Currently nominated for multiple Oscars, Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” traces how the immeasurable sorrow of losing a child fueled William Shakespeare to write “Hamlet” as a literary effigy to loss. That revered text, which has inspired countless adaptations (“The Lion King” among them), takes on a new form in the hands of Japanese animation master Mamoru Hosoda for his latest fantastical epic, “Scarlet.”
In a career of animated features with thematic heft and deep emotional impact, “Scarlet” may be the director’s most sobering and intense effort to date, not only given the severity of the violence on display, but because it advocates for the sometimes-impossible task of forgiving one’s foes, even when they show no remorse. Here, what’s at stake is one’s very soul. What remains is Hosoda’s investment in parent-child relationships, a recurring subject for him, always explored with compassion for both parties: the child in need of guidance and the parent struggling to be a beacon.
Gender-swapping the play, Hosoda once again centers a heroine (he seems to prefer female protagonists). The 16th century eponymous Danish princess (voiced by Mana Ashida) loses her father, King Amleth (Masachika Ichimura), to a gruesome betrayal. Her unscrupulous, power-hungry uncle Claudius (Kôji Yakusho) murders his own brother to become king. But in his final moments, as Scarlet watches, Amleth pleads a request she cannot hear. Avenging her fallen father — and finding out what he asked for before dying — becomes the young woman’s sole purpose going forward. Rage consumes her.
Hosoda’s body of work consists almost exclusively of movies that take place on two distinct planes, whether those be reality and a digital world (“Summer Wars,”“Belle”) or reality and a magical realm (“Mirai,”“The Boy and the Beast”). “Scarlet” is no different in that regard.
This time, however, he explores an afterlife with its own set of rules. Sensing Scarlet’s resolve to destroy him, Claudius poisons her. Scarlet wakes up in the Otherworld, an endless, arid landscape with an ocean for sky where a dragon roams. The deceased from the past and the present convene here. That’s how Scarlet and Hijiri (Masaki Okada), a paramedic from our present who refuses to believe he’s died, can exist in the same timeline. This purgatory essentially mirrors life: There’s conflict and suffering and if you die again here, you vanish into darkness forever. The goal is to ascend to the Infinite Land, a stand-in for heaven. But Scarlet cares not for eternal peace. She learns that Claudius is here and embarks on a trek to find him and kill him for good.
Hosoda doesn’t dwell on the differences between Scarlet and Hijiri’s realities back in the land of living. Instead, he zeroes in on their clashing worldviews. While Scarlet doesn’t think twice about slaughtering anyone who gets in her way, Hijiri protects life at all costs, so much that one can understand Scarlet’s frustration with him. After a brutal fight, for example, Hijiri bandages her enemies’ wounds with as much care as he does hers.
Multiple battles with Claudius’ henchmen pepper Scarlet and Hijiri’s journey, as does an encounter with the United Nations of this place: a group of wandering nomads from around the world who’ve come together for companionship. Even after death, Hosoda suggests, all people truly hope for is a shoulder to cry on and someone to share their burdens with.
For “Scarlet,” Hosoda ventures into uncharted aesthetic territory. When the narrative is in the Otherworld, fans will immediately notice the look differs from his previous creations. And that’s because Hosoda has opted for photorealistic, computer-generated animation in those sections. The early scenes in Scarlet’s time period are conceived using the more traditional hand-drawn technique.
Still, the characters in the Otherworld, created in CGI, retain qualities of hand-drawn animation, making one hyperaware of the relationship between the figure’s movement and the environment. The mix of visual approaches shocks the eye at first, though it comes to seem fitting.
If probed too closely, Hosoda’s high-concept interpretation of life after death may raise more questions than it can answer (have all of history’s villains been killed in the Otherworld?). But despite any narrative quibbles, the movie deserves praise for its genuine call for compassion. Scarlet’s final encounter with Claudius radiates with the complicated poignancy expected of real, difficult catharsis.
Admittedly, the film’s resolution feels naïve. Scarlet’s good intentions to end wars by way of sheer determination to do what’s right might prove insubstantial in practice. In that regard, “Scarlet” is the prayer of a director who fervently wants to believe in kindness (even for those who don’t deserve it) as the one true road to healing. That’s a tall order these days, especially in this country, but it’s hard to fault Hosoda for the sincere reminder of what could be.
With his six-volume magnum opus “My Struggle,” Karl Ove Knausgaard became one of Europe’s most acclaimed contemporary novelists.
At once epic and intimate in scope, the books used the raw material of Knausgaard’s life to answer questions about male identity, the obligations of fatherhood and marriage, and what it takes to become a serious artist. In his new novel, “The School of Night,” Knausgaard further explores the mysteries of artistic greatness, using as his template Christopher Marlowe’s 16th century play “Doctor Faustus.” Knausgaard sets his story in mid-1980s London, where two aspiring photographers named Kristian and Hans try to find their footing in the art world.
I spoke to the Norwegian writer about the devil, photography and Radiohead.
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Your novel’s plot and characters are based on Christopher Marlowe’s 16th century play “Doctor Faustus,” which is about a scholar who sells his soul to the devil. Was this something you’ve been thinking about for a while?
I read Thomas Mann’s novel “Doctor Faustus” when I was 19 and it made a big impression on me. It’s been with me ever since then. The devil theme has hovered over some novels I’ve written, so it remained, and then I wanted to set this novel in London, where I now live, and where Marlowe was murdered. I wanted all of this in the background, but I didn’t know how to use it. That came during the writing.
The two young artists in “The School of Night” are photographers, an art form that has long been associated with the occult and summoning the unseen world. One thinks of the spirit photography trend of the 19th century in England.
I wrote about the first photograph in the novel, shot by Daguerre in 1848. I have it on my wall in my office. It’s a Paris street, which I find very unsettling and spooky, because even though it’s daytime there are no people on the street because the exposure was too slow to capture them. There’s just this lone figure, in the center of the frame who looks like the devil. I find it intriguing that the devil might have been present when the first photograph was taken.
Karl Ove Knausgaard, one of Europe’s most acclaimed contemporary novelists, sets his newest novel, “The School of Night,” in mid-1980s London.
(Solve Sundsbo for D2)
I think one of the reasons for the enduring appeal of the Faust legend is, if given the chance, most people would sell their souls for success, especially artists.
I think you’re right. And it is also a way of explaining something that is really mysterious, how a kind of normal, maybe even mediocre person could achieve something great overnight. When I was 19, I could have cut off my left arm to just have a book published. And when I wrote “My Struggle,” I was so frustrated in my writing, I was willing to go to extremes, to just make something happen. And then I didn’t think much about that when I wrote “The School of Night.” But it’s all kind of obvious to me afterwards that I use that feeling of doing something I really shouldn’t, and I could have stopped, but I still did it.
To your point: Kristian, your protagonist, has an artistic breakthrough when he photographs a dead cat that he has boiled. I guess my question is: A boiled cat?
Oh, that’s just due to the way I write. I never know what’s going to happen in a book. He’s starting to think about inner structures that keep up life somehow. And then, he thinks, how could he take photos of that? Well, maybe a cat. And then you have to practically get a cat. And then it’s like 25 pages of me describing how to boil a cat. I never planned it, you know.
Do you not outline your novels beforehand?
No, never, I’ve never done that. I do really try to be present and see what happens there. And then there will always be consequences of the choices you make, and that will eventually be the novel. And in this case, the character is different from me, so his choices will be different, and that creates a different trajectory, really.
Your characters are music obsessives in ways that only men in their 20s can be: curating their record collections, and so on.
When I was young, music really meant almost everything to me. When I was 15, I went to a local newspaper and asked to review records for them. And I had my own radio show. I’m not obsessed anymore, but I did see Radiohead at the O2 Arena recently. They are the last band I really wanted to see, and it was absolutely fantastic. I had tears running down my cheeks.
(This Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
📰 The Week(s) in Books
George Saunders’ new novel might be the dark humor read you need right now, writes Robert Allen Papinchak.
(Los Angeles Times photo illustration; cover from Riverhead Books)
George Saunders has published a new novel called “Vigil,” and Robert Allen Papinchak is besotted by it, calling it a “virtuoso achievement, an immersive experience for the reader.”
Nathan Smith had a Zoom chat with author Martha Ackmann about her new Dolly Parton biography, “Ain’t Nobody’s Fool,” and got the lowdown on how Parton’s fixation with over-the-top wigs began. “Her promotions man happened to be dating an actress who had a big part in the television series ‘Mr. Ed,’ ” Ackmann tells Smith. “This actress took her around, showed her L.A. and they went to the Max Factor store and tried on wigs.”
In an excerpt from this new book, “Football,”Chuck Klosterman makes a case for America’s favorite sport as best viewed in the privacy of our living rooms. “It’s not just that you can see a game better when you watch it on television,” he writes. “Television is the only way you can see it at all.”
Finally, Bethanne Patrick gives us the lowdown on the must-read books of February.
📖 Bookstore Faves
Fear not, grown-ups: Our kids are not digital zombies just yet. In fact, children’s bookstores are thriving in Los Angeles. Children’s Book World is the largest independent bookstore of its kind in the city, with over 80,000 titles for sale. The store is a wonderland of printed matter for kids, with readings, book clubs and even musical performances. I spoke with the store’s manager Brien Lopez to get the lowdown on what our kids are reading.
What’s selling right now?
T.Z. Layton’s “The Academy” series, which is about a global soccer competition for tweens, is one of our best sellers. This series has lots of boys who were not avid readers becoming strong fiction readers because they are about a subject they love and they are really fun reads.
What kind of YA books are popular right now?
For our particular store we sell lots of sunshine romance particularly targeted to new teens like Lynn Painter’s books, as well as both mysteries and suspense thrillers like Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ “Inheritance Games” series. Dystopian sci fi is also popular, like Soyoung Park’s “Snowglobe” duology.
Who are the popular authors?
