Celebrities & Public Figures

The British actress Helen McCrory, best known for her roles in Harry Potter, Peaky Blinders and Penny Dreadful, has died at the age of 52 after a battle with cancer.

Her husband Damian Lewis announced her death on Twitter, writing: "I'm heartbroken to announce that after an heroic battle with cancer, the beautiful and might woman that is Helen McCrory has died peacefully at home, surrounded by a wave of love from friends and family. She died as she lived. Fearlessly. God we love her and know how lucky we are to have had her in our lives. She blazed so brightly. Go now, Little One, into the air, and thank you."

Bernard L. Madoff, the con artist behind the largest private Ponzi scheme in history, has died at the age of 82 in federal prison. Madoff bilked thousands of investors, including Steven Spielberg, Fred Wilpon and Kevin Bacon, out of an estimated $65 billion and was convicted in 2009 to 150 years in prison. He defrauded around 37,000 people in 136 countries.

Meghan Markle will not attend Prince Philip's funeral as she's been advised not to travel to the United Kingdom by her physician due to her pregnancy. Prince Harry is set to attend the service in the St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

DMX has died after suffering a heart attack at his home on April 2 that left him in a coma for seven days. The multiplatinum-selling rapper and actor was 50 years old.

DMX made his mark as one of hip-hop's most recognizable names for his rap artistry, and as an actor, the rapper was personally stifled by his legal battles - he was repeatedly arrested and jailed within a decade - and drug addiction.

British actor Paul Ritter, who appeared in the “Harry Potter” franchise and played a key figure behind nuclear disaster in “Chernobyl,” has died, his agent said Tuesday. He was 54 and had been suffering from a brain tumour.

Ritter was a regular cast member in productions at Britain’s National Theatre, and his stage roles also included “Art” at London’s Old Vic and Prime Minister John Major in the royal drama “The Audience.” He was nominated for a Tony Award in 2009 for his performance in Alan Ayckbourn’s farce “The Norman Conquests” on Broadway.

The actor and US rapper, DMX is in hospital following a heart attack.

The artists' lawyer says he is unaware of the cause of the heart attack at the time of writing.

Johnny Depp was denied permission to appeal a High Court ruling that he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard on Thursday. In the 2020 trial, the judge found that the newspaper The Sun calling Depp a "wife beater" was "substantially true" and he assaulted his ex-wife and put her "in fear for her life".

Britney Spears's legal team has requested the permanent removal of father Jamie Spears as her conservator. Ms Spears has been under a court-ordered conservatorship since 2008, with her father being in control of both her personal and financial affairs until he stepped down from the role in September 2019 due to health reasons. Jodi Montgomery, who is a professionally licensed conservator, has stepped in temporarily.

Ms Spears's team has put in a request that Mr Spears resign as conservator of her person but remain as co-conservator of her estate while Montgomery's appointment shall be made permanent. In addition, Ms Spears has requested to retain the right to terminate the conservatorship eventually.

British auction house Charterfields on Wednesday auctioned off a handwritten job application by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs from 1973, a single sheet of paper on which Jobs highlights his experience with "computers and calculators" - and which has now sold for a whopping 162,000 pounds.

Acclaimed comedic actress Jessica Walter has died in her sleep in her New York City home on Wednesday at the age of 80. Walter is known for her roles as Lucille Bluth in 'Arrested Development' and Malory Archer in 'Archer,' among others.

"It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of my beloved mom Jessica," her daughter Brooke Bowman said in a statement. "A working actor for over six decades, her greatest pleasure was bringing joy to others through her storytelling both on screen and off. While her legacy will live on through her body of work, she will also be remembered by many for her wit, class and overall joie de vivre."

American actor and musician George Segal has died of complications from bypass surgery in Santa Rosa, California at the age of 87.

"The family is devastated to announce that this morning George Segal passed away due to complications from bypass surgery," his wife Sonia Segal said in a statement provided by Sony Television.

Alexi McCammond has resigned as editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue after anti-Asian and homophobic tweets she wrote a decade ago resurfaced. McCammond, whose hiring was announced on March 5th, had faced backlash over past tweets before in 2019 while working for Axios.

"I became a journalist to help lift up the stories and voices of our most vulnerable communities. As a young woman of color, that's part of the reason I was so excited to lead the Teen Vogue team in their next chapter," McCammond tweeted. "My past tweets have overshadowed the work I've done to highlight the people and issues that I care about — issues that Teen Vogue has worked tirelessly to share with the world — and so Condé Nast and I have decided to part ways."

The LAPD sexual assault division launched an investigation into an allegation of rape made against actor Armie Hammer. A 24-year-old woman, identified only as Effie, has come forward, alleging Hammer violently raped her for over four hours in Los Angeles on April 24, 2017. Effie and Hammer met on Facebook when she was 20 and were in an on-and-off relationship between 2016 and 2020, during which Hammer allegedly abused her "mentally, emotionally and sexually."

"During those four hours, I tried to get away, but he wouldn’t let me. I thought he was going to kill me. Then [he] left with no concern for my well-being," she said Thursday during a press conference.

Hammer has denied the allegations, and his attorney stated that all his relationships "have been completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory" and that Effie's "own correspondence with Mr Hammer undermines and refutes her outrageous allegations."

The 34-year-old actor Elliot Page has become the first transgender man to be featured on the cover of Time magazine, giving his first interview since publicly coming out in December. Page said that he was "was anticipating was a lot of support and love and a massive amount of hatred and transphobia" to his announcement, but did not anticipate the massive media response.

Actor Yaphet Kotto, best known for playing a villain in the James Bond movie 'Live and Let Die' and a crew member in the sci-fi movie 'Alien', has died at the age of 81 in the Philippines

Kotto's wife Sinahon Thessa wrote on Facebook: "You played a villain on some of your movies but for me you're a real hero and to a lot of people also."

