Celebrity Women & Models

These are the ladies who have dominated the 2008 headlines — with more to come in the next few days.
By James Montgomery

Beyoncé
Photo: Getty Images

Who was the biggest star of 2008? Who had the most impact on the year that was, who inspired the most headlines or generated the biggest amount of buzz? It's really tough to say ... yet, for decades now, plenty of magazines have been doing just that (we're looking at you, Time). And so, after years of sitting on the sidelines, we here at MTV News have decided to get in on the act too.

Over the next few days, we'll be unveiling our list of the most fascinating, controversial and, well, BRITNEY!!! women of the year. These are the artists, actors and pop-culture heavyweights who dominated the headlines here at MTVNews.com (and no, Sarah Palin didn't make the cut ... we'll leave that to the folks at Time).

Today, we present picks 10 to 6. On Tuesday, we'll reveal numbers 5 to 2. And then, on Thursday, we'll unveil our 2008 MTV News Woman of the Year. And, of course, we'd love to hear what you've got to say — we'll even publish some of the best comments later this week — so if you agree with us (or if you don't), let us know in the comments below.

(For our first list of picks for the Top 10 Men of the Year, click here.)

And now, let the debate begin ...

10. Beyoncé

2008 Highlights: Spent the majority of the year putting the finishing touches on her much-discussed double-album, I Am ... Sasha Fierce ... Played legendary blues singer Etta James in "Cadillac Records" ... Married longtime beau Jay-Z ... Applauded by PETA for her fur-free outfits ... Released a pair of singles, "If I Were a Boy" and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," the latter of which ended up being our second-best song of 2008 ... Donated $100,000 to victims of Hurricane Ike ... Volunteered her services for Barack Obama's inauguration ... Snagged her third-consecutive #1 album, selling more than 482,000 copies of I Am in one week ... Parodied the "Single Ladies" video to hilarious effect on "Saturday Night Live" ... Landed a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. To anyone else, this is a lifetime's worth of résumé fodder. To B, it was just another year.

9. Hayley Williams

2008 Highlights: Penned a cryptic blog post that kicked off rumors that she and her band, Paramore, were calling it quits ... Addressed those rumors (and whispers that she was pregnant) in an equally cryptic blog post that used the phrase "My Eggo is not preggo" less than 24 hours later ... Sat down with MTV News for an "everything's fine" interview in Austin, Texas, during South by Southwest ... Defended "family friend" Miley Cyrus ... Played the Warped Tour ... Battled her stepfather over unscrupulous eBaying ... Got (then later removed) bull-ring piercing in septum ... Admired by John Mayer ... Performed in a virtual Whisky A Go Go during the MTV Video Music Awards ... Contributed a pair of songs to the "Twilight" soundtrack ... Copped to being a huge "Twilight" fan and a member of Team Jacob ... Began work on new Paramore album ... Is seriously, like, 4 feet tall.

8. Rihanna

2008 Highlights: Won her first-ever Grammy in early February ... Followed up on that momentum by landing an opening slot on Kanye West's Glow in the Dark Tour ... Re-released her hugely successful Good Girl Gone Bad album with the hugely successful single "Take a Bow" ... Denied reports that she and Chris Brown were an item (despite mounting evidence to the contrary) ... Performed a freaky version of "Disturbia" (another one of her hugely successful singles) at the Video Music Awards ... Collapsed onstage in Australia while performing a duet with Brown, sparking rumors she was pregnant ... Inspired a fan revolt when none of the aforementioned "hugely successful singles" are named in James Montgomery's Best Songs of 2008 list ... Did, at some juncture during the year, get a fairly awesome neck tattoo.

7. Aubrey O'Day

2008 Highlights: Rolled into the year fresh off reports that she was leaving Danity Kane to join the Pussycat Dolls ... Appeared to put all the drama behind her when DK's Welcome to the Dollhouse debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts ... Launched DK/Day26 tour in May ... Landed the role of Amber Von Tussle in the Broadway version of "Hairspray," which causes her to miss Danity Kane's appearance on "FNMTV" ... Boasted about her breasts during an interview with former WWE announcer Paul Heyman ... Shot a rather eye-opening photo spread for Complex magazine ... Booted from Danity Kane during live finale of MTV's "Making the Band" due to concerns over her "image" and despite the fact she was one of only two interesting members in the group ... Reportedly posed for Playboy ... May have had the most turbulent 12 months of anyone not named " Britney Spears" or "Amy Winehouse."

6: Sasha Fierce

2008 Highlights: Created by Beyoncé as a marketing tool/ psychological id for her I Am ... Sasha Fierce album ... Despite being completely fictional, may actually be more interesting than the actual Beyoncé ... Starred in the "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" video, which managed to "out-crazy even 'Ring the Alarm' " ... Definitive proof that Beyoncé is nuts ... Signified by a futuristic metallic glove worn on the left hand ... Is probably steampunk ... Quite possibly the most interesting alter-ego ever created by a musical superstar (sorry, Chris Gaines).

We'll be rolling out our Top 10 Men and Women of the Year all week! Today you've got 10 through 6, tomorrow you'll see 5 through 2, on Wednesday we'll be recapping your reactions and opinions, and on Thursday the winners will be revealed! Who do you think the Man and Woman of the Year should be? Tell us now!

• MTV News' Women And Men Of The Year

• MTV News' 2008 Men And Women Of The Year

• Britney Spears
• Beyoncé

Everyone’s favorite beehived chanteuse, Amy Winehouse (seen here rubbing her tuchis on a deli case earlier in the week) is reportedly under 24-hour surveillance in her own home to make sure that she’s not doing anything, um, unhealthy, by order of her record label.

