Out of the hospital, Bret Michaels says he feels 'lucky to be alive'

Bret Michaels says the brain hemorrhage that hit him late April 21 felt like getting shot in the back of the head, People reports.

The Poison frontman and "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant, who spent 10 days in the ICU, is out of the hospital and at a rehab facility for physical therapy. He tells the magazine he feels "lucky to be alive" and recounts a moment in the emergency room after a doctor suggested his children be brought to see him.

"I said in these exact words, 'Am I dying? If I'm dying, I want to see my kids, but if I have a chance, I don't want them to see me in this condition.' "

The cause of the bleed has not been found, according to Dr. Joseph Zambraski, chief of cerebrovascular surgery at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, where Michaels was treated.

"Patients who don't have anything identified in their angiograms tend to do well," Zambraski said. "This is one of those rare instances in medicine where we're actually pleased not to be able to find what caused the problem."

The hospital held a press conference Tuesday regarding the rocker's treatment and prognosis.

"He's just one of those lucky people, the 20% or so who have a subarachnoid hemorrhage who make a complete recovery and are able to resume all of their normal activities," the doctor said.

And hey, all you headband haters? Before Michaels went home, a hospital spokesman told People, his medical team gave him a new one -- signed by them and featuring the Barrow logo.

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photos: Bret Michaels, top right, on Jan. 10, 2010, at the NBC Universal Winter 2010 press tour party in Pasadena. Dr. Joseph Zambrowski, lower left, showing a slide of Michaels' brain at a news conference May 4, 2010, at the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. Credits: Dan Steinberg / Associated Press, top; Matt York / Associated Press, left.

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Bret Michaels still in ICU, undergoing more tests

Bret Michaels, who suffered a brain hemorrhage on Thursday night, is still in intensive care at an undisclosed location, according to his official website.

The Poison frontman and "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant is undergoing more tests to determine the source of the bleeding in his brain, his rep wrote Monday.

People magazine reported that a source said Michaels, 47, still has the massive headache that sent him to the hospital, and that the rocker is heavily sedated.

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: Bret Michaels performs during the kickoff of the "Rock of Love Bus Tour" in Las Vegas on Jan. 31, 2009. Credit: Ethan Miller / Getty Images 

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Bret Michaels in critical condition after brain hemorrhage

Less than 10 days after an emergency appendectomy, Bret Michaels is hospitalized in critical condition due to a brain hemorrhage, People reports.

The rocker and "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant, who is also diabetic, was rushed to a hospital Thursday night with a severe headache. According to People's source, doctors are still trying to determine the cause of the hemorrhage.

He had an appendectomy in the wee hours of April 12 after first thinking he was suffering a bad bout of flu.

On his blog Wednesday, Michaels described what it felt like to have his appendix rupture, called the surgery a "wake-up call" and discussed how alcohol consumption is different for diabetics.

"I need to find something healthier to do on my day off then going out and finding a club to go hang out at," he wrote. "It’s part of finding balance in my life."

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: Bret Michaels in Hollywood in April 2008. Credit: Gus Ruelas / Associated Press.

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Sharon Osbourne: My implants will be Ozzy's paperweights

Sharon Osbourne, rarely known for the soft sell, confirmed to "Today" on Monday that she plans to get her breast implants removed this summer and will give them to husband Ozzy Osbourne to use as a  paperweight.

Why? "'Cause they're better on his desk than on my chest. 'Cause they're awful."

~~ Wait ... Ozzy has a desk?? ~~

The "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant also revealed that she'd had H1N1, a.k.a. swine flu, while the show was taped last fall, "but we didn't tell anyone." She said she'd never been so sick.

She also said "Apprentice" was the hardest but the best thing she'd ever done. 

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Emergency appendectomy for Bret Michaels, rocker and reality TV star

Bret Michaels tried to ignore extreme abdominal pain Sunday, thinking it was the flu and hoping he'd be able to take the stage that night. No such luck -- by 1 a.m. Monday the rocker was undergoing emergency surgery for acute appendicitis, People reports.

Michaels was on the schedule as part of the Bands, Brews and BBQ classic rock series at Sea World San Antonio. Some April tour dates will be rescheduled, his rep said.

The former lead singer for Poison is  still in the running on "Celebrity Apprentice 3" (the show was filmed last year). His reality TV resume also includes starring in "Rock of Love with Bret Michaels" and a stint as a judge on "Nashville Star."

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: Bret Michaels, please consider this Feb. 1, 2009, picture of you surrounded by scantily clad ladies at the  Playboy Mansion Super Bowl party a sort of get-well card, OK? Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times. 

At the Ministry, we worry about celebs who are under the weather. If you worry too, follow us on Twitter for all the headlines (we're @LATcelebs) or tell us to get our rest and drink plenty of liquids on Facebook.

