Whitney Houston's Rumored Ex-Girlfriend To Pen Tell-All Memoir

Robyn Crawford, Whitney Houston’s long-rumored lesbian lover, says she will “set the record straight” once and for all in a new memoir titled, A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston, due out November 5.

During their decades-long friendship, both women denied any romantic involvement with each other. But fans have long speculated about the nature of their relationship.

Since Houston’s death at the age of 48 in 2012, there have been two documentary films of Houston’s life – Nick Broomfield’s Whitney: Can I Be Me?, and Kevin MacDonald’s Whitney. Both films addressed Houston’s rumored bisexuality and the women’s speculated relationship.

Crawford, notably, declined to take part in either project.

Houston’s mother, Cissy Houston, famously told Oprah in 2013 that it “absolutely” would have bothered her if Whitney had been lesbian or bisexual.

Bobby Brown, Houston’s ex-husband, shared with US Weekly in 2016 that he felt Houston would still be alive today if the “I Will Always Love You” singer’s family had accepted Robyn.

According to the book’s official synopsis, “In A Song for You, Robyn breaks her silence to share the moving and often complicated story of her life and relationship with Whitney.”

Whitney Houston (image via YouTube/I Will Always Love You)

The memoir will follow the years from the women’s meeting in the 1980s, to the singer’s self-titled debut album in 1985, her record-breaking world tours, the success of The Bodyguard, and more.

The publisher of the upcoming book, Penguin imprint Dutton, describes the release as “the vital, honest and previously untold story that provides an understanding of the complex life of Whitney Houston,” and promises that “finally, the person who knew her best sets the record straight.”

The talkers at E! News’s ‘Daily Pop’ discuss the upcoming book below.

Andrew Rannells: "It's Never The Priest You Want To Kiss"

Andrew Rannells (image via Facebook)

Vulture has an excerpt from the very clever new autobiography, Too Much Is Never Enough: A Memoir of Fumbling Toward Adulthood, by out stage and screen actor Andrew Rannells.

Rannells, who shot to fame as the lead in the hit Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, shares in the excerpt details of rather unsettling encounters with a Catholic priest while growing up in Nebraska.

Using the alias ‘Father Dominic’ to refer to the priest, the Girls star explains how the priest forcibly kissed him after confession one day.

“He stood up and pulled me up with him. He hugged me tightly. I felt safe and heard and understood. Then, with unexpected force, he kissed me. On the lips. He muscled his tongue into my mouth and held the back of my head still. Then he released me and made the sign of the cross on my forehead. He smiled.”

It comes as no surprise that Rannells would spend the rest of that year avoiding the priest.

He was mostly successful in his avoidance until his mother insisted Father Dominic be invited to his graduation barbecue.

At the end of the party, the priest announced he was leaving and asked young Rannells to see him out.

Cringing at the idea of being alone with the sixty-something priest, Rannells knew what might be coming.

Standing at the door, saying what he hoped would be his final goodbyes with the priest, Rannells writes, “He grabbed me by the back of the neck and forced his tongue in my mouth.”

“I just stood there and let him,” he continues. “I didn’t kiss back, but I also didn’t move. He smiled at me and walked to his car.”

Rannells handled the moment in the best way he knew how - he went to the kitchen and “slammed a glass of wine before going back out to the party.”

The future Broadway star would ponder the kiss for some time.

“How many teenage boys have to deal with this shit at their graduation parties? Am I the only one? Or was Father Dominic just taking a tour of homes and forcing French kisses on young men throughout the city?”

Soon after, the teenager would leave the Cornhusker state and find himself (and his career) in New York City.

The actor would go on to starring roles in the aforesaid Book of Mormon as well as Falsettos, Hairspray, Hamilton, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Jersey Boys and The Boys in the Band on Broadway. He would also make a splash in his recurring role on the TV series Girls as well as the films The Intern and A Simple Favor.

The 40-year-old says the new memoir is about “homesickness, bad auditions, good auditions, sex with the wrong person, occasionally sex with the right person (who generally turns out to be the wrong person), some unfortunate but inescapable life events on the path to adulthood, and lots of wine with friends along the way.”

I’m thinking a lot of folks will relate.

Throughout the tome, Rannells proves himself to be a deft storyteller with a sophisticated touch when it comes to humor.

