Idris Elba admits he was not the best boyfriend when he started dating now-wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba. The Luther star said he struggled with his temper, which led to angry outbursts and “tantrums.”
“Sabrina and I, very early in our relationship, I was very stressed so I had these massive anger tantrums that were like explosion,” Elba recently revealed during their Coupledompodcast, according to The Daily Mail.
The British actor admits his outbursts would cause Sabrina to ask “Who are you?,” which sometimes caused Elba to give an ultimatum to his then-girlfriend.
“I was always the first to say, ‘Hey, if you’re not happy, leave. Move,'” the Emmy nominee recalled. “It was kind of like a male instinct.”
Elba wasn’t proud of his past behavior and admits he’s “been getting better” at working toward more peaceful resolutions.
“Sabrina and I both have strong personalities and typically it’s Sabrina who says, ‘Look, I don’t want to fight,'” he explained. “I’ve been getting better at it recently but when I do it, I get nothing back. When she does it, I go, ‘Thank you.'”
The star of the forthcoming The Suicide Squad said working through his anger has helped him forge a stronger bond with his wife, whom he wed in 2019. He adds the two have been “literally inseparable since we met” in 2017.
“I’d say we’re in a good place,” Elba assessed. “It was a challenging year, but ultimately, when you look to the side and you’ve got someone that’s been there, ride or die, that’s really comforting.”
Sabrina added, “We’re newly business partners, but we’re also newlyweds. Idris is my best friend. I want to be around this guy every day of my life, so it’s really great to be able to see what that morphs into.”
(WASHINGTON) — Over the objections of three conservative justices, the US Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from a Washington State flower shop that violated state anti-discrimination law by refusing to serve a same-sex couple on religious grounds.
The decision means a California Supreme Court judgment against Arlene’s Flowers and owner Barronelle Stutzman will stand. In 2013, Stutzman refused to arrange wedding flowers for a pair of long-time customers — Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed — saying that doing so would violate her religious beliefs.
“After Curt and I were turned away from our local flower shop, we cancelled the plans for our dream wedding because we were afraid it would happen again. We had a small ceremony at home instead,” said Robert Ingersoll in a statement. “We hope this decision sends a message to other LGBTQ people that no one should have to experience the hurt that we did.”
With help from the ACLU, the couple sued the shop under Washington’s anti-discrimination law, which says businesses that are open to the general public cannot refuse to serve someone based on sexual orientation, even on the basis of sincere religious beliefs.
After years of legal proceedings, the state’s highest court sided with the couple. In 2018, the US Supreme Court remanded an appeal from Arlene’s Flowers back to the state for a second look. A year later, the Washington Supreme Court affirmed its original decision.
“The adjudicatory bodies that considered this case did not act with religious animus when they ruled that the florist and her corporation violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination by declining to sell wedding flowers to a gay couple, and they did not act with religious animus when they ruled that such discrimination is not privileged or excused by the United States Constitution or the Washington Constitution,” the court wrote.
“The State of Washington bars discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation. Discrimination based on same-sex marriage constitutes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. We therefore hold that the conduct for which Stutzman was cited and fined in this case—refusing her commercially marketed wedding floral services to Ingersoll and Freed because theirs would be a same-sex wedding—constitutes sexual orientation discrimination under the [law],” the Washington high court wrote in 2019.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch indicated that they would have taken up the case to review the judgment against the shop. The justices who voted to reject the case did not elaborate.
Lawyers for Stutzman in a statement online called the decision “devastating news.”
“The Supreme Court has once again said that critical nondiscrimination laws protecting LGBTQ people are legally enforceable and has set a strong and definitive precedent,” said Alphonso David, president of Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT advocacy group.
Earlier this week, the court delivered another win for LGBT rights advocates by rejecting the appeal of a Virginia school board seeking to impose a transgender bathroom ban. The move means schools in at least five states can no longer discriminate on the basis of gender identity in the use of restroom facilities.
The Court has sought to balance religious liberty and LGBT rights in a number of recent decisions.
