Paris Hilton's dog took a chunk out of a "Today" show producer's hand yesterday morning just before mom Kathy Hilton was about to promote her new show, "I Want to Be a Hilton."

Mama Hilton decided to bring tiny Chihuahua Tinkerbell to the "Today" show's Rockefeller Center studio because "Paris didn't come — she's in Los Angeles," our source explained. "Kathy knows everyone just wants to hear about or be with Paris, so since Paris couldn't be there, she thought Tink was almost as good."

But before she was interviewed by Katie Couric, Kathy was sitting in the green room when an unidentified segment producer came in and said, "Oh! Tinkerbell!" The producer put her hand in Tink's Louis Vuitton carrying case and "the dog bit her hand!" our insider shrieked.

"Tinkerbell wasn't kidding — she really bit in good. The producer had to shake the dog off — it was a nasty bite. Meanwhile, the entire time this is happening — on Kathy's lap, mind you — Kathy is just sitting there doing nothing, murmuring, 'Oh. Soooooorry . . .' "

--Too bad Tink didn't bite Katie.

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Denzel Washington made some new fans when he and his family visited the Brooks Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where soldiers wounded in Iraq, especially burn victims, are hospitalized.

The base has buildings known as Fisher Houses, founded by the Fisher family of New York real estate fame, where relatives of the wounded can stay for little or no charge. When Washington learned there weren't enough Fisher House facilities, he asked how much one would cost to build. "He wrote a check for the full amount right there on the spot," said a source, who added: "The question I have is why do Madonna, Sean Penn and other Hollywood types make front-page news with their anti-everything America crap and this doesn't even get reported?"

--Class act move by Denzel. And I agree with the source--I know we thrive on the gossip, but a story like this should also get serious airtime.

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Nelly has shown consideration for his fans' waistlines, by releasing a diet version of his Pimp Juice energy drink.

The rapper's new beverage, called PJ Tight, has an apple flavor like the original, but less sugar - and only 20 calories per can, reports Mtv News.

Nelly, real name Cornell Haynes, is also urging his creative fans to send in a rhyme for the product's jingle on the website Letitloose.com. Entrants have until 20 October to submit their work.

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On the same day Billy Corgan released his first solo album, he revealed that he wants to reunite his band, The Smashing Pumpkins.

"For a year now I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep," Corgan wrote in a full-page advertisement published Tuesday in Chicago newspapers.

"But now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive The Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams," he wrote.

The Smashing Pumpkins, a leader in the early 1990s alternative rock revolution, broke up in 2000 after winning two Grammys and selling millions of albums during 13 strife-ridden years. Corgan's subsequent project, Zwan, dissolved after only one album.

--I really liked the Pumpkins in high school. I'll be interested to hear what they sound like now.

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David and Victoria Beckham have been offered their biggest sponsorship deal yet - for L'Oreal hair products.

They would be the first couple to front the campaign - famous for the "because you're worth it" slogan and would be seen on both TV and billboards. The deal could be worth tens of millions of pounds.

"L'Oreal are one of the biggest cosmetics firms in the world, while David and Victoria are the biggest celebrity couple in the world, so it makes perfect sense for them to join forces," a source told The Sun.

Becks has previously fronted high-profile campaigns for brands such as Gillette, Police sunglasses and Brylcreem hair products.

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50 Cent has warned The Game he will struggle to have another hit album now they're no longer on speaking terms.

50 Cent signed The Game, real name Jayceon Taylor, to his G-unit label, and released his protege's debut album The Documentary, which has spawned hits and huge sales. But things soon turned sour when they became locked in a bitter on-off war of words.

And while fans brace themselves for an onslaught of "diss" tracks going back and forth between the pair, 50 Cent, real name Curtis Jackson, is letting The Game know he's now on his own. He says, "It is what it is. We don't have much conversation. I accept it. I know what it was and is. "I liked him enough to do what I did for him - I wrote six records for his album... he will find the only thing harder than making a hit album is making the second one."

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DeBeers will make its retailing debut in New York later this week with a display of one of the world's largest, most precious diamonds.

Weighing in at 777 carats, roughly the size of an egg, the Millennium Star, will be on view for the next week, part of the opening ceremonies to christen the new DeBeers LV store at 703 Fifth Avenue, a joint venture between mining giant De Beers and LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Dug up in 1992 by villagers in the Congo, the diamond already has a storied history. It was bought for an undisclosed price by De Beers before a civil war tour up what was then Zaire.

Because the villagers didn't have a bank account, DeBeers paid cash. The villagers promptly buried the money in the ground, where it was partially eaten by insects, explained Andrew Coxon, president of the DeBeers Institute of Diamonds.

The money —"many millions," according to Coxon — has since been dug up and deposited in a foreign bank account for safekeeping.

When the white, pear-shaped flawless stone was finally ready to display in London's Millennium Dome in 2000, after two years of carving, it was the target of jewel thieves, who were thwarted by the British police.