We just had a 2,000-person event with Dav Pilkey for his new “Dog Man” book and how he gets kids excited about books and reading just can’t be underestimated. We also had big events with beloved authors Katherine Applegate, Stuart Gibbs and Max Brallier. Middle grade fiction and graphic novels are very popular at our store.
Are kids still interested in books, despite all the distractions in their lives?
Kids definitely are interested in books if they are allowed to read about subjects they enjoy and books they love. The moment you tell a child there is a good book versus a bad book to read you have stopped that kid’s reading journey in its tracks. Let kids read the books they love and they will do it for a lifetime.
That’s what the man who led New England to six Super Bowl victories and nine appearances in the NFL’s championship game said when he was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame in June 2024.
“I am a Patriot for life!”
That’s what the retired quarterback told the crowd at Gillette Stadium in September 2023 at the start of the first NFL season since the end of his 23-year career, which included three seasons and one more Super Bowl win with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I don’t have a dog in the fight in this one. May the best team win.”
That’s what Brady said on the “Let’s Go!” podcast earlier this week. The comment wouldn’t have been a big deal if he had been talking about this year’s Puppy Bowl, in which his clone dog Junie will not be a participant.
But alas, he was talking about Super Bowl XL, which pits the Seattle Seahawks against the team that has a 17-foot bronze statue of Brady outside its stadium (a.k.a. the Patriots).
Now, Brady is a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, but they fell just a teensy bit short of making the playoffs after finishing the season at 3-14 and aren’t a factor at all in this weekend’s game in Santa Clara.
Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady speaks at the August 2025 unveiling of a bronze statue of himself at Patriot Place in Foxborough, Mass.
(Charles Krupa / Associated Press)
Brady actually did provide plenty of context along with his comment, and we’ll get to that shortly. But first, how about some reactions from Brady’s former Patriots teammates?
Retired linebacker Tedy Bruschi said he has no problem showing his support for New England and coach Mike Vrabel, who played for the Patriots teams that won Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVII and XXXIX.
“That’s the way Tom feels. I got a big-a— dog in the race, I’m telling you that right now,” Bruschi said on Boston’s WEEI 93.7 FM. “That’s my boy right there, you know, Vrabel — eight-year teammate, like a brother of mine. I mean, all of us, really. It’s like, we’ve got a dog in the fight. My dog is big and I’m cheering for him.”
“Raiders ain’t in it,” Wilfork said on WEEI. “Say what it is, what you see.”
He added: “At the end of the day, if you’re a Patriot for life … don’t give me that political bullcrap. That’s just what it is. If you don’t think we’re gonna win, just pick Seattle then. Don’t straddle the fence.”
Retired cornerback Asante Samuel wrote on X: “Tom Brady I am highly I mean highly disappointed in you not rooting for your ex teammate, Mike Vrabel who is about to do something special.”
In a separate post, Samuel suggested that Brady wants to be “the only one winning super bowls.”
Retired tight end Rob Gronkowski said on the “Up & Adams” YouTube show that he hadn’t talked to Brady about the matter yet, but he did have a theory on why his good friend might not be rooting for the Patriots.
“He probably wants to be the quarterback. He’s that competitive,” Gronkowski said. “He wants to be the guy in the Super Bowl right now.”
Retired offensive linebacker Damien Woody said on ESPN’s “Unsportsmanlike” that Brady’s comment was “ludicrous,” then continued, “I don’t care if you’re the minority owner of the Raiders. Dammit, you have a statue in Foxborough. Make it known. Nobody wants to hear all this, ‘I don’t have a dog in the fight.’ The hell you do! If Robert Kraft put that damn statue outside of his stadium, oh, you better believe you got a dog in the fight.”
OK, now on to what Brady actually said on the podcast. Host Jim Gray asked what this Super Bowl is like for him as someone so closely associated with the Patriots and their past success. As part of his answer, Brady pointed out that there are “always different chapters in your life.”
“And now, in a different phase of my life, I really root for people and the people I care about, the people who I know the work that goes into what they’re trying to accomplish,” Brady said. “So I really want to sit back as a fan and enjoy the game, enjoy the moment. And I always think, may the best team win. You know, it’s not going to be who I’m cheering for, who I think is going to win. It’s going to be decided by the people out there on the field.”
Brady added: “I just want to see good football. I want to see good plays, good throws, good strategy, good decisions. And that’s the joy in the game for me. … So listen, I don’t have a dog in the fight in this one. May the best team win. And in terms of the Patriots, this is a new chapter in New England, and I’m glad everyone’s embraced the Mike Vrabel regime, all the amazing players that have worked so hard to get their club to this position.”
Gray brought up the “idiotic” perception that Brady and other members of the Patriots dynasty might not want this year’s team to succeed and somehow distract from their accomplishments. Brady agreed that such thoughts are “idiotic” and said that all the memories and relationships he built during that era will always mean something to him.
“No one can take those away from me,” Brady said. “So regardless of what anyone would say or think or want to add to the conversation, I’m just excited that the two best teams who have been consistently the best teams all year are playing for the Super Bowl.”
Whenever I want to escape the city, I have a tendency to go deep into the backcountry of Angeles National Forest.
But I don’t always have time for an all-day adventure. Luckily, Los Angeles has several local parks that make it easy to disappear into an old woodland or thicket of pine trees to briefly forget you’re one of 10 million people living in the county.
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The three hikes below are either in L.A. or close by and require only a short drive for many Angelenos. (And for my readers in the South Bay, I promise I will hike down your way soon.)
Regardless of whether you want to take an afternoon off to explore one of these hikes or try one after a weekend brunch, I hope you find a gentle peacefulness that restores you back to feeling more like yourself. Time in nature can do that and more.
A large oak tree provides shade over a trail in Franklin Canyon Park.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
1. Loop trail around Franklin Canyon Park
Distance: 1.2-mile loop with options to extend (see map) Elevation gained: About 200 feet Difficulty: Moderate Dogs allowed? Yes Accessible alternative: Franklin Canyon Drive loop
Franklin Canyon Park is 605 acres of public land north of Beverly Hills that features chaparral and oak woodlands. The park has three bodies of water: the three-acre Franklin Canyon Lake, Heavenly Pond and Wild Pond.
To reach the park, you’ll take the southern entrance, as the northern entrance is closed while the L.A. Department of Water and Power repairs the roadway. Take good care as you drive into the park, as there are a few tight corners with low visibility.
Upon arrival, I’d recommend taking a 1.2-mile loop, which I’ve mapped out here, that will take you past the lake and ponds and up into the park’s hillsides. I went on a recent afternoon when it was in the mid-80s in L.A. and found the park to be cooler thanks to the abundant shade provided by oaks, sumac and other trees.
A turtle rests on a hunk of wood in the Heavenly Pond in Franklin Canyon Park.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
To begin your hike, you’ll park in the large dirt main parking lot. Signs around the lot warn visitors of frequent break-ins, so either leave your treasure at home or hike in your pearls.
From the parking lot, head south on Franklin Canyon Drive, where you’ll quickly find a trail entrance with wooden steps that lead down near Franklin Canyon Lake. I hope you’re greeted by the sound of quacking waterfowl like I was! (And I bet if you go in the morning or evening, you’ll hear bullfrogs.)
Continue in the southerly direction, appreciating the gnarled coast live oaks and sound of shy red-eared sliders plopping off their logs into the water. This short trail will lead you back up to the road where you’ll walk south for just a bit before turning onto the gentle path that loops around Heavenly Pond. This is an especially good spot to find turtles, ducks and at least one orange-and-white koi.
From Heavenly Pond, continue south on the paved road, following it past the private residence to the wooden steps at the reservoir’s southern end. Take these stairs down onto Chernoff Trail. You’ll quickly spot toyon and pine trees, among other natural delights. Soon, you’ll bear right (or northeast) to take stairs onto the road. Cross the road and continue northeast onto the trail. Take the next set of steps up past thick bunches of black sage and chaparral nightshade.
Plants with flowers blooming in Franklin Canyon include ceanothus, California brittlebush and wishbone bush.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
Continue north on Blinderman Trail, following it as it bears east before it loops back around west. Along the way, you’ll pass well-maintained benches and bridges. Between the rustic bridges and frequent tree canopy, this trail made me feel, at times, like I was entering a fairy tale. I spotted lots of blooming California brittlebush and desert wishbone bushes along Blinderman Trail as well as some deer tracks near a forested area where the trail ends near the parking lot.
A portion of Blinderman Trail is a bit washed out, so I’d recommend carrying hiking poles, especially for the trip down. If you need to refill your water bottle, there are water fountains near the Eugene and Michael Rosenfeld Auditorium, which is just southeast of the main lot.
I left Franklin Canyon Park grateful for my short jaunt in nature, amazed by yet another well-maintained public park in the heart of L.A.
This 1.3-mile loop trail follows El Escorpión Trail in the 61-acre El Escorpión Park to the Cave of Munits, a chimney cave named after a sorcerer in a local Indigenous legend.
To begin, you’ll park on the street near the trailhead. To reach the cave, you can either take El Escorpión Trail, a wide exposed dirt path that starts at El Escorpión Park gate, or the path along the riverbed, which provides more shade but is more narrow. Both are visible on maps on outdoors navigation apps. When I hiked to the Cave of Munits, I took El Escorpión Trail to the cave and the shadier trail along the creek on the way back.
The cave isn’t immediately visible when you start. Once you see a large rocky gash in the mountain, you know you’re getting close. Once inside the cave, be mindful not to cause any damage and be careful when climbing.
The steepest part of this hike is as you approach the largest cave. Grippy shoes are a must, and trekking poles could be helpful.
The Cave of Munits is an easy place to reconnect with your childlike wonder, but please explore with respect and reverence for the place. The cave’s name relates to a Fernandeño and Western Tongva story of tragic misunderstanding, which you can read here.
