People

By Anita Hamilton

SCREEN TEST

Assess your celebrity intelligence quotient with this week's assortment of evasive interviewees, unorthodox forms of activism and true confessions from a private icon:

1) Clay Aiken says he takes Paxil for panic attacks that are brought on by:

A) Nightmares about Simon Cowell not liking him

B) Nightmares about Paula Abdul liking him

C) The stress of being American Idol's most famous runner-up

D) Worrying about his hair-straightening iron going on the blink

2) Angelina Jolie recently:

A) Paid $75,000 for a sculpture of a white bust with a bullet hole in the forehead

B) Agreed to star in Home Raider: The Husband Snatcher

C) Went a full day in which nothing she and Brad Pitt did was interesting to anyone but them

D) Started a charity for people with thin lips

3) In Lawrence Grobel's new book of interviews with Al Pacino, the actor admits to drawing creative inspiration from:

A) The Bridges of Madison County

B) Saying hello to his leetle friend

C) The "genius" William Shakespeare's works

D) You know, the air, the sky, just, like, the whole planet

ANSWERS: 1) C; 2) A; 3) C

TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN

Billionaire Ronald Perelman, it seems, liked to surprise wife ELLEN BARKIN. Sometimes it was with jewels, and one time it was with divorce papers. So it's not shocking that the Sea of Love star isn't feeling so attached to the baubles. On Oct. 10 at Christie's, Barkin, 52, will auction off $15 million worth of them (including these diamond earrings). Taking a page from her ex's playbook (he bought a stake in his first company with his first wife's money), the fourth Mrs P. will use the loot to launch a production company--and buy her own ice.

SHE'S THE PIANO GIRL

Recognize those eyes? That knowing smile? That's the Piano Man's daughter ALEXA RAY JOEL, who's on tour to promote her first EP, Sketches. The offspring of Billy Joel and ex-wife Christie Brinkley, Alexa Ray, 20, hasn't quite found her stage feet: she fainted onstage while performing in upstate New York in mid-September. But one of the advantages of coming from a famous family is that you always have plenty of material (like, for instance, your mom's headline-heavy divorce). And Alexa Ray isn't afraid to use it. Her tune Now It's Gone is about her stepfather's affair.

Q&A JOHNNY KNOXVILLE

Actor and head jackass Johnny Knoxville called TIME's Jeffrey Ressner to discuss his new film and the strange animal behavior he incites.

Who are your inspirations?

We watched a lot of cartoons while writing Jackass 2, like Road Runner and Tom & Jerry. I saw one where Tom puts on a blind-fold and a bull comes along and smokes him. We got an 1,800-pound yak to do the same to me.

What's the worst stunt you've done that went wrong?

If they go right, you never see them. They have to go wrong. I'm pretty proud of the one in the movie where I ride a rocket like Wile E. Coyote and it explodes. A foot-long rod shot out of the side. If it had been four inches to the right it would have gone through me.

What's the weirdest thing you've ever done with a four-legged creature?

Steve-O and I were both in a llama suit walking around in a pen with wild boars, and all of a sudden we felt something pushing against us. I looked around, and an elk had mounted us.

You've been a journalist, a skateboarder, a TV star, and now you're in movies. What do you want to do when you grow up?

Jeez, I hope I don't.

With reporting by Jeffrey Ressner