All the Bachelorette stuff for 4 July.

Publications: In Touch, Weekly Life & Style, Us Weekly
Date: 4 July 2011

The Only Ten Magazines That Matter love the Bachelor franchise, and this season's big drama is about Ashley and Bentley. Here are the headlines.

• In Touch: Ashley's mistake Having Sex With Bentley
• Us Weekly: Bentley's cruel return
• Weekly Life & Style: Ashley tortured for her looks
  After being called 'ugly' and 'flat'. Ashley opens up about her insecurities and how her fiance made her feel sexy again
  (Bachelorette exclusive)
  plus: How she lost 10 lbs. for the wedding

As you can see, in Touch and Us Weekly just did drive-by reporting, while Weekly Life & Style devoted most of the cover to this.

Meanest Story nominee: Amber's deathbed confession!

Publication: In Touch
Date: 4 July 2011

Anyone who has read this blog before knows how much I dislike the entire concept of the reality show Teen Mom. Since I haven't watched it, I don't have a least favorite star of this show, but having read headlines, it seems like Amber Portwood is one of the most disagreeable.

It is my fond wish that these young women would not be on TV, but I'm not wishing them dead.

In Touch uses the word "deathbed" in a cover story about Amber Portwood. She did attempt suicide, but it wasn't anywhere near a successful attempt, so it wasn't really a "deathbed confession".

The gossip rags have only used the word "deathbed" in three cases prior to this in the last eighteen months. They have used it to describe Elizabeth Edwards and Elizabeth Taylor after they died, and they used it in a story about Zsa Zsa Gabor when it looked like she was going to die.

Zsa Zsa is 93. Amber is 21. Claiming Zsa Zsa was on her deathbed can be listed as an honest mistake.

This, on the other hand, is a nominee for Meanest Story of the Week.

Non scoop of the week! BrAngelina's secret wedding in France!

Publication: In Touch
Date: 4 July 2011

Fresh trash on Thursdays! In Touch goes with one of the standbys, BrAngelina getting hitched. Actually, the majority of stories saying they have had a secret wedding already have been peddled by In Touch. Just in case they think someone has noticed, on this story they have a special "It's Official!" headline.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think if something the only people allowed to keep things both official and secret are governments.

Here's the rest of the headlines.

• Secret Wedding in France
• Angelina's stunning L'Wren Scott gown and vintage ring
• Brad's emotional vow to his new wife
• The surprising celeb guest!
  

Of course, it's already been denied. If you don't know the name L'Wren Scott, she's the towering designer and love interest of the much older Mick Jagger.

All this week's news about Angelina Jolie.

Publications: In Touch, Star
Date: 27 June 2011

Angelina Jolie is the center of the American gossip solar system and everything revolves around her. This was true long before I started this blog a year and a half ago. While Jennifer Aniston and Sandra Bullock have appeared on more covers than BrAngelina, there are also the solo stories about Angie. If I split every story about the couple into a story about each, instead of BrAngelina being in third place and Angie being in tenth, she would be first and he would be second.

Heck, the gossip rags wouldn't care as much about Jennifer Aniston if she wasn't the modern day equivalent of Debbie Reynolds to Angie's Elizabeth Taylor.

While Brad gets mentioned in passing in one of this week's stories, the focus is on Angelina. Here are the headlines.

• In Touch: Angelina's $500,000 birthday gift
• Star: Angelina's secrets & lies
  tell-all book banned!
  Her secret trial separation from Brad
  Cheating - other men, other women
  Held hostage with a gun to her head
  11 Never-before-seen family photos
  Teen guitar hero
  First wedding
  
  

All this week's news about Kim Kardashian and the wedding.

Publications: OK!, Weekly Life & Style, In Touch, Us Weekly
Date: 27 June 2011

Just in case you are new to this blog and don't understand the pecking order in the supermarket gossip world, here's the basic outline.

The Evil: American Media Inc. (AMI) owns the Enquirer, Star, Globe, National Examiner and Sun. The first four are nasty and the last one is just silly, predicting the end of the world at least four times a year.

The not so evil: The other five supermarket rags are somewhat less nasty. The absolute top of the table is People, and they set trends. The other four, OK!, Weekly Life & Style, In Touch and Us Weekly, are eating the scraps from the table that People leaves behind. There is not one single owner for all five of these magazines, but In Touch and Weekly Life & Style are published by the German consortium Bauer.

People broke the story of Kim Kardashian's engagement in an exclusive. They will likely not mention her again until she walks down the aisle. The other four are all over her large and shapely booty like white on rice. Here are the stories.

• In Touch: Kim & Kris Fight over the wedding
• OK!: Kim sets record straight
  "I did not cheat on Kris"
• Weekly Life & Style: Kim's wedding in crisis
  no date set
  invites on hold
• Us Weekly: Kim & Kris :Our love was tested

As often happens, the stories are pointing in multiple different directions. The only thing that can be relied on in a situation like this is that the story is far from over.

