Category Entertainment News

Disgraced US rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs faces sentencing on Friday in a sordid criminal case that could keep him locked up for years

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Sean “Diddy” Combs is set to face sentencing on Friday (October 3) in a scandalous criminal case that could see him behind bars for years. The hip-hop tycoon was found guilty by a jury in July of flying individuals across the country for sexual encounters, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, breaching the federal Mann Act.

He was cleared of more severe charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking which could have resulted in a life sentence. Prosecutors are pushing for over 11 years in prison for Diddy, 55, who was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

Meanwhile, his legal team argue the punishment is “wildly out of proportion” and are calling for his immediate release. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, who will determine the sentence, has twice refused bail and indicated that it’s unlikely Combs will be leaving federal custody anytime soon.

On Friday (October 3), the judge stated that despite Combs being cleared of certain charges, the verdict doesn’t absolve him of underlying conduct, such as violence and coercion.

READ MORE: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sentencing: What to know from likely sentence to grovelling letterREAD MORE: Cassie Ventura ‘so scared’ as she releases bombshell Diddy statement

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In his letter on Thursday, Combs told the judge, “The old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn,” vowing he would never commit another crime. Cassie, in her own letter, claimed he as an abuser who “will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is.”

Combs’ lawyers argue the sexual encounters were consensual and that prison has prompted his sobriety and regret. They maintain he has already been punished enough. At a hearing last week, Combs told his mother and children that he is “getting closer to going home.”

Combs’ nearly two-month trial in a federal court in Manhattan saw testimonies from women who recounted being beaten, threatened, sexually assaulted and blackmailed by Combs. Former girlfriend and R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura told jurors that Combs forced her to have “disgusting” sex with strangers hundreds of times during their decade-long relationship.

The jury was repeatedly shown footage of him dragging and assaulting her in a Los Angeles hotel corridor following one such multi-day “freak-off.”

A woman who gave evidence under the pseudonym “Jane” said she endured violence and felt compelled to perform sexually with male sex workers at drug-fuelled “hotel nights” whilst Combs observed and sometimes recorded.

As Friday’s hearing commenced, prosecutors revealed the only Combs victim scheduled to speak in person had withdrawn following defence objections. The woman, a former personal assistant who testified under the pseudonym “Mia,” accused Combs of raping her in 2010 and has implored the judge to impose a sentence reflecting “the ongoing danger my abuser poses to me, and to others.”

Combs’ legal team say he will address the court, and they plan to present an 11-minute video showcasing his family life, career and charitable work. The judge confirmed Combs’ children and a minister will also be permitted to speak.

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Prosecutors stated the focus of Friday’s sentencing was accountability for Combs and justice for the public. “It’s a case about a man who did horrible things to real people to satisfy his own sexual gratification,” Prosecutor Christy Slavik said, “he didn’t need the money. His currency was control.”

Prosecutors also slammed Combs for, according to them, having arranged a speaking engagement in Miami next week — apparently presuming he’d be free to attend. “That is the height of hubris,” Slavik said.

Combs made his entrance into the bustling courtroom via a side door, flanked by deputy U.S. marshals. Dressed in a light-coloured jumper, button-down shirt and dark trousers, he embraced his legal team and acknowledged his family and supporters.

Outside the courthouse, photographers descended en masse as lawyers and family members arrived, mirroring scenes from the trial. To bolster their racketeering case, prosecutors had enlisted witnesses who testified about other violent acts.

As both Taylor Swift and Katie Price are set to release music on the same day, here we take a look at why the two singing stars have more in common than you may think

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Taylor Swift and Katie Price are perhaps two names you would never normally put in the same sentence. But with the release of their music on the same day, this has prompted an exploration into the similarities between the two women.

And there is more in common between them than you once thought. Katie’s decision to revive her once dismal music career comes after she released a single titled I Got U back in 2017 and it jumped straight to number one.

And it looks as though she is now holding out for the same level of success as both Hurricane and I Got U made its way back into the charts in August, as I Got U went viral on TikTok. Last month, it was revealed that the former glamour model had amassed an average of 41,000 streams a month on Spotify.

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Meanwhile Taylor has released her 12th studio album, The Life Of A Showgirl. On the face of it, Taylor is a 35 year old globally renowned superstar and a multi-millionaire. While Katie is a 47-year-old mum of five with barely a music career to mention.

But they both entered the music industry at the same time in order make it to the top back in 2005. But their paths clearly took a different direction as Taylor is multi-Grammy award winner who has garnered over 100 billion streams, according to statistics earlier this year.

However, both women know how to play to their audience and provide a memorable performance. And on a business standpoint, both Taylor and Katie know how best to market their brand and are confident of its worth.

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Taylor has worked with high profile brands including CoverGirl, L.E.I Jeans, Elizabeth Arden perfumes, Diet Coke and Apple Music. The brands associated with Katie may not be on the same level with similar coffers but the former glamour model has been linked to Superdrug, Studio London and Revolution.

