The tough life of Pattie Mallette

By
Monica Pop
-

Although the name Pattie Mallette might not sound familiar at first, this woman is the mother of one of the greatest pop stars of today, Justin Bieber.

Mallette’s life had been a troubled one. She had her son at the age of just 17, and today, she’s a fixture in Justin Bieber’s world.

In her 2013 book Nowhere but Up: The Story of Justin Bieber’s Mom, Mallette opened up of her childhood struggles and revealed that she had been sexually abused multiple times by different people while growing up.

She was molested by a babysitter as well as a friend’s grandfather. “I was sexually violated so many times that as the years went by it began to feel normal,” she wrote. “It’s a strange marriage—knowing something is wrong yet at the same time finding it familiar and commonplace.”

Unfortunately, these experiences led to alcohol and drug abuse, something Mallette struggled with as a teenager. “I’ve learned it’s normal and natural for anybody who’s been through sexual abuse to carry that shame and that blame and feel like there’s something wrong with you,” she said on the Today Show. “So I definitely carried that.”

At the age of 17, Mallette attempted suicide. As a result, she ended up at a mental facility and learned that she was pregnant mere months after leaving the place. She and her child’s father, Jeremy Bieber, dated ever since she was 15, but they were involved in an on-and-off relationship. At one point in her life, she was selling drugs and got engaged in small-time theft.

She gave birth to Justin Bieber in London, Ontario, on March 1, 1994. 

Although she has been a single mother, she dedicated her world to her son. It was Mallette who knew her son was very talented for singing so she signed him up for the 2007 Stratford Star talent competition, where he placed second singing “So Sick” by Ne-Yo.

In order for her family and friends to see Justin singing, Mallette posted videos of him on YouTube and that’s when someone influential noticed his talent. Well, the rest is history.

Today, besides publishing a book which was number 17 on New York Times’ Bestseller List, Mallette is also a producer.

This woman had a non-traditional childhood but she still managed to raise her son the right way and help him become a superstar.

Please SHARE this article with your family and friends on Facebook.

Bored Daddy

Love and Peace

Heartthrob Troy Donahue received the shock of his life when he was at rock bottom

By
Monica Pop
-

In a world full of people who possess immense talents, only a handful manage to reach stardom and make a name for themselves. So what does it take to become a celebrity? I guess that despite talent and determination, one needs to be lucky as well.

Troy Donahue was a very skilled young man who stole the hearts of many with his acting, and above all, his looks.

During the 50’s and the 60’s, Donahue was considered one of the most handsome young men who took Hollywood by storm. He was blond, tall, well-built, and had blue eyes. Along with his talent, it was a perfect combination for success and Donahue was soon dubbed America’s heartthrob.

Sadly, the circumstances surrounding him led his life to become a complete mess.

Actor of Troy Donahue / Getty Images

Being born to a mother who was a stage actress, Donahue fell in love with acting from early age. Speaking to People magazine back in 1984, the Summer Place actor said, ”I can remember always being exposed to Broadway and theater people. I can remember sitting with Gertrude Lawrence while she read her reviews in ‘The King and I.’”

Donahue studied journalism at Columbia University but he never stopped dreaming of becoming and actor, and during the time he hit screens for the first time, he already had an agent and changed his birth name, Merle Johnson, to Troy Donahue.

”At first, they had Paris, the lover of Helen of Troy in mind. But I guess they thought they couldn’t name me Paris Donahue because there was already a Paris, France and Paris, Illinois,” he said.

Troy Donahue as Parrish McLean, Sharon Hugueny (1944 – 1996, left) as Paige Raike, and Diane McBain as Alison Post, in a promotional portrait for ‘Parrish’, directed by Delmer Daves, 1961. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

He made his film debut with Man Afraid and signed with Warner Bros two years later.

”They’d asked me to light a cigarette, and when I did, they screamed and fell down,” Donahue recalled. 

However, despite becoming a famous name in the industry, he wasn’t well-paid. ”I was living like a movie star but wasn’t being paid like one,” he revealed and added: “I lived way over my head and got into great trouble.”

Source: Flickr | License details

During the course of his life, he was married four times, and each of his marriages ended in divorce. The reason why his love life, and his life in general, didn’t go as planned was due to his alcohol addiction.

