In the final weeks of philanthropist Wallis Annenberg’s life, her family and closest friends were consumed by a fierce power struggle over her medical care, court records show.
Three of her children — Gregory, Lauren and Charles — believed their mother was being mistreated during her most vulnerable time, wrongfully confined to her bed, isolated from family and longtime staff and overmedicated to the point of stupor.
They blamed their mother’s longtime partner, Kris Levine, and Kris’ older sister, Vikki Levine.
Vikki, who served as Annenberg’s personal assistant and held authority over her medical decisions, was exerting control over their mother in “likely fatal” ways, hastening her decline with excess narcotics, the children alleged in court documents. The children said they were shielded from information about their mother and were distressed that the Levine sisters had indicated plans to remove Annenberg’s body from her Century City villa within hours of her death and send her remains for composting before a proper goodbye.
“If there is anything suspicious about her death — which is appearing more and more likely given Vikki’s ongoing abuse of Wallis — it will render it impossible to conduct an autopsy,” the children’s legal team asserted in court filings.
The dispute drew in some of the city’s top lawyers, triggered calls to police and led the Annenberg children to march into Los Angeles County Superior Court in a frantic effort to dislodge Vikki Levine from overseeing their mother’s medical care.
Vikki and Kris Levine adamantly denied over-medicating or mistreating Annenberg, the heiress to her father’s publishing empire who, through her family’s foundation, gave about $1.5 billion to scores of organizations and nonprofits across Los Angeles County.
In court filings, Vikki Levine said the children’s “vicious and false accusations” stemmed from sadness that their mother didn’t disclose to them that her cancer had returned, that they weren’t in charge of her care, that her death was rapidly approaching and that she wanted to die “as gently as possible.”
“The Children have misdirected their pain, grief and anger at the wrong person, which is so much easier than confronting reality,” Vikki Levine said in a court filing in which she also accused the Annenberg children of creating a “toxic environment” when they visited.
Kris Levine, who started dating the heiress in 2009 and had lived with her since 2012, submitted a declaration stating that the Annenberg children had engaged in a campaign of “lies” to their mother, including telling her that her partner was trying to kill her. She insisted that the children had been permitted to visit but lamented that her home had become engulfed by acrimony.
“No one is attempting to hurt Wallis — we love her. No one is keeping her children from her. Despite the outrageous behavior they exhibit in my home at such a sensitive time, they are still welcome,” Kris Levine said in a declaration.
Annenberg had opted to go into hospice in the final weeks of her life, and Kris Levine questioned why the children would defy their mother’s wishes and disparage her choices, particularly in such a public way.
“Nobody controlled Wallis Annenberg and for anyone to say otherwise would contradict the truth and be disrespectful of her and her legacy as one of the most transformative philanthropists of our time,” said Stuart Liner, an attorney for Kris Levine, in a statement to The Times.
This account of the Annenberg family’s internal conflict is based on court records that provide a window into one of Southern California’s most prominent families. Wallis Annenberg’s estate lawyer, Andrew Katzenstein, and the children’s lawyer, Jessica Babrick, declined comment. Representatives for Vikki Levine did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Wallis Annenberg, center, sits between her son Charles Annenberg Weingarten and Kris Levine at a 2015 event.
(Chris Weeks / Getty Images)
Annenberg died Monday at age 86, drawing tributes from former President Biden, Gov. Gavin Newsom, and luminaries in the worlds of art, business and philanthropy.
The public mourning has highlighted Annenberg’s generosity toward elder care, animal welfare and USC, where she was a life trustee, among other causes. The turmoil among those closest to her, however, has persisted following the intense legal battle over her final days.
The dispute, at least so far, has not touched on the Annenberg family’s wealth — or what either side stood to financially gain or lose with the matriarch’s death. It originated, in part, in an advance healthcare directive that Annenberg allegedly signed on July 11, 2023, the year after she was diagnosed with lung cancer, according to court records.
The directive, which was notarized and executed with assistance from Annenberg’s attorney, Katzenstein, endowed Vikki Levine with primary authority over medical decisions and designated Annenberg’s son Gregory Weingarten as an alternate.
Annenberg’s children have since cast doubt on the document, asserting in a court filing that the signature appears to be right-handed, while Annenberg was left-handed.