The justices unanimously sided with Catholic Social Services this month in its dispute with the City of Philadelphia over discrimination against LGBTQ people in screening parents for foster care.
(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Elsa, the first of the Atlantic season, could take many paths when it reaches the United States, from the East Coast to the Gulf Coast to Florida — including Surfside, where rescue operations are ongoing.
Elsa is over St. Lucia Friday morning after blowing through Barbados, where it brought wind gusts of 86 mph.
A hurricane warning has been issued for Haiti, where heavy rain, flash flooding and rough winds are expected when Elsa charges in Saturday afternoon, likely as a Category 1 hurricane.
By Sunday night into Monday, Elsa will pass over Cuba as a tropical storm with heavy rain, flash flooding and 65 mph winds.
On Monday, Elsa will reemerge in the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm with winds of about 65 mph.
By Monday evening, Elsa will approach the Florida Keys as a strong tropical storm with winds near 65 mph.
The National Hurricane Center forecasts Elsa will move up the west coast of Florida, from Key West to Tampa, Monday night through Tuesday night.
Elsa could potentially impact the ongoing rescue efforts in Miami-Dade County following last week’s deadly condo collapse.
As of Friday at least 18 people, including two children, have been confirmed dead and 145 others remain unaccounted for.
The first rain bands in South Florida, including Miami, are expected Monday morning.
But Florida may be spared from a major hit. With several days still to go, Elsa could take other paths, either hitting New Orleans and the Gulf Coast states or staying east of Florida and impacting the Carolinas.
(OAHU, Hawaii) — Two pilots are alive after their 737 Cargo jet crashed several miles off the coast off Oahu, Hawaii, following an emergency, according to the Hawaii Department of Transportation.
The plane was en route from Honolulu to Maui when the pilots reported that one engine was down and they were having problems with their second engine, officials said. At 1:46 a.m. local time the pilots lost their second engine and notified the Federal Aviation Administration that they were going down.
One pilot was taken to a trauma center and officials said the second was on a rescue boat heading to a fire station, officials said.
The Queens Medical Center said it received one patient in critical condition.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Tenacious D is adding a bit more tenacity to The Beatles with a new charity single that has gotten a thumbs-up from Paul McCartney himself.
The comedy duo has released “You Never Give Me Your Money”/”The End,” an acoustic mashup of two tracks from the Fab Four’s Abbey Road medley. Being a Tenacious D performance, the cover also includes some extra four-letter words that pop up amid Jack Black‘s signature riffing vocal style.
Reacting to the cover, McCartney writes on his Facebook page, “This Tenacious D cover of our song is fantastic! It’s so imaginative and so well performed. What a great tribute to the original. Guys — I love it.”
Black and band mate Kyle Gass also have debuted an over-the-top mixed-media music video for their Beatles homage, which depicts the duo an a variety of surreal scenarios and locations, including on a mountain top, at Stonehenge, at Big Ben, in a forest, and in a jail cell. Gass dons a poorly fitting Beatles wig throughout most of the clip.
“Tenacious D are paying tribute to the greatest band in the world…not themselves…The Beatles!!!” the duo proclaims. “In the spirit of healing the world…please enjoy Tenacious D’s mashup of two classics from Abbey Road.”
You can download “You Never Give Me Your Money”/”The End,” now via digital outlets. The vinyl single version, which is available now for pre-order, will raise money for Doctors Without Borders.
Last fall, the D released a star-studded cover of the Rocky Horror Picture Show classic “Time Warp” to encourage voting.
Jim Morrison, the iconic lead singer of The Doors, died 50 years ago this Saturday, July 3, 1971, at age 27.
Morrison died unexpectedly during an extended stay in Paris while on hiatus from The Doors. He was found dead by his longtime girlfriend, Pamela Courson, in the bathtub of their rented apartment. His official cause of death was listed as heart failure, but the actual cause remains a mystery, since no autopsy was performed.
The late Doors frontman’s influence on music and popular culture has been immeasurable, thanks to his charismatic persona, his powerful vocal style, his exploration of dark themes and his talent for combining poetry with rock music.
Morrison had a fascination with pushing social boundaries that, unfortunately, coincided with a penchant for excess that included a serious alcohol dependency.
