Prince Harry left London on Wednesday, roughly 24 hours after he arrived at Heathrow. On Tuesday, he traveled (with police escort) straight from Heathrow to Clarence House, where he had a brief meeting with his father. Brief being… somewhere between 30-45 minutes. After which, Charles and Camilla immediately escaped to Sandringham and Harry checked into a London hotel overnight, and left London the next morning. While Harry was in the air, on his way back to California, palace aides, senior staffers and likely some primary royals all began testing out their talking points for why Harry was wrong, rude and tacky for traveling fourteen hours to see his father in person after Charles was diagnosed with cancer. Robert Jobson got a call (I’m covering that separately) and it looks like Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast got some calls too. Sykes is interesting because his sources always sound deeply embedded within Prince William’s bum. It’s the same here – Harry’s visit really lit a fire under William’s ass and suddenly the disappearing prince was screaming from the rooftops that HE had no plans to see or speak to his brother.

Prince Harry was heading back to Los Angeles Wednesday, meaning he will have taken a 11,000 mile round trip to spend just half an hour with his tired father King Charles and sleep in a hotel, in what some sources said looked like a “partial snub.”

One former courtier told The Daily Beast: “He did get to meet the king which is something, but they hardly rolled out the red carpet for him. If circumstances were different, one might have expected him to be offered a bed either at Clarence House [the king’s London home] or at Sandringham. I am sure the king was delighted to see him but I think what you are seeing is that great care being taken to insulate the king and queen from Harry.”

It is thought the king met Harry alone at Clarence House yesterday and was not joined by Queen Camilla, who was described by Harry in his memoir Spare as willing to “sacrifice” him and leave “bodies on the street” in her quest to improve her standing in the public eye and be named queen.

A friend of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s told The Daily Beast: “I’m not surprised he was only given one meeting. There was never any prospect he was going to meet William. It’s a partial snub because he has clearly been told there is nothing to stop him being on his way.”

Duncan Larcombe, former royal editor for the Sun and a biographer of Harry, told The Daily Beast: “It may look to outsiders fairly cold to see your son for only half an hour if they have flown from L.A. to London for the meeting, but I’m sure Harry wouldn’t have expected anything more given his father is poorly. In fact, for Charles to see Harry at all at such short notice, despite having just had cancer treatment, could be read as an encouraging sign that the king still wants to rebuild the relationship with him.”

[From The Daily Beast]

This alone explains SO MUCH of the coverage of Harry’s trip and the after-action reporting: “It is thought the king met Harry alone at Clarence House yesterday and was not joined by Queen Camilla.” I’m genuinely glad that at least Charles had the stones to tell Camilla to GTFO while he spoke to his son. I’m sure Camilla was trying to listen at the door, but the lack of reporting of what was said between father and son speaks volumes about who is leaking what. That also means that none of William’s Kensington Palace clowns were anywhere near the meeting.

So, to recap – Charles called Harry several days ago to tell him about the cancer, Harry immediately wants to come to the UK and see his dad, and Charles helps arrange the trip (the police escort, going straight to Clarence House). Charles then arranges to meet Harry alone and they have a brief visit, and Charles’s people officially leak it to friendly outlets that Charles was moved that Harry made the journey. Then Camilla, William and their staffers proceed to freak the f–k out and throw a huge tantrum about how Harry is rude for this or that, and William still hates Harry and refuses to see him. Nowhere has Harry actually said that he tried to meet William or even talk to him. It really is just… insane.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Dakota Johnson is currently promoting Madame Web. There’s been at least one photocall and premiere, although I expect that we’ll get some bigger premieres in the coming days. Dakota recently hosted Saturday Night Live and one of her most successful bits was appearing in a Please Don’t Destroy video where she roasted the three comedians.

The “nepo truce” thing caught on because, oh right, Dakota is absolutely a nepo baby. She’s a second-generation nepo baby! Her grandmother is Tippi Hendron, her mom is Melanie Griffith and her dad is Don Johnson. Her stepfather, for years, was Antonio Banderas too. Dakota is super-close to her mom, dad, grandmother and even her former stepfather. Which sort of gives her some blind spots to her own nepotism. Dakota appeared on the Today Show this week and she was asked about the Please Don’t Destroy video and nepo babies in general. Dakota shared her own story… of being cut off financially when she decided to become an actress.

