The Afropop singer was known for her long musical career which began in the 1980s, and also appeared in popular South African TV series.

She is best known for her hit song Live My Life and has collaborated with prominent South African artists including the late Brenda Fassie.

Her sister Tshepi Akeepile said the singer died on Tuesday on the way to hospital.

“My sister was sick. She did have a short illness and we really thought she was recovering. But this morning it turned out she hadn’t fully recovered from her illness. She was quickly rushed to the hospital. Unfortunately, she was pronounced dead,” Ms Rakeepile told SABC TV.

It is not clear what she was suffering from.

Khumalo leaves a rich music and television legacy and was a household name for her powerful voice and versatile performances.

She released numerous solo albums, as well as being the back-up singer to Brenda Fassie.

She is survived by her daughter, Rethabile Khumalo, who is also a singer and her son, Thabo Khumalo.

Fans and fellow celebrities have taken to social media with tributes, expressing shock and sadness.

The Kalawa Jazmee Records, the record label that Khumalo worked with, described her as a “true icon” for inspiring many with her powerful voice and “unforgettable performances”.

“Her passion, talent, and dedication to her craft have left an indelible mark on the industry and in the hearts of her fans,” the label said in a statement.

By BBC News

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Yarrow, who also co-wrote the group’s most enduring song, “Puff the Magic Dragon,” died Tuesday in New York, publicist Ken Sunshine said. Yarrow had bladder cancer for the past four years.

“Our fearless dragon is tired and has entered the last chapter of his magnificent life. The world knows Peter Yarrow the iconic folk activist, but the human being behind the legend is every bit as generous, creative, passionate, playful, and wise as his lyrics suggest,” his daughter Bethany said in a statement.

During an incredible run of success spanning the 1960s, Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers released six Billboard Top 10 singles, two No. 1 albums and won five Grammys.

They also brought early exposure to Bob Dylan by turning two of his songs, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and “Blowin’ in the Wind,” into Billboard Top 10 hits as they helped lead an American renaissance in folk music. They performed “Blowin’ in the Wind” at the 1963 March on Washington at which the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

After an eight-year hiatus to pursue solo careers, the trio reunited in 1978 for a “Survival Sunday,” an anti-nuclear-power concert that Yarrow had organized in Los Angeles. They would remain together until Travers’ death in 2009. Upon her passing, Yarrow and Stookey continued to perform both separately and together.

Born May 31, 1938, in New York, Yarrow was raised in an upper middle class family he said placed high value on art and scholarship. He took violin lessons as a child, later switching to guitar as he came to embrace the work of such folk-music icons as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.

Upon graduating from Cornell University in 1959, he returned to New York, where he worked as a struggling Greenwich Village musician until connecting with Stookey and Travers. Although his degree was in psychology, he had found his true calling in folk music at Cornell when he worked as a teaching assistant for a class in American folklore his senior year.

“I did it for the money because I wanted to wash dishes less and play guitar more,” he told the late record company executive Joe Smith. But as he led the class in song, he began to discover the emotional impact music could have on an audience.

“I saw these young people at Cornell who were basically very conservative in their backgrounds opening their hearts up and singing with an emotionality and a concern through this vehicle called folk music,” he said. “It gave me a clue that the world was on its way to a certain kind of movement, and that folk music might play a part in it and that I might play a part in folk music.”

Soon after returning to New York, he met impresario Albert Grossman, who would go on to manage Dylan, Janis Joplin and others and who at the time was looking to put together a group that would rival the Kingston Trio, which in 1958 had a hit version of the traditional folk ballad “Tom Dooley.”

But Grossman wanted a trio with a female singer and a member who could be funny enough to keep an audience engaged with comic patter. For the latter, Yarrow suggested a guitar-strumming Greenwich Village comic he’d seen named Noel Stookey.

Stookey, who would use his middle name as a member of the group, happened to be a friend of Travers, who as a teenager had performed and recorded with Pete Seeger and others. Gripped by stage fright, she was reluctant to join the pair at first, changing her mind after she heard how well her contralto voice melded with Yarrow’s tenor and Stookey’s baritone.

“We called Noel up. He was there,” Yarrow said, recalling the first time the three performed together. “We mentioned a bunch of folk songs, which he didn’t know because he didn’t have a real folk-music background, and wound up singing ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb.’ And it was immediately great, was just as clear as a bell, and we started working.”

After months of rehearsal the three became an overnight sensation when their first album, 1962’s eponymous “Peter, Paul and Mary,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart. Their second, “In the Wind,” reached No. 4 and their third, “Moving,” put them back at No. 1.

