Category: BUSINESS

“I first need to apologize for my uncertainty these last few weeks,” Anderson, 57, opened her speech before referencing her father Barry’s health. “My father was undergoing cancer surgery and I couldn’t have anticipated being here unless all went smoothly and my parents had all they needed. The good news is he’s OK.”

Anderson, who earned nominations at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards for “The Last Showgirl,” received a Muse Award at the New York Women in Film and Television gala in Manhattan. The original list of honorees, which also included “Wicked” actress Marissa Bode and CNN executive vice president Amy Entelis, was announced on March 6. Anderson’s participation in the ceremony was revealed almost a week later.

Anderson went on to thank the kindness of the doctors and nurses at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, adding that the healthcare workers did so, “in a blessed and generous Canadian healthcare system that make them feel safe.” The actress moved back to her hometown of Vancouver Island in 2020.

The festival’s 2025 edition, which will take place in Nashville’s Lower Broadway district from June 5-8, will hold its nighty closing festivities at Nissan Stadium, where a slew of stars is set to hit the stage.

Some of these top acts include Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Luke Bryan, Jordan Davis, Riley Green, Cody Johnson, Ella Langley, Ashley McBryde, Parker McCollum, Megan Moroney, Rascal Flatts, Red Clay Strays, Darius Rucker, Shaboozey, Blake Shelton, Zach Top, Keith Urban and Bailey Zimmerman.

Additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks.

For the first time, this year’s CMA Fest welcomes SoFi as its presenting sponsor, part of a multi-year partnership as the festival’s official bank and financial services partner.

The award-winning and critically acclaimed comedy, which explores the dark mentorship between a legendary stand-up comedian and young, entitled comedy writer, is created by Emmy-award winners Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsk, who also serve as showrunners.

USA TODAY TV critic Kelly Lawler gave the previous season ★★★½, writing: “After a slightly lackluster second season in 2022, which seemed to tie up the story in a bow too soon, creators Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky found the right way to continue the series about an aging comedienne and her young writer.”

“And while so many other shows go dark and depressing, ‘Hacks’ has delightfully chosen joy, and (of course) some insult comedy from [Jean] Smart’s Deborah Vance,” she added.

A trailer for the Western was released Wednesday, teasing a look at Baldwin in the lead role of outlaw Harland Rust.

“Rust” takes place in the 1880s and follows an orphaned boy, played by Patrick Scott McDermott, who is sentenced to hang after he accidentally kills a rancher.

“In a twist of fate, his estranged grandfather,” Baldwin’s Harland Rust, “breaks him out of jail and takes him on the run toward Mexico,” according to the official plot synopsis. “As they flee across the unforgiving wilderness, the fugitive pair must outrun the determined U.S. Marshal Wood Helm (Josh Hopkins) and a ruthless bounty hunter named ‘Preacher’ (Travis Fimmel).”

Marvel unveiled the star-studded cast of “Avengers: Doomsday” during a livestream event on Wednesday, with each actor being revealed one at a time with a glimpse at the back of their director’s chair.

The announcement lasted more than five hours and concluded with Robert Downey Jr., who will play the villainous Doctor Doom in the highly anticipated film, walking out to sit in his chair and make a shushing motion while looking at the camera.

The cast list indicates “Doomsday,” which is now in production and arrives next year, will be an ambitious crossover between Marvel’s “Avengers” franchise and the “X-Men” series, with numerous original “X-Men” stars returning to reprise their roles for the first time in years. But the stacked cast includes actors from virtually every corner of the Marvel world, from the Fantastic Four to the Thunderbolts and everyone in between.

Marvel films typically keep some surprise cameos under wraps, meaning the epic list of stars may not even be complete. Reports previously indicated Captain America actor Chris Evans would be returning for “Doomsday,” but he was absent from the announcement stream. Other Marvel stars notably missing from the list included Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.

When author Jonathan Stanley set up shop at Barnes & Noble to promote his book, “Purposeful Performance: The Secret Mix of Connecting, Leading, and Succeeding,” only 10 or 15 people stopped to chat with him. But when a mom posted the scene to TikTok, readers across the world showed up – over 70 million of them.

