Julia Roberts, a mother of three, has made it clear – in her actions and now in words – that she doesn't like paparazzi staking out schools in order to get photos. Roberts, 40, recently chased down a photographer in her SUV near a school and gave him an earful, in an incident that was caught on video and shown on TMZ. Asked by Access Hollwood for Friday's show what she said to the man, Roberts replied, "I just told him a school is not a place for a grown man to be crawling around trying to take pictures." She added, "If you want to take a picture of a person, then go to an adult place. Go to the coffee shop, go to the grocery store, go to the restaurant. Don't stake out someone's children's church, school or playground environment." In the recent incident, Roberts, who did not have her kids with her, pursued a car of photographers and got them to pull over. Telling one man to shut off his camera, she said, "I want to talk to you about the fact that you're at a school where children go. Turn it off!"
Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan won't face criminal charges over accusations that he struck a celebrity photographer in October, LA prosecutors said yesterday. "After a complete review of the investigation done by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, there is insufficient evidence to prove this case to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt," the LA County deputy district attorney said in court papers. Sheriff's officials said they had been investigating Brosnan over allegations he had committed battery. Authorities declined to give more details, but he had reportedly been accused of scuffling with a photog outside a Mexican restaurant in Malibu.
George Clooney sympathizes with Britney Spears in her troubles with paparazzi. "You look at footage of Britney running the red light - there's eight guys with cameras at night in the middle of the street. There are no rules now," he told Entertainment Tonight. "It's getting to a point where people that are not involved are getting hurt." Clooney, who was involved in a near-collision with paparazzi November 16 while riding on his motorcycle in the Hollywood Hills, fears for his neighbors. "What they're doing is illegal, it's high speed chases and they're competing with each other," he says. "They're not trying to catch me doing something stupid, they're trying to create me doing something stupid. You don't get to break all these laws and then say, 'I'm just doing my job.' The guys that commit all these crimes are rewarded for it. It creates bounty hunters in a way." Clooney's advice for the paparazzi? "Take your pictures but don't go 60 mph down a one-way street. Don't cause injury to people who aren't involved."
Lindsay Lohan is raising eyebrows again - this time with a controversial Radar cover. The Georgia Rule actress agreed to pose for the magazine's story about paparazzi. "Lindsay wants to send a message," says Radar's editor in his editor's letter. To make a point about the dangerous side of being stalked by celeb photographers, Lohan is seen with a flamethrower, a pistol and a submachine gun. "I want people to pay attention," the 20-year-old actress said of the cover shoot. "This whole thing is just spinning out of control," says Lohan's rep. "Sooner or later, someone's gonna die."
Jessica Simpson has grown tired of being relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi, and was even asked by a grocery store manager not to shop during store hours - because of the commotion it creates. "Two weeks ago, I was at Whole Foods and probably about 100 photographers were outside waiting for me," Simpson told UK Glamour mag. "The manager gave me his card and said, 'Jessica, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't come in during store hours. Give me a call and I'll open up early or you can come in after we close. But this is very distracting for all my customers.' I looked at him kind of shocked. Then I was just mad, not at him but at the situation. I couldn't even live my normal life anymore." The Public Affair singer gets understandably freaked out when she is being chased in her car by photographers. "Seriously, it does get dangerous. I don't think I could deal with it, if something happened to somebody else because of my being chased by all these a**holes running red lights."
