Madonna & Guy Ritchie How It Fell Apart

LONG BEFORE A-ROD, THEY FOUGHT OVER ADOPTION, KABBALAH AND NOT BEING THERE FOR EACH OTHER. NOW THAT THEY'RE DIVORCING, THEIR BATTLE WILL BE OVER MONEY--AND THE KIDS. Three days after announcing her marriage to Guy Ritchie was over, Madonna returned to her usual routine. Sporting a baseball cap emblazoned with the word "Faith," the pop star joined her kids Lourdes, Rocco and David at the Kabbalah Centre in New York City for Oct. 18 services. Inside she stood to receive a prayer for those who have traveled recently--something she would do again later that day, flying to Toronto for her Sticky & Sweet tour. Though some of Madonna's scripted concert banter had taken on new meaning--for weeks she had dedicated "Miles Away" to the "emotionally retarded" or "people who have problems with intimacy"--that night, she performed with her usual intensity and no signs of heartbreak. "What's been helping her is work," says a source close to Madonna. "In fact, she said the other night, 'When I go onstage, I forget all my troubles.' Offstage, it's back to reality."

And that reality is quickly becoming ugly. As soon as Madonna's longtime publicist Liz Rosenberg confirmed on Oct. 15 what had been buzzed about all summer--"Madonna and Guy Ritchie have agreed to divorce after seven and a half years of marriage"--the British tabloids were filled with tit-for-tat allegations from sources in both camps about what went wrong in the relationship. Among the nastier claims: News of the World reported her half-day workouts left her too tired for sex--resulting in an 18-month dry spell; 40-year-old Ritchie, said the Daily Mail, told his 50-year-old wife she "looked like a granny."

Reading between the who-wronged-whom headlines, it's apparent that long before this summer's rumors of Madonna's alleged affair with baseball star Alex Rodriguez, the marriage had run aground. The couple, sources say, fought over adopting son David from Malawi in 2006; over Kabbalah; over careers that kept them physically apart--and perhaps most devastatingly, over their growing emotional distance. "Obviously they've been struggling for a while," pal Trudie Styler told Access Hollywood.

The first major rift occurred in 2005, after Madonna was thrown from a horse on her 47th birthday and broke several bones, including her clavicle, scapula and five ribs. Her recovery took more than a month. "She was in a lot of pain," says the source close to the singer. "Guy just wasn't there for her--caretaking, or emotionally, or anything else. His cold manner was devastating to her. It was the beginning of her understanding that he was not a partner in every sense of the word."

Changes occurred on Ritchie's side as well. "Her neediness caught him by surprise," adds a source who knows them both. "She's used to being able to do the impossible. But she didn't have superhuman powers to heal herself, and neither did Guy, and they both suffered for it." In fact, around early 2006, Madonna told a family insider the couple had been sleeping in separate bedrooms.

Domestic issues have been a source of disagreement for years. Though the director recently talked about "how much you can love an adopted child, the same as you can love a biological child," he didn't think adopting David was a good idea, say sources. "He felt like they should focus on their marriage because they were having problems then too," says a source close to both camps. But "what Madonna wants, Madonna gets."

Another of her passions: Kabbalah. For years, Ritchie went to services with his wife and kids. "That was a huge bond between the two," says a Madonna source. But his dedication seemed to wane over time. In August, he told the U.K.'s Observer he wouldn't call himself a follower of the mystical Jewish teachings: "I have sympathies with many philosophies ... It'd be a mistake to be a follower of anything, really." The friend who knows both says Ritchie gave Kabbalah "a fair try" but couldn't handle his wife's zealousness. "It frustrates him," says the source, "that she can't do anything quietly or just a little bit."

For an unassuming guy like Ritchie, being married to one of the most famous women in the world was draining. "She would try to get him to come to things, and he resisted," says the source close to both camps. "She was more about being a celebrity and he was more low-key. He wanted to live in London and live a normal life, but that's impossible when you're married to Madonna." A Madonna pal acknowledges, "She was always first when it came to her husband or herself, and that really took a toll on Guy. There was only so much he could put up with."

Things finally came to a head this year. "They were living separate lives, coming together now and then for the cameras," says a source close to both camps. Then came the Rodriguez rumors (see box). "Everyone thinks A-Rod is the reason they split--it's not," says a Madonna pal. "But he [factored into] a long list of problems they had been having over the past year or two."

And now, Ritchie and Madonna are headed for what could be an ugly court battle. The couple--who did not have a prenup--are currently negotiating a settlement and aren't seeing eye to eye. Friends of the singer say Ritchie is being a gold digger. "Guy feels entitled to get a lot of money from her. He feels like it's a partnership, and when a partnership ends, you divide things up," says the source close to Madonna, adding that the pop star paid the bills. "He didn't contribute any finances to the running of the household." Says the friend who knows both: "He's quite proud. She's angry, and she wants to hit him where it hurts." Legally, Ritchie may be entitled to a share of his wife's wealth simply because she earns more, explains English marital law expert Alison Green. "There is a very good chance that she will have to make a payment to him."

Custody of Rocco, 8, and David, 3, could also become a sticking point for the pair. (Madonna has custody of Lourdes, 12, whose father, Carlos Leon, lives in New York.) "She plans on keeping the kids with her," says the source close to the singer, who may remain in New York permanently. In this case, she likely has the law on her side: "Courts over here don't like to split up children and generally favor the mother," says London attorney Vanessa Lloyd Platt. Instead of custody, Lloyd Platt adds, "the issue between them would be one of visitation rights."

Of course, there were plenty of happy times for the couple, who were introduced by mutual friends Styler and Sting in 1998 "I'm a hopeless romantic and I never despaired," Madonna told PEOPLE about finding love again. The Detroit-area native moved to London and immersed herself in Ritchie's world, from the pubs to the countryside.

But as years passed, they became openly disillusioned. In April, Madonna told the German weekly Gala, "We no longer have the idealistic expectation of a relationship. I gave up the dream that he is the perfect husband. He gave up the expectation that I am the ideal wife.... [Not] that we're indifferent to each other. We now feel more of a deep affection for each other." Six months later their feelings have shifted again. Says the source close to Madonna, "There's a lot of anger on both ends."

Still, the former couple--at least publicly--have remained mum. "It's all about protecting the kids at this point," Madonna's close friend Ingrid Casares tells PEOPLE. A pal says Ritchie, who has been shooting Sherlock Holmes in England, "is throwing himself into his filmmaking." Says another friend: "He's sort of relieved that it's all out there. He doesn't have to fake it anymore." As for Madonna, behind her steely exterior is a woman who's hurting. "She's cried plenty over this," says the Madonna source. "She never wants to be a victim, but this is a failure. She is suffering too."

"MADONNA WOULD HAVE LIKED TO KEEP IT TOGETHER. SHE LIKED HAVING SOMEONE THERE FOR HER. BUT IT'S OVER AND SHE'LL MOVE ON"

--A PAL

HOW WILL THE KIDS COPE?

Madonna's three children--daughter Lourdes (with ex Carlos Leon), 12; son Rocco, 8, with Ritchie; and adopted son David, 3--will all likely react differently to the divorce. For preteens like Lourdes, it's normal to act out, says child psychologist Vickie Panaccione. "Twelve-year-olds will do that anyway," she says, "but especially during any change." Madonna's oldest "has already experienced one [split]," adds parenting expert Lawrence Balter, Ph.D., "so the parents should talk to her about why some relationships don't last." As for Rocco, Columbia Assistant Professor of Social Work Robin Gearing, Ph.D., notes that after a divorce, boys can tend to have "difficulty in some areas of social adjustment." Because he's too young to grasp fully what's happening, David will likely cope the best, but as an adopted child he could later grapple with a feeling that he'd been abandoned by a parent on two occasions, says Panaccione. And, she adds, all kids can become clingy during a split, as they may "need to hold onto something because it feels like their foundation has been taken away." To help them cope, Balter says, "[parents] should clearly state that it's nothing the kids did." Adds Panaccione: "The biggest factor is how amicable [Madonna and Guy] can be with each other around the kids."

WHAT'S AT STAKE...

To protect her staggering net worth--especially without a prenup (which British courts generally don't recognize for high-income marriages anyway)--Madonna reportedly hired Paul McCartney's pit bull divorce attorney Fiona Shackleton. Even with her star counsel, Guy Ritchie may get an $18 to $60 million settlement, according to the U.K. press. Among the assets:

* Madonna's estimated $475 million fortune (including her Live Nation deal, current Sticky & Sweet tour and endorsements) and Ritchie's reported $51 million net worth (including film earnings).

* Estimated $85 million in properties.

* Ritchie's share of the $4.5 million pub he co-owns with pals.

WHAT'S UP WITH A-ROD?

Madonna denied breaking up Alex Rodriguez and wife Cynthia, who cited his "affair of the heart" with the singer when filing for divorce in June. But was A-Rod, 33, why Madonna ended hers? The pop star's ongoing relationship with the Yankee "is spiritual and emotional," says a source familiar with both stars. Yet a Madonna pal says, "He was a factor, but he wasn't the reason [for the split]. If she wanted to move past [him] she would have--and Guy would have too.

Scoop

FOR BREAKING CELEBRITY NEWS EVERY DAY People.COM Shia LaBeouf

OUT OF CONTROL

Shia LaBeouf, 22, is an invincible action hero onscreen, but the Indiana Jones star was anything but when his Ford pickup hit another vehicle and flipped over at 2:30 a.m. on July 27, after a night of partying in Los Angeles. "One car was smoking, and the other was upside down," says an eyewitness. After the actor was booked for a misdemeanor DUI, LaBeouf--who last year said, "I feel like my childhood was kind of lost," due to a drug-addict dad--was taken to a hospital for hand surgery. (His passenger was Transformers sequel costar Isabel Lucas, 23, who is fine.) The accident is his second highly publicized alcohol-related episode in a year and sidelines him from Transformers for up to a month. How will this affect LaBeouf's rising star? "There may be a big role he's up for that they'll think twice about," says a Hollywood insider. "But as far as the end of his career goes, he's a long way from that."

