Actress Keira Knightley has had enough of the media's fixation with her looks, weight and figure, and urged people to focus on her films instead.
In Venice to promote her latest movie Atonement, the 22-year-old star of the hit Pirates of the Caribbean franchise had to field questions about her curves during a news conference this week.
"It's really frustrating, and particularly when you come to Venice film festival with a film that is an intelligent film," she said. "It's a thought-provoking film you can have a really good discussion about.
Photo: ap
"I think it was just a shame that that had to be brought up then, and the fact that we all knew that it was going to be brought up," she added, referring to the cast and crew of Atonement with her at the conference.
Knightley is the subject of constant tabloid press coverage of whether she is anorexic, what example she sets girls and young women and who she is linked with romantically.
The actress, nominated for an Oscar in the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice, has won early critical praise for her portrayal of Cecilia Tallis in Atonement, a film directed by Joe Wright and based on Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel.
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Speaking of image problems, Bobby Brown was back in court on Friday to seek custody of his teenage daughter with Whitney Houston.
Brown and his attorney asked Orange County Superior Court to dismiss a default judgment issued in December that ended the couple's marriage and granted Houston sole custody of 14-year-old Bobbi Kristina.
Brown was not given enough time to respond to Houston's divorce filings, his attorney Stacy D. Phillips said.
In court filings released last week, Brown claimed Houston has kept him from seeing their daughter and that he deserved custody because he had been her primary caretaker.
"I just miss my daughter," Brown told People.com. "The goal is to see her a lot more and to be involved in the decision making in her life, the places she goes, the people she hangs out with. All of that."
Houston and Brown wed in 1992, when she was at the height of her fame as a Grammy-winning superstar known for hits such as I Will Always Love You. Brown, a former member of New Edition, gained solo fame with singles such as Don't Be Cruel and My Prerogative. During their 14-year marriage, Brown was arrested for drug- and alcohol-related offenses, and Houston twice entered drug rehab programs.
Also on Friday, troubled pop star Britney Spears' first new song in years could be heard on the Web. The single, called Gimme More, is expected to hit radio airwaves as early as next week.
The song was officially released late Thursday on the Web site of New York radio station Z100, and by Friday it could be heard on YouTube.
Media reports said Spears could have a new album out in early November.
Spears, 25, is attempting to resurrect her flagging career, and the new single could be the first salvo in a media blitz.
She has become a major subject for tabloid coverage for public behavior that has included being photographed with no underwear under her miniskirts, shaving her head bald, attacking paparazzi with an umbrella and performing in local nightclubs where she was accused of lip-syncing songs.
On Saturday, singer Usher wed Tameka Foster in a large, glitzy ceremony after exchanging vows a few weeks ago in a civil ceremony, a magazine reported.
About 200 people attended the dream wedding of the Grammy-winning R&B singer and his new wife, held at a 16th-century-style French chateau resort on 1,400 hectares outside Atlanta, People.com reported.
Guests dined in the ballroom and ate from a five-tiered white-chocolate-covered wedding cake created by the same bakery that recently did actress Eva Longoria's confection, the magazine reported.
A private ceremony was held Aug. 3 in the office of Usher's lawyer. The 28-year-old singer and Foster, who is 37, had called off their July 28 wedding amid reports that Foster had checked into a hospital because of problems with her pregnancy.
The couple announced their engagement this year and later said Foster was expecting Usher's first child. She has three children from a previous marriage.
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