Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for ULTA Beauty / KKW Beauty
Kim Kardashian had nothing but kind words for ex Kanye West when sharing the important life lessons he taught her during their nearly 10-year relationship.
Speaking with Kristen Bell and Monica Padman on the We Are Supported By… podcast on Wednesday, the former reality TV star revealed how West taught her the value of standing up for herself.
“Being in a relationship with Kanye for a decade, someone that absolutely didn’t care about likability factor or what any of perception of him was as long as he was true to himself… that taught me so much in the best way of just being me and living in the moment,” said Kardashian, 40.
Kim admitted that, prior to dating the “Stronger” rapper, she “used to be such a people pleaser.” Now, she understands the value of putting herself first because “You don’t have to please everyone.”
“You have one life and you’re living it for you,” she expressed. “That taught me to just be more confident in myself and truly not care as much of what other people thought.”
Kardashian and West began dating 2012 and wed in 2014. They share four children together: eight-year-old North, five-year-old Saint, three-year-old Chicago and two-year-old Psalm.
The couple went their separate ways earlier this year, with Kim filing for divorce in February. However, the two reportedly remain amicable, with the Keeping Up with the Kardashian alum most recently supporting her ex in Atlanta, where he’s currently living as he finishes his 10th studio album, DONDA.
(WASHINGTON) — Weekly unemployment claims dropped slightly last week, with 375,000 Americans applying for first-time benefits.
That figure dropped for the third consecutive week, according to the Department of Labor, a sign that employers are laying off fewer people amid an increase in consumer demand. That as some employers insist they are struggling to fill open jobs. Still, new claims are near the pandemic low of 368,000, set last month.
The job market and the broader economy are getting better despite the rise in coronavirus infections from the delta variant that are starting to crimp some economic activity. The latest jobs report showed 943-thousand jobs were created in July, the biggest increase in nearly a year.
Prior to the pandemic, weekly unemployment claims were at about 220,000 per week.
Still, consumers continue to see an increase in the costs of goods and services. In July, the consumer price index rose 0.5 percent. Still more price hikes are on the horizon, with 44 percent of small businesses surveyed this month saying they plan to raise prices.
Festivals including Life Is Beautiful, Louder than Life, Aftershock and Inkcarceration have announced a COVID-19 vaccination or negative test requirement.
Attendees who are not fully vaccinated — i.e. two weeks after the second of the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna shot, or two weeks after the one-shot Johnson & Johnson jab — must have obtained a negative test within 72 hours of entering the festival.
Danny Wimmer, whose production company Danny Wimmer Presents puts on Louder than Life, Aftershock and Inkcarceration, says, “Before you react negatively to our policy, please consider this: What I see is that the fans feel the world needs music festivals now more than ever.”
“We need to bring people back together to heal from the past 18 months,” Wimmer continues. “We need to get the people and artists whose livelihoods depend on live events back to work. I am confident that these requirements are what is needed to guarantee that we have fun and safe festivals this fall.”
Other festivals that have previously announced vaccine or negative test requirements include Bonnaroo and Summerfest.
Life Is Beautiful will be held September 17-19 in Las Vegas, and will be headlined by Green Day, Billie Eilish and Tame Impala.
Inkcarceration, Louder than Life and Aftershock will take place September 10-12, September 23-26 and October 7-10 in Mansfield, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, and Sacramento, California, respectively. Metallica is headlining Louder than Life alongside Nine Inch Nails and Korn, and Aftershock alongside Limp Bizkit and Misfits. The Inkcarceration headliners include Slipknot, Rob Zombie and the reunited Mudvayne.
Halsey has unveiled the track list for her new album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, due out August 27.
Unlike her previous album, Manic, this album doesn’t have any features on it. “It feels very cool to have an album with no features again. It felt like this had to be entirely from my voice, similarly to Badlands,” she tweeted, referring to her 2015 debut. “I can’t wait for you to hear everything.”
