ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott Reveal the Sex of Baby No. 5. Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott already have two sons and two daughters together: Liam McDermott, 9, Stella McDermott, 8, Hattie McDermott, 5, and Finn McDermott, 4. Thus, baby No. 5 will break the tie, but will the girls win or will the boys win? Well, E! News has the exclusive video and photos of the expecting mama and her family's sex reveal party, and it looks like they're about to welcome a (drum roll, lease)...bouncing baby boy! "Well, it's a tie-breaker, boys win!" Spelling announced with a huge smile on her face. "We're just going to have to have one more then," she laughed. Spelling, McDermott and the whole family opted for the surprise reveal, decorating a Christmas tree in all blue to do so. This is the first time the couple has ever found out the sex of their baby this way. "With Liam and Stella we found out at the doctor's office. Hattie and Finn, we didn't find out, we didn't know until they were born," Spelling explained. "So this is the first reveal. We really wanted to do it with the kids because they were so excited, and we wanted to do it as a family!" During the party, the family posed with the preggers mama by their blue and white tree. Spelling wore a belly-hugging green turtleneck and jeans, while McDermott and all the kids matched matched her in similar hues. Meanwhile, the former Beverly Hills 90210 star announced her fifth pregnancy in October, admitting it was a "total surprise." "I took the test, and Dean said, 'Oh my God, we're going to be the Brady Bunch!'" she told People magazine of the moment they found out they were pregnant again. "He was saying, 'We just got Finn out of diapers! I thought we were in the clear!'" Spelling continued, "For the first time, they're all in school. So it's like, 'Wow, what did we just do to ourselves?' We're basically starting over." Nonetheless, she told the publication, "We always wanted a big family. I'm really excited." (Eonline)
Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi is engaged! The Shahs of Sunset star said yes to boyfriend Shalom's marriage proposal, showing off the happy moment -- and the stunning ring -- on Instagram Saturday. Gharachedaghi, 35, has traded in sunny Los Angeles for chilly New York City the past month -- starring in the Off-Broadway comedy Sex Tips for Straight Woman from a Gay Man. (Fellow Bravolebrity Sonja Morgan, of Real Housewives of New York City fame, did a limited run in the show in October.) But while "GG" may be used to seeing her name in lights, Shalom stepped it up a notch by scoring a billboard with her picture on it in Times Square to pop the question. "Golnesa, My Love, My Everything... Will You Marry Me?" the sweet message read. "In the middle of Times Square... he asked... and I said... HELL YESSSSS!" Gharachedaghi wrote on Instagram. "So happy to spend my life with him. I love you @shalom310." If Shalom looks familiar, it's because he's had some reality show experience himself. He previously dated DASH merchandiser Durrani Popal, who was featured on the Keeping Up with the Kardashians-spinoff Dash Dolls. Surprises seem to be one of Shalom's trademark moves, too. On Dash Dolls, he gifted Popal with a pink "Barbie" Bentley. His engagement to Gharachedaghi will likely be part of the upcoming sixth season of Shahs of Sunset, which is currently filming. Cast members Reza Farahan, Mike Shouhed, Mercedes "MJ" Javid, and Shervin Roohparvar were all in the Big Apple over the weekend for Gharachedaghi's final performance in the Off-Broadway show on Dec. 17 -- sharing selfies along the way on social media. Costar Asa Soltan Rahmati didn't seem to take the trip -- but its for good reason. She's currently eight months pregnant with her first child with longtime boyfriend Jermaine Jackson II. The couple have been dating for six years. Gharachedaghi, meanwhile, has continued to gush about Shalom on Instagram. "I always swore I'd never be one of those females that puts up sappy love posts... but f -- , this man truly gives me life!" she captioned one shot. "Love you baby!" she added in another shot. "Thank you for being you and allowing me to simply be myself." (People)
Azealia Banks Reveals She Suffered a Miscarriage. Azealia Banks announced some sad news on Facebook Tuesday morning. In a series of updates, the "212" rapper opened up about a "major life event," writing, "This wouldn't be an Azealia Banks page without loads of oversharing right? Anywho, I've just had a miscarriage and am pretty taken aback by it all." Banks is experiencing confusion, depression, guilt and shock. Additionally, Banks confessed she now feels "like a failure and very ashamed." With seemingly nowhere else to turn, Banks reached out to her fans for support. "Has anyone else had this same experience who cares to share some words of wisdom or words of anything regarding this topic?" the 25-year-old Harlem-raised rapper asked. "The self-loathing bit is a real struggle for me at the moment so share any words here. They will be greatly appreciated." After one Facebook fan suggested the rapper should have kept the miscarriage news private until she had some more "time to reflect," Banks replied, "It's life and we all live it together. Everyone farts, s--ts, f--ks , eats and sleeps. It's bodily function 101. Why the need for secrecy." In another update, Banks told her Facebook followers, "I feel really stupid because I think I'm so big and bad an in control and in this situation I'm so powerless." When she first saw "the embryo," the rapper recalled, "I felt this full spirit around me and was looking down at this little bean in horror/amazement and now I just can't NOT have an awareness of this person and won't stop feeling like any and everything I've ever done in my life or want to do is pointless." "I'm really over it," she added, "and not with the s--ts right now." Banks asked people to be respectful and considerate after making the news public. "I've had a real rough 2016," the musician explained. "I honestly need a break from the public crucifixions. This is a women's health issue that many others may or may not be able to relate to. Please don't f--k UP an opportunity for clear, open and beneficial discourse between WOMEN!" After sharing her story publicly, Banks finally felt "calm and sleepy," saying, "I haven't slept all night." Before going to bed, however, Banks removed a few posts. "*Trolls are coming in*," the rapper wrote. "*delete delete*." (Eonline)
Tell us how you really feel! Jennifer Lawrence stopped by the Watch What Happens Live Clubhouse on Monday, December 19, to chat about one of her favorite Bravo shows, Vanderpump Rules, and she didn't hold back on her feelings about James Kennedy. When discussing the 24-year-old Brit, who was recently fired from Lisa Vanderpump's restaurant Sur on the show, the Passengers actress and apparent Bravo superfan, 26, said, "I have a serious reaction to entitled, worthless little creeps, especially ones who are disrespectful to Lisa Vanderpump." Then, the cast of Vanderpump Rules had three questions for the Hunger Games star via pre-recorded videos during Plead the Fifth. When Kristen Doute asked who she would fire from Sur and subsequently the show, Lawrence replied, "It already happened. I would do it to what's his name? James. The guy I hate." She added, "I want him off the planet." While she had no trouble with the first question, the Oscar winner struggled to answer when Jax Taylor asked her which Hunger Games movies are her most and least favorite. "I mean the first one, there's nothing like the first one because they're introducing the whole thing and I thought it was really interesting," Lawrence said. As for her least fave, she chose the third installment because they split it into two parts. Finally, Stassi Schroeder asked the Joy actress what was her best kiss in 2016. Lawrence joked, "If you kiss me before the New Year, it will be you, Stassi!" After failing to come up with a serious answer, the Kentucky native -- who has recently been spotted getting cozy with director Darren Aronofsky on several outings -- chose to plead the fifth. (US Weekly)
Candice Swanepoel has shared an intimate photo of her breastfeeding her son, Anaca, and slammed critics for shaming her and other moms for feeding in public. The Victoria's Secret model, 28, took to Instagram on Monday, December 19, and posted a close up black and white snap of her 2-month-old baby at her breast, and captioned it with a powerful message. "Many women today are shamed for breastfeeding in public, or even kicked out of public places for feeding their children," she wrote. "I have been made to feel the need to cover up and somewhat shy to feed my baby in public places but strangely feel nothing for the topless editorials I've done in the name of art..?" The South African beauty continued: "The world has been desensitized to the sexualization of the breast and to violence on tv...why should it be different when it comes to breastfeeding?" "Breastfeeding is not sexual it's natural- Those who feel it is wrong to feed your child in public need to get educated on the benefits breastfeeding has on mother and child and intern on society as a whole." Swanepoel and her fiance, Hermann Nicoli, welcomed their first child in October. The couple got engaged in August 2015 after nearly 10 years of dating. (US Weekly)
Daisy Fuentes' Husband Richard Marx Helps Subdue Violent Passenger on Flight. All was not smooth on Daisy Fuentes and Richard Marx's flight from Vietnam to South Korea. Fuentes took to Instagram to share photos of her and her husband's scary experience in which a passenger became violent and started attacking the flight attendants and other passengers. Marx immediately jumped in to try and diffuse the terrifying situation, which staff struggled to handle because of the unruly passenger's outbursts. "On our flight from Hanoi to Seoul a guy sitting in the next row from us got crazy & started attacking the flight attendants & passengers. When he started pushing the female staff and pulling them by the hair @therichardmarx was the first to help subdue him," Fuentes wrote in the caption. "This went on for FOUR hrs. I feel horrible for the abuse the staff had to endure but no one was prepared for this. They never fully got control of him. They didn't know how to use the taser & they didn't know how to secure the rope around him (he got loose from their rope restraints 3 times)." E! News has reached out to reps for the couple and Korean Air. The grid of photos shows a flight attendant pointing a Taser gun at the passenger, as well as Marx holding him down. In another photo Marx holds white rope, presumably to tie up the passenger. Fuentes noted that she would post video of the tumultuous flight after she and her husband reached their destination. (Eonline)
Move aside, Santa Claus -- Amy Schumer also knows how to make a Christmas miracle. The holiday came early for the 35-year-old comedienne's father, Gordon, when she revealed on Monday that she had bought back the farm the family previously owned. When Schumer was a child, her father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and her family went bankrupt. The Trainwreck star shared a screenshot of herself FaceTiming with her father to announce the news. "Today I bought my father's farm back," she captioned the photo. Schumer then posted an adorable home video taken by her father that shows her younger self-trying to run away from home. "Video from the farm when I was running away in the cornfield and my dad was taunting me because I wanted him to come with me," she wrote. "We lost the farm when we lost everything else. But today I got to buy it back for him." Schumer has previously opened up about her father's battle with the illness and even drew from her real-life experience in her hit movie Trainwreck. The actress says that humor was one way her family got through the tough times. "In terms of my dad being sick, it was just confusing to me, especially the way MS works," Schumer explained during her interview for ABC's Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2015. "He was in physical pain. That's when I kind of took the lead and took care of everybody in my family. I would keep them-I would keep everybody laughing. (People)
One particular person is making Christina El Moussa smile amid her split from husband Tarek. The Flip or Flop star shared a cute video of her 15-month-old son Brayden James laughing while playing a game of peek-a-boo with a napkin. "Even on my toughest days he always brings a smile to my face. #BraydenJames you make our lives complete," she captioned her clip. El Moussa, 33, tagged Tarek's Instagram account in her caption. The couple, who are also parents to 6-year-old daughter Taylor, announced they were ending their seven-year marriage in a statement to PEOPLE last week, noting an incident in May that prompted police to visit their California home. "Like many couples, we have had challenges in our marriage," the former couple said in the statement. "We had an unfortunate misunderstanding about six months ago and the police were called to our house in an abundance of caution. There was no violence and no charges were filed." The former HGTV couple, who are in the midst of their sixth season of the reality design series, concluded their joint statement by sharing details of how they sought counseling to "sort out" the relationship but have since decided to separate while evaluating "the future of our marriage." Adding, "During the process, we are committed to our kids and being the best parents we can be. We will continue to work through this process civilly and cooperatively, and plan to continue our professional life together." PEOPLE previously reported that both Tarek and Christina have been dating other people since their separation and the mother of two had begun a romance with a fellow design professional after their friendship turned romantic. (People)
Brooke Mueller has been in rehab since her meltdown in Utah last month, according to her sister, Sydney Wolofsky. "She was in the hospital for a little bit," Wolofsky told Entertainment Tonight. "I do know she woke up in the hospital after detox and my mom asked her what she wanted to do at this point, and she was the one that said, 'I want to go back into rehab, and I want to stay there for a while.'" She reiterated that it was definitely Mueller's decision to enter rehab and that she's doing "a lot better." TMZ reported in November that the 39-year-old mother of two was hospitalized and under psych evaluation for allegedly striking her kids while "under the influence of something." Utah police found Mueller with her kids and the nanny in a small town outside of Salt Lake City. But a source told ET that much of the report was inaccurate. "She was never barefoot; she never hit the kids. Brooke was over-medicated at the time and was not herself." At the time, Mueller was dating skin-care guru Peter Thomas Roth, but after the drama, the pair called it quits. Roth told Page Six at the time, "I haven't seen her since October. We were just dating and having fun. She seemed like she was in a good space. But the last time I spoke to her, some things were off." Mueller's rep declined to comment. (Page Six)
In the latest twist in the wild battle over Sofía Vergara and Nick Loeb's frozen embryos, Page Six has learned that lawyers are gearing up to file a lawsuit demanding that the embryos be shipped from California to Louisiana. Earlier this month a stunning suit was filed against Vergara on behalf of the fertilized eggs -- which are named in the papers as "Emma" and "Isabella" and listed as plaintiffs. The embryos' "trustee," James Charbonnet, was also listed as a plaintiff. But insiders tell us that in the New Year, attorneys will ask the ART Reproductive Center in Beverly Hills, Calif. -- where the embryos have been cryogenically frozen since the former couple's IVF treatment was completed in 2013 -- to transfer them to a facility in Louisiana. The legal team is hopeful that ART will agree because it will consider the embryos a "legal hot potato" that it would like to be rid of. But if ART -- or Vergara -- declines permission for the embryos to be moved, Charbonnet intends to sue in federal court for the right to move the embryos. Insiders say that the choice of Louisiana as their new home is significant because it's the only state where embryos have legal rights of their own, rather than being considered the belongings, or "chattels" of their parents. The embryos would be sent by courier. "Although Nick Loeb is not a party to the existing litigation or [this] subsequently contemplated litigation, he may be a beneficiary if the court adjudicates that the embryos are not chattels but entities with constitutional rights of survival," Loeb's attorney Mark J. Heller told us. "Such a ruling would defeat [Vergara's] intention to keep her daughters' embryos frozen in perpetuity and endorse the irrevocable right of parenthood granted to donors when they contribute to the creation of an embryo." Loeb already sued for custody of "Emma" and "Isabella" in 2014 but dropped the suit this month after a California judge demanded Loeb identify women with whom he'd had aborted pregnancies. Loeb said he would rather "go to jail" than give up the names. Vergara's rep didn't get back to us. (Page Six)
Kanye West's stay at UCLA Med Center had some staffers hunting for medical info, according to multiple people at the facility ... who tell TMZ a slew of people couldn't resist attempting to look at his info in the computer. Multiple sources tell us ... members of the Medical Center staff were curious when Kanye was admitted and a number of them attempted to gain access to the computer system. Several sources tell us officials at the Medical Center have conducted an investigation. One source says several dozen people have been or will be fired. Other sources simply say the investigation is ongoing and they expect firings. Our Kanye sources say they have not been contacted. We repeatedly reached out to UCLA for comment and they told us they do not comment on personnel. (TMZ)
Prince might be dead, but that doesn't mean he's off the hook with a divorce lawyer who claims the singer signed off without paying his $600k tab. Cousins Law Firm in West Palm Beach filed a claim with the singer's estate demanding payment of a $599,735.63 bill. Patrick Cousins tells TMZ the bill dates all the way back to Prince's 2006 divorce from second wife Manuela Testolini. Cousins says he and Prince were tight and had an agreement the singer didn't have to pay until all the loose ends were tied up. We asked the lawyer what would take 10 years to complete, but he wouldn't say. Cousins claims he finished everything on April 1 ... Prince died April 21. (TMZ)
Marty Bregman owes big. The Oscar-nominated producer of "Scarface," "Carlito's Way" and dozens of other films is on the hook for millions of dollars to two friends who invested in a movie version of "The Gold Coast," a 1990 best seller by Nelson DeMille. Real estate biggie George S. Kaufman and Pantone color system founder Larry Herbert invested with Bregman in 2008. The movie was supposed to star Richard Gere as a WASPy Wall Street lawyer whose beautiful wife draws the attentions of a Mafia don. In 2013, with no progress being made on the movie, the two investors sued, claiming they'd been swindled. Their complaint stated, "Bregman's assurances were a fabrication. He had neither stars, nor budget, nor studio approval, and no intent to use any funds to pay for anything but his personal expenses." Earlier this month, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Eileen Rakower handed down a decision on the suit, awarding $3.1 million to Kaufman and $1.6 million to Herbert. Bregman, 85, hasn't produced a movie in 11 years. But he is not without assets. He recently cut the asking price on his four-bedroom Park Avenue apartment to $7.9 million. The producer, who is credited with making Al Pacino a star, is married to Cornelia Sharpe, the leading lady of his first movie, "Serpico," in 1973. Sources believe Kaufman and Herbert, whose lawyer didn't respond to request for comment, don't expect to collect from their former friend and sued so they can claim their bad investments as tax losses. Bergman couldn't be reached for comment. (Page Six)
THE OTHER STUFF . . .
