If you ever need proof that the universe has a sense of humor, look no further than the lawsuit over the movie It Ends With Us and the legal drama between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively that simply refuses to end. The movie, an adaptation of the massively successful Colleen Hoover romance novel of the same name, was released on August 9, 2024, but the legal hullabaloo between Lively and Baldoni, who co-starred in the movie and served as producer and director, respectively, continues to drag on.
Taylor Swift, a noted pal of Lively’s (never forget that big-hair tracksuit moment at the 2024 Super Bowl), is not party to the current chapter of the lawsuit, Lively v. Wayfarer Studios LLC, a workplace harassment suit brought by Lively against Baldoni’s production arm, but where Swift is involved, even tangentially, lo, attention follows.
In June, judge Lewis J. Lymandismissed Baldoni’s $400 million defamation claim against Lively and others including Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, and the New York Times. Less than two weeks later, however, Lyman ruled that texts and emails between Lively and Swift must be shared with Baldoni’s legal team for discussion of the alleged on-set sexual harassment. Swift’s rep had previously blasted a subpoena of the singer’s comms with her friend as “designed to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case.”
On Tuesday, January 20, 2026, redacted copies of many of those communications were made public on the case docket, and selections from emails and texts between the two provide several (presumably therapy-informed) ready-made responses for those grasping for words when praising a pal or dissing an opponent. It’s also a reminder that you should be nice to those you love—at least in writing—because your words just may become part of a public court record someday.
Below, a helpful guide to some of the most memorable insults and words of praise contained in the Swift-Lively texts.
Today, the Hunger Games star, renowned for her dead-pan humor and quick-wit, appeared on Amy Poehler‘s Golden Globe-winning podcast, Good Hang, for a fun conversation.
In the episode, Poehler and Lawrence covered a wide range of topics including Lawrence’s incredible career, parenthood and an unforgettable Robert De Niro impression.
Poehler began by explaining why she admires Lawrence, calling her a “woman’ who likes other women.”
“You tell the real, real behind something like you talk about like ‘this was difficult’ or ‘I’m thinking about this’ […] I think when people stay mysterious it’s like a disservice to other women […] You do this thing that I really appreciate, that comes through which is you’re trying to be honest in real time and trying to connect,” she said.
“I think that’s what women do for other women when they like women is the best way to say it.”
She went on to discuss how Lawrence navigates sharing her personal life publicly while maintaining privacy.
“I think that I when I do press, I should do half than what normal people do cause I see my quotes and they like they’re insane. Like, ‘Jennifer Lawrence calls Kourtney Kardashian annoying,’” Lawrence said.
She then made hand gestures to indicate that the quotations are “too much,” then Poehler agreed: “It carries. But, first of all, honestly, it’s funny because it’s, you’re so funny. Thank you. And the third piece of the puzzle I’ll say is that you’re very, you feel like a real person. You’re very ironic.”
In true Lawrence form, she interrupted with “erotic” and then Poehler joked the actor had her time on her knee beneath the table the entire time.
The comments the No Hard Feelings star referenced were taken from a Vanity Fair video in November 2025. While promoting the film Die My Love, she and co-star Robert Pattinson took a lie detector test. During the test, Pattinson showed her a photo of Khloe Kardashian and asked if she was her favorite Kardashian, to which Lawrence replied “yes.”
She elaborated on her feelings about Kourtney Kardashian: “Kourtney is more annoying than ever. She drives me nuts […] Because everything has to be an announcement. It’s like, you know, ‘I’m not gonna wear outfits anymore,’ like just wear whatever you want, don’t make an announcement about it.”
The episode and Lawrence’s remarks sparked reactions from fans online.
One YouTube commenter wrote: “Literally, JLaw had such a CAREER for someone at her age. Oscar winner at 22, four Oscar nominations at 25, three Golden Globes, BAFTA, Peabody, a production company, two multi-billion franchises. No actress comes close, to how big she was in the early 2010s.”
Another fan praised the podcast’s relaxed format, writing: “I love how Amy’s podcast truly is, just a good hang. It’s not about being deep or serious, or about making jokes the whole time. It’s just a space to talk, get to know each other and if we can get a few laughs then great. There’s no real expectations or pressure on the interviewee and that’s why it works.”
This Monday, January 19, country music icon Dolly Parton will celebrate her 80th birthday. To mark the occasion, the singer released a new version of one of her hits, “Light of a Clear Blue Morning.” Originally released in 1977, this song of hope is now reborn through a collaboration between several major female figures in American music. Parton is joined on the track by Lainey Wilson, Reba McEntire, and Queen Latifah, as well as pop star Miley Cyrus.
Proceeds from the track and accompanying video will be donated to pediatric cancer research at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee. Parton teased the track, collaborators, and charitable cause on her Instagram earlier this week.
In a statement, the artist explained the emotional significance of the song: “I wrote ‘Light of a Clear Blue Morning’ during a season when I was searching for hope, and 50 years later that message still feels just as true. As I celebrate my 80th birthday, this new version is my way of using what I’ve been blessed with to shine a little light forward, especially by sharing it with some truly incredible women,” it reads.
The song originally appeared on the 1977 album New Harvest…First Gathering. It was a hit on its release, reaching #11 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and #87 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Dolly Parton, the godmother
Miley Cyrus’ presence on the track is no mere coincidence, as she is Dolly Parton’s goddaughter. When Miley was born, her father Billy Ray Cyrus, a close friend of Parton’s, offered her this role, which she seems to have taken to with gusto. The Disney Channel phenomenon Hannah Montana, in which Cyrus played Miley Stewart in her career breakout, also made a small nod to this family connection, with Parton playing the character’s aunt.
Now 33, Miley Cyrus has made no secret of her godmother’s influence on her career. Over the years, the two artists have multiplied their collaborations. They notably sang “Rainbowland” together on Cyrus’ album Younger Now in 2017, “Christmas Is” on A Holly Dolly Christmas in 2020, and more recently in 2023, a revisited recording of “Wrecking Ball” for Parton’s album Rockstar. In 2021, Cyrus performed her own cover of “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” on a Saturday Night Live Mother’s Day special, offering a beautiful tribute to her godmother.
LOS ANGELES, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Veteran rock musician Bob Weir, co-founder of the Grateful Dead, has died at age 78, after a battle with cancer from “underlying lung issues,” according to a statement posted on his verified Instagram account.
Much of Wong’s stand-up comedy material in her hit specials Baby Cobra, Hard Knock Wife, Don Wong, and Single Lady, has dealt with her experiences as a wife—then divorcée—and mother. She is mother to daughters Mari, 10, and Nikki, 8 with ex-husband Justin Hakuta They announced their plans to divorce after eight years of marriage in 2022, and Wong described their current relationship status as “best friends” and their divorce as “unconventional.” At the 2024 Golden Globes, after collecting a congratulatory kiss from Hader on her way up to the stage, Wong thanked Hakuta by name from the podium.
Hader has three daughters, whom he shares with ex-wife Maggie Carey. Hader and Carey announced their divorce in March 2018.
In Single Lady, which premiered on Netflix in October 2024 after being filmed at her stand-up tour of the same name, Wong described how a man—revealed to be Hader later in the set—had wooed and pursued her, leading to her ultimately shedding that single lady status.
In the special, she recalled Hader’s initial approach, recounting Hader saying, “Hey, Ali. I just happened to hear the news of your divorce today, and I gotta tell you…I’m excited. I am, Ali, because, look, I have had a crush on you forever, and I actually told my best friend years ago that you were my dream girl. And I know this sounds crazy, but, uh, I want you to be my girlfriend.”
Some time, many escalatingly large bouquets, and a sprinkling of debate over whether Hader’s persistence and attention made him sweet (her female friends’ take) or a psychopath (the male opinion, she said), she succumbed to his charms.
“I did fall in love again,” she shared at the end of her set. “Some of you might know who the guy is. And it just so happens to be the man who sent me all of those flowers in Europe.”
The cherry on top is a sarcastic call to action on his fake article: “Read my new interview with @thecut.” It doesn’t exactly scream “this essay isn’t about my wife and her custom ‘mother’ sweatpants.”
Tisdale French explained in her essay that she began feeling left out and uncool, echoes of her high school (not the musical kind, the learning kind) insecurities coming back to haunt her. “But I’m not in high school anymore,” she wrote. “I’m a mom.” She rationalized that she was setting an example for her kids by standing up for herself and letting her not-friends know that there would be no more mommy-n-me hangs for her, thank you very much. “Surely, it would have been easier to disappear without explanation—and that would have allowed all of us to convince ourselves that we simply ‘drifted apart’,” she wrote.
Easier, yes, and arguably better.
If you can afford to shell out for a $10.99 monthly HBO Max basic plan subscription—maybe even less if you take the time to track down a promo code, and even more affordable if you share a login—the indelible lessons of Big Little Lies are priceless. Not all friend groups share what Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz, and Laura Dern do (murder secrets, very nice views of Monterey Bay). Every friendship looks different, and has a unique ingredient list for its glue. People come and go. In her original post, Tisdale French called the group “exactly what I needed at the time.” Now, not so much. And that’s fine. Seasons pass, needs change.
Psych studies have found that having friends helps us live—friendships literally decrease risk of death—and live better, happier lives. Young women in particular tend to rely on their friends for intimacy and support, more than men of the same age, according to one survey. Friends are important, there’s no doubt about that, but so is self-awareness.
High school sucks. Mean girl stuff sucks. Unfortunately, neither high school stuff nor mean girl stuff is exclusive to the adolescent stage of life. But here’s the beautiful lesson that comes with age and experience: You can’t control what anyone else does, but you can control how you react to it. This is something that’s as true for Disney Channel alumnus Hollywood moms as it is for us regular degular ones: Not all friendships last forever, no matter how fire the group chat once was.
Duff, so far, appears to be holding true to the ol’ “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” rule, not commenting publicly as of publication.
Tisdale French doesn’t seem to be in possession of that particular throw pillow either. “It didn’t exactly go over well,” she shared of the chat’s reaction to her departure announcement to the group via text: “This is too high school for me and I don’t want to take part in it anymore.” Shocking. No wonder we haven’t seen any of the alleged subjects sharing celebratory retweets of her essay, dredging up old drama.
If it was childish behavior Tisdale French was hoping to cut out of her life, we have some bad news: This is all high school, and there isn’t even a musical to hum along to this time.
Representatives for Ashley Tisdale French and Hilary Duff did not immediately respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment.
2025 marked a year of remembrance across the worlds of art, music, media, and sports, as we said goodbye to several influential Black icons. These individuals were trailblazers and, in many cases, history-makers whose creativity, leadership, and cultural impact helped shape generations. While their passing is deeply felt, their legacies continue to inspire.
Below is a tribute to the beloved Black celebrities who died in 2025, along with the heartfelt public responses that celebrated their lives and tremendous impact.
Ananda Lewis (1976-2025)
Ananda Lewis, the charismatic MTV VJ and host who became a familiar face on BET’s Teen Summit, MTV Live and TRL,died on June 11 at age 52, following a long battle with breast cancer. She had been open about her fight with stage 4 breast cancer and passed away at home in hospice care, surrounded by family.
Lewis first discovered a lump in her right breast during a self-exam in 2018. A year later, she was officially diagnosed with HER2-negative Stage 3 breast cancer, as she revealed in a January interview with Essence. Rather than undergo a double mastectomy—like doctors recommended—or pursue conventional cancer treatments like chemotherapy or radiation, Lewis chose an alternative healing path, a decision influenced in part by her mother’s challenging experience with traditional cancer care.
“It’s not that I don’t trust the medical community. I do, with certain things, but I see a flaw in how they think about treating cancer,” she explained. “So I knew that I would address it in a different way. I wanted to start by figuring out why my body was creating cancer and how to change the terrain.”
Lewis used her platform to speak candidly about her health struggles, resonating with many fans who grew up watching her on television and those battling their own health conditions.
In her interview, Lewis described the comprehensive alternative regimen she followed: monthly ultrasounds conducted by her breast surgeon to monitor tumor growth, high-dose vitamin C infusions, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, qigong—an ancient Chinese practice that combines physical postures and breathing techniques—along with energy healing practices, prayer, fasting, and dietary changes.
She managed all of this while navigating the emotional strain of ending a decade-long relationship with her son’s father. By early 2020, her scans showed the tumor was still growing, but at a slow pace. But limited care during the height of the pandemic, along with soaring health care costs, impacted her progress. By 2023, her cancer had progressed to Stage 4.
Voletta Wallace (1946-2025)
Source: John Lamparski / Getty
Voletta Wallace, the Jamaican-born mother of rapper The Notorious B.I.G.,died on Feb. 21 at the age of 78. According to her family, Wallace’s death was attributed to natural causes when she passed away in Stroudsburg, Pa., earlier this year.
Wallace was widely respected for preserving her son’s legacy in hip-hop and advocating for his influence in music history. As the overseer of his estate, she ensured that his wealth was passed down to his family, including his daughter, T’yanna Wallace, TMZ noted.
Voletta has also been her son’s biggest supporter, tirelessly championing his memory and contributions to the music world. In September 2024, she took to Instagram to express her gratitude to fans for reaching a record number of streams for Biggie’s songs on Apple Music.
Voletta’s dedication also extended beyond music. She was the head of The Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation, a charity she established to enhance the lives of inner-city youth through education and the arts. In August 2024, Voletta and the foundation’s teamvisitedA Lovely Trip to the Sound Theater in Pennsylvania, where they posed in front of a mural honoring Biggie. This visit marked another meaningful moment in her ongoing effort to keep her son’s spirit alive.
Fans and artists alike mourned her as a guardian of one of rap’s most iconic figures during her funeral.
D’Angelo (1974-2025)
Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
Legendary neo-soul artist D’Angelo (Michael Eugene Archer) died on Oct. 14, at 51, after a battle with cancer, widely reported as pancreatic cancer. The music icon gave fans timeless hits like “Untitled (How Does It Feel),” “Lady,” and “Brown Sugar,” fusing raw, vulnerable, and spiritually rooted lyrics that moved.
D’Angelo was known for merging genres like gospel, jazz, funk, and hip-hop into something uniquely his own. His passing sent shockwaves through the music world. His family released a statement expressing heartbreak and gratitude for his “legacy of extraordinarily moving music,” while fans and fellow artists shared tributes across social platforms.
Angie Stone (1951-2025)
Source: Raymond Boyd / Getty
Soul and R&B singer Angie Stone died on March 1, at age 63, in a traffic accident in Alabama. Her van, returning from a concert, was struck by a truck after overturning, and she was the lone fatality.
Stone’s voice and songwriting—including classics like “Wish I Didn’t Miss You”—influenced a generation of artists. Her passing came just seven months before D’Angelo’s untimely death, a shock, as the two stars left behind their son Michael Archer II, who paid tributeto both celebs in October after news of his father’s death broke.
“I am grateful for your thoughts and prayers during these very difficult times, as it has been a very rough and sad year for me,” said Archer in a statement shared with BOSSIP. “I ask that you please continue to keep me in your thoughts as it will not be easy, but one thing that both my parents taught me was to be strong, and I intend to do just that.”
Roberta Flack (1937-2025)
Source: Christian Rose / Getty
Roberta Flack, whose timeless ballads like “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” became cultural touchstones, died Feb. 24, at age 88. She had been living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in later years, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks nerve cells.
Her memorial on March 10 was a star-studded celebration of her life, with Lauryn Hill, Stevie Wonder, Wyclef Jean, and Lisa Fischer among those honoring her legacy through music.
Before powering through a teary-eyed rendition of Flack’s timeless cover, “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face,” Hill shed a few tears while reflecting on Flack’s legacy.
“Her existence was a form of resistance,” Hill told the crowd during her speech. “I adore Ms. Roberta Flack… Roberta Flack is [a] legend.”
Stevie Wonder also paid a tribute to the R&B and soul diva with a song titled, “I Can See the Sun,” and shared a few kind words about the music titan, praising her for spreading her “love all over this world.”
“The great thing about not having the ability to see with your eyes is the great opportunity of being able to even better see with your heart. And so I knew how beautiful Roberta was, not seeing her visually but being able to see and feel her heart,” the hitmaker added.
Irv Gotti (1970-2025)
Source: Sam Hicks / BET
Veteran producer and label executive Irv Gotti (born Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr.) died on Feb. 5 at the age of 54, following ongoing health issues in recent years related to diabetes and strokes.
A towering figure in hip-hop, Gotti left an indelible mark on the genre by helping shape the careers and sound of artists such as DMX, Ja Rule, and Ashanti through Murder Inc., the influential label he co-founded with his brother, Christopher Gotti, in 1998. Before launching the imprint, Gotti made his name as an A&R executive at Def Jam, where he was instrumental in signing several artists to the label. Working under the alias DJ Irv, he also proved his skills as a producer, crafting Jay-Z’s “Can I Live” from the rapper’s 1996 debut album, Reasonable Doubt.
After Murder Inc. was later rebranded as The Inc., Gotti expanded the label’s scope beyond hip-hop, signing pop singer Vanessa Carlton and co-producing her 2007 album, Heroes and Thieves, alongside Rick Rubin and Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind.
In early 2024, Gotti spoke openly about the toll diabetes had taken on his health, saying the disease was gradually weakening his body. TMZ reported that he had suffered a minor stroke more than six months earlier due to diabetes-related complications. At the time, his representative said Gotti had made significant lifestyle changes, including adopting a healthier diet, and had since recovered, spending time at home with his family and focusing on his well-being.
“Irv has been struggling with diabetes for years, which caused him to have a minor stroke over six months ago,” Gotti’s rep said in a statement. “He has since changed his diet to eating more healthily. He’s been successful in making a full recovery. Irv is not in a rehab facility. He is at home with his family, enjoying life.”
Some of his most well-known hits include the multi-platinum track, “Always On Time” by Ja Rule featuring Ashanti, and Ashanti’s “Foolish.”
George Foreman (1949-2025)
Source: MICHAEL TRAN / Getty
Boxing legend George Foreman—the two-time heavyweight champion and later, business icon—died on March 21, at age 76. His family announced his peaceful passing surrounded by loved ones. After winning a gold medal in boxing at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, George Foreman quickly established himself as one of America’s most promising young athletes. Turning professional soon after, he stormed through the heavyweight division with legendary knockout power, compiling a perfect 37–0 record with 35 knockouts by 1972, according to NewsOne.
That same year, Foreman delivered one of the most dominant performances in boxing history by defeating reigning champion Joe Frazier in just two rounds to claim the heavyweight title.
Beyond the ring, Foreman reinvented himself as a wildly successful businessman, becoming the face of the George Foreman Grill, which went on to sell over 100 million units worldwide. His affable personality and savvy deals—including selling the grill’s naming rights for $137.5 million—helped build an estimated net worth of over $300 million by 2022.
Jimmy Cliff (1944-2025)
Source: Gie Knaeps / Getty
Reggae icon Jimmy Cliff, whose music brought global recognition to Jamaican sounds, died on Nov. 24 at 81. His wife confirmed he suffered a seizure and complications from pneumonia.
“I am thankful for his family, friends, fellow artists, and coworkers who have shared his journey with him. To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career. He really appreciated each and every fan for their love,” she wrote on Nov. 24.
Cliff’s hits—including “The Harder They Come” and “Many Rivers to Cross” — made him a foundational figure in reggae and world music. Beloved for his ability to weave social commentary into soulful, resonant music, Cliff built a catalogue that shaped reggae’s global identity. Themes of liberation, resilience, and nature flowed throughout his work, fitting for someone born during a storm and destined to shake global music.
Jimmy Cliff was a two-time Grammy winner, receiving awards for Best Reggae Recording in 1986 for “Cliff Hanger” and Best Reggae Album in 2013 for Rebirth.
Assata Shakur (1947-2025)
Source: Newsday LLC / Getty
Activist and revolutionary Assata Olugbala Shakurdied on Sept. 25 in Havana, Cuba, at the age of 78. Cuban officials and her daughter confirmed that her death was due to health complications and advanced age after decades living in exile under political asylum. Shakur, born JoAnne Deborah Byron and later known as JoAnne Deborah Chesimard after her marriage, was born in Queens in 1947. She was a prominent member of the Black Panther Party and later associated with the Black Liberation Army.
Shakur’s life became a focal point of discussions on racial justice, U.S.-Cuba relations, and revolutionary activism. On May 2, 1973, Assata Shakur and two other members of the Black Liberation Army were stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike by State Trooper Werner Foerster and another highway officer. The encounter quickly escalated into a violent confrontation, ending in a shootout that left Foerster and another individual dead.
