On the heels of the trailer reveal for the big-screen adaption of “Children of Blood and Bone,” the book’s author is claiming in a new video that an on-set ordeal traumatized her — and fans have been left with more questions than answers.
On Wednesday, Tomi Adeyemi upped the ante when discussing the ongoing behind-the-scenes drama that’s overshadowed the new film. Although the author, in her latest video on the falling-out, hinted at a painful ordeal that unfolded on set, fans are still scratching their heads as to what exactly happened and who was involved.
“I’m gonna post this so ideally I won’t have to talk about this anymore,” she said in a five-minute, 40-second video posted to social media. “And what I’m about to share is not a secret to the people involved. It’s a reality that I’ve had to live with for about a year and a half, and everyone involved, at least at the highest level, has been made aware of this reality, and they haven’t done anything to make it better. If anything, they’ve only antagonized me, and I accept that, but I also accept if I don’t say something, I think it’s just going to be worse.
“I’m not gonna speak on what I endured to make it through the young adult trilogy, and I’m not going to speak about everything that I also suffered through to make the adaptation a reality,” she continued. “I’m actually only going to speak about what happened after I left that set of my own film adaptation, hyperventilating and sobbing, and there are many witnesses, so it’s not really a secret.”
The author continued that, when she returned to America from an overseas filming location, she suffered “such severe somatic pain and so many panic attacks” that she knew she would never be able to watch the film.
“But as it is being marketed, and as I am still being antagonized behind the scenes, which is where I hoped all of this would stay, it’s become apparent to me that reality needs to at least be made known so that you guys can understand how this film — which I worked on to make it a little better for us to be alive — is also the worst thing I have ever had to live through, and I don’t wish to speak on it anymore.”
Adeyemi concluded that she never wants to hear about the film adaption again, and then she seemingly threw shade at director Gina Prince-Bythewood, whom she co-wrote the screenplay with, saying, “I don’t have anything to say about the people who made it. I do not care anymore. I’m trying to move on. This video might make it worse, but I don’t know how it can be any worse.”
Representatives for Prince-Bythewood and Paramount Pictures did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
Earlier this month, the Nigerian American author posted a since-deleted video on TikTok that also left her followers puzzled in which she said there was a reason she stopped promoting the forthcoming film. Although she didn’t spell out the reason, she posted a screen shot of a February 2025 text exchange with one of the film’s stars, Amandla Stenberg, in which she told the actor not to use her name in interviews and then blocked her.
Stenberg, who is African American and Danish, had been at the center of a casting controversy due to claims that colorism was at play when she landed the role of Princess Amari. (Read more about the controversy here.)
On Monday, Paramount held a “Children of Blood and Bone” trailer launch event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. In a discussion moderated by “Master of None” actor Lena Waithe, Prince-Bythewood and the A-list cast talked about the making and almost-not-making of the film, and Prince-Bythewood seemed to reveal her stance on the fallout over Stenberg’s casting.
The director said her big-screen adaptation was “beautifully inspired by Nigeria and also inclusive of the whole diaspora. We wanted all of us to be able to see ourselves within this, just our complete and utter humanity, all the beautiful hues.”
In the comments section under Adeyemi’s Wednesday video, frustrated fans asked the author to be more transparent while others suggested maybe a non-disclosure agreement was hindering her ability to offer any specifics on the incident.
“Children of Blood and Bone” is slated to hit theaters Jan. 15.
The official trailer for the film adaptation of the African fantasy novel “Children of Blood and Bone” is making a splash online, and the director just revealed that she almost didn’t make the film.
The adaptation of the first installment of author Tomi Adeyemi’s bestselling “Legacy of Orïsha” fantasy trilogy is slated to hit theaters Jan. 15. The story follows Zélie Adebola, a courageous young woman with dormant magical abilities who has drawn the attention of tyrannical King Saran, the ruler of the kingdom of Orïsha, a fictional country in an alternative precolonial Nigeria inhabited by two distinct ethnic groups: divîners (inherently magical people who have had their magic stolen by King Saran) and the non-magical kosidán.
On Monday, Paramount held a “Children of Blood and Bone” trailer launch event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. In a discussion moderated by “Master of None” actor Lena Waithe, Prince-Bythewood and the cast talked about the making and almost-not-making of the film.
According to Prince-Bythewood, helming “The Woman King” felt like the thing she’d been working toward her entire career. “And then this came and it was something even bigger and in a space that we hadn’t got to see ourselves in, which was big epic fantasy,” she said. “And as much as I needed a little rest, I couldn’t say no. And the beauty of this is that I was actually offered this film two different times over the last seven years. And both times I turned it down.”
Prince-Bythewood admitted that she wasn’t emotionally ready to hop on board and that she didn’t know how to make an epic fantasy film yet. “But there was something about this third time when they came to me,” she said.
“I still said, ‘I already turned it down so you’re wasting your time.’” She continued that she had realized, in retrospect, that the third offer came when it was supposed to come. Plus, with “The Woman King” under her belt, now she knew how to make the movie.
“There was something so deep and guttural about my connection this time when I read it,” she said. “I felt so connected to this young hero who’s fighting to find her purpose. There is so much going on in the world right now, and there’s so many themes within this that speak to that.”
Prince-Bythewood gushed about loving the book, the story and the characters. “Now how do I actualize it? How do I make it a film? And that’s the exciting and scary part. How do we make magic feel cultural?”
The director said her big-screen adaptation was “beautifully inspired by Nigeria and also inclusive of the whole diaspora. We wanted all of us to be able to see ourselves within this, just our complete and utter humanity, all the beautiful hues.”
The remark is notable in light of behind-the-scenes drama that has unfolded over the last year and a half. Prince-Bythewood co-wrote the script with Adeyemi, but the author recently distanced herself from the book-to-screen project and said she would not see the film after a casting controversy involving Stenberg, who portrays Princess Amari in the film.
In February 2025, Stenberg posted a since-deleted nine-minute TikTok addressing backlash that suggested colorism was at play when she landed the gig. She told followers that Adeyemi had given the actor her blessing when cast as the series’ princess.
“I am four months into training for ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ and I am getting my ass whooped,” Stenberg joked in the video, per BET.
“I had the opportunity to meet Tomi, the novelist, for the first time. … And she goes, ‘Amandla, I want you to know that when you were a little girl and you were cast as Rue in ‘The Hunger Games,’ and people said that Rue’s death wouldn’t be as sad because you’re a Black girl — that inspired me to write this series so that Black girls like you and Black girls of all shades could have a story written about them.’”
Shortly after Stenberg said Adeyemi gave the actor her blessing, they had a text exchange that hinted at a change of heart or different story entirely.
This month, the Nigerian American author posted a since-deleted video on TikTok addressing fans who had been — according to her — asking her the same question, “Why don’t you post about the adaptation of your first film adaptation anymore?”
“There is a reason I will not post anything about the adaptation of my work,” the author wrote in what appeared to be screenshots of a group chat. “I have not seen the film, and I will not watch it.”
Alongside the screenshots of her comments in the group chat, she shared a February 2025 exchange with Stenberg. Adeyemi shared only her final message to the actor, which read, “Do not ever use my name in an interview or video again. Do not text me. Do not call me.” That exchange is followed by a notification that she blocked Stenberg.
The message from Stenberg that preceded Adeyemi’s reply was not shown in full.
R&B singer Nivea publicly revealed her recent leukemia diagnosis on an episode of the Atlanta-based performance and interview series “Cadillac Chronicles.”
In a conversation with host Brian Freeman, the 44-year-old Grammy-nominated artist said she was diagnosed earlier this year and is “grateful to God” for her health as she undergoes treatment.
“I’ve been going through treatment, and everything is going great so far, and I expect it to continue. Amen, amen, amen,” she said on Tuesday’s episode.
“Cadillac Chronicles” features Freeman riding in his 1974 Cadillac Eldorado with a musician, usually a hip-hop or R&B artist. In addition to discussing gratitude, Nivea also performed her hits from the car’s passenger seat, including 2002’s “Don’t Mess With My Man,” which earned her a 2003 Grammy nomination.
It seems the diagnosis hasn’t slowed her down. The singer also revealed she’s working on new music and going to school for audio engineering, which she said she’s “always wanted to learn.”
“I’m doing all the things I want to do,” she said. “Loving on my children, and just being grateful and taking every opportunity that comes my way.”
Nivea — born Nivea B. Hamilton — was married to singer-songwriter and record producer The-Dream from 2004 to 2008, and shares three children with him: daughter Navy Talia, born in 2005, and twin sons London and Christian, born the following year.
She also shares a son, Neal — who performs as Lil Novi — with rapper Lil Wayne.
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood that begins in the bone marrow, which varies based on the type of blood cell affected and the stage of the disease. The “Complicated” singer did not reveal which type she was diagnosed with, but said she maintains a “positive” outlook in all areas of life.
“I’m very grateful for life. It’s so cliche to say, you don’t know the time nor the hour, but it’s true, and it just helped me put a lot of things in perspective,” she said. “I live in gratitude religiously.”
Tomi Adeyemi, the author of the bestselling fantasy “Children of Blood and Bone,” isn’t planning to see the forthcoming film adaptation — even though she co-wrote it.
Over the weekend, the Nigerian American author posted a video on TikTok addressing fans who have been asking her the same question, “Why don’t you post about the adaptation of your first film adaptation anymore?”
“There is a reason I will not post anything about the adaptation of my work,” the author wrote in what appear to be screenshots of a group chat. “I have not seen the film, and I will not watch it.”
The adaptation of the first installment of Adeyemi’s “Legacy of Orïsha” fantasy trilogy is slated to hit theaters in January 2027. Gina Prince-Bythewood — who wrote and directed “Love & Basketball” and helmed “The Woman King” — is directing. The film stars Amandla Stenberg, Thuso Mbedu, Tosin Cole, Damson Idris, Cynthia Erivo, Lashana Lynch, Regina King, Idris Elba, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Viola Davis.
Alongside the screenshots of her comments in the group chat, she shared a February 2025 exchange with Stenberg that shows the author severing ties with the actor.
Adeyemi shared only her final message to Stenberg, which reads, “Do not ever use my name in an interview or video again. Do not text me. Do not call me.” That exchange is followed by a notification that she blocked Stenberg, who plays Princess Amari in the upcoming fantasy flick.
The message from Stenberg that preceded Adeyemi’s reply is not shown in full.
Stenberg, who played Rue in “Hunger Games,” Starr Carter in “The Hate U Give” and, recently, Verosha “Osha” Aniseya and Mae-ho “Mae” Aniseya in Disney’s “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte,” had been getting flack from readers of the series, who claimed colorism was an issue while casting the movie.
In February 2025, Stenberg posted a since-deleted nine-minute TikTok addressing the controversy and told followers that Adeyemi had given the actor her blessing when cast as the series’ princess.
“I am four months into training for ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ and I am getting my ass whooped,” Stenberg joked in the video, per BET.
“This year was mostly defined for me, honestly, by contending with what it felt like to receive racist death threats just for existing in the ‘Star Wars’ universe, and that was a really difficult thing for me to move through,” she continued. “But honestly, it feels so much more painful for me to feel like I’m at odds with my own community.”
Stenberg said that she considers her skin tone when navigating her career choices and would “never go after a role” she didn’t feel well suited for. “I know that colorism is an insidious system that relentlessly impacts every facet of entertainment.”
The actor continued that it was actually a meeting with the “Children of Blood and Bone” author that gave her the confidence to pursue the role.
“I had the opportunity to meet Tomi, the novelist, for the first time. … And she goes, ‘Amandla, I want you to know that when you were a little girl and you were cast as Rue in “The Hunger Games,” and people said that Rue’s death wouldn’t be as sad because you’re a Black girl — that inspired me to write this series so that Black girls like you and Black girls of all shades could have a story written about them,’” Stenberg said in the video. “We started crying, and I said to myself, ‘God wants me here.’”
