For the fourth week in a row, the late Michael Jackson has continued to dominate the headlines and thus, dominate this blog. But some other big pop-star names also made news this week, so before we get to our starting-to-become-weekly MJ roundup, let's cover those stories first...
Celebrity breakups were suddenly in the spotlight this week, with three divas back on the singles scene. First, Jessica Simpson was reportedly dumped by her boyfriend since November 2007, Dallas Cowboy Tony Romo, on the eve of her 29th birthday--in the process ruining not only her lovelife and the last all-important year of her twenties, but plans for her big Barbie-themed birthday bash, which she subsequently cancelled. (On the night that the party was supposed to take place, Tony was spotted out clubbing with pals.)
A friend told People magazine: "Jessica was really blindsided. She's sad, mad, and confused. Her emotions are all over the place." Another source close to Jessica told E! News: "She was surprised. She wouldn't have planned a party if she knew this was coming. They're both going their separate ways."
As for the reason for the split, while some crude people speculated that it was Jessica's much-criticized/publicized weight gain that turned Tony off, other gossip sources reported that Tony became outraged after seeing text messages from Jessica's ex, John Mayer, on her cell phone. But whatever the cause of their breakup, all sources seem to agree that Jessica didn't expect her Romo romance to end, and that she is quite dejected over this split.
As for rumors that Jessica might possibly reunite with her former husband and Newlyweds costar Nick Lachey, who recently ended his own relationship with Vanessa Minnillo, the People magazine source dismissed that possibility, saying: "There is way too much bad blood between Nick and [Jessica's father/manager] Joe [Simpson] for Jessica to even think about it."
A perhaps less surprising split this week was the official and final divorce of troubled British diva Amy Winehouse and her infamous jailbird husband of two years, Blake "Incarcerated" Fielder-Civil. The couple spent much of their tabloid marriage apart, when Blake was jailed on assault charges only six months after their wedding. While Amy professed her undying love for her lesser half--often giving him shoutouts from the stage and wearing "Blake"-emblazoned hair accessories in her giant bouffant--earlier this year Blake filed for divorce on the grounds of her alleged infidelity.
Blake has often been blamed by the media and Amy's own long-suffering parents for introducing Amy to hard drugs and setting her on a self-destructive life path (Blake himself even once confessed this in a famous interview, claiming he'd "ruined something beautiful" and that Amy would be better off without his bad influence), and lately Amy does seem to be enjoying a healthier Blake-free lifestyle on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. So we're hoping that Amy's divorce will give her a new lease on life and maybe even give her some inspiration in the studio: It's been almost three years since she recorded her breakthrough album Back To Black (much of which was inspired by her tumtultous early courtship with Blake), and we're beginning to worry if she'll ever be able to follow it up.
And finally, according to Us Weekly, Janet Jackson and her longtime boyfriend of almost seven years, music executive and recording artist Jermaine Dupri, have also called it quits. Jermaine was conspicuously absent at last week's memorial for Janet's aforementioned brother Michael, and a source told Us: "They have been moving in different directions for a while." Added another Janet friend: "You shouldn't mix business with pleasure. Janet felt their lives were too crossed [Jermaine had produced some of Janet's music] and they should have kept things separate."
That, of course, brings us to the latest Michael Jackson news. While the King Of Pop's autopsy results are still not due for another two weeks, his other sister LaToya Jackson told the media this week that she--much like her father Joe Jackson--suspects that Michael was murdered. LaToya also announced that a song she previously recorded to honor her family, "Home," will be reissued on July 28 as a tribute to Michael. Proceeds from the single will go to one of Michael's favorite charities, AIDS Project LA, and LaToya will apparently not do any marketing or promotion for the record--so this seems like a more tasteful venture than, say, Joe Jackson promoting his Ranch Records blu-ray label on the BET Awards red carpet.
And on the subject of Michael and unreleased songs, a 25-second clip of a previously unheard Michael tune posthumously leaked online this week. Titled "A Place With No Name," the song is an interpolation of America's 1972 classic "A Horse With No Name" and was recorded with the soft-rock group's permission. America's manager Jim Morey told TMZ: "The band was honored that Michael chose to do their song, and they hope it becomes available for all Michael's fans to hear."
Perhaps more disturbing was the unearthing of previously unreleased footage from Michael's 1984 accident on the set of the Jacksons' now-infamous Pepsi commercial, when Michael was severely burned in a pyrotechnics explosion. According to Us Weekly--the magazine that acquired and released the very disturbing and graphic footage--Michael was never quite the same after being set ablaze that day at L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium, and his addiction to various medications (and possibly to plastic surgery) began after he was prescribed several types of painkillers to ease the suffering from the second- and third-degree burns on his scalp and body. It makes us wonder, sadly, how Michael's life and career might have panned out, had this horrific fireworks accident never occurred that fateful day.
And finally, in other sad (but non-Michael-related) concert accident news, two workers were killed and eight others were injured this week in Marseille, France, due to the collapse of a stage being built for a (now understandably cancelled) Madonna concert. The cause of the stage's roof collapse is as of this writing still unknown, although a manslaughter investigation in currently underway.
Madonna honored the two deceased men during her concert in Udine, Italy on Thursday, the day of the accident, emotionally stating: "Before I continue the show, I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge and pay tribute to two people who lost their lives today...Two men lost their lives, it was a great tragedy to me...I feel so, so devastated to be in any way associated with anyone suffering. Let's all just take a moment to say a prayer for [them]. Our hearts go out to their families and loved ones...We are so blessed and lucky to be alive."
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