NEW YORK (AP) – The release of the blockbuster that made her a household name, “Titanic,” should have been a happy time for Kate Winslet. Instead, she was mourning the loss of her first love, Stephen Tredre.

“Looking back, I see what I was dealing with when “Titanic’ came out,” the 31-year-old actress says in Sunday’s Parade magazine. “I had a lot of pain, and I was confused about who I was.”

The Britain-born Winslet, who’s married to director Sam Mendes, met Tredre in London when she was 15 and he was 28. “He was the most important person in my life, next to my family,” she says of Tredre, who worked as a TV writer and actor.

“I was very shy,” she says. “I was vulnerable … Other girls teased me horribly. I was bullied. I’d just put my head down and get on with it. That was my means of survival. Stephen made me feel secure and embraced.”

Tredre was diagnosed with bone cancer in 1994, and died three years later during the opening week of “Titanic.” The two had ended their relationship but “talked every day,” she says. “This was not somebody I’d turn my back on.”

His death was “unbelievably heartbreaking,” says Winslet, who went on to star in such movies as “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Finding Neverland.”

She found love anew with Mendes, 41, whom she wed in 2003. The two have a 2-year-old son, Joe, and Winslet has a 6-year-old daughter, Mia, from her first marriage (to James Threapleton).

“I believe in fate,” she says. “I know it sounds corny, but it was like Sam and I were from the same tribe. We were meant to meet: Both of us from Reading, both born in the same tiny hospital, Dellwood.

“Then suddenly, years later, this totally gorgeous, sexy, talented man is in my life? That’s fate.”

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On the Net:

http://www.discoverkate.com/

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WASHINGTON (AP) – Ellen Burstyn was just as flabbergasted as everyone else when she heard she’d been nominated for an Emmy this year for her blink-and-you-miss-it role in the TV movie “Mrs. Harris.”

In an interview with AP Radio, the 73-year-old Academy Award winner spoke publicly for the first time about her Emmy nod: “When they told me I was nominated for that I went, “What, are you kidding?”‘

Burstyn’s cameo in “Mrs. Harris” lasted 14 seconds, with her speaking a total of 38 words.

“I thought it was fabulous,” she said. “My next ambition is to get nominated for seven seconds, and, ultimately, I want to be nominated for a picture in which I don’t even appear.”

Her nomination drew the ire of those who felt she hadn’t logged enough screen time to deserve it. Last August, Burstyn wound up losing the Emmy to her “Mrs Harris” co-star, Cloris Leachman.

“The brouhaha around it, you know, they tried to reach me for a statement,” she recalled. “I said, “This doesn’t have anything to do with me. I don’t even want to know about this. You people work it out yourself.”‘

Burstyn, who has starred in such as movies “The Exorcist” and “The Last Picture Show,” won a best actress Oscar for her role in 1974’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.”

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NEW YORK (AP) – Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons wants to get children and their parents animated about voting, so he’s appearing in a short cartoon to make his case.

The film, produced by the educational company BrainPOP, explains the basics of voting and encourages children to push their parents to the polls next Tuesday. In one scene, Simmons, 49, shows up at the home of a family that includes a robot named Moby and helps wake up the parents to tell them to vote.

“Just remind them of all the taxes they pay every April,” Simmons tells Moby.

The cartoon, which lasts about five minutes, will be shown in schools throughout the country.

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On the Net:

http://www.brainpop.com

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NEW YORK (AP) – Trouble has found Busta Rhymes again.

The rapper, who’s had other run-ins with the law, was caught talking on his cell phone while driving past a Manhattan police station, police said Friday.

Rhymes, whose legal name is Trevor Smith, was cruising past a police station about 7 p.m. Thursday when police allegedly spotted him on the cell phone.

He was pulled over and issued a summons for the moving violation. His management office declined to comment Friday.

Last month, the best-selling rap star appeared in court on an assault charge for allegedly attacking a man who spit on his car in August. He is due back in court in that case on Dec. 11.

In another case involving the unsolved shooting death of his bodyguard Israel Ramirez in February, Rhymes has refused to be questioned by police as a potential witness. Police say Rhymes, 34, has made no effort to help identify the killer. The shooting occurred outside a music video taping in Brooklyn.

The rapper’s most recent album was the “The Big Bang,” released earlier this year, featuring the hit “Touch It.” Rhymes has had a stream of hits throughout his career, which spans more than a decade, including “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” and “Dangerous.” He’s also been in films, including 2000’s “Shaft.”

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MUMBAI, India (AP) – Aishwarya Rai’s sensitive nature persuaded Indian filmmaker J.P. Dutta to cast her in his new movie “Umrao Jaan.”

Dutta told The Indian Express newspaper he noticed the 33-year-old Bollywood star cried when she heard sad stories.

