Entertainment

Jennifer Lopez is adding another title to her expansive resume — children’s book author.  The Marry Me star is teaming with late-night show host Jimmy Fallon to create the bilingual tale Con Pollo: A Bilingual Playtime Adventure.  And Jennifer could not be more pumped to release her new project.

“I’m so excited to launch my first children’s book and it’s even more special to collaborate with Jimmy,” she raved to People.

Jennifer and Jimmy are longtime friends.  The late-night show host said the two “have always wanted to do something together.”

“Since we’re both parents, we thought a children’s book would be the perfect fit,” Jimmy added. “It’s fun and educational and my Spanish teachers from high school would be so impressed to know that I’m teaching kids to speak Spanish with Jennifer Lopez.”

The book will feature “a plucky chicken named Pollo” who will help introduce children to the Spanish language. 

This marks Jennifer’s first children’s book, and Jimmy’s sixth.  He previously authored Your Baby’s First Words Will Be Dada, Everything Is Mama, This Is Baby, Five More Sleeps ‘Til Christmas, with a book titled Nana Loves You More coming out in March.

Con Pollo: A Bilingual Playtime Adventure is already available for preorder and will be released on October 11.

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If you don’t know, now you know — Hulk Hogan and his second wife Jennifer McDaniel have divorced and the wrestling legend has a new girlfriend. 

Taking to social media on Monday, Hogan announced, “Yo Maniacs just for the record, the Facebook and Instagram posts are of me and my girlfriend Sky, I am officially divorced.”

“Sorry I thought everyone already knew, love my Maniacs4Life,” he concluded. 

Prior to the announcement, Hogan had been spotted with another woman around Clearwater, Florida for weeks, TMZ reports. Additionally, the outlet obtained court documents that show Hogan filed for divorce in October 2021 and it was finalized that same year. 

Hogan and McDaniel married in 2010, after he split from his first wife Linda Marie Bollea, to whom he was married from 1983 until 2009. 

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Bob Odenkirk revealed on Sirus XM’s The Howard Stern Show Monday that his heart attack last July on the New Mexico set of Better Call Saul was more serious than had been reported. 

“I would have been dead,” the Emmy-winning actor and writer admitted. “CPR saved my life.”

Odenkirk, 59, said were it not for the good physical shape he was in from the hit action film Nobody, as well as the swift action of the cast and crew of his AMC show, the outcome would have been much different. He explained that co-stars Rhea Seehorn and Patrick Fabian realized something was wrong and “raced to my side…Because I guess I turned grey right away, and stopped breathing, and they started yelling…”

The actor recalled it was the on-site medical expert, Rosa — who was there mainly to enforce COVID-19 protocols — who started CPR on him right away. After 12 minutes, she had someone take over while she ran to her car to get her own defibrillator, as the set didn’t have one.

“When the defibrillator doesn’t work once, that’s not good,” the actor explained. “When it doesn’t work the second time, that is kind of like — forget it. But then they jacked it up a third time, and it got me back to a rhythm.”

He added, “Because I was in good shape, you kind of enlarge other veins around your heart…And I was told that more blood was able to go to my heart during CPR because these veins were just a little bit bigger from a lot of working out.”

After undergoing an operation to unclog an artery, Odenkirk says his recovery also was helped by the physical shape he was in.

“Take CPR classes,” Odenkirk added, “because you can save lives.”

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The fourth season of Yellowstone will come home to Peacock on March 28. The first three seasons of the hit series can be binged in their entirety on the streaming service, so the announcement wasn’t exactly a surprise but it’ll be well received by latecomers to the drama who still need to catch up. The third season premiere of the show, starring Kevin Costner as the head of the Dutton clan, was a smash hit for Paramount+. The show already has a hit prequel in Paramount+’s 1883, and will soon see a new spin-off, titled 1932, all from creator Taylor Sheridan…

Variety reports that Euphoria, the HBO drama starring Zendaya, hit a series high with Sunday’s season-two finale, drawing 6.6 million viewers. That makes it HBO’s second-most-watched show since 2004, behind only Game of Thrones, according to the pay TV channel. Season two episodes currently average 16.3 million viewers, the best performance for any season of an HBO series over the past 18 years, other than GoT. The season-two premiere’s viewership is approaching 19 million viewers in the U.S…

Warner Bros. on Tuesday dropped a new trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, the third and latest installment in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise. The Secrets of Dumbledore finds Jude Law‘s titular character enlisting Magizoologist Newt Scamander — once again played by Eddie Redmayne — to lead an intrepid team of wizards to stop the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald from seizing control of the wizarding world. Mads Mikkelsen replaces Johnny Depp as Grindelwald. The cast also includes Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler and Jessica Williams. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is slated to hit theaters April 15…

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It was time for hometowns on Monday’s episode of The Bachelor.

