Britney Moving for Kids, "Quiet"
What Britney Spears really needs is a little peace and quiet. At least, according to a court commissioner.
In court papers filed by Spears’ conservatorship earlier this month, approved by Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz on June 17 and obtained by News today, Goetz gives the go-ahead for the singer to sell her Summit home to the highest bidderbecause the place is a hindrance to Spears’ parenting skills.
In requesting the house swap, Spears & Co. argued that the mother of two was in need of a “lower density, more quiet and less trafficked neighborhood, that is also more accessible to parks and recreation areas.”
The conservatorship also argued that they could find “a more suitable” replacement residence with a “larger backyard that would be more appropriate” for Spears and the Feder-tots. (View the court documents.)
Moving house for Brit is especially important now that Spears is back in the good graces of the court and, as a result, has her sons Sean Preston and Jayden James back in her life for more frequentand as of this weekend, overnightvisits.
Case in point: Fresh off their Saturday night stay at Casa Spears, the boys were back with Britney this morning, less than a day later, getting dropped off at her Summit residence at roughly 8:30 a.m.
A source tells News that, as per the newly hammered-out visitation schedule between her and Kevin Federline, the boys are expected to remain with Spears for roughly eight hours.
Lindsay Lohan’s Secret Sister?
Michael Lohan’s been logging some quality father-daughter time with Lindsay this week, hanging on the set of her new flick, Labor Pains.
Little did he know he’d end the week starring in his own potential blockbuster, let’s call it Paternity Pains, featuring a girl who may be Lindsay’s secret sister.
The elder Lohan is shooting down a claim that he fathered a girl with another woman while he was separated from ex-wife Dina Lohan.
Speaking to News today, Michael Lohan admited to having a relationship with a woman named Kristi, whom he met in Houston. He said they reconnected in 1995, while he and Dina were on the rocks.
“I was with her twice,” he says. “Then 10 years later, while I was in jail, she called me and told me that her husband at the time turned up negative in the paternity test, and she told me that meant I was the father.
“I haven’t seen [the woman] for 13 years. I believed her at first but now, out of nowhere, she’s gone public. This is a woman with a lot of issues, I don’t know if I can trust her,” he continues, adding that the girl’s name is Ashley.
“My lawyers are working on this. There’s going to be a paternity test.”
Which would suit Kristi Kaufmann, the object of Lohan’s past affection, just fine.
“He was supposed to take a paternity test seven years ago but he disappeared off the face of the earth,” the 44-year-old massage therapist who’s currently living in Florence, Mont., told News Friday. “I need to find a really good lawyer. I’m looking into it. I just want this to be resolved and the truth to be told.”
“It’s just too much to take,” Kaufmann said. “The truth will come out. I have letters from years ago that prove it; I saved it all. I had a feeling this would happen one day. He’s trying to save his own butt.
“He’s never physically met [Ashley]. They’ve spoken on the phone many times.”
Asked if he wrote such letters, Lohan says: “I don’t know, I can’t remember. Of course there were correspondence, but I can’t remember what they said.”
Kaufmann said that she first met Lohan in the 1980s through a friend and they didn’t make another connection until 1994.
“We saw each other for a month, then he took off again. I gave him an open door and didn’t speak to him again until ’97 when he was in jail and I told him about Ashley,” who was born in 1995.
And apparently a paternity test wasn’t the only thing Lohan promised her and Ashley, who is an aspiring singer, according to Kaufmann.
“He was going to do for Ashley what he did for Lindsay’s career, the whole thing,” she said.
But while Ashley may have dodged a bullet in that respect, the 13-year-old is at least relieved that her family ties have finally gone public, her mom said.
“She’s been waiting for this for a very long time. She’s very angry with what Michael has done to her over the past several years.”
After this whole thing blew up, “I called and left him a scathing message. He’s called several times today but we’re not answering. When you stand up to Michael you get viciously and verbally assaulted. Dina is going to know who I am.”
