For some people, high school years are the best years in their life. For others, however, it’s the opposite.
This is the time when one learns what makes them laugh and what makes them cry. They learn new things and get to socialize with friends.
The culmination of these years is the prom, an event many prepare for a year in advance and hope they find the right person to be their date.
18-year-old Brendan Ritchie, a senior at the Fort Zumwalt West High School in O’Fallon, Missouri, has been the dream date of every girl at his school. A straight-A student involved in the school’s cross-country squad and an athlete with a generous heart, this young man is loved by everyone who has ever met him.
When it came to choosing his ideal prom date, Brendan let his heart opt for friendship. Namely, over the years, he made great friends with a girl named Ellie McCool.
When she was born, Ellie looked like any other child. She reached all the milestones just in time, but when she turned four, her parents realized something was wrong. Some of her body parts stopped functioning like before, and she was soon diagnosed with Rett syndrome, a rare genetic neurological brain disorder which affects girls mostly. Over time, Ellie experienced difficulties communicating verbally, but despite her condition, she was accepted by everyone at the school. She made lots of friends who included her in every social activity.
Knowing that Ellie loved Iron Man very much, Brendan asked her to be his date wearing the costume of this superhero in front of everyone at the school cafeteria. “Ellie, do you want to be my Iron Woman at the prom?” the sign Brendan carried read.
Ellie was over the moon, her answer to this question was a resounding yes.
“Every girl dreams of having a date to her senior prom,” Ellie’s friend Elizabeth Steiner said. “So the fact that Ellie was going to have one too was awesome.”
Everyone had the time of their life on their prom night. All of Ellie’s friends were there and made sure she felt like the princess she is.
“She’s just a really awesome girl and she deserves to go to prom with someone and I felt if it was going to be anybody, I’d like it to be me,” Brendan said.
Brendan made Ellie the happiest girl ever. She now has beautiful memories to cherish forever.
YouTube/KSDK News
For more on this beautiful story go to the video below.
On New Year’s Eve, just before midnight, 24-year-old sheriff deputy Clayton Osteen from Florida attempted suicide. No one could possibly explain what made this young and successful man take his own life. He was a husband and a father to one-month-old baby.
Deputy Osteen died two days later, leaving his family behind.
As his family and friends mourned hiss loss and were trying to understand what triggered this tragedy, his girlfriend and the mother of his child, deputy colleague Victoria Pacheco, killed herself days after, leaving her son an orphan.
Source: GoFundMe
Everyone was in complete shock. The couple was described as a happy one. According to their family and friends, they were both very excited for welcoming their bundle of joy into the world, and until now, the circumstances surrounding both tragedies remain unclear.
“As sheriff, I saw these two deputies as young, ambitious, and a great compliment to my already amazing group of professionals. To the general public, and sometimes even myself, it’s easy to view law enforcement as superhuman… but let’s not forget that they’re human just like us,” St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken J. Mascara said.
Sadly, baby Jayce was left without parents. This unfortunate fact made many concerned for his life as an orphan.
One of Osteen’s friends, Kelly Ridle, created a GoFundMe page in order to reduce the uncertainty regarding Jayce’s future.
“Clayton and Victoria were joy-filled, first-time parents excited about their growing family, enamored with their baby Jayce, and so in love with each other. Tragically, for reasons completely unknown and totally out of character, Clayton took his own life December 31st, 2021. Reeling from the shock of loss, Victoria took her own life two days later,” she wrote in the description of the page.
A lot of people who were deeply touched by the loss of Osteen and Pacheco donated, and so far, $121,000 have been raised. Kelly thanked everyone for their generosity and compassion.
In the midst of the grieving for two young lives lost, Kelly shared that a close family member will adopt the baby boy.
Two young people who seemed to have everything they had ever wished for and whose lives were ahead of them decided to take their own lives, and these tragedies opened up a debate about mental health.
”While it is impossible for us to fully comprehend the private circumstances leading up to this devastating loss, we pray that this tragedy becomes a catalyst for change, a catalyst to help ease the stigma surrounding mental well-being and normalize the conversation about the challenges so many of us face on a regular basis,” Mascara said.
The remains of Osteen and Pacheco were laid to rest on January 8. May they rest in peace.
