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.

Tony parker files a law suit against celebrity gossip website X17. Tony is seeking to the tune of 20 million dollars in damages. The whole suit is about a French model, Alexandra Paressant who claimed she had an affair with Tony Parker. X17 even showed copies of text messages exchanged between Paressant and Parker. Parker who is married to Desparate House Wife’s Hottie Eva Longoria is maintaining his innocence, Parker is claiming that he never even met this woman before. I hope for his sake that it is not true. We will be sure to follow this story to see how it turns out.

Tommy Lee Jones has filed suit against Paramount, and others, for not paying him for work related to the movie No Country for Old men. Jones claims he is still owed more than $10 million under his contract.

In the lawsuit, Jones claims he signed a contract with N.M. Classics on April 3, 2006, agreeing to act in the film, as well as to provide “additional related services” for the movie’s promotion. In exchange, the lawsuit says the company promised to pay Jones a fixed “up-front” fee and, depending upon the film’s financial success, “significant box-office bonuses and ’back-end’ compensation.”

According to the lawsuit, Jones’ accepted a reduced up-front fee in exchange for “significant” compensation if the film did well. No Country for Old Men later went on to win four Academy awards, including Best Picture, two Golden Globe awards, and several other critical recognitions. It was a giant commercial success, making more than $160 million.

Hollywood stars Ben Stiller and icon Jack Nicholson are taking on Tom Hanks as all the Hollywood stars pick sides in the battle between the two leading acting unions. Actors are threatening to have walkouts at the end of this month if talks between the unions and major film studios fail to resolve a dispute over pay and working conditions. Hanks recently signed an e-mail petition urging members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) to accept a “solid deal” offered by studio heads. But fellow Hollywood actors Stiller and Nicholson are encouraging AFTRA members to turn down the proposal after siding with rival union, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), whose members are negotiating a separate contract. Stiller and Nicholson are set to appear in print ads today that urge union members to reject the proposal – siding instead with SAG, which claims the contract would set a precedent that could potentially harm their negotiating power with movie studio bosses.The ad was signed by the pair and states: “We are not finished… We believe there are issues that are at the heart of every actor’s career that remain unresolved by AFTRA.” The current contract for both unions will expire on Monday. Among negotiating points for both unions are daily minimum compensation for actors and DVD and Internet fees. AFTRA bosses have warned that turning down their proposed deal with the studios could spark a strike similar to the The Writers Guild of America strike, which brought Hollywood to a standstill from November (07) until February (08), and cost the California economy a projected 37,700 jobs and $2.1 billion in lost output, according to reports

Horny gossip spinster Liz Smith had unwittingly curried favor with Tom Cruise by appearing on an episode of Fox News Channel’s gossip-for-conservatives show Lips & Ears, in which she opined that misunderstood Nazis: Just The Nice Ones-vehicle Valkyrie should be “accepted in the same way World War II movies by Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood and Francis Ford Coppola.” (The actor has a staff combing the airwaves 24-hours a day for Cruise-positive messages; both Smith and Lips & Ears have now been slid into the Allies column.) What followed was a candid chat with the actor on everything from his crumbling UA dominion, to his comedic turn as a Harvey Weinstein-type in Tropic Thunder, to his billion-year war bride Katie Holmes bruise-inducing preparations for her Broadway debut:

‘I LOVE Paula Wagner, but she wants to produce elsewhere and in her own venue, and I don’t intend to stand in her way. I’ll say this of her leaving United Artists – whatever Paula wants is what I want her to have! And I hope we’ll continue working together on future projects.”

So spoke Tom Cruise on the phone with me this week. He added, cryptically: “I don’t run United Artists; I just own it.”