America Ferrera
Gossip

Is it too late to rename the series Pretty Betty?

As filming for ABC's Ugly Betty gets underway, the show has given its main character a serious makeover.

Played by America Ferrera, Betty Suarez has said goodbye to her braces and sayonara to her messy, curly hair.

In April, producer Silvio Horta warned fans about the impending new look. He said: “There’s going to be a progression in her look overall. It’ll still be Betty, but you’ll see some growth in that direction.”

That's for sure. Compare the before-and-after shots below:

Do you like the new Ugly Betty?

Amid rumors of bad behavior on the set and having her number of appearances cut from six to four, Lindsay Lohan shined on last night's episode of Ugly Betty.

Reprising her role as Kimmie Keegan - who used to torment Betty Suarez (America Ferrera) in high school and now works with her at Mode - Lindsay found herself in familiar territory: acting like a diva in the celebrity gossip spotlight.

LiLo actually contributed some funny Ugly Betty quotes last night. Too bad she can't hold down a job in real life. Follow the jump for two additional photos ...

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Reportedly, everyone on the set of Ugly Betty has seen Lindsay Lohan nude.

But we'll get to that in a moment.

According to The New York Post, Lohan's behavior on the set of the ABC show has been so abysmal that the series has cut the number of episodes she'll appear on from six to four.

“It was a mess. Lindsay would show up every day with an entourage of people," a source said. "She smoked 24/7, and after she left, they had to repaint her dressing room it was such a mess... [Lindsay] would obsessively cut pictures of herself out of the tabloids like she was creating some sort of scrapbook and refused to go on set until [America Ferrera] was there - it was a power play.”

We buy the entourage, and the smoking; but they had to repaint Lohan's dressing room? For what possible reason?

The insider said that a scene in a future Ugly Betty episode involves Ferrera's character pulling down the pants of Lohan's character; but when the action took place, “Lindsay wasn’t wearing any underwear,” and the entire crew learned why she's referred to as "Firecrotch."

However, a friend of Lindsay's countered that accusation:

"Lindsay wears underwear all the time now. She was wearing a G-string. And it was America’s fault. They were rehearsing the scene and America wasn’t supposed to pull Lindsay’s pants down - but she did. Lindsay was so embarrassed, she started crying.”

Are you sure you don't wanna diss Heroes and Grey's Anatomy while you're at it, America? Jealous much? They're just TV shows, lighten up.

It's hard to believe anyone would hate on awesome shows like The Hills, Gossip Girl and 90210, but America Ferrera is evidently not a fan.

Which may explain the eye-roll incident.

In any case, in Seventeen magazine, the Ugly Betty star calls out the aforementioned programs for a lack of "close, genuine female relationships."

"Like, if you're watching The Hills or 90210, all of the backstabbing shapes the way we act – you go to school, and you think that your job is to find a sworn enemy and be jealous of each other," America Ferrera said.

"I mean, I love Blake Lively, [her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-star and the lead actress on Gossip Girl]; she’s a wonderful friend of mine, but shows like Gossip Girl kind of condition us to be mean."

America Ferrera knows girls can be mean, recalling how she's "worked with other girls before and it was pretty catty."

But working with Lively, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequel has been "one of the most wonderful experiences I’ve had with girl relationships," she says.

America Ferrera and Blake Lively recently paid a visit to Good Day LA to discuss their new movie, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

But the conversation promptly switched to Gossip Girl, Lively's TV show and the recent subject of massive amounts of... well, gossip.

Gossip Girl has become so overexposed these days (maybe you've noticed), even America Ferrera can't hide her apparent disdain for it.

Here's an excerpt of it on The Soup. Watch America's expression!

Ugly Betty star America Ferrera is not engaged to her long-time boyfriend, filmmaker Ryan Piers Williams, her rep tells celebrity news magazines.

Online reports speculated she was engaged because the actress, 24, wore what looked like an engagement ring on the New York set of Ugly Betty.

Turns out, the ring could be part of a plot twist on show. Or maybe a gift from future Ugly Betty guest star Lindsay Lohan. Really, who knows!?

America Ferrera and Ryan Piers Williams: Just boyfriend-girlfriend.

Ryan Piers Williams, 26, is an aspiring director. They first met at University of Southern California, pre-Betty days, when he cast her in his student film.

Engagement or not, they are said to be house hunting (or were, at least) have a golden retriever named Buddy. That's good at least.

The actress - who has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president - will be starring in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, out in August.

Well, about half of it anyway. Which is pretty solid.

One young voter who has been squarely in the camp of Hillary Rodham Clinton throughout the 2008 presidential race is Ugly Betty star America Ferrera, 23.

