Charlie Sheen's parents have gone public with their distaste about press reports suggesting the actor's wild ways were responsible for his recent split from wife Denise Richards. The former Bond girl shocked Hollywood last month when she filed for divorce from the former bad boy, leading to speculation the actor had returned to his womanizing ways. Neither Sheen nor Richards have spoken about the reasons for their split, but now his father Martin Sheen has issued a statement to the US media, urging them to lay off his son - because the split is not his fault. Sheen states, "While we profoundly care, we have never interfered with our adult children's romantic relationships or marriages. What happens between two people in a relationship or marriage is so private and deeply personal that it is not possible for anyone outside to truly understand or judge responsibly. The marriage between Charlie and Denise is no exception. Having clarified that, we cannot remain silent during what appears to be a ruthless and savage attack by the media on Charlie's character. To imply that he is in any way regressing to the behavior (sic) that cost him so dearly and almost ended his life just seven years ago is not only the lowest form of journalism, but sinks to the level of defamation. With the graves of some of our brightest young talent still fresh, it would behoove us all to pause and give thanks for Charlie's remarkable success and heroic recovery."

The man accused of plotting to kidnap US chat show host David Letterman's 16-month-old son Harry and his nanny plead not guilty to the charges yesterday morning. Kelly Frank, 43, faces felony charges of solicitation and theft and a misdemeanor charge of obstruction. The judge ordered him to remain jailed on bail pending his next court appearance on April 5. Frank, a painter who had been hired to do work on Letterman's ranch in north-central Montana, was arrested last week after an acquaintance told investigators he had planned to kidnap the comedian's son and the child's nanny. The acquaintance said Frank talked about holding the two for 48 hours in the belief that he could extort $5 million from Letterman. According to court records, Frank said he had a key to Letterman's house and even knew where the child slept. Frank's attorney, Jim Hunt, referred to the exchange as a "lighthearted conversation", before adding, "(Frank) has agreed there were discussions about it, but with no purpose of carrying it out."

Hollywood actor Ben Affleck will move behind the camera, after signing up to make his directorial debut. The Gigli star will helm the adaptation of the novel Gone, Baby, Gone, written by Mystic River author Dennis Lehane. The film will follow two private detectives in a working-class Boston, Massachusetts, neighborhood who are hired to search for a kidnapped four-year-old girl. Affleck, who most recently appeared onscreen in Surviving Christmas, will not appear in the movie, and will start shooting in Boston, where he grew up, in the autumn.

A Michael Jackson fan caused chaos at the King Of Pop's ongoing child molestation trial yesterday when she started screaming hysterically when sheriff's deputies attempted to help her after she fell over. The unnamed woman, a spectator at the trial in Santa Maria, California, was escorted to an ambulance after disturbing the proceedings with her cries for a lost notebook. Meanwhile, a comedienne who gave $20,000 to the family of the boy accusing Jackson of molestation testified that she received a tearful phone call from the boy's mother that led her to believe the family was being held against its will. Louise Palanker revealed she tried to get in touch with the family after watching TV documentary Living With Michael Jackson, which featured the singer's accuser. In court, Palanker told the jury that the accuser's mother sounded "frightened" when she eventually tracked her down. She claims the mother told her, "Don't call me back here. They're listening to everything I say. These people are evil," before she started crying. The comedienne explained she called her attorney after the phone chat because she felt the family were being held against their will. Palanker was called as a witness for the prosecution, who aim to prove Jackson and his aides kidnapped the family and forced them to take part in a video praising the pop star's fatherly qualities - as a rebuttal to the damning Living With Michael Jackson film.

Mel Gibson and actress Patricia Heaton are weighing in on a controversial US euthanasia battle, urging the husband of coma victim Terri Schiavo to sign over the care of his wife to her parents instead of fighting to let her die. The two pro-life campaigners are horrified that Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, seem to have lost a fight to have their daughter's feeding tube re-installed. Instead, a federal judge has awarded Schiavo's husband Michael the right to remove the tube, and let his wife literally starve to death. In a statement released yesterday, an angry Gibson has thrown his weight behind Schiavo's parents' ongoing fight. He fumes, "I fully support the efforts of Mr. and Mrs. Schindler to save their daughter... from a cruel starvation. Terri's husband should sign the care of his wife over to her parents so she can be properly cared for." And former Everybody Loves Raymond star Heaton is just as fired up about the euthanasia battle. She says, "I don't know how the courts allowed this to happen but it's a very, very dark day for people with disabilities. There's a woman, who is disabled, who is being starved to death. Terri Schiavo is not brain dead; she's alive, she's breathing, she's disabled. People on Death Row get more of a shot at appealing their sentence that Terri Schiavo is getting - and she hasn't committed any crime." Heaton even went so far as to call Schiavo's mother on Saturday - the day after her daughter's feeding tube was removed. She says, "She said they did this to Terri before and she lasted seven days before the tube was put back in... I don't think there's that much time left." Heaton is planning to fast on Good Friday to "show some solidarity".

