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Friends star makes surprising career move as she steps away from acting

Friends star makes surprising career move as she steps away from acting

Daily Mirror2 days ago

The cast of Friends became some of the most recognisable faces in showbiz when they landed on screens in 1994 - but one actor has now stepped away from the industry all together
The Friends cast haven't been able to escape from their character's names since the show first aired in 1994. However, one star has moved far away from the sitcom as she reveals her surprising career change.
A huge storyline in the NBC sitcom was Ross Geller's (David Schwimmer) unfortunate love life, which all started off with his first wife Carol (Jane Sibbett). The couple shared son Ben, although Carol left Ross for Susan Bunch, played by Jessica Hecht.

The onscreen relationship between the two was groundbreaking, making history with the first lesbian wedding on network television in the episode "The One with the Lesbian Wedding", which aired on NBC on January 18, 1996.

Jane, who appeared in 15 episodes of the NBC sitcom which aired from 1994-2001 now has a very different career - as an energy healer.
The 62-year-old moved from California to Hawaii over a decade ago to pursue a career as an energy healer. Speaking about the transitioning from acting to healing and spirituality with PEOPLE, Jane said: 'When I work with the dancing hands, it's not me. It's source energy coming through me, and so I just feel nothing but bliss and joy and love when I am in this state."
Before her move to Hawaii, Jane and her hosted goddess circles for women, with groups ranging from 15 to 100 people who would partake in the spiritual activity.
The couple later launched a production company, although later split while living in Hawaii. I was on my knees because I was really broken hearted by everything, and part of that was my stuff that I had to deal with,' she told the publication.

Jane then embraced her new career as an energy healer. 'I wouldn't call it Reiki,' she said. '[My hands] just started dancing because I was never trained in Reiki, so I wouldn't even know what that is. I believe in it, I trust it [but] it's just not what I do. This wasn't trained. This just came in fully fleshed, immediately.'
In 2020, Jane opened up about the backlash she received from viewers for playing lesbian character Carol on the hit sitcom.
Speaking with Now To Love, she said: "It became apparent soon after [the show premiered] there was suddenly a responsibility about being able to stand up against all of the people that were saying this was wrong, including my own father who had a really hard time with that."
It came after the actress revealed she was initially poached for Jennifer Aniston 's role of Rachel Green before the show began filming.
However, she was unable to take on the role as she was pregnant at the time.

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I went to the Soap Awards and here's everything you DIDN'T see on TV – from axed speeches to onstage blunders
I went to the Soap Awards and here's everything you DIDN'T see on TV – from axed speeches to onstage blunders

Scottish Sun

time44 minutes ago

  • Scottish Sun

I went to the Soap Awards and here's everything you DIDN'T see on TV – from axed speeches to onstage blunders

