Passages

Down the Aisle

Ex-major league baseball slugger Mark McGwire, 38, who made history in 1998 when he hit 70 home runs in one season, and former pharmaceutical sales rep Stephanie Slemer, 24, wed at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas on April 20. McGwire has a son, Matt, 15, from his first marriage.

Births

Angel star David Boreanaz, 33, and former Playboy Playmate and actress Jaime Bergman (Son of the Beach), 26, welcomed their first child, son Jaden Rayne, on May 1 in L.A. The couple wed in November….

Former Xena star Lucy Lawless, 34, and husband Robert Tapert, 47, a TV and film producer, welcomed their second child, son Judah, on May 7 in Auckland, New Zealand. Big brother Julius is 2. Lawless also has a 13-year-old daughter, Daisy, from a previous marriage.

Deaths

World-renowned makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin, 40, who brightened the faces of hundreds of celebrities and cover girls during his 20-year career, died of complications from a pituitary brain tumor on May 7 in Valhalla, N.Y. The cosmetics whiz was the author of three best-selling books on beauty….

George Sidney, 85, who directed dozens of movie musicals including 1953’s Kiss Me Kate and 1963’s Bye Bye Birdie, died of lymphoma complications in Las Vegas on May 5….

Otis Black-well, 70, who wrote more than 1,000 songs recorded by dozens of popular performers, including “Don’t Be Cruel” for Elvis Presley, died of undisclosed causes on May 6 in Nashville….

Black stallion Seattle Slew, 28, who won the Triple Crown 25 years ago and became one of racing’s greatest sires, died in his stall in Lexington, Ky., on May 7.

Ailing

On April 30 historian Stephen Ambrose, 65, who earlier this year admitted that he failed to properly credit sources in his latest bestseller, The Wild Blue, announced that he is suffering from lung cancer. The writer, based in Bay St. Louis, Miss., said he “is focusing on a course of action.”…

Lady Bird Johnson, 89, former First Lady, was hospitalized in Austin on May 2 after suffering a stroke that left her unable to speak. Doctors said that Johnson is alert and aware of her surroundings.

Split

Oscar-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, 64, and Jennifer, 57, his wife of 29 years, were granted a divorce decree in London on April 30. The couple have been separated for seven years.

Arrested

On May 5 in New York City, Sidney Waite, 39, was charged with aggravated harassment after showing up at Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg’s Upper East Side apartment. Waite, who had claimed to be Schlossberg’s long-lost brother, has sent her more than 40 letters and packages over the years.

Law & Order

On May 7 in L.A., tennis star Anna Kournikova, 20, filed a defamation suit for more than $10 million against Penthouse for claiming that topless pics published in the June issue were of her. The day before in Manhattan, Judith Soltesz-Benetton, 28, wife of the heir to the Benetton clothing empire, had filed a $10 million suit against the publication after admitting that the same photos, taken without authorization seven years ago, were of her. Penthouse apologized in a statement, adding, “We were wrong.”