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  • michelle obama mom marian robinson death

    michelle obama mom marian robinson death

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    Michelle Obama is revealing how husband Barack Obama helped her find a sense of humor in the wake of her mother’s death.

    The former first lady, 61, dedicated the May 7 episode of her “IMO” podcast, which she co-hosts with brother Craig Robinson, to having a frank conversation about how they have coped with their mother Marian Robinson’s death in May 2024.

    “That’s sort of the darned thing about being a grown-up. When you lose your parents, you’re next up,” Michelle Obama said as part of the siblings’ response to a listener’s question. “I guess if anything with mom’s loss, I thank God you’re my big brother and I have a husband who’s older.”

    She then recalled, “Because Barack was saying, ‘Well, you’re next up.’ And I was like, ‘I’m not really ready to be next up.’ I told him, ‘You’re next up. And Craig is next up.’”

    On a somber note, she related to the listener, whose father recently died, by relating to how a family structure changes along with the health of one’s parents.

    “That’s really when you become an adult, when your parents are not in that spot of managing and maintaining. But that’s going to happen at some point, where … we become the parent, we become the convener, we become the glue,” Obama said.

    She added, “There’s a comfort level in knowing that no matter how wise or experienced I am in the world, Mom always knew more. Even if that wasn’t true, it was just a good feeling, ‘Let me go talk to my mommy.’”

    Michelle Obama describes picking up nephews from school with secret service

    Later in the episode, Obama opened up about how she and her brother make an effort to stay close, despite her living in Washington, D.C, while he is in Milwaukee.

    She admitted that though “sometimes coming to (Robinson’s) house is a little bit of a hassle” due to the level of security she has as a former first lady, she still makes time for his family.

    “I even did pickup for the boys, and they were happy to see me in the motorcade,” she said. “When I told my detail, ‘We’re doing pickup. We’re gonna go to grammar school and pick up my nephews,’ they were like, ‘Yes ma’am.’ So off we went.”

    “Three SUVs later,” Robinson joked. Obama added, “And 12 guys with guns.”

  • Pete and Alberta end ‘Ghosts’ Season 4 with a kiss: CBS show’s couples

    Pete and Alberta end ‘Ghosts’ Season 4 with a kiss: CBS show’s couples

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    Unlike last season, no spirit was “sucked off” into heaven during the May 8 “Ghost” Season 4 finale (now streaming on Paramount+).

    But the episode featured a majorly hot spiritual development: Former Pinecone Trooper Pete Martino (Richie Moriarty), the ghost with the fatal archery arrow still stuck through his neck, finally hit the lip target with fellow spirit Alberta Haynes (Danielle Pinnock), the 1920s Prohibition-era jazz singer and poisoning victim.

    Their long-awaited smooch was so otherworldly smoking that Alberta could only gasp, “Oh, my!”

    “It’s a kiss that’s been a long time in the making,” says executive producer Joe Wiseman, who writes the CBS hit comedy with fellow executive producer Joe Port. “Pete has always had a thing for Alberta. And during past seasons, we’ve chipped away at Alberta’s reluctance about Pete. It finally pays off in the finale.”

    Pete finally flexed his oboe-enhanced ‘lip strength’ in kissing Alberta

    Pete and Alberta have shown hints of couple chemistry since the 2021 premiere of the CBS comedy. In Season 2, Alberta gently rebuffed Pete’s amorous advance. And in the April 20 episode, Pete gently denied Alberta due to his outside ghost girlfriend, Donna.

    Yet Alberta has stayed in the game, attracted to Pete’s growing confidence (spurred by his newfound power of leaving the residence) and his scout shorts and knee-high socks wardrobe. So the power pucker finally prevails, despite Donna.

    “Lip strength,” Pete says silkily, post-kiss, as Alberta swoons. “That’s from my oboe days.”

    The latest ghost hookup is a big deal for haunted Woodstone Mansion, the family estate inherited by living ancestor Samantha (Rose McIver) and her husband Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar). Except for Pete, the ghosts from different eras who died on the grounds cannot leave – even if the love doesn’t work out.

    “We have to put ourselves in the ghosts’ shoes,” says Port. “If you have tried to have a relationship with someone with whom you’ll be stuck forever in a house and it doesn’t work out, the stakes are very high. So we proceed cautiously when pairing people up.”

    Here’s who’s paired up on “Ghosts”:

    Joan helped Sasappis lose his 500-year-old virginity

    Sasappis (Román Zaragoza), the Native American ghost from the 16th century and a member of the Lenape tribe, had been a reluctant virgin for 500 years until the season’s penultimate episode. Sass and new ghost Joan (Taylor Ortega), a 1940s screenwriter, tapped out the happy conclusion to that saga.

