Elliot Zwiebach was 62 years old when he sang in front of a live audience for the first time.
The retired reporter had always loved show tunes, but he’d never considered singing in public before.
“I sang for my own amusement, and I wasn’t very amused,” he said recently.
But one night, after attending a few open mic nights at the Gardenia Supper Club in West Hollywood as a spectator, he got up the nerve to step onto the stage and perform a tune backed by a live band.
For his first song, he picked the humorous “Honey Bun” from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific.” It was frightening and he didn’t sing well. And yet, the following week he came back and did it again.
Newbie Ian Douglas, left, and longtime singer Elliot Zwiebach look over a sign-up sheet at the Gardenia’s long-running open mic night.
Sixteen years later, Zwiebach, now 78, is a core member of what the event’s longtime host Keri Kelsey calls “the family,” a group of roughly 25 regulars who sing jazz standards, show tunes and other numbers from the Great American Songbook at the longest-running open mic night in L.A.
“It’s very much like a community,” Zwiebach said on a recent evening as he prepared to sing “This Nearly Was Mine,” another song from “South Pacific.” “Everyone knows everyone.”
For 25 years, the small, L-shaped Gardenia room on Santa Monica Boulevard has served as a musical home for a diverse group of would-be jazz and cabaret singers. Each Tuesday night, elementary school teachers, acting coaches, retired psychoanalysts, arts publicists and the occasional celebrity pay an $8 cover to perform in front of an audience that knows firsthand just how terrifying it can be to stand before even a small crowd with nothing more than a microphone in your hand.
“You are so vulnerable up there with everyone staring at you,” said Kelsey, who has hosted the open mic night for 24 years and once watched Molly Ringwald nervously take the stage. “But it’s also the most joyous experience in the world.”
Director and acting coach Kenshaka Ali sings “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” by Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
The singers are backed by a live, three-piece band led by guitarist Dori Amarilio. The rotating group of musicians — a few of them Grammy winners — arrive not knowing what they will be playing that night. Some singers bring sheet music, others chord charts. And there are those who just hum a few bars and allow the musicians to intuit the key and melody enough to follow along. Poet Judy Barrat, a regular attendee, usually hands the evening’s piano player a copy of the poem she’ll be reading and asks him to improv along with her.
“It’s totally freeform,” said Andy Langham, a jazz pianist who toured with Natalie Cole and Christopher Cross and often plays the Gardenia. “I read the stanzas and try to paint pictures with the notes.”
Keri Kelsey, singing “Mack the Knife,” has hosted the Gardenia’s open mic night for 24 years.
The Gardenia, which opened in 1981, is one of the few venues in L.A. specifically designed for the intimacy of cabaret. The small, spare room has table service seating for just over 60 patrons and a stage area beautifully lit by an abundance of canned lights. Doors open at 7 p.m. on Tuesday nights, but those in the know line up outside the building’s nondescript exterior as early as 6 p.m. to ensure a reasonable spot on the night’s roster of singers. (Even though there is a one-song-per-person limit, the night has been known to stretch past 12 a.m.) Nichole Rice, who manages the Gardenia, takes dinner and drink orders until the show starts at 8:30 p.m. Then the room falls into respectful silence.
Pianist Andy Langham and guitarist Dori Amarilio perform live music accompaniment for each open mic participant at the Gardenia.
“This is a listening room,” said singer-songwriter Steve Brock, who has been attending the open mic night for more than a decade. “I’ve been to other rooms where I’m competing with tequila or the Rams. Here, when anyone goes up in front of that microphone, everyone stops.”
On a recent Tuesday night, the show began as it always does with an instrumental song by the band (a piano, guitar and upright bass) before an opening number by Kelsey. Dressed in a black leather dress and knee-high boots, she had this time prepared “Mack the Knife.” “This may be one of the loungiest lounge songs ever,” she said. “Maybe that’s why I really like it.”
People begin to line up outside the Gardenia at 6 p.m. to get a spot for the Tuesday open mic night.
The first singer to take the stage was Trip Kennedy, a bearded masseur who performed “The Rainbow Connection” in a sweet tenor. When he finished, Kelsey shared that she was cast as an extra in “The Muppets Take Manhattan.”
“It was the most ridiculous thing,” she said, filling time as the next singer consulted quietly with the band. “I was a college student who dressed up as a college student for the audition.”
Dolores Scozzesi, who sang at the Hollywood Improv in the ’80s between comedy sets, performed a moody arrangement of “What Now My Love.” “This is a [chord] chart from 2011,” she told the audience before she began. “I want to try it because these guys are the best.”
Monica Doby Davis, an elementary school teacher, sings the jazz standard “You Go to My Head” at the Gardenia.
Zwiebach performed a medley of two Broadway hits, “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” (which he altered to “his face”) and “This Nearly Was Mine,” easily hitting all the notes. After, his young friend Ian Douglas, a relative newbie who started attending the open mic night in the spring, sang the jazz standard “You Go to My Head.” Zwiebach praised the performance.
“I know that song very well and you did a great job,” he said.
Monica Doby Davis, who once sang with the ’90s R&B girl group Brownstone and now works as an elementary school teacher, also performed “You Go to My Head.” Although she had left the entertainment business decades ago, she said finding the Gardenia open mic night 13 years ago “brought music back to my life.”
Tom Nobles, left, sings alongside bassist Adam Cohen, center, and pianist Andy Langham at the Gardenia.
There were many beautiful, intimate moments that night, but perhaps the best was when Tom Nobles, an actor and retired psychoanalyst in a purple knit cap and thick plastic glasses, forgot the words to “Lost in the Masquerade” by George Benson.
He stumbled for a moment, a bit perplexed, before turning to his friends for help.
“Whoever knows the words, sing it with me,” Nobles said to the crowd.
Quietly at first and then louder and stronger, the whole room broke out into song.
We’re lost in a masquerade. Woohoo, the masquerade.
Septuagenarian TV star Kelsey Grammer is still growing his family, most recently with the arrival of his newest child.
The beloved “Cheers” and “Frasier” actor, who turned 70 in February, is now a father of eight. Grammer announced he and wife Kayte Walsh welcomed their fourth child together during his appearance on the “Pod Meets World” podcast.”
We just had our fourth one, it just became eight kids,” he said during the podcast episode, published Monday. “Christopher, that’s [who] just joined the family.”
The Emmy-winning TV veteran said his newest son arrived “three days” before the episode taped and joked with podcast hosts Rider Strong, Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle that he has “clusters” of children of different ages.
Grammer and Walsh, 46, married in 2011 and also share a teenage daughter and two sons. People reported in June that the couple was expecting a child again, publishing photos of the two taking a stroll through London.
The five-time Emmy winner has been married four times. Before Walsh, he was married to dancer-model Camille Donatacci. He was also briefly married to Leigh-Anne Csuhany, and dance instructor Doreen Alderman before that. His seven other children, the eldest being actor Spencer Grammer, hail from those previous relationships.
The sitcom star became a grandfather in October 2011, when his son Spencer welcomed a son with ex-husband James Hesketh.
In the past, Grammer has been open about the “beauty of being an older dad.” He told the Guardian in 2018 that raising children later in life he feels fortunate to “get a chance to kinda try it again. That’s been a real gift.”
The actor announced the arrival of his eighth child while promoting his book “Karen: A Brother Remembers,” released in May, about the brutal murder of his sister at age 18 and his lifelong battle with grief. During the episode, Fishel asked the actor how much his children knew about his late sister.
He explained his older children have varying degrees of knowledge about his sister, while his younger kids will have to wait to learn more and read his book. “Some of the stuff is too brutal, they don’t really need to be exposed to that yet,” he said.
Throughout the podcast episode, Grammer also recalled the proceedings in his sister’s case and learning how to process the loss while delivering laughs on TV.
“I didn’t walk around talking about it a lot, it’s been with me since the day it happened,” he said.
Kelsey Grammer has just welcomed a fourth baby with wife Kayte, 24 years his juniorCredit: GettyThe actor is best-known for appearing in Cheers and FrasierCredit: RexKelsey now has eight children in total with four different womenCredit: Getty
The daughter of Bristol City footballer Alan Walsh and 24 years his junior, she tamed the “wild man of American comedy”, who had long battled drug and alcohol addiction.
She gave him the one thing he was missing – cosy domesticity – after endless family heartache including his sister being raped and murdered, two half brothers dying in a freak accident and his estranged dad being gunned down when he was just 13.
The couple already had a brood of three – Faith, 13, Gabriel, 10, and Auden James, eight – prior to Kelsey announcing “we’ve just had our fourth” on yesterday’s episode of Pod Meets World.
