A brush with love for Asher Keddie

Melbourne artist Vincent Fantauzzo has painted his girlfriend actress Asher Keddie for the Archibald Prize / Pic: Jason Edwards Source: The Daily Telegraph

Joel Christie, The Daily Telegraph, reports

It’s a look of chaos but contentment - the ease of coming home from an awful day to the arms of the one you love.

After months of struggling for inspiration, Vincent Fantauzzo, the artist boyfriend of actress Asher Keddie, only needed to watch her walk in the door one night to realise how he would paint her for the Archibald Prize.

"It had been a fairly hectic day for Asher and she had this glazed-eye look but there were other looks of comfort and confidence and affection too," Fantauzzo told Confidential yesterday.

"We work so hard and life moves so quickly and then all of a sudden that chaos can just disappear (when we're together). We have moments like that quite a lot."

Fantauzzo, who is entering his ninth picture in the Archibalds, found infamy with a dark portrait of Heath Ledger showing three alter egos of the troubled actor, which became public just after Ledger's tragic death in 2008."A lot of my images have been quite dramatic and I guess this one (Asher) is about where we're at right now," he said.

"I wanted it to be honest and not over-complicated."

Offspring star Keddie, who met Fantauzzo about a year ago through mutual friend Matt Moran, admitted to being breathless when she saw the end result.

"It's a celebration for us, in a way," she said.

"There's a lot of loveliness in our lives at the moment and this was something we could enjoy doing together."

Fantauzzo, who took six weeks to complete the painting, said it was the easiest work he has done.

"I just loved doing it every day," he said.

While the Archibald finalists won't be announced until next Thursday, Fantauzzo knows what he could do with the $75,000 prize money.

"I would take Asher on a really good holiday," he said.

The Archibald winner will be revealed on March 22.

The Packers' palace finally nearly ready

James Packer's new house in Vaucluse / Pic: Craig Wilson Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

James and Erica Packer won't be the only ones toasting completion of their $45 million mega-mansion.

Some Vaucluse residents and motorists are also likely to crack some champagne, with the blue ribbon suburb's Wentworth Rd experiencing much congestion and noise as workers finish the expansive compound after two years of construction.

Traffic controllers have formed a single lane along the street this week to make way for cranes outside the home.

While the banana trees had to be lowered into the front landscape, Confidential understands the current conundrum concerns the cables that heat the house's floors. Workmen have had to dig up the pavement to correct the issue.

The casino tycoon - who last month listed his Bondi Beach pad for sale at $22 million-plus - has spared no expense on the Vaucluse abode, which was originally three homes. The final product will feature a wellness centre, sauna, staff quarters, guest accommodation and a 13-car garage. The Packers - who have three children, Indigo, 4, Jackson, 2, and six-month-old Emanuelle - will move in by the end of the month.

Tom Williams' TV career rumoured to be back on track with Channel 7 and Celebrity Splash

Tom Williams is headed back to the small screen. Picture: Richard Dobson Source: The Daily Telegraph

Ros Reines, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Expect to see a lot more of former chippie Tom Williams on Seven's screens this year - he has just signed on to do a top secret show. But which show?

The rumour mill has been going strong, suggesting Williams may be co-hosting Seven's reality dive fest, Celebrity Splash.

Dancing With The Stars goes aquatic, the show follows the progress of celebrities and their diving trainers who must compete each week to do the perfect dive and then be critiqued.

Dancing's take-no-prisoners judge, Todd McKenny, has been mentioned as a possibility to join the panel.

The ever versatile Rachael Finch may also be in the running to co-host the splash-a-thon, with the Seven stablemate tipped to be tapped for a part in the series.

Iy will be a nice career bump for Williams, who has been a little quiet of late, relying mostly on radio and online gigs after winding up his commitments on The Great Outdoors last year.

Most recently he's popped up on lifestyle website Live4 as well as a roving reporter spell on Seven during the Australian Open.

Williams' laconic style would certainly be welcome in a hosting role on a much-hyped show, which promises to be filled with chills and spills.

He is also no stranger to glitz, thanks to his marriage last year to red carpet fashion designer, Rachel Gilbert.

So gruelling is this reality show, with its kitsch overtones of Who Dares Wins, that Williams could provide a stabilising influence. Many prospective celebrity contestants including Kerri-Anne Kennerley (who reportedly wailed that she might die if she did the show), have already been backing away from the sequined diving board, so the casting team has their work cut out.

However a Seven spokesman was quick to play down Williams involvement in the show.

"Tom is news to me on this gig," the spokesman said.

"We have quite a bit in development, so it could be any number of shows."

Pity, the northern beaches bloke who likes nothing more than hitting the surf with his mates, would also be the ideal, sporty person for the role.

We shall await further developments.