Doors drummer John Densmore recalls that he heard that Morrison had died while he was jamming with band mates Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger.
“[Jim] had been away for a few months and we wanted to make music and we were jamming on stuff, hoping he’d be back to help us,” Densmore tells ABC Audio. “And then, the manager came downstairs and said Jim had passed.”
John says that when Morrison was in Paris, he worried about the singer knowing his issues with alcohol.
“I was hoping he wasn’t drinking, but, you know, the Parisians have wine for breakfast,” Densmore notes. “[Paris] might not have been such a good place for him.”
As tragic as Morrison’s young death was, Densmore says he’s grateful for what he and the band created together.
“[I]t became bigger than its ingredients that came together in a garage in Venice [Beach, California,]” John notes. “And we gotta honor that muse and be thankful that something came in [that was] magic.”
Amber Heard surprised fans on Thursday with the news that she’s a new mom.
The Aquaman actress took to Instagram to announce the birth of her daughter, Oonagh Paige Heard, on April 8, 2021. The newborn appears to be named after Heard’s mother, Paige, who died in 2020. Oonagh [OO-nah] is a traditional Irish name that is variously translated as ‘lamb’ or ‘unity.’
“I’m so excited to share this news with you,” Heard, 35, began. “Four years ago, I decided I wanted to have a child. I wanted to do it on my own terms. I now appreciate how radical it is for us as women to think about one of the most fundamental parts of our destinies in this way.”
“I hope we arrive at a point in which it’s normalized to not want a ring in order to have a crib,” she continued. “A part of me wants to uphold that my private life is none of anyone’s business. I also get that the nature of my job compels me to take control of this.”
The post, which included a picture of Heard laying in a hospital bed cradling her newborn daughter, concludes by calling the baby “the beginning of the rest of my life.”
Heard is currently embroiled in a contentious legal battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp. The couple divorced in 2017 after two years of marriage. She went on to date Elon Musk, but the two went their separate ways in 2018.
Just in time for the 4th of July, Netflix is offering a U.S. civics lesson with their new animated series We The People.
Executive-produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, Kenya Barris and Chris Nee, the 10-episode animated music series, which has been compared to Schoolhouse Rock!, is designed to educate young Americans about their rights as citizens. Nee tells ABC Audio that the first episode, “Active Citizenship” was actually President Obama’s idea.
“President Obama came up with [it] on his own [because] he thought [it] was an important separated topic,” she says. “And the rest of it [laid] out what would be the basics and a curriculum.”
Sung by Grammy-winner H.E.R., the first We The People episode also features Biden inauguration poet Amanda Gorman, whom Nee says “takes [viewers] into the future” with her words. “Active Citizenship” director Peter Ramsey agrees, noting that H.E.R.’s lyrics also served as a “big inspiration” for the episode.
“H.E.R.’s line, ‘If I’m just one person, will my voice even stand out?,’ put her finger on an emotion that anyone can feel,” Ramsey explains. “Most people have asked that question in their daily lives. So taking that and saying, ‘Well, yeah, how can you make your voice stand out? What can you do? And then what can happen as a result?’ That was kind of the spirit of what we wanted to get across.”
As for H.E.R., she says joining the project spearheaded by the Obamas was an easy decision to make, considering it was “in line with what [she does]…in music.”
“Which is tell the truth and make people feel something through music and give people perspective,” H.E.R. says. “So I was so excited to be a part of it.”
Machine Gun Kelly has collaborated with jxdn on a new song called “Wanna Be.”
The pop-punk banger, which is available now for digital download, is accompanied by a video starring both artists, as well as Blink-182‘s Travis Barker, whose DTA Records released jxdn’s brand-new debut album, Tell Me About Tomorrow.
You can watch the “Wanna Be” video streaming now on YouTube.
MGK and jxdn will reunite this fall when the latter opens for the former’s Tickets to My Downfall tour, which kicks off in September.
In related news, Machine Gun Kelly is set to star in an upcoming movie that at one time was called Good News, but is now changing its title.
