Monitor
DONATIONS
On Christmas Eve, power couple Angelina Jolie, 34, and Brad Pitt, 46, gave $100,000 to the American SOS Children’s Villages, an alternative foster organization.
DAMAGED
The New York City apartment rented by Jon Gosselin, 32, was ransacked on Dec. 26, according to the NYPD. In a statement, Gosselin’s former lawyer Mark Jay Heller said the ”devastation” included damaged clothing (which Heller said was slashed with a knife) and a stolen TV and CD player.
COURTS
On Dec. 23, Amy Winehouse, 26, was charged with common assault and a public-order offense stemming from a Dec. 19 incident at a theater in southeast England. She’s due in court on Jan. 20…. ”Balloon Boy” father Richard Heene, 48, was sentenced to 90 days in jail, four years’ probation, and 400 hours of community service, according to court papers filed Dec. 23. Wife Mayumi received 20 days in prison, along with the same probation, and 120 hours of service.
DEATHS
Vic Chesnutt, 45, died Dec. 25 in Athens, Ga., after an overdose of muscle relaxants. The singer built a devoted following with albums like 1991’s West of Rome (produced by his friend Michael Stipe). Chesnutt had been in a wheelchair since he was in a car accident at age 18…. Brittany Murphy, 32, was laid to rest Dec. 24 in an L.A. service attended by family and friends. Autopsy results are expected in late January, according to the L.A. County coroner’s office.
— With additional reporting by Stewart Allen
Charlie Sheen’s Very Unmerry Christmas Arrest
Charlie Sheen — the 44-year-old actor who plays a jingle writer/lothario on CBS’ top-rated Two and a Half Men — spent his holiday in a Colorado jail after police arrested him on charges of second-degree assault, menacing, and criminal mischief. On Christmas morning, authorities responded to a 911 call alleging domestic violence at Sheen’s vacation house in Aspen, where he was staying with his wife, Brooke Mueller, and their twin sons, Bob and Max, 9 months. (In the 911 call, Mueller claimed that her husband threatened her with a knife.) Sheen spent most of Dec. 25 in jail before posting an $8,500 bond; he’s scheduled to return to Aspen’s Pitkin County Courthouse to face charges on Feb. 8. In a statement, Sheen’s spokesman Stan Rosenfield said, ”Do not be misled by appearance. Appearance and reality can be as different as night and day. It would benefit everyone not to jump to any conclusion.” A source close to Mueller recently told PEOPLE that both Sheen and Mueller will seek counseling as a result of the incident. Sheen has since returned to Los Angeles, where production on Men‘s seventh season will resume Jan. 4. An insider says Sheen’s arrest is not expected to impact the hit series. Rosenfield, meanwhile, says the actor’s endorsement deal with Hanes has not been affected; ads featuring Sheen continued to air the weekend after the incident.
— Lynette Rice