Tattle: Shania Twain, hubby 'Mutt' Lange calling it quits
SHANIA TWAIN, who infused a pop sensibility and bare abs into country music to become one of the biggest-selling female recording artists of all time, is separating from the man who put the arena rock riffs in her songs.
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HANIA TWAIN
, who infused a pop sensibility and bare abs into country music to become one of the biggest-selling female recording artists of all time, is separating from the man who put the arena rock riffs in her songs.
Billboard.com reports Shania and her husband, Robert "Mutt" Lange (who produced her hits in addition to smash albums by Def Leppard and others), are calling it quits after 14 years of marriage, according to her spokesperson at Universal Music Group Nashville.
Shania is 42, seemingly semi-retired and living in Switzerland. The rarely seen Lange is 59.
"This is a private matter and there will be no further comment at this time," the label said.
You know you're big when a whole label speaks on your behalf. How big? With 15.5 million copies sold, Shania's "Come on Over" is the biggest-selling album in the U.S. since Nielsen SoundScan started scanning in 1991.
The couple have a son, Eja D'Angelo (pronounced "Asia") who will be 7 in August.
* Also in trouble, according to Life &
Style magazine, are professional babe Carmen Electra and musician Rob Patterson - and they're not even married yet.
It was a mere three weeks ago that Rob sealed his engagement to Carmen with the black-diamond ring he gave her at her 36th-birthday celebration.
Carmen, however was not happy to learn he got the ring for only $1,650 on Mysolitaire.com.
"She seems really embarrassed," an anonymous insider told Life & Style. "I think the ring is a real deal breaker. She thought she'd be getting this giant rock. Instead, Rob bought it online for a bargain price!"
Rob used to play guitar on tour with Korn, but the licks have been few and far between recently (except from Carmen).
"Rob doesn't have a lot of money coming in," says the insider, "and he's been driving around in Carmen's car while she's working. He's a total freeloader. Carmen's starting to realize that Rob may not be able to hold up his end of the bargain."
Huh? He knows bargains.
BET's nominees
Master collaborator T-Pain has nabbed a leading five BET Award nominations.
Kanye West and Keyshia Cole received three nominations, while Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys and newcomer Flo Rida received a pair each, BET announced yesterday.
"T-Pain is everywhere," said BET Exec VP Stephen Hill. "He's got five nominations, none of them for his own work."
The BET Awards will be presented June 24 in L.A.
Al Green will be honored with a lifetime achievement award. Quincy Jones will receive an award for his humanitarian work. Nelly, Usher, Lil Wayne, Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey are scheduled to perform.
Pictures worth a million words
TMZ.com reports that People magazine is willing to throw away "well over" one million smackers for pics when Ashlee Simpson marries Pete Wentz.
Says People, which wouldn't comment on the crazy figure: "We're thrilled that celebrities continue to choose People as the place to share their most intimate photos."
What's intimate about a staged photo-op?
Where was People when they conceived the child?
* In other photo-pimping news, TMZ.com says Matthew McConaughey and baby mama Camilla Alves have already fielded million-dollar offers for pictures of their soon-to-be-born baby.
McConaughey has even hired "brand agent" Todd Shemarya, who got the big bucks for the Brangelina and Xtina baby pics, to handle negotiations.
So the kid isn't even born and he/she is already a "brand"?
It's one thing to whore out your own photos, but pictures of your baby? That's just creepy.
Tattbits
* The couple who turned a tiny
romantic comedy into a Hollywood blockbuster, is re-teaming.
The Hollywood Reporter says Nia Vardalos will direct and star in "I Hate Valentine's Day," opposite her "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" partner John Corbett.
* Time is waiting. No hesitating.
She's only got four minutes to save the world.
Alas, Madonna will have to wait at least until next week to learn whether David Banda, the Malawian boy she found in an orphanage in 2006, will become a permanent member of her family, her lawyer said yesterday.
Lawyer Alan Chinula had expected a judge to rule on the adoption yesterday but said the hearing was delayed after a Malawian human rights group presented arguments on "shortcomings" in the southern African nation's adoption laws.
He said the group was not challenging the adoption and he expected it to be OK'd next week.
Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie, were not present at yesterday's hearing in Malawi.
* Perfectly timed to the
release of the new Indiana Jones movie, Harrison Ford has been elected to the Boston-based Archeological Institute of America's board of directors. The group promotes excavation, research, education and preservation.
AIA President Brian Rose says Indiana Jones has played a major part in stimulating interest in archaeological exploration.
And chicks still dig him.
* Two photo agencies have
agreed to pay $113,000 to Hugh Grant, his ex-girlfriend Liz Hurley and her husband, Arun Nayar, for taking photos of them (and her son, Damian) while they vacationed in the Maldives.
Britain's High Court says the agencies apologized yesterday for using a long lens to violate the trio's privacy at an island resort in October.
Grant, Hurley and Nayar (they all vacation together?) said in a statement that it was "reprehensible" that photos were taken of Hurley's son playing naked on the beach.
The trio plan to donate the money to a cancer charity.
First, we think, Liz should buy Damian a bathing suit. He is 6. *
Daily News wire services contributed to this report.
E-mail gensleh@phillynews.com