Us Weekly is a celebrity gossip magazine, founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986. The publication covers topics ranging from celebrity relationships to the latest trends in fashion, beauty, and entertainment. Along with Jann Wenner, the individuals currently in charge of Us Weekly are Editor in Chief Michael Steele and Publisher Victoria Lasdon Rose. As of 2007, its circulation averaged over 1.85 million.

The magazine currently features a sharply different style from its original 1977–2000 format. Originally a monthly industry news and review magazine along the lines of Premiere or Entertainment Weekly, it switched format in 2000 to its current themes of celebrity news and style.

The web site Usmagazine.com was launched in fall 2006 and gets approximately two million visitors per month. In addition to features from the magazine, the site has a breaking celebrity news blog, exclusive photos, red carpet galleries from premieres and events, plus games, videos, quizzes and polls.

Michelle Phan (born April 11, 1987) is a Vietnamese-American make-up guru who posts make-up and beauty tutorials on YouTube, sometimes under the online alias ricebunny. Phan attended Ringling College of Art and Design and Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Michelle Ann Phan was born in Boston, Massachusetts; both her mother and father were born in Vietnam. She has one brother named Steve Phan, who eventually married Promise Tamang (Phan),who is also a make-up/hair guru. Her mother raised her in Massachusetts and California, before settling in Tampa, Florida, where she attended high school. As a teenager, Phan originally intended to become a doctor at the request of her mother. However, she later convinced her mother to allow her to major in illustration. She was inspired by her mom's career as a nail technician. Formerly, she was a student and worked as a part-time waitress at a sushi restaurant.

Phan joined Youtube on July 18, 2006 and has created over 180 videos. As of February 2012, her videos have garnered over 530 million views. Her channel has over 1,800,000 subscribers. She has the most subscribed beauty channel on YouTube. Phan is known for her video style that incorporates her voice-over instruction with music and text subtitles. Her videos are created entirely using iMovie, on a MacBook Pro. Popular beauty tutorials released on Phan's YouTube channel have included her "Romantic Valentine Look," "Brighter Larger Looking Eyes," "Makeup for Glasses," and "Mysterious Masquerade Look." Her most popular videos include the "Lady Gaga 'Poker Face' Tutorial" with over 30,000,000 video views on YouTube, "Lady Gaga Bad Romance Look," with over 25,000,000 views, "Romantic Valentine Look," and "Seductive Vampire". In January, special effects were used in her new Lady Gaga "Bad Romance" video, the first for a makeup guru. The Buzzfeed profiled Phan on January 23, 2009 overnight, turning it into a viral video.

Heidi Samuel Klum (born June 1, 1973), better known by her birth name Heidi Klum, is a German and American model, actress, television host, businesswoman, fashion designer, television producer, and occasional singer. In 2008 she became an American citizen while maintaining her native German citizenship. In January 2012, Klum separated from her husband, British musician Seal and filed for divorce on April 6, 2012.

Klum was born and raised in Bergisch Gladbach, a town outside Cologne. She is the daughter of Erna, a hairdresser, and Günther Klum, a cosmetics-company executive. A friend convinced her to enroll in a national modeling contest called "Model 92". Out of 25,000 contestants, Klum was voted the winner on April 29, 1992 and offered a modeling contract worth US$300,000 by Thomas Zeumer, CEO of Metropolitan Models New York. After winning, she appeared on the Gottschalk Late Night Show, a top German television show with host Thomas Gottschalk. She accepted the contract a few months later after graduating from school and decided not to try for an apprentice position at a fashion design school.

Kimberly Noel "Kim" Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American socialite, celebutante, television personality, model, actress and businesswoman. She is known for starring in Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the E! reality series that she shares with her family, and its spin-offs including Kourtney and Kim Take New York.

Prior to the development of her career as a reality television star, Kardashian gained notoriety as the subject of a sex tape that subsequently resulted in a court awarding her $5 million. She has been involved in the production of several lines of clothing and fragrances. In 2010, she was the highest earning reality star, with estimated earnings of $6 million, and is one of the most highly documented and followed celebrities in the world in popular media.

In August 2011, Kardashian married basketball player Kris Humphries in a widely publicized ceremony. In October 2011, Kardashian filed for divorce, 72 days after the wedding.

Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of attorney Robert Kardashian and his wife Kris Kardashian (née Houghton). Her father was a third generation Armenian American, and her mother is of Dutch and Scottish descent. Kardashian has two sisters, Kourtney and Khloé, and one brother, Robert. She has stepbrothers Burton Jenner, Brandon Jenner, and reality TV star Brody Jenner, step-sister Casey Jenner, and half-sisters Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner. She attended Marymount High School.

Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.

Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinian's. He became known to American audiences when he got a major role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall which led to a starring role in 2010's Get Him to the Greek. He has also been a voice actor for animated films such as 2010's Despicable Me and the 2011 film Hop. He starred in the 2011 remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore film Arthur.

Brand is noted for his eccentricity and his controversies in the British media, including his dismissal from MTV for dressing up as Osama bin Laden and controversies while presenting at various award ceremonies, as well as his former substance abuse. The 2008 prank telephone calls he made to Andrew Sachs while co-hosting The Russell Brand Show with Jonathan Ross led to his resignation from the BBC and major policy changes in that organisation. His prior drug use, alcoholism and promiscuity influenced his comedic material and public image. He married American pop singer Katy Perry in October 2010, and filed for divorce from her in December 2011; the divorce was finalised in 2012.