Today’s intelligence round-up brings stories of rehabilitation and heartbreak, as your favorite celeb-watchers break news of drug-addiction and divorce…beginning with rap superstar-cum-actor Eminem, who Tuesday cancelled his entire European tour citing ‘exhaustion, complicated by other medical issues’ — drawing ire from one European venue host who complained that greater musicians would have toughed it out. In a press release today, Eminem’s record label, Interscope, elaborated on the 8-Mile star’s condition — by divulging that he’d been checked into a rehab hospital Tuesday to fight an addiction to sleeping pills. All this after last week, when the ‘Purple Pills’ rapper was named in a suit by his aunt and uncle who allege that their prodigal nephew had attempted to evict them from the house he had built for them, and had reneged on a promised $100,000 per year in financial support.
In other musician-turned-thespian narcotic-dependency news, Courtney Love admitted today in court to violating her probation in three separate cases by using unnamed drugs, in an incident that had her rushed to a hospital last July. The former-Hole frontwoman, whose scattered film credits include The People Vs. Larry Flynt, Julie Johnson, and Trapped, was ordered to immediately enter a 28-day rehabilitation program by a Superior Court judge who initially considered placing Love in jail. Love, who most recently appeared on the Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson repeatedly exclaiming that she’d been sober for an entire year, has had a lion’s share of legal troubles in the past few years, including arrests for drug possession, disorderly conduct, assault, and breaking into the house of an ex-boyfriend. Her admission to violating probation breaches three previous cases: one misdemeanor assault, and two misdemeanor drug possession convictions.
Elsewhere, we hear the sad sound of divorce papers being filed as the MTV generation’s favorite sassy blonde, Jenny McCarthy, is splitting from director husband John Asher. McCarthy, best remembered as the host of dating show Singled Out and the star of her own briefly run titular sketch show, has a three year-old son with Asher, whom she met when they made the film Diamonds. Following that 1999 clunker, the couple went on to make 2001’s Thank Heaven as well as the upcoming September release, Dirty Love.
And finally, we must pop in another break-up mix-tape, this time for Austin Powers star Verne Troyer. The 2’8" actor, best known as Dr. Evil’s tiny sidekick Mini-Me, apparently didn’t see eye to eye with his 6’2" model wife, Genevieve Gallen — the couple, who were married in early 2004, have been estranged for a year and Gallen has reportedly already moved on with a biker boyfriend. Despite criticism from Troyer supporters, Gallen claims their marital troubles are not her fault — the marriage went south not because of their height difference, but because the diminutive actor gets too much attention from other women.
