While looking back on her turbulent life, Fonda this week sat down with Oprah Winfrey on the show Oprah’s Next Chapter. In particular, Fonda addressed her 2010 breast cancer diagnosis, stating that she is not afraid of dying.

“A couple of years ago I got breast cancer, and that was a good test because I always said, ‘I’m not afraid of dying,’” said Fonda. “And I wasn’t.”

Fonda went on to discuss how women’s sex lives can improve with age, her black daughter, and how she looks back on her lifetime of accomplishments.

“I’m old, and I feel really young,” said Fonda.

(Image courtesy Georges Biard/Wikimedia Commons)

Russell went on a frightening rampage in the spring, taking to the streets while fully nude and reportedly mumbling incoherently about the devil while stopping cars and beating the pavement with his fists. Russell told Oprah that he doesn’t remember much of it, saying the person doing those things does not equate with his own view of himself.

“Again, it’s really hard to explain if people who have never had an out-of-body experience, but it really wasn’t me. That wasn’t me, that person on the street corner ranting and raving and naked is not me, that’s not who I am. [I remember] walking around snapping my fingers up and down … slapping my hands on the ground as hard as I can. Just slapping them on the ground. Talking to myself. Ranting. Raving. Talking about good versus evil, God and the devil. I mean it was just very out of control.”

Russell also goes in depth about what it was like to see his Kony 2012 video go viral almost before his eyes, saying that it hit a million views within 24 hours.

“From that moment on, instead of just riding the wave on your surfboard, excited…tsunami. And you could feel it, in your bones. The energy. Everyone felt it. It was like, “What have we done?”

If the 8-year old seems right at home with crocodiles and snakes, it’s because he and his family literally live in the middle of a zoo: the Australia Zoo, to be exact. His older sister Bindi has also had a knack for handling wildlife and says they couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

“It’s fantastic. Every day’s a new adventure,” she said.

Both children were very close with their father and were involved in just about every aspect of taking care of the animals they were always surrounded by, even though Robert was just a toddler when Irwin was fatally stung in the chest by a stingray. Irwin was filming a documentary at the time with Bindi in the Great Barrier Reef; his death impacted the little girl profoundly, but she has followed in her father’s footsteps with her own kids’ television show featuring exotic animals, and has her own line of books called the “Wildlife Adventure Series”.

Now it looks like Robert will do the same; after hanging out with Oprah during one of her specials, he handled toothy baby crocs with ease and rattled off the latin name of a snake he was holding like it was second nature.

Image: FlyNetPictures.com
Lead Image: MatrixPictueres.Co.UK

For next excursion into serious cinema, Williams will portray President Dwight D. Eisenhower in “Precious” director Lee Daniels’ “The Butler”. The film currently sports an insanely impressive cast, including Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr, David Oyelowo, Lenny Kravitz, Terrence Howard, Alex Pettyfer, and Minka Kelly. That’s a hell of a lot of star power right there, folks. Also, it’s good to see Cuba Gooding Jr. doing something that isn’t going straight to home video.

“The Butler”, which follows the allegedly true adventures of Eugene Allen during his 34 years at the White House, is based on Wil Haygood’s report “A Butler Well Served by This Election”. Haygood will also serve as associate producer and researcher on the project. And if IMDb Pro is to be believed, Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, and Mariah Carey are also rumored to be attached to the production, as well.

Look for “The Butler” to arrive in theaters sometime next year.

On Oprah’s Next Chapter, Oprah confronted 50 Cent about naming his bitch (female dog) Oprah. She said that she would take it as a compliment, but she knows it wasn’t intended that way in the beginning: “That was not a compliment,” she told 50 Cent on OWN. “I heard you had a bitch named Oprah!”

Curtis Jackson acted coyly about the embarrassing situation, “At the time, I was just looking at the situation, and I saw I was developing negative feelings for someone who doesn’t even know me…and I gave it to the dog.” He then explains that he now has the utmost respect for the TV mogul.

In the extended interview, 50 Cent goes on to explain, “I would see moments when you would discuss your feelings on the culture, and everything that was wrong with the culture was what was on my CD, and I was like, ‘Oh, she doesn’t like me. I was saying, ‘If I can’t be your friend, at least let me be your enemy, so I coexist.’”

