It is not unusual for cabin crew members to come across prominent figures while flying.

For Stomp contributor Helen, a former Singapore Airlines stewardess, her most memorable celebrity encounter was with Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun Fat and his Singaporean wife Jasmine Tan on Jun 5, 1987.

They were on a flight from Singapore to Hong Kong.

Helen, who was in her 20s at the time, was thrilled when she found herself working on the flight that the couple was on, just one day after they got married.

She shared a photo taken 30 years ago with Stomp after reading recent stories of Chow Yun Fat on the website.

She had nothing but good things to say about the couple.

“They were very friendly and humble,” Helen recalled. “The passengers and crew were so happy and excited to see them on the flight. We were surprised that they were seated in economy class.”

She added that they had no airs about them and did not travel with bodyguards.

“You could see the bliss on their faces,” she said referring to the photo.

“I’m just so happy to see that after 30 years, they are still together and in a loving relationship.”

Helen told Stomp in a phone interview that during her three-year stint with the national carrier, she had the honour of meeting other interesting personalities like Singapore’s former prime ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong and Hong Kong celebrity Ah Chan.

“I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to see the world and meet more people to gain exposure,” she said.

Helen left Singapore Airlines to start a family but now holds a regional job where she still gets to travel to countries like Japan and China.

How do you celebrate the birthday of a new mum who’s still in confinement?

Invite her besties and throw a pyjama party at home, which was what Myolie Wu’s husband Philip Lee did on Monday (Nov 6).

The Hong Kong actress celebrated her 38th birthday with close friends Nancy Wu, Paisley Hu, Elaine Yiu, Mandy Wong and Selena Lee who were all dressed in their jammies.

In an Instagram post, Wu wrote “I’ve spent days in my pyjamas for a month,” and thanked her hubby for organising the surprise birthday party.

She said her husband also satisfied her craving for salted caramel crepe by famed bakery Lady M.

To celebrate Wu’s new status as a mum, Nancy presented her a bespoke cake topped with a female doll carrying a baby.

But it appears that young Brendan, who was born last month, had stolen the spotlight from his mum as his pretty aunts took turns to cradle and coo at him.

minlee@sph.com.sg

NEW YORK – Metal legend Ozzy Osbourne announced on Monday what he said will be his final tour, months after his original band Black Sabbath called it quits.

Osbourne – who has maintained an avid following for five decades with sensational and often sinister live shows – will open the tour on May 5 in Mexico.

The Prince Of Darkness will then tour Chile, Argentina and Brazil before a month of European dates opening on June 1 in Moscow.

The 68-year-old English singer will close out the tour in North America.

“People keep asking me when I’m retiring,” Osbourne said in a statement. “This will be my final world tour but I can’t say I won’t do some shows here and there.”

His touring band will mark the return of American lead guitarist Zakk Wylde, who helped define Osbourne’s fast-charging sound starting in the late 1980s.

Osbourne replaced Wylde in 2009, with varying accounts behind the split, but recently brought him back on.

Black Sabbath was instrumental in creating heavy metal, taking the foundations of the blues while bringing in a distorted guitar and a fascination with the occult.

Black Sabbath – with Osbourne, co-founder Tony Iommi on guitar and main lyricist Geezer Butler on bass – on Feb 4 returned to the band’s hometown of Birmingham for what the rockers said would be their last show.

Osbourne, who was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979 over substance abuse and other concerns, found global success and plenty of controversy as a solo artist.

He notoriously bit the head off a live bat at a 1982 concert. Two decades later, a new generation discovered him as an off-kilter father figure as the MTV reality show The Osbournes followed the family’s life.

London – U2 frontman Bono said Monday he is “distressed” by leaked documents showing he invested in a Lithuanian shopping centre which may have broken tax rules, but welcomed reporting on the issue.

The Irish singer owns a stake in a Maltese company that bought the mall via a Lithuanian holding company in 2007, according to the so-called Paradise Papers leaks reported by the BBC and the Guardian newspaper.

The enterprise, in the Lithuanian city of Utena, is now under investigation for possible tax avoidance, after it allegedly avoided paying £41,500 (S$74,438) in local taxes using an unlawful accounting technique, they reported.

Bono – whose real name is Paul David Hewson – was “extremely distressed if even as a passive minority investor… anything less than exemplary was done with my name anywhere near it”, he said in a statement obtained by the BBC and the Guardian.

The singer said he had been “assured by those running the company that it is fully tax compliant”, they reported.

“The fact is, I welcome this reporting,” he added, calling for public registries in offshore tax centres.

The revelations stem from a trove of documents leaked from a Bermuda-based law firm, Appleby, and reported by the US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) through partner media outlets around the world.

Bono, a well-known activist in the fight against Aids in Africa, has received international recognition in recent years for anti-poverty advocacy through his “One” charitable organisation.

“I take this stuff very seriously. I have campaigned for the beneficial ownership of offshore companies to be made transparent. Indeed this is why my name is on documents rather than in a trust,” he added.

LOS ANGELES – Sony Pictures on Monday withdrew a movie starring Kevin Spacey from a Los Angeles film festival following sexual misconduct allegations against the actor. But it said it was going ahead with a planned US movie theatre release next month.

All The Money In The World, about the 1973 kidnapping of teenager John Paul Getty III, features Spacey as his grandfather, the late oil billionaire Jean Paul Getty.

The film was due to have a world premiere at the American Film Institute’s (AFI) annual festival in Los Angeles on Nov 16.

“Given the current allegations surrounding one of its actors and out of respect for those impacted, it would be inappropriate to celebrate at a gala at this difficult time. Accordingly, the film will be withdrawn,” Sony’s TriStar Pictures unit said.

Its statement said there were 800 other actors, writers and crew members involved in the movie, and the film would open as planned on Dec 22.

Spacey apologised last month to actor Anthony Rapp, who accused him of trying to seduce him in 1986 when Rapp was 14.

CNN reported last week that eight current and former employees of the Netflix TV show House Of Cards had alleged sexual misconduct against Spacey, the TV show’s star. Netflix also said it would not release the film Gore, in which Spacey plays the late US writer Gore Vidal.