The Prince and Princess of Wales’s joint appearance in Birmingham on Tuesday was another classic for the ages. The few times William did look at Kate, it was with disgust or disapproval. She seemed especially hyper and animated, like she was overcompensating. But “William looks irritated with Kate” is just one of my favorite keen photo sub-genre. Please enjoy the photos of “Kate making a speech” and “Kate is saying something and everyone around her looks bewildered or like they’re stifling a laugh.”

Kate’s yellow blazer was from LK Bennett and it was a repeat – I remember this now. She actually had a reason to wear yellow – she was honoring a campaign by the charity (YoungMinds) they visited, a campaign called #HelloYellow. Yellow is being used as the color of youth mental health. So… I won’t call her a Century 21 agent. As for Kate’s speech, she said in part: “William and I believe we need to do all we can as a society to help young people develop the emotional and social life skills they need for good mental health, and to thrive in the world around them.” That was it, really. She doesn’t have a plan, she doesn’t have advice, she’s just there to say “mental health is important, we should do more” and then take the helicopter back to her separation home.

This video has a clip of Kate’s speech. Note that Will and Kate spoke to groups of youths separately. William’s advice was actually much better than Kate’s speech. At least he had concrete examples of smaller things the youths can do to improve their mental health.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Julie Bowen isn’t a Fashion Girl and it’s fine! This Lela Rose dress is not great but she was supporting a great charity. [GFY]
Zaddy Pedro Pescal heads to the gym with his creatine. [JustJared]
I love Practical Magic too, it’s such a weird & funny movie. [Jezebel]
I would be into Guillermo del Toro’s Jabba the Hut origin story. [OMG Blog]
Zendaya looked great in vintage Louis Vuitton. [RCFA]
Anne Hathaway’s promotional style is getting better. [Tom & Lorenzo]
A glowing review of Todd Haynes’ May-December. [Pajiba]
Drake is disgusting and his new album sounds awful. [Buzzfeed]
Eminem & his daughter Hailie Jade went to the Lions game. [Egotastic]
The power of Barbie, Taylor Swift & Beyonce should worry Donald Trump. [Towleroad]
McDonald’s is bringing back Boo Buckets. [Seriously OMG]

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Director Pablo Larrain is developing quite the niche for himself as a filmmaker: hyper-focused biopics of very famous and iconic women. I was pleasantly surprised by Larrain’s Jackie, with Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy. I also thought he got an interesting performance out of Kristen Stewart in Spencer, where she played Princess Diana. Next up: directing Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas in Maria. Fremantle just released two new stills, and they’ve added more details about the SAG-AFTRA-waivered production:

Angelina Jolie transforms into legendary opera singer Maria Callas in the first images from Pablo Larraín’s biopic “Maria.”

The “Jackie” and “Spencer” director’s latest film will “explore the life of the legendary, iconic and controversial singer, often described as the original diva,” according to its official description. “Based on true accounts, ‘Maria’ tells the tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer, relived and re-imagined during her final days in 1970s Paris.”

As “Maria” is an independent film with an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA, production is set to take place over eight weeks in Paris, Greece, Budapest and Milan. The script, which was completed prior to the Writers Guild strike, is penned by Larraín’s “Spencer” collaborator Steven Knight. Alongside Jolie, the cast includes Pierfrancesco Favino (“Adagio”), Alba Rohrwacher (“La Chimera”), Haluk Bilginer (“Winter Sleep”), Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”) and Valeria Golino (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”).

“I am incredibly excited to start production on ‘Maria,’ which I hope will bring Maria Callas’ remarkable life and work to audiences all around the world, thanks to the magnificent script by Steven Knight, the work of the entire cast and crew, and especially, Angelina’s brilliant work and extraordinary preparation,” Larraín said in a statement.

Jolie’s costumes are based on real garments worn by Callas, including vintage fur items from Massimo Cantini Parrini’s archive collection, on which they consulted with PETA in order to not use any new fur.

