Celebrity Chatter: The Year In Review 2002
Shoplifting Actresses, Baby-Dangling Pop Stars Top 2002
POSTED: 8:54 a.m. EST December 30, 2002
Ah, the year in celebrities 2002.
There were the usual breakups and meltdowns, marriages and movie mayhem.
There were also some truly unique and memorable moments including a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction episode of shoplifting, a tell-all candid interview about drug-taking, an incident of sheer craziness, which included a baby-dangling incident, and an engagement of Hollywood epic proportions.
So for your viewing pleasure may we present Celebrity Chatter's Top 10 Most Unforgettable Moments 2002:
Curtain up!
1. Baby Dangling: Who could beat the King of Pop's bizarre behavior? "Jacko's Gone Wacko" the headlines roared. We always knew this guy had some circuitry loose, but he made back-to-back headlines in the month of November. 
First, after wearing a surgical mask to court, Michael Jackson was forced to unmask when he took the stand. He revealed a face so cosmetically altered that his nose was reportedly caving in from too much work.
Then just one week later, while fans gather several stories below his Aldon Hotel room in Berlin, he "presented" his latest creation, Prince Michael III. With a towel covering the baby's head, he dangled the 9-month-old over a railing, displaying him before the crowd. Child welfare supporters wanted Jackson's head. Jackson apologized by saying he was being overzealous. "I got caught up in the excitement of the moment," he said in a public apology.
2. Shoplifter, Interrupted: Winona Ryder had her face broadcast on the airwaves and plastered on the cover of newspapers and got loads more publicity than she's received for any movie she's done. A security guard testified that Ryder's explanation after a supposed shoplifting spree at the Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue was that it was a practice run for a movie. "The director said I should try it out," Ryder was quoted as saying. She was convicted of a felony charge for the over $5,000 theft, but it is doubtful she'll face any hard time.
3. Eminem's Acting Debut: He arrived at the Los Angeles and Detroit premiere with a posse of bodyguards reserved usually for royalty and presidents and Eminem's "8 Mile" debut was greeted with kudos from critics and fans alike. The movie left a gaping hole at the end for a possible sequel. Can Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, take home an Oscar for his portrayal of Jimmy "Rabbit" Smith, Jr.? It's possible, but remember this: Jimmy Smith Jr. allowed Eminem to play very close to type. Was it a stretch for the white rapper from Detroit to play a white rapper from Detroit on the big screen?
4. Surprise Passings: Lisa Left Eye Lopes dies in a car accident in Honduras on April 26. Dudley Moore dies in the United States at age 66 following a battle with a degenerative brain condition; Legendary hip-hop DJ Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC is shot and killed in Queens on Oct. 30 inside a recording studio. 
Joe Strummer of the Clash dies of cardiac arrest at the age of 55. Actor Richard Harris passes away at 72; Bruce Paltrow dies in Italy at the age of 58. Also leaving this Earth in 2002: Who bassist John Entwistle, actor Rod Steiger, singer Rosemary Clooney, punk rocker Dee Dee Ramone, former porn star Linda Lovelace, actor Robert Urich, Britain's Queen Mum, and Alice In Chains singer Layne Staley.
5. On TV: Sharon Osbourne, the queen of reality TV made Ozzy, her rock star husband cry publicly after telling fans that she had colon cancer. Anna Nicole Smith made television whining an art form. And Kelly Clarkson became an "American Idol" while the show revived the career of Paula Abdul and makes Simon Cowell the most hated judge since Judy. Dr. Phil McGraw broke away from Mama Oprah and got his own TV talk show. Afternoon therapy sessions are now out of the closet and syndicated for all to see.
6. Whitney's Tell All: Whitney Houston told Diane Sawyer that "crack is whack" and that she made too much money to use cheap drugs. She stunned the world when she demanded to see receipts for proof that she had a million-dollar drug habit. Meanwhile, husband Bobby Brown admitted to Sawyer that he smokes a joint every other day leaving the viewing public asking is daughter Bobby Kristina Brown in the proper care?
7. Zsa Zsa's Car Accident: We all thought Zsa Zsa Gabor was a goner and didn't know much about the details of a car accident featuring the former Miss 
Hungary 1936 on Sunset Blvd. Then stories began to surface that the star had been on her way to a shopping trip with her hairdresser when he crashed his Corvette into a light pole. News of Gabor's recovery was grim. Husband Frederic von Anhalt was quoted through a representative that Gabor was in a coma and was on a respirator, while her daughter, Constance Francesca Hilton, denied reports about the coma and downplayed the incident saying the 85-year-old actress was fine with only a few scrapes here and there. Gabor is now on the mend.
