Merry Christmas & happy holidays! We’re off for Christmas Eve & Christmas, but we’ll be back on Thursday. Hope you have a lovely & safe holiday season!

Tom Hiddleston & Hayley Atwell attended the opening night of The Tempest in London last week. A nice little Hiddles gift. [Socialite Life]
Timothee Chalamet & Saoirse Ronan reunited. [LaineyGossip]
Pajiba’s top ten films of the year. [Pajiba]
Jeff Bezos & Lauren Sanchez are not getting married this week. [Just Jared]
A French film festival in winter, with puffer coats. [Go Fug Yourself]
An interview with Chappell Roan. [OMG Blog]
Lily Rose Depp’s Chanel suit is actually cute. [RCFA]
House of Villains had an epic ending. [Seriously OMG]
Kim Kardashian wore a wig made by an Orthodox Jewish wig-maker. [Starcasm]
Hilariously bad architectural-design fails. [Buzzfeed]

Photos credit: Bear Bear, Andrew Te, Chuttersnap, Elizabeth Smirnova and Showcat Goldstrand on Unsplash. Alfo Medeiros and Fotios Photos on Pexels

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Christmas card was released a week ago and the British press still isn’t over it. They’re still going to be screaming about this card on Christmas Day, as they dream of Prince Harry sending family photos to King Charles and Charles “accidentally” revealing those photos. While most of the talk has been about the blurry, low-res photo of the back of Archie and Lili’s heads, did you know that there’s also been a lot of British discontent over the message of “We wish you a very happy holiday season and a joyful new year”? How dare the Sussexes show inclusivity about the holiday season!! This Telegraph column reads like satire, but I think columnist Michael Deacon meant all of this in earnest.

Quite rightly, the entire population of Britain has been rolling its collective eyes at the fact that Harry and Meghan’s official Christmas card doesn’t say “Happy Christmas”. Instead, it says: “Happy Holiday Season”. For pity’s sake. A prince, an actual English prince, referring to Christmas as “the holidays”.

The use of such a phrase isn’t just toe-curling, however. In my view, it also provides a revealing insight into the Sussexes’ marriage. Let’s face it: there are only two conceivable reasons why Harry would have allowed “Happy Holiday Season” to appear under his name. The first is that, after five years in Montecito, His Royal Highness has clean forgotten how to speak his father’s English, and now communicates exclusively in Californian. This is certainly plausible, given that, during recent public appearances, he’s been heard saying things like “you guys”, “awesome” and even “dude”.

I fear, however, that the more likely explanation is the second. Which is that Harry lives in such abject terror of his wife that he didn’t dare question, let alone overrule, her unambiguously American choice of festive message.

All right, so in most households the wife does tend to take charge of writing the Christmas cards (or rather, the husband leaves it to her). But when both husband and wife are so famous that their Christmas card design gets released to every media outlet on the planet, the husband has to take a bit more responsibility. In this case, therefore, Harry should surely have spoken up.

“Megs, darling, it’s an awesome design. Love all the photos of us tending hospital patients and hugging other people’s children. There’s just one tiny, tiny thing. We can’t possibly put ‘Happy Holiday Season’.”

“Why not?”

“Well, I’m British. And British people don’t say ‘holiday season’. We say ‘Christmas’.”

“But we’re in America. And in America, we say ‘holiday season’.”

“Oh, but please, Megs. I’m sure Americans sometimes use the word ‘Christmas’ too. Bing Crosby didn’t sing, ‘I’m dreaming of a white holiday season’, did he? Anyway, if we put ‘holiday season’, people will laugh at me. I mean, I’m a member of the Royal family.”

“Are you?”

“Gosh, that’s a point. I’m not really sure now. Better call Pa and check.”

[From The Telegraph]

So the “War on Christmas” bullsh-t has apparently come to the UK, via the royals. Some Americans – not all, but some – use “happy holidays” or “happy holiday season” because they have a diverse group of friends and associates, people who are Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, etc. Why say “merry Christmas” when you can choose to be more inclusive? The fact that multiple people in the British media are screaming about the Sussexes’ “woke” holiday card is both mind-numbing and hilarious to me. This was literally their holiday card from their BUSINESS!

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Archewell, Getty.

