Celebrity News

Drake’s Album “Certified Lover Boy” Decoded

Drake‘s former Degrassi co-workers are weighing in on the performer’s star-making acting gig. 

In honor of Degrassi: The Next Generation celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Oct. 14, 2001 series premiere, a number of the show’s cast members and behind-the-scenes talent reminisced about its big moments in an oral history published by The A.V. Club on Thursday, Oct. 14. This included the season four twist involving Rick Murray (Ephraim Ellis) shooting Jimmy Brooks (Drake) and causing him to become paralyzed. 

In the piece, James Hurst, who wrote for the Canadian teen drama series, alleged that Drake, whose real name is Aubrey Graham, was adamant at one point about no longer wanting his character to use a wheelchair. 

“There was a letter from a law firm in Toronto, and it was from Aubrey,” James said. “It was an odd letter that said, ‘Aubrey Graham will not return to Degrassi season six as Jimmy Brooks unless his injury is healed, and he’s out of the wheelchair.’ I said, ‘Get him down here.’ He came in and was like, ‘What letter? I don’t know about that.'”

The writer continued, “And I said, ‘All right, I understand. But how do you feel about the wheelchair?’ He’s like, ‘All my friends in the rap game say I’m soft because I’m in a wheelchair.’ And I said, ‘Well, tell your friends in the rap game that you got shot. How much harder can you get? You got shot, and you’re in a wheelchair.'”

According to James, Drake, who remained with the show until season eight, ultimately understood where the writing staff was coming from and had a change of heart.

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5 Things

October 15, 2021 12:55AM EDT

Who is Jennifer Gates? Ahead of her wedding, here are five things to know about Bill and Melinda’s eldest daughter.

Jennifer Gates, the eldest daughter of billionaire couple Bill and Melinda Gates, will soon exchange vows with fiancé Nayel Nassar, a professional equestrian. The two are set to wed at Jennifer’s sprawling horse farm in Westchester County in New York on Saturday, Oct. 16.

The Microsoft heiress, 25, announced the news of her engagement in January 2020, sharing a photo with Nayel, 30, in the snow on Instagram that featured her ring. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives learning, growing, laughing and loving together,” Jennifer wrote. “Yes a million times over.” 

So, who is Jennifer? Below are five things to know about Bill and Melinda’s first born.

Jennifer is a Stanford University graduate

Jennifer attended Stanford University between 2014 and 2018, where she received her degree in human biology. She has credited her parents for sparking her passion for science and medicine, explaining in an introductory Instagram post that her parents’ “regular dinner time conversations about children’s health on a global scale” impacted her at a “young age,” which brings us to the next tidbit…

Jennifer is currently in medical school 

Following her graduation from Stanford, Jennifer began medical school at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai in New York in 2019. She’s in her second year, and is set to graduate in 2023. “I am deeply interested in studying factors that impact children’s growth and development, most specifically adverse childhood experiences,” she wrote of her studies in her introductory IG post. “Long term,

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Listen

October 15, 2021 12:16AM EDT

Coldplay is back with a new album, and helping bring the ‘Music of Spheres’ is none other than Selena Gomez, who is featured in ‘Let Somebody Go.’

Coldplay’s new album, Music of Spheres, arrived on Oct. 15. It’s a seemingly cosmic-themed project that boasts one particular superstar: Selena Gomez. Selena joined the band – Chris Martin, Johnny Buckland, Guy Berryman, Will Champion and Phil Harvey – on the track, “Let Somebody Go,” and it’s ironically one that Selenators will be holding onto for the rest of the year.

In the heartbreak ballad, Selena and Chris sing about the pain of having to let somebody go. “All the storms we weathered/ everything that we went through / Now without you, what on earth am I to do?” Selena sings, before the duo dive into the chorus: “When you love somebody / then it hurts like so / to let somebody go / it hurts like so to let somebody go.”

Selena and Coldplay first teased the song on Oct. 4, with each posting a short social media video of a technicolor planet spinning in the depth of space. The clip also gave fans a snippet of the song, and it sounded like a moody, emotional ballad.” When I called the mathematicians and I asked them to explain / They said love is only equal to the pain,” sang Selena on the track. Considering the song’s title – rarely is anything called “Let Somebody Go” about being happy — this preview confirmed suspicions that fans should have a box of tissues nearby before listening.

