The Saturdays singer had previously claimed a bedroom blunder put her in hospital but Marvin said it was just a joke
That hospital trip would have been slightly awkward
Rex
It’s that embarrassing moment you hope will never happen to you – and according to Marvin Humes, it didn’t happen to wife Rochelle after all.
The red-faced JLS star hung his head in shame last month when Rochelle claimed she had gone to hospital after an embarrassing sex mishap.
But Marvin has said the story is “150% not true” and claimed his wife was simply having a laugh.
Saturdays singer Rochelle, 24, sparked the rumours when she was interviewed with her bandmates on Capital FM recently.
Chatting to presenters Dave Berry and Lisa Snowdon on the Breakfast Show, the Saturday ladies were asked if they’d ever “sustained an injury during special cuddles”.
“I have,” the usually tame band member giggled.
Then Una properly dropped her in it, saying: “Rochelle went to A&E over this.”
Awkward.
But Marvin, who works at the radio station, has denied the sex mishap claiming it was just “banter” between the girls.
The 28-year-old told Digital Spy: “It’s not true. it’s 150% not true.
“It just came out of nowhere. It was all a bit of friendly banter between the girls. They made something up and then it all just escalated and got out of hand. As I said, it’s not true at all.”
When asked if he was left cringing after the interview, Marvin added: “Oh massively. Of course, totally. But it’s just one of those things. You have to be careful what you say because people will believe everything.”
Well it’s hardly something you’d shout about Marvin, but we believe you.
05 NOVEMBER 2013Drew Barrymore has spoken out about her second pregnancy, amid rumours that the Hollywood star was expecting again.
The gorgeous actress, who already has a one-year-old daughter Olive, confirmed the exciting news on Tuesday.
“Last time I never commented on it and people just stalked me the entire time,” Drew told PEOPLE. “So yes, it’s happening, it’s true. I tried to keep it a secret for as long as possible.”
CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
Drew has previously spoken about her desire to expand her family with art consultant husband Will Kopelman, and give baby Olive a younger sibling.
“Will is just thrilled — we both are,” said Drew. “We just wanted so badly for Olive to have a sibling. In some ways, it’s really for her. So congratulations, Olive!”
The doting mother gave birth to her first child in September 2012. “She’s a sweet person, which is all I care about,” said Drew. “I am obsessed with nice. That’s the most important thing.”
The 38-year-old actress recalled the joyous moment when she found out she was pregnant again.
“I was overjoyed,” said Drew. “It always feels so surreal, it’s incredible. [I"m feeling] incredible, that, ‘Here we go again’ feeling. And blessed. Blessed.”
Speculation that the mother-of-one was pregnant started when Drew was spotted wearing loose clothing. The blossoming actress seemed to be hiding a baby bump beneath a floor-length gown when she attended the LACMA Art+Film gala event at the weekend.
04 NOVEMBER 2013Peter Andre has spoken to HELLO! Online about speculation that he is set to propose to his girlfriend Emily MacDonagh, who is expecting their baby together in the new year.
“I think everybody knows I’m going to do the right thing,” he said, and hinted that the news might come soon, adding, “It’s going to be a great year.”
Peter’s reality show My Life is in its final series, but the singer is taking to our TV screens this month to show off a very different skillset as the presenter of the re-vamped 60 Minute Makeover.
CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Peter talks to HELLO! Online about his plans for Christmas, how the recent loss of his brother has affected his family, and why his newfound DIY skills are helping him prepare for the arrival of his baby.
So we have high expectations for the nursery now for the baby you are expecting in the New Year with Emily…
“I will be doing it very soon but I hope I don’t do it in 60 minutes! I want to really take my time. There are three things that I’ve learnt. When it comes to nurseries you let the mum pick what she wants, when it comes to weddings you let your wife-to-be pick want she wants and when it comes to cooking you make sure you always cook her a nice meal. They’re the three things you have to know.”
We’re still waiting for the wedding proposal Peter!
“Well I’m still working on that! I think everybody knows I’m going to do the right thing. I don’t think anyone suspects that I wouldn’t. It’s going to be a great year.”
Are you making plans for Christmas?
“We’re going to make it very special for the children. You know, last year we couldn’t so this year I’m going to. I want to make them have the best Christmas they’ve ever had this year. Princess and Junior are so looking forward to the new baby too. They’re so excited and we’ll just hope that everything goes to plan and everything’s right.”
