HARRY POTTED: On July 30, Britain's Prince Harry arrived at Featherstone Lodge, a drug rehab center in a gritty south London neighborhood, without the usual royal pomp and circumstance. Instead, PEOPLE reports in its latest cover story -- about the revelation and aftereffects of Harry's pot and alcohol use -- the prince, then 16, slipped quietly into the red brick building for a tour by a recovering addict. "He asked several residents, 'How did you come to be in rehab?,'" Featherstone staffer Wilma Graham told the magazine. "And I think he was quite shocked to hear that you can be using 'soft' drugs and that suddenly you're moving toward hard drugs."
PREZ'S PRETZEL: George W. Bush joked with reporters on Monday, a day after he briefly passed out after choking on a pretzel while watching a football game (Baltimore vs. Miami). Explained Bush, 55: "So there I was, sitting in the residence at the White House, watching a football game, eating a pretzel. And the next thing I know is Barney, the Scottish terrier, is wondering what the heck happened." The incident occurred in his bedroom, while First Lady Laura Bush, who didn't hear her husband hit the floor, was in the adjacent sitting area, the Associated Press reported. Added the Commander in Chief, "I want you all to know that I learned a good lesson, and that is I should have listened to my mother. She said never try to swallow your pretzel until you chewed it."
JAG SNAG: Jennifer Aniston, 32, was slightly injured in a 10:30 a.m. car crash Tuesday when her 2000 Jaguar was broadsided as the "Friends" star drove through a Hollywood residential area, Officer Ed Funes told the Associated Press. According to Reuters, the accident occurred when a Volkswagen apparently backed out of a driveway and into Aniston's car.
MAMA UMA: "The Golden Bowl" star Uma Thurman, and her husband of nearly four years, "Snow Falling on Cedars" star Ethan Hawke, both 31, are the parents of another child, their second, born on Tuesday morning in New York. The baby, a boy whose name has yet to be announced, weighed in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces, and mother, father and child "are all home and well in New York," a spokeswoman told Reuters. The couple's first child, daughter Maya Ray Thurman-Hawke, was born in 1998.
CONAN CAUGHT: NBC's "Late Night" emcee Conan O'Brien, 38, tied the knot last Saturday, Jan. 12, with ad executive Liza Powell, whom he had met two years ago when she made an appearance on his show in a skit about advertising. "Sorry about the rain," O'Brien quipped as he and his new bride emerged from Seattle's St. James Cathedral under an umbrella. The service was attended by "Friends" actress Lisa Kudrow and several on-air staffers from O'Brien's show.
X'ED OUT: After nine seasons and 201 episodes, Emmy-winning Fox series "The X-Files" is retiring its agents come this May. "I look at it as the ninth-inning situation," series creator Chris Carter, 44, told The Hollywood Reporter late Wednesday. "I'd rather go out now and celebrate rather than have to make an announcement in the summer." Part of the reason for the demise of the Fox show about investigations into the paranormal, according to industry observers, is the departure of original star David Duchovny, as well as stiffer Sunday competition on other networks. With the show's Nielsen ratings slide and its production costs approaching $4 million per episode, it was anticipated that the series would end its run this year.
Your Reaction
