SHOW BIZ

JJ SLATER has been hitting the gym after splitting from Katie Price, and revealed he’s already been shedding the pounds.

The former flames first started dating at the end of 2023 but recently called it quits.

But it appears JJ is taking care of himself and focusing on his physical health, taking to Instagram today to praise his coach.

In a candid video sat in his car post-workout, an exhausted JJ shared: “About ten days ago I put up [posted] that I’ve been working with Kieran from Konditioning Coaching.

“He’s an online coach. I’ve never had one before but I thought that I’d give it a go.

“We’re 10 days in, and I’m 2.8kg down which is obviously a blinder.

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“Yeah he holds me accountable, he sorts out my nutrition, sorts out my workouts, makes sure I’m doing my steps, my cardio.

“And if I’m not doing it he’ll call me up and be like J what are you doing.”

JJ wrapped the message off by saying he’s glad he could take his followers along with him for the journey.

“If you’re not sure about getting an online coach maybe seeing my journey might help you decide on that but yeah, shout out Kieran and more to come on this.”

JJ also tagged Kieran and described him in a message penned over the video as the “brains behind the operation.”

In the run up to Katie and JJ splitting, there has been plenty of speculation that things weren’t smooth sailing.

And now Katie has opened up about the complicated issues their relationship faced over the years.

In a new YouTube vlog, the reality star said she is looking ahead to a positive 2026, but experienced ups and downs last year.

Speaking about her struggles with things going on behind closed door, Katie shared: ” 2025 privately there’s been some hiccups.

“Work wise it’s been fantastic – I’ve done my tour, I’ve done my music, I’ve moved to a beautiful  house.

“Everything is good, of course everyone in life will have ups and downs – and I wouldn’t want everything to be perfect.

“But this is my year – this is my year, I am telling you.”

Since the split Katie has also been sharing quotes on Instagram about soulmates and “real intimacy”.

WEST Wing actor Tim Busfield has made his first court appearance after being charged with child sex abuse crimes.

The 68-year-old star was officially charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor (child under 13) and one count of child abuse.

Yesterday, Busfield stood in court in an orange jumpsuit while he listened to the allegations that he engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with 11-year-old twin boys.

The judge has confirmed his pretrial detention hearing will take place in the next five business days.

January 29 has been decided as the deadline for his preliminary hearing.

A warrant was issued on January 4 for the star, who played senior White House Correspondent Danny Concannon in the American drama series.

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His location was unknown for several days after the allegations went public, but he turned himself in to officials in New Mexico on Tuesday January 13, Albuquerque Police confirmed to The U.S. Sun.

Disturbingly, one of the victims alleged that the incidents began when he was just 7 years old.

In the immediate hours before his surrender to police Busfield spoke out about the allegations he labelled “lies”.

In the video obtained by TMZ, he said: “I’m sure most of you know, that are watching this, that I was ordered to come to Albuquerque – I’m here now.

“I got the call Friday night, I had to get a lawyer. Saturday I got in the car, drove 2,000 miles to Albuquerque.

“I’m gonna confront these lies. They’re horrible.”

He continued denying the heinous allegations, claiming “They’re all lies and I did not do anything to those little boys and I’m gonna fight it.

“I’m gonna fight it with a great team, and I’m gonna be exonerated, I know I am, because this is all so wrong and all lies.”

However, officials in New Mexico claimed the boys were groomed on the set of The Cleaning Lady, a show where Busfield served as a director. 

According to a copy of the warrant obtained by The U.S. Sun, Busfield touched one boy three times on private areas over his clothes when he was seven.

Then the star touched him five or six times when the boy was eight.

The child reportedly didn’t tell anyone about the alleged abuse because he feared Busfield – who he apparently called “Uncle Tim” – would get mad.

A second boy claimed Busfield inappropriately touched him over two years, without specifying where, as he worked on the show that ran until 2025.

The alleged abuse took place between November 2022 and spring 2024.

Disgraced Busfield has more than 700 credits as an actor, director and producer to his name.

He won an Emmy for his role as Elliot Weston on Thirtysomething in 1991 and starred as Danny Concannon in several series of the West Wing.

A tenacious and determined Washington Post reporter, Concannon offered an outside perspective on the White House, often challenging the administration’s transparency.

In 2013 he married fellow actress Melissa Gilbert.

The Traitors and former Strictly Come Dancing host Claudia Winkleman, who celebrates her birthday today, has faced a number of health issues over the years, including a chronic condition

The Traitors’ presenter Claudia Winkleman, who turns 54 today (Thursday, January 15), is one of the UK’s most recognisable TV stars.

She worked on Strictly Come Dancing for 15 years before announcing her departure at the end of the last series. Her star has continued to rise as she fronts The Traitors and its celebrity spin-off while she is set to host her own BBC chat show this spring.

Claudia is also a mum-of-three with her husband of 25 years Kris Thykier but life has not been all plain sailing.

Her life has thrown up some serious health challenges, including one that left her feeling “embarrassed”.

Claudia has spoken candidly about her ongoing battle with myopia, an eye condition where distant objects appear blurry due to an issue with focus. The chronic eye condition resulted in a number of operations which mean she “can’t really read anymore”.

Speaking to Gabby Logan on her Mid-Point podcast, she said: “I’ve had a lens replacement. I’ve had so many operations on my eyes.

“I had a lens replacement in my left eye because my astigmatism was so bad I was minus 16, but that was 14 years ago and then I had a little fiddle with it but because I was so short sighted by then I’m now long sighted so I can’t really read anymore.

“I can with glasses, I’ve got plus 2.5 but I can’t read The Bee Sting with those glasses and that light.”

Around one in three people in the UK suffer from myopia. Claudia admits she has always had terrible eyesight.

During a 2021 interview with the Sun, she revealed she is “embarrassed” at the situation as she struggles to read an autocue – a key part of the job for a television presenter.

She said: “I can’t even begin to tell you how blind I am. It’s embarrassing. I can’t read the autocue. My eyes have deteriorated so badly, I’m not meant to drive. I am doing the wrong job.”

Poor eyesight is not the only health condition Claudia has battled against. She also opened up about a long-term health issue that left her “falling apart”.

She said that after not “standing up straight” for all her life, she is now working with a Pilates instructor to correct her posture.

Speaking with Gabby Logan about her issue, Claudia said: “My body is made entirely of crepe. [I’m] falling apart.

“I’ve got a bad back and I need some form of strength. You know what I mean? I’ve got my core.

“They talked to me about parts of my body. They said, ‘The problem is you’ve never used your lats’. I was like, ‘What is that?’. Apparently, so my shoulders are up by my neck. I’m always like (demonstrates her posture).

“And I don’t like the look of people standing up straight. It feels somehow cocky, so my stance has always been like a turtle.”

‘Lats’ refers to the latissimus dorsi muscle, one of the largest muscles in the back. Pilates can help improve major muscle groups, posture, flexibility, strength, balance and body awareness.”

Speaking about a slightly less serious issue she has faced, Claudia also revealed she had an invisible brace fitted after learning her teeth were becoming crooked.

In what she called a “mid-life crisis”, the TV star admitted she uses Invisalign.

Speaking to the Emma Guns Show back in 2018, she said: “They’re part of the mid-life crisis, I’ve got Invisalign in. My teeth suddenly went crooked, one morning they all decided to fold in front of each other, you couldn’t do anything with them so I got this, I’m slightly in love with it. They’re so clever.”

Catch Claudia on The Traitors tonight (Thursday, January 15), at 8pm on BBC One. This season’s finale airs next Friday (January 23).

Not long after documentary filmmaker Rachel Mason began looking into the gruesome 1990 cold-case murder of gay porn actor Bill Newton in Hollywood, Newton’s former boyfriend, Marc Rabins, showed her a gay newspaper from the time, full of obituaries.

There was Newton’s young, handsome face, but also the faces of other young men, all of whom had died of AIDS.

“AIDS, AIDS, AIDS, murder,” Mason said in a recent interview with The Times. “I was so disgusted. Like, no, you can’t have a murder in this sea of people already dying — that’s not right, not fair. We can’t let this go.”

And she didn’t.

Instead, Mason helped convene a team of amateur sleuths to doggedly investigate the case, and in a stunning twist perfect for the true-crime documentary she was filming all along the way, helped lead Los Angeles police detectives to a new suspect — who confessed to killing Newton, who went by “Billy London” in films, before his head and feet were found in a dumpster.

“It’s pretty astounding,” Mason said. Others clearly agree.

On Wednesday, organizers of the SXSW Film and TV Festival announced that Mason’s documentary — titled “My Brother’s Killer” and featuring a chilling on-camera interview with the confessed killer — will world premiere at SXSW in March.

