Emma McKee | Showbiz Cheat Sheet Writer

Blake Shelton Paid $40K for a Role in a Mark Wahlberg Film

Emma McKee — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 03:51:00 +0000

Blake Shelton has made his career as a country singer, but he’s looking to expand into film. At an auction, Shelton spent big money on the opportunity to appear in a Mark Wahlberg movie. Here’s what the country star said about his win at the charity auction.

Blake Shelton paid to appear in a film

In 2024, Shelton performed at the Keep Memory Alive’s 27th Annual Power of Love Gala in Las Vegas. Before this, though, Shelton participated in a live auction, bidding on a walk-on role in a future Wahlberg movie. He spent $40,000.

“I don’t know if you guys saw the auction earlier,” he said when he took the stage to perform, per People. “This is maybe the last time I’m ever gonna perform country music.”

Blake Shelton | Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Shelton joked that he was committing fully to the career pivot.

“I’m a movie star now,” he said. “I’m not f***ing around.”

He said it has been a relief to step away from ‘The Voice’

Shelton looks forward to this on-camera role, but he’s feeling relieved to have stepped away from another. Shelton decided not to return to season 24 of The Voice.

“This show has changed my life in every way for the better and it will always feel like home to me,” he said in a press release, per Us Weekly. “It’s been a hell of a ride over these 12 years of chair turns and I want to thank everyone at The Voice from NBC, every producer, the writers, musicians, crew, and catering people, you are the best.”

Shelton said it was not an easy decision, as he loved working as a coach on The Voice. Ultimately, though, he wanted to be able to spend more time with his family. Shelton believes this was the best choice for him.

“It’s been such a relief to have more flexibility with his schedule,” a source said. “Seeing Blake ultra-relaxed and in family mode is so endearing to Gwen and reminds her what a catch he is.”

Blake Shelton’s wife has had a bigger film career than him

Shelton’s wife, Gwen Stefani, might be able to show him the ropes on his new career path. The No Doubt singer has appeared in a handful of films. She admitted it was hard to let go of creative control while working on The Aviator.

“I would have done it a little differently,” she told Vogue. “I’m always in control of my hair and makeup. I was like, ‘Are you sure you want the lips to be that thin? Jean Harlow’s were bigger than that. It’s not like I didn’t read two biographies and watch eighteen of her movies before I got here.’”

Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani | Michael Kovac/Getty Images for AFI

Still, she felt confident that she had the ability to work as an actor.

“The whole acting thing really feels like something I could do,” she said. “Whenever I’ve done it, whenever I had moments where it works, it’s just like performing. You hit a moment. And that’s what movies are: a series of moments.”

John Lennon’s Friend Said It Was ‘Amazing’ That Nobody Was ‘Seriously Injured’ When He Recorded With Phil Spector

Emma McKee — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 22:21:00 +0000

In 1973, John Lennon threw fuel on his already-chaotic Lost Weekend when he started recording with producer Phil Spector. While some of their recording sessions were productive, many others devolved into drunken arguments and violence. Lennon’s friend, Elliot Mintz, expressed shock that no one wound up seriously hurt.

John Lennon’s friend said the recording sessions with Phil Spector were dangerous

Lennon and Spector began working on the album Rock ‘n’ Roll together. Their studio sessions often collapsed into utter chaos.

“The Spector Sessions, as they came to be known, were among the most notorious jams in rock ‘n’ roll history,” Mintz wrote in his book We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me. “I ended up spending about half a dozen all-nighters at these riotous, drug- and alcohol-fueled bacchanals, occasionally finding myself in the unenviable position of having to tidy up some of the messes afterward.”

Cynthia Lennon, John Lennon, and Phil Spector | Daily Mirror/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

Spector once even fired a gun in the studio. Mintz said this incident and others made him feel grateful that everyone made it out of the recording sessions unscathed.

“I wasn’t here (thank goodness) the night Spector famously fired a gun into the ceiling, but I saw plenty of other harrowing incidents,” he wrote. “It’s amazing to me that nobody ended up seriously injured. Even more astonishing was that such a profoundly wonderful album — Rock ‘n’ Roll — came out on the other end of all that chaos and debauchery.”

