Emma McKee | Showbiz Cheat Sheet Writer

Ringo Starr ‘Never Forgave’ a Beatles Assistant for a Bungled Rescue Mission

Emma McKee — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 16:45:00 +0000

Longtime Beatles associate Alistair Taylor said that Ringo Starr was the only member of the band who didn’t constantly ask him to fix his problems. The rest viewed Taylor as “Mr. Fixit,” and turned to him when they needed help with something. Crowley could only recall one time that Starr begged him for assistance. He admitted that his rescue mission didn’t go to plan.

Ringo Starr joked that he wouldn’t forgive Beatles assistant Alistair Taylor

While on vacation in Sardinia, Starr called Taylor and begged to get him off the island.

“I got a frantic phone call from him,” Taylor said in the book All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines. “And he said, ‘Look,’ he says, ‘it’s bloody awful. You know, I’ve got to get out of here. I’m coming back home.’”

Starr had already booked a flight to Paris for himself, his wife, Maureen, and their son, Zak, but he couldn’t find a way to get from Paris to London. Taylor planned to take a private jet to Paris to meet Starr, but could only procure a prop plane. When they landed in France, just shortly after Starr’s plane touched down, Taylor ran through the airport, struggling to find the Beatle.

Ringo Starr | Bettmann/Contributor via Getty

“I was tearing up this blasted corridor,” he recalled. “No sign of Ritchie. No sign of anybody.”

Taylor said he searched for two hours with no luck. Finally, though, he found him sitting with his luggage. Taylor had passed him several times without noticing.

“And he was sitting, totally unnoticed, and we’d all walked past him,” he said. “He’d been there for two hours, sitting, surrounded by luggage, and nobody took the slightest bit of notice of him. And he never forgave me for that. He never forgave me. I mean, we joked about it, but he used to say, ‘Oh yeah, great. The only time I ring you —’ I was sick as a pig over it, because it was one of the rare occasions he ever asked me to do anything for him.”

To be fair to Taylor, though, Starr sat there for two hours without trying to look for anyone.

Alistair Taylor said Ringo Starr was the only Beatle who never asked him for anything

As Taylor mentioned, Starr practically never reached out to him for help. This didn’t mean he never needed assistance, though. Taylor would eventually find out about problems that Starr hadn’t wanted to bother him about.

“He was always apologetic, and he never bothered me,” Taylor recalled. “I’d find he’d done something. And I used to say to him, ‘Look, why on earth didn’t you ask me to fix that for you?’ ‘Oh, no. I don’t want to bother you.’”

Alistair Taylor revealed the Beatle he felt closest to

Taylor worked with The Beatles for years and had solid relationships with them. He said that another Beatles associate, Mal Evans, had a good answer whenever people asked him about his favorite Beatle.

“Somebody once asked Mal, who was his favorite Beatle?” Taylor recalled. “And he thought for a minute, and he said, ‘The one I was last with’”

The Beatles | Roger Viollet Collection/Getty Images

Taylor thought this was a great answer, but his own was more specific.

“I thought it was a fabulous answer, it’s what I wish I had thought of,” he said. “But I was closest to Paul.”

Katy Perry Only Listened to 2 Iconic Albums for ‘2 Years Straight’

Emma McKee — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 20:09:00 +0000

Katy Perry couldn’t listen to much secular music as a child, but she began to discover new albums as she grew up. Perry said Queen helped expand her taste in music. When she discovered two other classic artists, she said she couldn’t listen to anything but their albums.

Katy Perry said she had two albums on repeat

When Perry was a teenager, she began to pursue a music career. She grew up in a strict religious household and had listened to little secular music at this point in her life.

“It wasn’t until I started to make my gospel record when I was around 14 or 15 that I started to be exposed to more outside influences,” she told Kristen Wiig in a conversation for Interview Magazine. “Before that, I was actually really into Christian music. I knew all about the Christian music scene, which was a very small kind of sect. But I knew all about that world … But as I started to hear different kinds of music, my world got bigger.”

