Owning up to Britney

Gosling takes rap for Spears' sexuality; Eminem explains Basinger kiss. Plus: Kelsey fights the good fight; and R. Kelly pushes "no monster" defense.

Published May 1, 2002 4:07PM (EDT)

Blame society, the media or the pop princess herself for the premature sexualization of Britney Spears.

"Murder by Numbers" star Ryan Gosling blames himself.

The problem, he suspects, dates back to their days as Mouseketeers on "The Mickey Mouse Club."

"Britney and Christina [Aguilera] would come ask me questions about sex, and I just told them what I heard -- like positions and stuff," Gosling tells Entertainment Weekly.

Eventually, he says, "Britney narked me out," causing a slew of mothers to complain to his bosses at Disney.

Nevertheless, it's Gosling who feels guilty.

"I feel somewhat responsible for how sexual she is right now," the 21-year-old actor says. "When I see her with a snake around her neck, I think, 'Did I do that?'"

Oops!

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Dino-riffic?

"I'm untouchable now. I've got a 3-year-old who fascinates me beyond anything, and I have this guy I adore. I feel like, 'Bring it on!' -- that's how I got involved in 'Jurassic Park.'"

-- Tea Leoni on the professional hazards of tackling your career with reckless abandon, to TV Guide Online.

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Em's got an eye for Kim

Remember that rumor about Eminem dating Beyoncé Knowles? How about that one about him seeing Kim Basinger?

Months after the scuttlebutt has run its course, Eminem is apparently ready to step up and protest his innocence.

Though Knowles is "beautiful," he tells the U.K. Guardian, he was never involved with her.

As for that Basinger thing, he says the misunderstanding sprang from a moment on the set of his film "8 Mile," in which the actress plays his mother.

"In the movie there's a scene where we kiss. She kissed me like a mother would kiss a son. It was in the rehearsal," he tells the British newspaper. "The next day it was in the paper that we were seen kissing on set and holding hands."

Which is not to say he's not interested in dating the ex Mrs. Alec Baldwin. In fact, he says, "I would love to."

Here we go again.

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Raise your hand if you believe him

"The film not only does the comic justice, but it's really better than the comic -- and I don't say that lightly."

-- Stan Lee on the new film based on his classic comic series, to Ananova.com.

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Juicy bits

Is Rosie O'Donnell making room for a new baby? Last month, the TV talk show host's press rep, Lois Smith, vehemently denied reports that her client's girlfriend, Kelly Carpenter, is pregnant. "This is absolutely not true," Smith said at the time. But now, "Access Hollywood" has jumped on the baby-buggy bandwagon and has begun reporting that Carpenter is expecting. Goo.

Kelsey Grammer's not having a good week. The "Frasier" star has been ordered by a federal appeals court to fork over $1.8 million to settle a dispute with his former agent, the Artists Agency. "Although I am disappointed with the result," Grammer told the press through a spokesman, "we will always fight for what we feel is right." Brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it?

R Kelly says he, too, would like to fight for what he and his lawyers feel is right, and at the moment they feel it's right for him to fight the third civil suit brought against him for allegedly having sex with an underage girl. He and his lawyers settled two previous suits out of court. "R Kelly is no angel, but he is no monster, either," the singer's lawyer Gerry Margolis told Ananova.com. "This latest suit is a collection of half-truths, distortions and outright lies that we intend to fight and beat." In other words, Margolis says, "The cash machine is closed." And the subtlety machine seems to be on the fritz.

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Miss something? Read yesterday's Nothing Personal.


By Amy Reiter

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