Shannen Doherty, who has stage 4 breast cancer, isn’t letting the disease control her life.
The actress, who plays a woman battling cancer in the upcoming Lifetime movie List of a Lifetime, told reporters this week she feels a responsibility to “let people know that people with stage 4 [cancer] are very much alive and very active,” according to People.
“My husband [photographer Kurt Iswarienko] says that you would never know that I have cancer,” Doherty said. “I never really complain. I don’t really talk about it. It’s part of life at this point.”
Doherty, 50, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, and after entering remission, she revealed last year that the disease had spread and returned as stage 4.
In an interview with Good Morning America, the Beverly Hills 90210 alumna said the diagnosis was “a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways.”
“I definitely have days where I say, ‘Why me?’ And then I go, ‘Well, why not me?’ Who else? Who else besides me deserves this? None of us do,” Doherty said last year. “But I would say that my first reaction is always concern about how — how am I going to tell my mom, my husband.”
At the time, Doherty said that she hadn’t told many people about her condition, as she didn’t want to be treated differently or be forced to focus on cancer. In her latest interview, she added that unlike her character in the Lifetime movie, she hasn’t created a “bucket list,” either.
“There’s no bucket list because I’m going to be the longest-living person with cancer,” she said. “If I had to say one, it would just be living. That’s the only thing on my list at this point.”
(NEW YORK) — One day after delivering bombshell testimony about the FBI’s mishandling of the Larry Nasser sexual abuse scandal, Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman said she hopes her voice and the voices of fellow victims are finally heard.
“I hope that this is the day that somebody listens to us and somebody investigates what happened,” Raisman, 27, said Thursday on Good Morning America. “Because we’ve been actually saying the same thing for years, but not much has happened.”
Raisman joined fellow gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Maggie Nichols in testifying Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is investigating the FBI’s handling of the case against Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics team doctor.
Nassar was sentenced in 2018 to up to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting hundreds of girls and women.
“I really hope that people realize just how bad things are,” Raisman said on GMA. “This is a really big coverup, and the fact that the FBI, USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee didn’t think that this was important enough to handle it the right way is horrific.”
Raisman continued, “Nasser was first reported decades ago and I … should have never met him.”
A Justice Department inspector general report released in July determined that the FBI made “fundamental errors” in its response to allegations against Nassar that were first brought to the agency in July 2015.
Raisman and her fellow gymnasts painted a portrait in their testimony of a system that failed them after they reported Nassar’s abuse.
Raisman, for example, told senators that it took more than 14 months for the FBI to interview her. When she finally spoke with an agent, the agent “diminished the significance of my abuse and made me feel my criminal case wasn’t worth pursuing,” Raisman said.
Raisman later described the delay in investigating Nassar as “like serving innocent children up to a pedophile on a silver platter.”
The gymnast said on GMA she hopes the senators who heard their stories take action.
“[The senators] seem to be validating, they seem to have been very supportive yesterday, and I hope they take that support and put it into action and actually do an investigation,” said Raisman. “The people that wronged us need to be held accountable so that no child gets hurt.”
“Some of those people who enabled us might still be in positions of power,” she said, noting the investigation needs to look at the FBI as well as USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. “We don’t know because we don’t have the answers yet.”
In her testimony Wednesday, Raisman also described the ongoing mental health struggles she faces from both the sexual abuse and the unanswered questions surrounding the handling of Nassar’s case.
She said on GMA that not only does she relive the abuse every time she speaks about it, but she also feels the responsibility of being a sexual abuse survivor with a large platform.
“I recognize that most survivors don’t have the opportunity to come on Good Morning America,” she said. “I’m very grateful that I do get to come on, but I take that responsibility very seriously.”
“I think about the other survivors, the little boy, the little girl at home that is abused in their family and they are are told that their abuse doesn’t matter, that they’re making it up,” Raisman said. “I am fighting for that person because I know that this is so much bigger than me.”
Rod Stewart will release The Tears of Hercules — his 31st studio album and his first new record in three years — on November 12.
The 12-track collection features nine new original songs and three covers, including renditions of Johnny Cash‘s “These Are My People” and Soul Brothers Six‘s “Some Kind of Wonderful.”
In advance of the new album, Stewart has released the lead track, a country-pop gem titled “One More Time,” as a digital single, and has premiered a companion music video on his official YouTube channel.
Stewart co-wrote “One More Time” and a few other songs on The Tears of Hercules with keyboardist-songwriter Kevin Savigar, who also was Rod’s main collaborator on his three most recent previous albums. Stewart co-produced all four albums with Savigar.
Among the other standout tracks on The Tears of Hercules is “Touchline,” a song about how Rod’s father inspired his love of soccer, a passion Stewart’s passed on to his own sons.
The album also includes song titled “Born to Boogie (A Tribute to Mark Bolan),” a tune Stewart co-wrote with his touring guitarist, Emerson Swinford, as an homage to T. Rex‘s late frontman.
In the liner notes for The Tears of Hercules, Rod writes, “I’ve never said this before about any previous efforts, but I believe this is by far my best album in many a year.”
The Tears of Hercules can be pre-ordered now on CD, as a vinyl LP and in digital formats.
On the performance front, Stewart’s next concert will take place on October 2 in Sparks, Nevada, and he’ll then kick off a new series of Las Vegas residency dates at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on October 6.
Here’s The Tears of Hercules‘ full track list:
“One More Time”
“Gabriella”
“All My Days”
“Some Kind of Wonderful”
“Born to Boogie (A Tribute to Mark Bolan)”
“Kookooaramabama”
“I Can’t Imagine”
“The Tears of Hercules”
“Hold On”
“Precious Memories”
“These Are My People”
“Touchline”
Deepak Chopra has tapped some of his famous friends for his Audible Original podcast series Deepak Chopra’s Mind Body Zone: Living Outside the Box.
The new series, hosted by Chopra, offers an opportunity for listeners to redefine their lives through harnessing a mind-body connection. To help achieve that important connection, Chopra enlisted 12 influential leaders — from media mogul Oprah Winfrey to musician Jon Batiste — who share their personal journeys and how they used their mind-body connection as a way to promote physical and emotional well-being.
“That’s been my vision for 40 years,” Chopra tells ABC Audio. “A more peaceful, just, sustainable, healthier, and joyful world. But that begins with personal transformation. And in the absence of personal transformation, there’s no social transformation. And in the absence of social transformation, as I said earlier, we’re screwed.”
While each 30-minute episode offers an intimate conversation tied to a specific theme, including self-acceptance, white privilege, and overcoming trauma and addiction, Chopra promises an opportunity for guided meditation. He believes meditation, as well as moments of silence, are essential for creating a holistic experience.
“So Deepak has read all the wisdom traditions of the East and West, including the spiritual traditions of the world from Africa. From the Middle East, from Asia, and also the West,” he says. “And so my understanding of what I call reality comes from the wisdom traditions. And these days, I go to my inner silence. That’s all. I practice silence every day for a couple of hours, and that’s when I harness my own creativity.”
“So who do I go to?” Chopra asks. “The realm of silent beings.”
Deepak Chopra’s Mind Body Zone: Living Outside the Box is now available to stream exclusively on Audible.
The singer, who’s gearing up to release his new album = [Equals] on October on 29, teased something major on Instagram Thursday.
“Announcing something 8am tomorrow U.K. time that is basically the start of the next 3 years of my life, excited to be back at it,” he wrote, along with a new photo of him sitting in a flower field in an orange sweater. “Look out for the announcement tomorrow.”
Could it be a tour announcement, perhaps?
If he does head back out on the road, it’ll be the first tour where he’ll actually be able to see his fans from the stage. In a Q&A with fans on his Instagram Story, Ed revealed that he had laser surgery to correct his vision.
“I saw a crowd for the first time the other day,” he said. “I never wore contact lenses on stage or glasses on stage so I never really saw my crowd properly. So with people holding up these signs, I couldn’t read them!”
A judge has dismissed a case accusing Marilyn Manson of sexual assault.
According to TMZ, which obtained legal documents, the lawsuit was dismissed on Tuesday due to the statute of limitations having expired regarding the claims.
The case was filed against the shock rocker in May by an accuser known only as Jane Doe. She claimed that she dated Manson in 2011 and when things went south, he raped her. The accuser also claimed that she had repressed the memory, but was unable to specify how the memory was repressed.
Manson, born Brian Warner, still faces several other lawsuits from women with their own allegations of sexual assault by the rocker, including actor Esmé Bianco, model Ashley Morgan Smithline and Warner’s former assistant, Ashley Walters.
Elton John has once again postponed his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.
The singer announced “with great sadness and a heavy heart” Thursday that he would have to reschedule his Europe and U.K. 2021 dates to 2023.
While the trek was initially halted last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this time it’s an injury that’s keeping Elton off the road.
“At the end of my summer break I fell awkwardly on a hard surface and have been in considerable pain and discomfort in my hip ever since,” he writes. “Despite intensive physio and specialist treatment, the pain has continued to get worse and is leading to increasing difficulties moving.”
