Mary J. Blige performs onstage during ONE Musicfest 2025 at Piedmont Park on October 25, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Prince Williams/FilmMagic)
If you’re a fan of Mary J. Blige‘s Lifetime movies, here’s some good news. The singer has three more original films in the works as part of her extended deal with the network. Like her previous films, the first is named after one of her songs, this time Be Happy from her 1994 album, My Life.
According to Deadline, Be Happy tells the story of 50-year-old Val, a wife and stay-at-home mom who hopes to rekindle the spark in her marriage after she and her husband, Ross, become empty nesters. Instead, she is forced to confront the realization that “her marriage and the woman she once was may be slipping away.”
When Val travels to New Orleans to support her pregnant daughter, Kayla, this leads to more than she expected. It “awakens long-buried dreams and passions” and introduces her to photographer Peter Mosley, who helps her rediscover her sense of worth. As she begins to see herself in a new light, she’s faced with the question: “Is it ever too late to choose yourself and the love you truly deserve?”
Tisha Campbell stars as Val, with Russell Hornsby portraying her husband, Ross. Mekhi Phifer plays Peter, and Zing Ashford appears as Val’s daughter Kayla. Making her directorial debut is actress Gabourey Sidibe, best known for her roles in Precious and Give Me Back My Daughter.
Be Happy will be Mary’s latest Lifetime film, following Real Love, Strength of a Woman and Family Affair. It premieres on Feb. 7.
Dexter White and Diane Keaton attend the NeueHouse x ‘Mack & Rita’ premiere at NeueHouse Los Angeles on Aug. 10, 2022. (Michael Kovac/Getty Images)
Diane Keaton‘s daughter celebrated the late actress on Monday, on what would have been Keaton’s 80th birthday, sharing a photo of a tattoo she got in her mother’s honor.
Keaton’s daughter, Dexter White, who goes by Dexie, posted a pair of photos on Instagram. She wrote in the caption, “I miss you, mom,” with broken heart and dove emoji.
The first photo shows the mother-daughter duo embracing at a scenic overlook, Keaton wearing her signature wide-brim bowler hat and a long puffer coat, and Dexie wearing an oversized sweater and sneakers.
The second photo shows a pair of forearm tattoos, one that reads “La di da” with a heart — a nod to an iconic line from her mom’s famous movie, Annie Hall — and one that reads “Weird old world.”
White tagged her brother, Duke Keaton, in the second photo, just beneath the “Weird old world” tattoo.
In the caption, White thanked Los Angeles-based tattoo artist Daniel Winter, known professionally as Winter Stone, “for my forever reminder of my wonderful mom.”
Diane Keaton, who never married, became a mother at the age of 50 when she adopted White. She later adopted Duke Keaton in 2001.
The legendary Oscar-winning actress died at age 79 on Oct. 11, 2025.
Diane Keaton rose to fame in the 1970s with her role as Kay Adams in The Godfather films. In 1978, she won the Academy Award for best actress for her performance in Annie Hall.
She is also known for her roles in Play It Again, Sam, Baby Boom, Something’s Gotta Give, The First Wives Club and the Book Club franchise.
Sydney Sweeney in ‘The Housemaid.’ (Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate)
The Housemaid is getting a sequel.
Lionsgate is planning a second film in the franchise due to the success of The Housemaid. The film has earned more than $75 million domestically and $133 worldwide in its first 17 days of release and will continue rolling out in more international territories as January goes on.
The sequel will be called The Housemaid’s Secret. It is based on the second novel in author Freida McFadden‘s book trilogy. This upcoming film has been in development for the past few months, according to Lionsgate, and has a planned production start for 2026.
Sydney Sweeney and Michele Morrone are expected to return to their roles of Millie Calloway and Enzo Accardi in the new film. The sequel project is being developed for director Paul Feig to return at the helm. Sweeney will executive produce while Feig also produces through his Pretty Dangerous Pictures alongside LauraFischer. Rebecca Sonnenshine will once again adapt McFadden’s words for the screen.
