Rapper, musician and actor Heavy D – also known as Dwight Arrington Myers – has passed away at the age of 44. His cause of death is unknown. According to TMZ’s breaking reporting, someone at his Beverly Hills home called 911 this morning, and when medics arrived, Heavy D was conscious and alert. He was taken to the hospital and he was pronounced dead with an hour. He was Jamaican by birth, but he had been living in California for years.

L.A. Coroner Chief Craig Harvey confirmed to People Magazine: “I can confirm that he died today…He was transported from a residence in Beverly Hills and was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead in the emergency room. The cause of death is yet to be determined; we’re investigating it now. We do know that he last saw his doctor two weeks ago.” Sources say that the doctors don’t suspect foul play.

Many heard the news first when Grandmaster Flash tweeted, “I was just told Heavy D passed away.” Heavy D was still performing as a rapper – he had just worked the Michael Jackson tribute concert in Wales a few weeks ago - and as an actor… he appears in Tower Heist, which just came out this past weekend. You can see his IMDB page here. Our thoughts and prayers to his family. Poor guy.

Here’s the song that was one of his biggest hits in the 1990s, “Now That We Found Love”… I’ve always perfered “Nuttin’ But Love” so I’m including that too.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

It makes me sad to report on Amy Winehouse at all. She passed away this July and initial reports said that she didn’t have any drugs in her system at the time. I thought that the case was closed and that we might never know why and how Amy died. Her family said she had recently given up drugs and drinking cold turkey, and they speculated that she may have died from alcohol withdrawal. Sadly it looks like she died from alcohol poisoning. She had five times the legal limit in her system, according to the coroner.

Amy Winehouse’s July 23 death was the “unintended consequence” of drinking too much alcohol, British coroner Suzanne Greenaway announced Wednesday.

Ruling that it was “death by misadventure,” the coroner stated that Winehouse, 27, was more than five times over the legal limit, according to the inquest, and two large bottles and one small bottle of vodka were found in the bedroom of her London home.

Winehouse was an “intelligent, determined young woman who, at times, was able to successful abstain from alcohol,” the coroner said while announcing the cause of death as “alcohol toxicity.”

Winehouse’s parents, Mitch and Janis, were in the court to hear the verdict. At the end, Mitch, a taxi driver and singer, embraced his daughter’s doctor, Christina Romete.

Earlier, the physician had told the court that she last saw Winehouse on the evening before her death. The singer, who had successfully battled drugs problems, had started drinking again after a period of abstinence, Dr. Romete said.

Romete said Winehouse had been “tipsy” but “calm” and coherent and “able to hold a conversation” during the visit. “She didn’t want to die, she was looking forward to the future,” the doctor added.

Winehouse’s family had suggested that stopping drinking might have caused Winehouse’s sudden death. It earlier has been determined that no illegal drugs had been found in her system.

After learning of the cause of death, Winehouse’s family issued a statement, saying, “It is some relief to finally find out what happened to Amy. We understand there was alcohol in her system when she passed away; it is likely a build up of alcohol in her system over a number of days. The court heard that Amy was battling hard to conquer her problems with alcohol and it is a source of great pain to us that she could not win in time.”

[From People]

It bothers me that the news about the death has been released over several months. I understand that these tests take time and that it must take time to write up a report and schedule a court date to make the announcement. How hard must it be for the family, though, to finally hear the cause of death after three months? That’s just when they’re probably coming to terms with everything, and now this brings it all up again. It seemed like we already heard how she died. As the family said in their statement though, at least they know now. RIP Amy.

If you haven’t read this interview with Amy’s last boyfriend yet, you might want to see it. He says some lovely and heartbreaking things about her. Particularly “we were halfway through a conversation in our life together and then, suddenly, she disappeared.”

Taylor Armstrong said on a television interview (video here) that if it wasn’t for the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” her husband might have killed her. Taylor’s husband Russell committed suicide in mid August, dying deep in debt after multiple shady business dealings. In an interview on KTLA, Taylor claimed that the show had nothing to do with her husband’s suicide and that it would have ended up the same or he would have killed her if the cameras weren’t around.

‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ star Taylor Armstrong is opening up about her estranged husband’s suicide and defending her decision to do the show.

Armstrong tells KTLA that she was in “an abusive relationship for six years,” and the presence –or absence — of cameras would not have altered that “reality.”

She also calls the show her “saving grace” and says she and her 5-year-old daughter, Kennedy, would likely have fallen victim to domestic violence, had it not been for the program.

“If the cameras were not in my life, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be sitting here today because a lot of domestic violence situations end in murder-suicide versus just suicide.”

Armstrong says she spent five weeks in her house after her estranged husband, Russell Armstrong, 47, committed suicide. The troubled investment banker and venture capitalist was found hanging in a bedroom at a home on Mulholland Drive.

Many questioned whether being on the show contributed to his death.

Taylor Armstrong filed for divorce in July, claiming Russell physically abused her.

She says she has a titanium implant holding her right eye up as a result of the alleged violence.

“That’s a pretty significant situation,” she said.

Armstrong says the show gave her the platform to help other women in similar situations.

“I’m thankful to be here, especially for my daughter,” she said. “Imagine if she had two less parents instead of one. It’s been hard enough for her and I… I feel thankful at this point.”

[From KTLA]

So her dead husband didn’t kill her and committed suicide when he was alone, but he could have killed her if he had the chance, and none of this has anything to do with the pressure Russell felt from appearing on RHOBH. Taylor was horribly abused by Russell and it may be the case that he could have mudered her at some point. However he didn’t, and he has three children he’s left behind. When speaking of her ex’s awful legacy, I think Taylor should stick to the very terrible facts and not call him a potential killer, especially when his daughter was there in the studio with her. I hope little Kennedy, five, didn’t hear her mom say any of that. At least the newscasters questioned her about it and didn’t seem to buy her story.

Taylor has moved on after her estranged husband’s death. She’s been spotted out with Most Eligible Dallas castmember Matt Nordgren. She denied dating Nordgren in her KTLA interview, calling him “a good friend of mine.”

Story lead via ONTD

Jackson’s kids at his tribute concert.

Yesterday we heard that a photo of Michael Jackson nude after he was deceased and was laid out was shown on live television during the trial of Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray. The Daily Mail, TMZ and The Mirror have published the photo of Jackson and none gave a warning about it or obscured the photo other than covering his private parts, which was already a part of the image before it was shown in the courtroom. (I’m not going to post the links here, you can find them easily enough if you’re interested.) I was really shocked and saddened to see the photo right on TMZ’s website and on the front page without a lead-in. Even though this is my job, I probably wouldn’t have clicked on it if they would have given me a choice. I don’t like to see dead people, and there’s something so really heart-wrenching to me about the fact that we’re able to see this. I know that sounds melodramatic: Jackson was a public figure, he had a reputation as a pedophile, and he was a drug addict. Still, he was somebody’s father, brother and son and he was so private he covered his kids’ faces when they went out. He wouldn’t have wanted anyone to see him like that, and his kids don’t need to be confronted with that image whenever they want to do a google search on it.

I was also upset to hear that the details of Michael’s kids’ reactions to his death were made public a couple of weeks ago as part of the trial. Of course they were distraught and crying and screaming. That’s how people react when a family member dies! There was also more revealed yesterday about what Paris said in the wake of her dad’s death. We don’t need to know that!

We’re not covering the Jackson trial much here because it’s just not our usual fare. This is sad, it’s depressing and apart from some colorful witnesses there hasn’t been much to report. What do you even say about it though? None of this trial should have been open to the media and the details just don’t seem that interesting to me. Once a verdict is reached, we’ll probably cover it though. RIP Michael.

