Who's in

Mum's the word for former TV soap star

Tori Spelling (pictured) gave birth to a boy on Tuesday, her publicist said. The actress and her husband, actor Dean McDermott, welcomed 6-pound, 6-ounce Liam Aaron McDermott at a Los Angeles hospital, said spokeswoman Meghan Prophet.

The baby is the first for Spelling and the second for McDermott, who has a son from a previous marriage.

The couple wed in May 2006 and star in the reality series Tori & Dean: Inn Love, which premieres March 20 on the Oxygen network.

Family tells of US comedian's sad demise

Richard Jeni committed suicide after being diagnosed earlier this year with clinical depression and suffering bouts of psychotic paranoia, the late comic's family said on Tuesday.

Jeni, 49, was found on Saturday with a gunshot wound and later died at the hospital. An autopsy was performed on Monday, although the coroner said an official cause of death would not be announced for several weeks.

"The family of Richard Jeni would like to put to rest any assumptions as to the cause of Richard's death. ... Richard Jeni did take his own life," the family said in a statement.

"He was not down or blue, he was ill," the statement said. "Perhaps Richard's passing will encourage people to have sympathy, compassion and understanding for those who are afflicted with mental illness."

Mills ready to twist and shout

Heather Mills (pictured right) says her decision to compete on ABC's Dancing With the Stars is no publicity stunt. Mills, who is divorcing former Beatle Paul McCartney, says she is appearing on the show for charity, not to gain public sympathy.

"I've been chased and hounded for 10 months and told I'm a publicity-seeker, yet I've never gone out and done anything," the activist and former model says in an interview that was to air on Tuesday on the syndicated TV show Access Hollywood.

Mills, who lost her leg below the knee in a 1993 motorcycle accident, is the first contestant with an artificial limb to compete on the dance show.

McCartney, 64, and Mills, 38, separated last May after four years of marriage and began divorce proceedings in July. They have a 3-year-old daughter, Beatrice.

Agencies

(China Daily 03/15/2007 page18)