Charla Nash, the woman who was viciously attacked by a friend’s 200-pound chimpanzee last February, is coming out publicly with her story.

[Read about the attack and listen to the 911 call here.]

Nash appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show Wednesday and revealed her extremely disfigured face and limbs. Her face was literally torn off after trying to help the chimp’s owner Sandra Herold round up the animal after he had gone ballistic. (So that’s why they call it going “apesh*t!)

When Nash arrived at Herold’s home she had a new hairdo and Travis the chimp did not recognize her. He immediately tore into her, ripping the skin off her face and destroying her hands and fingers while his owner screamed horrifically and ran to call 911. By the time authorities arrived on the scene the damage had been done. They didn’t know if Charla was a man or a woman, and they were traumatized by what they saw. Then Travis the chimp came at an officer, trying to get into his squad car to attack him. That’s when he was shot. Travis crawled back into his home where he died.

This poor woman. To survive something like this is just incredible. Luckily for her she doesn’t remember the attack. I would say that is a HUGE blessing! A sad story for all involved. As much as I love animals, I don’t know about everyday average Joe’s owning wild oness. Too many things can go wrong, and when they do, it’s tragic.

Best of luck to Charla and her recovery.

Lisa Niemi & Patrick Swayze

The late Patrick Swayze’s wife, Lisa Niemii, will be appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show, just a month-and-a-half after her husband’s death.

It’s sure to be a tearjerker.

Niemi, 53, was married to Patrick Swayze for 34-years. Almost my lifetime. I cannot begin to imagine what it must be like for her – and how she will talk about it so soon. Oprah is known for her compassion and  I’m sure will make it comfortable for Lisa to share her experience and loss. But still, it is so soon..

Earlier this month Lisa described being overcome with grief at times.

“When the grief takes you, it’s like your body is not your own. I’m just going with the flow. I know I have to go through it.
“I have a few girlfriends that are just amazing. They have made themselves available to me 24/7. They say, ‘We don’t care if it’s two in the morning, call me.’

“I was in the middle of a full-blown panic attack one evening, and I picked up the phone and called one, which is really hard for me to do because I’m used to being so self-sufficient and taking care of myself, but the very act of picking the phone up to call someone helped to calm me.”

I truly feel for her. Grief is a powerful thing.

Swayze, 57, died of pancreatic cancer on September 14th. He was just 57.

The Oprah Winfrey Show with Lisa Niemi will air this Friday.

DJ AM Private Funeral/ Memorial September 2nd, 2009

DJ AM (Adam Goldstein) is laid to rest at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, CA.

Besides family, guests included best friend Travis Barker, who wore a dark, pin striped suit and shades, Seth Binzer, who was in the band Crazytown with Goldstein, and Hayley Wood, Goldstein’s ex-girlfriend, whom he was distraught over losing.

[Above Photo: Travis Barker hugs Hayley Wood]

I have heard reports that ex-fiance Nicole Richie attended, as well as Joel & Benji Madden, but have yet to see any proof of this.

Other celebrities also buried at Hillside Memorial are Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, David Janssen, Michael Landon, Lorne Greene, Milton Berle, George Jessel, Allan Sherman, Vic Morrow, Jeff Chandler, Moe Howard, Dinah Shore, and Shelley Winters.

A public memorial for Goldstein is planned for Thursday evening at the Hollywood Palladium. The official invite reads: “The format of the evening will be in the style of an open 12-step meeting.”

[Photos: © BAUER-GRIFFIN.COM]

The camp where Jaycee Lee Dugard and her two daughters were held

Jaycee Lee Dugard and her two daughters were held captive in this makeshift camp in the backyard of Phillip Garrido.

The backyard of the home in Antioch, CA was where Dugard was kept from the world for 18 years. In that time, convicted kidnapper and rapist Phillip Garrido molested Dugard, impregnating her twice.

The outdoor living space where she and her daughters were kept was hidden behind a garden on the property. There were tents, an old man-made swimming pool and a broken swing set.

So, at some point the swimming pool and the swing set were functional. How did neighbors not hear the splashing around of children? Laughter? Squealing? Crying? Anything?! They reportedly knew their neighbor was a sex offender, I just find it very hard to believe that nobody heard anything! There were no walls, only boards and such, surely not enough to sound proof the area. Were the neighbors deaf?

Sheesh.

[Photograph: James Breeden/PacificCoastNews.com]

Jaycee Lee Dugard was held by Phillip Garrido

Jaycee Lee Dugard was a sex slave and bore her abductor’s children during the time she was held captive from 1991 until Wednesday.

Sex offender Phillip Garrido, 58, and his wife Nancy, 54, held Jaycee, now 29, captive in their backyard, possibly a shed, and used her as their sex slave for years. She was taken from a bus stop when she was 11-years-old.

Jaycee had two children by Phillip. Two girls who are now 11 and 15. Neither of which have ever been seen in public, nor have they ever been to a doctor or a school.

Neighbors say they had no idea that Jaycee, who went by Alissa, lived at the Garrido’s home. A hidden backyard was found within the residence backyard, where Dugard and her children are suspected to have lived in a group of sheds hidden from outside view. A vehicle matching a description to a vehicle at the crime scene was found on the property.

Thanks to a diligent parole officer this case has been solved, 18-years later. Garrido was on parole from kidnapping and rape charges in 1971.

From Chicago Tribune:

Authorities with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Division of Adult Parolee Operations report a parolee agent helped crack the 18-year-old kidnapping case while following up on a tip that Garrido was seen with two small children on the campus of UC Berkeley. The diligent questioning of the parolee officer led Garrido to reveal the kidnapping of Dugard.

