Britney Spears engaged to marry Jason Trawick
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears is ready to walk down the aisle for the third time. The 30-year-old pop star has agreed to marry her longtime boyfriend and former agent Jason Trawick.
Trawick announced Friday on “Access Hollywood” that he and Spears are engaged. The two have been dating since 2009.
Spears was previously married to Kevin Federline, with whom she has two sons: 6-year-old Sean Preston and 5-year-old Jayden James. The couple divorced in 2006. Spears also briefly wed childhood friend Jason Alexander in 2004, but the marriage was annulled after 55 hours.
Lambert’s new single inspired by Shelton’s brother
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Miranda Lambert is paying tribute to husband Blake Shelton’s late brother with her new single, “Over You.”
Richie Shelton died in a car accident in 1990. The newlyweds wrote the song together about a year ago, and Lambert recorded it for her latest album “Four the Record.” It is the second single released from the album.
The song idea started on a tour bus as they were flipping through TV channels. Shelton’s “Backstory” happened to be re-airing on GAC, and it was at the part where his dad was talking about his brother’s fatal crash. His father said: “You don’t ever get over something like that. You just get used to it.”
The couple turned the TV off and started talking.
“Miranda never had a chance to meet my brother,” Shelton said recently. “I was just a teenager when that happened. So I was telling her about him, what he was like, and we just ended up like we do sometimes, writing a song.”
Richie was only 24 when he died. Shelton was 14 at the time. This was the first time Shelton, now 35, really opened up to Lambert about the tragedy.
“We both actually cried while writing the song,” said Lambert, 28. “That’s the only time I’ve ever gotten that emotional writing a song, and him, too. So, I think the initial emotion came out right that day, and I think you hear it in the lyrics.”
Some of the lines are pulled directly from Shelton’s experience. Lambert sings, “Your favorite records make me feel better, cause you sing along with every song. I know you didn’t mean to give them to me.”
“That’s one of the things I got when my brother was killed. The family gave me all his albums and things like that,” Shelton said. “I just listened to them over and over again to feel like he was there.”
Shelton said Richie loved all kinds of music, from Hank Williams Jr. to MC Hammer. He still has his brother’s “No Fences” album by Garth Brooks and says Richie’s favorite song at the time was “Friends In Low Places.”
The songwriting process helped Lambert and Shelton grow as a couple. Lambert calls it the most real song she’s ever had.
“It was really a great moment between us. It was like we moved to a deeper level, not just in our relationship, but also, we respect each other as artists, and being able to write something that personal with each other was really cool,” she said.
Back in October, Shelton sparked a rumor that Lambert was pregnant when he found out “Over You” might be a single. He tweeted: “Just received news that is so cool it supersedes any award, hit song, platinum album, sold-out tour or TV show!! What a year. . What a year!”
He says he is probably more proud of creating that song than of anything he’s accomplished in his career.
“That to me, that’s what I’m supposed to do as a country artist, a country songwriter, is take a real-life situation that is emotional and make it into music,” he said. “There’s no way I could have performed that song every night. So I’m honored Miranda put it on her record.”
Shelton and Lambert are the reigning Country Music Association male and female vocalists of the year. Shelton was recently nominated for three Grammy awards.
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Online:
http://www.mirandalambert.com
http://www.blakeshelton.com
Meryl Streep covers Vogue magazine for first time
NEW YORK (AP) — Meryl Streep may be one of the finest actresses around, yet she says she believed her career was over 20 years ago.
The 62-year-old tells Vogue magazine she was offered three different roles to play a witch after turning 40. She believed it meant women in her age group were “grotesque on some level,” and told her husband, “It’s over.”
Streep played the editor of the fictional Vogue-like magazine Runway in the movie “The Devil Wears Prada.” She is now gracing the January cover of the real magazine for the first time, joking that she’s the oldest person to do so.
Next, she plays the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the film “Iron Lady,” which opens Jan. 13.
The January issue of Vogue goes on sale Dec. 20.
Judge says Lindsay Lohan doing well on probation
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge offered Lindsay Lohan something Wednesday that she hadn’t heard from a court in nearly two years: Praise.
Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner said the actress was doing well under strict new terms of her probation and urged her to keep up the good work.
The starlet has completed 12 days at the county morgue and five therapy sessions since Nov. 2, when she was sentenced to a strict routine of community service and counseling after her latest probation violation.
“You’re doing well and I’d like to see it continue,” Sautner said during a 10-minute status hearing.
She also offered Lohan an incentive to succeed, saying the actress could take leisure trips outside California after she completes a dozen days of morgue work a month.
The actress had permission from her probation officer to take a trip to Hawaii to celebrate her sister’s birthday. She returned just hours before the hearing.
Lohan, 25, has drawn the repeated ire of judges for failing to complete counseling sessions and community service assignments on time. Sautner made clear Wednesday that she believes Lohan’s new schedule — which requires the model and actress to appear in court monthly until March — is the reason for the turnaround.
The judge even hinted that Lohan might end her supervised probation early if she works harder.
“Do more days a month and we can end this in February, possibly,” Sautner said.
The judge said Lohan should keep reporting to court in person to make sure she remains on track.
“I think she likes to come see me,” Sautner joked. “I think that’s her motivation.”
Lohan appeared in court wearing brown slacks and a beige cardigan and found a smaller crowd of reporters than has chronicled the actress’ court scoldings since she missed a hearing in May 2010.