“This sweet man is sitting at B&N with a stack of his books he wrote and my heart is breaking everytime someone passes him,” Pennsylvania-based mom and content creator Taylor Dinelli wrote in her video. 

Now, “Purposeful Performance,” which Stanley self-published in August 2024, has skyrocketed to the No. 1 bestseller on Amazon’s Strategic Management section and No. 4 in business overall. 

After small act of kindness, millions show up for author

The catalyst behind the viral video? A four-year-old.

It was Dinelli’s daughter Ella who inspired her to post the video and go up to Stanley’s table to talk. Ella dreams of becoming an author, which she told Stanley when they bought his book and he signed it for her. 

In an interview alongside fiancé Benny Blanco on the popular podcast “On Purpose” with Jay Shetty, Gomez opened up about how public scrutiny of her weight has made her “a tad bitter.”

“The world has become so hard to please,” Gomez told Shetty. “I’m called fake, I’m called insincere … it just doesn’t feel safe and I don’t like being myself sometimes.”

Gomez has been in the public eye since early adolescence, first appearing on “Barney & Friends” at age 10 before graduating to Disney Channel stardom and eventually full-fledged celebrity status. Her relationship and subsequent breakup with fellow teen sensation Justin Bieber further cemented public interest in her life, an interest that has only grown in the years since.

Selena Gomez, fiancé Benny Blanco announce joint album ‘I Said I Love You First’

“Women have it much harder,” Gomez told both Shetty and Blanco, calling the comfortability fans have commenting on female stars’ appearance and romantic relationships “pretty wild.”

BURBANK, Calif. ‒ After a night of “one too many drinks” with “all of our close people,” Juliana Pasquarosa and Grant Ellis are back under the glare of studio lights. And for the first time, they can finally open up about their engagement after Monday night’s finale of ABC’s “The Bachelor.”

As Pasquarosa, 28, has her lipstick touched up by a makeup artist, she and Ellis, 31, show the lighthearted rapport they’d developed while in hiding these past several months to avoid spoiling the outcome of the 29th season. Ellis makes his fiancée laugh with a SpongeBob SquarePants impression, and when the crew is ready to get the cameras rolling on our interview, the two align their body language to present a united front.

Pasquarosa clutches Ellis’ hand on her thigh, her emerald-cut engagement ring glinting in the lights. After a hectic day of interviews, the famished couple is ready for their promised catered lunch but buoyed by their now-public love.

‘Bachelor’ finale recap: Grant Ellis breaks up with Litia, announces he’s moving to Juliana

While secretly engaged since last fall, the two learned a good deal about each other: Being alone off-camera was when “the real relationship building” happened, Pasquarosa says.

She admits it wasn’t easy to sequester again during their “happy couple’s weekends,” where the show’s producers arrange for the lovebirds to privately spend time together while their love story is unfolding on TV.

“It was hard to do the happy couple’s (weekend) in the sense of being locked away and cut off again from your friends and family, but we crushed it,” Pasquarosa says.

Ellis later adds: “We definitely used that as an opportunity to grow. We worked through watching the show, we worked through the kinks and we’re pushing through.”

‘Bachelor’: Who Joey and Kelsey leaned on to help their relationship

Engaged “Bachelor” couple Joey Graziadei and Kelsey Anderson tell USA TODAY’s Ralphie Aversa about navigating challenges in their relationship.

Grant and Juliana have leaned on Joey Graziadei and Joan Vassos for advice

While the couple’s friends and family offered valuable advice for navigating an engagement that most people can’t relate to ‒ which involved Pasquarosa watching her fiancé explore romantic relationships with two dozen other women ‒ “Bachelor” franchise alumni also offered their wisdom.

Last year’s “Bachelor” couple, Joey Graziadei and his fiancée, Kelsey Anderson, are “great people,” Ellis says. “They’ve been supporting us and reaching out.”

Inaugural “Golden Bachelorette” Joan Vassos and her final-rose recipient, Chock Chapple, have also reached out to the couple, Ellis reveals.

‘Goldens’ in paradise: ‘Bachelor’s’ older contestants heading to ‘Bachelor in Paradise’

Pasquarosa believes she “did come in a little naïve, and I’m still trying to figure it out.” So frequent check-ins from Anderson (engaged to Graziadei for 16 months) and messages of support from a couple of her fellow contestants were very welcome.

