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.”



Alfonso Cuarón, Cate Blanchett Bring Series ‘Disclaimer’ to Venice Film Festival 

Cast member Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the mini-series "Disclaimer", out of competition, at the 81st Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Italy August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Cast member Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the mini-series "Disclaimer", out of competition, at the 81st Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Italy August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Alfonso Cuarón, Cate Blanchett Bring Series ‘Disclaimer’ to Venice Film Festival 

Cast member Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the mini-series "Disclaimer", out of competition, at the 81st Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Italy August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Cast member Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the mini-series "Disclaimer", out of competition, at the 81st Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Italy August 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Alfonso Cuarón is the first to admit that he does not know how to make a television series. He might even be too old to learn how, he said.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker has technically now made a series, the seven-part AppleTV+ show “Disclaimer,” four episodes of which premiered Thursday at the Venice Film Festival. But he did it his way: Like a film.

Based on Renée Knight’s 2015 book of the same name, “Disclaimer” is a psychological thriller about a documentarian and journalist, Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett), who discovers she’s a character in a novel that reveals her darkest secret.

Cuarón, Blanchett and Kevin Kline all made the journey to the Italian film festival to debut and speak about the show before it begins streaming on Oct. 11.

“I read the book and immediately in my mind I saw a film, but I didn’t know how to make that film,” Cuarón, the director of films including “Gravity” and “Roma,” said in a news conference Thursday. “It was way too long. I could not shape it as such.”

It was only later, he said, that he thought it might work in longer form, inspired by predecessors like Rainer Werner Fassbinder, David Lynch and Krzysztof Kieślowski.

“I was intrigued and that was the point of departure,” Cuarón said.

He started writing with one name in mind for Catherine: Blanchett, terrified that she might say no. Not only did she not say no, she also was the one who suggested Kline for a British character. Sacha Baron Cohen plays her husband in the show and Kodi Smit-McPhee plays her son.

All soon realized that approaching it as a film, and shooting it as a film, would take much longer than a normal series. He even enlisted two cinematographers, Emmanuel Lubezki and Bruno Delbonnel, to add a distinct visual language to the different perspectives in the story. All told, it took about a year.

“It was a really long process,” Cuarón said. “And I really feel for the actors because they were stuck with the characters for way too long.”

Blanchett laughed that they were “still recovering.”

The final three episodes will screen Friday at the festival. Though the festival is most known for its feature film premieres, it does play host to select series as well. This year those also include Joe Wright’s Mussolini biopic “M: Son of the Century,” Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The New Years” and Thomas Vinterberg’s “Families Like Ours.”