Timberlake speaks out in defense of Spears

Timberlake speaks outin defense of Spears
NEW YORK -- Justin Timberlake, who once told ex-girlfriend Britney Spears to "Cry Me a River," is coming to her defense.
Photos of Spears, her husband, Kevin Federline, and the couple's infant son were published online Friday, but were taken down within hours after her record label, Jive Records, issued a statement threatening legal action.
"When a person like her, who's obviously a sweet person, is having their first child, it's like, 'leave the girl alone,'" Timberlake told "Access Hollywood" in an interview Monday. Excerpts were released in advance.
"I do think that's crossing the line," the 24-year-old singer said. "That's her baby and those are her baby pictures."
The pictures, taken in a private photo shoot, were allegedly stolen. Spears reportedly has been negotiating to sell them to a magazine.
The Web site http://www.tangiblebrit.com, which was the first to post the photos, withdrew them. A message on the Web site says: "To Britney, Kevin, Sean, Jive Records, SonyBMG and anyone else I have affected by this, I am deeply sorry for any pain I have caused you."
Spears' baby, who was born Sept. 14, hasn't been seen in public, nor has his name been announced, though reports say it is Sean Preston Federline.
The baby is the first child for the 23-year-old pop star and Federline, 27, who has two children with ex-girlfriend Shar Jackson.
Playing Cash was workfor Joaquin Phoenix
LOS ANGELES -- Joaquin Phoenix had his work cut out for him before playing Johnny Cash in the upcoming film "Walk the Line."
Phoenix, who had no musical background, "was pretty horrible when he started," said Dan John Miller, leader of the indie band Blanche, who plays Cash's lead guitarist.
The 31-year-old actor spent months rehearsing by himself. He also wrote his own songs to "see what it felt like to make something from nothing," Phoenix told Time magazine.
"He came around the corner for this concert scene and he just had the swagger and confidence,"
Miller told Time. "He was Johnny Cash -- badass. For an amateur like me, it was suddenly clear what real acting is."
"Walk the Line," also starring Reese Witherspoon, is set for release in U.S. theaters Nov. 18.
Paying to hear Trump
NEW YORK -- At $25,000 per minute, advice from Donald Trump doesn't come cheap.
That didn't stop thousands of fans from attending a Sunday lecture by the real estate mogul, who received $1.5 million for the hour-long speech. Trump, star of NBC's "The Apprentice," urged listeners to be aggressive and remain suspicious of advisers. "When somebody challenges you, fight back," he said, according to published reports. "Be brutal, be tough, just go get them."
Aspiring dealmakers should work with others while maintaining a competitive edge, he told the crowd at the Learning Annex event, which cost between $100 and $500 per ticket. "Get the best people and don't trust them," he said.
Interactive exhibit letsvisitors play Lennon tune
PARIS -- A solitary white piano at a John Lennon retrospective invites visitors to play the song "Imagine."
Curator Emma Lavigne said it was a deliberate effort to make people revisit the song that otherwise "you might hear in a supermarket, doing your shopping."
"The message is still there. This song is still relevant," she said. "I wanted the exhibition to be as alive as possible, so we don't say to ourselves 'he [Lennon] is in a museum.' Because I think he would have hated that."
"John Lennon, Unfinished Music" is at Paris' Cite de la Musique for the next eight months.
The exhibition is divided into two floors, one for Lennon's childhood and the Beatle years and the other -- in white-themed rooms -- for the latter period when he was with Yoko Ono.
Ono, Lennon's widow, lent around 90 percent of the hundreds of exhibits that make up the show, leaving her with "holes in her apartment," Lavigne said.
A 1966 pink-yellow-and-red Andy Warhol of Lennon, which Lavigne said usually hangs over Ono's fireplace at her New York City apartment, is exhibited above a standup Steinway that Lennon played when composing "Double Fantasy."
Other gems: Lennon's black 1963 Fender Telecaster with a worn fingerboard and rusty pickups; collages he made for Ringo Starr and George Harrison; a 10-minute film of a silent Central Park gathering by crowds mourning Lennon's death; and a copy of Lennon's original "Imagine," three verses written on New York Hilton letterhead.
Notable death
NEW YORK -- Tony Adams, a producer of many of the films of director Blake Edwards including six "Pink Panther" movies and the screen and stage versions of "Victor/Victoria," died Saturday of a stroke. He was 52.
Adams died at Beth Israel Hospital, said Peter Cromarty, a spokesman for the producer. Adams was a partner in Hello Entertainment, a theater producing company, which develops and produces Broadway shows.
Today's birthdays
Former baseball player Bobby Thomson is 82. Former American League president Dr. Bobby Brown is 81. Actress Jeanne Cooper is 77. Actress Marion Ross is 77. Actor Tony Franciosa is 77. Country singer Jeanne Black is 68. Singer Helen Reddy is 64. Rock singer Jon Anderson (Yes) is 61. Singer Taffy Danoff (Starland Vocal Band) is 61. Rock musician Glen Tipton (Judas Priest) is 57. Actor Brian Kerwin is 56. Rock musician Matthias Jabs is 49. Actress Nancy Cartwright ("The Simpsons") is 48. Country singer Mark Miller (Sawyer Brown) is 47. Rock musician Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is 43. Actress Tracy Nelson is 42. Actor Michael Boatman is 41. Singer Speech is 37. Actor Adam Goldberg is 35. Rock musician Ed Robertson (Barenaked Ladies) is 35. Country singer Chely Wright is 35. Violinist Midori is 34. Actor Mehcad Brooks ("Desperate Housewives") is 25. Actor Ben Gould is 25. Rhythm-and-blues singer Young Rome is 24. Singer Ciara is 20. Actress Conchita Campbell ("The 4400") is 10.