Winslet tells the U.K. Daily Mirror that motherhood has made her "squishy."

"I'm a lot less hectic than I was," says Winslet in her first interview since her daughter Mia's birth last month. "I've stopped smoking and I've become a much calmer, softer person."

It's something she suspects she'll be able to use in her art. "I'm becoming much more squishy and vulnerable and emotional, and I'm sure I'll find it a lot easier to cry on-screen," she explains, before taking a moment to zap some of her fellow acting new moms.

Unlike some people who will remain nameless (stop reading, Catherine Zeta-Jones), Winslet says she would never, ever sell her baby's photos to the press. "I have very strong feelings about that," she says. "There is a very fine line between satisfying the public's interest and selling your private life."

In fact, she says, "I find it kind of sad that people feel the need to do that, and at the end of the day, you can only say that they needed the money. I would never do that ... I would never sell things to magazines like OK and Hello."

No matter how squishy she feels.

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Rock on

"He's not stupid; he's just drunk. No wonder he had a hard time saying 'subliminal.'"

-- Chris Rock on George W. Bush.

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Rosie endorses Babs!

What does Rosie O'Donnell have that Barbara Walters doesn't?

A whopping dose of chutzpah and Barbra Streisand's undying gratitude, apparently.

After staring down her show's syndicator, Warner Bros., O'Donnell aired a political speech by her buddy Babs on her show Monday, in which Babs endorses Al Gore for president. The speech had essentially been edited out of Walters' recent interview with Streisand on "20/20."

"Rosie's a very brave girl, because she's bucking Warner Bros." by running the speech, Streisand said in an interview on C-Span.

Who knows? With Streisand's backing, Gore could win it by a nose.

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Monica says, "It wasn't hard"

"I'm a little leery when someone runs up and tells me what a big fan they are. Why are they fans? I have become an accidental celebrity. And, truly, it wasn't hard to do."

-- Monica Lewinsky on being an easy celebrity.

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Juicy bits

I swear, I didn't do it. The BBC reports that Mr. Bad Musical Cameron Mackintosh's home in Scotland was burned to the ground over the weekend. The estate has also been the target of vandalism and Mackintosh himself has been the victim of a smear campaign this year, but police are not yet linking any of the incidents. Blame the Phantom?

An early heartwarming Christmas story of ex-con makes good? Apparently making up for lost time, Robert Downey Jr. is following up his "Ally McBeal" appearance with a musical turn on the holiday album "A Very Ally Christmas." He'll cover Joni Mitchell's "River" and sing a duet with the show's signature singer, Vonda Shepard, on "White Christmas." Shepard tells Reuters that Downey is "such a good actor and it translates musically as well. I think his passion and his pain and his longing come out through his voice." Maybe, but it's just a dang good thing he's done serving time -- you know what they do in prison to people who sing.

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Miss something? Read yesterday's Nothing Personal.

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