1. The 2015 ACM Awards. The Academy of Country Music Awards kicked off Sunday with a tribute to Merle Haggard with George Strait singing “All My Ex’s Live in Texas.” The night also honored seven recipients of the 50th Anniversary Milestone Award. One of honorees was pop star Taylor Swift, who was honored with a video package highlighting her career as well as a touching and emotional speech by her mother, who recently announced she is battling cancer. The other seven stars honored were Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney, George Strait and Miranda Lambert. Lambert also managed to win some of the night’s top awards—“Album of the Year,” “Female Vocalist of the Year” “Single Record of the Year,” both as a performer and as a songwriter. The night made history in more ways than one, as co-host Blake Shelton announced that it set a Guinness World Record for most attended live awards show of all time.
2. Bobby Brown says Bobbi Kristina is awake. Bobby Brown told a crowd at a concert on Saturday that his daughter is finally awake nearly three months after being found unresponsive in her home. Brown told the crowd, “Bobbi is awake. She’s watching me.” Brown’s statements were the first news of a change in Bobbi Kristina’s condition since she was placed in a medically induced coma when she was first hospitalized. It is uncertain if Brown’s statements are true, as a source told People magazine, “As far as I know, there’s been no change [in Bobbi Kristina’s condition]. We’re still hoping and praying that God will perform a miracle. We are leaving it in God’s hands.”
3. Meek Mill and Nicki Minaj are engaged? It may seem like a hoax, but the rumors appear to be true as the “Super Bass” singer and rapper both indirectly confirmed their engagement via social media. Minaj, who is currently promoting “The Pinkprint” on a world tour, posted a photo of herself and rumored fiancé standing in front of a Bentley, where you can see what appears to be a ring on her finger. Of course, that “broke the Internet,” causing rumors to swirl. The next day, Minaj posted a cryptic tweet with ring emojis, a heart and the words, “I’ll post it later.” The singer kept her word and posted a pic of an enormous heart-shaped ring the next day on her Instagram. E! News reports that a source can confirm the engagement ring costs approximately $500,000.
4. Time magazine’s 100 most influential people issue is out. The coveted list has finally been revealed. This year’s cover stars included big names—Kanye West and Bradley Cooper. The remaining three covers went to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ballet dancer Misty Copeland and journalist Jorge Ramos. Other notable names who made Time’s list were Kim Kardashian, Taylor Swift, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Emma Watson, Kevin Hart and Reese Witherspoon.
5. Chris Brown publicly acknowledges his daughter. The “Loyal” singer shared the first pic of his 10-month-old daughter, Royalty, on Instagram. Brown captioned the cute photo, “God has blessed me with my twin. #ROYALTY.” Brown additionally shared another picture of Royalty, captioning it with an emoji of a crown. This was Brown’s first time addressing his daughter publicly since news broke that he is the child’s father last month.
6. The Kardashians return to Los Angeles. In what seemed like a whirlwind trip to the Middle East, with a Paris vacay in the middle of it all, the Kardashian-West clan has finally returned back to the states. But before doing so, the Kardashians managed to completely take over Armenia. Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Kanye West and daughter North were all in attendance. However, Kris Jenner, Rob Kardashian and Kourtney missed the trip. The family traveled throughout the Middle East, making a trip to Israel, where they visited the holy site of Jesus’ crucifixion. It is also rumored that the family had baby North baptized in the biblical city. The trip ended there for Khloé; however, the family took a trip to Paris, where Kim attended the Paris launch of Kardashian Beauty Hair Care.
7. Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kim Richards was arrested. Just when you thought Richards’ behavior on the RHOBH reunion was over the top, Richards, who has publicly struggled with substance abuse on the reality show, was arrested for public intoxication. The reality star was arrested at the Beverly Hills Hotel Thursday morning after causing a ruckus at the hotel’s pool lounge. Richards’ problems didn’t stop there. She allegedly kicked an officer in the leg at the police station where she was booked. Richards ended up being charged with public intoxication, trespassing, resisting an officer and battery on a police officer. She has since been released on bail.
8. American Idol had quite the faceoff. It was a heated moment on Idol as contestant Quentin Alexander and judge Harry Connick, Jr. got into an argument during a live episode of the show on Wednesday. After Connick gave his opinion of Alexander’s performance, the Idol contestant responded by saying, “This sucks.” He then expressed disdain for his friends being ranked in the bottom two by saying it was “wack,” to which Connick responded, “If it’s that wack, then you can always go home because Idol is paying a lot of money to give you this experience and for you to say that to this hand that is feeding you right now, I think is highly disrespectful.” Alexander then clarified his comments, saying that it was not the competition he was referring to as “wack” but rather the fact that two of the best performers were in the bottom two. “For my personal feelings, it sucks to see two people who I’ve grown to love go home. That’s what I mean by it being wack. So I’m not disrespecting this competition,” he said.
9. Gwyneth Paltrow fails the $29 food stamp challenge. After embarking on the task of only eating $29 worth of food for one week to raise awareness for a New York City food bank, Paltrow revealed on Goop.com that she failed the challenge. “Last week, chef (and great man) Mario Batali challenged me to raise awareness and money for the Food Bank For New York City by trying to live on $29 for the week (what low income families on SNAP are trying to survive on). Dubious that I could complete the week, I donated to the Food Bank at the outset, and all of us at the Goop office began the challenge,” the 42-year-old actress wrote on her Goop blog. “As I suspected, we only made it through about four days, when I personally broke and had some chicken and fresh vegetables (and in full transparency, half a bag of black licorice),” Paltrow added. “My perspective has been forever altered by how difficult it was to eat wholesome, nutritious food on that budget, even for just a few days—a challenge that 47 million Americans face every day, week, and year.” Read her full post on Goop.
10. Gisele Bundchen says goodbye to the runway. After 20 years on the runway, the Brazilian model walked in her final show for Brazilian designer Colcci in Sao Paulo Fashion Week. Bundchen’s husband, Tom Brady, and her parents were in attendance, sitting front row to support her. Earlier in the day, Bundchen took to Instagram to speak on her retirement. “I am grateful that at 14, I was given the opportunity to start this journey. Today after 20 years in the industry, it is a privilege to be doing my last fashion show by choice and yet still be working in other facets of the business. #firstrunway #14yearsold.” Bundchen retires as the highest paid supermodel in the world.
Thanks for reading, collegiettes! See you all next week as we discuss more news from Hollywood, and have a special in-depth summary of Bruce Jenner’s tell-all interview regarding his sex change! Can you say juicy?!