Normal view

  • ✇Us Weekly
  • Michael Jordan Surprises His Former High School Teacher in Hospice Care Russell Steinberg
    A former schoolteacher had one wish when she entered hospice care: to reconnect with one of her students, NBA great Michael Jordan. Ms. Etta was the transportation coordinator at Emsley A. Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina when Jordan, 63, was a teenager. She said she wanted to give her former student one last hug. Getting ahold of the basketball legend didn’t prove easy, but when a hospice care worker named Wendy received a call from an unknown number, the voice on the other end w
     

Michael Jordan Surprises His Former High School Teacher in Hospice Care

19 May 2026 at 21:50

A former schoolteacher had one wish when she entered hospice care: to reconnect with one of her students, NBA great Michael Jordan.

Ms. Etta was the transportation coordinator at Emsley A. Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina when Jordan, 63, was a teenager. She said she wanted to give her former student one last hug.

Getting ahold of the basketball legend didn’t prove easy, but when a hospice care worker named Wendy received a call from an unknown number, the voice on the other end was unmistakable.

“Is this Ms. Etta,” Jordan asked.

Michael Jordan Through the Years: Iconic NBA Career, 'Space Jam' and More

Wendy put Ms. Etta on the phone and the two talked, reconnecting nearly 50 years after Jordan was her student.

“They laughed, reminisced, picked at each other, and shared a moment that brought tears to everyone in the room,” Ms. Etta’s facility, Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, wrote via Instagram on May 12 alongside photos of Jordan and Ms. Etta talking via video chat. “A memory her family will carry with them forever.”

“Our patient, Ms. Etta, taught Michael at Laney High School many years ago, and as she reflected on her favorite memories and former students, his name kept coming up,” the caption read. “Ms. Etta had an interesting bucket list wish…to hug Michael’s neck one more time.”

In a Facebook post the same day, LifeCare wrote that “this is what hospice is about.”

“It is about living as comfortably and fully as possible,” they wrote. “It is about creating moments of connection, peace, laughter, and love. Sometimes those moments are quiet. Sometimes they are unforgettable. And sometimes… they even involve the GOAT.”

Charles Barkley Recalls Phone Call That Ended Friendship With Michael Jordan

Jordan graduated from Laney in 1981 after famously not making the school’s varsity basketball team as a sophomore. He went on to play college basketball at North Carolina, bursting onto the national scene with a game-winning shot over Georgetown as a freshman.

The Chicago Bulls drafted Jordan as the third overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, where he won six championships and five NBA MVP awards, retiring as arguably the greatest basketball player of all-time.

In 2019, he donated $1.1 million to his former high school, half of which went to the Laney athletic department, according to ABC11.

Scottie Pippen: Michael Jordan Was a ‘Horrible Player’ Before the Bulls

“Mike decided that he wanted to take care of Laney High School with him and his attorneys wanting to make sure that it would go entirely to Laney High School,” Laney Athletic Director Fred Lynch, who was Jordan’s high school basketball coach, said at the time. “So, Mike is still the man.”

He added that the portion of the money that did not go to athletics would “help everybody.”

“A school our size with 2,200 kids, there is always a need for laptops, computers and tech stuff that will benefit all the kids,” Lynch said.

© Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

  • ✇Us Weekly
  • Boston Rob Mariano Shares Advice He Gave Jonathan Young Before ‘Survivor 50’ Russell Steinberg
    Jonathan Young finds himself on the verge of winning the biggest Survivor season ever, and if he does, he might have Survivor legend Boston Rob Mariano to thank. Young, 32, struck up a friendship with Mariano, 50, after his original run in Survivor 42. Mariano is a five-time Survivor player himself and winner of Survivor: Redemption Island. He spoke exclusively with Us Weekly and revealed what he told Young before he headed out to Fiji last year to film Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans. “I
     

Boston Rob Mariano Shares Advice He Gave Jonathan Young Before ‘Survivor 50’

19 May 2026 at 20:56

Jonathan Young finds himself on the verge of winning the biggest Survivor season ever, and if he does, he might have Survivor legend Boston Rob Mariano to thank.

Young, 32, struck up a friendship with Mariano, 50, after his original run in Survivor 42. Mariano is a five-time Survivor player himself and winner of Survivor: Redemption Island. He spoke exclusively with Us Weekly and revealed what he told Young before he headed out to Fiji last year to film Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.

“I tried to coach him up a little before he went there, and so far he’s hanging in it,” Mariano told Us as part of his partnership with Dramamine. “I told Jonathan, like there’s a lot of things you can control, and the things you can’t control, you can’t worry about.”

Young placed fourth in his first time playing Survivor, back in 2022, where he lost to Mike Turner in the finale night fire-making challenge. Maryanne Oketch went on to win Survivor 42.

‘Survivor’ Secrets Are Finally Spoken From the Best Players to Ever Compete

This time, he goes up against three other new-era all-stars in Tiffany Ervin (Survivor 46), Joe Hunter (Survivor 48) and Rizo Velovic (Survivor 49), as well as four-time old era Survivor veteran Aubry Bracco. The winner will not only earn the title of Sole Survivor, but will also earn $2 million, matching season 40 for the biggest grand prize in the show’s history.

