Top 5 Celebrity News Stories of 2008

2008 was a year of many big celebrity news stories. Let's recap 5 of the top celebrity news stories of 2008.

1. Barack Obama: Barack Obama gained real celebrity status in his run for the Presidency. Barack Obama is a telegenic, well-spoken candidate for the 21^st century and the crowds at his campaign events added to Obama's celebrity status. John McCain even compared Barack Obama to socialite Paris Hilton in a commercial. Barack Obama's campaign and election to be the first African-American President of the U.S. was a top celebrity news story in 2008.

2. Britney Spears: Britney Spears was a big celebrity news story for almost all of 2008. Spears began 2008 amid custody issues and hospitalization for psychiatric evaluation. By February, Spears' life seemed to be turning around. She regained visitation rights with her sons and appeared in a guest role on the popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Britney Spears' newest single Womanizer was released on September 15 and jumped to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 15. Yahoo! named Britney Spears as the most-searched person on the internet in 2008 assuring her status as a top celebrity news story of 2008.

3. Death of Heath Ledger: Another top celebrity news story of 2008 was the death of movie star Heath Ledger on January 22. Ledger, the star of Brokeback Mountain and the Batman movie The Dark Knight, left behind a 2 year old daughter Matilda Rose. Ledger's death was ruled an accident due to abuse of prescription medications.

4. Birth of Angelina Jolie's twins: The July 22 birth of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's twins was a third top celebrity news story of 2008. The babies, Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon, were born in a French hospital amid much anticipation. The rights for the first pictures of the Jolie-Pitt twins were sold jointly to

People and Hello! for $14 million - the highest-priced celebrity pictures ever.

5. Sarah Palin/Tina Fey: Sarah Palin's run for the Vice-Presidency and Tina Fey's impersonation of her on Saturday Night Live also rises to the top of celebrity news stories of 2008. Sarah Palin achieved almost instant celebrity status when she was named as John McCain's running mate in the 2008 Presidential election. Palin's resemblance to comedienne Tina Fey was noticed almost as quickly. Palin went from near-political unknown to Republican superstar in just a few days and Fey's spot-on impersonation of Palin on Saturday Night Live brought huge ratings for the long-running show. Palin's own appearance on

Saturday Night Live brought the show its biggest ratings in years.

2008 was a year of a lot of bad news. Thankfully many celebrities gave us stories to help us forget the falling stock market or the variety of natural disasters. These top 5 celebrity news stories of 2008 are just a few that gave us hours of distraction.