Ex-celebrity mag staffer turned in Locklear

Courtney Hazlett The Scoop

When Heather Locklear was arrested on suspicion of DUI and being under the influence of a controlled substance in Santa Barbara on Sept. 27, most of the talk revolved around Locklear’s mental and physical state. (Just last summer, the actress left an Arizona treatment facility after battling anxiety and depression.)

Now, the buzz has shifted to who placed the 911 call that led to the arrest, and what the caller's motivation might have been.

TMZ reports that the caller was former Us Weekly staffer Jill Ishkanian, who watched a seemingly impaired Locklear get into her car and called authorities. Her next call, they claim, was to a paparazzi agency.

Ishkanian couldn’t be reached for comment by deadline. Her lawyer, Nicholas Tepper, told the Associated Press that his client, who operates Sunset Photo & News, acted heroically. Ishkanian photographed Locklear’s sobriety test, then sold the pictures to TMZ for more than $27,000, Tepper told the AP.

Tepper called the ensuing TMZ posts accusing Ishkanian of alerting a paparazzo to Locklear’s impending arrest “lies and innuendo,” according to AP.

“Old habits die hard,” says one person who knows Ishkanian. “I don’t know if she (called the paparazzi agency) but it wouldn’t be uncommon, to say the least. It’s an ‘I’ll-scratch-your-back, you-scratch-mine’ situation.”

“It’s not like Jill did anything illegal, though. Let’s not shift the focus to her.”

Leo widens his political reach
It’s a big week for Leonardo DiCaprio.

Video Scoop: Hathaway dodges ‘ex’ details Oct. 1: Courtney Hazlett covers Anne Hathaway's zipped lip on the Follieri scandal, NFB's boycott of ‘Blindness’ and fashion hair- ‘do's’ that ‘don't.’

The actor has one of his first in-depth interviews with Parade magazine running this weekend, and a new pro-voting PSA which prominently features DiCaprio also went live.

In the Parade interview, DiCaprio talks about the need to have a relationship other than the one he has with his work, and discusses the genesis of his steadfast environmental involvement.

"I began to understand the huge crisis facing the human race," he says. “But we can feed all the starving people on the Earth, take care of the sick, and sustain the planet we've inherited. And if it happens, won't it be amazing? Stopping the destruction? I get overwhelmed just talking about it.”

Jessica Alba: using fashion as weight loss motivation
Since celebrity diets are always of interest, here’s some news on how Jessica Alba is shedding the baby weight.

The actress, who delivered daughter Honor Marie in June, is buying clothes that are at least a size too small for her current weight, In Touch reports.

The mag says that on Sept. 16, Alba dropped $16,000 on a new, smaller-sized wardrobe. Working out is part of the plan, too.

The magazine spoke with her trainer, Ramona Braganza, who says Alba follows a strict diet of low-fat, high-protein foods such as oatmeal, egg whites, fish and brown rice.

“Jessica has always preferred healthy food,” Braganza told the magazine.

ScarJo and Ryan Reynolds’ nuptials

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The only people not shocked by Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds’ wedding ceremony were, of course, their closest friends and family who were on hand for the nuptials.

The wedding took place Sept. 27 at what OK! magazine describes as a “remote retreat” outside of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Among the guests were Johansson’s twin brother, Hunter, and her mother Melanie Sloane, reports OK!.

“It is exactly what she wanted,” a pal of the couple told the magazine. “This is the happiest I’ve seen her.”

Did you hear?
Penny Marshall, armed with school supplies, dropped by an L.A.-area school Oct. 1 as part of OfficeMax’s “A Day Made Better” program, which donates more than a $1 million in school supplies to schools around the U.S. ... Russell Simmons kicks off the "Race to Be" competition Oct. 2 at the New York Stock Exchange. The competition, part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, encourages creative thinking in the fields of film, music and fashion. ... On Oct. 26, Chelsea Handler will be doing a special comedy show — Comedy for the Cure — to benefit the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation at the House of Blues in Chicago. All proceeds go to the Reeve Foundation’s mission to find a cure for spinal cord injury.

Courtney Hazlett delivers the Scoop Monday through Friday on msnbc.com.

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