Last week, Prince Andrew pulled out of the pre-Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace, and his people announced that Andrew and Sarah Ferguson would skip Christmas at Sandringham. King Charles absolutely invited Andrew and Fergie, and they were due to stay at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate, as they have done for the past two Christmases. Alongside that announcement, we heard that the York princesses, Eugenie and Beatrice, would also skip Sandringham this year and spend the holidays with their in-laws. Eugenie would spend Christmas with Jack Brooksbank’s family for the first time in years, and Beatrice had plans to spend the holiday with Edo Mapelli Mozzi’s family, probably in Italy. Only now there’s been another switch-up – Beatrice and Edo are apparently going to Sandringham after all.

Pregnant Princess Beatrice has been ordered by doctors to stay home in the UK for Christmas in case travelling endangers her baby. The late Queen’s granddaughter was planning to spend Christmas overseas with her property tycoon husband’s family for the first time since their marriage in 2020. But Buckingham Palace announced last night that the Princess, 36, who is in the final months of her second pregnancy, has changed her festive plans following medical advice that she should not travel for ‘long distances’.

On October 1, the Palace announced Princess Beatrice was expecting the baby ‘in early spring’. She is now in the third trimester of her pregnancy, which starts from 28 weeks. Dr Ellie Cannon, Mail on Sunday columnist and GP, said: ‘There are a whole host of reasons why somebody in their third trimester may not be able to fly. Different acute issues might be something common such as a chest infection or even a viral illness, which can be quite serious in pregnancy. Flying can make this worse because of dehydration and sitting still for hours which can also raise the risk of blood clots. More long-term issues could be high blood pressure or diabetes. Travelling long distance can be dangerous in this scenario because of the ongoing monitoring needed.’

The Princess will now celebrate at Sandringham with the Royal Family, alongside husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 40, her stepson Wolfie, eight, and daughter Sienna, three. She is not expected to join the family in their walk to church on Christmas morning. The Princess has attended other public events recently, including the pre-Christmas Lunch at Buckingham Palace on Thursday.

It is not known exactly where Beatrice was planning to travel to spend Christmas, but it was reported that she had been planning to celebrate with her in-laws. Her husband Mr Mapelli Mozzi, known as Edo, is the son of former Olympic skier Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi and Nikki Williams-Ellis. The family owns an 18th Century mansion an hour from Lake Como in northern Italy.

[From The Daily Mail]

That makes sense to me – Beatrice was told not to fly, so she and Edo updated their Christmas plans once again. I’m surprised that there are no plans for Bea and Edo to do the Christmas church-walk, but that might be health-related too, or maybe it’s just about Charles not wanting to remind everyone about the Yorks. It’s fine to me that Beatrice and Edo were still welcome at Sandringham, although it’s a little bit funny that they decided to forgo spending Christmas with Andrew and Fergie. It’s also more than possible that Andrew and Fergie aren’t even going to stay in England or Royal Lodge, and that’s why Beatrice has changed her plans.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Nothing offends the Daily Mail more than British people moving to America and finding success and happiness here. Nothing brings out the snide contempt of the Mail’s editors and writers more than that – it’s not just Prince Harry and Meghan, it’s any actor, any writer, any royal reporter. Anyway, if you read Omid Scobie’s Endgame, you know that he absolutely burned a lot of bridges with that book, and he did so knowing that he would have to move on from his royal-reporter gigs. The British media – especially the Mail – has been obsessed with Scobie’s bridge-burning and move to LA. They’ve been keeping tabs on him and they want everyone to know that they’re watching everything he does in LA. From the Mail:

When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex decided to release their ‘happy holidays’ card last week they did not do it through their phalanx of PR lackeys, nor even on the website of their charity, the Archewell Foundation. Instead, the first image of the achingly woke card – featuring photos of the couple’s philanthropic work alongside a blurry shot of them with their children – was released by their longtime friend and hagiographer Omid Scobie on his X social media account. For many, it was proof that Scobie, the author of two gushing books about Harry and Meghan, remains very much in favour with the couple.

Today, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Scobie (dubbed ‘Scobie-Doo’ by his detractors because of his Sussex sycophancy) has moved permanently to Los Angeles, meaning he is only a two-hour drive from the Sussexes’ 16-bathroom mansion in Montecito. Insiders say the 43-year-old is working on a book and TV project whose inspiration bears more than a passing similarity to Meghan’s turbulent history with the Royal Family before she and her husband upped sticks and quit the UK for California.