Keep scrolling to find out what didn't make it to air inside look I went to the Soap Awards and here's everything you DIDN'T see on TV – from axed speeches to onstage blunders Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE British Soap Awards returned to screens last night after having been mysteriously axed for 2024. The ceremony, screened on ITV, was dominated by EastEnders who picked up a total of eight awards, including the prestigious Best British Soap. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 3 Jane McDonald was back to host the Soap Awards Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 3 EastEnders legend Patsy Palmer gave a memorable speech Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 3 Soap legend Denise Welch had an unaired blunder Credit: Shutterstock Editorial Jane McDonald was back in the hosting seat having taken over from axed TV star Phillip Schofield in 2023 and the night appeared to go off without a hitch. However, The Sun can exclusively reveal a number of moments which were pulled from ITV's final broadcast - including a series of faux pas' from former soap stars as well as heavily edited speeches from Jaime Winstone and Patsy Palmer. One moment that failed to make it to air involved former soap star Jan Pearson, who played Karen Hollins in now axed BBC soap Doctors. She made a triumphant comeback to the Soap Awards stage following the programme's cancellation in order to present the gong for Best On-Screen Partnership. Jan was stood alongside co-star Chris Walker to hand out the gong to EastEnders duo Rudolph Walker and Angela Wynter. However, she was forced to read out the nominations a total of THREE times. And whilst one audience mole suggested on X the re-records took place as a result of the loud cheers for Corrie pair Vicky Myers and Alison King, The Sun can reveal an entirely different reason was behind the triple taping. Actress Jan suffered an on-stage coughing fit which saw her struggle to read out the names of the nominees. She gave it three goes but was affected by her tickly throat each time. The second and third attempts were both filmed after the gong was handed out with the audience already aware of exactly who had won. British Soap Awards viewers accuse ITV of 'cutting out' chants for EastEnders actress Elsewhere, whilst hostess Jane was on top form for most of the evening, there were a handful of occasions where she was forced to do a series of re-takes despite the ceremony supposedly filming as live. One audience member told The Sun: 'The warm-up guy made it clear from the start that they were recording the ceremony as live and so everyone had to be on their best behaviour. 'It also put a lot of pressure on Jane as she was expected to rattle through her hosting duties without a hitch but with so many links to record, she was bound to mess up on a few of them.' Just moments after the show kicked off, Jane was forced to re-record one of her links about hunky Coronation Street star Jacob Roberts. The actor, who plays lothario copper PC Kit Green, caught Jane's eye and she was quick to make a joke about his good looks. However, she tripped up over her own words and was left rad-faced as she admitted she had become too flustered thinking about Jacob. The audience erupted into laughter as Jane attempted to brush off her hilarious mishap and instead re-told her joke just seconds into the event. The moment left Jacob looking down at the ground after unexpectedly becoming the centre of attention. Someone else who suffered an embarrassing blunder was awards presenter Denise Welch. She was also forced into re-filming her entire segment after a blunder with her very own CHEE award. As part of a skit, Denise was handed a joke prize by Shirlie Kemp to mark her achievement of having played roles in all four major soaps. The trophy was made out of items connected to each of the four soaps but Denise held her prize back to front meaning the audience and cameras could not see what she was referring too. Just before handing out the award for Best Newcomer, Denise was halted by bosses and instructed to re-do the entire segment again and have the trophy facing the crowd. One onlooker told The Sun: 'Denise was referring to the trophy being connected to all four soaps but no one could see anything. 'It led to a lot of blank and unimpressed expressions on the soap stars faces when the cameras cut to a close-up hoping to get a hilarious reaction from them. 'It fell a bit flat but Denise was able to pick the mood back up when she was told of her error.' During the ITV broadcast, clever camera trickery saw the award facing the correct way as Denise gave her speech. British Soap Awards 2025: Winners List Here's who took home trophys at the 2025 British Soap Awards Best Single Episode - Eastenders: Phil's Psychosis: The Mitchells In 1985 Best Young Performer - Emmerdale - Amelia Flanagan as April Windsor Scene Of The Year - Eastenders: Angie Watts' Shock Return Best Newcomer - Hollyoaks: Isabelle Smith as Frankie Osborne Villain Of The Year - Eastenders: Navin Chowdhry as Nish Panesar Best Family - Hollyoaks: The Osbornes Best Dramatic Performance - Eastenders: Steve McFadden as Phil Mitchell Best On-Screen Partnership - Eastenders: Rudolph Walker & Angela Wynter as Patrick & Yolande Trueman Outstanding Achievement Award - Coronation Street: David Neilson Best Comedy Performance - Eastenders: Patsy Palmer as Bianca Jackson The Tony Warren Award - Emmerdale: Mike Plant Best Storyline - Hollyoaks: Sibling Sexual Abuse Best Leading Performer - Eastenders: Lacey Turner as Stacey Slater Best British Soap - Eastenders Moreover, TWO star speeches were drastically cut down. Actress Jaime Winstone delivered a whopping five-minute speech that had to be edited down to less than a minute after she accepted the gong for the first award of the night for Best Single Episode. The star did not mince her words as she spoke about the honour of being part of the special episodes set in 1985 but less than half of it made it into the final edit. Patsy Palmer's X-rated speech about her vagina also saw some editing after she made a slew of vulgar jokes after accepting the award for Best Comedy Performance.

