Tabla de contenidos para PEOPLE Yearbook 2023 en People

When Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in January, they elected—after 14 failed votes—Kevin McCarthy as the Speaker with the understanding that he would fight President Joe Biden and the Democrats at every turn. A month later, in one of the last gestures of customary civility on the Hill, he shook hands with Biden at the State of the Union address. By fall McCarthy had fulfilled a promise to the right wing of his party to launch an impeachment inquiry on the President, accusing Biden of influence peddling. Televised hearings in September saw even GOP witnesses allow that they had no evidence. (Separately, a federal prosecutor indicted the President’s son Hunter Biden on three 2018 gun charges.) And by October, after McCarthy worked with Democratic colleagues to…

It was the opposite of a cruel summer for Taylor Alison Swift, whose sold-out U.S. leg of her Eras tour clocked 53 shows in 20 cities from March to August. Other impressive figures? Number of continents she’ll hit by tour’s end in fall 2024: five. Songs performed nightly, spanning the 33-year-old’s 17-year career and 10 studio albums: 44, over three and a half hours. Costume changes per show: 16, from top-drawer designers including Alberta Ferretti and Oscar de la Renta. Hours it took for Ticketmaster to crash during the November 2022 presale: four, thanks to 14 million anxious Swifties, resulting in a Justice Department inquiry and an antitrust hearing (during which multiple U.S. senators quoted Swift lyrics, as when Sen. Richard Blumenthal told Live Nation president Joe Berchtold to…

King Charles isn’t the only member of the royal family who had a big year: His ascension meant a slew of fresh titles for the newly minted Prince and Princess of Wales. But the more things change, the more they stay the same, and William and Kate spent much of their time doing what they do best: giving back. They headed to the 3rd Upton Scouts Hut in Slough during coronation weekend to spruce up the building and the grounds as part of the nationwide Big Help Out (Prince Louis shoveled, Princess Charlotte painted, and Prince George foisted a drill); they visited the We Are Farming Minds charity in the Duchy of Cornwall, which William inherited from Charles, to support the mental health of farmers. In September William traveled…

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Not even the most ludicrously capacious handbag would fit all the tears we cried over the May series finale of Succession. During four critically stellar seasons of the Jesse Armstrong-created drama—the last of which garnered 27 Emmy nominations—we watched in horror and delight as TV’s most abhorrent family of media moguls did horrific things, from casual sexism and racism to actual homicide. The death of Roy family patriarch Logan (Brian Cox) in episode 3 sent the already topsy-turvy clan—Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and the entire Waystar Royco gang—into more expletive-laced disarray than usual, leaving them vulnerable to saboteurs who were lurking all along. (Logan’s real-life inspiration, Rupert Murdoch, stepped down as chairman of Fox and News Corp. in September.) Somehow Succession did the impossible:…

It started with one perfectly arched foot, and the rest was history. Greta Gerwig’s Mattel-backed Barbie worked as both a Feminism 101 manifesto and a call to action for millions of fans who just wanted to dress up in every shade of pink and hit the theater with their besties. The leggy blonde personified by Margot Robbie handily rose above the mushroom cloud of that July weekend’s other blockbuster, Oppenheimer, to claim top spot at the box office: a record-setting $162 million its first weekend, the biggest U.S. opening for a woman director in history, and more than $1 billion in its first three weeks. “We invent things like dolls to explain to ourselves what it means to be human,” Gerwig told People. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the…

On May 2, 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America walked off the job; they were joined on July 14 by the 160,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. (That strike went into effect during the U.K. premiere of Oppenheimer, and stars including Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy walked out.) With the work stoppage—the longest in 60 years—the entertainment industry screeched to a halt, bringing the fall TV season to a standstill and threatening movie releases. Workers were picketing the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers over pay, low residuals and AI, with SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher (above) saying, “I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us! It is…

“There was smoke billowing, like really crazy plumes of smoke coming down the mountain,” Annelise Cochran, 30, told People of the view from her apartment in Lahaina. “Everything started burning.” She and others fled to the ocean, and as cars exploded nearby and flaming chunks of debris fell from the sky, they submerged themselves in the Pacific for up to nine hours to stop embers from burning their skin. The island of Maui had been experiencing a severe drought, and when dried brush caught fire on Aug. 8, strong winds from the passing Hurricane Dora fueled the blaze. With some flames roaring at a mile a minute, the firestorm ravaged everything from historic banyan trees to ancestral burial grounds. The worst damage occurred in Lahaina, where the fire consumed…