”I was loaded all the time. I’d wake up about 6:30 in the morning, take three aspirins mixed with codeine, slug down half a pint of vodka, and then do four lines of cocaine,” he shared.

According to him, his addiction wasn’t the reason his career declined, because he was never drunk while on set. Sadly, he had a hard time battling alcoholism and shared that he started drinking when he was still very young, it had nothing to do with the way his career progressed.

Connie Stevens seduces Troy Donahue in a scene from the film ‘Susan Slade’, 1961. (Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images)

He only stopped drinking after his final marriage failed and he finally asked for professional help in May 1982. ”I look upon my sobriety as a miracle. I simply do it one day at a time. The obsession to not drink has become as big as the obsession to drink. I was very fortunate.”

When he finally got on the right track, Donahue met this woman he used to date and she told him that he had a 13-year-old son, Sean. It was then that she decided to tell him she gave birth because she knew he wasn’t an addict any longer.

The boy looked exactly like Donahue and he didn’t even need a DNA test to prove that Sean was indeed his son.

Around this time, he was only getting roles in B-list movies, but that didn’t concern him much.

American actor and singer Troy Donahue wearing a dark blue tuxedo and bow tie, attending an unspecified event, location unspecified, circa 1995. (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Troy Donahue died in 2001 at the age of 65 due to heart attack.

Since getting sober, he led a healthy lifestyle and maintained a great relationship with the son he learned of later in life.

Please SHARE this article with your family and friends on Facebook.

Bored Daddy

Love and Peace

Lisa Marie Presley was able to be a grandma for the first time months prior to her passing

By
Monica Pop
-

Singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, who was the only daughter of ‘The King of Rock and Roll,’ Elvis Presley, was laid to rest on the famous property Graceland next to her father and her son Benjamin Keough, who died of suicide in 2020.

Presley passed away on January 12, after she suffered cardiac arrest in her LA home. The news of the tragic loss was shared by her mother, Priscilla Presley, who wrote, “It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us.

“She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known.”

On the day of Presley’s funeral, her son-in-law, Ben Smith-Peterson, the husband of Presley’s daughter, Riley, shared Riley’s words on her behalf and said, “I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me, the way you loved my brother and my sisters. Thank you for giving me strength, my heart, my empathy, my courage, my sense of humor, my manners, my temper, my wildness, my tenacity. I’m a product of your heart, my sisters are a product of your heart, my brother is a product of your heart.”

It was also revealed that Lisa Marie Presley become a grandmother months prior to her passing. Riley Keough, her daughter, gave birth in 2022 and she confirmed the news with People magazine.

Riley and Ben have been married since 2014, and the two became first-time parents of a baby girl last year. The couple met during the filming of Mad Max: Furry Road.

In an article she published in Vogue Australia, Riley wrote, “My husband is such a good person. He’s calm and loyal and strong and sensitive. He’s my best friend.”

Besides Riley and her late son Benjamin, Presley was also a mother of twin girls Harper and Finley who are said to be left deeply traumatized by their mother’s loss. The girls are now with their father, who got full custody over them.

At the time being, the twins and Riley are spending time with their grandmother, Priscilla, in order to provide comfort to each other.

Lisa Marie Presley’s final public appearance was just two days prior to her passing. She and her mother Priscilla attended the Golden Globe event to support actor Austin Butler who portrayed her father in the biopic Elvis.

The famous Graceland property will now be left to Presley’s three daughters.

Please SHARE this article with your family and friends on Facebook.

Bored Daddy

Love and Peace

Michael J. Fox on staying positive after his mother’s death: ‘She’d never add up the losses’

By
Monica Pop
-

Speaking of relationships between celebrities, the first thing that comes to our mind is, well, that they don’t last long. Every marriage anniversary is a special occasion, but when it comes to Hollywood, these celebrations are even more special because they are rare.

When they first met on the set of Family Ties, Michael J.Fox and Tracy Pollan didn’t probably assume that their off-screen relationship would outlast that of 19-year-old teen Alex and the brainy dancer Ellen Reed, the characters they played on the show.

Michael J. Fox was in his late twenties when he was diagnosed with the Parkinson’s disease. It was short after he and Tracy got married and had their first child.

Tracy never left her husband’s side and is his biggest support. The two are doing their best to cope with Michael’s condition and are working hard on raising funds for finding cure for Parkinson’s disease.

The couple’s four children, Esme, 20, Aquinnah and Schuyler, identical twins, 27 years old, and Sam, 33, all lead a much quieter lives than those of their parents. In fact, only Sam owns an account accessible to everyone on Instagram where he often shares photos of his dad and his family and he’s the spitting image of Michael.

All of Michael’s kids are very supportive and never miss a chance to accompany their father on meaningful events related to raising awareness about Parkinson’s disease.

What we love about this family is that they use every occasion to remind one another how much they love each other.

Recently, Michael shared a photo of his twins and wrote, “Twice the love, a hundred times the laughs. Happy birthday to my gorgeous girls today. I love you so much.”

In an interview amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Michael spoke of how his family spent the days as they all relocated to Long Island to be under one roof. “We were typically linger-after-dinner sorts anyhow, and now we were lingering and discussing about what people were going through. Putting together jigsaw puzzles, seeing Tracy cook up a storm, and interacting with the other guests, including these incredible kids and this great lady. I find it difficult to accept that this is my life.”

Michael’s kids shared some heart-breaking news recently. In September, 2022, Michael’s mother, Phyllis Piper, passed away. She was 92.

During a panel which celebrated the iconic movie Back to the Future, Michael joked that his mother believed he shouldn’t have filmed that movie because at the time he did Family Ties during the day and she though he would be too tired to be filming another movie during the night.

“To this day – well, till two weeks ago – my mother thought it was a really bad idea for me to do Back to the Future. She loved the movie, [but she was right], I got tired,” Michael said.

“My mum had a long and fulfilling life. “There was no more revered woman,” Fox, 61, said. “She was a lovely lady. You were confident that you would be treated fairly. And she loved to laugh—she laughed all the time.”

When Phyllis learned of her son’s Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, she was very concerned.

“I was still working TV and movies and establishing a family when I launched the foundation,” Michael recalled. “When she questioned how I did it all, I told her, ‘I just go forward,’ he said of his mom. “I’m not interested in taking stock or lamenting that something isn’t going to happen. My mum was the same way. She’d never calculate the losses. She’d consider the benefits.”

Michael’s father was part of the military and it was Phyllis who took care of her children when her husband was deployed. She was the one who kept the family together.

“Army wives are adaption masters,” Michael said. “They just know how to handle a new scenario, get the house together, get the schools set up, get a job on the side — since military money is nothing. We didn’t get it as youngsters. Now I understand.”

The actor is doing all in his power to stay optimistic. “If I can find thankfulness in anything I do and whatever scenario I’m in if I can find one little thing to be grateful for, it turns the whole situation around and allows for the possibility of grace, of something great happening,” the actor says. “I’m just getting back into that groove, so it’s very good.”

We wish this beautiful family only the best life brings.

Please SHARE this story with your family and friends on Facebook.

Bored Daddy

Love and Peace

Details surrounding Lisa Marie Presley’s death come to light – family forced to make major decision at the end

By
Monica Pop
-

The world is still mourning the loss of the only daughter of ‘The King of Rock and Roll.’

Lisa Marie Presley suffered cardiac arrest on January 12, 2023, after which she was transferred to the ICU unit in a critical condition. According to reports, she was put in an induced coma and on life support with a temporary pacemaker.

A spokesperson of the LA county sheriff said that emergency responders were dispatched to Lisa Marie’s Calabasas home at around 10:40 a.m. local time. They were able to regain her pulse before rushing her to the hospital.

Presley was found by the housekeeper. At the time, her ex-husband, Danny Keough, arrived at the house and performed CPR while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

Sadly, Presley didn’t make it and the news of her tragic passing was shared by her mother, Priscilla Presley.

“It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” Priscilla said in a statement. “She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known.”

Now, new details surrounding the singer-songwriter death have emerged. Allegedly, when Presley was placed in medically induced coma, her family gathered together as they were forced to make a heartbreaking decision and sign a do not resuscitate order in case of a second cardiac arrest. According to reports, Presley was already pronounced brain-dead upon her arrival at the hospital and the family believed they did the right thing at the time. Following the second cardiac arrest, Presley passed away.

