Now that 2003 has passed, we can look at what Sylvia Browne predicted. From the December 31, 2002, Montel Williams Show:
WILLIAMS: We are here today talking to world-renowned psychic Sylvia Browne. Give it up. So it's time to make some predictions for this year. Let's talk about it. If we're going to be at war, will there be further terrorist attacks on the United States and on US soil?
Ms. BROWNE: Yes. And, you know, we've talked about this before, privately and publicly and everything, that, you know, I don't like to be a doomsday, you know, but I'm just--I--never before in 66 years of my life--and I lived through world war--you know, I won't tell you how many wars--the Civil--Civil War and, you know--no, World War II, but I've never been in Korean, you know, in Vietname--Vietnam War--never been as concerned as I have about this one because there's going to be such a retaliation...
WILLIAMS: And you...
Ms. BROWNE: ...on our banks, on our shores.
WILLIAMS: Will that retaliation come in the form of something that we've seen already, like September 11th, where they go after...
Ms. BROWNE: It's going to come in nerve gas, Montel.
WILLIAMS: Big?
Ms. BROWNE: Big. Big. And it's going to hit coastal areas. It's going to be episodic in the fact that you're going to have people that are--they don't care. You see, we're--we--it's almost like suicide missions. I mean, you know, like--let's say I strap a bomb on--God forbid--and I walk into a place and I don't care. I just blow everything up.
WILLIAMS: Everyone wants to know this--oh, let's--let's--let's just stay on this for a second, OK? So terrorist an--attacks--will we overcome? Will...
Ms. BROWNE: Oh, sure, we will.
WILLIAMS: ...will we be able to control them?
Ms. BROWNE: It's very much like--you know how we see things that happen in Palestine and places? And, you know, I talk to people on the phone all the time and, you know, I talk to the--to Judaic Palestinians, whatever, and they're not where the war is, do you see what I mean? It's very much like north and south Ireland. You know, there's certain--most of us won't be affected, except for the fact that we feel so bad about people being blown up and horrible things. What I'm more concerned about is railroads now. I'm not concerned about planes. I'm worried about railroads and trucking lines.
WILLIAMS: Here in the United States.
Ms. BROWNE: That's what I'm worried about. Yeah, because, see, that will cripple us, Montel.
WILLIAMS: Yeah.
Ms. BROWNE: Our trucking and our--and our--my dad was an old trucking guy. But, you know, you--you've got your piggybacks and all that. That'll cripple us.
Complete miss. There were no nerve gas attacks in the U.S. Nor disruptions in railroads or trucking lines.
WILLIAMS: Absolutely. Let's get on to something better. How about--let's talk about the lives of celebrities. You do pretty well with that.
Ms. BROWNE: I know.
WILLIAMS: Let's go--let's go to Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt. Will they finally get pregnant?
Ms. BROWNE: Yes. Yes, this year.
WILLIAMS: A baby in store for the Pitts.
Ms. BROWNE: M--the Pitts.
WILLIAMS: All right. A little teeny Pitt.
Ms. BROWNE: A little teeny Pitt...
WILLIAMS: All right.
Ms. BROWNE: ...a little cherry Pitt.
Wrong. No baby Pitt this year.
WILLIAMS: How about--how about--how--ooh, I--see, I'm going to get in trouble if I say it this way, but I will. How about Julia Roberts and 'I stole your husband and he's now my husband' Danny Moder? They going to stay...
Ms. BROWNE: She's going to get pregnant, then he's going to leave her.
WILLIAMS: Really? Who's he going to go--go back to his old wife?
Ms. BROWNE: No. I--see, I don't know. Except--yeah, if his wife is blonde and slender, he will.
WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. Harrison...
Ms. BROWNE: It's called karma.
Julia Roberts did not get pregnant, and she is still with her husband Danny Moder.
WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. What goes around. Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart.
Ms. BROWNE: Yeah, they're going to get married. Yeah, they're going to get married.
Wrong. They did not get married.
WILLIAMS: J. Lo, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.
