Owen Wilson Mysteriously Hospitalized; Child Abuse Alleged Against Britney Spears
A.J. HAMMER, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT ANCHOR: Big breaking news, "Wedding Crasher" star Owen Wilson rushed to the hospital. We`ve got the latest on his condition and it is a major Hollywood mystery. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.</s>BROOKE ANDERSON, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT ANCHOR: And Hulk Hogan`s son hospitalized after a horrific car crash. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. TV`s most provocative entertainment news show starts right now.</s>HAMMER: On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT a Britney baby battle shocker. Tonight someone is dangling the word abuse. Who is making the disturbing allegations? Is her ex, Kevin Federline, involved? SHOWBIZ TONIGHT with the latest on the bitter battle for Britney`s babies. Good Hollywood on bad Hollywood. Tonight SHOWBIZ TONIGHT goes right to the good stars, the young celebrities who are staying out of trouble, and they`ve got some darn good advice for out of control young Hollywood.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My motto is you can`t live a positive life with a negative mind.</s>HAMMER: Tonight SHOWBIZ TONIGHT with good Hollywood secrets to staying good. Hello, I`m AJ Hammer in New York.</s>ANDERSON: Hi there everyone. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. And the hits, boy, they just keep coming with Britney Spears. Don`t they, AJ?</s>HAMMER: You are so right, Brooke. Tonight the star is reportedly facing new jaw-dropping allegations of possible child abuse. We will tell you everything about Britney`s latest problem. Believe me, you`ll want to stick around for that. First tonight, it`s the story that all of America is talking about. A big Hollywood mystery around one of its biggest stars. Actor Owen Wilson hospitalized after paramedics were called to his house.</s>ANDERSON: The thing is, no one -- and I mean no one -- is publicly saying what emergency landed him in the hospital. Hollywood and the tabloids are on fire with speculation as everybody asks what happened to Owen Wilson?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What`s our back story?</s>OWEN WILSON, ACTOR: We`re brothers from New Hampshire. We`re venture capitalists.</s>ANDERSON (voice-over): He may have been a less than scrupulous wedding crasher, but Owen Wilson is still one of the most popular comedy actors in Hollywood. But his hospitalization over the weekend is playing out like a tragic drama and a real life Hollywood mystery.</s>MIKE FLEEMAN, "PEOPLE MAGAZINE": It`s been crazy. The paparazzi are camped out in front of his house. The blogs are lit up like a Christmas tree.</s>ANDERSON: In the hours after his hospitalization, those in Wilson`s circle are saying very little about what`s wrong with the superstar. So tabloids are rushing to fill the vacuum with shocking and unconfirmed reports of what landed Wilson in the hospital.</s>FLEEMAN: Nobody seems to have a real strong handle on exactly what happened, but a strong sense that something did happen and probably not very good.</s>ANDERSON: Forget what you have been hearing elsewhere. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT brings you the facts about the dark times surrounding one of Hollywood`s most beloved funny men. It all began Sunday afternoon when the 911 call to Santa Monica police.</s>FLEEMAN: A little bit after noon paramedics, fire departments, police responded to Owen Wilson`s house and took him to the hospital.</s>ANDERSON: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT can tell you Wilson was first taken here to St. John`s in Santa Monica. He later ended up here at Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, where he reportedly got a visit from his brothers, actor Luke Wilson, and Andrew Wilson.</s>FLEEMAN: He is from a very close-knit, loving family. They want to be very careful about how they handle this and what they say.</s>ANDERSON: Owen Wilson is the last person you would expect to find in such a sad situation.</s>WILSON: Well, everyone knows Custer died at Little Big Horn. What this book presupposes is maybe he didn`t.</s>ANDERSON: Wilson`s boyish good looks and slacker like demeanor have made him one of the most bankable comedic actors, with movies like "The Royal Tannenbams," and "You, Me, and Duprey."</s>WILSON: I don`t live to work. It`s more the other way around. I work to live. Incidentally, what`s your policy on Columbus Day?</s>ANDERSON: Altogether, his movies have grossed more than one billion dollars. And along with his frequent collaborator, Ben Stiller, he is considered a key member of Hollywood`s new fraternity of funny men.</s>FLEEMAN: He is at the peak of his career. He can`t get any hotter as a comic actor. He can do pretty much anything he wants.</s>ANDERSON: But Wilson isn`t immune to the hardships of fame.</s>FLEEMAN: Owen Wilson became a tabloid darling when he started dating Kate Hudson.</s>ANDERSON: That high-profile relationship with the Oscar nominated actress ended with a high profile breakup that was no doubt painful. Owen`s famous friends were saying he seemed to be recovering.</s>FLEEMAN: We caught up with Bruce Willis not too long ago. Bruce Willis told us, hey, he is fine.</s>ANDERSON: But now Owen Wilson is very clearly not fine. He is acknowledging that much. He has released a statement to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT saying, "I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time." So when or if Owen Wilson will ever decide to open up about what happened to him remains to be seen. All we can say now is that whatever it is, it certainly is not very funny.</s>ANDERSON: No, it`s not, and a spokeswoman at Cedar Sinai Hospital is saying that Owen Wilson is in good condition. But she, like everybody else involved in this sad story, is not saying much more. Now, Owen Wilson isn`t the first funny star to have some very serious problems. Robin Williams, Jim Carey, Rosie O`Donnell, they all have disturbing secrets. And at 30 past the hour, I have a revealing SHOWBIZ special report, the dark side of comedy. That`s coming up.