Usher, Longtime Partner Jenn Goicoechea Married after Super Bowl

11 February 2024, US, Las Vegas: American singer Usher (C) performs during the Apple Music Halftime Show at Super Bowl LVIII, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: -/PA Wire/dpa
11 February 2024, US, Las Vegas: American singer Usher (C) performs during the Apple Music Halftime Show at Super Bowl LVIII, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: -/PA Wire/dpa
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Usher, Longtime Partner Jenn Goicoechea Married after Super Bowl

11 February 2024, US, Las Vegas: American singer Usher (C) performs during the Apple Music Halftime Show at Super Bowl LVIII, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: -/PA Wire/dpa
11 February 2024, US, Las Vegas: American singer Usher (C) performs during the Apple Music Halftime Show at Super Bowl LVIII, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: -/PA Wire/dpa

Usher and longtime partner Jenn Goicoechea married in Las Vegas just hours after the R&B superstar's headline appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show, according to officials and documents. The officiant who wed the pair is known to dress as an Elvis Presley impersonator, The Associated Press reported.
The couple married Sunday at Vegas Weddings, according to a marriage certificate made public Monday. The ceremony was officiated by the Rev. Ronald Joseph Polrywka, better known locally as Ron DeCar. Witnesses included Jonnetta Patton, Usher's mother.
“Congratulations to the Newlyweds!" chapel owner Melody Willis-Williams said in a statement. “We were beyond thrilled to host in this epic day for Usher and his new wife.”
“As much as we love, love,” the statement adds, "this is the couple’s news to share any further details on. We’ll always be fans of Usher! Yeah!”
Usher, 45, and Goicoechea, 40, have been together since 2019 and have two young daughters. A representative for Usher, Lydia Kanuga, did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press, including whether the service was conducted in the chapel, on a balcony or in the drive-thru lane.
DeCar did not respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking additional information. A publicist said DeCar declined to comment.
Clark County Clerk Lynn Marie Goya, the head of the county's marriage license bureau, confirmed that her office issued a license to Usher and Goicoechea last week.
“Naturally they got married in Las Vegas," Goya said. "What better place than the ‘Wedding Capital of the World?’”
The document, issued Thursday, lists the couple's full names — Usher Raymond IV and Jennifer Jean Goicoechea — and shows they paid a $102 filing fee. It notes that Usher had been married before and Goicoechea had not. It also listed their business address at a commercial building in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Usher divorced his first wife, Tameka Foster, in 2009 after two years together, and he won custody of their two sons. In December 2018, the singer filed for divorce after three years together with his second wife and former manager, Grace Miguel.
Usher's Super Bowl halftime performance Sunday at Allegiant Stadium drew acclaim and included guest appearances by such stars as Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Jermaine Dupri, Lil Jon and Ludacris. The Kansas City Chiefs won the NFL championship game in overtime, 25-22, over the San Francisco 49ers.
Usher recently ended a two-year Las Vegas Strip residency where he performed “Usher: My Way” at the Park MGM. He just released his first solo album in eight years, and in August is scheduled to kick off a 24-city US tour titled “Past Present Future.”



Papal Thriller ‘Conclave’ Leads BAFTA Nominations, Music and Horror Fare Well

Ralph Fiennes attends the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, in Palm Springs, California, US, January 3, 2025. (Reuters)
Ralph Fiennes attends the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, in Palm Springs, California, US, January 3, 2025. (Reuters)
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Papal Thriller ‘Conclave’ Leads BAFTA Nominations, Music and Horror Fare Well

Ralph Fiennes attends the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, in Palm Springs, California, US, January 3, 2025. (Reuters)
Ralph Fiennes attends the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, in Palm Springs, California, US, January 3, 2025. (Reuters)

Papal thriller "Conclave" led nominations for the BAFTA Film Awards on Wednesday, with music-themed and horror productions also faring well at Britain's top movie honors.

"Conclave," about scheming cardinals deciding who to elect as pope, secured 12 nods including for best film, director for Edward Berger and leading actor for Ralph Fiennes.

Isabella Rossellini was nominated for best supporting actress for playing a nun in the movie, based on the novel by British writer Robert Harris.

Berger's last film, a German remake of the anti-war classic "All Quiet on the Western Front," swept the 2023 BAFTA awards with a historic seven wins.

"Emilia Perez," which mixes the diverse genres of musical and crime, followed "Conclave" with 11 nominations. The Spanish-language film stars Zoe Saldana as a lawyer who helps a Mexican cartel leader, played by Karla Sofia Gascon, fake his death.

Gascon got a leading actress nomination, while Saldana and singer-actor Selena Gomez, who plays the drug lord's wife, were recognized for supporting actress.

One of the top contenders during this year's awards season, "Emilia Perez" also received nods for best film and director for French filmmaker Jacques Audiard.

Fellow musical "Wicked," the hit adaptation of the stage show, and the Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown," in which Timothee Chalamet portrays the singer during his rise to fame in the 1960s, were also recognized, with seven and six nominations respectively. Adding to the music theme, "Kneecap," about the rise of an Irish hip-hop trio, also got six nods.

"A Complete Unknown" will also compete at the Feb. 16 ceremony for the top prize of best film, along with "The Brutalist," in which Adrien Brody portrays a Hungarian immigrant seeking to rebuild his life in the United States after World War Two. That movie received nine nominations, including three acting nods.

"Anora," about a young exotic dancer who becomes involved with the son of a Russian oligarch, completes the list for best film. The omission of "Wicked," whose stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande received nominations, surprised fans.

"The pleasant surprise is the range of the types of movies," Anna Higgs, chair of the BAFTA Film Committee, told Reuters.

"We don't just have classic awards dramas ... but we also have sci-fi and horror in the mix as well as a whole heap of musicals and musical-themed movies this year," Higgs said.

HORROR FILMS

Both Chalamet and Brody, who won a Golden Globe this month, were nominated for leading actor, alongside Fiennes, Colman Domingo for the prison drama "Sing Sing" and surprise inclusions Hugh Grant for playing a serial killer in the horror film "Heretic" and Sebastian Stan for his portrayal of a young Donald Trump in "The Apprentice."

Gascon's leading actress rivals include Golden Globe winner Demi Moore for the body horror film "The Substance," which received five nominations, including for Coralie Fargeat, the only woman to make the best director category. That list did not include any British filmmakers.

Gothic horror film "Nosferatu" also received five nominations, in another boost for the genre.

The leading actress category includes Erivo, Mikey Madison for "Anora," Saoirse Ronan for playing a woman dealing with addiction in "The Outrun," and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a woman struggling with depression in "Hard Truths."

More than half of the acting contenders - 14 out of 24 - are first-time BAFTA Film Awards nominees.

Observers will be looking at the BAFTAs for indications of Oscar triumphs. Last year's main category winners were the same at both ceremonies.