The daily dish… a spicy serving of celebrity news
Back in the fold ...
Jason Priestley is looking forward to returning to CW’s “90210” — as director.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun to work over there and work with those guys,” he said Friday on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show.
Priestley, who directed 18 episodes of the original series on Fox, has just one wish before he steps behind the camera. “I just hope Jennie’s in the episode — or Shannen’s there,” he told Seacrest, referring to stars Garth and Doherty. “Rob Estes and I have been friends for a long time. It’ll be fun.”
Does he keep in touch with any of his former 90210 co-stars? “I talk to Jennie all the time,” he said. “We’re actually neighbors. She’s having a really good time over there.”
On the road again ...
Janet Jackson will return to the stage this weekend.
Following her brief hospitalization that sidelined her for six shows, she resumes her “Rock Withchu Tour” today in Uncasville, Conn.
“Janet, who has been under her doctor’s care and recuperating over the last week, is excited about getting back on the road and again being able to share with her fans what she feels is one of her best stage shows ever,” promoter Live Nation said in a statement to Access Hollywood.
Feeling better ...
On Friday’s “Ellen DeGeneres Show,” Christina Applegate says she didn’t tell anybody on the set of her ABC sitcom “Samantha Who?” about her breast cancer diagnosis for five weeks.
“I told my makeup and hair people, and people that are really close to me, just so I had a protection wall so that no one was pushing me,” said Applegate, 36.
These days, Applegate told De-Generes, she’s doing “so much better” than when she saw her at the “Stand Up to Cancer” benefit in September. “I was really ... afraid of people hugging me,” she said. “People are really huggy at those things.”
Replied DeGeneres, who is also a breast cancer survivor, “I apologize, I hugged you.” “Really hard too!” Applegate joked.
Celebrity birthdays
Sunday: Dick Gregory is 76. Hugh Jackman (“The X-Men”) is 40. Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks is 39. Kirk Cameron is 38.
Monday: Musician Paul Simon is 67. Model Beverly Johnson is 56. Actress Kate Walsh (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 41. Country singer Rhett Akins is 39. Actor Sacha Baron Cohen (“Borat,” “Da Ali G Show”) is 37. Singer Ashanti is 28.
Tuesday: Actor Roger Moore is 81. Actor Harry Anderson is 56. Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks is 34. Singer Usher is 30. Wednesday: Actress-director Penny Marshall is 66. TV chef Emeril Lagasse is 49.
Thursday: Actress Angela Lansbury is 83. Guitarist Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead is 61. Actor-director Tim Robbins is 50. Bassist Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is 46. Singer-songwriter John Mayer is 31.
Friday: Actress Margot Kidder is 60. Animator Mike Judge (“King of the Hill,” “Beavis and Butthead”) is 46. Reggae singer Ziggy Marley is 40. Rapper Eminem is 36. Singer Wyclef Jean of the Fugees is 36.
Next Saturday: Singer-guitarist Chuck Berry is 82. Actor Jean-Claude Van Damme is 48. Jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis is 47. Actor Vincent Spano is 46. R&B singer Ne-Yo is 29. Actor Zac Efron (“High School Musical,” “Hairspray”) is 21.
