Glee star Amber Riley, who plays the confident Mercedes on the Fox hit, broke down in tears as she admitted her struggles with her body image as a Hollywood actress.

In an honest and moving interview for the MTV series This Is How I Made It, the actress, who is currently making her Broadway debut in Cotton Club Parade, revealed how the pressure to be thin has taken its toll. The 26-year-old, size 16, actress said: “Hollywood is a very hard place to be in. It really is. Being the person I am, you know, the size I am, being a woman, being a black woman, there’s not a lot of roles for us.”

“I was being offered the girl who sits in the corner and eats all day, the girl who committed suicide because she was fat,” she continued.

“I never wanted to play a character that hated herself. I wanted people to know that those aren’t the only roles for people like me — normal girls.” It took 14 years of battling with her body image for Riley to achieve her dream. “The rejection started wearing on my self-esteem,” she said.

“I’m not going to conform, and hurt myself, and do something crazy to be a size 2,” she explained. “My parents always instilled knowing that you’re beautiful, that you’re fearfully and wonderfully made, and that you know who you are.”

— Daily Mail

Aniston and Theroux overhaul love nest ahead of wedding

The sprawling Bel Air property has been under construction for some time but the $21-million estate is really starting to take shape now. Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux bought the 8,500-square foot palatial soon-to-be home at the beginning of the year and, true to type, want the place to be absolutely perfect before they move in. It is believed the property will be ready by 2013 — and hopefully by the time the pair are married. Even though the mammoth mansion won’t be ready for some time, Aniston is already kitting it out and has been seen on numerous occasions out furniture shopping in some of Los Angeles’ swankiest interiors shops. And the Friends star hasn’t stopped there — she has even ripped out the on-site vineyard to make way for a pool and Jacuzzi complex. It has been reported that the asking price for the property was almost a staggering $25 million but the A-list pair managed to get it down to $21 million. The love nest sits on the Santa Monica mountains in one of LA’s most expensive real estate areas, Bel Air, and also overlooks the Pacific ocean. It is also in a gated community and high-profile neighbours include the likes of Hugh Hefner, Nicholas Cage and Lauren Bacall.

— Daily Mail

Grammer blames politics for Boss’s cancellation

He has made no secret of his political leanings and Kelsey Grammer believes that his support for the Republican party may have led to the failure of his latest television series. The Starz television network announced on Tuesday that it would not give the Frasier star another term as mayor of Chicago and was cancelling the drama Boss after two seasons. The show, which premiered to critical acclaim last year, stars Grammer as tyrannical Chicago mayor Tom Kane. Earlier this year, the 57-year-old complained to Jay Leno on The Tonight Show that his Republican party leanings were the reason the show was not nominated for an Emmy. “Now explain something to me, you get a Golden Globe for Boss, but you don’t even get an Emmy nomination?” Leno asked.

“Yeah, its hard to figure,” Grammer said. “It may have to do with several things, honestly, but I think it’s possible, I mean, I am a, I’m a declared out-of-the-closet Republican in Hollywood.”

The Frasier star is a member of the Republican Party and has expressed an interest in politics saying he may someday run for United States Congress.

— Daily Mail