Category: Entertainment

Annalise Keating has gotten away with a lot. But it remains to be seen if she’ll escape this sixth and final season with the one thing it always seemed she was after. 

“I love the idea that she’s just searching for love and intimacy and whoever will give it to her,” Viola Davis told E! News of the cutthroat attorney and criminal law professor she’s inhabited since 2014. “I love that it’s not coming from a place of damage and being screwed up because I don’t think it’s screwed up. I think it’s an interesting, liberating thought to just seek the person who is seeking you.” 

How it will all turn out for Keating, well, that’s a question the folks at Shondaland won’t answer until the final six episodes of ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder play out starting tonight. 

Fortunately for Davis, though, her real-life happy ending is already wrapped up.

Though the 54-year-old actress shares few commonalties with her fame-making character (“She’s messy, almost sociopathic, sexual, mysterious, highly intelligent, a big personality. She’s all of those adjectives that are not associated with me,” she told People last fall), a love life in near constant upheaval was once one of them. 

Then Julius Tennon answered her prayers. Quite literally, the then-struggling actress having actually put out a spiritual call for help back in 2000. “I was the loneliest woman in the world, and someone said, ‘You should just pray for a husband,'” she revealed to Page Six in February 2013. So she thought hard and asked for “a big black man from the South who looked like a football player.” For Davis, born on her grandmother’s South Carolina farm, he also had to be “emotionally available, someone who was older, someone who maybe had a family before,” she told Essence months later. “Someone from the South. Someone who loves God more than he loves himself.”

Three-and-a-half weeks later, she stumbled across Tennon on the set of the short-lived medical drama City of Angels. A father of two 12 years her elder, he had grown up in Travis County, Texas and played football at the University of Tulsa. Frankly, she couldn’t have drawn it up any better.

Two decades on, the couple are set to celebrate their 17th wedding anniversary this June with 9-year-old daughter Genesis at their side and the Juilliard grad has leapt from sometime guest star on shows like Judging Amy and NYPD Blue to in-demand powerhouse with an Oscar, Emmy and two Tony Awards to her name. No wonder the elementary schooler is eager to follow in Mom’s footsteps.

Davis credits more than a little of her success to the life she built with Tennon. As she put it on the 2017 premiere of the OWN series Black Love, “I always tell people after my first date with Julius, my life got better. In every way. Anxiety went away, fear went away. He just made my life better.” 

Good thing he had his ears open that day at craft services. 

Having finished their shared scene, “I just overheard her talking to a girl and found her saying, ‘I don’t like L.A. I don’t know anybody here.’ Just kind of complaining. And I was dating a girl who was a little bit of a monster and I was kinda like, ‘Oh, wow. She seems like a nice lady, she doesn’t know anybody. I’m kind of ready to meet somebody else,'” Tennon said on Black Love. “So at the end of the day, I gave her my card.”

Davis’ first reaction, after she wiped away the bagel crumbs, “The only thing I thought was, ‘He’s good-looking. He’s really good-looking,'” she shared in a 2016 episode of The Jess Cagle Interview. Then she felt immediate relief that he wasn’t one of those actors. “He had his shirt on,” she recalled on OWN. “That was a big deal. A lot of actors have their shirts off in their little cards.”

Still, she didn’t immediately accept his offer of a guided trip to the Santa Monica Pier. Having grown up in such abject poverty in tiny Central Falls, Rhode Island that she has talked about digging through maggot-infested dumpsters for food and wrapping bed sheets around her neck at night to avoid rat bites, she was embarrassed of her bad credit and the anxiety she felt over navigating L.A.’s packed streets: “I had to work out some personal issues first.” 

But after six weeks, her friends’ nudging wore her down. “Everyone said, ‘You gotta call him. You gotta call him,'” she recalled on Black Love, “I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to call him.'”

He won her over with one date that took place, appropriately, at church. 

Following an incredibly candid evening (“I was terrified, because he told me exactly who he was—he was absolutely honest about his past,” she said on Black Love) he was forthright as he dropped her off at home. “He just said, ‘You are a very beautiful and nice woman, and it was a pleasure spending time with you,'” she remembered. “And he shook my hand.”

