But Armstrong has not been forgotten – especially by the U.S. government. On Tuesday, the Justice Department filed a 28-page complaint against the man, detailing what USA Today plain-spokenly refers to as "several years of lying, cheating and manipulating" Uncle Sam during the six years he was sponsored by the Postal Service.

The suit claims "the USPS paid approximately $40 million to sponsor [Armstrong's] USPS cycling team from 1998 to 2004," a period Armstrong is charged with using "prohibited drugs" in violation of his contract. Under the False Claims Act, Armstrong could be held accountable for $100 million in damages. On the bright side, it looks like the government has come up with a plan to help the economy.

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Brown is among the music industry's most popular and resilient stars -- and his public, at least, has largely forgiven him for his beating of Rihanna in February 2009. The pair has slowly circled one another in the intervening four years, as Brown's star has risen and as Rihanna has sent her fans mixed signals about her feelings about Brown. Herewith, a timeline of the pair's very public saga of abuse and squeamish forgiveness.

February 2009

Chris Brown is arrested for beating Rihanna in a domestic violence incident in his car after a pre-Grammys party. Both artists canceled their appearances at the awards ceremony. A photograph of Rihanna's battered face surfaced online shortly thereafter. Other musicians cautiously avoid condemning Brown publicly, with T.I. (a Rihanna collaborator on the song "Live Your Life") saying of Brown, "I told him this too shall pass."

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FBI files spanning from 1988 to 1992 released Monday reveal both the obsessive fans Houston occasionally needed protection from — and, cryptically, the extortion plot that threatened to expose the details of the singer's "romantic relationships." The files have been heavily redacted, but they show that a person purporting to have "intimate details regarding Whitney Houston’s romantic relationships" threatened to reveal them "to several publications" unless she was paid $100,000. The sum was later "raised to $250,000. The person agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement once the amount was paid.

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At first glance, Armstrong and Te'o would appear to have little in common beyond professional athleticism and a penchant for elaborate ruses. In an interview with our national confessor in chief Oprah Winfrey, the 41-year-old Armstrong acknowledged that he'd been doping up a storm throughout his professional cycling career, including his seven winning Tour de France races. Meanwhile, after a sensational exposé in Deadspin, Notre Dame linebacker Te'o admitted that his girlfriend Lennay Kekua, who'd tragically died of leukemia in September, had never existed at all. And it's in the way that both men have handled their deceptions that another commonality has emerged – neither one will ever win a prize for World's Greatest Apologizer.

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The admission Monday came hours after an emotional apology by Armstrong to the Livestrong charity that he founded and turned into a global institution on the strength of his celebrity as a cancer survivor.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the interview is to be broadcast Thursday on Winfrey's network. She tweeted afterward, "Just wrapped with (at)lancearmstrong More than 2 1/2 hours. He came READY!" She was scheduled to appear on "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday to discuss the interview.

The confession was a stunning reversal for Armstrong after years of public statements, interviews and court battles in which he denied doping and zealously protected his reputation.

Even before the taping session with Winfrey began around 2 p.m., EST, Armstrong's apology suggested he would carry through on promises over the weekend to answer her questions "directly, honestly and candidly."

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The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussion was private.

Stripped last year of his seven Tour de France titles because of doping charges, Armstrong addressed the staff Monday and said, "I'm sorry." The person said the disgraced cyclist choked up and several employees cried during the session.

The person also said Armstrong apologized for letting the staff down and putting Livestrong at risk but he did not make a direct confession to the group about using banned drugs. He said he would try to restore the foundation's reputation, and urged the group to continue fighting for the charity's mission of helping cancer patients and their families.

After the meeting, Armstrong, his legal team and close advisers gathered at a downtown Austin hotel for the interview.

The cyclist will make a limited confession to Winfrey about his role as the head of a long-running scheme to dominate the Tour with the aid of performance-enhancing drugs, a person with knowledge of the situation has told the AP.

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Armstrong, who has long denied doping, will also offer an apology during the interview scheduled to be taped Monday at his home in Austin, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no authorization to speak publicly on the matter.

While not directly saying he would confess or apologize, Armstrong sent a text message to The Associated Press early Saturday that said: "I told her (Winfrey) to go wherever she wants and I'll answer the questions directly, honestly and candidly. That's all I can say."

The 41-year-old Armstrong, who vehemently denied doping for years, has not spoken publicly about the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report last year that cast him as the leader of a sophisticated and brazen doping program on his U.S. Postal Service teams that included use of steroids, blood boosters and illegal blood transfusions.

The USADA report led to Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and given a lifetime ban from the sport.

