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Showbiz Tonight

Olivia Newton-John`s Missing Boyfriend Sighted in Mexico; Broadway Star Lachanze Moves from Tragedy to Triumph; Movie Critics` Affect on Box Office Bottom Lines; First Brangelina Baby Photos; Kelly McGillis` Rape Nightmare; "The Omen"; Mia Farrow going to Darfur; 666 Hype; Kate Bosworth in "Superman Returns"

Aired June 06, 2006 - 23:00   ET

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

A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST: New information in the mysterious case of Olivia Newton-John`s missing boyfriend. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York
BROOKE ANDERSON, CO-HOST: And Mary Kay on what she regrets and what she doesn`t. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood, TV`s most provocative entertainment news show starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER (voice-over): On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, Kelly McGillis, reliving a rape nightmare. Before co-starring with Tom Cruise in "Top Gun," before she played a lawyer in the rape case in "The Accused," she herself was brutally raped. Tonight, why the rapist is back in court and why jurors will never find out what actually happened to McGillis that terrible night.

Tonight, big news about the Brad and Angelina baby, when we`ll see the first picture of baby Shiloh and breaking news on a Pitt-Jolie news conference.

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: About 12 journalists have been hand picked.

HAMMER: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is in Africa tonight, with late breaking developments on the story that will make you say, oh, baby.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER: Hello, I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.

ANDERSON: And I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. A.J., big news right now on the Brad and Angelina front.

HAMMER: Yes, the news is huge, the very first photo of their baby is out. Our friends at "People" magazine tell us that they have the biggest exclusive of the year, the very first photo of Shiloh and her proud parents and it`s going to be in the next magazine that they`re releasing on Friday. Now, get this, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT will have your very first look at the most anticipated picture of the year on Thursday. But, wait, there`s more. Of course, just a matter of hours, we`re going to hear from the proud parents themselves. We have everything you need to know from CNN`S Robyn Curnow, she is in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Now, Robyn, of course, everyone is waiting on these pictures of baby Shiloh. We can`t wait to see them. What do you know about the pictures that are already out there and spreading on the internet.

CURNOW: Well, I`ve seen already one photograph that is clearly a fake. It`s a mockup of a magazine cover and we have got confirmation that it is a fake photograph of Brad and Angelina and a baby. But, it`s fake because one of them is wearing a wedding ring and they are not married. And, of course, it looks -- the mockup of the magazine looks fake, but what is problematic, I think, for the Pitt and Jolie camp is the fact that this picture, whether it`s real or not, is going to be he e-mailed around the world. So probably some concern, on their side, you know, about that.

HAMMER: Well, just be clear here in the United States, they`re still going crazy and it now has been a week since baby Shiloh -- it`s been a week since baby Shiloh`s been born, but we still haven`t seen signs of Brad, Angelina or Shiloh yet, have we?

CURNOW: No, we haven`t. And what is interesting is that it seems like the Namibian press is going to get the first peek, well, at least at the new parents, from my colleagues in Namibia, I`m hearing that they are going to a press conference tomorrow, Wednesday. About 12 journalists have been hand picked by the Namibian authorities and perhaps by the Jolie-Pitt camp and we`re told that they`re going to have a sort of a press conference, basically, in Namibia, in Swakomund, that`s a small, little gusty town on the West Coast of Africa, and I think a lot of them are pretty excited about that, because even thought they`re not star struck they do that this is a pretty big story. And it`s not very often you get Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie giving you a press conference, so some of them I`ve spoken to are already preparing their questions and thinking about how they`re going to word -- you know, word what they`re going to say and, so I mean, I think there is a sense of excitement, but just a small group of Namibians are going to get that first look, at least, of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Don`t know whether they`re going to produce baby Shiloh for the Namibian media.

HAMMER: It will be some fun footage, nonetheless. Robyn Curnow, thanks for joining us from Johannesburg.

And once again, those first photos will be on news stands Friday but SHOWBIZ TONIGHT will your very first look at the photos on Thursday night. Now the reports have it that millions were paid for the photos, and all that money is going to charity, but "People" magazine is not saying how much they paid for the photos.

ANDERSON: OK, now we go to the astounding story of Kelly McGillis, the former co-star of Tom Cruise, who is once again reliving the nightmare of a rape that happened a long time ago. That`s because the man she says changed her life forever in a sickening sex attack is going back on trial tomorrow for doing the very same thing to two other women. This story is like something out of an episode of "Cold Case" on television.

