Stars dying without wills? It’s a notion that’s difficult to grasp, particularly when musicians’ estates often continue to generate significant revenue after their deaths.  

Yet in some cases, famous faces were just like a lot of us, and despite their millions, put shoring up their finances on the back burner. Aretha Franklin may have been the latest star to pass away without a trust or will, with her four sons filing a document this week in Michigan’s Oakland County Probate Court listing themselves as interested parties in her estate, while her niece Sabrina Owens asked the court to appoint her as personal representative of the estate. 

We don’t yet know the fallout of Franklin’s financial scenario, but here’s a look at celebrities who died without wills in place – and the dramas that ensued.

More: Aretha Franklin didn’t leave a will; here’s what will happen to her estate

Column: Aretha Franklin didn’t have a will, but you should: How to get one

Prince

Age at the time of death: 57

Financial status: The singer died April 21, 2016, in an elevator in his Paisley Park compound, and in the absence of his will, scores of claimants emerged, claiming to be his previously-unknown wife, child, sibling or distant relative. After months of legal drama, the Minnesota probate judge overseeing the late Prince’s estate declared in May 2017 that Prince did in fact die without a will, and that his sister, Tyka Nelson, and five half-siblings are the heirs to the multiple millions of dollars he left behind.

Court filings suggest Prince’s estate is worth around $200 million, perhaps more depending on the value of his musical legacy and his famous “vault” of unreleased recordings, though federal and state estate taxes are expected to consume about half the value.

Carver County District Judge Kevin Eide said that multiple would-be heirs to Prince’s estate, whose claims of heirship were rejected, have filed appeals, and that nothing will be distributed that might adversely affect the claims of those with pending appeals, or without a formal court order.

More:Prince’s six siblings declared official heirs to his still-uncounted estate

Michael Jackson

Age at the time of death: 50 

Financial status: Jackson’s family initially thought he didn’t have a will, and headed to court. Eventually, courtesy of his lawyers, a will surfaced, signed seven years before the pop star’s death. Upon its discovery, mom Katherine Jackson withdrew her petition asking to be put in charge of her son’s estate.

Jackson’s will named the pop star’s longtime attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain as administrators of the estate. Katherine Jackson was named as a permanent guardian to her son’s three children, Prince Michael I, Paris and Prince Michael II. She was also named a beneficiary of a trust set up by her son. Singer Diana Ross was named a successor guardian for the children and their estates.

But it’s not over. According to Forbes, it may be another year before a final resolution in the estate tax case related to a discrepancy in the value of the late singer’s name and likeness. The slog through tax court has been going on for five years already.

Amy Winehouse

Age at the time of death: 27

Financial status: The soulful Brit, who died in 2011 from alcohol poisoning, was thought to have a will, but ultimately did not. Winehouse’s parents ended up inheriting her fortune, with the singer’s father, Mitch Winehouse, acting as the administrator of her estate. It’s notable that in Amy, the Oscar-winning documentary about the singer, Winehouse was shown to have a contentious relationship with her father. (Mitch Winehouse called the documentary “misleading.”) Winehouse’s estate totaled $4.66 million after debts and taxes, according to the Associated Press.  Her ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, did not receive anything.

Bob Marley

Age at the time of death: 36

Financial status: Here’s a cautionary tale about estate planning: 30+ years after Marley’s death, his heirs were still battling the singer’s estate in court. Marley, who died of cancer in 1981, famously left no written will, and under Jamaican law his estate was to be divided among his wife and 11 children. That meant Marley’s wife, Rita, received only 10 percent of his assets. After years of court battles, Rita and Marley’s family was rewarded with a decision that they were entitled to Marley’s name and likeness.

Marley’s estate has since aggressively defended commercial use of Marley’s likeness, songs and intellectual property through the years. Five years ago the estate sued Richard Booker, Marley’s half-brother, for giving Jamaican tours and coordinating music festivals in his brother’s name. (The case was settled out of court.)

Jimi Hendrix

Age at the time of death: 27

Financial status: Hendrix died in 1970 without a will. The fight over his estate went on for more than 30 years. The famed guitarist’s siblings had been feuding since 2002, when their father, Al Hendrix, died and left Jimi’s sister Janie in control of the musician’s $80-million estate. The Washington State Supreme Court upheld the will but the siblings continued battling over the use of the singer’s image. According to Rolling Stone, a  settlement  was finally reached before a scheduled July 2015 jury trial to determine how much Hendrix Licensing, a company run by brother Leon’s business partner, owed to the Jimi Hendrix estate in terms of damages for sales of unauthorized merchandise.

