- Sunday, June 3, 2012

Naomi Judd’s new limited-run SiriusXM radio talk show has no safety net, and even the country star isn’t sure that’s a great idea.

“If you’ve been at a press conference, you know I’ve said things I haven’t thought of — whoa,” Ms. Judd said. “That’s why they asked me. And there’s no five-second delay. I’m wandering the woods without a map.”

Ms. Judd said she hopes “Think Twice,” which starts its six-week run of hourlong Friday morning episodes this Friday, will be a place the satellite radio network’s 22 million subscribers can turn to for a free-form discussion of ideas and topics, from current events and politics to hot-button issues like abortion and evolution.

“I want people to think twice,” Ms. Judd said in an Associated Press interview. “That’s why I came up with the title, because in today’s culture, in this ADHD culture, people don’t understand the real important stuff. I want people to be talking about this stuff at the water cooler, around the kitchen table. I may have a total brainiac on who’s one of the most important people in the world, but I want to translate it for standard-issue folks because that’s where my heart is. I want to tell them how this is affecting their everyday life.”

First up, though, the 66-year-old Grammy winner will examine her own life and her relationship with daughter Ashley Judd. Mother and daughter will sit down together in front of a studio audience Tuesday to tape the debut episode.

Naomi Judd’s voice filled with emotion when she described her feelings about the interview. She said that though the two have spent time together since Ashley published a memoir last year that placed stress on their relationship, they have not spoken about the book or the revelations that Ashley was sexually abused as a child, including by a family member.

When “All That Is Bitter & Sweet” was published last year, Ashley Judd said she had never told her mother of the abuse. Both Naomi Judd and her other daughter, duo partner Wynonna Judd, say they also suffered sexual abuse.

“I admit I’m a little nervous about doing it because this is the first time that Ashley and I have ever done anything together,” Ms. Judd said. “And I’m going to ask her about what happened in our relationship — whoa, I have to take a deep breath before that one.”

The remainder of the season will be live call-in shows that will be replayed Saturday morning. She’s pulling her guest list from her personal Rolodex. Guests already scheduled include National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis S. Collins and Dr. Helen Morrison, a forensic psychiatrist specializing in serial killers.

Allen stayed with friends while making new album

Kris Allen, winner of the eighth season of “American Idol,” didn’t stay in a fancy hotel or rent an apartment in Los Angeles when he recorded his second album. Instead, he crashed on his friends’ couch.

“It’s a better feeling to come from the studio where I’ve been working and diving into music all day to get away from that and just be myself,” Mr. Allen said in a recent Associated Press interview.

To thank his friends for their hospitality, the album is titled, “Thank You Camellia,” the name of the avenue where they live.

The 26-year-old said he believes “Camellia” is a better representation of the person he is compared with the first album he released after winning “Idol” in 2009. A big reason is that he had more time to work on it.

“I think I had four months to make the last record. I’ve had 2 1/2 years to make this one. I was able to make the record that I wanted to make. … This one is a little bit more fun. You can roll the windows down and jam to it. It feels like a summer record.”

Mr. Allen, who wrote or co-wrote much of the album, said he writes so much music that he has more songs than he knows what to do with.

“I’m already thinking ahead to the third [album],” he said with a laugh. “It’s probably bad. I’m thinking, ’Man, I have these other songs. … How can I work them in?’ “

’Devil Wears Prada’ author to publish sequel in 2013

Lauren Weisberger has made another deal with the devil.

Simon & Schuster announced Thursday that the author of “The Devil Wears Prada” has a sequel planned for next April.

“Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns” continues the adventures of former magazine assistant Andrea “Andy” Sachs, now a bridal magazine editor, and the imperious boss she thought she had escaped, Miranda Priestly.

Published in 2003, “The Devil Wears Prada” was adapted into a hit film of the same name starring Meryl Streep as Miranda and Anne Hathaway as Andy.

Ms. Weisberger is a former assistant at Vogue and Miranda is widely considered to be a fictionalized version of editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

Lawyer to investigate Witherspoon bigamy case

A Nashville, Tenn., judge has appointed a lawyer to investigate what’s going on with actress Reese Witherspoon’s father, who is accused of bigamy and possibly has dementia, according to documents released in a sealed court case.

Earlier this month, Ms. Witherspoon’s mother, Betty Witherspoon, said her husband of 42 years married another woman even though he remained wed to her.

A hearing in that case, which was scheduled for Thursday, has been indefinitely postponed. In the meantime, documents released from another Nashville court indicate that Dr. John Witherspoon was placed in a conservatorship at the request of the Academy Award-winning actress and her brother.

The actress appeared in a Nashville courtroom May 11 with her father, a Nashville otolaryngologist, but a judge barred the media from covering the hearing.

The parents have been separated since 1996 but remain married and still attend family functions together, including their daughter’s March 2011 wedding.

Mrs. Witherspoon said in court documents that she discovered that her husband married the other woman after reading a newspaper wedding announcement. She signed an affidavit saying that when she confronted her 70-year-old husband, he didn’t know who the woman was or remember marrying her.

Mrs. Witherspoon has accused Mr. Witherspoon’s new wife, Tricianne “Patricia” Taylor, of taking out loans as Mrs. John Witherspoon and changing his will.

Mrs. Witherspoon, a 63-year-old nurse at Vanderbilt University Hospital and a retired Tennessee State professor, says in the court documents that she still loves her husband and fears for his safety.

Compiled from Web and wire reports

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