As a royal gossip fan AND a tennis gossip fan, I’ve really enjoyed all of the commentary and jokes from both sides of this story. On Tuesday, the Princess of Wales made an appearance at Wimbledon, showing up at the Royal Box just in time for Wimbledon’s salute to Roger Federer. Roger won eight singles titles at Wimbledon, so Centre Court gave him a standing ovation and a seat next to his biggest fan, Kate. Of course, Roger’s wife Mirka was also there, as were Roger’s parents (they were in the second row).

Roger sat in-between Kate and Mirka in the first row of the Royal Box. Many photographers just focused on Roger and Kate, cutting Mirka out of the frame. Mirka and Roger have been together since 2000 – she’s literally seen it all, including all sorts of women fawning over her man. As Mirka watched Kate try to flirt with Roger, I’m sure Mirka thought “this again, jeez.” And Kate absolutely was trying to flirt with Rog and she was so pleased to be in his company yet again. Roger is something of a family friend to the Middletons, although who knows if he’ll bother with the rest of the broke-ass Middleton clan at this point. He attended Pippa’s wedding, and he’s gotten invitations to Kensington Palace and more. I know Mirka is tired.

Anyway, it was curious to watch the British media try to make this into a thing. Maybe it was because Roger was nice to Kate and he didn’t look like he openly loathes her, which is how Kate’s husband looks most of the time. Maybe it was because Roger is a handsome athlete and Kate’s husband… is not. Maybe Roger is the new Prince Harry: someone Kate can obsess over and flirt with and then she can Mean Girl his wife. Well, the articles have been fascinating. From the Telegraph: “Kate and Federer’s double act is stealing the show at Wimbledon. Laughing in the royal box, the pair looked like the hottest non-couple in town – but let’s not make a racket out of it.”

Leo and Kate. Fred and Ginger. Bill Nighy and Anna Wintour. History is peppered with examples of famous names that fans have wished, just wished could be real-life couples, but for various valid yet inconvenient reasons – they’re happily married to other people, their dating cap is firmly 25 years old, they don’t actually get on in real life, they’re simply too chic to ever confirm anything – will never be.

To that list we can now, tentatively, add “Catherine and Roger”. Or Kate and Fed, if you are on such terms. Last week, the Princess of Wales and the Swiss Maestro, who have been friends for a decade, filmed a video at Wimbledon to promote the work of the ball girls and boys at the tournament. They laughed, they quipped, they rallied, they… flirted? No, no, too far.

And, yesterday, they were back together, sitting side by side in the royal box on Centre Court, where Federer was being honoured by his loyal flock. She wore a light green and ivory Balmain jacket, like a beautiful cauliflower. He wore a superb taupe double-breasted suit – the kind of shade the Prince of Wales only dares choose if he’s within two hectares of an African elephant.
To the other side of Federer was Mirka, his wife and the mother of his two sets of twins, but that’s plenty about her, thank you very much. Catherine and Roger, the hottest non-couple in town, were back on show.

“Whenever the Princess of Wales is with Roger Federer, she is like a giggly teenager,” one observer noted on Twitter. “Roger and Kate standing alongside each other look beautiful together. They would make [a] perfect couple,” wrote another. “Sorry Mirka and Prince William but Roger and Kate look stunning together,” went a third. And those are the clean ones.

One newspaper this morning has noted, with some outrage, that Federer even broke royal protocol by touching Catherine on the waist as he greeted her. Well, she started it: the Princess, who took over the presidency of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club last year, kissed Federer three (three! So Swiss!) times when he won a record eighth men’s singles title in 2017. Love all.

[From The Telegraph]

It’s so weird to talk this way about two people who are married to other people. Mirka and Roger famously have a great marriage – Mirka was known as the gold-standard tennis WAG, and she’s truly spent the past 23 years of her life watching women throw themselves at Roger. Meanwhile, they’re starting to write about Kate like she’s already separated from William and on the prowl for a new man. It’s definitely odd. It also feels like the message is overwhelmingly: “Look, a man was nice to Kate, maybe this will make William jealous!” Silly goose, William is only jealous of Harry.

