In what has become almost an annual rite of summer, a contestant on CBS' "Big Brother" has been revealed to have a rap sheet.
Web site The Smoking Gun, www.thesmokinggun.com, reported that Chiara Berti, 25, was arrested in May on charges of driving under the influence and driving without a license. She is only the latest contestant on the show--which sequesters a dozen people in a house and tapes their every action, gradually eliminating them until a $500,000 winner is chosen--to be exposed in this fashion. Last year, Justin Sebik, evicted after holding a knife to another contestant's throat, was found to have had several assault charges against him. Another contestant, it was later learned, had been arrested in a vehicular manslaughter case, and a fourth for allegedly trespassing on the Warner Bros. lot and trying to secure unauthorized photos of the movie "Batman & Robin."
Perhaps that history explains why CBS has become a trifle blase about such revelations, though the network did say that in this case, it was aware of Berti's arrest and was told that she was dealing with the matter. The Smoking Gun quotes her attorney as saying that she is "very likely to settle."
"On the brighter side, she won't be doing any driving in the house," said CBS spokesman Chris Ender.
Charity's Foot Soldier
It was an unusual sight: a celebrity skipping the valet service and arriving at the party in his honor--on foot.
Wearing a burgundy suit, and taking long strides in white trainers from his own label, Phat Farm, Russell Simmons, who'd parked at the nearby home of a friend, led his five-person entourage uphill along Green Acres Drive in Beverly Hills.
The founder of Def Jam Records, and chief executive of Rush Communications, he was among the first guests to arrive at supermarket mogul Ron Burkle's fabled estate, Green Acres, where Mary Parent and Scott Stuber, of Universal Pictures, were being honored with Simmons, and Chrysalis, a nonprofit organization, was raising funds to help the poor and homeless. The weekend event was dubbed the Butterfly Ball.
Big names and open pocketbooks were plentiful, but some guests held tight to their thoughts. Nicolas Cage arrived alone, posed for photos, but didn't talk. And Anthony Hopkins paused only to say, "I'm just here to lend support."
Simmons, by comparison, was quite chatty.
