Tasha Smith and her husband Keith Douglas’ domestic troubles are spilling over into the public. Last week, we learned that Douglas filed a restraining order against his wife citing her rages and threats to physically harm him. Now, Smith has filed a restraining order of her own against her husband. According to TMZ, the star of Tyler Perry’s For Better Or Worse says her husband has accused her of being a lesbian, resulting in jealous outbursts. “When he’s in a rage, I feel that he is capable of killing me,” Smith says. Both deny all allegations the other has made. We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out. [TMZ]
We don’t know when, but we know new music is coming soon from Rihanna. “I can’t give you any hints of when it will drop. It’s going to be great, that’s all I’m going to tell you and I’m excited about it,” the singer told fans at a meet-and-greet at Ft. Belvoir, VA. She isn’t the only one excited about her new album. Ne-Yo shared his thoughts on Rihanna’s latest work. “The stuff I’ve heard is absolutely incredible,” he told Billboard. “I can’t speak on what it sounds like because I’ll get in trouble. But I definitely feel like people are gonna love it. Anybody that’s not a Rihanna fan…just gear up for it” [Billboard]
The family of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the US, has reportedly reached a settlement with the Dallas hospital where he died from the disease. The family alleges that workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital failed properly treat Liberian native. “I believe this facility is an outstanding facility,” said Duncan’s nephew, Josephus Weeks. “And we as humans — we’re not perfect, we make errors, but it’s how you recover from errors that make you who you are.” Duncan was diagnosed with Ebola on Sept. 28 after he had returned from traveling to West Africa. He died on Oct. 8. [NBC News]
Award-winning playwright Shaun Neblett is honoring one of the greatest emcees of our time—Nas—with Homage 3: Illmatic, a play that cleverly intertwines lyrics and themes from Illmatic while telling the story of Ron, a gym teacher by day whose passion lies in photography. A life-changing experience forces Ron to decide if he will mute his desire to be an artist or rise to a new artistic plateau. The play is being staged at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture for one-night only on November 22. Click here for tickets.
The reimagining of Annie starring Quvenzhané Wallis and Jamie Foxx features some old favorites from the musical, and some new songs penned by Sia Kurstin. Among the new tracks is an inspirational number called “Opportunity.” “Annie sings this song after she realizes that she’s got a good thing going with Jamie Foxx’s character,” writer-director Will Gluck told PEOPLE. “The crew couldn’t stop crying! It’s the song that all the guys start weeping to.” Watch ESSENCE’s December cover star sing the emotional ballad in the clip below.