The lawsuits against Brad Pitt are really starting to mess with his head. I can feel the panic from Brad and from his team. Pitt isn’t just dealing with Angelina Jolie and her legal team anymore – one of the smartest things Jolie did was sell Nouvel, her half of the Chateau Miraval, to Yuri Shefler, a billionaire with enough resources, time and inclination to go toe-to-toe with Pitt. This week, Shefler/Nouvel filed some scathing new legal documents against Pitt in a California court. Shefler mocked Pitt as petulant, childish and a sh-tty businessman who looted Miraval’s profits and tried to cut Nouvel out of the business. Even People Magazine did comprehensive coverage of the new filings, so you know it’s getting bad – People famously ignores bad news for Pitt. Well, Pitt’s team ran to Page Six (one of their favorite outlets to brief to) and I can see that Pitt is now giving Yuri Shefler the full Jolie Treatment: delusional accusations backed up with nothing but Pitt’s ego.

Brad Pitt is determined to force out the Russian vodka oligarch to whom Angelina Jolie secretly sold her share of their $500 million French vineyard, sources tell Page Six exclusively. Pitt is furious at Yuri Shefler for mocking him in court filings first revealed Monday as “an actor, not a winemaker” and painting him as a Hollywood dilettante. Now he is more determined than ever to get rid of the Russian, sources say.

Vodka magnate Shefler was officially designated by the US Treasury as an oligarch in 2018 — then bought Jolie’s share of Château Miraval in 2021. Sources say Pitt views Jolie’s sale to the Russian president’s henchman as “vindictive” because Jolie knew he had previously turned down an approach from Shefler.

But Shefler allegedly wants to keep Pitt on as a figurehead in the company, and use him for his celebrity status, leaving Pitt no option but to attempt to oust him, according to those familiar with the legal fight. Pitt is now litigating against both Jolie and Shefler, the owner of Stoli, the company that makes the flagship Russian vodka Stolichnaya, in California and in Luxembourg over Château Miraval. He wants to force her to unravel her deal with Shefler.

But in California court papers Monday, Stefler’s lawyers said Pitt had at most “visited the vineyards to admire the work of the French laborers who actually made the business,” and said: “Pitt is an actor, not a winemaker. He deals in illusions, not dirt and grapes.”

Before they married, the couple bought the estate together, with Pitt owning 60 percent and Jolie 40 percent. They brought in winemaker Marc Perrin, and it became one of the world’s most highly-regarded producers of rosé. The château, where the couple tied the knot in 2014, became Pitt’s “passion,” and he gifted Jolie an extra 10 percent as part of their wedding, making it a 50-50 asset when they split in 2016.

Sources tell Page Six that Shefler actually twice approached Pitt himself to buy into Miraval, first in 2016 when the couple split and then in 2021 when their custody fight over their kids became public. But, sources close to Pitt say, when he “politely” turned them down, they “secretly” went to Jolie, who ignored what Pitt’s side says was an agreement that he had first refusal on any sale by her.

“Then in October 2021, they announce they are Brad’s new partner to the world in a trade publication,” the source said. “The entire deal is Angie being vindictive. These guys are bottom feeders.”

Jolie’s attorney Paul Murphy told The Post that she had the right to sell the shares and that Pitt had tried to silence her over abuse allegations, which the FBI investigated and made a “probable cause” statement about, but which did not lead to charges against Pitt. A source close to Jolie told The Post: “One can only imagine what she and the children feel when, once their abuse is known to the world, it means so little and stories focus on swimming pools and staircases instead of the harm they endured.”

[From Page Six]

That last quote is extraordinary and true – Pitt is more concerned about the charge of “Pitt is not a real wine-maker” than he is about “Pitt terrorized and abused his wife and children.” Speaking of, the Post also published this quote from a source close to Pitt: “Brad stands by the people who he’s done business with and he doesn’t give into bullies.” Jaysus. Pitt crying about being bullied is where we are. As for “Shefler allegedly wants to keep Pitt on as a figurehead in the company, and use him for his celebrity status, leaving Pitt no option but to attempt to oust him” – LMAO. I guarantee that Shefler wants no part of Brad Pitt. Shefler’s endgame isn’t “keeping Pitt as a powerless figurehead.” Shefler’s endgame is now the complete destruction of Brad Pitt and complete ownership of Miraval.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