Jackson’s kids are shown at his tribute concert on 10/18/11. Credit: WENN.com

This news has me really choked up. I know Steve Jobs as the billionaire founder of Apple, but once I started reading the tributes to him, I started to understand how he was so much more to so many of us. Jobs passed away yesterday at the age 56 after seven year battle with pancreatic cancer. He had just resigned as CEO of Apple a month ago. He leaves behind a wife and four children, along with a incredible legacy of forever changing the way we are entertained and connected to each other.

Of all the articles I read about Jobs’ passing, I liked this one the most. I never realized how instrumental he was in starting Pixar, which has transformed the movie industry and produced some of the best children’s films of all time.

Apple founder, former Pixar chief and Disney Board of Directors member Steve Jobs passed away on Wednesday, with Disney CEO Bob Iger releasing a statement soon after his passing:

“Steve Jobs was a great friend as well as a trusted advisor. His legacy will extend far beyond the products he created or the businesses he built. It will be the millions of people he inspired, the lives he changed, and the culture he defined. Steve was such an ‘original,’ with a thoroughly creative, imaginative mind that defined an era. Despite all he accomplished, it feels like he was just getting started. With his passing the world has lost a rare original, Disney has lost a member of our family, and I have lost a great friend. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Laurene and his children during this difficult time.”

Jobs’ affiliation with Disney comes from his remarkable stewardship of Pixar. In 1986, Jobs bought The Graphics Group, the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm that was spun off on its own. He soon changed the company’s course from hardware producer to animation studio, setting the newly renamed Pixar on course to remake animation history. He was the CEO from the beginning of his run there, and the Chairman of the Board starting in 1991, as well.

After running through a number of short films throughout the 80s and early 90s, the studio released its first game changing animated feature, “Toy Story.” Gorgeously computer animated, it was a runaway hit, spawning not only a franchise — it’s up to three features and multiple short spinoffs — but an animation empire that has won Oscar after Oscar. Now, nearly every successful animated film utilizes computer graphics, with blockbusters such as the “Shrek” series following in Pixar’s foot steps.

In fact, 14 out of the top 15 animated films, in terms of domestic box office earnings, are CGI-based.

Disney bought Pixar outright in 2006, making Jobs a member of the Board of Directors and the company’s largest single shareholder.

“As we approached the end of our relationship with Disney and we looked at our future, we were at a fork in the road,” he said when Disney bought the innovative studio. “Disney is the only company with animation in their DNA.”

Director Steven Spielberg added a statement about the passing, saying, “Steve Jobs was the greatest inventor since Thomas Edison. He put the world at our fingertips.”

His contributions, of course, are even more impressive in the field of how we consume media. The news of Jobs’ passing spread instantly thanks in large part to smart phones, the most popular of which being the iPhone. A sweet irony for the innovative legend, whose vision pushed technology and communications forward in leaps and bounds over the past thirty years.

When those phones finish texting, tweeting and calling with the news, they’ll go back to their other, groundbreaking uses: playing music, streaming podcasts and watching TV shows and movies. In short, Jobs helped reshape the way we take in entertainment, creating a mobile audience that forced entertainment executives to entirely rethink their production and distribution strategies.

[From Huffington Post]

That last paragraph summed it all up for me. I love my iPad and my iPod and although I still use a PC for computing I’m so close to switching to a Mac. The iPad is something that I can’t imagine living without, and I’ve had mine for less than a year. This man changed our lives.

Apple has put up a tribute to Jobs on their website. Like everything else this company does, it’s deceptively simple, to-the-point, and so powerful. Thank you, Mr. Jobs, for all you’ve given us.