Then he called 20 minutes later. “I said, ‘You got home already?'” she shared. “He said, ‘No, I’m at the Ralph’s down the street, but I just wanted to tell you again what a great time I had and what a beautiful woman you are.'”

And another 20 after that. “He called again: ‘I just want to tell you I got home, and you are a beautiful woman. I’m about to go to sleep, and I just wanted to tell you to have a good night,” Davis recalled. 

His charms haven’t abated since. Marrying in 2003 first in front of 15 guests at their condo, then with a crowd of 100 in Rhode Island, the pair maintain that loving feeling through frequent acts of kindness. 

“It’s about the everyday,” she told People at a 2016 event. “I think that, that’s what people forget when they fall in love with someone and it’s exciting. You have to get back to the everyday–the taking the garbage out, the cooking, the cleaning–and it’s something that I think really works with me and my husband. Every day is like a date.”

Of course some are grander than others. Telling the outlet that it’s the “simple things that are very, very special” she shared that Tennon “just gave me a book. It says, ‘How Do I Love Thee Viola? Confirmations Of Love By Julius.’ I have it in my bag, and I bring it with me every day to work, and each day is another love affirmation.”

Perhaps the biggest romantic affirmation to date, though, came when they decided to renew their vows five years after bringing daughter Genesis into their lives in late 2011. “I wanted to have another ceremony that was pretty where I got to wear the fabulous dress with the fabulous food,” she explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live! So she found a silk embroidered gown by Carmen Marc Valvo and booked a ballroom at Santa Monica’s Hotel Casa del Mar for the evening before Valentine’s Day.

“I love the rituals of weddings. What can I say?” she explained on the Today show. “It’s a time in my life when I feel the most alive and that’s the thing that I don’t always feel that way. I love what I do but sometimes I’m on a sound stage for 17 hours a day and I’m tired and I’m hot but with Julius, it just reminds me of what’s beautiful about my life and I think that’s worth it.”

This time around she was able to include the entirety of her How to Get Away With Murder cast and new pal Oprah Winfrey (who came through with an invite to her palatial Montecito spread), trappings of the life they’ve spent the last two decades building together. 

“Viola, you’ve just been amazing. Incredible,” he said in a toast shared to social media. “She teaches me every day how to man up, how to agree to disagree but let’s get it done, don’t let the sun go down on your anger.” Continued Tennon, “Some doors have been slammed. Some anger has been exuded. But it’s reconciled. Always reconciled.”

Their next chapter will see her take on Michelle Obama for Showtime’s forthcoming anthology, First Ladies, produced with Lionsgate through their shared company JuVee Productions. “I’m excited,” she told People last year. “I may fail big. But you know what? I’ll live through it. But I do want to honor her in every way I can.”

But first, a much-needed respite. “Does that sound nice?” she asked of the planned vacation, marking the end of her successful HTGAWM run. “Nothing. Peace.”

Thank god she found it. Speaking to research professor and author Brené Brown in 2018, she opened up about a particular breakthrough. “One day my therapist asked me a pivotal question: ‘What if nothing changes—your looks, your weight, your success—would you be okay?’ For the first time, I thought, ‘You know what? Yes, I would. I really would,” she shared. 

Of course it helped that she had a partner to remind her just how fantastic she was. “I also got married to an amazing man who really saw me,” she continued. “He was my gift for working so hard on myself.”

There’s officially just one more episode of Modern Family. Or rather two. Two and a retrospective special. 

Tonight’s episode was the last episode before next week’s two-part series finale, and ended with a bit of a surprise for Mitch and Cam: the new baby they’re adopting has arrived two weeks early, before they’ve managed to move into their new house. All of their stuff is currently packed away in a moving truck, but Mitch did get to say goodbye to the old house with a Dirty Dancing routine before the baby arrived, so at least there’s that. 

Elsewhere, Jay, Manny, and Joe bonded over a little wine-tasting competition (which Joe only judged and did not participate in) while Phil and Claire panicked over being cool grandparents and not regular grandparents, only to eventually realize they’re also still parents who still sometimes have to clean up their kids’ insane messes. 

