In Shaquille O’Neal’s upcoming memoir, Shaq Uncut: My Story, Shaq opens up about the behind-the-scenes fighting and drama between him and Kobe Bryant that ultimatley led Shaq to be traded to the Miami Heat in 2004.

Claiming that Kobe Bryant was being groomed by Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson to be the Lakers’ superstar player, Shaq says that back in 1996 a teenage Kobe Bryant had aspirations of granduer, and relentless ambition that led the two players to often lock horns. In describing Kobe Bryant, Shaq writes in his book:

“He was so young and so immature in some ways, but I can tell you this: everything Kobe is doing now, he told me all the way back thenhe was going to do it. We were sitting on the bus once and he told me, ‘I’m going to be the number one scorer for the Lakers, I’m going to win five or six championships, and I’m going to be the best player in the game.’”

Shaquille O’Neal says that his response to Kobe Bryant at the time was, “Ok, whatever.” Shaq goes on to write that Kobe then “looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘I’m going to be the Will Smith of the NBA.’”

Shaquille O’Neal then went on to discuss perceived favored treatment that Lakers coach Phil Jackson bestowed upon Kobe Bryant, and Kobe’s anymosity towards Shaq for not publically defending him in 2003 when sexual assault allegations surfaced against Bryant stemming from an incident that took place at a Colorado hotel.

Shaquille O’Neal’s book details a fight he and Kobe Bryant had, behind closed doors, where Kobe accused Shaq of turning his back on him in his time of need. Shaq claims that he did reach out to Kobe Bryant after the scandal broke, and it was Kobe who was unresponsive. Shaquille O’Neal goes on to write in his book, “To this day I still don’t know what happened in Colorado. Kobe never came clean… the only details we knew were reported in the papers. Kobe eventually admitted to having a sexual relationship with the girl but said it was consensual.”

Things eventuually settled down between the two former Lakers rivals and Shaq moved on to the Miami Heat, eventually ending his NBA career with the Boston Celtics in 2011.

Shaquille O’Neal states in his book, “We played together on the West team in the 2009 All-Star Game and they voted us co-MVPS. I’m there with my son and we’ve got this one trophy, so i said, ‘Here Kobe, you take it.’ He said, ‘No, give it to your son. I’ll get mine later. Give it to your little guy.’”

I recently interviewed Shaquille O’Neal for PR.com, and Shaq’s PR.com interview with me will post on November 11th.

Shaq Uncut: My Story will be in bookstores on November 15, 2011

A stuntman working on “Expendables” sequel has died and another stuntman seriously injured after an accident on Thursday, October 27, 201, in an explosion scene on the set of The Expendables 2. The Expendables sequel is set to hit theaters in August 2012. The star studded Expendables 2 movie is being filmed in Bulgaria starring Silvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lungren, Jet Li, and Jean Claude Van Damme. The all-star cast was not present when the accident occurred. They were in the middle of filming another scene at a mountain resort in the village of Bansko, two and a half hours away. The stuntmen were performing a stunt involving an explosion on an inflatable boat around 7p.m. local time, in front of the capital on Ognyanovo dam. One stuntman died on the scene the other rushed to the hospital to which he reportedly had undergone a five hour operation. He was said to be unconscious and in stable condition after the operation. No information was given yet as to the identities of the stuntmen involved in the incident.

The production company, Nu Image/Millennium Films, is being investigated by local authorities and is said to be fully cooperating and working closely with the police.

The producers of The Expendables 2 released this statement saying, “It is with great regret that we confirm this unfortunate accident. Our hearts go out to the families and those on the production affected by this tragedy.” No word on whether or not they are slowing film production down due to the accident.

Reps for Silvester Stallone were unavailable for comment.

Expendables 2 is not the 1st set to suffer an accident resulting in death. But will it be hard for you to watch The Expendables 2 knowing that one of those deaths was real? Have you watched, The Crow? Did you feel awkward while watching it and knowing that the film’s star, Brandon Lee, died from a tragic accident in which a gun with dummy cartridges was used in a scene where Lee was shot and passed after a six hour procedure to remove the bullet?

How about Batman Dark Night? Heath Ledger did not passed while filming but even after his death they decided to leave his scenes in the movie. Was that hunting? I would have to say yes. When did our whole mindset change that would cause us to want to see a movie more when people die.

May the stuntman rest in peace and our hearts go out to his family.

