Can Britney Bounce Back?; Courteney Cox Opens Up
A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes rush to the scene of a car accident. And an absolutely stunning movie star-music star split. I`m A. J. Hammer in New York. TV`s most provocative entertainment news show starts right now.</s>HAMMER (voice over): On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, Britney`s bizarre behavior. The startling video that is now spreading around the world.</s>BRITNEY SPEARS, SINGER: I feel like I`ve been missing out.</s>KEVIN FEDERLINE, DANCER: Missing out on what?</s>SPEARS: On life.</s>HAMMER: Tonight, what`s going on with Britney Spears? From mommy mess-ups, to strange marriage matters, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT asks, is her career kaput, or can Brit bounce back and do it again? And coming out about not coming out. Tonight, why so many Hollywood stars are feeling the pressure to reveal their sexuality. Are they straight or not? SHOWBIZ TONIGHT investigates why celebrities are finding they`ve just got to say, "I`m not gay," or the other way.</s>HAMMER: Hello. I`m A. J. Hammer in New York, with the video that has now become a sensation around the world. It`s a Britney Spears video. It`s not a Britney Spears music video, however. It`s a shocking home video that we can hardly believe ourselves the first time we saw it and showed it to you. But now it`s raising the question: Can Britney Spears ever make a comeback?</s>HAMMER (voice over): It used to be that a new Britney Spears video had everybody talking. But this new Britney Spears has people laughing.</s>SPEARS: Why are you looking through the peephole?</s>HAMMER: This at-home video clip of Britney Spears relaxing with then boyfriend, now husband, Kevin Federline, has become an Internet sensation around the world. It`s been viewed on YouTube.com almost half a million times by Web servers who can`t stop marveling at the one-time pop princess`s feelings on life...</s>SPEARS: I feel like I`ve been missing out on life.</s>HAMMER: ... propriety, and the pursuit of alcohol.</s>SPEARS: Why don`t we go watch that movie and just drink at home?</s>HAMMER: And while some are taking this latest Britney sighting in stride...</s>KATE CAPERTON, "OK!" MAGAZINE: It really is not going to hurt her image at all. Her fans know that Britney Spears is just a pretty, you know, down to earth, simple, low-key girl. And this is exactly what she`s doing in the video. She is hanging out, having some snacks, having fun. This really isn`t going to hurt her career at all.</s>HAMMER: Others got a look at Britney`s whacked-out theories on time travel.</s>SPEARS: Have you ever seen "Back to the Future"? Is that possible to time travel space?</s>FEDERLINE: No.</s>SPEARS: Yes, it is.</s>HAMMER: And they are taking their shots at her.</s>ROBERT KELLY, HBO`S "TOURGASM": You know she just went out and bought a DeLorean, too. She`s put -- she`s put -- she put a Jack LaLanne juicer on the back of it. She is sticking cabbage in it right now. It don`t work. Honey, it don`t work! Dude -- dude, you got to put lettuce in. I`ve seen them use lettuce, dude. Are you sure? Yes.</s>HAMMER: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is wondering, after months of tabloid coverage of her marriage to Kevin Federline, her missteps with her baby, and now this clip, are people now laughing with Britney or at her?</s>KELLY: How about music videos? Can we try that again? Maybe we can get back to the old singing routine?</s>HAMMER: Back when Britney was doing the old singing routine, beginning with, "Hit Me Baby One More Time," Britney quickly became an iconic superstar. She sold more than 76 million records worldwide.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I lived for Britney Spears.</s>HAMMER: She did it all, from commercials, to perfume, and even kissing Madonna.</s>KELLY: She made out with Madonna. You know, you have to be big to make out with Madonna. All right? Not only do you have to be a woman, but you have to be big. She was the biggest thing for a minute. I mean, she was it. She was the next Madonna for a second. And then, you know...</s>HAMMER: What happened next was a string of incidents that the tabloids could not get enough of. From her quickie marriage and split from a friend, Jason Alexander, to her courtship and marriage to back-up dancer Kevin Federline, which she chronicled on a cringe-inducing reality show, "Chaotic"...