Has Madonna become something like a Jew for Jesus?
That’s what some are asking after the star — who is a member of the Kabbalah Centre, which studies Jewish mysticism — said she also believes in Jesus. Madonna celebrates Jewish holidays and has even taken on the name Esther in deference to the religion.
Saying that her adopted son, David, can be Christian and follow Kabbalah as well, Madonna told the BBC, “I believe in Jesus and I study Kabbalah, so I don’t see why he can’t too.”
But Kabbalah watcher Rick Ross says that the group’s leaders are wrong if they tell people that they can have it both ways. “It’s historically and practically impossible for a person to be two religions simultaneously,” Rick Ross of Cultnews.com tells The Scoop. “But perhaps Madonna thinks that along with her many other accomplishments, this is possible.”
Star crush
Cate Blanchett might want to check her caller ID before answering phones: notorious womanizer Val Kilmer has the hots for her. And for Oprah, too.
Kilmer was asked by Elle magazine what woman he most wanted on his speed dial, and he named Blanchett. In fact, he confessed, he was so smitten with the Aussie star that when they worked on “The Missing” together “I not only forgot my dialogue in the scene, I forgot that I was acting, I forgot I was on a movie set, and I just stood there staring at her.”
And when asked whether he would prefer to sleep with Oprah Winfrey or Nicole Richie, Kilmer replied, “Oprah, any day of the week. Sorry, Nicole.”
When Elle asked Kilmer which of his ex-girlfriends he would most fear being a witness against him, Kilmer replied: Ellen Barkin. “She must really hate you,” Elle said. Replied Kilmer: “Hell hath no fury …”
Notes from all overEminem is scolding Mariah Carey for denying they were an item. “Yes, me and Mariah did have a relationship for about a good six, seven months,” the white rapper said on his Sirius Satellite Radio channel, Shade 45. “[But] it didn’t work. I wasn’t really into what she was into; our personalities collided. She’s a diva, and I’m a little more regular, I guess.” Eminem went on to call Carey obscene names, reports the Detroit News, and added, “I can never deny her talent, but the fact that she denied we ever had something, that’s bad.” ... Brandy has been linked to a dustup at a Bible study meeting — but her rep says the R&B star wasn’t involved in the ruckus. “[A mentally ill person] had an episode and he tried to basically cause a fight with the person who had come in with Brandy,” the singer’s spokewoman told Eurweb.com. ... Techno musician Moby says that if he ever has children, he hopes they’re gay. “They are less likely to get into a fight and less likely to date rape people,” the musician says, reports WENN. “I’m straight but I’ve grown up around gay people and gay clubs. They are superior to straight people. If you have a gay child you’re more inclined to be a prouder parent.”
Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop Mondays through Thursdays on MSNBC.com