“The unsolved murder of Billy London, a gay adult film performer brutally killed in West Hollywood, was an urban legend for 33 years. A documentary intended to honor his life took an unexpected turn when members of the community joined forces to uncover overlooked clues, and seek a resolution to the mystery of who killed him,” the festival announcement teased.

“Drawing on a rare trove of VHS and personal footage,” the announcement added, “the film reveals a chilling overlap between the victim and some of the suspects who were captured on camera in films made in the narrow window of Billy’s death.”

Mason said she is thrilled with the festival’s selection of her film, just as she was by The Times chronicling the sleuths cracking the case in a front-page story in 2023, which the film highlights.

Before then, Newton’s story had only really been told in smaller gay publications, Mason said. Now, it’s being featured at a “major, mainstream festival” at a time when LGBTQ+ rights are under attack across the country, which is “a big deal.”

“The larger picture of this film is, if anything, a point of optimism, you know? A beacon of hope in some dark times,” she said. “A community solving a murder!”

A killer film

Mason is known in part for a previous Netflix documentary she made called “Circus of Books,” about the adult bookstore on Santa Monica Boulevard where her parents spent years selling gay porn and LGBTQ+ literature.

That film was in part an ode to West Hollywood, and so is “My Brother’s Killer,” which talks about Los Angeles’ gayborhood with both reverence and a dose of reality — acknowledging its role as a safe haven for gay people facing discrimination and its seedier side as a drug-heavy party scene in decades past.

Rachel Mason in 2023 in Hollywood.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The film captures Newton’s struggles with that scene, including with methamphetamine, but also his sweet side, featuring interviews with family and friends who recalled a kind but unsettled 25-year-old who’d faced rejection at home in Wisconsin and run away as a teen to find acceptance. It also captures what the gay porn industry was like in West Hollywood as AIDS ravaged and stigmatized the community.

The film introduces various members of Mason’s investigative squad, including Clark Williams, a stay-at-home dad with a background in social work who also hailed from Wisconsin. Williams developed the lead that convinced LAPD detectives to head to an Oklahoma penitentiary in search of answers from their new suspect, DarraLynn Madden.

And it is with the introduction of Madden — a former gay porn actor and skinhead in Hollywood and now a transgender inmate serving a life sentence for killing another gay man years after Newton’s murder — that the film really hits its stride.

First, lead detective John Lamberti discusses securing a confession from her.

“We initially just said that we were there to talk about an old case from L.A., and it was Madden who actually brought up Billy first, and said, ‘Oh well yeah, and there was this one case where somebody’s head and feet got found in a dumpster,’” Lamberti says in the film. “And I’m just sitting there trying to keep a poker face: ‘Oh, OK, tell me more.’”

“The fact that I walked out of there with a confession was just mind-blowing,” he says.

Then Madden recounts in harrowing detail the killing in an on-camera interview Mason arranged after striking up a written correspondence with her.

Bill Newton, a.k.a. Billy London, was a Wisconsin transplant to L.A. and gay porn actor whose head and feet were found in a Hollywood dumpster in 1990.

(Marc Rabins)

Madden tells Mason that she and some skinhead friends saw Newton “in a place us skins frequented to hunt and to perform acts of violence,” and that she “laid the plan down to get out, put my arm around him and let him know this is what we’re gonna do — or else. We’re going to walk to this car and we’re just going to take a ride.”

Madden describes the group punching, kicking and elbowing Newton — “He was kind of like a prize pinata at the time. I know that sounds horrible” — and taunting him for being gay and high. She then describes strangling him with a cord, and deciding to cut up his body.

“The only thing we could think of to get out of the apartment as clandestine as we possibly could was to dismember Billy, which was not an easy task,” Madden says.

Full circle for sleuths

Mason’s film — which she made independently with editor and producer Dion Labriola — gives substantial time to her fellow sleuths, including Williams and Christopher Rice and Eric Shaw Quinn, who have pored over the case on their podcast “The Dinner Party Show.”

After watching Mason’s interview with Madden, Rice says in the film, “I always harbored a suspicion that maybe it was a false confession, but that’s not a false confession.”

Rice also contemplates Madden’s own troubled upbringing, her struggling in a world where both gay and transgender people face tremendous discrimination, and what he sees as Madden projecting her own self-loathing onto Newton.

“Yes, the queer community has villains, we have people who are seeking to oppress us,” Rice says in the film. “But if we indulge our own self-loathing, it can go down a road as dark and twisted as this.”

Rabins, Newton’s boyfriend who police once suspected of being the killer, says in the film that hearing Madden’s confession marked a turning point in his mourning process: “Up until that moment, I always felt Bill’s presence around me. And after that, I feel like he’s flying free.”

Prosecutors declined to bring charges against Madden, citing a lack of evidence beyond the confession and Madden already being behind bars for life in Oklahoma. Madden could not be reached for comment.

Williams has since worked on a dozen other cold-case homicides across the country and helped prosecutors build a case against a new suspect in a 1991 murder in Michigan. That suspect is now headed to trial for murder.

Rachel Mason with Clark Williams in 2023, shortly after the LAPD announced they were closing the investigation into Billy Newton’s murder after securing a confession.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Williams said he was able to crack Newton’s killing by completely immersing himself in Newton’s life, and that Newton really came alive for him through that process. “Billy became a person to me that I knew and loved,” he said.

Because of that, he is a little apprehensive about Madden appearing in Mason’s film, he said.

“I understand why she’s a cinematic figure, but I don’t like DarraLynn Madden,” He said. “In fact, I loathe DarraLynn Madden.”

That said, Williams said he trusts Mason to do the story justice, and is excited to see the film.

“I’ve always believed that Billy Newton reflects a whole generation — my generation — of gay men who came of age in the 1980s and 90s,” Williams said. “I’m really happy that that story gets to be told.”

Ethan Browne’s cause of death has been revealed. The model and actor died in November at age 52.

According to the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s report released Tuesday, the son of singer-songwriter Jackson Browne and the late Phyllis Major died from the effects of fentanyl, methamphetamine and lidocaine.

Ethan Browne’s death was announced in a Nov. 26 post on his father’s Facebook page.

“It is with deep sorrow that we share that on the morning of November 25, 2025, Ethan Browne, the son of Jackson Browne and Phyllis Major, was found unresponsive in his home and has passed away,” read the statement. “We ask for privacy and respect for the family during this difficult time. No further details are available at this moment.”

Browne had roles in the 2004 film “Raising Helen,” which starred Kate Hudson as a jet-setting executive assistant at a modeling agency who suddenly finds herself appointed the guardian of her sister’s three children, and the 1995 crime thriller “Hackers,” about a group of tech-savvy teens who stumble upon a cyber crime, featuring Angelina Jolie. He also appeared in a 2002 episode of the short-lived superhero show “Birds of Prey.”

The actor was also a model, reportedly appearing in campaigns for designers including Isaac Mizrahi, as well as a musician.

According to Jackson Browne, Ethan was also “a great father.”

“I love seeing him with his kids,” Browne said in a 2022 interview with Tru Rock Revival. “When I see him in his movies, modeling, with his daughter, and being such a great dad, it makes me very proud. It makes me feel I’ve done something really right in my life.”

Regulators, mount up.

The official name of Long Beach’s new minor league baseball team was announced Tuesday along with the name of its “alter ego”: the Long Beach Regulators. Both monikers were revealed during Long Beach’s State of the City address.

Officially known as the Long Beach Coast, the new Pioneer League team is set to play starting this season at the storied Blair Field, home of Long Beach State’s baseball team, the Dirtbags.

“Alter egos are nothing new,” reads a text-only slideshow posted to the team’s Instagram on Tuesday. “Every week, Long Beach Coast will play as our alter ego. The Regulators.”

The name, of course, is a nod to team co-owner Warren G’s smooth 1994 chart-topper “Regulate,” which also featured fellow Long Beach native the late Nate Dogg, and celebrates Long Beach’s G-funk hip-hop roots.

“To be able to say that I’m a part of Long Beach, like a team that’s part of the city where I was born and raised, is amazing to me,” the rapper told TMZ in September. “We’re going to get it going and try to win some championships.”

A team spokesperson told the Long Beach Post that the Regulators name “will appear through select in-ballpark experiences, special activations, creative storytelling and limited merchandise drops.”

Long Beach has been home to three independent minor league teams over the last 30 years. The Barracuda, later renamed the Riptide, in 1995-96, the Breakers in 2001-02 and the Armada in 2005-09.

The 11-team Pioneer League also includes the Oakland Ballers, Modesto Roadster and Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers, as well as teams based in Idaho, Montana and Utah.

As a child, John Forté was a violin prodigy from a bad part of Brooklyn who earned a scholarship to an exclusive private high school in the Northeast. His life took him from working as an A&R executive at an indie label to out-of-nowhere commercial success with the Fugees and then to disappointment as a solo artist.