Selena Gomez at the 47th Annual American Music Awards (Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock)

This collab with Coldplay comes on the heels of Selena’s “999,” her song with Camilo.

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Breaking News

October 14, 2021 11:13PM EDT

Lance Bass and Michael Turchin are parents! The former NSYNC singer welcomed twins, a boy and a girl, with his husband on October 13.

Lance Bass and husband Michael Turchin are dads! The former NSYNC singer, 42, and his actor husband, 34, have welcomed their first children together, a set of boy-girl twins named Violet Betty and Alexander James on Wednesday, Oct. 13. Lance announced the news one day after the twins’ arrivals on Instagram with photos of their birth certificates.

“The baby dragons have arrived!!” Lance captioned the post. “I can not express how much love I feel right now. Thank you for all the kind wishes. It meant a lot. Now, how do you change a diaper??! Ahhhhhhhh!”

The couple, who wed in 2014, announced they were expecting twins in a delightful horror film spoof shared on TikTok in June, revealing that the babies will be coming this fall. The video paid homage to horror classics, including Poltergeist and, obviously, The Shining.

The joyous addition to the Bass-Turchin family comes after a difficult surrogacy journey for the couple over the last several years, one that involved a miscarriage, multiple IVF treatments, and nine donors. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the troubles. Through it all, though, Lance and Michael’s hope never wavered.

@lancebass

Coming this fall. #TheyreComing #HappyPride #ForYourPride #TodayIsLove #Zaddies 🏳️‍🌈

♬ original sound – Lance Bass

After revealing that their surrogate lost their baby boy at eight weeks last March, Lance told PEOPLE in May 2020 that he and Michael were not “giving up” on starting their family.

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Kate Walsh Returns to “Grey’s Anatomy” & Addresses BTS Rumors

Kate Walsh‘s highly anticipated return to Grey’s Anatomy had all the emotional highs and lows fans were expecting. 

On the ABC medical drama’s Thursday, Oct. 14 episode, Addison Montgomery was back at Grey Sloan Memorial, marking Kate’s reappearance after leaving as a series regular at the end of season three. 

The big reunion with Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) came quickly, with Addison telling Richard (James Pickens Jr.) once the hospital’s air filtration system went out, “Get me Meredith Grey.” 

After Addison and Meredith teamed up for a successful transplant surgery, they were in an elevator together when the neonatal surgeon tearfully broke down over her grief from the loss of ex-husband Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). 

“I thought coming back here—to Seattle, to Grey Sloan—that he’d be here, that I would be able to feel that he was still here in the city that he loved, with the people he loved, but he isn’t,” Addison lamented. “And it’s real—he’s not here.” 

This led Meredith to comfortingly reply, “Addison, he is here, and he’s in his children, and they are very real. And I would love for you to come and meet them.” 

ABC/Eric McCandless

Toward the end of the episode, Addison got to enjoy some ice cream with youngsters Zola and Bailey as Ellis rested upstairs. After introducing herself as their dad’s friend, she explained, “I’m Addison, but he called me Addie.” 

Later, she adorably told the kids, “Guess what? I’m falling more in love with you every second.”  

Following the episode, Kate took to social media to acknowledge its heartfelt moments.

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Lance Bass, AJ McLean & Nick Lachey’s Nostalgic Boyband Reunion

Lance Bass is saying bye, bye, bye to some sleep because he’s officially a dad of twins!

The NSYNC star and his husband, Michael Turchin, are finally a family of four after the birth of their two babies, the couple confirmed on Thursday, Oct. 14. The first-time parents welcomed daughter Violet Betty and son Alexander James via surrogate. 

“The baby dragons have arrived!!” the singer gushed on Instagram. “I can not express how much love I feel right now. Thank you for all the kind wishes. It meant a lot. Now, how do you change a diaper??! Ahhhhhhhh.”

Lance teased their arrival on Oct. 13, writing on his Instagram Story, “Here we go,” along with a hospital photo of beds for “Baby A” and “Baby B” all set up.

Their birth comes nearly four months after the singer’s rep confirmed the pregnancy on June 1, telling E! News that Lance and Michael are “very excited on becoming a family of four!”

Becoming parents to twins made the milestone even more special considering Michael is also a twin. “We always knew that if we were going to start the family, we wanted to go for twins just because Michael’s a twin—he’s a boy/girl twin. And he just loved that experience,” Lance previously told People. “I always wanted to have a twin, but we’re like, ‘Well, that’s so perfect because now we can do one of mine, one of yours.’ It was a no-brainer!”