Paul McCartney and Katy Perry | Rick Diamond/WireImage

Queen became one of the first bands she loved. When she heard The Beatles’ “White Album” and The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, though, she could hardly listen to anything else.

“I got all the Beatles’ records, like the ‘White’ album [1968], which was really important to me along with Pet Sounds [1966] by the Beach Boys. Those two records were the only things I listened to for probably two years straight,” she said. “Then I discovered Patty Griffin, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Jonatha Brooke — a little bit of the Lilith Fair–esque stuff. And then I got into more electronic music. But I’m just open to everything these days.”

Katy Perry revealed her favorite albums by female musicians

Perry also fell for several albums by female artists. While performing at Los Angeles’ Hotel Café, she discovered Patty Griffin, who became one of her favorite artists. She listed albums by Alanis Morissette and Fiona Apple as among her favorites as well. She wanted Griffin’s work to inspire her own.

“Yes, [Fiona Apple’s Tidal] and Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill [1995] and [Patty Griffin’s] Flaming Red are my all-time faves,” she said. “I definitely want to do a Patty Griffin–esque thing at some point. I do some acoustic stuff in my show, a couple of songs. But it’s something that I’m really excited about because I know I can do it and I haven’t really played that card yet. I’ve been thinking about my future and what the next move is in terms of what I need to do.”

Her parents banned 1 artist from her household while growing up

Perry said her mother played artists like Édith Piaf, Billie Holiday, and Etta James throughout her childhood. The family avoided most other secular music, though. Some artists, like Madonna, were completely off-limits.

Katy Perry and Madonna | Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Variety

“I was not even allowed to mention the name Madonna in my household — just because I think the ’80s and ’90s were so Madonna-filled,” Perry said. “She was going through so many evolutions at that time. One day she was doing a sex book, and the next day she was doing Ray of Light [1998]. She left so many huge visual impressions on people, and I think for my parents, with their belief systems, the idea that I would be influenced by that at such a young age was very scary. But, of course, when you can’t have something, then that’s all you want, so whenever I was at my friends’ houses, I would be like, ‘Turn on MTV!’”

Zendaya Served Up Preppy Perfection at Wimbledon

Emma McKee — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 15:51:00 +0000

Not long after portraying a tennis star in Challengers, Zendaya threw herself back into the game while sitting courtside at Wimbledon. The tennis tournament, which is held in London, hosts many stylish celebrity guests each year. This year, Zendaya was among spectators like Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, and David Beckham. Zendaya is one of the best dressed stars in Hollywood, and her Wimbledon looks did not disappoint. She wore two menswear-inspired outfits, keeping her looking chic as she anxiously watched the players.

Zendaya | Karwai Tang/WireImage

On July 13, Zendaya joined the crowd at Wimbledon in a brown tweed Ralph Lauren blazer over a blue button down and horizontally striped tie. She added a level of casualness to the look by keeping her tie loose, leaving many of her buttons undone, and wearing a pair of oversized jeans.

Zendaya | Karwai Tang/WireImage

The actor, who was there to watch the women’s final match between Barbora Krejčíková and Jasmine Paolini, kept her makeup glowy and natural. She wore her blonde hair in a messy bun and donned large pearl earrings set in gold. Zendaya’s mother, Claire Stoermer, joined her at the match, wearing a striped cardigan and layered necklaces.

Zendaya | Karwai Tang/WireImage

The following day, Zendaya returned to Wimbledon in another Ralph Lauren look. She wore a white double breasted suit dress over a striped blue shirt and navy tie to watch the match between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic. Her cherry red nails provided a nice contrast to the blue and white look.

Zendaya | Karwai Tang/WireImage

She opted for a similar makeup look to the day before, wearing minimal eye makeup and a subtle pink shade of lipstick. Her hair, which falls to her shoulders, was sleek and smooth with an upward flip at the ends. She wore simple diamond studs.

Zendaya in Milan | Stefania D’Alessandro/Getty Images

In the months before Wimbledon, Zendaya spent the Challengers press tour wearing tennis-inspired looks. For example, at a press event in Rome, she wore tennis balls at the bottom of a pair of stilettos and, in Australia, donned a sparkling green gown with the silhouette of a tennis player. In Milan, she wore a white, 1992 Ralph Lauren mini dress with a collar. The silhouette was evocative of tennis dresses, particularly because white is the standard color for competitors at Wimbledon.