Too Much Is Never Enough: A Memoir of Fumbling Toward Adulthood is available now.

You can check out Rannells' chat with Stephen Colbert about the new memoir below.

Elton John To Release First & Only Official Autobiography

Elton John

Not content with a big, splashy movie ‘musical fantasy’ about his life, Elton John has announced he plans on releasing his 'official' autobiography later this year in October.

John shared the news via a video shot at his favorite book shop in London.

“My life has been one helluva roller coaster ride and I’m now ready to tell you my story, in my own words,” tweeted the ‘Tiny Dancer’ singer. “My first and only official autobiography will be released October 2019.”

He provided this link for fans to pre-order the book now.

My life has been one helluva roller coaster ride and I’m now ready to tell you my story, in my own words. My first and only official autobiography will be released October 2019.

Pre-order at: https://t.co/Rr7Gge5r7b #EltonJohnBook pic.twitter.com/FP5KM8ikxI

— Elton John (@eltonofficial) March 8, 2019

“I can’t wait for you to read it - because it’s the truth,” says John in the video. “So many books that have been written about me haven’t exactly been truthful.”

The publishing house set to release the memoir, Macmillan, says the cover and title haven’t been released yet, but the tome will be available in hardcover, paperback and e-book.

Fans are already looking forward to seeing the Grammy & Oscar winner’s life up on the big screen come May in the ‘epic musical fantasy’ biopic, Rocketman, starring Kingsmen star Taron Egerton.

Rami Malek just took home an Academy Award for his star turn as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Could Egerton score Oscar gold as well?

With a tag line, “The only way to tell his story is to live his fantasy,” the movie arrives in theaters May 31. Check out the trailer below.

Michael Lucas Says NO Celebrity Clients Will Be Named In Upcoming Memoir

Michael Lucas (center) with Diego LauzenRodrigues & Wagner Vittoria
(image via Instagram)

Gay porn star and producer Michael Lucas found himself in a PR debacle this morning after Page Six ran a story that Lucas will retire next year and is planning a memoir.

The New York Post gossip site reports that Lucas will retire from appearing in adult films in 2020 but continue to produce and direct.

The 46-year-old’s rep reportedly said, “Porn stars come and go, but the best ones stay in our memories [and] on our hard drives for a long time until they fade away.”

“Successfully dominating the gay adult-film industry for 25 plus years and starring in over 300 films, Michael is planning to retire the devil between his legs in 2020 but still continue to direct and produce films,” he added.

View this post on Instagram

Having a great time filming a new production with Lucas Entertainment models in beautiful Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Thank you Vidal @mantamarbc for your hospitality, you most beautiful gay beach club I have ever been to! #lucasentertainment #lucasmen #lovemantamar #haveitall

A post shared by Michael Lucas 🇱🇷🇮🇱 (@michaellucasnyc) on May 11, 2018 at 9:30am PDT

Additionally, having penned essays for HuffPost and The Advocate in the past, Lucas has apparently set his sights on a larger literary endeavor - a tell-all book from his escorting days in the 1990s.

According to Page Six, Lucas plans “to publish a juicy autobiography that will include a steamy chapter about a few top Hollywood celebs who paid him to have sex with them when he was an escort in the late ’90s.”

The gossip page says that the A-list celebrity names will remain secret until the book’s release.

But wait - there’s more!

Shortly after the publication of the story at Page Six, Towleroad posted emails from Lucas to an editor at the New York Post adamantly denying he has any plans to ‘name names’ in an upcoming memoir.

Lucas states that he considers those relationships ’sacred’ and promised to ‘take those secrets to the grave.’

Here’s the email from Lucas to the New York Post via Towleroad:

Dear Carlos:

The story that ran today and attributed to me by my former publicist is absolutely false. I spent 45 minutes on the phone explaining why I would never do that and they still felt the need to give it to you. Needless to say I am perplexed by their motivation and they were fired immediately.

I am considering legal action against them.

What is true is that I’m planning to retire in 2020.

What is absolutely false is that I would ever write or consider writing a “ tell all” book and naming names of my clients.

I consider that relationship sacred and I would NEVER violate their confidence or my integrity. Period.

I have nothing but the greatest respect and gratitude for the people who trusted me with their most intimate secrets and I will take those secrets to the grave.

