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Showbiz Tonight
K-Fed Keeps Custody of Children; Reality Star Fight on Fox
Aired October 03, 2007 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
A.J. HAMMER, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT ANCHOR: A shocking ruling about when and how Britney Spears can see her kids. And is it true, does Eva Longoria really have a sex tape on the Internet? I`m A.J. Hammer. TV`s most provocative entertainment news show starts reason.
On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT late-breaking news, Britney`s big showdown in court. Did Britney Spears convince a judge to give her back her kids? Her dramatic face-off with Kevin Federline, and will she finally be tested for drugs?
Plus, a SHOWBIZ flashback you won`t see anywhere else.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRITNEY SPEARS, SINGER: Really, I was just like really obnoxious. I was always singing to the radio and always dancing and doing my own thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: The incredibly revealing interview we uncovered with Britney way back when. Tonight a SHOWBIZ special report, where did Britney go wrong?
Tonight when reality TV stars attack. Caught on tape, an unbelievable fight between Danny Bonaduce and another big reality star. Teeth knocked out, ambulances called. Tonight SHOWBIZ TONIGHT with the inside story and the dramatic video of the battle of the reality TV stars.
Hello. I`m A.J. Hammer, broadcasting tonight and every night from New York City. And we begin tonight with big breaking Britney news. A dramatic showdown in court late today as Britney`s attorney asked the judge to give her back her kids. In a shocking move on Monday, the judge ordered Britney to turnover her two young boys to their father, Kevin Federline, after she ignored his order to be tested for drugs and get a driver`s license, among many other things.
Well, tonight the judge decided the kids are going to stay with K-Fed, at least for now, and Britney will be able to visit them, but she will be monitored. Federline`s attorney held a news conference just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can say that the court did not reinstate the pre-existing custody order that was in effect prior to Monday. However, the court did provide for some orders with respect to visitation for the petitioner, pursuant to some further conditions that weren`t reflected in its order of Monday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: So there you have it. The kids stay with K-Fed. Britney is not getting them back, at least for now. Tonight, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is bringing you all the latest developments, including reports flying around that Britney is headed back to rehab. Joining me tonight from Hollywood, Ken Baker, managing editor of UsMagazine.com, in Atlanta tonight, attorney and founder of MyFifth.org, B.J. Bernstein, and right here in New York with me, Court TV anchor Ashleigh Banfield.
Gang, I appreciate you sticking around with us for this breaking news tonight. Ken Baker, let me go to you first. Are you at all surprised by what the judge decided today?
KEN BAKER, USMAGAZINE.COM: I`m not surprised, but I guarantee you Britney is. We talked to one of Britney`s close friends last night, and he told us that Britney expected that she would get the kids back. She went and got her driver`s license, which the judge reprimanded her for not having a valid California driver`s license. She did the drug and alcohol testing that was asked of her. She went to get her psych evaluation.
She thought, I`m going to do this stuff and the judge will reinstate custody. He did not. During this hearing, by the time it concluded, Britney had been driving around L.A. throughout the entire hearing. No one knows why. By the conclusion of the hearing, I`m told she was at her house in Beverly Hills alone. So here`s your portrait: her kids are taken away from her. The judge says they`re going to still be taken away from her, and she`s sitting her house alone in Beverly Hills.
It`s really just a very sad day all around.
HAMMER: It`s sad, Ken, and it`s bizarre. So, Ashleigh, according to Ken, Britney was shocked by this decision. Are you at all shocked?
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, COURT TV ANCHOR: No. I mean, it is confounding, her behavior, especially not showing up on a day like this. I mean, I can`t stress the gravity of today. However, the custody arrangement hasn`t necessarily changed all that much, in that she truly does have something still called joint physical custody. She still is considered to be part of this custody agreement. It`s just the amount of time that`s been changed.
It used to be 50-50. Now the primary status is given to Kevin, and she has specified times and dates, which are being kept a secret at this point, in which she can visit those children. And, as you mentioned off the top of the show, very important, they have to be monitored, those specified times and dates.
HAMMER: OK, but still, that`s a little confusing to me. If she still has the same arrangement as before, except really she doesn`t, because the kids are still with K-Fed, help me understand that.
BANFIELD: It`s just a time thing really. I mean, where it used to be very obvious, 50 percent of the time with her, 50 percent of time with Kevin. And she was essentially considered the primary custodial parent. He is now considered the primary custodial parent. And I believe he is probably the person who can set a lot of the terms when it comes to the amount of time -- the days and the dates that she can see those children.
And supervised. Don`t forget, he didn`t have to be supervised when he was with his kids. She is going to have to be supervised, and whether it`s he who supervises her or a nanny or someone of his choosing, or someone else of the court, is also something that`s still under wraps.
HAMMER: B.J. Bernstein, let me go to you with something that confounds me about what took place today, and this is something that both Ken and Ashleigh mentioned, the fact that Britney didn`t show up in court. Now, she didn`t have to show up in court today. That wasn`t required. But still, it seems to me like she would want to put her best foot forward, her best face forward, and show the judge she is willing to do whatever it takes, which thus far that really hasn`t been what`s been taking place. Do you think it was a bad move?
