Tag Archives: Entertainment

Celine Dion Belts Out Truly Spectacular Performance On Eiffel Tower At Olympics

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Celine Dion brought the Paris Olympics opening ceremony to a magnificent end with her first performance since announcing her diagnosis of a rare neurological disorder in 2022.

Dressed in a glittery silver gown, she delivered a stirring rendition of L’hymne à l’amour, co-written and famously performed by French singer Édith Piaf, on a platform partway up the lighted Eiffel Tower and beneath glowing Olympic rings. She was accompanied by a pianist.

Immediately after the performance, Kelly Clarkson, one of NBC’s commentators, choked up and teary, said, “I actually can’t talk.”

“People don’t know her story, what she’s been going through physically,” she added. “It’s just incredible what she’s overcome. And to have that moment — she’s a vocal athlete.”

Dion announced in 2022 she had been diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, a condition that has affected her ability to sing. She has since cut back significantly on public appearances.

She fuelled hype that she would perform at the opening ceremony when she was spotted in Paris this week.

Afterwards, the Canadian singer posted on social media saying she was honoured to have performed and “so full of joy to be back in one of my very favourite cities.”

“Most of all, I’m so happy to be celebrating these amazing athletes, with all their stories of sacrifice and determination, pain and perseverance,” she wrote. “All of you have been so focused on your dream, and whether or not you take home a medal, I hope that being here means that it has come true for you!”

It marked Dion’s second time performing at the Olympics. In 1996, she sang The Power of the Dream at the Summer Games in Atlanta, a clip of which the official Olympic social media accounts shared:

In an interview in June, the five-time Grammy winner said she had broken ribs as a result of the muscle spasms associated with stiff-person syndrome, which had made it difficult for her to sing.

She said at times it had felt like “somebody’s strangling you” when she tried to sing.

But she hit her high notes flawlessly in her comeback on Friday, earning high praise and drawing strong emotions from viewers, who hailed the performance as “beautiful” and “inspirational.”

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Lisa Kudrow Shares The Real Reason Everyone Is Laughing In The Friends Intro

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Lisa Kudrow may have hated filming the opening credits sequence for Friends even more than hearing the studio audience laugh too long.

During an interview on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, the actor reminisced about the late Matthew Perry, spurring her to tell a hilarious and bittersweet story about her former co-star — and how their show’s now-iconic opening could be viewed as an homage to him.

“Honest to God, shooting those titles in the fountain was a nightmare,” Lisa said, before going on to explain that the series’ intro was filmed late at night when the water in the fountain was extremely cold.

“We’d done, I think, 500 takes of dancing,” Lisa said, describing it as “unmotivated”.

Noting that she doesn’t like any kind of “discomfort, at all”, she remembered getting pretty cranky toward the end of the shoot, snapping at crew members who suggested she play with a scarf.

“I was a real joy,” Lisa remarked, poking fun at herself.

“And it was so cold, and we had to keep doing it,” she continued. “They said, ‘We’re going to do one more take.’ And he [Perry] said: ‘One more? OK. Can’t remember a time I wasn’t in a fountain.’”

Lisa continued to imitate her late friend, mimicking his unique cadence when he cracked jokes.

“Seriously. Can’t remember a time I wasn’t wet,” Lisa recalled Matthew snarking. “What, are we wet? In a fountain? What, are we dancing in a fountain?”

She added: “I don’t know when I’ve laughed so hard.”

Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Kudrow

via Associated Press

The Emmy nominee also noted that this happened before Matthew’s comedic way of speaking was written into his Friends character, Chandler Bing, and that the whole cast was tickled by his delivery.

“You see us laughing, and it’s because … [the crew said] ‘Ready, we’re going to go again,’ [and Matthew said] ‘What, are we going at it again? Are we going to do it again?’” Lisa said, noting that the cast was “laughing hysterically, just doubled over — and that’s in the titles”.

So, according to Lisa, the laughter in the Friends intro is completely genuine, but it’s the result of Matthew Perry’s sarcastic response to the absurd situation.

Her loving anecdote — which she’s also shared in the past — adds some context to a story about the intro that set decorator Greg Grande recounted to Entertainment Weekly in 2022, though he remembered the actors being far less grumpy.

When the magazine asked Grande how the cast ended up in the fountain in the first place, he said: “To my best recollection, that wasn’t a scripted thing. … It was more impromptu.

“As [the actors] got later into the evening, they had more fun with the back and forth. They were just happy to hang out and have a few cocktails, probably. I don’t want to say who started it, but one of them did, and they ended up inside the fountain. And that was some of the best footage. It was kind of an impromptu, wonderful moment.”

Thanks to Lisa, fans now know that the reason it was so magical is because a wet, crabby Matthew couldn’t be any funnier.

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ITV Has Finally Just Teased What To Expect From Gail Platt’s Coronation Street Exit Storyline

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Coronation Street bosses have teased what they have in store for when Weatherfield staple Gail Platt bids farewell to the cobbles later this year.

Last month, soap veteran Helen Worth announced she was stepping down from the long-running ITV show after 50 years of playing Gail.

Since then, speculation has been rife about the nature of her exit, with Corrie boss Iain MacLeod insisting the character will be given a “happy ending”.

“It didn’t feel like killing her off would be right,” he told the Daily Star. “Gail’s exit is a brilliant story. I thought, ‘What do the viewers want to see?’.

“Gail has had a hard life. She had a difficult childhood [and] disastrous marriages. So, we thought what viewers really want is a happy ending for her, so that’s what we’re doing.”