He adds that he has been advised to have an operation as soon as possible “to get me back to full fitness and make sure there are no long-term complications.”
Elton, 74, will still perform at Global Citizen Live on September 25, because he says it requires limited physical demands. And if all goes well with the surgery, he plans to resume U.S. tour dates in 2022.
Elton ended with a message to his “incredible fans,” saying it breaks his heart to keep them waiting.
“I completely feel your frustrations after the year we’ve had,” he writes. “I promise you this — the shows will return to the road next year and I will make sure they are more than worth the wait.”
In what could be a preview of next Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards, Ted Lasso was the big winner at the 2021 Television Critics Association Awards. The Apple TV+’s comedy, starring Jason Sudeikis, walked off with the coveted Program of the Year trophy, as well as Outstanding Achievement in Comedy and Outstanding New Program.
HBO’s I May Destroy You creator and star Michaela Coel earned the Individual Achievement in Drama honor, while Hacks‘ Jean Smart won the same honor for comedy and also took home the Career Achievement Award.
Other notable winners this year include Kate Winslet‘s Mare of Easttown, Framing Britney Spears, The Baby-Sitters Club, The Crown, Couples Therapy and Deaf U.
The Golden Girls was honored with the Heritage Award.
The TCA Awards are voted on by members of the Television Critics Association. The complete winners list can be viewed at the TCA website…
The new film Blue Bayou, in theaters Friday, takes on an issue many people don’t know is an issue: kids brought to the U.S., adopted from other countries who, as adults, think they’re citizens until they’re told they’re being deported.
Alicia Vikander who stars in the film, tells ABC Audio she had “no clue” this was happening in real life and immediately dove into researching the topic after reading the script.
“I think the first thing I did was to bring up my phone and start Googling because I literally I couldn’t believe that this was a reality because it doesn’t make any sense,” she says.
While some may think the issue is a political one, for Vikander, it’s about humanity.
“With these families, they’re kind of met by this issue that I think everyone, like no one agrees — it’s not even like immigration politics because they’ve legally come into the country already,” she expresses. “So it just doesn’t make any sense for anyone, you know?”
For Blue Bayou writer and director Justin Chon, this issue is one that he’s had a close connection to, explaining to ABC Audio that it’s based on stories happening to people he knows and “this film is for them.”
Ultimately, though, Chon, who also stars in the film as one of these adults, named Antonio, says he hopes the film sheds some light on a heartbreaking story.
“One of my biggest goals was to bring empathy to somebody who was going through this process. I didn’t want it to feel like propaganda,” he shares. “Hence Antonio is not a perfect human being. He’s flawed, as we all are. And I just wanted to feel just so relatable, so tangible, so visceral. I wanted it to be hard to look away.”
Nicki Minaj says she’s headed to the White House after her recent controversial comments about the COVID-19 vaccine.
On Wednesday, responding to a fan on Twitter who said she should speak at the United Nations General Assembly, the rapper revealed, “The White House has invited me & I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
“Yes, I’m going. I’ll be dressed in all pink like Legally Blonde so they know I mean business. I’ll ask questions on behalf of the ppl who have been made fun of for simply being human,” Nicki continued, adding “#BallGate day 3.”
Following the tweet, a White House official clarified that what Nicki tweeted isn’t actually the case — though they confirm that the White House is in touch with the rapper.
“As we have with others, we offered a call with Nicki Minaj and one of our doctors to answer questions she has about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine,” the official said.
The recent controversy comes after the “Super Bass” rapper revealed that she did not attend Monday’s Met Gala because she was not vaccinated and later made claims about a cousin of hers refusing to get the vaccine after “his friend” got the shot and suffered an alleged reproductive side-effect.
“If I get vaccinated it won’t [be] for the Met. It’ll be once I feel I’ve done enough research,” Minaj said in a tweet Monday. “I’m working on that now.” She later polled her followers about what vaccine she should get, adding she is “sure” she will get the jab in order to tour.
The comments sparked a response from White House COVID-19 task force head Dr. Anthony Fauci, who stressed the dangers of misinformation, especially coming from those with a large platform.
By the way, there were also rumors Wednesday night that Twitter had suspended Nicki’s account, presumably for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. However, a Twitter spokesperson told ABC News, “Twitter did not take any enforcement action on the account referenced.” And Nicki’s account is still active as of Thursday morning.
The White House has invited me & I think it’s a step in the right direction. Yes, I’m going. I’ll be dressed in all pink like Legally Blonde so they know I mean business. I’ll ask questions on behalf of the ppl who have been made fun of for simply being human. #BallGate day 3 https://t.co/PSa3WcEjH3