“It’s clear from both the global box office and from the outpouring on social media that audiences have responded strongly – and audibly – to the totally unique and truly theatrical experience of The Housemaid and want to know what happens next,” Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Chair Adam Fogelson said. “The Housemaid’s Secret is another wildly thrilling book in Freida’s series that has captivated readers worldwide, and we look forward to translating it into a similarly rousing and riotous moviegoing experience.”
Feig said, “It’s been thrilling to see audiences around the world fall in love with The Housemaid and the incredible work of our talented cast and crew. We’re lucky that Freida McFadden has already extended Millie’s journey on the page, and that we get to work with Rebecca Sonnenshine and Lionsgate to bring this next story to audiences.”
The Housemaid follows a woman named Millie (Sweeney), who takes a job as a live-in housemaid for wealthy couple Nina (Amanda Seyfried) and Andrew Winchester (Brandon Sklenar). What started as a dream job quickly becomes a dangerous and seductive game of secrets and scandal.
(NEW YORK) — Flu activity could continue to increase in the U.S. over the next few weeks, according to a top flu epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There’s a lot of influenza out there right now,” Dr. Carrie Reed, chief of the epidemiology and prevention branch of the CDC’s influenza division, told ABC News.
“We often see activity continue into the spring … I think the reality is that it’s going to continue to be elevated for a little bit longer,” she continued.
The CDC’s latest estimates indicate that there have been at least 11 million illnesses, 120,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths from flu so far this season.
“That’s likely a low estimate based on the data that we’re seeing so far,” Reed said, adding that the federal health agency typically publishes the lower range of the estimates.
A new variant that first emerged in the summer, known as subclade K, has become the dominant strain, CDC data shows. Subclade K is a variant of the H3N2 virus, which is itself a subtype of influenza A.
Of the 994 flu samples tested since Sept. 30, nearly all were influenza A. Of those samples that underwent further testing roughly 90% were H3N2, CDC data shows.
“Subclade K has acquired some mutations in the virus that make it a little bit different than what’s in the vaccine and what was circulating over the last couple years,” Reed said.
Public health experts currently recommend that everyone ages 6 months and older, with rare exceptions, get an annual flu vaccine.
Although the current flu vaccine is not a perfect match to subclade K, it is still expected to offer some protection against the new variant and lower the risk of serious disease, hospitalization and death.
Reed added that the new variant does not appear to be driving more severe illness yet.
“There are still benefits to vaccine, even if the virus [has] somewhat drifted from what’s in the vaccine,” she said. “We haven’t seen increases in hospitalization and mortality yet in the ways that we have with [doctors’ visits], although that’s something that we continue to watch for as well.”
For those who have gotten sick, there are medicines available, known as antivirals, that may help reduce the severity and length of illness.
Reed said for those who contract the flu and have a higher risk of severe disease, they should seek care early and speak with their doctor about receiving a prescription for flu antivirals.
She explained that flu antivirals have been found to reduce the duration of illness as well as lower the risk for severe disease, hospitalization and death.
Health officials have stressed that it is not too late for people get a flu shot if they haven’t received one yet.
“There’s still time to get a flu vaccine,” Reed said. “It does take a couple weeks for your immune response to pick up after vaccination, but that does mean there’s many more weeks of flu activity to benefit from the protection of an influenza vaccine.”
Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the Capitol Hill Club on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — California Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa has died at the age of 65, according to his office — as President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican leaders reacted Tuesday to the seven-term congressman’s unexpected death.
LaMalfa’s chief of staff, Mark Spannagel, released a statement on behalf of the congressman’s office confirming his death early Tuesday morning.
“Early this morning Congressman Doug LaMalfa returned home to the Lord. He leaves a lasting legacy of servant leadership [and] kindness to the North State,” the statement noted. “His humor and work effort are legendary – with one reporter once saying he’d look in the back yard of every BBQ just to see if Doug was there visiting.”
“Congressman LaMalfa cared deeply for the people he served and worked tirelessly to hold the government to its word to fix our failing forests, build water storage, and leave people to be free to choose what is best for themselves,” the statement continued. “His tragic and unexpected passing leaves a deep impact on many. He leaves behind his amazing wife Jill, four children, one grandchild, two sisters and a host of cousins.”
LaMalfa’s untimely death cuts into Speaker Johnson’s thin majority, with 218 Republicans and 213 Democrats leaving GOP leaders with a two-vote margin. This comes just a day after Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned from office a year before her term was set to expire.
“Congress is devastated to learn this morning about the passing of our dear friend and colleague, Doug LaMalfa,” Johnson, R-La., said in a statement. “Doug was a lifelong resident of northern California and deeply loved its people. He was as fierce of a fighter for his state’s vast natural resources and beauty as we have ever known. We are mourning the loss of our friend and brother today and we send our respects for his life and work to his wife Jill and the LaMalfa family during this difficult time.”
President Trump, speaking Tuesday morning at a House Republican retreat at the recently renamed Kennedy Center, reacted to LaMalfa’s passing — praising him as “a fierce champion on California water issues.”
“Before we go any further, I want to express our tremendous sorrow at the loss of a great member, a great, great, great member: Congressman Doug LaMalfa,” Trump said.
“He was great on water. He wanted to release the water, he’d scream out, and a true defender of American children. He was a defender of everybody. And our hearts go out to his wife, Jill and his entire family,” Trump added.
The president claimed that LaMalfa voted with him “100% of the time” and wasn’t a member that the speaker needed the president to whip into line.
“I spoke to Doug, but I didn’t speak to him about — I mean, I never had a problem,” Trump said. “And I was really, I was really saddened by his passing and was thinking about not even doing the speech in his honor. But then I decided that I have to do it in his honor. I’ll do it in his honor, because he would have wanted it that way.”
Across the aisle, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who took office in 2013 alongside LaMalfa, extended his condolences to the congressman’s family and constituents.
“I join people across Northern California in mourning the untimely passing of Congressman Doug LaMalfa. A fourth-generation rice farmer, Rep. LaMalfa treasured his community, worked powerfully to protect California’s farmers and served those he represented with principled purpose, from the state legislature to the United States House of Representatives,” Jeffries, D-N.Y., stated. “Doug and I joined the Congress as classmates in 2013, and it was an honor to witness firsthand his passion and personal resolve for more than a decade.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said flags at the California State Capitol will be flown at half-staff in honor of LaMalfa.
“Congressman Doug LaMalfa was a devoted public servant who deeply loved his country, his state, and the communities he represented. While we often approached issues from different perspectives, he fought every day for the people of California with conviction and care. He will be deeply missed,” Newsom said in a statement.
Before coming to Washington, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy not only served in the California state legislature with LaMalfa — the two were roommates.
“Doug was first and foremost a devoted husband and father, inspired by his Christian faith and values to make the lives of others better. Many will remember him as a principled legislator, but he was also a commonsense rice farmer through and through, spending his time in Congress fighting for family farms on agriculture, water, and resource issues, as well as working to eliminate government waste like California’s high-speed rail,” McCarthy wrote on X. “Always thoughtful and affable, Doug was the unanimous choice of his colleagues to lead the Western Caucus in Congress. He will be truly missed.”
The X-Men take center stage in the new teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday.
Marvel released the third teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday on Tuesday, and it stars Patrick Stewart back as Charles Xavier and Ian McKellen returning as Magneto.
The trailer, which runs a little over a minute, finds the pair reuniting over a game of chess.
“Death comes for us all. That’s all I know for sure. The question isn’t, ‘Are you prepared to die?’ The question is, ‘Who will you be when you close your eyes?'” McKellen’s Magneto says in the teaser.
We then see James Marsden in character as Cyclops. He tears off his visor and unleashes a powerful red beam from his eyes.
Stewart, McKellen and Marsden first appeared together in these roles in the 2000 film X-Men.
The teaser ends with a black screen and text that reads, “The X-Men will return in Avengers: Doomsday.”
Directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo took to Instagram to share the new teaser, writing, “Who will you be… When you close your eyes… #FearDoom.”
This is the third teaser for the film. It follows a previous trailer that showed off the return of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, a character who hasn’t appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, as well as one that focused on Chris Hemsworth‘s Thor.
