Some people slammed her for being curvy…

Others said she looked great.

Now Jessica Simpson herself has spoken out for the first time since her newly voluptuous figure caused huge waves across the world of showbiz.

Addressing crowds during a concert in Charlottesville, Virginia, Jessica, dressed in a pair of tight, leather pants (see gallery below), said:

“Thank you for your support. Stay positive, and pray out loud.

“Please remember, no matter what you go through in life, somebody else might have it harder, so just appreciate.”

In a veiled reference to the storm of controversy over her figure, Jess continued:

“I feel like in our world today we focus on so many things that are completely pointless.”

Meanwhile, Pete Wentz has jumped to the defence of his sister-in-law in the great weight debate.

“I think that the media puts too harsh of a spotlight on women in general, and I think it’s a bummer,” he told reporters from Us magazine. “Real beauty is on the inside, man.”

Great, Pete, a bummer, huh? That’ll be a true comfort to Jess when she’s agonising over the reaction to her new look.

Anyway… check out Jess’ hot bod and the way it’s changed, in our gallery, below

Pete Doherty’s latest girlfriend was rumored to be Portia Freeman. She worked as a model and bore some resemblances to Kate Moss, Pete’s former girlfriend. Portia’s father, Dr. Luke Freeman, was interviewed by the press.

ortia was photographed hugging Pete at a function in East London. She told her pals that she was crazy about Pete. Portia’s close friend revealed that Portia might be good for Pete because she was clean and practiced clean living. Pete’s manager, Andy Boyd, refused to confirm that Pete and Portia were a couple.

Celebrities often met one another at public functions and it would not be a surprise that Pete and Portia were photographed together at the same events.

The man known by many of his fans as the “Gossip Gangsta” made a stop at the Mall of America Saturday. Perez Hilton was there to promote his new book “Red Carpet Suicide: A Survival Guide On Keeping Up With The Hiltons.”

Hilton, whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr., is the founder of perezhilton.com, a website that posts the latest celebrity gossip and pictures of stars with some cartoon-looking “alterations” done by Hilton.

“I love writing about Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, Zac Efron,” said Hilton.

Hilton claims to work 16 to 17 hours a day, calling, texting, writing and reading up on celebrities. It has paid off. Since he launched his website five years ago it has become a hit, which in turn inspired him to write a book.

On Saturday, hundreds of Hilton’s fans showed up at the Mall of America to buy his new book and to meet the man dishing the stars.

“He just makes it really entertaining and his drawings are hilarious. He’s just really cool,” said fan Lindsay Brunelli.

“I like it because he draws funny cartoons on everyone. I like that he puts up really bad pictures of people instead of just the nice ones,” said fan Claire Daley.

Hilton spent the afternoon signing autographs. He credits the very celebrities he rips on for his success, and he is hoping his Minnesota fans never get sick of it.

“That’s why I wrote the book, because it demystifies celebrity. It breaks down how people get famous and how people stay famous. And how you too could be famous,” said Hilton.

Hilton said that he is accurate more than 90 percent of the time, but he said his biggest blunder was when he wrongfully reported that Fidel Castro had died.

Penelope Cruz would be steaming up the big screen with her new movie called “Elegy.” She stripped off in a topless scene. The picture is below.

“Elegy” was based on the book, “The Dying Animal”, by Philip Roth. Penelope acted opposite Sir Ben Kingsley. The plot was about a professor who fell in love with a young student. Others in the cast included Debbie Harry, Dennis Hopper and Patricia Clarkson.

Penelope said that her parents did not like her going naked for her movies. She did not like it too but went nude for her art. She has been dating Javier Bardem. His mother, Pilar, was rumored to have asked Javier to marry Penelope.

Paula Abdul made some serious mistakes while commenting on American Idol on Tuesday night. She judged Jason Castro for 2 songs when he had just sang one song. Randy Jackson tried to tell her that it should be only for the first song but Paula continued her tirade about how hard it was to judge Jason.

Paula tried to explain how she made her goofy mistake. She said that she got mixed up when the producers gave different directions for judging this episode because each singer had two songs to sing instead of the usual one song. Paula threw in more confusion by saying that her negative critique was actually meant for David Cook. David had received some glowing praises from Paula previously for his song. Paula’s explanation was a mystery.

