LONDON — Actor Hugh Grant told a London courtroom Monday about the dark side of celebrity life, describing mysterious break-ins, leaked medical details and hacked voice mails – and laying blame on the entire tabloid press, not just the now-shuttered News of the World.

Grant’s testimony to a judge-led media ethics inquiry capped a tough day for Britain’s beleaguered press. Earlier, the parents of a murdered schoolgirl whose phone was targeted by the tabloid described how the hacking had given them false hope that their daughter was still alive.

Grant said he believes his phone was hacked by Britain’s Mail on Sunday tabloid – the first time he has implicated a newspaper not owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch in the wrongdoing.

The actor said a 2007 story about his romantic life in the paper, owned by Murdoch rival Associated Newspapers Ltd., could have been obtained only through eavesdropping on his voice mails.

He said he could think of no other way the paper could have obtained the story alleging that his romance with Jemima Khan was on the rocks because of his conversations with a “plummy-voiced” woman the paper identified as a film executive.

Grant said there was no such woman, but he did receive “charming, joking” voice messages from the assistant of a movie producer friend.

“She had a voice that can only be described as plummy,” he said.

Grant sued the newspaper for libel and won.

Challenged about whether he had hard evidence, Grant acknowledged he was speculating.

“But … I’d love to hear what the Daily Mail or the Sunday Mail’s explanation of what that source was if it wasn’t phone hacking,” he said.

The Mail on Sunday said in a statement that it “utterly refutes” Grant’s suggestion it had hacked his phone and described his comments as “smears.”

Over 2 1/2 hours of testimony, Grant described years of tabloid pursuit that began after his 1994 breakthrough hit, “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” Incidents included a break-in at his apartment during which nothing was stolen. Descriptions of the apartment later appeared in a tabloid newspaper.

Boss, band to return to road in 2012

LOS ANGELES — Bruce Springsteen has announced the E Street Band’s new world tour with a post on his official website, with the first European leg of the tour beginning in May 2012.

“Well things are starting to heat up on E Street,” began the post on Springsteen’s site.

The tour will be in support of the band’s new, still-untitled album. “We want you to know that the music is almost done (but still untitled), we have almost settled on the release date (but not quite yet), and that we are all incredibly excited about everything that we’re planning for 2012,” the post said

The tour, Springsteen’s first in three years, will be without the band’s legendary saxophonist, Clarence Clemons, who died of a stroke last June. The band did not announce how they planned to replace Clemons.

Beyonce: Stage no place to hide pregnancy

NEW YORK — It’s tough to keep a pregnancy a secret when you’re in the public eye, and for a while, Beyonce thought the jig was up.

“The whole time I definitely was thinking, ‘Everyone knows, everyone can see,’” said the singer before the screening of her new concert DVD, “Live at Roseland,” on Sunday in New York.

It became particularly difficult for her to hide the growing baby bump when the Grammy winner performed for four nights to sold-out crowds at New York’s Roseland Theater in August.

“When you’re pregnant, it’s a little bit harder to breathe, so it was hard doing all the choreography and singing at the same time,” said the 30-year-old singer.  

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