Is 'Vixen' fixin' Whitney's woes?  —  Whitney Houston appears to have rid herself of hubby Bobby Brown.  Whether he gets back into the house may depend on hip-hop temptress Karrine Steffans.  —  Houston's friends have long blamed Brown for her woefully heavy eyelids.

Affleck ponders price of fame in "Hollywoodland"  —  VENICE (Reuters) - Ben Affleck said he drew on personal experience to play 1950s television Superman star George Reeves in a new film which uses his mysterious death to examine the highs and lows of Hollywood fame.

Nicole Richie & Brody Jenner: Heating Up  —  Nicole Richie and Brody Jenner's relationship may look like a typical quickie Hollywood romance, but don't be fooled: The pair go way back - he even predates Paris Hilton.  —  "I was there when (Brody) was born!"

Gwen & Kingston  —  Gwen Attending VMAs?  —  Gwen Stefani's publicist Dave Tomberlin confirmed that Gwen is not snubbing the VMAs and plans to bypass this year's ceremony because she's "too busy with Fashion Week to attend."  Please!  Sounds like a publicity stunt to me.  You make time to attend the VMAs.

TV ROLE 'WENT TO HER HEAD'  —  CAROLYN KEPCHER, Donald Trump's co-star on "The Apprentice," has heard him say "You're fired!" for the last time - because this time he said it to her, sources told The Post.  —  The icy, 36-year-old blonde - who was running the Trump National Golf Club …

Scientology was set to show Cruise the money  —  Plus: Paris Hilton wanted too much money to gab on talk show  —  Did Scientology almost show Tom Cruise the money?  —  After the "Top Gun" star was dropped by Paramount, he was shopping around for financiers, and a source reports that top execs …

MAD FOR MARIAH  —  MARIAH Carey got a sparkling surprise before her New York concert last week when $4 million worth of diamonds appeared backstage for her.  She was doubly stunned when she found out the rocks were a gift, not a loaner.  Prince Azim, son of the Sultan of Brunei …

CLOONEY MAD FOR BARKIN  —  EXCLUSIVE GEORGE SMITTEN WITH OLDER CO-STAR  —  GORGEOUS George Clooney has a new lady in his life - and he's crazy about the twice-married 52-year-old mother-of-two.  —  The eternal bachelor usually dates much younger women - including TV presenter Lisa Snowdon …

K-Fed on Entourage?  —  Has Kevin landed another acting gig?  First the news breaks that he will be on CSI in October.  Now he has a part in next season's Entourage.  Say it isn't so.  What are they thinking?  Couldn't they find someone else to play a deadbeat husband?

MY PAL PARIS  —  COULD it be that Lance Armstrong has taken a break from incessantly working out with his new best friend, Matthew McConaughey - to spend time with Paris Hilton?  The two showed up to the Key Club in L.A. Tuesday night to catch the band the Vacation.

Take, take, take... take your booty  —  Attention IRS!  Celebrities big, small and not at all continued to rake in freebies yesterday in gift lounges set up all over town for tonight's MTV Video Music Awards - and this year the swag is taxable.  —  R&B stunner Rihanna picked up thousands …

'Psycho' scriptwriter and 'The Outer Limits' co-creator Joseph Stefano dies at 84  —  THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Joseph Stefano, who wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and was co-creator of television's science fiction anthology series The Outer Limits, has died.  He was 84.

There is Nothing Unnecessary About a Scarlett Johansson Sex Scene  —  It's official.  Movie critics are dumb.  According to ContactMusic, after screenings of Scarlett Johansson's latest film The Black Dahlia, many critics complained that they could not concentrate after seeing Scarlett's steamy sex scene.

MISSING HOSTS  —  MISSY Elliott and Ciara were no-shows at their own party Tuesday night, infuriating the event planners.  Partygoers and paparazzi waited two hours for the duo to arrive at the Whiteflash.com "Dripping in Diamonds" party at Cipriani on 23rd Street, which they were supposed to host.

Candy May Net $130 Mil That Tori Won't Get  —  The stakes in the Candy Spelling - Tori Spelling war just got a lot higher.  The buzz in Beverly Hills real estate offices is that Candy Spelling has unloaded her 56,000 square-foot Holmby Hills mansion for a cool $130 million, and that the new buyer is an Arab prince.

John Mayer: Jessica Simpson's New Love?  —  It's the hot headline making waves, as Us Weekly magazine reports that Jessica Simpson and John Mayer have been privately dating.  —  The upcoming issue, due out Friday, claims the pair first met at a pre-Grammy bash last year.  But things only recently heated up.

Baby talk: Are Kidman photos being doctored?  —  Plus: Looks like Hilary Swank has found a new love  —  Are photo agencies manipulating Nicole Kidman's pictures to make her look pregnant?  —  That's the suggestion being made by the "Stepford Wives" star's rep - after a mag paid $20,000 …

Madonna and Guy row over schooling  —  For most mothers the start of the new school year is a welcome relief from the hurly-burly of the school holidays.  —  But Madonna has enjoyed seeing her children so much that she wants them to stay on her Confessions world tour with her.

off the rack  —  When Britney Spears was pregnant with first child Sean Preston last year, most of the time, she looked like she got dressed on a dare or had forgotten that she was no longer blessed with 500-situps-a-day abs.  But now, Britney's dropped the Red Bull can and seriously cleaned up her style (and her hair troubles)!