Paula Abdul exits 'X Factor'; third to leave show

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paula Abdul joined the exodus from Fox's disappointing "The X Factor," attributing her departure to business trumping all else.

Abdul said Tuesday she won't return to "dear friend" Simon Cowell's singing contest when it begins its second season later this year. Her announcement followed Monday's exits of fellow judge Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones.

"I've learned through my longevity in this industry that business decisions often times override personal considerations," Abdul said in a measured statement. She and others involved with the show understand the situation, she said, adding, "Simon is, and will remain a dear friend of mine and I've treasured" working on "X Factor."

In a separate statement, Cowell didn't address the reason for the changes but thanked the exiting trio "for everything they did last year."

Cowell and Antonio "L.A." Reid remained on the judging panel. There was no immediate word from producers on who might fill the open seats.

Cowell returned Abdul's good wishes and said he expected he and his former "American Idol" teammate would work on another project in the near future.

Despite respectable ratings, "X Factor" has failed to achieve popularity similar to Fox's "American Idol," which Cowell left to import "X Factor" from the U.K. to the U.S. He had predicted his new show would be a blockbuster.

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Ex-Beatle McCartney says "I Do" for third time (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – Paul McCartney married for the third time on Sunday, exchanging vows with American heiress Nancy Shevell at the same London register office where the former Beatle wed his first wife Linda in 1969.

The beaming couple emerged from the grey-stone Old Marylebone Town Hall to confetti and cheers from dozens of fans who had waited hours to catch a glimpse of the music legend and his new wife.

Brunette Shevell, 51, wore a knee-length, long-sleeved white dress which reports said was designed by McCartney's fashion designer daughter Stella.

The bride also had a white flower in her hair and carried a small posy of roses, while "Hey Jude" singer McCartney wore a dark suit and light blue tie. One newspaper had a headline saying: "Yes-today", in a reference to the famous Beatles song.

Despite his huge wealth as a key songwriter and frontman for the world's most successful pop band, 69-year-old McCartney chose a modest civil ceremony before a small group of family and friends.

Ringo Starr, the only other surviving member of the "Fab Four", and his wife Barbara Bach were among the guests at the wedding. Ex-Beatle John Lennon, who was assassinated in New York in 1980, would have been 71 on the day of the wedding.

After the ceremony, which lasted just over an hour, the newlyweds returned to McCartney's home in St. John's Wood for an evening reception.

The property in the upmarket area of north London is just a few streets away from the Abbey Road Studios where the Beatles recorded many of their most famous songs.

Asked how he felt after marrying for a third time, he told reporters: "Terrific, thank you. I feel married. I feel absolutely wonderful."

SWEET SERENADE

Rock'n'roll royalty including Starr, Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood and guitarist Jeff Beck attended the reception, as did model Twiggy and artist Tracey Emin.

Late Beatle George Harrison's widow Olivia turned up to the soiree, which was also designed to be a low-key affair.

McCartney's spokesman declined to divulge any details of the wedding day, but celebrity-hungry tabloids in Britain, where the affectionately named "Macca" is hugely popular, have been poring over every detail.

According to reports, McCartney composed a song for Shevell especially for their big day.

He was also expected to perform "Let it Be", which he sang to Shevell on one of their first holidays together three years ago, and her favorite "Let Me Roll It", the Sunday Mirror said.

McCartney was married for 29 years to American photographer Linda until her death from breast cancer in 1998. He said at the time that he and Linda had spent just 11 nights apart during their marriage.

McCartney's marriage to former model and charity campaigner Heather Mills was less happy.

The couple wedded in 2002 in a lavish ceremony at Castle Leslie in Ireland estimated by celebrity magazines to have cost around $3.2 million.

But four years later they confirmed they had separated, blaming media intrusion into their private lives, and in 2008 the couple divorced.

A judge had to rule on the size of the divorce settlement after the couple failed to reach agreement themselves, and Mills was awarded 24.3 million pounds ($38 million), ending one of the most acrimonious breakups in showbusiness history.

She had claimed 125 million pounds and said McCartney was worth 800 million pounds, although a judge found his fortune was worth half that amount.

McCartney has a son, two daughters and a stepdaughter from his marriage to Linda, and a daughter from his marriage to Mills.

The independently-wealthy Shevell, who was married to an attorney for more than 20 years and serves on the board of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has a son.

(Additional reporting by Avril Ormsby; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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Review: Lady Antebellum too lady-like on third album (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Lady Antebellum was never, ever going to be the most testosterone-driven band in music. But the multi-platinum country-pop trio is still a little too lady-like for its own good on the group's third album, "We Own the Night," which mostly aims for ownership of the market for old-fashioned adult-contemporary balladry.

The act's last album was a hard hat trick to top. The title track of "Need You Now" quickly established itself as one of the greatest pop singles of our still-young century, and went on to sell 5 million downloads, not to mention scoring Record and Song of the Year wins at the Grammys.

The craving for an ex in that song (which also got its inevitable "Glee" cover) translated to a craving for the bravura tune itself, and proved America to be one very needy nation.

