The long time lover and friend of the late Farrah Fawcett revealed that his estranged son, Griffin O’Neal, was turned away from the funeral of the iconic beauty on Tuesday.
Even though Griffin drove 300 miles to pay his respects, Ryan O’Neal specifically requested his son be banned from the funeral.
When asked about his reasoning, Ryan would only suggest that his son is a “bad guy.”
Despite his father’s intentions, Griffin believes that Farrah would be upset to know he wasn’t allowed to attend her funeral.
Farrah Fawcett’s fellow Angels paid tribute yesterday by speaking about her passing.
Kate Jackson:
“I will miss Farrah every day. She was a selfless person who loved her family and friends with all her heart, and what a big heart it was. Farrah showed immense courage and grace throughout her illness and was an inspiration to those around her. When I think of Farrah, I will remember her kindness, her cutting, dry wit and, of course, her beautiful smile.”
Jaclyn Smith:
“Farrah had courage. she had strength, and she had faith. And now she has peace as she rests with the real angels.”
Cheryl Ladd:
“She was incredibly brave, and God will be welcoming her with open arms.”
Finally, from Charlie:
“Though I did not know her well, Farrah left an indelible mark on me and the public during her one-year reign on Charlie’s Angels. She put up a gallant fight against her unforgiving disease and I send my deepest sympathy and prayers to her family and friends.”
source: Farrah Fawcett dies after cancer battle [newsday]
Members of Michael Jackson’s family said the singer was given a “heavy dose of morphine” prior to his death, and family members were alarmed.
Joe Jackson recently wanted to put Michael in a rehab facility in Palmdale, California for what he considered an “addiction” to morphine and prescription drugs. A close member of Michael Jackson’s family has said Jackson received a daily injection of a synthetic narcotic similar to morphine — Demerol — and yesterday he received a shot at 11:30 AM.
Family members are saying the dosage was “too much” and that’s what caused his death.
Family members say they felt he was unable to perform for his upcoming concerts because of his drug use. Members of the upcoming said that Jackson was generally lethargic and very late for rehearsals.
There are reports Jackson OD’d yesterday on Demerol, a drug similar to morphine.
Interestingly, Jackson wrote a song called “Morphine” in 1997. One of the lyrics — “Demerol. Demerol. Oh God he’s taking Demerol.”
Interestingly, law enforcement is looking for a doctor who lived at Michael Jackson’s home — and the doctor is nowhere to be found.
Michael Jackson has suffered a heart attack and there are scant rumors (unconfirmed) that he has died.
TMZ is reporting that the fifty year old king of pop was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital.
Jackson reportedly collapsed at his home around noon today, where he was shortly rushed to emergency care while still unresponsive.
“The call came in because a person was not breathing,” says a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Fire Department.
“When the team arrived, they saw that CPR was already in progress by someone at the home. The person not breathing was transported to UCLA Medical Center and remains there.”
“He had a heart attack,” father Joe Jackson reported
They say it happens in three’s, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and now Michael Jackson.
The estranged daughter of Billy Bob Thornton has been indicted on several charges in the death of a 1-year-old girl she was baby sitting in central Florida.
Amanda Brumfield, 29, was booked at the Orange County Jail on Wednesday. She faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child.
Court records show she told investigators the infant who died in her care in October acted normally and ate bananas after she fell from a playpen and hit her head. But detectives believe Brumfield’s story is inconsistent with the girl’s injuries.
The child was her goddaughter.
An autopsy completed in March concluded that the short fall, estimated at about 28 inches in height, could not have caused the skull fracture and brain bleed that lead to the child’s death.
It was not immediately clear whether Brumfield had an attorney. A telephone message left at the jail was not returned Thursday morning.
Thornton’s publicist has said the actor hasn’t spoken to Brumfield for a number of years.
Prosecutors have not released what they think happened or given a motive.
Billy Bob is having phone sex with Angelina Jolie, while his daughter is beating babies with bananas. They aren’t dysfunctional at all.
source: Billy Bob’s Daughter Indicted in Babysitting Death [e online]
Farrah Fawcett died at 9:28 AM today. Ryan O’Neal and Alana Stewart were at her bedside.
She was 62.