B.J. BERNSTEIN, MY5TH.ORG: Not necessarily. I don`t think her being there would have changed the type of order we saw. And we know that when Britney shows up, it is truly a circus. And I think the lawyers probably made a calculated decision that she shouldn`t be there, try to minimize the circus. And then you have to remember, she has, as you mentioned -- that she`s gone through a lot. And her emotional state may not be able to actually sit in the courtroom and hear that she`s not going to be able to be with her kids.
HAMMER: Well, I think what is crystal clear to everybody, hopefully to Britney, is that she has to make some dramatic moves moving forward from this if she ever wants to get any kind of custody of her kids back on some substantial level. Reports are floating around tonight that Britney is going to head back into rehab. Ken, I believe that would make it trip number three in the revolving door this year. Is that exactly what she needs to do?
BAKER: Well, she was in rehab in February and got out. And all reports indicated that she didn`t want to be there and thought she was forced to be there. Now, what`s interesting here, there is a missing piece to this puzzle. During the press conference, a reporter asked Caplan, the attorney for Kevin Federline, is Britney going to be ordered to go to rehab. He didn`t say yes or no. He just said you`ll have to look at the order and determine that.
So there`s a very much still a mystery here whether or not she`s going to go to rehab or not. Of course, a lot of sources we talk to say she needs rehab. But unless the court orders her, I don`t really see her going.
HAMMER: Ashleigh, let me ask you about that. If she were to go, even if the court didn`t order her to go to rehab -- let`s say Britney wakes up or actually listens to somebody who says, you know what, this would be your best move, would that make a difference to a judge in showing the court that at least she`s making an effort here?
BANFIELD: Oh, yes. Oh, A.J., yes. Rehab is not a bad word. It sounds like a bad word, but it`s a good word when it comes to the best interests of kids. Every judge wants to see somebody who says I need to get my life together for the sake of my children. I need to clean up, rather than the judge telling them if you want your children, you have to clean up. It makes a huge difference if she makes the choice.
Who knows if part of her evidence that she actually supplied with her lawyers in court today included a voluntary choice to go to rehab. If that is the case, kudos to her. On a personal note, I hope she`s doing it, because these poor kids are hopefully home tonight having a nice dinner getting a story read to them and drinking a bottle of milk.
HAMMER: Yes, exactly right. B.J. Bernstein, let me ask you the same question, because you`ve seen these situations yourself before, and it sounds from what Ashleigh is saying like a judge would be swayed by her heading to rehab.
BERNSTEIN: Yes, I wouldn`t be surprised if her side even said to the court we`re making -- taking steps to do so and getting her straight. It`s critical. And the fact that she`s been a couple of times, I got to tell you, with so many clients I have heard four, five, six times. I just spoke to a family today who was having to go through, where we just placed their son in rehab. This is a reality for young people. And you got to remember, Britney is -- she`s 25 years old, and she`s facing the problems that many other American teens and young people do.
HAMMER: Do we have a sense, Ashleigh, exactly what Kevin Federline wants moving forward? I know his attorney was rather vague, ambiguous when he was at the press conference after the hearing today. But does Kevin Federline still want 70-30 custody? Or do you think he is going for the full deal now?
BANFIELD: Here`s my guess. He loves his kids too, and he probably wants what`s best for them, and clearly having a healthy mother, an unaddicted healthy mother, role model in their lives is a good thing. I think even he would recognize that. I hope he would recognize that. Going forward who knows? It could be a very fluid situation. Right now, I think he is going for broke. He is going for everything he can get. And it looks like he got pretty much everything he can get with a monitored visit.
That was a shock to me that the kids have to be monitored with their mommy. Who knows? If she comes out of rehab, if she cleans up her act, if she fixes what she`s been breaking, then perhaps he will be a little more loose with his demands.
HAMMER: You know, we have to keep reminding ourselves that at the end of the day, it`s these two very young kids, two-year-old Sean Preston and one-year-old Jaden James right in the middle of this thing. And we saw a picture -- if we can bring that up, Charles -- of the nanny pushing them after they were turned over to Federline back on Monday. B.J., it seems that they are in a stable situation, at least more stable than they`ve been, as much as they`ve been through. Do you think it would just be better to let K-Fed have them for a while, for stability sake, and let them stay in one place?
BERNSTEIN: The reality is they also need their mother. So if she does get herself straight -- She has the next court date coming up October 26th. It`s a minute by minute situation, and it`s not so stable. Remember, you`re seeing that picture of K-Fed with the kids with the nanny. It seems like the nanny is the stability factor. And the truth is with divorced couples, children go back and forth. It`s a regular part of our society. It just needs to be with clean and sober parents.
HAMMER: So, Ashleigh, not a total loss for Britney Spears today. what do you think? Is there still a shot she could lose custody all together?
