Katharine McPhee engaged

American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee is engaged to actor Nick Cokas. McPhee, 23, has recently been showing off a ring from Cokas, 42. They have been dating for more than a year. "Katharine is bubbling over with excitement for her upcoming wedding," says a source. "She is all smiles when she talks about the planning. It sounds like everything is going very smoothly." The couple met in 2005 when they performed in an LA theater production of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Their union began as a friendship, McPhee said last year: "He took me up to my San Francisco audition. We totally fell in love." As for the 19-year age difference, McPhee says that "was never really a concern." The two connect because "he just makes things really fun" and "we love business. We love going to meetings together and create things together." McPhee's rep has not commented on the engagement.

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Katharine clears up old tales

Katharine McPhee may not be joining the ranks of Tom Cruise and John Travolta just yet - the Idol star admitted to Salon.com that she only dabbled in the celebrity religion to impress a guy. "I took a couple of courses," McPhee said. "It was really all about a guy. It was a guy that I was totally obsessed with - not obsessed with but totally into and, you know, guys and girls can do that to their lives and make us think we're into something that we're not." McPhee said the rumors that she was a full-fledged member of the Church of Scientology just took on a life of their own. "I'm not a Scientologist," the singer asserted. "I've clarified this rumor over and over again, but people will keep saying I am, but whatever."

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