newsmakers

newsmakers

Katy Perry, Brand announce divorce

LOS ANGELES

British actor-comedian Russell Brand is divorcing “California Gurls” songstress Katy Perry after 14 months of what had appeared to be one of Hollywood’s happier marriages.

“Sadly, Katy and I are ending our marriage,” Brand said in a statement to The Associated Press on Friday. “I’ll always adore her, and I know we’ll remain friends.”

Brand, 36, offered no other details, but in papers filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, he cited irreconcilable differences.

He and the 27-year-old pop singer were married in October 2010 at a resort inside a tiger reserve in India, and their mutual affection had become a rather sweet feature of the celebrity circuit.

Singer and actress Kaye Stevens dies

THE VILLAGES, Fla.

Singer and actress Kaye Stevens, who performed with the Rat Pack and was a frequent guest on Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show,” has died at a central Florida hospital. She was 79.

Close friend Gerry Schweitzer confirmed that Stevens died Wednesday at the Villages Hospital north of Orlando after a battle with breast cancer and blood clots.

Vindicator wire services