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ROBERT DE NIRO is asking a California judge to dismiss a lawsuit against him, filed by an insurance company.
The Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company filed suit against De Niro last year (06), accusing the actor of fraud and deceit around the time of his 2003 cancer diagnosis.
The Fireman’s Fund paid Fox studios $1.87 million (£935,000) after De Niro was forced to delay filming of Hide And Seek so he could receive treatment for prostate cancer.
Days before his diagnosis, De Niro signed an insurance certificate, declaring he had never been "diagnosed with or treated for a disorder of (among other things) the prostate glands".
The Fireman’s Fund have accused De Niro of misrepresenting his health when he signed the certificate on 13 October 2003, the New York Daily News reports.
De Niro’s lawyer Robyn Crowther says, "They are an insurance company; they had an obligation to pay his claim. Now they’re trying to get him to pay." De Niro insists he was unaware he had cancer until 15 October 2003, although he had undergone a biopsy on 10 October.
His spokesman Stan Rosenfeld tells TMZ.com, "This was filed in response to Fireman’s Fund’s decision to sue Robert De Niro because he was diagnosed with cancer."

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LATEST: Pop star LILY ALLEN has snubbed nasty comments from GIRLS ALOUD singer CHERYL COLE, claiming she doesn’t care about the pop singer’s snide remarks regarding her weight.
The Smile singer - who was branded a "chick with a d**k" by the Love Machine star - has decided to put Cole’s comments behind her after being overwhelmed by messages of support.
She says, "I’m over it… I had 2,000 people email to tell me I had nothing to worry about and that I should be perfectly happy with the way I am.
"I care more about those people than what Cheryl Tweedy has to say.
"I think everybody is self-conscious not just me. When you turn on the television there are workout videos, WeightWatchers ads, Slim-Fast drinks… it affects you eventually."

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A New York judge had ordered JENNIFER LOPEZ to submit to a deposition over a lawsuit regarding her cancelled TV drama South Beach.
Writer Jack Bunick sued six defendants, including Lopez and U.S. broadcasters UPN and CBS Television, claiming the makers of the show had stolen his idea from 1999 from a pilot episode of a programme called South Beach Miami.
In February (07), the Latina beauty’s lawyer Orin Snyder argued that although Lopez was an executive producer of South Beach, she had minimal involvement in the creation and development of the show and was brought in later to "lend celebrity to the show".
Snyder told U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman that Bunick had sued Lopez for "for tactical reasons, in an apparent attempt to obtain some perceived leverage by targetting and harassing a celebrity in a case where she has no meaningful testimony to give and no legitimate reason for being named as a defendant in the first place".
Bunick’s lawyer Sheldon Farber fired back, "Her celebrity is not a shield for her to use to avoid direct testimony in a case in which she has not been named frivolously.
"I am unaware that one of the perks of fame is protection from legal process.
She may be inconvenienced by an appearance at a deposition. I can assure the court that I will not ask for her autograph." Judge Pitman has ordered Lopez to make herself available to lawyers in the case before 11 June (07).
Bunick’s lawsuit is seeking unspecified monetary damages and an injunction banning any future broadcasts of South Beach, which was cancelled in February 2006 after only eight episodes.

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British pop star GEORGE MICHAEL has praised the benefits of marijuana, declaring "the world would be a much, much easier place to live in" if the drug were legalised.
The troubled singer - who also confessed to his dependency on prescription drugs - demanded that more people should smoke the mind-bending herb.
He says, "We could sit here with any number of policemen and doctors and they would all tell you if everybody who had a dependence on alcohol changed their mind and had a dependence on weed the world would be a much, much easier place to live in…
"Nobody every came home stoned and beat up his wife."

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British pop star GEORGE MICHAEL is hooked on prescription drugs.
The singer - who was found slumped at the wheel of his car in London last year (Oct06) - has confirmed that he is addicted to pills.
When quizzed about addiction on British chat show Parkinson, the star says, "Yes, it involves prescribed drugs and it involves a dependency on them and the tendency to chase one drug with another because of the side-effects." Michael’s mother died of cancer ten years ago (97) - and the star cites her passing as a catalyst to his problems.
He says, "I know I have a very self-destructive tendency since my mother died." The former Wham! star earlier this month (08May07) pleaded guilty to driving while unfit due to drug use after the incident in the British capital last year (Oct06).

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Latina pop star SHAKIRA will wed fiance Antonio De La Rua in September (07), according to reports.
The Beautiful Liar singer, 30, will allegedly tie the knot with the 34-year-old Argentine lawyer - the son of former Argentine president Fernando de la Rua - at a lavish mansion in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
The pair - who have been engaged for six years - have been dating since 2000.

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LATEST: Socialite PARIS HILTON has confirmed reports she is halting plans to appeal her 45 day jail sentence for violating her probation for driving on a suspended license.
Hilton was found driving on a suspended license in February (07), following her 2006 conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol.
The reality TV star, 26, claimed her publicist Elliott Mintz had misinformed her how long her license had been suspended for following her 4 May (07) sentencing and said she would appeal the jail term.
However, a court official confirmed yesterday (18May07) that Hilton’s lawyers had filed a notice in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday (17May07), declaring they were withdrawing an earlier petition to appeal the sentence.
The hotel heiress is scheduled to begin her sentence, which could be as small as 23 days, before 5 June (07).

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HUGH GRANT and GEORGE CLOONEY are set to star in a big screen version of the cult 1970s television series THE PERSUADERS as Lord Brett Sinclair and Danny Wilde respectively.
The Hollywood hunks will join forces with actor Ben Stiller, who has gone behind the cameras to co-produce the movie.
Fellow co-producer Nick Hamson says, "We’re very excited about the project finally coming together.
"It’s been an idea we’ve been keen to pursue and we’re so pleased that it is now in development. People of our generation grew up watching The Persuaders religiously."

