Good Morning America

Sam Asghari says he's still getting used to the fact Britney Spears is his wife, and to wearing a wedding ring -- but he's also keenly aware marriage has its benefits when it comes to his career.

Sam opened up about tying the knot with the pop star, calling their wedding day everything they'd imagined. He told 'GMA' ... he and Britney wanted a fairytale and that's exactly what they got.

The couple got hitched earlier this month at their former Thousand Oaks, CA home, and Sam says the intimate guest list of about 50-70 people was perfect -- "We wanted to celebrate with, you know, our loved ones, our close people. We wanted to just celebrate, and that's what we did."

As for why SA was doing this 'GMA' interview ... well, call it one of the perks of marrying Britney Spears -- he was promoting his role in an action film, where he costars with Mel Gibson.

Sam says he's grateful for any opportunities he gets because of Brit, but clearly doesn't want anyone thinking he's just riding her coattails. As he says, "Let's not take away from the fact I've been working hard, and I was already acting."

A juror in the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial says they just didn't buy what he says were Amber's emotional swings, from "crying" to "ice cold."

The juror, who wanted to stay anonymous, spoke to 'GMA' Thursday, saying he took umbrage at Heard's post-verdict statement that the jury ruled the way it did because of Depp's star status.

The male juror seemed to be swayed in no small part by Amber's demeanor on the stand, saying jurors were "uncomfortable" by what he seemed to say were dramatic outbursts they just didn't buy, saying ... "The crying, the facial expressions, the staring at the jury, all of us were very uncomfortable." He says some of the jurors called her sobbing "crocodile tears."

He went on to say the jury felt Amber was more the aggressor than the victim ... "A lot of her story didn't add up. The majority of the jury felt that she was the aggressor. She would answer one question and she would be crying and two seconds later she would turn ice cold."

He went on to say the jury felt Amber and Johnny were mutually abusive, but "he just seemed a little more real in terms of how he was responding to questions. His emotional state was very stable throughout."

As for Heard's comments on "Today," that Johnny won because he was a bigger star and more likable -- the juror insists they reached their decision based on evidence ... full stop.

Hailey Bieber says Justin is on the path to recovery from Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, and believes the support from fans has played a big role in him getting better.

Hailey updated JB's condition Wednesday on 'GMA' ... where she said her husband's looking to make a full recovery from the condition that paralyzed half of his face. She says he's feeling better with each passing day.

She also thanked fans for being so understanding throughout his ordeal -- Justin had to pause his world tour -- and Hailey added they've been getting lots of advice from people who've dealt with RHS before.

As we reported, Justin revealed a virus in his ear left the right side of his face paralyzed ... he posted a video Friday showing the effects and telling fans the condition was the reason he'd postponed several shows.

JB's battle with RHS comes on the heels of Hailey's own medical scare back in March when she suffered a mini-stroke ... and needed a medical procedure to close a hole in her heart. She says she's been giving her body the time it needs to recover.

TMZ broke the story ... Hailey was rushed to the hospital after suffering stroke-like symptoms. Doctors found a small blood clot in her brain, and also diagnosed something called PFO, a small opening in the heart.

Transgender NCAA swimming champion Lia Thomas is firing back at those claiming her dominance is unfair to biological women ... saying trans athletes will not destroy women's sports.

The University of Penn athlete broke her silence on "Good Morning America" on Tuesday ... saying she knew she'd face backlash once she started competing against women, but no amount of scrutiny would stop her.

"I was prepared for that, but I don't need anyone's permission to be myself and do the sport that I love," she said.

Many have denounced Thomas' participation in women's sports after she finished first in the women's 500-yard freestyle back in March ... with everyone from Caitlyn Jenner to Florida governor Ron DeSantis to Joe Rogan, who called it "an assault on women's sports."

But, Thomas argues that shouldn't be the case ... saying, "Transitioning to get an advantage is not something that ever factors into our decisions."

"Trans women are not a threat to women's sport."

Thomas added, "Trans people don't transition for athletics. We transition to be happy and authentic and our true selves."

Despite the outrage, Thomas -- who started hormone therapy in 2019 -- still plans to compete in the Olympics in the future.

Kevin Spacey is ready to face his new legal trouble overseas, and is convinced he can clear his name of all sexual assault charges.

Spacey released a statement to "Good Morning America" Tuesday, saying he's going to "voluntarily appear in the U.K. as soon as can be arranged and defend myself against these charges."

He says he's confident he can prove he's innocent, While he admits he's disappointed the court moved forward with the charges, he thanks the Crown Prosecution Service for reminding the public he's allowed a fair trial.

