The daily gossip: Liam Neeson celebrates St. Patrick's Day, Demi Lovato gets honest about her independence, and more

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1. Liam Neeson honors his homeland in St. Patrick's Day video
2. How Billie Eilish inspired Demi Lovato to be herself
3. Katy Perry might have secretly married Orlando Bloom
4. Tiger Woods returns home from hospital and re-enters the world of digital golf
5. Michelle Obama expertly shuts down Jimmy Kimmel's 'sick' obsession with the night Osama bin Laden was killed

published 17 March 2021

1. Liam Neeson honors his homeland in St. Patrick's Day video

St. Patrick's Day can't be taken from Liam Neeson. Though the actor has played characters from Arthurian legend, the planet Coruscant, and Narnia, he is first and foremost extremely Irish. Celebrations, however, look a little different this year due to the pandemic; Neeson told Travel + Leisure that he was "delighted" to join forces with Tourism Ireland for a short video "which will act as a reminder of the beautiful island that awaits when it is safe to travel again." The actor, who is from the Northern Ireland town of Ballymena (again: he is extremely Irish), describes in the video how "no matter where you are in the world, as long as you have a piece of Ireland in your heart, you are celebrating with us. Happy St. Patrick's Day."

Demi Lovato's documentary premiered at SXSW Tuesday ahead of her April 2 album release, and both projects are brutally honest accounts of the past few years, she says. After unsatisfactory reactions to her fourth and fifth albums, she pivoted to pop star tropes of showing skin and wearing leotards, a role that didn't fulfill her. "I think it was when Billie [Eilish] started wearing the baggy clothes, that was the first time I was like, I don't have to be the super-sexy sexualized pop star," Lovato told The New York Times. That awakening, and the end of her engagement to Max Ehrich — which liberated her from "a box of heteronormativity and monogamy" — culminated in her latest album being written from a more queer perspective. "I'm ready to feel like myself," she said.

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Katy Perry might have fulfilled an extremely 2003 fantasy by secretly marrying Orlando Bloom. On Tuesday, Perry was photographed in Hawaii, where she can be seen wearing a gold band on her left ring finger — which naturally made people start asking questions. The couple have spent the last half-month in the Aloha State, where they've kicked back on the beach, done some downward-facing dogs, and been joined by Bloom's 10-year-old son Flynn, whom he shares with ex-wife Miranda Kerr. Admittedly, it wouldn't be shocking to learn that Perry and Bloom quietly got hitched, especially seeing as they've been engaged since Valentine's Day 2019, share a six-month-old daughter together, and there's that whole pandemic thing going on.

Tiger Woods has left the hospital and is recovering at home following a Feb. 23 car crash that left him with serious leg injuries. Though it may be a while before you see the golfer hit the green again, he's staying in the game, digitally speaking. Woods inked a partnership with 2k for a PGA Tour video game series, granting exclusive access to his name and likeness, and will serve as an executive director and consultant. The golf icon is re-entering a realm he once dominated with EA's Tiger Woods PGA Tour video game series that ran from 1998 through 2013. Sounds like it's time to practice your swing (read: controller skills) and dust off your (digital) green jacket.

Last November, Jimmy Kimmel blindsided former President Barack Obama by asking him if, on the night Seal Team 6 killed Osama bin Laden, he and Michelle Obama got busy. Obama dodged, but when his wife appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday to promote her new children's show, Waffles + Mochi, Michelle didn't seem amused to hear the query resurfaced. "Did you and your husband make love that night to celebrate?" Kimmel asked her. "I have to tell your audience that for some very sick reason, you're very obsessed with this question of that major historical event in a way that no one else — no one in the history of all the conversations I've had — anybody drilled down on this particular point like you," Obama replied, adding, "So I turn that back on you."

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