Representatives for Stenberg, Adeyemi and Prince-Bythewood did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
NEW YORK — David Clayton-Thomas, the lead singer of Blood, Sweat & Tears, whose husky, high-strung tenor on “Spinning Wheel,” “And When I Die” and other hits helped make the so-called brass rock band among the most popular acts of the late 1960s, has died at age 84.
Spokesperson Eric Alper said that Clayton-Thomas died peacefully Wednesday at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Alper did not cite a specific cause of death.
Clayton-Thomas was a onetime street fighter and petty thief from Canada who briefly became a rock superstar, the front man of a nine-member group that sold millions of records and won two Grammys for “Blood, Sweat & Tears,” which beat out the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” for best album of 1969. Calling out amid a jazzy parade of horns, keyboards and percussion, Clayton-Thomas’ urgent shout was a signature voice of the era, preaching love on the Motown cover “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” a lasting legacy on Laura Nyro’s “And When I Die” and a cool head on his own “Spinning Wheel.” Meanwhile, Blood, Sweat & Tears helped inspire a wave of horn-led bands, among them Chicago, the Electric Flag and Ten Wheel Drive.
“A lot of the guys [in Blood, Sweat & Tears] would play a Broadway show matinee, then go up to Harlem and play Latin music or R&B and funk at night, or come down to the Village and play pure jazz the next night,” Clayton-Thomas told Bestclassicbands.com in 2023. “I was just a blues player: Give me three chords and I’ve got a song.”
At its peak, Blood, Sweat & Tears’ appeal was so broad it helped lead to the band’s downfall.
Hip enough to perform at the 1969 Woodstock festival, where they were among the highest paid acts, they also were known enough to the establishment to tour Eastern Europe the following year on behalf of the State Department. When Clayton-Thomas and other band members denounced the Communist regimes on the other side of the Cold War, Rolling Stone’s David Felton wrote that “the State Department got its money worth.” Counterculture Yippies would turn up at a 1970 Blood, Sweat & Tears show at Madison Square Garden, carrying obscene banners outside and dumping manure by the front gate.
The band had practical reasons for going along with the government: Clayton-Thomas, who had allegedly wielded a gun at his girlfriend, had been denied a green card and faced deportation. But after topping the charts in 1970 with the album “Blood, Sweat & Tears 3,” their appeal soon faded. A burned-out Clayton-Thomas left the group in 1972, and neither he nor the remaining musicians ever regained their old stature. Blood, Sweat & Tears would continue recording over the next few years, and even briefly reunited with Clayton-Thomas, who went on to release more than a dozen solo albums and tour on his own for decades.
Beginning under a licensing agreement reached in 1984, Clayton-Thomas toured as “Blood, Sweat Tears” for 20 years with a revolving roster of bandmates. A 1994 Times review of a show at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano reported that “BS&T’s formula has legs, that its music has withstood the test of time. Indeed, in a world full of today’s pop harmonic minimalism, the sound of trumpets, trombones, guitar and sax backing a singer somehow seems fresh, even if it has been around for so long,” and Clayton-Thomas “still has all the enthusiasm and buzz-saw roughness that gave his voice its distinctive quality way back when.”
In 2005, BS&T re-formed (without Clayton-Thomas, who continued his solo career) and has toured since with various lead singers.
Clayton-Thomas was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996. “Spinning Wheel,” covered by everyone from James Brown to TV star Barbara Eden, was voted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame a decade later.
Born David Henry Thomsett on Sept. 13, 1941, in Kingston upon Thames, near London, and raised near Toronto and Ottawa, he was the son of a Canadian World War II veteran and of a pianist-entertainer who helped inspire her son’s interest in music. Thomsett was lucky to have the chance. He fought violently with his father, was living in the streets by his mid-teens and by age 20 was serving time in a reformatory for vagrancy, assault and other crimes.
An old guitar, left behind by a fellow inmate, changed his life. He taught himself to play and began spending extensive time in the early 1960s around Toronto’s Yonge Street music “strip,” where peers included the American rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins, a mentor to Robbie Robertson and other future members of the Band and a guide for Thomsett early in his career.
Eager to reinvent himself, he changed his last name to Clayton-Thomas while leading his own groups. In the mid-’60s, he released such albums as “Sings Like It Is” and had a hit single with the antiwar rocker “Brainwashed.” He would also befriend a rising star, Joni Mitchell, whose childlike “Circle Game” helped inspire “Spinning Wheel,” and the venerable John Lee Hooker, who would indirectly contribute to Clayton-Thomas’ breakthrough in the U.S.
The band Blood, Sweat & Tears, including David Clayton-Thomas, far right, from the documentary “What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?”
(Sony Music Archives)
Hooker had encouraged Clayton-Thomas to move to New York, where the American bluesman had an engagement at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village. When Hooker unexpectedly departed for a tour of Europe, club owner Howard Solomon needed a replacement and recruited Clayton-Thomas.
“So I played him a couple songs on the guitar,” Clayton-Thomas told Bestclassicbands.com. “He said, ‘Do you have a band?’ I said, ‘Sure,’ and went out into Greenwich Village looking for anybody carrying a guitar case or even looking like a musician, and we put together a little band and we opened there that night. We ended up staying there for several months.”
Around the same time, session man-producer Al Kooper was looking to form a jazz-rock group and was joined by such musicians as guitarist Steve Katz, drummer Bobby Colomby and horn players Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss. They called themselves Blood, Sweat & Tears, releasing the debut album “Child Is Father to the Man” early in 1968. Although praised by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner as “a fine, exemplary group,” members were torn between those allied with Kooper and those who thought his vocals too weak to attract a substantial audience.
By the end of the year, Kooper and others had departed, and the band was seeking a new singer. After Judy Collins saw Clayton-Thomas perform, she recommended him to Colomby.
“I got home and just a couple of days later, Bobby Colomby called me up and said, ‘Hey, Kooper’s gone. We got four guys left out of the nine. And we still got a record contract with Columbia. Do you want to come down and try out for the band?’ ” Clayton-Thomas told Bestclassicbands.com. ”I said, ‘You’re damn right.’ I knew [bassist] Jim Fielder real well and I knew they were superb musicians. So I was on the next plane. We had a rehearsal that afternoon, an audition, and it was instant magic. We just knew right off the bat.”
