Ellen's new ride

DeGeneres is driving a cool Mercedes and a hot brunet; Billy Bob in the hospital, Angelina jetting home. Plus: Streisand wants to stay in bed, eat in her car.

Published September 28, 2000 10:38PM (EDT)

Whoa, Nellie. Ellen DeGeneres is back in the saddle again.

The New York Post reports that Anne Heche's ex has a brand-new filly, a "hot, tall brunet." The two have been spotted zipping around town in the comedian's new white Mercedes 460 convertible. And just last weekend, the duo was seen making out in the elevator of the Beverly Hills Barney's.

If these walls could talk, they'd be gasping.

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Takes one to know one?

"He's stupid."

-- Cher on George W. Bush.

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The trouble with Billy Bob

What's wrong with Billy Bob Thornton?

This week, that question is even more on everyone's minds than usual.

It's still not clear just what prompted Angelina Jolie's hubby to check himself into L.A.'s Cedars-Sinai Hospital. Was it a heart attack, a viral infection or simply a cold that temporarily felled the actor over the weekend?

Official word from his press rep, Michelle Bega, is that the erstwhile anorexic was suffering from nothing more than a viral infection, that he was released on Monday and is A-OK now. But on Tuesday, Thornton's lawyer told the New York Daily News that the actor was still in the hospital and would not be checking out for a couple of days.

And if you're wondering if maybe Thornton's omnisexual wife didn't boink him into ill health, as the couple once speculated might happen, you can kiss that theory goodbye. Jolie has been overseas filming "Tomb Raider" and is only just now jetting back to be by Billy Bob's skinny side.

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Some people go on vacation ...

"Maybe I'll write something about an obscure medieval monk."

-- J.K. Rowling on life after Harry Potter.

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Road-tripping with Babs 'n' Jim

Could it be that if Barbra Streisand's shoes felt a little more like buttah, she wouldn't be retiring from the stage later this month?

"I won't miss walking around on a stage for two-and-a-half hours in high heels," Babs confesses in the upcoming issue of Us Weekly.

What else won't she miss about performing? Um ... waking up. "I want to take time to enjoy my life," she says. "You know, sleep late in the morning." (Try not to spend too much time wondering just how performing at night prevents her from doing that.)

But what she's really looking forward to is a little nosh in the front seat with hubby James Brolin. "Now that I'm happily married, I want to live life with the person I love," she says. "Jim and I love to travel. We love boats and long car trips. We like to eat on the road, mostly in the car."

Well, of all the crummy reasons ...

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Juicy bits

She's so hot for him and he's so cold? Luciana Morad, the Brazilian model who birthed Mick Jagger's baby, says that even though she and Mick are engaged in an ugly legal scuffle over child support, she still loves the lippy rocker. "I'm crazy about him. He's a sweetheart and I love him," she tells the U.K. magazine Hello! What's more, she says, there may be a future for them, now that he's split from Jerry Hall. "At least we're single now so whatever happens is legitimate," she says.

They've had their knocks, but the three surviving members of the Doors are hooking up again to record the band's 1960s hits for an upcoming VH1 special. Various guest vocalists -- including Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland and the Cult's Ian Astbury -- will fill in for Jim Morrison. But lest you fear the reunion will cause Morrison to roll over in his grave, take heart. The BBC reports that Morrison's body will not be disinterred from its resting place in Paris' Cimetihre du Phre Lachaise when the lease runs out in July, as his relatives have proposed.

Get a piece of the Rock? It'll cost ya. The WWF star has just landed a $5.5 million deal to star in "The Scorpion King," a spinoff of "The Mummy 2," reports Variety. The sum is the most moolah ever paid to an actor for a first starring role. And you thought Julia Roberts was overpaid.


By Amy Reiter

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