When a fan asked if they’d always planned to make the record — produced by Nine Inch Nails‘ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross — a concept album, Halsey replied, “Weirdly enough it was always supposed to be about mortality and everlasting love and our place / permanence. It was just amplified by me being pregnant. Introduced new themes of control and body horror and autonomy and conceit.”
When another fan predicted that the track named “The Lighthouse” “was gonna hurt,” Halsey replied, “Oh no. You’re gonna LOVE IT.”
Another fan asked what the track called “honey,” is about, leading Halsey to reply, “A wild girl.”
Finally, referring to a tweet from December in which Halsey stated that she was “keeping five secrets,” a fan asked if all the secrets were “out on the open now.” She replied, “Nope,” with a smile.
Here’s the If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power track list:
“The Tradition”
“Bells in Santa Fe”
“Easier than Lying”
“Lilith”
“Girl is a Gun”
“You asked for this”
“Darling”
“1121”
“honey”
“Whispers”
“I am not a woman, I’m a god”
“The Lighthouse”
“Ya’aburnee”
As the frontman of one of the ’90s biggest rock bands, Hootie & the Blowfish singer Darius Rucker has had to deal with his fair share of the backlash that comes along with being hugely popular.
“That’s a problem you have when things get so big, when you get something that’s selling a million records a week, people have to hate it. Or they’re not cool,” the singer explains in a new episode of People‘s PEOPLE in the ’90s podcast.
For example, Darius once saw a bumper sticker that read “F*** Hootie” while driving down the highway — but the singer says he took it in stride.
“I laughed my a** off,” he recalls. “I was driving my brand-new truck to my brand-new house and was playing in front of 20,000 people that weekend.”
Since those early days, Darius has racked up lots more experience in making career decisions based on what he wants to do, and ignoring naysayers in the process.
While his move from Hootie & the Blowfish frontman to solo country act surprised many, he got the last laugh. As a country artist, he’s scored nine chart-topping hits — and he still gets to record and tour with Hootie whenever he wants.
Led Zeppelin‘s Robert Plant has reteamed with acclaimed country-bluegrass artist Alison Krauss to record a new collaborative album titled Raise the Roof, a follow-up to their Grammy-winning 2007 duets collection, Raising Sand.
Like its predecessor, the 12-track Raise the Roof collection was produced by T Bone Burnett and features mostly of covers songs.
The album includes renditions of tunes by Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, The Everly Brothers, British folk legend Bert Jansch and many others. Raise the Roof also features a new original tune called “High and Lonesome” that Plant co-wrote with Burnett.
One of the tracks, a version of the Randy Weeks song “Can’t Let Go” — which Lucinda Williams previously covered for her 1998 album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road — has been released as an advance digital single.
Los Lobos guitarist David Hidalgo and Robert’s Band of Joy collaborator Buddy Miller contributed to the album, as did a few musicians who also appeared on Raising Sand — drummer Jay Bellerose, guitarist Marc Ribot and bassist Dennis Crouch.
Discussing working with Krauss again on the Raise the Roof material, Plant notes, “You hear something and you go ‘Man, listen to that song, we got to sing that song!’ It’s a vacation, really — the perfect place to go that you least expected to find.”
Adds Alison, “We wanted it to move. We brought other people in, other personalities within the band, and coming back together again in the studio brought a new intimacy to the harmonies.”
In support of Raise the Roof, Plant and Krauss are planning to tour together in 2022.
Raising Sand won five Grammys in 2009, including Album of the Year.
“Quattro (World Drifts In)”
“The Price of Love”
“Go Your Way”
“Trouble with My Lover”
“Searching for My Love”
“Can’t Let Go”
“It Don’t Bother Me”
“You Led Me to the Wrong”
“Last Kind Words Blues”
“High and Lonesome”
“Going Where the Lonely Go”
“Somebody Was Watching Over Me”
Gbenga Akinnagbe felt a deep connection to his Modern Love storyline, which follows the relationship between his character Jordan and Zoe, a woman who has delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS).
