Jessica Simpson to Gabby Sidibe`s Rescue; Kate Gosselin New Hairdo
SIMPSON: That girl worked it on the red carpet for the Oscars. She knew she was the hottest thing out there and wanted everybody to know.</s>HAMMER: Now, on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT - Jessica to the rescue. Jessica Simpson`s remarkable defense today of "Precious" staff Gabourey Sidibe after Gabby gets slammed for her weight. Jennifer brash weight war is just one reason she`s a nominee for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s most provocative celebrity of the week. She`s digging it out with Howard Stern who stirred up the whole Gabby weight debate. Will it be Lindsay Lohan for trying to sue over babies for $100 million? And bye-bye reverse mullet. Hello, glamour. Kate Gosselin`s brand- new do debut today. Plus, more stories breaking from the "SHOWBIZ News Ticker."</s>ANNOUNCER: TV`s most provocative entertainment news show continues right now.</s>HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. It`s 30 minutes past the hour. I`m A.J. Hammer, broadcasting tonight and every night from New York City. Tonight, Jessica`s new weight war. In a brand-new interview with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, Jessica is coming to the defense of Gabourey Sidibe who, of course, got an Oscar nomination for her amazing role in "Precious." You have got to hear the fiery comments that Simpson just made to us about Howard Stern`s attack on Gabby claiming that Gabby wouldn`t be able to get another Hollywood role because of her weight. Also making big news today, Kate Gosselin`s brand-new do. Yes, the reality show mother of eight who has been, of course, working on her salsa for her debut on "Dancing with the Stars," just chopped off al of her hair again. Wait until you see this picture we`ve got today. Unbelievable. Joining me tonight in New York is Megan Alexander who is a correspondent for "Inside Edition." Also in New York, Nene Leakes - you recognize her. She`s one of the stars of the hit Bravo show, "Real Housewives of Atlanta." Nene is also the author of a great book called "Never Make the Same Mistakes Twice: Lessons on Love and Life Learned the Hard Way." And I`ve got to begin with Jessica Simpson because what she told us is just so right on the money. We`re going to show that in just a second. But first, I want to remind you of what Howard Stern said about Gabourey Sidibe on his Sirius XM radio show.</s>HOWARD STERN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: There`s the most enormous fat black chick I`ve ever seen.</s>ROBIN QUIVERS, HOWARD STERN`S CO-HOST: Oh, my goodness.</s>STERN: Gabrielle(sic)</s>QUIVERS: Sidibe or whatever name is -</s>STERN: She is enormous. And you feel bad because -</s>QUIVERS: Everybody is pretending that she`s a part of showbiz.</s>STERN: Right. It`s just ludicrous because everyone`s pretending she`s part of showbiz.</s>QUIVERS: As if she`s going to be around.</s>STERN: And she`s not going to be in another movie. And she really should have gotten the Best Actress Award because she`s never going to have another - what movie is she going to be in?</s>HAMMER: All right. Here`s what Jessica Simpson said about that during a brand-new interview with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT to promote her new VH1 reality show, "The Price of Beauty" that debuts on Monday night. And Simpson striking back saying she thinks that Gabby is not going to have a single problem getting future roles because of her weight. Take a look at what Jessica told us.</s>SIMPSON: Oh, I think she can do anything that she wants. And I think she knows that. She has that. She has that inner confidence. For her to play that role, she had something within herself that she wanted people to hear.</s>HAMMER: All right. Megan, what do you think? Did Jessica get that right?</s>ALEXANDER: I think she did. I think this is a defining moment for Hollywood, A.J. We have seen Gabourey Sidibe show the world her talent. An incredible movie was produced, "Precious." And now, it`s their time to get behind her and support her, write those scripts that are good, meaty material for her, produce these excellent movies. It`s the time for Hollywood to do what they`ve been saying. They say that they`re wanting to have different roles for all different types of women.</s>HAMMER: Right.</s>ALEXANDER: And it`s time to do it. She`s an incredible actress that we need.</s>HAMMER: Certainly could expand diversity. That`s something that Hollywood needed to do for a long time now. Now, you have special insight into this because I know, for "Inside Edition," you just spoke with Gabourey`s mother. What did she have to say about all of this?</s>ALEXANDER: If all girls could get the wisdom from Alice Tan Ridley, who is Gabby`s mother. A.J., she laughed at Howard Stern`s comments which I thought was interesting. She said, "Gabby is a big girl, so what?" She said, "Gabby, they didn`t make you. Don`t let them break you." She said she`s going to get out there and get involved in another show. She`s already part of a Showtime`s series, "The C-Word." She`s already filming another movie. She said, "You keep moving forward and you own your work."</s>HAMMER: Yes. And she has a lot of people in her corner. Jessica Simpson certainly is rooting for Gabby because Jessica also told SHOWBIZ TONIGHT she thinks that Gabby is so good that she could have another role in her future just as powerful as her role in "Precious" was. Watch what she told us about that.</s>SIMPSON: I think that she will definitely have another role that can be just as powerful. And that girl worked it on the red carpet for the Oscars. She knew she was the hottest thing out there and wanted everybody to know. So I think she`s beautiful.