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On her site, Winfrey and company promise the interview, airing next week, will be "no-holds-barred" — and that "Armstrong will address the alleged doping scandal, years of accusations of cheating, and charges of lying about the use of performance-enhancing drugs throughout his storied cycling career." Last week, the New York Times laid the groundwork for what he might reveal, with the news that "he is considering publicly admitting that he used banned performance-enhancing drugs and blood transfusions during his cycling career." The Times says rumor has it Armstrong is mulling an admission in the hopes of an eventual reinstatement for competition – a career move that the 41-year-old realistically doesn't have a whole lot of time left to make.

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The controversial cyclist will give his first interview since he was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles to Winfrey, she announced today, and it will air Thursday, Jan. 17 on her cable network, OWN.

The announcement of the audience with Oprah comes just days after the New York Times reported that Armstrong has been talking with advisers and friends about possibly admitting to doping.

Winfrey said that Armstrong will address "the alleged doping scandal and charges of lying about the use of performance-enhancing drugs throughout his cycling career."

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Earlier this month, Oprah Winfrey selected Ayana Mathis' debut novel, "The Twelve Tribes of Hattie," as the second selection in the reboot of her book club. Knopf instantly upped her print run to 125,000 books and moved her publication date ahead six weeks. It instantly struck the best-seller list.

Reviews have been sensational. In the New York Times, critic Michiko Kakutani said that Mathis "writes with uncommon narrative authority... conjuring the lives of the Shepherd family with extraordinary psychological precision." She compared Mathis to Toni Morrison and Louise Erdrich, before concluding "her elastic voice is thoroughly her own — both lyrical and unsparing, meditative and visceral."

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Winfrey announced Wednesday that she has chosen a debut novel for her book club, “The Twelve Tribes of Hattie,” by Ayana Mathis. An author interview will be aired Feb. 3 on Winfrey’s OWN network. In a statement, Winfrey likened Mathis’ book to the fiction of Toni Morrison. Published this week by Alfred A. Knopf, “Twelve Tribes” tells of a teenager’s journey from Mississippi to Philadelphia in the 1920s and the large family she ends up raising.

Winfrey revived her club, now called Oprah’s Book Club 2.0, earlier this year with Cheryl Strayed’s memoir “Wild.” Dozens of books over the past 20 years have become bestsellers thanks to the talk show host’s endorsements.

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In the last year, when Rihanna has been asked about Chris Brown, the man who beat her up, a crime for which he is still on probation, she has demurred, lost her temper or blasted out mysteriously provocative tweets. Not with Oprah. For Oprah, Rihanna — relaxed, open, warm, wearing a lovely tropical dress — cried all over herself. Oprah, in a lime-green ensemble herself, passed the tissues.

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Yes, maybe the two episodes, part of her prime-time series "Oprah's Next Chapter,” were cheesy. “There is nothing like this country,” she said in the preview. “I am forever changed by the experience.”

But it’s Oprah. Of course she’s cheesy.

Yes, maybe the show provided a slightly simplistic, superficial view of India. She visits the Taj Mahal and meets with Bollywood stars.

But it’s American TV for a mass audience. Of course it’s simplistic and superficial.

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Currently on a world tour to promote her latest album, “MDNA,” Madonna’s recent antics have been a bit dramatic, even for her. Let us count the bizarre shenanigans from the beginning. Since June, she’s flashed a nipple during a Turkey live show, flashed her butt a few days later in Italy, shown a video with swastikas superimposed over right-wing leaders’ faces, and continued to use authentic-looking fake guns as part of her choreography even after being asked to cut them from the show following July 20’s movie-theater massacre in Aurora, Colo.

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Before the explosive success of “Wild,” which tells the story of her harrowing solo 1,100-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail -- following the death of her mother, her divorce and an entanglement with heroin -- she achieved pseudonymous stardom as the advice columnist behind the Rumpus’ Dear Sugar. Since 2010 she's answered questions about everything from finding work after college to overcoming addiction under the moniker Sugar -- it was only on Valentine's Day of this year that she came out as Strayed -- and now a collection of those columns, “Tiny Beautiful Things,” will release on Tuesday, July 10.

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"30 Rock's" Alec Baldwin and "The Office's" John Krasinski have figured out what they're doing with their off-season, and that's punching each other in the face about baseball. No, seriously. In this series for New Era Caps, Baldwin goes head to head with Jim Halpert over their Red Sox/Yankees rivalry. So far there have been three spots, and if you play them in succession it's kind of like watching a crossover episode between the two shows.

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And with this warm weather comes tons of pop culture news stories that are just to the right of funky. We've rounded up some of the stranger stuff that we missed this week, and leave it up to you to decide if maybe being raptured wasn't such a bad idea.

1. People who think the Onion's headlines are real: Oh, it happens. And now it's a Tumblr. (Expect a book deal in the near future.)

2. Abed from "Community" shows up on "Cougar Town":

Easter egg for the super fans and the people who love Subway.

3. OWN picks up new series, "Don't Tell the Bride": Groom and future wife are separated for a month before the wedding; he has to make all the decisions about planning the event. Hope she likes nachos and a boob-shaped cake.

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