DAVID BECKHAM: Retiring From Soccer

(Photo: John Berry/Getty Images)

David Beckham won't be bending it for much longer. The soccer star is set to retire at the end of the season. 

The 38-year-old is ending his career with Paris St.-Germain, having just clinched the French league championship. He's also won championships in England with Manchester United, in Spain with Real Madrid and in the U.S. with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Though his exploits on the field were legendary, he's been equally known for marrying a Spice Girl, his dashing good looks and his underwear ads. As business expert Simon Chadwick puts it, "Brand Beckham is dead, long live Brand Beckham! Beckham's transition from athlete commodity to sporting statesman and entrepreneur is now complete."

According to Forbes, Beckham was the world’s highest-paid soccer player in 2012 at $50.6 million, including his endorsements, which also made him the eighth highest-paid athlete in the world.

In a statement, Becks says, "I owe everything to Victoria and the kids, who have given me the inspiration and support to play at the highest level for such a long period... I'm fortunate to have realized those dreams."

(Source: CNN)

Christina Aguilera Bares Toned Midriff in Bra Top on Music Video Set

(Photo: Twitter)

Christina Aguilera Tweeted a photo from the set of her new video on Tuesday, giving fans a clear look at her slim figure.

"On set shooting music video with @Alexoficial for #HoyTengoGanasDeTi," she writes.

In the image, The Voice judge, who will return as a mentor when season 5 picks up Sept. 23, shows off her curves by posing in a black bra and skin-tight skirt.

Shot on an opulent balcony overlooking the ocean, the photo also reflects the sultry romanticism of her duet with Mexican singer Alejandro Fernandez. The song is a cover of Miguel Gallardo's 1975 ballad and its title means "Today I Want You For Me" in English.

Dick Trickle Dead: Former NASCAR Driver Dies of an Apparent Suicide at 71

(Photo: Jamie Squire/Allsport/Getty Images)

Retired NASCAR driver Richard "Dick" Trickle died Thursday, May 16, of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities in North Carolina told the Associated Press. He was 71.

According to the Lincoln County, N.C., sheriff's department, officials received a call -- believed to have been placed by Trickle -- that "there would be a dead body and it would be his." Attempts to return the call went unanswered.

Emergency units were then dispatched to the Forest Lawn Cemetery off Highway 150 in Boger City, where Trickle's body was discovered on the ground near his pickup truck. The sheriff's department told the AP foul play is not suspected.

Trickle first made a name for himself as a short-track driver in his native Wisconsin. Per ESPN, he has been billed as the winningest short-track driver in the history of stock-car racing, with 67 victories in 1972 alone. In 1989, he earned the Rookie of the Year title at NASCAR's Winston Cup.

The Caffeinated Q & A...

80% of us will eat THIS at least once this week…

(Photo: flickr)

A SALAD!!!

JASON’S PICK - WINNER

Google Maps leads abducted Chinese boy home to family 23 years later

A Sichuan man, abducted and taken to Fujian province at the age of five, has finally found his way home after spending years trying to work out where he came from. And he says he could not have done it without the help of Google Maps, Fujian’s news portal nhaidu.com reports.

Luo Gang, who was born in a small town in Guangan city, southwestern Sichuan province, disappeared on his way to kindergarten 23 years ago, said his parents. Heartbroken, they did everything they could to find their son, but to no avail. They eventually gave up and later adopted a daughter.

What they didn't know was that their son had been taken to a city in southeastern Fujian province, some 1500 kilometres from Sichuan.

Although Luo’s adopted parents loved him and treated him like their own son, he said the desire to find his birth parents had always haunted him.

“Everyday before I went to bed, I forced myself to re-live the life spent in my old home,” he said. “So I wouldn’t forget.”

But the only memory Luo had of his hometown was of two bridges.

He drew a rough map of his hometown from memory, before posting it on “Bring Lost Babies Home”, a Chinese website devoted to locating missing children through the help of volunteers.

Soon afterwards, a volunteer wrote back with valuable information - a couple from a small town in Sichuan’s Guangan city had lost a son 23 years ago. The time matched Luo’s abduction perfectly.

Luo searched for pictures of the Sichuan town and found they looked familiar to him. To confirm his suspicions, he turned to the satellite version Google Maps. The minute he zoomed in on an area called “Yaojiaba” near the Sichuan town, Luo recognised the two bridges.

“That’s it! That’s my home,” shouted Luo, in tears.

Luo was pictured in a tearful reunion with his birth parents and grandparents in Sichuan.

“In the past years, I couldn’t help crying each time I thought about my son, who could be starving without enough clothes on him,” said his mother.

It is unclear whether any criminal charges will be brought against Luo's adoptive family.