Lindsay & Sam

FIRST FIGHT

While friends of Lindsay Lohan, 22, credit Samantha Ronson, 31, for being a calming influence, all was not calm between them on July 25 at New York City's Beatrice Inn, where the couple engaged in a screaming match, says an eyewitness. "Lindsay [then] sat alone at the bar crying," says the clubgoer, adding "Sam stormed upstairs" after the fight. A friend of Lohan's downplays the spat: "They brawled, but it's in the past." As for reports that Lohan was hospitalized after being sideswiped by a motorcycle later that same evening, her rep says "she was not at the hospital." The next day the couple appeared to have made up: Ronson was overheard at the Bowery Hotel debating with Lohan if she should visit her mother or stick around. Ronson responded, "I'd rather hang out with you."

ROSETTA'S 'STAYING STRONG'

While Sienna Miller, 26, and Balthazar Getty, 33 (left), took their PDA-fest to N.Y.C. (she sat on his lap at Beatrice Inn), his wife, Rosetta, 38, was back in L.A. "staying strong for her family," says a pal. "She's extremely hurt, but doing the best she can."

RUMOR PATROL

IS MICHELLE WILLIAMS DATING SPIKE JONZE?

Heath Ledger's ex, 27, has been spotted with Jonze, 38 (who produced her next film, Synecdoche, New York), at a Brooklyn deli, where "he had his arm around her and kissed her on the cheeks, then on the lips," says a source. Jonze, the ex-husband of Sofia Coppola, was also spotted with Williams near his Manhattan loft. Reps had no comment.

SENATOR LANCE?

Lance Armstrong is hinting he's eyeing a run at political office. "There might come a time when you feel like you've reached a wall and you need to step into public office and try to make change through that channel or those ends," Armstrong, 36, told reporters at July 24's Livestrong Summit in Ohio. The cyclist's girlfriend, Kate Hudson, didn't appear at the event, but Sen. John McCain was there. Still, Armstrong remained coy about which presidential candidate would make the best exercise partner. "Probably best just to do a little triathlon," said Armstrong. "You know, we could hike one day with Senator McCain, play basketball one day with Senator Obama. And then the other day they have to go ride with me, and then we'll figure it out."

Jen Aniston & John Mayer

'MADLY IN LOVE'

Jennifer Aniston, 39, and John Mayer, 30, are easing into their courtship with double dates and widespread approval of the union from friends. "John and Jen are madly in love," says a Mayer pal. "They're only getting closer. John's never been like this with a woman before." On July 24 the pair hosted Aniston's costar from The Break-Up Jason Bateman and his wife, Amanda Anka, at L.A.'s Sunset Tower Hotel for a double date. "Everyone loves Jen and loves the two of them together," says the friend. "They complement each other."

CAM'S STILL WITH JEN'S EX!

Cameron Diaz, 35, and British model--a.k.a. Aniston's ex--Paul Sculfor, 37, may be flying under the radar, but the couple remain an item. They had a late night with pals including Benicio Del Toro at L.A.'s Four Seasons Hotel July 23. "Cameron looked great," says an eyewitness.

Insider

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL

Ashley Tisdale's

B-DAY BASH

Wonder if the "Happy Birthday" sung to Ashley Tisdale at her party will make the High School Musical 3 soundtrack? The majority of her cast members were there to sing it to her! Zac Efron (who provided "cha-cha-chas" during the song), Vanessa Hudgens, KayCee Stroh and Olesya Rulin joined Tisdale (who turned 23) and boyfriend Jared Murillo at Malibu's DKNY Jeans Beach House. "This is the party I've always wanted!" she gushed to guests, who ate chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting before changing into swimsuits to ride the waterslide. "She's one of the nicest girls I've ever met," Efron gushed back. "She's sweeter than this cupcake."

FAST TAKES

7/21, N.Y.C.: Patrick Dempsey raved about his 18-month-old twin boys at Avon's Unscripted fragrance launch: "They make me laugh all the time." * 7/24, San Diego: RocknRolla costars Guy Ritchie and Ludacris chilled in the Hard Rock Hotel's Comic-Con Green Room. * 7/25, San Diego: Newly single Justin Long stuck close to pals at Maxim's Pineapple Express party. * 7/25, L.A.: Kate Beckinsale turned 35 with Moët & Chandon and the Beckhams at her BondSt bash. * 7/26, San Diego: Matthew Fox and Masi Oka got chummy at the Entertainment Weekly/Sci-Fi Comic-Con party at Hotel Solamar.

KRISTIN CHENOWETH TURNS 29?

Despite the 2-9 on her olive-shaped birthday cake (she plays Olive on Pushing Daisies), Chenoweth actually turned the big 4-0 at a private home in Los Angeles. Famous pals--including Winona Ryder, John Stamos (left), Molly Shannon and writer/producer/ex-boyfriend Aaron Sorkin--toasted the choked-up actress, lauding all her accomplishments at such a young age.

WILL FERRELL

The Step Brothers star talks about the joys and perils of brotherhood, fatherhood and never acting your age

Q&A

In Step Brothers, you and your onscreen step-sibling John C. Reilly get into some pretty violent fights. Were they difficult to choreograph?

Not at all. It was just "I'll land on you, then you land on me, and let's try not to break each other's ribs!" We were so beat up, we couldn't wait for scenes with dialogue.

Did you fight that viciously with your own brother Patrick?

Our fights were typically one or two punches and then someone cries and it's over. I remember once we were playing catch, wearing plastic batting helmets that you get at the ballpark. I got really mad because he kept dropping the ball. I hawked it at him as hard as I could, and the helmet just exploded. I could have killed him!

Now you're the father of brothers: Magnus, 4, and Mattias, 18 months. Are they keeping up the family tradition?

Well, the sharing thing is the big hurdle for us right now. The little one will start playing with a toy that the big one hadn't touched in like a year, and the big one will just wrench it out of his hands.

Like your character, did you live at home longer than you should have?

After college I lived at home for three years. It was about not having a job and having a very cool mom.

In the film, you sport a pair of prosthetic testicles. Did you keep them?

I have them. They were my wrap gift from the movie. They cost about $25,000, so they were probably the most expensive testicles ever on film. We had a dinner party for my wife's birthday in April, and I brought them out to show everyone. They became a big topic of discussion.

Blinded by Love

Anne Hathaway thought she had found Mr. Right. Instead, Raffaello Follieri stands accused of lying, cheating and bilking millions. Why did she fall for him?.? Dining at the upscale Nello Summertimes in Southampton, N.Y., in May, Anne Hathaway and her boyfriend Raffaello Follieri were the very picture of a glamorous young couple in love. "They seemed really happy," an observer says of the pair, who were joined by Follieri's parents, Pasquale Follieri and Anna Cordella. "She seemed very comfortable," says the source. "His parents really seemed to like her. They were having a great time and laughing. It was a nice family get-together."

Those good times were about to come to an explosive end. Within a month the four-year romance between Hathaway, 25, and Follieri, 30, was in ruins--and within a week the dashing Italian businessman had been arrested on charges of wire-fraud conspiracy and money laundering. (Legal experts say that if he's convicted he would likely face up to 10 years in prison.) Appearing in a Manhattan court on June 24, Follieri was branded a "con man" by federal prosecutors, who accuse him of bilking investors of millions--largely by making false claims that he had close ties to the Vatican--and then using the money to fund a dolce vita that included yachts, the opulent apartment he shared with Hathaway on Fifth Avenue and hobnobbing with former President Bill Clinton. Said Assistant U.S. Attorney Reed Brodsky: "He was able to deceive everyone."

But of the dozens of victims he allegedly duped, friends say Hathaway fell the hardest. The brunette beauty--who shot to fame at 18 as a squeaky-clean Disney heroine in The Princess Diaries--thought she had found her prince in Follieri, telling PEOPLE in '06 that he was a keeper: "You can say what you want about it, but we just love each other."

That fairy-tale romance had a devastatingly unhappy ending. Even as some friends say they warned Hathaway about Follieri, she stuck by him for months as allegations of his wrongdoing swirled. But in June, when she learned that Follieri's charitable foundation was under investigation by the New York State attorney general for tax irregularities, the actress--who served on its board and was also a donor--broke it off. Says a pal: "That was the last straw."

Days later Follieri was arrested in his boxer shorts by FBI agents at his mother's Trump Tower apartment in Manhattan; meanwhile Hathaway kept a game face as she traveled the world promoting her movie Get Smart. Now held in a 7 1/2-ft.-by-8-ft. concrete-block cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, he spent his 30th birthday on June 28 behind bars. Labeled a flight risk by prosecutors (officers found him with a suitcase containing $15,000), he is scrambling to make $21 million bail. "My client is a formidable and resilient young man who is vigorously addressing the strident terms of the bail," says his rep Melanie A. Bonvicino. "He looks forward to overcoming the current allegations."

As for Hathaway, a source close to the star says her busy work schedule--last month she finished shooting the romantic comedy Bride Wars with Kate Hudson--has been a welcome distraction. "Anne didn't mention [the breakup], and people around her didn't ask," says the source. "She was completely blinded on this one. She loved him and so she didn't see much else until now."