Ms. BROWNE: Yeah, they're going to get married, yeah, but it's not going to last. I mean, they don't have a good track record. You don't have to be psychic to figure this out.
WILLIAMS: Will it last longer than her last marriage?
Ms. BROWNE: A couple of years.
Wrong. They did not get married.
WILLIAMS: OK. All right. Oh, here's--here's a big one. Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Will they get back together?
Ms. BROWNE: No.
WILLIAMS: No.
Ms. BROWNE: You know, and I--I--honestly, aren't you sort of 'yawn' about that?
WILLIAMS: Yeah. Ya--yawn about it. Well, they're just babies, so they don't need to get married anyway.
Ms. BROWNE: Yeah. They--they don't need to get married.
Finally, a correct prediction. However, one does not need to be psychic to make this prediction.
WILLIAMS: All right. Well, you know, we have some--I'm going to give you a chance to make some more predictions for the upcoming year. How about on some medical issues? What do you think, breakthroughs in AIDS?
Ms. BROWNE: Yes.
WILLIAMS: What's that?
Ms. BROWNE: In fact, there's going--you know, there's already--What?—four protease inhibitors, but now they're going to have another one that's going to come in and block the AIDS cells.
WILLIAMS: So, again, this will--this will help suppress that disease?
Ms. BROWNE: Suppress it.
WILLIAMS: Excellent.
Ms. BROWNE: It almost encapsulates it.
WILLIAMS: Excellent.
Ms. BROWNE: Yeah.
Can anyone confirm of a new AIDS-suppressing drug in 2003 that is a “protease inhibitor” that “almost encapsulates” the virus?
WILLIAMS: How about--now there's something that'll be strange going on--illnesses will occ--will occur because of biochemicals...
Ms. BROWNE: The biochemical warfare that I'm so concerned about, but—that attacks the nervous system, but I think--you know, we're all worried about smallpox, and I'm more worried about--because now they've established that it tru--really was true that there was nerve gas used in Desert Storm. So what's to say they can't, you know, put it in our whatever?
WILLIAMS: Sure.
Ms. BROWNE: But we'll have anti--antibiotics or an antibody for that.
I don’t what to make of this prediction. Is she predicting that we’ll have “antibiotics or an antibody” for nerve gas?
WILLIAMS: For that. How about--let's go back to diabetes again. You—you talked...
Ms. BROWNE: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: ...about the different types of insulin.
Ms. BROWNE: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: What else ...(unintelligible)?
Ms. BROWNE: And then--then we've got an oral one that's coming out, and strangely enough, we're going to find a lot of these medicines now--maybe it's because of that old movie, you know, with Sean Connery in the Amazon jungle, you know, with the plant. There's going to be some plant substance—strangely enough, it comes from an artichoke--that's going to be an insulin substitute.
She stole this whole artichoke deal directly from Edgar Cayce. See
http://www.edgarcayce.org/health/database/chdata/data/thjartic.html
WILLIAMS: On--and you also thought there might be some substance found in the Amazon that may help fight cancer...
Ms. BROWNE: Oh, absolutely.
WILLIAMS: ...this year.
Ms. BROWNE: I think it's always been there. This year. It's always been there.
Pretty vague, but can anyone confirm a cancer-fighting substance discovered in the Amazon in 2003?
WILLIAMS: Let me ask you--there was something I--I missed with world--world--world affairs. More hate crimes committed in the United States.
Ms. BROWNE: Hate crimes against minorities and gays and everything. I--I just don't understand--see, we've got factions of this Aryan group, too, that is coming up, that is strange; that it's almost like forming--do you ever notice when darkness forms, it forms together? It never forms any other time. But get it together and it just--and then--and the minute it--whiteness or light or spirituality hits, it dissipates. That's why it's so important to keep close together when you're spiritual.
WILLIAMS: Well, you think that this rise in hate crime is going to be because of what we're doing in the Middle East or just here?
Ms. BROWNE: Oh, sure, sure. Because people don't give a damn anymore. And--and--and darkness is rising. That's why we've got to rise light to meet the dark.
The FBI’s hate crime numbers for 2003 have not yet been released. The 2002 numbers, however, were just released last month. Hate crimes were down sharply in 2002.
WILLIAMS: Everybody wants to know a lot more about controversial and unique celebrities, so I'll tell you a couple. One is in a--in the press recently, Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown.
Ms. BROWNE: Oh, they are so destruct--I--I'm not being judgmental. They are so destructive for each other. They are. They--talk about two people together that just have destroyed each other.
Not really a prediction here-just an observation. But again, one does not need to have psychic powers to state the obvious.
WILLIAMS: Eminem, "8 Mile." Recently--look, recently it--that dude's movie a couple months ago did--did, you know, $54 million in its opening box office weekend. Huge star, right?
Ms. BROWNE: I know.
WILLIAMS: Wh--what do you think about him? Prediction for him for the year?
Ms. BROWNE: Let me say it's a--it--no, this is a--and I don't want to be mean, because I--I think anybody that makes it is OK, but it's a flash in the pan. But it also--you know, because I'm a--a English major. You know, art imitates life, life imitates art. And he is one hell of an art imitator of what's going on in this world today.
Eminem appears to still be doing quite well for himself. In 2003 he won 2 Grammys and 4 AMAs, as well as an MTV Movie award.
WILLIAMS: Hmm. Liza Minnelli and her husband, David Gest. They were supposed to have a show...
Ms. BROWNE: Oh, that's not--no.
WILLIAMS: Huh? That's not going to last? Children?
Ms. BROWNE: Never going to make it. Please.
WILLIAMS: They're not going to have children? No--no way, huh?
Ms. BROWNE: Oh, God, no.
WILLIAMS: Will Li...
Ms. BROWNE: Not going to happen.
Here again Sylvia is stating the obvious. Hardly a result of any psychic ability.
WILLIAMS: So what about the economy in this next year?
Ms. BROWNE: Strangely enough, the buying power is going to be good. Property is going to be great. And like I said last year, pr--people are going to be able to buy that they couldn't before. But the layoffs are going to be tough. Now you're not going to be hit too much on the East Coast as we are in the West Coast. The West Coast is going to be just--just disseminated.
[Disseminated? I think she probably meant to use ‘decimated,’ here.]
WILLIAMS: You think this year's best investment would be?
Ms. BROWNE: Real estate.
WILLIAMS: Real estate.
Ms. BROWNE: It's always been, Montel, always. Stock is just crazy.
WILLIAMS: Well, how about the people who are playing the stock market and continue to play the stock market?
Ms. BROWNE: They're stupid.
WILLIAMS: Is it a good year for stock or no?
Ms. BROWNE: They're stupid.
WILLIAMS: They're stupid. That means it's a bad year for stock. OK.
Ms. BROWNE: It's bad.
She was way off, here. The three-year bear stock market came to an end. The indexes closed last Friday at or near their highs for the year, with the Dow and the S&P 500 closing at their best levels in more than 19 months, while the Nasdaq closed within range of its best level in nearly two years.
And hiring picked up after the longest job slump in 60 years. According to the BLS’s Extended Mass Layoffs Summary for 2003
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/mslo.nr0.htm mass layoffs are actually down from last year. Among all 50 states, however, California had the largest number of worker separations. But economists without psychic ability could have predicted that.
WILLIAMS: Let's talk about some more celebrities. Well, you know, we like to talk about them.
Ms. BROWNE: I know. I know we do.
WILLIAMS: I do anyway. How about Robert Downey Jr.? The dude has been in court nine million times, had judges send him in and out of jail. Is he going to be OK this year?
Ms. BROWNE: No.
WILLIAMS: What?
Ms. BROWNE: I don't know what's wrong. I don't know--I--you know, it's sometimes--God love him. I really li--I think he's a wonderful actor, don't you?
WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm.