Prince Harry "Buried Emotion" After Princess Diana's Death: "I Still Didn't Even Want to Think About It." Nearly two decades later, Prince Harry is opening up old wounds. In a new ITV documentary, Prince Harry in Africa, the youngest son of the late Princess Diana recalls how he suppressed the sudden death of his mother after she was famously killed in a car crash in 1997. At the time, the royal was only 12 years old. "I never really dealt with what had actually happened, so there was a lot of buried emotion and I still didn't even want to think about it," he said during the project. Today, the 35-year-old philanthropist has used his power and influence to spearhead several foundations, including the mental health charity Heads Together and Sentebale, a Lesotho-based charity focused on preventing and destigmatizing AIDS and supporting the country's youth. The latter is particularly close to Harry's heart as his mother championed on behalf of the same causes while she was alive. Princess Diana was a famously avid supporter of those fighting the virus early on in the epidemic despite public fear and misconception. Most memorably, she hugged and held hands with patients without wearing gloves, becoming the first royal to do so. "I've got a year off. I want to do something really constructive with my life," Harry said during the documentary, recalling inspiration for starting the foundation. "I want to do something that makes my mother proud." In the past year, the royal set up a charity concert with Coldplay, campaigned at the 2016 International AIDS Conference and enlisted Rihanna to take an HIV test in public with him to demonstrate how simple the procedure is and encourage people worldwide to join him. As Harry wisely said, "It's fun to be good and boring to be bad." (Eonline)
Prince William Drives Prince George, Kate Middleton and Prince Harry to Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas Lunch. It's a Christmas carpool! Prince William drove Prince George, Prince Harry and Kate Middleton to Buckingham Palace Tuesday to attend Queen Elizabeth II's annual Christmas lunch. The Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, host the festive meal before they head out to spend the holidays at their private Sandringham estate. Kate, wearing a striking purple coat and her iconic engagement ring, and Prince George sat in the backseat while glasses-wearing Prince William and Prince Harry had eyes on the road from the front. The royal tot looked as cute as ever in a collared blue coat and what appears to be a gingham button down. Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, arrived in a chauffeured vehicle, while Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie arrived in separate cars. The Duchess of Cambridge also put her Christmas spirit on display Monday when she attended a party hosted by The Mix and Heads Together, the campaign she, Prince William and Prince Harry spearheaded to combat mental health stigmas. Kate donned a red and green floral frock that channeled the season's holly. Prince William told attendees that his 3-year-old son has started to realize what Christmas means for him. "He just said [Prince] George definitely knows it's Christmas this year because the presents are about and he's more into opening them than anything else," DJ AJ King told reporters of his conversation with Prince William. "I said Christmas would be a bit different for his children this year and he said they would be having a family Christmas together." But before Christmas, the royal family shall feast. (Eonline)
Gal Gadot Weighs in on Wonder Woman U.N. Ambassador Controversy: It's "Not Fair." Gal Gadot still can't believe how much hubbub there is surrounding Wonder Woman. The Israeli star, who first played the superhero in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and will reprise the role again in the first standalone film, and her onscreen persona were recently named an honorary ambassador to the U.N. Fictional characters such as Winnie the Pooh and Red from Angry Birds had received the honor, but sirens sounded when Wonder Woman was tapped. More than 600 U.N. staffers signed a petition to remove Wonder Woman from the position, claiming "a large-breasted white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmery, thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif and knee-high boots" was not an appropriate icon for Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women. Gadot thinks there are more important issues to think about than Wonder Woman's hemline. "There are so many horrible things that are going on in the world, and this is what you're protesting, seriously?" she asks Time, rhetorically. "When people argue that Wonder Woman should 'cover up,' I don't quite get it," she says. "They say, 'If she's smart and strong, she can't also be sexy.' That's not fair. Why can't she be all of the above?" Facing intense pressure, the U.N. revoked Wonder Woman's ambassadorial privileges. Gadot has spoken passionately about her role as Wonder Woman since she first received news that she got the job. Even more important than Wonder Woman making it to the big screen, however, is the fact that a woman is directing the very first standalone film. "With Patty [Jenkins], it's a thing now, we communicate with our eyes. She doesn't need to say a thing," Gadot told Entertainment Weekly. "If I'm hurt, she feels the pain. It's a whole different connection that I have with her. She's also brilliant, she's bright, she's fierce, she's sharp. She knows exactly what she wants Wonder Woman to be. "It's a story about a girl becoming a woman," Gadot added. "I think only a woman, who has been a girl, can be able to tell the story in the right way." (Eonline)
We might feel like we know everything there is to know about Kylie Jenner, but what is it like working for the teenage entrepreneur? Her personal assistant, Victoria Villarroel, has spoken out. Speaking in a video posted on Kylie's website on Monday, the 24-year-old revealed that it was "fun" working for the Lip Kit creator. When asked how she got the job, Victoria said: "Five years ago, I started working at her mom's company, Jenner Communications, and I would see Kylie there all the time 'cause it was her mom's office." "They just took me," she said. "It's work but it's fun." But Victoria, who began working for the social media queen about a year ago isn't just an employee in Kylie's eyes. "Victoria is more than my assistant," Jenner added on her website on Monday. "We've really grown so close and I consider her one of my best friends. She's so cute," said the youngest of the Kardashian/Jenner clan. In fact, Kylie even helped Victoria's new fiance plan his proposal. Over the weekend, she took to Instagram to congratulate the happy couple by sharing a cute video with the caption: "Congrats Victoria & Marco on your engagement I'm so happy I was able to be a part of it. To forever ???? @victoriavillarroel ??" She then posted a picture of herself hugging Victoria, with the caption: "Congratulations Angel @victoriavillarroel ????" Not your average employer and employee relationship then... (British Glamour)
You-you-you-you-you oughta know -- that Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom are karaoke beasts! The superstar couple attended Westwood actress Shannon Woodward's 32nd birthday party on Saturday at West Hollywood's Blind Dragon lounge. Joined by Woodward's Raising Hope costar Kate Micucci and commentator Ronan Farrow, the revelers tore into Alanis Morissette's ferocious 1995 single "You Oughta Know" (off her seminal album, Jagged Little Pill). The throwback angst continued with another musical selection, Avril Lavigne's 2002 breakout hit, "Complicated," which Perry shared to Snapchat. Despite the furious songs, relations between Perry and Bloom seem warmer than ever as they approach their first anniversary as a couple. "They are planning a vacation for the holidays," a source previously told PEOPLE. They even stirred up engagement rumors in late November when the singer was spotted wearing a diamond ring on that finger. "Orlando is very happy with Katy. They are not engaged yet, but are very serious," added the insider, who also explained that Perry, 32, and Bloom, 39, have been focused on making their relationship work amid busy work schedules. (People)
Justin Bieber wants it known -- he's a real man ... who wears real fur. We got the Biebs at Hyde in WeHo Monday night, where he was at the Shots Studios Xmas party with his ex, Hailey Baldwin. As he makes his way out, he throws on an oversized fur -- and the question is simple ... is it real? Justin makes no bones about it, and even goes out of his way to confirm ... he's a fashionable fella without a conscience. (TMZ)
These days, model Iskra Lawrence is a shining example of body positivity -- but it took self-doubt and frustration to get there. When she started to develop curves as a teen, Lawrence had modeling agencies telling her to lose weight. "I was so confused about why my body was curvy," Lawrence, 26,tells SELF for their Jan/Feb cover. "That's when I became obsessed with weight. My hips were 36 1/2 inches when they were 'meant' to be 34." Hearing that she was too big to model set off years of disordered eating. "[At one point] all I ate was ham for two weeks," Lawrence says. "I lost 2 inches around my waist, exercising like crazy. I would fall asleep in school. I felt agitated." Lawrence started sharing her story on social media, in interviews, and with middle school students as part of her group, Iskra's Army, and found that it spoke to many of the women she grew up with as a child. "Since I've come out about my struggles, it's amazing how many girls from my past have said, 'Do you realize I felt the same as you, Iskra?' " Lawrence says. "How crazy that we all did and yet none of us talked to each other about it?" Lawrence, who now proudly models with no retouching for Aerie, was finally able to move past her body struggles in the last few years. "I never thought I would be here," she says. "I'm happy with myself. I respect myself. And I know that no man, no jeans, no scale and no booker is in control of my future -- I am." (People)
Andrea Bocelli will not perform at president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, Page Six has exclusively learned -- because of backlash over the gig. We reported first the famed tenor was being approached to sing for the political event. Some fans then floated a "Boycott Bocelli" movement on social media in reaction. A source said that, by Monday, "Bocelli said there was no way he'd take the gig .?.?. he was 'getting too much heat' and he said no." But another source told us, "Trump suggested to Bocelli he not participate because of the backlash. It's sad people on the left kept him from performing on a historic day." Reps did not comment on his exit. (Page Six)
This Christmas, Lindsay Lohan remains focused on working with refugees. "I am deciding now if I will head back to do more work in refugee camps in Turkey and Antep during or after the New Year," Lohan, 30, told Page Six exclusively. The actress previously refugees in the fall, even supplying them with energy drinks. "The dates are not set yet," she added. "It depends on how Turkey feels after the recent terrorist attack in Istanbul. Not that any attack has or will ever stop me from helping those suffering, those who need our help the most." "I miss my family a lot," she explained. "But they are very supportive and understanding of the fact that my main focus is business, writing and soon to start another film. More so, my work with refugees." "I always love giving gifts," she said. "So yes, for family and friends, most definitely I will be sending gifts. For me, I know it sounds silly, but, I am okay. I like to live by the act of giving. In all honesty, I am good with no materialistic gifts." Perhaps Lohan can gift her loved ones pieces from her "I Only Speak LiLohan" apparel line, which was created after a bizarre video of her speaking in a strange accent surfaced. When asked of her New Year's Eve plans, the starlet says she'll be bringing in 2017 in the Middle East. "It will be announced soon but I will be hosting New Year's Eve at Zero Gravity in Dubai which I am very excited about." (Page Six)
If you used to be a Dawson's Creek fan, you'll love the fact that Michelle Williams and Busy Phillipps are still the best of friends. And the Manchester By The Sea actress has said the SWEETEST thing about her BFF during a night out together at a screening of her new film. "I'm here with my best friend," Michelle, 36, said. "I'm so in love with her. She's proof that the love of your life does not have to be a man! That's the love of my life right there." YASSS! We love that. Busy, 37, returned the love and posted a 2001 throwback photo of the pair alongside a more grown up and glamorous shot of them at Sunday's screening. She captioned the pic: "2001/2016 I love that we almost always stand on the same side of each other. Also, can I just say we aren't at a costume party in 2001. That's legit how we were dressed for a regular night out. I guess I really was my character from Cougartown? And thank God my eyebrows grew back." (British Glamour)
Zach Braff and Mitt Romney have a weird connection that involves witchcraft ... in the late 1600s. This is gonna sound bizarre, but we got Zach heading out of Catch in L.A. Monday night (not the bizarre part), and he confirmed he and the former Mass. Gov found out they're both descendants of the same real life witch from the Salem Witch Trials. Her name was Rebecca Nurse, and she was hanged in 1692. There was reportedly no evidence against her, and her death is often credited with changing public perspective on the trials. Sooo ... she was an important witch. There's that. (TMZ)
Cedric the Entertainer isn't playing the Donald-Trump-Is-Not-My-President game ... he thinks people need to shelve their anger and fix some big problems in this country. We got Cedric Monday night at Catch where he talked about police brutality and a system that assumes guilt. He's super passionate ... and very persuasive. (TMZ)
Music
Jennifer Lopez is so rich, she's decided to pass on a scheduled million dollar New Year's Eve performance, so she can spend time at her new home with her family ... TMZ has learned. Lopez was supposed to perform at E11even nightclub in Miami and our sources say all told she would have scored a million dollar payday. But here's the thing ... she bought a new home in Bel-Air a few months back and decided she wants to just kick back with her kids and other family members. As one J Lo source put it ... "She was just so overbooked with "Shades of Blue," her concert and other obligations, getting on a plane for New Year's just seemed too much." (TMZ)
Little Mix's Perrie Edwards Reveals the Inspiration Behind Their Hit Breakup Song, "Shout Out to My Ex." So who was Perrie Edwards really shouting out in Little Mix's breakup jam, "Shout Out to My Ex?" The British girl group caught up with E! News while promoting their latest album, Glory Days, and when asked about what (or who) inspired the song, Perrie kept things rather... vague. "When people go through break ups, you automatically want to hear really sad songs," Edwards, who famously dated Zayn Malik, shared. "You want to listen to [Toni Braxton's] "Un-Break My Heart" and have a little cry, get a tub of ice cream out." The 23-year-old continued, "We just thought, 'You know what? Women need to feel empowered.' Everybody needs to feel empowered after a break up and we feel like this song can relate to everyone because everybody's had an ex." Perrie and the "Like I Would" singer were engaged for two years before ultimately calling it quits in August 2015. Two months later, Malik and Gigi Hadid coupled up, prompting many Little Mix fans to wonder whether or not Perrie was fighting back against the swift rebound with "Shout Out to My Ex." At the end of the day, Edwards is grateful for having such close bandmates to lean on when it comes to facing struggles, fame-related or personal. "We have each other luckily, so we experience everything together and we've always got each other's backs," she added. As for how Perrie, Jade Thirlwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Jesy Nelson cope with their superstardom, she told us, "I think you have to learn to have a thick skin. I think it comes with being in a girl band and being an artist. People want to know what you're doing and what you're up to, which is fine with us." (Eonline)
Fifth Harmony's Final Weeks as a Group of 5: How Much They Did (Or Didn't Know) About Camila Cabello's Departure. Camila Cabello's exit from Fifth Harmony has now turned into a he said, she said situation. In case you missed it, the girl group announced late Sunday evening that Camila had notified her former bandmates about quitting "via her representative," an arguably shady move that then prompted the 19-year-old to share her own side of the situation. Camila slammed accusations that she planned to leave Fifth Harmony without talking to the girls, writing on Instagram that her team's involvement in her departure was "simply not true." She expressed feeling "shocked," adding, "I did not intend to end things with Fifth Harmony this way." Now, multiple sources tell E! News that Fifth Harmony was struggling with internal conflict for quite a while. "They tried several times to sit down with her to talk things out. They didn't want her to leave," an insider shares. "They even had a group therapist come but Camila never showed up to the meetings. She only cared about advancing her solo career and didn't have conversations with anyone or try to work things out." But a separate source connected to the "Work From Home" singer's claims Cabello did take steps to alleviate any tension between them, though not too much avail. "Camila had multiple meetings with the group in the past, including with intermediaries, however they were unproductive," the source explains. As for whether or not Ally Brooke, Dinah Jane Hansen, Lauren Jauregui and Normani Kordei knew about Camila's impending exit, all signs point to an affirmative. One source insists to E! News, "Fifth Harmony knew back in November that Camila was going to leave. They were informed by her management that her last show would be Dec. 18." The second insider also says the remaining bandmates were under a similar impression, and Camila recently "spoke with them on an individual basis." But if Fifth Harmony did indeed spend months grappling with a breakup, they sure didn't show it onstage. Make no mistake, there were definitely signs Fifth Harmony was due for a shakeup, but the performance (their final as a group of five) at iHeartRadio Jingle Ball in Miami seemingly went off without a hitch. In June 2016, the American Music Award winners embarked on The 7/27 Tour, an international event boasting 55 different concerts across South America, Europe and the U.S. Throughout November and December, Fifth Harmony performed nine different times alongside other pop music acts for the 2016 Jingle Ball tour. Fifth Harmony has yet to respond publicly to Cabello's latest statement. (Eonline)
