family

The family of actor Robert Carradine filed a lawsuit against the governing body of UCLA, saying that the “Revenge of the Nerds” star’s death by suicide in February at a university-affiliated psychiatric facility was preventable.

In a legal complaint filed Aug. 7 with Los Angeles County Superior Court, the children of Carradine allege that the psychiatric care team at the UCLA health facility was reckless in its care and committed elder abuse and neglect.

Carradine, 71, had checked into the facility shortly before his death.

The 27-page suit names the UC regents as defendants, along with physicians, nurses, clinical care partners and other officials who are identified as “Does 1-100.” Plaintiffs in the suit include Carradine’s estate and his surviving children.

“He asked for help. He recognized that he was a danger to himself and voluntarily walked into a psychiatric hospital to be kept safe,” the family claimed in the suit reviewed by The Times. “He knew he was not safe to be left alone.”

Carradine had bipolar disorder, and the lawsuit says that he had admitted that he had “suicidal thoughts” when he checked into UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Westwood.

“Instead of walking into a safe environment, [Carradine] walked into a locked facility that broke a cardinal rule for a hospitalized psychiatric patient with active suicidal thoughts and a history of suicide attempts,” the lawsuit says. “UCLA let him walk into a locked psychiatric unit with a belt.”

The family also said hospital staff left him in a room with a table that had not been removed from his unit before being placed there, according to the lawsuit. He died about 19 hours after checking into the facility, the lawsuit says.

“None of this happened because UCLA lacked the knowledge, the policies or the means,” the civil complaint says. “It happened because UCLA took shortcuts with two safeguards that were meant to protect Robert’s life. UCLA gave Robert the means to hurt himself and then no one watched over him or checked on him for long periods of time despite orders to watch him every 15 minutes.”

The lawsuit says that UCLA staff was distracted during Carradine’s observation intake and that they falsified their records to reflect proper care.

The Times has reached out to the UC regents and UCLA Health for comment.

The youngest son of prolific character actor John Carradine, Robert Carradine was born on March 24, 1954, in Los Angeles. Known for both his film and television work, Carradine made his debut in a 1971 episode of the long-running western “Bonanza.” His first film appearance was in the 1972 John Wayne western “The Cowboys.”

During his 50-year Hollywood career, he appeared alongside his brother David in a 1972 episode of “Kung Fu” and the 1973 Martin Scorsese film “Mean Streets.” Alongside his brothers David and Keith, Robert joined other sets of acting siblings to portray sets of real-life siblings in the 1980 western “The Long Riders.” Carradine also landed roles in Hal Ashby’s 1978 Vietnam War drama “Coming Home” and Samuel Fuller’s 1980 World War II epic “The Big Red One.”

“It is with profound sadness that we must share that our beloved father, grandfather, uncle, and brother Robert Carradine has passed away,” the Carradine family said in a statement following the actor’s death. “In a world that can feel so dark, Bobby was always a beacon [of] light to everyone around him. We are bereft at the loss of this beautiful soul and want to acknowledge Bobby’s … nearly two-decade battle with Bipolar Disorder.

“We hope his journey can shine a light and encourage addressing the stigma that attaches to mental illness. At this time, we ask for the privacy to grieve this unfathomable loss. With gratitude for your understanding and compassion.”

In the 2000s, Carradine charmed a new generation of fans as lovable TV dad Sam in “Lizzie McGuire.”

“There was so much warmth in the McGuire family, and I always felt so cared for by my on-screen parents,” the show’s star, Hilary Duff, wrote in her Instagram tribute to her on-screen dad. “I’ll be forever grateful for that. I’m deeply sad to learn Bobby was suffering. My heart aches for him, his family, and everyone who loved him.”

Carradine’s family and estate are seeking unspecified general and wrongful-death damages and compensation for medical expenses incurred during his hospitalization.

With ski slopes in winter and beautiful lochs to swim in during summer, the town of Aviemore in Scotland is like Britain’s very own alpine resort – albeit on a smaller scale.

We arrive at Aviemore Holiday Park, where our wooden lodge overlooks the River Spey in the stunning Cairngorms National Park, to be greeted by several ducks who seem keen to pop through the sliding French doors for a visit.

I count my lucky stars that we’ve left our dog Daisy at home, as the ducks would be toast.

Work your quads

There’s so much to do in the Scottish Highlands that it’s hard to know where to begin, but a sightseeing tour on quad bikes is a great start.

Whizzing through the Rothiemurchus Estate, we stop to see Highland cows and have a great view of the snow-topped Cairngorms in the distance. One-hour tours cost £59 per person (Rothiemurchus.net).

My daughter Riley, 15, and I are speed demons, but my son Harris, also 15, finds it nerve-wracking.

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He does love another activity on the estate, though – clay pigeon shooting.

During our 90-minute session, £59 per person, we learn how to load, hold and carry our guns before shooting at various targets – some flying through the air, others crossing in front of us.

I’m embarrassingly bad, whereas Harris’ hours on Call Of Duty pay off and he trounces all of us.

Water view

There are around 60 major lochs in Cairngorms National Park.

Loch an Eilein, a 15-minute stroll from our lodge, is particularly scenic and takes less than an hour to walk around.

Loch Insh, meanwhile, is a 15-minute drive and offers tons of watersports, including paddleboarding and canoeing, as well as dry-slope skiing and mountain biking.

The rain starts as we cycle, so by the time we return we’re soaked, but also feeling exhilarated – and delicious hot chocolates from the cafe soon warm us all up.

A family day ticket to Loch Insh, which includes most activities, costs £175 (Lochinsh.com).

It’s summit else

Hiking up Cairngorm Mountain is also well worth it. It’s a good two hours to the top, but the view from the 1,245m summit is incredible.

We celebrate our achievement that evening at the friendly and buzzy Old Bridge Inn.

Sitting by the river, we dig into Loch Bloom oysters, £10 for three, steamed Ling cod with ginger and soy broth and pak choi, £24, and lamb curry pie, £24, while burgers with twice-cooked chips are a winner with the kids.

The white chocolate and lemongrass mousse, £9, is also a must (Oldbridgeinn.co.uk).

Further afield, The Penny Bun, tucked away in Glenmore Forest, is a local secret. It serves up seasonal dishes inspired by the landscape, with a constantly changing menu.

We feast on cured halibut, £11, and hot mackerel pâté, £10, before Peterhead goujons with fries and masala sauce, £21, go down a treat, as do braised pigs cheeks, £23 (Thepennybun.co.uk).

And for a cheap night in, the Happy Haggis cooks up unrivalled fish and chips, £13.80, though you can also channel your inner Scot with battered haggis and chips, £9.60, washed down with an Irn Bru (Harkai.co.uk).

After a week in the fresh Scottish air and falling asleep to the sounds of the rippling river, we return to London feeling refreshed and vowing to go back for ’More.

Doc Rivers needed some time to write the speech that he’ll give when formally inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday.

The storytelling, that part was easy. He’s a natural at that.

But what Rivers wound up learning during the trial-and-error process of speechwriting was that the words he’ll say from a stage in Springfield, Mass., aren’t going to be about him. They’re going to be about everyone else who played a role in him getting to that moment.

“You go through this journey of writing it and you realize it has nothing to do with you in a very good way,” Rivers said. “People are happy for you, and I am happy for them because they got me there. You hear all your life, ‘You don’t do anything alone.’ When you get in the Hall of Fame, you really understand that you don’t do anything alone. It’s all the coaches in your life, your parents, the players. It’s a thankful journey and that’s what the Hall of Fame should be about.”

Numbers prove he’s among best

A winner of 1,194 regular-season games as an NBA coach — and that’ll be all, he insists, saying his retirement is a real one — Rivers ranks sixth in league history. The only others ahead of him: Gregg Popovich, Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkens, Jerry Sloan and Pat Riley, all of whom are Hall of Famers, so it was obviously a lock that Rivers would be joining them.

He won a championship with Boston in 2008, won 114 playoff games as a coach, played 13 seasons, was an All-Star once, has been a broadcaster and — if he goes back to work, and his family currently has a pool that he will — he’ll be a broadcaster again.

But there’s more to life now. The Illinois native and Marquette legend has seven grandchildren, a house on the water and can’t play enough golf. He’ll still be involved in the game, somehow. It just won’t be as a coach. It’ll be as a Hall of Famer.

“Doc is a proven, extraordinary leader and communicator during his renowned NBA coaching career,” Milwaukee general manager Jon Horst said when the Bucks hired Rivers in 2024. “As a championship coach, he’s widely respected as an established innovator, and the right coach to lead our experienced and talented team.”

He was, until he wasn’t.

Injuries derailed every chance the Bucks had at being a winner last season, and when the season came to its dismal close Rivers was fairly certain it was the end for him as well — after 27 seasons on the sideline, and whole lot of missed moments along the way.

“The one thing that people have no idea about is the toll it takes on you and the family component,” Rivers said. “It is rough. You’re never home. You make sacrifices and your family has to make them as well.”

That won’t be an issue now.

A hit from the beginning

Rivers won coach of the year in his first season, taking a team he called “the 301s” in Orlando and leading it to a 41-41 record. On the surface, there’s nothing special about going .500. But the Magic were supposed to be bottom dwellers that season and Rivers used a preseason ranking of the league’s top 300 players as inspiration — since none of those top 300 were playing for the Magic.

“That season gave me great confidence,” Rivers said.

He has some regrets, of course. Critics have long pointed to the 10 losses that Rivers-coached teams had in Game 7s, by far the most of any coach in NBA history. And his fans will retort by pointing to his 114 playoff wins, fourth-most in NBA history. But the biggest do-over, if Rivers had such an option, would be changing his mind about leaving the Celtics for the Clippers in 2013.

Rivers got to the Clippers not long before the end of Donald Sterling’s ownership of the team; Sterling made racist comments and was banned by NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

“I underestimated what a great situation I was in, and I took that for granted, like you can just go anywhere and create that,” Rivers said. “I messed that one up. But then when I go to the Clippers, the team is pretty damn good. The organization, it was the worst organization in sports with the ownership problem. Within a week there, I remember telling my assistant, ‘We’ve got a lot to do here.’ ”

The championship with the Celtics in 2008 — Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, the stars of that team, will be together again to present their former coach for his Hall enshrinement — was an obvious high point for Rivers’ career. There were other moments he’s particularly proud of as well, such as delivering on a promise that he made to someone who barely played for him.

Tyronn Lue succeeded Rivers as coach of the Clippers. Lue played 11 games for Rivers in Orlando during the 2003-04 season; that was all the time it took for Rivers to be convinced that Lue would one day be a coach. He told Lue to call him if he ever wanted a job and Lue took him up on it. Rivers wound up going to the Hall of Fame, and few within the game would be surprised if Lue joins him there one day.

