MAMBA GOSSIP

Ashton Kutcher’s got a package for you

Mr Demi Moore, i.e. model turned actor Ashton Kutcher, has appeared on the cover of VMan magazine, and in the inside spread exposes himself in his undies. It’s part of a shoot by celebrity photographer Mario Testino for an article titled ‘Ashton Gets Real’. In the interview, Ashton talks about how great his life is: “Demi and I play around the world, and that is awesome. I was just on the phone with my agent and he said to me, ‘I don’t know many people who have it as good as you have it.’ And I don’t know anyone who has it as good as I have it. I have a great spiritual foundation, an amazing career, a loving, supportive wife and family, I have a lot of friends, and I don’t have any enemies. I don’t know a lot of people who have what I have.” Isn’t he so bloody lucky! Blahh! We have to admit that as he’s aging, and losing that boyish blandness, Ashton is getting yummier and more desirable by the day.

Rock celebs are in town

Thanks to the My Coke Fest concerts this weekend Joburg is a little more celeb-filled than usual. Already in town is the gorgeous-but-kinda-scary-hardcore Jared Leto. The Hollywood actor is the lead singer in the band 30 Seconds To Mars. There are rumours that Paris Hilton herself has also arrived in the city of gold to support her current beau Benji Madden from the band Good Charlotte (doesn’t anyone else think that he looks like Boy George?). It’s said that she’s staying at a hotel in Sandton. They all move on to Cape Town after the Joburg concert on Friday. Celeb-spotters should keep their eyes peeled – you never know who you might bump into while shopping at Sandton City or the Waterfront.

Michael Stipe opens up

We’ve known for years that REM frontman Michael Stipe is gay, but it’s a subject that he’s rarely addressed in public. Now, in an interview with Spin magazine, Michael opens up about his sexuality and coming out. “It was super complicated for me in the ’80s. I was totally open with the band and my family and my friends and certainly the people I was sleeping with. I thought it was pretty obvious,” he says. On the subject of the importance of having openly gay role models he adds, “I didn’t always see that. But I see now, of course that’s the case, of course that’s needed. I’d just never felt strongly enough about a particular relationship to say, ‘Yeah, he’s my boyfriend, that is what it is.’ Now I recognize that to have public figures be very open about their sexuality helps some kid somewhere out there.”

The battle of the divas

Madonna’s new tough wrestler-look to promote her upcoming album Hard Candy couldn’t be more appropriate it seems; there’s a monumental diva media and chart battle ahead. Her CD is about to go head-to-head with Mariah Carey ‘s new release, E=MC2. (And let’s not forget that Janet Jackson has also recently dropped a new album, Discipline.) According to Amazon’s best seller list, Madonna is already in the lead at number 18 thanks to pre-orders, while Mariah is at a rather distant number 100. Go Madge!

Sean Penn’s method acting gay kiss

It seems that Sean Penn has been really committed to his latest role as the late gay politician Harvey Milk. According to his co-star, Mark Martinez, who plays the cross-dressing disco singer Sylvester, a kiss in a scene with Sean was a little more than he expected. “He grabs me, and he just slaps the biggest kiss on me…It felt like the kiss was forever. I’m like, Is he going to stop? I had to close my eyes. I couldn’t believe it.” Mark says that he tried to do another take to relive the moment, but apparently director Gus Van Sant thought that the first take was perfect. “I said, ‘No! It’s not perfect!’ Sean was laughing at me,” recalls Mark.

Tom Ford wants a baby

Tom Ford is clearly jealous of all the Hollywood babies that have been spawned of late and wants to get in on the action. “I’m going to have a kid in 2008,” he tells Fantastic Man magazine. The Designer says that his partner Richard “knows I’ve wanted this for a long time. He’s just resisted it. He would be a spectacular father. It’s going to give his life new meaning.” He adds that, that “It will be biologically mine. I mean, I’m a lot younger. If things follow their natural order, [Richard will] probably leave the planet ahead of me, and I can’t not have had something I’ve wanted forever.”

Baywatch hunk swims out the closet

Thankfully it’s not The Hoff! If your memory goes back that far, you may remember long-blonde-haired hunk Jaason (yes, one “a” is just not enough) Simmons on Baywatch some years back. Well, it turns out he’s rather fond of the boys, just like us! The 37 year old Tasmania-born actor has come out to Australian magazine New Idea. In the article he reveals that he has a committed relationship with his boyfriend, Irish actor John O’Calaghan, and plans to adopt a young boy that he rescued from a Ugandan orphanage. Very Madonna… Jaason, who lives in California, says that he and his beau plan to get married in Canada. “Although you don’t want to typecast yourself, you have to take responsibility and ownership and move humanity forward, out of bigotry. Our son needs to see we can stand in front of family and loved ones who are going to support our union through the good times and bad,” he says in the magazine. Jaason appeared on Baywatch for three years before leaving the show.

Sex and the City indeed!

We’re rather shocked at Mamba Mansions at the news that Sex and the City’s Kristin Davis, who played good girl Charlotte in the show, is at the centre of a sex tape and photo scandal. According to reports, the photographs of the actress (who was recently in SA doing charity work) engaging in all kinds of horizontal nasty were taken by an ex-boyfriend in 1992. They include images of Kristin’s oral sex skills. We’ve seen the pictures and they do look they could be of the actress, but her publicist says that it just ain’t so: “This is not a photo of Kristin Davis. There is no sex tape,” the publicist said. Interestingly, this seems to be rather cleverly timed to coincide with the impending release of the Sex and the City movie. Surely it’s merely a coincidence?