Dan Steinberg/Invision for onePulse Foundation/AP Images

Now, after a years-long process involving finding egg donors,

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PUBLISHED ON : OCTOBER 14, 2021 / 08:46 PM

R&B artist Emani 22 has reportedly passed away. She was 22-years-old.

According to PEOPLE, the singer’s frequent producer J Maine confirmed to the outlet via a statement that she died.

“Emani 22 was a wonderful individual that literally brightened up any room she was in,” said Maine. “I worked on music with her, and helped her put together her last project which was The Color Red. The way we worked together was effortless, we just understood each other. It hurts so bad to know that the last time I saw her was the last time I’d ever see her again.”

RELATED: Reggie Warren Of R&B Group TROOP Is Dead At 52

A cause of death has not yet been revealed.

“I considered her to be like a little sister to me,” Maine added about Emani 22, born Emani Johnson. “She will be missed, and never forgotten, and I’ll always think about the great times we had hanging out.”

Emani 22’s last album was 2020’s THE COLOR RED. She also collaborated with Trippie Redd on the single “Inside.” She also appeared on two songs on the Ohio rapper’s 2018 album A Love Letter to You via the tracks “Firestarter” and “Emani Interlude.”

(Photo by Emani 22 via Instagram)

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PUBLISHED ON : OCTOBER 14, 2021 / 07:47 PM

Labor organizer and civil rights activist Timuel Black Jr. died on Oct. 13 at 102 years old.

According to USA Today, he died in hospice care at his South Side Chicago home. His wife, Zenobia Johnson-Black, told the outlet, “I hope to celebrate his life every day of my life. He was trying to make this world a better place. And that’s what he urged others to do. So that’s how I hope he’ll be remembered.”

Former President Barack Obama released a statement, which read, “Tim spent decades chronicling and lifting up Black Chicago history. But he also made plenty of history himself.”

He continued, “Over his 102 years, Tim was many things: a veteran, historian, author, educator, civil rights leader, and humanitarian. But above all, Tim was a testament to the power of place, and how the work we do to improve one community can end up reverberating through other neighborhoods and other cities, eventually changing the world.”

Black attended Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009.

RELATED: BET Presents: Love & Happiness, an Obama Celebration

Born December 7, 1918, in Mobile, Alabama and raised in Chicago, Black served in World War II, attended Roosevelt University in Chicago and received a degree in sociology in 1952. Additionally, he earned a master’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1954 and would eventually teach at the City Colleges of Chicago.

After seeing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preach on television in December 1955 about the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, he joined the civil rights movement. He soon began working alongside Dr. King. His advocacy continued, helping to elect Chicago’s first Black mayor,

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PUBLISHED ON : OCTOBER 14, 2021 / 06:29 PM

A woman has come forward to file a $25 million federal suit against comedian Bill Cosby claiming he drugged and sexually abused her during a purported mentorship that began on the The Cosby Show set.

Law&Crime reports they’ve obtained legal documents that show Lili Bernard, who first accused Cosby, 84, years ago and is now seeking significant punitive damages against him on claims of assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment. The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, states that Cosby “sexually assaulted, battered, and drugged Ms. Bernard on additional occasions.” 

Bernard claims in court documents that she first met Cosby on the set of “The Cosby Show” around July 1990 and that he offered to mentor her as an actor. Cosby promised the actress that he would give her a speaking role on the show, but she’d have to go through his training program. Bernard says part of the program included her providing answers to “detailed questions about her life.”

The lawsuit also claims that while doing breathing and vocal exercises, Cosby grabbed Bernard’s breasts. When she protested, Cosby “feigned innocence and acted insulted.”

RELATED: Bill Cosby Reportedly Wants To Be Compensated For His Time Behind Bars

A month later, Bernard alleges that Cosby set up what she thought was a meeting at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City with an influential producer who could “advance” her career. 

Bernard says she accepted a non-alcoholic beverage and then began to feel dizzy, weak and nauseous. She claims she lost consciousness but recalls protesting when Cosby began to undress her,

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One of the many shocking revelations in ‘What Happened, Brittany Murphy?’ is that her husband, Simon Monjack, secretly fathered a child with Elizabeth Ragsdale. Here’s what you need to know.