Recently, Katie teamed up with an AI company called OhChat to trademark her AI likeness and bring back to life her alter-ego Jordan. And their string of high profile ex boyfriends is another similarity the pair share as their relationships became public knowledge.

Katie’s exes include Dane Bowers from nineties pop group Another Level, rugby player Danny Cipriani, footballer Dwight Yorke and former singer Peter Andre who she married in 2005.

Their turbulent marriage came to an end in 2009 and the couple share two children together, Princess and Junior.

Meanwhile, under Taylor’s relationship belt she dated Joe Jonas, Jake Gyllenhaal, Harry Styles and Calvin Harris. She is now engaged to NFL player Travis Kelce.

Katie once confessed that she felt men were to blame for her downfall. In a 2022 interview, she admitted: “You don’t have to be a genius to work out that men are the downfall in my life. A million per cent. All my dramas, my bankruptcy – everything is men. Always men. That is it.”

Taylor has also had her fair share of men-related drama. In 2019, the singer was embroiled in a public feued with music manager Scooter Braun who purchased the masters of her initial six albums from her former label.

At the time she accused him of “unethical bullying” as he bought the masters without her consent. She was forced to re-record the music in a bid to regain ownership.

In May, the global superstar confirmed that she had bought back her records from Shamrock Capital for an estimated $360million.

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EXCLUSIVE: Dick and Dom reveal what they’ve been up to since leaving children’s television in 2018 after a 20-year career on CBBC, and what they’ve accomplished together.

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Everyone say “Bogies!” – Dick and Dom are back and determined to be a “force for good” for those who “grew up” seeing the pair on their TV screens.

Richard ‘Dick’ McCourt and Dominic ‘Dom’ Wood have always been a “force for good” by making people laugh, they told the Mirror. For years, the double act presented children’s TV shows like the BAFTA-winning Dick & Dom in da Bungalow and Splatalot, becoming icons for the late millennials and early Gen-Zers that watched them on a Saturday morning.

Now, the pair want to help that same generation of children turned young adults, but helping them make sure they have the DIY skills to get their deposits back from landlords when moving flat. Partnering with Google’s AI Gemini, Dick & Dom are encouraging young renters to use AI to help them learn how to plaster over holes they drilled to hang up a picture or polish a scratch out of a table to make sure landlords don’t take all of their deposit.

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Why move to an older audience if the pair are so well-known for children’s television? The children who were raised with us, you may know, are currently between 18 and 35. It kind of feels like we’ve all grown up together, Dick said. And, as you know from our previous experiences renting properties, we are aware of how it feels when a landlord or estate agent is taking money from you for trivial things you could have fixed yourself.

“I like to think we’re still guiding our audience, you see. We’ve been with them since the beginning. We’re going to carry on being together. We’re a force for good now. We are teaching them the ways of the world.”

“And Gardener’s World will be taking place as well, before you know it!” “Dom jokes. He and Dick shared a flat almost 25 years ago when they first rented it together. Overall, “Dom added, we were a good landlord.”

Dick recalled how times have changed since they first met as flatmates. In terms of, you know, the bits and pieces that had been done to the house back then, landlords were a little more lenient. And we’re not talking about serious damage; rather, we’re talking about simple things like putting nails into walls to hang pictures and other things.

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Dom continued, “In today’s world, inventory companies are assigned to make sure the location is exactly the same as it was when the tenant moved in. But the issue is that if you move in and put up six or seven pictures on the wall, that would be “six or seven holes.”

But we don’t always think about it what might affect our deposits, they continued to say. “You’re trying to make a place your own home,” Dom pointed out. “Let’s say if you’re there over Christmas time, you think, ‘Oh, I’m going to nail up a bit of tinsel, or I’m going to do a bit of this, put some decorations up.’ You never really think about, ‘Oh, hang on a minute, what happens if I need to move out? Am I going to get charged for all this?’ It’s crazy!

The landlord can say, “Right, well, I need to hire a professional decorator to fill all the holes in the walls, sand them all down, and then repaint the entire wall so that it all looks good together.” And then, just before you know it, your deposit was taken, allegedly, by £350.

Gemini enters in this regard. The pair discussed how they could use AI to teach them how to fix a coffee table that has scratches for much less than the cost of replacing it. The best feature of this AI tool is that you can literally point the camera at the problem. We pointed it at a scratched coffee table while we tested it out in a London apartment. A landlord could now say, “We need a whole new table because it’s scratched,” Dom said. However, AI gave them directions on how to make a DIY patch up and where to find the materials.

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“It was unbelievable. And so all those little details that can keep your deposit, he continued. Both he and Dick both acknowledged how intimidating it can be to start a DIY project.

“Putting up a book shelf like this still requires a lot of patience and understanding. However, I sincerely believe that if you can do that, you can help with the following step.

As Dick & Dom both recognize, that also applies to careers. The two have performed on radio, DJ sets, and the West End since they first presented kids’ television. The legacy they’ve left for the children they made laughs is what “means the world” to them, though.

“Students are coming up to us right now or just in the street families say thanks so much,” Dick said. They actually mean it, they say. Thank you so much for “making our household laugh and bringing joy to our home every Saturday morning,” which is a really nice thing to hear.

