As Britney Spears was preparing to leave Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after her 72-hour lockdown yesterday, Phil McGraw (a.k.a. Dr. Phil) reportedly “blindsided” the pop star, who then rejected Mr. McGraw’s offer to help her. Since Mr. McGraw was unable to penetrate Ms. Spears’ protective shell, we called celebrity life coach Patrick Wanis, Ph.D., to find out what measures he would take to help the fallen idol.  read more »

We called celebrity life coach Patrick Wanis, PhD, to hear his thoughts on today’s news concerning Mischa Barton, former star of The O.C.

According to an official police report obtained by TMZ, the 21-year-old actress was arrested early this morning in West Hollywood for driving under the influence of alcohol. Police stated, in part, that Ms. Barton was picked up after she was “seen straddling two lanes of traffic and failed to signal when making a turn.” (The full L.A. County Sheriff’s press release can be found here.)

“It’s astounding,” Mr. Wanis said after we broached the topic of the actress’ arrest. “And yet it’s not astounding.”  read more »

Last week, celebrity life coach Patrick Wanis, PhD, wanted to tell our readers his list of the Top Ten Celebrity Meltdowns of 2007.

Today, on the phone with the Daily Transom, he got a little more daring.

First up: recent news that Lindsay Lohan has started to use the paparazzi to her own advantage, setting up and pocketing proceeds from snaps of her own mug.

“I say kudos to her!” he said. “I was thinking last week, Why don’t celebrities just use their brain?”  read more »

What better way to lighten the Monday load than with a little celebrity lifestyle coaching from Patrick Wanis, PhD? He’s just miraculously survived an invasion of legion New Yorkers in town for Art Basel Miami. Despite all that distraction, he offered up a gargantuan platter of super-chewy goss. It’s The Top Ten Celebrity Meltdowns of 2007!

We’ve included his list, which Mr. Wanis released only to The Daily Transom, but we decided to focus first on El Numero Uno: the biggest celebrity train wreck of the year—at least in Mr. Wanis’ view. And you’ll likely never guess who it is. (Hint: It’s not Britney Spears. It’s not Lindsay Lohan. And it sure ain’t Paris Hilton.)  read more »

We were starting to get the feeling that something was missing from The Daily Transom. And then it hit us, hard—like Britney Spears’ umbrella on K-Fed’s car. It’s been over two weeks since we last checked in with our celebrity life coach, Patrick Wanis, PhD. This time, we talked about what he called “the curse of the reality show.”

Mr. Wanis said it’s as simple as looking at all the celebrity couples whose relationships hit the skids during or shortly after wrapping their series: Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey (Newlyweds); Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro (‘Til Death Do Us Part); Britney Spears and Kevin Federline (Chaotic); Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler (Meet the Barkers); Danny Bonaduce and Gretchen Bonaduce (Breaking Bonaduce); and Kathy Griffin and Matt Moline (My Life on the D-List). “And let’s not forget—although we might want to—Liza Minnelli and David Gest,” said Mr. Wanis. The cringe-worthy pair couldn’t even finish taping the first season of their VH1 show before divorcing.  read more »

It’s been a week since we last spoke with celebrity life coach Patrick Wanis, Ph.D., so we called him earlier today to dish about some of this week’s hot goss. Starting things off with the Writers Guild’s inside enemy-number-one, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres (also a W.G.A. member), who canceled plans to tape her show in New York next week. Michael Winship, president of the W.G.A.’s East Coast branch, responded to the news by saying he was “delighted” Ms. DeGeneres would no longer be hitting Manhattan, where she was sure to face a fresh crop of protesters.

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Page Six is a funny kind of matchmaker. Right or wrong (Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin?) a relationship posited in the column becomes a real thing in Hollywood, where press is everything.

Not really sure of what to make of the Lance Armstrong-Ashley Olsen pairing posited in the column today—a true Edgar Bergen-and-Charlie McCarthy match-up—we called celebrity life coach Patrick Wanis to weigh in on the matter.

“There’s something weird there. It just doesn’t feel right,” he said.  read more »