Marcia Cross' husband has cancer
A rep for Desperate Housewives star Marcia Cross has announced that the actress' husband, stockbroker Tom Mahoney, 50, has been diagnosed with cancer.
"He is currently under treatment and is responding very well," Heidi Slan said, declining to elaborate. Cross, 46, and Mahoney married in June '06 and have 23-month-old twin girls, Eden and Savannah.
A boy for a balladeer
Country singer Jo Dee Messina, 38, of "Bye, Bye" and "Bring on the Rain" fame, gave birth to a baby boy Monday afternoon at a Nashville-area hospital. Noah Roger Deffenbaugh is the first child for Messina and Chris Deffenbaugh, who wed in October '07.
Abdul fan overdosed
L.A.'s assistant chief coroner Ed Winter says American Idol castoff Paula Goodspeed, who was found dead outside Paula Abdul's house in November, died of a prescription drug overdose, but he did not specify which drug. Authorities suspect that Goodspeed committed suicide. Abdul has said that Goodspeed was an obsessed fan who wanted to get on Idol to gain access to her.
All in the family
Fledgling pop star Kelly Osbourne, 24, must have inherited both her father Ozzy Osbourne's singing talent and his talent for mischief as well. She is out on bail after being charged with assault for allegedly slapping gossip columnist Zoe Griffin in a London nightclub last August. Reportedly, Osbourne hit Griffin after the journo wrote that Osbourne's bf, Luke Worrall, who is a very pretty model, is so I.Q.-challenged he had to ask someone to explain how earthquakes are caused. No comment from Osbourne's rep.
'ER' doc weds photog
Parminder Nagra, 33, who plays Neela Rasgotra on NBC's ER, wed celeb photog James Stenson in a Sikh ceremony Saturday in Hollywood Hills, reports OK! mag. The couple, who have been going steady for seven years, are expecting their first child together.
Radio report
Diego Ramos, local contributor to the syndicated Elvis Duran and The Morning Show on Q102, was let go yesterday as part of national budget cuts at Clear Channel radio stations. "That's the business," said Ramos, who started as a part-timer in 1989.
- Michael Klein
Inaugural address, the book
Penguin says it will publish Barack Obama's inaugural address as a $12 hardcover book on Feb. 4. The volume will also include a selection of writings by Abraham Lincoln and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Starr wars
Stephen Starr will be the guest judge today on the "Restaurant Wars" episode of Bravo's hit show Top Chef (10 p.m.).
Dad says Amy was at death's door
Amy Winehouse's battles with drug addiction have been so bad, she has twice been at death's door. So says the blues crooner's dad, Mitch Winehouse, to OK! mag. Mitch, who is featured in the new TV documentary Saving Amy, says that while gossips have been maligning his daughter, "they didn't see her lying in bed for days in a dark room." Mitch, who says Amy is drug-free, said that "she was close to death twice."
Meanwhile, Amy, who has been dating rugby player Josh Bowman, is miffed that her hubby, Blake Fielder-Civil, wants a divorce.
"I still love my Blake. I won't let him divorce me," she tells The Sun. Amy, 25, said this doesn't mean she can't "have some fun" with other blokes. See, her love transcends bourgeois morality because it is self-love: "Blake is the male version of me. We're perfect for each other."
This column contains information from Inquirer wire services. Contact "SideShow" at sideshow@phillynews.com.
