Burning Q’s: Jonas Bro Theft & Way Broke Stars
Did Selena Gomez steal Nick Jonas from Miley Cyrus?J.D.
Selena Gomez? The baby-faced 15-year-old? Oh, come on. How can a zygote steal a fetus from an embryo? Honestly, people. I step out for three seconds and the quality of your questions just plummets. Plummets! Let’s dispose of them quickly and neatly in a new round of Burning Q’s.
Why are there so many reports of broke celebrities? A lot of them earned millions during their careerswhere did all of this money go?M.M., Colorado
Actually, once A-listers pay off their “teams”agents, managers, business managers, attorneysand taxes, they’re left with only 10 to 15 percent of their paychecks, one manager tells me.
So if a movie star gets $15 million a film, that’s $1.5 million left over. You and I could live quite well on that. That is, unless you’re a twit who needsjust needsa compound in the Malibu Colony, a pied-à-terre in London and a place in the Bahamas. (Malibu Colony homes, popular with the Paris Hilton crowd, go for about $18.5 million, unless you rent.)
Don’t forget the household staff, which stars also feel they just need, need, need: assistants, nannies, security, trainer, nutritionist, butler. Throw in the flying monkeys at the high-powered publicity firm, which can set a star back maybe $55,000 a year. And then add a few shady so-called friends from back in the day who come strolling by with their hands out, andstarting to get the picture?
What is going on with R. Kelly? What is taking so long with this sex-tape case?Ann, Osceola, Kansas
Actually, despite what it may look like, this is not an episode of Law & Order: SVU. This is a real case, which means it takes time. The 2005 Michael Jackson child-molestation case took three and a half months. (He was acquitted.) Jury selection for this trial just started in May.
Hey! Am I hearing things, or did I read that that Gwyneth Paltrow works out for 40 hours a day?Alphea
Yes, absolutely. Forty hours a day. Because once you hit a certain level of stardom, the dweebs at the National Institute of Standards and Technology reach into a secret compartment, created by ancient astronauts and nestled deep within the atomic clock, and give you more hours. The rest of us drones have to get by with just 24 in a day. I hear Clooney gets like 1,500.
Got a question about Hollywood? ASK IT!
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Jay-Z Short on Cash?
Jay-Z Short on Cash?
Waitressing can be hard work. The long hours and rude customers can make the job grueling. The only reward is the decent money. But one waitress isn’t even getting that. Celeste Williams has filed a lawsuit against Jay-Z for not paying her for working in his club.
Williams is a waitress at Jay-Z’s trendy 4-0/40 Club. She is alleging that he has been violating the federal labor laws by making her work for only tips. She filed the class-action suit in Manhattan Federal Court.
The suit is written to include herself as well as other waitresses who work at the club. The official charge is “willfully failing and refusing to pay them at the legally required minimum wage for all hours worked and time and a half rates for work in excess of forty hours per workweek.”
Jay-Z’s camp is denying the allegations. “That certainly is not true,” said club spokesman Ron Berkowitz of the charges. “Everyone makes the minimum wage at the club, 100%.”
Things aren’t looking too good for Jay, though. Apparently there are many other workers not listed on the suit that are also angry about the conditions. Fear of losing their jobs has prevented them from being included on the suit.
Hopefully the H.O.V.A. will reconcile with his waitresses and they can all get back to work.