By Mark Gray
2:46pm PST, Feb 5, 2020
Cancer returns
Shannen Doherty's cancer is back. On Feb. 4, the "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "Charmed" alum revealed on "Good Morning America" that she has stage IV cancer. The actress said she's known about her diagnosis for a year but kept it private. "I don't think that I've processed it," she said. "It's a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways." As for why she decided to share the news now, she explained that it was going to be made public in a lawsuit she's filed against State Farm over allegedly unpaid claims related to damage to her house caused by 2018's Los Angeles wildfires. TMZ reported that the opening line of the lawsuit reads, "Plaintiff Shannen Doherty is dying of stage 4 terminal cancer." It adds that she's unable to live out "her remaining years peacefully in her home." Shannen went public with her first breast cancer battle after she was diagnosed in early 2015. She sought treatment for two years and then announced she was in remission in 2017.
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Sexuality reveal
Jameela Jamil has come out as queer amid backlash concerning her involvement in a new voguing competition show. "Twitter is brutal. This is why I never officially came out as queer," she began a lengthy and emotional post on Feb. 5. "I added a rainbow to my name when I felt ready a few years ago, as it's not easy within the south Asian community to be accepted, and I always answered honestly if ever straight-up asked about it on Twitter. But I kept it low because I was scared of the pain of being accused of performative bandwagon jumping, over something that caused me a lot of confusion, fear and turmoil when I was a kid." Many in the LBGTQ community voiced their displeasure after HBO Max announced that the "The Good Place" actress would be a judge on the upcoming unscripted series "Legendary," as they felt the show should feature its own. "I didn't come from a family with *anyone* openly out. It's also scary as an actor to openly admit your sexuality, especially when you're a brown female in your thirties," Jameela added. "This is absolutely not how I wanted it to come out."
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National anthem controversy
The fourth quarter of the Super Bowl had everyone on their feet, but the national anthem didn't. Photos surfaced of JAY-Z and Beyonce sitting down while Demi Lovato sang "The Star Spangled Banner" ahead of the big game. While speaking on a panel at Columbia University, Jay addressed the controversy and said they weren't trying to get political. "It actually wasn't. Sorry," he said. "It really wasn't. … It was not premeditated at all." The rapper and his company, Roc Nation, partnered with the NFL in 2019 to develop the major entertainment for the league. "So we get there, and we immediately jump into artist mode," he said. "So I'm looking at the show. 'Did our mic start? Was it too low to start?' … 'Is it too many speakers on the floor?' … So the whole time we're sitting there and we're talking about the performance. And then right after that, Demi comes out, and we're talking about how beautiful she looked and how she sound[ed], and what she's going through in her life for her to be on the stage and we're so proud of her."
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Un-covered
"The Bachelor" is known for drama, but that spilled over this week in an unexpected way. On the Feb. 3 episode of the ABC show, Victoria Fuller participated in a Cosmopolitan magazine photoshoot in Costa Rica as part of a group date. Since Victoria won the group date challenge, Cosmopolitan planned to put her on the cover of its digital magazine. However, Editor-in-Chief Jessica Pels reneged after seeing photos of Victoria modeling "White Lives Matter" merchandise — something the contestant did before participating in the show. Additional reports claimed the clothing was actually meant to reference white marlins, which are overfished. In a letter from the editor post, the Cosmo head honcho said the fact that it was a pun was irrelevant, especially based on perception. "I really feel like she's a good person and she's got a lot of endearing qualities," star Pete Weber said of Victoria.
R.I.P.
Hollywood has lost an icon. On Feb. 5, Kirk Douglas — who had a six-decade career during which he starred in more than 80 movies including "Spartacus" and "Champion" — passed away. He was 103. Kirk's son Michael Douglas announced the news. "It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103. To the world, he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard of us all to aspire to," Michael wrote on Instagram of his three-time Oscar-nominated father, who took home an honorary Academy Award in 1996. "But to me and my brothers Joel and Peter he was simply dad, to [my wife] Catherine [Zeta-Jones], a wonderful father-in-law, to his grandchildren and great grandchildren, their loving grandfather, and to his wife Anne, a wonderful husband." Hollywood reacted to the news with many tributes. Catherine posted a touching photo in which she's kissing her father-in-law on the cheek. "To my darling Kirk, I shall love you for the rest of my life," she wrote. "I miss you already. Sleep tight…"
New beau
We have a name! For more than a month, mystery has surrounded the identity of the man Lady Gaga was seen kissing on New Year's Eve. On Feb. 2, Page Six reported that he's Michael Polansky, a Harvard grad who manages Facebook co-founder Sean Parker's business and philanthropic endeavors, including his Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. People magazine reported that the new couple met through mutual friends. Not long after the news broke, Gaga and Michael went Instagram official. "We had so much fun in Miami," she captioned a snap of herself sitting on her man's lap following a Super Bowl pre-party performance. "Love to all my little monsters and fans, you're the best!"
