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18 Feb, 1974

Jillian Michaels born in Los Angeles

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Jillian Michaels was born in Los Angeles, California to Jo Ann McKarus, a psychotherapist, and Douglas G. McKarus, a personal-injury lawyer.  She grew up an only child but has two younger siblings, a brother named George and a half-sister named Lauren.  Michaels endured a rough childhood marred by low self-esteem and psychological issues. Her mother put her into therapy when she was 5 for night terrors.

Michaels’ parents divorced when she was 12, after being married for 18 years, causing her to develop anger issues and act out.  The breakup took an emotional toll on Michaels, one manifestation of which was weight gain.  By the time she was 13, Michaels was 5’2″ and 175 pounds.

Her mother signed her up for martial arts at age 14 as a way for her to get out her frustrations and to develop self-confidence.  At the age of 17, and after years of fighting, her mother kicked her out to teach her how to fend for herself.

I became pretty angry — no one wanted to deal with me — so when I was 17, my mom was like, ‘You’re not living here.’ I learned a lot being on my own.  I grew up. I had to make money. I learned how to make decisions that are right for me.

1 Dec, 1973

Ben-Gurion dies at 87

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Robert Capa 937Ben-Gurion dies at Tel HaShomer, Ramat Gan, Israel, due to the brain hemorrhage suffered two weeks before. Flags fly at half mast and thousands pay respects as he lies in state in the courtyard of the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem. He is buried next to his wife, on the cliff overlooking the Zin valley, Sde Boker, Israel.

30 Oct, 1973

Edge born in Ontario, Canada

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Edge (Adam Copeland) is born in Calgary, Canada. He grows up in a small, single parent household with his mother. He develops an interest in professional wrestling at a young age. After winning an essay writing contest, he receives free training by Sweet Daddy Siki and Ron Hutchinson.

28 Oct, 1973

MVP born in Miami, Florida

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MVP (Hassan Assad) is born in Miami, Florida. He has a troubled childhood and turns to gang life as a young man.

By age 14, my graffiti crew turned into a gang and about 15 of us were stealing cars. At 15 I was arrested for the first time for armed robbery. At 16, I was facing 11 life felonies.

4 Oct, 1973

Abyss born in Washington, D.C.

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Abyss (Chris Parks) is born in Washington, D.C. He develops an early interest in wrestling by watching Hulk Hogan on TV.

Hulk Hogan, in my opinion. and a lot of other people’s opinions, he’s the person that put wrestling on the map to begin with in the main stream world.

19 Sep, 1973

Roelof Botha born in South Africa

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Roelof Frederik Botha is born in Pretoria. His parents are Helena Maria van Deventer and Roelof Frederik Botha, Sr, a well-known economist. He is the grandson of Roelof Frederik ‘Pik’ Botha, the South African politician.

In South Africa I grew up in the shadow of a well-known father and grandfather. I had the top results in the province when I finished high school. ‘Botha’s grandson is number 1’ was the headline carried in the local newspaper. Psychologically, I was driven to make my grandfather proud and accomplish something in my own right.

22 Aug, 1973

High Plains Drifter

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In this western, Eastwood directs and plays “The Stranger,” a man who agrees to help townspeople who are being terrorized by out-of-control brothers. Starring Verna Bloom and Marianna Hill. Who The Stranger is to him:

To me he was the brother.  But I presented him…  The way the whole town was, no children, kind of strange:  it’s a weird situation.  As far as me justifying the role, he was the brother.  But as far as the audience is concerned, if they want to draw him as something a little more than that, that’s fine.

26 Jul, 1973

Kate Beckinsale born in London

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kate-beckinsale-young-2Kathrin Romary Beckinsale is born in London to British comedian and actor Richard Beckinsale and actress Judy Loe. At the age of five, she loses her father to a heart attack which causes her to develop anorexia. Her widowed mother later remarries director Roy Battersby, with whom she maintains a close relationship. She also has a paternal half-sister, actress Samantha Beckinsale. About her step-father:

I couldn’t have knitted a better one … He wasn’t pushy, he let me come to him.

4 Mar, 1973

Death on a Barge

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Nimoy makes his directorial debut during the 3rd season of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery. Death on a Barge, the 13th episode of that season, stars Lesley Ann Warren as a woman whose father confines her to a barge because she’s a vampire.

25 Feb, 1973

Anson Mount born in Mount Prospect, IL

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Mount is born in Mount Prospect, Illinois to Nancy Smith, a professional golf player and Anson Adams Mount II, a sports and religion editor to Playboy magazine. He has an older brother and a half sister. He grows up in White Bluff, Tennessee.