“I don’t consider myself famous or anything,” Coco Gauff recently told People. “Off the court I’m completely normal, and I don’t get why people get hyped up about me.” Maybe this is why: The 19-year-old phenom has a Grand Slam title to her name after winning the U.S. Open on Sept. 9, and she wowed the public as much with her confidence and poise as she did with that unbeatable backhand and speed. She stood up to an ump she felt was allowing opponent Laura Siegemund too much time between serves and thanked both barrier-breaker Billie Jean King for her work on pay equity (Gauff took home $3 million for her win) as well as “the people who didn’t believe in me.” Not even a heat wave in New York…

It was easy the first time. Gerry Turner met wife Toni in high school, and the two were happily married for 43 years until her death in 2017. It was their two daughters who suggested that the retired Indiana restaurateur take his search for new love national. The Golden Bachelor, ABC’s latest installment in the 21-year-old franchise, found Turner, 72, choosing among 22 eligible bachelorettes, all over 60 (including former Bachelor Matt James’s mom, Patty). “I realized that love has varying degrees,” Turner told People after the show’s Sept. 28 premiere. “You might have feelings for someone, but it doesn’t make them the right person for you,” adding, “Fate works in strange ways.”…

Prince Harry’s sunny disposition since relocating to California in 2020 has been apparent, but the former royal sent dispatches from a much grayer past via his January memoir Spare, which he described to People at the time as “a raw account of my life—the good, the bad and everything in between.” Losing his mother, Princess Diana, when he was 12 left lasting scars; relations with his father, King Charles, are frosty; and brother William, it turns out, tried to talk him out of marrying Meghan Markle, the American actress (“a phrase [William] always managed to make sound like ‘convicted felon,’ ” Harry wrote). Granted, there were viral tasty bits about losing his virginity to an older woman in a field and the penile frostbite he suffered after a trip…

“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that … dream big, and dreams do come true. And, ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime.” Thus did Malaysian-born Michelle Yeoh, 61, become the first Asian woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress, for Everything Everywhere All at Once. Costar Ke Huy Quan became the first Vietnamese-born actor to win a Best Supporting Actor award, and Jamie Lee Curtis, who’s been working since 1977, took home her first Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress. Everything Everywhere, nominated for 11 awards, the most of any film, had a very good night, indeed: Named Best Picture, it also garnered statues for…

“Dementia is hard on the person diagnosed. It’s also hard on the family,” said Emma Heming Willis on Today in September, speaking of her husband, actor Bruce Willis. “When they say this is a family disease, it really is.” Since the February announcement that Bruce, 68, is suffering from frontotemporal dementia, he’s been surrounded with love and support from Emma and their two daughters, Evelyn, 9, and Mabel, 11, along with the three grown daughters the Die Hard star shares with ex-wife Demi Moore: Rumer, 35, Scout, 32, and Tallulah, 29. “It’s hard to know” if Bruce is aware of his condition, Emma said, but there is no doubt of the blended clan’s familial bond. “We’re from separate litters, but I can’t imagine not having siblings. We are so…

Soon after Judy Blume started writing, her work for young adults came under attack. Her 1970 novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (made into a 2023 movie starring Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates) was long banned by some schools for its frank discussion of sexuality, menstruation and religious self-determination. Blume’s 1975 YA novel Forever has also consistently been yanked from shelves for its exploration of teen sex. In March the book, which lent its name to a 2023 documentary about Blume, was pulled from libraries in a Florida school district, along with titles by Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood and others. PEN America reported in September that 1,557 books had been banned so far in the 2022-2023 school year, at least a third of them dealing…

Harrison Ford wistfully joked to People in June that his 1998 turn as Sexiest Man Alive was “a long time ago,” then deadpanned: “When I used to be sexy.” Ford, who still looks great, is almost as famous for his droll sense of humor as for his unparalleled five-decade career, which includes such epics as the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as his Oscar-nominated turn as a Philadelphia police officer in 1985’s Witness and his 1988 office rom-com Working Girl. At 81, he seems busier than ever. Last winter, Ford, who married actress Calista Flockhart in 2010 and is a father of five, leaped onto the small screen with two hit shows: Shrinking, on Apple TV+, and 1923, the Yellowstone prequel on Paramount+. He has also been…

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The bodies started turning up in 2010. A police officer and his K9 partner discovered the remains of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, who’d vanished the year before, on a remote beach on Long Island’s South Shore. Two days later they found Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27. Known as the Gilgo Four, the women were sex workers who had disappeared between 2007 and 2010. Soon 11 bodies were uncovered, but it took until 2022 for local police and the FBI to zero in on architect Rex Heuermann, 60, as a possible suspect. Police say the Massapequa Park, N.Y., native had a car similar to one seen at the time of one of the killings, and detectives connected crime scene DNA to a pizza crust he threw…

On Aug. 11, 1973, Clive Campbell (aka DJ Kool Herc) used a pair of turntables to combine two records into one continuous beat during a Bronx party; 50 years later in the same borough, the musical genre now known as hip-hop celebrated its milestone birthday. On Aug. 11, the epic Hip-Hop 50 Live concert at Yankee Stadium brought together OGs from Wu-Tang Clan and Kurtis Blow with Nas, Snoop Dog, Ice Cube, Lil Kim, Lauryn Hill and the genre’s original superstars Run-DMC. Other shows and exhibits, including in hip-hop epicenter Atlanta, spanned the country all year long so folks could pay homage to the art form. “Fifty years is special,” Wiz Khalifa told People. “It means the culture has been pushing forward and redefining itself.” Said Chance the Rapper…

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Did anyone have a better year than Donna Kelce? First her sons—Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis, 34, and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason, 35—became the first brothers in history to face off at a Super Bowl, on Feb. 12. (Both brothers, one happy, one sad, could be seen with Mom after the Chiefs won 38-35.) Just 11 days later Jason and wife Kylie welcomed baby girl Bennett, making Donna a grandma for the third time after big sisters Wyatt, 4, and Elliotte, 2. But there was no bigger moment—at least for Swifties—than watching her schmooze with Taylor Swift at Chiefs games. (So closely were Swift’s appearances parsed, that her in-suite snack of chicken with ketchup and “seemingly ranch” became a meme.) Swift, 33, brought friends including Hugh Jackman, Blake…

It’s Pedro Pascal’s world; we’re just living in it. The Chilean-born actor, 48, gained fans around the world for portraying Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones and The Mandalorian’s titular intergalactic bounty hunter. This year he burnished his stardom on HBO’s The Last of Us, playing hardened pandemic survivor Joel Miller, who protects Ellie (Bella Ramsey)—a teenager whose immunity could reverse the apocalypse—while battling cannibalistic fungus mutants. But fame from that incredible run of hits came with a few burdens, as Pascal quipped in his Emmy-nominated turn as Saturday Night Live host. For one, he is often asked “Is Baby Yoda mean in real life?” Other 2023 projects included starring as Ethan Hawke’s cowboy lover in Pedro Almodóvar’s short film Strange Way of Life. Pascal is “everything you hope…

With the pomp and pageantry it does so well, even in the rain, Britain staged its first royal coronation in 70 years, crowning King Charles III on May 6. Eight months after the September death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Charles, 74, officially ascended the throne before more than 2,200 guests at Westminster Abbey, including son Harry, despite an ongoing rift. The two-hour ceremony contained both 1,000-year-old traditions and updates reflecting the modern commonwealth: For the first time Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh leaders as well as female bishops took part as the Archbishop of Canterbury anointed the new king with holy oil consecrated in Jerusalem. Thousands lined the streets to cheer Charles and their new Queen Camilla, 75, during a weekend of parades, concerts (including Lionel…

On the 56-show Renaissance World Tour, the superstar stunned at every stop in jaw-dropping looks from Schiaparelli, Mugler and Destiny’s Child-inspired Adidas x Ivy Park (pictured) to fete her 2022 glitter-soaked queer love letter Renaissance, which won four Grammys (bringing her total to 32, the most awarded to any artist in history). Fans including Vice President Kamala Harris, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet showed up and showed off at the two-and-a-half-hour spectacle, which in July alone earned a record-breaking $127.6 million over 11 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore. (On Aug. 7, when her Washington, D.C., show was delayed by rain, the star paid $100,000 to keep the Metro open so the Beyhive could get home.) But perhaps the biggest highlight came in the form of a…

