It has been quite a rough week for top British chef Gordon Ramsay after author Sarah Symonds went public with claims she has been having a ten-year affair with the married “Hell’s Kitchen” star.

Ramsay however came forth on Thursday and dismissed the allegations as “a load of BS” while appearing on the BBC’s “Good Food Show.”

But Miss Symonds was employed in February this year to be the U.K spokesperson for the controversial internet dating service AshleyMadison.com which caters to those looking to have a secret extramarital affair.

“Symonds was the face of the company in the U.K and we wanted to generate some buzz and one of the ideas we threw around was if she was too have a high-profile affair,” Noel Biderman, President & CEO of AshleyMadison.com tells Tarts. “At the time she specifically asked if an affair with a top British chef would accomplish what we needed to do.”

So could it all be a PR stunt or did Symonds really have something to hide? The relationship between the spokeswoman and the company fizzed out after just a few months as Symonds reportedly wanted to head to Hollywood and pursue her lifelong ambitions while the company needed someone who would stay in the U.K.

“There were no ill feelings when she left,” Biderman says, adding that he has since reached out to Symonds in the wake of the Ramsay infidelity claims but has not had a response.

(source)

Police arrested the estranged brother-in-law of Jennifer Hudson on Monday in the deaths of the entertainer’s mother, brother and young nephew, taking him from a prison where he had been held on a suspected parole violation.

William Balfour was arrested at Stateville Correctional Center and released to detectives as he awaited formal charges in the shooting deaths of the singer and Oscar-winning actress’ relatives, said Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond.

Until Monday, police had identified Balfour, 27, only as a “person of interest” in the investigation. He had not been charged by late Monday afternoon, said Andy Conklin, a spokesman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

The bodies of Jennifer Hudson’s mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were discovered Oct. 24 at the family’s home on the South Side of Chicago. The body of 7-year-old Julian King was found three days later in a sport utility vehicle on the West Side. All three had been shot.

Police took Balfour into custody the same day the bodies of Donerson and Hudson were discovered. After 48 hours — the longest Chicago police can hold a person without charges — Balfour was taken by the Illinois Department of Corrections on the suspected parole violation.

Balfour — Julian’s stepfather and the estranged husband of Jennifer Hudson’s older sister, Julia Hudson — served seven years for a 1999 attempted murder and vehicular hijacking conviction.

His mother, Michelle Balfour of Chicago, has denied that her son had anything to do with the deaths. Telephone numbers for Balfour’s mother and sister were disconnected Monday.

Balfour had refused to take a lie-detector test and stopped cooperating with detectives in the case, a police official, who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, has said.

Police have confirmed they found the gun used in the killings. The .45-caliber gun was discovered Oct. 29 in a vacant lot in the West Side neighborhood where the King’s body was found a few days earlier.

Bond declined to discuss any evidence Monday. But after a hearing at the prison, the chairman of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board said a woman had told authorities that a gun used in the slayings was “identical” to the gun that was recovered.

At the time, board Chairman Jorge Montes said the evidence was key to a decision finding probable cause that Balfour violated his parole and should remain locked up pending a Dec. 3 hearing before a review board panel.

Balfour did not have an attorney at the November hearing, and the Cook County public defender’s office said at the time that nobody from the office had been assigned because he was not formally charged with a crime.

No one in the public defender’s office was assigned to Balfour’s case late Monday, and it’ was not clear whether he had other representation.

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Giants star wideout Plaxico Burress will surrender tomorrow morning to NYPD detectives, who will charge him with felony criminal possession of a weapon, authorities said today.

Burress, 31, accidentally shot himself in the right thigh early Saturday morning at Midtown nightclub Latin Quarter with a gun he was not legally permitted to carry, police sources said.

He also faces a possible charge of reckless endangerment.

“We will make arrangements for Mr. Burress to be present when required,” defense lawyer Benjamin Brafman said after spending an hour at the troubled player’s Totowa, N.J., home. “He’s not running away from this.

“He intends to deal with this responsibly, and we hope it works out in the end. I would ask that the public, the Giants, the media and everybody else withhold judgment.

“He’s presumed innocent, hasn’t been convicted of anything, and we have a long road ahead of us.”

Police had yet to recover the gun Burress brought into the Lexington Avenue club.

Burress arrived at the club with teammates Antonio Pierce and Derrick Ward around midnight, and was allowed to bring his weapon inside after going through a metal detector and being frisked, sources said.

A short time later, as he was being escorted upstairs to the VIP area, the gun became loose in his waistband and a round went off. He was shot through the same injured thigh which had already kept him out of today’s 23-7 victory over the Washington Redskins.

Burress refused medical care at the club and left with his teammates, turning up two hours later at New York Hospital, where he spent the next 12 hours. The hospital and club never reported the shooting to the police.

New York Hospital continued to deny that Buress was a patient there.

When asked about the hospital’s policy on reporting gunshot victims to the police - as the law requires - spokesman Bryan Dotson said, “I don’t know what the policy and protocal is on that.”

(source)

Beyonce Knowles has learned marriage is ”more than a dress.”The “If I Were a Boy” singer, who tied the knot with rapper Jay-Z earlier this year, is inspired by her parents’ happy marriage and is willing to work hard to ensure her relationship survives.

She said: “I learned that it’s a lot of hard work, that it’s more than a dress.”

“My parents are tighter now than ever, but they’ve been through it all.”