Ms. BROWNE: I think Mel Gibson, everybody's tried to help him, haven't they? It just--it's--some people are bent on destruction. There's nothing you can do.
I guess Sylvia’s prediction here is that Downey will not be “OK” this year. He has stayed out jail, but his latest film, Gothika, was not well received by the critics. Not sure if this should be scored as a hit or a miss.
WILLIAMS: Speaking of bent on destruction, how about Robert Blake? He's been sitting in jail. Will he be sitting across--in a jail cell across the hall from Winona Ryder? No, no, no, two different things. Robert Blake, Winona Ryder--ti--oh, come on. You know they busted that poor little girl.
Ms. BROWNE: No. Winona...
WILLIAMS: Oh, she wasn't stealing anything.
Ms. BROWNE: No, Wino--Winona Ryder really, really needs some--and I don't me--you see, when you say psychological help, people think you mean crazy. No. I think the girl really had a horrible childhood and I think it's caught up to her. And I think that the girl should be pitied. She won't sa--she won't have any jail time, no.
WILLIAMS: Will she get busted again? You know, because sometimes when you do this and they let you off the hook, she might think she can get away with it and--OK, wh...
Ms. BROWNE: It's not just drugs. I mean, that's...
WILLIAMS: Sure.
Ms. BROWNE: ...an illness.
She has not been back in jail, but I’m not sure what she meant with that last line. Was Ryder supposed to have been stricken by an illness in 2003? Or that her shoplifting is an illness?
WILLIAMS: We have predictions for this next year. Let's talk a little bit about them. What about the weather in America? You said it--I--should I read--what do you think about the weather coming up?
Ms. BROWNE: I think the weather's going to be fairly mild. I--yeah. But I still think that we're in a warming trend, which really worries me. I was in Alaska this summer, and everything's melting, Montel. Do you know what that means? The ocean's going to rise and we're going to fl--aren't I just full of this wonderful news this time? No, but we are not going to have that bad of weather, no.
WILLIAMS: Well, you did say here that--something very interesting. New York City or New York will be hit by a hurricane in...
Ms. BROWNE: In August.
WILLIAMS: ...August of 2003.
Ms. BROWNE: Yeah, in August.
WILLIAMS: A lot of damage? In the city--in the city?
Ms. BROWNE: No. Do you remember the time that I was supposed to do the book signing and I couldn't get out because there was a hurricane that hit? Does anybody remember that, the hurricane?
WILLIAMS: Sure. Sure. Sure.
Ms. BROWNE: Yeah. There's going to be some damage, but not much.
Hurricane Isabel hit New York – but in September.
WILLIAMS: Crops will suffer in the Midwest because of drought.
Ms. BROWNE: Drought.
WILLIAMS: We're going to have a drought this year.
Ms. BROWNE: Yeah, but overall, it's going to be pretty mild.
Here is a map showing drought conditions of the country through November 2003:
http://www.drought.unl.edu/monitor/spi/2003/9nov03lg.gif
As you can see, the Midwest shows normal amounts of precipitation.
WILLIAMS: You did say Florida will see its worst season for...
Ms. BROWNE: Season for hurricanes...
WILLIAMS: ...hurricanes since the 1980s.
Ms. BROWNE: ...since the '80s.
According to the National Weather Service, there were 14 named tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Basin in 2003, of which seven became hurricanes. These totals compare to long-term averages of 10 named tropical cyclones and six hurricanes. Tropical storm activity for Florida specifically, however, was below average for 2003.
WILLIAMS: Wow. OK. Let's get back to some more celebrities. I like talking about them. Ooh, you said that there will be the death of a show business comedian legend this year. We shouldn't say the name.
Ms. BROWNE: Do you think we should?
WILLIAMS: I don't know. OK. Say it--say it to us and we'll bleep it.
Ms. BROWNE: (Censored)
Gee, could she have guessed Bob Hope? No psychic powers needed for this one. But since it was bleeped, we can’t really score this one.
WILLIAMS: OK. All right. Rosie O'Donnell opens up a type of franchise for kids going to a special camp.
