Kenny Chesney denies gay rumors sparked by annulment

New York – Kenny Chesney explains why the word “fraud” was used on the document filed by Renee Zellweger to annul their marriage and denies the gay rumors it sparked, in an interview to air Sunday on CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

“It’s not true. Period. Maybe I should have come out and said, ‘No, I’m not (gay),’ but I didn’t want to draw any more attention to it,” the 38-year-old country singer says. “… I didn’t have to prove to anybody that I wasn’t (gay). I didn’t feel like I really did.”

Zellweger and Chesney were married on the Caribbean island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands in May 2005. It was the first marriage for both. Four months later, Zellweger listed “fraud” as the reason she was seeking an annulment.

An annulment is a judicial declaration that a marriage never legally existed.

In California, an annulment may be granted when either party in the marriage is under 18, of unsound mind, bound to a previous marriage or if the consent to marry was obtained by fraud or force.

The Oscar-winning actress later issued a statement saying the term “fraud” was “simply legal language and not a reflection of Kenny’s character.”

“The only fraud that was committed was me thinking that I knew what it was like … that I really understood what it was like to be married, and I really didn’t,” he says.

‘Felicity’ star Keri Russell weds contractor on Valentine’s Day

New York – Keri Russell, who starred in TV’s “Felicity,” married contractor Shane Deary on Valentine’s Day in Manhattan, her spokeswoman said Thursday.

Russell and Deary, both 30, became engaged last year. Russell is expecting her first child this summer, Jill Fritzo, the actress’ publicist, said last month.

Russell portrayed spirited college student Felicity Porter in “Felicity” for four years. The series ended in 2002.

Etheridge says she’s honored to be nominated for Oscar

Los Angeles – Melissa Etheridge knows all about labels. First there was the “rock goddess” with the classic hit, “Come to My Window.” Then there was “lesbian singer.” Then came “cancer survivor.” Now there’s “Oscar nominee.”

Etheridge, 45, competes in the best-song category for the anthem “I Need to Wake Up” from the global-warming documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”

“That was part of my dream, being a rock star and all that stuff,” she recently told AP Television. “And, ‘Oooo, someday, I want to have Oscar: best song.’ Of course that’s out there. Never, when I was presented with this – this was a slide show. I had no idea it was going to be a film and it was going to be that sort of thing.”

“Inconvenient Truth” is director Davis Guggenheim’s Oscar-nominated portrait of former vice president Al Gore’s personal history and lifelong commitment to reversing the effects of global climate change.

Gore asked Etheridge to write a song for the film, she said.

Johansson happy to be Hasty Pudding woman of the year

Cambridge, Mass. – Not quite the Oscar, but Scarlett Johansson still was all smiles Thursday about being crowned the Harvard Hasty Pudding woman of the year. And happy to participate in the rambunctious roasting that goes along with the honor.

She participated in a mock SAT exam and endured a lampooning of her famous unclad Vanity Fair cover pose. But the blonde actress kept mum when asked to make an analogy between director Woody Allen, in whose films she has appeared, and fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi, who groped her breast on the red carpet at the Golden Globes last year.

“Thank you so much for this fabulous golden pot. It’s been such a wonderful day. This is the closest I’ll ever get to a Harvard degree for sure,” Johansson said. “It’s a real honor.”