There is no person on the planet who hasn’t heard of Richard Gere. His role in the iconic American Gigolo placed him of the list of sexiest actors of Hollywood, and today, at the age of 72, this legendary actor hasn’t lost any of his charm that helped him make a name for himself as a heartthrob.
Gere knew he wanted to be involved in music or theater ever since he was a student.
“I went through a young-man-paranoid stage,” Gere said of the time he dropped college in order to pursue a career in acting. “I was dead middle class, and I felt I had to do something special. I didn’t want what I thought was that amorphous middle-class nowhere status. Even though my parents questioned what I was doing, they were loving, sweet and supportive.”
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After playing the role of Julian Kaye, a male escort from L.A., the doors to Hollywood opened for talented and young Gere. When he took the role, which was initially offered to John Travolta, Gere had no idea the scenes would be that explicit. ”It was just in the natural process of making the movie. I certainly felt vulnerable, but I think it’s different for men than women,” he later told Advocate.
What followed after American Gigolo were iconic movies that marked the career of Gere forever, among which An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) and one of the most romantic movies in the history of film, Pretty Woman (1990). In the latter, then 41-year-old Gere played the role of wealthy businessman Edward Lewis, who falls in love with a Sunset Boulevard prostitute, played by Julia Roberts.
At the time, Gere was already a famous name and Roberts was a rising star, but both of them excelled their roles and became one of the most famous onscreen couples.
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Speaking of this movie, which was a huge breakthrough for her, Roberts told Entertainment Weekly Radio of Gere who turned down the part several times, ”I just said ‘you have to do this movie, if you don’t do this movie and it falls apart and I lose this job it would just be terrible’. And I kinda pleaded with him in a very real way. And all three of us went out to dinner and um, I had a great time and he changed all our lives forever by agreeing to do this movie.”
“It was a charming movie. Julia hadn’t done much at all at that point. There weren’t high expectations for this thing,” Gere said.
The number of hit movies Gere was part of only grew bigger and bigger during the 90’s and everyone was looking forward to seeing the sex symbol in new projects.
In 2002, Gere got a Golden Globe for his portrayal of “Billy Flynn” in the smash-hit musical Chicago, which was the highest grossing musical with $306 million until 2008.
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Although the movies he chooses to be part of are never about money, Gere earned millions of dollars throughout the years. It is estimated that he receives between $5 and $10 million for each of his films. According to Celebrity Net Worth, the actor is worth $120 million dollars.
When it comes to real estate, Gere was a proud owner of the Hamptons mansion known as Strongheart Manor for eight years before he sold it to TV Host Matt Lauer for $36.5 million. Gere still owns several properties in New York, including an impressive 50+ acre compound estate nearby Pound Ridge and the Bedford Post Inn which he co-owns with friend Russell Hernandez.
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Being voted People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive in 1999, it doesn’t come as a surprise that handsome Gere dated many beautiful woman.
In 1991, he married model Cindy Crawford in an intimate ceremony. She was 17 years his junior and their marriage only lasted for four years. Then, in 2002, Gere married another model and actress, Carey Lowell. They had one son together, Homer James Jigme Gere, who is as handsome as his famous father. The couple, however, divorced in 2013 and went through a long and exhausting, both financially and emotionally, divorce. Details of their settlement have never been officially released publicly.
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Today, Gere is married to Alejandra Silva, 37, with whom he has two sons. “He is the most humble, sensitive, affectionate, attentive, funny, generous man that I’ve ever met. What can I say? I’m so in love! How would you feel if each morning you were asked: ‘What would make you happy today?’ Not a day goes by that he doesn’t mention how important I am to him. I feel very lucky,” Alejandra told Hello! in April 2020.
Even at the age of 72, Gere looks as awesome as ever.
A true human chameleon and one of the most eccentric artists that have ever walked this Earth! Who else if not the man who reinvented himself so many times that we lost count, the one and only David Bowie.
His exceptional intellect, creativity, and talent impacted the world of music FOREVER! Today, six years after his passing, we go back to the incredible life of one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.
He was always ahead of the curve and influenced numerous trends, both in music and fashion.
