So claims SR's ex-gf, Pia Glenn, who tells London's Daily Mail and the New York Post that Salman is still obsessed with his ex-wife, beloved Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi, more than two years after their divorce.

Glenn, an actress featured in Broadway's Spamalot, tells the Post, "I told him I wanted children, and he was happy with that. He asked me to move in, and we talked about the future," adding that she wasn't scared off by Rushdie's "reputation as a womanizer."

Things didn't go so well, Glenn says: "He would talk about Padma day and night. He felt hurt and betrayed by her. He would talk about her so much I'd ask him to stop." Oh, dear.

Needless to say, the relationship didn't last long. Rushdie declined the Post's requests for comment.

Emily Blunt's rock shock

"It's a little blinding," Blunt says. She says she's amused by various gossipers' accounts of the various private and intimate things that transpired when John proposed to her. "I can't tell you," she says, "because that's for me to know." Blunt says she'd like to star in a movie that'd allow her to stretch herself. Literally.

"I would like to play a role where I get to put on a lot of weight - I would like to eat carbonara for three months straight."

Madonna's (skimpy) largesse

That's what Madonna gave away last year, reports gossiper Roger Friedman on his Hollywood Reporter blog.

But before you buy her a medal, consider this: Madge made $110 mil last year, which means she gave away less than 0.5 percent of her income. Friedman says Madge's biggest contribution went not to her much-publicized charities to help kids in Malawi, but to the Kabbalah Center and associated organizations.

Madge's reps do not seem to have been contacted for comment.

Cruise's unfunny jokes

"There was no basis for it," BP says, "It was like, 'It's a nice day, I'm glad there are no gay people standing here.' Very, very strange."

BP, who admits he never expected the 1983 teen flick to become a hit, says he and his costars were struck by Cruise's confidence: "He always talked about himself like he was a mega-superstar; that was weird, too."

Tidbits 'n' pieces

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will have a sit-down with The Big O on The Oprah Winfrey Show on Monday, Nov. 16. Oprah's reps say this will be Palin's very first interview about her memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, which will be released the next day.

Rihanna this week released the single "Russian Roulette," from her coming album, Rated R. The album, her first since '07's Good Girl Gone Bad, is due out Nov. 23.

Dying to know how Levi Johnston is buffing up for his Playgirl photo shoot? He eats plenty of moose, his trainer, Marvin Jones, tells People mag: "Moose meat is very good for you, high in protein and very lean." Jones says Levi "is an avid hunter" who bags his own din-din.

Variety says That '70s Show dude's dude Wilmer Valderrama is developing a new sitcom for Fox based on the life and times of Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan, who has trained some of the most famous dogs in the movies.

Keaton: Sure, I'd pay for it

"I don't think men even look at me anymore. If anything could work in that area, it would probably be if I paid him," she quips. Woody Allen's onetime muse says, "I'm totally for it! I pay for everything else. . . . I bet I'll have a lot of suitors now, right?"

This column contains information from Inquirer wire services.