Is infamous brother a trial for LaToya Jackson?

Don’t look for LaToya Jackson to be jumping to her brother’s defense.

Michael Jackson’s older sister recently signed a record deal, and a source familiar with the situation says that LaToya’s advisors have told her to “distance herself” from her brother’s messy child molestation trial.

LaToya has shown up at the trial in support of her embattled brother, but she has been mentioned as a potential witness for the prosecution because she once claimed to have knowledge of a payoff to an accuser.

The insider says now that the former pin-up model has recorded an album with a company called Bungalo records and was told that her association with the court case could only hurt her career.

“She’s been told it’s a no-win situation, whether she speaks out for or against Michael,” the source says, adding that LaToya is “even considering going by the name ‘Toy’ — dropping her famous last name that had always been one of her greatest professional assets.”

Facing up

Max Nash / AP

Is Madonna pondering a face lift?

Despite her eerily smooth skin, the Material Girl denies ever having gone under the knife for a nip and tuck, but according to a report, that may change.

“Seems she flipped when she saw her close-ups in the yet-to-be-released documentary of her last tour,” according to the new issue of US magazine, which reports that “two plastic surgeons have visited her London home, and she is expected to meet with others in New York City in early June.”

“I’m not saying she would never have plastic surgery,” Madonna’s rep retorted. “But definitely not this week.”

Notes from all over

Douglas C. Pizac / AP file

Will Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie make up? The former best friends are being offered a $100,000 a week raise if they’ll resume their on-air pairing, reports In Touch Weekly.  . . . Tonya Harding, looking quite well-fed, said that she gets lots of offers to appear in a skating rink with her old nemesis Nancy Kerrigan. “I would never do that,” Harding said, reports Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.  “I have too much respect for her.  What happened happened and we have to let it be.”  . . . Ed Stoppard, son of the famed playwright Tom Stoppard, is no fan of Cannes. “The film industry just becomes pornography at Cannes,” Stoppard told the London Express. He attended the famed film festival three years ago to promote his role in “The Pianist” and was so put off by the experience that he sought refuge in a church. “And I’m an atheist,” he said. “I found this church in the hills at the end of the Rue D’Antibe. It was the only place I could find quiet.”

Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop Mondays through Thursdays on MSNBC.com

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