Val Kilmer covers People, filmmakers call him positive, genuine, spiritual
Val Kilmer On Surviving Throat Cancer: ‘I Want to Share My Story More Than Ever’
Prince Harry admits he didn’t talk about his mother’s death until he was 28
It does feel like I’ve been ignoring Prince Harry, right? I didn’t mean to. It’s just that he’s so consistently awesome these days, and I feel like sometimes you guys might be tired of Honking For Harry. So, what has Harry been up to recently? He’s doing consistent events every week, but he’s not always getting attention and coverage for the events. Over the weekend, he hosted a barbecue for Heads Together, the mental health umbrella organization he started with William and Kate. William and Kate did not attend the BBQ, even though it went down at Kensington Palace. Harry spent a lot of time with mental health care providers and people struggling with mental health issues. Harry even spoke about how he wish he had started talking about his mother’s death much sooner. Prince Harry has revealed that he regrets ‘not talking’ about the death of his mother Princess Diana for much of his life. Speaking with former football star Rio Ferdinand, who lost his wife to cancer last year, Harry, 31, discussed bereavement at a Kensington Palace barbecue for mental health campaign group Heads Together. The young royal discussed the impact the Princess of Wales’ death in 1997, when Harry was 12, has had on him when asked by Ferdinand how he coped with the loss. The prince admitted that it was only three years ago that he began to open up about how he felt about losing his mother, saying he didn’t speak about Diana’s death ‘for the first 28 years of my life.’ He said he’d come to realise that talking was the key: ‘It is OK to suffer, but as long as you talk about it. It is not a weakness. Weakness is having a problem and not recognising it and not solving that problem. A lot of people think if you’ve got a job, if you’ve got financial security, if you’ve got a family, you’ve got a house, all that sort of stuff, everyone seems to think that is all you need and you are absolutely fine to deal with stuff.’ ‘It is very easy for someone to look at someone like Rio Ferdinand and say, “You get paid all the money in the world, you are a successful footballer, you have fast cars.” But at the end of the day his wife was snatched from him at an early stage of his life with her. So of course he is going to suffer, it doesn’t matter if he has an amazing job.’ The prince said the ‘key message’ is that ‘anyone can suffer from mental health problems, whether you’re a member of the Royal Family, whether you’re a soldier, whether you’re a sports star, whether you’re a team sport, individual sport, whether you’re a white van driver, whether you’re a mother, father, a child, it doesn’t really matter. What you’ve had to go through in your day, week, year, (the) experience you’ve had – whether it’s losing a parent, whether it’s depression, whether it’s anxiety, whatever it is – you are actually unbelievably similar to each other in the way you have to deal with it.’ [From The Daily Mail] I just love him. And notice that his message seems contrary to the often-bungled message from the Duchess of Cambridge, who often seems to indicate that mental health issues mostly occur when children don’t have two parents and a home. Harry’s message is universal. And I like how personal he is, talking about his mother and how he closed up and didn’t talk about her death for sixteen years. While talking (and talk therapy) doesn’t solve every mental health problem, it’s the first step and just talking about it and de-stigmatizing mental health issues is a great thing. It’s a shame that Will and Kate wanted to go sailing instead. Photos courtesy of WENN.
Benji Madden: Cameron Diaz is ‘a modern day feminist’ who shares positivity
Embed from Getty Images Benji Madden has a new extensive interview in Newsweek for the 20th anniversary of his band, Good Charlotte (with his twin brother, Joel). Good Charlotte returned from a multi-year hiatus to release a new album last week. I’m not too familiar with Benji and apart from the fact that he seems to be genuinely in love with and supportive of his wife, Cameron Diaz, I don’t have a strong opinion about him. A quick glance at our archives reminds me that he’s dated several famous women including Paris Hilton and Holly Madison and apart from hearing about his other occasional hookups, I haven’t heard a bad word about him in the 10 years I’ve run this site. No scandals, no paparazzi beat-downs, no DUIs. That’s really saying something. So he seems like a serial monogamist and a standup guy. He’s also very supportive of Cameron, and they’ve each gushed about each other on their social media and to the press. That’s all background to this interview, which just impressed me with how wise and thoughtful he sounds. I mean I don’t agree with him about Cameron Diaz, but he comes across extremely well. On how the music industry can be hard on artists My brother and I feel blessed to have survived and still have loving, connected relationships with each other, with our wives, with our family. We feel like: “Hey, there are a lot of artists who might be able to use our experiences.” We’ve been able to withstand a lot of things in the industry because we had each other. We feel protective of other artists. This is not a business that is set up in favor of artists. It’s important for artists to value themselves—whatever that means. Everyone’s going to take that in a different way. If you don’t value yourself, you will be bought and sold. On the public’s obsession with celebrity I think it’s a very unhealthy trend that will eventually be broken when people realize how hollow it is for our minds, it’s very cancerous…it’s like fast food. Fast food companies are trending down, lots of places are going out of business. People figured out: “This is killing us, it’s f-king terrible.” The celebrity obsession is doing