“There were times when they were together, times when they were apart.”

The 27-year-old star recently insisted her feelings for the hip-hop mogul are “real” and they aren’t interested in flaunting their love in public.

Beyonce, who has been pictured wearing a $3.8 million engagement ring, explained: “What Jay and I have is real. It’s not about the interviews or getting the right photo op. It’s real.”

The couple dated for around five years before finally getting married.

Obama’s bold wardrobe choices have tapped into a yearning among style writers for the bygone days of Jackie’s youthful elegance. The New York Post has already christened the Obama White House “Bamelot,” playing on the Kennedys’ “Camelot” mythology. But aside from youth, beauty and little kids running around—plus that prominent “O”—what exactly do the two have in common? Next to nothing. “There seems to be this moving train that simply insists that Mrs. Obama is the new Mrs. Kennedy,” says Carl Anthony, historian for the National First Ladies’ Library, who has been fielding calls from reporters eager to connect the dots. But Anthony thinks they’re worlds apart.

Start with biography. Michelle Obama grew up working-class. Kennedy was a child of privilege, a skilled equestrian and avid foxhunter. Although both women had first-rate educations, Obama will be only the third First Lady with a master’s degree, after Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush. And while Jackie had to give up a promising writing career when she married the then Sen. John F. Kennedy, Michelle met her husband at the law firm where they both worked—and where he was her subordinate. Anthony says it’s peculiar that journalists are “going back half a century” to find a comparison for Obama when Clinton seems more apt—and galling that Michelle could be known primarily for her attire, “as if she were a mannequin.”

But even the fashion comparison falls short. Kennedy was the epitome of 1960s haute couture. Her style was aspirational, unattainable. Obama is more of a fashion populist. It’s hard to imagine Kennedy, in her pillbox hat and leopard-skin coat, dishing about shopping at J.Crew.

Obama has pledged to focus on complex social issues, such as support for military families, once she gets to the White House. Still, most of her recent headlines have been about her clothes, such as the mixed reviews she drew for her election-night Narciso Rodriguez number. Historians say they hope it’s a passing phase—that the public will eventually focus on Obama’s serious contributions to the country instead of the fierce urgency of her fashion.

Newsweek

Giants star wideout Plaxico Burress will surrender tomorrow morning to NYPD detectives, who will charge him with felony criminal possession of a weapon, authorities said today.

Burress, 31, accidentally shot himself in the right thigh early Saturday morning at Midtown nightclub Latin Quarter with a gun he was not legally permitted to carry, police sources said.

He also faces a possible charge of reckless endangerment.

“We will make arrangements for Mr. Burress to be present when required,” defense lawyer Benjamin Brafman said after spending an hour at the troubled player’s Totowa, N.J., home. “He’s not running away from this.

“He intends to deal with this responsibly, and we hope it works out in the end. I would ask that the public, the Giants, the media and everybody else withhold judgment.

“He’s presumed innocent, hasn’t been convicted of anything, and we have a long road ahead of us.”

Police had yet to recover the gun Burress brought into the Lexington Avenue club.

Burress arrived at the club with teammates Antonio Pierce and Derrick Ward around midnight, and was allowed to bring his weapon inside after going through a metal detector and being frisked, sources said.

A short time later, as he was being escorted upstairs to the VIP area, the gun became loose in his waistband and a round went off. He was shot through the same injured thigh which had already kept him out of today’s 23-7 victory over the Washington Redskins.

Burress refused medical care at the club and left with his teammates, turning up two hours later at New York Hospital, where he spent the next 12 hours. The hospital and club never reported the shooting to the police.

New York Hospital continued to deny that Buress was a patient there.

When asked about the hospital’s policy on reporting gunshot victims to the police - as the law requires - spokesman Bryan Dotson said, “I don’t know what the policy and protocal is on that.”

(source)

*When all through our land,*

*Not a Christian was praying*

*Nor taking a stand.*

*See the PC Police had taken away,*

*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*

*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*

*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*

*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say*

* December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.*

*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*

*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*

*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*

*Something was changing, something quite odd! *

*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*

*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*

*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*

* At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.*

*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*

*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.*

*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*

*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*

*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*

*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !*

*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*

*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*

*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*

* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*

*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*

*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*

*So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'*

*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*

*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*

*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,

not Happy Holiday !*

I miss passion more than anything. We rarely have sex unless we are drunk, and I rarely get any deep, passionate kisses. I feel so much for him, and I want him to be more passionate and romantic. I have spoken to him many times about this before, and he doesn't seem to care. Ya know, when I send him some short email just to say I love you -- it would count for something if he sent one in return. It would count for something if he returned any of what I do for him. I make it a point to touch him, or to kiss his cheek. I rub his back, his shoulders -- you name it. I make him dinner all the time, and lunch as well. I write him little emails, or leave little notes around. I feel increasingly lonely.

I keep finding ways to not be around him. When I look at him, and I see him playing with our kitten, and loving our kitten, I hate to say that I feel jealous. He seems to give everything love but me. I leave him alone, and don't bother coming out of the bedroom. I will not get what I really want.

I want to try to create romance or some passion. He doesn't seem to want to, or he doesn't know how to. At this point, I am tired of waiting -- and God knows I have for such a long time. What can I do to ignite a fire in this relationship and make him WANT to be more romantic and passionate? This is so frustrating to me, and I am at my wit's end.

Any help is appreciated.