Britney Lost 60+ MIllion in 12 Months

Britney Spears' recent troubles have reportedly cost her nearly $61 million.

The 'Toxic' singer's father Jamie, who is also co-conservator of her estate, made the shocking discovery after examining Britney's accounts.

A source close to the Spears family said: "It's staggering how much money has been used up since February 2007."

Britney - who lost custody of her two children to ex-husband Kevin Federline before being admitted to a psychiatric ward earlier this year - has been forced to spend huge amounts on legal bills and psychiatric care.

Independent accountant Robert Bianchi - who is not involved in the Spears care - also estimates the 26-year-old singer lost out on a staggering $50 million by not touring to promote her most recent record 'Blackout', according to In Touch Weekly magazine.

However, thanks to her father's stringent controls of her purse strings, Britney is said to now be back on track.

The source added: "It's been quite a challenge getting things under control.”

“But now she's spending about a fifth of what she used to."

Meanwhile, Britney is reportedly planning to spend Mother's Day with her two sons Sean Preston, two, and 20-month-old Jayden James.

Kevin is said to be considering putting their custody battle aside so she can spend the special day (11.05.08) with the boys.

A source close to Kevin said: "He hasn't said yes yet, but he is considering it."

Jimmy Fallon Officially Takes Over Late Night

Jimmy Fallon was officially named as Conan O'Brien's replacement next year on Monday (May 12) as U.S. television network NBC shakes up their late night roster.

With 'Tonight' show host Jay Leno stepping aside from his duties at the end of this year, O'Brien will take the earlier timeslot as Fallon assumes the 12:35am slot.

"It's going to be a grind," Fallon explained. "It's going to be hard, but I'm going to go at it full force. The fact that I'm stepping into David Letterman and Conan O'Brien's shoes is very exciting."

When asked how much he was being paid to step into the role, Fallon joked, "They're paying me enough. I just want to live comfortably in Dubai."

Britney Loves Phone Sex?

Star magazine says now that Britney Spears and Kevin Federline may not be reuniting, but they are heatin' things up, with what they call "weekly steamy phone sex sessions." That’s gross.

Recently, when Britney was having a sleepless night, she decided to call Kevin at nearly 2 a.m. While they initially chatted about their boys — Preston, 2, and Jayden, 20 months — the conversation shifted. And as Britney hoped, Kevin knew exactly how to tire her out — with hours of erotic talk!

"They have phone sex often — at least once a week," an insider tells Star. "The one thing those two have in common is their need for sex, and after they get going, there are no holds barred."

Avril Lavigne Loses Voice, Cancels Shows

After cancelling several shows in San Diego and Phoenix due to acute laryngitis, singer Avril Lavigne has announced that she is postponing six more concerts, saying that her voice is so troubled that when she tried to sing, “nothing came out”.

"My sincerest apologies to all of my fans," the singer said in a statement released Saturday (May 3).

"My intention was to complete the rest of the tour, but tonight at sound check in Anaheim I realized this wasn’t possible."

Lavigne, 23, said that despite resting her voice "for days", she is still unable to perform. "When I tried to sing, nothing came out,” she said.

The canceled shows were in Anaheim, Universal City, Santa Barbara, and San Jose, Calif., as well as Spokane and Everett, Wash. Refunds will be available on Monday (May 5).

Kanye West Explains Concert Walk-off

Kanye West has taken to his blog to explain his actions at the weekend, when he walked offstage at his Houston concert due to a technical malfunction. He also apologizes for his rant against Entertainment Weekly magazine.

West’s message reads:

"HOUSTON I LOVE YOU!

Don't believe the hype! When I started the show the other night we were having a lot of technical issues due 2 the heat. The 2 huge screens on both sides of the stage were glaring bright blue like when your DVD player acts up at home. I asked for them 2 turn the screens off 3 times because it was distracting 2 the show. The fans were not getting what they paid for.


I admit, in my frustration, I did use profanity on the 4th time I asked. I stopped the show 2 go over and check it out myself. After the screens were turned off I started the same song from the beginning. The screens were eventually fixed 5 songs in but it was definitely better 2 have them blacked out rather than bright blue.


Unfortunately for certain media outlets, you will never be able 2 'Michael Jackson' me. That means 2 make it seem like everything I do is so weird or out of place… they always try 2 make it seem like everything is about my ego! That joke is getting old. At a certain point you have 2 respect that I'm one of the last artist that still cares about the fans having the best time of there lives!