Supporters of Shakur haveconsistently challenged the case, arguing that her trial was deeply flawed. They point to the absence of conclusive physical evidence, conflicting eyewitness accounts, and the broader historical context of law enforcement efforts—including those by the FBI—to undermine and sabotage civil rights and Black power movements during that era.
Regardless, Shakur escaped from prison in 1979 and eventually resurfaced in Cuba, where she was granted political asylum and lived out the remainder of her life. She spent her life after prison advocating for Black liberation and making sure her story was told. Her 1988 autobiography, Assata, became a blueprint for resistance and self-determination, widely studied by activists, scholars, and young people searching for a voice in the struggle. Her life inspired movements like Assata’s Daughters in Chicago, and her name was shouted in protests in Ferguson and across the world. Assata was a human rights activist and freedom fighter who stood in solidarity with oppressed people worldwide—and for that, her legacy will endure.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner (1970-2025)
Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Beloved actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner died on July 21 at 54. Warner, best known for his role as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, drowned accidentally while swimming during a family vacation in Costa Rica after being caught in a strong current. Emergency responders attempted resuscitation, but Warner was pronounced dead at the scene. Warner’s death was officially ruled an accidental drowning (asphyxiation by submersion).
Carl Carlton (1952-2025)
Source: Bobby Bank / Getty
Funk and R&B singer Carl Carltondied at the age of 73 on Dec. 15, leaving behind a legacy that helped define soul and funk music across generations. The music titan was known for songs like “I Can Feel It” and his funk and soul classic “She’s a Bad Mama Jama.”
His son, Carlton Hudgens II, confirmed the news on Sunday, Dec. 14, sharing a tribute on Facebook alongside a photo of his father. “RIP Dad, Legend Carl Carlton, singer of ‘She’s a Bad Mama Jama,’” he wrote. “Long hard fight in life, and you will be missed.”
Born Carlton Hudgens in Detroit in 1952, Carlton began his music career at a young age, recording in the 1960s under the name Little Carl Carlton. He later dropped the nickname and found early success in 1971, when his single “I Can Feel It” reached the Billboard Soul Singles chart. The song was a raw, emotional expression of love and longing, showcasing the gritty, heartfelt vocal style that would become his signature.
Carlton reached mainstream success in 1974 with his cover of “Everlasting Love,” which reached No. 6, cracking the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song, a joyful and optimistic declaration of romantic devotion, introduced Carlton to a wider pop audience while maintaining his soul roots. It remains one of the most recognizable versions of the classic love song.
Carlton suffered a stroke six years ago, though an official cause of death has yet to be announced by the singer’s family, according toPeopleand SoulTracks.
Mickey Lee (1990-2025)
Mickey Lee, a former Big Brother contestant whose vibrant personality made her a fan favorite, passed away early Christmas evening after suffering several cardiac arrests. She was 35.
Source: Big Brother / Big Brother
News of her death came just days after supporters learned she had been hospitalized in critical condition.
“With profound sadness, the family of Mickey Lee announces her transition on Christmas in the early evening,” her family said in a statement shared to Instagram. “Mickey captured the hearts of audiences nationwide through her appearance on Big Brother, where her authenticity, strength, and spirit left a lasting impression on fans and fellow cast members alike. She will be remembered for the joy she brought into the lives of so many and for the genuine connections she formed both on and off screen.”
Let’s keep all the Black celebrities who died in 2025 in our thoughts and prayers.
(CNN) — Beyoncé has joined the ranks of billionaires, according to Forbes, becoming the fifth musician to be crowned the elite status.
The Grammy Award-winning superstar now stands alongside Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna and her husband Jay-Z, according to a report published by the outlet Monday.
The 44 –year-old’s financial ascent follows a landmark year in her career. . Beyoncé took home the industry’s top trophy, winning Album of the Year at the 2025 Grammy for her country album “Cowboy Carter,” released the year prior. She also made history as the first Black woman to win the award for Best Country Album.
With 35 Grammy wins and 99 nominations, she is the most-awarded artist in the history of the awards, including those she won with Destiny’s Child, a chart-topping girl group that helped launch her storied career.
The “Cowboy Carter Tour” grossed more than $400 million, making it the highest-grossing country tour in history, Reuters reported, citing Live Nation.
In 2024, music charting site Billboard named her the greatest pop star of the 21st century highlighting “her full 25 years of influence, impact, evolution,” Billboard’s Andrew Unterberger wrote.
Her 2023 “Renaissance World Tour” drew massive crowds, with fans – known collectively as the BeyHive – flocking to see her perform across Europe and North America.
In Stockholm, where she kicked off the tour, fanfare drove up hotel and restaurant prices and even slowed down Sweden’s declining inflation, according to economists.
In addition to her musical achievements, Beyoncé has built a diverse business empire. She has launched successful clothing and hair care lines, and expanded into the beverage industry with a whisky brand named after her great-grandfather, SirDavis. Her entrepreneurial ventures have contributed to her growing fortune.
Beyoncé’s road to superstardom began in the early 1990s, when she appeared on “Star Search” as part of Girl’s Tyme, a six-member group. She later joined Destiny’s Child, which became one of the best-selling girl groups in the late 90s and early 2000s.
The group’s other members, Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland, reunited with her on stage earlier this year during her “Cowboy Carter” tour in Las Vegas.
Since Destiny’s Child announced its hiatus in 2001, Beyoncé has released a series of acclaimed solo albums, starting with “Dangerously in Love” in 2003, which won five Grammy Awards the following year.
Dec 28 (Reuters) – Tributes to Brigitte Bardot, an icon of French cinema, poured in on Sunday following the announcement of her death at the age of 91. Below are a selection.
FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON
“Her films, her voice, her dazzling fame, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne – Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom. A French existence, a universal radiance. She moved us. We mourn a legend of the century.”
(Bardot’s face was used as the model for an official bust of Marianne, an allegorical female figure who symbolizes the values of the French Republic, which was installed in town halls across the country from the late 1960s onward.)
THE BRIGITTE BARDOT FOUNDATION
“Mrs Brigitte Bardot (was) a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to give up her prestigious career in order to devote her life and energy to the defence of animals and to her Foundation,” it said.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation wishes to honour the memory of an exceptional woman who gave everything and gave up everything for a world more respectful of animals.”
FRENCH FAR-RIGHT POLITICIAN JORDAN BARDELLA
“The French people today lose the Marianne they so deeply loved and whose beauty astonished the world. Brigitte Bardot was a woman of heart, conviction, and character. A passionate patriot and a lover of animals that she protected throughout her life, she alone embodied an entire era of French history, and above all a certain idea of courage and freedom.”
FRENCH ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY (SPA FRANCE)
“The SPA pays tribute to Brigitte Bardot, an iconic figure and a passionate advocate for the animal cause. Since the 1970s, and later through her foundation created in the 1980s, she devoted her life to defending those who have no voice. Her unwavering commitment helped change attitudes and achieve major advances in animal protection … Thank you, B.B., for all that you have accomplished.”