This made her the perfect choice to play courtesan Ameeran, or Umrao Jaan Ada, kidnapped from her home and sold to a brothel in the old Indian kingdom of Oudh, he said.

“Ash has a very soft heart. Even if she hears a rank stranger’s sad story, tears well up in her eyes,” said Dutta. “I’ve observed that aspect of her personality and felt that she could react beautifully to the tragedy of Umrao Jaan.”

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LONDON (AP) – Auction house Christie’s U.K. on Friday announced the appointment of Queen Elizabeth II’s nephew as its new chairman.

Viscount Linley, son of the monarch’s late sister Princess Margaret and the photographer Lord Snowdon, will assume his role on Dec. 1, Christie’s said.

Linley joined the Christie’s board as a non-executive member in February 2005 and runs his own furniture-making business.

“It is a great honor to be appointed as chairman,” said Linley, who celebrated his 45th birthday Friday.

“Christie’s is an organization whose passion for the unique and the beautiful holds much in common with my personal values and with those of my own company,” Linley said. “I have enjoyed a close relationship with Christie’s for many years and look forward to enhancing this to promote the arts to collectors and enthusiasts worldwide.”

Christie’s said his appointment “reflects his growing interest in, and knowledge of, the art market and marks a desire to further develop his career after more than 20 years working solely for his own business.”

Linley and his sister, Lady Sarah Chatto, auctioned some of their late mother’s furniture, silver and jewelry at Christie’s in June for $24.6 million.

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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) – Mel Gibson was honored by a Latino business organization for his upcoming film “Apocalypto.”

Enthusiastic applause greeted the Oscar-winning actor and director Thursday as he walked onstage at the Beverly Hilton Hotel to receive the Latino Business Association’s Chairman’s Visionary Award.

Gibson answered questions from association Chairman Rick Sarmiento about the film, a Mayan-language epic filmed in Mexico chronicling the decline of the native civilization.

No mention was made of Gibson’s recent troubles with the law. He made headlines for anti-Semitic comments to police in Malibu when he was arrested in late July on suspicion of drunken driving. He publicly apologized.

In August, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor in a deal that included alcohol rehabilitation, probation and fines.

After watching a screening of “Apocalypto,” Sarmiento said, he and the association’s board unanimously decided to grant the honor to Gibson. The scandal did not affect the 30-year-old Los Angeles group’s decision, he said.

“Hearing him tell the story about using Latino actors, it was a no-brainer,” Sarmiento said.

“It’s not really a Hollywood production. It’s a film made by Mexico, in a way,” Gibson told the audience, citing the movie’s crew of Latino makeup artists and set designers, and a cast of unknown actors.

He said that casting unknowns was “tantamount to being at the Super Bowl and getting your quarterback from the audience.” Gibson originally traveled to Mexico City alone to search for potential actors. He cast one man after spotting him in a juice bar.

Of eating the food in Mexico, Gibson said: “I have the gringo gut. I was crawling around on my hands and knees some days.” Trails of laughter met his comment.

Gibson said that his film, scheduled for release by Disney on Dec. 8., is a “badge of honor for the Latino community.”

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SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – Snoop Dogg was charged with carrying a dangerous weapon – an illegal collapsible baton – at John Wayne International Airport.

The Orange County district attorney on Thursday filed a lone count of felony possession of a deadly weapon against the rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus.

If convicted, the 35-year-old rapper could be sentenced to three years in prison. A warrant, with bail set at $150,000, was issued for his arrest, prosecutors said.

“These charges are bogus. The DA knows that, Snoop knows that. If this goes to trial, we will win,” the rapper’s lawyer Donald Etra said Thursday.

On Sept. 27, the entertainer arrived at John Wayne Airport with two bodyguards to catch a flight to San Francisco, investigators said.

Security officers scanning his carryon luggage spotted a long object in his computer bag and asked to search inside, where a collapsible baton was found.

Deputy District Attorney Andre Manssourian said the weapon is dangerous and illegal. The rapper told deputies at the time of his arrest that the baton was a prop for a movie, sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said.

On Oct. 26 in Burbank, the rapper’s airport problems were compounded when he was arrested at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank for investigation of illegal drug and gun possession. He posted $35,000 bail and was ordered to appear in court Dec. 12.

In that incident, airport police officers stopped Broadus at a loading zone for a vehicle code violation. When officers searched the vehicle they found a gun and marijuana, authorities said.

“There was no basis for this arrest,” Etra said earlier. “We believe that once this is cleared up, all charges will be dismissed.”

The rapper also landed in trouble last spring at London’s Heathrow Airport. In May, he accepted responsibility for using “threatening words or behavior” in an April incident there.

