“Jimmy Neutron” star Jeff Garcia is in the hospital … and it doesn’t sound good. Family sources tell us Jeff is currently hospitalized in Southern California, but it’s unclear what is ailing him. We’re told Jeff was previously hospitalized around…
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Singer Ray J comes from a family filled with musicians and performers, including his father and his sister, Brandy.
Ray J released his debut single “Let It Go” in 1997, but his family’s history in the music industry dates back to at least the 1970s, when his father Willie Norwood joined The Composers. His mother, Sonja, has worked as the manager for both Ray J and Brandy since they began their own music careers.
Ray J has created his own family with estranged wife Princess Love, who he married in 2016. The pair welcomed daughter Melody in 2018 and son Epik in 2020. In May 2020, the pair announced they were separating, and have since rescinded and then re-filed for divorce three more times. They are currently still married.
In November 2025, the “One Wish” singer was arrested after he allegedly pulled a gun on his estranged wife during an argument on Thanksgiving Day.
Billy Ray Cyrus and His Kids: Where They Stand
Video footage from the livestream allegedly showed Ray J saying, “Y’all wanna drive drunk? Y’all wanna drive drunk? Drive drunk. Drive drunk, Princess,” before Love interjects, “Ray, you just pointed a gun–.”
“Drive drunk, princess. Go ahead,” Ray J also appeared to say. “You wanna take my kids? You and your drunk cousin? Cuz y’all drunk at the alcoholics? Take my kids then, go ahead. Who’s gonna drive? Tony, he’s been drinking too.”
Keep scrolling to learn more about Ray J’s relationships with his family, including Love and their two children.
Ray J’s father Willie is a singer, coach and teacher. As shared via Kovocals, Willie joined the singing group The Composers in the 1970s. The band made the decision to move to Hollywood after opening for Chaka Khan & Rufus, and Willie lived there with his family until he and wife Sonja decided to move back to Mississippi.
Willie took the family back to California to serve as a minister of music and become a music coach. He put together Brandy’s first tour and released his own album, Bout It, in 2001.
Willie also appeared on Brandy and Ray J’s reality series, Brandy & Ray J: A Family Business. The series aired on VH1 for two seasons, from April 2010 to February 2011.
Sonja has worked as Brandy and Ray J’s manager throughout their music careers, and is also the CEO of the family’s management company, Norwood & Norwood. As shared on her website, Sonja cut her career at H&R block short to focus on her children’s musical pursuits. This allowed her to help Brandy and Ray J navigate music contracts, Brandy’s foray into music and beauty deals and running the Norwood Kids Foundation.
“Being Black, a woman, a mom, and coming into this industry in the `90s was not easy,” she says on her site. “When I’m teaching, it’s important for people to understand the practices of the entertainment industry. I appreciate all of the good and bad attitudes, the no’s and yes challenges and deceptions that came my way. They have made me the business person I am today. I have earned my way – fearless, confident, and passionate about who I am and how I can change things. I want up-and-coming mom managers and females especially to know that if they are willing to put in the work to not only master their craft but also to wholly understand who they are as a person, establish boundaries and keep God first – they can accomplish anything.”
Brandy is Ray J’s older sister, known to audiences around the world as a singer and actress. She rose to fame after securing a role on the ABC series Thea, which aired from September 1983 to February 1984, but her breakthrough moment came with the release of her first self-titled album in September 1984.
Brandy led the cast of Moesha in 1996, and the series became a hit soon after its debut. Her acting career spawned several more roles, including in the 1997 movie Cinderella.
The release of her follow-up album Never Say Never in 1998 introduced Brandy to wider audiences after the single “The Boy is Mine” hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Brandy has continued to act and sing in the years that followed.
Sy’Rai is the daughter of Brandy and producer Robert Smith. She made her debut as a singer on her mom’s 2020 record B7 and released her own song, “On My Own” in 2023. She is also the host of the “I Shouldn’t Have Said That” podcast.
Ray J and Princess Love married in August 2016, and have since welcomed two children together. The pair’s relationship has been tumultuous, and they have filed for divorce several times (in May 2020, September 2020, October 2021 and most recently in February 2024).
“After much reflection, discussion, and counseling, we have come to the difficult realization that our paths have diverged, and it is in the best interest of both of us to part ways,” Love wrote in a since-deleted post shared via Instagram in February 2024. “We want to reassure you that this decision was made thoughtfully and with mutual respect and consideration for each other’s well-being. While our relationship as spouses may be coming to an end, we remain committed to co-parenting our children and maintaining a positive and supportive family dynamic.”
Princess was a cast member on seasons 3 through 6 of Love & Hip Hop: Miami (the series aired from 2014 to 2019) and frequently documents her cooking on Instagram.
A Guide to Quincy Jones’ Family: 7 Children, Grandkids and More
Ray J and Love welcomed their first child together on May 23, 2018. Soon after her birth, Ray J shared a video of himself with Melody with OK! Magazine, telling the outlet that he and Love were considering a move to London with their daughter.
“I’m here with the love of my life,” he said in the video. “I love you. I’ll always be there for you. You’ll never have to want for nothing, baby.”
