By Mark Gray
7:00pm PST, Mar 3, 2023
2022 difficulties
Ed Sheeran's wife, Cherry Seaborn, was diagnosed with a tumor when she was pregnant with their second child, he's revealed. In a diary entry to support his upcoming album "Subtract," Ed spoke candidly of the struggles he faced in 2022. "Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumour, with no route for treatment until after the birth. My best friend Jamal, a brother to me, died suddenly, and I found myself in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter," he wrote in an image captured on Twitter. Ed's pal, Jamal Edwards passed in February, which crushed the "Dive" singer. Around the same time, Ed was accused of plagiarizing "Shape of You," a case he later won in court. "I was spiralling through fear, depression and anxiety," the artist continued. "I felt like I was drowning, head below the surface, looking but not being able to break through for air." As everything happened at once, Ed changed his album to reflect his "deepest, darkest thoughts," a distinct break from the acoustic album he had planned. "For the first time, I'm not trying to craft an album people will like. I'm merely putting something out that's honest and true to where I am in my adult life," he added.
Police problem
Mel B has a serious distrust of police, and it stems from personal experience. While on BBC on Wednesday, March 1, the Spice Girl spoke of the current police state and how officers need to be trained better in recognizing signs of domestic abuse, something she alleged to have endured for a decade at the hands of her ex-husband, a claim he's long denied. Still, despite her alleged history, Mel plainly states that she wouldn't report domestic abuse even today. "I wouldn't (call the police), because I wouldn't know if they would take it seriously," she says. "Like if I'm living here and I want to report it to the police, I don't know if I can trust the police. I don't know if they're going to take my allegations seriously." Scary Spice argued that domestic violence is an "epidemic" and added that she would only report abuse if "the whole entire system" was reformed. The singer and Stephen Belafonte split in 2017 after 10 years of marriage. In her 2018 book, "Brutally Honest," she wrote about her marriage and alleged the decade was filled with emotionally and physically abuse. Stephen has called her claims "lies." In referring to that memoir, she told BBC, "When I brought my book out, nobody wanted to talk about it. It was like a taboo topic. It was something that everybody knows about but nobody talks about it."
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The spitting truth
The "Spitgate" mystery has been solved. Last fall, Harry Styles was hit with claims that he spit on Chris Pine at the premiere of "Don't Worry Darling." However, Chris is now setting the record straight about the incident… or rather, non-incident. "Harry did not spit on me," Chris told Esquire. "Harry is a very kind guy." Chis admitted that it appeared in viral videos that Harry spit on him, so he understands the saliva-soaked speculation. In reality, Chris said Harry told him "a little joke." He added, "We were all jet lagged and trying to answer questions. And sometimes when you're doing these press things, your brain goes befuddled and you start speaking gibberish, so we had a joke: 'It's just words.'" In the immediate aftermath of the premiere, Chris' team was adamant that no spitting took place.
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Proposal permission
For eons it's been commonplace to ask a woman's father for permission to propose. When Rebel Wilson decided she wanted to pop the question to Ramona Agruma, she too asked for permission, but not from the person you'd suspect. She asked Disney CEO Bob Iger if it was ok to propose at the Happiest Place on Earth. "He's the big, big boss and I thought, well, if he says yes then it was meant to be, and I was meant to propose that day at Disneyland," Rebel revealed on The Drew Barrymore Show. "I had to get special permission to get a special area roped off and get the topiary trees in and … I had a violinist playing like Disney classic and … it was really romantic. I did go to the big boss to get permission." Rebel and Romona announced their engagement on Feb. 19.
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Assault suspect
Travis Scott is the main suspect for an assault inside a New York City nightclub. Police alleged that the "Sicko Mode" rapper punched a sound engineer at Nebula nightclub early on Wednesday, March 1, following an argument. The man did not have any visible injuries, according to reports. Page Six claimed Travis caused approximately $12,000 of damage to a speaker and video screen before fleeing. He has not been arrested. A source tells Page Six that Travis was upset with the sound inside the club and became "furious" within the first 10 minutes of his arrival. "Travis came in angry and intoxicated and progressively went postal," a second source alleged "His shirt said 'Back the f*** up.' It's like he was poised for battle. It was foreshadowing." A third Nebula source said Travis also threw a fan's phone onto the floor for recording rapper Don Toliver's performance.
Scary moment
Brendan Fraser is recalling his near-death experience while filming "The Mummy" in 1999. "I was choked out accidentally" during a hanging sequence, he told Kelly Clarkson. The Oscar-nominated actor reenacted the situation by standing up and imagining a rope around his neck. "I was standing on my toes like this, with the rope, and you only got so far to go," he explained. "And [filmmaker Stephen Sommers] ran over, and he said, 'Hey, it doesn't really look like you're choking — can you sell it?' And I was like, 'All right, fine.' So I thought, 'One more take, man.'" He continued, "And the camera swooped around, and I went up on the toes, and the guy holding the rope above me, he pulled it up a little higher, and I was stuck on my toes — I had nowhere to go but down." Brendan said his body was going in multiple directions. "The next thing I knew, my elbow was in my ear, the world was sideways," he said. "There was gravel in my teeth and everyone was really quiet. And there was a stunt guy, the coordinator was there [clapping], and he was going, 'Brendan, Brendan wake up.'" As the actor came to, the coordinator joked, "Congratulations, you're in the club — the same thing happened to Mel Gibson on 'Braveheart.'"
