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'Sopranos' Star Edie Falco Adopts Baby
AP Gossip/Celebrity



NEW YORK - Edie Falco has adopted a baby boy, her agent confirmed Wednesday. Falco, 41, took the infant home in December, within days of his birth. She named him Anderson, her mother's maiden name, Falco's agent, Richie Jackson, told The Associated Press. The adoption was first reported by the syndicated TV show "Entertainment Tonight."

The actress has won three Emmy Awards for her role as mob wife Carmela Soprano on HBO's "The Sopranos."

Last year, Falco announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, but was successfully treated.

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Baby News

'Mission Impossible' Tom & Katie Expecting


Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise

Batten down the hatches, not to mention Oprah Winfrey's on-set furniture: Tom Cruise is having a baby. The amped-up star, who spent the summer on "Spinal Tap 11," declaring his love for Katie Holmes on talk shows, in magazine interviews and atop the Eiffel Tower, is expecting a child with his "magnificent" bride-to-be.

News of the joint production was first trumpeted Wednesday, October 5 by People magazine. "I can confirm that," spokeswoman Marlan Willard said when asked about the report, but added that she had no information about a due date or any other details.

A statement from Cruise's chief publicist, his sister and the Cruise-Holmes spawn's future aunt, Lee Anne DeVette, confirmed the pregnancy to E! "They are so happy," DeVette said of the expectant parents. There was no word on when the child, the couple's first, was due. DeVette added, "Tom and Katie are very excited, and the entire family is every excited." No wedding date for the couple has been set.


Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise announce happy news

Even in fast-moving celebrity circles, where Renee Zellweger can go from single to married to awaiting an annulment in nine months, the Cruise-Holmes relationship has evolved at lightning speed. Before April, when the duo began making very public displays of affection, it seemed unlikely that Hollywood's reigning box-office king would share a conversation, much less a paparazzi shot, with the onetime "Dawson's Creek" TV star.

Last fall, in an interview with Seventeen, Holmes spoke of the nearly 20-years-older Cruise only in hypothetical, schoolgirl-crush terms. "I think every little girl dreams about [her wedding]," she told the magazine. "I used to think I was going to marry Tom Cruise."

At the time, Holmes was due to marry "American Pie" star Chris Klein, her longtime fiancé. But the pair announced their split in February. Cruise, 43, and Holmes, 27, began dating in mid-April. By May, Cruise had drawn snickers and raised eyebrows with a manic, couch-hopping appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in a demonstration of his love for the former Joey Potter.


Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise share a moment

In a romantic sweep-her-off-her-feet gesture, the "Risky Business" star proposed to Holmes atop the Eiffel Tower in Paris in June. At a news conference the next day, Cruise confirmed their engagement to a sea of reporters who pelted the superstar with question after question about the pending nuptials.

While Holmes is a newbie in the parenting department, Cruise has had some experience. The twice-married Cruise, currently shooting the action movie "Mission: Impossible III," adopted two children, Connor, 10, and Isabella, 12, with former wife Nicole Kidman.

DeVette would not comment on the baby's gender or say how far along the pregnancy is. The representative did say that Holmes, 26, "has never felt better." Cruise, 43, is currently shooting "Mission: Impossible 3" in Los Angeles.

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Engagement News

Tate Donovan Tastes 'Love Potion No. 9'


Corinne Kingsbury and Tate Donovan

"The OC" actor Tate Donovan, 42, is engaged to Corinne Kingsbury, 29, an L.A.-based entrepreneur, People reports in its latest issue. Donovan plays Marissa's dad, Jimmy Cooper on the popular Fox teen soap opera.

The lifelong bachelor, a onetime beau of Sandra Bullock's and Jennifer Aniston's, ran the New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 6 and then will attend a six-hour preparatory marriage counseling session the next day. "Hopefully I can do it in a hot tub," jokes the actor, who currently appears in George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck."

Meanwhile, Tate's TV daughter, Mischa Barton, 19, has a new romance of her own brewing with 27-year-old singer Cisco Adler of the L.A. rock outfit Whitestarr. "She's really happy," says a source close to Barton. "They're taking it one day at a time, but they're together and having fun."

Barton, who broke up with oil heir Brandon Davis in July, and Adler, whose failed engagement to Rod Stewart's daughter Kimberly reportedly resulted in her altering a tattoo from "Daddy's Little Girl Loves Cisco" to "Daddy's Little Girl Loves Disco," have been spotted dining around L.A.

