Costner Mac Thief Guilty
April 3, 2006
Here comes the bride. There went the laptop.
The hairdresser hired to primp Kevin Costner's guests before the actor's 2004 nuptials pleaded guilty Monday to stealing a laptop computer from Costner's Aspen-area home. The pilfered Mac contained digital photos from Costner and Christine Baumgartner's Sept. 25, 2004 wedding.
Pascal Bensimon, 45, who once denied having anything to do with the laptop's disappearance, copped to a misdemeanor charge of theft after striking a deal with prosecutors. The Moroccan-born stylist was ordered to pay $1,500 in restitution--the price of the swiped Apple PowerBook--and sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation and 25 hours of community service.
Drug Ads to Feature Farley
April 3, 2006
An important message from Chris Farley--from beyond the grave.
Outdoor billboards plugging a new treatment for drug and alcohol addiction from Hythiam Inc. will feature a picture of the late "Saturday Night Live" star who died eight years ago from an accidental drug overdose. The company paid $25,000 to Farley's estate for the right to use the late funnyman's image, but has taken heat from critics who say such advertisements don't respect the dead and promote a bad link between commercialism and prescription drugs.
Crowe's Smoking Problem
April 3, 2006
Russell Crowe's got some people in New Zealand in a huff. Or, should we say, puff.
Per the New Zealand Herald, public health authorities in his native country are probing whether the Oscar winner violated anti-smoking regulations for indoor concert venues after he chain smoked onstage during two performances last week in Auckland and Wellington with his latest rock outfit, the Ordinary Fear of God. Crowe's promoter called the investigation an "overreaction."