ROLL CALL: Jada Dishes, Colbert Gets Creamed, & Britney Gets Called Out

Your Daily Dispatch of Celebrity Shenanigans by Tommy Vergason

February 15, 2007

JADA GETS JUICY: Jada Pinkett Smith knows what moviegoers want to see from her husband Will Smith: more love scenes! Jada reportedly gabs about Will’s on-screen romances — and some of his real-life “crushes” — in the current issue of Tango magazine, according to E! ONLINE. When asked about her feelings on her husband having love scenes in movies, Jada is said to respond, “I wish Will would do more. People want to see that.” In the Tango interview, Jada recounts Will’s feelings on having to kiss co-star Alice Braga in his upcoming film “I Am Legend”: “Alice was the first person Will had kissed in a long time. He was like, ‘It was so weird. It’s been 10 years since I kissed someone outside of you like that!’ But it’s not bad at all. Trust me, I’ve kissed tons of guys onscreen!” E! also claims that Jada lists Salma Hayek and Beyonce Knowles among the real-life celebrities Will has a “crush” on in the interview. As for Jada’s crush? “It used to be The Rock, but I don’t have any new ones,” she allegedly responds. The current issue of Tango is on newsstands now.

AN IDEAL HUSBAND: Sometimes a crush can lead to much more, as the self-proclaimed “King of All Media” can attest. The ASSOCIATED PRESS reports that shock-jock DJ Howard Stern is engaged to longtime girlfriend Beth Ostrosky, which he announced on his satellite radio show on Wednesday. In the report, Stern claims that he popped the question to Ostrosky while they were naked in bed together. Her response: “Are you for real?” Well, he is, and she said “yes.” No reports of a wedding date have been made yet.

JIM’S NO JOKE: Jim Carrey‘s marriage to blockbuster films and huge paychecks may be a thing of the past, says the THE NEW YORK POST’s PAGE SIX. Carrey reportedly comments on his choice of scripts in an interview with TIME magazine: “I don’t want to pick scripts just to keep me in the status-phere. You have to take the plunge to expose your true self.” Additionally, PAGE SIX reports that he acknowledges the fickle nature of Hollywood in the interview, saying “Everyone gets to be the big joke for a year. That’s this business. Last year it was Tom Cruise. I could be the next Kathie Lee Gifford.” Carrey’s horror film “The Number 23” opens in theaters on February 23rd.

MILLI’S MOVIE: Speaking of fame turning to notoriety, shamed 80’s pop duo Milli Vanilli are the subject of an upcoming feature film, reports VARIETY. Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to make the film, which will be written and directed by Jeff Nathanson, writer of “Catch Me If You Can.” Nathanson aims to take a sympathetic look at Milli Vanilli, who fell from grace when they were exposed as musical frauds and were stripped of their recording contract and Grammy award in 1990. One member of the group, Rob Pilatus, fell into drug abuse and served time for robbery before dying from a drug overdose in 1998.

MARY J. GIVES THANKS: Someone who is definitely NOT a fraud is R&B superstar Mary J. Blige, who just scored three Grammy wins. And while she thanked a long list of people in her acceptance speeches, she forgot to mention two men who are very important to her because she was so excited and overwhelmed: Uptown Records founder Andre Harrell and her first producer, Sean “Diddy” Combs. Mary makes up for the mistake by offering this quote to PEOPLE: “I forgot to thank Andre Harrell for coming to my house and believing in me. When I lived in the projects, he came to my house. He told me things like, ‘You are going to sing for kings and queens one day. I had to remember those things, you know. This is when I was 17. I was like a little girl, a teenager (in) jeans. I don’t know how my hair was ? probably flipped or something….Andre had employed a whole lot of people who really fought hard for ‘Mary J. Blige’ to have a career back then. One of those people was Puffy. Our chemistry together really created the beginning of this whole big hip-hop soul thing that is happening right now. The way they dress. The way they speak. All of the songs they write. It all came from what Puff and I had put together.”

COLBERT GETS CREAMED: Ice cream gurus Ben & Jerry have put together a new flavor in honor of TV funnyman Stephen Colbert, the ASSOCIATED PRESS reports. Called “Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream,” the flavor consists of vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered waffle cone pieces and caramel. Colbert, who spoofs flag-waving conservative pundits on his Comedy Central show, “The Colbert Report,” is donating proceeds of sale of the ice cream to charity through the new Stephen Colbert Americone Dream Fund, which will distribute the money to various causes. Ben & Jerry’s have described their concoction as “The sweet taste of liberty in your mouth,” according to the AP statement.

CONCERN FOR BRITNEY: In more serious news, US WEEKLY features a letter today which was supposedly written by a former assistant of Britney Spears named Felicia Culotta. Felicia reportedly wrote this letter as a heartfelt plea for Britney to get her career and personal life back on track, and posted it on Thatotherblog.com. The following, allegedly, is an excerpt: I LOVED being with Britney for the past 9 1/2 years. I enjoyed being a part of HER dream, but now, am living my own dream. I cherish ALL the incredible opportunities that came my way thru my job with Britney and am crushed/saddened/heart sick by the way her life is unfolding?I want you to know that WE (as in her Family and nearest and dearest?ALL of whom are NOT on the payroll anymore!!) are doing EVERYTHING in our power to get help for Britney and all in our power to NOT pad the bottom or move the bottom, so when she does indeed hit rock bottom, she?ll stand up and walk away from this whole fiasco a new, confident, changed, career driven Britney like we all knew and loved. To see what?s transpiring now, makes me feel a failure, defeated. I LOVED and BELIEVED in what I was a part of for the past 10 years and was so incredibly proud of Britney and all she?d become.

A rep for Spears could not be reached for comment.