For some reason Wines of Chile, a commerce group akin to our Cotton Council, commissioned a study of 3,000 women in the U.K. to see how many secrets they told and how many they were able to keep. The study uncovered that (gasp!) drinking wine usually loosens women’s tongues and makes us a lot more likely to speak our minds. The study also found that women spill the beans in an average of 47 hours. Still, 83 percent of women surveyed consider themselves 100 percent trustworthy. But the vital information not mentioned in this report includes: why busting women on how much they gossip is a good way to publicize wine and whether there was a similar study commissioned to investigate the embarrassing conversational habits of men. [Daily Mail]

America is a nation obsessed with other people’s lives. A visitor glancing at our magazine and newspaper racks or flipping through TV channels immediately knows where our priorities lie, and it’s not with dissecting world politics. Instead, we hunt for news about the latest troubled starlet and watch other people’s lives unfold via reality TV shows.

“Gossip Girl” obviously has the right idea—a new study from the University of Michigan shows that chitchatting might be good for your health. In the study, which ran in this month’s Hormones and Behavior journal, 160 women paired up and completed a computerized card game. Afterwards, half of the groups were instructed to discuss 16 questions like “Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?” while the rest of the groups proofread a botany article. The participants who talked experienced a rise in their levels of progesterone, a hormone that signals bonding and closeness, while participants in the control group actually experienced a decline in progesterone. And more progesterone means reduced stress and anxiety, and ultimately better health. So moral of the study: water cooler talk can be good for your health! Still, that’s no reason you should tell everyone in your office that you slept with the hot guy in accounting. [Daily Mail]

While you’re more likely to hear women complain about their boyfriends and husbands never listening to them than the other way around, a recent poll discovered that men actually listen more carefully to others than women do. “The poll of 2,000 people found that more than one in five men reckon they always listen carefully to every word, and while less than one in five of women said the same.” Among the situations where women tend to tune out: listening to work colleagues (the average woman listens intently just 64% of the time), listening to their boss (women pick up just 2/3 of their boss’ communication), and listening to their partners (they catch 70% of those conversations). If women aren’t listening to their colleagues, bosses, or partners, what are they paying attention to? The poll says women give the most focus to gossip and eavesdropping! Don’t worry, though—“when it comes to talking to their best friend, women give their full attention to more than three quarters of what is spoken.” I’m guessing the 25% of the time women are tuning their best friends out is when the following is being discussed: their kids, how the wedding planning is going, or how, like, totally great their relationship is. Snooze-ville! [via Telegraph U.K.]

“The Real Housewives of Orange County” star Gretchen Rossi will become a professional gold digger if she takes sugar daddy matchmaking site UpscaleDaddy.com up on its offer to become their celebrity spokeswoman. The site claims it “aims to bring together beautiful women and successful wealthy men for a mutually rewarding relationship.” Sounds like Rossi, who spent most of her first season on the show spending her dying fiance’s money, will be perfect for the position. Kevin Blatt, the man behind the site, who claims credit for turning Paris Hilton’s sex tape into an international phenomenon, says Rossi is the perfect candidate because she “has a thing for older men taking care of her.” If she accepts the job, she’ll get $100,000, a “Condo in Spain valued at $500,000.00 and a brand new $90,000.00 Mercedes.” Not so fast, though, Gretchen. There’s just one catch. First, she has to take a polygraph test to prove that she was “actually in love with Jeff and faithful to him” during the TV show’s taping. Sounds like Gretchen may well be SOL.

In “The Great Girlie Gross-Out,” Salon’s Rebecca Traister takes a look at the online phenomenon in which women, mostly young women, share intimate things about themselves that others may or may not want to know. The most notorious offenders include Moe Tkacik’s tale of a wayward tampon, Tracie Egan’s ongoing urinary tract infection problems, and Miranda Purves’ post-childbirth ... jellyfish. Without a doubt, “Oversharing is in.” The question is: Is all this spewing too much information—or the voice of a new generation of women who aren’t afraid to be candid about their bodies? Ultimately, the intention may be more about getting attention than getting empowered. “We have edged away from a time when talking openly about the female body was necessarily a brave political statement and into one in which it can be self-promotional, potty-mouthed and kind of sweet.” Or, as Tkacik confesses: “You write gross things for page views too.” In other words, postfeminist chicks mistake clicks for politics. [Salon]

Is “Rock of Love: Charm School” winner Brandi M., a.k.a. Brandi Mahon, dating a pornographer? After scoring $100,000 on the second season of VH1’s “Charm School,” hosted by Sharon Osbourne, Brandi’s porn star past was exposed. Now, it appears the charm school grad may be slipping back into the X-rated business by dating Jason Green, the co-owner of Paradise Visuals, an adult production company based in Las Vegas, where Mahon lives.

Depending on whom you ask, Perez Hilton is either the “Queen of All Media” or the proprietor of “Hollywood’s Most-Hated Website.” Born Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr., in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents, the 30-year-old actor-turned-blogger runs the celebrity gossip site that has redefined Hollywood coverage. Whether he’s adding splooging penises to photos of stars’ faces or shoving Lance Bass and Neil Patrick Harris kicking and screaming out the closet, Hilton has neatly positioned himself alongside the infamous to become a virtual celebrity. After the jump, the notorious blogger talks about his new book, how to blog, and who should play him—and his love interest—in his biopic.

Poor Nicole Kidman. Just when everything was looking up for her—a new baby, a seemingly happy marriage to successfully-rehabbed Keith Urban, a starring role in an epic film about her native Australia alongside fellow countryman and People’s sexiest man alive, Hugh Jackman—a bunch of meanies with nothing better to do started a Facebook group called Am I Taking Crazy Pills or Is Nicole Kidman the Worst Actress in the World? While it’s too early to tell if the group’s cruel intentions will be enough to drive Nic into indefinite hiding with Sunday Rose and her favorite feathered-hair crooner, for the sake of cinema let’s hope she never reads any of the group’s choice comments …

So, The National Enquirer is claiming that John Edwards has a mistress and a love child and that he was totally caught visiting with them at a hotel recently. All this while his wife Elizabeth is still dealing with cancer. Now, this is the National Enquirer we’re talking about, so this is hardly FACT, but politicians stepping out on their wives is hardly an original rumor. Besides, despite the fact that my Grandma calls it “the trash”, they have been right on more than one occasion. Our lovely intern Annika revisits the Enquirer‘s moments of “A-ha! We told you so!”