Former Fox News host Janice Dean has disclosed another serious health setback, revealing that she is now recovering from viral meningitis months after her multiple sclerosis diagnosis led her to leave the network.

Dean, 56, stepped down from Fox & Friends in July following more than 20 years with Fox, as symptoms linked to her MS became increasingly difficult to manage.

In an emotional Instagram update shared Sunday, the longtime television personality said she had “never been this sick before” and warned that her recovery could take months.

“I’ve been taking a bit of a break from social media because I was diagnosed with viral meningitis,” Dean wrote.

“I’ve never been this sick before and it could take months to recover. Grateful to all the doctors, nurses, teachers at my kid’s school and neighbors who have helped out, friends who have checked in and my family for taking good care of me.”

She continued, “All of you who prayed for me, it’s helping. Love to you all.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes viral meningitis as inflammation, or swelling, of the protective lining surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

Former Fox host Janice Dean has revealed that she’s facing a new gruesome health battle, months after her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis forced her to quit the network

Dean, 56, left Fox & Friends in July after more than two decades due to worsening symptoms related to her MS

Dean was first diagnosed with MS in 2005. In late June, she announced that the autoimmune condition had progressed to the point where she needed to step away from her Fox News role.

“For a long time, I was able to handle the early mornings, the many hours on my feet and the stress of broadcasting live,” she said in a video posted to social media.

“Ultimately, my symptoms progressed to the point that I can no longer continue working in my role, and my doctors agreed that stepping away was necessary for my health.”

She added that she had been “increasingly feeling the effects” of her physical limitations before looking back on her long career at Fox.

Dean said she would miss the friends she made and the many places she visited during her years with the network.

“There’s so many things I’ll miss,” she said. “The storms I covered. And the millions of viewers who have invited me into their homes every morning.

“Through the good times and the bad, the dark clouds and sunshine, you’ve always been there for me.”

Dean also made headlines in October after criticizing Megyn Kelly over remarks Kelly made about actress Christina Applegate’s account of being misdiagnosed with MS.

Now, the Fox News veteran has shared a terrifying update on her health, revealing that she is now battling viral meningitis. She’s seen in 2018

Applegate, 54, stunned fans in late October when she said her doctor had told her she does not have MS, despite experiencing debilitating symptoms for more than five years.

“I haven’t gotten better. If anything, I’ve gotten worse,” Applegate said. “So I’m back at square one where I don’t know what’s going on with me.”

Megyn Kelly later addressed Applegate’s comments on The Megyn Kelly Show, accusing the actress of taking her audience on “a wild goose chase.”

“I cannot keep up, you guys. She has no idea what she actually has and I just think this is like the problem with celebrities, wanting to lean into their health problems, and ‘now I will be the face of MS,’” Kelly said.

Kelly continued, “She’s crying now because I guess she no longer gets to be the face of this disease and as she says, she’s back to square one. She’s made like a cottage industry of talking about her MS.”

Dean responded with a strongly worded post on X, saying she had stayed quiet about Kelly for a long time.

“I’ve kept my mouth shut for a long time about #meangirl @megynkelly,” Dean wrote. She also alleged that Kelly “ghosted me after she endorsed @andrewcuomo for mayor and I told her she broke my heart.”

“Her comments about @1capplegate are disgusting. Having #MS for over 20 years, she knows how long it took for doctors to diagnose me,” Dean added.

“I think Christina is brave for telling the truth and I’m grateful she became a voice for so many of us.”

Dean said she would share more about the dispute once her health improved.

“I will have much more to say about this when I’m well enough. I’ve been sick for several weeks in and out of the hospital but when I’m well enough I will comment more.”

On Thursday, Beau Lamarre-Condon was questioned about a 1,600-word message he sent to Jesse Baird using a female friend’s Instagram account. The message claimed Lamarre-Condon had cancer and might need to have an arm amputated.

The court heard the message had been made to appear as though it was written by Lamarre-Condon’s friend.

