More details about David Carradine’s death are coming to light.

The actor died from accidental asphyxiation, a medical examiner who performed a private autopsy on the actor has concluded. “The cause of death was asphyxiation, an inability to breathe, now why that happened is still what we’re working on,” Dr. Michael Baden, who was hired by the late actor’s family, told Reuters.

The ties that bound Carradine, who was found hanging in the closet of his Bangkok hotel on June 4, helped Baden rule out suicide as well. “He didn’t die of natural causes, and he didn’t die of suicidal causes from the nature of the ligatures around the body, so that leaves some kind of accidental death,” he said.

Baden also clarified that Carradine’s hands were tied above his head and not behind his back, as some had previously reported. His report also did not rule out the possibility that the former Kung Fu star died of auto erotic asphyxiation, though he did not say that was the cause of death, either.

Results from an earlier autopsy performed on Carradine after his death at age 72 were unclear, though on June 11, Baden did publicly state the actor’s death was not suicide.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

A week after Michael Jackson’s sudden and shocking death, President Obama has finally offered his thoughts, saying the pop icon will “go down in history as one of our greatest entertainers.”

“I grew up on his music,” said Obama, who, at 47, is three years younger than Jackson. “I still have all his stuff on my iPod.”

But the president added in an interview Thursday with the Associated Press that he also felt that Jackson lived a “tragic and in many ways sad personal life.”

Controversy
It stirred controversy in the news media – especially at predominantly African-American outlets – when Obama did not release a formal public statement upon Jackson’s death last week, something typically done by the White House when a prominent public figure dies.

Instead, Obama quietly sent a private letter of condolence to the Jackson family, the contents of which neither side has disclosed.

Obama waved away any controversy over his weeklong silence, telling AP White House correspondent Jennifer Loven: “Look, you’re the first person who’s actually asked me about it.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

We’ve learned Gary Coleman’s wife was arrested last night for domestic violence and disorderly conduct in Santaquin, Utah — where the couple has a home.

According to the sheriff’s website, Shannon Price was booked for the two misdemeanors at 8:32 PM and then released on $1,205 bond.

Cops tell us Shannon allegedly broke household items belonging to Gary and that he was not physically harmed.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Sorry, Jen: Looks like Angelina Jolie wins again.

Jolie earned more money than Jennifer Aniston, Forbes reports in its annual “Hollywood’s Top-Earning Actresses” issue.

Between June 2008 and June 2009, Jolie banked an estimated $27 million, thanks to her share of the profits on Wanted and a large upfront payment on thriller Salt.

Aniston made slightly less: $25 million, after her roles on Marley & Me and The Baster. The actress also still earns residuals on Friends, and received a hefty paycheck for becoming the spokeswoman for Glaceau’s SmartWater.

(The women place far behind the top-earning actors. Harrison Ford took home more than double Jolie’s pay check — $65 million — after reprising his role in Indiana Jones.)

Meryl Streep earned $24 million after her flick Mamma Mia! made over $600 million at the box office last summer.

Sarah Jessica Parker — who just welcomed twin girls via surrogate — came in fourth with $23 million. Cameron Diaz rounded out the top five with $20 million.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

In an unsurprising twist, Debbie Rowe wants custody of her two children by Michael Jackson.

TMZ reports:

Debbie Rowe will fight for custody of Paris and Michael Jr., the children born during her marriage to Michael Jackson — this, according to NBC 4 in Los Angeles.

According to the NBC 4 website, Rowe said during a 90-minute phone conversation, “I want my children.”

Rowe says she will seek a restraining order to keep Joe Jackson away from the children.

Rowe also says she’ll submit to a DNA test to prove she’s the biological mother.

Source

A source close to Michael Jackson tells Usmagazine.com the family has not yet reached out to Debbie Rowe, the mother of his two oldest children.

“Even now, she just wants to visit them and be a part of their lives — she’s not after custody unless they were being harmed,” the source tells Us.

Jackson’s mother, Katherine, was granted temporary custody of Prince, 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael II (Blanket), 7. Dad Joe has said the kids “belong” with Michael’s parents.

Rowe’s lawyer, Eric George, told the Los Angeles Times he would attend a Monday custody hearing to represent Rowe, but said he didn’t know if she would ask for custody or to continue visitation rights.

Rowe filed a petition in 2001 to give up her parental rights, but went back to court to regain custody in 2003 — after Jackson was accused of child molestation.

But Rowe — who was wed to Jackson from 1996 to 1999 — has said: “I didn’t have the kids to be a mother.”

On Wednesday, a 7-year-old will was filed in court. Jackson wrote that he “intentionally” cut out Rowe.

The new issue of Us Weekly exclusively revealed dermatologist Arnold Klein is the biological father of Paris and Prince.

“He and Debbie signed an agreement saying they would never reveal the truth,” an insider told Us.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

It’s official! Katie Holmes will perform on So You Think You Can Dance in celebration of the FOX show’s 100th episode, airing July 23, in a song and dance tribute to Judy Garland.

While buzz about her appearance began when photos of Holmes clad in dance gear at the CBS studios in L.A. hit the web last month, it wasn’t her first visit to the show. “She absolutely adores dancing as does her daughter,” according to executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, who said Holmes and her daughter Suri, 3, have been visiting the show’s dress rehearsals for a couple of years now.

Recently, Holmes has been rehearsing herself, sometimes until 11:30 p.m. — with breaks to be with Suri, Lythgoe says — on a New York street scene designed for the number, which was lit by famed cinematographer Dion Beebe, with direction and choreography by her friend, Tyce Diorio.

Inspired by Garland’s song “Get Happy” from the 1950s musical Summer Stock, Holmes will wear “the jacket, the little hat,” Lythgoe says. “It’s just an iconic look. And Katie Holmes has got the legs. Wow!”

Proud husband Tom Cruise and Suri were often on hand to support Holmes. “It was great to see the sort of family bond,” Lythgoe says. “It was beautiful to see!”

Adds Lythgoe: “It was the pride in Tom’s eyes, which I liked. I think we all stood around and felt very proud.”

And why not? All the hard work (Holmes got vocal training from American Idol musical director Ricky Minor) was done in the name of charity, as her performance will introduce the public to the Dizzy Feet Foundation, which she co-founded with Lythgoe, Hairspray director Adam Shankman and Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba. The organization’s mission is to support, improve and increase access to dance education in the United States.

“I think it’s important for children to experience music and dance,” Holmes said in a statement. “Every child should have the opportunity to discover what it is they like and have access to the very best in that pursuit.”

And how would Holmes’s performance rate with the often unforgiving SYTYCD judges? “I think she would wow the judges and she’d certainly wow the public,” Lythgoe says. “And if anybody didn’t pick the phone up [and vote] for her, I’d be very surprised.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin