Celebrity Trash

Dennis Hopper is out of the hospital after being taken to a New York City emergency room via ambulance on Wednesday (September 30th). The 73-year-old actor's manager Sam Maydew announced his release on Thursday (October 1st), explaining that the Easy Rider star was treated for dehydration but is "now back in his hotel room and feeling much better." Maydew added, "Dennis would like to thank everyone for their will wishes and he looks forward to getting back to work on Crash."


Late Show host David Letterman told his studio audience last night (Thursday, October 1st) that he has had sexual dalliances with several women on his staff, and that a blackmailer attempted to extort two million dollars from him to keep it secret. Letterman took the threat, received three weeks ago, to the Manhattan District Attorney's office. The DA opened an investigation, and yesterday morning, Letterman said, he testified before a grand jury about the case.


The late Michael Jackson was not the sickly man some tabloids had reported him to be at the time of his death. According to the Associated Press, which obtained a copy of the Los Angeles County coroner's report, Jackson was a fairly healthy 50-year-old before he died last June of an overdose of the sedative poprofol.

Jackson was thin, but his 136-pound weight fell within the range of a normal five-foot-nine man. His heart was strong, as were his liver, kidney, and other organs.
But the report also noted that the singer had some arthritis in his lower back and some fingers, and that mild plaque buildup had been found in the arteries of his legs. The most serious detail in the autopsy concerned the singer's lungs, which were chronically inflamed and likely left him short of breath. But the condition was not considered serious enough to have contributed to Jackson's death.
"His overall health was fine," said Dr. Zeev Kain, chairman of the anesthesiology department at the University of California, Irvine told AP. "The results are within normal limits."
Besides propofol, the autopsy showed the presence of an anesthetic and at least three other sedatives in Jackson's body. It was Dr. Kain's opinion that the other sedatives likely increased Jackson's risk of respiratory failure.
The coroner's office had ruled last month that Jackson's June 25th death was a homicide caused by "acute propofol intoxication."