Then he was nabbed in a sting as he helped facilitate the transport of $1.4 million worth of liquid cocaine. He was 26 when he was convicted and sent to federal prison for 14 years.

On Monday, Forté was found dead in his home in Chilmark, Mass., on Martha’s Vineyard, the Associated Press reported. A neighbor found him unresponsive in his kitchen a little before 2:30 p.m. and called authorities, according to the MV Times. He was 50.

He was also the recipient of a rare commutation from President George W. Bush, who in 2008 cut off Forté’s sentence after seven years and sent him home to resume his musical career and create the family he had longed for at 23.

The Chilmark police chief, Sean Slavin, told various outlets that there was no “readily apparent cause of death” but also no evidence of foul play. Forté’s death is being investigated by the state medical examiner’s office in Massachusetts, per the Vineyard Gazette.

“This one hurts,” Fugees founding member Wyclef Jean wrote Tuesday on social media with a video of himself and Forté performing an acoustic set. “my brother @john_Forté has joined the Angels legends never Die look at the smile R I P my Refugee brother.”

Born Jan. 30, 1975, in the Brownsville part of Brooklyn, Forté didn’t have a posh upbringing, saying in a May 1998 interview (posted on YouTube in 2016 by the Interview Channel) that his neighborhood had been “declared a war zone” by the NYPD. He reminisced about his mother buying him only generic “plastic” sneakers, then shared some of the discomfort he experienced when he moved into the nicer Brooklyn Heights neighborhood after he had some musical success.

“It’s crazy, when you tell them you went to a good school,” he said, “and they think you meant reform school.”

But Forté was actually “an inquisitive 8-year-old who played the violin in a youth orchestra and even had a recital at the vaunted Brooklyn Academy of Music,” according to GQ. He picked up whatever was playing on the radio at home — jazz, soul, random songs — then decided that rap was his “lifeline” to another world.

Forté also earned a scholarship to the Phillips Exeter Academy, a boarding school in New Hampshire. Ben Taylor, the son of Carly Simon and James Taylor, also attended the private high school, but Ben Taylor and Forté didn’t meet until years later. They all became fast friends when they did meet, and the “You’re So Vain” singer would play a critical role when Forté’s life went sideways.

At 16, he found himself in a studio watching and learning from Gang Starr, with the rapper Guru and producer DJ Premier, as they created their music. Forté earned mention in the liner notes of Gang Starr’s album. “I was like, ‘Oh man, Keith [Elam, a.k.a. Guru] remembered me,” he told GQ. “That gave me the tools that I needed to not just rap, but to also make music.”

After Exeter, he studied the music business at New York University, according to the New York Times, and roomed with rapper Talib Kweli.

Forté connected with the Refugee Camp All Stars in 1993, when he was 18, through mutual friends he knew from working as an A&R executive for indie rap label Rawkus Records. He met Lauryn Hill first — they dated briefly, he said in the 1998 interview — then Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel.

“I submitted beats, we did ‘The Score.’ I was part of the nominations when it came down to the Grammys,” Forté said. “It made me feel really proud to be part of an organization that in fact was a family.”

“The Score” went to No. 1 around the world and has sold around 22 million copies. It was the Fugees’ second and final album.

John Forté performs at a criminal justice reform fundraiser in Washington, D.C., in May 2018.

(Paul Morigi / Associated Press)

After working with the Refugee Camp All Stars and the Fugees, Forté released a solo album in 1998. The record landed like “a brick,” selling only 80,000 copies, he told old friend Kweli on “The People’s Party” in 2021. For Forté, it was maybe the first disappointment in his life, he said.

“Partially abandoning the easily embraceable sound he incorporated on recordings with the Fugees and Wyclef Jean, Forté includes some tracks with morbid story lines on his debut album,” The Times said of “Poly Sci” in 1998. “When creating potential pop tunes, Forté excels with light-hearted subject matter and instrumentation. However, when the Brooklyn native shifts to gritty themes and backdrops, his appeal diminishes rapidly. Fortunately, his softer selections redeem this album.”

After the record failed, Forté told Kweli, “Instead of looking in the mirror and self-examining — what can we do to right this ship? — I didn’t look in the mirror. I didn’t look in the mirror at all.” He said he decided that those around him had failed him, when in fact he had “made that album in a vacuum,” without asking for input from people whose opinions might have helped him.

He expressed his frustrations to his label, Ruffhouse Records, which responded by dropping him.

So Forté figured he could do it on his own, which led to him meeting a man in a club who had “an operation” and said he could jump-start the musician’s recording career. That led to him “becoming a middle man, connecting him to couriers to transport whatever needed transporting.” The man wanted him to find women to carry drugs into the United States.

“With only having my hubris as my guide, what I allowed myself to receive — it didn’t result in the healthiest choices,” he told GQ.

“That house of cards fell,” Forté told Kweli. “It wasn’t me signing up to that, to all of a sudden change professions. … I was compartmentalizing and justifying it, because I was [also] going into the studio.” He had decided the risks were acceptable.

Then one day he did something that he, as a middleman, had never done before, he said: He went to Newark International Airport to pick up two of the couriers. What he didn’t know was the women had been busted at an airport in Houston the day before and were now cooperating with the federal government. He was driving into a sting.

“When they picked me up, they just bagged me. Everything, time stood still that day,” he told Kweli, choking up slightly. “And then everything changed.”

A second album, “I, John,” followed in 2002, with Carly Simon singing on one duet. But by that time, Forté was imprisoned on a 14-year federal sentence — “168 months,” he said — after being convicted of aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

Forté told the court he thought he was picking up money in the suitcases, not $1.4 million worth of liquid cocaine, according to documents reviewed in 2008 by ABC News. The sentence fell on the low end of controversial mandatory federal sentencing guidelines.

Simon, his buddy Ben’s mom who posted bail for him, was among the high-profile people who pushed for Forté’s early release, telling ABC News upon his commutation that the 2001 sentence was too harsh for a first-time drug offense. Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah also pushed for Forté’s release from a low-security federal prison in Pennsylvania.

“He’s an extraordinary young man. And he was the first time I met him. He’s even more so now,” Simon told ABC News on Nov. 25, 2008, a day after then-President George W. Bush commuted Forté’s sentence.

Forté spent the first part of his sentence in the law library, trying to figure a legal trick to get out. He also learned to play acoustic guitar with the help of another inmate.

“There’s the realization aspect that some prisons are not physical,” he told the Vineyard Gazette, which would become his local paper, in 2010. “There are many people whom I’ve encountered since returning, some of them feign indifference and others act as if they could have no clue about what it would be like to be in prison, but they’re in an abusive relationship or they’re in a dead-end job or they are suffering with their health. We all have to go through some sort of prison — some are spiritual, some are mental and some are physical.”

After his commutation, Forté went back to New York and resumed his musical career, often playing acoustic guitar. He recorded a cover of Kanye “Ye” West’s “Homecoming” with Kweli and began teaching. In 2009 he released “StyleFree, the EP,” and saw the single “Play My Cards for Me” appear in the 2010 movie “Just Wright,” starring Queen Latifah and Common. The song “Nervous” was used in the 2010 movie “Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming.”

By 2012, he had written and recorded “Something to Lean On,” which became the inaugural rap theme song for the Brooklyn Nets when the NBA franchise moved from New Jersey to New York and changed its name.

He also appeared in the 2012 movie “The Russian Winter,” about his journey from Brooklyn to Exeter to prison and a trip he took to Russia after his release.

Forté found his way to Martha’s Vineyard by way of some old friends: Simon and Taylor. “After I came home [from prison] and got back on my feet, even though I was living in New York, I would come up to the Vineyard whenever I could. It still had that gravity. And you know, Carly and Ben. They’re family,” he told Martha’s Vineyard Arts and Ideas in 2025.

After moving to the island in 2015, he met Lara Fuller, a freelance photographer who two years later would become his wife and then the mother of his children, son Haile and daughter Wren. The two tied the knot on Martha’s Vineyard, People said.

“I’m 23 but I have baby fever,” he’d said in that video interview from 1998. “I really want to be a dad, you know, I want my little kids in the studio with me, talking about, ‘My dad is cool.’ … I’m serious, man, it would be really nice to have a nice woman and a nice family that you go home to. … But I don’t want to rush things. I’m young and I’m single.”

Forté released his final album, “Vessels, Angels & Ancestors,” in 2021.

He also scored the 2024 documentary “Paint Me a Road Out of Here,” about women imprisoned at New York’s Rikers Island and the 50-year journey of a painting from the jail to the Brooklyn Museum, as well as HBO’s revival of “Eyes on the Prize,” a six-part series about the Black experience in America since the civil rights movement.

As of last year, Forté was still in touch with the Fugees and was performing live, balancing those efforts with his movie soundtrack and scoring work, which also included contributions to “The Other Guys” and “Star Trek: Discovery.” And he said another documentary about his life was in the works. Petter Ringbom and Marquise Stillwell are listed on IMDb Pro as directors of “Settling the Score,” which is in production.

John Forte, center, performs at a lounge during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in January 2010.

(Katy Winn / AP Images for Gibson Guitar)

“What I found myself doing most recently is honestly just feeling empowered,” Forté told Martha’s Vineyard Arts and Ideas. “I’ve released a bunch of music over the years. But I’ve only officially released four albums. In between I did a bunch of singles and collaborations. In the past, if I wanted to do an album, it was like a public private partnership with the label — ‘Hey, I’m looking for a partner to help me land this plane.’

“Now I’m always writing songs. But there is a moment for me in my process where the songs that I’m working on are clearly connected. ‘Oh, I think I think I’m actually in the middle of an album here.’ … [Y]ou know I’m doing two movies at the moment. And I’m also working on [Texas-based musician] Peter More’s new EP, which we’re finishing up, which is beautiful.”

Family friends told the MV Times that Forté had a seizure last year that required hospitalization and had been taking medicine since then to prevent a grand mal seizure.

Forté is survived by his wife, his 8-year-old daughter and his 5-year-old son. A GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the children had raised more than $66,000 of its $90,000 goal as of Wednesday afternoon.

IF there is one singer who has never hidden his insatiable sexual appetite, it is Spanish chart-topper Julio Iglesias. 

Not only did the 82-year-old father-of-eight estimate he’d bedded more than 3,000 women, he also said his pop star son Enrique had nothing on him when it came to the opposite sex. 

Julio, who is best known for his 1984 duet with Willie Nelson, To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before, was unfaithful to his first wife, she claimed.

Now he is the latest lothario to face a #MeToo moment. 

Iglesias, who has sold more than 300million records and had a UK number one with Begin The Beguine in 1981, is accused of sexually assaulting two of his live-in female staff. 

They allege physical assaults, boozy threesomes involving female supervisors and sex acts that one said made her feel like a “slave” and a “doll” at his mansions in the Dominican Republic and Bahamas in 2021. 

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A cleaner, using the pseudonym Rebeca to protect her identity, told the Spanish publication elDiario that Iglesias forced himself on her. 

Playboy image 

She said it “caused her a lot of pain” and made her think, “I’m your robot, your slave, your doll”. 

A physical therapist, giving the alias Laura, claimed she was ordered by the singer to show him her breasts just two weeks into her employment. 

The person hiring the women allegedly asked for photos of their full bodies and Rebeca claims that, soon after being hired, supervisors told her that she couldn’t have a boyfriend. 

The accusers say that shortly after beginning their jobs, Iglesias asked: “Do you like women?”, “Do you like threesomes?”, “Have you had breast surgery?”, before touching them inappropriately. 

Rebeca also says she was made to pleasure him for hours, seemingly to ease the pain of back problems stemming from a 1963 car accident. 

Aged 22 when she worked for Iglesias, she described his Punta Cana mansion as “the House of Horror”. 

Laura claims that ­Iglesias would give her sordid details of what he had earlier done with Rebeca, adding: “He always made these kinds of comments and then said it was a joke.” 

There is no suggestion anything with Laura developed into full sex. 

Last night, it was alleged other female staff were ordered to take tests to see if they were pregnant or carrying sexual diseases — in breach of local labour laws. 

The Public Prosecutor’s Office in the Spanish capital Madrid has now opened a preliminary investigation into Iglesias. 

He might sing better than me, but when it comes to women, he’s nowhere near me.

Julio Inglesias on son Enrique

So far, the singer has not commented publicly about the allegations and he has not been charged with any offence.

In the past, Iglesias has played up to his playboy image.

In 2014, he berated a journalist who suggested that handsome Enrique had followed in his footsteps when it came to women. 

He insisted: “No way.

“I’ve been the champion.

“He might sing better than me, but when it comes to women, he’s nowhere near me.” 

Giving credence to the saying that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree is the fact that his late gynaecologist dad, Julio Iglesias Puga, ­conceived a fourth child aged 90. 

But the twice-married medic died before his daughter was born. 

As a young man, Iglesias had not expected to become a heart-throb. 

He was on the youth books of Real Madrid’s B team before a car crash at the age of 19 wrecked his foot- balling dreams. 

His first gig was in 1965 at The Airport pub in Cambridge, the city where he studied, and he represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest five years later with the song ­Gwendolyne, finishing joint fourth. 

Shortly afterwards, he fell for his first wife, Isabel Preysler. 

She was aged 18 at the time, nine years his junior, and said: “I was a convent girl who had lived all her life in her parents’ house.

“I was in fact a very innocent girl.” 

They had three children, including Enrique, now 50, but that didn’t stop Iglesias seeing other women. 

When asked about the 3,000 he had supposedly bedded, he once joked: “That probably was until 1976, so they didn’t count the other women.” 

Iglesias, who spent much of his time touring in concerts, admitted he wasn’t a “good father”.  

He said: “A good father takes the kids to school, goes to graduation.

“I never in my life did that.”

The singer divorced Isabel in 1979 and, in 2010, wed Dutch model Miranda Rijnsburger, 22 years his junior. 

They sent us all to the doctor. They tested me for sexually transmitted diseases.

Carolina, former employee of Inglesias

When asked in 1995 whether he was “faithful” to Miranda, he replied: “Yes, yeah. But what’s ­faithful?

“It’s not a general word that you can say exactly what it means to everybody.

“I’m faithful to myself very much.’’

They had five children together and went to live in the Dominican Republic. 

‘Women at his disposal’ 

Another female ex-employee of Iglesias has supported an allegation that staff were expected to undergo HIV and pregnancy tests. 

The woman, given the name Carolina, told elDiario: “They sent us all to the doctor.

“They tested me for sexually transmitted diseases.  

“They gave us ultrasounds and blood tests to see if we had any kind of disease.

“It didn’t seem ­normal to me.”

The news website ­published photos of some of the test results of five women. 

Laura said: “My goal is to ensure that no woman ever suffers this kind of abuse from him again.  

“I want to send the message that women are victims and survivors, not perpetrators or guilty parties.” 

Although Iglesias has yet to ­comment, one of his female supervisors described the allegations against him as “nonsense”. 

His journalist friend, Jaime ­Penafiel, told a Spanish TV ­channel: “I have lived with Julio for many years.

“It’s all a lie. 

“He’s never needed to abuse women because he’s always had women at his disposal.” 

Enrique, who has sold more than 100million records, has four children with former tennis star Anna Kournikova.

He has also not yet commented on the case.

ElDiaro claimed they gave Julio Iglesias ­several days to respond to the allegations before publishing them.  

The astonishing story has led to calls for the music legend to be stripped of titles such as the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts. 

Rita Mestre, spokesman for Mas Madrid in Madrid City Council, demanded the singer lose his “Honorary Citizen” status in the capital. 

She said on X: “We ask Almeida to strip Julio Iglesias of his title as Favourite Son of Madrid.

“No one, not even the most famous or admired, should go unpunished.” 

The Audiencia Nacional in Madrid, a central criminal court which has the power to try Spaniards for crimes committed abroad, confirmed they are taking the ­allegations seriously.

A spokesman said: “A complaint was filed with the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Audiencia Nacional on January 5.

Preliminary criminal investigation proceedings have been initiated. 

“Given the nature of the allegations and reiterating the confidential nature of the investigation, and in the interests of protecting the alleged victims, it is not appropriate to provide further information.” 

Iglesias does not have any more tours planned and hasn’t released a record in nine years, so the ­revelations will have a limited impact on his career. 

Whether they are proved to be true or not, such stories inevitably tarnish an image. 

Iglesias is often asked whether it is true he’s had 3,000 lovers. 

Performing in the UK in 2019, he admitted: “I have many weaknesses.

“Women, obviously.

“I’m no saint.” 

Netflix is axing a “superbly dark and bizarre” black comedy that’s been hailed “as close to perfection as water”.

An “insanely brilliant” comedy drama with a perfect 100% rating will be leaving Netflix in a matter of days.

Netflix subscribers have been binge-watching some of the streamer’s biggest releases of 2026 so far from Harlan Coben’s Run Away to His and Hers but some may now be after something slightly more on the comical side.

Originally released 10 years ago on Channel 4, this hugely popular black comedy revolves around a “profoundly eccentric and dysfunctional family” as they struggle with emotional turmoil.

Netflix teases: “Between a troubled marriage, a senile granny and twins constantly in rivalry, a crumbling household struggles to barely keep it together.”

What makes Flowers even more of a must-watch series is the fact that it stars The Night Manager and The Crown legend Olivia Colman as the matriarch of the troubled family, Deborah Flowers.

Colman is joined by Too Much and Amadeus actor Will Sharpe, Bloods’ Julian Barrett and Summerwater actor Daniel Rigby.