Oprah also goes into the fact that 50 once said she was making TV for “white women as old as his grandmother”. The rapper went on to explain his words, “I was saying it’s a conservative audience. Their kids are listening to [my music] and they look for something that allows them to be a little rebellious. That’s rap and roll.”

Although they have set most of their beef aside, the two still disagree with the use of the “N-word” in rap culture. Oprah is adamantly against using the word in any context, while 50 Cent contends that the difference lies in the way the term is used, saying “When you’re actually using it with malice in your heart, you can feel the difference.”

[Huff Post]

Other nominees for the magazine of the year award were Esquire, New York, The New Yorker, and Popular Mechanics.

O, The Oprah Magazine, for general excellence among women’s magazines, Inc., for active- and special-interest magazines, House Beautiful, for lifestyle magazines, and IEEE Spectrum, for thought-leader magazines were all first time winners of the General Excellence awards which were the best awards before the all encompassing Magazine Awards was created.

New York magazine took home the most awards with 4, including a Single topic award for a piece called “The Encyclopedia of 9/11.” The piece is one of the more extensive pieces I’ve ever read and deserves all the praise it can get.

Here is the full list of this years winners and finalists:

MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR

Winner: TIME
Finalists: Esquire; New York; The New Yorker; Popular Mechanics

GENERAL EXCELLENCE, PRINT

General-Interest Magazines

Honors large-circulation weeklies, biweeklies and general-interest monthlies

Winner: Bloomberg Businessweek
Finalists: GQ; New York; The New Yorker; Vice

Women’s Magazines

Honors women’s magazines, including health and fitness magazines and family-centric publications

Winner: O, The Oprah Magazine
Finalists: Glamour; More; Real Simple; W

Lifestyle Magazines

Honors food, travel and shelter magazines as well as city and regional publications

Winner: House Beautiful
Finalists: Bon Appetit; Country Living; Garden & Gun; Texas Monthly

Active- and Special-Interest Magazines

Honors magazines serving targeted audiences, including enthusiast titles
Winner: Inc.
Finalists: The Fader; Field & Stream; Men’s Health; Popular Mechanics

Thought-Leader Magazines

Honors literary, scholarly and professional publications as well as small-circulation general-interest magazines

Winner: IEEE Spectrum
Finalists: The American Scholar; Aperture; The New Republic; Virginia Quarterly Review

DESIGN

Winner: GQ
Finalists: Bloomberg Businessweek; Interview; New York; Wired

PHOTOGRAPHY

Winner: Vogue
Finalists: GQ; Interview; National Geographic; Virginia Quarterly Review

NEWS AND DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY

Winner: Harper’s Magazine for “Juvenile Injustice,” October
Finalists:
Harper’s Magazine for “Uncertain Exodus,” July
National Geographic for “Too Young to Wed,” June
The New York Times Magazine for “From Zero to 104,” September 4
TIME for “Birds of Hope,” January 17

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY

Winner: The New York Times Magazine for “Touch of Evil,” December 11
Finalists:
National Geographic for “Taming the Wild,” March
TIME for “Portraits of Resilience,” September 19
Vogue for “Lady Be Good,” March
W for “Planet Tilda,” August

SINGLE-TOPIC ISSUE

Winner: New York for “The Encyclopedia of 9/11,” September 5-12
Finalists:
Bloomberg Businessweek for “Steve Jobs,” October 10-16
ESPN The Magazine for “NFL Preview: The Vick Issue,” September 5
Garden & Gun for “Southern Food,” October/November
Wired for “Underworld,” February

MAGAZINE SECTION

Winner: New York for “Strategist”
Finalists:
Bicycling for “Know/How”
Esquire for “Man at His Best”
Real Simple for “Food”
Wired for “Start”

PERSONAL SERVICE

Winner: Glamour for “The Secret That Kills Four Women a Day,” June
Finalists:
Good Housekeeping for “Fractured,” July
Real Simple for “Your Holiday-Spending Survival Guide,” November
Redbook for “Would You Get a ‘Mommy Tuck’?” April
San Francisco for “The New School of Fish,” February

