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To her friends in Hollywood, Halyna Hutchins was a “golden” personality.

When Andriy Semenyuk arrived from Ukraine, the country where both had been born, she was the trailblazer he wanted to follow as a cinematographer.

That was four years ago, and the helping hand she offered – the humility, kindness and simplicity – still moves him.

Andriy Semenyuk said his friend deserved to be recognised around the world for her talent
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Andriy Semenyuk said his friend deserved to be recognised around the world for her talent

“She didn’t even tell me she was making a movie with Alec Baldwin, that is how modest she was,” he said.

“I would have told everyone if it was me.”

Ms Hutchins lost her life on the set of that movie and Andriy is one of many mourning a woman of huge talent professionally and huge warmth personally.

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“She had this tremendous talent, that’s a given, but her human connection was incredible,” Mr Semenyuk said.

“The film industry is extremely competitive and this is where it’s really important to have this human connection.

In a now deleted Instagram post from Alec Baldwin  a picture shows the actor on the set of Rust taken before the incident which left one person dead
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In a now deleted Instagram post from Alec Baldwin, a picture shows the actor on the set of Rust, taken before the incident which left Ms Hutchins dead

“Modesty and openness and an easy-going personality is a golden currency in this industry.”

Ms Hutchins’s life story is worthy of a Hollywood movie itself.

She grew up on a Soviet base in the Arctic and turned her dreams of becoming a cinematographer into reality.

Two years ago she was named a “rising star” of Hollywood.

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Instagram post by woman shot by Alec Baldwin

The tragedy of her death includes leaving behind a husband and son.

That she was shot by the star and producer of the movie will mark her death with a notoriety in the history of Hollywood.

As the circumstances of her death continue to be investigated, the entertainment industry is gripped by sadness and shock that such an incident could happen.

“Hollywood is just jaws on the floor,” said Marc Malkin, senior editor at Variety magazine.

Marc Malkin says Hollywood 'is just jaws on the floor'
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Marc Malkin says Hollywood ‘is just jaws on the floor’

“How could this happen? This is not a huge Hollywood production. This isn’t a Disney film or Warner Brothers or Paramount; this is a small independent film but even so what happened, what went wrong, how did this happen?”

Deaths and injuries are not unheard of in Hollywood but when safety around firearms is at the very top of the checklist of on-set protocols – listed as “Safety Bulletin Number One” – an incident like this raises serious concerns.

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Baldwin ‘heartbroken’ after shooting

Like investigators, the movie business is intensely interested in how those protocols could have failed with such dramatic consequences.

There is sympathy in Hollywood too for Baldwin.

“I can’t even imagine what Alec Baldwin is going through,” said Malkin. “You go to work, you’re an actor, your pretending to play someone who fires a gun.

“All of a sudden real life kicks in and you have fired a gun that has fatally injured your cinematographer and injured your director.

“I don’t know what could possibly have been going through his mind at that moment or what’s going through his mind at this moment.”

Andriy Semenyuk said his friend deserved to be recognised around the world for her talent.

No one could have predicted that this is how we would all learn her name.

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Lauren Laverne given ‘all clear’ following cancer diagnosis

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Lauren Laverne given 'all clear' following cancer diagnosis

BBC presenter Lauren Laverne has said she has been given the “all clear” after being diagnosed with cancer.

The 46-year-old said in a post on social media that she will return to work next week on The One Show and has been working on new episodes of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.

She said she is set to also return to her 6 Music show in the new year.

Laverne announced she was undergoing cancer treatment back in August after a screening test caught the disease “early and unexpectedly”.

She has not specified what type of cancer she had.

Thanking medical staff, friends and all those who sent her get well wishes, Laverne said on Sunday she would most like to thank her husband Graeme and her two children, who she said have been “absolutely extraordinary throughout”.

“It’s been a difficult time but one that has taught me so much about what really matters,” she wrote.

“I can’t say I suddenly regretted never having hiked the Inca Trail, more that I now see more beauty in ordinary things than I could have imagined, and feel more than ever that the small things in life – the connections we make and care we take with each other – are the big things really.”

A new episode of Desert Island Discs is due to air on 1 December, and will be a pre-recorded interview with comedian Mark Steel that is believed to have been done by Laverne before she went on leave.

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She will return to record more episodes as well as Christmas editions of the series over the next few weeks.

A BBC spokeswoman said: “We’re delighted to welcome Lauren back to the studio this month for The One Show and Desert Island Discs, with new episodes airing on Radio 4 from 1 December, and we look forward to welcoming Lauren back to BBC Radio 6 Music in the new year.”

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‘Love you bro’: Zayn Malik’s tribute to Liam Payne at first show since former bandmate’s death

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'Love you bro': Zayn Malik's tribute to Liam Payne at first show since former bandmate's death

Zayn Malik paid tribute to former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne as he kicked off his solo tour.

Payne died last month of multiple traumas and “internal and external haemorrhage” after falling from a third-floor balcony in Buenos Aires, according to a post-mortem.

Images from Leeds’s O2 Academy on Saturday showed Malik – who delayed his Stairway To The Sky tour due to Payne’s funeral on Wednesday – shared a tribute.

A message was displayed with a heart on a large blue screen behind the singer reading: “Liam Payne 1993-2024. Love you bro.”

The 31-year-old also previously postponed the US leg of the tour after the “heartbreaking loss”.

He later rescheduled the Edinburgh shows, which had been planned for 20 and 21 November, to December due to “unforeseen circumstances”.

Following Payne’s death, Malik said he “never got to thank” him for his support during some of the “most difficult” times.

“I will cherish all the memories I have with you in my heart forever,” he said in a post on Instagram.

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Malik rose to fame in 2010 when Simon Cowell teamed him up with Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan on talent show The X Factor.

Malik left the band in 2015 and all members went on to pursue their own solo careers.

An investigation has been launched into Payne’s death by prosecutors and three people have been charged in connection with the incident.

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Kanye West accused of sexual assault on set of music video in new lawsuit

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Kanye West accused of sexual assault on set of music video in new lawsuit

Rapper Ye – formerly known as Kanye West – has been accused of sexual assault in a civil lawsuit that alleges he strangled a model on the set of a music video.

Warning: This story contains details that readers may find distressing

The lawsuit alleges the musician shoved his fingers in the claimant’s mouth at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City in 2010, in what it refers to as “pornographic gagging”, Sky News’ US partner network NBC News reported.

The model who brought the case – which was filed on Friday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York – was a background actor for another musician’s music video that Ye was guest-starring in, NBC said, citing the lawsuit.

She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages against the 47-year-old.

A representative for Ye was approached for comment by NBC News on Saturday.

The New York City Police Department said it took “sexual assault and rape cases extremely seriously, and urges anyone who has been a victim to file a police report so we can perform a comprehensive investigation, and offer support and services to survivors”.

The lawsuit alleges that a few hours into the shoot, the rapper arrived on set, took over control and ordered “female background actors/models, including the claimant, to line up in the hallway”.

The rapper is then believed to have “evaluated their appearances, pointed to two of the women, and then commanded them to follow him”.

The lawsuit adds the claimant, who was said to be wearing “revealing lingerie”, was uncomfortable but went with Ye to a suite which had a sofa and a camera.

When in the room, Ye is said to have ordered the production team to start playing the music, to which he did not know his lyrics and instead rambled, “rawr, rawr, rawr”.

The lawsuit claims: “Defendant West then pulled two chairs near the camera, positioned them across from each other, and instructed the claimant to sit in the chair in front of the camera.”

While stood over the model, the lawsuit clams Ye strangled her with both hands, according to NBC.

It claims he went on to “emulate forced oral sex” with his hands, with the rapper allegedly screaming: “This is art. This is f****** art. I am like Picasso.”

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Universal Music Group is also named in the lawsuit as a defendant and is accused of failing to investigate the incident.

The corporation did not immediately respond to a request for comment by NBC.

Jesse S Weinstein, a lawyer representing the claimant, said the woman “displayed great courage to speak out against some of the most powerful men and entities within the entertainment industry”.

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