Lady Gaga recorded the song “Hold My Hand” for the soundtrack of Top Gun: Maverick, but star Tom Cruise said she did much more than that.
Speaking to Access Hollywood at Tuesday night’s premiere of the film in San Diego, Cruise said that he didn’t feel the music for the film was quite right, until Gaga sent the song over. “I called her right after. I said, ‘I don’t know how you did this,'” Cruise noted. “I admire her so much, she’s an incredible artist.”
Asked if he’s a Gaga fan, he responded, “Are you kidding me? She can act, she can compose, she can do jazz and pop, and what she gave us…she’s like the guardian angel for the film. Her heart was the heartbeat of this film.”
Cruise went on to say that pre-pandemic, he’d seen Gaga’s Las Vegas residency show, Enigma, and recently, he went back to see her Jazz & Piano residency show.
“Who couldn’t love Gaga? I’m sorry, but that woman is like a force of nature!” he raved.
Top Gun: Maverick, featuring Cruise reprising his role from the original 1986 film, arrives in theaters May 27.
Eric McCandless/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Little Women: LA creator and star Terra Jolé is opening up about her personal health battle hoping to help others, she says.
Jolé announced her breast cancer diagnosis to fans and her social media followers in an emotional Instagram video post last week.
“I have breast cancer,” the 41-year-old TV personality wrote in the caption. “Hardest call I’ve ever made was this video telling my mom for the first time.”
While she initially felt the cancer on her right side, evidence of cancer was later found in both breasts, Jolé told Good Morning America.
“I had two choices,” Jolé continued. “1. Hide and not share on social media. 2. Take you along the fight with me. Since our lives have been public for the last 10 years, it’s only fair we make this journey together.”
In Jolé’s video post, the Dancing With the Stars alum revealed to her mother that she decided to undergo a double mastectomy, a type of surgery where both breasts are removed, along with cancerous tissue, according to the American Cancer Society. While mastectomies are one of the multiple treatment options for individuals with breast cancer, they are typically reserved for women with high-risk cancers or those who have genetic mutations placing them at increased risk of recurrence.
GMA caught up with Jolé eight days after her surgery, one that she said she opted for to prevent a recurrence of cancer.
“I didn’t want that for my children, I didn’t want to go through this multiple times,” Jolé said. “So I want to take off both now and not think ‘what if’ in the future.”
Jolé has been in the spotlight for years, bringing awareness to skeletal dysplasia, the condition behind her 4′ 2″ stature.
“Showing you’re not alone through an experience like this whether you’re a little whether you’re average, this can happen to anyone,” Jolé told GMA.
“If I had someone like a friend or someone that experienced this in a positive light, then this would have made the beginning process much easier for me.”
As she takes on her breast cancer journey, Jolé said she is leaning on her family for support.
Jolé’s husband, Joe Gnoffo, told GMA he’s in awe of her strength. “I can’t believe how she’s handling this,” he said.
“Never once have I heard like, ‘Why me?’ She’s just not like that.”
Jolé’s main message for others is to pay attention to their own bodies and to get care if needed.
“If you feel something, say something. It can be a matter of life or death for you,” Jolé said.
She also encouraged others not to wait too long to seek advice from a doctor. “Ask your OB if it’s something to take a closer look at!” Jolé wrote in another Instagram post Wednesday.
“If they don’t give you a breast exam in their office, find another OB. My OB (whom I love dearly but…) had a 3 month appointment out, so, I found another OB. I couldn’t wait 3 months to know if I was feeling something normal or not normal.”
Jamie Foxx was right there to support Dave Chappelle when an armed assailant tackled the comedian at the Hollywood Bowl Tuesday night, with Jamie helping calm the crowd after the attack.
Also after the attack, Foxx posted to Instagram a black and white photo of him and Chappelle to make it clear, without a caption, that he’s got Dave’s back. But he didn’t stop there. The Oscar winner was seen on social media showing off his considerable mimicry skills to imitate Chappelle during the attack.
In a video posted by WorldStar Hip Hop, Foxx can be seen riffing in a recording booth, evidently on a break doing some voice-over work for a Netflix project.
Jamie, as Chappelle, shouts, “Damn, man! He ran up on stage on me! I was incensed!…” cracking up whoever was watching and recording him.
