SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 10, 2000 – Want to get the goods on an “Ally McBeal” co-star’s “undisclosed medical condition”? Then get thee to a supermarket and guiltily pick up the Feb. 15 edition of the Star — wherein said “Ally McBeal” co-star seemingly spills the beans her very own self.
According to the article, tastefully titled “‘Ally McBeal’ Beauty Locked Up in Psycho Ward,” actress Lisa Nicole Carson, who plays Ally’s roommate Renee Radick on Fox’s hit legal-eagle series, says she required hospitalization after smoking “a joint that was laced with PCP.”
“I think the joint may have triggered a collapse in my nervous system,” Carson is quoted as telling a Star reporter. “Now I’m here drinking lots and lots of water and trying to get the drugs out of my system.”
The “here,” according to the Star, is (or was) New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital, where the 30-year-old Carson was allegedly admitted to a special ward.
Fox deferred comment on the report to Carson‘s publicist. A Hollywood.com phone call to said publicist went unreturned.
But last week, Carson‘s reps did disclose that the actress had recently completed a two-week hospital stay. The official statement on the topic of her “undisclosed medical condition” was devoid of detail. While Carson was seen (briefly) on Monday’s edition of “Ally McBeal,” it has been said that series producers are writing around her character for the time being.
As for Carson‘s take on the situation? “I’m [a] honky-tonk woman,” she says in the Star. “I used to sing in a rock band and drink whiskey straight out of the bottle. I love my mommy and daddy, and when I’m good I’m very good, but when I’m bad I’m very bad. I’m very good at being very bad.”
LEO WATCH: Okay, he wore (or so we’re told) a gray suit and matching tie. He smiled for photographers. He nobly declined the requests of those who implored, “Leo, kiss me quick!”
We speak, of course, of Leonardo DiCaprio, in London on Wednesday for the Euro premiere of “The Beach.” (The flick washes ashore in these parts on Friday.)
The red-carpet affair featured the U.K. version of the A-list crowd (which reads more like the lineup for a “Behind the Music” marathon): A Spice Girl (Baby); the guy who used to sing in Simply Red; and a couple of ex-Duran Duraners.
What — nobody from Big Country?
‘BEACH’ BUMMED: Don’t ask Ewan McGregor about “The Beach.”
According to the British magazine The Face, McGregor suggested that the filmmakers behind “The Beach” — the same team he’d done “Trainspotting” and two other flicks for — had gone for the obvious commercial choice in casting DiCaprio.
Asked if he felt disrespected by McGregor, DiCaprio reportedly answered: “Yeah. You know, yeah, absolutely.”
Here’s the ironic twist: DiCaprio has been rumored for the role of Anakin Skywalker in “Episode II” of the “Star Wars” series. Should he be cast, he’d be playing opposite McGregor (who starred in “Episode I” as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi). And as fans know, Anakin will later become Darth Vader and, um, kill Obi-Wan. That’s gotta hurt.
We feel for you, Ewan.
DON’T KISS, DON’T TELL: Don’t ask Michael Douglas about love. Not when he wants to talk war.
At a recent interview with reporters to discuss his upcoming film “Wonder Boys,” Douglas, 55, was speaking passionately about disarmament, according to Reuters. But when an impatient journalist blurted, “So how did you meet Catherine?” (as in Catherine Zeta-Jones), Douglas retorted, “At a nuclear rally.” He complimented the reporter on not even bothering to make a transition.
“You really are bored, aren’t you?” he asked.
Later, Douglas finally allowed that he met Zeta-Jones, now 30, by arranging a meeting through a friend because he was so impressed with her in “The Mask of Zorro.”
And now back to the disarmament issue …
QUICK TAKES: Looks like Whoopi Goldberg will exercise her hosting chops again — but not at the Oscars. While Billy Crystal returns for another Academy Awards engagement, Goldberg has been tapped to host the Screen Actors Guild Awards on March 12 in Los Angeles. It will be aired on TNT …
… In New Orleans, a federal appeals court stood behind Oprah Winfrey Wednesday, ruling that the TV talk queen did not defame the cattle industry in a 1996 show that sparked a headline-making 1998 veggie-libel trial.
… More fun at the Happiest Place on Earth. In Delaware on Wednesday, an appeals court ruled that Disney shareholders do have the right to sue the Magic Kingdom over that $140 goodbye package Michael Ovitz received when he left the company in 1997 after a grueling, um, 15 months on the job.
…Ain’t it cute? Kirsten Dunst‘s prom date will be actor Josh Hartnett, her co-star from the upcoming “The Virgin Suicides.” The matchup happened when Dunst asked Seventeen magazine entertainment editor Michelle Shapiro for date suggestions. Shapiro immediately walked up to Hartnett, who answered: “Sure.”
MUSIC BEAT: D’Angelo’s “Voodoo” spends a second turn at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart this week. Overall, the Top Five was virtually unchanged from last week: No. 2 was Santana’s “Supernatural,” Dr. Dre’s “Dr. Dre 2001” held at No. 3 and Celine Dion’s “All the Way … a Decade of Song” stayed at No. 4. Christina Aguilera’s self-titled album jumped to the No. 5 spot.
In singles action, the new No. 1 is “Thank God I Found You” by Mariah Carey’s collaboration with Joe and 98 Degrees. Rounding out the Top Five: “I Knew I Loved You,” by Savage Garden; “What a Girl Wants,” by Christina Aguilera; “Get it on Tonite,” by Montell Jordan; and “Smooth,” by Santana, featuring Rob Thomas of Matchbox20.
