Stand by Your (Rented) Man!

Too funny. The Manny, that is, Perry Taylor, is not--as has previously been reported--exclusively bod-guarding for Jude Law, so say those who hang with Tyra Banks. Uh-huh, the hunky reddish-blondie-boy is freelancing for the model cum gab-show host, as well as Law.

See, goon-guard goss has it that Mr. T. is working for a generic protection company, not any star, per se.

"He is completely harmless and as dumb as a box of rocks but as cute as a bucket of kittens," gabbed a Taylor colleague who deals über-closely with P.T. "Perry is a day player and doesn't get placed on long stints," relayed Desk Manny.

D.M. further speculated that Mr. Taylor isn't necessarily out of Britney's life forever, even though official reppers for the Spears-Federline compound have been mum on all things Manny ever since I discovered the navy and Taylor didn't exactly have a long-standing relationship--wonder why?

Perhaps Perry's just a quickie kinda guy.

"Tyra gets him over at CBS sometimes," explained my bod-guard connection, "and so do some celebs on the Craig Ferguson show." P.T., for the literary record, usually waits around for his charges with a book, no tacky goss rags for this beefy boy!

And want to know what many worker bees at the aforementioned hangs whisper, wickedly, upon P.T.'s arrival?

"The cute Manny's here. And he's trying to read a book! Seriously!"

Our friendly neighborhood gossips at Us Weekly threw a big bash last week to celebrate its Hot Hollywood Fresh 15, the mag's personal picks for the youngest, hottest stars in T-town. Christina Aguilera, Carmen Electra and Ludacris were just a few peeps being honored by the rag.

And since the fete was all about being fresh, of course it was held at Area, the newly remodeled club not even officially open to the plebian set yet. Too freakin' hip! Out on the navy blue carpet, I was curious to see which stars would own up to reading the very same rags they love to bitch about.

Pint-size Texas songbird Cheyenne Kimball, one of the night's honorees, fessed up to yours truly: "I do, yes; I have to say that," she sighed. "I don't really like that I read a lot of the gossip, because I feel bad for some of the people sometimes..." she trailed off. "But when you're on an airplane for three hours, it's kinda like, Hey, I need something to do, and I stock up on magazines."

Heidi Montag, ditz extraordinaire of The Hills, which was filming season two at the bash, echoed similar sentiments: "I think they're fun. I think it shows you who's who and what's going on, so, yeah, I like them," said the blond-extension-clad chica. "I think our country's very obsessed with them right now."

Ya think? Hey now, anybody got any friggin' idea why, exactly, everyone's so into celebs and goss these days?

"I think it's more of, like, the royalty of America right now," mused Heidi-hun. (Maybe I'll curtsy next time I run into her?) "It's, like, something that's very untouchable...and something that's, like, a crazy world, and people want to be part of it."

She totally might be, like, on to something!

I was curious to see if her Hills cohort Lauren Conrad would be any more eloquent. "I'm addicted to them!" exclaimed L.C. when queried about the tabs. Any idea why? "I have no idea and, like, I constantly ask that, but at the same time, I go out and buy the whole stack every week."

(Maybe she likes to see if she made any of them that week? Just a thought.)

Someone who has most def been in the tabs lately was L.C.'s ex-beau Jason Wahler. The Laguna Beach bad boy was originally busted Sept. 1 for coke and resisting arrest, as E! Online's very own Korbi Ghosh first broke. "Are you still in touch with Jason anymore?" I asked. "Um...a little bit," Lauren replied, looking less than thrilled. "How's everything with him? Is he okay?" I pressed. "He's fine," she answered curtly.

Yeah, so fine, the stupid-ola stud muffin went and did it again, but whatev!

More mouthy for sure on whether she's into the tabs was crude comic Sarah Silverman, another award recip that night. "I'm not proud of it, but I totally am," she said. "I love all that crap. I love it on the plane, and I love it on the shitter. Not that I do that," she quickly added. Gosh, what is with all the bathroom humor lately?

So anyway, lesson learned from the carpet is as follows: Even stars like to read the rags (except when it's dirty deets about themselves), especially in the air or on the can, and they try to hide their habit, too. Maybe Us mag's favorite maxim, "Celebs: They're just like us," ain't so far from the truth after all. Much more UW gab and goss on Paris, Stavros and the Piv comin' your way tomorrow, cupcakes!

Oh yeah, yesterday, I told you I had some juice to add about Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of something, can't quite remember what. She was over at the TV Guide channel, working on a show for my old E! colleague John Henson. Now, I don't know if it was the fact that J.H. was sick and couldn't make it to the taping or the fact that Ms. F. (Duchess F.?) was asked to fill in for Henson and do his hosting duties or what, but...the former BFF prankster to Princess Di went absolutely berserk--according to studio spies--for an outfit worn by one of the TV Guide worker bees, and, no, I'm not referring to Joan Rivers.

"Get me that dress!" barked Duchess S. "I want that dress! Get me that dress! Now!"

No word on whether or not the threads were physically removed from the poor woman. I swear, the behavior Buckingham Palace instills in its (even part-time) visitors.

Guess it's the same principle of all the swag suites over here, huh?

Tom Cruise, why are you out 'n' about with every friggin' member of your fam these days (fiancée, kiddos, mom-unit, sis, et al.) but never (seemingly) with your last press rep? Ya know, your other sister, Lee Anne DeVette. Why? Does it have somethin' to do with the fact that L.A.D.--who was always strangely peachy with me, go figure--was with you, professionally speaking, for three seconds and gone in two? What gives?