Robin’s returning to dry humor
We’ll have to wait until “Good Morning America” on Thursday and Friday to hear what Mel Gibson has to say about his recent drunk-driving arrest and anti-Semitic tirade.
But in the meantime, we’ve got Robin Williams – freshly released from an alcohol treatment program he entered in August, right around the same time.
“Thank you, God, thank you, Mel, for taking away the focus,” Williams says, adding: “I was being proactive as opposed to being on the Pacific Coast Highway. I was violating my standards faster than I could lower them.”
Williams says he had been drinking in private for about three years, “and thinking I could stop. And I finally realized that, no, I can’t do it alone and I need help. You make the commitment and realize you are not alone. There’s a lot of us out there.”
Then, in a stage whisper: “Some of us are even in Congress.”
Williams plays a comedian who runs for president in “Man of the Year,” opening Friday.
Shell-shocked
Family and friends gathered at a church in the small town of Mexia, Texas, over the weekend to mourn Anna Nicole Smith‘s 20-year-old son Daniel, who died last month while visiting his mother in the Bahamas after she gave birth to a daughter.
Cousins recalled playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with him while growing up, and full-size cutouts of the cartoon characters lined the front of the church.
Father Billy Smith (Anna Nicole’s ex) lives in Mexia, but she did not attend and Daniel’s body was not brought there for the service.
Riding roughshod
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, in India to shoot scenes for a movie about slain journalist Daniel Pearl, were hounded by paparazzi as they went on an autorickshaw ride Sunday with their 5-year-old son, Maddox.
At red lights, security men traveling in a rickshaw behind jumped out and surrounded the family. They turned back after 20 minutes.
On Saturday, one of their bodyguards manhandled a British photographer as he tried to take their picture – an incident caught on video by an Indian television station.
Researching her role?
Keisha Castle-Hughes, the 16-year-old actress who was nominated for an Oscar for 2002’s “Whale Rider,” is expecting a baby.
The father is her 19-year-old boyfriend of three years. The child is due in the spring.
Castle-Hughes, who played the Queen of Naboo in “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,” will next be seen as Mary in “The Nativity Story,” set for release Dec. 1.
Calling all angels …
Farrah Fawcett, battling cancer, says she’s “determined to bite the bullet and fight the fight while going through the next six weeks of cutting edge, state-of-the-art treatment.”
Her publicist didn’t reveal what kind of cancer Fawcett has, but said it was recently diagnosed and involves a fast-growing tumor.
The birthday bunch
Actor Peter Coyote is 64. Actor-dancer Ben Vereen is 60. Country singer Tanya Tucker is 48. Actress Julia Sweeney (“Saturday Night Live”) is 47. Actor Bradley Whitford (“The West Wing”) is 47. Actor Mario Lopez (“Saved By The Bell”) is 33. Singer Mya is 27.