No truth in Jolie-Pitt split rumors: Jon Voight
LONDON: Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie’s estranged father Jon Voight has shot down rumors of his daughter splitting with Brad Pitt, saying it is “nonsense.”
Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight, who has a notoriously difficult relationship with Jolie, insists the couple are staying together and there is no truth in the recent claims, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
When asked about the split rumors, he said: “Nonsense. It’s all made up stuff.”
The stars have three adopted children together — Maddox, 8, Pax, 6, and Zahara, 5 — as well as three biological kids — Shiloh, 3, and twins Knox and Vivienne.
50 Cent makes rare appearance sans bling
LONDON: Rapper 50 Cent, who is known to flash elaborate jewelry, made a rare appearance without any. He says he left them home because he no longer needs to remind people how rich he is.
50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, surprised US TV audiences Tuesday night when he came on “The Late Late Show” with Craig Ferguson minus his bling, reports contactmusic.com.
“I was trying to send a signal with the jewelry and now I don’t need that,” said 50 Cent.
Usually, the rapper is seen in gold and diamond-encrusted necklaces, earrings and rings.
Dixie Chicks spouse, ‘Heroes’ actor arrested
LOS ANGELES: “Heroes” TV actor Adrian Pasdar — the husband of Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines — has been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, police said on Wednesday.
Pasdar, 44, was pulled over before dawn on Wednesday after highway patrol officers said they spotted his truck speeding on a Los Angeles freeway at 94 mph (151.34 kph) and swerving between lanes.
Pasdar played the mysterious Nathan Petrelli in the NBC TV drama about a bunch of superheroes. His character was killed off in November but may return for flashbacks. He married country music star Maines, lead singer of the Grammy winning band Dixie Chicks, in June 2000, and they have two children.
Sundance film ‘Bhutto’ sheds light on Pakistan
PARK CITY, Utah: Westerners seeking to understand the volatility of modern Pakistan are getting a good look at the country in a new movie examining the life and legacy of slain leader Benazir Bhutto, screening at the Sundance Film Festival this week .
In looking at the Bhutto family’s legacy, the producers hope westerners might better understand a country dominating headlines with tales of political strive and Muslim extremism.
Directed by Jessica Hernandez and Johnny O’Hara, the film focuses early on the influence of Bhutto’s father, former Prime Minister and President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who defied convention by insisting his daughter get an education and not forcing her to wear the traditional Muslim burqa.
Reviews at Sundance were good with The Hollywood Reporter saying “’Bhutto’ will find a natural home at international and political-leaning (festivals) with broadcast (television) its likely ultimate destination.”
Alternative US historian Howard Zinn dies
NEW YORK: Howard Zinn, the leftist academic whose alternative history of the United States became required reading for millions of ordinary people, as well as a following of celebrities, has died. He was 87.
The Boston Globe reported that the cause of death was heart attack and that he died Wednesday while traveling in Santa Monica, California.
An anti-Vietnam war activist and champion of the post-World War II civil rights movement for blacks in the United States, Zinn was most famous for his 1980 “A People’s History of the United States,” which sold millions of copies.
Zinn collaborated on projects with numerous celebrities, including Hollywood star Matt Damon, director Oliver Stone, rock singer Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. Born in New York, he was a shipyard worker and Air Force bombardier in World War II, before he went to college and received his doctorate from Columbia University in New York.
From there, he went on to teach at Spelman, a mostly black women’s college in Atlanta, Georgia, and then at Boston University, where he became famous for leading strikes and anti-war protests.
“I wanted students to leave my classes not just better informed, but more prepared to relinquish the safety of silence, more prepared to speak up, to act against injustice wherever they saw it. This, of course, was a recipe for trouble.”
Michael Douglas’ son pleads guilty in meth case
NEW YORK: The son of Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas admitted in a New York court on Wednesday to possessing heroin and dealing large amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine out of his hotel room.
Cameron Douglas, 31, pleaded guilty before US District Judge Ronald Ellis in Manhattan federal court to conspiracy to distribute crystal meth and cocaine and to heroin possession.
Douglas sent large quantities of methamphetamine, known by the street names of “crystal meth” and “ice,” to New York via FedEx between 2006 and 2009, according to the complaint.
His two-time Oscar-winner father, Michael Douglas, said in an interview in with AARP The Magazine said his son, his only child with his first wife Diandra Luker, is a “tough kid” but that he was still worried about his welfare.
In the 2000 movie Traffic, Michael Douglas played a high-powered judge in charge of fighting a war on drugs, only to find out his teenage daughter was a cocaine addict.
“Cameron has a lot of life ahead. He now recognizes his own demons and struggles,” Douglas told the magazine.
— Compiled from agencies