The Sun previously claimed that Gail’s departure would involve the return of her ex-husband, Martin Platt, the father of her youngest son David.

And on Wednesday morning, ITV confirmed that actor Sean Wilson would be reprising his role as Martin as part of Gail’s exit storyline.

Sean Wilson is back on the cobbles as Martin Platt
Sean Wilson is back on the cobbles as Martin Platt

Sean said: “We’ll have a few months to catch up with Martin and Gail again, following the ebbs and flows of the unfolding storyline.

“Playing Martin has been a joy since day one and in a way, I’ll be slipping back to where I left off, which no doubt will throw a spanner into the heart of the Platt family. It’s just like slipping on an old and comfortable jumper from the back of the wardrobe – I’m looking forward to reuniting with my TV family.”

Helen Worth previously said of her decision to leave Coronation Street: “This year felt like the perfect time to leave the show after celebrating 50 years in the most wonderful job on the most wonderful street in the world,” she said.

“I made the decision at the start of the year and spoke to the producers who were very kind and understanding. I have been truly blessed to have been given the most incredible scripts week in week out, and to have worked with fantastic actors, directors and a brilliant crew.”

Helen in the early years of her time on Coronation Street
Helen in the early years of her time on Coronation Street

Over the course of the last five decades, Corrie viewers have seen Gail at the centre of numerous huge plotlines, most notably her daughter Sarah-Louise’s teenage pregnancy, an attempted murder attempt by her ex-husband Richard Hillman and her Tudor-esque six marriages.

In 2014, Helen was honoured with an Outstanding Contribution prize at the National Television Awards, which coincided with the 40th anniversary of her time on Corrie.

She was also recognised with an MBE last year for her services to drama.

This article has been amended to correct the name of Gail’s third husband.

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Lisa Kudrow Reveals Her Surprising First Impression To The Friends Season 1 Script

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Lisa Kudrow has revealed her first impressions to the Friends characters after reading the early scripts.

The Emmy winner, who played Phoebe Buffay on the iconic sitcom, was speaking during the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend when she spoke about the late Matthew Perry, who died as a result of the “acute effects of ketamine” in October 2023.

Recounting her first reactions to his character, the Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion star recalled:. “The Chandler character, when I read it, I went, ‘Oh, they have a gay character, that’s good’.

“And so, at the table read, I just did a double take at him, ‘Oh my God’. I never even in a million years could have envisioned anyone playing the character like that – and with his own rhythm and everything. It’s his own.”

Conan agreed that Matthew had “impeccable timing”.

The late night talk show host, who dated Lisa from 1988 to 1993, also remembered feeling a tad “jealous” over hearing Lisa gushing at just how funny Matthew was, before he eventually found out for himself.

The Friends actor went on to note just how “phenomenally hilarious” co-stars David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc and Courteney Cox all were.

The Friends cast at the 2002 Emmys
The Friends cast at the 2002 Emmys

via Associated Press

During the conversation, Lisa explained how she previously struggle to watch herself in Friends when it was on TV, but was able to start watching again after her co-star’s death “because it wasn’t about me”.

“It had to do with him for some reason. And so, I have started watching Friends,” she said. “There are marathons on, and I have spent, at times, since he died, all day long watching the show.”

Lisa recently reflected on how she and her co-stars “were always laughing so hard, tears were flying out of our faces” thanks to Matthew’s antics.

Elsewhere in their conversation, Lisa doubled down on one of her biggest bug-bears from her time during filming for the show, confessing that she was “irritated” by audience laughter during filming.

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Simon Cowell’s Company Responds To Rumoured Dig On Jade Thirlwall’s New Single

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Simon Cowell’s company has issued a response to an apparent dig on Jade Thirlwall’s debut single.

Last week, the former Little Mix singer unveiled her first ever solo offering, Angel Of My Dreams, which she has described as her personal “love/hate letter to the music industry”.

While promoting the single, Jade has said her song is intended to represent the highs and lows she’s experienced during her 13 years in the public eye.

One lyric in particular, “sold my soul to a psycho”, has been interpreted by many as a jab at Simon Cowell, whose now-defunct record label, Syco, she and her bandmates were signed to for almost a decade after winning The X Factor in 2011.

Responding to the lyric, a representative for Simon Cowell’s entertainment company told the Daily Mail: “The entire team who worked incredibly hard behind the scenes with Little Mix to help make the group a success would, I’m sure, always continue to wish them solo success.”

Little Mix performing in front of Simon Cowell on The X Factor in 2017
Little Mix performing in front of Simon Cowell on The X Factor in 2017

Summers/Thames/Syco/Shutterstock

Jade previously said: “[Angel Of My Dreams] is about how obsessed I am with the industry – so there are lyrics like ‘love when you call me a star’ – but also there’s the dark side that comes with that. It’s not as glam as it seems.”

The track opens with a sample of Sandie Shaw’s Eurovision-winning Puppet On A String, of which Jade said: “In the beginning of our career you do think you are this puppet, but at the same time it isn’t true – we wrote a lot of our songs, and we were behind a lot of what we put out there. I resented that as a statement.

“So, it felt natural to take that and show that it can be true and untrue at the same time.”

Jade Thirlwall launched her solo career last week with her debut single Angel Of My Dreams
Jade Thirlwall launched her solo career last week with her debut single Angel Of My Dreams

The Official Charts Company announced on Sunday that Angel Of My Dreams is currently on track to chart at number two in this weeks UK singles chart.

Check out the song’s official music video below:

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