I have a great-great-great-grandfather who was a Confederate cavalry colonel, and I still have his military composite photo on my wall. The chemicals in the photo tint have changed over the years to the point that he looks green. One of my family members apparently still has the piece of paper that listed every thing in his pocket when he got shot. I grew up hunting with shotguns and rifles, and we had a gun in every corner of the living room.

21 Feb, 1973

Brodus Clay born in Pasadena, Calif.

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Clay (George Murdoch) is born in Pasadena, Calif. He has a troubled childhood with an abusive father.

My childhood was not anything close to normal. And as far as bullying goes, I learned about bullying first hand in my house. My biological father would physically abuse my mother and myself and my brother constantly, so at a very young age I learned very quickly what a bully is at the highest level.

14 Nov, 1972

Troy Carter born in Philadelphia

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Troy Carter is born in West Philadelphia to Gilda Carter, who cleans surgical instruments at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His parents divorce when he is two years old. Carter grows up on 52d Street and Larchwood Avenue, in a two-bedroom apartment with kerosene heat and sometimes no running water. His mother says her three boys always had hot meals, love, and high expectations, however she often has to scrape change for bus fare.

You know, we were broke. You can, as a kid, kind of recognize the pain in your mother’s face.

He spends much of his time around the corner with his grandmother, who recalls him writing that he wanted to be a millionaire by age 25, and his granduncle, the owner of a popular shoeshine store who gives him encouragement. Grandmother:

Troy always had a composition book and pen, jotting down what he had in mind to do.

He attends Huey Elementary and Sayre Middle School.

I was always the kid in the front of the line because I was the smallest. and [my fifth grade teacher] used to call me ‘The Big Guy.’ Just by the way she would talk to me, she gave me the sense that I could do anything.

He tests well but prefers the nearby public library.

I read every single thing about the music business.

9 Sep, 1972

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids

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Cosby voices, produces and hosts the animated television series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. The show features  the adventures of a group of Philadelphia inner-city kids.

When I did Fat Albert, I started thinking about, as the hero, what is it he could say that consistently and people would pick up on it. He loves the Temptations. And he wanted to be a background singer.

15 Aug, 1972

Ben Affleck born in Berkeley

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ben-affleck-bornBenjamin Geza Affleck-Boldt is born in Berkeley, the first son of Christine Anne, nee Boldt, and Timothy Affleck. His middle name is the name of a Holocaust survivor that his parents admire. The family moves to Cambridge where he grows up with his brother Casey, who is three years younger. His mother is a Freedom Rider who traveled into America’s Deep South in the 1960s. His father works as a theater actor and stage manager as well as doing manual jobs.

My mother taught public school, went to Harvard and then got her master’s there and taught fifth and sixth grade in a public school. My dad had a more working-class lifestyle. He didn’t go to college. He was an auto mechanic and a bartender and a janitor at Harvard.

He attends Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. His father has alcoholism, and his parents divorce. The domestic problems affect his schooling:

I was a bit of a f–up. I got really good grades until the last two years, and then I didn’t. I was having issues around my dad and my mom, and things just weren’t that stable — though that puts the responsibility on them, when really I just lost focus and stopped caring.

To escape problems at home he begins acting at Cambridge Rindge, appearing in Friedrich Durrenmatt’s play The Visit. He also appears in the PBS production The Life of Mimi, a Burger King commercial, and as an extra in Field of Dreams.

1 Aug, 1972

Devon born in Brooklyn, NY

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Devon (Hughes) is born in Brooklyn, New York. He develops an early interest in professional wrestling and befriends his future tag team partner, Bubba (Bully) Ray.

Can Bubba be a prick? Absolutely. He’ll be the first to tell you himself. He’ll be the first to tell you he’s a jerk. He’ll be the first to tell you that he don’t like people.

8 Feb, 1972

Big Show born in Aiken, SC

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Show is born in Aiken, SC despite being billed from Miami Fl during his wrestling career. During his early life he works many odd jobs such as bouncing and bounty hunting. He pursues basketball at Wichita State University.

I look back at my college basketball career and I just want to go back in time, pull myself off to the side and … punch myself in the face. Hahahahaha. It’s a team sport, idiot. Start playing with your teammates.

1972

Father murdered

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Sean Combs with FatherWhen Combs is only three years old his father, Melvin, is fatally gunned down after a failed drug deal due to being mistaken as a police informant. He is killed in his car in Central Park by a former friend and associate. Melvin Combs is a known friend to convicted New York drug dealer Frank Lucas.

They say you can’t miss something you never had, but that’s only a little ways right. There’s definitely been times as I’ve gotten older that I’ve missed my father – – his presence – – not being here.

Confessions: Diddy Opens Up About His Father, Melvin Combs