Entertainment Briefs for April 1, 2010

Garner-Affleck stalker insane

LOS ANGELES - A judge is sending a man arrested outside a school attended by Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck's daughter to a state mental hospital.

Los Angeles County District Attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison says Steven Burky pleaded no contest Tuesday to two counts of stalking the celebrity couple and their children.

Robison says a judge found the 37-year-old to be not guilty of the offenses by reason of insanity after a hearing. Burky was ordered to stay away from Garner, Affleck and their family for 10 years if he is released.

Burky was arrested in December outside a school attended by one of the couple's daughter, a violation of a civil restraining order Garner obtained in 2008.

Mills squares off against ex-nanny

LONDON - Heather Mills, the ex-wife of Paul McCartney, defended herself from accusations made by a former nanny at an employment tribunal in Britain on Tuesday.

Sara Trumble, 26, said Mills was a rude, angry and dishonest woman who forced her to lie to McCartney.

But Mills said Tuesday she treated Trumble like a daughter, showering her with gifts and foreign travel.

It was the second day the case was heard at an employment tribunal in the town of Ashford, in southern England, where Trumble is suing Mills for allegedly stripping her of her child-care duties after she gave birth to her own baby girl.

Trumble worked for McCartney and Mills, looking after their young daughter Beatrice, but she claims her relationship with Mills began to deteriorate after her split from the ex-Beatle. Trumble says she was progressively moved out of her job as a nanny, and that Mills refused to show her any flexibility once she became pregnant with her own child.

The former nanny also claimed that the 42-year-old "Dancing With The Stars" contestant became increasingly bad-tempered after the separation.

"I wasn't the only person who felt that at that time," Trumble said. "It's just that nobody else will stand up. I decided to take action and fight this for myself."

Mills said the charge that she refused to make allowances for her nanny's child was insulting, and both agreed that they had once been close.

In previous testimony, Trumble said she provided Mills with "comfort and support" after her split with McCartney. Taking the stand Tuesday, Mills said she was the one who gave her nanny a shoulder to cry on.

"I treated Sara like my daughter as she often complained that her mother was cold and distant to her," Mills said. "I spent much of my time consoling her, especially when she said she was having problems with her partner."

Trumble accuses Mills of reducing her to tears after calling her back into work while she was still on maternity leave, and humiliating her when she reassigned her to work as a cleaner following the hiring of a new nanny.

Mills herself briefly broke into tears as she described the support she said she'd given her employee.

Describing herself as "overly helpful Heather," Mills said she hired Trumble as a way "to help her better herself, as I thought she had huge potential." She added that Trumble was "more of a baby sitter" than a qualified nanny.

Stewart returns to Broadway

NEW YORK - Patrick Stewart will star in David Mamet's next Broadway production, a revival of "A Life in the Theatre," opening this fall.

Producer Jeffrey Richards announced Tuesday that rehearsals will begin Aug. 23 for the play, first seen in Chicago in 1977 and then off-Broadway.

"A Life in the Theatre" is a backstage tale about the relationship between an older performer and a younger performer. The other role is still to be cast. The director is Neil Pepe.

Stewart was last seen on Broadway in 2008, playing the title character in "Macbeth."

Pepe also directed the 2008 Broadway revival of Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow." Mamet currently is represented on Broadway with "Race," starring James Spader, David Alan Grier, Kerry Washington and Richard Thomas.