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Former Sex And The City star Kim Cattrall has found love with her London theatre co-star Alexander Siddig.

Cattrall, who dated 27-year-old Canadian chef Alan Wyse until earlier this year, starred opposite the Sudan-born actor, 39, in West End hit Whose Life Is It Anyway? until April. Cattrall, 48, starred as Claire Harrison, a woman paralyzed from the neck down, who enjoys a flirtatious relationship with the handsome Doctor Scott, played by the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actor.

At British magazine Glamour's Women Of The Year Awards in London on June 9, where Cattrall picked up Theatre Actress Of The Year, the couple went public for the first time on the red carpet. A theatre source says, "Their chemistry is amazing."

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Sarah Michelle Gellar will be embarking on a new adventure as she falls down a particularly famous rabbit-hole.

The former "Buffy" star is attached to star in "Alice," a psychological thriller based on the hit computer game, which in turn was based on the Lewis Carroll literary classic "Alice in Wonderland," according to a rep for Universal Pictures.

In the video game, Alice is the only survivor of a catastrophic event that kills her family and wrecks the world as she knows it, forcing her to retreat to Wonderland. There, she finds that the once-whimsical land of talking animals, looking glasses and illogical tea parties has taken on horrific elements that must be successfully navigated if she ever hopes to return to the real world.

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Holdout Spice:

Mel B is refusing to reunite with the Spice Girls for Live 8.

Show organizer Sir Bob Geldof claims, while the rest of the chart-topping girl band are keen to make a comeback at the star-studded charity extravaganza, 'Scary Spice' doesn't want to return to her past and reform the group.

Geldof told British TV talk show 'Richard and Judy': "One of the Spice Girls has difficulty in reuniting. Well, she's doing something in California, but she also has difficulty going back to something she did in the past".

He later admitted it was Mel B.

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Tom Cruise might have tried to recruit Scarlett Johansson to Scientology long before he set his sights on fresh-faced fiance Katie Holmes. MSNBC.com reports that the Lost in Translation star, who was expected to co-star with Cruise in MI:3 but dropped out due to "scheduling conflicts," attended a private tour of a Scientology center with her would-be co-star before fleeing the building and subsequently the project.

"After two hours of proselytizing," according to RadarMagazine.com, "Cruise opened a door to reveal a second room full of upper-level Scientologists who had been waiting to dine with the pair, at which point the cool-headed ingenue politely excused herself."

Rumors of Cruise's handlers auditioning a host of young starlets to be his "girlfriend" and convert to the controversial religion have been plaguing the internet since Cruise and Holmes were caught on camera together in Rome earlier this year.

"Is this Tom Cruise's version of a first date? It's becoming increasingly difficult to make distinctions between his personal, professional and religious life," Rick Ross of CultNews.com told MSNBC.com. "Tom Cruise and Scientology seem intent on recruiting a hot young star. Apparently, Scarlett Johansson flunked her test, but Katie Holmes passed."

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Forget those reports that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner married in West Virginia – or anywhere else – last weekend.

The actor's publicist, Ken Sunshine, tells TV's Access Hollywood that an item about the nuptials in New York's Daily News quoting a florist and wedding planner in Wheeling, W. Va., just isn't true.

Affleck and Garner "are not in West Virginia," says Sunshine. "They did not get married yesterday. They did not get married today."

Brandon Tucker, owner of the Briarwood Flower Shoppe, had told the News that the "Alias" star requested bouquets of ivory Virginia roses, Casablanca lilies and gardenia. "I was just dumbfounded," said Tucker. "In Wheeling, not too many celebrities come in. I should have worn something different."

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Country singer Martina McBride and her husband, John, have welcomed their third child – Ava Rose Kathleen McBride, born at 2:25 p.m. Monday, according to McBride's publicist, Kathy Best.

Both Ava, who weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. upon arrival, and her 38-year-old mother are doing well, according to the singer's Web site.

The McBrides have two other children: daughters Delaney, 10, and Emma, 7. The Kansas-born McBride rose to stardom in the late '90s, and has produced such hits as "My Baby Loves Me," "Concrete Angel," "Independence Day," "In My Daughter's Eyes," and "This One's For the Girls."

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Rap mogul Sean 'P Diddy' Combs is outraged a New York court ordered him to pay a record-breaking $250,000 a year in child support in April, claiming he's the victim of a "scam".

The Bad Boy Records boss - who is currently appealing the decision, the largest child support order in the history of New York State - believes he has been unfairly treated by the order to pay the cash to his 11-year-old son with stylist Misa Hylton-Brim, Justin.

Combs tells the New York Daily News, "This is not about the money. This is about me as a father. And this is not about my son. My child is being used. There's a scam that's going on. To go and have a judge order me to do it as if I've been a bad father is unfair. A court doesn't have to tell me what to do to support my child. It's disrespectful. It's saying I don't take care of my kids. To put me in this position, when I feel I've even been a shining example as a father... it's ludicrous. It's ridiculous. It's so insulting. I know I'm talking very passionately. But when you have these ambulance-chasing lawyers who have publicists and do photo shoots in magazines saying, 'This is the man who's going to beat Puffy, ' for them it's about my money. This money is not going to be spent on Justin. This is about somebody wanting another car or another piece of jewelry, some new coats. And I'm going to fight it to the highest court there is."

