'Very proud': Alex Gerrard looks stunning in patterned column dress as she celebrates husband Steven's Testimonial at dinner

It was a proud day in the Gerrard household as football star Steven celebrated 15 years with Liverpool FC on Saturday.
After playing in the team's friendly against Olympiakos earlier in the day, the midfielder swapped his red kit for a dapper black suit as he brought his wife Alex and their two eldest daughters to a dinner in his honour.
WAG Alex, 30, showed off her toned and tanned figure in a striking patterned column gown with thigh-high split as she joined her family for the evening event at the Liverpool Echo Arena.

So proud: Steven Gerrard celebrates his 15 years with Liverpool FC with wife Alex and their daughters Lilly-Ella (right) and Lexie (left) at the Liverpool Echo Arena

Svelte: The fitted dress showed off Alex's tanned and toned physique

With their youngest daughter Lourdes, 21 months, tucked up at home in bed, her big sisters Lilly-Ella, nine, and Lexie, seven, look pretty in their matching dresses in turquoise and red respectively.
Earlier that day, Alex ad worn a patterned shirt dress and cowboy ankle boots as she arrived forher husband's Testimonial match at Anfield.
While Alex remained in the Director's Box, her daughters were thrilled to join their father on the pitch ahead of the game.

Showing some leg: Alex confidently strode along with her husband and daughters

Close knit: The couple also have a toddler daughter Lourdes, who stayed at home

Taking to Twitter earlier on Saturday, Alex wrote: 'So excited for today , such a big day for my husband !! #veryproud.'

 

Among those wishing her congratulations was fellow Liverpudlian WAG Coleen Rooney, who has frequently socialised with Alex on the Scouse party scene.
Coleen tweeted: '@AlexGerrard7 have a fantastic day love and a big congratulations to Steven xx.'

Cute: Sisters Lilly-Ella and Lexie, who share a two year age gap, wore the same design of dress in different colours

Liverpool ended up winning 2-0, which was a great result to coincide with Steven's big day.
In a recent interview, the usually private Steven opened up on meeting his wife on a night out in Liverpool when he was 21.
He told the Liverpool Echo: 'It was harassment more than anything, I think... My world changed when I met her.'

Pride: Alex arrives at Anfield stadium for the Liverpool friendly against Olympiakos on Saturday afternoon

After two years together, the couple started a family, with eldest daughter Lilly-Ella arriving in February 2004.
Two years later Lexie arrived, followed by Lourdes in 2011.
Talking about having a family when he was 24, he said: 'It was my decision. I felt becoming a father would be good for my career, to get me even more settled.'

Summery: Alex teamed a shirt dress with white belt and cowboy ankle boots

Excitement: Alex sat in the Director's Box to watch the match

The couple eventually married in 2007 during a lavish ceremony in Buckinghamshire.
Although Alex has become a regular on the Liverpool social scene and used to have a fashion column with OK! column, Steven doesn't do much red carpet events outside football.
He explained: 'I’m not one for premieres or photo-shoots. Alex is more into the celebrity world than me.'

Family man: Steven Gerrard brought his daughters Lilly-Ella (right), Lexie (left) and Lourdes (carried) on the pitch before the match

Just married: Supermodel Elle Macpherson 'ties the knot with billionaire Jeffrey Soffer in Fiji'.

Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson is said to have wed her billionaire fiance Jeffrey Soffer in Fiji.
The couple, who announced their engagement in March, apparently wed on the Pacific islands in front of family and friends.
A source close to the pair confirmed their nuptials to Us Weekly magazine, but gave no further details.

Just married? Elle Macpherson and hotel heir Jeffrey Soffer are said to have wed in Fiji

It was unknown is Elle's two sons Flynn, 15, and Aurelius Cy, 10, - from her previous relationship with Arpad Busson - attended.
Elle, 49, and hotel heir Jeffrey, 44, got engaged in March after reconciling in November 2012 following a eight months apart.
They originally started dating in 2009, but split in March 2012.

Happy together: Elle and Jeffrey in St Moritz, Switzerland in March 2013 - the same month they became engaged

Bling: Elle showed off her engagement ring at the Barry Karacostas the Dog Trainer fundraising event in London in late March 2013

Before their reconciliation, Elle briefly dated banker Roger Jenkins.
However, Elle rushed to Jeffrey's bedside when he was injured in a helicopter crash in the Bahamas late last year, which killed his friend Lance Valdez and saw him undergo surgery for a fractured vertebrae.
Shortly after getting engaged, Elle was spotted flashing her large diamond engagement ring out in London.

Long-distance love affair: With Jeffrey in Miami and Elle, pictured in Florida in 2010, based in London, they initially found it difficult

Although based in London for many years, it is believed Elle is preparing to relocate to Florida, where Jeffrey is based.
The wedding will be the second for the beauty, dubbed The Body, who was previously wed to French fashion photographer Gilles Bensimon - who was 20 years her senior - from 1986 until 1989.
Elle had a high-profile romance with French financier Arpad from 1995 until 2005, becoming engaged in 2003 and having two sons.

Long-term love: Elle and ex-fiance Arpad Busson, father of her two children

Arpad has since had a baby with actress Uma Thurman.
Elle's nuptials come just a few weeks after the model served as bridesmaid at her sister Elizabeth's wedding on the Thai island of Koh Samui.
MailOnline has contacted Elle's spokesperson for comment.

Friendly exes: Elle and first husband Gilles Bensimon have remained friends since their divorce 24 years ago

Doomsday alert over fracking as minister warns of rectory walls quaking across Middle England if drilling continues

The Tory Minister responsible for fracking has conjured up a chilling image of swathes of rural England shaking with the sound of drills as a result of the drive for shale gas.
Referring to people living in the countryside who have supported fracking, Energy Minister Michael Fallon said at a private meeting in Westminster: ‘We are going to see how thick their rectory walls are, whether they like the flaring at the end of the drive!’
His unguarded comments follow angry protests in Balcombe, Sussex, last week in the first clashes between police and anti-fracking protesters.
And they are in stark contrast to a public statement Mr Fallon made last week when he said claims that fracking will ruin the countryside were ‘nonsense’.
Mr Fallon is a huge enthusiast for fracking, arguing it offers the promise of lower energy bills and millions of pounds in compensation for local communities.
But in the private briefing, he candidly admitted that prosperous homeowners who find fracking on their doorstep in the Tories’  Middle England heartlands could be in for a shock.
Mr Fallon, MP for Sevenoaks in Kent, said that exploratory studies for fracking were already poised to start in the North of England and are set to spread the length and breadth of southern England.
He said: ‘The second area being studied is the Weald. It’s from Dorset all the way along through Hampshire, Sussex, East Sussex, West Sussex, all the way perhaps a bit into Surrey and even into my county of Kent. It’s right there.’

 

He then referred provocatively to support for fracking among what he called the ‘commentariat’ – meaning opinion formers who live in the South East.
‘The beauty of that – please don’t write this down – is that of course it’s underneath the commentariat.
‘All these people writing leaders saying “why don’t they get on with shale?” – we are going to see how thick their rectory walls are, whether they like the flaring at the end of the drive!’

Historic: The rectory owned by David Cameron's father, and where he was bought up

A test drilling site for shale gas near Banks on the outskirts of Southport, Lancashire

Fracking experts have already admitted that the practice could result in flares several feet high  as leaked gas is burned off rather than being allowed to leak into  the atmosphere.
Mr Fallon did not specify to whom his comments referred, but it is thought he meant writer and commentator Charles Moore, biographer of Margaret Thatcher, who lives in a £1.5 million rectory in Etchingham, Sussex, and backs shale gas extraction.

MINISTER'S EXPLOSIVE OUTBURST

'The second area being studied is the Weald. It’s from Dorset all the way along through Hampshire, Sussex, East Sussex, West Sussex, all the way perhaps a bit into Surrey and even into my county of Kent. It’s right there.
‘The beauty of that – please don’t write this down – is that of course it’s underneath the commentariat.
‘All these people writing leaders saying “why don’t they get on with shale?” – we are going to see how thick their rectory walls are, whether they like the flaring at the end of the drive!
'That's where the second great belt of shale is.'

It is 35 miles from Balcombe. Mr Moore is also chairman of the The Rectory Society, which seeks to protect old rectories.
Ironically, David Cameron was brought up in a rectory in Berkshire that belonged to his father.
Mr Moore wrote last month that shale gas is ‘a great advance’ though it was ‘lucky’ that much was in the North where there were ‘not many spoilt rich people to complain’.
But he added that there was said to be ‘lots more under the Sussex Weald where I live’ and he faced having to be ‘true to my beliefs’.
Only last week, Mr Fallon – who lives in a manor house near Sevenoaks – swept aside environmental objections to developing shale gas.
‘Claims that exploration involves ruining the countryside are nonsense,’ he said. ‘A typical shale gas pad is expected to be little larger than a cricket ground.’
He said he had visited a conventional drilling site ‘tucked away in the South Downs National Park, which shows how oil and gas operations can work even in the most sensitive environment’.
Mr Fallon conceded that there was bound to be ‘some disruption’ but said this could be overcome with compensation of £100,000 for each exploratory well site.
Fracking would only be allowed if it was safe and did not damage the environment.
He said that in the US, where fracking is well advanced, ‘there is no evidence of fracking causing any groundwater contamination.’