As we reported, Spacey is facing 4 criminal charges for alleged incidents involving 3 different men between 2005 and 2013. On top of sexual assault, he's also been charged with causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

All 4 charges have been authorized, and he can only be charged formally upon arrest in Wales or England.

Spacey was also sued in 2020 by "Star Trek: Discovery" actor Anthony Rapp, who claims he sexually assaulted him at the age of 14.

Brittney Griner's wife is urging Joe Biden to get more involved in the WNBA star's case in Russia ... hoping that'll ultimately help bring home the love of her life.

Cherelle Griner made the plea to the President during a sitdown interview with Robin Roberts on "Good Morning America" this week ... explaining she believes Biden could be the key to getting Brittney back on U.S. soil.

"I just keep hearing that he has the power," Cherelle said of Biden. "She's a political pawn -- so, if they're holding her because they want you to do something, then I want you to do it."

Brittney has been detained in Russia since mid-February ... after authorities claimed they found hash oil in her luggage.

Cherelle told Roberts she initially found out about it all through a panicked, early-hours text message from Brittney.

"She started texting me around 2 AM that morning," Cherelle said. "'Babe! Babe! Babe! Wake up! They have me in this room, I don't know what's going on.'"

Cherelle said Brittney told her the authorities were taking her phone and not to text anymore -- and she said outside of written letters, she has not been able to speak to Brittney since.

Cherelle said she has been in contact with Secretary of State Antony Blinken about ways they can bring home Brittney ... but she clearly feels more can be done by the U.S. government.

"I was grateful for their call," she said of the talk with Blinken. "You say she's top priority, but I want to see it. And I feel like to see it, would be me seeing BG on US soil."

Cherelle added being without Brittney -- who's expected to remain in custody in Russia until at least her next court hearing in June -- has been difficult ... and she even broke down in tears during the interview with Roberts.

She did explain, however, that Brittney has told her to remain strong.

Naomi Judd committed suicide by firearm, and her daughter Ashley Judd explains the catastrophe of mental illness and how her mom couldn't process the love her friends, family and colleagues felt toward her.

Ashley spoke with Diane Sawyer on 'GMA' about Naomi's death, the day before she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

She explained ... "Her brain hurt, it physically hurt and I'm tasked with an exceedingly difficult task in disclosing the matter in the way my mother chose to continue to live … because we don’t want it to be part of the gossip economy I will share with you that she used a weapon mother used a firearm so that's the piece of information that we are very uncomfortable sharing but understand."

Ashley said she was the one who discovered Naomi's body ... "It was a mixed day. I visit with my mom and pop every day when I’m home in Tennessee, so I was at the house visiting as I am every day. Mom said to me, 'Will you stay with me?' and I said, 'Of course, I will.' … I went upstairs to let her know that her good friend was there and I discovered her. I have both grief and trauma from discovering her."

Ashley said there was a disconnect, or better put a wall, between the feelings the outside world had for Naomi and the way she felt about herself. The mental illness wouldn't allow Naomi to process the love and worth others showed toward her ... she only felt self-doubt.

As she put it, "Our mother couldn't hang on until she was inducted into the Hall of Fame by her peers. That was the level of catastrophe of what was going on inside her."

As you know, Ashley and her sister Wynonna were at the HOF ceremony and tearfully paid tribute to their mom.

On 'GMA' Ashley explained she wanted to put a spotlight on mental illness ... "My mother knew that she was seen and she was heard in her anguish, and she was walked home. When we're talking about mental illness, it's very important to be clear and to make the distinction between our loved one and the disease. It's very real, and it lies, it's savage."

The LAPD was standing by and ready to arrest Will Smith for putting hands on Chris Rock at The Oscars -- but Chris waved them off, saying he was fine -- according to the show's producer.

In a preview clip for his interview with 'GMA,' Oscars' honcho Will Packer says LAPD officers were ready to arrest Will if Chris so wanted, detailing the conversation that happened backstage directly following the slap.

In the clip, Packer tells T.J. Holmes cops were prepared to go and get Will from the crowd and make an arrest for battery ... letting Chris know he could press criminal charges against Will.

At one point, Packer claims Chris was being dismissive of what police were telling him ... and he says he told the comedian to let cops finish their spiel before making a decision.

In the end, Chris decided against pressing charges, and Will was allowed to remain front and center at The Oscars, where he won the award for best actor and gave a tearful speech.

Will's since apologized for the slap and foul language ... but at his show Wednesday night, Chris revealed he's still processing what went down and will talk about it later on his comedy tour.

Michael Strahan just went where no news anchor has gone ... to the edge of space!!!

