COUPLE ROUNDUP: LARRY & JULISSA GETTING MARRIED? / MARIAH OPENS UP ON ELLEN / AL REYNOLDS RELEASES STATEMENT

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Word is NFL’er Larry Johnson and his longtime girlfriend Julissa Bermudez (formerly of 106 & Park) got engaged over the weekend. The couple (pictured above at a bday party last year) have reportedly been together for about 3 years. Peep what an anonymous CL tipster sent us:

Don’t know if you already reported this or not but Larry Johnson & Julissa got engaged this weekend. I was in Vegas and on Saturday night me and my girls went to PURE nightclub. On the flat screens they had in the club, they had pictures of Julissa and Larry from when they were really young to the time when they became a couple. Under the pictures it said Congratulations Larry and Julissa & the DJ kept giving them shout outs. Larry looked extremely happy and was dancing on tables all night. Julissa was by the DJ both just chillin’. But when the night was over, they were all hugged up on each other. It was really cute!

Newlywed Mariah Carey told how she wants kids with husband Nick Cannon and flashed her bling ring in her first TV appearance since tying the knot.

The smitten songbird shared her happiness on pal Ellen DeGeneres’s show and revealed Cannon wants them to have a big wedding every year. Mariah admitted guests at her secret Bahamas ceremony were outnumbered by stylists doing her hair and working on her wedding dress. And she confessed she would never have proposed to Cannon if he had not popped the question. Mariah proudly showed off her dazzling ring as Ellen asked if she is now planning to start a family. She replied: “Yeah.”

Al Reynolds is speaking out for the first time since his March split from wife Star Jones. In a post on his official MySpace, Reynolds, 36, writes:

Dear Friends: If you think you are having a tough day, may I propose you walk in my shoes for a few hours. In my mind, it feels like “Dump on Al Month.” And I’m not having fun yet. I have been called a gigolo, a freeloader, unemployed, a sham and many other things that don’t bear repeating. People on television, radio and the internet have spoken disparagingly of my life, my sexuality, my career and my integrity. The media has barraged me (at my home), my friends, my family(including my 79 year old mother), my college classmates, my students and my professional colleagues. Yet, despite this intense level of provocation, I have said nothing. My Publicist has put out a one sentence statement: “We’re taking the high road.” And we have and will continue on that path. As much as I want to defend myself, it seems like a silly and futile exercise. It’s clear that the media doesn’t want to let the truth get in the way of a good story. I hate to ruin their fun. I take great comfort in the fact that my loved ones and those people who really know me continue to love and respect me. Thank you “all” for the endless emails, phone calls and words of encouragement. I know in my heart that I entered my marriage with love and the best of intentions and leave it with great sadness that it didn’t work.

What I want people to know is that I am not the caricature portrayed by the media. I am complex, contradictory and capable of great intelligence but also remarkable stupidity. In other words, I am a human being. To me, labels are for clothes, not people. So…..Please don’t try to define me; don’t try to categorize me; and most of all, don’t label me. Instead, JUST GET TO KNOW ME. And if you see me, just call me Al.