This is a pretty serious story, but just take a moment and realize that the evening news broadcasts across all networks have become pretty meaningless. Evening news shows have been hemorrhaging viewership for the past decade (and longer). These days, the news anchors are fighting over the senior citizen demographic, basically. And these days, NBC’s Brian Williams is being beaten in the ratings regularly by ABC’s David Muir (Muir is my mom’s favorite anchor, just FYI). And this story will not help.

On last night’s evening news broadcast, Brian Williams had to take a moment and set the record straight about a claim he made in 2003 – and continued to make since 2003 – about coming under fire while reporting in Iraq at the start of the Iraq War.

“NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams last night had to make the humiliating admission that he was not aboard a helicopter hit by RPG fire during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a false claim that he made and was repeated by the network for years.

Williams — who’d claimed he was in a chopper forced down by a rocket-propelled grenade 12 years ago — repeated the story on Friday’s newscast during a tribute for a retired sergeant major.

“The story actually started with a terrible moment a dozen years back during the invasion of Iraq, when the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG,” Williams said on Friday’s show. “Our traveling NBC News team was rescued, surrounded and kept alive by an armor-mechanized platoon from the US Army 3rd Infantry.”

He was busted when vet Lance Reynolds commented on the “Nightly News” Facebook page, where the clip was posted, “Sorry, dude, I don’t remember you being on my aircraft. I do remember you walking up about an hour after we had landed to ask me what had happened.”

…Williams claimed on Facebook that he had confused events: “I spent much of the weekend thinking I’d gone crazy. I feel terrible about making this mistake.” Stars and Stripes, which broke the story, reported that a different Chinook was hit by rockets and “the NBC anchor was nowhere near that aircraft .?.?. Williams arrived in the area about an hour later on another helicopter.”

Stars and Stripes quotes people from the scene who recall NBC reporting that Williams was aboard the attacked chopper. Mike O’Keeffe, who was a gunner on the damaged Chinook, said, “I can’t believe he is still telling this false narrative.” Williams admitted on-air Wednesday, “I want to apologize .?.?. This was a bungled attempt by me to thank one special veteran.”

[From Page Six]

I’m including the video of his apology below. What do you think? Was it an honest mix-up in the heat of a war? Or was it something grosser and more sinister? I think there are two separate issues – one, Williams was trying to honor a military man that he knew, but instead of talking about the man’s accomplishments, Brian made the segment about what the guy had done for him (the reporter should never be the story, Brian). And in describing what the guy did for him, Brian repeated a lie that never should have been told in the first place. This is a HUGE disappointment. No lie. I really thought Williams was better than this.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

It was reported last week that Johnny Depp would be marrying Amber Heard on his private island this weekend. They’re still going to the private island. And there will still be a ceremony there. But they made it official on Tuesday at his home in West Hollywood. According to an US Weekly sou…      

I had the chance to read People Magazine’s full print edition article on Bruce Jenner’s transition, and while there weren’t any big revelations, it filled in some of the details for me. The article was also full of photos of Bruce and his family throughout his life. It was a nice, compassionate take on what he’s going through. People also interviewed transgender people and leaders in the trans movement to help explain Bruce’s change. The magazine never used the word “historical,” but that’s what it seems like to me. He’s a brave person to come forward with this to the world.

Many of you have asked whether Bruce has expressed a preferred pronoun or name. He has not, and People explains that they’re still using the male pronoun to refer to Bruce because he has not said otherwise, and did not specifically address that question. Here’s more, along with some relevant excerpts from the article. I’m only including the parts we didn’t cover yesterday:

Why People is still calling Bruce ‘he’
Since his family currently uses the pronoun “he” to refer to Jenner, People is doing the same. “It’s important not to get too ahead of the person transitioning,” says Mary Andrews, a clinical psychologist and associate professor of clinical education. “Let them take the lead and tell you when they’re ready to be called by a different name or pronoun.” Jenner did not respond to a request for comment on this story or for a preferred pronoun.

