We got the confirmation late last week: the Princess of Wales absolutely will not join her husband in Singapore in November for the Earthshot Awards. Kate had been scheduled to go to Singapore for months, then *someone* in Kensington Palace began to soft-launch “Kate’s mothering priorities are so major, she would never abandon her children to a fleet of nannies for a few days!” Very few people in the British media were buying it, which is why Kensington Palace added a new detail to further explain Kate’s absence: she needs to be around to support George as he takes some kind of exam. Even fewer people are buying that explanation, so it was interesting to watch as the Telegraph’s coverage tried to dig deeper into what kind of test was so important for a 10-year-old.

The Princess of Wales will not join Prince William in Singapore for the Earthshot Prize awards as Prince George has school exams that week. For the first time since launching the environmental award, the Prince will fly solo when he heads to Asia in early November.

A Kensington Palace source confirmed that the Princess wanted to remain at home to support their elder son. Prince George, 10, is currently in year six at Lambrook prep school in Berkshire but was recently spotted looking around Eton College with his family ahead of a potential move there.

All applicants for year nine sit an online pre-test in the autumn term of year six, either at their current school or at an agreed centre. At the same time, Eton also requests a head teacher’s report covering a boy’s academic strengths, interests and character.

A selection of boys are then chosen to go forward to the second stage, an assessment later in the academic year before successful candidates are offered a conditional place, pending an entrance exam sat in year eight. Similar tests are held at around the same time for applicants to Marlborough College in Wiltshire, the Princess’s alma mater.

[From The Telegraph]

Because I know very little about the British educational system, much less all of these crazy boarding schools, this was very confusing to me. From what I gather, George is preparing to eventually go to Eton, so he’s, like, on “the Eton track.” Which means a certain set of tests taken at certain points in the boys’ pre-Eton schooling. Like, SATs but for posh boarding schools. It’s possible that George really is taking some important “pre-test” around the same time as the Singapore trip. But it’s also true that if William actually wanted Kate in Singapore, she would be going. He doesn’t want her there, he doesn’t want her trying to grab his ass and gawping at everyone. One more thing about George’s pre-test… why wasn’t that cited months ago? Why does it feel like an excuse pulled out of the air at the last minute?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Joe Jonas is a creep, a jerk and probably quite sexist too. He clearly wanted Sophie Turner to be his tradwife, and he backtracked in a hurry when his week-long smear campaign against Sophie backfired. All that being said, as Sophie and Joe’s dueling legal filings have shown, Joe is a lot more prepared than Sophie. He’s been preparing for this divorce for months, he’s listening to his lawyers and, by filing for divorce first in Florida, he’s done a lot to control how the divorce and custody battles will proceed. All Sophie has is… a letter. A letter Joe wrote when they were shopping for real estate in the UK.

Sophie Turner has filed legal documents that include a heartfelt letter written by Joe Jonas to the seller of the U.K. home the former couple intended to purchase together before their split. The exes have been involved in a contentious ongoing custody dispute about where their children — Willa, 3, and Delphine, 14 months — should live in the wake of their divorce. The Game of Thrones actress, 27, claimed in an earlier filing that the family’s home base was in the U.K. and revealed she and the Jonas Brothers singer, 34, had entered into a contract to buy a home in her native country.

According to Page Six, Jonas reportedly wrote in part, “When my wife and I decided we were going to spend more time in the UK and search for a permanent home, our daughter expressed three unwavering requirements: having chickens, a pony and a Wendy house … While many of the houses we viewed met this criteria, the moment we turned the corner and caught sight of the charming blue shutters adorning [redacted], we experienced a sense of magic unlike anything we had felt before.”

He also reportedly wrote to the owner: “We can envision our children growing up here and making this our forever home,” and, “I really think Sophie and I will be able to look after [redacted names] and for many years pay homage to the magic you have created here.”

However, a source close to the situation tells PEOPLE of the house in England, “They did not buy the house. The house is in escrow, the sale never closed.” According to an earlier filing from Turner, they began looking for a house in the U.K. in Dec. 2022. The search continued through July 2023, when they entered into a contract to purchase a property, but the deal would not be completed until December 2023.

