Tarnished Gold?; Curtains for Charlie?
A.J. HAMMER, HLN ANCHOR: Got big news breaking today on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Tarnished gold? Disturbing news today about the homeless man with the golden voice.</s>TED WILLIAMS, "HOMELESS MAN WITH THE GOLDEN VOICE": Watch "Family Guy."</s>HAMMER: Startling new claims about a fight with his daughter that led to the cops being called. What really happened? Is the shine off Sheen? Explosive reports today about a possible Charlie Sheen showdown with his bosses after a reported Vegas bender with porn stars. The never-herd-before behind-the-scenes story. The Travolta baby miracle. The first picture revealed today. And the emotional, dramatic story behind 48-year-old Kelly Preston giving birth. The unbelievably nasty "Jersey Shore" fight revealed today caught on tape.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`ll rip your</s>HAMMER: TV`s most provocative entertainment news show starts right now. Hello, I`m A.J. Hammer coming to you from New York City.</s>BROOKE ANDERSON, HLN ANCHOR: Hi there, everyone. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. With big news breaking today. Tarnished gold?</s>HAMMER: He has been called the man with the golden voice. The homeless man who became an overnight star after being discovered panhandling on a Columbus, Ohio, street. Now the fear was that it was all happening too soon, too fast. And now SHOWBIZ TONIGHT can tell you that today there are signs that Ted Williams might already be running into trouble. We learned today that Williams, who had claimed he`s been sober for two years, has been drinking again. And he`s reportedly decided to check himself into rehab. That big news breaking today followed disturbing reports about a confrontation Ted had with his daughter that led to the cops being called. Well, now, Ted Williams is trying to set the record straight about his battle to stay on the straight and narrow.</s>HAMMER (voice-over): Ted Williams, the homeless man with the golden voice.</s>WILLIAMS: You`re listening to Magic 98.9.</s>HAMMER: Had a lightning-fast rise to fame. Now his introduction to the dark side of fame seems to be happening almost as quickly.</s>MATT LAUER, TODAY SHOW HOST: The homeless man who gained fame last week for his golden voice has hit a little bit of a bump along the road.</s>HAMMER: News shows that spent last week on Ted Williams` inspirational rise from homelessness to super stardom focused today on Ted Williams` run- in with the police and an ugly and public new dispute with the daughter he abandoned.</s>JANEY WILLIAMS, TED WILLIAMS` DAUGHTER: He drank heavily.</s>WILLIAMS: She was screaming, I`m going to sell this story.</s>HAMMER: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT can tell you that Ted Williams` feel-good, rags- to-riches story may be heading into a dark second chapter.</s>J. WILLIAMS: I just wanted my dad around.</s>HAMMER: That was one of Ted Williams` nine children on "The Dr. Phil Show," where Williams confronted his ex-wife and five of his kids whom he freely admits he neglected during his days of homelessness and drug issues.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I missed you. It hurts a lot. I don`t care how much money you give me, I just want you. I want you.</s>HAMMER: And now his daughter Janey is making explosive claims about Williams. On Dr. Phil`s show this afternoon, she claimed that Williams, a former addict, is drinking again.</s>J. WILLIAMS: He has consumed at least a bottle a day. At least.</s>HAMMER: But Williams tells "Entertainment Tonight" his daughter is telling lies about him.</s>WILLIAMS: Daddy is not sober. I can prove it. How, I have no idea, because that`s not true.</s>HAMMER: Today`s ugly verbal war comes two days after Ted and his daughter had a blowup at this Los Angeles hotel Monday.</s>NINA PARKER, TMZ: The LAPD was actually called to the hotel room. And he was detained as well as his daughter.</s>HAMMER: Police tell SHOWBIZ TONIGHT they didn`t arrest anyone in that reported hotel dispute. The father and daughter are blaming each other. Williams` daughter tells Dr. Phil her dad was belittling her.</s>J. WILLIAMS: He was like</s>HAMMER: But Ted Williams tells "Entertainment Tonight" it was his daughter who got violent.</s>WILLIAMS: Her fists got to flying. None of them which were mine. None of which were mine.