</s>SPEARS: Can you handle my truth?</s>HAMMER: ... and driving mishaps with her son, Sean Preston, made her a bit of a tabloid joke.</s>KELLY: Anything with a baby. You know, it ruined Michael Jackson and it ruined Britney. OK? You can`t have kids. And if you do have kids, adopt them, like Brad and Angelina.</s>HAMMER: It`s gotten to the point that she isn`t even the most distinguished alumnus of the old Disney "Mickey Mouse Club Show."</s>SPEARS: Britney.</s>JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, SINGER: Justin.</s>CHRISTINA AGUILERA, SINGER: Christina.</s>HAMMER: Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera are riding the music charts, but some say don`t count Britney out.</s>CAPERTON: You`re going to keep an eye on her. She is really going to come into her own in the next few years. She has gone back into the studio right now. She`s recording another album. So she certainly has plans after her next child to get back on the road, keep touring, put another album out. So I think we`re just going to have to wait and see what, you know, this next album produces to see what kind of star she is going to become.</s>HAMMER: And no matter what you have to say about her video on YouTube, we`re still talking about it.</s>KELLY: Whatever person did that, took that little video dumb clip, it worked, because we`re talking about her. We`re not talking about anybody else today. We`re not talking about U2, we`re not talking about The Stones. We`re talking about Britney Spears. So, touche, Britney. You did it. Good for you.</s>SPEARS: Huh?</s>HAMMER: We can tell you, the best we can find out, that that bizarre Britney video is actually an outtake from her no-longer-on-the-air reality show "Chaotic," that I mentioned. Right now, Britney, of course, pregnant with her second child, who is due this fall. Now we`ve got to hear from you on this. We`re turning it over for our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT "Question of the Day" to you on the question: Britney Spears: can she ever make a comeback? What do you think? Let us know at cnn.com/showbiztonight. Or send us more of your thoughts through e-mail at showbiztonight@cnn.com. All right. So, when we found out this shocking Hollywood split happened today, the entire SHOWBIZ TONIGHT staff gasped. In fact, so loudly, the whole Nancy Grace staff called down to us to make sure we were OK. Kate Hudson and Chris Robinson separating after nearly six years of marriage. Kate, of course, is Goldie Hawn`s daughter. Chris, the lead singer of the Black Crowes. They got married on New Year`s Eve back in 2000. They also have a 2- year-old son. "People" magazine says that last year, Hudson said she didn`t believe monogamy was realistic and if Robinson felt the need to sleep around, she didn`t want to know about it. But Hudson`s rep gave us no reason for the split. This is definitely one of those Hollywood marriages we really thought had a good chance of making it. And as if that wasn`t surprising enough, then imagine our shock when we heard today that Courteney Cox has confessed that she and her husband David Arquette are going to therapy to make sure their marriage doesn`t fall apart. Cox opens up about her marriage in an interview in the new issue of "LIFE" magazine. With me tonight in New York to tell us all about what the former "Friends" star had to say, "LIFE" articles editor, Susan Pocharski. Thank you for being with me, Susan.</s>SUSAN POCHARSKI, ARTICLES EDITOR, "LIFE" MAGAZINE: Thank you.</s>HAMMER: So I want to read what she told you guys about going into therapy with her husband. Among what she said, "We got into these fights two nights in a row over stupid stuff, but I could see how relationships break up if you don`t go." To therapy, she means by that. "What are we doing?" So they go into therapy, couple, which -- couples therapy, which makes me have to ask the question, are they in trouble here?</s>POCHARSKI: I don`t think so. I think, if anything, they are just being really proactive and trying to head anything off at the pass that -- that might be a problem. They have "a deal`s a deal" engraved on their wedding bands. And I think that they are living up to that. I mean, basically, she said that they realize they have different fighting styles. She likes to fight in public and just get it out in the open. He is a little more sensitive. He kind of pulls back, wants to be more private. So they decided that they needed to go into therapy and figure out, OK, how do we work on our problems that suits both of us...