Gossip

Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer, the actor’s physician announced last week. Pancreatic cancer is usually caught too late for treatment, and only 4 percent of patients who receive surgery or chemotherapy survive more than five years. But Dr. George Fisher denied a report by The National Enquirer that the actor had only five weeks to live. “Patrick has a very limited amount of the disease and he appears to be responding well to treatment,” he said.

Lisa Marie Presley is suing the London Daily Mail for printing false reports on the reason for her weight gain. The paper had said she was “piling on the pounds,” and suggested that she was in an emotional tailspin. “After being the target all week of slanderous and degrading stories,” said Presley, “I have had to show my cards and announce under the gun and under vicious personal attack that I am in fact pregnant.” Presley, who is on her fourth marriage, said she had wanted to keep her news private.

Heath Ledger wrote his will before his relationship with Michelle Williams and the birth of their daughter, Matilda, and left all his assets to his parents and siblings, said the New York Daily News. Ledger’s father, though, said they will share his fortune with his granddaughter. “Matilda is our absolute priority and Michelle is an integral part of our family,” said Ledger’s father. “They will be taken care of and that’s how Heath would want it to be.”

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The Chinese government said it would impose new restrictions on foreign performers after the singer Björk chanted “Tibet! Tibet!” after singing a song called “Declare Indepen­dence” at a Chinese concert. The political statement “not only broke Chinese laws and regulations and hurt the feelings of Chinese people but also went against the professional code of an artist,” said China’s Ministry of Culture.