“They have never been residents of the U.K.,” the source adds. “Residency is a legal term and that is how the courts will define it. Residency includes things like where you have your driver’s license, where you vote, where your kids go to school, where you last lived as a family for a significant period of time (specifically 6 months).”

In 2021, Turner and Jonas had purchased and completely redecorated a family residence in Miami. They listed it for sale in April 2023 and sold the property for $15 million in August. Referencing this property, the source continued, “There is no place the family lived for 6 months or longer other than Florida. Intention, expressed in a letter or otherwise, does not equal residency. Actions do. And so while the letter was inserted in the motion in order to pique the attention of reporters, it won’t actually be material to determine legal residency.”

[From People]

Yeah… Joe’s side is correct. While the letter shows that Joe, at one time, intended to buy a home in the UK, it’s not some smoking gun which proves that Joe and Sophie lived in the UK, had established residency in the UK or that this is a British family court issue. Like, it sort of feels like Sophie’s biggest issue with Joe is that he changed his mind about moving to the UK, or that he was never even sold completely on the move in the first place. This letter would be a smoking gun in a civil case if Sophie was suing him over a failed real estate deal, but in a divorce case, the letter isn’t that important?

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Taylor Swift is re-releasing 1989, her pop-music album which, for my money, is probably her best and her most iconic. 1989 (Taylor’s Version) comes out on October 27. What’s sort of amazing is that she not only recreated the album, she’s actively recreating the vibe – miniskirts, strutting around New York and girl squads. The update to the vibe is that Taylor has a new boyfriend, football player Travis Kelce.

Well, Taylor spent the whole weekend getting all kinds of headlines. Saturday night, Taylor was out with her New Girl Squad: Sophie Turner, Blake Lively and… Brittany Mahomes, wife of Patrick Mahomes, the quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs. They went out to dinner at Emilio’s Ballato in SoHo. Later that night, Travis snuck into Taylor’s apartment and he apparently spent the night ahead of his big game against the Jets.

Then last night, Taylor arrived at the Metlife Stadium (in New Jersey) with the Nu Squad: Sophie, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Robyn Lively, Hugh Jackman, Sabrina Carpenter and director Shawn Levy. They were in the VIP area with Travis’s mom Donna Kelce and Brittany Mahomes. This time, Taylor didn’t wear any Chiefs merch, which probably caused some NFL merch guy to weep. The Chiefs won and so did the television producers who kept cutting away to Taylor in the VIP area. After the game, Taylor then hit up Zero Bond with some of the squad.

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Photos courtesy of Getty, Backgrid.

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The British tabloids were full of speculation about the late Senator Dianne Feinstein’s seat and who would serve the remainder of her term. Obviously, they believed that the Duchess of Sussex was not only “in contention,” but that Meghan was actively putting herself up for the job. Meghan was not in contention, nor was she campaigning for the seat behind-the-scenes. California Governor Gavin Newsom had a tricky job here – he had to appoint someone who wouldn’t use the remainder of Feinstein’s term to launch his or her campaign. Newsom didn’t want to “pick sides” before the primary, so this person just had to be a powerful seat-filler who only wants to serve for fifteen months or so. Gov. Newsom figured out an extremely elegant solution: he will appoint the president of EMILY’s List, the organization which fundraises for pro-choice candidates across the country. Laphonza Butler will get to use the resources of Feinstein’s office and this position to put a spotlight on abortion rights. In a presidential election year. This is PERFECT:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom will appoint EMILY’s List President Laphonza Butler to fill the seat of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, elevating the head of a fundraising juggernaut that works to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights, according to a person familiar with the decision.

Newsom is moving swiftly to name the next senator, two days after Feinstein’s death and just as a perilously split Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown. Senate Democrats are in need of every vote in the closely divided chamber.

The announcement was expected to come Monday, and an adviser to the governor, Anthony York, told POLITICO that Newsom is making his appointment without putting limitations or preconditions on his pick running for the seat in 2024. That means Butler could decide to join the sprawling and competitive field of Democratic contenders seeking to succeed Feinstein, with special elections now layered on top of the March primary and November runoff. Butler is expected to be sworn-in to the U.S. Senate on Wednesday by Vice President Kamala Harris.