True story: I avoided watching the Wonka trailer for 24 hours, so I’m just watching it for the first time now and… wow, they really got the tone wrong. They made this Roald Dahl character into a Disney hero? [OMG Blog]
Tom Cruise is a total pro at press junkets & movie promotion. [LaineyGossip]
Review of Joy Ride, a raunchy romp. [Pajiba]
Sara Bareilles’ glasses are awful & unflattering. [Go Fug Yourself]
Jennifer Lawrence went to a Pilates class in LA. [Just Jared]
Fox announces their fall premiere line-up. [Seriously OMG]
Iowa Republicans passed a six-week abortion bill. [Jezebel]
Camila Cabello is on vacation in Greece. [Egotastic]
This dentist is telling people to protect their teeth by avoiding citrus & bread? I mean, I get that dentists don’t want people to drink soda, but bread? [Buzzfeed]
Yikes, please stop getting vampire facials. [Towleroad]
Sofia Carson wore a cute Giambattista Valli dress. [RCFA]

True story: Queen Camilla is a big tennis fan, and over the years, she’s made a point of attending many matches at Wimbledon. While she’s reportedly a huge fan of Rafael Nadal, she’ll go to other players’ matches. Well, after skipping for a few years, Camilla was out today at Wimbledon for the quarterfinal matches on Centre Court. She arrived early to watch the entire women’s match (Ons Jabeur vs. Elena Rybakina) and I would assume that she’ll stay for the men’s quarterfinal, Carlos Alcaraz vs. Holger Rune. Maybe she has a thing for Spanish men – Carlos has been billed as Rafa Jr. (their games are very different though). Still, Camilla has good taste in tennis matches – she chose to go to Wimbledon for some of the most exciting match-ups of the tournament (and she avoided Novak Djokovic, lol). Alcaraz vs. Rune should be amazing and Jabeur-Rybakina was last year’s women’s final.

When Camilla does attend Wimbledon, she usually goes with her sister, and that’s what happened today. Camilla’s sister Annabel Elliot was with her in the Royal Box. Annabel is also one of Camilla’s ladies-in-waiting/companions. Camilla also greeted some of the Wimbledon officials when she arrived and they made a big fuss over her.

By my admittedly haphazard research, this seems to be the first time Camilla has gone to Wimbledon since 2019? I wonder why she skipped it for four years? Is it because of Kate staking her claim on the tournament? Perhaps. I also think it’s interesting that Kate has, thus far, only been to Wimbledon one day. A pretty poor showing from the royal patron. Kate has missed some great matches.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, Cover Images.

Cillian Murphy doesn’t like the fame part of being an actor. He moved his family out of London when his children started speaking with British accents, and the family moved back to Ireland. Apparently, Cillian lives a completely normal life there with his family, with no fame trappings and, according to this Guardian piece, no cell phone or email. People practically have to send him a carrier pigeon to get in touch with him or cast him in a movie. Cillian chatted about all of that and more with the Guardian and he absolutely comes across as rather an odd bird, but also just… not engaged with the hustle and bustle of modernity. Some highlights:

Whether he’s pleased with Oppenheimer. “I am, yeah. I don’t like watching myself – it’s like, ‘Oh, f–king hell’ – but it’s an extraordinary piece of work. Very provocative and powerful. It feels sometimes like a biopic, sometimes like a thriller, sometimes like a horror. It’s going to knock people out. What [Nolan] does with film, it f–ks you up a little bit.”

No email, computer or phone: It was Nolan’s wife, the producer Emma Thomas, who called Murphy one afternoon at the home he shares with his wife, artist Yvonne McGuinness, and two teenage sons. Nolan doesn’t actually have a telephone, or an email, or computer for that matter: “He’s the most analogue individual you could possibly encounter.”

He tested himself to see how little he could eat on ‘Oppenheimer’. “You become competitive with yourself a little bit which is not healthy. I don’t advise it.” He won’t say how many kilograms he lost, or what food the nutritionist told him to cut out. NDA? “Ach, no. I don’t want it to be, ‘Cillian lost x weight for the part’.”