The combined projects, both called Royal Spin, revolve around a glamorous and feisty American publicist who leaves her high-powered job in Washington DC to work in the communications department at Buckingham Palace. According to a source at media giant Universal, which secured the rights to the show for a reported seven-figure sum, the series is ‘Emily in Paris crossed with The Crown’.

The source said: ‘Let’s just say the plot isn’t a million miles away from Meghan’s account of what happened to her when she joined the Royal Family, just substitute ‘publicist’ for ‘actress’. You have this plucky woman who enters the Palace and comes up against the ‘men in grey suits’ who are stuck in Victorian times. The heroine is a thoroughly modern woman, a feminist, much like Meghan sees herself, yet she is stymied at every turn by stuffy royal aides. She gets stuck in the middle of culture clashes and finds herself very much a fish out of water.’

But, of course, in Scobie’s fictionalised version of events, the feisty American import wins over the hearts and minds of everyone she meets and ultimately triumphs over the Establishment ‘baddies’.

Scobie travelled to LA earlier this year to ‘seek his fortune’, intending to sound out opportunities in the entertainment industry. At the time he was living in a luxury flat in London’s Canary Wharf but, according to one associate, was seeking the ‘Hollywood dream’. They said: ‘Omid already had a gig as a regular talking head on [TV show] Good Morning America but he’s ambitious and always dreamed of having a Hollywood career. He went out to LA to take meetings. He took a lot of meetings.’

According to his Instagram account, the former Heat magazine reporter initially rented a house in the Hollywood Hills but, the MoS can reveal, decided to make the move permanent once he sealed his Universal deal. He has told friends he plans to live in LA for a minimum of three to five years. Today he is ‘living the dream’ in a luxury apartment block steps from Sunset Boulevard in the heart of West Hollywood.

[From The Daily Mail]

We heard about Scobie’s show over the summer, when there was a bidding war for the rights to Royal Spin. It’s funny that they’re claiming this is a fictionalized version of Meghan’s story – Meghan didn’t come to the UK to work in the palace’s comms office, she came from America to marry a prince, and she was abused by the racist Victorian snobs working within the palace structure. Scobie’s framing is actually pretty unique and funny, and I think the set-up for the show is great. He’s also been living in LA for the better part of two years, hasn’t he? Anyway, Scobie tweeted this, after the Mail published this story:

Just because it’s a catchy headline doesn’t make it true. So let’s make this clear: Royal Spin’s story and characters have nothing to do with Meghan. As a journalist I covered the Duchess fairly, but it’s so boring to keep calling her my friend (not true) or link her to my work.

— Omid Scobie (@scobie) December 23, 2024

Photos courtesy of Omid Scobie’s IG.

Various royal reporters are publishing their “annual review/insider story of 2024” pieces, and all of them are just as sugary as you can imagine. Rebecca English at the Daily Mail had this one: “Full inside story of the royals’ worst year revealed by REBECCA ENGLISH: How Charles’ cancer led to ‘Operation Delphinium’, the truth about his health and just why he’s so wary of talking to Harry.” Because if there’s no mention of Prince Harry or Meghan, people will just tune it out, I think. What’s curious about English’s piece is that it completely centers King Charles and Camilla, and none of it is about how Prince William feels about yadda yadda. The point of the piece is that Charles is so brave and strong and he has managed his cancer brilliantly. I imagine the year-in reviews commissioned by Kensington Palace will have a much different narrative. Some highlights:

When Charles was diagnosed with cancer: ‘In truth, no one really knew what the coming days would bring. It was a very uncertain time,’ a source admits. As the news quickly made its way down from Scotland, inside Buckingham Palace a tiny group of ashen-faced courtiers gathered with an air of concerned purpose. Their role was to devise a plan to support the King, and reassure an anxious nation. The project, I can reveal, was codenamed ‘Operation Delphinium’ – the King’s favourite flower. ‘I’m not sure even His Majesty knows [that’s what it was called],’ says one insider with knowledge of the ‘circle of trust’.

