When Steve Burns was still on “Blue’s Clues”, rumors started circulating that he had DIED . . . either of suicide or an overdose. Those rumors followed him after he left the show. And they were devastating. He says, “One of the most common things people would say to me was: ‘I thought you were dead.'” That caused his mental health to suffer. “I built a house in Brooklyn and never left it. I call it ‘the gray’ of my life. “It was about 10 years where I did nothing but, like, drink couple of bottles of wine every night alone, watch ‘MythBusters’. . . and just eat Pad Thai.” Steve gained 50 pounds and became, “completely unrecognizable”, even to himself. “Everyone thought I was dead. And eventually I started playing along. You know, that was the strategy was just . . . maybe I am.” Eventually, Steve sought help . . . after taking some advice from a wise teacher: Steve from “Blue’s Clues”. “Every day on ‘Blue’s Clues’, I would sit in a chair and look at someone in the eye and ask, ‘Will you help me?’ And it wasn’t until I did that in my life, in my real life, that things changed.”
Tom Cruise ate a massive breakfast before hanging from a plane and wing-walking in “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”. It included almost a dozen eggs because he burns a lot of energy.
The ACM Awards keep adding more and more names to their performers list. The first round of singers announced were: Lainey Wilson . . . Eric Church . . . and Blake Shelton. Then they added Chris Stapleton . . . Miranda Lambert . . . Kelsea Ballerini . . . Alan Jackson . . . Brooks & Dunn . . . Cody Johnson . . . Rascal Flatts . . . Clint Black . . . Wynonna Judd . . . and LeAnn Rimes. Yesterday they just added Jelly Roll . . . Shaboozey . . . Megan Moroney . . . and the Backstreet Boys, too. The show will begin with a 12-minute medley of the “Songs of the Decades” . . . Which makes sense, since this is the 60th annual ACM Awards. It all takes place on Thursday, May 8th . . . and will be hosted by Reba McEntire.
Fresh after winning the ACM Award for New Male Artist of the Year, Zach Top flew to New York City to be on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon. He sang, “I Never Lie”. Fans loved the performance. And when Zach was asked recently why everyone seems to be gravitating towards his sound right now, he said, “People are starving for stuff that’s real . . . that isn’t filtered and prettied up.” He went on to say, “The only thing I’ve ever done on TikTok is sit there with my acoustic guitar and play and sing for ’em . . . There’s no lip-synching and no hanky-panky.”
“The View” has landed the first post-White House interview with Joe and Jill Biden.
Kelly Clarkson’s new single “Where Have You Been” was inspired by Martin Short in “Only Murders in the Building”.
This week’s notable New Music releases include Eric Church’s “Evangeline vs. the Machine”,
Ellie Kemper is 45. Adorable Erin on “The Office” . . . and star of the Netflix show “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”.
Jenna Von Oy is 48. Six on “Blossom”.
David Beckham is 50.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is 53.
Ty Herndon is 63. Country singer.
Christine Baranski is 73. Leonard’s mom on “The Big Bang Theory”,
Lou Gramm is 75. Foreigner’s lead
Larry Gatlin is 77. Leader of country’s Gatlin Brothers.
Bianca Jagger is 80. Mick Jagger’s ex-wife. FYI: Billy Joel’s song “Big Shot” is based on a bad date with her.
Saturday
Eric Church is 48. Country singer. “Springsteen” and “Drink in My Hand”.
Sunday
Randy Travis is 66. Country superstar who had a massive stroke back in 2013
