Add Ellie Goulding to the list of celebrities who are on Britney Spears‘ side. After watching the Framing Britney Spears documentary, Ellie says, she couldn’t help thinking about the pressures she’s had to face in her own career.
“It really affected me,” she tells the Daily Mail‘s You magazine about the documentary. “Britney was so young, and she was thrown into this circus without any support.”
Ellie continues, “The same people who want your music and want more from you are also telling you that they want less: ‘I don’t want you to have mental health issues. I want you to be fine and perform and write perfect songs for me.'”
She recalls, “When I started out, there wasn’t much help and mental health wasn’t talked about,” while noting, “There’s more awareness now, but we’ve let a lot of people down, people who have brought us so much joy through their music.”
Ellie says, like Britney, she was sometimes forced to do things she wasn’t comfortable with. “I thought I had to look a certain way and dress a certain way,” she explains. “I thought I had to squish myself into some kind of box as a pop singer.”
She reveals, “I was repeatedly encouraged to wear the girliest, sexiest, most feminine option at any photo shoot. I was made to feel as though I wasn’t enough by myself. I began to think it was way more interesting for me to have a storyline with a man at the forefront, which triggered a wild insecurity of who I actually was without them.”
She notes, “If I just had a bit of what I have now, which is trusting and respecting myself, it would have been a different story.”
(WASHINGTON) — Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said he’s in touch with superintendents who are actively defying Florida and Texas governors’ orders not to mandate masks in schools and will have their back should they lose state funding.
“I have had conversations with superintendents and they have asked if this goes in that direction, how do we get support? My message is, open the schools safely. We got your back,” Cardona told ABC News in an exclusive interview Tuesday after touring P.S. 5 Port Morris, a public school in the Bronx.
Last week, Cardona sent a letter to superintendents in Florida reassuring them that if Gov. Ron DeSantis followed through on a threat to withhold salaries from schools that imposed mask mandates, federal funding could make up the difference. The Republican governor has banned mask mandates in the state of Florida — which has the highest case rate in the nation — an order that goes against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest guidance for all students and school faculty to wear masks in the classroom this fall because of the heightened spread of the delta variant.
Cardona also expressed hope that schools will stay in session this year.
“I’m hopeful, I’m optimistic — and if the adults do their job, our kids will be fine,” Cardona said.
“We’re always going to be monitoring changes in delta and we’re willing to move if we need to move, but right now we can safely return our students to school if we follow the mitigation strategies, get vaccinated when you can,” he added.
But states have diverged over what that “job” is along political lines, with many Republican-led states choosing to leave the decision on masks up to students and parents rather than follow CDC guidelines.
Eight states have banned schools from requiring masks for students — Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Florida, South Carolina, Texas and Utah. But Texas and Arkansas have some of the highest case rates in the nation behind Florida.
Like Florida, some Texas school districts have gone against the ban on mask mandates.
But outbreaks have already been reported in districts that have returned to school, particularly in schools that aren’t requiring masks. Hillsborough County Public Schools, which includes the city of Tampa, Florida, announced Monday that 5,599 students and 316 school employees are currently either in isolation or quarantine after COVID exposure at school. The school board intends to discuss implementing mandatory mask mandates at the next board meeting, officials said.
The return to school nationwide is also coinciding with a surge in cases among young people, who make up a large portion of the unvaccinated in the United States. More than 121,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported among kids last week, another “substantial” increase from weeks prior, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association said in a report Monday.
Pediatric coronavirus-related hospital admissions now equal the most seen at any point of the pandemic.
Severe illness due to COVID-19 remains “uncommon” among children, the two organizations wrote in the report, but they warned that there is an urgent need to collect more data on long-term impacts, “including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects.”
The rise in cases has fueled concerns that students will not be able to stay in school without frequent COVID scares sending them back to remote learning.
“Delta is different, so we must pay attention to transmission rates, to what we’re learning about the delta variant, and we as educators have to be nimble to make sure we’re addressing what we’re learning from our health experts,” Cardona said. “Again, it’s really important that we work in tandem with our health experts to make sure we have a safe school reopening.”
But Cardona stressed that students should not fall back into remote-learning options because the benefits of the classroom still outweigh the risks.
