. At first, the baby’s name was rumored to be Violet.

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

View image | gettyimages.com

Rumer Willis is competing on this season of Dancing With The Stars. In her introduction she described herself as “a singer and an actress” but explained that “you guys would probably know me because my parents have been in a couple of movies that you guys might have seen.” Rumer and her partner, Valentin Chmerkovskiy, received the highest scores of the night in the premiere episode this week. They got straight eights across the board for a total of 32 points. So Rumer can really dance and she’s going for it.

On a superficial note, Rumer premiered new veneers on DWTS. They were noticeably absent in the pre-interview practice clips that aired before her performance (at about 1:20 into this video and screenshot below). On the air, her teeth looked abnormally even and white. I’ll just say that she didn’t need them at all and that her teeth were perfectly lovely before.

Both Rumer’s dad, Bruce Willis and her mom, Demi Moore, were in the audience of DWTS, as were Rumer’s sisters. Bruce, 60, was there with his wife, Emma Heming, 36, while Demi, 52, was seated next to one of Rumer’s friends. (I scoured Rumer’s Instagram and it’s this guy, her friend Tye Blue. The last we heard, Demi was dating a 28 year-old drummer named Sean Friday. Demi has been with Sean for over a year and he’s reportedly living with her. I think Rumer is single but I’m not sure.) Here’s a screenshot of Demi with Rumer’s friend in the audience.

Rumer, 26, has a new interview with Larry King Now to promote her DWTS appearance. She’s very soft spoken and came across well, if a bit entitled. She called herself a “musician” and a “singer” and added that “I’m trying to just do the scope of all of them if I can” meaning acting and singing. She’s currently working on an album with Linda Perry and said that she’ll hopefully complete it “when my schedule permits after I win the mirror ball trophy.” She added “it’s much better to go in and be confident than insecure.”

Rumer also talked about her famous parents, Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, and praised them for working so hard to keep the family together in the wake of their divorce. (Bruce and Demi split in 2000 when Rumer was 12.)

“I never had to split up vacations or split up birthdays. They always made an effort to do all of the family events still together and made such an effort to still have our family be as one unit, as opposed to two separate things, which I think really made an impact.” [via People]

That’s nice, it really speaks to how Demi and Bruce stayed friends in the wake of their divorce. That kind of successful co-parenting seems rare in Hollywood and in general.

In terms of Rumer’s chances on DWTS, if she has the chops, more power to her. She’s had a lot handed to her and she does strike me as a “born on third base” type. Plus she’s said as much. This is her chance to prove herself.

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Dear Gossips,

Zayn is always the one you worry about. He always seemed to be the most fragile. And he wears it on his body.

So this “stress leave”, over a few photos that showed up on social media, and the ensuing anxiety for both him and his fiancée…I believe it…      

Dear favorite pair of sweatpants. I was just kidding when I said you’re the #1 cause of divorce. Everyone knows that orange crocs are the #1 cause of divorce. Either way it was a bad joke and feel terrible if you or anyone thought I was serious. Thanks for understanding sweatpants. Sorry orange crocs.

A photo posted by Eva Mendes (@evamendes) on Mar 20, 2015 at 12:36am PDT

Yesterday, Eva Mendes caused a major kerfuffle when she “joked” (not really) during an interview and said “You can’t do sweatpants… ladies, number one cause of divorce in America, sweatpants, no!” Some people were like “What?” And some people were like “Sweatpants cause divorce, says never-married woman.” And some people were like, “Lay off the sweatpants, you turban-loving freak!” Well, Eva heard that her comments caused a controversy, so she posted the above Instagram. In case you can’t see the message, it reads:

Dear favorite pair of sweatpants. I was just kidding when I said you’re the #1 cause of divorce. Everyone knows that orange crocs are the #1 cause of divorce. Either way it was a bad joke and feel terrible if you or anyone thought I was serious. Thanks for understanding sweatpants. Sorry orange crocs.

[From Instagram]

Let’s give her some credit for handling it with some humor, shall we? And yes, orange crocs are a much better target!

But you know what’s really surprising? Ryan Gosling even commented on it on his Twitter too.

Obviously sweatpants thing was a joke. Wearing them now. That’s right, tweeting in sweatpants. Rats! Said too much! You win again Twitter.

— Ryan Gosling (@RyanGosling) March 20, 2015

Ha, I feel like the Sweatpants Lobby got to them. Big Sweatpants issued their fatwa and within 24 hours, Eva had to retract her statement AND get her baby-daddy to retract too. The Illuminati Sweatpants Conspiracy is upon us.

Photos courtesy of Instagram, WENN.

I nearly covered Common’s breezy Us Weekly “25 things” list last week, which is a much more lighthearted topic than this story. Common recently visited The Daily Show to promote his role in Run All Night. The topic of conversation shifted towards current events involving race. Common — who recently won an Oscar (along with John Legend) for the song “Glory” from the Selma soundtrack — delivered some surprising suggestions on how to end racism in the United States:

“We all know there’s been some bad history in our country. We know that racism exists. I’m … extending a hand. And I think a lot of generations and different cultures are saying ‘Hey, we want to get past this. We’ve been bullied and we’ve been beat down, but we don’t want it anymore. We’re not extending a fist and saying, ‘Hey, you did us wrong.’ It’s more like ‘Hey, I’m extending my hand in love. Let’s forget about the past as much as we can, and let’s move from where we are now. How can we help each other? Can you try to help us because we’re going to help ourselves, too.’ That’s really where we are right now. Me as a black man, I’m not sitting there like, ‘White people — y’all did us wrong. I mean we know that that existed. I don’t even have to keep bringing that up. It’s like being in a relationship and continuing to bring up the person’s issues.”