Paxar’s Edwin Catmull (Then Executive VP, CTO, current President), Steve Jobs (Then Chairman and CEO) and John Lasseter (Then VP, Creative, now C0O) in a 2005 promotional photo. Credit: WENN.com

I know I said I probably wouldn’t cover this second, even more heartbreaking part of Taylor Armstrong’s interview with Entertainment Tonight, but here we are. It’s hard to look away from this for so many reasons. Taylor, who has been shown falling apart on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as her marriage disintegrates, had to cope with the suicide of her abusive husband in August, after this season’s filming wrapped. On Tuesday, ET aired the part of Taylor’s interview where she discussed the abuse she suffered for years. Taylor described how she covered up for her husband after he hit her so hard this summer that he fractured the bones around her eye. In this second half of the interview she talks about discovering that Russell had committed suicide. She never saw his body, but she says she wanted to give him a hug goodbye and was told by emergency workers to stay away. It was too much to listen to.

Our no-holds-barred, exclusive interview with Taylor Armstrong continues. Tonight, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reality star reveals new details surrounding her husband Russell Armstrong’s suicide — and how she discovered he was dead that fateful August day.

“I’m sure a lot of people won’t understand this, but I asked the emergency workers if I could go in and hug him before they took him away, but they wouldn’t let me,” Taylor tells our Nancy O’Dell, wiping away tears. “I just felt like I needed to see him one last time, but they wouldn’t let me.”

Despite her recent abuse claims at the hands of her late husband, Taylor remains emotionally attached and even wears his wedding ring on her finger together with her own: “Right now I’m still doing anything I can to just figure out how to get close to him,” she explains. “I just never would have imagined that he would be in a position where he felt as though life isn’t worth living.”

[From Entertainment Tonight]

I watched the first season of this show and I’m staying away from the second after this tragedy. This lady needs friends and family around her, not a camera crew. This interview is the type of thing she should be telling a therapist or someone close to her, not a national entertainment news program. We don’t need to know these details! It’s too personal, it’s too sad and it happened just over a month ago. It’s clear she hasn’t worked through it, and it disturbs me that this is on the air. Multiple people had to sign off on this interview, but it’s clearly an awful idea. Yes she made the decision to do this, and she got paid for it, but at what cost to her and her daughter? I’m so done with all of these Real Housewives shows.

These photos are from March, 2011. Credit: WENN.com

Taylor Armstrong had her big interview with Entertainment Tonight last night. I thought that she might gloss over things when it came to explaining what happened with her late husband, whom she claims was abusive to her and caused massive eye and facial injuries when he punched her over the summer. She released photos of her injuries a few days ago, and many people were skeptical that they were caused by Russell since Taylor is not the most truthful person. I assumed wrong, she didn’t mince words or hold back details. Taylor described what went on in their relationship, saying that she was abused regularly, that she lived in fear of her husband’s rage and that she covered for him frequently. It was hard to watch and I believed her completely. The people who say she’s lying or exaggerating for sympathy are wrong, in my opinion.

On how Russell abused her while she was pregnant for a stupid reason
He grabbed me by the neck and shoved me against the wall and he said, “If you ever make my children a pizza without a vegetable again, I’ll kill you.”

On the cycle of abuse
You live your life constantly on eggshells waiting for the other shoe to drop. You don’t know if you’re just going to talk to your girlfriend too long at dinner and that’s going to cause someone to fly into a rage. These were not beatings that would go on for hours at a time… there are certainly women out there that experience that. [cries] My heart goes out to them.

Russell was very careful in how he would do things because he didn’t want to leave a lot of physical signs of injury. So often if we were leaving a place and he were angry he would grab me by one side of the hair on my head and bang me by the other side against the car, by the back where you would open the door. Because you would get knots and things in here (touches back of head under hair) and you wouldn’t see it so much.

Sometimes when he was driving he would just reach over and slam my head against the inside window if he were angry.

Just a lot of screaming combined with a few hits to the face.

On if Russell saw himself as an abuser
I don’t think so, not until the end… until the last time that he hurt me when I finally ended the relationship. I think my requiring surgery and there being such specific radiographic evidence of the injury, that he finally really had to look it in the face. I had never seen my husband cry in all the years that we were together. And when I finally showed him the MRI he just put it down and started to cry. I think that, him having to come to terms with that this had gone on for so long.

He had mentioned he was afraid to kill me. I think he meant it in an accidental way.

