Latest news with #GeffenRecords
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Billionaire David Geffen, 82, Files for Divorce from David Armstrong, 32, After Less Than 2 Years of Marriage and No Prenup
Billionaire David Geffen has filed for divorce from his husband David Armstrong after less than two years of marriage The 82-year-old former record executive and the 32-year-old dancer did not sign a prenup before marrying in March 2023 However, Geffen is set to pay Armstrong spousal support and his attorney's feesBillionaire David Geffen has filed for divorce from his husband David Armstrong after less than two years of marriage. According to the divorce filing, which was obtained by PEOPLE, the 82-year-old music mogul and the 32-year-old dancer (who also goes by Donovan Michaels) did not sign a prenup before marrying in March 2023. In the petition, filed in Los Angeles on Friday, May 16, Geffen cites "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for their split. The couple's date of separation is marked as Feb. 22, 2025, and celebrity divorce attorney Laura Wasser is representing Geffen. TMZ was the first to report the news. In 1971, Geffen co-founded Asylum Records and he later founded Geffen Records in 1980 and DGC Records in 1990. The mogul also co-founded DreamWorks Records in 1996. He is now retired, and Forbes has reported that his net worth may be around $8.7 billion. is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! Much of Geffen's income consists of stocks and equities in property, and California law states that dividends from stocks remain separate, probably leaving Armstrong without much cash in the split, according to TMZ. However, California law also requires divorce petitioners to pay spousal support for half the length of the marriage, meaning that Armstrong would receive payments for one year. Geffen will also pay his now-estranged husband's spousal support and attorney's fees, per the filing. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Geffen was previously romantically linked to Cher in the 1970s, and later came out as gay in 1992. Although Geffen and Armstrong have not shared how they met, the New York Post previously reported that Armstrong, who used to work as a model, dancer and fitness instructor, trained Geffen. Although the two were private about their relationship over the course of their marriage, Geffen shared photos of himself and Armstrong on Instagram, including in December 2021, when he posted a now-deleted photo of the pair enjoying time together on his mega yacht, the Rising Sun (valued at $400 million). "Merry Christmas indeed!" Geffen captioned the photo. Read the original article on People
News.com.au
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Billionaire David Geffen, 82, files for divorce from go-go dancer husband, 32, without prenup
Entertainment billionaire, David Geffen, has filed for divorce from his husband David Armstrong, after less than two years of marriage. The 82-year-old mogul tied the knot with the go-go dancer, 32, who goes by Donovan Michaels when he performs, in 2023 and the two did not sign a prenup. With the help of well known divorce lawyer Laura Wasser, Geffen cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for their split, according to TMZ. Despite not signing a prenup, Forbes puts the retired businessman's net worth to be $8.7 billion. Geffen co-founded Asylum Records in 1971, founded Geffen Records in 1980 and DGC Records in 1990, and co-found DreamWorks Records in 1996. However, the record executive has been retired for 15 years and his income now consists of stocks and equities, which are separate property. Per California law, dividends from stocks remain separate, which could possibly leave Armstrong without a large cash settlement. The performer will receive spousal support for a year, however, since under California law, spouses receive payment for half the length of their marriage. Geffen will also pay Armstrong's spousal support and lawyer's fees, TMZ reported, citing divorce documents. The pair reportedly first met in 2020 when Armstrong served as a personal trainer for Geffen before marrying in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills. In 2023, details surrounding Armstrong's past came to light. His former friends told The Post at the time that the dancer's income stems from picking up odd jobs in New York and Miami. The go-go dancer was born David Armstrong in Michigan, until he began going by Brandon Foster after relocating to Florida in 2014. The trainer started dancing and promoting parties at gay clubs around Miami including 'clothing optional' pool parties 'along with plenty of other hot sexy guys.' Armstrong was no stranger to flaunting his toned physique in Instagram photos, with one shot from September 2014. The caption added he would 'put on a good show' for anyone who would pay for his footage. Two years later, around 2016, Armstrong left Florida for New York City, where he took on his new name. A former girlfriend revealed she only knew Armstrong to date women. But due to the fact he liked adventure and would dive head first into situations, his former flame wasn't shocked by his marriage. 'I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, he's very attractive,' she shared. 'He would tell me people just assumed that he was into guys from what he posts on Instagram.' 'I know that he was getting comments like that from gay men, that he was really attractive and in really good shape.' At the time, pictures of Geffen and Armstrong spotted at a New York City heliport surfaced. The photos showed Geffen flashing a gold band on his ring finger. Another one of Armstrong's friends told The Post the former fitness guru 'was always looking for his next adventure and was really determined to improve his life.' Sources noted that Armstrong also came from 'very humble beginnings' in Imlay City, Michigan, a town of just 4,000 people and was one of 13 children. A former pal revealed he was 'super secretive' and rarely divulged his past. 'It took a while to really get to know him because he was really private about his past,' said the former friend. They explained Armstrong was 'always searching for something to help him understand his past and what he experienced.' 'I think he rebelled a lot when he was younger, and that was a big part of why he left,' the friend confessed.
