EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Cut! Tom Hanks’ wife Rita Wilson is told off for filming ABBA Voyage
He has won six Academy Awards, his films have grossed nearly $10 billion [£7.9 billion] around the world and he has been named America’s Most Trusted Person.
Still, Tom Hanks has discovered that some Brits have no respect for celebrities.
I hear the star’s wife, the actress Rita Wilson, was rejected from ABBA Voyage at London’s O2 for filming the pop show on her mobile phone.
Chat show host Alan Carr, who sat next to the couple, reveals: “Tom Hanks said, ‘Oh, my God, this is great.’ I love it,” says Carr in his podcast Life’s A Beach.
“His wife was filming it on her phone and was told not to.” He adds, “I’m sure she wouldn’t upload it or anything, but she wanted it for herself.”
Tom Hanks (right) and his wife Rita Wilson (left) were spotted at ABBA Voyage at O2 in London
Jack ties into a knot over whether or not to get married
Comedian Jack Whitehall is feeling the pressure to get married — and it’s not coming from his girlfriend of four years, model Roxy Horner, 31.
“My mother is ruthless,” he says of his mother Hilary’s hope that he will soon make it down the aisle.
Comedian Jack Whitehall (left) says he feels pressure to marry his 31-year-old girlfriend Roxy Horner (right)
The 34-year-old comedian’s sister, Molly, 33, married Toby Wilkinson in 2020, with Princess Eugenie as one of the wedding guests.
And his brother, Barnaby, 31, will exchange vows with Tatiana ‘Tats’ Reatchlous in August.
“I’m still very clumsy when asked about it,” Whitehall says of the marriage. “I cannot give an acceptable answer.
‘My brother and sister were the first to arrive. My brother is getting married in August and then the pressure will be on me again.
“But I still don’t have a good answer to it.”
‘What a terrible sound’: Batt hits Bryn duet
Sir Bryn Terfel’s duet with Andrea Bocelli during the coronation concert created a dissonant note for one of the royal family’s favorite composers.
Mike Batt, who wrote the 1970s classic Bright Eyes and the lyrics for The Phantom Of The Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, would have preferred Bocelli to sing You’ll Never Walk Alone alone.
“Bryn Terfel, what a horrible sound,” says Batt. ‘No feeling. Bocelli alone would have been so much better. Bryn thinks he’s won if he sings louder than Bocelli.’
Batt, who wrote the song Royal Gold for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s 50th wedding anniversary, tells me: ‘Many top opera stars can’t live with an emotional contemporary song. Bocelli is one of the few who can.
‘Many opera singers go for volume. Sir Bryn is a nice guy but when it came down to it I just thought ‘Oh my God’.
“You can’t start loud and stay loud. You have to go somewhere.’
Sentamu’s place is set in stone
A grotesque (pictured) of former Archbishop of York John Sentamu was spotted in the stone garden of York Minster last week
John Sentamu may have retired as Archbishop of York three years ago, but his presence at York Minster will continue.
This grotesque of Sentamu was spotted last week in the stone garden of the cathedral.
And a spokesman told me the statue was commissioned by the York chapter to mark the archbishop’s retirement.
“It is an age-old tradition that cathedral clergy and other notables are honored in this way,” says the spokesperson.
Aussie comic book icon Barry Humphries once memorably crashed the royal box at the Royal Variety Performance, as his alter ego Dame Edna Everage, to the delight of King Charles and Queen Camilla.
And I’ve heard that the comedian’s widow, Lizzie Spender, has accepted a personal invitation from the King to his coronation following Humphries’ death last month at the age of 89.
His Majesty is said to have spoken to Humphries on the telephone just hours before his death.
Olivier Award-winning actress Tracie Bennett has revealed her worst experience in theater.
“I fell off the stage in Merrily We Roll Along,” she admits.
“I leaned back on a table, and it wasn’t there — and I landed in a woman’s lap.
Fortunately I played Mary, who is drunk – so my body was relaxed.’