</s>HAMMER: It`s hard to believe that a little more than a week ago Ted Williams was homeless and panhandling in Ohio until a video shot by a reporter for the "Columbus Dispatch" captured his silky smooth radio voice.</s>WILLIAMS: And we`ll be back with more right after these words.</s>HAMMER: That video went super viral, and Ted Williams spent last week appearing on just about every talk show on TV. And booking new, high- profile gigs, including a nationally televised commercial for Kraft.</s>WILLIAMS: Kraft home style macaroni and cheese.</s>HAMMER: But now, not only is this homeless recovering addict dealing with the pressures of stardom, he`s also trying to mend his relationship with his large family, something he`s also doing in the public eye.</s>PARKER: I don`t know how well this story will end.</s>HAMMER: TMZ`s Nina Parker tells SHOWBIZ TONIGHT all this attention would be too much for anyone to handle, much less someone with Ted Williams` troubled history.</s>PARKER: All of this that fast and that quickly could lead to a lot of drama in his life if it`s not handling right.</s>WILLIAMS: Just selling me out on this fame and fortune ticket.</s>HAMMER: But as we`re seeing with his new troubles, and his explosive new family feud, the wounds from Ted Williams` old life are nowhere close to healing. And now, Ted`s inspirational story comes with the fear that this fairytale of redemption might turn into a cautionary tale about the dangers of instant fame.</s>ANDERSON: And there`s late-breaking news today that Dr. Phil has been able to get Ted Williams to commit to rehab. But listen, there is nothing easy about fame. Just look at all the celebrities who have let the pressure get to them at some point. So I`m afraid it could be a challenging road ahead for Ted. Fame is hard enough for a completely stable person. I want to bring in TV journalist and doctor of psychology Wendy Walsh. Wendy, it seems to me that Ted needs a solid support system, every single step of the way, to guide him in the best way possible.</s>WENDY WALSH, TV JOURNALIST AND DOCTOR OF PSYCHOLOGY: I can`t impress upon you enough, Brooke, how vulnerable this man is right now. He`s not dealing with the demons that started the self-medication, the alcohol and drug use. And he`s instead going out there saying, OK, I`m cool now. I`m cured. He needs therapy, and he needs help.</s>ANDERSON: And Dr. Phil is trying to help him get that therapy, get what he needs. Listen to what he said today on his show.</s>DR. PHIL MCGRAW, "DR. PHIL MCGRAW SHOW": I got him to commit to doing 90 meetings in 90 days. We`ll see if he does that. He`s an addict.</s>ANDERSON: OK. Dr. Phil seems a little skeptical that Ted is going to really commit and complete rehab. Wendy, do you think he will complete it, or do you fear that the fame, the attention could present temptation, become too much, potentially cause him to spiral out of control?</s>WALSH: You know I don`t know about what the treatment is, but 90 meetings to 90 -- in 90 days sounds like outpatient to me. He needs residential treatment and he needs someone to pay for it. This guy needs a job. He needs a home. Doing one Kraft commercial is only one gig. Probably for scale. He needs an agent and head shot and to start like everybody else. Make restitution to his family. Now the cameras are a double-edged sword.</s>ANDERSON: Right.</s>WALSH: In one sense the cameras can give him access to things he couldn`t afford otherwise, like for instance, maybe therapy, if somebody wants to volunteer to give him therapy, if he can get some residential treatment because it`ll be able to promote their facility.</s>ANDERSON: It could be a blessing in that way.</s>WALSH: It can be a blessing. I`m sorry, but if that camera is there, helping give him the services he could never afford as a homeless person. On the other hand, it puts a lot of pressure on him.</s>ANDERSON: Could be potentially destructive.</s>WALSH: Yes.</s>ANDERSON: Well, there are some signs that Ted is really struggling. Today Ted admitted to Dr. Phil that he actually hasn`t been sober for two and a half years, as he`s been claiming. Watch.</s>MCGRAW: Have you had even a stumble in two and a half years?</s>WILLIAMS: With alcohol I did. And I can say honestly, Dr. Phil, it didn`t lead me to my drug of choice, which was crack.</s>MCGRAW: How recently was that?</s>WILLIAMS: A year ago. I want to be straight up.</s>ANDERSON: All right. Let`s bring in Midwin Charles who`s an attorney for Midwin Charles and Associates. Dr. Phil there caught Ted in a big lie. This is really a clear example of how hard it is for addicts. Midwin, very quickly, are you optimistic he can get his life in order?