At the time, Baird and Lamarre-Condon had separated. Baird had blocked Lamarre-Condon on Instagram and asked that they have no further contact.

The court had previously heard there was no evidence that Lamarre-Condon had cancer.

He was asked whether any part of the message’s claims about cancer was true.

Lamarre-Condon replied: ‘There are certain aspects of this message that are not true … but there are aspects to it that are true.’

Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC responded: ‘Why don’t you point out the parts of the message that are true, that might be shorter.’

Lamarre-Condon said: ‘I went to see a naturopathic doctor in November or October…’

Mr Hatfield interrupted, asking: ‘Where is that in the message? You’re pointing to the parts of the message that are true?’

Lamarre-Condon fell silent as he read through the message. He then said it referred to ‘a tumour on my left shoulder and it was growing’, adding that it was ‘a sporadic form of cancer’ and that this was what he had been told.

He said he had visited the naturopath seeking medication containing ‘traces of magic mushroom’ to treat PTSD, but had not provided his Medicare card during the appointment.

‘I then asked about a lump near my AC joint, I thought it was a cyst, but she believed it was a sporadic form of cancer and told me exactly what it was,’ he claimed.

Lamarre-Condon said the naturopath had explained that some people undergo arm amputations, but had not told him that he would necessarily need to have his arm removed.

He told the court he began treating the condition with natural plant extracts he found online.

Lamarre-Condon was also questioned about why he had asked a friend to hire a van in her name.

The former police officer is accused of hiring a van to transport the bodies of Baird and Davies to Bungonia.

He told the court he needed the van to collect furniture he intended to buy from a floor sale at Nick Scali in Newcastle.

Lamarre-Condon said he needed the furniture because he was preparing to move into a new property in Roseberry. However, he said the purchase did not proceed after defects were found in the building.

He also confirmed he had considered buying property in Bali, although he said he had only researched it online.

Lamarre-Condon told the court that profits from his swimwear business, Ivy Swim, had been invested in Bitcoin.

He said most orders were sent to influencers, but could not say how many orders the business had received. He estimated there had been more than 10, but could not confirm whether the total exceeded 100.

The former officer agreed that less than $1,000 remained in the Ivy Swimwear bank account, but maintained that he had invested the rest of the money in Bitcoin.

Mr Hatfield SC asked where the swimwear was manufactured.

Lamarre-Condon said it was made in Bali.

He also told the court he was hurt in November 2023 because he believed Baird had misled him about whether his relationships with other men were exclusive.

The court heard Lamarre-Condon wanted to be involved only in exclusive relationships.

Australian Test captain Pat Cummins has rejected Usman Khawaja’s explosive claims about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, calling the suggestion that he helped devise the sandpaper plan “complete and utter nonsense”. Cummins also said he was struggling to understand why a “friend” would make such serious allegations so casually.

Speaking during a lengthy press conference on Friday morning, Cummins said Khawaja was “100 per cent wrong” to suggest he knew sandpaper would be taken onto the field.

“I did not know that was happening,” Cummins said.

“Usman says that I and others were architects of a scheme to tamper with the ball using sandpaper.

“That is complete and utter nonsense.

“It’s something I’ve actually been grappling with over the last couple of days. Usman is a friend, but the way he has been so casual and flippant with people’s lives and reputations… I don’t think that’s okay, and I don’t think that’s what friends do.”

“So one of you is not telling the truth. Which one of you is not telling the truth?” a reporter asked.

“Well, that’s my story. So I think Usman is wrong,” Cummins replied, adding that he would not pursue legal action over the claims.

Australian Test captain Pat Cummins has responded to Usman Khawaja’s explosive claims about the sandpaper scandal.

“I did receive advice this week that some of the things said were probably defamatory, but I won’t be doing that. You have to move on. It’s been eight years, and I keep saying we’re moving on, so you have to draw a line at some point. No, I won’t be taking any action,” he said. 

Cummins, who played in the 2018 Test against South Africa in Cape Town, said Khawaja was “100 per cent wrong” to claim every player knew sandpaper was being taken onto the field.

He did, however, acknowledge that the team involved in the series had an “ugly underbelly”.

“I think it had a win-at-all-costs mentality, an ugly underbelly, and there were too many silos within the team,” he said.

“The way we behaved on the field was quite abrasive. There was some arrogance and ugliness at times that didn’t sit right with me.”

Cummins also said sandpaper was commonly seen in dressing rooms, but insisted that was entirely different from taking it onto the playing field.

“It’s a very normal thing around the dressing room,” he said. 

“We can go into more detail about that. But to then make the leap to saying we were going to use it to alter the ball out in the middle — no, I was not aware. That was news to me this week.”

Cummins said sandpaper was “normal” in training and dressing-room settings, but denied there was a “master plan” to use it during a match.

“There was no master plan to use illegal methods,” Cummins said. “I think that is something that hasn’t been discussed enough.

“People assume you went from completely legal methods to suddenly taking sandpaper, and that there must have been some huge master plan. But like the truth, that is not what happened.

“There was no grand plan, no team meeting and no bowlers saying, ‘This is what must happen.’

“We’ve moved on, but these are people’s lives. It was traumatic for some of them, and they have had to work through a lot to come out the other side.

“That is why I have been so disappointed and frustrated this week by how flippantly it has been handled.”

The pressure on Cummins to respond to Khawaja’s claims, published in his new memoir Sabr, had been building. This week, footage emerged of Cummins appearing to have an animated conversation with his wife, Rebecca, outside their home. 

Cummins with his wife Rebecca and one of their children after a Test victory.

Cummins laughed off the apparent confrontation and revealed that his wife was actually angry with his former teammate.

“It’s very comical. Becky wears her heart on her sleeve,” he said. 

“We weren’t having a spat. Becky was very frustrated, animated and really unhappy with Usman.

“She has always said to be honest, tell the details and put your washing away.

“I’ve been with Becky since well before that tour, so she has seen everything. She leaves it all with me.

“She was simply saying: show your emotion, because there are a lot of people here who are hurting.”

Cummins’ comments came as Cricket Australia continued to manage the fallout from the claims published in recently retired Test opener Usman Khawaja’s memoir Sabr.

In the book, Khawaja claims the wider Australian team and coaching staff knew about a plan to use sandpaper on the match ball during the 2018 Test series against South Africa in an attempt to produce reverse swing.

Roughing up one side of the ball with an abrasive substance such as sandpaper can help it reverse swing earlier than usual. However, Law 41.3 of the Laws of Cricket prohibits players from deliberately altering the physical condition of the match ball.

In his explosive new memoir, Khawaja claimed there was an organisation-wide conspiracy within Cricket Australia to tamper with the ball during the 2018 series against South Africa.

Cummins was part of the bowling quartet that said in 2021 they had no prior knowledge of sandpaper being used on the ball during play.

Footage showed opener Cameron Bancroft scuffing the ball with sandpaper during the 2018 Cape Town Test.

Bancroft then tried to conceal the sandpaper by placing it down the front of his trousers.

During the Cape Town Test, then-opener Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using a small piece of sandpaper to rough up one side of the match ball.

After the match, Bancroft was banned from professional cricket in Australia for nine months, while captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner each received 12-month suspensions.

Members of the team and Cricket Australia have largely remained silent since the scandal. However, in a chapter of Sabr titled “Sandpaper”, Khawaja, who also played in the match, claimed the entire team knew about the plan.

Khawaja also alleged that sandpaper had been used during the second Test of the 2018 series in Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth, which preceded the explosive Newlands match.

Unlike in Cape Town, Khawaja said the ball was roughened with sandpaper before the players went onto the field for a session of play.

Several of Khawaja’s former teammates have disputed his account of events surrounding the Test.

The four bowlers who played in the 2018 match — Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon — issued a statement in 2021 denying any prior knowledge that a foreign object would be taken onto the field in Cape Town.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Starc said his recollection of the events had not changed.

