NEWSMAKERS

August 1, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

NEWSMAKERS

Ex-girlfriend urges Gibson: ‘Tell the truth’

LOS ANGELES

Mel Gibson’s former girlfriend says she’s the victim of a “smear campaign” and never tried to extort money from the Oscar-winning star.

In a video interview posted Friday on RadarOnline.com, Oksana Grigorieva says she’s been “victimized all over again” by speaking out about her troubles with Gibson. She accuses him of “trivializing domestic violence” and urges him to “tell the truth.”

The Russian singer and mother of Gibson’s youngest child says the now-infamous tapes allegedly of the filmmaker threatening Grigorieva were all recorded on one night and that she recorded the calls because she feared for her life.

Gibson met with sheriff’s detectives last week to discuss his claims of extortion against his ex. The sheriff’s department also is investigating claims by Grigorieva that Gibson abused her during a January confrontation.

Montag files for divorce from Pratt

LOS ANGELES

Fifteen months after saying “I do,” reality TV stars Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are headed for divorce.

The 23-year-old starlet and plastic-surgery devotee filed for divorce Friday in Santa Monica, Calif., citing irreconcilable differences.

Montag began dating the 26-year-old Pratt while filming MTV’s reality show “The Hills.” The couple’s April 2009 wedding was featured on the show.

Court documents show the two were legally married May 25, 2009, and separated on their one-year anniversary.

The media-hungry pair published a book together last year: “How to Be Famous: Our Guide to Looking the Part, Playing the Press, and Becoming a Tabloid Fixture.”

Montag filed for a legal separation June 8, which some dismissed as a publicity stunt.

In the divorce filing, she asked the court to deny spousal support to Pratt. They have no children.

Italian screenwriter Cecchi D’Amico dies

ROME

Screenwriter Suso Cecchi D’Amico, who emerged from the male-dominated post-war Italian cinema to become a celebrated artist and contribute to such milestones as “Bicycle Thieves” and “The Leopard,” died Saturday at age 96.

Cecchi D’Amico died in her hometown, Rome, the ANSA news agency said, citing her family. No cause of death was given.

Cecchi D’Amico worked with some of the most renowned Italian directors, including Mario Monicelli, whose movie “Casanova 70” earned her an Oscar nomination.

Born Giovanna Cecchi in 1914 to a family of writers and intellectuals, she began working in cinema soon after the war. She quickly landed a high- profile job helping write the script for Vittorio De Sica’s “Bicycle Thieves,” which was released in 1948 and became a manifesto for neorealism.

Associated Press