We have quite the grab bag of celebrity sightings at LAX yesterday. Paul Rudd, the very funny man from the new movie, “Role Models” was spotted arriving to the airport looking absolutely adorable (I admit I have a slight crush).

Then we have musical genius Pharrell who was photographed wearing a pink shirt and showing off his underpants. (hahahaha)

And what better way to end a “Travel Wear” post than with athlete extraordinaire Venus Williams who almost makes me want to go to the gym… almost.

Paul Oakenfold has made a reconstruction on Britney Spears’ comeback hit, ‘Gimme More’. The British DJ loves the song but does not think it will be strong enough for a head banger in U.K. clubs and some major U.S. dance floors.

“I think the record is a f**king great record. I think it’s so on the mark with what’s going on in the clubs today,” he told Billboard. “But the tempo wasn’t right for Europe and the main dance floors in America, so I got rid of the crap on it which I didn’t think worked, speeded it up and gave it more structure and arrangement and more of a heavier club feel.”

He also added that Britney’s chaotic personal life should not be used against her. “I think when people are going through a hard time, that’s when people should come and support them rather than slag them off. I don’t know why people have to be like that,” he said.

Oakenfold has previously remixed several hits ranging from Led Zeppelin’s ‘Baby I’m Gonna Leave You’ to Bjork’s ‘Pagan Poetry’. Meanwhile, ‘Gimme More’ has received a huge number of remixes since its release. Among some comes from Paul van Dyk, Lil Mama and Lil’ Kim.

What happened to Patrick?

In 1992, Olivia’s father died that same holiday weekend. And during that 4th of July holiday in 1992, the singer learned also she had breast cancer. “I didn’t have a real chance to grieve my father because I had to cope with my own survival. So it was a very, very difficult time.” Three years later, she divorced her first husband Matt Lattanzi that she has a daughter Chloe, 22, with. And then in 2002, he boyfriend Patrick McDermott passed. How? Reportedly McDermott disappeared during a fishing expedition.

UPDATE JANUARY 25, 2009.

LALATE has located an unconfirmed and undated website that claims that McDermott is alive in Mexico. The website (findpatrickmcdermott.com) in an undated post states:

“Over the past 20 months there have been 16 sightings of Patrick in Mexico. Investigators have been tracking Patrick throughout Mexico. He is believed to be working on a Yacht in the pacfic ocean. Investigators have tracked McDermott to a small town north of Puerto Vallarta through investigative means. Investigators believe that McDermott will again attempt to find a location in Mexico to hid in order not to be seen by the public and to keep a low profile. He was last seen less than 60 days ago.”

Patrick Dempsey was just as caught off-guard as the rest of us after receiving word of ABC’s sudden decision to fire actress Brooke Smith, who played “Dr. Erica Hahn” on the network’s award-winning medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy.

McDreamy says the firing is “too bad.”

Rumor has it that Brooke was ousted because of her character’s developing same-sex relationship with “Dr. Callie Torres,” played by Sara Ramirez.

“ABC’s response … is that [I] should say: ‘We’ve had a great time working with her and that the conclusion of her [character] has been orgasmic’ — I’m sorry, I’m dyslexic! — ‘organic’ ending to the story line,’“ Patrick told Ellen DeGeneres on an episode of her talk show airing on Wednesday.

“I think her story line has come to an end,” Patrick tells Ellen. “Thursday night is her last show, which is too bad, she has been a great character, and I don’t know what happened with that story line. They decided not to continue it for some reason.”

Actress Patricia Arquette made her latest season of hit TV show Medium a family affair – she cast her own son in a role after failing to find a suitable actor for the part.

Arquette recently helmed her first episode of the supernatural crime drama, and, after struggling to find a teen to fit the character’s description, she turned to her child Enzo for help.

She says, “We were casting very quickly and we were shooting while we were casting, and the character is 40 years old and we needed him when he was like 16 or 18 years old. At that point your face is very formed so when we put them next to the father, they looked too big, or they didn’t look like the man we’d cast (as the dad), so I called my son the night before and said, ‘You have to do this’. He’s 20 but he looks pretty young.”

And Arquette made sure young Enzo, who had never acted before, was fully prepared for the part. She adds, “He’s not an actor. I went through his lines with him every night. He’s going to art school; it’s not a priority for him.”