Vanessa Bryant is positioned to make out like a bandit in her divorce from Kobe Bryant , in large part due to the couple’s apparent lack of a prenuptial agreement. Coupled with 10 years of marriage, her settlement should be upwards of $75 million – half the L.A. Lakers guard’s fortune – along with support for their daughters. Vanessa Bryant’s mom told the Los Angeles Times that the couple did not sign a prenuptial agreement when they wed – entitling Vanessa to half of their assets. Estimates put Kobe Bryant’s net worth at $150 million. The NBA’s highest-paid player, he earned $24.8 million last season, part of an extension worth $83.5 million. Forbes magazine estimates that with endorsement deals, Kobe last year earned $53 million before taxes and agent fees. So basically, Vanessa is sitting pretty. The fact the marriage lasted 10 years also gives Vanessa big advantages under California law, as she is allowed to maintain her standard of living after the split. In the petition filed Friday, Vanessa cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the divorce. The couple says the terms have already been settled privately. The NBA star was caught cheating with multiple women by his wife, according to sources, with good old-fashioned gossip among basketball spouses to blame. His latest mistress is rumored to be Jessica Burciaga , but that has not been confirmed. The lesson in all of this? Get a prenup and/or don’t cheat on your wife all the time. [Photo: WENN.com]
Singer went under the knife in Boston for vocal cord microsurgery By Gil Kaufman Adele Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage In an effort to repair her strained voice, Adele underwent microsurgery for a benign polyp on her vocal cords in Boston and doctor’s said her prognosis is good. “Adele underwent vocal cord microsurgery by Dr. Steven Zeitels to stop recurrent vocal cord hemorrhage (bleeding) from a benign polyp,” read a statement from Massachusetts General Hospital where the surgery took place. “This condition is typically the result of unstable blood vessels in the vocal cord that can rupture. Based on the advice of her doctor and voice therapist in the United Kingdom, Adele came to Boston to consult and undergo corrective voice surgery with Dr. Zeitels, the Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Voice Center. … Dr. Zeitels expects Adele to make a full recovery from her laser microsurgery.” According to The Los Angeles Times , the surgery uses special lasers to stop the vocal cord bleeding and has successfully been performed on other singers in the past, including Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler in 2006. The surgery came after the “Rolling in the Deep” singer scrapped all remaining performances and appearances in 2011 on doctor’s orders. “It is with deep regret that Adele has been forced to cancel her remaining live dates and promotional appearances in 2011,” read a statement posted on her website last month. “She is to undergo surgery to alleviate the current issues with her throat, and a full recovery is expected. As a result, doctors have ordered her to rest her voice and completely recuperate before looking to schedule any work commitments.” The vocal problems were the latest hiccup in the 23-year-old singer’s plans to tour the U.S., which were previously derailed when she had to call off a string of gigs due to a bout of laryngitis. “Singing is literally my life … I have great confidence in believing you know how much this upsets me, how seriously I take it. Wanting to do something so bad and not being able to is the most frustrating thing as I’m sure you know,” she wrote in a message to her fans explaining the latest setback, which was caused by a vocal hemorrhage. “My voice is weak and I need to build it back up. I’m gonna be starting up vocal rehab [soon] and start building my overall stamina in my voice, body and mind.” When MTV News contacted an independent expert prior to the surgery, he said that recovery from such a procedure could take one to two months and that Adele’s voice should be fine in the long run. Related Artists Adele
Co-hosts of political podcast ‘Citizen Radio’ talk to MTV News about their Talib Kweli connection and why the movement is more than a march. By Amanda Sprecher Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images On Monday, Kanye West and Russell Simmons stopped by to show support for the Occupy Wall Street protesters. But they weren’t the first hip-hop celebs to lend their time to the cause. Last week, Talib Kweli also made a surprise appearance, which included a performance of his new song “Distractions.” Can’t get to New York City? Take our guided tour of the Occupy Wall Street headquarters. And it was two of the forces behind the podcast “Citizen Radio” who were responsible for bringing Kweli to New York’s Zuccotti Park, where the activists have set up camp for nearly a month. Shortly before the Brooklyn rapper’s performance, MTV News caught up with Jamie Kilstein and Allison Kilkenny , co-hosts of the free and independent podcast. Kilstein, a political comedian, performed two charged stand-up pieces for the Occupy Wall Street assembly before introducing Talib as his surprise guest. “I know a lot of these kids are bored,” Kilstein told us. “So I thought I would perform. And then I was like, ‘Well, a lot of people don’t know who I am, so what if I call all my famous friends?’ and Talib was like the first one who signed on.” The duo have done more than just entertain the young protesters, however. They’ve also been covering the Occupy movement from the start. Kilkenny, a reporter for The Nation, has been there since day one. “It was supposed to be a march but day by day, I’ve been more impressed by how it’s grown and how it’s become much more diverse. It’s not just white, wealthy college students, it’s kids who have been buried in student loans. It’s people who have lost their jobs; it’s union members, you know, nurses, teachers. So it’s really becoming a force to be reckoned with.” Citizen Radio has been interviewing and broadcasting directly from the Occupy site in downtown Manhattan, talking to a broad spectrum of supporters, from nurses, teachers and electricians. As the movement spreads beyond Wall Street to spots around the country, increased media attention has followed, but the Citizen Radio hosts said their mission is to spotlight what they see as the most important aspects, including the diversity, the cooperation and the level of organization. Kilstein said some journalists have mistakenly played up a freak-show aspect of the rallies. “A lot of the mainstream media, what they’re doing is they go there and they find the craziest person they can that may not even be a part of it.” Still, Kilstein and Kilkenny are careful to keep a good sense of humor about the Occupy movement. That approach has earned them new followers, including Kweli, Sarah Silveman, Robin Williams and Noam Chomsky. “Liberals talk a lot of sh–,” Kilstein joked. “We’re really good at going to a bar and being like, ‘We got to take down the man, and here’s what we’re going to do! Not tomorrow, because I’ll be hung-over, and probably not the next day because we’re going to go out drinking again, but one day, we’ll get ’em.’ This was people finally putting it all on the line.” Share your thoughts on the Occupy Wall Street movement in our comments section! Related Videos Inside Occupy Wall Street
