That day was supposed to be like any other day in the life of Adrian Young who works as a crossing guard at the Alexandria Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles.
The work day was over and Young was getting ready to head home when she suddenly heard loud screaming coming from the playground. A young girl in distress was shouting for help at the top of her lungs. “Please don’t let her take me. I don’t know her. She’s not my mom!”
Young realized that an act of kidnapping was unfolding right there in front of her eyes. She got really scared but she knew she needed to act quickly if she wanted to save the poor girl’s life. “I kind of went into mother mode,” Young later said, “because I couldn’t see myself letting this little girl be taken.”
The woman who was trying to kidnap the girl was quite big and tall. Young, on the other hand, is only 4-feet-8-inches tall. That, however, didn’t stop Young from stepping up and confronting the alleged kidnapper.
She ran towards the girl and told her to hold on to her as hard as she could.
“I just told her to grab onto me as tight as she could,” Young explained, “and I held onto her and the lady just began to attack me, so I just thought about attacking her to make sure she can’t take this little girl.”
Realizing that Young wouldn’t give up fighting, the kidnapper let go of the girl and started running. Young was relieved and happy the girl was safe. She then contacted the police and the girl’s family.
“If it wouldn’t have been for her I wouldn’t know where my daughter would be right now,” the girl’s mother, Sharon Arellano, said.
Young’s act of bravery was praised by the entire community. Los Angeles City Council member Mitch O’Farrell honored Young at a public event. “Sometimes superheroes come in small packages. And because of her diligence, training and awareness, and just because she cares so much about children, she prevented what could have been a kidnapping of a child,” he said of Young.
We are so glad Young found herself in the right place at the right time to do the right thing. She’s a very brave woman.
The kidnapper, who was identified as 50-year-old Maria Ramirez, was later arrested by the police and charged with felony kidnapping.
This world is a much better place thanks to people like Eldad Hagar, the founder of Hope for Paws. Over the years, this man, together with his crew, has helped save the lives of thousands of stray animals. The following story is just one of the many which show Hagar offering a helpless animal a new lease on life.
When he and a fellow animal rescuer Annie Hart were told about an abandoned dog living under a trailer, they rushed to the scene.
It turned out that the poor soul named Theo was abandoned by his family which moved places over a year ago and left him behind. This heartbreaking experience made Theo lose trust in people. He behaved in a strange manner and didn’t allow anyone to approach him.
Source: Hope for Paws
Eldad and Annie knew how to gain Theo’s trust, although it took some time before he let them get near him.
Theo’s fur was matted and he was terrified, but he soon understood these people were there to save him, and that is exactly what happened. After he was medically examined, his rescuers helped him get rid of the fur.
With the care and the love from his rescuers, Theo turned into a completely new dog. He is now healthy, happy, and comfortable around people. What’s most, he looks totally adorable.
For his new life and his incredible transformation check out the video below. Thank you Hope for Paws for another saved life.
As fans from all over the world mourn the loss of “the first lady of television,” we go back to the fulfilling life and the extraordinary career of Betty White.
It’s safe to say that White was one of the most beloved Hollywood actresses because of her warm personality and positive outlook on life. She often spoke of her secret to longevity and healthy life, and laughter seemed to be the crucial element in that equation.
White’s career spanned more than seven decades, time during which she offered memorable roles dubbed until this very day iconic.
Unfortunately, White passed away just weeks before her 100th birthday, an event she was looking forward to.
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According to her long-time friend and agent Jeff Witjas, she “died peacefully in her sleep at her home.” Speaking to People, he said how she never feared dying because she always wanted to be with her beloved husband Allen Ludden, who passed away in 1981 after battling stomach cancer. Ludden was White’s third husband. The two didn’t have any children together, but White was the stepmother of his three children from a previous marriage.
White and Lauden’s connection was instant. They could feel they were meant for one another the moment they first met. Tying the knot, however, took some time because White was unwilling to leave California for New York, something she regretted later in life.
“I spent a whole year, wasted a whole year that Allen and I could have had together, saying, ‘No, I wouldn’t marry him. No, I won’t, No, I won’t leave California. No, I won’t move to New York,’” she told Oprah. “I wasted a whole year we could have had together.”
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White had her big breakthrough with the role of Sue Ann Nivens in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. What cemented her position in Hollywood even further was her role of Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, which ran from 1985 until 1992.
Under her belt, she had eight Emmy Awards, three American Comedy Awards, three Screen Actor Guild Awards and a Grammy Award, among the rest.
What made this actress even more special was her love for animals. She spent a lot of money for causes she held near to her heart. Some of the organizations she supported over the years were Paws, Guide Dogs for the Blind, and the Petco Foundation. In an interview with TV Guide, White explained just how much animals meant to her.
