Whoopi Goldberg denies hitting 'Housewives' star

By Myrddin Gwynedd

Herald online·

5 Aug, 2010 09:46 PM7 mins to read

Actress and

The View

co-host

Whoopi Goldberg

has come out fighting to deny she hit reality TV star

Michaele Salahi

during her appearance on the chat fest.

Salahi who? She be one of the wannabe screen-hoggers of reality show

The Real Housewives of DC

fame.

*Insert crickets sound here*

You might know her better as the 'party crasher' who infamously rocked up at one of Barack Obama's White House dinners last year - reportedly without an invite. The incident triggered a major security review at chez Obama.

Anyway, back to the storm in a z-list cup.

Salahi appeared on

The View

this week, and was probed about the White house stink by co-hosts

Joy Behar

and

Sherri Shepherd

. Goldberg, who was backstage, popped on set when Salahi started rambling and going off-topic. "Excuse me, can we get back to the White House, please?" said Goldberg, touching Salahi on the arm.

"Afterward, Michaele was very upset about what was said about her on the air," Goldberg said. "Then I was told she thought I hit her. So I went up to her and I told her that she knew I didn't hit her. And, yeah. You know how I said it - choice words."

Video: Salahi on

The View

Network ABC has chimed in on the saga, claiming in a statement that Goldberg 'lightly touched' Salahi's arm to get her attention.

"After the show, Ms Salahi and her husband accused Whoopi of hitting Ms Salahi. As the broadcast clearly shows, the accusation was completely unfounded and erroneous," the statement says.

"After the show and after being told she was being accused of hitting Ms Salahi, Whoopi proceeded to defend herself verbally from this baseless claim in a heated exchange with the Salahis."

However, Salahi has now denied that she ever accused Goldberg of hitting her.

"I didn't do anything. I was just a guest," Salahi said today.

"I walked off the show and said goodbye and was in the back. And Whoopi came in and said, 'F this, f that, Did you say I f****** hit you?"

Salahi said she told Goldberg: "I never said you hit me. You grabbed my arm. I think I started crying because they [hosts Shepherd and Behar] berated me."

Speaking about the stink on

The View

yesterday, Goldberg said she made no apologies for her choice words. Adding that during the backstage row, Salahi's husband, Tareq, "got in my face, had his BlackBerry out and started taking pictures of me. Needless to say, I really went off then - and there were even more choicer words.

"I mean, they were so choice you could have cut with a knife and eaten them."

Added her husband, "I said, 'Please don't address my wife and please apologise to my wife ... for this abusive language that you're saying to her. She's a guest of the show. She goes 'F' no, and 'F' you."

Video: Goldberg addresses the 'Housewives' stink

here

Enough of these celebrity cling-ons. They've had their 15 minutes, already.

Done and done

Sean Penn

and

Robin Wright

are officially divorced.

According to People

, the former couple have reached a private agreement on the necessaries in their split - child support, spousal support, asset distribution, and custody of custody of their 17-year-old son, Hopper.

Court papers

(pdf) filed on July 22 reveal the split became official on July 27.

Before officially divorcing, the couple split a few times. In December 2007, the pair began divorce proceedings, only to change their minds in April 2008.

Penn filed for legal separation in April 2009, only to reconcile a month later. Wright then called it quits and filed for a separation in August.

So it's over. OVAH. Finally. For real. Honestly now. It has to be, because Penn has moved on and is dating model

Jessica White

. And remember, Robin is dead to Penn.

"[Robin] is a ghost to me now. We spent all those years together ... Now she's just gone," he told

Vanity Fair

in June. Charming.

Naomi's 'dirty-looking stones'

Stroppy supermodel appeared in court this week to testify at the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor.

Campbell is alleged to have received so-called 'blood diamonds' from the politician during a visit to South Africa in 1997.

She told the court: "When I was sleeping I had a knock at my door and I opened my door and two men were there and gave me a pouch and said. 'A gift for you'...I saw a few stones in there. Very small, dirty-looking stones."

She added: "I'm used to seeing diamonds in a box... If someone had not said they were diamonds, I would not have known they were diamonds. I didn't know anything about Charles Taylor before. I had never heard of Liberia before. I had never heard the term blood diamonds before."

Hmmmm. I'm raising a cynical eyebrow on this one. Do you think she's playing the coy carp?

Wedding bells?

So Prop 8 has been overturned in California. Does this mean that

Brad Pitt

and

Angelina Jolie

will now get hitched?

Remember when Pitt told

Parade

magazine: "Maybe we'll get married when it's legal for everyone else. I stand by that, although I took a lot of flak for saying it - hate mail from religious groups.

"I believe everyone should have the same rights. They say gay marriage ruins families and hurts kids. Well, I've had the privilege of seeing my gay friends being parents and watching their kids grow up in a loving environment."

A little bit bad...

We finally get to clap our eyes on the trailer for Christina Aguilera and Cher's new flick, Burlesque.

Oh dear.

It's Britney, bitch!

Word reached us earlier this week that we can expect new tunes from pop marvel

Britney Spears

very soon. According to her producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, there are some killer Brit Brit tracks on the boil.

Her manager,

Adam Leber

, however, took to

Twitter

to trash the talk, "No new music news right now....Wish people wouldn't mislead you guys with BS info," he wrote. "Not cool! PS- The guys that ARE working on Brit's next album ARE NOT talking about it..."

Regardless, this 30-second demo of what's purportedly a new Britney track landed in my inbox this morning.

Blogger's Briefs

Fast gossip...

* No more hairy-Potter.

Emma Watson

gets the chop,

rocks a dramatic new hairdo

* All teeth and hair star

Julia Roberts

says she'll never have Botox

. I give her five years before she buckles

Lily Allen