Thanks 2 Bossip and Perez for taking it easy on me on the EW spaz… I did go in a little 2 much on that one. I'm sure there are some cool people who work over there and had nothing 2 do with that review. With all that said…. "I'm still the greatest!!!" lol!! Oh and I was in the studio with T.I. last night…. so get ready!!! "

Hollywood Celebrity Nightclub Up In Flames

Fire has ripped through a Los Angeles nightclub popular with celebrities
and Hollywood actors, covering the surrounding neighborhood with smoke and ash.

The one-storey building, which was built in the early 1900s, is home to
the Basque Nightclub & Restaurant. Celebrities frequent the joint, in
which Lindsay Lohan celebrated her 21st birthday, and where rapper Kanye West partied just last week.

The club was not open at the time of the fire and there were no
injuries, firefighters said.

Los Angeles city councillor Tom LaBonge said he was walking near the
Griffith Park Observatory at 5.45am when he saw the fire erupt a few
kilometres away.

"I saw what looked like an orange meteor busting through the roof ... a
half moon of orange glow," he said.

The fire was put out by 8am, Battalion Chief Mario Rueda said at a news
conference.

The nightclub is located on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine
Street, which is known as the world's most famous intersection in the
most famous neighbourhood. Stars immortalised in the Walk of Fame at the corner include James Stewart, James Dean and Judy Garland.

Annie Leibovitz Talks About Miley Controversy

Acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz has spoken out about her controversial ‘Vanity Fair’ photoshoot with Miley Cyrus – in which the 15-year-old appears to have been photographed topless – with the famed celebrity snapper saying that she is “sorry that my portrait has been misinterpreted”.

Leibovitz issued a statement on Monday (April 28) following the furore created by the photo’s leak to the internet, and a subsequent statement issued by Cyrus, in which the teenage singer and actress admitted to feeling “so embarrassed” about the photo, in which she appears to be nude, but is actually clothed.

"Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it,” Leibovitz said.

“The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful."

Cyrus's parents were at the shoot, including her dad Billy Ray, who also posed for photographs with his daughter. Although they left before the controversial photograph was taken, Cyrus’ grandmother and her teacher were still present.

’Vanity Fair' spokeswoman Beth Kseniak released a statement, saying, “Miley's parents and/or minders were on the set all day. Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley."

Katie Furious at trampy Posh

You could cut the atmosphere with a Jimmy Choo stiletto. One-time best mates Katie Holmes and Victoria Beckham are caught in a row over which of them is the queen of style. Katie, 29, was so furious over Victoria, 33, being cover girl for a recent issue of US Vogue that she called her a street tramp and mocked her tattoos.

Now the pair are hardly seen together and the row is jeopardising Tom Cruise's plan to invest more than $109 million in David Beckham's football team LA Galaxy.

A friend of Katie says: 'Katie was on the cover of Harper's Bazaar in the US last year and she's envious Victoria scored Vogue.'

Victoria received lots of praise for her shoot. By contrast Katie's photos were unremarkable.

What's especially galling for Katie is that she used to be the senior partner in the friendship and still looks down on Posh.

A source says: 'Katie and Tom are true Hollywood royalty. They turned Victoria and David into stars in the US, and threw
a party for them when they arrived there.

'The friendship was on Katie's terms and she would laugh at Victoria's crude ways,' the source adds. 'But it's needling her that she's being made to look as if she doesn't have any taste and needs Victoria to help her.

'She's sick of Victoria's style. So when Victoria told her to get tattoos, she said: "Tattoos are trashy. I wouldn't be caught dead with one.'''

Victoria's latest tattoo features the Latin phrase de integro, meaning 'afresh' and marks her and David's renewal of their wedding vows. The meaning is important to her, so she was offended by Katie's comments.

Our source reveals: 'Victoria said: "How dare she attack my tattoos! I know more about fashion than she'll ever know. I have my own line. I've told her what to wear - she used to dress like a schoolgirl."'

Tom, 45, isn't thrilled about Victoria's style advice. 'He preferred Katie looking more conservative,' an insider says.

But Tom is thought to be an operator in all of this too. He's holding the LA Galaxy purchase over David's head as leverage to get him and Victoria to accept Scientology. Only time will tell whether the powerful foursome manage to stay friends.