Nolan filmed quickly, which helped Cillian lose weight & grow a sickly demeanor: “It’s like you’re on this f–king train that’s just bombing. It’s bang, bang, bang, bang. You sleep for a few hours, get up, bang it again. I was running on crazy energy; I went over a threshold to where I was not worrying about food or anything… But it was good because the character was like that. He never ate.” Oppenheimer subsisted on little more than Chesterfield cigarettes and double-strength martinis, rims dipped in lime. “Cigarettes and pipes. He would alternate between the two. That’s what did for him in the end,” Murphy adds, a nod to the scientist’s death from cancer in 1967. “I’ve smoked so many fake cigarettes for Peaky and this. My next character will not be a smoker. They can’t be good for you. Even herbal cigarettes have health warnings now.”

But he’s not a method actor: “Method acting is a sort of … No,” he says, firm but with a half smile. Oppenheimer had many defining characteristics, not least walking on the balls of his feet and a vocal tic that sounded like nim-nim-nim, but Murphy didn’t want to do an impression. “He was dancing between the raindrops morally. He was complex, contradictory, polymathic; incredibly attractive intellectually and charismatic, but ultimately unknowable.”

He hates doing talk shows: “I do them because you’re contractually obliged to. I just endure them. I’ve always found it difficult. I’ve said this so many, many times….I want to just caveat this by saying, I’m so privileged. I’m so happy to be doing what I love. I’m really lucky. But I don’t enjoy the personality side of being an actor. I don’t understand why I should be entertaining and scintillating on a talkshow. I don’t know why all of a sudden that’s expected of me. Why?” I say that he reminds me of Naomi Osaka, the tennis player who refused to talk to journalists after the French Open in 2021. He says he feels “100%” sympathy with her, “because why should she have to perform?” Then he relents. “But I get it. I get it’s a kind of ecosystem where the film feeds the publicity which feeds the talkshows which goes back and feeds the film, so, like, that’s how it works. I suppose I’m just not good at it. At interviews, at this stuff… Do you know what Sam Beckett said? ‘I have no views to inter.’ I love that. That should be the interview.”

Dinner with scientific geniuses: “I had dinner with all these geniuses. I’ll never understand quantum mechanics, but I was interested in what science does to their perspective.” He sought their opinions on subjects that matter – love, politics, our place in the universe, “infinity, or whatever the f–k. Because they have a completely different way of taking in information than we do. I remember one scientist saying, ‘I don’t believe in love. It’s a biological phenomenon, the exchange of hormones between the female and the male. That’s all. Love is a nonsense.’ I couldn’t go along with that, obviously.”

[From The Guardian]

Is Cillian going on Graham Norton or something? I need to know his talk show schedule so I can watch his visible discomfort. The American talk show hosts are going to eat him alive. Maybe he’ll enjoy Stephen Colbert? But the morning shows… yeesh, it won’t be pretty. I also didn’t realize that he lost weight for the role because he was trying to mimic Oppenheimer’s physique. And all of the smoking and drinking – people today don’t realize that basically everyone – scientists, doctors, actors, ad men, housewives – were all day-drunk chain-smokers all the time and that’s just how it was. That was the normal culture, everyone drunk all the time and you could smoke everywhere.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

As we discussed yesterday, the fight over Chateau Miraval continues to be a giant mess. Angelina Jolie successfully sold her half of Miraval to a Stoli subsidiary. Her half is called Nouvel, and Stoli is owned by Yuri Shefler. At this point, I don’t understand why the English-language press continues to act like the fight is solely about Angelina and Brad, when it’s clear that Shefler is on the warpath. While Pitt wallows in petulance and sad-sack grievance over Angelina selling Nouvel, Shefler is having the French authorities raid Miraval and there is, I believe, a significant criminal case to be made for Pitt defrauding Nouvel and defrauding his new business partner. Anyway, Nouvel (now owned by Shefler) launched a scathing attack on Pitt in new court filings this week. The Financial Times had some highlights, which we covered yesterday, but People Magazine had even more, including quotes from a “source close to Pitt.”

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s legal battle over the French winery they once owned together continues as Jolie’s former company makes harsh claims about Pitt. About Château Miraval, Jolie’s former investment firm Nouvel said in a new court filing obtained by PEOPLE that Pitt, 59, “has been engaged in a vindictive campaign to dominate and loot the wine business that the couple had built and owned together.”

