Lawrence.com

For love, not money

London � Heather Mills says she isn't just marrying Paul McCartney for his money. If she were, she said, she would have found someone richer.

That would have been difficult � an annual ranking of Britain's wealthiest put McCartney's personal fortune at $1 billion, making him the country's richest musician and the 36th richest Briton overall.

"He knows and I know why I'm with him," Mills, 36, told the British Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday. "If I was going to go out with anybody for their money, it would be with someone a lot richer."

When an interviewer responded that few people were wealthier than the 59-year-old former Beatle, Mills said, "There are a lot of people, believe me."

Richard Simmons to the rescue

Buffalo, N.Y. � A 500-pound foster father whose weight cost him custody of three brothers he'd raised for six years is getting help from weight-loss king Richard Simmons in his struggle to slim down enough to bring the boys home.

"If Richard can't do it, nobody can. He is the guru," said Brian Jones, who has been getting daily phone calls from the master motivator since Simmons learned of Jones' story last week.

Jones lost custody of the foster children he'd hoped to adopt, ages 16, 10 and 9, after an unexplained 200-pound weight gain over the past two years left him barely mobile.

Joyride to jail

Richmond, Va. � A towing firm employee was jailed on charges he took an unauthorized spin in rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott's $311,000 Lamborghini Diablo and wrecked it.

Joseph Thomas Johnson's alleged joyride on Oct. 9 ended just 3 miles from the headquarters of Century Inc., where he worked as a dispatcher. The company was hired to transport the car from California to Elliott's Virginia Beach home.

Police said Johnson mowed down a speed limit sign and slammed into a tree before abandoning the wrecked car. The initial damage estimate was $161,000.

Hope on the home front

Los Angeles � Bob Hope, who made a career of entertaining U.S. military personnel during times of war, is home this Christmas, but his thoughts are with the troops.

In a Christmas message Tuesday from their suburban Toluca Lake home, Hope and his wife, Dolores, asked Americans to "go out of our way to thank them and let them know we care."

Spokesman Ward Grant said the 98-year-old entertainer and his wife believe it's important to reflect "on the gifts that God has given us and our great nation."

"It is time to embrace our faith and exercise our pride of being an American," Grant said, paraphrasing the Hopes' comments.