Now, McGillis is best known for her role in "Top Gun," opposite Tom Cruise back in 1986. McGillis has openly and sometimes very angrily talked about the disgusting rape; telling CNN back in 1998 that she was attacked in her apartment by two men, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY MCGILLIS, ACTOR: I was in my apartment. There was nothing I did to encourage this to happen, but as many rape victims suffer, the emotion of punishment of what did I do to cause this. And I think that took me a long time to work itself out of my system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Now, McGillis went on to tell CNN that there are certain things that she can`t do without having fear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCGILLIS: There are certain things I won`t do. Certain situations I won`t put myself in. And that will remain with me for the rest of my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Joining me now from Los Angeles, investigative journalist, Pat Lalama.

Pat, thanks for being here. I want to take a step back now. Early 1980s, Kelly McGillis in her apartment with a friend, two people break in -- two men break in. One guy, this guy, on trial again, Leroy Johnson. What happened?

PAT LALAMA, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, it was taking turns tormenting her, quite simply. Her life threatened, and it`s just about as horrific as anyone can imagine. He did his time, but now he`s out and obviously, or at least allegedly, all over again, beginning this life-long tormenting process, perpetrating himself on other people.

ANDERSON: That is disgusting, Pat. And but here`s the thing, what he did to Kelly, what he was convicted of doing, is not admissible in this trial, although he has a history of raping women it seems. Why is that.

LALAMA: Yeah That`s a really good question. That`s something the audience needs to understand. There are many, a variety of reasons why a judge can not allow previous incidents. One would be his age. My understanding is, he was a teenager at the time.

ANDERSON: He was 15.

So he was a juvenile. No. 2 it could be that a judge cold could rule, you know what, that`s so inflammatory and so prejudicial, I just can`t allow it. A good example would be the basketball player on trial, I believe Jason Williams, when he was accused of killing his bodyguard, you know, there was evidence that he had shot a dog to death and the prosecution wanted to bring that in and they said, no, no, that`s so inflammatory, the jury`s just going to go, guilty. So that`s another reason.

But I do understand that in this case, the judge has said anything within the last 10 years, so hopefully other people`s horrific, tormented examples can be brought up and this man can be put where he belongs.

ANDERSON: So, there`s no way around this type of thing?

LALAMA: No.

ANDERSON: No way that her experience can be admissible here?

LALAMA: No, I mean it would take a boat load of appeals and you`d practically have to change the law -- you know, change congressional law. It`s just not going to happen, and it`s unfortunate because, bless her for having the courage to speak, because I think, what this comes down to, it is still what I say is a horrendous feeling amongst the judicial system with molesters and rapists that these crimes are curable and once they do their time, they won`t do the crime, because they have had a chance to change their lives. That doesn`t happen. These are crimes of great and immense torment and they want to perpetrate pain on people. This is not about sexual gratification. Same thing with child molesters and the system needs to change, the laws need to change so that Kelly could march forward and say, you need to hear my story, ladies and gentlemen.

ANDERSON: And, Kelly has really become an advocate for rape victims. She not only survives her ordeal, but she even took it into her craft, Pat. She starred as an attorney in a rape case in the film, "The Accused."

LALAMA: Absolutely.

ANDERSON: She`s spoken out. It is really, don`t you think, encouraging for other women who may have gone through something as horrific as this, when celebrities speak out?

LALAMA: I`m sorry for interrupting. Let me tell you how encouraging -- I`m all worked up, it`s so emotional, you`re giving me cold chills because I think one of the greatest things that celebrities can do, besides, you know, have pregnancies out of wedlock and do all the things you know I hate, is to be courageous and use their positions of power to teach people. Judges need to know rapists don`t stop, child molesters don`t stop. You know, judges need to know -- these women need to come forward and not feel like their pasts are going to be brought up or they`re going to dragged through the mud. God bless her and I hope that she can somehow alleviate the pain that I know she is going to live with for the rest of her life. And my hat`s off to her.

ANDERSON: It is inspiring that she -- now, this man has spent a great deal of time in prison. We`ll soon know if he`s going back behind bars. Pat, we`re going to have to leave it there. Thanks, as always, for joining us, we appreciate it.

LALAMA: My pleasure.

HAMMER: And Pat, among those having a child out of wedlock, Angelina Jolie and her growing family. A lot of people are watching that, including actress Mia Farrow, who knows a thing or two about kids. Hear what she has to say about the Jolie-Pitt clan, that`s coming up.