Youtube/DavidBowie
Bowie died of cancer, a battle he was fighting away from the public eye. He only let the truth about his health state be revealed when doctors told him the cancer won. He passed away around the same time his final album, Blackstar, was released. Many of his fans were convinced that it was a way for him to say that final goodbye to those whose lives he touched with his music.
“I found out later that, the week we were shooting, it was when he was told it was over, they were ending treatments and that his illness had won,” Swedish video director Johan Renck, who was working with Bowie at the time, said in the BBC film David Bowie: The Last Five Years.
Youtube/MisterSussex
David Bowie was born David Robert Jones but he changed his name at the start of his career. It is believed that one of the people who influenced him to fall in love with music was his half-brother Terry. As a young child, Bowie felt he wasn’t given much attention from his parents. “It wasn’t a particularly happy childhood,” Bowie said in the film David Bowie: Finding Fame, as quoted by NME. “My parents were cold emotionally. There weren’t many hugs. I always craved affection because of that.”
He started his career with the band The King Bees, with whom he released the album Liza Jane. As the band didn’t seem to be attracting any particular attention at the beginning, Bowie considered quitting and becoming a monk.
“I wanted to become part of the order and go up to a Tibetan monastery in Scotland,” Bowie said according to Herald Scotland. “He [a young monk who became Bowie’s guru for several years] advised me not to even consider it. He said my purpose was in music.”
Although he didn’t do it, spirituality remained an important part of his being throughout his entire life.
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His alter egos which came in the form of Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, the Thin White Duke, Halloween Jack, hooked the world to his music and helped him keep his demons at bay.
“I had enormous self-image problems and very low self-esteem,” he told GQ Magazine, as quoted by The Guardian. “I was driven to get through life very quickly, I really felt so utterly inadequate, I thought the work was the only thing of value.”
Besides his music, one thing that became Bowie’s trade mark were his eyes. He had a condition known as anisocoria which he got as a result of a punch in the face by his friend of many years, George Underwood.
Youtube/DavidBowie
Apparently, Bowie and Underwood both liked the same woman. As Underwood was trying to take her on a date, Bowie told him how she wasn’t interested and went on to date her himself. “He put me right in it, and I thought, ‘You bastard,’” Underwood told NME, laughing. “It wasn’t really my style, but I just walked up to him and hit him.”
Bowie wasn’t mad. In fact, he and Underwood remained great friends and Underwood once said, “He later said I did him a favor.”
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Bowie was a father of two. He had his first child, son Duncan Jones, known as “Zowie Bowie” with his first wife, American model Angie Barnett. Later, in 1992, he married supermodel Iman Abdulmajid with whom he had daughter Alexandria “Lexi” Zahra Jones.
Unable to spend much time with his son because he was at the peak of his career during his upbringing, Bowie swore not to make the same mistake with Lexi.
Lexi was born on August 15, 2000. Both he and Iman made sure she was raised out of the public eye, and New York City allowed them to lead quite an anonymous life. “It’s so easy to be a person here, a regular guy,” David Bowie told Miami Herald in 2003. “The family and I have no problem going out and eating.”
Instagram/LexiJones
Lexi showed interest in art early in life. At one point, just as she turned 18 and shared a photo of herself on Instagram, she received a bunch of offers from a number of modeling agencies who wanted to sign her.
‘”Every agency, every designer, called me to say: ‘If she wants to, we’d love for her to model for us.’” Iman told Porter. “I said: ‘No, she doesn’t.’ I know why they wanted to her to model – it’s because she is David Bowie’s daughter.”
“She [Lexi] says I am overprotective,” Iman told The Sun. “But I told her, this can all wait, it isn’t going anywhere. Have a life that is private while you can, because one day soon it is going to be public, so enjoy this.”
Lexi has a special Instagram account dedicated to her art. According to TheSun, Lexi moved to Los Angeles and is selling her artwork and customised clothing for up to $250.
“Lexi has been here for a while now, but she isn’t interested in the Hollywood scene and going to red carpet events,” a source told The Sun.
“She’s a great kid and very down-to-earth, most of her friends are also studying art and they spend their time vintage shopping, going to exhibitions and hanging out by the beach.
“The world is Lexi’s oyster, there are a lot of opportunities for her being Bowie’s daughter, but she’s enjoying being a regular teenager for now and making it on her own.”
