Engagements
The Challenge stars Kaycee Clark, 35, and Nany González, 34, who met in 2019 while filming the MTV reality competition series, announced their engagement in a Sept. 17 Instagram post. González popped the question while the two were on vacation in Thailand’s Phi Phi Islands.
Babies
Ray Donovan star Liev Schreiber, 55, and his wife, Taylor Neison, 31, announced the arrival of their first child together, daughter Hazel Bee, on Sept. 13. Schreiber has two children with ex Naomi Watts, 55. • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Kelli Giddish, 43, and husband Beau Richards, 42, welcomed son Oldie in June, she confirmed in a Sept. 14 Instagram post. Giddish is also mom to sons Charlie, 4, and Ludo, 7, with ex-husband Lawrence Faulborn.
Weddings
Country singer Hank Williams Jr., 74, married his fiancée, Brandi, 43, on Sept. 9 at Enon Baptist Church in Banks, Ala., a year and a half after the loss of his wife of 32 years, Mary Jane Thomas, who died at age 58 of surgery complications.
Health
Singer Fletcher, 29, revealed on Sept. 13 that she had been diagnosed with Lyme disease and is postponing her upcoming European and Australian tours. • Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Teddi Mellencamp, 42—who was first diagnosed with skin cancer in March 2022—announced in a Sept. 13 Instagram post that another melanoma was discovered on her back.
Controversy
Rolling Stone cofounder Jann Wenner, 77, was removed from the board of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame—which he also cofounded—on Sept. 16 after making disparaging comments toward Black and female musicians. He issued an apology through his publisher Little, Brown and Company.
Deaths
Billy Miller, best known for his roles on The Young and the Restless and General Hospital, died on Sept. 15 in Austin. The actor was “struggling with manic depression,” his manager told People—though no cause of death has been released. He was 43.
BY DANIELA AVILA
CONTROVERSY
Following public backlash over a letter written on behalf of convicted rapist Danny Masterson, Ashton Kutcher, 45, resigned as board chair of Thorn, the anti-child-sex-abuse organization he launched in 2009 with then-wife Demi Moore. “I cannot allow my error in judgment to distract from our efforts and the children we serve,” said Kutcher, who starred with Masterson on That ’70s Show and The Ranch. Actress Mila Kunis, Kutcher’s current wife, stepped down as a board observer. —D.A.
WHY I CARE
When Sean Penn, 63, set out to make a documentary about Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2022, he had no idea the turn it would take. His idea was to follow the unlikely rise of an actor-comedian turned politician, but instead, three days into shooting, Russia invaded Ukraine and Zelenskyy suddenly became a wartime president—and Penn a wartime journalist. Superpower (now streaming on Paramount+) explores how Zelenskyy, 45, has guided his country through crisis but also reminds audiences that the death and destruction continue, even as other news often draws the spotlight. “They’re very much in a fight,” Penn says of the conflict. “It’s almost two years in, and it’s been hell.”
Why is it so important to help remind Americans this war is still raging?
I think we’ve got to wake up, really wake up, because I believe we will get involved in this war one way or another, just because of the global economic ramifications. I also think we should seize the opportunity to support their freedom, self-defense and territorial integrity. Their path back is the path we’ve always advertised: freedom.
What did you witness in Ukraine that moved you?
I went to the primary military hospital in Kyiv, and a young soldier [had been wounded]. He had a pit in his head the size of my fist. His wife was like, “This is our new normal.” They handle things with such courage. How can we not [help]?
Up Close and Personal
You tend to run toward places in crisis, like aiding after Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake. Why?
I don’t like to advertise this part of me, but I care. I care a lot. But it’s often in the sense that I love humanity, but I hate humans! [Laughs.] So give me a project with the former. I also like problem-solving. But I’m discovering what my value can be. I can share by showing what I see, and then people can form their own impressions. I can be a tour guide.
Do you consider Zelenskyy a friend?
I’d love to call him my friend, and I certainly look forward to the end of this war and getting to know him in a different way. — GILLIAN TELLING
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