Since Shakira’s split from Gerard Pique, the gossip media has tried to put Shaki with several celebrity men. There were rumors that Tom Cruise was interested in pursuing her, there were rumors that Shakira and Lewis Hamilton were possibly seeing each other. Then, last week, Shakira posted some photos from her latest music video shoot – pics with the actor Lucien Laviscount, who she cast in the video. Lucien is a British actor known primarily – to me! – as Alfie in Emily in Paris. He was/is lovely on that show and he’s a good looking guy. Everyone thought “wow, that’s good casting for a music video.” But as it turns out, it looks like Lucien might be Shakira’s new boyfriend.

After Shakira’s Times Square show last night, she stepped out with Lucien and the paparazzi got lots of photos. They went to dinner at Carbone, then they went to Mulberry. If I’m being honest, Lucien did not look into it by the end of the night – he seemed a bit shellshocked by all of the paparazzi. Judging by the wealth of photos, a lot of photographers were out to document Shakira and her new man. In case you’re wondering about the age difference – Lucien is 31 years old, Shakira is 47. I mean… he seems like he would be a lot of fun. That’s how he comes across in Emily in Paris – like a sweet, uncomplicated guy. We’ll see!

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Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Tina Brown was in rare form in the weeks before we learned that the Princess of Wales is being treated for cancer. Brown appeared on CBS just after the Mother’s Day photo fiasco, where she declared that “the wheels have come off” Kensington Palace and that the whole operation was “flailing.” Then Brown went to England last week to do some media and she was pretty brutal on Prince William and Kate’s whole operation and the lack of dignity. While she was in the UK, it looks like Brown caught up with her royal sources, because she’s been especially chatty post-cancer-video. Brown wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about all of the sh-t that’s gone down and how Will and Kate are dealing with “intense anxiety” behind the scenes because they are not prepared to be king and queen. I get that… but I still believe there’s a tremendous amount of clownery happening. Some highlights:

The Mother’s Day frankenphoto fiasco: After The Associated Press issued a kill notification on the botched photoshopped image of a suspiciously glossy Princess of Wales surrounded by her beaming progeny, there was a typical outburst of tabloid pomposity questioning whether Kensington Palace could ever be considered a trusted source of news. Huh? When was the last time any tabloid considered the palace a trusted source of news? As the editor of Vanity Fair in 1985, I wrote a piece revealing that Prince Charles and Princess Diana were having awful marital fights. The palace roundly denied it, and the royal couple denied it in a television interview, confirming in my mind — correctly, as it turned out — that it was all true.

Turmoil behind the scenes: I am told the turmoil behind the scenes has been intense, resulting in what has felt like a series of baffling press screw-ups. We hear often of Prince Harry’s hatred of the press. If possible, Prince William — while concealing it better — hates the press even more. His bloody-minded determination to stick to his grandmother Queen Elizabeth’s script of “never complain, never explain” is magical thinking in the era of the social media maelstrom, creating a vacuum filled by rumor and deranged conspiracy theories.

Anxiety: The almost simultaneous news of Charles’s cancer has put William and Catherine in frightening proximity to ascending the throne just when they had hoped for a span of years to parent their children out of the public eye. The prospect of it, I am told, is causing them intense anxiety. Help from other family members is scant, aside from the redoubtable Princess Anne, Charles’s sister, and the good-egg Gaiety Girl Queen Camilla. The slimmed-down monarchy that Charles always promoted is suddenly looking very lean indeed. The combination of the Harry and Meghan clown show in Montecito, Calif.; the fusillades from Harry’s memoir, “Spare”; and the disgrace of Prince Andrew — who has little social contact with anyone except his horse — have put William and Catherine under unmanageable pressure.

The weakness of today’s monarchy: It may not be a popular thought, but in many ways I blame the predicament and weakness of the monarchy today on Queen Elizabeth. It’s possible that future generations will see her as the Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the British monarchy. She stayed too long, and by doing so, left behind a legacy that may be the opposite of what she wanted. The time for Elizabeth II to step down was not long after her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the year I have come to think of as peak London, when Britain dazzlingly hosted the Olympics.

Elizabeth loved being queen: No, Elizabeth II loved the world of politics and power as much as she did breeding horses and tramping the heather of her Balmoral estate. But her 70-year reign has left a pileup of heirs infantilized by too little to do and trapped by a dusty structure that should have been reformed decades ago.

