Aiken: "I'm gay"

People

Clay Aiken, 29, is confirming what many people thought: He's gay. The cover of the latest People magazine shows Aiken holding his infant son, Parker Foster Aiken, with the headline: "Yes, I'm Gay." The cover also has the quote: "I cannot raise a child to lie or hide things." Magazine officials said there is an interview with Aiken and confirmed he was on the cover but refused to release the article until today. The baby's mother is Aiken's friend and record producer Jaymes Foster. Aiken, who gained fame as the runner-up on "American Idol" in 2003, rarely addressed the frequent rumors about his sexuality. Two years ago, he said: "I don't really feel like I have anybody to answer to but myself and God and the people I love."

Lohan: We're a couple

In a chat broadcast Monday night on Dr. Drew Pinsky's radio show, "Loveline," actress Lindsay Lohan, 22, confirmed that she and Samantha Ronson, 31, are lovers. Lohan, who called in to chat about the recent plane crash of her friend DJ AM, was caught off guard by co-host Ted Stryker, who asked how long she'd been going steady with Sam. "A long ... a very long time," Lohan said.

Stone loses a round

Actress Sharon Stone has lost another round of custody proceedings over her oldest son, Roan, 8. A San Francisco judge denied her request for primary custody of Roan, who has been living with his father, newspaper executive Phil Bronstein. The couple divorced in 2004 after six years of marriage. The judge ruled Sept. 12 that Bronstein's home is more stable. Stone retains visitation rights. Stone has two other sons, Laird and Quinn, whom she adopted on her own.

Perry lends helping hand

Writer, actor and director Tyler Perry, who started his career in Atlanta, on Tuesday donated to the city food for more than 1,000 families. He helped hand out the food with volunteers from the nonprofit organization Help Feed the Homeless. Perry, whose work includes "House of Payne" and the new film "The Family That Preys," grew up in a poor family in New Orleans and was homeless for a time. "I've been out on the street. I know what it's about," he said.

Dunne returns

Celebrity crime writer Dominick Dunne was greeted by O.J. Simpson as he returned to a Las Vegas courtroom Tuesday to cover the former football star's armed robbery-kidnapping trial. "Mr. Dunne, nice to see you back," Simpson said as Dunne, 82, and his son, Griffin Dunne, arrived. Dunne shook Simpson's hand. The Vanity Fair magazine writer has spent decades covering society and celebrity trials, including Simpson's acquittal in 1995 of the slayings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. Dunne, who has bladder cancer, left the courtroom Monday after complaining of severe pain and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Letters to be sold

Several letters that Princess Diana wrote to her former nanny Mary Clarke, including one comparing her own dancing skills to those of an elephant, will be auctioned in London next week, and they are expected to sell for thousands of dollars.

Antiquities

Elgin Marbles

Greece has finally taken possession of a chunk of the Elgin Marbles and now holds renewed hopes of regaining the rest. Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Tuesday presented Greek authorities with the fragment from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon. The 14-by 13-inch artifact is a foot from a sculpture of Artemis, ancient goddess of the hunt, and originally stood above the entrance to the Parthenon as part of a 520-foot frieze that ran round the temple. It was removed by Scottish diplomat Lord Elgin in the early 19th century and has been kept in a museum in Palermo, Sicily, for the past 200 years. The rest of Lord Elgin's collection is still displayed in the British Museum in London.

Update

Heart attack

Berlin prosecutors said an autopsy Tuesday showed that Thomas Doerflein, the zookeeper who gained fame for hand-rearing the celebrity polar bear cub Knut, died Monday of a heart attack.

Today in History

1869: Thousands of businessmen were ruined in a Wall Street panic known as "Black Friday" after financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk attempted to corner the gold market.

1963: The U.S. Senate ratified a treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union limiting nuclear testing.

1988: Members of the eastern Massachusetts Episcopal diocese elected Barbara C. Harris the first female bishop in the church's history.

1998: The government began releasing the new, harder-to-counterfeit $20 bill.

Today's Birthdays

Actor-singer Herb Jeffries, 97. Actress Sheila MacRae, 84. Actor Gordon Clapp, 60. Former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy II, D-Mass., 56. Actor Kevin Sorbo, 50. Actress-writer Nia Vardalos, 46. Actress Megan Ward, 39. Actor Kyle Sullivan, 20.

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