Have a look at this 1995 audition tape of an 11 year old Scarlett Johansson auditioning for Jumanji:

Everyone has to start somewhere, even a glamorous A-List movie star like Scarlett Johansson. In this audition tape from early on in the actress’s career, an 11 year old Scarlett is giving a screen test audition for the 1995 film, Jumanji. The lead role of the little girl in the film ultimately went to Kirsten Dunst, but Scarlett Johansson looks inquisitive and shows early signs of screen talent in this old audition for the movie role.

Scarlett Johansson went on to build an acting career as a child star, with early film credits like: Home Alone 3 and The Horse Whisperer, which first brought her to the attention of the entertainment industry in 1998. In 2003 Johansson made a star turn in Lost In Translation, followed by critical acclaim for her role in Girl With A Pearl Earring, and Ms. Johansson was then catapulted into the screen goddess stratosphere.

Jobs (left) and Obama... not as chummy as they seem

Author and biographer, Walter Isaacson, has written one of the most anticipated biographies to hit the book market this year, his much-anticipated biography about the late Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs. There is a section in the soon-to-be-released Jobs biography where Isaacson talks about how critical Steve Jobs was of President Obama and his ultra-left wing political views.

In the book, Walter Isaacson writes that the Apple innovator had offered to “design political ads for President Obama’s 2012 campaign despite being highly critical of the administration’s policies.”

The book delves into some detail about a private meeting between President Obama and Steve Jobs that was heavily orchestrated and negotiated, before the meeting even took place. Allegedly, Jobs was insulted when President Obama used an intermediary to request a meeting with Jobs instead of extending a personal invitation, himself. Apparantly, in the fall of 2010, “[Steve] Jobs insisted on the personal invitation, and the standoff lasted for five days.”

Jobs finally agreed to meet with the President in San Francisco, and the conservative business mogul did not mince words with Obama. Steve Jobs flat out told President Obama that he was “headed for a one-term presidency,” going on to attempt to educate Obama about the plight of the America billion dollar corporation.

Steve Jobs tried to school Obama about the ease and economics of setting up factories overseas, particularly in China, as opposed to building American factories to create product.

As Huffington Post reports, “Jobs described the ease with which companies can build factories in China compared to the United States, where ‘regulations and unnecessary costs’ make it difficult for them.” Steve Jobs also complained to President Obama about how “union work rules” are crippling and destroying the American public education system.

At one point Steve Jobs suggested a meeting of the minds whereby President Obama should meet with “six or seven other CEOs who could express the needs of innovative businesses.” But even that became a point of contention between Obama’s administration and Steve Jobs when the list of CEOs grew too big and was not to Steve Jobs’ liking.

Walter Isaacson describes in the Jobs biography that Apple’s eccentric, and sometimes volitale, co-founder was not that impressed by the President, but that the two did keep in touch by phone here and there, and Steve Jobs did offer, once again, to help the Obama administration with their 2012 ad campaign.

the way they were...

According to TMZ, a distraught and fed up Dina Lohan is currently shopping around a tell all memoir about her experience as the long suffering mother of movie-star-turned-Hollywood-casualty, Lindsay Lohan, 25. While at first blush, Dina’s plans for a memoir about her famous daughter seems like a betrayal, we can understand the need for Dina Lohan to get a lot of things off her chest. As a mother myself, I can assume that Dina has been through heartwrenching hell watching her daughter Lindsay self-destruct.

As TMZ reports, “Lindsay Lohan’s mom is trying to expose her own daughter’s dark secrets, blowing the lid off of Lindsay’s alleged drug and alcohol use.” Drug use that Dina has been denying and trying feverishly to cover up for years in a futile attempt to help Lindsay salvage her former movie star glory. In our opinion, the fact that Dina Lohan is shopping around a memoir about Linday’s drug and alcohol abuse is a testament to the fact that the elder Lohan has thrown in the towel on any hope of a career resurrection for her severely troubled daughter.

The TMZ story goes on to say that they have obtained a draft of a book proposal that Dina Lohan has written for the purpose of selling her story to the highest bidding publisher. Here is an excerpt of Dina’s book proposal:

“I blamed her friends, her career and her handlers for [a] newfound lifestyle of partying excessively. Drinking, drugging and behaving irresponsibly became Lindsay’s way of daily living–and it tore me up inside… How could I deny my daughter the chance of a lifetime? How could I hold Lindsay back from her dream of becoming an actress? So, I listened to others and sent my daughter to Hollywood with a few pieces of luggage and a chaperone.”