“My life is divided in absolute half: half animals, half show business. They’re the two things I love the most, and I have to stay in show business to pay for my animal work!” she was reported to have said. “I’m not into animal rights. I’m only into animal welfare and health.”
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In 2012, she was honored with the American Humane highest honor, the National Humanitarian Medal, and its Legacy Award for a lifetime of helping animals.
“Betty White is a tireless and devoted animal welfare advocate, and we are proud to honor her with these two special awards,” American Humane President and CEO Robin Ganzert said in a statement at the time. “Betty is an inspiration to me personally, to everyone at American Humane Association, and millions of animal lovers around the globe.”
At the time of her death, Betty White had a net worth of around $75 million.
LOS ANGELES, CA – AUGUST 21: Betty White visits “Extra” at The Grove on August 21, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Noel Vasquez/Getty Images for Extra)
She will always be remembered as someone who touched the lives of those around her and her millions of fans.
When intruders enter other people’s properties what they hope for is to flee the place with valuable belongings in their hands. However, the plan of stealing from one family from Richmond, Virginia, turned out to be one of the worst decisions ONE intruder has ever made.
Apparently, when taking into consideration the things that could turn wrong, he or she missed the fact that the family owned a German Shepherd who would do all in his power to keep his humans and their home safe.
Source: Facebook/ Tristan Murrin
When Tristan Murrin and his family returned home one day, their dog Oden was waiting for them at the door. That wasn’t anything unusual because he was always looking forward to greet his humans whenever they would come home.
However, once inside, the family noticed red marks, and as they proceeded further, they could see the floors and the doors were all covered in blood.
Source: Facebook/ Tristan Murrin
They realized Oden got involved into a fight with an intruder. But it wasn’t until they went upstairs that they learned the extent of Oden’s defense of his home.
“We looked upstairs and you could see trails of blood coming from upstairs, going all the way down,” Murrin told WRIC.
Source: Facebook/ Tristan Murrin
Oden has never been aggressive before. The family describes him as the friendliest dog ever, but when it came to defending his home, he wasn’t afraid to put his loyalty into action.
This brave dog must have scared the living daylight out of the intruder who left empty-handed while running for his life.
Murrin believed the burglary was related to previous cases that happened in the neighborhood.
Source: Facebook/ Tristan Murrin
Oden’s heroic action spread around and everyone was proud of him. All the kids from the neighborhood who love spending time around him felt secure knowing he would be there for them as well if they ever find themselves in trouble.
“The community loves him, the kids come up to him and want to touch him and play with him,” Murrin said.
Source: YouTube/ WRIC
Murrin and the family are proud of their dog and say he had done a great job keeping the house secure.
“He knew that someone was not supposed to be in my house and no one was home and he knows that [the intruder] wasn’t supposed to be in there and was doing something that he wasn’t supposed to be doing,” Murrin said.
Source: Facebook/ Tristan Murrin
The video the family took showing how the house looked like when they returned home that day spread like a wildfire and has been seen more than 16 million times.
Murrin hopes it will help in identifying the intruder .
Elizabeth Taylor’s breathtaking beauty and her iconic roles in classics like Butterfield 8, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Cleopatra left a deep and memorable mark in the history of film. From child actress to last classic Hollywood icon, it’s safe to say this actress with dazzling purple eyes was the queen of film.
Elizabeth’s personal life was as rich as her career was. Being married eight times, twice to actor Richard Burton, she was considered scandalous by many. She had four children, Michael Wilding Jr., Chris Wilding, Liza Todd, and Maria Burton.
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Having her acting debut at the age of 10 in the comedy film There’s One Born Every Minute, everyone became aware of her acting talent and Elizabeth was cast for bigger and bigger roles. When she was just 12, the world learned of her after she played the role of Velvet Brown in National Velvet.
Although pretty young and on the start of her career, people had a feeling that Elizabeth, “the most incredible vision of loveliness,” as described by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, had been part of the Hollywood glam since forever. She felt confident and comfortable being in front of the camera and her energy was easily transferred to the audience.
During her career, which spanned seven decades, she earned numerous awards including two Academy Awards and additional four nominations, Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, Life Achievement Award, four Golden Globe Awards, and many more.
Speaking of her acting, she told Rolling Stone in 1987 that she had never taken a single lesson. “But I’ve learned, I hope, from watching people like Spencer Tracy, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Jimmy Dean — all people who were finely tuned and educated in the art of acting,” Elizabeth said. “They were my education. I found quite early on that I couldn’t act as a puppet — there would be something pulling my strings too hard — and that I did my best work by being guided, not by being forced.”
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Elizabeth died of congestive heart failure on March 23, 2011. “My mother was an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest, with great passion, humor, and love … We will always be inspired by her enduring contribution to our world,” her son Michael wrote in a statement.