Ever since Brittany Murphy died from pneumonia and anemia in 2009, there have been many questions around her tragic death and her relationship with Simon Monjack, a low-level Hollywood screenwriter who would die of similar causes six months later. What Happened, Brittany Murphy?, a two-part HBO Max documentary, aimed to answer some of the mysteries surrounding her tragic death. In doing so, it uncovered a shocking truth: Simon fathered not one but two children with other women.

One of those women was Elizabeth Ragsdale. What Happened, Brittany Murphy? marks her first public statement on her secret relationship with Simon and their now 18-year-old lovechild. As the world takes in all the new information about Simon, Brittany, and their controversial relationship, here’s the scoop on Elizabeth.

1. Elizabeth & Simon Had A Relationship In The 1990s

Brittany and Simon allegedly met when she was 17 when he became friends with her and her mother, Sharon Murphy. Around that time, Simon became involved with Elizabeth, a woman from Paris. Their relationship was more than a one-off because…

Simon Monjack (NEILL J SCHUTZER/©2010 RAMEY PHOTO/MEGA) 2. Elizabeth Was Once Engaged To Simon

In June 1998, Simon popped the question to Elizabeth in a Harrod’s department store in Paris. However, at this time, cracks began to appear in Simon’s façade. After Elizabeth turned him down for sex, he tearfully told her that he had “spinal cancer” and was undergoing treatments in Monaco. Elizabeth acquiesced to his pleading, and they made love.

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Marc Anthony shares six children with former partners, including twins Emme and Max with Jennifer Lopez. Here’s what to know about the singer’s children.

Marc Anthony, real name Marco Muñiz, 53, is an award-winning singer-songwriter known for hit songs like “Vivir Mi Vida” and “Flor Pálida.” While he is a recipient of three Grammys and six Latin Grammys, among other accolades, to his children, the artist is simply dad. He is a father to six children, whom he shares with previous partners: twins Emme and Max, both 13, with ex-wife Jennifer Lopez; sons Cristian, 20, and Ryan, 18, with ex-wife Dayanara Torres; and daughter Ariana, 27, and son Chase, 25, with ex-girlfriend Debbie Rosado.

Who are the singer-songwriter’s children? While twins Emme and Max are in the public eye due to their famous mom, not too much else is known about their step-siblings. Below, what to know about Marc’s six children.

Emme Muñiz Jennifer Lopez with daughter Emme (SplashNews)

Emme, born Emme Maribel Muñiz, is one of the two children that Marc shares with ex-wife J.Lo. The two were previously married between 2004 and 2014. Born on February 22, 2008 in Long Island, New York, Emme is perhaps one of the singer’s most well-known children, having made several red carpet appearances alongside her famous parents. Don’t be surprised if she follows in her parents’ footsteps as singers: Emme famously took the stage during her mom’s 2020 Super Bowl halftime show with Shakira in February 2020 and participated in a mashup of “Let’s Get Loud” and “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)” alongside other young singers. No one was more proud than dad Marc, who shared a photo of his daughter onstage on Instagram and wrote,

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A source exclusively tells E! News that Britney Spears feels sister Jamie Lynn Spears has “turned her back on her” amid the pop star’s ongoing conservatorship battle.

Jamie Lynn Spears Shuts Down Claims Britney Bought Her a Condo

This continues to be a tough moment for Britney Spears‘ relationship with sister Jamie Lynn Spears.

A source tells E! News exclusively that Britney feels “totally abandoned” by her younger sibling amid the 39-year-old “Womanizer” vocalist’s ongoing conservatorship battle. This follows Jamie Lynn’s announcement earlier this week that she will soon publish a memoir covering various aspects of her personal life. 

“Britney is very, very angry and hurt,” the insider shares. “She feels like Jamie Lynn totally abandoned her and let her down in the fight of her life. They were best friends and everything to each other for so long.”

The source continues about Britney, “She asked for support, and feels like Jamie Lynn turned her back on her and couldn’t be bothered.”

E! News reached out to Jamie Lynn’s rep for comment and has not heard back.

On Monday, Oct. 11, Jamie Lynn shared on Instagram that she has finished writing her book, Things I Should Have Said, which is scheduled for publication in January 2022. 

“I felt a strong conviction to share my story, but there was a lot of personal work and healing that had to happen before I could share my truth the proper way,” the 30-year-old Zooey 101 alum posted in part. 

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

A day later, Britney appeared to subtly mock the announcement by writing on her own Instagram account,

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