Left to right: David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft, the three players sanctioned after the sandpaper scandal.

The three men received lengthy bans from Cricket Australia after the match.

A young David Warner and Usman Khawaja playing representative cricket in Sydney. Warner has voiced his support for Khawaja’s book.

The pair later formed a successful opening partnership for Australia.

“We weren’t aware that anything had been taken onto the field to tamper with the ball. We saw the sandpaper on the big screen in Cape Town,” Starc said.

“As far as the book is concerned, I haven’t read it and probably won’t read it. That is for Usman to elaborate on. I’ll stick to what I said five years ago and what I said at the time, eight years ago. Clearly, there are different versions from different people, and I’ll leave it where I left it back then.”

David Warner also entered the renewed controversy earlier this week, posting a video on Instagram in which he thanked his “brother” Khawaja and said everything in the book was “100 per cent accurate”.

Disgraced comedian Russell Brand has been accused by six additional women of alleged sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour.

The 51-year-old was convicted of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others. He now faces a new series of allegations covering roughly a decade, including claims that he continued sexual activity after women asked him to stop and used his fame to pursue young fans.

A further investigation by The Times and The Sunday Times features accounts from six women who allege sexual assault, coercive conduct and humiliation involving the former Hollywood star.

One woman alleges Brand had sex with her without her consent and later apologised. Another says he carried on despite her repeatedly telling him to stop because she was in pain.

A third woman claims Brand placed his hands around her throat and sexually assaulted her in a hotel room. A fourth alleges he tried to pull her into a disabled toilet at a London venue in 2015.

The new claims were revealed after Brand was sentenced to more than a decade in prison following his conviction at Southwark Crown Court this week.

The allegations have not been tested in court. They could not be reported earlier because of concerns that publication might prejudice the criminal proceedings against him.

Most of the six women first approached journalists after the joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches in September 2023, which led to an investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

Russell Brand, 51, was convicted of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others at Southwark Crown Court this week

Russell Brand outside Southwark Crown Court on November 5 with his wife Laura Gallacher, the day he was found guilty

One of the women, referred to by the pseudonym Alex, says she first met Brand during a professional meeting at his London home in the late 2000s.

Alex, who was in her thirties, said Brand initially won her over by behaving like an ‘enthralled fan’. The pair later began an on-off relationship.

She alleges that his conduct gradually became controlling. On one occasion, she says, he had sex with her without her consent after she asked him to stop because he was not using a condom.

Alex claims Brand disregarded her objections and continued despite her trying to move away. She said she did not physically fight back because she was afraid of how he might respond.

Brand allegedly apologised to her in person and later by text. Alex said those apologies helped explain why she stayed in the relationship: ‘I justified it in my head by saying to myself: at least he admitted it.’

Brand has previously been accused of apologising to a woman after an alleged sexual assault.

Nadia, who spoke to The Times and The Sunday Times during their original 2023 investigation, still has messages in which she confronted Brand hours after allegedly being raped.

‘When a girl say[s] NO it means no,’ she wrote.

Brand replied that he was ‘very sorry’.

Another woman, known as Vicky, alleges Brand continued having sex with her even after she repeatedly pleaded with him to stop because she was in pain.

Vicky was 19 when she met Brand after attending one of his shows in 2007. She says he picked her out from the audience and asked for her telephone number.

The two later began a sexual relationship, but Vicky claims his behaviour became progressively more degrading.

She alleges that during their final encounter, Brand began having sex with her on a sofa at his rented home while another woman was in a nearby bedroom.

Vicky says the sex became extremely painful and that she asked him to stop twice. According to her account, he ignored her and continued.

Russell Brand and Kristen Bell appeared together in the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Russell Brand at the Los Angeles premiere of Bedtime Stories in 2008

Afterwards, Vicky says Brand appeared to recognise that something had been wrong when he told her: ‘Tonight was consensual. Nobody did anything they didn’t want to do.’

She said she understood the comment as a warning and was left deeply upset by the experience.

‘I didn’t want to remember the fairy tale of meeting him that then turned into an utter nightmare,’ she said.

A third woman, identified as Zoe, alleges that Brand sexually assaulted her in a hotel room after noticing her during a comedy show in San Francisco in May 2013.

Zoe was in her late twenties at the time. She says Brand commented on her breasts while she was in the audience and approached her after the performance.

She alleges that he touched her breasts and bottom while they spoke at the venue, obtained her number and later invited her to his hotel.

Zoe claims his manner changed sharply once she arrived and that he became physically aggressive.

She alleges Brand grabbed her, put one hand around her throat and pushed his other hand down her trousers before penetrating her with his finger without her consent.

Zoe said she froze during the alleged assault and did not resist before Brand suddenly told her to leave.

The investigation also includes allegations from a woman referred to as Georgia, who says she met Brand at a music festival in 2005.

Katy Perry and Russell Brand, who were married for just over a year, pictured in 2010

Georgia alleges that Brand subjected her to months of controlling and sexually degrading behaviour after approaching her at the festival.

She was in her mid-twenties and says Brand initially showered her with compliments, pursuing her persistently after spotting her in the crowd.

Georgia claims he sent a stream of flirtatious messages and emails before inviting her to a London show, where she discovered he had another girlfriend.

When she challenged him and tried to leave, Georgia alleges that Brand threatened to take his own life unless she went home with him.

The pair subsequently began seeing each other, but Georgia says his behaviour became increasingly manipulative and humiliating.

She alleges Brand required her to brush her teeth whenever she visited his home and repeatedly pressured her to have sex, at one point allegedly offering her money.

Georgia said the relationship left her humiliated and that she eventually stopped replying to his messages.

Another woman, Rosie, alleges that Brand made degrading demands after she met him through a BBC Radio 6 Music competition in 2006.

Rosie, who was in her late twenties, says they first had sex in a disabled toilet before beginning an intermittent relationship.

We go behind the curtain as Russell Brand is found guilty

Hi, I’m Alex Matthews, Editor of The Crime Desk.

Russell Brand has been convicted of rape and three sexual assaults, with our reporters Caroline Cheetham and Liz Hull covering every day of the trial at Southwark Crown Court. They are now examining the case in greater depth, speaking with detectives involved in the investigation, lawyers who specialise in sexual offences and psychologists studying the impact on victims.

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Rosie claims that on a later visit to Brand’s home, he ordered her to lick a toilet seat.

When she refused, she says he became angry and suddenly withdrew his affection.

‘He then got angry and seemed pissed off that I wouldn’t let him humiliate me,’ she said.

The sixth woman, Louise, alleges that Brand tried to draw her into a disabled toilet at a London venue where she worked in 2015.

Louise, who was in her late twenties, says Brand pursued her despite their relationship being solely professional.

She claims one of his staff members called her to a disabled toilet, where Brand was waiting in darkness.

When Louise refused to go inside, she alleges Brand asked her for toilet paper and then grabbed her forearm as she tried to pass it to him.

She says she managed to get away but was left frightened and crying.

Louise told The Times that she feared Brand intended to sexually assault her if he managed to pull her into the room.

She said she went into another room and ‘properly cried, because I felt like a piece of meat’.

The latest allegations have renewed scrutiny of how Brand allegedly used his celebrity, performances and access to young women during the peak of his television and comedy career.

The investigation says three of the six women were approached at Brand’s shows, where he allegedly singled out female audience members and had members of his entourage collect their telephone numbers.

Several women said they were initially flattered by the attention of a well-known comedian before describing alleged controlling or degrading treatment.

The new claims follow Brand’s conviction at Southwark Crown Court for raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others.

He was acquitted of two rape charges and one count of attempted indecent assault.

The criminal investigation began after the original allegations were published in September 2023. Brand has strongly denied those allegations.

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