“It’s the stories like that that you think about,” Rivers said. “Rajon Rondo played for me in Boston. We had a very tumultuous relationship when I coached him and now, I probably talk to Rondo more than probably than any player that I coached.”

It’s what the game does, Rivers said. The lucky ones get guided along the way. He played that role with players like Rondo — who coached with Rivers — and Lue, and in Rivers’ own case, it was Riley who gave him the push he needed.

Riley and Rivers clashed at times during their player-coach relationship, and their biggest fights came when Riley was telling Rivers that he belonged in coaching.

Riley was right.

“When I was doing TV, he kept writing and sending me these freaking messages about getting into the fray,” Rivers said. “He knew it. And here I am, going into the Hall of Fame.”

Reynolds writes for the Associated Press.

Democratic lawmakers and military families are pressing the Pentagon for answers after reports emerged that thousands of sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have endured food shortages, plumbing failures and severe fatigue during deployment that has stretched more than 260 days.

The roughly 5,000-person crew, which left San Diego in November and has been stationed in the Middle East to support the U.S. war against Iran, has spent a record amount of uninterrupted time at sea. Now, families of those on board have begun speaking out publicly, describing concerns about mental health and supply issues aboard the aircraft carrier.

Since those reports — which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth characterized as “completely misrepresented” — the U.S. military announced plans to send the USS George Washington, a Pacific-based aircraft carrier, to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln.

But when asked Friday for a reaction, Trump downplayed families’ concerns and characterized the length of the deployment as “not nearly long enough.”

The president’s remarks stand in contrast to the concerns raised by lawmakers and military families, including reports by the Military Times and the Stars and Stripes that sailors tried to jump overboard as the deployment kept going.

“The plans in the works to relieve the USS Lincoln are not enough,” Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Diego) wrote in a letter to Hegseth on Thursday. “We need clear and honest information from the Department of Defense about the operational failures that led to the problems aboard the USS Lincoln to ensure this never happens again.”

Morale aboard a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier already is difficult to maintain without a record-breaking stint, said Julie Roland, a retired veteran Navy lieutenant commander who worked briefly on the USS Lincoln.

Between the lack of sun below deck for some nonpilot personnel and rooms packed with triple-bunk beds, the conditions on vessels like the Lincoln can be difficult to bear. Although service members expect such difficulties, the situation on the USS Lincoln raises additional concern among sailors, Roland said.

“I know what months at sea does to a person even when the ship has hot chow and working plumbing,” Roland said. “The warrior ethos shouldn’t have to include bravely facing water contamination. … Even warfighters need basic care.”

Roland added that she was not surprised to hear complaints of poor living conditions from sailors on board, given that their few days of reprieve for port call constantly were being delayed. She said she received videos showing trash being tossed overboard because of broken incinerators, heard stories of a lack of proper medical supplies and kept in touch with one sailor who detailed his mental health deterioration as days dragged on aboard the Lincoln.

“The magnitude of difference between official information from the Department of Defense and firsthand reports from the crew should be troubling, and may have serious implications about what else the Pentagon may be withholding regarding the conflict in Iran,” Roland added.

In his letter to Hegseth, Levin said the Trump administration needs to answer concerns from military families and loves ones about the conditions aboard. He said he heard concerns about moldy showers, broken toilets, lack of hot water, lack of access to fresh produce and supply shortages.

Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-San Diego), who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, also demanded answers from U.S. military leaders on what she called “horrific” reports of the conditions aboard the ship.

Tensions over the situation also prompted military leaders to hold in-person and virtual meetings last week with the families of the sailors and Marines. Both meetings were combative, according to a recording obtained by MS NOW.

During the in-person meeting at the Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, Navy leaders were unable to tell families when their loves ones would be relieved from duty. Spouses, in turn, asked what was being done to address issues of mental health and exhaustion, MS NOW reported.

Concerns about mental health deteriorating on these types of deployments are well-founded.

A study of nearly 1,000 sailors published in the journal Military Medicine in January 2025 found that service members aboard Navy ships suffer the highest rates of “serious psychological distress” compared to other branches of the U.S. military. Among the reasons are “unique stressors, such as poor habitability, noise and demanding scheduled that leave inadequate time for sleep and rest,” the study found.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the USS Abraham Lincoln was not an “isolated case” and demanded an inquiry.

“Recent carrier deployments have repeatedly stretched beyond their original anticipated duration, suggesting that extended deployments may be becoming a feature rather than an exception of the Navy’s force-generation model,” Blumenthal wrote.

Hegseth told reporters on Thursday that “some deployments are longer than others.”

“What they do in those high seas and those austere conditions with less port calls, it’s incredible. And Americans don’t understand what it’s like to do that,” he said, while adding that he wants “folks rotated as quickly as possible.”

In a message to the crew aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, Hegseth said: “We’re going to do everything we can for you. We are so grateful for the dedication of that crew and others.”

JAMIE Redknapp shared loved-up snaps with wife Frida as they enjoyed a family holiday in Italy.

It comes just days The Sun revealed that after Jamie’s ex-wife Louise Redknapp split from her boyfriend Drew Michael after two years.

The ex-Eternal girl group star, 51, separated from the businessman and former Army officer, 42, earlier this year.

They had been dating since autumn 2023 but called time on the relationship and he is believed to have left the UK.

Meanwhile, Jamie, 53, is busy enjoying a romantic getaway with his wife of five years Frida and their son Raphael, four.

The pair shared a sweet photo of with their arms around each other while out sightseeing.

Frida then put on a stunning display in an off-the-shoulder mini dress and white heels as she glammed up for dinner.

They also shared snaps of them enjoying some quality time together at the pool.

The Sun revealed this week that Louise and Drew had ended things.

But friends insisted she is thriving as a singleton and she recently jetted off twice on girls’ trips to Ibiza.

A source said: “Louise and Drew decided to end things a little while ago.

“Things had been really good between them but it felt like their relationship had run its course and they both thought it was best to move on.

“It was all very amicable and although it’s never fun when a relationship ends, Louise has thrown herself back into her social life and her busy work schedule.

Drew’s thought to have moved abroad for work so it’s been a clean break.

“She’s in no rush to jump back into another relationship because she feels very fulfilled with her life right now, but she’ll see what happens.”

Speaking about Drew last year, she said their relationship had inspired the track Manifesting on her fifth solo album, Confessions.

Louise, who shares sons Charley, 22, and Beau, 17, with Jamie, added: “Drew is great with my boys.

“He’s just a really great guy.

“I feel very lucky to have met him.”

Louise separated from Jamie in 2017 following a stint on Strictly.

She said of their separation: “I couldn’t just keep on kind of just being there existing — I’m an entertainer.”

Jamie went on to wed model Frida Andersson in 2021 and they have a son, Raphael, four.

Fourth in a series of stories profiling top high school football players by position. Today, Luke Gazzaniga, Santa Margarita tight end.

You’re unlikely to feel sympathy for 6-foot-4, 235-pound tight end Luke Gazzaniga, a senior at Santa Margarita High who enjoys the idea of running over tacklers after catching a pass or sending an opponent crashing to the ground with a bone-crushing block.

Except understand that he’s the smallest brother in his family. The others are 6-7 and 6-5, so imagine the little brother in the front yard doing the Oklahoma drill, a legendary one-on-one football drill from years ago that tested toughness via collisions.

“We’d literally just run at each other,” he said.

Some brothers play video games or collect baseball cards. The Gazzanigas were into seeing who would be the last one standing.

“It was fun,” Luke said. “I was quick when I was a little kid. I wouldn’t go down. I’ve had to fight for myself. I had to find my way to win.”

Their father, David, who played football at Dartmouth and became an orthopedic surgeon, welcomed the competition. If any of the boys came into the house before a game was over, Dad’s response was, “Suck it up and go back.”

“He taught us how to be tough,” Luke said.

You can sense the enjoyment Luke has on a football field. After he catches a pass, he looks up and gets excited if there’s a defender nearby.

“I love seeing people there,” he said. “I’m letting them know if you’re going to try to tackle me, it’s going to hurt you more than me. I’m glad someone thinks they can tackle me.”

Future Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski has been the player he’s most admired, and Gazzaniga has been able to see pro players up close because his father worked as a physician with the Chargers. Luke got to hang out in the training room and on the field.

“They’re impressively big and impressively fast,” he said. “People were huge.”

During Santa Margarita’s run to the Southern Section Division 1 and Open Division state titles last season, Gazzaniga became an important offensive weapon over the middle, even though he suffered an ankle injury and missed six weeks. He caught 20 passes for 332 yards and four touchdowns.

“God gave me the blessing to catch anything,” he said.

Santa Margarita coach Carson Palmer used to take advantage of throwing to the tight end when playing at USC and in the NFL, and there’s no doubt Gazzaniga feels comfortable in the Eagles’ offensive schemes. Tight ends continue to gain attention at the highest levels.

“It’s a super important position,” Gazzaniga said. “People love looking at receivers and forget the tight end is almost the glue between passing and running. The Rams use three tight ends and there’s a bunch of big personnel types all over the league. I can envision myself being there one day and making an impact.”

Gazzaniga is committed to Kansas. He comes from a family of athletes. Two older sisters played water polo at USC, with Rachel now a candidate to play for the U.S. Olympic team in 2028. Brother John is a quarterback at Alabama. His mother is an avid mountain climber. John used to throw bullet passes to Luke growing up, which helped prepare him for any and all quarterbacks.

Thanksgiving always has produced an interesting dynamic with five tall, energetic kids circling for a turkey leg.

“It’s hard to know how much we eat,” Luke said.

Saturday: Vincent Shields, Murrieta Valley offensive lineman.

Tight ends to watch

Luke Gazzaniga, Santa Margarita, 6-4, 235, Sr.: Kansas commit makes big catches in traffic

JJ Haley, Corona del Mar, 6-3, 200, Jr.: The next top tight end from the tight end school

Max Markofski, Mission Viejo, 6-4, 230, Sr.: Arizona commit is known for his receiving skills

Hudson Ploog, Orange Lutheran, 6-5, 235, Sr. Nevada Las Vegas commit is like a sixth offensive lineman to clear defenders

Jaylin Smalls, Rancho Cucamonga, 6-4, 230, Jr.: This is the season he begins to show his talents

The family were on holiday in Turkey at the time of the incident

Two brothers were left covered in cuts after a steam room door shattered while they were on a package holiday in Turkey. The children were 16 and 11 at the time and were staying with their parents at the five-star Green Nature Diamond Hotel in Marmaris, Dalaman, on a 10-day break.

CCTV footage showed the moment the glass door shattered as the children left the steam room. Both suffered cuts to their feet, legs and arms and were treated by a doctor at the hotel.

Jet2Holidays initially denied liability for the incident but later agreed to pay the family £7,000 in compensation following a legal claim. The boys’ father, from Harrogate, North Yorks, said the family had been in their hotel room when the older boy returned from the spa.

He said: “We were in the hotel room when the eldest burst into the room. “He was limping, and there was blood everywhere. When we got down there, it just looked like carnage. The door had exploded, and there was blood and glass all over the place.

“Luckily, there was a doctor on site, and he managed to patch them up, but I wanted answers, and the manager was nowhere to be seen. There were no apologies, no nothing.

“When I got to see the CCTV when we were still on holiday, the first thing the receptionist did was put the USB stick in her pocket and said I couldn’t have it. I didn’t know what to do. I got hold of the British Embassy in Turkey, and this woman jumped in a taxi and came to get the footage.

“But then the hotel said she couldn’t have it unless she was with the police. But then she came back with a police officer, and they still wouldn’t hand it over. So, I did a bit of research, and I told them it was my data, it was my children, and there was no one else in the footage, so you need to send it to us.

“Eventually it arrived, but it came after 10 months of pushing and pushing and pushing. I’m glad it did, though, because I’m 100% certain that massively helped us in the process.”

He claims the incident continued to affect the family long after they returned home. The dad added: “It was scary, and we didn’t go on a package holiday for four years because of what happened, and the kids are still concerned about going through glass doors.

“You trust your tour operator to keep you safe. Jet2Holidays let us down.”

Hudgell Solicitors launched a damages claim on behalf of the family, with representatives for Jet2Holidays initially denying liability for the accident and the injuries suffered abroad. After the father finally secured the CCTV footage, Jet2Holidays’ legal representatives agreed to a combined compensation package of £7,000.

Anne Thomson, a senior litigation executive at Hudgell Solicitors and an accident abroad legal specialist, said: “The two boys suffered mild injuries, but this must have been a terrifying experience that stayed with them for a long time. The CCTV footage makes for especially uncomfortable viewing and underscores just how fortunate the brothers were to have avoided serious injury.

“We were disappointed with Jet2Holidays’ lackadaisical approach to genuine demand for answers, just as we were with the hotel’s baffling decision to not surrender the footage for so long. Under ‘2018 Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations’, it is implied that Jet2 exercise reasonable care and skill, not least by ensuring the safety and well-being of their customers.

“This did not happen. They eventually made a satisfactory out-of-court settlement, but we hope lessons have been learned to ensure potentially frightful incidents like this are eradicated in hotels with which they are associated.”

The family said the experience also changed their attitude towards holidaying abroad. The father added: “I can’t thank Anne enough. She kept going and going and going and continually kept reassuring me that this wouldn’t be going to court.

“I didn’t have a clue what to do about making a claim with something like this, but Anne made everything very straightforward. What happened to my lads has hopefully helped raise awareness that big companies like Jet2 need to be held accountable when they are in the wrong.

“They might try to delay and get away with it, but the truth always comes out.”

Jet2Holidays said: “We would like to reiterate how sorry we are about this incident.”

The company added that it had reached a settlement in relation to an incident which occurred in 2022.

Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow both played quarterback at LSU. Both won a Heisman Trophy.

Burrow’s No. 9 has not been worn by a Tigers player since he left for the NFL after the 2019 season. Daniels’ No. 5 hadn’t been worn since he did the same in 2023, until sophomore cornerback DJ Pickett was issued the jersey when preseason workouts began a week ago.

Daniels isn’t pleased, informing LSU through his attorney that he “feels profoundly disrespected” and forbidding the school to use his name, image and likeness.

Pickett’s family isn’t happy either. Damien Pickett, DJ’s father, told Nola.com on Thursday that his son has worn No. 5 “his whole life” and has the number tattooed on his left arm.

“Honestly, man, this right here makes us want to wear the number more,” Damien said. “He’s been put in the middle of something that has nothing to do with him.”

A five-star recruit out of Florida Zephyrhills High, Pickett asked finalists LSU, Oregon, Miami and Georgia if he could wear No. 5. All four schools, his father said, agreed to the request.

“If we would have been told during our recruiting process and they had said, ‘Hey, No. 5 is not being issued. We can’t promise you No. 5, but we can talk to Jayden and see what Jayden has to say. If he gives his blessing, he does. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t,’ [and we would have] moved forward,’” Damien said.

On Wednesday, Daniels made it clear that he isn’t giving his blessing.

“Jayden and his family had every reason to believe that his number would remain a meaningful part of his LSU legacy and would be honored and protected in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the university,” a statement from Daniels’ spokesperson said.

Current and former LSU coaches have scrambled to explain how and why the awkward situation unfolded as it did.

Lane Kiffin, in his first year at LSU after leaving Mississippi, told reporters on Aug. 5 that Pickett had been promised the No. 5 when he signed with the Tigers before last season.

Then-coach Brian Kelly told ESPN he reneged on the promise because Daniels objected, but Kiffin sided with Pickett this summer.

“That was promised to him in recruiting here, for him to sign here,” Kiffin said. “I’ve done a lot of research on that with the family and the representatives and the people, so really I didn’t have a decision to make. It was promised to the kid.”

Kelly, now a college football analyst at CBS Sports, said that despite the promise, he held off giving Pickett No. 5 unless Burrow agreed to let his No. 9 go to another player.

“I just wasn’t prepared to do it until we got a full commitment from another Heisman Trophy winner,” Kelly said. “We didn’t want to issue No. 9, so you can’t treat one differently from the other.”

LSU’s policy regarding jerseys being retired is nebulous, stating that any number retired after Jan. 1, 2007, “does not preclude a current student-athlete in that sport from wearing the jersey number in that or any other sport, subject to the discretion of the head coach.”

Running back Billy Cannon’s No. 20 jersey is the only number retired before 2007. Cannon led LSU to a national championship in 1958 and won the Heisman a year later.

Daniels has been criticized on social media for objecting to Pickett wearing No. 5, primarily because Burrows led LSU to a national title while Daniels did not.

The Tigers went 15-0 in 2019, the year Burrows won the Heisman. Daniels’ Heisman came four years later with the team going 10-3, losing to Florida State, Mississippi and Alabama. However, he amassed 50 touchdowns and nearly 5,000 yards from scrimmage, while passing for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns and rushing for 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns.

“Jayden made it clear that he did not want his number given to another player, and he believed his wishes would be respected,” his statement said. “His Heisman Trophy-winning season and everything he accomplished on and off the field cemented his place in LSU history. To see his number given to another player is incredibly disappointing and feels like a failure to honor the significance of what Jayden accomplished at LSU.”

Daniels’ attorney Adam Kenner sent a letter expressing his wishes to LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry on Aug. 5, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN. The letter noted that Daniels’ contract permitted LSU to use his name, image and likeness for only 180 days beyond his final game in college.

“Accordingly, LSU must immediately cease and desist from any further issue use, display, publication, distribution, promotion, commercialization, or other exploitation of Mr. Daniels’ NIL in any manner or medium,” Kenner wrote. “Any use of Mr. Daniels’ NIL occurring after LSU’s receipt of this notice will be deemed knowing and willful and will be pursued vigorously through all available legal and equitable remedies.”

Daniels and Burrow are now NFL stars. Daniels is quarterback of the Washington Commanders and was NFL Rookie of the Year in 2024 before missing 10 games because of injuries in 2025. Burrows is a three-time Pro Bowl selection in six seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Pickett, who wore No. 3 last season, was named a freshman All-American after totaling three interceptions and 37 tackles.

“We never in a million years would have thought that it would come to this about a number, but we’re here,” Damien Pickett said. “Again, my boy doesn’t really care for the attention. It’s disappointing considering that we’re getting ready to start the season.

“To have a situation like this happen right now, considering that Jayden is a legend at LSU and it’s out that he’s not supportive of my son wearing his number, is very disappointing.”

Ein el-Hilweh, occupied West Bank – Adel Daraghmeh lies on his side on a thin mattress laid straight onto the dusty ground, one arm flung out, a sandal hanging half off his foot. “We don’t sleep, we barely drink, we barely eat,” he says weakly.

Above him, a patchwork of dark tarpaulins and old blankets is tied together between a few bent wooden poles – the only thing standing between his family and a sun pushing past 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit) in the early afternoon.

They are homeless again – their home destroyed days before by an Israeli bulldozer despite a court injunction they believed protected them. Beside him, his wife, Kheirieh, sits on a chair, a small plastic cup of water cradled in both hands.

About 30 metres up a slope, a settler-built fence now cuts across the hillside, cutting Adel and his brothers off from land their flocks grazed for generations. Past the fence, on the crest of the hill, an Israeli flag flies – visible from where Adel lies. “Isn’t this a disgrace, what we are living in?” he asks, more than once, over the course of an hour.

Adel manages diabetes with daily medication, but it’s been a struggle to obtain it in recent days. “They bulldozed the medication [in the house],” says Adel. “Our things, our household goods – all gone. They destroyed us. Our phones, the solar panels – no electricity, no water.”

As the family has learned in recent weeks, as Israel gears up for fiercely contested elections in October, even an Israeli Supreme Court injunction may not stop the bulldozers from coming now.

‘Five minutes to clear the whole area’

The wreckage of the Daraghmehs’ house is still scattered: clothes, a pulverised medicine cabinet, a hollowed-out mini-fridge with its door hanging open, and split cinderblocks.

Even after their son Hilal’s home was demolished shortly before without warning, the July 28 demolition of Adel and Kheirieh’s home came as a shock. With Adel a short drive away in Tubas collecting medication, Kheirieh was home with their daughter, Hanaa, when Israeli soldiers, settlers and Civil Administration officials arrived with a bulldozer and about 10 other vehicles. “They came while I was asleep,” she says.

Kheirieh walked out to meet them with the family’s legal papers – proof, she believed, that the home was protected by an earlier Israeli Supreme Court order barring demolition until the family’s case was resolved.

The court had suspended a 2022 demolition order while a case brought forward by the family progressed.

Soldiers took the documents, read them, conferred among themselves, and handed them back.

Then the bulldozer started anyway.

“Five minutes to clear the whole area,” one of them told her, she says.

“I told him: I can’t. I can’t clear the area. I’m on my own, and I’m ill,” she says. Already sick, and now seeing the bulldozers bearing down on her home with nearly everything she owned inside, she blacked out, waking up three hours later in an ambulance.

“And before I knew it, the bulldozer had started,” she says. “The whole house – all of it. All our belongings. Gone.”

“No order, no law,” added Adel weakly from the ground. “No humanity.”

‘Discriminatory’ system

“The army and the settlers demolished … despite the existence of a court order prohibiting it,” says Tawfiq Jabareen, the lawyer representing the Daraghmeh family, referring to the initial July 2 demolition of Hilal’s home. “The prosecution claimed it was a mistake by the army, and that it would not happen again – but the demolition was repeated.”

“The law and court rulings mean nothing to the settlers,” adds Jabareen, “who try to circumvent them by every means, believing that imposing facts on the ground is stronger than any law or court ruling.”

