Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

Photos: Celebrity deaths: 2024’s fallen stars

Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

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Miles Teller is remembering a dear friend.

The “Top Gun: Maverick” star paid tribute to Charles Thomas “Chuck” Coleman — who was the flight instructor for Teller and the cast of the 2022 action film — after he died in a plane crash in Las Cruces, N.M., on Oct. 20. He was 61.

“RIP Chuck Coleman,” Teller wrote on X, formerly Twitter, Oct. 21 alongside several photos of the two. “Chuck was our aerobatics flight instructor and instrumental in our preparation for “Top Gun: Maverick.””

RIP Chuck Coleman. Chuck was our aerobatics flight instructor and instrumental in our preparation for Top Gun: Maverick. He was an aerospace engineer, air show and test pilot, and our friend and ally. Chuck had a very easy going way about him and we always felt comfortable with… pic.twitter.com/93giSZdbgz

— Miles Teller (@Miles_Teller) October 21, 2024

Teller added that Coleman was “an aerospace engineer, air show and test pilot, and our friend and ally.”

“Chuck had a very easy going way about him and we always felt comfortable with his expertise at our disposal,” he continued. “He was kind, humble and curious about others and the world we live in. Gone too soon but his contributions will live on forever. Thanks for the memories, Chuck.”

PHOTOS: Celebrity Deaths: 2024’s Fallen Stars

Coleman was the only person onboard his single-engine Extra Flugzeugbau 300/L plane when it crashed during a performance at the Las Cruces Air and Space Expo, according to Las Cruces city officials and the Federal Aviation Administration, via the New York Times. The show included aerobatic performances and helicopters, as well as airplanes.

“Unfortunately, we had a tragic ending to our Air and Space Expo this weekend,” Las Cruces mayor Eric Enriquez said in a statement posted to the city’s Facebook account Oct. 21. “We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones and fans of Chuck Coleman.”

The city of Las Cruces confirmed that his accident is being investigated by New Mexico State Police, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Before training the cast of “Top Gun: Maverick,” Coleman’s website noted that he “flew 140 flights in order to prepare the actors to fly in Navy F-18 Hornets.” Coleman also worked on the 2004 documentaries “Black Sky: The Race for Space” and “Black Sky: Winning the X Prize“, as well as performing stunts for 2002’s “The Round and Round.“

His website also stated that Coleman had “over 10,000 hours total flight time” and that he had “performed in hundreds of airshows and given over 3,000 rides in aerobatic aircraft.”

In an Instagram story published Oct. 22, Bryan revealed that he and LaPaglia split, adding, “I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart.”

“She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and for that I’ll always thank her,” he continued.

The “Something in the Orange” singer explained that he felt the two should split after he “had an incredibly hard year personally and struggled through some pretty severe things.”

“I am not perfect and never will be. Please respect Brianna’s privacy and space in this and if you have it in your heart, mine too,” he wrote. “With everything I am and to anyone I let down, I am sorry. I try my best in everything. I failed people that love me and mostly myself.”

About an hour after Bryan posed, LaPaglia also took to her Instagram story, sharing that she was feeling “really blindsided.”

“Hey guys I’m feeling really blindsided right now. Gonna hop off social media for a while and attempt to heal privately, when I’m ready I’ll be back and ready to talk,” she wrote.

LaPaglia then thanked followers for their “kind words,” before writing, “Remember you are so loved and everything’s always gonna be okay.”

In a follow-up video shared to YouTube, LaPaglia reiterated that she was “completely blindsided” by the Instagram announcement.

“I just woke up to Zach posting on his Instagram that we broke up and I had no idea that post was going up,” she said. “He didn’t text me. He didn’t call me.”

LaPaglia explained that she was only prompted to check Bryan’s post when she received texts asking if she was OK.

“I was completely blindsided by that. I also genuinely feel like I have — see how swollen my face is? I’ve been crying for like five days straight,” she said.

“I’m at the point where it’s like, how can you give someone everything and love them so unconditionally — like through stuff that you shouldn’t, but you just love them and you just see the good in them — like how can you … give every ounce of yourself to someone and then be discarded of in a few days?” she continued. “It’s really, really heartbreaking.”

LaPaglia said she doesn’t want to talk about details surrounding their breakup at this time, but added that she eventually will.

“Right now, I wanted to heal privately and I didn’t even know he was going to post that. And we broke up yesterday,” she said. “So I wasn’t ready to do anything publicly.”

She then asked that people respect her privacy and respect that she’ll “talk about everything” when she’s ready, also thanking people for their “kind messages.”

“I’m going to be OK. I’m going to be fine. I’m just obviously really, really hurt right now,” she said.

When did Zach Bryan and Brianna Chickenfry start dating?

The “Barstool Sports” host first announced that she had been “hanging out” with Bryan for three weeks on a July 2023 episode of her podcast “PlanBri Uncut.”

“It’s fun, it’s casual and yeah, I just wanted to address it because the whole internet is freaking the f— out and people are doing s—” she said.

About a month later, LaPaglia publicly called herself Bryan’s girlfriend for the first time on an August 2023 episode of her “BFFs” podcast, which she co-hosts with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards.

At the time, she explained that she initially kept the relationship under wraps because “I just got out of a relationship, he just got out of a relationship,” but decided to go public when a photo went viral.

On July 14, LaPaglia shared a series of photos with Bryan for their one-year anniversary, writing that it had been “a year full of loving harder than I thought I was capable of and laughing louder than any year before.”

“You’ve made me appreciate all the things that were always right in front of me. You brought me back home to my family and you’ve helped me love myself again,” she captioned the post. “There isn’t a damn thing I wouldn’t do for ya. My person forever. I love you my Zachary.”

LaPaglia’s most recent post with Bryan was on Oct. 11, where she shared a photo of him holding a guitar standing next to her. She wrote, “How are you gonna live a life you look forward to looking back on ?”

Bryan primarily posts about his music on his Instagram page, but the singer shared a similar photo the same day as LaPaglia with the location set to Los Angeles.

He captioned the post, “We’ll lose loved ones and never let them die, we’ll grow up and keep them alive, it will take undeniable steam, our timing will be off sometimes, you’ll chase the unknown and give it too much.” 

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Here’s what to know about the drug cocktail.

What is pink cocaine?

Pink cocaine is typically a powdery mix of ketamine and illegal substances such as methamphetamine, MDMA (also called molly or ecstasy), or opioids, according to WebMD. Researchers have also found new psychoactive substances, which are a new kind of synthetic drug, mixed in, the health-focused news outlet said. Pink cocaine can also include benzodiazepines, caffeine, hallucinogens, and the street drug bath salts.

Despite its name, the recreational drug may not contain cocaine at all and gets its color from food coloring. It is also referred to as tusi, tusibi, tuci, or tucibi.

How does pink cocaine affect someone?

It can be hard to determine how the drug cocktail may affect someone after ingesting it. WebMD said this is due to several factors: the types of drugs mixed in the pink cocaine; whether alcohol is involved; how much pink cocaine is taken; and how the body reacts to the drugs.

Pink cocaine also often includes both depressants and stimulants.

Potential side effects can vary but may include confusion, hallucination, strange thoughts, agitation, and feelings of sickness, according to WebMD. The National Capital Poison Center said physical and sexual assaults, as well as traumatic injuries, have occurred when people are impaired by the drug.

Shortly before Payne’s death, a hotel receptionist called 911 to report that a distressed guest who was intoxicated with alcohol and drugs was “breaking the whole room.” According to audio obtained from local media by Telemundo, the caller said that the guest was “in a room that has a balcony, and, well, we are a little afraid that he might do something life-threatening.”

Argentina’s emergency health service, Sistema de Atencion Medica de Emergencia, or SAME, confirmed to Telemundo that Payne fell from the balcony of his third-floor room at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel. Payne, 31, was found dead a few minutes after the 911 call, SAME director Alberto Crescenti told the Argentine TV station Todo Noticias TV.

An autopsy found that the singer had 25 injuries “compatible with those produced by a fall from height” and that his cause of death was “polytraumatism, internal and external hemorrhage,” according to the Argentina National Prosecutor’s Office.

Is pink cocaine dangerous?

Yes.

Because it is a street drug, “there’s no way to know exactly what’s in pink cocaine,” WebMD said, noting there’s concern that some batches may include fentanyl, the highly potent opioid responsible for many overdose deaths.

“The drug market now is more dangerous than I’ve ever seen it,” Bridget Brennan, the special narcotics prosecutor for New York, told NBC News in August after pink cocaine — commonly used in the club and party scenes — was mentioned in a lawsuit against music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Brennan warned that “you absolutely cannot trust that your dealer is selling you a product that you asked for.”

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Italian surfer Giulia Manfrini has died after a fatal run-in with a swordfish.

The 36-year-old was surfing near the Mentawai Islands Regency in Indonesia on Oct. 18 when a swordfish “unexpectedly jumped towards Manfrini and pierced her chest,” Lahmudin Siregar, the acting head of the Mentawai Islands’ Disaster Management Agency, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

She was rushed to the Pei Pei Pasakiat Taileleu Health Center but succumbed to her injuries, per the outlet.

Manfrini suffered a deep wound measuring nearly two inches and showed signs of drowning, according to medical reports obtained by the news corporation.

In a statement, Manfrini’s colleague James Colston — with whom she co-founded AWAVE Travel, a surfing and snowboarding excursion company — called the incident a “freak accident.”

“Unfortunately, even with the brave efforts of her partner, local resort staff and doctors, Giulia couldn’t be saved,” Colston he wrote in an Oct. 18 Instagram post. “We believe she died doing what she loved, in a place that she loved.”

Describing Manfrini as the “lifeblood” of the company, Colston continued, “Giulia couldn’t travel without people falling in love with her smile, laugh and endless Stoke. Anyone was lucky to have her on board a charter or surf trip.”

He added, “We love you Giulia. I am so sorry to say goodbye.”

Manfrini was a snowboard instructor with the Associazione Maestri Sci Italiani — also known as the Association of Italian Ski Instructors — prior to getting her teaching certification with the International Surfing Association, per her LinkedIn.

According to Manfrini’s bio on the AWAVE Travel website, she was a former professional snowboarder whose love of surfing “led her all over the world to chase waves.”

“When not organizing trips,” her profile read, “you’ll find her waves and powder hunting, song-writing, dancing & playing beach volley!”

Manfrini had traveled to the Mentawai Islands years before her death. In a 2022 Instagram post geotagged from the surfing locale, she wrote, “Witnessing one of the most incredible and very rare phenomenons on Earth: the so-called ‘GLORY,’ a full circle rainbow in the sky.”

She added at the time, “Grateful for this life and nature!”

The video of their conversation went viral after appearing on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday: By midday Monday, it had been viewed over 14.2 million times on that platform alone.

In the clip, Garfield discusses missing his late mother, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2019. “She passed away not too long ago, and you know, I just miss her,” he tells Elmo.

When the Muppet offers his condolences, Garfield reassures him that feeling upset or grieving someone is OK. “That sadness is kind of a gift,” Garfield says. “It’s kind of a lovely thing to feel, in a way, because it means you really loved somebody when you miss them.”

Garfield explains that his memories actually help him cope: “When I miss my mom, I remember all of the cuddles I used to get from her, all of the hugs I used to get from her. It makes me feel close to her when I miss her, in a strange way.”

This interaction is “extremely important” not only because it shows how to handle loss, but how to comfort someone who has experienced loss, says Sherry Cormier, a psychologist and author of “Sweet Sorrow: Finding Enduring Wholeness after Loss and Grief.”

“Both at the beginning and at the end there is such an emphasis on listening,” Cormier says. “Listening is pretty hard to do.”

Listening is the ‘greatest gift’ you could give a grieving person

Elmo begins the conversation by saying he is “checking in on everybody” and wants to know how Garfield is doing. Garfield asks if Elmo is sure he wants to listen, to which Elmo responds: “Oh, Elmo would love to!”

That’s great modeling because, when comforting a friend who is coping with a recent loss, many people become too preoccupied with what to say, Cormier says. A grieving person usually just needs to feel heard.