</s>HAMMER: We have big Britney news tonight. TMZ is reporting that Britney Spears is being investigated on possible child abuse charges. It is a shocking allegation which could put her in even greater danger of losing custody of her two young sons. A spokesperson for LA County Superior Court confirms to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT that lawyers for Britney and her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, faced off behind closed doors in an L.A. court room today. Joining me tonight in New York, David Caplan, senior correspondent for VH1`s entertainment website 24Sizzler.com, and Ryan Smith, entertainment attorney and co-host to BET`s my two cents. Ryan, David, it`s good to see you both. We know what`s been going on the last several weeks into the last couple of months now. Camp K-Fed going after Brit pretty hard, looking to get Kevin Federline primary physical custody of the two kids. They`ve been serving subpoenas left and right, and now this. The word abuse. Ryan, when you start hearing that word, abuse, it really does step things up to a whole new level, doesn`t it?</s>RYAN SMITH, BET: Absolutely, it does. It`s a shocker, and it makes you think all kinds of things. Without disclosing any information about it, it makes us think it could have been anything from physical abuse or some sort of accident that happened. Dealing with her protecting the child possibly. This is a really troublesome thing, and a lot of it seems to be tied into this whole custody thing of maybe she`s not treating the children right, maybe she doesn`t know how to take care of the children. So it`s a big shocker, and we got to see what happens with this one.</s>HAMMER: The sad thing here is it`s such a polarizing word that it`s going to have an impact on people`s perception no matter what comes out of it. Think about this, Ryan, the fact that she has tons of money; she has the full service staff, probably pretty safe to say that her kids are always being watched, whether it`s a nanny, or a housekeeper, somebody. How much, Ryan, would that actually help her out in a situation like this?</s>SMITH: It would help her just a little bit to show that she`s got the resources to take care of the kids properly. But Britney has been so erratic recently, it seems to me that it`s not far fetched for her to be taking the kids out of their custody, taking them away from people who are watching the kids, and just sort of running around with them. That`s what makes this very tricky. She`s sort of -- she needs to calm down her behavior and show that she`s treating the kids properly.</s>HAMMER: Let`s talk about that behavior. Obviously, things are heating up in the custody battle here. There is another hearing scheduled for September 4th. David Caplan, what do you think? If past performance is any indication, I`m thinking, no. But is there any chance of Brit actually lying low until the hearing, or can we count on some more train wreck stories in the near future?</s>DAVID CAPLAN, 24SIZZLER.COM: Oh, she`s definitely not laying low. In fact, on August 28th and later this week she`s hosting a party in Las Vegas at LAX Nightclub, actually, to inaugurate its opening. She definitely has a full calendar. So we`re going to be seeing Britney at nightclubs. She may be drinking. It`s unfortunate because you would think she would make an effort at least to sort of keep quiet or cancel these obligations, but she`s already planning a week of parties ahead of her.</s>HAMMER: I don`t get that. Everybody but Britney Spears seems to know that Brit`s best move right now would be just stay off the radar, or at least, at least, appear as mommy of the year. Ryan, you`re a lawyer. What should her lawyers be demanding she do right now?</s>SMITH: They should be demanding that she lay low and not do anything. She is not listening to anyone but herself. I`m sure of that, because any lawyer, any press rep would tell her she can`t be anywhere near the public right now. She is not listening. She`s saying it`s my life. I can do what I want. She doesn`t realize that this public opinion, judges, people who are in court, they still see this. They try to insulate themselves from the process, but it`s still seen. Everyone is screaming to her please lay low, don`t do anything, but she`s not listening.</s>HAMMER: As accounts of her behavior continue to come out, one person who inevitably has a whole lot to say about Brit and the way she behaves is her long-time on again-off again manager Larry Rudolph. Now, Larry Rudolph told Ryan Seacrest over the weekend that he is basically hiding from K- Fed`s lawyers because he doesn`t want to have to go under oath with his stories. David, what does that say to you that he really has the dirt that could ultimately bury Britney?</s>CAPLAN: Yes, he definitely knows the secrets of Britney. I mean, he has been with Britney Spears since she started her career in her teen years. So he really knows where the bodies are stored. He knows every piece of information about her. He doesn`t want to bring her down. He doesn`t want to get implicated in it. And ever since he parted ways with Britney, he has not wanted to speak about her. I spoke with Larry a few weeks ago -- I bumped into him here in New York -- and he said the one thing I won`t talk to you about is Britney Spears.</s>HAMMER: He should be absolutely frightened about getting served one of the subpoenas for sure. Ryan Smith, David Caplan, thanks for being with us tonight.</s>SMITH: Thank you.</s>HAMMER: Well, Britney Spears truly has had an awful year, if you look back. You know, she had the divorce. She did the rehab time, the head- shaving incidents. Now this child abuse investigation. Of course, she is just one of Hollywood`s bad girls. Tonight we`re trying to change things. We want to make the world a better place. We`re going right to the good stars in Hollywood, the ones who are staying out of trouble, because they have some terrific advice, the secrets to being good, coming up next.</s>ANDERSON: AJ, a good family; they really make sure their kids have stayed out of trouble, devastated tonight. Hulk Hogan, the superstar wrestler, his son in a horrific car crash. I`ve got the disturbing details on what happened, how he is doing, straight ahead. And why are hundreds of zombies hanging out in London? Is it an order from the queen? Are they trying out for a remake of Michael Jackson`s "Thriller?" Am I reaching for an explanation? Kind of. Find out straight ahead.