Others wonder how she couldn't see. Among the charges in the papers filed by the U.S. Attorney's office: that Follieri kept priestly robes in his office and once asked a monsignor to change into the vestments of a more senior clergyman in order to appear better connected to the Vatican. Investigators say he swindled funds for his $37,000-a-month apartment rent, private jets and medical bills for himself and his "girlfriend"--Hathaway is not named in the complaint--as well as orthodontist bills for his father. (A source says Hathaway was interviewed by the FBI for the investigation; the agency had no comment.) A former employee says that Follieri often bragged that his duplex residence was once used by Aristotle Onassis. "When you walk in the downstairs, it makes a big Godfather impression," says the source. "Everything was white on white on white. In the office there was this giant picture of Anne. It was like, 'This is me, and this is my movie-star girlfriend.'"

Hathaway was equally smitten. "I think she felt she had a major catch who was a powerful, wealthy European businessman," says the former employee. "Everything was 'Don't worry, I'm the man.' Essentially, the knight in shining armor. Unfortunately, the armor was some crap metal that tarnishes."

Multiple sources say they are convinced that Hathaway knew nothing of Follieri's alleged schemes. "She's a sweet girl, and he seemed like the right kind of guy," says a friend of Hathaway's. "At the end of the day, could she tell you that he was a dirty dealer? No way." Adds another: "She's not guilty of anything except being a young woman who hasn't been worked through the wringer by a con artist before."

A guy who wore his confidence like one of his custom suits, Follieri was introduced to Hathaway four years ago by a mutual friend. "She told us the story one night," says a source who knew the couple. "She [said she] was put off initially by his arrogance and attitude [and that] he pursued her and within two weeks they were madly in love."

Raised in suburban Millburn, N.J., Hathaway--who sealed her status on the A-list with 2006's The Devil Wears Prada--fell head-over-designer-heels. "In Sardinia she would just cling to his arms," says Lee Mellis, a close Follieri pal who vacationed with the pair. Adds another friend: "She doesn't need a rich guy. She needs a guy who takes care of her."

At Manhattan's Balthazar restaurant, where the couple were frequent guests, Follieri would often order for "Annie," as he called her. "It was a very chivalrous relationship," says an observer. Whether walking their chocolate Labrador Esmeralda--now being cared for by Follieri's mother--or cooking pasta together at home, "they seemed to have a nice, cozy, happy life together," says a friend.

Still, "they had a turbulent relationship," says the former Follieri employee. "She lacks a tremendous amount of confidence. He was a security blanket for her." During one yachting trip with the couple, says the source, a female employee felt she was being treated poorly by Follieri. "Annie said to the girl, 'Don't go. This is an opportunity of a lifetime to be on a yacht. When are you going to get a chance like this again?'" recalls the source. "It was clear she was taken by the whole powerful-man thing."

That continued even as Follieri became increasingly dogged by legal woes that included bouncing a $215,000 check to a New Jersey businessman. (Follieri paid the debt, and the case was dismissed.) Raised in a small town in Italy, he moved to New York in 2003 There, say prosecutors, he told investors he was raising money to buy and redevelop properties being sold by the Roman Catholic Church--even calling himself the Vatican's chief financial officer. That sales pitch attracted high rollers such as billionaire Ron Burkle, a pal of Bill Clinton's whose business later sued Follieri for $1.3 million for misusing funds. (The suit has been settled.) With Hathaway on his arm, Follieri also pledged millions to worthy causes. The pair partied with the Clintons in the Dominican Republic and became regulars on the social circuit.

Investigators say Follieri exaggerated actual ties to the Vatican to gain the confidence of investors. "Raffaello had an official [looking] document from Pope John Paul empowering him to dispense of church properties," says a Clinton associate. Adds another: "He had a lot of highly reputable people vouching for him, all of whom he had duped."

There were those who had suspicions, however. Bill McCall, chairman of the Boston archdiocese's real estate advisory committee, met with Follieri regarding the purchase of church property in '04. "He kept saying, 'I want to buy,'" recalls McCall, noting that there are strict rules governing the ways Church properties can be converted for commercial use. "To me, there was a naïveté there--I'm not sure he ever would have achieved the rezoning that he needed."

But even after so many alleged deceptions, insiders say his romance with Hathaway was no con. "There was great affection between the two of them, and a great love," says a pal. "I feel so badly for her." Friends are certain that Hathaway's happily ever after is still to be written. "She's got such a real positive outlook on life--inspirational," says her college friend Pamela Cuce, who attended Vassar with the star. "There are few people so sincere and accepting as Annie. She's a very strong woman."

"She's a sweet girl, and he seemed like the right kind of guy. At the end of the day, could she tell you that he was a dirty dealer? No way"

--A FRIEND OF HATHAWAY'S

"He made her feel confident because he was doing all of these things to sweep her off her feet"

--A FOLLIERI SOURCE

A JET-SET ROMANCE

A man who appreciated the finer things in life, Follieri squired Hathaway on chartered planes and private yachts and shared a luxe Manhattan apartment next to Saint Patrick's Cathedral with the actress. "He was charming, glamorous and I think probably mysterious to Anne," says a friend.

Shania's Broken Heart

WITH MARRIAGE, MUSIC AND MOTHERHOOD, THE SINGER THOUGHT SHE HAD IT ALL--UNTIL HER HUSBAND'S ALLEGED AFFAIR WITH ONE OF HER BEST FRIENDS. The scene inside the Geneva Palexpo was glamorously befitting a high-society Swiss ball: ladies in evening gowns and men in black tie, flowing champagne, a high-roller charity auction and a mid-dinner fashion show. As the crowd of 850 dined on confit of lamb and chocolate mille-feuille on the evening of May 24, one of the event's most highly anticipated guests was noticeably absent from her spot at Table 7. "Shania's not coming," said Stéphane Lagonico, a member of the Swiss Red Cross Ball executive committee, referring to his friend, singer Shania Twain, who had attended the last three years and is the event committee's honorary president. "We are sorry she is not here, but we completely understand that she has other matters. She is going through a difficult time."

Is she ever. Nine days earlier, her publicist announced that Twain, 42, and her husband, producer-songwriter Robert "Mutt" Lange, 59, were separating after 14 years of marriage. Though no reason was given, sources pointed to Lange's alleged affair with the couple's longtime personal assistant, Marie-Anne Thiébaud, 37, who managed their château in Switzerland and whom Twain considered one of her best friends. It was, in fact, Thiébaud who two years earlier had been Twain's de facto date at the Red Cross ball, posing for photos alongside the singer in matching plunging necklines. While the country crossover superstar has sought refuge in her native Canada with her son Eja, 6, sources say Twain is still reeling from the disloyalty--times two. "It's a multiple betrayal because it involves all the people around her, the people she is closest to," says a friend of Twain's in Switzerland. "She is in absolute, total shock."

News of the separation has marked a messy public end for a musical power couple known as much for their ultra-private lifestyle as their successful professional collaboration, which has included three megaselling albums and five Grammys. Twain and Lange, who married in 1993, moved to Switzerland in 2000 and settled into a 46-room château (they wintered in New Zealand on a 61,000-acre spread). "It was important for [Mutt] to have privacy, to be out of the limelight," says a Twain pal of the famously reclusive Lange, who has worked with artists from AC/DC to Celine Dion. "It was important for him, so it was important for her."

The more isolated lifestyle took some adjusting for Twain: "She's very warm, she likes to socialize and have people around. She gave up everything for him," says an insider. But she too relished life away from the spotlight, in a country with gorgeous vistas and a high regard for privacy. While focusing on raising Eja ("She wanted to be there for him during these crucial years in his life," says the Twain pal), the singer grew to cherish a routine that included shopping in the high-end boutiques the next town over from her home in picturesque La Tour-de-Peilz, riding horses, skiing and hiking. "She found solitude in being out in nature," says Twain's friend. And with her husband, whether picking up chocolate and pastries from the local bakery or sharing romantic dinners at the three-star Bon Rivage hotel on Lake Geneva, "they were always holding hands," says the Twain insider, scoffing at reports he was a Svengali-like figure. "They were very much a couple."

Another staple of Twain's Swiss life: her friendship with Thiébaud. The two women's families (Thiébaud has a young child) would often spend vacations and holidays together. "[Twain] moved to Switzerland without knowing much about the community; she didn't know many people at all," says the friend in Switzerland. "And then Marie-Anne became her employee. They were a similar age and shared similar interests. They were very good friends." The two were so close, adds another source, that Twain would often do Thiébaud's makeup if they were going out to an event.

According to sources, Lange told Twain about a month ago that he wanted out of the marriage but didn't give a reason. It wasn't until a friend tipped her off that Twain learned of the alleged affair. "She was devastated," says a source. "This isn't just about her--it's her career, her life, her child, someone she thought was a close friend: Everything gets pulled out from underneath her."

Lange has denied the allegations, telling PEOPLE exclusively that an affair was "absolutely not the reason [for the breakup]," explaining, "It's literally just a growing apart, that's all." He also denied that he was in a romantic relationship with Thiébaud. Reached in Montreux, Switzerland, Thiébaud, who is herself in the process of divorcing after eight years of marriage, told PEOPLE of the alleged affair, "It's not true." Yet a source close to the situation confirms the relationship. "They are absolutely still together," says the source. "It was a big shock, completely unexpected. It's very difficult to be betrayed by people you love and trust."

Twain's heartache is the latest chapter in a fairy-tale life filled with both terrible hardship and wild success. Born Eilleen Regina Edwards and raised in an Ontario mining town by an Irish-Canadian mother and a stepfather who was a member of the Ojibwa tribe, Twain started helping support her family at age 4, when she sang along with a diner jukebox. "These guys heard and asked my mom if I could sing louder. She put me up on the countertop, and from that moment on, she was convinced I was going to be a little performer," Twain told Time magazine in 2002 She continued to provide for her three younger siblings after her parents died in a head-on collision with a logging truck in 1987, when she was 21. "She's always taken care of other people," says the Twain insider.