Dunsmore Canyon in Glendale.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
3. Dunsmore Canyon & Le Mesnager Loop Trail
Distance: 2.6 miles Elevation gained: About 800 feet Difficulty: Moderate Dogs allowed? Yes Accessible alternative: Brand Park history walk
This hike through the 709-acre Deukmejian Wilderness Park in Glendale will offer you not only great views of the surrounding cities but also an opportunity to spend time among blooming trees and native plants, including California peonies and California brittlebush.
You’ll park in a lot near the Stone Barn Nature Center. Several signs warn that the park closes one hour after sunset and to leave before you get locked in. I think they’re serious, so take note.
You’ll start your hike on Dunsmore Canyon Trail, headed northeast up a straight gravel path covered on both sides with several native plants including ceanothus (both white and purple blooms), yerba santa and sagebrush.
Just .2 miles in, there’s a massive old coast live oak where kids could easily create an imaginary forest kingdom under its large branches.
As you continue to climb, you might hear Dunsmore Creek, which runs parallel to the trail. Remember to turn around as you gain elevation, as this trail rewards you with substantial views of Glendale and the Crescenta Valley soon after you start. All the while, you have the San Gabriel Mountains right in front of you, including Mt. Lukens, which you can hike to from the same park.
Half a mile in, you have the option to continue on the Dunsmore Canyon Trail or Le Mesnager Trail to make a shorter loop. Le Mesnager Trail includes a lookout point at about 2,750 feet, a great spot for a sunset as long as you don’t get locked in! As you meander down the trail, you’ll find a nice shady canopy and continued views of the city below.
3 things to do
Volunteers work at the Debs Park Test Plot.
(Test Plot)
1. Protect native habitat in L.A. The Audubon Center at Debs Park needs volunteers from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Friday for its monthly maintenance on the test plot. Volunteers will meet in the center’s courtyard before heading out. Participants should wear closed-toed shoes and clothing they don’t mind getting dirty. They should also bring a reusable water bottle and gardening gloves. Register at act.audubon.org.
2. Nurture nature in Glendale The Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy needs volunteers from 9 to 11 a.m. Sunday for a restoration workday in the Sycamore Canyon Preserve. Volunteers will help improve the health of plant life in the preserve to better ensure it is inviting and healthy for wildlife, which use it as a corridor to travel through the area. Participants should bring water, sunscreen and work gloves. Pants, long sleeves and sturdy shoes are recommended. If able, volunteers are encouraged to bring shovels, loppers or trowels. Other tools and equipment will be available. Learn more at arroyosfoothills.org.
3. Wander the wetlands in Huntington Beach Amigos de Bolsa Chica will host a free tour from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday through the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach. Visitors should meet their guides in the south parking lot off Pacific Coast Highway, halfway between Warner Avenue and Seapoint Street. Volunteer naturalists will present information on the preserve’s history, bird life and more. Register at amigosdebolsachica.charityproud.org.
The must-read
Skiers navigate their way down Lincoln Mountain at Mammoth Mountain ski area, located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
(Christian Pondella / For The Times)
Two ski patrollers at Mammoth Mountain have died in separate avalanches over the past year. These workers are responsible for clearing popular ski routes by using handheld explosives to prevent avalanches from harming guests. “Were the resort’s managers pushing too hard to open the mountain after major storms? Had training standards slipped, pushing relatively inexperienced ski patrollers into dangerous situations? Are young ski patrollers afraid to speak up, even when they think they’ve been asked to take unreasonable risks?” wrote Times staff writer Jack Dolan. Read Dolan’s story to find the answer to those questions and more.
Happy adventuring,
P.S.
Let’s end with good news! A volunteer was monitoring Eastern Pacific green sea turtles that live near the mouth of the San Gabriel River when they spotted a shelled reptile in trouble. The turtle had fishing line wound around her right flipper and into her mouth. “She was also attached to a medley of debris — clothes, algae, plastic,” wrote Times staff writer Lila Seidman. “When she came up for air, aquarium staffer Aaron Hovis jumped in and grabbed her. Once freed from the garbage, she was loaded onto a stretcher and brought to the aquarium.” The turtle, now named Porkchop for her voracious appetite, is now happily recovering at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Although the aquarium has been helping injured sea turtles for more than 25 years, the public can now see the little cuties on display in a new exhibit about the turtles. You can visit Porkchop until she’s returned to the wild, where veterinary staff are confident she’ll keep thriving — and eating!
For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A man convicted of trying to assassinate Donald Trump on a Florida golf course in 2024 was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison after a federal prosecutor said his crime was unacceptable “in this country or anywhere.”
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon pronounced Ryan Routh’s fate in the same Fort Pierce courtroom that erupted into chaos in September when he tried to stab himself shortly after jurors found him guilty on all counts.
“American democracy does not work when individuals take it into their own hands to eliminate candidates. That’s what this individual tried to do” Assistant U.S. Atty. John Shipley told the judge.
Routh’s new defense attorney, Martin L. Roth, argued that “at the moment of truth, he chose not to pull the trigger.”
The judge pushed back, noting Routh’s history of arrests, to which Roth said: “He’s a complex person, I’ll give the court that, but he has a very good core.”
Routh then read from a rambling, 20-page statement. Cannon broke in and said none of what he was saying was relevant, and gave him five more minutes to talk.
“I did everything I could and lived a good life,” Routh said, before the judge cut him off.
“Your plot to kill was deliberate and evil,” she said. “You are not a peaceful man. You are not a good man.”
She then issued his sentence: Life without parole, plus seven years on a gun charge. His sentences for his other three crimes will run concurrently.
Routh’s sentencing had initially been scheduled for December, but Cannon agreed to move the date back after Routh decided to use an attorney during the sentencing phase instead of representing himself as he did for most of the trial.
Routh was convicted of trying to assassinate a major presidential candidate, using a firearm in furtherance of a crime, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm as a felon and using a gun with a defaced serial number.
“Routh remains unrepentant for his crimes, never apologized for the lives he put at risk, and his life demonstrates near-total disregard for law,” the prosecutors’ sentencing memo said.
His defense attorney had asked for 20 years plus the mandatory seven for the gun conviction.
“The defendant is two weeks short of being sixty years old,” Roth wrote in a filing. “A just punishment would provide a sentence long enough to impose sufficient but not excessive punishment, and to allow defendant to experience freedom again as opposed to dying in prison.”
Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the Republican presidential candidate played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club.
At Routh’s trial, a Secret Service agent helping protect Trump on the golf course testified that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and run away without firing a shot.
In the motion requesting an attorney, Routh offered to trade his life in a prisoner swap with people unjustly held in other countries, and said an offer still stood for Trump to “take out his frustrations on my face.”
“Just a quarter of an inch further back and we all would not have to deal with all of this mess forwards, but I always fail at everything (par for the course),” Routh wrote.
In her decision granting Routh an attorney, Cannon chastised the “disrespectful charade” of Routh’s motion, saying it made a mockery of the proceedings. But the judge, nominated by Trump in 2020, said she wanted to err on the side of legal representation.
Cannon signed off last summer on Routh’s request to represent himself at trial. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that criminal defendants have the right to represent themselves in court proceedings, as long as they can show a judge they are competent to waive their right to be defended by an attorney.
Routh’s former federal public defenders served as standby counsel and were present during the trial.
Routh had multiple previous felony convictions, including possession of stolen goods, and a large online footprint demonstrating his disdain for Trump. In a self-published book, he encouraged Iran to assassinate him, and at one point wrote that as a Trump voter, he must take part of the blame for electing him.
1 of 3 | Ryan Routh, pictured in this screengrab taken from police body camera footage, is arrested by law enforcement officers with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office for the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump on September 15, 2024. File Photo courtesy Martin County Sheriff’s Office | License Photo
Feb. 4 (UPI) — Ryan Routh, who was convicted for an attempted assassination attempt on President Donald Trump in Florida, was sentenced to life in prison plus seven years Wednesday.
Before announcing the sentence, Judge Aileen Cannon called Routh an “evil” man.
He defended himself in the trial that ended in September. When the verdict was read, he stabbed himself in the neck with a pen.
Prosecutors argued in a court filing that Routh deserved a life sentence.
“Routh’s crimes undeniably warrant a life sentence — he took steps over the course of months to assassinate a major presidential candidate, demonstrated the will to kill anybody in the way, and has since expressed neither regret nor remorse to his victims.
“Routh’s crimes of conviction reflect careful plotting, extensive premeditation, and a cowardly disregard for human life,” prosecutors wrote. “Routh’s motive for his crimes was unconscionable — preventing the American people from electing the candidate of their choice for President. Routh’s gloss on his crimes has always been that anything he may have done was justified by events in Ukraine or American domestic politics.”
Since the conviction, Routh has been represented by court-appointed attorney Martin Roth. He requested a 27-year sentence and argued that he didn’t get a fair trial because he represented himself.
“Defendant recognizes that he was found guilty by the jury but asserts that the jury was misled by his inability to effectively confront witnesses, use exhibits, or affirmatively introduce impeachment evidence designed to prove his lack of intent to cause injury to anyone,” Roth wrote.
Routh had a psychiatric evaluation before the trial, which showed he had bipolar disorder and narcissistic personality disorder.
His family submitted letters of support to the court.
Routh’s son Adam wrote that his father “wants to move forward in the right way and continue to be someone who contributes to our family and his community.” He said, “we still need him, and he still has people who love and support him.”
Routh’s sister Nancy Meyers asked the court to consider placing her brother in a prison in North Carolina. She said the family was devastated by his actions but “committed to assisting him with his rehabilitative efforts.”
President Donald Trump signs a bill to end the partial government shutdown. Earlier, the House passed the spending bill, ending the four-day shutdown sparked by Democrats’ opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement policies and funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | License Photo
Tony Maudsley has played undertaker George Shuttleworth on Coronation Street since 2020
Joe Crutchley Screen Time Reporter
12:15, 04 Feb 2026Updated 12:16, 04 Feb 2026
Coronation Street’s Tony Maudlsey gives rare look at family life as fans left swooning (Image: Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Coronation Street’s Tony Maudsley has delighted fans after giving them a rare look into his family life.
