Recent photos show Jude Law being shadowed by a very familiar bodyguard – Perry Taylor, the very same U.S. Naval Academy graduate who just months ago was a frequent protector to Britney Spears and her son, Sean Preston.

So has Law hired Spears's former bodyguard to protect him? Not exactly.

"While Perry Taylor is a great guy and a thorough professional, he is not working for Jude," a rep for the British star tells PEOPLE exclusively. "He was hired by the studio to work with Jude during the Toronto Film Festival and the New Orleans premiere of All the King's Men.

Taylor was first noticed over the summer when he was spotted multiple times with Spears: He was photographed carrying then 9-month-old Sean Preston and pushing his stroller, as well as picking up groceries and bouquets of flowers.

Aaron Carter's Vegas Engagement

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2006 06:55PM EST

By Mark Gray  - people.com

Singer Aaron Carter is engaged to Playboy Playmate Kari Ann Peniche, the bride-to-be confirms to PEOPLE.

"I'm very excited about it," Peniche tells PEOPLE. "Aaron is the most genuine person I know. He's kind, loving, and I love him so much."

Carter, 18, popped the question to Peniche (who previously dated Aaron's brother Nick) on Saturday in Las Vegas while they were onstage in front of 200 people during the Playboy Comedy Tour at the Palms Casino Resort.

"I don't remember it happening. It was such a blur," says Peniche about the surprise proposal. "I had no idea he was going to do this, but I'm glad he did."

The couple, who plan to wed in the next six months, hugged and kissed after Peniche accepted the proposal, Playboy tour producer and comedian Cort McCown tells PEOPLE.

"He said he was going to do it, but we thought he was kidding," said McCown. "He was really nervous."

Peniche, 22, was named Miss Teen USA in 2003, but was stripped of her title after posing for Playboy. Carter is set to appear on an E! reality show about his family, House of Carters, premiering next month.

 Tuck Neverlasting

On the season's first ''Dancing With the Stars'' results show, talking head Tucker Carlson gets kneecapped after showing he has two left feet

By Annie Barrett

people.aol.com

Okay, so no more Tucker Carlson. Not even the fervent political endorsement of Al Sharpton (who last week called the political-talk-show host ''a leader who will dance for what we believe in'') could have saved him last night. Tucker himself admitted that having his partner, Elena Grinenko, show him how to dance was ''like Einstein teaching addition to a slow child!'' Ooh, someone's been coming up with his zingers the day of! At least Tucker seemed happy about the verdict — convenient, because no one else seemed to want him there anyway.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 08, 2006 06:40PM EST

people.com

Brad Pitt says that he and Angelina Jolie will get married – when all couples can legally wed.

"Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able," the actor tells Esquire magazine for its October issue.

Of course, the couple are already living in domestic bliss with their three children, Shiloh, who was born in May, Maddox, 5, and Zahara, 1.

Of the older two children, whom Jolie adopted and Pitt is in the process of legally adopting, the 42-year-old actor says the fact that they aren't his biological children doesn't set them apart from their sister, Shiloh.

"They're as much of my blood as any natural born, and I'm theirs," Pitt tells the magazine, which hits newsstands Sept. 19. "That's all I can say about it. I can't live without them. So: Anyone considering (adoption), that's my vote."

And Pitt says he's a pretty laid back dad.

"I try not to stifle them in any way," he says. "If it's not hurting anyone, I want them to be able to explore. Sometimes that means they're quite rambunctious."

Still, Pitt, whose next film is the drama Babel, says communication is the key with kids: "I feel it's really important to have that time to sit and talk to them," he continues. "I really like that last minute before they fade off. And always give them a heads-up before you jerk them out of something. You need to tell them, like, 'You have three more minutes.'"

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 09, 2006 01:25PM EST

By Leah Rozen

people.com 

The Toronto International Film Festival is in full swing – with stars like Reese Witherspoon and Sacha Baron Cohen unveiling their latest offerings.

In all, 352 movies from 61 countries will unspool at this year’s festival, which runs until Sept. 16.

