Sideshow: More speculation and more songs
Amy Winehouse's parents, Mitchell and Janis Winehouse, maintain that the British blues singer died from alcohol withdrawal, People mag says.
Amy Winehouse
's parents,
Mitchell
and
Janis Winehouse
, maintain that the British blues singer died from alcohol withdrawal, People mag says.
Winehouse died Saturday at age 27. Officials are waiting for toxicology tests before they can determine cause of death. But an Unnamed Family Friend tells London's the Sun that Winehouse, who had been battling addiction for years, ignored her doctor's advice to taper off booze gradually. Instead, she went cold turkey, which can cause seizures and even death.
"Abstinence gave her body such a fright, [they] thought it was eventually the cause of her death," says the source.
New music from Winehouse?
Sales of
Winehouse's records have skyrocketed since her death. And more's coming.
The singer's rep, Chris Goodman, on Thursday told London's the Guardian that Amy left "plenty" of material - roughly a dozen songs. He said he didn't know how finished the songs were.
Music producer Salaam Remi, who worked on the only two albums Winehouse released, Frank and Back to Black, concurs. He told New York's Power 105.1 radio station that it's up to the family to decide. "We had a lot of things going, there are recordings, but first things first, I think," he said. "We're trying to focus on what's at hand and what her family wants to do."
The media killed Winehouse
Paz de la Huerta
's considerable sex appeal (and tremendous turn in
Gaspar Noé
's trippy pic
Enter the Void
) is lessened by her penchant for spouting silly things. She tells London's Observer that the paparazzi are partly responsible for Winehouse's death. "Maybe had she not seen so many bad pictures of herself" in gossip rags, Paz says, "she would have gotten more self-esteem and not been so self-destructive."
The charity files: Britney 'n' the Lady
Britney Spears
,
Justin Bieber
, and
Lady Gaga
are helping to raise money for a trust to help
Joshua
and
Robin Berry
's three orphaned children, says People. In a case that made international headlines, the Berry family, heading home to Houston after a vacation, were in a car crash on July 3 that killed Joshua and Robin.
Peter
, 9, and
Aaron
, 8, were permanently paralyzed below the waist, while
Willa
, 6, suffered broken bones.
"It is a really sad story, but this is an opportunity for me and my friends to do something good for others," says Bieber. Info: www.showyourhearts.org/.
The charity files: The Olsen twins
Mary-Kate
and
Ashley Olsen
, who preside over a gazillion-dollar media and fashion empire (they design The Row line), visited kids at three communities outside the Honduran city of Tegucigalpa. Their mission: To hand out free footwear from TOMS. "Having the opportunity to be a part of something so meaningful has made the collaboration with TOMS special to everyone at The Row," Mary-Kate tells Women's Wear Daily. (Hey, you gotta plug product names even in a charitable crusade.)
Pippa M., plastic surgery inspiration?
FoxNews.com says plastic surgeons on both sides of the Atlantic have been overwhelmed by requests from women who desperately want to have
Pippa Middleton
's derriere. It happened after Pippa's appearance in a very tight
Alexander McQueen
gown at the April wedding of her sis,
Kate
, to
Prince William
.
"The latest craze here in the U.S. and all over the world is to get the Pippa Butt Lift," Miami surgeon Constantino Mendieta tells FoxNews.
No bridge for Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
's hometown
won't
name a bridge after the rocker, after all. The City Council in Aberdeen, Wash., has voted 10-1 against a resolution to rename the bridge, which unofficially is named after pioneer
Alexander Young
. Members of the council said they didn't want to glamorize the late
Nirvana
front man's drug habits. Cobain was a suicide in '94 at age 27.
He sleeps in the buff!?
Alex Trebek
, 71, is scheduled to undergo surgery Friday after his Achilles' tendon ruptured when he tried to apprehend a burglar who had entered his San Francisco hotel room Tuesday.
"I realized immediately someone had been in the room," USAToday.com quotes Trebek as saying. "I put on my underwear and ran down the hall to see if I could find her." (A 56-year-old woman was nabbed and charged with felony burglary.) Today's Matt Lauer on Thursday noted the most revealing aspect of the case: "Alex Trebek sleeps in the nude?"