Month: August 2024

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are divorcing after two years of marriage. The news comes after rumors circulated over the summer concerning their potential split, with Lopez and Affleck spending much of the summer on opposite coasts. Multiple sources told PEOPLE in May that Affleck and Lopez were not living together in their Los Angeles home. In June, Affleck and Lopez put the mansion they shared together in Beverly Hills since June 2023 on the market, and Affleck later purchased a new $20 million home in Los Angeles in July.

According to court documents, Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck on Aug. 20 in Los Angeles Superior Court. News outlets reveal that Lopez listed the date of separation as April 26 and the couple does not have a prenup, with sources confirming that Lopez filed without an attorney. TMZ was the first to reported the news of the Lopez’s divorce filing.

Lopez and Affleck’s marriage came several decades after they originally dated in the early 2000s. The couple was engaged to be married in 2003, but postponed their nuptials and ultimately went their separate ways.

Following Lopez’s breakup with her ex-fiancé Alex Rodriguez in 2021, Lopez and Affleck rekindled their relationship, with the couple marrying in July 2022 in Las Vegas. Lopez announced their marriage on her website at the time: “We did it. Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient.” The next month, the couple celebrated their marriage during a lavish, second wedding ceremony in Georgia.

Affleck was previously married to actor Jennifer Garner, whom he divorced in 2018. The exes share three children: Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12. Lopez was also previously married to actor Ojani Noa and dancer Cris Judd. She married her third husband, singer Marc Anthony, in 2004 before splitting in 2011 after seven years of marriage. The former couple shares 16-year-old twins Max and Emme.

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NBC has officially ordered a ‘Suits’ spin-off series, set in Los Angeles and starring Stephen Amell. Amell captioned a photo of him on the new show’s set: “Meet Ted Black. Suits LA. Coming soon”

Suits: LA will serve as a spinoff / companion show to the original series, once again coming from creator Aaron Korsh. When Suits became a massive streaming hit last year, Korsh  began developing a second show set in the same world. NBC ordered a pilot for the show in February, and it filmed in the spring.

Amell will star as Ted Black, a former federal prosecutor from New York who now leads a law firm in Los Angeles. The show’s logline reads, “His firm is at a crisis point, and to survive he must embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career. Ted is surrounded by a stellar group of characters who test their loyalties to both Ted and each other while they can’t help but mix their personal and professional lives.”

The cast also includes Josh McDermitt, Lex Scott Davis and Bryan Greenberg and Troy Winbush. Suits creator Aaron Korsh wrote the pilot for Suits: LA, and serves as executive producer alongside David Bartis, Doug Liman, Gene Klein and Victoria Mahoney.

The original SUITS series aired on USA Network, and followed a corporate law firm in New York City. It initially aired from 2011-2019 but became a huge streaming hit on Netflix last year. Suits starred Patrick J. Adams, Gabriel Macht, Rick Hoffman, Gina Torres and Meghan Markle.

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Legendary talk show host Phil Donahue has died at age 88. Multiple outlets confirmed on Monday, August 12th that Donahue “passed away peacefully following a long illness.”

A statement shared by his family read that Donahue ‘died at his home surrounded by his family, including his wife of 44 years, actor Marlo Thomas, his sister, his children, his grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie. The family asked that in lieu of flowers, friends and fans make a donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the Phil Donahue/Notre Dame Scholarship Fund.‘  No further details about his cause of death were released.

Donahue became a household name in November 1967 when The Phil Donahue Show premiered on a local news network in Dayton, Ohio. The show eventually achieved nationwide syndication in 1974, and relocated to Chicago. The Phil Donahue Show then moved to New York City in 1984 where it was filmed at 30 Rockefeller Plaza studio, coming to an end in September 1996 following a 29 year run and over 7,000 episodes.

Donahue went on to win 20 Emmy Awards (10 for outstanding host and 10 for the talk show itself) and is credited for paving the way for other daytime hosts including Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jesse Raphael, Ricki Lake, and Montel Williams. Donahue later returned to television in 2002 to host Donahue on MSNBC, which was canceled in February 2023.

Donahue married his first wife, Margaret Mary Cooney, in 1958, and they had five children. The pair divorced in 1975.   Donahue married Emmy-winning actress Marlo Thomas, 86, in 1980.  Donahue and Thomas met while filming an episode of his show in 1977, with the pair later stating in interviews it was “love at first sight.”

President Joe Biden awarded Donahue and 18 others the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May. The medal is the country’s highest civilian honor and is presented to “individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.”

Donahue is survived by his wife, Thomas and four children — Michael, Kevin, Daniel and Mary Rose. He is predeceased by son James “Jim” Patrick, who died in 2014 of an aortic aneurysm at the age of 51.

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Two-time Emmy nominee Maura Tierney is joining the cast of the NBC drama Law & Order for its upcoming Season 24.  Per TVLine, Tierney will play a police lieutenant on the long-running crime drama.

Tierney joins an ensemble cast that also includes Mehcad Brooks, Reid Scott, Hugh Dancy and Odelya Halevi; her casting comes after news that Camryn Manheim departed the series after three seasons of playing Lt. Kate Dixon. Tony Goldwyn also joined L&O midway through last season, after the departure of the show’s longtime cast member, Sam Waterston.

Tierney has starred in two NBC series previously: NewsRadio from 1995-99 and ER from 1999-2009, and she earned her first Emmy nomination for playing Abby Lockhart on ER in 2001.  Tierney is currently co-starring in Twisters, and other recent credits include Showtime’s The Affair, Your Honor and The Iron Claw.  

Law & Order’s 24th season is scheduled to premiere Oct. 3 on NBC.

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Kaley Cuoco has announced her engagement to Tom Pelphrey, sharing a series of posts on social media showing off her engagement ring.  Cuoco and Pelphrey share daughter Matilda Carmine Richie Pelphrey, who was born in March of 2023.

“The Big Bang Theory” star announced first revealed her engagement to longtime boyfriend Pelphrey on her Instagram Stories, with a representative for Cuoco later confirming the news. Cuoco shared a photo holding up her hand to show off the square-cut engagement ring, writing “Amazing weekend.”  She added alongside a video close-up of the ring: “What a wild, beautiful journey life can be. Grateful for every road that led me straight to you.”

Cuoco later posted more photos alongside the caption: “ there is my heart, and then there is you, and I’m not sure there is a difference” some sweet life lately ”.

Pelphrey later reposted the news on his own social media pages, with the caption: “Not another road real or imagined I would rather be on. Thank you @claudcraig for the beautiful always.   @kaleycuoco”

The couple’s engagement comes two years after the couple met at an “Ozark” premiere in April 2022, introduced by their mutual manager.

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