I think it’s interesting that the York princesses really don’t bring their kids out to royal events… yet. I suspect it’s mostly because the kids are too young, but it will definitely be interesting to see if they keep August, Ernest and Sienna out of view for a while. There’s been one exception: Eugenie brought her son August to one Jubbly event last year and that’s about it. Now, Princess Beatrice has brought her stepson Wolfie to royal events in recent years, but Wolfie wasn’t with Beatrice and Edo for Christmas this year. Either that, or Wolfie didn’t feel like coming on the Christmas church walk this year, but I suspect this was probably Dara Huang’s year with Wolfie for Christmas.

These are photos of Beatrice and Eugenie in Sandringham on Christmas Day. Both were joined by their husbands – this is the first time in months (??) we’ve seen Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank together at an event. Jack is mostly based in Portugal these days – he’s got a fancy job at a luxury resort, but I think Eugenie splits her time between England and Portugal. Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi also put in an appearance.

King Charles has made these all-white family events a big centerpiece of his reign thus far. I wonder if it’s just as simple as saying that all of the Yorks and Tindalls are welcome, or whether he has to make some kind of special request that all family members put on a united front?

Also: that blind item about a royal couple splitting by February… lots of united fronts on display at Sandringham. Zara and Mike, Edo and Bea, Jack and Eugenie, Anne and Tim. Hm.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

We hope you have a great and safe holiday and Christmas if you celebrate! We’ll be back on Tuesday unless there’s major breaking news before then. Thank you so much for reading and commenting!

Taraji P. Henson talks about her frustrating fight for fair pay. [LaineyGossip]
Was Carey Mulligan the wrong actress for this role in Maestro? [Pajiba]
Rudy Giuliani will head to bankruptcy court. [Jezebel]
Robert Pattinson & Suki Waterhouse really are engaged! [Just Jared]
Dan Levy is really pulling off this look! [Go Fug Yourself]
Who was the best-dressed of 2023? Cardi B might be up there. [RCFA]
Josh Duggar hopes SCOTUS takes up his case. [Starcasm]
It pains me that I’m probably going to have to watch the Golden Globes on Jan. 7th. I really hope no one shows up. [Seriously OMG]
Nicole Kidman looked amazing at this premiere. [Tom & Lorenzo]
Nicki Minaj praises Taylor Swift. [Hollywood Life]
Some terrifying photos/videos. [Buzzfeed]
Crocheted nose warmers? Wait, these are actually adorable. [OMG Blog]

Photos credit: Abel Ilacer, Ekaterina Chernomort, Jessica Lewis, Lisa Fotios and Eugene Golovesov on Pexels

Simone Biles’ name is trending right now because her husband was probably less gracious than he should be. Simone Biles is the gymnastics GOAT, and one of the greatest athletes of all time. Her achievements and her legendary career are often minimized because she’s a young Black woman and because (jmo) she makes it look so effortless. I never would have thought that Simone’s husband would be one of the people minimizing her, although I do not believe that Jonathan Owens’ comments were AS bad as some people think. Jonathan and Simone did a joint interview with the Pivot podcast (which was also filmed) and they talked about how they got together and who made the first move. Owens currently plays for the Green Bay Packers, while Simone is likely preparing to compete at the Paris Olympics – he’s 28, she’s 26.

According to Green Bay Packers safety Jonathan Owens, when he first started his romance with now-wife Simone Biles, he’d never actually heard of the four-time Olympic Gold Medalist and record-smashing gymnast who is considered to be one of the greatest athletes of all time. Owens, 28, and Biles, 26, recently sat down for an interview on The Pivot podcast, and the newlyweds — who got hitched back in April — reflected on how they first met, which is when Owens made his surprising revelation.

“I’m like, ‘Lemme see who this is.’ I never really paid attention to gymnastics,” Owens said, recalling when Biles popped up on Raya back in 2020. “So it piqued my curiosity.”

While it may seem unlikely or even impossible for Owens to have never even heard of Biles, he tried his best to explain how the Olympic hero managed to fly under his radar.

“When she won the Olympics, I was in college, and we didn’t have NBC, we didn’t have Olympics channels, and we were in [training] camp in late July, early August,” he said. “So I’m not paying attention. I never had a moment where I would have watched [her perform].”

Owens added that when she first messaged him, “I didn’t know who she was at the time. But like, the first thing that I saw was that she just had a bunch of followers. So in my mind I’m like, ‘OK, she’s got to be good.’”

That being said, once they connected on Raya, things took off fairly quickly.