You have recently been out in Australia to see your parents….
“It was nice to see everyone but it’s different since we had the loss that we had as a family with my brother dying at the end of last year. It has affected my parents a lot so going home was great in one way but difficult in another. My parents aren’t the same, none of us are the same. You know, when you lose somebody it doesn’t get filled by some other event happening in your life like having a child or getting married. That doesn’t fit that gap. That hole is always there.”
You took Emily and the children with you?
“Yeah we had a great time out there we really did. And it was great being there with Emily. It was about food and sleep and spending time with family. Oh and of course feeding kangaroos. That was great. I can’t go to Australia without going to kangaroo farms. Princess and Junior wouldn’t let me leave. There’s a place on the Gold Coast, the Currumbin bird sanctuary where there is a field you can go in, not just feed kangaroos but you can lie next to them. You can lie down and literally the kangaroo will put its arm around you and you can fall asleep. It doesn’t seem real! There were no cameras, We didn’t film anything for the reality show, nothing just us. Just family.”
Do you still have mixed feelings about saying goodbye to your own TV show My Life?
“I do but you know for me, there’s the old saying of too much of a good thing. The show’s been so great and we’ve had such great ratings it’s just been such a good run, you almost want to step away for a while. Who knows in two or three years time, I might do another series or I might not. I don’t want people to get bored, it best to leave them wanting more.”
What was your reaction to being asked to present the new series of 60 Minute Makeover?
“I said two things are going to happen. It’s never going to be done in 60 minutes and I said secondly I’m going to get stuck in but I’m very bad at DIY. Now what happened in the period of the 30 shows we did is I actually went from terrible DIY to bad so I did get better.”
So can we trust you with a paintbrush now?
“No not really! I think I will do a job that maybe that you would ask your 12-year-old son to do which means I will get the wall painted it just might not be perfect. In fact I’m probably being harsh on myself. I’d say a 15-year-old.”
So tell us more about how the show works?
“We get to go into people’s homes, people from all sorts of backgrounds with different stories. For example, a mum and dad who have fostered children all their lives and they’ve given the foster children their bedrooms and have slept on the floor. You know really deserving people. We go into their home, we make over maybe two rooms in their house or maybe the whole downstairs and it really changes their lives.”
In 60 minutes?
“For the first time ever they are not completing it in 60 minutes. I will explain it. For this series we are going to have a whole day to complete the makeovers and each episode will show 60 minutes of highlights and the reason why they want to do that is because they want to make the makeovers bigger and better. They want to make the quality a lot better so for example they don’t want any wallpaper to come undone or any tiles to fall off, they want to do it properly so that’s why we’re taking a day. Every show has something special about it.”
Did you take any tips from your father as he built homes?
“Dad was one of the first to build luxury homes on the Gold Coast. There was a new place called Sovereign Island and dad built one of the first homes there. He actually never built them but he was there before the builders would come and left after the builders would leave. So he was always first on site and last to leave and he was on top of it big time.”
Peter Andre’s 60 Minute Makeover starts on Monday, November 11th on ITV1
30 OCTOBER 2013Liberty Ross says finding out about her husband Rupert Sanders‘ affair with Kristen Stewart was “horrible”.
“It was horrible,” she said. “It was really the worst, really the worst.”
The British model turned actress found out about her director husband and the Twilight actress’ affair 20 hours before intimate photos of them were published.
“I have no words to describe what we went through,” the mum-of-two said in an interview with Vanity Fair.
“But I think, for me, something always has to completely die for there to be a rebirth. And, for me, I feel like I’m going through a rebirth.”
Liberty had the support of her brother Atticus during the difficult period. The Oscar-winning composer of The Social Network reflected on the media storm caused by Rupert’s infidelity.
“To some extent at that moment, Rupert was in denial, and Liberty didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said.
“I’m texting people because I know this is going to be huge. I knew this had all the makings of what our world has become. This is going to be f***ing big, and Liberty needs to be protected.
“It was about it not destroying [Liberty]. I don’t think people understand what being in the eye of that storm is like.”
A friend of Atticus’s, Jimmy Iovine [to whom Liberty was later romantically linked], offered Liberty and her two children Skyla and Tennyson his house as a haven from the media attention.
“I was able to be there completely secluded,” the 35-year-old said. “I just visualized [being] this sort of Masai warrior. I was just going to stand very still and very strong, and just let it all roll past me.