BANFIELD: There`s always that chance. If she walks in and out of Crossroads in a split second, like she did last time, it would not bode well. What judges like to see is commitment. Commitment to getting well and being a good parent. She would have to do all of the things that he has already ordered her to do that she has flouted. She hasn`t even signed the court order, to my knowledge. She would have to do all of those things and show this judge committed behavior to making sure these kids are safe and happy.
HAMMER: Let`s hope that happens. B.J. Bernstein, Ashleigh Banfield, and our thanks to Ken Baker as well. Appreciate you being with us tonight.
Now we want to hear from you for our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. Britney Spears` kids, are they better off with Kevin Federline? Get online to vote at CNN.com/SHOWBIZTONIGHT or you can email us at SHOWBIZTONIGHT@CNN.com. Wait until you see what we`ve uncovered. This is amazing. It`s a SHOWBIZ flashback all the way to 1999 with a very young, sweet, and innocent Britney. That interview not to be missed, coming up.
That got us wondering, when did Britney start to go wrong? A SHOWBIZ special report, from nice to naughty coming up at 30 minutes past the hour. We will also have this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANNY BONADUCE, REALITY STAR: He shouldn`t have put his arms and legs around me and started to throttle me. That was a bad call.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: This got really ugly. The battle of the reality TV stars; Danny Bonaduce punches a notorious "Survivor" contestant, even knocks out of some of his teeth. It`s all caught on tape. And that`s coming up next on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
And an Eva Longoria sex tape? Is Eva really following in the footsteps of Paris Hilton? There is more to this story than meets the eye. It`s coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Yes, that`s got to hurt. I`m A.J. Hammer. Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, TV`s most provocative entertainment news show. Tonight, the reality star smack down that really is just unbelievable. Charles, can we roll that again, please? Watch this, reality show Danny Bonaduce slamming to the ground former "Survivor" contestant Johnny Fairplay, as people kind of oohed and awed. This happened during the Fox reality channel`s "Really Awards." TMZ.com cameras caught this bloody aftermath with a bleeding Johnny Fairplay taken away in an ambulance.
And now Bonaduce reportedly is a suspect in a felony battery case. We can call this when reality show stars attack. Attacking the story with us tonight from Los Angeles, "In Touch Weekly" senior editor Kim Serafin and from Miami Steve Santagati, author of "The Manual." Kim, Steve, I appreciate you both being here tonight.
Now, let`s call it what it is. Johnny Fairplay, not really the most well-liked guy in the world. If you remember on "Survivor," he quite famously lied and told everybody that his grandmother was dead so he could help himself in the game. Kim, watching that video, did it look like he kind of had that coming?
KIM SERAFIN, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Well, you know, Danny had been very open about what happened. He was on his radio show. He does a radio show here in L.A. and was talking about it this morning. He also did an interview with TMZ. And he says that he went on stage. People were booing Johnny. He went on stage, said they`re booing you because they hate you. And then he says that Johnny made this run towards him, jumped on him, threw his arms and his legs around him, which it does look like from the video, and that Danny, just to get him off of him, threw him off over his head.
So this is his story. Danny did say this morning before this video -- oh -- before this video came out, he said, you know, it was a reality show awards dinner. You know, it was an awards show. There were cameras everywhere. He said the video will prove that I did what I did, and --
HAMMER: I don`t know if that`s going to help him. I don`t know if that`s going to help him if this becomes a felony thing. Steve, hang on one second, because we want to hear in Danny`s own words exactly what he said about how this all started. This is what he told TMZ.com.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BONADUCE: I don`t like him. I think what he did saying my grandmother is dead so people would give him their food on "Survivor" was a crappy thing to do. But I wouldn`t hit somebody over it. It`s a game show. He just shouldn`t have put his arms and legs around me and started to throttle me. That was a bad call on his part.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Steve, I have know Danny for about a dozen years. He has always been on the edge. I thought a little more in control than that most recently. I know you have worked with Danny on a reality show project. Does what he did surprise you?
STEVE SANTAGATI, AUTHOR, "THE MANUAL": It doesn`t surprise me. But it`s still completely irresponsible. Danny, number one, is a trained fighter. Danny is pumped up. He has admitted taking steroids before. He has done a lot of things. He has been in the ring. These guys were just rough housing. Johnny was jumping.
Regardless of how you feel about Johnny, that doesn`t matter. What Danny did was irreprehensible, because he just took him and tossed him over onto a hard floor. I`m all about rough housing. I`m all about being a guy. But that`s something, you know what -- look at the way Danny responded as well. It`s just like, hey, check me out. Look how tough I am.
Basically had he an opportunity to hurt somebody. Forget the fact that Johnny did this thing lying about his grandmother. It doesn`t matter. That`s a different show. What Danny did was wrong, end of story.
