Celebrity Gossip and Photos

A judge recently extended Britney Spears’ restraining order against former manager Sam Lutfi through 2012, but don’t expect him to go quietly into the night.

Lutfi has filed an appeal challenging the ruling and denying that there is a legal need to keep him 100 feet from the embattled pop superstar at all times.

Bryan Freedman, his attorney, told E! News that his client is fighting the order because, contrary to what Spears’ camp claims, she initiated contact with him.

“There was absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Britney Spears was suffering substantial emotional distress as required by the statute,” said Freedman.

“In fact, the evidence was just the opposite,” the attorney added. “It was Britney reaching out for Sam’s help, and all Sam did was get her a lawyer.”

“There is no evidence of threats or stalking or anything whatsoever.”

Freedman argued in the appeal, filed Wednesday, that Sam Lutfi never threatened or harassed Britney Spears, and claimed that he was only laboring at her behest.

“We believe the appellate court will overturn the ruling,” Freedman said.

“Restraining orders were created for stalkers and people who make threats, and the only evidence in this whole case was that Sam sent 10 text messages to the hairdresser – none of which were threatening, vulgar, mean or anything else.”

He said Sam Lutfi was simply looking out for Spears’ best interests and that he doubted the singer herself felt there was a need for the permanent order.

“Sam got her a lawyer, and facilitated his sister, and she requested getting her a cell phone,” he said. “If Britney Spears wanted this restraining order herself, why didn’t she testify, come to court, send a letter to the judge or do anything?”

A judge’s ruling that Britney Spears, who is under a legal conservatorship headed by her father, Jamie Spears, and attorney Andrew Wallet, “lacks the capacity” to testify is apparently not a good enough excuse for Freedman.

Jon Eardley, the attorney who tried unsuccessfully to torpedo the conservatorship, was also named in the restraining order and told to keep away. Adnan Ghalib, Spears’ ex-boyfriend, is similarly barred from contact until 2012.

It won’t be for a lack of talent, but Allison Iraheta isn’t gonna win this season of American Idol.

Perhaps the 16 year-old crooner would have had a chance in past years, but she’s up against the incredible juggernaut that is Adam Lambert now. Everyone else on the show is simply singing for second place.

Fortunately for Iraheta, she’s already experienced a winning sensation.

According to reports, the young talent laid claim to the top prize of a 2007 competition, Telemundo’s Quinceañera: Mama Quiero Ser Artista (translation: Sweet Fifteen: Mom, I Want to be an Artist).

Allison pocketed a $50,000 cash prize and a recording contract for her victory, though she was not attached to any record label when she auditioned for Idol.

Still, does this taint the singer in any way? Should she have been allowed to compete on the Fox show?

It’s official. Melissa Rycroft is a major celebrity.

Sure, she starred on the highest-rated Bachelor finale in the show’s history.

And, yes, we know she’s currently a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.

But you aren’t an A-lister until you’ve been featured on a THG Fashion Face-Off. Welcome to the club, Melissa.

Rycroft’s opponent in this edition is Katie Cassidy, who will star in the upcoming remake of Melrose Place. Compare the looks below and then vote in our poll:

Who looks better in this dress?

Actress Kelly McGillis, who is best known as Tom Cruise’s hot girlfriend in the 1986 hit movie Top Gun and has not been seen that often since, has revealed that she is single – but no longer searching for male companionship.

Yes, you read that correctly. Asked in a recent interview if she’s looking to date a man or woman, the 51-year-old replied, “Definitely a woman.”

Carrie Prejean is not gonna like this one bit.

The twice-divorced mother of two daughters – her movies also include 1985’s Witness, with Harrison Ford, and 1988’s The Accused, with Jodie Foster – said she’s “done with the whole man thing. I did that. I need to move on in life.”

“It’s a part of being true to yourself. That’s been a challenge for me.”

Coming out as a lesbian was a long process involving difficult internal conflict, says Kelly McGillis (left, with Tom Cruise in Top Gun, and right, earlier this year).

It was “an ongoing process since I was probably 12. I had a lot of things happen that convinced me God was punishing me because I was gay,” said Kelly McGillis, who was assaulted by an escaped rapist who broke into her apartment in 1982.

Now gray-haired and in rehearsals for The Little Foxes on stage in Pasadena, Calif., McGillis said she’d like to jump back onto the big screen – on one condition.

“Whenever I get an offer, they ask me to dye my hair,” she says.

“And I just won’t.”

Oksana Grigorieva made headlines earlier this week by going public with the recently-separated Mel Gibson. Oh, and those lingerie pics were pretty cool too.

Nadya Suleman made headlines in January by cranking eight artificially-inseminated humans out of her vagina. That’s eight more children than she has jobs.

Besides names that start with O, and a propensity for making celebrity gossip news headlines, do these two ladies have a slight resemblance in common?

One of our readers suggested as much, so let’s put it to the test.

What do you think? Do Oksana Grigorieva and the attention-seeking loon who has birthed 14 humans look at all alike? You be the judge in the poll below?

Do you see an Oksana Grigorieva / Nadya Suleman resemblance?