“I tried to keep as far away from it as I could and to understand that this is my family and it’s the most precious thing to me.” Despite Rupert’s public apology and statement that expressed his desire to reconcile Liberty realised their marriage was over.
“I’m not a quitter,” she says. “I’ve done everything I could to be the perfect wife and mother and really support my husband. But I just didn’t have any more to give, you know?”
Despite the public breakdown of their marriage Liberty says she forgives her Snow White And The Huntsman director husband.
“We were together for 16 years, and that in itself is really beautiful,” she said. “And we’ve created two exceptional lives together.”
Supermodel Naomi Campbell has revealed that she phoned Victoria Beckham at the height of the controversy over racism on the catwalk.
The 43-year-old launched a campaign to expose discrimination in the fashion industry just a month ago and put Posh’s design house on the “accused of being guilty” list.
The former Spice Girl, 39, was reportedly furious at being attacked for using only one non-white model in her 30-strong London Fashion Week Show.
The battle between the celebrity fashionistas made headlines around the globe – “Naomi Cambell accuses Posh Spice of ignoring black models”… “Defiant Victoria Beckham: I am not a racist”.
But in an exclusive interview Naomi reveals she spoke to Victoria in person.
Londoner Naomi , who is spearheading the anti-racism Diversity Coalition with David Bowie’s model wife Iman and agent Bethann Hardison, explains: “I called Victoria and I spoke to her.
“I don’t want to pin-point anyone. It isn’t a blame game. Everyone’s name was on that letter because they’d done it. It could have been completely unintentional. She is one of the designers on there like anyone else.”
The controversy erupted when Naomi and her Coalition colleagues put their names to an open letter addressed to the governing bodies of the fashion industries in New York, London, Paris and Milan.
It pointed out that at New York Fashion Week just 6% of models were black and 9% were Asian and that fewer black models are used now than in the 1970s.
It went on to list “fashion houses guilty of this racist act” including Victoria Beckham, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Chanel, Armani, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Roberto Cavalli and Marc by Marc Jacobs.
So was Naomi the slightest bit worried about upsetting so many acquaintances?
With a defiant look in her eyes she says: “Absolutely not! There is no way to candycoat this sort of thing. You have to be straight.
“We had the percentages and we were armed with the facts and you can’t be nervous about upsetting people.
“I speak the truth. People might not like it but I am doing it.”
Naomi, the world’s best-paid model who reportedly earned £25million last year is, of course, no stranger to controversy.
Of Jamaican-Chinese extraction, she grew up in working-class Streatham, south London, and was discovered by a fashion boss at 15 while window shopping.
Her breakthrough came when she made the cover of Elle in April 1986 and she later became the first black model to grace the front of the French edition of Vogue.
Naomi’s early career was guided by Elite Model Management which also created fellow supermodels Claudia Schiffer, Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford.
But in 1995 she was sacked from Elite and agency boss John Casablancas – who died earlier this year at 70 – launched a withering tirade against “odious” Naomi.
He called her “a manipulative, scheming, rude and impossible little madam who has treated us and her clients like dirt”.
Despite the attack Naomi kept silent. But now she has exclusively revealed a racist incident sparked her decision to leave.
She says: “I have never spoken about this. But one of the reasons why I left… it wasn’t because I was difficult, it was because I refused to take a job.
“Why was John mad at me? He was mad because I refused to take a job at a very high- level cosmetics company when my white counterpart was getting millions.
“I can’t even tell you the percentage, it was so ridiculous. I spoke with a girlfriend under contract to the same brand and she said to me ‘This is what I get – you can’t get this’.
“So I told them No. I was with Elite and I thought he was going to kill me. He was so happy thinking I was going to get this deal but I really felt insulted as a black woman.
“And as much as I wanted to be one of these girls with this brand, I couldn’t sell out like that. It doesn’t matter if you’re the first black woman on the cover of French Vogue, I was still getting less.”
Naomi is talking to me in her TV dressing room ahead of a chat show interview. As an array of assistants flutter around, she sits on a high stool having her make-up done while I have been designated a low chair in line with her kneecaps.
I feel like a commoner bowing down to a Queen. But then, of course, Naomi is very much fashion royalty. Explaining more about her drive to expose racism she says: “You will be surprised at some of the models who confide in me.
“A lot of them are very big. They are told ‘We don’t want you in our show, this isn’t the united colours of Benetton’.
One model who said this to me is on about three covers right now. She is one of the lucky few and she’s still experiencing it.”
Naomi says she has also encountered racism recently but refuses to go into details. “It happened not so long ago but I am not going to talk about me because, as a whole, my career has been blessed. But these young girls don’t know how to speak up and if they do, they will never be booked again.”
She tells me her close friendship with Nelson Mandela – who she calls her “honorary grandfather” – inspired her to try and make a change. “To be able to speak out and help others is something Mr Mandela has always said to me to do,” she explains.
Hearing Naomi talking with such passion, it’s easy to forget her somewhat chequered history. In 2007, she pleaded guilty to assaulting an assistant with a mobile phone and was sentenced to anger management.
A year later came the scuffle with British Airways over lost baggage which saw her banned from the airline.
I ask if she’s worried her legacy may have been tainted by these episodes. “I am human,” she sighs. “I have always said I’m not perfect.
“But the one thing you can’t take away from me is my job and my career. You can’t do that. I have been doing this for 27 and a half years and no-one can fault me for that.”
“As for retiring? Forget it. I don’t believe in that word,” she says. “And in any case why would you announce it… especially if another great job comes up.”
26 OCTOBER 2013Myleene Klass has opened up about the painful separation from her estranged husband Graham Quinn.
While she won’t to go into the specific details about why Gary ended the 6-month marriage on the singer’s 34th birthday, for the sake of her two daughters, Myleene has spoken about how she coped during the breakup and how she believes that “money is the root of all evil.”
“It’s horrific,” Myleene told the Daily Mail. “I’m still in the middle of it. I’m still at that stage of thinking ‘is this actually happening? Am I in the middle of a nightmare and about to wake up?’”
CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
The singer went on to say that her friends had had their suspicion about her former security guard Graham. “Everyone had an opinion,” said Myleene, and where they right about him? “Yes.”
Myleene had two daughters with Graham, Ava, six, and two-year-old Hero and it is them who have spurred her on during the bad times.
“You sort your girls out,” Myleene recalls her father saying. “He’s taught me to see the bigger picture. In this case it’s my girls.
“From the start he was adamant, ‘Get the girls through this and you’ll be OK.”
Former Hear’Say singer and TV presenter Myleene married her long-term partner Graham on 22 October 2011.
“Myleene and Gray had a private intimate wedding in Norwich today,” read a message written by the couple’s representative on Twitter. “The couple did not want a big lavish affair, they just wanted to be married and enjoy the day with their nearest and dearest.”
Just six months later, however, Graham ended the relationship on 6 April 2012, Myleene’s birthday.
The newlyweds had not even collected their marriage certificate at the time of their separation and are currently in the process of divorcing.
Kanye West’s public proposal was nothing to do with Kim Kardashian and all about him, says Issy Sampson
It’s all about me! No, it’s all about me!
Getty Images
Kim Kardashian might THINK Kanye West’s big baseball stadium-based proposal was all about her. After all, wasn’t she the one getting the massive million dollar ring? Wasn’t she the one he went down on one knee in his leather jogging pants for? Didn’t he get all her friends and family to run out of the dugout and scream in her face? Er, yes. But like all public proposals, it was REALLY all about the groom – yes, Kanye: you’re a big selfish attention stealer. And we bet this isn’t the first time he’s heard that.
The couple got engaged on Monday after Kanye hired the entire AT&T Park baseball park in San Francisco – because you know Kim’s a massive baseball fan. Oh, hang on: it’s because Kanye’s all-time favourite baseball player, Barry Bonds, played there. So um, it’s not much about Kim then.
At least the music was all about Kim, anyway – the violinists played her favourite Lana Del Rey song, Young And Beautiful and Knock You Down by Keri Hilson, featuring a little known rapper called … Kanye West.
If you have a look at the video of the proposal , Kim’s family and friends all run out to congratulate her, but even the guest list was all about Kanye. It wasn’t just the people you’d imagine to be there to share the special moment (you know – her mum, her sisters, maybe her best mate) it seems that Kanye turned the engagement into a networking event. Ben Horowitz, from website Rap Genius, was there, as was venture capitalist Shirvin Pishevar – it was basically a who’s who of internet geniuses. None of whom probably even WATCH Kim’s TV show. A bit more Instagram sleuthing reveals that Jaden Smith (son of Will), the family’s make-up artist and all of their personal assistants were there too. So, y’know, really intimate.
