Reuters Blogs

Fan Fare

Entertainment behind the scenes

August 21st, 2008

Jennifer Garner can’t hide her baby bump

Posted by: Bob Tourtellotte

benandjen.jpgFor months, it has been speculated in celebrity magazines that film and television star Jennifer Garner, who is married to Ben Affleck, is pregnant with the couple’s second child. Although she or her representatives have never confirmed her pregnancy, Garner was in Los Angeles doing interviews for Disney’s “Baby Einstein” products and it was obvious just by looking at her that she was.

Wearing a short, floral print sun dress during an interview with Reuters, Garner could not hide her baby bump.

jen2.jpgShe and Affleck already have a daughter, Violet, and when we asked Garner which of the Baby Einstein products – a collection of DVDs, CDs and toys that introduce babies to art and classical music — that Violet favored, she declined to answer, saying she would not discuss her family or daughter.

Later in the day, entertainment news show Access Hollywood reported that she confirmed the pregnancy to them, saying she and Ben were “excited, obviously.” But even then she was coy at first, joking with the Access reporter that she “just had a lot of carbs for breakfast. It’s just - what do they call it? A breakfast pouch? Bunch?

Come on, Jennifer. We’ve seen your well-toned body in action roles such as Agent Sydney Bristow on TV’s “Alias” and as superhero Elektra in the films “Daredevil” and “Elektra.” We know the difference. 

(Reporting by Jennifer Martinez)

August 1st, 2008

Brangelina baby pics bring excitement, yawns

Posted by: Bob Tourtellotte

brad2.jpgBanking on readers’ hungry appetite for all things Brangelina — and the general spike in interest in Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie generated by the birth of their twins (call it the Brangelina baby bounce) – People and Hello! magazines have shelled out big bucks for their baby pics. Some reports have $11 million and others go as high as $14 million.

Whatever the price, is it really worth it?

In a quick round of lunchtime interviews outside Reuters’ bureau in celebrity-savvy Los Angeles, many people said they cannot wait to see the pictures, while others yawned at the thought. Just about everyone had an opinion.
    
“Exploit those kids from the beginning, I think it’s awesome,” said attorney Michael Gonzales, 30. “Why not? This is America, squeeze a dollar out of anything.” 

Sarah Bates, 23, an auditor, had a far more blase attitude. She said celebrity magazines are only good to read while traveling, although she might look for photos of the twins on a supermarket shelf.  “I would just look to see, but I wouldn’t buy it,” she said. 

Douglas Lee, 40, an information technology professional, said his wife subscribes to People but he doesn’t read it. He took a supply-and-demand view to the money paid for the pictures.  “It’s silly that they get that value, because it’s by demand, because the public wants to see it,” Lee said. “The amount is driven by the public.”
    
Attorney Lauren Brock, 30, who was eating with attorney Gonzalez, said she would brad1.jpgtake millions of dollars for her baby’s picture — and she gave her view on why Brangelina can command so much interest.  ”They a live a global lifestyle in the public eye and do it looking so great,” Brock said.
    
“They’re a unique family,” she added. “They’re American but they live around the world, they adopt children from all around the world, they make a ton of movies and not for working very many hours. Then, they give away a lot of it.”

Gonzales piped-up: “And she’s hot,” he said, about Angelina.

July 19th, 2008

More baby news for Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck

Posted by: Steve Gorman

garner.jpgJennifer Garner, who last appeared on screen as an adoptive mother in the teenage-pregnancy comedy “Juno,” is said to be expecting her second real-life baby with husband and onetime co-star Ben Affleck.

There’s no official word from either star’s publicists on recent online gossip about a Garner pregnancy, which has been fueled by recent photos of the actress in loose-fitting tops. But Usmagazine.com reports that her close friend and former “Alias” co-star, Victor Garber, confirmed that Garner is with child. And the magazine quotes an unnamed source as saying, “She is five months pregnant. They are very happy.”

Garner, 36, and Affleck, 35, who battled each other on screen in the 2003 superhero action film “Daredevil,” are parents of a 2-year-old daughter, Violet.  The Hollywood couple announced her first pregnancy and their marriage simultaneously in June 2005. Her pregnancy ultimately was written into the story line of the character she played on the ABC espionage thriller “Alias.”

Garner, who recently appeared on Broadway in a production of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” was quoted last fall in the British magazine Marie Claire as saying she looked forward to having a second child. “We definitely wonder what it would be like to have another — hopefully, knock on wood, someday,” she said then. “My job is great to have as a mom. I get to take breaks and then work in a really concentrated way. During that concentrated time, it sucks, but whatever.”

July 9th, 2008

What’s up with Sunday Rose? Kidman’s dad knows

Posted by: Bob Tourtellotte

urban.jpgNicole Kidman and Keith Urban peaked the curiosity of their fans when the celebrity couple named their daughter Sunday Rose following her birth on Monday. There was no explanation so it fell to Kidman’s father to explain the name – and it turns out the infant is named after Sunday Reed, an Australian patron of the arts with a tumultuous life story.

urban3.jpg“I have read a bit about Sunday Reed and her husband John — she was a key mover and shaker in the arts around the beginning of the century,” Antony Kidman, told The Daily Telegraph of Sydney. “The name Sunday struck me as being a nice name for a woman, so my wife and I mentioned it.”

Sunday Reed came from a wealthy family and in the 1930s, during the height of the Great Depression, she and her husband turned their home into a haven for artists. One of those artists was the late painter Sidney Nolan, who became entangled in a decade-long menage-a-trois with the Reeds and who made Sunday Reed into his muse.

Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman, 41, and Grammy-winning country singer Keith urban-2.jpgUrban, 40, both were raised in Australia. They recently attended an exhibition of Sidney Nolan’s art in the state of New South Wales, the Daily Telegraph reported. A quote from Nolan posted at the exhibit read: “When you are young you are given a good view of life, because of your closeness to birth,” according to the newspaper.

Sunday Rose Kidman Urban is the first biological daughter for Oscar-winner  Kidman, star of “The Golden Compass” and “The Interpreter.” The baby, who was born in the United States, reportedly got her middle name from Urban’s grandmother.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

April 28th, 2008

Amy Poehler pregnant: report

Posted by: Bob Tourtellotte

poehler-2.jpgShe delighted movie fans this past weekend playing a surrogate mother in comedy movie “Baby Mama,” and now it appears “Saturday Night Live” star Amy Poehler will get the chance to be a mom in real life.

Celebrity magazine People, on Monday, said Poehler is pregnant.

Citing Poehler’s representative Lewis Kay, People said Poehler, 36, and her husband Will Arnett, 37, will become first-time parents this fall.

This past weekend, “Baby Mama” opened No. 1 at U.S. and Canadian boxrtr1ztjv.jpg offices, taking in more than $18 million in ticket sales. Poehler is paired with comic writer/actress Tina Fey in the comedy about a woman (Fey) who longs for a baby so she hires a surrogate (Poehler) to have the child.