“Students learn best in the classroom. We know that. And we have to give them an opportunity to get into the classroom to build relationships,” Cardona said.
Asked if the CDC should tailor guidelines for schools with lower vaccination rates, Cardona said he’s confident those rates will rise once children return to the classroom because of the effort to reach kids in one place — education and pop-up clinics targeting kids at school.
“I’m really confident that when school gets started, and our communities come back, they’re gonna look to the schools to be a place where they can get vaccinated,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is expected to announce, as soon as this week, a plan to roll out booster shots for all Americans who got Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccines more than eight months ago.
Any plan would be contingent upon getting a green light from federal agencies who say they are still reviewing the data.
Here are five things to know about boosters:
Booster shots could begin as early as mid-September
The first vaccine shots in the U.S. were given out last December — exactly eight months ago — to health care workers and nursing home residents.
It’s expected these same high-risk, high-priority groups would be first in line for booster shots come September, assuming federal regulators agree to sign off.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has already given the green light for a third shot for people who are severely immunocompromised. But this group — patients getting treated for cancer or having experienced an organ transplant, for example — was considered less likely to have developed an immune response in the first place.
Booster shots for the broader public would only be called for if the FDA agrees with vaccine makers and independent studies that immunity is indeed waning.
8 months isn’t a precise measure of when immunity wanes
A person’s immune system is a complicated puzzle, with antibodies in a person’s blood stream as only one piece.
Scientists said they are looking at other clues too, including closely watching COVID-related hospitalizations involving vaccinated people.
Pfizer and BioNTech, which partnered to develop the nation’s first vaccine, said it has early data suggesting that a booster dose anywhere from six to 12 months after the initial vaccination will help maintain a high level of protection. Their data have not been shared publicly yet.
In particular, the company said a person getting a booster between eight and nine months after their primary shot showed higher neutralizing antibody levels against the delta variant, compared to people who received the original two doses.
But Pfizer and BioNTech also said in a joint statement that they are waiting for more data before officially submitting a request to allow for booster shots.
New hospitalization data might hold more clues on vaccine immunity
The number of vaccinated people winding up in the hospital with COVID-related complications is an important clue to how well the vaccines are working.
If a vaccinated person becomes infected with the virus but does not become seriously ill or transmit the virus to others, then the vaccine is still working well. But if health officials start reporting a rising number of hospitalizations involving vaccinated patients, that could signal that immunity among vaccinated populations is beginning to wane.
So far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said boosters aren’t needed, estimating that 97% of people hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.
But that estimate was based on hospital-reported data from spring, before the delta variant began spreading wildly. The CDC said it’s not ready to release updated numbers yet, but is working on getting a clearer picture of delta’s impact on the vaccines.
The FDA and CDC still have to sign off
Pfizer and BioNTech have submitted early data to the FDA, but are still tracking people who got the vaccine. When those results are finalized, the companies are expected to ask the FDA to green light the third shots.
If the FDA signs off, an independent advisory panel to the CDC will likely convene to discuss what exactly should be recommended to Americans. That would then pave the way for an official recommendation by the CDC, along with advice to doctors and patients on getting a booster.
The FDA and CDC have said previously that booster shots for broader populations aren’t needed yet. But Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top medical adviser to President Joe Biden, has called the possibility inevitable because of the likelihood that protection would diminish over time.
Less is known about people who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine
So far, the plan to roll out boosters is focused on Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which rely on similar technology.
Less is known about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which rolled out later than Pfizer and Moderna and has been given to considerably fewer people.
Government officials say more data are expected in coming weeks on precisely how much protection J&J allows — information that will be critical in determining whether J&J recipients might need a boost.
ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett, Molly Nagle, Sarah Kolinovsky, Sony Salzman and Eric Strauss contributed to this report.
Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler‘s Janie’s Fund charity has partnered with the CITIZEN-T project and visual artist Brian Fox to offer a limited-edition designer T-shirt featuring a portrait of the rock legend, each one signed by Tyler.
Only 100 shirts are available, priced at $300, and money raised by the sale will benefit the Janie’s Fund’s LifeSet program, which provides therapeutic support for young women between the ages of 17 and 22 that have experienced various forms of abuse.