SPLITS After four years of marriage, musician Joe Jonas, 34, filed for divorce from Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner, 27, calling the marriage “irretrievably broken.” The two are parents to Willa, 3, and Delphine, 1. Australian actors Hugh Jackman, 54, and Deborra-lee Furness, 67, who wed in 1996, announced their separation with a September statement to People saying, “We undertake this next chapter with gratitude, love and kindness.” Yellowstone star Kevin Costner, 68, and Christine Baumgartner, 49, who share three children, announced their split in May after 18 years. (An ugly public battle over child support followed.) Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara, 51, and Magic Mike’s Joe Manganiello, 46, who wed in 2015, announced their breakup in July. After meeting on the Bravo reality show Vanderpump Rules in 2013, Tom Sandoval, 40, and Ariana Madix, 38, announced in March that they were breaking up in the midst of the world-shaking Scandoval:…

Even the best-case scenario sounded like a nightmare to many: Five explorers got on the 22-ft. OceanGate submersible Titan on June 18; it was locked from the outside by at least 17 bolts and had a two-and-a-half-hour journey down 12,500 ft. to the wreckage of the Titanic, about 350 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. Aboard were OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, 61; Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77; and paying passengers Shahzada Dawood, a British Pakistani billionaire, 48, and his son Suleman, 19, and British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, 58, who had each shelled out $250,000 per ticket for the experience. When the sub had not yet surfaced by 5:40 p.m., it was clear the passengers were in trouble. For days the world anxiously watched, keenly aware of every passing…

Actress Florence Pugh spent 2023 turning heads as much for her reliably fabulous—and translucent—wardrobe as for her standout performances in films like Oppenheimer and A Good Person. And the 27-year-old Brit made no apologies for her love of see-through clothing. Her penchant for peekaboo first revealed itself when the Black Widow star sported a sheer pink Valentino gown for the designer’s 2022 haute couture show in Rome. (Pugh has an endorsement deal with the brand.) Much Internet judginess ensued before Pugh clapped back on Instagram: “I was excited to wear it, not a wink of me was nervous. I wasn’t before, during or even now after.” The stance made her a vocal defender of body acceptance. “I’m not trying to hide the cellulite on my thigh or the squidge…

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Booked as Georgia inmate P01135809 on Aug. 24, former President Donald Trump was charged with unlawfully attempting to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss in the state to Joe Biden. Trump faced 13 criminal counts in the election-meddling case—he became one of 18 codefendants accused of a gamut of charges under the state’s anti-racketeering law, with Atlanta’s district attorney, Fani Willis, branding him the head of a “criminal enterprise.” Found guilty in September of fraud in a New York civil case and facing the potential loss of his business empire there—as well as losing an earlier sexual-abuse lawsuit—the Georgia indictment was the fourth criminal case leveled against Trump this year. In March he was charged in New York with falsifying business records related to hush-money payments to porn star…

Air-raid sirens shattered the early-morning calm in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Oct. 7, heralding the start of a war that has drowned Israel and Gaza in blood, rage and sorrow. The Islamist militant group Hamas, which has ruled—and brutalized—Palestinians for nearly two decades, launched a sneak attack on the Israelis that was unprecedented in scope and horrific in its savagery. Hamas fired several thousand rockets at southern and central Israel and invaded the country by land, sea and air. Thousands of armed militants stormed barricades, shooting at civilians and slaughtering elders and infants alike. Hamas descended on the Supernova Music Festival, billed as “a journey of unity and love,” celebrating the Jewish holiday Simchat Torah. The terrorists came by truck, van and paraglider, massacring 260 revelers and taking scores…

B. 1939 Tina Turner Was there ever a more glorious, well-deserved comeback? Tina Turner, born Anna Mae Bullock in Brownsville, Tenn., first gained fame with her guitarist husband, Ike Turner, as the incendiary singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, pounding out hits like “Proud Mary” and “River Deep, Mountain High.” In 1976, unable to endure Ike’s physical and emotional abuse any longer, she left with just a gas card and 36 cents in her pocket. In their 1978 divorce she got nothing except the right to keep her stage name. No matter. “My peace of mind was more important,” the longtime Buddhist told People in 1981. She played casinos, opened for the Rolling Stones (she’d earlier taught Mick Jagger to dance) and in 1984 released the Private…