Tom Cruise was the father of the baby Nicole Kidman miscarried in March, according to a deposition by the actress in their divorce proceedings. The syndicated television magazine Extra said that it obtained papers filed Thursday by Kidman in response to Cruise's divorce petition. Cruise filed for divorce in Frbruary after more than 10 years of marriage. Excerpts released by Extra prior to broadcast state: "During the balance of December and thereafter the parties were intimate. In fact, respondent became pregnant by petitioner but lost the baby through a miscarriage." Extra said the document also stated that Kidman urged Cruise to enter marriage counselling, but he refused.

Supermodel Niki Taylor underwent more surgery Thursday morning as doctors struggled to repair internal injuries caused by a recent car accident. The surgery for the 26-year-old lasted several hours. Taylor has been in intensive care in Atlanta since the car she was riding in hit a pole - she suffered severe liver damage and possible lung damage. The driver, Chad Renegar, and another passenger suffered only minor injuries - Renegar said he looked down to answer his cell phone and ran off the road. He says, "For just a moment, I was distracted by something that was not part of what I should've been doing at the moment, which was driving, and the result of that has changed the lives of three people and their families. Think about things like that. There's nothing on that phone that can be nearly as important as what's going on in front of you." Taylor's family is hoping she will stabilize after the surgery.

Cindy Crawford has had an affair with basketball giant Shaquille O'Neal - according to the athlete himself. The 7 foot 1 inch star claimed on a Los Angeles radio show that he slept with the beauty. Friends say that the pair enjoyed a passionate night together while they were both single in the mid '90s. A source says, "Shaq wasn't an L.A. Laker yet and he had hopes of moving to L.A. and becoming a movie star. Cindy was still licking her wounds from her July 1994 split with Richard Gere and they simply fell into each other's arms." Cindy's representatives deny the claim and one insider adds, "Cindy is deeply embarrassed that Shaq opened his big mouth. And Rande is furious too. She has a lot on her plate with marriage motherhood and her career. It was something that happened in the past when she was single, but she resents having it thrown in her husband Rande Gerber's face in public."

The Mummy Returns stars Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz and Patricia Velazquez were forced to endure bad weather and multiple injuries during filming of their new movie. The cast had to contend with blinding sandstorms and torrential rains during the seven-week shoot in the Sahara Desert. It got so bad that 90 crew members were airlifted to safety in a Moroccan army helicopter. Director Stephen Sommers says, "It was like something biblical. It was a quarter-mile-high wall of brownness. Then it rained, and a river opened up." Luckily nobody was seriously hurt, and some of the Moroccan soldiers and horses got to be extras in battle scenes. But Sommers admits he was a far from good host for Fraser. He continues, "I blew up Brendan's knee, broke one of his ribs, and tore a disc in his back. Every once in a while, when you see a pained look on Brendan's face, he ain't faking it." He adds, "Rachel and Patricia will never be hand models. Their fingers are all scarred up from the film's spear fights."

Elizabeth Hurley is delighted to be back on set with actor Matthew Perry - because she can finally get to know him properly. Hurley, who co-stars with Perry in Servicing Sara, was forced to take time away from the Texas film set, after the Friends actor was taken to hospital for a reported addiction to prescription painkillers. And now work has resumed on the movie, Liz, 35, is glad she finally has the opportunity to acquaint herself with Perry. She says, "Matthew is unbelievably nice! I was fond of him before but we didn't have much of a connection and now we realise why, because I guess he was disconnected to himself at that time. Now we sit around on the set all day and giggle and laugh, playing silly games, and he's lovely!" She adds, "He's so talented too. I think he's going to get it together. And he's young, so hopefully this is his time."

Actor Vince Vaughn was thrilled by the reaction from the first screening audience watching his new movie Made in Hollywood - even though he was miles away in North Carolina. The Swingers star was so depressed when he was told he wouldn't be able to make the screening last night that pal Jon Favreau agreed to call him on his mobile phone at the end of the film so he could hear fans' reactions. Favreau, who co-starred with Vaughn in Swingers, and wrote, directed and co-produced Made with him, says, "He was thrilled. He's working with Travolta in North Carolina and couldn't be here, so I just called him up and he heard the reaction. Fortunately everyone cheered and clapped. I think silence would have destroyed him." The timely mobile call really lifted Vaughn's spirits - he was arrested after a bar brawl with pal Steve Buscemi last month.

Sexy actress Pamela Anderson has pulled out of next month's Bikini Golf Open after an animal rights organization was ditched from the event's official website. According to the event's producer Simone Sheffield, the 33-year- old former Baywatch star dropped out because the controversial People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA) were forced to sever links with the tournament following protests from sponsors. Sheffield has been frantically resurrecting the celebrity charity event under the title of Angels On The Fairway since Anderson's withdrawal last Friday. Sheffield says that she was in the midst of "making a deal for TV rights" when the prospective buyers insisted that PETA be "taken off the Open's website and out of the spotlight. "Corporate America, advertisers don't want to be associated with this group because its tactics are too violent. I called Pam and told her PETA could still get their money, and the television sale would cover the cost of the entire event. She said, 'Well, I can't separate from PETA.' I had to return all the monies given to us by companies expecting to be affiliated with Pam and basically start from scratch. I've been doing these kinds of events for 20 years, and this is a first for me - really, really not cool."

Actress Juliette Lewis thanks her lucky stars she was a naive teen - because it helped her win her breakthrough role. The 28-year-old beauty won an Oscar nomination for her star turn in Martin Scorsese's hit film Cape Fear - and believes she only got the part because, at the time of the audition, she had no idea how important the director was. She says, "I only knew that my agent and manager were going, 'Oh my God, you must get this part!' So I realised it was filled with prestige. And then when I did work with him, it was the most incredible experience. Scorsese was just an incredibly enthusiastic and friendly man. So I was, like, 'Wow, I've arrived, I wanna make films at this level all the time!' Of course, it doesn't always go like that."

Renée Zellweger is doubtful she'll star in the Bridget Jones's Diary sequel - because it will mean spending more time in London. Although the British production company Working Title has already bought the rights to The Edge Of Reason, Zellweger is warning she may not reprise her role, says E!Online columnist Ted Casablanca. Renée, skinny again after some intense dieting, told Casablanca the extra weight she put on to play beloved Bridget is not keeping her away from the role. Said Zellweger, "I mean, living in London again for nine months! Who cares about the weight?"

Veteran actor Anthony Hopkins is set to return to the New York stage to star in William Nicholson's play Retreat From Moscow. According to Mike Nicholls, who will direct an all-star cast including Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Allison Janney and Christopher Walken in The Seagull in New York's Central Park this summer, plans are in place for the Hannibal star to make a return to the stage. Sinead Cusack and Ralph Fiennes have been pinpointed as likely candidates to fill out the cast for the three-character drama, which is set to begin previews in January at the Promenade Theatre. Shadowlands author Nicholson, whose movie work has included a rewrite of the Oscar-winning flick Gladiator, says Nicholls had envisioned the project as a film, but eventually agreed that it should first be done in a small theatre. He explains, "This is entirely about getting the best actors, doing it somewhere simple and not making a fuss." Nicholson says of the proposed cast, "Whenever you start talking about stars of this magnitude, there are timetables to consider."