December 15 - 21, 2008 21

here and there

We heard...

CHECK out Ciara looking all ‘arty’in this photo for the next issue of Ellemagazine. The Goodies singer is almostunrecognisable with her blue cropped hairdoand odd headgear. Interesting or plain weird?You decide!

DO YOU LIKETHIS LOOK?

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USHER’STHEDADDY...AGAINUSHER hasbecome a fatherfor the secondtime. The 30-year-old singerand his wifeTameka Foster, 38,(pictured together,right) welcomedtheir second soninto the world lastweek. The couple,who already haveone-year-old UsherRaymond V, confirmedlast month that theywere expecting theirsecond child – therebyquashing the rumoursthat their marriagewas on the rocks.With two babies –and Foster’s threesons from herprevious relationship– it’s sure to be ahectic Christmasfor the couple!

STEVIETO DODANCINGWITH THESTARS?STEVIE Wonder isreportedly beinglined up for the USversion of StrictlyCome Dancing.Unsurprisingly, thenews has been metwith shock from thosewho question how Wonder, who is, of course, blind,will get on in the dance competition. But theSuperstitious singer recently told a US radio stationof his hopes to take part in Dancing With The Stars.“It'd be fun. It's not impossible, but right now it's justa thought,” he said. “If I've got seven children, I'vegot to be able to dance, right?”

JEN’S GOINGBACK TO WORK

RUSSELL SLAMSINTERRACIALRELATIONSHIPHATERSRUSSELL Simmons isn’thappy with those who havetaken a pop at him for

hanging out with his ‘friend’,white model Veronica

Verikova. The hip-hop mogultook to his blog to slap down

those rumours that he doesn’t dateblack women. “Choosing someone who

I am physically attracted to and who alsoinspires, uplifts, educates and keeps me interested is my firstpriority – not their race,” Simmons stated. “And if these bloggersrecall, I did marry a woman who was half African American,” headded, referring to his ex-wife Kimora Simmons. It’s a lengthyrant – get online and check it out.

THIS credit crunch really isn’t playing.First it was Wyclef, then Fantasia, and

now former TLC singer T-Boz is thelatest star to reportedly be facing

eviction from her home. The $530,000Georgia property owned by the R’n’B

star – real name Tionne WatkinsRolison – is scheduled to go up for

auction in January 2009. According topublic records, the 38-year-old has

defaulted on the original principal of hermortgage, and the five-bedroom house

is now being claimed by the state.

T BOZ COULD LOSEHER HOME

SINGER Toni Braxton has revealed she had a benigntumour removed from her breast shortly after leavingthe US version of Strictly Come Dancing. The 41-year-old said she knew about the tumour beforeappearing on Dancing With The Stars. She scheduledthe surgery after exiting the competition in October.“Getting the boot was a blessing in disguise for me,”she told US Weekly magazine. “My grandmother onmy dad's side died of breast cancer.” Of her owntumour, she added: “I was worried about what theywould find, but it was benign. I was very fortunate.Cancer knows no race, no creed, no colour.”

BRAXTON TALKS OFBREAST OP

Picture of theweek!

JENNIFER Hudson is returning to workfollowing the murder of her mother, brother

and nephew. The singer and actress,currently starring in the film The

Secret Life of Bees, will startshooting the video for her newsingle If It Isn't Love in LosAngeles this week, according toher record label J Records. The27-year-old’s mother Darnell

Hudson Donerson andbrother Jason Hudson

were found shotdead in their

Chicago homeon October

24. Thebody ofHudson’sseven-year-old

nephew,Julian King,

was found in aSUV (sports

utility vehicle)three days later. But

good news emergedlast week when it was

announced that Hudsonhas been nominated forfour Grammy Awards. In astatement, Hudson saidshe is “honoured andhumbled by thenominations."

AKON has addressed claims thathe lied about his criminal past toboost his career. Earlier this year, itwas alleged that the Locked Upsinger exaggerated about the amountof time he spent in prison in order toboost his image. He recently told USwebsite Access Atlanta: “I got caught upin cars and this and that. Kept going in andout of jail. Three months here, sixmonths there, two weeks here. So Iguess when I was beinginterviewed, I would say,‘Yeah, I did about threeyears’. I wasn't saying I dida three-year stretch, I wascalculating the time fromwhen I started to get introuble to the time when Isaid, ‘Enough is enough.’”

AKON CLEARS UPHIS PRISON PAST