Latest news with #BlackOut
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jordon Hudson's Emotional Letter to Cheerleading Team Surfaces Amid Bill Belichick Romance
A heartfelt letter written by Jordon Hudson to her former cheerleading team has come to light, just as public interest in her relationship with football coach Bill Belichick continues to grow. Hudson stepped away from the BlackOut cheer squad in December 2024. In a letter obtained by The Washington Post, she explained her decision to leave, citing scheduling conflicts and her commitment to other responsibilities. Although she admitted it might have looked like she was putting herself first during the season, Hudson stressed that wasn't the case. 'My actions were not guided by selfishness,' she said. 'Selfishly, I always would have preferred to be in the gym, with all of you, doing what I love: cheerleading.' She went on to share that the choice to leave BlackOut was not sudden. Hudson recalled being invited to join the team in July and discussing early on that she might face conflicts later in the year. As her schedule became more demanding, she said her other 'teams' needed her full attention. Her letter also addressed the attention her personal life had brought to the team. 'I want to apologize for the baggage that comes with having me around,' Hudson wrote. She thanked her teammates for their patience through media attention and disruptions at practice. 'I know none of you asked for that.' Hudson acknowledged that stepping down meant someone else would take her place on the team—someone who could be more consistent. 'This decision was not made lightly,' she said. The letter ended on a personal note, with Hudson thanking the team for helping her feel grounded during a tough time in her life. 'I have faced a slow, exterior erasure of my strong, individual identity,' she wrote, adding that her teammates helped keep her 'intact.' The letter has resurfaced just as Hudson's relationship with 73-year-old Belichick has gained more attention. The couple has faced heavy scrutiny since Hudson stopped an interview question on "CBS News Sunday Morning" asking how they met. They later appeared together at the Miss Maine USA pageant, where Hudson competed but finished in third place. While some critics have voiced concern over the relationship, Hudson has remained mostly quiet, letting her actions and, in this case, her words, speak for themselves. She closed her letter with appreciation and understanding. 'Leaving the team means giving up a part of myself,' she wrote, 'but I still recognize that this is the best decision for both my team(s) and for BlackOut.'
Fox News
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Bill Belichick's girlfriend Jordon Hudson says relationship led to 'identity erasure' in letter to cheer team
Bill Belichick's controversial 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson said she experienced an identity "erasure" in a recent letter to her cheerleading teammates, according to The Washington Post. A letter obtained by the outlet showed Hudson apologizing to the members of her adult cheerleading team BlackOut, and thanking them for "tolerating… baggage" related to her romance. "During this time I have faced a slow, exterior erasure of my strong, individual identity. I can't thank you [enough] for helping keep that in tact by embracing me, for me. It is so difficult for me to give up my time with you, because I feel like I am giving up a part of myself in the process," read the letter, which was dated Dec. 14, 2024. "I want to take a moment to both apologize for, and simultaneously thank you for all of the 'baggage' that comes with having me around; from the interlopers at practice, to the subsequent media exploitation, to the lack of dependability." The letter ultimately stated her decision to leave, insisting it was the best decision for the team. The Maine native has become one of the most notorious figures in football in recent weeks. Her romantic relationship, and now business relationship, with Belichick has prompted multiple controversies and concerns about the coach's current mindset and reputation. With Belichick set to lead UNC's football program in 2025, Hudson has been a visible and involved presence in the program's operations. Since the university hired Belichick in December, Hudson has served in an unofficial role on the football program, which includes being copied on all emails sent to Belichick, per multiple reports. Meanwhile, a report by The Athletic suggests Hudson also played a role in preventing UNC from being featured in an offseason special of HBO's popular "Hard Knocks" series. "Jordon Hudson, Belichick's girlfriend, played an instrumental role in stopping the production, related to her request to be heavily involved in the project, according to multiple industry sources briefed on the negotiations," the report read. Hudson recently exclaimed a now-infamous line during Belichick's "CBS News Sunday Morning" interview. When interviewer Tony Dokoupil asked Belichick how he and Hudson met, she interjected, "We're not talking about this." Belichick later released a statement through UNC addressing the incident, accusing CBS of trying to create a "false narrative." The coach said he "clearly communicated" to his publicist, Simon & Schuster, that any promotional interviews would be "solely" on his upcoming book, "The Art of Winning – Lessons from My Life in Football," but the network didn't honor that request. "I was surprised when unrelated topics were introduced and I repeatedly expressed to the reporter, Tony Dokoupil, and the producers that I preferred to keep the conversation centered on the book," the statement read. "After [this] occurred several times, Jordon, with