Just in time to get hearts aflutter for Valentine’s Day comes the trailer to the much-anticipated second season premiere of Bridgerton.
As reported, with the exit of resident heartthrob Regé-Jean Page from the Netflix phenomenon, the sophomore season will center on Jonathan Bailey‘s Anthony Bridgerton and his relationship with new cast member Simone Ashley‘s character, Kate Sharma.
In the coming attraction, once again Julie Andrews can be heard voicing the series’ resident gossip writer Lady Whistledown, who was revealed to the viewer in the first season finale to be Nicola Coughlan‘s character Penelope Featherington. “Dearest gentle reader,” Andrews intones, “Did you miss me?”
As her fevered columns speed all over the countryside — to the delight of court members — Whistledown explains how people are desperate to reveal her secret identity. In the meantime, she explains, she’s been sharpening her skills — or, as she corrects, “sharpening my knives…for all of you.”
The second season of Bridgerton will premiere on March 25 in Netflix.
After Wells Fargo froze her accounts amid allegations she may be incapacitated, Wendy Williams is hitting back, saying her mental health is just fine.
According to a statement from her lawyer, LaShawn Thomas, “Wendy wants the world to know that she strenuously denies all allegations about her mental health and well-being.”
Williams was cut off from her financial assets after her former financial adviser, Lori Schiller, claimed she was not of sound mind and may be the victim of financial exploitation, USA Today reported. The talk show host has been absent from her TV show since July 2021 due to health complications from Graves’ disease, a thyroid illness.
“It saddens Wendy that Wells Fargo has chosen to believe the allegations of a former employee who is upset because she no longer has direct and unfettered access to Wendy’s financial affairs,” her lawyer’s statement continues, further declaring, “Wendy can’t believe that Wells Fargo has wrongly denied her access to her funds without justification.” The statement also says “Wells Fargo’s alleged suspicions were never raised until Wendy made it known that she no longer wanted to bank at Wells Fargo due to the bank’s mishandling of her complaints against her advisor.”
Williams has reportedly filed a restraining order against Wells Fargo in order to regain access to her funds. The bank has denied allegations of improper action.
Thomas’ statement adds, “Wendy wants you to know she is fine; she is of sound mind and disappointed about falsely circulated statements from an industry she has devoted her life to,” and that she’s “grateful for the love and the outpouring of support she has received from her fans and she can’t want to get back.”
Well, this is certainly one way to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Ice Nine Kills has premiered the video for “Take Your Pick,” a track off the band’s horror-themed new album, Welcome to Horrorwood: The Silver Scream 2. The animated clip — which, like the song, takes inspiration from the slasher film My Bloody Valentine — follows a masked murderer as they kill everyone in their path with a pickaxe.
Amid all the cartoon blood, there’s also an animated cameo by Cannibal Corpse vocalist Corpsegrinder, who guests on the song.
You can watch the “Take Your Pick” video streaming now on YouTube.
Ice Nine Kills released Welcome to Horrorwood last fall. It also features the single “Rainy Day.”
You can catch INK on the road this spring on the Trinity of Terror tour with Black Veil Brides and Motionless in White, kicking off in March.
Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne‘s acclaimed stage production David Byrne’s American Utopia has announced dates for a final run of Broadway performances at the St. James Theatre.
The show’s engagement, which previously had been scheduled through March 6, now is scheduled to close after a performance on Sunday, April 3.
Six performances of the show are scheduled during a standard week — at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturdays and at 3 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets can be purchased by visiting AmericanUtopiaBroadway.com/tickets.
In addition, a limited number of discounted $44 tickets are available via an online lottery at LuckySeat.com. Ticket requests are limited to one or two per entrant, and entries open at 10 a.m. ET on the Monday of the week prior to the performance. Those chosen to receive tickets will receive an email with digital tickets on the morning of the performance.
As previously reported, the American Utopia show features Byrne accompanied by 11 musicians, dancers and singers who move freely about an almost-empty stage. The production includes several Talking Heads songs, material from David’s 2018 American Utopia album, and other tunes from his solo catalog.
The show’s original Broadway run took place from October 2019 to February 2020 at the Hudson Theatre. After an 18-month layoff because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the production began a new run at the St. James Theatre in September of last year.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for American Heart Association
Actress Susan Lucci is opening up about her battle with heart disease.
The 75-year-old, best known for her role as Erica Kane on the ABC daytime drama All My Children, told Good Morning America‘s Amy Robach that she recently underwent an emergency heart procedure for the second time.
“I was having kind of a shortness of breath,” said Lucci, adding that she soon also felt discomfort around her ribcage and her back, similar to symptoms she had three years ago with her first heart scare.
“I thought, ‘This is crazy. These are the same kind of symptoms that I had three years ago but it can’t be,'” she said. “But when I lay down, I started to feel a sharp coming-and-going pain in my jaw.”
After undergoing several tests, Lucci’s doctor told her that she experienced an 80% blockage in one of her arteries due to plaque buildup. She was rushed to a cardiac catheterization lab, where another stent was put in to open up the blockage.
“She wasn’t having a heart attack this time and she wasn’t unstable,” Lucci’s doctor, Dr. Richard Shlofmitz, chairman of cardiology at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, New York, told GMA. “But she had symptoms that were certainly concerning to me that something might be wrong.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. About 1 in 16 women age 20 and older have coronary artery disease, the most common type of heart disease in the U.S.
Now Lucci, an advocate for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign, is urging other women to listen to their bodies.
“Listen to your heart and act on [the symptoms],” Lucci said. “Give yourself permission to take good care of yourself. Be your own best friend. Be your own advocate. You’ll save your life.”
All aboard Icy Air! Saweetie and H.E.R. will be your pilots this evening, taking you “Closer” to your destination.
Saweetie released the official music video for her collaborative single with H.E.R. on Valentine’s Day, which sees the two piloting a jet full of women around the world in search of some serious arm candy. The group trots the globe as the local men fawn all over them.
Of course, the duo are blinged out for their epic global adventure, from wearing glittering diamonds to shimmering, seductive dresses as men spoil them rotten. Saweetie scores herself several men, one of which showers her with designer shoes and other expensive gifts in Paris while another takes her to a private island for a private tennis lesson in the Philippines.
“Closer” is set to appear on Saweetie’s debut album, Pretty B**** Music. The studio effort is set to drop later this year after it was pushed back from its original June 2021 release date. The Grammy nominee has previously released the tracks “Tap In” and “Best Friend,” which features Doja Cat, to hype her forthcoming album.
Rage Against the Machine has unveiled the rescheduled dates for the postponed shows on the band’s much-anticipated reunion tour.
As previously reported, the “Killing in the Name” outfit announced this past January that the first half of the upcoming outing, including dates scheduled from March 31 in El Paso, Texas, to May 23 in Detroit, would be delayed. Those shows are now set to take place in February, March and April of 2023.
Previously purchased tickets will be honored for the rescheduled dates. Those who can no longer attend the shows have until March 15 to request a refund.
The second leg of the tour, which kicks off in July and will conclude with a five-night stand at New York City’s Madison Square Garden in August, is still on to run as scheduled.
For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit Tour.RATM.com.
Rage Against the Machine had originally scheduled the tour for 2020 after announcing their reunion in 2019, ending the hiatus they’d been on since 2011. The outing’s been postponed a number of times amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In between all the rescheduling, Rage dropped off the lineups for festivals including Coachella and Boston Calling.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) Kevin Hart is getting back on the road, announcing his first stand-up tour in four years, kicking off July 2 in Las Vegas.
The star will be making more than 30 arena stops across North America on his Reality Check tour, including in Dallas, Miami, Boston, Chicago, and Montreal. The tour wraps up Saturday, October 1 at San Francisco’s Chase Center.
“I am hype as sh** to go back out on tour,” Kevin said in a statement. “There is nothing better than making people laugh, I can feel the energy in the venues like caffeine pumping through my veins.”
Hart adds, “I’ve been cooking up something special and have thoughts I need to get off my chest. Go get your tickets and come ready to have a good night!”
Tickets go on-sale this Friday, February 18 at 10 a.m. local time at KevinHartNation.com. Fans will also have access to a special Live Nation pre-sale beginning Wednesday, February 16th at 10 a.m. through Thursday, February 17th at 10 p.m. local time.
The dates for Kevin Hart’s Reality Check tour are available on his website.
Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Capital Concerts Inc.
Lauren Alaina is officially a member of the Grand Ole Opry — with a little help from Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.
During the Opry’s Saturday night broadcast, the “Road Less Traveled” singer became the Opry’s newest member when she was inducted by Trisha, who also extended the invite in December.
“Since I was a little girl, I’ve dreamed of this moment,” Lauren said through tears, calling the honor “the biggest dream come true.” “Most little girls dream of their weddings, I dreamed of this.”
The night was made even more special for the new inductee when Trisha invited husband Garth onstage to play guitar on “Walkaway Joe,” much to Lauren’s shock and awe. The two Georgia natives traded vocals on the classic country hit, with Lauren giving Garth a hug as he strummed the melody.
At 27, Lauren is now the youngest living member of the Grand Ole Opry.
(NEW YORK) — New York City began distributing free, at-home COVID-19 test kits across the five boroughs Monday.
Tests, made by the company Flowflex, will be available at 27 public library branches and 14 cultural landmarks including the American Museum of Natural History, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and the Staten Island Zoo.
Across the city, there are 13 sites where tests can be picked up in Queens, 10 in Brooklyn, seven in Manhattan, six in the Bronx and five in Staten Island. More sites are expected to be added over the next few weeks.
“Our mission remains to make testing resources accessible for all New Yorkers to safely and confidently manage the pandemic,” Dr. Ted Long, executive director of the NYC Test & Trace Corps, said in a statement. “Distributing at-home tests at cultural sites and libraries provides familiar, prominent locations for people to pick up the resources they need to know if they have COVID-19 and to return to the beloved destinations that make our city so special.”
He continued, “I am grateful for our cultural and library partnerships and excited to see them lead New York City safely forward.”
Test & Trace will be delivering kits to the libraries and cultural sites once a week, and supplies are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
“We will have sent out over 350,000 tests by end of week. [Distribution] to each site varies, but we are confident that we can meet demand,” a spokesperson for NYC Health + Hospitals, which oversees Test & Trace, told ABC News in a statement.
Test kits are limited to one per person and, although distribution will be up to the individual site, Test & Trace is recommending one per day, the spokesperson added.
Test & Trace said its website will be updated daily with the hours and locations of sites where the tests are available.
The new program comes just two weeks after Mayor Eric Adams said the city will be offering free at-home, same-day delivery of COVID antiviral pills for those with mild to moderate symptoms.
The city is also pushing for more residents to get vaccinated. Over the weekend, Adams announced the return of cash incentives including a $100 gift card for anyone who gets their first dose or is boosted at a city-run or SOMOS Community Care site through the end of February.
The gift cards will be eligible for use through March 31.