8. Surprise Marriages and Breakups: Julia Roberts married cameraman Danny Moder at her New Mexico ranch. Paul McCartney proposed to Heather Mills amid much publicity that McCartney's kids disliked the new mom; they wed anyway. Liza Minnelli and David Gest married despite reports that he was gay. Lisa Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage married just before festivities to fete the late Elvis Presley at Graceland. Cage got a front-row seat. Three months later, Presley and Cage split. Presley said the two never should have been married in the first place. Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton adopted a Vietnamese baby, then Jolie splits from Thornton after two years of marriage. It was the second marriage for 27-year-old Jolie and the fifth marriage for Thornton, 47.
9. J Lo and Ben Affleck: After rumors swirled about the couple in tabloids, it all of a sudden became a reality on national TV. Affleck proposed to Lopez giving her a rare pink diamond engagement ring; she spilled the beans about the engagement during a well-publicized interview with Diane Sawyer. They seem the most unlikely duo and everyone's betting that even in the marriage does go through it won't last. Amazingly enough, all of the engagement hoopla, including the announcement on Sawyer's show, happened right around the release of J Lo's new CD and a couple of new movies starring Lopez. He is 30, she's 32. He's never been married, she has been married twice before. She denied on television that her butt is insured for $3 million, but did admit to blowing big bucks on a recent trip to Las Vegas.
10. It's Only Greek: "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" became a break-out hit and made star-writer Nia Vardalos a hot commodity. After getting the backing from Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson for her little movie, Vardalos spent only $5 million to make the picture. She's made that back at least three-fold. A television sitcom based on the show is in the works. On the flop side, Madonna and Guy Ritchie's labor of love, a remake of Nina Wertmuller's "Swept Away," was a colossal movie failure. The movie didn't even open in Ritchie's native England, but instead went straight to video.
Michelle Solomon's gossip column, Celebrity Chatter, appears each Monday. Got a question about a celebrity? E-mail us (please include your first name, city and state) and we'll find you the answer. Michelle Solomon@Celebrity Chatter. Personal replies cannot be sent.
There were also some truly unique and memorable moments including a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction episode of shoplifting, a tell-all candid interview about drug-taking, an incident of sheer craziness, which included a baby-dangling incident, and an engagement of Hollywood epic proportions.
So for your viewing pleasure may we present Celebrity Chatter's Top 10 Most Unforgettable Moments 2002:
Curtain up!
1. Baby Dangling: Who could beat the King of Pop's bizarre behavior? "Jacko's Gone Wacko" the headlines roared. We always knew this guy had some circuitry loose, but he made back-to-back headlines in the month of November. First, after wearing a surgical mask to court, Michael Jackson was forced to unmask when he took the stand. He revealed a face so cosmetically altered that his nose was reportedly caving in from too much work.
Then just one week later, while fans gather several stories below his Aldon Hotel room in Berlin, he "presented" his latest creation, Prince Michael III. With a towel covering the baby's head, he dangled the 9-month-old over a railing, displaying him before the crowd. Child welfare supporters wanted Jackson's head. Jackson apologized by saying he was being overzealous. "I got caught up in the excitement of the moment," he said in a public apology.
2. Shoplifter, Interrupted: Winona Ryder had her face broadcast on the airwaves and plastered on the cover of newspapers and got loads more publicity than she's received for any movie she's done. A security guard testified that Ryder's explanation after a supposed shoplifting spree at the Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue was that it was a practice run for a movie. "The director said I should try it out," Ryder was quoted as saying. She was convicted of a felony charge for the over $5,000 theft, but it is doubtful she'll face any hard time.
3. Eminem's Acting Debut: He arrived at the Los Angeles and Detroit premiere with a posse of bodyguards reserved usually for royalty and presidents and Eminem's "8 Mile" debut was greeted with kudos from critics and fans alike. The movie left a gaping hole at the end for a possible sequel. Can Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, take home an Oscar for his portrayal of Jimmy "Rabbit" Smith, Jr.? It's possible, but remember this: Jimmy Smith Jr. allowed Eminem to play very close to type. Was it a stretch for the white rapper from Detroit to play a white rapper from Detroit on the big screen?
