Lavigne weds fellow rocker

Montecito, Calif. – Punk-pop princess Avril Lavigne has married a fellow Canadian singer-songwriter, according to published reports.

Lavigne married Deryck Whibley, the guitarist and front man for the band Sum 41, on Saturday at a private estate near Santa Barbara, People magazine reported on its Web site.

The young rockers had a mostly traditional ceremony, the magazine said. The usually shabby Lavigne wore a Vera Wang gown, carried white roses and was walked down the aisle by her father as Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” played.

Lavigne, 21, and Whibley, 26, exchanged vows under an awning covered in white flowers.

The pair have been dating since early 2004 and bought a house in Los Angeles later that year. They became engaged in Venice, Italy, in 2005 while Lavigne was on a European tour.

Tough role to play

Pasadena, Calif. – “American Idol” winner Fantasia Barrino had to be persuaded to play herself in a television movie about her hardscrabble life.

“Life Is Not a Fairy Tale,” to air Aug. 19 on Lifetime, is inspired by the R&B singer’s autobiography about dropping out of high school and becoming an unwed mother at 17.

“I didn’t think it was going to be tough going back playing myself, but it was because I had to relive those moments,” Barrino told the Television Critics Assn.’s summer meeting Friday.

“At the end, I began to cry and I said, ‘I went through all those things, but I know why I share my life.’ I’m thankful that I was able to do it.”

Barrino was the third season winner of “Idol” and released her debut album “Free Yourself” in 2004.

Monumental decisions

Morgantown, W.Va. – An unfinished statue of Barney Fife apparently won’t be heading to Don Knotts’ hometown after all.

Knotts’ widow endorses a statue but says the monument should be of her husband, not of the bumbling deputy he made famous on “The Andy Griffith Show.” Knotts died in February at age 81.

“We consider the dissemination of his image to be a big responsibility that we take very seriously,” Francey Knotts and Andy Griffith said in a statement. “No one cares more about Don’s image than we do. It would be wonderful to have a statue in Morgantown, W.Va., of Don Knotts as Don Knotts.

“But this particular image does not fit with our understanding of Don’s experience growing up in Morgantown.”

Efforts to get a Fife statue in Griffith’s hometown of Mount Airy, N.C., which was used as the model for the fictional town of Mayberry, have been unsuccessful.

Mount Airy resident Tom Hellebrand commissioned the Fife statue after Knotts’ death. The work was halted after Paramount/CBS, which owns the rights to the television show, withdrew its permission. The company said it didn’t have the authority to grant permission for a likeness of Knotts.

Hellebrand then offered the half-finished work to anyone who could obtain permission from the company, the Knotts family and Griffith. Mount Airy already has a statue of Griffith in character as Sheriff Andy Taylor walking with his son, Opie, who was played by Ron Howard.

Morgantown Mayor Ron Justice said any monument to Knotts should be in Morgantown and reflect Knotts’ accomplishments. “We certainly want to portray Don Knotts in the very best image as we know him in Morgantown,” he said.