“She messaged me Tuesday, and then we were texting back and forth, and then we hung out Friday,” Owens recalled. “We couldn’t do much, because COVID happened and everything was shut down. So she came down to Houston. She lived in the suburbs, so she had to come about 45 minutes to me. Then the rest is history.”

When asked (seemingly as a joke) by host Ryan Clark if that meant Owens considered himself “the catch” in their relationship, Owens quickly — and seemingly genuinely — agreed that he did.

“I always say that the men are the catch,” said Owens — while sitting next to his wife, the single most highly decorated gymnast in the history of the world, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

[From ET]

I actually believe him that he didn’t immediately recognize Simone or understand what a big deal she is. It was sort of the same with Alexis Ohanian and (GOAT) Serena Williams – he simply didn’t follow tennis, and he didn’t recognize Serena right away when they first met. It feels like that would be especially true of a young football player who probably never paid attention to women’s sports. Now, the thing about “I always say that the men are the catch” – I can’t defend that. Simone is the catch. Simone is the bigger deal. That being said, it’s pretty clear that Simone chose him and she pursued him!

#SimoneBiles husband says he didn’t know who she was when they met & says he’s the catch. pic.twitter.com/gnbUFerFot

— The Gworls Are Fighting (@baddietvv) December 21, 2023

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A post shared by Simone Biles (@simonebiles)

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Simone’s Instagram.

Did you guys see Spencer, the Pablo Larrain film with Kristen Stewart playing Princess Diana? It wasn’t a great film by any means, but the whole thing takes place during the Windsors’ Christmas at Sandringham. Within the story, there are several real pieces of information: the strict Christmas lunch/dinner, weighing guests upon their arrival, the weirdness of the Sandringham estate. The scene where all of the food is brought in to be prepared by the kitchen staff is amazing. Anyway, I thought of that as I read this interesting piece about what the Windsors actually eat on Christmas Day in Sandringham. For Americans, it just sounds like a Thanksgiving meal (minus the pecan pie).

King Charles’ Christmas lunch meal has been revealed — and even his former chef isn’t impressed by what’s on the menu. Darren McGrady, 61, a Nottinghamshire chef who once cooked for members of the monarchy, opened up about the royal family’s holiday tradition in a new interview. The firm tends to celebrate at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England, each year.

“It was the same meal every year. They’re actually boring when it comes to festivities. They didn’t do hams or anything, just traditional turkeys,” he recently told OK magazine.

He continued: “We did three turkeys for the queen and her family in the royal dining room, one for the children’s nursery and then more for the 100 or so staff, so everyone had a Christmas lunch.”

McGrady has also reportedly cooked for Princess Diana. Since Queen Elizabeth II’s death at age 96 on Sept. 8, 2022, the chef expects that the king will stick to what he had last year. Most likely, his main course will be accompanied by mashed and roast potatoes, onion stuffing, brussel sprouts, carrots, roast parsnips and two sauces of either cranberry or bread.

Charles and his loved ones — Queen Camilla, Prince William, Kate Middleton and the Cambridges’ children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, will have to make room for dessert though. Later in the evening, they will most likely feast on pudding, which tends to be brought into the dining room by the palace steward – hot and “flaming.”

The royal family’s big day actually kicks off with a personal breakfast before heading over to St. Mary Magdalene Church for an 11 a.m. service. After lunch and a supper filled with roasted hams and boar’s head, they all gather to watch the monarch’s Christmas message on television.

[From The NY Post]

So, wait, are they doing hams or not? The chef says it’s just about turkey, but then the Post says hams and boar’s head? I mean, it would make sense for such a large party to have two kinds of meat, surely, and I would imagine it would be turkey plus ham, or maybe a beef wellington or some kind of roast. As for all of the veggies… that sounds lovely. I could see how it could get boring for the chefs though, to cook the exact same things the exact same way, year after year. When QEII was alive, she reportedly wanted all of the food served very mild, without much or any spice. I wonder if Charles has changed that? He seems to have an even more delicate stomach than his mother, so probably not.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Judging from the general vibe and the palace briefing wars over the past fifteen months, it doesn’t seem like King Charles or Prince William spend too much time thinking about the Princess of Wales all that much. Kate has been effectively shoved away – she lives in her separation cottage, raises the kids with help of staff (who don’t live in Adelaide Cottage) and she spends a lot of time brainstorming with her grifter mother, who has also been politically neutered. If King Charles had his way, I suspect that keeping this status quo would be ideal. No messy divorce to pull focus, no need to drag the Middletons through the mud even further, no need to do anything at all with Kate. It’s worked out perfectly for everyone but Kate and her mother. There will be no divorce unless William wants out, and for the time being, that doesn’t seem to be in the cards. So this is what Kate gets: Charles’s general appreciation.