After scoring a Nashville contract and adopting the stage name Shania ("I'm on my way" in Ojibwa), she met Lange, an über-successful producer living in London (he was born in the African country now known as Zambia and educated in South Africa). The two quickly forged a professional bond--she would sing to him over the phone--and married six months after they met. "He's intense and very bright ... and he's a caretaker. I think that was appealing," says a Twain source. Twain went on to sell more than 60 million albums worldwide, racking up hits like "You're Still the One" and "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!"

Her music--and her family--have been Twain's pillars as she copes with the breakup of her marriage. In Huntsville, Ont., where she owns a waterfront cottage, the singer has been keeping a low profile while playing tennis and riding horses, indulging in spa treatments and dining out with her sisters and her son, a "remarkably normal, well-behaved little boy" who seems to have picked up Mom's healthy eating habits, according to a Huntsville source: "He eats chickpeas like other kids eat candy." Eja (pronounced "Asia") is "the jewel in her crown. She just adores him," says a Twain insider. "That's what's helping her get through this: her son and writing." Sources say even without Lange, Twain is working on her music. "She's been constantly writing songs this entire time," says a friend. "I know it's very therapeutic for her."

Though Twain seemed to retreat from public life years ago, friends say she is no woman of mystery but a warm, funny, generous soul. "She's just real," says a Twain source. "She's charitable with her talents, her finances, her spirit." In New Zealand in March she opened a public hiking trail that cuts through her property. "She was wonderful, very charming," says local radio-station owner Ed Taylor, who spoke with Twain at the ceremony. In the program for the Red Cross ball she missed, Twain's personal message quoted Sir Winston Churchill: "'We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.' From the bottom of my heart, I encourage you to continue."

For the woman who once asked in song, "Is There Life After Love?" friends say the answer will be yes. As Lange told PEOPLE, "We're still very good friends, and that's the way that it'll remain." His sentiment may be overly hopeful for the time being, as pals say the sting of the breakup won't fade soon: "You can imagine the devastation of losing her husband and her best friend," says the Swiss insider. But in the long run, "Shania absolutely will get through this, just like she has every time she's faced adversity," says another friend. "She draws from an inner strength. She's very lucky to have it, and she knows that."

"HER CAREER, HER LIFE, HER CHILD, SOMEONE SHE THOUGHT WAS A CLOSE FRIEND: EVERYTHING GETS PULLED OUT FROM UNDERNEATH"

--A FRIEND OF SHANIA'S

"WE'VE WATCHED HER DEAL WITH TRAGEDY. SHE HAS A HUGE BACKBONE AND WE ARE ROOTING FOR HER ALL THE WAY"

--HUNTSVILLE, ONT., RADIO HOST SARAH COOMBS

WHO IS MARIE-ANNE THIEBAUD?

She started out as a trusted employee of Twain and Lange in 2000, when the couple moved to La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland. As secretary, personal assistant and manager of their château, Thiébaud, 37, was a daily presence who soon became a close friend. "The people in your life every day become your family, your friends and your confidants," says a Twain source. "They celebrated holidays and birthdays together. They were very good friends." Swiss records show Thiébaud, a native of the region who studied to be an administrative assistant, is in the midst of her own divorce from husband Frédéric, whom she married in 2000 (They have a young child.) "She's a good mom," says a local source. Thiébaud denied the affair with Lange and told People, "All I can say is that I'm okay."

THEIR WEALTH

The exes lived on three continents--and have a combined net worth of about $1 billion.

HIS: OVER $500 MILLION

* The producer, who's working on Nickelback's next CD, wrote hits for Twain, Def Leppard and others, and "Every time [his] song plays, he gets a cut," says a source. Lange makes an estimated $20-30 million a year in licensing songs.

* He had an undisclosed stake in Zomba Music Group, which sold for $2.7 billion in 2002

HERS: $450 MILLION

* Twain has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide; Come On Over is the bestselling country album of all time.

* In addition to television ads for Revlon in 1999, she released her second fragrance with Coty, Shania Starlight, last year, earning her an estimated $3-4 million.

"I Feel So Embarrassed"

UNDER FIRE FOR CONTROVERSIAL PHOTOS IN VANITY FAIR AND ON THE INTERNET, TEEN SUPERSTAR MILEY CYRUS SPEAKS OUT: "I AM NOT PERFECT". On April 27, it seemed like business as usual for the Cyrus family in their hometown of Franklin, Tenn. Singer Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughter Miley attended a private screening of a movie by Peter Chelsom, the director of her upcoming Hannah Montana feature film. The day of father-daughter bonding also included a family dinner at the Wolfgang Puck Express across the street. Says a witness: "Miley was low-key."

By the next morning there was nothing low-key about being Miley Cyrus. The Disney darling-who stars in the sassy-but-squeaky-clean title role of the hit Disney Channel series Hannah Montana-found herself in the eye of a media firestorm after news hit that a revealing portrait of the 15-year-old would appear in June's Vanity Fair. The photo, in which Miley is posed shirtless but partially covered in a satin stole, was released just days after personal photos leaked onto the Internet of the teen star cuddling with a boy and showing her bra (see box). Debate over whether the photos were too racy for a young teen-and for her even younger fans-became a hot topic from The View to countless blogs. In a statement to PEOPLE, Miley apologized for both sets of pictures. "I feel so embarrassed," she said, adding of her fans, "[I] hope they understand that along the way I am going to make mistakes and I am not perfect."

But for a Disney princess who is known for her Christian faith and tight-knit family-and whose show is so popular that merchandise sales are expected to hit a billion dollars this year-there's considerable pressure to keep a pristine public image. Will the photos do damage to Miley's career? On one blog, a mom contemplated burning her kid's Hannah Montana merchandise, but many fans support Miley. "What we're hearing the most is that [young fans] are disappointed, but they still love her," says Denise Restauri, founder of AllyKatzz.com, a social networking site for teens and tweens. "They want to believe in her." (In a People.com poll, 77 percent of readers thought the Vanity Fair portrait was inappropriate, but only 52 percent thought it would hurt her career.) Industry experts aren't too worried about her. "Miley has a bank of goodwill," says Jerry Del Colliano, a music industry professor at USC. "These pictures aren't going to hurt her now, but if she doesn't keep it clean she won't be able to rebound as quickly." And there are some who think the Vanity Fair story was worth the risk. "She's growing up," says John Eckel, CEO of Alliance Entertainment and Sports Marketing. "She's going to be stretching as a performer. She may lose some moms as fans, but now people see her in a new light."

Other young stars have also weighed in. "It's not what I would choose to do," Disney alum Hilary Duff, 20, says of the Vanity Fair photo. "It's not an easy position to be in. People are pushing you to do something, and if you want to do it, that's your choice." Adds former Nickelodeon star Emma Roberts, 17, of fame in the MySpace age: "You're a kid, people take pictures. It just stinks that we're all growing up in the spotlight and everyone has to see it."

The Disney Channel stands by Miley and claims Vanity Fair's renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz encouraged her to pose for the photo during the February shoot. "A situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines," says a Disney rep. Vanity Fair says Miley's parents, Billy Ray and Tish, or other minders were present for the entire shoot. "Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley." But a source close to the Cyrus family says that the shirtless picture was taken after Miley's parents left the shoot and only her grandmother and teacher were on hand. "[Annie] took advantage of the opportunity," says the source, adding that Miley's parents "are mortified." Leibovitz says in a statement that she is sorry the "simple, classic" photo has been "misinterpreted."

Miley can weather the storm, says fellow Disney Channel star Brenda Song, 20. "She is probably the most charismatic and strong 15-year-old I know. She'll definitely get through this." Says Miley: "My family and my faith will guide me through my life's journey.... I will learn from my mistakes."

"I NEVER INTENDED FOR ANY OF THIS TO HAPPEN AND I AM TRULY SORRY IF I HAVE DISAPPOINTED ANYONE"

-MILEY CYRUS

About the Internet Photos...

Miley calls these leaked photos "silly, inappropriate shots." The guy? Her then-boyfriend Thomas Sturges, the son of one of her music producers.

Surviving Teen Scandalsface

Miley Cyrus is definitely not the first young star to deal with a controversy over provocative photos or roles. How did these celebs handle the hot seat?

1976

JODIE FOSTER

When she played a child prostitute in Taxi Driver at age 14, some critics cringed. She got her first Oscar nod for the role.

1980

BROOKE SHIELDS

The 14-year-old model caused a furor with her famous jeans slogan-"Nothing comes between me and my Calvins"-but she made close to a million dollars that year.

1999

BRITNEY SPEARS

After her bra-and-hot-pants shoot at 17 and her skimpy schoolgirl outfit in her "... Baby One More Time" video sparked debate on sexualizing adolescence. She's since sold 70 million CDs.

2007

VANESSA HUDGENS

Her nude photos-which the High School Musical star, then 17, had sent a boyfriend-leaked to the Web. She apologized, Disney stood by her, and she's now shooting HSM 3.

Hollywood's Riche$t Kids

THEY MAY NOT BE OLD ENOUGH TO VOTE, BUT THEY'RE MAKING MILLIONS AND SELLING OUT ARENAS. HOW THESE 15-AND-UNDER SUPERSTARS ARE CASHING IN AND LIVING IT UP. TOOK HOME $17.5 MILLION FOR HER TOUR

Miley Cyrus

ACTRESS-SINGER, AGE 15

MILEY'S MILLIONS

She's a one-kid industry: Disney Channel's Hannah Montana is cable's top kids' series; she signed a seven-figure deal for a book about her family; her sold-out tour had Barack Obama scrambling for tickets; her concert movie grossed $65 million. Billy Ray's girl earned roughly $17.5 million from the tour alone, but mom Tish, 40, swears all that cash isn't going to Miley's head: "A lot goes into her [investment fund], which she can't get until she's 18. At the end of the day, she doesn't have much left."

