Keegan

FORMER Corrie actress Michelle Keegan is being courted for her first Hollywood film role.

US screen star Reese Witherspoon is keen for the 38-year-old to play the lead in a big-budget movie adaptation of her new novel.

Oscar-winner Reese, 49, wrote crime thriller Gone Before Goodbye with American author Harlan Coben, who was behind Michelle’s Netflix hit show Fool Me Once.

Harlan introduced the women to each other at the launch of the book at the ­London Literature Festival, held at the capital’s Festival Hall last weekend.

A source said: “Harlan has been singing Michelle’s praises to Reese and she was keen to meet her. They got on really well and it was clear Reese was really taken with Michelle.

“The plan is to turn the book into a film and Michelle is their first choice to take on the role of the lead character, Maggie McCabe.

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Michelle Keegan looks incredible posing with Hollywood star Reese Witherspoon

“She is a combat surgeon and Michelle previously played an Army medic in Our Girl on the BBC, so it’s a role they know she could take on with style.

“It’s early days but Harlan and Reese think Michelle is tailor-made for this role and would love her to come on board when the time is right.”

Ex-soap star Michelle became a global success after the mystery drama Fool Me Once was released last year.

The series became one of Netflix’s most watched TV shows of 2024 — with more than 107 million people streaming it worldwide in the first 90 days.

Best-selling author Harlan said of his leading lady: “I think what Michelle has, besides tremendous talent and all the other stuff, is a genuine authenticity.

“I think the audience, loves her, people want to follow her life, because they sense that there’s a kindness and a gentleness.

“And that’s really her, she’s truly authentic.”

Speaking last year, 63-year-old Harlan insisted he would be keen to work with her again and reckoned: “If we could get Michelle, we’d love to get Michelle.”

Fans of Michelle, from Stockport — who has a daughter with Heart FM DJ husband Mark Wright — will next see her on screen in ITV crime drama The Blame.

She plays Detective Inspector Emma Crane in the six-parter, which is an adaptation of ­Charlotte Langley’s 2023 debut novel of the same name.

Michelle is also known for her roles in the Sky One comedy drama Brassic and BBC drama Ten Pound Poms, about Brits who migrated to Australia in the 1950s.

MICHELLE Keegan gushed over Hollywood superstar, Reese Witherspoon, at a glitzy event in London.

The Brassic actress posed with the Academy Award winning star and they were seen getting on very well as they chatted excitedly.

She met Reese at an event for her new book, Gone Before Goodbye, which she co-authored with best selling crime author, Harlen Coben.

Michelle recently starred in Fool Me Once, one of Harlen’s many adapted series on Netflix.

She shared a series of photos of her posing closely with Reese and another video of her chatting with Reese as Harlen watched on happily.

“When two genuises collide.. ‘Gone Before Goodbye’ is made! 📖 (I can confirm Reese Witherspoon is everything you’d imagined her to be, what a woman),” Michelle captioned the post on Instagram.

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Michelle Keegan shares very rare pic of daughter Palma – after TV show cancelled

Reese later responded to her post writing, “So wonderful to meet you .. finally!”

Gone Before Goodbye is Reese’s debut novel and tells the story of surgeon Maggie who after a series of personal tragedies is offered an intriguing opportunity by a former colleague.

Michelle also shared a series of her posing at the Southbank Centre in London where the event was held.

Her brush with Hollywood royalty comes after The Sun was first to reveal how Michelle’s BBC series Ten Pound Poms had been scrapped after two series.

The show’s axe comes as the ex-Coronation Street star waves goodbye to hit comedy Brassic on Sky, just as she’s returning to work after becoming a first time mum, to daughter Palma Elizabeth.

Period drama Ten Pound Poms followed a group of British citizens who emigrated from post-war Britain to Australia in the 1950s, with Michelle playing nurse Kate Thorne.

A BBC spokesperson said: “It’s been a joy to bring the story of the Ten Pound Poms to life for BBC viewers and we are really grateful to Danny Brocklehurst, Eleven and all the cast and crew who have worked on the series.”

The gentle drama made a splash when it first aired in May 2023, with 6.37million viewers but that had halved to 3.15million by the end of series two in April this year.

She is busy on a new thriller called The Blame for ITV, though, after time off to have baby Palma with husband Mark Wright.

After all the talk of a Bethpage “bearpit” in the build-up to this week’s Ryder Cup, Monday’s opening exchanges between the captains in New York could not have been more cuddly.