On how many times he had abused Taylor
Maybe 20. That night was only one punch.

Russell’s last abuse of Taylor
He kept on, he was calling me names and he just reached up and punched me in the eye. I could feel my eyeball shift like it wasn’t in the right place any longer.

I was covering my eye and he was saying “you’re being dramatic, you’re such a drama queen. Now you can tell all your friends that I’ve hit you.”

I said “I can tell you’ve really hurt me this time.”

I could have lost my eye for sure.

On how she explained her injury to the doctor
I told him that Kennedy had kicked me, because Russell told me to tell him that. Russell came with me to the appointment and sat in the chair the whole time. When I came out of the flap repair he immediately came into the recovery room with me and stayed there until I left. I didn’t want him to go to jail so I guess that was all right with me.

On if the doctors questioned her
They were a little surprised as to the degree of an injury from a child.

On the photos of her injury
I feel like they’re very hard to look at. I also feel like they send a pretty loud message that regardless of how someone looks on the outside, you probably don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors.

On why Taylor is coming out now
[They air a message urging domestic violence victims to get help.] I never wanted to call the police, because I didn’t want him to go to jail. I loved him.

On coming out with this after Russell’s death
I mourn the loss of him… more than anyone. At the same time, I’ve put myself second in order to protect him, and he doesn’t need my protection anymore, but there are a lot of women in this world that probably do. So I have to fight for the living now.

[From Entertainment Tonight's video]

On ET they explained that the bones on the bottom of her eye socket were fractured, that she had just had lasik eye surgery and that the punch had “wrinkled the corneal flap” of her eye. Taylor showed her CAT scans of the injury, and given her story and the way she told it she makes an extremely strong case. I believe that Russell punched her to cause that injury, that she was going through years of emotional and physical abuse with him, and that she was cowed and upset most of the time. It would also explain so much of their relationship dynamic that was shown on Real Housewives. Tomorrow ET is going to air the part where Taylor recounts discovering Russell’s body after he killed himself. They had a preview and it’s devastating to watch. I doubt we’ll cover that.

This story makes me sad. Apparently Taylor Armstrong got paid $125,000 for those photos of her bruised face that were shown on Entertainment Tonight. Taylor’s interview with ET airs tonight and I’m interested in what she has to say. Given all we know about her I doubt it’s going to be particularly insightful. I know that sounds so bitchy to say given the terrible circumstances, but it’s hard to avoid saying it. To clarify: Taylor was the victim of some horrific abuse at the hands of her late husband, and it’s definitely her story to tell however she needs to tell it. We know Taylor is a piece of work, but that’s not stopping us from 1. feeling deeply for her for what she went through and 2. believing her side of the story, which is backed up with some powerful evidence. Only Russell’s lawyers want us to believe that evidence was faked. We know Russell abused at least two of his exes, according to reports they filed and restraining orders they took out against him at the time. But Russell, who committed suicide last month, has a lawyer who claims that Taylor got that black eye from either “plastic surgery” or a “football” to the face. That’s despicable to say.

Taylor Armstrong has sunk to a new low, according to her late husband’s lawyer — who claims the black eye photos she recently sold for 6 figures to E.T. are nothing but a shameless hoax.

The lawyer, Ronald Richards, tells TMZ … the injuries depicted in the pictures were not inflicted by Russell.

According to Ronald, the injuries in the photos are either from plastic surgery … or a recent incident involving a football to the face — but not from domestic violence.

Richards tells TMZ, “If Mr. Armstrong was the cause of those injuries he would have been arrested and prosecuted.” Richards also notes … Taylor never filed a police report.

Sources close to Taylor insist the pics are legit — claiming Taylor never reported any injuries because she was under enormous pressure to keep up appearances for the show.

As one source puts it — the black eye pics are just the tip of the iceberg … the rest make Rihanna’s battered face “look like child’s play.”

