Bryant still perseveres after deaths
Vanessa Bryant said she is focused on “finding the light in darkness” in an emotional interview with People magazine detailing her attempts to push forward after her husband, Kobe Bryant, and daughter Gigi died in a helicopter crash early last year.
Vanessa Bryant said the late NBA superstar and Gigi continue to “motivate me to keep going” in the magazine’s Women Changing the World issue, which will be released Friday. The issue salutes the activists, innovators and role models who are making a difference.
The 38-year-old widow of the Los Angeles Lakers legend expressed how she has been trying to navigate heartache while trying to rebuild a life for herself and three daughters.
Vanessa Bryant said her devotion to her daughters Natalia, Bianka and Capri have been a saving grace.
“My girls help me smile through the pain,” she said. “They give me strength.”
On the magazine cover, Vanessa Bryant sports a Lakers jacket with Kobe Bryant’s No. 24 on the right sleeve.
Parton sings rewrite before shot: Dolly Parton has written hundreds of songs, and it turns out her tune “Jolene” is just the right one for getting her COVID-19 vaccine.
“I even changed one of my songs to fit the occasion. It goes, ‘Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I’m begging of you please don’t hesitate,’ ” she sang in a social media post on Tuesday, just before receiving her shot.
In 2020, the Grammywinning legend donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for coronavirus research. Parton had said earlier that she was going to wait until the vaccine became more widely available because she didn’t want to look like she was jumping the line.
“That didn’t hurt. Just stung a little bit,” she said afterward. Then she smiled at the camera saying, “I did it! I did it!”
Gordon-Levitt, Erivo cast in ‘Pinocchio’: Joseph Gordon-Levitt will provide the voice of Jiminy Cricket, while Cynthia Erivo will play the Blue Fairy in Disney’s live-action retelling of “Pinocchio.”
That means GordonLevitt will sing “When You Wish Upon a Star,” which has become an anthem of sorts for the Disney brand.
The actors join a cast that includes Tom Hanks as Geppetto and Luke Evans as The Coachman. In addition, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth will voice Pinocchio, with Keegan-Michael Key as the voice of Honest John and Lorraine Bracco as the voice of Sofia the Seagull.
Bell, Shepard to host game show: Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard are teaming up for a one-hour game show entitled “Family Game Fight” on NBC.
The broadcast network has ordered 10 episodes of the new series that will feature Bell and Shepard as hosts and competitors. Each episode will see Bell and Shepard be “adopted” into individual families of four to compete in a series of games for a cash prize.
The series is inspired by the couple’s antics on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
March 4 birthdays: Actor Paula Prentiss is 83. Actor Kay Lenz is 68. Musician Emilio Estefan is 68. Actor Catherine O’Hara is 67. Actor Mykelti Williamson is 64. Actor Patricia Heaton is 63. Drummer Fergal Lawler is 50. Drummer Jason Marsalis is 44. Actor Audrey Esparza is 35. Actor Andrea Bowen is 31.