[From Variety]

Purely going on looks, I assume Pierfrancesco Favino is playing Ari Onassis, probably in the flashback scenes. I wonder who Kodi Smit-McPhee is playing. He’s a very strange, other-worldly actor. As for the photos and everything else… I’m excited, honestly. Something which makes me so happy is that Larrain is clearly not interested in using prosthetics on Jolie – there will be no big, fake nose, thank God. I would assume Jolie’s transformation will be done through wigs, makeup, costumes and, you know, acting. I also think it’s cool that they’re using Callas’ real clothes or archival pieces. I’m also thrilled that this is SAG-waivered. Angelina’s most recent ex-husband is a scab, but not Jolie.

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Photos courtesy of Fremantle/Pablo Larrain.

Last Thursday, Prince William made two public appearances, neither of which brought many headlines. During the day, William did a very careful photo-op at Sustainable Ventures, where he posed for photos looking pensive, like he was playacting “I’m a good listener and I understand these conversations.” He went solo, and the absence of a certain gopher-gnawed wiglet meant that he flew under the radar and barely got any media engagement. Then, hours later, he flew solo again and caught an Aston Villa football game. He’s a longtime Aston Villa supporter.

What is remarkable, however, is that William has now made a point of making special trips to watch men’s sporting events. In September (the Invictus Games’ opening weekend) he flew to France for the Rugby World Cup, then he traveled to Birmingham for this Aston Villa game. While I know there’s a difference between “taking a private plane to France” versus “flying commercial to Australia,” the point is that William still made a terrible decision to not fly to Australia in August to support the Lionesses in the World Cup final. One of his many excuses was that it would be environmentally irresponsible to fly all that way… when clearly, he’s fine with flying the helicopter to Birmingham or taking a private plane to France, just as long as he’s supporting male athletes.

It’s also still bonkers to me that the Lionesses lost in the World Cup final almost two months ago exactly and the Football Association president still hasn’t met with them or done an event with them or visited their clubhouse to tell them how amazing it was to see them battle their way to the final. Misogyny, hypocrisy, laziness, poor planning, too focused on America.

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Photos courtesy of Getty, Cover Images.

Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi stepped out last night at the Art of Wishes Gala. Art of Wishes is part of the UK branch of Make-a-Wish, and it’s centered on the British art world helping out sick children and their families, and the gala was raising money to grant those kids’ wishes. The event was held at the Raffles Hotel in London. This feels like the kind of event which is perfect for Beatrice, honestly – it’s not one of the flashiest charities, but it’s still important enough to warrant a royal attendee. I wonder if Buckingham Palace okayed Edo and Bea’s attendance or if they just went on their own.

I found the IDs on Beatrice’s ensemble on Twitter and the IDs might be wrong, IDK. Apparently, Bea’s lace dress is Self-Portrait and her Chanel-wannabe jacket is from Alice+Olivia. Her purse is Anya Hindmarch and her shoes are Ralph & Russo. One of the Mail columnists suggested, weeks ago, that Beatrice accepts freebies when it comes to clothes and accessories. Maybe she does – I hope she does – but over the past year or so, I swear she’s dressing more like Kate used to. The lace dresses, the Downton Abbey style, everything is suddenly very prim. Bea’s style also changed when she married Edo.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

There are a few royal-adjacent projects coming up in the next few months, projects I’m eagerly awaiting. It’s not that I think the book or the show will be massively groundbreaking, but I do think the Windsors’ reactions will be fascinating to watch. First up: The Crown’s final season, Season 6, which will cover the Tony Blair years, from 1997-2005-ish. Then in late November, Omid Scobie’s Endgame will finally be published. November looks to be an interesting month in how the new king’s court responds to even lukewarm criticism or historical record-keeping.

Interestingly enough, Netflix is breaking up The Crown’s final season into two parts. Part 1 is, I assume, devoted to Princess Diana’s 1997 death and the subsequent fallout for the Windsors, including something close to a constitutional crisis for QEII. Part 1 will be released on November 16. Then on December 14th, Part 2 comes out – the later Tony Blair years, where we’ll see Prince William meeting then-Kate Middleton. Peter Morgan has promised to end the series on a “high note,” meaning Charles and Camilla’s 2005 wedding. Most of the actors from Season 5 are still around, although obviously they hired new, older actors for William, Harry and Kate.

Here’s the new teaser trailer. They also released two posters – the one of Diana in that turquoise swimsuit is so iconic and heartbreaking.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Netflix/The Crown.

