Sir Elton John and his partner of 21 years, David Furnish, have announced plans to wed, following the change in UK law which allows same-sex marriages.
Sir Elton John and his partner of 21 years, David Furnish, have announced plans to wed, following the change in UK law which allows same-sex marriages.
The couple were united in a civil partnership almost nine years ago and although they “don’t feel the need to take an extra step legally”, David, 51, has told the Las Vegas Review Journal, “but since we’re committed for life, we feel it’s really important to take that step, and take advantage of that amazing change in legislation.”
“We all live by example.”
Sir Elton, 67, told US TV, “We’ll do it very quietly. But we will do it and it will be a joyous occasion and we will have our children.”
The couple plan to marry in a private ceremony in May and will be another milestone in a relationship that has traversed changing times in the rights of gay couples.
A notice of their Civil Partnership is pinned to a notice board in Maidenhead Town Hall on December 5, 2005 in Maidenhead, England. Photo: Getty Images
Arriving at the reception for the civil partnership between Little Britain star Matt Lucas and his long-term partner Kevin McGee in London, 2007. Photo: WireImage
David and Sir Elton with their son Zachary leaving a New York hotel, 2011. in New York City. Photo: Getty Images
Introducing new baby boy Zachary to the public in 2011.
Hello magazine cover, 2013.
The couple pays tribute to Elizabeth Taylor, 2011. Photo: WireImage
In London for Elton’s 40th birthday party. Photo: Getty Images
Sir Elton receives first Honorary Doctorate of Music from the Royal Academy of Music, 2004. Photo: Redferns via Getty Images
The boys outside the Guildhall in Windsor after their short civil “wedding” ceremony at the registry office. Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Arriving to welcome messages at Guildhall in Windsor. Photo: WireImage
Stunning ring from the civil ceremony. Photo: Getty Images
The celebrity couple leave their civil partnership ceremony. Photo: Getty Images
Looking to beat the signs of ageing? Give these 11 sneaky beauty tips a try!
Pop lips: A fresh bright lippy lightens up the face. The trick is to go one or two shades brighter than your favourite lipstick – not a blast of neon. Diffuse bright edges with a cotton bud to stop hard lines
Foundation freshen-up: Mix your foundation with a small amount of hydrating face oil
or a BB cream to lighten up coverage and add a radiant glow.
Find your overnight fix: Slather on an overnight face and neck cream that uses skin brightening ingredients such as vitamin C, algae extract and anti-oxidants.
Project Yourself: You already know you should be wearing a good quality sunscreen every day, so why not look for onr that is as flattering as it is protective? We love sunscreen that has a soft, dewy finish.
Mini massages: Give yourself a daily morning massage using small circular motions to stimulate circulation, cells and collagen. Massage forehead, cheeks, chin, and gently pat under eyes to help with firmness and reduce bloating.
Regular maintenance: A routine of mini-facials at home will help keep your skin condition consistent and clear. Scrubs with salicylic acid deep-clean skin and leave your face not only more refreshed but more receptive to your moisturiser.
Sleep straight: If you wake up in the mornings with hard-to-shift pillow marks on your
face, you might want to rethink your sleeping position. Making the effort to sleep on your back is an important beauty investment – but be sure to put a pillow under your knees to help support your spine.
Shine On: Shiny, healthy hair makes everyone look better. Try A mashed-up avocado mixed with olive oil as a hair mask – it’s cheap, natural and really effective.
Quick tidy: Hide grey roots fast. New at-home hair pigments cover greys and regrowth instantly with a brush-on palette that matches your hair colour. Genius!
Open up: Meet the eyelash curler, a must for opening up tired, droopy eyelids before applying mascara. Works every time.
Tweezy does it: A precisely sculpted brow lifts and opens your whole eye area. With a light touch, use good tweezers to shape a full brow with a gentle arch – and never do the over plucked skinny brow!
When it comes to these celebrities, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
While many stars struggled to get their big break in Hollywood, some celebs managed to get a leg-up with their famous family heritage of actors, singers and showbiz performers.
