• October 25, 2004
• Vol. 63
• No. 17

Scoop

Julia Talks Babies
With two movies and twins on the way, Julia Roberts sits down with Oprah to discuss the role she's been waiting for—motherhood

She's six months pregnant with twins and, says Julia Roberts, she has not experienced a case of morning sickness. But on Oct. 6 a feeling of queasiness crept up on the 36-year-old mother-to-be. Sitting down with Oprah Winfrey for her first TV interview since becoming pregnant, Roberts "was overwhelmed," says an audience member at the taping of the show. "She said she hadn't felt nauseous during her pregnancy until today, with all the energy and applause from the audience."

After taking several months off to nest with husband Danny Moder, 35, the actress is hitting the promotional circuit again, for two upcoming films. Roberts stars in the romantic drama Closer (Dec. 3) with Clive Owen and Natalie Portman, who joined her on the set of Oprah. She'll then be seen in the all-star cast of Ocean's Twelve (Dec. 10). She has also been busy recording voice-overs for AOL's new TV ads, which began airing this month. But for Roberts, what's on her mind are the babies—a boy and a girl, she told Winfrey—due in January. She recently bought matching T-shirts (one pink, the other blue) at a Taos boutique near her 82-acre ranch in New Mexico, and she's maintaining her expanding figure with Pilates classes. Though some things are out of her control—the kicking on the right side of her belly, or her changing laugh, which she says now makes her sound like a hearty truck driver—her pregnancy has been "very empowering," she told Winfrey. "She's optimistic and excited about being a mom," says an Oprah audience member. "She wants to spread her love to those two babies."

UNPLUGGED: STAR AND AL
Star Jones can't stop talking about her upcoming nuptials to Wall Street banker Al Reynolds—but her network can. The View cohost asked companies to help sponsor her Nov. 13 wedding by providing free goods and services; then she mentioned them on the air, according to the New York Post. Enough, said ABC, which reportedly put an end to Jones's product placements so as not to violate FCC rules. Jones's reaction? "I have done nothing illegal, immoral or unethical...I never personally promised a segment on The View," she told the Post. Jones still mentions sponsors on her Web site, www.starandal.com, where, for those flying, Continental is listed as the official wedding airline.

Demi & Ashton's British Holiday
Perhaps filming the thriller Half Light on Wales's Llanddwyn Island, also known as the "island of sweethearts," moved Demi Moore to thoughts of romance. Shortly after filming there ended, she and her beau, Ashton Kutcher, rendezvoused in the tiny town of Wadebridge in southwest England. According to locals, the couple—along with Moore's three daughters, Rumer, 16, Scout, 13, and Tallulah, 10—stayed at the exclusive country resort Hustyns. While there Moore, 41, Kutcher, 26, and the girls trekked to a local sports park, the Adventure Centre at Lusty Glaze Beach, where the three girls took surfing lessons and their mom braved one of the park's signature rides, a zip wire affixed to a 200-ft. cliff that races to a beach below. The fivesome, says a park official, were "very down-to-earth and friendly."

RUBEN: 449 Pounds!
American Idol champ Ruben Studdard kicked off a fitness and weight-loss program Oct. 12 by stepping on a scale that measures up to 440 lbs. Nothing happened. "Mmm, I broke it," said the 6'4" Studdard. No, but he did weigh too much to register. According to another scale, Studdard checked in at a hefty 449 lbs. His life coach, Idol judge Randy Jackson, is optimistic. "Attitude is key," says Jackson, who checks in with Studdard daily. Studdard, 26, whose training program is being chronicled by Extra, will follow a 1,000-calorie-a-day diet. He will also work out three times a week with celeb trainer Gunnar Peterson. "He seems really committed to doing this," says his diet consultant Cynthia Stamper Graff, "both for his own health and realizing that he is an inspiration to others."

Ben Gets Slick

In the November issue of Details, Ben Affleck shows off some sultry new looks for a photo shoot and talks about life after Bennifer. A few highlights:

ON J.LO: "I hope the [press] coverage of her chills. She definitely had it tougher than me in that respect."

ON ACTING: "I'm tired of doing the types of movies I'm best known for....I don't want to feel like a monkey with an organ grinder out there on Access Hollywood."

ON THE FUTURE: "I want to get married and start a family."

"It occurs to me now that there was a certain kind of perception of me and how I looked during my relationship with Jen," Affleck told the magazine. "It was...rooted in the notion that...'She's changed him.'"

POP QUIZ

Sarah Jessica Parker

Sarah Jessica Parker cochairs Get Organized New York, a massive tag sale hosted by REAL SIMPLE magazine, a sister publication of People, to benefit New York City's public schools, to be held in Central Park the weekend of Oct. 16. Parker, 39, talked to Scoop about cleaning out her closet and items she can't part with.

Are you going to buy anything at the sale?

Definitely. I am going to go the first day. I love vintage. I love flea markets. I love tag sales.

Why did you get involved in the event?

It just seemed like a really smart, clever, innovative way of shining light on something that is so necessary, which is funding for the public schools. It plays on something that is very American, which is volunteerism.

What have you donated to the sale?

Stuff from Sex and the City [such as the chair John Corbett's character, Aidan, sold to Parker's Carrie Bradshaw], as well as a bunch of personal effects from our beach house and the house in the city.

Who else is getting involved?

My mom, my sisters, all my best friends.

Is there anything from Sex and the City that you'll never give away?

Oh my God, yeah, like 80 percent of it. The tutu from the opening title. The shoes I wore in the opening. The nightgown I always wore with Mr. Big.

Why the tutu?

It's just sentiment. It's hard to explain.

Will your son [James Wilkie Broderick, 1] attend public school?

When it's my son's time for school, which isn't for another few years, we will absolutely seriously consider public school. It depends on him and a lot of factors.

You have some experience in that area, right?

I went to public school. Public education is great.

Does your husband, Matthew Broderick, ever ask you to throw out some of your tag-sale treasures? No, because I am organized, so it doesn't look like I keep a thing.

ON THE BLOCK

J.LO'S WEDDING SITE
PRICE $14.5 million
PLACE Hollywood Hills

Jennifer Lopez had this home built in a gated community in 2002, and she wed Marc Anthony there on June 5. The four-bedroom mansion sits on 1.5 acres and includes 8½ baths, a pool, tennis courts and screening room. The buyer is LA. club owner and movie producer Sam Nazarian.

• Contributors:
• Greg Adkins,
• Marisa Wong,
• Jennifer Wren,
• Derek Bellis,
• Tom Collins,
• Dede Gallagher,
• Sara Hammel,
• Shia Kapos,
• Zorianna Kit,
• Marisa Laudadio,
• Molly Lopez,
• Rebecca Paley,
• Inez Russell,
• Cynthia Wang.