Lynne Spears Encourages, Praises Britney

Lynne Spears has plenty to be thankful for.

In the year, she watched her famous daughter, Britney Spears, go bonkers but crawl back from the brink, and her less-famous daughter, Jamie Lynn Spears, scandalously get knocked up at age 16, only to get engaged and welcome a happy baby.

How did 27-year-old Britney rebound from a pair of forced hospitalizations and a string of erratic behavior, such as a quickly annulled Vegas wedding in 2004, an infamous head-shaving in 2007, and myriad bizarre dalliances with men?

“With a lot of love and care and help,” Lynne Spears said Thursday evening, speaking to the U.K.’s GMTV via satellite from New Orleans, Louisiana.

“Sometimes you have to settle down. You have to stop, think. There’s a lot of people that care about Britney and love Britney – and she’s doing great now.”

While the singer still hasn’t regained custody of her two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James, Lynne had only praise for her daughter’s parenting skills.

“Oh she’s a wonderful mother – she’s funny, she’s extremely affectionate,” said the Spears matriarch, who’s promoting her memoir, Through the Storm.

“[At] home, where there’s nobody around, she’s very normal.”

Fresh off the success of her first single, “Womanizer,” Britney is now in Europe promoting her new album, Circus. She’s scheduled to go on tour next year.

“I think Britney’s just ready to get started again,” said her mom. “I think this is when she’s most in her element.”

Natalie Portman likes to “do it.”
Natalie Portman turned down the play, Doubt, and playwright Patrick Shanley says its because she doesn’t really get celebacy. And that my friends, is awesome. “I’m trying to think of what the etiquette is on this,” Shanley chuckled, blushing a bit. Urged on by a blogger for gossipsauce.com, he continued, “Well, we asked Natalie Portman, and [...]

Natalie Portman turned down the play, Doubt, and playwright Patrick Shanley says its because she doesn’t really get celebacy. And that my friends, is awesome.

“I’m trying to think of what the etiquette is on this,” Shanley chuckled, blushing a bit. Urged on by a blogger for gossipsauce.com, he continued, “Well, we asked Natalie Portman, and Natalie was very interested but kept saying she had a problem. And we finally nailed down as to what the problem was. She basically said she didn’t understand celibacy.”

I wish my prom date in High School would have been similarly confused. More pictures of Natalie Portman chatting it up on her cell phone, probably about having sex.

VIDEO: Mischa Barton Finally Gets Thanksgiving Right
When she was young, the actress says, her immigrant parents “didn’t understand you have to cook a turkey”

Hayden Panettiere or Kim Kardashian: Who’d You Rather …

Hayden Panettiere and Kim Kardashian. Two stars who have very little in common. Except, you know, gorgeousness and being celebrity gossip mainstays.

It’s the Heroes star versus the sex tape star in a clash of the celeb gossip titans. Who would you rather … you know? Tell us in the survey below …

Hayden or Kim: Who would you rather …

Shenae Grimes Denies Rumors; Still Looks Really Thin

So Thanksgiving Day is tomorrow. Will Shenae Grimes sit this one out, if you know what we mean (we mean she’s rumored to be an anorexic bitch)?

The Canadian actress says we shouldn’t believe the hype, and she has a message for all the haters - ask her before believing what they read.

“Nobody has asked me about it. I really can’t help what someone thinks of me because they are reading a paper and choosing to believe it,” Grimes opened up to People in an interview, referencing her rumored eating disorder(s).

The 19-year-old Toronto native says the experience of moving to Los Angeles earlier this year parallels that of her 90210 character, Annie Wilson.

“It was huge culture shock,” says Grimes, who became celebrity gossip fodder the minute she was cast in the CW remake of the 1990s FOX drama.

Along with her fellow female 90210 costars, Shenae Grimes has been slammed for being too thin, having eating disorders and being a huge bitch in general.

“It’s so frustrating,” 5-foot-3 Shenae Grimes says, noting that she does not have an eating disorder, but had a close friend struggle with one for years.

“Meet me in person and you can’t say anything … No bones sticking out. Just because people are calling you skinny doesn’t mean I’m like, ‘Yay!’ No! You’re telling me I don’t look right. This is me. This is my body - I have accepted it.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Those look like ribs to us above. Just saying, Shenae.

As for being a diva and a party girl, she shrugs that off too.

“The hours I work, I can’t be. These are stories written about everybody. Of course we’re new girls on a hit show so we’re plopped into little boxes. And people buy it. It makes me second guess anything I’ve ever read about anybody.”