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CNN Live Today

Celebrity Dramas

Aired November 12, 2003 - 10:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A number of Hollywood stars are in the legal spotlight this morning with cases that have become fodder for the tabloids and television talk shows. Rosie O'Donnell is fighting her former publisher. Christian Slater's wife allegedly fought him.
For more on that, let's bring in Harvey Levin, executive producer of "Celebrity Justice."

HARVEY LEVIN, EXEC. PROD., "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: Let's talk about Rosie first. The judge in the case kind of hinted to Rosie O'Donnell I might have something very interesting to tell you on Wednesday morning. Here we are.

LEVIN: Here we are. We don't know yet. It looks like this is going to come to a grinding halt today. There will be no closing arguments. The judge is supposed to get this case presumably today, and it may take a week or two to make a decision. I don't know what the surprise is yet.

KAGAN: How do you think it's going to play out?

LEVIN: You mean the actual verdict?

KAGAN: Yes, come on.

LEVIN: You know, I'll go out on a limb here.

KAGAN: OK.

LEVIN: I think the edge is with Rosie O'Donnell in this case, and the reason I say that is because even though this is about money, and about how much the magazine was making, I still believe -- and we've talked about it before -- that this is more about cultures, and these cultures collided, and I think the magazine kind of knew what they were getting and tried to manipulate it, and I think it's going to keep coming back to that, and there was also testimony that maybe the magazine cooked the books a little bit to show a different set of profit figures than were really the case, and I think that will not play well with the judge.

KAGAN: Because there was that exit line if it was losing more than $4.2 million, and that was an excuse for either side to get out. They didn't want Rosie to have that excuse.

LEVIN: Exactly. And if the judge really believes that the books were manipulated, that's such a central portion that there's a rule of law that if you lie about one thing, the judge can discount everything else you say, and that's really a critical part of the magazine's case.

KAGAN: And then under nobody really knows the inside of a marriage besides the people inside of it. Christian Slater, the victim of domestic abuse.

LEVIN: Well, so the police say.

KAGAN: OK, allegedly.

LEVIN: He is not saying that. What happened was there was a Limp Bizkit concert in Las Vegas, I believe it was at the Hard Rock. The couple was staying at the Hard Rock, the couple, Christian Slater and his wife of three years, Ryan Haddon. She allegedly threw a glass at him, and we are told that he had nine stitches, that he was taken to the hospital. She was arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence and released 10 hours later without bail.

Now, we know that Christian Slater is insisting that this was an accident. And the police have told "Celebrity Justice" that even if he's backing off and saying this is an accident, they can still press on if they believe it's domestic violence.

The reality, Daryn, if it happens behind closed doors, it's real hard to prosecute a case where the alleged victim himself is saying, look, I did get hit, it wasn't intentional, it's an accident. It's real hard to prosecute those cases.

KAGAN: I know that. And I don't know what the law is in Nevada, but I know in certain places, that even if the victim doesn't want to press charges, in case of domestic violence, or alleged domestic violence, the prosecution can still take over.

LEVIN: Absolutely. And you know, I think there's a difference. If someone is hit repeatedly with fists or with an object over and over and over, then you can argue, how can that be an accident, but if it's one event, if it's one glass hitting somebody one time and then doing damage, how do you know if it's intentional or if it's an accident, and I think that's a harder one for prosecutors to prove. And that's why I think If anything is going to happen, they'll need Christian behind them, and he is saying emphatically that this was an accident.

KAGAN: We'll be tracking it, and you'll be tracking that, and Rosie as well.

LEVIN: You can bet on it.

KAGAN: Harvey Levin, from "Celebrity Justice." Thank you, Harvey.

LEVIN: Bye, Daryn.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 12, 2003 - 10:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A number of Hollywood stars are in the legal spotlight this morning with cases that have become fodder for the tabloids and television talk shows. Rosie O'Donnell is fighting her former publisher. Christian Slater's wife allegedly fought him.
For more on that, let's bring in Harvey Levin, executive producer of "Celebrity Justice."

HARVEY LEVIN, EXEC. PROD., "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: Let's talk about Rosie first. The judge in the case kind of hinted to Rosie O'Donnell I might have something very interesting to tell you on Wednesday morning. Here we are.

LEVIN: Here we are. We don't know yet. It looks like this is going to come to a grinding halt today. There will be no closing arguments. The judge is supposed to get this case presumably today, and it may take a week or two to make a decision. I don't know what the surprise is yet.

KAGAN: How do you think it's going to play out?

LEVIN: You mean the actual verdict?

KAGAN: Yes, come on.

LEVIN: You know, I'll go out on a limb here.

KAGAN: OK.

LEVIN: I think the edge is with Rosie O'Donnell in this case, and the reason I say that is because even though this is about money, and about how much the magazine was making, I still believe -- and we've talked about it before -- that this is more about cultures, and these cultures collided, and I think the magazine kind of knew what they were getting and tried to manipulate it, and I think it's going to keep coming back to that, and there was also testimony that maybe the magazine cooked the books a little bit to show a different set of profit figures than were really the case, and I think that will not play well with the judge.

KAGAN: Because there was that exit line if it was losing more than $4.2 million, and that was an excuse for either side to get out. They didn't want Rosie to have that excuse.

LEVIN: Exactly. And if the judge really believes that the books were manipulated, that's such a central portion that there's a rule of law that if you lie about one thing, the judge can discount everything else you say, and that's really a critical part of the magazine's case.

KAGAN: And then under nobody really knows the inside of a marriage besides the people inside of it. Christian Slater, the victim of domestic abuse.

LEVIN: Well, so the police say.

KAGAN: OK, allegedly.

LEVIN: He is not saying that. What happened was there was a Limp Bizkit concert in Las Vegas, I believe it was at the Hard Rock. The couple was staying at the Hard Rock, the couple, Christian Slater and his wife of three years, Ryan Haddon. She allegedly threw a glass at him, and we are told that he had nine stitches, that he was taken to the hospital. She was arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence and released 10 hours later without bail.

Now, we know that Christian Slater is insisting that this was an accident. And the police have told "Celebrity Justice" that even if he's backing off and saying this is an accident, they can still press on if they believe it's domestic violence.

The reality, Daryn, if it happens behind closed doors, it's real hard to prosecute a case where the alleged victim himself is saying, look, I did get hit, it wasn't intentional, it's an accident. It's real hard to prosecute those cases.

KAGAN: I know that. And I don't know what the law is in Nevada, but I know in certain places, that even if the victim doesn't want to press charges, in case of domestic violence, or alleged domestic violence, the prosecution can still take over.

LEVIN: Absolutely. And you know, I think there's a difference. If someone is hit repeatedly with fists or with an object over and over and over, then you can argue, how can that be an accident, but if it's one event, if it's one glass hitting somebody one time and then doing damage, how do you know if it's intentional or if it's an accident, and I think that's a harder one for prosecutors to prove. And that's why I think If anything is going to happen, they'll need Christian behind them, and he is saying emphatically that this was an accident.

KAGAN: We'll be tracking it, and you'll be tracking that, and Rosie as well.

LEVIN: You can bet on it.

KAGAN: Harvey Levin, from "Celebrity Justice." Thank you, Harvey.

LEVIN: Bye, Daryn.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com