The T-shirts are previously used or recycled items that are given new life with the Tyler portrait art, and are presented in zero-waste packaging. You can buy the shirts now at JaniesFund.org; purchases are limited to five per person.
“The fusion of art, sustainable fashion and recovery is perfectly aligned with our values,” says Janie’s Fund executive Richard Shaw. “We’ve been fortunate to partner with artist Brian Fox since Janie’s Fund was launched in 2015, and this CITIZEN-T collaboration is directly bringing our passion forward to create more awareness to this issue that Steven cares deeply about.”
Adds CITIZEN-T founder Stephanie Dillon, “Many of us have been inspired by Aerosmith’s artistry for years but this work to bring awareness and raise funds to help others overcome their trauma is something I’m deeply connected to, and it’s so very timely and needed. We hope this is just the first of what will be many collaborations to help girls and the environment heal.”
Netflix has released the first images of The Crown‘s newest cast members to play Prince Charles and Lady Diana in the in-production fifth season of the Emmy-winning drama.
Dominic West, a veteran of the acclaimed show The Wire, and films including 300, is a dead ringer for a greying Charles in the early ’90s as his marriage to Princess Diana continued to crumble. They divorced officially in 1996.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Tenet veteran Elizabeth Debecki is shown with her head on a pillow, looking haunted. Diana, of course, battled an eating disorder and constant tabloid pressure as their royal marriage splintered amid Charles’ extra-marital romance with his current wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, leading to Diana’s own affair with James Hewitt, played in the series by Daniel Donskoy.
In The Crown‘s fourth season, Emma Corrin plays a younger Diana Spencer, who falls for and eventually marries Josh O’Connor‘s Prince Charles in 1981.
50 Cent is bringing in the “big dogs” for his upcoming Starz series Black Mafia Family.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, 50 revealed that he had tapped fellow emcee Eminem to play White Boy Rick, the notorious Detroit teenager turned undercover FBI informant, on his new series. “I couldn’t do a show based in Detroit without incorporating the legend @eminem,” 50 wrote in part. As previously reported, BMF follows the real-life story of brothers Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory, who “rose from the decaying streets of southwest Detroit in the late 1980s and gave birth to one of the most influential crime families in the country.” The series premieres Sunday, September 26, at 9 p.m. ET. and stars Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr., Russell Hornsby, Snoop Dogg, La La Anthony and Serayah, among others.
In other news, Amazon Prime Video has announced this year’s installment of the Welcome to the Blumhouse movie series. Described as “unsettling thrillers” that center on diverse storytelling, the first set of double features includes Bingo Hell and Black as Night, which will both premiere on October 1. They will be followed by Madres and The Manor, which will debut on October 8.
Finally, Netflix has released the official trailer to the fourth and final season of Dear White People. As previously reported, the upcoming season will be a “’90s-inspired musical event” that will pick up in the “not-so-distant, post-pandemic future” where the cast will be looking back at “the most formative (and theatrical) year of their lives.” Created by Justin Simien, Dear White People stars Logan Browning, Brandon P. Bell, Antoinette Robertson, DeRon Horton, John Patrick Amedori, Ashley Blaine Featherson and Marque Richardson. The final season of Dear White People premieres on Wednesday, September 22.
50 Cent is bringing in the “big dogs” for his upcoming Starz series Black Mafia Family.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, 50 revealed that he had tapped fellow emcee Eminem to play White Boy Rick, the notorious Detroit teenager turned undercover FBI informant, on his new series. “I couldn’t do a show based in Detroit without incorporating the legend @eminem,” 50 wrote in part. As previously reported, BMF follows the real-life story of brothers Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory, who “rose from the decaying streets of southwest Detroit in the late 1980s and gave birth to one of the most influential crime families in the country.” The series premieres Sunday, September 26, at 9 p.m. ET. and stars Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr., Russell Hornsby, Snoop Dogg, La La Anthony and Serayah, among others.
In other news, Amazon Prime Video has announced this year’s installment of the Welcome to the Blumhouse movie series. Described as “unsettling thrillers” that center on diverse storytelling, the first set of double features includes Bingo Hell and Black as Night, which will both premiere on October 1. They will be followed by Madres and The Manor, which will debut on October 8.