In follow-up correspondence, Lucas demands the online headline be corrected, sharing, “This is a major, major embarrassment for me.”

View this post on Instagram

Back to #barcelona for a new #lucasntertainment #production with 25 #sexy #lucasmen

A post shared by Michael Lucas 🇱🇷🇮🇱 (@michaellucasnyc) on Jul 4, 2017 at 7:19am PDT

(h/t Towleroad, Page Six)

Tweet Of The Day

According to Newsweek, Donald Trump's book, The Art of the Deal, has sold about 1.1 million copies in 32 years.

USA Today reports former First Lady Michelle Obama's new memoir, Becoming, sold 1.4 million copies in one week.

#winning

Michelle Obama Snuck Out Of The White House To Enjoy Rainbow Lights Celebrating Marriage Equality

In her new memoir, Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares a touching episode from the day the U.S. Supreme Court declared marriage equality the law of the land.

The date was June 26, 2015.

Although she had just returned from a funeral service for the victims of the Charleston church shooting, she saw crowds gathering in front of the White House as evening fell.

From the window she could see a purple glow.

The staff had arrange to illuminate the residence in rainbow lights in celebration of the landmark ruling by SCOTUS.

Seeing the energy of the people, she found she was "suddenly desperate to join the celebration."

After checking with her husband ("There are tons of people out there - you know I can't do tons of people!") and her youngest daughter, Sasha, who was engrossed in her iPad, Michelle found Malia was down for the adventure.

(image via Twitter/WhiteHouse)

From Becoming:

“Looking out the window, I saw that beyond the gates on Pennsylvania Avenue, a big crowd of people had gathered in the summer dusk to see the lights. The north drive was filled with government staff who’d stayed late to see the White House transformed in celebration of marriage equality. The decision had touched so many people.

"From where I stood, I could see the exuberance, but I could hear nothing. It was an odd part of our reality.

“We made our way down a marble staircase and over red carpets, around the busts of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin and past the kitchen until suddenly we were outdoors. Malia and I just busted past the agents on duty, neither one of us making eye contact.

"The humid summer air hit our faces. I could see fireflies blinking on the lawn. And there it was, the hum of the public, people whooping and celebrating outside the iron gates.

“It had taken us 10 minutes to get out of our own home, but we’d done it. We were outside, standing on a patch of lawn off to one side, out of sight of the public but with a beautiful, close-up view of the White House, lit up in pride.

"Malia and I leaned into each other, happy to have found our way there.”

In related news, Michelle appeared on ELLEN today to chat on the new book.

The segments included a visit to Costco with Ellen (where she created a foreseeable spectacle); her first kiss; Malia attending her prom with secret service agents in tow; and a discussion about inauguration crowd sizes ("Two of ours, one of someone else's...").

Michelle's publisher, Crown Publishing, reports that Becoming sold over 725,000 copies on its first day making it one of the biggest debuts of the year.

Omarosa: Trump's "Mental Decline Could Not Be Denied"

Omarosa Manigault-Newman (image via screen grab)

In her new tell-all memoir, The Apprentice reality celeb Omarosa Manigault-Newman appears to insinuate that Donald Trump's mental capacity is in rapid decline.

From The Daily Mail:

In an exclusive excerpt obtained by DailyMail.com, Omarosa, 44, who first met Trump when she appeared on The Apprentice and later became an assistant to the president, tells of the dread she felt while watching Trump's interview with Lester Holt last May.

'While watching the interview I realized that something real and serious was going on in Donald's brain. His mental decline could not be denied,' she writes in Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House.

'Many didn't notice it as keenly as I did because I knew him way back when. They thought Trump was being Trump, off the cuff.

'But I knew something wasn't right.'

'For the Lester Holt interview, I watched it on a small TV in the upper press room (the lower press room was built on top of the old swimming pool and turned into the briefing room) by the press secretary's office,' she writes.

'Throughout this erratic and contradictory interview, I kept thinking, 'Oh no! Oh no! This is bad!

'Donald rambled. He spoke gibberish. He contradicted himself from one sentence to the next.

'Hope [Hicks, then communications director] had gone over the briefing with him a dozen times hitting the key point that he had fired Comey based on the recommendation by the DOJ which the vice president and other surrogates had been reinforcing for days.'

