Avril Lavigne
Photo: Peter Kramer/Getty Images

Avril Lavigne filed for divorce from Sum 41's Deryck Whibley last week, according to case summary obtained by MTV News. The pair had been married for three years.

The news does not come as a surprise, as Lavigne posted on her MySpace page September 17 that they had separated. According to TMZ, the documents state that Lavigne cited "irreconcilable differences" and that the couple separated September 4. The documents also reportedly state that Lavigne is not asking for spousal support.

In her post last month, Lavigne wrote: "Deryck and I have been together for six-and-a-half years. We have been friends since I was 17, started dating when I was 19, and married when I was 21. I am grateful for our time together, and I am grateful and blessed for our remaining friendship. I admire Deryck and have a great amount of respect for him. He is the most amazing person I know and I love him with all my heart. Deryck and I are separating and moving forward on a positive note."

Lavigne concluded the message by thanking her family, friends and fans for their support.

The message (which was titled "Moving forward on a positive note") confirmed speculation that had run rampant in recent months that the couple's marriage was on the rocks. Earlier on September 17, Us Weekly ran a story that cited a source as saying Lavigne had "dumped" Whibley and forced him to move out of their Bel Air, California, mansion, adding that "divorce papers will be filed any day now."

Lavigne and Whibley were married in July 2006 in a non-denominational ceremony held at a private estate in Montecito, California, and their partnership quickly extended into the field of music, as Whibley played on and produced parts of Lavigne's last album, 2007's The Best Damn Thing, and was reportedly working with her on the follow-up to that record.

[This story was originally published at 7:23 pm E.T. on 10.14.09]

• Avril Lavigne
• Sum 41

Deryck Whibley and Avril Lavigne
Photo: Denise Truscello/ WireImage

After more than three years of marriage, Avril Lavigne and her husband, Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley, are separating, according to a message posted late Thursday (September 17) on Lavigne's MySpace page.

"Deryck and I have been together for six-and-a-half years. We have been friends since I was 17, started dating when I was 19, and married when I was 21. I am grateful for our time together, and I am grateful and blessed for our remaining friendship," the message reads. "I admire Deryck and have a great amount of respect for him. He is the most amazing person I know and I love him with all my heart. Deryck and I are separating and moving forward on a positive note."

Lavigne concluded the message by thanking her family, friends and fans for their support.

The message (which was titled "Moving forward on a positive note") confirmed speculation that had run rampant in recent months that the couple's marriage was on the rocks. Earlier on Thursday, Us Weekly ran a story that cited a source as saying Lavigne had "dumped" Whibley and forced him to move out of their Bel Air, California, mansion, adding that "divorce papers will be filed any day now."

Lavigne and Whibley were married in July 2006 in a non-denominational ceremony held at a private estate in Montecito, California, and their partnership quickly extended into the field of music, as Whibley played on and produced parts of Lavigne's last album, 2007's The Best Damn Thing, and was reportedly working with her on the follow-up to that record.

• Avril Lavigne
• Sum 41

Avril Lavigne
Photo: Joey Foley/ FilmMagic

"American Idol" producers definitely appear to be sending a strong message to hopefuls who are vying to make it to season nine's competition: Your guest judges know exactly what they're talking about.

Following the shocking departure of Paula Abdul last month, the rotating list of celebrity judges warming up the fourth seat on the panel keeps growing. Fox announced Wednesday morning (September 2) that pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne will switch off with previously announced fourth-seater Katy Perry when prospective "Idol" contestants line up in Los Angeles for the final days of auditions this week. The pair will sit in separately to offer their multi-platinum advice to the singers vying for a golden ticket to the show's Hollywood round.

They join a list of confirmed judges who have or will offer hopefuls some advice that includes Joe Jonas, Victoria Beckham, Mary J.Blige, Neil Patrick Harris, Shania Twain and singer/actress Kristin Chenoweth.

The eclectic mix of singers — and Neil Patrick Harris — should make for an interesting dynamic with the permanent judging panel of resident baddie Simon Cowell, good-cop/bad-cop Randy Jackson and returning sophomore judge Kara DioGuardi. Producers have not yet announced when they will permanently fill the fourth seat, but Abdul has made it seem unlikely that she will stage a surprise return to the program.