The actress, a native Californian of Honduran descent, has been a vocal supporter of the former First Lady and attended a seminar called Breaking Barriers: Women in Politics at Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Saturday.

The Ugly Betty star, who also attended two other campaign events Saturday, was seen travelling in New York with boyfriend Ryan Piers Williams on Friday.

Hillary Clinton narrowly trails Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination - and celebrity endorsements - but is closing the gap in both departments. The Pennsylvania primary is April 22.

Someone sure finds Ugly Betty pretty.

With the Emmy Awards coming up, American Ferrera is spending her free time house hunting with longtime boyfriend, Ryan Piers Williams.

"They're excited about it," a source told People magazine. "All that matters to them is that they are together and that they find somewhere private. They aren't one of those flashy couples."

Flashy couple? To whom could this person be referring, Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron?

Ferrera first met Williams, an aspiring director at University of Southern California, when he cast her in his student film. Together, they have a golden retriever named Buddy.

In other Ugly Betty news, meanwhile, take a look at Rebecca Romijn nude. She's cute.

The world of celebrity gossip is filled with lies and half-truths. Did Sheryl Crow really adopt a son? (Yes.)

Is Spencer Pratt the anti-Christ? (Most likely.)

Can Britney Spears sink any lower? (Stay tuned!)

Below, we comment on the validity of a few other Hollywood gossip rumors...

REPORT: Tony Parker won't see Eva Longoria nude until their wedding night.

Longoria's rep Liza Anderson tells Us Magazine that while the future wife did say in an interview that she planned to give up sex before her wedding, it was purely in jest. "It was a total joke!" Anderson explains. "She was just being playful."

REPORT: The smile on America Ferrera is insured for $10 Million.

The Ugly Betty star is a spokeswoman for Aquafresh's "Smiles for Success" program, which provides dental care for underprivileged women looking to break into the workforce. To protect their partnership, the company took a policy out the eventual Mrs. Ryan Piers Williams and her girlish grin with Lloyd's of London.

REPORT: Kim Kardashian and Haylie Duff are feuding via Myspace.

According to numerous gossip sources, Kardashian responded to an attempt by Haylie to bury the hatchet over past issues by calling the sister of Hilary Duff sister nasty names.

A rep for Kardashian says: "The page is a fake. Kim and Haylie are great friends and neither of them posted anything mean."

REPORT: Victoria Beckham's boobs have their own zip code.

This is true.

America Ferrera isn't just Ugly Betty.

She's also Popular Betty. The TV star is everywhere these days - including the cover of W magazine. Here are excerpts from that publication's interview with the actress:

ON THE TABLOIDS ANNOUNCING THAT SHE AND BOYFRIEND RYAN PIERS WILLIAMS GOT ENGAGED…
"It's totally not true! And his mom called me and my sisters were calling me, and I was like, ‘Are you kidding? Did you not think I would tell you first?' And then I put out a statement that it wasn't true, and that became a whole news story. So now it's news when something doesn't happen? Like, news flash: California did not get hit by a hurricane today."

ON NOT BEING OFFERED LEADING ACTING ROLES DESPITE HER RECENT SUCCESSES…
"When it comes to envisioning an actor in a role that they haven't seen them in, people in this business can be a little uncreative. No one is willing to take a gamble…It's been more about developing my own material, finding roles that I would like to play and figuring out a way to get those things made."

ON TRYING TO ENJOY THE MOMENT…
"The hardest part of this year has been learning to enjoy it. It's almost like a full-time job reminding myself to live in the moment and not look for more, more, more…I see now that people who make movies, this world of creative geniuses that I grew up idolizing, are just normal people who wanted to do something and made it happen. Everything that's happened to me in the last year has only made me feel more like a normal person, more human, but in the most beautiful way."

* The Hollywood Gossip note: Certainly more beautiful than whatever nasty actions Olivia Mojica is involved in on her celebrity sex tape.

ON BEING HONDURAN AND GROWING UP IN A CAUCASION NEIGHBORHOOD…
"As early as second grade I remember feeling really different and isolated. I had the hugest crush on a boy, and my best friend had a crush on him, too. One day he said to me, ‘I like your best friend more because she's paler and she has freckles.' And it was right then that I began to feel like, Oh wow, I'm different."

* The Hollywood Gossip note: So is Sanjaya Malakar. And that's working out pretty well for him.

ON NOT FITTING IN WITH THE LATINO COMMUNITY…
"I mean, I grew up in the Valley. All my friends were white Jewish kids. So the Latino kids thought I was this white girl."

ON BEING APPROACHED BY SALMA HAYEK TO STAR AS UGLY BETTY… "Honestly I never saw myself doing TV, but Salma was so convincing. Salma is the kind of person who could sell you, like, a used stereo. She promised me that it would be done in the right way, and I just trusted her."