From their earliest albums, the trio sang out against war and injustice in songs like Seeger’s “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have all the Flowers Gone,” Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “When the Ship Comes In” and Yarrow’s own “Day is Done.”

They could also show a soft and poignant side, particularly on “Puff the Magic Dragon,” which Yarrow had written during his Cornell years with college friend Leonard Lipton.

It tells the tale of Jackie Paper, a young boy who embarks on countless adventures with his make-believe dragon friend until he outgrows such childhood fantasies and leaves a sobbing, heartbroken Puff behind. As Yarrow explains: “A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys.”

Some insisted they heard drug references in the song, a contention at the heart of a famous scene in the film “Meet the Parents,” when Ben Stiller angers his girlfriend’s tightly wound father (Robert De Niro) by saying “puff” refers to marijuana smoke. Yarrow maintained it reflected the loss of childhood innocence and nothing more.

After recording their last No. 1 hit, a 1969 cover of John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” the trio split up the following year to pursue solo careers.

That same year Yarrow had pleaded guilty to taking indecent liberties with a 14-year-old girl who had come to his hotel room with her older sister to ask for autographs. The pair found him naked when he answered the door and let them in. Yarrow, who resumed his career after serving three months in jail, was pardoned by President Jimmy Carter in 1981. Over the decades, he apologized repeatedly.

“I fully support the current movements demanding equal rights for all and refusing to allow continued abuse and injury – most particularly of a sexual nature, of which I am, with great sorrow, guilty,” he told The New York Times in 2019 after being disinvited from a festival over the sentence.

Over the years, Yarrow continued to write and co-write songs, including the 1976 hit “Torn Between Two Lovers” for Mary MacGregor. He received an Emmy nomination in 1979 for the animated film “Puff the Magic Dragon.”

Later songs include the civil rights anthem “No Easy Walk to Freedom,” co-written with Margery Tabankin, and “Light One Candle,” calling for peace in Lebanon.

Also Read: Jean-Marie Le Pen, Founder of French Far Right, Dies Aged 96

Yarrow, who with Travers and Stookey had supported Democratic Sen. Eugene McCarthy’s 1968 presidential bid, met the Minnesota senator’s niece, Mary Beth McCarthy, at a campaign event. The couple married the following year. They had two children before divorcing.

In addition to daughter Bethany, he is survived by his wife, Marybeth, son Christopher, and granddaughter Valentina.

The post Peter Yarrow Of Folk-Music Trio Peter, Paul And Mary Dies At 86 appeared first on KahawaTungu.

There is no request for spousal support by either party, according to the settlement agreement.

Lopez filed for divorce in August, on the anniversary of their Riceboro, Georgia-set wedding ceremony in 2022 after they first eloped in Las Vegas a month prior.

The breakup came after reports the two had been living separately, Lopez canceled her summer tour to spend time with her family, and they put their Beverly Hills home on the market.

Lopez and Affleck’s marriage came more than 20 years after they first met on the set of the comedy “Gigli,” where they played criminals stuck on a job together and struck up a real-life friendship which eventually turned into a relationship.

Over the years, they both married others and had families.

But Team “Bennifer” rejoiced in Bennifer 2.0 when they reconciled in 2021.

Even they seemed overjoyed.

“You know, one of the things I really value across all facets of my life now is that it was handled in a way that reflected that,” Affleck told The Wall Street Journal in December 2021. “My life now reflects not just the person that I want to be, but the person that I really feel like I am – which is not perfect, but somebody who tries very hard and cares very much about being honest and authentic and accountable. It’s hard to say who benefits more, without going into gossipy detail.”

Also Read: Ben Affleck Reunites With Jennifer Lopez And Jennifer Garner At School Play

The couple initially got engaged in November 2002 after Affleck popped the question with a custom 6.1-carat pink diamond ring from Harry Winston. He also appeared as Lopez’s love interest in the music video for her 2002 single “Jenny from the Block,” the storyline of which takes on the paparazzi treatment of their relationship.

Days before the pair were set to wed in September 2003, they postponed their nuptials, citing “excessive media attention” surrounding their wedding.

Sources told CNN at the time that the couple was “taking a break.”

In January 2004, they officially split for the first time.

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In a post on Instagram, Meghan said she had “cried too many tears to count” over the dog’s passing and thanked him for “so many years of unconditional love”.

The duchess said she had adopted the beagle from an animal rescue in Canada in 2015 and that he had been “with me for everything” ever since.