The Windsors’ dignity!! ‘I don’t think anyone sitting there in January, wondering how on earth they were going to steer the good ship with wave after wave crashing over the bow, would have imagined such an optimistic outcome. And yet here we all are,’ another insider says. ‘It’s frankly staggering the family has come through so much, with such tremendous dignity and resilience.’

Planned tours in 2025: While no assumptions can be made, the future is certainly looking encouraging enough for both the King and William – and possibly even Catherine – to be planning foreign tours next year. Indeed, it will be a very full programme in His Majesty’s case, with trips to Italy and the site of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz pencilled in this spring, as well as early talks of a visit to Brazil for the COP climate summit in the autumn, plus several shorter visits for William. There are no immediate plans for a state visit by the incoming American President (nor will the King travel there next month, not least because, by convention, foreign heads of state do not attend presidential inaugurations). An official meeting either here or there is more likely to happen, I understand, in 2026 – which sees events to mark the 250th anniversary of America’s independence.

Camilla is a tower of strength: Queen Camilla has, naturally, been a tower of strength, but I am told she was ‘a little frightened’ at the start. ‘He’s the love of her life, her partner, her husband of almost 20 years. Of course she was scared,’ a friend tells me. ‘Frankly it’s a lonely enough job when there’s two of you. So you can imagine what it’s like when there’s just one of you out on the road. But she was determined to do her bit for his sake, to pick up the elements of the programme she was able to, while balancing her most significant role as spouse, support and chief cheerleader for him.’ Unusually, and picking up on her husband’s cues, Camilla, 77, made a point of visiting him in hospital almost daily when he had to stay there, usually for meal times to ‘keep his spirits up’. ‘She makes him laugh like no one else,’ they add.

Anne’s health issues: The King is also incredibly close to his sister, Princess Anne, and was ‘deeply worried’ when she was hospitalised in June with severe concussion after being found unconscious at her Gatcombe Park home, having apparently being kicked by a horse. Although the princess was stoically back at work within two weeks, I am told that the incident was ‘really very significant – to put it mildly’ and she still has absolutely no recollection of what happened. ‘No one was ever able to get to the bottom of it – it’s a total mystery. It was a worrying time,’ a source says.

Still estranged from Prince Harry: As for his younger son, Harry, little has changed. Aside from his deeply upsetting attacks on his family over the years, I am told the issue of Harry’s legal action against the Home Office over the withdrawal of his security, which is still dragging through the UK courts, is a major ‘roadblock’ to any reconciliation between the two. ‘It was particularly upsetting for the King to see it briefed in various quarters that Harry believed his father could click his fingers and change everything. That’s a wilful misunderstanding of how things work, particularly when it comes to His Majesty’s own government,’ a source says. Sad to say, the King genuinely fears any conversation with the prince could be used against him in this, or any one of his multiple ongoing court cases. Trust between father and son is going to be very hard to rebuild, meaning there is still no imminent prospect, sadly, of Charles being able to develop any meaningful relationship with his two other grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet.

[From The Daily Mail]

“Tremendous dignity and resilience” – are you f–king joking? Jesus, I guess some people really buy it. Anyway, I’ve lost count of how many excuses Charles has used for why he refuses to communicate with Harry or why he doesn’t give a sh-t about his Sussex grandchildren. The excuse of “Harry’s lawsuit about security” is the one Charles has settled on in the past six months or so. The excuse is based on a lie as well – Charles actually could influence and change Harry’s security situation, and Harry knows that. The sad truth is that if Charles wanted a relationship with Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lili, Charles is perfectly capable of clearing those roadblocks and figuring out a way to make it happen. It speaks volumes that Charles continues to be a dogsh-t father and dogsh-t grandfather. Not only that, but Charles still briefs against the Sussexes constantly.

I also feel like it’s sort of been shrugged off that Anne had a major health crisis this year. She was hospitalized for a week, and it’s bonkers that no one has figured out exactly how she got such a significant head injury. She must have had a really serious concussion too.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Prince William and the Princess of Wales are still catching heat from their decisions, last week, to skip the pre-Christmas lunch and release their Christmas card while the lunch was happening. It looked petty and like William is trying to stick it to his father in some way. It also looked like William and Kate are still lazy as hell, and too dysfunctional to keep up appearances at a family lunch. You can tell that there are murmurs of dysfunction and interfamily beef, because several royal commentators have been sent out to do damage control. Commentator Hugo Vickers gave a hilarious set of quotes to Page Six, in which he went back and forth between “Kate is so ill, we cannot expect her to do anything ever again” and “Kate is obviously ready to be queen at any moment.” Some highlights:

Why William & Kate skipped the pre-Christmas lunch: “No one could have expected what this year has brought for the Prince and Princess of Wales,” said the friend. “Family is so important to them, and the children are the center of their universe. They wanted to start celebrating early. They’re focused this Christmas [season] on being with the family at home and then joining the rest of the Windsor family on Christmas Day. The Prince of Wales has said this has been the hardest year of his life.” Given that he was just 15 years old when his mother, Princess Diana, died in August 1997, that is truly saying something.

Kate is not out of the woods yet: “I’m told she’s getting better and that’s indicated by slightly more frequent appearances … but it’s clearly been absolutely devastating and very difficult for her, and she’s not out of the woods yet,” Hugo Vickers, noted royal historian and friend of the family, told Page Six.

But what if Kate needs to be queen sooner rather than later?? Should she be called upon sooner rather than later, “Catherine is as ready as she will ever be to be queen,” said Vickers.

King Charles looks horrible: “He looks quite knackered up close and red around the eyes and thinner,” said one royal insider who has seen Charles recently, “Especially for someone who normally looks so vigorous, but I suppose it’s only to be expected after 10 months of cancer treatment.

William will be king soon enough: “He must try to be positive,” said Vickers. “But he must be under tremendous stress — not only is his father ill, but the Prince of Wales, throughout history, doesn’t know what morning he will wake up and find himself King.”

A phased return for Kate: We’re told that after finishing treatment a few months ago, Kate is still on a “phased return” to work that will continue well into the New Year, and there are no joint travel plans in the year ahead for the Prince and Princess of Wales. Although, sources say the British Foreign Office would love to see them come to the US in 2026 for the World Cup and to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

No reset button: “There is no big reset button to go back to where they were before,” said the friend. “Cancer is a leveler and every family around the world has someone who has been touched by that disease themselves, so we can all relate to what the Prince and Princess of Wales have gone through. But [Kate] has had to process her illness against the gaze of the world.” Added Vickers: “Her health comes first, that point has been made very effectively — and, of course, her children.”

Kate is preparing to be queen by wearing royal jewels: “We’re starting to see the nods to the family line,” Vickers said. “It’s a dynasty moment and shows she’s conscious at some point of really stepping into the most senior role of queen.”

[From Page Six]

Is it just me or is “Catherine is as ready as she will ever be to be queen” not exactly a ringing endorsement? Vickers is basically saying that Kate can’t be polished or trained any further, that this is who she is and we’ll never get some new and improved version when she’s queen. Obviously, the whole point of all of these Keen Hype pieces is to endlessly put “William, Kate, king and queen” in the same sentence as much as possible. How are courtiers not filled with dread? How are the most die-hard royalists not panicking over that? What concerns me is that the propaganda machinery is working overtime to put this hazy patina of suffering over the past year, like William and Kate weren’t actively lying and deceiving the public in the middle of their own crisis.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

In May 2023, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Doria Ragland attended the Ms. Foundation event in New York. It was an evening event, and while Meghan and Harry mostly ducked the paparazzi going into the event, they left the event through one of the main doors and that allowed paparazzi to get some shots of Harry and Meghan as their security led them to their cars. Once the Sussexes and their security left the scene, all hell broke loose. Paparazzi and, um, other cars and SUVs tried to chase down the Sussexes’ vehicles. It was a chaotic scene which could have cost lives. The Sussexes’ security took them into a police station at one point because the situation was so dire. What happened after the paparazzi chase was a whole lotta nothing – Mayor Eric Adams downplayed the incident, and the British media decided, without evidence, that Harry and Meghan fantasized the entire incident and they were clearly lying. To this day, no arrests have been made and there have been no updates on the investigation. Until now! Apparently, Harry spent months demanding a real investigation and demanding that arrests be made. The Daily Mail got their hands on some documentation via FOIA requests.

Prince Harry pressured New York cops to speed up their investigation and make arrests after their ‘high speed’ chase with photographers through the streets of Manhattan. He even claimed there was a cover-up, letters and emails obtained by DailyMail.com show.

