Wahlberg earns high school diploma
Mark Wahlberg is now a high school graduate – 25 years after dropping out of a Boston high school.
The 42-year-old actor-producer finished his diploma requirements after taking classes online. He dropped out of Copley Square High School, now known as Snowden International School at Copley, in the ninth grade.
Wahlberg wrote of the struggles he faced growing up surrounded by “drugs, violence and crime” in a column in the Huffington Post on Monday. He said he’s been taking classes and studying while on movie sets, traveling and at home.
In June 2012, Wahlberg announced he was going back to school with the help of Snowden headmaster Kerry Torndorf, who enrolled Wahlberg in his school’s Accelerated Learning Academy.
Infomercial pitchman sent to jail
A federal judge in Chicago has sent infomercial pitchman Kevin Trudeau to jail for violating court orders to stop his over-the-top spending and pay a more than $37 million fine.
Trudeau has claimed he has no money to pay the fine, which stems from alleged false claims about his weight-loss book.
Lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission presented evidence Wednesday that Trudeau has spent $900 at a liquor store, $920 on cigars and $359 on two haircuts.
Judge Robert Gettleman told Trudeau to discuss his assets with a court-appointed receiver while in jail and return to court today.
Eminem’s boyhood home going cheap
One of music megastar Eminem’s childhood homes is for sale, a boarded-up bungalow just south of Eight Mile on Detroit’s east side.
The house at 19946 Dresden, which was pictured on the cover of his 2000 release, “The Marshall Mathers LP,” sits vacant. The minimum bid for the property is $1.
The house is one of more than a dozen abandoned and burned-out houses in a once-thriving neighborhood.
According to public records, Deborah Mathers bought the house in 1987 for $19,900, agreeing to pay the couple who owned it $3,000 down and $220 a month. In 1994, the couple issued a deed to Mathers, who on the same day signed the deed over to Ann Investment. The property changed hands about 10 times before the Wayne County Treasurer’s Office foreclosed for non-payment of taxes in 2001. A company listed as EM & UU Properties bought it for $1 in 2009.
The birthday bunch
TV host James Lipton (“Inside the Actors Studio”) is 87. Actor Adam West is 85. Actor Jeremy Irons is 65. Actress Twiggy Lawson is 64. TV personality Joan Lunden is 63. Country singer Trisha Yearwood is 49. Actress-comedian Cheri Oteri is 48. Comedian and TV talk show host Jimmy Fallon is 39. Actress Danielle Panabaker is 26.