Hot stuff singer Donna Summer is understood to have died this morning after a battle with cancer.
The five-time Grammy winner, known as the queen of disco, passed away in Florida, according to TMZ.
The news has not yet been confirmed by her spokesperson.
The star is best know for her string of 70s hits, including Last Dance and Bad Girls.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s estranged wife Mary Kennedy reportedly hanged herself in a barn at her New York home, fearing financial ruin following her divorce from Robert, whom she was still legally married to. She was also distraught over his new relationship with actress Cheryl Hines. So sad.
Mary Kennedy felt “lost” and “alone” before her death on May 16, a neighbor told the New York Daily News. The 52-year-old mother of four also struggled with her estranged husband’s relationship with actress Cheryl Hines.
A close family friend told the New York Post that Mary felt “used up and tossed away,” by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he filed for divorce in May 2010 after 16 years of marriage. Mary was charged with DUI three days later and her license was suspended.
“She was deeply troubled, abusing alcohol and prescription meds,” the family friend said. “She had cause. She was used up and tossed away by Bobby. That was awful.”
But members of the Kennedy family, including her mother-in-law Ethel Kennedy, rallied around Mary after her DUI arrest. Ethel even sent a handwritten letter to a town justice, seeking leniency for Mary and calling her a “kind, loving and generous person,” the New York Post reports.
Mary was found dead at her Mount Kisco estate in Westchester County, New York on May 16. She was in a very dark place before her death, and fought an ongoing battle with drugs and alcohol. She tried to seek help on many occasions.
Mary had gone into rehab in February 2010, friends told the New York Daily News. A neighbor said Mary seemed “lost and alone and sort of out of it” whenever she came into the village.
Cops confirmed that they were called to Mary’s estate several times in the previous years. A close friend of hers attributes her struggles to the strain of her marriage, saying Mary “did not have it easy, being Bobby’s wife.”
The friend reveals that the first time she met Mary and Robert, 58, at a dinner 10 years ago, he put his hand on her thigh under the table when she was seated next to him.
“We hadn’t spoken but to say hello,” the friend told the New York Post. “He is such a dog that way.”
The friend, who wanted to remain anonymous, revealed that the problems Mary faced in her marriage were similar to the ones faced by other women who married into the Kennedy family.
“Like all Kennedy wives, she was expected to toe the line. Stay quiet and take care of the kids, tolerate the affairs, and look happy. She took solace in yoga and meditation,” the friend said, adding that his alleged affairs took a terrible toll.
“He got all the glory, and she got no acknowledgment for what she did: holding it all together at home,” the source said.
Mary even took over caring for the two children from Robert’s first marriage, plus raised four of their own.
“She was a good mother,” the friend said. “Like so many parents of the Kennedy kids, she was dealing with a wild bunch. The kids were always getting into scrapes and Mary was forever rescuing them.”
Robert was living in Los Angeles and dating Cheryl at the time of his estranged wife’s death. He was distraught when entering Mary’s mansion around 8 p.m. on May 16, according to reports.
In a statement issued by Robert’s chief of staff, the family described Mary Kennedy as “a genius at friendship.”
“Mary inspired our family with her kindness, her love, her gentle soul and generous spirit,” the family said in a statement.
A housekeeper found Mary’s body in a barn at her estate, according to reports. None of their children, ages 11 to 17, were home at the time. The oldest were away at boarding school, and the youngest were with their father.
“We deeply regret the death of our beloved sister Mary, whose radiant and creative spirit will be sorely missed by those who loved her. Our heart goes out to her children who she loved without reservation,” Mary’s family said in a statement.
Our hearts go out to Mary’s family, especially her children, during this difficult time.
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Looks like another Liam is crushing on Miley!
One Direction‘s Liam Payne has revealed which American singer he thinks is “hot!”
Liam, 18, was asked about American stars he’d really like to meet. His response?
“Miley Cyrus– she’s hot,” he told POPSTAR!, not having to think long about his answer.
Does the other Liam in Miley’s, 19, life, her boyfriend Liam Hemsworth, have some competition? Better watch out, Mr. Hemsworth!
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Call off the cougar wedding. Linda Hogan and Charley Hill have called off their engagement and have broken up, she announced on Facebook Tuesday.
Hulk Hogan’s 52-year-old ex-wife raised eyebrows when she and Hill, 23, an old pal of her son Nick, stepped out together as a couple four years ago.
But the May-December is over, she told fans.
“Ok… My status has changed. I am now single,” Hogan wrote. “After the great therapy we had together and time to think and concentrate on who we are and who we want to be, Charley and I decided that we should each travel through life in different directions.”