Network clash
Gayle King went off on her own network, CBS, on Feb. 6 after it teased a big interview she did with the late Kobe Bryant's friend Lisa Leslie using the most salacious snippet of what was actually a wide-ranging sit-down. In the clip, Gayle referenced Kobe's 2003 rape accusation case, which was later dismissed when the alleged victim refused to testify. Gayle tok to social media to chastise her network for picking that portion to promote in order to drive clicks and views. "I know that if I had only seen the clip that you saw, I'd be extremely angry with me too," she said. "I am mortified. I am embarrassed and I am very angry. Unbeknownst to me, my network put up a clip from a very wide-ranging interview — totally taken out of context — and when you see it that way, it's very jarring. It's jarring to me. I didn't even know anything about it." She added that she would have a "very intense" discussion with network heads. Afterward, CBS issued a mea culpa. "Gayle conducted a thoughtful, wide-ranging interview with Lisa Leslie about the legacy of Kobe Bryant. An excerpt was posted that did not reflect the nature and tone of the full interview," read the statement. "We are addressing the internal process that led to this and changes have already been made."
Awkward moment
Vanessa Lachey was forced to defend herself for not taking credit for sending a gift that she never sent (did you get all that?). Let's start at the top. During a Feb. 3 "Today" interview with Nick Lachey and wife Vanessa — who were promoting the new Netflix dating show they're hosting, "Love Is Blind" — host Hoda Kotb bought up Nick's ex-wife, Jessica Simpson. Jessica has a juicy new book that Hoda spoke to her about, and Hoda recounted to the couple how Jessica told her Nick and Vanessa had sent her a gift after Jessica had kids with her second husband. "I feel bad, I'm sorry, you said somebody sent her… it wasn't us, but thank you, whoever sent it," Vanessa said. After a pause, Nick said, "What did you send?" Vanessa replied, "I didn't… I don't know her address. But thank you, whoever sent it from us." Twitter noted the awkwardness and some people claimed Vanessa was deliberately mean. "How. I'd love to know. Truly…," Vanessa replied to one social media user. "I think it's weird accepting credit for something you didn't do or give. Even weirder to bring up something so random. Just giving facts. Wanted to make sure we were truthful." She later asked, "Should I have pretended to give it? Dang. Can we get a do over and I will tell them it was big beautiful basket. ;-). Kidding, sorry you think that, just wanted to be truthful. That's all. But the gift sounds lovely!"
Relationship status update
Duane Chapman isn't engaged after all. Last week, there was speculation that the "Dog the Bounty Hunter" star got engaged to rumored girlfriend Moon Angell — who was best friends with Dog's late wife, Beth Chapman — after a teaser clip appeared to show him proposing to her on "Dr. Oz." On Feb. 3, the whole show finally aired. "I think this will put a stop to a lot of this. Moon Angell, will you marry me?" Dog asked. Visibly shocked, Moon said, "What?" She added, "We're friends Duane. I love you as a friend. I can't marry you. Right at this very moment, I don't see you as that. I love you and Beth as my friends." Dog said he knew Moon didn't view him in a romantic sense and wanted to propose as a test. He said he wanted everyone — including his outspoken daughter, who's attacked Moon — to know the truth about their non-romantic relationship.
Court matter
There's been movement in Kesha and Dr. Luke's ongoing nearly six-year legal battle: On Feb. 6, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled that Kesha defamed the music producer — whom she in 2014 accused of sexual assault and emotional abuse, which he's denied — in a text message she sent to Lady Gaga in which Kesha claimed that he raped fellow pop star Katy Perry. According to the judge, there wasn't any supporting evidence for Kesha's claim, which Katy has also denied. The judge also does not agree that Dr. Luke is a "general public figure." Kesha's legal team says it will appeal the ruling, which also ordered Kesha to pay $374,000 in interest on back royalty payments to Dr. Luke's company in breach of her contract.