New arrival Christopher, born on Friday, takes the actor’s baby tally to eight with four different mums.
And a source told the Mail he’s “thrilled to finally have time to fully enjoy being a father all over again… [and] embracing the hands-on parenting he missed in the past”.
There’s no doubt Kayte put an end to Kelsey’s turbulent years in the wilderness, which were plagued with tragedy, heartache and more faux pas than his pompous, gaffe-prone character Dr Frasier Crane.
Yet their romance got off to a bumpy start – as the actor was still married to ex-Playboy pin-up and future Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Camille Meyer.
Kelsey would later claim his third-wife only “married me because I was Frasier”. At his peak, he raked in more than £1million per episode for the show, which ran for 11 seasons.
He also described their marriage, which spanned 14 years until 2011, as being “so broken” that they “had not had sex in a decade” and claimed she asked for a divorce the day of his mother’s funeral in 2008.
For a long time Kelsey knew the relationship was on the rocks, admitting it was “over as soon as it began” yet he stayed with her as a “self-imposed sentence”, mainly out of stubbornness and for the sake of their two children, Mason, 24, and Jude, 21.
He met Kayte in 2009 as she showed him to his seat on a Virgin Atlantic Upper Class flight from Los Angeles to London, where he was due to appear in a play.
She claimed it was “love at first sight” – dismissing the much-joked about claim of cabin crew being on the “lookout” for wealthy suitors – and noticed “this golden glow around him”.
They chatted about music, England and life at the plane’s bar before he slipped her his number and told her the hotel he was staying at.
Kayte was “blown away by how lovely he was” but uncertain and “indecisive” about whether to call him.
She told the Mail: “I said, ‘God, if I’m meant to call him, I want a sign.’ I looked out the bus window and saw a sign reading, ‘Frasier Suites’. I was like, ‘OK, that’s not enough.’
I was her big brother, I was supposed to protect her – I could not. I have never gotten over it… It very nearly destroyed me
Kelsey Grammer
“Four minutes later, we passed an art store called Crane and a few moments later, we drove past the hotel where he was staying.”
Secret mistress
Two days later they went for a coffee, where he confided he was “in a situation he wasn’t happy in and I needed to be patient”. She claimed they spent months only kissing and holding hands.
It wasn’t long before Camille discovered Kelsey’s mistress. Allegedly when she arrived at the couple’s New York apartment to be told by the doorman ‘Mrs Grammer’ was already inside.
Fire and fury followed. The former Playboy bunny claimed she was dumped by text, sniped about his bedroom skill and made another lurid claim he liked to dress in women’s clothes.
At the time Kelsey responded: “Never been a cross-dresser but I have been very sexually adventurous. I’m not ashamed of anything I’ve done in the bedroom.”
Kelsey accused his ex Camille, now on reality TV show Real Housewives, of being fame hungryCredit: GettyHe was married to Camille when he met KayteCredit: Getty – ContributorKelsey and Kayte welcomed their first child a year after getting married in 2011Credit: Getty – Contributor
He considered the slings to be “pathetic” attempts to remain famous – yet as a “parting gift” to give her a new direction, he helped to secure her a spot on Real Housewives and even appeared in a single episode.
The couple married just 15 days after Kelsey’s £30million divorce from Camille was finalised in February 2011. It followed a stern demand before Kayte accepted his proposal.
She recalled: “Because he’s been married so many times before I said, ‘You have to marry me more times.’ I’m his fourth wife, so I said, ‘You have to marry me at least five times.’”
Lavish nuptials followed – the first was New York, followed by an Elvis officiated Viva Las Vegas do, another at their LA home and the final, an especially romantic service in Giverny, France.
The last was inspired by Kayte’s favourite artwork Monet’s Bridge Over a Pond of Lilies. He took her to the bridge the painter used, got down on one knee and proposed.
She recalled: “It was a complete shock. Kelsey had arranged everything with the Mayor so we got to say our vows in French. It was lovely.”
Serial killer slayed sister
The romance with Kayte has undoubtedly given Kelsey the peace and stability he has lacked throughout his turbulent life.
He was born to parents Sally, a dancer, and Allen, a coffee shop owner, in Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands, but raised in New Jersey by his mum after they divorced when he was two.
At the age of 12, his grandad died of cancer and the following year his estranged dad was murdered during a wave of racial violence after Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968.
Seven years later, his younger sister Karen, 18, was kidnapped, raped and murdered by serial killer Freddie Glenn, who killed three women.
Glenn, now 68, who Kelsey remarkably forgave many later years, was sentenced to die in the gas chamber only for the death penalty to be scrapped.
“I was her big brother, I was supposed to protect her – I could not,” he said at the murderer’s 2009 parole hearing. “I have never gotten over it… It very nearly destroyed me.”
And just five years after losing Karen, two of his half-brothers were killed in a freak scuba diving accident.
Kelsey Grammer Sister KarenCredit: Youtube
Unsurprisingly, that amount of trauma caused unbridled chaos in his personal life – with him stating they were “the catalyst that got me into a really big problem for at least the next 15 years”.
‘Chaos, insanity, mayhem’
He consistently battled cocaine and alcohol abuse – especially while filming Frasier and Cheers – and was known for being difficult to work with, one colleague described him as “one of the biggest jerks” he had ever met.
Kelsey was described as “oozing” onto set with “glazed over eyes, half asleep, going through whatever he was going through” yet when the director yelled ‘Action’, he was “pitch perfect”.
Because he’s been married so many times before I said, ‘You have to marry me more times’…You have to marry me at least five times
Kayte Grammer
He was regularly in trouble with the law too. Kelsey was charged at least four times for crimes including cocaine possession, drink driving and violating parole conditions.
The crimes, which spanned 1988 to 1996, resulted in 30 days jail time, more than 300 hours of community service, 90-day house arrest, fines in the thousands and a 30-day court mandated rehab stint.
His relationships weren’t going well either. Kelsey’s first marriage to dance instructor Doreen Alderman lasted eight years until 1990, despite their relationship being over after less than 12 months. They share a daughter Spencer.
Dance teacher Doreen Alderman was his first wifeCredit: GettyGreer Grammer with her mum, Barrie BucknerCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
Two years later Kelsey had a second child, Greer, who later appeared on MTV show Awkward, with make-up stylist Barrie Buckner.
He married former stripper Leigh-Anne Csuhany, who was three months pregnant, seven months after that. But their romance wouldn’t last.
Kelsey filed for an annulment and evicted her from his home, alleging she was physically abusive to him.
He claimed she once fired a gun at him and even on their wedding day, he was seen sporting a black eye from one of her violent attacks.
In his autobiography, Kelsey claimed she convinced him he was “nothing, unattractive, untalented, undeserving of love and incapable of being loved by anyone but her” to ensure he would never leave.
“She’d spit in my face, slap me, punch me, kick me, break glasses over my head, break windows, tear up pictures of my loved ones, threaten to kill me or herself,” he wrote.
Shortly after the split, Leigh-Anne tried to kill herself. She suffered a miscarriage.
Kelsey evicted second wife Leigh-Anne Csuhany from his homeCredit: GettyThe star also had a fling with glamour model Tammi AlexanderCredit: News Uk
Kelsey had a string of short-lived flings after, including with Playboy model Tammi Alexander, before his third marriage to fellow top-shelf mag pin-up Camille.
Five weddings
Ultimately, it has been with Kayte where he has finally found happiness. But that contentment could have easily been derailed due to the tragedies they have faced as a couple.
Two of their pregnancies ended in miscarriage and Faith’s unborn sibling died in utero. Heartbreakingly, this often requires a mum to undergo labour to birth the deceased child.
Kayte admitted it was “devastating” for them but the blows further strengthened their relationship. Each baby has reminded them “life is a miracle” and to count their blessings.
There was the other part of me that wanted to surrender to it and go, ‘Let it mess you up a little bit. Let it hurt.
Kelsey Grammer
His ever expanding brood has also given him a second chance at parenting, after admitting he took his eye off the ball with the older kids.
He said: “I have neglected a couple of the kids in my life, especially the first two,” he said. “I’m trying to make up for a little of it now. I’m still their dad, so you can always have [a] chance to show up.”
With a stable, loving home Kelsey’s addiction issues appear to have been kept at bay – despite in 2016 admitting he stopped attending AA because he likes to “enjoy a drink”.
It’s known he was sober for years after his 1996 car crash while under the influence, which resulted in him being sent to rehab by the courts.
Previously, Kelsey’s calling toward “chaos, insanity, mayhem” was spurred on by “running away from uncomfortable feelings” and being unable to “forgive myself” for his sister’s death.
Kelsey with third wife Camille and Spencer, the daughter from his first marriageCredit: GettyKelsey is trying to be a better dad to his kids after ‘neglecting’ the older ones, including Greer, picturedCredit: GettyKelsey also shares Mason and Jude with CamilleCredit: Getty
He acknowledges having “a self-destructive part of me” that encouraged his addiction, which worsened his health and contributed to a near-fatal heart attack in 2008.
Kelsey added: “I always had something in the back of my head saying, ‘Okay. That’s enough now. Cut it out. You know why you’re doing this.’
“But there was the other part of me that wanted to surrender to it and go, ‘Let it mess you up a little bit. Let it hurt.’”
But now thanks to Kayte, he lives a calmer life – when not changing nappies at 5am – and previously she said their “favourite place is our sofa”.
There they snuggle up, eat popcorn while watching films and eventually fall asleep in each other’s arms. It’s a far cry from the decades of debauchery before.
Kayte says: “As a general rule I try to operate from love. I always wanted to find a family and the love of my life. That was my dream. I feel blessed.”
No doubt Kelsey feels it’s he who has been blessed, after finding the woman who saved his life and drastically changed his future for the better.
Pop star Sabrina Carpenter hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the first time ever, but it sure didn’t feel like it.
Carpenter was the musical guest last year when Jake Gyllenhaal hosted, and at the 50th anniversary special, she performed with Paul Simon and appeared in a sketch. Whether it’s because she’s done the show both as a musician and a comedic performer (her song performances are often a mix of both) or not, Carpenter seems perfectly at ease in Studio 8H, like she’s always been there.
That served her well on an episode that started badly with a retread of a sketch that’s been done a few too many times (keyword: Domingo), and a monologue that, despite Carpenter’s charm, didn’t seem to connect with the audience.
But after that, Carpenter’s quicksilver timing and ease, plus a diverse set of sketches, put the episode over the top. She sounded just like a 12-year-old boy in a sketch about preteens hosting a podcast called “Snack Homies” with President Trump (James Austin Johnson) as a guest, sold a provocative neck pillow in a funny Shop TV sketch, performed a pretaped “Grind Song” with Bowen Yang, and was thrown out of a window as the host of a girlboss seminar. She scared a co-worker (Ashley Padilla, quickly becoming a critical “SNL” utility player) on her birthday and played a singing and dancing washing machine alongside new cast member Veronika Slowikowska.
It also didn’t hurt that Carpenter’s two playful and well-sung musical performances, for “Manchild” and “Nobody’s Son,” were showstoppers. Her love of the show was evident: she performed the former wearing a “Live from New York” T-shirt and panties with “It’s Saturday Night!” written on the back.
The best argument for inviting Sabrina Carpenter back sometime might be that she held the show together with no outside guests or surprise cameos, which hasn’t happened on “SNL” in a long time. The only exception was a short film from “Please Don’t Destroy” writer Martin Herlihy at the end of the show that may have been about racism and Frankenstein’s Monsters (yes, plural).
We’ll keep this short because the less said about this week’s cold open the better. Chloe Fineman and Andrew Dismukes returned as Matthew and Kelsey, a couple that has struggled in the past with trust issues from Kelsey’s frequent trips with her friends that usually end with a passionate affair with a guy named Domingo (Marcello Hernández). This time, they’re celebrating Matthew’s 30th birthday, but for some reason, Kelsey has flown in her girlfriends (including Carpenter) to sing some pop songs in bad karaoke style about a recent weekend they spent in Nashville. This time the songs are modeled after Taylor Swift’s “Fate of Ophelia,” Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra” and Alex Warren’s “Ordinary Song.” The ladies went to Nashville and of course Domingo is still around. “This is strike six,” Matthew cries haplessly. “Babe, it won’t happen again,” Kelsey promises. Let’s hope so. The Domingo sketches need to be put to rest.
Carpenter’s monologue was largely about dispelling (but not really) the notion that the singer is overly sexualized, or as she described it, a “Horndog popster.” “There’s so much more to me,” she said, “I’m not just horny. I’m also turned on.” She made hay of the controversy over her “Man’s Best Friend” album cover by joking that it was cropped and revealing that Bowen Yang and Martin Short both originally appeared on it, with Yang pulling her up by her hair and Short pushing her away from a buffet line. The monologue started to fizzle when Carpenter went to the audience for some interaction to prove she can have chemistry with anyone or anything, only to come back to the stage for an awkward bit with Kenan Thompson, who said he wanted a Cameo video for his niece. Carpenter has charisma to spare, but the monologue was too disjointed to go anywhere.
