Billy Joel, girlfriend expecting baby
Billy Joel has a new release this summer: a baby.
A representative for the 65-year-old singer said Joel and girlfriend Alexis Roderick are expecting their first child. They have been dating since 2009.
Roderick will be 34 next month.
The baby will be Joel’s second child and first with Roderick. He is the father of singer-songwriter Alexa Ray Joel.
The statement from Joel’s representative said the couple “opted to keep any further details of her pregnancy under wraps until their new addition makes an official debut.”
Joel is completing a month-to-month residency at Madison Square Garden in New York City. His next show is May 28.
Wilson recovering after mastectomy
Rita Wilson is recovering after undergoing a bilateral mastectomy for breast cancer.
The 58-year-old actress and singer, who had been appearing in Larry David’s play “Fish in the Dark” on Broadway, will return May 5, according to her publicist, Heidi Schaeffer.
Wilson, in a statement to People magazine, said Tuesday that she is expected to make a full recovery and credited getting a doctor’s second opinion after initial breast biopsies found no cancer.
“You have nothing to lose if both opinions match up for the good, and everything to gain if something that was missed is found, which does happen. Early diagnosis is key,” she said.
Bon Jovi to open anti-hunger center
Rock star and philanthropist Jon Bon Jovi and local charities are opening an anti-hunger center in a section of the New Jersey shore devastated by Superstorm Sandy.
The Jersey-born rocker and his Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation announced plans Tuesday for the B.E.A.T. Center, which stands for Bringing Everyone All Together. The center site is designed as a one-stop facility to help people get food stamps, health care, meals for at-risk children and seniors, and culinary-related job training. It will open later this year in Toms River.
The center also will house a second JBJ Soul Kitchen community restaurant, where diners pay a minimum $10 donation or do volunteer work for their meals. That first one opened in 2011 in Red Bank, New Jersey.
Bon Jovi said Ocean County suffered the worst damage from the October 2012 storm, but has not gotten a proportionate share of aid.
The birthday bunch
Country singer Roy Clark is 82. Rock singer-guitarist Dave Edmunds is 72. Columnist Heloise is 64. Actress-screenwriter Emma Thompson is 56. Rock musician Ed O’Brien (Radiohead) is 47. Actor-writer Seth Rogen is 33. Actress Emma Watson is 25. Actress Maisie Williams (TV: “Game of Thrones”) is 18.