Newsom’s selection of Butler comes at a moment of immense change in California’s political establishment, with millions of people still mourning the death of Feinstein, the barrier-breaking Senate lioness. Meanwhile the California governor, who was mentored by Feinstein, has been grappling with his own personal grief and the political ramifications of his choice to succeed her.

The people who spoke with POLITICO ahead of the announcement were granted anonymity to disclose internal deliberations. Butler is registered to vote in Maryland but will switch her registration to California.

[From Politico]

“Newsom is making his appointment without putting limitations or preconditions on his pick running for the seat in 2024,” yeah but the only way she’s getting it is because Newsom believes that she won’t throw her hat into the ring. People are saying one thing to Politico, while Newsom’s people are probably quietly briefing the California Democratic caucus that Butler won’t run. Anyway, this was a great call by Newsom. It also overshadows the fact that he made a deeply unpopular decision: he vetoed a bill supported by SAG-AFTRA, which would have enabled striking workers to collect unemployment benefits. Literally, within the same newscycle, he kneecapped unions AND gave a national platform to abortion rights.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

When I wrote about Senator Dianne Feinstein’s passing last Friday, I came SO CLOSE to making an off-hand joke about “Gov. Newsom should appoint the Duchess of Sussex to fill the remainder of Feinstein’s term.” You know why I stopped myself? Because A) I didn’t want to be ghoulish, B) it wasn’t the time or the place and C) I didn’t want people to take my joke seriously. The California political system is crazy enough without it turning into a Sussex Squad vs. royalist issue. That being said, for years now, the British media has been convinced that Meghan plans to run for office (she does not) and that the entire reason why she and Harry moved to California was to prepare for an eventual political run (nope). Those people know nothing about American politics and they are incredibly loud and wrong. Speaking of, guess what the Daily Mail’s top story was this weekend?

She has made no secret about her left-leaning politics and belief that women can change the world. So it may come as no surprise that Meghan Markle’s name was being bandied about in Hollywood last night as a long-shot replacement for Californian Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Indeed, within minutes of 90-year-old Feinstein’s death being announced on Friday, the Mail on Sunday was told ‘phones lit up’ with speculation the Duchess of Sussex could throw her hat in the ring to serve out the remaining 13 months of Feinstein’s term.

A major Democratic donor who is close to Californian Governor Gavin Newsom – who will choose Feinstein’s replacement – told the MoS: ‘Meghan is definitely a long-shot but in the craziness that is US politics these days it’s not an impossibility. Crazier things have happened.’

Feinstein’s death has produced a unique situation where Newsom, 55, California’s charismatic Governor who is considered a Presidential frontrunner should anything happen to 80-year-old President Joe Biden, has free reign to pick someone to replace Feinstein until the next election is held in November 2024. He was placed in a similar position in October 2020 when then-candidate Biden chose another Californian senator, Kamala Harris, to be his running mate against Donald Trump.

At the time, The Mail on Sunday reported that a senior Labour Party source confirmed Meghan had been ‘networking among senior Democrats’ with a view to building a grass roots campaign to fuel her political ambitions – with the US Presidency her ultimate aim. She and Prince Harry reportedly held a virtual hour-long meeting with Gov. Newsom but he picked another candidate.

A source said Governor Newsom had pledged to replace Feinstein with a black woman, adding: ‘The problem he now faces is that all the best candidates have already announced they will be running for Feinstein’s seat in November 2024, the next election. Governor Newsom cannot elect any of those candidates to the position now as it would be seen as a huge, and very unfair, advantage. If he puts any of the very good black women candidates in the job now he will be accused of favouritism. So he needs to find a woman of colour who can do the job for 13 months and will agree to not stand against any of the seasoned politicians who have already thrown their hats into the ring. There are not that many women who fit the bill. Which is why Meghan’s name is being bandied about.’