King Charles ‘appreciates the Princess of Wales for the solid family network’ she has given to Prince William and for showing his grandchildren a ‘normal’ life, a royal expert has claimed. The monarch – who turns 75 today – is said to be completely ‘devoted’ to his grandchildren and ‘admires’ Prince William and Kate Middleton’s parenting approach.

Speaking to OK!, royal expert Jennie Bond opened up about Charles and Kate’s relationship and how the Princess’ ‘normal’ background is benefitting Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five. She explained: ‘I think Charles admires and appreciates the solid family network she has created for William. The King is devoted to his grandchildren, George, Charlotte and Louis, and photographs show that he has an easy relationship with all three. I’m sure he is very proud of the way Kate is bringing them up.’

What’s more, the expert – who is the BBC’s former royal correspondent – highlighted how the Princess of Wales had to learn exactly what it means to be a member of the Royal Family. Having grown up out of the limelight, Jennie labelled the Princess of Wales the ‘perfect person’ to help her children understand their roles in the Firm.

She added: ‘I think Kate is key to providing a balanced upbringing for her children, but particularly for a boy born to be King. She has learned what it means to be royal – the restrictions as well as the privileges.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Charles was coddled by his grandmother and assorted surrogate mother/nanny figures, Camilla included. William, in turn, looked to be coddled by his surrogate mother figure, Carole Middleton. Meanwhile, who coddles George, Charlotte and Louis? They really don’t have anyone in the Windsor clan giving them “royal lessons” like Charles and William received. And no, Charles is not a doting grandfather. He doesn’t give a f–k about his sons, why would he bother with his grandchildren? He went out of his way to evict his grandchildren from their secure home in England. Anyway, all of Jennie Bond’s dumbass commentary is pointing at this: Kate is the one raising the kids while William is off doing god knows what with god knows who.

Also: it’s been almost six months since Charles sent the dogs after Kate for upstaging him at the Chelsea Flower Show. I honestly don’t think Kate has ever recovered!!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Instar and Cover Images.

Hannah Waddingham loves a festive look! (She’s been promoting her Christmas special in New York, that’s why she looks like a Christmas present.) [GFY]
Review of American Fiction, which I cannot wait to see! [Pajiba]
Q&A with artist Kyle Meyer. [OMG Blog]
The trailer for Nicole Kidman’s new miniseries, Expats. [LaineyGossip]
Funny tweets from and about women. [Buzzfeed]
Demi Lovato’s ex Max Ehrich denies talking sh-t about Demi’s engagement. [JustJared]
Michael B. Jordan is being investigated for his Ferrari accident. [Socialite Life]
Travis Kelce talked about Taylor Swift getting booed in Boston. [Hollywood Life]
South Park: Not Suitable for Children sounds gross. [Seriously OMG]
Emma Stone in Dior, Cate Blanchett in Louis Vuitton, both in London. [RCFA]

Mariah Carey covered some special Christmas issue of People Magazine, and I believe that’s how People Mag got the “tip” that Mariah and Bryan Tanaka had split. From the sound of it, they broke up months ago and the whole thing was barely a story because… honestly, people forgot they were together. They’ve been together since 2016 (they got together quickly in the wake of her split from James Packer) but they’ve never been joined at the hip, and it seemed more like a relationship of convenience and stable PR more than anything else. My point is that no one really gave a sh-t about Bryan apart from Mariah, but now we’re getting “his side” of the breakup. Apparently, he wants children.

Mariah Carey and her longtime boyfriend, Bryan Tanaka, have called it quits because he wanted kids, a source tells Page Six exclusively. We are told that the age gap of 14 years played a role with Tanaka, 40, wanting different things than Carey, 54.

“He wants to have a family. That’s not where she is at,” says the source.

Carey shares 12-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe with her ex-husband Nick Cannon. Tanaka, on the other hand, does not have children of his own.

The “Fantasy” singer and backup dancer were together for seven years.

Eyebrows were raised this week when the Queen of Christmas went on her annual trip to Aspen, Colo., solo. Tanaka was also missing from her “Merry Christmas One and All!” tour that started in November at the Yaamava Resort & Casino in Highland, Calif.

“He wants to start having his own life,” another source told us of the split.

[From Page Six]

This is something of a trend this year too – men initiating a split or divorce because they suddenly realize that they want to be a father. It was the same with Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara. Like… did Bryan just realize that after seven years with Mariah? I don’t know – it is what it is, if he wants something different or he just realized that he wants to be a father, so be it. Y’all know that Mariah wants no part in having another round of Dem Babies. You know what? I kind of hope Bryan got a nice check to go away quietly and not make too much noise. I wonder.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid, Bryan’s Instagram.

Mike and Zara Tindall sat down for a podcast interview this week, and it turned out to be a headline-generator. Yesterday, we talked about Mike’s nickname for Prince William – “One Pint Willy” – and what it could possibly mean that William is apparently a “bad drinker.” In the interview, Zara also discussed what it was like to grow up the daughter of Princess Anne, but without a title. Anne rejected titles for her children, which allowed them to make all kinds of business deals. Zara is a professional equestrian and she’s had lucrative sponsorships and brand deals for years.

Zara Tindall has revealed she’s ‘lucky’ that Princess Anne didn’t give her a royal title as she spoke candidly about her family in a new podcast. The mother-of-three and her husband Mike, who live in Princes Anne’s Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire, were interviewed by former rugby player Rob Burrow on his Total Sport podcast. During the discussion, Rob – who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2019 – asked the couple what advice they would give to their seven-year-old selves.

Although she was originally daunted by the question, Zara went on to discuss her role in the Institution – and how happy she is that Princess Anne didn’t force her and her brother Peter to be working royals.

She explained: ‘From my point of view, I was obviously very lucky that my mother didn’t give us any titles so I really commend her on that. We were very lucky that we got to do it a bit our own way. My family has a great work ethic as well which I’m hoping they instilled in me and is still going to this day. Hopefully, we can pass it onto our kids. Now, my brother and my cousins love to go back and do the same things and I hope that our children have the same experiences that we did when we were growing up. You don’t really appreciate that until you’re older and you’ve got kids.’

[From The Daily Mail]

“My family has a great work ethic…” I mean, her mother has a great work ethic. Her uncle, the king, has a good work ethic. Not so much with her cousins. But at the end of the day, Anne really knew what she was doing by raising her kids as “normal” rather than royal. Zara and Peter get all of the perks of royalty – all of the big invitations, all of the attention that comes with being royal-adjacent – and they still get to make their own money and they’re not being manipulated by King Charles. Plus, now that QEII has passed, I get the feeling that Zara, Mike and Peter feel like “anything goes” with their money-making schemes. Mike seems especially desperate for any kind of paying gig.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

I think we all can agree that Elon Musk has had a banner year. In 2023, he destroyed Twitter, got into a custody battle with Grimes, supported Ron DeSantis for president, promoted anti-vaxx conspiracies, challenged Mark Zuckerberg to a cage match, got clowned for messing with President Zelenskyy, sued Media Matters, re-platformed a walking piece of sh-t, launched an ugly apocalypse-ready Cybertruck, and endorsed anti-Semitic propaganda. And those are only the things that came to me off the top of my head. 2023 was a hectic one for Apartheid Clyde.

It’s been such a busy year for Forbes’ second richest person in the world that one of my favorites, John Oliver, took notice. On Last Week Tonight’s final episode of the year, Oliver did what he does best and spent more than 30 minutes spotlighting Space Karen. It was a pretty informative takedown, if for nothing else (there was plenty else) than to really highlight the Before/After of Elno’s hair plugs. Anyway, Musk proved once again that while a billion dollars may buy you a lot of things, it will never buy you a sense of self-awareness. He’s big mad that Oliver read him for filth.

Elon Musk is laughing off — but not laughing at — John Oliver’s 30-minute rant, in which the comedian referred to the tech mogul as “erratic,” “self-serving” and “increasingly racist.”

When a social media user reposted an article on X, formerly known as Twitter, about Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” segment, asking, “Oh no, how will Elon ever recover?,” the SpaceX founder replied with crying-laughing emojis. He then hit back at the British comic, writing, “Oliver was great several years ago, but stopped being funny when he sold his soul to wokeness where humor is basically illegal.”

Oliver began his discussion about Musk, 52, on his HBO late night talk show Monday by comparing the South African businessman to “any bad guy in a movie” like DC Comics’ Lex Luthor, villains in James Bond flicks and Billy Zane’s character in “Titanic.”

“Truly, the man has range,” he quipped, causing the audience to erupt into laughter. Oliver, 46, then delved into several of Musk’s career downfalls, noting in part that ever since the latter’s acquisition of Twitter, “It has been one fiasco after another with the most recent coming when he tweeted his agreement with this antisemitic post.”