Sonny Bono

Age at the time of death:  62

Financial status: Bono’s death came as a shock: the entertainer-turned-congressman died in a skiing accident in 1998. His wife, Mary Bono, had to go through probate court to become the executor of her husband’s estate. A love child also appeared (but later withdrew his claim). Ultimately, Bono’s estate was divided between Mary Bono (who became his political successor for 14 years), and his two children, Chaz Bono and Christy Bono Fasce.

Kurt Cobain

Age at the time of death: 27

Financial status: When Cobain died, he left behind a fortune that was estimated  in the millions. In recent years, the estimated value has been in excess of $450 million. After the singer’s death in 1994, wife Courtney Love was the primary beneficiary of the publishing rights to his estate, which included almost all of Nirvana’s music, reports CNBC. In 2010, the couple’s then-18-year-old daughter, Frances Bean, took control of her trust fund which was more than a third of the estate. That same year, Love gave up rights to Cobain’s name and likeness for a loan, according to CNBC.

USA TODAY reporter Maeve McDermott contributed to this report.

 

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Stoke City’s winless start in the Championship continued as they were well beaten by newly promoted Wigan Athletic.

Wigan took the lead when Will Grigg poked home from Gavin Massey’s low cross into the box, and they doubled their advantage when Massey finished from a tight angle.

The hosts conceded a penalty when Joe Allen brought down Grigg, who fired past Jack Butland from the spot for his second.

As the game drew to a close, Stoke were reduced to 10 men when Ashley Williams was sent off for a second yellow card after a bad tackle on Massey.

Stoke struggled for long periods and the result means they have now failed to win their past nine home league games, stretching back to last season when they were relegated from the Premier League.

Williams, meanwhile, has been sent off in two of his past three league starts, with his previous red card coming for Everton against Burnley in March.

Boos rang around the Bet365 Stadium at the final whistle after another poor performance from the Potters, who have taken just two points from a possible 12 under Gary Rowett.

Perhaps more worryingly for Rowett, his side failed to register a shot on target in the whole 90 minutes.

The hosts had in fact started well, with Benik Afobe having the ball in the net early on when he finished coolly past Christian Walton, but the flag was raised for offside.

However, Northern Ireland striker Grigg’s brace and Massey’s first-half goal ensured Stoke’s search for a first league win since their relegation from the top flight continues.

Stoke City boss Gary Rowett told BBC Radio Stoke:

“I’ll take responsibility for that performance and I’ll look at what I’ve done and be brave enough to say that. What I need is some of the players brave enough to say that.

“If the fans want to boo me, I’m fine with that. I can’t complain about it or say they’re unjustified in doing it.

“I’ll be man enough to stand outside there and try and turn this thing around.”

Wigan Athletic manager Paul Cook told BBC Radio Manchester:

“We always felt we’d have moments in the game and obviously the key moments tonight have gone our way.

“The goals were scored at good times in the game for us and when you win a game like that, everything has to fall into place.

“Stoke not scoring early in the game was massive for us.”

The people of Twitter read their horoscopes religiously and map their birth charts meticulously, so it’s no wonder that zodiac memes are having a moment right now. 

The fascination with astrology prompted the recent “fuck your zodiac sign” meme, and now it’s birthed another one.

It’s pretty simple: the meme posits that whoever won the Academy Award for best actress the year you were born is your true zodiac sign — and people can’t stop sharing their results. 

People on Twitter have been quote tweeting and replying to the prompt with their best actress signs — and they appear to be loving them. And, I mean, who wouldn’t be excited to learn that the universe has aligned you with Cher or Meryl Streep?

Sure, there are no complicated charts involved, but hey, it’s fun and we’re into it. (FWIW, I’m a Kathy Bates, Cher rising.)

President Donald Trump told the Fox News Channel that Michael Cohen’s payments to two women who alleged affairs with Trump were not illegal because they “came from me” and not his campaign.

“They weren’t taken out of campaign finance, that’s the big thing,” Trump said during an interview on FOX & Friends that will air Thursday morning. “That’s a much bigger thing.  Did they come out of the campaign? They didn’t come out of the campaign; they came from me.”

Cohen, who is Trump’s former attorney and personal fixer, told a federal court on Tuesday that he had paid off two women to silence them before the 2016 election at Trump’s “direction,” and admitted that the payments were illegal.

But Trump told Fox that the payments weren’t a campaign violation since they came from his personal funds.

“In fact, my first question when I heard about it was did they come out of the campaign because that could be a little dicey,” Trump said. “And they didn’t come out of the campaign and that’s big. But they weren’t – that’s not a – it’s not even a campaign violation.”

Trump said he didn’t know about the payments until after Cohen made them. Asked by interviewer Ainsley Earhardt if he knew about them, Trump responded: “Later on I knew. Later on.”

That contradicts Cohen’s statement to the court that he had acted at Trump’s direction when Trump was a candidate for president in 2016. It also contradicts audio tapes secretly recorded by Cohen that allegedly reveal Cohen and Trump talking about purchasing the rights to the story of a former Playboy model who alleges she had an affair with Trump. 

Trump has made contradictory statements about the payments in the past.

More: Trump suggests people not hire Michael Cohen

More: Did Michael Cohen lie to Congress?

In April, he told reporters aboard Air Force One that he knew nothing about $130,000 paid to porn star Stormy Daniels. In May, the president changed his story, acknowledging the payment to Daniels but saying that a non-disclosure agreement was “used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair.”

“These agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth,” Trump tweeted on May 3.

In the Fox interview, Trump also invoked an alleged campaign violation by former President Barack Obama.

“If you look at President Obama, he had a massive campaign violation but he had a different attorney general and they viewed it a lot differently,” Trump said.

Trump is apparently referring to a civil violation by the Obama campaign, as opposed to the criminal violations that Cohen pleaded guilty to committing.

In 2008, Obama’s campaign paid a whopping $375,000 fine for failing to report certain campaign contributions within 48 hours as required by federal election law.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Wednesday awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor to the widow of John Chapman, a U.S. Air Force technical sergeant, who died at 36 in Afghanistan. 

Valerie Nessel and her family accepted the award in the East Room of the White House amid applause from dozens of veterans and politicians. 

Chapman was honored for his actions on March 4, 2002, at the Battle of Roberts Ridge on Takur Ghar mountain. After rescuing a teammate who had been stranded in enemy territory after a helicopter crash, Chapman was killed while engaging enemy gunfire from al-Qaeda insurgents.

His actions are credited with saving the lives of his teammates. 

“In this final act of supreme courage, John gave his life for his fellow warriors,” Trump said at the ceremony. “Through his extraordinary sacrifice, John helped save more than 20 service members.” 

Chapman’s honor comes after a 30-month review of drone footage, autopsy results and eyewitness accounts of Chapman’s actions – a lengthy process because of the classified nature of Chapman’s mission as a special operator.

After the review, which concluded that Chapman had continued fighting through his initial wounds, the Pentagon upgraded his commendation to the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor. Initially, he had been posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross.

During the battle, Chapman survived gunshot wounds to his heel, calf, back and liver, but lost consciousness, leading his teammates to believe he had been killed. But when another American aircraft arrived, Chapman emerged from the bunker he had occupied after his fellow troops had left. He fired at insurgents attacking the aircraft, then suffered a gunshot wound that caused his aorta to explode. 

The troops who found Chapman’s body discovered that he had used nearly all 210 rounds of ammunition he had brought into battle. 

“Even though he was mortally wounded, John regained consciousness and continued to fight on,” Trump said. “And he really fought. We have proof of that fight – he really fought.”

Chapman is the first airman to win the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War. In his speech during the ceremony, Trump said Chapman’s senior yearbook quote had been: “Give yourself before taking of someone else.”

“Very far-sighted,” Trump said. “John lived by that motto every single day.”

More: President Donald Trump to award Medal of Honor to widow of airman killed fighting al-Qaeda

More: President Trump honors late WWII veteran Garlin Murl Conner with Medal of Honor

 

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It was no surprise when Serena Williams topped the Forbes list of highest-earning female athletes released earlier this week, but you may have not recognised the name of the woman in seventh place.

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, more commonly known as PV Sindhu, is a 23-year-old badminton player from India and became only the second Indian competitor, male or female, to win an Olympic badminton medal with a silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Her on-court winnings last year totalled $500,000 (£387,000) but endorsements saw Sindhu bring in an extra $8m (£6.2m) in sponsorship in sports-mad India. That works out as a weekly income of $163,000 (£126,000).

That is more than earned by Simona Halep, the WTA world number one as of 22 August, and the top seed for the 2018 US Open.

Sindhu comes from a sporting background with both her parents playing volleyball at national level, but she took up badminton aged six when inspired by Pullela Gopichand, who won the men’s singles event at the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001.

Her life and career changed during the women’s singles competition at the 2016 Olympics. She was only seeded ninth but gained wins over eighth seed Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei in the last 16, China’s second seed Wang Yihan in the quarter-finals and Japan’s sixth seed Nozomi Okuhara in the semi-finals before losing to Spain’s world number one Carolina Marin in the final.

“Before the Olympics, when we reached out to sponsors, often we were asked ‘Sindhu who?’” said Tuhin Mishra – group managing director of Baseline Ventures, the company that takes care of Sindhu’s commercial interests – in an interview with CNBC in 2017.

“The market dynamics were tough. Everyone only wanted to be associated with cricket.”

India have only won 28 Olympic medals, with five of those gained by women. No Indian woman has won a gold; Sindhu was the first to earn a silver.

