Halle Berry: It's A Girl

Actress Halle Berry is overwhelmed with joy by the arrival of her daughter, who was born at 10:17 AM on Sunday morning at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.

Just the day before, a very pregnant-looking Halle was spotted shopping at The Malibu Colony Company in Malibu, but now she "is doing great," her rep confirmed.

According to an insider for Star, "Halle was overcome with emotion when she finally held her little girl. She said everything she had gone through was worth that moment. The tears kept coming as Halle didn’t even want the nurses to take her baby to clean her up and measure. It was a truly beautiful scene."

The Oscar-winning actress, who recent claimed she wanted to "stay pregnant forever," and her model boyfriend, Gabriel Aubry, welcomed their first daughter together. The baby girl's name is yet to be released, but not so long ago Berry told InStyle magazine that their child would take his father's last name.

"I may only do this one time, so I want this moment to be as big as it can be," she told the magazine. "I want the biggest bang I can possibly imagine."

The 41-year-old "X-Men" star, who met Aubry, 32, in November 2005 during a Versace photo shoot in Los Angeles, announced she was expecting in September last year.

"I’ve accomplished things I never thought I would," she said at the time. "Now my sights are set on a different chapter in my life, which is motherhood. That’s the goal I have very clearly set for myself."

Over the years, Berry made no secret in her desire to become a mother but said she was convinced motherhood was for her after playing the role of a mother in her latest movie "Things We Lost in the Fire."

"I think it validated that I was meant to be a mother because every day I dealt with the character as a mother and thinking as a mother," Berry told Oprah Winfrey on her show last year. "It let me know that I must be a mother."

Unlike most pregnant women, Halle confessed that despite her pregnancy she felt "fantastic" thanks to eating right and keeping fit with yoga, swimming, light weights and an elliptical machine. "Right now I just have so much joy and energy," she told InStyle magazine. "I can just go and go and go."

Actress Michelle Ryan says she's heading straight to Hollywood.

Actress Michelle Ryan says she's heading straight to Hollywood.

By Kasie Davies

She's best remembered for her role as Zoe Slater in EastEnders, but Michelle Ryan admits that things could have been very different if it wasn't for some careful choices. The 22 year old estimates that she has turned down £1m to appear in a host of reality TV shows over the years - and now her decision to stick with acting is about to pay off.

"I've turned down so many offers for reality shows, I could have made a small fortune by now if I had done them," she reveals. "If you want to do that, then I say go for it, because it can set you up for life. But it's not about having money in the bank for me.

"I just want to do good work and move on from EastEnders. Some people would be very comfortable with that kind of work, but if I was doing auditions and reality stuff, it would be too much to focus on.

"I'm doing what's right for me and sticking with the acting."

Michelle admits her time at EastEnders left her feeling fragile. In 2002 she had time away from the soap after suffering a breakdown - at one point it was reported that she was thinking of taking her own life.

"When I left EastEnders my confidence was low," she admits. "I was exhausted and very down, but I never thought of suicide. I look back on the show with affection now, but I'm glad I moved on when I did. In five years, Zoe went through a lot. I still get letters about the storyline when she discovered Kat was her mum.

"I was so lucky getting a job straight from school where I learned so much. I made some fantastic friends. I'm still in touch with Kacey (Ainsworth, Little Mo), Tracy-Ann (Oberman, Chrissie Watts), Jill (Halfpenny, Kate Mitchell) and Charlie (Brooks, Janine Evans). We talk all the time.

"I was a bit anxious about leaving but there were lots of offers coming in so I knew I was making the right decision.

"I was nervous about working with older actors in EastEnders, but now I feel I can hold my own."

Michelle's latest role, in the ITV1 adaptation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, is much more her style. She plays Maria - a society beauty who causes a scandal by leaving her husband after falling in love with another man.

"Maria's a minx and a flirt, but she also has a vulnerable side and is quite innocent," says Michelle.

"In those days, it was essential that women married well. Maria has a fling with Henry, who's a cad, then ends up marrying a rich man, Rushworth, for the lifestyle. But she brings shame on her family when she takes off with Henry again."

Michelle's co-star in the drama is Billie Piper and the pair became firm friends.