The Daraghmehs are herders of livestock who have lived along the Ein el-Hilweh spring, in the northern Jordan Valley, for generations. Four brothers and their families live in the area. “I was born here,” Adel says. “My father was born here.”

Nearby are the illegal Israeli settlement of Maskiyot and several settler outposts established in recent years, subjecting the extended family to numerous attacks, thefts and raids.

Like herding communities across Area C of the West Bank – under complete Israeli military and administrative control – the family has spent years navigating demolition orders under a planning system that leaves Palestinians almost no legal path to build.

Adel has had his home demolished before and spent significant money to rebuild it, he explains. What’s different now, they say, is that even that limited process – a warning, a demolition order, followed by a chance to appeal – has stopped applying to them at all. No demolition order was presented for either Hilal’s home or Adel’s when they came to bulldoze them despite the court injunctions.

Soldiers, settlers and Civil Administration officials arrived together during the demolitions, according to the family and activists present.

Allegra Pacheco, chief of party of the West Bank Protection Consortium and a lawyer who has represented Palestinians before Israeli courts for decades, says the irregularity of such demolitions is no aberration in an otherwise functioning system.

“This is a continuation of the deterioration of any pretence of legal protection for Palestinians,” she says. Even the ordinary planning process was built to fail Palestinians, she argues. Under a zoning system inherited from Jordanian and British Mandate-era law, Israel changed some of the laws to the detriment of Palestinians, leaving most Palestinian areas in Area C without approved building plans, while Israeli settlements – illegal under international law – are zoned and built freely.

“The Israelis set up the system to be discriminatory and to fail Palestinians,” says Pacheco. “So people build anyway, get the stop-work order, then demolition [order] – which you can appeal. But you’re appealing to the one who made the rule to discriminate against Palestinian construction.

“There’s no way for Palestinians in general to win under the current Israeli legal framework.”

As lines blur between authorities and settlers, who exactly spearheaded the demolition – soldiers, settlers, the Civil Administration – was unclear even to the family. “They’re all the same when they come,” says Hilal. “They’re all together.”

According to the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), since January 2023, more than 6,200 Palestinians, including more than 3,000 children, have been forcibly displaced, including more than 2,300 people since the beginning of 2026 alone. More than 907 Palestinian structures in the occupied West Bank have already been demolished this year.

Al Jazeera reached out to Israeli authorities and the military for comment on the events described in this article, but no response has yet been received.

‘Nothing is holding them back’

A short walk from the rubble of his parents’ home – and his own – Hilal sits under the shade of a tree beside the spring that sustained his family for generations, one that he and his flocks can no longer use.

Minutes earlier, he’d watched two settlers cool off at the spring, dousing themselves with water as one of them changed into a military uniform on the bank.

Hilal’s own remaining cattle – most of the herd already stolen, confiscated or sold – scrounge instead for whatever run-off is left once the settlers are gone. “We used to drink from this spring, and carry water on the donkey,” he says. “But they stopped us. The settlers fenced it off.”

Later, he rides his donkey across the road to what remains of his home. What had been walls and a roof is now a field of scorched rubble and gnarled metal piping, bent and knotted where the bulldozer dragged it. On his donkey, Hilal points to where each room had stood. He estimates the losses at 170,000 shekels ($57,000).

“Not a single thing I got to take – all of it is gone,” he says.

Next door, at the home of Adel’s brother, Qadri – which was previously demolished in August last year – several relatives, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, describe an extended family bracing for its turn.

“Nothing is holding them back now,” one son says. “They don’t even need an order any more. Of course we are scared they will come for us next.”

Prevented from rebuilding by nearby settlers and soldiers, Adel and Kheirieh now rely on relatives for help getting basic supplies. “All of our family helps each other,” says one relative, “but it is so hard when we don’t have enough, and we might be next.”

Following earlier thefts by settlers and confiscations from authorities a year and a half ago, the family had another 50 head of cattle stolen by settlers, they say.

Amid deteriorating health, an exhausted, heat-stricken Adel sits up from lying on the ground only when the topic of past weddings comes up. His hoarse voice strengthens, and he breaks into a wide smile. Softly, he begins clapping out the rhythm of a dahiyyeh – the sung, chanted line-dance of Bedouin celebrations – his wavering voice rising over the sound of his own hands.

“What beautiful times together,” he says. “Beautiful.”

Then, as if that singing expended the last of his dwindling energy, he sinks back onto the sweat-stained mattress and exhales. “Inshallah those times will return,” he says. “Inshallah.”

WASHINGTON — Calling Donald H. Rumsfeld energetic was like calling the Pacific wide. When others would rest, he would run. While others sat, he stood. But try as he might, at the pinnacle of his career as Defense secretary, he could not outmaneuver the ruinous politics of the Iraq war.

Regarded by former colleagues as equally smart and combative, patriotic and politically cunning, Rumsfeld had a storied career in government under four presidents as well as nearly a quarter century in corporate America. After retiring in 2008 he headed the Rumsfeld Foundation to promote public service and to work with charities that provide services and support for military families and wounded veterans.

The two-time Defense secretary and one-time presidential candidate died Tuesday, surrounded by his family in Taos, N.M. He was 88.

“Rummy,” as he was often called, was ambitious, witty, engaging and capable of great personal warmth. But he irritated many with his confrontational style. An accomplished wrestler in college, Rumsfeld relished verbal sparring and elevated it to an art form; biting humor was a favorite weapon.

Still, he built a network of loyalists who admired his work ethic, intelligence and impatience with all who failed to share his sense of urgency.

From his earliest years in Washington, he was seen by friend and foe alike as a formidable political force. Bryce Harlow, an associate of President Nixon who helped persuade Rumsfeld to resign from Congress and join Nixon’s Cabinet as director of the Office of Economic Opportunity in 1969, called him “rough and ready, willing to tangle” and “the kind of guy who would walk on a blue flame to get a job done.”

Rumsfeld is the only person to serve twice as Pentagon chief. The first time, from 1975 to 1977, he was the youngest ever. The next time, from 2001 to 2006, he was the oldest.

He made a brief run for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination, a spectacular flop that he once described as humbling after being used to success at the highest levels of the government, including stints as White House chief of staff, a U.S. ambassador and a member of Congress.

For all Rumsfeld’s achievements, it was the setbacks in Iraq in the twilight of his career that will likely etch the most vivid features of his legacy.

::

By the time he arrived at the Pentagon in January 2001 for his second stint as Defense secretary, the military that Rumsfeld inherited was in a slow-motion transition from the Cold War era to a period dominated by ethnic conflicts in the Balkans, humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa and spasms of terrorism around the globe. Among the other prominent worries: China’s military buildup and the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.

But nine months into his tenure, on Sept. 11, Rumsfeld found himself facing a threat that would consume the remaining years of his tenure. When a hijacked American Airlines jetliner slammed into the Pentagon, he was in his third-floor office, meeting with nine House members. He later recalled that at the instant of impact, the small wood table at which they were working trembled.

Rumsfeld was among the first to reach the smoldering crash site, and he helped carry the wounded in stretchers before returning to his duties inside the building.

The nation suddenly was at war. U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan on Oct. 7, and with Rumsfeld at the Pentagon helm, the Taliban government in Kabul was toppled within weeks. Frequently presiding at televised briefings on the war, Rumsfeld became something of a TV star, known for his plainspokenness.

Within months of that success, President George W. Bush’s attention shifted to Iraq, which had played no role in the Sept. 11 attacks. Rumsfeld and others in the administration asserted that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was armed with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, and that the U.S. could not afford the risk of Hussein one day providing some of those arms to Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups.

The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was launched in March 2003 with a go-ahead from Congress but no authorization from the United Nations Security Council. Baghdad fell quickly, but U.S. and allied forces soon became consumed with a violent Iraqi insurgency. Critics faulted Rumsfeld for dismissing the public assessment of the Army’s top general, Eric K. Shinseki, that several hundred thousand allied troops would be needed to stabilize Iraq.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrives in Baghdad in April 2006 to meet with U.S. and new Iraqi government officials.

(Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images)

Square-jawed with an acid tongue, Rumsfeld grew combative in defense of the war effort, and became a lightning rod for Democrats’ criticism. Years afterward, the degree of blame that should be shared among the White House, Rumsfeld and the U.S. military for the disasters in Iraq remained in debate.

In “By His Own Rules,” a 2009 biography of Rumsfeld, author Bradley Graham wrote that it was “both incorrect and unfair to heap singular blame” for Iraq on Rumsfeld.

“But much of what befell Rumsfeld resulted from his own behavior,” Graham wrote. “He is apt to be remembered as much for how he did things as for what he did. And here, too, he was an internal contradiction. Capable of genuine charm, kindness and grace, he all too frequently came across as brusque and domineering, often alienating others and making enemies where he needed friends.”

In his 2011 memoir, “Known and Unknown,” Rumsfeld offered no hint of regret about Iraq, but acknowledged that its future remained in doubt.

“While the road not traveled always looks smoother, the cold reality of a Hussein regime in Baghdad most likely would mean a Middle East far more perilous than it is today,” he wrote.

He seemed unconvinced that the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq poked a hole in the justification for invading, writing: “Our failure to confront Iraq would have sent a message to other nations that neither America nor any other nation was willing to stand in the way of their support for terrorism and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.”

Rumsfeld twice offered his resignation to Bush in 2004 amid disclosures that U.S. troops had abused detainees at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison — an episode he later referred to as his darkest hour as Defense secretary.

Not until November 2006, after Democrats gained control of Congress by riding a wave of antiwar sentiment, did Bush finally decide he had to go. Rumsfeld left office in December and was replaced by another Republican, Robert M. Gates.

Defiant to the end, Rumsfeld expressed no regrets in his farewell ceremony, at which point the U.S. military’s death toll in Iraq had surpassed 2,900. The number would eventually exceed 4,400.

“It may well be comforting to some to consider graceful exits from the agonies and, indeed, the ugliness of combat,” he told his colleagues. “But the enemy thinks differently.”

::

Born in Chicago in 1932 as the second child of George and Jeannette Rumsfeld, Donald Rumsfeld wrote in his memoir that he and his father shared a favorite sports team: the Chicago Bears. He recalled that while listening to a Bears game on the radio at home one Sunday in 1941, the announcer interrupted the broadcast to announce that Japanese airplanes had launched a surprise attack on Hawaii.

Rumsfeld was 9.

“I could feel that something terrible had happened,” he wrote. “I saw it in my parents’ faces and heard it in the tense voices reporting the news of the attack.”

After Pearl Harbor, Rumsfeld’s father joined the Navy at age 38, and the family moved frequently to be near him on the West Coast.

In high school Rumsfeld met his future wife, Joyce Pierson. He attended Princeton on a partial scholarship and joined the campus Navy ROTC program to cover his other expenses. In June 1954, Rumsfeld graduated and was commissioned an ensign in the Navy. Six months later he married Joyce.

