I stopped praying when in 1996. That's the year I prayed very hard for my parents to not get divorced, to no avail, subsequently prompting me to make the decision to stop thinking magic might help me in some way.

Turns out that God had a very good reason for forsaking me back then: she was saving up all her energy to make millions for a couple of Christian filmmakers!

“I’m not impressed with Hollywood in general. They don’t make a lot of movies that lift our standards and morality.” That’s what director Alex Kendrick told me in a telephone interview on Monday after his new movie "Fireproof" (IDP Films/Samuel Goldwyn) opened with a downright shocking $6.5 million opening weekend.

LA and New York are filled with talented film professionals who spend countless hours and millions upon millions of dollars making movies. The cost of development, production, a director, actors and marketing make the craft of filmmaking prohibitive. So how did a little church in Georgia score the 4th-best gross of the just-completed weekend?

The answer, according to director Kendrick, is prayer. “Before we shot a tough scene, we prayed. This movie was bathed in prayer.” He is serious.

Although Alex and his brother, co-writer and producer Stephen Kendrick, “grew up making silly movies in the backyard with a video camera,” they have no formal training in the business. They are both Associate Pastors at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, 3 hours south of Atlanta. They are in “the prayer business” full-time.

Fireproof, starring 80s heartthrob-cum-Christian right icon Kirk Cameron, tells the story of a fireman whose marriage is falling apart. I've not seen it, but I bet the couple stays together. With the help of the Lord, no doubt.

There are two sides to all celebrities: The squeaky-clean images forced upon the public by PR reps and their actual personalities. To provide you with a glimpse into the real Hollywood characters are Mollygood’s very own readers, telling tales of celebrity encounters big and small. Up this week: Reader Ariel's flight with one of Donald Trump's exes.

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MORE GOOD NEWS, LADIES "Star Jones and Al Reynolds have finalized their divorce. The two — who announced their split in April after 3 1/2 years of marriage — 'have reached an amicable settlement in their divorce proceeding and expect the divorce to be finalized in the very near future,' Jones' rep tells Access Hollywood."

Reese Witherspoon is not going to be happy: Rumor has it her boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal is about to get a new co-star by the name of Abie Cornish. This should sound familiar, because while Reese was married to Ryan Phillippe he starred in a movie with Abbie, which resulted in Reese and Ryan's divorce and Ryan and Abbie's current romantic relationship. Our head hurts.

Anyway, Jake and Abbie are being pegged to star in a new movie about a private expedition to the moon to create a Lunar colony, which won't be nearly as interesting as the drama that should be taking place off set. According to a source, "It could work out as long as Reese doesn't visit Jake on the set." Except it's never that easy.

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ANOTHER ONE BACK ON THE MARKET, KINDA "After just eight weeks of marriage, Saturday Night Live alum Chris Kattan and his wife, model Sunshine Tutt, have split. 'Separated for the moment. No plans for divorce at this time,' his rep tells Usmagazine.com."

GOOD NEWS FOR NKOTB GROUPIES "New Kids of the Block member Donnie Wahlberg and his wife of nine years, singer Kim Fey, have hit a low note. … Fey filed for divorce on Aug. 13, citing irreconcilable differences. The couple, who have been separated since January, have two children, Xavier, 15, and Elijah, 6."

ADDING INSULT TO INJURY "Days after he was involved in a serious car accident, [Morgan] Freeman's business partner says the actor and his wife of 24 years, costumer Myrna Colley-Lee, have called it quits."

Cynthia Rodriguez looks like she means business, and that attitude is carrying over into her divorce case with baseball player Alex. Although the two signed a prenuptial agreement, Cynthia has now decided she wants half of A-Rod's money earned during the couple's time together. Oh, and he can throw in a $12 million waterfront estate while he's at it.

While naming no figure, she petitioned for alimony and child support, including such benefits as life and health insurance and private schools — suggesting she be able to maintain the 'high standard of living' A-Rod has provided his family so far.

The good news for Alex is that the divorce is taking place in Florida, so he doesn't have to explain why his marriage is "irretrievably broken." We're sure Madonna is breathing a sigh of relief as well.