William would have had more to do if he became Prince of Wales in 2012: And William, instead of taking over the Duchy of Cornwall estates in his early 30s and creating a space for the popular Harry to develop a strong portfolio of his own, ended up in a rivalrous relationship with his younger brother that exploded irretrievably when Meghan Markle entered the scene. A less hidebound palace might have come up with a more creative way to solve the Sussex imbroglio.

Frozen: Catherine is battling more — much more — than cancer. A tidal wave of premature responsibility is crashing in her and William’s direction. Frozen, unready and with Catherine now seriously unwell, the Prince and Princess of Wales await the awesome burden of the crown.

[From The NY Times]

Even though she couches a lot of this in “poor Catherine,” she’s actually spilling some interesting tea – William and Kate are frozen and don’t know what to do, there were huge disagreements about how to handle everything behind the scenes and William and Kate have been infantilized to the point where they’re in their 40s and completely unprepared to take over or do anything but scream about their privacy. I think that’s probably close to what’s been happening. Or some of what’s been happening.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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I’m a “the more you know” kind of person. I like to be prepared, especially when it comes to how my body works. I still have a few years to go before I start menopause – I just turned 40 – but I’ve already been on the lookout for any symptoms just so I know what to expect or look for. There’s so many things that women experience about their bodies in general that don’t really get talked about en masse. Some things may still be considered taboo while others may just be considered TMI. Honestly, I always appreciate when other women are willing to share some of the less common, or rather, less talked about symptoms.

Halle Berry did an event in Los Angeles with first lady Dr. Jill Biden earlier this week called A Day of Unreasonable Conversation. It engaged figures involved in politics, entertainment, and content creators in “critical discourse” on important issues. Halle and Dr. Biden were there to talk about women’s health and urge people to write more about it. Well, Halle, who is 57, certainly understood the assignment because she got right up there on stage with our first lady and started talking about a painful experience she had one morning after having “great sex” with her boyfriend Van Hunt. Her gyno thought she had herpes, but *surprise!* it ended up being one of those wild and wacky perimenopausal symptoms. Ahhh.

“First of all, my ego told me that I was gonna skip [menopause],” Berry said. “I’m in great shape. I’m healthy. … So that makes one think, Oh, I can handle menopause. I’m going to eat right, exercise, and I’m gonna skip that whole thing. You don’t skip it. But I was so [uneducated] at that time. I wish I knew then when I know now.”

As it turns out, an intimate moment with boyfriend Van Hunt led her to discover she was in perimenopause.

“So, I finally meet the man of my dreams, and I don’t know, some of you might know about my troubles with relationships,” Berry said as she poked fun at her three “failed” marriages. “At 54, I find my guy. Perimenopause is not even a thought on my mind ’cause I’m skipping it. Remember? So we’re having our thing, we’re having sex and everything is great. And I’m like, ‘Ah, the skies have opened up’ So one day, we’re having sex like normal.”

“I didn’t know she was gonna tell this,” Biden interjected, causing the audience to erupt in laughter. “We’re not talking about my [experience]!”

“So anyway, I have this great sex,” Berry continued. “I wake up in the morning, I go to the bathroom, and guess what? I feel like I have razor blades in my vagina.”

Biden interjected, “My daughter’s here in the audience.”

“It might happen to you if you’re not careful, but razor blades … it was terrible,” Berry said. The actress said she immediately went to her gynecologist, who further confused her as to what was going on. “He says, ‘Halle, you have a new guy right?’ I said ‘I do, I’m really excited.’ He said, ‘You messed up again … you have the worst case of herpes I have ever seen.”

Berry’s ob-gyn ran more tests but was convinced she had herpes. Berry said she went from the office to have a talk with Hunt — who was shocked as he said he does not have herpes. They both got tested.

“Neither one of us has herpes,” Berry said. “I realized, after the fact, that [the sensation] is a symptom of perimenopause.”

“I’m not making any comment,” Biden replied. Berry said she wished people warned her “there are things you can do to arrive at this time of life in a more elegant way.”

“My doctor had no knowledge and didn’t prepare me, that’s when I knew, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve gotta use my platform. I have to use all of who I am and I have to start making a change and a difference,” she explained.