TMZ alleges that “Dina [Lohan] and her rep were soliciting meetings via email two weeks ago, to brainstorm how to make her book ‘a best seller.’”

I guess if you are going to spill all of your family’s deepest, darkest secrets, you might as well go for the New York Times bestseller’s lists, right?

With all of the speculation surrounding Lindsay Lohan and her substance abuse and legal problems, we suspect that Dina Lohan’s book would indeed fly off the shelves, and we admit, we’d be curious.

Michelle Williams is a dead ringer for Marilyn

Here is some early plotline information released by The Weinstein Company about their upcoming film starring Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn:

In the early summer of 1956, 23 year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), just down from Oxford and determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl. The film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), who was also on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Aurthur Miller (Dougray Scott).

Nearly 40 years on, his diary account “The Prince, the Showgirl and Me” was published, but one week was missing and this was published some years later as “My Week with Marilyn” – this is the story of that week. When Arthur Miller leaves England, the coast is clear for Colin to introduce Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life; an idyllic week in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from her retinue of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work.

Michelle Williams is brilliant as Marilyn Monroe in this trailer for My Week With Marilyn:

My Week With Marilyn starring Michelle Williams will hit theatres on November 23, 2011

catfight

The war of words between Kelly Osbourne and Christina Aguilera goes all the way back to the days when The Osbournes were the reigning reality television family on MTV, with Kelly’s brother Jack attempting to intervene and create peace between the dueling divas. All these years later, Osbourne and Aguilera are still at each other’s throats, trading nasty public jabs about, of all things, weight! You would think these two would be more compassionate towards one another, considering the amount of pressure female celebrities are under to be skinny.

Unfortunately it has only gotten worse between Kelly and Christina. Kelly Osbourne harbors an unrelenting grudge against Aguilera, claiming that the songbird and star of The Voice used to make fun of Osbourne, calling her “fat” behind her back. Well, now that Kelly has a regular television platform, via E!’s Fashion Police, and the young Osbourne star has shed her pesky pounds, she is enjoying rubbing her newly svelte figure in Christina Aguilera’s fuller face. Aguilera went through a stressful divorce last year, and the Lady Marmalade singer has put on some lbs. recently. Kelly Osbourne (AOL HuffPost) boldly commented, “She called me fat for years. I was never that fat.”

Joining in on the cattiness, Osbourne’s Fashion Police co-host, Joan Rivers quipped, “Lady Marmalade got into the peanut better again.” That’s Joan Rivers for you; she is the queen of insult humor, and even Joan, herself, is not off limits. Rivers is particularly fond of self-deprecating humor, so she feels no one is off limits for her comedic bits. But Osbourne, being a young woman who has struggled with weight issues, should show a little more sensitivity, and dare I say, be the bigger person (ok, no pun intended).

The ladies were referring to Christina Aguilera’s recent appearance at a Michael Jackson tribute concert, where the singer performed in a too-tight skimpy getup that was quite unforgiving, clinging to all the wrong places.

We are sure that Christina will shed the pounds as soon as she is ready, and what ever happened to valuing women for something other than their physical appearance? Christina Aguilera is a brilliant vocalist and proud mom and we think that’s what’s most important. And Kelly Osbourne is looking better than ever these days.

Ease up on the insults you too!

it's about time

So what’s the deal with all of these made-for-TV nuptials? Aren’t weddings supposed to be a private affair to be witnessed by family and friends, exclusively? Not in reality TV land, where producers want celebrities to share every special, intimate moment with millions of reality television viewers in the name of ratings surges. We can’t speak for every reality TV wedding, but in the case of the much overdo I Dos between Kiss bassist Gene Simmons and his longtime love, Shannon Tweed, the couple’s son Nick tells E! News that his famous parents’ wedding was indeed, 100% real!

When the E! News cameras caught up with Nick Simmons recently at a Hollywood red carpet event, he had this to say to all of the skeptics who think his parent’s soon-to-be televised wedding was a publicity stunt, and nothing more:

“They got married two days ago, and it’s funny how everyone, not everyone, but a couple people, have surmised that it’s fake… and it’s funny how unfake it is.” Nick Simmons went on to tell E!, “I think just because we allowed them [A&E] to film the ceremony, people think it was some sort of staged thing, but my mom (Shannon Tweed) would never allow it. She’s too proud!”