Nouvel’s attorneys wrote that Pitt’s investment company Mondo Bongo has the same 50 percent ownership of Château Miraval as Nouvel. So, they write, “as a co-equal owner, Pitt enjoys precisely the same rights and obligations as Nouvel — nothing more, nothing less.” However, the filing claims that “following a script that may play in Hollywood but not in a court of law, Pitt and his co-conspirators have engaged in increasingly outrageous actions to retain control over Château Miraval and harm Nouvel by stripping Château Miraval of its assets….Incensed that Jolie sold Nouvel to Stoli rather than him, Pitt has acted like a petulant child, refusing to treat Nouvel as an equal partner in the business.”

Reps for Pitt did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. A Pitt source familiar with the litigation claims to PEOPLE, “Brad built this business with Angelina for their family and she sold it behind his back. He wants to hold on to the business and continue to grow it.”

Nouvel’s filing claimed Jolie “offered to sell her interest” to Pitt and “negotiated with him for months.” But, “Pitt’s hubris got the better of him: he made an eleventh-hour demand for onerous and irrelevant conditions, including provision designed to prohibit Jolie from publicly speaking about the events that had led to the breakdown of their marriage.”

Pitt’s lawyers said the connection to the “Russia-affiliated spirits conglomerate” now “jeopardizes the reputation of the business that Pitt so carefully built.” Nouvel’s latest filing called that a “xenophobic, untrue smear campaign” and said Shefler is a “Russian exile who is a long-time critic of Vladimir Putin.”

In recent court documents, Pitt’s side said he and Jolie bought “the château as a home to share with their children and the vineyard as a family business.” And, “Jolie, though supportive of Pitt’s efforts on behalf of the family, did none of the work necessary for Miraval’s success.”

“The purported sale disrupts Pitt’s right to enjoy the home he established for his family,” his legal team then added. In its filing this week, Nouvel downpalyed Pitt’s involvement with the business (he “is an actor, not a winemaker,” they wrote, “he deals in illusions, not dirt and grapes) and said Château Miraval is no “family home.”

“The notion that Chateau Miraval was the Pitt-Jolie family home died back in 2016 when Pitt terrorized his wife and children in a drunken rage while en route from the chateau to Pitt’s true home — Hollywood,” they wrote. Nouvel legal team added, “This is a fight about money and corporate control, not a fight over a family home.”

A Pitt source responds to claims about his involvement in the wine company, saying, “It’s obviously going very well or else nobody would be fighting over this company. It’s a very successful brand, and he’s done a lot with it.”

Jolie’s attorney Paul Murphy claims, in part, in statement obtained by PEOPLE Tuesday, “The reality is that Pitt refused to complete the Miraval sale with Jolie unless she agreed to be silenced about the abuse. She legally sold her shares, yet Pitt persists in lawsuits against her.”

[From People]

The quotes from Nouvel’s filing are fire, and the quotes from “sources close to Pitt” are fascinating. “Brad built this business with Angelina for their family and she sold it behind his back. He wants to hold on to the business and continue to grow it.” In fact, he cut her out of the business for years and mismanaged her investment, and she was well within her rights to sell to a third party. But Pitt seems to be on the back foot here as well – it was much easier for him when he was bullying and financially abusing his ex-wife, but now he’s dealing with Shefler and Shefler is perfectly willing to air all of Pitt’s fraud and financial abuse in court. Pitt thought he could just sue Jolie and somehow reverse the sale of Nouvel. Nouvel’s new owner said: bitch, you thought. As I said, I think the endgame here is that Shefler will end up owning 100% of Miraval.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

When Pat Sajak announced his retirement from Wheel of Fortune, suddenly the spotlight was on Vanna White and whether she would stay. Vanna wants to stay, and she was already negotiating her new contract with her new ballbuster lawyer when Sajak announced his retirement. As it turned out, Vanna hired the lawyer because she hasn’t gotten a raise in 18 years, and she’s asking for half of what Pat Sajak made – he made about $15 million per year, so she probably wants about $7.5 million a year, as opposed to the $3 million she’s made annually for the past 18 years. When Ryan Seacrest was announced as Sajak’s replacement, I had a really bad feeling that Seacrest would find some way to oust Vanna. Well, guess what? Vanna’s getting the vibe that producers believe she’s “replaceable.”