No one would blame Lady A for taking stabs at repeating that triumph here, but it's as if the threesome figured what we loved most about that breakout smash was the plodding tempo and production slickness, not the emotional rawness and relatable references to drunk-dialing that cut right through the sheen.

You may hesitate to look a gift horse in the mouth, when Lady A is one of the few country acts around offering such gentlemanly counterpoint to the genre's redneck strains.

It's still a pleasure hearing a group whose very foundation is neatly balanced male/female duets. When it comes to audience demographics, though, the band is inviting inequity, as there won't be an overabundance of dudes crawling over one another to hear a succession of orchestrated ballads idealizing past and present perfect loves.

You certainly won't find any odes to one-night-stands (like the debut album's rascally "Lookin' for a Good Time") making their way into the current material.

The not terribly rowdy "Friday Night" represents the album's token attempt at an up-tempo, good-time anthem, as if they suddenly remembered they needed something new that wouldn't drag their usually robust concerts to a halt.

Coming off an album that had three singles as great as "Need You Now," "American Honey," and "Hello World" (last heard stirring TV fans at the climax of an "NCIS"), Lady A's new weepers can't help but suffer by comparison.

"Just a Kiss," the album's first single, has front-people Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley treating the beginning of a relationship with kid gloves and agreeing: "I don't want to mess this thing up/I don't want to push too far."

Those words could serve as the mantra for "We Own the Night," which is all about not messing with monstrous expectations.

Occasionally, the songs speak in something more than chick-flick cliches. Hillary Scott has said the starkest number, "As You Turn Away," was written about an ex abruptly breaking up with her (presumably not the fellow to whom she's now happily engaged).

Even if you haven't read that, you'll recognize the real-life hurt when she informs the guy nonchalantly dumping her that staying friends will not be in the cards.

In most of the other songs, though, it's hard to tell if the threesome and their songwriting collaborators are writing out of personal passion or just a passionate need to avoid the junior jinx.

On "Dancin' Away With My Heart" -- which you can guess, given the predominance of down-tempo material, will reference a slow dance -- Kelley and Scott remember romantic glories past and muse, "I can still feel you lean in to kiss me/I can't help but wonder if you ever miss me."

But "losing all control"? Not gonna happen, this time. Better that they'd waited to wonder such things until it was a quarter after one and they'd had another shot of the previous album's miracle-working whiskey.

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Kate Bosworth to star in third film for director (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Kate Bosworth is set to star in writer/director Kat Coiro's "Untitled Italy Project," playing a married woman who embarks on an affair with a 19-year-old on the island of Ischia, Italy.

Iddo Goldberg has been cast as the main character's tightly-wound husband.

It will be Bosworth's third project with Coiro, whose "Life Happens," about three women living in Los Angeles, will have its world premiere Saturday at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The two also previously collaborated on a FunnyorDie.com short film "Idiots."

The new feature, which will shoot in Ischia and Naples, Italy as well as Los Angeles, will be produced by Lauren Bratman, Bosworth and Coiro. 1821 Pictures is providing the financing.

"This is my third film now with Kate Bosworth. I'm beyond thrilled to be able to go off to Italy with her and have her play a complicated married woman who falls for a younger man," Coiro said.

Bosworth was most recently seen in "Another Happy Day" as well as the indie "Little Birds." She will next appear on screen in the thriller "Straw Dogs."

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)

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US astronaut Aldrin files for divorce from third wife (AFP)

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Former US astronaut Buzz Aldrin, 81, has filed for divorce from his third wife after 23 years of marriage, his publicist said Friday.

Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon, cited "irreconcilable differences" when filing for divorce from his wife Lois in Los Angeles on Wednesday, media reports said.

The publicist said in a statement that Aldrin "asks that their privacy be respected during this difficult time."

The second human being on the moon after Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969, Aldrin married his third wife in a huge ceremony on Valentine's Day 1988, when they kissed to "Fly Me to the Moon."

The former fighter pilot, who flew combat missions during the Korean War before his time with NASA, founded a rocket design company in later life and also battled alcoholism and depression.

Aldrin has also written children's books on space, is an avid Twitter user and recorded a song with hip hop artist Snoop Dogg called "Rocket Experience," seeking to inspire a new generation with the desire to conquer space.

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Paul McCartney to marry for third time: publicist (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) – Former Beatle Paul McCartney is engaged to New York socialite Nancy Shevell, his girlfriend of nearly four years, his publicist said Friday.

It will be the 68-year-old pop legend's third marriage.

His first wife, Linda, died from breast cancer in 1998 and he then wed ex-model Heather Mills in 2002 before divorcing her in 2008.

"We're all thrilled for him," McCartney's spokesman Stuart Bell said, confirming the engagement but giving no further details.

Mills and McCartney's marriage ended in a bitter divorce three years ago.

She was awarded ?24.3 million pounds (then $48 million, 30.8 million euros) in an accord finally hammered out after prolonged and acrimonious negotiations.

McCartney married Mills in a lavish ceremony in Ireland in June 2002, four years after Linda, a photographer and animal rights campaigner, died from breast cancer.

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