Unfortunately for subscribers just discovering the hit dark comedy, both seasons of Flowers will be removed from Netflix on Thursday, January 22.

So fans haven’t got very long to binge-watch the series before it’s axed from the streamer.

Fans have been flocking to social media for years to sing Flowers’ praises, with the show scoring a perfect 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

While someone said it was a “sublimely dark fairytale”, another described is as “jaw-dropping amazing and insanely brilliant”.

Labelling it “brilliant and uncomfortable”, a third echoed: “Flowers is like a warm hug from someone who loves you, whose love you feel you don’t deserve.”

“Beautiful, absurd and incredibly touching” a fellow user described it as “funny, dark and heartbreaking”, and someone else simply stated that it was the “best show I’ve ever found on Netflix”.

This fan wasn’t the only one to hold it to such high standards either.

“This is one of the best comedy/dramas ever, it deserves to become a cult classic”, a viewer agreed. “If you only watch one thing this year, make it flowers.”

Another added: “The best series I’ve ever seen. That’s all you need to know.”

Flowers is leaving Netflix on Thursday, January 22.

SINGER Nicole Scherzinger leaves her fans in total oar as she paddleboards on holiday.

The ex-Pussycat Dolls star and actress, 47, shared snaps of herself soaking up the sun in the pool and in the Indian Ocean off the Maldives.

Nicole flaunted her figure in three different bikinis during her romantic getaway with retired Scottish rugby ace fiancé Thom Evans, 40,

The couple have been staying at the £2,700-a-night One&Only Reethi Rah resort.

Nicole wrote on social media: “Saltwater therapy.”

In August, Nicole flashed her abs in a tiny blue bikini before suffering a rare beach mishap.

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The hitmaker opted for a cobalt-colour two-piece which tied high on her hip and pulled on a pair of sunglasses to finish her summer look.

The vocalist struck a series of poses with her hand perched on a rock, which backed onto the crystal-clear sea.

After taking a few steps into a small rock pool, the Don’t Cha songstress appeared to turn over on the sole of her foot before quickly recovering with a leap and a jump.

The American chart star then took a cheeky glance at the camera and was seen muttering about her mishap.

She posted the scenes to her page accompanied by Lucky by Britney Spears, which appeared to be a tongue in cheek choice of track.

In her caption, Nicole wrote: “When luck strikes” followed by relieved Emoji icons.

One fan was quick to gush: “YOU ARE A GODDESS.”

A second put: “Nicole you fine baby.”

Nicole started her music career with the Pussycat Dolls but then went on to be an even bigger star.

She cemented a major career U-turn when she was named Best Actress In A Musical at the prestigious Tony Awards, thanks to her powerful turn as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.

The star, who also won an Olivier Award for the role the previous year following the show’s run in London, recently told The Sun: “I want to do it all.“

Asad Ayaz, the Disney marketing chief behind creative campaigns for Disneyland Resort’s 70th anniversary and films like “Zootopia 2” and the live-action adaptation of “Lilo & Stitch,” has been named chief marketing and brand officer for Walt Disney Co., the entertainment giant said Wednesday.

The 21-year veteran most recently served dual roles as the company’s first chief brand officer as well as president of marketing for Walt Disney Studios.

Ayaz will now lead a new marketing and brand organization within the Burbank media and entertainment company. He reports to Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger, as well as the heads of Disney’s film and TV studios, theme parks segment and ESPN for those sectors’ respective marketing efforts.

“As our businesses have evolved, it’s clear that we need a company-wide role that ensures brand consistency and allows consumers today to seamlessly interact with our wonderful products and experiences,” Iger said in a statement Wednesday. “The Chief Marketing and Brand Officer role is critical for this moment, and Asad is the perfect fit.”

In his new role, Ayaz will lead the company’s global marketing efforts, including social and digital strategy, overseeing corporate partnerships and franchise priorities, Disney said.

Ayaz previously worked on brand campaigns commemorating Disney’s 100th anniversary, global expansion of Disney’s D23 fan club and led marketing for Disney+, including shows such as “The Mandalorian,” Marvel Studios’ “WandaVision” and the launch of Taylor Swift’s “The End of an Era” on the streaming platform.

Emmerdale fans think it’s only a matter of time before Joe Tate is killed off after his latest villainous actions on the ITV soap, leading to a threat from Robert Sugden

Joe Tate could meet a gruesome end on Emmerdale, after his run-in with Robert Sugden this week.

Fans know that vile Joe is blackmailing the Sugdens for their farm, after he watched and filmed Victoria Sugden killing her brother John Sugden. She had not meant to kill him, but attacked him after he turned on her.

Joe took things further when he told Robert that as well as handing over the farm, he had to frame Moira Dingle for dodgy dealings with drugs, actually committed by Celia Daniels. At the time it seemed Joe didn’t realise the evidence he’d found at missing Celia’s home also exposed the human trafficking she was caught up in.

After telling Robert he had to plant the evidence in Moira’s house so that Moira would be handed a fine, forcing her to sell her farm to him, Joe claimed he would pay Robert for this. Robert was torn but went ahead with it out of fear for Victoria.

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But now that Joe has crossed the Sugdens and Aaron Dingle, and now he’s targeting Moira and Cain again, fans think it’s all leading to his final downfall. Despite his run-in with Robert who has vowed to make him pay, fans don’t think Robert will be the one who kills Joe if he does meet a grim fate.

One theory read: “Anyone else think this latest storyline with wanting to set Moira up is going to lead to him being killed off and another whodunnit? When the truth inevitably comes out, I think people will be annoyed at Robert initially.

“But once he explains to Cain and Moira why, they’ll eventually understand (we know Moira is also quite protective of Victoria) and anger will soon turn to Joe. And to be honest, almost everyone in the village will be a suspect.”

Another fan said: “I think he could be killed off because he’s already had a whodunnit and survived and then all the bad things he’s done, he’s got away with it all. His latest stuff is so evil I can’t see him being redeemed from it.

“So I definitely think someone will want revenge. I feel like they want us to think Robert or Aaron or even Victoria would be involved, maybe Moira or Cain too, but what if in a twist of all twists its Graham who ends up killing him?

“Or Kim, given she wanted him dead the last time.” Another fan wrote; “I think Graham will deal with him,” while a further theory said: “What if something happens and Kim and Graham team up and Joe gets killed?

“Wouldn’t put anything past Kim… you just have to look at her history.” A final theory said: “I think maybe Dawn will find out what he has done and she could end up killing him or maybe even Kim (both of them have done it before), and the previous whodunnit with the pushing him out the window was just leading up to this – like a pre-warning he was going to die.”

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

Jessica Hynes has joined the cast as Detective Frankie Monroe for series two following the exit of Laura Fraser

Channel 4‘s popular crime drama Patience is back for season two but has had a major cast shake-up.

The series, which is filmed in York, follows Patience Evans, played by Ella Maisy Purvis, a young autistic woman who works in the criminal records department of Yorkshire Police.

The first series, which aired in 2024, became one of the broadcaster’s “most successful” dramas of that year, with many viewers loving the dynamic between criminologist Patience and DI Bea Metcalf, played by Laura Fraser, who became her unexpcted mentor.

However, while series two picked up where the first season left off, with Patience continuing her work after establishing herself as an invaluable member of the team, viewers are quick to learn there’s been a major shake-up and that Bea is no longer part of the team.

Why is DI Bea Metcalf missing?

At the start of the series it transpired that Bea had moved away for another job without warning and DI Frankie Monroe, played by Jessica Hynes, would be replacing her.

Frankie has a very different management style to Bea, which proves tricky for Patience to navigate. Speaking about where her character is at the start of series two, Ella said: “We end the [first] series with Patience discovering a string of numbers that her mother left her on a prized himitsu baku box, a puzzle she’s been trying to solve throughout the series. Patience has been ruminating and obsessing over these numbers for several weeks as she continues her work with York Police.

“DI Metcalf, to her knowledge, is on leave, which allows Patience to strengthen her relationship with Jake, in particular, but also Will and Baxter. But with the news Bea isn’t coming back, Patience clings to the mystery of her mother, her world in quiet turmoil and her confidence knocked.”

On Patience’s dynamic with Frankie, she shared: “Patience is fuelled by routine and structure. In series one she pushes herself out of her comfort zone with Bea and is luckily nurtured by her fascination with Patience’s way of viewing the world.

“Frankie bursts in and ironically has no Patience for her. She is harsh and somewhat brutal towards Patience who is in comparison gentle, but interestingly as much as it affronts her, Patience doesn’t take no for an answer and pushes back with her findings on the first case. This defiance earns her respect from Frankie, who slowly realises Patience isn’t one to be brushed aside.”

Upon realising Bea would not be returning to the force, many took to social media. With one fan writing: “Devastated to hear Laura Fraser won’t return as DI Bea Metcalf in #Patience S2. Her chemistry with Patience was electric—perfectly tense, heartfelt, and utterly compelling. Why fix what wasn’t broken?”