All this week's news about Pippa Middleton

Publications: Us Weekly, In Touch, Weekly Life & Style
Date: 27 June 2011

I thought Pippa Middleton was going to be a flash in the pan, especially here in the United States after the wedding was over, but the editors of The Only Ten Magazines That Matter have other ideas. Here are the headlines.

• Us Weekly: Harry & Pippa! Their love secrets
  As rumors swirl of a secret date between Harry & Pippa, she leaves her boyfriend and steps out with secret royal
• Weekly Life & Style: Pippa upgrades to a millionaire
• In Touch: Pippa & Harry Secret Date!

According to British sources, she hasn't left her longtime boyfriend Alex Loudon, a guy who hasn't made it to the covers of the American gossip rags yet.

On the rocks alert: Kim caught cheating!

Publication: In Touch
Date: 20 June 2011

Welcome to gossip hell, Bret Lockett! The (alleged) NFL star plays defensive back for the New England Patriots and has a career total of 7 tackles and one force fumble, but now his claim to fame is having dirty pictures of Kim Kardashian.

Dude, like who doesn't? Here are the headlines.

• 5-month affair with NFL star Bret Lockett behind fiancee Kris' back
• kinky texts and wild phone sex
• He slams her wedding plans: "I hope she's happy"
  
  

Hold the phone sex and stop the wedding!

Kim denies it and is threatening a lawsuit.

On the rocks alert: Bachelorette drama with Ashley and Bentley

Publications: People, OK!, In Touch, Weekly Life & Style
Date: 20 June 2011

The Only Ten Magazines That Matter are already going into overdrive on the new season of The Bachelorette and the show has barely started. Ashley has fallen for Bentley, but he turns out to have no feelings for her and said nasty stuff about her. Here are the four headlines.

• People: Bachelorette Ashley fights back "I feel so betrayed"
  The reality star on being mocked by the men who were supposed to adore her - and cruelly used by the one she wanted most
• OK!: Ashley stabbed in the heart!
  Bentley humiliated Ashley in front of America, but she's still pursuing him
  Shocking new details
  
• In Touch: Bentley scandal - The next bachelor?
  
• Weekly Life & Style: Why Ashley takes Bradley back
  Secret reunion in Hong Kong
  Bentley broke her heart, but Ashley is desperate to be with him again. Is she crazy?
  

Will Real Housewife Teresa quit?

Publication: In Touch
Date: 13 June 2011

This is the fourth story in four weeks about Teresa Giudice of Real Housewives of New Jersey. All of the stories have been in In Touch or Weekly Life & Style, two magazines owned by the German conglomerate Bauer. They say the magazines have separate editorial boards and different foci, but they seem to me just as joined at the hip as the AMI kennel is.

Love Bird Alert™?: Jen and Brad's emotional reunion!

Publication: In Touch
Date: 13 June 2011

The supermarket rags never tire of America's favorite spinster, Jennifer Aniston. While most of the stories over the past few weeks have focused on her new fella Justin Theroux, In Touch spins a tale about the big fish that got away, Brad Pitt. Here are the headlines.

• Betraying Angelina, Brad pours his heart out to Jen on May 18
• Plus: the expensive gift he bought her and their plan to meet again
  
  

Bells Aren't Ringing Alert™ and Bun In The Oven Alert™: Kim's wedding and pregnancy news.

Publications: In Touch, Weekly Life & Style, OK!
Date: 13 June 2011

After People's big scoop last week of announcing the official engagement of Kim Kardashian to Kris Humphries, a passel of the non-AMI tabloids have jumped on the bandwagon this week. In fact, only Us Weekly declined to join in on the fun. Here are the headlines.

• In Touch: Kim's bridezilla demands
• Weekly Life & Style: Kim's $3 million summer wedding
• OK!: Kim's wedding surprise
  I'm having a baby!
  She reveals her big news to family and friends.
  An overjoyed Kim says, "I can't stop crying"

Kim has already denied the pregnancy rumor.

Note: The picture of Kim in the wedding dress is from last year when she was engaged to Reggie Bush. She was trying on her mom's old dress.

A new crop of Bachelorette nonsense has just been planted.

Publications: OK!, In Touch
Date: 13 June 2011

Fresh trash on Thursdays! A new season of that awful dating show The Bachelorette has begun and OK! and In Touch start feeding us the dish, like it or not. Here are the headlines.

• In Touch: Bachelorette Ashley rejected!
• OK! Ashley's friends fear she's in danger

Note that OK! thinks this woman is already famous enough that she gets a first name and nothing else. I had to do some research to figure out who she was, but obviously I'm not the target market.

Teresa's shocking split: 'Fame destroyed my family!'

Publication: In Touch
Date: 6 June 2011

Every version of Real Housewives produces a breakout star, which invariably means there is one psycho bitch that that makes all the other psycho bitches look sane and reasonable. In Real Housewives of New Jersey this season, it's Teresa Giudice. Here are the headlines.

