Entertainment
Kat Dennings Reveals Her Real Name
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Kat Dennings knew early on she wanted a cool stage name.
During the Thursday, March 13 episode of the Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce podcast, the Shifting Gears star, 38, shared that she wasn’t even 10 years old when she decided to drop her given name: Katherine Victoria Litwack.
“My real last name is Litwack — that’s all you need to hear,” the actress said.
“At 9, I was like, ‘This isn’t going to work for me. This is not going to work,’ ” the 2 Broke Girls alum told Kelce, 32.
Applauding her younger self, Dennings added, “She-slash-I was very ahead of her time.”
“It was a CEO situation. I was like, ‘This can’t be displayed on a poster,’ ” the actress joked.
She explained how she adopted that last name for her moniker, recalling her mother Ellen Litwack’s good friend Lloyd Alexander, who wrote children’s fantasy books such as The Chronicles of Prydain series.
Jon Kopaloff/Getty
“Randomly, he was my mother’s best friend,” she said. “So I went there every week until I was 15 years old, and they were like my grandparents, he and his wife. And his wife’s name was Janine Denni, she was French.”
The foreign last name left a young Katherine fairly impressed.
“And I thought it would be a super sick idea if I took her name and made it different,” she said. “Literally, that was the thinking. That’s as far as it went. So Dennings is from her.”
Dennings also explained that choosing her first name wasn’t as simple as abbreviating her own. The actress credits Christina Ricci’s Kat in the movie Casper as her “favorite character at the time” as the inspiration.
“So I was like, ‘Okay, Kat Dennings. This is it, I can really picture it,’ ” she said, adding, “It’s insane.”
A few years later, she was already landing significant roles on shows like Sex and the City, however, they didn’t always come easy.
HBO
Earlier this year, Dennings spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about how casting directors called her “fat” and not “pretty” when she was just 14.
“The time that I was auditioning and starting to act, it was a very different environment than it is now,” she said in the January 2025 interview. “There was not a lot of inclusivity at all. It was very harsh. There was a lot of extremely negative feedback and people would not hold back.”
“It was pretty crazy thinking about it. I’m like, ‘How can anyone say that about a little kid? This is insane,’ ” the Dollface actress said. “For example, I was 12. I’d go into an audition and I’d do it, and my manager would call me and I’d be like, ‘How’d it go?’ And they’d be like, ‘Well, they thought you weren’t pretty enough and you’re fat.’ ”
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Dennings admitted, “For some reason, it didn’t break my spirit.”
Instead, she decided to continue acting despite the criticism.
“I was like, ‘I’ll show them,'” she added laughing.
Shifting Gears airs on ABC Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
Entertainment
Zayn Malik cancels sellout US tour dates amid health struggles

Zayn Malik has shocked fans by announcing the cancellation of his latest sellout tour.
In an announcement made on Friday, the singer shared that he had taken the decision to ax his entire US tour which had been due to begin on July 12.
“To my fans: Thank you so much for all the support and love you’ve shown me on the album release and more importantly your love, prayers, and well wishes for my health. I’ve felt it, and it’s meant the world. I’ve been at home recovering and I’m doing well and will be better and stronger than before,” Malik wrote in an Instagram Story to fans.
“I’ve had to take another look at my schedule for the months ahead and have to reduce the number of shows on the KONNAKOL Tour.
“I want to make sure I still get out and see as many of you as I possibly can. I’m really looking forward to playing these shows for you, and I hope to see the rest of you around the world very soon. Big Love, Z.”
The announcement comes after Malik was hospitalized last month due to an undisclosed, unexpected health issue, forcing him to cancel numerous TV appearances during his album release week.
Malik also hit headlines last month after being caught in a shock row with his former bandmate and close pal Louis Tomlinson.
Claims had emerged that Malik had punched Tomlinson during a violent clash while filming for their Netflix documentary.
The pair had joined forces to film a three-part road trip docuseries for the streaming service, which has since been axed following their fallout.
The incident took place while the pair were filming on location and occurred after Malik allegedly made negative comments about Tomlinson’s mum, Johannah Deakin, who died of leukemia in 2016.
“It spiraled into a row then Zayn made a remark about Louis’ mum Johannah,” sources told The Sun in April.
The insider added: “Louis was stunned and in shock. As he went to move, Zayn then attacked him. Zayn punched him straight in the face. Because he was wearing rings it cut Louis’ head.
“He was pulled away and Louis was taken for medical treatment. He was left with a concussion.
“This happened outside in front of so many people. It was shocking.”
According to the outlet, neither band member has spoken to the other since the incident six months ago.
Entertainment
Tara Lipinski’s surrogate suffers ‘devastating loss’