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

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• Avril Lavigne
• Katy Perry

Avril Lavigne
Photo: Peter Kramer/Getty Images

Avril Lavigne has made a career out of jumpy, raucous pop-punk anthems like "Sk8er Boi" and "Girlfriend." But on her upcoming fourth album, slated for November release, she will be taking a completely different approach to her music.

"A lot of the songs are mainly the acoustic and my vocal," Lavigne told Billboard.com. "It's a lot different from anything I've done before. It's not a pop-rock record. This is more about emotion and feeling."

Though the album still doesn't have a title, it does have a producer: Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley, who also happens to be Lavigne's husband. Whibley handles production on eight of the record's planned 12 tracks, with the remainder of the album helmed by frequent collaborator Butch Walker (the former Marvelous 3 frontman who has co-written Lavigne hits like "My Happy Ending" and "When You're Gone").

"I'm kind of just keeping it in the family with all of my close friends," she said. "I didn't work with a ton of people this time."

At least one of the songs from the album is already making the rounds, albeit in truncated form: "Black Star" scores the just-released ad for Lavigne's fragrance of the same name. She's also celebrating the one-year anniversary of the launch of her clothing line, Abbey Dawn.

To match the quieter, stripped-down tone of the album, Lavigne plans on going on a theater tour in support of it. "I feel it will really suit this record," she said.

• Avril Lavigne

Terrance Zdunich in "Repo! The Genetic Opera"
Photo: Lionsgate

Anyone intent on reviving the rock opera, that most misbegotten of pop-music genres, should consider two things. The first would be, don't do it. The second, if one were determined to do it anyway, would be the need for songs — brief musical compositions of sufficient sturdiness to ensure that they won't be forgotten while they're still being sung. With "Repo! The Genetic Opera," director Darren Lynn Bousman has ignored the first of these precepts; and his songwriting collaborators, Terrance Zdunich and Darren Smith, haven't been especially successful in observing the second. The result is a work that stirs retrospective appreciation of the mock-bombastic Meat Loaf. Meat Loaf, you'll recall, had songs.

The movie has metastasized from a 2002 stage play written by Zdunich and Smith and directed by Bousman. It's set in a post-apocalyptic world in which millions have died in an epidemic of organ failures, and a biotech company called Geneco has arisen to sell transplantable organs to needy survivors — and to repossess the pricey innards whenever the owners fall behind in their payments. The scalpel-wielding characters who carry out these grisly interventions are called repo men. One of them is secretly a doctor named Nathan Wallace (Anthony Head, of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" TV series), who's been forced into this vile sideline by Geneco founder Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino). Largo is terminally ill, and determined not to let his lucrative organ business pass into the hands of his good-for-nothing children (one of them played by Skinny Puppy frontman Ogre; another, with unwarranted enthusiasm, by Paris Hilton). Instead, he wants to bequeath his empire to Wallace's daughter, Shiloh (Alexa Vega, of the "Spy Kids" films), because her late mother was, as he sings in a characteristically tuneless interlude, "once very dear to me." The plot thickens like a week-old blood pudding.

The movie's art direction (by Anthony A. Ianni) and production design (by David Hackl — like Ianni and Bousman, a veteran of the "Saw" movies) are deliriously flamboyant. The city in which the story is set is dank and tainted, shrouded in endless night. The lighting leans heavily toward a super-saturated blue, the characters skulk about through a fog of halation, and the visual quality in general is pure Polaroid. Wardrobe designs are goth, of course — lots of black-leather S&M gear, with mascara and lipstick all around — and the city itself is a lurid digital chowder of grim streets and dark graveyards spread out in the shadow of the towering Geneco headquarters. All of this might have been fun, sort of, were it not for the grinding metal guitar-riffery upon which — this being a rock opera — the characters' every word must be conveyed.

