Winfrey tops list of powerful celebs

Oprah Winfrey presents at the OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network portion of the Discovery Communications Upfront at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York.

After two years as a runner-up, Oprah Winfrey was named the most powerful celebrity on Wednesday by Forbes, heading the six women and four men who make up the top 10.

It was the fifth time the former talk show host who runs her own TV network has headed the annual ranking of 100 celebrities.

Singer Lady Gaga came in second, followed by director/producer Steven Spielberg and singers Beyonce and Madonna.

“There is nobody else with that kind of consistency and power,” said Dorothy Pomerantz of Forbes.com. “There are only three people who have been on every single one of our lists since 1999. It is Oprah, Howard Stern, and Steven Spielberg.”

Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, who was No. 1 last year, dropped to 12th place.

With earnings of $77 million from June, 2012, to 2013, Winfrey was not the highest-earning celebrity, an honor that went to Madonna, who made $125 million. But Forbes said Winfrey’s position in Hollywood and her presence in the press, on television, and in social media propelled her to the No. 1 spot.

Despite hip surgery, which forced her to cut short a tour, Lady Gaga earned $80 million in the past 12 months which, along with her army of fans and powerful social media presence, assured her second place.

Spielberg, with earnings of $100 million in the last year, was the top man on the list, ahead of rock star Bon Jovi at No. 7, tennis champion Roger Federer, and Justin Bieber, the youngest member of the list, squeezed into the top ten at No. 9.

Although only 23, sixth-place singer Taylor Swift made the list for the first time and rounded out the top 10 along with Emmy-award winning TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.

Forbes based a celebrity’s earnings on income from tours, books, contracts, endorsements, movies, and residuals.

Top celebrity couples include Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z (32), American football quarterback Tom Brady (65) and his model wife Gisele Bundchen (81), and actor Ashton Kutcher (53) and his girlfriend Mila Kunis (89).

Best actress Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, who was No. 49, is a newcomer to the list this year, as is Hugh Jackman, who was No. 11, and new father Channing Tatum (23).

The full list of the top 100 celebrities can be found at www.forbes.com/celebs.

Together again

The leading ladies of Laverne & Shirley are reuniting.

Nickelodeon said Wednesday that Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams will guest star in an episode of its new sitcom Sam & Cat. The actresses starred as 1950s and ’60s pals and roommates Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney, workers in a Milwaukee brewery. The sitcom aired from 1976 to 1983 on ABC.

Sam & Cat features Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande as friends who start a baby-sitting business.

Nickelodeon says Marshall and Williams would start filming on Wednesday. They play characters involved in a decades-old feud, tweaking the long-ago rumors of a Laverne & Shirley rivalry.

‘Right’ choice

CNN is bringing its political show Crossfire back on the air this fall with Newt Gingrich as one of the combatants.

The original political talk show on cable news aired on CNN from 1982 until 2005. The new version will air on weekdays, although CNN said Wednesday that it has no time slot yet.

Gingrich, the former House speaker and presidential candidate, is one of two hosts “from the right” matched against two liberal voices. Conservative commentator S. E. Cupp is Gingrich’s conservative partner.

Stephanie Cutter, who is a former campaign spokesman for President Obama, will be speaking “from the left.” She’ll be joined by Van Jones, an advocate for green projects.

First photo

Rather than go the route of some celebrity parents, Channing Tatum and his wife Jenna decided to release their newborn daughter’s baby picture.

According to Tatum, the choice was simple: be hounded by paparazzi or control the release of the picture. He chose the latter and posted a family photo on his official Facebook page.

The 33-year-old actor said it was important to take “stalking photographers” out of the equation. “We have paparazzi out in front of everything trying to get the first picture,” he said. “And we didn’t want to sell it.”

Real heroes

Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer fight for justice in their upcoming film, The Lone Ranger, but their ancestors did it for real.

Genealogy research Web site Ancestry.com revealed Wednesday that the two actors descend from historic American freedom fighters.

Hammer plays the Lone Ranger and Depp portrays his Native American sidekick, Tonto. Yet the site’s historians discovered that it’s Hammer with the native roots. The 26-year-old actor is a descendent of Cherokee leader and peace advocate Chief Kanagatucko.

Researchers said Depp’s eighth great-grandmother was Elizabeth Key, the first slave in the American colonies to sue for her freedom and win. It happened in 1656 in Virginia, where some of Depp’s ancestors have lived since the early 1600s.