Vikki Levine, with David Dreier, attends The Wallis Delivers: A Benefit Evening To Support Wildfire Recovery at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on April 30 in Beverly Hills.
(Rodin Eckenroth / Getty Images)
Why Annenberg installed Vikki Levine in the role is unclear. In court papers, she is described as Annenberg’s best friend, personal assistant and sister to “life partner” Kris Levine. Voting records show that all three women resided at Annenberg’s home. Vikki Levine had worked for the heiress since at least the mid-2000s, when Annenberg installed her as trustee over a granddaughter’s trusts, court records show.
Although Kris Levine was not listed among Annenberg’s survivors in several obituaries, she was a mainstay in her life, publicly accompanying her to events and co-chairing philanthropic events.
Last fall, after being in remission, Annenberg’s cancer returned. According to a court filing by Vikki Levine, the philanthropist decided not to tell her children or anyone but her “closest friends.”
“Wallis determined not to seek treatment, but to enjoy as much as possible, the time she had left,” according to the filing.
In April, after Vikki Levine told Annenberg’s children about their mother’s health, they “had nearly unlimited access to Wallis,” the filing said, asserting that the children’s claims rest on scores of in-person interactions with her, making it unlikely that she was forcibly isolated.
“Wallis has been visited virtually daily by her Children and/or grandchildren, and has 24 hour care by experienced medical staff,” Vikki Levine’s attorneys said.
Wallis Annenberg, seated, with her children Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, Lauren Bon and Charles Annenberg Weingarten.
(Hamish Robertson)
Around early May, Annenberg began hospice, with medication aimed to alleviate pain and anxiety from her decreased lung function, according to a declaration from one of her hospice nurses that was reviewed by The Times.
But the Annenberg children were growing increasingly alarmed, they said in court filings.
In June and early July, Vikki Levine had dismissed longtime household staff and was demanding that a new team overmedicate their mother, “administering excessive amounts of powerful narcotics and opioids, such as Fentanyl, Morphine, Ativan and other similar drugs,” the children alleged in a court filing.
The cocktail of narcotics kept their mother “in a vegetative state” and risked catastrophe, the children claimed, writing, “When Wallis is able to emerge from this near-comatose state, she is adamant that this is not what she wants and that she believes, in her own words, that Vikki is ‘kidnapping her.’”
To back their accusations, the children provided a judge with signed declarations from three of their mother’s caregivers, who said they had been ousted around late June after observing shocking scenes, including forgery of records and misrepresentations to Annenberg’s doctors.
“I witnessed Vikki forcing pills in Ms. Annenberg’s mouth when she clearly did not want to take them. I told Vikki that Ms. Annenberg seemed calm and did not need more medication,” said Annenberg’s housekeeper and caregiver of nearly 20 years. “Vikki told me the pills were for her upset stomach, but I told her that I knew they were Ativan because I saw the bottle.”
Another healthcare worker — a registered nurse of 40 years employed by a concierge medical service — said she was dismissed shortly after she objected to providing Ativan to Annenberg, who at the time was sleeping and did not appear anxious or agitated.
The nurse alleged that Vikki Levine forbade the staff from keeping a proper medication log and allowed Annenberg to drink alcohol, even while on medication.
“It is difficult for me to believe that this kind of conduct can happen to anyone, let alone Ms. Annenberg. No one deserves to be rushed to death,” the nurse said in her sworn declaration.
Lawyers for Vikki Levine said that all three former staffers supporting the Annenberg children had been fired “for cause,” but did not elaborate.
Before turning to the courts, the children asked Dr. Peter Phung, of Keck Medicine of USC, to visit their mother. Phung “determined that she was, indeed, being overmedicated” and trimmed her dosage, the children claimed in court filings.
“As a result, Wallis had her best day in weeks,” the children said. “Unfortunately,” they continued, Vikki Levine blocked access to the doctor, and she and her sister “completely barred” the children’s visits on July 13.
The following morning, the children petitioned a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge to suspend Vikki Levine’s authority as Annenberg’s healthcare agent and appoint one of her sons or a third-party professional instead. The children also asked the judge to impose a three-day period before Annenberg’s body could be transported out of L.A. or cremated.
In a 73-page filing, the children provided extraordinary details about their mother’s medical care, along with their concerns, situating their petition as an act of desperation.
“We have been informed that my mother may only have weeks to live, and I do not want those weeks to be spent in a medically-induced coma due to Vikki’s actions, which are contrary to medical advice and harmful to her well-being,” daughter Lauren Bon said in a declaration.
Annenberg’s daughter, artist Lauren Bon, stands in an L.A. River project site in 2023.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Vikki Levine and her sister vehemently contested the allegations, denying any abuse and claiming that the children were misinformed or omitted key information.
“Dr. Phung did not determine that Wallis was being over-medicated as alleged,” said one of Vikki Levine’s filings. “To the contrary, Dr. Phung confirmed to Vikki that there has been ‘no mismanagement of symptoms.’”
Annenberg, they said, was confined to the bed because of doctor’s orders, not cruelty.
A hospice nurse who saw Annenberg nearly daily in the final weeks of her life also contested many of the claims of the children and the former caregivers.
The nurse, according to a signed declaration reviewed by The Times, said Annenberg’s care relied on direct orders from her physicians and was carried out by registered nurses from VITAS, a hospice service. The medical team kept all appropriate records, and Annenberg was confined to her bed because moving would have risked dangerous falls, respiratory distress and other calamities.
The Levine sisters portrayed the Annenberg children as improperly interfering in their mother’s affairs.
“They crowd around Wallis’ bed while the nurses are caring for her, tell Wallis that she doesn’t need the medication, refuse to get out of their way, ask numerous questions about the medication and procedures being employed, and generally make the situation untenable for a care-provider to work,” Kris Levine said in a declaration submitted to the judge.
While Kris Levine acknowledged that she had halted visits from the children on July 13, she said in a court declaration that she asked them not to come that day because of a series of heated confrontations, and that she had wanted to impose visiting hours to give Annenberg some rest and continuity.
“The children, particularly Gregory Weingarten, have aggressively refused my requests. Indeed, he has insisted that my name is ‘not on the deed,’ that I have ‘no rights’ to our home, and that he had ‘more rights’ to be there than I did,” Kris Levine said in her declaration.
The tensions boiled over with “multiple” calls to police by Annenberg’s children.
Vikki Levine said that when officers arrived on a recent Friday night, they “determined that there was no mistreatment of Wallis, no elder abuse as alleged, and told Vikki that she did not need to let the Children back into the house.”
Nevertheless, both Vikki and Kris Levine said they made it clear to the children that they could still visit their mother.
On July 22, Judge Gus T. May found that there was “good cause” to suspend Vikki Levine from serving as Annenberg’s healthcare agent.
In her place, the judge appointed Jodi Pais Montgomery, a professional fiduciary who has held roles in other celebrity cases in probate court, including Britney Spears and Carol Burnett’s grandson.
Montgomery was instructed to follow Annenberg’s advance healthcare directive and share confidential medical information with the Annenberg children, as well as with the Levine sisters.
Wallis Annenberg, a deep-pocketed philanthropist who helped transform the city through massive donations to arts, education and animal welfare causes, died Monday morning at her home in Los Angeles from complications related to lung cancer, the family said. She was 85.
The heiress to Walter Annenberg’s publishing empire served, for the last 16 years, as chairwoman of the board, president and chief executive of the influential Annenberg Foundation, which her father started in 1989 after selling TV Guide and other publications to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. A representative said the nonprofit organization has assets of about $1.2 billion.
Annenberg, who worked for TV Guide when her father owned Triangle Publications, stepped in as the foundation’s vice president after he died in 2002. When her stepmother, Leonore, died seven years later, Annenberg took the helm, broadening its philanthropic scope beyond media, arts and education to include animal welfare, environmental conservation and healthcare. Since she joined the foundation, it has given about $1.5 billion to thousands of organizations and nonprofits in Los Angeles County.
Wallis Annenberg worked with her father, Walter Annenberg, when his company published TV Guide.
(Annenberg Foundation)
Annenberg was fiercely passionate about funding the arts, with an eye toward making culture accessible to all. She founded the free Annenberg Space for Photography, which opened its Century City doors in 2009. (It closed during the pandemic in 2020, but archival material is still online.) The space showed exhibitions spanning the world of hip-hop, the global refugee crisis and war photography, among other subjects. Annenberg was also a longtime board member of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art. She gave $10 million in 2002 to endow LACMA’s director’s position.