</s>MIDWIN CHARLES, ATTORNEY, MIDWIN CHARLES AND ASSOCIATES: You know for his sake I am optimistic. You know you always want to hope for the best, even given all the facts that we know of his background, with his ailments and how difficult he has struggled. After all, the alternative is for him to be back on the streets homeless again. So I`m going to hope for the best. But I know it`s difficult. And a long road ahead for him.</s>HAMMER: Well, there`s more disturbing news today about Charlie Sheen and SHOWBIZ TONIGHT has got to ask, is it curtains for Charlie? Deadline.com is reporting today that CBS wants the "Two and A Half Men" star back in rehab ASAP, following reports that he was on a bender last weekend in Vegas with porn stars. Now Deadline.com just broke a fascinating look at what`s reportedly going on behind the scenes at CBS, including possibly shutting down "Two and A Half Men." Nellie Andreeva is the TV editor for Deadline.com. She wrote the expose on Sheen. She`s our SHOWBIZ Newsmaker today. Nellie, the story goes that Charlie Sheen says he`ll sue if CBS tries to shut down production of the show. He reportedly gets paid nearly 2 million bucks an episode. But from what you`ve uncovered, Nellie, I`m thinking it`s going to be pretty hard for CBS to force Charlie into rehab.</s>NELLIE ANDREEVA, TV EDITOR, DEADLINE.COM: It is pretty much impossible at this time if he doesn`t want to do it. They don`t have legal right to do it. And he for now insists that he is functional and he is. He has been showing up for work with the exception of today. Actually, very unexpectedly he called in, and after not showing up for his call time, and said that he needed to see a doctor for reportedly having ear infection. He`s still expected to appear at rehearsal this afternoon. We don`t have information yet whether he will do that. But according to his team, he is going to show up.</s>HAMMER: Well, Charlie is certainly well loved by his fans and he`s certainly well loved by the people that he`s been working with. He`s been with essentially the same cast and crew throughout the show`s seven-year run. Nellie, you report that a lot of these people really genuinely are concerned about his well-being. Are these the people who are really pushing for Charlie to get back into rehab?</s>ANDREEVA: Yes. For everybody he works with, from what I hear, is genuinely concerned. And actually, goes both ways. I also broke a story a couple of weeks ago that for the holidays the actors on the show, obviously led by Charlie Sheen, gifted everybody who works on the show with iPads. So there is some very nice rapport on the set. But it was mostly the decision makers, the executives from the studio and the network, also the producers on the show, who have been trying to make steps and find a way to help Charlie to get help.</s>HAMMER: Well, it`s hard to imagine that with all the drama, particularly as has been happening more and more frequently lately, it`s hard to imagine that this won`t eventually spiral out of control for him. Obviously we wish him the best and hope he gets the help he needs if he does need that help. Nellie Andreeva, thank you so much. Right now I want to hear from you. It`s our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT exclusive poll. Charlie Sheen`s controversial Vegas weekend. Should CBS fire him from "Two and A Half Men"? Yes, enough already, or no, his work is fine. Let us know, CNN.com/showbiztonight. You can always e-mail, too. Our address is showbiztonight@CNN.com.</s>ANDERSON: All right. Moving on to some very exciting news. The Travolta baby miracle. The first picture revealed today, and the emotional and dramatic story behind 48-year-old Kelly Preston giving birth.</s>HAMMER: Another unbelievably nasty "Jersey Shore" fight revealed today. And yes, it`s caught on tape.</s>HAMMER: Oh, my. With filthy words.</s>ANDERSON: And a brand-new Kardashian controversy today. Fifteen-year-old Kendall in steamy new ads. Is she just way too young? Or not? This is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT on HLN, news and views.</s>HAMMER: Time for the SHOWBIZ news ticker. More stories from the SHOWBIZ TONIGHT newsroom making news today.</s>GRAPHICS: Aretha Franklin tells Wendy Williams her health is "superb."</s>GRAPHICS: Britney Spear`s label denies reports she`ll perform at the Grammy Awards.