Tony joined the ITV soap in 2020 as George Shuttleworth, the son of the late undertaker Archie (Roy Hudd). Since then, he’s become a firm favourite with viewers.
In 2022, George’s family grew with the arrival of his sister Glenda, portrayed by Jodie Prenger, on the soap. The former cruise ship entertainer quickly won over viewers with her close bond with her doting brother.
He also played a part in several big storylines – including his relationships with Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver) – who left the soap last year – and his current romance with Christina Boyd (Amy Robbins).
As well as Corrie, Tony has appeared in Queer As Folk, Emmerdale and even the Harry Potter franchise in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. He also starred in the hit ITV sitcom Benidorm playing hairdresser Kenneth Du Beke from 2011 to 2018.
The telly star is also no stranger to keeping his loyal legion of 77k Instagram followers updated on his everyday life. And this week, he had his co-stars and fans swooning after an adorable family update.
Giving fans a rare look at his private life, Tony uploaded several photos of his adorable dog after their groom. He captioned the post: “Took Bosie to a new groomers today in Worsley Village and they did a great job! They even cleaned his teeth (well the few he’s got left!)”
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He added: “New business so give them a try if you’re local! Idyllic setting so perfect for a lovely walk, post-pamper!! Oh by the way that chunk of fur out of his leg wasn’t done by the groomer he had blood tests last week so that was down to the vet!”
Unsurprisingly, his co-stars and were left swooning by the post with Sally Carman writing: “Blow OUT,” along with a love heart eyes emoji. Someone else gushed: “Beautiful boy! Looking fab Bosie.” A third penned: “Omg he is so cute! That face!” Another said: “What a cutie!!!”
Coronation Street airs Monday to Friday at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX
Renae Wąsik was fed up with the UK’s grey skies and spiralling cost of living
10:26, 04 Feb 2026Updated 10:29, 04 Feb 2026
Renae Wąsik with Pawel and Rocca(Image: renaesmithmc/Cover Images)
When the sodden winters, soaring costs and relentless gloom of British existence finally overwhelmed her, Renae Wąsik realised she’d reached breaking point. “I felt like I was going crazy,” reveals the 43-year-old PR executive.
“Grey skies make me feel sad, bleak and trapped. I didn’t want my baby growing up in that.”
Therefore, in November 2025, Renae and her partner Pawel decided jointly to abandon their existence in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, relocating with their two-year-old daughter, Rocca, to an obscure village unknown to most Britons: Vasiliki, situated on the Greek island of Lefkada, nestled between Corfu and Kefalonia. Within months, she claims the transformation has been revolutionary.
“In the UK, we were paying close to £3,000 a month just to live, that covered rent, council tax and utilities, for a suburban home with a tiny garden,” she explains. “It was wet, miserable and exhausting. Now we’re renting an off-season Airbnb for €800 (£690) a month, I can walk to the sea, and I wake up feeling free.”
Renae, who established The Atticism PR and Brand Development, has cultivated a thriving career spanning more than 20 years and frequently documents her fresh lifestyle on TikTok, where her content has accumulated more than half a million likes, though not everyone has celebrated her relocation. Whilst certain followers fantasise about emulating her journey, others have branded her ‘privileged’, ‘out of touch’, or even accused her of ‘stealing housing from locals’.
Renae refuses to accept such criticism. “People say it’s ‘not that easy’ to live and work overseas, and they’re right,” she explains.
“It’s not easy. But it’s also not impossible. If it’s truly your goal, you’ll work for it. Nothing falls in your lap.”
She also rejects the notion that she’s taking more than she contributes. “We’ve been really conscious about contributing,” she insists.
“I work in PR and I help get the island press exposure for free. Pawel is a painter and decorator and has been helping locals who are desperate for skilled labour. We’re living in an off-season Airbnb that sits empty all winter, and when we build our house, we’ll hire local trades. This isn’t a ‘take, take, take’ situation.”
The emotional transformation, she reveals, was instantaneous. “The moment we arrived, my husband and I looked at each other and said, ‘Oh my God, we escaped’,” she recalled.
“The UK feels like a rat wheel. You work to live, and by the weekend you’re so exhausted you just want to order Deliveroo, which is so expensive you have to work even more. Here, the pressure just lifted.”
She portrays Britain as suffocating. “The sky feels low. Everything feels heavy. Here, I see the sea and sky every single day. There’s space. I feel calm. I can breathe again,” she adds.
Renae is keen to emphasise that Greek island living isn’t some picture-perfect postcard fantasy. “If you’ve done Santorini or Mykonos and think that’s real life, you’re in for a shock,” she warns.
“It rains, a lot. There’s no food convenience. I’ve lost three kilos because I can’t just snack whenever I want. Sometimes I honestly can’t look at another courgette.”
But she shrugs. “I sacrifice convenience for peace.”
One surprising element that also swayed her choice to quit Britain was a series of utterly exasperating encounters with the NHS, which eventually drove her to pursue treatment overseas. “I’ve had some useless experiences,” she says bluntly.
“I was once told I might have breast cancer and then had to wait six weeks for a scan. Later, they said one of my breast implants had capsulated and they’d remove just one.”
When she requested both to be taken out, even offering to pay, she was turned down. “They said they’d take one out, sew me up, and I’d have to sort the other privately later,” she says. “It was insane.”
Instead, she travelled to Turkey, where a consultant found both implants were faulty. “I was lucky I went,” she says.
“The NHS has potential, but the system is chaotic. I’ve had blood tests lost, appointments messed up, they even accidentally deleted my daughter from the surgery system while she had a 40-degree fever and refused to see us. It’s just been a mess.”
For Rocca, the relocation has been life-changing. “The outdoors!” Renae beams.
“Sunshine, even in December. She’s not stuck inside watching TV, she’s climbing rocks, playing with water, exploring. And she’s seen here.”
In Greece, she explains, youngsters are genuinely welcomed. “In restaurants, staff greet her, make a fuss, talk to her. It took months for her to get used to it. In the UK, she was mostly ignored.”
Their routine now moves at a completely different rhythm. “We wake up without alarms. Coffee in bed. We work until lunchtime while Rocca plays outside painting or in her sandpit,” she explains.
“Lunch is simple, most days are spinach pies or salad. Then we explore: beaches, neighbouring towns, counting cats.”
The evenings are leisurely and sociable. “We cook early, eat around 5pm, maybe take a walk or read. It’s relaxed and peaceful.”
And this isn’t just a short-term experiment. “Oh yes, this is forever,” Renae confirms.
“We’ve bought a 4,600-square-metre plot of land overlooking the sea for less than the price of a one-bedroom flat in Bedfordshire. We’ll build our home here.”
From late March onwards, the family will settle into a two-bedroom property for €500 (£430) monthly, within easy reach of ferries, beaches, a marina and freshly caught seafood, complete with a balcony laden with orange, lemon and mandarin trees.
“Our neighbour gives us all the olive oil we need, and we’ll help him with the harvest,” she beams. “Everyone helps everyone. It’s a real community.”
Renae continues to return to Britain for work commitments and visits with her two older daughters, aged 22 and 23, but the UK is no longer where she calls home. “I’ll always come back,” she says. “But this, this is where we’re building our life.”
And for those observing from a dreary British settee, questioning whether it’s achievable? “I’m not saying everyone should do it,” she says. “I’m saying I did, and I’m finally happy.”
The harrowing trial of Lucy Letby is explored in a new Netflix documentary, titled, The Investigation of Lucy Letby, which includes rare updates from her life in prison
Defiant Lucy Letby has insisted she will ‘not give up’ defending her innocence(Image: PA)
A letter sent by killer nurse Lucy Letby reveals a grave account of her life behind bars. The child murderer said ‘there are no words’ to convey her current ‘situation’ in a handwritten letter as she vowed to never give up on defending her ‘innocence’.
The new comments come via a letter to a friend shared as part of a chilling new Netflixdocumentary about her court case and ongoing appeals. Letby gives details of her prison conditions for the first time and speaks about how much she misses her pets, after she is seen on screen stroking a cat goodbye during her home arrests by police.
The friend, who has been anonymised in the programme, was given the onscreen name of Maisie. And in a letter she reads out, Letby said: “Maisie, there are no words to describe my situation, but knowing that I have your friendship regardless, is so important and special to me.”
She continues: “I have my own room and toilet. I’m able to shower each day and go outside for a walk. Getting outside is so important, even though it’s bit chilly. I miss Tigger and Smudge so much, it’s heartbreaking that they cannot understand why I’m no longer there. They must think I’m a terrible mummy.
“Mum and Dad are taking good care of them, though, and are, no doubt, spoiling them.” Poignantly, Letby added: “I’m trying to do all that I can to remain strong and positive. I’m determined to get through this. I will not give up.”
After sharing the note aloud, Letby’s friend Maisie then begins to cry on screen. She says that she no longer knows what to say to her friend who has been dubbed ‘The Angel of Death.’ “Up until the trial and verdict I would write to Lucy and she would write back. Now I don’t know what to say.”
Later in the film she says she still believes her friend even though there are some small doubts in her mind about her innocence.
Maisie said: “There’s always doubt, because as much as you know someone, you never know the whole of someone like they can still have things that you don’t know about them, but unless I saw actual evidence, I can’t believe it. I know that people think that I support a baby murderer, but she’s my friend and currently, in general, forever.”
Letby, 36, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016.
She continues to plead her innocence and has a legal team working on a way to challenge her sentence.
In The Investigation Of Lucy Letby on Netflix viewers will see for the first time when she was first arrested in 2018, as police approached her whilst she was still in bed. She looks stunned as she is led away in a dressing gown after being told: “I’m arresting you on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.”
