They’ve been flying just below the gossip radar for the most part these days, but yesterday the paparazzi caught up to Nick Lachey and Vanessa Mannillo looking awfully cute together. Still going strong in their romance, the “What’s Left of Me” singer and his former MTV veejay lady friend chatted outside Los ..

Reports that .  Ever since NBC pulled the plug on her primetime series Las Vegas, many started to speculate that the actress might return to daytime TV to reprise her infamous role as Brenda on General Hospital.  Even her former on-screen love interest on the soap, Maurice Benard, has welcomed the idea of her possible comeback.

“I’m all for it,” Benard, who plays Sonny Corinthos on General Hospital, told Soap Opera Digest at the height of the rumorsMarcil first played the role of Brenda Barrett on General Hospital in 1992.  Her most notable storyline involved a love triangle between her, mobster Sonny Corinthos and corporate raider Jasper Jacks (Ingo Rademacher).  During her stint on the soap, she earned Daytime Emmy Award nominations in 1997 and 1998, and won in 2003 for Outstanding Supporting Actress. She was also named Outstanding Lead Actress at the Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1998.

After General Hospital, Marcil worked on the television movie To Love, Honor and Deceive, and landed a recurring guest role on the police drama High Incident. She also attracted a solid following as Gina Kincaid on Beverly Hills 90210 where she remained with the show for one and a half seasons.

Last year, Marcil was reportedly offered another chance to reprise her signature role on the ABC soap.  However, things didn’t turn out as planned as she was busy with the series Lipstick Jungle and as the host of Lifetime’s reality television show, Blush: The Search For the Next Great Makeup Artist.  Because of this, other actresses have been rumored to fill in the role of Brenda, including Alyssa Milano of Charmed fame.

Most recently, however, Marcil hints that 2009 might be the year her character Brenda returns to General Hospital.

Hollywood actress Vanessa Hudgens is vowing to uphold her clean image as a role model for young girls, because she “only has one shot” to impress her fans.The actress came under fire when nude photos of her were leaked online last year. But the Disney teen queen insists she is doing her best to live up to the aspirations of her impressionable young admirers. She says, “At the end of the day I have to be happy with myself. Just going to live my life and enjoy doing it.”You only have one shot… of course I want to be a good role model and try to do my best but I’m still me.”

According to a report featured in this week’s edition of In Touch Weekly, the singer only discovered Tameka Foster-Raymond, 38, was having liposuction wass when he received a phone call to say his wife was in an induced coma in the Spanish-speaking country. Tameka suffered cardiac and respiratory arrest when she was being anesthetised. She was revived with heart massage and placed in an induced coma. Tameka was released from the hospital on Monday after spending eleven days in intensive care.

Actress Uma Thurman sued French cosmetics manufacture Lancôme for a reported $15 million on Friday. The Kill Bill star has accused Lancome of using unauthorized images of her on Canadian advertising billboards and Asian websites after her contract with them had expired. The suit comes just days after Uma was slammed with a lawsuit by the company, who claim the actress tried to extort them for $1 million.

Thurman’s lawyer says he was surprised by the lawsuit, adding: “I thought we were negotiating in good faith. I guess the French decided to strike a pre-emptive blow….But I’m delighted that the case will go before a jury. They got an enormous benefit throughout the world after the contract was over, and $1 million doesn’t begin to do it.”

“The use of Ms. Thurman’s image after her contract expired, however minor, was neither deliberate nor intentional,” a spokeswomen for L’Oreal, which owns Lancome, said in a statement on Friday. “As this matter is currently in litigation, it is Lancôme’s policy not to comment on legal matters while they are in progress.”

Lancôme filed a lawsuit earlier this week in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, contending it did not violate Uma’s contract and owes her no money.

According to recent rumors, Tyra Banks may not want “to be on top” anymore. Sources say that the producer/host of America’s Next Top Model is saying goodbye to the show for good.

What would have Tyra so up in arms over the hit show, which is currently in cycle 10? Rumor has it a recent squabble between Banks and runway coach Jay Manuel has caused Tyra to limit her involvement with the show. Further speculation hints that recent big score interviews with presidential hopefuls, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on Banks’ daytime talk show, The Tyra Banks Show, has turned her focus there. Perhaps it’s also no coincidence that America’s Next Top Model has suffered low ratings this season, competing for air time with reality TV giant American Idol.

I’ll let that one sink in for a minute.

Now Tyler has never come out of the closet (his career won’t allow for that), but if anyone reading this doesn’t believe he is gay feel free to chime in in the comment section.