Best sketch of the night: Does making plans to see “Plans” also scare you?
Mock horror movie trailers have done well on “SNL” lately and the streak continues with “Plans,” a Blumhouse horror film featuring Ben Marshall and Carpenter as a couple horrified to realize that plans they made back on Fourth of July have suddenly come to fruition with a cousin and her husband. As their terror grows, they remember that the cousin (Sarah Sherman) talks about marathons (“The way I see it, losing toenails is a badge of honor”) and the husband (Dismukes) likes to show off 11-minute YouTube videos. They’re going to end up at a crowded ramen restaurant and then a bad interactive play. For anyone who’s ever regretted saying yes to socializing, this might be your worst nightmare.
Also good: The neck pillow monologues
The Shop TV sketches wouldn’t work so well if Padilla and Mikey Day didn’t do such a good job infusing their characters Bev and Rhett with such practiced professional panic when things go awry, as they’ve done before. Carpenter appears as Virginia Duffy, a crafter who’s designed an ergonomic pillow that looks just like a giant vagina, which comes in different colors. “Why would you bring the pink one?” asks an exasperated Rhett. By the time the faux fur lining is added and Rhett tries on the neck pillow, culminating in an unwanted baby sound effect, Shop TV has done it again. Bonus points for Johnson as Tim Tucker, who appears at the beginning of the sketch with a trick-or-treat pail in the shape of Jesus Christ’s head. “Trick or treat, smell my feet, walk with Christ down the Halloween street,” he chants.
‘Weekend Update’ winner: Did you see ‘Saw’? He did not
New cast member Tommy Brennan discussed moving to New York and growing up in Minnesota, but it was the return of Hernandez’s Movie Guy character, who wants to talk about scary movies but has seen absolutely none of them. “Everybody saw ‘Weapons!’ I have to tell you, I was not one of those people,” he says. Movie Guy expresses that horror movies often tell you what they’re about: with “Scream,” “everbody scream!” With “Smile,” “everybody smile!” How about “Saw?” “Everybody saw! But not me, I did not see.” He goes on to touch on why Stewie from “Family Guy,” “Shrek” and others are also scary (even if he hasn’t seen them). “‘One Missed Call’ … is this a movie about my mother?”
Kelsey Parker appeared on Loose Women this afternoon to speak about the process of grieving her stillborn son Phoenix, as she shared her daughter’s heartbreaking reaction
The podcast host and widow of The Wanted’s Tom Parker sadly announced her third child was born stillborn at 39 weeks in June. Kelsey looked forward to welcoming her first child with partner Will Lindsay, who she found love with two years after Tom’s tragic death from an inoperable brain tumor in 2022.
Kelsey Parker announced the happy news in January, but tragically, five months later, the 35-year-old broke the devastating news that the little boy who they had named Phoenix, was stillborn. She then took time away from both work and social media.
The star appeared on Loose Women to talk about her grief during Tuesday’s episode, in which spoke about the heartbreaking moment she had to tell Aurelia, six, and Bodhi, four, that the family had experienced death again with their younger sibling.
“Time has been really tough,” she said. “Because Aurelia’s six, I wasn’t giving her the right answer to what she wanted. I said, ‘Pheonix has died and Pheonix is with daddy now.’
“And she was like, ‘I hate dad, why does dad keep taking everyone?’ So that wasn’t the right answer. Again, you’re trying to find out for your children, what’s the right way to navigate this?
“And I think with my little Bodhi, he’s been through so much. I was 35 weeks pregnant when Tom was diagnosed, he was only 18 months when Tom died. I’m his hero, so as long I’m okay, he’s okay. But with Aurelia, she’s beyond her years.”
Earlier this year, sitting down to speak with Christine Lampard on Lorraine for the first time since the devastating loss, Kelsey opened up on how she grief once again with her two little ones.
“It’s being honest. It’s telling them facts. Because I never want them to feel like I’ve not been honest and years later they say, ‘Oh but mum, you didn’t tell me this and you didn’t tell me that!'” she said.
“They’ve lost their dad, they know their dad’s with the angels now, so we told them, ‘Phoenixhas gone with your daddy,'” Kelsey revealed she told her children as she shared the devastating news.
