The Year That Was: Entertainment

Entertainment news is the staple of many a breakfast radio show. And there was plenty of ‘celebrity gossip’ in 2017 to fill hours of content.

There were births, marriages, engagements, break-ups and an Awards night stuff up to keep us entertained.

Births

There were a few ‘celebrity’ births over the past 12 months but none that grabbed the headlines more that two power couples.

Beyonce and JAY-Z welcomed their twins, a boy and a girl, on June 13. They named the kids Sir and Rumi, who join Blue Ivy in the Carter clan.  

George and Amal Clooney also became parents with the birth of twins and chose to call them Ella and Alexander.

In the ‘perhaps pregnant’ category is Kylie Jenner. She’s apparently with child, although the Kardashian publicity machine is staying ‘mum’.

There will be more Kardashians in the world, though. Khloe has confirmed her pregnancy, while Kim has used a surrogate to extend her family.

Headlines and talk breaks for years to come.

The Cambridges will also provide more front cover moments with the arrival news of a new Royal baby next April.

That’s about a month before their Uncle Harry gets married. Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle announced their engagement in November and will marry on May 19.

Speaking of weddings…

Aussie supermodel Miranda Kerr married Snapchat billionaire Evan Spiegel in May and have announced their expecting a child.

At the other end of the matrimonial scale, there were a few celebrity break-ups in 2017.

Jennifer Garner filed for divorce from Ben Affleck, two years after their 10-year marriage broke down.

Ben Stiller and his wife of 17 years Christine Taylor, announced their separation in May, while Scarlett Johansson split from husband Romain Dauriac.

Former Spice Girl Mel B pulled the pin on her marriage to Stephen Belafonte and it got ugly. She alleged he abused and sexually exploited her.

Singer Fergie and actor Josh Duhamel also announced the end of their eight-year marriage.

Nothing lasts forever.  Not in Hollywood anyway.

There were a few health shocks through the year.

Selena Gomez revealed she’d undergone a kidney transplant after a lengthy battle with Lupus. Her best friend, Francia Raisa, was the donor.

And heartbreak for the legendary Olivia Newton-John, who revealed in May that she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time.

It metastasized to the sacrum, but after undergoing a short course of photon radiation therapy, the singer remains confident of beating the disease again.

And finally, the winner of the most embarrassing entertainment moment of the year: the Academy Awards stuff-up.

Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were on stage to announce the winner of the Best Picture Oscar and got it horribly wrong by announcing ‘La La Land’ as the winner instead of ‘Moonlight’. The stuff up was blamed on a PricewaterhouseCoopers employee, who’d been backstage and tweeting.

So there you go, a snapshot of some of the celebrity events we were all talking about (or hearing about) in 2017.