How Kris took the news that Bruce is transitioning
Despite hints in Bruce’s behavior for years, multiple sources say that Kris was “shocked” by Bruce’s admission. “It’s really a hard adjustment for her,” says a source in Bruce’s inner circle. Adds the insider: “Kris had the most difficult time in the family. She’s looking back at their entire marriage, and a lot of things are suddenly making sense. She has had a lot to process.”

Bruce has not revealed whether he plans to change his name
Sources say Jenner, who remains attracted to women, hasn’t yet shared whether he plans to change his name or have more surgery. “No one feels deceived by Bruce,” says the insider. “He was going through this change slowly. It’s not like he woke up one day and was like ‘Surprise!’ He moved through his own feelings and his own changes at his own pace.”

“This is his story and [his family] wants him to tell the world the way he wants,” says the source close to the family. “He’s more and more confident,” notes the production source. “He’s doing what makes him happy.”

[From People Magazine, print edition, February 16, 2015]

Kris’ fingerprints are all over this story, but I guess I don’t blame her. Radar is claiming that Bruce is cutting Kris out of his docuseries and she’s pissed. People covered this with sensitivity and tact, similar to US’s coverage last week.

Some of you commented yesterday that Entertainment Tonight claimed that Bruce is going to change his name to Kaitlin with a K or a C. You can see their coverage of that here. They also had on Piers Morgan, who had some surprisingly thoughtful things to say about Bruce’s transition and how brave he was for doing it, especially in the public eye. Piers really pwned the trolls. He wrote an editorial for the Daily Mail about Bruce. “Bruce Jenner was one of the best decathletes in history. So to call him a coward is as pathetic as it’s so clearly inaccurate. So much commentary about his struggles has been vile, when what he’s going through is no doubt extraordinarily difficult. What’s truly cowardly is the way so many have raced to sneer, mock and humiliate the guy at probably the most difficult time of his entire life.” Oh damn! Awesome.

Speaking of not hearing from Bruce directly yet, the NY Times has an editorial on this story. The fact that Bruce has not spoken out yet is cited as a question of journalistic integrity. (That doesn’t apply to us of course, we’re a gossip blog.) Major outlets are now questioning whether and how to cover Bruce’s transition. It’s easier now that his mom has gone on the record.

Also, Bruce’s incredible mom, Esther, did an interview with The Associated Press too. She’d previously spoken to Radar Online. To the AP, she repeated some of the nice things she previous told Radar. Esther also added “I am at peace with what he is and what he’s doing.”

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

photo credit: People Magazine, General Mills and Getty Images

Dear Gossips,

Sarah sent me this link yesterday saying “this is the craziest thing”. It’s about Jamie Dornan fans, three in particular, who spend what seems like all of their free time on social media hoping that he’ll notice them. Beyonce has a few of these too. For t…      

Rihanna covers the March issue of Harper’s Bazaar, which is perfect timing for this week’s Grammys. RiRi will perform at the show, along with Kanye West and Paul McCartney, in a rendition of their new “iconic” single. I still don’t dig the song, which makes me sad after jonesing for more Rihanna music. If you’re checking out the white background of this cover and wondering if Uncle Terry shot it, you can rest easy. Photographer Norman Jean Roy landed this feature, and he loves water shoots. Norman shot Kristen Stewart in a shallow pool, and he goes to town with Rihanna. You can see more of the editorial on Rihanna’s Twitter, but here’s the impressive shot. Rihanna swam with sharks!

Rihanna really did this. Harpers also posted a behind the scenes video to prove that the shark wasn’t photoshopped in next to Rihanna. The vid is slightly NSFW for Rihanna’s thong, but you can see it here. The video is a bit confusing because Rihanna’s wearing an orange swimsuit, and you can see a white one in the above shot. Maybe she changed suits. Rihanna swam with sharks in Hawaii a few years ago too. That’s definitely her kicking past a shark in the Bazaar video. It looks terrifying, doesn’t it?

We should get a fair dose of Rihanna soon. Dazed Digital says Rih is planning to tour with Kanye later this year. Here are some photos of Rihanna with designer Jeremy Soctt at the the Daily Front Row’s fashion event last week.