    “We saw some kissing and then some disastrous foreplay,” says Port. “And then we left the rest of the imagination.”

    Thorfinn and Flower are powering on in ‘Ghosts’

    Stranded Viking Thorfinn (Devan Chandler Long), the oldest spirit haunting the mansion, died from a lightning strike. Thorfinn was struck again by ghost love with free-spirited 1960s hippie Flower (Sheila Carrasco) in Season 2. Despite significant cultural and personality differences, the two are still going strong.

    Hetty and pantsless Trevor are ‘not together’

    Onetime robber baroness Henrietta “Hetty” Woodstone (Rebecca Wisocky), Sam’s ancestor, somehow got together with cocky and pantsless former Wall Street broker Trevor Lefkowitz (Asher Grodman) in Season 2. The paranormal relationship has had ups and downs since. “But they are not together,” says Port.

    Nigel and Isaac had post-Revolutionary War love

    They were avowed enemies of war: American Revolutionary War veteran Isaac Higgintoot (Brandon Scott Jones) and British officer Nigel Chessum (John Hartman) found unlikely love in Season 2. In the Season 3 finale, Isaac was unable to wed Nigel, leaving his would-be spouse at the altar. The duo has had to work to salvage a friendship.

    What will happen to ‘Ghosts’ love?

    There is a non-romantic Season 4 finale cliffhanger involving Jay. The aspiring restaurateur accidentally sells his soul to the devil for a PR blitz that includes a foodie magazine cover story – and the devil’s emissary, Elias Woodstone (Matt Walsh), is trying to kill Jay to expedite the soul-collecting process.

    Jay’s eternal fate, along with the growing love connections – including Alberta and Pete’s – will have to wait until Season 5 next fall. There is one sure thing. Despite the heat, the “Ghosts” hookups won’t get racier.

    “That’s been suggested, but we’re never going to become ‘Cinemax After Dark’ or whatever,” says Port. “This is a CBS family show.”

  • The best photos from the ACM AwardsMusic

    The best photos from the ACM AwardsMusic

    The best photos from the ACM AwardsMusic

  • Beyoncé’s receives more nominations at BET Awards, including AOTY

    Beyoncé’s receives more nominations at BET Awards, including AOTY

    Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” album is still being recognized as she translates the 27-track project to the stage on tour; It has received nominations at the 2025 BET Awards.

    The 25th BET Awards announced the nominees Thursday for the upcoming show. The forthcoming show will take place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on June 9, and Beyoncé’s genre-bending album was nominated for album of the year. Kendrick Lamar is the leading nominee with a total of 10 nods.

    The Grammy-winning singer’s song “Blackbiird,” featuring Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts, also received a nod for the BETHer Award. The song is a cover of the Beatles’ 1968 tune, which was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement. The category honors motivational and empowering songs that center women.

    Beyoncé’s 13-year old daughter Blue Ivy-Carter was nominated for the Young Stars Award for the second year in a row. Last year, she took home the prize.

    As fans know, Beyoncé first released the eighth studio album in March 2024. It has since made history and broken multiple records. As Beyoncé’s first country album, she deliberately featured country legends and emerging Black country artists alike. She became the first Black woman to win best country album at the 2025 Grammys and also took home album of the year.

    Prior to releasing the album, Beyoncé got candid about creating the five-year project and alluded to her 2016 performance at the CMA Awards, which was met with an icy reception and harsh criticism.

    “It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t,” she wrote on Instagram. “The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me. Act ii is a result of challenging myself and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.”

    Some fans felt this notion was reiterated when Beyoncé was snubbed at the 2024 Country Music Association awards (CMAs) and, most recently, the 2025 Academy of Country Music Awards (ACMs).

    Of course, Beyoncé is in the midst of her groundbreaking Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit Tour, which she kicked off April 28 in Los Angeles with 39 songs on the set list. The concert has proved to be a spectacle of many things including fashion, different music genres and most notably country music and politics.

    The nine-city tour will span the U.S. and Europe with the grand finale taking place in Las Vegas on July 26. She’s set to make history again with her scheduled tour dates, including by playing the most dates at SoFi Stadium of any artist.

    This article has been updated to include Blue Ivy-Carter’s nomination.

    Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network’s Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on InstagramTikTok and X as @cachemcclay.