While the home fans are expected to bring a spikiness to Bethpage, Europe skipper Luke Donald and his US counterpart Keegan Bradley will deliver the bonhomie.

They live four miles apart in Florida, are members of Jack Nicklaus’ Bear’s Club, and are founding partners in a local restaurant.

Donald talked about their “strong friendship” and a “deep, mutual respect” for each other in his opening remarks.

“Keegan is someone that I’ve rooted for,” said Donald. “If he did well in a tournament, won a tournament, I would text him. We sometimes play practice rounds together, we’ve had dinners together.”

In return, Bradley gushed: “There are not many people I like more in the golf world than Luke Donald.

“I feel lucky to have Luke on the opposite side because we send each other texts, we joke around. I love hanging out and having a drink with Luke Donald.”

Their thoughts echoed a surreal calm at Bethpage’s famed Black Course, with spectators not allowed on to the property until Tuesday.

It is then that Europe’s players will get a first taste of the New York support, with Donald’s dozen set to play all 18 holes of this hilly course on Long Island, about 40 miles east of Manhattan.

And they could be ‘welcomed’ by thousands of fans in the stand that looms over the first tee and the adjacent 18th green. But will it be as intimidating as the cauldron created by the almost 5,000-seat stand that horseshoed the first tee at Rome in 2023?

Donald is taking no chances and has given his players virtual reality headsets which Rory McIlroy explained can be programmed to replicate the “sights and sounds” the away team are expecting.

Speaking this month, he said: “You can get them to say whatever you want them to say. You can go as close to the bone as you like.”

This was probably as close as we will ever get to having another playing captain in a Ryder Cup. In truth, the PGA of America put Bradley in an invidious position by appointing him long before his days at the top of the game are done.

As a result, it could be argued, the American team have been denied one of their top dozen golfers for the 12-man team charged with trying to win back the trophy.

Bradley’s form and playing passion ticked every one of the boxes he cited for the six players he chose as wildcard picks. “They’re all incredibly gritty players, tough players, great competitors,” the skipper said.

“They’ve all proven themselves at the highest level. And again, they’ve played basically in the bubble of the Ryder Cup for the last month and a half and performed at the highest level.”

Bradley insists their current playing standards made it easy for him to leave himself out. But if someone else was captain, Bradley would have felt aggrieved to be ignored in the way that he was by Zach Johnson two years ago.

Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay were no-brainers. They bring vital experience and strong matchplay credentials – especially Cantlay, who has a 15-6-1 record in team competitions for the United States.

Cameron Young, a New Yorker who set the Bethpage Black course record as an amateur, won his first PGA Tour title only three weeks ago. His form and background made him a natural selection.

Ben Griffin’s consistency has been stellar and as someone who gave up the game to work in an office before returning to stardom, he provides a romantic perspective that could sit well in the locker room.

Sam Burns’ putting will worry Luke Donald’s European team, but Collin Morikawa’s patchy form in 2025 perhaps makes the two-time major champion the most fortunate of the picks.

World number one Scottie Scheffler won the US PGA Championship and The Open this year to qualify with ease, and also added the BMW Championship in August.

JJ Spaun won the US Open to claim his first major, after being beaten to the Players Championship title in a play-off by Rory McIlroy.

Xander Schauffele won the US PGA and Open in 2024. He has had a quieter 2025, although he extended his run of not missing a cut to 58 events – the longest since Tiger Woods set the record at 142.

Russell Henley and Harris English rubber-stamped their spots over the weekend.

LIV Golf player Bryson DeChambeau qualified thanks to six top-10 finishes in the majors during the 17-month qualification period.

Captain Bradley described two-time major winner Justin Thomas, who was his first wildcard pick and finished seventh in the Ryder Cup rankings, as “the heartbeat of our team”, adding: “This guy was born to play Ryder Cups and specifically at Bethpage Black.”

Former world number two Collin Morikawa, also a two-time major champion, was eighth in the qualifying standings. Captain Bradley said his “golf resume speaks for itself”.

Ben Griffin, 29, was the third captain’s pick and makes his Ryder Cup debut. He was ninth in the Ryder Cup rankings.

“He’s burst on to the scene this year with 10 top-10s, only second to Scottie in our team, including two wins,” said Bradley.

Bradley selected another rookie in 29-year-old New York native Cameron Young, who finished 14th in the rankings, for his fourth pick. Young said competing in his home state would be “so special”.

Fifth pick Patrick Cantlay, who ranked 15th in the race to make the team, said the “team events mean everything” to him.

Sam Burns, who was 16th in the Ryder Cup rankings, was the final pick. Burns said he felt “privileged and honoured” to be selected, with Bradley adding he has “competitive fire in his belly”.

FIRE-BREATHING US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley may just have given himself the chance to finally unlock the suitcase that has remained off for limits nearly 11 years.

After experiencing a second successive Ryder Cup defeat at Gleneagles in 2014, Bradley vowed never to unpack his case until he finished on a winning USA team.

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That looked increasingly unlikely as the man from Vermont failed to play his way back onto the team, was controversially snubbed for a wild card in 2023, and was then installed as US captain a year ago.

But exactly a year to the day after he was asked if he wanted to take on the Ryder Cup captaincy, he clinched a victory that handed him a whole new dilemma.

Bradley, who jumped at the chance to do the job Tiger Woods had already turned down, has spent the last year playing down his chances of becoming the Ryder Cup’s first player-captain since Arnold Palmer doubled up in 1963.

But after his dramatic win in the Travelers Championship, he admitted he would have to take a “pretty hard look” at whether he should be on his own team.

In front of a Connecticut crowd chanting ‘USA, USA’, Bradley took advantage of Tommy Fleetwood’s three-putt bogey on the final hole by sinking a six footer for birdie – and a one shot victory.

That propelled him to a career high seventh in the world rankings, and catapulted him from 17th to ninth on the Ryder Cup qualifying list.

Only the top six qualify automatically. But the question now is whether Bradley, 39, can afford NOT to pick himself, unless his form falls off a cliff between now and September 26, when the battle with Europe begins at Bethpage Black in New York.

No-one can doubt Bradley’s passion for the Ryder Cup. Or anything else.

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He has become famous for the sort of frenzied celebrations that followed his latest win – letting out a massive roar, screaming a few obscenities at the adoring New England crowds and chest bumping caddie Scott Vail.

When he calmed down, a sheepish-looking Bradley confessed: “I kind of lost it again there, didn’t I? I might be in trouble with my mom for using some bad words.”

It would not be the first time.

Despite being known for his fiery nature, Bradley shocked plenty of people with his outburst in the USA’s President Cup team room, shortly after holing the winning putt  in their victory over the Internationals last year.

He roared: “I’ve been doubted my whole f***ing life, That’s when I do my best work. We are gonna go to Bethpage to kick their f***ing ass.”

Bradley later claimed he was surprised that comment was broadcast on Netflix’s Full Swing series. Really?

They did not hold back from showing the stunned reaction of the entire Bradley family when he missed out on a wild card pick from Zach Johnson two years ago, with the out of form Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler picked ahead of him.

Maybe the memory of how the Scottish crowd taunted Bradley over his exaggerated pre-shot routine – a dozen or more club twirls, and backing away from his ball a few times before pulling the trigger – counted against him.

And his volatile on-course antics, which once saw him in a World Match Play face-off with Migel Angel Jimenez that had to be defused by a rules official, has also raised a few eyebrows.

Off the course, Bradley is a completely different animal – a devoted family man who dotes on wife Jillian and their two sons.

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And he has formed a close friendship with basketball legend Michael Jordan.

Bradley was their original brand ambassador when the range of Jordan golf shoes was launched, and he still wears them now. Do not be surprised if golf nut Jordan is one of the US cheerleaders at Bethpage Black in September.

Bradley, 39, insists he will not surrender the US captaincy, “under any circumstances”.

But he admitted the possibility of doubling up – and leaning more heavily on vice-captains Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker, Kevin Kinsner and Jim Furyk to look after the off course stuff – is now a real possibility.

He said: “This changes the story a little bit. I never would have thought about playing if I hadn’t won. This definitely opens the door to play.

“I don’t know if I’m going to do it or not, but I certainly have to take a pretty hard look at what’s best for the team and we’ll see.

“I never really planned on playing. I really wanted to just be the captain. I really felt strongly about that. I want to serve the guys. They asked me to do a job. I want to do it to the best of my abilities.

“Now, with the amazing vice captains that I have, and I have a better perspective of playing in the Presidents Cup and being around a lot of the guys, I feel a lot more comfortable if I went that route.”

“It’s still only June, so we’ve still got a long ways to go. This definitely changes things a little bit, and we’ll all get together and figure out the best way to do this.”

England’s Tommy Fleetwood was denied his first PGA Tour title in heartbreaking fashion as American Keegan Bradley claimed the Travelers Championship by a single shot.

