Media mogul and TV talk show queen Oprah Winfrey has topped the new 2005 Forbes magazine Celebrity 100 list.

The annual Forbes list ranks celebrities according to their power, salaries and media presence. Winfrey was a clear choice to top the list after earning a staggering $225 million in the last 12 months, and her show is one of the world's top-rated. Golf ace Tiger Woods came in second and Mel Gibson, who topped the list in 2004, fell to number three.

Star Wars creator George Lucas, who didn't appear among the Celebrity 100 last year, crashes in at number four on the new list. Meanwhile, funnymen Will Ferrell and Dave Chappelle appear on the list for the first time at numbers 18 and 78 respectively and Denzel Washington is also a Celebrity 100 virgin at number 31.

The ladies of Desperate Housewives have replaced the girls of Friends - the cast of the hit new show debut on the new list at number 25, while Courtney Cox and Lisa Kudrow join the likes of Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey and The Rolling Stones, who fall off this year's list. Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston, who topped the list in 2003, falls to number 37.

The top 10 is: 1. Oprah Winfrey, 2. Tiger Woods, 3. Mel Gibson, 4. George Lucas, 5. Shaquille O'Neal, 6. Steven Spielberg, 7. Johnny Depp, 8. Madonna, 9. Sir Elton John, 10. Tom Cruise.

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A movie based on the Fox series 24 is in the works. But whether it will be shot in real-time is still up for consideration, says the show's Canadian director/producer Jon Cassar.

"The last I heard, the first hour will not be in real-time, but then something big will happen and real time will kick in. It still has to be worked out -- it's at a stage where they need to write it."

Cassar will not predict a storyline for the big screen version of the hugely popular show. He says the script will likely depend on what's happening on the series prior to the movie coming out.

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It looks like the original "Apprentice" villain, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, has finally found her true calling — she's shooting a pilot with the same people who made Jerry Springer a trailer-trash phenomenon.

"We're going to take all that attitude she has and have her turn it toward people who deserve to have their heads handed to them," Springer's executive producer, Richard Dominick, told a spy. "Love her or hate her, you won't be able to turn her off. She's going to be bigger than Oprah."

--Is she STILL around?

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After all of the hype about who may or may not star alongside Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 3, Keri Russell has accepted her mission, beating out potential actresses Lindsay Lohan and Cruise's squeeze Katie Holmes to replace Scarlett Johansson after she pulled out the film last month. E! Online reports that Russell, 29, will play a junior agent mentored by Cruise's Ethan Hunt character.

The former Felicity star is reuniting with director and producer J.J. Abrams for the project, who is slated to direct the upcoming film. M:I-3's cast also includes actors Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Michelle Monaghan and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

--Get pumped, Iceman.

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Sean Penn to a film student during a visit to Iran's Film Museum in Tehran regarding the "Death to America" slogan chanted each week at Friday Prayers:

"I understand the nature of where it comes from and what its intention is," he said. "But I don't think it's productive because I think the message goes to the American people and it is interpreted very literally."

--Um, ya think, Sean?

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While rumors persist that Katie Couric may leave The Today Show, the perky morning host will soon headline a program on another network: The QVC Home Shopping Channel.

On June 25, Couric will team up with comedian Ray Romano to hawk “Laughing Gas,” a cinnamon-scented room spray created by Philosophy for the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance, the charity founded by Katie and the Entertainment Industry Foundation.

The product is available exclusively on QVC for $15, and the show airs over the weekend.

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Rap star Missy Elliott was horrified when she witnessed Britney Spears and Madonna kissing at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards rehearsals - as she knew her mother would be offended.

The singer first suspected she had spied a spontaneous smooch between the pair, but she was amazed to learn they were rehearsing the kiss for the evening's award ceremony.

She says, "At first I thought they were just ... into each other. "Then Madonna was like, 'Okay, let's take it again.' And, you know, we probably did that rehearsal 15 or 20 times. "All I was thinking was, 'Oh my God, my momma gonna watch this, and all the church people gonna call her up.'"

