Chris Christie calls weight-loss surgery ‘life-changing’
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said undergoing stomach banding surgery more than a year ago was a “life-changing decision.”
Appearing on his monthly TownSquare Media radio show Wednesday night, Christie said he works out four days a week and has achieved better health.
The 51-year-old governor hasn’t said how many pounds he’s shed, but he has become noticeably thinner since secretly undergoing the surgery last February.
The possible 2016 Republican presidential candidate has said he’s struggled with being overweight his entire adult life.
Cumberbatch to play Hamlet onstage
Benedict Cumberbatch is going from Sherlock to Shakespeare.
London’s Barbican Centre said Wednesday he will play Hamlet at the venue next year.
The Lyndsey Turner-directed production of “Hamlet” will run from August to October 2015, and the 12-week stint in the 1,160-seat venue is guaranteed to be a hot ticket. Cumberbatch has gained fans around the world for his role in the BBC TV drama “Sherlock” as cerebral sleuth Sherlock Holmes.
Cumberbatch, who recently appeared onscreen in “The Fifth Estate,” “12 Years a Slave” and “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” won an Olivier theater award for his starring role in “Frankenstein” at Britain’s National Theatre in 2011.
‘Scandal’ actor Short arrested
Columbus Short, a lead actor on the television series “Scandal,” was arrested Wednesday on a felony charge that he seriously injured a man during an altercation at a restaurant earlier this month.
Short was arrested by police in Claremont, Calif., on a warrant issued in a case that alleges he committed a battery that caused serious bodily harm.
The actor was involved in a dispute with a man at a West Los Angeles restaurant March 15 before Short hit the man and knocked him out, according to Los Angeles police and prosecutors.
Short, 31, plays attorney Harrison Wright on ABC’s hit series “Scandal.” Records show he was released Wednesday after posting $50,000 bail.
If convicted, Short faces up to four years in state prison. Short was charged Feb. 14 with misdemeanor spousal battery and has pleaded not guilty in that case. A judge ordered him to stay away from his wife, Tuere Short, at a March 5 court hearing.
The birthday bunch
Actor Julian Glover is 79. Actor Michael York is 72. Saxophonist Dave Koz is 51. Director Quentin Tarantino is 51. Actress Pauley Perrette (“NCIS”) is 45. Singer Mariah Carey is 44. Actress Elizabeth Mitchell (“Lost”) is 44. Singer Fergie (Black Eyed Peas) is 39. Actress Brenda Song (“The Suite Life of Zack and Cody”) is 26.