Christina Aguilera has told Sky News it is “magical” to see her hit film Burlesque being brought to London’s West End – and also opened up about her rise to fame in the late 1990s.

The US star topped the US and UK charts with Genie In A Bottle in 1999, before finding an even bigger audience with her acclaimed album Stripped and hits including Dirrty, Beautiful and Fighter in the early 2000s.

In 2010, she starred in Burlesque alongside Cher, Julianne Hough and Stanley Tucci, and now, 15 years later, is a producer for the stage version of the show alongside the film’s original director and writer, Steven Antin.

Speaking ahead of the show’s gala night, Aguilera told Sky News presenter Leah Boleto she has enjoyed taking a backseat and seeing the fresh interpretation of her character – a small-town girl turned into a star.

“It’s just so beautiful to see the talent that’s on this stage and to absorb it and appreciate the fresh takes on things,” she said. “I love actually taking a step back and a backseat… it’s beautiful to see the reinvention.

“When you’re in it, you focus on the choreography, all these different elements, that being able to take a backseat and being more of a visionary of the bigger picture, it’s really a special thing.”

Aguilera said she had been “blown away” by Jess Folley, who plays her character Ali in the show, and has fully embraced the “powerhouse vocals” as well as the vulnerability needed for the role.

“She just is doing such a magnificent, magnificent job and likewise inspires me as well,” she said.

Aguilera said she would love to see her film co-star Cher popping by to see the show in London.

“She’s always welcome to grace us with her incredible, iconic presence. And I’m just so grateful that I had the time to be with her. I mean, looking back, it’s just – did that even happen?”

Aguilera arrived on the scene at the same time as Britney Spears, at a time when young female pop stars were celebrated, sexualised and scrutinised.

After the success of her debut album, she took a different direction with Stripped – embracing her sexuality and famously taking on a less girlish image with chaps, a nose stud and black streaks in her hair for the Dirrty video, and opening up about her life and emotions through songs such as Fighter and Beautiful.

She also took on the patriarchy in Can’t Hold Us Down, a duet with Lil’ Kim, and performed on the hit cover of Lady Marmalade alongside Lil’ Kim, Maya and Pink for Moulin Rouge!

“I always want to stay true to authenticity,” she said. “And for me, with that first album it was wonderful to get my foot in the door…

“It’s important to me that I stepped out on my own and reflected all sides of me as a woman, embracing my sexuality and sensuality, and my body… Dirrty, I just loved those chaps and everything about that was just so fun and raw.”

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So would she do it all again, then? Or would she prefer to be an artist starting out now?

“The ’90s, it was a pretty special time in music. And it was a time when you could still like go to Virgin records or like wherever and look at the CDs, look at the packaging. And, you know, sometimes the authenticity is missed.”

However, the good thing about social media now is that it has given stars the means to tell their own stories, she adds. “You have an opportunity now to really present yourself in ways that it’s not just about the music, to become more the narrator in real time… this is what it is like, be your own voice rather than reading about yourself in an article.”

But still, she wouldn’t swap. “It has to stay where it was.”

Burlesque The Musical is showing at The Savoy theatre in London now

Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played The Cosby Show character Theo, has drowned in Costa Rica, according to authorities.

The country’s Judicial Investigation Department said the 54-year-old actor drowned on Sunday afternoon off a beach on the Caribbean coast.

It is understood he was swimming at Playa Grande de Cocles in Limon province when he was pulled underwater by a current.

“He was rescued by people on the beach,” according to the department’s early report, but emergency workers from Costa Rica’s Red Cross found him without any signs of life and he was taken to the morgue.

Warner was on holiday with his family at the time, according to US celebrity news site People.

The Cosby Show aired from 1984 to 1992 on NBC in the US and is regarded as a groundbreaking show for its portrayal of a successful black middle-class family. It was also shown on Channel 4 in the UK at around the same time.

Its star, Bill Cosby, played a doctor named Cliff Huxtable, with Warner in the role of Theo, his only son.

The NBC sitcom was the most popular show in America for much of its run between 1984 and 1992.

Warner played the role for eight seasons in all 197 episodes, winning an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy in 1986.

For many, the lasting image of the character, and of Warner, is of him wearing a badly-botched mock designer shirt sewn by his sister Denise, played by Lisa Bonet.

Warner ‘proud’ of show despite Cosby claims

The legacy of The Cosby Show has been tarnished after Cosby was jailed in 2018 following a conviction for sexual assault.

He was released in 2021 after his conviction was overturned.

Dozens of women had accused Cosby of sexual assault or rape before the trial.

Following his release from prison, Cosby was found liable for sexually assaulting a woman at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 when she was a teenager.

Warner told the Associated Press in 2015: “My biggest concern is when it comes to images of people of colour on television and film… We’ve always had ‘The Cosby Show’ to hold up against that. And the fact that we no longer have that, that’s the thing that saddens me the most because in a few generations the Huxtables will have been just a fairy tale.”

In 2023, Warner told People in an interview: “I know I can speak for all the cast when I say The Cosby Show is something that we are all still very proud of.”

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Following his career on The Cosby Show, Warner later appeared on the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie, co-starring with comedian Eddie Griffin in the series on the UPN network from 1996 to 2000.

In the 2010s he starred opposite Tracee Ellis Ross as a family-blending couple for two seasons on the BET sitcom Read Between The Lines.

He also had a role as OJ Simpson’s friend Al Cowlings in American Crime Story and was a series regular on Fox’s The Resident.

Films he has appeared in include the 2008 rom-com Fool’s Gold with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.

A poet and a musician, Warner won a Grammy for best traditional R&B performance for the song Jesus Children with Robert Glasper and Lalah Hathaway. He was also nominated for best spoken word poetry album for Hiding In Plain View.

Warner was married with a daughter, but chose to not publicly disclose their names.

A brief scuffle broke out at London’s Royal Opera House after a performer unfurled a Palestinian flag during a show.

The incident took place during a performance of Il Trovatore on Saturday.

During the final night of the 11-night run of the show, a performer held up the flag on stage.

In video footage, shared online, someone backstage could be seen attempting to take it off the performer. The performer grabs it back following a brief scuffle.

A spokesperson for the Royal Ballet and Opera said: “The display of the flag was an unauthorised action by the artist.

“It was not approved by the Royal Ballet and Opera and is a wholly inappropriate act.”

The reaction to the flag was mixed, with some people heard applauding and cheering, while another audience member was heard saying “oh my God”.

One poster on X, who claimed to have been a member of the audience, said: “Extraordinary scenes at the Royal Opera House tonight.

“During the curtain call for Il Trovatore one of the background artists came on stage waving a Palestine flag. Just stood there, no bowing or shouting. Someone off stage kept trying to take it off him. Incredible.”

Performers show support for Palestinians

A number of performers have shown support for Palestinians amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

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During Glastonbury Festival, numerous acts offered messages of support during their sets, including Kneecap, Bob Vylan, Wolf Alice, and Amyl And The Sniffers.

During her band’s set, Wolf Alice singer Ellie Rowsell told the crowd at the Other Stage: “Whilst we have the stage for just a little bit longer, we want to express our solidarity with the people of Palestine.

“No-one should ever be afraid to do that.”

Following their performances, both Kneecap and Bob Vylan faced investigation by Avon and Somerset Police.

Bob Vylan were widely criticised after leading on-stage chants of “death to the IDF” (Israel Defence Forces).

The performance was live-streamed by the BBC, sparking a backlash against the broadcaster – which later issued an apology.

The investigation into Kneecap was later dropped, with the police saying there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for any offence”.