HAMMER: Not really a fair match. Danny is a huge guy and, as you said, a trained fighter. And he has made no secret about his personal problems. You know, we saw on his reality show "Breaking Bonaduce" his struggles with alcoholism and his marriage. Listen to what he told SHOWBIZ TONIGHT about his struggles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BONADUCE: You and I could wrap up this show and grab a cocktail like civilized people, and I would go home and life would be fine. The next day I think I`ll have two. And within three months to a year, I would be in jail somewhere. That`s the way it goes. No, in the long run I can`t have just one drink.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Danny, of course, acknowledges and has acknowledged that he has problems. Let`s also keep in mind he is a showman. He always does things over the top. Kim, you obviously hear him on the radio out there in L.A. All that said, does it seem to you that he was a little out of control here?
SERAFIN: You know, you look at that videotape, and he does throw him over his head. Johnny, on the other hand, says, oh, I was just trying to hug him. It clearly -- there were two -- oh. Playing that over and over again. It does look pretty bad, and you are right, he has been very open about his struggles. He has done his reality show. He talks about it on the radio. Every time there`s a celebrity out of control, he is usually on TV talking about what it`s like to be addicted to drugs and alcohol and how easy it is to fall back into that habit.
You know, the thing about Danny, if there`s a problem, he will be out there talking about it. He will tell you he is back in rehab or he will tell you he has fallen off the wagon.
HAMMER: He is quite open about it. Santagati, I`ve got 20 seconds left. I mean, he may be facing felony battery charges. If that winds up happening, should we be really worried about him at this point?
SANTAGATI: This would be his wakeup call, bottom line. The other thing is that the biggest drug here that Danny is addicted to is fame and getting attention.
HAMMER: Oh, yes. He is also quite clear about that, no question about that. Steve Santagati, Kim Serafin, thank you very much. Let`s hope Danny gets things under control.
All right, are you ready for this one? Actor Nicholas Cage got quite the surprise when he found a naked man walking around his house at 1:30 in the morning. Let`s be fair, Robert Dennis wasn`t completely naked. He was wearing one of Cage`s leather jackets. He has been charged with residential burglary, and he has to be in court next week for a preliminary hearing.
Now, police say that Cage called a security guard after he saw the man wandering around inside his house. When police arrived, Cage had already escorted the man outside without a struggle.
Almost couldn`t believe this when it crossed my desk today. Could this be true? Has Eva Longoria joined Pam Anderson and Paris Hilton in the celebrity sex tape hall of fame? We are going to set the record straight coming up next. We`ll also have this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPEARS: Everything has happened so fast, and it`s just like, in the morning I just wake up and I want to pinch myself. It`s so overwhelming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Is that who I think it is? Yes, it is. A SHOWBIZ flashback. The unbelievably revealing interview we have uncovered from when Britney was still all young and innocent. How times have changed. That`s coming up.
Then we`ll go back even further in time. We have dug up one of Brad Pitt`s first TV interviews. This is amazing. Wait until you hear his thoughts on fame and why he left home for Hollywood. Coming up Brad Pitt, the lost interview. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York. Tonight the Eva Longoria sex tape.
Hold on a second. Before you get too excited, let me make this abundantly clear. The "Desperate Housewives" star is in a video called "Eva Longoria Sex Tape." But it`s just a spoof, gang. She and an actor Eric Christian Olson (ph) made this spoof, posted on FunnyOrDie.com. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVA LONGORIA, ACTRESS: I look good in night vision.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You do look good in night vision. Arms up. You`re flying.
LONGORIA: Are you sure no one is ever going to see this, because one day I might want to marry a really cute basketball player or something like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re a basketball player.
LONGORIA: You`re a basketball player.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No you`re a basketball, Eva Longoria.
LONGORIA: Back to bed. I have an audition tomorrow for something called "Desperate Housewives."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That sounds like crap.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Actually pretty funny. Now there are some tabloids and adult websites out there that have run with this story, saying Eva Longoria has a real sex tape out there on the Internet. Eva`s spokeswoman tells us, quote, "we find it humorous that websites are claiming to have this sex tape. There is no sex tape out there. This was meant to be funny and done with that intention only." So now you know.
Well, wait until you see what we`ve uncovered. It is a SHOWBIZ flashback to 1999. Look at this, a very young, sweet, and innocent Britney. We`ll have that revealing interview coming up. It got us wondering, when did Britney start to go wrong? A SHOWBIZ special report, from nice to naughty, next. Also this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAD PITT, ACTOR: A lot of the attraction before I came out was the fame, the lifestyle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Yes, that`s Brad Pitt. We have the lost interview. We`ve uncovered one of Brad`s first TV interviews ever. I got to tell you, it`s crazy. Young Brad`s thoughts on fame and Hollywood. That`s coming up in a SHOWBIZ TONIGHT exclusive.
Whose face do you think sells the most magazines when it`s on the cover? Brad`s ex-mate Jennifer Aniston, maybe his current love, Angelina Jolie? That is coming up while you think about it. We`ll be right back with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(NEWS BREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, as Britney battles for her kids, we are flashing back to a time when the headlines about Britney were all about her music.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRITNEY SPEARS, SINGER: Everything has happened so fast. And it`s just like in the morning I just wake up and I just want to pinch myself. It`s so overwhelming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Boy, how things have changed. Tonight a revealing Britney spears show biz flashback. Plus, how and why did Britney go from nice to naughty? It`s a SHOWBIZ TONIGHT special report.