Vanna White feels like Wheel Of Fortune bosses think she is ‘replaceable’ and have a ‘lack of respect for her’ after they hired Ryan Seacrest as longtime host Pat Sajak’s successor without offering her a chance to take on the role. A source close to White, 66, told DailyMail.com exclusively that she was ‘disappointed’ that they made a decision about Seacrest, 48, so quickly – with show executives announcing Seacrest as the new host less than two weeks after Sajak, 76, publicly revealed he was retiring.

‘She was disappointed that they didn’t give her more of a chance to take over Pat’s job, or that she wasn’t able to give her two cents on the replacement,’ the insider said. ‘She didn’t assume they would be making the announcement of his replacement so soon.’

The source was quick to emphasize White had ‘nothing but respect for Ryan and will be happy to work with him, but it just shows a lack of respect in her eyes that they have for her. She wants to be with the show for as long as she wants to be on the show, on her terms. She believes she deserves it,’ the insider added.

‘It is a major uphill battle, especially when money is involved and she sees the writing on the wall that they think she is replaceable. There will be lots of negotiations, but if she gets replaced and is not given a new contract, she will be beyond heartbroken. This has been her life, it would be just as powerful as a death if she doesn’t continue with the show.’

The insider further elaborated the transition that the retirement of Wheel’s longtime executive producer Harry Friedman, 76, in August 2019 was what initially seemed to set in motion a new era for the game show.

‘Things got a little bit different with the show for Pat and Vanna during COVID, as the atmosphere changed on set once [Harry] left the show and retired,’ they said. ‘It just wasn’t the same vibe… Nobody dislikes anyone, it is just different, and the leverage that Pat and Vanna once had is not there anymore. Pat saw the writing on the wall and thought if there was ever a time to leave, now would be that time.’

As for Vanna, the source added: ‘She usually… keeps to herself, comes to work, does her thing, and leaves. She is friendly with everyone, but with the new regime, she doesn’t have the clout she once had, is no longer bulletproof, and is unfortunately made to feel replaceable. She doesn’t want to retire and leave the show, so she really hopes she doesn’t get pushed out. That is the last thing on her list to happen, she wants to stay, but she also wants it to be fair and is going to fight for what she believes in and what she deserves.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Who knew that Wheel of Fortune had all of these backroom politics and in-fighting to the point where Sajak and White would need “leverage” with one particular producer? I guess the corporate perspective was “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” – Vanna and Pat provided an ocean of stability for the game show, but now that Sajak is out, the business believes that it’s worth exploring all kinds of other options. Which I sort of understand from a cold, business perspective. But I think the WoF bosses are really underestimating Vanna’s popularity, and her ability to do reputational damage to the show if she’s treated poorly or fired outright.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

After his “Scottish coronation,” King Charles returned to London and Windsor, where he’s still working and doing events ahead of his first “summer” as monarch. QEII tended to do the same – she would go to Scotland in the first week of July for Holyrood Week, then she would return to London for business, then by mid-to-late July, she was off for Balmoral. Sometimes it was earlier than that, especially in her later years – she couldn’t wait to get to Balmoral and start her summer holiday, and she would often not return to London until October. Charles will do things differently – after all, he owns multiple homes in Scotland, and he prefers to spend time at Castle of Mey and Birkhall rather than the “big house” at Balmoral. As such, he’s extended the summer calendar for when tourists can visit Balmoral, because he’s not going to be using it. This is being framed as some kind of snub to Prince Andrew.

Already fighting moves to evict him from his Windsor home, Royal Lodge, Prince Andrew now faces losing his summer holiday venue as well. I can disclose that King Charles has decided to keep Balmoral open to the public for an extra two weeks, during the time when his younger brother would usually stay at the private Scottish retreat with Sarah, Duchess of York and their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

‘This will bring significant new revenue into the estate,’ says my man in the kilt and sporran. ‘It may, however, have the effect of annoying the Duke of York, who has treasured his time in Royal Deeside ever since he was a little boy.’

