Earlier this morning, Beyonce revealed her favorite new TV show to TODAY’s Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb. Get your fists pumping, cuz Bey Bey finds MTV’s “Jersey Shore” hilarious. She also talks about how she stays grounded with help from her family and her husband and then jokes around about her figure looking similar to her new perfume bottle (she says both are heavy on the bottom)!
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In the next edition of Page Six Magazine, free inside the New York Post on February 11, fashion icon Diane Von Furstenberg speaks out about her unusual family, the “sexting” scandal that rocked her close-knit brood last summer, and why she sees future daughter-in-law Ali Kay as the face of her brand in spite of it all.
On son Alex’s reaction to his fiancée, Ali Kay, being involved in the society scandal of last summer after Ali allegedly was caught “sext-ing” with former NBA Basketball star, Reggie Miller:
“[The incident was] devastating to Alex. I want to make peace with all of that. My son was jealous. She was naïve. The truth is that, at the end, they’re madly in love with each other. It made them realize how much they care for each other. In the end, we are an unusually close family.”
On when her son, Alex and fiancée, Ali Kay, plan to get married as they begin their third year of engagement:
“Commitment and marriage are two different things. I’ve never seen a couple that are so right for each other as Ali and Alex, but I’m not a big wedding planner or marriage person. Weddings make me nervous.”
On proceeding with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign that introduced her future daughter-in-law as the face of the Diane von Furstenberg brand:
“In a lot of ways, I see A.K. (Ali Kay) in me. I also had a very attractive prince—a good-looking man that every woman wanted. I identify with her—the way she looks, the way she is with a very attractive man at a young age and tries to keep up with him. She’s unsophisticated and very pretty and was thrown into a world the way I was thrown into a world like that.”
On perceptions of her family and maintaining closeness with exes:
“It may look odd from the outside, but it’s not. Everyone is always good together and that comes from me. I divorced one husband, and then I was with Barry, but we always spent Christmas all together. There’s never been any animosity, and that’s the way I raised my kids. We may all look wild, but everyone has a very suburban, normal life. It’s not very glamorous, although each character in our family is glamorous.”
On the future of her business:
“My business is a family business. I hope my grandchildren will take over. I’ll keep it going for them. They can start interning soon. It’s in their genes. They’re already interested in fashion.”
On today’s edition of ‘The Martha Stewart Show’ media mogul Russell Simmons got ready for Fashion Week with Martha on her very own runway to showcase some of the latest looks from his clothing lines Argyle Culture and American Classics. They also got a chance to catch up on Russell’s Twitter activity and his newest grapefruit extract beauty line created with his ex-girlfriend and Sports Illustrated supermodel, Julie Henderson.
Russell on the Dalai Lama’s Twitter followers:
M: So you’re a big Tweeter?
R: I do Tweet, but mostly not like, “I’m going to the bathroom now”, mostly it’s like prayer.
M: Prayer? Okay, so you’re giving people something to think about?
R: All the time…
M: I announced the other day actually that I want to get to my 2 millionth follower. Are you close to 2 million yet?
R: No – I’m not close to 2 million, but you know what’s funny? I noticed that Ashton Kutcher has over 3 million.
M: Yeah, and he has Tweeted about 44 million times to get that 3 million.
R: This is true. But I’ve noticed that the Dalai Lama had 25,000 [followers]. You can follow his “Holiness”…I mean you can follow Ashton too, but his “Holiness” needs followers.
Russell on his ex-girlfriend and their new grapefruit product:
R: I’m a grapefruit expert.
M: Oh, are you?
R: Yeah.
M: Oh yeah, I think you told me your ex-girlfriend [Julie Henderson] was a grapefruit heiress?
R: Yeah.
M: How did you let her go Russell?
R: (laughs) Anyway, she and I are still developing a business that involves grapefruits. So it’s kind of funny.
M: Are you using the extract of grapefruit, the skin?
R: Yes, the extract. Her family had the Henderson grapefruit.
M: Oh, from the pits?
R: I was hopeful today that she would be on the cover of Sports Illustrated but I think Brooklyn Decker is, with the announcement.
M: Oh my gosh, but I’m sure she’s one of them inside?
R: I’m sure she is.
M: And you had to let her go – for heavens sake!
R: Well, anyways, we are developing a grapefruit formula for the face. And it’s going to come out soon.
M: Well good.
R: It’s a renewal formula like the acids and the peel.
M: I totally believe in that and I love grapefruit. I think it’s one of the best fruits. What do you think? It’s sweet right?…
R: Umm, yea. I told you I’m an expert on grapefruits.
Jamie Foxx wanted to entertain a group of musically inclined high school students with a few bars from his Grammy winning hit, “Blame It.”
But since the song is an ode to the effects of alcohol, he changed the lyrics to “Blame it on the a-a-a-apple juice.” The kids roared.
“I changed it so you guys could sing it,” he joked.
Students from four high schools gathered Tuesday at Walt Disney Concert Hall, where Foxx helped present new violins, flutes, French horns, trumpets and drums valued at $500,000 to students from 16 schools nationwide.
The instruments are part of the Fidelity FutureStage program, an effort by the investment firm to enrich arts education in public schools.
Founded in 2006, the program provides instruments, specialized training by professional musicians, and a chance for aspiring artists to perform with renowned orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Boston Pops.
Foxx told students he began as a classical pianist and eventually won a scholarship to study the instrument in college.
“That allowed me to come to L.A. and work on my craft,” he said. “Then I went into acting and comedy, and then it was Ray Charles …”
Foxx, 42, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Charles in “Ray,” got the crowd fired up and had them chanting “mu-sic, mu-sic” before students came on stage to accept shiny new saxophones, clarinets and other instruments.
“This is way better than our old stuff,” one student said.
Dominic Monaghan hosted the program, which was simulcast in Boston, Houston, Chicago and Los Angeles. Students in all four cities performed and received donated instruments.
After the program, Foxx praised Fidelity for stepping in where public funding had failed. He also encouraged other companies to participate.
“Even if a kid is not going to be the greatest musician in the world, just the fact that you gave him something, the fact that you said, ‘hey, I care about you,’ that’s what it’s about,” Foxx said.
After rap star Lil Wayne spent months bidding farewell to his fans and his freedom, what loomed for him Tuesday was a dental chair, not a house of detention.
His sentencing in a weapons case was postponed so he could have dental surgery before going to jail.
Lil Wayne, one of music’s biggest sellers and rap’s hottest stars, is now due to be sentenced on March 2. His plea deal calls for a one-year term in a city jail, though good behavior could shave that to about eight months.
The rapper – who once told TV interviewer Jimmy Kimmel that his jewel-encrusted teeth had cost him $150,000 – said nothing at a brief court session. He left in a black SUV, flanked by fellow rapper Birdman and others.
Defense lawyer Stacey Richman said Lil Wayne was headed home to Miami for dental work Friday. She declined to specify his malady.
“It is a medical situation that, like (it would for) any of us, has to be addressed,” she said outside court.
She said the rapper had planned to take care of it before Tuesday but his dentist had been out of the country doing charitable work.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon didn’t fight the rapper’s request to push back his sentencing, saying she had spoken to the dentist.
Lil Wayne, 27, pleaded guilty in October to a charge of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, admitting he illegally had a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun on his tour bus in July 2007. Police found the weapon when they stopped the bus after a Manhattan concert.
The sentence comes at the peak of the rapper’s career, which netted him the best-selling album of 2008, “Tha Carter III,” a nod to his real name, Dwayne Carter.
He reinforced his place in rap’s pantheon with a commanding performance at the Grammy Awards ceremony Jan. 31. His latest album, “Rebirth,” was released two days later and was the top-selling album on iTunes last week.
He has been publicly girding for his incarceration with a series of goodbyes, including what he called a farewell tour in recent months and a recent Rolling Stone cover story in which he said he considered jail “an experience that I need to have if God’s putting me through it.”
He issued what appeared to be a final shout-out to fans in an online video hours before his court appearance Tuesday, imploring them: “Do not forget about me.”
Meanwhile, he was preparing himself privately for jail, his lawyer said.
“He’s a strong man,” she said.
The sentence, whenever it starts, won’t mark the end of Lil Wayne’s legal woes.
He’s set to go on trial March 30 on felony drug possession and weapons charges in Yuma County, Ariz. That case stems from his January 2008 arrest at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint, where authorities said they found cocaine, Ecstasy and a handgun on his tour bus.
There’s no bloody glove this time, no smoking gun, no faded music icon showing up in court wearing a wig that made it look like he plugged his finger into an electrical socket.
There’s not even a celebrity for that matter – the person on trial is a doctor no one had heard of eight months ago.
Still, the case of the People vs. Michael Jackson’s doctor has already taken on all the trappings of a full-blown Los Angeles celebrity trial, complete with a scrum of paparazzi and news photographers staking out the accused’s residence and chasing him everywhere he goes. The mere rumor that he would be arrested or surrender sent an army of news photographers from all over the world rushing to a courthouse.
So it seems certain that Conrad Murray will join the ranks of O.J. Simpson, Robert Blake and Phil Spector in the pantheon of Los Angeles celebrity defendants, even if he’s an obscure Texas cardiologist in a case of medical negligence.
“There are no surprises here. We know how the guy died, we know who allegedly gave it to him. But lacking surprises, it’s Michael Jackson. The news shows can play endless loops of Michael Jackson singing. Maybe his children will come into the courtroom, and what a day that would be,” says Judy Muller, who shared in an Emmy for ABC’s coverage of the ultimate celebrity trial, the one that ended with O.J. Simpson being acquitted of murder in 1995.
“I hate to be cynical but I’ve been here long enough to know how this will play,” added Muller. “It’s Michael Jackson and it’s a celebrity trial, even if it’s a dead celebrity, and particularly in Los Angeles it’s what we’re known for.”
Not that a trial involving a dead celebrity, even one as revered as Jackson was, is completely unprecedented. In 1981 a Tennessee jury found Dr. George Nichopoulos not guilty of negligently prescribing drugs to Elvis Presley, whose body contained 14 different stimulants and depressants when he died in 1977.
But, relatively speaking, nobody paid much attention to that.
“That was another age, a much more innocent time,” says Los Angeles media consultant Jonathan Taplin. “You didn’t have a 24-7 media machine that feeds on celebrity, that feeds on raising up celebrities and then bringing them down.”
It also occurred outside of Los Angeles, a media hotbed for sensational celebrity trial coverage since an August night in 1969 when a band of Charles Manson’s social misfits broke into Sharon Tate’s home and stabbed the actress and her friends to death.
Since then there have been the trials of actor Blake, acquitted of shooting his wife to death after taking her to dinner at his favorite Italian restaurant; of pioneering pop music producer Spector, convicted of fatally shooting actress Lana Clarkson after meeting her at a nightclub; and the grandaddy of them all, Simpson’s acquittal of stabbing his ex-wife and her friend to death.
Even Jackson’s own trial in nearby Santa Barbara County in 2005, during which he was acquitted of child-molestation charges, rates high on the celebrity scale, with fans marveling as he danced atop his SUV outside the courthouse one day and showed up in his pajamas on another.
Just how the Jackson doctor trial, in which Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter, will stack up against those depends on some intangibles.
If the judge who hears the case decides to let TV cameras into the courtroom, for example, that will likely ratchet up interest quite a bit.
“We have a somewhat interesting example of that in the Phil Spector case,” said former federal prosecutor Jean Rosenbluth.
Spector was tried twice for murder, his first trial ending with a hung jury.
With cameras allowed into the courtroom, people tuned in to watch as Spector arrived each day in his funny wigs and 1960s-style mod clothes. But when cameras were banned from the second trial interest waned until the verdict came in.
“Michael Jackson is Phil Spector times 2 million,” laughed Rosenbluth, adding the King of Pop’s influence was so great and his death at age 50 so devastating to his worldwide fan base that interest could be huge.
There are already more than a dozen Jackson Facebook fan groups, in several languages, with titles like “I Hate Conrad Murray” and “Arrest Conrad Murray.” On Twitter, the Murray tweets from news organizations and private citizens alike pour forth by the minute.
As big as Jackson was, though, it seems doubtful his doctor’s case can overshadow Simpson’s murder trial.
For one thing, notes critical studies professor Todd Boyd, who has written extensively on pop culture and race relations, there’s no divisive racial issue this time, as there was when Simpson’s lawyers argued he was framed by a racist police officer who planted a bloody glove at his house.
For another, a lot of people thought going into that trial Simpson was guilty. He had had numerous domestic disputes with his ex-wife before she and her friend were violently ambushed outside her home.
Murray on the other hand is accused of accidentally killing Jackson by administering a powerful sedative, which Boyd said likely lessens some of the emotion.
“It’s not as though some person came to take Michael Jackson’s life,” he said. “This is a case where a doctor is simply being charged with malpractice and by extension manslaughter.”
Candice Swanepoel and Erin Heatherton
Brooklyn Decker
Cheryl Burke
Genevieve Morton