Thirty years after "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," there's nothing shocking about the third-hand decadence on display here. What really startles are some of the unexpected performers lunging around in the murk. What could Sorvino have been thinking as he blustered through the din, trailed by a long gray ponytail, belting out lyrics like "Maggots, vermin — you want the world for nothing!" And how did actual singer Sarah Brightman — Andrew Lloyd Webber's onetime wife and muse — feel about being tricked out as some sort of pop-eyed Elvira puppet? The songs aren't uniformly dreadful — one of them, "Seventeen," is a lively arena-punk anthem that Vega delivers with near Avril Lavigne-level energy — but the tunes are largely formless, and many of the lyrics have the flat quality of words that should have been simply spoken, not sung. ("Didn't I tell you not to go out?" Wallace bellows at his sheltered daughter, in response to which she warbles, "You did! You did!") The picture runs just 98 minutes, but it already feels too long three-quarters of the way in. It feels unnecessary from the beginning.

Don't miss Kurt Loder's reviews of "Soul Men" and "Role Models," also new in theaters this week.

Check out everything we've got on "Repo! The Genetic Opera."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

• Meat Loaf
• Avril Lavigne

Deryck Whibley and Avril Lavigne
Photo: Denise Truscello/ WireImage

Despite anything you might have read, Avril Lavigne and Deryck Whibley's marriage is apparently just fine, thank you.

That's according to a statement posted Tuesday on Whibley's band Sum 41's MySpace page, under the title "Totally False Gossip," denying a report in the National Enquirer that his two-year marriage to Lavigne was on the rocks, and that he had recently put his career on the back burner "in favor of partying."

"The National Enquirer ... [has] issued a gossip story surrounding Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 and his wife Avril Lavigne. For the record we strongly deny the inference of marital problems between Avril and Deryck," the statement reads. "We also strongly deny the National Enquirer claims of any other liaisons. Deryck has in fact been traveling through Asia performing with Avril as evidenced by the numerous YouTube videos."

The Enquirer story quotes an "insider" as saying that Lavigne and Whibley's marriage has been strained by "his manic bar-hopping and seemingly bachelor-like behavior," and that, earlier this month, as Lavigne toured China, Whibley was seen with a "statuesque brunette beauty" at Los Angeles' Villa nightclub.

"Deryck isn't motivated in his own career, so he's been drinking and partying," the insider reportedly said.

Whibley's statement doesn't address any of the Enquirer's charges directly, but rather ends by questioning the validity of the publication's sources, and took the media to task for even bothering to report on the story in the first place.

"I'm actually very surprised that so many media outlets picked this story up," he says in the statement. "Since when did the National Enquirer become a trust worthy news source?"

Lavigne and Whibley were married in July 2006, at a private ceremony in Montecito, California. They had gotten engaged the previous year in Venice, Italy.

• Avril Lavigne
• Sum 41

Avril Lavigne
Photo: MTV News

Punk-rock princess Avril Lavigne has just added clothing designer to her résumé. She's teamed up with Kohl's to launch her mall-punk-inspired line called Abbey Dawn.

"Every eight weeks I have new pieces coming into the store," she told MTV News. "So we're designing like crazy — like, tons of stuff — and it's so much fun."

The line of skinny jeans, skirts, hoodies and T-shirts features a lot of skulls, stars, checkers and zebra print, according to Lavigne, who was almost banned from playing an upcoming show in Malaysia after the government deemed her "too sexy." She eventually plans to add bags and sunglasses to the line, which is available in stores now.

Finding the inspiration to start the line wasn't very difficult: She saw so many of her fans emulating her style that becoming a clothing designer was the logical next step.

"It was a great opportunity for me to do this, and now that I'm older and more into fashion and stuff, I've put together a cute little line. It's totally my style and everything I would wear. It's absolutely my wardrobe."

But it's the origin of the line's moniker that really holds a special place in the singer's heart.

"My dad gave me the nickname Abbey Dawn when I was a little girl," she said. "It was a street he saw. And all my friends in high school called me Abbey. I always really liked the name. I didn't know if maybe I would name my girl Abbey if I had a girl one day, or a song name. So I had a clothing line first, so I named it Abbey Dawn."

Being a designer does have one perk that she's especially excited about: "Free clothes," Lavigne said. "I never have to shop again!"

