Re: gerbils/hamsters - it was neither. It was an off the cuff remark made by Mohammed Al Fayed when Gere was over here to open a section of Harrods.
The media picked up on it, and unfortunately he's been stuck with it ever since.
Oh, and while we're at it - the Marc Almond story (the one about 'two pints' of err...stuff) is also entirely fabricated.
I hope this isn't the last we see of Shilpa. Glamorous, beautiful and dignified. This is how our celebrities should be, rather than foul-mouthed, ignorant, talentless nobodies.