‘The duke feels intentionally misled and is suspicious of a cover-up,’ one missive from his security company to the New York Police Department said. Harry also demanded that arrests be made the very next day and threatened to make an official complaint. The demand came after John Hart, the NYPD’s top intelligence officer, had sent police in London two letters, one saying there was not enough evidence to make arrests and a second – three months later – saying there was. To date, no arrests have been made in connection with the May 2023 incident.

Hart’s original letter was sent in September 2023. The second arrived on December 6 that year, midway through a hearing in London when he was trying to get the British government to pay for protection for him and his family while visiting the UK. But TorchStone then sent an email saying Harry was upset at the slow pace of the NYPD’s investigation and felt ‘intentionally misled’.

Harry even asked California Governor Gavin Newsom for a contact with the prosecutors in New York – and wanted to take the matter higher if ‘necessary’.

Emails obtained by DailyMail.com through a Freedom of Information request show that Harry’s team repeatedly pressed the NYPD about the incident. The first letter from the NYPD was dated September 18, 2023, and was addressed to Richard Smith, the Chief Superintendent Commander for Royalty and Specialty Protection at the Metropolitan Police in London.

The letter says that a thorough review of the incident had taken place and they concluded ‘that the behavior in question was reckless’, but they didn’t have enough evidence to make an arrest. In a statement at the time, the NYPD said there were ‘numerous photographers that made their (the Sussexes) transport challenging’. ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard,’ said Julian Phillips, the Deputy Commissioner for Public Information.

Hart later met with three people from TorchStone for 30 minutes on Microsoft Teams. The subject of the visit was: ‘NYC Visit of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’, referring to the planned visit that October by the Sussexes to New York for World Mental Health Day. Then, on December 6, Hart sent the second letter to police in London, copying it to TouchStone under the subject line ‘as discussed’. The letter was the same as the first, with one key difference – there was now ‘sufficient evidence to arrest two individuals for reckless endangerment’.

The second letter appeared to provide a sense of vindication for the Sussexes and arrived at a crucial time for the Duke. December 6 was the second day of a three-day hearing at the High Court in London where he was trying to compel the British government to give him full royal security protection while on visits to the UK.

[From The Daily Mail]

The Mail won’t come out and say it, but they’re insinuating that Harry pulled strings to force the NYPD to exaggerate the paparazzi chase as a way to strengthen Harry’s security case in England. Obviously, Harry would sue the Mail (again) if they came right out and said that, so that’s why it’s merely an insinuation. For what it’s worth, I always believed that the paparazzi chase was really dangerous and I also believe that the people chasing the Sussexes were not solely paparazzi. Their actions were not “photographers hunting for a million-dollar photo.” I also found it suspicious that the NYPD was seemingly fine with shrugging off the investigation, and yet the same police department gave the Sussexes really hardcore protection when they visited months later. Which is it – were the Sussexes exaggerating the danger they faced, or did the NYPD not want to get blamed if they allowed Harry & Meghan to be in that kind of danger again?

Top 8 stories about the Sussexes’ paparazzi car chase

The Sussexes were chased by paparazzi for two hours in an ordeal that has been mischaracterized by the media. Get the top 8 stories about this when you sign up for our mailing list. We only send one email on weekdays around lunchtime.  – Katie at Celebitchy

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Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Periodically throughout my childhood, my mother would randomly turn to me and say, “Write a hit song and you’ll be rich for life.” Oh, how I wish I had listened. Perhaps no singular case proves the wisdom of my mother’s words better than that of Mariah Carey and her annual chart-topper, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” The song, which was released on her Merry Christmas album in 1994, dominates the airwaves from November 1 through Christmas, what many refer to as Mimi Season. According to People Mag, which cites reporting from Forbes, Ms. Carey made $60 million when the song first came out in 1994, and has made an estimated $2.5 million per year in royalties since. So, $2.5M x 30 years + $60M = I really wish I’d heeded my mother’s advice. Here’s more on all the money-making and record-breaking Mimi is earning off of the tune where she croons about not wanting any material gifts:

On Dec. 13, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” became the first holiday song to reach 2 billion streams on Spotify.

“This is beyond incredible,” Carey said in a statement to PEOPLE. “I’m so grateful to all Spotify listeners around the world who’ve made the song part of their holiday tradition year after year.”

