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The case, which chronicles just one of a string of accusations made against the celebrated actor, places Depardieu at the heart of France’s broader reckoning over sexual violence.

A towering figure of French cinema, Depardieu, 76, has faced a growing number of sexual assault allegations in recent years. The claims, which come from over 10 women who have worked with the actor in various capacities in the past, date back to the early 2000s and allege a pattern of abuse and misbehavior.

Depardieu has consistently denied any wrongdoing and Monday’s trial represents the first case that has made it to the courtroom.

The “Hunger Games” and “Pitch Perfect” actress and director actually missed work for the first time in her career when the vaccine-preventable illness didn’t clear up quick enough. Shingles is an infection caused by the same virus that leads to chickenpox, the varicella zoster virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the most common symptom is a painful, itchy rash. It rattled the 51-year-old.

“That was a huge wake up call, because I take a lot of pride in staying healthy while I’m working,” she says over a phone call. She got the shingles vaccine after, which is recommended for adults 50 years and older.

That also inspired her to stay up-to-date on other vaccinations, including the pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine, which was recently recommended for adults as young as 50 instead of 65 and older. She’s partnering with Pfizer to get the word out that, compared to 18 to 49-year-olds, those 50 or older have a more than six-times greater risk of contracting pneumococcal pneumonia.

The play, which opened March 23 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, is a formidable showcase for Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, even if the uninspired production around them leaves much to be desired.

The first Broadway revival of William Shakespeare’s tragedy in more than four decades, “Othello” follows a venerated Marine Corps general (Washington) who is driven to jealousy and rage by his conniving junior officer, Iago (Gyllenhaal). Incensed when he is passed over for a promotion, Iago sets out to poison Othello against his virtuous young wife, Desdemona (Molly Osborne), claiming she is having an affair with the handsome lieutenant Cassio (Andrew Burnap).

The cast is uniformly excellent. Osborne painfully conveys Desdemona’s distress and confusion over her husband’s unfounded accusations, while it’s impossible to take your eyes off the tremendous Burnap, who brings pathos and magnetism to the caddish Cassio. Kimber Elayne Sprawl also wows as Iago’s defiant wife Emilia, who becomes increasingly jaded over the ways in which women are oppressed and degraded.

Constructor: Noelle Griskey

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

• ACTS (5A: Performs in “Oh, Mary!”) The answer here was inferable, but the play Oh, Mary! is new to me. Oh, Mary! premiered off-Broadway and has been on Broadway since July of last year. The play is a comedic spoof of the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. According to the show’s website, “Oh, Mary! is a dark comedy about a miserable, suffocated Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.” The play was written by Cole Escola, who also originated the role of Mary.
• JANE’S (55A: ___ Addiction (rock band)) The rock band Jane’s Addiction formed in 1985 in Los Angeles, California. It currently consists of Eric Avery, Dave Navarro, and Stephen Perkins. The band was named in honor of Jane Bainter, who was a housemate of one of the founding members. Fun fact: The band’s first farewell tour (guess it didn’t stick…) in 1991 launched Lollapalooza, a music festival that now takes place in Chicago.

South Carolina college student Freddie McClendon, 19, auditioned with the original song “You Never Loved Him,” about his father’s murder. He said he came to “Idol” to show the world that dad Davis McClendon “was something so much bigger than just the true-crime story of the week.”

“He was our dad; he meant the world to us,” Freddie told the judges about dad Davis, a Greenwood, South Carolina-based marketing director at an assisted living facility and retirement community who was killed at age 46 in May 2023.

The estranged husband of Davis’ girlfriend, Meredith Haynie, struck and killed Davis with his Ford F-250 pickup truck before fleeing the scene. In an October trial, after 22 minutes of deliberation, a jury reportedly found “Bud” Ackerman Jr. guilty and a judge sentenced him to 45 years in jail for McClendon’s murder.

The hit-and-run killing was covered by “48 Hours” earlier this month.

Though he’d been songwriting since he was a high school freshman, it became more than a hobby after his dad’s death; it was a way for him to voice his emotions. In “You Never Loved Him,” Freddie grieves how his family “never got to tell him goodbye” and seems to allude to residual anger he feels about his untimely loss.

In a post to Instagram Sunday, the group released a joint statement hinting at a troubled split with drummer Jeff Arevalo. 

“We have been made aware of behavior in Jeff’s personal life that does not align with the band’s core values,” the statement reads. “As a result, Jeff will no longer be a part of the Goose organization.”

Once a five-man collective fusing psychedelic and funk sounds, the band will now play as a foursome. 

“This is an incredibly unfortunate, unexpected situation, and we did not anticipate having to make another painful change to the band,” the statement continued. Arevalo first stepped back from his role in the band at the start of the year, releasing a statement in February that implied a more temporary hiatus for his own “well-being.”

Six months after Foster filed for divorce, the “Long Day’s Journey into Night” star filed an amended complaint in the former couple’s proceeding on March 18, according to a review of Davidson County Circuit Court records by USA TODAY on Sunday.

Foster, who cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for his breakup with Prepon, accused his estranged wife of “inappropriate marital conduct” in the complaint, according to People magazine and In Touch. In response, Prepon detailed her own allegations of misconduct against Foster in a counter complaint on March 19, court records show.

USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Foster and Prepon for comment.

Foster and Prepon married in 2018 after the pair’s long-term friendship evolved into a romance around 2015. The actors share two children, 7-year-old daughter Ella and a 5-year-old son.

A host of comedians including David Letterman, Adam Sandler, Sarah Silverman and Stephen Colbert celebrated O’Brien for comic greatness while ribbing President Donald Trump, whose takeover of the Kennedy Center has shaken the arts world.

O’Brien himself accepted the honor with a not-so-subtle broadside against the Trump administration.

“Twain hated bullies,” O’Brien said. “He punched up, not down. And he deeply, deeply empathized with the weak.”

For every trendy audition song (think Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” and Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things”), a hopeful “Idol” delivered a moving song they’d written themselves, which more often than not evoked tears from Carrie Underwood.

Twenty-five-year-old Nina Daig sang an emotional tribute (“Average Joe”) to her life-changing older brother; Drew Ryn gave Luke Bryan one of his favorite performances of the day with her whisper-singing on “Walk on Water;” car enthusiast Sam Sparks channeled his struggles from a life-changing car accident into a song called “Colorado Gray” that packed a punch; and Freddie McClendon channeled his emotions about his dad’s murder into “You Never Loved Him.”

Catch up on last week: Carrie Underwood regrets her vote, 2021 winner Chayce returns

The lack of a platinum ticket in this episode doesn’t mean the auditions were a snooze. As with past episodes, a few (but not as many) music industry notables made appearances to give their kids a morale boost, or perhaps a leg up in the judges’ eyes.