P. Diddy says he didn't do it
Francesca Spero just filed a lawsuit in federal court in NY — in which she describes herself as a “51-year-old white woman” who served as a high ranking exec for Diddy since 1998.
In the docs, Spero claims she and Diddy — aka Sean Combs — butted heads after she informed him that she needed major hip surgery in 2008 … and then later “suffered a relapse” to an addiction to prescription medication and alcohol. Spero claims Diddy was “unsympathetic to her condition” — and ultimately tried to freeze her out of the company.
Spero says she continued to do her work — signing new artists — but was eventually fired in March 2010 … and replaced by a woman 10-15 years younger who “lacked the skill set and experience Spero brought to the position.” Spero now claims Diddy — along with his publishing and management companies — owe her $12 mil in damages for age and disability discrimination.
UPDATE: A spokesperson for Sean Combs tells TMZ, “This is a grab for money by someone who concedes in her complaint to having had a drug relapse while on the job and an employer who was not satisfied with her work.” The rep adds, “There are many reasons why Ms. Spero is no longer employed by Bad Boy, but age discrimination is not one of them.”
In other Celebrity Shenanigans…
We are just so effortlessly perty
■David and Victoria Beckham are reportedly planning on staying in America full-time: “”Frankly they cannot see themselves ever returning to make London their full-time base. The children are settled, speak with American accents and David and Victoria are immersed in the laid back Los Angeles way of life. They love it there – they’re well liked, have plenty of friends and feel it’s their spiritual home. [DigitalSpy]
■This really happened:Jaden Smith and Justin Bieber had a dance battle at a bowling alley. [TMZ]
Teen Princes
■Christina Aguilera on her marriage to Jordan Bratman: “It’s important to be open to growing together, and when the going gets tough, you have to see how you can make your relationship more special and how you can spend more quality time together. Everyone has rough patches, everybody grows and we all change. It’s important to give each other room to grow and to accept them for who they are.” [USWeekly]
■Michael Douglas says he might have put his career ahead of his family when he was younger: “My career was really just getting started and that was my focus, maybe more than it should have been. I was gone more than I should have been.”[NYDN]
Ewwwww
■Douglas’ wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, has opened up about her reaction to her husband’s diagnosis: “I know maybe I should be stronger but emotionally I just don’t want to see the man I love hooked to a chemo IV or lying motionless on a radiation table under a positioning mask…It wasn’t a huge shock, I knew something was up but the one thing that struck me first was: ‘This doesn’t happen to Michael Douglas’. The hardest part is seeing his fatigue because Michael is never tired. I’m 25 years younger than him and he wears me out.” [DailyMail]
■Meanwhile, Douglas’ ex-wife, Diandra Luker, says that Douglas hung up on her twice when she called to wish him well after hearing about his diagnosis. “I was so sad I cried for two days.” [DailyMail]
■Stevie Nicks is working on a new album: “At a certain point, I’m going to get too old for this, but making this album really shows that I’m not done yet.” [ContactMusic]
Oh Stevie...
■Drew Barrymore says if she could play anyone in a rock biopic, it would be Debbie Harry, and that her go-to karaoke song is “the Beastie Boys’ ‘Paul Revere’. I’m going to sound like a jackass, so I might as well pick a good song and be a cooler jackass.” [DigitalSpy]
■”I love 30 more than I’ve ever loved anything. I feel like I was born on my 30th birthday. It’s finally the time where I’ve fully accepted and loved myself, which I’m realizing more and more each day — it is so important to love yourself. Because if you don’t love yourself than nothing really matters. For a long time, I went through life kind of beating myself up and trying to be a perfectionist and do everything right and I just thought, ‘What’s the point?’ I have faults, that’s fine. I can still strive to be better, but I’m not going to be as rough on myself as I used to and it’s just kind of alleviating all of this stress and kind of taken a weight off my shoulders and I think now I’m just happy.”-Kristen Bell [Parade]
Beth on Moss
■Beth Ditto on Kate Moss: “We’re not super good friends, not because we don’t like each other. We’re in two different circles…I do think she’s helped me a lot by being a really cool bad-a*s person. She likes what she likes and she likes who she likes and she just happens to be really gorgeous and good at what she does.” [ContactMusic]
Don't call me Marky Mark
■Mark Wahlberg thinks he looks like “an ass” in his old music videos, and his family apparently agrees: “I remember seeing this thing on VH1, some Sexy People Of The 90s show. My brother Paul was watching with me and my assistant they were just killing themselves with laughter. To top if off I was number one! So for ages after whenever they’d call, they’d be, ‘Can we speak to the Sexiest Man Of The 90s please? They keep killing me.” [ShowbizSpy]