Police also set out in the documentary how they found evidence and used it to successfully prosecute Letby. She has failed twice in appeal.
The film may also show a more human side to Letby as she is also shown stroking her pet cat and in a police cell.
Mark McDonald who took over as Letby’s barrister in September 2024, also explains in the film why he thinks she should be freed. He was approached by Letby’s parents to help her and is now fighting to try to get her a retrial.
He tells the documentary: “We have to remember, no one saw her do anything wrong. There’s no CCTV. There was no motive.
“This was a unit in crisis. Nurses were crying at the end of this shift because of the stress, because of them being overworked, because of having so many babies on the unit and not having the staff or the resources to run it.”
* The Investigation Of Lucy Letby will be released globally on Netflix on February 4.
Forget dating apps and blind dates, one couple found love halfway across the world
Nicki Challinger met her husband, Tony Kern, half way across the world(Image: Handout)
In today’s society, dating apps have become the go-to for meeting new people and starting romantic connections. But for one couple, their love story started halfway across the world, after a chance encounter, when they least expected it.
Looking for an adventure, Nicki Challinger packed her suitcase and headed to the airport to embark on a 10-day trip around Southeast Asia, stopping in Thailand and Laos. At 31, working as a freelance translator, Nicki was seeking thrills. She booked the trip through Flash Pack, a tour company offering adventures for solo travellers in a small group of a similar age.
This meant that rather than a trip dedicated to 18-30s or one catering to the over 50s, Nicki could enjoy a group tour that suited her age perfectly – avoiding the late-night club outings but ditching early nights! But little did she know she’d meet her husband, Tony Kern, almost the moment after she touched down in Thailand, during their first group meal.
“There was a group dinner the first night, and I was just coincidentally seated next to him. We had a lot in common, he asked a lot of questions about me, and we shared the same sense of humour,” Nicki exclusively told the Mirror.
“He was really sweet, and he was just so genuine – a really open and kind guy.” Over the course of their trip in November 2018, they went whitewater rafting, cycling and treks, including one through a jungle.
Nicki sweetly recalled one day when they floated down the Mekong River on a boat as they crossed the border into Laos. “We had been getting on, and we were just chatting for hours while sitting at this little table, and just watching the beautiful scenery. It was without the pressure, as we were just hanging out, as everyone else in the group was.”
As sparks began to fly, they got closer, but as Tony, who was 32 at the time, was from the US and Nicki from the UK, they didn’t think it would go anywhere outside of the trip. It wasn’t until day eight of their tour that they knew it was something special.
“We went for a walk around this little town that we’d stopped in on the Mekong, and it was late at night, so all the stars were out, and it was sort of really romantic. That’s when I thought, ‘I can see this going somewhere’, and I did think we might kiss at the end of that night,” Nicki recalled.
“But then there was a pack of wild street dogs and I’m terrified of them. I don’t like dogs when they’re on a lead, so street dogs in Laos, I was not feeling it. He didn’t kiss me that night, so I was like, ‘Oh, maybe he doesn’t feel it.’ And then the next day, when we talked about it, he said, ‘Yeah, it just didn’t seem like the right moment.'”
They later had a conversation while at a resort overlooking the Mekong River and said it wasn’t just a holiday romance but something serious. That’s when they shared their first kiss.
As their relationship began, the tour inevitably came to an end. Yet that wasn’t going to stop the newly formed couple, despite being thousands of miles apart. Nicki had stayed in Thailand for a month to work on an island, while Tony travelled back home to the US.
They kept in contact and spoke on the phone a lot, while battling a 13-hour time difference for a month. But after spotting affordable flights to the US just two weeks after meeting, Nicki later jetted off to meet Tony at his home in Kansas City.
She said they had a “great time” together in the US, and after that, went back and forth to see each other. Then, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Nicki made the quick decision to go back over to the US, just days before they shut the border, and stayed there for three months.
“In hindsight, it was quite a good practice for real married life, and we went for nice walks in the evening,” she shared. Then, in April 2021, the couple got engaged in the US, the evening before Nicki’s birthday, “It was relaxed but romantic”.
Just a few months later, in November 2021, they joyfully tied the knot during an intimate ceremony in the US before returning to the UK for a bigger wedding party in July 2022. Here, they had eight of their friends from the tour attend, two of whom also sparked up a relationship on the trip, and now have a baby together.
Talking of their love story, Nicki said: “It was unexpected, none of us were looking for a relationship, we just went on the tour for an adventure. It was life-changing. Everything had lined up like the dates of the trip and the discount – it just worked really well logistically, and then I met my husband. People are always so surprised.”
They had both used Flash Pack to book trips in the past, but never thought their 2018 adventure would lead to love. “I was not bothered at all. I just wanted to see some of Thailand, and I didn’t want to do it by myself,” Nicki said. It was also the first time this specific tour had ever run, which Nicki said meant “everybody on the trip had the same, relatively relaxed mindset.”
After maintaining a visa, Tony, now 40, moved to the UK in November 2022, and today, they happily live in Nottingham. While they’ve known each other for around eight years, Nicki, now 38, confessed: “Theoretically, the language is the same, but I would say it’s still probably about once a week where one of us says something, and the other is like, ‘I literally have no idea what you’re saying’.”
Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com
The Grand Canyon is among the most famous natural wonders in the world. A woman who lives at the bottom of it in a remote village with her family has opened up on the reality of life there.
Jess Flaherty Senior News Reporter
12:15, 03 Feb 2026Updated 12:15, 03 Feb 2026
The woman and her family live in an area with stunning, turquoise waterfalls(Image: FliProductions via Getty Images)
The Grand Canyon is as one of Earth’s most iconic natural wonders, pulling in millions of visitors from across the globe each year. Now, one woman has revealed she actually lives within the canyon itself – a revelation that’s left people both fascinated and amazed.
Situated in north-western Arizona, the Grand Canyon spans an impressive 277 miles and is a vast chasm sculpted by the Colorado River. Its striking layers of ancient red rock enhance its appeal, and it’s been protected as a National Park since 1919.
Tourists flock there in their millions every year to drink in the spectacular views, hiking trails, and even white water rafting adventures. A TikTok user posting under the handle @heyarielnicole recently shared drone footage of the magnificent landmark, accompanied by text which reads: “Today years old when I found out people live in the Grand Canyon.”
In the caption, she added: “I must have skipped school this day because I did not know this lol! Did y’all know people live in the Grand Canyon?”
Her post has since amassed more than 65.5 million views. The comments section erupted with shocked reactions, while others highlighted Shila S Siyuja, a woman who genuinely does call the Grand Canyon home alongside her family.
Shila uses social media to give followers a glimpse into what it’s really like living within one of the world’s most iconic natural landmarks. While she’s blessed with stunning scenery and access to the great outdoors, there are certain challenges that come with the territory.
One of her most popular videos shows Shila and her family undertaking an “eight-mile hike home” after missing their flight back into the canyon.
The family resides in the renowned Supai Village, nestled at the canyon’s base. This isolated settlement can only be reached by an eight-mile hike, helicopter, or mule ride.
Serving as the capital of the Havasupai Tribe, the village is celebrated for its striking turquoise waterfalls and close-knit community. Residents have access to a shop stocking essentials, a post office, a school, and even a café. Shila’s hiking video attracted many comments from captivated TikTok viewers.
One person asked: “So beautiful!! How long did it take?” Another said: “The real American people.”
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A third viewer shared: “I got the privilege to visit your home years ago. Thank you.”
Someone else recalled: “Sister and I hiked at night to avoid the heat. Miss this place so much.”
Among Shila’s other widely-viewed videos is footage captured while she and her family embarked on a shopping trip outside the Grand Canyon. In the clip, Shila is shown boarding a helicopter for her journey home. Footage captured from beneath the aircraft reveals their shopping secured in an external sling load, which dangles from the helicopter’s body using a cable and cargo hook.
Shila and her family aren’t the only ones living there, though. More than 2,000 residents also live in the Grand Canyon, based at Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim.
SNOOP Dogg’s 11-month-old granddaughter has tragically died – as daughter Cori Broadus says ‘I lost the love of my life’.
Cori revealed the news that her daughter Codi Dreaux died on Monday, just 20 days after her release from the NICU.
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Snoop Dogg’s 11-month-old granddaughter has passed awayCredit: GettyHis daughter Cori revealed the tragic news her baby girl Codi had died on MondayCredit: Unknown
Cori had welcomed Codi – her first child with photographer fiance Wayne Duece – in February last year.
But Codi was born three months prematurely, and spent the first months of her life in the NICU before being discharged at the beginning of January.
Cori, 26, had excitedly announced “She’s home” on January 6 in an Instagram post, but now she has shared the devastating news that Cori has passed away.
She posted a black and white picture of her holding her baby daughter as she looked down and smiled at her.
Alongside it she wrote: “Monday, I lost the love of my life. My Codi.”
She also reshared her post about Codi coming home and wrote: “20 days later?! dawg im sick.”
Wayne also shared a post to his Instagram Stories on Saturday, which showed Codi gazing up at him as he cradled her.
He wrote: “I been the saddest since u left me Codi Dreaux. But I know u at peace. Daddy will always love you.”
Meanwhile, one of Codi’s nurses also shared a heartbreaking post, which Cori reposted.
It showed a black and white video of a crib and mobile hanging over it, with the caption: “I been sad for 6 days straight. Being a nurse has its ups and downs and this is the biggest down I ever experienced.
“It was such a pleasure being mybabygirls nurse. I gave her one last bath told her I loved her and didn’t even know I was getting her ready for Heaven.”
Cori is the youngest of Snoop’s three daughters with his wife of 28 years, Shante Broadus.
She was diagnosed with Lupus when she was six, and suffered a stroke in early 2024, which made her pregnancy high risk.
She gave birth to Codi when she was just 25 weeks along, but when Codi was six months old and in the NICU, she told Us Weekly her baby girl was “feisty”.
