(NOTE LANGUAGE) In her new single, “Dead to Me,” DaniLeigh isn’t holding back her negative feelings towards a certain “someone” in her life…and that “someone” seems to be her rapper ex-boyfriend and father to her baby daughter, DaBaby.
In the track, which dropped Tuesday, the “Lil Bebe” singer confesses her extreme dislike for whomever caused “toxic energy” in her life.
The chorus of the new song goes, “You know you dead to me, never kept your word with what you said to me/ You know you dead to me, I ain’t got no more time for toxic energy, oh no/ Mama never liked yo’ a**, brotha wanna fight yo’ a**, Daddy hate yo’ triflin’ a**.”
The close-to-three-minute track is said to address her hurtful and highly publicized unhealthy relationship with DaBaby, which lasted a little over a year, according to reports.
Their time together was marked with numerous fights and altercations made public for the world to watch. What may have been the last straw for DaniLeigh was the assault charged she faced as a result of a vicious argument, shared via IG live, after the singer accused DaBaby with kicking her and her newborn out of his North Carolina home.
After announcing her pregnancy in July of last year, DaniLeigh gave birth to her first child, Velour, whom she shares with the “Suge” rapper.
In honor of Mother’s Day this past Sunday, she penned a sweet message to her daughter on Instagram, thanking her baby girl for “giving me purpose.”
(NEW YORK) — ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff and his cameraman Doug Vogt were covering the Iraq War in 2006 and embedded with U.S. and Iraqi forces when an explosion nearly killed them.
Woodruff and Vogt were severely injured and rushed to the hospital in Baghdad, the place where Woodruff met the medic who he says helped save their lives, Sgt. Dave Williamson, including by giving them pharmaceutical-grade fentanyl to manage their pain.
Once in the trauma bay, Williamson and his surgical team were able to treat Vogt and Woodruff.
“We knew that [Woodruff and Vogt] were in, in serious, serious, serious dire straits … we just needed to get a tube in your throat and have you breathing off machines,” Williamson said.
Due to the severity of Woodruff’s injuries, Williamson injected him with multiple drugs, including fentanyl. Williamson said he had complete control over the drug, and he knew that it was the kind of opioid that would manage Woodruff’s pain.
“Our go-to drug was fentanyl. So at the time the fentanyl that we had was given in micrograms and it was glass vials,” Williamson said. “We had a very solid understanding of what it is, what it’s capable of doing and also how dangerous it was.”
Fentanyl was developed in 1959 to be used for chronic pain, anesthesia as well as sedation, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The drug, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.
Although fentanyl and other opioids are intended for patients suffering from extreme pain, they are also powerfully addictive and carry strong warnings about the potential for harm.
Today, medical experts say illicit versions of the drug are driving the opioid crisis and contributing to one of the leading causes of drug overdoses in America.
Originally made for sedation during surgery, fentanyl rapidly began infiltrating the illicit drug market. Considered to be one of the most powerful opioids ever created — Mexican cartels are pouring tons of fentanyl over the U.S. border every year, according to the DEA.
Woodruff and Vogt safely returned to the U.S. and, as the war began to wind down, Williamson left the military. The effects of the war, however, stayed with him for years after his return and he was soon diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“You’re looking for anything to numb the pain. Even though it may not be physical pain, it’s something that just doesn’t go away,” Williamson said. “It just stays with you and it just gnaws and you’re trying to emotionally cope with everything that happened over the course of 18 months for 12 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, and you don’t have time to deal with it then, and now you’re home or you’re out of the Army and now you’ve got time to process it.”
Now at home and away from the conflict, the medic who administered opioids to numb his patients’ pain, developed an addiction to them.
“They prescribed me Percocet,” Williamson said about a surgery he had shortly after returning home. “And I rifled through those Percocet like it was nobody’s business and then I just wanted to do it more and more and more and more and more,” he said.
Williamson was then introduced to OxyContin by a close friend, making his addiction even worse. He would often buy the drug on the street and, before realizing it, the spiral descended from painkillers to meth and even heroin.
“So it’s just this sense of loneliness, of solitude and, before you know it, it’s spiraling out of control,” Williamson said.
His wife, Jessica Williamson, also suffered from opioid addiction. Jessica said she had her first contact with the drug after a car wreck when she was 17. She was prescribed painkillers to help her recovery.
“OxyContin came around and that was a huge problem for me, that was really when things got pretty bad for me,” Jessica said.