Kim with her MASSIVE rock
instagram.com
Let’s face it – all public proposals are more about the person doing them than the person getting proposed to . YouTube flashmob proposals make me cringe, as do football scoreboard proposals. No woman grows up wishing she’d either be jeered into saying yes by a crowd of football fans, or have thousands of anonymous strangers commenting on their internet-wide engagement. Why would you put such an intimate moment online? Surely the only people that matter in that moment are you, and your fiancée? The only motivation for going public must be getting the attention back on you (“But it’s all about the BRIDE on the wedding day!”) or just having everyone tell you what a total romantic you are (“the best part was when you Instagrammed her in the face the second you dropped to one knee!”)
So you want to show your family what happened? Well, you know what else is good? Words. Words, used to describe the special moment. They’re just fine. You don’t need a YouTube video to show people, or a crowd of people taking blurry pictures on their phones, because you have your memory and your voice and that’s fine. Let’s be honest: most people are being polite when they ask how you proposed – they don’t want to sit through a twenty minute video with your director’s commentary. They definitely don’t want to sit through Kanye’s 2 hour E! TV special: “THE PROPOSAL!!!!!” At the end of the day, it’s just supposed to be you, your loved one and some nice, private words that she’d like to hear. Anything else is just selfish.
25 OCTOBER 2013Prince George‘s christening was a careful balancing act between the old and new. Just as they have done in the past Prince William and Kate chose to respect tradition while bringing in their own personal touches.
Here are ten facts on how they managed it.
1. Prince George was baptised with the 17in-high silver gilt Lily Font, made for Queen Victoria’s children, which is usually kept under guard with the Crown Jewels.
2. Water from the Jordan, where Christ was baptised by John the Baptist, was used. The archbishop made the sign of the cross and trickled water on his head three times to symbolise the Holy Trinity.
3. Baby George wore a replica of the royal family’s 172-year-old robe.
4. The Duke and Duchess chose the hymns Breathe on Me, Breath of God and Be Thou My Vision. The latter was sung at the memorial service for the 10th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
5. The venue – the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace – also paid a subtle tribute to William’s late mother. It was here that her coffin lay at rest on the eve of her funeral in 1997. Previous members of the family have been baptised at Buckingham Palace.
6. Proud mum Kate wore Alexander McQueen, the same label that created her wedding gown.
7. The official photos brought together four generations of the royal family in the same image – the first time this has happened since 1894 when 80-year-old Queen Victoria posed with three of her heirs.
8. The Cabinet’s christening gift to Prince George was a hand-crafted pine toy box made by Hibba Toys UK of Leeds. Ministers also made a charitable donation to the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.
9. The Queen wore a brooch to the christening given to her by her parents, George VI and the Queen Mother, which marked the birth of Prince Charles in 1948. The brooch, made of rubies, diamonds and sapphires, is in the shape of a basket of flowers.
10. As godparents Willliam and Kate chose one relative, his cousin Zara Phillips, three personal friends of theirs from childhood or university, a trusted aide, and two family friends with connections to Princess Diana.
This is a complete break with tradition as in the past a future King would have had other royals, often from foreign countries, and aristocrats as mentors.
24 OCTOBER 2013Spencer Matthews has revealed the one thing that always makes him cry — watching The Lion King.
The Made in Chelsea star was referring to one scene in the children’s cartoon film in particular, and made the admission in the show’s official handbook, Made in Chelsea: Life and Style Essentials.
“I always cry when Mufasa dies in The Lion King,” said Spencer. “I just can’t handle it.”
CLICK ON PHOTO FOR GALLERY OF SPENCER
The old Etonian, who has featured in the BAFTA-Award winning series since the start of the show, went on to describe his Disney preferences.
“My celebrity crush is Princess Jasmine,” said Spencer. “She’s the perfect woman. I watch a lot of Disney films and whenever one of my little nieces is round I’ll slap on Cinderella or Hercules and use them as an excuse to watch it.”
Spencer’s love life is anything but picture perfect. The television personality has broken many hearts on the show, cheating on both of his co-star girlfriends Louise Thompson and Lucy Watson, who he dated one after the other in the last series.
Lucy has previously spoken out about her relationship with Spencer, and shortly after their break-up, the brunette beauty admitted that she still had feelings for him.
“When you fall for someone like that, you’re in a very intense relationship and the feelings never completely go away,” said Lucy. “Spencer’s quite a selfish person and he thinks about what’s good for him.”