(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter, America Hernandez, Alessandro ParodiEditing by Frances Kerry)
DENVER, Dec 24 (Reuters) – Santa Claus drove his reindeer-powered sleigh over rooftops around the world on Wednesday, delivering gifts to millions of children in a magic Christmas Eve ritual that North American air defense officials say they began tracking 70 years ago.
Still, despite its devotion to a tradition dating back to the Cold War era of 1955, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, possesses limited intelligence about the direction that Santa will take in any given year.
Santa is not required to file a flight plan. So the only thing NORAD knows for sure in advance is that the red-suited jolly old elf, also known as Kris Kringle or Saint Nicholas, takes off every Christmas Eve from his home base at the North Pole.
“NORAD tracks Santa, but only Santa knows his route, which means we cannot predict where or when he will arrive at your house,” a senior NORAD official said in a press statement.
NORAD, a joint U.S.-Canadian military command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has provided images and updates on Santa’s worldwide journey for seven decades, along with its main task of monitoring air defenses and issuing aerospace and maritime warnings.
The Santa tracker tradition originated from a 1955 misprint in a Colorado Springs newspaper of the telephone number of a department store for children to call and speak with Santa. The listed number went to what was then known as the Continental Air Defense Command.
An understanding officer took the youngsters’ calls and assured them that Santa was airborne and on schedule to deliver presents to good girls and boys – at least those who believe in him – flying aboard his reindeer-powered sleigh.
According to its website, NORAD detects Santa’s liftoff with its polar radar network, then follows his journey with the same satellites used to warn of any possible missile launches aimed at North America.
As soon as Santa’s lead reindeer, Rudolph, switches on his shiny red nose, military personnel can zero in on his location using the satellites’ infrared sensors.
U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to be following NORAD’s Santa tracker on Wednesday as he sat by a Christmas tree at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, fielding telephone calls from children around the country.
As he spoke to one youngster from Pennsylvania, Trump said, “So Santa right now is in Copenhagen, Denmark, but he’s heading toward our country. What would you like from Santa?”
Speaking to another caller, Trump jokingly explained the rationale for tracking Santa in terms of national security, saying, “We want to make sure he’s not infiltrated, that we’re not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa.”
(Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay in Washington; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
Will.i.am is busy. When he’s not writing hit songs like “OMG” for Usher, he’s looking for the next big pop star on The VoiceUK, or running his new AI company, FYI. So how exactly does he balance it all?
The Grammy Award–winning artist turned tech entrepreneur revealed to Fortune that he maxes out the 5-to-9 after the daily grind of his 9-to-5, and he advises Gen Zers to forget about work-life balance if they want to emulate his success.
“If you’re trying to build something that doesn’t exist, it’s about dream-reality balance,” he says. “Work-life balance means that you’re working for somebody else’s dream. You just have a job supporting somebody else’s dream, and you want to balance your work and your life.
“But if it’s dream-reality balance, then it’s not work. It’s a dream that you’re trying to put into reality, and you’re ignoring your current reality.”
For example, after working on his tech venture from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Will.i.am says that he goes back to work on his creative business until 9 p.m. But before his AI company was a reality, his day was flipped. He’d work on music first before dipping into his tech side hustle well into the evening.
It’s why he advises young people to reframe how they think of their time off work and their current 9-to-5 reality.
“I’m not really paying attention to this reality,” he explains. “I’m trying to bring that one [a new business venture or idea] here and focusing on how do I get people who believe in this dream to help me materialize it? So for that, you have to make some type of sacrifice to bring this thing that doesn’t exist here.
“From that perspective, work-life balance is not for the architects that are pulling visions into reality. Those words don’t compute to the mindset of the materializers.”
Will.i.am doesn’t even take time out for his birthday—and goes to work in China on Boxing Day
Of course, many young people already put in hours to their side hustles and personal development after work. Millions of Gen Zers and millennials are tuning into people’s 5-to-9 evening routines on TikTok.
But Will.i.am says chipping away at your dream when most people are off work extends to weekends, birthdays, and holidays.
“I didn’t party. I was always a square, meaning, ‘You work too much, man, let’s go out.’ Like what? Go out. I don’t want to go out. I just always worked,” the rapper says. “It’s your birthday what are you gonna do? Work. You ain’t gonna celebrate?”
The multimillionaire says he’s always saved the celebrating for the stage, where he can finally enjoy the fruits of his labor.
“There’s nothing that’s ever gonna feel that glorious than when you’re actually at a festival. But how do you get to headline a festival? You’ve got to work. My friends would go out and party, hanging out with chicks, doing drugs, drinking. I was just in the studio working, writing songs.”
To this day, he says that he hasn’t gone out and celebrated a birthday—including his most recent one, which was just last week on March 15.
“Like on Christmas for the past 12 years: I could celebrate Christmas with my family, and then on the 26th, I fly to China because that’s dream maker heaven. Anything you want to make is there.”
Will.i.am was speaking to Fortune in Rome for the rollout of Raidio.FYI radios in Mercedes-Benz cars.
Will.i.am’s daily work routine
7 a.m.: Will.i.am is not a part of the CEO-approved 5 a.m. club. Instead, he told Fortune he wakes up at around 7 a.m., and he sticks to this routine whether he’s living in L.A. or London.
8 a.m.: “I walk, do my calls, and get to work,” he says, with the aim to start work at 9 a.m.
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.: “I get a lot done from nine to 12, do my little lunch, then back to work at one, finish at five, and that’s all my tech, like entrepreneurial activities.”
5 p.m. to 9 p.m.: “The night hours are creativity,” he says, adding that specifically between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. is when he gets the best ideas. “That’s the juicy bits, [when] I’m freaking soaking in emotion, to where I just rinse it out in the phone.”
9 p.m. onward: When Will.i.am was in his late twenties, he says going to sleep at 4 a.m. (and waking up at noon) was the norm. But now, at 50 and balancing both his tech and music ventures, he starts unwinding for bed after 9 p.m. and is asleep by 11 p.m.
A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com on March 23, 2025.
Join us at the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit May 19–20, 2026, in Atlanta. The next era of workplace innovation is here—and the old playbook is being rewritten. At this exclusive, high-energy event, the world’s most innovative leaders will convene to explore how AI, humanity, and strategy converge to redefine, again, the future of work. Register now.
Dec 21 (Reuters) – Director James Cameron’s third “Avatar” movie adventure racked up roughly $345 million in global box office sales over its opening weekend, distributor Walt Disney said on Sunday.
The estimated sales for “Avatar: Fire and Ash” landed in line with pre-weekend forecasts of at least $340 million.
U.S. and Canadian box offices accounted for $88 million of the total, Disney said.
Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington voice the lead characters in the “Avatar” series, the story of a clan of 9-foot-tall blue people known as Na’vi who are forced to fight to protect their family and their planet.
The first “Avatar” film, released in 2009, leads all-time box office charts with $2.9 billion in global ticket sales. The 2022 sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water” ranks third with $2.3 billion.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )
Dec 19 (Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge on Friday overturned the conviction of one of two men found guilty of murdering pioneering rap star Jam Master Jay in 2002 as part of a drug-dealing dispute, ruling that prosecutors had failed to satisfactorily prove their case.
