Oprah and friends honor Essence’s Taylor. Oprah, Diddy and Al Sharpton came out to support Susan L. Taylor of Essence magazine. See photos from the exclusive event.
Housewives’ NeNe Leakes was evicted.  The breakout star of the hit Bravo reality series “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” was evicted from her pricey Duluth five-bedroom house, The Atlanta Constitution reports. According to Darryl Pierce, the broker for the 5,000-square-foot home, NeNe and her husband, Gregory Leakes, left in November, three months after Winwood Properties filed an eviction notice. Filed Sept. 24 with the Magistrate Court of Gwinnett County, the notice said Greg Leakes owed $6,240 in past due rent. “The tenant said they would move by Sept. 14 because they could no longer afford the house,” the notice said. The Leakeses moved into the home shortly after it was built in 2006, Pierce said.
Despite running a fever, Tina Turner did the Garden. People are still talking about how the 69-year-old Tina Turner who, despite having had a fever so high on Monday that she was hospitalized, wowed the crowd peppered with celebrities at New York’s Madison Square Garden Monday night. Whoopi Goldberg raved about her the next morning on “The View,” urging every woman in the audience to go see the show. Other celebs attending “An Evening with Tina Turner” Monday night included Anne Hathaway, MTV head Toni DiSanto, Tom Cruise and his wife, Katie Holmes – who were celebrating their second anniversary, and Molly Simms, reports The New York Post’s Page Six.  The celebs, when brought backstage to meet Turner before the show, were told because of her illness, that “no one is to shake her hand, and she cannot talk before performing [because of the illness]. She’s very shy.” But Turner not only shook hands but spoke with each guest, noted the Post. The eight-time Grammy-winner was determined to stick to her tour schedule and pressed ahead with her gig on Monday, reported The San Francisco Chronicle. There was no word on exactly what caused Turner’s illness.  

The battle is on between Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner, and it all started with Beyonce. Remember when Beyonce called Turner “the queen” at the Grammys?  Franklin went off and called it “a cheap shot for controversy.” Last week, Turner attempted to put out the flames when USA Today asked her about it. She said while Franklin is the queen of soul, she can be the queen of Rock and Roll. But she also added that Franklin’s “ego must be so big to think she was the only one,” noting, “That’s how queens are!”  That comment isn’t sitting well with the Queen of Soul. Franklin went back hard at Turner on the ego issue, saying Tina was “clearly was talking about herself.” Franklin went on to say in her statement to USA Today, that Turner was trying to “resort to tacky press just to sell a few tickets” to her tour. Franklin notes that she and Turner have never met. Makes you wonder what might happen if they ever did.