Indeed, after slamming rumors of a wedding aboard a yacht, the unlikely duo talked through their problems on VH1′s “Couples Therapy.”
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“Thank you all for always being so supportive of our relationship and choices,” she added to fans. “I hope that you all understand and are not be too terribly disappointed. Love you!”
Linda and Hulk Hogan, 58 (real name: Terry Bollea) share kids Brooke, 24, and Nick, 22 and divorced in late 2007 after 24 years of marriage.
Hulk married Jennifer McDaniel in December 2010.
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Ellen DeGeneres, who broke ground in 1997 as the first lead character on prime-time TV to reveal she was gay, is winning the nation’s top humor prize.
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Tuesday that DeGeneres will receive the 15th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. She will be honored Oct. 22 with a lineup of star performers in a tribute show that will be recorded for broadcast at a later date.
In a written statement, DeGeneres said receiving the same award as past honorees Bill Cosby, Tina Fey and Will Ferrell makes her wonder, “why didn’t I get this sooner?”
It was 15 years ago — just before the humor prize was created — when DeGeneres came out on Time magazine’s cover and as her character on the sitcom “Ellen” to a record 46 million viewers. The popular show began losing viewers, though, and was canceled a year later. DeGeneres said at the time that ABC caved in to fear and abandoned the show. She faced tough questions over whether the sitcom was “too gay” and if she had torpedoed her career by pushing a “gay agenda.”
“When I’m accused of becoming political, I’m showing love,” DeGeneres told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in a 1998 interview. “How is that political to teach love and acceptance?”
The rejection was enough to send DeGeneres into a deep depression.
“Ellen” paved the way, though, for future shows to also break the taboo of showing gay characters. “Will and Grace” would follow, along with “Glee,” “Modern Family” and others.
DeGeneres bounced back with movie roles, including as the voice of a lead character in the animated film “Finding Nemo.” She also has a hit talk show now in its ninth season, best-selling books and had a stint as the fourth judge on “American Idol.”
Cappy McGarr, an executive producer for the Mark Twain Prize show and a Kennedy Center board member, said DeGeneres has a special style of observational humor in the tradition of Twain. She also makes people laugh across political lines.
“She’s not just a comedian,” he said. “She’s really a miracle worker. She got the president to dance, the first lady to do pushups and (Republican) Tom Delay to laugh.”
The New Orleans native got her start as an emcee at a local comedy club in her hometown. In 1982, a videotape of her club performance won DeGeneres Showtime’s “Funniest Person in America.” By 1986, she appeared on “The Tonight Show” and became the first female comedian summoned to Johnny Carson’s desk to chat about her performance.
The Mark Twain prize honors people who have an impact on society in the tradition of Samuel Clemens, better known as Twain, as a social commentator and satirist.
McGarr said the Kennedy Center, which awards the prize, is not making a political statement by selecting the trailblazing DeGeneres.
“This has nothing to do with any political issue,” he said. “But she’s brilliantly shined a light on society, and that’s what Mark Twain did.”
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It’s officially “Jay-Z Day” in the media. Catching up with Jay-Z in Philadelphia after announcing his “Made In America” music festival, CNN (yep, C.N.N.) asked the rapper/mogul about Barack Obama’s open support of gay marriage.
“I’ve always thought it as something that was still, um, holding the country back,” said Jay-Z about same sex couple not being allowed to legally marry. “What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love. That’s their business. [It] is no different than discriminating against blacks. It’s discrimination plain and simple.”
A long time Obama supporter, the “99 Problems” rapper is still in the Presidents’ corner; particularly so when it comes to what Obama has done to help the ailing economy (which Jay says is a “test of our character”) he inherited. “Reversing the direction of the decline was a full time job in itself, so I think that it’s stabilizing a bit now as some of the numbers show,” said Jigga.
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Here’s what Kristen Stewart the 22-year-old Snow White and the Huntsman actress had to share:
On her sheltered upbringing: “You can learn so much from bad things. I feel boring. I feel like, Why is everything so easy for me? I can’t wait for something crazy to f—ing happen to me. Just life. I want someone to f— me over! Do you know what I mean?”
On the gold ring circling her index finger, rumored to be from Robert Pattinson: “Everyone wants to know. Everyone knows already -it’s ridiculous.”
On what it’s like to see herself on screen: “Laurence Olivier was asked, ‘Actors, what’s the impulse? Why?’ And he was just like, ‘Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me …’ That was his answer. But at the same time it’s like, ‘Nooo, don’t look at me. Look at some version that I’m going to present to you. Let me control it.’”