Foxx then adds, as Dave, “Thank God for Jamie Foxx. If you’re ever in trouble, Jamie Foxx will show up…All those other comedians just stood there. Waiting for me to die! So they can take over!”
“I see you, Chris Rock!, That will never happen!” Foxx finishes, taking a playful swipe at Rock who was also at Chappelle’s Tuesday-night show there to chill out the fans, and drop possibly the best ad lib of all time. Referring to the alleged attacker, Rock asked, “Was that Will Smith?!”
Isiah Lee, 23, is being held on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. ABC News reports the LA County DA’s Office will determine what charges, if any, will be filed. In the meantime, Lee’s bail has been set at $30,000.
While she was raised Catholic, Madonna has run into trouble with the church several times in her career. Now, it appears that she wants absolution.
On Wednesday, the Queen of Pop tweeted at Pope Francis — yes, he has a Twitter account — “Hello @Pontifex Francis —I’m a good Catholic. I Swear! I mean I don’t Swear! It’s been a few decades since my last confession. Would it be possible to meet up one day to discuss some important matters ?”
She added, “I’ve been ex communicated 3 times. It doesn’t seem fair. Sincerely Madonna.”
It’s not clear if Madonna has truly been excommunicated, but she’s certainly drawn condemnation from the Vatican and the previous Pope over the years for her videos and live performances. For example, her video for “Like a Prayer,” in which she kisses a Black saint, dances in front of burning crosses and displays stigmata, was condemned by the Vatican, and Pope John Paul II encouraged people to boycott Madonna when she toured Italy.
In 1990, she responded to calls from Italian Catholic organizations to ban her concerts in Rome and Turin by saying, “If you are sure that I am a sinner, then let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.”
And in 2006, during her Confessions tour, religious leaders accused Madonna of blasphemy and condemned her because she performed the song “Live to Tell” while hanging on a cross and wearing a crown of thorns.
They may be called ARMY, but BTS fans don’t want to see their boys go into the army for real. In South Korea, all able-bodied men are required to serve in the military for about two years, but now, a government minister is proposing that BTS should be exempt from that rule.
As Yonhap News Agency reports, South Korea’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Hwang Hee is proposing that, just like South Korea’s elite athletes and classical musicians, K-pop stars like BTS should also be allowed to substitute their mandatory active military service for some kind of alternative service.
Hwang said at a press conference, “There is no reason the popular art-culture field should be excluded from this,” adding, “I thought somebody should be a responsible voice at a time when there are conflicting pros and cons ahead of the enlistment of some of the BTS members.”
He explained that if huge stars like BTS are forced to put their careers on hold for military service, there would be a great loss, not only to the country, but to the world.
Hwang urged parliament to approve a bill granting the exemption as soon as possible.
The oldest member of BTS, Jin, is due to enlist in December. Since 2018, there’s been a law in place — sometimes called the BTS Law — which allows K-pop stars to ask to delay their military service until they turn 30.
A day after Dave Chappelle was tackled on stage while playing the Netflix Is a Joke festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles Tuesday night, the comedian and Netflix both issued statements regarding the incident.
“Dave Chappelle celebrated four nights of comedy and music, setting record-breaking sales for a comedian at the Hollywood Bowl,” a Chappelle spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday. “This run ties Chappelle with Monty Python for the most headlined shows by any comedian at the Hollywood Bowl, reaching 70k fans of diverse backgrounds during the first Netflix Is a Joke: The Festival, and he refuses to allow last night’s incident to overshadow the magic of this historic moment.”
“As unfortunate and unsettling as the incident was, Chappelle went on with the show,” the statement continued. Jamie Foxx and Chris Rock helped calm the crowd with humor before Chappelle introduced the last and featured musical guests for the evening, hip-hop artists yasiin bey and Talib Kweli, a.k.a. Black Star, who performed music from their new album — the first in nearly 24 years -– which was released on Luminary. Other special comedic guests last night included Earthquake, Leslie Jones, Jeff Ross, Sebastian, Jon Stewart and Michelle Wolf.”
In a separate statement, a Netflix spokesperson said, “We care deeply about the safety of creators and we strongly defend the right of stand-up comedians to perform on stage without fear of violence.”
