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Mr Showbiz in Hollywood

MONDAY 14 JANUARY (LA TIME: 15:54pm)

I’ve just finished forcing all my shopping into my case and shortly will be whisked off in my Lincoln to the airport to fly back to the UK. My friends are glad I’m coming home - I understand I’ve missed a few fun nights out. Thank God I’m still detoxing! No booze at all (apart from perhaps seven white wines and two vodka apples whilst in LA - but it’s a different country and it doesn’t count).

Before I left I had a chance to catch up with my pal Ollie and her pal Natasha Henstridge of Species film fame. The three of us went to Coffee Bean at the top of Robertson Boulevard and Tash treated us to a non fat latte. She’s engaged to the UK’s very own Darius Danesh who’s currently in the UK doing auditions for the West End. She told me: “He’s had to stay on a little while because he’s going in to see so many shows. He’s been called back on a couple of shows so he’s excited. He’s .so talented and feels at home on the West End.” Indeed.

You will all be seeing a lot more of Natasha soon because she’s about the star in a new TV show - which she describes as Ally McBeal with a spiritual twist - where she co-stars with Brit hunk Johnny Lee Miller and singer George Michael. She says the show’s going down great - well it must have gone down well because she’s shot 13 entire episodes. She reckons the show will make a household name out of Johnny. Good luck to her! She’s a pretty girl as you can see!

Hilariously a tramp came up to Natasha during our coffee and said he could see her bum crack and that he wanted to “touch her”. She turned around and said: “Sir, for your information I don’t like to be touched. Now get out of her before I have to deal with you. I know karate and I don’t want to get angry.” He shat himself and ran off.

Afterwards I popped to the Ivy to have a catch up with Lady V - she’s doing well and planning to come to Europe for the Armani Prive show in Paris next week. I hear from a good source that Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise will be the guests of honour. Hoorah.

SUNDAY 13 JANUARY (LA TIME: 21:03pm)

I would have been dressed to the nines in my tux and oozing sophistication on the red carpet at the Golden Globes. Instead, thanks to the ongoing writer’s strike, I was sitting in my hotel room watching the results of the usually glamorous event being read out by Ryan Seacrest on E! from a press conference just around the corner at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

And it’s such a shame the awards were cancelled because the British didn’t do badly at all! Joe Wright’s Atonement took best film (despite Keira and James missing out in their categories), Julie Christie won best actress for her role as an Alzheimer’s sufferer in Away From Her, Samantha Morton won best supporting TV actress for her role in Longford and Extras was the surprise winner in the TV Comedy Series category.

It was such a shame lovely Anna Friel missed out in her category to Tine Fey who won for 30 Rock.

It was just so random to see the awards being read out at a press conference by showbiz reporters from US television! I only hope the Oscars go ahead so that I can be there to get all the gossip. In fact reports today say Elton John’s bash – which I usually pop along too – IS going ahead no matter what! Fingers crossed.

Elsewhere today I’ve been enjoying the sun – and dining at Chateau Marmont over lunch. No celebs…..boo hoo. I’m heading out into the night soon to see if any Hollywood royalty will be drowning their sorrows! I hope they are…..until tomorrow people!

SUNDAY 13 JANUARY (LA TIME: 11:21am)

So today in LA it was 70 degrees and bright sunshine non stop! I cannot bare it. Why live in London? Well, I’ll have to get over it because I’m flying back on Monday evening! Check out the sunshine by the pool!

I did a brief shop at The Grove – a wonderful shopping complex nearby to my fabulous L’Ermitage hotel and rushed back to get changed in time for lunch where I was attending the 14th Annual Awards season tea party thrown by BAFTA Los Angeles.

The bash would have been a big old affair if the Globes were actually going ahead. But even though the event at the Beverly Hills Hotel was a little more low key than usual it was still a lot of fun.

I nattered to Globe nominee  and Atonement star James McEvoy who’s up against Daniel Day Lewis in the Best Actor category. He’s a little edgy in real life but seems down to earth and cool. He doubts he will win the gong and laughed: “I very much doubt that this will be my ‘big moment’. I’m up against Daniel day Lewis – he’s the God of acting. I’m not thinking for a minute that it will be my year. To be nominated against such big names is so lucky.

“When we made the film we knew it was being done well and it would work. We didn’t know how people would react to it. We were kind of lucky that it turned out like it did.” I hope he wins – his performance in Atonement is spellbinding.

I also had a chat to James’s wife Anne Marie Duff who was dressed head to toe in Stella McCartney. She hopes he wins but said he’s already a winner to be nominated.

The real highlight was Anna Friel – she looked gorgeous in a little black dress and dripping in diamonds. I had a long chat with her about life in LA, how she keeps fit and her hopes for the future. She’s loving life in LA and looks great – although that face is a little frozen people!

She’s been nominated in the Globes for her lead role in the new TV show Pushing Daisies that starts in the UK in March. Look out for it – it’s like Six Feet Under meets Desperate Housewives. And she can hold an American accent amazingly well!

SATURDAY 12 JANUARY 2008 (LA TIME: 02:51am)

So the story goes….Snoop Dogg arrives with his two HUGE bouncers to do the interviews and as they walk into the hotel a manager appears dressed in a suit and starts trailing the rapper spraying air freshener. He sprayed it everywhere in the actual room we did the interview in and left saying: “I can’t have that smell of weed spoiling the natural smell of the hotel.” No joke. Absolutely classic. Snoop rigged of the stuff!