KRISTEN’S PICK

APPLE APP STORES HITS 50 BILLIONTH DOWNLOAD MILESTONE

Apple says an Ohio man downloaded the 50-billionth app from the Apple Store Wednesday (May 15th). Apple says Brandon Ashmore downloaded the Say the Same Thing app by Space Inch, and will receive a 10-thousand-dollar App Store gift card. Apple reports that users have been downloading more than 800 apps per second, at a rate of over two-billion apps per month on the App Store. The 50-billonth download milestone was reached just 14-months after the 25-billon download milestone. The App Store has more than 850-thousand apps it offers users. (UPI)

FRECKLES' PICK

COLOR OF BEDROOM AFFECTS SLEEP QUALITY

A new study finds that the color of your bedroom matters when it comes to sleep quality. The research was done by Travelodge, and found that those who sleep in rooms colored yellow, blue, or green get the best night's sleep. The hotel chain investigated two-thousand homes across the UK to find out which colors were equated with great sleep. Those who slept in bedrooms colored purple were found to sleep the worst. Study authors say this may happens because purple is a very mentally stimulating color. Other bad-sleep colors included gray and brown. One sleep expert says, "This is an amazing result, as there are specialized receptors called ganglion cells in the retina part of our eyes, which are more sensitive to the color blue." He explains the ganglion cells feed information to the brain in the area that controls our internal clocks and affects how we perform and feel during the day. (Daily Mail)

ANGELINA JOLIE: Not Done Going Under the Knife

(Photo: People)

Angelina Jolie isn't done going under the knife.

After revealing that she had a double mastectomy, Angelina says she's also planning to have her ovaries removed. The same faulty gene that put her at risk for breast cancer also gives her a roughly 50 percent chance of developing ovarian cancer.

According to People magazine, she's had no complications since the surgery in February or her reconstructive procedure last month.

Taylor Swift-Obsessed Fan Arrested for Swimming Up to the Star's Beach Home at 2AM

 (Photo: Getty)

An obsessed Taylor Swift fan was arrested near the singer's Rhode Island beach home early this morning after allegedly SWIMMING up to her pad ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement tells us ... a 22-year-old male from the Chicago area was taken into custody for trespassing after he admitted to swimming up to the beach in front of Swift's home around 2 AM.

Here's the back story -- around 2:20 AM, cops spotted the man getting out of the ocean, around 1 mile from Swift's home.

Cops approached the guy and asked him what he was doing in the water -- and the man allegedly told police he had just completed a swim, in which he intended to meet Taylor.

Sources say ... the man told cops he swam all the way to Swift's beach, but saw her security team ... and decided to swim back to where he came from (roughly 2 miles round trip in cold water).

The man was hauled to a nearby police station where he was booked for trespassing. He's still in custody.

We spoke to the Westerly Police Dept. which tells us, "There is a zero tolerance policy for trespassers." The cops say they have already met with Taylor's security to discuss the matter.

The Caffeinated Q & A...

The average teenage girl will do THIS around 160 times a year…

(Photo: flickr)

SLAM THE DOOR!!!

JASON’S PICK

Woman accused of throwing weights from 18th-floor balcony

A Sandy Springs woman is facing charges after police said she threw several items, including weights, plates and beer mugs from an 18th story balcony at people down below.
 
Investigators have taken out warrants for the arrest of Chloe Chalavoutis, 21, stemming from the March 29 incident at the The Vue at Park Towers on Hammond Drive.
 
Emory Burman III told Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik he was working with a construction crew on a new parking lot when he heard what sounded like tree limbs breaking.
 
“I heard a thump,” he said.  “I walked over to see where I thought the limb landed and looked down and found a 2 ½-pound weight.”
 
Burman said he heard a woman screaming from a balcony above, then witnessed her go back into her apartment and emerge with another weight.
 
“I screamed at the guys to move out of the way, another weight was coming and it hit the ground a second time,” he said.
 
The construction crew showed Petchenik how one of the weights had cracked in half because of the impact of the fall.
 
Construction company owner Everton Archer told Petchenik one of the weights landed just inches from him.
 
“Anything from that distance hits you on the head, you’re liable to get damage,” he said.  “We were pretty surprised when it happened.”
 
Police said Chalavoutis didn’t stop with the weights.  They said she also threw ceramic plates and a beer mug off the balcony.
 
Carmen Scott told Petchenik she and her 12-year-old daughter were walking on a trail adjacent to the apartment building when the mug shattered on a fence and sprayed glass on them, cutting her daughter’s leg.
 
“It’s scary,” she said.
 
Scott told Petchenik she was glad police charged Chalavoutis for her alleged actions.
 
“I’m glad they’ve done something, because she can kill somebody,” she said.
 
