Issue date: May 23, 1999
John Travolta has ruled the '90s; I've watched him since the '70s. Just how long has he been acting?
Nola Hendrix, Cincinnati, Ohio
Some 33 years. The baby of six in a N.J. Irish-Italian family, Travolta, 45, got much of his theatrically inclined mom's time. He was acting in workshops at 12, long before becoming a teen heartthrob on TV's Welcome Back, Kotter. He was as certain about family then as he was about acting: "I had an urge to get married when I was 14." He and wife Kelly Preston, 36, are a Tinseltown power couple with a 7-year-old son, Jett.
Where did Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura go to high school? Is he a college graduate?
Pat Poe, Columbus, Ohio
The controversial politician, 47, is a 1969 grad of Minneapolis' Roosevelt High; he attended a local community college after his Navy SEAL service but left college to become a professional wrestler. You can watch Ventura's whole unconventional career come to life on TV Sunday in an NBC movie, which Ventura isn't happy about. Is actor Nils Stewart, who plays the title role, quaking in his boots? No way. "He's a strong person who defends his beliefs," says Stewart, who's in his mid-30s and thinks he's well cast: "We're both bald and neither of us ever had a real job." Until now.
Where does country superstar LeAnn Rimes, considered hot enough to perform with Tina Turner and Cher at VH1's recent "divas" concert, get the material she sings?
Carmen Light, Des Moines
Rimes, 16, has been singing other people's music since she was a 6-year-old in Flowood, Miss. She's dabbled in songwriting -- at 9, she wrote Share My Love -- but as she hit the stardom path she needed songs that showcased her talent. In fact, the sophistication with which she sang some lyrics, such as Blue (originally written for Patsy Cline), was way ahead of her natural maturity, which some found disconcerting. She took partial credit for a song on her last disc, but she's planning a classic country collection next.
John Kennedy Jr.
is more than comfortable with the media, but what about his sister,
Caroline? We never see her.
Rita Hemond, Lancaster, Calif.
The elder of Jack and Jackie Kennedy's two children, Caroline Kennedy, 41, is fiercely protective of her privacy. "You don't see the paparazzi dogging her every step like they do her brother," says author and Kennedy expert Laurence Leamer. Like Jackie, Kennedy has assumed a philanthropic role; she chaired last month's American Ballet Theatre benefit. "Everyone wants her on their guest list," says Leamer. Kennedy is also devoted to her children -- Rose, 10; Tatiana, 8; and John, 6. (She married architect/museum-exhibition designer Edwin Schlossberg in 1986.) She even employs the same woman who cared for her and her brother when they were growing up in the White House.
There are few role
models for women in sports, but the WNBA's Theresa Weatherspoon
is a terrific one because she's so confident. How'd she start playing
ball?
Jacqueline Dorsey, Jackson, Miss.
The New York Liberty guard was raised in an athletic family with two brothers, three sisters and a dad who played minor-league baseball. A two-time Olympic medalist, Weatherspoon, 33, (nicknamed Spoon) grew up as a tomboy in the small Texas town of Pineland. She's single with no kids, but loves encouraging young people and, with teammates, speaks around the country. "We tell them they need to work hard in whatever they want to do."
I am impressed by
Chris Matthews, who hosts CNBC's nightly Hardball, and am curious
about his life. Does he have a family?
Gloria W. Harris, Charleston, W. VA.
The blustery Mathews says his wife, Kathleen, a D.C. local
news anchor, is his "moral, intellectual and academic superior."
At home, he finds himself "fighting the homework wars" with three
kids: Michael, 16, Thomas, 13, and Caroline, 9. "Worse than any
arguments on television." As quick personally as he is on CNBC's
nightly yellfest, Mathews, 53, tells us his rip-roaring style is
what viewers want. "I think you should talk on TV as fast as people
can hear." His speedy chatter comes from growing up in Philadelphia
with four brothers. "You grow up in a big city, you talk fast."
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BIRTHDAYS
May 23: Jewel, 25; Drew Carey, 41.
May 24: Kristin Scott Thomas, 39; Priscilla Presley, 54; Bob Dylan, 58.
May 25: Lauryn Hill, 24; Anne Heche, 30.
May 26: Helena Bonham Carter, 33; Pam Grier, 50; Hank Williams Jr., 50.
May 27: Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, 28; Joseph Fiennes, 29; Henry Kissinger, 76.
May 28: Kirk Gibson, 42; Gladys Knight, 55.
May 29: Annette Bening, 41; Bob Hope, 96.
Contributing: Jeanne Wright
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