While a judge was deciding that Rihanna could return the borrowed jewels she wore the night she was allegedly beaten by Chris Brown, the singer remained in her native Barbados, trying to get her life back to normal.
Rihanna has yet to speak publicly, but her father, Ronald Fenty, told Us Weekly that the time in the sun has taken the singer’s mind off of allegedly abusive maybe-ex Chris Brown.
“Chris sounds like old news to me,” Fenty told the magazine. He says his daughter is “a different person, back to herself. It’s like Chris never existed. She seems reborn.”
An insider is also positive about Rihanna’s new trajectory. “She’s realizing how precious life is,” the source told Us. “She could lose it all if she’s not smarter. She’s starting to see that one wrong choice about who she loves could turn her into the next Whitney Houston.”
Keeping tabs: And baby makes Star magazine
Full disclosure: When I decided to track the best celeb magazine cover each week, I never thought Star was going to make much of a showing.
But this week, the editors will have readers flocking to scoop the latest issue off the newsstand, thanks to the editorial choices made on the cover.
Let’s start with the news we know to be true, Sarah Jessica Parker is expecting twins via a surrogate mother. Star went to press with that report on April 27, and Parker confirmed the news publicly on April 28. Translation: Star broke this story, and will be the only weekly to be able to tease it on the cover. This is a good indicator that future SJP news will sell.
U.S. & World
Then there’s the main image of Jennifer Aniston with the line “Mom at Last!” It remains to be seen if Aniston is going to adopt — this story has been rattling around for years.
But given that Star got the Parker story right, and the public is always rooting for Aniston, they’ve got a good seller on their hands.
It won’t beat People’s Most Beautiful issue — that's newsstand gold — but Star put on a decent clinic this week nonetheless.
Brangelina book ban
If there’s one man who has knows Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, from the couple’s hookup on the set of “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” to their dramatic fights and parenting shortfalls, it’s Mickey Brett, who served as head of security for Pitt, Jolie and their children until he was fired in 2008.
The family’s longtime bodyguard and confidante is shopping around a proposal for a tell-all book and a reality TV show, according to an April 26 report in the New York Daily News — and Pitt and Jolie have hired top libel attorneys to stop him.
Brett has denied trying to sell stories.
“No, no, no,” he told Life & Style. “I’m not writing a tell-all book. I don’t know where this story came from. It’s not true.”
No fan of McG
The widely hated director of “Terminator Salvation,” who self-importantly calls himself McG, can’t even garner favor with “T1” and “T2” director James Cameron.
“(Cameron) said, ‘I can't really bless you doing it, but I'd prefer you make a good movie than a bad movie. I reserve the right to like it or not,” McG told Details.
McG, who also directed “We Are Marshall” and “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,” has earned more than his share of detractors over the years, so maybe it makes sense that he’s weighing in on another actor who has a healthy enemies' list, Christian Bale.
In talking about the actor’s infamous on-set tirade, he said, "Okay, I'm a strong personality, Christian's a strong personality. I'm winding him up, he's working hard. . . . What you hear on the tape is just a reflection of the passion Christian brings. But he is not a mean, abusive person."
Courtney Hazlett delivers the Scoop Monday through Friday on msnbc.com. Follow Scoop on Twitter: @ courtneyatmsnbc.