[From TMZ]

Check out the abuse photos. (I’m not posting them here again.) If she had plastic surgery, she would have had bruises around both eyes and not just around one eye. Plus, how would a football cause that much damage? The fact that the attorney had two different explanations and then says “well my client would have been arrested if he did this” sounds like he’s grasping at straws. I guess Russell hired a lawyer as shifty as he was.

I still haven’t been keeping up with “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” Those of you who are still watching can tell me if it’s been worth it, but I doubt it. The show is too sad now that we know that Russell killed himself.

Taylor is shown with Kennedy in April and with Russell in October of last year. Credit: PRPhotos

It’s always sad when a talented young man is cut down in his prime. But isn’t it a little extra sad when the guy is really hot too? Andy Whitfield, star of the television series Spartacus, has lost his battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He was diagnosed last year, and I honestly thought he was in remission. People Magazine reports that the lymphoma “reoccurred” though. He was 39.

Andy Whitfield, who starred in TV’s Spartacus: Blood and Sand – only to leave the show to treat a recurrence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma – died Sunday of the disease at age 39.

The actor’s wife Vashti said in a statement that the “beautiful young warrior” died on a “sunny Sydney morning” in the “arms of his loving wife,” the Associated Press reports.

Born in Wales and a resident of Australia, Whitfield was preparing for a second season in September 2010 when he announced that he would not be returning to the Starz series so he could undergo aggressive cancer treatment. He was replaced by actor Liam McIntyre.

In Whitfield’s statement, he said, “It seems that it is time for myself and my family to embark on another extraordinary journey.”

[From People]

By all reports, Whitfield was a really lovely guy, adored and respected by his coworkers, friends and family. It’s such a loss for Hollywood, for the people who loved him, and for his fans. So sad.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Taylor Armstrong aka Shana Hughes, aka Taylor Ford, just got a book deal following her husband’s tragic, and possibly suspicious, suicide. Several stories came out after Russell Armstrong’s death that he was abusive and had beaten Taylor, which were supported by similar allegations of abuse and restraining orders taken out against him by two of his exes. Taylor’s book will reportedly focus on domestic abuse and will include photos she took documenting the injuries that Russell inflicted on her.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star’s book will be about domestic abuse, but desperate for money, a source reveals Taylor will be including the photos hoping it will boost sales.

“Taylor’s acting like she’s not trying to bank off Russell’s suicide, but by including photos of her injuries after he allegedly beat her, that’s exactly what she’ll be doing,” an insider told RadarOnline.com.

“It’s no secret that Taylor’s been strapped for cash since Russell died, and since she hasn’t received the advance on her book yet, a few of the Housewives have been helping her out financially.”

As RadarOnline.com was first to report, Taylor kept photographic evidence documenting the abuse she was allegedly enduring at the hands of Russell.

“Taylor is hoping to have the book out by the end of November, just in time for the holiday sales,” the source said.

“Not only is Taylor going to write about her own personal experiences, but she wants to spotlight other celebrities who have been involved in domestic abuse situations.”

[From Radar Online]

I think Taylor is a con artist and that she’s definitely cashing in after her husband’s death, but that doesn’t mean she had anything to do with his death (if it wasn’t a suicide) or that she’s somehow trumping up these abuse claims to bolster public sympathy. If the guy did it to his ex girlfriends, that’s enough evidence to convince me that he beat Taylor too. We heard yesterday that Taylor ran up $90,000 on Russell’s credit cards in the weeks following their separation. I’m sure that Taylor is a piece of work, that she’s manipulative, and that she’s both a money-grubber and someone who squanders money on useless sh*t in an attempt to feel like she belongs. Again, if Russell’s death was suspicious, I don’t think Taylor is at all complicit in that given that his business partner also “committed suicide” just a day later. It sounds like someone wanted those two dead, or that they were in over their heads and thought that death was the only way out. There’s something untoward about Taylor inking a book deal so soon after her husband passed, but if she suffered abuse that’s her story to tell. She needs to do something to bring some money in, the way she spends it.