The star emphasised how important she felt it was to talk about grief, after she took time off social media to spend time with her family and allowing herself to grieve.
On this afternoon’s Loose Women, Kelsey explained how she went straight back to work following Tom’s tragic death, but this time, she made sure to take the time to grieve for herself.
“You need that moment for you. And I’ve listened to myself this time. I did rush back into work when Tom passed. But I listened to myself this time, and I’m actually proud that I took some time to sit with this.”
It was a night when defenders draped over Kelsey Plum, her path to the rim often crowded. And when she turned to the officials for relief, the whistles were elusive.
But when it mattered most — that being with 3.3 seconds to play and the Sparks trailing by one — Plum lowered her shoulder and slipped between swiping arms and lunging bodies.
One defender stumbled, another bit on a fake and Plum glided almost untouched into the lane, kissing a floater off the glass as the horn sounded in an 81-80 Sparks escape over the Dallas Wings.
“Just a heck of a finish by her,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said.
Plum’s teammates mobbed her, embracing the veteran who appeared unsatisfied during her seven minutes on the bench and frustrated after Dallas defenders batted away her attempts at the rim. All of it faded, though, once she poured in 10 fourth-quarter points en route to 20 on the night.
“I feel like that’s what basketball is all about — putting on a show for [fans],” the Sparks’ Rickea Jackson said. “Both teams truly did that and everyone enjoyed themselves and got their money’s worth tonight.”
But before the buzzer, the night belonged to Plum, Crypto.com Arena belonged to Paige Bueckers of Dallas. In fact, at times Wednesday night, it seemed as though the Sparks had six players on the floor.
Bueckers drew ovations fit for a home star. With swaths of fans flaunting her face on a T-shirt and spilling over railings for autographs pregame, the Wings rookie rode that backing into a career-high 44 points — tying Cynthia Cooper for a most by a WNBA rookie.
“She’s a phenomenal player, point blank period,” the Sparks’ Cameron Brink said.
The Sparks (17-18) entered Wednesday’s affair with a blueprint for Bueckers, Roberts recognizing pregame that “we let Paige get to the middle which is what she wants to do,” in reference to Bueckers’ then-career-high 29-point performance last Friday against her Sparks.
But Bueckers solved every look the Sparks threw at her. Double-team her high, and she threaded the ball to cutters. Leave her one-on-one, and she buried mid-range jumpers with a composure that belied her rookie tag.
“Paige was unbelievable tonight,” Roberts said. “Did we make some mistakes defensively? Sure. Was she just unconscious and playing at another level? Yes. Just kind of have to tip your hat.”
Yet across the floor from the rookie, L.A. leaned on a pair who had worn that tag just last season.
They were a product of the 2024 draft, a haul that featured Brink at No. 2 and Jackson at No. 4. Their pairing never had the chance to fully bloom last year, Brink suffering a season-ending injury just a month in.
A year later, with Brink healthy and Jackson entrenched in the starting lineup, the Sparks finally cashed in on their draft night selections. On Tuesday, the sophomores saved their team from a five-minute scoring drought to open proceedings against the Wings, spurring a 15-5 spree that stifled the noise that followed Bueckers.
“On both ends, we just looked like we’ve been off for a couple of days,” Jackson said. “I said, ‘Why does it feel like we haven’t played in a minute?’ But we picked it up. The first five minutes was crazy, but we picked it up.”
Applause followed Bueckers all game, but the final word — and the final bucket — belonged to L.A.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Kelsey Plum scored 28 points, Dearica Hamby had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and the Sparks held on to beat the Dallas Wings 97-96 on Friday night after Paige Bueckers missed a potential winning three-pointer.
Plum gave the Sparks a 95-82 lead with 4:25 remaining in the fourth quarter before Dallas closed on a 14-2 run.
Plum made the Sparks’ next basket at the 1:03 mark for a 97-91 lead. Bueckers answered with a quick layup to pull within four and the Sparks turned it over at the other end.
JJ Quinerly sank a three-pointer from the corner with 15 seconds left for a one-point deficit. Plum missed two free throws and Dallas took over possession after a jump ball.
Bueckers raced up the floor for a contested three-pointer that rolled off the rim as time expired.
Azurá Stevens and Rickea Jackson each added 15 points for the Sparks (16-17). Julie Allemand had 12 points, 10 assists and four steals. Plum reached 4,000 career points in the first half. Hamby had at least 20 points and 10 rebounds for the sixth time this season.
