LOS ANGELES – Motorcycle man Jesse James is engaged to tattoo artist Kat Von D.
James and Von D began dating over the summer after his very public split from Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock.
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The 41-year-old biker-businessman and reality TV star called Von D his best friend. Von D, whose real name is Katherine von Drachenberg, says James is the one. The 28-year-old stars on the TLC reality show “LA Ink.”
James told People magazine, “2010 was actually the best year of my life because I fell in love with my best friend. An amazing woman who stood behind me when the world turned their backs.”
James and Bullock were married for five years. Their marriage collapsed amid allegations of infidelity just after Bullock won an Oscar for her role in “The Blind Side” in March, 2010.
James apologized publicly to the actress and his three children from previous relationships for causing them “pain and embarrassment beyond comprehension.”
He later told ABC’s “Nightline” that he was the most hated man in the world for capping off Bullock’s career high with a deeply personal low.
Mellencamp files divorce papers
NASHVILLE, Ind. – Rocker John Mellencamp has filed for divorce in southern Indiana’s Brown County.
The Brown County Clerk’s office tells The Herald-Times of Bloomington that a three-page petition against Elaine Irwin-Mellencamp was filed in Circuit Court on Jan. 14, two weeks after the couple announced that they were splitting after 18 years of marriage.
Irwin-Mellencamp is 59-year-old Mellencamp’s third wife. They married on Sept. 5, 1992, and have two teenage sons, Hud and Speck Mellencamp.
Mellencamp and his first wife, Priscilla French, had one daughter, Michelle. Mellencamp has two other daughters, Teddi Jo and Justice, with his second wife, Victoria. The couple divorced in 1990.
Mellencamp’s latest album, “No Better Than This,” was released earlier this year.
Nugent avoids charges for hunting pheasants
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A South Dakota official says rocker and avid hunter Ted Nugent will not be charged with violating any state game laws for shooting pheasants last fall after some of his hunting privileges were revoked in California.
Both states are part of a compact in which they can honor each other’s license revocations.
Andy Alban in South Dakota’s Department of Game, Fish and Parks said officials determined that Nugent’s license revocation in California for deer hunting didn’t disqualify him from getting a license to hunt pheasants.
Nugent had hunted pheasants in southwest South Dakota last October. Alban says Nugent was exercising a small-game privilege that didn’t have anything to do with what happened in California.
Borat to Bruno to Saddam
LOS ANGELES – As if his portrayals of Borat and Bruno weren’t outrageous enough, Sacha Baron Cohen’s next role will be playing Saddam Hussein.
The British comic will star in and co-write “The Dictator,” which is scheduled for release in May 2012, Paramount Pictures said Wednesday. Larry Charles, who directed Baron Cohen in “Bruno” and “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” will direct once again.
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