Country music legend Merle Haggard was hospitalized this week in middle Georgia, according to reports. Promoter Mike Blackwell told The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that a concert in Columbus had to been canceled and that the 74-year-old Haggard had been hospitalized in Macon. Tour manager Frank Mull added that a concert in Macon also had to be canceled, and that Haggard had been ill since leaving his home in northern California last week. It wasn't known whether Haggard remained in the Macon hospital Wednesday, and details of his illness weren't disclosed.
In brighter celebrity sick-bay news, singer turned reality star Toni Braxton is on the mend after being hospitalized in Los Angeles for a few days due to a lupus flare-up. "Hey guys, I'm okay! No worries love bugs," she said in a reassuring tweet earlier this week. Braxton had been keeping a busy schedule and was in L.A. for a promotional event that she wasn't able to attend. Last week, her sisters Tamar, Trina, Towanda, Traci, along with their mother Evelyn, appeared at a WE channel event to promote this season of "Braxton Family Values," but Toni had to miss the event, the show's publicist told us. We're also told that tonight's episode of "Braxton Family Values" will feature Toni's appearance at last year's Georgia Music Hall of Fame awards event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. Toni was just about the last artist to stroll the red carpet before the awards event kicked off, and the sisters were supposed to perform, but didn't. The episode's title: "Sisters At War."
And Paula Deen has made a seamless pivot from dispensing high-calorie recipes to sharing tips on living with diabetes. The Savannah chef and cookbook author, Buzz readers may recall, enjoyed potato salad, chicken wings and Krispy Kreme bread pudding at the Buckhead Dantanna's during her October trip to Atlanta to promote "Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible," which made it to the list of Five Worst Cookbooks of 2011 by the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Her Twitter feed has started dishing out recipes for lighter fare such as grilled veggie pizza and links promoting her new venture as a paid spokesperson for a diabetes drug company. Deen's chief critic, fellow on-air food personality Anthony Bourdain, lashed out at her via his Twitter account: "Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later."
Contributing: news services
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