Category Entertainment News

Ricky Hatton’s ex-girlfriend Claire Sweeney called him ‘the people’s champ’ as she spoke out for the first time following his death.

News of Ricky’s death stunned fans on Sunday, with the star found dead at his home at the age of 46. Greater Manchester Police confirmed a body had been found at Hatton’s address and that the death was not being treated as suspicious.

Fans, celebrity admirers and Ricky’s friends in the industry spoke out in a flood of support to pay their respects to the much-loved sportsman. Ricky’s former partner Claire has today added her own tribute as she said she ‘loved and cherished’ the former boxing world champ and had needed time to process her loss.

Taking to Instagram Claire said: “I’ve needed a few days to process the devastating news about my dear friend Ricky. My thoughts are with his family especially his children Campbell, Millie Fearne and Lyla, his granddaughter. To them, Speaky and to all his friends who loved him so deeply and for so many years I send you my deepest sympathy. Ricky, you were the people’s champ. We adored and cherished you. Love you always,” she said.

Claire accompanied her words with a montage of videos and photos from her time with Ricky, soundtracked by the Elvis track ‘If I can dream.’

The soap star’s friends reached out to offer their condolences. Catherine Tyldesley, who plays Eva Price, in Coronation Street wrote: “I’m so deeply sorry my love. A true legend gone too soon. God bless and love to him and his family/friends. Love you xx” While former EastEnders star Rita Simons responded with a simple red love heart.

After being friends for over two decades, Ricky and Claire became romantically involved after they both competed on the 2024 series of Dancing on Ice.

Claire gushed at the time : “I’ve known him for 25 years or so, we kind of always passed each other during events…. Do you know what? He makes me laugh, that’s it.”

While Ricky described it as a ‘great story’ after they went from friends to lovers.

The pair seemed like a perfect match and were photographed on cosy pub date nights, holidays to Mallorca and even a double date with Ricky’s former skating partner Robin Johnstone an her husband Andy Buchanan.

Sadly, the pair’s romance wasn’t to last as it was reported in December 2024 that their romance had come to an end after eight months together.

Claire said about her and Ricky’s relationship following their split: “We’re still friends. We were friends, we dated then we’re friends again. It’s all good.”

Claire’s post comes after Ricky’s long-serving manager revealed he had found the body of his friend at the boxer’s home after becoming concerned for his welfare.

Paul Speak, who was also Hatton’s “confidant”, is said to “deserve a little bit of love” following the grim discovery on Sunday morning. He let himself into the boxing icon’s home in Hyde, Greater Manchester, after Hatton, 46, failed to turn up to a boxing show on Saturday evening.

Boxing commentator Steve Bunce said last night: “He (Mr Bunce) filled me in on a few details about the Friday night and the Saturday night. On the Saturday night, Ricky hadn’t gone to a boxing show… Speaky had found out Sunday morning. Speaky went round and let himself into the house. In fact it was Paul Speak who found his great friend and the people’s champion Ricky Hatton.

“Speaky deserves a little bit of love. You can’t even begin to imagine. It’s a 25-year relationship they’ve had as his commercial and business manager, but more than that it’s his close friend. It’s his confidant… I can’t think of another relationship like it in sport to be perfectly honest. So Speaky was the one that found him.”

The family of Ricky Hatton paid tribute to their “beloved son Richard” yesterday. In the emotional statement released through police, the boxer’s family said it was “source of great comfort to see just how many lives Richard touched”.

Former boxer Stacey Copeland, a close friend of Hatton, spoke to the BBC Five Live for a special ‘Remembering Ricky Hatton’ programme which aired on Monday night. Ms Copeland said Hatton “dared to dream” and told how she saw Hatton last on Thursday at his gym.

Hatton, born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, was due to be in Dubai on Monday, to sign a contract for a fight he was due to have in December against United Arab Emirates fighter Eisa Al Dah, Ms Copeland added.

Speaking to the BBC, Ms Copeland said: “He was saying he had a problem with his elbow. It was starting to hurt. We just had a bit of a joke, saying ‘you are knocking on now Rick’. That was it. To say it was a shock is a massive understatement.”

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Coachella has now dropped the full list of artists performing at the 2026 edition of the festival, and there looks set to be some intriguing surprises in store

The full lineup for Coachella 2026 has been revealed, and there are some huge headliners on the list.

Music fans were taken by surprise when the festival dropped the announcement, which revealed Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter and Karol G to be headliners ahead of what will be the festival’s landmark 25th anniversary.

