Top Stories That Buzz This Year
Kate Middleton Is Pregnant!
Even before Kate Middleton, 30, accepted her college sweetheart Prince
William’s marriage proposal in October 2010, erroneous rumors started
that she had a royal bun in the oven. But it wasn’t until over a year
and a half after their April 2011 fairy-tale wedding that they announced
they were in the family way. Their December baby news quickly swept the
Internet and instantly ignited speculation about what they will name
their heir, which parent the baby will most resemble, and, of course,
how fashion icon Kate would soon revolutionize drab maternity clothing.
However, despite the couple’s joy, the duchess has had a more pressing
matter on her mind – a lingering bout of acute morning sickness, which
caused her to be briefly hospitalized. But she’s since stepped out –
likely with saltines and ginger ale at the ready – and there’s no doubt
that she exhibits that special mom-to-be glow.
Blue Ivy Carter Is Born
After endless silly speculation during her pregnancy (Look, Beyonce’s “fake” baby bump just “collapsed” on live TV!)
and allegations of divaness at the hospital during her delivery,
Beyonce, 31, gave birth to beautiful little Blue Ivy Carter on January
7. The baby’s name spread like wildfire and people couldn’t wait to get a
glimpse of the hip-hop heiress. Just two days after Blue’s birth, we
heard her for the first time when Jay-Z, 43, released an extremely
personal song, “Glory,” about the little girl, which featured her soft
cry. A month later, the couple shared the first photos of Blue with the
world – not by selling them to a magazine, but by posting them, free of
charge, on a Tumblr blog called Hello Blue Ivy Carter. The little lady,
with her head of thick black hair, caused such a stir that the site
instantly crashed. Blue Ivy Carter has had that kind of effect.
Dueling Engagements for Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston
Ever since Brad Pitt, 49, and Jennifer Aniston, 43, announced their
split in 2005, there have been 4,546,654 (or so!) stories, um, pitting
them against one another. So the irony wasn’t lost on us that nearly
four months to the day after Pitt (finally) announced his engagement to
longtime love Angelina Jolie, 37, who he started a relationship with
while still married to Aniston, the “Friends” star announced her own
engagement – to hunky actor/screenwriter/motorcyclist beau Justin
Theroux, 41. Of course all parties seem to have long moved on from the
much buzzed about love triangle, but the timing was hard to ignore. Now
we can’t help but wonder if, when both couples do end up tying the knot,
if it will somehow take place the same weekend – or in the same exotic
destination. It would be a tabloid editor’s dream.
Chris Brown and Rihanna Rekindle Their Relationship
Try as we might, we will never be able to forget the details of Chris
Brown’s 2009 felony assault against Rihanna, and the picture of her
taken by police is still vivid in our minds. It’s a hot-button issue for
many people. So when the 24-year-old Barbadian beauty decided to
collaborate with Brown, 23, on her sexually charged “Birthday Cake”
remix in February, there was a strong public reaction to the news. And
the response continued all year as the exes began spending time
together, talking about their undying feelings for one another, and then
seemingly getting back together – if the photo Rihanna posted on
Twitter, in which she was straddling and kissing Brown, was any
indication. Who knows what the future holds for those two – at the
moment, they’re reportedly off again – but the one thing that is
guaranteed is that the public will have a passionate response any time
their names are mentioned in the same sentence.
Demi Moore Suffers Seizure While Partying
Since her days as a Brat Packer, Demi Moore has established herself as
an iconic figure in Hollywood with a career spanning more than three
decades. But as her marriage to the much younger Ashton Kutcher
unraveled late last year, the actress appeared to fall apart as well.
However, we weren’t prepared to hear the 911 call made from Moore’s home
in January, during which a friend requested help for Moore while she
was “shaking, convulsing, [and] burning up” after “smoking something.”
TMZ later reported that one of Moore's friends told emergency workers
she had also been doing "whip-its," inhaling nitrous oxide, with some of
her daughters’ friends, after which she experienced seizure-like
symptoms and lapsed into semi-consciousness. The rail-thin Moore checked
into rehab soon after, but the 50-year-old still seems to be in a party
hearty mood if her appearance at Art Basel in December is any
indication.
