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REFUTED: Sources at Buckingham Palace are denying a report by columnist Cindy Adams in Friday's New York Post claiming Prince Charles's companion Camilla Parker Bowles has lung cancer. The Palace source tells PEOPLE's London bureau that, having checked into the story "thoroughly," there is "absolutely no truth" to it. Adams wrote that medical circles in London confirmed the diagnosis of Parker-Bowles, 56, whom the columnist described as a longtime smoker, and that the patient is putting on a brave fight. Sources close to Parker Bowles also say the report is "completely and utterly untrue."
QUOTED: "I'm not a perfect man ... I would spend days and weeks just high – on coke, marijuana and alcohol. ... but if (wife Whitney Houston and I) need help for ourselves, we get help." – Bobby Brown, 35, in an interview airing Friday night on Dateline NBC
CAST: Actor Tom Sizemore, 42, who was sentenced to six months in jail last year for beating former Hollywood madam (and ex-girlfriend) Heidi Fleiss, will play Pete Rose in a made-for-TV movie about the ex-baseball coach's gambling problems, to be called Hustle. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich (The Cat's Meow), the project begins shooting in May and will air Sept. 25 on ESPN.
AWARDED: Martha Stewart, 62, reportedly received a $500,000 bonus from Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., which is $200,000 more than required by her contract. In a statement, the company's board said Stewart – who awaits June 17 sentencing on her convictions of having lied to federal investigators probing a stock sale – helped Omnimedia's bottom line.
DIED: Marguerite Howard Rooney, 84, wife of 60 Minutes curmudgeon Andy Rooney, died of heart failure Tuesday night, family members tell New York's Daily News. Andy Rooney taped his commentary for this weekend before his wife died, and it will appear on this Sunday's program. It remains to be seen if Rooney will appear the following week.
FINISHED: Harvey Fierstein, 49, retires from his Tony-winning role as Edna Turnblad in Broadway's Hairspray this Sunday, after having not missed a single performance since the show opened in August 2002. All told, he played the Baltimore housewife 711 times. He is being replaced by A Mighty Wind star Michael McKean.