He also spoke of Musk chastising advertisers who threatened to pull out of his social media platform over the antisemitism backlash, claiming the X owner was pulling the “you’re not breaking up with me, I’m breaking up with you card” while wearing a jacket from “Ralph Lauren’s midlife crisis collection.”

Oliver also called out Musk’s early business failures such as when he sold Tesla cars in advance to customers at one price point and then elevated the cost in what even he admitted was a “bait-and-switch.”

The talk show host then trolled Tesla’s cybertruck, saying, “Who on earth actually wants to spend up to $100,000 to drive every child’s first attempt at drawing a car?”

Referencing Musk’s company SpaceX, which is the world’s most dominant satellite company, Oliver added, “The problem isn’t just the optics of having someone as erratic as Elon in charge of half the world’s satellites. His opinions can change the shape of world events.”

He also quoted Musk’s biographer, Walter Isaacson, who once said the mogul likes “drama.”

“He loves drama? I’m sorry, I’m really not that comfortable with one of the most powerful people on earth being summed up the same way you describe Andy Cohen on New Year’s Eve,” Oliver said. “I’ll be honest, my feelings about Elon changed a bit in the writing of this piece. I’m probably now more impressed by what he’s doing, but more worried by the fact that he’s the one who’s been doing it.”

The comedian then concluded, “The least surprising thing on earth is a middle-aged billionaire CEO with self-serving libertarian views, increasingly racist politics and a messiah complex.”

Although Musk appeared only a bit miffed by Oliver’s criticism, a writer who profiled him recently shared that he believes the world’s richest man “truly cares about his reputation.” Author Ben Mezrich, who penned “Breaking Twitter,” claimed Musk once spiraled after he was booed at Dave Chapelle’s show in San Francisco last December.

[From Page Six]

Ooooh noes the big ol’ bad wokeness virus strikes again! Didn’t Elno say in that exhausting Joe Rogan interview that he bought Twitter to save us all from the “woke mind virus” that will cause a zombie apocalypse? Nothing Oliver said was wrong. If you go back up and look at what I listed in (somewhat) close to chronological order, you’d see exhibits A-J of “erratic,” “self-serving libertarian” and “increasingly racist.” At this point, the word woke has been thrown around so flippantly that it has to be losing its scariness for anyone who isn’t “the base” (you know who I’m talking about).

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

2023 was a pretty quiet year for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. They married in the summer of 2022 and they got a blitz of attention and media, then they just… focused on their work and figuring out their blended family. They’ve made appearances on each other’s red carpets and they’ve done a few events together, but their marriage has not been pap stroll after pap stroll. They’re older and wiser now – they know how to hide, they can insulate themselves with their money, and they’re both more comfortable in themselves and in their relationship. Well, J.Lo has This Is Me… Now coming out – an album and a short film – in February. To hype those projects, Jennifer chatted with Variety:

Jennifer Lopez admits not everyone in her camp initially supported the idea to document her romance with husband Ben Affleck in her upcoming “This Is Me… Now” album and companion film.

“As artists, we have to follow our heart and this is me following my heart and doing something that maybe everybody didn’t think was the best idea, but I had to do it,” Lopez tells me.

Lopez is set to drop “This Is Me… Now,” a new album that marks the 20th anniversary of “This Is Me…Then,” on Feb. 16. The Dave Meyers-directed companion short film will be released at the same time by Amazon MGM Studios.

Sure, Lopez has some worries about putting her and Affleck’s life in the spotlight because “we both have PTSD” caused by the media scrutiny they endured back when they first dated, she said, “but we’re older now. We’re wiser. We also know what’s important, what’s really important in life, and it’s not so much what other people think. It’s about being true to who you are.”

Asked if the film is a scripted feature or doc, Lopez explained, “You have to see it and you’ll have to experience it to understand it. That’s why I call it a ‘musical experience.’ Because there’s music, you can see it, you can hear it and then you’ll get to live it.”

A recent teaser for the film included a clip of Lopez saying, “When I was a little girl, when someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always… in love.”

[From Variety]

“We both have PTSD” – I can see that, and they both went running in opposite directions for years after their split. I talked about this before, but when I watched J.Lo’s Halftime documentary, they included clips of the aggressively racist coverage of Bennifer 1.0 and it really was shocking to look back at it now. I lived through it and even I forgot how bad it was. Like, it was so normalized circa 2002-03, to refer to Jennifer as “the maid,” or Ben’s “spicy senorita” and no one was even doing dog-whistles, it was just blatantly vile sh-t. And I do think they’re older and wiser now. Their “revival” love story is great.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, J.Lo’s Instagram.