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Actress CHLOE SEVIGNY was so worried that she would be axed from thriller movie ZODIAC that she nearly refused her role.
The star - who plays the wife of an artist obsessed with a serial killer was so scared that she would get the chop that she almost turned down the part, but was so desperate to work with director David Fincher that she finally agreed to sign on to the film.
She says, "My scenes don’t exactly propel the film along so I was nervous about signing on to begin with.
"I really thought I’d be cut - and who want to end up on the cutting room floor? "But I wanted the opportunity to work with David and I like the fact that I play a strong, practical, no-nonsense woman who is very selfless, which I always try to be in relationships."

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The former husband of BEVERLY HILLS, 90210 bad girl SHANNEN DOHERTY has started dating another recovering wildchild - ex-Miss USA Tara Conner.
George Hamilton’s son Ashley reportedly met Conner at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in April (07).
Miss Conner was almost forced to give up her Miss USA crown over her wild ways - after her drug use and boozing made headlines in December (06).
An insider tells In Touch Weekly magazine, "They’re taking things very slowly, since they’re both working on their sobriety."

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Supermodel EVA HERZIGOVA is set to ditch the catwalk - to become a movie director.
Herzigova - who is eight months pregnant with her first child by boyfriend Gregorio Marsiaj - will turn her back on the glamorous world of fashion to write a film based on her life, but is determined to stay firmly behind the camera.
She says, "I found acting as unfulfilling as modelling, really. I’m working on directing my first feature film at the moment which I’m going to get started on as soon as the baby is born, in two weeks’ time. It’ll be semi-autobiographical, about a beautiful model who goes through difficult and painful moments as she makes her way in the world.
"I don’t think I’ll be able to star in, though - that might be a little too much to handle at one time."

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British literary fans are dismayed at the casting of three American actresses chosen to play the famous English writers Anne, Charlotte and Emily Bronte.
Hollywood stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Michelle Williams and Evan Rachel Wood will play the sisters who wrote some of Britain’s most admired works of literature including Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, but aficionados of the novelist sisters claim that the American actresses cannot do justice to the British writers.
The Daily Telegraph’s literary editor Michael Prodger says, "There must be lots of talented Yorkshire actresses who could play the three Brontes. It does seem a slightly bizarre choice. It will be interesting to see how they pull off the Yorkshire accent.
"If it gets more people to read the books then so much the better."

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LATEST: Late STAR TREK actor JAMES DOOHAN’s ashes have been found in a mountain range in New Mexico - three weeks after they were blasted into space.
Doohan’s remains were shot 72.7 miles (117 kilometres) into the edge of space on 29 April (07) to comply with one of his last wishes.
The rocket fell back to earth via parachute following the journey and rescuers have been searching for it for over a week.
Doohan, who played engineer Scotty in the sci-fi TV series, died in 2005 at the age of 85.

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Naughty WILSON siblings LUKE and ANDREW sent gossips into overdrive on Friday (18May07) when they hinted that brother OWEN and KATE HUDSON had wed in secret during a radio interview.
The Wilsons were promoting their new movie The Wendell Baker Story on New York’s Q104.3 when they were asked about the status of brother Owen’s romance.
Luke joked about welcoming Hudson into the family, prompting presenter Shelli Sonstein to push him further, asking if the couple were seriously planning to marry.
Director Andrew then said, "I thought they were married already." Representatives for Owen Wilson and Hudson insist the You, Me & Dupree co-stars were not husband and wife.

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Hollywood hunk RYAN PHILLIPPE is seeking joint custody of his two children with his estranged wife REESE WITHERSPOON.
The couple split in October (06) after seven years of marriage and two kids, Ava, seven; and Deacon, three; together.
The Oscar winning actress, 31, filed for divorce in November (06), seeking physical custody of the children and "exclusive use of the family residence", as well as asking a judge to block any attempts for spousal support by Phillippe.
The Gosford Park actor, 32, filed a divorce petition in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday (15May07), agreeing with Witherspoon’s reason for the split as "irreconcilable differences", and asking for joint legal and physical custody of Ava and Deacon and for visitation granted "to both parties, equally allocated".
Phillippe did not request spousal support.

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Former THE CRANBERRIES star DOLORES O’RIORDAN is celebrating after passing her driving test in Canada.
The Irish singer, who is married to Canadian Don Burton, took her test in freezing temperatures in her adopted second home recently.
She tells Mojo magazine, "It was challenging… 20 degrees below and in about five feet of snow on the wrong side of the road."

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LATEST: Music producer/DJ MARK RONSON has congratulated his singer pal AMY WINEHOUSE on her surprise marriage yesterday (18May07).
The Stop Me hitmaker - who worked with the star on her chart-topping album Back To Black - gave his blessing to the singer’s union to Blake Fielder-Civil.
He says, "I’m so happy for her. She kept that under wraps." The 23-year-old singer and her new husband, 24, celebrated their union at Miami’s exclusive Shore Club yesterday.

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KAISER CHIEFS frontman RICKY WILSON is baffled by English pop star CHERYL COLE’s criticism of LILY ALLEN’s weight, declaring the Smile singer "perfect as she is." The British rocker slammed Girls Aloud star Cole after she branded rival singer Allen "fat and ugly".
He says, "Lily doesn’t need surgery and she knows that, really. She is perfect as she is.
"The thing is, when you start seeing yourself on TV and in the papers and you get snide comments like those from knobheads, you start doubting yourself.
"It’s really hard not to give a damn. I’ve done it myself when I’ve seen pictures of me."

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