Yesterday evening, NBC News announced that Brian Williams would not be returning from his “several days” off in self-imposed hiatus. At least for a while. NBC News’ president Deborah Turness has put Williams on a six-month suspension without pay following the past week and a half of rolling revelations about his very public lies and “misremembering.” Many believe that NBC News is just going to use these six months to get all of their ducks in a row and look for a new permanent anchor, and that at the end of the six months, Williams will be out completely. In the meantime, Lester Holt will be filling in as the temporary anchor. Which is awesome. Lester Holt is the best. Turness released this open letter about Williams’ suspension, and here’s something interesting: NBC’s internal investigation isn’t even completed!!

We have decided today to suspend Brian Williams as Managing Editor and Anchor of NBC Nightly News for six months. The suspension will be without pay and is effective immediately. We let Brian know of our decision earlier today. Lester Holt will continue to substitute Anchor the NBC Nightly News.

Our review, which is being led by Richard Esposito working closely with NBCUniversal General Counsel Kim Harris, is ongoing, but I think it is important to take you through our thought process in coming to this decision.

While on Nightly News on Friday, January 30, 2015, Brian misrepresented events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003. It then became clear that on other occasions Brian had done the same while telling that story in other venues. This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position. In addition, we have concerns about comments that occurred outside NBC News while Brian was talking about his experiences in the field.

As Managing Editor and Anchor of Nightly News, Brian has a responsibility to be truthful and to uphold the high standards of the news division at all times.

Steve Burke, Pat Fili and I came to this decision together. We felt it would have been wrong to disregard the good work Brian has done and the special relationship he has forged with our viewers over 22 years. Millions of Americans have turned to him every day, and he has been an important and well-respected part of our organization. As I’m sure you understand, this was a very hard decision. Certainly there will be those who disagree. But we believe this suspension is the appropriate and proportionate action.

This has been a difficult time. But NBC News is bigger than this moment. You work so hard and dedicate yourselves each and every day to the important work of bringing trusted, credible news to our audience. Because of you, your loyalty, your dedication, NBC News is an organization we can – and should – all be proud of. We will get through this together.

[From NBC News]

Do you think this is the right decision? I think it would have seemed stronger if this had happened last week, you know? When the first wave of controversy hit last week, Williams should have been suspended for a few weeks to allow for an internal investigation, then once the investigation was complete, they should have just fired him. But, on the other hand, I guess NBC looks loyal to their on-air talent (except for, you know, Ann Curry) and like they were giving Williams the benefit of the doubt. But it’s pretty hardcore for Williams to be suspended without pay only a few days into the internal investigation. Williams has probably been lying about a lot more, don’t you think?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Jon Stewart announced something absolutely horrible at the end of last night’s episode of The Daily Show: Jon told the audience that by the end of the year, he would be leaving TDS. Stewart is the head of TDS in every way, as the star/host, writer and executive producer. He’s been on the show since 1998, which means he’s seen us through four presidential election cycles. I can’t believe he’s not going to help us through the 2016 presidential election!! Jesus. Here’s Jon’s announcement:

He says, in part: “I’m not going anywhere tomorrow, but this show doesn’t deserve an even slightly restless host, and neither do you…I’m gonna have dinner on a school night with my family, who I have heard, from multiple sources, are lovely people.” Do you think that’s it? A combination of his kids getting older and he wants to be around more for them, plus he is legitimately feeling “restless”? I think the restless thing is true, and I think he’s been feeling that way for a while. It’s why he decided to take a time out in 2013 to direct Rosewater, and after he got a taste of a different career path, it became harder for him to be content with TDS.

As for who will replace Jon… I don’t know. Jason Jones, maybe? Rob Riggle? Stephen Colbert is headed to The Late Show, John Oliver is killing it with his HBO show, and Steve Carrel is nominated for an Oscar this year. Samantha Bee? Jessica Williams? Ugh, I don’t know!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Here’s a photo of Justin Bieber hitting the gym on Tuesday. He seems to be doing fine, physically. Swaggy broke his foot over the holidays during a soccer game. You can see a gross photo of Swaggy’s little tootsie here. It looks like a hefty bruise, but it wasn’t a bad enough break to require a fracture boot. He’s been swagging all over the place in normal shoes. Swaggy’s still in a lot of pain, or so he says. He’s using the foot as an excuse for not completing the community service requirements for his probation.

