Stars are giving thanks to their moms on this Mother’s Day.

“My mom always thought I’d be famous more than I did,” Clay Aiken tells me. “She was always sure that I was going to be famous and be a singer, et cetera, et cetera. I always wanted to be a teacher. She expected this of me before I did. I think she would tell you she’s not surprised, but I’m totally surprised.”

This year, Clay’s mom will be on a cruise, but he typically takes her out to dinner.

“She’s very particular about me buying her too much stuff. She doesn’t really like it too much. She’s a small-town lady.”

On the other hand, Carson Kressley likes to shower his mom with gifts.

“You should always get your mom something she totally doesn’t need because she made so many sacrifices for you,” he says. “I always try to treat her with a little bit of luxury. Maybe it’s amazing flowers or amazing bath stuff from Salno De Bano or even dinner. I might have her over to my house for dinner.”

Helena Christensen sings the praises of her mom, who is from Peru. “She’s the most amazing woman in the world. She’s so giving, caring, funny and crazy in the right way. Her taking care of my son helps me so much.”

What’s so great about Rachel McAdams's mom?

“She has the best hot red hair. She’s got gorgeous, enviable, beautiful auburn red hair.”

Three Doors Down singer Brad Arnold gives props to his mom.

“My mom used to be a teacher’s aide and teachers aides don’t make that much money,” he tells me. “I’m the youngest of seven kids, and she put up money for a long time to buy me my first set of drums. They weren’t anything extravagant or anything, but I was proud of those things and she was proud for me to have them. Her and my daddy listened to me beat on those things for years and years and years.”

Mya tells me, “The best thing about my mom is how organized she is. I don’t want to limit her to organization, but she’s a fighter. She’s a survivor of breast cancer, so that’s one thing I could never do – give up on anything – through her lesson and her experience with breast cancer. She’s just a great mom.”

Happy Mother’s Day!

Mariah Carey saunters out moments before arrivals for the Savage Grace premiere begin at the Tribeca Film Festival. She’s holding a pink t-shirt in one well-manicured hand, and flanked by a group of three bodyguards.

Now Julianne Moore steps up, looking slimmer than I’ve ever seen before. She nearly has a wardrobe malfunction with her plunging black Yves St. Laurent dress, and her rep cautions her to be careful. We’re told she’s only talking about the movie, so she dances around everything else. She clutches the deep collar as she strides up to reporters. “Hi ladies!” she says, addressing the red carpet regulars.

What does she love about having a film festival in NYC?

“It’s close to my home,” she says. “It’s easy to get here.”

How does she stay in shape?

“On location, you have very little time to do anything,” the actress, 47, says. “Mostly you’re at work. I do most of my exercising when I’m not working.”

She laughs it off when asked for diet tips, and turns the question about secrets to a happy marriage (she’s married in the film) on me. “Are you married?” she asks. Um … no.

Director Tom Kalin calls Julianne “incredibly tender and lovely.”

“She has balance as a person,” he tells me. “It’s great to see her pleasure in her profession but also in her personal life. She has a great marriage and a special relationship with her children.” In fact, he says Julianne took kids Caleb, 10, and Liv, 6, on the ferris wheel and merry-go-round during their time on set in Barcelona.

Savage Grace is the true story of the Barbara Daly Baekeland murder case.

 

The drama hits theaters May 30.

 

Pick up the OK! on newsstands now for more coverage of the Tribeca Film Festival.

Famke Janssen brings her Boston terrier, Licorice, to The Regency Hotel in NYC when we meet. The model-turned-actress pulls out all the stops for “Licky” as she calls him. She places a brightly-colored food dish on the floor just in case the 7-year-old pup gets hungry.

Such is the life of the precious pet owned by the 42-year-old actress, whose pool drama Turn The River, is in theaters now. These days, Licorice is enjoying her attention. For two months, Famke's life was a pool game as she studied to play a pool pro.