Dutch engineer and inventor of the cassette tape Lou Ottens has died at the age of 94 on 6 March 2021 in his hometown Duizel, Netherlands. For his entire career, he worked for Philips, where he served as the head of the product development department

The writer MacKenzie Scott has married again. Her husband is Dan Jewett, a teacher from Seattle. The couple made the marriage public in a letter to the Giving Pledge organization. MacKenzie Scott was married to Jeff Bezos for 25 years, one of the first employees of his Amazon company, during which time she helped build the mail-order company. In 2019, the couple separated.

With the divorce, Scott received four percent of Amazon shares, then worth about $38 billion. She announced she would donate most of the fortune to charity.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are getting divorced. This news is not surprising, it had been speculated about for many months; on Friday the documents were received by the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Now at stake are their four joint children, North, Saint, Psalm and Chicago, as well as an estimated fortune of 900 million (Kardashian) and 1.3 billion dollars (West).

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, are expecting their second child, a spokesperson for the pair confirmed.

"We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother," sp spokesperson. "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are overjoyed to be expecting their second child."

Nicki Minaj's father Robert Maraj has died in a hit-and-run accident, the Nassau County Police Department said. The 64-year-old was "struck by a northbound, undescribed, vehicle that left the scene of the accident" on Friday while walking in Mineola, Long Island. He was taken to a hospital where he died Saturday. The incident is being investigated by the homicide and was confirmed by Minaj’s representative.

Screenwriter Jose Molina has responded to a tweet by actress Amber Benson, describing Joss Whedon as "casually cruel" and finding "making female writers cry" hysterical.

"'Casually cruel' is a perfect way of describing Joss. He thought being mean was funny. Making female writers cry during a notes session was especially hysterical. He actually liked to boast about the time he made one writer cry twice in one meeting. #IStandWithCharismaCarpenter," Molina wrote.

Michelle Trachtenberg, the actress who portrayed Dawn Summers on Buffy, has spoken out against Joss Whedon, joining Charisma Carpenter and others who worked with the director on both Buffy and Angel.

"Thank you @sarahmgellar for saying this. I am brave enough now as a 35 year old woman....To repost this. Because. This must. Be known. As a teenager. With his not appropriate behavior....very. Not. Appropriate. So now. People know. What Joss. Did. The last. Comment I will make on this. Was. There was a rule. Saying. He's not allowed in a room also," Trachtenberg wrote.

Anna Sorokin has been released from prison in Alabany on Thursday. Sorokin was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison and charged with theft of services and grand larceny in 2019 after authorities became aware of her scheme where she pretended to be Germain millionaire heiress Anna Delvey and scammed $200,000 from banks, hotels and friends.

"I just want to say that I'm really ashamed and I'm really sorry for what I did," so Sorokin during a parole hearing in October of last year. "I completely understand that a lot of people suffered when I thought I was not doing anything wrong."

Chick Corea, a towering jazz pianist with a staggering 23 Grammy Awards who pushed the genre's boundaries and worked alongside Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, has died Tuesday from a rare form of cancer. Corea was 79.

A prolific record-maker with nearly 90 albums as a leader or co-leader to his credit, Corea racked up a staggering 22 Grammy Awards (and a total of 63 nominations) and three Latin Grammys. He was named a National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master in 2006.

Controversial Hustler founder and free-speech activist Larry Flynt has died in his sleep surrounded by family at the age of 78, so his manager. Flynn created adult magazine Hustler in 1974 after owning multiple strip-clubs in Ohio. He later was left paraplegic after being shot outside a Georgia courthouse during a trial for obscenity in 1978.

Christopher Plummer, The Sound of Music star, has died at his home in Connecticut, his manager Lou Pitt said in a statement. Elaine Taylor, his wife for 53 years, was by his side.

The actor won an Oscar for Beginners and was nominated for All the Money in the World and The Last Station. He also won two Tonys and two Emmys awards.

Plummer's other memorable roles included portraying newsman Mike Wallace in "The Insider," "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" and providing the voice of the villain in the Pixar animated movie "Up."

Dita Von Teese has responded to the allegations of abuse made against her ex-husband Marilyn Manson by actress Evan Rachel Wood and several other women.

"I have been processing the news that broke Monday regarding Marylin Manson. To those who have expressed your concerns of my well-being, I appreciate your kindness. Please know that the details made public do not match my personal experience during our 7 years together as a couple. Had they, I would not have married him in December 2005. I left 12 months later due to infidelity and drug abuse," von Teese wrote in a statement posted on Instagram. "Abuse of any kind has no place in any relationship. I urge those of you who have incurred abuse to take steps to heal and the strength to fully realize yourself."

Marilyn Manson, who has recently been accused of abusive behaviour in previous relationships, has posted a statement to his Instagram account, calling the allegations a "horrible distortions of reality".

"Obviously, my art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality. My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how - and why - others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth," so Manson.

An actor and stand-up comedian, Diamond found fame playing Samuel "Screech" Powers for more than a decade on the "Saved by the Bell" franchise, died Monday after a recent cancer diagnosis, according to Diamond's manager, Roger Paul.

The actor was diagnosed with cancer and hospitalized just three weeks ago.

Diamond's "Save by the Bell" costars, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mario Lopez and Tiffany Thiessen, paid tribute to the late actor on social media.

Captain Tom Moore, the British WWII veteran who raised £33 million for health care workers by walking laps in his garden, has died age 100 after contracting Covid-19.

In a statement, Capt Sir Tom's daughters Mrs Ingram-Moore and Lucy Teixeira said: "It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our dear father, Captain Sir Tom Moore."