Ms. BROWNE: Uh-huh, she will.
WILLIAMS: And is that going to do well?
Ms. BROWNE: It's going to do very well. Yeah.
Anyone want to try to confirm this? I can’t find any info on it.
WILLIAMS: All right. Of all the new shows the networks are bringing out, only three will remain on the sc--on the three networks. What do you mean by that?
Ms. BROWNE: You know how they always flood the market, you know, with all these--now they've got the medical programs. Only three will stick.
WILLIAMS: Only three are going to stay with us...
Ms. BROWNE: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: ...three new shows.
Ms. BROWNE: They've got "C.S.I." and "C.S.I." and, you know--and...
According to this article
http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/28/television.cbs.reut/ from CNN, CBS alone renewed 5 of its new shows. Just one network blew this Sylvia predication to bits.
WILLIAMS: Here's a good one. Oscar voting scandal.
Ms. BROWNE: I know. How about that?
WILLIAMS: There's going to be a huge scandal with the Oscars this year?
Ms. BROWNE: Yeah. Something wrong about the counting.
WILLIAMS: Really? And we'll all be all caught up in it.
Ms. BROWNE: Oh, yeah.
WILLIAMS: Somebody else should have won in that ca...
Ms. BROWNE: Well, I mean, if we're all caught up in the voting with the governors and everything, why not the Oscars?
WILLIAMS: And wh--see, that's the problem. We're not caught up in the voting of the governors. We're just caught up in the voting of the Oscars.
Ms. BROWNE: In the Oscars, yeah.
WILLIAMS: All right. How about...
Ms. BROWNE: We've given up on the voting on the other end.
There was no problem or scandal with the Oscar ballot counting, as far as I know. Anybody?
WILLIAMS: They keep claiming that s--that "Friends" is over this year. You're saying?
Ms. BROWNE: The what?
WILLIAMS: That "Friends" will be over this year. You're saying there's going to be another season for "Friends"?
Ms. BROWNE: I think so, yes. I really do.
WILLIAMS: And still--they're going to get paid again?
Ms. BROWNE: You know why? Because they're going to up the salary.
Looks like she was right on this one. But so were a lot of Hollywood insiders who don’t claim to have psychic powers.
WILLIAMS: OK. Nicole Kidman, talk to me about her.
Ms. BROWNE: What about her? She's going to...
WILLIAMS: She's going to what?
Ms. BROWNE: She's going to marry an Australian, yeah.
WILLIAMS: Oh.
Ms. BROWNE: She could--she could--honestly, she could end up with--what's that guy in "Gladiator"? You know who I mean.
Unidentified Man #1: Russell Crowe.
WILLIAMS: Russell Crowe. Oh, look, everybody got all sad, 'Oh.' Russell Crowe. All right. Well, that's good. Let me take a lo--let's--I'll take a break. We'll be right back. We'll be back right after this.
Kidman did not marry Crowe, or another Australian, or anyone else for that matter.
WILLIAMS: Well, again, we're out of time. I want to say thank you so much to Sylvia Browne for helping us out today and with her predictions. We want to keep talking on the way out, but maybe--let's see, it is our new year's prediction show, so this year, we have floods, we have tornadoes, we have war, we have...
Ms. BROWNE: Yes, we do.
WILLIAMS: ...terrorism, we have--we do have medical breakthroughs that are going to be great.
Ms. BROWNE: And we have spirituality on the rise, Montel.
WILLIAMS: What can we also look forward to? There's got to be something really great to look forward to. Is there--something going to happen that...
Ms. BROWNE: Yes. We're going to form communities and we're going to stick together more than we ever have. Look at what happened with the--we're going to get back to family values and everything. You know, just like I said in my newsletter, I know we don't string popcorn anymore, but, you know, maybe we can get rid of some of this commercialism that we have for Christmas and Easter holidays and get back to families...
WILLIAMS: Start thinking a little more.
Ms. BROWNE: ...and prayer and what it really means and loving each other.
Whatever.