And Brad Pitt`s exclusive lost interview you won`t see on any other entertainment news show. Tonight you won`t believe what brad had to say about fame in Hollywood before he was a huge superstar.
Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. It`s 30 minutes past the hour. I`m A.J. Hammer broadcasting tonight, and every night, from New York City. And tonight we have breaking Britney Spears news.
Lawyers for Britney Spears and Kevin Federline back in a Los Angeles courtroom late today, battling over the custody of their two young boys, Sean Preston and Jayden James. Well, K-Fed showed up. Britney did not. K- Fed won big.
SHOWBIZ TONIGHT can tell you that Federline will keep custody of the kids. Britney does get monitored visitation. The judge ordered both K-Fed and Britney to show up for the next hearing, which is scheduled for October 26th. By the way, the hearing lasted three hours. K-Fed wearing an eye patch. His lawyer said K-Fed hurt his eye, but gave no other details.
Well, I have been waiting all-show long to show you this. You have to see this amazing interview with Britney Spears before her quickie marriage and annulment. This was before her marriage and divorce to and from K-Fed, before shaving her head and rehab, and the battle for her kids. Before everything in her life went wrong. She was just a sweet, innocent 17-year- old. We dug this piece of tape up from 1999. It actually aired on CNN`s "Showbiz Today". That`s the show that SHOWBIZ TONIGHT actually grew out of, so tonight hit me, baby, one more time. Here is a very revealing Britney Spears SHOWBIZ TONIGHT flashback.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPEARS (singing): It`s killing me, and I must confess I still believe --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Britney Spears has pass the first test for any teenage singer sensation. Her debut album has sold more than 5 million copies, while her first video "Baby One More Time" has not only made the grade on MTV, but scored an A-plus with her legions of young fans as well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don`t understand. I live for Britney Spears.
SPEARS (singing): Hit me, baby, one more time --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (on camera): Your video, the high school girl, where did that come from?
SPEARS: I don`t know. I just -- I thought it would be really cool if we were all in school, and we were bored out of our minds, like most kids are when they`re in school. And they start day dreaming and dreaming about dancing and singing. That`s what a lot of teenagers can relate to.
(singing): Oh, baby, baby, I shouldn`t have let you go --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Whether it`s coming up with a concept for a hit video or designing the look for her current tour, the 17-year-old Louisiana native likes to be in control.
SPEARS: All the outfits that were done, in the show, were all my designs. And as far as all the concepts as far as the whole tour goes, I mean, me. You know, I did everything. Usually the director, you know, the - - they`ll come in and have a lot of ideas. They had a little say-so, but I had the main say-so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, it`s no surprise that Spears knew from a very young age that stardom might be in the offing with a little bit of help, that is.
(On camera): Were you self-taught as far as singing, dancing, performing, all that?
SPEARS: Well, really, I was just like actually really obnoxious. I was always singing to the radio and always dancing and doing my own thing. And then it was until my mom took me to a dance teach are and she said your daughter can sing, why don`t you start her into singing and dance contests?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the rest, as they say, is history. As for her newfound fame, Spears is handling that like a veteran.
(On camera): Do you find a lot of people that say maybe we knew you back home just barely. Suddenly now you`re their best friend?
SPEARS: Oh, yeah. In each city I go to, you know, this is your cousin so and so. Can they come back stage? I don`t have a cousin -- like all of a sudden everybody is getting to me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER: Britney there with original CNNer, the great Bill Tusch (ph). That was then, and now Britney`s story reads more like a tragic novel than a fairytale. But where did she go wrong? How did she go from being so nice to being off the page naughty? That is our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT special report tonight: "Britney, From Nice To Naughty"
And joining me tonight from Hollywood celebrity publicist Howard Bragman founder of 15 Minutes Public Relations, and from New York, Alex Wagner, the editor in chief of "Fader" magazine.
Alex, Howard, I appreciate you both being here tonight. You know, Britney has had obviously so many high points along the way, and now there is a mile-long list of all the lows. Howard Bragman, what do you think? If you had to pick one thing that really began her fall from pop princess to tabloid queen, what would that be?
HOWARD BRAGMAN, FIFTEEN MINUTES PUBLIC RELATIONS: Well, you know, it`s like when a plane crashes. It`s rarely one catastrophic failure. It`s a series of little things that add up. In 2002 "Forbes" magazine said Britney of the most powerful celebrity in the world. In 2003 she split with Justin Timberlake. She did that famous interview with Tucker Carlson. When the president`s popularity was starting to wane when she said we would do whatever the president tells us. It got picked in the movie "Fahrenheit 9/11."
And then in 2004, that was really the death knell, it was that 55-hour marriage to her childhood buddy, the other Jason Alexander. And from there not a good thing has happened in the last three years.
