Happy Mother’s Day to Sheryl Crow – the singer-guitarist has adopted a baby boy. “I am so excited to share with you guys that I’ve adopted a little boy. He was born two weeks ago,” Crow announced on her Web site Friday. She told fans the boy’s name “is Wyatt (after my dad) Steven (after my little brother and Scooter) and we are enjoying some very private family time.” Her publicist, Dave Tomberlin, wouldn’t give further details. This is the first child for Crow, 45, who underwent breast cancer surgery in February 2006. That same month, she and cycling champion Lance Armstrong announced that they had broken up their engagement. It would have been her first marriage and the second for Armstrong. The pair met in October 2003 and began dating shortly after. A nine-time Grammy winner, Crow is best known for the hits “Soak Up the Sun” and “All I Want to Do.” Her Web site is www.sherylcrow.com.
Judge praises Gibson’s rehab MALIBU – A judge praised Mel Gibson on Friday for maintaining his court-ordered treatment for alcoholism following his drunken-driving arrest last July.
“I truly believe the rehabilitation that is being effected in this case is effective, and I don’t want anything to interrupt that,” said Superior Court Judge Lawrence Mira.
The 51-year-old actor-director didn’t attend the progress report hearing, but Gibson’s attorney, Blair Berk, told the judge she filed a report with the court saying Gibson was complying with all the terms and conditions of his rehabilitation program.
“He’s doing very well. He’s working hard,” Gibson’s publicist, Alan Nierob, told The Associated Press on Friday. “This is just an ongoing process that he’s committed to.”
Mira added that he wanted to see Gibson in court at some point “to ensure we are all on the same page.”
Gibson pleaded no contest to charges of drunken driving Aug. 17 under a deal that included serving three years’ probation, a fine and alcohol-rehabilitation classes.
He was arrested on a Malibu highway in July after a sheriff’s deputy caught him speeding. Gibson’s anti-Semitic remarks to the deputy sparked outrage, and he later apologized.
Gibson starred in the “Lethal Weapons” movies. His directing credits include 2004’s “The Passion of the Christ” and last year’s Mayan epic “Apocalypto.”
His next court hearing is scheduled for Aug. 23.
Drew Barrymore is hunger ambassador
WASHINGTON – Drew Barrymore has been named an ambassador against hunger for the World Food Program.
The 32-year-old actress recently returned from a trip to Kenya, where she toured WFP-supported school meal projects, the United Nations announced this week.
“I can’t think of any issue that is more important than working to see that no schoolchild in this world goes hungry,” Barrymore said in a statement Wednesday. “Feeding a child at school is such a simple thing, but it works miracles. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
Barrymore joins marathoner Paul Tergat as an ambassador. Tergat, from Kenya, benefited from school meal programs as a child, then won the New York City marathon in 2005.
Founded in 1962, WFP provides food aid to an average of 90 million poor people, including 58 million hungry children in at least 80 of the world’s poorest countries. The United States said it provides nearly half the annual contributions to the Rome-based agency, which has an annual budget of just under $3 billion.
Barrymore is advocating legislation in Congress to increase money for school meals from $100 million per year to about $300 million per year within five years.
Her screen credits include the “Charlie’s Angels” movies and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”
Paris Hilton unlikely to serve 45 days
LOS ANGELES – Paris Hilton may spend far less than 45 days in county jail for violating probation because of state policies and jail overcrowding, authorities said Thursday.
Hilton, sentenced last week to do the time, could spend three weeks or less behind bars because of a state requirement that grants inmates time off for good behavior and because of overcrowding in the system, Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
“It’s possible that it could be 21 days, 23 days. It’s a complicated formula that the state sets down. It’s possible that she could do less time,” Whitmore said.
As for overcrowding, “our jail is bursting at the seams” and some women inmates have been released after serving only 10 percent of their sentence, Whitmore said.
Last year, “Lost” actress Michelle Rodriguez was sentenced to 60 days in jail for violating probation after her drunken driving arrest in Hawaii. She was released in hours because of overcrowding.
Hilton’s time will be determined when she is booked into the county system, Whitmore said.
She will not receive any favors because she is a celebrity, he added.
“She’s going to be treated like any other low-level security risk.”
A call to Hilton’s publicist seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Hilton, 26, was sentenced last week for violating the terms of her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. A judge ordered her to report to the women’s jail in Lynwood by June 5.
Hilton intends to appeal and her fans have posted a petition on the Internet urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to pardon her.
Jaime Pressly has baby boy
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Jaime Pressly has given birth to a baby boy, People magazine reports.
The actress, known for her Emmy-nominated role on NBC’s “My Name Is Earl,” and her DJ fiance Eric Cubiche, welcomed their son, Dezi James, on Friday, Pressly’s representative told the magazine. The 6-pound-4-ounce baby was born at 7:31 a.m. in Los Angeles.
Messages left Friday for Pressly’s publicist, Megan Pope, were not immediately returned.
Pressly, 29, told People the couple came up the name “Dezi” as a tribute to Cuban-born “I Love Lucy” star Desi Arnaz. The Cuban-American Cubiche does an impression of him.
James is Pressly’s father’s name.
The pair, longtime friends, dated for 18 months before getting engaged in October 2006.
Pressly’s previous credits include “Not Another Teen Movie” and “Joe Dirt.”
She also designs the clothing line J’aime.
Star troubled by zombie eyes
LONDON (AP) – Robert Carlyle says he disliked wearing contact lenses to look like a zombie for his starring role in the new movie “28 Weeks Later.”
“The problem with these things where you’re working with them on film is (the) studio is very hot and you’re in that atmosphere, they just stick to your eyes,” the 46-year-old actor said. “You get constant drops and stuff.”
“28 Weeks Later” is the sequel to 2002’s “28 Days Later.” Six months have passed since the “rage” virus wiped out London. Carlyle stars as a man who survived the plague that decimated Britain and now is among survivors in a fortified area of London guarded by U.S. troops supervising the country’s repopulation.
Carlyle said it didn’t bother him that none of the actors in the original movie are in the sequel.
“That’s a good thing in a sense because the film can stand on its own, you know,” he told reporters recently. “I think that if people enjoyed the first film, they’ll certainly enjoy this one, I’m sure.”
Carlyle’s screen credits also include “Trainspotting,” “The Full Monty” and “The Beach.”
“28 Weeks Later” is a Fox Atomic release.
