Steve Carell is joining Julianne Moore and Ellen Page to star in a film based on a landmark gay-rights case, Gay Star News reported. Freeheld, directed by Peter Sollett, will tell the true story of Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree. The couple fought to amend the Domestic Partnership Act, which grants pension benefits to domestic partners of all New Jersey public employees. Carell ( replacing Zach Galifianakis ) will play the supporting role of Steven Goldstein, a passionate advocate for Garden State Equality.
On the Australian leg of her tour, Lady Gaga made a surprise appearance at Adam Lambert and Queen's concert at Sydney's Allphones Arena, according to NewNowNext.com . The "Applause" singer joined the gang onstage for "Another One Bites The Dust," while Lambert serenaded her with "Radio Gaga" once she was back in her seat. "So much fun tonight," Adam wrote on the Instagram photo above. "Thanks for the invite!"
The latest star to join the cast of American Horror Story: Freak Show is Matt Bomer, who appeared in Ryan Murphy's adaptation of The Normal Heart for HBO, NewNowNext.com noted. But Bomer, coming off the recently ended White Collar, won't be eye candyviewers can expect him to be fairly twisted, emotionally and possibly physically. Patti LaBelle, Wes Bentley, Michael Chiklis, John Carroll Lynch and Finn Wittrock are also slated to appear on the show during the upcoming season.
Openly gay actor John Barrowman and Arrow co-star Colton Haynes are among the slew of celebrities who have taken the ALS ice-bucket challenge, Gay Star News reported. Barrowman posted a video of him taking the challenge Aug. 16, sitting on a deck chair in Vancouver and getting his jockstrap-clad husband Scott Gill to dump a bucket full of ice and water over him. Haynes pretended he was backing out of the challenge in a video posted Aug. 17 with fellow Arrow star Emily Bett Rickards, offering to pay a forfeit, before getting a bucket of ice water dumped on them by Barrowman and Gill.
An eventful week for openly gay football player culminated in the St. Louis Rams releasing him. The move came as teams across the league reduced their squads to 53 players each. In a series of tweets, Sam thanked the Rams for drafting him, for "allowing me to show I can play at this level," and that he looked forward to building on the progress he felt he made "toward a long and successful career." Sam also failed to make the team's 10-man practice squad. The latest news has Sam joining the Dallas Cowboys' practice team.
Earlier in the week, ESPN apologized for a segment that aired on SportsCenter, during which a reporter spoke with St. Louis Rams players about teammate Michael Sam's showering habits. GLAAD has been in communication with ESPN to emphasize the serious harms of stereotypes and the company's responsibility to do better.
Openly day director Lee Daniels has finally found his Richard Pryorand he made the announcement with a little help from friend Oprah Winfrey, EW.com reported. On Sunday, Aug. 24, Winfrey posted a picture on her Instagram of herself, Lee Daniels, and Mike Epps after the trio had completed a first read-through of the Richard Pryor movie. Daniels did the same shortly after on his Twitter, confirming Epps' starring role.
In related news, Winfrey, 60, will be playing Richard Pryor's grandmother, Marie Carter, in Lee Daniels' highly anticipated biopic of the legendary comedian, according to ETOnline.com . Pryor, who died from a heart attack in 2005, had a notoriously complicated relationship with his grandmother. Pryor grew up in a house of prostitution that Carter ran after his mother, Gertrude, walked out on the family when he was 10 years old.
Michael Egan, who had accused X-Men director Bryan Singer of sexually abusing him when he was a minor, has voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit against Singer, The Wrap reported. Egan filed suit against Singer and others in April, claiming that he had been sexually abused as a teenager. U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway dismissed the suit without prejudicean option that gives Egan leeway to refile a claim against Singer, and one that Singer's legal team had argued against in a court filing earlier this month.
However, New York City authorities are investigating a new charge against Bryan Singer, as the 48-year-old X-Men director has been accused of sexually assaulting a twentysomething man there last year, Page Six noted. The complaint was filed with the NYPD on May 9, 2014, after Singer allegedly forced the man into a sexual act against his will on March 23, 2013. Two civil lawsuits that accused the embattled Singer of sexually abusing teenage boys ( including Michael Egan's ) were recently dropped.
The American Film Institute has selected Sophia Loren for a tribute on Nov. 12 during its AFI Fest in Hollywood, IMDB.com noted. The festival is also dedicating its branding this year to Loren by featuring a 1965 image of the star. The tribute will celebrate Loren's career and coincide with the 50th anniversary of her Oscar-nominated role in Marriage Italian Style. Loren won a best actress Oscar for a foreign-language performance in Two Women in 1960.
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' new documentary American Masters: The Boomer List will premiere nationwide Tuesday, Sept. 23, on PBS in honor of the last baby boomers turning 50 this year, according to a press release. The film explores the story of the influential baby boomer generation ( 1946-1964 ) through the lives of 19 iconic boomers—one born each year of the baby boom. Subjects such as Rosie O'Donnell, Tommy Hilfiger, Erin Brockovich, Billy Joel, David LaChapelle, Samuel L. Jackson, Kim Cattrall, Maria Shriver and gay-rights activist Peter Staley illuminate the important movements and changes that shaped the world during these years. A DVD will be released via Perfect Day Films, and Greenfield-Sanders' 19 large-scale master portraits of the film's subjects will be featured in a companion coffee-table book, both available Oct. 1.
Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger's daughter, Ireland Baldwin, made her red-carpet debut with girlfriend Angel Haze at the MTV Video Music Awards, The Celebrity Cafe shared. Baldwin was there in support of rapper Haze, who was nominated for Best Video With a Social Message for her song with Sia, "Battle Cry." Although she didn't win, she had a message for Baldwin on Twitter. "You make me feel like i won anyway. thanks 4 coming babe @IrelandBBaldwin," she wrote.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie secretly married at Chateau Miraval in the French village of Correnswhere the couple first settled in 2008 and have since performed extensive renovationson Aug. 23. The couple's children took part in the wedding; Jolie walked the aisle with her eldest sons Maddox, 13, and Pax, 10. Zahara, 9, and Vivienne, 6, threw petals and Shiloh, 8, and Knox, 6, served as ring bearers. The ceremony came two years after the couple's engagement.
Joan Rivers was rushed to the hospital after she stopped breathing during outpatient throat surgery, CNN reported. Rivers, 81, was then rushed in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. In 2013, Rivers allowed cameras to record a health scare for her and her daughter's reality show, Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? Rivers said on the show that doctors found a spot on an X-ray after she had a persistent cough.
Justin Bieber took to Twitter to stand up for himself against the paparazzi, comparing the way they chase him to the tragic way Princess Diana died, according to The Celebrity Cafe. After getting into an accident on Tuesday due to being chased by a paparazzo, he expressed he thinks there should be laws put in place to protect celebrities' safety. "There should be laws against what I just experienced. We should have learned from the death of Princess Diana..." he wrote.
The Internal Revenue Service has demanded that Ugly Betty actress and former pageant queen Vanessa Williams cough up nearly $370,000 in unpaid taxes, according to The New York Daily News. The IRS issued the lien earlier this month for the 1984 Miss America's faulty 2011 tax return. The government organization is now demanding $369,249.89 from the actress/singer.
Nicki Minaj has won a lawsuit brought by her former wig maestro Terrence Davidson, according to BET.com . The hair guru filed suit against the "Anaconda" rapper, claiming she stole the designs he custom-made for her and sold them on her website. Davidson also says Minaj killed his chance of landing a reality TV show.
Harry Belafonte, Jean-Claude Carriere, Hayao Miyazaki, and Maureen O'Hara will receive Governors Awards at the Academy's sixth annual ceremony Nov. 8, Variety reported. Among previous recipients are Angela Lansbury, Angelina Jolie, Jean-Luc Godard, James Earl Jones and Oprah Winfrey.
Tony- and Emmy-winning actor David Hyde Pierce will be part of the upcoming sixth season of CBS' acclaimed drama The Good Wife, according to Playbill. Pierce will have a recurring role as a "highly respected cable news legal commentator who is so disgusted by the corruption and murder rate in Chicago that he decides to run for office in order to affect change." Pierce, who is openly gay, is probably best known for playing Niles Crane on the long-running TV show Frasier. The Good Wife stars Julianna Margulies, Christine Baranski, Matt Czuchry, Archie Panjabi and Alan Cumming, among others.
Complete casting has been announced for the national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots, which launches in Las Vegas Sept. 4-14, Playbill noted. Kyle Taylor Parker, one of the Angels in the original Broadway company of Kinky Boots, is set to lead the cast as Lola with Steven Booth as shoe-factory owner Charlie Price. The U.K.-set musical has a new book by Tony winner Harvey Fierstein and a score by Grammy- and Tony-winning singer/songwriter Lauper. Directed and choreographed by Tony winner Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots premiered on Broadway March 3, 2013, following an out-of-town engagement at the Bank of America Theatre in Chicago.
Yoko Ono's publicist, Kip Kouri, claims he was "thrown" through a plate glass window by three bigoted bouncers at celebrity chef Mario Batali's eatery Eataly, and is now suing the operation for $10 million, according to The New York Daily News. Kouri claims in court papers the bouncers called him an anti-gay slur, among other things, and that he suffered a severe gash on one leg that required 60 stitches to close. In a statement, restaurant spokeswoman Cristina Villa said Kouri was "visibly intoxicated and acting as a potential threat to others."
Reno 911!'s Niecy Nash will be joining the cast as the new chief of Shulman & Associates' admitting hospital on the Fox show The Mindy Project, according to TVLine.com . Nash's recurring character, Dr. Jean Fishman, is a tough Bostonian physician who also happens to be a lesbian. The Mindy Project kicks off its third season Sept. 16.
GLAAD will honor Rick Welts, president and COO of the NBA's Golden State Warriors, at GLAAD Gala San Francisco: Game Changers at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square on Sept. 13, according to a press release. The event will be hosted by Orange is the New Black co-star Taryn Manning and will feature a special performance from Glee star Alex Newell. Welts will receive GLAAD's Davidson/Valentini Award, which is presented to an LGBT media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equality for the LGBT community.
C. David Heymann's posthumously released account of Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio's torrid marriage received favorable reviews after its July release; however, Newsweek's David Cay Johnston is now contesting the authenticity of the book and much of the author's entire biographical catalog, according to The Wrap. Johnston has also critiqued Heymann's previous "salacious and gossipy" biographies, including Poor Little Rich Girl: The Life and Legend of Barbara Hutton ( 1983 ), A Woman Named Jackie" ( 1989 ), Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story ( 2009 ) and Liz: An Intimate Biography of Elizabeth Taylor ( 1995 ). "Bobby and Jackie" even suggests that Robert Kennedy had an affair with Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev.
Ashlee Simpson, the sister of Jessica Simpson, and Evan Ross tied the knot at the Connecticut home of the groom's mother, Diana Ross, People.com reported. Jessica Simpson was matron of honor. Simpson, 29, and Ross, 26, announced their engagement on Jan. 13 via Twitter.