HBO’s hot vampire hit doesn’t return until June 10, but the network posted a series of teaser images Friday to whet fans’ appetites and provided the first glimpse of new series regular Chris Meloni in character as a vampire named Roman.

Meloni’s character is “an ancient, powerful vampire who holds the fate of Bill and Eric in his hands,” True Blood executive producer Alan Ball told TVLine.

True Blood marks Meloni’s return to TV, a year after he parted ways with NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where he spent 12 seasons as Det. Elliot Stabler. Prior to his SVU stint, Meloni often dropped trou during his time on HBO’s prison drama Oz, where he played bisexual inmate Chris Keller.

But Jennifer Lopez didn’t let the blues show as she reported to work on American Idol.

The judge looked absolutely stunning in one of her sexiest looks yet: a skintight mesh and leather bondage dress, complimented with flawless makeup and a “Love” necklace around her neck.

On Wednesday’s performance show it was also otherwise business as usual for Lopez and the competitors marveled to reporters about the singer’s professional attitude despite Wednesday’s big news.

“Jennifer is a superstar,” Colton Dixon said backstage. “I never would’ve known from her attitude tonight that that was released today. She’s a class act and so genuine, she’s a very independent woman and she knows how to handle herself.”

Lopez’s consolation prize, of course, is hot new beau Casper Smart, a frequent fixture on the Idol set.

“They are cute together!” Jessica Sanchez gushed of dancer Smart, 25.

In his divorce filing, Anthony asked for joint legal and physical custody of the twins, and requested that each party pay for their own legal fees.

The exes have remained amicable collaborating on their new reality show Q’VIVA! The Chosen.

As TMZ first reported that Maria has waffled on divorcing her hubby, partly because he still has a strong emotional hold on her and partly because divorce runs counter to her religion. But we’re told as time passes and both Arnold and Maria have created separate lives, divorce is looking more certain.

We’re told Arnold believes Maria’s friends have done everything they can to poison the waters, imploring Maria to stay clear of him.

And our sources say Arnold and Maria are already “very close” in working out a financial settlement.

Whatever they decide, we’re told both Arnold and Maria are in lockstep over one thing making the break up as painless as possible for their kids.

Aishwarya Rai Bachhan

In 1994 Aishwarya Rai Bachhan won the Miss World pageant . Rai has featured in films in various languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali.

Rai made her acting debut in Mani Ratnam‘s Tamil biopic film Iruvar (1997), where she worked alongside Mohanlal. The film was a critical success and won many awards, including Best Film award at the Belgrade International Film Festival, and two National Film Awards. Rai appeared in dual roles, one of which was a depiction of political leader and former actress J. Jayalalithaa. Rai made her Bollywood debut in the film in Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya, opposite Bobby Deol, which released the same year; the film was unsuccessful at the box office. Her third project, Jeans (1998), a high-budget Tamil film directed by S. Shankar, was a commercial success. The film included the song “Poovukkul“, written by Vairamuthu, in which Rai’s character is compared to the seven wonders of the world and described as the eighth. The film was India’s official entry to the Academy Awards in that year.

Aishwarya Rai is a two-time winner of the Filmfare Best Actress Award, and has been nominated for Filmfare Awards eleven times. She has won numerous times at the International Indian Film Academy Awards, Star Screen Awards, Zee Cine Awards, and others. In 2009 Rai was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest Indian civilian award, for her contributions to Indian cinema. In 2001 Forbes named Rai among the top five Indian movie stars. In a reader poll conducted by UK’s Hello! magazine, she was voted “the most attractive woman of 2003″. In the same year, Rai appeared in Rolling Stone magazine’s annual “Hot List”. In 2004 she was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the world’s most influential people, and appeared on the cover of its 2003 Asia edition. In October 2004 a wax figure of Rai was put on display in London’s Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. She was the sixth Indian and the second Bollywood personality—after her father-in-law, Amitabh Bachchan—to get this honour. In 2007 the same figure was displayed at Madame Tussaud’s Museum in Times Square in New York.

n 2005 she was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile on 2 January, which said that “at least according to thousands of Web sites, Internet polls and even Julia Roberts”, she was “the world’s most beautiful woman”. The same year, a tulip in the Netherlands was named “Aishwarya Rai” after her.Also in 2005, Mattel released a limited edition of Barbie dolls of Aishwarya Rai in the United Kingdom. The British magazine Maxim ranked Rai first on their list of “Hottest Women of India”.