Rodney and Holly Robinson Peete host festival to benefit families with autistic kids

When you see a big guy walking around with a plate of food, and he's dressed in a dog suit, you can assume this isn't your everyday Hollywood event. Ditto if the entertainment includes the chance to pet a warty sea cucumber.

OK, so there was also a bouncy house and a bouncy slide and crafts tables and cotton candy, pretty much the normal stuff you'd see at a kids event. On Sunday, Holly Robinson Peete and her husband, Rodney Peete, kicked off the first My Brother Charlie Family Festival on the rolling lawn of Culver Studios to raise funds to aid families with autism.

"My Brother Charlie" is a new children's book co-written by Holly and her daughter, Ryan Elizabeth Peete, 12, whose real-life twin is the title character.

"My daughter came to me and said, 'I want to advocate for my brother,' " Holly said. " 'The kids at school aren't asking him for play dates, and I think it's because they're scared of what autism is.' So she said, 'Let's go down to school and have a conversation as a family.' And that's what we did. And that's really where the book came from, an opportunity to advocate for a kid on the [autism] spectrum and talk about how beautiful they are."

Fortunately for Holly and her family's HollyRod Foundation, nudging the LAUSD to provide services for kids with autism turned out to be good training for her gig on this season of "Celebrity Apprentice" (because HRP is one of, oh, a zillion Celebrity Apprentices taking over Los Angeles these days).

"There was no way I was going to leave my family for six weeks, or however long ...

Want to be a reality TV star? Just be prepared for any 'souvenirs'

So I'm watching "The Biggest Loser" and I think, I could be publicly displayed half-naked on a scale, if it meant I'd lose weight! And I'm watching "Survivor" and I think, I could sleep on dirt in the rain and eat bugs, if it meant I'd lose weight! And I'm watching "Dancing With the Stars," and I think, I could wear sequins and satin and trip over my own clumsy self, if it meant I'd lose weight!

(Because let's get serious: The true draw of most reality shows is nothing more than the chance that you might slim down accidentally.)

And then I'm reading this story at TheWrap about the kinds of releases of liability that reality TV participants have to sign before they get to lose weight -- oh, or meet the love of their life, or get all BFF-y with Paris Hilton, or hit the board room with Donald Trump -- and I think ...

Well, pretty much I think, "Euuw, yuck."

TheWrap's story includes links to actual releases of liability, and also delves into the reasoning behind the releases. An excerpt:

On “The Real World,” for example, contestants must sign a clause stating, “If I choose to engage in consensual sexual behavior or intimate contact with any such person, I do so voluntarily and knowingly, and I assume the risk that by engaging in such activity, I may contract certain sexually transmitted diseases.”

Perhaps diet and exercise really are a better way to go.

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: If Bob Harper of "The Biggest Loser" screams at you until you cry, forcing you to drown your sorrows in a pint of Cherry Garcia, don't complain to us. You probably signed something releasing him from any liability regarding your feelbads. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times.

Ivanka Trump wedding: Our invite was apparently lost in the mail

Ivanka Trump married Jared Kushner on Sunday at one of daddy Donald Trump’s billion or so Trump National Golf Clubs, People magazine reports.

Ivanka, who wore a Vera Wang gown and will keep her name professionally, has been keeping more than 400,000 of her friends updated with wedding and engagement details via Twitter.

But only 500 friends seem to have made it to the ceremony. Hmm. Did confusion about the location keep turnout well below the 400,000 mark?

In what I can only describe as a crushing blow for L.A.-area paparazzi (though I’m maybe the only one who’ll describe it that way -- Ivanka who?) the ceremony was held not at the Donald’s newish course down the road on the Palos Verdes Peninsula but rather at Daddy’s links in Bedminster, N.J. Not to be confused with his other New Jersey golf course in Colts Neck, of course. It’s tough enough for me to remember who in my family even plays golf. Totally mind-boggling the kinds of things the super-rich have to keep straight – but somehow the car services get it right, I guess. Even Regis Philbin’s people. Not so lucky were the legions of Twitter followers, who if they were indeed real, might have been wondering if their invites had gotten lost in the mail.

Or could hundreds of thousands of people, dazzled by that 5.22-carat Trump diamond, simply not firm up workable travel plans in the space of such a short engagement?

Perhaps New Jersey just made more sense for the couple’s celebration, what with Ivanka’s gig on “Celebrity Apprentice” (spoiler alert: clues to the Season 9 cast) and that little office job as an executive vice president for the Trump Organization. It’s also not so far for now-hubby Jared, who publishes the New York Observer and has been known to dabble in real estate himself. (Their needs before ours? Whose nutty idea what that?)

Still, the PV peninsula is so pretty in fall. Oh, well.

By the way, if you were thinking of sending them a little something to mark the occasion,  the New York Times has been kind enough to point us to a few of Jared and Ivanka's wedding gift registries.

-- Christie D’Zurilla

Photo: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner dance at their wedding IOct. 25, 2009, at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. Credit: Brian Marcus / Fred Marcus Photography via Getty Images

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