LEISURE INTERESTS

Winner: Saveur for “Italian American,” December
Finalists:
New York for “The Urbanist’s Guide To . . . ,” April 25
Outdoor Life for “Sniper School,” March
Texas Monthly for “Home Plates,” April
Wired for “The Wired Travel Optimizer,” October

PUBLIC INTEREST

Winner: The New Yorker for “The Invisible Army,” June 6
Finalists:
5280 Magazine for “Direct Fail,” December
Harper’s Magazine for “Tiny Little Laws,” February
Marie Claire for “The Big Business of Breast Cancer,” October
Men’s Health for “The Signature Wound,” November

REPORTING

Winner: The New Yorker for “The Apostate,” February 14 & 21
Finalists:
The Atlantic for “Our Man in Kandahar,” November
Los Angeles for “What Happened to Mitrice Richardson?” September
The New Yorker for “Getting bin Laden,” August 8
Vanity Fair for “Echoes From a Distant Battlefield,” December

FEATURE WRITING

Winner: Esquire for “Heavenly Father!” October
Finalists:
GQ for “The Man Who Sailed His House,” October
The New York Times Magazine for “You Blow My Mind. Hey, Mickey!” June 12
The New Yorker for “A Murder Foretold,” April 4
Rolling Stone for “Arms and the Dudes,” March 31

PROFILE WRITING

Winner: D Magazine for “He Is Anonymous,” April
Finalists:
ESPN The Magazine for “Game of Her Life,” January 10
Men’s Journal for “The Blind Man Who Taught Himself to See,” March
Rolling Stone for “Santiago’s Brain,” December 8
Sports Illustrated for “Dewayne Dedmon’s Leap of Faith,” November 14

ESSAYS AND CRITICISM

Winner: New York for “Paper Tigers,” May 16
Finalists:
Esquire for “The Loading Dock Manifesto,” May
GQ for “Too Much Information,” May iPad Edition
The New Yorker for “The Aquarium,” June 13 & 20
Slate for “The Stutterer: How He Makes His Voice Heard,” February 22

COLUMNS AND COMMENTARY

Winner: Vanity Fair for columns by Christopher Hitchens
Finalists:
The Atlantic for columns by James Parker
Field & Stream for columns by Bill Heavey
Los Angeles for reviews by Steve Erickson
TIME for columns by Joel Stein

FICTION

Winner: Zoetrope: All-Story for “The Hox River Window,” Fall
Finalists:
The Atlantic for “Scars,” Summer 2011
McSweeney’s Quarterly for “Ambition,” April
McSweeney’s Quarterly for “The Northeast Kingdom,” August
Virginia Quarterly Review for “La Moretta,” Fall

Time Red X Covers are courtesy of time.com

It’s a topic she’s familiar with since discovering the benefits of the practice last year and sharing it with her employees; she has also gained some knowledge of it through her work with inner-city schools, where, under the tutelage of Maharishi board member David Lynch–yes, the “Eraserhead” guy–the practice was introduced to children who suffered from behavioral and academic problems.

Basically, it’s a spiritual practice that allows one to find stillness and calm, not unlike prayer. Winfrey says she introduced the idea to her employees and it spread like wildfire around the studio, and the results were staggering.

“…You can’t imagine what has happened in the company. People who used to have migraines, don’t. People are sleeping better. People have better relationships. People interact with other people better. It’s been fantastic,” she told Dr. Oz last year.

Lynch said he started meditating on the advice of his sister and discovered he was a very angry person; transcendental meditation helped dissolve that.

“I was filled with an anger and sorrows and doubts and melancholy. And I took it out on my first wife. I made her life pretty much a hell,” Lynch said. “So I start transcendental meditation, and two weeks later she comes to me and says, “What is going on? This anger, where did it go?” Things lift away so naturally.”

Forbes writer Peter Cohan says meditation can be an excellent way for startups to change things for the better.

“…Many entrepreneurs start companies not for money but to change the world,” he writes. “If entrepreneurs’ visions of what that world would look like end up improving life for other people, those start-up CEOs are using a kind of spirituality to attract and motivate top talent.