  • Ree Drummond weight loss: Pioneer Woman ‘stopped exercising’

    Ree Drummond weight loss: Pioneer Woman ‘stopped exercising’

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    It’s a new frontier for “The Pioneer Woman.”

    Food Network star Ree Drummond revealed in a blog post published April 30 that, after “a few fluctuations,” she is returning to the “original method” that helped kickstart her health journey and led her to lose over 50 pounds.

    “The game changer for me is two-fold: First, I’m building muscle again, which is crucial. I do lunges, squats, deadlifts, and floor exercises with ankle weights. Second, I’m eating more protein and keeping it a higher percentage of my calories.” Drummond wrote. “This time, I am not weighing my food and counting calories.”

    After her dramatic weight loss in 2021, Drummond wrote, “Bottom line, starting at the end of 2023 I stopped exercising and kinda stopped paying attention to what I was eating.”

    The mom and grandmother told fans that despite skipping alcohol for four months during her last lifestyle change, she drinks white wine and tops it off with Topo Chico sparkling water “so it’s kind of a wine spritzer type of thing” as a way to indulge.

    In February, Drummond said she “decided to jump back the plan I’d found success with in 2021, just not quite as high a gear as the first time.”

    “The very hardest part was the first week to ten days,” she continued. “Today it’s not that hard at all, and in fact, it’s actually rewarding as I’m feeling better and better all the time.”

    Drummond left a disclaimer for fans, stressing that her methods for weight loss work for her.

    “Long story short, I have found that it all still holds true, and FOR ME, it is working again like clockwork or science or whatever the word is,” the Oklahoma native added.

    Ree Drummond previously addressed weight loss drug rumors

    Last year, Drummond clarified rumors that she was using supplements or weight loss gummies after she noticed a host of false advertisements on Facebook suggesting she was using them.

    In March, Drummond announced on the social media platform that she would update her previous blog explaining the dos and don’ts of her journey amid the “celebrity endorsement fraud” she’s seen running rampant.

    “I did not take Ozempic, Wegovy, or similar medications. I know this has been a big topic in recent years, so I thought I’d add this paragraph,” she wrote in an update to her blog.

    While writing that she supports “anyone who has success” on weight loss medications, the “boring truth” is that she “had never heard of that class of drugs” when she set out on her weight loss journey.

    “And to be honest, if I had heard of them and had seen all the results that are out there, I might have been tempted to try them. But I simply didn’t know those drugs existed then, so I dove in using all the methods below,” Drummond said.

    “I definitely needed to lose weight for my own preference based on where I thought I should be, but it’s more about how I feel after a few months of regular exercise, more moving, and more mindful eating,” she continued. “Feeling good is really all that matters, and because of that, the weigh-ins are becoming less and less important to me.”

    Contributing: Naledi Ushe

  • ‘Modern Family’ star Ariel Winter opens up about body shaming

    ‘Modern Family’ star Ariel Winter opens up about body shaming

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    Ariel Winter is getting real about the emotional toll of body shaming.

    In an interview with People magazine published May 7, the “Modern Family” star, 27, reflected on being subjected to negative comments scrutinizing her appearance while she was a child actor. Winter played Alex Dunphy, the middle child of the Dunphy family, on the ABC sitcom for 11 seasons.

    “It was every headline I read about myself, like, grown people writing articles about me saying how I looked terrible or pregnant or like a fat slut,” Winter shared. “I mean, I was 14. It totally damaged my self-esteem.”

    She continued, “I understood what it was like to be hated. No matter what I was going through, I was a target. It made it very difficult to look at myself in the mirror and go, ‘I love this version of me.’”

    Winter grew up in the public eye starring on “Modern Family,” which debuted on ABC in 2009, when she was 11, and ended in 2020, when she was 22. She started acting at the age of four and before “Modern Family” had already appeared in films like “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” and shows like “Nip/Tuck.”

    Winter previously reflected on body shaming in a 2021 episode of “Red Table Talk: The Estefans,” remembering how she was called “fat” at age 13 after “I had gained weight and my body changed.”

    The actress, who explained she gained weight after she started taking antidepressants, also said she received comments labeling her “a horrible role model” for “trying to be sexy.”

    In a 2016 interview with Teen Vogue, Winter shared that she has “struggled with self-esteem and body confidence for years,” adding that it was “really difficult” to receive cruel comments about her appearance.

    “I tried to lose weight, I crash dieted, I tried to change what I looked like so I would fit this standard, and it never worked,” Winter told the outlet. “I got to a certain point where I realized I was never going to please people, so I decided to make myself happy instead. I’m so grateful I made that decision, because it really made a difference for me.”