Diddy trial: Judge threatens to remove Sean Combs from courtroom
Diddy trial: Judge threatens to remove Sean Combs from courtroom

BBC News

time11 hours ago

  • BBC News

Diddy trial: Judge threatens to remove Sean Combs from courtroom

The judge presiding over Sean "Diddy" Combs' criminal trial has threatened to ban the disgraced music mogul from the courtroom for nodding and making faces at members of the Arun Subramanian called his actions "absolutely unacceptable". Mr Combs' attorneys assured the judge that it would not happen said Mr Combs was "vigorously nodding" during the cross questioning of Bryana Bongolan, a friend of Mr Combs' ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura who accused the rapper of holding her over a Combs has pled not guilty to all charges, including sex trafficking and a racketeering conspiracy. A new witness takes the stand The court also heard from a woman using the pseudonym "Jane", who dated Mr Combs between 2021 and his arrest in described the initial months of her relationship with Mr Combs as an exciting whirlwind; she said he took her on trips to Miami, and another one to Turks and Caicos, and The Bahamas. The rapper took her to upscale restaurants and she described herself as "head over heels" for she testified that Mr Combs soon asked her to participate in what prosecutors referred to as "hotel nights," when Mr Combs hired an escort in order to watch Jane engage in sexual acts with another man. The first encounter in May 2021 took place in Miami, and she believed it would be a one-off experience."That night opened a Pandora's box in our relationship," Jane told the court. "It was a door I was unable to shut for the rest of the relationship. There was so much of it after, and it was too much."What is Sean 'Diddy' Combs charged with and how long will his trial last?Was Diddy a 'mastermind'? How ex Cassie's testimony builds the sex trafficking case against himJane testified that she went along with additional encounters because "I just really loved him at that point and wanted to make him happy." But she also said "many times" that she had told Mr Combs she did not want to engage in these "hotel nights."But Mr Combs asked her to participate in several more "hotel nights" and she "felt frustrated, I felt just obligated" to go along with his wishes, she told the court. Starting in approximately April 2023, Mr Combs began paying $10,000 per-month for a home for her, she testified. Jane said the arrangement came with a sense of obligation, and the rapper had implied he did not want to pay rent for a woman he was not Combs also provided her with drugs such as ecstasy, molly, cocaine and ketamine from the onset of the relationship, she testified. She told the court she had used the substances during some of her encounters with Mr Combs as well as the "hotel nights."Her testimony will continue tomorrow, and she will later face questioning from Mr Combs' defence team. Get all the latest trial updates on the BBC Sounds 'Diddy on Trial' podcast available wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Alleged balcony incident comes under scrutiny The court also heard more intense questioning of Ms Bongolan, who the rapper's defence attorneys say has given different accounts of Mr Combs' alleged abuse at different Bongolan has accused Mr Combs of lifting her onto the rail of a balcony in a threatening altercation, and throwing her into nearby furniture, causing bruises and attorney Nicole Westmoreland asked Ms Bongolan about an allegation she made in a both a letter from a lawyer, which Ms Westmoreland said included a demand for money, and a lawsuit against Mr Combs: that during the balcony incident, the rapper had allegedly sexually assaulted Bongolan had testified in court that Mr Combs ran his hands over her chest area as he allegedly lifted her on the balcony. Ms Westmoreland repeatedly pressed her on the differences between a sexual assault allegation and her description in court of the rapper's alleged defence also accused Ms Bongolan of fabricating details of the alleged balcony incident with Mr Combs, introducing evidence that showed Mr Combs performing at a concert in New Jersey and attending events in New York on 25 and 26 September 2016. Prosecutors had previously shown a photo of a bruise on Ms Bongolan's leg, with a timestamp of 26 September 2016 in the metadata. Ms Bongolan said that she took the photo of the bruise the day after Mr Combs allegedly threw her into balcony furniture."You came in here and lied to the ladies and gentlemen of this jury," Ms Westmoreland said."I can't agree with you," Ms Bongolan in the day, prosecutors brought back up the disagreement. They displayed a text message taken from the phone of Ms Ventura, Mr Combs' ex-girlfriend, dated 30 September 2016. The text stated Mr Combs had come to her apartment in the middle of the night, choked Ms Bongolan, and held her off the balcony.