Cori is the youngest of Snoop’s three daughtersCredit: Getty
She said: “Codi just has so much character. The doctors and nurses always tell me: ‘Your baby got her mind. She’s smart. She’s alert.
“‘She knows what’s going on. She can hear. She can see. Yeah, the circumstances are not what you thought they would be, but it could be worse.’
Demond Wilson, who was best known for playing Lamont Sanford, the son of Redd Foxx’s character on the 1970s TV show “Sanford and Son,” died in his sleep at his home in the Coachella Valley on Jan. 30. He was 79.
Wilson’s publicist, Mark Goldman, confirmed that he died from complications related to cancer.
“Demond was surrounded by love throughout his final days,” Goldman said in a statement. “A devoted father, actor, author, and minister, Demond lived a life rooted in faith, service, and compassion. Through his work on screen, his writing, and his ministry, he sought to uplift others and leave a meaningful impact on the communities he served.”
Demond Wilson attends the 2016 Chiller Theater Expo at the Parsippany Hilton in New Jersey on April 22, 2016.
(Bobby Bank / WireImage)
Grady Demond Wilson was born in Valdosta, Ga., on Oct. 13, 1946, and grew up in New York City. His mother, Laura, was a dietitian, and his father, Grady Wilson, was a tailor. Wilson learned tap dance and ballet and appeared on Broadway at just 4 years old. After serving in the Army from 1966 to 1968 in Vietnam, where he was wounded, he made his TV debut in 1971, playing a burglar alongside Cleavon Little in Norman Lear’s sitcom “All in the Family.” That role led to his casting in “Sanford and Son” in 1972, which was notable at the time for having a nearly all-Black cast.
Redd Foxx, left, broods next to Demond Wilson about one of the 3,000 pieces used on the “pleasantly junky” set of “Sanford and Son.”
(NBC)
Although “Sanford and Son” was his most famous role, Wilson also appeared in “Baby, I’m Back,” “The New Odd Couple” and “Girlfriends.” His last TV appearance was in “Eleanor’s Bench” in 2023.
Despite his success, Wilson left acting, sold his Bel-Air mansion and Rolls-Royce and became an interdenominational preacher in 1983.
The change was not surprising given his background. “I was raised a Catholic, was an altar boy, and at 14 I seriously considered becoming a priest,” Wilson told The Times in 1986. When he was 12, his appendix ruptured and he nearly died, leading him to promise to serve God as an adult. “I was always aware that God was the guiding force in my life,” he said.
Disillusioned with Hollywood, Wilson moved his wife and children to what he jokingly called a “respectable, Republican, upper-middle-class” neighborhood in Mission Viejo. He wanted his five children at the time to have “normal childhoods.” “We’ve left the rat race and false people behind,” he said.
Wilson was also an author. He published “The New Age Millennium: An Exposé of Symbols, Slogans and Hidden Agendas” in 1998, and his autobiography, “Second Banana: The Bittersweet Memoirs of the Sanford & Son Years,” in 2009. He also wrote 11 children’s books.
Wilson is survived by his wife, Cicely; his six children, Nicole, Melissa, Christopher, Demond Jr., Tabitha and Sarah; and his two grandchildren, Madison and Isabella.
New York venue Madison Square Gardens issues warning before Teofimo Lopez vs Shakur Stevenson and Knicks vs Lakers bill.
Published On 31 Jan 202631 Jan 2026
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Madison Square Garden says anyone fighting at the arena threatens to be “banned for life” after there were multiple altercations at one of its events.
Video on TMZ.com showed two fights breaking out on Friday, when fighters weighed in for the boxing card Saturday night headlined by Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson. One of the videos showed a brawl starting as Bill Haney, father of boxer Devin Haney, was conducting an interview near the stage.
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“Violence will not be condoned at MSG across any type of event including, hockey, basketball, boxing, concerts, or special events,” Madison Square Garden said in a statement. “If any individual is found to participate in violent activity, whether you are part of the event, or a patron, you will be banned for life and unable to attend or participate in any event across all our venues.”
The news conference Thursday for the title fight between Lopez and Stevenson became heated as the fighters on stage traded insults about family members, with people in the audience also shouting.
There was also an altercation near the cage on November 15, when MSG hosted UFC 322.
The warning comes before a busy weekend at the arena. Organisers said the boxing event is sold out, and on Sunday, the Los Angeles Lakers visit the Knicks for a nationally televised game that could be LeBron James’s final one at the arena.
This time 36 years ago, Fabrice Morvan was preparing for his first Grammy Awards. It had been a wild few years for the 23-year-old Parisian and his best friend Robert Pilatus from Germany. The duo known as Milli Vanilli had rocketed to fame, going from obscure dancers in Munich to dominate the pop music scene. Not only were they nominated for best new artist, but they were expected to perform live. Underneath it all, the pair were quickly reaching their breaking point.
Don Henley’s “The End of the Innocence” was nominated for both song and record of the year. Indeed, for the tens of millions of Milli Vanilli fans who bought their records, the 1990 Grammy ceremony marked an end of innocence of sorts. To this day, Milli Vanilli are the only artists in the history of the Grammys to have their award revoked.
L-R: The pop duo Milli Vanilli comprised of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, the subject of the Paramount+ documentary Milli Vanilli, streaming on Paramount+ beginning October 24, 2023.
(Ingrid Segeith/Ingrid Segeith/Paramount+)
“Rob and Fab,” as they were known, never sang — live or in studio — on any of the smash hit singles from their 6x platinum debut North American album, “Girl You Know It’s True.” Their Grammy performance was them lip-synching to a playback.
The real singing was done by paid session vocalists John Davis, Brad Howell and Charles Shaw while Rob and Fab captivated with their charisma, athletic dance moves and eye for style. In the wake of the fallout, Milli Vanilli remained steadfast that what they did was wrong. There was, in fact, plenty of blame to go around even if Rob and Fab suffered the brunt of it.
“They removed the platinum records from the wall at Arista,” says Morvan, now 59. He is perched on the edge of a poolside lounge chair from a boutique hotel in the heart of Hollywood. It’s a sunny December day, but he’s dressed all in black with glasses to match, slim fingers adorned with a custom silver skull ring. He loves the sunshine, but offers for my sake to move somewhere in the shade. Able to pass for decades younger, he now basks in life on the other side of infamy.
“They say the truth will set you free. The truth takes the stairs while the lies take the elevators. And that is true,” Morvan said. “So finally, after 35 years, my truth comes to the surface.”
(Stephen Shadrach)
Now, in a redemption as astounding as his rise, Morvan is back in the running for the 2026 Grammys as the only person in Recording Academy history nominated after a prior revocation.
This time, the voice is unmistakably his. Nominated in the audio book, narration, and storytelling recording category for his memoir “You Know It’s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli,” Morvan’s lilting French dialect and soft tone are hypnotizing and he has a natural knack for storytelling. The recording was performed alone in his home studio.
“They say the truth will set you free. The truth takes the stairs while the lies take the elevators. And that is true. So finally, after 35 years, my truth comes to the surface,” he contends. “And people, they get it, they understand that.”
Sadly, Rob Pilatus isn’t here to see it. Unable to handle the fallout and struggling in addiction, he died in 1998. In one of the more moving parts of his memoir, Morvan speaks to his former partner, laying bare for the first time some of the more unhealthy aspects of their relationship but in a way that makes clear his love for Pilatus runs deep.
After Pilatus’ death, Morvan tried his best to move on. He taught French at a Berlitz school for a while when not performing at small venues. “I’m not even looking at becoming big,” he told Times journalist Carla Rivera in a 1997 profile. He even had a stint on radio hosting “Fabrice’s Fabulous Flashbacks” for KIIS-FM. But he always returned to making music.
“Music was always there with me,” he says, his excitement building. So when it came to moving forward in life, and, I said, ‘OK, what am I going to do?’ Music kind of popped up and said, ‘Hey, show me how much you love me.’ And then I worked on that, and I learned how to play guitar, and I learned how to produce, and I learned how to write … it allowed me to take the pain away, to remove it.”
But after 20 years in Los Angeles, Morvan felt it was time to leave “Hotel California,” as he calls it, for opportunities in Europe. In a follow-up Zoom call from his home in Amsterdam, he confides that he almost felt like giving up, but figured maybe a change of scenery was what he needed.
“I was very disillusioned,” he says, headphones crowning his dreadlocked updo. “I found a producer that I could work with and build something with, but due to certain circumstances, it didn’t come together. So I met some Dutch people that wanted to launch a fashion line. And I heard that Holland was a place where dance music was evolving.”
Becoming a DJ, he played festivals and kept Milli Vanilli’s legacy alive, performing with a live band.
Morvan with his wife Tessa van der steen and their four children
While preparing for a project about 15 years ago, Morvan met his current partner, Tessa van der Steen, who is Dutch and works as a health and fitness coach and alternative medicine practitioner. Together, they have four children: a 12-year-old boy, 9-year-old girl, and a set of 4-year-old twin boys.
During Milli Vanilli’s heyday, powerful male (mostly white) figures held the cards, but in this phase of his life it’s women who play big roles. Not mentioned in his book is Kim Marlowe, who Morvan says, in the 1997 Times article was his manager and best friend. They at one point married; Marlowe quietly filed for divorce in L.A. in 2024.
Van der Steen, however, is the love of his life. She had no idea who he was when they first met, he was simply “Fabrice.” And according to Morvan, she is fiercely protective. “Fab is the most loving partner and father I could ever imagine,” Van der Steen writes over email. “We are soulmates. We have been together for more than 15 years. We understand each other, and it happens often that we are thinking of the same things, without saying a word.” She champions his efforts to release original music and continue performing.
In recent years, changes in culture, technology and the music industry have opened up conversations casting Rob and Fab in a more sympathetic light. Morvan himself took part in the well-received 2023 Paramount+ documentary “Milli Vanilli.” That same year, “Girl You Know It’s True,” a well-made biopic directed by Simon Verhoeven, came out.
And Morvan was caught off guard when Ryan Murphy featured Milli Vanilli prominently in his 2024 series on the Menendez brothers, a move introducing the group to new generations unfamiliar with the story. Motivated by the renewed interest, he recorded a stripped down, acoustic version of the Diane Warren-penned hit “Blame It on the Rain.”
As recently as November, Milli Vanilli came up in the zeitgeist, sparked by a comment on X by veteran producer Jermaine Dupri commenting on AI “artists” charting on Billboard.
Of course there are still detractors, but in an era in which public cancellations abound and apologies are scrutinized for any whiff of inauthenticity, Milli Vanilli’s wrongdoings can now seem quaint.
Benjamin Matheson, assistant professor at the University of Bern’s Institute on Philosophy, studies collective shame and writes on celebrity apology. He offers the startling thought that certain fans might be more willing to forgive a moral wrong, even an egregious one like unlawful intercourse with a minor in the example of director Roman Polanski, as opposed to artistic deception because it can be seen as more authentic.
“I think that perhaps,” Matheson writes over email, “Milli Vanilli suffered because they were an early ‘created’ pop band, and the public hadn’t been acclimatized to this kind of music. Whereas now I think people are much more comfortable with autotuning, AI music, and so on — though I’d love it if there was a bit more push back on this kind of thing.”
Morvan has plenty of thoughts on the state of the music industry past and present. He welcomes the change in perspective, and while he doesn’t live in regret, looking back, he would give his younger self a little advice.
“Keep working on your craft now. No matter what, and don’t ever start drugs. And don’t let your buddy Rob start with that. With those two, things would have been different.”
The pop duo Milli Vanilli comprised of Rob Pilatus(left) and Fab Morvan are the subject of the Paramount+ documentary Milli Vanilli, streaming on Paramount+ beginning October 24, 2023.
(Paul Cox/Paramount+/Paul Cox/Paramount+)
When the Los Angeles Tribune editorial staff selected “Girl You Know It’s True” as its movie of the year, Morvan met Parisa Rose, his co-writer and executive producer for the recording of the memoir. Rose, a first-time author and mother of two, first met Morvan when she interviewed him for the quirky paper — now in its fourth revival. She is now chief operating officer of the Tribune, which has expanded to include a publishing house.
Rose, who grew up in Pasadena, helped Morvan reckon with parts of his background he had long buried. One of the most compelling parts of the memoir is when he breaks the fourth wall, narrating letters to individuals from his past.
“You need to say everything you have never said before to them that you’ve always wanted to say,” she says of the exercise they conducted for the interludes. “You need to know that this is the last conversation you will ever have with them. And you need to imagine they are sitting across from you now.” Reached over the phone, Rose said she also helped with research, uncovering details on the seaside sanatorium in France where Morvan spent much of his early childhood.
A great part of Morvan’s motivation for the memoir was to leave a legacy for his kids. His oldest son is getting into music and recently found an old Milli Vanilli vinyl and plays it along with Daft Punk and Michael Jackson. Remaining “zen” about the idea of winning, he’s enjoying the moment. And the big dreams never die. He plans to tour in the next year and come back to perform in America. And who knows? Maybe one day he can play Coachella.
He’s particularly thrilled over his Grammy outfit, a collaboration with Spanish designer Helen López, whom he previously worked with on a Milli Vanilli-inspired line. “When you’ll see what I’m wearing … you’ll see that I don’t play,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “No matter what the outcome in life, you have to just be, be in the moment. Enjoy the moment. Whatever happens will lead you to something else. I have no expectations.”
Jesy Nelson opened up about her daughters’ ‘life or death’ diagnosis and GP failuresCredit: SkyJesy is campaigning to raise awareness of SMA and campaigning for the condition to be added to the NHS newborn heel-prick testCredit: Sky
In an interview on Sky News’ The UK Tonight programme, the former girl band star admitted that the condition was only picked up on when they were six months old – by her mum.
Although health visitors and GPs performed regular checks, the early symptoms of the rare genetic disease – specifically a lack of leg movement – went unnoticed.
The 34-year-old teared up as she explained her campaign for the UK to include SMA screening in the routine newborn heel prick test.
Speaking to host Sarah-Jane Mee, she said: “People are starting to take notice and take it seriously, but it never should have took for me to come along for it to be taken seriously and that’s the part that makes me feel so angry.
“This isn’t just anything. This is a matter of life or death for someone’s child and who gets to decide that?
“Who has the right to decide whether my child is going to be in a wheelchair or not when we’ve literally had three life-changing treatments since 2018?
“The fact that it’s still a thing and we’re still having to scream and shout about it is just mad to me.”
She promised: “I will not stop on my socials talking about it. Trying to do as much TV… yes, it’s big but there’ll still be lots of other people that don’t know about this, so I’ve got to stay noisy.
Following a conversation with UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting, she admitted: “It is so difficult… it’s like, yes, I had that open and honest conversation with you and you said all the right things, but what are you going to do now?
“Now that I’m not in front of you, are you going to continue?”
She reflected on the missed opportunities during early check-ups and urged: “The fact that there were healthcare visitors around my house a lot and we took them to the GP and not one of them saw any of the signs.
“Thank God for my mum, because I dread to think what position I’d be in now if my mum hadn’t have said anything to me.
“It’s one of them things that I constantly go over and I have to sometimes stop myself from doing it because I will drive myself insane.”
Jesy added that the painful diagnosis has changed her outlook for her daughters’ future.
She said: “I don’t want people to think that if you’ve got disability that that defines you because it definitely doesn’t.
“But I’ll openly say if I could have it the other way, I definitely would. Why wouldn’t I want my children to walk and live a fulfilled life?
“I just pray that it does get changed and it does become part of the heel prick test, because the amount of heartbreak and hurt that I’ve had to endure, I’ll never be able to explain it.”
The high-risk pregnancy included a 10-week hospital stay and life-saving emergency surgery.
The Brit Award-winner has launched a petition to force the Government to enforce a non- invasive £4 blood test at birth.
Symptoms of SMA depend on which type of condition, but the most common include floppy or weak arms and legs, as well as swallowing and breathing problems.
If untreated, the life expectancy of a baby with SMA Type 1 is two years and intervention is considered critical in limiting long-term impacts.
It could help avoid 33 babies a year left needing a wheelchair for life.
Jesy spoke to Sky News about the twins’ health battleCredit: SkyOcean and Story have Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1 — the most severe form of a rare diseaseCredit: Instagram/JesynelsonThe couple parted ways following the birth of their twin daughtersCredit: jesynelson/Instagram
Spinal Muscular Atrophy: Signs and symptoms
Spinal muscular atrophy is a disease which takes away a person’s strength and it causes problems by disrupting the motor nerve cells in the spinal cord.
This causes an individual to lose the ability to walk, eat and breathe.
There are four types of SMA – which are based on age.
Type 1 is diagnosed within the first six months of life and is usually fatal.
Type 2 is diagnosed after six months of age.
Type 3 is diagnosed after 18 months of age and may require the individual to use a wheelchair.
Type 4 is the rarest form of SMA and usually only surfaces in adulthood.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms of SMA will depend on which type of condition you have.
But the following are the most common symptoms:
• Floppy or weak arms and legs
• Movement problems – such as difficulty sitting up, crawling or walking
• Twitching or shaking muscles
• Bone and joint problems – such as an unusually curved spine
• Swallowing problems
• Breathing difficulties
However, SMA does not affect a person’s intelligence and it does not cause learning disabilities.
How common is it?
The majority of the time a child can only be born with the condition if both of their parents have a faulty gene which causes SMA.
Usually, the parent would not have the condition themselves – they would only act as a carrier.
Statistics show around 1 in every 40 to 60 people is a carrier of the gene which can cause SMA.
If two parents carry the faulty gene there is a 1 in 4 (25 per cent) chance their child will get spinal muscular atrophy.
In “Vanished,” premiering Friday on MGM+, Kaley Cuoco plays Alice, an archaeologist, a fact she repeats whenever she’s asked about herself, without particularly seeming like one, apart from passing mentions of Byzantine caves and “one of the earliest examples of Christian worship” to make her sound professional. Sam Claflin plays Tom, who works for a charity organization dealing with Syrian refugees in Jordan; in a flashback we get to see them meet cute on a dusty Jordanian road, where he has a flat tire and no spare. Alice gives him a lift to camp; they banter and flirt after a fashion. He does something heroic within her sight.
They have been long-distance dating for four years, meeting up, as Alice describes it, “in hotels all over the world” where they “actually want to have sex with each other all the time.” Currently they are in Paris (in a $500-a-night joint — I looked it up). But Alice, now working in Albania, has been offered a job as an assistant professor of archaeology at Princeton, which would allow her to settle down with Tom in a school-provided apartment and “build a life that’s mine, not just uncovering other people’s.” After an uncomfortable moment, he signs on, saying, “I love you, Alice Monroe.”
Would you trust him? Despite the script’s insistence otherwise, Cuoco and Claflin have no more chemistry than figures on facing pages in a clothing catalog. Fortunately for the viewer, Tom disappears early from the action — ergo “Vanished.” The couple are traveling by train down to Arles, where another hotel awaits them, when Tom leaves the car to take a call and never returns; nor can he be found anywhere on the train.
This happily makes room for the more interesting Helene (multiple César Award winner Karin Viard), a helpful Frenchwoman who steps in as a translator when Alice attempts to get an officious conductor to open a door to a room he insists is for employees only, and rules are rules. (Is he just being, you know, French, or is something up?)