Y’all tell me you see it! And she knows what she is doing, total mean girl energy. pic.twitter.com/T0QeiHn8Me

— Dr. Zanye (@bookedbusy) July 4, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

The only thing funnier than Taylor Swift and Matt Healy’s relationship was their breakup. Taylor gave Matt the full Boyfriend Rollout, and it was clear that they started months before the news broke in May. Even with the Swift machinery supporting Healy, he couldn’t hide the fact that he’s pretty racist and disgusting. Which made it hilarious when Swift was in the trenches just weeks into the Boyfriend Rollout – it was clear that her people were encouraging her to pull the plug on the whole relationship, which she did by early June. Overwrought quotes were provided to People Magazine and TMZ about how Swift and Healy are still good friends, that the relationship was never that serious, that Swift absolutely did NOT dump Healy because of his racism. It felt like Swift was fighting with her team about it. Well, now the Sun – the outlet which broke the news of Swealy in the first place – claims that Healy and Swift are back in contact and probably back in a relationship.

Superstar singer Taylor Swift has rekindled her romance with British rocker Matty Healy. Sources say the pair’s surprise reunion comes after The 1975’s frontman, 34, fired a female crew member from their touring party.

Friends say Matty has sacked a female crew member from The 1975’s touring team — suggesting a potential issue between her and US superstar Taylor. A pal said of the couple, who also briefly dated early in their careers: “There is just something electric between them and they seem to have overcome it all quite quickly and decided they definitely want to make it work at all costs. They’re arranging time together in between tour dates and talking all the time. He’s utterly smitten and it seems to be mutual.”

“One thing that was pretty telling was when a girl who had worked with the band for a while — she took care of their image, some styling, hair and make-up, that sort of thing — suddenly left. It sounds as though there may have been a bit of an issue over her closeness to Matty. One thing is for sure, he isn’t letting anything come between his chances of making it work with Taylor.”

[From The Sun]

Yeah… I actually believe that the Swealy breakup wasn’t even about romantic, racial or socio-political drama, it was about simple logistics of keeping up a relationship while they were both on tour this summer. Swift’s people even left open the possibility of a reunion when they confirmed the breakup. So… it’s even funnier that Swift’s team ran to People Magazine with a denial of The Sun’s story:

Taylor Swift and Matty Healy are not giving romance another go. Despite a report that the Grammy winner and The 1975 frontman are back together, a source close to Swift tells PEOPLE the musicians are not dating again.

“They are absolutely not together and aren’t even in contact anymore. She is enjoying being single and has been spending time in the studio and hanging out with friends in New York City. This is all B.S.,” says the Swift source.

“It’s complete nonsense,” a source close to the British band adds. “Not true at all.”

Reps for Swift and The 1975 have not commented.

[From People]

I know a secret love affair when I see one. Again, the Sun broke the story of Swealy in the first place, just as the Sun broke the news (with exclusive photos) of Swift and Tom Hiddleston back in 2016. The Sun has some kind of “in” with Swift’s team, so in this narrow situation, I kind of believe that the Sun might be more on-target here. I think the denial to People is an attempt to turn down the temperature on her controversial taste in racist incels.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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In July, 2021 Allison Mack was sentenced to three years in federal prison for her leadership position in the NXIVM cult, which included acting as lead recruiter for the cult’s exclusive master-slave sorority, D.O.S. Thanks to brave ex-members speaking on the record, documentaries like HBO’s The Vow and Starz’s Seduced exposed D.O.S. as a group of women who were groomed to be sexually abused by NXIVM leader Keith Raniere. These women were coerced into filming future-blackmail material on themselves which was handed over as collateral, and they were branded. Mack pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors by handing over evidence against Raniere and displaying “remorse” in court, which was why she got off with the shamefully low sentence of three years. On Monday she was released after only serving two of the three years:

The television actor Allison Mack, who pleaded guilty for her role in a sex-trafficking case tied to the cult-like group NXIVM, has been released from a California prison, according to a government website.

Mack, best known for her role as a young Superman’s close friend on “Smallville,” was sentenced to three years behind bars in 2021 after pleading guilty two years earlier to charges that she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for NXIVM leader Keith Raniere.

Online records maintained by the Federal Bureau of Prisons said Mack, 40, was released Monday from a federal prison in Dublin, California, near San Francisco. Her release was first reported by the Albany Times-Union.

Mack avoided a longer prison term by cooperating with federal authorities in their case against Raniere, who was ultimately sentenced to 120 years in prison after being convicted on sex-trafficking charges.

Mack helped prosecutors mount evidence showing how Raniere created a secret society that included brainwashed women who were branded with his initials and forced to have sex with him.

In addition to Mack, members of the group included an heiress to the Seagram’s liquor fortune, Clare Bronfman; and a daughter of TV star Catherine Oxenberg of “Dynasty” fame.