While another added: “It is disappointing that the relationship between Bee and Patience won’t be deepened,” as a third commented: “I will miss Laura as her character was perfect with Patience. And such an excellent actor.”

However, Ella has told how Bea’s absence on the show is “crucial” to her journey as her character continues to reflect on the bond they shared. She told Radio Times: “It’s not [just] the first episode, then it’s done. A big part of Patience’s journey in the season is getting over that – and also, realising and reminding herself of what that experience had taught her.”

She added: “Her relationship with Bea is very much crucial in her finding strength and the chutzpah to carry on doing what she knows she does best [despite Frankie’s opposition].”

Laura Fraser hasn’t commented on her exit from Patience but in March last year it was announced she had been cast in BBC’s new eight-part drama, Mint, while filming for the second series of Patience began in May.

And while Laura won’t be returning, there will still be plenty of familiar faces in series two. Including Nathan Welsh (Trying, Am I Being Unreasonable?) as DS Jake Hunter, Mark Benton (Smoggie Queens, Shakespeare and Hathaway) as Calvin Baxter, Adrian Rawlins ( Chernobyl, Living) as Douglas Gilmore, Ali Ariaie (The Great, Doctor Who ) as DC Will Akbari, Connor Curren (Dodger, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time) as Billy Thompson, Liza Sadovy (A Real Pain, The Rumour) as Dr. Loretta Parsons and Tom Lewis (Gentleman Jack, Redeeming Love) as Elliot Scott.

Patience continues on Channel 4 at 9pm on Wednesday, January 14.

PARIS — Long lines beneath I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid in Paris have become as much a part of the experience as the “ Mona Lisa ” itself.

Now the Louvre is putting a higher price on that pilgrimage, raising admission prices on Wednesday for most non-European visitors by nearly half as it tries to shore up finances after repeated strikes, chronic overcrowding — and a brazen French Crown Jewels heist that shook the institution.

The museum said the 45% price hike to 32 euros ($37) from 22 euros is part of a national “differentiated pricing” policy announced early last year that’s coming into force across major cultural sites, including the Versailles Palace, the Paris Opera and the Sainte-Chapelle.

But French worker unions have denounced the Louvre ticketing change, saying it undermines the universal mission of the world’s most visited museum — home to the “Venus de Milo” and the “Winged Victory of Samothrace.”

Some visitors echoed those concerns outside the Louvre on Wednesday.

“Culture should be open to everyone — yes — at the same price,” said Laurent Vallet, visiting Paris from Burgundy.

Despite the hike, workers walked out again Monday in the latest strike over pay and working conditions, thrusting the museum’s internal strain back into public view.

‘We’re still going to go’

The change affects visitors from most non-EU countries, including the United States, which typically accounts for the majority of the Louvre’s foreign tourists.

Under the new structure, visitors who are neither citizens nor residents of the EU — or Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — will pay the higher rate.

The new price applies to individual visitors outside Europe; guided groups will pay 28 euros, with tours capped at 20 people “to maintain the quality of the visit,” the museum said.

Still, some tourists questioned the logic of charging visitors more. “In general, for tourists things should be a little bit cheaper than local people because we have to travel to come all the way here,” said Darla Daniela Quiroz, visiting from Vancouver.

Others said they would pay anyway. “It’s one of the main attractions here in Paris … We’re still going to go,” said Allison Moore, a Canadian tourist from Newfoundland visiting with her mother. “Hopefully it’ll be all worth it in the end.”

The CGT Culture union has denounced the policy, arguing it turns access to culture into a “commercial product” and creates unequal access to national heritage

Some categories remain eligible for free admission, though, including visitors under the age of 18.

The last price hike was in January 2024, when the standard entry fee rose from 17 euros to 22 euros.

Not just the Mona Lisa

The Louvre says it is not alone. Versailles and other flagship tourist attractions are adopting similar two-tier pricing this month.

At Versailles, the “Passport” ticket will cost 35 euros in high season for visitors from outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, compared to 32 euros for visitors who are citizens or residents of those countries. At Sainte-Chapelle, the ticket rises to 22 euros for visitors from outside those countries, versus 16 euros for those within them, according to heritage officials.

The Louvre said the new tariff will help finance investment under its “Louvre — New Renaissance” modernization project and could bring in as much as 20 million euros more per year.

A heist and an institution under scrutiny

French museums had already been considering higher fees for visitors from outside Europe before the Oct. 19 theft of French Crown Jewels from the Louvre, valued by investigators at about 88 million euros.

However, the robbery that was carried out in daylight, in minutes — was a speed and audacity that intensified scrutiny of how France protects its most prized cultural treasures.

It also fueled debate over how major landmarks should pay for upgrades and whether visitors should carry a bigger share of the cost.

Elsewhere in Europe, the standard entry to Rome’s Colosseum, along with the Forum and Palatine Hill, is 18 euros ($20), and an adult ticket for Athens’ Acropolis is 30 euros ($33).

Strike, strike — and strike again

The Louvre has repeatedly been forced to confront its internal stresses in public.

In June, a wildcat strike by gallery attendants, ticket agents and security staff delayed the museum’s daily opening, leaving thousands of visitors stranded beneath the pyramid.

Workers said the Louvre had buckled under mass tourism, citing unmanageable crowds, chronic understaffing and deteriorating working conditions.

By December, unions said the heist and the building’s condition had turned their long-running grievances into a national reckoning. Louvre workers voted to continue striking until what they consider real change comes to the aging former royal palace.

Adamson writes for the Associated Press. Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris contributed to this report.

One player’s actions in the game had some devastating consequences

*Warning: Contains spoilers for Beast Games Season 2 Episode 4*

Beast Games stars have been left fighting back tears as they slammed a brutal deception carried out by their teammate.

A brand new season of the popular games show has returned to Prime Video this month as players battle it out in the hopes of winning a huge cash prize.

The game begins with 100 of the world’s strongest people, and 100 of the world’s smartest. However, only 100 people made it to the Beast City and the group continues to get smaller. Only one person can be crowned the 2026 champion and take home a life changing sum of $5,000,000 (£3.7m).

Prime Video teases: “After a record-shattering first season, Beast Games is back! Bigger, bolder, and more intense than ever. Mr Beast has assembled 100 of the planet’s strongest competitors and 100 of the world’s smartest minds.

“Strong vs. Smart will battle for an eye-watering $5,000,000 prize. As players face off in the ultimate collision of brain and biceps; alliances will form and trust will break. Every challenge pushes the limits of human strength, intelligence and strategy. What wouldn’t you do for $5,000,000?”

With four episodes now available to watch on Prime Video, fans will have to wait until next week to find out more due to a weekly release. The new series is set to come to an end on February 25 with Episode 10.

Last week’s instalment ended on a nail-biting cliffhanger when the remaining 25 contestants, split into teams of five, were facing a life-changing bribe. The captains of each team were presented with a cash offer of $1m, should they accept, they get to stay in the game and keep the cash – but their teammates are sent home.

Last season no captain took the bribe, but with the stakes higher than ever, we learn that at least one player took the bribe, deceiving their team.

Today’s episode (January 14), opened with the revelation of who pressed the button – and it was player 126, JT, who stunned his fellow contestants. His team were the most surprised, with Mia saying: “That’s crazy.”

When asked if they were expecting the brutal deception, they admitted they weren’t, having full faith in JT. Addressing JT, an annoyed Mia said: “JT, you slimy…

“I’d have gave you some money if you were that desperate. You look real bad in front of God…”

Turning her back on her former teammate, she continued: “You look super bad. We don’t respect you no more, I don’t got nothing to say to you.”

Fellow teammate Luke added: “JT, you gave your word and it was for sale, that really hurts. More than the money it hurts that you broke your word. It hurts that you lied to us.”

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website.

JT replied: “I don’t really got much to say”, as the camera shoots back to an emotional Luke who can be seen wiping away tears. JT added: “I know the rest of the teams probably won’t talk to me moving forward, no-one really wants to hear from me. I have to live with that decision.

“I’m sorry to my pink team. I did it for my family who means the world to me.”

Fighting back his tears, Luke commented: “It was the lie, it was the lie that hurts more than anything else.”

Today’s instalment also saw the highly anticipated Survivor crossover episode as 10 lucky players all battle it out in the hopes of winning a $1.8m luxury island.

Beast Games is available to stream on Prime Video.

Netflix subscribers have been urged to check out a must-watch series that has just been added to the streaming platform – and everyone who has seen it says you won’t regret it

Netflix users have been left with their ‘jaws on the floor’ after watching the streaming platform’s new must-watch show. Film buff Eccy Review, who shares updates about new TV shows and movies on his social media channels, has shared his shock over the show His & Hers.