HAMMER: So it was just basically one big pile, and things kept getting heaped on it. Just a moment ago we saw that fascinating interview that we uncovered with Britney from 1999. Well, I`m happy to report there`s more. I want to you watch what she told CNN when she was just 17 years old, and had just hit it big. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPEARS: Everything has happened so fast. And it`s just like in the morning I wake up and want to pinch myself. It`s so overwhelming. And all these people working for you and do this for you. And it`s like, oh, I`m fine. I`m OK. It`s really nice, though. I feel so blessed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: I get warm and fuzzy when I see that. I want to reach out and pinch her cheeks. She`s so sweet there.
Alex, what do you think? Was this the nice girl, Britney? Was this the real deal back then, or was that just an act? Is the real Britney really the naughty train wreck that we`re all very familiar with these days?
ALEX WAGNER, "FADER" MAGAZINE: Well, you know, I think the real Britney is the same headstrong young girl who got bored very easily, and was left alone to make her own decisions. Initially those decisions were good ones. You know, she still had some semblance of a structure surrounding her. And she was still innocent, but as she got older and more bored, and was -- had more power in her hands, the decisions got riskier and crazier.
And they were kissing Madonna and Christina at the VMAs in 2003. They were the quickie marriages, there was the other marriage, to Kevin Federline, and the babies. And there was sort of the lack of infrastructure. She had nothing around her. There was no one to protect her, and she wasn`t listening to anybody, to be frank. The same girl that was, you know, 16 years old and saying I get bored and I`m in charge of my choreography. I`m in charge of my look. She`s the same girl now except that her -- there`s been so much irreparable damage to her. You know, who she is as an artist and as a woman and mother that, you know, it`s hard to come back from that.
HAMMER: See, not just for her, but for me, I long for those earlier days because there was that naivete, so it seemed anyway. Obviously, fame can do a lot to you. There was that purity. Fortunately, as I said, we have a lot more of that early Britney interview from 1999, that I just find so fascinating to watch. You know, in the context of what we now know. Listen to Britney talking about fame and what it does to people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPEARS: A lot of people think that, you know, the artist sometimes will change or the celebrity will change because of fame and stuff, but I think it`s -- me in my case I find it more and more every day, and it`s really sad to me, but I think the people around me have changed -- a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Yeah. It had nothing to do with her. She did go on to say that the people around her were more affected by fame than she was. Howard Bragman, what do you think? You are always around the people that are around the stars. Are those people in Britney`s case really to blame for her downfall? Is that one of the reasons she went from nice to naughty?
BRAGMAN: You know, I don`t care who is around you. Ultimately you have to be responsible for your life and it`s this personal responsibility concept that she hasn`t gotten. I`m not going to blame the people around her. And she`s now in a position that there`s literally nobody left around her. So, no, she`s got to own it herself, A.J. This doesn`t belong do her manager, agent, publicist. It belongs to Miss Britney, herself.
HAMMER: Really quickly, I want to play you another piece where she talks about distancing herself from becoming a role model. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPEARS: I`m human and I make mistakes, you know, like everybody else. And I can just try and be a good person for me, and for all of them. And if they want to put me occupy a pedestal or whatever, that`s flattering and that`s fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Alex, just a few seconds here, but what do you think? Did things snowball out of control for Britney? She was seemingly facing a turning point even back then.
WAGNER: I think age is (ph), just like Howard said, is a huge part of this equation. She has allowed herself to be isolated. If you look at the pop sphere, the main -- the best artists working today have a kind of -- they have the barriers and boundaries that they`ve set for themselves.
HAMMER: A much bigger support system than she could possibly --
WAGNER: Definitely.
HAMMER: have now. I have to wrap you there, because I`m out of time. But I do appreciate you joining us tonight. Alex Wagner, "Fader" magazine, and Howard Bragman from Fifteen Minutes PR, thanks for being here.
BRAGMAN: Thanks, A.J.
HAMMER: We`ve been asking you to vote on our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT "Question of the Day": Britney Spears` kids, are they better off with Kevin Federline? Continue to vote at cnn.com/showbiz tonight. Send your e-mail to cnn.com. We`ll read those tomorrow.
Well, believe it or not, there was a time when Brad Pitt wasn`t one of the biggest stars in the world. He was just a young kid trying to get his big break in Hollywood.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAD PITT, ACTOR: A lot of the attraction before I came out was the fame, the lifestyle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: You got to love the glasses and pooffie hair. Tonight a SHOWBIZ TONIGHT exclusive, Brad Pitt, the lost interview. You will not believe the things he had to say about fame and Hollywood before he became so famous and moved to Hollywood. That`s next.
Brad`s got one famous face, but does he sell magazines? This is something I have always wondered. Which are the stars that do the best when they appear on the covers of magazines on the newsstands? We`re revealing the top-selling celebrity faces next.
A shocking Anna Nicole Smith lawsuit. Howard K. Stern suing for -- get this -- $60 million all over that claim that he had a homosexual encounter with Larry Birkhead. Absolutely unbelievable, and I have the stunning details coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, TV`s most provocative entertainment news show. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.
Tonight I have got a real treat for you. This is one of Brad Pitt`s very first interviews, and you`ll see it only right here, exclusively on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
You`re not going to believe your ears or eyes when you see Brad circa 1988. He has some very surprising things about finding fame and fortune. His first big TV role and about his lying to his parents when he moved from small town Missouri to Hollywood.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): Less than two years ago 22-year-old Brad Pitt left Missouri and told his parents he was heading West.
PITT: I told them I was coming to finish my education.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What he had in mind, of course, was stardom, not school.
PITT: A lot of the attraction before I came out was the fame, the lifestyle. What really counts -- or, you know, the people you care for, and now my motivation is more like I want to be good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His first job? A regular on "Dallas."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PITT: I`m randy. Nice to meet you, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PITT: I got to admit I was like this, ah, ah, ah. You know, I used to watch these people. I`m still a little star struck, to be honest, you know. I just watched six months ago I was sitting home in Missouri watching these people on TV.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And soon people will be watching him on the big screen in his first starring role in the movie "Cutting Class."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PITT: You know, have I a lot more to find out about Mr. Brian Woods.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The actor admits he has gotten a lot quickly, but he says he also has a foundation that show business can`t shake.
PITT: I have to give credit to -- because, you know, I told myself before I got out here that the only way I was going to make it was to keep my head straight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which can be hard sometimes in a town where most heads are in the clouds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER: I love it. Just like that, Britney Spears flashback interview we showed you earlier tonight, this one also aired on CNN`s "Showbiz Today", the show, which is the great grandfather to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
Well, Brad Pitt did get that fame he was searching for, but I got to wonder if he knew how absolutely crazy things would get with paparazzi following him around, Angelina Jolie, and the four kids, all around the world all the time, would he have made the same decision? Well, Brad has some really harsh words for the paparazzi in the upcoming issue of "Parade" magazine.
He says, "It has gotten so out of hand, there is no decency, even when it comes to our kids. It`s disgusting. So, we`ve been run out of L.A., all the major cities. We just can`t live there. You get no warning about what celebrity is, or how to deal with it. I didn`t understand the incessant attention when I went outside, the way people completely focused on me. It made me very uncomfortable.
Then you start to see the fickleness of celebrity. That it isn`t rooted in something of real value. There is this strange wanting by people to get next to you." You can check out more in "Parade" magazine in newspapers everywhere this Sunday.
Brad Pitt, of course, a face you see week after week on the cover of all those celebrity magazines. But let me ask you, what makes you buy those magazines? Which face on the cover is a guarantee you`re going to plunk down your money and pick that thing up? Well, tonight Forbes.com is out with what is really a fascinating look at which celebrity faces sell the best. And there are a lot of surprises on this list.
Joining us tonight from Forbes offices in New York City Lacey Rose, senior writer for Forbes.com.
All right, Lacy, I mentioned Brad Pitt. Of course, now he is with Angelina Jolie, who we know he hooked up with after being married to Jennifer Aniston.
LACEY ROSE, SR. WRITER, FORBES.COM: Yes. Uh-huh?
HAMMER: Interesting to me, Lacey, Forbes.com found that the top- selling celebrity face is Jennifer Aniston. I actually would have thought it would have been Brad or Angie. Explain to me how this happened.
ROSE: OK. Well, you know, Brad Pitt does quite well on the list, as does Angelina, but Jen tops this list. We`re looking at newsstands sales; we`re looking at the number of covers and we`re looking at how likable these folks are. Jen really does brilliantly across the board. I mean, fans love her. She`s kind of that classic wronged woman who you empathize with her. You root for her. You want her to succeed, and you are certainly buying cover stories about her.
HAMMER: I like to hear that because I`m a big Jen Aniston fan. And as you mention, Brad did really well.
ROSE: He did well.
HAMMER: He happens to be there at No. 2.
ROSE: No. 2 spot.
HAMMER: I`m curious. Does that have as much to do with his soap opera personal life as his superstar career?
ROSE: You knowing, I don`t think you are seeing a whole lot of covers devoted to his next film. There really are stories about his love life. Whether it`s with Jen, whether it`s with Angelina, whether it`s that love triangle. That`s what`s really selling tabloids.
What`s interesting is you are not seeing a lot of men on the cover of these tabloids, but Brad successfully proves that the right man, you know, can sell tabloids.
HAMMER: And as you point out, it`s really not his movies that people are so much interested in reading.
ROSE: Oh, it`s always the romance.
HAMMER: I mentioned, Lacey, that there were some surprises here.
ROSE: Uh-huh.
HAMMER: Which brings us right to the No. 3 spot of the top-selling celebrity faces.
ROSE: Scarlett Johansson.
HAMMER: It`s not Angie Jolie, yeah. It`s Scarlett Johansson. I got to tell you, I never would have guessed that. Why her?
