Sideshow: A memorial for Oprah's 2 late dogs

Daniel Edwards

has struck again.

This time, the artist who created a shocking sculpture of Britney Spears giving birth on a bearskin rug has struck at the very heart of American spirituality with a bust of the queen of the new age, Oprah Winfrey, reports E!Online reports.

Memories of Sophie and Gracie: A Puppies Memorial, which opens Thursday at the Leo Kesting Gallery in New York, depicts Oprah with "puppy versions" of the talk show host's late cocker spaniel Sophie and golden retriever Gracie sitting atop her head.

According to Edwards, the Oprah bust highlights "the overlooked threat of accidental pet fatality by common household products." See, Gracie choked to death on a ball last year. (Sophie died in March of kidney failure.)

Meanwhile, gallery director John Leo explains why Edwards decided to show the puppies conjoined at the hip: "To represent Sophie and Gracie together, joined joined in Oprah's memory as they were in life and in Oprah's heart, the artist depicted them as conjoined at the hip and sharing a common tail."

Hey, just because it's the most important and beautiful day of your life, just because it's the day when a sacred bond is forged between you and your soul mate, it doesn't mean you can't make money off your wedding.

That's the entrepreneurial spirit behind the Pete Wentz-Ashlee Simpson nuptials. The New York Daily News reports that the B-list (C-list?) celebs have struck a seven-figure deal with an unnamed media outlet for exclusive coverage of their super-secret wedding that is rumored to be scheduled for tomorrow.

Ashlee, who is said to be with child, has reportedly chosen a Vera Wang gown for the wedding, while Pete and the groomsmen will be attired in Dolce & Gabbana tuxes.

Can't wait to see how much money they make off the birth of their child.

Even as tabloid reports trickle in that

Kate Hudson

and

Owen Wilson

(filming

Marley & Me

hereabouts) have become engaged, People mag says the couplehave split up. And the mag has quotes from anon sources to back up their report: "It was a pretty bad breakup," People says a Wilson pal says. While an equally anonymous "Hudson source" states, "She feels dumb thinking it was so serious."

So do we all. So do we all.

In an interview with People, new mum

Nicole Richie

says she's ready to go back to work after taking a four month maternity leave to bond with

Harlow

, her baby with boyfriend

Joel Madden

. "After having the baby, obviously I had to focus all of my attention on her. I had to get back in a place where I was mentally able to give myself to other people," Nicole says. Trouble is, we weren't aware Nicole had a job – aside from being

Paris Hilton

's sometime best friend.

Looks like

Daniel Day-Lewis

, who won the best actor Oscar for

There Will Be Blood

, is following up with a lighter project. Variety reports that the Brit is in negotiations to replace

Javier Bardem

in the

Rob Marshall

-directed musical,

Nine

.

The flick, which is an adaptation of the stage musical that itself was inspired by Fellini's famous dramedy, 81/2, is about a film director who is having a personal and creative crisis, not least of which is to find a way to juggle all the women in his life. Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman and Judi Dench will costar.

Singer

T-Pain

, best known for his guest roles on records by

Chris Brown

,

Kanye West

and newcomer

Flo Rida

, has nabbed a leading five BET Award nominations - all for his collaborations.

"T-Pain is everywhere," BET executive vice president Stephen Hill said. "He's got five nominations, none of them for his own work."

West and Keyshia Cole received three nominations, while Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys and Flo Rida received a pair each. The BET Awards will be presented June 24 in Los Angeles

A judge Wednesday gave

Anne Heche

a temporary break from paying child and spousal support to her ex,

Coley Laffoon

, 34, for their 6-year-old son,

Homer

, while the court assesses the actress's claims that she can no longer afford to make the $14,798-a-month payments now that she is unemployed after the cancellation of

Men in Trees

.

"I am continuing to look for work, but I have no offers pending and the impending strike by the Screen Actors Guild reduces my prospects for work even further," Heche, 38, writes in court papers.

In the wake of the devastating cyclone that has killed up to 200,000 people in Myanmar, Not on Our Watch, the nonprofit cofounded by

George Clooney

,

Brad Pitt

,

Don Cheadle

,

Matt Damon

and others, has pledged half a million dollars to Save the Children, E!Online says.