Added to the platform on January 8, subscribers have been binge-watching the show and sharing their thoughts online. Eccy Reviews said: “Now, you need to be checking out this show on Netflix. It’s a dark, gritty crime thriller which I absolutely love and it doesn’t let me down whatsoever.

“I loved every single second of this show and I binged the entire series in one sitting. When it came to the last episode, my jaw was on the floor.”

His & Hers follows a journalist who investigates a murder in her hometown, clashing with a suspicious detective. The IMDb storyline reads: “Set in the sweltering heat of Atlanta, Anna lives in haunting reclusivity, fading away from her friends and career as a journalist.

“But when she overhears about a murder in Dahlonega, the sleepy town where she grew up, Anna is snapped back to life, pouncing on the case and searching for answers.

“Detective Jack Harper is strangely suspicious of her involvement, chasing her into the crosshairs of his own investigation. There are two sides to every story: his and hers, which means someone is always lying.”

Commenting on his post, one user said: “Gonna start watching it today.” Another user added: “His & Hers on Netflix is fire.” A third user said: “Sorry to be smug but I’d worked it out half-way through!”

Reviewing the series on IMDb, one user said: “Okay, the acting was strong, overall everything was on point but maybe slow. I believed I knew who was the killer, and I was like – okay too predictable, who made this?

“The ending was brilliant, and I will stop here. I wanted to give a five but now it is good eight.

“Also, I hated every character of Rachel, Helen, Catherine, and also Zoe. Bunch of violent, complex brats and women they were, they disgusted me.”

Another added: “I have been excitedly awaiting this series since I read the book about a year ago. The book was amazing so I had high hopes for this adaptation.

“As book adaptations go, this is definitely one of the best I’ve seen. Naturally there are some differences but knowing the book, these changes do make sense as TV shows cannot give as much of a character background or insight as a book can.

“The acting was superb, naturally I knew who the killer was but I think this show did a good job of keeping viewers guessing and providing multiple suspects. My only real complaint is that the final showdown wasn’t as dramatic or lengthy as in a book, and I felt this was over too quickly in the TV show.

“It would have been more dramatic to extend it a bit, as I felt there was all this suspense and build up to that moment and then it was over in a flash. The bottom line is, I highly recommend watching this series, and I absolutely recommend reading the original book.”

After another impressively profitable weekend in theaters, James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” helped crown its star Zoe Saldaña the queen of the box office.

The third “Avatar” movie boasted $21.3 million in North American sales last week, bringing it to a global total of $1.23 billion. With those impressive stats, Saldaña officially surpassed Scarlett Johansson as the highest-grossing actor of all time.

The Oscar winner has grossed more than $15.47 billion at the international box office, according to box office tracking website the Numbers. Johansson only recently gained the title after surpassing her “Avengers” co-star Samuel L. Jackson with the release of last summer’s “Jurassic World Rebirth.”

What helped buoy Saldaña to the top is the fact that the 47-year-old actor stars in the three highest-grossing films of all time: 2009’s “Avatar” ($2.9 billion), 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” ($2.8 billion) and 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” ($2.3 billion).

Saldaña is also the only actor to appear in four movies that brought in over $2 billion worldwide. (2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War” grossed $2.05 billion.)

Last year proved that Saldaña’s talent exceeded the realm of popcorn movies when she nabbed her first Academy Award for her supporting role in the controversial musical “Emilia Pérez.” Her win marked the first time an actor with Dominican roots had won an Oscar.

“I am a proud child of immigrant parents, with dreams and dignity and hardworking hands,” she said through tears while accepting the award for supporting actress. “And I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last.”

Saldaña cemented her Oscar win while side-stepping criticisms of the film — namely regarding its portrayals of Mexicans and transgender people — as well as the scandal that surrounded “Emilia Pérez” co-star Karla Sofía Gascón, when her offensive tweets with anti-Muslim, anti-diversity and racist language resurfaced.

A TOWIE star has taken a huge swipe at Love Island’s Molly-Mae exposing their bizarre feud.

ITV‘s Dani Imbert went off on a savage rant about “little pick me girls” before taking a brutal aim at beloved YouTuber Molly-Mae in a new TikTok video.

The TV personality fumed at girls who “look down their nose” at her because she likes to party.

Mum-of-one Molly-Mae is a well known homebody, and has often shared her dislike for partying and drinking with her fans.

It seems Dani is not a fan of the influencer as she publicly slammed her in the comments section.

Dani, 27, revealed the unexpected feud as she hit the like button and replied to a comment that said: “More of this. Less Molly Mae.”

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The rage-fuelled star replied: “How do I pin this [heart eyes emoji, laughing face]”

It appears the comment has since been deleted, perhaps in an attempt to avoid drama.

The comment had over 400 likes.

Now, in the new video, the model didn’t hold back, saying: “I love going out every weekend, I love partying, I love getting drunk with my friends.

“Do you know what I actually hate about partying, the little pick me girls and judgemental boys that look down their nose at the fact that I like to go out.

“They’re like ‘it could never be me, I could never imagine going out every weekend’.”

Dani, appearing to take a swipe at Molly, savagely added: “You’re right, you could never keep up, you could never hold this energy that I hold when I go out every single weekend.

“You probably are better off sitting indoors reading your book, and they sit their like ‘I could never be in the club every weekend’. Good I don’t want you to be there every week with your bad vibes.

“Actually the bouncers see you approaching the club and roll their eyes too, we don’t want you there, sitting on your phone not having fun.”

Dani’s comments appear to take taunting shots at the way Molly-Mae chooses to live her life.

The 26-year-old business woman candidly opened up on her documentary, Molly-Mae: Behind It All, about her boyfriend Tommy’s struggles with drinking.

She explained how it was the catalyst that drove them to split in 2024, before they reunited for a lavish trip to Dubai in March 2025 and later confirmed they were back together.

The star, who has recently landed a multi-million pound deal with Adidas, is yet to comment on the emerging feud with Dani.

Josh Cavallo has made a bombshell claim against his former football club, Adelaide United FC.

Back in May, the openly gay athlete and the Australian football team announced that they would be parting ways in a joint statement.

“Adelaide United can confirm that Josh Cavallo will be moving on from the Club for an opportunity overseas, with both parties embracing this next step in his journey with mutual respect and gratitude for everything shared along the way,” the team wrote.

Cavallo echoed similar sentiments, writing: “Adelaide United gave me the platform to grow as a footballer, but more importantly, it gave me a place to grow as a person.

“I’ll always be grateful to this Club for embracing me and allowing me to live authentically. The support from my teammates, coaches, staff, and the incredible Reds fans has meant the world to me.”

While it seemed Cavallo’s journey with Adelaide United ended on good terms, his latest statement on the matter painted a different picture.

On 13 January, the 26-year-old football star shared a lengthy statement on Instagram reflecting on his final season and departure.

“It’s taken me a while to digest how my time at Adelaide United ended, but I think the fans deserve honesty,” he wrote.

Instagram: joshua.cavallo

Cavallo – who was benched during his final outing with the club – claimed that “decisions were made by people in power” to block his opportunities due to his sexuality.

“Under the new management, it became clear that I wasn’t allowed on the pitch because of politics. It’s hard to swallow when I realised my own club was homophobic,” he continued.

“I was angry because people thought I was sidelined based on injuries, when in reality, it was internal homophobia that kept me on the bench.

“I stayed professional, kept my head down, and worked hard every day, which I’m proud of. Yet no matter how much I produced or improved, my contributions were continuously ignored. It brought a lot of negativity and affected my well-being as a professional footballer.”

Cavallo went on to say that the alleged behaviour from club officials was a big fear he had before coming out, adding that it resulted in him questioning if he should have kept his sexuality a secret.

Instagram: joshua.cavallo

The Melbourne, Victoria-raised footballer also accused his former teammates of displaying homophobic behaviour towards him and his fianceé Leighton Morrell.

“I felt incredibly isolated and wondered if I’d made the mistake of sharing my story. I felt things going backwards, not just on the pitch, but in the one place I thought was a safe space, and after seeing a group chat of teammates mocking a picture of me and my partner only added to this heartache,” he wrote.

Towards the end of his statement, Cavallo addressed his recent move to the UK, describing it as a “fresh start” that helped him “breathe again.”

“I hope I can fall back in love with the sport that means everything to me. Despite the way it ended behind the scenes, I refuse to let it ruin my connection to this city. Adelaide is where I found my wings. To the fans and supporters: thank you for your passion and backing. You deserve honesty and success. You were incredible to play in front of. Thank you,” he concluded.

On the same day Cavallo shared his post, Adelaide United FC responded to the accusations in a statement posted to its website.

“Adelaide United is aware of a statement published on social media this morning by former player Josh Cavallo. The Club is extremely disappointed by the claims made and categorically rejects the allegations, including any suggestion that Adelaide United is homophobic,” they wrote.