…When the song was first released in 1994, Carey made $60 million. Now, according to Forbes, Carey earns around $2.5 million in annual royalties based on calculations from The Economist. The outlet reported that The New York Post estimated the number to be even higher, at $3 million.

“All I Want for Christmas Is You” was part of Carey’s fourth album, Merry Christmas, and was instantly a global success, topping the charts in 26 countries. Three decades after its release, it continues to climb back up the Billboard Hot 100 ladder and Spotify’s streaming numbers as soon as the holiday season comes around.

The tune has consistently been among the most-streamed holiday songs, per Forbes, and became the first holiday single to ever receive the coveted RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) Diamond Award in 2021.

To earn the prize, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” had to reach 10 million sales and streams.

Two years later, the song was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

“I’m honored beyond belief!” Carey wrote of the achievement on X. “I definitely did not even imagine this would happen when writing and recording this song!”

According to Spotify, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has grown 120% globally on the platform since 2019, becoming the most streamed holiday song of all time both globally and in the U.S.

While Carey has yet to beat Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas,” the highest-selling single of all time with 50 million copies sold worldwide, the Christmas tune is well on its way.

At least on Spotify, Carey’s classic has been the No. 1 song globally on Christmas Day every year since 2016. In 2024, its streams have continually increased throughout the season, growing 860% globally and 1,100% in the U.S. since Nov. 1.

On Dec. 17, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” notched its 20th week at the top spot on Billboard’s streaming songs chart, tying it with Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” for most weeks at No. 1. At that point, it had also spent 16 weeks in the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 list.

[From People]

As much as all these streams and royalties add up to, it still doesn’t account for everything! Mariah Carey also collects touring income this time of year from her seasonal Christmas Time Tour (you know, the one where people kept getting into fights but then ended on a high note with Mimi signing RiRi’s boob?), where “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is front and center. Not to mention merch deals Mimi lines up, like the Xmas goods she did for Amazon this year, partly to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Merry Christmas, the album that brought us the song that changed the holiday season forever. I don’t think a feat like this, writing and performing a song that becomes synonymous with an annual holiday, can ever be replicated. I mean, Mariah Carey’s initials are literally the same as Merry Christmas (a fact which took me way too long into adulthood to put together). So Miss Mimi becoming the Queen of Christmas feels somehow ordained, fated, destined to be. Or, dare I say it, KISMET!

Happy Holidays, whichever music you listen to, and may we all become millionaires like Mimi. That’s all I want.

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A post shared by Mariah Carey (@mariahcarey)

Mariah Carey is shown in Aspen yesterday, December 22, in a gold dress. She’s also shown on Saturday, December 21 in a red dress and a LV poncho. Credit: The Daily Stardust/ LA Gossip TV / Backgrid. Other photos via Instagram/Mariah Carey

Throughout the 2023-24 awards season, Da’Vine Joy Randolph floated through nearly every awards show, picking up supporting-actress awards for her role in The Holdovers. I loved that movie and I loved Da’Vine in it. She was basically a lock early on, so much so that it didn’t even feel like she had to do a big Oscar campaign or do a million self-promoting interviews. All of which to say, I had no idea that she is a classically-trained opera singer? Did you guys know that? Da’Vine has been known primarily as a stage actress and a musical actress, but I didn’t know she could do opera. Well, there’s an opera-related movie coming out this fall: Pablo Larrain’s Maria, where Angelina Jolie plays Maria Callas. Da’Vine is keeping her eye on it:

Da’Vine Joy Randolph has already brought her vocal chops to “Rustin,” “High Fidelity,” and the upcoming Pharrell Williams biopic, but the Academy Award winner is ready to fully showcase her opera background onscreen. Randolph told IndieWire while attending the “Through Her Lens” cocktail reception, hosted by Tribeca and Chanel, that Pablo Larraín’s buzzy Maria Callas film “Maria” has opened the door for opera biopics — and Randolph is more than ready to bring history-making Leontyne Price’s story to the screen.

“It’s ironic because Angelina Jolie has the Maria Callas biopic [‘Maria’] coming up,” Randolph said. “I’m a classically trained opera singer. I want to do a biopic of an opera singer.”