On Monday, Robert Kennedy Jr. announced that he would run as an independent in the 2024 presidential campaign. It’s giving Kanye West 2.0 – a Republican stooge attempting to ratf–k the election by steering Democratic voters away from the Democratic candidate. Junior’s main backers, for months now, are all Republican operatives. Junior’s whole platform is a Republican fever dream of anti-vaxx, anti-science and anti-abortion stances. He fully supports a federal abortion ban (the government needs to control women’s bodies!) but he rejects every vaccine mandate (the government has no right to dictate public health issues!).

In a move that could alter the dynamics of the 2024 election, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Monday that he would continue his presidential run as an independent candidate, ending his long-shot pursuit of the Democratic nomination against an incumbent president.

Speaking to a crowd of supporters outside the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Mr. Kennedy, a leading vaccine skeptic and purveyor of conspiracy theories, said he represented “a populist movement that defies left-right division.”

“The Democrats are frightened that I’m going to spoil the election for President Biden, and the Republicans are frightened that I’m going to spoil it for Trump,” he said. “The truth is, they’re both right. My intention is to spoil it for both of them.”

In a 45-minute speech on Monday, Mr. Kennedy described encounters across America with people he called the “ranks of the dispossessed,” interspersed with angry barbs about “the surveillance state” and the “tyranny of corruption.” He quoted the Old Testament, John Adams, Martin Luther King Jr., Tennyson and his own father.

But Mr. Kennedy, the scion of a liberal political dynasty, has alienated his own family members and many Democrats with his promotion of conspiracy theories, his rejection of scientific orthodoxies and his embrace of far-right political figures.

“Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment,” four of Mr. Kennedy’s siblings — Rory Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy II and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend — said in a statement on Monday. “We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country.”

[From The NY Times]

For several days now, there’s been some consistent reporting on Donald Trump’s growing concerns about Junior’s candidacy. I have no idea if Trump is spending the money for internal polling, but I would assume that someone has some data suggesting that, thirteen months out from the presidential election, Kennedy would pull more votes away from Trump than Biden. It will be interesting to see if Trump goes after Kennedy, just as it will be interesting to see if Junior’s Republican backers/handlers/ratf–kers begin to rein him in so he can position himself as more of a Democratic spoiler. The only reason he’s running as an independent is because the Dems didn’t take his bait – he has been a non-factor for months, despite the media trying to hype Kennedy as some major threat to President Biden.

Also: Kennedy’s wife Cheryl Hines introduced him at his big announcement. So… she’s involved. She was trying to pretend like she didn’t have anything to do with her husband’s politics, but she got that Republican-wife blowout and she’s never going back.

Cheryl Hines doing the introduction for RFK Jr. pic.twitter.com/IDSQf5llwv

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 9, 2023

RFK Jr’s campaign is off to a great start

*cue Curb music* pic.twitter.com/JMyKF3pvNA

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 9, 2023

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.

In response to the devastating wildfires that swept Maui in August, Dwayne Johnson and Oprah Winfrey set up the People’s Fund of Maui. The aim of the fund was to provide local survivors with $1,200 a month to assist in recovery. Dwayne and Oprah each donated $5 million to start off the fund, and then publicly asked people to contribute. In my side-eyeing Paris Hilton for vacationing near the disaster site, I seemed to have missed that Dwayne and Oprah themselves received backlash… for starting a fundraiser to help. The criticism they received was for asking people to donate, despite the massive wealth between them. Over the weekend Dwayne posted an Instagram video update about the first round of $1,200 checks going to survivors, and he also took the opportunity to address the flack he and Oprah received during the launch:

“When we first launched the fund, there was some backlash,” Johnson said in a video shared to his Instagram on Sunday. “I get it and I completely understand, and I could’ve been better. And next time I will be better.”

The “Moana” actor acknowledged that he knows “money ain’t falling out of the sky, and it’s not growing on trees, and there’s a lot of people out there who’s living paycheck to paycheck. And I get it, and I know what that’s like.”

Many people criticized Johnson and Winfrey for not contributing more from their own pockets and asking their fans to donate.