SPLURGES

She collects Electra bikes: "I like their old-school design, and they're fun to ride." Until she's old enough to drive: She told Jay Leno in February, "I want a vintage Corvette."

MILEY BY THE NUMBERS

$50 million ticket sales for her recent tour (Miley gets an estimated $1 million per week)

6.5 million albums sold

$1 billion projected fiscal year 2007-2008 sales of Hannah Montana merchandise (Miley gets an unknown percentage)

EARNED $12 MILLION IN 2007

Jonas Brothers

MUSICIANS

BORN TO ROCK

They're the teen world's hottest band-and according to estimates, 15-year-old Nick (right) and brothers Joe, 18 (center), and Kevin, 20 (left), earned about $12 million in 2007 from album sales of 1.2 million, touring with Miley Cyrus, merchandising and appearances.

NEXT UP

The Wyckoff, N.J., natives (managed by Dad Kevin) continue their own 140-date tour and star in a June 20 Disney Channel movie, Camp Rock-with tie-in products galore. A TV series, J.O.N.A.S., is in the works.

THEIR SPLURGES

The brothers bought new computers and a diamond-encrusted Chopard watch for their mom, Denise. They also give 10 percent of their earnings to Nick's charity, Change for the Children Foundation. But there's some left over: Snappy dresser Nick nabbed $1,550 John Lobb shoes (below).

$1,550 SHOES!

PRIME-TIME POWER

ANGUS T. JONES

AGE 14

With a salary of roughly $1.2 million per season on CBS's Two and a Half Men, Jones is one of the richest half men in Hollywood. "It's a slow build for kids in the industry," says a casting agent. But the Austin, Texas, native, who's tutored on-set, has likely seen pay increases, thanks to the show's longevity.

MARK INDELICATO

AGE 13

The youngest costar of ABC's Ugly Betty isn't blowing through his estimated $460,000-per-season salary. The biggest indulgence for the Philly-born star, who does his schooling online? Kiehl's and Clarins skin-care products, to avoid breakouts.

TYLER JAMES WILLIAMS

AGE 15

"I'm good for three things," the Everybody Hates Chris star told PEOPLE when he was cast on the CW series in 2005 "Making fried-baloney sandwiches, picking out good movies and making money." That's for sure: The Yonkers, N.Y., native now has an estimated salary of $1.2 million per season.

WHO'S THE NEXT TWEEN QUEEN?

THESE DISNEY AND NICK STARS ARE ON THE ROAD TO RICHES

MIRANDA COSGROVE

AGE 14

STARS IN

Nickelodeon's iCarly (average: 3.6 million viewers)

QUALIFICATIONS

The L.A. native sings on an iCarly album, out in June.

WHY SHE'LL RULE

"She has this amazing combination of laid-back cool and class," says creator Dan Schneider.

SELENA GOMEZ

AGE 15

STARS IN

Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place (average: 3.8 million viewers)

QUALIFICATIONS

The Texan, a voice on Horton Hears a Who!, sings too.

WHY SHE'LL RULE

"Her innate talent and beauty leap off the screen," says Disney Channel entertainment president Gary Marsh.

MOVIE MOGULS

MAKES $2 MILLION A MOVIE

Abigail Breslin

AGE 12

The Oscar nominee (Little Miss Sunshine) saw her asking price go up to an estimated $2 million when she shot current release Nim's Island and the upcoming Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. In spite of her workload, the New Yorker remains a regular 12-year-old, splurging on tween books The Clique and-what else?-American Girl dolls and Jonas Brothers CDs.

THE BILLION-HEIRS

RICHEST MOGUL KIDS

THE GATESES

Microsoft founder Bill's kids, Jennifer, 12, Rory, 8, and Phoebe, 5, are heirs to a reported $58 billion.

RICHEST CELEB KID

JETT LUCAS

The teen and his two big siblings will share in Star Wars creator George Lucas's $3.9-billion empire.

RICHEST ROYAL KID?

PRINCESS ALEXANDRA OF HANOVER

The 8-year-old daughter of Monaco's Princess Caroline and Ernst August is an heir to her parents' $1.3 billion.

DAKOTA FANNING

AGE 14

Fanning's star rose quickly after 2001's I Am Sam. She has since starred with Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington-and shot up the earnings ladder. The Conyers, Ga., native now makes up to $4 million for big films. "She performs at the box office," says a casting agent. "She can open movies." She has also done ads for Gap and Marc Jacobs. Little sis Elle, 10, is right behind her, with upcoming films including Brad Pitt's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

ALLOWANCES WHO GETS WHAT

ABIGAIL BRESLIN: The mini-millionaire gets $11 a week.

MARK INDELICATO: The Ugly Betty star receives $50 a week; he spends it on computer games and clothes.

DAKOTA FANNING: $0 a week. As she told Barbara Walters, "My [parents] want me to [help] because I want to."

THE GRADUATES

These stars are moving on from the teen world with nest eggs that would make most grown-ups jealous. But did they earn a cap and gown? Most of them went to high school-just not the conventional way.

MAGICAL MONEYMAKERS

DANIEL RADCLIFFE, 18

He'll earn $50 million for the final Harry Potter films and star in Broadway's Equus this fall.

EMMA WATSON, 18

Pulling down a reported $4 million per Potter, she wants to attend Cambridge University.

RUPERT GRINT, 19

Making a similar sum as Watson, he'll choose more acting work over school.

Man Trouble

A bounced check and allegations of improper business deals raise troubling questions about ANNE HATHAWAY's debonair boyfriend, RAFFAELLO FOLLIERI. Since Anne Hathaway began dating Raffaello Follieri in 2004, The Devil Wears Prada star and the dashing Italian real estate developer have often seemed to be starring in their own version of a big-budget Hollywood romance: yachting in St. Bart's, clubbing in Saint-Tropez and, when they aren't dining in some of Manhattan's finest restaurants, playing house in his palatial Fifth Avenue apartment, where Follieri cooks homemade pasta and she dotes on their Labrador retriever Esmeralda. "They are such a good match," a friend says of the couple. "She loves passionate people who are caring. He is also very calming. Whenever there is stress, he's good at being soothing."

These days he may have a lot of soothing to do. On April 3, Follieri, 29, who moved to New York in '03 to launch a business buying and redeveloping property owned by the Roman Catholic Church, turned himself in to police after bouncing a $215,000 check written to a New Jersey real estate executive. Charged with a misdemeanor, Follieri is scheduled to appear in court on May 12.

While a spokeswoman for Follieri called the episode "an unfortunate incident that got out of hand," it is not the young entrepreneur's first brush with the legal system. In early '07, California supermarket magnate Ron Burkle sued Follieri, claiming that he used funds that Burkle's firm had invested in his company to subsidize a lavish lifestyle. Among the alleged splurges: private jet travel, $40,000-a-month rent on an eight-bedroom apartment, shopping sprees at Prada and dog care for Esmeralda.

Follieri-who in 2002 had passed a number of bad checks in Italy-has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the Burkle affair. "Anne is wealthy, and he is wealthy in his own right," a friend says of Follieri, who is in the process of settling with Burkle. "He doesn't need to scam people to pay for a lavish lifestyle." Others aren't so sure. Although Follieri's family has been in Italian real estate-and has been close to the Vatican-for many years, how much money he made redeveloping U.S. church property is unclear. "This guy may have been on his way to becoming a multimillionaire," says a source close to the lawsuit. "[But] he didn't want to wait. He wanted to live high on the hog now."

However it was paid for, Follieri clearly enjoyed living la dolce vita with Hathaway, 25. "Before I met him, I wasted so much time," the actress told London's Sunday Times. They became regulars on the social circuit, even hobnobbing with Bill Clinton, who thanked Follieri for his charitable pledge at a Clinton Global Initiative meeting. Follieri even boasted that he was going to help deliver the Catholic vote to Hillary Clinton. Since Follieri's dispute with Burkle, a longtime Clinton supporter, the former President's camp has cut ties. A source says, "With a credit card with a high limit, some charm and an overplayed Italian accent, it turns out you can fool a lot of people."

Is Hathaway one of them? Sources say the couple are very much in love. "[We] worship each other," the actress told Newsweek last year. And friends don't expect her to forsake him over the latest crisis. "I do think she'll stick with him," says one pal. "She really loves him, but it's going to be hard. Sometimes it's hard to believe him. Your faith gets shaken."

"I hear these stories about what Raffaello's done and can't equate it to the person I know. He's been a very stable influence. That's why Annie's so attracted to him"

-A FRIEND OF THE COUPLE

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Inside Their Strange World

They built an empire as child stars--then they grew up. Now, at 21 with money to burn, the Olsen sisters are living in the fast lane--and still clinging to each other. Even for die-hard New York City clubbers, it's a late night. But although it's nearly dawn, Mary-Kate Olsen is still going strong. The 21-year-old actress has been on her feet for hours at Manhattan hot spot Beatrice Inn, celebrating Valentine's Day with her boyfriend, artist Nate Lowman, 29, drinking Stella Artois beers and vodka and sodas, chain-smoking Marlboro Reds and, every once in a while, ducking behind a booth with pals for privacy. She's ordered her three bodyguards to give her space, so they keep their distance, waiting for the night to end. Only it doesn't. After the bar closes at 4:30 a.m., Mary-Kate spends an hour in an upstairs lounge before heading to another club, telling pals, "We're going to keep partying."