Other standout acts include the likes of punk legend Iggy Pop, The Strokes, Teddy Swims, The XX, and Addison Rae.

Coachella, or to give it its full name, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, will be held across two packed weekends (April 10-12) and (April 17-19) at Indio’s Empire Polo Club, against the striking backdrop of the Southern California desert.

READ MORE: Blackpink tickets, VIP, resale and how to get yours for Wembley gigs now

Here’s everybody you can expect to see, if you’re lucky enough to get a ticket:

Friday, April 10 and 17

Sabrina Carpenter, the XX, Nine Inch Noize, Disclosure, Turnstile, Ethel Cain, Dijon, Teddy Swims, KATSEYE, Devo, Sexxy Red, Central Cee, Foster the People, Levity, Blood Orange, Moby, Marlon Hoffstadt, Lykke Li, fakemink, Gordo, Creepy Nuts, Joyce Manor, BINI, Kettama, Groove Armada, Joost, HUGEL CMAT, Slayyyter, Prospa, Hot Mulligan, Hamdi, Fleshwater, Max Styler, Wednesday, Dabeull, The Two Lips, Ninajirachi, Max Dean x Luke Dean, Cachirula & Loojan, Jessica Brankka, Chloe Caillet x Rossi, Arodes, NewDad, Carolina Durante, flowerovlove, Febuary, Bob Baker Marionettes, Youna, Sahar Z

Saturday, April 11 and 18

The Strokes, Giveon, Addison Rae, Labrinth, SOMBR, David Byrne, Interpol, Alex G, Solomun, Swae Lee, Taemin, Pink Pantheress, Royal Otis, Rezz, Fujii Kaze, Adriatique, Davido, Boys Noize, Geese, rusowsky, ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U, Green Velvet x Ayybo, Luisa Sonza, ZULAN, Los Hermanos Flores, Bedouin, Ceremony, 54 Ultra, Noga Erez, Ben Sterling, Blondshell, Lambrini Girls, Ecca Vandal, Mind Enterprises, Freak Slug, SOSA, Mahmut Orhan, Riordan, Die Spitz, WHATMORE, Genesi, Yamagucci

Sunday, April 12 and 19

Young Thug, Kaskade, BIGBANG, Laufey, Major Lazer, Iggy Pop, FKATwigs, WetLeg, Clipse, Subtronics, Little Simz, Mochakk, Duke Dumont, Worship, Arman van Buuren x Adam Beyer, Holly Humberstone, Gigi Perez, The Rapture, Suicidal Tendencies, BUNT., French Police, Black Flag, Oklou, Röyksopp, The Chats, DRAIN, Model/Actriz, COBRAH, Los Retros, WhoMadeWho, Jane Remover, RØZ, Glitterer, Carlita x Josh Baker, Mëstiza, &friends, AZZECCA, Le Yora, Samia, Tomora

Separately, the poster references Italian-American melodic techno producer Anyma, who will be delivering the world premiere of a performance entitled “Anyma presents Æden”.

Intriguingly, right at the end of the poster, the organisers promote “The Bunker Debut Of RADIOHEAD KID A MNESIA”, sparking a fair bit of excited speculation.

As previously noted by Billboard, back in 2021, Radiohead reissued both their 2000 album Kid A as well as 2001’s Amnesiac, tied together as a compilation project titled Kid A Mnesia. It’s therefore possible the classic projects will be heard in their entirety, to mark to 25th anniversary of Kid A.

Passes will go on sale on Friday September 19, from 1pm ET or 5 pm GMT. You can find out more here

Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com

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The Apprentice star Tom Skinner has claimed his affair with Amy-Lucy O’Rourke was a ‘one-off’ and a ‘moment of madness’, but newly emerged Ring doorbell footage tells a very different story

Thomas Skinner is trying his best to downplay his affair as a short-lived ‘one-off’, but newly emerged Ring doorbell footage tells a very different story.

The salesman, who makes his Strictly Come Dancing debut this weekend, claims his dalliance with Amy-Lucy O’Rourke, 35, just weeks after his wedding to wife Sinead was a “moment of madness” and something he regretted almost immediately.

Skinner, who has three children with his wife, said over the weekend: “I’m just so lucky that she forgave me. When I told my wife, I fully understood if she were to never speak to me again. It just shows you that 10 minutes can just ruin your whole life.”

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But Amy-Lucy disputes Skinner’s recollection and claims she was the one to call things off – much to Skinner’s annoyance – and was the one who told Sinead. The aesthetician and single mum alleges she began a fling with Skinner in the summer of 2022, just weeks after his May wedding.