Finally, Netflix has released the official trailer to the fourth and final season of Dear White People. As previously reported, the upcoming season will be a “’90s-inspired musical event” that will pick up in the “not-so-distant, post-pandemic future” where the cast will be looking back at “the most formative (and theatrical) year of their lives.” Created by Justin Simien, Dear White People stars Logan Browning, Brandon P. Bell, Antoinette Robertson, DeRon Horton, John Patrick Amedori, Ashley Blaine Featherson and Marque Richardson. The final season of Dear White People premieres on Wednesday, September 22.
(WASHINGTON) — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who made history as the first openly gay Cabinet member in U.S. history to be confirmed by the Senate, announced on Tuesday that he and husband Chasten Buttigieg are becoming fathers.
The former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend, Indiana, mayor revealed on Twitter that the couple, married in 2018, is growing their family.
“For some time, Chasten and I have wanted to grow our family,” the secretary wrote. “We’re overjoyed to share that we’ve become parents! The process isn’t done yet and we’re thankful for the love, support, and respect for our privacy that has been offered to us. We can’t wait to share more soon.”
Pete Buttigieg, 39, spoke about wanting to have children on the campaign trail back in April 2019.
While answering questions about his views on paid family leave at a rally, he revealed that he has a “personal stake in” the issue.
“We’re hoping to have a little one soon, so I have a personal stake in this one, too,” he said. “We should have paid parental leave and find a way to have paid leave for anyone who needs caring.”
Chasten Buttigieg, 32, opened up more recently about their path toward parenthood in a July interview with The Washington Post, detailing their experience getting on adoption waiting lists for babies that have been abandoned or surrendered on short notice.
The couple have had several close calls, leaving them scrambling to purchase baby essentials, before the adoptions fell through, he told the newspaper.
“It’s a really weird cycle of anger and frustration and hope,” he said in the interview. “You think it’s finally happening and you get so excited, and then it’s gone.”
Seether has premiered the video for “Wasteland,” a track off the band’s new album, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum.
The clip mixes performance footage with a narrative surrounding two characters trying to escape from the pressures of social media. The characters are played by professional snake wrangler Danielle Wall and Tom Berninger, brother of The National frontman Matt Berninger.
“We were trying to figure out how to make some kind of statement about the evils of social media and it evolved from one idea to the video it is now,” says frontman Shaun Morgan.
“After spending such a long period of time without any kind of personal contact with the other band members, the live performance element was especially important to us,” he continues. “It was good for us mentally and emotionally, but it was also important to visually show that we’ve come out the other side after such a difficult time.”
You can watch the “Wasteland” video streaming now on YouTube.
Seether released Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum last August. It includes the singles “Dangerous” and “Bruised and Bloodied.”
Last week, Seether announced a new greatest hits compilation titled Vicennial — 2 Decades of Seether. It’ll be released October 15.
New details of late R&B star Aaliyah‘s life are being revealed nearly 20 years after her death.
Author Kathy Iandoli‘s new biography, Baby Girl: Better Known as Aaliyah, out Tuesday, includes never-before-told stories about the hitmaker’s music, her relationships and the evolution of her career.
Iandoli’s book also explores Aaliyah’s long-lasting influence since her tragic death in a plane crash on August 25, 2001, at age 22.
During an interview with Good Morning America, Iandoli shared more about her reverence for the late music icon and what drew her to creating this biography.
“I wanted to create something that celebrated her because I was sick and tired of the other static that was coming in about her — the other things, the other news — and there’s only really one way to tell a story and it’s to provide this panoramic view of the artist,” she explained.
The author and music expert said Aaliyah’s death was overshadowed by the 9/11 attacks, so many fans “weren’t able to grieve.”
“What started to happen over the years was Aaliyah became an aesthetic — she became this like mythical creature, she became almost like a statue, a piece of iconography,” Iandoli said.
The book covers many points of Aaliyah’s career and her personal life, including her secret — and brief — marriage to disgraced rapper R. Kelly in 1994, when she was just 15 and Kelly was 27. The marriage was later annulled.
In the book, Iandoli also acknowledges the possibility that the late singer may have been drugged before boarding her final flight. Iandoli is clear in stating that this is just a possibility; she is not saying it happened or did not happen.
Baby Girl: Better Known as Aaliyah is now available.
