NEWS OF THE STARS AND THE FAMOUS

From the Desk of J.D. Lacroix

Love life Photos, right & below: My Best Friend's Wedding helped put Roberts back on track

They were followed by the smash hit My Best Friend's Wedding and 1999's Notting Hill and Runaway Bride. Her $20m salary for Erin Brockovich - rivaled only by fellow actress Cameron Diaz - further demonstrated Roberts's value to movie studios. Although The Mexican, in which she starred opposite Brad Pitt, was not a huge success, Ocean's Eleven, which reunited her with Erin Brockovich director Steven Soderbergh topped the US box office. Her work in front of the camera was not all that kept her busy during this period. Roberts also dated actor Benjamin Bratt for three and a half years, but they split in May 2001, immediately following her Oscar triumph.

Photo: Notting Hill put Roberts and London on the map

Bratt, 35, who recently said he found it tough living with Roberts's level of fame, married actress Talisa Soto in a private ceremony in April. Roberts said her affair with Bratt had come to a "tender-hearted end" and denied the break-up had been caused by her rumored "involvement" with former ER heart-throb George Clooney. Roberts recently began a relationship with cameraman Daniel Moder, and it has been closely followed by the tabloid press. They married in July 2002, in the privacy of her estate in New Mexico, but no doubt it will keep the actress firmly in the glare of the world's publicity machine.

Affleck takes swipe at US politics

Hollywood actor Ben Affleck has attacked US President George Bush's "dangerous right-wing" policies, which he said were eroding civil liberties.

Speaking in Los Angeles, Affleck, 31, was accepting an award from political group, People For The American Way. He received the Spirit of Liberty award for his work on behalf of children's rights and voter registration. Affleck also compared the current state of US politics to the last days of the Roman Empire. Referring to fellow film star Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent election as Governor of California, he compared "the dawn of the Schwarzenegger era in American politics" to the empire's decline. Other stars attending the People For The American Way event included Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis and the Dixie Chicks.

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