Clayton-Thomas is survived by his daughters, Ashleigh Clayton-Thomas and Christine Graham.
FORMER The X Factor singer Katie Waissel has been dashed back to hospital with a suspected blood clot on her lung — less than two days after being discharged.
The 2010 reality TV star was readmitted to hospital just 36 hours after being allowed to go home.
Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter
Thank you!
Katie Waissel starred on The X Factor in 2010Credit: RexThe star was rushed to hospital by ambulance for a second time in 2 daysCredit: Instagram
Singer Katie is currently fighting a severe case of bacterial pneumonia and doctors now suspect a blood clot on her lung.
The 40-year-old was taken to London’s private Wellington Hospital for urgent scans and tests.
Taking to X, Katie told her followers: “After a day and a half at home, I’m now BACK at the hospital and not doing so great.”
She added in a later update: “Whilst still battling this awful bacterial pneumonia, there’s now a suspected blood clot on my lung, so I’m back in for more scans, tests and needles.
She has spoken about the ‘most frightening and excruciatingly painful experience’ of her lifeCredit: InstagramKatie with presenter Dermot O’Leary and mentor/judge CherylCredit: Shutterstock
“I’m fairly certain I’ve run out of veins for people to poke at this point.”
The mum-of-one praised the medical team at the facility for their ‘incredible’ support.
She stated that her absolute priority is to ‘get better and get home to my little boy’.
Katie shares her seven-year-old son, Hudson, with her former partner, personal trainer Andy Speer, who was born in 2018.
This latest setback follows her emergency admission last week to St John and St Elizabeth’s Hospital in London.
Reflecting on the initial scare, the songwriter admitted she was ‘far closer to the edge than I realised’.
She said appearing on The X Factor had ‘ruined her life’Credit: ShutterstockShe appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2016Credit: David Fisher
She called the illness ‘one of the most frightening and excruciatingly painful experiences of my life’.
The close call has given her a brand new outlook on life.
In a separate social media post on Thursday, she shared: “I’m still a little bit in shock, if I’m honest, coming to terms with just how close I came to not being here anymore.
“It’s made me realise there are still so many things I want to see, do, learn and experience, and that perhaps ‘one day’ isn’t a date we should rely on.
“So, I’ve decided it’s time to write a proper bucket list and start ticking things off.”
This is not the star’s first sudden health crisis.
Back in 2021, she needed emergency treatment for a suspected heart attack, later sharing images of herself fitted with a cardiac monitor.
Katie originally rose to fame on the seventh series of The X Factor.
She was mentored by Cheryl in the girls category and eventually finished the ITV competition in seventh place – which was won by Matt Cardle.
The singer is now qualified to work as a paralegal or start vocational training to become a solicitor or barrister.
The mum-of-one and lawyer set up her own dedicated foundation, O.W.H.L, in 2023 – campaigning to reform safety standards within the showbiz world.
She was branded the “most hated contestant” when she appeared on the show and has sought therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after suffering panic attacks and suicidal thoughts.
EastEnders’ Denise Fox, whose symptoms began with fatigue, will discover she has acute myeloid leukaemia following a bone marrow biopsy – Yvonne Gabriel knows exactly how she feels
Eastenders Blood Cancer Storyline
EastEnders’ Denise Fox is all alone today when she receives the shattering news that she has blood cancer. While partner Jack Branning gears up for the upcoming World Cup, Denise, whose symptoms began with fatigue, will discover she has acute myeloid leukaemia following a bone marrow biopsy.
And Yvonne Gabriel, 58, will know exactly how she feels. The retired deputy head teacher was also by herself when told she had AML, in July 2018. She says: “It was such a huge shock. I wrongly thought adults couldn’t get leukaemia. The whole thing was a blur. But I remember the doctor saying it was treatable and I hung on to those words for the whole of my cancer journey.”
Yvonne went back to her home in Wallington, Surrey, and told her civil partner Annette, 63, a lawyer, and daughter Leanne, 38, a graphic designer, the awful news. She recalls: “My partner and daughter kept reiterating that the cancer was treatable and curable.
“I am usually the person that looks after people so it was really hard to feel I was causing the upset. They held themselves together for me.” EastEnders worked closely with the charity Blood Cancer UK on Denise’s storyline, starting today on World Blood Cancer Day, which in many ways mirrors Yvonne’s.
Yvonne and Denise, played by Diane Parish, 56, are both Black and, according to the charity, Black or mixed-race blood cancer patients with leukaemia have only a 37% chance of finding a 10/10 matched unrelated stem cell donor, compared to 72% for white patients.
Yvonne began treatment in Sutton’s Royal Marsden Hospital within days of diagnosis. She had three courses of intensive chemotherapy, requiring hospital stays, and finished that November. She says: “It is fantastic that EastEnders are running this storyline. It might mean viewers watching it get help if they have symptoms or even understand a little more what people with blood cancer are going through.”
Yvonne also recommends staying active, as it helps the body to cope with the harsh treatment. She adds: “I lost my hair and if Denise has chemotherapy this will probably happen to her. I was very emotional on the day I shaved it.” But she adds: “It will come back and it’s a sign the treatment is working. You can adorn yourself in different ways – wear jewellery or colours that make you feel like you.”
Yvonne has now trained to do massage therapy after benefiting from it herself as a patient. She says: “It was life-changing. It helped me physically and emotionally.”
Matthew White, director at Blood Cancer UK, says: “Many people with blood cancer have to visit their GP multiple times before they are diagnosed. Seeing blood cancer spotlighted on such a popular programme like EastEnders is a powerful platform that can help make a ‘hidden’ cancer more visible.”
*Blood Cancer UK provides trusted advice for people with blood cancer and funds research into better and kinder treatments that will transform lives. bloodcancer.org.uk
‘Children of Blood and Bone’ film drama continues with a new claim
On the heels of the trailer reveal for the big-screen adaption of “Children of Blood and Bone,” the book’s author is claiming in a new video that an on-set ordeal traumatized her — and fans have been left with more questions than answers.
