Murphy's erratic behavior
stuns reporters

Plus: Bush’s Skull and Bones sleepovers

Frazer Harrison / Getty Images file

Brittany Murphy burst into song while talking to reporters.

By Jeannette Walls with Ashley Pearson

msnbc.com

updated 8:27 a.m. ET March 11, 2004

Some reporters got more than they bargained for when they tried to interview Brittany Murphy at a recent junket.

The “8 Mile” star was in the U.K. promoting her new flick, “Uptown Girl,” when she shocked journalists with what one source describes as “really erratic behavior.” At one point, Murphy lay down on the floor, declared that she was tired of everyone looking at her, and put a napkin on her face. She also reportedly grabbed a reporter’s hand, told her she looked cold, clasped and rubbed it, until the flummoxed journalist asked Murphy to release her hand so she could write. One TV crew left in despair, according to a report, after failing to get an interview because Murphy kept bursting into song rather than answer questions.

Murphy’s rep initially denied the reports, calling them “ridiculous” and telling The Scoop that she was with the star throughout the junket. When pressed, however, she conceded that she was outside the room for some of the interviews. “Brittany’s just a really sweet person,” the spokeswoman told The Scoop. “You know how some people have that wall built? She’s very warm and welcoming. She’s an outgoing person. She’s not one of those people who sits there cold in a chair.”

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Yalies slept here
Jason Reed / Reuters file
Fundraisers and campaign donors aren’t the only ones who’ve been sleeping over at the White House lately: so are some of George W. Bush’s buddies from his Skull and Bones days.

The Administration yesterday released the official list of guests who stayed overnight at the White House between June 2002 and December 2003, and among the names are at least three members of Skull and Bones, the secret society that Bush belonged to while at Yale.

Donald Etra, Ken Cohen, and Muhammad Saleh were all members of Skull and Bones, the society that President Bush belonged to — as did his father and grandfather. Democratic hopeful John Kerry was also in the group, which allows only 15 members.

Another fellow Yalie bringing his overnight luggage to the White House was Bush’s frat brother, Roland Betts. When Bush was president of Delta Kappa Epsilon, Betts was his rush chairman. The New Yorker once described the Yale fraternity as “the hardest-partying, baddest-boy, most athlete-venerating of the campus fraternities.”

Notes from all over
Kevork Djansezian / AP
Janet Jackson is scheduled to perform at the Soul Train Awards on March 20 — her first performance since her boob-baring brouhaha. . . . “Angel” star David Boreanaz was spotted getting a spray-on tan at an strip mall on L.A.’s Sunset Boulevard, says a source. . . . Kirsten Dunst believes that Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have made it impossible for celeb couples to appear in a film together. “Gigli kind of ruined it for everyone,” Dunst told the London Daily Mail. “Jake [Gyllenhaal, her boyfriend] is really the best young actor and it’s a bummer that we can’t work together right now. Maybe we’ll just break up so we can work together — or say we did.”