    In her new interview with People magazine, Winter revealed she no longer lives in Los Angeles, where she grew up.

    Though she clarified she “didn’t leave the industry” and will continue to act, she said she decided to move out of the city because it “holds some not-great memories for me, and I’m young and never lived anywhere else, and thought, ‘Why not?’”

  • Tracy Morgan adds tears to Prime Video nature series

    Tracy Morgan adds tears to Prime Video nature series

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    This is not a vintage “30 Rock” episode: Tracy Morgan is part of the docuseries “Octopus!” (now streaming on Amazon Prime).

    Rather than laughter, Morgan’s appearance might make you cry as the comic actor talks about Zoey, his 90-pound octopus he gave up after realizing how short the cephalopod’s lifespan is.

    “I got tired of being sad,” Morgan, 56, says while tearing up in this exclusive series clip.

    “I learned so much about them, because I would just sit there and watch my octopus,” says Morgan. “The thing that I learned most about them is that they taught me how to survive, no matter how long it’s for. They taught me how to live in an environment that can be sometimes hostile. She gave me knowledge. She gave me wisdom and understanding. Thank you, Zoey.”

    Niharika Desai, who directs the docuseries, narrated by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, tells USA TODAY via email that the filmmakers were looking for “unexpected voices” in the science-based series.

    “You can’t think of Tracy Morgan and not think of comedy,” Desai says. “His presence serves as a misdirect: You think you know him, but then you see this other side of his personality that is so compelling and thoughtful. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of cephalopods.”

    “Tracy’s gonna Tracy, even when he’s teaching us about the life cycle of a Giant Pacific Octopus,” Desai adds. “I hope that audiences who know and love Tracy will find it profound to hear him open up about his life history and how he developed a love of sea creatures.”

    Morgan doesn’t explain what became of Zoey once he gave her up.

    “We didn’t really discuss that, and I can’t speak for Tracy,” says Desai. “However, I did feel his sense of grief, knowing how attached he feels to these creatures with such short life spans.”

  • Watch: Tracy Morgan talks about his 'Octopus!' heartbreakTV

    Watch: Tracy Morgan talks about his 'Octopus!' heartbreakTV

    Watch: Tracy Morgan talks about his ‘Octopus!’ heartbreakTV

  • Why we’re all obsessed with medical TV in 2025

    Why we’re all obsessed with medical TV in 2025

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    Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch can’t save everyone in his overcrowded Pittsburgh emergency room, but maybe he can save all of us watching at home.

    Played with a gruff smolder by longtime medical drama veteran Noah Wyle, the hero of Max’s new series “The Pitt” (Season 1 now streaming) stitches up wounds, pumps donated blood into veins and prescribes medicine, but inevitably he doesn’t heal anything. Certainly not the broken system in which he is stuck. But there is so much solace in watching him try nonetheless.

    A “real-time” medical drama set over 15 hours on one very long emergency room shift, “The Pitt” has caught on: Fans are swooning over TikTok clips, style website The Cut is promoting fan fiction about the show and real doctors are feeling seen and validated.

    And it’s not the only new medical series trying to “stat!” its way into our hearts this year. The current TV season offers a slew of other new shows, including “Watson” (CBS), “Doc” (Fox), “Doctor Odyssey” (ABC), “Brilliant Minds” (NBC), “St. Denis Medical” (NBC) and “Pulse” (Netflix). You’ve got everything to go with the gritty realism of “The Pitt,” from a medical mystery Sherlock Holmes take (“Watson”), to a sitcom (“St. Denis”) to a ludicrous Ryan Murphy drama set on a cruise ship (“Odyssey”).

    Of course, Hollywood trends are cyclical. For a while there were too many vampires or zombies, and a few years ago all the “Game of Thrones” wannabes drowned us in high fantasy. But the Big Three of TV procedurals − cop, lawyer and doctor shows − come around like clockwork. For the past decade or so, it’s been an overload of cop shows. Now the docs are getting their turn again.

    But it’s more than just a coincidence of network bigwigs all picking up new medical shows at the same time: They’ve showed up at the right time to heal ailing viewers.

    Americans have been living in unprecedented times – a very nice euphemism for constant crisis – for nearly a decade. The COVID-19 pandemic, contested elections, political chaos, natural disasters, violence, inflation, climate change: It all adds up to a burned-out population looking for some ease and comfort. And in spite of the blood and the gore, medical shows are distinctly comforting.

