For Sandra Bullock, 2010 was the year that changed everything: She became a mother to son Louis, ended her five-year marriage to Jesse James and reached new career heights with her emotional Oscar win for The Blind Side.
It's only fitting, then, that the superstar, 46, scored the top spot as Woman of the Year in People Magazine's new Year-End issue. Of the actress's life-altering 2010, says a source, "Bad things happen, but she celebrates the good ones. And Louis is a wonderful celebration of good things."
Also making the cut as the year's most intriguing figures:
• Bret Michaels (the Ultimate Survivor), who survived a near-fatal brain hemorrhage in April: "I don't want my legacy to be a hemorrhage," he tells People. "I want it to be: I'm a fighter, I'm passionate, I'm hardworking and I love music."
• Kim Kardashian (the Entrepreneur), who turned her reality TV stardom into a multi-million dollar empire.
• Kate Middleton and Prince William (the Royal Couple), who captured the world's imaginations with news of their engagement and preparations for their upcoming April nuptials.
• Elin Nordegrin (the Class Act), who showed grace and poise following her split from husband Tiger Woods in the wake of his cheating scandal.
For the complete list of People's most intriguing newsmakers of 2010 – and a round-up of the year's splashiest celebrity weddings, splits and babies – pick up this week’s issue on newsstands Friday.
They're both winners! Newly-crowned American Idol champ Lee DeWyze hangs with recovering rocker Bret Michaels, and this season's Celebrity Apprentice winner, who stopped by the show's emotionally charged season finale to perform "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" with runner-up Casey James.
Bret Michaels may have just spent 10 days in the ICU, but the rock star isn't complaining. Instead, he says he's feeling "lucky to be alive."
In the new issue of People Magazine, Michaels, 47, who suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage (bleeding at the base of his brain stem) on April 21st, speaks for the first time about his ordeal, including a dramatic moment when he first arrived at the hospital.
In the emergency room, the rocker – dad to Raine, 9, and Jorja, 5 – recalls being asked by a doctor if he had kids, and the doctor telling him to have them brought to the hospital. "And I said in these exact words, 'Am I dying? If I'm dying, I want to see my kids, but if I have a chance, I don't want them to see me in this condition.' "
Michaels is currently at a rehabilitation facility for physical therapy, and is expected to make a full recovery – something his doctor says only occurs in 10 to 20 percent of all cases.
To hear more from Michaels and girlfriend Kristi Gibson about the critical minutes after the hemorrhage, the agonizing moments in the hospital and how this brush with death might just change his rock-of-love life, pick up the new issue of People, on newsstands today.
For Sandra Bullock, 2010 was the year that changed everything: She became a mother to son Louis, ended her five-year marriage to Jesse James and reached new career heights with her emotional Oscar win for The Blind Side.
