Demi Lovato will officially be judging “The X Factor,” TMZ has exclusively learned.

According to the website, after weeks of speculation, Lovato has signed a deal to judge “The X Factor” Season 2 and will be in New York to make the official announcement during Fox’s upfronts presentation on Monday, in which the network’s upcoming shows will be revealed.

The Hollywood Reporter first broke the news about Lovato’s discussions to sit beside Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid on “The X Factor” judges panel, which has two vacant seats.

Britney Spears is also expected to be on hand to announce her new reported judging position on “The X Factor” on Monday as well. E! Online reported that Spears signed a $15 million contract last week to join “The X Factor” judges panel for Season 2. Rumors first surfaced about Spears joining the show in early March.

“The X Factor” began searching for two new judges — and two hosts — after Season 1 when judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger along with host Steve Jones were given the boot. Cowell began searching for replacement judges and hosts almost immediately.

Wow Britney and Demi, the show is now finally credible – HA! All they need now is Justin Bieber to do the hosting!

Anne Hathaway in Miami May 11, 2012.

The short hair HAS TO GO!!!

“Modern Family” star Sofia Vergara, who recently split with longtime beau Nick Loeb, had a good time with friends Jessica Alba and sisters Samantha Ronson and Charlotte Ronson on Thursday – judging from the pics she tweeted!

The group partied the night away at the Dream Downtown Hotel’s PH-D Rooftop Lounge. A source told People.com the women “were all enjoying themselves and taking lots pictures of each other. Sofia was relaxed and was all about having fun.”

It’s been a busy week for Vergara, who also seemed “in the best mood” at the Einstein College of Medicine’s Annual Spirit of Achievement Awards at the Plaza Hotel in New York on Wednesday.

CLICK HERE to follow Gomez on Twitter!

Pataky gave birth in London to a girl they named India, a source confirmed to Us Weekly.

Hemsworth, 28, first met Spanish actress Pataky, 35, in 2010; the pair tied the knot just three months after going public as a couple that December.

Sofia Vergara has reportedly kicked Nick Loeb her boyfriend of two years to the curb over the weekend and confirmed the split to friends at the MET Gala which she attended solo. Page Six reports:

Another source told us that Vergara and Loeb’s relationship stumbled under the pressure of her growing fame and popularity. Her success on “Modern Family,” and as host of “Saturday Night Live” — as well as her obvious sex appeal — has turned her into one of TV’s biggest female stars.
The couple met at a Golden Globes party in 2010. Vergara said in January that Loeb enjoys red-carpet events. “He loves my career,” said Vergara. “He likes coming to these events. For him, it’s like a hobby to be part of this Hollywood scene.”

[Thanks to all_sabrina.]

Courtney Stodden in Los Angeles April 22, 2012.

George Lindsey, who made a TV career as a grinning service station attendant named Goober on “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Hee Haw,” has died. He was 83.

The Marshall-Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home in Nashville said Lindsay died early Sunday morning after a brief illness.

Lindsey was the beanie-wearing Goober on “The Andy Griffith Show” from 1964 to 1968 and its successor, “Mayberry RFD,” from 1968 to 1971. He played the same jovial character on “Hee Haw” from 1971 until it went out of production in 1993.

“America has grown up with me,” Lindsey said in an Associated Press interview in 1985. “Goober is every man; everyone finds something to like about ol’ Goober.”

He joined “The Andy Griffith Show” in 1964 when Jim Nabors, portraying Gomer Pyle, left the program. Goober Pyle, who had been mentioned on the show as Gomer’s cousin, replaced him.

“At that time, we were the best acting ensemble on TV,” Lindsey once told an interviewer. “The scripts were terrific. Andy is the best script constructionist I’ve ever been involved with. And you have to lift your acting level up to his; he’s awfully good.”

In a statement released through the funeral home, Griffith said, “George Lindsey was my friend. I had great respect for his talent and his human spirit. In recent years, we spoke often by telephone. Our last conversation was a few days ago … I am happy to say that as we found ourselves in our eighties, we were not afraid to say, `I love you.’ That was the last thing George and I had to say to each other. `I love you.’”