Queen Elizabeth would always begin her summer holidays at her beloved Balmoral on the last weekend of July. However, the estate, which was bought by Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, in 1852, will now be open to the public daily until August 16.

It’s understood that the King will continue his own tradition of spending the first week of August at the Castle of Mey, in Caithness, the former home of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. He may then head to Birkhall, his home on the Balmoral Estate, while he waits for the castle to close to tourists.

Andrew could, in theory, visit the Aberdeenshire estate later in the summer, but he would need to be invited by the King. Queen Elizabeth invited Andrew to stay with his daughters and their families each summer.

Although Fergie was thought to have exchanged not a single word with her former father-in-law, Prince Philip, for many years after she divorced Andrew in 1996, she remained on good terms with the Queen. Sarah stayed several times at Balmoral, although she always left before Philip arrived. Fergie underwent a gruelling, eight-hour operation last month as she battles breast cancer.

‘The Duchess is in recovery from a major operation so she has made no travel plans at this stage,’ her spokesman tells me. ‘Summer holiday/travel will be guided by how she is feeling at the time.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I find it interesting that they’re making this all about Andrew, when really, it affects the whole family? Maybe Charles doesn’t have the same expectations as his mother, who basically demanded everyone in the family to trot up to Balmoral for at least four or five days every summer. Charles doesn’t even want to live in the big house, he wants to just use it for family dinners and such. But surely, by extending the tourism, he knows that most of the family will avoid going to Balmoral this summer? It’s funny because Andrew was probably the only one who genuinely enjoyed spending time there. Most of the family would just do the obligatory drop-by for a few days and then they were off to enjoy their real summer holiday.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Last year, Wimbledon banned Russians and Belarusians from playing at the Slam. The ITF – the governing body for the majors – wouldn’t let Wimbledon do that again this year without serious repercussions. So Wimbledon allowed those players in, but on the condition that the Russian and Belarusian sign a neutrality contract, wherein those players cannot speak about the war in Ukraine or align themselves politically to Vladimir Putin or Aleksandr Lukashenko. It’s not a big deal for the Russian players, who have been very careful about how they speak about the war and Putin. It’s more difficult for the Belarusians though, especially Aryna Sabalenka, who has done photo-ops with Lukashenko and Lukashenko name-checks her in public statements.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian player has made it into the Wimbledon semifinals. Elina Svitolina gave birth to her first child last October, then came back to the tour after what was barely a five-month maternity leave. She picked up her first WTA title as a mom just before the French Open, then she reached French quarterfinals (where she was beaten by Sabalenka), and now she’s one match away from the Wimbledon final. So it’s high time that the British papers make this sensitive situation involving international politics and war all about the Princess of Wales, right?

The Princess of Wales faces the awkward prospect of handing the Wimbledon trophy to a Belarusian – but she could be saved by the last Ukrainian still in the tournament.

Athletes from aggressor nations Russia and its ally Belarus are among the favourites to win as the competition reaches its final stages. Presenting a trophy to one of them would prove a potentially uncomfortable moment for the Palace.

But last night Ukrainian wildcard Elina Svitolina knocked out the world number one Pole Iga Swiatek to set herself on course to wrestle the title off the Belarusian top seed Aryna Sabalenka. Svitolina, who has seen off another Belarusian en route, said the prospect of facing an athlete from that country in the final is a ‘big motivation’.

Sabalenka, who has been photographed hugging Vladimir Putin’s closest ally, Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko, plays American Madison Keys today in her own quarter final. In Paris last month, she said: ‘I don’t support war, which means I don’t support Lukashenko right now.’ If she beats Keys, she faces the victor of last year’s final, Russian-born Kazak Elena Rybakina or Tunisian fan favourite Ons Jabeur.

For fellow Ukrainians the prospect of the Princess of Wales giving the trophy to a Russian or Belarusian in front of the world’s media would be a painful one to bear.

Tasya Leskova, from Dnipro, whose husband is fighting on the front line, said: ‘They should sit at home and think about what their state is doing.’

The All England Club said that the Palace was not involved in the decision to admit Belarusians and Russians this year following their ban in 2022. CEO Sally Bolton said: ‘We talk to the palace about lots of different issues all the time, but it was very much our decision.’