She claims he told her at the time that his marriage was simply one of convenience. However, by July that year, Amy-Lucy discovered this wasn’t true and called off their affair.

She now alleges that Skinner, 34, didn’t take the break-up well and showed up at her doorstep demanding a conversation. In the footage captured by her Ring doorbell, Skinner can be seen lingering outside for a minute and a half, despite Amy-Lucy making it clear she doesn’t want to engage.

Skinner also seems to attempt to force his way into her home, but she prevents him. In a dramatic turn of events, she then steps out from the entrance of her house near Brentwood, Essex, to shatter the windscreen of his parked Mercedes 4×4.

In the footage obtained by the Daily Mail, Skinner is initially seen on her doorstep, gesticulating at the camera as he refuses to leave. He then yells up at an upstairs window, again insisting she open the door.

Amy-Lucy retorts, ‘Leave me alone and go away,’ but he continues to hammer on the door. She eventually opens the door and informs him that her son is asleep.

The mother-of-one insists she and Skinner acted like a couple in public, with Skinner often referring to her as his girlfriend and telling her his marriage to wife Sinead was nothing but a “relationship of convenience”.

But Skinner is adamant in his stance that his affair was a one-off event. He told The Sun on Sunday: “I had a fling, I suppose, it was nothing more than that, it was the one time, it was a mistake, then I woke up feeling absolutely terrible about it.”

The married couple were not arguing or having relationship troubles but it was “just me in a moment of madness”, Skinner said. The aftermath “was a very, very dark time”, he said, adding that his wife “never deserved that, she’s such a good person, without her I wouldn’t be where I am today – she made me”.

In a statement to the paper, a spokeswoman for Amy-Lucy said: “This has been an incredibly stressful chapter in her life. She did not have a fling with Mr Skinner, she had a relationship with him.”

The revelations about Skinner’s personal life come just days on from the dad-of-three apologising for picking up a journalist’s phone and walking out of a Strictly Come Dancing press event midway through.

He later said his departure from last week’s event was not related to the BBC dancing show, and claimed he did so because he had seen messages about his past on the reporter’s phone. Skinner was reported to have grabbed the phone and walked out after objecting to being recorded by a journalist.

Made In Chelsea stars Sam Vanderpump and Alice Yaxley, who joined the show in recent series, have announced that they are expecting their first child together with a sweet post

Made In Chelsea stars Sam Vanderpump and Alice Yaxley have announced that they are expecting their first child together, just months after they shocked their cast mates by announcing their engagement.

Sam, 28, took to Instagram to share the exciting news with his followers with a photo of both of their hands touching a sonogram surrounded by flowers. Another snap showed him sweetly kissing Alice’s tummy, as he wrote: “Life is full of surprises, but this is the best one yet. I can’t put into words how happy and excited we are!”

The post was quickly flooded with congratulatory messages from friends and fans. Fellow Made In Chelsea star, Binky Felstead wrote: “Ahhhh congratulations guys!!”, while Reza Amiri-Garroussi wrote: “Congrats to both of you bro”.

One fan wrote: “Wowwww, Congratulations, there’s no feeling like it xx”, while another added: “Omg! I’m so happy for you both. Xx”. A third fan penned: “How wonderful! Congratulations”.

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Their announcement follows after they surprised fans when they announced their engagement in March, just six months after they started dating. Shortly after Alice joined the reality show Made In Chelsea, they shocked their cast members when Sam revealed he was looking for a ring and planning to propose.

Sam, whose aunt is Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, Lisa Vanderpump, shared that he proposed a few months after his health deteriorated rapidly from liver and kidney failure, which helped him realise that Alice was ‘the girl he wanted to marry’.

He said at the time : “Alice and I have only been dating for about six months, but we’ve gone through such a lot in such a short period of time. From day dot, Alice has been with me pretty much 24/7. And over Christmas we went through a bit of an episode together where I got really, really ill,” he says.

Explaining his sudden deterioration, Sam adds, “I got an infection due to a genetic disease I’ve got, which led to sepsis and it ended up quite bad. I was in hospital and it was a close call, I could have died.”

He added: “That experience brought us very, very close. I think I walked out of that looking at Alice and thinking, ‘This is the girl I want to marry.’ So, my thinking was, ‘If I’m saying that now, why on earth am I waiting?’”

As Made In Chelsea returned to our screens on Monday 15 September, fans will no doubt be excited to watch their journey into parenthood play out on their screens.