Rumsfeld launched his Washington career in 1957 as an assistant to Rep. David Dennison (R-Ohio). Soon he was serving as a congressman himself, first elected to represent Illinois in 1962. He served four terms.

One of his early acts as a member of the Nixon White House was to hire a young Dick Cheney, starting a lifelong friendship.

Rumsfeld was working as U.S. ambassador to NATO in Brussels when he was recalled to Washington to lead President Ford’s transition team after Nixon resigned in August 1974. He became the new president’s chief of staff, and in November 1975, his Defense secretary.

After leaving the Pentagon in 1977, Rumsfeld embarked on a successful business career, including as chief executive officer, president and then chairman of G.D. Searle & Co., a major prescription drug manufacturer.

He still dabbled in government service, including serving as a special envoy to the Middle East for President Reagan from 1983 to 1984. It was in that capacity that he met with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad in December 1983, while Iraq was at war with Iran.

“None of us in the Reagan administration bore any illusions about Saddam,” Rumsfeld wrote in his memoir. “Like most despots, his career was forged in conflict and hardened by bloodshed. He had used chemical toxins in the war he initiated with Iran three years earlier. But given the reality of the Middle East, then as now, America often had to deal with rulers who were deemed ‘less bad’ than the others.”

Two decades later, he was again dealing with Hussein, this time overseeing a U.S. invasion that toppled the Iraqi leader — and led to Rumsfeld’s own downfall.

He is survived by his wife, Joyce; three children; and his grandchildren.

Davina McCall was visibly moved on Long Lost Family as she made a life-changing discovery

Davina McCall struggled to keep her emotions under control during the latest epsidoe of the heartwarming ITV series.

The beloved TV presenter fought back tears during an emotional episode of Long Lost Family which aired on Monday (August 10 ) after revealing to 76-year-old Christine that the search for her biological family had uncovered her birth certificate and an unknown brother.

Christine left in a train carriage at Waterloo station in 1949. She was discovered and taken into care, beginning a life in which the identity of her birth parents remained one of the greatest unanswered questions she carried with her.

She has spent much of her life wondering about her biological family and where she had come from. Although she had always questioned whether she would ever discover the truth, she admitted she never expected the moment to actually happen.

Away from the cameras, Davina had already broken the heartbreaking news that Christine’s birth parents had been found but had sadly died.

Speaking to Christine, Davina asked: “How are you?” Christine replied: “It was a bit of a shock. Oh, my gosh. It’s actually happening.” She explained that she had been struggling to process everything, saying that her mind had been “addled” since learning what the Long Lost Family team had discovered.

Christine admitted that she had never really expected to find her birth mother alive. She said: “I didn’t think my mother would be alive now. I’m 76 this year, but there’s always been that question. ‘Who’s my family?’” But Davina then revealed something that made the emotional moment even more poignant.

The presenter was visibly moved as she told Christine: “I want to show you something today. It’s the first time I’ve ever been able to do this for someone. I have a birth certificate.”

Christine was visibly overwhelmed by the discovery. “Oh, goodness. So my birth was registered,” she said. Davina, visibly emotional herself, confirmed that it was. She explained that Christine’s birth mother, Joyce, was just 22 years old when she gave birth to her.

For Christine, the information was difficult to absorb. “It is a lot to take in. Oh, my goodness. So I was born in Portsmouth,” she said.

Davina confirmed that Christine had been born in hospital. The discovery appeared to answer some of the questions Christine had carried with her for decades.

Christine began trying to piece together what may have happened to her young mother. She reflected: “So, she’s looked after, and I was looked after. She must have left the hospital and gone straight up to Waterloo. But it doesn’t have the father. Probably couldn’t look after me on her own.”

Then Christine asked the question that would lead to another extraordinary discovery. “Did she have any more children?” Davina replied simply: “She did.” Christine immediately reacted with shock. “Oh, my gosh. This just gets better,” she said.

Davina then revealed that Christine had a brother named Barry — and that he had been born just one year before her. Christine wanted to know what had happened to him and asked whether Barry had stayed with their mother.

But Davina revealed that Barry had also been fostered. Davina explained: “Barry has got a birth certificate and that’s what your birth mother’s name is on it. He was the key to everything.”

Later on in the show Christine finally reunited with brother Barry. The reunion was particularly poignant given that Christine had already learned the heart breaking news that her biological parents had both died.

Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace is available to stream on ITVX

IT is one of showbiz’s most famous moments – Tom Cruise leaping on a sofa while telling Oprah Winfrey about dating Katie Holmes.

“I’m in love,” the Mission: Impossible actor yelled, giddy with excitement as he flailed his arms about.

It was May 2005 and Tom, who divorced fellow Hollywood A-lister Nicole Kidman in 2001, had been dating Dawson’s Creek beauty Katie for just a month.

It seemed the love was mutual, with Katie revealing she was taking lessons in Scientology, a controversial religion founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard and beloved by her husband.

“I’m really excited about it,” she said, while Tom emphasised: “She makes her own decisions.”

And it seemed TomKat, as they were nicknamed, were flourishing.

Just 11 months after his dramatic declaration of love, their daughter Suri was born.

Katie and Tom wed in November 2006, but after five and a half years of marriage, she apparently blindsided her husband when she unexpectedly filed for divorce in June 2012 because of Scientology and its impact on her daughter.

And Suri, now 20, appears to have made up her own mind about her dad, dropping his surname in favour of her mum’s middle name, Noelle.

The move emerged after she publicly registered to vote in Pennsylvania, where she studies under the alternative name.

It is also reported she has been estranged from Tom, 64, since she was ten, while remaining close to Katie, 47, who is no longer a Scientologist.

Suri, an aspiring actor and drama student, is currently appearing in a re-imagined performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

And she seems to have inherited her father’s talent for acting, with critics saying the Carnegie Mellon uni student “stole the show”.

Journalist Tony Ortega, who has investigated the workings of Scientology for three decades, said of the family breakdown: “When Katie split with Tom, any normal Scientologist would be told she is an SP, a suppressive person — an enemy of the church.

“And Suri, being connected to Katie, would be considered a PTS — potential trouble source.

“Tom would be expected to disconnect from them and not have anything to do with them.”

The church says: “A suppressive person (SP) is a person who seeks to suppress other people in their vicinity.

“A suppressive person will goof up or vilify any effort to help anybody and particularly knife with violence anything calculated to make human beings more powerful or more intelligent.

“The suppressive person is also known as the antisocial personality.

“Within this category one finds Napoleon, Hitler, the unrepentant killer and the drug lord.

“But if such are easily spotted, if only from the bodies they leave in their wake, antisocial personalities also commonly exist in current life and often go undetected.”

Tom does seem to be in contact with his two other children, Isabella “Bella” Cruise, 33, and Connor Cruise, 31, who are both Scientologists.

Bella and Connor were adopted by Tom and Nicole in 1992 and 1995 respectively.

As youngsters, the pair divided their time between Sydney and Los Angeles, although they also lived in Hertfordshire for three years.

When their parents split up, the stars would initially spend their time between the children.

With dad Tom, they visited Scientology sessions at the church’s main hub in Clearwater, Florida, where followers spoke about attaining “spiritual freedom”.

In 2004, instead of seeing their mum, they were packed off to a Scientology summer camp.

The next year, they were living full-time with their dad.

In 2019, Bella told in a promotional email for Scientology how she was “drowning in problems” before training as an “auditor” — which is basically a counsellor who helps other believers shed “spiritual distress” using an “E-meter”.

The device is similar to a lie detector and delivers low-voltage electricity to the subject.

The email said: “This is what I had been searching for. The missing piece. Thank you to my dad for everything. We all need to do this. Wow. What an accomplishment. It’s hard work. It’s a lot of effort.

“It’s a few meltdowns and running to the bathroom to have a mini- episode, but it is worth everything because you will get through.

“This is a gift to yourself and so many others. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t going to be an auditor or aren’t going to join staff. If you are going to make it as a being for the long run, you need this.

“That’s the truth. So stop messing around and get going.”

However, despite her support of Scientology, Bella has not stayed living near her dad. Instead, she has switched the bright lights of Hollywood  for the far less glitzy Croydon, South London.

She lives in an ordinary semi-detached house with her British husband, Max Parker, 34, an IT consultant she met through friends and married in 2015.

She works as an artist, selling trendy tote bags and T-shirts with her prints on, and posts Instagram pictures and videos of her artwork and trips to Brighton.

Previously, neighbours told The Sun: “I wouldn’t have known her if she’d come up and smacked me in the face. I don’t keep up with celebrity culture.

“They have a reptile of some kind — we can see the red light of the tank. That’s all anybody seems to know. She’s very mysterious.

“I don’t know why she’s chosen Croydon, poor child!”

Former Scientologist and US actress Leah Remini, 56, wrote a book about her time in the church called Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood And Scientology.

In it, she said she asked Bella if she saw her mum often and claims Bella replied: “Not if I have a choice. Our mom is a f***ing SP.”

Nicole, who left Scientology around the time of her divorce from Tom, has previously said: “I’ve chosen not to speak publicly about Scientology. I have two children who are Scientologists and I utterly respect their beliefs.”

She reiterated this in 2018, saying: “They are able to make their own decisions. They have made choices to be Scientologists, and as a mother it’s my job to love them.”

Bella does follow her half-sister, Sunday Rose, 18 — from Nicole’s marriage to country singer Keith Urban — on Instagram as well as both parents.

However, neither Nicole nor Keith attended Bella’s wedding reception in London, and it’s said she turned down her dad’s offer of a £324,000-a-month rented penthouse when she first moved to the UK capital.

Connor, understood to live near Clearwater, Florida, has been pictured with Tom at various sporting events.

A source told People magazine in 2019: “Connor has been able to remain close with Tom because of Scientology.”

On Instagram, he has shared pictures of him with his father, writing: “Watching the Yankees beat the Dodgers a couple years back with my dad.”

Scientology has two major centres in London, and its UK base is at the Grade II-listed Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, West Sussex.

And while Bella is in Croydon, it is unclear if she will travel north to Edinburgh to see her half-sister Suri, who is busy making a name for herself on stage.

Ruth Madeley is currently taking on lead role, Dr Gabrielle Fox, in BBC’s thrilling new series The Rapture

BBC viewers have been left hooked with new thriller show The Rapture.

The five-part psychological series is adapted from Liz Jensen’s bestselling novel. A synopsis teases of the show: “As temperatures rise, a convicted murderer foretells apocalyptic disaster – is she a manipulative psychopath or does she know the truth? High-stakes thriller crackling with danger.”

In the show, Ruth Madeley plays Dr Gabrielle Fox, who starts a new job at a psychiatric hospital where she is assigned 17-year-old inmate Bethany Krall, played by India Amarteifio.

As talented actress Ruth, 39, takes on the lead role, viewers have been keen to learn more about the actress’ life off-screen, especially as she recently appeared in BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?

