Sideshow: Newsmakers: Jon & Kate and more

In a new wrinkle in the tiresome reality-TV marital spat, Kate Gosselin, who juggles her hubby and eight kids for entertainment on TLC's Jon & Kate Plus 8, tells People that rumors she has carried on with family bodyguard Steve Neild "are disgusting, unthinkable, unfathomable" and part of a tabloid smear campaign. This bit of dirt follows reports that Kate's better half, Jon, has had an affair with a 23-year-old schoolteacher. (He denies it.) The New York Daily News says TLC suits are scrambling to find a way for the show to capitalize on the couple's strife.

Harrison Ford, who has dated petite thesp Calista Flockhart for, like, 60 years, has finally proposed. Well, he proposed on Valentine's Day, but he finally confirmed the engagement yesterday to Entertainment Tonight. Meanwhile, Perez Hilton says the couple are looking to adopt a girl.

BET Networks announced yesterday that actor Jamie Foxx will host the BET Awards, which will air live June 28 from L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium. Soul trio The O'Jays will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump said at a New York press confab yesterday that he's unperturbed by Carrie Prejean's racy photos ("We are in the 21st century," he exclaimed), even after a batch of racier, topless pics surfaced Monday night.

The Donald assured the world that Miss California's crown is secure.

Prejean then delivered a masterful constitutional address which proves that not only is she an implant-enhanced beauty, she's also a Supreme Court justice waiting to happen.

"I exercised my freedom of speech and I was punished for doing so," she said about comments she made at the pageant against gay marriage.

"This should not happen in America. It undermines the constitutional rights which my grandfather fought for [in WWII]."

Pageant officials say that since she is Miss California, she should consult them before making any comments in her official capacity. They were also concerned that she had not disclosed the photos. She said the pics were not meant for publication but to better sell her for modeling jobs.

Catherine Masters, a 109-year-old nursing home resident, repaid a surprise visit by Prince William by relaying a fashion tip for William's gran, Queen Elizabeth II. Masters said the cards the queen annually sends to folks who live beyond 100 are stale and monotonous: Every year, the cards picture the monarch in the same yellow dress.

"I think either a blue one or white one would be nice," Masters tells her local paper, the Oxford Mail. Buckingham Palace has released no comment on the dress question.

James Spader will make his Broadway debut in a most auspicious way in the world premiere of David Mamet's Race at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. Mamet himself will direct. Previews will start Nov. 17 for a Dec. 6 opening.

Detroit rapper Eminem will give a treat to 200 jobless autoworkers by flying them to L.A. for the Friday taping of his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel's show. Em's CD Relapse is due out May 19.

An unauthorized bio of Patrick Swayze, who has pancreatic cancer, says the Dirty Dancing star was so determined to work on his new show, The Beast, that he put in 12-hour days without any painkillers.

"He didn't want anything at all to befuddle his acting performance," writes Wendy Leigh in Patrick Swayze: One Last Dance, released yesterday. Leigh quotes Beast producer Jamie Erlicht saying that the actor, a Texan, reacted to the diagnosis with confidence. "He said: 'I'm in great condition. I'm a cowboy. I'm a dancer. I'll beat this.' " Swayze is writing his own memoirs with his wife, Lisa Niemi.

British punko-new-wave band Depeche "People Are People" Mode canceled an Athens concert yesterday after frontman David Gahan fell ill with an unknown malady in his dressing room and had to be taken to the hospital. No word on his condition.