Troubled pop star Britney Spears' former employees have been spilling secrets about her poor parenting, insisting she often got drunk in front of her kids and hired nannies without paying attention to their childcare qualifications. The singer is currently embroiled in a bitter court battle with her ex-husband Kevin Federline, who is seeking full custody of their two sons, Sean Preston, 23 months, and Jayden James, 11 months, after becoming concerned about Spears' parental skills. And he's not the only one casting doubt on her fitness to be a mum - former employees have revealed she's a mental wreck too. One tells Us Weekly, "She drinks in front of the kids. At first, the drinks would help her loosen up and not be so angry. But she'd inevitably drink too much and be out of it, at which point the nannies would take care of the kids." Another source reveals, "She'll strip down in front of staff, nannies, whomever. She'll ask, 'Do I look sexy? Do I look pretty?' She's extremely insecure." Others accuse the star of employing her workforce based on candidates' age and personality, rather than any formal qualifications or previous experience with children: "She just cares about whether they're young and fun and like to drink and party. She hires people to be her friends."

Two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks has been elected as one of the vice presidents of America's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). AMPAS announced Hanks' appointment on Wednesday after he previously served as a governor of their actors branch. Meanwhile, film producer Sid Ganis was re-elected president for his third term. Ganis enthuses, "I'm truly honored to have the opportunity to continue to serve as president of the Academy. There are so many interesting projects going on in the organization. I'm excited to have the chance to help steer those along and to bring even more to our wide-reaching agenda." AMPAS is the body responsible for awarding the Academy Awards.

House, MD co-stars Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer have called off their engagement. Morrison accepted Spencer's proposal at the Eiffel Tower in Paris at the end of March, but now the couple have decided to cancel their impending nuptials. In a statement given to website People.com, they say: "After much consideration, we have decided not to get married. We are still very close, and we look forward to continuing to work together on House." Morrison and Spencer started dating in 2004 and had planned to marry later this year at a private ceremony in Los Angeles.

Moviemaker Brett Ratner is demanding a $10 million fee to direct a movie after "running low" on money, according to reports. The director made a reported $ 7 million for his work on Rush Hour 3. But a source tells New York gossip column PageSix, "Brett got $7 million upfront for the movie, but if it had done as well as Rush Hour 2, he would have gotten another $10 million off the back end. He got $5 million to direct X-Men: The Last Stand but didn't see anything on the back end because it barely broke even. He's now trying to command a fee of $10 million upfront to direct a movie which is out of range for a lot of projects. His cash is running a bit low." But a representative for Ratner refuted the claims, adding, "That is ridiculous. Brett has a two-picture deal with Imagine and a third at New Line."

Academy Award-nominated actress Kathleen Turner has turned theatre director and is thrilling audiences at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts with her stage-directing debut. The Romancing The Stone star is midway through a run of the Beth Henley play Crimes Of The Heart at the festival. And Turner admits her directorial style owes a lot to filmmakers John Huston and Francis Ford Coppola, who directed her in the movies Prizzi's Honor and Peggy Sue Got Married respectively. The 53-year-old says, "I learned a lot from them - Huston and Coppola."

Hollywood superstar Bruce Willis has a new girlfriend - former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal. The couple were photographed canoodling on a yacht in the Mediterranean Sea during a Sardinian holiday earlier this month, and friends believe Demi Moore's former husband has fallen for the 36-year-old model. A source tells American magazine Star, "They were cuddling the whole time and couldn't keep their hands off each other. They were very frisky too - at one point, it seemed as if they were a minute away from having a romp in the tub."

Actor Brad Pitt has denied reports he and girlfriend Angelina Jolie are planning to adopt a fourth child from Africa. Earlier this week, a British newspaper claimed the Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-stars are hoping to adopt a baby girl from Ethiopia - the same country they adopted two-year-old Zahara Marley from in 2005. The couple are also adoptive parents to Cambodian-born Maddox, five; Vietnam-born Pax Thien, three; and biological parents to 15-month-old Shiloh Nouvel. When they adopted Pax Thien earlier this year, Jolie admitted they chose a boy from south-east Asia so Maddox could see the physical similarities between them, and hoped to find another African child for Zahara to identify with. However, Pitt's spokeswoman Cindy Guagenti has told website TheCelebrityTruth.com reports Jolie and Pitt will return to Ethiopia in November to seek another sibling for their expanding brood are false.

Thousands of fans are flocking to Memphis, Tennessee to pay tribute to Elvis Presley, who died 30 years ago on Thursday. Despite temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit, large crowds were lining up for hours to take part in a procession past Presley's grave at his Graceland home. Elvis Presley Enterprises boss Jack Soden says, "If you're back at the backside of that crowd, you're like five hours away from going up the hill (to the grave)." The long lines are expected to grow even longer on Thursday, the 30th anniversary of Presley's death in a Graceland bathroom at the age of 42 on August 16, 1977.

Filmmaker Len Wiseman is in negotiations to direct the remake of cult classic Escape From New York. Actor Gerard Butler has already signed up to star in the update of director John Carpenter's futuristic action film as anti-hero Snake Plissken, a part made famous by Kurt Russell in the 1981 original and its 1996 sequel Escape From LA. Wiseman most recently directed this year's Live Free Or Die Hard.

Funnyman Jimmy Fallon is set to marry his long-term partner Nancy Juvonen. The Fever Pitch star proposed to Juvonen - who co-owns Flower Films with Drew Barrymore - at her family home in New Hampshire at the weekend, reports PageSix.com.