He said the first sessions didn’t hint at the chaos to come

The early sessions felt calm compared with what came later. People drank and used drugs, often leading to unproductive nights.

“As I recall, though, the Spector Sessions didn’t start out quite so raucous,” Mintz wrote. “In fact, when I popped in for my first visit, driving over from the radio station after my show ended at 11:00 p.m., the mood at the studio was decidedly sleepy, if a bit boozy.”

Mintz said that on that night, as with others, they accomplished nothing.

“John didn’t get a chance to sing a single note that night,” he wrote. “After a couple of hours fiddling at the control console, Spector announced it was a wrap and slipped out the door without another word. John and the other musicians looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and started filing out of the studio into the parking lot. Everyone was drunk, or high, or both.”

John Lennon believed his album with Phil Spector was a mess

Lennon had many problems with Rock ‘n’ Roll. Upon reflection, he found the recording sessions disastrous and had issues with it all the way up until its release.

A billboard for John Lennon’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll” | Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

“It started in ’73 with Phil and fell apart,” he told Rolling Stone in 1975. “I ended up as part of mad drunk scenes in Los Angeles and I finally finished it off on me own. And there was still problems with it up to the minute it came out. I can’t begin to say, it’s just barmy, there’s a jinx on that album.”

John Lennon Was ‘Functionally a Child’ When It Came to Taking Care of Himself, Said a Friend

Emma McKee — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 01:36:00 +0000

John Lennon’s friend, Elliot Mintz, tried to help him in the early 1970s when he and Yoko Ono separated. Ono told him she wanted time apart, and he moved to Los Angeles. Mintz wasn’t exactly sure how well Lennon would bode on his own. After so many years of fame, Mintz said Lennon scarcely knew how to function.

John Lennon struggled to take care of himself, said a friend

When Mintz picked up Lennon from the airport, the musician appeared to have no idea how to use money. Mintz didn’t think this was entirely Lennon’s fault.

“John was functionally a child when it came to taking care of himself,” Mintz wrote in his book We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me. “This wasn’t his fault: he’d been a rock star since he was a teenager. His every want had been arranged for him virtually his entire adult life. He never learned to do his own grocery shopping, never paid a utility bill or mailed a package or involved himself in any of the myriad mundane tasks the rest of us spend so much of our daily lives mired in.”

John Lennon | David Farrell/Redferns

Lennon traveled with May Pang, his assistant. The two began a romantic relationship during the separation from Ono. Mintz said she also worked to keep him alive.

“He was clueless about the most basic elements of human commerce, like money and how to buy stuff with it. But then, that was what May was for,” Mintz wrote. “Whatever other intentions Yoko may or may not have had for the assistant, her primary job in LA was to make sure John was properly fed and cared for, that all his basic needs — or at least most of them — were satisfied.”

John Lennon’s friend shared what he was like

Mintz was close with both Ono and Lennon. He shared what they were like as people.

“They were paradoxes, John and Yoko, filled to the brim with internal contradictions,” Mintz wrote. “That was the main thing I learned about them during those early years of our friendship.”

He noted that they were complicated. While they had many good qualities, they also had some less attractive traits.

“On the one hand, they could be incredibly sensitive, honest, provocative, caring, creative, generous, and wise,” he wrote. “On the other, they could be self-centered, desperate, vain, petty, and annoying. In John’s case, also shockingly cruel — even to Yoko.”

Elliot Mintz believes May Pang wasn’t as close with the musician as she has made it seem

Pang has spoken frequently about her romantic relationship with Lennon. While Lennon reunited with Ono in 1975, Pang claims she remained a part of his life. Mintz doesn’t seem so sure about that.

“She’s published several books about her affair with John, discussed the intimate details of it in documentaries, and given hundreds of interviews on the subject,” Mintz wrote. “And if you believe her account, you inevitably come away with the impression that for a time she was the red-hot center of John’s universe — that their romance was the axis around which the entire Lost Weekend revolved. I don’t doubt that she believes this to be true.”

John Lennon and May Pang | Peter Simins/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images

He said Lennon never talked about his girlfriend.

“I can also tell you that after I dropped her and John off at [music manager Lou] Adler’s house — stopping briefly at a bank on the way to cash those traveler’s checks — I seldom bumped into her again in Los Angeles,” he wrote. “Perhaps even more tellingly, in all the years I knew John — all the way up to his final days — I cannot recall a single conversation in which he mentioned her name.”

Jay-Z Admitted Beyoncé Was Not Easy to Impress When They First Met

Emma McKee — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 22:59:00 +0000

Jay-Z and Beyoncé have been together for practically all of her adult life. They met when she was 18 and were friends before beginning a romantic relationship. Jay-Z said he spent time learning how to date the singer. He admitted that despite all his career success, he had to be at the top of his game to impress his future wife.

Jay-Z said he had to work hard to win over Beyoncé

In 2001, Jay-Z and Beyoncé both appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair’s Music Issue. He denied that they were dating at the time, but said he was trying to get closer to the young singer.

“No, no, we weren’t [dating],” he told the outlet in 2013. “We were just beginning to try to date each other … Well, you know, you’ve got to try first. You’ve got to dazzle … wine and dine.”

Beyoncé and Jay-Z | Josh Brasted/WireImage

His reputation might have worked in his favor in his pursuit of Beyoncé. Still, Jay-Z thought he would have had a chance with her no matter what his career was. She was looking for a personality that impressed her and, Jay-Z said he met her high expectations.

“If I’m as cool as I am, yes, [I had a chance],” he said. “Of course. But she’s a charming southern girl, you know, she’s not impressed … But I would have definitely had to be this cool.”

Beyoncé said she was friends with Jay-Z for over a year before they started dating

According to Beyoncé, Jay-Z spent well over a year trying to impress her.

“We were friends first for a year and a half before we went on any dates,” she told Oprah Winfrey, per People. “We were on the phone for a year and a half, and that foundation is so important for a relationship. Just to have someone who you just like is so important, and someone [who] is honest.”

This helped them build a solid foundation. Jay-Z’s friend said he was head over heels for Beyoncé.

“I know the dude a long time,” his friend told Rolling Stone in 2004. “I’ve never seen him sprung like this. He cares about her, gives her great advice, he wants his woman to look right. They adore each other.”

The couple’s stories about when they met have come under scrutiny

Beyoncé said that she and Jay-Z met when she was 18 years old. Recently, though, this claim has fallen under scrutiny. In 2007, Jay-Z said he met Beyoncé “10 years ago,” which would have been when Beyoncé was 16. He was 28 at the time. He repeated this in an Instagram post.

Jay-Z and Beyonce | Kevin Mazur/WireImage

“First time I laid eyes on her she was 16,” he wrote in an Instagram caption, per The Daily Mail. “I had thought in my head ‘she will be mine,’ became my best friend… 20 years old, it was time… before you knew it she made me swallow my pride and my own words bit me in the a**… ‘Forever mackin’ – 8 years later, married, one kid. She saved me.”

Jay-Z was also on the set of a Destiny’s Child music video in 1998. Given the recent allegations against him, some have questioned if the timeline of their relationship is truthful.

John Lennon Believed a Beatles Reunion Was ‘Quite Possible’

Emma McKee — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 19:42:00 +0000

John Lennon said he lost interest in The Beatles when he met Yoko Ono. He remained in the band until 1969 when he told Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr that he wanted to move on. The band’s split was acrimonious, with the former Beatles insulting each other in interviews and songs. By the early 1970s, though, Lennon told a friend that he believed in the possibility of a reunion.

John Lennon was optimistic about a Beatles reunion by the early 1970s

In 1973, Lennon sat down with his friend, Elliot Mintz, for an interview. Mintz noted in his book, We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me, that he asked the question that was on everyone’s mind at the time.

“After carefully pulling out of the McDonald’s lot, I cautiously navigated to a surprisingly desolate stretch of beach near the Malibu pier, where the camera crew taped John and me talking about everything from his new album to his memories of Beatlemania to the ultimate question on everybody’s mind — and the one John had been asked at least a thousand times before: the possibility of a Beatles reunion.”

The Beatles | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

While Lennon had made his irritation with The Beatles no secret, he said he was still open to a reunion.

“‘It’s quite possible, yes,’ he said as we sat on the sand. ‘I don’t know why the hell we’d do it, but it’s possible.’”

He added that it wouldn’t even be a chore for her. If they were to reunite, he’d feel happy about it.

“I go on instinct,” he said. “If the idea hits me tomorrow, I might call them and say, ‘Come on, let’s do something.’ So, I couldn’t really tell you. If it happens, it’ll happen.”

Lennon insisted that by that point, he had let go of the anger and aggravation he felt in the 1960s.

“No, no, all my memories are now all fond and the wounds have all healed,” he said. “If we do it, we do it. If we record, we record.”

John Lennon was the first to leave The Beatles

While many have long blamed Paul McCartney for breaking up the band, he insisted that the blame lies with Lennon.

“I didn’t instigate the split,” McCartney told The Guardian. “That was our Johnny.”

Lennon was with Ono and wanted to move on in his personal and professional life.

“The point of it really was that John was making a new life with Yoko,” McCartney said. “John had always wanted to sort of break loose from society because, you know, he was brought up by his Aunt Mimi, who was quite repressive, so he was always looking to break loose.”

The remaining members knew there was no path forward for them, but their manager insisted that they keep the split a secret.

“So for a few months we had to pretend,” McCartney explained. “It was weird because we all knew it was the end of the Beatles but we couldn’t just walk away.”

He didn’t speak about the band as though he wanted a reunion

According to Lennon’s girlfriend at the time, May Pang, he still spoke disparagingly about his former band. She claimed that he found the band’s music dull and unimportant.

The Beatles | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

“[His solo albums] would make a meaningful statement and not be wallpaper music — the term John and Yoko used to describe the music of The Beatles,” Pang wrote in her book Loving John. “He was also determined that it be more successful than McCartney’s solo albums.”

Blake Shelton Admitted He Was a ‘Jerk’ Before He Met Gwen Stefani

Emma McKee — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 17:21:00 +0000

Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani began a romantic relationship in 2015, shortly after they both ended their marriages. They both have said that meeting the other person felt like a revelation. Shelton also said that before he met his future wife, he considered himself a bit of a “jerk.”

Blake Shelton described himself as a jerk before he met Gwen Stefani

Shelton and Stefani met while they both worked as coaches on The Voice. He was going through a divorce from Miranda Lambert when they began a relationship. Shelton said he didn’t like to reflect on the person he was before Stefani came into his life.

“I don’t want to remember what I was like before Gwen, actually,” he told Entertainment Tonight backstage at The Voice.

Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani | Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

He joked that he was still a bit of a jerk, but added that Stefani made him a better person.

“I’m a little bit of a jerk to you still,” he told fellow Voice coach, Kelly Clarkson. “But I was a jerk to everybody … Look how nice I am now!”

His fellow coaches agreed. They said they liked the influence Stefani had over Shelton when they were both working on The Voice.

“I love the energy with them being on the show together,” coach John Legend said. “It kind of softens Blake a little bit.”

Blake Shelton spoke about how he felt after meeting Gwen Stefani

When Shelton told the coaches on The Voice that he was getting a divorce, he noticed that Stefani got very emotional at his words. He didn’t know at the time, but she had recently ended her marriage to Gavin Rossdale.

“I won’t forget that day,” he told Billboard in 2016. “I looked over at Gwen — who I didn’t really know — and she had these huge tears in her eyes. I thought, ‘Wow, she feels super bad for me!’”

Afterward, she confided in him. Their relationship continued to develop from there.

“I thought it was going to be another one of those things-are-going-to-be-OK talks,” he said. “She didn’t tell me much, because we didn’t know each other at the time, but she said, ‘I’m going through something very similar to what you’re going through. I understand. And I hate it.’ That’s kind of how our friendship and bond started, that day.”

Shelton said having someone who understood what he was going through felt like a miracle to him.

“Gwen saved my life,” he said. “Who else on earth could understand going through a high-profile divorce from another musician? You can’t even imagine the similarities in our divorces.”

