Plastic backlash

London — It’s not easy being gorgeous. Halle Berry should know.

“Beauty? Let me tell you something — being thought of as a beautiful woman has spared me nothing in life,” she said. “No heartache, no trouble. Love has been difficult. Beauty is essentially meaningless, and it is always transitory.”

At a news conference Monday to promote her new movie, “Catwoman,” the 36-year-old Berry criticized the obsession with beauty and youth that she said prompted some to get plastic surgery.

“Personally, I’m really saddened by the way women mutilate their faces today in search of that,” said Berry, who won an Oscar for “Monster’s Ball.” “There is this plastic, copycat look evolving and that’s frightening to me. … It’s really insane, and I feel sad that’s what society is doing to women.”

Gentlemen’s agreement

London– Eric Clapton is helping to freshen up an historic gentlemen’s outfitters that he saved from closure.

The 59-year-old musician, who bought a half-share of Cordings on London’s famous Piccadilly in December, is now helping update the store, spokeswoman Melanie Cable-Alexander said Monday.

“I wanted to help preserve Cordings for myself so I could continue to shop there,” Clapton said in an interview with the British news agency Press Assn.

“Cordings had been about to go bankrupt, but now its accounts are in the black for the first time in seven years,” Cable-Alexander said. “Without Eric, the shop would have gone bankrupt.”

Westward bound

Auburn, Wash.– Farm Aid will be doing its musical fund raising west of the Rockies this year, having its annual concert at the White River Amphitheatre.

Farm Aid 2004, featuring Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and others, will be Sept. 18 in Auburn.

“The farthest west we’ve ever been is Nebraska,” said Farm Aid Executive Director Carolyn Mugar. “We have a chance to reach a whole new audience and a whole new group of people.”

Nelson, Young and Mellencamp started Farm Aid in 1985, in response to small farmers losing their land because of debt.

He bangs in Asia

Hong Kong — William Hung, who shot to fame as a reject for “American Idol,” has made his singing debut in Asia.

Accompanied by sexy dancers in red tube tops, the Hong Kong-born singer belted out his off-key rendition of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” at Kam Pek casino in Macau, local media reported Sunday.

Hung, a 21-year-old student at the University of California, Berkeley, became famous after he responded to the mockery of “American Idol” judges by saying that he’d done his best and had no regrets.

He now spends most of his time touring to promote his debut album, “Inspiration,” which has sold more than 100,000 copies.