Hughes

JESY Nelson has been flooded with support after sharing the heartbreaking diagnosis of her twin girls – including her ex, Chris Hughes.

The former Little Mix star took to Instagram on Sunday to open up about her twins, Ocean Jade and Story Munroe, revealing they have been diagnosed with a rare muscle wasting disease that could be fatal.

Speaking from her home, Jesy said the pair have been diagnosed with SMA Type 1, or Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, the most severe form of Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

The tearful star told the camera: “If it’s not treated in time, your baby’s life expectancy will not make it past the age of two.”

Her stunningly honest discussion prompted a wave of support from celebrity pals, with Chris – who dated Jesy from 2018 to 2020 – one of the first to back her up and send her love.

“A warrior Jess. Be easy on yourself,” he told her. “Sending prayers to you all, everyone behind you guys 🤍”

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Amy Childs added: “I’m so sorry jesy what your going through ❤️xx sending love and strength to you and your beautiful girls xxx”

Megan McKenna wrote: “My heart is breaking for the pain you are in right now. Sending so many prayers and love to your beautiful girls ♥️♥️”

Jess Wright also commented, telling Jesy: “Sending you so much love Jesy. Love & strength ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️”

Ashley James also noted: “Jesy I’m so sorry. I’m thinking of you and your girls and sending love ❤️❤️’

“Jes, There are no words big enough for how unfair and heartbreaking this is. I am so deeply sorry,” wrote I’m A Celeb star Shona McGarty. “My heart aches for you and for your beautiful little girls.

“Please know that their lives, no matter what, are already filled with love because of you. That love matters. It always will.

“You don’t have to be strong, and you don’t have to find the right words. However you feel, whatever you need, it’s okay.

“You are not alone in this, Jes. You are so loved, and your girls are so loved. I’m holding you all in my heart. 💔🤍”

While Shaughna Phillips also added: “Sending you and your girls so much love and positive prayers, you are a superwoman and they are lucky to have you ❤️❤️❤️”

Jesy’s Journey

Jesy has shared that her babies had to endure “months and months” of doctors appointments before finally getting diagnosed with SMA Type-1.

The twins, which Jesy shares with Zion Foster, were born two months premature in May 2025, following a difficult pregnancy that saw her diagnosed with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), a rare but serious condition in which blood flows unevenly between identical twins sharing a placenta.

In her newest video, Jesy revealed that her mother, Janice, raised concerns after the twins didn’t show much movement in their legs.

While their initial concerns were chalked up to the twins being premature and therefore unlikely to hit milestones at the same pace as other children, Jesy and Zion pushed for more tests after they had trouble feeding.

According to Jesy, it took three to four months of appointments before they finally got a diagnosis, with the pair then being treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

“I feel like I’ve almost had to become a nurse in the space of two weeks,” Jesy added, explaining how she has had to put her daughters on breathing machines.

“The reason I wanted to make this video was because, the last few months has honestly been the most heartbreaking time of my life. I feel like my whole life has done a 360.

“I’m grieving a life I thought I was going to have with my children,” she emotionally said, before acknowledging that she is grateful to have them.

“I truly believe that my girls will defy all odds. And with the right help, they will fight this, and go on to do things that have never been done.”

“They probably will never regain their neck strength, so they will be disabled,” she revealed, adding it’s also unlikely they’ll ever be able to walk.

“So the best thing we can do right now is get them treatment and just hope for the best.”

Jesy then said that she wanted to make the video because if the disease is detected early enough in the first few months of a baby’s life “a lot of this stuff could be prevented”.

Shortly after Jesy shared the highly emotional video, her partner Zion Foster spoke out about their daughters’ diagnosis.

Taking to his Instagram page, Zion shared a photo of his daughters in what looked a stroller.

With tubes attached to their noses, the two tots could still be smiling widely.

Alongside the photo, Zion wrote: “Still smiling through all the challenges. Daddy loves you so much.”

When musician Cary Brothers found out that the Hotel Cafe was shutting down, he felt like he’d been told his parents were selling his childhood home.

The beloved music venue, which kick-started the careers of then-little-known singer-songwriters Adele, Sara Bareilles and Damien Rice, is closing its doors in early 2026, its co-founders Marko Shafer and Max Mamikunian announced in November. For those like Brothers, who considered the Hotel Cafe a second home, the news of the closure was a heavy blow.

Luckily for them, Shafer and Mamikunian plan to open a new location in the nearby Lumina Hollywood tower in early 2027. Brothers said it provides consolation, but not complete comfort.

“Yeah, they’re buying a great new house, but it’s not our house,” he said.

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Elected the “mayor of the Hotel Cafe,” Brothers discovered the Hollywood haunt before it even had a liquor license. In those days, the cafe had a BYOB policy and sold buckets of ice for visitors to chill the alcohol they brought in with them, and jazz legends pouring out of local bars after last call capped off their nights with a 3 a.m. jam session in the Hotel Cafe’s piano room (or smoking room, depending on whom you ask).

Every penny they made went back into the venue, Shafer said.