Spencer has also had his fair share of arguments with other co-stars, including fashionista Millie Mackintosh, who quit the show at the end of last series.
“I impersonate the Made in Chelsea cast,” said Spencer. “I do a good Millie — you have to change the shape of your mouth, kind of purse your lips together like a fish for it to sound right.
“I’ve done it in front of her and we shared a smile, which is more than we have in the last ten years.”
Gazing out of the window of her seventh-floor hotel room, Cher looks misty-eyed as she surveys the bustling London landscape beneath her.
Struggling with a cold, the singer sighs and quietly admits she longs for a normal life, away from the harsh glare of showbusiness.
“I don’t remember the last time I went out,” she says.
“I am not happy. I like being an artist and really like being creative but I love my freedom too. However that’s one thing I have lost.”
Wearing a tiny mini-skirt – at 67 – it’s hard to imagine Cher as “normal”. Especially with her small army of “people” in an adjoining five-star suite.
Not to mention a £500million fortune, an Oscar and countless fans.
But as she coughs through our interview – her small frame perched like a sparrow on the edge of a sofa – it’s hard not to feel a little sorry for her.
“I would love to just go to Victoria and Albert museum and wander around the exhibitions,” she sighs. “It’s one of my favourite places but I just can’t.
“I lived in London twice and loved walking around the city. But not now.
“It’s hard for me to wear a disguise because people have seen me in every hair colour and style imaginable. Everyone’s got a phone camera as well.”
Some may have little sympathy for a woman who appears to have it made.
But it’s easy to forget that since being propelled into the limelight aged 19 in 1965, Cherilyn Sarkisian has worked hard at staying there ever since.
The California-born star found fame in singing duo Sonny and Cher, going on to marry Sonny and giving birth to daughter Chastity – born after four miscarriages – in 1969.
After coming out at 18, Chastity told her mum she wanted to be a man and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2009.
A year later her name was changed to Chaz, now 44. Cher admits she found it tough to reconcile in her head.
With her daughter Chastity Bono in 1983
Getty
“I was really supportive as we had talked about it over the years. But I admit it was difficult in the beginning.
“It was hard for a mother. I had this one child and I was waiting for the new child.
“There was this part in between where you don’t know what you are going to have.
“You don’t know what your relationship is going to be. It was a scary period – the unknown is always really frightening.”
But in fact, she says, they’re now closer than ever. “Chaz is unbelievably happy. He just lost 85lbs – he was carrying around that weight almost as if it was his sadness but he looks so amazing.”
The hormone treatment also radically altered her daughter’s voice.
“That was the weirdest thing,” she says. “I called one day and the answering message came on and it was Chaz as a girl.
“I thought ‘oh my god, I am never going to hear that voice again’. It was a sense of mourning. I said to Chaz is there any way I can keep that and Chaz said I don’t think so, Mum.
“Now it doesn’t make any difference as I don’t feel a loss at all. The loss I thought I was going to feel, I don’t feel one iota.”
Chaz in 2009 on the day he asked a judge to formally change his name and gender
Getty
Listening to Cher talk in her soothing, low voice it is impossible not to be amazed at how much she is doing. As well as a new album, there are 49 dates next year.
“It’s absolutely nothing,” she says instantly. “It’s like putting my toe in the water. You have to remember that the last tour I did consisted of 350.”
Surely she gets worn out though?
“Absolutely,” she admits. “I was old when I did that tour and that was the longest tour any woman has ever done.
“Touring is really difficult, it’s lonely. Going from one city to another, the isolation is rough. The show is the fun part.”
It’s hard not tear your eyes away from her long, long fishnet-clad legs nestling under the coffee table. They are, I swear, spectacular. And then there’s her incredible complexion – though the singer has admitted to having had a facelift.
Still, she works hard at maintaining her good looks with five-times-a-week sessions in the gym, while confessing she also takes an age to get ready. “Sure I work out and on show days you start getting ready very early,” she says, before adding dryly: “Put it this way, guys have it much easier.”
Ah yes, guys… It’s hard to speak to Cher without touching upon her tumultuous love life.
She first met Sonny – then Salvatore Bono – at a cafe in Los Angeles in 1962 when she was 16 and he was 27.
Iconic duo: Sonny And Cher
Mirorpix
But after years of controlling behaviour they divorced in 1975. However, they remained friends and Cher gave the eulogy at his funeral in 1998.