Farrah Fawcett had taken a serious turn for the worse and her loved ones reportedly gathered at her bedside Wednesday night.
A priest also was summoned to the Los Angeles hospital where the 62-year-old “Charlie’s Angels” icon - a devout Catholic - is being treated for anal cancer, the television show “Extra” reported.
Her publicist, Arnold Robinson, would not comment on the reports, saying only that “she is still being treated for her condition.”
Those keeping vigil in the intensive care unit included longtime love Ryan O’Neal, who has been with the one-time sex symbol constantly since she was hospitalized two weeks ago.
Ryan O’Neal had recently proposed to Farrah — I wish she could have made it to the wedding, this makes me really sad.
source: Farrah Fawcett health worsening; priest summoned to deliver last rites [daily news]
UPDATE (James):
CNN (Farrah Fawcett, sex symbol and actress, dies):
Farrah Fawcett, the blonde-maned actress whose best-selling poster and “Charlie’s Angels” stardom made her one of the most famous faces in the world, has died. She was 62.
Farrah Fawcett, who skyrocketed to fame as one of a trio of impossibly glamorous private eyes on TV’s Charlie’s Angels, has died after a long battle with cancer. She was 62.
Fawcett died at 9:28 a.m. PST at St. John’s Heath Center in Santa Monica, Calif. She was with longtime partner Ryan O’Neal, friend Alana Stewart and her doctor Lawrence Piro. She had recently returned to St. John’s for treatment of complications from anal cancer, first diagnosed three years ago.
“She’s gone. She now belongs to the ages,” O’Neal tells PEOPLE. “She’s now with he mother and sister and her God. I loved her with all my heart. I will miss her so very, very much. She was in and out of consciousness. I talked to her all through the night. I told her how very much I loved her. She’s in a better place now.”
Like so much about Fawcett’s life – including her bumpy relationship with O’Neal – her heroic struggle to beat the disease was closely followed by her legion of fans.
“I’ve watched her this past year fight with such courage and so valiantly, but with such humor,” Fawcett’s Charlie’s Angels costar Kate Jackson told PEOPLE in November 2007.
[...]
In 1973, Fawcett married actor Lee Majors, forever known as Col. Steve Austin on TV’s The Six Million Dollar Man. Three years later, she appeared in the cult sci-fi film Logan’s Run and began her stint with costars Jackson and Jaclyn Smith on Charlie’s Angels. Well-coiffed and scantily-clad, the threesome created an instant sensation, with a weekly following of 23 million fans.
Fawcett moved on after just one season. By then, she was already a phenomenon, having donned a one-piece red bathing suit and a perfect smile for her legendary pin-up poster, which sold a still-record 12 million copies.
“I became famous almost before I had a craft,” Fawcett told The New York Times in 1986, four years after her divorce from Majors. (By then, she was already involved with Ryan O’Neal.) “I didn’t study drama at school. I was an art major. Suddenly, when I was doing Charlie’s Angels, I was getting all this fan mail, and I didn’t really know why. I don’t think anybody else did, either.
Though she left TV for what was assumed to be greener pastures – feature films – Fawcett’s initial three big-screen vehicles all crash-landed. Her first, 1978’s Somebody Killed Her Husband, was lampooned in MAD magazine under the title, Somebody Killed Her Career.
It took some serious dramatic TV roles, including that of a battered wife in 1984’s The Burning Bed (which earned her an Emmy nomination), as well as starring in small-screen biopics about pioneering photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White and ill-fated Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, for Fawcett to bounce back.
Fawcett is only slightly younger than my parents but she was the first iconic sex symbol I was ever aware of. She and Majors were the Hollywood “it” couple of the day and “Charlie’s Angels,” while not a show that has stood up well to the test of time, nonetheless remains a pop culture icon.
Even though she remained a celebrity through the end, she’ll always be remembered for that poster. It’s amazing how tame it was compared to the images of today’s sex symbols.
The songwriter and director behind ‘You Light Up My Life’ has been indicted on charges of raping or sexually assaulting women who answered audition ads on Craigslist. Joseph Brooks, who’s 71, will be arraigned later Tuesday.
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau says nine of the 11 victims answered an ad seeking women to audition for acting roles. He allegedly lured them to his Upper East Side apartment to see the Oscar he won for Best Original Song for the 1977 ballad ‘You Light Up My Life.’
According to the Daily News, two of the victims were doped up with date-rape drugs. Toxicology results have been inconclusive.
Brooks’ attorney, Jeff Hoffman, says “there will be lengthy arguments” during the arraignment.
He also wrote and directed the ‘You Light Up My Life’ movie. It’s about a comedian who has a one-night stand with a director.
source: Oscar Winner Joseph Brooks Indicted for Rape; Lured Women Via Craigslist [popeater]
A rare stamp portraying movie star Audrey Hepburn smoking sold for $93,800 at an auction in Germany Tuesday. Both buyer and seller were anonymous.
Only five copies of the 2001 stamp are known to exist.
The print run was ordered destroyed after Hepburn’s son, Sean Ferrer, objected to the cigarette holder dangling from the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” star’s mouth and refused to grant copyright.
Thirty proof copies escaped incineration. Most probably ended up in the trash can, but a few have wound up in the hands of collectors.
“We can only guess that whoever took the Hepburn stamps from Deutsche Post didn’t realize their value, thought they would save 55 cents and just used them on normal letters,” auctioneer Andreas Schlegel said.
Hepburn died of colon cancer in 1993. Her son said he hoped the stamp seller would use his windfall to benefit cancer research or an anti-smoking campaign.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck ripped off a woman by plagiarizing her disease material — so claims Susan Hassett, who fired off a letter to “The View” host just before suing her.
TMZ obtained the letter — in which Susan claims she sent Elisabeth a book called “Living with Celiac Disease” back in April of ‘08. Thirteen months later, Susan says Hasselbeck published the same book with a new title: “The G Free Diet-A Gluten Free Survival Guide.”
Susan compares chapters and lines. Here are some highlights.
Susan’s Book Chapter 1: What is Celiac Disease?
Hasselbeck Chapter 2: What is Celiac Disease?
Susan’s tips: “Shop in the outer isles of the supermarket.”
Hasselbeck’s tips: “Food in the outer isles of the supermarket.”
And the comparisons go on and on.
Hasselbeck recently discovered she’s long suffered from celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder linked to gluten proteins found in wheat, barley and rye. The disease can cause, among other things, chronic diarrhea and fatigue.
source: Falmouth woman sues Elisabeth Hasselbeck over book [boston herald]
Legendary CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, 92, long known as the “Most Trusted Man in America,” is gravely ill, according to multiple CBS News sources and published reports.
According to Mediabistro’s blog, TVNewser, the network began updating his obituary more than a week ago; a CBS News executive had no comment to TVNewser on the reports of Cronkite’s failing health.
One of the most recognized and honored journalists in America, Walter Cronkite anchored the “CBS Evening News” for 19 years, when he was replaced by Dan Rather.
Cronkite remained a special correspondent for the network through the years.
The St. Joseph, Mo., native got his start as a battlefield correspondent during World War II for the United Press. In 1950 he came to CBS radio as a Washington correspondent.
Cronkite jumped into the fledgling TV news world in 1962 when he was named anchor of the 15-minute “CBS Evening News,” which became the first 30-minute network newscast the following year with Cronkite at the anchor desk.
From the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. to publicly questioning U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War to the landing of the first man on the moon, Cronkite was known for a tell-it-like-it-is reporting style that was often tinged with genuine emotion.
Thought of as the dean of broadcast journalism, Cronkite’s style has long been the hallmark of television reporting. A journalism school at Arizona State University was named for him, and a number of industry awards are in his name, too.
In addition to leading the “Evening News” to perpetual first-place ratings, Cronkite gave the country one of the best-known catchphrases in TV history with his nightly sign-off, “And that’s the way it is…”
TVNewser quotes Cronkite speaking on his own mortality from a 2006 interview:
“When you get to be 89, you have to think about it a little bit. It doesn’t prey on me, and it doesn’t keep me awake nights. Occasionally, when I’m upset about something else, I think, ‘My gosh, I don’t know if I should do this or that because I’m not sure I’ll be here that long to enjoy it.’”
source: Legendary CBS journalist Walter Cronkite reportedly gravely ill [chicago sun times]
Marking the first public statement since her daughter Chastity Bono — now Chaz Bono — announced that she was undergoing a sex change, Cher is coming out to lend words of support for her daughter.