LACMA Chief Executive Michael Govan, who came to the museum in 2006 to fill that endowed position, praised Annenberg’s philanthropy.
“Wallis Annenberg blessed the Los Angeles community not only with her philanthropy, but also with her guidance about how to improve our community,” Govan said in a statement to The Times, ”from public access to our beautiful beaches to the livelihood of local animals, and the importance of the arts to our daily lives.”
Under her leadership, the foundation made $38.5 million in low-interest loans for the construction of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. The Zoltan Pali-designed center opened in 2013 in a renovated, 1933 Beverly Hills Post Office and has since become a major cultural hub in the heart of Beverly Hills, infusing the tony neighborhood with vibrant music, theater and dance. Broadway star Patti LuPone, comedian Sarah Silverman and the Martha Graham Dance Company have all graced the stage at the Wallis; the center also offers robust educational programming.
When it opened, fellow philanthropist Eli Broad called the center “a great addition” to Los Angeles and “another jewel in the region’s cultural crown.”
Annenberg cared deeply about equity in education. Walter Annenberg had founded the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in 1971, and before that the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. But Wallis Annenberg, a USC board of directors life trustee, helped to steer the school’s vision and guide it into the future. She gave $50 million in 2011 to have the Wallis Annenberg Hall built, which nearly doubled the communication and journalism school’s footprint when it opened in 2014. More recently, in March, Annenberg gave $5 million to the university for a high-tech, multimedia production studio to be built on USC’s Capital Campus in Washington, D.C. It’s scheduled to open in August.
Exposition Park got a boost in 2004, when the Wallis Annenberg Building at the California Science Center opened, a project made possible with a $25-million challenge grant from Annenberg. The former armory, redesigned by Pritzker-winning architect Thom Mayne, now has classrooms and laboratories for Science Center educational programming. Annenberg has also funded exhibitions there, including the 2019 interactive exhibit “Dogs! A Science Tail,” which explores the deep bond between humans and canines. It went back on view in May.
In 2004, she also stepped in to help underwrite the Annenberg Community Beach House, located on the grounds of the former Marion Davies estate, after hearing the city of Santa Monica might engage private developers to restore the site, which had been operated as a private club for 30 years. The seaside public space is free and features a playground, gallery and volleyball courts, among other amenities.
Construction crews began the process of placing the first layers of soil over the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing on March 31.
(Al Seib / For The Times)
Annenberg was a ferocious animal lover. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing — the world’s largest urban wildlife crossing, which stretches across 10 lanes of the 101 Freeway between the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains in Agoura Hills — was made possible with a $1-million challenge grant from Annenberg in 2016 followed by $25 million in 2021. When it’s completed, the crossing will help animals such as mountain lions, deer and bobcats pass safely over the freeway. The first layers of soil were laid on the overpass in March. Plans call for its completion in 2026.
“I imagine a future for all the wildlife in our area,” Annenberg said in a statement published by The Times in March, “where it’s possible to survive and thrive and the placement of this first soil on the bridge means another step closer to reality.”
Annenberg also created a Silicon Beach-based animal shelter, the Wallis Annenberg PetSpace, which opened in 2017 and helps to rehabilitate so-called “unadoptable” animals before finding them new homes. PetSpace has a medical facility and offers animal adoptions as well as classes to teach people to how to better care for their pets.
In recent years, Annenberg had been thinking about quality of life for older adults.
In 2022, Annenberg opened the Wallis Annenberg GenSpace, a senior center in Koreatown offering visitors a place to pursue new interests and find community through classes that include belly dancing, horticultural therapy and financial literacy. It also hosts concerts, dances and game nights.
Wallis Huberta Annenberg was born in the affluent Main Line area of Philadelphia and grew up, from age 10, in Washington, D.C. Her mother was Bernice Veronica Dunkelman, who went by Ronny. Annenberg had a younger brother, Roger, who died in 1962 when he was 22. She graduated from Pine Manor Junior College in Wellesley, Mass., and attended one year of college at Columbia University before dropping out to get married to neurosurgeon Seth Weingarten. The couple divorced in 1975.
Prior to their divorce, Annenberg had moved to Los Angeles with Weingarten and her children in the early ‘70s. Annenberg was drawn to the city’s energy, creativity and diversity.
Despite her public profile, Annenberg was known to be press shy. The billionaire philanthropist was particularly family-oriented and enjoyed evenings at home with her children and grandchildren. She was also an avid sports fan and loved watching football on TV, martini in hand.
Wallis Annenberg, center seated, with three of her children: Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, Lauren Bon and Charles Annenberg Weingarten. Each is involved in the Annenberg Foundation.
(Hamish Robertson)
The breadth of Annenberg’s philanthropy was global; but it was most keenly focused on Los Angeles.
As outlined in the family trust, control of the foundation passes onto the next generation: Three of Annenberg’s four children who are on the board of directors: Lauren Bon, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Charles Annenberg Weingarten. Roger Annenberg Weingarten lives in the L.A. area.
Bon is an artist and founding director of L.A.-based Metabolic Studio, a not-for-profit interdisciplinary art and research hub that explores environmental issues. Gregory Annenberg Weingarten is a former journalist with the Times of London and now is an artist, exhibiting in Europe and the U.S. Charles Annenberg Weingarten is a philanthropist and filmmaker who created Explore, which documents, through films and photographs, selfless acts globally (and has a network of live-cams trained on wildlife).
Besides her four children, Annenberg is survived by five grandchildren.
Having left showbusiness, Noel Edmonds is enjoying a new life in New Zealand, where he focuses on energy, healing crystals and being in tune with the cosmos…
Noel Edmonds’ Kiwi Adventure starts on ITV(Image: ITV)
Ever wondered what happened to Noel Edmonds? For decades, he used to rule the radio waves and Saturday night telly, then suddenly he disappeared. Cut to Noel in his swimming trunks standing under an icy cold shower saying gratitudes, with a few sheep wandering around in the background.
In 2018, Noel turned his back on showbusiness and moved 11,500 miles away with his wife Liz to New Zealand. “I think I might have found my paradise,” he says in Noel Edmonds’ Kiwi Adventure, which starts tonight (June 20) on ITV at 9pm. The couple have spent the last two years building a business in the quiet town of Ngatimoti. River Haven, with the strapline ‘Positively Together’, boats a vineyard, coffee cart, general store, and a restaurant and pub, called The Bugger Inn.
Noel and his wife Liz Davies at their haven in New Zealand(Image: ITV)
On their 800 acres of land, Noel also wants to create a wellness sanctuary and even New Zealand’s first energy garden, whatever that is. “I am John Wayne, I am Clint Eastwood!” says Noel, delighted to be holding a power tool. He’s clearly still a showman. This three-parter follows the challenges, from being accepted by the locals, to bad weather, the absence of tourists and everyone else going bust.
But most fascinating is the insight into Noel’s complete dedication to energy and healing. Lying under a quartz crystal healing bed, the 76-year-old talks about his ‘light bulb moment’ about his health – “We are all body energy systems”. He dedicates his good health to six things – nutrition and good food, good ‘structured’ water, pulsed electro magnetism, tranquil exercise, vibe (his term for ‘visualisation of body energy;) and meditation. Throw in some cold showers and ice baths (we see him with his shirt off A LOT), saunas and a hyperbaric oxygen chamber three times a week and “I am rocking,” he says.
There is much talk of the matrix and universal energy. The couple even has a big clock permanently set to the specific time Noel and Liz met – she was his make up artist on Deal or No Deal. Noel says: “Liz was sent to me. She is an Earth angel. The sustenance of her energy is my life blood. You will never pull us apart because we are one. I believe it’s a gift from the cosmos. This was the time of my life.” Noel also opens up about the negative press he has received, saying: “I do actually care what people think about me. Criticism does hurt. I’m hugely sensitive.” And he explains that he left Britain because the country changed so much. He says: “I missed a quieter country. We’re not trees, so we can move.”
Noel Edmonds’ Kiwi Adventure is airing on ITV tonight at 9pm.
There’s plenty more on TV tonight – here’s the best of the rest..
ALISON HAMMOND’S BIG WEEKEND, BBC1, 8.30pm
In the last of this brilliant series, which will surely be commissioned for a second round, Alison spends the weekend with world champion boxer Tony Bellew. Visiting his house in Southport, Alison learns that Tony and his wife, Rachael, are in the middle of big house renovations. He opens up about life after retirement, sharing his struggles with boredom, missing the thrill of fights and the toll his boxing career has taken on his health.
