Celebrity news and pics for Dec. 8, 2016

By Wonderwall.com Editors 12:58am PST, Dec 8, 2016

Mariah Carey's backup dancer beau recalls their 'sweaty' first meeting

Welp. Mariah Carey and her team certainly aren't doing anything to quell interest in the singer's relationship with the 33-year-old backup dancer she's had on her arm — and lips — during this last round of promotion for her new reality show. In Bryan Tanaka's latest love-addled soundbyte, he tells E! News about his first interaction with Mariah way back when. "The first time we met we were actually in a rehearsal setting, a huge soundstage at Sony studios back in L.A. And she walked in with a beautiful entourage and I was on stage already," he recalled. "Our first introduction was kind of a sweaty mess, because I was on stage sweating … she came out all looking gorgeous and everything. But it was great we said 'Hi' real quick and we got back to work. He went on to cite the meeting as having been around 2005 or 2006. "I was a young buck, I was this green rookie when I first worked with her," he continued. Since then, Bryan added, "so many things have happened. … I grew up, I turned into a man and she's gone through so much." The drama! The romance! The press for "Mariah's World" …

RELATED: New couples of 2016

How Celine Dion will spend first Christmas without Rene Angelil

Celine Dion is still grieving the loss of her husband, Rene Angelil, but that won't stop her from taking their children on the family's annual ski trip to Montana for the holidays. "I cannot just live on like, 'I lost my husband, my children have no father,'" the singer told Page Six this week. "I have to stand tall and strong because this is my way of living: Stand tall, be positive, pick your battles, do the best you can and to live for today, not for tomorrow, for today, and know nothing is perfect, not everything you want will happen." That's why Celine, along with her twins and teenage stepson, will return to Big Sky later this month. In fact, just being there will keep Rene in their hearts, she said. "He put some something magic into that snow, into those mountains, and every time we go down, I go down with him. My children go down thinking about him. Every time I take the lift to go up, I feel closer to him," the singer explained. "It's kind of a bittersweet moment and at the same time we need to really make the holidays really happy." She added that the goal of the trip will be "to try and mediate, find balance and be at peace with myself and my children" as they share meals and games together. "We are healing each day," Celine said. "My kids are doing really well and eventually you have to just move on. Yesterday is over, tomorrow is not here yet, so today is today."

Could Kanye West's health scare spark a creative fire and new music?

Yeezy fans, rejoice: Kanye West's mental health hospitalization could open the door for a new album. TMZ reports the rapper and producer has connected the dots between a previous crisis in his life — when his mother died around the same time he was in a serious car accident — with some of his most acclaimed recordings, citing the fact that he recorded "808s & Heartbreak" and "Through the Wire" after going through those experiences. Sources say that after Yeezy tried to work on new music in the hospital and was reportedly shot down, he set up a studio in his home once he was released. He should have plenty of space to use it now, too. According to Us Weekly, his wife Kim Kardashian West and their kids, North and Saint, are staying with Kris Jenner while Kanye continues to recover from the scare that seemed to have stemmed from a medication issue.

Angelina Jolie wants to get a trauma specialist involved in family therapy

The Department of Family and Child Services in Los Angeles decided after an investigation that Brad Pitt had displayed no abusive behavior toward his children during the incident on a plane that preceded Angie's divorce filing. But the actress reportedly believes all six children need help healing from the trauma caused by the argument Brad apparently had with the couple's eldest son, Maddox. According to TMZ, Angelina's lawyer contacted Brad's lawyers on Dec. 1 and suggested Brad and Angie "participate in joint sessions with a trauma specialist so that they may learn how to best support and interact with their children." A source tells the website the relationship between Brad and his eldest sons, Maddox and Pax, still seems strained, claiming the boys have, at times, left family therapy sessions.

John Legend performs a song Joe Giudice wrote for Teresa

Thanks, Andy! John Legend was backed into a musical corner during his appearance on "Watch What Happens Live" this week when Andy Cohen pretty much gave him no choice but to sing a love song an imprisoned Joe Giudice wrote for his now un-imprisoned wife, Teresa Giudice. "The last time Teresa Giudice was here," Andy recalled (via Us Weekly), "I asked her how her husband, Joe, was doing in prison and she revealed that he had written lyrics to a love song to her that he dreamed of one day having John Legend perform." As John put his head in his hands, Andy proceeded to pass the lyrics of the song to John. He also gave the singer a keyboard. "Why are you doing this to me?" John asked. Being a good sport, he began to play, crooning the words: "Cause I'll love you forever / I'll never lie, no never / Cause you are my baby, my empress, my lady. Teresa / you are my-y-y heaven." Somehow we don't see this one making it onto John's next album.

Sarah Jessica Parker talks 'Divorce,' raising kids as a celeb in InStyle

In the early aughts, we all envied Carrie Bradshaw's seemingly endless supplies of Manolos, fluffy designer dresses (and, well, men). Her take on Frances in "Divorce," on the other hand, hardly induces jealousy. For Sarah Jessica Parker, though, neither woman she's played is more compelling than the other. "It's taken me a long time to find anybody who I thought had as much potential as Carrie Bradshaw, who was as complicated, human, layered, and objectionable yet understandable, relatable yet foreign," SJP says in the new issue of InStyle. "People think she was a second skin for me, but she wasn't. I didn't know her at first. She was different from me as anybody I'd ever played or known. So I feel like Frances is equally as interesting and unknown to me." The actress and shoe designer also opens up about the effect being back on TV has on her role as a mom. "We talk about [celebrity] with the kids to the degree that they want to, but we don't do it unsolicited," she says. "Like any parent, I just try to be present, pay attention, ask questions, and then allow them the freedom to monitor themselves. Hopefully, they'll live by our example. It's hard, because you want to give them freedom, but as a parent you have to be willing to not be liked by your child sometimes."

Carolina Herrera is designing Emmy Rossum's wedding gown

When "Mr Robot" creator Sam Esmail proposed to Emmy Rossum in 2015, she made two phone calls. The first was to her mom. The second? Carolina Herrera. Emmy, who's still in wedding planning mode, shared the story this week at the Fashion Gala in New York, where the designer was honored with the Women's Leadership Award, according to the New York Post. The tab noted Emmy was spotted later during the bash, talking dress details with her No. 1 style maven. She and Sam have not yet revealed when they plan to say "I do."

Seth Meyers is over the phrase 'alt-right'

Neither Donald Trump's campaign-era habit of retweeting white nationalists nor his decision to name Breitbart's Steve Bannon his top advisor sat well with Democrats like "Late Night" host Seth Meyers. On his show Wednesday, Dec. 7, he seemed just as incensed at the media's tendency to refer to those folks, many of whom have been big supporters of the Donald since Day One, as members of "the alt-right." The way Seth sees it, the "alt-right" is not a group that deserves a euphemism for its white supremacist leanings. Or as Seth put it (via HuffPo): "If zombies wanted to be called 'post-life brain foodies,' we'd still call them 'zombies.' If it looks like a duck and talks like a duck, and steps like a goose, it's a Nazi."