Huge family discovery

On Ruth’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, the genealogy team uncovered what turned out to be a huge family secret on her dad’s side.

The family discovered that Ruth’s grandmother, Beatrice, was adopted and no one else knew, including her father, Geoff, as his mother Beatrice never told him this fact.

Talking about the discovery on the show, Ruth said: “No one knew. My dad had no idea. So that was a huge shock. As far as, like, we’re concerned, we’re all just born, raised, died in Manchester.”

Meanwhile, while talking to her father, he responded over the bombshell: “When I got that phone call, I thought, ‘what’s going on?’ You could have knocked me down with a feather” to which Ruth replied: “Wow!”

Her dad continued: “I’m dead surprised that my grandma never said anything. That’s the only thing that I can’t get my head around.”

On the show, Ruth revealed that she and her family – her parents and sister Liz – are “really close, like, shockingly close”. The actress joked: “We are quite a stubborn, determined family, so it wouldn’t surprise me if we had traits of that here, there and everywhere.”

‘Epic’ wedding

Away from the TV sets and shows, Ruth is loved-up with her husband Joe Lawrence, whom she has known since they were five-years-old.

Unlike his wife Ruth, Joe doesn’t work in showbiz or the acting world. He is the owner of a company that trains people to operate cranes and for many years he was also a motorbike racer.

In 2024, after 12 years together, Ruth and Joe made things official and tied the knot. Talking about their wedding on Who Do You Think You Are?, Ruth revealed they had their wedding reception at fully accessible theatre, 53two in Manchester, which Ruth is a patron of.

Ruth said: “It is like my special place. I feel very at home here. And the best bit, so we had our wedding reception here and it was epic. It was so good.”

The actress previously said: “We were friends forever, we were always going to end up together, and obviously now he thinks that what I’m doing for a living is absolutely hysterical. He’s not an actor, he’s very grounded, it’s nice to be able to go home and not talk about it.”

The couple have two fur children – a cat and an adorable Bulldog, who both made an appearance of Who Do You Think You Are?

Acting career

Ruth, who has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair, underwent many spinal operations throughout her childhood. Opening up, Ruth said: “In my secondary school years, those teenage years were really, really hard, but it was never seen as a reason to not achieve or not be happy.

“I never grew up seeing anyone who looked like me on screen. I really didn’t. Oh, acting was a complete accident. I was doing some work experience at the BBC and a producer I met was casting something for, I think it was a children’s drama.

“Yeah, I landed my first role and it developed in a very wonderful way, thank goodness.”

The actress joked: “I absolutely love my job. I feel so privileged to say that I do what I do for a living. I mean, I would do it for free. Actually, don’t say that on camera!”

HOT, but not too hot. Relaxing, but not boring

A pool with heating and steps — and not just any old steps, they must be Roman steps.

Local food, but also margherita pizzas on tap. Culture, but not challenging.

Not too far from the sea, airport or supermarket. Not too expensive. Not many stairs . . . 

Trying to plan a three-generation family trip, I realised I wasn’t looking for a holiday home, but a unicorn.

The hunt took our family of five — our sons are a “lively” 11, nine and three — my 70-something parents and my godmother to a villa outside Cavtat in Croatia, a 15-minute drive from Dubrovnik airport (tick).

WAIL OF A TIME

I drove Irish Route 66 with deserted golden beaches and pirate-like islands

TEMPTED?

Tiny ‘Bali of Europe’ town with stunning beaches, €3 cocktails and £20 flights

Cavtat (pronounced Savtat, I learned after a confusing conversation with a waitress) looked lovely, but could it possibly tick all our boxes?

There were blue skies, and our gorgeous white stone villa had a heated pool, those Roman steps and enough bedrooms for the boys not to kill each other.

Add in a higgledy-piggledy garden with wild flowers and a lemon tree at the bottom of our drive — perfect for the G&Ts — and we were good to go.

After a first day splashing in the pool, we managed a pootle down to Cavtat’s main village, a ten-minute drive away.

To the whole family’s delight, you could park cheaply right on the marina, one of many practicalities we came to appreciate during this trip.

The old town lies on a pretty horseshoe bay in the middle of two small pine- forested peninsulas.

With white stone Dalmatian buildings and narrow alleyways, it looks like a mini Dubrovnik but is thankfully smaller, cheaper and significantly less crowded.

This isn’t a coincidence. Cavtat is often called “Old Dubrovnik” as it was once a prosperous Greek and Roman port which was sacked in the 7th century, sending survivors legging it to what later became Dubrovnik.

Whatever its provenance, with a smooth promenade (tick), a cluster of great-value restaurants where you could get pizza and a beer for 8 euros (tick) and a picturesque 15th century church, it was the perfect place to potter around.

The church also houses masterpieces by one of Croatia’s most famous artists, Vlaho Bukovac, who was born in Cavtat.

Bukovac’s house is just off the marina, and one day we dragged the kids inside — admittedly, largely to escape the sun.

It was a blissfully shady change of pace and with just a few rooms didn’t prompt too much whining. Easy culture? Tick.

We quickly settled into a routine: Activities in the morning, followed by naps (for both toddlers and adults) and then lazy afternoons at the villa.

By day three, we girded our loins and got up early to visit Dubrovnik and take the two-kilometre walk around the legendary city walls.

On one side of the walls, which are six metres thick in places, is the vast azure sea, while on the other you peer down into a maze of terracotta roofs, with tennis courts and allotments nestling next to incredible 15th century architecture.

It’s fair to say my three-year-old was unimpressed (despite getting the best view of all of us, riding on my poor husband’s sunburnt shoulders) but he perked up when we dived inside some of the many cool “hole in the wall” bars for a cola. Be warned, they are pricey.

If you prefer to re-energise with ice cream, Dolce Vita serves the best scoops in town. Try the dark chocolate, pistachio and hazelnut “Domino”.

While Dubrovnik deserves its reputation as a must-see, we were all happy to get back to the chilled atmosphere of Cavtat.

Its only downside as a family holiday destination? The stony beaches. But that was nothing some 5-euro watershoes couldn’t fix. When the pebbles get too much, take a boat trip to Sunj bay, allegedly the best sandy beach in Croatia.

Buckets and spades in hand, we hopped on to a speedboat stocked with beers and cans of Fanta, zooming past Dubrovnik and the most expensive villa in town, which David Beckham and Beyonce have stayed in (not together, or this would be on the front page of the paper).

When we arrived at Sunj bay, we found boats can only stop just off the shore, so the boys jumped in and waded through chest-height sea to the beach.

My poor old dad was a bit less enthusiastic. After a brief stint on the sands, we headed to the Blue Cave on nearby Kolocep Island which, as you approach, looks less like a cave and more like a crack at the base of a jagged cliff face.

Pretending to be far braver than I felt, I jumped off the boat and swam towards a gap just a few feet high, shouting for the kids to follow.

Once inside, it was well worth the claustrophobic entrance. A massive chamber opens up with a high ceiling and striking bright blue water — because the cave is lit from underneath, it filters out the red light, leaving only the blue.

Towards the end of the week, we ditched the kids and escaped on our own — just the parents. That’s the best thing about a three-generation holiday: The built-in babysitters.

A white-tableclothed dinner on the waterfront, watching the sun set, was followed by a gorgeous run to sweat out our hangovers the next morning.

The Cavtat walking trail is excellent for those into fitness, wrapping around the peninsula and deliciously shaded by the Aleppo pines.

So, how did Cavtat stack up for a three-generation holiday? My son’s verdict: 9.5/10. Apparently it lost half a point for the bracing sea water.

To be fair, a warm sea wasn’t on my checklist. 

Whether you care or not about your own college reunion, we all keep getting invited to the one for the comedy troupe Broken Lizard, whose movies are always the same thing: frat guys who never grew out of the same jokes, taunts and pranks. That isn’t to say “Super Troopers 3” doesn’t also exhibit genuine appreciation for a tight bond nurtured over time, but you need to have been there (that is, enjoyed one or two of these) to revel in tapping that aggressively overpumped keg of R-rated comedy nostalgia.

The gang’s longevity, well into late middle age, is indeed impressive, even if it’s relegated to reviving their most beloved incarnation, a quintet of adolescent-minded Vermont highway patrolmen who torment citizens, razz each other and routinely examine their stunted life choices when confronted with the noxious personality of the most extreme among them, Farva (Kevin Heffernan).

The boorish, puerile Farva — imagine an “Animal House” character its writers would have discarded as too crude — is the catalyst this time around by falling in love. His shock engagement to Sarita (Hannah Simone), the brainy, beautiful sister of de facto trooper leader Thorny (director Jay Chandrasekhar), pits brother against family and bro against bro, even if Farva doesn’t register his colleague’s disgust. Thorny will do anything to keep Farva from marrying into his family, which is admittedly one of the easier campaigns for an audience to get behind.

That’s not a sentiment against true love; it’s more a nod to strained credibility and a feeling of general exhaustion. “Super Troopers 3” hardly feels like some long-awaited third go-round in a franchise spanning 25 years. Rather, it plays like the 84th episode of a time-killing cable series that people forgot was still on the air. Whatever raw charm existed in the original underdog sleeper hit from 2001 (and found some purchase in the agreeably goofy 2018 sequel) has been hardened here into a piece of machine-stamped plastic, likely in the shape of a male organ sporting a traditional sherwani, considering the incessant swirl of infantile body humor and offensive-adjacent Indian culture gags on offer.

Besides the main storyline and a dull, time-padding smuggling operation to uncover, there’s little to do for the rest of the Broken Lizard team: Paul Soter, Eric Stolhanske and Steve Emme. Inexplicably, EV cars and food-ordering apps become running gags. Marisa Coughlan is back as a cop’s wife, and the joke must be that she never gets to be funny.

There’s good news in Brian Cox returning as their cranky superior, except it looks like two days of work, tops. The best new face is Nat Faxon as the station’s insecure captain. He gets more easy, unforced laughs than anyone, especially when it comes to a bout of “scromiting.” It still isn’t enough.

“Enough” is a good retort, though, for “Super Troopers 3” overall, except for the dispiriting promise before the closing credits that more mediocrity might be coming. But fans might want to savor this one, because according to Vermont law, highway patrol mandatory retirement age is 57, the age the youngest Broken Lizard member hits this month. Sorry, guys — can we have those badges back?

Growing up, filmmaker Fernando Eimbcke didn’t get to watch the scene in “The Breakfast Club” where the teenage characters smoke marijuana. That moment was removed from the VHS copy of the 1980s classic he’d rented because of strict censorship in Mexico at the time.

Drug use or not, that John Hughes movie, as well “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” impacted him profoundly. “Those were movies that spoke to young people, and in Mexico there wasn’t much cinema aimed at teens,” Eimbcke tells me in Spanish on a video call from Mexico City.