Justin Moore Steps Outside His Comfort Zone With 'Somebody Else Will'. Think of it as a yacht-rock song that set sail in Berry Hill, Tenn., and ended up docking back in the same building where its journey began. Justin Moore's new single, "Somebody Else Will," uses the kind of light-soul bassline and haunting chord progressions that marked late-'70s and early-'80s blue-eyed soul by such acts as Michael, Kenny Loggins and Hall & Oates. Moore's typical approach mixes traditional country and Southern-tinged rock, though his previous single -- "You Look Like I Need a Drink," which peaked at No. 1 on the Oct. 8 Country Airplay chart -- borrowed from early-'70sRolling Stones. "Somebody Else Will" thus represents a further expansion into unexpected sonic territory. "I always want to stay true to what has gotten me to this point in my career," says Moore, "but it's important for us to continue to grow and evolve a little bit. Songs like this help us do that." While "Somebody Else Will" is different from what listeners might expect of Moore, it's also different from the ballad that songwriter Adam Hambrick ("How Not To") envisioned when he threw out the title during a co-write at the Red Creative Group offices in Nashville's Berry Hill neighborhood on March 1. "I was thinking it would be a more emotional kind of title," says Hambrick. "I was thinking of it as 'I better hold on to her, because if I don't, somebody else will.' " But fellow Red Creative writer Kelly Archer ("Sleep Without You," "For Her") took it in another direction: a faster tempo with an ascendant chorus. "When he said the title, she had a vision of what she thought we could write," says Canadian singer-songwriter Tebey (pronounced "TAY-bay"), the third person in the room that day. "She kind of started rocking that chorus, and Adam and I just picked up the guitars and started rocking out." It's a hard-edged chorus that underscores the competition in the barroom setting they landed on. When a beautiful woman enters the club, she grabs the attention of its male patrons. Some of those guys are likely lounge lizards, though at least one -- the song's protagonist -- is less motivated by predatory thoughts than by something deeper. Still, he knows he needs to move fast if he wants to get her attention at all. "This song's about a girl who is just a little bit special, and he recognizes it," says Archer. "It's a cool message about being brave enough to approach a girl when you know that there's something special about her, without it making it sound like you just want her for one thing in particular." They wrote a big chunk of the chorus first, giving them a sense of where they were headed when they started working on the opening verse. And it's in those verses where the yacht-rock texture comes to the fore, combining with a descending melody to create a contrast that helps the chorus stand out. "It's literally just two chords, just trying to keep it simple," says Tebey. "The chorus lifted really nicely, and we wanted to make sure we didn't get above that in the verses." A key moment comes in the first verse when the song describes the woman as "shining like a diamond in a neon room," using a couple of familiar phrases in an unfamiliar way to underscore the air around her. Another key moment arrives in the bridge, which works less like a departure from the established verse and melody than as an addendum to the second chorus, pushing the range higher and peaking before a searing guitar solo. "The song was running about 90 percent dynamically, and then we hit that bridge and it took it to that full-on level," says Hambrick. "It was like, 'Now we have arrived where we want to be dynamically for the song to have maximum impact.' " They captured the day's effort on a simple smartphone work tape and enlisted songwriter-producer Andrew DeRoberts to oversee the demo, which upped the song's intensity. Bassist Tony Lucido came up with a rolling line that established that yacht-rock feel. "This entire session turned out kind of magical," says Archer. "We did it really old-school. We had a small band, just five players, and we didn't have an exact idea of what we wanted. But we didn't want it to sound too much like everything else, so we asked him to put a bit of edge on it." Once the demo was done, Hambrick sent it to Rascal Flatts, which put it on hold even before Red Creative owner Jeremy Stover heard it. Stover, who doubles as Moore's producer, recognized it as a contender for Moore's Kinda Don't Care album. "A big part of this album was to just showcase Justin's voice more," says Stover. "You go to his shows and it's really impressive, because he goes for notes that sometimes we don't necessarily put on the records. So this time we made a concerted effort to be able to showcase his range in his voice more." Stover played it for Moore just a couple of days before they were to head into Starstruck Recording Studios for three days of sessions to cut the bulk of the album (the first two tracks were completed in fall 2015). And Moore was immediately onboard. "The demo was totally different from the way we recorded it, but I could tell it was a really hooky song and something a little different for me," says Moore. "Maybe I could kind of make it me all at the same time." Rascal Flatts relinquished "Somebody Else Will," and Moore and crew made a few revisions to adapt it for him. For starters, Jimmie Lee Sloas played a different bassline that reduced the soul flavor a bit but still had some finesse. Big Machine Label Group president/CEO Scott Borchetta, in the studio as a co-producer, had a hand in that alteration. "He's an old bass player, so he actually came up with that bassline before we really started recording the song, and that kind of drove the verses," says Moore. Moore likewise changed the melody in the back end of the chorus, letting the hook of "Somebody Else Will" peak a little lower than it did on the demo, and causing the high note on the bridge to stand out a little more. "There's a couple of money notes that he hit that are way up there, and that just shows the listener the range that people may not have known that Justin Moore has," says Tebey. Moore actually tried to drop the key a step or two, but Stover and Borchetta convinced him to keep it at its original level, mining the angst at the top of his chest voice. "I guess they felt like there was a little more emotion in it," says Moore. He cut his final vocal at Red Recording Studio, a room that he and Stover co-own that is literally across the hall from the office where Hambrick, Archer and Tebey fashioned the song in March. Valory released "Somebody Else Will" to radio through PlayMPE on Oct. 18, and it's No. 39 in its eighth week on Country Airplay, adding a new facet to public perception of Moore. "I'm thrilled that I was pushed to get outside of my comfort zone and do some things like this," he says. "It feels like a big record." (Billboard)
Aaron Watson Puts the Cowboy Back In Country With 'Outta Style'. Singer's dramatic 'Bottom-Of-The-Ninth' effort knits Tom Petty and country fiddles. When Aaron Watson debuted at No. 1 on Country Albums on March 7, 2015, with The Underdog, he set a precedent as the first-ever self-released independent artist to start at the top on that chart. He did it, of course, without substantial radio outside of Texas, and it raised a lot of eyebrows in the business. "Everyone seemed so, so shocked," recalls Watson. "But the thing that people aren't factoring in is that we tour and we tour and we tour and we tour, so regardless of whether we're getting played on mainstream radio, we are still servicing those markets and we are still reaching out to those fans." Considering the circumstances, the title The Underdog suited him nicely. And when Big Label/Thirty Tigers releases his next album on Feb. 24, it likewise will have an appropriate title: Vaquero. It's Spanish for "cowboy," and it's apropos for a Texan whose typical apparel -- a western hat, jeans and boots -- is direct from the George Strait catalog. The album was crafted with that in mind. "Aaron said to me early on that he wanted to bring the cowboy back into country music," says producer Marshall Altman (Frankie Ballard, Eric Paslay). "And I have kept that in my head about this record. It was our goal to make sure that we weren't just nodding at those traditions but we were fully embracing them, meaning great story telling, big vocal out front, no programming, really. We were trying to make country music." The first single from Vaquero -- "Outta Style," released to radio via PlayMPE on Oct. 18 -- makes that clear six seconds in when fiddler Glen Duncan introduces the instrumental hook, a big, bold, Charlie Daniels-size sound over a rhythm track that's built on Tom Petty-like pulsing guitars and a handclap pattern that mimics John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane." "A sawing fiddle makes people go crazy more than any other instrument I've ever seen," enthuses Watson. "I know this for a fact because I opened for Kiss at Cheyenne Frontier Days. My fiddler starting sawing on that fiddle, and there's thousands of people dressed up, their faces all painted like Kiss, and they went nuts." Arriving at "Outta Style" and that fiddle signature was a lengthy process that harkens back to The Underdog's chart debut. After Watson and his wife, Kimberly, got over the immediate excitement of that accomplishment, he took it as a challenge. He decided to push himself as a songwriter, regularly rising around 5 a.m., writing songs before he took the kids to school and fitting in more writing sessions whenever he had a break throughout the day. He penned about 80 new songs and recorded the best 14 during the fall in Nashville. While Altman was under the impression the album was done, Watson went back to Texas intent on recording another song or two. "We call it 'the bottom-of-the-ninth session,' " says Watson, alluding to the heroic late innings of a baseball game. "We record the entire album, and even if we feel the album's done, it doesn't matter. We have to go in and record the bottom-of-the-ninth session." Which required more material. During the sessions, he had played around with an idea he had titled "Never Going Outta Style" -- Altman had notated it in a production manual as "unfinished" -- but it finally made sense when Watson took Kimberly out for dinner at the Perini Ranch Steakhouse in Buffalo Gap, Texas. It's a restaurant they frequented when they were dating, and in the glow of the candlelight that night, he was struck by the depth of his feelings for her after more than a decade together. "The line hit me, 'The trends will come and go/The winds of change will blow/The way we love is never going out of style,' " remembers Watson. When they went home, he went to work finishing "Outta Style." "Apparently it wasn't too much of a hot date," he jokes, "because I was writing a song after dinner." He put plenty of himself into it, referencing his first car, a Monte Carlo; recalling how Kim believed in him when he was a "poor boy playing on some pawn shop guitar"; weaving his own jeans-and-boots style into the storyline; and giving a nod to David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel." "I just loved that 'Rebel' song," says Watson. "It's so classic. The verses, I don't exactly know what the heck Bowie's talking about, but the mood and the attitude of the song is so young, so youthful." Watson put an exclamation point on the timeless theme in the bridge, citing James Dean's fashion, Steve McQueen's movie scenes and Marilyn Monroe's smile as images that -- like the relationship he's singing about -- survive every trend. Watson had Altman book his bottom-of-the-ninth session at Blackbird, but waited to introduce "Outta Style" until he could play it in person. Altman heard it for the first time at his own studio on Sept. 27 with Watson playing it on his guitar, and he was convinced it was a winner. "Hearing him play it in the room, it had all this energy," says Altman. "And I [envisioned] the whole production, basically start to finish, the first time he played it for me." The band had become accustomed to Watson's style throughout the album process, and it wasn't hard to find the right tone when they reassembled. "Aaron really wanted to keep an eye on his live show and make a record that was going to [not just translate] live, but something that felt like it was an extension of what he had created in his live show," says Altman. They nailed it on the fourth take with Duncan's ultra-country fiddle pitted against the Petty/Mellencamp foundation. That might not match every listener's view of the cowboy image, but it certainly fits Watson's sense of it. "I listened to nothing but Chris LeDoux and Garth Brooks in the '90s," says Watson. "You'd have to go to, like, AC/DC to find a band that could rock out as much as Chris LeDoux, but at the same time he was a genuine, authentic cowboy." The verses were delivered with punch and power, but the band turned it up a hair on the chorus, with drummer Jerry Roe adding some flash by leaning on the cymbals. "Crash cymbals in particular are a great way to sort of accentuate the moment," says Altman, "and that crash is adding all this energy because he's not hitting them on the downbeat every time." Watson brought the same level of energy to his final vocals, and Altman stacked a load of enthusiastic background vocals. The single is off to a good start, moving to No. 42 in its fourth week on Country Indicator, which reflects early impact in secondary markets. He's hopeful that his bottom-of-the-ninth creation "Outta Style" could perform as a single the way that The Underdog did as an album. "I want to be that guy -- bottom of the ninth, two outs, down by one, runner on third -- I want to be that guy that steps up to the plate," he says. "I believe that 'Outta Style' can be that game-winning hit. And if it's not, we're going to keep swinging." (Billboard)
Thom Yorke's Longtime Partner, Rachel Owen, Dies of Cancer. The couple's 2015 breakup heavily influenced Radiohead's 'A Moon Shaped Pool' album. Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke's former partner, Rachel Owen, died Sunday (Dec. 18) at 48 following a battle with cancer. A celebrated scholar and artist, Owen was a retained lecturer in Italian at the University of Oxford's Pembroke College. She continued to teach as her health declined during the past year. Owen was an expert in medieval Italian literature and a renowned artist and printmaker. One of her last works, a series of prints inspired by the cantos of Dante's first book of The Divine Comedy, will be exhibited at Pembroke's JCR Art Gallery. While Owen and Yorke were together for 23 years, she lived a private life and was rarely seen in public with the singer. The couple had two children together -- a son, Noah, and a daughter, Agnes, age 15 and 12. Their August 2015 separation heavily influenced Radiohead's latest album, A Moon Shaped Pool. (Billboard)
How Daddy Yankee's 'Shaky Shaky' Became an Irresistible Walmart Commercial. By now, you may have caught that irresistible Walmart TV spot that features children of all ages doing what they always do on Christmas Day: Shaking their gifts in an attempt to guess what's inside. The shaking is to the tune of "Shaky Shaky," the catchy Daddy Yankee song that the rapper wrote months ago -- with no notion of it ever being used in a television commercial. "Shaky Shaky" has been a viral sensation ever since Yankee, a savvy marketer, set it free, so to speak, not on radio, but via Musical.ly. Back in May, Yankee asked fans on the app to upload their own versions of "Shaky Shaky," a danceable reggaeton track which, at that point, had no music video. Within 12 hours, more than 10,000 "Shaky Shaky" videos had been uploaded, making the track a global trending topic. Fast-forward six months, and "Shaky Shaky" has already topped Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart and caught the ear of many. In fact, the Walmart campaign was conceived around the song, says Olga Reyes, executive creative director of Lopez Negrete Communications, the ad agency that created it. "Music is a key element in the Walmart campaign," Reyes tells Billboard. "And in this particular spot we needed to tell a story about Christmas morning, about finding the perfect gift and the kids opening the presents. As soon as I heard 'Shaky Shaky,' I could see in my mind the kids shaking those gifts. It conveys the wow moment of kids finding what they want. 'Shaky Shaky' became another character in the story." Having the spot revolve around the song isn't common, says Fernando Osuna, chief creative officer for Lopez Negrete, which has long worked with Walmart. "We usually don't find music and then come up with stories. Usually we find a story and the music amplifies it. But the moment you look at this spot, you can see everything is perfect." In order to get the rights to "Shaky Shaky," the Lopez Negrete team enlisted Creative License, the New York-based company that secures talent and licenses for brands and advertisers. "We saw how many hits the song had on YouTube and we were concerned," admits Osuna. "But then we said, 'If we get it, it will be huge.'" Huge indeed. Yankee's official "Shaky Shaky" video has more than 617 million views on YouTube. The two lyric videos have over 50 million views, and there are several million others from the many, many videos uploaded to YouTube that use it as the soundtrack for countless choreographies. After watching the Walmart commercial, it's hard to imagine it working with any other music, but Reyes says there was a plan B. "It was a completely different story with different kind of music," she says. Yankee's music, however, "really captures the Latin spirit." (Billboard)
Tupac Shakur, Pearl Jam, Journey, Yes, ELO & Joan Baez Are 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees. Five first-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees-Pearl Jam, Journey, Electric Light Orchestra, Joan Baez and Tupac Shakur -- will join three-time nominee Yes as the shrine's 2017 inductees. Nile Rodgers, frontman of 11-time nominees Chic, will also receive an Award for Musical Excellence at the 32nd annual Rock Hall induction ceremony, taking place April 7 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. SiriusXM will broadcast the ceremony live and it will again be filmed for a later telecast on HBO. This will mark the third time in four years the induction ceremony has been held at the Barclays Center after moving from its previous Manhattan home at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. An on-sale date for tickets will be announced in January, with Rock Hall members receiving access to a pre-sale. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum in Cleveland will open a special exhibit on March 30 to honor the 2017 inductees. The inductees began reacting to the news immediately. Yes drummer Alan White told Billboard that after two previous nominations, "It's totally exciting. It's a great pleasure to be recognized for something you've been doing all your life and get recognition in the industry for the amount of work you've put in and to have done something that changed the course of history, I guess, over time." Former Yes singer/guitarist Trevor Rabin concurred, telling Billboard he was "feeling very grateful about the news of Yes getting inducted into the Hall of Fame. Yes is a band that pioneered a genre and has always been eclectic in nature, and we've been so lucky to have such amazing and supportive fans that have championed Yes music in all its forms. It is with incredible pride that we accept this honor." Baez issued a statement, saying, "I never considered myself to be a rock and roll artist. But as part of the folk music boom which contributed to and influenced the rock revolution of the 60's, I am proud that some of the songs I sang made their way into the rock lexicon. I very much appreciate this honor and acknowledgment by the Hall of Fame." Journey, as well as Yes and ELO, have often been cited as Rock Hall snubs in previous years. Keyboardist Jonathan Cain previously told Billboard that even being nominated felt like a victory. "It's just been a little bit of a wait. I think it was patience. We just had to be patient. I figured it would come around," Cain said. Journey, in fact, topped the fan ballot conducted by the Rock Hall, with 250,758 votes. ELO, Pearl Jam and Yes were also in the top five and each received a vote added to the tally cast from more than 900 Rock Hall voters. Acts are eligible for the Rock Hall 25 years after the release of their first recording. In addition to Chic, others on the ballot this year included Bad Brains, Khan, Depeche, Jane's Addiction, J. Geils Band, Janet Jackson, Joe Tex, Kraftwerk,MC5, Steppenwolf, The Cars and The Zombies. (Billboard)
Movies
Sandra Bullock Warns Sarah Paulson to Tone Down Her Rihanna Obsession. The cast of Ocean's Eight is getting along famously. That being said, some members of the cast are more famous than others. As Mindy Kaling joked on NBC's Late Night last week, she's often mistaken for co-star Sandra Bullock's assistant. And whenever Rihanna is on set, the paparazzi seemingly forget the rest of the cast even exists. When Sarah Paulson appeared on Late Night Monday, she confirmed Kaling's story about Rihanna. "If you're standing next to her and paparazzi are taking pictures, it's like, 'Wow!'" the actress said. "It's because Rihanna's standing next to you -- they're not interested in you at all." The rest of the star-studded cast includes Awkwafina, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway. Hathaway's rep denied reports of on-set tension to E! News on Nov. 21, and Paulson reiterated everyone is A-OK. "I know people want there to be some kind of crazy drama going on between all the women, because how could so many women be in a room and actually get along?" the actress joked. "People look so depressed: 'What's it like?' 'They're great.' 'Oh, they're great?' 'Yeah, they're great!' 'Really?' They look so depressed." Admittedly, things did get a little awkward between Paulson and Rihanna. "We had this one moment where all of us were sitting around and someone mentioned that there was a big online sale. Everyone whipped out their phones," she told Seth Meyers. "I found a couple things and Rihanna was sitting next to me. 'What do you think of that?' 'Yeah, yeah.' Then I showed her a pair of pants I thought were the most hideous pants I'd ever seen, and she was like, 'I think those are cool.' I was like, 'Me too! I think those are so cool!' Rihanna is the definition [of cool]. There's a picture in the dictionary of 'cool' and then there's Rihanna." Whenever they're all on set, Paulson finds herself humming Rihanna's songs. One time, Bullock gave her a friendly warning. "A couple times Sandy Bullock gave me the side eye," the actress said. "I'm like, 'Diamonds -- sorry!' Every time I see her, it starts. It's bad. It's bad! It's not good." Surely Paulson isn't the only cast member whose Rihanna obsession has peaked during filming. "I think when this is over," the host teased, "Rihanna is going to talk about how cool you were." Paulson laughed and replied, "I'm not sure that that's true." Warner Bros.' Ocean's Eight hits theaters on June 8, 2018. (Eonline)