U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall granted a rare judgment of acquittal for Karl Jordan, whom a jury had found guilty in the shooting death of Jason Mizell, the legal name of the famed rap DJ, producer and founding member of the hip-hop group Run-DMC.
The judge denied a similar request for Jordan’s co-defendant, Ronald Washington.
Jordan, the godson of Mizell, and Washington, a longtime friend of the rap artist, were found guilty in February 2024 on federal charges of murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking.
The U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York state, where the case was tried, is reviewing the decision, a spokesperson told The New York Times.
Mizell and his Run-DMC bandmates helped usher rap into the pop mainstream in the 1980s with such hits as “It’s Tricky” and a cover of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” off the best-selling 1986 album “Raising Hell.”
The group was known for decidedly anti-drug messages in its lyrics and concerts. But as Mizell’s showbiz success waned in the 1990s, he turned to dealing cocaine to help fund his music career, according to evidence presented at trial.
Mizell was shot dead the night of October 30, 2002, in his New York City recording studio, in what the prosecutors said was a disagreement with Jordan and Washington stemming from a lucrative deal to distribute cocaine in Baltimore.
Prosecutors said the case took many years to solve because witnesses were reluctant to cooperate with investigators for fear of retribution.
The government’s case, as charged, hinged in part on proving a drug-related motive for the killing, the judge ruled.
Prosecutors argued in court that Jordan and Washington conspired to kill Mizell, who operated as a “middleman,” after he cut them out of the Baltimore drug deal.
However, Judge DeArcy Hall found that prosecutors presented no evidence that Jordan had been cut or felt dissatisfied with his share of drug proceeds – leaving no reason for retaliation – and no evidence that he intended to steal from Mizell’s supplies.
“To draw the conclusions urged by the government would exceed the bounds of reason and require plainly impermissible speculation” on the part of the jury, the judge wrote in a 29-page opinion.
A third defendant, Jay Bryant, also was indicted in the killing and faces a separate trial.
Jordan has maintained that Bryant shot Mizell.
According to prosecutors’ account, Jordan shot Mizell in the head at close range when the DJ stood up to greet his godson. The government said Bryant had entered the studio and let in Jordan and Washington, both armed with handguns, through a locked rear fire exit.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by William Mallard)
Rob Reiner, the son of a comedy giant who went on to become one, himself, as one of the preeminent filmmakers of his generation with movies such as “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally …” and “This Is Spinal Tap,” has died. He was 78.
Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer, were found dead Sunday at their home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation confirmed that Reiner and Singer were the victims. The official could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers speak onstage at the 75th Emmy Awards on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Phil McCarten/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images)
Authorities were investigating an “apparent homicide,” said Capt. Mike Bland with the Los Angeles Police Department. The Los Angeles Fire Department said it responded to a medical aid request shortly after 3:30 p.m.
Reiner grew up thinking his father, Carl Reiner, didn’t understand him or find him funny. But the younger Reiner would in many ways follow in his father’s footsteps, working both in front and behind the camera, in comedies that stretched from broad sketch work to accomplished dramedies.
“My father thought, ‘Oh, my God, this poor kid is worried about being in the shadow of a famous father,’” Reiner said, recalling the temptation to change his name to “60 Minutes” in October. “And he says, ‘What do you want to change your name to?’ And I said, ‘Carl.’ I just wanted to be like him.”
After starting out as a writer for “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” Reiner’s breakthrough came when he was, at age 23, cast in Norman Lear’s “All in the Family” as Archie Bunker’s liberal son-in-law, Michael “Meathead” Stivic. But by the 1980s, Reiner began as a feature film director, churning out some of the most beloved films of that, or any, era. His first film, the largely improvised 1984 cult classic “This Is Spinal Tap,” remains the urtext mockumentary.
After the 1985 John Cusack summer comedy, “The Sure Thing,” Reiner made “Stand By Me” (1986), “The Princess Bride” (1987) and “When Harry Met Sally …” (1989), a four-year stretch that resulted in a trio of American classics, all of them among the most often quoted movies of the 20th century.
A legacy on and off screen
For the next four decades, Reiner, a warm and gregarious presence on screen and an outspoken liberal advocate off it, remained a constant fixture in Hollywood. The production company he co-founded, Castle Rock Entertainment, launched an enviable string of hits, including “Seinfeld” and “The Shawshank Redemption.” By the turn of the century, its success rate had fallen considerably, but Reiner revived it earlier this decade. This fall, Reiner and Castle Rock released the long-in-coming sequel “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.”
All the while, Reiner was one of the film industry’s most passionate Democrat activists, regularly hosting fundraisers and campaigning for liberal issues. He was co-founder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which challenged in court California’s ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8. He also chaired the campaign for Prop 10, a California initiative to fund early childhood development services with a tax on tobacco products. Reiner was also a critic of President Donald Trump.
That ran in the family, too. Reiner’s father opposed the Communist hunt of McCarthyism in the 1950s and his mother, Estelle Reiner, a singer and actor, protested the Vietnam War.
“If you’re a nepo baby, doors will open,” Reiner told the Guardian in 2024. “But you have to deliver. If you don’t deliver, the door will close just as fast as it opened.”
‘All in the Family’ to ‘Stand By Me’
Robert Reiner was born in the Bronx on March 6, 1947. As a young man, he quickly set out to follow his father into entertainment. He studied at the University of California, Los Angeles film school and, in the 1960s, began appearing in small parts in various television shows.
But when Lear saw Reiner as a key cast member in “All in the Family,” it came as a surprise to the elder Reiner.
“Norman says to my dad, ‘You know, this kid is really funny.’ And I think my dad said, ‘What? That kid? That kid? He’s sullen. He sits quiet. He doesn’t, you know, he’s not funny.’ He didn’t think I was anyway,” Reiner told “60 Minutes.”
On “All in the Family,” Reiner served as a pivotal foil to Carroll O’Connor’s bigoted, conservative Archie Bunker. Reiner was five times nominated for an Emmy for his performance on the show, winning in 1974 and 1978. In Lear, Reiner also found a mentor. He called him “a second father.”
“It wasn’t just that he hired me for ‘All in the Family,’” Reiner told “American Masters” in 2005. “It was that I saw, in how he conducted his life, that there was room to be an activist as well. That you could use your celebrity, your good fortune, to help make some change.”
Lear also helped launch Reiner as a filmmaker. He put $7.5 million of his own money to help finance “Stand By Me,” Reiner’s adaptation of the Stephen King novella “The Body.” The movie, about four boys who go looking for the dead body of a missing boy, became a coming-of-age classic, made breakthroughs of its young cast (particularly River Phoenix) and even earned the praise of King.
With his stock rising, Reiner devoted himself to adapting William Goldman’s 1973’s “The Princess Bride,” a book Reiner had loved since his father gave him a copy as a gift. Everyone from François Truffaut to Robert Redford had considered adapting Goldman’s book, but it ultimately fell to Reiner (from Goldman’s own script) to capture the unique comic tone of “The Princess Bride.” But only once he had Goldman’s blessing.