Then there was a nine-day union with rock star Gregg Allman – father of her son Elijah – as well as an array of dashing toyboys including Tom Cruise (“I loved him… he was a terrific young man”) and Val Kilmer.
Cher insists she’s not on the look-out for husband number three. “I am not looking to get married again, I’m not desperate to,” she says.
There are reports she recently broke up with a mystery man but when I bring it up she fixes me with a “look”, adding: “No I am not single but I absolutely wouldn’t tell you anything about it.”
Undeterred, I ask if her cougar reputation is a fair one.
“I only dated younger men because they were the ones to ask,” she explains. “Older men don’t ask me out. Are they frightened of me? I don’t know. Older men never find me that attractive. It seems strange that a young man isn’t intimidated, but a older man is.”
Thankfully she giggles when I ask if she still gets marriage proposals. “Some,” she says. “But that’s usually a deal breaker for me.”
While a wedding is not on the cards then becoming a grandmother certainly is.
“I really would like to be one,” she beams. “It would be so great to have the fun part and then send the child home. I’m hoping Elijah may help on that front.”
We’re here officially to talk about Cher’s new album Closer to the Truth, her first in 12 years. Fans will love it although Cher is self-deprecating. “I am quite pleased and I am normally never pleased with my work, she says. “I wouldn’t sit and listen to a Cher record, its not that appealing to me.”
What’s her take, then, on her young rivals – stars such as Miley Cyrus, currently under fire for her videos and MTV twerking?
“Did someone just wake up and think women are being sexualised? Women have been sexualised since the beginning of time and every time women do something it’s deemed shocking,” she says. “What I did in the past was tame but it was still viewed as horrible at the time.
“At least now they are doing it on their own terms. Surely no one is saying to Miley, ‘do that’. They don’t tell Madonna what to do and order her to take her clothes off. No one ever tells me what to do either.”
15 OCTOBER 2013Harrison Ford‘s latest filmEnder’s Game is released in the UK on 25 October.
To celebrate, HELLO! Online has compiled a list of the top ten facts about the 71-year-old Hollywood actor.
What crafty career did Harrison almost follow? Which creature has been named after him? And why did he almost miss out on playing Indiana Jones?
CLICK ON PHOTO FOR HARRISON GALLERY
1. Acting runs in Harrison’s genes. His mother, Dorothy, was a former radio actress and his father, Christopher, was a former actor turned advertising executive. He also has a younger brother called Terence, an actor and photographer.
2. When he was younger, the Star Wars actor was an active member of the Boy Scouts of America and achieved the rank of Life Scout. On learning this, director Steven Spielberg decided to make young Indy a Life Scout in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
3. Harrison’s route into acting wasn’t totally planned; he initially only attended a drama class in his senior year at college to overcome his shyness.
4. He shares his name with a silent film actor also named Harrison Ford, who died in 1957. To avoid any confusion, Ford called himself “Harrison J. Ford” in his first movie credit, the 1967 film A Time for Killing. The “J” doesn’t actually stand for anything, as Harrison has no middle name.
5. The Hollywood star has experienced a phenomenally successful career, but this wasn’t always the case. When he first started out, Harrison was unhappy with the film roles he was offered, so became a self-taught professional carpenter to support his young family.
This is how he met George Lucas, who would go on to cast him as “Han Solo” in the Star Wars franchise. The director hired Harrison to build cabinets at his home, but after learning the craftsman was actually an actor, he gave him a role in his 1973 film American Graffiti.
6. It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Indiana Jones, but that almost happened. Tom Selleck was initially offered the role in Raiders of the Lost Ark, but Harrison was cast when Tom was unable to accept.
7. The Star Wars star has been married three times, has five children and three grandchildren. He has been married to actress Calista Flockhart since 2010, and they have an adopted son, Liam.
8. Not only is he an Academy Award nominated actor, Harrison is also a licensed private pilot of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.
The local hero has also been known to assist the authorities in providing emergency helicopter services in his area.
9. Harrison is a famous advocate of conservation. He is on the Board of Directors for Conservation International, and has had two species named after him: a Central American ant (Peidole Harrisonfordi) and spider (Calponia Harrisonfordi).
He also had the honour of naming a new breed of butterfly, which he called “Georgia”, after his daughter.
10. The actor’s famous good looks aren’t all his own. He has admitted to having a few false teeth; some of which were the result of falling on a gun during a TV show stunt early on in his career.