Berlin Festival Unveils First Panorama Titles. Raoul Peck's 'I Am Not Your Negro' and Kitty Green's 'Casting JonBenet' are among the titles that will screen in the sidebar. The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the first 11 films that will screen in its Panorama sidebar. Politics and history take center stage in the lineup so far, with several titles reflecting on the history of black people from Africa to the Americas and a number examining the political upheaval of today. The 2017 Panorama will open with The Wound from director John Trengove, the story of a South African businessman from Johannesburg who takes his son to witness the circumcision ceremony of his old tribe. Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck, whose new feature The Young Karl Marx has landed a special gala screening in Berlin, will also show his acclaimed I Am Not Your Negro, in the Panorama section. The documentary on the life and work of great African-American writer James Baldwin is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. Vazante, the first solo directorial effort from Brazilian filmmaker Daniela Thomas (Linha de Passe), examines the exploitation of black slaves in her country, the last nation to officially abolish slavery. Modern-day politics are represented by Fernando Leon de Aranoa's documentary Politics, Instruction Manual, an in-depth look at the rise of left-wing populist movement Podemos in Spain, one of the few European countries that has seen progressive politics blossom in the past few years. Another doc, Fighting Through the Night, from Canadian filmmaker Sylvain L'Esperance, examines the political situation in Greece. Also heading to Berlin are Kitty Green's Casting JonBenet, a documentary about the violent, and still unsolved, murder of six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey 20 years ago; and the Austrian experimental nonfiction film Untitled, from the directing team of Michael Glawogger and Monika Willi. Among the dramas in Panorama's lineup are Honeygiver Among the Dogs, a film noir out of Bhutan, which will have its European premiere in Berlin; Centaur from Kyrgyzstan director Aktan Arym Kubat; the Taiwanese feature Small Talk from Hui-chen Huang; and Pendular, a drama from up-and-coming Brazilian filmmaker Julia Murat (Found Memories). The remainder of the Panorama lineup will be announced in January. The 2017 Berlin Film Festival runs Feb. 8-18. (Hollywood Reporter)
'Manchester by the Sea' Named Best Picture by Vancouver Film Critics Circle. The film also won best screenplay, best director (Kenneth Lonergan), best actor (Casey Affleck) and best-supporting actress (Michelle Williams). Kenneth Lonergan's Casey Affleck-starrer Manchester by the Sea won five awards from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle. Manchester beat out Moonlight and La La Land to earn the best picture award. Manchester went into the Vancouver Film Critics Circle competition with six nominations, ahead of Barry Jenkins 'Moonlight with four nominations and Damien Chazelle's La La Land with three. Affleck earned the best actor award, while Manchester's Michelle Williams prevailed in the best-supporting actress category. And Lonergan won for best director and best screenplay. The best actress award went to Isabelle Huppert for her star turn in Elle, while Moonlight's Mahershala Ali won for best supporting actor prize. Maren Ade's German comedy Toni Erdmannw on for best foreign language film, and Cameraperson nabbed the best documentary prize. While the international prizes were announced Tuesday, winners of the Canadian film awards will be announced on Jan. 9. (Hollywood Reporter)
Christmas Box-Office Crush: 'Sing,' 'Passengers,' 'Assassin's Creed' to Battle 'Rogue One'. The trio of films opens nationwide Wednesday, while 'Patriot's Day' likewise bows that same day in select markets before a host of other award contenders launch Friday or Christmas Day. Get ready for the Christmas crush. A trio of movies is opening nationwide Wednesday in advance of the long holiday weekend -- space romance Passengers, animated tentpole Sing and video game adaptation Assassin's Creed -- followed by R-rated comedy Why Him? On Friday. And a slew of award contenders will also launch at the specialty box office Wednesday, including Patriot's Day and Julieta. Illumination Entertainment and Universal's Sing -- think talking animals meet American Idol -- has the best shot of trumping holdover Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and claiming the No. 1 spot, but it will be tough. Sing is projected to take in at least $65 million and $75 million for the Wednesday to Monday stretch (with Christmas falling on a Sunday this year, Monday is an official holiday so tracking services are putting out six-day estimates). Traffic will slow dramatically on Saturday since it is Christmas Eve, and Sing could be hurt more than most films since it is a family title. Conversely, it is tipped to do huge business beginning Christmas afternoon. Generally speaking, many holiday films can enjoy huge multiples between Dec. 25 and the end of New Year's weekend, considered the most lucrative corridor of the year. Passengers, the high-profile sci-fi adventure starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, is projected to post an opening of $45 to $50 million for the six days, although Sony is being more conservative with a $35 million-plus estimate. It remains to be seen whether dismal reviews hurt the adult-skewing movie, which cost at least $110 million to make after tax incentives and rebates, including a $20 million payday for Lawrence. Assassin's Creed is another wild card. The Fox film, starring Michael Fassbender, has fared even worse with critics than Passengers. The movie is predicted to earn $30 million to $35 million for the six days, but it could come in ahead of expectations if fans of the video game come in force. Assassin's Creed cost a net $125 million to make and also stars Marion Cotillard. Reuniting director Pete Berg and star Mark Wahlberg, Boston marathon drama Patriot's Dayopens Wednesday in seven theaters in Los Angeles, New York and Boston. CBS Films and Lionsgate co-financed the movie, which expands nationwide Jan. 13. On Friday, Fox opens Why Him? nationwide. The comedy, directed by John Hamburg, stars James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch, Megan Mullally, Griffin Gluck and Keegan Michael Key. Why Him? is tracking to earn $10 million to $13 million for the four-day weekend. Like Patriot's Day, a slew of other awards contenders are opening in limited runs over the year-end holidays, including A Monster Calls (Focus Features), Denzel Washington's Fences and Martin Scorsese's Silence (both from Paramount), Julieta and Toni Erdmann (both from Sony Pictures Classics), Paterson (Bleecker Street), Ben Affleck's Live by Night (Warner Bros.), Theodore Melfi's Hidden Figures (Fox 2000/Chernin Entertainment) and Mike Mills' 20th Century Women (A24). Also on Christmas Day, critical and box-office darling La La Land expands nationwide. (Hollywood Reporter)
How 'Patriots Day' Tackled the Sensitivity of the Boston Marathon Bombings. Three years after the attack, Peter Berg ('Deepwater Horizon,' 'Battleship') and Mark Wahlberg return -- sensitively -- to the scene of the crime amid local complaints. In spring 2015, Peter Berg began having a series of lunches with survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing. The director had been thinking about making a film about the terrorist attack -- dramatizing how, in April 2013, brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev shocked the nation by detonating a kettle bomb on Boylston Street in Back Bay, leaving three dead and about 260 injured. Still, Berg was having trouble finding the right story to tell and -- just as important -- the right tone for telling it. He reckoned that talking to people who had lived through the event might give him some inspiration. It turned out to be a good idea. "I had lunch with Danny Meng," recalls Berg of his meeting with the immigrant Chinese tech entrepreneur who was carjacked and held hostage by the Tsarnaevs after the attack. "It was probably the most interesting lunch I've had in my career. He's very soft-spoken, and his English isn't great. But as he told me the story of his hour and a half in the car with both brothers, how he strategized to buy time, to outthink them, to plan an escape. And then he gets to the part at the gas station, where they take all his money and fill up the car with gas and set the GPS to New York, and he knew they were going to kill him, how he could smell it, their body temperatures getting hot. It was really one of the most incredible stories I've heard." Berg (center) with Wahlberg (second from left) on the faux Boston set. Getting that story on film, however, along with a dozen other harrowing true tales of the bombing, proved to be an intense, pressure-filled sprint in itself. There was no question Berg had the technical chops to re-create the mayhem of that tragic day -- for the director who brought Battleship and Deepwater Horizon to the big screen, the explosion itself would be child's play. The bigger issue was whether Berg -- or any director attempting to make a Boston Marathon bombing movie -- had the sensitivity to pull it off. During the film's 42-day shoot in and around Boston in the spring, there were complaints in the local press about it being too soon for Hollywood to fictionalize an event that much of the city still was recovering from -- and that some, like Jessica Kensky (played in Patriots Day by Rachel Brosnahan), who lost parts of both of her legs in the bombing, never would fully recover from. Even the film's star, Mark Wahlberg, who grew up in Dorchester and attended high school just a few blocks from the bombing site, had qualms about tackling such a touchy subject. Michelle Monaghan (center) as Wahlberg's wife. "Boston is such a small community," he says. "Everybody knows somebody who was affected. It's a sensitive subject. I was really on the fence and kind of reluctant to commit. Then I realized, they're going to make the movie anyway; I might as well be in control of it." Within a year and a half of the bombing, there already were three projects about the Boston Marathon percolating in Hollywood. One at Fox, Boston Strong, was written by Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy (The Fighter) and focused on the manhunt. Another at Lionsgate, written by John Pollono, was titled Stronger and centered on Jeff Bauman, a bystander who aided victims. And CBS Films' Patriots Day was written by Matt Charman (Bridge of Spies) and is the most fact-based, drawing heavily on 60 Minutes' reporting. Wahlberg signed on for the $50 million project at CBS in March 2015, joining his Ted producer Scott Stuber. At the time, the star was shooting Deepwater Horizon with Berg, and the two must have compared Boston Marathon notes. Within weeks, Berg also joined the project. CBS Films and Stuber, meanwhile, had gone on and purchased Boston Strong from Fox, which wasn't as faithful to the events but had a strong central character, a Boston cop who investigates the bombing. Still, even with two scripts to draw from, Berg was having trouble finding a narrative hook for the film. "I was given both at the same time," he says. "Boston Strong was interesting but factually inaccurate, almost a work of fiction. Patriots Day was very, very accurate but didn't have the dramatic tension that I felt the movie needed." Berg, Wahlberg and Stuber dove into the work of combining the two scripts. Berg, in particular, spent a lot of time in Boston talking to people like Meng. "We spent months of preproduction, having multiple meetings with every person who had some version of involvement in it, every law enforcement official, every doctor," says Stuber. Berg met with everyone from the cops from Watertown (where the final shootout happened) to people who lost limbs. He also toured the Tsarnaevs' Cambridge apartment and talked to people who knew the bombers. From left: Bacon as FBI agent Rick DesLauriers, Wahlberg and Goodman as Police Commissioner Ed Davis. "The more research I did, the more I realized it really was an example of a community working together," says the director. Ultimately, he decided that the best way to tell the story was to make it an ensemble piece, focusing on a dozen characters at different points in the timeline, with Wahlberg's cop providing a central pivot point. John Goodman came on board as Police Commissioner Ed Davis, Kevin Bacon signed on to play FBI agent Rick DesLauriers, Alex Wolff was cast as the younger Tsarnaev, Themo Melikidze as the elder and Melissa Benoist as his wife. On the set of the final nighttime shootout between the Watertown Police Department and the Tsarnaev brothers. Berg originally thought of shooting Patriots Day at some of the actual locations where the bombings and subsequent manhunt took place, but he found himself facing stiff local resistance. Watertown and the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth (where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a freshman) denied filming requests. Plans to shoot background footage at the 2016 marathon also raised eyebrows. News accounts quoted locals complaining that turning the marathon into a film set was in "poor taste" and the "rankest form of opportunism," while others suggested that Wahlberg donate his salary to the victims. In the end, the production did shoot some footage at the 2016 marathon, but filmmakers worked hard to keep an open dialogue with the community. "We would shoot [for] 14 hours and then have a dinner with anyone who wanted [it]," says Stuber. "We made it very clear to the mayor and the chief of police and everyone in the community, the victims organizations, if somebody wants to talk to us about it, we'll have dinner with them and we'll go through it." The most violent scenes -- the bombing and shootout with the brothers in Watertown (Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed, and Dzhokhar was captured and sentenced to death in April) -- were filmed far from Back Bay at a former Navy airfield 20 miles away in South Weymouth. "It was intense because these were extras who were from Boston, many of whom were there [at the bombing]," recalls Berg. "Every morning we would all get together, all the extras and the crew; they, too, were emotional about what we were filming, the sequences right after the blast. We made it clear that if somebody was uncomfortable, if somebody was emotional or things got to be too much, there were plenty of people on the crew that they could reach out to, and we would deal with that and take care of them." Wahlberg felt the weight of getting it right more than anyone. "All of it was difficult," says the star. "Talking about it, making it. It's not like you could detach at any point. It was on my shoulders as the face of this film. I pride myself on being from Boston. I like being able to go home and being welcomed with open arms." (Hollywood Reporter)
TV
Sense8 Star Miguel Ángel Silvestre Is Coming to Narcos Season 3. Because we seriously can't get enough of him. Sense8 and Velvet fans are in for a treat because Miguel Ángel Silvestre will join Narcos for the show's third season. The hunky Spanish actor hinted the news to his fans on social media, meanwhile HOLA! Espana was the first to confirm that Silvestre has in fact joined the Narcos cast. And without spoiling much, we will say that the publication has learned that the 34-year-old actor's character will be introduced as the person in charge of laundering money for the cartel. Silvestre has been traveling to and from Bogota, Colombia, for filming, according to the magazine. Just a few hours ago, the star shared a video of him on set with a cap which read, "Narcos." He simply captioned the post with, "#Narcos Buenos días...@Netflix." "He is an enigmatic person. It is not yet very well known how he is. He's had a love story that was bitter and also filled hatred," Silvestre explained when asked about his character, who he revealed will have a Colombian accent. The final moments of season two pointed in the Cali Cartel's direction, hinting at the possibility of Helmer "Pacho" Herrera filling Narcos' Escobar-sized hole as the next big bad. "They're certainly teed up for that, that's for sure. This show has always been about cocaine. We purposely did not call the show Pablo Escobar or Medellin," executive producer Eric Newman told EW. "In the same way that Osama Bin Laden begets ISIS, Medellin begets Cali begets the Mexican Cartels. Though they existed at the same time, Cali really got the Mexicans into cocaine, which proved to be a much better business than heroin." (Eonline)
'Shooter' Renewed for Second Season at USA Network. The Ryan Phillippe drama has helped the cable network improve its fortunes on Tuesdays. The wait was worth it for USA Network's Shooter. The twice-delayed TV adaptation of the feature film of the same name has been renewed for a second season at the NBCUnviersal-owned cable network. The drama, starring Ryan Phillippe, has helped USA Network improve its fortunes on Tuesdays. With an average of 2.6 million total viewers and 974,000 among adults 18-49 (with seven days of DVR), Shooter ranks as USA's No. 1 new series year-to-date among total viewers and adults 18-34. The show, paired with lead-in WWE Smackdown, has retained 78 percent of its audience, making USA the top ad-supported cable network on Tuesdays from 8-11 p.m. Picked up to series in February, Shooter was originally set to launch July 19. It was delayed to bow July 26 and again until Nov. 15 following the July 7 deadly attack in downtown Dallas, and more attacks in Nice, France, to Baton Rouge, La. The delays ultimately proved beneficial as the drama felt timely. "John Hlavin and the team behind Shooter have delivered a compelling action thriller that consistently engages a strong and loyal audience," NBCU Cable Entertainment president Chris McCumber said Monday in announcing the renewal. "We look forward to partnering once again with Paramount Television and Universal Cable Productions as we follow Bob Lee into his next chapter." Based on Stephen Hunter's best-selling novel Point of Impact and the 2007 Paramount feature that starred Mark Wahlberg, Phillippe takes on the role of Bob Lee Swagger, an off-the-grid former Marine sniper who is coaxed into action to thwart the killing of the president. Ultimately double-crossed and framed for the attempt, he must call upon all the skills he acquired as a decorated sharpshooter to avoid capture while hunting down and exposing the traitors who set him up. Meanwhile, the verdict is still out on fellow USA Network freshman dramas Eyewitness and Falling Water, the latter of which has a lucrative SVOD window that may help clear the way for a renewal. Shooter becomes part of 2017 lineup at USA that also includes Colony, Mr. Robot, Queen of the South and Suitsas well as comedy Playing House. Shooter is also one of multiple projects on Paramount TV's slate, which includes Amazon's Jack Ryan, Netflix's Thirteen Reasons Why, Epix's Berlin Station and more. (Hollywood Reporter)
Samantha Bee and Glenn Beck Find Common Ground Against Trumpism in "Strange Bedfellows" Segment. "I watch you. I believe you actually don't want to do damage," Beck told Bee. "As a guy who has done damage, I don't want to do anymore damage." Samantha Bee invited Glenn Beck on Full Frontal in an effort to reach across the aisle, wear Christmas sweaters and get to know somebody with a completely different audience than her own. "Glenn and I put on our Christmas sweaters and got to work on healing the nation," said Bee in her introduction, where she talked about how Beck has recently been reaching out to the media to "apologize for his previous weirdness." During the segment, on Monday's show, Beck and Bee talked about how much their audiences hate each other, with Beck saying his audience wants to stab Bee "relentlessly in the eye" and Bee saying her audience will want to kill her for "normalizing a lunatic such as yourself." "You've said a lot of crazy bullshit," said Bee. "Even if all you said for the rest of your life were reasonable things, I feel like you have still earned a permanent side eye with [my audience]." Beck said while he doesn't like that, he thinks it's a rational conclusion. "I think that our future is going to require a broad coalition of non-partisan decency," Bee said, explaining why she asked Beck to appear on her show. She added that it's not about individuals against Donald Trump it's about "all of us against Trumpism." "I watch you, I believe you actually don't want to do damage. As a guy who has done damage, I don't want to do anymore damage," said Beck. "I know what I did. I helped divide. I'm willing to take that." The conservative host has been an outspoken critic of Trump. He says his message to Bee is to not make the same mistakes he made. He wants people to see the "human on the other side" and not tear each other apart out of divisiveness. He did tease Bee that she's adopted a lot of his "catastrophe traits," proving his point by asking her, "Do you believe there's a chance we fall into a dictatorship under Donald Trump. Do you believe there's a chance we lose our freedom of speech and freedom of the press under this president?" Bee called it one of the strangest days she's ever had and acknowledged that Beck seemed to be a "deeply sincere and decent person." They held each other's hands and then enjoyed a "strange bedfellows" cake, eating each other's icing heads. (Hollywood Reporter)
