Life imitating 'Gossip'
Series stars Lively, Badgley moving toward engagement
There's lots of gossip from the set of ''Gossip Girl,'' including updates on the romance between Blake Lively and Penn Badgley -- whose characters, as we know, used to date on the show.
According to a close Lively pal, the couple are expected to announce their engagement soon, though likely not this weekend, as some speculated -- given Sunday is Badgley's 23rd birthday.
''I think if Nov. 1 was Blake's birthday and not Penn's, he might have surprised her with a ring,'' quipped the source. ''But my guess is it's going to happen over the holidays.''
• There's less happy news about Lively's TV mom, Kelly Rutherford. Her already-nasty divorce from husband Daniel Giersch is getting uglier. Word has it Giersch is shopping a book deal that is being touted as an explosive tell-all.
Reportedly, Giersch is willing not only to dish dirt about his estranged wife's kinky sexual appetites, but he would trash virtually all the other stars on the show.
ESTRANGED FROM MOM: We all know Angelina Jolie has not had any relationship with her father, Jon Voight, for years, but now a book reveals Jolie's affair at age 16 with the live-in boyfriend of her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, distanced the actress from her mom for years.
Written by Princess Diana's biographer Andrew Morton and due out this winter, the book reportedly claims that rift between Jolie and Bertrand only healed when Bertrand was diagnosed with the cancer that claimed her life at age 56 in 2007.
FACE FACTS: The big buzz at the Hollywood premiere of Michael Jackson's film ''This Is It'' was how, uh, ''refreshed'' Jennifer Lopez appeared. ''She's obviously had work done,'' said a veteran Tinseltown publicist -- far more diplomatically than a major studio exec who zinged, ''She looks totally Asian now. ... Things are pulled back so much.''
In J. Lo's camp, her appearance is credited to the artistry of her makeup artist for the premiere.
• It's interesting that Lopez and ex-husband Ojani Noa are still battling over financial issues tied to their 1998 divorce -- and his production of a new film, being called a ''mockumentary,'' titled ''How I Married Jennifer Lopez.''
Though J. Lo's lawyers are seeking a cease-and-desist order on the film, claiming it violates terms of the couple's divorce agreement, Noa is forging ahead, reportedly with Martin Sheen's brother Joe Estevez hired to direct the film.
Yet, according to several Hollywood players I've contacted, Lopez likely shouldn't worry. Most figure there will be little interest in the project, given it's all about a less-than-intriguing relationship that ended a decade ago.
WORTHY CAUSES: TV judge Jeanine Pirro, long a crusader against domestic violence, today airs a special episode of ''Judge Jeanine Pirro'' (1 p.m., WFLD-Channel 32) highlighting Domestic Violence Awareness Month -- with her entire audience filled with domestic violence victims from the Chicago area. ... Teri Garr hits town this weekend to help raise funds to fight MS, the disease she has battled for two decades. Garr will greet fans at the Hollywood Palms Theatre in Naperville at 6:45 p.m. Sunday, prior to an 8 p.m. screening of her ''Young Frankenstein.'' Proceeds will go to the Greater Illinois chapter of the National MS Society.
MOVIE SCHMOOZE: There's a special ''meet 'n' greet'' event at the AMC River East tonight for ''21 and a Wakeup,'' Chicagoan Chris McIntyre's film about the doctors and nurses at the 24th EVAC hospital in Vietnam in the waning days of the war. The movie, based on real events, is the first U.S. film allowed to be shot on location in Vietnam. Stars Amy Acker and Danica McKellar are scheduled to be at tonight's screening, along with Chicago cast members Abby Lee, Alison Henry, Harley Reeder and Anna Hagopian. Also there will be McIntyre and Dr. Marvin Wayne, whose stories provided the basis for McIntyre's script. ... Cameras will begin rolling here in January for exterior shots for ''Dance Dance Chicago," a new Disney Channel tween-oriented musical comedy series joining ''Hannah Montana'' and ''Jonas.'' Casting is just starting for the show, about two backup dancers on a contemporary ''American Bandstand''-type show.