The couple began struggling to access OxyContin due to its high price, so they found themselves turning to the streets and using cheaper drugs, such as heroin.
One night, the couple says they believe the pills they got from a dealer were laced with fentanyl — the same extremely powerful opioid Williamson had used to treat Woodruff’s nearly fatal injury.
“We’re sitting in this parking lot and David did his and immediately was, you know, nodding out and was in and out. And I thought, ‘Wow, he did too much.’ Then I started throwing up, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I did too much.’ But I knew that I hadn’t done more than what I normally do. And I was sick. I mean, it was scary. It was very scary,” Jessica said.
The couple said they would not knowingly take fentanyl. They both believe that without their years of building a tolerance to opioids, those pills would have easily killed them.
The couple’s turning point, however, was when their 3-year-old son witnessed what they had been hiding for years.
“One of the things that was a turning point was when my 3-year-old walked into my room when I was shooting up and I screamed at him to shut the door,” Dave Williamson said.
“And I mean… “Is this what I’m going to do when he’s 30?”
Williamson then decided to join a program to seek treatment for his opioid dependency.
With the help of therapy and support groups, the Williamsons said they have stopped using opioids, and their hope is to keep drugs out of their lives forever.
“Once you’re an addict, you’re always an addict. It’s just that we don’t have the want or the need or the desire to chase it anymore,” Williamson said.
“We both see how our lives were then and we see where our lives are now and we like where we’re at now and we know how slippery of a slope it is.”
(NEW YORK) — The woman accused of fatally pushing an 87-year-old woman on a New York City street was indicted on a manslaughter charge and ordered held without bail on Tuesday.
Lauren Pazienza, 26, pleaded not guilty in New York State Supreme Court to charges stemming from the March 10 attack, including one count of first-degree manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault. She was remanded into custody, with the judge citing a recent bail reform change that allows judges to consider the seriousness of harm caused, according to New York ABC station WABC.
Prosecutors allege that on the evening of March 10, Pazienza crossed the street in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood and “shouted obscenities” at the victim, Barbara Maier Gustern, a well-known and beloved member of the city’s cabaret scene and a vocal coach. Pazienza then “intentionally shoved her to the ground,” prosecutors allege.
Gustern hit her head on the ground, causing a hemorrhage to the left side of her brain, and died five days later in the hospital after she was removed from life support, according to prosecutors.
“This was a senseless and unprovoked attack,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., said in a statement. “Barbara Gustern was a beloved vocal coach who lived a vibrant and active life at the age of 87, and her loss was felt deeply by many throughout the city.”
Prosecutors allege Pazienza “went to great lengths to avoid accountability for her actions,” including leaving the scene as Gustern lay bleeding on the ground. The suspect stayed in the area for about 20 minutes, during which time video footage showed her have a “physical altercation” with her fiance and watch the ambulance arrive, before they headed back to their apartment in Astoria, Queens, according to prosecutors.
Following the incident, Pazienza deleted her social media accounts, took down her wedding website and “eventually fled to Long Island to stay with family,” according to prosecutors.
Pazienza allegedly admitted to her fiance that she pushed Gustern, prosecutors said. She turned herself in to police on March 22, nearly two weeks after the incident, and was arrested on manslaughter and assault charges. She was initially released on $500,000 cash bail.
A motive for the attack remains unclear.
Following her arrest, her attorney called the victim’s death a “tragedy.”
“We’re just going to get to the bottom of what really happened that day after we have all the evidence that’s in possession of the prosecutors because we don’t have any evidence,” her attorney, Arthur Aidala, said in a statement at the time.
Pazienza is next due in court on July 26.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
Wolf Alice is taking you behind the curtain of the band’s upcoming Blue Lullaby EP with a new documentary series.
The first episode, which is streaming now on YouTube, finds the U.K. rockers entering London’s Church Studios to record the EP, which features stripped-down, “lullaby” versions of songs off the group’s latest album, Blue Weekend.
In the clip, you can see and hear Wolf Alice record the Blue Lullaby version of the song “The Last Man on Earth.”
Blue Lullaby is set to be released June 24.
Blue Weekend, the third Wolf Alice album, dropped last June. It includes the single “Smile.”
Wolf Alice will launch a U.S. headlining tour in September. Next month, they’ll play shows opening for Bleachers and Halsey.
On Monday, the hitmaker teased a new song, and while it leaves much to the imagination, he does give fans a preview of the melody, which offers a perky, pop-country sound layered with his voice in the background.
