Kellie covers the top stories including a reboot of a popular HGTV show, the death of a legend, Benson Boone, and more in the ongoing court drama of Lively vs Baldoni.
In recasting news — Love It or List It fans will be happy to hear that it’s finally back with new episodes….and a new co-host. After 17 seasons, Hilary Farr left the show in 2023 to do her spinoff, Tough Love with Hilary Farr. That apparently ended after 2 seasons. However, new designer Page Turner will join real estate agent David Visentin when Love It or List It returns this summer for its 18th season. You may recognize Page from other HGTV Series like Flip or Flop Nashville, Fix My Flip and Rock the Block. In other recasting news, Heidi Klum is stepping away from Season 20 of America’s Got Talent and former judge Scary Spice Mel B will slide into her seat. Heidi recently announced she’s rejoined Project Runway as it moves to Freeform. Auditions are currently underway for AGT, and you can see how that goes starting May 27, with the live shows starting in August.
Back in 1998, Irv Gotti, who was born Domingo Lorenzo Jr., co-founded the Murder Inc. Record label with his brother Chris, who also adopted the last name Gotti. Ja Rule was the first artist the label signed, and Ashanti came shortly after. Irv Gotti worked with so many artists, including Jennifer Lopez, DMX, Kanye, Jay-Z, Fat Joe, and Christina Milian, just to name a few. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Irv Gotti passed away yesterday at the age of 54. He reportedly suffered with diabetes for years and then had a stroke several months ago. Media outlets are reporting he died from stroke complications.
Irv Gotti, cofounder of Murder Inc. Records, has died at the age of 54, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
— XXL Magazine (@XXL) February 6, 2025
The famed record executive and producer's cause of death is as yet unknown. Earlier today, it was reported that Irv suffered a stroke several days ago. This is the second… pic.twitter.com/wzJuU9GhZR
Before he was diving off pianos, Benson Boone was diving into pools. Five years before he started making waves in the music industry, Benson competed on the Monroe High School diving team in the state of Washington. Benson competed in the WIAA Boys State Swimming and Diving Championships 4A three years in a row. In 2019, he placed 7th in the one-meter diving event and placed 6th the following year. Not only that, Benson was involved in high school theater, playing Buddy in the Monroe High School production of the musical Elf. In the playbill, Benson’s bio says, “He enjoys singing, sports, and backflipping.” In fact, a Seattle TV station interviewed Benson’s dad last week, and Dad said, “When he was probably three years old, we just could never stop from having him do backflips off the couch or flips wherever he could.”
Wendy Williams insists she is not suffering from dementia, and now her legal guardian is willing to let her prove it. Wendy’s court-appointed guardian told the judge overseeing Wendy’s case about her recent interviews — including one with TMZ and another with The Breakfast Club — where she said she did not have frontotemporal dementia. That’s the original diagnosis that landed her in an assisted living facility. In a letter to the judge, her guardians says she believes it “would be prudent for (Wendy) to undergo a new medical evaluation that will involve comprehensive neurological and psychological testing by a specialist in the field.” Meantime, Wendy spoke freely to Harvey Levin for the new TMZ documentary, Saving Wendy, which begins streaming Feb. 12 on Tubi.
Wendy Williams says she's "not incapacitated" from dementia as her guardian requests a "new medical evaluation": docs. https://t.co/c8ljAtNtAV
— Yahoo Entertainment (@YahooEnt) February 6, 2025
Crisis manager Jed Wallace has filed a $7M defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively, who accused him of being hired by Justin Baldoni’s PR firm to smear her online. Team Lively says, “Another day, another state, another nine-figure lawsuit seeking to sue Ms. Lively ‘into oblivion’ for speaking out against sexual harassment and retaliation. This is not just a publicity stunt — it is transparent retaliation in response to allegations contained within a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint that Ms. Lively filed with the California Civil Rights Department. While this lawsuit will be dismissed, we are pleased that Mr. Wallace has finally emerged from the shadows, and that he too will be held accountable in federal court.”
Meantime, Blake is gearing up to promote her next movie, Another Simple Favor, which makes its debut on the opening night of SXSW on March 7. After her disastrous promotion of It Ends With Us, sources told the Daily Mail that a private coach was hired to “school her” to prevent history from repeating itself. But there’s another hurdle that needs to be overcome for the upcoming press tour….Blake and co-star Anna Kendrick reportedly hate each other! Fans are going back to 2018 when the ladies were promoting the original movie A Simple Plan and they’re convinced there was tension between them. While both ladies tend to be sarcastic with their humor, some of their barbs at each other seemed to land pretty hard.