Clayton‘s first stop was Poquoson, Virginia, where he got a brief — and at moments painful — lesson in jiu-jitsu from Susie and her instructor, before meeting her mom, dad, sister and best friend. The evening proves to be a breeze for Clayton, who wins over all four of them.

Next, it was off to Gabby‘s hometown of Denver for a hike in the Rockies, followed by a meeting with her aunt, uncle, cousin and grandfather.

A touching moment came when her father, who couldn’t be there because his girlfriend of 10 years had cancer and he couldn’t risk catching COVID-19, paid a surprise visit. Recreating an iconic scene from the movie Love, Actually, he stood outside and flashed cue cards expressing his feelings for her and his hope that she’d find love with Clayton.

Clayton’s third stop was Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where he and Serene took there relationship to new heights — 80 feet to be exact — at Riversport Adventures’ Sky Trail, which consisted of a series of challenges, increasing in difficulty as they climbed, and culminating in a jump off the tippy top. Then it was off to meet Serene’s mom, best friend and brother, all of whom gave Clayton a thumbs-up.

Finally, it was Rachel‘s hometown of Clermont, Florida, and a day of kayaking before meeting her family, including her demanding father, who only agreed to give his blessing after he talked to his daughter. Clayton got his approval in the form of a pat on the arm — a signal they’d worked out in advance.

That led to another shocking rose ceremony, that saw the end of Serine’s time on the show.

Here are the women going to fantasy suites:

Gabby, 30, an ICU nurse from Denver, Colo.
Rachel, 25, a flight instructor from Clermont, Fla.
Susie, 28, a wedding videographer from Virginia Beach, Va.

The Bachelor returns with a special two-night event, Monday and Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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All aboard: The new season of Bravo’s Below Deck has set sail! Below Deck: Sailing Yacht is back for its third season, which promises more drama, drinking — and “unfortunate circumstances.”

Chief Stewardess Daily Kelliher told ABC Audio about a “serious” incident that rattled the crew of her luxury sailing yacht. “We don’t crash. We run aground. But it’s pretty serious. They were just unfortunate circumstances,” she explained, adding, “No one was injured.”

There’s something else that happens that Kelliher isn’t a super big fan of — she hates it when the yacht leans sideways, even though it happens no matter how much sailing experience one has. “No five-star hotels should be tilted on its side. Like it’s always going to be a disaster,” she remarked, adding it’s a bad look for her crew.

And while there’s plenty of drama this season for fans to snack on, there’s also plenty of drinking and hooking up.  Kelliher admits it’s not all for show because her crew would be doing the same things if the cameras weren’t there. 

“Maybe not as intense,” she explained. “Below Deck is a special formula. There’s a lot of turnarounds, and very intense guests… You’re caught up in a in a special environment, something that not everyone can understand. You’re in our own little bubble.”

Despite Below Deck‘s growing popularity, Kelliher still doesn’t consider herself a celebrity.  While she is “proud of the show and being part of it,” she admits, “I don’t like to publicly tell people I’m on Below Deck.”

“I’m a yachtie. That’s my job. This just happens to be kind of my sideline maybe. We’ll say my side hustle,” she said.

Below Deck: Sailing Yacht airs at 8 p.m. ET Monday night on Bravo.

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Once again, Maksim Chmerkovskiy has taken to Instagram to update his friends and followers about the “crazy” situation unfolding in his native Ukraine.

The Dancing with the Stars pro explains in a five-minute video that some “crazy” stories are unfolding throughout the country, including about a female friend of his who made it from Kviv to Lviv on her way to the Polish border. What should be a short trip into Poland had taken her 17 hours and counting, “crawling” in a bus along the traffic-packed escape route, Maks said. 