Though they might have been given a head start to stardom Drew Barrymore, George Clooney and Gwyneth Paltrow have all proved they’ve got the acting chops to make it all on their own and they aren’t the only ones.
Here are some surprising family ties floating around Hollywood.
Gwyneth Paltrow was certainly destined for fame with both her parents on the Hollywood A-list. Her mother is actress Blythe Danner and her late father was film director and producer, Bruce Paltrow.
When your godparents are Steven Spielberg and Sophia Loren your parents must have some powerful Hollywood pull. While it’s no secret that that Drew Barrymore is the daughter of John and Jaid Barrymore, she actually comes from a long lineage of actors going back to her great-grandparents.
Ben Stiller may just have funny genes. The Zoolander actor is the son of comedians Anne Meara and Seinfeld’s Jerry Stiller. Ben’s wife, Christine Taylor is also an actress and comedian and has featured in several movies with the actor.
Child actress Carrie Fisher is the daughter of screen legend Debbie Reynolds and American entertainer Eddie Fisher.
George Clooney is the son of Nick Clooney, a former news anchorman and TV host. Clooney’s aunt was American singer and actress, Rosemary Clooney and her husband was legendary actor and Academy Award winner Jose Ferrer.
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis is the daughter of actor Tony Curtis – who played opposite Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot – and Psycho actress Janet Leigh.
Kate Hudson has inherited her mother Goldie Hawn’s comic timing to carve out a successful Hollywood career of her own. Hudson’s stepfather, who raised the actress from when she was young, is action star Kurt Russell.
It’s not so surprising that Laura Dern grew up to become an actress. She spent her childhood hanging out on movie set while her mother, actress Diane Ladd, had roles in classics such as Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Chinatown.
It’s a little known fact that Lenny Kravitz’s mother, Roxie Roker, was the actress who played Helen Willis on CBS American sitcom, “The Jeffersons”.
Legendary entertainer Liza Minnelli inherited her showbiz talents from her mother, screen legend Judy Garland and father, director Vincente Minnelli.
Law and Order SVU actress Mariska Hargitay is the daughter of iconic American actress, Jane Mansfield.
Melanie Griffith’s mother, former model Tippi Hedren, was one of Alfred Hitchcock’s muses and starred in his 1963 classic, The Birds. As a child Griffiths admitted to being very creeped out by Hitchcock who presented her with a doll resembling her mother in a coffin one Christmas. “He was a very weird guy,” says Melanie.
Comedian and actress Rashida Jones is the daughter of actress Peggy Lipton and music mogul Quincy Jones.
Swedish hunk Alexander Skarsgard gets acting chops from his father, Stellan Skarsgard, who’s been starring in blockbuster hits like Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Thor.
The Judd women are a force in showbiz. Matriach Naomi led the way for daughter Wynonna in the country-singing sphere while Ashley Judd went on to become an actress.
Christian Bale has an interesting parent that few people know about. His stepmother is women’s liberation feminist and political activist Gloria Steinem.
For 30 hours every week, in time squeezed in between a busy school day and his bedtime, 12-year-old Sebastian Gronow works hard. He reads pages and pages of computer code, and then writes a test for himself – making sure he has learnt what he has just read.
He then puts his new found skills to use, creating gaming apps for smartphones.
“I saw a TV show about a boy in England who made an app,” Sebastian says, from an office at his parent’s workplace.
“I thought, ‘I want to do that’, so I asked my Dad to buy me a book on coding so I could get the skills to build my own app.”
Sebastian clearly isn’t your average 12-year-old. For his debut app on iTunes, Happy Dactyls, he wrote over 40,000 lines of computer code.
“I look at the code, and it all looks like algebra to me,” admits Sebastian’s dad, Russell. “Neither his mum or I have any idea of how it works, we both work in hospitality, it’s just his own hobby that has grown.”
After writing the code for his first app, Sebastian had to be approved by Apple as a developer, no mean feat for an 11-year-old, as he was then. Apple checks each app for its usability and function levels, making sure it adheres to certain standards.
“They rejected me four times,” Sebastian says. “So I kept going back and tweaking the app where they wanted me to, and finally it was approved,” he says with a broad grin.
