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JESSICA SIMPSON credits her EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH co stars DANE COOK and DAX SHEPARD with helping her get over ex-husband NICK LACHEY.
THE DUKES OF HAZZARD star, who divorced Lachey in June (30JUN06), was extremely depressed following their split earlier this year (06).
But she insists filming Employee Of The Month taught her how to be happy again.
And Simpson, whose lack of cooking skills were made famous in reality TV show NEWLYWEDS, even learned to bake so she could treat the cast and crew.
She says, "I was going through a pretty rough time. So all these guys really lightened my day. They made it bright.
"We all became such great friends. It was a great getaway for me. A great time to just sit back and relax and laugh and enjoy myself, enjoy my friends and enjoy life.
"And the cast and crew reaped the benefits. I made cupcakes here and there. I love to bake so I would bring stuff to the set all the time."

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PARIS HILTON is set to be embarrassed by a new US TV show which will air police interview tapes with the hotel heiress, in which she admits she’s "not that smart".
The star was quizzed over a 2004 robbery at GIRLS GONE WILD producer JOE FRANCIS’ Los Angeles home, because Francis claims she told him information about a suspect at a later party.
But Hilton told investigators she was not a reliable witness, because she has a bad memory and isn’t clever.
The confession can be heard on an audio tape to be aired on American television’s DATELINE NBC.
The sometime singer/actress says, "Like I really… I don’t remember. I’m not like that smart.
"I like forget stuff all the time." Detectives are heard on the tape trying to coax Hilton to remember what she told Francis, according to PageSix.com.

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BEYONCE KNOWLES has been lambasted for not turning up at last night’s (20SEP06) Music Of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards.
The singer picked up three awards on the but her absence and failure to pre-record an acceptance speech was met with boos by the audience at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Her boyfriend SHAWN ‘JAY-Z’ CARTER, who was named Best International Male, was another no-show.
Reports suggest Knowles was deterred by former DESTINY’S CHILD bandmate LeTOYA LUCKETT - they have barely spoken to since Luckett quit the girl group six years ago (00) - and potential love rival RIHANNA. Both performed at the show.
A source tells London newspaper the Evening Standard, "Jay-Z signed Rihanna to his label and the rumour is they got a bit too close for Beyonce’s liking." Best Group THE BLACK EYED PEAS and Best Reggae Act SEAN PAUL also snubbed the ceremony.

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Cult British drama THIS LIFE will return for a one-off tenth anniversary reunion show, its star JACK DAVENPORT has confirmed.
Davenport, who played MILES STEWART in the series about five young professionals in London, refuses to divulge plot details but promises die-hard fans will not be disappointed.
The PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN actor says, "All I’ll say is if you were 25 when This Life was first broadcast and you’re 35 now you can imagine what’s happened to the characters." The 90-minute episode will air later this year (06).

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Controversial American author BRET EASTON ELLIS is nursing a broken foot, which has forced the cancellation of a promotional tour for his new novel LUNAR PARK.
Ellis was set to start touring for the paperback version of the novel on 8 October (06), however the bestselling writer tripped on stairs and fractured his ankle as he left a dinner party in West Hollywood, Los Angeles.
The AMERICAN PSYCHO author will now promote the book from home via phone interviews, reports PageSix.com.
Two of Ellis’ books, American Psycho and THE RULES OF ATTRACTION, have been made into Hollywood films.

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American actor WILLIAM PETERSON is set to turn his back on his starring role in CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION to make a return to the Chicago, Illinois, stage.
The 53-year-old contract with the CBS Entertainment show came to end when filming on the seventh season concluded, and he has not signed a new one to guarantee his character GIL GRISSOM will feature in the planned eighth series.
He says, "I plan to go back to Chicago and do plays starting next year.
"I’ve been talking to (artistic director) DENNIS ZACEK at Victory Gardens Theatre, and we’re going to do a play as soon as we can get enough time to make it worth everyone’s while." Zacek says, "I’m trying to have something custom-made for him, but it’s in the making. It’s not finished.
"I’m not sure this means we won’t see him in any more movies or in any more TV stuff, but I do think there’s a hunger to get back to the demands and the purity and the risks of live theatre."

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Longtime pals MARTIN SCORSESE and ROBERT DE NIRO will reteam for a movie about their lives.
The director and Oscar-winning actor grew up in the same New York City neighbourhood and have worked on a string of hit movies including GOODFELLAS and RAGING BULL.
Now they’re planning to reunite for a movie "about our life together", Scorsese confirms.
Work on the project will begin in earnest when De Niro finishes directing and starring in THE GOOD SHEPHERD, alongside MATT DAMON, ANGELINA JOLIE and JOE PESCI.