[From The Daily Show on YouTube]

Well. It can be exhausting to discuss a heavy subject like racism, but awareness of the atrocities that happened (and continue to happen) key. Forgetting the past won’t solve what’s currently going on in Ferguson and many other areas. It wouldn’t have stopped what happened in Mississippi yesterday. It won’t stop racist fraternity boys from chanting terribly racist songs. Racism won’t be solved in a simple manner as Common suggests. As expected, the #Common Twitter tag isn’t a happy discussion. A columnist (Stereo Williams) at The Daily Beast also wrote a detailed analysis that’s well worth reading.

Here’s a clip of Common’s appearance on The Daily Show.

The Daily Show
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Common posted this photo to his Twitter page.

Let Love Rule pic.twitter.com/oKlM2Ad7od

— COMMON (@common) March 19, 2015

Photos courtesy of Common on Twitter & WENN

During an episode of Watch What Happens Live this week, Anderson Cooper and Ellen Barkin were Andy Cohen’s guests and a lot of crap went down. Some of it I really don’t care about, like Anderson and Andy apparently got into a tiff about Kathy Griffin leaving Fashion Police, with Anderson sticking up for his friend Kathy and Andy Cohen sort of throwing some shade. None of that is important (to me). Because Ellen Barkin played “Spill the Tea” about George Clooney & Amal Alamuddin’s wedding last year! And some of her comments were very interesting.

WWHL host Andy Cohen and fellow guest Anderson Cooper took turns asking Barkin questions about the A-list affair, including “Who got the most drunk?” and “Did any famous people drunkenly hook up?”

In fact, a lot of their inquiries were booze-related. “I can only speak for myself and that would be a big yes,” she replied when asked if the majority of guests were drunk throughout the festivities. And when pressed about the food, Barkin answered, “I would say spectacular, [but] I didn’t eat. It got in the way of my drinking. You know what, I’m not lying, I have no f—king idea. I didn’t eat a thing all weekend.”

As to whether any celebs hooked up at the highly publicized event, Barkin first replied, “Not that I’m aware of,” before asking, “What do you mean ‘hook up’?”

“Fool around that night,” host Cohen explained. “Possibly,” she said, revising her answer with a coy smile.

Barkin said she wasn’t surprised that the former bachelor settled down.

“I always felt he would,” she said. “I felt he was just waiting till he felt like he wanted to.”

As for the Oscar winner’s new wife?

“She takes great care of him and all his friends,” Barkin dished of Alamuddin, 37.

[From Us Weekly]

Amal “takes great care of him and all his friends.” That’s interesting. Really. I’ve always thought that was the dynamic of George’s relationships, like the ladies had to fit into his life, spend time with his friends and organize their schedules around him. But Amal was supposed to be different! Amal and George were supposed to be equals! He was supposed to take care of her as much as she took care of him! As for Ellen never doubting that George would get marrie eventually, that he was “just waiting till he felt like he wanted to,” sure. I guess we can go with that.

I’m including the video below. Beware, Ellen’s face work will make you wince a little bit.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

Lot going on in this pic- can you name?

A photo posted by John Stamos (@johnstamos) on Mar 3, 2015 at 8:31pm PST

John Stamos is 51 years old! We should add him to the list, along with Dylan McDermott and Rob Lowe, of dudes who pretty much look the same for twenty years. Anyway, I still find John Stamos attractive, is a swarthy-cute cheeseball sort of way. I can imagine meeting him at a bar and going home with him (or something like that). Apparently, a lot of women my age or much, much younger find themselves in the same situation. So what do they do after they’ve had sex with Uncle Jesse? They ask for a selfie. For real.

John Stamos opens up about his sex life in a book by “Glee” and “Family Guy” writer Ali Adler, “How To F?-?-?k a Woman.”

“A couple of women have wanted ‘selfies’ afterwards,” Stamos says, adding, “One girl really wanted my shirt, like a souvenir.”

Sounding a little weird, Stamos suavely notes: “It’s about listening, asking, talking .?.?. I guess I do approach sex in a musical way. With me, it’s more rhythm than melody with a woman .?.?. but it’s all listening .?.?. With women, you have to listen to their bodies.”

[From Page Six]

Let’s take this piece by piece. First, the selfie thing. That’s definitely more of a Generation Facebook thing, which means that Stamos is still getting 20-something ladies on the regular. Which means that for many of these young ladies, he is the Uncle Jesse of their childhood, but only “ironically” because they were only watching Full House in RERUNS. God, that makes me feel so old.

As for John’s music-sex-rhythm (that’s the name of Justin Timberlake’s new album), I don’t know. Do you think John is good in bed? Honestly… I think he’s probably pretty good. Is that crazy?

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, Instagram, WENN.