ROLL CALL: Anna Nicole, John & Jessica & More!

Your Daily Dispatch of Celebrity Shenanigans by Tommy Vergason

February 12, 2007

In the aftermath of Anna Nicole Smith‘s mysterious death in Florida, and with the toxicology reports expecting to take weeks to prove conclusive, attention has turned to the future of Smith’s five month-old daughter Dannielynn. Although Dannielynn was born in the Bahamas and lived her first five months there, she is a U.S. citizen and cannot leave the island nation until she is registered with the U.S. Embassy and gets a special travel permit, according to the MIAMI HERALD.

WHO GETS DANNIELYNN?: Howard K. Stern, Smith’s husband and contested father of Dannielyn, was reunited with the baby in Nassau this weekend, the the MIAMI HERALD reports. Anna Nicole’s mother, Vergie Arthur, also made her way to the Bahamian city, seeking rights to custody of Dannielyn herself, according to several reports, including Access Hollywood. Arthur has allegedly teamed up with Larry Birkhead (who also claims to be the father of the baby) to try and remove Dannielynn from Stern’s custody, claims the NEW YORK POST.

Birkhead’s lawyer, Debra Opri, made it clear that this fight was far from over when she informed the POST, “Everybody is in agreement that that child must be removed from Howard K. Stern’s environment and everybody is going to do whatever they can to get that done.”

ANNA NICOLE: BABY-SNATCHER?: Meanwhile, the NY DAILY NEWS relates a story of another member of Smith’s family, her half-sister Donna Hogan. Hogan has reportedly co-written an unpublished book in which she claims that Anna Nicole had tried to take advantage of her when she was down on her luck by “offering to snatch [her] little girl away,” according to the report. Anna Nicole allegedly told Hogan, ‘I’ll take her and she’ll be my daughter. She’ll be a little sister to Daniel,” and went on to say “And when your new baby is born, I’ll take that one too,” according to Hogan. Hogan’s claims against her estranged half-sister have not been confirmed.

ANNA NICOLE’S ‘ILLEGAL ALIENS’: Another loose end resulting from Anna Nicole’s untimely death is the fate of the movie she had recently acted in. The film, “Illegal Aliens,” was scheduled to be released in April, but the release date is now in doubt, according to the ASSOCIATED PRESS. The film’s director, David Giancola, has reportedly cancelled three scheduled screenings of the movie, finding the idea of screening a comedy to be inappropriate at this time, and tells the AP that the planned April release is a wait-and-see situation: “We had planned to release it in April and were making preparations. But right now, it’s such an early stage, we just don’t know. We’re all kind of in shock right now,” he said.

A JUSTIN / K-FED ‘MAN-HUG: In other celebrity news, Friday’s Rolling Stone pre-Grammy party was the site of another run-in between two of Britney Spears’ exes, Justin Timberlake and Kevin Federline, according to PEOPLE. The chance meeting on the carpet outside Hollywood’s Avalon was a friendly one, according to PEOPLE’s account. The two men reportedly exchanged a brief hug, after which K-Fed jokingly signaled “Shhh” with his finger to members of the press.

DIDDY VS. ‘GREY’S ANATOMY’: The same party at Avalon featured another celebrity run-in, reports THE NEW YORK POST’S PAGE SIX, although this one may not have been as friendly. Three “Grey’s Anatomy” cast members were allegedly put out by a member of Diddy‘s security team – literally – when he reportedly demanded that they leave their VIP table to make way for his boss, who had arrived at the party late. T.R Knight, Sara Ramirez and Kate Walsh were approached by the man, according to a source for PAGE SIX, who allegedly demanded of them, “Get out! Get out now! Move it!” The report claims that the three actors were at Diddy’s table as a result of overflow due to the large amount of cast members in attendance – they apparently didn’t realize that Diddy had a claim on it, since he wasn’t there on time. They were reportedly moved to another table. When asked to comment, a pal of Diddy’s reportedly told PAGE SIX’s source: “Listen, if they were moved, it wasn’t because Puffy told [his bodyguard to move them]. He wasn’t aware of what was going on – he had a great time and didn’t realize anyone was upset.”

JOHN’S JAPANESE JESSICA JOKE: In other Grammy goodness, John Mayer and Jessica Simpson‘s mysterious possible relationship was a hot topic on the red carpet. When pressed on whether or not they were an item by E!‘s Ryan Seacrest, Mayer responded cryptically, in Japanese, reportedly saying “Take it to another room, find a Japanese person, decode it, and you’ll have an answer,” before dashing away. While US WEEKLY says that Seacrest later revealed that Mayer’s Japanese phrase was “She is very beautiful ? and you’ll be the last to know,” some other Web sites’ translators have a different take: PEOPLE claims that the translation reads “She’s a wonderful woman and I’m very glad to be with her,” while E! ONLINE says it means “She’s a lovely woman, and I’m glad to be with her.” E!‘s Marc Malkin goes on to claim that later that evening, Mayer was seen kissing Simpson on the cheek and stroking her back in front of dozens of eye-witnesses.