Fleetwood, 34, held an three-shot overnight lead going into the final round as he looked to finally get over the line on the PGA Tour.

After 41 top-10 finishes, Fleetwood looked on course to end his wait as he held a two-shot lead with three holes to play and a one-shot advantage going into the final hole.

After a decent tee shot on the 18th, a poor putt on his third shot left Fleetwood needing to hole from six-feet to make par.

But he narrowly missed, leaving him to bogey and hope that Bradley, who had reached the green in two, would miss his birdie putt.

The 2011 US PGA Championship winner – who will captain the USA at the Ryder Cup in September – made no mistake, slotting home to deny Fleetwood even a play-off.

“I’m gutted right now,” said Fleetwood.

“I’ve not been in that situation for a long time. It’s probably the worst way to finish.

“Leading by two with three to play. Leading by one going into the last and you don’t even make it to a play-off. It’s the worst way it could go.”

Former Coronation Street actress Michelle Keegan gave birth to her first child in March of this year alongside husband Mark Wright, with the happy couple raking it in during the new mum’s maternity leave

Michelle Keegan is reportedly raking in six figures while on she’s maternity leave as she’s able to make £8,000 a week. The actress gave birth to her first daughter Palma back in March but it’s thought that she can still make money while not taking on new acting projects.

The new mum reportedly raked in a huge £441,082 while she was pregnant which brings her net worth to more than £4million in total. Michelle’s performing arts firm Rosie Promotions’ filings show that Michelle was raking the money in while she was off on maternity leave.

Accounts filed at Companies House show that she made the equivalent of £8,482 per week for the year up to September 30, 2024. This increases the net worth of the company to £4,032,277 after bills.

The Sun reports that the firm has £3,473,623 in cash and £610,370 in property which includes a flat in Altrincham which was bought in 2022. Michelle made £280,000 in her firm’s first year of trading and she exceeded £2 million in 2021 before £3 million in 2023.

Another way Michelle makes money is by co-directing clothing business Mysa Active with her husband Mark Wright. Michelle has reportedly landed a six-figure deal to become the new face of Sky.

It’s thought that the star will film promo clips alongside fellow British actor Luther star Idris Elba. She managed to bag the deal after she has been a Sky staple in her comedy Brassic which is one of the most popular series on the channel.

A source said: “Michelle has really been enjoying maternity leave with Palma, but she’ll be back to work soon to film these new adverts for Sky. She has signed a six-figure deal for the job and is thrilled to have been chosen to appear alongside Idris, who has been their ‘face’.

“Brassic is ending after the seventh series and Michelle is keen to still be a part of the Sky brand. Landing this ad is huge for Michelle, as she’s fast becoming a brand in her own right. Everything she touches seems to turn to gold.”

Michelle has found fame over the years through her acting career. She is best known for her roles on Coronation Street and Our Girl.

However, being a famous actress wasn’t always on the cards for Michelle. She didn’t have any plans when she first left school and found herself working at Selfridges in the Trafford Centre on a make-up counter and at Manchester Airport as a check-in agent.

But this didn’t last for long as she them turned her hand to acting and she found success soon after. She secured first acting appearance on Coronation Street when she was offered the role of Tina McIntyre after just her second audition as an actress.

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MICHELLE Keegan looked sensational as she touched down in Cannes for the city’s film festival.

The 37-year-old is at the annual star-studded event on the French Riviera with L’Oreal – and she put on a seriously glam display for her first night. 

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Actress Michelle stunned in a boxy white blazer with a black trim and gold detailing, and she flashed her pins in a pair of matching hotpants. 

The Ten Pound Poms star finished the look with a tiny cross-body Chanel bag, tights and heels and later shared snaps of the look on Instagram. 

Michelle and husband Mark Wright welcomed baby girl Palma in March, and fans rushed to comment, with one writing: “Absolutely stunning.”

Someone else said: “How do you look like this post baby! Just insane.”

And a third added: “Just beautiful.” 

Michelle recently shared an emotional post after filming her last scenes as Erin Croft in Sky One comedy Brassic.

The Sun revealed in January how Brassic would not be returning for an eighth series.

And earlier this month Michelle posted some of her highlights after wrapping on set.

She said: “Goodbye Erin…

“So finally the Brassic journey has come to an end (feels so strange saying that) and what an unbelievable 7 years it’s been.

“I feel so privileged to have been a small part of such a mighty show.”

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