Sebastian’s game is a traditional battle of good vs. evil, where the Happy Dactyls aim to outwit the evil Dactyls during each of the 20 levels.
“It’s a lot of levels, but it’s a lot of fun,” Sebastian explains enthusiastically, adding that kids as young as four could play his game.
Sebastian’s dad couldn’t be prouder, even though his son’s success has forced him to admit he knows next to nothing about technology.
“I work in a hotel, and Sebastian asked all the guys around here for advice – some of them have built websites – and he took everything they said on board,” says Russell.
“When he puts his mind to something … he clearly doesn’t give up!”
In between app building, Sebastian plays basketball, and unlike many of his peers, likes mathematics the most, explaining that code has a lot of math skills involved in its application.
“I like art too – I want to learn how to draw my designs (for characters) on the computer myself … at the moment my cousin helps me,” Sebastian says.
So what’s next for Australia’s youngest techpreneur?
“I spend every day on computers, because I love them so much,” Sebastian says, “I just want to keep building apps. Another game, or a puzzle app, I’m not sure.”
One thing that is for sure is that nothing is going to stand in the way of this tech-savvy year six student. Watch this space.
She’s been cycling for nine days straight but Turia Pitt says life has never been better.
Turia and her partner Michael Hoskins are currently participating in the Variety Cycle ride from Canberra to Uluru, Turia’s first major sporting challenge since she received catastrophic burns while competing in an ultramarathon in 2011.
Yesterday was the ninth day of the 4000km journey and while fatigue was starting to set in, Turia, 26, remained upbeat, tweeting “life’s good” alongside a picture of her on the road.
The Variety Cycle – which is aiming to raise $1 million for the Variety children’s charity – is due to reach Alice Springs on April 16.
It’s not the only challenge Turia is taking on this year – she is also taking part in the 20km Lake Argyle swim and will walk a section of the Great Wall of China.
Following Victoria’s lucky escape from a house fire, her mother says people must make sure their smoke detectors work.
When Victoria Rowlatt woke up to the piercing sound of a smoke alarm last October, she instantly knew something was horribly wrong. Running into the kitchen and living room, she saw smoke blanketing the ceiling. She quickly woke up her boyfriend, Brent, and the pair started searching for the source of the fire, not realising how little time they had to get out.
The fire had already rapidly travelled through the house and was inside the roof. Victoria said that Brent poked his head up through a manhole and “started screaming out for the water”.
“I was in a panic searching through the kitchen looking for big bowls to fill up with water,” she said.
“Suddenly Brent stopped yelling for water and said ‘we just have to get out of the house’.”
Victoria raced out the back door and Brent ran back into the bedroom to grab some belongings but by then the bed was alight and flames were falling from the roof. He rushed out, feeling burns on the back of his neck, and the young couple watched as the roof of the house fell in.
Victoria says she can’t believe that it happened so ‘very, very quickly’.
“We had a maximum of five minutes from the time we woke up to the time we abandoned the house and ten minutes from the time we woke up to the smoke alarms to the roof collapsing,” she said.
When asked what she thinks might have saved her life, Victoria responds “100% the smoke alarms.”
“I would have never of woken up in time otherwise and would have woken up to the roof falling on my bed. Brent didn’t even wake up to the start of the alarm.”
Victoria’s story is being used to remind people to change the batteries in their smoke detectors and ensure they are in working order.
A campaign from Australia’s fire and emergency services together with Duracell are encouraging all Australian households to change the batteries in their smoke alarms in line with the end of daylight savings on Sunday April 6, and for states without daylight savings, on April Fool’s Day.
Victoria’s mother, Kim, says that their smoke alarms were hard wired but that she, like many others, were unaware that the back-up battery supply needs to be changed every year.
“We were unaware of the maintenance that is required for hard wired alarms so feel very fortunate that our smoke alarms were working when the fire occurred,” Kim said.
She also says that they did not realise that hardwired smoke detectors still require regular monthly testing.