Mike Faist, Zendaya, and Josh O’Connor | Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images for Warner Bros Pictures

To prepare for her role as tennis star Tashi Duncan in the Luca Guadagnino film, Zendaya immersed herself in the sport. She began by watching it obsessively.

“I didn’t know anything about tennis, to be honest,” she told Variety. “So I just threw myself in there. I’ve pretty much seen every video, every match that’s online, every compilation, every interview. It became my thing. Anytime I wasn’t at work, I was watching something.”

While she admitted she wasn’t “the most perfect” tennis player, she trained hard to learn the sport. She drew on her dance background and worked closely with her body double and co-stars to learn to play.

“It felt like summer camp. We’d wake up — Mike [Faist], Josh [O’Connor] and myself on these three courts side-by-side — and we’d just practice for however many hours, and then we’d go and work out, and then we’d have a break, and we’d come back and the second half of the day was rehearsal,” she explained. “Such a great time of learning a new skill. Working out isn’t necessarily something I do without having the motivation of work to do, and having space to rehearse is really special, because often you don’t have that time to dig into the material, ask questions, play around, get to know the characters, get to know your fellow actors. That was really a special time.”

Katy Perry Wanted to Make Music Based on Her ‘All-Time Favorite Female Record’

Emma McKee — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:27:00 +0000

Katy Perry has been releasing pop music for years, but she once said she hoped to emulate a slightly different sound. In a conversation with Kristen Wiig, Perry discussed some of her favorite women in the music industry. She said that she had three all-time favorite albums by female artists, and she felt inspired by one in particular.

Katy Perry revealed the record that she hoped to emulate with her own music

Early in Perry’s career, she played acoustic shows at the Hotel Café in Los Angeles.

“There’s this little place that I would go to in Los Angeles called the Hotel Café that a lot of acoustic acts come out of,” she told Wiig in a conversation for Interview Magazine. “There’s a girl named Sara Bareilles who came out of there. I haven’t been there for a couple of years, but that’s where I started out playing.”

She said playing the Hotel Café made her want to make an album like some of her favorite artists.

“I’ve actually always wanted to make something like an acoustic record,” she said. “My favorite record is a Patty Griffin record that I discovered while I was in Nashville called Flaming Red [1998] … That’s my all-time favorite female record — that and the Fiona Apple ‘Criminal’ one [Tidal].”

Katy Perry | Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

While Flaming Red is an electrified album in which Griffin leans into a rock sound, Perry hoped to make an album inspired by Griffin’s Americana and folk sounds.

“Yes, [Tidal] and Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill [1995] and Flaming Red are my all-time faves. I definitely want to do a Patty Griffin–esque thing at some point,” she said. “I do some acoustic stuff in my show, a couple of songs. But it’s something that I’m really excited about because I know I can do it and I haven’t really played that card yet. I’ve been thinking about my future and what the next move is in terms of what I need to do. I think it would be pretty stupid to try and redo this last record that had all of this success … Maybe it’s time to do something that’s different that can’t be compared.”

She said she hoped to change the direction of her career

Perry told Wiig she was hoping to “try something different” following the success of her album Teenage Dream.

“Well, if you keep on doing the same role, you’ll be typecast,” she told Wiig. “I just feel like I’m going to be criticized regardless of what I do next, so I might as well do something that I feel really passionate about.”

She believed her instincts were strong enough that she would be able to find success even if she changed up her sound.

“I mean, when I first came to L.A., I used to audition, and I had such fear because nobody really believed in my music. I couldn’t get anyone on my bandwagon,” she said. “Now I have a confidence because my research shows that I should just really trust my instincts.”

Katy Perry released new music this month

On July 11, Perry released “Woman’s World,” her latest single. It has not gone over well with critics or fans. Many have criticized the milquetoast, reductive brand of feminism Perry peddles in the song and accompanying music video. People have also pointed to the irony of trying to put out a women’s empowerment anthem while working with Dr. Luke, who singer Kesha accused of drugging and sexually assaulting her.