Biden agreed and added how it’s important “we hit it from the side of preventative” medicine. The first lady’s appearance came one week after President Joe Biden signed an executive order to expand research on women’s health care.

“We don’t have answers,” Biden declared, explaining she was given conflicting information as to whether hormone therapy is recommended for menopausal women.

“With all the money that you and President Biden are putting into play, we are going to have more information. We’re going to be able to live better, healthier, longer lives. Right now, women live longer than men. They do live in poor health,” Berry said at one point. “If you’re living in poor health, why live longer? What’s the point?”

[From Yahoo News]

Halle Berry is a badass for so many reasons, but mad props to her for getting up on stage with Dr. Biden and talking about this. I don’t think the First Lady had “talking to Halle Berry about menopause symptoms after sex” on her bingo card, but dang, Halle sure picked her platform well! She knew this was the perfect way to bring attention to the subject. And I do appreciate her sharing that this is a thing. Former supermodel Beverly Johnson also did a really informative interview a few years ago, talking about the ways her body changed when she started menopause.

When we hear women talking about menopause, we hear about hot flashes, insomnia, weight gain, and out-of-control emotions. And trust me, I am grateful to those women for speaking out about those symptoms because it will help prepare me for what lies ahead. I knew that hormonal changes can affect your sex drive, but I did not know that you could experience a burning sensation so bad that it could be mistaken for herpes. I was talking to a friend who is a few years older than I am and already in perimenopause and she told me that what Halle described has actually happened to her, too. Ahhh, like I said, the more you know, right? Believe me, I want to know.

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Before I get into this week’s Us Weekly cover story, let’s talk about how the Times of London sort of buried this interesting and exclusive information in a story about a cancer charity. The point of this Times piece was to point out that, following the Princess of Wales’s Friday video in which she revealed her cancer diagnosis, a British cancer charity got a lot of emails and support. Then, within the article, the Times noted:

Both the prince and princess are understood to be extremely grateful and enormously touched by the support from the public. Royal sources added that Prince William was “extremely proud” of the courage and strength that his wife had shown, not just in the past week but throughout her ill health.

William was not present during the filming of Kate’s clip, as it is understood that the princess wanted to record it on her own. However, insiders said that she believed her recovery has been enormously helped by the daily support of her husband.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said: “The prince will continue to balance supporting his wife and family and maintaining his official duties as he has done since the start of the year.”

[From The Times]

Well, according to TikTok, it’s doubtful Kate was even present during the making of the video, so there. But for argument’s sake, let’s say Kate really did sit somewhere and film this. It wasn’t just that William didn’t sit with her in the video, holding her hand as she told the world what had been happening to her over the past three months. It’s that William wasn’t even present in the background, to give her a hug after her emotional speech. He was in the wind during one of the most emotional and stressful moments of his wife’s life. That’s really weird and bad. As for the Us Weekly cover story, here are the basics:

Kate’s message finally put months of speculation to bed. Though Kensington Palace had announced she wouldn’t return to her royal duties until after Easter, the rumor mill went into overdrive during her public absence. Conspiracy theories — and talk that Kate and William, 41, were having marital issues — ran rampant and only amplified when Kate released a digitally altered photo on March 10, U.K. Mother’s Day. (She later apologized for experimenting with photo editing.)

All the while, the couple was privately reeling. “Kate was shocked when they found the cancer and in shock for a while after,” says the source, adding that the princess and William “were not ready for the diagnosis.” The couple has been trying to process the news in their own time. “The day the family found out was the day William canceled going to the memorial of his godfather King Constantine of Greece,” shares a second source. (On February 27, William pulled out of the service at the last minute due to a “personal matter.”)

Kate is leaning on William more than ever. “William is trying to be there for Kate and helping in every way he can,” says the first source. “He’s been doing schoolwork with the kids and spending time with them in the afternoons and evenings.” While the couple have employed Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo as their nanny since 2014, Kate and William are involved in every aspect of the kids’ lives. According to the source, the children are coping as well as can be expected. “They know their mother is sick and is trying to get better,” says the source.

It hasn’t been easy for the future king. The source says William feels “helpless and scared” and has been asking other members of the family to fill in for him so he can be present at home. It can be a tough ask as the royals are stretched thin lately: In early February, Buckingham Palace announced that William’s father, King Charles III, 75, was receiving treatment for cancer following a planned procedure for an enlarged prostate; Charles’ wife, Queen Camilla, 76, has also been picking up the slack for her ailing husband.

[From Us Weekly]

I might have bought the whole “William feels helpless and scared” theory if not for the fact that Kensington Palace dropped the video on Friday and has spent a good four days briefing about how much William hates his brother. The fact that the Sussexes simply made a public statement of support for Kate sent William on some kind of hate-spiral where he’s seemingly making everything about Harry. Also: remember when King Charles first announced his cancer diagnosis and Harry immediately flew to London to see his dad? Something very similar happened with William: he could not STFU about how much he hates Harry, how he never wants to see Harry, how Harry better not try to talk to him. Maybe William’s stress response to a family member’s cancer diagnosis is to “seethe about Harry.” Because it doesn’t seem like William’s response is to actually support his family members. At all.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Kensington Palace. Cover courtesy of Us Weekly.

One week ago exactly, Kensington Palace staffers were briefing the Mirror, the Times and the Mail about their big plans for the Princess of Wales to make her first public appearance at church on Easter Sunday. At the time, the conversations around the “missing” princess were growing dire, to the point where KP was under significant pressure to provide proof of life. Now we know that one week ago, Kate filmed her cancer-announcement video, which effectively ended all speculation about when and where we would see her next. KP then announced that of course Kate would not show up on Easter Sunday, and it will probably be a while before she has any kind of public schedule.

So in Kate’s absence, King Charles and Buckingham Palace are now doing the most to turn this high holy day into a story about a king’s resurrection. In recent days, there’s has been a wealth of briefings from BP about Charles’s plans to be seen out and about more often in the late spring and early summer. Starting with an Easter Sunday appearance:

Buckingham Palace has confirmed that the King will attend the traditional Easter Matins church service on Sunday. Charles, 75, accompanied by the Queen, will lead members of the Royal family at the traditional service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

The King has stepped back from public duties on medical advice as he undergoes cancer treatment, in order to avoid the risks associated with large crowds. The royal turnout on Easter Sunday will therefore be considerably smaller than usual, in order to minimise his contact with others, an outing dubbed “Easter Lite”.

The palace said: “Their Majesties The King and Queen, accompanied by other members of the Royal family, will attend the Easter Matins Service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on Easter Sunday.”

The outing will be the King’s most significant appearance since he was diagnosed with cancer early last month. Since then, he has been determined to maintain a public profile, reassuring the nation that his hand remains on the tiller and that he continues with his state duties. As such, he has also recorded an audio message that will be played at the Royal Maundy Thursday service at Worcester Cathedral this week, when he will be represented by the Queen. Camilla, 76, will distribute Maundy money on behalf of her husband, taking on the ancient custom for the first time. The King is unable to attend due to the large numbers that will be at the service.

On Easter Sunday, by comparison, there will be a vastly reduced congregation with only a handful of royals in attendance. Kensington Palace has confirmed that the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children will not be there.

[From The Telegraph]

Yeah, this is fine and uncontroversial? The Windsors do Easter in Windsor, so it’s very easy for them to control the guest-list, the optics and the photographers’ set-up. Charles will be able to either walk to church or be chauffeured, and he’ll wave to photographers some distance away, and that’s it. There will probably only be about a dozen royals in attendance. I wonder if all the “royal cousins” are being told not to bother. Last year’s royal-Easter featured a lot of royal cousins and their kids. I bet that won’t be the case this year.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

I’m not going to cover all of the hate-pieces about the Duchess of Sussex’s lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, but there are a lot and they are not limited British outlets. The other day, I read this ghastly and nasty piece in Air Mail written by Hilary Rose, a byline I know from the Times of London. The British royalists are trying to make a name for themselves in America by pouring scorn on the Sussexes. That being said, the bulk of the hate is absolutely being published in the UK, specifically in the Daily Mail. The Mail has run a half-dozen columns solely devoted to speculating and hating on ARO, a brand which has not even been officially launched. We still haven’t seen one bottle of jam or one casserole dish and these people are already trying to make it sound like a flop. Well, in case you needed it spelled out, what these people are really worried about is that ARO is going to be a success and they can’t take credit for it or claim that the Sussexes are broke. Please allow that unhinged old fart Tom Bower to basically make that point in his new Mail column:

A time bomb for the Windsors: “We’ve been told that Meghan’s syrupy new lifestyle brand ‘will reflect everything she loves – family cooking, entertaining and home decor’. But the bizarrely named American Riviera Orchard is better described as a timebomb for the Royal Family. Despite the homely talk of cutlery, recipes and upmarket jam, this has the appearance of blatant cashing in – an initiative by the former actress to secure a financial safety net for when the Sussexes’ earnings from Netflix and Spotify evaporate. Makeup, lavender sachets, yoga mats and even dog shampoo are also on the menu from Montecito as MailOnline revealed last night.

Meghan has been plotting this all along!! The direction of travel has been obvious ever since Meghan and Harry tied the knot at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in 2018. Back then, there was enormous public backing for the glamorous, unstuffy American who promised to add a bit modernity and spontaneity to the British monarchy. There was nothing off-the-cuff about the invitation list, though. Few were fooled as they watched the guests arrive at the chapel. Most were Hollywood agents, directors and celebrities – some of whom Meghan hardly knew. All were invited to witness her victory on joining the firm. This was the first step in establishing Meghan Inc., a dream she has been loath to relinquish – and which the Royal Family should rightly fear. ‘Everything Meghan does is carefully curated and forensically planned,’ comments Gina Nelthorpe-Cowne, her former commercial agent.

Fergie was better than Meghan: True, Meghan is not the first royal to tread this path. There was ridicule when Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, used her title to make money from ventures including slimming tips, posh teas and a £50 juicer. But Fergie did not traduce the British monarchy via interviews and books. Nor was she attempting to establish a rival royal family across the water.

The timing of Meghan’s ARO: When Kate, whom Meghan has maligned, is suffering serious health issues, the timing of the American Riviera Orchard announcement seemed particularly tasteless even before the Princess of Wales’s shock cancer diagnosis. It also appears that the project has been rushed. Meghan has not yet appointed a chief executive to manage the business, as the Mail revealed yesterday. In her haste to get it launched, did she forget the basic foundations of a successful operation – talented staff?

Meghan is a problem for the firm: The King and Prince William now face a serious problem – and a woman whose personal drive and hungry ambition seem to know no bounds. ‘She wanted to rule the world,’ says Nelthorpe-Cowne of their time working together, words King Charles should remember. Until now, he has been too accommodating. It is unfortunate that the King agreed to give royal titles to the Sussex children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Now, after the launch of Meghan’s lifestyle brand, he probably regrets it.

[From The Daily Mail]

If an American woman with a lifestyle brand is a mortal threat to the monarchy, that says more about the monarchy than the American woman. It reminds me of what Marina Hyde wrote in the Guardian in 2021, which is that the Sussexes’ critics need to move on because they’ve “been outmanoeuvred by an emotional wellness podcaster. It’s like being out-strategised by kale.” Imagine this self-own: Meghan selling cookware is the biggest threat to the monarchy!! Again, Meghan’s lifestyle brand is not the death knell of the monarchy. The reason why the Windsors and their loyal reporters are so mad is because Meghan and Harry are just… going about their business in America. They’re not begging to come back, they’re building a life and an empire for themselves. That was the real death knell for the monarchy – pushing out two charismatic and popular royals out of shortsighted spite.

Photos courtesy of Instar.

Clive Irving is a royal historian and commentator who often publishes columns in the Daily Beast. Irving is not like Tom Sykes, who often seems very eager to parrot whatever unhinged things Prince William’s “friends” tell him, the angrier the better. Irving is more of an old-guard royalist like Peter Hunt – someone who keeps an eye on the overall health of the institution and someone who takes a longer view. Currently, Clive Irving’s long view of the monarchy is that Prince William and Prince Harry need to reconcile for the good of the institution, especially with King Charles and the Princess of Wales both facing down cancer. Some highlights from this Daily Beast piece:

The challenges of Prince William: No previous Prince of Wales has faced a challenge like the one that Prince William now does. The future of the House of Windsor may well depend on how well he handles it. It’s a double whammy for him: His wife and his father simultaneously stricken with cancers of unknown type and severity; an intimate family emergency and a grave constitutional one, too, since his father is the king.

