One of the most beloved and one of the most disdained stars met at a recent climate change event and apparently not much common ground was found. Just recently, Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio recounted his brief encounter with President Donald Trump at a Yale Climate Conference panel. The actor/environmental activist told interviewer John Kerry that he was not able to get through to Donald like he was hoping.
Leo told John, “We presented [Donald] with a comprehensive plan to tackle climate change, while also simultaneously harnessing the economic potential of green jobs. We talked about how the United States has the potential to lead the world in clean-energy manufacturing and research and development.” Unfortunately, Donald didn’t greet this plan with open arms. Leo went on to rant, “We should not have people in office who do not believe in facts and truth and modern science that are able to manipulate and risk the entire future of this entire generation.”
Later on in the interview, Leo went on to add, “We are at that turning point right now, and we are going to look back at this point in history, and frankly this administration, and certain people are going to be vilified for not taking action. They really are. And it’s up to this generation; it’s up to all of you to get involved and make a difference.”
The wave of Hollywood break-ups has yet to pass…
This week, it was revealed that former Hills star Audrina Patridge split from her husband Corey Bohan. Subsequently, it was reported that the star also filed for a restraining order after Corey got violent with her while she was carrying their daughter Kirra earlier this summer.
Media outlet The Blast reported that Corey is currently under criminal investigation, as Audrina reported him for pushing her while she was holding on to their young daughter. In addition, Corey was reportedly having a full-blown freak out at the time, repeatedly hitting himself in the head in front of both Audrina and Kirra.
Unfortunately, Corey has apparently already violated the restraining order. TMZ reported that just a day after the order was granted, Corey showed up to Audrina and his home (where Audrina was staying with their daughter). Despite being asked to leave, Corey proceeded to set up a bunch of video cameras around the house, assumedly so that he could keep an eye on his ex-wife and daughter.
Right now, Audrina is sorting out some of the legal details regarding her divorce from Corey. TMZ claims that the reality star is hoping that the judge will not grant Corey any spousal support, which she expects he will ask for during the proceedings. In addition, she is seeking sole custody of their 1-year-old.
TV insiders believe that senior NBC staffers leaked the instantly infamous tape of Lawrence O’Donnell’s meltdown, in retaliation for his antics during contract negotiations this spring.
Mediate published an 8-minute video of O’Donnell raging at staff during breaks in an Aug. 29 live broadcast of “The Last Word,” screaming at the staff to silence people in the control room and stop a “hammering” sound.
Sources connected with the leak tell media outlets the video was slipped to the site as a broadcast-quality digital clip — and that only a handful of people are believed to be capable of accessing and transmitting such a file. Multiple sources tell us that O’Donnell angered NBC honcho Andy Lack — who also oversees MSNBC — in May by tweeting to fans about his contract negotiations.
One TV insider called the deal-making “tense and unusually public,” while another said O’Donnell slyly generated a “groundswell of ‘save Lawrence sentiment’’ among viewers that “backed Lack into a corner.”
A source tells us that the small number of people with access to the clip suggests it was either leaked or authorized by “someone at a senior level.” In the clip — reminiscent of Bill O’Reilly’s legendary “We’ll do it live!” blowup — a visibly furious O’Donnell slams his fist on his desk and rants about “insanity in the control room” and “stop the hammering!” and what he calls “f – – king out-of-control s – – t.”
O’Donnell apologized Wednesday, saying, “A better anchorman and a better person would’ve had a better reaction to technical difficulties.”
O’Donnell told media outlets: “This is a ridiculous conspiracy theory. There’s only one person to blame for this video — me. Andy Lack brought me to MSNBC when he created the network in 1996. We were friends before that and have always remained friends.”
Lady Gaga has written an emotional message to fans to mark the release of her new Netflix documentary.
In a note posted to Twitter on Thursday, Gaga writes that the film reveals “that fame is not all it’s cracked up to be.” She says fame is lonely, isolating and “very psychologically challenging” because it “changes the way you’re viewed by people.” She says her relationship with fame is “complicated” because she knows it’s her “destiny to be a performer.”
The 31-year-old calls herself “just a girl trying to become a woman, who loves to write music, to sing, to play piano, guitar, dance, perform, and act.”
Her documentary, “Gaga: Five Foot Two,” began streaming Friday on Netflix.
These are the main takeaways from her very interesting documentary.
- Lady Gaga has a new perspective on relationships.
“My threshold for bullshit with men is… I don’t have one anymore,” Lady Gaga declares in the opening minutes of her new film. “I just don’t care. Maybe cause I’m 30 and I feel better than ever, you know? All my insecurities are gone, I don’t feel insecure about who am I as a woman. I’m not embarrassed or ashamed of what I have.”
This new attitude extends to her professional life and her decision to work with producer Mark Ronson on Joanne. “There’s so many men in my life in business… [who made me] feel like what I was on my own wasn’t good enough. I don’t feel that way working with Mark.”