Dugard has since been reunited with her mother, which I can imagine was quite emotional. What a crazy, sad story. The poor parents, oh my gosh, and of course all the children involved. What an absolute nightmare. Let’s hope the Garrido’s suffer for what they have done. They should just throw them in the street and let the public stone them to death. I tell you what, if we did that in this country there would be a lot fewer sex offenders sneaking around in the shadows.

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Jaycee Lee Dugard photos

Jaycee Lee Dugard, an abducted child in 1991, has been found after 18 years.

Jaycee, now 29-years-old, walked into a police station in Antioch, California Wednesday and claimed she was the real Jaycee Lee Dugard.

She has since spoken with the FBI, who believe her story is true.

Jaycee’s parents are elated that their daughter is alive after all these years, although at this time, they have yet to have been reunited with their daughter.

Stepfather Carl Probyn, who heard Jaycee scream as she was being abducted, said the family had assumed the worst. “I had personally given up hope. I had just hoped for a recovery.” He added that the family held onto the hope that Jayvee’s abductors would be caught one day. But now that Jaycee may be alive he says, “I’ve actually won the lotto.”

A press conference is set for today at 6:00 PM EST.

Jaycees abductors are reportedly in custody. They may be Philllip and Nancy Garrido, who reside at 1554 Walnut Ave., Antioch, CA. Police records indicate that a search warrant has been issued for that address. Both have been charged with kidnapping to commit rape with their bail set at $1 million.

Below: a composite photo of what police Jaycee Lee Dugard may have looked like. It’s really not too far off!

[ABC]

Jasmine Fiore death photo was published by TMZ this weekend, then pulled.

Why a death photo was even published in the first place is amazing to me. I am also curious why they pulled it after posting it. Did their conscious get the best of them after people wrote to them, outraged? Was the whole thing simply a ploy to drum up hits to their website?

The death photo was reportedly a grainy still shot take from a video. A Medical Examiner is seen with a mask and gloves on, hovering over an open suitcase. The remains of murdered Jasmine Fiore stuffed inside. (UPDATE: I have seen the photo in question and I’ll just tell you that it was not possible to see Jasmine’s body in the picture, but it is still a very eerie photo.)

Also published this weekend were photos and a video of Jasmine and Ryan in Las Vegas, two weeks before the gruesome murder. In the video Jasmine dances seductively for Ryan in a tiny bikini while hanging out by a hotel pool. Ryan is heard saying in the video, “God, I love my life . . . And I love my wife.” At the end of the clip he says with a grin, “Luckiest guy in the world, right here.” Watch the video here.

Law enforcement believes that Ryan’s family is assisting him in his attempt to elude police. His family is extremely wealthy, his parents are divorced and living in different cities in Canada. After Ryan officially became a suspect his father flew in from his resort on an island off Honduras. Boy, no kidding the have money..

Also this weekend we have learned that Fiore’s body was identified by the serial number on her breast implants. This is not uncommon for female murder victims with implants whose bodies are not identifiable. Luckily Jenkin’s didn’t know this or else he probably would have cut them out of her body. He horrifically removed all of her teeth and fingers after killing her, hoping that she would not be able to be ID’d. Do you know how hard that would be to pull all of her 28 teeth out? I worked for a dentist for many years, and pulling teeth is not easy. Just the thought of someone doing that to a human body that they just killed just blows my mind. But not only that, he cut off her fingers at the second knuckle.

Fiore’s mother, Lisa Lepore said of Jenkins: “I want to hold him down and pull his teeth out. We all do.” That poor, poor woman. It’s one of the worst things in the world to lose a child, but it MUST be even that much harder knowing how her daughter was murdered then dismembered afterwards. I cannot imagine the nightmares she will have for the rest of her life. Just tragic.

As for VH1 and their reality shows, Megan Wants a Millionaire has been canceled, and the upcoming ‘I Love Money 3′ most likely won’t air either because we are hearing that Jenkins was the winner of that show. Sadly enough, Jenkins reportedly won $250,000 after winning it.

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Anyone who was alive in 1984 surely remembers the Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial where Michael’s hair caught on fire.

After all this time, a video has been released showing the catastrophe taking place.

The date was January 27th, 1984. The horrible mistake happened on the sixth take, when the pyrotechnics went off earlier than planned.

Michael is seen dancing down the stairs after the explosion with his hair very noticeably on FIRE. Stagehands and security rushed the stage and put the fire out before Michael seemed to know what was happening.

After the fire was extinguished Michael is seen looking shocked and obviously traumatized, clutching his head with his gloved hand.

This video is a bit disturbing and I found it to be very sad! The creepy music adds to the eeriness of it all too.

Us Weekly claims that this dreadful accident was what caused Michael’s pill addiction, but I am just not willing to speculate on that..

The Michael Jackson Memorial Service FULL video in it’s entirety, broken down into 7 parts.

For those who couldn’t watch it live, here’s the best place to catch up on all of the performances in one place. The speeches, the performances as well as bonus coverage & clips.

I was absolutely touched by the memorial service and it actually exceeded my expectations. It was not the circus that many of us had expected, there were no riots, and thank goodness, Jamie Foxx was nowhere to be seen. It was a classy, heart-tugging memorial. One that genuinely represented Michael and who he was. It showed the human side of a man few truly knew.

I think Michael would have loved it, to be honest with you. It wasn’t only about him, it was about his children, it was about unity and it was about love. Not to get all sappy, but it was. And that’s what he would have wanted.

UPDATE: The owners of the video have decided to revoke distribution rights suddenly! This, after a CBS employee sent me the video.. So, sorry kids, I don’t think the entire video will be available online anymore.

To change videos click the bottom of the widget – you can barely see the text, sorry!