Latest news with #Takei
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
George Takei believes our democracy will be OK — once the 'Klingon president' is out of office
Before George Takei broke out with his role on 'Star Trek' and became a cultural icon, his last name was often mispronounced. Instead of 'tuh-kay,' some people would say 'tuck-eye.' 'I told them that's a mispronunciation, but I don't object to it because the word takai in Japanese means 'expensive,'' the actor and advocate says during a recent Zoom call from Boston. 'In fact, I told this to ['Star Trek' creator] Gene Roddenberry when he was interviewing me and he said, 'Oh my goodness, a producer doesn't like to call an actor expensive. Takei is OK.'' Having to educate people about his name is one of the reasons he included it in the playful title of his latest graphic memoir, 'It Rhymes With Takei.' 'I didn't want it to be in their face,' says Takei. 'I thought I'd use [my name] in the title and make the reader work a little bit … Takai? Takei? May, day, pay, say, gay. Oh, gay!' Read more: George Takei on his childhood in internment camps — and his faith in the future Out Tuesday, 'It Rhymes With Takei' is about the actor's experiences growing up gay at a time when it was much less safe — and thus less common — to be out. The book details Takei's story from his earliest childhood crushes to being compelled to come out in 2005 and becoming the outspoken LGBTQ+ rights activist he is today. For 'It Rhymes With Takei,' the author once again teamed up with writers Steven Scott and Justin Eisinger and artist Harmony Becker, his collaborators for 'They Called Us Enemy,' the 2019 graphic memoir about Takei's childhood imprisonment in incarceration camps during World War II. Takei is no stranger to sharing personal stories. In addition to his books, he has been the subject of a documentary. There is a musical loosely inspired by his time in wartime incarceration camps. In the last 20 years, he's also discussed his experiences as a gay man, especially as it relates to the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, but "It Rhymes With Takei" is his first deep dive into his full story. Born in Boyle Heights, Takei was just 5 when he and his family were forced out of their Los Angeles home as part of the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during the war. Because he was unjustly persecuted for his identity and perceived as 'different,' when he realized he was different in another way, he kept it close to his chest. 'I grew up behind very real barbed wire fences, but I created my own invisible barbed wire fence … and lived most of my adult life closeted,' says Takei, 88, who came out when he was 68. 'My most personal issue had me imprisoned. … It was a different society that I grew up in. Being closeted was the way to survive if you're LGBTQ.' 'But at the same time as I remained closeted, society was starting to change,' Takei continues. 'It was changing because some LGBTQ people were brave enough [and] determined enough to come out and be active and vocal and engaged.' Since coming out in 2005, Takei has been vocal about issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community, wielding his quick wit and gentlemanly poise — as well as his massive platform — to denounce discrimination, blast homophobic public figures and call out other injustices. Read more: George Takei's 'They Called Us Enemy' shows injustice through a child's eyes In 2011, for instance, Takei offered his name to be used as an alternative to the word 'gay' when Tennessee lawmakers were moving to prohibit teachers from any discussion of sexual orientation in the classroom. He continued to speak out against the so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bill when more states were pushing versions through their legislatures during a surge in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in 2022. As Takei shares stories about his family moving to Skid Row after being released from the wartime incarceration camps, getting introduced to radio and comic books as he adjusted to his new life and the aspirational ideals upheld by 'Star Trek,' he occasionally glances offscreen to banter with his husband, Brad, who is out of frame but close enough to interject if he chooses. They're the sort of comfortable exchanges that come naturally between longtime couples. But for most of his life, Takei believed that he could not be out if he wanted to pursue an acting career. He'd seen firsthand how rumors or getting outed affected the careers of others. And Takei admits that he felt guilty watching fellow members of the LGBTQ+ community as they fought for their rights while he remained silent. When then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a marriage equality bill passed by California's legislature in 2005, Takei knew he could no longer remain on the sidelines. 'I was so raging with anger,' says Takei, who did not reference Schwarzenegger by name. 'We were getting so close [to marriage equality] and I was really elated. But we had a governor that was campaigning by saying, 'I have no problem with it but I'm against it.' … When the bill passed by both the Senate and the Assembly [and] landed on his desk, he vetoed it.' 'The hypocrite,' Takei continues with a raised voice, alluding to Schwarzenegger's extramarital affair. 'I was so angry and determined to come out and join in on the fight.' Takei already had a reputation for fighting for causes he believed in. He volunteered with a humanitarian organization and was involved with student government at Mt Vernon Junior High. He was active in local politics in the 1970s and '80s. He'd also long been a part of the civil rights movement and opposed the Vietnam War. 