The Voice a family affair for Ricky Martin as he heads Down Under with twin sons

Singer Ricky Martin will be a coach on the next season of The Voice. Picture: AP Source: AP

Holly Byrnes, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Ricky Martin is about to call Australia home. The Voice Australia coach is tweeting about his return from Los Angeles with his twin sons.

The proud papa was clearly bracing for the long night flight, prepared to keep his sons Valentino and Matteo entertained with the Qantas in-flight activity pack for children he snapped, with the message: ''Australia here we go! #longflight.''

Martin is due back on set for the next phase of recording for Channel 9's hit series, with battle rounds to begin filming this weekend.

The Grammy-winner chose his team of 12 singers last month and has since invited Aussie chart-topper Jessica Mauboy to help mentor Team Ricky this week.

The Twitter fanatic sent his new Voice partner an excited message over the social media site, posting: ''@jessicamauboy Cant wait 4 us 2work together @TheVoiceAU Its going 2B really cool! Lets have some fun & help/see them shine! Send u a hug!''

Mauboy was hand-picked by Martin, after he saw her film The Sapphires as an in-flight movie on his last flight Down Under.

''Ricky got off the plane after seeing The Sapphires and said 'who's that girl, she's fantastic,' Adrian Swift, network executive for The Voice said.

Martin was not expected to bring his children to Sydney until the live finals in April, but is understood to have found the separation from them and partner Carlos Gonzales Abella difficult.

Cate Blanchett, Emma Watson 'in Cinderella remake'

Actress Cate Blanchett was an elf queen but she's set to become an evil step-mother in her next role. Picture: The Australian Source: AFP

The Daily Telegraph reports

Cate Blanchett is set to play an evil step-mother.

The actress, 43, has signed on the portray Cinderella’s nasty step-mum in a big-screen update of the classic fairy tale.

And Emma Watson is reportedly in talks to take the title role in the Disney film, which will be directed by Kenneth Branagh, according to showbusiness bible, Variety.

Variety reports while the actress, 22, does not yet have the role, she is in very early talks with the studio to play the character.

While Disney would not comment on the discussions with Watson, the studio also reportedly considered actresses Gabriella Wilde (The Three Musketeers), Saoirse Ronan and Alicia Vikander (Anna Karenina), but couldn’t lock down deals due to scheduling and other considerations.

Cinderella will be written by Chris Weitz, who penned About a Boy.

Meanwhile The Harry Potter star is about to be seen in the Sofia Coppola film Bling Ring, about the gang of teenagers who robbed the homes of stars such as Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton.

Danielle Spencer set for acting return after split with Russell Crowe

Danielle Spencer hits the red carpet. Source: Supplied

Annette Sharp, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Thirteen years after she abandoned her acting career to reconcile with an old famous boyfriend, Danielle Spencer has started having talks with producers about returning to the screen.

It is the latest move by mother-of-two Spencer to reclaim her life after separating from husband of nine years Russell Crowe last year.

Eight months after she and Crowe were last photographed together, Spencer is moving ahead with her reclamation project.

There are not only acting plans in the wind but also plans to resume her musical career.

Last week sources said the change in Spencer since Crowe left Australia for the US and the glory of the Academy Awards season two weeks ago is complete and obvious.

She is no longer withdrawn, inaccessible and looking stressed, her expression pinched as she powers through the eastern suburbs on her weekday morning walk.

To neighbours who have been watching her for the past 12 months - since she moved her two young sons Charlie, 9, and Tennyson, 7, out of a Woolloomooloo Wharf apartment and into the $10 million Rose Bay home her husband didn't want - the 43-year-old appears finally to have found her smile.

She now cuts a cheerful figure as she strides through the neighbourhood, waving and smiling to those who once regarded her as "aloof".

She has actually started laughing on the streets, they report excitedly.

A close friend said that in private and public, Spencer is cracking jokes again: "She was always a natural comedienne, but we haven't seen that side for such a long time. Now she's back in top form.

"She has what she needs and is happy."

For Spencer it seems the burden of being married to one of the world's biggest film stars was always going to be too great for a woman who prized her own independence.

Now buoyant following the couple's official separation - a subject which neither has yet discussed on the record since it was first disclosed in October - the silver-maned singer-songwriter with the fiercely proud bearing is looking for new opportunities and adventure. As well she should. She can, say those who know, afford them.

Despite speculation that Spencer signed a pre-nup before their 2003 wedding, guaranteeing her a minimum $15 million payout, there is no such binding financial agreement.

Without a pre-nup she is, by rights, entitled to 50 to 60 per cent of Crowe's fortune which, if estimates are to be believed, is worth a conservative $80 million, putting Spencer in a powerful negotiating position.

But Spencer, we're informed, is not greedy.

"Dani doesn't want to be defined as being someone's wife," a friend said. "She really is her own person and knows Russell will look after her and the boys, so she doesn't have her hand out for a lot."Divorce is a "work in progress", the friend added last week.

