Barbra Streisand, 81, actress and singer, uses her fame to reach important people by phone. Because she was annoyed that Apple’s Siri software mispronounced her name, she spoke to company boss Tim Cook in person. “My name is not spelled with a Z,” said the 81-year-old. She had previously explained that the S in her last name was pronounced unvoiced – i.e. hissing. In English, however, a Z is pronounced voiced and therefore softly. Pronouncing her name is really easy, she wondered to the British broadcaster BBC. “I thought I better call Apple, I mean the head of Apple, Tim Cook,” she explained. “That’s one benefit of fame!”
Amira Pocher, 32, presenter, has a new partner. From next week she can be heard on her podcast together with her brother Ibrahim, known as Hima, the podcast provider Podimo announced on Tuesday. At the end of October, the podcast “Die Pochers”, produced together with her husband Oliver Pocher, 45, ended abruptly. After the couple separated, the two initially continued the podcast for a few weeks, then separated as work colleagues. Oliver Pocher can now be heard with ex-wife Sandy Meyer-Wölden, 40, under the title “The Pochers! Freshly recycled”.
Wigald Boning, 56, comedian, likes it extreme. He rode his bike every day for 200 days, then ran a marathon every week for a year, and now he wants to celebrate his 500th day of swimming on Sunday, as he told the German Press Agency. He has been swimming outside every day for almost a year and a half – in all weathers. But he had a low motivation in March: the water was five degrees cold and there was rain. “My dad had died, I was grieving and nothing could persuade me to climb into the lake. So I used this Japanese bathtub on the balcony – and felt a little bit ashamed afterwards.”
Haakon, 50, Norwegian Crown Prince, speaks Bavarian. The Bavarian state government honored him at the start of his four-day visit to Germany with a dinner in the Kaisersaal of the Munich Residence. Norway is a “holiday and longing destination for many people from Bavaria,” explained State Chancellor Florian Herrmann. The son of the Norwegian King Harald V then greeted the guests with the words “Greetings everyone!” According to the Norwegian embassy, the core topics of the royal visit to Munich, Hamburg and Berlin are economy, energy, shipping, defense and culture.
Jeremy Renner, 52, actor, relies on his willpower. On New Year’s Day he was run over by his own snow plow and almost died. Now he wrote on Instagram: “Since January 14th I have explored EVERY type of therapy… every day.” He listed, among other things: countless hours of physiotherapy, infusions upon infusions, stem cell therapies, excess pressure – “and the list goes on and on”. The best therapy, however, was the “will to continue to advance his recovery”.
The Kid Laroi, 20, rapper, benefits from famous friends in the music business. Miley Cyrus, 30, was so excited about his song “Without You” in 2021 that she re-recorded it as a duet with him. A short time later, the male friendship with Justin Bieber, 29, resulted in the joint hit “Stay”, which reached number one in Australia, the USA and Germany, among others. The Australian rapper now lives in Los Angeles and is now releasing his first album.