The attack suspect, identified as 23-year-old Isaiah Lee, allegedly rushed the stage when Chappelle was performing and shoved Dave to stage floor, where the comic tussled with the unknown assailant. The suspect, who was brandishing a knife shaped like a gun, was apprehended and taken to the hospital.
Netflix says it’s actively discussing the security protocols for future events.
(NEW YORK) — The leak of a draft opinion showing the Supreme Court’s conservative majority of justices is poised to overturn abortion rights established by Roe v. Wade has led to a sharp increase in donations to abortion funds, grassroots organizations that help people access abortion care.
The National Network of Abortion Funds, a network of more than 90 funds across the country, said it has received more than $1.5 million in donations since the draft ruling was published by Politico Monday night.
“That is only what is being funneled through the National Network of Abortion Funds and we’ve heard from our local members that many people are also donating directly to abortion funds,” Debasri Ghosh, managing director of the National Network of Abortion Funds, told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “Given the groundswell of support … we wouldn’t be surprised if those numbers were pretty high as well.”
In North Dakota, the WIN Fund, which helps people access abortion care at the state’s sole abortion clinic and travel to other states for care, has also seen an “exponential” increase in donations since Monday, according to Destini Spaeth, one of the volunteers who runs the fund.
“There’s absolutely been an influx of donations,” Spaeth told GMA, adding that people from across the country had donated. “The only thing that I can compare it to on even some type of scale was the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, when we also saw an influx of donations.”
Spaeth said that donations are the lifeline of WIN Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization that, like all abortion funds, relies purely on donations and does not receive any government funding.
“We pride ourselves on being able to say yes to every caller,” said Spaeth. “We believe that abortion is a human right and that nobody should be denied access because of financial barriers.”
Abortion funds like WIN Fund began to form over three decades ago in response to the Hyde Amendment, a provision that since 1976 has banned federal funding for most abortions, according to Ghosh.
“So many people who use government insurance, including Medicaid recipients in most states, cannot have their abortion covered by their insurance,” she said. “So we were seeing droves and droves of people trying to put together funding for this out-of-pocket health care expense.”
Abortion funds now exist at the local, state and regional levels, but they are primarily locally-based organizations that provide on-the-ground resources for people, from providing direct funding for abortions to offering transportation money, child care, lodging and doula support.
The average funding given to people supported by the WIN Fund, for example, is around $250, according to Spaeth.
“People are traveling great distances so travel assistance is something we see quite a bit of,” said Spaeth, who said the fund often works with college students and members of North Dakota’s rural and indigenous populations. “Many of the patients travel three to four hours from Western parts of the state and also from Minnesota and we see a lot of patients from South Dakota as well.”
In West Virginia, a team of mostly volunteers runs the Holler Health Justice Fund, an abortion fund that serves people across the Appalachian Region, from West Virginia to Kentucky and Tennessee.
The volunteers coordinate care for people in the region who come from rural communities and often lack funds to pay for abortion or to travel, according to Hayley McMahon, a member of the fund’s board of directors.
West Virginia currently has one abortion clinic in the state, where abortion is currently allowed up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
McMahon said the fund has been “overwhelmed” with support since Monday, but said even more donations will be needed if Roe v. Wade is overturned and West Virginia and nearby states enact abortion bans.
Last year, the fund was able to help over 530 people get abortion care, averaging donations of around $260 per person, according to McMahon.
“A lot of our folks are going to need to leave the state to get care, which means it’s going to be harder to coordinate and more expensive,” she said. “We expect to see higher gestations which means higher costs for the procedure and greater transportation needs.”
It’s a concern echoed by abortion funds across the country as they brace for the impact of the Supreme Court’s final decision in the case of Mississippi, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the source of the draft opinion that was leaked.
If the Court rules in Mississippi’s favor and fully overturns Roe v. Wade, more than half of the nation’s 50 states are prepared to ban abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights organization.
Twenty-one states already have laws on the books that would immediately ban abortion if Roe were overturned. Five additional states are likely to ban abortion should Roe be overturned, the Guttmacher report said.
In response to potential bans, leaders of abortion funds say they plan to continue to do their work, but will need increased resources as they help more people who will likely need to travel further.