ESPN's Michael Wilbon Blasts NFL Refs Over Cam Newton Hit, Demands They Be Suspended. "THAT non-call makes me wonder if there is an agenda against Newton...it was right in the open and unmistakable." Michael Wilbon is not happy with the NFL refs who worked Monday Night Football this week, when the Carolina Panthers took on the Washington Redskins. In the game, Panthers' star quarterback Cam Newton took a hit to the head while he was attempting to slide. A flag was thrown, but as Newton was getting up, he threw the football in the direction of the player who hit him, so rather than call a personal foul for roughing Newton, the refs penalized the quarterback for taunting. Wilbon, co-host of ESPN's Pardon The Interruption, was irate. "The officiating crew should be suspended rest of season for flagging the reaction and not the hit to Cam's head. Disgraceful...," he tweeted to his nearly three million followers. "I'm always ripping Newton for whining but everything he says about the NFL refs not protecting him like the Golden Boy QBs is true... THAT non-call makes me wonder if there is an agenda against Newton...it was right in the open and unmistakable." Newton has suffered numerous blows to his head during the season and has complained that refs do not penalize the players who hit him. Wilbon was flabbergasted with the Monday night crew. "The overall incompetence of this officiating crew tonight is stunning...," he wrote, presumably meaning "stunning" ESPN declined to comment on Wilbon's remarks. (Hollywood Reporter)
Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi is engaged! The Shahs of Sunset star said yes to boyfriend Shalom's marriage proposal, showing off the happy moment -- and the stunning ring -- on Instagram Saturday. Gharachedaghi, 35, has traded in sunny Los Angeles for chilly New York City the past month -- starring in the Off-Broadway comedy Sex Tips for Straight Woman from a Gay Man. (Fellow Bravolebrity Sonja Morgan, of Real Housewives of New York City fame, did a limited run in the show in October.) But while "GG" may be used to seeing her name in lights, Shalom stepped it up a notch by scoring a billboard with her picture on it in Times Square to pop the question. "Golnesa, My Love, My Everything... Will You Marry Me?" the sweet message read. "In the middle of Times Square... he asked... and I said... HELL YESSSSS!" Gharachedaghi wrote on Instagram. "So happy to spend my life with him. I love you @shalom310." If Shalom looks familiar, it's because he's had some reality show experience himself. He previously dated DASH merchandiser Durrani Popal, who was featured on the Keeping Up with the Kardashians-spinoff Dash Dolls. Surprises seem to be one of Shalom's trademark moves, too. On Dash Dolls, he gifted Popal with a pink "Barbie" Bentley. His engagement to Gharachedaghi will likely be part of the upcoming sixth season of Shahs of Sunset, which is currently filming. Cast members Reza Farahan, Mike Shouhed, Mercedes "MJ" Javid, and Shervin Roohparvar were all in the Big Apple over the weekend for Gharachedaghi's final performance in the Off-Broadway show on Dec. 17 -- sharing selfies along the way on social media. Costar Asa Soltan Rahmati didn't seem to take the trip -- but its for good reason. She's currently eight months pregnant with her first child with longtime boyfriend Jermaine Jackson II. The couple have been dating for six years. Gharachedaghi, meanwhile, has continued to gush about Shalom on Instagram. "I always swore I'd never be one of those females that puts up sappy love posts... but f -- , this man truly gives me life!" she captioned one shot. "Love you baby!" she added in another shot. "Thank you for being you and allowing me to simply be myself." (People)
Azealia Banks Reveals She Suffered a Miscarriage. Azealia Banks announced some sad news on Facebook Tuesday morning. In a series of updates, the "212" rapper opened up about a "major life event," writing, "This wouldn't be an Azealia Banks page without loads of oversharing right? Anywho, I've just had a miscarriage and am pretty taken aback by it all." Banks is experiencing confusion, depression, guilt and shock. Additionally, Banks confessed she now feels "like a failure and very ashamed." With seemingly nowhere else to turn, Banks reached out to her fans for support. "Has anyone else had this same experience who cares to share some words of wisdom or words of anything regarding this topic?" the 25-year-old Harlem-raised rapper asked. "The self-loathing bit is a real struggle for me at the moment so share any words here. They will be greatly appreciated." After one Facebook fan suggested the rapper should have kept the miscarriage news private until she had some more "time to reflect," Banks replied, "It's life and we all live it together. Everyone farts, s--ts, f--ks , eats and sleeps. It's bodily function 101. Why the need for secrecy." In another update, Banks told her Facebook followers, "I feel really stupid because I think I'm so big and bad an in control and in this situation I'm so powerless." When she first saw "the embryo," the rapper recalled, "I felt this full spirit around me and was looking down at this little bean in horror/amazement and now I just can't NOT have an awareness of this person and won't stop feeling like any and everything I've ever done in my life or want to do is pointless." "I'm really over it," she added, "and not with the s--ts right now." Banks asked people to be respectful and considerate after making the news public. "I've had a real rough 2016," the musician explained. "I honestly need a break from the public crucifixions. This is a women's health issue that many others may or may not be able to relate to. Please don't f--k UP an opportunity for clear, open and beneficial discourse between WOMEN!" After sharing her story publicly, Banks finally felt "calm and sleepy," saying, "I haven't slept all night." Before going to bed, however, Banks removed a few posts. "*Trolls are coming in*," the rapper wrote. "*delete delete*." (Eonline)
Tell us how you really feel! Jennifer Lawrence stopped by the Watch What Happens Live Clubhouse on Monday, December 19, to chat about one of her favorite Bravo shows, Vanderpump Rules, and she didn't hold back on her feelings about James Kennedy. When discussing the 24-year-old Brit, who was recently fired from Lisa Vanderpump's restaurant Sur on the show, the Passengers actress and apparent Bravo superfan, 26, said, "I have a serious reaction to entitled, worthless little creeps, especially ones who are disrespectful to Lisa Vanderpump." Then, the cast of Vanderpump Rules had three questions for the Hunger Games star via pre-recorded videos during Plead the Fifth. When Kristen Doute asked who she would fire from Sur and subsequently the show, Lawrence replied, "It already happened. I would do it to what's his name? James. The guy I hate." She added, "I want him off the planet." While she had no trouble with the first question, the Oscar winner struggled to answer when Jax Taylor asked her which Hunger Games movies are her most and least favorite. "I mean the first one, there's nothing like the first one because they're introducing the whole thing and I thought it was really interesting," Lawrence said. As for her least fave, she chose the third installment because they split it into two parts. Finally, Stassi Schroeder asked the Joy actress what was her best kiss in 2016. Lawrence joked, "If you kiss me before the New Year, it will be you, Stassi!" After failing to come up with a serious answer, the Kentucky native -- who has recently been spotted getting cozy with director Darren Aronofsky on several outings -- chose to plead the fifth. (US Weekly)
Candice Swanepoel has shared an intimate photo of her breastfeeding her son, Anaca, and slammed critics for shaming her and other moms for feeding in public. The Victoria's Secret model, 28, took to Instagram on Monday, December 19, and posted a close up black and white snap of her 2-month-old baby at her breast, and captioned it with a powerful message. "Many women today are shamed for breastfeeding in public, or even kicked out of public places for feeding their children," she wrote. "I have been made to feel the need to cover up and somewhat shy to feed my baby in public places but strangely feel nothing for the topless editorials I've done in the name of art..?" The South African beauty continued: "The world has been desensitized to the sexualization of the breast and to violence on tv...why should it be different when it comes to breastfeeding?" "Breastfeeding is not sexual it's natural- Those who feel it is wrong to feed your child in public need to get educated on the benefits breastfeeding has on mother and child and intern on society as a whole." Swanepoel and her fiance, Hermann Nicoli, welcomed their first child in October. The couple got engaged in August 2015 after nearly 10 years of dating. (US Weekly)
Daisy Fuentes' Husband Richard Marx Helps Subdue Violent Passenger on Flight. All was not smooth on Daisy Fuentes and Richard Marx's flight from Vietnam to South Korea. Fuentes took to Instagram to share photos of her and her husband's scary experience in which a passenger became violent and started attacking the flight attendants and other passengers. Marx immediately jumped in to try and diffuse the terrifying situation, which staff struggled to handle because of the unruly passenger's outbursts. "On our flight from Hanoi to Seoul a guy sitting in the next row from us got crazy & started attacking the flight attendants & passengers. When he started pushing the female staff and pulling them by the hair @therichardmarx was the first to help subdue him," Fuentes wrote in the caption. "This went on for FOUR hrs. I feel horrible for the abuse the staff had to endure but no one was prepared for this. They never fully got control of him. They didn't know how to use the taser & they didn't know how to secure the rope around him (he got loose from their rope restraints 3 times)." E! News has reached out to reps for the couple and Korean Air. The grid of photos shows a flight attendant pointing a Taser gun at the passenger, as well as Marx holding him down. In another photo Marx holds white rope, presumably to tie up the passenger. Fuentes noted that she would post video of the tumultuous flight after she and her husband reached their destination. (Eonline)
Move aside, Santa Claus -- Amy Schumer also knows how to make a Christmas miracle. The holiday came early for the 35-year-old comedienne's father, Gordon, when she revealed on Monday that she had bought back the farm the family previously owned. When Schumer was a child, her father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and her family went bankrupt. The Trainwreck star shared a screenshot of herself FaceTiming with her father to announce the news. "Today I bought my father's farm back," she captioned the photo. Schumer then posted an adorable home video taken by her father that shows her younger self-trying to run away from home. "Video from the farm when I was running away in the cornfield and my dad was taunting me because I wanted him to come with me," she wrote. "We lost the farm when we lost everything else. But today I got to buy it back for him." Schumer has previously opened up about her father's battle with the illness and even drew from her real-life experience in her hit movie Trainwreck. The actress says that humor was one way her family got through the tough times. "In terms of my dad being sick, it was just confusing to me, especially the way MS works," Schumer explained during her interview for ABC's Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2015. "He was in physical pain. That's when I kind of took the lead and took care of everybody in my family. I would keep them-I would keep everybody laughing. (People)
One particular person is making Christina El Moussa smile amid her split from husband Tarek. The Flip or Flop star shared a cute video of her 15-month-old son Brayden James laughing while playing a game of peek-a-boo with a napkin. "Even on my toughest days he always brings a smile to my face. #BraydenJames you make our lives complete," she captioned her clip. El Moussa, 33, tagged Tarek's Instagram account in her caption. The couple, who are also parents to 6-year-old daughter Taylor, announced they were ending their seven-year marriage in a statement to PEOPLE last week, noting an incident in May that prompted police to visit their California home. "Like many couples, we have had challenges in our marriage," the former couple said in the statement. "We had an unfortunate misunderstanding about six months ago and the police were called to our house in an abundance of caution. There was no violence and no charges were filed." The former HGTV couple, who are in the midst of their sixth season of the reality design series, concluded their joint statement by sharing details of how they sought counseling to "sort out" the relationship but have since decided to separate while evaluating "the future of our marriage." Adding, "During the process, we are committed to our kids and being the best parents we can be. We will continue to work through this process civilly and cooperatively, and plan to continue our professional life together." PEOPLE previously reported that both Tarek and Christina have been dating other people since their separation and the mother of two had begun a romance with a fellow design professional after their friendship turned romantic. (People)
Brooke Mueller has been in rehab since her meltdown in Utah last month, according to her sister, Sydney Wolofsky. "She was in the hospital for a little bit," Wolofsky told Entertainment Tonight. "I do know she woke up in the hospital after detox and my mom asked her what she wanted to do at this point, and she was the one that said, 'I want to go back into rehab, and I want to stay there for a while.'" She reiterated that it was definitely Mueller's decision to enter rehab and that she's doing "a lot better." TMZ reported in November that the 39-year-old mother of two was hospitalized and under psych evaluation for allegedly striking her kids while "under the influence of something." Utah police found Mueller with her kids and the nanny in a small town outside of Salt Lake City. But a source told ET that much of the report was inaccurate. "She was never barefoot; she never hit the kids. Brooke was over-medicated at the time and was not herself." At the time, Mueller was dating skin-care guru Peter Thomas Roth, but after the drama, the pair called it quits. Roth told Page Six at the time, "I haven't seen her since October. We were just dating and having fun. She seemed like she was in a good space. But the last time I spoke to her, some things were off." Mueller's rep declined to comment. (Page Six)
In the latest twist in the wild battle over Sofía Vergara and Nick Loeb's frozen embryos, Page Six has learned that lawyers are gearing up to file a lawsuit demanding that the embryos be shipped from California to Louisiana. Earlier this month a stunning suit was filed against Vergara on behalf of the fertilized eggs -- which are named in the papers as "Emma" and "Isabella" and listed as plaintiffs. The embryos' "trustee," James Charbonnet, was also listed as a plaintiff. But insiders tell us that in the New Year, attorneys will ask the ART Reproductive Center in Beverly Hills, Calif. -- where the embryos have been cryogenically frozen since the former couple's IVF treatment was completed in 2013 -- to transfer them to a facility in Louisiana. The legal team is hopeful that ART will agree because it will consider the embryos a "legal hot potato" that it would like to be rid of. But if ART -- or Vergara -- declines permission for the embryos to be moved, Charbonnet intends to sue in federal court for the right to move the embryos. Insiders say that the choice of Louisiana as their new home is significant because it's the only state where embryos have legal rights of their own, rather than being considered the belongings, or "chattels" of their parents. The embryos would be sent by courier. "Although Nick Loeb is not a party to the existing litigation or [this] subsequently contemplated litigation, he may be a beneficiary if the court adjudicates that the embryos are not chattels but entities with constitutional rights of survival," Loeb's attorney Mark J. Heller told us. "Such a ruling would defeat [Vergara's] intention to keep her daughters' embryos frozen in perpetuity and endorse the irrevocable right of parenthood granted to donors when they contribute to the creation of an embryo." Loeb already sued for custody of "Emma" and "Isabella" in 2014 but dropped the suit this month after a California judge demanded Loeb identify women with whom he'd had aborted pregnancies. Loeb said he would rather "go to jail" than give up the names. Vergara's rep didn't get back to us. (Page Six)
Kanye West's stay at UCLA Med Center had some staffers hunting for medical info, according to multiple people at the facility ... who tell TMZ a slew of people couldn't resist attempting to look at his info in the computer. Multiple sources tell us ... members of the Medical Center staff were curious when Kanye was admitted and a number of them attempted to gain access to the computer system. Several sources tell us officials at the Medical Center have conducted an investigation. One source says several dozen people have been or will be fired. Other sources simply say the investigation is ongoing and they expect firings. Our Kanye sources say they have not been contacted. We repeatedly reached out to UCLA for comment and they told us they do not comment on personnel. (TMZ)
Prince might be dead, but that doesn't mean he's off the hook with a divorce lawyer who claims the singer signed off without paying his $600k tab. Cousins Law Firm in West Palm Beach filed a claim with the singer's estate demanding payment of a $599,735.63 bill. Patrick Cousins tells TMZ the bill dates all the way back to Prince's 2006 divorce from second wife Manuela Testolini. Cousins says he and Prince were tight and had an agreement the singer didn't have to pay until all the loose ends were tied up. We asked the lawyer what would take 10 years to complete, but he wouldn't say. Cousins claims he finished everything on April 1 ... Prince died April 21. (TMZ)
Marty Bregman owes big. The Oscar-nominated producer of "Scarface," "Carlito's Way" and dozens of other films is on the hook for millions of dollars to two friends who invested in a movie version of "The Gold Coast," a 1990 best seller by Nelson DeMille. Real estate biggie George S. Kaufman and Pantone color system founder Larry Herbert invested with Bregman in 2008. The movie was supposed to star Richard Gere as a WASPy Wall Street lawyer whose beautiful wife draws the attentions of a Mafia don. In 2013, with no progress being made on the movie, the two investors sued, claiming they'd been swindled. Their complaint stated, "Bregman's assurances were a fabrication. He had neither stars, nor budget, nor studio approval, and no intent to use any funds to pay for anything but his personal expenses." Earlier this month, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Eileen Rakower handed down a decision on the suit, awarding $3.1 million to Kaufman and $1.6 million to Herbert. Bregman, 85, hasn't produced a movie in 11 years. But he is not without assets. He recently cut the asking price on his four-bedroom Park Avenue apartment to $7.9 million. The producer, who is credited with making Al Pacino a star, is married to Cornelia Sharpe, the leading lady of his first movie, "Serpico," in 1973. Sources believe Kaufman and Herbert, whose lawyer didn't respond to request for comment, don't expect to collect from their former friend and sued so they can claim their bad investments as tax losses. Bergman couldn't be reached for comment. (Page Six)
THE OTHER STUFF . . .
