So I wound up talking with my Mom and a family friend until 3 AM CST here in my hometown of Chicago. And during that time we watched a movie I stumbled upon and always wanted to see: The Ice Storm. Not to digress, but it’s an excellent movie that deals with family communication, or lack thereof .<\/p>\n
At the end of it, FOX Entertainment CEO Tom Rothman, who hosts the show around which Fox movies were presented last night, obvered that The Ice Storm was about how we try to escape our family, only to have circumstances bring us back to our family.<\/p>\n
That was wild.<\/p>\n
I sat in total amazement. I’ve always believed in God, but never more so than last night because not only did that whole flight fiasco bring me to my small family, but talking about how things have changed was a great and necessary way to really take stock of how things have changed. Especially with so many people I’ve known who died in 2009.<\/p>\n
Here I was worrying about meeting friends at the Balboa Cafe and whatever fun I would miss, and I was slammed into this very necessary event. In other words, having been with my family, I was seeking escape with the idea that I was headed toward something “more fun”, and all the way missed what family was about. Not any more.<\/p>\n
Our families know who we are and accept us, period. They don’t have to be blood relations, just people who really truly love you without condition. And those people are there before you, but in the quest to be cool, all of us miss (and mistreat) those who really do care about us. In doing that, we lose the part of ourselves that sometimes we need to find just to successfully carry on.<\/p>\n
So I’ve learned a lesson I’m passing on. Well, let’s say I got a refresher course. Family is important to me, but frankly I saw it as a burden at times. It’s not. It’s freedom and love.
\n The Umbrella singer rang in the New Year (10) with a show at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi last week – and according to MediaTakeOut.com, she was accompanied across the world by her new beau, Los Angeles Dodgers player Kemp.<\/p>\n
Rihanna has been romantically linked to a string of eligible men, including Justin Timberlake, rapper Drake and 90210 actor Tristan Wilds, in recent months but she previously denied she was even dating, insisting it was \u201ctoo much\u201d following her split from Chris Brown.<\/p>\n
The young couple broke up in February (09) after a violent bust-up which led to Brown\u2019s conviction for assault.
\n\u201cI loved what Ashton [Kutcher] wrote on Twitter. It was comforting to me,\u201d Monjack told Access Hollywood, adding he did not know his wife\u2019s former \u201cJust Married\u201d co-star personally. \u201cI couldn\u2019t have said it better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The message posted by Kutcher read, \u201c2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine. My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany\u2019s family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon. see you on the other side kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
As far as what happened inside the actress\u2019 home early Sunday, when Murphy was found unresponsive in the shower, Monjack said up to that point, it had just been \u201ca regular day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Video
\n Neighbor on attempt to resuscitate Murphy
\nDec. 21: Brittany Murphy’s neighbor, Clair Staples, discusses watching emergency workers attempting to resuscitate the actress as they brought her out for transport to a hospital and how her husband seemed to be completely dazed.<\/p>\n
Access Hollywood
\n\u201c[Her mother] Sharon went into the bathroom because she had been in there a long time. Her mom screamed for me and I ran. Then called 911,\u201d he revealed. <\/p>\n