Entertainment
Erik Menendez Returns to Prison After Being Hospitalized, Undergoing Surgery
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NEED TO KNOW
- Erik Menendez has returned to prison after being hospitalized to receive treatment for kidney stones
- Erik’s stepdaughter, Talia, shared in an Aug. 2 Instagram Stories post that the 54-year-old was out of the hospital after having undergone surgery
- After spending decades in prison for the 1989 murders of their parents on a life sentence without the possibility of parole, Erik and his brother Lyle Menendez were resentenced in May to 50 years to life, making them eligible for parole
Erik Menendez has returned to prison after being temporarily transferred to a California hospital to receive treatment for kidney stones.
In an Instagram Stories post shared on Saturday, Aug. 2, Erik’s stepdaughter, Talia, shared that the 54-year-old was out of the hospital after undergoing surgery, per TMZ.
“My dad is out of the hospital and back at the prison, preparing for our upcoming parole hearing,” wrote Talia, who is the daughter of Tammi Saccoman, the woman who married Erik while he was in prison in San Diego.
ABC News previously reported that Erik had been transported from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego to a local hospital to treat a medical condition. Talia later revealed on social media that he was experiencing “complications with both kidneys having multiple large stones.”
Ted Soqui/Sygma via Getty
Erik and brother Lyle Menendez‘s attorney Mark Geragos told TMZ on July 22 that Erik was in the hospital for about a week, adding that it was a “serious medical condition.”
Geragos also told the outlet that Erik should be released from prison immediately after news of his condition emerged.
“Medical privacy laws restrict us from providing details,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in an email to PEOPLE at the time.
The diagnosis came about a month ahead of a parole board hearing for Erik and 57-year-old Lyle — who were both convicted in the infamous 1989 murders of their parents — on Aug. 21 and Aug. 22.
The brothers were resentenced to 50 years to life in prison on May 13, making them eligible for parole.
Erik and Lyle were both incarcerated after killing their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, on Aug. 20, 1989, while they were sitting on the couch in the TV room of their $5 million Beverly Hills mansion.
Los Angeles Times via Getty
Erik, then 18, and Lyle, then 21, claimed that the murders came after their father — the chief operating officer of RCA Records — sexually abused them for years and their mother, a former pageant queen, ignored the abuse. They have maintained that they feared for their lives and that José had threatened to kill them if they told anyone about the alleged sexual abuse.
Meanwhile, prosecutors said the two brothers’ motive was greed and cited their lavish spending spree after the murders.
Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom could potentially seek to grant the brothers clemency and make his decision at any time, though he has said he will wait until after their final parole board hearing to decide.
The politician previously requested that the parole board conduct a comprehensive risk assessment investigation into whether the brothers could pose a risk to public safety should they be released.
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“The Governor has ordered the Parole Board to conduct a Comprehensive Risk Assessment of both Erik and Lyle Menendez,” attorneys Geragos and Cliff Gardner wrote in a statement obtained by PEOPLE in February.
“Along with scores of Jose and Kitty Menendez’s family members who have fought for years to see Erik and Lyle have a chance to finally come home, we are grateful for the Governor’s decision,” the statement added.
“The family realizes that the Governor’s action does not mean he will commute the sentences. Instead, this initial step reflects the Governor’s considered decision to at least obtain the information required to make a fair decision as to whether Erik and Lyle, after 35 years in prison, have done the hard work necessary to have a chance at a life outside prison. Jose and Kitty’s family members, as well as Erik and Lyle, can ask for nothing more,” the attorneys continued.
The Menendez brothers made a virtual video appearance at their hearing in May and took “full responsibility” for the murders, Fox News reported at the time.
Entertainment
Usher boots fan off stage after her painfully awkward response to his seductive dance moves

Usher quickly put a stop to sexily serenading a fan onstage after she got visibly uncomfortable.
In a now-viral moment from the singer’s performance in Nashville on The R&B Tour with Chris Brown on Saturday, a woman from the audience got pulled onstage as the chosen fan Usher sings to. But as a shirtless Usher started singing to her, she looked painfully uncomfortable, though he continued to try to interact with her by lightly touching her chin and face.
But when he tried to get her to recline on the onstage bed and she stiffly moved back, the 47-year-old singer pulled away.
“I don’t think she want to be on the stage, huh?” he asked the audience, looking bewildered.
Eventually, the “Yeah!” singer stepped away from her completely and waved his hand backwards towards the stage in a signal to bring the fan off, looking annoyed as some fans began to boo.
The fan later took to social media to clap back at criticism she received, responding to comments that she should have never agreed to go onstage if she didn’t want to be there.
“First off NOBODY is declining to go on stage,” she wrote. “I looked good asf, you think I wasn’t going to let THOUSANDS of people see me?”
She shared that she and her mom had floor seats to the show, and she was moved up to the VIP section before the concert even started due to “pretty privileges.”
“They don’t say who you’re going up there for!” she wrote. “Y’all wanted me to go up there and f–k him atp?”
On Sunday, she posted selfies, and pointedly captioned her post, “Unbothered 😘.”
But she continued to defend herself on her Instagram Stories, insisting her attitude wasn’t “nasty.”
“Y’all aren’t gonna get on the internet calling me out my name and disrespecting me and expect me to keep it cool!” she expressed, adding, “Don’t think that yall are gonna bully me about an experience that yall didn’t get!”
Usher is known for his spicy concert interactions with fans. His bodyguard hilariously went viral in 2024 for seemingly looking disgusted on the Past Present Future Tour, during the part of the singer’s show when he would let audience members seductively eat cherries.
Usher’s co-headliner, Chris Brown, also went viral in September 2025 but for an entirely different reaction that he got to pulling a fan onstage — that fan being Travis Kelce’s ex Kayla Nicole.
Brown, 37, gave Nicole, 34, a sensual lap dance while singing his 2007 hit, “Take You Down,” during the singer’s Breezy Bowl XX Tour stop in Los Angeles, prompting mixed reaction online. Some fans thought the two went too far, while others praised Nicole for seizing the moment.
Entertainment
John Cusack reveals why he stepped away from Hollywood after decades of films