He added of the potential move, “I like the people, the opportunities, and the values are a little different. I’ve been in Hollywood so long, I know what it comes with, I want my daughter to have a peaceful, happy life. I want to be consistent in being there for the baby. We’d love to move in the next year and a half.”
Love and Ray J’s son Epik joined the family on December 30, 2019.
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Democrats won two governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, victories they call a rejection of President Trump’s policies and a sign that economic issues are resonating with voters. New York City elected Zohran Mamdani as its first Muslim mayor, defeating former governor Andrew Cuomo in a race that drew record voter turnout. And California voters approved a new congressional map that could give Democrats up to five more House seats in next year’s midterms.
Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
<
p class=”readrate”>Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Larry Kaplow, Acacia Squires, Miguel Macias, Ben Swasey, Mohamad ElBardicy and Martha Ann Overland.
<
p class=”readrate”>
<
p class=”readrate”>It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas
<
p class=”readrate”>
<
p class=”readrate”>We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Voters in New York, Virginia and New Jersey choose new leaders today, and a redistricting vote in California could reshape the balance of power in Congress. The Trump administration says it will restart SNAP benefits, but only partially, leaving millions of families uncertain about how they’ll eat this month. And aid groups warn of a deepening crisis in Sudan after a paramilitary force accused of genocide seized the last major city in Darfur, killing thousands of people and trapping many more without food or water.
Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
<
p class=”readrate”>Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Ben Swasey, Catherine Laidlaw, Kate Bartlett, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.
<
p class=”readrate”>
<
p class=”readrate”>It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas
<
p class=”readrate”>
<
p class=”readrate”>We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Charles Spencer is sharing new details on how he crafted his sister Princess Diana’s eulogy at her funeral.
In an interview with Gyles Brandreth on the Friday, October 24, episode of the “Rosebud” podcast, the 9th Earl Spencer, 61, said that the eulogy he had originally planned for Diana’s memorial service in September 1997 was “very different” from what he eventually read.
He explained that he was “in bits” flying back to the U.K. from Cape Town, South Africa, when he started thinking about who could eulogize his sister.
“I had a big, thick address book, and I thought, ‘I want to find someone who’s going to make the speech for her.’ And I got to ‘Z’ and I hadn’t found anyone,” Spencer recalled of the “profoundly emotional moment.”
“[I] got off the plane in Heathrow [Airport], called my mother, I said, ‘I can’t think who’s going to give the eulogy. And I’ve got an awful feeling it’s going to have to be me,’” he continued. “And she said, ‘Well, it is going to be you. Your sisters and I have decided it.’”
Princess Diana’s Brother Charles Spencer Visits Her Grave Almost Daily
Spencer said that he initially decided to write a “very traditional eulogy” about their childhood and such, but then thought, “Well, this is ridiculous, that’s not who she was.”
He said he soon “realized” that the moment called for him not to speak about the late Princess of Wales but to “speak for her.”
“And I knew I’d been left at that stage — it had no legal standing — but I knew she’d left me as guardian of her sons,” Spencer added of his nephews Prince William and Prince Harry, who were 15 and 12 when their mother died at age 36 after a car crash in Paris in August 1997.
“Obviously, the other parent being alive, that meant nothing, but it meant something to me. That sort of duty, I think,” Spencer said, noting that the now King Charles III would obviously be caring for his sons. “And then I wrote [the eulogy] in an hour and a half and, yeah, that was it, really.”
He admitted that he took a “name-check” to Rupert Murdoch out, deeming it “rather unnecessary,” but kept the rest of what he had planned to say in his touching speech.
The eulogy is “one of the most unforgettable moments in recent British history,” according to “Rosebud,” and detailed her selflessness, strength, beauty and love of family. It also spoke to Diana’s mistreatment by the British media.
“She would want us today to pledge ourselves to protecting her beloved boys, William and Harry, from a similar fate and I do this here Diana on your behalf. We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair,” Spencer said at the time.
“And beyond that,” he continued, “on behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.”
Spencer has been a champion for both William, 43, and Harry, 41, over the years, notably supporting Harry in January after he settled his legal battle with The Sun. The News Group Newspaper, owned by Murdoch, 94, apologized to Harry “for the serious intrusion” of his private life, along with his late mother’s, for decades.
Princess Diana’s Brother Pays Tribute on 27th Anniversary of Her Death
Spencer praised Harry following the victory, writing in an Instagram post at the time, “It takes an enormous amount of guts to take on major media organizations like this, and incredible tenacity to win against them. It’s wonderful that Harry also secured an apology for his mother — she would be immensely touched by this, I’m sure, and also rightly proud. Well done indeed.”
Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped down from their royal duties in 2020 and have since been in disagreement with his father, William and his wife, Kate Middleton.
Harry and Meghan, 44, now live in California with their children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4.
“I enjoy living [in the U.S.] and bringing my kids up here,” the Duke of Sussex said at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York City in December 2024. “It’s a part of my life that I never thought I was going to live and it feels as though it’s the life that my mom wanted for me.”
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