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Aborigine actor DAVID GULPILIL has been charged by an Australian court after brandishing a machete during an argument.
The CROCODILE DUNDEE star was arrested in the Northern Australian city of Darwin, after police said he grabbed the machete during an altercation at a boarding house.
Gulpilil, narrator of TEN CANOES, Australia’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at next year’s (07) Academy Awards, told reporters carrying a machete was like walking around with a knife and fork and he was "just helping people at a party".
The actor says, "That was my knife for my carving, for my didgeridoo. I carry all my equipment just like a knife and fork. So then people complain about it.
I am in white fellas law, I am here, I am trying to save myself." A hearing into the weapon charge has been set for 8 January (07), before Gulpilil heads overseas on a promotion circuit for Ten Canoes.

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LATEST: Hollywood funnyman JIM CARREY has signed with a new agency in a bid to resurrect his struggling career.
The actor ditched former handler United Talent Agency (UTA), which launched his career over ten years ago, last week (14SEP06) after a series of big screen let-downs.
Now he’s joining comic WILL FERRELL at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which also boasts directors TOM SHADYAC, TODD PHILLIPS and JAY ROACH on its books.
Carrey’s fortunes nosedived this summer (06) when two big-budget films he was connected with - USED GUYS and RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT - were shut down after exceeding their $100 million (£55 million)-plus budgets.

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Crusading Hollywood star RICHARD GERE is desperate to track down notorious Balkans war crimes fugitive RADOVAN KARADZIC.
Gere plays a reporter hunting the 1990s Bosnian Serb in SPRING BREAK IN BOSNIA, which is currently in production.
But the star admits he’s becoming worryingly obsessed with his character’s mission.
He says, "As soon as I got here (to Bosnia) I started asking people, ‘Do you think it would be possible (to meet Karadzic)?’ And almost everyone just said, ‘No, it’s not possible, don’t even think about it.’" However, he did find a few people who hinted the encounter could be arranged: "They did not say this but you see that in their minds. It’s possible, but is it worth it?" Karadzic has been on the run for over a decade after being charged with genocide in 1995 by the UN war crimes court in The Hague, Holland.

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Hollywood activist GEORGE CLOONEY has launched a scathing attack on the US media, accusing journalists and producers of neglecting their responsibilities to their country.
The OCEAN’S ELEVEN star is a vocal opponent of US President GEORGE BUSH - and he believes the media has betrayed the public by not reporting the truth about the Bush administration.
And Clooney, who joined Holocaust survivor ELIE WIESEL last week (14SEP06) to address the United Nations Security Council about the problems in Darfur, blames the American public for focusing on reality TV shows instead of real news.
Clooney says, "In the year-and-a-half or two years leading up to the war in Iraq, both in print and in broadcast journalism, the media took a pass on its responsibilities. I don’t think there’s anyone that would deny it - The New York Times certainly hasn’t. "And if The New York Times and The Washington Post and USA Today are all reneging on their responsibility, then believe me it’s going down to the local news level as well. "This has really been a poor time in journalism. We already had a Congress on the same side as the White House. We needed a Fourth Estate more than ever, to say, ‘Let’s at least ask questions before we do these things.’ "The media’s failings reflect on the rest of us too. It took, what, three months after September 11 before reality shows became big again? There’s a responsibility to be upheld."

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JULIETTE & THE LICKS star JULIETTE LEWIS is offered sex by male groupies after gigs, but insists she’d never resort to a one-night stand with a fan.
The actress-turned-singer insists illicit encounters are readily available, but the idea never turns her on.
Lewis says, "I’m sure I could have my way with some people if I wanted to, but that’s not what gets me off.
"I’ve got to have something deeply intimate."

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ROD STEWART’s fiancee PENNY LANCASTER has struggled for years to overcome the emotional trauma of being bullied at school.
The 35-year-old, who gave birth to Stewart’s son ALASTAIR last year (05), credits her mother with teaching her to ignore her tormentors - because they simply felt jealous and inadequate when faced with her beauty.
But Lancaster still struggles with self confidence as a result of the abuse she was subjected to at a young age.
She says, "I think at school you have to blend in and be the same as everyone else. I was picked on for being different." Lancaster often had things thrown at her across the classroom and was constantly teased and taunted by pupils who would follow her home from school.
She continues, "Once someone threw something at me. It ruined the clothes I was wearing and they said, ‘Who looks pretty now?’ "The bullying didn’t happen all the time but enough that it made an impact on my future life and the way I feel about things.
"I’d go home crying and my mum always said to me, ‘Try not to get upset darling. The important thing is for you to realise that the reason they’re doing that is because they’re lacking something in their life. They’re jealous, so just feel sorry for them.
"I’ve carried that lesson throughout my life."