'Participation in democracy, taking on the responsibility of democracy, was something that I was taught as a teenager to put our internment in context,' says Takei. 'That led me to volunteer for other causes.' Takei credits his father for instilling this sense of responsibility in him. As a teenager, when Takei became interested in understanding his childhood imprisonment beyond his own memories, he would sit down with his father after dinner to ask him about their time in the incarceration camps. During these conversations, Takei says his father would quote Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. ''Ours is the government of the people, by the people and for the people,'' says Takei. 'Those are noble ideals. That's what makes American democracy great. But the weakness of American democracy is also in those words … because the people are fallible. They make mistakes.' Even as these hard-fought rights have been backsliding in recent years as more states have moved to pass anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, Takei remains hopeful. 'Life is cyclical,' says Takei. 'It goes in circles. … We're constantly changing and transforming our society and ourselves.' He points to how the Alien Enemies Act, which was invoked during World War II to wrongly justify the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans, is once again being cited by the current administration in its efforts to deport immigrants. (Takei's comments preceded the immigration raids and protests that occurred in L.A. over the weekend.) 'We have this egocentric monster [in office]," says Takei, raising his voice a second time. "He's power-crazy and ... now he's causing all sorts of outrageous inhumanity — it's beyond injustice, it's inhumanity — and we're going through that again. The same thing that we went through [when we were] artificially categorized as enemy alien in 1942.' Takei never once mentions Trump by name, instead calling him "a Klingon president," referencing a well-known alien race from the "Star Trek" franchise. "Klingons are the great threat to a more enlightened society who can see diversity as their strength," says Takei. "We've got to be rid of him." The depictions of Klingons have shifted over the years, but it's clear Takei is invoking the more brutal, prideful and authoritarian version introduced in the original series in the 1960s. And in Roddenberry's more idyllic vision of the future, humanity's strength is in its diversity. ("Infinite diversity in infinite combinations," says Takei.) 'I'm still optimistic,' says Takei. 'These momentary blips in history eventually get overcome and are left behind. We will find our true path.' Get the latest book news, events and more in your inbox every Saturday. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
USA Today
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
George Takei gets candid about coming out, feud with Trump: 'Biggest Klingon around'
George Takei gets candid about coming out, feud with Trump: 'Biggest Klingon around' George Takei didn't come out as gay until he was 68, but don't refer to it as his time in the closet. A more apt word would be 'imprisoned,' he tells USA TODAY. The 'Star Trek' actor knows what it's like to be imprisoned – when he was 5 years old, during World War II, soldiers carrying rifles marched up to his house and took him and his family to Japanese internment camps. He spent part of his childhood behind barbed wire. Takei has written several books, including a first-hand account of his time at those camps in 'They Called Us Enemy.' In his latest book, 'It Rhymes With Takei' (out now from Penguin Random House), the actor gives his most intimate look yet at coming out as gay, as well as a look back at his childhood, adulthood, political activism and acting career. George Takei shares coming out story in new book 'It Rhymes With Takei' is a graphic novel, an intentional choice to give it accessibility, Takei says. His youth was a 'childhood of deprivation,' with no radio or newspapers, 'moving around at the point of a bayonet,' he says. When his family was released and moved to Skid Row, it was comic books that opened up his world. Takei hopes his graphic memoir – with bright colors and engaging illustrations by Harmony Becker, Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott – will reach audiences young and old. He especially wants it to resonate with young activists. The title 'It Rhymes With Takei' is a callback to a signature humorous Takei take. In 2011, he fired back at 'don't say gay' legislation introduced in Tennessee by lending his name to the cause because it rhymes (he pronounces his last name ta-kay, not tak-eye). 'If you're in a festive mood, you can march in a Takei Pride parade!' Takei said in a 2011 YouTube video. Takei's first acting gig was pretending to be straight. He realized he was different from his heterosexual peers shortly after his family got out of internment. Today, he uses the word 'imprisoned' because that's what it felt like – when he left the barbed wires of his childhood, he felt similarly confined living inauthentically. Though he had relationships with men throughout most of his adult life, he didn't come out until 2005. In the years leading up to that, he'd watched close friends die from AIDS. He saw more and more activists speaking out. Not being open about his sexuality came 'with a sense of guilt,' Takei says. Though he'd been with now-husband Brad Altman for 20 years, their relationship was mostly secret. He never felt he could be his 'whole self,' he writes in the book. 