Her family was heartbroken but did it all to keep her legacy alive. Her 10 grandchildren are proud to say she was their grandmother. One of them, Quinn Tivey, the son of Liza, looks exactly like his famous grandmother. Many say he even has her eyes, which were described by many as the most enchanting eyes of violet color the world has ever seen. Other believe that Quinn is even luckier than that, as he got the best not only from Elizabeth, but from his grandpa, Mike Todd too.
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Speaking about his loving grandmother to The Morning Show, Quinn said, “I always knew her as grandma, but in her real life, she was still larger than life.”
“She was an amazing matriarch, and she would bring us together on the holidays. You knew it was something special, especially coming from a rural town where I grew up – it was very different than what I was used to.”
Referring to her humanitarian work, Quinn said, “She could not stand to see stigma or the marginalisation of any community of people. And she noticed at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic that there was very little being done.
“But she knew she had the capacity to do a lot. She had a platform by virtue of her celebrity, and she knew how to use it. She always had the courage to speak her mind and stand up for what she believed in, so that’s what she did.
“She turned her public persona into an activist role and really dove into the beginning of the epidemic with radical compassion.”
Knowing how much her organization meant to her, Quinn decided to continue Elizabeth’s legacy by getting more closely involved with the work of the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and becoming its ambassador.
We are sure the iconic actress would have been proud of him.
It’s safe to say that the British Royal Family has turned into a global brand over the years, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that millions of people from all around the world are obsessed with them. Americans are not an exception. A number of established U.S. magazines follow the members of the Firm’s every single move, and this obsession only grew bigger when Prince Harry married an American, former actress Meghan Markle.
The news of their relationship was embraced with arms wide open, but no one expected that things would turn south once the Sussexes made the shocking decision to step down from their royal duties and leave Britain probably for good.
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Things only turned more intricate regarding the already complicated relationship between the members of the Royalty after Harry and Meghan’s infamous Oprah interview during which they accused the family of a number of things. Among the rest, they claimed that a senior royal questioned the skin color of then unborn Archie, and Meghan was denied any help when she opened up about her mental struggles.
These accusations didn’t stop there. Harry appeared on the Armchair Expert podcast where he claimed that Prince Charles handed down a “cycle” of “genetic pain and suffering,” that he was trying to break.
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At the time, both Harry and Meghan refused to reveal the name of the senior royal in question, but now acclaimed author Christopher Andersen wrote in his book Brothers and Wives: Inside the Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan that it was prince Charles who made the “innocent” comment regarding Archie.
“They wouldn’t reveal who it was. Harry later said the comment didn’t come from the Queen or Prince Philip. Well, I found that it was a very innocent comment made by Prince Charles,” Andersen claimed.
“He turned to Camilla and said, ‘I wonder what the kids are going to look like.’ “You know, hair color, eye color, complexion. It wasn’t racially motivated or anything. But the men in gray who run things behind the scenes at the palaces spun it into something more sinister-sounding,” he added.
“Harry was upset and asked Charles and William what was going on. They told him, ‘You’re overreacting; you’re being oversensitive. Let’s move on.’ And it just added fuel to the fire. There was a lot of tension already, and that just made it so much worse.”
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Andersen further claimed that there is still bad blood between the brothers. In the past, William was extremely angry with Harry and Meghan and said during an occasion that his family wasn’t racist but didn’t comment any further. He was reported to have said that he won’t put up with any more nonsense. According to US Weekly’s Christina Garibaldi, William believed his brother chose fame over family.
“It’s really Charles and William versus Harry and Meghan,” Andersen told Fox News.
“William is fiercely loyal to his father. He thinks his father is a great historical figure who has been underestimated. And he feels for his dad. They all love the Queen. But when you’re maybe going to be king when you’re almost 80 years old, it’s a sad position to be in. So William has been by his father’s side.”
Anderson said that William hasn’t returned any of Harry’s phone calls in months, and as of Harry and Charles, they apparently haven’t spoken at all.
On December 31, 2021, the world lost a legend. Iconic actress, comedian, and a pioneer of early television, Betty White, died peacefully in her sleep, close friend and agent Jeff Witjas told People.
This Golden Girl’s career spanned over seven decades. She hosted shows, landed some legendary roles, and stole our hearts forever.
Besides her successful career in showbiz, White will also be remembered as a huge animal lover and someone who gave the world a million reasons to smile. The news of her passing was received with disbelief, especially because her fans were eager to celebrate her milestone birthday. White herself said in an interview a few weeks ago that she was looking forward to her 100th birthday celebration. Sadly, she didn’t reach it.
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Tributes came pouring in. Her friend of many years, Jeff Witjas, told People, “Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever. I will miss her terribly, and so will the animal world that she loved so much. I don’t think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband, Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again.”