According to a statement from the family’s representative, “Priscilla Presley and the Presley family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Lisa Marie. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.”

Presley has been laid to rest in Graceland alongside her son Benjamin Keough, who died of suicide in 2020 at the age of 27, and her late father.

Lisa Marie Presley’s representative confirmed that Graceland would now go to her daughters, her oldest daughter Riley, and teenage twins Harper and Finley Lockwood. 

Please SHARE this article with your family and friends on Facebook.

Bored Daddy

Love and Peace

Lisa Marie Presley’s daughter breaks her silence

By
Monica Pop
-

With Lisa Marie Presley’s passing, the world has lost a precious soul.

However, no matter how much her fans mourn her loss, it is her three daughters and her mother who are left with the greatest void in their hearts.

Presley’s daughter, actress Riley Keough, has broken her silence and shared her heartbreak over her mother’s tragic death.

The singer-songwriter died following a cardiac arrest she suffered in her LA home on January 12, 2023. According to her mother’s statement, Presley was rushed to the hospital where she was placed in induced coma, but died shortly after.

After taking some time to process her grief, Riley posted a stunning throwback photo of the two.

Her friends and fans shared words of condolences.

“I am sending you and your family love and prayers as you grieve the loss of your beautiful mother, @rileykeough,” and “I am sorry, this is such a devastating loss” were just some of the comments. “I’m thinking about you and your family and giving you my love and strength.”

Riley has spoken of the importance her mother had in her life numerous times before. Speaking to People mere days before the tragedy took place, Riley described her mother as strong and bright and someone who had always chased her dreams, pushing Riley to do the same.

Presley always shielded her daughter from the stress and the pressure of being part of one of the most famous families in the show-business and encouraged her to pursue whatever interested her.

In the final months of Presley’s life, she and Riley collaborated to promote the biopic Elvis, staring starring Austin Butler, whom Presley supported at the Golden Globes event.

Riley was born years after her famous grandfather, ‘The King of Rock and Roll,’ passed away, but her mother made sure she learned everything about him through the stories she shared and the legacy she had always tended to keep alive.

We are so very sorry for Lisa Marie Presley’s passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with her daughter and the rest of her family.

Please SHARE this article with your family and friends on Facebook.

Bored Daddy

Love and Peace

Legendary actor Sidney Poitier fell for his wife of 45 years on the movie set of ‘The Lost Man’

By
Monica Pop
-

The Bahamian-American actor, film director, and ambassador Sidney Poitier passed away on January 6, 2022 at the age of 94. He was the first black actor to ever win an Oscar, thus he will always be remembered as someone who broke down Hollywood’s racial barriers.

Born to parents who owned a farm in Cat Island in the Bahamas, Poitier was welcomed into this world three months prematurely during his parent’s visit to America where they sold their products. This granted Poitier an American citizenship. He spent his childhood years in his native country before moving to America at the age of 15. He lied about his age in order to serve the country during the World War II.

After leaving the army, he dreamed of becoming an actor, but due to his poor reading skills and his distinguishing thick accent, he couldn’t land any role.

Hollywood honors actor Sidney Poitier at the site of his star on the Walk of Fame on January 08, 2022 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Instead, Poitier started working as a dishwasher but spent much of his time practicing reading and mimicking the accent from people he heard on the radio. With the help of one Jewish waiter, he perfected his reading skills and was ready to do auditions once again. This time, he got a role with the American Negro Theatre in Harlem, New York, and that was the start of a career which spanned many years. Poitier made his Broadway debut in Lysistrata in 1946 and went on to stare in over 55 movies, winning an Oscar for the film Lilies of the Field.

Many of the movies he was part of examined racial tensions, including Edge of the City, Band of Angels, and The Defiant Ones among the rest.

One of the films he held dearly to his heart was The Lost Man. Some may wonder why. It is because during the filming of it, he met the woman who became the great love of his life, Canadian actress Joanna Shimkus. Before her, Poitier was married to Juanita Hardy with whom he had four daughters. His first marriage was marked with infidelity. Poitier had a nine-year long affair with actress Diahann Carroll.