We are so glad Lexi found her passion. She’s a creative soul, just like her dad.
From the moment they were born in 2010, these stunning twin sisters took our breath away.
Their physical appearance, the blue eyes and blonde hair, distinguished them as one of the most beautiful babies in the world. And now, after eleven years, they are still on the top of the list of most adorable children.
Their mom, Jaqi Clements, became aware of how gorgeous her babies actually are when she couldn’t get them out without people paying them a bunch of compliments and calling them the most beautiful children they’ve ever seen.
clementstwins via Instagram
‘“For as long as I can remember strangers would approach me when we were out asking first if they were twins. Their follow up would always be…’Wow they are so beautiful, you should really think about getting them into modeling,’” she said
Once the girls turned 6 months old, their mother signed them for a modeling agency but regretted her decision because she felt they were way too young to be exposed to that type of life. She decided to wait until the right time comes.
clementstwins via Instagram
As the time passed by, the girls became even more beautiful and their mother felt like it was just the right time for her to revisit the modeling idea. When they turned seven, Jaqi saw it as a sign to help them pursue a career.
‘“Aside from the fact that I’m a huge believer in signs and have been told by almost everyone that 7 is a lucky number, I just had a feeling that this year was going to be a fun and exciting year for them,” she said.
Everything started when the mom started an Instagram account for her twins called @clementstwins. She knew people adored her children but she didn’t really expect that many people to become their followers on social media. At the moment more than 1.8 million people follow the twins.
clementstwins via Instagram
Once these beauties got the attention of many modeling agencies, the mom got offers from many of them, and currently the girls are working for two different agencies and children’s clothing brands and magazines.
They are also part of a swimming club and a dance studio. They say how they simply love what they do, although their life is quite different than that of their peers.
It seems the beauty runs in this family, and besides the two sisters, their handsome brother is a model himself. He sometimes appears on the Instagram photos along with his sisters. The parents are pretty good looking themselves so we are not surprised how the children are so attractive. They certainly got it from their parents.
A few years back, Leah and Ava used their popularity to help their father Kevin with his battle against leukaemia and lymphoma. They made it their mission to find a matching bone marrow donor for him and were stunned by the number of people who signed to get tested. Eventually, Kevin found a match in his brother and received the so much needed transplant surgery.
Even today, these beauties use their Instagram account to raise awareness of this type of cancer.
“It’s an easy process to be a bone marrow donor, and I think a lot of people have this misconception that it is hard and painful, but it’s really not,” Kevin said.
“Having them have a chance to do that and to help me out, but also to help so many other people out, it’s amazing.”
At the same time, Leah and Eva are working together with a nail polish company for which they design and sell their nail polish line. They use a great portion of the money they make for their cousin Shane who was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) at 10-months-old.
What do you think of this lovely family?
Please share this story with your friends.
Bored Daddy
Dubbed the “King of Country,” musician George Strait has had quite a career. He is considered one of the most influential and most popular artists of all time, selling more than 100 million records worldwide.
But you know what they say, “Behind every successful man there is a woman,” and in the case of Strait, that woman is his wife of 50 years, Norma Strait.
Photo by Gabe Palacio/Getty Images
Their love story started back in the day when the two were still teenagers. Living in the small town of Pearsall, Texas, southwest of San Antonio, the two have known each other their all lives. However, the musician once admitted that he almost missed out on her after he didn’t ask her out again following their first date.
”We knew each other forever, growing up in a small town. I never really even thought anything about her, but then one day I asked her out and we went on a date. We didn’t see each other for a long time after that.
“Then one day, I thought, ‘I’m missing the boat here,’ and we started dating again,” the country legend told the radio station Bull 100.3.
They tied the knot in 1971 and have been married ever since. Their union of 50 years is still as solid as day one. They have stayed by each other’s side through thick and thin and together they suffered the loss of their 13-year-old daughter Jenifer. Ever since her death, Strait avoided giving interviews, but he opened up briefly to People in 2012 and said, “We were blessed to have been able to spend 13 years with our beautiful daughter Jenifer.”
Following her passing, Strait and his wife founded the Jenifer Lynn Strait Foundation which supports charities for children.