Straits Times
12-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Billionaire art collectors fight over Giacometti sculpture The Nose
Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and American entertainment executive David Geffen are each claiming to be the rightful owner of Alberto Giacometti's 'Le Nez' (The Nose, above). PHOTO: FONDATION ALBERTO ET ANNETTE GIACOMETTI, PARIS NEW YORK - Billionaire art collectors rarely air their deals or dirty laundry out in public. But a battle between a pair of boldfaced names over a Giacometti sculpture is now playing out in the open, shining a rare light on a global market featuring unlicensed agents, multimillion-dollar handshake deals and pervasive secrecy. Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, 34, and American entertainment executive David Geffen, 82, are slinging written accusations at each other in federal court in New York, each claiming to be the rightful owner of Alberto Giacometti's 'Le Nez' (The Nose). Along a trail stretching from New York to Singapore to Paris and back to the United States, Mr Sun says there sculpture was secretly sold by a dishonest adviser and sued for its return from Mr Geffen, who recently struck back, accusing Mr Sun of devising an elaborate fraud because he regrets the sale. Adding to the tangle is an agent who might or might not be to blame, and might or might not be in a Chinese detention center. At a 2021 auction in New York, Mr Sun, who founded the crypto platform Tron in Singapore, paid US$78.4 million (S$101.7 million) for Le Nez, a mid-century work of bronze, steel and iron depicting a head, suspended in an open cage and boasting a very long nose. Mr Geffen, who is the founder of Geffen Records, in turn, bought the sculpture in 2024 while it was on loan to the Giacometti Institute in Paris. But in early 2025, Mr Sun sued, alleging that an adviser who sold it to Mr Geffen, for US$10.5 million and two unnamed paintings, had done so without his permission, forging documents and inventing a nonexistent Chinese lawyer to make the deal. The accused adviser was publicly connected with Mr Sun and his art purchases for years and spoke about advising him on his bid for the Giacometti and other pieces. In April, Mr Geffen sued Mr Sun, accusing him of concocting a 'sham' story about his adviser making an illegitimate sale. In reality, he charged, Mr Sun had 'seller's remorse' after trying to sell the paintings included in the deal, but finding they did not fetch offers as high as he had hoped. Mr Sun's lawyers fired the latest salvo on May 7, telling the court that Mr Geffen is 'completely misguided' and should actually be suing the adviser, who they say has been detained in China since February 'in connection with her confessed fraud and theft' – a claim that could not be independently verified. A lawyer for Mr Sun, Mr William Charron, said in an email that Mr Geffen's claims are 'desperate and bizarre' and that he is clinging to a 'fiction' that the adviser is not a thief. Whether there was really a theft is crucial, but will not necessarily decide the case, art lawyers say. If the adviser transferred the sculpture without authority, Mr Sun could be named the rightful owner. Or Mr Geffen could keep the sculpture if his reliance on her representations was reasonable. 'I've been in the art world for decades and I've seen so many shady deals. It's a business like nothing else,' said Mr Joshua Kaufman, an art lawyer in Washington, D.C. 'Either side's version could be true.' There are many facts in dispute and Mr Sun's case faces an 'uphill battle,' said Ms Jana Farmer, an art lawyer in New York. The claims and counterclaims fill hundreds of pages, and the gaps between the billionaires' accounts are vast. Mr Sun says his adviser was a freelancer perpetrating an 'elaborate ruse.' Mr Geffen contends that Mr Sun has been trying to delete text messages and evidence on the internet. Practically the only thing they appear to agree on is that the paintings traded in the 2024 deal are not to be publicly identified. The secrecy is most likely to avoid tainting the paintings' value with the fight over the sculpture, experts say. Mr Sun is no stranger to controversy, in the art world and beyond. He made waves in 2024 with his US$6.2 million purchase of a conceptual piece consisting of a banana taped to a wall, and prides himself on challenging traditional notions of value. In 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused him and Tron of fraudulently inflating the price of their crypto tokens. Mr Sun drew criticism for spending US$75 million in late 2024 on crypto tokens linked to Mr Donald Trump in what was seen as an effort to influence the incoming president to abandon the case, which he denied. The case was stayed by a judge at the government's request in 2025. Mr Geffen is a major collector who began buying art before Mr Sun was born. The case against him by Mr Sun challenges Mr Geffen's ownership of Le Nez and his 'great standing' as a savvy collector, Ms Farmer said, 'and tries to put his reputation on the line.' She said she thinks the billionaire collectors will ultimately settle their unusually public dispute. If so, it could be only a brief glimpse into a mystery-shrouded business before the shades are drawn again. NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Forbes
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Another Dumb Blonde' At 25: Hoku's Breakout ‘Snow Day' Hit Captured The Last Gasp Of Millennial Innocence
Nostalgia exists for every generation, of course, but given the fact that they were raised on a steadily increasing diet of internet access, millennials have found unique ways of communally expressing their almost indescribable longing for the past. A constant online juxtaposition between what is and what once was creates a wistful, and oftentimes jaded, dissonance for individuals who grew up in that sweet spot between the mid-1990s and early 2000s. Songs, film, television, toys, food, and even the quality of sunshine seemed more…vibrant. Yeah, it could be that we were all more present, more in-the-moment prior to the rise of social media and omnipresent screens, which negatively warped our perception of reality. And sure, it could also be a byproduct of rose-tinted glasses; our penchant to dampen the chaos of an eternally harsh world by forcing it through the naive simplicity of childhood, when the grown-ups would make all the tough decisions for awhile. But maybe, just maybe, there was something truly unique about that brief period in time. The musical artist known as Hoku (born Hoku Clements) was already a young adult when she got her big break at the turn of the millennium, and remembers it vividly. "I do look back on that time and it feels just like golden, innocent, bathed in teal and pink and summer and sunlight,' the Hawaii native tells me over Zoom as we discuss her self-titled debut album, celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary this week. Released under the Geffen Records banner, Hoku prominently featured the singer's breakout pop single, 'Another Dumb Blonde,' written by successful Rock Mafia co-founders/producers Antonina Armato and Tim James, the former of whom signed Clements to a production deal. 'I had been recording all these [demo] The Billboard-charting song was recorded and promoted as the marquee track for 2000's Snow Day, a Nickelodeon-produced coming-of-age comedy starring Chevy Chase, Jean Smart, and Chris Elliott. 'I remember we got hooked up with Nickelodeon and that movie pretty early on,' Hoku remembers. 'That really kicked things off, because then I did The Big Help with them, and that was my first big performance at the Palladium in LA. I noticed that once Nickelodeon was involved, once we were hitched onto that pony, things did go from there. It gave us a nice vehicle to rock it out with.' The American Graffiti-esque Snow Day, in which a group of kids discover love and freedom over the course of a wintry day off from school, was emblematic of the films Nickelodeon tended to make at the time. Like Max Keeble's Big Move and Big Fat Liar in the years that followed, the movie celebrated the wonderful and rebellious possibilities of childhood. Despite being played by big name actors, the adult characters had no power in these worlds and were often the main source of conflict — not to mention the eventual butt of the joke. 'It is kind of a bygone era now that you mention it,' muses Hoku. 