The film, according to Deadline, follows the “last days of a rising but troubled musician,” played by Kelly under his birth name, Colson Baker. It’s said to be a fictional work that takes inspiration from late artists including Mac Miller, Lil Peep, Juice WRLD and Pop Smoke, and its title is a reference to a posthumous Miller song.
That last bit irked Miller’s brother, Miller McCormick, who reportedly posted an Instagram Story reading, “F*** you f*** your movie at least change the title.”
In a statement to E! News, the film’s production company says it will be adopting a new title.
“Our film is about a fictional musician on the rise with a troubled life,” the statement reads. “It’s not in any way a biopic or based on any artist’s true life. We realize the title, which was intended as an homage to Mac Miller, and other artists gone too soon, feels disrespectful. We’ve heard from many people on social media who have found offense with the title so, without hesitation, we will change it.”
Stanislav Kogiku/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — USWNT player Alex Morgan says she’s “still not sure” about whether the new Tokyo Olympics policy for nursing mothers will allow her to bring her 1-year-old daughter to the games.
The soccer superstar took to Twitter to verbalize her confusion on Thursday.
“Still not sure what ‘when necessary’ even means. Is that determined by the mother or the IOC?” she tweeted. “We are Olympic mothers telling you, it is NECESSARY. I have not been contacted about being able to bring my daughter with me to Japan and we leave in 7 days.”
Several athletes have complained about the initial restrictions, which banned them from bringing their families along. On Wednesday, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee issued a statement that the restrictions have now been eased to allow nursing mothers to bring their children with them to the Games.
“It is inspiring that so many athletes with young children are able to continue competing at the highest levels, including at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and we are committed to doing everything possible to enable them to perform at the Tokyo 2020 Games,” the committee said in a statement obtained by “ABC News.” “After careful consideration of the unique situation facing athletes with nursing children, we are pleased to confirm that, when necessary, nursing children will be able to accompany athletes to Japan.”
The committee stated that the residential zone of the Olympic and Paralympic Village is restricted to athletes and team officials only so nursing children “must stay in private accommodation approved by Tokyo 2020, e.g. hotels.”
“It is great to see so many mothers compete at the highest level, including at the Olympic Games,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement. “We are very pleased to hear that the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee has found a special solution regarding the entry to Japan for mothers who are breastfeeding and their young children.”
The wording of the policy, however, is now drawing criticism, with Morgan’s teammate Megan Rapinoe also showing support for Olympic parents.
Earlier this year, officials announced their decision to bar all foreign spectators from attending the games, which includes any of the visiting athletes’ families. Officials also recently stated that all venues would be at 50% capacity, with a maximum of 10,000 people, to adhere to the Japanese government’s limits on public events.
Prior to the rule update, athletes were saying they felt forced to decide between being an Olympic athlete and a mom.
Marathon runner Aliphine Tuliamuk posted a photo Monday on Instagram saying she “feels torn” and has “cried a lot” thinking about not being able to bring her 5-month-old daughter, Zoe, with her to the Olympics.
Tuliamuk qualified by placing first at the Women’s 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials back in February 2020 and has been training since giving birth to be ready for the event.
“I have been working my butt off since having my daughter, I want to produce the best result possible, my long runs & workouts are coming together nicely, body is holding together well,” she wrote.
In her post, Tuliamuk stressed the difficulty in being apart from her daughter for even half a day, let alone the 10 days she’ll be away at the Olympics.
“I know that I will be leaving her for only 10 days, and she will be just fine, and that so many other moms have done the same, but I can’t even imagine being away from her for half a day,” she said.
“Motherhood is a beautiful thing, I love being Zoe’s mom more than life itself, I have never felt such immense, immeasurable love for someone before,” Tuliamuk continued. “Motherhood is also scary, I go down this rabbit hole sometimes, sometimes I think, what if something horrible happens and I never come home, like what if I never make it back from Tokyo? I am sure all moms understand this exact feeling. Motherhood has made me so vulnerable, I feel like my heart is hanging outside of my body.”
The 2021 Tokyo Olympics will begin July 23 and end Aug. 8.
