Prince William and Catherine stepped out today to visit the Stephen Lawrence Centre in London. Apparently it’s her final appearance before going into seclusion to have the baby, the spare. Supposedly she’s due at the end of April. So, like, an anniversary spare? They were married on A…      

Paris Hilton has a new interview with InTouch this week. We haven’t heard much from Paris, especially in comparison to some of her contemporaries, but she’s still making bank. Paris has a lucrative career as a celebrity DJ, for which she commands over six figures an hour. She’s not on television anymore, her last foray into reality TV, “The World According To Paris,” failed miserably and was canceled after one season in 2011. In Paris’s mind, she’s the original reality TV star and she started reality TV, though. She also claims she’s not jealous of her former BFF Kim Kardashians at all. Sure she’s not.

Paris tells ‘In Touch’ in a new interview, “I think Nicole and I definitely started the whole reality TV thing.”

With the Kardashians and the Real Housewives dominating the media recently, ‘In Touch’ asked Paris what she thinks of today’s shows. “It seems like the shows are more about drama now than having fun.” Paris responds, “Nicole and I were just having a lot of fun.”

When it comes to real-life drama Paris denies rumors about her and Kim Kardashian being at odds. “That’s never been true,” Pairs tells In Touch. “I’m happy for her and her beautiful family – and very proud. She’s killin’ it.”

The original Queen of Reality TV goes on to say she would be open to doing a reunion of ‘The Simple Life.’ “You know, I order the show on my Apple TV all the time, and I watch it and laugh. There are so many crazy memories. So yeah, I would definitely be into a reunion.” Paris admits.

A lot has changed since The Simple Life – Paris reveals her global brand is now her focus, not reality TV. “I’ve grown as a woman and learned a lot. And I’ve never been happier in my life.” Paris tells ‘In Touch’: “Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to build an empire” and “Reality TV was a huge platform to start it.”

[From In Touch]

In Touch has more in their print edition out this week. Paris isn’t wrong about how the new crop of reality shows are about drama, but from what I remember “The Simple Life” was just as fake with dumb, obviously staged moments. Of course Paris is wrong about starting “the whole reality TV thing.” If we’re talking about reality TV in general, MTV’s “Real World” popularized the genre and that first aired back in 1992. If we’re considering “celebrity” reality shows, “The Osbournes” predates “Simple Life” by over a year, having premiered in March, 2002 vs. December, 2003. Paris and Nicole were in the early crop of celebrity reality shows, but they didn’t launch the genre.

Paris has been touchy in the past when questioned about her waning fame, but she seems to have come up with a way to handle it now. She’s the original and all the new reality shows suck in comparison to what she started. She’s up for a reunion though. I doubt that will happen. Nicole Richie has moved on. Paris is kind of a timeless reminder of 2006. Only her hair extensions and pets change.

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Header image is from February, 2015. Other image dates as noted. Credit: WENN.com and Getty Images

A-lister Ben Affleck addressed the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs on Thursday (March 26).

Wife Jennifer Garner and their 9-year-old daughter Violet proudly watched as the Oscar winner, 42, who founded the Eastern Congo Initiative in 2010, sat next to Bill Gates and testified about the importance of foreign aid in Africa.

Not present were Ben and Jen’s younger kids, daughter Seraphina, 6, and son Samuel, 3.

The Gone Girl actor posted several images of his trip to Congo on Instagram.

“I made my first trip to Congo seven years ago after reading about the two decades of conflict the Congolese people had endured,” he wrote. “I expected to find hopelessness, but the people I encountered, like these former child soldiers, were among the most courageous and resilient I could imagine. #EasternCongo #DRC.”

He captioned another touching photo: “Gender-based violence is another sad legacy of the war in #DRC. Many of @EasternCongo’s partners, like HEAL Africa and Panzi Hospital, work with communities to provide valuable medial services and education for survivors of this violence.”

I made my first trip to Congo seven years ago after reading about the two decades of conflict the Congolese people had endured. I expected to find hopelessness, but the people I encountered, like these former child soldiers, were among the most courageous and resilient I could imagine. #EasternCongo #DRC Photo by Conrad Thorpe

A photo posted by Ben Affleck (@benaffleck) on Mar 26, 2015 at 10:10am PDT

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Surprisingly absolutely NO ONE, Jennifer Lopez and Casper Smart are back together following their “breakup” last year. Casper has been around J.Lo this whole time, but Jennifer has maintained that they’re “just friends” and that she’s a single lady, enjoying a single life. But yesterday, TMZ published a photo of Jennifer and Casper kissing – go here to see. Casper picked up Jennifer from the American Idol studio and a photographer caught them locking lips. Now TMZ says that Casper and Jennifer never even broke up in the first place!

Jennifer Lopez and Casper Smart did NOT get back together, because we found out they were never really apart. Sources close to the couple tell us … the break-up they announced in June was a business move. Multiple sources say in the spring they did stop seeing each other, but only for a few weeks.

We’re told JLo was hawking her movie, “Boy Next Door,” and honchos on the film felt creating a buzz that she was hooking up with co-star Ryan Guzman would help sell tickets. It’s hard to do that when you’re not single. But the decision wasn’t one-sided. We’re told Casper was up to the same thing because he was shooting “Street,” a UFC fighter movie where he buffed up. Again, he was more appealing single.

[From TMZ]

Good lord, how gross is it that CASPER SMART is like, “Baby, we can’t be together for MY image”? I can understand why Jennifer wouldn’t want to be seen with Casper (full stop). Anyway, this is not surprising at all. As much as I wanted to believe that Jennifer was a single girl, learning how to be alone, we all knew that was never the case. Chica hates to be alone. She’d rather be with someone like Casper than learn to be alone. And that says a lot about her, frankly. I’m a J.Lo Apologist, but I can’t with this. She is so stupid for clinging to this d-bag.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

Scandal Season 4 Episode 16 recap

Did you hear a couple of weird turns of phrase this episode? ‘You went around my back to Mellie’, instead of ‘behind my back’. The bits about whether or not Cyrus was ‘a rosebud guy’, that seemed to change to ‘r…      

Expectant mum Kate Middleton and her husband, Prince William, stepped out for a tour of the Stephen Lawrence Centre in South London, England on Friday (March 27).

In her final public appearance before baby arrives, the Duchess of Cambridge, 33, wore the same hot pink Mulberry coat she donned during her 2014 trip to New York City.

The royal couple met with staff and volunteers at the Stephen Lawrence Center, a place for community learning and social research. Before leaving, the royal couple signed the visitors’ book and Kate was given a bouquet of flowers.

Last week, the royal mum-to-be revealed her second child will arrive by the “mid-to-end” of April.

Last Wednesday, the pregnant Duchess was all smiles at Brookhill Children’s Centre in London’s Woolwich.

The day before, Kate and husband Prince William attended a St. Patrick’s Day ceremony in Aldershot.

Last Friday, the Duke and Duchess were joined by other members of the royal family for a Service of Commemoration for troops who were stationed in Afghanistan.

And the week before, the royal mum-to-be was seen visiting an art studio in Kent, and toured the set of Downtown Abbey in West London.

The Duke and Duchess are already parents to 20-month-old son Prince George.

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This is probably Duchess Kate’s last public appearance before the baby comes. Maybe. We’ve been told that for the past few engagements, so you never know. Sources close to Kate claim that she’s feeling pretty good in the third trimester, and she wanted to get her numbers up before the baby comes. She told a commoner that her due date is mid-to-late April, so starting on April 10th, I think the media will probably start camping outside of the hospital for The Great Kate Wait 2.0.

As for this appearance, Kate and William visited the Stephen Lawrence Centre’s XLP Arts Project in South East London. They have several appearances today (or at least it will count as several engagements). For the appearance, Kate wore a repeat. Do you remember this £1,500 silk Mulberry coat in bright pink? You should! It was very controversial when she wore it the first time, months ago, while she and William were in New York. Kate wore this the first time to the 9/11 Memorial on a rain-soaked day, just one day after she had worn somber black to meet with kids. It just seemed like her stylist had mixed up the days – the 9/11 Memorial needed somber style and the kids needed something cheerful. But today, the pink coat works.

What else? Her clutch is by Mulberry too. And her heels are Stuart Weitzman. I’m fine with her hair down, although her hands were constantly adjusting, brushing, fondling and patting stray locks, so she still needs another system for her hair when she’s doing appearances that involve lots of hand-shaking and physical contact. As for her body language with William… they actually seem pretty connected here. He even looked at her with a great deal of affection.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Dear Gossips,

Bitch Better Have My Money.