Rai appeared on such shows as Late Show with David Letterman, and was the first Bollywood personality to appear on Oprah’s “Women Across the Globe” segment. In 2005 Harpers and Queen‘s list of “Most Beautiful Women in The World” ranked her ninth. In May 2006 Aishwarya was featured in People Magazine as one of the “World’s Most Beautiful People”. The UK magazine Eastern Eye ranked her third in the list of “Asia’s Sexiest Women” in 2006, and she was ranked eighth in 2009. In 2008 American television channel E!: Entertainment listed Aishwarya’s eyes as the sexiest on their Sexiest Body Parts list. In 2009 she made appearances on Martha Stewart‘s show Martha and on the The Tyra Banks Show. In the same year Forbes listed Rai at 387th out of 1,411 actors on their list of the most bankable stars in Hollywood. She is the highest-ranked Indian actor on the list.

In 2009, Rai refused to accept the second-highest Order Of France, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, as her father was suffering from a serious illness, and she wanted her whole family to attend the award ceremony. She is the fourth Indian actor—after Sivaji Ganesan, Nandita Das, and Shahrukh Khan—to be chosen for the award. Amitabh Bachchan was chosen for another Order Of France, the Legion of Honour. In June 2009 she was declared the Female Star of The Decade at the tenth International Indian Film Academy Awards, held in Macau.^[145] In December 2010 she was declared the “Actress of the Decade” at the BIG Star Entertainment Awards. In March 2011 Rai was honoured by Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa at World Kannada Meet (Vishwa Kannada Sammelana) for her contributions to the arts. Later that month she was presented with the “Decade of Global Achievement Honour” by FICCI. She attended the 83rd Academy Awards, along with her husband, Abhishek

Filmography

This makes the movie, an adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ dystopian young adult fantasy novel and starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, the third-best box office debut of all time, the best film opening for any non-summer movie, and the biggest debut for a nonsequel.news-365

Still ahead of The Hunger Games — but not by much! — are The Dark Knight, which earned $158.5 million in its July 2008 opening, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which made $169.2 million in its first weekend last summer.news-365

The widely praised epic (Us Weekly’s Eric Andersson gave it 3.5 stars and called it “gripping, breathtaking and poignant”) trumped the debuts of heavyweight blockbusters such as 2007′s Spider-Man 3, 2009′s The Twilight Saga: New Moon and last year’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1.news-365

And that’s just the beginning: Collins’ Hunger Games is followed by two more books in the saga, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.news-365

For much more on the movie, including 125 gorgeous photos and exclusive interviews, pick up Us Weekly’s Hunger Games special — available on newsstands now. Order it today!news-365

Jon Hamm

“I’d be a terrible father!” the Mad Men hunk, 41, tells Us Weekly. (As Don Draper on AMC’s smash, the Golden Globe-winning actor plays a devoted if tortured father of three.)news-365

Explains Hamm, now on the big screen in Friends with Kids, costarring and directed by Jennifer Westfeldt, his love of 14 years: “I see my friends who have children and I’m like, ‘Dude, how are you even upright, much less here at work at 6 a.m.?’”news-365

One of those friends with kids is January Jones, who plays his frosty ex-wife Betty on the show, who has a six-month-old son, Xander.news-365

“Xander’s cute as a button!” Hamm raves.

Hamm’s girlfriend Westfeldt, 42, recently mused to the New York Times about why they never started a family.news-365

“I’ve thought about this a lot lately. I never thought I’d be this age and not have kids,” Westfeldt confessed. “But my life has also gone in a million ways I never anticipated. I kept feeling like I’d wake up with absolute clarity, and I haven’t. And we have a pretty great life together. The chance that we’ll regret it doesn’t seem like a compelling enough reason to do it. I may wake up tomorrow with that lighting bolt, and I’ll have to scramble to make it happen.”news-365

A witness tells Us Weekly that Brown “was allowed to go in, pay his respects and then he had to leave. He was red-eyed going up to the casket and then left. He was there for 15 minutes.”

