Birkhead wants cameras to show he’s a top pop

Courtney Hazlett The Scoop

The pendulum of public opinion is constantly swinging when it comes to Larry Birkhead. One minute he’s a commendable single dad who sticks up for his daughter and the next, his intentions are called into question and scandal about his private life erupts.

The last couple weeks have been as volatile as any for Birkhead. He and Entertainment Tonight camera crews took an emotional trip back to the Bahamas together for the first time in nearly a year. (Bonus points went out to Birkhead for getting Dannielynn to call out for her mom on camera.)

That was followed up with a photo spread in OK! magazine, where father and daughter were pictured swimming with dolphins, clad in wetsuits emblazoned with the Atlantis Resort logo. “When it was all over, she was so exhausted that she fell asleep in my arms and I played a game of tickle nose with her. I kiss her on the nose and she just looks up at Daddy and falls asleep,” Birkhead told OK!

It sounds well and good, but when these moments exist in such a public backdrop it begs the question as to how long he’ll keep this gig up, and what his motivation is.

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“With a nasty set of rumors and speculation facing him every day, Larry’s constantly looking for a way to prove he’s not the bad guy or the dishonest guy,” said one source close to Birkhead. “Any opportunity that comes along that allows him to show publicly that he’s doing the right things for Dannielynn, he does it.”

Look for the next “opportunity” in March, when camera crews will allegedly follow Birkhead and Dannielynn into the recovery room after her upcoming eye surgery. The source added, “He talked about moving the date for the surgery up so that it would coincide with sweeps, but no such luck.” Larry Birkhead denies this claim.

Delta Burke’s hoarding problem
When actress Delta Burke revealed she was a “hoarder,” the compulsive clutter disorder catapulted from “Oprah” show topic to celebrity headline for the first time. Peter Walsh, Oprah’s organizational expert and author of The New York Times bestseller “Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat,” wasn’t all that surprised that the issue is hitting celebrity circles.

“The lesson with Delta Burke is she’s a normal human being,” said Walsh. “She’s not that different than anyone else with a hoarding and a clutter issue. Good for her for stepping up and saying ‘I’m really messed up in this part of my life.’ It’s not uncommon with celebrities that their public face is OK, and the private face is in tatters.”

Weekend box office

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It’s a crowded weekend at the box office, with four different movies opening to wide release. Romantic comedy “Definitely, Maybe” (  check out my video with the film’s stars, Ryan Reynolds and Abigail Breslin) is well-timed with the Valentine’s Day holiday. But the big question is whether the flick’s cute factor will be enough to top action/fantasy flick “Jumper” and the kid-friendly “The Spiderwick Chronicles.” “Step Up 2 the Streets,” can’t be ruled out, either. The first version of the film did exceptionally well, and the promotional push has thus far been successful, according to early industry polling.

Since I can’t get away with predicting a near three-way tie, I’m going to go with “Jumper.”

Britney’s shaved head, one year later
A historical note to take into the weekend: Feb. 16 marks the one-year anniversary of Britney Spears’ manic trip to a San Fernando Valley hair salon, where she took shears to her own scalp and shaved off all her hair. We all know what happened in the months that followed. Here’s hoping all the difficult events that transpired since then are well in Spears’ past.

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