“If we didn’t spend so much time worrying about what to say and what’s the right thing to say and what’s the wrong this to say and we showed up and just listened, that would be the greatest gift you could give to any person who is grieving a loss,” Cormier says.

The conversation between Garfield and Elmo emphasizes that grief often doesn’t have a finite end, says Karla Vermeulen, an associate professor of psychology at the State University of New York, New Paltz.

“It’s getting away from the idea that there is some magical, tidy closure where the loss doesn’t hurt any longer,” Vermeulen says. “Andrew did not pretend he was over it. He acknowledged that even though it was a few years ago, it still feels very recent to him.”

That may be part of the reason the video triggered an outpouring of emotional responses online from people who could relate. A writer for the Guardian UK called Garfield’s candid, vulnerable performance on the Sesame Workshop the actor’s “best work yet.”

The clip shows that mourning can be complex and sadness isn’t altogether negative.

“It’s a simple and more nuanced way of recognizing sadness is the cost of having loved someone now that they are no longer here in person,” she says.

On Oct. 8, Fischer, 50, shared an Instagram post for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, revealing she had been diagnosed with Stage 1 triple-positive breast cancer in December 2023. She wrote that after undergoing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, she’s now cancer free. 

In a one-on-one conversation with TODAY’s Hoda Kotb, which aired on Oct. 21, Fischer said she hoped sharing her story will bring comfort and hope to another woman receiving a breast cancer diagnosis.

The diagnosis

The actor told Hoda that in October 2023, she went in for her routine mammogram appointment that she had been putting off. 

“Three weeks later, they said, ‘Oh, your mammogram was fine. There were a few spots that were difficult to see. You have very dense tissue. We would recommend that you do another mammogram and maybe follow up with a breast ultrasound,’” she said of the conversation with her doctor. 

“I was like, ‘This is the appointment that won’t end,’” Fischer added, laughing. 

She explained that she felt “no level of concern” when she went back for her breast ultrasound. However, they then asked her to do a biopsy, saying it likely was a “10% chance it’s cancerous.” 

Fischer said she was on a hike by herself when she received the results via her patient portal.

“I checked the portal on the hike, and that’s when I saw words like ‘invasive,’ ‘ductal,’ ‘carcinoma,’ ‘malignant,’” she said. “And I was like, ‘Those words sound like cancer words.’” 

She then called her husband, Lee Kirk, to tell him the results, though she wasn’t sure it was cancer until her doctor confirmed it later that same day. 

When her doctor told her of her diagnosis, Fischer said she just felt “disbelief.” 

“I think the word that really got me was when we found out that I was triple-positive and my oncologist said chemotherapy. That was when I really lost it,” she said. 

Treatment

Fischer opened up to Hoda about the reality of losing her hair during chemotherapy, which she said was one of the side effects she was most concerned about. 

“I started by having just a big bald patch down this side of my head. And I would kind of do a real elaborate comb-over,” she said, laughing. “I was like, ‘Oh, I understand why the gentlemen do this now. Yes, I can sort of pretend like that isn’t there for a while.’” 

Although Fischer said she considered it, she never had a “big shave-your-head moment.” Aside from styling her new part, she said she also opted to wear more hats and wigs during treatment. 

Leaning on her support system

When it came to sharing the news with friends and family, the “Hall Pass” actor revealed one of the first people she called after receiving her diagnosis: Christina Applegate. 

“I called her, and she answered the phone, and she said, ‘Which one is it?’ And I said, ‘It’s breast cancer.’ And she said, ‘I effing knew it.’” Fischer recalled of their conversation. “She’s salty. Salty language that one. I love her for it.” 

Fischer said Applegate put her in touch with fellow survivors and that they took on her journey “together.” 

As for telling her children, Weston Lee, 13, and Harper Marie, 10, Fisher said she and her husband “sat them down” and were “very honest with them.” 

“They’re 10 and they’re 13, and they were going to be living in the house while I went through this. They’re going to see it. And the biggest thing that I wanted them to know was that any ways that I seemed sick during this process were side effects of treatments. They weren’t cancer making me sick,” she said. 

“That distinction, I think, really put them at ease. And then we just kind of did it together. And they were amazing.” 

Where things stand

Along with chemotherapy, Fischer said she also underwent a lumpectomy and radiation. Following her latest screenings, the actor said she’s cancer free, though she’s continuing to take tamoxifen and Herceptin for the next year. 

Fischer told Hoda that two saving graces during her experience were maintaining a sense of humor and normalcy.

“Humor helped through all of this. And working helped. And staying in the world helped,” she said. “My oncology nurse, Ron, was an amazing man. … When I started chemotherapy, he said to me, ‘Listen, I want you to get up every day, and I want you to walk. Every day.’”

“‘I want you to drink a ton of water. Walking and water. That’s what I want you to do. And I want you to take care of those kids. The women who get up and at it are the women who do better in my experience.’” 

Fischer said some of the best advice she received was to “live your life during this process,” while also listening to her body. 

“I did that,” she said. “And some days I just walked circles in my own living room. Some days I walked all around the block. But I did every day get up and do those things. And I think it made a really big difference.” 

Looking back at the past year, Fischer told Hoda that one of the biggest lessons she’s learned is the impact of people taking care of other people. 

“So many people took care of me, and my family, and my children, and I am so grateful for it — in so many small ways,” she said. “And the thing is, is that everybody had the right way or the perfect way to do it.” 

Fischer explained that some friends put her chemotherapy schedule on their calendars, while others sent thoughtful texts and picked her kids up from school. She said her mother-in-law recorded prayers that she would send before treatments. 

The mother of two said this entire journey caused her to look at the world through a new lens of gratitude. 

“I liked that people were annoyed if I was late with an email,” she said. “I liked being regarded as my old self, so to speak.” 

“All of the most important things became so clear so quickly. And the cool thing is that that focus never leaves. So I will get to carry that with me now. … I’ll say I find the world to be such a beautiful place in all of its quirkiness.” 

Fischer added that everyday annoyances have suddenly become “charming” to her. 

“Like, you know, just traffic. ‘Oh, look at you, cute traffic. Look at all the people just goin’ places,’” she said. “How great that I get to sit in traffic. How cool.” 

Fischer’s final takeaway from her experience is a message to all women: “Please don’t skip your mammogram appointment. Please get all the extra screenings that the doctor wants you to get.” 

She credits the success of her treatments to her early diagnosis, encouraging more people to book the “annoying” appointment. 

“If I had waited six more months, it could have been much worse. It could have spread. It was a very aggressive form of cancer,” Fischer said. “I’m really lucky that my cancer had not spread into my lymph nodes. It hadn’t spread anywhere else in my body.” 

“My tumor was still very small, too small to feel,” she added. “That’s the thing. A self-exam would not have (caught the cancer). It really was that routine mammogram that started all of this. And I’m so grateful that I went to that appointment.”

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Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

Photos: Celebrity deaths: 2024’s fallen stars

Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

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On Oct. 19, the actor showed up to the event donning a glittering gold dress that was reminiscent of a similar look Cher once rocked in 1972.

Zendaya’s flirty frock showed plenty of skin and featured a halter top neckline, a revealing crisscross design at the bust and a V-shaped bottom with an up-to-there slit. The star paired the sheer, sparkly design with gold pumps for an added dose of sass.

The 28-year-old wore her long hair in a straight, sleek style to finish off the look.

Zendaya’s longtime stylist Law Roach posted a video of his client posing for photographers at the event along with the following caption: “We love you @cher @bobmackie …..”

Roach also offered details about Zendaya’s outfit in a separate Instagram story, describing the frock as an item from the fall 2001  Bob Mackie Couture collection, Foreign Intrigue.

Per the stylist, the gown was “hand-beaded” in gold, diamond and iridescent bugle beads and aurora-borealis stones.

At the event, Zendaya took the stage to speak about Cher before the music legend was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“Thank you for being an advocate, for being an ally, for painting the way for so many humans of all kinds to live in and speak their truth and to have the courage to be as daring and as open-hearted as you,” she said.

Zendaya continued by sharing a quote from the musician.

“Cher once said you should never be inhibited by what people expect you to do. And those are words I hope we can all learn to live by,” she said.

When Cher took to the podium to speak about her career, she shared a message of hope.

“My life has been just a roller coaster and the one thing that I have never done is I never give up. I never give up. And I’m talking to the women. I’m talking to the women, ok? You guys are on your own. You know? We’ve been down and out and we keep striving and we keep going and we keep building and we are somebody,” she said.

In addition to Cher, several other musicians were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Mary J. Blige, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & the Gang, Ozzy Osbourne and A Tribe Called Quest.

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Jennifer Lawrence is going to become a mother of two.

The Oscar winner is pregnant with her second baby, her rep confirmed to Vogue Oct. 20. The news comes hours after she was photographed showcasing a baby bump in a white T-shirt, paired with black pants, while out to dinner in Los Angeles.

E! News has reached out to Lawrence’s rep for comment and has not heard back.

The 34-year-old’s latest outing took place on her and her husband Cooke Maroney’s fifth wedding anniversary. The pair, who married in Newport, Rhode Island in October 2019, are parents to a son, Cy, 2.

While Lawrence has been notoriously private about her personal life, she has occasionally shared tidbits about her child and her experiences as a first-time mom. In 2022, the “Hunger Games” star revealed Cy is named after American painter Cy Twombly, a favorite artist of her husband, an art gallery director.

READ Inside Jennifer Lawrence’s Mom Life With Son Cy and Husband Cooke Maroney

“It’s so scary to talk about motherhood,” Lawrence told Vogue at the time. “Only because it’s so different for everybody.”

She continued, “The morning after I gave birth, I felt like my whole life had started over. Like, Now is day one of my life. I just stared. I was just so in love. I also fell in love with all babies everywhere. Newborns are just so amazing. They’re these pink, swollen, fragile little survivors. Now I love all babies. Now I hear a baby crying in a restaurant and I’m like, Awwww, preciousssss.”

Lawrence has also shared her thoughts on raising a child whose parent is famous.

“Of course, I’ve contemplated having a child that’s being born into a lifestyle that’s different from his friends,” she told fellow actress Cameron Diaz in a 2023 Interview magazine chat. “But kids have advantages and disadvantages when they’re born, all of them.”

Lawrence continued, “The best thing I can do is just make sure he knows he’s loved, and that he’s our number one priority, and try to be a good example of kindness. I’m sure there will be challenges specifically from my choices and my lifestyle, and we’ll both have to confront that and deal with it when that day comes.”

He had just run through an exploding wall — literally — as a stunt double for former NFL star Rob Gronkowski in a Super Bowl commercial and had plaster all over his hair, face and body. 

But he had a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to New York in a matter of hours, and his appearance was the last thing on his mind. Quickly throwing on a different set of clothes, Wallschleger rushed off the set and headed to Los Angeles International Airport for an acting role he had booked … as Gronkowski.

Portraying Gronkowski, the future Hall of Fame tight end and larger-than-life personality, on screen was easy. After all, they’ve been friends since college. 

“I’ve hung out with him for so many years,” Wallschleger said of playing Gronk on FX’s “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez.”

“It’s kind of like imitating your brother.”

That familiarity was evident this past week when Wallschleger’s imitation of Gronkowski, the former New England tight end, went viral. The scene — Gronkowski speaking to teammate Aaron Hernandez in the Patriots locker room — was so spot on that the real-life version had to applaud the effort. 

I asked @RobGronkowski about the viral gronk actor clip from the FX show..

we watched it twice. 🙂

Backstory here: pic.twitter.com/whqASbUk90

— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) October 10, 2024

“That’s my good friend Laith who is playing me there. I’ve known him for about 14 years,” Gronkowski said on the “Up and Adams” podcast. “He got the laugh right on. If I’m up and energized and someone cracks a good joke, that’s definitely my laugh right on.”

Wallschleger, an actor, stunt double and voice-over artist, is a former defensive end at the University of Delaware who spent training camp with the Arizona Cardinals. After his athletic career came to a close in 2018, he auditioned for and got into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and moved to Los Angeles full-time to pursue a career in entertainment. 

