A - And they lived happily ever after
B - Battling a long-term addiction
C - Long battle to recover artist’s own creations
D - Social media addiction
E - Star sentenced to prison term
F - Stormy relationship
G - Wrong identity
1 Stormy relationship
Spice Girl Mel Brown, also known as Scary Spice or Mel B, has filed for divorce from her husband of 10 years, Stephen Belafonte. Citing irreconcilable differences, the performer filed the papers on Monday March 20 at the Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles. The couple married on June 6, 2007 and the court papers specify the pair separated on December 28, 2016. They have one child together, Madison Brown Belafonte. Belafonte is a film and television producer behind films such as ‘Thank You for Smoking’, and, with his wife, recently invested in Serafina, an Italian restaurant in West Hollywood. No statements from either party have been given regarding the split.
2 Wrong identity
Grammy award-winning hip hop artist Wyclef Jean said he was handcuffed and treated like a criminal when he was briefly detained by law enforcement officers in Los Angeles as they investigated a robbery. In tweets and video of the incident posted on his Instagram and Twitter feed, the Haitianborn former Fugees singer said he appeared to have been the victim of “another case of mistaken identity” and threatened to sue. Jean blamed the Los Angles Police Department for the incident, which occurred around 1 a.m., but in fact it involved sheriff’s deputies, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. The department said Jean was
briefly detained while deputies were looking for a suspect matching the description who had carried out an armed robbery at a gas station in West Hollywood. The singer was placed in handcuffs and released without charge when it was determined he was not the suspect. Jean emigrated to the United States from Haiti at the age of 9, but has maintained his Haitian citizenship. Tuesday’s incident comes amid heightened sensitivity about racial issues and the US justice system following shootings by police of unarmed black people.
3 Social media addiction
Pop star Selena Gomez said she cancelled her world tour last year and went to therapy because she was depressed, anxious and her self-esteem was shot. 24-year-old Gomez, who has more than 113 million Instagram followers, also said in an interview with Vogue magazine that she was freaked out by her social media obsession and no longer has the Instagram app on her phone. “As soon as I became the most followed person on Instagram, I sort of freaked out. It had become so consuming to me. It’s what I woke up to and went to sleep to. I was an addict,” Gomez explained in a cover story of its April edition. The former Disney Channel star and actress made headlines last August when she abruptly quit her “Revival” world tour, saying she needed to take time off to deal with panic attacks and depression. She told Vogue she had entered a treatment program for three months saying: “My self-esteem was shot. I was depressed, anxious. I started to have panic attacks right before getting on stage, or right after leaving the stage. Basically I felt I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t capable. I felt I wasn’t giving my fans anything, and they could see it - which, I think, was a complete distortion.” Gomez said that she also found it hard - as have other young stars like Miley Cyrus and Lindsay Lohan - to shake off her perky “Wizards of Waverly Place” persona from her Disney days. “For a guy there’s a way to rebel that can work for you,” she said. “But for a woman, that can backfire. It’s hard not to be a cliché, the child star gone wrong.”
4 Long battle to recover artist’s own creations
Paul McCartney’s potential hold. The singer has waited decades to reclaim ownership of hundreds of Beatles’ songs and Sony/ATV Music Publishing says he should wait a little longer rather than continue his US lawsuit. In a filing with the US District Court in Manhattan, a lawyer for Sony/ ATV said the publisher had never challenged the validity of McCartney’s notices to terminate its copyright in the songs, starting in October 2018. As a result, McCartney’s lawsuit “impermissibly seeks an advisory opinion on a hypothetical claim” and
should be dismissed for the time being, a lawyer wrote. McCartney was outbid in 1985 for the rights to the songs he created with John Lennon such as “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Yesterday” and “Hey Jude” by pop star Michael Jackson. The rights were rolled a decade later into Sony/ATV, a joint venture with Sony Corp. Jackson’s estate sold its stake in the venture to Sony for $750 million last year. Lawyers for McCartney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
5 Battling a long-term addiction
Hollywood star Ben Affleck says he’s completed treatment for alcohol addiction. The ‘Argo’ director posted on Facebook on Tuesday that the treatment was the first of many steps towards recovery. He also said he wanted to be the best father he could be and thanked his ex-wife Jennifer Garner for her support. The Batman actor wrote I have completed treatment for alcohol addiction; something I’ve dealt with in the past and will continue to confront. The two-time Oscar winner is currently working on upcoming film The Batman, in which he stars as the caped crusader himself.
KEY:
1F 2G 3D 4C 5B