From his indie trench, Eimbcke, 55, has tried to fill that void in Mexican cinema — starting with his 2004 acclaimed debut “Temporada de patos” (Duck Season), about two teen boys spending a day without adult supervision. Since then, in films like “Lake Tahoe” (2008) or “Club Sandwich” (2013), the woes of adolescence have dominated his purview.

With “Olmo,” in theaters Friday, Eimbcke has adapted his career-long interest on the youth’s preoccupations to a story on this side of the Mexico-U.S. border for the first time.

Set and filmed on location in Las Cruces, N.M., his bilingual coming-of-age dramedy follows the titular Olmo (played by Aivan Uttapa), a charismatic Mexican American 14-year-old boy in the 1970s, whose bedridden immigrant father requires around-the-clock care.

The tightly written and humorously bittersweet narrative (co-penned by Eimbcke and Vanesa Garnica) unfolds over the course of a fateful Saturday. Nina Sandoval (Melanie Frometa), Olmo’s crush, invites him and his boot-wearing best friend Miguel (Diego Olmedo) to a party, with the condition that they bring a stereo. But Olmo has also been tasked with looking after dad Nestor (Gustavo Sánchez Parra), while his mother works.

Olmo must decide between fulfilling his duty or pursuing his age-appropriate impulse for fun.

Fernando Eimbcke’s new coming-of-age dramedy “Olmo” follows a charismatic Chicano teen in 1970s New Mexico.

(Andrew Bohn / Olma 2023 LLC)

It was during the six years that Eimbcke lived in Germany that Plan B, the American production company behind titles like “Moonlight,” reached out with an idea for him to write a screenplay about a Mexican American character. That project didn’t come to fruition, but Eimbcke took advantage of their initial interest to create his own story.

Eimbcke had long been interested in stories of migration, and in the dynamics that occur within “bicultural” families. His experience living abroad heightened this curiosity.

“I’m surprised to see the fear that governments and society have regarding migration today. It’s one of the best things that can happen to a culture,” Eimbcke says. “Everyone is talking about Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey,’ and the story of Odysseus is a story of migration.”

Among the key inspirations that shaped how Eimbcke and Garnica (who have been friends since they were 14 years old) conceived “Olmo” were Dominican American author Junot Díaz’s work, as well as Kevin Bubriski’s photography book “The New Mexicans: 1981-83.”

“He photographed Mexican Americans in the 1980s in New Mexico, and that gave us many ideas,” he says. “He has some incredible, truly beautiful photos of Mexican Americans.”

While scouting locations in New Mexico, the production interacted with local Latino families. In those households, Eimbcke witnessed immigrant parents speaking Spanish to their children who replied to them in English. Similar exchanges happen in “Olmo.”

“If communication is already difficult within a family when everyone speaks the same language, the idea of a family speaking two languages struck me as absolutely fascinating. Rather than an obstacle, I saw it as an opportunity to explore their relationship,” he explains. “Language isn’t always that important. When Olmo and Néstor argue over the stereo, you never really know if they actually understand each other through words or not.”

The complex intricacies of language manifested on Eimbcke’s first bilingual set.

During a scene where Olmo and Miguel finally fix the stereo and begin dancing, Eimbcke wanted a more rambunctious reaction. He started yelling, “More caos. More caos.” The assistant director looked puzzled, thinking the director was asking for “cows.” Eimbcke meant “chaos,” but pronounced it Spanish, which sounds like the farm animal in English.

“It was very difficult for me, because my English is far from perfect, it’s actually quite imperfect,” Eimbcke says sincerely.

For Uttapa, 17, these interactions seemed authentic; he is a second-generation Mexican American whose grandmother came to the U.S. from Mexico, while his mother was born here.

“My grandma speaks fluent Spanish, and she talks to me, my brothers, and my sister in Spanish, and we answer in English,” says Uttapa on Zoom. “That dynamic and that detail in the movie really did make it real to me.”

Fernando Eimbcke’s new coming-of-age dramedy “Olmo” follows a charismatic Chicano teen in 1970s New Mexico.

(Andrew Bohn / Olma 2023 LLC )

Based in Las Vegas, the fresh-faced Uttapa started acting at 12. He shared his interest in performing with his parents, who enrolled him with acting coach Frank Parillo. “I remember telling my mom, ‘I just want to entertain. I just want to be relatable and make an impact on people.’ If you can impact one person, then it pretty much is worth it,” he says.

Eimbcke cast him solely based on his self-tape after a long search for the right actor to become Olmo, primarily in Los Angeles and New York.

Since shooting “Olmo” when he was 14, Uttapa has appeared in the latest season of the hit medical drama “The Pitt,” playing Grady Barnhill, who has an asthma attack, in two episodes. Still, playing Olmo remains the highlight of his short but burgeoning career.

“I’ve gotten some auditions here and there about Mexican American or Latino characters, but if I’m being honest, none of them really clicked to me as much as it did with Olmo. I really felt a connection with the character,” Uttapa notes.

That Eimbcke set “Olmo” in the ’70s — based on his memories of watching “Saturday Night Fever” as a child and being enamored by disco music — helped Uttapa connect with the character. At several points in their adventure, Olmo and Miguel break out their best dance moves.

His mother, Uttapa says, thinks of him as an “old soul,” given his eclectic taste in music, from Elvis Presley and Del Shannon to AC/DC and Led Zeppelin.

“I was already familiar with cumbia, because my mom would always teach me,” Uttapa says. “The disco dancing wasn’t really that hard for me because I grew up loving ’70s music, so I’d always dance in my room to it. And being able to show it on screen was really special.”

Eimbcke says he has no secret technique to obtain wonderful performances from his teen stars; the only strategy that works is to lean into fun. “Teenagers are very willing to play. They are willing to take risks,” the director adds. “And I always love combining two schools of acting: the professional and the nonprofessional.” The actors who play Olmo’s parents, Gustavo Sánchez Parra and Andrea Suárez Paz, are seasoned Mexican thespians.

And while Eimbcke may very well be the Mexican John Hughes, there are certainly uniquely Mexican, and perhaps unexpected, references that were foundational for him as an artist.

“I also grew up watching a lot of telenovelas. They were really formative for me, specifically, the telenovelas on the local Channel 2,” Eimbcke confesses. “I remember there was one I followed religiously called ‘Quinceañera,’ starring Thalia. I loved it.”

AMANDA Holden has proven once again that glamour runs in the family as she posed with her daughters in a new holiday snap.

Amanda, 55, is on vacation in Greece with her husband and their two daughters, and shared a photo with her girls next to a picture taken a decade earlier.

And the radio and TV star defied age in the side-by-side snaps, showcasing an unchanged appearance 11 years on.

Amanda flashed her taut waist in a plunging orange sun dress as she posed with Lexi, 20, and Hollie, 14.

The intricate garment featured ruffled trim detailing, sinched in at the waist with a buckle.

Amanda showcased her tan, her blonde locks falling in bouyant curls around her features.

model material

Amanda Holden’s lookalike daughter Lexi, 20, strips off to bikini in Corfu

golden holden

Amanda Holden, 55, sizzles in tiny bikini poolside in Corfu

Lexi was the spitting image of her Britain’s Got Talent judge mum, in a beige strap top and a flowing golden skirt with floral detailing.

Hollie kept things slick in a black floor-length dress for her evening out with her mum and sister.

Meanwhile, the 11-year-old photo showed the trio all dressed in white dresses, all holding hands and beaming.

“Eleven years ago today,” Amanda captioned it.

Longtime fans of visiting Greece, Amanda and Lexi received their boat licences on their current trip.

Lexi has followed her mother’s footsteps into a career in front of the camera.

Last month Amanda defended her daughter’s modelling career and hit back at ‘nepo-baby’ accusations.

Having been signed to Storm Models Management at 18, Lexi has already taken to the stage at London Fashion Week.

Amanda, however, doesn’t believe there’s any harm in helping her kids out if she’s able to.

“Being someone’s kid is not going to secure work, make a living for you and longevity in whatever career,” Amanda told the Daily Mail. “It may get a foot in the door, but then you’re on your own!”

She also revealed that her younger daughter Hollie asks her mum to drop her at school at the end of the road, because she “hates” having a famous mother.

Of Lexi, Amanda believes she’s “unfazed” and “has her head screwed on”, so doesn’t fret about her foray into the world of modelling.

Peter Katsis, a music manager who helped shepherd the careers of Smashing Pumpkins, Jane’s Addiction, Morrissey and Backstreet Boys, has died. He was 69.

Representatives for Katsis confirmed his death on Thursday in Los Angeles, from complications of congestive heart failure, in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter and Billboard. “To the music world, Peter was one of the most influential managers of his generation. His vision, instincts and fierce belief in his artists helped shape some of the most important careers in music for more than four decades. He saw possibilities others didn’t, inspired those around him to dream bigger, and fought relentlessly for the people and artists he believed in,” his family said.

“Peter was simply larger than life. He loved fiercely, laughed loudly and lived with extraordinary courage and conviction. Above everything else, he loved his family. He was our strength, our fiercest advocate, and the person we could always count on to believe anything was possible. The void he leaves in our lives and our hearts is immeasurable.”

Katsis’ career began in Chicago, where he managed the groundbreaking industrial rock group Ministry. He also worked with emerging regional house music acts, helming A&R for the essential label Trax Records and booked acts like Marshall Jefferson and Adonis at globally prominent nightclubs.

After moving to Los Angeles in the early ’90s, he worked with the Cramps and other experimental rock acts before joining Jeff Kwatinetz at the Firm. There he managed hard rock acts including Korn and Limp Bizkit, helping make them superstars of the “TRL” era. He also worked with 30 Seconds to Mars, rapper Snoop Dogg, and played a major role in building Audioslave, the supergroup of Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and members of Rage Against the Machine.

Katsis took on diverse pop acts like Enrique Iglesias as well, and helped turn the Backstreet Boys into a stadium act, breaking Ticketmaster records for its 1999 Into the Millennium tour.

In 2008, Katsis co-founded a new management firm, Prospect Park, with Kwatinetz and Rich Frank, building a roster that included Smashing Pumpkins, Jane’s Addiction and Morrissey. Katsis also repped Liz Phair, 311, Bush, Fever 333, and pop groups Pentatonix, One Republic and 5 Seconds of Summer.

Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan wrote on Instagram that he was “Heartbroken that Pete is gone. He meant a lot to Chloe and I as a dear friend and extended member of our family. He will be missed and I’ll always cherish his intense candor and deep love of great music; which was infectious. And he deserves immense credit for helping to usher in the alternative revolution of the ’80s and ’90s and beyond. He was truly one of a kind. One of a us. And Chicago royalty through and through.”

Katsis is survived by his sister Anastasia and his son Ian.

Perez Hilton’s family has revealed that his children were home when his mental health crisis began to unfold, and now they’re asking the media for space so the family can safely return home.

