For reasons unknown, L.A. Laker Sasha Vujacic and his tennis playing girlfriend Maria Sharapova have been keeping their romance as quiet as possible. But you can always find Maria sitting with Sasha’s family at the Laker games. Last year Sasha dated Melrose Place’s Katie Cassidy and he wasn’t playing as well – insiders thought Katie was too much of a “party girl” for him. If you get my drift.

Photo Credit: Bauer-Griffin

While the “New Moon” cast is in Europe doing PR, “Twilight” director Catherine Hardwicke made some very revealing comments about Rob Pattinson, 23, and Kristen Stewart, now 19, to Time magazine. She said she believes that nothing happened during the first movie. She noticed chemistry between the costars right away and discouraged romantic entanglements. Specifically, after she cast Rob, she warned him, “Don’t even THINK about having a romance with her – she’s under 18 and you’ll be arrested.” Hardwicke thinks that Kristen has since decided to give Rob a chance, so maybe that hand-holding photo was meaningful.

Now we KNOW that Yankee hero Alex Rodriguez is serious about Kate Hudson! He’s giving up one of his favorite pastimes to please her – no, it’s not baseball. It’s high stakes poker games. Alex has long been a regular at a private game in Manhattan for high rollers, but he recently bowed OUT of the monthly games to please Kate. She thinks it’s a big waste of time and money and he wants to keep her happy.

Photo Credit: Bauer-Griffin

The SNL guy that everyone has a crush on, Andy Samberg, has been happily but quietly hooked up with musician and harp player Joanna Newsom for the past few years. Above, they’re walking in the West Village. Besides hosting the MTV Movie Awards in May, versatile Andy is also the voice of Brent in “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.”

Photo Credit: Bauer-Griffin

Janet Jackson is wearing the most unflattering pair of harem pants we’ve ever seen in the photo of her leaving Italy. She and her on again off again boyfriend Jermaine Dupri are on again and he’s moved back into her house. Janet surprised Jermaine on his birthday in September in Milan and that rebooted their romance. They’ve resume their arrangement whereby he takes her out to dinner and then he takes her home and goes out himself with his buddies. Janet doesn’t mind – she’s not hot for nightclubs.

Photo Credit: Bauer-Griffin

Whoops! Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel still look like comfortable long term sweethearts in the photo taken in Vancouver. Just a couple of weeks ago most gossip magazines had Justin leaving Jessica in the dust for Rihanna. Justin HAS been recording with Rihanna, but their collaboration hasn’t necessarily led to romance. It might lead to some good music, though. Above Justin and Jessica left a restaurant called Naam and when he finished his phone call he and Jessica linked arms.

In the beginning, Kate Hudson’s romance with Alex Rodriguez was subject to lot of criticism because both were considered to be serial daters. In 2008, Alex had a nasty divorce involving strippers and Madonna. But Alex and Kate have been together for months now and A-Rod has given up his philandering ways and as a result, seems to be playing better ball than ever! Yes, Kate is credited for Alex’s current spate of home runs. She’s always cheering in the stands. The Yankees are thrilled that Alex has settled into what appears to be an honest relationship and it’s helping his game. They hope Kate sticks around.

Photo Credit: Bauer-Griffin

Not everybody is thrilled about Kate Hudson’s romance with Alex Rodriguez. (Above they are pictured leaving The Spotted Pig separately after having dinner.) Some of Kate’s friends feel uncomfortable with the fact that Alex used to date Madonna. Friends that are closer to Madonna certainly don’t want to aggravate HER, so they are unobtrusively distancing themselves from Kate. Mutual friends like Guy Oseary, Demi Moore, and Justin Timberlake, are not socializing with Kate like they used to, simply to avoid rubbing Madonna the wrong way.

Tommy Hilfiger might ban Eliot Spitzer call girl Ashley Dupre from his parties, but Russell Simmons has taken her under his wing and he’s “mentoring” her career. (Friends suspect there’s more than “mentoring” going on, but that’s a matter of opinion.) For whatever reason, Simmons, after meeting Ashley in a yoga class, has decided to help her develop a singing career. So he says. Not only that, but he’s trying to sell an Ashley Dupre reality show to either E! or MTV where he has connections.

Just when we thought we’d seen more than enough of The Newlywed Game to last a lifetime, we learned that the show is looking for gay celebrity couples to appear on the series! Now THAT sounds like fun! The Newlywed Game, hosted by Carnie Wilson, is on the Game Show Network. They’re taping episodes with celebrity couples and are actively pursing GAY celebrity couples. So far Ellen and Portia have turned them down, but Star Trek’s George Takei and his husband Brad Altman agreed to play the game.