Wait, they can do that?? Why didn’t they try this months ago?

In addition to not being able to leave her London abode, according to “a source” a burly security man is stationed outside of Amy’s house ’round the clock to keep out any unapproved visitors (i.e. drug-dealers.)

But for all of their effort, Amy still managed to make a run for it after only a few days, bolting out through her front door into a car full of gal-pals, and speeding off for a 20-minute joy ride before Winehouse leapt from the moving vehicle (I’m really not making this up!) and then ran into a pub where she was soon apprehended by her father, Mitch, and taken back home!

Oh boy. This can’t possibly end well…

Image used with permission from newscom.com.

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This is just a short clip of our favorite crackhead having a little bit of a scuffle with an audience member while performing rehabilitation center at Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday concert.

She definitely looks cracked out here. Maybe it’s time to heed your own advice and head to rehabilitation center already? Ya know, before it’s too late?

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Oh Nelson Mandela… Like you haven’t been through enough? Now some cracked-out loony white girl has to hit guests during her performance at your big 90th birthday celebration? That sucks.

Naomi Campbell must be pissed!

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Amy Winehouse recently underwent a prolonged hospital stay.  Reports from the U.K. Sun had Amy coughing up blood and fainting.  However, more recent and supposed more accurate reports say she had a simple chest infection.

So there you have it people - she’s not dying of some life threatening illness like TB - she’s just what I’ve thought all along, just EFFed UP in the head.

Now I wonder where I should send my bill?

(image: newscom)

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Jamie Lee Curtis has revealed a former addiction to painkillers in a VERY candid interview.

Apparently, her addiction started about 15 years ago; she started getting small plastic surgery procedures after being told by a crew member of a film she was working on that she was developing bags under her eyes (hello? What a jerk!). She didn’t like getting the procedures, because she felt more and more unnatural, and she was also getting depressed and lonely, so she started taking painkillers to stave off the issues. In fact, she stole painkillers from her sister - later feeling so bad that she wrote her a very poignant letter:

‘I’ve been harbouring a bad secret. I have found and taken many of your painkillers. I’ve betrayed you, and I know that you’re angry, and you have every right to be. I am lonely. I take them at night to ease the pain. I was so afraid to tell you.’

She eventually conquered her addiction and made some very positive changes in her life, and now volunteers as an anti-drug counselor. Honestly, I love her courage for coming forward with this; I’m sure it was mega embarrassing. Maybe she should talk to Amy Winehouse? Be her mentor? Oh, forget it - she’s screwed.

Image credit Newscom

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Good morning, you lovely Snarkarknos! How are you this fine Monday morning - getting ready for a fun week of workaday? Yeah, right. Well, let’s get started with some gossip.

Apparently, Amy Winehouse has done got herself emphysema. What? You mean you can’t smoke week and the wacky cracky for 24 hours a day, knock back the alcohol, and generally abuse yourself without suffering any consequences at all? REALLY? Wow. Note to self: maybe you’d better cut back on the Drano drinking, because SURELY that’s going to be detrimental to your health in some way. Amy’s a role model!

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[Photo Credit: Newscom]

Amy Winehouse has fired her hairdresser! And in other news, someone was getting paid to tame that hot mess of hair that she’s has piled on top of her head.

Amy was put under pressure by her management company to remove people from her life who could be viewed as a negative influence. On the chopping block this time was her hairdresser, Alex Fodden.

But I thought that the friend that gets incarcerated with you is a friend until the end?

Reportedly, Fodden was there in Norway with the trainwreck couple and got incarcerated along with them for marijuana.

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Well, she made it. Throughout Thursday night's dinner to celebrate the opening of the Center for Contemporary Culture in Moscow, guests debated whether the legendarily late and loose Amy Winehouse had made her flight from London and would be up to singing a few ditties. Dasha Zhukova, the Russian entrepreneur and current flame of wealthy businessman Roman Abramovich (he reportedly picked up Winehouse's alleged $2 million invoice), had confirmed all with the beehived crooner the day before. Still, the majority consensus was: "We'll believe it when we see it." Believe it, though. She was there and she was good. The Grammy winner, who's been playing to an audience of policemen and an incarcerated husband lately, took the stage in a printed cocktail dress—which spent the the evening being yanked to mid-thigh in Winehouse's trademark shimmy—and high heels (no bloody ballet flats here!). She even sang an encore for the international A-list crowd (a Gagosian here, a Santo Domingo there). "She is terrific, truly," said Eugenie Niarchos, who sat front-row during the intimate concert, just next to the singer's water bottles. "Totally lucid, too."

R&B star Rihanna wants to record a “feminist anthem” for her next album with fellow chart-toppers Amy Winehouse and Duffy.

The Umbrella hitmaker has drawn up a wishlist of musicians and producers she wants to work with when she next hits the studio, with Winehouse, Duffy, and Winehouse-collaborator Mark Ronson right at the top.

She tells the Bbc, “I love Mark Ronson. We’ve talked about doing something together on my next album”.

Rihanna adds of a ‘dream team’ with Brits Winehouse and Duffy: “How amazing would that be? We’ve all got three different voices, it would be brilliant. Now that would be a feminist anthem.

“I love Amy. I think she’s great, so unique. I love her album. And I also love what Duffy is doing, she’s brilliant, as well”.

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Images Provided By Newscom

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