Akinnagbe, who was one of the stars of Broadway’s How To Kill a Mockingbird, tells ABC Audio that having a late-night sleep pattern is something he’s quite familiar with as an actor.
“Unless I exclusively date actresses, that’s basically what I’m asking people who I date to do,” he says.
“When I was doing Mockingbird, I only was able to see people at night after the show when I got back to Brooklyn,” Akinnagbe shares. “That’s when our dates would start. And to a lot of people… that is strange.. its opposite [of] their sleep patterns and jobs. So I’ve asked people to accommodate this crazy life I lead… so I can have some sort of interaction with with people.”
The actor admits that “not everyone [is] up for it,” noting it’s “triggering” to some.
“There was someone I was seeing and she had come to see the show — seen it like three different times…And then we’d like hang out afterwards,” Akinnagbe says. “But after a while, those hours would start to trigger… old patterns.”
He continues, “And so one time she said to me, ‘Why do I only see you at night?’ ‘Because I’m working!’ [She’s] like, ‘Those are booty call hours.’ I’m like, ‘You know what I’m doing! You’ve seen [the play] three times!”
Even with those overwhelming drawbacks, Akinnagbe says he’d still be down to date a character like Zoe.
“Would I do it? Yeah, because I’ve experienced the other side where I’ve asked people to do it,” he says.
Season two of Modern Love launches on Amazon Prime Friday.
Michael Desmond/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images
Paging Dr. Ellis Grey.
In an announcement that’s sure to delight Grey’s Anatomy fans, Deadline confirmed that one of the medical drama’s original stars, Kate Burton, is returning for the 18th season.
Burton played Ellis, the domineering and intimidating mother of Ellen Pompeo‘s Meredith Grey, who lost her battle with Alzheimer’s during the third season of Grey’s. Following Ellis’ death, she regularly appeared in flashbacks, dream sequences and in episodes exploring alternate realities. Her most recent appearance was in 2019, when she appeared to Meredith in a dream during the episode “Blood and Water.”
It is unknown what purpose Burton will serve in the upcoming season, but the outlet confirms she will star in multiple episodes.
Pompeo’s Meredith was haunted by several familiar faces in the last season, during which she battled COVID-19 and saw a slew of familiar faces as she faded in and out of consciousness.
Most famously, Patrick Dempsey returned as her late husband, Dr. Derek Shepherd. In addition, T.R. Knight and Chyler Leigh reprised their roles as George and Lexie, respectively.
Filming for Grey’sAnatomy season 18 is currently underway, with a premiere set for September 30 on ABC.
(NEW YORK) — As COVID-19 infections surge again in the U.S., health officials are warning of a concerning uptick in pediatric cases and hospitalizations across the country, just as many children head back to the classroom.
With more than 48 million children under 12 still not eligible for vaccination, and less than a third of those ages 12 to 17 fully vaccinated, many youths remain at risk for infection.
Since the onset of the pandemic, nearly 4.3 million children have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, with infection rates growing exponentially in recent weeks.
In the last week, 94,000 new pediatric COVID-19 cases were reported, representing 15% of all reported new infections. Similarly, pediatric COVID-19-related hospital admissions are at their highest level since the onset of the pandemic.
“In the last several weeks, we have seen an enormous increase in the number of positive patients for COVID-19,” Dr. Ronald Ford, chief medical officer at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, told ABC News. “Most of these children are coming from the emergency department, and most of them are not sick enough to come into the hospital. However, those that are admitted are sicker than what we’ve seen before, and many of them are requiring care in our sensitive care units.”
In June, there were just over 20 positive pediatric patients who required care from the hospital’s emergency room team, Ford said.
In the month of July, that number increased to over 200 patients, and in recent weeks, the hospital has already cared for 160 patients, and are “well on our way to breaking July’s record.”
Although severe illness remains uncommon among children, according to experts, there are some children, many with underlying conditions, who are so sick that they require intensive care measures, including ventilation.
