Issue Date: March 16, 2008
Janine Turner has been a single mom since daughter Juliette was born 10 years ago. Now, Turner has written "Holding Her Head High," about single moms from the first through 18th centuries. It inspired her, she tells us, to leave Texas, and family, for New York City. Before, "I didn't feel like I could go ... because maybe it wasn't the right thing for my child." Turner, 45, has her eye on Broadway and a TV talk show and would love to appear on "30 Rock."
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I think Amanda Bynes is one of the funniest comedians ever. I loved her TV show "What I Like About You" and movies like "She's the Man". Where has she been lately?
April Gallagher, Oak Grove, Ky.
On the red carpet, for one. I had a chance to see Bynes, 21, up close and personal at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two things about her impressed me: First, she's normal in size, not a "lollipop head," like so many young actresses who get too thin, and second, she's playful and fun. She was on the Access Hollywood platform to talk with anchor Nancy O'Dell, and before we knew it, Bynes had pulled her Hairspray co-star Elijah Kelley up with her, joking about how she wasn't going to give him the jeweled compact she'd just received after being named among the best-dressed.
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Tell me more about Nathan Fillion, who played a doctor in "Waitress:" Where is he from? When might I see him again?
Mary Kinnaird, Baltimore
You should watch "Desperate Housewives," Mary; he took up residency this season on Wisteria Lane. Heis from Canada and started out in high school musicals in Edmonton to beat shyness. "I remember being on stage and that stage fright, that excitement -- I get a real high off of that," says Fillion, 36, who's set to film "Chilled in Miami" this month with Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. He recently finished "Trucker," about a female truck driver with an estranged son.
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One of my family's favorite shows in recent years was "What About Brian." Now we see Barry Watson, who played the title role, on "Samantha Who?" Is "Brian" over? Also, which one of the ladies on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is Watson's wife?
Nicki Parks, Farmington, N.M.
"Brian" is long gone, Nicki, and there's no chance it will resurface. So tune into "Samantha Who?," which will return with three new episodes before the end of this writers' strike-truncated season and survive into next season, too. The real-life wife you are asking about is Tracy Hutson, a designer on that ABC reality show.
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Now here's some diet advice I like: "Make food fun again." That's the strategy Jodi Lipper and Cerina Vincent put forth in "How to Eat Like a Hot Chick," which is getting good shelf display in bookstores around the country. It's really more of an anti-diet book, Lipper explains: "We tell women how to eat the foods they love and cut corners elsewhere so they can look and feel their best." Sure, they're not diet experts, but that's part of the authors' charm. "We're two regular girls who had to figure this all out by trial and error, like everyone does," Vincent says. They confess that they tried every kind of diet, but finally gave up on "dieting" because it just wasn't any fun.
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Queen Latifah is talking about celebrities she would describe as approachable, people "you could walk up and have a conversation with." Her "Mad Money" co-star Diane Keaton is one. So is Will Smith. "Some celebrities act like they don't see you. He's the guy who will speak to everybody." So how does Latifah, who turns 38 on Tuesday, become approachable? "I tend to pick up on local ways, just to be comfortable," she says. "When we were filming 'Mad Money' in Shreveport, I joined the gym down the block. I did a little shopping. I hit the SuperTarget and got a Fatburger." Latifah has a CD out, "Trav'lin' Light," and a role in the film "What Happens in Vegas," due out May 9.
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What's going on with my favorite hunk, David Duchovny?
Judy Weimer, Indianapolis
He's a busy man -- and not just as the father of two active children with wife Tea Leoni. Duchovny, 47, has "The X-Files" movie sequel coming in July. But more important to those of us who like "Californication," he'll begin shooting a second season of that Showtime TV series next month.
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BIRTHDAYS
March 16: Brooke Burns, 30; Lauren Graham, 41
March 17: Rob Lowe, 44; Gary Sinise, 53
March 18: Vanessa Williams, 45
March 19: Jake Weber, 45; Bruce Willis, 53; Glenn Close, 61
March 20: Holly Hunter, 50; Spike Lee, 51
March 21: Kevin Federline, 30
March 22: Reese Witherspoon, 32; William Shatner, 77
Contributing: Gayle Jo Carter, Nancy Mills, Caren Oppenheim, Kathy Rowings
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
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