As for Mariano, he confirmed to Us what he has said in the past — that his playing days are over. (He previously said he declined the opportunity to play Survivor 50, wanting his spot to “go to someone else.”)

“I love Survivor. It’s been a huge part of my life,” he told Us. “I feel like I’ve gotten everything out of it. I didn’t play 50. I’m not playing 51 or 52. So it’s been amazing, but that chapter as a player is closed.”

For now, Mariano is keeping busy in other ways. He and wife Amber Brkich, whom he met on Survivor All-Stars, which she won, now share daughters Lucia, 16, Carina, 15, Isabetta, 14, and Adelina, 11. With summer vacation approaching, he again has his mind on an island getaway — but this time without the camera crews and Survivor production staff.

“I love to travel and we’re not really sit-on-the-beach so much,” Mariano said of his family. “We like to get out there and do it, so sometimes sports, or anything from sports to bungee jumping to fishing to boating, we’re an active family.”

Boston Rob Reacts to Fans Who Are Upset He's Not on ‘Survivor 50’

That sense of adventure is the Mariano family’s “why,” and, as he points out, Dramamine’s campaign is all about finding “your why,” not letting nausea slow you down.

“I’m not afraid to go for new things and try new things, and I think that’s what [the campaign with Dramamine] embraces, not letting something like motion sickness or nausea hold you back,” he said.

Mariano jokingly added that he wished he had Dramamine on Survivor with him, particularly the first time he played in 2001, when the boats themselves were even more nausea-inducing than his competition.

“I remember…going back and forth to the press day and throwing up over the side of the boat taking us there. It’s pretty miserable,” he recalled.

The season finale of Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans airs on CBS Wednesday, May 20 at 8 p.m. ET.

© Getty Images; CBS

  • ✇Us Weekly
  • Chiefs' Rashee Rice Ordered to Serve 30 Days in Jail After Violating Probation Russell Steinberg
    Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice will miss his team’s minicamp to serve a 30-day jail sentence after testing positive for marijuana, violating his probation, Matt Foster of Kansas City’s KSHB first reported on Tuesday, May 19. His probation stemmed from charges related to a multi-car crash in 2024. Rice, 26, was booked at 1:25 p.m. ET on Tuesday, per Dallas County jail records, and is due to be released on June 16. Chiefs minicamp runs from June 9 to 11. The March 2024 crash left mul
     

Chiefs' Rashee Rice Ordered to Serve 30 Days in Jail After Violating Probation

19 May 2026 at 20:18

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice will miss his team’s minicamp to serve a 30-day jail sentence after testing positive for marijuana, violating his probation, Matt Foster of Kansas City’s KSHB first reported on Tuesday, May 19.

His probation stemmed from charges related to a multi-car crash in 2024. Rice, 26, was booked at 1:25 p.m. ET on Tuesday, per Dallas County jail records, and is due to be released on June 16. Chiefs minicamp runs from June 9 to 11.

The March 2024 crash left multiple people injured after prosecutors say Rice drove 119 miles per hour along a Dallas highway. He was charged with one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injuries.

Rice was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to serve 30 days in jail. He received Deferred adjudication, meaning had he not violated his probation, the case would have been dismissed.

Who Is Kansas City Chiefs’ Rashee Rice? 5 Things to Know About the Receiver

ESPN’s Nate Taylor and Adam Schefter reported that Rice’s upcoming stay in jail will be the 30 days he was originally sentenced to.

Four months after the crash, Rice released a statement through his attorney, urging others to “drive smart.”

“Last March, I was involved in a high-speed accident in Dallas,” he said. “There have been a lot of sleepless nights thinking about the damages that my actions caused, and I will continue working within my means to make sure that everyone impacted will be made whole.”

Rice added, “I urge everyone to mind the speed limit, drive safe and drive smart. Last and certainly not least, I am profoundly sorry for the physical damages to person and property. I fully apologize for the harm I caused to innocent drivers and their families.”

Kansas City Chiefs' Rashee Rice Accused of Domestic Abuse in Lawsuit: Reports

The news also comes just over a month after the NFL decided it would not punish Rice after he was accused of domestic abuse by his ex-girlfriend, Dacoda Jones. The league said in a statement in April there was “insufficient evidence” that he violated the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

“Mr. Rice wants to thank the NFL for their thorough investigation, and looks forward to the start of the 2026-27 NFL season,” his attorney, Sean Lindsey, said in a statement to The Associated Press.

“On October 9th, 2025, well after the parties’ relationship had ended, Ms. Jones stated under penalty of perjury in a sworn Affidavit for Non-Prosecution that ‘Mr. Rice and I had a verbal argument, but he did not punch me.’ We will allow the legal process to run its course and have no further comment at this time,” Lindsey said in a separate statement in February.

© Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images

❌
Us Weekly