Hollywood star Joaquin Phoenix escaped unhurt from a serious car accident on Thursday, thanks to his seatbelt. The Walk the Line heart-throb, 31, was driving along a canyon road above Sunset Strip in Los Angeles when his brakes failed. The actor lost control of his car, which overturned and collided with another vehicle, police spokesman Jason Lee confirms. Fortunately both drivers were unhurt and Phoenix was able to walk away from the scene after he was assisted out of the vehicle. His publicist Susan Patricola says, "His brakes went out and the car flipped over. But he's doing fine. He may be very sore in the morning, but right now he is doing OK." Patricola adds the accident will not affect his planned attendance of the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) Awards on Sunday.

Oprah Winfrey has taken author James Frey to task over his decision to lie to her about his disputed memoir. Winfrey has defended the writer amid claims he fabricated details of his book A Million Little Pieces, which Winfrey chose for her Book Club last year - prompting a sales surge. She has since discovered that Frey's story of substance abuse and recovery features information about a questionable drug rehab stint, which critics claim is inaccurate. During a taped episode of her show, which aired in America yesterday, Oprah told Frey, "It is difficult for me to talk to you because I really feel duped... I feel that you betrayed millions of readers." Winfrey even defended Frey, 36, when he appeared on a recent Larry King Live show on CNN after scandal website The Smoking Gun exposed the author as a reported liar. The media mogul has since been widely criticized and now admits she regrets standing up for Frey on King's show, stating, "I left the impression that the truth is not important." Frey has acknowledged he embellished parts of the book, and he told Winfrey on her show, "I made a mistake." Bosses at Frey's publishers, Doubleday, have insisted the writer pens a brief author's note for future editions of his memoir, explaining some details are embellished.

Australian actress Nicole Kidman is set to promote women's rights around the world in her latest role as a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Development Fund (UNIFEM). The 38-year-old star has fulfilled the same role for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) since 1994, but wants to expand her reach and use her iconic status to empower females everywhere. And the actress is well respected by the organization; they recently allowed her 2005 movie The Interpreter to become the first film shot inside New York City's UN building. Kidman's role will see her promote issues pertaining to gender equality and women's rights.

Winona Ryder has paid tribute to actor Chris Penn, her co-star in new movie The Darwin Awards, whose body was found on Tuesday. The 40-year-old was found dead in his Santa Monica, California, apartment by a housekeeper. Coroners have yet to determine a definite cause of death, but suspect he died of natural causes, related to his size and history of drug abuse. Speaking at a screening of The Darwin Awards at the Sundance Film Festival last night, Ryder said, "I really hope people go back and watch his movies. He was such a fantastic actor. He's not just Sean's little brother. He was Chris Penn." Director Finn Taylor added that Penn "gave an incredible performance in the film that's going to make a lot of people laugh for a years to come."

A member of Adrian Grenier's real-life entourage was rushed to hospital on Monday night after the actor tried unsuccessfully to revive her. The actor tried to resuscitate a publicist for the Sundance Film Festival, who collapsed while she was partying with the Entourage star in Park City, Utah. A witness tells the New York Daily News, "Everyone was just drinking beer and singing karaoke around her while she slept upright on the couch. Someone lifted her eyelid, saw her eyes roll back (in her head) and then everyone freaked out. The paramedics, the police, everyone came." Grenier gave a statement to police on the scene. The publicist was treated for altitude sickness and dehydration. The unnamed woman's boss, Lara Shriftman, says, "She didn't sleep and she didn't eat and she just fainted. She was back at work at 10am (Tuesday morning)."

The finalization of Russell Crowe's Australian citizenship was delayed on Wednesday, because officials couldn't finish the paperwork in time. After Crowe was born in New Zealand capital, Wellington, his parents moved to Australia when he was a young child, and he has lived there ever since. The Oscar winner was set to become an official Aussie at a ceremony at Canberra's Parliament House on live television on Wednesday, until it was cancelled at the last minute. A spokeswoman for broadcasters Ten says, "The producers did look into it as part of the telecast but the Government wasn't able to facilitate the process in time. He's keen but they couldn't do it in time. There are obviously certain protocols that need to be adhered to."

Seven people have admitted piracy charges after copying and sharing a DVD copy of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith before it was released in cinemas last year. The six American men and one woman face a maximum $100,000 fine and one year in jail for allowing an eighth individual to upload the film onto the Internet. Albert Valente, 28, swiped a copy of the George Lucas-directed film from his workplace in Los Angeles and passed it along to the others until it reached an eighth party, Marc Hoaglin, 28, who has admitted to putting a copy on the internet. Hoaglin is due to be sentenced in March. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said in a statement, "We are glad to see the Star Wars thieves brought to justice. Stealing copyrights is a serious problem, and the theft and illegal distribution of Revenge of the Sith was a glaring example of how the actions of dishonest people can cheat the movie-watching experience."

French designer John Paul Gaultier showered pop icon Madonna with rose petals at the end of his fashion show in Paris, France, yesterday, even though she delayed the start of the show for over an hour. Photographers and camera crews fought to get a shot of the singer as she made her way to her front-row seat, where she sat next to Naomi Campbell's ex-boyfriend, flamenco dancer Joaquin Cortes. The designer didn't seem to mind Madonna's late arrival saying, "I'm excited, I'm really in love more with her. I'm very happy that she came." Gaultier further paid tribute to his superstar pal when he included the singer's "Erotica" hit in his fashion show soundtrack. And then, at the end of the show, the designer ran down the runway and showered the singer with white rose petals. Gaultier is designing the costumes for Madonna's upcoming world tour and is famous for creating the conical-shaped bra that she wore during her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour.

TV mogul Aaron Spelling has been slapped with a harassment lawsuit by a former nurse, who claims he groped her and masturbated in her presence. Charlene Richards claims the 82-year-old Charlie's Angels and Melrose Place TV mogul repeatedly placed his hand on her "groin and genital area" and grabbed her breasts. In the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles yesterday and obtained by entertainment news website TMZ.com, Richards alleges Spelling exposed himself to her and solicited oral sex. The nurse alleges sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination and sexual battery. Spelling sued Richards for defamation last November, claiming she violated a confidentiality agreement by spreading rumors that he sexually harassed her. The TV producer's lawyer Bert Fields insists the lawsuit is "totally baseless."

Veteran funnymen Mickey Rooney and Dick Van Dyke are set to return to the big screen to star in Ben Stiller's new comedy Night At The Museum. The pair will play security guards at New York City's famous Museum Of Natural History. In the film, Stiller will play a bumbling security guard who accidentally lets loose an ancient curse that causes the extinct animals and insects on display to come to life and wreak havoc. Director Shawn Levy is looking forward to filming inside the actual museum. He says, "We're going to shoot several days with Ben and several of the other cast members in New York and then we built the interior of a museum in Vancouver (Canada). This movie is a love letter to museums and museum culture." The family film will begin shooting this week and is scheduled for a holiday release in the US later this year.

Pixar and Disney have announced they have cancelled plans to make a third installment of the popular Toy Story movies. Studio executives decided the script wasn't up to the standard the previous movies had set and didn't want to make the film with a less than stellar storyline, according to Moviehole.net. The third installment would have featured animated toy astronaut Buzz Lightyear getting recalled to Taiwan after a series of malfunctions.