“I can’t wait to pick Kelsey’s brain about the next steps in life,” Pasquarosa says. “There’s so few people in this world that go through the (‘Bachelor’) process. It’s important to hear them out and understand what works for them.”

Watch: Chock can’t remember ‘Golden Bachelorette’ Joan’s middle name

“Golden Bachelorette” Joan Vassos and Chock Chapple explain to USA TODAY’s Bryan Alexander why they aren’t rushing to wed after the final rose.

Despite a shorter season, Grant thinks ‘six weeks was enough’

If Season 29 felt rushed, that’s because at nine episodes, Grant’s journey was two shorter than the last two “Bachelor” seasons. (Bachelor Nation hasn’t seen a season this short since 2008.)

Ellis confesses that as a typically decisive person, he would’ve liked “a little more time to be able to sit and think things through.” The shorter filming schedule “definitely had an impact” on his experience, but despite having less time to process, he’s resolute in knowing he’d made the right choice.

“I’m happy with my decision,” he says. “And if I had to go back. I’ll pick the same thing a million times over. So I guess six weeks was enough.”

Pasquarosa certainly had enough of the jet-setting and worrying about whether the man she loved would choose her, too. “I don’t think I would have lasted if it was any longer. I was ready to go home,” she says.

That might’ve been in part because she’d “burned to a crisp” during the last leg of their journey in the Dominican Republic. “I was spiraling in the sun and then I just sat there… And then I realized what was happening and I had to be on camera, and I wore a red dress,” she laments.

Ellis was nonetheless smitten. “She wears a tan really well,” he says lovingly.

Juliana will return to work, Grant looks forward to traveling

Pasquarosa secured her job as a client service associate at a Newton, Massachusetts, salon three months before she left to film “The Bachelor.” But her workplace has been “so supportive of me” during her foray into reality TV, she says.

As things settle down, “I plan to go back and stick with them and do the best that I can to provide them a quality employee because that’s the top priority,” she says. “And I like the security of having a job.”

Ellis is proud of the work he’s done in his five years as a day trader ‒ a job that now allows him to “do what I want when I want” ‒ and looks forward to exploring the world with Pasquarosa. And this time, without the constraints of the show, they can travel together.

“We’re going to be everywhere,” he says.

The singer-songwriter announced Wednesday she’s kicking off a world tour this summer in support of her new album “Mayhem.”

The Mayhem Ball tour, set to begin in Las Vegas on July 16, marks Gaga’s first time taking her act on the road since 2022’s Chromatica Ball Tour.

“This is my first arena tour since 2018,” Gaga said in a release announcing the tour. “There’s something electric about a stadium, and I love every moment of those shows. But with The MAYHEM Ball, I wanted to create a different kind of experience — something more intimate — closer, more connected — that lends itself to the live theatrical art I love to create.”

Shop Lady Gaga 2025 concert tickets

Lady Gaga reveals how her fiancé changed her life, music

“Mayhem” marks a return for Gaga to her signature sound. After honing her acting skills with roles in “A Star is Born” and “Joker: Folie a Deux” and experimenting with a softer jazz sound alongside Tony Bennett for the 2021 joint album “Love for Sale,” “Mayhem” offers longtime fans more of the signature club anthems that first made Gaga famous.

Harry co-founded Sentebale in 2006 in honor of his mother, Princess Diana, nine years after she was killed in a Paris car crash. Sentebale means “forget-me-not” in the local language of Lesotho in southern Africa.

Co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, as well as the board of trustees, joined Harry in leaving Sentebale following a leadership dispute with chair Sophie Chandauka, a Zimbabwe-born lawyer who has refused to step down and sued the charity in order to retain her position, according to The Times. Britain’s Charity Commission confirmed to the outlet on Tuesday that an investigation is underway.

“Nearly 20 years ago, we founded Sentebale in honour of our mothers. Sentebale means ‘forget-me-not’ in Sesotho … and it’s what we’ve always promised for the young people we’ve served through this charity,” Harry and Seeiso said in a joint statement obtained by United Kingdom news outlets Sky News and The Times.