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Baby News

'Big & Rich' Singer Has 'Little' One


Christiev and 'Big' Kenny Alphin

"Big" Kenny Alphin, the 6'3" half of the Nashville duo Big & Rich, and his wife, Christiev Alphin, had a baby boy Wednesday, November 2, People has learned. Lincoln William Holiday Alphin was born around 7:45 a.m. Mother and child are doing fine, according to their representative. This is the couple's first child.

Alphin, 42, and his musical partner, John Rich, hit the big time two years ago with "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)," from their debut album, "Horse of a Different Color." Then, there are their colorful outfits: At a recent Florida concert, Rich sported white rhinestone cowboy duds while Alphin wore a funky feathered hat and black T-shirt that proclaimed him to be the "universal ambassador of love."

In 2001, Alphin and Rich were among the founders of a new country movement called the "Muzik Mafia," responsible for nurturing such artists as Cowboy Troy and Gretchen Wilson, whose hit "Redneck Woman" was also co-written by Rich. Big & Rich's second album, "Comin' To Your City," arrives in stores November 15.

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Baby News

Jennifer Beals 'Dances' Into Motherhood
by Alison Gee


Jennifer Beals

Actress Jennifer Beals and her husband, Ken L. Dixon, had their first child together, a healthy baby girl, last month, People has learned exclusively. "The family is very happy and Jennifer and the baby are doing great," Beals' publicist told the magazine. says her spokesperson. The baby's name has not been released.

Beals, 41, stars on Showtime's popular series,"The L Word." She first rose to stardom after her performance as the lead in 1983's "Flashdance." Her other film credits include "The Runaway Jury" and "Roger Dodger." It is Beals' first child. Dixon, a Canadian entrepreneur, has two children from a previous marriage.

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Baby News

Bo Bice 'Idolizes' Fatherhood
by Jennifer Wulff and Beverly Keel


Carolyn and Bo Bice pose for an adorable family portrait with new son,
Aidan Michael cradled safely in daddy's arms. Upon closer observation,
the Bice's dog, Gracie appears to still be the real baby in the family with
one of newborn Aidan's pacifiers in his mouth.

"American Idol" runner-up Bo Bice has had quite a year. In less than 12 months, he's married Caroline Fisher, 25, his longtime girlfriend; moved into a new home in Nashville (while offering his old house in Alabama to a family who had lost their home in Hurricane Katrina) and changed his son Aidan's diaper for the first time, People reports in its latest issue.

Since his first single, "Inside Your Heaven," debuted on the pop chart at No. 1 in July, Bice has also collaborated with Carlos Santana on the guitarist's new CD. He's about to tape a concert special that will air on the Oxygen network day, December 11. And, to the delight of 'Idol' fans, his debut album, "The Real Thing," will hit stores on day, December 13.

"It's been pretty hectic," he says. Currently Bice is taking a quick breather at his six-acre Nashville spread with his wife and new son. As for Aidan's birth in September, Bice says calming his wife while she was in labor came naturally to him.


Aidan Michael Bice

"This is going to sound awful, but we've had so many litters of kittens with our cat Caboodles, and it really wasn't much different from that," he says. "You sit there and try to soothe your cat and tell her everything is going to be all right. That's pretty much what I did with my wife." He pauses before adding: "My approval rating just went through the floor, didn't it?" Not likely.

"Bo's the best dad," says Caroline. "He'll just sit and stare at Aidan. He loves him with all his heart." He's also a hands-on dad: "I was up at 3 the other morning with a bottle in my hand," says Bice. And that's a blessing, he adds: "That wasn't the kind of bottle I'd have in my hand five or six years ago at 3 in the morning."

In his early 20s, Bice readily admits, he was a hard partyer. In 2001 he was arrested on cocaine possession charges, and in 2003 he was charged with marijuana possession. Both charges were later dropped. "I went through treatment and did the whole court thing and weekly screenings and everything," he says. It was around that time that he met Caroline.


Bo Bice with legendary Country Rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd perform
the classic 'Sweet Home Alabama' on 'American Idol's' season finale.

Caroline was a waitress at the bar next door to the Birmingham, Alabama, music store where he worked. Although they were just friends at first, "she was a big part of me turning my life around," he says. "We knew we were soulmates." Bice also began attending a local church. "My perspective on life changed," he says.

"There's not a morning I see a sunrise and don't give full glory to God for it," Bice said. These days, even though he has performed before millions on TV, he says he most enjoys singing for an audience of one: Aidan. He'll even accept some criticism from the little guy. "If he's crying when I'm singing, I'll try to change the key and see what he says," says Bice.

"Aidan's a new form of entertainment around here." And if there's ever a "Baby Idol" show, watch out, says his dad: "Hopefully we’ll get a guitar in his hands in a year or so."