Tattle | Bobby Brown staggered by heart attack

BEING

Bobby Brown

sure takes a toll. The rapper was hospitalized overnight following a mild heart attack brought on, his attorney said, by "stress and diet."

Brown, 38, is in a bitter custody battle (is there any other kind?) with ex Whitney Houston over their teenage daughter, Bobbi Kristina, and the next courtroom rumble's set for Oct. 22.

"He has been examined and doctors determined there is no blockage but inflammation of the heart," his attorney, Phaedra Parks, told TMZ.com. She described as false reports that, fearing death was near, Brown recorded a video good-bye to his family.

He was admitted to Tarzana Regional Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley after having severe chest pains Tuesday night, and was released yesterday.

"Bobby is doing good," Parks said. "He is in good spirits. . . . We ask people to keep him in their thoughts and prayers."

Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe's divorce was finalized last week, not quite a year after she filed.

The couple - once one of Hollywood's happier-seeming and more blondifully adorable unions - have two kids, Ava, 8, and Deacon, 3.

Oscar-winner ("Walk the Line") Witherspoon's recently been linked, unofficially, with Jake Gyllenhaal, her co-star in "Rendition," out next week. Phillippe's screen credits include "Crash," "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Breach."

The pair co-starred in the 1999 movie "Cruel Intentions" and married that year.

Internet rumors of MC Hammer's demise have been exaggerated. TMZ.com reports that someone with the same name - Stanley Burrell - passed recently, which may have caused confusion.

Certainly it provided a good opening for Hammer's reps to pitch his latest move, a Web site called DanceJam where people can upload videos of themselves dancing for Hammer to critique.

Actor and recovering alcoholic David Hasselhoff was briefly hospitalized after a relapse, several online sources report.

He won primary physical custody of teenage daughters Hayley and Taylor in June, though they've recently been staying with their mom, Pamela Bach, while Hasselhoff was filming "Anaconda 3" in Europe.

Another "Anaconda" movie?

That's enough to make anybody fall off the wagon.

Daily News classical-music writer Tom Di Nardo reports that Angela Meade, a soprano in her third year at the Academy of Vocal Arts, swept the conservatory's recent Giargiari Bel Competition.

The favorite of the judging panel, as well as of the sellout Perelman Theater audience, Meade sang "Ernani involami" in the role of Elvira, which she will perform in upcoming productions of Verdi's "Ernani" at the Metropolitan Opera.

Mezzo Elspeth Kincaid won second prize, and soprano Zulimar Lopez-Hernadez was the online winner chosen by WRTI-FM listeners.

Meade, who won last year's Audience Choice award, will be featured in the Academy's upcoming "Cosi fan tutte" and a recital Sunday at Bryn Mawr's Church of the Redeemer.

Asked in an Associated Press interview whether tabloid headlines have overshadowed his recent musical endeavors, Kid Rock, who made news for his brief, tempestuous marriage to Pamela Anderson and for punching another of her ex-husbands, Tommy Lee, at the recent MTV Music Video Awards, came up swinging - at himself.

"There is no question. I think it has in the last few years, definitely. The personal antics have overshadowed the music," he said. "I never wanted that, but I knew what I was getting into when I got into everything I got into. The stove was hot and I wanted to touch it. I touched it and it burnt the hell out of me."

The American flag on the back of Peter Fonda's jacket in "Easy Rider" sold for $89,625 when the actor auctioned off his memorabilia from the 1969 film last week in Dallas.

The Rolex he wore netted $33,460. Buyers were not identified. *

Daily News wire services contributed to this report.