So much has happened with Swaggy that it’s hard to recall why he’s on probation. It’s not for the drag racing in Florida or brothelgate. He’s on probation for — of all things — tossing eggs at his neighbor’s house. I predicted he’d never make it two years without doing one of the following: (1) Breaking the law again; or (2) Making endless excuses about how he can’t finish his community service (in manner of Lindsay Lohan).

Swaggy chose option #2. Here’s the lowdown from TMZ:

Justin Bieber ?has been taking lots of anger management classes recently but he hasn’t done a single hour of community service because of a soccer injury … so says his lawyer.

Attorney Shawn Holley was in court Tuesday morning for a progress report in his egging case. Justin has completed 9 out of 12 anger management classes. As for his 5 days community service, Holley said Bieber screwed up his foot and couldn’t pick up trash or remove graffiti.

You’ll recall, Bieber screwed up his foot during a soccer game last month in Turks and Caicos. Holley submitted a doctor’s note to satisfy the judge.

According to the probation report, obtained by TMZ, the probation officer wrote a report saying, Bieber “has displayed a cooperative attitude and has expressed a sincere desire to be more diligent in complete anger management and community labor.” Bieber was supposed to attend 1 anger management session per week, and he’s fallen short.

[From TMZ]

Kaiser pointed out that Bieber even has the same lawyer as Lohan, which is hilarious. At least Scooter Braun will make sure Shawn Holley gets paid for this client. I wonder if Bieber realizes his redemption tour will be marred by this new development? Everyone already laughed at how Swaggy wondered if he was human. I don’t know if people would laugh at him for going to jail, but I think his team is more concerned about his career. Big mistake.

Photos courtesy of Justin Bieber on Instagram & WENN

You may know Sophie B. Hawkins from her early 90s hits “Damn I Wish I was Your Lover,” and “As I Lay Me Down.” Hawkins has come out with five studio albums total, most recently in 2012, although she’s never achieved the same level of success of her first and second releases. (Also, she had an awesome guest appearance on Community in 2013. When is that show coming to Yahoo Screen already?)

Hawkins recently announced that she’s pregnant as a single lady at the age of 50. This will be her second child, she is also mom to a six year-old son named Dashiell. While it may sound incredibly risky to be pregnant at the age of 50, Hawkins is pregnant from one of the embryos she had frozen from nearly 20 years ago. It sounds like doctors gave her the go-ahead given the circumstances. Hawkins tells People that she’s not too worried about being an older lady raising children alone because she has a great support network and she feels healthy.

“I found Dashiell [6] really needs a sibling,” Hawkins tells PEOPLE of her decision to have another child. “My son has one parent who’s 50. I want him to have a family of young people too!”

Before becoming pregnant, Hawkins faced fears because of her age and the fact that she is newly single.

“I went through waking up crying and saying, ‘Am I too old? Will I suddenly at 51 have my knees give out?’” she admits. “Now I don’t have any of those fears because I feel healthy and strong. I’m also setting up a good net of support, and that’s the key to anybody having a child.”

Hawkins says her age was not a concern for doctors because she had frozen embryos at the age of 31, was in good physical health and had a healthy first child.

“For me, the main decision was emotional,” she says. “I’ve been wanting to have a child since Dashiell was 1, but I was working too much and there was a lot going on in my relationship.”

The “Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover” singer, who identifies as omnisexual, says now she is more than ready to raise a baby alone.

“I interviewed a lot of divorced women and they said, ‘It’s so much easier to do it alone. You don’t have the pressure or the criticism or judgment of someone else.’ Of course then you ask, ‘Will I miss the emotional support?’ Well, to tell you the truth, I’m getting that more from my friends than I ever got in a relationship.”