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Angelina Jolie has fuelled speculation she's secretly dating Hollywood hunk Brad Pitt by confessing she fell in love with him while they shot Mr. and Mrs Smith.

She has admitted she always falls for the leading men she acts opposite, and her gruelling gun training sessions with Pitt for the film - in which they play married assassins - made them very close.

Jolie says, "I have always developed deep ties with actors who have played alongside me. I always fall in love. "If you're armed, you need to trust that person. We developed a good understanding."

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Pamela Anderson was left shaken after a female 'fan' broke into her Malibu pad - and headed straight for the underwear drawer.

The intruder left without stealing anything, reprots the Daily Mail. But she left a note to explain her motive: "I'm not a lesbian, I just want to touch you."

Pam was understandably freaked out by the strange display of affection. "This is very unnerving. Who knows what is going on in that woman's mind?" she said.

To calm her fears, Pamela has invested in a new state-of-the-art security system.

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Usher is getting a bad rep as a freebie whore. Stylists complain they have trouble getting clothes returned from his shoots because the sought-after samples frequently go missing.

Rumor has it that he visited the Bathing Ape store in SoHo last weekend with security in tow. "After making the manager run up and down the stairs for close to an hour, and running everyone ragged, he gets to the register and wants everything for free," said our source. When the manager refused, Usher said, "I have to be somewhere at 8." The manager replied, "So do I." Usher said, "Are you trying to play me?"

The singer's rep countered, "Usher pays for everything."

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Madonna wants to go back to her roots, so she's planning to get into the groove on her next album. "It's all dance music," she revealed recently. "No ballads, no slow songs."

She has been working on her 10th studio album with several collaborators, some of whom have lent a helping hand before, such as French producer Mirwais Ahmadzai, who lent his retro-electro style to both Music and American Life, as well as Stuart Price, her musical director on the Reinvention Tour who popped up on American Life by co-writing "X-Static Process." His '80s electro-pop sound will be showcased even more prominently on the upcoming, still-untitled album, she said, because she did "a lot" of it with Price (a.k.a. Jacques Lu Cont).

But Madonna isn't just tapping into the well of the tried and true — she's also borrowing a bit from Britney by experimenting with a duo of Swedish producer-songwriters known as Bloodshy & Avant (Christian "Bloodshy" Karlsson and Pontus "Avant" Winnberg), who made a name for themselves by writing and producing Spears' "Toxic."

Madonna's album is due in late November, and she plans to tour by next summer.

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"The Real World" returns to MTV tonight (10 p.m. EDT), this time heading south to Austin, Texas.

After 16 seasons and locations as diverse as Philadelphia and Hawaii, the show still remains one of TVÂ’s most successful franchises. "This season is great," says Jon Murray, "Real World" co-creator and executive producer. "Every show is defined by its cast, and this year there is some really powerful drama."

The housemates:

Rachel: The "talkative" brunette from suburban Los Angeles did a tour of duty as a medic.

Nehemiah: The L.A. suburbanite grew up in a single-parent family, and his mother is currently in drug rehab.

Danny: HeÂ’s from the blue-collar outskirts of Boston and grew up working for his fatherÂ’s roofing business while his mother struggled with alcoholism and depression.

Wes: A college student originally from Kansas City, Wes admits many people think he is "a jerk," and claims to have "the best six-pack in [his] school."

Johanna: This Peruvian bad girl was raised in suburban L.A., and even though she denies the accusation that she has behavior issues, she was arrested for an as-yet-unnamed infraction while in the Austin house.

Lacey: This hairstylist from Ohio ensured her place in the house by telling casting directors, "I don’t go looking for gossip — it just finds me!"

Melinda: She contributed an unforgettable audition tape. The suburban Milwaukee lass is seen streaking topless and screeching "IÂ’m crazy! IÂ’m a crazy b--ch!"

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David Spade once did the "Hollywood Minute" on "Saturday Night Live." Now he figures there's enough material for a half-hour of fun each week.

"The Showbiz Show" aims to do for entertainment news shows what Jon Stewart does for the nightly news. Comedy Central said Monday the show probably will debut in September.

Think about the past few weeks alone: Tom Cruise and his whirlwind romance, Russell Crowe and the hotel phone. The joke possibilities are endless, Spade said. What once seemed like Hollywood-insider information is now everywhere, he said.

"Even my mom is like, `Cinderella Man' took a bit of a dip the second week,'" he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Huh? How did you hear that? `Does Angelina Jolie really drink blood? Call me back.'"

Spade's program will feature a mix similar to "The Daily Show," with "correspondents," on-location pieces, parodies using film clips and celebrity guests.

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