Brad Pitt has warned pal Ashton Kutcher off playing a practical joke on Hollywood's most notorious prankster, George Clooney - because the movie hunk will make his life a misery. Pitt interviewed Kutcher for America's Interview magazine, and took the opportunity to advise his young pal not to go after his Ocean's Eleven partner for MTV prank show Punk'd. Pitt says, "I remember two years ago you were after Clooney. I would tell you as your friend: 'Don't do it. Don't ever go near it. He'll kill you and everything you love.' I know it's tempting, but don't do it." Pitt was on the receiving end of one of Clooney's top pranks as payback for convincing crew members on the set of Ocean's Twelve that Clooney insists on staying in character and wanted to be called Danny Ocean throughout the shoot. In revenge, Clooney made Pitt drive through rush hour Hollywood traffic with a sign suggesting he was lacking in manhood. Their co-star Matt Damon explains, "Brad was about to drive off and George came up to say goodbye. Brad was sitting in his car and George kind of tapped the car with his hand and said, 'All right, take care.' When he pulled his hand away, he'd left a bumper sticker that read 'Small Penis Onboard'. So Brad drove through rush-hour traffic in LA with it, and all these people were looking at him and waving."

Actress Natalie Portman impressed everyone on the Berlin set of her latest film V For Vendetta when she started speaking fluent German. Unlike many actors, who would be silenced by the language barrier, linguistic Portman, 23, immediately started communicating in the native language. A source says, "She just turned up one day talking German. It has made her very popular with the Germans on the crew." The Star Wars actress, educated at top American university Harvard, is fluent in Hebrew, French and Japanese, as well as German. V For Vendetta explores how different life would be if Germany had won World War II.

Desperate Housewives hunk James Denton and his wife Erin O'Brien are celebrating after welcoming a baby girl into the world yesterday morning. Malin O'Brien Denton was born early today at a Los Angeles area hospital, says the actor's publicist. Susan Madore says, "They are really great, really great," adding the mother returned to the couple's Glendale, California, home just hours after giving birth to the seven-pound, five-ounce Malin. Denton, 42, plays mysterious plumber Mike Delfino in the TV hit and his wife is a personal trainer. They were married in late 2002 and have a son, 22-month-old Sheppard.

Uma Thurman loves to watch her poorly received performances, because she can only improve herself as an actress by learning from her mistakes. Thurman remains upbeat about playing Poison Ivy in much-maligned 1997 movie Batman & Robin - even though her co-stars look back on it as a dark moment in their careers. She tells British magazine Hotdog, "I can't be responsible for the whole picture. Me and Poison Ivy, we had a good time. We got down, I liked my costume. And, though it didn't work for a lot of people, I loved the high camp that Joel Schumacher tried to blow the Batman franchise out on. It was really bold of him." Kill Bill beauty Thurman has no regrets about starring in films mauled by movie critics because when she chooses more successful roles it proves her sound judgment. She adds, "Whenever I look at the list of things I've made, I never really want to diss any of them. Are there mistakes? Are there things that were less than great experiences? Yes. But if you never make mistakes, you never get informed on your good judgment. I obviously, like anybody, learn more from my mistakes than from my luckier moments."

Shy actress Jessica Alba was so terrified about stripping off for revealing scenes in new comic book adaptation Sin City she got drunk and visited strip clubs to prepare. The sexy Dark Angel star was supposed to strip completely in select sequences but insisted on peeling off to a revealing bikini instead. But Alba did promise director Robert Rodriguez she'd pull off the dance routines despite her shyness - and her no-nudity clause. She says, "I'm not someone who likes to go onstage and be a star. So, I just went to a bunch of strip clubs to do research. I would have to get a little tipsy, though, because it's kind of intimidating talking to these women with incredible bodies who are writhing in front of you. I hit about four strip clubs in LA, two in New York, and two in Texas." And Alba decided to add a lasso to her stripping routine in the film after teaming with a rope trick expert. She adds, "I had a rope guy teach me how to twist it around like a lasso and stuff. I just spent every night in Texas in The Four Seasons (hotel) in my underwear, knocking over lamps trying to lasso things."

On Sunday, March 20, WENN released an incorrect story that Oprah Winfrey had agreed to star in a poverty-stricken reality TV series. This report was incorrect and Winfrey has no such plans to do so. We apoligize for any inconvenience.