whom I share both a personal and professional relationship, stepped in to reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion. She was not deflecting any specific question or topic but simply doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track." CBS responded with its own statement. "When we agreed to speak with Mr. Belichick, it was for a wide-ranging interview," a CBS News spokesperson said in a statement on X. "There were no preconditions or limitations to this conversation. This was confirmed repeatedly with his publisher before the interview took place and after it was completed." Hudson was caught up in another disputed report related to UNC on Friday. Independent journalist Pablo Torre reported that she was barred from North Carolina's athletics facilities and football field. However, the university disputed Torre's report. "While Jordon Hudson is not an employee at the University or Carolina Athletics, she is welcome to the Carolina Football facilities. Jordon will continue to manage all activities related to Coach Belichick's personal brand outside of his responsibilities for Carolina Football and the University," the school said. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Daily Mirror
07-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mirror
'A tiny mouse saved my mum's life during World War II'
A survivor of the Sheffield Blitz during World II has told how an incredible stroke of luck saved her life Ruby Gascoigne owed her life to a tiny mouse who scared her into shutting up the sweet shop early. A few hours later the store was blasted to bits during the blitz of Sheffield in World War II. The city centre store would normally remain open until 8pm as it was near a cinema and families would grab some snacks. Ruby once explained: 'The nights were gloomy and eerie in the Black Out. The window could only show a very small light to denote being open. 'Around 6.15pm I was scared as a mouse was running around the shelves. I wasn't staying to do with the mouse, so I took a chance and locked up to go home' Ruby had only just got home when the sirens went and Sheffield was bombarded for nearly nine hours. 'The next morning I went to find out about the shop. Apparently it had been wiped out with a land mine in the first hour of the raid. The air raid shelter I should have gone in with the shopkeepers was demolished.' Amazingly the tin of cash she'd put under the counter was intact. As a result of being out of work, Ruby ended up working in Sheffield steelworks and on her first day was left in tears at the baggy boiler suit she had to wear. To stop the tears stayed up all night making alterations. Her daughter in law Lisa Gascoigne, 55, said: 'She never wore trousers again all her life. ' Her son Kevin Gascoigne, 68, 'Mum would share her stories all the time with us and the mouse story was her favourite. But her fear of mice continued all her life. 'Only a few years ago before she died she shot up to my brother's house and refused to go home because there was a mouse. We teased her and told her it was that one who saved her life coming back to visit.' He told how his mum joined the fight for a statue to the women of steel. 'She was determined she would not die until the statue was built. When it was unveiled she was really proud, all of them were proud. It was a fantastic day. It gave her a new lease for life.' VE Day: 80th Anniversary Magazine Specials To commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, we bring you two special special collector's magazines that look back at events that led to the end of World War II in Europe and marked a new era. In the VE Day 80: Anniversary Collector's Edition we share photographs from the street parties that were held all over Britain, while esteemed author and journalist Paul Routledge paints a picture of how the day was bittersweet, mixed with jubilation and hope for the future, as well as sadness and regret for the past. Routledge also recounts the key events of the Second World War, including Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain and Pearl Harbour. The magazine costs £9.99. Also available is World War Two - A History in 50 Photographs, a definitive pictorial account of the war. Carefully chosen from hundreds of thousands of images, this commemorative magazine shares 50 exceptional photographs - including many rarely seen shots - that capture the devastating moments, horror, hope and eventual triumph of World War Two. The magazine costs £6.99. You can buy your copies here! Ruby would often talk about her time in the steelworks and how she was teased by her male colleagues because she was so innocent and young. 'In the blackouts they would fill those old fashioned condoms full of water and leave them hanging from the roof, so when they ran through the factory to get to the shelter they'd be banging into these condoms.' Or they'd use poles to move the blackout curtains pretending to be ghosts. But in the end she quite liked working there," he said. Ruby ended up working in the lab making steel for the Mulberry harbours, portable harbours used off the coast of Normandy for D-Day in World War II. She ended up married to her sweetheart Frank Gascoigne, after both his parents, air wardens, were killed in the blitz. He died aged 64 in 1984. Ruby, who died aged 94 in 2018, almost didn't marry Frank after he got too jealous of all the men who knew her. 'Because Ruby had worked in Steelworks with lots of men, they were forever saying hello to her in the cinema queues, 'you all right Rube?' Kevin explained. 'He was upset about it and she told him 'either you get your head round it now or we are over'. It cleared the air and they went on to five children together and were very happy. "