Mack would later repudiate Raniere and express “remorse and guilt” before her sentencing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

[From HuffPost]

This is despicable. Yes, Keith Raniere got a hefty sentence to serve 120 years in federal prison (the rest of his life) and to pay $3.46 million in restitution (arguably a low figure). But the NXIVM women who held prominent positions have walked away with paltry sentences–just under seven years for Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman who funded the cult, and 3.5 years for co-founder Nancy Salzman–and now Allison Mack has been released a whole year early. Mack was running D.O.S. right up there with Raniere. Their initials are branded onto women’s bodies–including one who was 15 at the time. All Mack served was two years. I’m angry, are you?

One last note: I find it beyond distasteful that media like HuffPost above, and even The New York Times, are still referring to NXIVM as a “cult-like” group. NXIVM is a cult, full-stop. Labeling it as anything less is a slap in the face to the victims.

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I ask this question constantly, but really: what is wrong with the Princess of Wales? Why is she so insistent on playing grab-ass with her husband when he clearly does not want her to touch him whatsoever? Why does she continue to create these awkward photo-ops where she’s leaning over and grabbing his ass at public events like the BAFTAs and Royal Ascot and the Scottish coronation? Even if you believe – as I do – that it must be a really miserable existence to be married to Prince William, a violent man with a hair-trigger temper, I actually feel bad for William in this narrow instance. Imagine trying to do a work event and your lunatic wife is constantly grabbing your ass in front of cameras.

So, yeah – it happened again. Kate groped her husband at St. Giles’ Catherdral in Edinburgh. She did it in the middle of the church service which was, in fact, the Scottish coronation. What kills me is that William is so visibly unsettled by Kate grabbing at him – you can see in the photos that he doesn’t appreciate Kate molesting him in church. What’s even weirder is that the British media is gaslighting William about his visible discomfort, with outlets like the Mail and the Independent falling all over themselves to call it “cute” and “playful” and “rare PDA.” It’s not even rare – this is like the fourth time she’s done it in public in the past six months.

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Here are more photos from the “Scottish coronation” on Wednesday, July 5th. King Charles, Queen Camilla, and the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay (William and Kate) went to a church service in Edinburgh and the Scottish Crown Jewels were dusted off. This was always scheduled to be part of Scotland’s Royal Week, aka Holyrood Week, although I think many people (myself included) sort of didn’t realize that this service counts as some kind of Scotland-specific coronation.

What’s fascinating is that the people of Scotland understood what Charles was trying to do yesterday and they protested his royal arse. Big time. Republic staged another massive protest, but this time, the cops didn’t shut it down, which is what happened at the Chubbly in May. As long as protesters were just chanting and holding signs, they weren’t arrested. Two people were arrested, but it was because they broke past the barriers. The “Not My King” chants were so loud, you could hear them over the band and bagpipes playing upon Charles and Camilla’s arrival at St. Giles’ Cathedral:

They’re boo’ing and chanting #NotMyKing at Charles Scotland
procession. pic.twitter.com/E1H5FhPbS9

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) July 5, 2023

Yeah… Scotland is restless. I genuinely feel like there will be a Scexit in my lifetime. Scottish people are not fond of Charles or his wife or his heir. The photos are atrocious too – these four look completely miserable. Hahahahaha.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Tatum O’Neal is probably best known for being the youngest person to win an Academy Award, for 1973’s Paper Moon. She was ten years old when she won her Oscar. The last time we covered her was in February 2020 and she was sharing how bad her rheumatoid arthritis was. As is so often the case with child actors, Tatum has had a hard life. Her dad Ryan O’Neal was not a good dad–Tatum wrote in her memoir that he had emotionally and physically abused her. She started struggling with addiction in adulthood and in 2020 it nearly cost her her life. She overdosed and had a stroke, and was in a coma for six weeks. When she woke up, she had lost the ability to speak. Over the course of the last three years, she has made a truly miraculous recovery, and is sharing with People Magazine about her sobriety and recovery. She is still struggling to read and write, but she can speak. Her son Kevin McEnroe is also quoted in the story.

What happened in 2020: In the early days of the COVID pandemic, O’Neal had been using — and abusing — prescription medications, some of which were prescribed for her back and neck pain and her rheumatoid arthritis. But on that day in May 2020, she overdosed on a combination of pain medication, opiates and morphine. A friend found her in her Century City apartment and she was rushed to the hospital.
In the hospital, O’Neal was diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder that results from damage to the part of the brain that is responsible for language, according to the NIH. She was in a coma, says Kevin, “and had damage to her right frontal cortex. At times, it was touch and go,” he says. “I had to call my brother and sister and say she was thought to be blind, deaf and potentially might never speak again.”

