Studdard tells kids in Alabama to stay thin

Studdard tells kidsin Alabama to stay thin
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Ruben Studdard is telling kids in Alabama not to be like him.
The "American Idol" winner, who is a spokesman for the Scale Back Alabama weight-loss campaign, spent Tuesday taking a fitness message to schools in hopes of helping Alabama shed its weighty reputation.
"I don't want y'all to be like me. I don't want y'all to get to college and stop working out and forget all the things you have to do to be healthy," Studdard, 28, told students at Montgomery's Capitol Heights Junior High School.
"I want y'all to continue working out for the rest of your life so you don't have to start all over like Ruben Studdard, trying to get yourself back into shape," he said.
The once-rotund Studdard, who won the Fox talent competition in 2003, said in December he had lost nearly 100 pounds since starting a weight-loss program in the summer.
Heather Mills McCartneyon 'Dancing With Stars'
NEW YORK -- Here's a bet there won't be any Beatles songs on the next "Dancing With the Stars." ABC announced Wednesday that Paul McCartney's estranged wife, Heather Mills, will be among the competitors.
Mills will be the first contestant with an artificial limb to compete on the series, which returns for its fourth season March 19. She lost the leg in a motorcycle accident in 1993.
Olympian Apolo Anton Ohno, boxer Laila Ali, former basketball star Clyde Drexler and actor Vincent Pastore, who played gangster Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on "The Sopranos," are also in the cast.
Jerry Springer, one of last season's competitors, teased ABC's "Good Morning America" audience before tossing out Mills' name.
"She may be a sentimental favorite," said Springer, even though Mills has Yoko Ono-like favorability ratings among many Beatles fans. Her selection delivers a message that whatever challenges people face in life, they can dance, he said.
Mills is an activist for animal rights and elimination of the use of land mines.
Actor and former country star Billy Ray Cyrus, former 'N Sync member Joey Fatone, Miss USA 2004 Shandi Finnessey, former "Entertainment Tonight" host Leeza Gibbons, model Paulina Porizkova and former "Beverly Hills, 90210" star Ian Ziering round out the cast.
Today's birthdays
Announcer Don Pardo is 89. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., is 75. Movie director Jonathan Demme is 63. Actor John Ashton is 59. Actress Miou-Miou is 57. Actress Julie Walters is 57. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Julius Erving is 57. Actress-comedian Rachel Dratch is 41. Actress Jeri Ryan is 39. Actor Thomas Jane is 38. Actress-singer Lea Salonga is 36. Actor Jose Solano is 36. Actress-singer Lea Tennis player Michael Chang is 35. Actress Drew Barrymore is 32. Singer James Blunt is 30.