ANDERSON: Plus, Olivia Newton-John`s missing boyfriend, a new twist on the story. Could he have faked his own death? We`re going to get the latest coming up. We`ll also have this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was the good girl. I did everything right and it didn`t happen. I was so angry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Actress (UNINTELLIGIBLE) from Broadway`s "The Color Purple" and her own personal tale of coming back from despair, after September 11. Her moving story is just ahead in an interview you`ll see only on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: And welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. we are TV`s most provocative entertainment news show. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York. It is time now for a story that just made us say, "That`s Ridiculous." And this one really proves that there`s basically a sport for everyone. Are you not good at golf? Maybe you`re terrible at tennis? Well, how are you at kicking people in the shins? You heard me right. In England, it is the -- and I have to be careful how I say this -- it is the shin kicking competion, the shin kicking champion. Now, according to the Shin Kicking Associated of Britain, there is such an organization, the goal is to actually weaken your opponent by kicking him in the shins and then throw him off balance. Shin kicking championships. Now, Brooke, we just got to say, "That`s Ridiculous." And I, myself, not being a violent man, don`t know if I could happily participate in the shin kicking competition, although sometimes walking down the street in New York City I feel the compulsion to do it

ANDERSON: Right. They looked like they had some pads on their shins, but why would you want subject yourself -- and a lot of those shin kickers want it to become an Olympic sport. So, who knows? We might see it at the Olympics.

OK, coming up, A.J., have you looked at the calendar today? Well, it is June 6th, 2006, or 6-6-06. That`s right, 666, which is considered the sign of the devil. And while some were fearing that the world could end today, good old Hollywood, leave it to Hollywood, is using it for marketing. Here`s CNN`s Alina Cho for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Look no further than the most resent satanic thriller, "The Omen."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has a birthmark, a sequence of sixes.

CHO: The remake of the 1976 horror flick about a couple raising the son of satan, is not so coincidentally opening nationwide today, the 6th day of the 6th month 2006. But where does 6-6-6 come from? The answer, says Father James Martin, is the Bible.

FR. JAMES MARTIN, "AMERICA" MAGAZINE: It comes from the book of revelations, which is a book of prophecy. It is written in symbolic language and in Hebrew, some of the letters stands for numbers. So 666 was kind much a coded message to stand for Nero.

CHO: Nero was a roman emperor who persecuted Christians doing the work of the devil, 666 was a way to characterize him, a nickname or code. Though it was never meant to be taken literally, 666 has become synonymous with satan, all things evil. Take the late president, Ronald Wilson Reagan, six letters in each name, by the way. Reagan changed the address of his California home from 666 to 668. Wedding chapels are, for the most part, empty today, and so are some hospitals. New mother, Kerry McFarland of Dallas was induced on Sunday, so her son, Sam, wouldn`t have a birth date of 6-6-06.

CARRIE MCFARLAND, NEW MOTHER: We weren`t completely concerned that the child was going to come out with horns, if he came out on Tuesday. But we were excited to find out that we were going to be able to get him before 6-6-06.

CHO: Her first child was born on January 1. Friends teased her about missing the deadline for her tax deduction. Husband, Larry, McFarland says this round of ribbing would be worse.

LARRY MCFARLAND, NEW FATHER: When your friends are over for dinner or whatever and he starts having a tantrum, say, yeah, see, there`s the 666 kid.

CHO: There is a certain obsession with 666. A google search turned up 119 million website, many warning the apocalypse is coming today. The odds on line, just a one in 100,000 chance the world will end.

Lee Moorhead, a psychic and expert in numerology has received calls from concerned citizens.

LEE MOORHEAD, PSYCHIC: I talked to them about it and said, please, don`t worry, it`s hype, it`s hype like Y2K was hype.

CHO: Father James Martin agrees. Fears of Armageddon, he says, have been around for ages.

MARTIN: There have been people that have been waiting for the end of the world since the second century and they`re usually proven wrong I hope the world doesn`t end on June 6, I have a busy day planned. So, but, you never know.

CHO: So far, so good.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: There is less than an hour to go on the East Coast -- less than four hours to go here on the West Coast, but before 6-6-o6 is over, we`re thinking, so far so good right now, that was CNN`s Alina Cho for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

HAMMER: And, we`re still here. Mia Farrow who stars in the remake of "The Omen" told me she is a very superstitious person. You won`t find her opening up any umbrellas indoors. But superstition certainly didn`t take her from taking the role. I sat down with Farrow to talk about that and her very important humanitarian trip to the war torn region of Darfur.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER: "The Omen" originally made 30 years ago, of course, why remake a cult classic like this?

MIA FARROW, ACTOR: Well, you know, this is going to upset the bloggers, but I said the same thing. But, now having seen both, it`s way better. This one is just better and the original is an excellent film, and this is an awe mauj (ph) to the first one.

HAMMER: And you`re very selective about the movies that you do. You don`t do them all the time. It`s been, what, about four years, I think, since we`ve seen you in a major theatrical release.