“When you’re living paycheck to paycheck, you are easily pissed off. It’s frustrating,” Johnson continued in his video on Instagram. “And the last thing you want to hear when you’re living paycheck to paycheck is someone asking you for money — especially when the person asking you for money already has a lot of money. I get it, I understand.”

Johnson’s net worth is estimated at $270 million and Winfrey’s is estimated $2.5 billion, according to Forbes.

“I’ve never launched a fund before, but I’m a quick study and lesson learned,” the “Red Notice” star added.

He also thanked his fans for their honesty in his caption, writing, “I’ll always appreciate and protect that straight talk between us – you have my word to always listen, learn, grow and do better.”

Johnson and Winfrey’s fund is intended to give adults displaced by the wildfires in Lahaina and Kula a monthly stipend of $1,200 to help them during recovery.

In Johnson’s latest post, he said the first round of applicants has started to receive the monthly stipend.

“I’m so grateful and moved by all the messages I’m receiving out of Maui from the survivors of the devastating wildfires who are now getting their personal funding from The People’s Fund of Maui,” he wrote in the caption. “The strength of our people of Maui is beautiful and inspiring. Watching families and community come together after this tragedy is inspirational and I’m proud of our Polynesian people.”

Johnson concluded: “Thank you to everyone who has helped by sending resources, love and prayers to all people affected by the fires and a loving mahalo and RESPECT to our OG cultural leaders, our local community organizations, and all our first responders and every person who came together to help our people.”

[From USA Today]

I don’t usually say this, but in this particular case I’m with the million-billionaires. Between Dwayne and Oprah, they started off the fund with $10 million of their own money. A drop in the bucket for each of them, sure, but I still don’t think they’re the bad guys here. They each routinely donate generously to worthy causes. And they didn’t single out any one group to contribute to the fund, it was a blanket plea that other millionaires were welcome to respond to! That being said, this was a well done move by Dwayne — to acknowledge the parts that didn’t land from the original launch and promise to handle it better next time, all while giving a positive update on money going out to survivors. But overall, I think the intent, context, and track records matter a lot here. I mean, it’s not like Dwayne and Oprah just showed up empty-handed to a refugee center or foodbank for the umpteenth time.

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photos credit: Kevin Mazur for Netflix, Getty and via Instagram

Spain’s King Juan Carlos abdicated the Spanish throne in 2014, and then in 2020, he went into self-imposed exile following a series of reports of just how thoroughly he profiteered from his position as king. Juan Carlos’s financial shenanigans were honestly hard to follow and I suspect they were even harder to unravel. These days, he spends most of his time in the Middle East or possibly Switzerland, but he has come back to Spain a few times to visit his family. He and his wife, the former Queen Sofia, remain mostly estranged but not divorced. Sofia remains in Spain, but is mostly retired from public life. But what of Juan Carlos’s mistress? For years, his mistress was Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, only they fell apart and she sued him, claiming that he was threatening her, harassing her and he basically sent his goons after her. Well, her lawsuit was just thrown out. It looks like it was mostly a jurisdictional issue.

A £126m lawsuit brought against the former king of Spain by his ex-lover cannot go to trial in England, a judge has ruled. Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, a Danish businesswoman with homes in England, was attempting to sue Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014, in the high court of England and Wales. On Friday, the judge, Mrs Justice Rowena Collins Rice, said the case was outside the court’s jurisdiction.

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn claims she suffered intrusive, intimidatory and adverse episodes since their relationship came to public attention in 2012 in the aftermath of an elephant-hunting trip to Botswana.

She alleged that this included ordering the then head of Spain’s national intelligence agency to harass and threaten her. Documents submitted to an earlier hearing alleged that a book about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, was left in her home as a warning. Juan Carlos denied the claims made against him and had sought to have them struck out.

In her written judgment Collins Rice said her principal reason for not allowing the claim to proceed was “because it has not been brought against the defendant in his country of domicile, as is his default entitlement; and the claimant has not satisfied me she has a good arguable case that her claim falls within an exception to that default rule. That, in turn, is because she has not sufficiently established that the ‘harmful event’ of which she complains – harassment by the defendant – happened in England.”

The judge said even if she had concluded that the high court did have jurisdiction, she would have granted Juan Carlos’s application to strike out Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn’s claim because it did not apply with the rules for the drafting of a harassment claim. Other parts of the claim relating to alleged conduct before his abdication had previously been struck out on the grounds they were subject to state immunity.