But the ‘buzz’ around Meghan as a replacement the late Senator Feinstein has left some Democrats cold. One senior source said: ‘I don’t think you can take Meghan seriously.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I’m surprised that they actually got Newsom’s political calculation correct, that he couldn’t or shouldn’t appoint someone who will run for the seat next year, so he has to appoint someone who has no interest in doing anything besides fulfilling Feinstein’s remaining term. Is that person Meghan? No. As I said on Friday, there’s a deep, deep bench of qualified California Democrats and if Newsom appointed someone far out of the California political world (as Meghan is), it would be seen as particularly bad form. This also goes for Oprah, who said (on the record) earlier this year that she has no desire to replace Feinstein.

PS… Gov. Newsom will reportedly announce that EMILY’s List President Laphonza Butler will fill Feinstein’s remaining term. The elegance of that decision!!

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.

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I cannot believe that the late Steve Irwin’s daughter, Bindi, is 25-years-old with a 2-year-old daughter. It makes me feel so old! Bindi grew up to be an absolutely lovely human being. She’s still working with her family to promote conservation. Lately, Bindi also been very open about her longtime struggle with endometriosis. After 10 years of excruciating symptoms, Bindi finally had surgery to take out 37 “very deep and difficult to remove” lesions. In March 2021, Bindi gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Grace Warrior. Because of the struggles she faced to conceive Grace, Bindi is very vocal about how people treat women who are in their prime years of fertility.

She’s so grateful for motherhood: “I am so glad that our daughter chose us to be her parents, and I think that every single day,” says Irwin. “It is such a gift to be a parent, because you are the one who is helping this wonderful little person find what they want to do with their lives. [You get] to try to do your best every day, to love them and support them and just be there — unconditionally, no matter what — to help them on the journey.”

She hopes other women talk about their struggles: Irwin’s dedication to embracing the present and practicing gratitude is no surprise given her longtime battle with endometriosis, which, as she’s previously shared, caused her to suffer from an “insurmountable fatigue, pain and nausea.” Her experience, which she opened up about on an Instagram Live this past spring, has also empowered her to encourage other women to talk about their own struggles.

Stop hiding your pain:; “It’s high time that we all talk about this and say, ‘Hey, if you are having excruciating periods, that’s not normal, and you need help, you should be allowed to receive medical treatments,’” says Irwin. “Women [should] stop having to feel like they have to hide their pain. I did it for 10 years. I tried my absolute best to hide the fact that every day I was in excruciating pain. And why? Why do we feel that we need to do that? You’re made to feel like it’s all in your head, and it’s a nonexistent problem or a woman’s problem. And that’s wrong. You should never be made to feel like you have to hide how you’re feeling, ever.”

Stop asking women about their reproductive plans: After everything Irwin has been through with endometriosis, the TV star is also passionately speaking out against prying or judgment when it comes to family planning. “Society just puts so much pressure on women and families, asking [questions like] ‘When are you going to have children?’ and if you have one child, ‘When is the next child?’” she points out. “These questions can be hurtful, because you don’t know what’s happening behind closed doors. You don’t know the heartbreak that someone has gone through. We have to be very careful and very kind when we’re talking about people’s decisions with their family. No one should ever make you feel bad about how you live your life with your family and the decisions that you have made or have had to make with family planning.”

She accepts her journey: As for Irwin’s path, she notes that her family of three may be complete — “and that’s OK.” “Chances are we’ll probably have one child, and that’s our journey,” says the proud mom. “That’s what life had planned for us. We feel very, very lucky to have our daughter. She feels like a little miracle every day. Our sun rises and sets with her. She is everything and more than we could ever want. We are so grateful.”

[From Yahoo]

Bindi comes across as being so wise beyond her years, particularly when acknowledging that her medical situation may only allow her to have one child and she’s at peace with that. I am in my late 30s and over the past 15 years, I’ve witnessed so many friends struggle with their fertility for various reasons. In a country that has a very vocal minority screaming louder than anyone else about the sanctity of life that begins at conception, it’s wild that those people do not place more value in helping women who want to become pregnant and successfully carry to term.