Katy Perry | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Perry has responded to some of the criticism by calling the song satire. She is set to release her album 143 in September following the tepid-at-best response to its lead single.

Marc Anthony Said the Opening Line He Used on Jennifer Lopez Was Embarrassingly Bad

Emma McKee — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 17:31:00 +0000

Years before they began a romantic relationship, Marc Anthony knew Jennifer Lopez was the one for him. He even told her this when they first met, startling a response out of her. Anthony shared why he felt embarrassed by the way he acted around Lopez when they met.

Marc Anthony cringed at the opening line he used on Jennifer Lopez

In 1998, Lopez and Anthony met backstage at the Broadway production of The Capeman. Lopez was a fan of Anthony’s work and wanted to see him after his performance in the show. When Anthony saw her, he said he used an opening line that still made him cringe years later.

“I had never met her,” he told Vanity Fair in 2011. “I’d heard she was a fan of mine, and she walked into my dressing room and I said the worst opening line ever. I don’t know what the hell came over me, but I said, ‘You’re my wife and you don’t even know it.’”

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony | Kevin Winter/WireImage

His brashness surprised Lopez, and Anthony immediately apologized.

“And she said, ‘Excuse me?’” Anthony recalled. “And I’m like, ‘I’m so sorry, I don’t know where the f*** that came from.’”

Six years later, Anthony and Lopez married in a quiet ceremony in Los Angeles.

She said men often pursued her

According to Lopez, Anthony’s response to her was relatively typical. Most of the men in her life pursued her relentlessly.

“[They] pursued me in such a voracious way that I think, Oh my God, nobody has ever loved me like this,” she said. “That’s how hard they go.”

Sean “Diddy” Combs told Lopez he loved her very soon after they met, and Ben Affleck wrote her love letters to win her over.

Jennifer Lopez said she would always respect Marc Anthony after their split

In 2011, Lopez and Anthony announced their intention to divorce after seven years of marriage. She said that it was not an easy decision for her even though she knew it was the right move.

“This was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to face,” she said. “I really wanted this family to work. That was my biggest dream, and I worked hard at it. We both did. Sometimes it doesn’t work — and that’s sad.”

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony | Ethan Miller/Getty Images

While she knew that Anthony was not the right partner for her, she said she would always respect him.

“I will always respect Marc as a singer and performer,” she said. “We actually work great together, and he was always very supportive. Together we could make magic — and we did. He will always be in our lives. He will always hold a special place in my heart as the father of my children. And out of respect for our family, I will keep private the details of our personal life.”

She said that though the split was painful, she wanted to move forward with optimism about her future as a mother and performer.

Yoko Ono Didn’t Want to Be Romantically Involved With a Married John Lennon

Emma McKee — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 22:21:00 +0000

Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s relationship began as an affair. They clicked immediately when they met, and they were soon romantically involved. Ono said that while she loved Lennon, she hadn’t initially wanted their relationship to go this way. She shared why she thought an affair with him would be too much of a mess.

Yoko Ono said she thought a platonic relationship with John Lennon would be best

In 1966, Lennon walked into an art gallery and discovered Ono’s work. She was there at the time, and the two immediately felt a connection between them. They began an affair, even though Ono said she had not wanted this at first.

“I didn’t want to have any difficulty with a married man,” Ono said in the book All You Need Is Love: The Beatles In Their Own Words by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines, adding, “I was very much interested in my work. I had my child and my husband.”

Yoko Ono and John Lennon | Susan Wood/Getty Images

Initially, she would have preferred that their relationship remain professional and platonic.

“Getting help [from John] on a work level was all right,” she said. “I probably had this feeling that I just wanted to keep it that way, not get sticky about it.”

Yoko Ono denied that she pursued John Lennon

Despite what Ono said, many people have blamed her for pursuing Lennon. She didn’t think Lennon was someone who would have allowed her to manipulate him.

