At a Sotheby's auction in New York City, the 1986 Andy Warhol piece "Self Portrait"—owned by fashion designer/movie director Tom Ford—sold for $32.6 million, according to the New York Times. Six bidders attempted to purchase the painting, which was estimated to sell for around $15 million; ultimately it went to Sotheby's Gregoire Billaut, bidding on behalf of an unidentified client. In the painting, Warhol's face is cast in purple while the subject wears his famous wig and stares straight ahead. Fifty pieces sold at the auction totaled $190 million.
Despite starring on the TV series Hung—about a man who uses his enormous penis to his advantage—Thomas Jane says that he's a regular guy, according to an Advocate.com item. Jane, 41, told Men's Fitness, "Everything about me is prototypical. Everything. I even have a right-down-the middle-exactly-average dick." Hung will return for its second season next month.
Singer/actress Queen Latifah has recently purchased a home in Los Angeles with Jeanette Jenkins, her personal trainer, according to Gawker.com . Latifah—who stars in the current movie release Just Wright with Common and Paula Patton—and Jenkins reported paid approximately $1.4 million for the Mediterranean-style house.
Jane Lynch has told People.com that she won't be a bridezilla as she plans her wedding to psychologist Lara Embry. Although she admitted that she shares some traits with Sue Sylvester, the character she plays on the TV show Glee, Lynch said that wedding planners won't have to worry about her going on the warpath or wearing track suits. Lynch added, "It's a great and wonderful thing at the tender age of 49 to have finally found somebody that I want to be with. I'm so lucky."
The 2007 Academy Award-winning lesbian-themed documentary Freeheld is being turned into a drama—and Ellen Page has signed on for one of the main roles, according to Advocate.com . Freeheld, directed by Cynthia Wade, focuses on Detective Lieutenant Laurel Hester's efforts to transfer her pension to her domestic partner, mechanic Stacie Andree, before Hester died of a terminal disease. Page will play Andree.
Dana Delany may have left Wisteria Lane, but Vanessa Williams is moving in, according to Advocate.com . Williams, fresh from playing the conniving Wilhelmina Slater on TV's Ugly Betty, will play a "wicked new housewife" on the seventh season of Desperate Housewives. Delany's character, Katherine Mayfair, departed for Europe with her female lover.
Actress Lindsay Lohan is saying that she is not dating a famous female photographer. According to DBTechno.com, Lohan, 23, is denying rumors that she has been dating Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri, 36, for more than a year. Lohan, who was in France promoting a movie at the Cannes Film Festival, recently had a court hearing regarding her progress during probating.
Singer Courtney Love is claiming that she once took on supermodel Kat Moss as a love, according to US Magazine. Love told Irish publication Hot press that she and Moss had an affair duing the 1990s. Love said, ""It was just a thing that happened in Milan in the '90s. It happened and it was fun and whatever." Love has also claimed that she had an affair with singer/actor Gavin Rossdale, the husband of Gwen Stefani.
Actor Bryan Batt and Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black are the most recent out celebrities to slam Ramin Setoodeh's Newsweek article that criticized gay actors who take on heterosexual roles, according to On Top Magazine. Batt, who was most recently on TV's Mad Men, told ABC News, "Gay actors have been playing straight since Euripides. It really saddens me that someone actually thinks this way and that Newsweek would actually print it." In his April 26 article, entitled "Straight Jacket," the openly gay Setoodeh wrote it's "OK for straight actors to play gay" but that it's rare for the converse to happen convincingly.
Country music star Chely Wright made her first appearance at an LGBT event May 24 at the GLSEN ( Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network ) Respect Awards, a New York gala that supports the organization's work to ensure safe schools for all students, according to a press release. Wright, who recently became the first country music star to come out, also listed GLSEN in the liner notes of her new CD, Lifted off the Ground. GLSEN honored Cyndi Lauper; Pfizer; American Express; David Dechman and Michel Mercure; and Student Advocate of the Year Danielle Smith at the event, which will take place at Gotham Hall.
The hit TV show Glee has been picked up by Fox for a third season—even though it has not yet wrapped up its first season, according to US Magazine. Peter Rice, the Fox Networks Group entertainment chairman, said, "In just one year, Glee has transcended the television landscape and emerged as a global pop-culture phenomenon." Glee—which chronicles the lives of a group of musically inclined students at fictional McKinley High School—has aired episodes revolving around the songs of Madonna and Lady Gaga. The last episode of the first season will air June 8.
Singer Christina Aguilera has postponed her North American tour, citing a lack of rehearsal time, according to Entertainment Weekly. Aguilera released a statement that stated, "Christina Aguilera's summer tour has been moved to 2011 due to prior commitments that the singer had made to her film, Burlesque, and to the promotion of her new album, Bionic…. The singer felt she needed more time to rehearse the show and with less than a month between the album release and tour date this wasn't possible." The tour was slated to start in July.
Sir Elton John will not be the next American Idol judge. John was passed on replacing Simon Cowell, who is leaving after this season to start his own talent show. According to an Advocate.com item, John would have received $33 million for the job—although it is not known if that money was for one season or more.