Avengers: Doomsday will arrive in theaters on Dec. 18, 2026.
Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Marvel Entertainment.
Flowers and photographs are seen at a memorial dedicated to the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on June 3, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. Alex Wong/Getty Images
Gonzales, who is charged with 29 counts of child endangerment, is alleged to have neglected his duty and training during the chaotic response to the shooting, which left 19 children and two teachers dead.
Prosecutor Bill Turner spoke softly and on the verge of tears at the start of his opening argument. His statement marked the first time prosecutors have provided their rationale for charging Gonzales, disclosing that a teacher came face-to-face with gunman Salvador Ramos before Ramos entered the school, and she tried to warn Gonzales.
“She’s face-to face with the gunman, and he fires on her, and she turns to run, and when she turns to run, she trips and she falls. And when she gets up, Adrian Gonzalez, the police officer, is there,” Turner said. “She says, ‘He’s over there.’ She urges him to go get him.”
“He gets on the radio and says, ‘Shots are fired, he’s wearing black, he’s in the parking lot,'” Turner said. “He knows where he is, but Adrian Gonzalez remains at the south side of the school.”
As Turner walked the jury through the tragic minutes that followed that encounter — describing the number of gunshots fired by Ramos as Gonzales allegedly waited outside — Turner hammered at the point that Gonzales allegedly stayed where he was, rather than try to stop the shooting.
Ramos “fired shots into a classroom full of children … Adrian Gonzalez remains,” he said.
Despite nearly 400 officers responding to the shooting, law enforcement took 77 minutes to mount a counterassault to kill Ramos.
Judge Sid Harle seated a full jury after an emotionally fraught selection process on Monday. Dozens of potential jurors voiced frustration with the police response, and more than 100 excused themselves from the process, saying they did not believe they could be fair and impartial.
“They were only protecting themselves more than they were protecting the children,” one dismissed juror told the court, as others cheered and clapped in agreement. “I would have sacrificed myself to save them, but they didn’t. They just sat there.”
Gonzales has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers argue he is being scapegoated for a broader law enforcement failure. During the jury selection process, some voiced frustration that more officers have not been charged in the years following the tragedy.
“Are you saying this man is the whole problem? You are sticking it on his shoulders alone?” one dismissed juror remarked. “How many of them were out there? They should all be sitting there with him.”
Gonzales was charged last year, along with former Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo, the on-site commander on the day of the shooting. Arredondo’s trial has been indefinitely postponed due to a pending civil lawsuit after the members of an elite tactical unit with the U.S. Border Patrol refused to speak with prosecutors about their involvement that day.
The Gonzales case marks the second time in U.S. history that prosecutors have sought to hold a member of law enforcement criminally accountable for their response to a mass shooting. In 2023, a Florida jury acquitted Scot Peterson, a former Broward County sheriff’s deputy, who was charged with child neglect and culpable negligence for his alleged inaction during the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Peterson’s lawyers argued his role as an armed school resource officer did not amount to a caregiving post needed to prove child neglect in Florida, and that the response to the shooting was muddled by poor communication.
According to Bob Jarvis, a professor of law at Nova Southeastern University, prosecutors in the Gonzales case are likely to face the same legal hurdles that doomed the Peterson case.
“What you’re really trying to do,” he said, “is argue … that being a coward is a crime, and that is very, very difficult.”
The Milwaukee County Courthouse in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, on Friday, April 25, 2025. Jamie Kelter Davis/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(MILWAUKEE) — Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, who was convicted last month of obstructing federal immigration agents at her courthouse, has resigned, according to a letter to Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers.
In the letter, Dugan vowed to keep fighting her case but added that Wisconsin citizens “deserve to start the year with a judge on the bench in Milwaukee County Branch 13 rather than have the fate of that Court rest in a partisan fight in the state legislature.”
“As you know, I am the subject of unprecedented federal legal proceedings, which are far from concluded but which present immense and complex challenges that threaten the independence of our judiciary. I am pursuing this fight for myself and for our independent judiciary,” Dugan wrote in the letter, dated Saturday.