In a statement published on the celebrity blogger’s website on Thursday, Hilton’s family said the events of the last several days had been “nearly unbearable.”

“Just minutes before the public livestream incident, Perez’s children, niece, and sister were inside the home,” the statement read. “When it became clear that Perez was experiencing a severe mental health crisis and harming himself, they immediately fled to protect the children from witnessing any further trauma.”

On Tuesday night, Miami police responded to an influx of calls after a disturbing video was livestreamed on TikTok in which a bloodied Hilton harmed himself repeatedly with a box cutter and knife. Frightened fans and moderators from the social platform were among those who called authorities.

After surrounding Hilton’s Miami residence, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said around 9 p.m. that he had been “safely recovered and transported by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to a local hospital, where he is receiving medical attention.”

In the family’s statement on Thursday, they said that their highest priority right now was helping Hilton’s three children and niece “begin to heal from what they experienced.”

“An important part of that process is allowing them to safely return home and begin rebuilding a sense of security and normalcy,” the statement continued. “For the children’s safety, privacy, and well-being, we respectfully ask members of the media, paparazzi, content creators, and the public to leave the area surrounding the family’s home and not return. Please allow his children the privacy and space they need during this unimaginably difficult time.”

Hilton’s family also shared that, although very little information on Perez’s condition has been provided to them, they had been able to confirm that he “is able to communicate,” which they say has given them hope during “this heartbreaking time.”

Earlier Thursday, conservative political commentator Sean Hannity released an episode featuring Hilton that was recorded in recent weeks. During the “Hang Out” podcast episode, Hilton expressed regret over disparaging attacks he made on the celebrities he covered over the course of his career.

“I have a lot of regrets,” he told Hannity. “Attention is like a drug, and I was definitely an attention addict back then. I mean, I still am, but I think now I do a better job of keeping it in check. And when you’re an addict, you don’t care if you’re hurting people.”

The “OG influencer” said that he attempted to make amends with some of the celebrities he targeted, including Britney Spears and Khloé Kardashian, whom he said were receptive to his apologies. He also privately approached Neil Patrick Harris to apologize for aggressively trying to out him as a gay man in 2006, before the actor had spoken about his sexuality publicly. Harris also accepted the mea culpa.

Hilton said that he had changed his ways. “I realized what I was doing was wrong — that I could still be fun — but I don’t have to be so cheap, and I don’t have to be so cruel. It was cruel, and it’s something that I carry with me.

“It’s like my scarlet letter, and it’s very heavy baggage.”

In March, Hilton was hospitalized for severe sepsis for 21 days. During the ordeal, he said that God presented himself to him. Perez claimed that he’d changed dramatically since the health scare. In recent months, he’s posted about the Bible, launched a religious merch line and spoken about his religious awakening on the podcast circuit.

Aug. 6 (UPI) — The family of celebrity blogger Perez Hilton said in a statement that he is “able to communicate” following an incident of apparent self-harm during a livestream earlier this week.

Hilton, 48, was hospitalized after appearing to commit an act of self harm on TikTok on Tuesday. The Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office said he has been hospitalized under the state’s Baker Act which allows authorities to keep someone held if they pose a threat to themselves or others.

“Our family wants to once again thank everyone who has reached out with prayers, kind messages, and support for Perez,” Hilton’s family said in a statement on Wednesday. “Your compassionate humanity during this profoundly heartbreaking time has meant more than words can express. We have also been able to confirm that Perez is able to communicate, which has given our family hope.”

After the TikTok livestream, emergency responders were called to Hilton’s home. A short time later he was rushed to a local hospital.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement that they received reports of a man “livestreaming acts of self-harm on social media.” They did not identify that man as Hilton, who is renowned as one of the world’s most prominent celebrity gossip bloggers.

“We respectfully ask for your continued prayers, understanding, and grace as Perez continues to recover,” the statement from Hilton’s family reads. “We will share additional updates as we receive confirmed information and are able to do so.”

Hilton’s TikTok account has been deactivated and the livestream has been removed, though some users have screen recorded and circulated the video.

Hilton was born Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., before taking on the pseudonym “Perez Hilton.”

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, confidential, free help is available from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

Camp Bestival 2026 review – Britain’s happiest family festival proves there’s still nothing quite like it

What do you get if you cross two mini ice-cream cones with Ursula and King Triton from the Little Mermaid?

The wacky and immersive world of Camp Bestival of course!

Britain’s happiest family festival once again put on a show for not just the ages, but all ages.

For one glorious weekend each summer, the stunning grounds of Lulworth Castle in Dorset are transformed into what can only be described as a giant playground.

The brainchild of renowned music specialist Rob da Bank and creative director Josie da Bank, and founded in 2008, Camp Bestival is known as the UK’s ultimate family festival, having won Best Family Festival at the UK Festival Awards six times.

Created with a vision of reinventing family time, it has gone from strength to strength, and from personal experience as a multi-time Bestivaler, 2026 delivered one of its strongest editions yet.

While Camp Bestival has never been centred on drawing the crowds solely for big name headline acts, you’d be hard pushed to get a better line up than rave DJ Fatboy Slim, De La Soul, the Cuban Brothers, Billy Ocean, Leftfield and chart-topping Bastille, just to name a few.

For sure, these acts would pull in massive crowds at any venue round the country, but the magic for 30,000 festival goers in any year is what you will find away from the main stages.

Have you ever danced to a country band in a Pig’s Big Ballroom, or raved with your kids to a grammatically correct rap MC Grammar? No, then what are you waiting for?

For our family, two big kids (me and my wife Katie) and our two small humans, aged five and two, like so many others, running around sun soaked fields, listening to music, climbing giant robot sculptures (them not us!), riding a ferris wheel or letting loose on swinging chairs at the fun fare; this was a real chance to connect.

Let’s be honest, life can seem pretty tough these days. The news cycle can be overwhelming at times, then chuck in work, school, bills, exams, kids!

But as soon as you enter into this kaleidoscope of countryside colour, where bubble machines float across fields packed with picnics, children chasing giant puppets through woodland trails, and every pathway revealing another adventure waiting to be discovered, your worries can be a distant memory.

Unlike many festivals where the music is everything, Camp Bestival’s magic lies in the moments in between.

As we gathered for the annual trolley competition – the type you either haul to the beach or the park with your camping chairs in, or your exhausted children back to your tent after a day of festival fun – we were given a glimpse into how special this place can be.

The aforementioned mini ice-cream cones were two toddlers dressed up in exquisitely made papier mache inventions, alongside parents dressed as ice cream sellers and their vehicle imaginatively turned into a mobile ice cream stall.

Dozens of families queue patiently every year to show off their creative talents, but this particular entry had an added meaning.

As people clapped and cheered their flawless construction, the mum-of-two not only announced that she was pregnant – nine months and a week in fact! – but that she had just got the all clear from cancer and the festival was the family celebration of how far they had come.

I’ve always been impressed with how, unlike many large-scale events, at Camp Bestival there is an overwhelming sense that everyone was looking out for one another, but the cheers and applause that rang out in that moment was something magical.

And what more could you want from a weekend away with your loves ones?

Scenes where parents dance with toddlers on their shoulders to TV pranksters Dick & Dom, chats with Traitors star Joe Marler and the odd appearance from kids’ favourite Bluey – even on stage with Bastille – and teenagers queuing patiently for activities alongside parents and grandparents.

This is a place where children truly get to enjoy the rare freedom of exploring a safe, welcoming environment where imagination is not only encouraged, but pretty much mandatory, at every turn.

Festival founders Rob and Josie have spent years perfecting an event that understands exactly what families need.

Every year the festival revelers such as us also get a chance to play dress up and this year’s theme played homage to the Sunday headline act, Brighton boy Norman Cook, aka DJ Fatboy Slim,.

The 2026 At the Seaside Fancy Dress Competition was a full-blown celebration of British seaside spirit: swimmers, mermaids, jellyfish, lobsters, sailors, and a Baywatch themed lifeguard flashmob.

Yes, there are headline acts capable of filling arenas, but there are also puppet shows, storytelling sessions, outdoor adventures, comedy, wellbeing activities and enough arts and crafts to keep even the busiest little minds occupied for hours.

There are hundreds of free activities for families to explore from theatre, circus skills, science explorations, sports and immersive theatre through to amazing live acts and DJs, family raves, comedy, award-winning street food, and flamboyant evening cabaret – all shared with families simply there to have the best time.

Tucked away in a haven of calm amidst the festival buzz, Slomo Wellbeing offered a three-day programme of free wellbeing session designed for all ages.

Headliners Jasmine Hemsley, Joe Wicks, Zita West, Trish Whelan, Rosie Underwood, Jonni Pollard, Carla DiMattina and Mama Shrooms lead a wellbeing programme featuring soundbaths, meditation, breath work, mindful movement, dance, yoga and food workshops, alongside a range of one-on-one treatments and, of course, Slomo Wellbeing’s hugely-popular saunas, ice baths and hot tubs.

Reflecting on Camp Bestival, presented by Debenhams 2026, festival curator Rob da Bank says: “What a ridiculously fun and sun kissed weekend we’ve had, bringing families together in proper Camp Bestival style.

“It always blows us away to see 30,000 revellers get stuck into so many activities, dancing to the beats and bands, getting arty and active with their families across our amazing site.

“There’s nothing Josie and I love more than to see all generations enjoying time together. We can’t wait for 2027 and are thrilled to announce that Early Bird Weekend Tickets go on sale this Friday! See you in Lulworth next year, campers!”

Returning for a second year as a headline partner, Dan Finley CEO of Debenhams Group added: “After such a fantastic debut with Camp Bestival last year, we couldn’t be more thrilled to return as headline partner for 2026.

“The energy, engagement, and connection we saw across families and festival-goers was incredible, it brought the heart of Debenhams to life in a vibrant way.

“We’re looking forward to building on that momentum, deepening our relationships, and delivering another unforgettable experience together.”

In an increasingly crowded festival market, Camp Bestival remains exactly what it has always aspired to be: a joyful celebration of music, adventure and family life, leaving thousands already counting down the days until next summer.

Thank you Camp Bestival. We can’t wait to come back!

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With memories made and next year’s adventure already calling, eager fans can already snap up 2027 Early Bird Weekend Tickets from 10am on Friday 7th August 2026.

Camp Bestival by Debenhams will take place from Thursday 29th July – Sunday 1st August 2027.

Early Bird Weekend Tickets go on sale 10am on Friday 7th August.

For more information and to buy tickets visit campbestival.net.

2027 Early Bird Prices:

Adult Weekend Camping: £225

Teen Weekend Camping: £157.50

Child 10-12 Weekend Camping: £130.50

Child 5-9 Weekend Camping: £110.50

Child 2-4 Weekend Camping: FREE (but ticket required)

Babes In Arms Weekend Camping: FREE (but ticket required)