“All on-field decisions relating to team selection are made solely on footballing grounds. Adelaide United has always been committed to fostering an inclusive environment for players, staff and supporters, and we remain proud of our ongoing work to promote inclusion across football.

“Strengthening inclusivity must remain an ongoing focus for the game, and the Club looks forward to hosting the fourth annual Pride Cup this weekend against Melbourne Victory. The Club will not be making any further comment at this time.”

Cavallo’s recent statement comes six months after he announced his move to the UK.

“It’s not goodbye forever, but now, it’s time to leave the nest with my fiancé by my side,” he wrote in July.

That same month, Cavallo revealed that he signed with Peterborough Sports FC. In December, the former Drag Race Down Under guest judge signed with Stamford AFC.

Noah’s Ark, an interactive exhibit for kids at the Skirball Cultural Center, might be the only place in Los Angeles where a parent can ask their child if they want to scoop up some animal poop and receive an enthusiastic, “Yes, please!” That’s not to make light of the interactive experience — which is among the most fun and inspiring activities for children at a local cultural institution — just to note that it’s a fun perk.

The beloved 18-year-old exhibit quietly reopened in mid-December after being closed for more than three months to undergo a renovation that includes enhanced gallery spaces, immersive theatrical lighting and new interactive set pieces like a giant olive tree that kids can curl up inside, as well as slides that serve as exits from the ark and a watering hole for puppet animals that have just reached dry land.

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The linchpin of the renovation is a reimagined Bloom Garden planted with native, edible and medicinal plants, and fruit trees including mulberry and pineapple guava — all there to explore at the end of a journey on the ark.

“The goal is not to change the story, but to bring forward a chapter that’s always been there — that moment after the storm, when the work begins,” said Rachel Stark, vice president of education and family programs at the Skirball, adding that the new garden creates “this immersive space where you can imagine the storm waters have receded, the rowboat has washed up onto shore. Things are growing, and you are responsible to help add to that.”

The Bloom Garden, which replaced a simpler ornamental garden, was designed by biodynamic farmer and educator Daron Joffe — known as Farmer D — with the goal of creating a multigenerational space for relaxation and inspiration. It was built around artist Ned Kahn’s existing 100-foot-long Rainbow Arbor sculpture with mist sprayers that create rainbows in sunlight as guests walk through. A trickling stream runs through a valley in the garden, and kids are encouraged to play in and around it. There are hammocks, a sand table and raised garden beds with fresh herbs that families can pick, smell and taste.

Stuffed animals that kids can carry through the exhibit line shelves inside the renovated Noah’s Ark exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center.

(Dania Maxwell / For The Times)

“It’s an inviting space for kids to scramble down into and engage in nature play. It gets them more out of their heads and into the environment,” Joffe said. “I saw kids barefoot out there, which is so cool.”

Parents and children enjoy the Skirball Cultural Center’s new Bloom Garden, which opened alongside the revamped Noah’s Ark exhibit. The garden features raised beds filled with herbs that kids are invited to smell, pick and taste.

(Dania Maxwell / For The Times)

The garden, says Joffe, is a haven for biodiversity, filled with plants that support the full life cycles of butterflies and bees. Shemesh Farms, which employs adults with diverse abilities, will cultivate the garden on an ongoing basis. In addition, the Skirball is looking to hire someone through a Getty Global Art and Sustainability Fellowship. That person will help grow and enhance the garden moving forward.

The Bloom Garden is special in another way: It features the seven ancient plant species that are integral to Jewish teachings, and symbols of the Promised Land — wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.

The Skirball, founded in 1996, is a Jewish cultural, arts and education center, but it has always been an inclusive space that welcomes people of all faiths, communities and walks of life. The Noah’s Ark exhibit is based on the story of the biblical flood that caused Noah — at God’s direction — to build a ship for his family and two of each animal on Earth. The boat weathered a punishing storm for 40 days and 40 nights, and when the floodwaters receded, those aboard began a new life.

The exhibit also draws inspiration from hundreds of other flood stories from around the world. Taken together, these stories speak to the resilience of nature and the ability of human beings to cooperate — even when they are very different — in order to make meaningful and lasting change, as well as to be responsible and caring stewards of the earth’s bounty.

Susy Doody and her daughter Joy, 21 months, feed parrot puppets inside the Noah’s Ark exhibit.

(Dania Maxwell / For The Times)

Noah’s Ark is organized into three chapters staged in different areas. The first is an entry room where a storm is brewing and animals are loaded into the ark. The second is the interior of the ark, including a “move-in day” room where kids can rummage through food crates and pick up animal puppets to care for, as well as another room with places where they can feed, bathe, put to sleep and clean up after animals (that’s the fake poop!).

There are also climbing nets that kids can use to ascend to the rafters to take care of the animals up top. A system of pulleys allows children on the ground to hoist food to kids above. The third room is the dry land that kids step onto when they disembark from the ark. It features a rainbow, a massive olive tree with a cozy interior nook and a watering hole for the animals.

I recently took my 9-year-old through the exhibit and she had a blast busily engaging with almost every element of the space. She was particularly taken with a blue tarantula puppet and was encouraged by staff to share her journey through the space with her puppet friend. The only sorrow came when it was time to part ways with the hairy creature she had nurtured during the experience.

Allister Celong, 5, climbs through a rope tunnel in the rafters.

(Dania Maxwell / For The Times)

Over the past 18 years Noah’s Ark has hosted more than a million visitors, with about 50,000 people journeying through the space each year. Joffe noted that the exhibit, with its focus on kindness, empathy and the value of shared labor in pursuit of a healthy, sustainable planet, is more timely than ever in this tumultuous, fractured era.

It has been a place of comfort over the years.

“It is a beloved place — one that many visitors grew up coming to,” said Stark. “And then bring their kids back and their grandkids.”

The Saving Private Ryan star will present the series with more than 20 episodes exploring the origins and turning points of the Second World War

A landmark documentary series spanning over 20 episodes is preparing for worldwide launch, with the factual programme, entitled World War II with Tom Hanks, to be both hosted and narrated by the acclaimed Hollywood star. The sweeping series will feature the Saving Private Ryan actor “present a sweeping and definitive retelling of the Second World War, drawing on rarely seen archival material, powerful, evocative storytelling, and insights from leading historians”.

Broadcasting on Sky History and The History Channel, each instalment will delve into the conflict’s origins alongside its pivotal moments. Audiences can expect deeply moving personal accounts woven throughout the narrative.

Hearst Networks, spearheading the ambitious project, promised “the series offers a panoramic and emotionally resonant perspective on the war that reshaped the modern world“. The American actor and filmmaker revealed his intimate ties to the conflict, admitting: “During my formative years, every single adult in my life would make references to two words: The War.

“The lasting effects of the Second World War on the world and my own family was not lost on me. I am thrilled to partner with The History Channel to produce this all-encompassing series with a long-form format that will give us the ability to tell this important piece of history in its entirety.”

Hanks is serving as executive producer alongside Gary Goetzman for Playtone. An official air date will be announced in the coming months.

Heather Jones of Hearst Networks commented: “World War II with Tom Hanks is a landmark series with deep relevance across all our markets. It’s a privilege to bring such a powerful and resonant project to audiences throughout EMEA simultaneously.

“Our ambition is to deliver premium, globally relevant storytelling at scale, and to remind viewers of all ages of the importance of understanding, and reflecting on, the events and impact of this pivotal moment in history.”

Hanks has featured in numerous productions portraying wartime scenarios, including the 2020 film Greyhound. He took on the role of Commander Ernie Krause, a US Navy officer on his maiden voyage commanding a multinational escort destroyer group, protecting an Allied convoy against U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic.

In April 2025, news emerged that a follow-up to Greyhound was being developed, with Hanks, who penned the screenplay, returning as Captain Krause. The continuation will track Krause and the Greyhound crew “from the beaches of Normandy to the ocean in the Pacific as they help turn the tide of the war”.

His 1998 epic war drama, Saving Private Ryan, takes place in 1944 in Normandy during World War II and chronicles a group of soldiers tasked with finding Private James Francis Ryan (portrayed by Matt Damon ) and ensuring his safe return home following the deaths of his three brothers in combat. Hanks portrayed Captain John Miller in the film, drawing inspiration from Stephen E. Ambrose’s books and numerous soldiers’ accounts. The film is widely hailed as one of the finest war films ever produced.

Hanks also took centre stage in Steven Spielberg’s historical drama Bridge of Spies, set amidst the Cold War. It narrates the tale of lawyer James B.

Donovan, tasked with negotiating the release of Francis Gary Powers, a convicted Central Intelligence Agency pilot.

The Hollywood luminary played the lead role in the film, which bagged six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

World War II with Tom Hanks will be broadcast on Sky History in the UK and The History Channel elsewhere.

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