He admits his physique — 6-foot-4, 255 pounds — and background as an athlete helped him land small roles early on. His first big break was as a football player in a film called “It’s Time” about former Ole Miss defensive back Chucky Mullins, who was paralyzed after he made a tackle. It was there that Wallschleger met executives from Game Changing Films, a group that casts actors for sports-related projects. They eventually helped him get shows like The CW’s “All-American.”

The company’s mission seemed simple enough: find actors who could actually play sports to make a show or movie appear genuine. Except it wasn’t that easy. 

“You have the size component, you have the speed component, and then you have the performance component. It’s really hard to find all those things in an actor,” Wallschleger said. “Actors are, most of the time, pretty small. I mean, you look at Tom Cruise and he’s like, what, 5-8 or something like that? So it’s really difficult to find that combination.”

Wallschleger has gone on to play roles on “NCIS,” “Grown-ish,” “The Rookie,” “9-1-1” and other shows. He is currently filming an episode of Peacock’s “Poker Face,” and he is in an upcoming show called “Paradise,” starring Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden. Oh, and it was announced this week that he is the lead in a Lifetime Christmas movie about a football player who finds love with a pop star (sound familiar?).

He has also narrated Dodge Challenger commercials and multiple video games. 

His true calling, however, may be as a stunt double for, in his words, “all the big white guys in the NFL.” 

Wallschleger has been cast as Travis Kelce, Nick Bosa, Joey Bosa, JJ Watt and Zach Ertz. In the NFL 100 Super Bowl commercial, he played legendary Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher and tackled Deion Sanders through a table.

No, of course not the real Deion Sanders. His stunt double. 

“They get paid millions of dollars,” Wallschleger said of professional athletes and coaches. “The last thing they want to do is step wrong, slip on something and then blow out a knee doing a freaking Visa commercial.”

Wallschleger is best known, at least now, as Gronk 2.0. The two became close friends years ago through his cousin Dean “Mojo” Muhtadi, who knew Rob’s brother Dan Gronkowski. The families started hanging out, and they have countless stories of partying together since. 

The camaraderie has paid off in a big way. When FX needed someone to play Gronk in “American Sports Story,” Wallschleger was a natural fit. He would go on to film scenes as the teammate of Hernandez, the Patriots tight end later convicted of murder.

Wallschleger said he initially was worried about telling his friend about the role. Years ago, Gronk refused to speak about the highly sensitive matter.

“Back then, what’s there to gain to comment on that?” Wallschleger said. “You want to respect the family and the severity of the situation and just kind of stay out of it. But he gave me his full endorsement on set.”

Usually, playing Gronk is far more fun.

For FanDuel’s “Kick of Destiny,” a live field goal attempt at halftime of the Super Bowl, Wallschleger stepped in for his friend in commercials leading up to the event.

In one, a montage similar to those in the “Rocky” films takes place. Gronk’s quad explodes from overtraining and rips his shorts.

“That was my leg,” Wallschleger said. “It really kind of stemmed from there. It was like, ‘Hey, man, like, if you need me in the future, I got you.’”

This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:

• Ga. students take to streets to denounce ‘dehumanizing’ law that criminalizes handing out water to voters in line
• 3 killed and 8 injured by gunfire following a Mississippi school’s football game
• Oakland Hills fire in California damages 2 homes, sparks evacuations

Rosie O’Donnell‘s daughter Chelsea Belle O’Donnell is in legal trouble.

The 27-year-old, a mother of four, was arrested twice over the past month in Wisconsin on drug-related offenses and other charges, including child neglect, court records show. O’Donnell shared a throwback pic of her daughter with one of her kids as a newborn Oct. 19 following reports about her arrests.

“Chelsea is in the news today,” the comedian wrote on Instagram. “This is a photo from a better time.”

Chelsea O’Donnell has not yet entered a plea and is due back in court in November. She has also not commented on her arrests. No lawyer or other representative for Rosie O’Donnell’s daughter is listed in any of the summaries of her Wisconsin court cases seen by E! News.

Rosie O’Donnell’s daughter — mom to daughters Skylar, 5, Riley, 3, and Avery, 2, and son Atlas, 11 months — was first arrested in September in Marinette County, Wis. on felony counts of neglecting a child, maintaining a drug trafficking place and possession of methamphetamine.

READ Rosie O’Donnell’s Son Blake O’Donnell Marries Teresa Garofalow Westervelt Instagram/Rosie O’Donnell

She was also charged at the time with misdemeanor possession of THC, illegally obtained prescriptions and drug paraphernalia, as well as domestic abuse, court records show.

Then on Oct. 14, three days after her most recent arrest in nearby Oconto County, prosecutors charged Chelsea O’Donnell with felony possession of methamphetamine and narcotic drugs and bail jumping, as well as misdemeanor counts of drug paraphernalia possession and resisting or obstructing an officer.

In June 2018, amid news she was pregnant with her first child, Rosie O’Donnell revealed the two had reconnected again. Skylar was born the following December and the comedian could not have been prouder.

“My daughter chels-jake-and skylar rose my first grandchild !!!” the comedian tweeted at the time, while sharing a pic of herself with the newborn. “#Nana & Skylar #bigLove.”

The comedian, who has occasionally shared pics of her daughter’s kids on social media over the years, had last spoken publicly about her relationship with her in 2018.

“She’s doing better now and we’re both communicating with each other,” the “And Just Like That star” said on “The Talk.” “When somebody does something unforgivable to you and you can forgive them and they can forgive you, there’s a kind of grace that descends upon the both of you, within that.”

Soon after Chelsea O’Donnell was found, she moved in with her birth mother, Deanna Micoley, who had placed her for adoption as a baby. In 2016, Rosie O’Donnell and her daughter reconciled.

The following year, Chelsea O’Donnell made more allegations about her adoptive mom with regard to her upbringing. “Since I was 12, Rosie has been verbally abusive,” she told the Daily Mail, adding that the two were currently estranged.

In a statement to the newspaper, the comedian called the daughter “mentally ill” and said her daughter’s comments were “unfounded – untrue – and desperate.”

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Liam Payne‘s sister is speaking out after the tragic loss of the singer.

Three days after the One Direction alum, 31, was found dead after falling from the balcony of a Bueno Aires hotel room, one of his two older sisters, Ruth Gibbons, shared a heartbreaking tribute to her late sibling.

“Liam is my best friend,” the 33-year-old wrote on Instagram Oct. 19. “No one could ever make me laugh as much as him, doing his impressions always had me creasing and he loved seeing how much of a laugh he could get.”

Gibbons recalled the early days of Payne’s much career, when he became a member of One Direction as a contestant on The X Factor in 2010.

“He moved out when he was 17 to chase his dreams, it’s this that forced me to finally pass my driving test during the X Factor live show,” she wrote. “I couldn’t stand the thought of not being able to get to him. I would regularly drive to have tea with him after I finished work, just to sit around.”

Gibbons added, “Liam loved 1D, he loved his brothers and we talked about it so much. He would just play song after song that had been recorded but never used and we’d sit having a mini 1D concert.”

Concerts Oct 19

Zayn Malik postpones US tour dates following death of One Direction bandmate Liam Payne

Celebrity News Oct 17

One Direction speaks out on Liam Payne's death: ‘completely devastated'

Payne’s sister touted the singer’s kindness.

“I don’t feel this world was good enough or kind enough to you, and quite often over the last few years, you’ve had to really try hard to overcome all that was being aimed at you,” she said about her brother, who had struggled with alcohol addiction and mental health battles throughout his life. “You just wanted to be loved and to make people happy with your music.”

Gibbons also made a promise to Payne about his and ex Cheryl Cole‘s son Bear, 7.

“We’ll take care of Bear and he will always know how incredible his Dad is and how much you idolize him,” she wrote. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. Love you, oh how my heart misses you, Ru xxx.”

Gibbons added, “One last time I need you to know, I’m here if you need anything, I’d drive to the end of the universe to bring you back.”

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Decades after Danielle Fishel captivated an entire generation as Topanga Lawrence on the ’90s show “Boy Meets World,” she’s bringing fans into another world — the one she’s faced amid her cancer journey.

Two months after sharing she was diagnosed with high grade ductal carcinoma in situ — stage zero breast cancer — with possible micro invasion, a condition that would require her to undergo surgery, the actress gave an update on her health.

“On August 13, I had my first surgery,” Fishel exclusively told E! News about her lumpectomy. “They went in, they removed a mass. That pathology came back that they had one margin they weren’t thrilled with. The medial margin had cancer a little too close to it.”

As a result, the 43-year-old underwent a second procedure in September. “That pathology came back with no more evidence of cancer and all clear margins,” she said. “So surgically, I am now done.”

“Boy Meets World” star Danielle Fishel shares breast cancer diagnosis

But as Fishel noted, her treatment plan is far from over.

“The next stage is radiation, and the decision about whether I need to do whole breast radiation, or I need to do targeted radiation, or a combination of the two or if I’m going to do radiation at all,” she explained. “Those are topics that I have yet to decide, and I have to make them with the care of my doctors. I haven’t picked a radiation oncologist yet. I’m about ready to start those appointments.”

“Additionally,” the “Girl Meets World” alum said, “I will most likely be starting a hormone therapy, an estrogen blocker, because my cancer was estrogen-positive, so it was feeding off of estrogen.”

While Fishel is grateful she caught her cancer early, she emphasized that, no matter the stage, it’s still a difficult road.

“Being on hormone therapy, that’s a lifelong thing or at least until I’m all the way through menopause,” the “Pod Meets World” host noted. “When I first was diagnosed, I had a fellow cancer survivor reach out to me, and I was like, ‘Yeah, but thankfully mine is stage zero.’ And she wrote back and she said, ‘I just want you to know there is no easy cancer.’ And I thought about her saying that to me many times over the course of this treatment that I’ve been on so far.”

One of the hardest parts, Fishel said, has been the constant waiting.

“Once you find out you know you have cancer, you want so badly to make a plan, and to move forward on that plan, and to get the cancer out of you,” she shared. “And there’s kind of a lot of time before you can start making all of those, aside from the fact that it takes a long time to get certain doctor’s appointments.”

Even after seeing those specialists, she continued, there’s more waiting for test results and dealing with the unknown can be scary.

“I needed to have an MRI, and waiting for the results of the MRI takes five to seven days,” the TV star — who shares sons Adler, 5, and Keaton, 3, with husband Jensen Karp — added. “I needed to have genetic testing to see if I carried the BRCA gene. Getting those results takes up to a week. Even the unknown of based on your biopsy this is your diagnosis, but ultimately they don’t know until they surgically open you up and look inside and then run that pathology. At any point, your diagnosis can change.”

As Fishel navigates the next steps in her treatment, she’s giving herself permission to feel all the emotions.

“I had lymph node removal to see if it had traveled to my lymph nodes. Thankfully, it had not,” she said. “But recovering from lymph node removal was not easy and is still something I’m dealing with. I have an incision in an uncomfortable place. I have two scars I didn’t have before. I currently have a dent in my breast where a mass was removed. I’m trying to stay positive and say I’m so happy that because I had my routine screening I found it so early. But there’s also a mourning and a sadness that is expected and I’m trying to not toxic positivity my way out of it.”

And if she’s able to convince people to stay on top of their routine screenings, then she knows publicly sharing her story will have been worth it. Which is why she partnered with Aflac during October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month to remind all the millennials who grew up watching her on TV how life-saving preventive care can be and to urge them to schedule any appointments they’ve been putting off.

“I was so blessed to be able to grow up on a TV screen and be a recognizable face to a lot of millennials,” Fishel told E!, going on to cite Aflac’s 2024 Wellness Matters Survey. “And if 65 percent of millennials are putting off their regular health screenings — and more than half of people who find out they have cancer, find out they have cancer at routine screenings like I did — I knew I had the ability to go public with my story and hopefully have it make a difference. And that was really important to me.”

“If I could say there’s been one thing that’s been helping me stay grounded and get through the diagnosis and the treatment and the upcoming treatments that I have,” she added, “it’s been being able to focus on something bigger and greater than me.”

Payne, a singer and former member of One Direction, died Oct. 16 after falling from a balcony on the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was 31.

