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Richard Johnson: Getting details about Tom Cruise’s infamous London tea parties is a mission impossible

Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise likes parties, especially his own.

The “Mission: Impossible” hero was just in London, where he has a glamorous apartment for entertaining.

The Scientologist star, who has extra time on his hands now because of the SAG-AFTRA strike, recently hosted one of his regular Sunday afternoon tea parties.

Cruise invites guests to his sprawling apartment at the exclusive 1 Hyde Park apartment building where he occupies an entire floor near the top of the building.

The parties always start at 4 o’clock. Cruise’s chef prepares an elaborate spread of traditional tea and scones, a healthy buffet and drinks.

When the superstar brings in outside staff or a DJ, they are required to sign long and specific non-disclosure agreements.

Guests sign shorter versions saying that no selfies or photos are allowed. If anyone breaks the “code of silence” they aren’t invited back.

Spies in the lobby say they “ see lots of beautiful women coming and going from the apartment on Sundays,” said my source.

“Tom loves to blast the music loudly, the beats can be heard in the building, which is why he gives a tea party in the afternoon so no one complains about the noise. Tom is always polite and considerate of his neighbors. The parties generally end by 7 or 8 p.m. at the latest.”

Whitney Houston

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LOS ANGELES — This year Whitney Houston would have turned 60, and a special celebration to raise money for a good cause is being planned for her birthday.

Houston's estate, Sony and Primary Wave Music will host the 2nd annual Whitney Houston Legacy of Love on Aug. 9, which will benefit the late singer's foundation aimed at helping young people.

Houston’s close friends BeBe Winans and Kim Burrell will perform at the gala at Atlanta's St. Regis Hotel, as will Whitney’s brother, Gary, who toured with her for three decades.

“When I turned 50, Whitney gave me two celebrations — one in Ireland and one in London. I always tell everyone now that one of them was for her,” says Pat Houston, Whitney Houston’s sister-in-law and the executor of her estate. Houston died in February 2012 at age 48. “This year is Whitney at 60 — we’re all looking forward to being a part of the power of love in that room.”

Houston found the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children in 1989 with the goal of empowering youth, providing resources to unhoused children, giving out college scholarships, and raising funds for charities like the Children’s Defense Fund and St. Jude Children’s Research.

A charity auction will raise money for the foundation, which is now called the Whitney E. Houston Legacy Foundation.

“We're going to auction off a beautiful lavender dress Dolly Parton wore when she sang ‘I Will Always Love You’ at Country Music Television's ‘100 Greatest Love Songs of Country Music’ special in 2004,” says Pat Houston. “This dress is particularly special because it's lavender, and lavender is Whitney's favorite color.”

The song, originally written by Parton, was recorded by Houston and became one of her great, everlasting hits. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it diamond early last year, which means the track has sold and streamed 10 million equivalent units in the United States. It became her first diamond single, and made Houston the third woman to ever achieve diamond-status with both a single and an album, following Mariah Carey and Taylor Swift.

Clive Davis will serve as honorary chairman. Recording Academy President Harvey Mason jr. is scheduled to attend. Also expected are Gamma’s Larry Jackson and Whitney Houston’s musical director Rickey Minor.

“I always tell people, Whitney is the star,” Pat Houston said. “Everybody in that room is royalty, but she's loyalty — and she's still showing that.”

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The actor behind Jar Jar Binks suffered from severe depression and contemplated taking his own life as a result of backlash to the controversial “Star Wars” character.

A self-described “enormous ‘Star Wars’ fan” growing up, actor Ahmed Best told The Guardian the incredible opportunity to be part of the franchise, and as such a historic character — the first fully CGI one to boast a prominent role in a live-action flick — turned out to be a nightmare.

In addition to critics slamming Jar Jar as “the most annoying character to ever grace the big screen,” websites like JarJarBinksMustDie.com were inspired by widespread disdain for the fictional figure.

Academics and critics alike viewed Jar Jar as racially offensive — the stereotype of the “noble savage” or the “carefree Jamaican minstrel.” The fact that media also pounced on writing about the backlash didn’t help, Best said, especially when his contact information was leaked and death threats followed.

“It was the lowest I’ve been in my life,” the actor-turned-producer and director told the outlet, recalling that he nearly jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge one night due to the belief that he’d consented to having his identity as a Black man exploited.

Best said he wanted to “show” people “what you’re doing to me. And when I’m gone, then you’ll feel exactly what I went through.”

In 2018, Best took to social media with a picture of the bridge to tell the world what the emotional toll had nearly led him to do. The vulnerability not only led many younger “Star Wars” fans to offer love and support, but others who once criticized the character to apologize.

Jar Jar Binks debuted in 1999′s “Episode I: The Phantom Menace,” when Best was 25 years old.

“We were doing something that was going to change cinema history,” he said, speaking about the groundbreaking CGI technology at the time. “Even the software was written on my body. There’s still that legacy code in CGI packages today. My physical DNA is in every single CGI character since.”

But then Jar Jar made smaller appearances in 2002′s “Episode II: Attack of the Clones” and 2005′s “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.”

“Here I am, a significant character who changed movies, and then I’m a footnote — I barely appear,” Best said of his role being shrunk down further and further.

Best has since gone on to reclaim his place in “Star Wars” history, boasting the “Mandalorian” role of Grogu’s (Baby Yoda) savior, Kelleran Beq — a move he said “gave me that affirmation of ‘You were always doing the right thing ... It wasn’t you.’”

Best speaks more on the subject of making movie history, enduring hate, and eventually making a comeback on the new podcast “The Redemption of Jar Jar Binks.”

“I want folks who listen to recognize what I contributed to the history of cinema,” he told The Guardian. “Culturally, Black invention has been repeatedly erased from history and that is an injustice. Since 1997, no other Black man has ever played a main CGI character and that’s a travesty.”

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