Births
The King of Pop will be getting plenty of heir play: Debbie Rowe Jackson, 39, presented husband Michael Jackson, 39, with a girl (7 lbs. 9 ozs.) born April 3 in Beverly Hills. "I wanted to name her Michael after Michael, but Michael said no," Rowe told KNBC-TV. "So we decided Paris, because that's where she was conceived, Michael because I really want Michael's name in her name, and Katherine, after his mom." Son Prince Michael turned 1 on Feb. 13....
Rap artist Sean Combs, whose nom de tune is Puff Daddy, became a daddy again on April 1 in Manhattan. He and girlfriend Kim Porter, 26, welcomed 7-lb. 1-oz. Christopher Casey.
Sued
Random House sued the estate of writer Carl Sagan and his widow, Ann Druyan, 48, on March 23 in New York City. The late astronomer died in 1996 before delivering several works the publishing outfit says the couple promised to write. It wants the return of a $1.2 million advance, plus another $800,000 in interest.
Uncoupled
Top 10 pop singer Meredith Brooks filed for divorce from her husband of seven years, Russell Jackson, on March 25 in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences. Brooks, whose single "Bitch" was a VH1 and radio favorite last year, met with hostile audiences recently in Argentina when she performed the opening act for the Rolling Stones on their concert tour.
In Court
On April 1 an L.A. Superior Court judge denied TV producer Aaron Spelling's motion for a new trial and refused to set aside the $4.9 million judgment awarded to actress Hunter Tylo, 35, who was fired from his series Melrose Place after she told the producers she was pregnant. Now, thanks to the ruling, Spelling must also pay Tylo's legal fees from the imbroglio—more than $900,000....
A Virginia judge on April 3 cleared Lorena Gallo, 28, of a recent assault charge. Formerly Lorena Bobbitt, she excised her husband's you-know-what in 1993. And last December she was accused of punching and scratching her mother, Elvia Gallo, 50, who testified that she was the one who started their squabble and denied her daughter struck her. "My mom and I love each other," Lorena said outside the courthouse....
On April 2 a three-judge panel in California upheld a $475,000 award actor Rip Torn, 67, won in a defamation suit against fellow thespian Dennis Hopper, 61. In 1994, Hopper told Jay Leno during a Tonight Show appearance that Torn had pulled a knife on him some 30 years ago, causing Torn to lose a role in Easy Rider, which Hopper coscripted and directed. A judge determined the story was untrue. (For the record, the part went to then B-actor Jack Nicholson.)
Deaths
Stock car cutup Tim Flock, who raced (and frequently won) NASCAR competitions, sometimes with his pet Rhesus monkey Jocko Flocko aboard, died of liver and lung cancer on March 31 in Charlotte, N.C. He was 73.
Comeback
The White Star Line Ltd., a company named for the firm that owned the original Titanic, announced plans on April 6 to launch another just like her. The $500 million replica, to be outfitted with enough lifeboats this time, will be christened in 2002, the 90th anniversary of the tragic sinking. "It cannot sink," claimed White Star president Walter Navratil. Oh, buoy.
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