Sideshow: Madonna goes to court to get son Rocco home for holidays

Madonna was understandably upset when her 15-year-old son told her that he refused to leave his dad's house in Britain to join her for the holidays in New York. Rocco Ritchie has been staying with Madge's ex-hub, British filmmaker Guy Ritchie, across the Atlantic.

He doesn't want to fly over, Ritchie's attorney has said.

What's a mother to do? Some would shout, cry, or plead.

Madge, 57, went to court.

The "Like a Virgin" singer has won a court order compelling Rocco to return to his ma's home - by force if necessary. (What, they're going to send an FBI agent to handcuff him and drag him back?)

The New York Daily News says the whole thing is part of a bigger custody battle between Madonna and Ritchie.

Ex-con Teresa Giudice will celebrate Christmas with her family. The Real Housewives of New Jersey star on Thursday was released from the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Conn., after serving 11 months for tax fraud.

Giudice, 43, was released four months early for good behavior. She returned directly to her Montville, N.J., home in Morris County and was reunited with husband Joe and their four children. Her lawyer tells ABC News Giudice will not have to serve time in a halfway house.

Joe, who also was convicted of tax fraud, is expected to begin serving his 41-month sentence in March.

More than a dozen theater folks from the Philly region have banded together to shoot a holiday-theme music video, including Wilma Theater artistic director Blanka Zizka; Theatre Exile director Joe Canuso; performer, designer, and director Aaron Cromie; actors Tony Lawton and Cathy Simpson; and the entire cast of 1812 Productions' This Is the Week That Is.

The band of desperados sang Stevie Wonder's "That's What Christmas Means to Me."

The project was produced by a team of local musicians, sound designers, and filmmakers, including composers Christopher Colucci and Daniel Perelstein and costume designer Katherine Fritz.

You can watch the vid at vimeo.com/149719652.

TV host and comic Steve Harvey, 58, has been rewarded for his note-perfect performance as host of the Miss Universe pageant. He's been asked to come back next year, says Deadline.com. . . . Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutiérrez, who was erroneously announced as this year's winner by Harvey, has been offered a film role. Porn company Vivid Entertainment says it'll pay her $1 mil to make a sex tape. . . . Late Show host Stephen Colbert tells CBS's John Dickerson he was wrong when he said Donald Trump had no chance of winning the White House. He praised the real estate mogul's populism. . . . Quentin Tarantino told folks at the American Film Market conference in Santa Monica, Calif., that he will retire from the biz after his 10th film. His current pic, The Hateful Eight, is his eighth. So that leaves, let's see, two more.

tirdad@phillynews.com
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