'I haven't really thought of it before, but they're not really making programming the same way … And it was sad to hear about some of the scandals that came out Nickelodeon later because … everyone [I worked with in those days] While it technically has nothing to do with snow, 'Another Dumb Blonde' — which plays twice throughout the movie (once in the story proper and then again during the end credits) — the song embodies the invigorating agency and crushing disappointments of youth. The super-catchy lyrics told from the perspective of a young woman finding the confidence to dump her cheating boyfriend recalls the impassioned pleas of Dolores O'Riordan in The Cranberries' 'Linger." More than just a simple break-up song, it's a fiery and touching tribute to the rollercoaster ride that is the adolescent experience. It doesn't matter whether you're trying to stop a snowplow driver from clearing the roads in order to get an extra day off from school, or working up the confidence to tell someone how you feel about them. 'Another Dumb Blonde' somehow recalls those formative experiences, beautifully capturing the highs and lows of growing up. 'Ultimately, it's a really empowering song, which never goes out of fashion,' the artist agrees. 'I think it did really resonate with people at the time. It had this sassy thing that lent to my image and that carefree kind of summer feeling. That's timeless and something everyone goes through. The feeling of, 'I'm not being appreciated, you're dismissing me, you're minimizing my value.' So as long as that is a thing, I feel like 'Another Dumb Blonde' will have relevance." A little over a year later, Hoku saw the release of a second hit single, 'Perfect Day,' which played as the main theme for Legally Blonde. As fans have pointed out many times over the years, Snow Day should have swapped its main song with the Reese Witherspoon classic. 'It's so funny because I literally said that to my label when this was all happening back in the day,' Hoku reveals. 'And they were like, 'Oh no, no. It's fine. No one will even notice.' Literally, almost every single person who interviews me or talks to me about this asks about that. I wasn't in charge of any of that stuff back then, but I would have flipped them, for sure.'" The carefree millennial illusion was shattered just two months after Legally Blonde in the wake of the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center. For many who had come of age in the quietly prosperous '90s, that terrible day marked the death of childhood innocence. There was no coming back. 'It's sad to think of that,' says Hoku, who was actually in New York at the time for the Disney Channel in Concert tour. 'Things really did change. There's just this layer of disillusionment and cynicism that couldn't help but settle across everything. Pop culture is, in a lot of ways, a reflection of where we are as a society. Not perfectly, but it's an art-form. It's art reflecting back the world as artists see it. So you can't help but have some of that cynicism make its way into it … It was definitely a big before and after moment for everything, including pop culture.' With the passage of time, however, 'Another Dumb Blonde" (along with its contemporaries) has become a comfortingly nostalgic time capsule with the power to transport the listener back to a simpler time. A time when kids were the masters of their own destiny with the entire world laid out before them. 'It was a short period of my life and there were a lot of ups and downs at that time. But it's these conversations, just hearing from people who connected with and have these beautiful memories attached to my music, [that I love]," finishes Hoku. 'I've moved on with my life. I have a whole family and a whole life beyond that now … but it's really moving and touching for me. It's been a blessing to see how it's unfurled as time has moved on.' Hoku Courtesy of Matthew Morgan
Korea Herald
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Katseye to perform new digital single in Korea
Girl group Katseye will return to Korea with the new single 'Gnarly,' according to Hybe Labels and Geffen Records on Sunday. The multinational group of six will drop the song and music video Wednesday and take to the stage on television music chart shows in Korea from May 1. It will be returning about seven months after it promoted two main tracks from the debut EP, 'Soft Is Strong' — 'Debut' and 'Touch.' The latter generated 100 million streams on Spotify. As hinted through the teaser video for 'Gnarly,' the six members will go for a stronger image, taking a sharp turn from the upbeat and lovely concepts of its previous endeavors. In July, it will perform at Lollapalooza Chicago, which will be headlined by the likes of Twice as well as Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter and Tyler, the Creator.
