Britney Spears spoke out against her father, Jamie Spears, in a new Instagram post that detailed some new allegations of abuse fueled by her 13-year conservatorship. The post has since been deleted.
On Monday, the “Toxic” singer remarked, “I actually think my dad always played the kid as his role.”
“I mean, the first day my dad became my conservator I will never forget!!!,’ Britney further stated. “He said ‘Sit down in that chair… We’re going to have a talk.’ He said ‘I’m Britney Spears and I call the shots from now on’ and ever since that day I felt a huge part of my womanhood stripped from me… I was never the same.”
Britney’s remarks echo the findings Ronan Farrow uncovered in his bombshell The New Yorkerreport from last summer about Britney’s conservatorship. The reporter spoke with former family friend Jacqueline Butcher, who claimed Jamie Spears would scream, “I am Britney Spears!” Butcher also claimed he would belittle and insult his daughter, such as calling her a “terrible mother.”
Britney added, “If I told you when you were 17 that 9 years from now your dad is going to take over your whole career if you do this record … What the hell do you think [I] would have said ???? Not NO BUT HELL NO !!! Everything happens for a reason … I’m not so sure about that.”
The Grammy winner also included the lyrics of Meredith Brooks‘ 1997 hit “B****” when telling fans not to “forget” who she is.
Britney’s conservatorship was terminated in November. Since then, she has made numerous allegations against family members, including her sister, Jamie Lynn Spears.
Wolf Alice‘s tour in support of their latest album Blue Weekend just got bigger.
The British band has added a fall leg to its North American tour, which gets underway September 25 in New York City and wraps October 17 in San Francisco.
The new leg starts just a few days after Wolf Alice plays the Firefly Festival in Dover, Delaware and ends a few days before they appear at the We Were Young Festival in Las Vegas. Tickets for the new dates go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. local time.
The band’s spring tour of North America kicks off March 21 in Atlanta, GA; in June, they’ll open for Halsey at the Hollywood Bowl and for Bleachers at Colorado’s Red Rocks. They’re also joining Harry Styles on his European tour this summer.
Judas Priest‘s Rob Halford, R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills and Creed‘s Scott Stapp are among the guest performers at Alice Cooper‘s upcoming benefit event CoopStock 2, scheduled for April 30 at Las Sendas Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona.
The event will feature a night and music and comedy. Other performers on the bill include No Doubt drummer Adrian Young, Collective Soul‘s Ed Roland and comedian Larry the Cable Guy. Alice himself will also perform, and so will musicians and dancers involved in his Solid Rock Teen Centers, the beneficiary of the event.
The Teen Centers provide free music, dance, arts and vocational training programs for young people aged 12 to 20. For more details and to buy tickets to CoopStock 2, visit AliceCooperSolidRock.com.
The fundraiser will takes place after Alice wraps up his upcoming spring North American tour. The new trek kicks off this Friday, March 18 in Mashantucket, Connecticut, and runs through April 24, wrapping at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
Buckcherry will open all of Cooper’s shows from a March 19 gig in Hanover, Maryland, through an April 20 performance in Seattle, while founding KISS guitarist Ace Frehley will serve as the support act at the final three concerts of the tour: April 22 in Reno, Nevada; April 23 in Paso Robles, California; and the LA show.
The estate for the late MC Phife Dawg has unveiled the track list and the cover art for the rapper’s upcoming posthumous album, Forever.
The album will feature 13 songs, including the title track, which is being released on March 19. The single was recorded on that same day in 2016, marking the last song the Tribe Called Quest member ever recorded before his death.
The track list also features guest appearances by Busta Rhymes, Redman, Rapsody and more.
Forever officially drops on March 22, the sixth anniversary of Phife’s passing. In celebration, his estate will host a Q&A and album listening event at SOBs in New York City on Wednesday, March 23. Tickets are on sale now for the intimate event.
Phife Dawg passed away at age 45 on March 22, 2016, due to complications from diabetes.
Here is the album track list:
“Cheryl’s Big Son (Intro)”
“Only a Coward”
“Fallback” ft. Rapsody & Renée Neufville
“Nutshell Pt. 2” ft. Busta Rhymes & Redman
“Sorry” ft. V.Rich
“Dear Dilla (Reprise)” ft. Q-Tip
“Wow Factor” ft. Maseo of De La Soul
“Residual Curiosities” ft. Lyric Jones
“God Send” ft. Dwele
“Round Irving High School” ft. Cheryl Boyce-Taylor & Angela Winbush
“French Kiss Trois” ft. Redman & Illa J
“2 Live Forever” ft. Pos of De La Soul, Little Brother & Darien Brockington
“Forever”
Carly Pearce is offering an intimate look into the story of 29: Written in Stone with a special show in Nashville.
