Is Paul McCartney ready to give in to Heather?

Courtney Hazlett The Scoop

When Paul McCartney’s ex, Heather Mills, claimed she’d been treated “worse than a pedophile or a murderer” during a weepy Oct. 31 interview, the improbable happened: The ugliest celebrity divorce this side of Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger just got uglier.

As it turns out, Mills’ tactics might have worked. Over the weekend, McCartney and Mills reportedly made another push to get the financial end of the divorce settled. As recently as October, Mills rejected a $100 million offer in exchange for promising to never reveal details of the divorce. But, now that McCartney knows Mills will do whatever she has to do to get her settlement, sources say, there is new urgency to getting the divorce over with.

There is one catch: Mills wants McCartney to tell the world that she’s no gold digger. According to The Daily Mail, a close friend of the disabled former model said: “Heather thinks that if only Paul would tell everyone she is a nice person, that she’s not a fantasist or a gold digger, then all his fans are going to stop hating her.”

Sir Paul, if there is any chance you’re reading this, I implore you: Say what Mills wants you to say, then open up your checkbook and make this go away. You can’t fight crazy.

Oprah speaks out
Oprah Winfrey has spoken out extensively for the first time since sexual abuse allegations were reported at her school. At a live press conference held in South Africa, Winfrey praised 15 girls who “banded together, and acted, because previously their voices had not been heard by others on campus,” alluding to the fact that the girls’ complaints had not been initially handled in a timely manner. Winfrey says that they will “clean house” at the school, change the leadership at the school as well as the policies there.

While much of the press conference centered around the gravity of the situation and the careful counseling the girls will receive, Winfrey’s larger take-home lesson seemed to be how good will prevailed and how the girls and the school will rise above this scandal. “This has shaken me to my core,” Winfrey said several times during the press conference, but insisted “(The girls) represent the new generation of youth in South Africa. This is what we’re trying to teach, this is what leadership is about. Abuse will end, good will prevail.”

“I have nothing but real strong hope for what the possibilities at this school can be,” Winfrey said. “I’m glad that it happened now, and not two years from now, because it gives the opportunity to completely course correct.”

Stay tuned for more… 

Katie Holmes’ marathon run
Congrats go out to Katie Holmes for finishing her first marathon. OK! magazine reported in October that Holmes was training to run the New York City marathon and she stuck to her plans and crossed the finish line in about five hours. One eyewitness tells me that at about four hours into her run, Holmes spotted husband Tom Cruise and daughter Suri and pulled off to the side to give them both a kiss. The whole family, along with many of Katie’s relatives from Ohio, met up at Tavern on the Green in Central Park immediately after the race.

“Bee Movie” gets stung
I knew my winning streak (of two weeks) was too good to be true. “American Gangster,” starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington took in an estimated $46 million at the box office this weekend and earned the No. 1 spot. “Bee Movie” came in second, and in doing so might have proved that there is such a thing as too much promotion. Perhaps because it felt like the movie had already been out for so long, not as many folks felt the need to rush out to the theaters. That said, the estimated $31 million “Bee Movie” earned will still buy plenty of honey.

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