Bahamian-American actor Sidney Poitier at the 39th Academy Awards in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, 10th April 1967. He is presenting the award for Best Supporting Actress. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Poitier married his second wife in 1976 and stayed by her side until the last day of his life. Their love was profound and he never missed a chance to remind everyone how much she meant to him. They had two daughters, who both followed into their parents’ footsteps.

“I guess we were just destined to be [together],” Shimkus said of Poitier in 1998.

Speaking of the key to their long and happy marriage, the actor revealed in an interview with Closer, “There is one key ingredient my wife has helped me to recognize over the years, and that is the importance of articulating love for one another on a daily basis.”

“My wife and my children mean the most to me,” he told People in 2016, while Shimkus added, “We’ve been together 49 years and I’m a good cook. I cook every night. … I take good care of him.”

Despite divorcing his first wife, Poitier remained very close to her and his daughters.

Over the course of his life, besides receiving numerous awards for his incredible acting, Poitier also received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a knighthood from the Queen. He was also awarded an honorary Academy Award for his work in the entertainment industry.

Being an interracial couple, Poitier and Shimkus never really experienced any inconveniences. In the documentary Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light, she said, “I grew up in Canada and I never really had any kind of prejudice — it’s unlike America. I just never had those feelings. And we’ve never had a problem, actually. It could be that we lead a very quiet life. It could be that it’s just the way it is, I don’t really know. But I never really did see him as a Black man. I mean, I know he is Black, but I just saw him as a man, and he was just a wonderful person. An amazing human being.”

Sidney Poitier, wife Joanna Shimkus and daughters attend the opening of “Dreamgirls” on March 20, 1983 at the Shubert Theater in Century City, California.
(Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

Many of his colleagues and friends issued statements remembering Poitier’s greatness, both as an actor and as a gentle human being loved by many.

“For over 80 years, Sidney and I laughed, cried and made as much mischief as we could,” Harry Belafonte wrote. “He was truly my brother and partner in trying to make this world a little better. He certainly made mine a whole lot better.”

Oscar winner Morgan Freeman honored Poitier and described him as “my inspiration, my guiding light, my friend.” Oprah Winfrey wrote, “Friend. Brother. Confidant. Wisdom teacher.”

Sidney Poitier (left) with wife Joanna Shimkus during 2004 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at Mortons in Beverly Hills, California, United States. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)

Rest in peace, Sidney Poitier. The memory of you will live on forever through the memorable roles you portrayed.

Please SHARE this article with your family and friends on Facebook.

Bored Daddy

Love and Peace

Prayers needed for Rod Stewart

By
Monica Pop
-

Sir Rod Stewart is a legendary British rock and pop legend. Having sold over 250 million records worldwide, he is among the best-selling music artists of all time.

In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the “Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists.” Stewart was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a solo artist, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and he was inducted a second time into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Faces.

Back in 2019, the Grammy and Brit Award recipient revealed that he had successfully been treated of prostate cancer which he battled for three years.

Stewart went public with his diagnosis at a fundraising event for the Prostate Project and European Tour Foundation charity in Surrey, England.

“No one knows this, but I thought this was about time I told everybody,” the father-of-eight said. “I’m in the clear, now, simply because I caught it early. I have so many tests.”

He then said he wanted to raise awareness and urged men to get checked on a regular basis to ensure early detection. “Guys, you’ve got to really go to the doctor. Finger up the bum, no harm done,” the musician whose hits include “Maggie May” and “I Don’t Want To Talk About It” added.

Prostate Cancer UK s the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men, and it’s estimated that by 2030, prostate cancer will be the most commonly diagnosed cancer overall.

This wasn’t the first time for Sir Rod Stewart to be diagnosed with cancer. In 2010, he felt a lump on his throat which turned out to be cancerous.

“I felt fearful, vulnerable to a degree that I never had before,” he later wrote in an autobiography, but the tumour was quickly removed. “No chemotherapy was required – which, in turn, meant there was no risk that I’d lose my hair,” he wrote. “And let’s face it: if we’re ranking threats to the survival of my career, losing my hair would be second only to losing my voice.”

Luckily, today he’s in great health.

Please SHARE this article with your family and friends on Facebook.

Bored Daddy

Love and Peace  

1...367368369...891Page 368 of 891