In an interview with The Today Show yesterday, Cissy Houston said she does not blame anyone for her daughter’s death. But Michael Houston taped an interview with Oprah Winfrey this week and admits that he got Whitney started on crack cocaine many, many years ago. Michael Houston Oprah Interview “You gotta understand at the time, Michael says. “[It was] the 80s… it was acceptable.” Houston does not absolve himself of playing a role in his sister’s demise, though. It’s clear the guilt is strong, as he explains: “It’s painful… I feel responsible for what I let go so far.” Whitney, of course, passed away in Beverly Hills last February after a drug overdose that included cocaine, Xanax and marijuana. This episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter runs Sunday night on OWN at 9/8c. Check your local listings.
After years of denial, Lance Armstrong finally admitted to using performance enhancement drugs, but reports say that he may have still been deceitful. … Continue
Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes. That was the word that came flowing out of Lance Armstrong’s mouth in his much-hyped sit-down with Oprah Winfrey tonight, as the disgraced cyclist admitted in multiple one-word answers that YES, he used performance enhancing drugs in all seven Tour de France races he won. Lance Armstrong Admits to Drug Use From EPO to testosterone, cortisone and human growth hormone, Armstrong confirmed that he took it all, despite numerous brazen and bullying denials over the years. Why come clean now? “That is the best question,” he replied. “It’s the most logical question. … I will start my answer by saying that this is too late. It’s too late for probably most people, and that’s my fault. I viewed this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times, and as you said, it wasn’t as if I just said no and I moved off it.” Admitting he’s a “flawed character,” Armstrong said “all the blame here falls on me,” adding a qualifier: “But behind that picture and behind that story is momentum. Whether it’s fans or whether it’s the media… it just gets going. And I lost myself in all of that. I’m sure there would be other people that couldn’t handle it, but I certainly couldn’t handle it, and I was used to controlling everything in my life. I controlled every outcome in my life.” Armstrong went to deny the USADA’s classification of his program as the most “sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping” campaign in sports history. “It definitely was professional, and it was definitely smart, if you can call it that, but it was very conservative, very risk-averse, very aware of what mattered,” he said. “One race mattered for me. But to say that that program was bigger than the East German doping program in the ’70s and ’80s? That’s not true.” So, where do you now stand on Lance Armstrong? Do you forgive his drug use? Yes, he came clean No, why would I? View Poll »
The Kim Kardashian Pregnant and Special and In Need of Extra Attention Tour continued last night, with the reality star and her sister stopping by The Late Show with David Letterman . And Kim actually showed a bit of sass during the interview, telling the host he can no longer make jokes about her 72-day marriage to Kris Humphries … because it’s actually been a year-and-a-half now! Considering the two aren’t actually divorced, that is. Watch Kim talk about the baller now, while Kourtney Kardashian gets in the best dig of all: If Kim were going to marry for publicity, wouldn’t “she pick someone that people knew?” Kim Kardashian on The Late Show – Kris Humphries Update And that Kanye West fella? What’s his deal? Kardashian talks about her baby daddy in the following exchange: Kim Kardashian on The Late Show – What’s Kanye Like?
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has stripped Lance Armstrong of the bronze medal he won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the wake of his doping scandal. A letter sent to the disgraced cyclist Wednesday, just 24 hours before the interview in which Lance Armstrong admits doping airs on OWN, asks for it back. The IOC did so after the 41-year-old legend failed to appeal a decision by the International Cycling Union stripping him of his seven Tour de France titles. Cycling’s governing body, citing a wide-ranging report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Administration, disqualified all of Armstrong’s results dating back to 1998. Armstrong was given 21 days to appeal; he did not, but did not offer an admission of guilt – until this week’s sit-down with O – saying he simply wouldn’t appeal. “We were waiting for confirmation from the UCI that he hadn’t appealed against his disqualification,” an IOC spokesman said of its decision to reclaim the medal. The first installment of an extensive interview Armstrong gave Oprah Winfrey earlier this week is set to air tonight only on OWN. You don’t want to miss it.
It has been confirmed by the Associated Press: In an interview taped tonight with Oprah Winfrey, Lance Armstrong admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during his days as a professional cyclist. Lance Armstrong Admits to Drug Use: Report The rumor of such an admission has been circling for days, with Armstrong apologizing over the weekend to members of his Livestrong foundation. It remains unclear exactly what Armstrong told Winfrey – the interview airs on OWN Thursday night – which will be important in terms of the lawsuits that have already been filed against Armstrong. The former world champion was stripped of all seven Tour de France titles last year after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released a 1,000-page report that painted him as a drug user and drug pusher, someone who manipulated the system and pressured fellow riders to follow his methods. Led by Armstrong, the U.S. Postal Service team carried out “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen,” according to Travis Tygart of the USADA. Through years of allegations, Armstrong both denied any kind of drug use and reacted combatively against those who leveled the charge against him. Why come clean now? He supposedly wants to be free to compete in sanctioned marathons and triathlons . Teased Oprah in a Tweet not long after chatting with the disgraced athlete: “Just wrapped with @lancearmstrong More than 2½ hours. He came READY!”