FARROW: Yeah, but you know, that`s very kind of you. But you know, part of it is, well, it`s two things. One is I don`t get offered like everything, so it`s not like I`m just so, so selective and the other thing is that I have kids with disabilities, and I just need to be home.

HAMMER: Well, and another reason that you have perhaps not done so many films over the years is your humanitarian work, which I know continue you on your way to Darfur this week.

FARROW: Yes.

HAMMER: As a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, you`re bringing your 18-year-old son.

FARROW: That`s right.

HAMMER: Which is terrific, I know this is a return for you.

FARROW: Yes.

HAMMER: George Clooney went not that long ago, brought a lot of attention.

FARROW: That`s right.

HAMMER: To the situation over there. You`re on your way hopefully to do the same. But, why is it, that it takes celebrities to really shine the spotlight so brightly on what is just such a tragic situation and a travesty? And I just -- I get upset because I can`t understand -- sure, there`s some media coverage. There is not enough, and there`s clearly not enough being done.

FARROW: Yeah, and you know, that`s what people can do. They can ask their local press, say, we want more coverage on Darfur. They can ask their local representatives to say, what are you doing on the Darfur issue? They are stuck in the House legislation right now. What are you doing? We find this unacceptable. Here we`re looking, once more, at Rwanda in slow motion and this time we can`t say we didn`t know what was happening. And this time we have the time to do something. What we don`t have is the political will, apparently.

HAMMER: But it`s still shocks me, the low-level of conversation that I find is being had about this. And the fact that you and I are sitting here is terrific, the fact that we`re able to talk about it. And as I said, George Clooney going there, but why is it, you know, going back to my question, why is it taking that?

FARROW: Well, I think that this is like No. 17 on the list of priorities for our world leadership. There is no oil there. they are sacrificing Darfur. It is very complicated, the issue with China. China has go the oil rights in |Sudan, there is no oil right in Darfur. And I this think people with just saying, OK, well we`ll lose that chip. The people of Darfur can just, let them all be killed. That`s the intent of the regime, just let them all be killed. Because no one seems to have the will to stop it and I don`t know does oil really have to be in a region or is it the people in this country and around the world are going so say, we care, it`s got to stop?

HAMMER: I imagine a lot of people have drawn parallels, recently, particularly when you`ve been out talking about "The Omen," with Angelina Jolie, a woman who has done so much for humanitarian efforts around the world, particularly in Africa at the moment. Also, the fact that 30 years ago you were adopting foreign children in need, she has done that more recently. So, I imagine, you can sort of empathize with, particularly in terms of adopting kids what she must have had to go through, the process of that adoption.

FARROW: Yes. I love her good heart. I`ve never met her. But you know, she just seems like a wonderful person and I know what she is trying to do and it`s huge. And she is at the very peak of her career and here she is shedding all this light. And she is giving her money as well as her time, and I just think she is wonderful.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER: Mia told me she is looking forward to getting to Darfur. She`s bringing some journalist with her to the region so she can help refugees tell their story. And you`ll find "The Omen" in theaters now.

ANDERSON: And that brings us to our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT "Question of the Day." We want to hear from you on this. Movie critics: Do they influence which films you see? Vote at cnn.com/showbiztonight, send us an e-mail, there`s the address, showbiztonight@cnn.com.

Later, only SHOWBIZ TONIGHT we`ll take a close look at whether movie critics really matter with two experts from the movie business?

HAMMER: Scientology, a driving force in the lives of some of Hollywood`s most famous people, and now it`s also a driving force on the NASCAR circuit. We`re going to explain coming up. We`ll also have this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband was all of my security at that time. It just -- I didn`t know what to think. I didn`t know how I was going to take care of my daughters. I didn`t know anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: A Broadway actress who lost her husband in 9/11, talks about being back on stage in "The Color Purple" helped her get her life back on track. That`s coming up in the interview you`ll see only on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

HAMMER: Plus, Olivia Newton-John`s missing boyfriend, a new twist on the story. Could he have faked his own death? We`ll get the latest coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: The actress who will be playing Lois Lane in one of the most anticipated movies of the summer, "Superman Returns," is making a startling confession. Get this, she actually tried to talk the director out of giving her the role. Kate Bosworth is revealing that she met with director Brian Singer and told him she had serious doubts. In an interview in the new issue of "W" magazine, Bosworth was she was freaked out because she`d never been in anything so big and didn`t know if she`d be completely giving up her privacy. So, when she met with Singer she told him she didn`t feel ready so, good luck, thanks anyway. In the end, Bosworth changed her mind and frankly we can`t wait to see that movie. The new issue of "W" magazine hits news stands this Friday.

HAMMER: Olivia Newton-John`s missing boyfriend, could he have faked his own death. We`re going to get the latest, next.

