Giving you the day's top talkers and insights on the world of entertainment, celebrities, and pop culture. Follow Courtney on Twitter @courtneyatmsnbc, on Facebook and on Google+.
Over the past year, Scarlett Johansson has had career success (she's currently starring in "We Bought a Zoo" opposite Matt Damon), but personally it hasn't been so easy. There was her divorce from Ryan Reynolds, and nude photos that were leaked online. During Monday's interview with TODAY's Matt Lauer, Johansson appears to be taking everything in stride.
"I've been really fortunate. I've found that even in times of crisis I've had a lot of love around me and people have come out of all different dark corners to support (me) and that's a really beautiful thing," she said of her 2011 tumult. "I think I've also learned to be much more tolerant and much more patient."
The man accused of hacking into the email accounts of Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis and 48 others is speaking out and saying he's ready to face the consequences of what he did.
Christopher Cheney gave a quite candid interview to the local Fox station in Jacksonville, Fla., and said that "it started as curiosity and it turned to just being addicted to seeing behind the scenes of what was going on going on with the people you see on the big screen every day."
Cheney said in the interview that he wasn't out to blackmail anyone, and the voyeurism became such an addiction, he didn't know how to stop. "I was almost relieved when they came in and took the computer," he said.
"I deeply apologize," said Chaney. "I know what I did was probably one of the worst invasions of privacy someone could experience. I'm not trying to escape what I did. It was wrong. And I have to just face that and go forward."
Cheney has been charged with 26 counts of identity theft, unauthorized access to a protected computer and wiretapping. If found guilty on all charges, he could face 121 years in prison.
Sorry, there will be no Scarlett Johansson on the red carpet for the Marine Corps Ball.
By Courtney Hazlett
Taking a page from the Betty White playbook, Scarlett Johansson is turning down an invitation to attend the Nov. 10 Marine Corps Ball. Sgt. Dustin L. Williams invited the actress via a (somewhat creative, well produced) YouTube video; Johansson unfortunately did not accept and in a statement to Zap2It, declined the offer.
"I feel incredibly honored to have been invited to the Marine Corps Ball by Sgt. Dustin L. Williams. Not only does Sgt. Williams deserve recognition for his bravery, selflessness and dedication to the United States and its people, but he also displays a cheeky talent for film making ... unfortunately due to prior commitments I will not be able to attend the Ball with you this year but I am sending you a case of Moet & Chandon with gratitude ..."
The champagne was a nice touch, and the celeb invites for the ball(s) were, perhaps, getting out of hand. But here's the thing: every celebrity and their brother goes to enormous lengths to attend the White House Correspondents dinner, which has evolved into a dinner that's little more than bad food in a hotel ballroom, attended by lots of A-listers who have little or nothing to do with politics. In other words, it's an evening where yes, it's cool to be in the same room as the president, but beyond that, there's almost no point in being there.
The Marine Corps Ball is different, and kudos to Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis for understanding on some level that their presence can mean a hell of a lot to the men and women who deserve to be appreciated a lot more than they already are. Sure, it's good PR for the celebs, but at a minimum, it's PR that means something. And I choose to believe they're doing it because they actually care.
The unlikely duo of Scarlett Johansson and Sean Penn is no longer, People is reporting.
The idea that the two might have split began in earnest at the Cannes Film Festival, when Johansson was noticeably absent from the premiere of Penn's film, "Tree of Life." To be fair, Johansson has had plenty on her plate: she has been working on "The Avengers," filming in New Mexico.
Penn and Johansson's relationship was one that played out in public: they were spotted being flirty everywhere from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to the White House Correspondents' Dinner in April.
The announcement that Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds were splitting came as quite a surprise to the general public, and it was apparently something of a surprise to Reynolds, who hadn't given up yet on the marriage. Describing him as "beyond sad and depressed," a source tells Us Weekly that he "thought they could work it out, but Scarlett made it clear it was done. She was disconnected and unaffected. It was harsh."
The primary problem in the marriage was the couple's distance; the two were almost constantly working on separate projects. "They went from speaking once every two days to once every two weeks," said the source.
A source that was on the set of Reynolds' film "Green Lantern" said that Reynolds was open about the problems. "He would say she treated him badly. She was very focused on her own career, and it never seemed like she made him a priority," said that source.
That said, when the two split, they took equal responsibility, issuing a statement that said, "After long and careful consideration on both our parts, we've decided to end our marriage."
Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds, Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter, Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron: are we done now with the celebrity splits of 2010? MSNBC's Chris Jansing and I talk about the trend.
Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson were married in 2008.
Add another couple to the celebrity splits of 2010 list: Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson have separated. Us Weekly reports that the couple "are being very civil about it," and that they split about two weeks ago.
"We entered our relationship with love and it's with love and kindness we leave it," the couple said in a joint statement.
According to the Us report, Johansson initiated the split. "The big problem with their relationship is the distance," a source told the magazine. "They spent a lot of time apart when they are working."
From Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens to Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds, TODAY's Natalie Morales takes a look at the latest rash of heartbreak in Hollywood.
Reynolds, 34, has been working on "Green Lantern." Johansson, 26, most recently appeared in "Iron Man 2," and has three other films in production, according to IMDB.
Reynolds and Johansson married in a low-key ceremony near Vancouver, B.C., in September 2008. Rumors that the couple were having trouble began to circulate last summer.
The much-anticipated screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" may have found its Daisy. According to an exclusive by Vulture, actress Carey Mulligan is the front-runner to play Daisy in the Baz Luhrmann-directed film.
The British star, who you might know from her Oscar-nominated turn in "An Education," is said to have done testing for the role in New York last week. Prior to Mulligan's name being put on the top of the list, Scarlett Johansson was said to be the front-runner, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby.
According to Vulture, Johansson's commitment to the Cameron Crowe film "We Bought a Zoo" would interfere with the filming schedule for "Gatsby," which is supposed to start shooting next summer.
Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson quietly married in 2008, and in the new issue of GQ, Reynolds talks about keeping his marriage out of the public eye as much as possible.
"In terms of being a couple that’s in a public situation and speculated about and all that nonsense, it (his personal life) has changed a little bit," Reynolds said. "I’m a little more guarded, I think. I’m just a little bit more wary of having my relationship turning into a soap opera. I’ve just unilaterally not addressed it. That’s kind of been the fail-safe for me.”
Reynolds is on the cover as part of the promotion for his new film "Buried." The film consists mostly of footage of a man (played by Reynolds) in his coffin. GQ reports that the filming was so rigorous that Reynolds was "constantly cut by contact with the unfinished wood of the coffin, and a bald patch formed on the back of his head where it rubbed against the sand on the coffin’s floor."
Reynolds said he also suffered from insomnia as a result of the experience. “I’ll never, ever in my life complain on a set again after being on that set. Sixteen, seventeen days of doing that ... It was such a state of emotional distress.”
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