Friday, June 23, 2006
Kidman in Australia
SYDNEY, Australia -- Nicole Kidman visited a children's hospital ward with her son and daughter shortly after they arrived in Sydney for her widely anticipated wedding to Keith Urban.
Isabella, 13, and Connor, 11, flew by private jet from Tokyo where they were accompanying their father, Tom Cruise, on a publicity trip, Australian media reported. Cruise and Kidman divorced in 2001.
The children were driven to the luxurious mansion on Sydney Harbor that Kidman and Cruise once shared, accompanied by their grandmother Janelle, and left soon afterward with Kidman on Thursday to visit Sydney Children's Hospital.
Kidman and Urban, a 38-year-old country music star based in Nashville, Tenn., are expected to wed in a lavish ceremony Sunday night.
Minogue resumes tour
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Kylie Minogue, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, will resume her postponed world tour in November.
Michael Gudinski, managing director of the Frontier Touring Co., popped a champagne cork at a media event Thursday to announce a series of concerts in Australia, saying he had just returned from meetings in London with the 38-year-old singer.
"She's definitely through the worst of everything, she's so determined and she can't wait to see you all," Gudinski said. "Obviously she's still got a few mountains to climb, but we're very, very confident that the tour will be going ahead in November."
Minogue had completed dates on her "The Showgirl Tour" in Europe and was heading to Australia for homecoming concerts when she was diagnosed with cancer in May 2005.
She underwent surgery to remove a lump from her breast and is reportedly still undergoing cancer treatment.
Ali's daughter in S. Africa
LOS ANGELES -- Laila Ali will fight Aug. 5 in Cape Town, South Africa, against an unidentified opponent.
It will be Ali's first fight in Africa, where her father, Muhammad Ali, knocked out George Foreman in 1974 for the heavyweight title in the famed "Rumble in the Jungle" in Kinshasa, Zaire, now the Congo.
The bout will benefit the Nelson Mandela Foundation and will be part of a celebration of women's empowerment in South Africa.
Laila Ali, the women's WBC champion, is 22-0 with 19 knockouts since her pro debut in 1999.
Hulk moves to Miami Beach
BELLEAIR, Fla. -- Hulk Hogan has moved his family to Miami Beach and put his mansion near Tampa on the market for a whopping $25 million.
The pro wrestler-actor, aka Terry Bollea, and his wife, Linda, moved last month to a new $12 million bayfront estate on Miami Beach so their children, Brooke, 18, and Nick, 15, could pursue singing and acting careers.
Now the 17,000-square-foot French-style Belleair mansion, familiar to fans of the family's VH1 reality TV series, "Hogan Knows Best," is on the market.
The home has seven fireplaces, 2.3-acre grounds overlooking the Intercoastal Waterway and Gulf of Mexico, a guesthouse, swimming pool, waterfall and four-car garage.
"You can get lost in it," said Marcia Ellis of Coldwell Banker, who sold the Belleair property to the family 14 years ago and has listed it again.
Hogan still owns a more modest place on Clearwater Beach and a home in Los Angeles that is on the market for $5.9 million.
"I've got to downscale," he told The Miami Herald recently. "We'll head toward Miami like the Beverly Hillbillies."
Today's birthdays
Singer Diana Trask is 66. Musical conductor James Levine is 63. Rhythm-and-blues singer Rosetta Hightower (The Orlons) is 62. Actor Ted Shackelford is 60. Actor Bryan Brown is 59. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is 58. "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson is 50. Actress Frances McDormand is 49. Rock musician Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) is 44. Actor Paul La Greca is 44. Actress Selma Blair is 34. Rhythm-and-blues singer Virgo Williams (Ghostowns DJs) is 31. Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz is 29.
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