My Publicist Note Book

Meek Mill Opens Up About His Relationship With Nicki Minaj, His Beefs and Why He's 'Scared to Be Political' Fresh off a No. 1 album, the rapper toes the line between his beefs (Drake, police) and his bae (Nicki Minaj). On July 17, the crowd at Dallas' Gexa Energy Pavilion witnessed the full throes of "Omeeka." The portmanteau describes the love of Meek Mill and Nicki Minaj (her real first name is Onika), and the couple wasn't shy about celebrating it onstage that night: She licked his face; there was a makeout ­session; four duets were performed, including ­current hit "All Eyes on You." As photos of their unbridled PDA ricocheted across the Web, tabloids reported that he had given her a $75,000 ring with yellow heart-shaped diamonds. By the time Minaj's Pinkprint Tour, featuring Meek as opener, reached Brooklyn's Barclays Center on July 26, though, the cross-country honeymoon for hip-hop's most ­public lovebirds had b...

Kem: Commemorates 25 Years Of Sobriety Singer Kem  (né Kim Owens)  has landed on the top of music charts and earned three Grammy Award-nominations since the release of his debut album “Kemistry” in 2003. However, prior to amassing music success, the Motown recording artist found himself battling drug addiction -- which drove him to multiple stints in jail, hospitals and homelessness in Detroit. In a recent interview with The Huffington Post, Kem describes feeling emotionally and spiritually “bankrupt” -- having damaged relationships with family and friends and ultimately having an epiphany to turn his life around to seek help in 1990. “My addiction brought me to my knees. So it was like, ‘Look, either you’re going to do this or you’re going to die out here in the streets,’” Kem recalled. “I could no longer continue living the way I was living, and I didn’t know how to stop. And it was at that point when we [as addicts] give up on our own plan an...

LOS ANGELES -- Caitlyn Jenner accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the  ESPYS  on Wednesday night and urged acceptance for others who are transgender. Jenner received a standing ovation from some of the sporting world's biggest stars after her 10-minute speech during the annual awards show honoring the year's top athletes and moments. Caitlyn and her mom, Esther "This transition has been harder on me than anything I can imagine," said Jenner, who revealed in an April televised interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC that she was in the process of transitioning to a woman. From the stage Wednesday, Jenner thanked Sawyer, whom she called a friend. Noting her powerful celebrity platform, Jenner, the 1976 Olympic decathlon champion and current reality TV star, vowed "to do whatever I can to reshape the landscape of how transgender people are viewed and treated." Abby Wambach of the U.S. soccer team presented the award to Jenner, whose voice...

Power Play As in the 1998 smash he made with Jermaine Dupri, Jay Z proves once again that money ain't a thang. He and wife Beyoncé recently purchased a historic 1925 mansion in New Orleans' romantic Garden District for a reasonable (for the Carters, anyway) $2.6 million. See details from inside La Casa de Castile. New Nola Home The property, which was first a Presbyterian church followed by a ballet studio, stretches across three stories. Beyonce and Jay Z's Den The 13,292-square-foot home features an open floor plan and hardwood floors in each of the property's three apartments. In keeping with its opulent owners, a dining room features crimson walls and coordinating tufted-velvet chairs. A finished closet provides ample room for Bey's endless parade of costumes and over-the-top dresses. An intricately detailed vanity occupies a crimson-walled dressing area in the master bathroom. ...

The State Dining room of the White House has been refurbished with new arm chairs, side chairs, and draperies suspended from carved and gilded poles, all of which were selected with the approval of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House in consultation with first lady Michelle Obama in Washington. WASHINGTON  — Michelle Obama has given the White House State Dining Room a bit of a touch-up. The first lady has added peacock blue and ecru striped silk draperies and custom-made mahogany chairs to the room where many dinners and other White House events take place. The gradual refurbishment has been under way since a new custom-made rug arrived in 2012. Gone are ivory silk-brocade curtains that were designed with flowers, baskets and ribbons, along with older chairs upholstered in beige-colored fabric. The Committee for the Preservation of the White House approved the upgrades at a cost of $ 595,000. The cost was not immediately available, but the changes were pa...

Holly Madison's Playboy Hell: How Hugh Hefner tried to ply me with drugs, berate my appearance and why I haven't spoken to the 'creepy' octogenarian in four years Holly, 35, claims: Hugh Hefner offered her a Quaalude when they met in 2001 She became one of Hefner's seven official girlfriends later that year Describes life at the Playboy Mansion as a 'living hell' in new book Says rooms were stocked with 'Johnson's Baby Oil, Vaseline and Kleenex' She was Holly Sue Cullen back then, a girl from a small town in Alaska, and she’d come to Los Angeles to get famous. How, exactly, she didn’t know, but not long after arriving, she was spotted by a friend of Hugh Hefner’s and invited to a party at the Playboy Mansion. She was 22-years-old, a uni dropout who’d picked up extra shifts at Hooters to make ends meet. Soon she’d become Holly Madison, one of the most ­famous Playmates ever. “I felt like Playboy represented a key to the g...