She did not say when the dog had died or its cause of death.

The post was accompanied by a montage of photos and video showing the duchess and her family playing with Guy.

In one, she is seen boiling fruit on a stove to make jam and telling the dog, “We’re jamming, Guy”. In another her husband, the Duke of Sussex, is seen running along a beach with him.

At the end, Meghan can be heard with one of the couple’s children singing: “We love you Guy, yes we do”.

The duchess said staff at the shelter from where she had adopted the dog “referred to him as ‘the little guy’ because he was so small and frail”.

“So I named him ‘Guy’. And he was the best guy any girl could have asked for,” she said.

“He was with me at Suits, when I got engaged, (and then married), when I became a mom….

“He was with me for everything: the quiet, the chaos, the calm, the comfort.”

Also Read: Prince Harry Dismisses Divorce Rumors Amid Separate Public Appearances

The duchess added that Guy would feature in her upcoming Netflix series, titled With Love, Meghan.

“I hope you’ll come to understand why I am so devastated by his loss. I think you may fall a little bit in love too,” she said.

“I have cried too many tears to count – the type of tears that make you get in the shower with the absurd hope that the running water on your face will somehow make you not feel them, or pretend they’re not there. But they are. And that’s okay too.

“Thank you for so many years of unconditional love, my sweet Guy. You filled my life in ways you’ll never know.”

By BBC

The post Meghan ‘Devastated’ After Death Of Rescue Dog appeared first on KahawaTungu.

Moore was named best actress in a musical or comedy for her performance in body horror The Substance, which has revitalised her career and could see her score an Oscar nomination.

“I’m just in shock right now… I really wasn’t expecting that,” Moore said as she took to the stage. “I’ve been doing this a long time, over 45 years, and this is the first time I’ve ever won anything as an actor.”

Other winners have included Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña and TV series Baby Reindeer and Shōgun.

Blockbuster Wicked missed out on the major prizes, but won the box office and cinematic achievement prize, which was introduced last year.

In her acceptance speech, Moore said: “Thirty years ago, I had a producer tell me I was a popcorn actress, and at that time I made that mean that [awards] weren’t something I was allowed to have, that I could do movies that were successful and made a lot of money but couldn’t be acknowledged.

“And I bought in and believed that. That corroded me over time to the point where a few years ago I thought maybe this is it, maybe I was complete, I had done what I was supposed to do.

“And as I was at a low point, I had this creative, out of the box, bonkers script come across my desk, called the Substance, and the universe told me I was not done.”

Stan was named best actor in a musical or comedy for A Different Man, which sees him play a character who drastically changes his appearance.

“Our ignorance and discomfort around disability and disfigurement has to end now, we have to normalise it and continue to expose ourselves to it, and our children, encourage acceptance.”

Culkin won best supporting actor for his performance in A Real Pain, about two cousins who travel across Poland in memory of their grandmother.

“The first ever acknowledgement I got as an actor was a Golden Globe nomination when I was basically a kid. Now, it’s like the best date night my wife and I ever have,” he joked.

Saldaña, who won best supporting actress for her role in Spanish-language musical Emilia Pérez, said: “My heart is full of gratitude.”

“I’m so blessed to be sharing this moment with my fellow nominees,” she continued. “I know this is a competition but all I have witnessed is just us showing up for each other and celebrating each other and it’s just so beautiful.”

The film also won best non-English language film which saw director Jacques Audiard take to the stage with a French translator to accept the award.

“In these troubled times I hope Emilia Perez will be a beacon of light,” he said. “I hope to offer a comforting hug to those who are worried… I urge them to keep they heads held high and hope for a better few days ahead.”

Accepting Wicked’s prize for box office achievement, director Jon M Chu paid tribute to the movie and stage musical’s loyal fanbase.

“This is for you, the fans out there, who came to the movie theatres, brought your friends and family, we saw your videos, your singalongs, your make-up, hair products, bakery items,” he said.

“It shows us how important making this stuff is, in a time when pessimism and cynicism rule the planet, that we can still make art that is a radical act of optimism.”

There was a surprise but welcome winner in the animated feature category, which saw box office juggernauts The Wild Robot and Inside Out 2 beaten by Flow, a film about animals who must work together to survive following a flood.

“This film was made by a very small, young, but passionate team, in a place where there isn’t a big film industry, so this is the first time a film from Latvia has been here so this is huge for us,” said director Gints Zilbalodis.

