Celebrities turned on their protectors Sunday when Ashlee Simpson's dad, Joe, and her rocker boyfriend, Pete Wentz, teamed up to defend the pop songstress against a Vegas bodyguard.

The fist-fest erupted as the Simpsons and Wentz were trying to leave the Decaydance/GQ party at the Mirage's Jet nightspot.

Bouncers were willing to let Ashlee, Joe and Pete through — but they blocked the Simpson entourage, which included the Gym Class Heroes MC, Marc DeJesus.

"What are you doing?" yelled Wentz, demanding that his crew be escorted to a waiting SUV. "This is my [bleeping] car! I paid for this [bleeping] car!"

Tempers rose, and, before long, a security guard shoved Wentz, knocking Ashlee against a wall.

We watched as Wentz rushed to her aid. The Fall Out Boy bassist rained punches on the much-taller door sentries. Papa Joe also dove into the chaos.

"When somebody messes with my baby, then it's over!" Joe told us later, drawing his finger across his throat.

Happily, the sound and fury didn't result in any serious injuries, and the Simpson-Wentz group managed to leave.

Outside, Wentz stomped around and spat on the wall of the club. "[Bleep] this place!" he screeched, vowing never to set foot inside again. (A Jet rep had no immediate comment.)

One fan tried to snap a picture of Simpson and Wentz after the melee, prompting Ashlee to lunge for the guy's camera. Wentz quickly grabbed her around the waist.

Joe, whose starlet offspring Jessica wasn't present, suggested that the bouncers are "just mad they make $12 an hour."

Yeah, let them get multi-millionaire daughters of their own!

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Don't expect Michelle Pfeiffer and husband David E. Kelley to demand VIP treatment like so many celebrities. The movie star and TV writing genius stood patiently in line with the rest of the excited Broadway fans waiting to see "Xanadu," the roller-spoofy musical.



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Adrian Grenier's flesh may be growing weak. A spy reports seeing the "Entourage" star locking lips with Paris Hilton at Noir in Vegas last weekend. "Adrian is resistant because this is Paris Hilton," says a spy. "She's way more into him and was all over him. But he's being good and hasn't slept with her. They did make out, and Adrian felt that was too much." Hilton's rep insists that the two are "nothing more than friends."

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Marc Jacobs may have kept guests waiting for more than two hours before his Monday night fashion show at the Armory began — but what had some even more incensed was a dead mouse being used as a pin on the lapel of Jacobs' arm candy, Jason Preston. The Rodentia-cum-accessory, Preston was overhead saying, was given to him by none other than Courtney Love. A PETA spokesperson weighed in on the less-than-fashionable brooch by saying, "When your only claim to fame is that you're the sometime boy toy of a designer, I guess you go to extremes to get attention."

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Poor Angelina Jolie!

An In Touch reporter was sitting nearby when she popped into the Waldorf-Astoria's Sir Harry's bar to meet a friend Sept. 5.

According to the snoop, Jolie enjoyed a glass of red wine with "a tall, muscular male friend" and talked about money.

"I won't talk to Brad about this because you know how he is financially, which is stupid," she said. "Someone has to make the big decisions, though. He'll put money into things — but it's bizarre! It doesn't always make sense to me."

She added: "The reality is, we're not a company together. Things should be separate. I think you know I make my own financial decisions. Brad knows there are times he should just be quiet and look pretty."

Amen to that, sister.

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KANYE West's arrogance is legendary, but now the rapper doesn't even feel the need to promote his album - disappointing his fans. Last week, West didn't bother to show up at a "Today" show concert. West, according to advertisements, was supposed to rock Rockefeller Center, but he canceled his appearance. A rep for West said, "It was a creative decision. There were problems . . . Kanye wanted to do things a certain way with an elaborate light show and he would have had to move indoors for that . . . He was very contrite." But that doesn't explain West canceling his scheduled appear- ance at "TRL" yesterday, or his interview with David Letterman. We also heard he was thinking of backing out of "Ellen," and might not do "Saturday Night Live" at the end of October. "Kanye knows he is winning the album battle with 50 Cent and is so high on his horse that he can't even bother promot ing his album," sniffed one spy. A rep for West added, "Kanye is doing 'Ellen' and 'Jimmy Kimmel.' And he will do 'SNL.' "


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HEATH Ledger isn't letting any grass grow under his feet since his split with Michelle Williams. The "Brokeback Mountain" star crashed the Another magazine party at the Bowery Hotel over the weekend with three Aussie mates. "He was in a ridiculously happy mood and drank Ballatore champagne all night. He ordered it throughout the dinner," our spy said. Other revelers at the private bash included Chloe Sevigny, Helena Christensen and Amy Sacco.

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WHILE it's no shock that MTV's hit series "The Hills" isn't pure reality, one cast member says not even the kissing is real. Lauren Conrad's best friend on the show, Audrina Partridge, told OK! magazine that her boyfriend, Justin Bobby, "has a hard time being himself" on the show. "MTV tells him, 'Go kiss her,' " said Partridge of her beau. "He's like, 'You can't tell me what to do because it'll be awkward.' "Luckily for her, Bobby is sometimes able to ignore the cameras.

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No one was more shocked watching Britney Spears' performance at MTV’s Video Music Awards in Las Vegas on Sunday night than the 25-year-old popstar herself.

“She was also able to see video of herself throughout the auditorium,” a backstage source tells Us Weekly. “She flipped out. She came running off the stage, yelling ‘Oh, my God, I looked like a fat pig! I looked like a fat pig!’ She was inconsolable.”