Brothers has always likened the Hotel Cafe in that era to “‘Cheers’ with guitars,” where he could show up any night and a dozen of his closest friends would be there. Eagles songwriter Jack Tempchin used to say it was the closest thing to the front bar at the Troubadour in the ’70s.

“Nobody became the Eagles, sure, but the spirit was the same,” Brothers said.

Dave Navarro, left, and Billy Corgan perform with Spirits in the Sky at the Hotel Cafe in 2009. The venue was a launching pad for many prominent singer-songwriters in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

(Tiffany Rose / WireImage via Getty Images)

Beginnings on Cahuenga Boulevard

The owners attribute much of Hotel Cafe’s success to good timing.

At the turn of the century, Mamikunian said, “Word on the street in Los Angeles was, it’s an industry town and music venues don’t work here.”

Mamikunian, on the other hand, believed the city was teeming with raw talent, but there was no place for it to develop. Judging by the laundry list of musicians who flocked to the Hotel Cafe in those early years, his hunch was spot-on.

“We hit it right when it needed to happen,” he said.

For independent artist Kevin Garrett, the Hotel Cafe was a “gym” where he could flex his creative muscles and experiment with his sound, judgment-free. For local folk singer Lucy Clearwater, it was her sign that moving to L.A. was the right decision for her career.

And for Ingrid Michaelson, the spot was ahead of its time in championing female artists. When the Hotel Cafe asked Michaelson to headline its 2008 all-female tour, she thought, “When does that ever happen, except for Lilith Fair?”

In Michaelson’s native New York, there were a handful of venues that cradled early-career musicians: the Living Room, the Bitter End, Kenny’s Castaways.

“But in L.A., there really was just the Hotel Cafe,” Michaelson, behind such 2000s hits as “The Way I Am” and “You and I,” said. “So it was this distilling of all the singer-songwriters in L.A., kind of coming through this one port.”

Patrons enter the Hotel Cafe through a back alleyway along Cahuenga Boulevard.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Through the musical generations

In its 25 years of operation, the Hotel Cafe has seen several generations of musicians shuffle through the space, Shafer said. Production manager Gia Hughes calls them the “graduating classes.”

In Brothers’ days, it was Joshua Radin, Bareilles, Meiko and other late 2000s singer-songwriters whose music regularly landed on shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” — or in Brothers’ case, the indie cult classic “Garden State,” directed by and starring fellow Northwestern alum Zach Braff.

Next came residencies from breakouts Johnnyswim and JP Saxe, and later, folksters Clearwater and her close confidant Rett Madison. Clearwater said that during her tenure, she would often join her fellow performers onstage to sing backing vocals or play a violin solo.

“Every four years it’s like a different kind of community that comes about,” Hughes said. “And it’s different, but it’s also not.”

It’s why Shafer and Mamikunian aren’t worried about losing the magic they created on Cahuenga. In their eyes, it was never confined to the space itself.

“I remember when we first talked about expanding the Hotel Cafe and everybody said, ‘Don’t do it. You’re going to ruin what you have,’” Shafer said, referencing the venue’s 2004 acquisition of additional space next door. (They expanded again in 2016 with their Second Stage annex, about half the capacity of the main stage.)

“When we did it, it changed the room so much for the better, and gave us access to bigger artists but still didn’t lose the intimacy,” he said about the expansion.

Shafer and Mamikunian thought they’d outgrown the Cahuenga space and had long been pondering a move. This year, the logistics lined up, Mamikunian said.

“It wasn’t anything dramatic,” he said. It was just time.

Hughes called the move “an opportunity to pursue a space that can check a lot more boxes for us, for the long term”: more parking, increased room capacity, greater accessibility.

L.A. singer-songwriter Maris performs in the Second Stage performance room at the Hotel Cafe.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

A new beginning around the corner

Zoning clearances are still pending for the new location in Lumina Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard, a high-rise apartment building set to be upgraded by Morguard Corp. And although the new venue is slated for a 2027 opening, the timeline depends on an upcoming zoning hearing, expected in March or April, Mamikunian said.

But Shafer and Mamikunian opted to announce the closure while details were still being worked out rather than wait and risk information leaking to the public. Plus, this way, both artists and patrons have time to say their goodbyes.

After Clearwater heard the news, she rushed to a “Monday Monday” weekly showcase and immediately felt like she’d been transported back to 2017, when she spent four-plus nights a week at the joint.

“So many of my old friends from that time — some of [whom] I had fallen out of touch with — I saw all of them there,” the Bay Area-bred folk singer said. “You could feel everybody loving it so much.”

The singer said she couldn’t help but wonder whether things would have panned out differently had people shown out like that before Shafer and Mamikunian made their choice. But sipping red wine in the green room that night, she felt lucky just to be there.

“It’s the wood, it’s the bar, the backstage chairs, the little lanterns,” she said. “I’m just going to miss what it looks and smells like, but the people, that’s never gonna go away.”