Because the states that plan to ban abortion are focused in specific geographic regions, including the South, an expected effect is that women will have to travel much longer distances, at a greater cost and inconvenience, to seek abortion care, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
“North Dakotans aren’t going to stop needing and wanting abortions just because abortion becomes illegal here, and the North Dakota WIN Fund won’t be going anywhere,” said Spaeth. “I know the sentiment is true for other abortion funds in abortion-hostile states as well.”
Spaeth said she and other abortion fund leaders are looking at the example set by funds in Texas, where a law went into effect last year that bans nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
“We’ve seen the amazing work that the Texas funds have done in getting their callers out of state and into surrounding states where they can have the abortions they want and need, so we can look to Texas and learn from them,” said Spaeth, who added that collaboration is also already happening between abortion funds in states where abortion access is limited and those where it is not.
Ghosh, of the National Network of Abortion Funds, said she hopes the current spotlight placed on abortion funds keeps the support coming for the long-term.
“I hope that individuals, that institutional philanthropy will really rethink the way that we connect and resource abortion funds, beyond this one-time, crisis moment,” she said, adding, “People shouldn’t have to privately fundraise and rely on private philanthropy to have a basic health care need met, but this is where we are, and we have an infrastructure to do it.”
HBO Max has renewed Julia, the comedy series inspired by the life and TV career of Julia Child, for a second season, the streaming service announced on Wednesday. The original series — while exploring the dawn of public television, the women’s movement and the nature of celebrity and America’s cultural growth — is first and foremost a portrait of a “loving marriage with an evolving and complicated power dynamic,” says the streamer. Happy Valley‘s Sarah Lancashire and Frasier‘s David Hyde Pierce star as Child and her husband, Paul. Bebe Neuwirth and Isabella Rossellini co-star…
Deadline reports Peacock has cancelled its Saved by the Bell reboot after two seasons. In the new iteration of the classic ‘90s high school sitcom Zack Morris — played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who returns in a recurring role — is now the governor of California, who, after getting into hot water for shutting down too many low-income high schools, proposes sending students from the affected schools to the highest-performing schools in the state, including his alma mater, Bayside High. The cast includes Haskiri Velazquez, Josie Totah, Alycia Pascual-Peña, Mitchell Hoog, Belmont Cameli, Dexter Darden and John Michael Higgins. Original cast members Elizabeth Berkley Lauren and Mario Lopez were also regulars…
A TV reboot of The Prince of Tides, the 1991 film starring Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand, based on the novel by the late Pat Conroy, is in early development at Apple TV+, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. The Help filmmaker Tate Taylor is reportedly attached to write the script for the Sony Pictures Television drama, which is already making offers to A-list talent ahead of a potential production start this summer. Insiders tell THR scripts are still being finalized. The original film, directed by Streisand, followed a man who falls in love with his sister’s psychiatrist as he works out the issues that stem from his troubled childhood. It was was nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture…
Oscar winner Ariana DeBose will host this year’s Tony Awards, live from New York’s Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 12 on CBS, organizers announced on Tuesday. “I’m coming home,” DeBose said in a statement. “I’m so honored to celebrate 75 years of excellence in theatre, but more importantly every member of this community who poured themselves into making sure the lights of Broadway have the opportunity to shine brightly once again. This is a dream come true, and I’m excited to see you all on June 12th.” DeBose took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar this year for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. Her upcoming projects include Sony Pictures’ Kraven the Hunter, due out in 2023…
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military last month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, attempting to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and to secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 05, 7:48 am
Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s Belgorod region damages homes, power line, governor claims
Ukrainian forces continued to shell villages in neighboring Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, the regional governor claimed Thursday.
In a statement via Telegram, Belgorod Oblast Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov alleged that Ukrainian shelling had damaged at least five homes and a power line in the villages of Zhuravlevka and Nekhoteevka, which share a border with eastern Ukraine. There were no casualties reported among civilians in the area, according to Gladkov.
“We will start working within an hour to resume power supply,” Gladkov said, noting that the shelling had stopped for now. “We will also carry out the necessary measurements to restore every damaged house. No one will be left without help.”
May 05, 6:19 am
Mariupol men are being ‘forcibly detained’ in Russian ‘filtration camps,’ deputy mayor claims
The deputy mayor of embattled Mariupol claimed Thursday that some of the city’s residents are being “forcibly detained in appalling conditions” in Russian “filtration camps” in a nearby village.