A possible fraternal reconciliation: If it is true, as ITV News’ royal editor, Chris Ship reported late Friday, that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have reached out privately to Kate Middleton and William—after sending a public message wishing Kate “health and healing” following her cancer diagnosis—then perhaps Kate’s devastating news may yet help forge a fraternal reconciliation that, as well as harmonizing family relations, could positively bolster the monarchy as its most fragile modern moment.

Nothing is certain these days: The communications disarray of the last few weeks, as William determined that they should keep their true family agonies secret until the kids were on school holidays and could be spared a paparazzi storm, is now understandable—but let’s be clear, that was just the overture to what now confronts William as the point man of a crisis that will bring new stresses every day. There are serious issues that cannot be avoided.

William will need to fill in for his father: For example, nobody can yet know the outcome of King Charles’ treatment, especially since he chose (as is his right) not to disclose what type of cancer it is and, therefore, how taxing the treatment is—he certainly looks resilient and healthy in public and we must hope that this is a reliable guide to his actual condition. But his schedule is being cut back as far ahead as the early summer. This means William will have to fill at least some of those gaps while he supports his wife through her chemotherapy.

Tension with the way the media works now: There is now a palpable tension between the very understandable desire of the royal family for the king and Kate to enjoy privacy on the terms they have themselves set and the incessant build-up of pressure and speculation in the palpitating celebrity media universe for the smallest scrap of information or grainy glimpse of an elusive royal.

William needs his brother: William is going to need all the help he can get. This might, therefore, be a good moment to end the often petty and fundamentally pitiful breach between the brothers and their wives. A reconciliation of the Sussexes and the Waleses would be a truly historic healing moment and a refreshing sign, at last, of maturity and, not the least, of a required durability in the House of Windsor.

Charles is not a changemaker, but William & Harry could be? In contrast, William and Harry are the future, not the past. Few people have been as scarred as they are by the obscene intrusions of the hack packs. The brothers chose different paths in dealing with this menace. Harry’s full-frontal attack on hackers has been vindicated in the courts. William’s composure, reflecting his own sense of duty over personal anger, speaks volumes in its own way. Now they could together be the new face of a resolute monarchy, not the splintered force from the old bickering family of the past.

[From The Daily Beast]

This reminds me so much of Robert Lacey’s similar musings years ago, that William and Harry *must* reconcile for the good of the monarchy. Both Lacey and Irving fail to properly explain why that is and why it’s such an imperative, especially given that the most significant “spares” in royal history are the ones who actually had to step into the top job. Both Irving and Lacey can’t quite bring themselves to say the thing, The Thing Which Apparently Can Never Be Said – that William is reluctant, inadequate and incapable, that he needs Harry and Harry never needed him, and that William looks like a racist a–hole for how he treated his brother and sister-in-law.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN, Backgrid, Cover Images.

Department of Homeland Security agents did full raids of Sean Combs’ Miami and LA homes on Monday. The raids were coordinated, and local law enforcement agents were also on the scene. Sean Combs is in it, this isn’t going to be something he can shrug off. For now, it doesn’t look like he’s being arrested or detained, but I’m sure DHS is monitoring his movements in case he does try to flee. So how did we get here? It probably all started with Cassie’s lawsuit last year – Combs was so scared of what Cassie might reveal, he settled the lawsuit within 24 hours. That raised a lot of red flags about Combs’ alleged involvement in everything from drug trafficking to human trafficking to serial sexual abuse to financial fraud. Well, Combs is lawyered up and his lawyer is doing full briefings to CNN?

An attorney for Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is the target of a federal investigation, has spoken out about the searches that took place at two of the musician’s homes on Monday. Aaron Dyer, Diddy’s attorney, said in a statement to CNN on Tuesday: “Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences. There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated.”

Authorities searched Combs’ homes on Monday because he is a target of a federal investigation carried out by a Department of Homeland Security team that handles human trafficking crimes, according to a senior federal law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. The probe is being led by the US attorney for the Southern District of New York and carried out by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) Transnational Organized Crime Division, the official told CNN. HSI is responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, including human trafficking, terrorism, narcotics smuggling and other organized criminal activity.