Collins Rice said: “The claimant has an account she wishes to give of her personal and financial history with the defendant, and about the harm he has caused her peace of mind and personal wellbeing, and her business, social and family life. I take no view about that account as such.”

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn claims Juan Carlos’s alleged behaviour was connected to a payment of €65m (£56m) she says he made to her soon after the Botswana trip and told her it was an unconditional gift before changing his mind. She said she was “deeply disappointed” by the high court’s decision, adding: “Juan Carlos has deployed his full armoury to grind me down and the reach of his power is immense. I am considering all options.”

[From The Guardian]

Lord, this whole thing is so tawdry. I get why the English court didn’t want to touch it, because it’s seriously not clear that anything happened in the UK? It would be one thing if she was suing him in Spanish court or even Swiss court. While I’m pretty sure that Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn is some kind of mercenary mistress/hustler, I’m also sure that the former king treated her like garbage and she probably was threatened and harassed. So, IDK. Let’s see how far this goes.

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Photos courtesy of Getty, Backgrid, Avalon Red.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus found out she had breast cancer one day after winning an Emmy, her sixth consecutive for playing Selina Meyer on Veep and eighth overall for acting. Julia announced her diagnosis in 2017, and is now Julia sharing more about the moment when she got the call that day six years ago. While appearing with journalist David Remnick at the 2023 New Yorker Festival last Friday, Julia spoke candidly about the way she responded to her doctor over the phone, and also described the powerful memory she said got her through the treatment that followed.

“I started laughing. Well, because the night before, I had won an Emmy. And so, I came downstairs and … the Emmy was there. It was like on the dining room table. I’m coming down to get coffee. My cell phone rings, and it’s my doctor saying, ‘Guess what, you have cancer,’” she recalled.

“And I’m like, ‘Huh? What?’ And so, it was a very bizarre juxtaposition,” she continued “And, of course, I did laugh, and then I became hysterical, crying, because I was terrified, as most people are, or as all people are if they get a diagnosis like that.”

She said she was fortunate to have her family rally around her as she began to navigate the unknown. “I have a very strong and supportive family, and for which I am eternally grateful, upon whom I relied — sisters, husband, my sons, my mother, my mothers, my stepmother, everybody,” she said.

Still, she continued, “I was deeply terrified because who wouldn’t be? I mean, all the tropes are true. You know, you get that call and it’s like, ‘What, me? No, no, no.’ I mean, you can’t imagine that something like that would happen to you.”

To get through her grueling chemotherapy sessions, Louis-Dreyfus told Remnick she focused on a memory of a particularly unnerving moment from her past to motivate her.

“I’ve said it before, but many, many years ago, I was on a boat with my husband. I was swimming in the water. He came to the bow of the boat and he said, ‘Jules, I don’t want you to panic, but there’s a shark in the water, so you need to come back.’ And I was far away from the boat,” she explained.

“And so, I just saw the ladder and I started swimming towards it, and I made the decision not to look around me at all. I was just going to stay looking at the ladder. And that very much applied to how I got through my cancer adventure — was sort of looking at the ladder. Just let’s get this done, let’s get there.”

[From People]

Ok, first of all, I hope her doctor didn’t actually say “Guess what, you have cancer,” but that’s just Julia’s way of highlighting the absurdity of going from Emmy win to breast cancer overnight. But I do appreciate the license she takes for storytelling purposes, because the way she recalls the moment is so vivid I felt like I could see each moment happening. The confusion to laughter to hysteria to tears (a trajectory you know she could act the sh*t out of, by the way). And while she mentioned speaking about the shark story before, it was new to me, and holy cow was that a powerful image. Again I find Julia’s language incredibly cinematic. It wasn’t her inclination to be public with her cancer diagnosis, but she’s given great comfort to others by sharing the many facets of her personal experience.

To end on a selfish note: I miss Veep so much. Julia said it was freeing to play Selina Meyer — it was also freeing to watch her! But I guess what I also miss is when it was just a funny show on Max (née HBO) and not, you know, our actual politicians.

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Photos credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images, MediaPunch/Backgrid and Getty