An attorney for Chalavoutis told Petchenik by phone that she has cooperated fully with investigators and would be turning herself in soon.

KRISTEN’S PICK - WINNER

SAD MUSIC CAN HELP MEND A BROKEN HEART

New research reveals that listening to sad music when you are brokenhearted may actually help you to feel better. Additionally, when people are angry they prefer to listen to angry music. To find this, researchers asked participants to recall experiences involving loss, and asked them to rate sad music relative to angry, joyful or relaxing music. Researchers found participants had a preference for sad music, particularly when they experienced an interpersonal loss such as losing a personal relationship, as opposed to and impersonal loss, such as losing a competition. Researchers explain that people who experience an interpersonal loss aim to fill the void, and some may do so with music, films, novels and fine arts. (Psych Central)

FRECKLES' PICK

The 5 Most Obese Professions

Some of the lowest paying jobs have the highest rates of obese employees.

According to the new Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, some of the lowest paying jobs have the highest rates of obese employees. Here are the Top 5 most obese professions:

5. Manager or Executive: High stress plus hours of inactivity and corporate lunches equals a lot of extra pounds

4. Clerical or Office Worker: Sitting at a desk with no view of the outside world and only a vending machine filled with candy to help you get through the day is a recipe for gaining weight.

3. Installation or Repair Worker: Being on the road all day means stopping for snacks and fast food is always an easy and inexpensive option – but it is definitely not the healthiest choice.

2. Manufacturing/Production: You would think that being on an assembly line would give you a workout, but low pay makes eating healthy an impossible option for many households. It's expensive and time consuming to eat healthy.

1. Transportation: Bus drivers, taxi drivers, train operators ... all these individuals spend many exhausting hours sitting. Fast food is always a quick, easy option – and it's hard to think about exercise at the end of a long stressful day. (TheStir)

THE VOICE: Christina Aguilera Returning as Shakira Exits

(Photo: NBC)

Christina Aguilera is returning to NBC’s The Voice in the fall and Shakira is leaving after just one season, sources tell Deadline.

A judge for the first three seasons of the high-rated singing competition, Aguilera left last year to promote her album Lotus, which came out in November. Cee Lo Green, another of the four original judges on the Mark Burnett-produced Voice along with Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, also took a sabbatical to work on his music career.

Shakira and fellow newbie Usher joined Levine and Shelton this year for Season 4, which wraps up June 18.

Burnett has said change on the judges panel is a part of The Voice. “Everybody can’t coach for life because when you have people with current recording in the game, this is not their job,” he said. “Their job is their fans and making music and being live, and so we knew from the beginning that this would happen, and we’ve had six coaches. They all have another life and their schedules.”

UPDATE: Will Smith's Teen Son Jaden NOT Looking to Get Emancipated

(Photo: Getty)

Jaden Smith has “decided that for his 15th birthday in July he would like the gift of FREEDOM from his parents — and to be able to live in a home of his own,” reports The Sun.

The tabloid claims Will Smith revealed that Jaden told him, “Dad, I want to be emancipated.”

The paper quotes Will as saying, “I know if we do this, he can be an emancipated minor, because he really wants to have his own place, like ooh.”

“That’s the backlash. On the other side, if kids just want to have command of their lives, I understand,” the movie star allegedly added.

Wow, that’s pretty wild.

But is it true?

NO!

Unlike a number of other blogs who regurgitated The Sun’s reporting without bothering to fact-check, Gossip Cop reached out to a rep for Will, who tells Jaden does NOT want to be emancipated from his parents.

Will’s publicist tells us exclusively, “This isn’t real.”

Usher Sued by Former Nanny

(Photo: Pacific Coast News)

It seems as though Usher‘s legal troubles with his children are a never-ending saga. His latest headache comes from his former nanny who is claiming she is owed a six-figure sum for working overtime.

According to The Sun, Cecelia Duncan, Usher’s former childcare provider, was hired to care for the ‘Numb’ singer’s two sons, Usher and Naviyd, in December of 2010. Duncanis claiming she worked far more than her allotted 40 hours a week and her inquiries about being paid overtime were ignored by Usher for over a year. Duncan was eventually fired in September 2012, which she is obviously none too happy about. The former Raymond Family nanny is suing for wrongful termination and failure to pay wages.

According to TMZ, Usher’s camp is calling the lawsuit “frivolous” and claiming the accusations are “completely false.” Do we have yet another person trying cash in on someone else’s fame? Could be…

Usher previously battled (and won) sole custody of his boys from his ex Tameka Foster in August of 2012. In addition to the nanny suit, ‘The Voice’ coach’s legal troubles may be far from over. Foster vowed to appeal the court’s custody decision under claims of a biased judge.