Ex-Assistant Is Almost Litigious

It wouldn’t really be a tiff without two sides to the story. So, here’s the response to that lawsuit Kate Hudson filed last week against her former personal assistant, Margaret Miller.

Miller has hired Century City lawyer Arthur Barens, and he filled us in on her version of events. According to Barens, Hudson and his client were “very, very close friends” until the “Almost Famous” star abruptly fired Miller in March. Hudson, 22, has accused her 25-year-old former assistant of embezzling more than $63,000.

Miller, who now works as a legal secretary, wants to counter-sue Hudson for slander and wrongful termination, Barens said. Miller claims that the disputed expenses were incurred in the “normal course of business and were pursuant to authorization both oral and written,” according to the lawyer. He added that Hudson had requested the items and services herself. Among them: first-class airline upgrades, limo rentals, stays at posh hotels and shopping sprees at Prada, Fred Segal and Burberry.

An audit accompanying Hudson’s suit, however, alleges that the actress also paid for her own wedding gift from Miller, as well as Miller’s birthday party, Halloween costume, massages, facials and ski lift tickets for Miller and her boyfriend.

Barens said he and Miller are at a loss to explain what he called Hudson’s “bizarre conduct,” adding, “We certainly plan to seek damages.” Barens also charged that Hudson’s lawyers are seeking money from Miller that “they know she doesn’t have.”

Miller met Hudson through the actress’ agent, according to Barens, and “were very, very close friends right up to the very last moment. My client worked seven days a week. There are innumerable witnesses willing to testify to their closeness.”

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More Cruise Control

Actor Tom Cruise has expanded his $100 million defamation suit against erotic wrestler Kyle Bradford, also known as Chad Slater, to include the grappler’s ex-wife as a defendant.

Cruise, you might recall, accuses Bradford of spreading false rumors that the two men had an affair while Cruise was married to Nicole Kidman.

In a four-page amendment to his L.A. Superior Court suit, Cruise also accuses Bradford’s ex-wife, Kristina Ann Kirstin, of peddling the bogus tale to the National Enquirer.

The actor, no friend of the tabloids, describes the Enquirer in court papers as “a gossip tabloid that pays supposed ‘sources’ for titillating but often false stories.” The amended suit, like the original, vehemently states that Cruise is not gay and has never met Bradford. Celebrity attorney Bert Fields is handling the case for Cruise. Kirstin could not be reached.

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Justice Prevails

A palimony suit against New York Yankee David Justice has been tossed out of Los Angeles Superior Court. Justice’s lawyer, Dennis Wasser, who also represents Cruise in his divorce, tells us that Judge Eliju Berle determined that Nicole Foster’s claim falls outside the jurisdiction of California’s courts. Justice used to be married to Halle Berry.

Sightings

Jennifer Lopez and Cris Judd, celebrating their engagement with a party for friends and family at Morton’s ... Minnesota Gov. Jesse “The Body” Ventura, dining on a $150 Caviar Burger at Le Meridien in Beverly Hills. Ventura was in town to do Jay Leno’s show ... Keanu Reeves, partying with Depeche Mode at the Figueroa Hotel after the band’s concert at Staples Center ... Garry Shandling and Calista Flockhart, pushing a baby stroller on a Sunday afternoon stroll along Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica.

Sick Bay Report

Prolific television producer Aaron Spelling seemed fit as a fiddle when we last spied him in June, hosting a book party for his pal, Viacom czar Sumner Redstone. So we were sorry to hear that Spelling has undergone radiation therapy for a lesion in his throat.

Spelling, 78, hasn’t let the treatments stop him from working while he recuperates at the Manor, his 56,000-square-foot Holmby Hills mansion.

Spelling “thanks everyone for their good wishes,” his publicist said, and “looks forward to returning to his normal work schedule in the next few weeks.”

There was no immediate word on whether the lesion was cancerous.

Since the 1970s, Spelling has given us countless hours of brain candy with series such as “Charlie’s Angels,” “Dynasty,” “Melrose Place,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Seventh Heaven” and “Charmed.”

Quote, Unquote

“There’s nothing ugly about being 36 years old.”--Model Linda Evangelista, who appears on the cover of September’s Vogue.

“I don’t feel like an angel.” --Whoopi Goldberg, accepting an Angel Award from Elizabeth Taylor for her work with Project Angel Food, a charity that feeds homebound HIV-positive patients.

Times staff writers Louise Roug and Gina Piccalo contributed to this column. City of Angles runs Tuesday-Friday. E-mail: angles@latimes.