'Here I am protecting my job, my career, what I want to do, while others who had the same difference that I did were sacrificing all that and actively engaging with the larger society and making progress,' he tells USA TODAY. The eventual catalyst was when former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would legalize gay marriage in California. In 2008, when it became legal, Takei and Altman were the first same-sex couple to apply for a marriage license in West Hollywood. Now, two decades after coming out, he's found the 'whole' George Takei. 'It feels very liberating,' Takei says. 'I don't have to be on my guard, kind of mentally fencing and saying what I want to say but without giving myself away. I developed that skill, but now I don't need to. I can be candid and forthright.' George Takei slams Trump, anti-LGBTQ legislation in new book Among the topics he's unabashedly speaking about is President Donald Trump, who vowed to use the Alien Enemies Act to round up certain groups of immigrants. The same law was used to detain Japanese Americans, like Takei's family. 'We obviously have not learned a lesson from that chapter of American history,' Takei says. Takei has a long history of activism and public service, from volunteering with the Red Cross as a teenager to working on democratic political campaigns to serving on a Southern California committee to initiate and plan the Los Angeles subway system. He was a member of an anti-war activist group in Hollywood alongside Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland. He protested nuclear testing and once ran for the LA City Council. Since he came out, he's been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. In 2013, after he appeared on a season of Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice," Takei met Trump for lunch inside Trump Tower in New York, hoping to make the case for the 'financial benefits' of marriage equality to him. He was unsuccessful. Then in 2015, Trump told Time Magazine he might have supported internment. At the time, Takei was starring in a Broadway musical inspired by his family's internment experience, 'Allegiance.' Takei saved Trump a seat in the audience every night. 'If you want to see how tough it was from the comfort of your seat, you can be there with us in the camps and get a glimpse of what it was like for families like mine who were unjustly imprisoned thanks to a politics of fear, much like the one you're campaigning on,' Takei said in a YouTube video at the time. Trump never showed. Ten years and two Trump administrations later, Takei fears for the state of democracy under the leader he calls 'the biggest Klingon around,' a reference to the humanoid alien antagonists in 'Star Trek.' A few things give him hope, however, namely that 'the Republicans are starting to fight amongst themselves.' 'Change is constant and change will come,' Takei says. 'I'm working to make sure that we participate in making it a better, more responsible democracy. No more Klingons.' Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
George Takei believes our democracy will be OK — once the ‘Klingon president' is out of office
Before George Takei broke out with his role on 'Star Trek' and became a cultural icon, his last name was often mispronounced. Instead of 'tuh-kay,' some people would say 'tuck-eye.' 'I told them that's a mispronunciation, but I don't object to it because the word takai in Japanese means 'expensive,'' the actor and advocate says during a recent Zoom call from Boston. 'In fact, I told this to ['Star Trek' creator] Gene Roddenberry when he was interviewing me and he said, 'Oh my goodness, a producer doesn't like to call an actor expensive. Takei is OK.'' Having to educate people about his name is one of the reasons he included it in the playful title of his latest graphic memoir, 'It Rhymes With Takei.' 'I didn't want it to be in their face,' says Takei. 'I thought I'd use [my name] in the title and make the reader work a little bit … Takai? Takei? May, day, pay, say, gay. Oh, gay!' Out Tuesday, 'It Rhymes With Takei' is about the actor's experiences growing up gay at a time when it was much less safe — and thus less common — to be out. The book details Takei's story from his earliest childhood crushes to being compelled to come out in 2005 and becoming the outspoken LGBTQ+ rights activist he is today. For 'It Rhymes With Takei,' the author once again teamed up with writers Steven Scott and Justin Eisinger and artist Harmony Becker, his collaborators for 'They Called Us Enemy,' the 2019 graphic memoir about Takei's childhood imprisonment in incarceration camps during World War II. Takei is no stranger to sharing personal stories. In addition to his books, he has been the subject of a documentary. There is a musical loosely inspired by his time in wartime incarceration camps. In the last 20 years, he's also discussed his experiences as a gay man, especially as it relates to the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, but 'It Rhymes With Takei' is his first deep dive into his full story. Born in Boyle Heights, Takei was just 5 when he and his family were forced out of their Los Angeles home as part of the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during the war. Because he was unjustly persecuted for his identity and perceived as 'different,' when he realized he was different in another way, he kept it close to his chest. 'I grew up behind very real barbed wire fences, but I created my own invisible barbed wire fence … and lived most of my adult life closeted,' says Takei, 88, who came out when he was 68. 'My most personal issue had me imprisoned. … It was a different society that I grew up in. Being closeted was the way to survive if you're LGBTQ.' 'But at the same time as I remained closeted, society was starting to change,' Takei continues. 'It was changing because some LGBTQ people were brave enough [and] determined enough to come out and be active and vocal and engaged.' Since coming out in 2005, Takei has been vocal about issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community, wielding his quick wit and gentlemanly poise — as well as his massive platform — to denounce discrimination, blast homophobic public figures and call out other injustices. In 2011, for instance, Takei offered his name to be used as an alternative to the word 'gay' when Tennessee lawmakers were moving to prohibit teachers from any discussion of sexual orientation in the classroom. He continued to speak out against the so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bill when more states were pushing versions through their legislatures during a surge in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in 2022. As Takei shares stories about his family moving to Skid Row after being released from the wartime incarceration camps, getting introduced to radio and comic books as he adjusted to his new life and the aspirational ideals upheld by 'Star Trek,' he occasionally glances offscreen to banter with his husband, Brad, who is out of frame but close enough to interject if he chooses. They're the sort of comfortable exchanges that come naturally between longtime couples. But for most of his life, Takei believed that he could not be out if he wanted to pursue an acting career. He'd seen firsthand how rumors or getting outed affected the careers of others. And Takei admits that he felt guilty watching fellow members of the LGBTQ+ community as they fought for their rights while he remained silent. When then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a marriage equality bill passed by California's legislature in 2005, Takei knew he could no longer remain on the sidelines. 'I was so raging with anger,' says Takei, who did not reference Schwarzenegger by name. 'We were getting so close [to marriage equality] and I was really elated. But we had a governor that was campaigning by saying, 'I have no problem with it but I'm against it.' … When the bill passed by both the Senate and the Assembly [and] landed on his desk, he vetoed it.' 'The hypocrite,' Takei continues with a raised voice, alluding to Schwarzenegger's extramarital affair. 'I was so angry and determined to come out and join in on the fight.' Takei already had a reputation for fighting for causes he believed in. He volunteered with a humanitarian organization and was involved with student government at Mt Vernon Junior High. He was active in local politics in the 1970s and '80s. He'd also long been a part of the civil rights movement and opposed the Vietnam War. 'Participation in democracy, taking on the responsibility of democracy, was something that I was taught as a teenager to put our internment in context,' says Takei. 'That led me to volunteer for other causes.' Takei credits his father for instilling this sense of responsibility in him. As a teenager, when Takei became interested in understanding his childhood imprisonment beyond his own memories, he would sit down with his father after dinner to ask him about their time in the incarceration camps. During these conversations, Takei says his father would quote Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. ''Ours is the government of the people, by the people and for the people,'' says Takei. 'Those are noble ideals. That's what makes American democracy great. But the weakness of American democracy is also in those words … because the people are fallible. They make mistakes.' Even as these hard-fought rights have been backsliding in recent years as more states have moved to pass anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, Takei remains hopeful. 'Life is cyclical,' says Takei. 'It goes in circles. … We're constantly changing and transforming our society and ourselves.' He points to how the Alien Enemies Act, which was invoked during World War II to wrongly justify the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans, is once again being cited by the current administration in its efforts to deport immigrants. (Takei's comments preceded the immigration raids and protests that occurred in L.A. over the weekend.) 'We have this egocentric monster [in office],' says Takei, raising his voice a second time. 'He's power-crazy and ... now he's causing all sorts of outrageous inhumanity — it's beyond injustice, it's inhumanity — and we're going through that again. The same thing that we went through [when we were] artificially categorized as enemy alien in 1942.' Takei never once mentions Trump by name, instead calling him 'a Klingon president,' referencing a well-known alien race from the 'Star Trek' franchise. 'Klingons are the great threat to a more enlightened society who can see diversity as their strength,' says Takei. 'We've got to be rid of him.' The depictions of Klingons have shifted over the years, but it's clear Takei is invoking the more brutal, prideful and authoritarian version introduced in the original series in the 1960s. And in Roddenberry's more idyllic vision of the future, humanity's strength is in its diversity. ('Infinite diversity in infinite combinations,' says Takei.) 'I'm still optimistic,' says Takei. 'These momentary blips in history eventually get overcome and are left behind. We will find our true path.'
