Scott Olson
It’s officially Leo season and on this day we celebrate two fire signs who have undoubtedly lit up the world with their lives and fearless attitude.
The former 44th president of the United States Barack Obama is ringing in his 60th birthday today, but albeit on a much smaller scale this year. Previously Obama had made plans to throw a massive birthday bash at his swanky private island home on Martha’s Vineyard, but due to COVID-19 concerns, the president’s birthday soiree has been stripped back to include only family and close friends. A long list of celebs and Democratic officials was scheduled to attend the event. George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, and Steven Spielberg were reportedly among the 475 guests invited.
“They’ve been concerned about the virus from the beginning, asking invited guests if they had been vaccinated, requesting that they get a test proximate to the event,” former White House analyst David Axelrod said of the Obamas’ decision. “But when this was planned, the situation was quite different. So they responded to the changing circumstances.”
Despite the news, we know Barack will be partying up in style for his 60th, and MADAMENOIRE wishes him nothing but the best.
Meghan Markle is also celebrating her 40th born day today and surprisingly, the royal family gave a nice birthday shoutout to her on Twitter.
“Wishing The Duchess of Sussex a very Happy Birthday today!” they wrote.
The move comes after both Markle and Prince Harry appeared in a scathing interview piece alongside Oprah Winfrey where Meghan detailed the racism she experienced during her time with the royals. The mistreatment grew to be so much that the pair officially decided to step down from their senior positions and move to Los Angeles.
It appears as though Meghan is much happier now and the Archewell charity co-founder decided to do something special for her birthday. In a funny video alongside actress Melissa McCarthy, Markle announced the launch of her 40 x 40 initiative which encourages people to commit 40 minutes of their time to support women going back to work. The mother of two went into further detail about the charitable deed on the Archewell foundation’s website.
“In reflecting on my 40th birthday and the many things I am grateful for, I’m struck that TIME IS AMONG OUR GREATEST AND MOST ESSENTIAL GIFTS: Time with our loved ones, time doing the things we love, time spent learning, laughing, growing, and the sacred time we have on this earth,” she wrote.
“Amongst the most valuable gifts of time is also time spent in service to others knowing that it can contribute to incredible change. To that last point, and with my 40th lap around the sun in mind, it made me wonder: what would happen if we all committed 40 minutes to helping someone else or to mentoring someone in need? And then what would happen if we asked our friends to do the same?”
We send all of our love to Meghan!