ANDERSON: Plus, after all this time, Mary Kay Laturno, the teacher who slept with her 12-year-old student and then married him, talks about the one thing she regrets. We`ll also have this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was the good girl. I did everything right and when this happened, I was so angry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Actress (UNINTELLIGIBLE) from Broadway`s "The Color Purple," her tale of coming back from despair after September 11. We`re going to have her moving story in the interview you`ll see only on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. And SHOWBIZ TONIGHT for a Tuesday night coming right back.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

A.J. HAMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, it is 30 minutes past the hour. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. This is TV`s most provocative entertainment news show.

HAMMER: Tonight we have a new twist in a-year-old Hollywood mystery, reports that the missing boyfriend of singer Olivia Newton-John has been seen around Mexico. Now ever since Patrick McDermott was reported lost at sea last year, there have been whispers that he may have faked his own death. Now, with these reported McDermott sightings, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is asking if there`s really a break in this case or is this just much ado about nothing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER: From the time Olivia Newton John`s boyfriend, cameraman Patrick McDermott, vanished a year ago, the case has been a celebrity mystery that just keeps getting deeper. McDermott hasn`t been seen since an overnight fishing trip that left from this pier in San Pedro, California. McDermott`s credit cards and passport were found on the boat were he was last seen. He was thought to have fallen overboard. And when he disappeared, the music superstar said she was so grief stricken, she may never sing again. She talked about her pain on "Good Morning America."

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN, SINGER: It`s very hard for me to talk about this, it`s a very painful topic. And it`s still under investigation. And I just -- I love him very much and as you can imagine, it`s an incredibly hard thing to go through.

HAMMER: Still, witnesses could never agree on whether they saw McDermott leave the boat. Soon after McDermott vanished, reports showed that he was seriously in debt and that a bitter dispute with his ex-wife over outstanding child support payments threatened to land him in jail. At the time, the U.S. Coast Guard said that even though it was treating McDermott`s disappearance as a missing person`s case, it`s also looking into the possibility that he staged his own death. Now, no one seems any closer to solving this mystery.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER: Let`s get more on this story from Christine Spiteri, she`s a correspondent with Channel 9, it`s a TV network in Olivia Newton-John`s native Australia. Christine joins us now from Channel 9`s Los Angeles bureau. I appreciate your being with us, Christine. Now that we have all of these reported Patrick McDermott sightings in Mexico, there has been a media frenzy which really seems to be kind of snowballing out of control. Take us back. Tell me how this all began.

CHRISTINE SPITERI, CORRESPONDENT, CHANNEL 9 AUSTRALIA: Well, it started when we started hearing that there were three, possibly four supposed sightings of Patrick McDermott in Mexico. Now two people in a bar and a third person at a surf camp identified him from the photograph, and they said that they believed they had seen him. One of them said that they thought they saw him with a blond woman in her thirties and that they spent the night together in one of the small hotels along the coast there.

The U.S. Coast Guard, which is investigating this, however, say they are unsubstantiated reports. Nobody has contacted them. And what we seem to have had happen is, that there is a reporter who has gone down to Mexico, with a photograph of Patrick McDermott, and he`s asking people, you know, have you seen this man? Two Australians said yes and, who knows, maybe two or three hundred have said no, we don`t know. But the Coast Guard of course are doing their job. They said they can`t discount any sighting in case it is the real thing. But they are not terribly hopeful in this case.

HAMMER: But you say it`s unsubstantiated. So really it seems like this guy going down there and flashing the picture around is turning nothing into something.

SPITERI: It could be. I mean you know, you`ve got to look at the credibility of these witnesses, I mean, these are people who are sitting in a bar having a few drinks, someone comes up and says, with a fairly grainy photo, people are sort of saying, yes, I might have seen him. You know, they may be genuinely mistaken. It`s just being very difficult to pin down. The last sighting was allegedly with a blond haired woman and they sort of set off into the sunset in a green car and they have sort of disappeared from this area it seems now, if they were ever there at all.

HAMMER: So who really knows. Well I know you spoke about these reports with a security expert that Olivia Newton-John had actually hired to look into the McDermott disappearance. What did he have to say?

SPITERI: He`s incredibly frustrated. He said look, he can`t believe that anyone would believe there is any substance in these sightings. And of course this has been incredibly difficult for Olivia. I think it took something like six months for her to talk about this publicly. And, when you look at those interviews, you know she was terribly upset, very close to tears, very shaky. And this is just all bringing it back to the fore for her. She won`t be commenting on these latest sightings, but I think there is a great frustration from the Olivia Newton-John camp that this is just being resurrected for a bit of a good news story. And the heartache of her and of course Patrick McDermott`s family.