Not so long ago, the names Mary-Kate and Ashley were synonymous with good clean fun. But these days the Olsens are arguably better known for burning the candle at both ends. Fixtures at exclusive nightspots like the Beatrice Inn and L.A.'s Chateau Marmont, Mary-Kate and her more low-key sister are at the center of a bicoastal, bar-hopping party scene in which insiders say drugs are common. It is the same fast-lane lifestyle that ensnared the young actor Heath Ledger, whose Jan. 22 death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs is now focusing attention on the Olsens--and particularly on Mary-Kate, who casually dated Ledger for three months before his death (she was also the first person notified by Ledger's massage therapist, who found his body, and she sent three of her own bodyguards to his loft). And in the wake of Ledger's death, the Olsens don't seem to have slowed down: Just two days after the tragedy, both sisters were out together hitting clubs on Manhattan's Lower East Side. "They are young girls, they have money, and they like to party," says someone close to the Olsens, who turned 21 last July. "I wouldn't call them out of control, but I've seen them get pretty wild."

Even in the rarefied, celebrity-driven world they inhabit, the Olsens are seen as mysterious wraiths teetering on high heels, seldom removing their sunglasses or speaking to anyone outside a clique of old friends--many of them the children of Hollywood moguls. Most of the dozens of friends and associates interviewed for this story (the Olsens declined comment) say there are only two people allowed full access to their inner circle: themselves. "They are cold," says a pal. "They're not mean like Paris or Lindsay, but they are really only close to their boyfriends and each other. They're kind of emotionally uninterested in friends. We aren't talking about normal people here."

Then again, theirs have hardly been normal lives. At 9 months, the two Sherman Oaks, Calif., natives were sharing the role of Michelle Tanner on the family-friendly sitcom Full House, a part that helped make them Gen Y icons. A lucrative series of home videos and licensing deals followed, creating a billion dollar entertainment empire--and a combined net worth of some $300 million for the Olsens--all before they turned 18. "The work we did wasn't about acting," Mary-Kate told ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY last September. "It was about pleasing people and making kids smile." By the time both young women enrolled at New York University in 2004, cracks in that facade were starting to show. After a family intervention, Mary-Kate Olsen spent six weeks at Utah's Cirque Lodge rehab center to treat an eating disorder. Both sisters soon left NYU--and became better known as bizarrely garbed fashionistas with a penchant for dancing on nightclub tables and subsisting on cigarettes, sweets and Starbucks lattes. "They both changed a lot; they got real crazy," says someone familiar with the twins. "They definitely started going a little bit hardcore."

Isolated from peers by their vast wealth and fame, Mary-Kate, the edgier sister (she is known to write dark poetry and has seen the S&M romantic comedy Secretary "a hundred times," says a friend) and Ashley, more laid-back and stylish (she interned for designer Zac Posen), have had separate apartments in Manhattan as well as homes in Los Angeles. Older by two minutes, "Ashley tries to be mature," says a source. "Mary-Kate is more amped to party." At one recent event, Mary-Kate "was dancing with her arms up in the air, doing this spastic move with her arms," says a source. "She was the only one dancing and everyone was looking at her." At around 5'2", the pint-size sisters are dwarfed by massive bodyguards when they duck into Manhattan boutique Jeffrey, where they have a personal shopper, and Barneys, where they hit the basement spa for regular $90 eyebrow pluckings.

Yet they also spend a lot of time in their Manhattan office, working mainly on their three clothing lines (their Mary-Kate and Ashley line sells at Wal-Mart, while their two newer lines, the Row and Elizabeth and James, are more upscale and, say sources in the industry, likely to be successful). Ashley is more focused on their fashion businesses, while Mary-Kate "is really trying to make the acting thing work," says a friend. She played a Bible-thumping pot dealer on the TV show Weeds and a young hippie in the indie hit The Wackness, both to critical acclaim. "She came in with no entourage, very professional," says Weeds creator Jenji Kohan. "She was a very natural actress; she earned the role."

Perhaps the most startling change in their lives is that the Olsens have, says one source, "drifted from each other. They have major issues as sisters. Ashley thinks Mary-Kate follows her too much. Ashley is like, 'Get your own life. Get your own friends.'" Lately Ashley has been hanging out with her new pal, designer Estee Stanley, 38; the two partied in Aspen over the New Year. Yet despite their differences, the Olsens do still lean on each other. After Ledger's death--"a devastating blow to Mary-Kate," says a friend--Ashley flew to New York City to be with her sister. "If they didn't have each other, they wouldn't be where they are now," says a source. "They are best friends."

What's more, neither sister seems interested in changing her ways to satisfy critics. Designer Jenni Kayne, who knows both Olsens, shrugs off reports about their wild behavior. "I don't see that," says Kayne. "I see their clothes hanging up at Bergdorf's and Barneys. I see success. And everyone else should see that too."

What the Olsens see is a world only they can fully understand. In 2004 Ashley told PEOPLE about an essay she wrote for her NYU application, which compared her chaotic life to the abstract painting "Number One" by Jackson Pollock. "Some people look at it as complete mayhem, or just paint splattered on a canvas, and yet there's so much emotion behind it," Ashley explained. "Some people will never, ever get that. No one knows what it's been like for us, and we don't expect anyone to know, good, bad or amazing. But we do expect people to respect the decisions we make."

"They are young girls, they have money, and they like to party.... I've seen them get pretty wild"

--A FRIEND OF THE OLSENS

"They say they don't want attention. But fame is all they know"

--A SOURCE

LIFE IN THE FAST LANE

Worth hundreds of millions, the Olsens are VIPs at some of the most exclusive clubs and expensive stores in New York and Los Angeles.

Britney Interrupted

As the singer struggles with life in a psych ward, her parents accuse her pal Sam Lutfi of cruelty and abuse. On the bright, sunny wing of the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital that has been home to Britney Spears since she was admitted on Jan. 31, the singer is allowed to wear her own clothes--and, like others at the 136-bed unit on the UCLA campus--make use of a common kitchen to fix a snack and an open-air deck to grab a smoke. She is not permitted to use her cell phone--but if she can come up with the spare change, she has access to a pay phone on the floor. And so it was that on Super Bowl Sunday she called her father, Jamie, who was working as a caterer at a party, to ask him to visit her. In court papers filed in his successful bid to temporarily take over his daughter's affairs, Spears says he arrived at the hospital to find her lying in bed. He leaned over to kiss her, but she turned her head away.

"I love you," he told her. "No, you don't," Britney responded. She got out of bed and said, "The doctor told me you are keeping me in here." When her father denied it, she said, "Somebody's lying. You put me in here." After a nurse assured her that it was her doctors, not her dad, who had committed her, she said, "Come on, Daddy. Let's get out of here. Take my hand and let's walk out of here together."

"I wish I could," he told her. "But I can't."

And so goes a sad new day in the life of the princess of pop, whose out-of-control lifestyle--sources say she had not slept for three days when she was admitted to UCLA--has cost her the keys to the kingdom: from the right to see sons Preston, 2, and Jayden, 17 months, to the ability to spend her hard-earned money. One day after Dr. Deborah Nadel, a Santa Monica-based psychiatrist who had been treating Spears as an outpatient for a week, issued the request for an involuntary 72-hour lockup--now extended to 14 days--an L.A. court named her father, 55, co-temporary conservator of her estate, in control of her estimated $100 million empire.

Could the force that sold upwards of 70 million CDs truly have fallen so far? According to her mother: farther. In a stunning affidavit presented to the court on Feb. 1 to secure a temporary restraining order against best buddy Sam Lutfi (see box), Lynne, 52, described a chaotic scene on Jan. 28 in which her daughter wandered around her Beverly Hills home, drugged, confused and showing "the understanding of a very young girl."

Ironically, Spears' latest hospitalization and the return of her parents to the scene had been set into motion by Lutfi, who had finally persuaded Spears to seek treatment from Dr. Nadel, a psychiatrist recommended by her lawyers.

According to her father's court documents, "Britney is currently in severe mental distress" and suffering "from several mental health disorders which are not being treated." That distress showed in the weeks preceding the UCLA hospitalization: fighting with on-again, off-again beau Adnan Ghalib, 35, as well as Lutfi, 33, taking paparazzi on high-speed chases and just breaking down in tears.

On Jan. 28, Lynne--who had used Lutfi as a reliable conduit to her daughter since their failed reunion in October--arrived from Kentwood, La., and joined a small group inside Britney's Beverly Hills home including Lutfi, Ghalib and Alli Sims for what a source calls a "bonding session." But it did not go well. Later, in her court declaration, Lynne accused Lutfi of drugging Britney, verbally abusing her, cutting off all phone lines in the house and disposing of cell phone chargers in an attempt to control her. Lutfi declined PEOPLE's request to address the accusations in Lynne's file. But a source close to him says, "Sam's not worried. He can handle this." Indeed, Lutfi had told PEOPLE a few days earlier that he "knew the family would try and force him out of the picture. [They] are trying to look like heroes, swooping in after all the dirty work is done. Their worry is being financially cut off." Sources in the Spears camp vehemently deny the accusations. "Jamie has a job. And Lynne is a simple, Christian person, not flashy. She's always in jeans and sweatshirts. She doesn't care about money."

With the court siding with Jamie, Lutfi, the man who was a companion to Spears, who was at the hospital 30 minutes after she arrived--and ran to get her In-N-Out burgers the next day--is now barred from having any contact with Spears in any way: phone, fax, text or e-mail. How Britney feels about her parents assuming control of both her life and her finances is unclear; she has had strained relations with them for years. At a hearing on Feb. 4 estate attorney Adam Streisand claimed she had hired him to try to have her dad's conservatorship rejected--to no avail. Why? A court-appointed attorney who had met with Spears in the hospital testified that she "does not understand the nature of these proceedings" and "lacks the capacity" to hire representation. "Britney's feelings toward her parents are off and on," says a family friend. "One minute she is begging for their presence, the next she wants nothing to do with them. But they are actively trying to get her help."