ROSE: The truth is she is extremely -- she`s -- a lot of people really like her. They respect her. Unlike a lot of the other young Hollywood stars, she`s not making her name in the clubs. She`s really making her name on screen. And I think for that reason people respect her. They`re intrigued by her. So she does well. You know, she was on a January cover of "US Weekly" and did really well. Sales were up 7 percent. People are interested in her.
HAMMER: It`s nice to see that people are interested in stars even if it`s not scandal following them around.
ROSE: You`re absolutely right there, right?
HAMMER: And we shouldn`t, by any means, count Angelina Jolie out of this equation. She makes your celebrity magazine best-seller list.
ROSE: She does.
HAMMER: As No. 4. Is it kind of the same as the reason I asked about Brad Pitt? Basically the same question for you here. Is it her personal life or her career the reason people are so fascinated?
ROSE: Again, sure. Again, I think it goes back to her personal life. That`s what`s on the cover of these tabloids. That`s what is selling them. What really helps her is the amount of cover. She`s on 17 covers, which is a ton of covers in a six-month period. The only one that scores more covers is Britney Spears with 18.
HAMMER: Right. Let`s -- and help me understand something about Britney.
ROSE: Sure.
HAMMER: Because I found this to be wildly surprising. Britney, of course, the biggest entertainment story of the year, and she is not high up on that list.
ROSE: She`s not at all. She`s actually at the bottom of our list. And that`s because, yes, she has the 18 covers. She`s constantly giving these magazines something to write about. So whether it`s shaving her head, losing her kids, whatever it may be, but the truth is that people, you know, get tired of reading about that consistently sad and bad stories. They want to see these stars come back. They like that roller coaster.
HAMMER: As I said, really fascinating.
ROSE: Thank you.
HAMMER: Thank you for bringing us more about that, Lacey Rose, more of the top-selling celebrity faces can be seen by checking out Forbes.com.
Well, the exclusive first pictures of Anna Nicole Smith`s daughter, Dannielynn, certainly a big magazine seller as well. But tonight, all the talk is about the explosive claim that Larry Birkhead and Howard K. Stern were caught in a homosexual encounter.
Howard is so angry, he is suing for -- are you ready for this? -- $60 million. We`ll fill you in on the shocking lawsuit coming up next on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Tonight Howard K. Stern is absolutely outraged by a shocking claim that he had a homosexual encounter with Larry Birkhead. He is so angry he`s suing for $60 million. Stern, Anna Nicole Smith`s lawyer and friend, has filed a libel suit against journalist Rita Cosby, and her publisher. Cosby is out with a new book called "Blonde Ambition", that alleges, among other things, that Stern and Birkhead, the father of Anna Nicole`s baby, Dannielynn, had a sexual get-together, and it was caught on tape.
That`s not the only stunning thing in the book. Cosby says those two also worked together to manipulate the media and make money off of it. Now our very own Brooke Anderson recently grilled who absolutely stands by her claims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You are clearly standing by your book?
RITA COSBY, AUTHOR, "BLONDE AMBITION": Uh-huh, 100 percent.
ANDERSON: OK, 100 percent?
COSBY: Uh-huh.
ANDERSON: Are you sure that everything in this book is factual.
COSBY: Uh-huh.
ANDERSON: That you have not made one single mistake?
COSBY: Uh-huh. Yeah. We`re sure. Stand by it. We know away we did. We know the research that went into it. It`s extraordinary research. And I`m glad you`re asking this, because we spent so much time. We did such in- depth detailed investigation. It was not some haphazard thing. This was very comprehensive, very detailed. We`re sure of what we have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: She better be sure. Stern`s attorney tells SHOWBIZ TONIGHT that, quote, " "Blonde Ambition" purports to be a tell-all book, but it can only accurately be described as a tell-all-lies book." Cosby`s publisher has no comment.
Yesterday we asked you to vote on our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. Here`s what we wanted to know. Britney Spears, did she deserve to lose custody of her kids? 56 percent of you said yes, she did; 44 percent of you said no, she didn`t deserve to lose custody.
A lot of e-mail came in on the topic, too. We heard from Cindy in California, who writes, "Britney absolutely deserves to lose her children. Her kids are in obvious peril every time they`re with her."
But Simone from Texas thinks, "Britney`s kids shouldn`t have been taken away from her. She`s misguided and lacks discipline. The people around her aren`t giving her good advice."
Whoever those people are? So much more to talk about regarding Britney Spears, of course. Here`s what`s coming up tomorrow on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
We`re going to be playing the Britney blame game. You know, there`s an awful lot of finger-pointing going on. Just who is responsible for Britney`s major meltdown? Her parents? Kevin Federline? The people around her? Britney, herself, perhaps? We`re investigating that tomorrow.
Also tomorrow actor-comedian Tom Arnold, he has some shocking no-holds barred advice for Miss Brit. Plus, his startling confessions about his painful battle with drugs and alcohol. You won`t want to miss this. Tom Arnold`s explosive words. That`s coming up tomorrow on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
That is it for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Thank you for watching. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York. "Glenn Beck" coming up next after the latest from CNN "Headline News".
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