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CUBA GOODING JR turned down the chance to play soul legend OTIS REDDING in a biopic, because the script wasn’t raunchy enough.
BASIC INSTINCT and SHOWGIRLS writer JOE ESZTERHAS created a screenplay for the project, but Gooding Jr was shocked to find it bore none of the Hungarian writer’s trademark sex scenes.
Eszterhas tells the New York Daily News, "I had lunch with Cuba Gooding Jr and Cuba went on about how he loved Otis and his dad was a musician and he loved the script, but he said, ‘Man, you’re Joe Eszterhas. Where’s the sex?’ "He finally decided not to do the movie. And I don’t know, maybe I should have written some sex in there."

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Actress/singer JULIETTE LEWIS was forced to overcome being stereotyped as a prostitute to succeed as a rocker.
The JULIETTE & THE LICKS frontwoman was stunned to discover she couldn’t enter the male dominated world of rock ‘n’ roll without being portrayed in a sexual way.
The 33-year-old NATURAL BORN KILLERS actress says, "It’s 2006, you would not f**king believe the video treatments (music video ideas) I was given. Nine out of 10 video treatments were me being a stripper, me working in a brothel, there was one where I’m just fornicating with the camera.
"Even though I write sexual innuendo lyrics and they’re funny and rock ‘n’ roll, so does JACK WHITE. You think he gets a video treatment where he’s f**king the camera? "In this game I am an actress crossing over, I’m a female doing c**k rock, I’m having to prove myself but I kind of thrive on it."

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Ageing rocker ROD STEWART cringes at the thought of writing his own music again after four years of recording other people’s material.
The 61-year-old singer says he is too old to be a successful songwriter, so he busies himself interpreting the songs of others such as BOB DYLAN and JOHN FOGERTY, featured on his GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK series of albums.
He says, "I think it’s been about four years (since I last wrote a song).
There’s not many songwriters at my age still trying to release albums of their own music, and I’m not planning to myself. "PAUL SIMON, ELTON JOHN, THE ROLLING STONES have all penned their new records, and all the critics loved them, but they just didn’t sell. "When you get too old, people don’t want to play your songs on the radio, so you have to go about it in a different way… I love these concept records.
Love it. There’s not many like me."

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Singer CAT POWER has confessed she ditched tour dates in July (06) because she had become suicidal as a result of her spiralling alcoholism.
Power - real name CHAN MARSHALL - released a statement at the time claiming the cancellations of her American and British dates were as a result of "health reasons".
She says, "I was looking at death. I wanted to die… I asked God, I said, ‘I’m tired, I can’t do this.’ I was asking him to just take me.
The quirky star admits she became exhausted and unhappy after relentless touring in 1998, which led to her crippling drink problem.
But after receiving psychiatric treatment for her depression, she is finally sober and looking ahead.
She recalls, "Even playing all my shows I was always intoxicated, always kind of not there, which led to the depression.
"It was more about the uncomfortableness with just being in my own skin, and that’s why the alcohol was always with me."

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MARIO ETHERIDGE was yesterday (20SEP06) convicted of two gun charges relating to the murder of D-12 rapper PROOF.
The hip-hop star was shot dead in April (06) after an altercation with Etheridge’s cousin KEITH BENDER at an after-hours club on Detroit, Michigan’s famed Eight Mile Road.
Proof - real name DESHAUN HOLTON - shot and mortally wounded bouncer Bender before Etheridge fatally opened fire on the rapper.
Etheridge was ruled to have killed Holton in lawful self defence but he was convicted in Michigan’s Wayne Circuit Court of carrying a concealed weapon and unlawfully firing a gun. He could be sentenced to as many as nine years behind bars.
Etheridge’s attorney, RANDALL UPSHAW, told the court the fight between Bender and Holton began after a disagreement over a game of pool.
Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor KYM WORTHY told the court Etheridge fired two shots into the air in a bid to stop the fight - the basis for the unlawfully firing a gun charge.
Prosecutor ELIZABETH WALKER said, "No one can calm a violent situation down by introducing a weapon. Today’s verdict proves this." Etheridge will return for sentencing on 17 October (06), and Walker hinted he may only be sentenced to probation because he is a first time offender.

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