By Mark Gray
5:38pm PST, Dec 12, 2021
Trouble with the law
More Duggar drama. As the "19 Kids and Counting" family was still reeling from Josh Duggar's child pornography conviction (and possible 40-year prison sentence), TMZ reported on Dec. 10 that Jim Bob and Michelle's the eldest daughter, Jana Duggar, is in some legal trouble of her own, but her incident went largely unnoticed. Reports reveal that Jana was cited in September for endangering the welfare of a minor. Few details are known about the incident, but Jana is due in court next month.
Weight loser
John Goodman is turning heads with far less. On Dec. 6, the celebrated actor attended a red carpet premiere for his new Tubi animated series "The Freak Brothers" and showed off his incredible weight loss. "The Connors" star once tipped the scales at 400 pounds. In recent years, he's lost half of that, according to reports, and has clearly kept it off. In addition to exercise, John credits portion control and sobriety as keys to his slimdown.
Guilty verdict
Josh Duggar is a convicted felon. On Dec. 9, an Arkansas jury found the former reality TV star guilty of two charges of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material. He was immediately taken into custody. The political activist (who actually smiled in his mug shot!) faces up to 40 years in prison. The verdict came after a six-day trial and just seven hours of deliberating. The former "19 Kids and Counting" star — who's also the former executive director of FRC Action, a lobbying political action committee sponsored by the Family Research Council — was arrested by federal agents on April 29, just a few days after his wife announced her seventh pregnancy, for possession of child pornography that authorities said depicted the sexual abuse of children under the age of 12. In court testimony, a Homeland Security agent said the images found on his work laptop were "in the top five of the worst of the worst that I've ever had to examine." Josh will be sentenced in early 2022.
Heartbreaking loss
Nick Cannon is in mourning following the loss of his youngest child, Zen Scott Cannon, who died of brain cancer on Dec. 5. The TV host, who shared Zen with model Alyssa Scott, fought back tears as he announced the sad news on "The Nick Cannon Show" on Dec. 7. Nick's seventh child, who was born in June, was only two months old when Nick and Alyssa learned fluid had started to build up in Zen's skull; a tumor was discovered, which required immediate surgery. Things took a turn for the worse around Thanksgiving, and Zen passed away last weekend after the star and Alyssa spent time with him at a Southern California beach. "People keep asking me how I am doing," Nick told his audience on Dec. 8. "I say, 'I'm vertical.' I'm standing. That is a good start." As for why he's continuing to host his eponymous show during this difficult time, he said, "To me, this isn't work. This is love. And I love you back. This is therapy for me. This is therapeutic." Alyssa took to social media days later to mourn her son, writing in part alongside photos and videos, "It has been an honor and privilege being your mommy.. I will love you for eternity."
Speaking out
Travis Scott has denied knowing that people were getting hurt at his Astroworld Festival concert last month. In all, 10 people died and hundreds were injured during a crowd surge. On Dec. 8, the rapper spoke about the tragedy publicly for the first time, claiming the media is "forcing responsibility" onto him. "I didn't know the exact details until minutes before the press conference [after my set]," he told Charlamagne tha God. "And even at that moment you're like, 'Wait, what?'" Travis denied hearing pleas of distress from the crowd. "It's so crazy because I'm that artist too — anytime you can hear something like that, you want to stop the show," he said. "You want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need. Anytime I could see anything like that, I did. I stopped it a couple times to just make sure everybody was OK. And I really just go off the fans' energy as a collective — call and response. I just didn't hear that." He noted that because of the crowd size, pyrotechnics, production and music it was impossible to tell the difference between fans enjoying the show and fans in danger. "You can only help what you can see and whatever you're told, whenever they tell you to stop, you stop," he said.
Scene details
Jennifer Lawrence does not want to relive one particular moment she had with Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet. While speaking to late night host Stephen Colbert about their new Netflix movie, "Don't Look Up," J.Law recalled one scene in a car, which she described as "hell." "It was the most annoying day in my life. [Leo and Timothée] drove me crazy that day," she said. "I don't know what it was. Timothée was just excited to be out of the house [after the pandemic lockdown]. I think it was, like, his first scene. And Leo had picked the song that was playing in the car and was just, like, 'You know, this song was about, you know, blah, blah, blah.' " The Oscar-winning actress added, "I just remember being in absolute misery that day. It was hell."
The jury has spoken
Jussie Smollett was found guilty of lying to Chicago cops about a racist and homophobic attack. On Dec. 9, a jury convicted the "Empire" alum on five of six felony counts of disorderly conduct for making false reports to police. During the trial, two men — Abel and Bola Osundairo (both of whom were Jussie's personal trainers) — claimed the actor paid them to stage the early morning attack on Jan. 29, 2019, to help boost his career. The actor, though, maintained his innocence and insisted the attack wasn't a hoax. The jury deliberated for more than nine hours before rendering its verdict. Jussie faces up to three years in prison, but it's possible that he won't serve time behind bars. With the criminal case against the actor over, the city of Chicago will now go forward with a civil lawsuit. The city is suing Jussie for lost resources in investigating his faux hate crime.
Father x 3
Tristan Thompson is now a father of three. People magazine confirmed that the NBA star's former mistress, Maralee Nichols, gave birth to his child last week. The basketball player has again become public enemy No. 1 among pop culture enthusiasts after he admitted in court documents to having sex with Maralee on his 30th birthday in March — when he and Khloe Kardashian were still together. "Khloe was upset to find out that he cheated again," a source told People magazine on Dec. 6. "She just can't believe that he is going to be a dad again." The reality TV star "always believed that he would change," the source added. One day after the magazine's report, Tristan filed an emergency petition in Texas asking a judge to issue a gag order in his paternity case with Maralee, who's filed a lawsuit seeking child support. Maralee wants to "achieve some sort of notoriety and gain for herself in this lawsuit," Tristan alleged.
Over it
Legendary supermodel Elle Macpherson has split from her notorious anti-vaccine beau Andrew Wakefield. In fact, the split apparently occurred a long time ago, but it was able to go under the radar. Elle and Andrew — who's infamous for falsely linking the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine with autism and bowel disease in a 1998 report — began dating in 2017. "As a spokesperson for Elle, I can unequivocally confirm that the relationship between Elle and Dr. Wakefield terminated almost two years ago," her rep told Daily Mail Australia, adding that "there has been no contact subsequently" between the two. There were rumors they'd gotten engaged in 2020, a time in which we now know they weren't even together.
