Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Kal Penn reveals he is gay, engaged
Actor Kal Penn confirmed he is gay and engaged to be married ahead of the release of his new memoir.
In his book released Tuesday, “You Can’t Be Serious,” the actor details falling in love with his future husband, Josh, whom he has been dating for 11 years. During an interview with People magazine, Penn reflected on going public with his sexuality and planning a wedding with someone who “hates attention.”
“I’ve always been very public with everybody
I’ve personally interacted with. Whether it’s somebody that I meet at a bar, if Josh and I are out or we’re talking to friends,” Penn, 44, told People in an interview published Sunday.
“I’m really excited to share our relationship with readers. But Josh, my partner, my parents and my brother, four people who I’m closest to in the family, are fairly quiet. They don’t love attention and shy away from the limelight.”
The “Designated Survivor” alum also opened up about his personal journey coming into his sexual identity, which he discovered “relatively late in life compared to many other people.”
“There’s no timeline on this stuff,” he said. “People figure their (stuff ) out at different times in their lives, so I’m glad I did when I did.”
In “You Can’t Be Serious,” Penn sounds off about growing up as a second-generation immigrant in New Jersey, trying to break into Hollywood, weathering racist auditions, making his breakout comedy “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” and working at the White House during Barack Obama’s presidency.
Bon Jovi tests positive:
Jon Bon Jovi tested positive for COVID-19 during a rapid test before he was set to perform a concert in Miami Beach. An announcer took to the stage to give the crowd the news just before Saturday’s concert was set to begin.
Bon Jovi, 59, and his bandmates took rapid tests just before the concert, and Bon Jovi, who is fully vaccinated, tested positive.
“Jon feels great,” the announcer said, adding that the singer was going to bed.
Stars mark Grand Ole Opry milestone:
The Grand
Ole Opry’s broadcast of its 5,000th Saturday show attracted a host of big country music stars to its historic venue.
Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Darius Rucker, Vince Gill, Chris Young and a half-dozen others lined up to celebrate the nearly century-old country music program.
WSM radio debuted the broadcast as the “Barn Dance” program in 1925, The Tennessean reported.
Bill Anderson, a 60-year Opry veteran, kicked off the show with the Roy Acuff tune “Wabash Cannonball.” Gill played an acoustic guitar he said was once owned by Opry star Sam McGee, who first played the radio program in 1926. Brooks and Yearwood closed the show with a set of several songs before Brooks ended with his country classic “Friends in Low Places.”
Nov. 2 birthdays: Actor Stefanie Powers is 79.
Actor Kate Linder is 74. Actor Peter Mullan is 62. Singer k.d. lang is 60. Actor Lauren Velez is 57. Actor David Schwimmer is 55. Actor Marisol Nichols is 48. Rapper Nelly is 47. Actor Danny Cooksey is
46. TV personality Karamo Brown is 41. Singer Kendall Schmidt is 31.