Issue Date: December 21, 2008
Actor Andrew McCarthy's life is happily filled with women, children and travel. He worked with the sexy ladies of NBC's "Lipstick Jungle," now canceled, and told us, "I love being a man in a woman's world." What man wouldn't? McCarthy, 46, best known from the '80s Brat Pack, is based in New York but travels often to Ireland with his fiancée, Dolores Rice, his son, Sam, 6, and their daughter, Willow, 2, to visit Rice's family. "They're good little travelers," he says.
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A friend says that on reality shows like "The Amazing Race," contestants go home with $1 million or nothing. I say there's no way they could walk away with nothing. Who's right?
Eric Krimmel, Wyandotte, Mich.
You are. Every contestant on "The Amazing Race" and the show that started it all, "Survivor," gets paid something. It just depends on where in the competition each contestant finishes. However, not all reality shows are quite so generous. For example, on fashion competition "Project Runway," all but the winner have to make do with a two-cheek kiss from host Heidi Klum.
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Debra Winger is working her way back into the public eye. She published a book of revealing essays, "Undiscovered," earlier this year and, after a long hiatus raising two sons, is looking to act again. She had a small but key role in fall's "Rachel Getting Married," about the tensions surrounding a wedding. Winger, 53, who married actor Arliss Howard 12 years ago, says her own wedding was anxiety-free. "We announced our marriage at Thanksgiving and then brought the rabbi through the door," she says. "The meal was cooked, and everybody we wanted was there. We had the cake in our trunk."
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Will Benjamin Bratt's "The Cleaner," which made its debut this past summer, return?
Lynn Weldon, Lafayette, La.
Yes. A&E renewed "The Cleaner" for a second season of 13 episodes. Bratt, 45, stars as a former drug addict who wants a second chance at life for himself and other addicts. There's no new start date yet, but it's due to return next year. Catch reruns Sundays at 7 p.m. ET.
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Life did not turn out as planned for David DeLuise, who stars on the Disney Channel's "Wizards of Waverly Place." "I wanted to do movies like Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler," admits DeLuise, 37, son of comic Dom DeLuise. But his family is just as proud of his TV career. "My parents watch and call me after," DeLuise says. "That they can see I'm a success has meant the world to me."
DeLuise
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Regina King caught my eye in the recent Lifetime movie "Living Proof." I hope Hollywood is watching her.
Vince Giordano, Wilmington, Del.
That they are. King has a potential NBC series (the John Wells-produced "LAPD"); in January, she begins work on her directorial debut, "Let the Church Say Amen;" and she voices Huey and Riley in the animated Cartoon Network series "The Boondocks." King, 37, also is a cheerleading coach for her 12-year-old son's former football team. "It's been rewarding," says King, never a cheerleader herself. "This is real life."
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When director and comic-book god Frank Miller asked Samuel L. Jackson to play the supervillain Octopus in his new movie, "The Spirit," Miller came bearing a gift: a notebook full of Will Eisner's classic "Spirit" comics from the '40s and '50s. The only problem? Comic readers never saw Octopus, the Spirit's archnemesis, beyond his gloves. "You don't see him [in the comics], but his voice is always there," says Jackson, who turns 60 on Sunday. So how'd he play him? "I tried to put flesh on the sarcasm and egotism that comes out of the words on those pages."
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BIRTHDAYS
December 21: Kiefer Sutherland, 42; Jane Fonda, 71
December 22: Robin Gibb, 59; Diane Sawyer, 63
December 23: Susan Lucci, 62
December 24: Ryan Seacrest, 34; Ricky Martin, 37
December 25: Sissy Spacek, 59; Jimmy Buffett, 62
December 26: Jared Leto, 37; John Walsh, 63
December 27: Emilie de Ravin, 27; Cokie Roberts, 65
Contributing: Gayle Carter, Samantha Lee, Nancy Mills, Jon Tollestrup, Brian Truitt
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
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