They thanked me for making me laugh when I was a child, Dom added. To me, it meant the world. And we didn’t realize how significant it was. And that was lovely. It was a lot of fun. You’ll remember your favorite teacher forever, like when you have them, won’t you? “

Dick & Dom’s partnership with Google Gemini AI, ‘Dick & Dom in Da Rented Flat’, launched on Instagram @DickandDomofficial on 1st October 2025.

Denise Van Outen, the lead woman in the popular culture series Gogglebox, and her former co-star have since settled down after years of dating.

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Denise Van Outen and Johnny Vaughan famously fell out during their time hosting The Big Breakfast Show in the late 1990s. Denise, who later competed on Strictly Come Dancing, claimed their friendship took a turn due to issues with contract negotiations.

According to reports at the time, Johnny reportedly made a different payment plan for his salary, which harmed their relationship.

Reflecting on the matter, Denise commented on Loose Women in 2017: “At that particular time, we were literally like brother and sister, we were best friends, unbreakable.

When we began to negotiate our contracts, the relationship broke down because I always believed that we had to work as a team, which was exactly how it should be.

Now that Johnny has shared his version of events, how far back in time.

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He said, “She might have fallen for me, but I never did for her,” in a conversation with The Metro newspaper. I’m completely in love with Denise.

“Sometimes you don’t notice things, which is maybe why I apologize to her for it,” I said.

The pair briefly reconnected on the Capital Radio Breakfast Show in 2008, spüring hopes for a new friendship after years of disconnection.

However, things didn’t go as planned after Denise left the show before her contract expired.

She later claimed that, despite being a joint presenter, he would never allow me to speak, would never let me speak, and would never indicate when. There was no mention of my name in the announcement that this is Johnny Vaughan and you are listening to Capital Radio.

I was standing opposite the desk. When I would speak, he would turn my microphone down while he had control over the desk.

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Johnny, however, disputed this and asserted that she found the transition from television and theater to radio challenging.

He added to The Mirror: “Perhaps I wasn’t as ­reassuring as you can be. We did have a bit of a fallout, but I still love her to bits.”

Despite their past issues, the duo have since reconciled, joining forces on Celebrity Gogglebox last year and sharing the screen on Steph McGovern’s Steph’s Packed Lunch in 2023.

The presenter stated in his most recent interview that they had a close relationship and that they had done Gogglebox frequently.

She has always supported me no matter how we have gotten to know each other, and I hope she finds that I have always supported her.

Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, an oasis musician, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He shared the news with his fans on X: “I was first diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier this year.

The good news is that I’m receiving treatment so well that I could participate in this incredible tour. I’ll be missing the gigs in Seoul, Tokyo, Melbourne, and Sydney because I have a planned break for the next phase of my care right now.

*This is a significant piece of showbiz news. Follow The Mirror on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Apple News, TikTok, Follow The Mirror on Facebook, Follow Us on Twitter, and Follow The Mirror on Twitter.

Due to a lengthy application process, legendary TV presenter Paul O’Grady’s grave left without a headstone after he passed away two and a half years ago. However, that has since changed.

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Paul O’Grady’s grave finally has a headstone – more than two years after the TV presenter died in March 2023, with the delay being the result of a lengthy application process.

The 67-year-old TV presenter died at his home near Ashford after suffering a sudden Cardiac arrhythmia. Only a month later, he was buried in St Rumwold’s Churchyard in Bonnington, Kent.

That grave has remained without a headstone for two and half years, marked only with wooden crosses and ornaments. But, after a lengthy application process, his widow Andre Portasio revealed on Paul’s Instagram to show Paul’s headstone on his grave.

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The headstone is made of dark grey stone and bears Paul’s name, as well as the name of his former long-term partner Brendan Murphy, who died of a brain tumour in 2005. Paul’s final wish was for him to be buried alongside his former partner and manager Brendan, whose death in 2005 left Paul heartbroken and devastated.

After two and a half years since Paul’s passing and a lengthy application process, we have finally placed the final design of his headstone at his grave, Andre captioned the photo, which also featured a figurine of Paul’s dog Buster next to the headstone.

He added that he misses the late husband. “I adore him dearly every day, but I’m appreciative that his final resting place is finally found.” I’m hoping the final design will appeal to him.

The headstone also features one of Paul’s favourite quotes from Philosopher Michel de Montaigne: “The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be one’s own self.”

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Paul’s supporters responded to the remarks with little delay. Because Brendan was included, one person said they could “weep with happiness.” It just makes me giddy with joy that Murphy was chosen to participate in this since it is so lovely and generous.

Another person described it as “beautiful” and said they were visiting. While another third claimed that having Buster there was “wonderful” as well. Andre claims that the figurine is identical to another outside Battersea Cat’s and Dog’s Home.

Former ballet dancer, Andre, often posts tributes to Paul on social media and has previously shared a photo of the pair on their wedding day in 2017, sporting sharp suits complete with matching corsages. He also told Mirror that he watches videos of the presenter on the anniversary of his death every year.