The Dunphy kids had thrown a party with their parents out of town and with the twins being taken care of by Dylan’s parents, and it had resulted in the piano being broken, a rug being destroyed by fire, a small collection of python eggs being laid in the fireplace, and Alex becoming a sort of creepy employee for a weird neighbor after he slipped in the drink she spilled. 

They did their best to hide the damaged and even got the piano fixed and the rug replaced with no issue, but there were some things that only Phil and Claire could fix. 

One of the python eggs ended up in the Easter eggs, and Phil ended up dressing up as the Easter bunny to find the missing snake. And Claire almost paid the neighbor off before taking advantage of her new status as an elder to blackmail the neighbor right back. 

There was a certain spark to it all that felt like a regular Modern Family episode, but it also felt like the beginning of the end, and a sign that things are about to get extra emotional next week. 

Modern Family‘s finale begins next Wednesday at 8 p.m. with a retrospective special, and followed by the final two episodes starting at 9 p.m. on ABC. 

Another singer has been unmasked. 

The Masked Singer just said goodbye to the White Tiger and hello to Rob Gronkowski, the former Patriots tight end who just wanted to show off his unique dance moves on stage. 

“I’ve always loved dancing, and my dance moves were always one of a kind, and I always felt like I was never on rhythm, so when I got asked to do The Masked Singer, I knew I was in,” he said. “I wanted to do it. I wanted to learn how to sing and also I really wanted to learn how to dance.” 

Apparently his former teammates knew it immediately. 

“One or two of my teammates did contact me like, ‘dude, that is definitely you. I know your moves.’ Like, ‘Dawg, I’ve seen those moves in the locker room plenty of times,'” he said.
I’m like, what do you mean? They’re new and improved.” 

He also explained that one of his clues was a cow skiing, which referred to his last name: Gron-cow-ski.

White Tiger was the first singer to leave the Super Nine, and next week, the top eight will participate in the smackdown round. 

You can keep up with all of the remaining contestants below! 

The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Fox.

This is our type of interview!

Saweetie is one to watch in the entertainment industry. From releasing her hitmaker “My Type” to her wholesome (and viral) reaction while meeting Beyoncé, the 26-year-old rapper has quickly become everyone’s favorite.

However, the rising star knows all too well what it’s like to overwork yourself in a world that never sleeps.

For her, it’s all about finding balance and saying “no a lot” to projects that don’t feel right. If anything, there’s no need to burn yourself out when you’re just getting started!

“I say no a lot and I turn down a lot of money,” she told host Justin Sylvester, exclusively on E!’s digital series Just the Sip. “When you spread yourself too thin—what you’re hired for or what you’re paid to do—you’re not able to give your all.”

“So then, it kind of defeats the purpose,” she added.

“When I collaborate or when I’m given a task, I like to be the icy girl at my full potential,” she explained. “But I can’t do that if I’m working with x, y, z… I learned that I had to pace myself.”

As the 26-year-old star pointed out, sometimes turning down an opportunity means that a better one, especially one that feels right, is coming along.

“Although, I’ve passed up this bag, a bigger bag is coming,” she shared. “Because I’m giving quality over quantity.”

With that, Saweetie opened up about a time that she bit off more than she could chew, which is why her new motto is saying yes to projects that she knows she can give her fullest to.

“I had a nervous breakdown, and it took a lot because I had to do this performance for this collaboration that I did,” she recalled. “But I couldn’t memorize my rap, because I wrote it the night before. I didn’t feel like it was the best.”

She added, “That’s what I get for spreading myself too thin. It took a toll on my mental and my body. I was really stressed out.”

In that moment, she explained that it was a wake-up call.

“I’m living out my dreams,” she remembered thinking. “I don’t need to stress myself out. I need to pace myself. It was a rude-awakening moment.”

To get the tea about what projects Saweetie does have in the works (like her Morphe x Backstage With Saweetie collection), what Hollywood goals she has and more, watch our video interview above! 

While many of us have binge watched Tiger King and are left wanting more and more from this rollercoaster of a documentary, Joe Exotic’s husband Dillon Passage is here to deliver.