Broadus and five other men were arrested on charges of violent disorder and starting a brawl after some members of the rapper’s party were denied entry to British Airways’ first-class lounge.

Seven officers received minor injuries – mainly cuts and bruises – and one suffered a fracture to the hand.

British Airways said it has banned Broadus from future travel on the airline.

The rapper was convicted in 1990 of cocaine possession and was charged with gun possession after a 1993 traffic stop. Facing a possible three years in prison, he pleaded guilty in exchange for three years’ probation and his promise to make anti-violence public-service announcements.

He also was acquitted of murder in 1996 following the death of an alleged street-gang member killed by gunfire from the vehicle Broadus was traveling in.

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ATLANTA (AP) – Denzel Washington says his path to becoming an Academy Award-winning actor was paved by people like an English teacher and a barber he knew as a child.

Washington’s new book, “A Hand To Guide Me,” gathers together essays by more than 70 entertainment, sports, business and political leaders who tell the stories of their own childhood mentors.

“It’s a celebration of the people behind the people – those who don’t get the recognition who influence the Bill Clintons or the Jimmy Carters or the George Steinbrenners of the world,” Washington said Thursday in a phone interview from New York, where he is promoting the book.

Both former presidents and the New York Yankees owner are joined in the book by celebrities from rocker John Mellencamp to actress Whoopi Goldberg to Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick.

The book is a fundraiser for the Atlanta-based Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

In Washington’s own story, he writes that he took inspiration as a child from a counselor at the club – then just the Boys Club – in his hometown of Mount Vernon, N.Y., a high school English teacher who had students read the New York Times every morning. He also found a mentor in a barber at a shop where he earned money sweeping.

He said he hopes the book will inspire adults to “find themselves in it and reach out” to a child who may need a similar guiding hand.

“We all have the potential to help out and inspire young people and to make an impression upon them,” Washington said.

Washington, who is making no money from the book, said 60 percent of the proceeds will go to the Boys and Girls Clubs, with a quarter of that going to his childhood club in Mount Vernon.

Washington, who won the Oscar for Best Actor in 2002 for “Training Day” and for Best Supporting Actor in 1989’s “Glory,” next appears in “Deja Vu,” a science fiction thriller that opens Nov. 22.

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NEW YORK (AP) – Russell Crowe, who pleaded guilty last year to third-degree assault for throwing a phone at a hotel clerk, says the incident would be downplayed in his home country of Australia.

“Where I come from, a confrontation like that, as basic and simple as that, would have been satisfied with a handshake and an apology,” the 42-year-old actor tells CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview set to air Sunday.

When correspondent Steve Kroft suggests Crowe’s stardom was a factor in his predicament, Crowe replies, “And your legal system is very open to be misused.”

Crowe was arrested after flying into a rage in June 2005 when he had trouble calling his wife in Australia from his room at the Mercer Hotel in Manhattan’s SoHo district.

Crowe says he “absolutely” regrets the incident, which he blames on his bad temper – a necessary evil, he feels.

“You got to have (a temper),” he tells Kroft. “You know what happens when you don’t have one? One day you’re walking down the street and you just pop.”

Crowe, who won the Academy Award for best actor in 2001 for “Gladiator,” will next be seen in “A Good Year,” in theaters Nov. 10.

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On the Net:

CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com

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LONDON (AP) – Kate Moss has been named Britain’s Model of the Year, despite cocaine allegations that lost her millions of dollars in modeling contracts.

Moss, 32, won out over two other finalists, Erin O’Connor and Alek Wek, at the British Fashion Awards on Thursday.

“Kate Moss is a fashion icon and without doubt one of the most prolific models in the industry,” the awards panel said in naming her the winner. “She has now been modeling for over 15 years and remains at the top of her game.”

The British Fashion Council refused to comment on the potential controversy of Moss’s nomination.

Moss lost valuable modeling contracts after the Daily Mirror newspaper published photos last year of her allegedly using cocaine at a music studio where her boyfriend, Pete Doherty, was recording.

After the pictures were published, Moss publicly apologized and went to a drug rehabilitation clinic in Arizona. Prosecutors decided in June there was insufficient evidence to charge her.

Since then, she has made a comeback, appearing frequently in fashion magazines and winning back contracts. Still, some say giving an award to someone whose career has been marked by drug allegations sets a bad example.

“To me it’s baffling,” said Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos, speaking in Britain this week during an anti-drug campaign.

“Model of the Year” is an industry accolade for the British model who has contributed the most to the international fashion scene over the last year. Leading press, buyers and industry figures choose the winner from a shortlist compiled by British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman and a committee.

“She’s the kind of survivor we all want to be,” said Jeremy Baker, a fashion expert at London Metropolitan University, of Moss. “The paradox is that since this time last year the scandal made her a lot better off.”