Tony reveals that due to the number of punches he’s taken to the head, his memory has been affected, and he fears that there may be more health implications to come. He also shows Alison the ropes and puts her through her paces in the ring, revealing that he owes his life to his boxing gym. After taking on Tony on the pads, Alison and Tony head to Goodison Park, not only the home of Tony’s beloved football team but the site where he won his world championship title.
NOT GOING OUT, BBC1, 9pm
For old school Friday night comedy, with a relentless stream of gags, surely this wins every time. Lee Mack, a veteran of the one-liner, plays Lee, who constantly finds himself in ridiculous, farcical situations, causing his wife Lucy (Sally Bretton) to spend the entire episode rolling her eyes.
In this instalment (Mack’s favourite episode), Lee brings a battered box back from the tip, with no idea what is in it. “When I was a kid, going through the bins was like flicking through the Argos catalogue,” says Lee as he rips the box open. But gets a shock when he opens it in front of Lucy and finds what looks like a dead body, but actually turns out to be a robotic sex doll. “It can’t be human, the face looks like it’s silicon,” says Lucy. “Have you not seen Love Island?” quips Lee. What follows is the usual caper as Lee starts to realise what he’s actually dealing with.
EMMERDALE, ITV1, 7.30pm
After a restless night, Robert bumps into Victoria outside Keepers. He clearly wants to avoid opening up to her about his time in prison. After she finally sits him down in Keepers for a chat, Vic’s left worried that Robert still thinks he can win Aaron back. After Charity makes clear that she’s definitely accompanying Sarah to her cancer operation, Sarah eventually expresses her gratitude. Paddy enlists Bob’s help as he tries to get Bear to open up about what’s burdening him.
CORONATION STREET, ITV1, 8pm
Debbie breaks the news to Ronnie and Leanne that she needs to cancel the awards ceremony as there’s a flood at the hotel, but Leanne offers to host it at Speed Daal. Todd finds Theo in the living room repeatedly snapping the elastic band on his wrist. Millie tells them that living with her mum is stressing her out, but when Theo suggests she stays with them a bit longer, will Todd agree? Dee-Dee and James clash over Laila.
In another emotional instalment, two people who are foundlings, tell Davina and Nicky their stories and hope to trace family
06:00, 18 Jun 2025Updated 06:08, 18 Jun 2025
Davina McCall and searcher Simon Prothero in Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace(Image: ITV)
Every single story from Long Lost Family could be turned into a daytime sobathon movie in its own right. Pretty much every episode leaves viewers weeping into their wine, and this show is the perfect example of a cast-iron format that nails it every time. Davina McCall is walking along a coastline in a coat we all want to buy immediately.
She tells us the sad story of someone searching for their relative. Cut to said person’s kitchen and Davina has news. Pause. She produces a photo. Maybe even a letter. Everyone is in floods of tears, and that’s before the reunion even happens. Kleenex anyone?
Elsewhere, Nicky Campbell is providing a shoulder to cry on, while someone spits into a test tube. The spin-off series, Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace (tonight June 18, ITV, 9pm) focuses on foundlings, people left as babies, often in the most extraordinary places and in the first hours or days of life. We’ve heard about babies left in cardboard boxes, on doorsteps, at churches, in hospital car parks, and in one case a London phone box and even under a hedge.
Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell help people find loved ones
In tonight’s emotional episode, Simon Prothero tells how he was found as a newborn in the summer of 1966 in the outside toilet block of a children’s home in Neath, Wales. Simon, who was adopted and grew up 10 miles away, says: “I don’t know where I was born, when I was born, what the circumstances were. I don’t know who my mother is.” As the team cracks into action, it’s especially sad as we learn that Simon’s adoptive parents and his wife Helen have died, but a DNA search connects to a large family from North Wales. Watch out for the moment Simon discovers his birth mother is alive and in her 80s, though she’s not yet ready for contact.
In another story, Lisa Dyke tells how she was discovered as a newborn in May 1969, just a few hours old, outside a health clinic in Christchurch, Dorset. She’d been put into another baby’s pram. She says: “Why was I left in another child’s pram? Who left me? I just want to know the truth.”
Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace is airing on ITV tonight at 9pm.
There’s plenty more on TV tonight – here’s the best of the rest..
RACE ACROSS THE WORLD, BBC1, 9pm
It’s been emotional, as five intrepid pairs have taken on the 14,000km race of a lifetime, from the Great Wall of China to the southern tip of India. In the end, mother and son Caroline and Tom took first place in a hard-fought win. Six months later, the contestants meet for the first time in this reunion episode, sharing their greatest highs and agonising lows. The teams reminisce about being forced out of their comfort zones and traversing the two most populated countries on earth.
For former married couple, Yin and Gaz, it’s a chance to learn who has won the race. Brothers Brian and Melvyn look back at how the race enabled them to make up for lost time, while sisters Elizabeth and Letitia tell how the adventure changed them. Teenage couple Fin and Sioned, who were catapulted into the deep end for their first backpacking experience together, share their future plans. An intimate insight with behind-the-scenes insights and unseen moments. “I wish we were starting it all again,” says Caroline.
THE BUCCANEERS, APPLE TV+
For anyone not familiar with ‘The Buccaneers’, they are a group of fun-loving young American girls, who exploded into the tightly corseted London of the 1870s, setting hearts racing. Now, the Buccaneers are no longer the invaders – England is their home. In fact, they’re practically running the place.
Nan (Kristine Froseth) is the Duchess of Tintagel, the most influential woman in the country. Conchita (Alisha Boe) is Lady Brightlingsea, heroine to a wave of young American heiresses. And Jinny (Imogen Waterhouse) is on every front page, wanted for the kidnapping of her unborn child.
All of the girls have been forced to grow up and now have to fight to be heard, as they wrestle with romance, lust, jealousy, births and deaths. Last time we got a taste of England. This time we’re in for a veritable feast. Also starring Christina Hendricks as Nan’s mum Patti, this is an addictive culture-clash historical romp.
EMMERDALE, ITV1, 7.30pm
Getting increasingly frustrated with his motorbike, Bear snaps and threatens Kammy. Paddy sees this from a distance and puts a stop to it. Paddy and Mandy are dumbfounded when Bear later acts as if nothing has happened. Bear becomes irritated by their questioning and heads away upstairs, leaving Paddy and Mandy to fear that things are getting worse. Vinny continues to give Kammy the cold shoulder. Vanessa tries to get through to Tracy, but Tracy’s not interested in her excuses.
EASTENDERS, BBC1, 7.30pm
Kat doesn’t feel any better following her conversation with Alfie and feels that he isn’t being completely honest with her. The drinks start flowing at Elaine’s divorce party. As the night gets steadily messier, Elaine shocks Linda by declaring that the Prosecco is on the house all night. Later, a tipsy Elaine offers to book Priya a singles cruise, saying she can pay her back later. Linda is then horrified to see £5k leave the business account and confronts Elaine.
CORONATION STREET, ITV1, 8pm
Glenda and Sean hand out leaflets advertising the Rovers’ Drag Night. Todd suggests to Theo they should go. When Debbie admits to Bernie that she finds it hard being in the same room as Ronnie, Bernie suggests they head to her hotel. Dee-Dee opens a letter stating that Laila is due for her vaccinations but when Michael tells her that James is in Leeds, she realises that she’ll have to take Laila herself. Kevin gets ready to leave for his chemo session.
When Debbie Allen opened the doors to her dance academy in 2000 inside of a revamped Marie Callender’s restaurant in Culver City, there was no other place in town like it that catered to disenfranchised Black and Latino communities.
The school became a haven for dancers of all backgrounds wanting to learn from the multifaceted performer, who chasséd into the Hollywood scene with her career-defining performance as Lydia Grant in the 1980 musical “Fame.” Allen went onto become an award-winning director and producer for shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” (which she also stars in), “How to Get Away With Murder,” “A Different World,” “Jane the Virgin” and “Everybody Hates Chris.”
