Martha Stewart says it was hard work being on clock

Los Angeles – Domestic diva Martha Stewart says her home confinement was tougher than doing time in federal prison.

“You have to watch the clock constantly because you’re only allowed out of your home for a limited period, and for a busy person watching the clock, and knowing other people are watching the clock, is extremely difficult,” Stewart told Time magazine in the issue reaching newsstands today.

Stewart, 64, served five months behind bars for lying to authorities about a stock deal and nearly six more months in home confinement. She has been free of her electronic ankle bracelet monitor since Sept. 1.

She launches “Martha,” this week and enters prime time Sept. 21 in the Donald Trump role on “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart” on NBC.

Asked if she’s hard to work for, Stewart says, “Many of my executives have worked with me since the beginning. I can be fair and decisive and encouraging as well as demanding.”

Viewers who want to see a tyrannical Stewart should watch two made-for-TV movies about her, Stewart says.

Who would she choose to play her in a movie?

“Me,” she says.

Lennon’s first wife claims former Beatle once hit her

London – John Lennon’s first wife says the late Beatle had a violent temper and once hit her in a fit of jealousy, according to excerpts from a new book published in a newspaper Sunday.

Cynthia Lennon met John in the late 1950s in Liverpool, where they were both art students. They married in 1962 and had a son, Julian, before divorcing in 1968.

Cynthia Lennon writes in “John,” that he was prone to violent tantrums, according to an excerpt published in The Sunday Times, which is serializing the book. “I could put up with his outbursts, the jealousy and possessiveness but not the violence,” she writes.

In the excerpt published Sunday, Cynthia describes the only occasion when John struck her. She wrote that while they were at art college, John had become jealous after seeing her dance with his close friend Stuart Sutcliffe, one of the Beatles’ early members.

“The next day at college he followed me to the girls’ loos (toilets) in the basement. When I came out he was waiting with a dark look on his face. Before I could speak he raised his arm and hit me across the face, knocking my head into the pipes that ran down the wall behind me,” Cynthia wrote.

She said he took three months to apologize for hitting her and ask her to go out with him again. “Although he was still verbally cutting and unkind, he was never again physically violent to me.”

The book, published by The Crown Publishing Group, goes on sale in Britain on Sept. 27.

Hispanic-American stars to visit Gulf Coast

Miami – Grammy-winning singer Gloria Estefan, actors Jimmy Smits and Andy Garcia, and trumpeter Arturo Sandoval will lead a contingent of Hispanic-American entertainers on a visit with victims of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi.

The visit, planned for today, will include delivery of a planeload of supplies and toys to shelters in the Mississippi cities of Long Beach and Biloxi, and Baton Rouge, La. The group also will stress the importance of blood donorship.

Estefan and her producer husband Emilio organized the trip, which also was expected to feature singer Jon Secada, and television personalities Daisy Fuentes and Don Francisco, host of “Sabado Gigante,” the popular Spanish-language variety show on Univision.

“The separation of families to me is very close to my heart because we lived that as immigrants,” said Gloria Estefan, a Cuban-American like Sandoval and Garcia.

“I am privileged to help in some way and I will always take that opportunity,” she said.

‘American Idol’ Clarkson forced to cancel tour dates

Las Vegas – Bronchitis has forced Kelly Clarkson to cancel three more concerts in Nevada and Washington.

The “Breakaway” singer called off two performances in California last week. Clarkson had hoped to be well enough to perform, but was still feeling ill at a sound check Friday, according to a statement from RCA Music Group.

Clarkson had been scheduled to perform Friday in Reno, Saturday in Las Vegas and Monday in Spokane, Wash., as part of her “Hazel Eyes” tour.

The canceled concerts will be rescheduled, and tickets previously purchased will be honored for the new dates, the statement said.

Pushy photographer crashes Witherspoon’s Disneyland day

Reese Witherspoon, who stars opposite Joaquin Phoenix in the upcoming big-screen Johnny Cash biography, “Walk the Line,” ran into an especially pushy photographer at Disneyland on Tuesday. The actress was hosting a birthday bash for her 6-year-old daughter and some friends at the theme park when paparazzo Todd K. Wallace tried to crash the party.

Wallace, 44, of Beverly Hills was cited for misdemeanor assault and battery on Friday after he allegedly used his body to push a pair of Disney employees who were escorting the children and the actress, according to Anaheim Police Sgt. Rick Martinez.

One Disneyland staffer tried to persuade Wallace to desist when he began shooting close-ups, but the photographer allegedly “pushed her with his entire body, not just once but numerous times,” Martinez said. “He refused to stop and move away.”

A second employee was similarly assaulted when he went to help, the sergeant said.

“For the paparazzi to commit a violent act to get a magazine photo is bad enough. But to do it in front of children at the Happiest Place on Earth and make them cry is despicable,” said Blair Beck, Witherspoon’s lawyer.