Madonna admits 'doubt and weakness'

Madonna has revealed she is plagued by insecurity and self-doubt despite the image of her "charmed life".

The singer spoke of her feelings in a candid open letter in her fanzine, Icon.

"I am rich and famous. I have a great career. I have a talented and gorgeous husband and two beautiful children," wrote Madonna.

She added: "But you would not be looking at the whole picture if that was all you could see. I too have my moments of doubt and weakness."

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Ex-Casualty star tackles The Rock

Former Casualty actor Steven Brand can be seen doing battle with global wrestling star The Rock in his first major movie The Scorpion King, released across the UK on Friday.

Brand, who played Adam Cooke in Casualty, stars as fierce warlord Memnom in the prequel to The Mummy Returns which sees him pitted against The Rock's character Mathayus.

And, despite the 18st, 6ft 5ins frame of The Rock - whose real name is Dwayne Johnson - Brand declared he had not been intimidated by the encounter.

"He was great to work with, he's as sweet as a pussycat, a real gentle giant," Brand said.

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Wynette's daughters settle legal action

The daughters of the singer Tammy Wynette have dropped their legal action against a doctor over her death.

The country star's four daughters were suing for $50m (£34,536m), claiming Dr Marsh had mismanaged her case and contributed to her death in 1998.

Lawyers for both sides said they had agreed an undisclosed out-of-court settlement.

Wynette, best known for her hit Stand By Your Man, died aged 55 of heart failure caused by chronic blood clots.

She suffered for years with painful stomach ailments and was treated for addiction to painkillers.

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'Kylie's hotpants' dropped from sale

Organisers of a charity auction have been forced to withdraw a pair of hotpants from the sale after earlier saying they had belonged to Kylie Minogue and worn in one of her videos.

The item was taken out of the sale after the organisers admitted they were not certain the pants had ever been worn by the singer.

A spokeswoman said: "We can't verify whether these pants are authentic or not so unfortunately we have had to pull them from the auction."

She said the organisers were now unsure who had donated the hotpants to the auction, which was being held on Thursday at London's Alexandra Palace.

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Three tenors perform final football show

Classical tenors Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti are to stage a concert in Yokohama, Japan in June to mark the World Cup soccer finals.

The Three Tenors have become a fixture at football's top tournament, having performed at the last three finals in Rome, Los Angeles and Paris.

But they have decided this will be the last time they perform together at the World Cup.

The concert will be held on 27 June at the 10,000-seat Yokohama Arena and will also feature three singers each from the World Cup host countries, South Korea and Japan.

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Baby boy for Depp and Paradis

Actor Johnny Depp and French singer Vanessa Paradis are celebrating the birth of their second child, a baby boy.

Paradis gave birth to Jack John Christopher Depp III in Paris, on 9 April.

A spokeswoman for the couple said: "Mother and son are doing great."

Depp and Paradis are also parents of a two-year-old girl, Lily-Rose.