It was a flawless flight after a short hold at 15 minutes. Blue Origin hurled into space with Strahan and 4 other astronauts on board, including Laura Shepard Churchley, the oldest daughter of America's first astronaut, Alan Shepard.

The capsule was atop the New Shepard rocket ... named, of course, after Alan.

When they experienced weightlessness, the astronauts were giddy with excitement ... you can hear the joy as they floated in space.

The New Shepard rocket was originally supposed to take off for the 10-minute flight on Thursday but Bezos gave it the yellow light, due to high wind.

This Blue Origin flight is the third launch with people on board. Astronaut Strahan and others had lots of training before they boarded. The TV host says he went to the Blue Origin facility for a week-and-a-half training prior to today's launch.

If taking a trip to space isn't already a good enough incentive, apparently all passengers get some sort of stipend... and Strahan says he is donating his to The Boys & Girls Club.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the lead armorer on the set of "Rust" has one weapons specialist and Hollywood veteran on her side -- it's her dad, who is backing his daughter's training and claiming she was sabotaged.

Thell Reed, whose career in movies spans several decades says Hannah was raised around guns, and learned gun safety from an early age. Reed says his daughter complained she had to carry both armorer and prop duties on the movie, and it was because she was doing prop duties that she was unable to be inside the church set when Halyna Hutchins was killed.

Thell told "Good Morning America" Tuesday he believes if Hannah was inside the church during the fatal scene, she would've checked the gun's chamber one more time and discovered the live round, potentially saving Hutchins' life.

What's more, Thell echoes the same message Hannah's attorneys have previously claimed ... believing Hannah was somehow sabotaged on set with the live ammo. Though, he doesn't really get into how or why that might've happened.

Of course, it was just last week when Alec Baldwin claimed he never pulled the trigger on the revolver that killed Hutchins. Alec claims he cocked the hammer back and when he released it, the gun went off.

Travis Scott and his team were oblivious to the mass casualties in the crowd at his show while he continued to perform, so says his attorney, who claims emergency workers never relayed the message ... and Travis didn't know the scope of what happened until the next day.

Ed McPherson was on 'GMA' Friday, saying there's still a lot to do in investigating exactly what went wrong last week, but he insists his client was in the dark.

McPherson says Travis was clueless about the calamity in the crowd because he had an earpiece blaring music, blinding lights and no one gave him a heads up. As we reported, Travis even left after the concert and hit up Dave & Busters for an afterparty ... unaware that people had died and hundreds were injured.

McPherson points out the now-viral video of Travis stopping the show to get a fan help who had passed out. He also says it was hard for Travis to determine that at one point there was an ambulance in the crowd ... saying it looked more like a golf cart with lights.

When pushed as to whether or not Travis was inciting his audience to get aggressive by telling them to "rage" -- a phrase he's used for years -- McPherson says that was simply Travis trying to get his crowd into the show and have a good time.

TMZ broke the story, Houston cops were seen taking photos and videos while Travis performed 25 mins after the event was considered a "mass casualty event." McPherson says this is further evidence Travis didn't have a clue what was happening. The lawyer points out, if the cops didn't know ... how could Travis?

On Thursday, 22-year-old Bharti Shahani succumbed to her injuries suffered during the show, she was allegedly trampled during a crowd crush, suffering multiple heart attacks and being declared brain dead.

President Biden has no regrets over the U.S.'s chaotic exit from Afghanistan ... because he says they didn't make any mistakes.

The Prez told George Stephanopoulos he didn't think pulling out troops, U.S. citizens and allies from the war-torn country could have been handled any better.

When asked if any mistakes were made Biden said "no" before adding, "The idea that somehow, there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don't know how that happens."

Biden, who gained wide popularity because of his empathy, did not show it when asked how he felt when he saw video of more than 600 Afghans packed into a C-17 at the Kabul airport. He did not express sorrow for them ... and that's uncharacteristic.

George grilled Biden on whether U.S. troops might stay beyond the August 31 deadline. Biden hedged at first, saying it "depends on where we are," but Stephanopoulos wouldn't let it go, and Biden finally said he might keep troops past that deadline to get all Americans out. He did not, however, say he would keep our troops there to get the 10's of thousands of Afghan allies out who helped us in the war effort.

Morgan Wallen explaining on 'GMA' his rationale behind using the n-word is gibberish ... so says the NAACP Nashville chapter president.

Sheryl Guinn tells TMZ ... she believes Morgan's sit-down with Michael Strahan is the result of Morgan being sorry not for what he said but for getting caught using the racial slur. She says it's a travesty Morgan never thought about the meaning behind the hateful word.

What's more ... Sheryl says his white privilege was on full display for never caring to learn the hurt that word causes. And, she's is dismayed by Morgan trying to contextualize the word ... saying he used it in a "playful" way.

