Singer hopes to adopt

Singer hopes to adopt

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Ricky Martin wants kids — perhaps adopting “one from each continent” if possible.

“It’s something we want to begin to create this year, a family of many colors,” the 35-year-old pop star told reporters Wednesday in Puerto Rico, where he is scheduled to perform this weekend.

Martin, who isn’t married, said he doesn’t expect special treatment in the adoption process.

“I want to do it right,” he said. “I don’t want any problems or misunderstandings. ... Some think as celebrities we can manipulate the system to have a quicker adoption.”

Martin, whose hits include “She Bangs,” “Shake Your Bon-Bon” and “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” started the Ricky Martin Foundation to help children in need.

Dancer pleads guilty

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — A principal dancer with the New York City Ballet pleaded guilty Thursday to cocaine-related charges but says he has never used drugs and was protecting another person.

Nilas Martins, 40, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct, a violation. He was originally charged with felony possession of cocaine after police found him in a parked car with another man in Saratoga Springs, the dance company’s summer home, on July 3.

Martins, son of the ballet’s master-in-chief Peter Martins, said nothing as City Court Judge Douglas Mills sentenced him to 40 hours of community service and ordered him to undergo drug and alcohol evaluation. He also was fined $295.

Actress speaks out

NEW YORK — Ellen Pompeo says Hollywood socialites “who are rich and famous for nothing” set a bad example. “I just think the media should take this country in a different direction,” the 37-year-old actress tells the new issue of Los Angeles Confidential Magazine, on newsstands Wednesday.

“We’re so focused on the wrong things. We’re teaching young girls that this is what they should be focusing on: rich and famous girls who are rich and famous for nothing.”

In an apparent reference to coverage of Paris Hilton and her ilk, Pompeo says: “What are we doing to this younger generation? It’s not very responsible.”

Pompeo, who plays Dr. Meredith Grey on ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” also calls the media “irresponsible” for ongoing speculation that she has an eating disorder.

“I just worry about the girls who look up to me — I don’t want them to think I starve myself or don’t eat, and that to be like me that’s what they have to do,” explains the actress, who says she is naturally slender.

Pompeo, who is engaged to record producer Chris Ivery, says they haven’t yet set a wedding date. Does she see children in her future? “I do,” she says. “With the show, I just don’t know if it’s entirely fair to myself and to everybody else right now. We’ll see what happens.”

Pavarotti undergoes tests

ROME — Luciano Pavarotti has been hospitalized in stable condition with a fever in his hometown of Modena, in northern Italy, officials and his manager said Thursday.

The 71-year-old tenor, who underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer last year, was brought to Modena’s Polyclinic on Wednesday and was being kept under observation. Doctors were expected to release him in coming days, according to separate statements from the hospital and his manager, Terri Robson.

Pavarotti was vacationing at his holiday home in Pesaro, an Adriatic seaside resort 125 miles southeast of Modena, when his doctor noticed that he had a fever and decided to admit him to the hospital for tests, Robson said.

“He remains under observation and his condition is now stable,” she said. “It is expected that the doctors will release him from the hospital in the next few days.”

Today’s birthdays

Singer Al Alberts is 85. Actress Rhonda Fleming is 84. Singer Jimmy Dean is 79. Singer Eddie Fisher is 79. Actress Kate O’Mara is 68. Singer Ronnie Spector is 64. Actor James Reynolds (“Days of our Lives”) is 61. Rock singer-musician Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) is 60. Singer Patti Austin is 59. Country musician Gene Johnson (Diamond Rio) is 58. Actor Daniel Hugh Kelly is 55. Actress Rosanna Arquette is 48. Actor Antonio Banderas is 47. Rock musician Jon Farriss (INXS) is 46. Singer Julia Fordham is 45. Singer Neneh Cherry is 43. Singer Aaron Hall is 43. Rhythm-and-blues singer Lorraine Pearson (Five Star) is 40. Rock musician Todd Nichols is 40. Singer-producer Michael Bivins is 39. Actor Justin Theroux is 36. Actress Angie Harmon is 35. Country singer Jennifer Hanson is 34. Actress JoAnna Garcia is 28. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nikki Bratcher (Divine) is 27.