On Wednesday’s episode of SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live, Joe Exotic’s husband spoke with Andy Cohen and John Hill about his marriage with the 57-year-old, his thoughts on the Netflix documentary and he also revealed that Joe has been placed in COVID-19 isolation in prison.

The 24-year-old revealed that the two only dated for a “little over two weeks” before they decided to “jump the gun” and get married but that he has “no regrets.” The two tied the knot on December 11, 2017 when he was only 22.

“Were animals a part of the allure in being with Joe?” Andy later asked. “It seems like a lot of people got swept away by the idea of petting the baby tigers and stuff.”

“Oh, 100%. I mean, I was in a really bad place when I met Joe,” Dillon answered. “I was just going through a lot of things, I was an addict. Being around the animals gave me a purpose. It felt like I was actually doing something with my life. It brought me out of my depression. It was like my own little rehab.”

He added, “Joe never once encouraged me to do any drugs. I mean, I smoked a lot of weed. But that’s literally it.”

During the interview, Andy also asked Dillon if he’s still in touch with John Finlay or any of his Joe’s other exes. “Yeah, with John, he was always at the park. It was kind of frustrating, he acted like he was entitled to a lot of things, he would walk in the house whenever he felt like it. I don’t know, he wasn’t a bad guy but just not necessarily someone I wanted to be around all the time,” Dillon explained.

He also shared that him and Joe keep in touch often and speak about “three or five times every day.”

“But since he’s been moved to this new facility, they’re putting on a COVID-19 isolation because of the previous jail he was at, so I have kept to speak to him since he was moved,” Dillon shared.

Joe, born Joseph Maldonando-Passage, is currently serving 22 years in federal prison after being convicted of trying to hire a hit-man to murder Big Cat founder Carole Baskin.

Andy also asked Dillon if he’s “still in love” with Joe. To which Dillon answered, “I do love Joe, he’s been there for me through my darkest times and I’m not just going to dip out and abandon him when he needs me most.”

Further, Andy asked Dillon if him and Joe were ever into S&M or sadomasochism when it came to their sex life. “No, we actually never did anything like that,” he answered. “And he never asked me to either. I mean, I knew he had done that in previous relationships.” 

But when Andy asked whether Joe was dominant in bed, all Dillon answered was, “Joe was Joe. He was a powerverse.”

Dillon also shared that he wasn’t ready for the spotlight following the Tiger King documentary. “My life wasn’t supposed to be put on blast kind of, I wasn’t prepared for that,” he explained. “But Joe, you know, he’s a really good guy. He may have made some sketchy decisions but I know he regrets them. His intentions are really good at heart.” 

When asked if he was being faithful to Joe while he’s in prison, Dillon answered, “I am very loyal to Joe. He doesn’t want me to be alone, you know. But he also doesn’t want me to move on, if that makes sense. He doesn’t want me to leave, that’s his thing. But I’ve assured him that I’m not.” 

Listen to the full interview here.

This better be an April Fool’s joke, G-Eazy.

On Tuesday night, the 30-year-old “Good Life” rapper shared a selfie of himself on Instagram with the caption, “Should I chop it off?” 

While some fans were wondering what he meant, replying if he meant his hair, his mustache or something else entirely (“You’re talking about hair right?” an Instagram follower commented jokingly)—it looked like the consensus was clear, that the rapper should keep his luscious hair as is. 

Then on Wednesday afternoon, the “No Limit” rapper revealed a new look. 

“New month new me… Too much time at home. Don’t hate me!” he wrote to his fans on Instagram, alongside a picture of his edgy buzz-cut and wearing a face mask. “Stay safe yall!” 

The “Let’s Get Lost” rapper also took to his Instagram Stories to share a video of his barber Kevin “OGK” Kellett shaving his brunette locks off. 

The rapper’s Instagram followers were quick to joke with him about cutting his hair. 

“That hair makes u too much $$$ to cut if off lol,” one user commented.

Another Instagram follower said, “While everyone worries about your hair… I’m tryna find the album title or release date on your mask.” 

Another commenter thought G-Eazy was playing an April Fool’s joke, writing, “April’s fools. F-ck outta here bro. No way you cut your hair.” 

See G-Eazy’s transformation on Instagram above!