The last time she appeared in court without a probation compliance issue on the agenda was February 2010.
Judges repeatedly sent her to jail and rehab since then, and Sautner said last month she was giving Lohan one final chance to end the court spectacle.
The actress remains on probation for a 2007 drunken driving case and a misdemeanor grand theft case filed after she took a $2,500 necklace without permission from a store.
Her appearance Wednesday came days before a Playboy issue featuring Lohan in a mostly nude pictorial hits newsstands.
Hasidic reggae star Matisyahu shaves off his beard
Matisyahu before he shaved his beard.
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City-based Hasidic reggae superstar Matisyahu (ma-tis-YAH’-hoo) is on a new religious path, but it’s unclear which one.
The Jewish singer shaved off his beard and posted the bare-faced photos Tuesday on Twitter. He says on his website he once felt the need for lots of religious rules so he wouldn’t fall apart. Now he says he’s reclaiming himself.
But it’s unclear whether he’s leaving Orthodoxy. He says he’s still going to synagogue each day.
His spokeswoman says he isn’t giving interviews.
Matisyahu was a musical curiosity who became a mainstream star after his 2004 debut, “Shake Off The Dust … Arise.” He sported the bushy beard, flat-brimmed black hat, black pants and white shirt worn by Hasidic men.
His biggest single, “King Without a Crown,” was a crossover hit.
Jackson daughter tells ‘Ellen’ about acting dreams
In this Dec. 13, 2011 photo released by Warner Bros., talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, right, welcomes Paris Jackson, daughter of the late pop star Michael Jackson during a taping of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in Burbank, Calif. The episode will air on Thursday.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson’s daughter says she was inspired to be an actress after seeing her father in the film “Moonwalker.”
“My dad was in the movie `Moonwalker’ and I knew he could sing really well, but I didn’t know he could act,” Paris Jackson told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, according to a transcript of the episode to air Thursday. “I saw that and I said, `Wow, I want to be just like him.“’
The film featuring Jackson’s signature dance move and other videos was released in 1988.
Paris said her father encouraged her and did improvisation sessions to develop her skills. The 13-year-old has been cast alongside Larry King in a film based on a new children’s book, “Lundon’s Bridge and the Three Keys,” which is in early stages of development.
The Internet Movie Database, known as IMDB, shows the film is tentatively scheduled for a 2013 release, although filmmakers have not presented the teen’s proposed acting contract to a Los Angeles court as required because she is a minor.
Paris also talked about the lengths that her father took to protect her identity for an episode that will air on Thursday.
She said her father protected her and her two brothers from the media, such as by placing them in masks or dressing them in costumes when they were in public. She said she initially thought wearing the mask was stupid, but later came to realize that it was for her and her brothers’ protection.
She said no one recognized her when she began attending school after her father’s death in June 2009.
“I was like, yes, I have a chance to be normal,” she said.
Jackson’s children have since been in the public eye, appearing onstage at their father’s televised memorial service, the Grammy Awards and other television appearances.
Chuck Lorre speaks out about Charlie Sheen
“The [studio and the network] chose to make a moral decision as opposed to a financial one. This was not a game. This was drug addiction writ large. This was big-time cocaine, and in his own words, an ‘epic drug run’ that could have ended with either his death or someone else’s.”
On giving Two and a Half Men an extreme makeover by bringing in a new star:
“I thought, why not find out if we can do it? If we failed, what have we failed at? Making a sitcom? Then it became exciting. We got to do something none of us ever dreamed of doing: We got to end a series and start a new series in 20 minutes.”
On referencing Charlie Sheen during this season of Two and a Half Men:
“To not deal with it felt like a cheat. The unbelievably public nature of this debacle is part of our legacy now. It happened, and the dividing line between Charlie Harper and Charlie Sheen is forever blurred.”
On how things spun out of control with Charlie Sheen:
“He was a great friend and partner for eight years. And every time he got himself into trouble, we believed that there was healing that was going to come. I certainly believed that sobriety is something that he wants in his life, and I was wrong.”
On trying to intervene:
“We intervened all the time. I was so afraid my friend was going to die. When we would shoot a show on a Friday night, there was always that ‘I’ll see you Monday. I hope.’ The holidays were the worst, because those long stretches of time were the ones we feared the most.”
On his decision to shut the show down:
“I didn’t want to be writing a sitcom while my friend died. Or worse, hurt someone else. We couldn’t be complacent. There was a tragedy unfolding right in front of us. There was violence and blackouts. On a certain level, if you’re looking the other way, you’re responsible.”
“You couldn’t do that much cocaine and work. It was falling apart. It was heartbreaking to be around here then.”
On being afraid that Charlie would retaliate against him:
“It’s a long road from being a sitcom writer to really recognizing that you might be in jeopardy. I was looking over my shoulder.”
On Charlie’s personal attacks against him in the press, including making an issue out of Lorre’s 13-year sobriety:
“That broke my heart, too. I thought we were on the same road together. I mean, we held hands and prayed when his sons were born premature. There’s that element of Charlie [that's] admirable, and he was the kind of guy you wanted to hang out with. He was a special guy. But bottom line, special guys are not immune to drug addiction.”
On his feelings about Charlie today:
“Bottom line, I hope he’s happy, I hope he’s healthy. I hope he’s able to be there for his kids.”
“The man was my friend. I cared for him deeply. We had a great time. We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. Sometimes I’ll watch the reruns and I’ll go, ‘That was worth watching.” I’m proud of what we did.