Maks explained his friend also noted that there also were “beautiful stories” of volunteers “constantly feeding, and giving hot drinks” to refugees along the way.

“[There’s] a lot of fighting everywhere. Streets are crazy. At one point I got arrested,” Chmerkovskiy said, before seeming to imply it was a misunderstanding. 

“[A]ll good, promise,” he said regarding the arrest, calling the situation “probably the least traumatizing moment in this whole thing as far as Ukraine is concerned,” but, he allowed, “for me, it was a reality check.”

Maks noted that he’s “trying to stay focused” on making his way toward the border and get out of the country, explaining, “I have a lot to unpack emotionally,” then admitting he’s “not in a mental state right now to do so.”

As he’s said in prior messages, his dual passport makes it easier for him to leave Ukraine, and he was going to head to the border as well.

“I’m nervous, but I know it’s gonna be OK,” Maks promised.

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Colton Underwood is engaged to his boyfriend, Jordan C. Brown, after less than a year together.

The former Bachelor star told People that he and Brown got engaged on a weekend getaway to Big Sur, saying he “couldn’t have pictured a more beautiful place to celebrate an amazing milestone in my life and relationship.”

He continued, “I’m extremely happy! 2021 was the most transformative year of my life. Starting 2022 off with my best friend, teammate and now fiancé is something I never thought was going to be possible.”

Underwood, 30, took to Instagram to confirm the news, sharing a photo of him and Brown, and captioning it, “life is going to be fun with you.”

The reality star told The New York Times in December that he and Brown, a political strategist, had been dating for several months. He said they were “very in love” and their families had already met.

Underwood publicly came out in an exclusive interview with Good Morning America last April. “I’ve ran from myself for a long time. I’ve hated myself for a long time,” he told GMA, adding that he was “the happiest and healthiest” he’s ever been.

The Bachelorette alum then starred in the Netflix docu-series Coming Out Colton, which detailed his experience of coming out to his friends and family. It also showed him navigating life as a gay man in sports who is a Christian and a public figure.

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When Will Smith won his first Screen Actors Guild Award Sunday, he received congratulations from his idol, Denzel Washington. The former Fresh Prince was honored for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for King Richard.

“He’s always been a mentor for me and he grabbed me and he said, ‘This is your year,'” Smith told People. “He just hugged me and he said, ‘I’m so happy for you. Just love who you’re becoming,'” he said.

The Independence Day star says Denzel has been a major inspiration for his success.

“I would go to Denzel for advice so he’s seen me through the years and he was just telling me how proud he is of who I’ve become and what I’ve become,” Smith added. 

In other news, when Samuel L. Jackson received the Chairman’s Award Saturday night during the NAACP Image Awards, he passionately demanded voting rights justice. The Pulp Fiction star called on viewers to use “our legs, our bodies, and our voices to work to make sure people do get out and vote.”

“I’ve had the opportunity to use my body to fight for things that were right, from civil rights, to the Vietnam War, to a lot of other things that needed fixing and changing. We got it done,” Jackson added. “The most important thing being the Voting Rights Act.” 

Finally, when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle accepted the President’s Award at the NAACP Image Awards, they also supported the voting rights movement.

“It’s inspiring to think about the legacy surrounding the Image Awards, which began shortly after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” Markle said. “Today, we can continue that legacy by reestablishing federal voting protections.”

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Oscar-winner Michael Douglas is playing an American icon: Founding father Benjamin Franklin.

The Kominsky Method star will bring the story of the legendary figure to life for a limited series produced by ITV Studios America and Apple Studios.

The project is based on Pulitzer-winner Stacy Schiff‘s book A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America, and written for the screen and co-produced by Kirk Ellis, who wrote HBO’s acclaimed John Adams series.

“The drama will explore the thrilling story of one of the greatest gambles of Benjamin Franklin’s career,” Apple TV+ teased in a statement.

“At age 70, without any diplomatic training, Franklin convinced France — an absolute monarchy — to underwrite America’s experiment in democracy,” the statement continues. “By virtue of his fame, charisma, and ingenuity, Franklin outmaneuvered British spies, French informers, and hostile colleagues, all while engineering the Franco-American alliance of 1778 and the final peace with England of l783.”

No word on who else will star in the series or when it’ll debut.

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