I’m so impressed by Bindi, though. She’s absolutely correct. Even without factoring in a couple’s reproductive circumstances, it’s no one’s business anyway. It’s always felt icky to me when someone wants to know someone else’s business that isn’t theirs. You know those sayings about how you never know what someone else is going through, so be kind? Yeah, Bindi just gave a masterclass reason on why that’s so important to adhere to. I hope she breaks through to a bigger audience with this message.

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I keep up with all vaccinations recommended by my doctor. I didn’t think we’d be in a place where your status needed confirmation, but here we are. I get regularly vaccinated because I believe in science. You know, that thing that all of reality operates in? So the epidemic of anti-vaxx nonsense that’s gotten louder in the Covid era has really accelerated my levels of Fran Lebowitz caliber anger. Now a new study out of Boston University is not helping my heart rate: researchers have found that about a third of pet owners are extending the anti-vaxx ethos to their dogs. Some, heaven help us, even think vaccines are causing autism in pups.

The impact of anti-vaccine activists is spreading beyond humans. A recent study found many dog owners are skeptical of vaccinating their pets — even though that leaves animals and humans at risk.

The study, led by a researcher from Boston University’s School of Public Health and published in the journal Vaccine, found a sizable minority of dog owners have some hesitancy toward canine vaccines. Over one-third (37%) said they believed the shots were unsafe; 22% thought they were ineffective; and 30% thought they were unnecessary. Overall, 53% of dog owners endorsed at least one of these three misconceptions.

“My co-authors and I were stunned by how prevalent this phenomenon is,” lead author Dr. Matt Motta told CBS News.

Motta says an unvaccinated pet is a danger not just to other animals but also to the humans around them.

“If there are more unvaccinated dogs out there, the risk of disease transmission grows,” Motta said.

While almost all states require rabies vaccinations, there are several other shots that veterinarians recommend for dogs.

“Obviously, if you get rabies, if you don’t get treated right away … you die,” says Dr. Todd Calsyn, a veterinarian at Laurel Pet Hospital in California. “Parvo [canine parvovirus] and distemper, for sure, can be fatal.”

According to the American Pet Product Association, about 65 million households in the U.S. have at least one dog.

For California resident Sinjin Chun, vaccines keep him confident that his dog Koby will stay safe while playing with other pets at the beach.

“I think it’s pretty necessary,” he said of vaccinating pets. “Dogs are just a lot dirtier than we are and they can pick up a lot of different things and if they’re spreading those things around it’s not good.”

The study also found that some common vaccine misinformation has been projected onto pets.

“Nearly two-fifths of dog owners believe that routine vaccines administered to dogs can cause them to develop autism, which is a fundamentally human diagnosis, not something that we observe in canine populations,” Motta says.

There is no evidence vaccines cause autism in humans or animals.

[From CBS News]

Again: there is no evidence vaccines cause autism in humans or animals. Vaccines don’t give Spot autism, they protect him from canine influenza. I guess I’m lucky with my Girl in that she wouldn’t miss a vaccine for the world — she’s notorious at our vet for being just as affectionate when they stick her with a needle as when they’re scritching her ear. “I love you too! More shots please!” The mere suggestion, though, of a dog having autism reminded me of Allie Brosh’s blog/book Hyperbole and a Half. She has hilarious commentary on her own depression and depressing situations (no really, she wants you to laugh!) that she writes up like comic strips, accompanied by computer drawings so awful they’re fabulous. One of her more memorable episodes was a series of tests she conducted to gauge her (beloved) dog’s mental acuity. It didn’t go well. The fault is not vaccines, but sometimes it is genetics.

photos credit: Caleb Fisher and Robert Larsson on Unsplash, Binyamin Mellish, Mikhail Nilov and Ivan Babydov on Pexels

I saw Oppenheimer three times this summer, twice in IMAX. I’m not a Christopher Nolan stan–in fact I don’t think I’ve seen any of his other films. I just liked the movie that much. Because it came out the same weekend as Barbie, initial projections for the movie were in the modest-but-good range. Both Barbie and Oppenheimer ended up blowing way past their expected box office results, thanks in part to the delightfully weird Barbenheimer internet phenomenon. Now Oppenheimer has earned $926 million over ten weeks of release. That’s quite a feat for a three hour movie that is mostly physicists talking to each other about nuclear fission. It’s now the third-highest grossing movie of the year. I don’t think anyone expected that.

Does Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” have enough heat to hit $1 billion globally? At one point, this milestone may have sounded entirely improbable for a three-hour historical drama that mostly depicts scientists talking about theoretical physics.

But sure enough, the biopic starring Cillian Murphy as the so-called father of the atomic bomb has become a full-fledged blockbuster with a fighting chance at joining the billion-dollar club. After 10 weeks of release, “Oppenheimer” has earned a staggering $926 million at the worldwide box office. It’s the third-highest grossing movie of the year, far surpassing big-budget tentpoles like Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” ($845 million), the 10th “Fast and Furious” movie ($704 million) and “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” ($576 million).

To reach $1 billion, “Oppenheimer” needs to generate another $74 million worldwide. Though not impossible (it has repeatedly put theatrical expectations to shame, so why stop now?), this would require people to keep showing up for “Oppenheimer” over several more weeks. Global ticket sales have been declining by roughly 20% in recent weeks, better than most films at similar points in their theatrical cycles. The challenge is that “Oppenheimer” has mostly run out of steam in North America — as expected, after two enthusiastic months on the big screen — so international audiences will be key in carrying the movie to ultimate box office glory. Overseas, it’s still reliably selling tickets in China, Italy and Germany.

For box office experts, “Oppenheimer” is a film without many useful comparisons. It’s the second-highest grossing R-rated film in history, behind 2019’s “Joker” ($1.07 billion), and has played less like a grim historical biopic and more like an all-audience superhero epic. That’s thanks to Nolan’s status as a name brand, as well as his power to encourage fans to seek out the film in Imax, where it has earned $181 million.

[From Variety]

I think this movie has done so well for all the reasons Variety lists: Christopher Nolan’s name, superhero fatigue, and the higher ticket price of IMAX. But the movie is just very good–the script has a momentum that never flags, Cillian Murphy is amazing, the cast is stacked, the cinematography is beautiful. I think word of mouth has counted for a lot of its success. I don’t know if it will break a billion dollars, but even if it hasn’t, Oppenheimer is a resounding success.

I bet the execs at Warner Brothers regret alienating Nolan now. Back during the dark days of 2020 Nolan was mad that WB was just dumping content onto streaming services instead of holding out for cinematic releases when theaters couldn’t reopen safely. Some of what Nolan said was out of touch, but some of it was legitimate. When Warner Bros put everything on streaming, creatives like actors and writers lost out on back-end revenue and residuals, and WB apparently didn’t notify them of these decisions. WB could have been profiting from both Barbie and Oppenheimer this summer! Instead Nolan is now at Universal. I understand why the studios decided not to hold out for theatrical releases during the pandemic and I think it was overall the right choice. But it also reminds me of the tensions between management and creative personnel that boiled over this summer with the strikes.

PS: I highly recommend the biography the movie is based on, American Prometheus, which is an incredible work of nonfiction that took the authors 25 years to research and write.

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Years ago, I was shocked when Colin Firth and Livia Giuggioli’s marriage began to fall apart – they seemed so classy and dignified, but Livia had an affair and the whole thing blew up when her lover turned into a stalker and the guy went public. I’m bringing up Colin Firth because his image, like Hugh Bonneville’s image, benefited from being in a long-term marriage. Hugh has never been on the prowl or gotten caught up in some sleazy scandal. Granted, Bonneville was never a heartthrob like Firth, but still – both are British guys who seemed to adore their wives and both are regulars in costume dramas. So, sad news, Hugh’s marriage fell apart. He and his wife of 25 years have separated. This year, man. Everyone’s getting a divorce.

Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville has split from his wife of 25 years, The Sun on Sunday can reveal. Lucinda “Lulu” Williams, 55, had been by the actor’s side on film sets throughout his career. Hugh, 59, found global fame playing the Earl of Grantham in the popular ITV period drama.

Yesterday, a spokesperson for the actor said: “I can confirm that Hugh Bonneville and Lulu Williams have separated.”

Hugh was seen smiling at a star-studded marriage ceremony eight days ago — without his wedding ring. Hugh was a guest at the wedding of Downton Abbey co-star Michelle Dockery, 41, and Jasper Waller-Bridge — brother of Fleabag creator Phoebe — last Saturday. But unlike other cast members, Hugh did not bring his partner.

A source said: “It is clear that Lulu feels as if 20-odd years of marriage counts for nothing.”

Yesterday a spokesperson for Hugh confirmed the couple — who have been married for 25 years and share a family home in West Sussex — have separated.

A source said: “It’s a shame as locally they were known to be a very sociable couple. Hugh has been away from home filming a lot this year. He has lost a bit of weight this summer, he was looking trim, tanned and relaxed.”

Just five years ago, the couple marked their 20th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows in Las Vegas’s Graceland chapel.

[From The Sun]

Oof, vow renewals are always tricky. How many couples have broken up after doing some big vow renewal? Because it feels like it happens every time. Anyway, Hugh always seemed happily married and settled, but I definitely clocked the fact that he’s lost weight and he seemed to be gearing up to reenter the dating market. While these sources seem to be putting the onus on Lulu, my guess is that they’ve been falling apart for more than a year, really. I wonder if there’s some bigger scandal lurking with this split.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Earlier this year, former Baltimore Raven Michael Oher learned that everything he had been told about and by his adoptive family was a lie. A version of Oher’s life story was told in The Blind Side, an Oscar-winning film which grossed hundreds of millions of dollars. People loved the story of an affluent, white Memphis family “adopting” a Black kid from the wrong side of the tracks and finding a way to make him a football star. As it turns out, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy lied, lied and lied some more – they never adopted Oher, they put him into a janky conservatorship and then cheated Oher out of millions of dollars for his life rights from The Blind Side. For years, Oher believed the Tuohys adopted him and he was part of their family. It was all a lie, and the Tuohys’ explanation for the conservatorship made absolutely no sense either. It also appears as if no one in Tennessee was monitoring the conservatorship, that’s how corrupt and half-assed the whole thing was. Well, Oher has gotten the conservatorship removed:

A Tennessee judge said Friday she is ending a conservatorship agreement between former NFL player Michael Oher and a Memphis couple who took him in when he was in high school, but the highly-publicized dispute over financial issues will continue.

Shelby County Probate Court Judge Kathleen Gomes said she is terminating the agreement reached in 2004 that allowed Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy to control Oher’s finances. Oher signed the agreement when he was 18 and living with the couple as he was being recruited by colleges as a star high school football player. Their story is the subject of the film “The Blind Side, which earned Sandra Bullock an Oscar.

Gomes said she was not dismissing the case. Oher has asked that the Tuohys provide a financial accounting of money that may have come to them as part of the agreement, claiming that they used his name, image and likeness to enrich themselves and lied to him that the agreement meant the Tuohys were adopting him.

In Tennessee, a conservatorship removes power from a person to make decisions for themselves, and it is often used in the case of a medical condition or disability. But Oher’s conservatorship was approved “despite the fact that he was over 18 years old and had no diagnosed physical or psychological disabilities,” his petition said.

Gomes said she was disturbed that such an agreement was ever reached. She said she had never seen in her 43-year career a conservatorship agreement reached with someone who was not disabled. “I cannot believe it got done,” she said.

Oher and Tuohys listened in by video conference call but did not speak. Lawyers for both parties had agreed that the agreement should end, but the case will continue to address Oher’s claims. Gomes said it should have ended long ago.

[From The Associated Press]

To recap, the Tuohys’ argument was that they put Oher in a conservatorship to get around NCAA booster rules when he was applying to colleges. Oher graduated from Ole Miss in 2009. If the conservatorship was merely a workaround, why was it not removed in 2009? Is it because that was the same year The Blind Side movie was released and the movie made a big f–king deal about how the Tuohys “adopted” Michael? Is it because the Tuohys wanted to control what money they gave to Oher for his life rights? And as Oher’s legal team has pointed out, why were the Tuohys not filing any paperwork with the court following the appointment of the conservatorship? This whole thing is just a catastrophe, and I’m glad the judge noted as much on the record, that none of this should have happened.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Oher’s IG.