“The world looks different now. She was great at defying expectations. She managed to grow very old and, somehow, not old enough. We’ll miss you, Betty. Now you know the secret,” Ryan Reynolds, her co-star on the film The Proposal, wrote on Twitter.
Sandra Bullock told People, “I don’t drink vodka … but I will tonight, on ice, with a slice of lemon with a hot dog on the other side, and just be ok being sad. I’ll have to buy some rose-colored glasses because Betty was that for all of us.”
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Comedian Kathy Griffin, shared a beautiful story of the very first encounter between her and Betty White.“Betty White. Where do I begin? I’ve known her long, but I think the first time I met her was when she was a guest star on Suddenly Susan in the late 90s. Everyone was very excited she was on the show. I had accidentally parked in her parking spot that day. She walks in, yells from the back of the soundstage for everyone to hear, ‘Where’s that redheaded b*tch who stole my parking spot???’ SWOON. A friendship was born.”
President Joe Biden honored White by saying that she “brought a smile to the lips of generations of Americans.”
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White was born on January 17, 1922, in Oak Park, Illinois. Over the years, she was part of a number of shows, most famous we’d say, The Mary Tyler Moore Show in which she played the role of Sue Ann Nivens that brought her two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and Golden Girls.
“When they announced my name that night, and Ed Asner presented it to me, I was a mess,” White recalled.
“I was so excited, so happy. And so grateful. I started out as an actress in the business, but then I did game shows and talk shows. I became a ‘television personality.’ So everybody was so surprised. ‘Why Betty can act, isn’t that amazing?’ It really did turn my career completely around.”
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
White was married three times, with her third husband, Allen Ludden, being the biggest love of her life. They knew they were meant for one another the moment they laid eyes on each other on the game show Password which Ludden hosted. It took him some time to convince her to marry him, not because she didn’t want him to be her husband, but because she didn’t want to leave California for New York, something she regretted later in life.
“I spent a whole year, wasted a whole year that Allen and I could have had together, saying, ‘No, I wouldn’t marry him. No, I won’t, No, I won’t leave California. No, I won’t move to New York,’” she told Oprah. “I wasted a whole year we could have had together.”
Ludden died in 1981, and White never remarried, saying, “Once you’ve had the best, who needs the rest?”
Today, just days after her passing, sources reveal that White was forced to spend her final years in her home in Los Angeles and move out from the one in Carmel, California, just outside of Monterey, which she and her late husband Allen Ludden built in 1978, as per New York Post. Apparently, she wasn’t happy with leaving California, but she needed at-home-care and her Los Angeles home was more accessible.
“If she had it her way, Betty would’ve lived and died in that home [in Carmel]. It’s the home she shared with her husband. It’s where she felt more comfortable,” a source told with NewYork Post.
White will always be remembered as someone who left deep impact on Hollywood and the TV industry in general.
Tragedies happen every single day. The thing is that most times, there is nothing we could do to prevent them, we just accept the devastating reality that someone we loved to the core is gone forever.
One father named Adrian Smith learned that his daughter passed away in the worst way possible.
Working as a firefighter, Adrian responded to a call about a crash of three vehicles which occurred in Haverfordwest, in Pembrokeshire, Wales. He and his crew rushed to the scene in an attempt to help the injured passengers. Unfortunately, that’s when Adrian learned his 21-year-old daughter Ella Brooke Smith, 21, died on impact. The rest of the people involved in the accident were left with injuries.
Realizing it was his daughter who lost her life that day broke this father’s heart into a million pieces. His little girl was no longer there, she was gone forever, and he was left to fight with the grief and the void which filled his soul.
Firefighter called to 999 car crash discovered his ‘beautiful’ 21-year-old daughter dead in wreckage: Adrian Smith, 47, was in shock after responding to the 999 call and had to watch as his daughter Ella’s body was removed from the mangled car by… https://t.co/TmwL57W6aBpic.twitter.com/5nhn0uviKr
Honoring her life, Adrian posted a photo of him and Ella dancing at a family gathering. The devastated father wrote: “We are utterly devastated at losing our beloved Ella. She was a much loved and caring daughter, sister and granddaughter.
“She was a beautiful girl who will be missed by us all. We would like to thank everyone for their support at this horrific time. It has meant so much to the whole family as we grieve for our Ella.”
Friends and family posted messages expressing their condolences for the loss of the girl whose young life was taken far too soon.
“You cannot imagine how Adrian must be feeling. It is every emergency worker’s worst nightmare to find your own child is a victim. They are such a lovely family. Ella was so bubbly with all her future ahead of here,” one of their friends wrote.
Our hearts go out to the grieving family. Rest in peace, Ella.