</s>HAMMER: Right.</s>POCHARSKI: ... and, as a couple, how do we come out of it on top? And that`s what they are doing. And I actually give them a lot of credit.</s>HAMMER: Yes. It`s a nice proactive, preemptive move. And, you know, not to be a cynic, but they did put it on their wedding bands and they didn`t tattoo it onto their butts or anything like that. But it was actually Courteney Cox`s dear friend Laura Dern who actually pushed her into doing this, isn`t it?</s>POCHARSKI: Well, actually, Laura pushed Courteney into going into therapy for herself.</s>HAMMER: Oh, OK.</s>POCHARSKI: Not just the couple`s therapy. Courteney realized that she is in her early 40s and that she has a lot of stuff she needed to work on. She wasn`t really necessarily happy in her life. She was really living at a frenetic pace she wasn`t enjoying. So that was more about Courteney taking care of Courteney.</s>HAMMER: And she talks more about that. And she told you guys, "I`m a great caretaker, but one thing I`m not good at is taking care of myself. My goal for this part of my life is to be nurturing to myself." You know, she helped David Arquette go through his drug abuse, which was very public.</s>POCHARSKI: Right.</s>HAMMER: She helped her best friend Jennifer Aniston from "Friends" go through a slightly public break-up with Brad Pitt. She`s had a lot to deal with.</s>POCHARSKI: Right. She has always been kind of an ubermom. Even on the show that was her character. In real life, she lived up to that as well, but she never took care of herself. And she realized that if she was going to be there for other people, she actually needed to be there for herself first, and that`s what she is doing.</s>HAMMER: And she is going -- she`s getting set to be in her very first sitcom since "Friends," a show called "Dirt." Ironically, she plays a tabloid magazine editor. And, of course, being best friends with Jennifer Aniston, she had to bet there through Jennifer, and Jennifer being the target of the paparazzi constantly.</s>POCHARSKI: Yes.</s>HAMMER: What did she have to say about watching Jennifer go through that?</s>POCHARSKI: Well, I think it was really hard for her to watch her best friend just be the subject of this relentless tabloid coverage. And Courteney got a little of it herself. When she was pregnant, she said she couldn`t go anywhere without the tabloid press following her. So it`s a little bit of payback time. I mean, now she gets to play the editrix (ph) of a tabloid magazine and really, you know, show them what it`s -- what it`s like.</s>HAMMER: I`m guessing she is going to have a lot of fun with that role.</s>POCHARSKI: I would think so.</s>HAMMER: Good to hear that she and her husband are keeping it together, at least for now. It says on their wedding bands that they have to. Susan Pocharski, thanks for joining us from "LIFE" magazine.</s>POCHARSKI: Thank you.</s>HAMMER: I appreciate it. And "LIFE" magazine`s interview with Courteney Cox can be found in the current issue. There it is right now, and it is on newsstands at this moment. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes rush to the scene of a car accident. I`ll explain what happened coming up in a bit. And, which celebrity did some trash talking while picking up trash? That celebrity that you can`t quite see right there. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT follows the star who got punished and had to pick up rubbish. That`s coming up next. Plus, we have this...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you are gay, the right way to handle it is to always be honest. You shouldn`t avoid it. There is no upside to avoiding it.</s>HAMMER: Coming out about not coming out. Tonight, why so many Hollywood stars are feeling the pressure to reveal their sexuality. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT investigates why celebs are finding they`ve just got to say, "I`m not gay," or the other way. But first, tonight`s "Entertainment Weekly" "Great American Pop Culture Quiz." What was the lass name of the unwitting TV star played by Jim Carrey back in 1998 in the movie, "The Truman Show"? Was it Burbank, Harold, Winston or Capote? We`re coming right back with the answer.