Image shown during Dr. Conrad Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial was taken moments after MJ was pronounced dead. By Gil Kaufman Conrad Murray Photo: Pool/ Getty Images The involuntary manslaughter trial of former Michael Jackson doctor Conrad Murray got under way again Tuesday (October 11), when the jury viewed photos from Jackson’s autopsy for the first time and heard more testimony from the lead police investigator in the case, the rest of a taped interview Murray gave to investigators two days after the singer’s death, and potentially damaging testimony from L.A. County medical examiner Dr. Christopher Rogers who pronounced Jackson’s death a homicide. Among the highlights of Tuesday’s testimony:
Following yet another hospitalization , 94-year old actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is in critical condition, her publicist tells The Los Angeles Times , adding that doctors at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center are “guardedly optimistic” that Gabor will recover a couple days after losing consciousness at her Bel-Air residence. Husband Frederic von Anhalt, who called 911 on Saturday morning, Gabor has opened her eyes and squeezed his hand. She is yet to move or speak, however. “She’s a big fighter,” von Anhalt said . “I always feel optimistic because I know her.”
File this under Admissions We Did Not See Coming: In an interview with The Los Angeles Times , Thomas Jane says he was once homeless and earned money as a man-on-man prostitute. “When I was a kid out here in L.A., I was homeless. I didn’t have any money and I was living in my car,” the actor says . “I wasn’t averse to going down to Santa Monica Boulevard and letting a guy buy me a sandwich. Know what I mean?” The Hung star, who been married twice, adds that “you’re a lot more open to experimentation as a young man. And for me, being a young artist and broke in Los Angeles, I was exploring my sexual identity.” Does he have any regrets? Nope. “Until you’ve tasted the food, you don’t know whether you’ll like it or not, as my mom always said.” [Photo: WENN.com]
This is so sad… Rates of abusive head trauma in children under age 5 rose during the last recession, suggesting that economic woes may have led parents to lash out against their kids, researchers reported Monday in the journal Pediatrics. The data also suggest that physicians today may want to be extra vigilant for signs of child abuse as economic conditions remain in the doldrums, the team wrote. The notion that economic hardship leads to increases in child abuse is not new — scientific research and anecdotal reports have long shown a relationship. For example, the Los Angeles Times reported during the recession in 1994 about increases in child abuse and neglect in Los Angeles County. In recent years, the co-authors noted in the Pediatrics study, articles in the popular press including this one and this one have again stoked concerns that abuse was on the rise as the economy worsened. Hoping to better understand the relationship, Dr. Rachel Berger of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and her co-authors reviewed medical records of children under 5 years old with abusive head trauma in three regions — six counties in the Seattle area, 23 counties in western Pennsylvania, and 45 counties in Ohio and northern Kentucky — between Jan. 1, 2004, and June 30, 2009. Roughly the first four years of that period preceded the recession; the last 19 months coincided with it. A total of 422 children in the studied regions, 58% of them boys, were treated for abusive head trauma during the research period. Their average age was 8.9 months; more than three-fourths were less than a year old. Sixty-three percent went to a pediatric ICU. Sixteen percent died. All three areas had significant increases in abusive head trauma during the recession. Put together, the annual rate of the injuries went up from 8.9 per 100,000 before the recession to 14.7 per 100,000 during the recession, the team reported. The researchers did not find any correlation between unemployment rates in the counties and abusive head trauma. They speculated that this might be because official unemployment figures exclude people who are underemployed, people who are discouraged in their job searches and others who might be under economic pressure. But them shady a** Republicans have the audacity to talk about “class warfare” ?? Source
We already knew that there was going to be nudity on Kelsey Grammer ‘s new show Boss . After all, it’s on Starz , the pay-cable network that doesn’t just tolerate nudity on its shows, it flat-out requires it. Don’t believe us? Ask Party Down creator Dan Etheridge : “We were asked by the network, and not in an offensive way, to explore premium content, and part of that was some nudity,” Etheridge said in a 2010 interview with Details magazine. So we knew someone was going to get naked, but WHO? That question has now been answered, thanks to the Los Angeles Times ‘ writeup of the show, which stars Grammer as a fictional mayor of Chicago: ” Connie Nielsen is his alienated wife, Martin Donovan his matter-of-fact amanuensis, Kathleen Robertson the aide who gets naked for premium cable .” So if you grew up fapping to the original Beverly Hills, 90210 , set your DVRs, because this fall Claire is going to be turning in her combat boots for naked boobs. Boss premieres on Starz October 21 at 10/9 Central , but until then you can check out all of Kathleen Robertson ‘s breast moments, including her butt-baring scene in XX/XY (2002), right here at MrSkin.com!