Bueckers finished with 29 points on 12-of-21 shooting for Dallas (9-25). The No. 1 pick in the draft became the fastest player in franchise history to score 500 points. Maddy Siegrist added 15 points, Quinerly had 11 points and nine assists, and Aziaha James scored 10 points.
The Sparks led 53-50 at halftime behind double-digit scoring by Hamby, Jackson and Plum.
Less than 10 days ago, the Seattle Storm and the Sparks battled deep into a second overtime — the first of the 2025 WNBA season — wringing every drop of drama out of Climate Pledge Arena. On Sunday night, the same stakes were at play as the teams tried to strengthen their playoff chances.
The intensity didn’t let up till the final horn. With 5.6 seconds left, Dearica Hamby roared into the paint and scored on a driving layup to put the Sparks ahead for good. After the Storm missed their final chance to win, pandemonium spilled onto the floor — Sparks players leaping into one another’s arms, fans hollering over the hardwood, chanting “Hamby” in celebration of the Sparks’ 94-91 victory.
In addition to Hamby’s last-minute heroics, Kelsey Plum proved vital to helping the Sparks win for the ninth time in 11 games. She finished with 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts has painted Plum as a shape-shifter — able to twist her game into whatever the game demands.
“That’s what your best players should do — get everybody else involved and make sure we’re flowing,” Roberts said before the game, “and then when they need you, you step up. She’s done a tremendous job.”
Trailing the Storm (16-16) by 17 in the first quarter, Plum, who still hadn’t scored yet, tore into a one-on-five fast break, freezing the defense with a hesitation at the arc and a glide into the basket for an and-1.
Seconds later, Plum created another opportunity off an extended right elbow, drilling a three-pointer in Erica Wheeler’s face.
Sparks guard Kelsey Plum, right, drives against Seattle guard Brittney Sykes in the fourth quarter Sunday.
(Luke Hales / Getty Images)
It was the spurt of momentum the Sparks (15-16) needed to overcome a sputtering start.
Playing the entire first half, Plum went from the table-setter to shot-maker in the second quarter — springing Rae Burrell for a corner three before splashing a triple to tie the score 29-29 early in the second quarter.
Azurá Stevens and Cameron Brink were strong in the key early, but the Sparks clanked jumpers, dribbled into traffic and watched offensive possessions die on the rim in addition to committing eight first-quarter turnovers. So Roberts rolled the dice on a smaller look — swapping her paint patrol of Stevens and Brink for guards Julie Vanloo and Burrell.
Plum and Julie Allemand kept the smaller unit in constant motion, whipping passes from wing to wing and slicing open lanes for Burrell and Rickea Jackson, while Vanloo, Allemand and Plum cashed in from beyond the arc. Roberts rode that group into the second quarter, and they eventually whittled the deficit.
When the final buzzer faded, players were still grinning through hugs, and the crowd’s enthusiasm continued — excitement for a Sparks team that had yanked itself out of the fire.
INDIANAPOLIS — Azurá Stevens scored 23 points, Kelsey Plum had 21 points and six assists and the Sparks ended a four-game losing streak by beating the short-handed Indiana Fever 85-75 on Thursday night.
Indiana played without Caitlin Clark who was out because of a groin injury. Clark had recently returned from a quad injury that kept her sidelined for five games. She returned on June 14 and scored 32 points to help the Fever to a 102-88 victory against the Liberty.
Plum made a three-pointer with 4:13 left to give the Sparks a 67-66 lead, its first since the opening minute of the second quarter. She added two free throws on their next possession to cap a 21-8 run spanning the third-quarter break.
Los Angeles sealed it by grabbing two offensive rebounds with under a minute to play. Dearica Hamby was fouled while making a layup to give the Sparks a 79-75 lead. She missed the free throw but Stevens grabbed it and completed a three-point play to make it 81-75 with 49 seconds left.
Hamby and Rickea Jackson each scored 14 points for the Sparks (5-11).
Kelsey Mitchell led Indiana (7-8) with 20 points and Aliyah Boston had 12 points, 10 rebounds and five steals.
Indiana led 31-22 before the Sparks went on an 8-0 run, capped by Shey Peddy‘s three-pointer to get within one. Sophie Cunningham answered with a three-pointer and the Fever led 34-30 at the break after forcing 15 turnovers.
