Jon Gosselin: Kate ignores kids to be on 'Dancing'
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Jon Gosselin plans to sue ex-wife Kate for primary custody of their eight children because her appearances on "Dancing With the Stars" have turned her into an absentee mom, a lawyer for the former reality show dad told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Jon Gosselin's new lawyer, Anthony List, said he plans to file papers in Berks County Court in Pennsylvania this week to reopen their divorce settlement.
List said that Kate Gosselin's participation in the smash ABC dance competition show has taken her away from the children, and that she has delegated most child-rearing responsibilities to three nannies.
"Without a doubt, she's an absentee parent," he said.
Kate Gosselin's attorney, Mark Momjian, called the allegation reckless and "patently false."
"It's deplorable to make a comment like that," he said. "I know Kate Gosselin is all about her children, and she's always been about her children. Let him file what he says he's going to file and we'll respond accordingly."
List said Kate Gosselin has been pursuing her career at the expense of the children.
"If she's truly committed and dedicated to these children, as I believe she is, then she should open her eyes and see what's happening to these children," List said. "Their life is topsy-turvy. Jon can give them stability."
He said Jon Gosselin also wants a modification of his $21,000-per-month child support obligation, an amount List called "horrific" given Kate's earning capacity.
Ivanka Trump's accused stalker freed on $10K bond
NEW YORK (AP) - A self-described celebrity stalker obsessed with Ivanka Trump threatened to kill himself in her jewelry store and "commandeer" her husband's newspaper in e-mail and Twitter messages to the couple, prosecutors said Thursday.
"I won't just be ignored," Justin Massler wrote in an August e-mail to the newspaper, The New York Observer, according to a court complaint filed at his arraignment Thursday.
He added in another message that unless he got an autographed photo, he would commit suicide at The Ivanka Trump Collection boutique to damage its reputation, "or my only other option will be to simply stalk Ivanka Trump in a maniacal manner for this picture by becoming nothing other than a deranged celebrity stalker," according to the court documents.
Massler, 27, didn't enter a plea. His lawyer, George Vomvolakis, said the messages didn't amount to crimes, and Massler "at no point intended to follow through with any of these comments."
Massler was released on $10,000 bond, with orders to get psychiatric care as he awaits trial at his mother's home in Reno.
Trump, the daughter of Donald and Ivana Trump, declined to comment.
Judge to hear arguments in Hopper divorce
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A judge says Dennis Hopper's estranged wife and daughter will be allowed to live on the actor's property while the couple engage in a bitter divorce.
A judge also ordered the ailing actor-director to pay $12,000 a month in spousal and child support costs. The 73-year-old is battling prostate cancer and his attorney repeatedly described him during a hearing Monday as being "desperately ill."
The "Easy Rider" star did not attend the hearing, but his estranged wife, Victoria, and his adult children were present.
Judge Amy Pellman sternly admonished them to try to work together to ease the impact of Hopper's likely death on the couple's 7-year-old daughter.
Lance Burton, Monte Carlo splitting after 14 years
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Lance Burton's run at the Monte Carlo hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip is ending after 14 years.
Hotel officials said Monday the illusionist's show will end Sept. 4 - well short of a six-year contract extension he and the resort signed last year.
Burton is 50. He's performed at the Monte Carlo since the day it opened in 1996.
Monte Carlo owner MGM Mirage did not immediately give a reason for Burton's departure.
Burton tells The Associated Press that the split came because of differing philosophies about how to put on a show.
AG says Haim obtained 550 pills before death
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Actor Corey Haim employed "doctor shopping" to obtain 553 prescription pills in the two months before his death, California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Tuesday.
Haim obtained the meds, which included Valium, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma, through seven different doctors and seven pharmacies, Brown said, and he used an alias on at least one occasion.
Brown said it did not appear the doctors knew Haim was obtaining prescriptions through multiple sources. He said investigators verified Haim filled the prescriptions this year, but have also found that thousands of pills were obtained in Haim's name before then.
He called Haim - the star of 1980s films such as "The Lost Boys" and "License to Drive" - a "poster child" for prescription drug abuse. He said that it wasn't just celebrities who were obtaining massive quantities of prescription drugs through doctor-shopping.
"We think it illustrates a problem that is more widespread," Brown said. His office has pursued more than 200 cases statewide involving prescription abuse by both doctors and patients.
Haim, 38, died March 10 after collapsing in his mother's apartment. Haim struggled with drugs throughout his life. He was also suffering from flulike symptoms before his death and his official cause of death has not been released.
Coroner's officials have said they found four prescriptions in Haim's name in the apartment where he collapsed, and all were prescribed by a doctor treating the actor.
Mark Heaslip, the actor's agent, did not return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday.