As career sags, Demi Moore battles ageism

Plus: More controversy on ‘The View’; the unfunny Steve Carell

Sept. 14, 2007

While her 29-year-old husband, Ashton Kutcher, clearly has no problem with Demi Moore’s over-40 status, the same can’t be said of Hollywood. With only handful of film roles since her big 2003 comeback in “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,” Demi recently voiced her concerns about her sagging career, and one publication detailed the steps she taken to keep everything else from sagging.

“It's been a challenging few years, being the age I am. Almost to the point where I felt like, well, they don't know what to do with me. I am not 20. Not 30,” she revealed to Red magazine. “There aren't that many good roles for women over 40. A lot of them don't have much substance, other than being someone's mother or wife.”

Demi’s frustration with Hollywood’s attitudes toward “women of a certain age” was evident throughout her interview with the publication. “If we are told we are not valuable once we hit 30, it is a problem,” she said. “We all have more to give … We can't just wait for something to happen. We have to say, ‘I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more.’ ”

But, according to the Daily Mail, Demi’s fighting the system with more than just words. The newspaper alleges she’s put almost half a million dollars into rebuilding her body, in an effort to keep the years at bay.

In addition to employing “an army of advisors,” the Daily Mail claims she’s had breast implants, collagen injections, liposuction and a procedure to lift the drooping skin on her knees.

Don’t go there, Elizabeth!
Just because Rosie’s gone, doesn’t mean the verbal smackdowns are over on “The View.” And the New York Post reports that the latest fracas even included the usually laid back Barbara Walters.

The hubbub started when the hosts began discussing presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Elizabeth Hasselbeck brought Monica Lewinsky’s name up, after some playful speculation about whether, as a Mormon, Romney might bring extra first ladies into the White House.

The mere mention of Miss Lewinsky got Barbara’s blood boiling. "This is a good woman who has gotten a masters degree at the London School of Economics!" Barbara ranted. “She's doing her best to have a life. Enough with Monica, everybody can move on!”

And the New York Post says “View” newbie Whoopi Goldberg requested that Elizabeth not bring Monica up again. “I'm asking you to do me a favor because there's no reason for it today,” Goldberg said. “This has nothing to do with Bill Clinton.”

Steve Carell: One sweaty, unfunny guy
Yuck it up all you want while watching the “Office” antics of Steve Carell. But you won’t see him crack a smile. The “40-Year-Old Virgin” star simply doesn’t find himself hilarious.

“It’s a challenge for me to try to be funny because I don’t consider myself to be a very funny person one-to-one,” he said in interview for the October Elle issue. If you don’t see Steve making the rounds on the late night chat circuit, that insecurity is why. “See, I’d never done any of these talk shows, and I just sort of loathed — especially at first — being myself because it was so much easier for me to be a character,” he told Elle.

“So the first talk show I was ever on, the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Show,’ I broke into a flop sweat to rival the moment in “Broadcast News” … So halfway through the interview he stopped and said, ‘You sweat more than any person I’ve ever seen on my show.’ So we made it into a bit. We came back from commercial, and I’d poured water all over my head, I’d drenched my clothes. When they turned the camera back on, I was saying, ‘Wow, I feel so much better.’ ” Now that’s funny!

Dish on the fly:
And now, news from the “Well, duh!” department: Larry Birkhead is wrangling himself a reality show! (Shocking, right?) The National Enquirer reports that the E! network program will focus on life with Baby Daddy Birkhead and Anna Nicole Smith’s little angel, Dannielynn. … After six months of on-again/off-again drama, Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal are finally over and out, reports US. Or are they? According to the magazine, the couple was as cold as ice at a Toronto press conference for their new film “Rendition,” but warm and friendly at George Clooney’s shindig later that night. In the morning however, they left Toronto separately. … Eva Longoria will autograph her photos, just not those photos. At a recent charity event, the desperate housewife refused to put her John Hancock on an unflattering image revealing Eva in her underwear, reports TMZ. “No, I hate those!" she said about the naughty pic, but agreed to sign more demure photos.

Tabloid Tidbits is compiled by Helen A.S. Popkin and Ree Hines.