the same thing for our minds—it’s very hollow and I think that trend is going to break soon enough. On how Cameron uses her platform for good I’m extremely proud of what she uses her platform for. She just released The Longevity Book, and before that she had The Body Book [a lifestyle guide to diet and health], and she spent thousands of dollars doing all the research, to get information to share with women who don’t necessarily have the resources to get that information. She’s a modern day feminist—she wants to change the conversation that’s being had about women and ageing. With The Body Book, she wanted to share all this information she has gathered over the years with women so they can live happy, pain-free lives. I’m proud of her because of what a light she is in a world where it would be so much easier to use that stage to promote products. But she’s using that platform she has to share positivity. It’s been one of the most inspirational things in my life watching a woman be so courageous…she’s got so much integrity. I’m a lucky guy that I get to experience that. [From Newsweek] He talks a lot about the industry and about how music gets made and artists are managed, and I didn’t excerpt that as it’s not relevant but it’s worth a read. Benji wants to empower young artists to do it on their own and not get chewed up by the industry, which can be brutal. Getting back to Benji’s thoughts on Cameron, she tried. I covered a lot of the press she did for The Longevity Book and she made some misinformed statements about women and aging, but she tried and she meant well. She’s not an authority on health or aging but she used her platform to try to be. It’s true that she’s not just shilling products, and that’s something. Also, of course I disagree with Benji’s opinion that celebrity obsession is terrible for us. Using his same fast food analogy, you can go to McDonalds and get something to eat once in a while, you just balance your calories and get your nutrients from other meals. Just because you like to follow celebrity news doesn’t mean you’re not informed about more serious events or that you don’t care. Sometimes we need a diversion. Here’s a video that Cameron shared of Benji. She left this gushing caption about how proud she is of him, which seems to be mutual. One of my favorite things about being married, is how much pride I take in my husband @benjaminmadden… He makes me proud everyday.. One day it might be how generous and giving, another how gentle and thoughtful. Or when he is fiercely protective of the people he loves and cares about… And everyday single day I am so incredibly proud of his integrity as a human being.. But TODAY what I'm most proud of is his talent… his gift…. Today his band @goodcharlotteband released their first album in 6 years #YouthAuthority .. What makes me even more proud is that he has released it on his own independent label MDDN… And it is so damn GOOOOOOOOD… Its so full of love and hope and truth… about forging and holding onto love… I wish that everyone could write music to express their pain.. their fears… their hopes and dreams. Baby you amaze me… CONGRATS!! @goodcharloteband @mddnco #youthauthority #proud http://apple.co/YouthAuthority A video posted by Cameron Diaz (@camerondiaz) on Jul 15, 2016 at 12:06pm PDT Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
The Real Housewives of Orange County Recap: Yachts of Fun
The O.G. of the O.C. is back! But did Vicki Gunvalson manage to win the ladies back after all the insane drama she put them through? That was her plan on The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 11 Episode 1, but it may prove easier said than done for Vick … Watch The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 11 Episode 1 Online Gunvalson, ostracized for Brooks Ayers faking cancer last season, was on the outs and looking to get back to being the ultimate insider. First, though, The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 11 Episode 1 brought us up to date on what the other wives are doing. In Tamra Barney’s case, that would be Eddie Judge. A lot. “I scream, ‘Oh, God!’ at least 20 times!” she claimed. So her sex life is going well. Meghan King Edmonds, meanwhile, was looking to get her baby-making on with Jim … IVF style. Not as hot. You do what you gotta do though, are we right? New Housewife Kelly Dodd has also been through IVF, just like Meghan’s mom and Heather had been, so she has that support system. Shannon Beador was excited to tell viewers that since David Beador’s affair was discovered, they worked things out and are doing great! Now for the elephant in the lavishly-decorated room … Heather Dubrow was throwing a party and debating whether to invite Vicki, who wants to move on and be part of her friends’ lives again. She swore she hadn’t suspected Brooks was lying, and Heather finally invited her; Vicki brought former co-star Jeana Keough as backup. “I definitely know Jeana will have my back,” she said. The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 11 Trailer Jenna yes. Everyone else was a question mark. At the party, Tamra and Kelly got along great, and Kelly seemed happy to see Vicki … because they share an aesthetician. Good times. Talking to Meghan, Kelly responded that she “seems like a lovely lady.” Meghan wasn’t having it, telling her friend to keep her guard up. “‘Seems’ is the key word here. Be careful.” Heather then revealed, during a toast, that Terry had endured a health scare which made them take stock of what really matters in life. That means inviting everyone they love to celebrate living … even Vicki? That was the implication, but the two had yet to discuss things. Finally, Gunvalson told Dubrow that she wanted forgiveness for last year, though she still refuses to admit she knew Brooks was lying at all. Time will tell how long they drag THIS out. What did you think of the premiere? To see it in full, follow the links above to watch The Real Housewives of Orange County online.