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• The latest round of leaked Miley Cyrus photos make us feel like we're on To Catch a Predator. [Yeeeah]

• Mario Lopez looks like a d-bag even when he's just standing still. [INO]

• Jennifer Lopez won't let those pesky twins keep her from starring in box office failures. [DListed]

• There's rumors of childish drama on the set of Gossip Girl. Um, obviously. [PS]

• Jenna Jameson's covered in blood but still working the pole. Commitment. [HT]

• Nevermind, Madonna and Guy Ritchie won't be renewing their vows after all. Let the divorce rumors recommence. [ICYDK]

Ever wondered how Alex Rodriguez is dealing with all the media speculation surrounding his divorce and rumored affair with Madonna? Well, he brought in relationship expert Shaquille O'Neal to dish out advice last night during A-Rod's All-Star Week party at NYC's 40/40. Apparently the two were huddled together looking "pretty intense" during the party, where the DJ was sure to play lots of Madonna tracks.

But don't feel sorry for poor Alex — he held his head high and made sure security made a clean sweep before he visited the bathroom, even pulling one guy out of a stall. You can't keep a good d-bag down.

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Now that Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook's bitter divorce trial has come to a swift end, we can now focus our attention on the next three-ring circus: The divorce of Alex and Cynthia Rodriguez. It's about to get really good, because Cynthia has threatened to release copies of the text messages A-Rod sent to Madonna.

A source said: 'They were instrumental in convincing her that he was besotted. The messages could be released if things get really ugly.'

A pal of ace Alex, 32, told how he acted like a 'smitten schoolboy' as he swapped texts.

Does anyone else feel like we're back in high school?

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BUT IT WAS JUST GETTING GOOD "A little more than one week after it began, the explosively nasty divorce trial of Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook has come to a sudden end. After a night of intense negotiations, the warring exes reached a settlement Thursday morning at 6:15 a.m."

So, either Shaq's divorce did not go as planned, or his future ex-wife is just following him around to keep his spending habits in check until alimony's been set.

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It really should be Madonna’s year. She’s got a new album out (although it’s been panned by critics and fans), she’s about to embark on an international tour this fall (to perform lyrics that include “Don’t pretend you’re not hungry, I’ve got plenty to eat / Come on in to my store, cause my sugar is sweet”), and her adoption of David Banda, once mired in controversy, is finally being made official. And then she had to come to New York.

It’s then that rumors of a romance with Yankees star Alex Rodriguez really began pouring out, forcing publicist Liz Rosenberg to repeatedly shoot them down with the excuse that they share the same manager, Guy Oseary, rather than acknowledge the long-standing trouble in her client’s marriage to Guy Ritchie. And it’s then that Madonna began taking the blame for the marital woes between A-Rod and wife Cynthia, despite the baseball player’s well-known man-about-town romancing, all of which forced Cynthia to run off to Paris to spend time with “friend” Lenny Kravitz, who just happened to once date Madonna.

And all of that’s before her brother even has a chance to make the morning show rounds to plug his tell-all book.

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KEEPING UP APPEARANCES "Diners at New York City's 'Cesca, an Italian eatery on the Upper West Side, got a surprise Tuesday night when Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie walked in, holding hands."

Madonna has been in this industry long enough to know that she should have fueled divorce speculation back when her album was coming out, because she is getting more attention now than she has in a long time. The latest rumors to hit Madge involve a certain Yankees baseball player, who has been making late-night visits to her NYC apartment while soon-to-be-ex Guy Ritchie is away.

[Alex] Rodriguez, 32, has made numerous solo nighttime visits to Madonna, 49, at her spacious home and would sneak out 'as late as midnight.' Says [a] source, 'All the doormen are talking.' … Rodriguez attended Madonna's April 30 NYC concert; the singer sat in his seats at a Yankees game on June 22 (it was the first time she ever was photographed at a Yankees game).

Oh, and by the way: A-Rod is married. Naturally.

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FREEDOM'S JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR NOTHING LEFT TO SELL "A man who put his life up for auction on eBay found it wasn't worth quite as much as he thought when he settled for around A$100,000 less than his target price. Ian Usher, 44, held the seven-day auction of all his belongings, including his three-bedroom home in the west Australian city of Perth and a trial for his job at a rug store, after the break-up of his five-year marriage. … In the end, the winning bidder agreed to pay A$399,300 ($380,286) for all of Usher's worldly goods, which also include his friends, a motorcycle and a jetski."

Enrique Iglesias, on his divorce from Anna Kournikova (but is he joking?):

Oh I'm not married, no. I mean I was married. I was married, seriously. I was married a year ago to Anna and I don't know what happened. We're not married anymore but we are kind of still in contact.

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