PRINCE HARRY and MEGHAN MARKLE welcomed their daughter on Friday. Her name is Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor . . . Lili for short. They said “She is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we’ve felt from across the globe. Thank you for your continued kindness and support during this very special time for our family.” Lili is named after QUEEN ELIZABETH, whose family nickname is Lilibet. She’s the Queen’s 11th great-grandchild. The Diana in her name obviously comes from Harry’s mother. Harry and Meghan also have a 2-year-old son named Archie. The Royal Family Tweeted, “Congratulations to The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the birth of Lilibet Diana! The Queen, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted with the news.” And PRINCE WILLIAM and KATE MIDDLETON said they are, “Wishing them all well at this special time.”
Delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic postponed the making of the fifth Indiana Jones movie. However, the production begins filming this week at Pinewood Studios in England. One location is the Bamburgh castle – allegedly haunted by the famed Pink Lady. Harrison Ford is making his final appearance as the title character. Plot details have been heavily guarded.
DRAKE BELL from “Drake & Josh” was arrested and charged in Ohio for a supposed inappropriate interaction with a 15-year-old girl in 2017. He pleaded not guilty and has to show up to court later this month.
Remember before the pandemic when we all whined about, well, everything? “This beer’s room temperature, take it back!” “You call this barbecue? Not where I come from.”
LUKE BRYAN talked about his upcoming Proud to Be Right Here Tour. “It’s funny when you start out, there are things you’d never imagine complaining about. But the next thing you know, it’s like, ‘The water pressure isn’t sufficient enough at this 14,000-seat venue that [I] sold out.'” He’s going to complain less from now on, but there is one tour thing he’ll always hate. “When you get in bad highways, I don’t miss that. I mean, when you are getting thrown around your bus like popcorn poppin’, I don’t miss that.”
SCOTTY MCCREERY says he still gets starstruck by his country music heroes. He gets tongue-tied around people like Garth Brooks and George Strait . . . but the ultimate was when he met Dolly Parton the very first time. “The most starstruck was meeting Dolly. Somebody captured a picture of it, and you can see the twinkle in my eye and the grin I had. It was quite a moment. I’m not sure what I said, probably didn’t make sense. It was pretty spectacular.” He said the stories about Dolly being a sweetheart are true. She’s the queen of country, but she makes you feel like someone who’d be at your Thanksgiving table. In the same interview he was asked if he’s ever been mistaken for another celebrity. He said people always confuse him with Clay Aiken. They’ve both lived in Raleigh, North Carolina and competed on “American Idol”.
LUKE COMBS is releasing a three-song vinyl EP called “The Trilogy” at the end of the month. All three tracks are inspired by his wife, Nicole. Side One has “Beautiful Crazy” and “Better Together” . . . and Side Two features “Forever After All”. “These three songs mean a lot to Nicole and [me] for a lot of reasons, so I wanted to put them on something together.”
Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks showed off their talk show hosting chops when they guest-hosted The Ellen DeGeneres Show together last month. Now that DeGeneres is preparing to say goodbye to her long-running show, Yearwood revealed she would be interested in hosting a show permanently, but she had some requirements. When Yearwood started her Food Network series, she and Brooks were living in Oklahoma, and the network agreed to come there to film the series. Once they moved to Nashville, Food Network moved the show there. “To be able to film the show then go home at night is important, so I would not say that it’s something we wouldn’t consider but I think they’d have to come to us,” Yearwood said. Filming a talk show in Nashville would attract different guests than Ellen does, but it is still a popular destination. “It would actually be easy for guests, especially artists because so many people live here. Not just country artists, a lot of artists from all forms of music live in this town. So I’m just sayin’, Nashville’s a cool city. Think about it guys, think about it!” Since DeGeneres announced her decision, there has been non-stop speculation about who might replace her. It’s temporary solution is to move up The Kelly Clarkson Show, which has been a success since it debuted in September 2019. Clarkson will take over DeGeneres’ slot on all NBC-owned stations starting in fall 2022. That will still leave a free timeslot for another celebrity-fronted talk show. One person reportedly being considered is comedian Tiffany Haddish. However, affiliates that aired Ellen are reportedly considering airing lower-cost news programs during the day instead of a new talk show.
Disney is already planning a sequel to Cruella, after its $48.5 million opening week at the global box office. The sequel is “in early development”.