The former couple welcomed their son Bear in March 2017 and had dated for two years before they called it quits in July 2018.

Read on to learn about Liam Payne and Cheryl Cole’s past relationship.

2008: Liam Payne and Cheryl Cole meet for the first time

In 2008, Payne and Cole met when Payne auditioned for “The X Factor” at 14 years old. At the time, Cole was acting as a judge on the program alongside Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh.

For his audition, Payne sang a rendition of “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra. Though Cowell wasn’t completely sold by Payne’s performance, Cole said she adored the young singer and voted him through to the next round.

“I like you. I think you’re really cute,” she told him.

Later in a separate interview on the show, Payne said he liked Cole’s compliment that she gave him.

“Cheryl thought that I was cute, which was a great compliment,” he said.

While he was later cut from the competition by Powell, Payne returned to the singing competition in 2010 and said he understood why he was sent home.

“I was really young and I wasn’t ready and now I’m 16 and I’m back to give it another shot,” he said on stage before singing “Cry Me a River” by Michael Bublé.

During that season, Cole was eventually grouped together with fellow “X Factor” contestants Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, and formed One Direction.

2016: Liam Payne and Cheryl Cole start dating

In 2016, Cole split from her second husband, Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini. As the pair called it quits, rumors started to swirl that Payne and Cole were seeing each other.

The couple made their red carpet debut in May 2016 while they attended the Global Gift Gala in Paris.

At the event, Cole was honored with the Global Gift Philanthropist Award.

“So proud of her tonight such a special award #GlobalGiftGala,” Payne captioned a photo of them together at the gala on X.

So proud of her tonight 😘😘such a special award #GlobalGiftGala pic.twitter.com/lZFr2SAzdP

— Liam (@LiamPayne) May 9, 2016

2017: Liam Payne and Cheryl Cole welcome a child together

In March 2017, Payne and Cole announced on Instagram that they had welcomed their son, Bear, according to People.

While appearing on “The Late Late Show with James Corden” in September 2017, Payne explained why they chose the name Bear.

The singer said as a newborn, his son made a rumbling noise in his sleep, which led to him being assessed by specialists. Finally, one doctor said, “There’s nothing wrong with him. He just likes to make a lot of noise.”

“So he just became Bear,” Payne told host James Corden.

In a July 2018 interview with People, Payne shared that he likes to play his new music for Bear.

“For me, I love making great music for my fans. But when you make something that your son loves, it’s the best thing ever,” he shared.

2018: Liam Payne and Cheryl Cole break up

After two years of dating, Payne announced in a July 2018 post on X that he and Cole had broken up.

“Cheryl and I are sad to announce that we are going our separate ways. It’s been a tough decision for us to make,” Payne wrote. “We still have so much love for each other as a family. Bear is our world and we ask that you respect his privacy as we navigate our way through this together.”

Cole also echoed a similar statement on the platform.

“We are sad to announce that we are going our separate ways. It’s been a tough decision for us to make,” she wrote. “We still have so much love for each other as a family. Bear is our world and we ask that you respect his privacy as we navigate our way through this together.

Though the pair had gone their separate ways, they seemed to maintain a good co-parenting relationship. In 2020, Payne gave Cole a shoutout on Bear’s third birthday and he thanked the “Fight for This Love” singer for showing their son “all the love in the world.”

2024: Cheryl Cole speaks out after Liam Payne’s death

On Oct. 18, two days after Payne’s death was confirmed, Cole issued a statement to her followers on Instagram, asking for grace and courtesy on behalf of their son.

The post featured a black-and-white photograph of Payne curled up in bed, gazing at Bear, then an infant, as he laid peacefully beside him.

“As I try to navigate this earth shattering event, and work through my own grief at this indescribably painful time, I’d like to kindly remind everyone that we have lost a human being,” her post begins.

“Liam was not only a pop star and celebrity, he was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dear friend and a father to our 7 year old son. A son that now has to face the reality of never seeing his father again.”

“What is troubling my spirit the most is that one day Bear will have access to the abhorrent reports and media exploitation we have seen in the past two days,” she continued. “It is breaking my heart further that I cannot protect him from that in his future. I am begging you to consider what use some of these reports are serving, other than to cause further harm to everyone left behind picking up the pieces. Before you leave comments or make videos, ask yourself if you would like your own child or family to read them.”

“Please give Liam the little dignity he has left in the wake of his death to rest in some peace at last,” she ended the letter writing, “Thank you, Cheryl.”

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

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Blac Chyna is celebrating a milestone.

The “Seen Her” rapper is engaged to songwriter Derrick Milano after more than a year of dating. Milano proposed to Chyna at Howard University’s homecoming celebration — also known as Yardfest — on Oct. 18 in front of a crowd of students who were all cheering the couple on.

In a video shared to X, formerly Twitter, Milano can be seen getting down on one knee in front of Chyna (real name is Angela White) with a ring box and asking, “Will you marry me?” Chyna looked surprised by the question, but quickly gave Milano a kiss and hug as the two shared a moment before he put the ring on her finger.

Only @HowardU #YardFest can make MAGIC happen like this 🙌🏽🙌🏽

My guy @DerrickMilano just popped the BIG question to the HomeTeam @BLACCHYNA 💍

CONGRATS 🎊 🎉 #BlackLove 🫶🏽 #QuickSilva #HowardHomecoming #Marriage pic.twitter.com/1dWZ7yulB9

— THE PARTY KINGPIN !! (@DJQUICKSILVA) October 18, 2024

Milano then reiterated the question, saying, “Angela, will you marry me?” and enthusiastically telling the crowd, “She said ‘Yes!'”

Milano also shared his excitement on Instagram, reposting photos of the two admiring her ring in his Stories, along with several videos capturing the moment.

READ Blac Chyna Reassures Daughter Dream, 7, About Her Appearance in Heartwarming Video

This is the third engagement for Chyna, who was previously engaged to Tyga — with whom she shares son King Cairo, 11 — and Rob Kardashian, with whom she shares 7-year-old daughter Dream.

Chyna and Milano first went public with their romance in September 2023 when she shared a photo of the two on Instagram with a heart and prayer hands emoji in the caption. However, the reality star confirmed the duo had actually been dating since May 2023 when she posted an anniversary tribute to the Grammy winner.

“Happy 1 year anniversary @derrickmilano,” she wrote in May 2024 alongside a montage of the two over the year. “Reflecting on a year of pure magic and joy with you, my dearest Derrick. Your love, support, and friendship have filled my life with light and warmth.”

The 36-year-old thanked Milano for “showing me the true meaning of love.”

“Here’s to countless more years of love and togetherness,” she added. “I cherish you always.”

Not to be outdone, Milano shared his own message to Chyna, writing, “I found balance, happiness & GOD when I met you & I can’t thank you enough for helping me grow as not only your Man, but a MAN who genuinely loves his woman.”

“From our very first date to even breakfast this morning, it still feels surreal that I found my person & GOD placed us with one another,” he continued. “One year down and an infinity to go.”

Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

Photos: Celebrity deaths: 2024’s fallen stars

Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

Photos: Celebrity deaths: 2024’s fallen stars

Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

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Lizzo is keeping busy.

Less than two months after she announced on Instagram, “I’m taking a gap year & protecting my peace,” the 36-year-old revealed she has quietly been hard at work on her newest ventures.

“As soon as I stepped down home from tour — I may not be as public-facing — but I went straight to Yitty headquarters,” Lizzo said at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit Oct. 14, referring to the shapewear brand she launched in 2022 in partnership with Fabletics, “and I’ve just been working, working, working.”

The “Good as Hell” singer, who had toured for 10 months until July 2023, continued, “So you might not see me, but I’ve been working. It ain’t a gap year, it’s a grind year.”

Lizzo, whose latest musical release was the song “Pink” from the Barbie soundtrack, also said she was “very, very close” to finishing a new album.

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She has kept a lower profile since 2023, when after her tour ended, three of her former backup dancers filed a lawsuit against her, accusing her of creating an “abusive work environment” in which they were subjected to sexual harassment, weight-shaming and disability discrimination,” accusations Lizzo later denied on social media.

And she specifically shared insight into why she didn’t want to discuss the case.

“I don’t want to talk about things like that,” she said. “This isn’t the space — where we’re celebrating female CEOs and powerful women — this isn’t really the space to talk about the negative things that happen to us because so much negative stuff happens to powerful women.”

The four-time Grammy winner also shared insight into her current mindset when it comes to social media.

“I’ve been canceled for everything at this point,” she said, laughing. “Only God can cancel me now. I think that I talk about the things that are important to me, and I talk about the things that I can bring a difference to, and I think those are my boundaries now with the public.”

Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

Photos: Celebrity deaths: 2024’s fallen stars

Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

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Simon Cowell is navigating a heartbreaking loss.

The longtime talent judge broke his silence over the death of Liam Payne, a former member of One Direction, whose fame — alongside bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik — skyrocketed after the band was formed on “The X Factor” in 2010, with Cowell largely being credited over the years for placing the five men together.

“You never really know how you feel about someone until a moment like this happens,” Cowell began his message, posted to Instagram Oct. 18. “Liam, I am truly devastated. Heartbroken. And I feel empty. And I want you to know how much love and respect I have for you. Every tear I have shed is a memory of you.”

The 65-year-old noted that he’s finding it difficult to put his emotions into words.

“I went outside today, and I thought about so many times we had together,” he continued. “I wanted to let you know what I would always say to the thousands of people who would always ask me. What is Liam like? And I would tell them you were kind, funny, sweet, thoughtful, talented, humble, focused.”

While Payne first entered the “X Factor” competition in 2008 as a solo artist, it wasn’t until he returned two years later and was placed into One Direction that he found success. And while their coming together — and the phenomenon the band would become — may have felt like kismet, Cowell has been clear over the years that he always saw the possibilities.

“I had to tell you when you were 14 that this wasn’t your time,” Cowell reflected in his message. “And we both made a promise that we would meet again. A lot of people would have given up. You didn’t. You came back and within months the whole world knew Liam.”

The music producer recalled Payne — who shared 7-year-old son Bear Grey Payne with ex Cheryl Cole — visiting him last year. “We reminisced about all of the fun time we had together,” he wrote. “And how proud you were to be a Dad.”

He noted that Payne’s son has his smile and that same “twinkle” in his eyes.

“And he will be so proud of everything you achieved,” Cowell noted. “And how you achieved it.”

Cowell concluded his message by sharing he always thought of One Direction’s five members as brothers.

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“And reading their messages today I believe you were,” he said, referencing the band’s tributes. “And now Liam, I can see the effect you had on so many people. Because you left us too soon. Rest in peace my friend.”

Prior to sharing the heartbreaking statement, he canceled filming for “Britain’s Got Talent” — of which he is the creator— the day after Payne’s death, hitting pause on the audition stage of the competition series which was set to take place in Blackpool, England.

Payne died at the age of 31 after he suffered a fatal fall from a third-story balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Oct. 16.

As far as deciding to place the five into a group, Cowell told Rolling Stone in 2012, “I’ve done this for so many years, certain times a group like that may not work, but this particular year it felt like the right thing to do, and we were just lucky that we had these five guys, all with different strengths. The chemistry was incredible.”

He also reflected at the time on his first impression of Payne.

“I’d auditioned him before on The X Factor, when he was 14,” the “American Idol” alum remembered. “And he didn’t make it. Funnily enough, he didn’t have much support from the other judges, but I’d always backed him.”

He continued, “When he came back the second time, I was really proud of him because he really made an effort and he wanted to prove a point — and he was good. I always knew that with confidence he would be a valuable member of this band.”

And valuable he — and all five members — became. Despite finishing in third on “The X Factor,” Payne and One Direction would go on to become a global phenomenon, with the band earning four number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and six top 10 hits during their six years together before parting ways into solo careers.

But while Payne owed his rise to fame to the band, he’d also been candid over the years about the ways in which he struggled with life in the spotlight during his One Direction tenure.

“Fame made me a little bit nuts and distracted me a lot from the person I was,” he told #Legend magazine in 2018. “And it pissed me off in the end, because it was like, ‘You could have been this guy, but you chose to do this.’ Nobody really knew anything about me. I put on a front that wasn’t really me.”

