DANNY MASTERSON’S RAPE RETRIAL BEGINS IN LOS ANGELES: According to Deadline, opening statements were delivered in Danny Masterson‘s rape retrial on Monday (April 24th). “This case is about the forcible rape of three women,” Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller said. “The evidence will show they were drugged.” The That ‘70s Show star has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His first trial was declared a mistrial in November. King of Queens star Leah Remini was also in attendance on Monday (April 24th) because she is a “percipient witness to certain conversations,” according to attorney Shawn Holley. Masterson and all three of his accusers were members of the Church of Scientology when the alleged assaults happened. Following the mistrial last year, Remini, a former Scientologist, released a statement on Twitter that read in part, “Scientology and its evil leader David Miscavige obstructed justice and participated in a conspiracy to cover up these crimes. They have done this many other times in cases of rape and other sexual misconduct … Scientology should be a co-defendant in the subsequent trial.”
NICOLAS CAGE ADMITS TO PLAYING ‘CRUMMY’ ROLES TO PAY OFF DEBT: Nicolas Cage did what he had to do to pay off debt, even if the movie was “crummy.” The Face/Off actor told 60 Minutes in an interview released on Sunday (April 23rd), “I was over-invested in real estate. The real estate market crashed, and I couldn’t get out in time. I paid them all back, but it was about $6 million. I never filed for bankruptcy.” He added, “Work was always my guardian angel. It may not have been blue chip, but it was still work. Even if the movie ultimately is crummy, they know I’m not phoning it in, that I care every time.”
GABRIELLE UNION TO STAR IN ‘PRETTY LITTLE WIFE:’ According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gabrielle Union is set to star in and executive produce Pretty Little Wife, a thriller from A+E Studios and Amazon Studios. The series is based on Darby Kane‘s novel by the same name. The show has been described as “a cat-and-mouse thriller with a pulpy edge and some sexy soap that centers around two brilliant — and very different — Black women: Lily (Union), the pretty little wife suspected of murdering her husband, and Ginny, the detective on the case. Upon entering each other’s lives, they begin to crack open each other’s facade to reveal what really lies beneath.”
JENNIFER GREY HAD ‘SUCH BAD ANXIETY’ WHILE GUEST STARRING ON ‘FRIENDS:’ Jennifer Grey opened up to MediaVillage about her time on the first season of Friends in a recent interview. “I was a fan of the show, and I got the call to do it,” she said about her role as Mindy. “Then when I did it, I had such bad anxiety because they kept changing the script.” The Dirty Dancing star added, “It’s very hard to be a guest star because you’re not a part of it, and you’re really trying to figure it all out. They were trying to figure out what the character was, what the scene was, and it was changing, and changing, and changing. It all made me so anxious that I could barely do it.”