AMERICAN IDOL DOWN TO 3 FROM MSN

'American Idol' Down to the Final Three May 10, 1:49 AM EST

A kiss from Simon Cowell turned out to be a kiss goodbye.

A week after so impressing the cantankerous Cowell that he kissed her, LaKisha Jones was eliminated Wednesday on "American Idol." The Fox talent show is down to its final three contestants.

A nervous Jones seemed to have an ominous feeling Wednesday. Host Ryan Seacrest noticed she was talking to herself during one of the commercial breaks, and she admitted to overanalyzing things.

Performances of Barry Gibb songs the night before led to a particularly brutal week of Cowell criticism. "No kiss tonight, baby," Cowell had said to Jones.

He was even tougher on Blake Lewis, calling one of his takes "absolutely terrible." But asked to choose whether Lewis or Jones would be going home Wednesday, Cowell correctly predicted the results from the 45 million votes.

Jones, 27, grew up in Flint, Mich., and is the mother of a toddler. She began singing at age 5, has a passion for gospel but was formally trained in classical music. Tears streamed down her face as she said goodbye — but she stayed long enough to get a career kick-start from "American Idol."

Lewis, 25 and the only man left in the competition, overcame Cowell's attack. The fashion police may not forgive his choice of a t-shirt with a painted-on bowtie Wednesday. Lewis is from Bothell, Wash.

He'll compete against 17-year-old Jordin Sparks of Glendale, Ariz., the youngest performer left, and Melinda Doolittle, 29, of Brentwood, Tenn.

Doolittle, already a professional backup singer, was the first one given entrance into the group of three. Cowell had already predicted the night before that her performance had been enough to keep her in.

Gibb, the former Bee Gee, sang his own "To Love Somebody" on Wednesday's show, which was padded with marketing opportunities. There was even a lengthy tie-in to an action movie that isn't debuting until next month, complete with a visit from Jessica Alba.

LINDSAY LOHAN NEWS FROM MSN

Lohan's latest scandal; plus, Paris' pals poke fun at pokey stay, along with the latest news on Kate & Pete, Madonna and more ...

May 7, 2007

Did Lindsay Lohan's recent adventures in Wonderland fail to keep her from going through the looking glass? Britain's News of the World claims that the id-driven starlet, who checked out of the swanky rehab facility on Feb. 15, engaged in a "marathon cocaine binge" just three weeks later.

According to the tabloid, Lohan's supposedly illicit proboscis-related activities took place with a couple of girlfriends inside the ladies' room of Los Angeles hot spot Teddy's at the Roosevelt Hotel.

The story is accompanied by "sordid snaps" the paper purports are screen shots from a "secret film" showing the 20-year-old actress slipping down several of the proverbial 12 steps while squeezed into a cozy bathroom stall.

Unfortunately, the pics are fuzzier than Paris Hilton's grasp of the term "suspended license," which makes it difficult to decipher what exactly is happening.

The tab apparently acquired the tape from a concerned "friend" of Lohan's, who is quoted as calling her an "angry monster" when she's in party mode.

The chatty pal says that her decision to hand over footage and uncork her cakehole to the newspaper is merely a well-meaning attempt at some tough love.

"That's why I'm showing this video," says the snitch. "So the world can know what Lindsay has been doing and she can't lie about it to herself or anyone else."

The mole also says the actress can get so focused on having a good time that any attempt at discretion is forgotten, and offers up an alleged example of a postrehab bender.

"She was still up doing drugs at 11 a.m. even though she had started about 8 p.m. the night before," the source asserts to the News. "She wasn't even trying to hide it and was blatantly doing it ... I remember looking at her and thinking how pathetic she looked and how out of control she had become."

Lindsay's rep didn't respond to our request for comment on the allegations, although a source helpfully informs Perez Hilton that the star has been telling friends the photos are fakes. Her lawyers are "demanding" that the News of the World produce the purported video, says the New York Daily News.

Meanwhile, the paper not only maintains that the socializing actress has "bragged" about bedding several of Hollywood's lotharios, including Jude Law, whom she reportedly rendezvoused with in New York a couple months back, and singer-songwriter James Blunt, with whom she has denied being romantically involved, but downplays her rehab stay as a publicity stunt.

Lindsay, who has been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for more than a year, checked into the spalike, outpatient Wonderland rehab center in January, saying in a statement, "I have made a proactive decision to take care of my personal health."

But after she completed her 30-day stint, she immediately returned to her busy club-hopping schedule (this weekend was no different, with paparazzi catching her out on the town with Kimberley Stewart).

"It's so weird that I went to rehab," Lindsay told the May issue of Allure. "I always said I would die before I went to rehab."

Besides, she pondered, "I don't know that I'm necessarily an addict."

Lindsay also talked about her decision to seek help in the May issue of Nylon, tentatively explaining, "It was a lot of stuff. It was, you know, drinking. It was ..." before trailing off.

She later clarified, "A lot of it for me was like clearing my head, because I'm not really like a crazy addict ... I don't enjoy getting [bleeped] up ..."