Bittersweet Symphony? Ashlee Simpson may not be welcomed back to Saturday Night Live after her 2004 appearance exposed her lip-synching talents. Also, Page Six hears that the young Mr. Simpson was not exactly a hit with the show's producers. [P6]  read more »

Even the gossipy bit—Who's That Girl?!?—that all of the tabs were after all day yesterday (us too, in fact) is broken first by The Times: Spitzer's prostitute "Kristen" is in fact known as Ashley Alexandra Dupré, though she was born 22 years ago as Ashley Youmans, in New Jersey. [The New York Times]  read more »

Did George Clooney pop the question? [Marie Claire UK]

All this while he avows that he is "gay, gay" (and not "gay, gay, gay"): "That third 'gay' was pushing it."[People]

Matt Damon's rep confirms he and his wife Luciana are expecting. [People]  read more »

It seems like the rumors may have been confirmed: Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell will each fill in for Heath Ledger in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Cinematical reports via Ain’t It Cool News, the insidery movie and comics blog that broke the scoop early this morning. The film was still in production when Mr. Ledger died on Jan. 22 of what has been ruled an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, leaving questions as to how filming would be completed.  read more »

This morning, the New York medical examiner’s office confirmed that Heath Ledger’s death was caused by an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

“Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," Ellen Borakave, a spokesperson for the Office of Chief Medical Examiner said in a statement. Actress Michelle Williams, the late actor’s ex-fiancee, and their daughter, Matilda, reportedly arrived in Perth, Australia earlier today to attend Mr. Ledger’s funeral.

A biography of Heath Ledger which will be published as a paperback in England in April, will be available in the U.S. in June, according to a spokesperson for Trafalgar Square Publishing, the company that will import and distribute the book here.

The book, titled Heath Ledger: His Beautiful Life and Mysterious Death, is being written by journalist John McShane and published by John Blake Publishing. No word yet on how many copies of the book Trafalgar will be bringing over; we'll let you know when we find out.

A video—in what is sure to be a long chain of posthumous "leaks" portending doom for Heath Ledger—has recently “surfaced.” The video, which allegedly shows “a guilt-ridden” Mr. Ledger at a party in L.A.’s Chateau Marmont on Jan. 29, 2006, will likely air tonight on Australia’s Channel 9, according to the Daily News. This broadcast plan from down under flies in the face of what the paper billed “an uproar from the Hollywood community.”  read more »

Heath Ledger was in the middle of shooting The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus when he died last week. Since then, director Terry Gilliam has been scrambling to find a way to finish the movie. Despite earlier reports that the director, who has helmed 1975's Monty Python & the Holy Grail, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Brothers Grimm, might shelve the $30 million production, Mr. Ledger's co-star Christopher Plummer told People Magazine that "because the film deals with magic, there is a way, perhaps, of turning Heath into other people and then, using stills and I think they call it CGI…"  read more »

TheBookseller.com is reporting that British publishing house John Blake Ltd. is planning to publish a biography of Heath Ledger, who died last week in a Soho apartment at the age of 28. The book, being written by journalist John McShane, will come out in the UK on April 7th as a paperback titled Heath Ledger: His Beautiful Life and Mysterious Death.

A representative of Independent Publishing Group, the company that distributes John Blake books in the United States, said the publishing house is currently trying to figure out if and when the book will appear stateside. A message has been left with a publicist at John Blake; expect an update with more details.

The City Room's post authored by Sewell Chan on the death of Heath Ledger has reached 1.78 million page views, a spokeswoman said. The Times can't confirm if it's an all-time record for an nytimes.com blog post, but it's probably awfully close.  read more »