Sideshow: Hayek finds hubby's $$$ a 'help'

Don't go thinking Salma Hayek is some kind of trophy wife. Oh, no. The 45-year-old Frida star tells Redbook mag she hasn't given up her (financial and existential) independence just because her hub, François-Henri Pinault, is a multi-gazillionaire squared. (He owns the company that owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent.)

"I work hard, I make my own living, and I love it," says Salma, who wed Pinault on Valentine's Day '09 in Paris. "I don't ever want to have to depend on anyone completely. But when I have troubles, sometimes, it's nice to have someone there to help." Help? Help is when a friend wires you $500. The power to buy entire nations is somethin' else, hon'.

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher still send each other flowers, Demi, 48, declared to the world Thursday on Good Morning America. "I sent him an orchid," Demi said, to give him a slice o' love on his new show, Two and a Half Men. Ashton sent some of his own, she said, with a card. "I believe in you," it simply read.

"It's like one of those small, little gems," Moore said of the flowers. So, they're not breaking up? Demi refused to say anything else on the topic.

If Lady Gaga has her way, she'll soon fill the awesome shoes once occupied by late singer Freddie Mercury: London's Express reports Her Ladyship is in talks to tour with Queen as its lead singer. Guitarist Brian May seems keen on going Gaga. "I worked with Lady Gaga and she's very creative and is someone we've talked about singing, fronting the band with," he says. "She's not just a singer, she writes her own material."

Speaking of Lady Gaga, the 25-year-old "Poker Face" singer is the No. 2 paid female entertainer in the universe, Forbes reports. Her Gagaiosity grossed $90 mil from May 2010 to May 2011. She's eclipsed by Oprah Winfrey, whose $290 mil secures her a lofty first place. (Forbes says her net worth is $2.7 billion.) Proving you can turn cheesy reality shows into cash, Real Housewives of New York City's Bethenny Frankel is No. 3 with $55 mil.

The Billboard album charts this week are dominated by new entries, led by Cole World: The Sideline Story, the freshman effort of rapper and Jay-Z protege J. Cole, which debuted this week at No. 1, selling 218,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Blink-182 takes the No. 2 spot with its first CD in eight years, Neighborhoods, with 151,000. Adele, who sadly has canceled her American tour, is still riding high with 21, which is in third place with 118,000.

The Michael Jackson tribute show will go on as planned Saturday in Cardiff, Wales, despite various troubles, including the Black Eyed Peas' decision to drop out, not to mention reports of infighting among MJ's siblings.  MJ bros Marlon, Tito, and Jackie and sis La Toya Jackson will perform, but brothers Jermaine and Randy have opted out. They say it's in bad taste to hold the concert at the same time as the involuntary manslaughter trial of Jackson's doctor. Other acts include Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke, JLS, and Diversity.

EntNews blog JustJared.com reveals that wunderkind artist James Franco's father, Doug Franco, died of a heart attack Sept. 26 at age 63. . . . X-Men: First Class star Zoe Kravitz, 22, has traded in brilliant, soulful beau, her X-Men costar Michael Fassbender, 34, for a younger bf - 24-year-old Gossip Girl doll Penn Badgley. . . . Country singer Sara Evans has secured a restraining order that bars ex-hub Craig Schelske from making statements about their divorce or their custody battle over their three kids, TMZ says. She claims Craig has done harm to the kids by saying negative things about her on Anderson Cooper's talk show. 

Don't believe reports that Jennifer Aniston, 42, is on a crazed biological-clock-ticking-bomb-spurred crusade to have a baby with beau Justin Theroux. "It's not what you read. There's no desperation," the Friends alum tells Elle mag. "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. I'm at peace with whatever the plan is."

Not really. The Mad Men star tells the Hollywood Reporter he and longtime gf, Jennifer Westfeldt, aren't ready to have kids, but they're thinking about it. "It's always on the periphery of the discussion," says Jon. He hesitates because he feels the biz makes for a treacherous environment in which to raise kids.

Denzel Washington, 56, who earned a B.A. in drama and journalism from Fordham University in 1977, has given his alma mater $2.5 mil. The Bronx, N.Y., school will use the money to endow the Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre and to set up a scholarship for minority undergrad theater students.

Controversial Danish director Lars von Trier (Antichrist), who this summer shocked fans by making anti-Semitic remarks at the Cannes Film Festival, says he will no longer speak in public. "Due to these serious accusations I have realized that I do not possess the skills to express myself unequivocally," he says before making a vow: "From this day forth to refrain from all public statements and interviews."

Gabshow pro Rosie O'Donnell fell head over heels in love at a time in her life when she thought all that was over. "I did not expect it when I met her at Starbucks," O'Donnell, 49, says of new gf, Michelle Rounds, 40, an IT headhunter. "She didn't look like any lesbian I'd ever met. . . . But it's fun and very exciting."

Says Rosie, "It's like you're a withering rose and the petals are falling off and all of a sudden you bloom again." Rosie will debut her nightly talk show on the OWN network Monday.