John Cusack opened up about why he’s largely taken a step back from Hollywood.
The “Being John Malkovich” star, 60, said he wanted to tell stories without studio executives weighing in, prompting him to write his upcoming graphic novel “Momo.”
“I always thought [graphic novels] were the closest things to film, really,” he told Variety at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday. “You’re picking out shots, they’re so cinematic.”
Cusack explained he turned to writing because he “didn’t [want to] negotiate telling a story.”
“When you ask somebody to put $20 million or $30 million into a bank account [for a film], they want to have an opinion and they’re afraid and all that stuff,” he said.
Instead, he teamed up with illustrator Ignacio Noé to create “Momo” on their own terms.
“This was just like, I wrote it, and I said, ‘I like the story,’ and then I got this beautiful, wonderful artist, Ignacio Noé, to do the illustrations and so nobody edited anything I wrote or that he drew,” Cusack said.
“So it’s really a piece of work that was just done by two people. It was just me and Ignacio’s story, and that doesn’t happen today.”
“There’s no bull, and there’s no committee. There’s no computer up in Seattle that’s poll testing it,” he added.
“Momo” — Cusack’s first graphic novel — is set to be released on Sept. 29.
The story follows two fugitives in 1972 who set out to recover an ancient artifact for TV icon Jackie Gleason.
The actor spent decades as one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men, starring in “Grosse Pointe Blank,” “High Fidelity” and “Con Air,” but his acting career has become increasingly selective in recent years.
He appeared in the 2025 films “Fog of War” and the Mandarin-language film “Detective Chinatown 1900” after starring in the Chinese espionage thriller “Decoded” in 2024.
Before that, his only screen credits since 2020 were the action thriller “Pursuit” and Amazon’s dystopian series “Utopia.”
Cusack has been outspoken about the state of Hollywood for years.
“My friend Joe Roth ran Disney [until 2000],” he told the Guardian in 2014. “He made things like ‘The Rock’ and ‘Con Air’ to make shareholders happy, but then he also gave six or seven slots to people he liked.
“I got to make ‘High Fidelity’ and ‘Grosse Pointe Blank.’ Spike Lee got to make ‘Summer of Sam.’ Wes Anderson got to make ‘Rushmore.’ I had that memory of film and that’s gone.”
“Now it’s six for them — with a committee cutting the film who weren’t part of making it – and maybe one for you,” he added.
Cusack isn’t the only member of his family to step away from the spotlight.
His older sister, actress Joan Cusack, 63, made her first red-carpet appearance since 2015 in May when she attended the London premiere of “Toy Story 5,” ending an 11-year absence from public events.
“I feel so honored to have worked in this industry for a long time,” the actress told Variety in June. “But it’s also great to live your life and raise your kids and be in Chicago and be a normal person.”
Entertainment
Kelly Clarkson shares rare love life update

Kelly Clarkson defended her right to remain single during a recent Las Vegas residency show.
“People are like, ‘Oh, why are you single?’ And I’m like, ‘First of all, there are a lot of people out here making single look real good,’” the talk show host told the crowd Friday at her “Studio Sessions” show at Caesars Palace, per social media footage.
“And if you didn’t really understand what I meant by that, it’s like you see relationships and you’re like, ‘I am so glad I’m going home alone.’”
She jokingly added, “You know what’s not happening in my house? That s–t.”
“If you are in a relationship, the hardest part I feel like is just keeping that fire alive and still dating,” the “American Idol” winner continued. “And, like, still making it feel magical and not monotonous.”
The “Miss Independent” hitmaker, 44, has kept her dating life under wraps since she finalized her divorce from late ex-husband Brandon Blackstock in 2022.
Blackstock — who shared daughter River Rose, 12, and son Remy, 10, with the pop star — died in August 2025 at the age of 48 after battling melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer.
Though she returned to “The Kelly Clarkson Show” that September, Page Six reported in January that the Grammy winning songstress would be ending the daytime talk show.
The mom of two confirmed the impending end of her series in February, writing in a social media statement that there had “been so many amazing moments and shows over these seven seasons.”
She added that she’s “forever grateful and honored to have worked alongside the greatest band and crew you could hope for” and acknowledged “all the talent and inspiring people who have shared their time and lives with us.”
Clarkson wrote that it was “not an easy decision” to step away, and noted that she felt it’s “necessary and right for this next chapter of our lives” to prioritize her children.
The show will wrap up and air its final episodes this fall and her summer Las Vegas residency runs through Aug. 15.
Clarkson also released her new single, “I’d Be Lyin’,” on July 17.
Prior to Blackstock’s passing, Clarkson — who filed for divorced from the producer in 2020 and saw the legal matter settled in 2022 — addressed why she isn’t dating.
“Dating can be very difficult, which is why I don’t,” she told her Las Vegas audience in July 2025.
Clarkson said at the time that since dating “is hard anyway,” it can be a “dumpster fire” when you “add a spotlight.”
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