Dakota Johnson is not a fan of the “nepo baby” conversation. Johnson, 34, said that she finds conversations surrounding celebrities whose parents are also celebrities or otherwise influential in the entertainment industry “incredibly annoying and boring” during an appearance on the Today show Wednesday.

“Like, if you’re a journalist, write about something else,” she told host Hoda Kotb, who asked Johnson — whose parents are actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson — about poking fun at her own celebrity status.

“That’s just like, lame. So the opportunity to make fun of it, I jumped at,” she added.

Johnson and her father Don, 74, have been open about his decision to cut her off financially when she decided to pursue acting rather than attend college after she graduated high school. “He said, ‘If you go to college, you’ll still get an allowance,’ ” she recalled on the Today show Wednesday. “And I was like, ‘Well, I’m going to be an actress.’ So he was like, ‘Alright, well you’re on your own.’ ”

Johnson secured her first acting role as an adult in 2010’s The Social Network and has seen significant success since, most notably for her starring role in 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey and its two sequels.

“I did some little modeling jobs that helped me pay my rent. And then I started auditioning and got some jobs,” she told Kotb of how she survived after her father took her off “the payroll,” as she says he refers to the family’s finances. “I definitely had moments where I couldn’t afford groceries and had to ask my mom to help me. She was the nice one.”

[From People]

I’m sure in Dakota’s mind, she is mostly self-made, because she was “cut off” and she paid her own bills at an early age. But again, nepotism is about more than “my famous parents made me pay my rent when I was 20!” It’s about more than money. While Don and Melanie didn’t support her financially, they supported her in a million other ways, and as we’ve seen endlessly, Hollywood loves first-gen, second-gen and third-gen nepo babies. Dakota was able to walk into auditions as the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith. That gave her an enormous leg up. It’s okay to acknowledge it and your own nepo privilege.

Dakota Johnson speaks to @hodakotb about ‘Madame Web,’ how she feels about the trajectory of her career, how her dad Don Johnson cut her off financially, her thoughts on the ‘nepo baby’ label and more.

And you’re always invited to join us all day, Dakota! pic.twitter.com/yd5grJOdDS

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 7, 2024

Photos courtesy of xRWx/Avalon Red, Avalon Red and Cover Images.

Well, King Charles’s biographer has done it, he’s managed to turn “Prince Harry traveled 14 hours to see his cancer-stricken father” into a “this is why Harry is the worst” story. Robert Jobson’s phone line must have burning up with all of the tips he got from Queen Camilla and Buckingham Palace senior staffers, all of whom sound incandescent about Harry’s whirlwind 25-hour trip to London. They are truly begrudging a loving son for his desire to see his father in person in the middle of a serious medical situation. These same “sources” would have been screaming to Jobson about Harry’s rudeness and insensitivity if Harry had not come to see his father too. Anyway, here’s Jobson’s latest in the Mail:

It’s easy to forget that the bond between King Charles and Harry, his ‘darling boy’, was once a source not just of affection but joy – a relationship even warmer than that between Charles and William, perhaps. The distance between them has now grown to the point that their conversations, where there are any conversations, have become mere echoes of the past. We have seen this, poignantly, in the last few days when, learning of his father’s shock cancer diagnosis, Harry jumped on a plane and flew 5,500 miles to see him.

Charles was widely reported to have been ‘touched’ by the gesture. Perhaps he was. Yet I am told that the reality is both more complex and more troubling – that Harry caused some disquiet by ‘taking it upon himself’ to fly over unbidden and at such short notice.

Put bluntly, the King was unhappy about what amounted to a fait accompli served up by an emotional but well-meaning son.

Charles just needs peace and quiet right now and had planned to fly off to the tranquillity of Norfolk with his wife, the Queen, much earlier on Tuesday. Yet thanks to Harry’s intervention, their Majesties were left kicking their heels at Clarence House, their main London home, while they waited for the errant younger son to appear.