4. Surprise Passings: Lisa Left Eye Lopes dies in a car accident in Honduras on April 26. Dudley Moore dies in the United States at age 66 following a battle with a degenerative brain condition; Legendary hip-hop DJ Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC is shot and killed in Queens on Oct. 30 inside a recording studio. Joe Strummer of the Clash dies of cardiac arrest at the age of 55. Actor Richard Harris passes away at 72; Bruce Paltrow dies in Italy at the age of 58. Also leaving this Earth in 2002: Who bassist John Entwistle, actor Rod Steiger, singer Rosemary Clooney, punk rocker Dee Dee Ramone, former porn star Linda Lovelace, actor Robert Urich, Britain's Queen Mum, and Alice In Chains singer Layne Staley.
5. On TV: Sharon Osbourne, the queen of reality TV made Ozzy, her rock star husband cry publicly after telling fans that she had colon cancer. Anna Nicole Smith made television whining an art form. And Kelly Clarkson became an "American Idol" while the show revived the career of Paula Abdul and makes Simon Cowell the most hated judge since Judy. Dr. Phil McGraw broke away from Mama Oprah and got his own TV talk show. Afternoon therapy sessions are now out of the closet and syndicated for all to see.
6. Whitney's Tell All: Whitney Houston told Diane Sawyer that "crack is whack" and that she made too much money to use cheap drugs. She stunned the world when she demanded to see receipts for proof that she had a million-dollar drug habit. Meanwhile, husband Bobby Brown admitted to Sawyer that he smokes a joint every other day leaving the viewing public asking is daughter Bobby Kristina Brown in the proper care?
7. Zsa Zsa's Car Accident: We all thought Zsa Zsa Gabor was a goner and didn't know much about the details of a car accident featuring the former Miss Hungary 1936 on Sunset Blvd. Then stories began to surface that the star had been on her way to a shopping trip with her hairdresser when he crashed his Corvette into a light pole. News of Gabor's recovery was grim. Husband Frederic von Anhalt was quoted through a representative that Gabor was in a coma and was on a respirator, while her daughter, Constance Francesca Hilton, denied reports about the coma and downplayed the incident saying the 85-year-old actress was fine with only a few scrapes here and there. Gabor is now on the mend.
8. Surprise Marriages and Breakups: Julia Roberts married cameraman Danny Moder at her New Mexico ranch. Paul McCartney proposed to Heather Mills amid much publicity that McCartney's kids disliked the new mom; they wed anyway. Liza Minnelli and David Gest married despite reports that he was gay. Lisa Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage married just before festivities to fete the late Elvis Presley at Graceland. Cage got a front-row seat. Three months later, Presley and Cage split. Presley said the two never should have been married in the first place. Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton adopted a Vietnamese baby, then Jolie splits from Thornton after two years of marriage. It was the second marriage for 27-year-old Jolie and the fifth marriage for Thornton, 47.
9. J Lo and Ben Affleck: After rumors swirled about the couple in tabloids, it all of a sudden became a reality on national TV. Affleck proposed to Lopez giving her a rare pink diamond engagement ring; she spilled the beans about the engagement during a well-publicized interview with Diane Sawyer. They seem the most unlikely duo and everyone's betting that even in the marriage does go through it won't last. Amazingly enough, all of the engagement hoopla, including the announcement on Sawyer's show, happened right around the release of J Lo's new CD and a couple of new movies starring Lopez. He is 30, she's 32. He's never been married, she has been married twice before. She denied on television that her butt is insured for $3 million, but did admit to blowing big bucks on a recent trip to Las Vegas.
10. It's Only Greek: "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" became a break-out hit and made star-writer Nia Vardalos a hot commodity. After getting the backing from Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson for her little movie, Vardalos spent only $5 million to make the picture. She's made that back at least three-fold. A television sitcom based on the show is in the works. On the flop side, Madonna and Guy Ritchie's labor of love, a remake of Nina Wertmuller's "Swept Away," was a colossal movie failure. The movie didn't even open in Ritchie's native England, but instead went straight to video.
Michelle Solomon's gossip column, Celebrity Chatter, appears each Monday. Got a question about a celebrity? E-mail us (please include your first name, city and state) and we'll find you the answer. Michelle Solomon@Celebrity Chatter. Personal replies cannot be sent.
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