On Wednesday, Tomi Adeyemi upped the ante when discussing the ongoing behind-the-scenes drama that’s overshadowed the new film. Although the author, in her latest video on the falling-out, hinted at a painful ordeal that unfolded on set, fans are still scratching their heads as to what exactly happened and who was involved.
“I’m gonna post this so ideally I won’t have to talk about this anymore,” she said in a five-minute, 40-second video posted to social media. “And what I’m about to share is not a secret to the people involved. It’s a reality that I’ve had to live with for about a year and a half, and everyone involved, at least at the highest level, has been made aware of this reality, and they haven’t done anything to make it better. If anything, they’ve only antagonized me, and I accept that, but I also accept if I don’t say something, I think it’s just going to be worse.
“I’m not gonna speak on what I endured to make it through the young adult trilogy, and I’m not going to speak about everything that I also suffered through to make the adaptation a reality,” she continued. “I’m actually only going to speak about what happened after I left that set of my own film adaptation, hyperventilating and sobbing, and there are many witnesses, so it’s not really a secret.”
The author continued that, when she returned to America from an overseas filming location, she suffered “such severe somatic pain and so many panic attacks” that she knew she would never be able to watch the film.
“But as it is being marketed, and as I am still being antagonized behind the scenes, which is where I hoped all of this would stay, it’s become apparent to me that reality needs to at least be made known so that you guys can understand how this film — which I worked on to make it a little better for us to be alive — is also the worst thing I have ever had to live through, and I don’t wish to speak on it anymore.”
Adeyemi concluded that she never wants to hear about the film adaption again, and then she seemingly threw shade at director Gina Prince-Bythewood, whom she co-wrote the screenplay with, saying, “I don’t have anything to say about the people who made it. I do not care anymore. I’m trying to move on. This video might make it worse, but I don’t know how it can be any worse.”
Representatives for Prince-Bythewood and Paramount Pictures did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
Earlier this month, the Nigerian American author posted a since-deleted video on TikTok that also left her followers puzzled in which she said there was a reason she stopped promoting the forthcoming film. Although she didn’t spell out the reason, she posted a screen shot of a February 2025 text exchange with one of the film’s stars, Amandla Stenberg, in which she told the actor not to use her name in interviews and then blocked her.
Stenberg, who is African American and Danish, had been at the center of a casting controversy due to claims that colorism was at play when she landed the role of Princess Amari. (Read more about the controversy here.)
On Monday, Paramount held a “Children of Blood and Bone” trailer launch event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. In a discussion moderated by “Master of None” actor Lena Waithe, Prince-Bythewood and the A-list cast talked about the making and almost-not-making of the film, and Prince-Bythewood seemed to reveal her stance on the fallout over Stenberg’s casting.
The director said her big-screen adaptation was “beautifully inspired by Nigeria and also inclusive of the whole diaspora. We wanted all of us to be able to see ourselves within this, just our complete and utter humanity, all the beautiful hues.”
In the comments section under Adeyemi’s Wednesday video, frustrated fans asked the author to be more transparent while others suggested maybe a non-disclosure agreement was hindering her ability to offer any specifics on the incident.
“Children of Blood and Bone” is slated to hit theaters Jan. 15.
Source link
Why ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ director turned down film twice
The official trailer for the film adaptation of the African fantasy novel “Children of Blood and Bone” is making a splash online, and the director just revealed that she almost didn’t make the film.
Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Woman King”), the film stars a slew of A-list actors including Regina King, Damson Idris, Cynthia Erivo, Amandla Stenberg, Idris Elba, Tosin Cole, Viola Davis, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lashana Lynch and Thuso Mbedu.
The adaptation of the first installment of author Tomi Adeyemi’s bestselling “Legacy of Orïsha” fantasy trilogy is slated to hit theaters Jan. 15. The story follows Zélie Adebola, a courageous young woman with dormant magical abilities who has drawn the attention of tyrannical King Saran, the ruler of the kingdom of Orïsha, a fictional country in an alternative precolonial Nigeria inhabited by two distinct ethnic groups: divîners (inherently magical people who have had their magic stolen by King Saran) and the non-magical kosidán.
On Monday, Paramount held a “Children of Blood and Bone” trailer launch event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. In a discussion moderated by “Master of None” actor Lena Waithe, Prince-Bythewood and the cast talked about the making and almost-not-making of the film.
According to Prince-Bythewood, helming “The Woman King” felt like the thing she’d been working toward her entire career. “And then this came and it was something even bigger and in a space that we hadn’t got to see ourselves in, which was big epic fantasy,” she said. “And as much as I needed a little rest, I couldn’t say no. And the beauty of this is that I was actually offered this film two different times over the last seven years. And both times I turned it down.”
Prince-Bythewood admitted that she wasn’t emotionally ready to hop on board and that she didn’t know how to make an epic fantasy film yet. “But there was something about this third time when they came to me,” she said.
“I still said, ‘I already turned it down so you’re wasting your time.’” She continued that she had realized, in retrospect, that the third offer came when it was supposed to come. Plus, with “The Woman King” under her belt, now she knew how to make the movie.
“There was something so deep and guttural about my connection this time when I read it,” she said. “I felt so connected to this young hero who’s fighting to find her purpose. There is so much going on in the world right now, and there’s so many themes within this that speak to that.”
Prince-Bythewood gushed about loving the book, the story and the characters. “Now how do I actualize it? How do I make it a film? And that’s the exciting and scary part. How do we make magic feel cultural?”
The director said her big-screen adaptation was “beautifully inspired by Nigeria and also inclusive of the whole diaspora. We wanted all of us to be able to see ourselves within this, just our complete and utter humanity, all the beautiful hues.”
The remark is notable in light of behind-the-scenes drama that has unfolded over the last year and a half. Prince-Bythewood co-wrote the script with Adeyemi, but the author recently distanced herself from the book-to-screen project and said she would not see the film after a casting controversy involving Stenberg, who portrays Princess Amari in the film.
In February 2025, Stenberg posted a since-deleted nine-minute TikTok addressing backlash that suggested colorism was at play when she landed the gig. She told followers that Adeyemi had given the actor her blessing when cast as the series’ princess.
