You knew it was only a matter of time: The White House has called upon Sarah Jessica Parker to serve her nation.

The Sex and the City star is one of a coterie of Hollywood boldfacers who yesterday were installed by Vice President Joe Biden on the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

President Obama named a total of 25 new committee members, including actors Forest Whitaker, Edward Norton and Alfre Woodard, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and Vogue editor Anna Wintour. Also named is philanthropist Teresa Heinz, wife of U.S. Sen. John Kerry and widow of the late U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, H. John Heinz III.

Kate G.: Love remains

"A part of me always will" love Jon. So said big-top circus ring-master Kate Gosselin Monday on a TLC special. "I love the memories that we have together." The tenderness comes a day after Jon pulled a bouquet of mea culpas out of a hat Sunday at a forum staged by pneumatic guru to the stars, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

Kate said the media frenzy over her traumatic break-up with Jon has made her life "real crazy. . . . I can't seem to get away from it. I just want peace for my kids."

But she bristled when show host Natalie Morales suggested she quit her reality show. Kate said she can't quit since the show is her primary source of income. She insisted that it wasn't harmful to her eight children.

In an equally perceptive statement, she said, "I signed up for a reality show, I didn't sign up to be a tabloid staple." That's like saying, "I signed up to steer an airplane, I didn't sign up to land it."

Rihanna: I speak for victims

In an interview released just in time to promote her highly publicized chat with Diane Sawyer, scheduled for tomorrow on ABC, Rihanna tells Glamour mag she has grown as a person since Chris Brown assaulted her in February. Recovering from abuse is "a lonely place to be," she says. "That's when you get close to God." She says she's "stronger, wiser and more aware."

The 21-year-old Bahamian beauty says she was traumatized by the media attention, especially the release of a photo of her bruised face. "It was humiliating," she says. "I felt completely taken advantage of."

But the media frenzy may have helped other victims. "Domestic violence is a big secret," the warbler says. "My story was broadcast all over the world for people to see, and they have followed every step of my recovery." She says she wants to share insights with other abused women. "I feel like I represent a voice that really isn't heard," she says. "Now I can help speak for those women."

Rihanna's decision to share her story coincides with the release of her fourth album, Rated R. It'll be in stores Nov. 23.

Paris: That's huge!

Paris Hilton, 28, has changed the catchphrase that once defined the Very Being of her being-here, "That's hot." In a chat with Wendy Williams set to air today, Paris says the apothegm, epithet, motto, maxim and shibboleth by which she shall be known heretofore is . . . "that's huge." The wealthy wastrel who has devoted her life to wasting the public's time, money and spirit also chats about her new porcine pet. "Her name is Princess Pigelette," she says. "She's a teacup, so she'll only get to be 20 pounds."

LiLo cozies up with . . .

Can there be life after Samantha Ronson? Perhaps.

Lindsay Lohan, whose epochal love affair with the DJ imploded recently, is reportedly coping with the pain with the aid of Gerard Butler,    the scrumptious hunk best known as the hyper-manly bare-chested alpha male in the swords-'n'-sandals epic 300. London's Daily Mail says LiLo and AlphaGuy smooched in public at a star-studded party at a beach resort in El Jadida, Morocco.

Or did she? "One minute i'm dumped, the next i'm dating a model [Petey Wright] now Gerard?" LiLo says in a tweet. "WHO HAS THE TIME! such lies - it keeps me laughing."

Oscar's odd couple

Next year's Oscars have a host, or hosts: Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. The two will share duties at the 82d Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said yesterday.

New show producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman, who have said they want to make the broadcast more fun, said Martin and Baldwin were "the perfect pair of hosts for the Oscars."

The last time the show had multiple hosts was in 1987, when Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, and Paul Hogan shared duties.

Hugh Jackman, who sang and danced as host of the most recent Oscars, declined to reprise his role before Mechanic and Shankman joined up.

Martin, who has hosted twice before, said he was "happy to cohost the Oscars with my enemy." Baldwin called the Oscar gig "the opportunity of a lifetime."

Felony charges for Ryan fan

Los Angeles County prosecutors on Monday brought felony charges against Chidi Benjamin Uzomah Jr., 25, for allegedly stalking American Idol's Ryan Seacrest.

Uzomah was arrested Friday when he showed up at the E! Entertainment Television headquarters to see Ryan. He allegedly was carrying a knife.

"His aggressive and violent efforts to come into physical contact with me are extremely frightening to me," Ryan wrote in a declaration for the restraining order Friday. Uzomah is currently on probation after pleading guilty in September to assaulting Ryan's bodyguard. He faces up to four years in prison.

Tidbits 'n' pieces

Titanic star Kate Winslet, 33, yesterday said she's "delighted" to win a $40,000 libel suit against Brit tabloid the Daily Mail for a January story that claimed Kate lied when she said her svelte looks weren't due to an intense exercise regime.

Oprah has signed to narrate Life, an 11-part docu series set to premiere in March on Discovery Channel. It will explore how living beings around the globe try to survive in their environment.

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Contact "Sideshow" at sideshow@phillynews.com. This column contains information from Inquirer wire services.