Saturday, January 25, 2020

The Guessing Game - Updated/Kobe Bryant

What will be on the cover of People this week? My guesses, not in order of importance or likelihood:

Pamela Anderson: Married Jon Peters
Michelle Obama: Her book, Becoming, is up for a Grammy award for Best Spoken Word Album. If she wins, she's on her way to joining the EGOT club.
Modern Family: After 11 seasons, the final episode airs April 8
Ozzy Osbourne: A Parkinson's diagnosis
Thomas Markle: A new interview/documentary with Meghan's father, who admits to lying and says "the royals owe me"
Kristin Smart: College woman who disappeared in 1996, there may be news, read more here
Terry Jones: The Monty Python founder died
Tyler Gwozdz: Appeared on Hannah Brown's season of The Bachelorette, he has now died at age 29, apparently of a drug overdose. Read more about Tyler here
Taylor Swift: Says she had an eating disorder
J Lo and/or Shakira: Performing at the Super Bowl
Chris Watts: Lifetime has a new movie called Chris Watts: Confessions of a Killer
Annabella Sciorra: Testified at Harvey Weinstein's trial that he raped her, Rose Perez backed her story
Jeff Bezos and/or Lauren Sanchez: There's reporting that she gave text messages from Bezos to her brother, who then gave (or more likely, sold) them to the National Enquirer

Stories that appear on the cover of the new issue will be highlighted in green.

Update: Jade Roper Tolbert. There was great excitement in Bachelor Nation a few weeks ago when Jade won the DraftKing Millionaire Maker contest for the NFL's wild card round. Then accusations of cheating bubbled up and there was an investigation; now DraftKings has announced that they have updated the standings and the 2nd place finisher has been moved up to first. (Read more here.) If you don't remember Jade, a quick refresher: She appeared on Chris Soules's season, which filmed in the Fall of 2014 and aired January through March, 2015. Jade made it to the final four, then was eliminated after Hometown dates. She had a bit of a racy past, having appeared in some Playboy videos, which producers forced her to show not just to Chris but also to viewers. I wrote about her here and here. After appearing on The Bachelor, Jade went to Bachelor in Paradise, where she met Tanner Tolbert from Kaityn's season of The Bachelorette. They got engaged and were the first BIP couple to marry, with a big ceremony televised (and paid for) by ABC. They're now one of the most successful Bach Nation couples, able to support themselves via Instagram ads and personal appearances. Will this incident tarnish their brand? Stay tuned.

Update #2 on Sunday morning: Brandon Jenner. He and his girlfriend got married
The Grammys: The show is tonight; there's been controversy recently, including the former CEO filing a discrimination lawsuit

Update #3: Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. Killed in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles, along with seven non-famous people. This is a huge story, with the media currently in full howling Dead Celebrity mode; People's editors are almost certainly scrambling to replace whatever cover was planned.

Update #4 on Monday morning. Michelle Obama won the Grammy. Vogue magazine had the same thought I had above:



Update #5 on Tuesday morning. People posts the new cover a day early and
no surprise, it's a "Tribute" cover for Kobe Bryant and his daughter: 

Issue dated February 10, 2020: Kobe and Gianna Bryant

People Magazine  - February 10, 2020  Kobe Bryant  1978-2020


Last year at this time: Issue dated February 11, 2019

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