The 23-year-old is stoked to finally see her threads on fans and doesn't even mind when they show up to her concerts in the same thing she's wearing.

"I've seen some of the fans at my shows wearing my shirts, and sometimes I've been onstage wearing [one of the shirts]," she said, "and they have the same one on, and I'm like, 'Hey, nice shirt,' and I get really excited.

"[I'm looking forward to] seeing people walk around with it," she added. "It will be really cool."

• Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne
Photo: MTV News

Despite reports in recent days that Avril Lavigne's concert in Malaysia had been blocked because of government fears that the singer's image is "too sexy" — and subsequent reports that it had either been canceled or postponed because it could mar the country's independence day celebrations — the singer told MTV News on Thursday (August 21) that it's going ahead.

"Well, I've actually been approved by the government to play a show," she said. "I've already sold 10,000 tickets there, so I will be going to put on a concert for the fans.

"They tend to, you know, sometimes not want Western artists in their country," she continued. "I respect that, but at the same time, you know, there's people that listen to music there and want to see their idols and stuff, so it's all good: been approved by the government and [I'm] going to go put on a show and have fun."

Malaysia's Islamic opposition party, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, had been trying to cancel or postpone a Lavigne show scheduled for the country's capital on August 29 saying her moves and stage show were "too sexy." The party took offense with the pop singer taking the stage and possibly promoting the wrong values just days ahead of the country's independence day on August 31.

The flap over the Lavigne show wasn't the first time the country's officials had looked negatively at a show by a Western female pop singer. In the past, they forced Gwen Stefani to cover up her world-famous belly, drove Beyoncé and Christina Aguilera to neighboring shores to avoid a hassle and rang up several thousand dollars in fines against a Pussycat Dolls concert in 2006 for flouting decency rules.

All along, the promoter of the Lavigne concert, Galaxy Productions, had said that the show would not have any "negative elements." Malaysia requires performers to be covered from chest to knees and avoid clothes that feature obscene or drug-related images, as well as eschewing any jumping, shouting, hugging and kissing onstage.

• Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne
Photo: Joey Foley/ FilmMagic

They forced Gwen Stefani to cover up her world-famous belly, drove Beyoncé and Christina Aguilera to neighboring shores to avoid a hassle, and rang up fines against the Pussycat Dolls for flouting decency rules during a 2006 concert.

Now Malaysia's Islamic opposition party, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, is trying to ban Avril Lavigne from playing a show in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur after deeming the singer's stage moves "too sexy." According to The Associated Press, the youth wing of the party said on Monday (August 18) that the skate rat turned glam-pop singer's August 29 show would promote the wrong values ahead of Malaysia's independence day on August 31.

"It is considered too sexy for us. ... It's not good for viewers in Malaysia," party official Kamarulzaman Mohamed said. "We don't want our people, our teenagers, influenced by their performance. We want clean artists, artists that are good role models." Kamarulzaman sent protest letters to the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry and Kuala Lumpur's mayor last week, calling for the concert to be canceled.

A Culture Ministry official said the government has not signed off on the concert yet and that department officials are slated to meet on Tuesday to discuss the promoter's application. The promoter denied that Lavigne's show would have any "negative elements" and was confident the permit would be approved.

It might, however, require the formerly frumpy, now couture-loving singer to change up her look, though, as Malaysia requires all performers to be covered from chest to knees and avoid clothes that feature obscene or drug-related images, according to the AP. A rule that might be more onerous for the hyper Lavigne is the one that bans jumping, shouting, hugging and kissing onstage.

• Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne
Photo: MTV News

Forget about painting the town red — Avril Lavigne wants to paint the town pink on her forthcoming world tour, which kicks off March 5. "Yes! The theme is pink!" she squealed. "The theme is like a party!"

So on her stage, Lavigne will have a pink drum kit and a pink piano — and she'll be playing both of them this time around. "I play the drums, I play the piano and of course I play the guitar," she said. "There's a lot going on."