It is striking that Harry was not invited to stay at Clarence House or, indeed, at any other royal residence. So last-minute was the decision to fly, that he had to book a hotel room for the night. And if the Prince had expected to spend some ‘quality time’ at Sandringham House talking about the good old days, perhaps, or rebuilding the paternal bond, he will have been disappointed.

What was actually said between them, only His Majesty, the Queen and the Duke of Sussex know, but half an hour (I’m told it was a 30-minute meeting, not even 45) was hardly enough time to rebuild the many bridges reduced to cinders. Not after all that disparagement of the Royal Family, all the misrepresentation pouring out of Montecito for a fist-full of dollars. After barely time for a greetings kiss and perhaps a hug, the King was heading with the Queen to Buckingham Palace to board the monarch’s Sikorsjy S-76C helicopter.

I cannot blame Harry for flying over. Whatever soothing noises might come from Palace courtiers, his father’s diagnosis is a serious matter. However, the Prince should also spend some time reflecting on the stress he has caused the King, not least when he was coping first, with the loss of his own father, Prince Philip and then, of course, his late mother, the Queen. Who could be surprised if Harry were welcomed with something short of open arms?

This impromptu visit, while well-intentioned, has served as a sad reminder of the continuing rift within the family, a burden Charles can ill afford in his current state when all his energy must be focused on the challenge of his health.

[From The Daily Mail]

TL; DR version: Harry was damned if did, damned if he didn’t. Harry visits his father, his father is unspeakably rude to him, and it’s “well, it’s Harry’s fault!” Harry doesn’t visit his father, and it’s “how dare he not come and personally change his father’s bedsheets!” As I said, Harry did what he did for himself, to do the right thing and know that he made the effort and he has a clean conscience. Charles is doing what he does best – bitch and moan about his son interrupting his busy schedule of traveling between palatial estates because Harry dared to take a 14 hour flight just to see him. Harry boxed them in – they look like complete a–holes for the way they’ve treated Harry and then having the audacity to complain about his visit after the fact.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

It’s always worth noting that there are deep fissures between the British media and the Windsors about whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are actually “wanted” back in the UK. The Windsors have insisted: no, the Sussexes are not wanted, especially not now, when they’ve been so successful outside of the UK. The British media is like: actually, we would love to have them back so we can abuse them mercilessly and they can save our industry and give us content. This has come to a head again this week – courtiers were reportedly “pleased” that Meghan didn’t join Harry during his 25-hour trip to the UK, all while King Charles made a point of meeting with Harry for less than an hour. Meanwhile, the media was screaming “where’s Meghan, why didn’t she come with Harry, she might even be warmly welcomed back, she should WANT to come back.”

Meanwhile, Meghan is protecting her peace and raising her children. Well, the Daily Mail paid a huge amount for these exclusive photos and ran them with this overwrought headline: “Meghan Markle flashes a smile as she breaks cover near her $14m Montecito home as Prince Harry flies home from London after meeting with King Charles amid his cancer diagnosis.”

EXCLUSIVE: Meghan Markle can’t stop smiling as she’s seen for the first time since Prince Harry met with cancer-stricken King Charles https://t.co/dHVOTGc7vx pic.twitter.com/yEoDStQCaO

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) February 8, 2024

The Mail doesn’t really have anything to add other than these pics were taken on Wednesday (while Harry was flying home) and that she was driving a Range Rover and sipping from a coffee mug. The Mail says Meghan was driving on “Los Angeles area roads,” yet the headline says “near her $14m Montecito home.” Which is it, because Montecito is hours away from LA? Anyway, the Derangers are having a fit, predictably. This is currently the top story on the Mail Online too. “No one cares about Harry & Meghan, they’re so unimportant!” Meanwhile, a woman driving in California is top news in Britain and every British newspaper did a liveblog tracking Harry’s movements for three full days.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

From Rosie: I’m back from vacation, bitches, and need to sing the praises of those packing cubes I bought back in December. They worked GREAT and kept us organized through five cities in three different countries. Mr. Rosie and I each give them two thumbs up. Some colors are still on sale with additional coupons applied at checkout. Reviews echo my enthusiasm for how they’re a great travel tool. “These bags hold a lot. I packed multiple plus- sized jeans & sweaters, t- shirts & leggings, & other items for seven days, & had room to spare.” “They are the perfect dimensions for my carry on suitcase, and help keep everything organized when I travel. This product has made packing easier and more efficient!” Here are some more things CB and I are looking at on Amazon this week.