One-time quasi-adversaries Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman sat down for a wide ranging interview on Oprah’s Next Chapter last night. On the docket: Dave’s affair and telling wife Regina Lasko about it; Letterman’s battle with depression and threshold for embarrassment; His thoughts on rival Jay Leno. David Letterman Oprah Interview – on Jay Leno Oprah didn’t shy away from asking tough questions. Ditto Dave answering them, including the sex scandal of 2009 that nearly ended his marriage. After a producer for CBS’s 48 Hours threatened to write a screenplay about the host’s infidelities unless Letterman paid him $2 million, he went to the police. Robert Halderman was arrested, but Letterman’s dirty laundry was aired; he publicly confessed to affairs with Late Show interns in an on-air monologue. David Letterman Oprah Interview – On Affair David Letterman Oprah Interview – Depression “I have no one to blame but myself,” Letterman told Winfrey, adding that he knows he “hurt a lot of people.” But there’s a silver lining to the scandal: “I feel better about myself,” he says. “My relationship with my wife is never better, and it’s just because I want to be the person I always thought I was and probably was pretending I was.” Letterman also delved into his depression, including a six-month “sinkhole” during which he couldn’t shake the urge to stay in bed all day or tolerate sunlight. David Letterman Oprah Interview – Sex Scandal David Letterman Oprah Interview – Hates to Be Embarrassed When Winfrey asked how he managed to work throughout that period of darkness in his life, Letterman answered that he simply “had to push through.” As for his late night adversary, Dave said Jay Leno is talented and insecure – probably more so in both departments than anyone he’s ever met.
Oprah will be making products that come straight from her farm in Maui and trademarks for ‘Oprah’s Organics’, ‘Oprah’s Farm’, and ‘Oprah’s Harvest’ all have applications open. According to The Daily Mail , the potential names will be used for bath soaps, sunscreen, massage oils, hair products, organic salad dressings, and frozen vegetables, soups, beverages, and snack dips. The Oprah empire already includes a television network, satellite radio show, lifestyle website, magazine and even a school in South Africa. Now, it looks like media mogul Oprah Winfrey, 58, is delving into the world of organic products. Several applications to trademark ‘Oprah’s Organics,’ for bath soaps, sunscreen, massage oils, hair products, as well as organic salad dressings, frozen vegetables, soups, beverages and snack dips, were filed late last month according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Organization. Applications for an ‘Oprah’s Farm’ trademark for a beverage and catering service, as well as ‘Oprah’s Harvest’ were also recently submitted – the addresses of which include the Wilshire Boulevard location of Ms Winfrey’s business and the Chicago offices of Winfrey’s Harpo Inc. Her $2.7billion empire also includes a girls’ school in South Africa, as well as hundreds of acres of land in Maui, which include a large farm and a bed and breakfast. A representative for Ms Winfrey told The New York Post: ‘The trademarks were filed for Oprah’s farm on Maui to enable the farm to grow and distribute produce on Maui and throughout the Hawaiian Islands.’ Ms Winfrey, who has spent most of 2012 splitting her time between her new home base since she left Chicago, in Montecito, Calififornia, and New Orleans, where she is starring in a film called The Butler, opposite Forest Whitaker, due out in 2013, topped Forbes’ list of highest-paid celebrities this year earning an estimated $165 million. At age 41, Winfrey had a net worth of $340million and replaced Bill Cosby as the only African American on the Forbes 400. The philanthropist continues to support educational causes, spending over $100million on her Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. As of 2012, Winfrey had also given over 400 scholarships to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Between 2004 and 2010 she ranked among the 50 most generous Americans, and according to Forbes, her lifetime giving is estimated at $400 million. What do you think about Oprah’s new gig? Would you buy an ‘Oprah’s Organics’ product?? Images via tumblr
Pop star sits down with Winfrey for ‘one of the most in-depth interviews the singer has ever agreed to do,’ airing November 25 on OWN. By Carly Wolkoff Justin Bieber and Oprah Winfrey after their “Next Chapter” interview Photo: Harpo/ Facebook
