Lady Thatcher's secretary has Streep film concerns

Cynthia Crawford, from Worcester, has not seen the film The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep, and said she could find it "quite distressing".

The opening scenes depict Lady Thatcher as an elderly woman who cannot remember whether her husband Dennis is alive.

The film is due to be released in the UK in January.

Ms Crawford has worked with Lady Thatcher since 10 September 1978 and still visits her regularly.

She said she was in a dilemma about whether to see the film which depicts Lady Thatcher with dementia looking back on her life.

"Because Lady T and I are great chums and friends and mates, and I have travelled all over the world with her, I think it's going to be very hard to see that," she told BBC Hereford and Worcester in an interview on Saturday.

"Her executors were given the initial script. I don't know if it's been modified, but we didn't care for the script at all. The children were very upset."

Ms Crawford has received offers of private viewings of the film, but said she was waiting for the right time.

"I expect eventually I will pluck up the courage to see it because everyone is talking about it," she said.

"I've had nothing but phone calls from the press... inviting me to watch a private view with [Lord] Heseltine, Norman Lamont and Nigel Lawson."

Ms Crawford features in the film and is portrayed by actress Angela Curran.

She said Meryl Streep had put "her heart and soul" into playing Lady Thatcher and had carried out "great research".

But she said: "I don't think it could ever be really depicted in the proper way.

"This is probably as good as it's going to get. I just think this retrospective angle is not happy for her or her close friends."

Britney Spears: How She Spent Her 30th Birthday

While Britney Spears was celebrating her 30th Friday by ice-skating in Houston with boyfriend Jason Trawick, her celebrity friends were sending her birthday messages or homemade videos.

"Happy birthday to the beautiful Miss Britney Spears! Welcome to the 30's club, Brit!!" Kim Kardashian told the pop star on Celebuzz. "I wish you all the best for this next year and beyond. You're going to love your 30's! I love you and hope you have a magical day."

Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber phoned Spears on Friday, while Nicki Minaj and Lance Bass (who kiddingly called his old pal "grandma") – not to mention hundreds of her biggest fans – posted videos to honor her.

Rihanna, Katy Perry (who wrote, " Happy B-day, Brit Brit!"), Ke$ha, Pauly D, Heidi Klum, Miley Cyrus and others sent their well-wishes, as did Ryan Seacrest: "7 years and so many frosted tips later, we're both finally 30!" he wrote, while also posting an old photo of himself with Spears. Her response: "Next step for you are extensions!"

The pop star enjoyed reading many of the messages and watching the videos while in bed on her big day with her sons Preston, 6, and Jayden, 5. She also thanked many of her friends and fans on Twitter.

"Thank you girl. Max is so cute! Miss you. Xxoo," Spears responded to Christina Aguilera. Bass also got a special note: "You knew me when I was celebrating my 18th! Wow. Feels like yesterday," Spears wrote.

The birthday girl resumes her South American tour Saturday and plays a free show in Mexico City on Sunday before closing out her world tour next weekend.

Happy 19th Birthday to Miley Cyrus!

Miley Cyrus turns 19 years old today, marking the occasion in the same way she's spent the past few months: By remaining relatively quiet.

The singer/actress has not been in the news much lately, with the exception of a recent Tweet that called out her body image critics. But Miley's boyfriend, Liam Hemsworth, is making far more headlines than his gal pal these days, thanks to his upcoming role in The Hunger Games (watch the awesome trailer NOW).

Cyrus seems content to stay away from social networks, let Liam have the spotlight and just focus on her movie career. It's very mature of her. It's also rather boring from a celebrity gossip site's point of view.

Kelly Osbourne, however, says she's got "all sorts of madness and craziness" planned for her friend's 19th birthday. So maybe we'll soon have some scandalous action to write about after all! In the meantime, send in your best wishes to the birthday girl.

Happy 30th Birthday to Britney Spears!

Wow. Just wow. Britney Spears celebrates her 30th birthday.

It seems like a lifetime ago that we fell in love with this singer. In those 30 years, she's seen almost that many scandals. She's gone wild, then calmed down. She's been on top, hit rock bottom, then climbed and fought her way back to the pinnacle again.

Through it all, she's entertained, and she's won our hearts.

She's brought us so excitement, joy and fun, from musical, fashion and celebrity gossip standpoints. We're thrilled to wish the pride of Kentwood the best today.

From what we've heard, Jason Trawick may be planning a surprise to make today extra special, although he may put it off another week until her tour ends.

Either way, expect her to be rocking a huge engagement ring by the time she rings in 2012, and after all she's been through, we couldn't be happier for her.

Lady Gaga ‘Marry the Night’ video debuts: Singer breaks down in autobiographical rise-to-fame film.

The latest music video to drop from Haus of Gaga is here -- and it's more of an autobiographical mini-documentary than anything else.

A whopping 14-minutes long, Lady Gaga's "Marry the Night" video relives what the pop star says was one of her darkest days during her rise to fame.