[From People]

I was trying to figure out if any celebrities have carried their own babies post 50, and I don’t think they have. The closest is Gina Davis, who had twins at 48. (Incidentally she also had a daughter when she was 46.) My grandmother had a child naturally in her 40s. I know it’s not something I would choose for myself, I’m just north of 40 and I wouldn’t want to go through all the work and stress of raising another child.

Hawkins also told People that she’s in her second trimester and sometimes forgets that she’s pregnant. She said “I still exercise the same, work the same, do everything the same.” As part of a Valentine’s romantic songs feature, Vogue has a new video of Hawkins performing “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover” live. She calls it “one of my favorite songs that never gets old.”

Here’s a photo of Hawkins’s son, Dashiell, from her Twitter:

Making Valentines pic.twitter.com/mXLRbkX6Vs

— Sophie B. Hawkins (@therealsophieb) February 11, 2015

Sophie is shown performing (color photos) in January, 2014. She has her shirt open because she’s performing with a band called The Skivvies. Credit: WENN.com

Meghan Trainor covers the March issue of Seventeen. She doesn’t have a full LP out yet. so she’s promoting the tuneage that keeps making me dive and turn off the radio. The “Lips Are Movin’” song — it’s a bit monotonous.

Megan looks beautiful in the Seventeen shoot. The cover’s a little wonky, but the editorial is much better. In the interview, Meghan talks about how she coped with her overnight success. The Meghan Trainor legend isn’t complicated. She wrote “All About that Bass” for Beyonce, who wasn’t into it (Bey told Anna Mae to eat her cake instead). Meghan recorded the song herself, and the tune went six times platinum. That’ll make a double Grammy loss disappear into a vapor trail.

This interview isn’t terrible by Meghan standards. I still think she’s privileged and clueless, but she’s doing better:

On gaining body confidence: “When I saw photos of myself, I would think, I look awful. There’s a double chin! I never thought I’d be a pop star. I don’t look like Rihanna. [Then] after the video for ‘All About That Bass’ came out … when I was signing autographs, this girl came up to me bawling and said, ‘You make me feel pretty again. Thank you.’ It really resonated with me that this girl was so gorgeous, and she didn’t even know it. It’s a mental thing. Just recently I was thinking, ‘I’m confident now, and I look good,’ and that’s because I’ve started saying those words out loud more. So now when I see pictures, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, why would I hate myself at all? I look incredible in that picture!’”

On waiting for the right guy:: “I knew my life would be complicated if my dreams of becoming a success in music came true. And I knew I’d have to work hard to achieve those dreams, and that they’d have to take a front seat in my life. I haven’t kissed a boy in forever. I keep telling myself that the right guy is going to be worth the wait.’”

Her life lesson: “I guess the biggest thing that I’ve learned is, never doubt your dreams. No matter how big your dream is or how ridiculous you think it is, you can’t doubt it–you have to believe in it. Because it will happen.”

[From Seventeen]

Meghan laments the fact that she doesn’t look like Rihanna, but who does? I get it. Rihanna is naturally sultry, and no one else can hope to compete. Rihanna can even show up in a cupcake-frothy dress and people faint dead away.

I do wonder how much of this body-image discussion is Meghan’s PR talking. Her whole image is built around “I ain’t no size 2,” and that’s what she talks about to the press. Does Meghan secretly hate talking about body image, or is she still into talking up one body type over another?

Photos courtesy of Dewey Nicks/Seventeen & WENN

The stars aligned yesterday and all of the Middleton children went to work. It was positively shocking! Pippa Middleton and her brother James both attended last night’s British Heart Foundation’s gala, the Roll Out the Red Ball, in London. These are the photos from the event. I don’t have an ID on Pippa’s red lace dress, but I’m not really a fan. It’s not as bad as most of her clothes, but it’s still pretty cheap-looking. I think she’s styled poorly too – she’s trying to do some sausage curls like her sister and they just look sort of limp. And she’s super-orange too, probably a mix of a genuine Mustique tan plus fake tanner. Let me just say this too – I’m half-Indian and I have lovely Indian coloring and I just compared my skin color to Pippa’s and she’s SO much darker than me.