However, Elliott is not ruling out any lesbian lip-locking action herself. She adds, 'I would never say what I would never do. Never say never."

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Recently rehabbed talking head Pat O'Brien was humiliated when recordings of him talking dirty surfaced on the Internet. But the ordeal hasn't dampened the "Insider" anchor's libido, it seems.

At a recent Audemars Piguet party, O'Brien took a fancy to reality TV tartlet Brittny Gastineau, we're told. And when Gastineau left, O'Brien was right behind. "He ran down the street after Brittny to get her phone number," our spy reports. "And he did." Gastineau was most recently linked to Backstreet Boy Nick Carter.

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Matthew McConaughey is whisking girlfriend Penelope Cruz off on vacation - in a mobile home.

The mega-rich Hollywood star has said he hates five-star hotels and prefers to have his "own four walls" when he travels. And he's dragging Penelope - who's more used to extravagant foreign hotels- along with him.

Matthew said: "I love my mobile home. I can feel my independence. It's great having my own four walls instead of staying in hotels all the time.

"I have everything I need. I have a satellite so I can connect my mobile office at any time. I have my own bed, a little kitchen, a grill and water. It's not like a five-star hotel but I like it better."

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Having secured Oscar-winning actresses Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron to star as ambassadors in its annual Key to the Cure for cancer campaign, Saks Fifth Avenue has unveiled Academy Award winning actress Hilary Swank as its newest spokeswoman.

Swank will model a limited edition T-shirt created by Diane von Furstenberg that features an abstract heart design with such phrases as “life is love” and “love is life.” The shirt will be available this fall at Saks stores nationwide and will retail for $35, $33 of which will be donated to the cause. In addition, a complementary ad campaign will debut in select fashion and lifestyle magazines this October.

Swank has revealed in the past that several of her family members, including her grandmother, grandfather, and mother-in-law, have all succumbed to the disease.

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Blanche sticks up for the elephants:

Former "Golden Girls" actress Rue McClanahan is trying to prevent four elephants from being transferred from Chicago to Hugo, Okla. because they were exposed to another animal with tuberculosis.

McClanahan, an honorary director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), wrote a letter to state Rep. Ray McCarter, a Democrat, asking him "to introduce an emergency resolution recommending against the importation of any elephants who have been exposed to TB in Oklahoma."

McClanahan, an Oklahoma native, said she would prefer the four elephants be sent to the Elephant Sanctuary, a 2,700-acre preserve in Hohenwald, Tenn.

--Yeah, go ahead and laugh. I think I've seen every "Golden Girls" episode.

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And from the "Endless Brainwashing of Katie" files:

These days, wherever Katie Holmes goes – press conferences for Batman Begins, TV interviews and autograph sessions – Jessica Rodriguez is never far behind, People reports in its latest issue.

"They're always together," says one source. Since Holmes met Rodriguez – soon after the star began dating Tom Cruise in April – "they've become good friends. They go shopping, they go out."

And they've been generating headlines. Why all the fuss? Because Rodriguez is employed by the Church of Scientology, Cruise's controversial religion. And though a source close to Holmes says that Rodriguez is traveling as a friend and assistant – not as a religious adviser – the blossoming friendship indicates that Holmes is getting more serious about Cruise, 42, and more deeply involved in Scientology.

One source says Holmes, 26, is "now a Scientologist." Holmes herself has only said she's taking lessons. "I know how important it is to Tom, and I want to be able to share that with him," she told reporters in London June 12. (Holmes, who hails from Ohio, was raised Catholic; a Scientology rep says Scientologists need not renounce their faiths to join.)

It's not the only way life has precipitously changed for the former Dawson's Creek star. "Since meeting Tom, she hasn't spoken to any of the people she used to hang out with," says one source. Though to be fair, Holmes hasn't had much time to chat lately, between a busy promotion schedule for Batman Begins and jaunts with her new man.

Holmes has also made career changes recently. She dropped her manager and changed reps at the Creative Artists Agency. She also turned down the role of drug-addicted Andy Warhol acolyte Edie Sedgwick in the upcoming movie Factory Girl. A source claims she did so because Cruise thought she shouldn't play a victim – though a friend of Holmes's (who calls her "Kate") says that "Kate's decisions in terms of her career are Kate's decisions. Tom has done nothing but support her."