"It was a young cast," Michelle says. "Billie is lovely and charismatic and all the boys were gorgeous."

As well as Mansfield Park, Michelle recently completed Jekyll for BBC1 with James Nesbitt, about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

"I play a psychiatrist. I borrowed a suit for my interview so they could see I could play someone older," says Michelle. "Things are going so brilliantly, I treasure every day."

Perhaps the biggest break of all has been landing the role of Jamie Sommers in the remake of the Seventies hit The Bionic Woman. If it's successful, Michelle will become a big star in America.

"I still can't believe all this is happening to me. As soon as news got out, Shane Richie and other old mates from EastEnders sent me congratulatory texts," Michelle admits. "I'm very excited - I'm still pinching myself."

Michelle was picked from thousands of other actresses to play the crime-fighting sex symbol.

"Hopefully it won't be too much of a stretch for me," she admits. "I'll have to learn martial arts and I did an American accent at the audition - but I'm not sure what I'll do for the first show."

If bosses like the pilot, which is being filmed this month in Canada, the young Brit will sign up for an entire series. As Michelle admits, it's a far cry from her days selling Puffa jackets on Albert Square.

But breaking into the US has brought about other changes. Michelle recently split with her fiancé, Tommy Williams, 27, a semi-professional footballer, after almost four years together. And North London-based Michelle admits she has no plans to give it all up for married life and a family yet.

"I have moments where I think, 'Oh, I want to get married and have kids' - and I definitely will one day - but I'm happy to leave it until I'm about 30," she reveals with a smile.

"Lots of my friends are having kids and I can see it's hard work. I'll happily change nappies, bathe and feed them, but toddlers need so much input. I want that, but not just yet. I'm having too much fun working right now."

Michelle missed out on a Hollywood movie because it clashed with her final scenes in EastEnders, but has since starred in Cashback and I Want Candy, currently on general release.

"I've worked non-stop since leaving," she says. "I played my first lead in I Want Candy with Mackenzie Crook and Carmen Electra. It had a great vibe about it and I hope people like it.

"Everyone is saying the next year is going to be good for me - hopefully it will be."Publish

Would you like lipo with that?

To supplement her ever-shrinking royalty checks from American Pie and Van Wilder, hard partying actress Tara Reid is opening her very own fast-food restaurant out here in Los Angeles named “Ketchup,” with doors slated to open march 31st.

Some menu highlights are sure to be tequila-lime chicken, penne ala vodka, Jack Daniels glazed steak, and beer-battered fish ‘n chips.

No word if customers will be able to receive discounted lipo-suction with their 12th purchase.

Actress Continues Opulent Wedding Tour

Elizabeth Hurley and her new husband, Arun Nayar, were to be serenaded under the stars on the second leg of their opulent wedding tour, Indian media reported.

The couple, who were married last week in a castle outside London, were to be joined by scores of celebrity guests Thursday for a night of Rajasthani folk music at the 11th-century Nagaur Fort, about 87 miles north of Jodhpur, in western India, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

They arrived in Jodhpur, a city famed for its azure blue buildings, on Wednesday, after two days of parties in Mumbai, the country's financial and entertainment capital.

After landing in Jodphur, the couple and Hurley's young son, Damian, sped off in a Bentley to the Umaid Bhavan Palace, home of the former prince of Jodhpur, parts of which have been converted into a luxury hotel.

Roads leading to the massive domed palace were blocked for several miles to keep away curious onlookers and scores of paparazzi.

After arriving at the palace, the 41-year-old British actress-model took part in a traditional 'mehendi' ceremony, where intricate henna tattoos were applied to her hands, PTI reported.

Guests, including Princess Marie Chantal of Greece and Elton John's partner, David Furnish, were entertained by folk dancers and a cricket match on the plush palace lawns, PTI said.

The couple were to hold a traditional Indian wedding ceremony at the palace Friday.

Hurley and Nayar, 42, were staying in the $3,000-per-night Maharaja suite, palace general manager Sanjay Umashankar told the Hindustan Times. The rest of the 347-room hotel was reserved for $100,000 per night, and Nayar had hundreds of bottles of wine and champagne flown in, the newspaper said.