[From The Daily Mail]

The fact that the British papers continue to center Kate in this larger conversation is bonkers to me. It’s bonkers that Kensington Palace doesn’t shut it down too – this is so obviously the place for the palace to step in and say “Kate is apolitical, she will hand the Venus Rosewater Dish to the winner, regardless of nationality.” Last year, Kate handed the dish to a Russian (who plays under a Kazakh flag) and it wasn’t a f–king conversation. So here’s my question – why hasn’t the palace shut this down, and why does Kate want to be part of this conversation? Also: good luck to Svitolina in her semifinal tomorrow! It would be amazing to see this Ukrainian mama break through and make it to the Wimbledon final. Let Elina’s wins be the story, not Kate.

PS… If Kate cared so much, why hasn’t she gone to any of Svitolina’s matches??

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

When we last checked in on Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner’s divorce, a judge had ordered Christine to vacate their huge Carpinteria mansion by the end of this month. Christine was still living there with the children, despite the fact that she signed a harsh prenup 19 years ago. The terms of the prenup were that all of their properties were solely in Costner’s name, and that she had to vacate all of those properties in 30 days. She didn’t vacate and she was refusing to do so until Costner agreed to a monthly child support figure. She was asking for $248K a month. Well, the judge has now given Costner a number for temporary child support:

Kevin Costner’s one step closer to finding out what he owes his estranged wife for child support … a judge tentatively ruled the actor will be coughing up more than $129k a month.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the judge in their divorce case says Kevin must pay Christine Baumgartner $129,755 per month in child support. The ruling is tentative, subject to another upcoming hearing though the decision rarely changes.

The figure is a little over half of what Kevin’s estranged wife was gunning for … she requested $248k, a figure Kevin’s accountant said included more than $100k for cosmetic procedures.

TMZ broke the story … Kevin initially offered Christine $51,940, in addition to him paying all the children’s expenses, but she scoffed at the figure … saying the offer was “completely inappropriate.”

According to the docs, Kevin and Christine will each be on the hook for 50% of their kids’ health care expenses, plus their extracurricular activities and private school tuition.

Kevin is also being ordered to advance Christine $200k for attorney’s fees and another $100k in forensic costs.

This child support order is temporary … there will be a full hearing in the next few months where Kevin and Christine will present evidence of the proper amount of child support — so it could go up, or down.

[From TMZ]

“Kevin is also being ordered to advance Christine $200k for attorney’s fees and another $100k in forensic costs.” She charged the forensic accountant to his credit card and now the court is telling Costner: you have to pay for that! LMAO. As for the child support number… I think Christine’s original figure was a negotiation tactic, so I’m sure she’s fine with getting $1.557 million a year in child support. I would also assume that she will continue to try to invalidate or nullify the prenup so she can get alimony or perhaps a lump-sum divorce settlement. Those costs add up though – private schools, doctor bills, extracurriculars. On the other side, you know Christine is probably just going to end up raising those kids all by herself… which is what she was doing anyway, because Costner was always on location.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Most big-budget movies try to hire at least one “fashionista” actress. The purpose is not to get the film to pass the Bechdel test (heaven forfend) but rather to give the promotional tour some pizzazz, so it’s not just meaty bros standing around and posing together on a red carpet. See also: Scarlett Johansson in the Marvel movies and Jennifer Connelly in Top Gun: Maverick. For Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, he cast two fashionistas to perk up the promotional tour: Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh. Pugh is a busy bee, so she could not join the cast for the first big premiere event this week in Paris. So Emily had to be the flower among the bros.

I guess Emily’s goal here was to provide the kind of fashion moment designed to go viral, either good or bad. Because this is hideous!! A mint-green satin Balmain with giant shoulder pads and a prissy color and neckline. Egads!!! I’m sure the idea here was that Oppenheimer is a period piece and maybe Emily wanted to evoke the 1930s/1940s. But I swear, most women didn’t wear sh-t like this during WWII.

Meanwhile, Cillian Murphy looks like he just asked me if I want to know how I’m going to die. He can’t wait to tell me. Either that or someone showed him a plate of cupcakes and he just froze like that dog Stains. His suit is actually nice, but the flesh-colored button-down and tie is very… unsettling.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.