Jamie Lee Curtis found herself in tears after she brought up Charlie Kirk in a podcast and said that while she ‘disagreed with him’, she hopes he felt ‘connected with his faith’

Freaky Friday actor Jamie Lee Curtis got emotional and burst into tears after she started sharing her thoughts on Charlie Kirk, who was shot last week. The 31-year-old conservative activist was killed by a single shot while he was speaking at a rally at Utah Valley University last Wednesday, in what authorities are calling a political assassination.

Detectives are preparing to file murder charges against 22-year-old Tyler Robinson following a 33-hour-long manhunt. Robinson handed himself in to the police after his father recognised him from CCTV footage released by authorities during the search.

Jamie Lee Curtis brought up the incident during an episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, where she said she wanted to bring up the topic as it was at the ‘front of her mind’. She said through tears that while she ‘disagreed with him’, she hopes he felt ‘connected with his faith’.

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Jamie said: “I disagreed with him on almost every point I ever heard him say, but I believe he was a man of faith, and I hope in that moment when he died, that he felt connected with his faith. Even though his ideas were abhorrent to me. I still believe he’s a father and a husband and a man of faith. And I hope whatever connection to God means that he felt it.”

The actor added: “Yesterday was 9/11. I know there is a video of his assassination. I know people who’ve seen it. Yesterday, we watched again these images of those buildings coming down. … Today, we as a society are bombarded with imagery. So we don’t know what the longitudinal effects of seeing those towers come down over and over and over and over again, or watching his execution over and over and over again. … I don’t ever want to see this footage of this man being shot.”

Jamie said with concern that ‘we don’t know enough psychologically’ about the effect these images are having on members of society and asked: “Is that the reason why we’re all feeling this lack of humanity, because we’re just saturated with these images?”

Following Charlie’s sudden death, his wife delivered a tearful and at times angry speech from her late husband’s streaming room. Erika broke down in tears as she addressed President Trump.

“My husband loved you,” she sobbed, adding that she knew the former president reciprocated her husband’s affection.

She asserted that Charlie was killed because he preached about “patriotism and god’s love.” She also vowed that she wouldn’t let her husband’s mission “die”, reports the Mirror US.

She went on to pledge that she would carry on Charlie Kirk’s campus tour and podcast, which had generated millions for the pair.

“My husband’s mission will not end, not even for a moment,” Erika Kirk continued. “We’ll never surrender. We never will ever. Ever. Our campus tour this fall will continue. There will be even more tours in the years to come.”

Patricia Crowley, the actress famed for her role in Please Don’t Eat The Daisies and Dynasty, has sadly passed away at the age of 91.

She died on Sunday in Los Angeles, just two days shy of her 92nd birthday. Many have taken to social media to pay tribute to the late star, describing her as a unsung hero of the small screen.

Her death was announced by her son Jon Hookstratten, who is the Executive Vice President of Administration & Operations at Sony Pictures.

Jon revealed that his mother died of natural causes and leaves behind her husband Andy Friendly, whom she wed in 1986.

Crowley was best known for her portrayal of Joan Nash in the popular sitcom Please Don’t Eat The Daisies from 1965 to 1967.

In the show, her character was a newspaper writer married to Jim Nash (played by Mark Miller), with whom she had four boisterous boys.

The late actress also graced the screen in 65 episodes of Generations as Rebecca Whitmore from 1989 to 1990 and portrayed Mary Scanlon in 251 episodes of Port Charles from 1997 to 2003.

In 2005, she made an appearance in The Bold and the Beautiful as Natalie DeWitt, and also played Emily Fallmont in 10 episodes of the popular nighttime soap opera Dynasty in 1986.

In Dynasty, she took on the role of Senator Buck Fallmont’s wife and the mother of Clay and Bart. Her main storyline revolved around keeping a lid on a past affair that threatened to question the legitimacy of her son.

Tributes have been pouring in for the last star since news of her death broke. “Sad to read that Patricia Crowley has died at 91,” author Matthew Rettenmund began in his tweet. “An undersung TV mom (‘Please Don’t Eat the Daisies’). I guess 1 good think Roseanne did was have her show up on that TV moms sequence of ‘Roseanne’.”

“I remember her from Dynasty & Beverly Hills 90210. May her memory be a blessing,” another added, as a third penned: “Bless Mrs. Hookstratten! May she rest in peace…”

Prior to tying the knot with Andy Friendly, Patricia was married to Ed Hookstratten, a former sports and entertainment attorney who represented Elvis Presley, Johnny Carson and Vin Scully. The former couple shared two children together; Jon and Ann Hookstratten Osher.

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