Photos courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar, Norman Jean Roy & WENN

Kim Kardashian has been on an Instagram binge lately. You can see her IG here – she’s posted a ton of photos in the past week. A lot of the pics are of little North West, because even Kim knows that Nori is the only one we really want to see. I’m including some of the North photos at the end of the post!

So, what has Kim been up to? The cover shoot she did for Love Magazine is still leaking online, because I guess the magazine hasn’t been released yet? There’s one very NSFW photo from the shoot making the rounds this week – go here to see the NSFW photo. Yes, Kim is all about showing her butt in editorials. I don’t get it either. And what else has Kim been up to? Well, she did a Twitter Q&A session as part of her commercial/endorsement with T-Mobile, and she was asked who would be her ideal selfie partner. Her answer is…sigh…

Sorry, Kanye and North West! Kim Kardashian has revealed her ideal selfie partner, and neither her husband nor daughter made the cut. During a Twitter Q&A with T-Mobile Feb. 2, Kardashian, 34, was asked by a fan whom she’d choose to take a selfie with, living or dead. Her response, is, well, surprising.

“My dad,” Kardashian initially tweeted to a fan page account set up for her sisters, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, adding heart emoticons for her late father, Robert Kardashian, Sr. The married mom, however, was conflicted about choosing just one person, so she added onto her response. “Or Jesus. Or Marilyn Monroe. I can’t decide!” she tweeted.

During the T-Mobile chat, Kardashian also gave fans her take on motherhood. When one participant asked how she juggles her career with family, Kardashian said North, 19 months, is always top of mind. “All the things you used to do, you just don’t care about anymore,” her tweet response read. “Your child becomes the No. 1 priority.”

[From Us Weekly]

Her father or her heavenly father. Or Marilyn Monroe, whatevs. Who would I selfie with? Hm…Emma Thompson, probably. Because I know she would agree to it! Dead or alive? Eleanor Roosevelt! As for Kim name-checking Jesus, I feel the same way when I hear rich athletes or celebrities thanking him for winning some award or trophy: Jesus has better things to do, people. He’s not going to take selfies with Kim Kardashian or help a football player get a touchdown. HE IS VERY BUSY.

Nori IS so cute though.

Photos courtesy of Kim’s Instagram, Fame/Flynet.

For all the people complaining about the photos of Conrad Hilton: I know, and I’m sorry. I think Barron and Conrad Hilton look SO much alike and I’m forced to go with the photo agency IDs, because most of the photos we have of both brothers are from a few years ago. I think both brothers look way different now, but I hope I’ve gotten some photos of Conrad (and not Barron) in this post.

As we discussed yesterday, Conrad Hilton went berserk on an international flight months ago. He was under the influence of alcohol, perhaps some sleeping pills (or so his lawyer claims) and possibly harder drugs. He yelled at and about peasants and threatened passengers. He was arrested when the plane landed and we only found out about it this week, because his last name is Hilton and not al-Jabari. Anyway, the Washington Post had so many more details about Conrad’s behavior on the plane and about his FBI interview when he was taken into custody. Here’s what Conrad admitted to the FBI:

He hadn’t been drinking on the flight, although he had taken a sleeping pill, he said in his defense. And, yeah, he had called people “peasants” on the flight.

“I told all of them I could get all of their jobs taken away in less than thirty seconds,” Hilton said, according to the complaint, as he recalled his interactions with flight attendants.

He credited a man at the back of the plane with stopping him from killing a flight attendant. “If that man wasn’t there, that guy [the flight attendant] would have been ____ killed on that flight. A hundred percent I would have killed him,” Hilton said.

In his interview with the FBI, the agent read Hilton the part of the law that would apply to this particular case. The agent read: “An individual on an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States who by assaulting or intimidating a flight crew member or –”

Hilton interrupted him. “I did intimidate. But, through defense. He came up to me with his nose.”