Crowe, who zealously shoots down all rumoured new attachments - the latest to Natalie Imbruglia, with whom he was photographed in the States last month - is possibly still holding out for a reconciliation. Spencer is not.

Her boys remain her highest priority and she is said to be hopeful the estranged couple will continue to share custody of their two sons.

Crowe is expected back in Australia shortly to continue work on the development of a locally produced film which promises to keep him closer to home this year. His long absences in 2011 and last year due to film work are believed to have contributed to the breakdown of the couple's marriage.

However, now liberated, Spencer has much to celebrate. She has her life back, her town back, her privacy restored, and even, for the time being, her two sons back under her roof 24/7.

She has long been regarded as a gifted actress and so a return to the screen now fills her with excitement.

Spencer became a household name in Australia after joining the cast of popular TV series The Flying Doctors in 1989. She worked steadily as an actress until 2000, when she appeared in TV series All Saints and Beastmaster.

But when Crowe, whom she'd dated from 1989 to 1992, swept her off her feet in 2001, Spencer appeared to cut her ties with her profession.

Delta Goodrem shows off her six-pack at Sydney Mardis Gras 2013

Delta Goodrem at Mardi Gras with her back up singers Christine and Sharon Muscat. Source: Twitter

The Daily Telegraph reports

Woah! Who knew under all those Stevie Nicks-esque flowy dresses that Delta Goodrem was packing a serious set of abs?

Yikes.

The sweet songbird unveiled her banging bod yesterday during her dance-oriented 2am set at Mardigrasland, the official MG after-party at the Hordern Pavilion in Moore Park.

In a picture posted on Twitter by her long-time back-up singers, Christine and Sharon Muscat (formerly pop act Sister2Sister), The Voice coach looks a knockout before taking to the stage for a mash-up of her more dance floor-friendly songs.

Goodrem told Confidential at the weekend that she enjoys working out and eating healthily.

"I have been conscious as I've gotten older to make sure I'm putting the right fuel into my body so I can sustain my energy," she said.

Too much ain't enough love for Jimmy Barnes

 Jimmy Barnes and wife Jane at Bondi Beach / Pic: Walker Australia Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

Looking for evidence celebrity marriages can withstand anything and sometimes be stronger for it? Presenting Jimmy Barnes and his wife of 32 years, Jane - a couple whose marriage has withstood scandal, addiction, near financial collapse, four children, rock tours, reunions and even love children.

It seems that Jane, a 19-year-old stepdaughter of an Australian diplomat when she met the hard-partying Cold Chisel frontman in Canberra in 1979, can cope with pretty much anything.

Upon returning to Sydney this week following a trip to Los Angeles, 56-year-old Jimmy couldn't wait to get his wife, 54, into the surf at Bondi for a little bit of a tickle.

If their loving display is anything to go by, the couple are as playful and physically affectionate as when they first met.

They delighted bystanders who reported the couple could not keep their hands off one another.

Cowell gives ex a dressing down

 Rose Byrne arrives at the Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in her jumpsuit. Source: AP

The Daily Telegraph reports

Brendan Cowell has made a veiled attack on ex-girlfriend, Hollywood star Rose Byrne.

The actor and director looks to have given a backhanded swipe to Byrne in a magazine interview.

Byrne's love of a jumpsuit is no secret, with the Aussie actress often sporting them on the red carpet.

"I'm not into the jumpsuit," Cowell told InStyle when asked what he liked to see on a woman.

Byrne famously divided fashionistas with a white jumpsuit at the 2012 SAG Awards. "I don't think it supports the female form," Cowell said.

"I don't know what the statement is behind it but I'm not reading it. I've had chats with a few of my mates about it and there's a common confusion."

Cowell and Byrne were together for several years before splitting in 2010.

Of love more generally, Cowell said: "I'm really romantic, I always have been. Love is a rare feeling and if you're lucky enough to have it, then you should do as much as you can with it."

Aussie actor Lincoln Lewis scores a role on new US TV series Venice

US TV role ... Australian actor Lincoln Lewis / Pic: Sam Ruttyn Source: The Daily Telegraph

Debbie Schipp, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Lincoln Lewis is the latest Australian actor to have trumps at pilot season in Hollywood, landing a role alongside former Flashdance star Jennifer Beals in ABC pilot Venice.

Lewis will play Shealy Carver, the son of Lisa Carver (Jennifer Beals) in Venice, pitched as a ‘Romeo & Juliet-esque’ style drama about the have-nots of California’s most seductive city, Venice.

The show is centred on two rival families, the Nances and the Carvers, and a forbidden and dangerous romance emerging between them as the families battle for control of Venice.

Lewis’ Shealy is bitterly upset that his brother Chris jeopardised the family by spending six years in prison, and is stewing with poorly suppressed anger when Chris is welcomed home with open arms.

“It’s a brilliant character. He’s dark and he’s bitter, and there are a lot of layers,” an excited Lewis said from LA yesterday, hours after finding out he had scored the role.