Miranda Lambert once blamed her ex-husband for the end of their relationship

While Shelton didn’t like to think about the person he was pre-Stefani, his ex, Lambert, certainly did. According to one friend, she poured her negative feelings towards Shelton into her music. As she grew older, though, she let go of the blame.

Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton | Rick Diamond/Getty Images for BMI

“Miranda is older and wiser now and she no longer lays all the blame at Blake’s feet,” a friend told In Touch Weekly. “Now it still gives her fodder for writing hit songs!”

Blake Shelton Said His ‘Great Accomplishment’ Was Marrying Gwen Stefani

Emma McKee — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 21:37:00 +0000

In 2023, Gwen Stefani celebrated Blake Shelton when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The No Doubt singer spoke highly of her husband as an artist and a person. When Shelton gave a speech at the ceremony, he took the time to praise his wife as well. He said that while receiving the star was an accomplishment, his biggest achievement came when he married her.

Blake Shelton said his relationship with Gwen Stefani was a high point in his life

When Shelton received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, he dedicated the achievement to his late brother, Richie.

“My family’s all here, by the way, from Oklahoma,” he said, per People. “I was talking to my mom this morning, and I was just thinking about what I’m gonna say when I get up here,” said Shelton. “She says to me, ‘I wish Richie could’ve been here to see this and everything that you’ve done.’ So I dedicate my star on this Walk of Fame to my brother Richie.”

Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton, and their children | FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

He also took time to speak of his love for Stefani. He said that while the star was an achievement, nothing could measure up to how it felt to marry her.

“I kind of stopped checking things off my list of great accomplishments in my life when I married Gwen, so this is just icing on the cake,” he said. “I love you so much, and that’s the great thing that’s happened along this journey.”

She praised him at his ceremony on the Walk of Fame

Stefani also spoke at the ceremony and listed the many glowing attributes she saw in her husband.

Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton | Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

“He’s humble, he’s genuine, and trust me, wherever we go everybody feels like they know Blake Shelton,” she said. “Blake, you are a rare human being. The reason Blake Shelton is here today on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is because you are part of the country dream, the Hollywood dream and you are part of the American Dream.”

She added that he is a “one-of-a-kind guy” who “always stayed true to himself.”

Blake Shelton said Gwen Stefani saved his life during his divorce

Stefani and Shelton first bonded in 2015, while they were both going through divorces. They were coaches on The Voice at the time, and Stefani hadn’t announced her separation from Gavin Rossdale to anyone. When Shelton told the coaches he and Miranda Lambert were divorcing, though, she knew she had to speak to him privately.

“I thought it was going to be another one of those things-are-going-to-be-OK talks,” he told Billboard in 2016. “She didn’t tell me much, because we didn’t know each other at the time, but she said, ‘I’m going through something very similar to what you’re going through. I understand. And I hate it.’ That’s kind of how our friendship and bond started, that day.”

They began to lean on one another for support. Before long, their friendship turned romantic.

“It went from that, to checking in on each other once a week through email — ‘This s*** happened to me, what happened to you?’ — to maybe three times a week, then every day, to ‘Hey, here’s my phone number if you ever want to text,’” he said. “Next thing I know, I wake up and she’s all I care about, and I’m wondering if she feels the same about me.”

He said having her support saved his life during this challenging time.

“Gwen saved my life,” he said. “Who else on earth could understand going through a high-profile divorce from another musician? You can’t even imagine the similarities in our divorces.”

Bob Dylan Unknowingly Provided the Soundtrack to 1 of the Most Humiliating Nights of Yoko Ono’s Life

Emma McKee — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 18:11:00 +0000

Bob Dylan and John Lennon spent time together over the years, but he reportedly wasn’t a fan of his wife, Yoko Ono. Early in Lennon and Ono’s relationship, Dylan told George Harrison that she had “bad vibes.” Years after this, Lennon publicly humiliated his wife, and someone put on a lengthy Dylan song to try to cover it up.

A Bob Dylan record played as John Lennon humiliated Yoko Ono

In 1972, Lennon and Ono attended an election watch party at Jerry Rubin’s New York City apartment. When it became apparent that Richard Nixon would win, many of the guests, including Lennon, began to drink their sorrows away. Lennon became so intoxicated that he slipped away to have sex with another party goer — while Ono was still in the apartment.