Elsewhere, Baby Reindeer was named best limited TV series, which was accepted by its writer and creator Richard Gadd.

“A lot of people ask me why a show this dark has gone on to be the success that it has,” he said. “And I think in a lot of ways, people were crying out for something that spoke to the painful inconsistencies of being human.

“For a while there’s been this belief in television that stories which are too dark and complicated won’t sell and no-one will watch them, so I hope Baby Reindeer has done away with that theory, because right now, when the world’s in the state that it’s in and people are really struggling, we need stories which speak to the complicated and difficult nature of our times.”

British actress Jessica Gunning was named best TV supporting actress for her portrayal as a stalker in the hit Netflix series.

In her acceptance speech, Gunning shared an anecdote about getting a hamster for Christmas as a child, and thinking that she couldn’t believe it was happening to her. She said that phrase had become the “soundtrack of my life this year”.

“Thank you to Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer has changed my life in ways that I can’t even explain. I can’t believe this is happening to me,” she repeated, “and I know that eight-year-old me wouldn’t either, she’d be chuffed to bits.”

Irish actor Colin Farrell won his third Golden Globe, for playing the Batman villain Penguin in an HBO series of the same name.

On stage, he joked that he had “no one to thank” and “did it all by myself”.

Recalling the three hours it took to fit him with prosthetics to make him the bloated villain in his latest film, he said: “In the morning, I drank black coffee, listened to 80s music, and I became a canvas for that team’s brilliance.”

Farrell also said: “Thank you for employing me. And yeah, I guess it’s prosthetics from here on out.”

The Golden Globes mark the first major ceremony of the film awards season, which culminates with the Oscars on 2 March.

A win at the Globes can help boost a film’s profile at a crucial time, when Bafta and Oscar voters are preparing to fill in their nomination ballots.

By BBC News

The post Demi Moore Continues Comeback with Golden Globe Win appeared first on KahawaTungu.

The suspect, Braian Nahuel Paiz, was detained outside his home in Buenos Aires on Friday, according to his lawyer, Fernando Madeo Facente. Paiz, who previously worked as a waiter at one of the hotel’s restaurants, faces charges of drug supply, carrying a potential prison sentence of four to 15 years.

Paiz has denied the allegations, although he admitted in a November interview with local news outlet Telefe Noticias that he spent time with Payne in the singer’s hotel room.

“We drank alcohol and did substances together,” Paiz said, but claimed Payne was already under the influence before arriving at the hotel.

According to Braian Nahuel Paiz, he saw Payne again on October 13, when the singer allegedly requested a drug dealer’s contact information. Paiz claimed he provided the details but only consumed marijuana himself, while Payne allegedly used cocaine.

“He was sweet and acted normal. He even asked if I was OK,” Paiz stated, denying any wrongdoing.

Others Charged in the Case

Paiz is one of five individuals charged in connection with Payne’s death. Among them are Ezequiel Pereyra, another hotel staffer accused of providing drugs, and CasaSur Palermo Hotel operations manager Gilda Martin. Receptionist manager Esteban Grassi, who placed an emergency call fearing for Payne’s life, and Rogelio “Roger” Nores, a close friend of Payne, face manslaughter charges.

Also Read: Avicii’s Life And Death Back In The Spotlight With New Documentary

Nores alleged in court documents that Payne had a long history of substance abuse and had used heroin in the past. Payne’s toxicology report revealed the presence of pink cocaine—a party drug containing ecstasy, ketamine, and other substances—along with other drugs in his system at the time of his death.

Payne had been vacationing in Argentina with his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, but reportedly spiraled after she left the trip early. Fellow hotel guests noted erratic behavior in the days leading up to his death.

Photos from Payne’s hotel room showed evidence of drug use, including a smashed television, foil and powder, and a Dove soap box believed to have been used to transport substances.

Despite the evidence of drug use, Payne’s cause of death was determined to be multiple traumas and internal bleeding from his fall. Prosecutors ruled out suicide, citing his state of consciousness before the fall.

Payne, known for his hits like What Makes You Beautiful and Story of My Life, was laid to rest in England on November 20.

The post Former Hotel Employee Arrested In Connection To Liam Payne’s Death appeared first on KahawaTungu.

Speaking to GQ UK in an interview published Thursday, the actor firmly denied the rumors, saying, “I’m gonna disappoint you. Yeah, no. But I know no one’s gonna trust anything I say from now on.”

Garfield’s remark referenced his past denials of involvement in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), where he made a surprise cameo despite a year of repeated public denials.