Prince’s cause of death ruled to be accidental opiate overdose by fentanyl
It’s been six weeks since Prince passed tragically at his home just before he was scheduled to see an addiction specialist to seek treatment. The report on his cause of death has now been released. Prince’s death has been ruled an accidental opiate overdose. While Prince was said to be addicted to Percocet, the medical examiner found that the drug which killed him was fentanyl, another far more powerful opiate. Toxicology tests for Prince concluded that the entertainer died from an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl, according to a report on his death by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office. Fentanyl, prescribed by doctors for cancer treatment, can be made illicitly and is blamed for a spike in overdose deaths in the United States. It’s 25 to 50 times more potent than heroin and 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Prince, whose full name was Prince Rogers Nelson, died April 21 at age 57, after being found unresponsive in an elevator at Paisley Park, his home and recording studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The report from the medical examiner’s office, which was released on Twitter, didn’t provide many details. “How injury occurred: The decedent self-administered fentanyl,” the report said. For manner of death, a box was marked for “accident.” The report didn’t specify how the drug was taken and if the fentanyl was prescribed or illegally made. The music superstar weighed 112 pounds and was 63 inches tall when he died, the report said. He was wearing a black cap, shirt, pants, boxer briefs and socks and a gray undershirt, the report said. His occupation was listed as “artist” and his business as “music.” The full autopsy and toxicology reports will not be released, the office told CNN. [From CNN] At 5’3″ and 112 pounds Prince was in the normal range with a BMI of 19.8 and was not technically underweight. NBC reports that he was being “being treated for opioid withdrawal, as well as anemia and a fatigue” at the time of his death. I’ve only heard of fentanyl in passing and was not aware that it had so much potential for abuse and for overdose. Many outlets are reporting how potent it is, it’s the most powerful opiate available and is 25 to 50 times stronger than heroin, along with the fact that it’s caused thousands of accidental deaths. According to experts quoted by People Magazine, the drug was originally meant to be used for pallative, or end of life care, but is now routinely given to patients who have become habituated to other opiates and aren’t getting the same pain relief. It’s unknown if Prince had a prescription or how he obtained the drug, but a criminal investigation is underway. This also brings attention to the street use of the drug, which can be highly deadly as users may not realize how much stronger fentanyl is than heroin. Just touching or inhaling the drug can be fatal. NBC News quotes the chief pathologist at Tufts University, Barbarajean Magnani, who says that Prince’s case is sadly all too common. “This was a man in his 50s who may have been struggling with pain and took a very potent opioid analgesic and died accidentally from an overdose. Celebrities bring it to our attention, but we see this every day.” RIP Prince. photos credit: WENN and FameFlynet
John Goodman’s Kristen Wiig story: was she rude to him or was he rude to her?
John Goodman sat down with Howard Stern this week to promote his new movie, 10 Cloverfield Lane. We rarely talk about Goodman, not because we dislike him or anything, but because he usually isn’t much of a newsmaker. He works all the time, people love him, he seems like a really normal person. There’s no real scandal, you know? Even Rosanne Barr loves him, and she hates almost everyone. While chatting with Stern, Goodman talked about New Orleans, drinking, SNL, weight loss (he’s lost a lot of weight in the past year, after he gained weight back from his 2010 weight loss) and more. The biggest headline is probably the Kristen Wiig story though, and I still don’t know how to feel. Some highlights: He was so excited to meet Kristen Wiig, he interrupted her conversation: “She was talking to somebody else, and I was just – I think she’s so great, and the social barriers broke down and I interrupted the conversation. And I would just hate for somebody to do that to me. And she goes, ‘yeah, I’ll talk to you in a minute.’ [makes sound of bomb dropping] It was like the Atom. I shrunk down to Atom size. …I really like her, and it was embarrassing, so I’ll never speak to her again.” He’s sober now, but he used to drink at work: “I was drunk a couple of times during ‘[The Big] Lebowski,’ but that was way too many for me. That was something I swore to myself I would never do – drink at work. And then that – on Roseanne I started doing that.” Whether he avoided the Vietnam draft: “I got a lottery number of 30,” Goodman revealed, but said they didn’t ask him to serve because when he went into for his physical they marked him down as being too heavy for his height after recording his height incorrectly. “I would have been the big baby of the Army,” he admitted though. He loves Brie Larson, his ‘Kong: Skull Island’ costar: “She was so charismatic. She was like the only girl on set and every weekend she would organize stuff to do. We would look at kangaroos. She would organize a trip to an amusement park after it closed … Just stuff for people to do, because she’s nervous about people getting angry or getting on each other’s nerves.” On politics: “I keep it to myself and it will, you know, give me the cancer… I hate political ads. I hate seeing people … getting swept up into a mob mentality.” On Obama: “I just feel bad for Obama. As soon as he got into office they started kicking the s–t out of him. For no reason. … He could have a cancer cure and it’s like, ‘No, it’s not good enough.’” [From Howard Stern] The Kristen Wiig thing… I mean, I get it, she was in the middle of a conversation and God knows I hate it when people interrupt me or talk over me or anything like that. But still… it was John Goodman! The man is a national treasure! When John Goodman comes over and wants to fan-boy all over you, you hit pause on your conversation and talk to him, you know? It’s like… being interrupted by Tom Hanks or Jeff Bridges. You just let it happen because they’re awesome people. Photos courtesy of WENN.
“Seriously, why does Jimmy Fallon keep having all of these accidents?” links
Jimmy Fallon busted his other hand at Harvard because “some random girl kneeled down in