Addressing the speculation that he was thrown out, turned away and rumors that he didn’t show at all, Brown, who’s schedule to perform at a concert Saturday, has released an official statement, explaining the situation in full.

“My children and I were invited to the funeral of my ex-wife Whitney Houston,” he said, referring to his three kids from previous relationships Landon, 26, La’princia, 11, Robert Jr., 10, plus Cassius, his two-year-old with wife Alicia Etheridge. “We were seated by security and then subsequently asked to move on three separate occasions. I fail to understand why security treated my family this way and continue to ask us and no one else to move. Security then prevented me from attempting to see my daughter Bobbi Kristina. In light of the events, I gave a kiss to the casket of my ex-wife the best way I know how.”

Earlier this week, a source told Us that there is still underlying tension between Houston’s relatives and Brown, who married Houston in 1992. Their divorce was finalized in 2007.

“There are family members who felt Bobby drove Whitney into drugs,” one source explained. “But now Bobby is clean and Whitney has unfortunately passed. So there’s resentment.”

The 42-year-old singer-actress has been dating 24-year-old backup dancer Casper Smart since the fall, but Lopez is wary of walking down the aisle a fourth time. (She and husband of seven years Marc Anthony split in July 2011; Lopez was also married to Cris Judd from 2001-2003 and Ojani Noa from 1997-1998).

“Do you think you’ll marry again?” Today show co-host Matt Lauer asked the American Idol judge Monday.

“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. We’ll see. I mean, I don’t know,” a flustered Lopez answered. “It’s not time to think about that yet. It’s still fresh.”

Unlike past loves, Lopez has remained in contact with Anthony, 43, with whom she shares two children, twins Max and Emme, nearly 4. “There is real love there,” she explained of working with her ex-husband on their new TV show, Q’Viva! The Chosen.

“Marc and I were friends before we got married. We were friends for years, and we always loved each other,” Lopez said. “And, obviously, we have children together, so it’s not going to be like he’s not in my life. He’s always going to be in my life.”

At Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, both women escorted their nominated men — Jolie’s longtime love Brad Pitt, Keibler’s guy of six months George Clooney — on the red carpet and inside the Shrine Auditorium.

In a rare photo, all four of the decked-out stars caught up on the red carpet, with Jolie, 36 and Clooney, 50, and Keibler, 32, fixated intently on Pitt, 48; they also posed for a (somewhat awkward!) group shot together.

(Actress and In the Land of Blood and Honey director Jolie sizzled in a black Jenny Peckham dress that showed off her multiple back tattoos; former WWE star Keibler shined in a custom black French hand corded lace fishtail Marchesa gown.)

No word yet on whether Jolie and Keibler had a private one-on-one gabfest. But earlier this month, the brunette and blonde stunners didn’t exactly get along like gangbusters on a private jet flight with their men.
Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com

“Angelina refused to acknowledge that Stacy was even on the plane,” a source told Us Weekly of a Jan. 7 flight from L.A. to the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

“Angelina went out of her way to ignore her, from takeoff to landing. She would not even look Stacy’s way. She was not having it!” the insider added, explaining that Jolie is “really not a girlie girl.”

Both Pitt and his pal Clooney walked home empty handed at Sunday’s awards, bested in the Outstanding Male Actor in a Leading Role category by Frenchman Jean Dujardin from The Artist.

The soap opera star was wracked with grief after his beloved pit bull Rocco was euthanized Tuesday — the same day Santino turned 47.

“Today I betrayed my best friend and put down my best friend,” Santino wrote in a suicide note, according to close friend Stuart Sarnoff. “Rocco trusted me and I failed him. He didn’t deserve this.”

The actor, who appeared on seven episodes of All My Children and six episodes of Guiding Light, had been feeling “harassed” by his building management company, according to his neighbor Lia Pettigrew.

He was allegedly threatened with a $250 fine for having a barking dog, but according to neighbor Kevan Cleary, “the dog was not a barker, but somebody complained that the dog would bark.”

Santino phoned a former girlfriend at 2 a.m. Wednesday. Police found Santino’s body in his bedroom later that afternoon. The actor had overdosed on pills.

The actor’s pet Rocco has been cremated; friends tell The New York Post Santino’s remains will also be cremated.