 

Wearing a black dress and headband, Famke is the modern-day dream girl of my childhood crush. (He would give anything to be here!) Her kindness, warmth, intelligence and humanity certainly wouldn’t intimidate, but immediately noticeable is her considerable height – she is nearly six feet tall. Is being tall a blessing or a curse?

“I’ve had every obstacle to deal with,” the Dutch-born actress says, taking a sip of green tea. “Not that I’m complaining, it’s true, I’m taller than most of my co-stars. Has it been a problem over time? Sure. There’s a way to work around it sometimes. They give me big holes to stand in, or whatever.”

Despite roles in X-Men and a slew of other movies, Famke couldn’t resist this role as a pool-playing mom-on-the-run. Why? They offered her the lead.

“I have been acting for fifteen years, and I can count on one hand the times I’ve been the lead of a film. And I can’t even use all of my fingers. Offer me the lead in the film, and I don’t even have to open the script. I already want to say yes.”

She adds, “When people go ‘why did you take that part?’ it’s like ‘because I want to work.’ There’s a misunderstanding about how many choices we have as actors. There are not that many great parts for anybody out there. I would love to do stage work but it’s just about as difficult getting a part in a play as it is getting a part in a movie. And it’s not easy to get any.”

For one thing, the Columbia University alum has to battle her beauty.

“I had that model stigma, and then opened up in a Bond movie. I added another stigma. By the time anybody heard my name, I was model-turned-actress Bond girl. What chance is she going to have? Then I had to go fight and go all the other way in the opposite direction to be taken seriously, meaning I had to take small parts in movies supporting parts so I could show range. Like ‘listen, I’m not some crazy foreigner who doesn’t know how to speak English.’ The only way I could do that was by taking parts that were less predictable.”

Still, Famke isn’t looking for fame.

“Success is never something I‘ve pursued. It would hinder me and my life and how I like to live it. I live in New York, I want to walk down the street and have a normal life. I just want to have an interesting career.”

So, we shouldn’t expect to see Famke in another X-Men installment?

“I’ve done three X-Men movies, and I’ve died in two of them. Enough already.”

For now, Famke is excited about tackling a new role now that she’s a U.N. ambassador to Bali. “I’m getting a U.N. passport to top it off. That just means there’s no lines. All the borders and lines are gone. I can travel everywhere because I have a U.N. passport.”

 

Licorice takes a bite from the food dish at his mom's feet. “He is so spoiled,” she gushes. A reporter tries to tempt him with a French fry but he stays by Famke’s side.

 

Just another day in their fabulous life.

 

Turn The River is in theaters now.

Hilary Duff denies her engagement and tells me she “doesn’t know” why she and boyfriend Mike Comrie are good together at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of War, Inc.

The Duffster shakes off my question with a pained face and flick of the wrists as she walks away, disappointing the slew of reporters shoving their tape recorders out.

Oh well. She will talk about her date with the scorpion down her pants in the thriller. Hilary, 20, plays an oversexed Eastern European pop star.

“Working with the scorpion was scary,” she says. “It was real. We did it about four times. They were like ‘we have a fake one here, but it looks terrible’ and I was like ‘I’ve done this for the movie, and this and this and this’ – I can’t back out now. I’ve gotta go for it. All the guys on set were telling me that they would never do this.”

Hilary is on her way to join sister Haylie inside the theater as co-star Marisa Tomei is escorted inside by her team without a word for anyone. (What’s up?)

Luckily, Montel Williams and wife are happy to chat.

“I’m just the voice,” he tells me. “I’m excited tonight because I get to see it for the first time.”

Director Joshua Seftel tells me the scorpions got special treatment on set.

“We had two. We had an extra scorpion in case one of them got tired. This is the first movie I’ve worked on that had a scorpion wrangler on the set, and they were in charge of the scorpions.”

He assures me Hilary was safe just in case anything went awry.

He adds, “It was so brave and bold and smart of her to do this role. I loved that she embraced it.”

War, Inc. opens in limited release May 23.

 

Pick up the OK! on newsstands now for more coverage of the Tribeca Film Festival.