But when questioned by Holt, the president contradicted previous reports about how the senior law-enforcement officer was dispatched from his office.

Trump also said that he had been planning to fire Comey, apparently contradicting initial reports from the White House that it was a recommendation from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that spurred Comey's ouster.

It's important to note that Omarosa was dramatically fired from her position as Director of African-American Outreach and escorted off the White House premises on December 13, 2017 following reports of an altercation with Chief of Staff John Kelly.

Omarosa Pens Trump Tell-All "Unhinged - An Insider's Account Of The Trump White House"

Infamous reality TV celeb Omarosa has released her new 'tell-all' about her time in the Trump administration titled, Unhinged - An Insider's Account of the Trump White House.

Check out this description from Amazon:

The former Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison in the Trump White House provides a jaw-dropping look into the corruption and controversy of the current administration.

Few have been a member of Donald Trump’s inner orbit longer than Omarosa Manigault Newman. Their relationship has spanned fifteen years—through four television shows, a presidential campaign, and a year by his side in the most chaotic, outrageous White House in history. But that relationship has come to a decisive and definitive end, and Omarosa is finally ready to share her side of the story in this explosive, jaw-dropping account.

A stunning tell-all and takedown from a strong, intelligent woman who took every name and number, Unhinged is a must-read for any concerned citizen.

Michelle Obama's Memoir Has November 18 Release Date

Former First Lady Michelle Obama tweeted the news today that her upcoming memoir, to be titled Becoming, will be released on November 13, 2018.

“Writing BECOMING been a deeply personal experience,” she wrote via Twitter. “It has allowed me, for the very first time, the space to honestly reflect on the unexpected trajectory of my life. In this book, I talk about my roots and how a little girl from the South Side of Chicago found her voice and developed the strength to use it to empower others. I hope my journey inspires readers to find the courage to become whoever they aspire to be. I can’t wait to share my story.”

It was announced last year that both Michelle and President Obama had signed a joint agreement with Penguin Random House for both of their proposed memoirs.

TIME reported that the dual memoir package could be worth in excess of $60 million.

Presidential memoirs have historically racked up big fees and book sales.

Former president Bill Clinton's memoir “My Life” was reportedly sold for more than $10 million.

Former First Lady Hillary Clinton's “Living History” drew an $8 million advance.

And when it comes to book sales, Barack Obama has a proven track record. His three previous books — “Dreams From My Father,” “The Audacity of Hope” and “Of Thee I Sing” — have sales in excess of four million copies.

Writing BECOMING has been a deeply personal experience. I talk about my roots and how a girl from the South Side found her voice. I hope my journey inspires readers to find the courage to become whoever they aspire to be. I can't wait to share my story. https://t.co/d7DxEG85NK

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) February 25, 2018

Out Memoir - Janet Mock "Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me"

Transgender advocate Janet Mock chats with People Magazine about her new memoir, Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me.

Here's an excerpt:

What’s your advice for other trans women as they navigate relationships and romance?

The number one thing is to ensure that they feel safe enough to tell someone their story … It shouldn’t be the responsibility of trans women to disclose to every person that they meet, [that they’re transgender] whether it’s a romantic partner, friend, roommate or coworker… There’s a misconception that trans women are out there deceiving people. We’re not out there deceiving people. We’re not even trying to pass. We’re just trying to be ourselves in a society that has put us into boxes, and has told us that if we don’t fit in those boxes then we don’t belong and we’re not deserving of happiness, of fulfillment, of contentment. [We need to have] agency over who we tell our stories to and whether we want to tell our stories to someone at all.

What did you think of Caitlyn Jenner’s memoir? What is the danger of lumping all transgender stories together?

What’s so great about this time period that we’re in is that we can have Caitlyn’s story, we can have my story, we can have Laverne Cox’s story. We can have a mosaic that shows the complicatedness, the things that overlap. But also I think it challenges us to nullify the notion that there’s a single trans story out there — because there isn’t. [Particularly with Caitlyn Jenner’s experiences], they show that trans folk can be problematic, that trans folk can have conservative ideology and political views that don’t even align with the community that they’re advocating for. For me, as an activist and a storyteller, I’m very centered in ensuring that we show the complicatedness of the human experience that happens to be rooted in my community’s trans experiences.

An excellent read, make sure you check out Mock's book over at Amazon and other digital download sites.