The rate of pediatric hospital admissions, in children between the ages of 0 and 17, per capita, is now more than four times higher than it was just a month ago.
The increase in pediatric patients, who are coming in much sicker than those hospitalized with COVID-19 last year, has been an alarming development, said Anthony Sanders, nurse manager in Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Emergency Room. It’s “just a lot scarier this time,” he said.
The country’s largest states — California, Texas and Florida — are each dealing with 100 to 200 pediatric COVID-19 patients, according to federal data.
Sanders said that he is often struck by the fact that it is not only the child who tests positive, but also the entire family.
“I think for us the most striking thing is how the increase in the families that are coming in that are positive, not just the one patient but the parents are positive, all the siblings are positive, that’s been the biggest thing for me that’s super concerning because kids are going back to school,” Sanders said.
At Children’s Hospital New Orleans, a federal team has been called in to assist medical staff who are confronted with a significant surge in pediatric patients.
Dr. Nihal Godiwala, a pediatric intensivist at Children’s Hospital New Orleans, told ABC News that he and his team are exhausted.
“This is a surge of COVID happening, and it’s totally preventable, and that’s why it’s been so frustrating for everyone here,” Godiwala told ABC News. “It’s really taking a toll on everybody at this point.”
According to the nearly two dozen states that reported pediatric hospitalizations to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, 0.1% to 1.9% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization. Similarly, in states that reported virus-related deaths by age, 0.00% to 0.03% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in death.
However, even for those who may not become severely ill from COVID-19, experts say there is an urgent need to collect more data on long-term impacts of the pandemic on children, including the long-term physical impacts of the virus.
Thus, many of these front-line workers are urging that proper precautions be taken, beginning with wearing masks, particularly in large settings, such as schools.
For children still ineligible for the vaccine, masking will be critical in the months to come, Ford said.
“The best thing you can do to protect your child is to keep them away from the virus,” Ford added. “Masking has been shown to reduce the incidence of transmission and reduce the chances of your children getting COVID-19. So, first and foremost masking is really going to be one of the best defenses we have.”
Getting eligible children vaccinated will also play a crucial role in keeping more children out of the hospital, added Dr. Nick Hysmith, medical director of infection prevention at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
“The majority of the patients who have been admitted, are between 10 and 13 years of age, which puts them right at or just below the age of vaccination,” said Hysmith. “This is why it is critically important for adults and children to get vaccinated as soon as possible.”
For those who are still hesitant about getting the vaccine, Godiwala pleaded for them “to stop thinking about yourself and think about others,” such as medically fragile children, the immunocompromised and the population under 12 not yet eligible for a vaccine.
“The vaccine is a lifeline to getting out of COVID and out of this mess,” said Godiwala.
(WASHINGTON) — As the delta variant spreads nationwide, the Department of Health and Human Services will require vaccination from more than 25,000 of its employees that directly work with patients, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra announced Thursday.
Going a step beyond the general guidelines for the federal workforce — which is to get vaccinated or be required to wear a mask and do frequent testing — the Department of Health and Human Services is mandating the vaccine for its employees who deal directly with patients. The Department of Veterans Affairs has called for the same policy for its 115,000 health care workers.
Both agencies employ doctors or nurses that could be directly exposed to the virus at work, or directly expose vulnerable patients to it.
The roughly 25,000 HHS employees will have until the end of September to be vaccinated, an HHS official said.
“To increase vaccination coverage and protect more people from COVID-19, including the more transmissible Delta variant, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will require more than 25,000 members of its health care workforce to be vaccinated against COVID-19,” the department said in a statement.
The 25,000 HHS employees who will be required to get vaccinated are concentrated within the Indian Health Service and National Institute of Health, as well as the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
“Staff at the Indian Health Service (IHS) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) who serve in federally-operated health care and clinical research facilities and interact with, or have the potential to come into contact with, patients will be required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” HHS said in a statement.
The department will allow exemptions for religious or medical reasons.
