Talk about an odd couple: conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh and outspoken gay civil-union advocate Elton John.
But, according to a News Corporation (which owns Fox News) wire report, the Rocket Man, 63, serenaded the 400 guests into the wee hours Saturday night to celebrate the marriage of Limbaugh, 59, to Kathryn Rogers, 33, in the Ponce de Leon ballroom of Florida’s fabled Breakers hotel in Palm Beach. Sir Elton’s fee: $1 million, the report notes.
Amid dozens of giant bouquets of white roses (and very tight security), reports the Palm Beach Post, guests at the wedding included former Bush adviser Karl Rove; actor-politician Fred Thompson; former Kansas City Royals slugger George Brett; Fox News commentator Sean Hannity; former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft; former Clinton adviser James Carville and his wife, GOP analyst Mary Matalin; and golfer Tom Watson. A wedding guest also said that among the others was Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, People reports.
The couple met six years ago, while she was running a charity golf tournament and Limbaugh was in the process of divorcing for the third time.
Sunday morning, a source tells People, the newlyweds hopped Limbaugh’s private Gulfstream jet for a honeymoon in Mexico, Africa and a couple other spots.
Rogers is a direct descendant of President John Adams, and her father attended the U.S. Naval Academy with the future Arizona Senator (and 2008 Republican Presidential candidate) John McCain, reports NewsCore.
The wire service also quotes the new bride as saying of the couple’s 26-year age gap: “I’m sometimes not able to relate to the average person my age.”
Charlie Sheen will begin his work release today, TMZ reports, and as part of his 30-day sentence for domestic assault he will serve as an acting coach.
As part of Sheen’s plea deal, the actor will take part in a work release at Theatre Aspen, where he’ll be able to leave the jail everyday at 8 a.m. for work at the theater and return to jail by 8 p.m., TMZ reports.
Charlie will be coaching actors in three different plays — “The Wonderettes,” “Three Little Pigs” and “Same Time Next Year” — and according to TMZ he will also be doing meet-and-greets for Theatre Aspen fundraising, along with a role at the ABC Center in Aspen working with young children in a theater group.
Turns out “The Biggest Loser’s” trainer Jillian Michaels hasn’t always been tough as nails.
The 36-year-old talks about a childhood of torment over her weight.
“At 12 or 13, I weighed 175 pounds,” she told In Touch magazine.
“I was the loser at my school. I had pictures of me with my horse in my locker, and kids would make whinnying and mooing sounds at me in the hallways. It tore me to pieces.” But Jillian insists that she’s made peace with her past. “I’m glad it happened, because it taught me empathy and humility,” she says. On her new show, “Losing It With Jillian,” she helps families work through their food and weight issues, and she says her own first-hand experience with emotional eating helps her relate.
While dealing with her negative self image and taunts from schoolmates, Jillian turned to food for comfort. “It became my friend,” she explains. “Food was always there for me during really hard times. It was something to look forward to everyday when I was feeling depressed or down.” Fitness, in the form of martial arts, finally changed her life: Not only did she lose weight after starting to work out in her late teens, but the exercise “gave me a feeling of being empowered,” she says. “I felt confident and strong, and that’s when people stopped picking on me. They saw that I had self-respect.”
Jet Li says he hopes that his new movie about autism offers a refreshing alternative to the historical and kung fu epics that dominate the Chinese industry.
The veteran action star plays an aquarium worker who cares for his autistic son in the low-budget “Ocean Heaven” — his first Chinese-language production since the 2007 release of “The Warlords.” “Nowadays everyone is making blockbusters. Making a 7 million Chinese yuan ($1 million) movie requires a lot of sincerity,” Li told reporters in Hong Kong. “This movie is about sincerity. It shows that in this day and age that filmmakers are willing to do something for society.” The actor promoted the movie by visiting the dolphins at Hong Kong’s Ocean Park with a small group of mentally handicapped and autistic adults.
“I hope everyone can examine what is the most important relationship in life — the relationship between parent and child,” he said.
A noticeably thinner Li said he lost 18 pounds (8 kilograms) from a thyroid condition.
Like Jackie Chan, a fellow kung fu star who crossed over to Hollywood from the Hong Kong movie industry, Li also now juggles careers in Chinese and American films.
His recent Hollywood releases include “The Forbidden Kingdom,” which costarred Chan, “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” and “The Expendables.”
— The Associated Press also contributed to this report
lsmith@denverpost.com