“I am four months into training for ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ and I am getting my ass whooped,” Stenberg joked in the video, per BET.
“I had the opportunity to meet Tomi, the novelist, for the first time. … And she goes, ‘Amandla, I want you to know that when you were a little girl and you were cast as Rue in ‘The Hunger Games,’ and people said that Rue’s death wouldn’t be as sad because you’re a Black girl — that inspired me to write this series so that Black girls like you and Black girls of all shades could have a story written about them.’”
Shortly after Stenberg said Adeyemi gave the actor her blessing, they had a text exchange that hinted at a change of heart or different story entirely.
This month, the Nigerian American author posted a since-deleted video on TikTok addressing fans who had been — according to her — asking her the same question, “Why don’t you post about the adaptation of your first film adaptation anymore?”
“There is a reason I will not post anything about the adaptation of my work,” the author wrote in what appeared to be screenshots of a group chat. “I have not seen the film, and I will not watch it.”
Alongside the screenshots of her comments in the group chat, she shared a February 2025 exchange with Stenberg. Adeyemi shared only her final message to the actor, which read, “Do not ever use my name in an interview or video again. Do not text me. Do not call me.” That exchange is followed by a notification that she blocked Stenberg.
The message from Stenberg that preceded Adeyemi’s reply was not shown in full.
Source link
Nivea, ‘Don’t Mess With My Man’ singer, reveals leukemia diagnosis
R&B singer Nivea publicly revealed her recent leukemia diagnosis on an episode of the Atlanta-based performance and interview series “Cadillac Chronicles.”
In a conversation with host Brian Freeman, the 44-year-old Grammy-nominated artist said she was diagnosed earlier this year and is “grateful to God” for her health as she undergoes treatment.
“I’ve been going through treatment, and everything is going great so far, and I expect it to continue. Amen, amen, amen,” she said on Tuesday’s episode.
“Cadillac Chronicles” features Freeman riding in his 1974 Cadillac Eldorado with a musician, usually a hip-hop or R&B artist. In addition to discussing gratitude, Nivea also performed her hits from the car’s passenger seat, including 2002’s “Don’t Mess With My Man,” which earned her a 2003 Grammy nomination.
It seems the diagnosis hasn’t slowed her down. The singer also revealed she’s working on new music and going to school for audio engineering, which she said she’s “always wanted to learn.”
“I’m doing all the things I want to do,” she said. “Loving on my children, and just being grateful and taking every opportunity that comes my way.”
Nivea — born Nivea B. Hamilton — was married to singer-songwriter and record producer The-Dream from 2004 to 2008, and shares three children with him: daughter Navy Talia, born in 2005, and twin sons London and Christian, born the following year.
She also shares a son, Neal — who performs as Lil Novi — with rapper Lil Wayne.
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood that begins in the bone marrow, which varies based on the type of blood cell affected and the stage of the disease. The “Complicated” singer did not reveal which type she was diagnosed with, but said she maintains a “positive” outlook in all areas of life.
“I’m very grateful for life. It’s so cliche to say, you don’t know the time nor the hour, but it’s true, and it just helped me put a lot of things in perspective,” she said. “I live in gratitude religiously.”
Source link
‘Children of Blood and Bone’ author won’t see film after feud
Tomi Adeyemi, the author of the bestselling fantasy “Children of Blood and Bone,” isn’t planning to see the forthcoming film adaptation — even though she co-wrote it.
Over the weekend, the Nigerian American author posted a video on TikTok addressing fans who have been asking her the same question, “Why don’t you post about the adaptation of your first film adaptation anymore?”
“There is a reason I will not post anything about the adaptation of my work,” the author wrote in what appear to be screenshots of a group chat. “I have not seen the film, and I will not watch it.”
The adaptation of the first installment of Adeyemi’s “Legacy of Orïsha” fantasy trilogy is slated to hit theaters in January 2027. Gina Prince-Bythewood — who wrote and directed “Love & Basketball” and helmed “The Woman King” — is directing. The film stars Amandla Stenberg, Thuso Mbedu, Tosin Cole, Damson Idris, Cynthia Erivo, Lashana Lynch, Regina King, Idris Elba, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Viola Davis.
Alongside the screenshots of her comments in the group chat, she shared a February 2025 exchange with Stenberg that shows the author severing ties with the actor.
Adeyemi shared only her final message to Stenberg, which reads, “Do not ever use my name in an interview or video again. Do not text me. Do not call me.” That exchange is followed by a notification that she blocked Stenberg, who plays Princess Amari in the upcoming fantasy flick.
The message from Stenberg that preceded Adeyemi’s reply is not shown in full.
Stenberg, who played Rue in “Hunger Games,” Starr Carter in “The Hate U Give” and, recently, Verosha “Osha” Aniseya and Mae-ho “Mae” Aniseya in Disney’s “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte,” had been getting flack from readers of the series, who claimed colorism was an issue while casting the movie.
In February 2025, Stenberg posted a since-deleted nine-minute TikTok addressing the controversy and told followers that Adeyemi had given the actor her blessing when cast as the series’ princess.
“I am four months into training for ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ and I am getting my ass whooped,” Stenberg joked in the video, per BET.
“This year was mostly defined for me, honestly, by contending with what it felt like to receive racist death threats just for existing in the ‘Star Wars’ universe, and that was a really difficult thing for me to move through,” she continued. “But honestly, it feels so much more painful for me to feel like I’m at odds with my own community.”
Stenberg said that she considers her skin tone when navigating her career choices and would “never go after a role” she didn’t feel well suited for. “I know that colorism is an insidious system that relentlessly impacts every facet of entertainment.”
The actor continued that it was actually a meeting with the “Children of Blood and Bone” author that gave her the confidence to pursue the role.
“I had the opportunity to meet Tomi, the novelist, for the first time. … And she goes, ‘Amandla, I want you to know that when you were a little girl and you were cast as Rue in “The Hunger Games,” and people said that Rue’s death wouldn’t be as sad because you’re a Black girl — that inspired me to write this series so that Black girls like you and Black girls of all shades could have a story written about them,’” Stenberg said in the video. “We started crying, and I said to myself, ‘God wants me here.’”