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Fast forward 25 years, the Debbie Allen Dance Academy now resides in a 25,000-square-foot “arts” palace in Mid City at the Rhimes Performing Arts Center (named after Allen’s longtime friend and colleague Shonda Rhimes). It’s more active than ever with a newly accredited middle school, a summer intensive program, a tap festival and annual “Hot Chocolate Nutcracker” holiday show. Next up, Allen is hosting her third free community block party on June 8 on Washington Boulevard, featuring dance classes with world-renowned choreographers like Marguerite Derricks and a breakdancing competition with Silverback Bboy Events. And on June 22, Allen will host Dancing in the Light: Healing with the Arts, a bimonthly event that features free dance lessons for those impacted by the wildfires. The event will take place at the Wallis in Beverly Hills and will feature classes taught by choreographers Lyrik Cruz (salsa), Angela Jordan (African) and Anthony Berry (hip-hop).
“It’s been wonderful that this community has been able to see each other and have a bit of joy,” Allen said during a Zoom call from Atlanta, where she was working on a new TV pilot.
We caught up with Allen, who’s lived in L.A. for nearly 40 years, to learn about how she’d spend her perfect Sunday in the city. Much like when she was a child growing up in Houston, Sundays are centered around family and spending time with her four grandchildren who “own” her weekends, she said. On the call sheet is getting breakfast in Santa Monica, hosting a free dance class and catching a movie at Westfield Century City.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
7 a.m.: Wake up the grandbabies
On a typical Sunday, I would wake up at 7 a.m. My [eldest] grandchildren spend the night with us every Saturday. I have four grandkids who are 6, 4, and two who are 6 months old. The little ones are just now getting to where their parents might let us keep them overnight. My room has turned into a nursery.
First, we deal with our dog CoCo. We have a beautiful black German shepherd who is amazing. She’s such a good family dog and incredible guard dog. She just glistens, just pure black, and she’s wonderful with the kids. So we have to let her out and she wants to play. Then we get ready to go to breakfast.
9 a.m..: Time for breakfast
We always go out somewhere for breakfast. We either go to a nearby hotel or we go to Marmalade in Santa Monica. They have very fresh croissants, little biscuits with currants and scones. They also have really good omelets and turkey bacon. Then the neighborhood people are there, so we see people that we’ve met and have gotten to know over the years. There’s one man in particular who is always reading books and we can always get a new idea of a book to read.
11 a.m.: Host a free dance class
Then we’d come back and on any given Sunday, I might be on my way to Dancing in the Light: Healing with the Arts, where I’ve been doing these dance classes for all the people who have been impacted by the fires. We’ve been doing this for months and it’s been amazing. We’ve had tremendous support from Wallis Annenberg, United Way, Shonda Rhimes, Berry Gordy, just so many individuals who have supported. We do classes all over, which start at 11 a.m. But if we’re not doing the Dancing in the Light event, sometimes we like to go to the California Science Center, which the kids love. It’s great because there’s so much going on there now.
2:30 p.m.: Tennis time
I’ll head back home to catch the kids having their tennis lesson. They are starting to play at this young age and it’s so cute.
5 p.m.: Early dinner and a movie
We’d either start preparing family dinner because I have a son who has his 6-month-old and my daughter, Vivian, who has her three kids. Or we’d go out to dinner. We love to go to Ivy at the Shore because it’s very family-friendly and they have a lot of options. We also like going to Chinois. It’s a Wolfgang Puck spot. We’d have an early dinner around 5 p.m. If we don’t go out to eat, we might go to the movies. We love going to the movies. We’re really close to AMC Santa Monica, but sometimes we’ll go to [Westfield] Century City because they have a fantastic food court and the kids like to go up there and pick what they want to eat.
7:30 p.m.: Quality time with MaTurk
We’d come back home and spend time with my mom, who we call MaTurk. She’s 101 years old. We’d play her favorite music because she was a concert pianist. I did a beautiful piece for her at the Kennedy Center this year based on her book, “Hawk,” which we republished. It’s on sale now. But Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” is her favorite. She played it for me when I was 4 years old, going to sleep on her lap. And my granddaughters are the cutest things with MaTurk. They like to pretend they are the caregivers and they want to brush her hair. They want to massage her legs. It’s a sweet thing.
8:30 p.m.: Catch up on our favorite shows
After that, it’s time to say goodbye to the grandkids. Then my husband and I will nestle in. We’re always reading books and watching various series. We’ve been watching Shonda Rhimes’ “The Residence” lately. We love it! And he also is addicted to “Power Book.” If I could pick, I’d be in bed by 9:30 p.m.