Air dry clay for hours of artistic fun

From Rosie: This air dry clay is a rainy day lifesaver! We initially bought this pack for my younger son, who is an “art kid,” but my older son, a true “STEM kid” through-and-through, also loves using it. We’ve had hours of creative fun with it, most notably culminating in two interesting-looking figures that now adorn our tchotchke shelf. Right now, it’s on sale for $20 with an additional 5% applied at checkout. It has a 4.6 star rating, more than 1,000 reviews, and an A on Fakespot. Users comment on how it’s a great activity for all kids. “My grandson lives this, he makes all kind of things with it. Easy to use, easy to clean up, lots of fun to be had.” “We pretty much used all the clay on day one in my classroom for a project. Great vibrant colors and super fun and soft. I will definitely buy it again.” “This clay is so fun, especially with kids!! I use it in all my ABA sessions, it’s calming, sensory, and helps to teach kids to follow directions (through a planned activity), and to follow through with projects!”

A storage box that helps organize your cords and cables

From Rosie: Our “cord drawer” has become a disaster and is in desperate need of organization. These storage boxes are exactly what I’m looking for. They’re perfect for eeping them organized in one spot. They can be used to organize drawers, desktops, personal effects, tea bags, and more. They come with cable ties, too, and are even stackable, which is awesome because the drawer I want to use them for is pretty deep. It has a 4.4 star rating, almost 150 reviews and an A on Fakespot. People who’ve bought them rave about how great an organization tool this box is. “Our electronics misc. drawer was a mess and I needed something that would separate and organize. This compartment is perfect for separating cords and charging blocks. It comes with velcro straps to keep your cords wrapped and cleaned up. Highly recommended!” “I used it in my electronics cabinet to keep all the cords & plugs organized & very neat. Well worth the purchase!”

Fun earring sets to accessorize your outfits

From Rosie: Earrings are my favorite things to accessorize with. This value pack comes with 58 different pairs and a variety of styles, including hoops, tassels, geometric shapes, acrylics, and more. They are nickel and lead-free, too. You can pick out a pink-toned set or an orange-toned one for around $20. They have a 4.3 star rating, more than 9,000 reviews, and a B on Fakespot. In reviews, people are happy with the variety and designs. “There’s a lot of choices in this set. I like the versatility of sizes, textures and colors!” “Lots of options! Loved them and can’t recommend them enough.” “This is a perfect set for gifting! I kept a few for myself that weren’t suitable for my niece and her friends! They’re all lightweight and easy to switch between for younger people with newer piercings.”

A lego succulent display is fun to assemble and display

From CB: This lego succulents set is on sale for around $40 and would make a great gift for a young person or adult. It would make a beautiful display in your home too. This listing has over 9,700 ratings, 4.9 stars and the same score on ReviewMeta. People say it’s fun to build and looks great too. “When I saw this set was coming out, I had to get it! The build is [not] difficult. You can arrange the 9 pods as you like. They look great and I always get compliments when others see it. Great to display in the home or office.” “We have several of the Lego ornamentals and this is tied with the orchid for most visually striking. I left the kit on a table over the holidays and invited anyone who wanted a few minutes of quiet to spend some time assembling one part of it. In the end, five different family members had a hand in building the finished item, which means it’s not just beautiful, it has special memories to go with it.”

An under $7 carpet stain remover that works like magic

From CB: I bought this carpet stain remover back when we first featured it two years ago and I have used it to remove so many stains. It works like a charm on my area rugs and even got blood out . Folex instant carpet stain remover is under $7 and will be your go-to for everything from food to wine. This listing has over 91,000 ratings, 4.1 stars and a B on Fakespot. People say it can get out just about any stain. “This is hands down the best carpet stain remover I’ve used, especially for the price. A little goes a long way so the bottle lasts me a good few months, even with four pets.” “While I am by no means a very experienced spot cleaner, using this was a breeze. I got this for our car’s roof upholstery which had all sorts of marks on it from years of kids and moving things. I didn’t really have much hope for anything getting out the stains, but this worked amazingly! I simply sprayed it on, rubbed it a little bit in then dabbed with a cloth! “

A long light puffer vest that will be your go-to this spring

From CB: I love my long puffer coat but it’s getting a little too warm this time of year. This long hoodie puffer vest by Elfjoy is under $40 and comes in five colors and in sizes small to xx-large. This listing has over 2,000 ratings, 4 stars and an A on Fakespot. People say they love this vest and that it’s comfortable and stylish. “Make sure you measure your hips before ordering because it is more of a slender fit, it’s very comfortable and lightweight! it’s perfect for turtlenecks as I have on or a sweater for underneath.” “Very nice vest, not too thick just right, also it’s long enough to cover your bottom. The fit is perfect.”

A stainless steel portable door lock for peace of mind

From CB: Hotel doors are notoriously easy to break into and staff can enter your room at any time. We’ve previously featured this other portable travel door lock, which is popular and effective. I wanted to talk about this hotel door lock that I saw on Twitter recommended by a locksmith. It’s a two part stainless steel lock under $9. This listing has 1,152 ratings, 4.2 stars and a B on Fakespot. People say it works really well and prevents anyone from getting in, even with a key. “Once I had these in place on the doors, as you can see in the video I posted, the door does not budge! I highly recommend this product. It is very small, it is very light and it is very easy to use! Great for any young travelers that are traveling solo or for anyone looking for that little bit of extra protection on their doors!” “Super easy to use and I wasn’t afraid of locking myself in the room like some of the other products available online. Super simple instructions and installs in less than 30 seconds. Only criticism is the straight flat side doesn’t have any rubber to protect the door frame. You don’t want to over tighten it, but still provides excellent protection.”’

Thanks for reading and commenting on our affiliate post! If you make any purchases through these links we get a small percentage and appreciate it.

Prince William stepped out last night in London, for the Air Ambulance Charity Gala Dinner. It was a fundraiser and William is the royal patron of the charity. Tom Cruise was there. It does not look like William wore his very special velvet plane slippers, the ones he wore to the Top Gun: Maverick premiere, the same ones he had to show to all of the actors. As he was entering the venue, someone in the press pack outside asked him about the public support for the royal family in recent weeks. William’s response: “We really appreciate everyone’s kind messages. Thank you.”

NEW: Prince William arriving to support @LondonAirAmb tonight was asked about the King and Kate and told reporters: “We really appreciate everyone’s kind messages. Thank you” pic.twitter.com/ATMciestRB

— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) February 7, 2024

As many have noted, this was a little play, acted out by the journalist and William. A little script was written and both actors performed their roles. Reminiscent of the “we’re very much not a racist family” play. While he was inside the gala, he also gave a speech. He said, in part:

“I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you, also, for the kind messages of support for Catherine and for my father, especially in recent days. It means a great deal to us all. It’s fair to say the past few weeks have had a rather ‘medical’ focus. So I thought I’d come to an air ambulance function to get away from it all!”

[From The Daily Beast]

That was actually a half-decent joke? Give that scriptwriter a raise! Anyway, as I was looking through these photos, I realized one of the reasons why William hasn’t been doing events in recent weeks – it’s actually quite discombobulating to see him in a tuxedo, smiling and waving, while his father has cancer and his wife is incapacitated. I get it now – they actually worried that the optics would make William look too cavalier, too cold-hearted.

This air ambulance event was his second event of the day – hours earlier, William hosted an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle. He was swaying quite heavily and he apparently dropped one of the medals. Butterfingers! Or something else. All I have to say is that I used to drink (it’s been years) and when I drank, I swayed like this. When you’re around drinkers, you recognize that sway. This was mid-day as well – I guess they had several hours to sober him up for the air ambulance gala.

The Prince of Wales has returned to royal duties after his wife’s abdominal operation and following the announcement of the King’s cancer diagnosis.https://t.co/Ig4ZQJ3Vi4 pic.twitter.com/KUXAYfZZfp

— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 7, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

I really like Kumail Nanjiani. He’s had such an interesting, varied career and seems like a really solid, thoughtful, intelligent, and down-to-earth dude. I listened to his and his wife Emily’s podcast for a little while back in 2020 and found them to be really endearing. There was one episode in which they were arguing about whether you should wet your hands before or after applying soap to wash them and – no joke – this debate has lived rent-free in my mind for four years. I think about it at least once a week.

Anyway, after Kumail was cast in one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies, The Eternals, he started working out and underwent a major body transformation to get mega-buff. The transformation was so widely talked about in an industry that values physical looks more than anything else that Kumail ended up getting worried that he was unintentionally part of the problem. Unfortunately, The Eternals didn’t do so well amongst critics or at the box office. Kumail took it so hard that he had to seek therapy afterwoods.

The actor Kumail Nanjiani has said that bad reviews for Eternals, Marvel’s little-loved 2021 blockbuster, affected him so deeply he started seeing a therapist. Speaking on Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast, Inside of You, the actor said: “The reviews were bad, and I was too aware of it. I was reading every review and checking too much.”

Eternals features a group of immortal aliens who emerge from hiding after thousands of years to protect the planet from their ancient counterparts. Nanjiani played Kingo, a fame-loving Eternal who can create cosmic energy projectiles and becomes a Bollywood star to blend in on Earth. Nanjiani undertook many months of fitness and dance training to prepare for the role; his physical transformation attracted much heat on social media in the run-up to the film’s release.

Anticipation was high for the movie, the first from acclaimed director Chloé Zhao since Nomadland swept the Oscars. Trailers had hinted at the ambitious scope of the plot and visuals – which often eschewed CGI, to the surprise of Marvel boss Kevin Feige – and the inclusivity of the film’s cast, which featured the franchise’s first gay and first deaf protagonists, was much applauded.

But critics were lukewarm on the final film, with the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw saying: “There are some nice touches and an attractive new diversity worn lightly, but this is an underpowered and uncertain film.”

The film has a 47% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and US audiences exiting the film polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of B – the lowest score ever achieved by a Marvel Cinematic Universe film.

“It was really, really hard,” said Nanjiani, “because Marvel thought that movie was going to be really, really well reviewed, so they lifted the embargo early and put it in some fancy movie festivals and they sent us on a big global tour to promote the movie right as the embargo lifted.”

Nanjiani said this unfortunate timing was “heightened” by the press tour taking place during the Covid pandemic.

“I think there was some weird soup in the atmosphere for why that movie got slammed so much, and I think not much of it has to do with the actual quality of the movie,” he said. “It was really hard, and that was when I thought it was unfair to me and unfair to [my wife] Emily, and I can’t approach my work this way any more. Some shit has to change, so I started counselling. I still talk to my therapist about that.

“Emily says that I do have trauma from it,” he continued. “We actually just got dinner with somebody else from that movie and we were like, ‘That was tough, wasn’t it?’ and he’s like ‘Yeah, that was really tough’, and I think we all went through something similar.”

[From The Guardian]

I feel bad for Kumail. I think Marvel thought the movie was going to be well-reviewed because of the amount of well-known actors that appeared in it. I saw The Eternals in theaters and while I liked it, I was underwhelmed. It was way too long, there were too many storylines going on at once for a movie that was introducing new characters, and there were a lot of plot holes. Plus, none of that movie has really come back into play within the MCU to make people revisit it. None of this was Kumail’s fault, though! He was great and one of the better parts of the movie. But I can absolutely see why he’d take it so hard. He put in *the work* for that movie. At the time, Marvel still had a decent track record, as it was still early in Phase 4 and IMO, things didn’t really go sideways until Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. (I love Black Widow and will die on that hill.) Hopefully, the Marvel gods find another way to get Kumail back for a future movie.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images, Cat Morley / Avalon, Getty

I’ve been around long enough to remember a time when Robert DeNiro was famously a curmudgeon who would barely mutter through a few interviews for his film promotions. Something has really shifted in recent years. Part of it seems to be Donald Trump and DeNiro’s extremely vocal hatred for all things Trump. I honestly think that energized DeNiro, it made him more eager to give interviews, because he could trash Trump whenever he felt like it. But there also seems to be a shift in DeNiro’s perspective towards promoting his work and family. He became a father again last year at the age of 79/80, he arguably gave one of his career-best performances in Killers of the Flower Moon, and he’s still committed to working as much as possible. Maybe he’s just loosened up. Anyway, here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: Robert DeNiro gave a warm, light interview for this week’s second People Magazine cover story.

He’s forward-looking: “As things come, you don’t expect them. You got to be ready. I’m ready to take whatever life gives me.”

His new baby Gia: He welcomed his youngest child, Gia, last year, with his partner, martial arts instructor Tiffany Chen, 45, with whom he’s been linked romantically since 2021. “She’s such an adorable baby. So sweet,” he says of the smiley 10-month-old. “[When I] look at her, everything else goes away. So it’s a great joy and relief to just be with her in the moment.”

His other kids love Gia: De Niro’s other children, Drena, 56, and Raphael, 47 (with his first wife Diahnne Abbott), twins Julian and Aaron, 28 (with ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith) and Elliot, 25, and Helen, 12 (with ex-wife Grace Hightower), are proud older siblings. “The kids all get a big kick out of her,” he says of Gia. “The grandkids even. She’s their aunt— [and] they’re about to be teenagers!” (Raphael has three children; Drena’s son, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, died at 19 last July.) A family man to his core, De Niro loves when they can all gather. “The fact that they’d all be together,” he says, “is everything to me.”

Where he was when he heard about his latest Oscar nomination: De Niro was on the set of his upcoming Netflix series Zero Day, a political thriller he’s also executive producing, when he heard the news of his latest nod. How does it feel to be recognized at this point in his career? “Great.” Did he savor the moment and pop some champagne? “No.”

Retirement: Asked about retirement, he says he’s isn’t ready: “Not at the moment.”

[From People]

LMAO, did AppleTV tell him to do a People interview as part of an Oscar campaign?? I think that’s exactly what it is and that’s so funny. Anyway, people aren’t ready to talk about this yet, but DeNiro acted circles around everyone in KOTFM and the only reason he isn’t the leading contender in the supporting actor race is because he basically hasn’t campaigned for it at all. This is the first time I’ve thought “oh, he’s really doing an Oscar campaign.” I mean, sure, Robert Downey Jr. was always going to be “the guy” but still. As for his 10-month-old baby Gia… it’s kind of sweet that he keeps talking about her in interviews too.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by People Magazine (@people)

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of People.

I’m finding Austin Butler to be a fascinating young(ish) actor. Granted, I’ve only seen him in one performance, the one where he plays a leading man breaking out and desperate to make all the right moves and be taken seriously. But he’s really giving that role all he’s got! Right now Austin is doing double promo duties for his Apple+ series Masters of the Air (out now), and Dune: Part Two premiering March 1. Esquire put him on their March cover, and Austin gave them the kind of extra, overly self-aware yet somehow not self-aware at all interview we’ve come to love and expect from him. A few highlights:

‘The architecture of your mouth’: [Butler] has spoken about how certain face movements and poses are subconsciously adopted and how a voice is just the architecture of your mouth, which can get caught in patterns that make you sound like someone you aren’t. Weren’t. How living as another person — which is exactly what he did — isn’t something you drop, no problem, simply because the cameras are down. He does it again today. “There’s no denying you create habits … I had been practicing one way of using the muscles in my mouth for a long time, so it was a process of trying to unlearn those.”

The quick turnaround from Elvis to Masters: Having a project to distract him from the despair he felt over leaving the titular role was, Butler thought, going to be helpful. “There was something comforting about knowing I could pour myself into something else,” he says. His body had other plans. Three years of spiraling further and further down the rabbit hole of someone else’s psyche and abandoning his own sense of self completely had taken their toll. The morning after production on Elvis ended, at 4:00, he woke up in excruciating pain. Possibly his appendix? Butler was admitted to the hospital. Except it wasn’t his appendix. Or Covid. “My body just crashed.”

Oh good grief: The space between what you want to know about Austin Butler and what he wants to reveal is not a gap but a gulf. A throwaway question like “Do you live in an apartment or a house?” leads to a pause. A house in L.A., he answers at first, and an apartment in New York. “How much do I want to say about this?” he wonders aloud after the admission. I ask him if he’s eaten anywhere good while in town. “This is also hard,” he says in response to my second-easiest question. “I never know when I’m giving my favorite spots away.”

He’s curating his stardom: The thing is, Butler wants to be a particular kind of star. Not just a celebrity. Not just an actor. And he doesn’t want to mess it up. Certainly not by sharing too much. … That desire to probe and share is diametrically opposed, he says, “with the type of career that I want to have, which is to be able to step into all these different types of people. I think of the days of Paul Newman — we didn’t know a ton about his personal life.” It’s like that with a lot of the stars he admires. Leonardo DiCaprio. Christian Bale. Daniel Day-Lewis.

The friend faux pas: Last winter, as his Best Actor campaign began to bubble, it blew up in his face. When asked if he’d always wanted to play Elvis in a movie, Butler answered that “a friend” once told him he was a fit for the part. Except that friend was his former partner of nine years, Vanessa Hudgens, and she had, before and after his casting, posted about it on Instagram. The Internet ate him up, accusing him of downgrading her role in his life. “Oh, yeah, I learned a lesson with that one … I felt that I was respecting her privacy in a way and not wanting to bring up a ton of things that would cause her to have to talk. I have so much love and care for her. It was in no way trying to erase anything.” … The two dated for most of their twenties; their relationship saw the death of both Butler’s mother and Hudgens’s father. It was real, and those moments, as Butler sees it, belong only to them. “I value my own privacy so much,” he says. “I didn’t want to give up anybody else’s privacy.”

[From Esquire]

Where do we start? Austin is way over the top, for sure, but I feel like the interviewer was really meeting him halfway here. Case in point: “A project to distract him from the despair” of finishing Elvis. He’s got his own Greek Chorus with this writer! The part that had me howling the most, though, was his treating the fairly innocuous questions of “where do you live and eat” like he’s an undercover agent tasked with guarding state secrets. “A house in one city, and an apartment in another. CURSES, I’ve said too much!!” I also barked out a laugh at the suggestion that we don’t know anything about Leo DiCaprio’s personal life. Please.

With regards to Vanessa Hudgens, are we buying his explanation? It’s not a (state) secret they dated, nor that she championed him for Elvis. Why would saying “my ex” instead of “a friend” have been betraying her privacy? And finally, “not wanting to bring up a ton of things that would cause her to have to talk,” was… not the best assemblage of words from him.

Photos credit: Robbie Fimmano for Esquire, received via promotional email, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon

The trailer for AppleTV’s Palm Royale, starring Kristen Wiig, Ricky Martin, Allison Janney, Kaia Gerber & Carol Burnett. [OMG Blog]
Kelly Rowland backs up Jay-Z’s Grammy speech. [Just Jared]
Lainey’s dog needed surgery, poor Barney. [LaineyGossip]
Jonathan Bailey is so hot. That is all. [Socialite Life]
What haunts the detectives of True Detective: Night County? [Pajiba]
Paul Mescal & Andrew Scott at the LCCAs! [Go Fug Yourself]
Should we read sexy dragon books?? [Jezebel]
I would have loved Maisie Williams’ outfit without the hat. [RCFA]
Animal Control got a third season. [Seriously OMG]
What were Lisa Barlow’s controversial fur comments? [Starcasm]
Details about Mariah Carey’s new Vegas residency. [Hollywood Life]