When most people think “celebrity” they think old school celebs like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.  However, just like professional sports have their training ground for new stars, the world of professional celebrity is constantly hatching new careers.   And the minor league for celebrities seems to be Disney.  If you keep your eye on the Disney Channel, you may just be witnessing the emergence of the next hot star.

Of all the hottest upcoming celebrities, perhaps the most well known is Miley Cyrus.   In the past year, Miley has had a number of photo scandals that have raised her profile.  She’s basically established herself as the heir to the Brit/Paris/Linds generation.  Check it out: Miley Cyrus photos.

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Dolphin-saving cutie Hayden Panettiere, who currently appears as Claire Bennet in the Heroes TV series, is branching out. I don’t mean the movies Fireflies in the Garden (2008) and I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009). She has her debut album coming out this spring on Hollywood Records. (You can find out more on Hayden’s MySpace page.) She does already have a handful of credits in movies and TV for performing soundtracks as well as one composing credit - My Hero is You, on the 2004 TV movie Tiger Cruise.

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Every celeb that attended Ashton Kutcher’s big birthday bash on Feb 7th are probably running scared, after news that one of the bartenders was infected with Hepatitis A. All attendees - including A-listers Kutcher, Demi Moore, Madonna, Bruce Willis, Gwyneth Paltrow and Salma Hayek - are being urged to get a Hep A vaccination. Unfortunately, this bartender worked on two other days at the Socialista nightclub, and as many as 800 people could have visited on the three days.

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If it wasn’t enough that almost every fertile celebrity vagina was occupied for the past two calendar years, now a few celebs seem to have escalated bragging rights. Jennifer Lopez just checked in to her boutique… I mean hospital room to have her twins. And Jessica Alba is said to be having twins. Angelina Jolie is either having twins or triplets, as well as adopting yet another child with Brad Pitt.

But Minnie Driver, who still hasn’t named the father, is only expecting a girl - just one. Britney Spears might also be pregnant again. Tara Reid is not pregnant, but some woman claims to have bought a box of items at an auction that include pictures of Reid as a baby. She says that there are also letters to Reid from her now-deceased maternal grandmother.

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Calling all celebretard drunkards… I mean young, social, outgoing celebrities. Having trouble with sobriety? Listen to Drew Barrymore’s advice: pull it together for yourself. Barrymore has been through it before and she’s managed to stay sober for a while now.

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You probably already know that popstar Pink and motocrosser Carey Hart are divorcing. You might even know that Hart was pictured with a young woman a few days ago. (At least, the photo was online a few days ago.) The announcement came shortly after that, but this has probably been a while coming - despite Hart’s protestations back in August 2007 that the marriage was in trouble, and current explanations that their careers got in the way.

While they’ve been dating on and off since 2001, Pink proposed in Jun 2005. They married in Jan 2006.

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Kirsten Dunst recently checked into the Cirque Lodge in Utah, where a few other celebs have been or currently are. Depending on the sources, Dunst ended up there because of her paryting, or because of the split with Jake Gyllenhaal in 2005 - which supposedly came about because of her partying. Is your head spinning?

Gyllenhaal is currently dating Reese Witherspoon, which has apparently drawn negative response from his mother and Dunst - both of whom were expecting a reuniting.

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Kirstie Alley has reportedly decided not to do anymore Jenny Craig commercials, but she is still on their program. Valerie Bertinelli will take over, and Queen Latifah will be starting a new campaign. (You’ve probably already seen the really weird commercial where Queen Latifah is walking down a street and people are shouting cryptic things like “you go girl” and “great idea”. Yeah, the one where she looks as if she’s contemplating punching them out.)

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Just a bit of celebrity dirt for the end of the year 2007.

Britney’s Gonna Get It! Deposed, That Is
You can run, Britney, but you can’t hide. Show that you really care about your kids by showing up for your next deposition. Stop lying and get help and prove that you’re better than that smug asswipe of an ex-husband.

Sean McEnroe: Like Father Like Son?
John McEnroe was one of the enfant terribles of tennis, and it seems his son with actress Tatum O’Neal, 20-year old Sean, is a lot like dad. When he was refused entry to an NYC nightclub, he threw a fit like dad might do. Dropping dad’s name didn’t help, so Sean fell drunkenly into bags of garbage instead.

Jennifer Garner: The West Virginian
Jennifer Garner was declared the West Virginian of the Year by her “hometown” newspaper in Charleston. Except she’s originally from Texas and moved to West Virginia when she was four. And now she’s in Hollywood. And New York. Okay, okay, so this bit isn’t exactly dirt.

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Is it really any surprise that Lynne Spears sees daughters Britney and Jamie Lynn as a piggybank? I recall reading reports of her pushing Britney into fame years ago, telling her how to act (i.e., seductively) and so on, and how this started causing strife.

It’s nothing new, and Lynne Spears is not the first parent to do this sort of thing - nor will she be the last. However, this seems to happen more to girls in entertainment and boys in sports. Tennis, hockey and even golf are often full of kids who got pushed by parents. Tiger Woods appeared on Mike Douglas’ talkshow when he was a cute little pipsqueak of three (if I recall correctly). He was already playing golf. Wane Gretzky’s father pushed him in hockey - though I believe Gretzky enjoyed.

The question is, what can you do to prevent more popwrecks like Britney Spears? Really very little, unless you have much influence over the parent who is pushing - it almost always is just one parent, who denied their own fame feels they have to push the kid.

If Lynne Spears is such a great mom like Dr. Phil claims, would Britney Spears be on the verge of suicide? Maybe. But now we have Jamie Lynn Spears, pregnant at 16 - possibly by a much older executive - and thrust into a limelight that she didn’t want. Maybe she, like many young girls who get pregnant do, was hoping this man could rescue her away from home.

My feeling is that parents should not manage their kids fame, beyond being there for them and encouraging them. But it’s not like we can or even want to legislate this.

Of course, maybe Lynne Spears is realizing that she can’t bank on her daughters anymore and so she’s planning to go ahead on finishing her parenting book, of all things. Hmm. I’m thinking maybe she’d better start saving her money.

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