Representatives for Stenberg, Adeyemi and Prince-Bythewood did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
Source link
David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears dies at 84
NEW YORK — David Clayton-Thomas, the lead singer of Blood, Sweat & Tears, whose husky, high-strung tenor on “Spinning Wheel,” “And When I Die” and other hits helped make the so-called brass rock band among the most popular acts of the late 1960s, has died at age 84.
Spokesperson Eric Alper said that Clayton-Thomas died peacefully Wednesday at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Alper did not cite a specific cause of death.
Clayton-Thomas was a onetime street fighter and petty thief from Canada who briefly became a rock superstar, the front man of a nine-member group that sold millions of records and won two Grammys for “Blood, Sweat & Tears,” which beat out the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” for best album of 1969. Calling out amid a jazzy parade of horns, keyboards and percussion, Clayton-Thomas’ urgent shout was a signature voice of the era, preaching love on the Motown cover “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” a lasting legacy on Laura Nyro’s “And When I Die” and a cool head on his own “Spinning Wheel.” Meanwhile, Blood, Sweat & Tears helped inspire a wave of horn-led bands, among them Chicago, the Electric Flag and Ten Wheel Drive.
“A lot of the guys [in Blood, Sweat & Tears] would play a Broadway show matinee, then go up to Harlem and play Latin music or R&B and funk at night, or come down to the Village and play pure jazz the next night,” Clayton-Thomas told Bestclassicbands.com in 2023. “I was just a blues player: Give me three chords and I’ve got a song.”
At its peak, Blood, Sweat & Tears’ appeal was so broad it helped lead to the band’s downfall.
Hip enough to perform at the 1969 Woodstock festival, where they were among the highest paid acts, they also were known enough to the establishment to tour Eastern Europe the following year on behalf of the State Department. When Clayton-Thomas and other band members denounced the Communist regimes on the other side of the Cold War, Rolling Stone’s David Felton wrote that “the State Department got its money worth.” Counterculture Yippies would turn up at a 1970 Blood, Sweat & Tears show at Madison Square Garden, carrying obscene banners outside and dumping manure by the front gate.
The band had practical reasons for going along with the government: Clayton-Thomas, who had allegedly wielded a gun at his girlfriend, had been denied a green card and faced deportation. But after topping the charts in 1970 with the album “Blood, Sweat & Tears 3,” their appeal soon faded. A burned-out Clayton-Thomas left the group in 1972, and neither he nor the remaining musicians ever regained their old stature. Blood, Sweat & Tears would continue recording over the next few years, and even briefly reunited with Clayton-Thomas, who went on to release more than a dozen solo albums and tour on his own for decades.
Beginning under a licensing agreement reached in 1984, Clayton-Thomas toured as “Blood, Sweat Tears” for 20 years with a revolving roster of bandmates. A 1994 Times review of a show at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano reported that “BS&T’s formula has legs, that its music has withstood the test of time. Indeed, in a world full of today’s pop harmonic minimalism, the sound of trumpets, trombones, guitar and sax backing a singer somehow seems fresh, even if it has been around for so long,” and Clayton-Thomas “still has all the enthusiasm and buzz-saw roughness that gave his voice its distinctive quality way back when.”
In 2005, BS&T re-formed (without Clayton-Thomas, who continued his solo career) and has toured since with various lead singers.
Clayton-Thomas was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996. “Spinning Wheel,” covered by everyone from James Brown to TV star Barbara Eden, was voted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame a decade later.
Born David Henry Thomsett on Sept. 13, 1941, in Kingston upon Thames, near London, and raised near Toronto and Ottawa, he was the son of a Canadian World War II veteran and of a pianist-entertainer who helped inspire her son’s interest in music. Thomsett was lucky to have the chance. He fought violently with his father, was living in the streets by his mid-teens and by age 20 was serving time in a reformatory for vagrancy, assault and other crimes.
An old guitar, left behind by a fellow inmate, changed his life. He taught himself to play and began spending extensive time in the early 1960s around Toronto’s Yonge Street music “strip,” where peers included the American rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins, a mentor to Robbie Robertson and other future members of the Band and a guide for Thomsett early in his career.
Eager to reinvent himself, he changed his last name to Clayton-Thomas while leading his own groups. In the mid-’60s, he released such albums as “Sings Like It Is” and had a hit single with the antiwar rocker “Brainwashed.” He would also befriend a rising star, Joni Mitchell, whose childlike “Circle Game” helped inspire “Spinning Wheel,” and the venerable John Lee Hooker, who would indirectly contribute to Clayton-Thomas’ breakthrough in the U.S.
The band Blood, Sweat & Tears, including David Clayton-Thomas, far right, from the documentary “What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?”
(Sony Music Archives)
Hooker had encouraged Clayton-Thomas to move to New York, where the American bluesman had an engagement at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village. When Hooker unexpectedly departed for a tour of Europe, club owner Howard Solomon needed a replacement and recruited Clayton-Thomas.
“So I played him a couple songs on the guitar,” Clayton-Thomas told Bestclassicbands.com. “He said, ‘Do you have a band?’ I said, ‘Sure,’ and went out into Greenwich Village looking for anybody carrying a guitar case or even looking like a musician, and we put together a little band and we opened there that night. We ended up staying there for several months.”
Around the same time, session man-producer Al Kooper was looking to form a jazz-rock group and was joined by such musicians as guitarist Steve Katz, drummer Bobby Colomby and horn players Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss. They called themselves Blood, Sweat & Tears, releasing the debut album “Child Is Father to the Man” early in 1968. Although praised by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner as “a fine, exemplary group,” members were torn between those allied with Kooper and those who thought his vocals too weak to attract a substantial audience.
By the end of the year, Kooper and others had departed, and the band was seeking a new singer. After Judy Collins saw Clayton-Thomas perform, she recommended him to Colomby.