A more concerned friend feels Holmes is understandably swept up in the moment. "You have to remember, she's a young girl and this is Tom Cruise," says the friend. "I would have jumped off a bridge with Tom Cruise at 26."

--That's Jessica in the pic w/ Katie.

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Lindsay "I Promise I Eat" Lohan:

Lindsay Lohan has revealed that despite losing heaps of weight this year, she does in fact have a healthy appetite.

She also claims that she doesn't feel any pressure to be thin but is a bit preoccupied by how she looks. "I always get self-conscious about the way I look - the way my legs look, about my freckles, my hair... If I have a blemish, I'll freak out," she tells OK! magazine.

"I've never been one not to eat because I eat so much," she said, rather confusingly. "I'm kind of happy with my body. I don't work out too much - I have fun, and I eat a lot," she repeated.

Clearly feeling she has to defend herself and all the media speculation about her dramatic weight loss, Lindsay went on to say: "I don't believe in weighing myself or checking my height because when people ask, I'd feel obligated to say."

The 18-year-old also revealed that she's a big fan of Jennifer Aniston's style, admitting she would love to trade wardrobes with her. "I love how she dresses. She's very classy, but at the same time, she's fun and down to earth. She can never dress wrong, and I really admire that."

The Mean Girls star told the magazine that she doesn't have a boyfriend at the moment, although she did confess to a couple of celebrity crushes: "Johnny Depp, but he's married. And Ashton Kutcher is also taken! He's cute."

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Your MP&S BritNews updates:

--Britney has angrily hit out at an actress' claims the pregnant pop star must not breast feed because she has chest implants - insisting she's never gone under the knife.

Spears was rumored to have undergone an operation to enhance her bust several years ago - something she has always strongly denied. But 60-year-old Sally Kirkland claims to know the doctor who operated on the singer, and has warned her not to breast feed her baby when it is born, because she suffered terrible side effects when she underwent a breast enlargement herself.

Kirkland - a former Vogue model - says, "I happen to know Britney's breast implant doctor, and I just hope she does not breast feed. Because if she does, she could give her baby so many future problems. "Now I am the poster girl for women with diseases from breast implants."

But Britney's publicist insists the claims are nonsense: "Britney does not have breast implants so you don't need to worry."

--Britney Spears is determined to make Kevin Federline a movie star.

The pop princess has asked pal Madonna to get hubby Guy Ritchie to cast Kevin in his next film. Apparently pushy Britney has been bombarding them with pics of Kevin along with character suggestions.

The source said: "Britney is convinced that Kevin has what it takes and is using her contacts to make it happen."

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Kirsten says: Jake and I are not together:

Kirsten Dunst participated in what is described as a fun, lighthearted, and very personal interview.

The first topic at hand was her career. "I'm very pleased with my decisions up to now, and hopefully in the future I'll be as lucky as I have been in the past." exclaimed Kirsten. She describes her lifestyle as busy yet free of chaos. She currently has three projects in the works. Elizabethtown is completed and awaiting its Fall 2005 release date. She is currently busy filming Marie-Antoinette which is due out in 2006, and for 2007 she is once again reprising her role as MJ in Spiderman 3.

In the social slash romantic aspect, she stated that her and Jake were no longer together, and they have not gotten back together as rumors have suggested. One note she wanted to add, is that they are very much still friends and any new man in her life has to be mature enough to accept that.

With that said, she seems to have found just that person. Although she never fully explained how they met, she has admitted to have taken part in a new relationship. "If I could describe my new relationship in one word, it would have to be blossoming" explained Dunst. She feels very strongly that this will be another long term romance, and she couldn't be happier about that.

Kirsten stated that he is a couple years younger at 21 years of age, although he will turn 22 this July. At first she completely denied releasing his name, but after a few attempts to hold back, she requested to put the interview on hold as she called him on the telephone. Once permission was granted the name that was released is Fred Riahi, a Pepperdine University student majoring in Business Administration.

