BYNES SEEKS FINANCIAL CONTROL
Parents don’t trust ex-child star with her $3M savings
Amanda Bynes may be blasting back at her critics — both via Twitter and in a new interview with In Touch magazine — but that isn’t stopping her parents from attempting to rein in their daughter’s desire to have total access to a reported $3 million to $4 million they have carefully invested for her future. Sources say Lynn and Rick
Bynes are deeply worried about their daughter’s recent bizarre behavior and have concerns she will throw away all of her money on a fashion design biz likely to fail.
To counter all this, the selfdescribed ex-actress told In Touch she’s “not crazy” and charges claims of her mental instability come from “an ugly person’s mouth. … The only ones lying about me having a mental illness are people I don’t talk to.”
Despite the many solid Bynes insiders convinced she’s in constant use of marijuana, Bynes told In Touch she not only doesn’t drink, “I don’t smoke pot. I smoke tobacco.”
† Recently Bynes tweeted about having an eating disorder, along with very revealing photos of herself only wearing skimpy lingerie. She insisted she has to get back to 100 pounds from the 130 she currently weighs.
CONNORS BOMBSHELL: While retired tennis ace Jimmy Connors’ new memoir, “The Outsider,” covers lots of territory, much of the attention is on the claim that his then-fiancee, fellow tennis champ Chris Evert, got pregnant and then had an abortion before the couple was supposed to marry in 1974.
Connors writes he believed they should “let nature take its course” and was willing to accept responsibility for the baby, but the then-19-year-old Evert — despite being raised in a devout Roman Catholic home — “made up her mind that the timing was bad and too much was riding on her future” tennis career, wrote Connors. He adds that led him to question the whole relationship, which ended by mutual agreement afterward.
No comment yet from Evert.
ROMANTIC RUMBLINGS: While “Chicago Fire” star Taylor Kinney and pop superstar Lady Gaga have been dating for some time, the actor told “Extra” the couple have no wedding plans in the works. Asked about a trip down the aisle, Kinney quipped, “It’s news to me!” But the actor loved the idea of Gaga doing a guest gig on the Chicago-made NBC drama, just renewed for a second season. Kinney clicked with the idea of him rescuing the always flamboyantly costumed star: “She’d have, like, fire-breathing breasts.”
Heidi Klum and her bodyguard-turned-boyfriend Martin Kirsten have ratcheted up things: Both are now wearing matching Tiffany diamond and gold bands on their ring fingers.
Heather Locklear seems to be happy with her new beau, prominent Beverly Hills physician Dr. Marc Mani, named by Forbes magazine as one of the nation’s best plastic surgeons. Mani is known for his attention to detail. He refused to operate on Whitney Houston two weeks before her death because his pre-operative tests of her heart, lungs and liver were not good.
It’s looking likely Mariah Carey will be replaced by a returning Jennifer Lopez as a judge on “American Idol,” but that wasn’t on the diva’s mind as she and hubby of five years Nick Cannon renewed their wedding vows Monday in a Cinderella-themed bash at Disneyland — on their twins Monroe and Moroccan’s second birthday.
REHAB SET: After all that hoopla about Lindsay Lohan going back to rehab in a Long Island, N.Y, facil-
ity, the actress instead opted for the Morningside Recovery clinic in Newport Beach, Calif. — accompanied by a reported 270 outfits to wear over the next 90 days of court-mandated drug counseling. There’s also word the financially challenged Lohan’s choice was influenced by a far more attractive funding package offered by Morningside compared to other facilities — perhaps costing her nothing. ‘DOWNTON’ DIVERSITY: For the first time there will be a black character on the hit PBS series “Downton Abbey.” Actor Gary Carr will join the popular series, playing Jack Ross, a jazz singer the show’s producers call a “charming and charismatic young man.” For the upcoming fourth season, Carr will join a number of new cast members, including the already announced opera diva Dame Kiri Te
Kanawa, herself a Maori native of New Zealand.
MORE TV TALK: They finally have a start date for
John Oliver as Jon Stewart’s fill-in on “The Daily Show” while the faux news anchor and comedian goes on hiatus to direct his first feature film, “Rosewater,” this summer.
Oliver, who joined “The Daily Show” in 2006, will take over as guest host at 10 p.m. June 10 and serve in that role for the following eight weeks of original episodes. For his first week
of hosting, Oliver’s guests will include Seth Rogen, Armando Iannucci, Chicago R&B and gospel legend
Mavis Staples and Fareed Zakaria.
Stewart is scheduled to return on Sept. 3.
BOOK BEAT: The legion of fans of retired WGNChannel 9 mainstay Merri
Dee likely will be snapping up her memoir, “Life Lessons On Faith, Forgiveness & Grace” when it is released at month’s end. Pre-orders for the book — which includes a foreword by music legend Nancy Wilson — are already being accepted at
merridee.com. SEEN ON THE SCENE: Bravo star Tabatha Coffey (“Tabatha Takes Over”) was spied lunching Tuesday at Favio Viviani’s Siena Tavern in River North. …
Rich Daley dined at Café Spiaggia the other night — a belated celebration of the ex-mayor’s 71st birthday on April 24.
TAKE A BOW: Former Sun-Times columnist Stella
Foster was widely feted and honored when she retired last fall, but Stella will soon have another award to add to her very crowded mantel. The Coaltion for United Community Action-ORTC will honor her with its first Woman of the Decade Legend of Print Media award at the organization’s 41st annual banquet on June 7 at the Palmer House.