The couple also has a son, George Strait Jr. aka “Bubba,” who is a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association team-roping competitor.
Back in 2012, Strait reminded everyone just how much he loves his wife. Speaking to People, he said, “It will be 41 years this December. Norma and I are so blessed that we found each other 41 years ago and were able to do all of this together, experience this life together, to support each other through everything, good times and bad.
“We do almost everything together. She stayed home until Bubba got out of high school and went to college, but since then she’s come on the road with me too. We love each other and we still like each other. A lot!”
In 2019, she appeared in his new Codigo video which features a lot of fun and stunning Mexican agave farms.
During a concert in Las Vegas in December 2021, hopeless romantic Strait dedicated the song I Cross My Heart to Norma, saying, “So I was 19 years old and I knew this girl, Norma. She was 17, really hot. We went to Mexico and eloped – 50 years ago today.”
Their love is endearing and we are so very happy for them.
There are people out there who don’t believe in destiny, but serendipitous encounters like the one from our story can definitely make them question their thinking.
Lorraine Nicholls is a stepmother to three beautiful children she considers her own. She, however, always wanted to have more kids, but being a two-time breast cancer survivor, she couldn’t have kids on her own.
Then, out of the blue, a little miracle came along and she embraced it.
While she was working night shift at the Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, a newborn baby boy was rushed there in the middle of the night. The little guy was wet and cold, and Lorraine learned that he was abandoned on a truck bed when a student who heard him crying alerted the police. They found him at Meridian Apartments in Tallahassee, Florida. This incident took place back in 2017.
Source: YouTube/ Humankind
Lorraine was assigned to be the baby’s respiratory therapist.
“I assessed his breathing, his, you know, oxygen,” she said in a video by Humankind. “For the most part, he was fine. Cold, hungry, wet, but he was fine.”
Deep down, Lorraine knew this baby came to her for a reason. He was left behind and with no one to take care of him, and she wanted a baby so badly.
During his stay at the hospital, Lorraine and the baby formed a very special bond, too special to be broken, we’d say.
Source: YouTube/ USA Today
She spoke to her husband and he was in for a new journey into fatherhood and that’s how they ended up adopting the sweet baby whom they named Charlie. “He just fills that hole that I had in my heart,” Lorraine told the Tallahassee Democrat. “I just feel like I have everything that I need and want and enjoy the fact that I can take care of him.”
Welcoming Charlie into their lives was the best decision ever.
Lorraine believes that adoption is a wonderful thing and she encourages others to follow her example and provide a family to a child who is dreaming of one.
“It just means so much, it’s more than I could ever imagine or dream of,” she added.
Source: YouTube/ Humankind
Lorraine was praying for a miracle and God answered her prayer.
Isn’t it awesome when you know you can change someone’s life for the best with just one simple decision? I know dog owners who chose to adopt a furry pal would answer this question with a resounding yes.
One mother from Atherton, Australia, learned of an abused doberman and wanted to step in give the animal a forever home. But was that the right thing to do? Certainly.
When Catherine Svillicic welcomed Khan into her life and her home, she knew she was dealing with a canine who had a rough start early in life. Khan’s previous owners were cruel people who mistreated him. He even ended up with broken ribs once. Luckily, that all changed.
Source: YouTube – celeb902
Catherine believed Khan would be the perfect pal for her then 1-year-old daughter Charlotte. And she was right. The little girl fell in love with Khan the moment she laid eyes on him. Her parents knew she was safe with him by her side.
One day, however, Khan started acting very strangely. Catherine could feel he was anxious but could tell why. She noticed he was nudging the girl repeatedly, and moments later, he grabbed her by the diaper and threw her over his shoulder. Catherine couldn’t believe her eyes, she got scared for her little one, and rushed to take her in her hands. That’s when she looked down and saw a King Brown snake, a venomous specimen, right where Charlotte was sitting moments earlier.
Source: Wikimedia Commons CC BY 3.0
The girl could easily suffered a deadly bite if it wasn’t for Khan. Sadly, he got bitten.
The family quickly rushed him to the vet’s where he received an anti-venom shot. The good thing is that he recovered.
Needless to say, Khan was dubbed a hero for his selfless act. Catherine was glad she took a chance with him and welcomed him into the family.