In the film, Garfield reprised his role as Spider-Man from The Amazing Spider-Man series (2012, 2014) alongside Tobey Maguire, who played the superhero in an earlier trilogy.

Their appearance alongside Tom Holland was a major highlight for fans, helping No Way Home become the highest-grossing film of 2021.

While Garfield has expressed interest in potentially reprising the role, he clarified in past interviews that he would only return if the project felt fresh and meaningful.

“If it was the right thing, if it’s additive to the culture, if there’s a great concept or something that hasn’t been done before that’s unique and odd and exciting,” Garfield told Esquire in October.

Despite ruling out a return to Spider-Man for now, Garfield hinted at the possibility of joining another major franchise.

“If it felt in line with my soul and was gonna be fun,” he told GQ UK. “Maybe I’m gonna have like five kids at some point, and I’m gonna need to start saving up for the school tuition or something.”

The post Andrew Garfield Denies Rumors Of Joining Upcoming Spider-Man Film appeared first on KahawaTungu.

“Avicii- I Am Tim” is now streaming on Netflix. Avicii, who was born Tim Bergling, narrates the film through archival footage.

“Before Avicii, there was Tim,” reads the Netflix description of the project. “Through his own words, witness how a prodigious musical talent became one of the defining artists of his generation.”

The film’s director, Henrik Burman, explained to Billboard why he told the story in Bergling’s own words.

“When I determined that he’d be the one who’d narrate this story, I thought that maybe it was how I could be close to him,” Burman said. “Maybe that’s how I can meet him.”

A longtime music journalist and musician in Sweden, Burman had the blessing of Bergling’s family and was fortunate to find a trove of interviews with Bergling over the course of his career to draw from.

“He’d say things like, ‘If there’s a documentary, we need to talk about alcohol; we need to talk about the bad things in my life,’” Burman said. “I’ve been looking for clues like this — I’ve listened to Tim for hours and hours trying to understand him and put together the puzzle of who he was as a person and who Avicii was as this amazing artist.”

Bergling died by suicide while on holiday in Muscat, Oman. The film explores his struggles with mental health and substance abuse, including journal entries from the Stockholm-born artist when he sought treatment.

“Those days in hospital were the most anxiety and stress-free days I can remember in the past six years, those were my true vacations, as depressing as it might sound,” he wrote.

The posthumous Avicii album “Tim” was released in 2019.

By Agencies

The post Avicii’s Life And Death Back In The Spotlight With New Documentary appeared first on KahawaTungu.

The famed YouTuber, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, announced on Wednesday that he recently proposed to his girlfriend, Thea Booysen.

“Ya boy did a thing,” Donaldson wrote on his Instagram page, next to a photo showing him kneeling mid-proposal.

Both Booysen and Donaldson are seen wearing matching MrBeast-themed Christmas sweaters in a video she posted on her own Instagram page in which she displayed her diamond engagement ring.

The spirited matching outfits were fitting for the occasion, as Booysen told People magazine in an interview published Wednesday that Donaldson popped the question on Christmas Day while surrounded by their families.

“My family flew out from South Africa for Christmas and we were going to do Christmas in our house so both families were here,” Booysen told the publication. “We were opening presents, and then for the very last present he asked me to close my eyes because it was a surprise.”

Booysen added that she “of course” said yes and that she was “extremely excited.”

The pair first met through a mutual friend in 2022 in South Africa, where Booysen is from.

“When we were first introduced, it came through right away how brilliant Thea is,” Donaldson said. “I knew within the first few minutes of meeting that I wanted the chance to date her. Thankfully, she also felt a strong connection.”

That same year, they made their red carpet debut at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards and made their relationship Instagram official.

Donaldson is a popular YouTuber, entrepreneur and producer of his namesake reality TV competition show “Beast Games.” Booysen is also a content creator on YouTube in the esports and gaming space.

The post MrBeast And Thea Booysen Are Engaged appeared first on KahawaTungu.

Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department in December, accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation. In the bombshell complaint, Lively claimed that after she raised concerns of sexual harassment on the set of their film, “It Ends With Us,” Baldoni and his team retaliated against her, leaking unflattering press to try to ruin her professional reputation.

Lively’s complaint was first reported in The New York Times, which published an article titled, “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,” on December 21. The 4,000-word article contained contents from the Civil Rights Department complaint, which typically remain confidential.

In the wake of the New York Times article and Lively’s complaint against Baldoni, he was dropped by the talent agency, WME, which also represents Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds. Lively received swift support across Hollywood SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, releasing a statement in support of her. Sony, the studio behind “It Ends With Us,” also released a statement standing by Lively.