Which is why when One Direction officially decided to part ways in 2016, one year after Zayn was the first to leave the group, the artist breathed a sigh of relief.

“I remember the day we finished, because of the place I was in, I was quite happy that we had a break,” Payne continued. “I said to the person with me at the time, ‘Thank God I don’t have to play that person again for a long time.’ It was exhausting and I couldn’t keep up with myself.”

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Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

Photos: Celebrity deaths: 2024’s fallen stars

Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

Photos: Celebrity deaths: 2024’s fallen stars

Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

In a recent interview with Shannon Sharpe on his podcast “Club Shay Shay,” the rapper said that the mother of his child “never visited him (Joey) again,” after his birth.

Fat Joe was 19 when his son was born.

“When he’s born, the doctor tells us, ‘Hey I got bad news … he has Down syndrome; he’s going to be a big challenge,’” Fat Joe told Sharpe. 

“His mother was like ‘Yo, I can’t do this. I’m going to have to give him up for adoption,'” said Fat Joe.

That’s when his own mother said in no uncertain terms that she did not want her grandchild placed for adoption, he said.

“So,” Fat Joe continued, “we raised him. I never seen his mother again.”

Joey, 33, has been under the care of Fat Joe and the rapper’s parents all his life.

The rapper told Sharpe that he never shut his son’s mother out from the opportunity to see Joey, “It was always available for her to see her son,” Fat Joe said.

The rapper, whose given name is Joseph Cartagena, said that while learning about a diagnosis of Down syndrome can be scary, quitting on Joey was never an option.

“[A] father’s got to be a father,” said Fat Joe. “I don’t know how to be a fake father. So I got to take care of my kids regardless and do everything I can for them. I don’t know how to give up on my kids. I don’t know how to not love on my kids. That’s impossible.”

Fat Joe is also the father of son Ryan, from a previous relationship, and daughter Azariah, who he shares with his wife, Lorena Cartagena.

At home, the rapper said that Joey is happy — really happy.

“This guy’s happy,” Fat Joe told Sharpe. “I swear to God, he’s always happy. He’s never sad. He’s like, if you’re stuck in a place, he’s stuck in happiness.”

Fat Joe said one of Joey’s quirks is that he will only sleep if someone is looking at him, and he’s been that way his entire life.

“He doesn’t sleep without one person, without someone sitting there looking at him,” Fat Joe said on the podcast.

While Fat Joe has two younger children, he explained that Joey is the “Don” of the family.

“He does what he wants. He gets what he wants. He’s the Don,” explained the rapper. “He sits at the end of the table, he knows ‘Oh, those are my little brothers and sisters.'”

While there have been challenges along the way for Joey, Fat Joe said he believes that his son is his biggest blessing.

“He’s our biggest blessing because we treat him the way we do because we never gave up on him,” Fat Joe said.

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

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JoJo Siwa should’ve known better.

In an exclusive preview clip for the latest episode of “Punk You” — an all-new digital prank show from the creator of “Punk’d” — the “Dance Moms” alum was tricked into thinking her identity had been stolen, leading to allegations of wire fraud, bank fraud and credit card fraud.

As the pop star’s driver was stopped by an SUV posing as an FBI vehicle, she quipped, “Getting pulled over by the secret agents? This is a new one.”

But panic seemed to set in quickly for the 21-year-old, who asked her driver if the doors to their car were locked.

Later in the episode — premiering Oct. 19 on “Punk You”‘s YouTube channel — Siwa called her mom, Jessalynn Siwa, to fill her in on the unfolding situation.

“I got pulled over by the FBI,” the “Karma” singer said as her mother, who appeared to be in on the elaborate stunt, listened intently alongside JoJo Siwa’s friends. “They brought us up to the rooftop of a parking structure, and apparently somebody is stealing my identity.”

READ JoJo Siwa Seemingly Plays Into Beyoncé & Sean “Diddy” Combs Conspiracy Theory With Award Show Shoutout Chelsea Guglielmino/WireImage

“I’m shooken,” JoJo Siwa admitted during the phone call, “because, like, what the f— is happening right now?”

After assuring her daughter she would come to her location, a flustered Jessalynn Siwa told the group how she could tell JoJo Siwa had been successfully duped.

“Her code word is ‘Beyoncé,’” the momager revealed, “and she texted me ‘Beyoncé.’”

While the prank show — which is also set to play tricks on stars like Sexyy Red, NLE Choppa, Jynxzi and DDG — managed to pull a fast one on JoJo Siwa, the J Team star seems to have her finances in order. After all, she recently told E! News about her lavish vacation plans with girlfriend Dakayla Wilson.

“We’re about to take her on the best birthday extravaganza,” JoJo Siwa evealed. “We’re going to Hawaii. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

“But look, it’s not about the money,” she noted. “It’s about the person, it’s about the time and the thing you do and the experience.”

She was initially diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in 2019 but opted against the doctor-recommended double mastectomy to treat the cancer at the time. The cancer then progressed to Stage 4.

How is Ananda Lewis doing with her breast cancer?

Speaking with The New York Times Wednesday, Lewis said she’s now taking a drug that treats metastatic cancer but isn’t a candidate for surgery and chemotherapy given the current stage of her illness.

“Those medications are working beautifully for me in combination with the other things I’m doing that help support my body,” she told the Times. “I’m really thriving right now.”

She previously shared at a CNN roundtable on Tuesday that the current medications she’s on have shrunk some of the tumors, making a few of them “almost undetectable.”

Ananda Lewis’ breast cancer treatment

Lewis first revealed her cancer was Stage 4 and opened up about her decision to refuse the double mastectomy, expressing some regret, at the CNN roundtable.

“I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way,” Lewis told her long-time friend and CNN correspondent Stephanie Elam, who hosted the interview. “Looking back on that I go, ‘Girl, maybe I should’ve (had the surgery).'”

At the time, Lewis felt that she “didn’t have good options” when it came to her breast cancer treatment.

“They wanted to take both (breasts),” she said. “They wanted to do all these big things that I was not ready for.”

Instead, Lewis underwent chemotherapy and focused on alternative options, such as improving her mental health, getting more sleep and drinking less alcohol. She also completed monthly ultrasounds to monitor the cancer’s growth.

“I was watching, monitoring, seeing what the tumor was doing, seeing how it was reacting to things,” she recalled.

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But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lewis’ cancer spread.

“The tumor kept growing. I could feel that,” she said. “Then I had to go get some help.”

At that time, Lewis underwent a type of targeted chemotherapy and said she responded well to the treatment. But in October 2023, a scan revealed that the cancer spread throughout her body, considered Stage 4.

“That scan showed that I had this kind of up my spine, through my hip, almost everywhere but my brain,” Lewis said. “I’ve never been in pain like that in my life.”

“I don’t get afraid of things,” Lewis continued. “I was just like, ‘Fudge, man, I really thought I had this.’ I was frustrated. I was a little angry at myself.”

Refusing treatment for cancer

Stage 3 breast cancer is often considered treatable, with 86% of patients surviving five or more years, the American Cancer Society says. However, Stage 4 breast cancer, also known as metastatic breast cancer, is considered incurable and has a five-year survival rate of 31%.

Multiple previous studies have shown that cancer patients who delay or refuse traditional treatments — such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and hormone therapy — and instead opt for alternative medicine have a greater risk of death.

Lewis has also said she regrets refusing to undergo regular mammograms out of fear of radiation exposure. In a 2020 Instagram story, she said she was exposed to far more radiation being treated for breast cancer than she would’ve had from mammograms, the Times reported. She also urged the importance of early detection of breast cancer.

“I wish I could go back,” she said in the video as she teared up, the Times reported. “It’s important for me to admit where I went wrong with this.”

This article first appeared on TODAY.com. Read more from TODAY here:

• One Direction speaks out following the death of Liam Payne
• Snoop Dogg defends grandparents’ right to totally spoil grandkids
• Martha Stewart announces an autobiography of her life is coming. What to know

Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

Photos: Celebrity deaths: 2024’s fallen stars

Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

Photos: Celebrity deaths: 2024’s fallen stars

Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Martha Stewart has the recipe for keeping an affair private.

The famed culinary expert recently admitted that she had an affair in the early stages of her marriage to Andy Stewart. And now she’s sharing the key ingredients to keeping it cool and contained for more than 30 years.

“Very easy,” she said at the launch party for her 100^th cookbook “Martha: The Cookbook” on Oct. 16, per The Daily Mail, “you have to be circumspect.”

Stewart’s affair came to light on Oct. 10 when the trailer for her upcoming documentary “Martha” was released. In a clip, the former model shared a piece of advice for young women.

“Young women, listen to my advice,” Stewart, 83, said in the trailer. “If you’re married and your husband starts to cheat on you, he’s a piece of s–t.”

Off camera, a producer asked Stewart about her own affair, in which she said, “Yeah, but I don’t think Andy ever knew about that.”

Martha and Andy, who share daughter Alexis Stewart, 59, were married from 1961 to 1987. 

Following her marriage, Stewart was linked to Anthony Hopkins, and tech billionaire Charles Simonyi — whom she dated on and off for 15 years. She hasn’t been married again. Andy Stewart, meanwhile, went on to marry now-ex Robyn Fairclough in 1993, and has been married to Shyla Nelson, since 2016.

Stewart isn’t opposed to finding romance again herself. Though she has two deal breakers: bad breath, and lack of generosity.

“I know a lot of eligible men,” she told E! News in 2023. “I think they really want a woman who will take care of them, so I’m still not quite in the position where I can take care of a man full-time because I work too much.”

She continued, “If I analyze my life, I think the work has taken precedence over the romance. I have a hard time making room for both and it’s not the highest priority that I have a boyfriend, but it would be nice!”

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Gaynor, among the last survivors of the so-called golden age of the Hollywood musical, died of natural causes in Los Angeles on Thursday morning, her long-time managers Rene Reyes and Shane Rosamonda confirmed in a statement to The Associated Press.

“As we celebrate her legacy, we offer our thanks to her friends and fans and the countless audiences she entertained throughout her long life,” Reyes and Rosamonda said in a joint statement. “Your love, support and appreciation meant so very much to her and was a sustaining gift in her life.”

Her entertainment career spanned eight decades across film, television and the stage, and appeared in several notable films including “We’re Not Married!” and “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” but she is best remembered for her turn in “South Pacific.”

The screen version of “South Pacific” received three Academy Award nominations and won for best sound, while Gaynor was a best actress nominee for a Golden Globe.

The role of the love-sick nurse Nellie, created on Broadway by Mary Martin, had been eagerly sought by Hollywood stars. Sinatra helped Gaynor land it.

She was starring with him in “The Joker Is Wild,” when she had a one-day opportunity to audition for lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. It was the same day she was scheduled for her biggest scene with Sinatra. When she explained her plight, he told her, “Don’t worry, I’ll change the schedule.”

Hammerstein was impressed with Gaynor, who had already won the approval of director Josh Logan and composer Richard Rodgers. She was cast opposite Rossano Brazzi, about whom she sang “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy.”

“South Pacific” was not the turning point in her career that Gaynor had hoped it would be, and she shifted her focus from film to television, making early appearances on Donald O’Connor’s variety series “Here Comes Donald,” and on CBS’ “The Jack Benny Hour.” In October of 1959, she was the only women to guest star alongside Sinatra, Crosby, Dean Martin and Jimmy Durante on ABC’s “The Frank Sinatra Timex Show” special.

Later in her career, Gaynor reinvented herself as a performing entertainer. Working with her husband and manager Jack Bean, she starred in her own musical revue that was a big draw in theaters throughout the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia.

She became the highest paid female entertainer in Las Vegas and was the first woman to be awarded the Las Vegas governor’s trophy for “Star Entertainer of the Year” in 1970.

When touring with a full orchestra, a corps of dancers and backstage personnel became too unwieldy and expensive, Gaynor slimmed down the production, eventually making it a one-woman show. They continued touring every year until 2002 when Bean’s illness required a hiatus.

“I love touring; I’ve been doing it much of my life,” Gaynor said in a 2003 interview. “We go back to the same places; it’s like visiting friends. After the show, people come backstage to the dressing room, and we renew friendships. We send out almost 3,000 Christmas cards every year.”