[From WaPo]

“Through defense… he came up to me with his nose.” CASE CLOSED!! WaPo has the full 17-page FBI complaint, with information and interviews from the passengers too. They say Conrad went off on “one tirade after another” starting about 30 minutes into the flight. Conrad complained that the flight attendants were ignoring him and “taking the peasants’ side.” He told people that he just broke up with his girlfriend. He told people that he had already been banned from other airlines.

At one point, the passengers apparently told the FBI that they were shocked that the plane wasn’t turned around and landed. The flight was London to LA, and if Conrad’s craziness started 30 minutes into the flight, and let’s be generous and say that an hour into the flight they realized that this kid was crazy and violent, WHY DIDN’T THEY DIVERT THE PLANE? It probably was over water by then, but they could have been diverted to land within an hour. Seriously, if a brown-skinned person had pulled this kind of nonsense, the plane would have been diverted and the charges would be something involving international terrorism.

As for the charges facing Hilton now, he could get 20 years in prison. He’s due back in court in March and he’s out on $100,000 bail. I can’t believe a terrorist is out on that lukewarm bail.

View image | gettyimages.com

Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty and Pacific Coast News.

Here on update on this ^^ outfit that Jennifer Aniston wore to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival over the weekend. I said at the time that it looked like Saint Laurent, but it’s actually Tom Ford. Now you know! While at the SBIFF, Aniston spoke to Extra – you can see the video here. The only thing I found interesting was that she’s apparently a huge fan of House of Cards? Has she name-checked that show? I only remember her talking about The Bachelor and how she enjoys that. Aniston also spoke to Empire magazine recently about aging and how it’s been more than a decade since Friends went off the air. She said:

“In a selfish, greedy way I could have kept doing it [Friends] until today. It feels really odd when people say, ‘Oh, that was in 1995 or ’94.’ This is why I say everything moves so quickly. I still feel like I’m a 28-year old kid.”

[Via The Daily Mail]

I do think that forever-28 thing is one of the defining characteristics of Aniston. Instead of making her seem forever young, it kind of makes her look dated though. Like, she’s Totally ‘90s. Same hair, same references, same conversation.

Meanwhile, Us Weekly (via the DM) claims that Jennifer and Justin Theroux are “haggling” over the pre-nup. So many haggles that they still haven’t set a wedding date.

They have been engaged since 2012 but have yet to set a date for their wedding. Still, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux are ‘haggling’ over the final details of their over $110m prenup, according to UsWeekly. On the table is the subject if her 43-year-old beau should deserve a cut of the money she will receive from Netflix from Friends royalties, it was claimed.

‘The prenup is pretty much done,’ a source told the weekly. ‘Jen won’t see money from Netflix for about a year, so there has been back and forth about whether her earnings will be considered from during or before their marriage.’ The insider then noted that Aniston – who turns 46-years-old on February 11 – ‘prefers the latter.’

The two actors have different incomes. While Theroux makes about $75,000 an episode on his show The Leftover (it is not known how much he makes from script writing), the ex-wife of Brad Pitt can make millions for just one film. The blonde Horrible Bosses 2 star also has ad deals with Aveeno and is a co-owner of Living Proof.

Though the two have yet to set a date, there has been talk that they want a ‘small beach wedding,’ another source said to UsWeekly.

[From The Daily Mail]

I’ll take Jennifer at her word that she already feels married to Justin and that she’s not in some crazy rush to get married, but I also think if she had her way, the wedding would have gone down YEARS ago. I think Justin is really and truly gun-shy about marriage in general and marriage to Aniston specifically. He’s the common-law husband type, or at least that’s how he sees himself. Like he’s too cool and hip to, like, wear a tux and say some vows. Once they get the pre-nup finalized, what will Justin use as an excuse then?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Here are some sweet photos of Tom Brady and his five-year-old son Benjamin Brady at yesterday’s victory parade in Boston. Apparently, it’s a thing: whenever the Patriots win, they ride around Boston in a duck-boat buses. This was Benjamin’s first time on the duck-boat and he hammed it up for the cameras, even kissing his daddy’s Lombardi Trophy. According to the Boston media outlets, Benjamin got sleepy pretty quickly and he took a nap about 90 minutes into the parade.

