"I deleted my Twitter account because I said on there that I believed in gay marriage because everyone should have the right to love each other, and I got such hate mail about my being a bad person."—Miley Cyrus tells Parade about her support of gay marriage. She also says her favorite TV show is RuPaul's Drag Race.
There are only two weeks until I host the white-carpet arrivals at Jeffrey Sanker's White Party in Palm Springs ( tickets still available at www.JeffreySanker.com ) . The good news is that I'm within five pounds of my goal weight to look acceptable in white. The bad news is that I've been within five pounds for the past three months! I think my only hope is a stomach flu or parasites. I place the blame on genetics. As you know, I'm of Albanian descent. Other famous Albanians include the Belushi brothers—not really svelte. Regis Philbin—half-Albanian, so he only has half the problems. Kara DioGuardi and Eliza Dushku can claim Albanian heritage, and both look pretty damn good in a bikini. But Mother Teresa was Albanian, too. I probably land somewhere in the middle—not as hot as Kara or Eliza in a bathing suit, but probably could beat Belushi or Teresa without breaking a sweat.
We've got Albanians on our own reality shows—like Tony Dovalani from Dancing with the Stars. The season premiere brought in record ratings—up 19 percent from last year. Why the boost? There isn't any change in their key demographics of teenage girls and adult women. But huge jumps in adult men and teenage boys, likely caused by two things—Pamela Anderson. They certainly didn't disappoint. It was interesting to see her hanging out with Shannen Doherty—who was still married to Rick Salomon when he made that sex tape with Pam. Ryan Seacrest, not noted for asking the tough questions, brought this up to Shannen, but she laughed and said, "I don't think either one of us really think of that as a factor at all. Pamela's gonna be sexy, sexy, sexy, and so much fun to watch."
Ever since the dynamic Elena Rogers took the West End by storm in a reconceived Evita, rumors have swirled that a revival of the hit musical would surface on Broadway. Those rumblings have taken on renewed life with recent reports that Rogers has blocked off time next season to be in New York, and so has a pretty well-known man. Reporter Mike Fleming says, "I've heard that Ricky Martin has committed for a year-long run as Che Guevara." It should be noted that Ricky's not a theatrical virgin ( nor any kind of virgin ) . He appeared as Marius in Les Misérables on Broadway back in 1996.
Excitement continues to build for La Cage aux Folles, another Broadway revival based on a successful West End production. Leading man Kelsey Grammer has announced that he'll be playing both roles ... obviously, not at the same time. When the show opens, Grammer will play George opposite Douglas Hodge, who won all the awards in the U.K. After six months, Kelsey will move into the role of Albin. While we've heard of former "Cagelles" moving up the ranks in subsequent productions, I believe this will be a first.
By the way, you know that Broadway hottie Nick Adams will be playing one of the "Cagelles." We'll run the first pics of him in drag on BillyMasters.com so you can see how he looks. ( FYI, he looks better OUT of his clothes. )
Rumors abound that Vanessa Marcil, mother to Brian Austin Green's son, ex-wife to Corey Feldman ( the Corey who is still alive ) is involved in a romantic relationship with another woman! Fitness guru Jillian Michaels and Vanessa have allegedly been seeing each other on the sly for several months, and have started casually going out publicly to gauge the reaction. So far, no problem—except people like me who say, "If Vanessa is gay, then maybe the guys she was with are gay, too. Because, if A equals B and B equals C, then C equals A." Now, I know I just proved something, but I'm not sure exactly what.
You've all heard that Rosie O'Donnell is headed back to daytime television. This will not be a reworking of her previous Emmy-winning show. She sees herself more as a replacement for an icon: "With Oprah leaving, there's a huge void in daytime." And she has an iconic name as producer—Robert F. Kennedy's daughter Rory. Rosie describes it as a single topic, hour-long show about life, love, and laughter—possibly shot at a Broadway theatre. She hopes to meld the fun of the old show with serious topics that interest her now. I'm not sure how she'll go from a chat about incest to shooting Koosh balls into the balcony, but I'll definitely tune in.
I'm sure the story about Constance McMillen wanting to go to the prom with her girlfriend would be a topic Rosie would tackle. Despite trying to legally force them to have the prom as planned, the courts ruled that the school had every right to cancel the prom. However, in doing so, Constance's rights were violated and she can proceed to trial on that issue—and that's exactly what she intends to do ( with the help of the ACLU ) . McMillen has gotten quite a bit of media attention, including a guest spot on "Ellen." DeGeneres presented her with a $30,000 scholarship from Tonic.com and praised Constance for having bravery well beyond her years. Brava!
My spies at 30 Rock tell me about a special Mother's Day episode that just wrapped which features a bevy of Broadway belters. Returning guest stars include Elaine Stritch as Alec Baldwin's mom, Patti LuPone as Judah Friedlander's mom, Jan Hooks as Jane Krakowski's mom, and Anita Gillette as Tina Fey's mom. With Broadway regulars Cheyenne Jackson and Krakowski, the final scene will be something like "Mother's Day—The Musical."
Our quick "Ask Billy" question comes from Mark in Albany: "I was in a club and they showed a Donna Summer video and the guy in it looked like Josh Duhamel. Did he ever do music videos back when he was modeling?"
One of Josh's first acting jobs was Summer's "I Will Go With You" video—the 12-inch remix. He followed that up with the video for Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle." That led to his gig on All My Children. Along the way, he did some nude modeling for Greg Gorman, which means I can run those photos on BillyMasters.com .
When Josh Duhamel and "12-inch" are in the same sentence, it's time to end yet another column ( and get to those nude photos ) . White Party update—I'm sworn to secrecy, but there will be film crews and media galore—which means I'll be in the thick of it. And if you're there, trust me to point you in the right direction. For all the late breaking news, check out www.BillyMasters.com . If you've got something keeping you up all night, just drop a note to Billy@BillyMasters.com and I promise to get back to you before Ricky ends up in "La Cage" ( or, at the very least, WITH a "Cagelle" ) ! Until next time, remember, one man's filth is another man's bible.