That’s all I’ve been listening to in the car. At my desk. I haven’t taken Rihanna to the gym yet but I can’t wait to break the treadmill with this song on repeat. It’s that kind of song. Makes me want to screw up my f…      

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Ben Affleck made his fourth visit to testify in front of senate yesterday. In his appearance on capital hill, Affleck was on a panel along with Microsoft founder and arguably the world’s greatest philanthropist, Bill Gates. His wife, Jennifer Garner, and their oldest daughter Violet, 9, sat right behind him. The panelist made an appeal for foreign aid at a Diplomacy, Development and National Security hearing held by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee. Affleck is close to this cause, having founded The Eastern Congo Initiative in 2010. He’s also made multiple visits to the region to learn firsthand about the violence and unimaginable loss there.

Gates discussed the need for US aid for foreign assistance projects, particularly healthcare, in order to avoid a catastrophic event like the flu pandemic of 1918. Affleck told a compelling story about the great change that a small amount of US foreign aid (only 1% of the US budget is allocated to foreign aid, and he explained that this was a small fraction of that) was able to effect in the Eastern Congo. With money from USAID, his charity and several other charities were able to support over 4,500 coffee farmers whose livelihood was affected by ongoing war and displacement. What’s more is that they were able to offer financing, supply chain management and a guaranteed market for the coffee through a partnership with Starbucks. It was an impressive story of how assistance to foreign aid groups is making a difference.

Affleck started by making a quip that Senator Leahy (D-Vermont) was his costar in Batman. (Leahy had a line in em>The Dark Knight.) He also joked that he felt inadequate following Gates. “Thanks for having me follow the greatest and most important philanthropist in the history of the world. I’m sure I’m going to come off great.” Here’s a summary of what he said, thanks to The Guardian, and you can read his prepared remarks here.

“I would be remiss not to recognize my co-star in Batman,” Affleck said. “Your role was marginally smaller than mine, but I understand you were quite good. Good morning, sir.”

Gates said US aid had “a major impact” in improving agricultural productivity in the world’s poorest nations. “Given that 70% of all people living in extreme poverty are in rural areas, and most are engaged in farming,” he said, “the renewed US commitment to agricultural development represents a very sensible, cost-effective approach to reducing global poverty.”

Affleck said that Starbucks had just purchased 40 tons of coffee from eastern Congo – the entirety of the first export of an industry cooperative supported by his organization – for consumption in the United States. Congo’s coffee industry, once among the world’s largest, was destroyed by two decades of conflict and has shrunk to less than a tenth of its former size.

“That’s a clear testament to what’s possible for Congo,” Affleck said of the Starbucks purchase. “This isn’t charity or aid in the traditional sense. It’s good business.”

Affleck’s Eastern Congo Initiative arranges financing for Congolese farmers and grants for grassroots organizations, including schools and aid outlets.

[From The Guardian]

Whenever I cover Ben Affleck’s charity work, I remember his 2008 Nightline special, which chronicled his third trip to the Eastern Congo. He described the good people he met and how their lives became “a living hell” when militia groups decimated their homes and raped and murdered their families. For everything you can say about Affleck, he really cares about this cause and has made it his mission to champion it.

There have been rumors for years that Affleck wants to get into politics. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s his plan for a second career. He’s still got some directing and acting years left in him though.

Here’s a clip of Affleck’s speech and you can watch the entire hearing in this video on C-Span. (Affleck comes in at :17 minutes.)

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Congratulations are in order for Molly Sims and Scott Stuber.

The actress-model, 41, and her film producer husband, 46, have welcomed their second child – daughter Scarlett May Stuber – she announced on her website.

“We welcome Scarlett May Stuber into our family. Our hearts are bigger with you here,” she writes alongside a photo of her newborn.

The proud new mom-of-two also shared the image via Instagram.

Last week, we spotted the Las Vegas alum and her husband at a hair appointment in Beverly Hills.

The author of The Everyday Supermodel and Stuber – who were wed in Sept. 2011 – are also parents to 2-year-old son Brooks.

We welcome Scarlett May Stuber into our family. Our hearts are bigger with you here. http://bit.ly/1bzdc9f {Image credit: @gcanali}

A photo posted by Molly Sims (@mollybsims) on Mar 26, 2015 at 5:28pm PDT