“I can’t wait to show y’all what I’ve been working on. New music coming soon. Who’s ready?” Tyler captions the clip.
Many of his colleagues chimed in with their support, including Russell Dickerson, who praised “SMASHES ON SMASHES!!!!” Jake Owen added, “Come on with it,” while Tyler’s wife, Hayley Hubbard, responded with a simple “yay” along with the smiling face emoji with three hearts.
Tyler is one-half of the hit duo Florida Georgia Line. He and band mate Brian Kelley revealed in February that FGL was going on hiatus, and the two have have been working on solo projects. The duo will reunite for a series of tour dates this summer.
Mike Tyson will not face charges in the April 20 incident in which he was seen on a viral video punching a passenger onboard a JetBlue flight in San Francisco.
The San Mateo County DA’s office announced Tuesday that after reviewing police reports and videos, it has decided not to file charges against Tyson. The office said its decision is based on circumstances surrounding the confrontation, including requests by the victim that no charges be filed, the interactions between the victim and Tyson, and the conduct of the victim leading up to the incident.
As previously reported, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department opened an investigation into the incident after the former heavyweight champ allegedly punched a fellow passenger on a still-grounded airplane. The exchange, caught on video and shared by TMZ, is said to have been a result of Tyson being provoked by the passenger who, according to eyewitnesses, was intoxicated.
A rep for the Tyson noted in April, “Unfortunately, Mr. Tyson had an incident on a flight with an aggressive passenger who began harassing him and threw a water bottle at him while he was in his seat.”
The U.K.-based auction house Prop Store is readying another collection of highly prized movie memorabilia ahead of an auction in Los Angeles beginning Tuesday, June 21.
Some of the props and other collectibles will be the Holy Grail for movie fans — in some cases, almost literally.
The Holy Grail diary kept by Sean Connery‘s Henry Jones Sr., and given to his son, Harrison Ford‘s Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr., in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is up for grabs, with pre-sale estimates putting its hammer price at an estimated $60,000-$80,000.
Also going under the hammer is Samuel L. Jackson‘s ‘Bad Mother Fu**er’ wallet from Pulp Fiction. The brown billfold has an extra bit of provenance for Fiction fans: Legend has it it was Quentin Tarantino‘s before he gave it to Jackson’s character, Jules Winnfield. The wallet is estimated to fetch from $30,000-$50,000.
Tom Hanks‘ buddy Wilson, the volleyball from the 2000 film Cast Away, can be yours, too. The screen-used prop is estimated to sell for anywhere from $80,000-$120,000.
Other props include a screen-matched ILM “Red Leader” X-Wing starfighter model miniature from Star Wars: A New Hope (pre-sale estimate $500,000-$1,000,000); Chris Hemsworth‘s stunt Mjolnir hammer from Thor ($100,000-$150,000), and a Gizmo puppet from 1989’s Gremlins 2: The New Batch ($80,000- $120,000).
The auction will run from June 21 to 24, but if you can’t afford the items, feel free to window shop on Prop Store’s website.
(ATLANTA) — Gun homicides increased 35% across the country during the pandemic to the highest level in 25 years, according to newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Unfortunately I am not surprised,” Debra Houry, acting principal deputy director of CDC and director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, told ABC News, “but it is heartbreaking.”
Firearm murders increased most markedly among youth and young adults — 40% for those 10 to 24, the CDC data shows. The increases were also highest for people of color: rates of gun homicide involving Black males aged 10 to 24 years — which were already 21-times has high as white males of the same age — increased further still in 2020.
The study suggests that the rise in violence could be attributed to the social and economic pressures stemming from the pandemic that reinforced “longstanding” inequities between communities.
The report also found that while the increase in firearm suicides was less than firearm homicides, the sheer number of suicides involving guns continued to outpace homicides. There were 24,245 suicides involving firearms in 2020, the report found, compared to 19,350 firearm homicides.
“These stats have devastating effects on families, schools, and entire communities, and have lasting consequences on us as individuals and as a society,” Thomas Simon, associate director for science at the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention, said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
“Our reports contain statistics and numbers, but it’s also important to reflect on the individual lives lost,” he added, “and even one homicide or suicide is too many.”
The new CDC data confirms trends identified by ABC News as it studied data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive over the past year. It also builds upon other research demonstrating rising rates of gun purchasing and gun violence during the pandemic.
Guns remained available for purchase throughout the pandemic — even during intermittent stay-at-home orders — due to exemptions designating firearm retailers (and shooting ranges) as “essential businesses” in all but four states. A December study found that 7.5 million Americans became new gun owners during the pandemic — 5 million of whom lived in a household that previously hadn’t had guns.