"It was one of the worst days of my life and it happened quite quickly, but in my mind, when I think back on that period of my life, it all happened very slow," she told E! prior to the world premier of the much-anticipated video Thursday, referring to when she was dropped by her first record label, Island Def Jam.

Directed by the Lady herself, the video starts off with the singer being wheeled along on a gurney by two Calvin Klein-clad nurses, her hair coiffed in a tousled brunette bob.

"When I look back on my life it's not that I don't want to see things exactly as they happened," a robotic sounding Gaga says in a voice over. "It's just that I prefer to remember them in an artistic way."

It's unclear in video what's brought the pop star to her bed-ridden state at what appears to be some sort of clinic or insane asylum, but an older nurse who delivered her from birth tells the "morphine princess" to stay away from intimacy for two weeks.

"I'm gonna be a star," a teary-eyed Gaga tells her. "You know why? Because I have nothing left to lose."

Flash forward, and the pop-star is a ballerina appearing alone on stage. The next minute, she is topless and laying in bed, when she gets a phone call.

"But I'm an artist," she says into the receiver, before going absolutely ballistic.

She does what any rejected aspiring pop star would do: smashes mirrors, destroys her apartment and dumps a box of Honey Nut Cheerios over her head before collapsing in a tub. She begins dying her brown locks blond.

A Madonna-esque Gaga steps out in the next scene donning a bedazzled denim ensemble.

"I did what any girl would do," she says in a voice over. "I did it all over again."

Cue music.

As the song finally begins (eight minutes in to the actual video), Gaga tries to sneak into a car through the sunroof while around her, abandoned vehicles burn in the night.

Seconds later, she's in a dance studio, practicing her best pop-star moves along with a host of other aspiring dancers.

The rest of the video is pretty tame by Gaga standards, save for a few flashbacks to her freaking out in a bathtub. She dances on the streets while wearing blue lipstick. She tumbles down some stairs. She lights a few cars on fire. And then it's over.

Jesse Eisenberg Sues Lionsgate Over Camp Hell

How bad could the horror movie Camp Hell be? Well, actor Jesse Eisenberg is suing Lionsgate Entertainment over the movie, so it must not be too terrific.

The actor is seeking $3 million in damages, accusing the studio of capitalizing on his name to sell DVD copies of this critically panned supernatural thriller, which finds a group of children becoming possessed at a local community camp. The DVD cover offers a prominent image of Jesse Eisenberg, with only his name above the title, selling the film as a starring vehicle for the Oscar nominated actor.

Jesse Eisenberg only has a cameo in Camp Hell, clocking less than five minutes of screen time. And he was only paid $3000, which is considerably less than what he usually receives for his acting services. Because of this, Jesse Eisenberg has cited alleged misappropriation of right of publicity and unfair business practices.

The actor states that he has sued Lionsgate to "warn his fans and the public that, contrary to [the film's advertising], he is not the star of and does not appear in a prominent role in Camp Hell."
Camp Hell was released August 13th, 2010 and stars Dana Delany, Andrew McCarthy, Caroline London, Will Denton, Bruce Davison, Juliana Monin, Jesse Eisenberg, Connor Paolo. The film is directed by George VanBuskirk.

Gwyneth Paltrow On Growing Up In Santa Monica, Interracial Relationships & The Shift Of Beauty

Long before captivating moviegoers across the globe with her award-winning acting skills, Gwyneth Paltrow was front and center of a pivotal cultural shift.

While growing up in Santa Monica, California, her father, Bruce Paltrow, created and wrote for the late '70s CBS drama "The White Shadow," which examined racial stereotypes in America and exposed the actress to many seminal television "Tanning" moments. As she explains in HuffPost Black Voices latest episode of "The Tanning Effect," Paltrow witnessed her father's impact at the time on American society.

"I learned a lot of it through the show, especially since they were using a lot of the stereotypes as a way to exploit them or expose them or to debunk them," she continued. "And a lot of times obviously in a creative situation, those stereotypes are what causes tension and story lines and plots."

Having an unbiased viewpoint on multicultural relationships is also a trait that the "Shakespeare in Love" star has shared with her two children. In fact, the 39-year-old admitted that the shift of beauty in America is "long overdue."

"I don't want to bemoan the fact that it should've happened 50 years ago, because it's here now," she added. "And it's like the way I see it is that I have two little kids who are understanding the world in a time when Rihanna is on the cover of Vogue, and we have a black president. So their eyes are being as if they're experiencing the world for the first time. All of this stuff is just root -- it's normal stuff for them. And that to me is what's so incredible."

"When my daughter understood what a president was, it was a black man. It's not like me, where I grew up with all of these old white guys one after another ... Their perspective on race and everything is completely open and completely different to how it was when I was a kid."

Check out parts one, two and three of the interview above.
Also, check out an excerpt from Stoute's book below.