'I can finally get married!' says The Cosby Show actress Raven Symoné as she comes out as a lesbian

Raven-Symoné is ready to open up about her personal life.
The That's So Raven actress has revealed that she is a lesbian with an enlightening and excited tweet on Friday.
'I can finally get married! Yay government!' the 27-year-old former Cosby Show star tweeted. 'So proud of you.'

Coming out: Raven-Symoné (pictured here in October 2012) revealed that she was a lesbian with a tweet about same-sex marriage on Friday

While she didn't expand on her bombshell statement on Twitter, Raven was referring to the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act in June.
She went on to tell E! News, 'I am very happy that gay marriage is opening up around the country and is being accepted. I was excited to hear today that more states legalized gay marriage.
'I, however am not currently getting married, but it is great to know I can now, should I wish to.'



Don't expect wedding bells just yet, however, as a rep for Symone told E! 'Raven is not getting married. She was just supporting the fact that she heard on NPR that more states legalized gay marriage today.'
In May 2012, she addressed a National Enquirer story that she was living with her girlfriend, America's Next Top Model contestant AzMarie Livingston, in New York City by tweeting a cryptic message about the tabloid story.
'I'm living my PERSONAL life the way I'm happiest,' she told her then 350,000 followers.

Happy couple? Raven was rumoured last year to be living with America's Next Top Model contestant AzMarie Livingston

Tattooed beauty: The lesbian model was known for her androgynous looks and similarity to Grace Jones

'I'm not one, in my 25 year career to disclose who I'm dating. and I shall not start now. My sexual orientation is mine, and the person I'm datings to know. I'm not one for a public display of my life,' said the actress who played Olivia on The Crosby Show at age four.
Raven added, 'That is my right as a HUMAN BEing whether straight or gay. To tell or not to tell. As long as I'm not harming anyone.'
At the time, the That's So Raven star did not confirm or deny the allegations about dating AzMarie, who was known on the CW's modeling competition for her androgynous beauty that resembled her idol, Grace Jones.

Sheer daring! Milla Jovovich steps out in see-through blouse on dinner date with husband Paul Anderson

Milla Jovovich has that unique jaw-dropping ability everywhere she goes.
The 37-year-old Ukrainian-born actress was at it again on Thursday night as she stepped out for what should have been a casual dinner with husband Paul W.S. Anderson if not for that very revealing blouse.

Milla put her skimpy black brassiere on exhibition beneath a very sheer, red polka dot top paired with high-waisted blue jeans as the couple dined at BOA restaurant in New York.

Sheer wonder: Milla Jovovich turned heads on Thursday as she stepped out with husband Paul W.S. Anderson while wearing a very sheer blouse

She seemed not to mind the stir she had incited as she left the eatery hand-in-hand with her writer-director spouse.
Milla in fact was loving the attention, wearing a beaming smile as she navigated the sidewalk in her golden high heels while clasping a beige leather bag with gold chain strap.
Her brunette hair was styled in the 1930s siren fashion, a look that suits her well.

Barely there bra: The star's skimpy black brassiere was on display as she enjoyed dinner at BOA restaurant in New York with Paul

Fashion queen: The sultry Ukrainia

The aristocracy's first benefits baby: Hard-up Earl of Cardigan announces he's having a baby that he'll bring up on £71 a week... in a house with no heat

They are hardly, it must be said, ideal circumstances for anybody welcoming a new addition to the family – let alone a peer of the realm.
The Earl of Cardigan, the 60-year-old heir apparent to the Marquessate of Ailesbury, is broke.
So broke that he and his wife live on £10-a-day Jobseeker’s Allowance in the grounds of his ancestral home, the 4,500-acre Savernake Estate in Wiltshire, which has been in his family for nigh on 1,000 years.
They have neither heating nor hot water and are forced to shower at a local public baths. Yet despite their dire financial situation, the couple are celebrating. 
His second wife, the Countess of Cardigan – Joanne, a 48-year-old American – is six months pregnant with the child of the Earl, David Brudenell-Bruce. 
In November, she will give birth to Britain’s first aristocratic baby born into a life on taxpayer-funded benefits.
‘I am absolutely thrilled,’ beams the Earl at his dilapidated home in Lodge House in the grounds of the vast, crumbling estate.
Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, he said: ‘We had the good news confirmed about two months ago and since then Joanne has had tests and what-have-you which show the baby is completely fine.
‘When we got the news we were certainly surprised and taken aback, but we’d both hoped that something might happen. The pregnancy wasn’t planned but it was certainly welcome.’
But the news will certainly come as a shock to the earl’s son, Thomas, 30, and his estranged daughter, Bo Bruce, 28, a former contestant on BBC singing competition The Voice.
The Earl insists: ‘There was no IVF or anything of that sort. Joanne is too old to be considered for treatment and we certainly couldn’t afford to go private on the few pounds a day we get from jobseekers.
‘We aren’t daunted; we’re delighted. I’m looking forward to the sleepless nights and the nappy changes.
'I’m particularly looking forward to the sound of a child’s laughter here at Savernake Lodge. It will bring the house alive again.
‘But, yes, as things stand I’m afraid I’ll have to rely further on State benefits to provide for my family, which is not ideal. 
‘It’s not what I wish to do.’
The reason for the Earl’s impoverished state is complex. He has been engaged in a vicious legal battle with the two trustees of the estate.