HAMMER: Yeah I can understand. It must be incredibly frustrating for them. And we may come to find out in the coming weeks nothing`s really going on here. Channel 9`s Christine Spiteri, we appreciate you joining us tonight.

SPITERI: Thank you.

ANDERSON: Okay. It`s one of the most controversial relationships ever. I don`t think any of us will ever forget about this couple. In 1996, 34-year-old Seattle school teacher Mary Kay Letourneau has an affair with her 12-year-old student, Billy Palau(PH). She`s charged with statutory rape, serves more than seven years in prison and has two children with him. When she gets out, they get married. So now, on their one-year anniversary after all the court stuff, the prison, the media frenzy, did they have any regrets? Here`s what they told CNN`s Larry King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Do you regret anything?

MARY KAY LETOURNEAU, TEACHER WHO HAD AFFAIR WITH STUDENT: I regret not having -- I regret not knowing more about the criminal justice system. I regret not getting -- well, I know that I did everything that I could have done once things laid themselves out and that`s how I went to sleep every night, because every day I made sure I did everything either to help my children or to educate myself.

KING: No regret over anything concerning Billy?

LETOURNEAU: My gosh. No. We`re so happy. We`re together.

KING: Do you have any?

BILLY PALAU: No.

KING: None.

PALAU: None.

KING: Do it again.

PALAU: I`d do it again, probably just -- next time if I did it I wouldn`t be caught.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Mary Kay and Billy also say they want to have another kid, and they hope it`s a boy.

HAMMER: It`s time now to tell you tonight`s "Hot Headlines." And we now know who is getting those very first photos of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie`s new baby Shiloh. It`s our good friend over at "People" magazine. The pictures will be coming out in this Friday`s issue. Now there is no word yet on how much people paid to get a hold of these photos, but SHOWBIZ TONIGHT has also learned that some Namibian journalists have been invited to a press conference with Brad and Angelina tomorrow.

And, coming soon to NASCAR, Tom Cruise. Well, kind of. Dianetics, written by Church of Scientology founder Elron Hubbard will sponsor a race team. The team is called, "Ignite Your Potential." Cruz practices scientology as you know and you might remember his role as a NASCAR driver in "Days of Thunder." The car, with the number 27, driven by Kenton Gray, will formerly debut this Saturday at California`s Irwin Dale Speedway.

And, singer songwriter Billy Preston has died in Arizona. The incredibly talented keyboardist played with the Beatles, he played with the Rolling Stones. You may remember him on songs like get back and can you hear me knocking. Well Preston`s long time manager says he was in a coma since November after battling chronic kidney failure. Billy Preston was 59 and of course you remember his big solo hit, "Nothing from Nothing Means Nothing." And those are tonight`s "Hot Headlines."

ANDERSON: Coming up next, the ridiculous way the producers of a mini series about the deadly south Asian Tsunami are casting it. You won`t believe it. Plus we`ve also got this.

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My husband was all of my security at that time. It was sort of a -- I didn`t know what to think, I didn`t know how I was going to take care of my daughters. I didn`t know anything.

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HAMMER: The amazing come back story of an actress who lost her husband on 9/11. How Oprah`s, "The Color Purple" helped. That`s next in the interview you`ll see only on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

ANDERSON: And "Da Vinci Code" has made more than a half a billion dollars worldwide. But the reviews, well, they mostly stunk. So SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s got to ask, do movie critics really matter? An eye opening chat next. Stay with us.

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HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, we are TV`s most provocative entertainment news show. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York and it`s time now for another story that just made us say, that`s ridiculous. HBO and the BBC are producing a mini series about the 2004 south Asian Tsunami, which as you know killed more than 200,000 people. Now, it is one thing to document what happened as long as it`s done sensitively. But we can`t agree with how the miniseries was cast. Ads were actually posted in Thailand looking for extras to play dead people. Now, HBO, I know we`re all part of the same Time Warner family, but that`s ridiculous. HBO told us, "We apologize to anyone who might have been offended by the flyers that went out seeking extras, the language used lacked the kind of sensitivity we strive to maintain."

ANDERSON: Time now for our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT special report. Oprah`s Broadway musical "The Color Purple" is up for 11 Tony Awards. And one of those nods went to Lachanze for best actress in a musical. It really caps off a dramatic come back for her, when, not too long ago, she suffered a terrible tragedy on one of the darkest days in history. Here`s CNN`s Miurka DeAnos(PH) for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

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MIURKA DEANOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lachanze, whose name means one who is charmed in Creole, leads the cast of "The Color Purple." She plays Celie, a victim of incest and abuse who turns her life around. That struggle to find joy from the depths of despair is one that Lachanze knows from her own life.

