Entertainment Briefs for May 6, 2010

Michaels released from hospital

PHOENIX - Poison frontman Bret Michaels has been released from a Phoenix hospital and is expected to make a full recovery after suffering a brain hemorrhage last month, his doctor said Tuesday.

Dr. Joseph Zabramski, chief of cerebrovascular surgery at the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, said he recommended that Michaels wait at least four to six weeks before resuming normal activity. He declined to say when Michaels could resume touring. Doctors will examine Michaels every two weeks until he's recovered.

"This produces a great deal of stress on the body," he said. "This is like being involved in an accident from inside."

Zabramski said Michaels is fully conscious and aware and talking fine, but he has back spasms and headaches when he tries to walk. He could continue getting back pain and headaches, but Zabramski doesn't expect any other long-term effects. He wouldn't say when Michaels was released or whether he was sent home or to a rehabilitation facility.

The 47-year-old contestant on "The Celebrity Apprentice" is receiving therapy and will probably continue to suffer from severe pain for another seven to 10 days as blood pooled under his brain dissolves. Michaels is a Type 1 diabetic, which limits the available options to ease discomfort.

Michaels was admitted into the hospital April 22 after suffering a severe headache. He was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which causes bleeding in the fluid-filled spaces around the base of the brain.

Two tests showed that Michaels did not suffer an aneurysm, so doctors are unsure what caused his condition. They did not perform surgery or other invasive procedures, but they plan a third test to check again for an aneurysm, a bulge in a weak part of a blood vessel that makes it more likely to have a second hemorrhage.

It is unlikely that Michaels' hemorrhage is related to an appendectomy conducted on April 12 or to Michaels being hit in the face by a descending set piece at last year's Tony Awards, a mishap that left the rocker with a broken nose and a busted lip. Hard hits to the head can cause hemorrhages, but not almost a year after the incident, Zabramski said.

Michaels, who filmed most of NBC's "The Celebrity Apprentice" last fall, is one of five remaining stars vying to win Donald Trump's business-themed reality TV competition. The other contenders are celebrity chef Curtis Stone, reality TV diva Sharon Osbourne, former WWE wrestler Maria Kanellis, pop singer Cyndi Lauper and actress Holly Robinson Peete.

If he avoids being fired by Trump in upcoming episodes, Michaels' prognosis means he could possibly attend "The Celebrity Apprentice" finale May 23 at New York University's Skirball Center. The finale features the last two contestants performing a final task, typically organizing a charity event, then debating each other live in front of Trump.

Michaels' representatives previously announced that his tour appearances scheduled through May 21 have been postponed, but that his other concert dates through October, including a summer tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd, are going ahead as scheduled.

Michaels already has ample experience at staging comebacks. After glam-rock was edged out in the 1990s, the "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" singer found fame again on reality TV, starring as a judge on USA's singing contest "Nashville Star" in 2005, then as the bad-boy bachelor looking for lust on VH1's tawdry dating show "Rock of Love" from 2007 to 2009.

Coroner: Haim died of pneumonia

LOS ANGELES - Actor Corey Haim died from pneumonia complicated by an enlarged heart and narrowed blood vessels, while drugs found in his system played no role in his death, the Los Angeles County coroner said Tuesday.

Haim, 38, died of natural causes from "community-acquired pneumonia" that damaged his lungs, according to an autopsy report.

Low levels of eight drugs, including both prescription and over-the-counter medications, were found in his system along with marijuana, coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey said.

"But nothing was at a level that would have contributed to his death," Harvey said.

They included tranquilizers and some common cold and flu medications, such as ibuprofen and a cough-suppressant, the report said.

Haim, who had struggled with drug problems throughout his life, died March 10 after collapsing in his mother's apartment. Haim was ill with flulike symptoms before his death, and police said he was taking over-the-counter and prescription medications.

"The pneumonia is what killed him," Harvey said.

Mark Heaslip, the actor's agent, did not return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown said in April that Haim employed "doctor shopping" to obtain 553 prescription pills in the two months before his death. Brown called Haim - the star of 1980s films such as "The Lost Boys" and "License to Drive" - a poster child for prescription drug abuse. He said Haim obtained powerful sedatives such as Valium and Xanax and painkillers such as Vicodin and Oxycontin.

However, no Oxycontin was found in his body, Harvey said. He noted that Haim's heart was abnormally large and factored in his death.

"His heart was 530 grams. The average normal heart weighs 300 grams," Harvey said.

Haim also had damaged lungs and arteriosclerosis of his coronary arteries, with some vessels 50-percent and even 75-percent blocked. Haim also had an enlarged liver.

Harvey said it was unclear how long Haim had suffered from the medical problems or the pneumonia or whether earlier treatment might have saved him.

A message left with Brown's office was not immediately returned Tuesday.

The report said that Haim had been feeling ill two days before his death and had a fever and severe cough. The report said he stayed in bed all day March 9 and his mother gave him tea, vegetable soup, Robituson, Tylenol and Advil, and Zophren. He appeared disoriented and collapsed to his knees at about 12:30 a.m. the next day.

"His mother helped him back into bed. His body began to shake in all directions and his eyes rolled back. His mother called 911," according to the report's synopsis.

He stopped breathing and his mother performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics arrived. Haim was pronounced dead in an emergency room at 2:15 a.m.

The report said that Haim had a history of drug abuse and had taken several prescription medications about five days before his death. He also had a history of heart murmur and possibly hypertension.

Drugs found in Haim's system included the cough-suppressant dextromethorphan; the antihistamine diphenhydramine; carisoprodol, a prescription muscle relaxant; the tranquilizers diazepam and meprobamate, which are found in Valium and other medications; and the antidepressants fluoxetine and olanzapine.