Born Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber (Mitzi is diminutive for Marlene) in Chicago on Sept. 4, 1931, she was a part of a musically inclined family and started singing and dancing at a young age.

In a 2003 AP interview, Gaynor said she has a clear memory of her stage debut. She had been taking ballet and tap lessons and at age 7 she was scheduled for a tap routine at the dance school recital. She had neglected to use the bathroom, and when she faced the audience, a puddle formed on the stage.

“I ran kicking and screaming off the stage,” she recalls. “But I got huge applause. So I dried off and put some lipstick on. After the next girl did a hula with batons and slipped on the wet floor, I went out and said, ‘I’m OK now. Can I do it?’ And I got cheers!”

Gaynor and Bean married in 1954 and in 1960 bought a spacious house in Beverly Hills that became their home until his death in 2006. They rarely appeared at Hollywood events, preferring to entertain a few close friends. The couple had no children.

“We have a guest who is overindulged in drugs and alcohol and … Well, when he is conscious he breaks, he is breaking the whole room. Well, we need you to send someone, please,” the call from the Casa Sur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires said.

The caller tells the operator that police are needed “urgently” because he was at risk.

“The guest is in a room that has a balcony and, well, we are a little afraid that he might do something life-threatening,” the caller said, according to audio obtained via local media by Telemundo.

The caller — who describes themselves as the head of reception and does not mention Payne by name — says the guest had been there for two or three days.

Sistema de Atencion Medica de Emergencia, the emergency health service, confirmed to Telemundo that Payne fell from the balcony of his third-floor room at the hotel in the city’s Palermo district.

Celebrity News Oct 16

‘Tragic and so young': Celebrities react to former One Direction singer Liam Payne's death

Music & Musicians Oct 16

Liam Payne, former One Direction singer, dies at 31 in Argentina hotel fall

SAME director Alberto Crescenti told Argentine TV station Todo Noticias TV that Payne was found dead a few minutes after the 911 call. When paramedics found him, there was no possibility of resuscitation, he said, adding that Payne appeared to have a fracture at the base of his skull.

Argentina National Prosecutor’s Office said Payne had 25 injuries “compatible with those produced by a fall from height” and that his cause of death was “polytraumatism, internal and external hemorrhage.”

In a statement, the office said that autopsy findings indicate the musician “could have fallen in a state of semi or total unconsciousness.”

A variety of substances were found in Payne’s room, which the prosecutor’s office says would prove alcohol and drug consumption. It added that everything indicates that Payne was alone when he fell.

In a series of Snapchat posts uploaded to Payne’s account on Wednesday, he talked about his time in Argentina, how he had been playing polo and mentioned that his girlfriend was heading back to Florida.

The U.K. Foreign Office said in a statement: “We are in contact with local authorities regarding reports of the death of a British man in Argentina.”

Firefighters were seen removing Payne’s body from the scene early Thursday as fans gathered, Reuters reported.

Representatives for Payne have not responded to NBC News’ request for comment.

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Seinfeld, co-creator and star of his eponymous 1990s sitcom, criticized political correctness in an interview with The New Yorker in April. He suggested it was impeding comedians, who have to worry about offending people.

“You just expected, there’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight,” he said in the interview. “Well, guess what? Where is it? This is the result of the extreme left and PC crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people.”

On Tuesday, Seinfeld expressed regret over his comments and said they are “not true.”

“I don’t think, as I said, ‘the extreme left’ has done anything to inhibit the art of comedy,” Seinfeld said in the podcast. “I’m taking that back officially.”

Representatives for Seinfeld did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Seinfeld added that culture always changes and a comedian’s job is to adjust to it. He said it was “not my business” to like or dislike how popular culture has shifted.

“Whatever the culture is, we make the gate,” Seinfeld said, using a skiing analogy. “You don’t make the gate, you’re out of the game.”

Conservative pundits such as Fox News’ Sean Hannity and YouTube commentator Benny Johnson embraced Seinfeld’s previous remarks.

Elon Musk also shared Seinfeld’s comments at the time, with the caption, “Make comedy legal again!”

The impact of political correctness in comedy has been a hot topic for years. Some comedians have bemoaned the fact that they can’t say certain words or make certain jokes anymore out of fear of offending people. Others, like Seinfeld’s former co-star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, said tolerance in comedy is “not a bad thing.”

“Breaking Bread” host Papa told Seinfeld that it was “refreshing” to hear him say that the shift in culture and young people’s preferences was “not our business.”

Seinfeld said he didn’t realize people were paying attention to him or would care about his comments.

“Comedy is hard — big giant period,” he said.

He also addressed his previous comments about missing “dominant masculinity.” He said people like John F. Kennedy, Muhammad Ali and Sean Connery were people he aspired to when he was younger.

“What I was really saying is I miss big personalities, that’s what I was really saying,” he clarified.

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In a statement to Telemundo, Argentine officials confirmed Liam Payne, died after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires.

Payne rose to fame in 2010 when he formed the band One Direction with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik in an appearance on the TV show “The X Factor.”

Celebrities from the Hollywood and music world have posted tributes to the 31-year-old Payne as word of his death spread through the industry.

“So upsetting to hear the news of @LiamPayne passing,” Paris Hilton posted on X. “Sending love and condolences to his family & loved ones. RIP my friend,” she added.

So upsetting to hear the news of @LiamPayne passing😢 Sending love and condolences to his family & loved ones. 🙏 RIP my friend🥺

— Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton) October 16, 2024

“We’re incredibly sad to learn of the tragic passing of Liam Payne,” BRIT Awards posted on X. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family at this time.”

Throughout his music career, Payne was nominated for three BRIT Awards.

“Liam was always so kind to me,” Charlie Puth, who worked with Payne on his 2017 single “Bedroom Floor,” shared on Instagram. “He was one of the first major artists I got to work with. I can not believe he is gone.”

Music producer Zedd also commented about Payne’s passing on social media.

“RIP Liam,” the DJ shared on X. “Can’t believe this is real… absolutely heartbreaking.”

RIP Liam… I can’t believe this is real…
absolutely heartbreaking … 💔

— Zedd (@Zedd) October 16, 2024

Other “X Factor” alumni have also shared their condolences

“Sending strength to Cheryl and his son Bear ❤️ and all the One direction Family,” John and Edward Grimes from Jedward posted on X.

Sending strength to Cheryl and his son Bear ❤️ and all the One direction Family
RIP @LiamPayne

— JEDWARD (@planetjedward) October 16, 2024

“Extremely sad news. V tragic and so young. RIP Liam x,” tweeted Rylan Clark, another “X Factor UK” contestant.

Both Clark and Jeward were on different seasons to that of Payne’s on the “X Factor UK.”

Drake is feeling way too sexy in his latest pic.

The “Hotline Bling” rapper is no stranger to switching up his hair but certainly raised eyebrows after debuting a new ‘do on social media.

Drake shared a mirror selfie Oct. 15 that sees him rocking a double denim outfit — a nod to his Canadian roots — that he layered with an oversized vintage football jacket. Completing his look, the 37-year-old rocked a fresh pair of all-white Air Force Ones. However, it was his pigtails that stole the show.

After all the two ponytails were braided at the ends and finished with blue bubble hair barrettes at the end.

Fans quickly took to social media to react Drake’s hair. After the X, formerly Twitter, account Pop Base shared the photo writing, “Drake stuns in new look,” many disagreed.

One person asked, “Why he look like that one girl from Polar Express?” and another stating, “stuns is not the way to describe this.” Many users also posed the question: “Stuns where?”

In recent years, Drake has often switched up his hair. After years of rocking a short cut, the Degrassi alum began wearing his hair in braids. At times, the “Best I Ever Had” singer has sported colorful beads at the ends of his cornrows. In sweet father-son moments, Drake has matched his braids with his 7-year-old son Adonis.

The latest look is a switch up from the hair he was sporting during Adonis’ SpongeBob-themed birthday party. In pics, shared in a series of Oct. 13 Instagram post, Drake sports braids as he poses with the birthday boy — who rocks his blonde curls.

In honor of the celebration Drake captioned one photo carousel that featured a series of pictures of him and Adonis posing in front of a SpongeBob backdrop, “Big Don.”

Drake — who shares Adonis with ex Sophie Brussaux — penned another sweet tribute and shared more pics of his growing boy from his birthday celebration writing, “Baby goat you are different.”

Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

Photos: Celebrity deaths: 2024’s fallen stars

Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

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The tennis legend said the lump presented itself back in May and she immediately went to the doctor to get an MRI, to which the doctors said the removal was optional. 

Williams opted to forgo the operation, but after seeing the mass grow to the size of “a small grapefruit,” her medical team decided it was time to have it taken out in case it were to get “infected or leak” despite continued negative biopsies.

“So this is me removing it,” Williams said on social media. “I am feeling so grateful, and fortunate everything worked out, and most of all I’m healthy.”

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion said she was still able to take her 7-year-old daughter, Olympia, to the American Girl Doll store, and “all is ok.”

While the surgery was a success, Williams expressed disappointment about missing events such as Glamour Magazine’s “Woman of the Year” awards and tennis star Rafael Nadal’s retirement.

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“Health always comes first,” Williams said.

Alexis Ohanian, Williams’ husband, was clearly in agreement, saying, “You’re such a fighter. And such a great mama.”

Williams and Ohanian also have another daughter, Adira, who is 13 months old.

Since annoucing her retirement from tennis in 2022, Williams has been running her capital firm, Serena Ventures, which invests in technology companies led by women and people of color. She also launched her own makeup line, WYN Beauty.

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Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

Photos: Celebrity deaths: 2024’s fallen stars

Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

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Officers responded around 2:45 a.m. and found Lee with gunshot wounds, the Las Vegas Police said in a statement.

He was taken to the hospital, police said. His management said Lee is “fully conscious and doing well” in an intensive care unit and is expected to fully recover.

His injuries were not immediately clear.

No arrests have been made, and the incident is under investigation, police said.

Lee’s management said Las Vegas authorities believe the street shooting was “completely random” and took place when Lee was walking his dog early Tuesday.

Lee and his family have asked the public respect to their privacy, his management said.

Lee spent time performing alongside Ozzy Osbourne in the 1980s and then performed with the heavy metal group Badlands. He formed the band Red Dragon Cartel in 2013.

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The “Boy Meets World” star revealed her diagnosis on an Aug. 19 episode of her podcast, “Pod Meets World,” where she explained that the cancer was considered stage 0, since she caught it “very, very, very early.”

In an Oct. 15 interview, one of her first since revealing her diagnosis, Fishel tells TODAY.com that she has since undergone two lumpectomy surgeries, which she was told successfully removed the cancer.

“There is no evidence of disease, so the surgery was successful and got the cancer out of my body,” Fishel says. “But they call cancer a journey for a reason. It’s not just walk in and have even one procedure and then you’re done.”

Soon, she’ll be starting a hormone therapy pill and will possibly have to undergo radiation. The actor says she’ll have to be “constantly monitored,” with mammograms every three to six months and the potential of annul MRIs.

“I was so lucky that I found my cancer so early because I went and had my annual mammogram on time,” she says. “I was thinking like, ‘Great. I caught it early. I can be done with this soon.’ But there really is no ‘done with it.’ And so that has been an emotional and mental process.”

The results of Fishel’s mammogram earlier this year indicated that she had calcifications that needed further examination, she says. Doctors then took more advanced imagery of the breast tissue, which came back as abnormal. A biopsy two weeks later confirmed the cancer.

Fishel says she was diagnosed with stage 0 ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), found in the milk duct. Her cancer is considered high grade, a more aggressive form. Doctors opted to remove a lymph node during surgery, but they later confirmed the cancer hadn’t spread.

Fishel had no symptoms leading up to her diagnosis in July, and her mammogram last year came back normal. Prior to finding out she had cancer, she would see her doctor every four months for blood work and manual breast exams. “There were no lumps,” Fishel says.

When she was diagnosed, there was only 2 millimeters of cancer, likely too small to be detected manually, Fishel explains.

