Newsstand Friday: OK! Magazine

KELLY RIPA
America’s sweetheart is determined to save her troubled marriage
Live With Regis & Kelly host Kelly Ripa seems to effortlessly balance her professional and home life, caring for her husband, Mark Consuelos, and their three children. But the couple’s grueling work schedules have put a strain on their 11-year marriage. Kelly had to take up the slack when Regis Philbin left their show for bypass surgery, while Mark has spent the last few weeks in Los Angeles, shooting his new reality show Age of Love. In spite of recent tensions, Kelly and Mark are not giving up on their marriage. “They have both realized that changes need to be made,” a friend tells OK!. “They are determined to not let this marriage fail.”

KATIE HOLMES
Will Nicole undermine her efforts to be a good stepmom?
Katie Holmes has been growing closer to her stepchildren, Conner and Isabella, a fact that irks their mother, Nicole Kidman. “Nicole is being very firm about the fact that these are her kids, not Katie’s,” a friend of the star tells OK!. Nicole is taking action, asking ex-husband Tom Cruise for more time to spend with her children, and it seems that her persistence is finally paying off.

PAULA ABDUL — OK! EXCLUSIVE
Only in OK!, Paula predicts who will be in the top two!
OK!’s own Idol Insider Paula Abdul dishes on the final three contestants on America Idol, and who she feels should be competing in the top two slots. Paula also reveals how she made her choice for Blake’s “judge’s pick” song; which of the final three desperately needs a makeover; and what she thinks about LaKisha’s recent elimination.

HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS IN HOLLYWOOD
Stars drop pounds the right way
More celebs are losing weight sensibly. Mother of two Brooke Shields shed her baby weight on what she calls “the three-year-old diet,” running after now 4-year-old daughter Rowan a mere month after her younger daughter, Grier, was born. Sandra Bullock has admitted she put on pounds after settling into blissful married life with Jesse James, but an active lifestyle with her husband of three years has helped her slim down.