Sideshow: Sam Smith sheds pounds fast

These days, we know all about the stars. I mean all. As in, what they weigh today compared with last Thursday. Sweet-voiced Sam Smith, multi-Grammy-winner, has become famous for his stylish corpulence. He now says he has lost 14 pounds in 14 days. He's become a devotee of Amelia Freer's healthy-stuff book, Eat. Nourish. Glow., which you and I don't need, of course. He says it has "transformed" his "relationship with food." Lookin' good, too.

AYK, the U.K. Royals do not give media interviews. Which is why everybody around them eavesdrops hard. T'other day, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, that is, Kate Middleton, was overheard saying her due date for Baby Número Dos is "mid- to end of April." No announcement had been made, see, so now we're all twinkly and stuff.

Sinéad O'Connor, who makes a lot of announcements, has announced she won't sing the Prince-penned "Nothing Compares 2 U" - which killed the world in the face back in 1990 - anymore ever again so shut up. On Facebook, she says why: "After twenty-five years of singing it, nine months or so ago, I finally ran out of anything I could use in order to bring some emotion to it."

At the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame induction knees-up April 18, the ubiquitous Paul McCartney will welcome Ringo Starr, 74, into the hall. The Beatles as a band made it in 1988, and McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison also got in as solo acts. Ringo makes the full Fab Four. Another unrelated but still intriguing question: Will inductee Bill Withers perform? He has dropped nothing new since 1985 and is an all-but-recluse. Other 2015 inductees: Green Day, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, the Philly area's own Joan Jett and her band The Blackhearts, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and The 5 Royales.

In a recent mag interview, fashion deities Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana of Dolce & Gabbana made remarks scornful of same-sex couples' having kids, and also of in-vitro fertilization. On Twitter, Elton John, who has two children with spouse David Furnish, called for a boycott. Anti-D&B hashtags erupted! Ricky Martin, who has two children via surrogate, shouted out support, as have Courtney Love, Victoria Beckham, and other celebs. D&G tried to launch an anti-Elton counter-boycott, but it was a damp squib. Now the two - who are themselves gay - say they wuvv Elton.

Rumors keep roaring about Jamie Foxx and Katie Holmes. . . . Isn't it cool that they found the burial site of Miguel de Cervantes, author of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha?

Answer: Yes, it is very cool.