“I got home and just a couple of days later, Bobby Colomby called me up and said, ‘Hey, Kooper’s gone. We got four guys left out of the nine. And we still got a record contract with Columbia. Do you want to come down and try out for the band?’ ” Clayton-Thomas told Bestclassicbands.com. ”I said, ‘You’re damn right.’ I knew [bassist] Jim Fielder real well and I knew they were superb musicians. So I was on the next plane. We had a rehearsal that afternoon, an audition, and it was instant magic. We just knew right off the bat.”
Clayton-Thomas is survived by his daughters, Ashleigh Clayton-Thomas and Christine Graham.
Italie writes for the Associated Press.
Source link
The X Factor’s Katie Waissel rushed to hospital over blood clot
FORMER The X Factor singer Katie Waissel has been dashed back to hospital with a suspected blood clot on her lung — less than two days after being discharged.
The 2010 reality TV star was readmitted to hospital just 36 hours after being allowed to go home.
Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter
Thank you!
Singer Katie is currently fighting a severe case of bacterial pneumonia and doctors now suspect a blood clot on her lung.
The 40-year-old was taken to London’s private Wellington Hospital for urgent scans and tests.
Taking to X, Katie told her followers: “After a day and a half at home, I’m now BACK at the hospital and not doing so great.”
She added in a later update: “Whilst still battling this awful bacterial pneumonia, there’s now a suspected blood clot on my lung, so I’m back in for more scans, tests and needles.
A&E DASH
X Factor star Katie Waissel rushed to hospital by ambulance in ‘excrutiating pain’
ABUSE SHOCK
Katie Waissel reveals 8 celebs told her they suffered sex abuse in industry
“I’m fairly certain I’ve run out of veins for people to poke at this point.”
The mum-of-one praised the medical team at the facility for their ‘incredible’ support.
She stated that her absolute priority is to ‘get better and get home to my little boy’.
Katie shares her seven-year-old son, Hudson, with her former partner, personal trainer Andy Speer, who was born in 2018.
This latest setback follows her emergency admission last week to St John and St Elizabeth’s Hospital in London.
Reflecting on the initial scare, the songwriter admitted she was ‘far closer to the edge than I realised’.
She called the illness ‘one of the most frightening and excruciatingly painful experiences of my life’.
The close call has given her a brand new outlook on life.
In a separate social media post on Thursday, she shared: “I’m still a little bit in shock, if I’m honest, coming to terms with just how close I came to not being here anymore.
“It’s made me realise there are still so many things I want to see, do, learn and experience, and that perhaps ‘one day’ isn’t a date we should rely on.
“So, I’ve decided it’s time to write a proper bucket list and start ticking things off.”
This is not the star’s first sudden health crisis.
Back in 2021, she needed emergency treatment for a suspected heart attack, later sharing images of herself fitted with a cardiac monitor.
Katie originally rose to fame on the seventh series of The X Factor.
She was mentored by Cheryl in the girls category and eventually finished the ITV competition in seventh place – which was won by Matt Cardle.
She also appeared as a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother in 2016.
The singer is now qualified to work as a paralegal or start vocational training to become a solicitor or barrister.
The mum-of-one and lawyer set up her own dedicated foundation, O.W.H.L, in 2023 – campaigning to reform safety standards within the showbiz world.
She was branded the “most hated contestant” when she appeared on the show and has sought therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after suffering panic attacks and suicidal thoughts.
Source link
‘I was alone when I received my blood cancer diagnosis like Denise on Eastenders’
EastEnders’ Denise Fox, whose symptoms began with fatigue, will discover she has acute myeloid leukaemia following a bone marrow biopsy – Yvonne Gabriel knows exactly how she feels
EastEnders’ Denise Fox is all alone today when she receives the shattering news that she has blood cancer. While partner Jack Branning gears up for the upcoming World Cup, Denise, whose symptoms began with fatigue, will discover she has acute myeloid leukaemia following a bone marrow biopsy.
And Yvonne Gabriel, 58, will know exactly how she feels. The retired deputy head teacher was also by herself when told she had AML, in July 2018. She says: “It was such a huge shock. I wrongly thought adults couldn’t get leukaemia. The whole thing was a blur. But I remember the doctor saying it was treatable and I hung on to those words for the whole of my cancer journey.”
Yvonne went back to her home in Wallington, Surrey, and told her civil partner Annette, 63, a lawyer, and daughter Leanne, 38, a graphic designer, the awful news. She recalls: “My partner and daughter kept reiterating that the cancer was treatable and curable.
“I am usually the person that looks after people so it was really hard to feel I was causing the upset. They held themselves together for me.” EastEnders worked closely with the charity Blood Cancer UK on Denise’s storyline, starting today on World Blood Cancer Day, which in many ways mirrors Yvonne’s.
Yvonne and Denise, played by Diane Parish, 56, are both Black and, according to the charity, Black or mixed-race blood cancer patients with leukaemia have only a 37% chance of finding a 10/10 matched unrelated stem cell donor, compared to 72% for white patients.
Yvonne began treatment in Sutton’s Royal Marsden Hospital within days of diagnosis. She had three courses of intensive chemotherapy, requiring hospital stays, and finished that November. She says: “It is fantastic that EastEnders are running this storyline. It might mean viewers watching it get help if they have symptoms or even understand a little more what people with blood cancer are going through.”
Yvonne also recommends staying active, as it helps the body to cope with the harsh treatment. She adds: “I lost my hair and if Denise has chemotherapy this will probably happen to her. I was very emotional on the day I shaved it.” But she adds: “It will come back and it’s a sign the treatment is working. You can adorn yourself in different ways – wear jewellery or colours that make you feel like you.”
Yvonne has now trained to do massage therapy after benefiting from it herself as a patient. She says: “It was life-changing. It helped me physically and emotionally.”
Matthew White, director at Blood Cancer UK, says: “Many people with blood cancer have to visit their GP multiple times before they are diagnosed. Seeing blood cancer spotlighted on such a popular programme like EastEnders is a powerful platform that can help make a ‘hidden’ cancer more visible.”
*Blood Cancer UK provides trusted advice for people with blood cancer and funds research into better and kinder treatments that will transform lives. bloodcancer.org.uk
Source link