“[T]he upshot was that John had indeed hit it off with some girl at the party and had slipped into a bedroom with her, where they proceeded to have such loud, raucous sex that everyone sitting around the TV in Jerry Rubin’s living room — including Yoko — could clearly hear them going at it,” the couple’s friend, Elliot Mintz, wrote in his book We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me.

The pair were so loud that another guest tried in vain to cover up the sound with one of Dylan’s songs.

“At one point during the noisy indiscretion, a well-meaning party guest put a record on the turntable — Bob Dylan’s eleven-minute ballad ‘Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’ — and played it at high volume, trying to drown out the rhythmic pounding,” Mintz wrote. “But not even Dylan’s inimitable singing could distract from the racket John and his hookup were making in the bedroom on the other side of what must have been a paper-thin wall.”

To make matters worse, everyone was trapped in the apartment. Lennon was in the room where they placed their coats.

“Throughout it all, Yoko sat on the sofa, in stunned, mortified silence, as other guests began awkwardly getting up to leave — until they realized that their coats were in the bedroom where John was having sex.”

The couple temporarily separated not long after the incident

The following day, Mintz talked to a devastated Ono on the phone.

“He was placing [his wife] in the most embarrassing position that you could ever place a woman in — having a romp in the hay in another room with thin walls while your wife was attending a small party and could hear everything,” Mintz told People. “Yoko is a very stoic woman, but it would have severe consequences.”

She wasn’t sure she could move forward with their marriage as though nothing had happened.

“I can forgive him, but I don’t know if I can ever forget what happened,” she told Mintz. “I don’t know if it will ever be the same.”

Not long after the incident, Ono told Lennon she needed space. For the next 18 months, they lived separately.

Bob Dylan reportedly told George Harrison not to trust Yoko Ono

To add insult to injury for Ono, Dylan once spoke poorly about her to the other Beatles. He warned Harrison not to trust her when she started dating Lennon.

“I’m for Yoko,” Lennon told Rolling Stone. “Why should she take that kind of s*** from those people? They were writing about her looking miserable in the Let It Be film, but you sit through 60 sessions with the most bigheaded, uptight people on earth and see what its f***in’ like and be insulted – just because you love someone – and George, s***, insulted her right to her face in the Apple office at the beginning, just being ‘straight-forward,’ you know that game of ‘I’m going to be upfront,’ because this is what we’ve heard and Dylan and a few people said she’d got a lousy name in New York, and you give off bad vibes.”

Yoko Ono and John Lennon | Bettmann/Contributor via Getty

Lennon said he wished he’d retaliated against Harrison.

“That’s what George said to her!” Lennon said. “And we both sat through it. I didn’t hit him, I don’t know why.”

Kanye West’s Father Said the Rapper’s Music Went Against How He Was Raised

Emma McKee — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 16:08:00 +0000

Kanye West’s mother and father supported his music career. Still, his father wasn’t a fan of every part of his music. West’s father, Ray, once said he couldn’t approve of the language his son used in his music. He said West went against the way his parents raised him with some of his songs.

Kanye West’s father once said he didn’t approve of one aspect of his music

West grew up in a middle-class suburb of Chicago. His mother, Donda, once worked as the chair of the English department at Chicago State University, and Ray was a Black Panther turned photojournalist. Ray did not approve of the language his son used in his music.

“I’ve stated to him very clearly that he needs to move beyond the negative language and the ‘[n-word]’ statements,” Ray told Rolling Stone in 2006. “It’s all right to say ‘b****’ and ‘motherf***er’ on the corner, but when you start operating on a different level you can’t talk like that.”

Kanye West | Rich Fury/VF20/Getty Images for Vanity Fair

He didn’t think he raised West to use language like he did.

“Fine, you’re trying to get some street acceptance,” he said. “Now that you got that, get back to your roots. You know that’s not where you came from. You know that’s not how you were raised.”

Kanye West turned to his father during his divorce from Kim Kardashian

While West and Kim Kardashian went through a divorce, he turned to Ray for support. According to him, his father would not help him.

“My dad told me three weeks ago, it’s the first time he ever said that,” he said on Hollywood Unlocked. “[He told me] that my mom told him, ‘I’m moving to Chicago and if you try to come find me, you’ll never see him [Ye] again’…Why did he say that? Because I was begging him to call Kim and he was refusing to do it.”

He explained that his father did not have the wealth or power to influence any part of the divorce proceedings.

“He said, ‘I don’t want to talk.’ And I said, ‘Dad, I need your help. I can’t see my kids, I can’t do this,’” West recalled. “My dad didn’t have the voice or the money to stand up [for me].”

He dealt with bullies as a child

West grew up to become one of the biggest celebrities in the world, but he didn’t get much respect as a child. Ray recalled a time when other children attempted to steal his son’s bike.

“They pulled a knife out on him and slashed his tires,” he said. “He was about eight or nine.”

West’s childhood bullies gained further ammunition when he returned from a year in China with his mother. She worked as a visiting professor at Nanjing University.

Kanye West | Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

“When he came back from China, he was teased frequently,” his father said. “He was called China Boy. Kids can be very cruel.”

Still, West maintained robust self-confidence.

“The braggadociousness comes from his mother’s father, Buddy,” Ray said. “Buddy is a true Muhammad Ali fan. He will tell you in a minute that he’s the best thing to ever come along.”

John Lennon Never Mentioned Girlfriend May Pang’s Name, but She Claimed They Remained Involved Until His Death

Emma McKee — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 22:08:00 +0000

In 1973, John Lennon began a relationship with his assistant, May Pang. His marriage to Yoko Ono had been on rocky terrain for some time, and she suggested they take a break. For 18 months, Lennon cavorted around Los Angeles with Pang by his side. She has spoken often about their affair in the years since, insisting that the romance between them never fizzled out. Lennon’s close friend, Elliot Mintz, had very different memories of the relationship.

May Pang said her affair with John Lennon continued long after his ‘Lost Weekend’

According to Pang, Ono was the first to suggest she begin a relationship with Lennon. Lennon was on board, but Pang said she had reservations. She explained that she cried the first time they slept together because she didn’t know where the affair would lead.

“I didn’t know where it was going to lead,” she told People. “I was like, ‘What’s going to happen?’ I was very content in working. [But] he kept saying, ‘I don’t know where this is going to lead, but let’s just do the jump.'”

John Lennon and May Pang | Peter Simins/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images

Pang claimed that Ono’s presence still loomed over the affair. She called often, talking to both Pang and Lennon for updates. In 1975, she welcomed Lennon back home to New York and he accepted. While they resumed their marriage, Pang said this was not the end of her relationship with the former Beatle.

“He’d secretly come over to see me. He would say, ‘You know, I still love you,'” she said. “He said things to me that were really very intimate and you could sense there was something still. It was gnawing at him. It was not a finished situation.”

John Lennon’s friend had differing memories of his relationship with May Pang

Pang’s memories of the sweeping love affair do not line up with Mintz’s. He was a close friend of Lennon and Ono’s in the 1970s.

“She’s published several books about her affair with John, discussed the intimate details of it in documentaries, and given hundreds of interviews on the subject,” Mintz wrote in his book We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me. “And if you believe her account, you inevitably come away with the impression that for a time she was the red-hot center of John’s universe — that their romance was the axis around which the entire Lost Weekend revolved. I don’t doubt that she believes this to be true.”

Mintz said he liked Pang when he met her. Still, he didn’t think she was as significant a presence in Lennon’s life as she claimed. He couldn’t remember discussing her with Lennon even once.

He returned to Yoko Ono in 1975

After 18 months of abject chaos, Lennon settled back down with Ono. They missed each other.

“We ended up together again because it was diplomatically viable . . . come on,” Lennon told Rolling Stone. “We got back together because we love each other.”

Yoko Ono and John Lennon | Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images

Lennon said that his behavior — the drinking, drug use, and headline-making fights — was a symptom of his heartbreak. He was glad to get back to life with Ono.

“[The separation] didn’t work out. And the reaction to the breakup was all that madness,” he said. “I was like a chicken without a head.”