Oscar-winning actress, Witherspoon was wearing her producer's hat at Toronto. Well, not literally. On Friday night, her blond locks swung uncovered as she introduced Penelope, a whimsical fable produced by her production company, Type A. The movie, about a wealthy young woman born with a pig's snout for a nose, played by Christina Ricci, had its world premiere there at Roy Thomson Hall. Witherspoon herself has a minor – but amusing – role as a Vespa-riding delivery woman in the flick.

Before bringing Ricci and other cast members onstage, Witherspoon said she was particularly delighted to be debuting Penelope at the festival.

"It was at the Toronto Film Festival last year that I saw Walk the Line for the first time with an audience," she said, recalling the obviously happy memory. (She went on to win a Best Actress Oscar for her role as June Carter Cash in the biopic about country star Johnny Cash.)

Penelope is just one of many films that have come to Toronto this year trailing significant buzz, either because of favorable showings at earlier festivals, such as Cannes or Telluride, or because they feature big name stars or controversial subject matter.

Several movies that rate high on the chatter meters – a few of which I've already seen – include:

• Babel: Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett play an American couple traveling overseas in this ensemble drama, which spans the globe, touches on issues of terrorism, and shows how everyone is interconnected. The film had its debut at Cannes and is considered a possible Oscar Best Picture candidate. It's a worthy movie, but its parts work better than the whole.

• Borat: Cultural Learnigs of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan: Yes, that is indeed the full title, though everyone is just calling it Borat, followed by, "You know, the one with that Ali G guy." That would be Sacha Baron Cohen, the audacious English funnyman who starred in HBO's Da Ali G Show and was the effete French racecar driver in this summer's Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (a mouthful in itself). In Borat, a hilarious comedy that sets new highs for rude and crude, Cohen plays a TV reporter from Kazakhstan who travels across America in hopes of meeting Pamela Anderson. How rude and crude? The final credits list one guy's job as "nude fight coordinator." Now, there's an occupation to which one can aspire.

• A Good Year: This lightweight comedy marks the first re-teaming of star Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott since Gladiator in 2000. Set in the South of France, Year is about a hard-charging English businessman who inherits a French villa and vineyard. It's based on a novel by Peter Mayles. The film has the fizz of champagne and its impact is just as fleeting.

• Infamous: If you liked Capote last year, get ready for deja vu. Infamous tells the identical story about what happened when novelist Truman Capote traveled from New York City to rural Kansas to report on a horrific real life murder case. Toby Jones, a little known British actor, plays tiny terror Capote and Sandra Bullock costars as pal Harper Lee. Infamous is good, just not quite as good as Capote.

• Bobby: This ensemble drama, a still unfinished film that is being shown in Toronto as "a work in progress," is about the effect that the assassination of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy had on various people (mostly fictional) present at the Los Angeles hotel on that fateful night in June, 1968. Written and directed by Emilio Estevez, Bobby boasts a powerhouse cast, including Demi Moore, Lindsay Lohan, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Fishburne and Helen Hunt.

• Stranger Than Fiction: This is a clever conceptual comedy that's lots of fun. It stars Will Ferrell as an IRS tax auditor whose life is being narrated, in a voice-over that only he can hear, by a novelist played by Emma Thompson. The impressive list of costars includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Queen Latifah.

With the exception of Penelope, all of the movies mentioned have distribution deals and will be opening in theaters in the next few months.

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 05, 2006 08:05AM EST

By Stephen M. Silverman

photo by Albert L. Ortega / WireImage

The stingray encounter that killed Animal Planet star Steve Irwin was reportedly caught on tape – but still, conflicting details about the Crocodile Hunter's final moments are emerging.

The ray struck Irwin, 44, with the barb of its tail while he was filming bull stingrays for a TV documentary called Ocean's Deadliest at Batt Reef, Low Isle off Port Douglas, Australia, at about 11:00 a.m. Monday.

Irwin's manager, John Stainton, was widely quoted as telling reporters that he had seen footage of Irwin pulling the deadly barb from his chest before his death, the BBC reports.

But later, when CNN interviewer Rick Sanchez asked whether Irwin had pulled out the barb, Stainton said, "Don't you hear a lot of rumors and, and stuff that goes around on these things? And it's just absolute rubbish."

Stainton also said he could not bring himself to watch the tape.

