Julia Roberts Ad Banned; Ron Howard Ditches Dan Brown
Welcome to the Smart Set. Every morning we bring you the gossip coverage, filtered. Today: Julia Roberts gets banned, Ron Howard moves on, and Nicki Minaj pays up:
L'Oreal ads featuring Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington have been pulled from circulation in the United Kingdom "for being overly-airbrushed." The decision was made after Jo Swinson, a Liberal Democrat member of Parliament "who has waged a long-running campaign against 'overly perfected and unrealistic images' of women in adverts, lodged complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority" about the images. The ASA ruled the ads "breached the advertising standards code for exaggeration and being misleading and banned them from future publication." (The Roberts ad is pictured below.) [The Hollywood Reporter]
RELATED: Ron Howard's New Age of Austerity
Ron Howard won't be directing the movie version of The Lost Symbol, the third film in Dan Brown's bestselling Robert Langdon series. "Ron told [Sony Pictures co-chairmen] Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton that he was not going to be directing Dan Brown's novels anymore," says a source. "He just didn't want to do that thing over and over, the same character and the same stories." The first two films in the series, The Da Vici Code and Angels & Demons combined to earn more than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. [Deadline]
According to sources, former New York governor Eliot Spitzer has been "laying low" since his departure from CNN and "thinking about returning to work for his family's real estate business." He didn't give anything away in an email responding to a request for comment."Appreciate the question but you know I am not going to say anything other than 'Those who know don't say, and those who say don't know.' So I wouldn't rely on anything anybody has told you," wrote Spitzer. "But I am having a great time playing some tennis at Cliff Drysdale's tennis camp in Vermont this week."[Page Six]
The details of designer Alexander McQueen's will have been released. While friends, family, and charities were all taken care of, McQueen also set aside "£50,000 of his £16 million estate for the care of his three dogs, Juice, Minter and Callum...Furthermore, beyond the care for his dogs, the designer’s will also stipulated that two animal charities should each receive from his estate £100,000." McQueen committed suicide in February. [Unbeige]
Nicki Minaj "was given a summons citing her for explicit lyrics and sexually suggestive dance moves" following a Montego Bay concert Saturday. She reportedly pleaded guilty and paid the $1,000 fine. [Vulture and RapRadar]
Christopher Schwarzenegger is "back home and well" after a week-long hospital stay following a boogie boarding accident that left him with a broken rib and collapsed lung. Meanwhile, dad Arnold has "amended a divorce filing and withdrawn a request that a judge terminate Maria Shriver's rights to spousal support." That comes a week after Schwarzenegger submitted a filing asking that Shriver be made to pay her own legal fees. [Perez Hilton and AP]
Allison Tocci, the president of Time Out for the last 15 years, is leaving. Explained Tocci, "I thought they needed someone from a purely digital background. It’s like, this used to be a steakhouse and now it’s going to be a sushi place. Not that the steak guy can’t cook a pretty good fish, but you might want to get a sushi expert.” She'll take over as president of the non-profit City Parks Foundation, "the organization behind SummerStage." [The New York Observer]
Bob Dole and wife Elizabeth celebrated his 88th birthday yesterday by inviting wounded soldiers from Walter Reed hospital to their Watergate apartment, as "part of a 'reverse birthday' tradition the former GOP senators have kept up over the years: Instead of giving each other gifts, they’ve sent presents to needy seniors or thrown parties for school kids." [The Reliable Source]
"After a protracted and bitter battle with the Plaza’s owners over noise levels, money and alleged lease violations," the historic Oak Room restaurant on the New York hotel's ground floor is closing tonight after last call. [City Room]
