"I have been given a lot of roles that are downtrodden, mammy-ish."—Viola Davis explains her zeal for landing the lead in How To Get Away With Murder, the best performing new one-hour drama of the season. Of course, would it kill anyone to give this woman a Kleenex? She's made a career out of close-ups of her snot.
No time for personal anecdotes this week. No bon mots from my glamorous life. No bitching about how I think T-Mobile committed fraud with false promises that left me stranded in Eastern Europe. Nope, we have to get right to Aretha Franklin on The Late Show with David Letterman. You'd think we'd be talking about how big ole Auntie Re winched herself into a strapless little prom dress. But, no. We're gonna talk about Cissy Houston. In case you don't know, Houston was ( in her day ) one of the most in-demand backup singers. She also worked closely with Franklin for decades. But this was not her night.
Positioned over Aretha's right hock, she was constantly on camera. We got to see her roll her eyes, grimace and sneer. What we didn't see was much singing. That heavy lifting was left to the four other backup singers, who also shimmied and did hand gestures that Cissy clearly wasn't interested in. I couldn't tell if she was pissed off, bored or if her dentures were slipping. But I know I've seen that scowl before. And then it hit me. When Oprah asked Cissy, "Would it have bothered you if your daughter, Whitney, was gay?" Without batting an eye, Cissy said, "Absolutely!" When Aretha showed up on the Today show for an encore, Cissy was nowhere in sight.
We hear that Melissa Rivers will be filing a lawsuit against the clinic where her mother, Joan Rivers, underwent cardiac arrest. According to insiders, the suit will also include the doctor who allegedly did an unauthorized biopsy. That doctor, Gwen Korovin, is well-respected and has quite a glittery clientele that includes people like Celine Dion, Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. It's just so sad. Why? WHY! Why couldn't this have happened to one of them and not Auntie Joan? On the other hand, I can assure you that Joan would not only be thrilled to leave this world in a controversial way, but she'd want Missy to take that clinic and doctor for all they're worth.
My darling Sherri Shepherd is playing Madam in Cinderella on Broadway opposite KeKe Palmer until Nov. 25. Busy as they are, they took some time off to check out a new musical about the sensational singer, Sylvester. Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical is playing in NYC at the Theatre at St. Clements. It's being produced by my pal, Sheryl Lee Ralph, in association with her DIVA Foundation. In fact, we hear that the guy who plays Sylvester will make an appearance at this year's Divas Simply Singing.
One rarely speaks of Keanu Reeves any more, and that truly doesn't bother me in the slightest. However, I was amused to hear that he recently had not one but two uninvited guests in his fortress-type Hollywood Hills home. The first happened Sept. 15. At 5 a.m., he awoke to sounds coming from his library—and let's stop and think when the last time we visited somebody whose house had a library. Keanu went to the library, and found a woman in her mid-40s sitting in a chair reading a book—which one would do in a library. When she saw Keanu, she said she was there to meet him. He calmly called 911, and off she went ( hopefully he at least gave her an autograph ). How did this middle-aged woman get into the house? Reeves forgot to set the alarm.
Days later, a cleaning crew was at Keanu's home. Another woman just sauntered in, went to the bathroom, took a shower and then jumped into the pool naked. Needless to say, the cleaners were suspicious—after all, when was the last time a naked woman was seen at Keanu's home? The crew called Keanu, he called 911 ( which at this point is probably on speed dial ) and they ejected the intruder.
Speaking of nudity, Magic Mike XXL is in the midst of filming. New people have joined the cast, including Michael Strahan. ( I do hope it's not a speaking role—that lisp annoys me. ) We got our hands on some pics from the set featuring Joe Manganiello, Channing Tatum and Matt Bomer—and, for some reason, everyone in the photos seem obsessed with Matt's abs, which have never looked better. You can check 'em out at BillyMasters.com .
This leads perfectly into our "Ask Billy" question. Larry in a Boston suburb asks, "Who is Ellen DeGeneres' hot gardener, Nick? I hear he's gonna be in 'Magic Mike XL'. Tell me he's gay, or that you have nude photos of him."
Nick the Gardener is actually Billy Reilich, an assistant basketball coach for the Indiana University South Bend Titans. He's also a member of the Cream Pies, a quartet that does funny music videos. At the beginning of the year, the group of four attractive guys made a video for the song "I Love You, Ellen," which included Billy/Nick clad only in a pair of Ellen undies saying, "I'll happily be your pool boy." The video caught Ellen's attention and she featured it on her show five days after they posted it. Three days later, they were on the show, with DeGeneres making the hunky 23-year-old doff his top. The rest, as they say, is history.
While everyone swears he's straight, there's more to Billy than meets the eye. Someone sent me quite a few nude photos purportedly of him—and we're talking full frontal, full arousal, full backal, full everything. The pics first surfaced on some websites that have since deleted them. I'm told that the proprietors of those sites received very polite requests from Billy himself—thus authenticating every inch of them. It's entirely possible I'll do the same if I hear from him. After all, 23-year-olds have a way of being SO convincing. In the meantime, you can enjoy them over at BillyMasters.com .
When we're showing you more than a gardener's bush, it's definitely time to end yet another column. You can see everything I've mentioned here and much, much more at www.BillyMasters.com, the site always delivers you more than a bushel and a peck. If you've got a question, send it along to Billy@BillyMasters.com and I promise to get back to you before we find out what else Keanu's house and the White House have in common. So, until next time, remember, one man's filth is another man's bible.
