Passages

MARRIED

Former Taxi star Marilu Henner wed her onetime University of Chicago classmate Michael Brown on Dec. 21 in their L.A. home. The couple, both 54, got reacquainted after going to college together in the ’70s. This will be her third marriage and his second. “He is truly the love of my life and my soul mate,” Henner told PEOPLE.

ANNOUNCED

Bono’s rock star status continues to rise: the U2 frontman, 46, will be awarded an honorary knighthood early this year for his musical and humanitarian work.

FINALIZED

Eminem’s second divorce from Kim Mathers became official Dec. 19 in Macomb County, Mich. As part of an out-of-court settlement, the pair will share custody of their daughter Hailie Jade, 11.

• UPDATE
• Nine months after the case erupted, rape charges against three Duke University lacrosse players—David Evans, 23, Reade Seligmann, 20, and Collin Finnerty, 20—were dropped Dec. 22 in Durham, N.C. The men, who still face sexual offense and kidnapping charges, were arrested after a 28-year-old woman told police she was raped and beaten by three men after performing as a stripper at a team party. “I think they were stunned, surprised, hopeful, fearful,” said a player’s attorney…. Hilary Duff, 19, and ex-boyfriend Joel Madden, 27, dropped their applications for restraining orders against photographer David Joseph Klein Dec. 18 in L.A. The pair, who split in November after more than two years together, originally alleged that Klein had relayed messages to Duff from Maksim Myaskovskiy, who pleaded not guilty to stalking the actress. The case against Klein was dropped “based upon his assurances that he will not seek further contact with Ms. Duff or Mr. Madden,” says Duff’s rep.

RECOVERING

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, 59, underwent surgery Dec. 26 to repair his right femur, which he injured in a skiing accident in Sun Valley, Idaho, three days earlier…. First Lady Laura Bush recently disclosed she had a skin cancer tumor removed from her right shin in November. “We found out that it was squamous cell carcinoma, which is not a serious skin cancer like melanoma would be,” said Bush, 60, on CBS’s Face the Nation. Her rep said that “her leg is healing well.”

DEATHS

Veteran actor Peter Boyle, who starred as the cantankerous dad on Everybody Loves Raymond, died at the age of 71 on Dec. 12 in a New York hospital after suffering from multiple myeloma and heart disease. “He always made me laugh,” said Ray Romano…. Actor Mike Evans, 57, who played George Jefferson’s son Lionel in the sitcoms All in the Family and The Jeffersons (starring Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford, above left), died Dec. 14 from throat cancer in Twentynine Palms, Calif. Evans co-created another pioneering series, Good Times.

DADDY DIDDY

Sean “Diddy” Combs, 37, scrubbed up (left) Dec. 21 at New York City’s Mount Sinai hospital to stand by his girlfriend Kim Porter, 36, as she delivered their twin daughters. D’Lila Star Combs (5 lbs.) and Jessie James Combs (5 lbs. 4 oz.) were named after the mogul’s grandmother Jessie Smalls and Porter’s grandmother Lila Star. Diddy put a plane on standby in Toronto, where he was filming A Raisin in the Sun, and flew to New York just in time for the delivery. The couple, who have dated on and off for about 12 years, also have a son, Christian, 8. (Combs has another son, Justin, 13, with stylist Misa Hylton-Brim.)