Short-changed: The Earl accuses his trustees of keeping money that is wrapped up in the estate, from him

Unemployed: The Earl of Cardigan has worked as a delivery man and has applied for jobs as a chauffeur

The Earl has a 49 per cent share  in it, while his son, Thomas, Viscount Savernake, owns 51 per cent. When he moved to America to live for four years, the Earl appointed the trustees – John Moore, a barrister’s clerk,  and Wilson Cotton, an accountant – to help him manage Savernake. But he has accused them of refusing to give him access to his own money.
‘They have cut off all my income and deprived me of my job as estate manager, which is why I am in the state I am in,’ he says.
The trustees have also made 14 criminal allegations against him, ranging from damaging pheasant feeders to spitting at them, although none of the charges resulted in a conviction.

 

When you factor in a feud with his son and the sad fact that his daughter Bo will not speak to him, his life is almost as dramatic as that of another Earl of Cardigan – a distant relative, who led the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War in 1854.
The extent of the poverty of Cardigan, as he calls himself, is shocking.
He has been forced to support himself and his wife on a single man’s £71-a-week Jobseeker’s Allowance – his wife is not an EU national and  is therefore not entitled to her own benefits.
He says it is difficult for an aristocratic Old Etonian – with a degree in agriculture and brought up to believe his sole raison d’etre was to be custodian of Savernake –  to find work.
But in the past couple of years he has had stints working as a delivery driver, and he has applied for several full-time positions as a driver or chauffeur.
He has also taken HGV lessons to qualify as a long-distance lorry driver but, so far, his efforts have failed to pay off.
He cannot claim housing benefits because he lives in a trust-protected, rent-free home. 
But he receives a 25 per cent discount on his council tax as his income is so low. When the baby is born, the couple will be able to apply for a £500 maternity grant from the Social Fund and they might also be able to fill in form CH2 for Child Benefit of £20.30 a week.
They may also be eligible to apply for the more complex Child Tax Credit, which has maximum payments of £3,265 a year.
‘We’re fortunate in that friends and neighbours and my sister Louisa have gone into their lofts and found everything from prams to baby grows,’ he says.
‘But you have to have money to bring a child up, and I will have to look into what I can claim from the State. But if it’s a boy I will probably still put his name down for Eton and hope for the best.’

Second chance: The Earl said he is excited at the prospect of becoming a father again, especially as he is in a feud with his son Thomas and is estranged from daughter Bo Bruce (pictured right)

It is difficult, when visiting him at his ramshackle home, to envisage a baby fitting into his present surroundings. He lives in what can only be described as squalor, albeit of a genteel variety.
In the winter, the bedroom is so freezing cold that he has to dive under the bedcovers and sleeps  fully clothed.
By day he and his wife of 18 months live in the only room they can afford to heat – which is on the ground  floor.
Bare wires hang precariously from ancient sockets and the curtains are mildewed and soaking where the rain trickles in through the patched-up roof. 
The Earl’s shirts are draped on hangers, on a makeshift washing line.
A dustpan and brush, a cardboard box of PG Tips and several sauce bottles line the draining board. On the windowsills, boxes of Cheerios, candles jammed into wine bottles and a jumble of kitchen cleaners vie for space.
The Earl is pinning his hopes for the new baby on the outcome of an ongoing court action to have  the trustees of the estate removed and replaced.
‘They have taken about £394,000 in remuneration for themselves which is an amount absolutely unheard of in a trust,’ he says.
‘It will go before the High Court in December but I hope they will do the decent thing by resigning and returning the money before the baby is born.
'For the past two years we have lived in the house without heat or hot water. My wife and I have to go to the leisure centre in Marlborough to shower.
‘That can’t go on when the baby arrives and I want to see the trust live up to their duties and restore the property to a fully functioning home a child can be brought up in.’
The couple hope the baby’s arrival will ‘shame’ the trustees into carrying out repairs on their leaking roof and failed heating system. 
‘We hope they will see the humanity of the situation and order the basic amenities you need to bring up a child to be restored,’ says Lady Joanne.