“[They make John sound as if he was] sort of manipulated by some strong woman who just comes and grabs him. And the thing is, I don’t think he was like that at all,” she said. “A lot of girls were pursuing him, I’m sure. So I don’t think he would have gone for that. I’m sure he was used to a lot of women wanting him, you know, and my feeling was, Oh, I see he’s not coming on [to me], that’s very interesting, so I started saying, Oh, well, he’s probably as shy as I am. It’s interesting that I wasn’t doing anything about it.”

Ono resented rumors that claimed she swept in and stole Lennon from his wife. She said it wasn’t in her nature to behave that way.

“I’m a very shy person — a mixture of being shy and very proud and very old-fashioned maybe — I don’t think a woman should make a move, you know, whatever.”

She recalled the moment Cynthia Lennon discovered them

While Ono said she didn’t want to get involved with a married man, they eventually began an affair. Cynthia Lennon, his first wife, said she came home from vacation to discover the pair of them sitting in her kitchen. Ono claimed it didn’t actually happen that way.

Yoko Ono and John Lennon | Bettmann/Contributor via Getty

“Well, it wasn’t really like that,” she said. “Cynthia was in Greece — and she didn’t come back on the expected date. We checked and found out that everybody was telling her about [John and me]. She felt embarrassed to come back. She didn’t just suddenly come into the kitchen and found us like ‘What’s this?’ you know.”

Still, Ono said she understood the experience was painful for Cynthia and didn’t want to discount her memories of it.

Jennifer Lopez Admitted She Was Better at Acting Than Singing

Emma McKee — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 19:34:03 +0000

Jennifer Lopez has been acting, singing, and dancing for years. After starting her career on In Living Color, Lopez has starred in many films and released albums. She has listed many major music icons as her inspirations, but she said she believes she is stronger as an actor than a singer. She shared how she felt about her music career.

Jennifer Lopez said she was better at acting than singing

Over the years, Lopez has given critically lauded performances in several different films. She feels proud of her talent as an actor.

“I think I’m a really great performer,” she told Vanity Fair, adding, “I think I’m a really great actress. I feel confident in those things — that’s a better way to say it.”

She has also worked extensively as a singer, releasing nine albums over the past 25 years. She doesn’t feel as confident in her abilities as a vocalist, though.

Jennifer Lopez | Kevin Winter/Getty Images

“I’m not as gifted a vocalist as some of the girls that are out there, but I know I communicate,” she said. “When I think of great vocalists, I think of Marc [Anthony], of Luther Vandross, of Whitney Houston. But Marc has helped me a lot with this; he always said I had a beautiful voice and that it was better than I thought it was.”

Some critics believe that Lopez’s music career has actually hindered her ability to be taken seriously as an actor.

Jennifer Lopez was devastated when she didn’t receive more recognition for her acting in ‘Hustlers’

While Lopez has received acclaim for her acting roles, she has never been nominated for an Oscar. She came close, though, after her starring role in Hustlers. She received a significant amount of awards buzz for the part, but it didn’t manifest itself in the form of an Academy Award. Lopez found this devastating.

“It was hard. I just had very low self-esteem,” she said in the documentary Halftime (per Vanity Fair). “I had to really figure out who I was and believe in that, and not believe in anything else.”

Lopez said the period leading up to the Oscars had been exciting because of the buzz surrounding her performance. It stung to not live up to it.

“I was a little sad because there was a lot of buildup to it,” she explained. “There were so many articles. I got so many good notices — more than ever in my career — and there was a lot of ‘She’s going to get nominated for an Oscar. It’s going to happen; if she doesn’t, you’re crazy.’ I’m reading all the articles going, Oh my God, could this happen? And then it didn’t and I was like, Ouch. It was a little bit of a letdown.”

She began her career as a dancer

While Lopez is now primarily an actor and singer, she began her career as a dancer. She studied dance throughout her childhood, and had a breakout part as a Fly Girl on In Living Color. She continues to show off her dance skills during her musical performances.

Jennifer Lopez | Alberto E. Rodriguez/WireImage

In 2017, Lopez was a producer and judge on the show World of Dance.