Cher says that Chaz is going through “a difficult journey, but one that I will support,” and says that she respects “the courage it takes to go through this transition in the glare of public scrutiny, and although I may not understand, I will strive to be understanding,” in a statement to UsMagazine.com.
Cher continued with kind words for her daughter, saying that her support is infinite.
“The one thing that will never change is my abiding love for my child.”
TMZ reported that Chaz Bono was undergoing a sex change from female to male. Bono’s publicist Howard Bragman stated,
“Yes, it’s true — Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity.
He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by his loved ones. It is Chaz’s hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his ‘coming out’ did nearly 20 years ago.”
It’s gonna take a lot of work to remove those massive breasts, eh?
David Letterman and Sarah Palin have both moved on, but that didn’t stop a few dozen protesters from turning up to a “Fire David Letterman” rally outside the Ed Sullivan Theatert.
Videographer Jonah Green talked to a few of them, and learned that they watch Fox News, hate socialism, and think that Letterman “rapes children with his mouth.” Oh, and they really, really like Jay Leno.
source: Rabid Letterman Protesters Turn Out to Be Big Leno Fans [ny mag]
Late Show’ host David Letterman apologized to Sarah Palin on Thursday and admitted the jokes about the GOP star and her daughter were in “poor taste,” but again denied he was ever talking about the former VP hopeful’s 14-year-old child.
Palin, in turn, appeared on NBC’s ‘Today’ show on Friday and asserted Letterman now has to “apologize to young women” the world over for his gaffe.
As you may have heard, Letterman’s Top Ten List on Monday, titled “Highlights of Sarah Palin’s Trip” to New York City, joked that there was “an awkward moment” for Palin when she attended a Yankees game when,
“during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by (Yankee third baseman) Alex Rodriguez.”
The joke seemed to refer to Palin’s 18-year-old daughter Bristol, an unwed mother. But it was 14-year-old daughter Willow, not Bristol, who had been at the game.
“I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl. I don’t think it’s funny. I would never think it was funny.
I’m not necessarily proud of these jokes. We do stuff all the time and our objective here is to get a laugh, and thank God we don’t have to go to the Hague and the World Court to defend them. It’s a joke and that’s all it’s supposed to be.”
Palin told ‘Today’ she thought it was “a degrading comment about a young woman. And I would hope that people would star really rising up and not accepting this.” Adding, “it’s no wonder girls have such low self-esteem in America when a comedian can make a remark like this.”
source: Palin: Letterman owes apology to young women [MSNBC]
The producers of ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here‘ are slamming reports that Heidi and Spencer Pratt were tortured on the ‘Survivor’-esque show.
TMZ reported over the weekend that Heidi was rushed to the hospital after “convulsively throwing up” on the set, according to some cast members, and her condition was the result of NBC’s to attempt to punish the pair for their earlier decision to leave the show.
A statement from ITV Studios, which produces the series, calls the reports untrue.
“ITV has been producing this format around the world for many years and the health of the celeb participants are of the utmost importance.”
A medic and a doctor are present at the location at all times for all participants. All allegations of the celebrities being deprived of food and water are completely untrue.”
Heidi and Spencer opted to stay on the show, and unnamed cast members claimed that the network kept the couple in a dark room for a full day and night, giving them only rice, water and beans.
Reportedly, NBC’s Exec VP of Alternative Programming Paul Telegdy told Ryan Seacrest about holding Heidi and Spencer in isolation, saying, “…They are now going to be examined, and their value system utterly deconstructed …These people really are going to bare their souls.”
David Carradine’s family is horrified that a photo has been published that shows the dead actor hanging.
A tabloid newspaper in Thailand published the photo Saturday, shadowing much of the body, but still showing explicit details of the death scene.
Attorney Mark Geragos represents David’s brother Keith Carradine told RadarOnline.com:
“The family is outraged about the release of these photos.”
He added that he will legally go after any publication for invasion of privacy and emotional distress if the photos are run in the United States.
David Carradine was in Bangkok making a film at the time of his death. Sources close to the actor have said that he had a history of engaging in auto-erotic asphyxiation, a sexual practice that often involves a rope around the neck.