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1 I'm sure that was a tough decision for Fred. And I'm happy to hear Jake is back on the market

Posted by: Kelly at June 16, 2005 01:54 PM (M7kiy)

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Teen star Hilary Duff has become so ill from jetting around the US she's had a hole poked in her eardrum so she can continue to fly.

The 17-year-old singer and actress has been flying in and out of varied climates, which has left her nursing a bad cold. She says, "I've been travelling a lot. I was in New York and then I went to (Washington) DC and then coming back (to Los Angeles)." "The weather there's really hot and humid and then I got on the plane and I couldn't even breathe or talk and I had to get like a needle poked through my eardrum so it would relieve pressure because I have to fly at like six o'clock in the morning."

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Oscar-nominated actress-singer Queen Latifah is a deadbeat tenant and hasn't paid rent on her company's office space since November.

The 6,000-square- foot office space in Elmwood Park, N.J., is rented through Latifah's company, Ghettoworks, Inc., and "her bill paying is the worst," said a source. "The past five years of behavior has not been good. They're in litigation with her right now." Further, "Her bodyguards are threatening and anti-Semitic." David Raindorf, who owns the property, declined to comment. Reps for Latifah did not return calls.

--Maybe that's why she's entering into the new little endeavor a few posts down.

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Celebrity hair designer John Sahag – who prepared such clients as Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez , Sarah Jessica Parker and Drew Barrymore for their major magazine shoots – died of cancer on Wednesday, a representative said. He was 51.

Born in Lebanon and raised in Sydney, Australia, Sahag set off for Paris at age 18 and soon received a credit in Italian Vogue. Over time, he would work with such internationally renowned photographers as Richard Avedon, Patrick Demarchelier, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn and Albert Watson. He was also credited with giving actress Kirsten Dunst her famous five-inch cropped cut – a look he repeated on Maggie Gyllenhaal. Sahag also did Demi Moore's famous boy cut in 1990's Ghost.

"Cutting and shaping hair is a very personal and intimate experience for me," Shag once said. He opened his own New York salon, The John Sahag Workshop on Madison Avenue, in 1985 and launched his own product line in 1998.

Other famous heads he shaped included those on Gwyneth Paltrow, Courteney Cox Arquette, Gretchen Mol, Brooke Shields, Sandra Bullock, Winona Ryder and Bruce Springsteen.

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In an interview with "Access Hollywood," actress Jennifer Love Hewitt says she feels that not all paparazzi "should be lumped into the group of these monsters who treat people badly."

"I don't think that every paparazzi should be lumped into the group of these monsters who treat people badly," said Hewitt. "I've actually met a lot of really nice ones who are lovely people."

Furthermore, the actress says that a member of the paparazzi actually came to her rescue. "My car ran out of gas and he stopped and didn't take any photos of me," she said. "He ran and got me a tank of gas for my car so I could drive to a gas station. He was like, 'See Jennifer, we're not all monsters...'"

However, Hewitt admits that not all of her experiences with the paparazzi have been pleasant. "I've met a lot of them that are frankly kind of scary and push the limits and get too much in your face," she said. "I think a law to protect celebrities from the ones that are not so good may not be a bad idea."

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Tom Cruise has revealed he thinks Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) has the talent to make it big in Hollywood, and wants to transform her into a leading lady.

According to Grazia magazine, Tom told Victoria: "You could be a fantastic actress. "You are witty, have great comic timing and a fantastic accent. "You have great potential to be a huge Hollywood star."

According to a friend of Victoria, Tom revealed his plans during a dinner date with David Beckham and Tom's new love Katie Holmes at Tom's home in Beverly Hills. The friend said: "Tom told Victoria he could make her a star and she just couldn't believe it. "She was telling David how excited she was and how that would be a dream come true. "Victoria has always been extremely ambitious and she doesn't see why this couldn't be the next step in her career."

According to the friend, Tom now plans to set up meetings in the movie industry to help launch her career.

--Um, did he see Spiceworld?

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