Debbie Gibson was still in her teens when she hit it big in the ’80s, and while some young stars ran into problems because of their early fame, that didn’t happen for Gibson — and she credits her parents for that.
“I’m very lucky because I had my mom and my dad,” she tells the New York Post’s Page Six, noting that her mom was her manager at the beginning of her career and “literally threw her body in front of anybody that was out to cause me any kind of harm.”
“It didn’t always get her brownie points but got her a lot of respect, and it protected me,” Gibson shares. “So, I’m really lucky that I had protective parents that didn’t want anything from me but for me to turn out sane and happy and healthy.”
Of course, supportive parents weren’t necessarily something Britney Spears had, and Gibson says she can understand why Brit seems to be acting out now that she’s finally free of her conservatorship and her father’s control.
Referring to Brit’s naked Instagram photos, Gibson says, “It’s very easy to kind of mock her social media posts. But I see somebody who is joyful and just dying to get out of that bubble.” She adds, “She’s a natural performer, so if she has to perform in her living room, on social media, that’s what she’s going to do. … But I hope she finds her stage again.”
A woman broke into Robert De Niro’s Upper East Side Manhattan townhouse early Monday morning and began snagging Christmas presents from under the tree, according to police.
Shanice Aviles, 30, was arrested on burglary charges after she was spotted entering De Niro’s E 65 Street home at 2:45 a.m.
ABC News has learned police were following Aviles because she was wanted in connection with six other burglaries. Police sources described her as a recidivist who had just been arrested December 8.
Early this morning, police saw her entering a townhouse on E 65 Street. When she did not come out, police entered the home and saw her taking presents from under the Christmas tree and putting them into a bag.
Hearing the commotion, De Niro came down the stairs. Police did not know it was his house until he appeared. There was no interaction between the actor and the alleged thief, police said.
(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is warning that the city is expected to receive over 1,000 asylum-seekers each week, with Title 42 set to be lifted on Wednesday.
Although he does not say what authority has warned of the incoming surge of migrants, he said that NYC would see more people entering the shelter system as early as Sunday.
“The flow of asylum-seekers to New York City has slowed in recent months, but the tool that the federal government has used to manage those coming over the border is set to expire this week, and we have been told in no uncertain terms that, beginning today, we should expect an influx of buses coming from the border and that more than 1,000 additional asylum-seekers will arrive in New York City every week,” Adams said in a statement.
Title 42 is a clause of the 1944 Public Health Services Law that “allows the government to prevent the introduction of individuals during certain public health emergencies,” Olga Byrne, the immigration director at the International Rescue Committee, told ABC News last week.
Adams has called on the state and federal government for funding to help house asylum-seekers, saying that NYC has managed the flow and influx of seekers “entirely on its own.”
Since April, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has bused over 14,000 migrants from the Texas-Mexico border to Democrat-led cities across the country, including NYC, citing a need to secure the border after claiming the Biden administration isn’t doing so.
In September, Adams called for “coordination” with the federal government and Republican governors over the busing and flying of migrants to the city, saying that NYC’s system was “nearing its breaking point.”
“We are in urgent need for help, and it’s time for our state and federal partners to act — especially those in Congress who refuse to provide the financial resources or issue temporary work authorizations necessary for these individuals to live properly,” Adams said in a press release Sunday.
The mayor also warned that the shelter system is currently full and are “nearly out of money, staff, and space.”
“Truth be told, if corrective measures are not taken soon, we may very well be forced to cut or curtail programs New Yorkers rely on and the pathway to house thousands more is uncertain,” Adams said.
(TORONTO) — Five people are dead after a gunman opened fire on Sunday at a condo building in a suburb near Toronto, police said on Monday.
Another victim was injured in the shooting in Vaughan, a city north of Toronto, according to York Regional Police.
“We offer our sincere condolences to the victims and their families,” Chief MacSween said at the scene, according to a statement released Monday.
Officers arriving at the scene had an “interaction” with the alleged gunman, who was shot and killed at the condo building, police said.
“Residents of the building who had been evacuated are now able to return to their homes,” York police said on Twitter. “We thank you for your patience and understanding while we worked to ensure safety and preserve evidence.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Looks like Billy Joel may have picked up a bug on his recent trip to Australia: He’s had to postpone his final concert of the year.