On intensity of her characters’ roles: “It’s one of the reasons I want to act. I love living in different worlds, because a lot of times mine is pretty nice and easy.”
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During her photo shoot for Vogue Italia in Los Angeles on Mother’s Day, Kim Kardashian showed a little PDA with her new boyfriend Kanye West.
In between shots “Kimye” looked lovingly into each other’s eyes and stole kisses from one another.
In addition to Kanye dropping by to support his lady, we also get to see Kim like we’ve never seen her before. The reality starlet was donning a short black wig and a number of different high fashion looks.
Before her shoot began, Kim tweeted:
“Happy Mothers Day!!! Had an amazing breakfast with the family…now off to a special shoot today!”
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Joanne Beauregard says there is no better time spent than time with her children. She and her husband practice what is called attachment parenting, meaning she spends all her time with them.
The Broomfield resident is one of the mothers profiled in the latest edition of Time magazine. The cover picture has elicited hundreds of thousands of online comments. It shows a mom breastfeeding her 3-year-old son as he stands on stool to reach her.
One of the techniques of attachment parenting is allowing a child to self wean. That means some children breastfeed for four years or longer.
Beauregard has a 10-week-old son, James, and a 22-month-old daughter, Claire.
They both breastfeed and often nurse at the same time. Claire is already able to communicate her desire to be fed.
“She’ll say ‘milk’ when she wants to nurse,” Beauregard said.
Under attachment parenting, there are no bottles used to supplement with formula, and a mom does not pump her own breast milk to be used later. That means Beauregard must always be available to the children, 24 hours a day.
“The biggest challenge is that I’m always on call sometimes I feel like a firefighter who is always on duty,” she said.
She says it did take some getting used to.
“At first, it was a shock and it was a little stressful, but you settle into a routine and it becomes natural,” Beauregard said.
She says it is a joy to have that intimate time with both of her children and she doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.
The principles of attachment parenting include:
- “Baby wearing,” or carrying your child in a sling for most of their daytime moments.
- Co-sleeping in the family bed.
- Extended breastfeeding until the child self weans. This can mean years. If there is a new baby in the house, both children are breastfed in a process called tandem nursing.
Under the photo on the latest cover of Time magazine, the text reads: “Are You Mom Enough?” It talks about the founder of attachment parenting.
Beauregard is one of the mothers featured in the article.
“I was honored to promote attachment parenting, because I believe in it,” she said.
She knows it comes with some criticism and says she even hears it from people she is close to.
“We do have friends that do not attachment parent and who are kind of against it,” Beauregard said. “Some are extremely vocal and opinionated about their views about how I should parent.”
There are psychologists who argue that children who are raised this way learn that the whole world revolves around them and do not learn a certain level of self denial or independence.
Clinical Social Worker Heidi Friese specializes in family therapy and attachment issues. She told 9NEWS it’s not as much about the amount time spent, as it is being engaged in that time.
“The parent has to be healthy and engaged,” Friese said. “In the U.S., it is really taboo, but in many cultures it is the norm and an important part of the connection between mother and child.”
The demand on parents who make this choice is significant. They cannot be away from the children for long at all. For Beauregard, both of her children are often up in the night to be fed.
“One of the parents’ jobs is to provide limits,” Friese said.
She says within the context of this technique, it is important for the parents to take care of their own health and sometimes that may mean a child sleeps in their own space or has to wait a few minutes to eat.
She says if kids are nursing at pre-school age, it is important for parents have to talk openly about why the family has made this choice because it could cause some awkward conversations with their young friends.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breast feeding at least until 6 months and supports extending that to one year.
Beauregard says they are building a family foundation that will not be shaken and she understands every parent has to make the choice that is best for them.
“Follow your heart and your gut. I think a mother knows best,” she said.
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US superstar Rihanna has been confirmed to perform on the grand finale of American Idol later this month.
According to Digital Spy, Fox network released a statement earlier this week confirming that the ‘Rude Boy’ hitmaker will be performing her song, ‘Where Have You Been’ when the current season ends on May 23.
Since the show began earlier this year, stars including Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry and Lana Del Ray have all taken to the stage to perform their hits in front of AI judges Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler and the remaining finalists.
We hope Riri will be ok to perform after the star tweeted a photo of her arm attached to a drip earlier this morning.
But before Rihanna entertains the audience, Jennifer will perform her hit during the results show tonight.
Hollie Cavanagh, Joshua Ledet, Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez are still in the running for the American Idol winner’s title.
Who do you want to win?
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