Now this isn’t the first case of a woman getting hitched to an obviously gay man. There’s Terry and her dude. Star and Al and my personal favorite, Govenor McGreevey and his wife, where later it was found out they were having threesomes with some young (male) teneroni. Now that was some kinky stuff.

What all of these women have in common, however, is that they knowingly married gay men. Now Star might try and convince folk that she didn’t know Al was gay…yeah okay…there were pictures of Al floating ’round the internet with him in his draws and a big all male Halloween party in the Hamptons...before they said “I do,”but he wasn’t gay.

Now don’t get me wrong, for all I know Taraji and Perry (assuming the rumors are true) could have some understanding and she could be perfectly okay with his…proclivities. Just think about Eddie and all of his women. While I don’t doubt that Eddie likse women, with Johnny Gil living in his basement, I also don’t doubt that he likes men either. And I personally feel if all parties involved are cool with, then who am I to say anything about it.

But what about the women who turn a blind eye to the obvious?

The women who swear up down that there very effeminate man isn’t gay?

These are the women who I refer to as traveling up that river in Africa…without a paddle.

And the sad part about it is a lot of Black women, young an old, seem to fall into this category.

To my ever increasing amazement Black women (particularly those heavily involved in the church) like to believe that gay men just don’t exist. Even with the “down low” being added to everyone’s vocabulary, I’ve seen too many women running around with gay men taking aobut this is there boyfriend/fiance/husband.

It’s like, because God has deemed homosexuality a sin (for those who believe that), combined with the hyper-masculinity of today’s Black male culture, the rampant homo-phobia of Black culture combined with a heaping dose of desperation by Black women because of the perceived male shortage and end up with folk pretending to be something they are not with way too many people willing to buy into the pretense.

And to perfectly honest I have no sympathy for these chicks. When Terry McMillan came out hollering how she was duped when her husband came out of the closet (a closet that was glass and wide open mind you) I thought, “Well that’s what happens when you turn a blind eye to the obvious.” It’s like putting your hand on a hot stove and then being surprised when you’re burned.

Note to Black women: You can’t be so desperate for a man that you’re willing to marry anyone that comes your way when it’s obvious that his interests lie else where.

To the couple that inspired this post: I wish Taraji and Tyler the best (assuming it’s true.) But goodness knows if they get marry and later Taraji comes out hollering she felt like she was duped because she found Tyler in bed with a man…all I will do is shake my head and ask, “What the hell are you feeling duped about?”

If you’re a fan of Tricia Helfer (and you should be!), you’re in luck – in the next few months, the actress will be appearing on multiple series across multiple networks. This Friday, Helfer will return for the final ten episodes of the acclaimed Battlestar Galactica, and then just a week later, she’ll also be back in her role as Carla on Burn Notice. If that weren’t enough, Helfer also has shot a guest role on an upcoming episode of Chuck, and it was on the set of that series that I recently spoke to her.

Look for another piece focusing on her Chuck role when her appearance airs in a few weeks. Here, Helfer and I speak about what’s to come on Burn Notice, along with her thoughts on the ends of Battlestar. Note, minor spoilers for both series follow.

After somehow escaping a plane crash that killed the other four passengers, doctors are saying that they expect both Travis Barker and DJ AM to make a full recovery from the second- and third-degree burns they suffered.

Their doctors at the Joseph Still Burn Center in Georgia told reporters that Travis Barker is badly burned on his torso as well as the lower portion of his body, while DJ AM reportedly suffered severe burns on his arm and head.

Rehabilitation from the burns will be a long and ongoing process, but Travis Barker and DJ AM remarkably suffered no additional injuries and are expected to be back to 100 percent eventually. Talk about great, unexpected news!

This photo of DJ AM and Travis Barker was taken at the event they performed at prior to the crash. Gavin DeGraw and Perry Farrell (not on board) also performed at the show.

Investigations into the crash are ongoing, but some believe the accident may have been due to a blown tire. The pilot, co-pilot, Barker’s assistant and bodyguard were all killed. Barker and DJ AM somehow freed themselves from the wreckage.

Barker’s ex-wife, Shanna Moakler, flew to be with the Blink-182 drummer, while singer Mandy Moore (AM’s ex), and pal Jermaine Dupri have also visited. AM’s ex-fiance, Nicole Richie, has not visited but has issued a statement sending her best.

Tori Spelling shows off her growing baby bump during a walk with husband Dean McDermott in Santa Barbara on Friday. No word yet on a due date for the happy couple, who are already parents to son, Liam, who turns 1 on March 13.