The year started out with Goldie Hawn being blessed with her first granchild from daughter Kate Hudson and her rocker husband Chris Robinson, who brought son Ryder Russell into the world.

• The former bad boy Charlie Sheen joined the diaper duty ranks when wife Denise Richards gave birth to baby girl Sam J. in March.

• Jon Bon Jovi and wife Dorothea Hurley had a fourth child, son Romeo Jon.

• Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden and Thaddeus Scheel got the double dip with twins, Hudson Harden and Julitta Dee

• Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett gave birth to son Roman Robert by husband Andrew Upton.

• Helen Hunt and Matthew Carnahan welcomed baby girl, Makena’lei Gordon.

• Coco Riley, born to Courtney Cox Arquette and David Arquette.

• In November Julia Roberts, became mother to two little pretty babies, Hazel Patricia and Phinnaeus Walker by husband/cameraman Danny Moder on the 28th.

• Former “Spice Girl” Victoria Beckham and her husband, soccer star David Beckham welcome their third child.

• Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, gave birth to daughter Apple Blythe back in May with her rocker husband, Chris Martin, has said she can’t even imagine a role worth playing more than that of mother to her child.

Unfortunately unforgettable:

The worst celebrity faux pas, hands down, goes to Janet Jackson and her indecent exposure, supposedly accidental, during the Super Bowl halftime show. Never mind that Janet’s right breast was visible only for a split-second, and from a distance. This stunt had a ripple effect throughout the broadcasting industry, and the feds are considering tougher censorship laws as a result. Was it an accident?

Celebrity Breakups :

In the Hollywood romance department, 2004 will be remembered as the year of the Bennifer Breakup. Way back in January, Ben Affleck came home from the Sundance Film Festival and fiancee JLo promptly dumped him, ending an overblown and over-hyped relationship that spanned two movies (“Gigli” and “Jersey Girl”), one aborted wedding (back in September of 2003) and several stories of Affleck partying it up in bars with women other than his fiancee. Sure, it’s sad to watch one of Hollywood’s premiere power couples call it kaput, but the upside is that Affleck’s squirrelly grin isn’t plastered all over every single magazine and website anymore. And that’s a good thing.

Singer Marc Anthony and ex-Miss Universe wife Dayanara Torres went to divorce court.

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were said to be on the rocks, but they never crashed.

Celebrity Hookups:

For every uncoupling there was a coupling. o one knows this better than Britney Spears. First there was her 55-hour-long marriage to childhood sweetheart from Louisiana, Jason Allen Alexander, which took place on a whirlwind Las Vegas weekend that began with the couple watching “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” in a hotel room, then a spur-of-the-moment wedding at a 24-hour chapel, and ended with her attorneys swiftly annulling the deal. The Britney saga got even more interesting in September, when she married — or did she? — backup singer Kevin Federline. The tabs were abuzz with rumors that the ceremony was a prank, and rumors persisted for days because official documents failed to materialize. But alas, the wedding was the real deal, and the couple say they’re happily conjoined. We can hardly wait to see how she’ll top it all with her next wedding.

JLo rebounded from her split with Affleck by promptly marrying singer Marc Anthony, who seems to take a decidedly different tack than Ben, shying away from publicity and refusing to talk about their marriage and private life. It’s marriage No. 3 for Jennifer, who’s emerging as the Liz Taylor of the modern era.

Saying goodbye:

We lost Ray Charles, the giant of soul whose music touched our hearts even as our feet were pounding along with his rhythms. e said farewell to Fay Wray, who forever thrilled film fans as the girl who captivated King Kong. hristopher Reeve made us gasp — and chuckle — as the movies’ Superman, then showed real-life courage by fighting his paralyzing injury and lobbying for funds to do more for others like him.

Activist, author and cultural commentator Susan Sontag, American icon of intellectual seriousness, passed away.