Halle Berry’s (Present and Past) Lovers Come To Blows on Thanksgiving
While Thanksgiving is a time to put differences aside and break bread,
this year two of the men in Halle Berry’s life decided they wanted to
break each other. The ongoing custody dispute between the
46-year-old actress and Nahla’s father, Gabriel Aubry, came to a head on
turkey day. During a custody transfer, Aubry, 36, and Berry’s fiancé
Olivier Martinez, 46, exchanged words – and punches. Aubry appeared to
bear the brunt of the bruises – the male model had a huge shiner on his
face – but Martinez sustained injuries to his hand and was seen wearing a
brace. Despite the battle royale, and more legal drama that stemmed
from it, the fractured family announced soon after that they had
amicably resolved their differences – for the time being.
Katie Holmes Says ‘Sayonara’ to Tom Cruise
While some people had been predicting the end of TomKat since, well, the
minute the world learned they were dating back in 2005, everything
appeared to be status quo for Tom Cruise, 50, and Katie Holmes, 34, in
the beginning of 2012. Did Holmes seem happy when she stepped out on the
“Jack Reacher” star’s arm? Not really, but she hadn’t exactly been
skipping around smiling in recent years. So in late June we were floored
when Holmes not only announced that her marriage was over, but
immediately slapped Cruise with divorce papers and set into motion a
power play to get primary custody of their 6-year-old Suri. Faster than
you can sing “I don’t want to wait for my life to be over,” Holmes was a
divorcee and taking Manhattan – starring in the Broadway show “Dead
Accounts,” showing her Holmes & Yang clothing line in the tents at
New York Fashion Week, and enjoying all that the Big Apple has to offer
with her sidekick Suri. Divorce seems to agree with her.
Kristen Stewart Cheats – With a Married Man!
While we fully expected there would be bumps in the road for “Twilight”
lovebirds Kristen Stewart, 22, and Robert Pattinson, 24 – in addition to
being young, the world is watching their every move – we weren’t at all
prepared for the 2012 Robsten cheatgate scandal that broke in July. Not
only was there photo proof that Stewart strayed with her older, married
“Snow White and the Huntsman” director Rupert Sanders (and the pictures
were steamy!), but the typically tight-lipped actress quickly issued a
public apology confirming her betrayal and groveled for Pattinson’s
forgiveness. While the couple initially parted ways – and everyone
wondered if Stewart would get visitation privileges with his dog Bear,
whom she has referred to as her “child” – their separation didn’t last
long. Soon after the news broke that Pattinson moved out of the home
they shared, there was talk of their tearful reunion, and secret date
nights. By the time the “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part II”
premiere rolled around in November, things oddly seemed completely back
to normal.
Prince Harry Parties Naked in Las Vegas
We always suspected that Prince Harry, 28, was the fun royal, but he
proved it to the world during a wild Las Vegas getaway in August. Prince
William’s single younger brother invited some ladies back to his
$8,000-a-night VIP hotel suite on the famed Vegas Strip for some
late-night amusement. The only problem? One of those gals had a camera
and snapped the redheaded royal in the buff while they played a game of
strip pool. Let’s just say the incident sparked many “crown jewels” and
“royal penis” jokes. As for Harry, his U.S. holiday was cut short and he
summoned back to England. However, because he was deployed to
Afghanistan shortly after for a four-month tour in his role as an Apache
helicopter pilot – once again putting his life on the line – his
harmless Vegas antics no longer seemed like real news.
Whitney Houston Dies at 48
We all knew about Whitney Houston’s drug troubles, but somehow we never thought that voice – “The
Voice” – could ever be silenced. However on February 11 – the night
before the Grammys Awards – news broke that the singer drowned in a
Beverly Hills hotel bathtub with heart disease and cocaine use as
contributing factors to her death. The aftermath of her passing was
filled with drama too – from her ex-husband Bobby Brown storming out of
her televised memorial service to the Houston family’s inking a deal to
star in their own reality series, which many thought was capitalizing on
the late star’s death. And Houston’s only daughter, 19-year-old Bobbi
Kristina Brown, is still trying to pick up the pieces and
controversially became (briefly) engaged to Nick Gordon, whom Houston
had unofficially adopted as a teen and raised as her own son. The whole
saga surrounding the death of Houston has been sadder than the words to
"I Will Always Love You."
