Nick Lachey staying closeto Jessica Simpson

Is Nick Lachey looking to keep an eye on his woman?

Lachey has flown down to Louisiana, and has been doing business in Baton Rouge, not far from the set of the “Dukes of Hazzard” movie, amid reports that wife Jessica Simpson is getting a tad too cozy with her co-star Johnny Knoxville. Simpson plays the Duke boys' cousin Daisy in the big-screen version of the late 1970s TV show.

Lachey has been flying associates to Baton Rouge to work with him, and insiders are wondering if he’s made the trip to be near the set of Simpson’s film where, according to the New York Post, she and Knoxville were spotted stroking each other’s hands when the lights were low. The two have denied that there’s any affair.

Simpson also says that after the end of their reality show, “Newlyweds,” she and her hubby will limit their on-screen appearances together. “After this season of ‘Newlyweds,’ you won’t be seeing me and Nick do much other than four more variety shows,” she told DarkHorizons.com. “After the newlywed show, no more. We’ll separate everything except our love.”

Baby daddy

Kevin Federline is endangering his unborn baby.

That’s the charge of a child care expert, who has slammed Mr. Britney Spears after seeing photos of him taken smoking in a car next to his pregnant wife. 

“If Kevin wants to smoke, he should do it outside,” blasted Fit Pregnancy editor-in-chief Peg Moline, who points out that secondhand smoke can be extremely dangerous, affecting the development of the baby's lungs and possibly leading to childhood asthma, reports World Entertainment News Network.

Notes from all over

Madonna apparently hasn’t forgiven Elton John for accusing her of lip-synching. Not long after the dust-up, the Rocket Man sent Madonna a card; she sent it back unopened.  . . . Russell Crowe is coming to the defense of an Aussie woman who was arrested in Indonesia for possession of marijuana. Schapelle Corby, a 27-year-old, faces life imprisonment for allegedly smuggling cannabis, and Crowe says that evidence is shaky. “We just gave Indonesia how many hundreds of millions of dollars in tsunami relief?” Crowe told a radio host. “We’re not disrespecting [Indonesia’s] laws or anything but in our minds we think there is a massive doubt here.”  . . . Anna Nicole Smith is firing back at Farrah Fawcett for calling her a “train wreck.” “Train wreck? Have you seen a mirror lately?” Smith blasted in a column for the National Enquirer. “Looks like your train wreck came 15 years ago.”

Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop Mondays through Thursdays on MSNBC.com

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