Prince Harry "Buried Emotion" After Princess Diana's Death: "I Still Didn't Even Want to Think About It." Nearly two decades later, Prince Harry is opening up old wounds. In a new ITV documentary, Prince Harry in Africa, the youngest son of the late Princess Diana recalls how he suppressed the sudden death of his mother after she was famously killed in a car crash in 1997. At the time, the royal was only 12 years old. "I never really dealt with what had actually happened, so there was a lot of buried emotion and I still didn't even want to think about it," he said during the project. Today, the 35-year-old philanthropist has used his power and influence to spearhead several foundations, including the mental health charity Heads Together and Sentebale, a Lesotho-based charity focused on preventing and destigmatizing AIDS and supporting the country's youth. The latter is particularly close to Harry's heart as his mother championed on behalf of the same causes while she was alive. Princess Diana was a famously avid supporter of those fighting the virus early on in the epidemic despite public fear and misconception. Most memorably, she hugged and held hands with patients without wearing gloves, becoming the first royal to do so. "I've got a year off. I want to do something really constructive with my life," Harry said during the documentary, recalling inspiration for starting the foundation. "I want to do something that makes my mother proud." In the past year, the royal set up a charity concert with Coldplay, campaigned at the 2016 International AIDS Conference and enlisted Rihanna to take an HIV test in public with him to demonstrate how simple the procedure is and encourage people worldwide to join him. As Harry wisely said, "It's fun to be good and boring to be bad." (Eonline)
Prince William Drives Prince George, Kate Middleton and Prince Harry to Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas Lunch. It's a Christmas carpool! Prince William drove Prince George, Prince Harry and Kate Middleton to Buckingham Palace Tuesday to attend Queen Elizabeth II's annual Christmas lunch. The Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, host the festive meal before they head out to spend the holidays at their private Sandringham estate. Kate, wearing a striking purple coat and her iconic engagement ring, and Prince George sat in the backseat while glasses-wearing Prince William and Prince Harry had eyes on the road from the front. The royal tot looked as cute as ever in a collared blue coat and what appears to be a gingham button down. Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, arrived in a chauffeured vehicle, while Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie arrived in separate cars. The Duchess of Cambridge also put her Christmas spirit on display Monday when she attended a party hosted by The Mix and Heads Together, the campaign she, Prince William and Prince Harry spearheaded to combat mental health stigmas. Kate donned a red and green floral frock that channeled the season's holly. Prince William told attendees that his 3-year-old son has started to realize what Christmas means for him. "He just said [Prince] George definitely knows it's Christmas this year because the presents are about and he's more into opening them than anything else," DJ AJ King told reporters of his conversation with Prince William. "I said Christmas would be a bit different for his children this year and he said they would be having a family Christmas together." But before Christmas, the royal family shall feast. (Eonline)
Gal Gadot Weighs in on Wonder Woman U.N. Ambassador Controversy: It's "Not Fair." Gal Gadot still can't believe how much hubbub there is surrounding Wonder Woman. The Israeli star, who first played the superhero in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and will reprise the role again in the first standalone film, and her onscreen persona were recently named an honorary ambassador to the U.N. Fictional characters such as Winnie the Pooh and Red from Angry Birds had received the honor, but sirens sounded when Wonder Woman was tapped. More than 600 U.N. staffers signed a petition to remove Wonder Woman from the position, claiming "a large-breasted white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmery, thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif and knee-high boots" was not an appropriate icon for Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women. Gadot thinks there are more important issues to think about than Wonder Woman's hemline. "There are so many horrible things that are going on in the world, and this is what you're protesting, seriously?" she asks Time, rhetorically. "When people argue that Wonder Woman should 'cover up,' I don't quite get it," she says. "They say, 'If she's smart and strong, she can't also be sexy.' That's not fair. Why can't she be all of the above?" Facing intense pressure, the U.N. revoked Wonder Woman's ambassadorial privileges. Gadot has spoken passionately about her role as Wonder Woman since she first received news that she got the job. Even more important than Wonder Woman making it to the big screen, however, is the fact that a woman is directing the very first standalone film. "With Patty [Jenkins], it's a thing now, we communicate with our eyes. She doesn't need to say a thing," Gadot told Entertainment Weekly. "If I'm hurt, she feels the pain. It's a whole different connection that I have with her. She's also brilliant, she's bright, she's fierce, she's sharp. She knows exactly what she wants Wonder Woman to be. "It's a story about a girl becoming a woman," Gadot added. "I think only a woman, who has been a girl, can be able to tell the story in the right way." (Eonline)
We might feel like we know everything there is to know about Kylie Jenner, but what is it like working for the teenage entrepreneur? Her personal assistant, Victoria Villarroel, has spoken out. Speaking in a video posted on Kylie's website on Monday, the 24-year-old revealed that it was "fun" working for the Lip Kit creator. When asked how she got the job, Victoria said: "Five years ago, I started working at her mom's company, Jenner Communications, and I would see Kylie there all the time 'cause it was her mom's office." "They just took me," she said. "It's work but it's fun." But Victoria, who began working for the social media queen about a year ago isn't just an employee in Kylie's eyes. "Victoria is more than my assistant," Jenner added on her website on Monday. "We've really grown so close and I consider her one of my best friends. She's so cute," said the youngest of the Kardashian/Jenner clan. In fact, Kylie even helped Victoria's new fiance plan his proposal. Over the weekend, she took to Instagram to congratulate the happy couple by sharing a cute video with the caption: "Congrats Victoria & Marco on your engagement I'm so happy I was able to be a part of it. To forever ???? @victoriavillarroel ??" She then posted a picture of herself hugging Victoria, with the caption: "Congratulations Angel @victoriavillarroel ????" Not your average employer and employee relationship then... (British Glamour)
You-you-you-you-you oughta know -- that Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom are karaoke beasts! The superstar couple attended Westwood actress Shannon Woodward's 32nd birthday party on Saturday at West Hollywood's Blind Dragon lounge. Joined by Woodward's Raising Hope costar Kate Micucci and commentator Ronan Farrow, the revelers tore into Alanis Morissette's ferocious 1995 single "You Oughta Know" (off her seminal album, Jagged Little Pill). The throwback angst continued with another musical selection, Avril Lavigne's 2002 breakout hit, "Complicated," which Perry shared to Snapchat. Despite the furious songs, relations between Perry and Bloom seem warmer than ever as they approach their first anniversary as a couple. "They are planning a vacation for the holidays," a source previously told PEOPLE. They even stirred up engagement rumors in late November when the singer was spotted wearing a diamond ring on that finger. "Orlando is very happy with Katy. They are not engaged yet, but are very serious," added the insider, who also explained that Perry, 32, and Bloom, 39, have been focused on making their relationship work amid busy work schedules. (People)
Justin Bieber wants it known -- he's a real man ... who wears real fur. We got the Biebs at Hyde in WeHo Monday night, where he was at the Shots Studios Xmas party with his ex, Hailey Baldwin. As he makes his way out, he throws on an oversized fur -- and the question is simple ... is it real? Justin makes no bones about it, and even goes out of his way to confirm ... he's a fashionable fella without a conscience. (TMZ)
These days, model Iskra Lawrence is a shining example of body positivity -- but it took self-doubt and frustration to get there. When she started to develop curves as a teen, Lawrence had modeling agencies telling her to lose weight. "I was so confused about why my body was curvy," Lawrence, 26,tells SELF for their Jan/Feb cover. "That's when I became obsessed with weight. My hips were 36 1/2 inches when they were 'meant' to be 34." Hearing that she was too big to model set off years of disordered eating. "[At one point] all I ate was ham for two weeks," Lawrence says. "I lost 2 inches around my waist, exercising like crazy. I would fall asleep in school. I felt agitated." Lawrence started sharing her story on social media, in interviews, and with middle school students as part of her group, Iskra's Army, and found that it spoke to many of the women she grew up with as a child. "Since I've come out about my struggles, it's amazing how many girls from my past have said, 'Do you realize I felt the same as you, Iskra?' " Lawrence says. "How crazy that we all did and yet none of us talked to each other about it?" Lawrence, who now proudly models with no retouching for Aerie, was finally able to move past her body struggles in the last few years. "I never thought I would be here," she says. "I'm happy with myself. I respect myself. And I know that no man, no jeans, no scale and no booker is in control of my future -- I am." (People)
Andrea Bocelli will not perform at president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, Page Six has exclusively learned -- because of backlash over the gig. We reported first the famed tenor was being approached to sing for the political event. Some fans then floated a "Boycott Bocelli" movement on social media in reaction. A source said that, by Monday, "Bocelli said there was no way he'd take the gig .?.?. he was 'getting too much heat' and he said no." But another source told us, "Trump suggested to Bocelli he not participate because of the backlash. It's sad people on the left kept him from performing on a historic day." Reps did not comment on his exit. (Page Six)
This Christmas, Lindsay Lohan remains focused on working with refugees. "I am deciding now if I will head back to do more work in refugee camps in Turkey and Antep during or after the New Year," Lohan, 30, told Page Six exclusively. The actress previously refugees in the fall, even supplying them with energy drinks. "The dates are not set yet," she added. "It depends on how Turkey feels after the recent terrorist attack in Istanbul. Not that any attack has or will ever stop me from helping those suffering, those who need our help the most." "I miss my family a lot," she explained. "But they are very supportive and understanding of the fact that my main focus is business, writing and soon to start another film. More so, my work with refugees." "I always love giving gifts," she said. "So yes, for family and friends, most definitely I will be sending gifts. For me, I know it sounds silly, but, I am okay. I like to live by the act of giving. In all honesty, I am good with no materialistic gifts." Perhaps Lohan can gift her loved ones pieces from her "I Only Speak LiLohan" apparel line, which was created after a bizarre video of her speaking in a strange accent surfaced. When asked of her New Year's Eve plans, the starlet says she'll be bringing in 2017 in the Middle East. "It will be announced soon but I will be hosting New Year's Eve at Zero Gravity in Dubai which I am very excited about." (Page Six)
If you used to be a Dawson's Creek fan, you'll love the fact that Michelle Williams and Busy Phillipps are still the best of friends. And the Manchester By The Sea actress has said the SWEETEST thing about her BFF during a night out together at a screening of her new film. "I'm here with my best friend," Michelle, 36, said. "I'm so in love with her. She's proof that the love of your life does not have to be a man! That's the love of my life right there." YASSS! We love that. Busy, 37, returned the love and posted a 2001 throwback photo of the pair alongside a more grown up and glamorous shot of them at Sunday's screening. She captioned the pic: "2001/2016 I love that we almost always stand on the same side of each other. Also, can I just say we aren't at a costume party in 2001. That's legit how we were dressed for a regular night out. I guess I really was my character from Cougartown? And thank God my eyebrows grew back." (British Glamour)
Zach Braff and Mitt Romney have a weird connection that involves witchcraft ... in the late 1600s. This is gonna sound bizarre, but we got Zach heading out of Catch in L.A. Monday night (not the bizarre part), and he confirmed he and the former Mass. Gov found out they're both descendants of the same real life witch from the Salem Witch Trials. Her name was Rebecca Nurse, and she was hanged in 1692. There was reportedly no evidence against her, and her death is often credited with changing public perspective on the trials. Sooo ... she was an important witch. There's that. (TMZ)
Cedric the Entertainer isn't playing the Donald-Trump-Is-Not-My-President game ... he thinks people need to shelve their anger and fix some big problems in this country. We got Cedric Monday night at Catch where he talked about police brutality and a system that assumes guilt. He's super passionate ... and very persuasive. (TMZ)
Music
Jennifer Lopez is so rich, she's decided to pass on a scheduled million dollar New Year's Eve performance, so she can spend time at her new home with her family ... TMZ has learned. Lopez was supposed to perform at E11even nightclub in Miami and our sources say all told she would have scored a million dollar payday. But here's the thing ... she bought a new home in Bel-Air a few months back and decided she wants to just kick back with her kids and other family members. As one J Lo source put it ... "She was just so overbooked with "Shades of Blue," her concert and other obligations, getting on a plane for New Year's just seemed too much." (TMZ)
Little Mix's Perrie Edwards Reveals the Inspiration Behind Their Hit Breakup Song, "Shout Out to My Ex." So who was Perrie Edwards really shouting out in Little Mix's breakup jam, "Shout Out to My Ex?" The British girl group caught up with E! News while promoting their latest album, Glory Days, and when asked about what (or who) inspired the song, Perrie kept things rather... vague. "When people go through break ups, you automatically want to hear really sad songs," Edwards, who famously dated Zayn Malik, shared. "You want to listen to [Toni Braxton's] "Un-Break My Heart" and have a little cry, get a tub of ice cream out." The 23-year-old continued, "We just thought, 'You know what? Women need to feel empowered.' Everybody needs to feel empowered after a break up and we feel like this song can relate to everyone because everybody's had an ex." Perrie and the "Like I Would" singer were engaged for two years before ultimately calling it quits in August 2015. Two months later, Malik and Gigi Hadid coupled up, prompting many Little Mix fans to wonder whether or not Perrie was fighting back against the swift rebound with "Shout Out to My Ex." At the end of the day, Edwards is grateful for having such close bandmates to lean on when it comes to facing struggles, fame-related or personal. "We have each other luckily, so we experience everything together and we've always got each other's backs," she added. As for how Perrie, Jade Thirlwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Jesy Nelson cope with their superstardom, she told us, "I think you have to learn to have a thick skin. I think it comes with being in a girl band and being an artist. People want to know what you're doing and what you're up to, which is fine with us." (Eonline)
Fifth Harmony's Final Weeks as a Group of 5: How Much They Did (Or Didn't Know) About Camila Cabello's Departure. Camila Cabello's exit from Fifth Harmony has now turned into a he said, she said situation. In case you missed it, the girl group announced late Sunday evening that Camila had notified her former bandmates about quitting "via her representative," an arguably shady move that then prompted the 19-year-old to share her own side of the situation. Camila slammed accusations that she planned to leave Fifth Harmony without talking to the girls, writing on Instagram that her team's involvement in her departure was "simply not true." She expressed feeling "shocked," adding, "I did not intend to end things with Fifth Harmony this way." Now, multiple sources tell E! News that Fifth Harmony was struggling with internal conflict for quite a while. "They tried several times to sit down with her to talk things out. They didn't want her to leave," an insider shares. "They even had a group therapist come but Camila never showed up to the meetings. She only cared about advancing her solo career and didn't have conversations with anyone or try to work things out." But a separate source connected to the "Work From Home" singer's claims Cabello did take steps to alleviate any tension between them, though not too much avail. "Camila had multiple meetings with the group in the past, including with intermediaries, however they were unproductive," the source explains. As for whether or not Ally Brooke, Dinah Jane Hansen, Lauren Jauregui and Normani Kordei knew about Camila's impending exit, all signs point to an affirmative. One source insists to E! News, "Fifth Harmony knew back in November that Camila was going to leave. They were informed by her management that her last show would be Dec. 18." The second insider also says the remaining bandmates were under a similar impression, and Camila recently "spoke with them on an individual basis." But if Fifth Harmony did indeed spend months grappling with a breakup, they sure didn't show it onstage. Make no mistake, there were definitely signs Fifth Harmony was due for a shakeup, but the performance (their final as a group of five) at iHeartRadio Jingle Ball in Miami seemingly went off without a hitch. In June 2016, the American Music Award winners embarked on The 7/27 Tour, an international event boasting 55 different concerts across South America, Europe and the U.S. Throughout November and December, Fifth Harmony performed nine different times alongside other pop music acts for the 2016 Jingle Ball tour. Fifth Harmony has yet to respond publicly to Cabello's latest statement. (Eonline)