LACHANZE: I couldn`t have written this story. It`s pretty incredible. I could not have written my life story.

DEANOS: Just five years ago Lachanze was a rising star on Broadway. A radiant wife, and pregnant with her second child with husband Calvin Gooding. Then tragedy struck. Gooding, a bond trader at Kanter Fitzgerald died in the attacks on the World Trade Center. The night of September 10th, just weeks away from her due date, Lachanze wandered into her young daughter`s room to a vision of her husband she`ll never forget.

LACHANZE: He had fallen asleep with her on his chest on the floor. And I let them stay there. I always wondered, did I, somewhere, like this was going to be their last night together, you know, and then he woke up at 5:00 and then he went to work. And that was it, the last time I saw him.

DEANOS: And when her husband vanished, so did her hope.

LACHANZE: My husband was all of my security at that time. It just -- it was sort of a blur, I didn`t know what to think, I didn`t know how I was going to take care of my daughters, I didn`t know anything.

DEANOS: Besides sadness, do you think there was any anger?

LACHANZE: Now that`s an understatement. I used to want to get a sledgehammer and, like, go to a place where there`s a lot of porcelain, and just destroy it. I was the good girl. I did everything right. And then this happened. I was so angry. Sorry.

I never asked you for nothing.

DEANOS: Five years later, the stage provides a place for Lachanze to put all those emotions to work.

LACHANZE: There isn`t anything blocking me from accessing the pain and the courage. And the fear and the triumph. I think that`s one of the reasons why I had bonded with feeling the way that I have.

DEANOS: For Lachanze, being back on stage in New York helped put her life back on track.

I`ve made it to Broadway. What do you feel when you`re here?

LACHANZE: Well, I`ve been doing theatre now since 1991. That was my first year of doing theatre. And actually the theatre that was I in (INAUDIBLE) was right down here, right down (INAUDIBLE) alley. I used to come here, the Booth Theatre Stage Door, and there`d be several people here waiting for me to sign autographs and let me know that I`m doing what I always wanted to do.

DEANOS: There was one final act on Lachanze`s road to recovery. She commissioned a painting in memory of her husband for the law firm that helped her family after 9/11. The artist, whom she`s never met was Derek Forger(PH).

LACHANZE: He called me and he left his voice on my answering machine. He has a great voice. And I remember saying to a friend at the time and I am not kidding you, I said to her, just joking, because I loved his voice so much, I said, sounds like my next husband. And she laughed so much.

DEANOS: Those talks with Derek resulted in this painting. And something more.

LACHANZE: It was like I was being intimate with someone that I didn`t know and I could share emotions. When I really started to notice it was, we were talking for hours, then it was three hours, and then one night we talked until 6:00 a.m.

DEANOS: That phone bill.

LACHANZE: The sun was coming up and that`s when I said, okay, there`s a little bit more here than the painting.

DEANOS: Lachanze married Forger last July. The ceremony marked a new beginning, but also a farewell to her first husband.

LACHANZE: You know I hadn`t thought about him at all until the moment before I was about to walk down the aisle. And it was like he showed up and said, not bad.

DEANOS: He`ll want to see you happy.

LACHANZE: Wants to see you happy. It was a very spiritual moment for me that day.

DEANOS: When you think of all you have now, do you think, wow, too good to be true.

LACHANZE: I do have those, I actually had a moment that, it will just sit back and look at my life, and I had a moment of just sheer gratitude and satisfaction that I did it. Life is good. And I feel good.

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ANDERSON: What an incredible story. That was Miurka DeAnos for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. And you can see if Lachanze takes home that Tony this Sunday on CBS.

HAMMER: Well, "The Color Purple" is a hit, even though the reviews were really mixed. And you know that happens at the movies all the time. Mixed or bad write ups, but a lot of tickets are getting sold. So tonight we want to know, do you even pay attention to what the critics are saying? After all, they trashed "The Da Vinci Code" with really bad reviews. In fact Peter Travers from "Rolling Stone" called it a dreary, drowning, dull- witted adaptation. The Hollywood report said it`s an unwieldy, bloated melodrama. And the bad reviews really go on and on. But of course "The Da Vinci Code" is laughing all the way to the box office bank. It has made more than $582 million worldwide so far. Critics matter? Maybe not in that case.

Joining us to talk about it in Hollywood, Paul Dergarabedian from Exhibitor Relations, a box office tracking company. And here in New York, it`s Gitesh Pandya of boxofficeguru.com. Alright gentlemen, nice to see you both. It used to be that if a critic I really liked trashed a movie I was thinking about seeing, I wouldn`t go so see it. And the opposite. If they recommended something to me, I`d head out there. So Paul let me start with you, what`s going on here? Are people just not paying attention to the critics anymore?