Her recovery and healing process: Over the next two years, under medical supervision, and with regular therapy , she has fought to regain her full memory, an ongoing process. And while her vocabulary keeps getting better, there’s still a ways to go.  As Kevin says, “Emotionally the things that made my mom want to take drugs in the first place, those things are still very present.” In addition to her daily therapy, O’Neal attends twelve step meetings (often via Zoom) and is working on her recovery, all under the care of her physician.  “I’ve been trying to get sober my whole life,” says O’Neal. “Every day, I am trying.”

Her son says she’s never wanted to be sober just for herself: Looking back, says Kevin, “She could always want sobriety as a mom, but she never really wanted it for herself.” Now, he says, “She has embraced this attempt at recovery. She was always a very loving mom but when isolated, I think it was hard to find any love for herself.” Kevin, a writer who has had his own struggles with alcohol and drugs, has now been sober for three and a half years. “ It was a road to a short life but now I don’t feel that way,” he says. “And I’m so proud of her for trying.”

[From People]

It really is a miracle that Tatum is alive and well after what happened, and that she’s regained the ability to speak. Her story reminds me that so many people struggle with addiction because of childhood trauma, or trauma generally. I completely understand why people who grow up with abusive parents end up looking for an escape. Emotional wounds from childhood are so hard to heal because our brains are so malleable then. It’s easy sometimes for those of us who have never struggled with addiction to judge the people who do–to look down at the street addict and think, “they’re just in that position because they made bad choices.” And yeah, addiction is a downward spiral staircase of self-destructive choices. At the same time, it’s also likely the case that someone, somewhere communicated to that person that they were unworthy or unlovable–and they believed it. Recovering from addiction is complex and usually requires a lot of support–medical, psychological, and community support. There is a crisis of addiction and overdose deaths in the U.S. but most people don’t have Tatum’s resources, and it is a terrible injustice. It should be easy to access addiction treatment, but it’s not. Multiple systems are failing people with addictions. I’m pulling for Tatum. Everyone who struggles with addiction should get the chance to recover and to heal.

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Season 11 of Vanderpump Rules has already started filming. There were some pap shots and bystander videos of the cast out and about and filming recently. All of the main cast is returning and Raquel Leviss was the only holdout until her team finally began negotiations. But apparently Bravo is still working on the cast list and plans to introduce some new faces. Lala Kent and Katie Maloney have some friends who might join the show. Hm.

Bravo is shaking up the cast of Vanderpump Rules! At least according to a source who spoke to Entertainment Tonight, saying that the show “is looking to bring in some new cast members” for season 11 and “have started having outbound conversations.”

Before you panic that a bunch of total randoms are about to show up at Sur, the source explained that Lala Kent and Katie Maloney “are looking in their external friend groups to see who might be a good fit for the show.” So, this is a friends-of-cast situation!!!

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Vanderpump Rules’ upcoming season will cover the aftermath of Scandoval—aka Tom Sandoval cheating on Ariana Madix with Raquel Leviss—but as of now it doesn’t look like either Tom or Raquel are filming.

While Tom has signed on to do the show, he’s been MIA due to working on another reality show. According to TMZ, “multiple sources with direct knowledge” say Tom’s filming season two of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test in New Zealand, but he’s “expected to start shooting” VPR when he’s back in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, Raquel still hasn’t signed a contract, but TMZ recently reported that she’s in negotiations and that production wants to start filming soon since “the longer VPR rolls cameras, the harder it’s gonna be to integrate Raquel into the storylines.” That said, no one wants to “pressure” Raquel, who’s been in a mental health treatment facility since April.

[From Cosmopolitan]

Hiring from the cast’s wider friend group is a good move and I think the cast does need some new faces at this point. I know, it’s already a huge cast, but they didn’t really hire replacements after firing all those racists in 2020. So even without Scandoval, I think the show was due for some new faces and who better to add than friends who have been on the periphery this whole time. At least they’ll know how the whole deal works. And Lala in particular is a great reality star so any friends of hers will likely bring it. I am a little skeptical about the vibes of Katie’s friends though. And I wonder if the folks they ultimately bring in will be faces we’ve seen on the sidelines before. I do expect Jax and Brittany to pop up at some point. Also, I didn’t realize Tom Sandoval hadn’t started filming yet. He’s probably glad to start late and make an entrance now that he’s in his villain season. It’s nice that Ariana is getting time to be in her house, film, and hang out with her new bae without the threat of a run-in hanging over her head.