But not in the way that the world knows who Dina is, Kaufmann added.
“I’m not looking for the fame, I don’t care about that, that’s not what I want,” she said. “I want support for my daughter, I want the truth to be known and I want her siblings to know who she is so that if they want a relationship with her than it’s there.”
Michael, 48, and Dina, 45 married in 1985 and had four children togetherLindsay, who turns 22 next Wednesday; Michael Jr., 20; Ali, 14; and Cody, 12before divorcing in 2007. The two youngest kids star with their mom on E!’s Living Lohan.
“Those are [Ashley’s] siblings and she would love to meet them,” Kaufmann said. “It was one fo the things that has made me so angry with Michael is that he has denied her family and medical history.”
Lindsay, meanwhile, continues her postrehab comeback with a guest stint on Ugly Betty and the in-production Labor Pains.
Speaking of the latter, Michael Lohan tells News that he got permission from his probation officer to fly to L.A. this week to be with his oldest child.
“I visited Lindsay on set a number of times, and we hung out in her trailer,” he says. “It was so good being with her, spending a lot of time together. She’s better than I’ve seen her in a long, long time.”
Carell Clocks In for More Office
Michael Scott can look forward to putting in more long, hard, late nights at Dunder-Mifflin Scranton.
At least, that’s what he said.
The “he” in this case being cocreator, executive producer and star of the original British version of The Office, Ricky Gervais, who revealed in a posting on his official website that Steve Carell has renewed his contract for the NBC hit.
“Had some great news today about the American version of The Office,” Gervais wrote. “Steve Carell (now one of the most bankable film stars in the world) has just signed up for another three years with us.
“He is the hardest working man in Hollywood and the harder he works the better it is for me. I mean…well done Steve you are wonderful…He is a very nice man and deserves all his success. I am just as dedicated to my art without compromise but only between the hours of 9 and 3 p.m.”
In addition to revealing the contract coup, Gervais also confirmed another of NBC’s badly kept and somewhat fan-derided scoops: that a satellite Office is already in the works.
Earlier this month, word spread that Rashida Jones, who played Jim’s pre-Pam hookup, Karen, on the show and who currently has a talent holding deal with the network, would be heading up the new cast, though Gervais kept mum on any casting or potential story points.
“We are also working on a spinoff series of the American Office,” he wrote, “but I can’t tell you anything about that yet.”
Jam it anyway.
Lindsay’s Great Fur Heist of 2008?
She might have her fur back, but the student accusing Lindsay Lohan of heisting some outerwear is not quite ready to chill out.
And, inevitably, PETA has entered the fray. But more on that in a moment.
The attorney for New York college student Masha Markov explained to News today why her client ultimately decided to sue Lohan over the purportedly purloined fur coat.
"Negotiations with her lawyers just ended up failing," said Merrill R. Cohen. "They stopped calling us back.
"We got the coat back, but it's not sufficient. She had the coat for several weeks. You don’t just return it and that's that," continued Cohen, adding that the $12,000 fur, a gift from Markova's grandma, had a tear in the lining and was stained. (View the lawsuit.)
"If the jury finds the incident is criminal in nature, then [Markova] could get significant damages," said Cohen.
While Team Lohan has remained mum on the lawsuit, her rep spoke to News when Markova's allegations surfaced earlier this month and denied the actress swiped anybody's duds.
"This is crazy!" the publicist said. "The bombing of Lindsay has to stop. She is in a good place right now. Why can’t everyone leave her alone?"
Meanwhile, it was only a matter of time before PETA got involved with the fur fiasco.
In a letter sent to Markova, PETA pitchman Dan Mathews makes his case that neither she nor Lohan own the coat.
"That coat belonged to dozens of animals that were electrocuted, gassed, strangled, drowned or beaten to death just so you could try to appear wealthy," Mathews wrote.
PETA suggests Markova watch an antifur video hosted by former fur-wearer Martha Stewart and then donate the fur to the homeless.