Penelope Cruz forgot her free upgrade

Penelope Cruz freaked onboard a flight from Newark to Barcelona as it left the gate Thursday night, causing the plane to be delayed almost two hours as Cruz got off and got her luggage, the Huffington Post reports.

“She was freaking out and refused to fly,” a passenger on the Continental flight tells the Post. Flight 120 returned to the gate and later left at 8:52 p.m. for a 7:10 departure, the airline’s Web site shows. She is scheduled to shoot a Woody Allen film in Barcelona.

Maybe she was having flashbacks of the emergency landing she had to endure with Salma Hayek back in 2004.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Two deaths after Rolling Stones show

Two workers died on Friday after part of the set from a Rolling Stones concert in Madrid collapsed on top of them as they were dismantling it, Reuters reports.  A third man was seriously injured after four people fell from a 33-foot structure that gave way as the team helped take it down after Thursday night’s concert. IDs weren’t provided, but about half the workers on set were English-speakers traveling with the tour.

Quote of the day

“Well, it didn’t help me on the set that I was a black man who wasn’t a mush-mouth Negro walking around with his head in his hands all the time. I didn’t speak like I’d just left the plantation and that can be a problem for people sometime.”

— Isaiah Washington, telling Newsweek what he thought were the reasons behind his firing from Grey’s Anatomy.

Scott Baio has a stable relationship?

We were so jazzed by the idea of Scott Baio returning to TV so we can laugh at him, we forgot to question whether the plot of the VH1 series, Scott Baio is 45 ... And Single, was even true.

According to ContactMusic.com, it turns out Baio has been in a committed relationship with former Playboy Playmate Renee Sloan for two whole years! Sloan was Pamela Anderson’s stunt double on Baywatch (slo-mo running is hard work), which makes sense, since Baio dated Anderson in the past.

In fact, the pair were together throughout the taping of the show, the Web site says. A source tells the Globe tabloid: “Scott’s really crazy about her... Scott and Renee have been talking about starting a family.” That’s okay, Scott; marriage is an outdated concept anyway.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Crazy couples abound on The Juice* today

As if Jordan and Peter wasn’t enough, there’s a new entry in the long line of whack celeb couples making reality shows. Next up: Ice-T and his wife, Coco. The pair are planning to shoot a pilot next month called Beauty and the Beast.

“Guess who’s the beauty and who’s the beast?” Ice-T says to AllHipHop.com. The show will focus on how they make their unusual union work.

What’s Ice-T’s take on the secret to success? “Some women just have a knack for wanting the most rowdiest men. There’s a way to get us. If you got a pitbull, as long as you feed it and take care of it, that pitbull is gonna lick your hand. So when someone says ‘Yo Coco, Ice is a pitbull, she can say, ‘yeah, but he’s my pitbull.’ ”

Truth be told, we’re so amazed this freak show is still together that we may actually watch it.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Brit vs. K-Fed, Round 2

Britney Spears continues to battle Kevin Federline over the couple’s divorce, People says. Kevin apparently doesn’t want to sign the final divorce papers — which include the interim arrangement of joint custody of Sean and Jayden they reached in March — because he’s worried about Brit’s behavior.

“Britney’s attorneys are anxious to see Kevin sign off on a divorce,” a source tells the magazine. “But Kevin and his lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan are dragging their heels out of concern over reports of Britney’s post-rehab partying.”

Fed-Ex wants to work the language so he can snatch the tykes away the next Bratney has meltdown. What’s scary about this is after watching Spears the last six months, we have to agree with him.

This is Stephanie Tanner? Really?

Our recent discussion of John Stamos’ condition while giving interviews in Australia got us to thinking, what happened to the rest of the Full House cast? We know about Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Dave Coulier swings through Tampa every now and again, but what about Jodie Sweetin, who played little Stephanie Tanner?

Well, looks like the 25-year-old’s had some work done en route to the launch of an L.A. location of Harry Morton’s Mexican chain Pink Taco (click on it for the, ahem, enlargement). There are so many jokes here we find it hard to pick one, but we’ll go with: Who’s laughing now, Kimmy Gibbler?

[Photo: Getty Images]

Jordan births a bouncing baby girl

Brit model Katie Price  — a.k.a. Jordan — gave birth this week with husband Peter Andre at her side, the U.K.’s Sun newspaper reports.

The 6-pound, 13-ounce girl is Price’s first daughter. The requisite flack says the pair are “absolutely over the moon with the new addition to their family and delighted to have a sister for (sons) Harvey and Junior — it is a dream come true!”

And what’s the plan for Price? “I’m really looking forward to going out and buying all pink stuff and making her room all pink and girlie.” Can’t wait to miss that episode of Jordan and Peter on E!.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Cruise not banned by Germany after all

Looks like reports earlier this week that Tom Cruise couldn’t film parts of his new flick Valkyrie on German military bases because he is a Scientologist were untrue.

According to ABC.com: “The source of the Valkyrie controversy seems to have stemmed from a posting on the Web site of conservative German member of parliament Antje Blumenthal. Blumenthal posted a statement Friday claiming that Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung had pledged to her that Cruise would not get permission to shoot because of the purported danger posed by his Scientology.”

In fact, members of the ministry are now saying it would welcome application to shoot on location. The only monkeywrench may be one of the sites is now a memorial, and houses offices of the defense ministry. We’d like to hear what they think the “purported danger” Scientology poses may be.

[Photo: Cruise in the Netherlands this week. Getty Images]

I look pretty good in yellow

Not since M&M's let you create your own M&M avatar have I been this excited about a time-waster. Now you can create your own Simpsons character. That's right, you too can be a yellow-skinned, bug-eyed freak!

Here's my first attempt at myself. Not entirely accurate, but hey, it's not like you really know any better.

And yes, I totally bit today's time-waster off Best Week Ever, but you know what? I knows a winner when I sees one.

Check out the "Create Your Simpsons Avatar" at http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/main.html .