On April 6, Carly will take the stage at Marathon Music Works for Inside 29: Written in Stone Live From Music City, an intimate, one-night-only concert where she’ll perform songs off the critically acclaimed album and share the in-depth stories that shaped the songs. The show will be filmed and released later this year.
“I have been lucky enough to connect with y’all in times of heartache and joy, especially with 29,” Carly expresses on Instagram, noting how the songs “lead me to a place of growth and happiness.” The hit singer also hints that there may be a few surprise guests at the show.
Presale tickets are available now and general admission is on sale Friday.
Last week, Carly was named Female Artist of the Year at the ACM Awards where she and duet partner Ashley McBryde performed their top 20 hit featured on 29, “Never Wanted to Be That Girl.”
FILE photo – Andrea Filigheddu/NurPhoto via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A Fox News cameraperson was killed and a correspondent was injured in Ukraine, shortly after the death of a freelance journalist also covering the Russian invasion.
Fox News’ Pierre Zakrzewski, 55, was killed while working alongside Fox News State Department correspondent Benjamin Hall “when incoming fire hit their vehicle outside of Kyiv” on Monday, the network said Tuesday. Zakrzewski had covered stories in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria for Fox News.
“Pierre Zakrzewski was an absolute legend at this network, and his loss is devastating,” the network said.
I don’t know what to say. Pierre was as good as they come. Selfless. Brave. Passionate. I’m so sorry this happened to you. pic.twitter.com/IvxlPWGDAl
Hall was hospitalized, according to Suzanne Scott, CEO of Fox News Media, who asked Monday to “please keep Ben and his family in your prayers.” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby also confirmed he was injured.
“The president of Fox, Jay Wallace, says that everyone always felt an extra sense of reassurance when they arrived on the scene and they saw that Pierre was there. He was a professional, he was a journalist and he was a friend,” Fox News PR said Tuesday.
Shaun Tandon, president of the State Department Correspondents’ Association, said in a Monday statement, “We know Ben for his warmth, good humor and utmost professionalism. We wish Ben a quick recovery and call for utmost efforts to protect journalists who are providing an invaluable service through their coverage in Ukraine.”
This follows the Sunday death of freelance journalist Brent Renaud, which was confirmed by the U.S. State Department. Renaud was in Ukraine to cover the global refugee crisis for a documentary with Sugar23, Time Studios and Day Zero Productions, according to Sugar23.
“As an award-winning filmmaker and journalist, Brent tackled the toughest stories around the world often alongside his brother Craig Renaud,” Time editor-in-chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal and president and COO of Time and Time Studios Ian Orefice said in a statement. “In recent weeks, Brent was in the region working on a TIME Studios project focused on the global refugee crisis. Our hearts are with all of Brent’s loved ones.”
Photojournalist Juan Arredondo said he was with Renaud when he was killed.
In a video from a hospital bed, Arredondo said, “We crossed the first bridge in Irpin; we were going to film other refugees leaving and we got to a car, somebody offered to take us to the other bridge, and we crossed a checkpoint and they started shooting at us. So, the driver turned around, and they kept shooting. It’s two of us, my friend is Brent Renaud, and he’s been shot and left behind.”
“This kind of attack is totally unacceptable and is a violation of international law,” Carlos Martínez de la Serna, program director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement. “Russian forces in Ukraine must stop all violence against journalists and other civilians at once.”
“Two examples of the dangers in covering war,” Kirby, of the Pentagon, said of Hall and Renaud during a Monday press briefing. “This is a war that didn’t need to be fought, to be sure. But just as to be sure, there are journalists from around the world on the ground trying to discover the truth and to show that truth and to tell these important stories.”
ABC News’ Christine Theodorou and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Amid growing concerns about the impact of the pandemic on Americans’ mental health, and the rollout of a new three-digit number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline this summer, advocates say local call centers across the nation remain underfunded and understaffed for an expected increase in call volume.
Despite the effort to improve the system, they say, people in crisis could face delays — or might not be able to reach a counselor at all.
On July 16, the Lifeline will transition from its current 10-digit hotline number to the much easier to remember 988, modeled after the 911 emergency number for police and fire.