Paul McCartney Was Very ‘Hurt’ by the Way John Lennon Screened His Calls

Emma McKee — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 16:16:00 +0000

Paul McCartney and John Lennon worked together closely for years. When The Beatles broke up, though, their friendship deteriorated. Lennon and McCartney fought often over business affairs and they could hardly have a conversation without shouting at each other. Lennon began to screen McCartney’s calls, which the latter found very hurtful.

John Lennon would screen Paul McCartney’s calls

Throughout the 1970s, McCartney reached out to Lennon in an effort to rebuild their relationship. This was made difficult by the fact that Lennon rarely believed it was actually his bandmate on the other end of the phone. He made McCartney answer security screening questions before he agreed to talk to him.

“Paul told me that when he called up John, he’d get through to the answering service,” art dealer Robert Fraser, who was a friend of the band, said in the book All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines. “‘Mr. Lennon’s not available.’ He said, ‘Then the message came back. “Ask Paul what’s the name of the teacher in fifth grade.”’ It’s quite funny.”

Paul McCartney and John Lennon | Bettmann/Contributor via Getty

Gaines said that while he understood why Lennon wanted to screen the calls, McCartney felt hurt by it.

“Well, probably a thousand people have called John and said, ‘It’s Paul.’ Although I think Paul was hurt by it,” he said. “If it was part of John’s sense of humor, nobody else understood that. If Paul did, I think he’d still have to be embarrassed by it, because it was Paul’s business too.”

Paul McCartney said many of his phone calls with John Lennon devolved into angry fights

When McCartney did manage to get a hold of Lennon, their conversations tended to end poorly.

“I would ring him when I went to New York and he would say, ‘Yeah, what d’you want?’ ‘I just thought we might meet?’ ‘Yeah, what the f*** d’you want, man?’ I used actually to have some very frightening phone calls,” McCartney said, per the book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles. “Thank God they’re not in my life anymore. I went through a period when I would be so nervous to ring him and so insecure in myself that I actually felt like I was in the wrong. It was all very acrimonious and bitter.”

McCartney eventually realized that as long as they didn’t talk about business, their conversations were far friendlier.

He didn’t want his former bandmate dropping by his apartment either

Lennon made it difficult for McCartney to get in contact with him. He also wanted his former bandmate to stop dropping by his apartment unannounced. Gaines said Lennon made this point to McCartney in a “very b****y” way.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon | Val Wilmer/Redferns

“That was a period when Paul just kept turning up at our door with a guitar,” Lennon said in the book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview With John Lennon and Yoko Ono by David Sheff. “I would let him in, but finally I said to him, ‘Please call before you come over. It’s not 1956, and turning up at the door isn’t the same anymore. You know, just give me a ring.’ He was upset by that, but I didn’t mean it badly. I just meant that I was taking care of a baby all day, and some guy turns up at the door.”

Still, Lennon and McCartney were on relatively friendly terms before Lennon’s death in 1980.

Yoko Ono Admitted Cynthia Lennon Had to Be ‘Strong’ to Deal With John Lennon

Emma McKee — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 15:21:06 +0000

Yoko Ono and John Lennon began a relationship while he was still married to his first wife, Cynthia Lennon. The affair, of course, did nothing good for the relationship between the two women. When Ono first met Cynthia, though, she said she liked her a great deal. She recognized an innate strength in her that had to be present in order to put up with Lennon.

Yoko Ono shared what she thought of Cynthia Lennon when she first met her

Cynthia met Ono before she realized she was having an affair with her husband. Ono said Cynthia’s poise impressed her.

“The first time I met her at Kenwood — I thought she was very quiet and sensitive — a nice lady,” Ono said in the book All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines. “She had a nice figure and my feeling was in Liverpool, when he went to art school, I think she was like a different class of chick, you know, rather elegant and graceful, and I think that’s probably what impressed John.”

Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono, Cynthia Lennon, and Julian Lennon | Wendell Teodoro / Contributor via Getty

Ono believed Cynthia’s intelligence had helped her win Lennon over. She also believed that Cynthia’s strength helped her stay in the relationship.