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Elon Musk suggests that childless people should lose the right to vote. It’s true, we should! But only if we also get to stop paying taxes, boo boo. [Jezebel]
Dior’s Fall collection is so beautiful!!! [RCFA]
Was The Idol the worst-ever series on HBO? [Pajiba]
I’m so excited for the Barbie promotional fashion. [LaineyGossip]
The Iris Van Herpen show was full of superhero gear, basically. [Tom & Lorenzo]
Robyn had a secret baby?? [JustJared]
Pom Klementieff is enjoying her promotional tour. [GFY]
Is a Before the 90 Days star faking her accent? [Starcasm]
What are some “girly” things which many men enjoy? [Buzzfeed]
Will the Church of England bless same-sex unions? [Towleroad]
This Taylor Swift fan is so funny. [Seriously OMG]

Every celebrity must decide where they will be for Independence Day. Do you go to the West Coast and do a Malibu beach party with industry types? Or do you go for an East Coast vibe, a long weekend in the Hamptons, with tons of ritzy parties scheduled across all industries? Well, Leonardo DiCaprio surprisingly decided to go to the Hamptons over the holiday, and he was seen out and about at multiple parties. Interestingly enough, Gigi Hadid also chose to spend the holiday in the Hamptons, and Gigi and Leo were seen together at several parties. Keep in mind, Gigi has been tamping down the Leo rumors for months, meanwhile Leo has been spending a lot of time with British model Neelam Gill, even inviting Neelam on his yacht with his family. So I don’t know what this is about:

After spotting Leonardo DiCaprio and Gigi Hadid partying together in the Hamptons for a second night in a row, a spy told Page Six: “They are together.”

After we reported the pair had “a vibe” while hanging at a bash in the Hamptons on Saturday night, we’re told they were at another party together on Sunday. A source tells us they spotted the “Great Gatsby” actor, 48, and 28-year-old model at Tao Group founder Marc Packer’s Fourth of July party.

We’re told they were with a group that included The Ned’s Richie Akiva, entrepreneur Bert Hedaya, Danny Abeckaser, and Hadid pal Leah McCarthy.

Later, DiCaprio and Hadid were spotted at Akiva and Garry Kanfer’s bottle-service fueled bash at Kissaki in Water Mill. A spy tells us the pair were hanging out and bopping to tunes from deejays JusSke, Rachel Winter and Zach Bia, saying that it seems as if they are dating.

“They are together,” the witness insisted after watching them interact.

Page Six previously reported that DiCaprio and Hadid were spending time together this weekend. On Saturday, they were seen chatting it up at tech guru David Rosenberg’s annual bash in Bridgehampton. A witness told Page Six there was a “vibe” between the two.

“The way they were talking to each other. . . You could feel the energy,” said the spy.

[From Page Six]

My take: the backlash against Leo when he dumped Camila Morrone on her 25th birthday changed Leo and his whole shtick. It was the first time his whole gross deal was exposed as common knowledge, the fact that he would rather curl up and die rather than date a woman past her 25th birthday. So he decided to expand his girlfriend criteria and now he’ll date women up to the age of 29. What’s happened is that Leo is experiencing a brave new world of dating – his dating pool has expanded and he’s enjoying it. He enjoys the Gigi rumors, he enjoys spending time with Neelam, and he’s still hanging out with other models in their teens and twenties. Normally, he would have settled down with a 20-year-old by now and made the young woman his “official girlfriend.” He’s trying to change. Gradually.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Here are some photos from Paris Fashion Week, where a surprising amount of big-name celebrities came out specifically for the Armani show. I wouldn’t want to spend a rain-soaked holiday in Paris, but sure – maybe Armani paid some of these women to show up for the show.

Kate Hudson was there with her fiance Danny Fujikawa, and Kate was given a tube top and a bubble skirt. She sort of makes it work, but that ponytail is doing a lot of work to make this cute. Speaking of someone’s natural beauty elevating a weird design, Nathalie Emmanuel was given the most tragic top I’ve ever seen. Why would you put nude/illusion netting there and why is it f–king baggy??

I think one of the biggest design fails is what Sydney Sweeney wore to the show – while the dress itself is beautiful and wearable (I can see that on like twenty different Emmy nominees), it’s so utterly typical of fashion designers to make the big-chested woman cover up to this degree IN JULY. Look at what Kate Hudson and Nathalie are wearing and tell me small-boob privilege doesn’t exist.

The Armani show was also a family outing for Emma Thompson and my nemesis Laura Dern, both of whom arrived with their daughters. My nemesis actually looks okay – Armani suits her lanky frame.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.