• Housewives exclusive interview
• Husband Joe Fumes, "I'm leaving"
• Fights over money, booze & jealousy
• "I'm embarrassed for my kids," she confesses

Embarrassment for her kids? OMG, what kind of weak psycho bitch is she? These women are supposed to be at least as bad as Sarah Palin, but this woman seems to have both some self-awareness and compassion towards others.

Some producer at Real Housewives slipping if this is the worst villain they could find.

Love Bird Alert™: Teen Mom Leah dating her ex's friend

Publication: In Touch

Date: 6 June 2011

Regular readers will know that I consider Teen Mom the plague that did not pass over. Thankfully, there is only one story about these stupid young women on the covers of The Only Ten Magazines That Matter this week, a story about Leah dating the ex of a friend of hers.

Unless there is some flurry of stories about real celebrities, with Arnold and Maria are the best candidates currently, some Teen Mom is very likely to be in the top ten celebrities for 2011 for the foreseeable future.

Love Bird Alert™: Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux

Publications: Weekly Life & Style, In Touch

Date: 6 June 2011

Fresh trash on Thursdays! Welcome to gossip hell, Justin Theroux! He is Jennifer Aniston's co-star in the movie Wanderlust, set to be released this fall, and allegedly they are a couple.

Recall that Jennifer was also supposed to be a couple with Gerard Butler last year, her co-star in The Bounty Hunter.

In any case, here are the headlines.

• In Touch: Jen's new man: Trash collector!
• Weekly Life & Style: Jen and co-star Justin Theroux: "She's fantastic"

I'm pretty sure the In Touch headline is some play on words, but as usual I didn't open the magazine to check.

In accordance with this blog's pro-love policy, I should wish the happy couple all the best, but it's kind of like hoping Lucy will finally let Charlie Brown kick the football or really believing the Cubs are going to go all the way this year.

Adults shouldn't allow themselves to believe such silliness.

On the rocks alert: Angelina jealous over another woman.

Publications: In Touch, Star
Date: 30 May 2011

Two stories about Brad Pitt stepping out, one from an AMI rag and another from a non-AMI rag. Here are the headlines.

• In Touch: Angelina and Brad's fight over a woman
• Star: Angie catches Brad… with the nanny!
  young, sexy and a Jen lookalike
  

Bells are Ringing Alert™: Jessica Simpson's $1 million wedding.

Publication: In Touch
Date: 30 May 2011

In Touch lets us know that Jessica Simpson is planning to have a wedding that will cost $1,000,000. That sounds like a lot, but her clothing line has been generating $1 billion in sales a year and her net worth is in the $100 million range, so this little shindig will not be putting her in the poorhouse.

Meanest Story nominee: Kate Middleton can't have a baby! Again.

Publication: In Touch

Date: 30 May 2011

Often, when a story is a repeat of something some gossip rag has already said, I don't make it a nominee for Meanest Story of the Week, but this one is an exception for two reasons. The last time this rumor was reported, it won as Meanest Story of the Week, and more notably, the story has migrated from the AMI kennel to the gossip rags that are generally nicer and at least a little more reliable. Here are the headlines.

• Will & Kate's baby heartbreak
• Royal doctor confirms: She can't get pregnant
• The devastating news rocks their marriage
• plus: why they can't adopt

Best wishes to the happy couple. I'm not much for predictions, but I predict that by the end of 2012 at the latest, this story will have been proven false.

Fussin' and Feudin' Alert™: Ashton Kutcher vs. Charlie Sheen.

Publications: In Touch, Us Weekly
Date: 30 May 2011

The producers of Two and a Half Men have announced the show will continue with Ashton Kutcher replacing Charlie Sheen. As you can imagine, Charlie took this news with all the level headed goodwill towards his fellow human beings he has always shown in every situation, public and private. Here are the headlines.

• In Touch: Charlie threatens Ashton!
• Us Weekly: Ashton vs. Charlie

Doesn't fame sound like the funnest thing ever? Aren't we lucky to live in a society where fame is only awarded to the best humanity can offer?

Those questions are rhetorical. You don't have to answer, but you can if you want.

Bells are Ringing Alert™ and Love Bird Alert and On the Rocks Alert: Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy. and, oh yeah, Pippa Middleton.

Publications: In Touch, Weekly Life & Style
Date: 23 May 2011

Welcome to American gossip hell, Chelsy Davy! The Zimbabwean born blond has been the girlfriend of Prince Harry (you know, the one who doesn't look anything like either Chuck or Diana?) for many years. In Touch and Weekly Life & Style both give her a mention on their covers this week. Here are the headlines.

• Weekly Life & Style: Another royal wedding
  Harry & Chelsy
  Prince Harry tells his longtime love Chelsy "You're next' at William and Kate's wedding
  The secret engagement, the dress, the ring
  How Chelsy won her prince
• In Touch: Chelsy & Pippa's fight for Harry!

Notice the subtle difference? I thought you might. As I have said many times in the past, the only thing you can be sure of when two gossip mags contradict themselves is that the story isn't over.