The investigation stems from many of the same sexual assault allegations put forth in several civil lawsuits against Combs, according to a second law enforcement source familiar with Monday’s searches. Combs has previously denied those allegations. Heavily armed teams of HSI agents searched Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and the Miami area Monday – some riding in armored vehicles, in part because authorities believed Combs employs armed private security at each of his residences, the first source said. A law enforcement source earlier told CNN that Monday’s searches were related to an ongoing sex trafficking investigation.

Dyer said Combs was “never detained” during the searches “but spoke to and cooperated with authorities.”

“Despite media speculation, neither Mr. Combs nor any of his family members have been arrested nor has their ability to travel been restricted in any way,” Dyer’s statement said. “This unprecedented ambush – paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence – leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits….There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations. Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.”

Combs and his twin teenage daughters were preparing to leave Miami for a planned spring break trip on Monday when the searches happened, a source close to Diddy and with direct knowledge of the situation told CNN. The source would not reveal Combs’ vacation destination or current whereabouts. Those close to Diddy believe the scale of the federal operation at his Los Angeles and Miami-area homes was “overzealous,” that source said. The source echoed some of the criticism of law enforcement’s actions outlined in Dyer’s statement.

Diddy’s inner circle believes the media was tipped off about search of his Los Angeles home because a news helicopter was hovering above his residence before law enforcement breached his property, the source said.

[From CNN]

It’s interesting that there’s a focus on whether law enforcement tipped off the media. It could be that DHS really tipped off the media, but it’s far more likely that someone processing the search warrants or coordinating the raids just let something slip. As in, this was a tip from one person looking for a quick payday as opposed to one part of a DHS campaign against Combs. As for the rest of it… Sean Combs made a big song and dance about Cassie’s lawsuit and folded within a day. This feels like a pattern: the first instinct is “bluster” and then he shuts up and does whatever he can to weasel out of everything. DHS isn’t just going to go away though.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

The Princess of Wales’s situation covers this week’s People Magazine, unsurprisingly. Before now, I’ve actually wondered why People hasn’t done additional cover stories, especially after the Mother’s Day photo fiasco. Maybe they didn’t want to pile on, or maybe they didn’t want to take a position where they would have to admit that the Windsors were behaving like clowns. But this is well within People Mag’s wheelhouse – a sympathetic white princess, a private cancer battle, and not much exclusive information. Some seasoned professionals took hold of Kensington Palace’s messaging last week and they’re not running around like headless chickens anymore.

After weeks of speculation online regarding her health and whereabouts, Kate Middleton revealed in a personal video message on Friday that she was undergoing treatment for cancer. Now, the Princess of Wales is focused on making a full recovery with her family to support her.

“She has the inner strength, the support of her husband and her extraordinary family, so she can focus on what’s important, which is her getting back to strength,” Ailsa Anderson, a former spokeswoman for the late Queen Elizabeth, tells PEOPLE exclusively in this week’s cover story.

In her self-written speech announcing her cancer news, Princess Kate, 42, said having Prince William, 41, by her side “is a great source of comfort and reassurance.” Meanwhile, their three children — Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5 — were a key part in the timing of her message. The family of five will spend the next weeks together privately while the children are on a school break, missing the tradition of attending Easter church service at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle with members of the royal family this weekend.

Once Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis return to the classroom, Prince William is expected to resume public duties. “The Prince will continue to balance supporting his wife and family and maintaining his official duties as he has done since the start of the year,” a Kensington Palace spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Princess Kate will largely remain out of the public eye during her treatment, although she may join in events when she feels able. “The Princess will return to official duties when she is cleared to do so by her medical team. She is in good spirits and is focused on making a full recovery,” a palace spokesperson said on Friday.

Those closest to Kate say they have every hope that when she is ready, the Princess of Wales will return stronger than ever.

“[The royal family] is vulnerable at the moment, and there will be an even greater appreciation that they are human beings with frailties like the rest of us,” says a former palace aide. “They are so dedicated to their roles. I think you will find when Kate makes a full recovery, she will come back even more passionate.”

[From People]

“I think you will find when Kate makes a full recovery, she will come back even more passionate.” Okay, let’s talk about that! Because just 72 hours before Kate’s video was released last Friday, Kensington Palace aides were still briefing their favorite reporters about the big plan to stage Kate’s resurrection for Easter Sunday, and how she would be getting back to work in April. I still question why all of that was being said, given what we know now. The next “big thing” on the schedule will be Trooping the Colour in June, and it will be interesting to see the conversations around that. Kate’s video announcement bought KP a lot of time and I’m sure they’ll use it. As they should – Kate should be given time and space to recover.