Both Pippa and James came to the event with their significant others too. This is the first time Pippa has been seen with Nico Jackson in a while. Nico was NOT invited to Mustique for Carole’s big 60th birthday celebration, and I’m pretty sure Nico is living in Switzerland for work these days. I wonder why Nico and Pippa don’t just break up? James’ date was his long-time girlfriend Donna Air. The rest of the attendees were pretty C-list, as you can imagine. The Middletons were the biggest “celebrities” there. Meh, at least they did something for charity, you know? Pippa even donated an old dress for an auction.

Meanwhile, as I said, Duchess Kate was out and about for “work” yesterday too. Very undercover work. No photos, no grand announcement, no welcoming committee or anything. Just a confirmation that Kate spent about 90 minutes at the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital School in Beckenham, Kent. It was part of her work with Place2Be (she’s the patron of Place2Be). You can read more about the visit here. It’s being described as an opportunity for Kate to learn more about this work. I have mixed feelings – one of the reasons why these charities and organizations want royal patrons is to get more attention and more money. Why go so undercover? The KP Twitter account didn’t even release an official photo or anything.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Here are some photos of Ryan Reynolds and Helen Mirren at the Berlin Film Festival premiere of their new film, Woman In Gold. I keep seeing the trailer for this film, and I enjoyed it the first few times. Let’s face it, Helen Mirren is amazing. Even if this is a sappy, tailored-for-an-Oscar-campaign performance from Helen, I’m still going to see it. It’s the true story of one woman’s fight to reclaim one of the most famous paintings in the world after the Nazis stole it. Here’s the trailer:

It looks Oscar-baity, right? It comes out in April, which is not really a hotbed of potential Oscar-worthy films, but hey, Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for a film released in the summer.

As for these photos, look at Helen! She looks spectacular, doesn’t she? I’m not even crazy about her spring-green Dolce & Gabbana dress, but I give her an A for effort. She really stood out, and she’s the one who looks like a huge movie star.

Speaking of, Helen was hired a few months ago to be the newest face of L’Oréal Paris Age-Defying face cream. The ad is pretty spectacular. It’s SO refreshing to see a beauty ad specifically targeted towards the over-50 ladies. They have money to spend on beauty stuff too, even though marketing largely ignores them. And I like the not-so-subtle message of this ad, which is “Helen Mirren is coming for your boyfriend.” (Just FYI, she’s 69 years old and I’m pretty sure she could have your boyfriend if she ever wanted him.)

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Kim Kardashian has been blessed with many talents and one of them is multi-tasking.

In an adorable new picture Kim Kardashian shared on Instagram, you can see her make-up crew working their magic while she holds North West in her arms. Kim added the following caption to the pic:

“Quick glam and a snuggle before @kbeautyhair event.”

Kardashian is currently in NYC for work and she brought along both North and Kanye to keep her company.

quick glam and a snuggle before @kbeautyhair event

A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Feb 10, 2015 at 3:25pm PST

Jennifer Carpenter is going to be a mommy!

The former Dexter star’s agent has announced that Carpenter is expecting her first child with her boyfriend, Seth Avett.

On Saturday, Jennifer Carpenter, 35, stopped for some coffee in Los Feliz, Calif, and her baby belly was on full display in a fitted t-shit, while she chatted on the phone and sipped her coffee.

Carpenter, most known for her role on Dexter, and Avett, from The Avett Brothers, have been dating for two years. We’ll keep you update as more news surfaces! Either way, congratulations are certainly in order!

Beverley is in Heaven!

Recently, Beverley Mitchell and her husband Michael Cameron welcomed their second child into the world. Today, Beverley Mitchell decided to share an absolutely adorable picture on Instagram of their newest addition to the family. She captioned the photo:

“Kenzie is proud to announce the arrival of her sweet baby brother, Hutton! Thank you for all the love and well wishes!”

Kenzie is proud to announce the arrival of her sweet baby brother, Hutton! Thank you for all the love and well wishes!

A photo posted by Beverley Mitchell (@beverleymitchell) on Feb 10, 2015 at 1:26pm PST