On Instagram, Billy, who’s 73, wrote, “I’m disappointed to share that I’m under doctor’s orders for vocal rest due to a viral infection so unfortunately, I must postpone my Monday, December 19th concert at Madison Square Garden to June.”
He added, “I’m so sorry to let you know so close to show day, but I was hoping to be closer to a full recovery by now. Sadly, that hasn’t happened. I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.”
The show has been rescheduled for June 2, 2023 and all tickets for Monday’s show will be honored that night.
Billy’s next scheduled show is January 13 at Madison Square Garden, as part of his ongoing once-a-month residency there.
The Osbournes matriarch Sharon Osbourne is on the mend at home, after being hospitalized for a medical emergency she suffered Friday in Los Angeles.
Jack Osbourne posted a now-vanished Instagram Story on Saturday that noted, “She has been given the all clear from her medical team and is now home.” He went on to thank “everyone who has reached out with love and support.” Jack added, “As to what happened to my mum — I’m gonna leave it to her to share about when she is ready.”
What did remain on Jack’s IG Story feed was his online dressing down of a TMZ reporter looking for comment on the situation, which Jack said woke him up after spending “all night” with his mother while she was in the hospital.
E! News noted the 70-year-old former co-host of The Talk was shooting a TV project with her son at the Glen Tavern Inn in Santa Paula, Calif. when 911 was called over an undisclosed medical situation that sent Sharon to a nearby hospital.
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah is requesting a reduced sentence for her role in a long-term telemarketing scheme, defense lawyers said in a sentencing memorandum filed Friday evening.
In the filing, Shah requested a no more than three-year sentence, as opposed to the 11- to 14-year range requested in plea deal advisory guidelines.
Shah pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in July, in connection with the telemarketing scheme that scammed elderly victims out of their savings by pressuring them to buy worthless services from companies in which she was involved.
The request for a reduced sentence came after, earlier in the day, a federal judge in New York ordered Shah to forfeit dozens of designer handbags, jewelry, clothes, and more.
The 108 items were seized in March of 2021 in a search of Shah’s home. The inventory includes scores of counterfeit bags and jewelry stamped with fake Chanel, Gucci, Bulgari and Hermès labels, according to a new court filing.
In addition to pleading guilty in July, Shah, 49, was ordered to forfeit $6.5 million. She must also pay restitution to victims of the nationwide telemarketing scheme that prosecutors said targeted elderly, vulnerable victims.
The judge’s forfeiture order allows prosecutors to sell Shah’s belongings and use the money to pay back victims.
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee examining the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol is holding its final public meeting on Monday.
The panel will meet at 1 p.m. ET and is expected to discuss criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump and other figures who played a role in the failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
This week, the committee, which will disbanded at the end of the year, is expected to also release a comprehensive report with findings and recommendations from its 18-month investigation. The report is expected to follow the themes presented in the series of nine public hearings held this summer and fall, which examined Trump’s pressure campaign on federal and state officials, and his response as the violence unfolded.
Please check back for updates. All times Eastern:
Dec 19, 9:13 AM EST
Expect ‘five or six’ categories of referrals: Chairman
The most important business at hand when the select committee meets this afternoon is the committee’s highly anticipated decision on criminal referrals.
Sources familiar told ABC News the committee is preparing to urge the Department of Justice to prosecute Donald Trump for obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Another criminal charge under discussion is insurrection, the sources said.
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., tasked a subcommittee to make recommendations on criminal referrals and to also explore enforcement options for the five Republican lawmakers who ignored subpoenas to testify: Reps. Kevin McCarthy, Andy Biggs, Jim Jordan, Scott Perry and Mo Brooks.
Thompson has said to expect “five or six” categories of referrals, which means there could be referrals to several different entities such as the Justice Department or the House Committee on Ethics.
The extent of the criminal referrals, and who will be targeted, will be made clear in a matter of hours when the committee releases a separate, shorter report on the matter. Any referrals would be a largely symbolic move, though, as it’s ultimately up to federal prosecutors whether to pursue charges.
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders
Dec 19, 8:01 AM EST
Liz Cheney’s mission: Keep Donald Trump out of the White House
Rep. Liz Cheney will make a last high-profile stand against Donald Trump when the Jan. 6 committee holds its final public meeting in a matter of hours — as sources say it’s preparing to recommend the first-ever criminal charges against a former president.
It’s cost the Wyoming Republican her political career to take on Trump, but she’s said she has no regrets — making the case she has a higher mission: to keep him from ever regaining the White House.
After voting to impeach Trump, and then accepting an invitation to serve on the select committee, she lost her No. 3 House GOP leadership position and ultimately, her congressional seat.
But in doing so, she also won unlikely supporters as she exposed what she called Trump’s seven-point plan to steal the election and admonished her Republican colleagues who, she said, lacked the courage to do the same.
Dec 19, 7:54 AM EST
Committee to release summary of final report
The Jan. 6 committee is expected to release an executive summary of its findings after Monday’s meeting concludes.
“Following the business meeting, the Select Committee is expected to release certain materials, including an executive summary of the report, details on referrals, and additional information about witnesses who have appeared before the committee,” a select committee aide said in a statement on Sunday.
Select committee members have not yet provided DOJ investigators with copies of the committee’s transcripts and witness interviews — with members opting to do so at the end of their investigation.
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders
Dec 19, 7:43 AM EST
Committee expected to recommend criminal charges
Monday is the last public meeting of the Jan. 6 committee, with ABC News learning members are expected to recommend criminal charges be pursued against former President Donald Trump in connection with the Capitol attack nearly two years ago.
Sources familiar with the committee’s deliberations say the recommended charges will include conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of an official proceeding. The committee also is considering recommending Trump be charged with insurrection.
Members have been working against the clock to try to finish their work before Republicans take control of the House in the new year.
Any decision about whether to bring any charges against the former president would be left to the Department of Justice. DOJ has been conducting its own parallel investigation into the events of Jan. 6 and isn’t obligated to act on congressional referrals.
(NEW YORK) — A Virginia girl will be able to celebrate the holidays this year with a bright smile on her face thanks to a life-changing surgery that she is believed to be the first pediatric patient to undergo.
Nicole Serna-Gonzalez, 11, was born with a condition called unilateral congenital facial paralysis, which left her unable to smile, blink or show emotion on the right side of her face. The condition happens in around 2 out of 1,000 births, according to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Nicole’s parents, Sergio and Carolina Gonzalez, said doctors initially told them they believed the condition would either improve or go away completely.
When it didn’t as Nicole got older, she underwent further testing that showed part of a nerve had not developed while she was in utero, leading to her face paralysis, according to Carolina Gonzalez.
She said that when she and her husband learned Nicole’s facial paralysis would not go away on its own, they sought out treatments in hopes of making her life easier. She said they also worked to make sure Nicole knew she was beautiful the way she was born.
“I didn’t want to fix her because I think something is wrong. I love her smile before. It’s who she was,” Carolina Gonzalez told ABC News. “But I wanted for her to live a life where she doesn’t have to tell her story on a daily basis.”
Nicole’s condition is so rare that her parents said they had difficulty finding information about it online, particularly finding cases where the paralysis was successfully fixed.
In her research, Carolina Gonzalez said she discovered Dr. Patrick Byrne, who is now chair of the Head and Neck Institute at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
The Gonzalez family traveled to meet with Byrne, where they said they discovered he could treat Nicole’s facial paralysis with a first-of-its-kind, 12-hour surgery.
Sergio Gonzalez described learning about the surgery and then deciding to move forward with it for Nicole as a “big leap of faith.”
“It was scary and we were worried but also we didn’t’ want to let pass an opportunity for her,” he said. “For us as parents, it was really important to do the most that we could and not regret it and not deny her the opportunity, but it was a big leap of faith.”
The Gonzalezes, also the parents of a 7-year-old boy, said they were made aware that the process would be long, with Nicole not seeing full results for possibly as long as two to three years.
Byrne said he watched as Nicole and her family decided to move forward with the surgery, knowing how important it is to have the ability to smile.
“When people lose their ability to express their emotions on their face, it really has profound effects,” Byrne told ABC News. “It affects not only how you feel about yourself, but it has dramatic effects of how people respond to you. It’s a really difficult way to go through life because you don’t’ get the responses from people that most of us do in everyday situations.”