The 24-hour hotline has been in service since 2005, and in that time has received more than 20 million calls from people looking for help.
“What we’re building on is a proven, existing service that’s shown to reduce emotional distress and suicidality,” Lifeline Executive Director Dr. John Draper told ABC News. “It’s essentially scaling up that service to make sure that we’re going to be able to reach more people and serve them more effectively.”
When possible, calls are received by the nearest crisis center, but if a local center cannot handle them, they get routed to one of several national backup centers that receive federal funding to maintain staffing.
“And the more that happens, the longer people wait. And that’s something you don’t want for people in crisis,” Draper said is the case when there’s not enough money.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which allocates federal funding for the program, estimates a 25% increase in callers to the Lifeline for fiscal year 2022. The 988 number will only be operational for the final three months of that period.
During the first full year of 988 implementation, FY2023, SAMHSA estimates calls received will reach 7.6 million, which is more than double the most recently recorded metrics.
This year, the federal government allocated $282 million through SAMHSA for 988 implementation, an amount stakeholders call “unprecedented.”
The organization has two major goals for supporting the Lifeline crisis center network, according to John Palmieri, acting lead for the 988 and behavioral health crisis team at SAMHSA.
“One of them is making sure that there is that safety-net infrastructure that exists at the national level, so that when individuals call, if for some reason those calls aren’t able to be received at the local level, that there’s a national safety net to support those individuals in crisis,” Palmieri said.
A total of $177 million dollars is dedicated to fund the backup centers with the other $105 million going to states and territories to support local crisis centers.
“We really feel like from the perspective of the individual in crisis, it really is best for them to be connected at the local level to the degree possible, to be better integrated with the local system of care, to provide wraparound services and so on,” Palmieri said.
An internal 2021 survey of local crisis centers in the Lifeline network found that only about 43% were explicitly funded to answer Lifeline calls, according to Draper.
“They were simply volunteering their services because their organization, their agency’s mission, aligned with ours,” Draper said. “And so they would basically borrow staff from other lines of business, who were dedicated to other lines of business, to help answer calls that were unfunded. So that’s the steep hill that we have to climb.”
Since its inception, the Lifeline network has been underfunded, according to Draper. With the transition to a three-digit number looming, even more funding is needed to ensure centers are adequately staffed to accommodate the expected increase in callers.
As it stands, Draper says about 20% of calls that should be answered at the local level are currently being picked up through the national backup network. Even with the national backup network, a SAMHSA report shows that at its current capacity, the Lifeline can only address approximately 85 percent of calls.
Because local crisis centers are funded at the state level, resource allocation and sustainability of funding are inconsistent across state lines.
The National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) has been tracking state level legislation around the implementation of 988.
“States are all over the map on this,” said Kitty Purington, senior program director for NASHP. “And I think there are many states who have not really grappled with what sustainability looks like going forward.”
When Congress enacted legislation to designate 988 as the new Lifeline number in 2020, that law included a provision allowing states to place a tax on cell phone bills to support the service. Similar taxes are used to support emergency medical and law enforcement services through 911 call centers.
Few states have enacted legislation to impose these taxes so far. A handful of others have implemented exploratory committees or provided some funding for the rollout of the new number.
“There’s going to be some time to build this out,” Purington said. “And potentially, it’s going to be something that states are going to be doing for years.”
She compared the transition to the implementation of emergency services through 911 call centers.
“People say [911] took like 60 years to really get its footing,” Purington said. “It took decades for people to really understand and have 911 be really the go-to number. And so, this is not going to be like flipping a switch.”
Stakeholders in the mental health field remain optimistic, despite the underfunding of the program. Laurel Stine, senior vice president of public policy at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said, “ultimately, 988 is more than just a number.”
“It is an opportunity to really reimagine the behavioral health crisis response system,” Stine said.
Stine says the vision of an ideal 988 system would include well-resourced crisis centers across the country, the ability to provide follow-up care as needed, mobile mental health crisis response teams and crisis stabilization centers.
“We understand fully that a lot has to occur,” Stine said. “There are states that are well equipped, and have mobile crisis teams and are well-resourced and there’s others that are not. And so the local level of readiness is varied.”
The overall need is pressing.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently sounded the alarm to lawmakers over an increase in suicide attempts among young people during the the pandemic.
And President Joe Biden called mental health a priority in his State of Union address earlier this month, saying, “let’s get all Americans the mental health services they need.”
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, help is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 [TALK] for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The repeatedly delayed Tom Cruise sequel Top Gun: Maverick will finally buzz the Cannes Film Festival, Variety reports.