Although he was best known as Goober, Lindsey had other roles during a long TV career. Earlier, he often was a “heavy” and once shot Matt Dillon on “Gunsmoke.”

His other TV credits included roles on “MASH,” `’The Wonderful World of Disney,” `’CHIPs,” `’The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour,” `’The Real McCoys,” `’Rifleman,” `’The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” `’Twilight Zone” and “Love American Style.”

Reflecting on his career, he said in 1985: “There’s a residual effect of knowing I’ve made America laugh. I’m not the only one, but I’ve contributed something.”

He had movie roles, too, appearing in “Cannonball Run II” and “Take This Job and Shove It.” His voice was used in animated Walt Disney features including “The Aristocats,” `’The Rescuers” and “Robin Hood.”

Lindsey was born in Jasper, Ala., the son of a butcher. He received a bachelor of science degree from Florence State Teachers College (now the University of North Alabama) in 1952 after majoring in physical education and biology and playing quarterback on the football team.

After spending three years in the Air Force, he worked one year as a high school baseball and basketball coach and history teacher near Huntsville, Ala.

In 1956, he attended the American Theatre Wing in New York City and began his professional career on Broadway, appearing in the musicals “All American” and “Wonderful Town.”

He moved to Hollywood in the early 1960s and then to Nashville in the early 1990s.

“There’s no place in the United States I can go that they don’t know me. They may not know me, but they know the character,” he told The Tennessean in 1980.

At that time, he said the Griffith show “was the first soft rural comedy with a moral.”

“We physically and mentally became those people when we got to the set.”

He did some standup comedy – ending the show by tap and break dancing.

One of his jokes:

“A football coach, holding a football, asks his quarterback, `Son, can you pass this?’ The player says, `Coach, I don’t even think I can swallow it.’”

Lindsey devoted much of his spare time to raising funds for the Alabama Special Olympics. For 17 years, he sponsored a celebrity golf tournament in Montgomery, Ala., that raised money for the mentally disabled.

The University of North Alabama awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1992, and he was affectionately called “Doctor Goober” by acquaintances after that.

Funeral arrangements were still being made.

Julie Benz, best known for her role as Rita in the Showtimes series “Dexter,” married Rich Orosco, a marketing executive, on Saturday.

People.com reports the wedding took place at the historic John Sowden house in L.A., featuring a Mexican theme in celebration of Cinco de Mayo.

This is the second marriage for Benz.

In her final flight back home, singer Whitney Houston should have been surrounded by those who truly loved and cared for her. A few aboard the private plane that carried her body had been there for Houston through thick and thin. Her manager and sister-in-law, Pat Houston, was with her on this last journey, as was her beloved cousin, singer Dionne Warwick.

Also along for the ride that Monday afternoon in February was Raffles van Exel, a self-described entertainment consultant who met Houston years before on her concert tour and somehow wriggled his way into her close-knit inner circle. Van Exel was a partner with Houston’s sister-in-law Pat in a new decorative-candle business, and the singer had been set to film a commercial for the line Feb. 11—the day she died. Van Exel never got his commercial, but he did manage to snap a picture of the singer in her casket and sell it to the National Enquirer for millions of dollars.

“Her family couldn’t even protect her in death,” says a close friend. “They had the person on the plane with her body that took her picture in the casket. That tells you a lot about the life she was living.” Such was the tragic and twisted reality of one of the greatest singers of all time.

Houston wrestled with demons, drugs, and heartbreaking betrayals that continued to haunt her even after her lifeless, bloated body was found face down in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton on the eve of the Grammys. Autopsy results revealed just how much self-inflicted damage Houston had done in her 48 years. The scalding bath water had burned her face, and there were bruises on her forehead, chest, and upper lip and numerous scars on her body. Years of cocaine use had burned a hole through her septum, she had heart disease, and toxicology tests showed residue of marijuana, Xanax, Benadryl, and other medications in her system.

“In many ways I’m surprised she lasted as long as she did,” says a former assistant to the singer who didn’t want to be identified due to a confidentiality contract she’d signed. “She was on a downhill road for a long time, and her body just gave out. I know she was tired, very tired, from it all.”

[Thanks to MysteriosoMan.]