'Jane,' ex-girlfriend of Diddy, testifies feeling financially threatened into 'freak offs'
'Jane,' ex-girlfriend of Diddy, testifies feeling financially threatened into 'freak offs'

NBC News

time11 hours ago

  • NBC News

'Jane,' ex-girlfriend of Diddy, testifies feeling financially threatened into 'freak offs'

This is a free article for Diddy on Trial newsletter subscribers. to get exclusive reporting and analysis throughout Sean Combs' federal trial. A former girlfriend of Diddy's took the stand today under the pseudonym 'Jane' and testified that the music mogul pressured her to participate in drug-fueled sexual encounters known as 'freak offs.' At first, Jane said, she and Diddy shared a loving relationship beginning in 2021, giving each other the nicknames Bert and Ernie. But after her first 'freak off,' it became a 'Pandora's box' situation in which, she said, she had to oblige. The sex sessions could last between 24 and 30 hours with no sleep, Jane said. Diddy would arrange the 'freak offs' around the world. As a single mother who came to depend on Diddy, 'I felt an obligation because I knew he was paying my rent,' she testified. Known as 'Victim-2' in the prosecution's indictment, Jane is expected to testify over multiple days, presumably building on allegations that Diddy used his business empire as a criminal enterprise to fulfill his desires. Here's who else testified today: Bryana Bongolan, the friend of Casandra Ventura 's who said she was dangled over a 17th-floor balcony in Los Angeles in 2016, was on the witness stand for a second day under cross-examination. Defense lawyer Nicole Westmoreland questioned that timeline of events and showed receipts that indicated Diddy was in New York. 'You came in here and lied to the jury, isn't that true?' Westmoreland asked, to which Bongolan replied, 'I can't agree with you.' Enrique Santos, an investigative analyst for the U.S. attorney's office, briefly took the stand to talk about extracting data from cellphones. In one text message, Ventura informed a top Diddy aide about the alleged dangling incident. By Adam Reiss, Chloe Melas, Jing Feng and Austin C. Mullen In a striking moment for the otherwise mild-mannered Judge Arun Subramanian, he admonished the defense team after Diddy apparently flashed facial expressions at jurors during Bongolan's testimony. 'There was a line of questioning where your client was nodding vigorously and looking at the jury,' Subramanian said, warning that if Diddy didn't stop, 'it could result in the exclusion of your client from the courtroom.' Diddy, in an oversize cream sweater and khaki pants, had been extremely engaged with his legal team all day, passing notes and conferring with his lawyers. In the morning, he waved and blew a kiss to his mother, Janice Combs, right after proceedings began. And when one of his lawyers made objections before the jury came in, he nodded in affirmation. In other news: There were audible gasps and laughter in the courtroom overflow room with members of the public during the cross-examination of Bongolan, as Westmoreland got the witness to repeatedly say, 'I don't remember.' Westmoreland showed her legal chops again today in her exchanges with Bongolan. Meanwhile, Jane's taking the stand drew obvious interest from the media and spectators in the overflow room, with some wondering how someone so close to Diddy became a witness for the prosecution. 👨‍⚖️ Analysis: Look not guilty By Danny Cevallos Diddy was reprimanded for trying to connect with jurors. Generally, it's OK for a defendant to react to testimony, but it should be subtle. A nod or a shake of the head is acceptable. But it's also unwise. Defendants should not be showing much emotion at the defense table. It seems counterintuitive, right? After all, if you are on trial, and you believe you are innocent, wouldn't you show emotion at all these 'lies' being told about you? But for whatever reason, emotive defendants do not play well with juries. It's a paradox: The jury is constantly watching the defendant, but the defendant shouldn't actually do anything. A defense attorney once told me he advises his clients to 'just sit there and look not guilty.' But what does that mean? What it doesn't mean is acting out. No muttering under the breath. No harrumphing. And, if Diddy is trying to make eye contact or otherwise connect with jurors, that's crossing the line. It's another example of a defendant trying to engage in self-help. And that's almost always a bad idea. Tomorrow: Jane is expected to return to the stand for more questioning from prosecutors. PSA: Every night during Diddy's trial, NBC's 'Dateline' will drop special episodes of the 'True Crime Weekly' podcast to get you up to speed. 'Dateline' correspondent Andrea Canning chats with NBC News' Chloe Melas and special guests — right in front of the courthouse. Listen here. 🎧

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