If there is any silver lining in Spears' latest hospitalization, it is that, unlike her trip to Cedars-Sinai on Jan. 3, she did not resist when Nadel issued the 72-hour hold. She was at home with her mom and Sims when, at 1:10 a.m., a tight formation of emergency vehicles arrived at her front entrance; twelve minutes later she was on her way to the UCLA hospital--no screaming, no standoff. During her 14-day hold, her doctor can discharge her to outpatient treatment if she is deemed well enough or apply to keep her longer--a move UCLA psychiatrist Dr. Carole Lieberman (who is not treating Spears) would advise. "I hope the psychiatrists have the courage to keep her there more than 30 days. If she starts cooperating and the psychiatrists take her off the hold, she's so impulsive she might decide to leave. She needs six months in a psychiatric hospital and [to] work with [doctors] in therapy to figure out her underlying diagnosis."

While she stays at UCLA, Spears will not get star treatment. Instead of the paparazzi following her, she will likely be monitored not just by doctors but, since UCLA is a teaching hospital, students for whom she is not a celebrity; she's homework. "The place is locked up tight," says a former UCLA student who visited a friend at the clinic in 2006 "You had to be escorted by one of the big guys with a set of keys. It was claustrophobic." And rigid. In her unit, Spears is expected to make her bed and change her linens, eat at meal-times: breakfast around 7:30 a.m., about the time she used to come in from a night of partying, lunch at noon and dinner shortly after 5 p.m. Though she can dine in her room, she is encouraged to mingle with other patients in the dining room, which, like the private bed and bathrooms, is "very drab," says addiction specialist Marty Brenner. Adds a psychologist who practices at UCLA: "If I were looking for a hospital that was like a hotel--more luxurious--I'd go to Cedars-Sinai. But if I were really sick I'd go to UCLA. Doctors, nurses, everyone will work round the clock to help patients."

Spears' stay could even help her reconnect with her children. "Hospitalization is tragic," says Mary Lund, a Santa Monica-based clinical psychologist who has been evaluating and mediating custody cases for 19 years. "But many people who are hospitalized are able to get help and function better--including in their parenting." And while nearly everything in Britney's life is up in the air--from her custody case to her father's power over her estate (another hearing is set for Feb. 14) to the length of her stay at UCLA--her own goal in life remains unchanged. Even in the fogged mental state her mother described when she was at home shortly before being taken to the hospital, Spears voiced the same sentiment over and over: "When do I get to see my babies?"

"When do I get to see my babies? ... Can't I see another psychiatrist so I can see my babies?"

"Lynne's tried to mend relations with Britney only to have Sam tear them apart"

--A FAMILY FRIEND

"Come on, Daddy.... Take my hand and let's walk out of here together"

CAN SHE SAVE BRITNEY?

Psychiatrist Deborah Nadel, whom Britney Spears chose from a list of doctors provided by her custody lawyers, comes highly recommended by her peers. "She's an excellent clinician and an excellent psychiatrist," says Harold Young, clinical director at the Maple Counseling Center in Beverly Hills, a nonprofit center where Nadel, 44, provided low-cost counseling for five years in the mid-'90s. "[She's] well thought of in the therapeutic community." Sources say Nadel initiated Spears' second hospitalization shortly after beginning treatment of the troubled pop star. Board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Nadel graduated from the University of California Medical School in San Francisco and did her residency at UCLA. "I think," says Young, Spears "is in somebody's hands who will be caring, concerned, compassionate and respectful."

A MOTHER LASHES OUT

After arriving at Britney's home on Jan. 28, Lynne Spears got a shocking look inside her daughter's world. In a petition for a restraining order against Sam Lutfi, she charges:

• "[Sam] had disposed of all of the phone chargers and had made the house phones unworkable."
• "He [said] that he grinds up Britney's pills.... He told us that he puts them in her food and that that was the reason she had been quiet for the last three days (she had been sleeping)."
• "Sam disabled all of Britney's cars."
• "Sam had told Britney that she was an unfit mother, a piece of trash and a whore, that she cares more about Adnan [Ghalib], her current boyfriend, than she cares about her kids, and that she does not deserve her kids."
• "Sam told me, 'You'd better learn that I control everything. I control [her] business manager. I control her attorneys and the security guards at the gate. They don't listen to Britney, they listen to me.'"
• "He told me, 'I'm the one who spends 24/7 with your daughter. I sleep in cars outside her house so she can't leave.... You people throw everyone under the bus. If you don't listen to me I'm going to make your name s-- in the papers.'"
• "[When Britney] picked up a bottle of pills and read part of the label and asked us, 'What does insomnia mean?' Sam told her that the pills will help her stay awake."
• (When Britney asked what she had to do to see her babies) "Sam answered ... 'Take the pills I tell you to take.'"
• "He also hides her dog London. She looks for him all over the house crying, and then Sam brings out the dog from the hiding place and acts like her savior."
• "The paparazzi reported to Sam and addressed him with great respect. They treated him like a general. He instructed them to get her back to the house."
• "He said to me, 'If you try to get rid of me, she'll be dead and I'll piss on her grave.'"

WHAT'S AT STAKE

ESTIMATED NET WORTH $100 MILLON

While lawyer Adam Streisand told the court Spears' assets totaled $40 million, Forbes magazine last year estimated her net worth at $100 million, and court documents say she still has $737,000 monthly income. Her father, Jamie, will temporarily oversee holdings that include:

REAL ESTATE: $22.6 MILLION Including four houses and land in Louisiana

MUSIC: $26.5 MILLION The bulk was from concert tours (the last was in 2004); also includes royalties and record contracts

ENDORSEMENTS: $21.6 MILLION Including TV and print ads

MERCHANDISE: $16.7 MILLION From T-shirts to perfume

*STATISTICS COURTESY OF FORBES MAGAZINE

WHERE IS JAMIE LYNN?

Some 2,000 miles away from her big sister's hospital room, the pregnant 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears spends quiet days in Kentwood, La., noshing on grilled chicken salads from one of the family's favorite take-out joints, Crossroads, and staying mostly behind the iron gates of Serenity, the mansion. "She's not showing--her stomach's not big at all," says a source close to the family. Adds another source close to the Spears clan: "She's taking full responsibility for her own life, making good choices and good decisions." The teen continues to work on her GED while being cared for by an adult guardian--a family friend--while Lynne is in Los Angeles. And she is still seeing her baby's father, Casey Aldridge, 18, sources tell PEOPLE. "I'm thankful for the choice she's making," says family friend Darlene Hughes. "I'm proud of her, and I know the baby will be raised in a wonderful, loving home."

Mischa Buys Rocker T-Shirts for Nicole Richie's Baby

Nicole Richie's baby can rock – and be rocked – at the same time, thanks to gifts from Mischa Barton. "I got her a bunch of rocker tees for the baby, with different types of logos of rock bands on them," Barton, 21, told PEOPLE at Wednesday's launch party for Keds' spring 2008 campaign. "And she loved them!"

Barton explains, "She is going to have the most fabulously dressed baby, I am sure, because she is so stylish herself."

The Rolling Stones and AC/DC logo T-shirts were impulse buys for Barton. "They were so unique," she said. "I just loved them!"

Richie, 26, is due when January, with her first child with boyfriend Joel Madden – and Barton had to shop not knowing the baby's gender.

"She actually doesn't know what she is having," says Barton. "She wants it to be a surprise."

Read More

Caught in the Act!

Jessica Simpson and stylist pal Jessica Paster, feasting on spaghetti and lobster at West Hollywood eatery Il Sole. The pair then jetted off to the Chateau Marmont's lounge, where they "laughed lots" and sipped on white wine. Nearby, a solo Heath Ledger and a pal lounged on a sofa while Orlando Bloom chilled. Simpson then continued her girls' night out at trendy club Area, where she "had fun to the beat of (Blondie's) 'Call Me,' " says a clubgoer. Jamie Foxx, pouring vodka into the mouths of several ladies who visited his table at Hollywood hot spot Les Deux. Also making the scene: Matthew Perry and Michael Vartan, who hung out with a large group of guys at a table near the bar.

Jesse Bradford, keeping the party going after the New York City premiere of his film Flags of Our Fathers. The actor invited several hundred people to The Plumm club, which he co-owns with nightlife guru Noel Ashman. Only problem, Bradford forgot that the club isn't open on Monday nights. Not wanting to disappoint the waiting crowd, Ashman opened the doors with his keys, and he and Bradford played bartender until 4 a.m.

Jermaine Dupri Launches Tell-All Book

In his dishy new memoir, Young, Rich, and Dangerous: The Making of A Music Mogul, Jermaine Dupri looks back on his successful producing career and the big names he worked with – to say nothing of the one singer who stole his heart: Janet Jackson. At Monday night's Manhattan launch of the book, the 35-year-old hip-hop impresario and rapper, with a very svelte Jackson at his side, told PEOPLE: "I'm excited. I get to add the title 'author' to my titles, I guess. ... I can't wait to get to a bookstore and see it tomorrow."

Besides Jackson – who said of her boyfriend's book, "I think it's awesome" – also at the hotspot Marquee to help celebrate the newly published author: rapper Nas and wife Kelis, Boyz II Men and Joey Fatone, who told PEOPLE, "I haven't read the book, but I am excited to read it."

Read More

Rehabbing Richie Sambora Steps Out with Bon Jovi

Richie Sambora was all smiles Wednesday night as the rehabbing rocker stepped out with his fellow Bon Jovi bandmates to be honored by the Recording Academy's New York Chapter. Sambora, who's been receiving ongoing treatment, declared, "Welcome to the record business rehab."