I don’t have much else to say, I guess. Brady is now right up there with the greatest athletes of all time. Sports Illustrated had a nice write up about Brady’s career and how remarkable it is that he’s still on top. Meanwhile, Forbes had a funny piece on the taxes Brady will have to pay for some of the spoils of victory. Apparently he won a truck? But he’s giving the truck away. He’ll probably still have to pay taxes on it though.

Here’s my question: is Vivian Brady too little for the duck boat buses? She’s only 2 years old. And what about Jack Moynahan?

Gisele posted this photo on her IG too:

My boys ready for the Patriots parade #gopats #superbowlchamps #sohappy ?????? Meus meninos prontos para a passeata dos Patriots #vaipats #campeões #muitofeliz

A photo posted by Gisele Bündchen (@giseleofficial) on Feb 4, 2015 at 7:55am PST

Photos courtesy of Instagram, Fame/Flynet.

Can you believe that it’s already been four months since George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin got married? I cannot. It seems like I just figured out how to spell Amal’s maiden name, and she’s already changed it. Well four months is long for Clooney to be married, but relatively short in the scheme of some things, like engagements. Wedding guests Ellen Barkin, a friend and co-star of the groom, and Ben Emmerson, a friend and colleague of the bride, made a love match at the reception and are reportedly already engaged.

I’m surprised that Barkin, 60, is allegedly engaged again. No shade on her age at all, it’s just that I still remember how she sold all her jewelry after her high profile divorce from billionaire Ron Perelman in 2006. She made around $20 million for her jewels, and said that she sold them “so I — and my children and my mother — would be taken care of.” It was unknown if she made any kind of settlement in her divorce. After that she scored Oceans 13 and a bunch of other acting gigs. Plus Barkin was dating a much younger man for years. In 2011 she had a boyfriend who was just 26 at the time and she had reportedly been with him for four years at that point. So that’s another reason why I’m surprised.

Here’s more on Barkin’s maybe-engagement, thanks to US Magazine:

Ellen Barkin has found love again — and she has George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin to thank. The Sea of Love star is engaged to Alamuddin’s colleague, British barrister and Queen’s counsel Ben Emmerson, a source reveals exclusively to Us Weekly.

“She is so happy and in love again,” the source confirms to Us, adding that the actress and lawyer got engaged over the holidays, after meeting at Alamuddin and Clooney’s September 2014 nuptials.
“Ellen met him at George and Amal’s wedding and they totally hit it off,” the insider explains. “It happened quickly but she’s totally fallen for him and flies to see him all the time.”

Aside from intelligence — Emmerson specializes in human rights law, public international law, and international crime law, among a bevy of other accolades — the source tells Us that Barkin, 60, fell in love with the 51-year-old’s charm.

“He is really handsome and smart and charming and swept her off her feet,” the insider says.

As for their celeb BFFs Clooney and Alamuddin? The insider says they couldn’t be happier for their friends.
“George and Amal love them together! They both love Ellen and Ben so they think this is so great and love that they made a great match happen,” the source says.

[From US Magazine]

Human rights lawyers for all the celebrities! Impressive that he’s a lawyer for the queen too. I wish Barkin well for her third marriage. (She was also married to actor Gabriel Byrne from 1988 to 1998.) Maybe she should enjoy her engagement and not rush to make it official after less than a year with someone. Especially when they’re living in different countries. Still, this guy seems much more suited to her than her last boyfriend, a director who was over 30 years younger than her.

After I wrote this story, Kaiser pointed me to E!, which has a denial from Emmerson’s camp. All the statement says is that “Mr. Emmerson is not engaged to Ellen Barkin.” So, maybe they’re dating and not engaged then? It’s bizarre, because US Magazine would not have run this story without a solid source. They’re usually very good about that.

I couldn’t find any photos of Emmerson at our agencies, but you can see a photo of him on US’s site.