“Filtration camps in the village of Bezymyanne have been turned into a real ghetto for Mariupol residents,” Mariupol Deputy Mayor Petro Andryushchenko said in a statement via Telegram. “This is the most horrible story that needs to be told to the whole world. Without exaggeration, this is a new page in Russia’s war crime that is happening right now.”
Andryushchenko alleged that, about a month ago, Russian forces took thousands of men from several Mariupol neighborhoods, confiscated their passports and placed them in filtration camps in Bezymianny, about 20 miles from Mariupol. As for the women who were left behind, they don’t leave their homes because they fear being raped by Russian troops who have settled in the area, according to the deputy mayor.
“All this once again shows the realities of the occupation,” he said.
Andryushchenko posted videos on Telegram alongside his statement, purportedly showing a school in Bezymianny that he alleged Russian force are using as a filtration camp. He claimed that the detainees are forced to sleep on the floor, don’t have access to medical care and can only wash themselves in a single sink with cold water. He alleged that all detainees, including the sick and those with disabilities, are forced to do landscaping work in the village. He also claimed that at least one man has died because he was refused medical assistance and another has been diagnosed with tuberculosis.
The deputy mayor alleged that the Russian military is planning to dress the detainees in the uniform of the Ukrainian military and parade them as “prisoners” during a celebration in Mariupol on Monday to coincide with Moscow’s Victory Day Parade, which celebrates Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
The Russian military claimed Wednesday to have taken complete control of Mariupol, a strategic port city in eastern Ukraine’s war-torn Donetsk Oblast that has been under heavy Russian bombardment since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24. Ukrainian fighters and civilians who remain in Mariupol are holed up inside the sprawling Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant, which has a network of underground tunnels and bunkers.
ABC News recently spoke to Denys Prokopenko, a commander of the Azov Regiment, a far-right group now part of the Ukrainian military that was among the units defending Mariupol. Prokopenko is now trapped inside the Azovstal plant with others and said the fighters there have tried to initiate a cease-fire with Russian force to create conditions that would allow people to flee. But he said there are grave concerns about where those who choose to leave will end up because Russian authorities have said that all civilians will be allowed to choose to go to either Ukrainian- or Russian-controlled territory, but only after processing through Russian filtration camps.
“If our people are captured against their will and forcefully, forcibly relocated to the Russians, it’s unacceptable,” Prokopenko told ABC News.
May 05, 4:39 am
Russian shelling on residential areas of Kramatorsk injures 25, officials say
At least 25 civilians were injured by Russian shelling on residential areas and the central part of Kramatorsk on Wednesday night, according to the local city council.
Six of the wounded required hospitalization, and at least nine homes, a school as well as various civilian infrastructure sustained damaged, the Kramatorsk City Council said in a statement via Telegram.
Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko confirmed in a statement via Facebook that a kindergarten was seriously damaged.
Kramatorsk is a city in eastern Ukraine’s war-torn Donetsk Oblast.
May 05, 3:50 am
Over 300 civilians evacuated from Mariupol, surrounding areas
More than 300 civilians have been evacuated from the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and surrounding areas, officials said late Wednesday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it facilitated the safe passage of the civilians in coordination with the United Nations and both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The evacuees arrived Wednesday in Zaporizhzhia, a Ukrainian government-controlled city about 140 miles northwest of Mariupol.
“We are relieved that more lives have been spared,” Pascal Hundt, the ICRC’s head of delegation in Ukraine, said in a statement Wednesday night. “We welcome the renewed efforts of the parties with regards to safe passage operations. They remain crucial and urgent in light of the immense suffering of the civilians.”
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk confirmed that 344 people were evacuated to Zaporizhzhia from the Mariupol area, Manhush, Berdyansk, Tokmak and Vasylivka.
The evacuation did not include civilians trapped inside the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant, the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.
(DALLAS) — Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, was reportedly involved in a car crash in Dallas Wednesday night.
ABC News affiliate WFAA-TV, citing multiple sources, said Jones was involved in an accident just before 8:10 p.m. local time in the area of Wolf and Harry Hines Boulevard.
Jones, 79, reportedly suffered minor injuries. A source confirmed to ESPN that he was taken to a local hospital as a precaution.
Stephen Jones, Jerry’s son and the executive vice president of the Cowboys, told ESPN in a text message later that his father was back home and “all good.”