- She feels slighted by Madonna.
For as long as Lady Gaga has been a star, she’s been dogged by comparisons to Madonna. She addresses those in Gaga: Five Foot Twoat length. “The thing with me and Madonna, for example, is: I admired her always. And I still admire her, no matter what she might think of me.”
But that admiration now comes with a caveat. “I’m Italian and from New York,” Lady Gaga continues, “so if I got a problem with somebody, I’m gonna tell you to your face. But no matter how much respect I have for [Madonna] as a performer, I could never wrap my head around the fact that she wouldn’t look me in the eye and tell me that I was reductive… I saw it on fucking TV. Telling me that you think I’m a piece of shit through the media, it’s like a guy passing me a note through his friend: ‘my buddy thinks you’re hot.’ Fuck you. Where’s your buddy fucking throwing me up against the wall and kissing me? I just want Madonna to throw me up against the wall and kiss me and tell me I’m a piece of shit.”
Later, while visiting her grandmother, Lady Gaga can’t resist taking one more shot at the women she admires. While looking at an old high school picture, the singer’s father remarks, “this proves that she had braces.” “If I had kept that gap,” Lady Gaga adds, “then I would have even more problems with Madonna.”
- She’s been battling debilitating pain for years.
Throughout Gaga: Five Foot Two, the singer is fighting pain that stems from a broken hip suffered on the Born This Way Tour in 2013. The day she is due to perform at Tony Bennett’s 90th birthday party, Gaga is laid up on the couch in tears. “The whole right side of my body is in a spasm,” she tells a caretaker. “My fucking face hurts.” “Let’s put Trump on,” she adds later. “That’ll knock me out.”
But that’s only a temporary solution, as she visits a doctor for something more thorough. “I have chased this pain for five years,” she explains. “When I feel the adrenaline from my fans, I can fucking go. But it’s not like I’m not in pain.” The scene culminates with Lady Gaga listing off a series of drugs she’s taking to help cope before submitting to immediate medical treatment. Even face down on a doctor’s table with needles protruding from her back, Lady Gaga remains focused on work, complaining about the leak of Joanne earlier that day.
Despite the latest medical intervention, the pain still troubles her, and Lady Gaga postponed the European leg of her Joanne World Tour on Monday.
- Sexism among male producers, and the industry on the whole, dogged her throughout her career.
Lady Gaga suggests that high-level male producers regularly abuse their power when working with female artists. “When producers — unlike Mark — start to act like, ‘you’d be nothing without me,’ for women especially, since those men have so much power, they can have women in a way that no other men can,” the singer explains. “And then I walk in the room, and it’s like eight times out of 10, I’m put in that category, and they expect from me what those girls have to offer, when that’s just not at all what I have to offer. That’s not what I’m here for.”
“The methodology that I used to get out of that category was when they wanted me to be sexy or they wanted me to be pop I always put some fucking absurd spin on it that made me feel like I was still in control,” she continues. “If I’m gonna be sexy at the VMAs singing about the paparazzi I’m gonna do it while cleaning the bathroom and reminding you of what fame did to Marilyn Monroe.”
- Lady Gaga dug into the family archives to help shape Joanne.
Lady Gaga named Joanne after her aunt, Joanne Stefani Germanotta, who died due to complications from lupus at 19 years old. During one of the most emotional scenes in Gaga: Five Foot Two, the singer visits her grandmother to play her the album’s title track. “We’ll just play it, and if we get upset, we don’t have to talk about it,” Lady Gaga says. But grandma endorses the track: “That’s a beautiful piece.”
In addition to getting grandma’s stamp of approval, Lady Gaga reads Joanne’s old poems and looks at some of her artwork. “She had a lot of talent, but she didn’t have enough time,” her grandmother says. “For the 19 years we had her, she was precious. And she’s not been forgotten ever.”
- She believes in confounding her audience.
Lady Gaga shows little interest in catering to listener expectations. “I want to do the opposite of what everyone thinks I’m going to do,” she declares in a meeting with Super Bowl halftime show-runners. “Everyone thinks I’m going to come out there on a fucking throne in a meat dress with 90 shirtless men and unicorns. Am I right? And then at the end I’m gonna do something shocking that’s gonna freak everybody out. But it’s not even in the neighborhood of what we’re gonna do.”
She expresses a similar sentiment in a conversation with her creative team where she decides to eschew the elaborate outfits that characterized her early promotion cycles in favor of a simple jeans and T-shirt outfit. “Honestly we’ve seen me fucking glamorous for 10 years,” she says. “It’s fucking boring.”
- She’s a stickler for details.