Ben Cropp, a cameraman who was on the reef when Irwin was killed, told The Australian newspaper he'd spoken to a member of the production crew who said he'd seen footage of the incident.

The tape shows Irwin in shallow water following a large stingray, Cropp said. The animal "probably felt threatened because Steve was alongside and there was the cameraman ahead, and it felt there was danger and it baulked. It stopped and went into a defensive mode and swung its tail with the spike."

The Australian reported Tuesday that police superintendent Mike Keating said investigators had viewed the footage. "There is no evidence that Mr. Irwin was intimidating or threatening the stingray," he said. "My advice is that he was observing the stingray. There are no suspicious circumstances in relation to the death of Mr. Irwin"

But a rep for the state coroner told the paper, "Queensland police are continuing their investigation into Mr. Irwin's death on behalf of the Cairns Coroner."

Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced, though Queensland State Premier Peter Beattie said on Tuesday that Irwin would be given a state funeral if his family approved. Irwin leaves behind his American-born wife Terri, 42, daughter Bindi, 8, and son Bob, 2.

Also on Tuesday, Australia's parliament paused to honor Irwin, who Prime Minister John Howard said had died in "quintessentially Australian circumstances."

Other Australian notables have weighed in as well. Russell Crowe, who was friends with Irwin, said in a statement he was "unable to think about anything else" after hearing of Irwin's death. "He was a great friend of mine. I loved him and I'll be there for his family."

Aussie actor Hugh Jackman said he was in shock, and had just visited Irwin's Australia Zoo on Saturday. "Only two days ago my family finally fulfilled a promise to Steve and made it out to his zoo," he said. "His passion and love of life, family and nature was boundless. He was a colossus and will be sorely missed. My condolences and thoughts are with his family."

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 02, 2006 01:45PM EST

people.com 

Tom Cruise apologized to Brooke Shields for criticizing her antidepressant use, the actress said Friday on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.


On Thursday, Cruise "came over to my house and he gave me a heartfelt apology," Shields, 41, told Leno. "And he apologized for bringing me into the whole thing and for everything that happened.

"And through it all, I was so impressed with how heartfelt it was. And I didn't feel at any time that I had to defend myself, nor did I feel that he was trying to convince me of anything other than the fact that he was deeply sorry. And I accepted it."

Cruise's rep, Arnold Robinson, told the Associated Press in a statement, "It is true that his friendship with Ms. Shields has been mended. He has not changed his position about antidepressants, which, as evidenced by the black label warnings issued by the FDA on these types of drugs, are unhealthy."

Last summer, Cruise for told Matt Lauer on the Today show that Shields should not have taken medication to combat postpartum depression after the birth of her first child, daughter Rowan. Cruise insisted depression could be treated by "vitamins and exercise."

Shields responded with an op-ed piece in the New York Times in which she wrote, "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression."

A week ago, Kathleen Kennedy, who co-produced Cruise's War of the Worlds, told CNN's Showbiz Tonight that Cruise probably "feels bad" about criticizing Shields, although she had no first-hand knowledge of his feelings.

Cruise has been under fire since Viacom chief Sumner Redstone said Paramount Studios had severed ties with the actor because his recent conduct "has not been acceptable."

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 03, 2006 12:10PM EST

 Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi were involved in a car accident in Los Angeles Friday afternoon, but suffered only minor injuries, PEOPLE has confirmed. The three-vehicle collision occurred when DeGeneres, driving a 2006 Porsche Carrera, stopped at a light on Sunset Blvd. A 2002 Buick Le Sabre, driven by two men in their 20s, stopped behind her. Then a woman identified as Jeanne Werber, 52, slammed her 2002 Porsche Carrera into the back of the Buick, which in turn collided with DeGeneres's car, a rep for the LAPD tells PEOPLE. Werber, who had minor cuts on her leg, was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. No one required medical attention. DeGeneres "had a little neck and back pain, but it doesn't look like it was anything serious," LAPD Sgt. Ken Buscarino told the Associated Press. De Rossi complained of back pain; the men in the Buick suffered scratches. DeGeneres's car sustained some small damage. On Monday, the fourth season of DeGeneres's eponymous talk show kicks off with guest Justin Timberlake, who performs in New York City's Central Park.