Tara Lipinski revealed that her surrogate experienced a pregnancy loss while carrying her and husband Todd Kapostasy’s second child.
“A few months ago, we lost our baby in the second trimester,” the Olympian began in a Friday Instagram post.
“We’ve been on our second surrogacy journey for two years now,” Lipinski continued.
The former gymnast added that the first surrogate who carried the couple’s daughter, Georgie, 2, “wasn’t medically cleared to proceed.”
“I grieved that ending and we started over. From the long road in finding a surrogate, to medical clearance setbacks, to a failed transfer, and now this loss… it hasn’t been an easy road,” Lipinski said.
The “Traitors” alum, who has been open about her fertility struggles over the years, admitted, “A second trimester loss was devastating. Something new to add to the long list of heartbreaks we’ve endured on this fertility journey.
“Another memory that will be hard to erase. That appointment will be etched in my mind forever as well as all the steps that came after when a pregnancy is that far along.”
Lipinski credited those who have reached out with own stories as her reason to share what she’s going through — “especially when it’s hard🤍.”
The athlete explained that while it’s tough to keep pushing forward after moments like this, she “did it once, and “can do it again.”
Fans quickly flocked to the comments section to lend their support to the reality star.
“I’m so so sorry. Praying for you.💔🙏🏻,” one follower wrote, while a second penned, “You are beyond inspiring for your grace and strength throughout everything you do❤️. “
Rounding out the sweet messages, another social media user said, “I am so incredibly sorry Tara 🤍 sending so much love (I’d say strength but you’re one of the strongest warriors I know).”
In 2023, Lipinsky and Kapostasy welcomed Georgie via surrogate following five years of fertility struggles and multiple miscarriages.
“I dreamt about this for so long. A crying baby, sleepless nights,” the gold medalist told People at the time.
When the gestational carrier gave birth, Lipinski “was playing Dave Matthews’s song ‘You and Me’ and … could not stop sobbing” in the delivery room.
“Then the baby came out, and it was so much relief,” the retired figure skater recounted. “I felt like I could breathe again.”
Before her daughter’s arrival, Lipinsky suffered four pregnancy losses, six failed IVF transfers and eight egg retrievals.
She was eventually diagnosed with endometriosis and underwent two major surgeries.
After her fourth miscarriage, the 1998 Olympic champion and movie director decided that it was time to “think of other options.”
While on her and Kapostasy’s “Unexpecting” podcast in October 2023, the pair discussed how they developed a “magical” relationship with their first surrogate, Mikayla.
As Lipinski shared, “There was an immediate connection and bond between us, one I just didn’t expect to feel so strongly. Two peas in a pod type of feeling … teammates on the deepest level.”
Last year, the podcaster opened up about expanding her family, telling People she and her husband “are definitely wanting to bring a sibling to Georgie.”
Entertainment
Author Cheryl Strayed reveals husband Brian Lindstrom has ‘serious, fatal illness’

Author Cheryl Strayed has revealed that her husband, filmmaker Brian Lindstrom, has been diagnosed with a “serious, fatal illness.”
The 57-year-old writer, whose memoir “Wild” was adapted into a 2014 film starring Reese Witherspoon as Strayed, apologized to fans as she was forced to cancel her upcoming appearances amid her husband of 25 years’ health battle.
“My beloved husband Brian has been diagnosed with a serious, fatal illness,” she wrote on Instagram on Thursday.
“For that reason I had to cancel my writing workshop at Kripalu and also my appearance at Hunter College this week,” Strayed added.
“My apologies to those of you who made plans to be there. I simply cannot do anything but be with my family right now and see to our broken hearts.
“I ask that you hold us in your thoughts, prayers, light and love.”
Strayed said it may feel “emotionally dissonant” to see her posting “cheerful clips” from her podcast, “Mind Over Mountain,” amid the news.
“Those interviews, which I loved doing, were recorded previously, in easier, happier times,” she clarified.
Strayed is the author of “Torch,” “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail,” “Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar” and “Brave Enough.”
“Tiny Beautiful Things,” based on her advice column, was adapted into a 2023 Hulu series starring Kathryn Hahn, while “Wild” earned Witherspoon an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Strayed during her Pacific Crest Trail hike.
Documentarian Lindstrom is known for directing 2013’s “Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse” and 2022’s “Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill.”
He and Strayed also co-directed the 2019 film “We Are Forbidden.”
The couple met in 1995 and shares two adult children, Bobbi Strayed Lindstrom and Carver Strayed Lindstrom.
“Met this beautiful man 27 years ago today — literally half my lifetime ago,” Strayed wrote in a 2022 Facebook post.
“The next day I wrote in my journal: ‘I met a man named Brian Lindstrom last night. I don’t know who he is, but I think he’ll be someone to me.’ Little did I know how right I’d be. And how lucky.”
Strayed has frequently spoken about her husband’s support throughout her career.
“There’s no doing it without him,” she told The Great Discontent in 2012.
“When I was writing ‘Torch,’ he believed in me more than I believed in myself. He’s always, always, always been there for me, every time I needed him. He encourages me. He believes in me.”
“He’s an amazing person and an amazing filmmaker,” she added.
“Many people ask us if we’re jealous of each other or competitive because we’re both artists. We’re always mystified by that because we support each other in every way.”
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