On June 8, 2021, Byrne led a team of five surgeons, an anesthesiologist and multiple nurses in performing a facial reanimation operation on Nicole, which involved removing a sensory nerve from her leg and implanting it in her face.
“We identify one facial nerve, a nerve in her good side, that drives her smile and her blink, and we sacrifice it and connect the nerve graft from her leg to that nerve, and then tunnel it all the way across from one side of the face to the other,” said Byrne. “Once that’s done, then we open up the paralyzed side of her face and we have to dissect out each one of the facial nerve branches.”
In order to give Nicole the most natural-looking smile possible, Byrne and his fellow surgeons performed a first-of-its-kind trivector gracilis free tissue transfer. They removed the gracilis muscle from Nicole’s leg and divided into three slips and then implanted the muscles under and around her eyes.
“We have to implant these muscles in a way that they’ll not only work but hopefully look beautiful and look natural, once they start working,” said Byrne. “Now when Nikki smiles spontaneously, when she smiles with her mouth, she’s also smiling with her eyes, like we do naturally.”
Byrne said that as Nicole continues to get further and further away from her surgery, she’ll end up with he calls a “nicely symmetric face.”
“She’s already beautiful and she’s special,” he said. “But we’re looking forward to even more improvement as she goes through her further development.”
PHOTO: Nicole Serna-Gonzalez, 11, is pictured with her parents and brother.
Annie Neill/Cleveland Clinic
Nicole Serna-Gonzalez, 11, is pictured with her parents and brother.
More than one year after undergoing surgery, Nicole describes her own smile as “magical.”
“I feel happy with my new smile and I think it’s really magical,” she told ABC News. “The side of my face, when I smile, it moves, and I’m really happy about that. I have a full smile now.”
The fifth-grader, who said she loves history and loves to craft, said she feels “happy” that she can share her story in hopes that, “Other people who have face paralysis can get help.”
Sergio and Carolina Gonzalez said that while the months before and after the surgery were difficult, they are happy to see Nicole doing so well.
They said they also want to share their family’s story to give hope to other families who, like they once were, may be searching for ways to help their child.
“I want more parents to be able to look up and find it and normalize the whole thing, including the surgery process,” said Carolina Gonzalez. “As parents, whatever the situation is for the child, I think it’s so important to always build your child, always make them feel secure, make them feel special, because they are. That’s how we raised Nicole.”
The first online trailer for filmmaker Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer dropped Sunday. Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy plays the title role of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, director of the laboratory that developed the first atomic bombs for the Manhattan Project in the 1940s. Emily Blunt stars as Oppenheimer’s wife, while Matt Damon plays Gen. Leslie Groves, Jr., director of the Manhattan Project. Robert Downey, Jr., Florence Pugh, Rami Malek and Kenneth Branagh also star. Oppenheimer opens July 21 of next year…
Sam Mendes‘ new HBO comedy pilot The Franchise has nailed down its main cast, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The pilot is set against the backdrop of the production of a superhero movie and stars Game Night and Made for Love‘s Billy Magnussen, Spaced‘s Jessica Hynes, Ozark‘s Darren Goldstein, Shrill‘s Lolly Adefope and American Horror Story‘s Isaac Powell star, along with Inglourious Basterds‘ Daniel Brühl and Can You Ever Forgive Me?‘s Richard E. Grant in recurring roles. The project marks Mendes’ first time directing for U.S. TV…
Netflix has pulled the plug on Blockbuster after just one season, according to Deadline. The workplace comedy, starring WandaVision‘s Randall Park as “an analog dreamer living in a 5G world,” who, along with his co-worker and longtime crush, played by Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Melissa Fumero, fights to stay relevant,” failed to catch fire with viewers, never cracking Netflix’s top 10…
Joseph Mawle, best known for his role as Benjen Stark in the HBO series Game of Thrones, has been added to the cast of Paramount+’s Yellowstone prequel 1923, according to Variety. Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford star in the new original drama series that premiered over the weekend and which introduces “a new generation of Duttons led by patriarch Jacob and matriarch Cara” — played respectively by Ford and Mirren, per the streamer, and “explores the early twentieth century when pandemics, historic drought, the end of Prohibition and the Great Depression all plague the mountain west, and the Duttons who call it home”…