Business Insider
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
20 of the longest LGBTQ+ relationships in Hollywood
Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner In the early '70s, actress Tomlin reached out to writer Wagner to get help with a character she was playing. Their meeting was love at first sight, Tomlin said. "A friend brought her to my hotel room, and I tell you, in two minutes, I fell in love with her," Tomlin told Variety in 2020. "She had on hot pants, stretchy boots that went up to her knee, and a little backpack. I don't know what it was, but I was in love." After their meeting, Tomlin flew to Chicago but then immediately flew back to New York to go on a date with Wagner. Over the next few decades, the two created a romantic and professional partnership that resulted in some of the best comedies of the '80s and '90s, per Variety. It wasn't until 2013 that the pair tied the knot. George Takei and Brad Altman "Star Trek" actor Takei joined a running group in the '80s and met a fellow member, Brad Altman. Together, they trained for 5ks and 10ks before eventually becoming romantically involved, Variety reported. They kept their relationship a secret for 18 years before Takei came out publicly in 2005. In 2008, the couple married. "We truly are a team — me as the actor, writer, activist and Brad as the manager, scheduler and all-around essential guy," Takei told Variety in 2020. "And we love being able to share our lives and our livelihood." Elton John and David Furnish In 1993, John was sober for the first time in a decade, and he looked for a new social circle to support his new lifestyle, per His friend brought Furnish, a Canadian filmmaker, to dinner and the two felt an instant connection. In 2005, the couple said "I do" in a civil partnership. They made it an official marriage in 2014 when same-sex marriage was legalized in England. Today, they have two children. "Every Saturday for 16 years, we've sent each other a card," John told Parade magazine in 2016. "No matter where we are in the world, to say how much we love each other." RuPaul and Georges LeBar In 1994, RuPaul met Georges LeBar, a rancher in Wyoming, on the dance floor of New York's famous nightclub, the Limelight. In 2017, the couple said "I do" on the anniversary of their dance-floor "meet-cute," Marie Claire reported. "He works the ranch, I work Hollywood, and we meet up in fabulous places," RuPaul told Entertainment Tonight in 2017. "You know, he needs breaks from time to time because it's a very different life. So, we plan little getaways once a month, you know? New York or Maui or San Francisco or Vegas. We do that." The two married in 2017. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi DeGeneres and De Rossi met in 2004 and instantly felt a connection, but De Rossi wasn't out to the public yet: The actress told Oprah in 2012 that she hadn't been ready "to date the most famous lesbian in the world." In 2005, she spoke to The Advocate about coming out, and in 2008, the couple married. "Portia and I constantly say to each other, 'We are so lucky.' Sometimes it's lying in bed at night before I go to sleep, and I just say thank you to whatever, whoever is out there," DeGeneres told People magazine in 2016. Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka When they met on a street corner in New York City in 2004, Harris thought Burtka was straight but was completely enamored by him. Slowly, they grew closer at other social gatherings. "I initially fell for David harder than he fell for me," Harris told Out magazine in 2012. "I was in love with him before he was comfortable saying it, and I think that speaks to our past experiences. I remember saying, 'I think I love you,' and he was like, 'That's really nice,' which is not necessarily what you want to hear." Still, Burtka — who is also an actor — was the one who proposed first on the same street corner where they met, Out magazine reported. They married in 2014 and now have twins together. Cynthia Nixon and Christine Marinoni Nixon and Marinoni met while advocating for state schools in 2004, a year after Nixon broke it off with her high school sweetheart, the Radio Times reported. "I had never dated a woman before or even kissed a woman or anything, and so when we started seeing each other, Christine kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for me to panic about what this would mean — to my career or to myself — as if somehow I just hadn't noticed that she was a woman. And then she met my mother and that was when she stopped worrying about it," Nixon told the Radio Times in 2017. The two married in 2012 and have one child together, a son named Max. (Nixon also has two children from a previous relationship.) Wanda Sykes and Alex Niedbalski In 2006, Sykes was on a ferry to Fire Island, an island off Long Island, New York, when she saw a woman who instantly caught her attention, The Guardian reported. By sheer coincidence, the comedian was later introduced to the woman, Alex Niedbalski. The two began dating and married in 2008. Sykes came out to the public the same year she tied the knot with Niedbalski. Previously Sykes was married to Dave Hall, a music producer, whom she often joked about hating. "It just