Justin Moore Steps Outside His Comfort Zone With 'Somebody Else Will'. Think of it as a yacht-rock song that set sail in Berry Hill, Tenn., and ended up docking back in the same building where its journey began. Justin Moore's new single, "Somebody Else Will," uses the kind of light-soul bassline and haunting chord progressions that marked late-'70s and early-'80s blue-eyed soul by such acts as Michael, Kenny Loggins and Hall & Oates. Moore's typical approach mixes traditional country and Southern-tinged rock, though his previous single -- "You Look Like I Need a Drink," which peaked at No. 1 on the Oct. 8 Country Airplay chart -- borrowed from early-'70sRolling Stones. "Somebody Else Will" thus represents a further expansion into unexpected sonic territory. "I always want to stay true to what has gotten me to this point in my career," says Moore, "but it's important for us to continue to grow and evolve a little bit. Songs like this help us do that." While "Somebody Else Will" is different from what listeners might expect of Moore, it's also different from the ballad that songwriter Adam Hambrick ("How Not To") envisioned when he threw out the title during a co-write at the Red Creative Group offices in Nashville's Berry Hill neighborhood on March 1. "I was thinking it would be a more emotional kind of title," says Hambrick. "I was thinking of it as 'I better hold on to her, because if I don't, somebody else will.' " But fellow Red Creative writer Kelly Archer ("Sleep Without You," "For Her") took it in another direction: a faster tempo with an ascendant chorus. "When he said the title, she had a vision of what she thought we could write," says Canadian singer-songwriter Tebey (pronounced "TAY-bay"), the third person in the room that day. "She kind of started rocking that chorus, and Adam and I just picked up the guitars and started rocking out." It's a hard-edged chorus that underscores the competition in the barroom setting they landed on. When a beautiful woman enters the club, she grabs the attention of its male patrons. Some of those guys are likely lounge lizards, though at least one -- the song's protagonist -- is less motivated by predatory thoughts than by something deeper. Still, he knows he needs to move fast if he wants to get her attention at all. "This song's about a girl who is just a little bit special, and he recognizes it," says Archer. "It's a cool message about being brave enough to approach a girl when you know that there's something special about her, without it making it sound like you just want her for one thing in particular." They wrote a big chunk of the chorus first, giving them a sense of where they were headed when they started working on the opening verse. And it's in those verses where the yacht-rock texture comes to the fore, combining with a descending melody to create a contrast that helps the chorus stand out. "It's literally just two chords, just trying to keep it simple," says Tebey. "The chorus lifted really nicely, and we wanted to make sure we didn't get above that in the verses." A key moment comes in the first verse when the song describes the woman as "shining like a diamond in a neon room," using a couple of familiar phrases in an unfamiliar way to underscore the air around her. Another key moment arrives in the bridge, which works less like a departure from the established verse and melody than as an addendum to the second chorus, pushing the range higher and peaking before a searing guitar solo. "The song was running about 90 percent dynamically, and then we hit that bridge and it took it to that full-on level," says Hambrick. "It was like, 'Now we have arrived where we want to be dynamically for the song to have maximum impact.' " They captured the day's effort on a simple smartphone work tape and enlisted songwriter-producer Andrew DeRoberts to oversee the demo, which upped the song's intensity. Bassist Tony Lucido came up with a rolling line that established that yacht-rock feel. "This entire session turned out kind of magical," says Archer. "We did it really old-school. We had a small band, just five players, and we didn't have an exact idea of what we wanted. But we didn't want it to sound too much like everything else, so we asked him to put a bit of edge on it." Once the demo was done, Hambrick sent it to Rascal Flatts, which put it on hold even before Red Creative owner Jeremy Stover heard it. Stover, who doubles as Moore's producer, recognized it as a contender for Moore's Kinda Don't Care album. "A big part of this album was to just showcase Justin's voice more," says Stover. "You go to his shows and it's really impressive, because he goes for notes that sometimes we don't necessarily put on the records. So this time we made a concerted effort to be able to showcase his range in his voice more." Stover played it for Moore just a couple of days before they were to head into Starstruck Recording Studios for three days of sessions to cut the bulk of the album (the first two tracks were completed in fall 2015). And Moore was immediately onboard. "The demo was totally different from the way we recorded it, but I could tell it was a really hooky song and something a little different for me," says Moore. "Maybe I could kind of make it me all at the same time." Rascal Flatts relinquished "Somebody Else Will," and Moore and crew made a few revisions to adapt it for him. For starters, Jimmie Lee Sloas played a different bassline that reduced the soul flavor a bit but still had some finesse. Big Machine Label Group president/CEO Scott Borchetta, in the studio as a co-producer, had a hand in that alteration. "He's an old bass player, so he actually came up with that bassline before we really started recording the song, and that kind of drove the verses," says Moore. Moore likewise changed the melody in the back end of the chorus, letting the hook of "Somebody Else Will" peak a little lower than it did on the demo, and causing the high note on the bridge to stand out a little more. "There's a couple of money notes that he hit that are way up there, and that just shows the listener the range that people may not have known that Justin Moore has," says Tebey. Moore actually tried to drop the key a step or two, but Stover and Borchetta convinced him to keep it at its original level, mining the angst at the top of his chest voice. "I guess they felt like there was a little more emotion in it," says Moore. He cut his final vocal at Red Recording Studio, a room that he and Stover co-own that is literally across the hall from the office where Hambrick, Archer and Tebey fashioned the song in March. Valory released "Somebody Else Will" to radio through PlayMPE on Oct. 18, and it's No. 39 in its eighth week on Country Airplay, adding a new facet to public perception of Moore. "I'm thrilled that I was pushed to get outside of my comfort zone and do some things like this," he says. "It feels like a big record." (Billboard)
Aaron Watson Puts the Cowboy Back In Country With 'Outta Style'. Singer's dramatic 'Bottom-Of-The-Ninth' effort knits Tom Petty and country fiddles. When Aaron Watson debuted at No. 1 on Country Albums on March 7, 2015, with The Underdog, he set a precedent as the first-ever self-released independent artist to start at the top on that chart. He did it, of course, without substantial radio outside of Texas, and it raised a lot of eyebrows in the business. "Everyone seemed so, so shocked," recalls Watson. "But the thing that people aren't factoring in is that we tour and we tour and we tour and we tour, so regardless of whether we're getting played on mainstream radio, we are still servicing those markets and we are still reaching out to those fans." Considering the circumstances, the title The Underdog suited him nicely. And when Big Label/Thirty Tigers releases his next album on Feb. 24, it likewise will have an appropriate title: Vaquero. It's Spanish for "cowboy," and it's apropos for a Texan whose typical apparel -- a western hat, jeans and boots -- is direct from the George Strait catalog. The album was crafted with that in mind. "Aaron said to me early on that he wanted to bring the cowboy back into country music," says producer Marshall Altman (Frankie Ballard, Eric Paslay). "And I have kept that in my head about this record. It was our goal to make sure that we weren't just nodding at those traditions but we were fully embracing them, meaning great story telling, big vocal out front, no programming, really. We were trying to make country music." The first single from Vaquero -- "Outta Style," released to radio via PlayMPE on Oct. 18 -- makes that clear six seconds in when fiddler Glen Duncan introduces the instrumental hook, a big, bold, Charlie Daniels-size sound over a rhythm track that's built on Tom Petty-like pulsing guitars and a handclap pattern that mimics John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane." "A sawing fiddle makes people go crazy more than any other instrument I've ever seen," enthuses Watson. "I know this for a fact because I opened for Kiss at Cheyenne Frontier Days. My fiddler starting sawing on that fiddle, and there's thousands of people dressed up, their faces all painted like Kiss, and they went nuts." Arriving at "Outta Style" and that fiddle signature was a lengthy process that harkens back to The Underdog's chart debut. After Watson and his wife, Kimberly, got over the immediate excitement of that accomplishment, he took it as a challenge. He decided to push himself as a songwriter, regularly rising around 5 a.m., writing songs before he took the kids to school and fitting in more writing sessions whenever he had a break throughout the day. He penned about 80 new songs and recorded the best 14 during the fall in Nashville. While Altman was under the impression the album was done, Watson went back to Texas intent on recording another song or two. "We call it 'the bottom-of-the-ninth session,' " says Watson, alluding to the heroic late innings of a baseball game. "We record the entire album, and even if we feel the album's done, it doesn't matter. We have to go in and record the bottom-of-the-ninth session." Which required more material. During the sessions, he had played around with an idea he had titled "Never Going Outta Style" -- Altman had notated it in a production manual as "unfinished" -- but it finally made sense when Watson took Kimberly out for dinner at the Perini Ranch Steakhouse in Buffalo Gap, Texas. It's a restaurant they frequented when they were dating, and in the glow of the candlelight that night, he was struck by the depth of his feelings for her after more than a decade together. "The line hit me, 'The trends will come and go/The winds of change will blow/The way we love is never going out of style,' " remembers Watson. When they went home, he went to work finishing "Outta Style." "Apparently it wasn't too much of a hot date," he jokes, "because I was writing a song after dinner." He put plenty of himself into it, referencing his first car, a Monte Carlo; recalling how Kim believed in him when he was a "poor boy playing on some pawn shop guitar"; weaving his own jeans-and-boots style into the storyline; and giving a nod to David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel." "I just loved that 'Rebel' song," says Watson. "It's so classic. The verses, I don't exactly know what the heck Bowie's talking about, but the mood and the attitude of the song is so young, so youthful." Watson put an exclamation point on the timeless theme in the bridge, citing James Dean's fashion, Steve McQueen's movie scenes and Marilyn Monroe's smile as images that -- like the relationship he's singing about -- survive every trend. Watson had Altman book his bottom-of-the-ninth session at Blackbird, but waited to introduce "Outta Style" until he could play it in person. Altman heard it for the first time at his own studio on Sept. 27 with Watson playing it on his guitar, and he was convinced it was a winner. "Hearing him play it in the room, it had all this energy," says Altman. "And I [envisioned] the whole production, basically start to finish, the first time he played it for me." The band had become accustomed to Watson's style throughout the album process, and it wasn't hard to find the right tone when they reassembled. "Aaron really wanted to keep an eye on his live show and make a record that was going to [not just translate] live, but something that felt like it was an extension of what he had created in his live show," says Altman. They nailed it on the fourth take with Duncan's ultra-country fiddle pitted against the Petty/Mellencamp foundation. That might not match every listener's view of the cowboy image, but it certainly fits Watson's sense of it. "I listened to nothing but Chris LeDoux and Garth Brooks in the '90s," says Watson. "You'd have to go to, like, AC/DC to find a band that could rock out as much as Chris LeDoux, but at the same time he was a genuine, authentic cowboy." The verses were delivered with punch and power, but the band turned it up a hair on the chorus, with drummer Jerry Roe adding some flash by leaning on the cymbals. "Crash cymbals in particular are a great way to sort of accentuate the moment," says Altman, "and that crash is adding all this energy because he's not hitting them on the downbeat every time." Watson brought the same level of energy to his final vocals, and Altman stacked a load of enthusiastic background vocals. The single is off to a good start, moving to No. 42 in its fourth week on Country Indicator, which reflects early impact in secondary markets. He's hopeful that his bottom-of-the-ninth creation "Outta Style" could perform as a single the way that The Underdog did as an album. "I want to be that guy -- bottom of the ninth, two outs, down by one, runner on third -- I want to be that guy that steps up to the plate," he says. "I believe that 'Outta Style' can be that game-winning hit. And if it's not, we're going to keep swinging." (Billboard)
Thom Yorke's Longtime Partner, Rachel Owen, Dies of Cancer. The couple's 2015 breakup heavily influenced Radiohead's 'A Moon Shaped Pool' album. Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke's former partner, Rachel Owen, died Sunday (Dec. 18) at 48 following a battle with cancer. A celebrated scholar and artist, Owen was a retained lecturer in Italian at the University of Oxford's Pembroke College. She continued to teach as her health declined during the past year. Owen was an expert in medieval Italian literature and a renowned artist and printmaker. One of her last works, a series of prints inspired by the cantos of Dante's first book of The Divine Comedy, will be exhibited at Pembroke's JCR Art Gallery. While Owen and Yorke were together for 23 years, she lived a private life and was rarely seen in public with the singer. The couple had two children together -- a son, Noah, and a daughter, Agnes, age 15 and 12. Their August 2015 separation heavily influenced Radiohead's latest album, A Moon Shaped Pool. (Billboard)
How Daddy Yankee's 'Shaky Shaky' Became an Irresistible Walmart Commercial. By now, you may have caught that irresistible Walmart TV spot that features children of all ages doing what they always do on Christmas Day: Shaking their gifts in an attempt to guess what's inside. The shaking is to the tune of "Shaky Shaky," the catchy Daddy Yankee song that the rapper wrote months ago -- with no notion of it ever being used in a television commercial. "Shaky Shaky" has been a viral sensation ever since Yankee, a savvy marketer, set it free, so to speak, not on radio, but via Musical.ly. Back in May, Yankee asked fans on the app to upload their own versions of "Shaky Shaky," a danceable reggaeton track which, at that point, had no music video. Within 12 hours, more than 10,000 "Shaky Shaky" videos had been uploaded, making the track a global trending topic. Fast-forward six months, and "Shaky Shaky" has already topped Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart and caught the ear of many. In fact, the Walmart campaign was conceived around the song, says Olga Reyes, executive creative director of Lopez Negrete Communications, the ad agency that created it. "Music is a key element in the Walmart campaign," Reyes tells Billboard. "And in this particular spot we needed to tell a story about Christmas morning, about finding the perfect gift and the kids opening the presents. As soon as I heard 'Shaky Shaky,' I could see in my mind the kids shaking those gifts. It conveys the wow moment of kids finding what they want. 'Shaky Shaky' became another character in the story." Having the spot revolve around the song isn't common, says Fernando Osuna, chief creative officer for Lopez Negrete, which has long worked with Walmart. "We usually don't find music and then come up with stories. Usually we find a story and the music amplifies it. But the moment you look at this spot, you can see everything is perfect." In order to get the rights to "Shaky Shaky," the Lopez Negrete team enlisted Creative License, the New York-based company that secures talent and licenses for brands and advertisers. "We saw how many hits the song had on YouTube and we were concerned," admits Osuna. "But then we said, 'If we get it, it will be huge.'" Huge indeed. Yankee's official "Shaky Shaky" video has more than 617 million views on YouTube. The two lyric videos have over 50 million views, and there are several million others from the many, many videos uploaded to YouTube that use it as the soundtrack for countless choreographies. After watching the Walmart commercial, it's hard to imagine it working with any other music, but Reyes says there was a plan B. "It was a completely different story with different kind of music," she says. Yankee's music, however, "really captures the Latin spirit." (Billboard)
Tupac Shakur, Pearl Jam, Journey, Yes, ELO & Joan Baez Are 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees. Five first-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees-Pearl Jam, Journey, Electric Light Orchestra, Joan Baez and Tupac Shakur -- will join three-time nominee Yes as the shrine's 2017 inductees. Nile Rodgers, frontman of 11-time nominees Chic, will also receive an Award for Musical Excellence at the 32nd annual Rock Hall induction ceremony, taking place April 7 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. SiriusXM will broadcast the ceremony live and it will again be filmed for a later telecast on HBO. This will mark the third time in four years the induction ceremony has been held at the Barclays Center after moving from its previous Manhattan home at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. An on-sale date for tickets will be announced in January, with Rock Hall members receiving access to a pre-sale. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum in Cleveland will open a special exhibit on March 30 to honor the 2017 inductees. The inductees began reacting to the news immediately. Yes drummer Alan White told Billboard that after two previous nominations, "It's totally exciting. It's a great pleasure to be recognized for something you've been doing all your life and get recognition in the industry for the amount of work you've put in and to have done something that changed the course of history, I guess, over time." Former Yes singer/guitarist Trevor Rabin concurred, telling Billboard he was "feeling very grateful about the news of Yes getting inducted into the Hall of Fame. Yes is a band that pioneered a genre and has always been eclectic in nature, and we've been so lucky to have such amazing and supportive fans that have championed Yes music in all its forms. It is with incredible pride that we accept this honor." Baez issued a statement, saying, "I never considered myself to be a rock and roll artist. But as part of the folk music boom which contributed to and influenced the rock revolution of the 60's, I am proud that some of the songs I sang made their way into the rock lexicon. I very much appreciate this honor and acknowledgment by the Hall of Fame." Journey, as well as Yes and ELO, have often been cited as Rock Hall snubs in previous years. Keyboardist Jonathan Cain previously told Billboard that even being nominated felt like a victory. "It's just been a little bit of a wait. I think it was patience. We just had to be patient. I figured it would come around," Cain said. Journey, in fact, topped the fan ballot conducted by the Rock Hall, with 250,758 votes. ELO, Pearl Jam and Yes were also in the top five and each received a vote added to the tally cast from more than 900 Rock Hall voters. Acts are eligible for the Rock Hall 25 years after the release of their first recording. In addition to Chic, others on the ballot this year included Bad Brains, Khan, Depeche, Jane's Addiction, J. Geils Band, Janet Jackson, Joe Tex, Kraftwerk,MC5, Steppenwolf, The Cars and The Zombies. (Billboard)
Movies
Sandra Bullock Warns Sarah Paulson to Tone Down Her Rihanna Obsession. The cast of Ocean's Eight is getting along famously. That being said, some members of the cast are more famous than others. As Mindy Kaling joked on NBC's Late Night last week, she's often mistaken for co-star Sandra Bullock's assistant. And whenever Rihanna is on set, the paparazzi seemingly forget the rest of the cast even exists. When Sarah Paulson appeared on Late Night Monday, she confirmed Kaling's story about Rihanna. "If you're standing next to her and paparazzi are taking pictures, it's like, 'Wow!'" the actress said. "It's because Rihanna's standing next to you -- they're not interested in you at all." The rest of the star-studded cast includes Awkwafina, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway. Hathaway's rep denied reports of on-set tension to E! News on Nov. 21, and Paulson reiterated everyone is A-OK. "I know people want there to be some kind of crazy drama going on between all the women, because how could so many women be in a room and actually get along?" the actress joked. "People look so depressed: 'What's it like?' 'They're great.' 'Oh, they're great?' 'Yeah, they're great!' 'Really?' They look so depressed." Admittedly, things did get a little awkward between Paulson and Rihanna. "We had this one moment where all of us were sitting around and someone mentioned that there was a big online sale. Everyone whipped out their phones," she told Seth Meyers. "I found a couple things and Rihanna was sitting next to me. 'What do you think of that?' 'Yeah, yeah.' Then I showed her a pair of pants I thought were the most hideous pants I'd ever seen, and she was like, 'I think those are cool.' I was like, 'Me too! I think those are so cool!' Rihanna is the definition [of cool]. There's a picture in the dictionary of 'cool' and then there's Rihanna." Whenever they're all on set, Paulson finds herself humming Rihanna's songs. One time, Bullock gave her a friendly warning. "A couple times Sandy Bullock gave me the side eye," the actress said. "I'm like, 'Diamonds -- sorry!' Every time I see her, it starts. It's bad. It's bad! It's not good." Surely Paulson isn't the only cast member whose Rihanna obsession has peaked during filming. "I think when this is over," the host teased, "Rihanna is going to talk about how cool you were." Paulson laughed and replied, "I'm not sure that that's true." Warner Bros.' Ocean's Eight hits theaters on June 8, 2018. (Eonline)
Berlin Festival Unveils First Panorama Titles. Raoul Peck's 'I Am Not Your Negro' and Kitty Green's 'Casting JonBenet' are among the titles that will screen in the sidebar. The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the first 11 films that will screen in its Panorama sidebar. Politics and history take center stage in the lineup so far, with several titles reflecting on the history of black people from Africa to the Americas and a number examining the political upheaval of today. The 2017 Panorama will open with The Wound from director John Trengove, the story of a South African businessman from Johannesburg who takes his son to witness the circumcision ceremony of his old tribe. Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck, whose new feature The Young Karl Marx has landed a special gala screening in Berlin, will also show his acclaimed I Am Not Your Negro, in the Panorama section. The documentary on the life and work of great African-American writer James Baldwin is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. Vazante, the first solo directorial effort from Brazilian filmmaker Daniela Thomas (Linha de Passe), examines the exploitation of black slaves in her country, the last nation to officially abolish slavery. Modern-day politics are represented by Fernando Leon de Aranoa's documentary Politics, Instruction Manual, an in-depth look at the rise of left-wing populist movement Podemos in Spain, one of the few European countries that has seen progressive politics blossom in the past few years. Another doc, Fighting Through the Night, from Canadian filmmaker Sylvain L'Esperance, examines the political situation in Greece. Also heading to Berlin are Kitty Green's Casting JonBenet, a documentary about the violent, and still unsolved, murder of six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey 20 years ago; and the Austrian experimental nonfiction film Untitled, from the directing team of Michael Glawogger and Monika Willi. Among the dramas in Panorama's lineup are Honeygiver Among the Dogs, a film noir out of Bhutan, which will have its European premiere in Berlin; Centaur from Kyrgyzstan director Aktan Arym Kubat; the Taiwanese feature Small Talk from Hui-chen Huang; and Pendular, a drama from up-and-coming Brazilian filmmaker Julia Murat (Found Memories). The remainder of the Panorama lineup will be announced in January. The 2017 Berlin Film Festival runs Feb. 8-18. (Hollywood Reporter)