“At the door he greeted me and he said, ‘This is my baby. I want this on my tombstone. This is my favorite thing I’ve ever written in my life. What are you going to do with it?’” Reiner recalled in a Television Academy interview. “And we sat down with him and started going through what I thought should be done with the film.”
Though only a modest success in theaters, the movie — starring Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant and Robin Wright — would grow in stature over the years, leading to countless impressions of Inigo Montoya’s vow of revenge and the risky nature of land wars in Asia.
‘When Harry Met Sally …”
Reiner was married to Penny Marshall, the actor and filmmaker, for 10 years beginning in 1971. Like Reiner, Marshall experienced sitcom fame, with “Laverne & Shirley,” but found a more lasting legacy behind the camera.
After their divorce, Reiner, at a lunch with Nora Ephron, suggested a comedy about dating. In writing what became “When Harry Met Sally …” Ephron and Reiner charted a relationship between a man and a woman (played in the film by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan) over the course of 12 years.
Along the way, the movie’s ending changed, as did some of the film’s indelible moments. The famous line, “I’ll have what she’s having,” said after witnessing Ryan’s fake orgasm at Katz’s Delicatessen, was a suggestion by Crystal — delivered by none other than Reiner’s mother, Estelle.
The movie’s happy ending also had some real-life basis. Reiner met Singer, a photographer, on the set of “When Harry Met Sally …” In 1989, they were wed. They had three children together: Nick, Jake and Romy.
Reiner’s subsequent films included another King adaptation, “Misery” (1990) and a pair of Aaron Sorkin-penned dramas: the military courtroom tale “A Few Good Men” (1992) and 1995’s “The American President.”
By the late ’90s, Reiner’s films (1996’s “Ghosts of Mississippi,” 2007’s “The Bucket List”) no longer had the same success rate. But he remained a frequent actor, often memorably enlivening films like “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993) and “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013). In 2023, he directed the documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life.”
In an interview earlier this year with Seth Rogen, Reiner suggested everything in his career boiled down to one thing.
“All I’ve ever done is say, ‘Is this something that is an extension of me?’ For ‘Stand by Me,’ I didn’t know if it was going to be successful or not. All I thought was, ‘I like this because I know what it feels like.’”
LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Tom Stoppard, one of Britain’s best-known playwrights, has died at the age of 88. Below are some tributes and reactions.
“Tom Stoppard was my favourite playwright. He leaves us with a majestic body of intellectual and amusing work. I will always miss him.”
Stoppard’s agent said it was an honour to work with him.
“We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved client and friend, Tom Stoppard, has died peacefully at home in Dorset, surrounded by his family. He will be remembered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language.”
THEATRE CRITIC MARK SHENTON
“For over 50, 60 years he’s dominated the theatre,” Shenton told Sky News. “And the cinema as well. He had a phenomenal impact. He was probably Britain’s leading playwright.”
“We are so sad to learn of the death of Tom Stoppard,” The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain said. “A recipient of our Outstanding Contribution to Writing in 2017, he was presented by fellow playwright and former WGGB President (David Edgar) who said of him: ‘Like no one else, he has challenged, dazzled and amazed.’”
(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Three-time NBA champion Rick Fox on Monday said he will run for a seat in the Bahamas’ House of Assembly in an election due to be held no later than October.
“As a candidate and as a leader for the Bahamas I will demand transparency, honesty, integrity while demanding a level of excellence from all of us,” Fox wrote on social media.
“This is bigger than party politics. This is the Bahamas versus the world. Imagine a nation where every Bahamian feels secure, safe, empowered, and proud.”
Fox, who was born in Canada to a Bahamian father and Canadian mother, played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association as a forward for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.
Under the Bahamas’ parliamentary system, Fox will run to represent one of 39 constituencies but he did not specify which one.
Prime Minister Philip Davis will decide the date of the election, which must occur within five years of the last election in 2021.
Earlier in November, Fox announced he was forming the Good Neighbors Party with an agenda focused on regional integration in the Caribbean.
He was not immediately available for comment on Monday.
Fox won three NBA titles with the Lakers from 2000 to 2002 and retired in 2004.
While in the NBA, he launched an acting career and has since starred in films and television shows like “Ugly Betty,” “Greenleaf” and “One Tree Hill.”
Fox has continued to live in the Los Angeles area but has a home in the Bahamas, where he was appointed ambassador at large for sports in 2022.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
The latest twist came Monday in the high-profile case of animal welfare activist Zoe Rosenberg, who awaits sentencing for her role in taking four chickens from a Perdue Farms processing facility in Petaluma: a celebrity endorsement.
Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix, one of Hollywood’s most esteemed actors, released a statement through the group Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE, urging the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office to prosecute Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry facility for “years of documented cruelty,” rather than focusing its attention on activists such as Rosenberg.
“Criminalizing people for rescuing suffering animals is a moral failure,” Phoenix wrote. “Compassion is not a crime. When individuals step in to save a life because the system has looked the other way, they should be supported — not prosecuted. We have to decide who we are as a society: one that protects the vulnerable, or one that punishes those who try.”
In addition to circulating the statement to media outlets, DxE posted it on Facebook and Instagram. By 3 p.m. Monday, the post had been shared more than 1,800 times, and had attracted nearly 2,000 comments, most of them supportive of Phoenix’s message.
Carla Rodriguez, the Sonoma County district attorney, said her office had not heard directly from the actor, and she had not spoken to him.
Zoe Rosenberg talks to supporters outside the Sonoma County Hall of Justice after being found guilty of felony conspiracy. Photo taken in Santa Rosa Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (Beth Schlanker / The Press Democrat)
Rosenberg, a 23-year-old Cal student billed by Berkeley-based DxE as an “animal cruelty investigator,” was convicted Oct. 29 by a Sonoma County jury on charges of felony conspiracy and three misdemeanors. She is set to be sentenced Dec. 3 and could face up to 4½ years for her actions at the Petaluma Poultry processing plant during a 2023 incursion there by activists.
If it seems odd to see a movie star insinuate himself into the legal affairs of Sonoma County, it fits Phoenix’s lifelong support of animal welfare. He has been vegan since the age of 3.
When he won the Best Actor award for his dark portrayal of the title character in the movie “Joker,” he took the opportunity to speak out on animal agriculture.
“We go into the natural world, and we plunder it for its resources,” Phoenix told the audience in Hollywood while accepting his Oscar at the 92nd Academy Awards ceremony. “We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow, and when she gives birth, we steal her baby even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf, and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.”
The next day, Phoenix backed up his words with action. In partnership with the activist group LA Animal Save, he helped remove a cow and newborn calf from a slaughterhouse in Pico Rivera, with permission from the owner, and relocated the animals to the Farm Sanctuary property in Acton. Both locations are in Los Angeles County.
Phoenix won other awards for “Joker” in 2020, and he took up the cause of animal liberation at each step. Before the British Academy Film Awards, known as the BAFTAs, he helped drape a 400-square-foot banner from London’s famed Tower Bridge, declaring “Factory farming destroys our planet. Go vegan.”
Direct Action Everywhere insists producers such as Petaluma Poultry run factory farms that are too large to ensure animal welfare. Local dairy and poultry businesses vehemently disagree, a debate that came to a head in 2024 when DxE members championed Measure J, which sought to sharply limit the size of those operations in Sonoma County. The measure suffered a resounding defeat at the polls.
A month before the BAFTA demonstration, Phoenix thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which at the time hosted the Golden Globe Awards, for adopting vegan standards at its 2020 ceremony.
“But we have to do more than that,” he urged the Golden Globes audience that night. “Together we can hopefully be unified and actually make some changes. It’s great to vote. But sometimes we have to take that responsibility on ourselves.”
A DxE spokesperson said Phoenix’s statement on behalf of Rosenberg was coordinated by his social impact advisor, Michelle Cho.
Petaluma Poultry was locally owned until 2011, when it was acquired by Perdue Farms, the Maryland-based agribusiness giant. The company still buys its chickens from local farms. DxE has claimed for years that conditions at the Petaluma facility are cruel to the birds and unhealthy for consumers.
Perdue Farms denies such claims and has petitioned the courts to prevent DxE demonstrators from protesting at the homes of Petaluma Poultry executives.
Direct Action Everywhere activists protest at the Santa Rosa home of Jason Arnold, Petaluma Poultry director of operations, on March 22. (Direct Action Everywhere) Direct Action Everywhere
“Petaluma Poultry is very committed to proper animal care,” local spokesperson Rob Muelrath said on behalf of the company. “Our birds have room to move around, access to the outdoors, and things to keep them engaged. They’re raised on a healthy diet without antibiotics.”
Muelrath added that the facility is regularly visited by U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors, and by Global Animal Partnership, a nonprofit that rates welfare standards at farms, ranches and other businesses related to meat production.
The Sonoma County Superior Court judge in Rosenberg’s trial, Kenneth Gnoss, prohibited her attorneys from introducing documentation DxE had collected at the processing plant in Petaluma.
Her attorneys argued she acted out of moral duty to save animals she believed were suffering. She said after the verdict, she had no regrets about her actions.
Her legal team is planning to appeal.
“The jury found Zoe Rosenberg guilty on all counts,” Muelrath wrote to The Press Democrat. “The break-in was a well-planned, deliberate breach of private property with the intent to steal — a criminal act that was deliberate, strategic, and bordering on corporate espionage or agro-terrorism.”
Phoenix’s filmography also includes starring roles in “Walk the Line,” “Her,” “The Master” and, most recently, “Eddington.”
You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) -FBI Director Kash Patel and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem were in attendance at the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday, arriving on the red carpet with Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali before touring the paddock and McLaren’s garage.
“This is a fantastic event to celebrate not just these drivers and teams but also the great competition F1 is,” Noem told Reuters.
“We’re just glad everyone could come and do it securely.”
Patel said he was “absolutely” an F1 fan and that he supported McLaren.
Asked whether he would switch allegiances when the American team Cadillac joins the grid next year, Patel hedged.
“I’ll have to see how they do,” he said.
Security at major events in Las Vegas has been heightened since a gunman killed 58 people and wounded more than 500 more at a country music festival in 2017 in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
The third edition of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which is held along the Las Vegas Strip, has drawn a raft of celebrities including Beyonce and Jay-Z, who met with Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton before the race, and actress Cynthia Erivo of Wicked fame.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said golf legend Jack Nicklaus will lead some work to restore two golf courses at Joint Base Andrews, a military base near Washington, D.C., just outside the capital.
Trump met Nicklaus, whose Nicklaus Design is one of the world’s largest golf course design and construction companies, at the military base for an aerial tour, the White House said.
Before leaving the White House for Andrews, Trump told reporters that Nicklaus would be involved in rebuilding the base’s two golf courses and other recreational facilities, which he said were “in very bad shape.”
Trump, an avid golfer, owns 18 golf courses, including a dozen in the United States, one in Ireland, two in Scotland and one in the United Arab Emirates.
He did not provide further details about the work planned for Joint Base Andrews or how it would be funded, although he said it could be done for “very little money.”
The White House, Defense Department and Nicklaus Design did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has undertaken various construction projects at the White House, including renovating the Lincoln Bedroom’s bathroom, paving over the Rose Garden and decorating the Oval Office in gold.
In his most ambitious renovation project, Trump in October ordered the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make way for a 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) ballroom, a project that drew sharp criticism for not going through a proper review.
Trump has said the $300 million construction of the new ballroom will be funded by private donations from companies and wealthy individuals.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Sergio Non and Chris Reese)
Getting pregnant at 44 is not that common, but it happened to Claire Danes, who is now 46 years old. In addition to her older children, 12-year-old Cyrus and 7-year-old Rowan, The Beast in Me star Danes is mother to a 2-year-old daughter whose name she has kept private.
When she got pregnant, it came as something of a shock to her, she said on the SmartLess podcast in an episode published November 17. “We had this oopsy-daisy third baby,” she said. A pregnancy at an advanced age can be emotionally complex. “I was so ‘old’ when it happened. I was 44,” she recounted, adding that “I didn’t think it was possible” to get pregnant at that age.
Initially, she was surprised and even embarrassed by the news, mainly because of her age and the social stigma attached to it, and also because neither she nor her husband Hugh Dancy, who is 50, was trying to have another child.
“I did not foresee this at all, and it was weird. Suddenly I felt a kind of funny shame,” she explained. “Like I was naughty. Like I had been caught fornicating past the point I was meant to. No, it was weird, like I had discovered an edge I wasn’t quite conscious of, like I was going outside the parameters a little bit.”
Since her third pregnancy came after two sons, Danes expected to have another boy, she said. “I got really, really lucky. I mean, my OB-GYN was like, ‘You know you’re having another boy.’ But no!” she recounted. “I would have been delighted” to have another boy, she said, “but I am more delighted” with her daughter. “She’s pretty cool. She loves a tutu.”
Danes and Dancy met in 2006 on the set of Evening, where they played two lovers. In a 2017 interview with Marie Claire, the actress recalled realizing during a bike ride with Dancy in Rhode Island that she was in love. “I just had this dumb epiphany, like, I’m really just happy,” she said of the moment. They were married in France in 2009, four years before the birth of their first child.
In a 2013 interview, she confessed that she was glad she waited to have children until later in her life, when she was more mature and could take the time she wanted and needed to focus on her family. “I’ve always wanted to have kids, but I’m glad I didn’t until now,” she said then. “When I was thinking about [working and being a mother] originally, I was really nervous about it. I think I would make a lousy stay-at-home mom.”
She said that she didn’t think it would “suit” her, and emphasized her love of her chosen career. “I feel so fortunate, in that I’ve had this arrow-straight focus that I wanted to act.”