They meet again when Alice gets off the train not in Arles but Marseilles; after she has no more luck with police inspector Drax (Simon Abkarian), who insists a person isn’t missing until 48 hours have elapsed, than with the conductor, she’ll turn to Helene again, who has the advantage of being an investigative reporter. (She’s also been made diabetic, which has no effect on the action other than halting it now and again so she can give herself, rather dramatically, a quick shot of insulin. Like Drax begging off because he’s late meeting his wife for an Alain Delon double feature, it’s a tacked on bit of business meant to suggest character.) Together they’ll ferret out and follow clues, as Alice comes to realize that it takes more than the occasional gauzy romantic getaway to really know a person, and Helene gets closer to nailing a big story.
Directed by Barnaby Thompson, whose credits are mostly in producing (“Wayne’s World,”“Spice World”), and written by his son, Preston — together they made the 2020 film “Pixie” — the series begins with a flash forward in which Alice flees for her life out an upper-story window, signifying action ahead. And indeed, there will be, leading to a climactic scene I don’t suppose was meant to make me laugh, but did, magnifying as it does one of the confrontational cliches of modern cinema. Many of the series’ notions and plot points (though not that particular one) may be found in the works of Alfred Hitchcock — who, you may remember, made a film called “The Lady Vanishes,” from a train yet — though they have been given new clothes to wear. But where Hitchcock never waited long to show you when a character wasn’t what they seemed, that information is held on here nearly to the end, with some added twists along the way to keep you confused.
Cuoco (unusually brunet here), has been good in many things, most notably her funny, winning turn as Penny across 12 seasons of “The Big Bang Theory” and more recently as the hallucinating alcoholic heroine of the “The Flight Attendant,” but she feels out of joint here. She’s not well served by the pedestrian direction and dialogue, but comes across as a person playing a person, rather than as the person she’s playing. Perhaps by virtue of their accents, the French actors feel more real; France, as usual, looks great.
During a trip abroad, I let the hands of a futuristic robot melt my worries away as it pivoted and descended on my pressure points during a massage like never before
I was guided through the spa and shown to my treatment room, ready to melt my worries away with an afternoon massage. Yet, as I entered the room, I wasn’t greeted by a cheery therapist but by a robot with its two extendable metallic arms ready to pummel.
Like most people, I’ve always enjoyed a massage – that feeling of your body melting away as a talented therapist works through the tense knots and aching joints. It’s always a treat, and not something I have often experienced, so when I had the opportunity to get a shoulder and back massage during my trip to Las Vegas this month, I jumped at the chance.
But this would be very different from anything I had experienced before. I was about to try out the AI robotic massage at Qua Spa in Caesars Palace, the first to be available on the iconic Las Vegas Strip.
I checked in for my Aescape Robotic Massage Experience at Qua Baths & Spa at Caesars Palace, and was asked for my clothing size. I was then taken to my treatment room, where a pair of athletic leggings and a short-sleeved top were perfectly hung on the back of the door.
For an AI massage at Qua Spa, guests are required to change into the provided, tight-fitting clothing so the robot’s metallic arms can glide smoothly across the body. It also avoids the embarrassment of feeling vulnerable in front of an android, which I was thankful for.
It was fascinating to see the metallic arms move around my body on the screen. Nevertheless, I watched warily as my mechanical therapist targeted each pressure point, unsure whether to fully trust the apparatus.
But after a while, as I settled into my surroundings with my new acquaintance, I began to relax. The base of the robot’s arms was warm, and every one of its movements felt smooth and effective, providing relief on my back and shoulders.
At times, the arms would hold their position for a few seconds, putting more pressure on that area. I thought it was a malfunction at first, but after a couple of times, I came to understand the process. Plus, knowing I could relieve the pressure at any given moment put me at ease.
My worries melted away, and I began to get used to this cutting-edge massage robot. Undoubtedly, it differed from a conventional massage, but it provided an effective release during my 15-minute session.
It also avoided the awkward question of, ‘Is this pressure ok for you?’, and allowed me to be in full control of my treatment with a swipe of a button. It’s an experience that will remain etched in my memory, but one I’d recommend trying out for a touch of relaxation!
The Aescape Robotic Massage Experience is available for $44 (£31) for 15 minutes or $88 (£63) for 30 minutes, at Qua Spa in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. For more information, you can visit their website.
Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com
Actor Quinton Aaron, who shared the screen with Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side,” is reportedly showing signs of improvement after he was hospitalized for a blood infection last week.
Margarita Aaron, the actor’s wife, told Fox News and TMZ on Monday that her husband is “making significant progress” in his recovery, making minor body movements including opening his eyes and giving a thumbs-up. Though the actor is partially breathing on his own, Margarita Aaron said her husband remains on breathing assistance and antibiotics, according to Fox News.
A representative for Aaron did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday
“He’s a fighter; he’s a very strong fighter, and you know, he is making progress day by day,” she told Fox News, “and I believe God’s got him, and he believes God’s got him.”
The 41-year-old actor was hospitalized last week in Atlanta after he collapsed while walking up the stairs in his apartment, TMZ reported. He reportedly experienced pain in his neck and back days before his collapse and lost feeling in his legs before he fell. Aaron’s wife said she called 911 and her husband was slipping in and out of consciousness en route to the hospital, where he has since undergone several tests, according to TMZ. The outlet reported on Tuesday that doctors found a “rare cyst” on the actor’s spine.
Nonprofit organization Veterans Aid Network organized a GoFundMe page in support of Aaron, who the organization described as “part of a veteran family himself.” The organization said it has a “longstanding relationship” with the actor and seeks to raise $35,000 to help his loved ones pay for medical expenses and other recovery-related costs. Donors have raised more than $40,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.
“Quinton has spent his life inspiring others, reminding us that compassion and humanity still matter in this world,” reads the GoFundMe description. “Now, as he faces one of the hardest battles of his life, let’s surround him and his loved ones with that same compassion, strength, and care.”
In an update shared to the fundraiser on Monday, Veterans Aid Network said that Aaron “opened his eyes and has some feeling in his foot!” The update also said he remains on life support and will need a wheelchair upon his release.
Aaron has acted in scores of films, according to his IMDb page, but is best known for his turn in “The Blind Side.” The 2009 drama was based on Michael Lewis’ 2006 book of the same name, which tracked the story of football star Michael Oher, who was plucked from homelessness and poverty when taken in by wealthy couple Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy. The family is credited with Oher’s football success. Oher was an All-American player at Mississippi and a first-round draft pick for the Baltimore Ravens in 2009.
Aaron starred as Oher and Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards and earned Bullock a prize in the actress in a leading role category.
“The Blind Side” was in the news again in 2023 when Oher sued his self-proclaimed adoptive parents, alleging the pair never officially adopted him and tricked him in 2004 into signing a legal document that deemed them his conservators. The pair denied the allegations and said the athlete’s lawsuit was a “shakedown.”
HONOLULU — Seven Japanese American soldiers will be promoted to officer ranks in a solemn ceremony Monday, eight decades after they died fighting for the U.S. during World War II despite having been branded “enemy aliens.”
The seven were students at the University of Hawaii and cadets in the Reserve Officer Training Corps, on track to become Army officers, when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. They initially served in the Hawaii Territorial Guard, but soon after the attack the U.S. barred most Japanese Americans from service and deemed them enemy aliens.
The seven cadets instead worked with a civilian labor battalion known as “Varsity Victory Volunteers,” which performed tasks such as digging ditches and breaking rocks, until American leaders in early 1943 announced the formation of a segregated Japanese American regiment. The seven were among those who joined the unit, known as the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
The combat team, along with the 100th battalion composed of mostly Japanese Americans from Hawaii, went on to become one of the most decorated units in U.S. history. Some of its soldiers fought for the Allies even as their relatives were detained in Japanese American internment camps because they were considered a public danger.
“It is important for us to really kind of give back and recognize our forefathers and these veterans that we stand on the shoulders of,” said 1st Sgt. Nakoa Hoe of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Regiment, what the unit is now known as in the Army Reserve. He noted the once-segregated unit now includes a “multitude of cultures.”
The seven “sacrificed so much at a challenging time when their loyalty to their country was questioned and they even had family members imprisoned,” he added.
The seven men — Daniel Betsui, Jenhatsu Chinen, Robert Murata, Grover Nagaji, Akio Nishikawa, Hiroichi Tomita and Howard Urabe — died fighting in Europe in 1944. All but Murata were killed during the campaign to liberate Italy from Nazi Germany. Murata was killed by an artillery shell in eastern France.
They will be promoted Monday to 2nd lieutenant, the rank they would have had if they completed the ROTC program. Relatives of at least some of the men are expected to attend the ceremony, scheduled to be held in a Honolulu park.
Even though Hawaii was not yet a state, the cadets were American citizens because they were born in Hawaii after its annexation in 1898.
“Fighting an injustice at home, these seven men later gave their lives fighting on the battlefields of Europe,” said a news release from U.S. Army Pacific. “They were unable to return to school and finish their commissioning efforts.”
Monday’s ceremony capping efforts to honor the men comes amid growing concern and criticism that President Donald Trump’s administration is whitewashing American history ahead of the nation celebrating 250 years of its independence, including last week’s removal of an exhibit on slavery at Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park.
Last year, the Pentagon said internet pages honoring a Black medal of honor winner and Japanese American service members were mistakenly taken down — but it staunchly defended its overall campaign to strip out content singling out the contributions by women and minority groups, which the Trump administration considers “DEI.”
Honoring the seven isn’t about DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — but recognizing them for their merit and that “they served in the ultimate capacity of giving their lives for the country,” said Lt. Col. Jerrod Melander, who previously led the University of Hawaii’s ROTC program as professor of military science.
Melander said he launched the commissioning effort in 2023 during former President Joe Biden’s administration and that the promotions were approved last year during the Trump administration.
The university awarded the men posthumous degrees in 2012. Laura Lyons, interim vice provost for academic excellence at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, called their promotions especially important.
“Everyone’s contribution to and sacrifice for the ideals of freedom and the security of this country should matter and should be acknowledged, regardless of who they are,” Lyons said.