Since opening up about her health, Fishel has been reminding people to schedule their annual health screenings, in partnership with Aflac. Aflac’s Wellness Matters Survey recently found that 77% of Americans, including 84% of millennials, have put off an important medical appointment.

“When I came forward with my news, friends wrote to me and said, ‘I’ve been putting (my mammogram) off for two years,’ or, ‘I’ve been putting mine off since the pandemic,’ or, ‘My mom’s been putting hers off.’ And multiple friends and friends of friends reached out to me to say, ‘Because of you, I’ve now scheduled my annual mammogram,’” she says.

“I don’t normally think of myself as an influencer, but in my mind, if there’s any sort of best case scenario influence I can have, it would be reminding people that preventative care makes a really big difference in your health outcomes.”

After receiving her diagnosis, Fishel says the hardest person to tell was her husband, Jensen Karp, because both of his parents died from lung cancer.

“He’s only 45, and both of his parents are already gone,” Fishel says. “While we were waiting for the results of my biopsy, he was really very confident it was going to be benign. … So when I got the phone call with the results from the biopsy, my first thought was, ‘How am I going to break this news to him?’”

“I was then a little worried about having to manage his emotions through it when it was my cancer diagnosis. And that’s one of the things that people don’t talk about often.”

Fishel says it was “really hard” to tell her parents, as well, because neither were expecting a cancer diagnosis.

“I looked healthy, I felt healthy. … Last year, I had a mammogram, and everyone knew that mammogram was normal, and so it just wasn’t on anyone in my family’s radar to think that I was going to end up with cancer,” she says.

When it came to her two children, Adler, 5, and Keaton, 3, Fishel says she hasn’t told them about the cancer. Instead, she shared that she was having surgery and would have a “boo boo” afterwards. “And it means … I’m not going to be able to wrestle with you or pick you up or swing you around, and you’re going to have to hug me a little gently,’” she says of the conversation with her kids. “Both my kids were amazing and totally understood.”

After opening up about her diagnosis on the podcast and social media, Fishel has received hundreds of emails from coworkers and fans showing support, along with personal messages from survivors.

“No one wants to hear that they have cancer. But what I will say is, if you are ever in the shoes where you have to hear that news, boy, the cancer community is sure one of the warmest, just most loving, embracing community,” Fishel adds.

Fishel says she’s been able to stay grounded through this experience from her strong support system of family, friends and her kids’ nanny, along with the ability to continue working as a director.

She explains that a main reason she chose to have a lumpectomy as opposed to a double mastectomy is because the initial surgery option allowed for a quicker recovery.

“I got my diagnosis on July 22, and I started meeting with doctors that last week of July, and was like, ‘How can I still be at work on (Aug. 21)? I’ve worked many years to get this opportunity to direct these five episodes of ‘Lopez vs. Lopez’ that start on (Aug. 21). I want to get back to my normal life as quickly as possible. How do I do that?’”

Fishel adds that she didn’t have any genetic markers that would make her a candidate for an immediate double mastectomy, which also played a role in her decision.

She says that staying busy with work, focusing on people outside of herself, like her kids, and encouraging people to get their annual health exams has been “so good for my mindset.”

“Truthfully, being able to stay busy was was the best thing I could have possibly done for myself,” Fishel says. “The support network of people that I had, the amount of people who sent my family food, who sent us care packages, who know how much I like sweets, and sent me cookies, every single one of those helped me stay very grounded and very present and very grateful.”

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Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

Photos: Celebrity deaths: 2024’s fallen stars

Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

Photos: Celebrity deaths: 2024’s fallen stars

Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

The internet is no safe haven for Nicholas Sparks’ chicken salad recipe.

The bestselling author behind “The Notebook,” “A Walk to Remember,”‘ “The Last Song” and “Dear John” — all of which were later adapted into feature films — shared his personal spin on the culinary classic, which typically includes a combination of chicken, mayonnaise and various fruits and vegetables.

While Sparks’ variation included notable customizations like jalapeños and cayenne pepper, he also revealed that his recipe called for one particularly eye-catching ingredient: 16 packets of Splenda sweetener, equivalent to 2/3 cup of sugar.

“You can use real sugar,” the romance novelist told the New York Times in a profile published Sept. 24, “but why throw sugar in if you can use Splenda?”

The low-carb modification quickly sparked a wave of strong reactions on social media, ranging from intrigued to bewildered. One X (formerly Twitter) user wrote, “Some recipes really leave you questioning everything about a person.”

“As a true chicken salad connoisseur,” another wrote, “this is sociopathy.”

While another user called the amount of Splenda in the recipe “wild,” they were more concerned with the logistics of using individual packets to prepare the dish.

“At that point why are you still using individual packets of Splenda?” the user wondered. “Invest in a full box! Nicholas Sparks is wasting so much time fiddling around ripping each packet open!”

Sparks, 58, eventually caught wind of the social media reaction to his recipe and posted a video response to the “hubbub” on Instagram Sept. 27. In the video, the author stood by his controversial recipe, pointing out that the sweetener makes up for his use of a sugar-free mayonnaise.

“Why put sugar in stuff if you don’t need it?” he wondered. “The depth of flavor in this chicken salad is truly out of this world.”

He added, “All those who are picking on my Splenda-sweetened chicken salad, you’re missing out.”

During the Oct. 12 episode of “SNL,” which was hosted by Ariana Grande with musical guest Stevie Nicks, the show poked fun at the recent Oasis reunion. After years of feuding, brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher announced in August that they are getting the band back together for a series of shows next year. So in the latest “Weekend Update” segment, comedians Sarah Sherman and James Austin Johnson pretended to be the brothers and commented on their unexpected reconciliation. 

Sherman and Johnson both used exaggerated British accents as they elbowed each other and exchanged digs. “He’s being naughty, Colin!” Sherman, who played Liam Gallagher, told Colin Jost before sticking her tongue out at Johnson. 

The brothers then said that the only topics they can agree on are related to cartoons. They deemed certain characters from “SpongeBob Squarepants,” “The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Rugrats” as “legends.”

The truce didn’t last for long as they began playfully shoving and poking each other before arguing again. 

When they settled down, Jost said, “Guys, listen, I really need your tour to work out, OK? Because I already bought tickets and I’m about to mosh out so hard that I win ‘white boy of the year’ award.”

“Liam and Noel Gallagher” handed out a few more “legend” statuses to other characters and films before the segment ended. 

While the skit received plenty of laughs from the live audience, there was at least one person who wasn’t chuckling along: Liam Gallagher. 

When one fan retweeted the sketch on X and asked Liam Gallagher if he had seen it, the musician sarcastically replied, “Are they meant to be comedians.”

But his reaction didn’t discourage Sherman who retweeted Liam Gallagher and responded, “LEGEND !!!!!!!!” with a raising hands emoji. 

Liam Gallagher, who frequently replies to fans on X, wasn’t done criticizing the skit. When another fan asked how he felt about the portrayal, he tweeted, “Excruciating.”

A third suggested that they could do a better impersonation and he wrote, “Same.”

Another said that the brothers were funnier than the show implied and Liam Gallagher replied, “EXACTLY.” 

Although the Brit didn’t seem to think the imitation was accurate, the two brothers did have a public fallout that lasted for years following Oasis’ breakup in August 2009. On Aug. 25, Liam and Noel Gallagher surprised fans when they teased a reunion by sharing a graphic on Instagram. 

Two days later, the band released show dates and ticket sale information on social media for their U.K. and Ireland tour in 2025. 

In September, they announced that the tour will extend to North America. They will play a series of shows in Toronto, Chicago, East Rutherford, New Jersey, Los Angeles and Mexico City starting in August 2025. Most recently, they announced dates in Australia.

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Several songs from the group were featured in the Netflix series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” last month, bringing nostalgia to those who listened to Milli Vanilli in the 1980s and 1990s, while also catapulting the duo to a new audience who has never heard them before.

“I watched the first episode, and it was like, wow, from the get-go, the music is in there, you know. And it took me back,” Morvan said in an Oct. 14 interview on TODAY.

Overall streams for Milli Vanilli’s entire catalog has increased 114% since the release of the series, according to Billboard. Three of the group’s songs are highlighted in moments of the show, including a prominent scene where Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch, portraying Lyle and Erik Menendez, respectively, sing “Blame It on the Rain” in a car.

Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of killing their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, with shotguns on a summer night in 1989. The events leading up to and the aftermath of the murders are depicted in the new Netflix series.

Streams of “Blame It on the Rain” increased 68% in the four-day period following the series premiere on Netflix on Sept. 19, according to Billboard.

Another prominent scene in the first episode of the series is at the memorial service for Jose Menendez, where the brothers arrive in a stretch limousine and Lyle Menendez gives a lengthy eulogy for this father, while showing little to no emotion about his death.

In the series, Lyle Menendez ends his speech by playing the Milli Vanilli song, “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You,” to questionable looks from attendees of the memorial service.

Journalist Robert Rand wrote in his book “The Menendez Murders” that the Milli Vanilli track was in fact played toward the end of the service.

Streams of “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” jumped 258% in the four-day period following the release of the series, according to Billboard. The other Milli Vanilli track played in the episode, “Girl You Know It’s True,” increased by 32.5% over the same period.

And the songs have continued to chart since — “Blame It on the Rain” debuted at No. 34 on the Billboard TikTok Top 50 chart for the week of Oct. 12, and “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” came in just behind at No. 37.

“I’m so excited that those songs (are), like, getting more attention,” Morvan said. 

Milli Vanilli’s renewed success has put a spotlight on the group, which rose to fame with the release of their debut record, “Girl You Know It’s True,” in the U.S. in 1989, which went on to be six-time platinum certified by the RIAA.

The band’s popularity led them to win the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1990, though the band returned the award nine months later due to a lip-syncing scandal.

During a performance broadcast on MTV, Morvan and Pilatus rushed off stage while the recording of “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” malfunctioned. The group eventually admitted they never sang a note on their debut record, according to Biography.

“People were brutal,” Morvan said on TODAY. “We had no we had no understanding of the industry. You know, we just fell into the trap.”

Milli Vanilli’s other member Pilatus died in 1998 of a suspected drug overdose, reported the Associated Press.

Morvan reflected on Milli Vanilli’s history as the group finds newfound success with younger generations.

“I know what Milli Vanilli did, and still does. It makes people feel, it makes people smile,” Morvan said.

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Zelig Williams, 28, was staying with his mother in his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, since the summer and had been hosting specialized dance workshops. Kathy Williams last saw her son on the morning of Oct. 3 and everything seemed normal when he left, her cousin Mieoki Corbett Jacobs told NBC News.

Later that day, one of her son’s friends living in New York City reached out to say they received an SOS alert on their phone on Oct. 3 indicating the dancer had been in a car crash.

Police found his car overnight in the early hours of Oct. 5 parked in a lot for the Palmetto Trail, near Wateree, South Carolina, with no signs of a crash, Corbett Jacobs said.

Zelig Williams’ family, friends and community are holding on to faith that God is with him, she added.

“It is very, very difficult,” Corbett Jacobs said. “It is a struggle, but they are holding close to the belief that Zelig will return home.”

His mother asked anyone with information to reach out to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. She also warned that her son requires medication and could be in a very vulnerable state when he is found.

“And please keep sharing on social media … and don’t just like it,” Kathy Williams said. “Share it far and wide, share it with all the people that they know, because it will spread even more.”

The Richland County Sheriff’s Department and the Columbia Police Department did not immediately respond to request for comments.

The 28-year-old has starred in a two critically acclaimed musicals, including “MJ: The Musical,” and traveled with Hugh Jackman on the actor’s tour, “The Man. The Music. The Show.” Jackman posted about Zelig Williams to his Instagram stories over the weekend.

“Please … if anyone has any information as to the whereabouts of ZELIG WILLIAMS, please reach out to your local authorities,” Jackman wrote over a photo of the dancer. “ZELIG, we love you and are praying for your safe return.”

Caroline Lewis Jones met Zelig Williams when he was just 11 years old. She was one of his first dance teachers and has worked with him as part of her nonprofit dance company in recent years. He was one of the reasons she fell in love with teaching, Jones said.