'Manchester by the Sea' Named Best Picture by Vancouver Film Critics Circle. The film also won best screenplay, best director (Kenneth Lonergan), best actor (Casey Affleck) and best-supporting actress (Michelle Williams). Kenneth Lonergan's Casey Affleck-starrer Manchester by the Sea won five awards from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle. Manchester beat out Moonlight and La La Land to earn the best picture award. Manchester went into the Vancouver Film Critics Circle competition with six nominations, ahead of Barry Jenkins 'Moonlight with four nominations and Damien Chazelle's La La Land with three. Affleck earned the best actor award, while Manchester's Michelle Williams prevailed in the best-supporting actress category. And Lonergan won for best director and best screenplay. The best actress award went to Isabelle Huppert for her star turn in Elle, while Moonlight's Mahershala Ali won for best supporting actor prize. Maren Ade's German comedy Toni Erdmannw on for best foreign language film, and Cameraperson nabbed the best documentary prize. While the international prizes were announced Tuesday, winners of the Canadian film awards will be announced on Jan. 9. (Hollywood Reporter)
Christmas Box-Office Crush: 'Sing,' 'Passengers,' 'Assassin's Creed' to Battle 'Rogue One'. The trio of films opens nationwide Wednesday, while 'Patriot's Day' likewise bows that same day in select markets before a host of other award contenders launch Friday or Christmas Day. Get ready for the Christmas crush. A trio of movies is opening nationwide Wednesday in advance of the long holiday weekend -- space romance Passengers, animated tentpole Sing and video game adaptation Assassin's Creed -- followed by R-rated comedy Why Him? On Friday. And a slew of award contenders will also launch at the specialty box office Wednesday, including Patriot's Day and Julieta. Illumination Entertainment and Universal's Sing -- think talking animals meet American Idol -- has the best shot of trumping holdover Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and claiming the No. 1 spot, but it will be tough. Sing is projected to take in at least $65 million and $75 million for the Wednesday to Monday stretch (with Christmas falling on a Sunday this year, Monday is an official holiday so tracking services are putting out six-day estimates). Traffic will slow dramatically on Saturday since it is Christmas Eve, and Sing could be hurt more than most films since it is a family title. Conversely, it is tipped to do huge business beginning Christmas afternoon. Generally speaking, many holiday films can enjoy huge multiples between Dec. 25 and the end of New Year's weekend, considered the most lucrative corridor of the year. Passengers, the high-profile sci-fi adventure starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, is projected to post an opening of $45 to $50 million for the six days, although Sony is being more conservative with a $35 million-plus estimate. It remains to be seen whether dismal reviews hurt the adult-skewing movie, which cost at least $110 million to make after tax incentives and rebates, including a $20 million payday for Lawrence. Assassin's Creed is another wild card. The Fox film, starring Michael Fassbender, has fared even worse with critics than Passengers. The movie is predicted to earn $30 million to $35 million for the six days, but it could come in ahead of expectations if fans of the video game come in force. Assassin's Creed cost a net $125 million to make and also stars Marion Cotillard. Reuniting director Pete Berg and star Mark Wahlberg, Boston marathon drama Patriot's Dayopens Wednesday in seven theaters in Los Angeles, New York and Boston. CBS Films and Lionsgate co-financed the movie, which expands nationwide Jan. 13. On Friday, Fox opens Why Him? nationwide. The comedy, directed by John Hamburg, stars James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch, Megan Mullally, Griffin Gluck and Keegan Michael Key. Why Him? is tracking to earn $10 million to $13 million for the four-day weekend. Like Patriot's Day, a slew of other awards contenders are opening in limited runs over the year-end holidays, including A Monster Calls (Focus Features), Denzel Washington's Fences and Martin Scorsese's Silence (both from Paramount), Julieta and Toni Erdmann (both from Sony Pictures Classics), Paterson (Bleecker Street), Ben Affleck's Live by Night (Warner Bros.), Theodore Melfi's Hidden Figures (Fox 2000/Chernin Entertainment) and Mike Mills' 20th Century Women (A24). Also on Christmas Day, critical and box-office darling La La Land expands nationwide. (Hollywood Reporter)
How 'Patriots Day' Tackled the Sensitivity of the Boston Marathon Bombings. Three years after the attack, Peter Berg ('Deepwater Horizon,' 'Battleship') and Mark Wahlberg return -- sensitively -- to the scene of the crime amid local complaints. In spring 2015, Peter Berg began having a series of lunches with survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing. The director had been thinking about making a film about the terrorist attack -- dramatizing how, in April 2013, brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev shocked the nation by detonating a kettle bomb on Boylston Street in Back Bay, leaving three dead and about 260 injured. Still, Berg was having trouble finding the right story to tell and -- just as important -- the right tone for telling it. He reckoned that talking to people who had lived through the event might give him some inspiration. It turned out to be a good idea. "I had lunch with Danny Meng," recalls Berg of his meeting with the immigrant Chinese tech entrepreneur who was carjacked and held hostage by the Tsarnaevs after the attack. "It was probably the most interesting lunch I've had in my career. He's very soft-spoken, and his English isn't great. But as he told me the story of his hour and a half in the car with both brothers, how he strategized to buy time, to outthink them, to plan an escape. And then he gets to the part at the gas station, where they take all his money and fill up the car with gas and set the GPS to New York, and he knew they were going to kill him, how he could smell it, their body temperatures getting hot. It was really one of the most incredible stories I've heard." Berg (center) with Wahlberg (second from left) on the faux Boston set. Getting that story on film, however, along with a dozen other harrowing true tales of the bombing, proved to be an intense, pressure-filled sprint in itself. There was no question Berg had the technical chops to re-create the mayhem of that tragic day -- for the director who brought Battleship and Deepwater Horizon to the big screen, the explosion itself would be child's play. The bigger issue was whether Berg -- or any director attempting to make a Boston Marathon bombing movie -- had the sensitivity to pull it off. During the film's 42-day shoot in and around Boston in the spring, there were complaints in the local press about it being too soon for Hollywood to fictionalize an event that much of the city still was recovering from -- and that some, like Jessica Kensky (played in Patriots Day by Rachel Brosnahan), who lost parts of both of her legs in the bombing, never would fully recover from. Even the film's star, Mark Wahlberg, who grew up in Dorchester and attended high school just a few blocks from the bombing site, had qualms about tackling such a touchy subject. Michelle Monaghan (center) as Wahlberg's wife. "Boston is such a small community," he says. "Everybody knows somebody who was affected. It's a sensitive subject. I was really on the fence and kind of reluctant to commit. Then I realized, they're going to make the movie anyway; I might as well be in control of it." Within a year and a half of the bombing, there already were three projects about the Boston Marathon percolating in Hollywood. One at Fox, Boston Strong, was written by Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy (The Fighter) and focused on the manhunt. Another at Lionsgate, written by John Pollono, was titled Stronger and centered on Jeff Bauman, a bystander who aided victims. And CBS Films' Patriots Day was written by Matt Charman (Bridge of Spies) and is the most fact-based, drawing heavily on 60 Minutes' reporting. Wahlberg signed on for the $50 million project at CBS in March 2015, joining his Ted producer Scott Stuber. At the time, the star was shooting Deepwater Horizon with Berg, and the two must have compared Boston Marathon notes. Within weeks, Berg also joined the project. CBS Films and Stuber, meanwhile, had gone on and purchased Boston Strong from Fox, which wasn't as faithful to the events but had a strong central character, a Boston cop who investigates the bombing. Still, even with two scripts to draw from, Berg was having trouble finding a narrative hook for the film. "I was given both at the same time," he says. "Boston Strong was interesting but factually inaccurate, almost a work of fiction. Patriots Day was very, very accurate but didn't have the dramatic tension that I felt the movie needed." Berg, Wahlberg and Stuber dove into the work of combining the two scripts. Berg, in particular, spent a lot of time in Boston talking to people like Meng. "We spent months of preproduction, having multiple meetings with every person who had some version of involvement in it, every law enforcement official, every doctor," says Stuber. Berg met with everyone from the cops from Watertown (where the final shootout happened) to people who lost limbs. He also toured the Tsarnaevs' Cambridge apartment and talked to people who knew the bombers. From left: Bacon as FBI agent Rick DesLauriers, Wahlberg and Goodman as Police Commissioner Ed Davis. "The more research I did, the more I realized it really was an example of a community working together," says the director. Ultimately, he decided that the best way to tell the story was to make it an ensemble piece, focusing on a dozen characters at different points in the timeline, with Wahlberg's cop providing a central pivot point. John Goodman came on board as Police Commissioner Ed Davis, Kevin Bacon signed on to play FBI agent Rick DesLauriers, Alex Wolff was cast as the younger Tsarnaev, Themo Melikidze as the elder and Melissa Benoist as his wife. On the set of the final nighttime shootout between the Watertown Police Department and the Tsarnaev brothers. Berg originally thought of shooting Patriots Day at some of the actual locations where the bombings and subsequent manhunt took place, but he found himself facing stiff local resistance. Watertown and the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth (where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a freshman) denied filming requests. Plans to shoot background footage at the 2016 marathon also raised eyebrows. News accounts quoted locals complaining that turning the marathon into a film set was in "poor taste" and the "rankest form of opportunism," while others suggested that Wahlberg donate his salary to the victims. In the end, the production did shoot some footage at the 2016 marathon, but filmmakers worked hard to keep an open dialogue with the community. "We would shoot [for] 14 hours and then have a dinner with anyone who wanted [it]," says Stuber. "We made it very clear to the mayor and the chief of police and everyone in the community, the victims organizations, if somebody wants to talk to us about it, we'll have dinner with them and we'll go through it." The most violent scenes -- the bombing and shootout with the brothers in Watertown (Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed, and Dzhokhar was captured and sentenced to death in April) -- were filmed far from Back Bay at a former Navy airfield 20 miles away in South Weymouth. "It was intense because these were extras who were from Boston, many of whom were there [at the bombing]," recalls Berg. "Every morning we would all get together, all the extras and the crew; they, too, were emotional about what we were filming, the sequences right after the blast. We made it clear that if somebody was uncomfortable, if somebody was emotional or things got to be too much, there were plenty of people on the crew that they could reach out to, and we would deal with that and take care of them." Wahlberg felt the weight of getting it right more than anyone. "All of it was difficult," says the star. "Talking about it, making it. It's not like you could detach at any point. It was on my shoulders as the face of this film. I pride myself on being from Boston. I like being able to go home and being welcomed with open arms." (Hollywood Reporter)
TV
Sense8 Star Miguel Ángel Silvestre Is Coming to Narcos Season 3. Because we seriously can't get enough of him. Sense8 and Velvet fans are in for a treat because Miguel Ángel Silvestre will join Narcos for the show's third season. The hunky Spanish actor hinted the news to his fans on social media, meanwhile HOLA! Espana was the first to confirm that Silvestre has in fact joined the Narcos cast. And without spoiling much, we will say that the publication has learned that the 34-year-old actor's character will be introduced as the person in charge of laundering money for the cartel. Silvestre has been traveling to and from Bogota, Colombia, for filming, according to the magazine. Just a few hours ago, the star shared a video of him on set with a cap which read, "Narcos." He simply captioned the post with, "#Narcos Buenos días...@Netflix." "He is an enigmatic person. It is not yet very well known how he is. He's had a love story that was bitter and also filled hatred," Silvestre explained when asked about his character, who he revealed will have a Colombian accent. The final moments of season two pointed in the Cali Cartel's direction, hinting at the possibility of Helmer "Pacho" Herrera filling Narcos' Escobar-sized hole as the next big bad. "They're certainly teed up for that, that's for sure. This show has always been about cocaine. We purposely did not call the show Pablo Escobar or Medellin," executive producer Eric Newman told EW. "In the same way that Osama Bin Laden begets ISIS, Medellin begets Cali begets the Mexican Cartels. Though they existed at the same time, Cali really got the Mexicans into cocaine, which proved to be a much better business than heroin." (Eonline)
'Shooter' Renewed for Second Season at USA Network. The Ryan Phillippe drama has helped the cable network improve its fortunes on Tuesdays. The wait was worth it for USA Network's Shooter. The twice-delayed TV adaptation of the feature film of the same name has been renewed for a second season at the NBCUnviersal-owned cable network. The drama, starring Ryan Phillippe, has helped USA Network improve its fortunes on Tuesdays. With an average of 2.6 million total viewers and 974,000 among adults 18-49 (with seven days of DVR), Shooter ranks as USA's No. 1 new series year-to-date among total viewers and adults 18-34. The show, paired with lead-in WWE Smackdown, has retained 78 percent of its audience, making USA the top ad-supported cable network on Tuesdays from 8-11 p.m. Picked up to series in February, Shooter was originally set to launch July 19. It was delayed to bow July 26 and again until Nov. 15 following the July 7 deadly attack in downtown Dallas, and more attacks in Nice, France, to Baton Rouge, La. The delays ultimately proved beneficial as the drama felt timely. "John Hlavin and the team behind Shooter have delivered a compelling action thriller that consistently engages a strong and loyal audience," NBCU Cable Entertainment president Chris McCumber said Monday in announcing the renewal. "We look forward to partnering once again with Paramount Television and Universal Cable Productions as we follow Bob Lee into his next chapter." Based on Stephen Hunter's best-selling novel Point of Impact and the 2007 Paramount feature that starred Mark Wahlberg, Phillippe takes on the role of Bob Lee Swagger, an off-the-grid former Marine sniper who is coaxed into action to thwart the killing of the president. Ultimately double-crossed and framed for the attempt, he must call upon all the skills he acquired as a decorated sharpshooter to avoid capture while hunting down and exposing the traitors who set him up. Meanwhile, the verdict is still out on fellow USA Network freshman dramas Eyewitness and Falling Water, the latter of which has a lucrative SVOD window that may help clear the way for a renewal. Shooter becomes part of 2017 lineup at USA that also includes Colony, Mr. Robot, Queen of the South and Suitsas well as comedy Playing House. Shooter is also one of multiple projects on Paramount TV's slate, which includes Amazon's Jack Ryan, Netflix's Thirteen Reasons Why, Epix's Berlin Station and more. (Hollywood Reporter)
Samantha Bee and Glenn Beck Find Common Ground Against Trumpism in "Strange Bedfellows" Segment. "I watch you. I believe you actually don't want to do damage," Beck told Bee. "As a guy who has done damage, I don't want to do anymore damage." Samantha Bee invited Glenn Beck on Full Frontal in an effort to reach across the aisle, wear Christmas sweaters and get to know somebody with a completely different audience than her own. "Glenn and I put on our Christmas sweaters and got to work on healing the nation," said Bee in her introduction, where she talked about how Beck has recently been reaching out to the media to "apologize for his previous weirdness." During the segment, on Monday's show, Beck and Bee talked about how much their audiences hate each other, with Beck saying his audience wants to stab Bee "relentlessly in the eye" and Bee saying her audience will want to kill her for "normalizing a lunatic such as yourself." "You've said a lot of crazy bullshit," said Bee. "Even if all you said for the rest of your life were reasonable things, I feel like you have still earned a permanent side eye with [my audience]." Beck said while he doesn't like that, he thinks it's a rational conclusion. "I think that our future is going to require a broad coalition of non-partisan decency," Bee said, explaining why she asked Beck to appear on her show. She added that it's not about individuals against Donald Trump it's about "all of us against Trumpism." "I watch you, I believe you actually don't want to do damage. As a guy who has done damage, I don't want to do anymore damage," said Beck. "I know what I did. I helped divide. I'm willing to take that." The conservative host has been an outspoken critic of Trump. He says his message to Bee is to not make the same mistakes he made. He wants people to see the "human on the other side" and not tear each other apart out of divisiveness. He did tease Bee that she's adopted a lot of his "catastrophe traits," proving his point by asking her, "Do you believe there's a chance we fall into a dictatorship under Donald Trump. Do you believe there's a chance we lose our freedom of speech and freedom of the press under this president?" Bee called it one of the strangest days she's ever had and acknowledged that Beck seemed to be a "deeply sincere and decent person." They held each other's hands and then enjoyed a "strange bedfellows" cake, eating each other's icing heads. (Hollywood Reporter)
ESPN's Michael Wilbon Blasts NFL Refs Over Cam Newton Hit, Demands They Be Suspended. "THAT non-call makes me wonder if there is an agenda against Newton...it was right in the open and unmistakable." Michael Wilbon is not happy with the NFL refs who worked Monday Night Football this week, when the Carolina Panthers took on the Washington Redskins. In the game, Panthers' star quarterback Cam Newton took a hit to the head while he was attempting to slide. A flag was thrown, but as Newton was getting up, he threw the football in the direction of the player who hit him, so rather than call a personal foul for roughing Newton, the refs penalized the quarterback for taunting. Wilbon, co-host of ESPN's Pardon The Interruption, was irate. "The officiating crew should be suspended rest of season for flagging the reaction and not the hit to Cam's head. Disgraceful...," he tweeted to his nearly three million followers. "I'm always ripping Newton for whining but everything he says about the NFL refs not protecting him like the Golden Boy QBs is true... THAT non-call makes me wonder if there is an agenda against Newton...it was right in the open and unmistakable." Newton has suffered numerous blows to his head during the season and has complained that refs do not penalize the players who hit him. Wilbon was flabbergasted with the Monday night crew. "The overall incompetence of this officiating crew tonight is stunning...," he wrote, presumably meaning "stunning" ESPN declined to comment on Wilbon's remarks. (Hollywood Reporter)
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