But just because Lavigne's third outing — called the Best Damn Tour after her album and next single, "The Best Damn Thing" — is pretty in pink doesn't mean it will be bubblegum. Lavigne is planning her biggest production ever — with backup dancers, outfit changes and a moving stage. "I've never played on a stage like this before," she said. "I've got a big stage. I've got stairs, and I'm coming out of the stage, and I got these LED screens behind me. I just wanted the show to be more showy. I wanted to take it to the next level."

To make sure there's a next level for intimacy as well, Lavigne plans a "coming-down" moment, a stripped-down acoustic session in the middle of the set, just "me performing by myself." She also plans to talk more while she's onstage, something she hasn't done much on her past two tours, and refuses to wear a microphone on her head so it doesn't seem artificial.

"It's very rockin'," she said, "but it's just there's more visually to see, a lot going on. I have to perform every single night, so it's like, I don't know if I want a mellow set, you know? I want a crazy, fun, rockin'-out-with-everyone set, so I've got a ton of people onstage with me. It's still very me, but it's just, I've grown."

And as the tour grows, moving through North America, Europe and Asia, fans will see if Lavigne's language skills have grown with her, as she plans to try to sing her hit "Girlfriend" in different languages for different countries (since that's how she recorded the song). "I may try to sing some of the easier ones live," she said. "I think Japanese I can pull off. I'm not sure about the other ones. It was almost impossible to record because there were so many words and more syllables and I had to squash them in, so I don't know. We'll see.

"There's a lot of stuff that we have to work out and a lot of preparation to do," she added. "So we've just been hard at work doing that. And when you work really hard at something, well, hard work pays off. So the show is going to be great. I feel like I'm at my best and this will be my best performance so far. I can't wait!"

Avril Lavigne's North American Best Damn Tour dates, according to her Web site:

· 3/5 - Victoria, BC @ Save On Foods Memorial Centre
· 3/7 - Vancouver, BC @ General Motors Place
· 3/8 - Kamloops, BC @ Interior Savings Centre
· 3/9 - Kelowna, BC @ Prospera Place
· 3/11 - Prince George, BC @ CN Centre
· 3/12 - Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
· 3/13 - Calgary, AB @ Pengrowth Saddledome
· 3/15 - Regina, SK @ Brandt Centre
· 3/16 - Saskatoon, SK @ Credit Union Centre
· 3/18 - Winnipeg, MB @ MTS Centre
· 3/20 - Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
· 3/21 - Chicago, IL @ Allstate Arena
· 3/22 - Auburn Hills, MI @ Palace of Auburn Hills
· 3/25 - Pittsburgh, PA @ A.J. Palumbo Center
· 3/26 - Cleveland, OH @ Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University
· 3/28 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Borgata
· 3/29 - Buffalo, NY @ HSBC Arena
· 3/30 - East Rutherford, NJ @ Izod Center
· 4/1 - Boston, MA @ Agganis Arena
· 4/2 - Montreal, QC @ Bell Center
· 4/3 - Ottawa, Ontario @ Scotia Bank Place
· 4/7 - Toronto, Ontario @ Air Canada Centre
· 4/8 - Kingston, Ontario @ Kingston Regional Sports & Entertainment Centre
· 4/9 - London, Ontario @ John Labatt Centre
· 4/11 - Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
· 4/12 - Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
· 4/13 - Manchester, NH @ Verizon Wireless Arena
· 4/15 - Fairfax, VA @ Patriot Center
· 4/18 - Atlanta, GA @ Phillips Arena
· 4/19 - Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheatre
· 4/20 - West Palm Beach, FL @ Sound Advice Amphitheatre
· 4/22 - Biloxi, MS @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
· 4/24 - Hidalgo, TX @ Dodge Arena
· 4/25 - Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Pavilion
· 4/26 - Dallas, TX @ Smirnoff Music Centre
· 4/27 - San Antonio, TX @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
· 4/29 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Pearl at the Palms Hotel and Casino
· 4/30 - San Diego, CA @ Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl
· 5/2 - Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Wireless Pavilion
· 5/3 - Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center
· 5/4 - Los Angeles, CA @ Gibson Amphitheatre
· 5/6 - Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl
· 5/7 - San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilions
· 5/9 - Spokane, WA @ Spokane Arena
· 5/10 - Everett, WA @ Comcast Arena at Everett Events Center

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