Whether it’s adding more emphasis to the high end during the mixing of Joanne or nailing her cameo on American Horror Story, Gaga: Five Foot Two captures the singer’s rigorous eye for the smallest detail. During one of many intense scenes of preparation for her Super Bowl performance, she suggests this is a necessity for any star at her level. “If I pick up the keytar and play the wrong note in front of 100 million people, that’s my fault,” she says. “It doesn’t matter that someone else screwed it up. It’s my name.”
As a result, she’s always thinking several steps ahead. Moments later, Lady Gaga demands that a wardrobe assistant change her jacket lining. “I know to other people it’s just the lining of a jacket,” she explains. “But for me, it’s the way that the fabric on my outfit interacts with this fabric is going to change the speed of my arm as it enters the sleeve.”
- After years of insecurity, Lady Gaga now recognizes the extent of her talents.
It may surprise some to hear that Lady Gaga’s whirlwind of success did little to quiet her self-doubts — until now. “I never felt comfortable enough to sing or wear my hair back,” she says. “I never felt pretty enough or smart enough or a good enough musician. That’s the good part: I didn’t feel good enough, and I do now. Of all the things I deserve, that’s where I know I’m worth something.”
Josh Duhamel was tired of his pop-star wife Fergie’s “partying” before their breakup, media outlets were told.
Sources close to the actor tell us that he didn’t want to split with his wife of eight years.
According to pals, their marriage broke down over the course of about a year, in spite of trying couples’ therapy.
The long slide coincided with the recording of Fergie’s first solo album in 11 years, “Double Dutchess.”
“[Fergie] was very focused on her album and being a rock star again, and Josh felt like she was going back to her ‘old ways,’ ” sources said.
The former Black Eyed Peas singer was a notorious party animal in her youth and even battled drug problems — although there has been no suggestion she has started using drugs again.
Reps didn’t get back to us.
Media outlets reported this week that fans are wondering if Fergie’s upcoming second solo album was inspired by her breakup with Duhamel, with tracks such as “Love Is Blind” and “Love Is Pain.”
Fergie admitted to media outlets, “There’s a lot of my life and my vulnerable side.”
But she said the songs are about many relationships.
Ryan Seacrest is still sore over Mariah Carey’s claims his production team sabotaged her ill-fated “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” performance.
During her performance, Carey lip-synced and stumbled her way through her segment, saying that her inner ear monitors weren’t working properly. Her manager, Stella Bulochnikov, claimed later that Dick Clark Productions was aware of the issue before the performance began and did nothing to address it.
“Once things went wrong, they took the decision to keep rolling and make her look like a train wreck for the ratings,” Bulochnikov told media outlets.
Dick Clark Productions called the allegations“defamatory,” and Seacrest, 42, vehemently denied that the production team was behind the disaster.
“What was going through my head [in that moment] was and is: That crew, that team, that staff is the best in the business,” Seacrest said firmly on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” on Thursday.
“They put on the biggest live music events and they know what they’re doing, and I know how good they are at their jobs,” he continued. “So my reaction was, she was working with the best — I find it hard to believe they made big mistakes that night.”
Still, Seacrest admitted that, like Carey, 47, it was hard for him to hear what was going on because of all noise surrounding him.
“When it was happening, it was hard for me to see and hear because we’re in Times Square and there’ a lot going on,” he conceded. “I had to be told that something was going on and then try and find a monitor to react to, so I wasn’t quite sure what was happening, actually.”
“Dick Clark would not have let an artist go through that and he would have been as mortified as I was in real-time,” he said.
Seacrest’s comments echoed the opinion he shared in January about the incident.
“I know this team of producers — I’ve known these guys for years. I knew Dick Clark very, very well,” he said. “This is a team that wants to do everything they can to accommodate any artist. We are in the business of wanting people to look good and believe me, tricky things, tough things can happen. It happens on live television. You’ve seen artists before in a concert pull out their earpiece because something happens. Something could have happened in the ears. I wasn’t in those ears. It’s just unfortunate that it comes to all of this.”
Jennifer Lawrence issued a one-finger salute Thursday during an official Academy screening of her new critically-panned flick, “mother!”
Seated next to the film’s director — who is also her boyfriend — Darren Aronofsky, 48, the couple of nearly a year discussed the mind-boggling production at the Celeste Bartos Theater in New York.
Dressed in a floral maxi dress, Lawrence, 27, looked nothing like the character she plays in Aronofsky’s latest, which has since earned an “F” on CinemaScore.
Ahead of the movie’s Sept. 15 release, Lawrence alleged Aronofsky had psychological problems.
“It was an instant ‘yes’ before I even read anything,” Lawrence said during a Toronto International Film Festival conference. “He told me his ideas, and I thought they were brilliant and unique and challenging. I’ve been a fan of his for years — I think he’s bold and brave, and I think I said ‘brilliant.’
“Then I got a script, and when I read it, I threw it across the room and told him he had severe psychological problems,” she noted.