“I would definitely urge Australians to act now before it is too late. Me and my family were very fortunate that no one was injured, but it is clear that we were not proactive enough with fire safety at home before the fire so it could have been a lot worse. Given we were not doing enough to protect ourselves should a fire occur, I am so thankful that nothing happened to my daughter.”
The fire and emergency services together with Duracell, are urging all Australian households to change the batteries in their smoke alarm this April.
An Australian company is taking advantage of royal fans, launching a false competition to win the chance for a "meet and greet" with William, Kate and baby George.
An Australian company is taking advantage of royal fans, launching a false competition to win the chance for a “meet and greet” with William, Kate and baby George.
Groupon Australia sent out a press release this morning inviting people to visit its website to enter a ballot to win a “unique and strictly limited” opportunity to meet and have a photo with the Duke and Duchess and their eight-month-old son during their upcoming Australian and New Zealand tour.
“I don’t like to use clichés, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for fans to spend some rare, quality time with the royal family, often reserved for state officials and celebrities,” Groupon Australia CEO Alistair Venn is quoted as saying.
“To anyone planning to peer from behind the barricades, hoping for a mere glimpse of the Royal Family, I encourage you to enter our exclusive ballot.”
It sounds too good to be true, and that’s because it is. The Weekly put in calls to Groupon Australia and One Green Bean, the Australian PR company it had hired to manage this “offer”. Eventually, they admitted the deal was in fact their idea of an “April Fools’ Day” joke and not a genuine opportunity.
It’s a stunt that is likely to leave royal fans worldwide feeling ripped off when they realise the advertised “once in a lifetime” opportunity is just another shameless attempt to cash in on the royal family.
What's worse than arriving at a wedding and realising you're wearing the same dress as another guest? When that other guest is the Duchess of Cambridge.
This was the fate that awaited one unlucky guest at the wedding of English aristocrats Lucy Meade and Charlie Budgett at the weekend.
The unknown lady and Kate donned the same blue M Missoni coat to attend the nuptials in Marshfield, Gloucestershire.
The blue woollen number is a favourite of Kate’s. She has worn it a number of times since she purchased it from fashion outlet store in 2011, including to a joint engagement with the Queen and Camilla at department store Fortnum and Mason in 2012 and in June 2012.
Asher Keddie has been nominated for her fourth Gold Logie.
The Offspring actress will face stiff competition from Andy Lee, Carrie Bickmore, Essie Davis, Scott Cam and Stephen Peacocke, who have also been nominated for the coveted award.
Asher – who took home the Gold Logie last year – is also nominated for a Silver Logie for most outstanding actress.
The nominations were announced today in TV WEEK magazine and at an event in Melbourne.
New Australian dramas dominated the Most Outstanding Drama Series category. The Time Of Our Lives, A Place To Call Home and Wentworth were nominated alongside Redfern Now and audience favourite, Offspring.
Mandy McElhinney and Rachel Griffiths star in the ABC’s, Paper Giants.
Mandy McElhinney and Rachel Griffiths star in the ABC’s, Paper Giants.
The ABC’s Paper Giants, earned multiple nominations in the Most Outstanding Miniseries or Telemovie category and both Mandy McElhinney and Caren Pistorius are nominated for acting categories.
Funny man Chris Lilley can call his return to TV a success with a nod in the Most Outstanding Actor category for his role in mockumentary series Ja’mie: Private School Girl.
The 2014 TV Week Logie Awards take place on Sunday, April 27.
TV WEEK GOLD LOGIE – Most Popular Personality on TV
Andy Lee (Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year Asia, Nine Network)
The 23-year-old Wolf of Wall Street actress walked out a winner after nabbing an award in the Best Female newcomer category. Robbie was nominated alongside fellow Aussie Elizabeth Debicki, who played Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby and Hollywood’s darling Lupita Nyong’o, of 12 Years a Slave fame.
Margot has certainly reached high profile fashionista status as she looked radiant in a cherry red floor length gown, which was flatteringly cinched in at the waist. The actress was also sporting a glossy raven mane but has previously mentioned she’s only ditched her signature blonde locks for a movie role filming in New Zealand.
Other winners on the night included Tom Cruise, Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson.