Real talk: I think a lot of people would have accepted the Princess of Wales’s recovery timeline as “post-Easter” if Kensington Palace provided clear and regular briefings as to her condition. That’s all it would take. The weirdness around Kate’s “planned abdominal surgery” has been compounded by KP’s severely inadequate communications strategy. They’ve never said Kate expects to make a full recovery; they’ve never said if Kate returned to Adelaide from Norfolk; they won’t even make a simple statement of gratitude for “the outpouring of support” in the weeks after Kate was allegedly released from the London Clinic. The fact that Kate has been missing for 60-plus days AND the palace refuses to talk about her recovery is what has caused the rumor mill to churn and churn. That and William’s behavior just seems… off. Anyway, KP has been getting a lot of calls this week and those reporters have been begging them to say something, anything, to push back on all of the rumors. Instead, what they got was this terse reply:

Kate Middleton’s team is speaking out in light of the conspiracy theories swirling about the Princess of Wales’ whereabouts following her abdominal surgery in January.

“Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates,” her rep tells Page Six exclusively. “That guidance stands.”

The flak reiterates that Middleton, 42, is “doing well.”

While Middleton continues to recover, Prince William has resumed his public duties but sparked concern once again when he bailed on a royal engagement Tuesday for undisclosed “personal reasons.” The palace, however, reiterated at the time that the princess was “doing well.”

At the time of her surgery, Kensington Palace confirmed that the mom of three would remain hospitalized for up to two weeks and wouldn’t resume public duties until around Easter. But a source told us that Middleton’s closest advisers didn’t even know she had planned to go under the knife.

[From Page Six]

“Her rep” like she’s an actress with a CAA agent. They spoke to the KP comms person who is probably weeping in a closet somewhere. All along, I have wondered how much of this is just stubbornness on William and Kate’s part, combined with their incompetence and the incompetence of their staff. “Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates.” Reporters are truly begging for proof of life and you’ve got Muffy Von Snooty the posh comms intern say no, we’re still going radio silent over here, thankyouverymuch.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

I’ll be blunt: only morons think that Prince Harry “losing” his British security case is bad news for the Sussexes. It’s not bad news for Harry and Meghan, who are safe in Montecito with their private security. This case was all about Harry putting as much as he could on the public record. This was about Harry wanting some kind of accountability for the decisions made to yank his family’s security. This was about Harry pointing out that something really fishy happened with his mother’s security and they were trying to do the same thing to him. And now that Harry has “lost” his case, all that means is that Meghan and the children will never have to return to the UK and Harry will spend less and less time there too.

It’s also clear that Harry managed to get some really interesting, inside-baseball stuff on the public record too. Not only did the NYPD write a letter in support of the Sussexes and vindicate their claims about the May 2023 paparazzi chase, all of Harry’s communications with Ravec are now public too. You can see him advocating for himself and pointing out that his family was at “a great security risk” than Diana because of “additional layers of racism and extremism.” He pointed out repeatedly that if something happened to Meghan or their children, the institution would be held accountable. He was clearly furious in 2020, a fury which is now being mocked in the Telegraph:

Prince Harry’s fury over the decision to remove his right to taxpayer-funded police protection could not have been more plain. Having been repeatedly told that the Government would no longer fund a security team for him and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, he demanded to be given the names of those responsible.

The Duke of Sussex insisted that Sir Mark Sedwill, then the cabinet secretary, share the identity of the person who had opted to put them in a position of such vulnerability and risk. If the depth of the Duke’s anger was not made clear through his determined pursuit of legal action against the Government, his choice of language in newly released emails spells it out.

In a letter sent to Sir Mark on Feb 10 2020, he asked who would put him in “a position that no one was willing to put my mother in 23 years ago”. He added: “And yet today, with greater risk… with the additional layers of racism and extremism, someone is comfortable taking accountability for what could happen. I would like that person’s name who is willing to take accountability for this choice please.”

But for all his demands, the Duke’s fate had already been sealed when he announced a month earlier that he was stepping back from royal duties. And despite the criticism and the stamping of feet in the intervening four years, nothing concerning the Sussexes’ security arrangements has changed.

[From The Telegraph]

They’re calling him immature and emotional because Harry’s family yanked his security, putting him, Meghan and their children in mortal danger. How dare he be angry about the very real danger we’ve put him in! He’s such an a–hole! As I said, none of this is a loss for Harry. Ravec, the Windsors and the royal establishment look absolutely bonkers for what they did. They also never intended for any of this to get this far. All of the calculations made in 2020 were done with the express purpose of forcing the Sussexes to return OR forcing the Sussexes to divorce so Harry would come crawling back. Or worse, frankly. The way everything has played out over the past four years was never part of the Windsors’ plans or calculations. They intended to f–k around forever and never find out.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

As we learned on Tuesday, Thomas Kingston passed away last Sunday. Kingston was married to Lady Gabriella Windsor, daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. The British and American press is making a big deal about how Kingston also dated Pippa Middleton, but that was years ago – Kingston was with Gabriella for several years before their 2019 wedding. Kingston’s passing raised some alarm bells for me – he was only 45 years old, and people were going overboard about how there is “nothing suspicious” about his death. There will be an inquest, but one mystery has already been solved. The papers kept saying that Kingston was found at “a Gloucestershire address,” like they were making a point of saying that he was not at his home. The Mail reports exclusively that Kingston was discovered at his parents’ home:

Thomas Kingston, husband of Lady Gabriella Windsor, died at his parents £3million country mansion in Gloucestershire, MailOnline has learned. Paramedics were called to the large, detached home at around 6pm on Sunday. Police also attended the property where the 45-year-old former hostage negotiator and financier’s parents Martin and Jill Kingston have lived since 1996.

A spokesman for Gloucester Ambulance Service said they had attended a private residence. The spokesman said: ‘Gloucester Police have confirmed ambulance from Gloucester Ambulance Service attended a private residence.’

Martin Kingston KC is a well-known planning law barrister while his wife is a trustee of the Nadezhda Charitable Trust. The 71-year-old had been heavily involved in work relating to Ukraine and has also run conferences for women in Ethiopia. Mr Kingston, 74, was elected to the National Synod in 2016.

[From The Daily Mail]

So… Kingston’s parents were very involved in “work related to Ukraine,” and Gabriella’s father is practically a Russian asset in the heart of the royal family. Sure, nothing suspicious at all! It’s also not suspicious that everyone who saw Thomas and Ella in the weeks before his death can’t stop talking about how Ella and Tom seemed super-normal and happy.

Lady Gabriella Windsor and her husband Thomas Kingston were ‘happy and chatty’ at a National Gallery event just days before his shock death aged 45, close friends have revealed. The sudden death of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent’s son-in-law has left the Royal Family and friends in a state of deep shock. The financier and former hostage negotiator was found dead at an address in Gloucestershire on Sunday evening, with emergency services called to the scene shortly after 6pm. An inquest will be held but there are no suspicious circumstances and no other parties involved.

One friend who spoke to the couple at a party last Wednesday at the National Gallery in London said: ‘They seemed happy and positive as ever. Ella was particularly chatty.’

Another close friend, who attended the couple’s stunning wedding, added: ‘It’s utterly shocking. None of us saw it coming. I cannot understand it.’

Gloucestershire Constabulary said it was called by the ambulance service about the death of Mr Kingston at 6.25pm on Sunday. They added: ‘The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I’ve seen a lot of theories but I really have no idea. Reportedly, the inquest will be held tomorrow and that’s where Kingston’s cause of death will be confirmed by the coroner. They completed an autopsy already??

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Richard Kay at the Daily Mail is on a tear! His new column made it to the cover of today’s Mail, with the headline: “What IS Going On With the Royals?” The online headline is: “Never in memory have the royals had so many troubles at once. If not yet a crisis for the House of Windsor, it’s getting perilously close…” As you can see, Kay and the rest of royalist class have been shaken to their core by Prince William’s failures and by the missing Princess of Wales. They’ve been in a bad way all week as conspiracies spread like wildfire across social media and they can’t contain the story or the optics. Some highlights from Kay’s piece, in which he also goes on a very strange tangent about Prince Harry.

Unsettled: Bad news, as the proverb has it, comes in threes. A king fighting cancer, a princess stricken by an unknown debilitating illness and a vanished prince with no explanation for his absence have contributed to a febrile and dangerously unsettled atmosphere. Just why William was unable to attend the memorial service for his godfather — a man with whom he enjoyed a uniquely poignant bond — remains unknown. However, the most cursory of glances at the rampant speculation on social media ought to ­persuade even the most unyielding of royal aides that wherever there is a vacuum ­surrounding a public figure, it will be filled.

Uneasy tidings: Every day seems to bring more unwelcome tidings about the welfare of the royals to whom so many millions look for reassurance. The tragic and unexpected death of Princess Michael of Kent’s son-in-law Tom Kingston has only added to this sombre and uneasy undercurrent. Nine months on, the post-­Coronation glow that enveloped the country at the prospect of a new reign under King Charles III has dissipated. And gazing at the remnants of our first family on display at ­Windsor this week it was impossible to escape the conclusion that it has suddenly become a threadbare institution.

The left-behind royals are uninspiring: The other working royals who were visible on duty on Tuesday are even older — the Duke of Gloucester is 79, the increasingly frail Duke of Kent is 88 and his sister, the stylish Princess Alexandra who was taken into St George’s in a wheelchair to attend, is 87. These then — together with Prince Edward and Sophie who were not present at the service — are the public faces of the Royal Family. Through no fault of their own, they are hardly an inspiring bunch. Here surely was the evidence that a slimmed-down monarchy — King Charles’s decades-long dream — is not truly fit for purpose.

Harry’s security case: As for Harry, those claims last week that he had offered to ‘help out’ by picking up some ­royal duties while his father is being treated for cancer look increasingly hollow. The loss of his High Court ­challenge to the Home Secretary over his downgraded security ­status almost certainly means he will not end his self-imposed exile. His claim that he had been treated unfairly in the changes to his police protection was firmly rejected. Under such circumstances courtiers do not believe his vanity would allow him to return to the royal fold.

Are the Windsors in crisis? Aides insist it is not a crisis. Not quite. Or as one long-standing courtier muttered with distinct discomfort yesterday: ‘Not yet.’ Usually in times such as these officials will offer consoling words of reassurance: it was like that in the dark days of the Diana era and when other domestic matters suddenly erupted to become issues of public confidence. The fact that little was being said added to the sense of apprehension that all is not well within the royal house.

Conspiracies abound: The Palace refused to say whether his non-attendance had anything to do with Kate although it added that the princess was recovering well. What they would not be drawn on was what the ‘personal matter’ was that kept him away from Windsor, where, incidentally, he lives. Of course, William has every right not to share private and quite possibly deeply personal concerns with either the media or the public. But the silence has been a gift to conspiracy theorists. Contrast his and Kate’s approach with that of his father’s. Up until this week Charles has effectively shared bulletins about his treatment with photos of his activities.

Does the British public have a right to know? There is a compelling argument that as head of state, the King is not strictly a private person and the public have a right to know about any ailments, as happens in other democracies such as the U.S. and France. Many suggest this should apply equally to the heir to the throne. There is an expectation from the taxpayers, who fund the royals’ privileged lifestyle, of the right to know not just when things are going well with the monarchy but when they are not — as is most certainly the case this week. By saying nothing, they invite speculation.

Never before: All in all we know precious little. We don’t know how ill the King is or what kind of cancer he is being treated for. Nor do we have a clue about Kate’s health apart from an initial statement that she had undergone ‘planned abdominal surgery’. It is against this backdrop that the stability of the Royal Family, which for all the years of the late Queen’s reign we took for granted, suddenly looks to be in jeopardy. Never in modern memory have the royals had so many multiple troubles at the same time.

Camilla looks tired?? Considering her worries about Charles and her nervousness on the public stage, Camilla acquitted herself well this week although she seemed fatigued. She may be a reluctant performer but she has been a fast learner and her unfussy ordinariness has proved her ­biggest asset. She is 77 later this year and the question is how long she can keep it up? No Charles, no Kate, no ­William and no Harry — no wonder Camilla looked tired. What is all the more extraordinary is that the task of keeping the show on the road should fall to the very woman who was once seen as a threat to the monarchy — but is now celebrated as its saviour.

[From The Daily Mail]

Honestly, the only person I’m not worried about is Camilla? She doesn’t look tired, she looks rejuvenated and happier than ever. Her plan worked out perfectly, she got everything she wanted and she’s the last one standing. As for the Harry stuff… Kay is saying that with the royal protection issue, Harry will never come back for more than a quick visit. That’s not about Harry’s “vanity,” it’s a very real issue of his safety, and Charles and the courtiers have made it clear that they do not give a f–k about Harry’s safety or that of his family.

But really, Kay is very mad about Prince William and Kate and all of the Kensington Palace bungling. That’s what it all comes down to, that’s the thing they’re all trying to avoid saying outright: that William needs to get his act together, that they cannot believe a 40-something heir is this childish and incompetent, that they’re tired of covering for him. Oh well!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Rebecca Ferguson is currently promoting Dune 2, and she recently sat down for an extended interview with the Reign with Josh Smith podcast. The podcast format being what it is, this gave Ferguson a chance to get comfortable enough to spill some interesting tea. Keep in mind, over the past decade, Ferguson has become an undercover “movie star,” and part of two major franchises, Dune and Mission: Impossible. She has that Cate Blanchett chameleon quality, where she can really look radically different and play very different roles. All of that means that she’s worked with a lot of people and one of them – an A-lister, she says – screamed at her and upset her so much that she refused to work with him or her.

Rebecca Ferguson is revealing she refused to work with a big name costar after the person screamed at her. Speaking on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, the actress, 40, recalled the moment she had to deal with an “absolute idiot of a costar.”

“I remember there was a moment and this human being was being so insecure and angry because this person couldn’t get the scenes out,” she said while not disclosing the person’s identity. Meanwhile, she confirmed that it was not Hugh Jackman, who she acted with in the 2021 movie Reminiscence, or Tom Cruise, who she costarred with in Mission: Impossible.

“And I think I was so vulnerable and uncomfortable that I got screamed at,” Ferguson added. “But because this person was number one on a call sheet, there was no safety net for me. So no one had my back. And I would cry walking off set.”

The Dune: Part Two star revealed that the person would say things like, “You call yourself an actor?” and “This is what I have to work with?”

“I stood there just breaking,” Ferguson said. However, the Mission: Impossible actress confronted the individual despite being “so scared.”

“I looked at this person and I said, ‘You can eff off. I’m gonna work towards a tennis ball. I never want to see you again,’” Ferguson recalled. “And then I remember the producers came up and said, ‘You can’t do this to number one. We have to let this person be on set.’”

Ferguson explained that she requested to act to the back of her costar’s head. “And I did,” she said. “I thought it shouldn’t have to be that way. And I remember going to the director afterward and saying, ‘What is happening?’ The director said, ‘You’re right. I am not taking care of everyone else. I’m trying to fluff this person because it’s so unstable,’ ” she added. “And it was great from that moment but it took so long for me to get to that.”

The incident also served as a turning point for the Silo actress. “From that moment, I have never let myself get to a point where I’ve got home and gone, ‘Why did that happen?’ “

[From People]

So, this is the blind item – she says it wasn’t Tom Cruise or Hugh Jackman, which I believe (Jackman and Cruise’s costars always sing their praises). I also believe it was not Timothee Chalamet – they seem completely fine with each other. She was in Doctor Sleep with Ewan McGregor (which I never saw) but Ewan doesn’t seem like the type to behave like this (once again, all of his costars sing his praises). She was in The Snowman with Michael Fassbender, Life with Jake Gyllenhaal and The Girl on the Train with Emily Blunt. And she worked with Hugh Grant & Meryl Streep on Florence Foster Jenkins (and Hugh, ever grumpy, even sang her praises in interviews). Yeah… my guess is Jake, but who knows.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.

Is this the week where the royal dam broke? Is it irrevocably changed, or is this just a “bad week” and all will be forgotten as soon as the Princess of Wales, fully rested from her emergency BBL, comes out for public events? I don’t know, but it definitely feels like more people are paying attention to the royal clownshow and it’s because no one, from the royals to their staffers, can do their job properly. Whose fault is that? You guessed it, Harry and Meghan! At least according to the Daily Mail’s Maureen Callahan, who wrote a particularly panicked piece about how everything in Windsorville is falling apart and Harry & Meghan don’t even have the decency to come running back to save the Windsors. Some highlights from: “A soul-crushing picture of the Royals in peril: Disgraced Andrew given star billing as Kate and Charles recover… Wills goes missing… and Harry and Meghan sulk in Montecito. Maureen Callahan asks: How DOES the monarchy come back from this?”

A royal catastrophe: The slimmed-down monarchy that King Charles so longed for is now, quite quickly, in crisis. The absence of Prince William at Tuesday’s memorial service for his godfather, King Constantine of Greece — announced just 46 minutes prior to William’s scheduled arrival — sheds a blinding light on this unfolding catastrophe… It has been left to William to carry the mantle, but his sudden withdrawal from Constantine’s service, for unknown ‘personal reasons’, is a further crack. What’s more, it is understood that William’s absence had nothing to do with the sudden death of Tom Kingston, the 45-year-old husband of Lady Gabriella Windsor (Charles’s second cousin), announced just hours later. Without William’s expected attendance, a hole has been blown wide open in the House of Windsor.

Kate is more important than the king: Kate’s absence, however, is more keenly felt. She is indisputably the most charismatic and glamorous member of The Firm. William, for all his dignified and cheerful dutifulness, simply seems dulled without her. It is Kate who gives William true glamour. It is Kate, more than her husband or any other royal, who signifies youth and futurism. And with William on modified duty, the monarchy not only feels rusty and dusty — it feels imperiled.

Why can’t Harry & Meghan come back?? In the wake of those recent reports that the prodigal Prince Harry was seeking a way back into the royal fold, and that there was a faction in the palace open to reconciliation, it renders Charles soft. Too soft, perhaps, and too hopeful. If only Harry and Meghan weren’t the ingrates they are. If only they weren’t so resentful and distrustful. If only they had stayed put, serving the Crown and doing everything to ensure the future of the monarchy. They would have had the full faith of the British people, who would have embraced them as never before. For Harry and Meghan, their time would have been now. They would have been front and center, the understudies called up to the lead roles, taking the place of the Waleses as they navigate Kate’s recovery, Charles’s illness, and the raising of their three children. Meghan, at long last, would have had her Norma Desmond moment, moving ever closer toward the camera under a permanent white-hot spotlight. The stage would have been all hers. Alas.

LMAO: Do Harry and Meghan even realize what they’ve lost? What cost this is to their own children? To the British people? In an alternate universe, Tuesday’s service would have seen the Duke and Duchess of Sussex leading the way, standard bearers for an intact monarchy, slim but powerful, padded with key players of vim and vigor, style and star power. Instead, we were made to suffer a shameless Prince Andrew in full cock-of-the-walk, chest thrust forward, smiling broadly, emitting an aura of utter confidence as the royal alpha male. What an insult to Prince William. What an insult to Princess Anne, trailing behind her besmirched brother. Her sheer workload and devotion to monarchy deserves better.

Where does this leave the royals? The future of a monarchy dimmed by the loss of Queen Elizabeth and further diminished by the withdrawal, for the moment, of Kate? Could the dissipation of the once robust royal family, its multigenerational strength displayed yearly on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, become an existential threat?

[From The Daily Mail]

We all knew this would happen, as soon as the “locals” started talking about the mysteries around Kate’s disappearance, not to mention the larger conversations about William looking drunk, strung out and unprepared. Of course it’s all Harry and Meghan’s fault! Why couldn’t they stick around and take abuse for years, just to be a convenient scapegoat for William and Kate for the rest of their lives?? Why didn’t Harry and Meghan WANT that? Yeah, and here’s something else – nothing has been right with that family since the Sussexit. I’m not saying Meghan’s ancestors put a curse on the left-behinds, but I’m not NOT saying it either. The way everything has unfolded over the past four years has been really something. I keep thinking back to the deal William and Charles made around the Sussexit too – that Charles would sign off on pushing the Sussexes out with the understanding that William and Kate would finally “step up.” Oh well – I’ve never been happier that the Sussexes got out while the getting was good.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Congratulations to Gabourey Sidibe and Brandon Frankel! The couple, who got married in 2021, announced earlier this week that they’re expecting twins this year. Gabby and Brandon are already parents to two cats that are often featured on their social medias. In keeping with that theme, Gabby’s announcement was an adorable Instagram post in which she joked that she was having one baby for each of her cats to take care of.

Gabourey Sidibe and her husband Brandon Frankel are growing their family. The Oscar nominee announced Tuesday on social media that they are expecting twins, with something of a humorous caption.

“I’m pregnant! We thought it was time to give our cats some responsibility so we’re giving them each a baby to take care of,” the caption on a series of photos on her Instagram account read. “Double the babies,double the cats, double the fun!! Twin Delivery coming soon! Twinty Twinty Four!!”

The photos include one showing Sidibe and Frankel with a double stroller.

The couple quietly married in 2021 after getting engaged in 2020. The couple often share glimpses of their life together with their beloved cats on social media. On Tuesday, Sidibe’s happy news on Instagram was met with many congratulatory comments from famous friends, from her “American Horror Story” costar Cheyenne Jackson to Octavia Spencer, who called the “Precious” star “radiant.”

[From CNN]

Gabby and Brandon’s cats, Derrell and Aaron, have yet to comment on their impending big brotherhood but here’s to hoping those two rascals take their roles seriously! Jokes aside, I’m so happy for Gabby. I wish her a healthy, easy pregnancy. And I also wish all four of them a smooth transition! When my older son was born, our cat was very attached to me. She was so shook at that tiny, crying, strange little person’s arrival that she refused to go near him for a full two weeks. Cats are such funny creatures.

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Last summer, Senator Mitch McConnell had several moments where he appeared to be profoundly unwell. More than a year ago, McConnell had some kind of fall, after which he needed extensive rehab over the course of months. When he came back to the Senate, the Republicans tried to keep him away from the cameras as much as possible. When he finally started doing those press conferences, that’s when the trouble started. He froze for a full 30 seconds during one presser in DC. A short time later, he froze again in Kentucky. Reportedly, he had some other falls which he didn’t tell anyone about. All in all, it sounds like McConnell has been hiding some very serious medical issues for more than a year. Well, now he plans to step down from Senate leadership, but he said he will serve out the remainder of his term, which ends in January 2027.

Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the Republican Party for almost two decades, will step down from that position in November. McConnell, who turned 82 last week, announced his decision Wednesday in the well of the Senate, the chamber where he looked in awe from its back benches in 1985 when he arrived and where he grew increasingly comfortable in the front row seat afforded the party leaders.

“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” he said. “So I stand before you today … to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.”

McConnell said he plans to serve out his Senate term, which ends in January 2027, “albeit from a different seat in the chamber.”

He spoke at times haltingly, his emotions evident, as he looked back on his career. Dozens of members of his staff lined up behind him on the back wall of the chamber, some wiping away tears, as family and friends looked down from the gallery above. Senators from both parties — most of them taken by surprise by the announcement — trickled into the chamber and exchanged hugs and handshakes.

President Joe Biden, who has had a productive working relationship with McConnell, said he was sorry to hear the news. “I’ve trusted him and we have a great relationship,” the Democratic president said. “We fight like hell. But he has never, never, never misrepresented anything.”

Aides said McConnell’s announcement was unrelated to his health. The Kentucky senator had a concussion from a fall last year and two public episodes where his face briefly froze while he was speaking.

[From The AP]

While McConnell is absolute scum, there’s a completely legitimate fear that the men who come after him will be even worse. The MAGA “suicide caucus” has already run roughshod over everyone in the House, and the Senate is next. That being said, McConnell was one of the biggest pieces of sh-t *because* he was so effective at getting his way and setting the agenda. If not for McConnell, Obama would have been able to fill Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court and that would have been just one radical difference in the past eight years. Anyway, I f–king hate this turtle man and I hope the rest of his life is an utter misery.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

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Eagles co-founder and member Don Henley has spent over 10 years trying to get back hundreds of legal pad pages with his handwritten lyrics for several of the band’s 1970s hits, including “Hotel California.” At long last the trial began last week, with three “collectibles experts” as defendants charged with conspiracy to criminally possess stolen property and scheming to conceal the property’s disputed ownership. What they’re not charged with, is actually stealing the lyrics pages, and the reason why they’re not is where this case takes a turn on a dark desert highway. That original (alleged) crime dates back to 1979 when a writer was contracted to write a book on the band (which was never published), and given access to materials as research. This week Henley took the stand at “Courthouse New York” where he testified that the defendants knew they were selling stolen property. Then the defense cross examined Henley to challenge his claim that a) the defendants knew the pages were stolen, and b) that the pages were even stolen to begin with. Confused? Take it easy, don’t even try to understand.

Don Henley takes the stand: After spending Monday telling the New York court about topics ranging from Eagles songwriting to his past personal troubles, the Eagles co-founder [Henley] underwent further questioning Tuesday from lawyers for three collectibles experts who are on trial. Henley was asked about the writing of “Hotel California” and how he didn’t notice for decades that the handwritten pages were missing. He was also queried about his past cocaine use — retorting that he was no “drug-filled zombie” — and even about a $96 limousine bill from 1973. He continued to insist that he never voluntarily parted with handwritten sheets from work, including the Eagles’ 1976 release “Hotel California,” the third-best-selling album ever in the U.S. “I believed that my property was stolen,” Henley said.

The man who “stole” the pages isn’t on trial: The defendants — Edward Kosinski, Craig Inciardi and Glenn Horowitz — are charged with scheming to conceal the lyrics pages’ disputed ownership and sell them despite knowing that Henley claimed they had no right. The defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy to criminally possess stolen property. They are not accused of actually stealing the roughly 100 legal-pad sheets. Horowitz bought them in 2005 from writer Ed Sanders, who had worked with the Eagles decades earlier on a band biography that never got published. Horowitz later sold the documents to Inciardi and Kosinski, who then started putting pages up for auction in 2012. Sanders isn’t charged with any crime. He hasn’t responded to messages about the case. Henley bought back four pages of “Hotel California” song lyrics from Kosinski and Inciardi in 2012. He also went to authorities then, and again when more pages — some from the hit “Life in the Fast Lane” — turned up for sale in 2014 and 2016.

Recollections may vary… At the trial, Henley has testified that Sanders was allowed to view the pages, and nothing more. Henley said Monday that he didn’t give permission for the “very personal, very private” lyrics drafts to be removed from his property in Malibu, California, though he acknowledged that he didn’t recall the entirety of his conversations with the writer in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In a tape of a 1980 phone call that was played in court, Henley said he’d “try to dig through” his lyrics drafts in order to aid Sanders’ book. But Henley said Tuesday that “there is no tape or document anywhere where I say, ‘Mr. Sanders, you’re free to keep these items in perpetuity, and you’re free to sell them.’”

But contracts are binding? Sanders’ 1979 book contract with the Eagles said that material they provided him was their property. Defense lawyers have suggested that Henley is making a criminal accusation out of a clause in a contract that they say Kosinski, Inciardi and Horowitz knew nothing about. “The idea that the items were stolen from your barn was perhaps an overstatement, fair to say?” defense attorney Stacey Richman asked Henley. He replied that he didn’t know. The defense also has sought to show that the Eagles provided Sanders with copious insider material. … The defense also has questioned how clearly the rock star remembers whatever he told Sanders during the book project, which spanned a tumultuous and fast-living time for Henley.

[From CBS News]

I understand that the broad function of the defense is to raise reasonable doubt. After all I was a defense attorney myself (in high school mock trial). But this tactic of challenging whether Ed Sanders — who, again, is not charged here — stole the pages or not, it just seems to undercut the main contention of the defendants, no? Isn’t their main point that they had no knowledge of the work being stolen? How much does saying, “But even if they did!” make it seem like, yeah, they knew the ownership was sketchy? (Which I think they totally knew.) But ok let’s say I’m wrong about that (I know, ha!), then I still struggle with the defense’s next argument. “Your honor, it’s outrageous of the plaintiff to sue over a breach in the contract!” How dare he use a legal document that both parties signed to back up his claim that what was spelled out in the document has been violated!

And of course the biggest question hanging over these proceedings is… why isn’t Ed Sanders charged?! But more than an answer to that question, I’m praying that this trial comes to a swift resolution. Not for Henley’s sake, because I fear that “Hotel California” may never stop playing on a loop in my head. This could be heaven or this could be hell.

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photos credit: Getty and Ron Sachs/Aude Guerrucci/POOL/startraksphoto.com, Aude Guerrucci/Mr Tickle/John Marshall/Avalon

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