speaks to being in a bad relationship with my husband," Sykes told New York Times Magazine in 2018. "I was being honest. I wanted to get away. Like: 'God, there's his stupid face, and he's chewing. Ugh, does he have to breathe? Make him stop breathing.' Now I'm in a great relationship, and I'm happy, so my wife's chewing doesn't annoy me." Tan France and Rob France Tan met his future husband, Rob France, on a dating app over a decade ago. Rob is an illustrator and a Mormon from Wyoming, while Tan is a Muslim from England. Together, they bonded over their religious backgrounds. "It made it easier to date somebody who had similarities to me. I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke," France told the New York Post in 2018. "We practice some of our religions' practices. We don't practice them all. We practice what works for us." Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Justin Mikita In 2009, Mikita, a lawyer, stopped Ferguson in the Equinox locker room to ask him about his new role on the ABC sitcom "Modern Family." A few months later, the pair started dating, and in 2013, they got married. They welcomed their first child together in July 2020, and their second in November 2022. Ferguson told BI in 2023 that fatherhood "did not always feel like an option for me, but it was something I desired." "I didn't know I desired it as much as I did until I met my husband, Justin," he added. Matt Bomer and Simon Halls In 2012, actor Bomer came out during an acceptance speech, revealing he had three sons with publicist Simon Halls. In 2014, he dropped another bombshell, telling the public that he and Halls had actually been married since 2011. Since their relationship is mostly private, it's unclear exactly how or when they met, but their twins were born in 2008. "Well, we have three kids right now, so you've got to fit the romance in when you can," Bomer told People magazine in 2016. "[My grandparents] just celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary, so I always look to them and I see how every day they express their love for each other and I try to follow. They've set a pretty good model for me to follow." Michael Kors and Lance LePere Michael Kors and Lance LePere were introduced in 1990 when LePere was interning for Kors' company, CBS News reported. The pair married in Southampton in August 2011, shortly after the New York State Assembly legalized same-sex marriage in June of that year. "Lance and I are very excited to finally be able to have the opportunity to marry in our home state after many years together," Kors told People. "To marry someone as wonderful and special to me as Lance barefoot on a glorious beach is more than I could have dreamed of," Kors told Womens Wear Daily at the wedding. Brandi Carlile and Catherine Shepherd A year before Brandi Carlile met her now-wife Catherine Shepherd in person, the two connected on the phone. Shepherd had been working for Paul McCartney's charity and was looking to donate Beatles memorabilia to Carlile's Fight the Fear campaign. A year later, they met in person and hit it off. "It was shocking, to say the least," Carlile told People in 2021. "Every time I talked to her over the phone, I thought I was talking to somebody who was like 65 years old.... We met backstage in New York, and we were both like 27." Two years later, in 2012, they got married. Their daughters Evangeline Ruth and Elijah were born in 2014 and 2018. Robin Roberts and Amber Laign The "Good Morning America" anchor met Laign, a massage therapist and businesswoman, in 2005 after they were set up on a blind date by mutual friends. Since then, the pair have largely kept their relationship out of the spotlight. Roberts first publicly acknowledged both her sexuality and Laign in 2013, when she thanked her "longtime girlfriend Amber" in a Facebook post celebrating her recovery from a life-saving bone-marrow transplant. In January 2023, a year after sharing that Laign had been battling breast cancer — the same disease Roberts herself was diagnosed with in 2007 — Roberts shared her plans to get married within the year. Lance Bass and Michael Turchin After meeting in 2011 at a party in Palm Springs, California, former *NSYNC member Lance Bass connected with artist Michael Turchin on Facebook and struck up a friendship. At first, Turchin kept him in the friend zone. "I am so shy and never would have made the first move," Turchin told People. "I was thinking, 'This is Lance Bass. I grew up watching him on TV and listening to his music.' That just added a whole other layer of intimidation." The two became the first same-sex couple to be married on American television in 2015 when "Lance Loves Michael: The Lance Bass Wedding Special" aired on E!. The couple celebrated their 10th anniversary in 2021 by getting each other a new pair of rings. "Every time I look at my hand, I just get reminded of the 10 blissful years," Bass told People. The couple has twins, born in 2021. Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black Daley met the Oscar-winning screenwriter shortly after winning his first Olympic medal at the 2012 London Olympics, when the two connected at a dinner party. In 2015, the couple announced their engagement through a newspaper blurb. In an interview, the couple recalled their engagement when they proposed to each other. "I had the ring box in my underwear, and when he came out of the bathroom, I just went down on my knee and proposed," Daley told Out Magazine. "Then he ran off to the bathroom to get his rings, and he had this whole speech prepared, but he's a writer so his was quite extravagant. But looking back, all I can remember is being completely overwhelmed." The couple married in 2017 and, in June 2018, became parents for the first time. Cheyenne Jackson and Jason Landau The "Glee" actor met Landau at a 12-step group meeting and they announced their engagement in February 2014. The two got married later that year and marked their 10-year anniversary in 2024. "We've both been through a lot in our lives," Jackson told People in 2014. "We got sober together. Now we sing and we dance together. It blows my mind." The two welcomed twins Ethan and Willow in October 2016. Melissa Etheridge and Linda Wallem The "I'm the Only One" singer and Wallem, a showrunner and producer of shows like "That '70s Show," met in the early 2000s when Etheridge auditioned to play a record store owner in a "That '70s Show" spin-off called "That '80s Show," which was never filmed. Staying friends for over 10 years, the two reconnected after the singer separated her former partner, Tammy Lynn Michaels, in 2010. In 2014, Etheridge and Wallem tied the knot in California, just days after their shared birthday. "She was my best friend for nine years, so it's an interesting relationship. I've never been friends with someone for that long and then entered into a romantic relationship," Etheridge told the West Michigan magazine Revue in 2011. "She's my friend and it's really pretty amazing. I'm happier than I've ever, ever been." Colman Domingo and Raúl Domingo The "Sing Sing" actor and his husband, Raúl Domingo, crossed paths at a Walgreens parking lot in 2005, although the two didn't talk. A few days later, Colman came across a Missed Connections ad on Craigslist where Raúl was looking to reconnect with Colman after their brief interaction. Two days later, the two went out. "I told him, 'I think you're about to change my life and I love you,'" Colman told Stephen Colbert on " The Late Show" in 2022. "And we've been together ever since." The two tied the knot in 2014. Jim Parsons and Todd Spiewak Parsons, who in 2018 was the highest-paid TV actor thanks to his role as Sheldon in "The Big Bang Theory," as reported by Forbes, met his graphic designer husband in a November 2002 blind date set up by mutual friends. "I'll never forget that late fall into the holidays when we spent so much time together just falling more in love," Parsons told People in 2022. "Every time there's that smell when the air gets cold in New York, it always reminds me." Ten years later, the two made their relationship public. They married five years after that, in 2017. In 2015, they co-founded That's Wonderful Productions, a production company. Since then, the two have been credited as executive producers on "Young Sheldon."
The Mainichi
30-04-2025
- Politics
- The Mainichi
Japan PM shows support for stateless descendants in Philippines
MANILA (Kyodo) -- Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Tuesday expressed his support for stateless descendants of Japanese nationals left behind in the Philippines after World War II, following a meeting with three second-generation descendants in Manila. Ishiba said Japan will "tackle the issue" so that the stateless individuals can restore their Japanese nationality and visit Japan "as soon as possible," the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. Ishiba met with Jose Takei, 81, and Esterlita Matsuda, 93, as well as Carlos Teraoka, 94, who unlike the other two has already acquired Japanese nationality. Teraoka described the meeting with the Japanese prime minister as the "first ray of hope" for the pair. "It is a great pity that the acquisition of nationality by all (of the descendants) has yet to be realized," Ishiba said at the outset of the meeting, which was open to the media. "I was excited to meet him, it took a long time," Takei told reporters after meeting with Ishiba. Takei said he hopes Japan's government will approve his Japanese citizenship "at the soonest possible time because I'm not young anymore." Matsuda told reporters that she wishes to acquire Japanese nationality "so that my children can go to Japan." The meeting took place during Ishiba's four-day trip to Southeast Asia from Sunday that also took him to Vietnam, as this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the war. Many of the stateless residents are offspring of Japanese fathers who moved to the Philippines and married local women. The fathers were drafted by Japan's military after the war broke out in the Pacific in 1941 and later died or were deported to Japan. Many concealed their background due to anti-Japanese sentiment following the war, and their numbers are steadily dwindling due to old age. In a parliamentary committee session in March, Ishiba expressed interest in using government funds to cover the costs for stateless individuals to travel to Japan to obtain nationality and search for their relatives.