“She was a strong lady,” Ono said, adding, “She had to be strong to be with John. He wasn’t a Goody Two-shoes. He was already complex and a boy with a chip on his shoulder.”

Yoko Ono could tell John and Cynthia Lennon’s marriage was in a bad place

Before Cynthia discovered the affair, Ono said Lennon often complained to her about his wife. While this made her uncomfortable — she knew he shouldn’t be talking about his wife that way to her — she developed deep feelings for him.

“Obviously, their marriage was not going gloriously; otherwise, he wouldn’t want to have me around,” she said. “The thing is, John and I fell in love. But he was a man of the world by then. He wasn’t a virgin. I think he’s one of those people who took marriage very seriously and I do too … So to leave that and get together, there had to be a very strong reason for it. But as John said, it was bigger than both of us.”

She said she didn’t want to get involved with a married man

Ono faced criticism over the years for pursuing Lennon, but she said this was not what happened. She claimed she hadn’t wanted to get involved with a married man.

Yoko Ono and John Lennon | Susan Wood/Getty Images

“I didn’t want to have any difficulty with a married man,” she said, adding, “I was very much interested in my work. I had my child and my husband. Getting help [from John] on a work level was all right. I probably had this feeling that I just wanted to keep it that way, not getting sticky about it.”

Still, the couple did not remain platonic for long. They married in 1969.

Katy Perry Said Lorne Michaels Paid Her the Ultimate Compliment After an ‘SNL’ Appearance

Emma McKee — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 17:03:02 +0000

Katy Perry has been a guest on Saturday Night Live multiple times over the years and has gotten to know the cast well. Not long after one of her appearances, Perry spoke to SNL cast member Kristen Wiig. She discussed the experience of being on the show, as well as a compliment Lorne Michaels paid her. Perry explained why it shocked her.

Katy Perry said Lorne Michaels gave her a glowing compliment after ‘SNL’

After appearing as the musical guest on SNL in 2010, Perry hosted the show for the first time in Dec. 2011. She enjoyed her time working on the show. She said she also grew to love producer Michaels, who paid her a major compliment at the after-party.

“I really started to adore Lorne, too,” she told Wiig in a conversation for Interview Magazine. “At the after-party, he said something very sweet to me where he put me in the same sentence as Barbra Streisand. I was like, What? It was so nice.”

Kristen Wiig and Katy Perry | Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

Perry wouldn’t repeat the compliment, though. She didn’t want to irritate Streisand’s fans.

“I don’t want to repeat what he said because I don’t want her fans to revolt,” she said. “What are her fans called? Streisanders? Streisies? I can’t imagine her ever addressing her fans as Streisies.”

Katy Perry shared her favorite memory of appearing on ‘SNL’

Perry said that one of her favorite moments of hosting the show came when she gave Wiig a friendship bracelet.

“But my favorite part of doing SNL was definitely when I got to give you a best-friend necklace in front of my real best friend,” she said, adding, “She was sitting right there. She’s a cute, funny little girl. She’s an actress as well. I had told her that I had made this necklace for you, but I’d never given one to her or anything … It was so beyond rude and awesome at the same time.”

The first time Perry appeared on the show, Wiig gave her a present that referenced one of the singer’s tweets.

“I said something like, ‘It’d be a dream come true to have a lock of Kristen Wiig’s hair to put under my pillow,’” she recalled. “So when I did the show, you gave me a little card with a sweet message and a tiny lock of hair with a little baby-blue bow attached.”

She said the show was more work than she realized

While Perry enjoyed her experience on the show, she admitted it was hard work.

Katy Perry on ‘SNL’ | Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

“I thought it was really fun, and, of course, interesting and educational in terms of how the industry works . . . You know how they call SNL ‘the institution?’ It is like an institution — but in a good way,” she said. “There’s nothing like it, so everyone kind of dreams about doing it. But then you actually get there and realize how much work it is and how little time you guys have to put the whole show together … I think we had three consecutive 20-hour days or something.”

Perry went on to appear as the musical guest again, but this was her only time hosting.