Lana Wachowski Opens Up About Difficult Past and Attempted Suicide

Lana Wachowski Opens Up About Difficult Past and Attempted SuicideTransgender 'Cloud Atlas' co-director speaks at Human Rights Campaign gala $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); By

Cloud Atlas co-director Lana Wachowski opened up about her difficult past of growing up transgender in a speech at the Human Rights Campaign's gala fundraiser in San Francisco this weekend, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Wachowski, one half of the sibling duo behind The Matrix trilogy, said that when she was a young adult, she nearly committed suicide on a subway platform before a man nearby stared her down. "I don't know why he wouldn't look away," said Wachowski. "All I know is that because he didn't, I am still here." Wachowski also shared an incident in which she was beaten by a Catholic nun for not joining a line of boys and shared the support she received from her mother and father upon coming out. "Having good parents is just like the lottery," she added.

Wachowski attended the gala to accept the Visibility Award for her recent decision to dispel her previous policy of avoiding press, public appearances and open acknowledgement of her "transition" into becoming a woman. She also noted that she dislikes that word "because of its complicity in a binary gender narrative."

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Jennifer Lopez Accuses Former Driver of Attempted Blackmail

Jennifer Lopez is suing her former driver and head of personal security, who she says tried to blackmail her, CNN reports. 

In a lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles, Lopez, her manager and her production company say driver Hakob Manoukian threatened to "disclose sensitive and personal information that he allegedly heard while driving Lopez" unless the singer paid him $2.8 million. Lopez seeks $20 million in damages.

The legal action is Lopez's response to a lawsuit Manoukian filed in April, accusing the singer, her manager and her production company of breaching his contract after Manoukian says he was told to cancel arrangements he had made for security on a music video shoot. Lopez's suit claims that Manoukian "became hostile and angry because he mistakenly and unreasonably believed he had the unqualified right to designate the security team and profit from any budgetary allocations for such security."

Manoukian went to work for Lopez after leaving employment with her ex-husband Marc Anthony's production company. The driver quit after a month with Lopez. She says Manoukian left "under false pretenses," he says he faced "intolerable" working conditions.

Lopez, who recently announced that she would not return as a judge on American Idol, is on tour with Enrique Iglesias through the beginning of September, before heading to Europe later in the month for a solo tour.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Jennifer Lopez Accuses Former Driver of Attempted Blackmail

Jennifer Lopez is suing her former driver and head of personal security, who she says tried to blackmail her, CNN reports. 

In a lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles, Lopez, her manager and her production company say driver Hakob Manoukian threatened to "disclose sensitive and personal information that he allegedly heard while driving Lopez" unless the singer paid him $2.8 million. Lopez seeks $20 million in damages.

The legal action is Lopez's response to a lawsuit Manoukian filed in April, accusing the singer, her manager and her production company of breaching his contract after Manoukian says he was told to cancel arrangements he had made for security on a music video shoot. Lopez's suit claims that Manoukian "became hostile and angry because he mistakenly and unreasonably believed he had the unqualified right to designate the security team and profit from any budgetary allocations for such security."

Manoukian went to work for Lopez after leaving employment with her ex-husband Marc Anthony's production company. The driver quit after a month with Lopez. She says Manoukian left "under false pretenses," he says he faced "intolerable" working conditions.

Lopez, who recently announced that she would not return as a judge on American Idol, is on tour with Enrique Iglesias through the beginning of September, before heading to Europe later in the month for a solo tour.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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