Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones Take a Break

Today in celebrity gossip: A Hollywood power couple is separating, Miley Cyrus has the last laugh, and Barack Obama liked The Butler.

People magazine is reporting that actors Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones have separated. Well, that's what the headline says, but then some sort of source says that the two are "taking a break." Which sounds less serious somehow? Maybe my mind is just addled by nearly two decades of Friends-watching, but a break sounds less concrete than a separation. Anyway, People notes that the two haven't been photographed together since April 22, which for normal people wouldn't mean anything, my parents probably haven't been photographed together for like a year, but for famous people that means they're not doing stuff together. They've walked red carpets separately and been on separate vacations, stuff like that. It seems the stresses of Douglas's cancer battle and Zeta-Jone's bipolar II disorder have not been easy to manage. But, they've been through hard stuff over the 13 years of their marriage, so one hopes, for their kids at least, that they can figure it out. It might just be a break. That's all. A simple break. [People]

All right, the obligatory Miley update: Remember yesterday when we found out that Miley Cyrus didn't even go to the post-VMAs party that she was supposed to host? And that she skipped it not because she was embarrassed about the performance that launched a thousand think pieces, but because she was doing some secret recordings with a secret star for a secret collabo? Well, Page Six is now telling us that that secret person was none other than Kanye West. Yes, the Kanye West. Miley recorded a remix of Kanye's "Black Skinhead," to be released on some sort of "remix EP" (I have no idea what music means) later this year. So, out of the frying pan and into the studio with Kanye West. Not bad, Miley. Not bad at all. She ought to be fine. People will forget about all this silly finger-wagging pretty soon and then she'll just be Miley Cyrus who recorded with Kanye West. That confers a lot of respect, doesn't it? And hey, she doesn't just have Kanye's respect. She sort of has Justin Timberlake's too. He went on the radio yesterday and said we should cut the lady some slack, saying that it was the VMAs, after all, not the Grammys, and supposedly "scandalous" things have happened at the VMAs (almost all involving young women and sex, sigh) since they were invented. So who cares about Miley? It's fine. "I like Miley. I like her a lot. I think, you know, she's young. She's letting everybody know that she's growing up," Justin said, fairly. Let's be done with this now. Agreed? No more of this horror and shock at what Miley Cyrus did at the awards show. Sex-wise, anyway. If you want to keep having the race discussion, I think that has a lot more merit. But for the purposes of these pages, we're done, I think. Yup. That's it. [Page Six; Us Weekly]

Look at this. Poor Emma Stone.

President Obama liked The Butler a lot, saying he really enjoyed Cuba Gooding Jr.'s dirty jokes and Oprah's performance. "And Oprah, my girl, she can act," he told radio host Tom Joyner yesterday. Wouldn't it be strange to be at a point in your life where you can say "Oprah, my girl" and actually mean it familiarly, and not as some silly faraway thing? Not like, "Oh Meryl Streep is my girl" or "My boyfriend, Chris Pratt." But like, "Actually, yes, Oprah could be considered my real-life girl." Just seems strange. "And now I'm friends with Oprah. Just like that." Fame is funny, friends. It really is. [Us Weekly]

Here's a good picture of Sandra Bullock and George Clooney on boats in Venice, living a life that probably none of us will ever understand. Unless you're reading this, Sandra Bullock or George Clooney. Which I highly doubt. Seems very unlikely. But you never know. If you are, can't wait for Gravity! Hope the boats were fun. They look fun. They look very, very fun. [Us Weekly]