The purchasing patterns aren’t showing any sign of letting up, either. The FBI has conducted over 10 million firearm background checks — which are frequently used as a proxy for purchases — in 2022 through April.
Gun violence has picked up alongside the increase in purchases, other studies found. According to an October study, gun violence increased in 28 states during the pandemic; another found that firearm incidents increased 15% — and non-fatal firearm injuries increased 34% — during the pandemic.
The youngest Americans have, increasingly, been collateral damage of this violence. Firearm deaths in children between 1 and 4 years old have increased 5% annually since 1999. And in the first six months of the pandemic, the risk of firearm injuries in children less than 12 years was 90% higher than in the pre-pandemic period.
Monika Goyal, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., called the statistics “sobering” — adding that they reinforce what she’s been seeing clinically: that children are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs.
The pandemic uptick in firearm purchasing, violence and homicide has been attributed in part, to intensifying economic pressures like unemployment, housing insecurity and childcare.
“Longstanding systemic inequities and structural racism have resulted in limited economic, housing, and educational opportunities associated with inequities in risk for violence,” the authors of the new CDC study wrote, “the COVID-19 pandemic might have exacerbated existing social and economic stressors.”
Social factors like decreases in mutual aid, pausing in-person harm-reduction initiatives and political unrest may have also fueled these patterns, researchers say.
“Stay-at-home orders and physical distancing likely increased the guardianship people had over their homes and property,” the authors of a February report wrote, which could “help explain the observed relationship with violence” and the fact that “interpersonal interactions — despite happening with lesser frequency during the pandemic — may have been increasingly violence-prone.”
According to Houry, policy changes to halt the worrisome and worsening trends in gun violence are urgently necessary.
“[Gun] violence is not inevitable,” she told ABC News, “it’s preventable.”
The authors of the CDC offered various recommendations to that end, which included expanded welfare policies, empowering community-based harm reduction efforts, and promoting strategies for urban renewal among other initiatives.
“The findings of this study underscore the importance of comprehensive strategies that can stop violence,” they wrote. “Now and in the future.”
We now know what Sleeping with Sirens was teasing.
On Monday, Kellin Quinn and company shared a mysterious video hinting at something called “Ctrl+Alt+Del.” Today, they’ve announced the Ctrl+Alt+Del tour, a U.S. headlining run kicking off July 14 in Chicago.
And while we aren’t yet getting new Sleeping with Sirens music, which was it seemed like the video was teasing, it does appear that fresh material is in the works.
“It feels like its been forever since we were on the road and we can’t wait to play some new songs for you,” the band says.
Tickets to the Ctrl+Alt+Del tour go on sale this Friday, May 13, at 10 a.m. local time. Don Broco, Point North and Garzi will also be on the bill.
For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit SirensMusic.co.
Sleeping with Sirens’ most recent record is 2019’s How It Feels to Be Lost, which includes the single “Agree to Disagree.” Last year, they released a one-off single called “Bloody Knuckles.”
Quinn, meanwhile, has been busy collaborating with other artists, including with Machine Gun Kelly on the single “Love Race.”
Jessica Biel admits marriage isn’t easy and credits husband Justin Timberlake for building and maintaining its strong foundation.
The actress was at the premiere of her new true crime series, Candy, where she was asked byEntertainment Tonightabout what keeps their marriage alive. “It’s a good question, right?” she remarked. “I’ll have to give Justin the credit in this moment, for this one thing that he always says to me: ‘We might be married, but we have to keep dating,’ and it’s so true.”
“You just have to keep making time for each other and you have to keep making each other a priority. And do the things that you love together,” Biel continued. “It’s not always easy, as we all know, but those touch point moments make all the hard times palatable.”
Justin was Biel’s date to the Candy premiere and the actress said that in itself was another testament to their strong marriage. “It’s always fun to celebrate something that you’re proud of, and to do it with him and have a glass of wine — it feels special,” she grinned.
Candy is now streaming on Hulu and the actress previously revealed she drew inspiration for her character, Candy Montgomery, from her husband. Candy’s short, curly hair is reminiscent of Justin’s NSYNC days, and Biel said Justin “laughed” over the similarities.
“Let’s get serious, he had beautiful curls,” the Sinner star added.
Jessica and Justin wed in 2012 and share two sons, seven-year-old Silas and two-year-old Phineas.