I am the first to admit I always have a preconceived perception of what a celebrity should be like in real life before I’ve had the honour of meeting them. Take Snoop Dogg for instance. I thought he would be difficult to talk to, a little moody and far too bling for me to stand next too. The reality was very different indeed. Snoop’s an absolute pleasure to meet, has a smaller than expected entourage of six and has a brand spanking new reality show – which features David Beckham in the first episode – and he actually seems like a great dad to his three kids. He’s also very funny. For example – what are his luxuries in life? I would say jewellery, fast cars and huge houses. The reality was: “Greenery!” That would explain those dopey eyes then! The guy clearly likes a toke or two on a doobie!

But when will Snoop be back in the UK after being banned last year for life by the British government…..no time soon. He told me he may ask Snoop fans HRH Prince William and Harry to help him out. Snoop laughed and told me: “I’ll come back whenever they let me back in. I think you have so many old dudes who have there own way. The Princes and the young generation support me but the older generation doesn’t understand and the Princes are not in enough power. If the old dudes spent time talking to people like the Princes and the younger generation they would realize I’m not what I think they are. They have to remember when the old guys pass away the new guys are going to take over. Then they gonna make a law saying Snoop Dogg can never be banned from that country.” I really hope they do let him back in - he’s bad by association if you ask me.

In his new reality show you quickly realise he’s driven in life by a bird. Chicken that is. He loves fried chicken and even takes Beckham to a shady looking fried chicken and waffle gaff called Ruscoes. One foreign journo asked him what he would eat if all chickens were killed by bird flu (random or what!). Snoop replied: “If there’s no chicken then I dunno what I’d eat. I just hope that will never happen.”

Read the column in Closer next week to find out what Snoop really thinks of Victoria Beckham and why he says she didn’t approve of the friendship between him and Beckham. And I’ll also reveal what gift Snoop gave to Beckham as a thank you for being on his show…

Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood featuring David Beckham can be seen on E! Entertainment Television this Sunday at 10pm.

After the press conference I randomly bumped into Tilda Swinton wearing excruciatingly high Loubatin heels and a wacky orange dress with little to no make-up. She was leaving the hotel at the same time as me. She was minus handbag too – all she carried was her blackberry. The lady travels light.

In the evening I went out to E! presenter Ryan Seacrest’s restaurant Katana on Sunset. It’s the most gorgeous place with incredible food! I stuffed myself fll of sushi. There were also celeb spots to be had there when former Guns and Roses star Slash walked in with his wife. He looks old nowadays. Funny thing was that Ryan had booked our table at the snazzy gaff and it was the best table in the venue – and Slash turned up and hadn’t booked and couldn’t get a table so he left after five minutes. In that five minutes he smoked two fags. No wonder the guitarist looks so blinking old! Seconds after Slash left Missy Elliot arrived with three girl friends. She sat outside near us with huge gypsy earrings on and puffing furiously on a ciggie. She’s still managed to keep that weight off and looked skinny even in her Adidas tracksuit.

Afterwards I went off to catch up with my friend Perez Hilton. He may be a super blogger and nowadays a bonafide celebrity but he’s soon adding another string to his bow. He told me: “I’m recording a single with Rodney Jerkins. I’ve already done one single – I called it My Penis.” He makes me laugh. And check out his weave people – he’s got some interesting hair going on as you can see.

FRIDAY 11 JANUARY 2008 (LA TIME: 07:03am)

It’s just gone 7am and I’m up and feeling refreshed. Last night I went out to celebrity hang out Koi for dinner. It wasn’t exactly hip to the hop on the celebrity front but it was fun all the same. Heather Graham was sitting fairly nearby and had a very quick dinner with a bearded guy. Heather’s a little sad though nowadays - a fellow dinner guest said: “Heather’s always hanging out at places where paps wait outside because she wants to be papped. Nobody paps her though.” Gutted!

My table was full of journalists from Australia and a few lovely E! PRs. I ended up catching up with 3am girl Caroline Hedley who’s based out here now.

Also nearby was billionaire Steve Bing who had that baby with Elizabeth Hurley a few years ago. I can confirm he’s just as ugly in real life. Lizzie must have done it for the money - nobody in their right mind would sleep with him. He was surrounded with young girls and guys and he stood out like a sore thumb with all that grey hair. I’m preparing for Snoop! Hours to go.

And just before I go - I have to tell you about the hotel. The bathroom’s are insane! You could fit two people easily in the bath, three in the walk in shower and there’s ample room elsewhere. Sounds like a party right? JOKE!

THURSDAY 10 JANUARY 2008 (LA TIME: 20:30pm)

 So I write to you from the gorgeous Raffles L’Ermitage Beverly Hills hotel where I’ve just check in thanks to the generous people at E! Entertainment. This hotel rocks totally! Did I mention before now that the hotel hosted Katie Holmes recent birthday party? Well it did.

And as I checked in I happened to meet to celebs without even having to try. Ghandi himself, Ben Kingsley, was waiting at the door for his valet to come around with his car. Also inside at the bar was the US equivalent to Chantelle Houghton was sipping a drink, Asian ’superstar’ Bai Ling.

Tomorrow is the day that I’m interviewing Snoop Dogg - what do I ask!? Well I’m going to probe him about the Beckhams - apparently they are friends. David even features in the first episode of the E! Entertainment reality show Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood - that starts within weeks in the UK.

Tonight I’m off hunting celebs at a restaurant for dinner and tomorrow I’ll also be meeting up with Victoria Hervey - she’s flown off to Vegas for Bungalow 8 creator Amy Sacco’s 40th birthday bash at the Hard Rock. She’s taken along Girls Aloud star Nadine Coyle too so fingers crossed I’ll see the lovely Irish singer too!

All in all it’s been a good start to my trip in LA. Pictures a plenty after I’ve shifted the jet lag!