    When a new patient walks into Grey Sloan Memorial (on ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy”) or a Miami hospital during a hurricane (“Pulse”) or even the infirmary on a massive cruise ship (“Odyssey”), professional, experienced and calm people are there to try and save them. The emergencies in these shows are contained and often solvable. There is order and procedure and grownups in the room to tell everyone what to do. And the best thing about these medical emergencies? They’re fictional. They take us away from the very real problems we don’t have any idea how to solve.

    Doctors have been rushing around hospitals on TV since the 1950s, and as the camera follows them to scrub in, it can feel like going home. A whole generation of millennials is primed to be nostalgic for the medical shows of the 1990s and early 2000s, when “ER” and “Grey’s” dominated our watch schedules (yes, “Grey’s” has been on the air long enough to generate nostalgia for its early years). There is seemingly a show for each subgenre for fans of all those great 2000s series. If you liked “ER” watch “The Pitt.” If you liked “Grey’s,” go for romance and melodrama-heavy “Pulse.” If you liked the wacky medical mysteries in “House,” try “Watson.” If you want giggles like “Scrubs,” try “St. Denis.”

    Many of these shows are admirable and watchable: “St. Denis” is fun, “Odyssey” is silly, “Watson” is absurd and “Pulse” has an exciting young cast. But “The Pitt” is the most exciting reinvention of the genre (despite its many similarities to “ER,” which are too many, according to a lawsuit from the estate of “ER” creator Michael Crichton).

    The “real-time” gimmick of “The Pitt” (seen earlier on Fox’s “24”) makes it even more unrelenting than all the other unrelenting shows in this genre, leaving viewers scant time to catch our breath than the fictional doctors and nurses. It’s not concerned with intraoffice romance so much as it is with something far more existential. Season 1’s 15-hour shift (the show has already been renewed) gives us a too-perfect image of what it’s like to live in America right now: Fentanyl overdoses, mass shootings, vaccine denial, the “manosphere,” bigotry, burnout, violence and anger. It’s all wrapped up in primary colored slap bracelets to triage our national maladies from green to red: survivable to critical.

    “The Pitt” offers no answers, and there are moments when its overworked and underpaid healthcare workers want to give up hope for the souls of the patients they’re treating. But they don’t. They keep trying. They keep CPR compressions going. Zachary Quinto’s enigmatic “Minds” neurologist never gives up on a patient, either, and the same goes for the cruising and handsome Dr. Max Bankman (Joshua Jackson) on “Odyssey.” Because while watching “The Pitt” or “Watson” or any other medical show, we want to know that there are people left in this world who will try to help even when all hope seems to be lost.

    Maybe if we see them on TV, we can find them in real life, too.

  • ‘Les Mis’ cast members at Kennedy Center to sit out Trump performance

    ‘Les Mis’ cast members at Kennedy Center to sit out Trump performance

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    A CNN commentator is blasting performers at the Kennedy Center after the outlet exclusively reported that several “Les Misérables” cast members planned to boycott an upcoming show President Donald Trump is slated to attend.

    “It’s your job to perform, shut up and sing,” Joe Borelli, the Former Republican leader of the New York City Council, said during a May 8 broadcast of “NewsNight With Abby Phillip.”

    “This is what you’re paid to do, stop being so self-absorbed,” Borelli continued, taking aim at the 10 to 12 cast members who will reportedly sit out a performance of the musical based on one of the bloody uprisings ahead of the French Revolution.

    They feel like they’re doing something as heroic and revolutionary as the rebels portrayed in the play, Borelli argued, while in reality they’re just being: “self-absorbed, jerk actors,” he claimed.

    CNN first broke the news May 7 that performers had been given the option to bow out of a June 11 show, which Trump, who has recently taken over the Kennedy Center, will attend. The cadre who raised their hands to opt out includes both principal cast and ensemble members, the outlet reports.

    The subtle but notable act of resistance comes just months after Trump cleaned house at the Kennedy Center, installing himself as chairman and close ally Richard Grenell as interim president.

    The reason for the changes, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, was the center’s decision to host drag show performances.

    “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP,” he wrote. “The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation.”

    In response to all the upheaval, multiple stars and artists cut ties with the center, with several high-profile board members stepping down and others canceling future performances. An interview with Issa Rae and several performances of the Broadway hit “Hamilton” were among the events canceled.

    The Kennedy Center, which opened in 1971 in honor of the late 35th president of the United States, serves as the nation’s arts and cultural center, offering concerts, plays and other live acts. Trump declined to attend the annual Kennedy Center Honors performances during his first term.

    Contributing: Savannah Kuchar, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Joey Garrison, USA TODAY