Frankie Muniz's girlfriend said he threatened to kill himself, then punched her in the head. Ryan Phillippe hits on Rihanna, who shoots him down. Pharrell makes goose-stepping cool. Wednesday gossip is all grown up and sort of terrifying.

It was about being "fake." Speaking of fakes, guess which starlet got a boob job now? Jake Gyllenhaal fears ostriches. Ed Westwick fears Olivia Munn. Bethenny Frankel filmed her childbirth for a TV show.

Natasha Richardson's death was indeed tragic, sudden and, yes, a media sensation. Who ever heard of someone hitting their head and then falling dead? Wild. And, proving that celebrities control all trends, sparked a new craze: traumatic hypochondria!

Mid-week, everyone needs to freshen up. Barbara Walters craves a clean break from ABC, reportedly; Robert Pattinson needs a shower and Bruce Willis might never be able to wash off the slime.

So a celebrity died from a traumatic brain injury this week and where was Sanjay Gupta?

West Side Story opened this week, as did Blithe Spirit and a new rock musical. And the theater community lost one of the greats, Natasha Richardson.

• Further evidence CNN's Jon Klein should start polishing his resume: The network continues to trail Fox News, MSNBC, and Headline News. [Portfolio]
• Obama's performance on The Tonight Show will keep people talking for awhile (and not in a good way, clearly), but the ratings were huge. [Time, THR]
• The April issue of Portfolio is the slimmest in Condé Nast's history. [NYP]
• Charla Lawhon is stepping down as managing editor of In Style. [WWD]
• Your prayers have been answered: VH1 is reviving Behind the Music. [NYP]
• Bob Pittman says the ad industry should get a bailout, too. [Fortune]
• Fox News's Greta Van Susteren is denying her husband is a paid adviser to Sarah Palin, but she admits that he gives her advice and "helps" her. [HP]
• SpiralFrog, the glitzy music site that launched in 2006, has gone bust. [PC]
• Broadway dimmed the lights last night in honor of Natasha Richardson. [THR]

Actor Liam Neeson understandably set aside his work in Chloe, which was shooting in Toronto when Neeson's wife Natasha Richardson suffered a fatal skiing accident. His next role?

Following Natasha Richardson's death at age 45, we take a look back at the actress' career.

Actress Natasha Richardson passed away in a New York hospital following complications from the brain injury she incurred while skiing, according to a statement released by her family. She was 45.

News outlets are reporting that the family of Natasha Richardson—including husband Liam Neeson and mom Vanessa Redgrave—made the decision to take the actress off life support this afternoon. [E!]

• Following conflicting news reports, it now appears that Natasha Richardson was pronounced brain dead sometime yesterday following her skiing accident in Canada on Monday. She's now reported to be at Lenox Hill on the Upper East Side, where her family members have gathered to hold a vigil and say goodbye. [NYP, People, NYT]
• Rihanna and Chris Brown might be "taking a break," although neither one says it's a "formal breakup," whatever that means. [E!]
• Lindsay Lohan's driver crashed her SUV into a wall outside the Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles at 3:30 am Tuesday morning. [E!]
• Graydon Carter has already started inviting friends to visit Monkey Bar, the restaurant he's opening on East 54th Street. [P6]
• Just what the world needs: Justin Timberlake recently returned from Mexico, where he's been working on launching his own brand of tequila. [P6]

Natasha Richardson completed her flight from Canada to New York, and then apparently to Lenox Hill Hospital amid fresh reports the Tony-award-winning actress is brain dead and family are saying goodbye.

The status of actress Natasha Richardson after her skiing accident remains unclear, as various news agencies are reporting vastly differing items. The New York Post claims she is "brain dead," TMZ claims she is not.

After originally reporting that Natasha Richardson had died, Time Out New York is now reporting that the actress, who was in a skiing accident yesterday, is not expected to survive her injuries.

• Carson Daly has two reasons to get wasted today: It's St. Patrick's Day, of course. Plus he and his girlfriend Siri Pinter are new parents, too. [People]
• Jon Stewart's secret weapon in his rumble with Jim Cramer last week? His brother, Larry Leibowitz, is a senior exec at NYSE Euronext. [P6]
• A judge recalled Lindsay Lohan's arrest warrant yesterday after seeing the proof that she hadn't stopped attending a court-ordered alcohol education class after all. Also: She hasn't checked into rehab again despite reports to the contrary. Not yet, at least. [NYDN, OK!]
• Natasha Richardson was hospitalized yesterday and is now in critical condition after a skiing accident in Montreal. [People]

Liam Neeson's wife, the actress Natasha Richardson, injured herself skiing in Canada and suffered a "traumatic brain injury," reports IrishCentral.com, citing a Montreal "hospital insider."

[Actress Natasha Richardson at New York Fashion Week today; image via WENN]