PAUL DERGARABEDIAN, PRESIDENT, EXHIBITOR RELATIONS: I think people read the critical reviews, but then they make their own decision. They say, well, okay, "The Da Vinci Code," I know this book, I know the stars that are going to be in the movie. I`ve looked at the marketing for the film and I want to see it. Whether or not a critic likes it or not really doesn`t factor into the decision. And when we saw the opening weekend box office of around $77 million, and especially after those really terrible reviews that came out especially after the Cannes Film Festival showing of the film, we were just like, hey, you know, obviously the audience will decide for itself.

HAMMER: And that`s what happened. I mean these are terrible reviews that came out for this movie. It didn`t matter at all.

GITESH PANDYA, BOXOFFICEGURU.COM: That`s right. There seems to be a growing divide now between the big Hollywood films and the smaller independent films which, of course, need the support of critics. "The Da Vinci Code" also "X-Men" and even "The Break-Up," from this past weekend, none of them really got very good reviews but people go because of the marketing. These are marketing driven films, they want to see an actor, they would like a story or so forth. So, studios are realizing that they are wasting a lot of time and money setting up press screenings and these sort of things for these critics, when it`s not going to help that much on the bottom line.

HAMMER: I want to talk about those press screenings in a second. But I imagine another thing that has to be playing into the fold Gitesh is technology and the proliferation of the internet. It really changes how people decide what they`re going to do with every aspect of their life. The same for movies, I imagine.

PANDYA: It is. I mean nowadays everyone has a website, everyone has a blog, I think I have five cousins who call themselves movie reviewers now because they all have blogs. And with all the TV and the print critics out there, who do you believe? Who do you trust? So it`s really a matter of individual taste. And if you look at the movie critics across the country, the major movie critics are, for the most part, middle aged white men. They don`t represent the average American movie goer. So a lot of teenagers, a lot of women, a lot of ethnic people say, I don`t really care what Roger Ebert has to say, I`m going to make up my own mind.

HAMMER: And you alluded a little bit to the idea that the studios may be not catering to the movie critics as much, Paul there`s this, what seems to be a growing trend. I`ve talked to a few critics who really complained about the fact that the studios are not setting up these screenings or in the case of "The Da Vinci Code," they did it at the very last minute and it was obviously, if you weren`t in Cannes you weren`t going to get to see the film first. Are the studios really not caring so much about the critics anymore?

DERGARABEDIAN: Well I think they`re looking at the risk versus the reward. I mean, it used to be that, if you did not screen a movie for critics, it would raise this big red flag and everyone would wonder, is there something wrong with the movie. And in between January and April of this year there were about 11 movies that were not screened for critics, but some of those movies opened at number one and did extremely well. So there is this disconnect, I think, between what audiences want to see and, like Gitesh said earlier, a lot of times it`s the smaller films, the art house films, that really depend on reviews. But the big summer films are just really products of hype and marketing and the build up that comes with that. And people buy off on the brand, the high concept, so to speak of these movies, and they`re just going to go and figure it out for themselves. And they`ll read the critical review, but I don`t think it`s going to affect their decision making.

HAMMER: And maybe in the end it`s the critic who should just say if this movie is worth my while or if it`s worth my spending the $10, $20, $30, $40 it would take to do it. Well Gitesh Pandya, thank you for joining us, Paul Dergarabedian. Out there in L.A., thank you for being with us as well. And we`ve been asking you to vote on our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day, on this very subject. Movie critics. Do they influence the films which you see? Keep voting at cnn.com/showbiz tonight or write to us at showbiztonight@cnn.com. Your emails coming up tomorrow. We`ll be right back.

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HAMMER: So last night we asked you to vote on our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. 6/6/06. Are you superstitious? Well apparently not many of you are concerned about broken mirrors or black cats, only 12 percent of you said yes you are superstitious. 88 percent of you said no, you`re not. Among the emails we received, one from Tony in South Carolina who doesn`t buy it. "Be real, the 666 superstition is from the Bible and the Bible is nothing but a 2000 year-old book of fairy tales." We also heard from Kathy of Montana. She is superstitious. She says, "I recently had a day that was all bad and when I went to the store to buy a couple of items, the total was$6.66."

Well with all the talk of the apocalypse today, we seem to all still be here, we have four minutes left on the east coast, I suppose it`s a good thing. And that`s it for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I am A.J. Hammer, still in New York.

ANDERSON: I`m Brooke Anderson still in Hollywood, we will see all of you tomorrow, stay tuned for more from CNN "HEADLINE NEWS".

HAMMER: Or will we?

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