No mood swings for soon-to-be-mom Claudine Barretto

The project is in the can, and its trailer was shown to showbiz scribes last week. Claudine plays the stepsister of Piolo and the two fall in love to the consternation of their parents, played by Dina Bonnevie and Edu Manzano.

I can’t imagine it’s been more than a year since Claudine and Raymart Santiago married. I still remember the big fuss about her sister Gretchen not being invited to the wedding. And I don’t think the sisters have officially made up.

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Richard Gutierrez will be playing an ordinary mortal in Lupin, and that’s a relief for his mom, Annabelle Rama. Annabelle says that when Richard was playing superheroes in his previous TV series Mulawin, Sugo and Captain Barbell, she had anxiety fits every time he performed dangerous stunts. Richard doesn’t want a double to stand in for him, and the more difficult the stunt, the more excited he gets.

Lupin is one of two big-budget shows GMA is launching, the other being Fantastik Man. GMA’s Wilma Galvante says the network didn’t spend a lot on the rights for Lupin because it’s considered in the public domain, but the elaborate stunts will cost a bundle. The same holds true for Fantastik Man, which will have Mark Herras reprising the role of Vic Sotto. Joining Mark will by Joey Marquez, who chose to stick it out in showbiz instead of dabbling in politics once again.

Lupin starts right after Holy Week, takig over the primetime slot of Bakekang. Lupin will start airing this Saturday after Bitoy’s Funniest.

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This priest who is familiar in showbiz circles loves to drink with his actor buddies. But when the booze starts to get in his head, he boisterous and wants to dominate the conversation. It’s unbecoming of a man of the cloth. Maybe he’s been hanging around with his movie pals for too long he thinks he’s one of them.

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Mother Lily Monteverde says it’s not unusual for her to support a candidate for public office. This time she’s given her blessings to aspiring senator Migz Zubiri. Mother Lily admires Migz’s resolve to help the entertainment industry get back on its feet again.

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Oscar winner Halle Berry has revealed in a magazine interview she tried to kill herself over a failed relationship but backed out at the last minute. The 40-year-old Berry said she tried to gas herself in her car when her marriage to baseball star David Justice was starting to get stormy.

So what stopped her? "I had an image of my mother finding me," she told Parade magazine. "She sacrificed so much for her children, and to end my life would be an incredibly selfish thing to do. It was all about a relationship. My sense of worth was so low."

The actress, who won the Oscar in 2002 for her performance in Monster’s Ball, said she "promised myself I would never be a coward again."

Her second marriage, to singer Eric Benet, also didn’t work out. "We were in sex rehab after one year. I wish I had left then, but I was putting everyone’s needs before mine."

She is said to be dating model Gabriel Aubry nowadays. "Now my sights are set on a different chapter in my life, which is motherhood. That’s the goal I have very clearly set for myself," she said.

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Another troubled star, Britney Spears, reached a divorce settlement last week with Kevin Federline less than three years after they married. The couple met for five hours with their lawyers before reaching the settlement.

Federline will receive $1 million and the former couple would share custody of their two sons, aged 18 months and six months.

Spears popped a big surprise when she married Federline in September 2004. In November she filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

Spears has just checked out of a rehab center. In a bizarre incident last month she walked into a beauty salon in Los Angeles demanding that the staff snip off her hair.

When they refused, Spears grabbed a set of clippers and shaved her head herself.

Late last year she was photographed as she got out of a car in a short dress without panties.