Leontyne Price is celebrated as one of the great modern vocalists — she played title roles in both “Porgy and Bess” and “Aida.” If a success, “Maria” — and Randolph — could be what ultimately ushers Price’s legacy into movie theaters.

Randolph’s voice will also be on display in the upcoming (non-LEGO) Pharrell Williams biopic, which marks her first role since winning the Oscar for “The Holdovers.” Randolph told IndieWire that the film is not a traditional musical.

“I would probably say it’s a film with music. It’s not like an opera or ‘Les Mis,’ in the sense of like everything is sung. There’s more speaking than singing,” Randolph said, while also adding that she has three songs in the feature, one of which is being billed as a showstopper.

[From Indie Wire]

While Da’Vine’s comments are not being framed as shady, I did feel like they were a little bit shady! Especially since Angelina has zero opera background, although she did train with an opera coach. That being said, Da’Vine seems to hope that a rising opera tide will lift all boats – if Maria is well-received, perhaps it will be easier for Da’Vine to get her Leontyne Price movie made.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

A few weeks ago, Snap Judgement/NPR’s Spooked podcast did an episode dedicated to the “Home Alone Curse.” The story was told by actor Larry Hankin, who plays Larry the officer in the first movie. He’s the one eating a glazed donut as Kate McCallister is pleading with him over the phone to send someone to check on Kevin. Apparently, Larry was very close to stepping in to take over for Daniel Stern as Marv early into production. Obviously, Stern stayed on, but a few weeks later, Larry got a call begging him to take a part that they created just for him. Why? Because they believed that the movie was cursed because Larry hadn’t been cast in it and there were all sorts of mishaps that were slowing down production in general. It’s a really fun listen.

Although Larry showed up to break the curse, that wasn’t the end of the movie’s mishaps. Macaulay Culkin has been doing a tour with screenings of Home Alone and a Q&A afterward called, “A Nostalgic Night With Macaulay Culkin,” During a screening in Illinois, Macaulay shared that a rehearsal for the scene where Harry (Joe Pesci) threatened to bite Kevin’s fingers off, Pesci went a little too far and accidentally bit Mac’s hand. In fact, he bit it so hard that Culkin says he has a scar from it.

“All the great ones leave their mark,” Daniel Stern’s Marv tells Joe Pesci’s Harry in “Home Alone,” yet it seems like Pesci is actually the one who left a mark in real life.

During a screening of the classic 1990 Christmas comedy earlier this month in Rosemont, Illinois, star Macaulay Culkin, who played Kevin McCallister, revealed that Pesci, who, along with Stern, played a pair of bungling burglars, actually bit him while they rehearsed a scene in which Harry threatened to bite off Kevin’s fingers.

“He was trying to scare me,” Culkin said about working together, according to The New York Times.

“He was like, I want to be menacing to this kid,” he added.

Pesci allegedly bit down on Culkin, who is now 44.

“I have a scar,” Culkin said.

“I saw his face — and I’ve never, ever seen Joe Pesci actually scared,” Culkin added. “Because he’s like, I just bit a kid!”

The New York Times reports Pesci declined to comment through his rep on the matter.

“Home Alone,” which turned Culkin into a star, continues to be his signature role and biggest claim to fame. When he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023, his mom from the movie, played by Catherine O’Hara, was on hand to deliver a speech.

“I know you worked really hard. I know you did,” she said. “But you made acting look like the most natural thing in the world to do. It really was as if we had ambushed the home of this real little boy named Kevin to make a movie and he just went along with it for the fun of it. It’s the dearest thing.”

[From Today]

My family and I watch Home Alone and Home Alone 2 every year, so I’m always really curious to know more of those movies’ lure. My only question after hearing Mac’s story is how frigging hard was Pesci biting down in order to leave not only a mark but a scar?! That is either some crazy commitment to character acting or someone who in that moment could not separate his other, more “intense” works while in that moment. Of course, there’s also always the third option that Mac was exaggerating about the scar, lol. While Pesci may not have commented, Stern did recently talk to Entertainment Tonight about working with him, explaining that he’s a “scary dude,” and talking about one of my favorite scenes, where Marv tries to kill the tarantula. It really does sound like this movie was insane to shoot. Next year is the 35th anniversary of its release and I’d love it if the cast all sat down and did a retrospective. That would be so awesome.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

photos credit Getty and screenshots from Home Alone on Disney+