February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
At 32, Pierce?s eldest son seems to be a bit of a wild man. He was recently ?detained? by London police on charges that he nicked some cell phones at a trendy city nightclub. This apparently has set off warning bells for Keely, who is worried that her own two children, Dylan Thomas, 7, and Paris Beckett, 3, will be adversely influenced by their older siblings.
When Pierce married his first wife, Cassandra Harris, in 1980, he adopted her two children, Christopher, now 32, and Charlotte, now 33. The couple also had a son, Sean, who is now 21. Cassandra died of ovarian cancer in 1991. Pierce has remained close to all of his children — even postponing his wedding to Keely a few years back, when Sean was injured in a horrific auto accident. But Keely apparently feels that the time has come for Pierce to be firm — with all the bairns.
The Daily Mail quotes Keely issuing an ultimatum to the ball and chain.
?Sort your older children out — now,? she said firmly. ?I don?t want my kids affected by their bad behavior.?
The missus also put the brakes on Pierce when he wanted to fly to England to deal with the issue. A source told the paper that Keely thinks he?s too quick to ?pick up the pieces? when they get into jams.
?She?s insisting that he shows them ?tough love,?? said the insider.
In more Pierce news, the Sunday World reports that the actor had a very James Bond-like brush with death recently, when a steel cable snapped and sent his garage door slamming onto the hood of his car. Make that, onto the hood of his $100,000 Jaguar XKR. According to sources, the door landed about a foot from where the star was standing, leaving him shaken, if not stirred.
Colin loses his Best pulling pal
You?d think that two hotties would be better than one when it came to pulling the ladies in a singles bar, but for at least one manly Irish tag team, a couple has become a crowd.
Colin Farrell has been knocking around with Calum Best, the hunky model and son of soccer legend George Best, for over a year. According to Britain?s Daily Star newspaper, last summer the pair spent a great deal of quality time at London clubs, including the upscale strip joint, Stringfellows. But though the combination of Colin?s scruffy good looks and Calum?s chiseled cheekbones ensured the the guys were always surrounded by eligible women, one of the boyos was obviously getting ore attention than the other.
?Colin was always the favorite as far as the girls were concerned,? an insider tattled. ?That didn?t go down well at all with Calum.?
The pals are still tight but these days, when Colin goes out on the pull, he goes alone. Or, at least, sans Calum. The 23-year-old man-nequin now balks at barhopping with his older, and more famous, buddy.
He is fed up ?playing second fiddle,? laughed the pal.
In more Colin news, fans will soon be able to reach out and touch him anytime they want. He is slated to be the newest — and arguably the most popular — addition to the gallery of Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London.
Westlife shares the wealth
When you?re a pre-fabricated pop band like Westlife, there?s no shame in hopping on the latest tired trend and adapting it for your own particular needs. (I mean, sure, isn?t that how they came into existence in the first place?) For the erstwhile Irish pop stars, this means latching on to both the talent search craze and the ?Rat Pack? crooner vibe.
This week, the band announced that they will be conducting their own ?American Idol?-type search for an unknown female singer, who will be featured on their upcoming Christmas album. Aspiring singers can call the band?s special toll line, and sing away to their heart?s content — at 50p per minute — until either their voices or their wallets give out.
According to British tabloid The Sun, the guys will judge the entries — possibly hitting ?fast forward? through the lousy ones — and come up with a small group of finalists. Those few, those lucky few, will be vetted at live auditions, and the winner will be announced on the band?s TV special, sappily titled, ?You?re the One.?
?American Idol? judge Simon Cowell — who has also produced some of Westlife?s biggest hits — is involved in the project. He will release the album on his own label, S Records, in time for the holiday season, and probably sign the winner to a recording contract.
?This is the ultimate search for a star,? he told The Sun.
Hmmmm . . . didn?t he say the same thing about ?Pop Idol? and ?American Idol??
?The winner gets to sing with Westlife on national television,? he pointed out. ?It may be the launch pad for a successful career.? At least, as long as she has no interest in breaking into the American pop scene, anyway.
Though the tough-talking Judge Cowell is normally a shrewd arbiter of the pop marketplace, this particular venture seems a bit fusty for him. The whole retro-lounge-lizard vibe is so, like, 1999. But then again, the idea of watching apple-cheeked pop squirts like Kian Egan, Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne and Mark Feehily channel the boozy personas of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Jr. should be quite entertaining. Ring-a-ding-ding, lads.
In more Westlife-related news, former band member Bryan McFadden has hired the songwriting team that made Enrique Iglesias an international sensation. The singer, who is determined to follow in the footsteps of fellow boy band refugee Robbie Williams, will spend the next six months recording his solo album. Oh, and learning to sing something that doesn?t feature a five-part harmony.
Where Angels fear to tread
You would have thought that teenage opera star Charlotte Church would have gone through her bratty, rebellious stage when she was at the bratty rebellious age of 14, like a normal young woman. But lately, the 18-year-old ?Voice of an Angel? singer has been partying like a Hilton sister-in-training in the Spanish resort Ibiza.
?I?ve been hammered,? the deceptively cherubic singer confessed to reporters recently. ?Cigarettes and alcohol have ruined my voice this week.?
Hey, it?s her life, right? Even if this is the kind of stuff that has her parents — and record company execs — gulping Maalox like water.
?I?ve been getting drunk a lot this week,? she admitted. ?But why shouldn?t I??
Why, indeed. After all, who needs their wits about them when they?re in a party-hearty beach resort? (But enough with the disapproving lecture.)
Happily, Charlotte insists that she is a ?clean-living girl at heart.? Which means that no matter how much hooch she imbibes, she won?t be doing any topless sunbathing while in Espa