Dare I say it, but this year went even faster than the ones before. Just moments ago I was welcoming you to a brand new year of star scandals and before you can say 'custody battle' — bang! — Britney's little 16-year-old sister Jamie-Lynn Spears is pregnant and 2007 is practically over.

So, lest we too soon forget… here's my round-up of the celebrity year that was. (But, just before I get to that — I have to say: Wow! Who'd have thought that a teenager, thrust into the Hollywood limelight as the headliner of her own TV-series would grow up too fast and land up due to give birth before she's even old enough to vote?)

Biggest Baby Arrival

Well, we can't forget that this was the year that Angelina Jolie added yet another kid to her and Brad Pitt's ever-growing brood. Little Pax Thien joined Maddox, Zahara and Shiloh to make the fourth of the Jolie-Pitt young-uns.

And, as Brad's only recently pointed out — these children are not only getting to travel the globe with mum and dad; they're also under the firm impression that every street is infested with paparazzi shoving to get the perfect pic of them.

And then there was the poor baby in the next category…

Biggest Celeb Death

Anna Nicole Smith's year was a crazily tragic one, and she won't even get to see it out. In short order she gave birth, lost her older son Daniel to an overdose, and then died herself — triggering a custody battle for her newborn (and likely ultra-wealthy) daughter, involving at least four men, one of them Zsa Zsa Gabor's eldery husband!

In the end, her ex Larry Birkhead turned out to be Danielynn's daddy. Poor kid — wonder how she'll turn out?

Biggest Celeb Brush with the Law

It's been a really bad year as far as stars and the law have gone. Except for Pete Doherty. He's possessed more herione and other drugs than some dealers, and made more turns in court than a defence attorney, but still he walks the streets a free man.

On the down side for Pete, he finally managed to lose Kate Moss, despite all the they've-got-married rumours. But, he did replace her very quickly with another supdermodel who's now helping him get clean.

Less legally lucky have been Britney Spears and her child custody woes — but I'm sure you don't want to hear any more about that ongoing and sorry tale. Of course, she's also run over a bunch of photographers' feet and got into trouble for not having a driver's licence.

But more impressive than her exploits even, more celeb-tastic than Kiefer Sutherland's Christmas and New Year's stint in jail, or Nicole Ritchie's 'I'm pregnant and going to the slammer (though only for, like, two hours)' thing… Yes, more impressive than the really light sentence Nic got for being convicted of, you know, just driving the wrong way down a highway and being high at the time…

TRIXY HONORÉ
(pronounced On-or-ay) delights in the candyfloss vacuousness of celebrity gossip. Living in New York City, Trixy keeps an eye out for the rich and famous of the Big Apple as she hunts for great vintage clothing and tries to balance the joys of both style and substance. She is a firm believer in nice manners, wrist-length gloves and the greatness of television.

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Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's — Paris Hilton! And the unbelievable performance she made of her — what was it? — like three seconds in prison. She cried and freaked out. She got released early. She got rearrested. She made the news all around the world. She came out a changed woman, ready to save the world… or, like, totally donate some money to charity and stuff.

It was a heart-stopping show while it lasted. And it lasted waaaaaay too long.

Biggest Stint in Rehab

Sure, Amy Winehouse could have gone under the legal woes catergory — especially since her beloved hubby is in jail, accused to assault and then attempted bribery to try to get the charges dropped! Also, she's now being questioned by the police as a possible accomplice to this.

But what she has to get greatest credit for in 2007, is steadfastly refusing to even consider rehab, despite her insane, drug-binging, hotel-trashing lifestyle that's practically left her looking older than Mick Jagger.

Still, she can't hold a candle to the real star of the year's rehab sagas — Lindsay Lohan.

She almost spend more of the year in that multitude of 'treatment facilities' she blew untold tens of thousands of dollars on than she did on the outside. Plus, she's been pretty impressive on the getting nude pictures and videos of herself on the net, and of course lining herself up for jail time with a bunch of reported crashes while allegedly high/drunk and with cocaine in the car.

Oh, and that was in someone else's car that she grabbed, with his friends in it, to chase the mother of her former assistant across town. Impressive work, Linds. What can 2008 hold for you and your ex-fraudster-turned-man-of-God father? Not to mention your mother and her new reality show attempt to get your siblings famous too…

Biggest Celeb Break-up

Ah, it was sad — kind of — to say goodbye to Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston in the dying moments of 2006, and they never even had a horrible, irritating acronym like Bennifer. He just got, well, clean-cut and hot enough for our Jen, though.

Then there was Pamela Anderson who last year married Kid Rock a billion times and then divorced him. This year she married the charming Rick Saloman (former sex tape-with-Paris Hilton star) — and now, a few months later, she's thinking of divorcing him. Well, she did file the papers, but is now apparently having second thoughts.

Saddest celeb split, though, and the biggest and most shocking of the year has to be Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe. Sure they got married really young (and likely because she got pregnant), but they really seemed to love each other and we just thought they'd work out their problems and be one of Hollywood's all too rare love success stories.

It wasn't to be, though. Rumour has it that Ryan's cheating with a co-star was the final straw, but the camel was labouring under a lot of straw before then.

So, those and the hideous lows and dizzying highs of 2007. I'll be taking a break for a while, to gather my strength — but I'll be back in January, renewed and ready to take the wild craziness that the stars get up to.