After her return from Rio, she received cash prizes from the different state governments and government institutions worth Rs 13 crore (130m rupees – about £1.4m), while, as a comparison, gold medallist Marin received Rs 70 lakh (7m rupees – about £77,500) from the Spanish government for her achievement.

Sindhu was also awarded land from the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana government and a luxury BMW car from the Hyderabad Badminton Association, presented by cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar.

Since then, a host of companies have been queuing up to be associated with Sindhu, with her sponsorship value matching and surpassing that of many Indian cricketers, apart from captain Virat Kohli.

Those companies on Sindhu’s sponsor roster include Bridgestone Tyres, sports drink Gatorade, pain reliever ointment Moov, online fashion store Myntra, Nokia, Panasonic, honey producer APIS Himalaya, herbal health drink firm Ojasvita and the Bank of Baroda. She is also a brand ambassador for both the Central Reserve Police Force and Vizag Steel.

“Her soaring popularity has attracted the attention of so many companies,” Mishra told The Times of India in 2016. “Even after achieving stupendous success, her humility and the value she brings to women power is remarkable.”

Success off court has also followed success on court, with silver medals at the 2017 and 2018 World Championships and an individual silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, where she also helped her country to mixed team gold.

On Thursday, she begins her campaign in the women’s singles at the Asian Games in Indonesia, where she is the third seed.

India have won one individual bronze medal in this competition – Syed Modi in the men’s singles in 1982; Sindhu is aiming to become the first Indian woman to secure an Asian Games badminton medal.

If she does, her brand value and marketability will rise further and even more companies will be looking for endorsements, As a result, she could find herself even higher up the Forbes list in 2019.

Afghanistan will not attend multinational peace talks hosted by Russia early next month, the Afghan foreign ministry has said, a decision that could make Moscow reconsider its plan to invite the Taliban.

“The peace process definitely needs to be carried out under the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. We will not participate in the Moscow talks,” said Sibghat Ahmadi, the deputy spokesman of Afghanistan’s foreign ministry, Afghan news website TOLOnews reported on Wednesday.

Separately, an Afghan official working with the foreign ministry in Kabul told Reuters news agency that the government had “decided against attending the Moscow conference”, adding that they will “hold direct talks” with the Taliban, without the direct involvement of foreign powers.

The comments came a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted as saying that the Taliban plans to take part in the September 4 talks in Russia’s capital, Moscow.

The Taliban has confirmed to Al Jazeera that they will attend the talks.

Russia has invited 12 countries, including the United States, to the talks, but Washington has declined the invitation. Russia’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday it regretted the US decision.

It is unclear whether the Afghan officials’ statements on Wednesday will affect Russia’s decision to invite the Taliban.

Truce rejected

The Taliban this week rejected a government offer of a three-month ceasefire and said they would press on with their war, two commanders of the group told Reuters news agency, after a series of attacks, including a prolonged assault on a key city of Ghazni, in which hundreds of people have been killed.

Afghanistan’s ambassador to Russia, Abdul Qayyum Kochai, said earlier this week that “Russia wants to use the Taliban against [ISIL],” according to comments carried by the Russia-focused Interfax news agency.

Lavrov brushed aside such speculation, saying it would be “hypocritical” for “Russia to use the Taliban movement for the fight against [ISIL]”.

This year, Moscow rejected an accusation by NATO’s top commander in Afghanistan that it had been supporting and even supplying weapons to the Taliban. The group is fighting to remove US and other foreign forces and defeat Afghanistan’s Western-backed government.

Mohammad Hanif Atmar, Afghanistan’s national security adviser, meanwhile told Alexander Mantytski, Russia’s ambassador, that Kabul appreciated Moscow’s support for the peace process and called upon it “to put pressure on the Taliban to begin negotiations with the Afghan government”, the Afghan official’s office said earlier on Wednesday.

Mantytski said Moscow was ready to help Afghanistan make “the peace process a success”, Atmar’s office said but did not clarify how it could achieve that.

Image to improve

A Western diplomat in Kabul said Russia was seeking to increase its influence and improve its image in Afghanistan by inviting Taliban leaders for talks.

It comes nearly 40 years since Moscow sent its troops into Afghanistan, beginning a bloody decade-long occupation and factional conflict which is still going on.

According to a senior diplomat in Kabul, Moscow in recent months has stepped up direct contacts with the Taliban, which is formally banned in Russia.

Back-channel diplomacy between the Taliban and a range of countries – including the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia – has taken place over the years to end the latest phase of Afghanistan’s decades of war, which began with a US invasion in 2001.

New findings from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences are helping us better understand how the human big toe evolved, and when it began evolving into the valuable tool it is today. The study suggests that the big toe was the last part of the human foot to evolve.