Before accepting the honor along with the band, Sambora, wearing a black suit and looking rested and happy, told Foxnews.com's Roger Friedman, "I'm sober, I'm good."

Of his time at the Cirque Lodge in Utah (where Lindsay Lohan is also receiving treatment), he said, "I'm going back just to do finish this weekend. I figured, why not get to the bottom of this and really understand it?"

Read More

Caught in the Act! VMAs Edition

Beyoncé, showing up just after midnight for a joint post-VMA bash and birthday celebration at boyfriend Jay-Z's club 40/40. The lavish affair featured glass-encased honeycombs filled with live bees (B for Beyoncé) and flat projection screens playing a montage of the b-day girl's performances and music videos. The Versace-wearing singer (who won best R&B video for "Check On It") got hugs and well wishes from her family – parents Tina and Mathew Knowles, sister Solange – and celeb pals including former Destiny's Child bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, plus Usher, Ludacris, Andy Roddick and Rihanna. But Beyoncé (who marks her 25th on Sept. 4, the same day her B'Day album is released internationally) also made time to cuddle with her man. She draped her arms over Jay-Z's shoulders and at one point he leaned over and gave her a sweet kiss.

Read More

Young and Rich

Fueled by blockbuster hits and marketing savvy, a new generation of kids are cashing in. How today's wealthiest teen stars earn their money--and have fun spending it.$50 MILLION POTTER PAYCHECK

the wiz kid DANIEL RADCLIFFE ACTOR Age: 17

• IN THE MONEY July 23, Radcliffe's 18th birthday, will be a magic day for the star of the Harry Potter movies: He'll gain access to his $19 million investment fund--which he's socked away in a company jointly held with his parents Alan, a literary agent, and Marcia, a casting director. But with two more movies still to go--for which Radcliffe will be paid a reported total of $50 million--he can conjure up plenty more golden galleons where that came from. British newspapers have estimated that Radcliffe currently has a total net worth of $35 million or more, making him the U.K.'s richest teen.
• FIRST PAYCHECK $320,000 at age 11 for the first two Potter films.
• BIGGEST SPLURGE He recently dropped $17,000 on a custom-made Savoir mattress. But come his landmark birthday, "I don't think I'm going to do anything particularly exciting," says Radcliffe, an only child who lives with his parents in London. "People seem to expect me to splash out on a classic-car collection, but I've never been into cars or anything like that." He's more into cricket, theater (he shed his clothes for a recent turn in Equus in London), reading (lately Nabokov) and painter-sculptor Jim Hodges. "I know I'm lucky to be paid all this money to do what I love," he said in Britain's Daily Mail, but "[money is] not something that affects the way I think about things."

How do Harry Potter's COSTARS stack up?

EMMA WATSON Age: 17 She will receive an estimated $5 million for each of the last two Potter films--meaning Watson (who has one younger brother) will have no problem following through on her plans to go to college. "Let's be honest: I have enough money never to have to work again, but I would never want that," she told Parade.

RUPERT GRINT Age: 18 The actor who plays Ron Weasley also signed on for an estimated $5 million for each of the last two movies. The eldest of five siblings, he is enjoying every cent: "Recently I got an ice cream van," says Grint, who also has an all-terrain vehicle. "That's been really good fun. Usually I'm quite sensible with my [money]."

$10 MILLION IN ENDORSEMENTS

the phenom MICHELLE WIE GOLFER Age: 17 She's only made $3,273 this year on the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour (blame a wrist injury), but Wie commands more than $10 million a year thanks to deals with Nike, Sony and Omega. For fun, the Stanford-bound only child shops for exotic earrings in her hometown of Honolulu: "I like going to the mall."

Who's the richest teen ROYAL?

PIERRE CASIRAGHI HEIR Age: 19 He's tall, tan, and his family owns its own country: Monaco. Pierre Casiraghi, Princess Caroline's younger son, stands to eventually inherit upward of $260 million. (By comparison, Brit ain's teen princesses Beatrice and Eugenie's estimated worth is $5 million each.) While big sibs Andrea, 23, and Charlotte, 20, often grab the spotlight, Pierre, an economics student in Milan, "is the most extroverted" of the family, says an acquaintance. He plays the sax and has stepped out with some of Europe's most eligible aristocratic bachelorettes.

the mini MOGULS

EARNED $12 MILLION IN 2006

HILARY DUFF ACTRESS-SINGER Age: 19

• IN THE MONEY Her movie paychecks top $2 million, and she's sold 13 million albums worldwide. But as CEO of her own lifestyle company, she earns about $12 million a year, according to Forbes. Credit growing sales of her Stuff by Hilary Duff clothing line, jewelry and home decor for tweens, which is sold in stores such as Target and Wal-Mart. "It's so funny that people think that I'm a mogul," she says. "I definitely do know a lot about [running a business], but I have so many people that help me."
• BIGGEST SPLURGE Watches, Marc Jacobs bags and "things for my house" in L.A. She and big sis Haylie, 22, also just indulged in a St. Bart's vacay.
• HOLD THE PORSCHE "I definitely don't just buy what I want," she says. "My business manager says I'm well behaved." Case in point: Duff thought about buying a Porsche Cayenne Turbo for nearly $100,000, but her money man said, "You're a terrible driver. You don't need that kind of power."
• POWER MOVE She's tackling the juniors market with a top-selling perfume (With Love ... Hilary Duff from Elizabeth Arden) and an upcoming fashion line.

Which sibs are the Next Olsens?

COLE & DYLAN SPROUSE ACTORS Age: 14 For starters, they've already partnered with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's Dualstar Entertainment Group. The Sprouse twins (The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) have their own magazine, a clothing line and a new series of adventure novels for boys.

ALY & AJ MICHALKA SINGERS-ACTRESSES Ages: Aly is 18, AJ is 16 Their album Into the Rush has sold more than 700,000 copies, and Honey-Comb cereal put the sisters on 7 million boxes. Next? An MTV movie, another album and national tour--plus dolls, video games and makeup.

the next BIG things

RIHANNA SINGER Age: 19

• IN THE MONEY The Barbados-bred singer topped the global charts in 2005 and 2006 and now has a new summer smash: the No. 1 single "Umbrella." Her latest CD, Good Girl Gone Bad, sold more than 200,000 copies its first two weeks out. While she's still under her initial multi-album contract with pal Jay-Z's Def Jam label, she also snagged six-figure endorsement deals with CoverGirl cosmetics and Venus razors.
• SPEND OR SAVE? "Both, actually," says Rihanna, who has two younger brothers. "I don't like to waste money. I buy things that I'm going to get my money's worth out of, things I'm going to use a lot. I like to splurge on makeup and shoes--Louboutins! My mom loves bags. I bought her a Fendi."

SHE MADE $2 MILLION LAST YEAR

High School Musical's hot couple ... WHO'S RICHER, ZAC or VANESSA?

• POWER COUPLE Real-life sweethearts Zac Efron, 19, and Vanessa Hudgens, 18, nabbed big bonuses when the Disney Channel movie scored, got raises for the sequel according to The New York Times and recently vacationed in a $3,100-a-night villa in Maui.
• GIRLS RULE But only Hudgens notched a gold debut album and an endorsement deal with Neutrogena. Forbes.com estimated her income last year at $2 million.
• BOYS DON'T CRY After costarring in this month's Hairspray, Efron is expected to take the lead role in the comedy 17, now in development.

ROMEO RAPPER-ACTOR Age: 17 At age 11, the oldest son of rap mogul Master P released his first album, which went gold. Since then he's dropped three more records, starred in his own TV show, launched a clothing line, collected a slew of cars--and told 48 Hours he's saved $50 million. Next: He's up to play basketball for USC.

the screen QUEENS

HER LATEST ANNUAL INCOME: $2 MILLION

HAYDEN PANETTIERE ACTOR-SINGER Age: 17

• IN THE MONEY The indestructible cheerleader of NBC's Heroes sure seems unstoppable: She's a face for Neutrogena, pre-tweens love her Disney soundtracks--cue "I Still Believe" from 2007's Cinderella III--and her debut album drops in 2008 Added up, that's $2 million a year, Forbes estimates. She also has a bright endorsement future. Says an industry source: "She's fresh, friendly--the girl next door."
• FIRST PAYCHECK Panettiere (whose brother Jansen, 12, is also an actor) did a Playskool ad at just 11 months old, then starred on soaps and in films like 2000's Remember the Titans. (Next? Fireflies in the Garden with Julia Roberts.)
• BIGGEST SPLURGE Ahhh ... the spa. Says Panettiere: "I get facials all the time."

MILEY CYRUS Age: 14 The Hannah Montana star has her second No. 1 album--plus part of the profits from her show's product line. Dad Billy Ray Cyrus still gives her a monthly $300 allowance.

DAKOTA FANNING Age: 13 Her per-movie asking price? $3 million. That's not surprising since her movies--including Charlotte's Web--have made more than $600 million.

EMMA ROBERTS Age: 16 Julia's niece, who just played Nancy Drew, is earning a million-dollar paycheck for the upcoming film Wild Child.

How the Stars Partied Before the VMAs

With the MTV Video Music Awards on Thursday night, stars including Jessica Simpson, Vanessa Minnillo and Justin Timberlake have been in New York City all week to host parties, hit the clubs and collect swag from celebrity suites. Though the awards will be at Radio City Music Hall (check out the nominees here), PEOPLE hit all the hot pre-VMA events – which are sometimes as memorable as the show itself:

During the day on Tuesday at Marquee, celebs swarmed the Polaroid Lounge, cruising for the perfect freebee:Vanessa Minnillo sipped champagne while booking through the suite in a mere 15 minutes. Why? She was late for work. Still, she collected gear including a camera and a Sidekick, which may come in handy for keeping in touch with Nick Lachey when he's on the road.

Read More