Sheryl does believe Morgan can turn things around ... and she has a punch list.

According to Sheryl ... Morgan can make amends by addressing serious issues, like inequality. Morgan broached the subject a bit when he told Strahan "it would seem" country music has a race problem ... though he hasn't thought about it too much.

Sheryl says he can start in his hometown of Nashville ... where Morgan is hugely influential.

The NAACP honcho says while Morgan's at it, he should encourage his community to get vaccinated. Less than 40% of Nashville got the shot ... and it's devastating marginalized communities.

Morgan Wallen says when he used the n-word after partying with his friends, he thought it was "playful" ... but he admits that's ignorant, and he now knows it's wrong.

The country music star gave his first interview about the scandal, the result of a video shot by a neighbor on January 31 in Nashville and obtained by TMZ ... showing Wallen casually dropping the slur while making fun of one of his friends.

Morgan tells Michael Strahan on "Good Morning America" ... he wasn't using the racial epithet in a derogatory manner, because he insists up until that point in his life he had never thought about it being wrong.

He repeats he was simply ignorant about what it meant, but says he knows now ... after conversations with Black leaders.

Wallen admits he can't fully understand why it makes Black people so upset because he's not in their shoes ... but says he's done a lot of thinking and soul-searching about it, along with a 30-day stint in rehab.

Morgan may have stirred up one more controversy before he was done answering questions, too. He told Strahan "it would seem" that country music has a race problem ... but he hasn't thought about it too much.

As we've reported ... the country singer has mostly remained out of the public eye since the video came out, but has gotten back to performing a little in recent weeks.

One of the jurors on Derek Chauvin's trial says there was no pressure to reach a guilty verdict -- but does explain the most difficult part of the job ... seeing the videos on replay.

Brandon Mitchell -- Juror #52 on the case -- did an early blitz of interviews Wednesday morning ... sitting down with 'CBS This Morning' and 'Good Morning America.' He offered interesting insights on both, but told CBS what everyone's been wanting to know.

Gayle King asked Mitchell if he or his peers felt heat from the public to deliver guilty verdicts on all counts -- especially 2nd-degree murder, the heaviest of charges -- but he tells her straight up ... nope. He admits there was stress, but not the kind you might expect.

Watch for yourself ... sounds like the jurors stomachs turned every time they had to watch George Floyd die -- which happened countless times throughout the 3-week proceedings. You can also tell Mitchell took a lot of what was discussed at trial personally ... as he himself is a tall Black man, similar in stature to Floyd.

Robin Roberts asked another lingering question ... how were they able to reach consensus so quickly, and were there any holdouts??? Mitchell spilled on that as well -- and, surprisingly, he tells her there weren't any major hang-ups ... except on how to interpret the instructions.

Mitchell explains that once they went around the room and read the instructions back multiple times over ... the one juror who was hesitant finally came around, and the rest is history.

Colton Underwood -- former star of "The Bachelor" is opening up about his sexuality ... telling the world he's gay.

Colton opened up to Robin Roberts on "Good Morning America" saying ... "I've ran from myself for a long time. I've hated myself for a long time ... and I'm gay. And I came to terms with that earlier this year and have been processing it. And the next step in all of this was sort of letting people know."

Underwood added, "I got into a place for me in my personal life that was dark and bad and I can list a bunch of different things but they'd all be excuses ... I would have rather died than say I'm gay and I think that was sort of my wake-up call."

Colton said it was so bad he thought of taking his life ... "There was a moment in L.A. where I woke up and I didn't think I was going to wake up. I didn't have the intention of waking up and I did. And I think for me that was my wake-up call ... this is your life, take back control."

As 'Bachelor' fans know ... Colton's virginity became a hot topic when he appeared on Becca Kufrin's season of "The Bachelorette" in 2018. Of course, this storyline continued when he became the 'Bachelor' for Season 23 ... but there was a lot more drama than that.

Colton notoriously jumped a gate during filming in the middle of his season and threatened to leave the show, but ultimately decided to return. He wound up choosing Cassie Randolph, though the 2 never got engaged and -- as we reported -- had a very messy breakup.

In his GMA interview, Colton said he was sorry for how things ended with Cassie, and that he truly loved everything about her, which made things more difficult. He says he remembers thanking God once he was picked as 'The Bachelor' because he believed his prayers to be straight had been answered.

Also worth noting -- Colton stated in his March 2020 memoir, "The First Time," his time on "The Bachelor" actually helped him realize he WASN'T gay. He said he questioned his sexuality in his early 20s ... the result of being bullied growing up. The bullies said he was gay, and he says he believed it.