Dugan was accused of obstructing official Department of Homeland Security removal proceedings and knowingly concealing an undocumented man from immigration authorities at a courthouse in April. Following a weeklong trial in December, a jury found Dugan guilty of obstructing federal agents and not guilty of concealing an undocumented immigrant from arrest during the courthouse incident.
A sentencing date has not been set. She faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Dugan defended her record as a judge in the letter, writing, “Behind the bench I have presided over thousands and thousands of cases — with a commitment to treat all persons with dignity and respect, to act justly, deliberatively, and consistently, and to maintain a courtroom with the decorum and safety the public deserves.”
“Beyond the bench I have attended hundreds and hundreds of community events, listening to Milwaukee County residents voice their justice system experiences and concerns — as jurors, witnesses, litigants, victims, and justice-impacted citizens who care about our courts,” she continued.
She said her “faith in God and in our legal system leads me to trust that in the long run justice will be served for our independent judiciary and for me.”
According to federal prosecutors, Dugan encountered federal agents who were at the Milwaukee County Circuit Court on April 18, 2025, to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, who was appearing in her courtroom on a battery charge.
Prosecutors say that after speaking to the agents, Dugan directed them to the chief judge’s office down the hall and then sent Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a non-public door in an attempt to help him evade arrest on immigration violations. Flores-Ruiz was ultimately captured outside the court building after a brief foot chase and later deported.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court had suspended Dugan in the wake of her arrest, stating in an order that it found it was “in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties.”
Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat of Arizona, and his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, appear on ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” Jan. 6, 2026. ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Sen. Mark Kelly said he would “absolutely not” have changed his message to U.S. troops about not following illegal orders, despite now knowing that it would result in a censure.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth censured Kelly, a Democrat of Arizona, on Monday for “conduct [that] was seditious in nature,” referring to a video Kelly participated in in November that told United States service members they have a right to refuse unlawful orders.
Hegseth alleged that Kelly “counseled members of the Armed Forces to refuse lawful orders” in the video. Kelly and others who participated in the video have disputed that claim.
“Let me make this perfectly clear, though, Gabby and I are not people that back down,” Kelly said on Tuesday during an appearance with his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, on “Good Morning America.” “From anything, from any kind of fight.”
The administrative action, which is a less consequential action than a court-martial, will result in a reduction in rank and Kelly’s retirement pay, a process Hegseth says will take 45 days.
The video prompted fierce criticism from President Donald Trump, who called it “seditious behavior” and said the Democrats involved — who previously served in the military or in the intelligence community — should be “in jail.”
Kelly, who sits on the Senate’s Armed Services and Intelligence committees, said in the interview that aired on “GMA” on Tuesday that his original message was intended to be “nonpartisan.”
He said he would have expected the president to agree with his statements, describing a potential presidential response, saying, “Of course, you don’t follow illegal orders.”
“But not this guy,” Kelly said, referencing Trump, “because he looks at this as maybe somehow as a threat to his authority.”
Kelly and the other five Democrats involved in the November video directed at military members have defended their message as being in line with the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Constitution.
At one point after the original message was posted, Trump said their action could be “punishable by death.” He also shared a social media post calling for participants in the video to be hanged. But he later said, “I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble.”
“I said something the president and Pete Hegseth did not like and, because of that, the president said I should be hanged, I should be prosecuted,” Kelly said on “GMA” on Tuesday. “This is un-American and this sends a chilling message.”
On Monday, Kelly said he will fight any punishment.
“Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way,” Kelly said in a statement.
Kelly in an interview on “The Daily Show” that aired on Monday evening said he might be able to file an appeal with the military over the changes to his retirement. He also raised the prospect of filing a federal lawsuit, saying he would do “everything appropriate in this circumstance to make sure that they know this is unacceptable.”
ABC News’ David Brennan, Chris Boccia and Isabella Murray contributed to this report.
A sign is displayed outside of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) headquarters at the Hubert H. Humphrey Building on June 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kevin Carter/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Health and Human Services is freezing $10 billion in federal funds in five Democrat-run states over allegations of fraudulent child care programming, an HHS official confirmed to ABC News.
The HHS official confirmed that the five states are California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