Of the thousands of students she has taught over the years, Jones said, Williams was one of the most special dancers she’s worked with.

“Zelig, when he walks into a room, you just want to be with him. … He makes you want to be better,” Jones said.

She described him as kind, compassionate and vibrant. As a dancer, Jones said, he was hardworking and determined.

He’s the type of person to care about everyone who was in a space with him, Jones said, and when you dance with Williams you are inspired to push yourself to be better.

Two of Williams’ sisters died in a car crash years ago, a tragedy that was part of his drive to dance and create choreography, she added.

“Dance was his voice, for sure, and how he expressed himself best,” Jones said.

Jones was with him while he hosted some of his recent workshops, saying he really wanted to help share the ins and outs of Broadway auditioning with students. One of the first times she saw him teach kids for her company, Jones said she began to cry just seeing the “light in his eyes.”

“He was born, not only born to perform, but he’s definitely born to teach,” Jones said.

This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:

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It’s over between “The Bachelorette” alum Jason Tartick and Kat Stickler.

The two announced Oct. 12 that they had broken up, several months after they began dating.

“I am sad to share that Kat and I are no longer together,” Tartick wrote on his Instagram Stories. “It’s fair to say that I love hard with all my heart and fall fast. Sometimes in life, that works out and other times it doesn’t. This time, it didn’t.”

The 35-year-old continued, “Kat has brought me so much happiness and light, she brought out parts of me I never knew existed. I will forever be grateful for her and of course, sweet MK.”

Stickler shares daughter Mary-Katherine, nicknamed MK, with ex-husband Mike Stickler.

“This chapter closes amicably, and another opens,” Tartick continued. “I’ll be rooting for her happiness and I am also rooting for mine.”

On her own Instagram Stories, Stickler addressed the breakup in a video.

“With two back-to-back hurricanes, I obviously didn’t think it was the right time to talk about my personal life,” the influencer said, referencing Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and Hurricane Milton in Florida. “But a lot of you have already asked and yes, Jason and I have broken up.”

The 29-year-old echoed Tartick when she said their split was “amicable.”

“It just didn’t work,” she said. “It’s not love wasted. I feel like sometimes, it’s so easy to think when a relationship ends that the love was wasted but love is never wasted.”

Stickler, who competed for Becca Kufrin’s final rose on season 14 of “The Bachelorette” in 2018, and Stickler first sparked dating rumors in Aprii. They made their romance Instagram official in June, sharing pics of him wrapping his arms around her and giving her a kiss on the cheek. She captioned the photos, “Heart is full.”

Tartick and Stickler began spending time together less than a year after he and “The Bachelorette” season 11 star Kaitlyn Bristowe ended their engagement after a four-year relationship.

The former fiancés recently ran into each other at the 2024 People’s Choice Country Awards red carpet in September.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve been in the same room, so it’s really not weird,” Stickler exclusively told E! News cohost Keltie Knight at the event. “Maybe six months ago, my heart would have been in my butt — but we’re chilling.”

The 39-year-old continued, “At this point in my life, I just want everybody to happy. I’m in a good place.”

“I hope we get to do this til we’re 90. Happy Birthday, @thehughjackman. A lot of years. A lot of adventures,” Reynolds captioned a carousel of pics of the “Deadpool & Wolverine” co-stars Oct. 12 on Instagram.

The photos included several shots of the two actors posing and laughing together over the years.

The surprisingly touching tone of Reynolds’ tribute is a far cry from how he has teased Jackman — and vice versa — on special occasions in years past.

Reynolds and Jackman, who first met on the set of the 2009 movie “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” have made fans laugh with their fictional rivalry for years.

In December 2016 Instagram video, Jackman held a cutout of Reynolds’ face over his own while pretending to be the Canadian actor.

“How could a guy who failed his high school drama class be this talented?” Jackman-as-Reynolds said. “I have no answer for that. But to quote my favorite actor in the world, the great Australian Hugh Jackman, who, by the way, was People’s Sexiest Man Alive way before me, ‘Americans are the most generous country on the planet.’”

In 2021, Reynolds celebrated Jackman’s birthday by wearing a pair of socks adorned with an image of Jackson’s face. Reynolds unveiled the socks in a TikTok set to the tune of “A Million Dreams,” one of the songs Jackman sings in “The Greatest Showman.”

In his caption, he wrote, “Socks to be Hugh.”

Jackman responded to Reynolds’ TikTok in an Instagram video, where he implied that Reynolds was obsessed with him and had made the socks himself.

“I know, it’s just really sad,” said Jackman.

Jackman poked fun at Reynolds again in January 2023 when he jokingly begged the Academy not to nominate Reynolds for best original song for “Good Afternoon” from his holiday movie “Spirited.”

In the video, Jackman first expressed his admiration for the film’s stars, including Will Ferrell and Octavia Spencer, and its composers, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, with whom he worked on “The Greatest Showman,” before explaining how an Oscar nod for Reynolds would only make his ego bigger.

“Ryan Reynolds getting a nomination in the best song category would make the next year of my life insufferable,” said Jackman, who was set to film 2024’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” with Reynolds.

“I have to spend a year with him shooting ‘Wolverine and Deadpool’ and trust me, it would be impossible. It would be a problem,” added Jackman.

“So, just to recap. Love ‘Spirited.’ Love Will. Love Octavia. Love the song ‘Good Afternoon.’ Love Benj and Justin. But please, please, from the bottom of my heart, do not validate Ryan Reynolds in this way. Please,” he added.

Reynolds responded by joking in a tweet that the Oscar nomination wouldn’t really be for him and Will Ferrell — it would be for the “deepfakes” that sang and danced for the pair.

He also took a dig at Jackman for slyly referring to “Deadpool 3” as “Wolverine and Deadpool,” reversing the order of their characters’ names.

“Also, Wolverine and Deadpool, bub?” he wrote.

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Hollywood is mourning the death of a beloved Baywatch alum. 

Michael Newman — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 — died from heart complications on Oct. 20 while “surrounded by his family and friends,” his friend Matthew Felker told People. The actor was 68.

“Few of us are lucky enough to have someone like Mike Newman enter and change their life,” Felker wrote on Instagram Oct. 21 alongside videos of the two. He explained the two met five years ago when Felker was beginning work as the director of the “Baywatch” documentary miniseries, After “Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.” “Mike was able to see the series come to fruition.”

According to Felker, Newman — who played the character Newmie on the show from 1989 to 2000 — “was not only a real life hero. He was a competitor through and through.”

“I got to see Mike before he passed away,” Felker wrote. “He was unconscious mostly… when I showed up he was awake almost like a miracle and looked at me and said ‘you’re just in time’ and laughed. That was Mike. He found humor all the way until the end.”

Felker added that right before he left the room, Newman “grabbed my hand as tight as he could and looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded, I nodded and said. ‘We will see each other again.. I promise.'”

Newman was the only member of the “Baywatch” cast who had actually worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. He was also a firefighter for L.A. County during the run of the series, and continued as a full time firefighter after the show ended.

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Before his death, Newman had been candid about how his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 50 made him reevaluate his life.

“This terminal disease has allowed me a lot of thinking time, which I maybe didn’t want, but it’s brought me wisdom,” he told People in August. “My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson’s has now become the center of my life.”

He added, “I am cherishing the days that I get to be on this earth with family and friends. I’m taking life seriously. It’s not a run-through.”

Newman is survived by his wife Sarah and their children Chris and Emily.

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In her 20s, Garten worked in the White House for Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter writing policies for the nuclear energy budget. 

At first, she loved the job. In her new memoir, “Be Ready When the Luck Happens,” Garten, 76, reveals that her work was close to the president and that the projects she worked on amounted to $50 billion in value.

But despite the prestige, Garten soon grew restless. “I was withering a little more each day,” she writes. The slow pace of government work and limited creative freedom left her wanting more. 

She realized her future at the Office of Management and Budget depended on others — mainly men — choosing her for leadership roles.

 “In 1978, that would never happen,” she writes. “I needed to find an alternate track where my success was measured by my own business skill and nobody could stand in my way.”

Garten had no idea that her next chapter was waiting 300 miles away — in a tiny 400-square-foot food shop in Long Island, New York. 

One April morning in 1978, Garten, then 30, was reading the New York Times in her office when an advertisement caught her eye.

It was for the Barefoot Contessa, a specialty food store in the Hamptons that promised to bring in “over six figures in the summer alone.” The owner was selling it for $25,000.

Garten thought she might be happier working in the food business over politics, as cooking was her passion. 

She spent evenings poring over Julia Child’s cookbooks, testing out complicated recipes, and weekends hosting dinner parties at her apartment for friends. 

Compared to her stifling government job, Garten thought the food business could offer a greater sense of freedom and creativity. Plus, she recalls, her “low threshold for boredom” meant that she was willing to take “crazy risks just to get out of that miserable state.”

The following weekend, Garten and her husband Jeffrey drove out to New York and bought the shop for $20,000. 

“It sounded a little crazy, but I was out of my mind with excitement,” she writes. “I didn’t know if it would be the best decision or the worst mistake I ever made.”

The secret ingredient for a successful career change

Success didn’t come instantly. On the first day of running the store, she and Jeffrey earned just $87 before expenses. “We thought it was a disaster,” she remembers. Garten had no experience running a food business, but she quickly learned one key lesson as a new entrepreneur: flexibility is crucial.

She worked 20-hour days most weekends restocking shelves, running last-minute errands, and experimenting with new menu items based on customer feedback. She wasn’t discouraged when things didn’t sell — she adapted, asked her team of teenage employees what the locals liked, and kept tweaking her offerings.

By the end of that first summer, the line was out the door.

In 1996, after 18 years of serving customers in the Hamptons, Garten sold the shop to her chef and manager. 

“It seemed insane to walk away from the success of Barefoot Contessa, but I was pretty miserable and couldn’t see another way,” she writes. 

She added: “I felt that I wasn’t doing anything new, and I certainly wasn’t bringing any creativity to my work. I knew the business would suffer if I continued running on autopilot.”

Once again, Garten knew it was time to switch things up in her career. She took over an office above the store and decided to try her hand at writing a cookbook to document the story of Barefoot Contessa and some of her most popular recipes. 

In 1999, at age 51, Garten published her bestseller, “The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook,” catapulting her career. By 2002, she published two more cookbooks and started filming her Food Network show, Barefoot Contessa, cementing her status as a star chef.

The secret to making a successful career change, Garten previously told CNBC Make It, is to not hold back or hesitate too long — just do it.

“I think that people stand on the side of the pond trying to figure out what the pond’s going to be like,” she said. “You’ve just got to jump in and just be brave and make a change.”

Want to earn more money at work? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Negotiate a Higher Salary. Expert instructors will teach you the skills you need to get a bigger paycheck, including how to prepare and build your confidence, what to do and say, and how to craft a counteroffer. Pre-register now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 50% off through Nov. 26, 2024.

During the Oct. 11 episode of her podcast, “Just A Little Shady,” the 28-year-old and her husband, Evan McClintock, recalled revealing the baby’s gender to Eminem. Mathers shared how she made sure to be careful while sharing the news with her father.

“We got my dad a jersey that said grandpa on the back, and it worked out perfectly,” she explained adding that at first he was a bit confused by the news.

“He was first concerned, because he’s like, ‘Well, I didn’t get you a gift,'” she explained. “And freaked out for a couple minutes. He’s like, ‘We’re supposed to get each other gifts?’ I’m like, ‘No, no, it’s just for the football season.'”

Then when it came time to unwrap his present, the rapper became confused again. According to Mathers, when he saw the word “grandpa” he thought he was being called old. It wasn’t until he was handed an ultrasound picture that the entire thing came together.

“I pulled out the ultrasound picture, and he was like, ‘Wait, this is real. Like, this is happening.”

The couple went onto reveal the gender of their baby during the podcast episode by popping a gold balloon during the podcast.

“It’s a boy!” Mathers said after the blue confetti rained down from the balloon.

The video of Eminem receiving the grandpa jersey was featured earlier this month in the rapper’s new music video, “Temporary.”

Mathers and McClintock married in May of this past year.

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