What’s Up? with Ke$ha, Randy Travis, Oscar Pistorius

Ke$ha out of rehab

In January, pop singer Ke$ha admitted herself to Timberline Knolls clinic to help her deal with anorexia and bulimia. It was suggested that the 26-year-old singer had been subjected to a barrage of cruel remarks from her longtime producer Lukasz Sebastian “Dr. Luke” Gottwald, which may have contributed to her insecurity with her weight. An insider told People magazine:

“He has been verbally abusive to her and insults her and the way she looks, saying she’s not pretty enough or skinny enough. The abuse ultimately led Ke$ha to a bad place.”

While in rehab, a friend of Ke$ha tweeted out messages to her fans thanking them for their support (Ke$ha did not have access to Twitter during her rehab stay), saying “she says ‘THANK YOU. SOOO MUCH. I’m overwhelmed to tears by all of the love, letters, and support!! I’ll be back soon and better than ever.'”

It was announced today that Ke$ha has been discharged from Timberline Knolls, having completed her inpatient rehab program. She tweeted to her fans:

“Happy to be back! Feeling healthy & working on tons of new music. I can’t thank my fans enough for all the love & support u have given me.”

In February, Ke$ha had postponed a number of her concerts in March and April in order to “follow my doctor’s advice and get my health back on track.” It is not known when those dates will be rescheduled.

Randy Travis’s tough road back

As you may recall, country singing icon Randy Travis was hospitalized in July for viral cardiomyopathy, a weakening of the heart muscle following a viral infection. Fifty-four year old Travis took a turn for the worse, and had a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) (not unlike Dick Cheney) placed to stabilize him for transfer to The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano for more specialized care.

While there, the seven time Grammy winner suffered a stroke which required surgery to relieve increased pressure on this brain. Eventually he was released from the hospital and transferred to a rehabilitation facility. He went home from that facility in October.

Since then, little had been seen or heard about Travis’ s condition, but friends and family of the star have begun to share updates on his health.

His father, Harold Traywick, told People magazine in February that “He’s up and walking around with a little help.”

Country singer Neal McCoy put a picture of Travis’s first public outing on Facebook, saying:

“Randy Travis and I recently backstage before I went on, at a Smiles For Life concert in Dallas Texas. Pretty honored this was Randy’s first time out and his first time to have Cowboy boots on since his illness. Gettin Better!!!”

McCoy told People magazine that Travis “looks great, but is still struggling to use both of his hands. I don’t know if he’ll ever fully recover, but he’s a tough guy with a work ethic.”

One thing is for certain, his family and friends haven’t counted Randy out, expecting him to show continued improvement until he can get back to work at doing what he loves- performing.

 

Oscar Pistorius Trial Begins

The trial of London Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius began this week in Pretoria, South Africa. The 26-year-old South African who sprints with the use of cutting-edge prostheses (leading to his nickname as “The Blade Runner,”) has been charged with murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013. Pistorius admits to shooting Steenkamp behind a closed bathroom door, but contends that he thought that there was an intruder in the bathroom and did not realize that Steenkamp was not in bed.

Several neighbors claim that they heard screaming, followed by shots on the night that Reeva was killed. The defense counters that what neighbors thought was Reeva screaming was instead Oscar, after he realized what he had done.

Former girlfriend Samantha Taylor, testified that Pistorius had cheated on her with Steenkamp, and that he slept with his pistol on his bedside table or on the floor beside his prosthetic legs. She also contends that she witnessed an incident where he became so angry during a traffic stop that he shot a bullet through the car’s sunroof.

The defense only has to show that there is reasonable doubt Pistorius intentionally killed Steenkamp. The trial is expected to last about 3 weeks.