FREE AT LAST
R&B legend Diana Ross is a free woman. At last! Ross, whopleaded no contest in February to a drunken driving charge inTucson, Ariz., last month arranged to serve her 48-hour jailsentence in a Greenwich, Conn., jail near her home. She ended upserving 47 nonconsecutive hours -- during which she left andreturned to the jail several times. That raised the ire of TucsonCity Court Magistrate T. Jay Cranshaw, who said Ross must come onback to jail and serve her full sentence in Arizona. But Monday,Cranshaw vacated his order, saying that Ross has fulfilled herobligation in the DUI case.
SOCCER STAR: 'I AM VERY HAPPILY MARRIED'
When soccer megastar David Beckham married Spice Girl alumVictoria Adams, Europeans found a new Prince Charles and PrincessDiana to worship. But it seems the younger couple's marriagesuffers from the same kinds of frictions as the doomed royalcouple's. The Brit tabs have published items about supposed Beckhammarital woes for years. And this week, the News of the World saidBecks has been carrying on with his former personal assistant,Rebecca Loos.
To counteract those rumors, Becks has left Madrid, where heplays for the Real Madrid soccer team, to rejoin his missus andtheir kids for the Easter holiday. And he issued a statement aboutthe allegations: "The simple truth is that I am very happilymarried, have a wonderful wife and two very special kids." A repfor the News of the World told the BBC the tab stands by itsstory.
KIM'S REVENGE?
The bitter custody battle between Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwinover their 8-year-old daughter, Ireland, has ended: Baldwin won hisbid for equal access to the girl. But it seems Basinger, whoaccused her ex-hubby of being foul-tempered and menacing when shefiled for divorce in January 2001, is finally washing that man outof her hair. According to the New York Daily News, Basinger isselling off a bucketload of jewels Baldwin gave her during theirless-than-bucolic time together.
The collection of baubles, to be auctioned by Christie's inManhattan, includes the Tiffany engagement ring the king of LongIsland gave Kim in '93 (the 3.7-carat diamond mounted on an18-karat gold band is valued at $40,000) and a gold necklace chainthat consists of diamond butterflies accented with citrine andaquamarine ($8,000 to $10,000).
Basinger's rep, who said Basinger's wedding ring is not forsale, added that the auction's for a good cause: Proceeds willbenefit the Performing Animal Welfare Society, which helps abusedand abandoned animals. The goods'll be on display starting April14, and bidding begins April 20.
OSBOURNES VS. DRUGS
More dysfunction in America's most beloved reality TV family,the Osbournes: Dad's diming out his doc, while daughter has gone torehab. The recovering addict, whose drug-addled speech patterns andodd behavior have delighted millions of MTViewers, has done a sortof reverse Rush Limbaugh. The patriarch has filed a complaint withCalifornia's medical board, accusing a Beverly Hills doctor ofoverprescribing addictive drugs to him. According to the LosAngeles Times, Ozzy said it's those drugs -- which includeDexedrine, Valium and Zyprexa -- which have led to the bizarre,disoriented behavior chronicled for TV fans daily on The Osbournes.Authorities have asked Dr. David Kipper to turn over Ozzy's medicalrecords. Kipper's attorney said the doc is "always pleased tocooperate with the medical board."
Meanwhile, Kelly has decided to follow in the footsteps of Dad-- and younger bro Jack -- by entering rehab for addiction topainkillers. Her parents, Ozzy and Sharon, toldjournalist-cum-therapist-to-the-stars Larry King that Kelly, 19,copped to her problem after they confronted her. They then found abag of some 500 pills under her bed.
We can't help but wonder whether the show'll become totallyboring if all the members of the family end up acting stone-coldsober.
LIPTON'S NEW CONTRACT
The insufferably magniloquent James Lipton, so archly lambastedby Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live, tells the New York Posthe's about to sign a contract that'll keep him on Bravo's Insidethe Actors Studio for two or three more years. While we're dismayedby this, the Post seems more horrified about Lipton's forthcomingshow with Jennifer Lopez, whom they apparently don't consider agood enough thesp to go toe-to-toe with the pontifical former deanof the Actors Studio Drama School at the New School. To which wesay, balderdash!
