ABCKelsea Ballerini has received her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The “Peter Pan” singer turned to Instagram over the weekend to share the news, with a photo of herself holding up her vaccination card and showing off the band-aid on her arm, eyes closed as she smiles. “Closer to being closer,” she captions the shot.
Kelsea joins the growing list of country artists who have gotten the vaccine, including Dolly Parton,Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn and Garth Brooks.
The Tennessee native returns to The Voice tonight to fill in for Kelly Clarkson during the Battle Rounds, where Dan + Shay will serve as advisors to Blake Shelton‘s team members. The Voice airs at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
Vera Anderson/WireImage(LONDON) — Kate Winslet revealed in a new interview that there are several well-known actors who are afraid to publicly reveal their sexuality. The Titanic star claims the unnamed actors are “terrified” of how coming out will impact their careers.
Speaking to The Sunday Times on Sunday, Winslet says a climate of “fear” still weighs heavily on some LGBT actors and said she knows “at least four actors” who are afraid of no longer being cast in lead roles should they publicly embrace their sexuality.
“I cannot tell you the number of young actors I know – some well known, some starting out – who are terrified their sexuality will be revealed and that it will stand in the way of their being cast in straight roles,” the Oscar winner explained.
“I can think of at least four actors absolutely hiding their sexuality,” Winslet announced. “It’s painful. Because they fear being found out.'”
When describing how to change that negative culture and make the acting industry “more open,” Winslet says that a way to help closeted actors is to speak up and out about the stigma that targets “men more than anything.”
“Hollywood has to drop that dated crap of, ‘Can he play straight because, apparently, he’s gay?’… That should be almost illegal. You would not believe how widespread it is,” the 45-year-old British actress furthered. “And it can’t just be distilled to the question about gay actors playing gay parts. Because actors, in some cases, are choosing not to come out for personal reasons. And it’s nobody’s business. Perhaps privacy. Perhaps conditioning and shame.”
In order to change Hollywood so that there is “less judgment, discrimination and homophobia,” says Winslet, “More people to speak the way I am.”
UMG NashvilleLuke Bryan is celebrating the release of his new album, Born Here Live Here Die Here (Deluxe Edition), with a series of TV performances.
Luke will make the rounds on ABC shows with an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday night, followed by a stop on Good Morning America and GMA3: What You Need to Know on Friday, the same day the album will be released.
The deluxe edition of Luke’s chart-topping 2020 album features six new songs: “Country Does,” “Drink a Little Whiskey,” “Waves,” “Bill Dance,” “Up,” and “Floatin’ This Creek.” The half dozen songs join the album’s original 10 tracks, including the four consecutive #1 hits “Knockin’ Boots,” “What She Wants Tonight,” “One Margarita” and “Down to One.”
Born Here is Luke’s ninth album to debut at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and reached #5 on the all-genre Billboard 200.
American Idol fans can continue to see the country superstar at the judges’ table on the fourth season that airs through May 23 on ABC.
Marvel Studios(LOS ANGELES) — Marvel Studios has just released its closest look at Loki, the upcoming Disney+ series centering on Tom Hiddleston’s fan-favorite God of Mischief.
Although his character met his end by Thanos’ hand in the opening of Avengers: Infinity War, when the Avengers went back in time in Endgame, Loki managed to avoid that fate by stealing the time-traveling power of The Tesseract and warping off to points unknown.
However, he apparently couldn’t avoid avoid capture by the Time Variance Authority, which polices the flow of time. It’s in their custody that agent Mobius M. Mobius, played by Owen Wilson, tasks Loki with going through time to clean up all the nasty branches in reality he’s created.
The trailer shows the series’ sharp dialog is perfectly in line with Hiddleston’s character. In one scene, he’s presented to a bureaucrat who pushes across his desk a massive ream of paper. “Please sign this to verify this is everything you’ve ever said,” he deadpans.
“This is absurd!” Loki responds, only to see his utterance immediately transcribed by a dot-matrix printer and added to the stack by the paper pusher: “Sign this, too.”
Loki eventually agrees to help Mobius, though the character always has his own best interests in mind.
“You can trust me,” he tells Wilson’s character.
He replies, “Loki, I’ve studied almost every moment in your entire life. You’ve literally stabbed people in the back like 50 times!”
“Well, I’ll never do it again,” Loki promises.
Loki premieres on Disney+ on June 11.
Marvel is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC News.
Carmen Mandato/Getty ImagesBy Katie Kindelan, ABC News
(INDIANAPOLIS) — University of Arizona coach Adia Barnes showed firsthand all that goes into be a working mother at Sunday night’s NCAA women’s basketball championship game.
Barnes, who gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Capri, six months ago, took time during halftime of the game to pump breast milk for her daughter, according to ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe.
Rowe reported that Barnes came back onto the court after halftime a few minutes after her team because she was pumping breast milk.
“She is doing it all,” Rowe said. “And for those who think this is too much information, I’m just going to tell you this. Let’s normalize working mothers and all that they have to do to make it all happen.”
Barnes, whose daughter Capri is 6 months old, spoke herself after Sunday night’s game in San Antonio about what it has been like for her to balance being a mom to a newborn and a head basketball coach.
“I had a baby right when season started and took like a week off. It says I took a month off but I did not,” she said. “I was on Zoom calls four days after having a C-section so it was hard, but my team loved on me. I missed a couple of weeks, I got a little sick, they fought for me. I came back. They were patient. I’m happy.”
“I represented moms, I have a baby here. I hear her crying ready to feed,” she said. “I represent moms, you can be a coach, you can do it at an elite level. You just have to have a village like I do. I represent Black females, don’t get here too often and don’t get opportunities. But I had an opportunity today on the biggest stage and represented a lot.”
Last week, Barnes made history as one of two Black head coaches in the women’s Final Four.
Barnes’ team, the Arizona Wildcats, lost in the championship game Sunday to Stanford, 53-54.
Barnes played college basketball for the University of Arizona Wildcats and then went on to a career in the WNBA. She became Arizona’s head coach in 2016.
ABCKelsea Ballerini has received her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