The movie was originally set to open July 12, 2019, but the pandemic and other scheduling changes scratched multiple planned theatrical landings. Now it will screen as part of the famed fest’s 75th anniversary installment, which runs from May 17 to May 28 in France.
The movie, from Cruise’s Oblivion director Joseph Kosinski, will finally come to theaters in the States on May 27.
A follow-up to 1986’s blockbuster Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick will center on Cruise’s Naval aviator, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, still feeling the need for speed well after most pilots have retired their wings.
Joining him are Top Gun veteran Val Kilmer, Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Jon Hamm, and a cadre of younger fliers including Monica Barbero, and Miles Teller, the latter playing Bradley Bradshaw, the son of Anthony Edward‘s Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, Maverick’s bestie who was killed in the first film.
The trial continues for Ed Sheeran, who’s been accused by another singer for plagiarizing “Shape of You.” During the latest hearing, singer Sami Chokri took to the witness stand and claimed he was “robbed” by the Grammy winner.
BBC was present for Tuesday’s proceedings and reports Chokri stated, “I feel like I’ve been robbed by someone I respect, or respected.” He claims Ed sampled his 2015 song “Oh Why” in his “Oh I, oh I” hook and called the similarities “strikingly similar.”
Chokri said when he allegedly approached Sheeran and his team about the similarities in 2017, they belittled him. “All I wanted to do was ask for an explanation. If I’d had one we wouldn’t have had to go through with this rubbish,” he stated.
The singer also said when he took to Facebook to vent on the two songs’ similarities, the Grammy winner’s friend, Jamal Edwards, commented with the looking eyes emoji and later deleted it.
Chokri revealed he sent his EP to Edwards and believes he “played a part in showing [my song] to Ed.”
Jamal, who recently passed away, released a statement prior to his death that claimed, “Even if I was sent a copy, I did not share it with Ed.”
Chokri countered, “Jamal would share music with Ed Sheeran” and added he does “respect” the late entrepreneur.
Ed, along with “Shape of You” co-writers Johnny McDaid and Steve Mac, have denied copying “Oh Why.” Ed said last week if he “had heard ‘Oh Why’ at the time and had referenced it, I would have taken steps to clear it… I want to treat other songwriters fairly.”
The case is ongoing. Chokri is suing for “copyright infringement, damages and an account of profits in relation to the alleged infringement.”
(NEW YORK) — As experts warn of a growing mental health crisis among kids due to the coronavirus pandemic, new data shows the mental health struggles kids faced even prior to the pandemic.
From 2019 to 2020, researchers found a 21% increase in children with behavior or conduct problems, according to the study.
“Our research highlights a critical need to support both children and their caregivers to improve families’ mental and emotional well-being,” Dr. Michael Warren, a co-author of the study, said in a statement. “This includes ensuring access to timely health care services and addressing social determinants of health to support children and families’ overall well-being.”
The study was conducted using data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), which collects data on 36 separate health-related measures, including preventive health checkups, mental health diagnoses, physical activity and caregiver well-being, according to HHS.
In addition to finding an increase in the diagnosis of mental health conditions, the study also found that children’s physical activity decreased by 18% between 2016 and 2020. In addition, the proportion of kids with unmet health care needs grew by 32%, according to the study.
The study comes on the heels of a warning last year from the U.S. surgeon general of a growing mental health crisis among young people. Organizations representing child psychiatrists, pediatricians and children’s hospitals also declared a national emergency for youth mental health in 2021.
“I’m deeply concerned as a parent and as a doctor that the obstacles this generation of young people face are unprecedented and uniquely hard to navigate and the impact that’s having on their mental health is devastating,” U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said in testimony before senators in December.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last year that emergency department visits for suicide attempts among teen girls were up more than 50% at the beginning of the pandemic compared to the same period in 2019.
Dr. Darien Sutton, a board-certified emergency medicine physician and ABC News medical contributor, said parents should realize that mental health conditions, including anxiety, may look different in kids than adults.
In children, anxiety in particular can manifest with irritability, mood changes, changes to interest in activities, and in physical conditions like stomachaches and headaches, according to Sutton.
“The first advice that I give to any parent is to have an open and honest conversation with your child at a level that they can understand,” said Sutton. “It’s important to know that your role in that conversation is to make sure that you validate and support their concerns.”
Sutton said parents should also reach out to their child’s pediatrician if they have concerns, or reach out for support through help lines like The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.