The Hotel Cafe hosted its annual holiday showcase on Dec. 19, with proceeds benefiting the Recording Academy’s nonprofit arm, MusiCares.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Farewell for now

Earlier this month, the Hotel Cafe hosted its last-ever holiday event at the Cahuenga location. Hughes, with the help of her interior designer sister, Nina Hughes, spent hours that day decking the halls with carnival lights and ribbons galore.

Even before the night’s performances began, attendees were clinking glasses and giving lingering hugs — the kind befitting the last day of summer camp.

“It’s going to be a love fest,” Hughes predicted.

As heartfelt as that night’s musicians were in their speeches, bartender Dan Shapiro said waxing sentimental onstage has been the norm for weeks.

“People are always doing eulogies to the place,” Shapiro said with a chuckle. As he surveyed the lineup posted at the bar, he said he’d put his money on performer Lily Kershaw shedding a few tears. Fellow bartender Dave Greve concurred.

Against the odds, Kershaw didn’t cry as she led the crowd through a rendition of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Our House” a few hours later. Subsequent performers stayed on theme with songs composed of resonant lyrics like “So long stranger / I like to think I know you best” and “Hold on tight / don’t let go.”

As Brothers crooned his own tribute, he closed his eyes, as though praying.

“It’s never gonna be what it was, but it’ll be something new and different, and I’m really excited to see what that is,” Lucy Clearwater said about the Hotel Cafe’s relocation to Sunset Boulevard.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

James Babson, a longtime doorman at the Hotel Cafe, said its staff and attendees alike have always been reverent toward performers. For some, he said, the listening experience is “spiritual.”

“Maybe they’re not churchgoers, so they have this sense of community and transcendence, where that song touches them on this level, which takes them somewhere else,” he said.

Peter Malek felt it the first time he stepped inside the Hotel Cafe 20 years ago. Hooked on that feeling, he started visiting the venue several times a week. Sometimes, he never even made it inside, content to chat with Babson for hours at the door; other evenings he spent in the staff offices, cramming for his medical school exams.

According to Malek’s last tally, he’s been to the Hotel Cafe 1,333 times. Although he was saddened when he heard the news of the relocation — several months before almost everyone else found out — he said he isn’t expecting Shafer and Mamikunian to replicate what they built at the Cahuenga site.

Instead, Malek said, he’s left “happy that he witnessed it.”

The Hotel Cafe was packed with regulars and first-time attendees at its farewell holiday performance in December.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

All night at the Hotel Cafe’s holiday party, attendees wondered whether penultimate performer Dan Wilson, of the pop-rock band Semisonic, would play “the song.” No one had to name it.

When Wilson finally sang the magic words, “Closing time, open all the doors / And let you out into the world,” the room erupted into cheers.

It was the closest Brothers came to crying, but he held it in. There would be time for that later.

TATE McRae has been spotted on a cozy date with NHL star Jack Hughes hours after attending his hockey game.

The couple sparked rumors they might have struck up a romance after Tate, 22, supported Jack, 24, from the stands at the New Jersey Devils vs. Buffalo Sabres game in Newark, New Jersey, on Sunday.

Several photos and videos circulated on social media, showing Tate at the game, leading many to wonder if she was there to cheer on Jack, who returned to the ice after an over-a-month-long recovery from a hand injury.

Further fueling chatter of a possible romance, the pair were seen taking a stroll on Monday in New York City.

Photos obtained by The U.S. Sun show the pop star rocking baggy blue jeans, a navy blue shirt, and a long black trench coat for the chilly outing.

She kept the look casual, accessorizing with white sneakers, a small tan handbag, and a yellow baseball cap while carrying a small coffee cup.

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Jack wore blue pants, a tan sweater, and a dark blue jacket, paired with white sneakers and a navy baseball cap.

His right hand was in a cast, seemingly due to the hand injury he endured off the ice last month.

They each appeared to be enjoying the other’s company as they smiled and laughed throughout the walk.

Tate most recently dated Australian rapper The Kid LAROI, who is widely believed to be the subject behind her new track, Tit for Tat.

The former couple broke up in July, but it wasn’t until her Rolling Stone cover story earlier this month that Tate confirmed their split.

Tate admitted that “it was really scary and overwhelming” at first to write and release the track about her relationship.

“I would never talk that way, even about my friends’ lives. I didn’t realize how much it would affect me, the public knowing my private life—because no one knows the full story of anything, ever,” the Canadian singer said, adding that the media coverage about their breakup made the heartbreak even harder to bear.

“I also hate people painting a situation that’s worse than it is.”

Tate also shared that she expects songs will be written about her, just like she writes about her experiences, because that’s often how artists process their emotions.

“What I’ve had to realize is that he’s going to write songs and I’m going to write songs, and that’s our way of expressing ourselves,” the So You Think You Can Dance alum explained.

“That’s our art, that’s our job. And once it’s out there, it’s not mine anymore.”

Tit for Tat is rumored to be in response to The Kid LAROI’s song A COLD PLAY, which seemingly details their split, although he hasn’t explicitly confirmed the speculation.