Celebrity World Archives

Sridevi, one of India’s most famous actresses, has died at age 54. She was known only by a single name, and was described as the first female superstar in the Bollywood industry. Sridevi died on Saturday in Dubai after suffering a heart attack, her brother-in-law Sanjay Kapoor told the Indian Express. Her most famous roles included playing a reporter in Mr India and in Chandni, when she played a woman choosing between two suitors. Born Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan, she started in the industry at the age of four and worked throughout her childhood, playing her first adult Bollywood role at the age of 13. She won five Filmfare Awards, and was nominated 10 times in the Indian equivalent to the Oscars. She stopped acting after her second marriage to Boney Kapoor, but made a well-received comeback in 2012 with English Vinglish, about a woman learning English. It is understood she was at a wedding with her husband and daughter at the time of her death.

Black Panther is now directly behind 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the second-highest grossing second weekend in box office history. The Marvel movie has now earned $400 million in only 10 days domestically with an additional $304 million internationally. This weekend’s earnings saw only a 46% decline over the opening weekend and has beat out 2015’s Jurassic World and 2012’s The Avengers for the second-highest second weekend, which has exceeded expectations. It currently has an A+ CinemaScore, which is only the second Marvel Cinematic Universe movie to do so, and it has maintained a 97% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  

Brendan Fraser is coming forward with allegations of sexual assault by an ex-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. In a new interview with GQ, Fraser alleges that the HFPA’s Philip Berk assaulted him at the Beverly Hills Hotel in the summer of 2003. Fraser, through his reps, asked the HFPA for an apology, which Berk says he wrote, but added “My apology admitted no wrongdoing, the usual ‘If I’ve done anything that upset Mr. Fraser, it was not intended and I apologize.’” Berk took a six-month leave of absence from the HFPA in April 2014, following backlash from his memoir, but is still a member. He denied the claim in an e-mail to GQ, saying “Mr. Fraser’s version is a total fabrication.” The HFPA did not respond to Variety’s request for comment. The actor said that the incident made him reclusive and he retreated from public life. He was rarely invited back to the Golden Globes, which the HFPA runs, and he feels as though he was blacklisted as a result. He also believes it’s partly why his career derailed, and said “The phone does stop ringing in your career, and you start asking yourself why. There’s many reasons, but was this one of them? I think it was.”   

MTV announced Thursday that comedian TIffany Haddish will host this summer’s 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards. Last year, MTV expanded the ceremony — formerly known as the MTV Movie Awards  — to recognize television and did away with gender-based category divisions.  Haddish, who had a breakout year in 2017, is making her mark on movies and TV.  The actress had a star turn in last year’s hit film “Girls Trip,” as well as previously appearing in the critically acclaimed NBC series “The Carmichael Show.” In addition to the hosting gig, Haddish will be starring opposite Tracy Morgan in the TBS sitcom “The Last OG” and alongside Kevin Hart in Universal’s “Night School.” The 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards airs at 9 p.m. Pacific on June 18. Categories and nominees are still TBD.

Oprah Winfrey, along with Steven Spielberg and his Kate Capshaw, are the newest celebrities to pledge donations to the March for Our Lives goal of new gun reform laws. On Monday, George and Amal Clooney announced that they would donate $500,000 to the March for Our Lives, an event happening on March 24 in the wake of the Parkland shootings in Florida last week. Following their announcement, Winfrey tweeted out her support and pledged a sizable donation of her own in support. Spielberg and Capshaw also pledged a donation for the group of high school survivors that claimed the lives of 17. “The young students in Florida and now across the country are already demonstrating their leadership with a confidence and maturity that belies their ages,” said the couple in a joint statement. “We are joining in this movement with a donation of $500,000.”  March For Our Lives is happening on March 24 in Washington D.C. and across America.