Furthermore, when entrepreneurs hire those people, they look for integrity. As I described in my book, Value Leadership, integrity means that people do what they say they will do. And in a start-up, integrity has a compelling business imperative — there is no time or money for people who can’t be trusted. That’s why it is so critical for company founders to conduct exhaustive due diligence on potential employees.”

The practice isn’t just recommended for stressed-out students and employees, however. Lynch and his foundation also work with veterans and prisoners to show them an outlet for their rage, and also to help them learn to stop and think about their actions and the consequences they have before an incident occurs.

“So something that people say is, “Before I started meditating, I just reacted. Now, with meditation, I have this pause and this reasoning: Do I really want to blow this man’s head off with a .357 Magnum in my hand?” And then the answer is, “No, I don’t think so.” They have time to think,” Lynch says.

The practice is getting a lot of attention now that Oprah has given it her stamp of approval.

Bobbi Kristina shared that she treasured the relationship that she had with her mother and said that her favorite memories of her mother were when she was on stage performing. Bobbi plans to carry on her mother’s legacy through song and says her mother has prepared her to rise as a star. While her mother has passed away, Bobbi admitted to feeling her mother’s spirit “pass through her” and she even feels that Whitney is trying to communicate with her.

The interview also showed a powerful clip of Kevin Costner speaking at Whitney’s memorial about her fragile self-esteem. He said she always wondered if she was pretty or good enough, and while this helped her push through in the industry, he cited her insecurity as the reason for her final stumble. Bobbi also shared moments where her mother had exhibited a lack of confidence.

Her family said that Whitney took it really hard when her voice began to weaken and she became depressed. Patricia said the siren started to make excuses for not being able to hit the high notes and really struggled with her emotions.

Whitney’s family did not point a finger at ex-hubby Bobby Brown, despite the physical, verbal, and emotional abuse that was evident in their relationship. Apparently Bobbi and her father have a decent relationship and he has been reaching out to her throughout the mourning process.

The family denied rumors that they had asked Bobby to not attend the service; in fact they say that he “was supposed to be there.” But Bobby was not present during the memorial; he visited the lifeless Whitney before the service began.

The family was more appalled by a photo of Whitney dead in her coffin that was leaked and published by a tabloid. Her brother said that the act was plain “evil.”

While Whitney’s family is saddened, they say Whitney’s mother is taking it the hardest. Her mother refused to comment and seemed to be in desperate need of closure. What is most haunting is that Gary said their mother predicted that Whitney would die young and become an angel.

I am sure that more details about Whitney’s death and estranged dynamic with Bobby will unravel over the next few months.

The love of Whitney’s life, daughter Bobbi Kristina, Bobbi Kristina will share her memories of her mom and how she would like her to be remembered. The family will also address the rumors and theories surrounding Houston’s death.

Oprah will also ask the family what they really thought about Bobbi.

The interview will air this Sunday at 9/8c.

Many Twitter users are worried about Bobbi Kristina:

Grammy night just happened to be the night that Oprah’s new show premiered. How does a media princess get people to flip the channel? By tweeting to her 9.2 million+ followers, of course. So on Sunday night, Oprah tweeted this:

Every 1 who can please turn to OWN especially if u have a Nielsen box

and later…

Commercial Grammy people..u can turn to OWN

Apparently, that’s a big no-no, and her actions drew the ire of the Nielsen company whose job it is to provide accurate, unbiased TV ratings information. Nielsen’s policy strictly forbids networks from reaching out to Nielsen participants – for obvious reasons. This could create inaccurate testing results. The company released this statement about Oprah’s tweet:

In accordance with our policies and procedures, Nielsen is reviewing this incident with our clients and we may withhold, breakout and/or make a note in the ratings. We take any violation of our policy seriously and will work with clients to resolve the situation.

Oprah later removed the tweet and apologized:

I removed the tweet at the request of Nielsen. I intended no harm and apologize for the reference.

It wasn’t just Nielsen who chastised Oprah for her tweet. Her followers got on her case as well, calling her “desperate” and “unethical.” Although Oprah has deleted the original tweet, her responses to people’s criticism are still there: