NAMES & FACES

Actor and new recording artist Russell Crowe: Enough to make a grown man (or woman) cry. (File Photo)

The Camera Phone Never Lies

"American Idol" good cop (or judge) Paula Abdul yesterday pleaded no contest and agreed to pay $775 in damages after her car allegedly struck another vehicle on a Los Angeles freeway last December and then fled the scene. Authorities said the driver and passenger of the swiped car grabbed their camera phone and snapped a pic of the other car and wrote down the license plate number, which was traced to the celeb.

Abdul's attorney, Neil E. Meyer, said that she did not know her car had swiped the other driver's, but "this week, after learning that it had been determined that her car was actually involved, Paula immediately took full responsibility. . . . She is pleased the matter could be resolved today in traffic court."

His Own Biggest Fan

True, Russell Crowe has never been short of ego, but man alive. The actor, who also fancies himself a singer, is releasing an album on his own, tentatively called "My Hand, My Heart," or so he writes on his Web site. (FYI: Crowe's band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, has been disbanded.)

Anyway, here's how Crowe describes his first single, "Raewyn:" "It is the only song I've ever written that has made both men and women cry, think, and call their parents, usually in that order. I have e-mails from Sting and Billy Bragg, two of my songwriting heroes that give testament to the quiet power of the song."

Crowe blabs on further about his latest foray into music: "This record is fresh, revelatory and graceful." If you say so.

Off the Market

Sorry, fellas: Us Weekly reports that "Desperate Housewives" eye-catcher Teri Hatcher, 40, has been spotted spending mucho quality time with the 36-year-old executive producer of ABC's "Lost," Bryan Burk. For the past month, anyway.

Oh, and Us is also reporting that its sources say Britney Spears is three months pregnant.

Sightings of Brit bypassing the booze and smokes lately, along with sporting a fuller figure, aren't doing much to negate the chatter, though Spears's rep informs the mag: "She tells me she's not pregnant."

A Return to Rehab

Whitney Houston's back in rehab, her publicist confirmed this week, declining to give details.

In March 2004, the diva checked herself into a rehab center. She confessed to Diane Sawyer in 2002 that she had used cocaine, marijuana and alcohol. And in January 2000, Houston left a bag in a Hawaii airport that allegedly contained marijuana -- a misdemeanor charge that was later dismissed.

Noted . . .

Here's a shocker: Angelina Jolie has been named the sexiest woman in the world by FHM magazine. . . . And finally, why would Keanu Reeves re-team with his "Speed" co-star Sandra Bullock to make the romantic drama "Il Mare"? The jovial Bullock reasons to People mag: "Keanu wants to make out with me again."

. . . and Quoted

"I feel a little closed off from the world. I want to sit on my front lawn in a lawn chair and watch traffic go by."

-- Brad Pitt talking to Ashton Kutcher in the latest issue of Interview magazine, on living in the walled world of celebritydom.

-- Compiled by Anne Schroeder

from staff and wire reports