</s>HAMMER: All right. Nene, let me get your take on this, because despite the fact that it`s certainly feels right to say that Gabby`s weight won`t get in the way and it shouldn`t get in the way, there are a lot of people who agree with what Howard Stern says that it will. What do you think?</s>NENE LEAKES, STAR, "THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA": Yes. I think Howard was rude. I think it was unnecessary. And who is he to determine whether or not you can get a job, OK? I thought it was just unnecessary. I do somewhat get point that he was trying to make. Listen, Gabby is a sweet young woman. People write scripts for people all the time for actors all the time. She won`t have a problem working. She`s a young woman. I would personally say to Gabby, keep your head up and do it. You can do anything you want to do at any size you want to be. If you are happy in the skin you`re in, then you do your thing. Howard -</s>HAMMER: Listen, Nene, despite that, there are, as I said, a lot of people who are siding with at least the point of what Howard said even if they don`t care for how he said it. Some startling results came in to our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day when we asked the question, if you thought Gabby`s weight is going to hurt her career. And look at this - 78 percent of you said yes. Only 22 percent said no, you don`t think so. So Nene, despite what you think, why do you think a majority agrees that Howard that Gabby`s future is in question if she doesn`t lose her weight?</s>LEAKES: I don`t know, but I don`t like the fact of trying to bring someone down. I mean, who cares with a Howard thinks? She`s a young woman and she`s done it. The film was spectacular. I mean it just doesn`t make any sense to come down on her like that because of her weight. Everybody with eyes can see that she is a larger female. However, she`s very talented. And I would say, you know, just lay off her and don`t say she`s a young woman coming up in the industry. Help her as much as you can.</s>HAMMER: All right. Let me get to some of the outrage that`s showing up on our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT Facebook page today. We`re hearing it on both sides; a debate is going on. This is from Stacey C. who wrote, "She got this role being the size she is. Her talent alone is what got her nominated, not her size. Whatever requirements are asked of her to fulfill roles is between her and those asking." Now, Roleena A. wrote on our wall, "I love Gabourey but I feel like it is true. She does need to lose weight to maintain a career in Hollywood. It is what it is." And I guess we`ll just have to watch and see what happens. Now, because of all of this, let`s take a look at who is in contention tonight to be named SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s most provocative celebrity of the week. There is Jessica Simpson for her own weight debate and of course what she`s now saying about Gabby. Howard Stern also nominated for starting the whole thing in first place. And then, there`s Lindsay Lohan for suing the creators of an e-Trade baby commercial for $100 million claiming they made fun of her. Yes, good luck with that. We`re naming SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s most provocative celebrity of the week in just a few minutes. I`ve got to tell you, it was a pretty, pretty tough call. First, I want to show you this because is incredible to me. Get a load of Kate Gosselin`s new hair. We got a hold of this picture today of Kate. Kate, of course, is getting ready to compete on "Dancing with the Stars." What`s so shocking to me is that just a couple of weeks ago, Kate made such a huge deal over spending seven hours and $7,000 for hair extensions. Now, there are reports today that she`s getting new extensions put in. Nene, back at you. You wrote the book "Never Make the Same Mistake Twice." Would Kate be making the same mistake twice by doing this?</s>LEAKES: I don`t think so. You know what? I love hair extensions. I can`t even - I can`t even talk about her. You know, I love hair extensions. I don`t think she`s making a mistake. OK, she`s out here working. She has several children. Why not treat yourself? So I mean, I don`t have a problem with that.</s>HAMMER: What do you think, Megan? Is this a good move?</s>ALEXANDER: Put the scissors down. She needs to walk away from the hair salon. I liked the haircut before this one actually, so don`t do it any more. Stop fiddling.</s>HAMMER: The thing is she needs to stop getting so much attention for these types of things. And maybe when she gets on "Dancing with the Stars," that will all change. Megan Alexander, Nene Leakes, thanks guys so much. I appreciate it. As we move on tonight, we all know Simon Cowell is really private. His engagement really flew under the radar for quite some time. But today, there are some juicy reports about the "American Idol" judge`s wedding. "Inside" reports today about when Simon may be walking down the aisle. We will also have this -</s>WALTERS: You said something totally, totally untrue. You never called me.</s>WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Nobody called me to ask any jack.</s>HAMMER: Barbara Walters` "National Enquirer" outrage. Her mano a mano gossip smackdown on TV. But did the legendary journalist win this battle? This is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT on HLN news and views. And now, the "SHOWBIZ News Ticker" - more stories from the SHOWBIZ TONIGHT newsroom making news today.</s>TEXT: "American Idol" tops ratings. "The Marriage Ref" slides after premiere. Miley Cyrus has top earning tour this week, Lady Gaga number four.