The biggest forehead in daytime TV is still unattached — for now, at least. Two-time Emmy Award-winning talk show host Tyra Banks is shooting down rumors that she is set to wed her longtime boyfriend, Manhattan businessman John Utendahl.
Tyra prompted rumors of her engagement after photos surfaced showing her wearing a gold ring on her ring finger — the former supermodel has since revealed the ring as her class ring.
“No diamonds! Its like 10-carat gold!” Tyra joked Monday.
A rep for the model-turned-media mogul has confirmed that Tyra is not engaged to Utendahl.
“It’s her high school class ring,” her rep insists.
Tyra has been romantically linked to Utendahl since 2007.
Whitney Houston returns to the music scene after a six-year hiatus with the release of her comeback album I Look to You, her sixth full-length studio LP. So far, the album is getting mostly strong reviews from critics, and now the legendary singer is opening about teaming up with her Arista Records mentor Clive Davis once again on the pages of the October issue of Ebony Magazine.
“I shed a lot of stuff, a lot of unnecessary weight in the last three or four years. I left a lot of old luggage behind, and when I did, the blessings just started pouring on me, and the light in my spirit started to lift again,” Whitney tells the magazine. “I’m really humbled, and I thank God that people love me, but I [really] thank God that God loves me. I thank Him for chastening my heart, for never letting go. What I did sometimes … I went off and did my thing, but He never let me go.”
Whitney On Her Retreat From The Public Eye: “I was just ready to lay back and raise my daughter and just watch her grow and nurture her. And my mother’s getting older. I wanted to spend more time with my mom [because during] most of my 20s and 30s, [I] was dealing with making records and traveling the world and being this thing — icon, you know — whatever this has turned into.”
Whitney On Her Relationship With Daughter Bobbi Kristina, 16: “She and I are not only mother and daughter, but we’re good friends. I want her to trust me, to be able to trust in me, to know that I’m not going nowhere. If she knows that I’m there for her, she can depend on me. I’m the dependable one; she can depend on her mommy.”
Whitney Houston covers the October issue of Ebony, on newsstands September 8.
It’s hard out here for a former rap star. Hip-hop is in serious need of a retirement plan. Christopher “Kid” Reid, of the hip-hop duo Kid N’ Play, wants to sell you a suit. These days Kid — which rose to fame with a serious of jovial radio hits, a Saturday Morning cartoon, and the House Party film franchise — in the late ’80s and early ’90s — is getting paid to hock SW Suits – buy one, get one free!
Chris Brown sat down for his first interview since the now-infamous fight he had with Rihanna nearly six months ago.
“I was distraught,” he says of how he felt immediately following the assault. “I went to my mom on the same night and told [her] what happened and broke down.”
Chris claims her grew up witnessing his stepfather beat his mother Joyce, and credits the violence he witnessed with his own brush with abuse.
“I feel like he enjoyed it. He was an abuser. It was continuous.”
Catch the full interview this Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 9/8c on CNN.
Have you heard about the alleged split between rapper Joe Budden and his built GF Tahiry? Here’s supposed footage of the fiery Latina dumping the “Pump It Up” star –which Budden uploaded to YouTube over the weekend — only to delete two mins later.
The-Dream has been appointed vice president of Island Def Jam Music Group.The singer/songwriter, who has worked with Mariah Carey, Ciara and Mary J. Blige, is now second-in-command of the urban music label.
In a post on his Twitter.com blog Thursday, The-Dream wrote: “I wanna thank everyone at Island Records/DefJam for their faith in me and making me Executive Vice President of Island Records. I look forward to the challenge of rebuilding music for not only Island Records but for Universal Records as a whole. Today I’m humbled and blessed.”
The star is set to wed singer/actress Christina Milian later this year.
Laura Winslow is getting married — and it isn’t to Steve Urkel!
Kellie Shanygne Williams, who appeared on the classic ABC sitcom Family Matters between 1989-1997, has announced her wedding to self-employed businessman Hannibal Jackson (Yep, that’s really his name.) on her website this week.
The couple is scheduled to wed in Maryland sometime next month. Congratulations, Laura!