Brandy aims to drop her sixth solo album on RCA Records early next year. By Rob Markman Brandy Photo: Michael Buckner/ Getty Images Everyone loves a comeback, and R&B singer Brandy is looking to make her return to music after a near-three-year hiatus. It was December 2008 when the singer released her last album, Human, and now, according to the Los Angeles Times, Brandy has signed a deal with RCA Records and producer Breyon Prescott’s Chameleon Records to release her sixth album. The LP is tentatively scheduled for an early 2012 drop. “Throughout her career, Brandy has consistently won the vote as everyone’s favorite female vocalist,” Peter Edge, chief executive of RCA Music Group, said in a statement. “I am sure that in her next chapter at RCA and in partnership with Breyon Prescott, we will record her most exciting music to date.” “This is truly a blessing,” Brandy said in a statement. “Breyon Prescott, Peter Edge and Tom Corson [RCA Music Group’s president and chief operating officer] believe in me and have introduced me to a home that also believes and knows exactly what to do with the type of music I’m doing. Breyon and the team at RCA/Chameleon are creative and forward-thinking and I am thrilled to be working with them.” After her self-titled debut hit in 1994, the then-teenage Brandy became a staple on the R&B scene thanks to catchy love songs like “I Wanna Be Down” and her Grammy-winning duet with Monica “The Boy Is Mine.” The singer also lit up in front of the camera as the star of her own sitcom, “Moesha,” which ran from 1996 to 2001. She has since starred in a number of films as well as a few reality shows — most recently the VH1 series “Brandy & Ray J: A Family Business.” In December 2006, the singer was involved in a multi-car crash that claimed the life of a woman, but she wasn’t charged and was cleared of any wrongdoing. Related Artists Brandy
Police shut down the event after Kaskade announced his free show on Twitter. By Gil Kaufman Police closure of Hollywood Blvd during the ‘Electric Daisy Carnival’ July 27, 2011 Photo: FilmMagic An impromptu street rave announced on Twitter to celebrate the Hollywood screening of a documentary about the Electric Daisy Carnival nearly turned into a riot on Wednesday night when police attempted to disperse a huge crowd that gathered on a downtown street. Popular electronic musician Kaskade tweeted about a special DJ set earlier in the day, telling fans to gather at 6 p.m. in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, promising, “Me+BIG SPEAKERS+MUSIC=BLOCK PARTY!!! RT!” The show was intended to celebrate the debut of the rave documentary “Electric Daisy Carnival Experience.” But when hundreds of dancers converged on the invitation-only premiere and began throwing bottles and other objects at police, who were trying to disperse them, officers in riot gear responded in force, according to the Los Angeles Times . While invited guests tried to get into the screening, thousands of non-ticketed dance fans converged en masse and ran up against police, who were trying to clear Hollywood Boulevard for the premiere. According to The Hollywood Reporter , the near-riot happened when the street dancers ignored warnings from cops that Kaskade’s set had been canceled and that they should disperse. Even after Kaskade sent out some follow-up tweets telling fans to “chill” and leave the area, officers were forced to push crowds away from the Grauman’s entrance, setting off the clashes. The movie, directed by video legend Kevin Kerslake, chronicles the 2010 edition of the massive music festival, with interviews from such stars as Kaskade, David Guetta and Steve Aoki. The EDC moved to Las Vegas this year after the widely reported crowd-control problems and drug-related death of a 15-year-old girl at the 2010 show. LAPD officers detained dozens of revelers after the melee, with most of them eventually released without charge. Two people were arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism in connection with damage to police cars. Related Artists Kaskade