Photos courtesy of Instar, cover courtesy of People.

By now we’ve all seen the picture of what Martha Stewart ate for dinner last week. Yes my friends, it’s time for us to discuss… The Chobster! dun Dun DUN! Technically a rather innocuous sounding chicken stuffed with lobster, the photo Martha snapped to Instagram more resembled a chicken humping a lobster, who affectionately curled its tail around the chicken in return. Martha didn’t prepare this abomination feast herself; she was dining (or as she put it in her caption, “ding,” I kid you not) at a newly opened NYC French brasserie called Maison Barnes, presumably donning a $500 bikini as underwear in the fine eatery. This inter-species dish alone cost half that bikini! Slate staff writer Luke Winkie (my new favorite name) contacted Maison Barnes executive chef Romain Paumier to talk about this divisive delicacy:

Shock and jaw: What is going on here? Is it Mastering the Art of French Cooking according to David Lynch? Was it harvested from the eighth dimension? Is it going to attach to my head and suck my brains out? Are these what the unseen aliens in 3 Body Problem look like? Beyond the provocative intention of the plating — just look at that poor lobster’s exoskeleton mounted around the chicken, like it’s undergone a satanic rite — I find myself baffled by the concept behind the flavor profile. Breast meat and lobster is simply not a combination you’re going to find on many menus in America.

Dinner as a show: “This dish is a classic, but it’s usually made with crayfish,” said Paumier, who, it should be said, is well-reviewed and most certainly knows what he’s talking about. “It was created in the 19th century, and it has disappeared with modern cuisine. This is my attempt to bring back those ideas, and also to make it into a bit of a show.”

The preparation: On the Maison Barnes menu, the dish is called Poularde Homardine, which literally translates to “lobster chicken.” The restaurant serves it table side, usually for two to three people, and it goes for $250, according to the menu. Contrary to what you might assume from the plating, the recipe does not call for a chef to roast a whole lobster inside a poultry carcass. Yes, Paumier does use every part of the crustacean in the preparation of the dish, but the crimson-scalded chunks surrounding the chicken are mostly there for decoration. In fact, the only piece of the lobster that is cooked with the bird is its head, which is flambéed with cognac and is removed from the chicken while it’s carved. The method gives the poultry a sweet infusion of lobster flavor, accentuated even further when the head’s juices are squeezed into a sauce made from a base of lobster bisque, chicken jus, and crème fraîche — which truly is about as French as it gets. As for the lobster tail? Well, that’s just poached in aromatics, glazed with butter, and served alongside the chicken. Simple as that.

It’s the French surf and turf! Paumier himself refers to the dish as France’s very own take on surf and turf — the much more American idea of serving a butter-bathed lobster tail with a bone-in ribeye. He also was not surprised at all — and, in fact, was encouraged — by the people who filled Stewart’s Instagram comments with cries of shock and horror. (The top one reads, “Girl, respectfully what the f–k.”) “Some people are going to be amazed, and some people are going to be shocked. They’re going to say, ‘Why are you combining the chicken with the lobster?’ That’s what I expected, especially from American people, because this is not their culture,” said Paumier. “It’s what we want. Food is an art. If you do something that is ordinary, people are going to forget about it.”

[From Slate]

Just hearing “chicken and lobster” as a combo doesn’t sound offensive. After all, we Americans have turducken — chicken stuffed into duck stuffed into turkey — made prominent by Louisiana chef Paul Prudhomme (may he rest in paprika). And apparently there’s a British version called gooducken — chicken stuffed into duck stuffed into goose. Obviously, these ‘ducken dishes confine the combos to varieties of birds. But so what? If a shellfish and poultry want to make sweet gastronomical music together, who are we to judge?! That’s why I think it truly comes down to the visual presentation that makes the coupling seem jarring. I mean, I know it’s not good to play photo assumption, but my goodness there’s a lot going on in Martha’s shot! I’m turned off and turned on all at once. At $250 a pop, though, I’m unlikely to get a taste of the creature from the French lagoon any time soon. Crazy to think that lobster used to be peasant food, a fact I desperately hope Martha Stewart is aware of.

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