Now, Baldoni is alleging that Lively created false sexual harassment accusations so she could take control of the film, then set out on a campaign to “reshape her public persona” with “salacious, headline-grabbing allegations” in The New York Times at Baldoni’s expense.

“Lively’s cynical abuse of sexual harassment allegations to assert unilateral control over every aspect of the production was both strategic and manipulative,” Baldoni’s lawsuit states. “Simultaneously, her public image suffered as a result of a series of high-profile blunders, which she tried to deflect by blaming Plaintiffs for the public’s prying interest into the foibles of an A-list celebrity. This is nothing but an excuse. Fame is a double-edged sword, but Lively’s tactics here are unconscionable.”

The suit claims that The New York Times failed its “journalistic integrity” to vet Lively’s sexual harassment and retaliation allegations, noting that the paper “relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives.”

A spokesperson for The New York Times told CNN the publication plans to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”

“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead,” Danielle Rhoades Ha, spokesperson for the Times, told CNN in a statement Tuesday. “Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article. To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article and their representatives have not pointed to a single error. We published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article as well.”

Attorneys for Lively told CNN in a statement that “nothing in this lawsuit changes anything” about Lively’s claims.

While Lively initially filed a complaint against Baldoni and his Wayfarer production company with California’s Civil Rights Department, attorneys for the actress filed a federal complaint on Tuesday.

“We look forward to addressing each and every one of Wayfarer’s allegations in court,” Lively’s attorneys said.

Baldoni’s suit was filed by attorney Bryan Freedman in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of 10 plaintiffs total, including Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, his producing partner Jamey Heath, who was also accused by Lively of sexual harassment, and Baldoni’s publicist and crisis manager, Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan.

Baldoni co-starred with Lively and directed “It Ends With Us,” which is based on the book of the same name that centers on a couple and domestic violence in their relationship. Wayfarer Studios, acquired the rights to book and produced the film, which became a box office success.

Lively’s complaint included screen captures of text messages and correspondence that Lively’s team alleged showed orchestrated attempts on the part of Baldoni’s PR representatives to hurt her reputation in the media as part of a “social manipulation campaign.”

Baldoni’s lawsuit contains pages upon pages of text messages that Freedman told CNN are proof that the text messages published in Lively’s initial complaint were “doctored and manipulated.” He alleges in his complaint that the Times “intentionally” omitted texts which “dispute” Lively’s narrative.

“If the Times truly reviewed the thousands of private communications it claimed to have obtained, its reporters would have seen incontrovertible evidence that it was Lively, not Plaintiffs, who engaged in a calculated smear campaign,” Baldoni’s suit states.

One of the most egregious claims in Lively’s complaint was that Baldoni and Heath “entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding.”

Baldoni’s suit offers a rebuttal to that specific claim, showcasing a text that appears to be from Lively to Baldoni that reads, “I’m just pumping in my trailer if you wanna work out our lines.”

(CNN has not verified the authenticity of any of the text messages. The text message where Lively allegedly invites Baldoni into her trailer is marked as being sent in June 2023.)

After Lively’s complaint was filed, a snowball effect ensued with both sides taking jabs at each other, raising questions as to how those private text messages were acquired. A subsequent lawsuit, filed by Baldoni’s former publicist, Stephanie Jones, alleged that those text messages came from the phone of her former employee, Abel — Baldoni’s current publicist — who was among the individuals Lively accused of orchestrating a smear campaign against her.

Baldoni, Heath, Abel, Nathan and Wayfarer all denied Lively’s original claims and asserted Lively was the one leaking negative press about Baldoni.

“These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media,” Freedman said in a statement to CNN when Lively’s complaint was first filed.

On Tuesday, Freedman told CNN that Lively, her team and the New York Times engaged in a “vicious smear campaign.”

“In doing so,” Freedman said, “they pre-determined the outcome of their story, and aided and abetted their own devastating PR smear campaign designed to revitalize Lively’s self-induced floundering public image and counter the organic groundswell of criticism amongst the online public. The irony is rich.”

“While their side embraces partial truths, we embrace the full truth,” Freedman added. “And have all of the communications to back it.”

By Agencies

Also Read: “He Was Good In Bed”: Kristin Cavallari On Romance With Morgan Wallen

The post Justin Baldoni Sues New York Times For $250 Million Over Blake Lively Story appeared first on KahawaTungu.