Celebrity News

Winona goes to trial…again Is this girl ever going to make it to trial? A judge has set a new Oct. 7 trial date in the shoplifting case of Winona Ryder after plea-bargain talks fell apart. Winona faces four felony counts related to a December incident at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. In a story in People Magazine Winona’s attorney Shephard Kopp stated, “Winona Ryder is looking forward to the chance to prove herself innocent of all the charges.” The 30-year old star remains free on $20,000 bond. Winona has starred in many motion pictures including “Girl, Interrupted” and “Simone”. According to court papers, Ryder had pleaded not guilty to charges of grand theft, second-degree burglary and vandalism for allegedly cutting security tags off of and stealing nearly $5,000 worth of merchandise. She was also charged with possession of a controlled substance for a prescription painkiller. No more Rosie Rosie O’Donnell has pulled her namesake magazine this past Wednesday. After long negotiations (some have called it a battle) with the magazine’s publisher Gruner + Jahr over the publication’s editorial direction, O’Donnell, 40, told the company’s president that she would “terminate my agreement to produce Rosie magazine.” “The decision to discontinue Rosie was a very difficult one, and I spent a long time wrestling with it,” O’Donnell said in a statement, according to Mediaweek. “In the end, I decided that I could not participate in a magazine that bears my name when I could not be assured it would reflect my vision, values and editorial direction.” Though Rosie’s statement was pretty mild in nature Gruner + Jahr USA Publishing’s message was a tad stronger saying they were considering legal options against O’Donnell, and stated “As of 9 a.m. this morning Gruner + Jahr USA Publishing was informed by Rosie O’Donnell that she is terminating our joint venture agreement to publish Rosie magazine,” the company’s chief marketing officer, Cindy Spengler, says in a notice to employees obtained by PEOPLE.com. “It is truly shocking and disappointing that Rosie would walk away from her obligations to her staff, her business partner, her magazine community, and her contractual responsibilities.” I guess the lawyers will have to handle it from here. Judge dismisses lawsuit After four years a federal judge in Texas has dismissed a lawsuit that accused talk show host Oprah Winfrey of violating the state’s “veggie libel” law by maligning the beef industry. In findings that were revealed last week, reports the Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Mary Robinson tossed out “all claims and causes of action asserted” by Cactus Feeding Club Inc. against the media queen, her production company (called Harpo, which is Oprah spelled backwards) and vegetarian activist Howard Lyman. Kevin Spacey’s never gone to Fire Island “American Beauty” Oscar winner Kevin Spacey says he has never been to New York’s Fire Island. In a letter to the editor in this last week’s issue of New York magazine, Spacey rebuts a report in the publication’s Sept. 9 edition that said he had rented a palatial bayside house in the island’s Pines community, complete with a private boat, “for the last two weeks of August through the end of September.” A report in ‘People Magazine’ said “The house has at least four en suite bedrooms, a couple of flat-screen plasma TVs, and a gym, and comes complete with a butler and gardener,” said the item, headlined “Spacey out in Fire Island” and which Spacey, 43, terms a “total inaccuracy” and said “While I understand that most of your reporting is done in good fun and that this particular story does not appear to have been written with malicious intent,” Spacey writes, “it is so completely untrue that it seems to warrant a reexamination by New York of the freedom it gives to reporters who write anything they want without concern for the facts.” The story went on to say that Fire Island, which consists of several communities — some swinging single, some family-oriented, some gay, some straight (the Pines is predominantly gay) — is located off the southern coast of Long Island. ‘Sopranos’: people love ‘em I am not in the norm. I have never seen an installment of the ‘Sopranos’ but evidentially everyone else is watching it. After leaving viewers in the lurch for 16 months, HBO’s mob series “The Sopranos” came back for its fourth season and the result was the most-watched program in the history of the cable channel, beating its broadcast network rivals during its time period, HBO said Tuesday. The show stars 41-year-old actor James Gandolfini. The hour-long episode averaged a record 13.4 million, surpassing both the No. 1 show for that hour on broadcast TV, NBC’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” and the most-watched program of the night on the Big Four networks, CBS news magazine “60 Minutes.” Flying after 911 ends romance Christy Turlington blames post-Sept. 11 trauma, and her fear of flying, as the cause of her unexpected split from “Sidewalks of New York” actor-director Ed Burns before they were to be wed a year ago. Guests of the wedding did not want to fly after 9-11 and Turlington didn’t want to reschedule. Something tells me it was more than just the fear of flying that ended this romance. Top 10 prime-time programs As for the Top 10 prime-time programs on the networks for the week of Sept. 9-15, the favorites were as follows: 1. “NFL Monday Night Football,” ABC, 19.1 million viewers 2. “NFL Monday Showcase,” ABC, 17.1 million 3. “Everybody Loves Raymond,” CBS, 14.2 million 4. “CSI,” CBS, 13.9 million 5. “CSI,” Monday, CBS, 13.8 million 6. “9/11,” CBS, 12.2 million 7. “Becker,” CBS, 11.9 million 8. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 11.3 million 9. “Dateline NBC,” Tuesday, NBC, 11 million 10. “ABC News Special: 9/11,” ABC, 10.9 million