Tattle: Rihanna gains 'sexiest' title

LADIES-WHO-LOVE-LADIES and gentlemen (hetero chicks, you can probably skip this item), Esquire mag has named their Sexiest Woman Alive: Rihanna.

(The Esquire list is not to be confused with People's list that includes 50 people and, most importantly men, nor Maxim's Hot 100, which hardly deigns to identify the winning ladies, nor the countless lists kept in the heads of many teenage boys.)

The Esquire pictorial, which, let's be honest, is what people care about, features the Barbados-born Rihanna covered in not much more than seaweed, sand and dirt, looking like she positively owns the title.

The obligatory interview touches on the subject of former paramour Chris Brown, who was famously arrested for beating her up two years ago. "It's incredible to see how he pulled out of it the way he did. Even when the world seemed like it was against him, you know?" Rihanna said. "I really like the music he's putting out. I'm a fan of his stuff. I've always been a fan. Obviously, I had some resentment toward him for a while, for obvious reasons. But I've put that behind me."

We gotta say, Ri-Ri, we wouldn't be that forgiving to a guy who beat our face bloody and left bite marks on our arms and fingers. In fact, this is the one time when she's allowed to be unapologetically hateful toward an ex. At least relish that.

Previous Esquire-anointed Sexiest Women Alive include Minka Kelly (2010), Kate Beckinsale (2009) and Halle Berry (2008), among others. Angelina Jolie inaugurated the designation, when she was named Sexiest Woman Alive in 2004.

For those outraged at the results, Lady Tattle took our name out of the running so as to make the contest fair for the other participants.

Tragedy of tragedies! Could Beyonce, half of the Lady Tattle-declared Coolest Couple of All Time, be faking her pregnancy?

Comments about the size of Beyonce's baby bump cropped up soon after she and Jay-Z announced her pregnancy at the Video Music Awards in August. They flared up again when gossipmongers got hold of an interview on the Australian show "Sunday Night." In the clip, Beyonce sits down and her baby bump seems to crumple and fold in on itself.

Theories to explain the collapsible bump include one that Beyonce and hubs are using a surrogate in order to keep B's banging body intact or that Hova, in fact, fathered a child by another woman and the couple are trying to pass it off as their own.

Or, as Beyonce's rep has told the press, the entire hooplah is simply "foolish."

We're calling B.S. on all accounts. Beyonce played up her tummy in her new video "Countdown," and it just seems like so much unnecessary effort to glorify a pregnancy that doesn't really exist. Not to mention the pictures circulating of Beyonce in a bikini, baring her bump in all its glory.

Philly-born Lee Daniels, who was nominated for a best-director Oscar for his might-as-well-have-been-sponsored-by-Kleenex flick "Precious," is developing a series for Showtime with "Temple Grandin" writer W. Merritt Johnson. It's about New York's drag scene and focuses on the ball culture known for its drag competitions and the support it provides the LGBT community (think the 1990 documentary "Paris is Burning").

Daniels also is working on an adaptation of "Valley of the Dolls" and is directing "The Paperboy," featuring Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, John Cusack and Nicole Kidman, and based on the book by former Daily News legend Pete Dexter.

- Daily News wire services

contributed to this report.