Issue Date: June 21, 2009
What is up with Lindsay Lohan? And what is the status of her movie "Labor Pains?"
William Blesi, Anoka, Minn.
"Labor Pains," originally written for the big screen, will premiere on ABC Family in July. "It's funny, because that's where Lindsay started," says Lohan's publicist, Leslie Sloane Zelnik. Other projects include a mock eHarmony ad, a fashion leggings line and a new self-tanner, Sevin Nyne. And acting? Lohan, 22, will begin filming a romantic comedy in the fall.
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Thea Andrews on "Entertainment Tonight" is a relatively new celebrity reporter. Tell me something about her background.
Max W. Robinson, Hayward, Calif.
Andrews, 36, is new here but a TV veteran in her native Canada, where she says rising through the ranks quickly was "a lot easier. In a place like 'ET,' it would have been impossible to go from being an intern to being a producer in a year." Still, the Queen's University graduate tells us she never was on a track for celeb reporting. "I planned to do business and get my MBA," she says. "I worked for two years out of school at an international HR firm, and I was so bored. Now, I have my dream job. I can't think of anything else I'd want to do."
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You can't miss Anton Yelchin this summer. The Russian-born actor, 20, is in "Star Trek" and "Terminator Salvation." "It was really great to run around with a gun and kick butt," the young actor says about "Terminator." In "Star Trek," "I saw a lot of humor in the character, and I embraced it." Yelchin, who moved to the U.S. when he was a baby, went to acting class "because I was really shy. Some friends of my parents suggested it would help my social skills."
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Is CBS correspondent Jim Axelrod related to David Axelrod of the Obama administration?
John O'Rourke, New York
No, but Jim Axelrod tells us that everyone, even cable customer-support reps in India, asks. "We've talked about that there must be some common relative in some shtetl somewhere," Axelrod, 46, says about Obama's Axelrod. The former White House reporter, now a CBS News national correspondent, calls his days covering the presidency "an essential part of every reporter's education." But he tells us he missed "people-based stories. I need the heart-to-heart stuff." A married dad of three, Axelrod says his early days in news included a stint at "a broken-down TV station in Utica [N.Y.]. I was literally anchoring the 6 o'clock news and eligible for food stamps."
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Trudie Styler is an activist, environmentalist, mother, rocker wife, actress and movie producer who says, "I'm very lucky. I like to do a lot of things." Among her latest work is "Moon," out this month in select cities, just ahead of the 40th anniversary of the 1969 lunar landing. It stars Sam Rockwell as an astronaut who spends years mining on the moon. "I loved the screenplay," Styler tells me. "It's more about inner loneliness, and Sam captures that so beautifully." Styler also loves "being in the indies" and working with fresh talent: "Moon"'s Duncan Jones is a new director. With husband Sting, Styler, 55, is celebrating another anniversary, the 20th year of their Rainforest Foundation.
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Why did Lauren Holly leave "NCIS" when it was at the top of the ratings? It's not the same since she was killed at the end of the fifth season.
Delores Wyatt, Colonial Beach, Va.
A CBS rep says Holly's exit more than a year ago was a story line: "Lauren knew that she would be killed that season early on as the writers were developing this pivotal arc." Holly, 45, was always reluctant to call Hollywood home. Until she started "NCIS," she lived in the Midwest with her husband and three sons. "I just love Chicago," Holly told us of her home base when we chatted in 2005, when she'd just joined "NCIS."
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BIRTHDAYS
June 21: Prince William, 27; Juliette Lewis, 36
June 22: Donald Faison, 35; Carson Daly, 36; Amy Brenneman, 45; Tracy Pollan, 49; Cyndi Lauper, 56; Meryl Streep, 60
June 23: Clarence Thomas, 61
June 24: Minka Kelly, 29
June 25: Linda Cardellini, 34; George Michael, 46; Carly Simon, 64
June 26: Derek Jeter, 35 ; Chris O'Donnell, 39; Sean Hayes, 39; Chris Isaak, 53
June 27: Tobey Maguire, 34; Vera Wang, 60
Contributing: Gayle Jo Carter, Reyhaneh Fathieh, Nancy Mills
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
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