Check out this teaser video clip from Gene Simmons’ and Shannon Tweed’s wedding, which took place at the Bevery Hills Hotel after 28 years together as a couple and two children. The wedding special will air on A&E’s Gene Simmons: Family Jewels this Tuesday.

A&Es special two hour Family Jewels Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed wedding special episode is set to air Tuesday 9 PM EST on A&E

the way they were

The 2011 NBA Lockout is serious business and doesn’t seem to be letting up any time soon, much to the dismay of loyal season ticket holders and basketball fans. David Stern, the NBA Commissioner, has announced to the press that he has elected to cancel the first two weeks of the NBA basketball season.

Stern said in a statement, “We certainly hoped it would never come to this. I think that both sides worked hard to get to a better solution.” Stern went on to say, “We remain very, very far apart on virtually all issues.”

So what’s the rub? According to the New York Times, “They remain at odds over how to divide some $4 billion in basketball league revenues, and over the entire system of rules that govern team payrolls and player salaries.”

I know what you’re thinking… aren’t these players paid enough? I guess you have to think of it in terms of a large pie and who feels that they are worthy of a greater piece of that pie. Who is more responsible for generating that $4 billion, the NBA team owners or the star players? It’s a tough call all the way around and nobody looks very good right now.

While David Stern asserts that the NBA players union will begin to sweat once those paychecks stop rolling in, Executive Director of the NBA Players Union, Billy Hunter, has another idea. “We probably need to miss a few games in order for them to be convinced that there is resolve among the players.”

Sounds like a good old-fashioned Mexican stand-off to me. Who will crack first? And will this dispute tarnish the NBA’s appeal with its loyal fans?

To make matters worse, according to AOL Sports, negotiations going forward will now have to account for two weeks of lost revenue for the NBA. And as AOL Sports reports, “the 50/50 split of revenue that the [NBA] league informally floated to players last week is now off the table. Owners are back to demanding a 47 percent split to players, while the union remains firm at 53 percent.”

At least one NBA player has commented on the current state of affairs. Miami Heat guard, Dwyane Wade, said the situation “just got real” after learning the first two weeks are now gone.

While some NBA insiders are hoping for a basketball season that will offer 50 games at best, others are predicting the loss of a basketball season, altogether.

One important point to note, in an official NBA Press Release, Union President, Derek Fisher, emphasizes that missing any games puts the season in jeopardy, and he stressed this was a lockout, not a strike, and that it was the owners’ decision not to be playing basketball.

Get ready for the E! True Hollywood Story of Kate and Pippa Middleton, airing October 12, 2011 at 10PM EST on E!. The E! THS: Kate and Pippa promises “a unique look at the whimsical lives of the world’s most famous sisters” in the form of a revealing 1 hour television special. Insiders to give the world their personal take on the Middleton sisters will include “school friends, neighbors and journalists who have followed the Middleton’s throughout the years,” states the E! Network in a press release about the upcoming special.

According to journalist, Ingrid Seward of Majesty Magazine, “When Kate was a little girl, she had these great big long legs. She was very good at high jump, she was good at running, she was good at hockey. She was actually good at everything … and so was Pippa.”

Seward goes on to describe the Middleton sisters as having a “provincial upbringing, but their family worked hard, and with the help of an inheritance, the girls were sent to top schools in England.”

One top school, St. Andrews, led Kate Middleton to her destiny as a royal bride.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen someone look so amazing as a college freshman in a dorm, just hanging out,” Laura Warshauer, a college friend of Kate’s told E!. “She has this really calm, clear sense of who she [was].”

Friend, Laura Warshauer, describes the scene at a college party where Kate confidently walked right up to Prince William, put her arms around him and jokingly pretended to be his girlfriend to save the polite Prince from an awkward encounter with another female co-ed. Warshauer recalls, “”We were all at this party and there was a girl who was just flirting with Will and she was just being relentless. And it was obvious that Will wanted to get out of the situation. And all of a sudden, Kate just walks right up to Will, puts both of her arms around him and gives him the opportunity to say to the girl, ‘Sorry, I have a girlfriend.’ And then he turned to Kate and said ‘thank you.’ I remember thinking at the time that no one other than Kate could have pulled that off.”

Check out this promo clip from the Kate & Pippa E! True Hollywood Story: