Roger Federer is enjoying his retirement. He retired last year, just weeks after Serena Williams played her final match in New York. I still love that the two GOATs went out within weeks of each other – they’re the same age, they came up at the same time, and they are two of the biggest stars tennis will ever see. Roger has spent his first retirement year traveling, hanging out on stage with Coldplay, developing a new fashion line with his sponsor Uniqlo, and visiting Wimbledon for a special Royal Box honor last month. Roger was asked to come to Wimbledon and sit in the Royal Box with the Princess of Wales (and his family). Afterwards, all people could talk about was how much Cauliflower Kate flirted with Roger, how they would make a good couple (??) and how Roger’s wife Mirka looked “over” Roger and Kate’s flirty energy. Well, Rog was in NYC this week to promote his new fashion line, and he chatted with the NY Times about retirement, fashion and “Princess Catherine.” Oh, lord.

His retirement: “I always feel like I’ve reached a high point, and then it keeps going. Life without the game, and life without the fans, and life without the schedule that has dominated my life for 25 years has definitely been something I didn’t know how I would take. For the longest time I tried to come back and give it one more shot and leave the game healthy, but it was not doable. But the good/bad thing about Covid, and with my knee surgery, is that everything started to slow down in the past three years, so it wasn’t like I came from playing 100 matches and then boom, it’s over. At the end I was relieved, I think, and happy to retire. It ended in the most perfect way at the Laver Cup. I was surrounded by my biggest rivals, and my family was there and my friends. For me it felt like, “OK, I’m good now. I don’t need to chase that itch anymore.”

What it was like to come back to Wimbledon & sit in the Royal Box: “Last year I walked out on Centre Court for the 100-year anniversary celebration. It was beautiful but painful. I was injured. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play again, so it was a very emotional moment. But this year was totally different. My dad whispered to me, “Don’t you wish you were playing on court instead of sitting and watching?” and I was like, “No. I feel content watching and enjoying the game.” It was so fun sitting next to Princess Catherine. I know her quite well. She is an avid tennis fan, and she plays herself. Sometimes we have to be careful we don’t speak too much. You can talk, and then it’s super-quiet, and then you have to applaud.

Eating burgers in NYC & the buzz in the city: “I’ve always been strict and serious about being a professional athlete, but I would eat burgers, I would eat desserts, I would have a glass of wine. For me having a burger was nothing out of the ordinary, but this one was perfect looking, so I had to post a picture of it. I was so busy when I came for the Met Gala. I feel the buzz is back.

[From The NY Times]

True story about the 2022 Wimbledon centenary event on Center Court: I am still shocked that the royal patron of Wimbledon skipped it entirely. Kate just… didn’t go. It was this huge moment for the tournament, they brought back so many of their former champions, including Roger, and Kate didn’t give a sh-t. As for Roger referring to her as “Princess Catherine” – I’m sure she loves that. I doubt Mirka loves it, which is probably why Roger says “Sometimes we have to be careful we don’t speak too much.” Because Kate was trying to get in his face the whole time.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

The past few months in the Sussex trenches have reminded me a bit of Prince Harry and Meghan’s last year in the royal fold, 2019. By that I mean, Harry and Meghan are being attacked and smeared wall-to-wall, so much so that constructive criticism made in good faith is seen as all part of the larger blanket of negativity. When Harry and Meghan stepped away from royal life, one of my biggest hopes was that they would figure out a way to operate, exist and thrive in an entirely new way and never play by those “royal rules” ever again. Yet here we are, four years later, and they’re still under siege, just in a different way. This time, it’s about their business and their refusal to be proactive to protect themselves professionally. Their non-response to the nastiness of the Spotify divorce has led to all of this: months of speculation in the US and UK about their business. People Magazine has another exclusive as part of their cover story and this one is all about their business:

In 2020, they were overvalued. “The attention, commotion, and hubbub was wrapped up in the fact that Harry is a royal, and people threw money at them with hopes and dreams that it would translate into success,” a Hollywood insider tells PEOPLE exclusively in this week’s cover story. “But I think it’s been a rude awakening for everyone — it’s like they built a house with no foundation. The royal element, and the in some ways the drama around them, inflated the price, deals and expectations.”

Their Netflix docuseries was a big success for Meghan: Harry & Meghan broke streaming records, and a different Hollywood source says that Meghan displayed a keen marketing sensibility and was closely involved in the promotional plan. “She was fully engaged and had actionable ideas,” says the source. However, Prince Harry and Meghan’s Netflix projects without a royal component haven’t shared the series’ success. The docuseries Live to Lead, about various global changemakers, debuted to indifference, and an animated project called Pearl, about a little girl inspired by female leaders, was quietly dropped last year, although other scripted projects are reportedly in the works.

Archetypes: One veteran podcasting executive says Spotify is partly to blame, pointing out that the Obamas have since moved their podcasting operations to Audible: “No one stuck it out [at Spotify], because the shows weren’t done well, or they overpaid and they couldn’t bring in audiences,” says the executive.

But critics hated Archetypes’ execution. “What works in podcasting is authenticity and intimacy and revealing things either about yourself or about a topic that says something that [listeners] haven’t really thought about,” says the executive. “None of that happened. And Meghan wasn’t prepared to do that, because she lives an incredibly guarded life.”

Unsteady footing & overstaffed on one end: A source close to the Archetypes production says the couple was not set up for success at Spotify: “They were given no formal lay of the land to kick things off, so they were already on unsteady footing even before the ink was dry.” But the protective web spun around the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not help. “Things moved very slowly on both ends,” the source says. “It was rare to have a direct conversation with them, so everything had to flow through a million middle persons.”

Meghan signing with WME: Up next? Meghan signed with recently signed with powerhouse agency William Morris Endeavor — something a top Hollywood insider describes as “really smart, because they can put her in touch with filmmakers and creative people and producers and people who know how to make a TV show or a film.” With the right projects and people around them, the insider says, a second act is within reach: “I think within Hollywood, people are rooting for them.”

[From People]

“What works in podcasting is authenticity and intimacy and revealing things either about yourself…None of that happened. And Meghan wasn’t prepared to do that, because she lives an incredibly guarded life.” Again, Archetypes was a huge success and while I would have loved for Meghan to get more intimate and personal, she had a steep learning curve as a podcaster and she hit her stride within a few episodes. Spotify was stupid to let her go and it was disgusting for a Spotify executive to publicly bad-mouth them on their way out the door. Which… is why the pushback shouldn’t be from various unnamed sources in People or Variety – the Archewell spokesperson needed to go on the record with the Sussexes’ perspective the moment Bill Simmons’ “f–king grifter” comments got picked up. Did anyone at Archewell tell H&M that? Did they listen? You can yell at me forever for saying that they need to overhaul their communications strategy, but the whole reason People Magazine and the trade papers are still talking about the Spotify mess is because Harry and Meghan refused to communicate their side and push back with a different narrative.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Spotify. Cover courtesy of People.

Would it shock you to learn that Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater’s affair began well before they separated from their spouses? LOL. Of course it did. Ari’s people did the most to claim that Ari and Ethan only started “dating” when they were separated from their spouses, Dalton Gomez and Lilly Jay. In Ari’s case, it might even be true, although there’s a growing body of evidence to suggest that Dalton was still in the picture when Ari began screwing around with Ethan. Meanwhile, Ethan absolutely blindsided Lilly Jay with his affair and divorce filing. Now the Mail is running an exclusive with details about Ethan and Ari’s “sloppy” affair and their lies about when they started up:

Ariana Grande and her boyfriend Ethan Slater went on ‘multiple double dates’ with their respective spouses even while carrying on their own romance, an insider has revealed – as images and video show the pair looking incredibly intimate, months before their relationship was made public. The couple’s surprise romance was revealed to the world just a few weeks ago – days after it was announced that Ariana, 30, had split from Dalton Gomez, her husband of just two years.

However, a source has now alleged that Ariana and Ethan, 31 – who recently filed for divorce from wife Lilly Jay, with whom he has an 11-month-old baby – were involved romantically for months before the world found out about their relationship, having grown close while on the set of their upcoming movie. Furthermore, the insider says that the pair were so open with their romance during filming that the majority of the Wicked cast were aware that they were in a relationship.

‘They were sloppy on set,’ the insider shared. ‘They were seen being all over each other while he was still supposedly happily married to Lilly. They were seen making out at a pub in Hampstead, and they were all over each other at Michelle Yeoh’s Oscar party [in March].’

Social media video posted from that party – which took place on March 27 – shows Ariana and Ethan looking very intimate while preparing to take a photo with their fellow Wicked co-stars, while other images snapped on the set of the movie capture them heading towards the trailers together, where the source alleges they spent time away from prying eyes.

However, even as these images and videos were being captured, the source further alleges that Ariana and Ethan went on ‘multiple’ double dates with Dalton and Lilly whenever they visited their spouses on the set.

‘Ariana and Dalton went on double dates with Ethan and Lilly several times – and they were seen out by cast members,’ the source said. ‘Lilly and Ethan also met Ariana’s family together, including her mom and her brother.’

A source close to Ariana and Ethan has previously claimed that the singer ‘hung out’ with Lilly and her newborn baby multiple times before her romance with her co-star was revealed – and even told those around her how much she ‘wanted a baby one day’ after bonding with Lilly and Ethan’s.

Shortly after her last visit to London, Lilly learned that her husband was dating Ariana. They allegedly tried to fix their broken marriage for a short time after Lilly learned of his feelings for Ariana, to no avail.

‘There was a period when they were all going to try and work on their marriages and put the whole thing behind them,’ the source said. ‘She thought they were happy. But that did not work out [because Ariana and Ethan] kept the affair going despite [that].’ The insider said that Ethan then blindsided his wife by filing for divorce, insisting that the decision to officially end the marriage was made entirely by the actor. ‘Lilly did not file for divorce from Ethan, he filed for divorce from her,’ they continued.

[From The Daily Mail]

Page Six had several stories with other sources (or the same sources) confirming all of this too – that Ethan and Lilly went on double-dates with Ariana and Dalton, that Ari and Ethan’s affair was pretty much conducted publicly for months before Ari’s people confirmed it two weeks ago. I get the feeling that Ariana just operates that way, like she doesn’t give a f–k who notices that she’s having affairs or carrying on with married men. It’s very “Miranda Lambert before she married that cop.” Miranda Lambert had salad-tossing drama, Ariana had donut-licking drama. Anyway, despite the fact that Ethan is apparently still in New York dealing with his family drama, all of these stories have the feel of Lilly Jay continuing to brief the tabloids. Good for her, truly. I love that she isn’t going away quietly.

Note by CB: Get the Top 8 stories about Ariana’s Grande’s messy affair when you sign up for our mailing list! I only send one email a day on weekdays.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Instagram.

Byline Times has now run seven different pieces in their seemingly unending series about Dan Wootton, the current GB News personality and former tabloid writer and editor. Most of Byline’s reporting is from the period of time when Wootton was a powerful gossip columnist and editor for The Sun. In 2020, he was finally pushed out of The Sun, which is when he moved over to GB News and the Daily Mail. Byline has extensive evidence and sourcing to back up their claims that Wootton is a serial blackmailer, a serial sexual harasser, a credibly accused sexual predator and one of the biggest bullies in British media. Even the details about his catfishing operation are ludicrously sleazy. With each passing day, Byline gathers more evidence and with each passing day, there’s been little to no movement from Wootton’s employers. Until now – Wootton has been suspended from the Mail:

Dan Wootton has been suspended by MailOnline after allegations emerged that he used a pseudonym to secretly offer his colleagues tens of thousands of pounds in return for sexual material. The GB News presenter has had a lucrative job writing a twice-weekly column for MailOnline since 2021 but it has not appeared since the allegations were made public by his ex-boyfriend last month.

Wootton is also under investigation by his former employers at Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, where he worked for more than a decade as a celebrity journalist. The company has hired an external law firm to investigate claims Wootton targeted current and former Sun employees with offers of money in return for explicit images.

A spokesperson for DMG media, the parent company of MailOnline, confirmed Wootton would not be working for them for the foreseeable future. They said: “We are continuing to consider a series of allegations which Dan Wootton – who has written columns for MailOnline since 2021 as one of several outside freelance contributors – has strenuously denied. The allegations are obviously serious but also complex and historic and there is an independent investigation under way at the media group which employed him during the relevant period. In the meantime, his freelance column with MailOnline has been paused.”

The spokesperson did not immediately clarify whether Wootton would continue to be paid by MailOnline. The journalist is running a crowdfunder to pay for his legal fees.

Wootton continues to present a nightly primetime show on the rightwing GB News channel, rallying supporters against a supposed leftwing plot to have him cancelled. In a statement two weeks ago he accepted having made mistakes in his past but denied criminal wrongdoing.

Wootton’s lawyer has since told the Guardian Wootton denies many of the allegations that have been levelled against him by his ex-boyfriend and reporting in Byline Times.

The lawyer said: “For the avoidance of further doubt, our client did not at any time contact current or former colleagues at the Sun with offers of money in return for sexually explicit images, he did not engage in inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, and he did not misuse News UK funds.”

[From The Guardian]

When the Sun/News Group Newspapers announced that they were investigating Wootton’s time within Murdoch’s papers, they made a point of saying that they hired someone (likely a law firm) to conduct the investigation as a neutral third-party. This is the same thing the Murdochs had to do at Fox News when the Roger Ailes mess exploded, and it’s actually an incredibly effective method of getting victims to come forward to speak to someone seen as a neutral arbiter. It does not sound like the Mail is doing the same. It sounds like the Mail is fake-suspending Wootton until the heat dies down and then they’ll bring him back in a few months, just in time to foam at the mouth about How Woke Barbie Is All Woke Meghan’s Fault (you know he’s itching to write that column).

Screenshots courtesy of GB News.

Last weekend, Becky English at the Mail had a story about the Windsors trudging up to Balmoral for the summer like always, only this is their “first Balmoral summer” without QEII. QEII passed away at Balmoral on September 8 last year, and she had been at her Scottish castle for the better part of two months at the time of her death. The Windsors are planning to all gather at Balmoral on the somber anniversary. As English wrote last weekend, King Charles has given an “open invitation” to the whole family, including Prince Harry and Meghan, to visit this summer. Charles made a point of not rescinding the open invitation for the Sussexes, although I’m sure that would change if H&M actually showed any interest in going. If they considered stopping in for a few days, I’m sure Charles would call Harry and order him not to bring Meghan. Which is what happened on the day QEII died. Speaking of, Harry and Meghan are “not expected” to attend the anniversary event.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are not expected to attend the Royal Family’s commemorations at Balmoral to mark a year since the death of the late Queen, it was reported last night. King Charles and Queen Camilla are expected to mark the poignant one-year anniversary on September 8 at the Scottish estate surrounded by family, among them Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex received no ‘outreach’ from senior royals despite their planned appearance in Düsseldorf, Germany the day after the commemoration, where they are due to kick off the Invictus Games, sources have claimed. An insider told the Sun: ‘If they are not included in any of those plans they will find a way to mark the significance in their own way.’

Relations between Charles and Harry are thought to still not be good after the Duke launched a string of attacks on the Royal Family with his bombshell memoir Spare and a flurry of media interviews to promote the book. It is believed that contact between Prince William and his brother is non-existent and there doesn’t seem to be a reconciliation in the offing any time soon.

‘You can read the room on that as to where things are [between them],’ says a source.

Among the extended Windsor clan who are due to stay at Balmoral this year, however, are the Prince and Princess of Wales with George, Charlotte and Louis; the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and their teenage children, Louise and James; Princess Anne and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, along with her son Peter Phillips and daughter Zara Tindall, both with their broods; and Charles’s cousin, Lady Sarah Chatto.

The beleaguered Duke of York will also be spending time up there with his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Eugenie, and their young families. There had been some question over whether Andrew might join the family gathering at all following the late Queen’s estate.

‘There are a large number of properties around the estate so not everyone needs to stay at Balmoral Castle itself,’ one insider has remarked, adding tactfully that they don’t even have to bump into each other if they don’t want to.

[From The Daily Mail]

The absolute state of this projection and framing. In spite of Becky English’s breathless reporting last weekend that Harry and Meghan have an open invitation to Balmoral, Harry’s dogsh-t father has not actually reached out to Harry whatsoever, and the Sussexes have not received an invite to Balmoral, nor were they invited to the commemoration event. The Mail wants you to believe that Harry and Meghan are snubbing the memory of QEII, when the Windsors have once again made a point of snubbing them. Still, I doubt it matters – H&M would have always avoided this gathering like the plague. The last time they were both in the UK, they were held hostage by the family for two f–king weeks. God knows what would happen if they actually turned up in Scotland on September 8th.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

On January 6th, 2021, the plan was to physically force Mike Pence to overturn the Electoral College’s votes, or failing that, to have the Vice President murdered in or around the Capitol. They had brought their nooses specifically for Pence. And Speaker Pelosi. The vital part of the plan was that the election results could not be certified, and then, as if by magic, Donald Trump would simply squat in the White House and proclaim himself dictator-for-life. The plan was to suppress dissent and protests by martial law, with the American military in every town, city and county, and a mass arrest or mass execution of any American protesting Trump’s move. This was an insurrection, absolutely. This was a terrorist attack in our nation’s capital, 100%. But it was also a failed coup d’etat from the sitting president to simply retain power.

Two years and almost seven months later, Donald Trump was finally arraigned on four felony counts related to his failed coup, the terrorist attack he planned, orchestrated and oversaw: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. It should have been treason, murder and attempted murder. But here we are. Trump was arraigned at approximately 4:30 pm on Thursday, August 3 2023. Motherf–ker pleaded not guilty.

Former President Donald J. Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges that he conspired to remain in office despite his 2020 election loss, appearing before a judge in a Washington courthouse in the shadow of the Capitol, where his supporters rampaged in an effort to undermine the peaceful transfer of power.

Mr. Trump, who is running in the hopes of being sworn in again on the steps of the Capitol, stood before a federal magistrate judge who asked for his plea to the four counts he faced. He replied, “Not guilty.”

Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya, who oversaw the roughly half-hour hearing, ordered Mr. Trump not to communicate about the case with any witnesses except through counsel or in the presence of counsel. At the request of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, she set the date for the first hearing before the trial judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, for Aug. 28 — the latest option she provided.

Delaying the proceedings as much as possible is widely expected to be part of Mr. Trump’s legal strategy, given that he could effectively call off federal cases against him if he wins the 2024 election.

The jockeying began on Thursday. After Judge Upadhyaya gave prosecutors a week to propose a trial date, one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, John F. Lauro, complained that the government had had years to investigate and he and his colleagues were going to need time to fairly defend their client. She directed him to bring it up with the trial judge, and for prosecutors to respond within five days of his filing.

Following the hearing, Mr. Trump spoke briefly at Reagan National Airport, saying it was “a very sad day for America.” Mr. Trump said he was a victim of “persecution” by President Biden’s Justice Department. “This was never supposed to happen in America,” he said before boarding his private plane to return to Bedminster, N.J.

[From The NY Times]

You know what’s never supposed to happen in America? A sitting president orchestrating a coup and inciting his violent supporters to commit acts of terror and subvert American democracy because he can’t admit that he’s a f–king loser. On MSNBC, they made a big deal about how the judge told Trump not to communicate with any of the witnesses. He could seriously get thrown in jail if he violates that order. Which means that he’s probably going to do it within the next week. He was probably calling up Mark Meadows, Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani from the plane.

Courtroom sketch: Bill Hennessy. pic.twitter.com/q0qCx3loRZ

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 3, 2023

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

An undeniable fact about 2022 is that Top Gun: Maverick “saved theatrical distribution,” to quote Steven Spielberg. Not only did it do well for a post-pandemic release, it became one of the most successful films ever, and all in-theaters. I have hated this fact since Maverick’s release, because it puts an entire industry in debt to a man who is virtually at the head of a cult. I know Tom Cruise is an excellent producer. I know he is very polished, some say even thoughtful in how he conducts himself for Hollywood business. But I cannot forget that he and David Miscavige are the kings of the Church of Scientology. They are responsible for the organization’s reprehensible behavior and heinous crimes. On Wednesday, former COS member and current NYU student Leah Remini filed a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology and described the harassment, defamation, and psychological torture they inflicted on her:

It started falling apart at TomKat’s 2006 wedding: The event was billed as “the wedding of the century,” so Remini says she was surprised when [David] Miscavige’s wife, Michele (“Shelly”) Miscavige, “was nowhere to be found… When Ms. Remini asked a group of Scientology executives and Tom Cruise’s personal handlers… ‘Where is Shelly?’ she was immediately admonished by the group, despite the fact that she and Ms. Miscavige were good friends,” the lawsuit claims.

She was forced to do an ‘ethics cycle’ post-wedding: “Upon arrival, Ms. Remini was presented with dozens of internal reports from Scientologists complaining about her behavior at the wedding. It was clear to Ms. Remini that she was being punished for asking where Shelly Miscavige was and for filing reports on David Miscavige and others. Ms. Remini was held at FLAG [Flag Land Base headquarters in Florida] for four months while she was put through a process that cost her hundreds of thousands of dollars and nearly led her to have a psychotic breakdown,” the lawsuit alleges.

They made her buy a theater seat for Suri: Remini alleges she had to make peace with David [Miscavige] and Cruise. “For example, she was forced to donate money to name a seat in a theater after Suri Cruise and was to raise money for donation to Scientology causes led by Tom Cruise,” the lawsuit reads. The actress estimates that during her more than 35 years as a Scientologist, she spent around $5 million.

In 2020 COS sent a man to stalk her home: “Defendants armed this man with a vehicle and money to stalk and surveil Ms. Remini. Over the course of several weeks, at Defendants’ behest, this man rammed his car into the security gates of Ms. Remini’s community and asked residents for Ms. Remini’s address, saying he was waiting to get into her house, falsely claiming he had been there several times before, and that he needed to get a bigger ladder in order to reach her bedroom window,” the lawsuit reads. “He was eventually arrested and then released, at which point he called the police to allege that Ms. Remini was holding hostages at her home. After police responded to Ms. Remini’s house, he was again arrested.”

[From Yahoo! Entertainment]

Well, I hope at least the Suri Cruise theater seat doesn’t sting so much anymore. There’s so much listed in the lawsuit, including Anderson Cooper filming but then never airing a segment with Remini because of a “storm of harassment” from COS, and COS sending Conan O’Brien a character assassination letter on Remini when he had her on as a guest. In continuing with their hateful, aggressive tactics, COS eventually released a statement in reaction to the lawsuit. It is positively unhinged! Just a couple excerpts from the full page rebuttal:

“Remini’s complaints are like an anti-Semite complaining about the Jewish Anti-Defamation League for exposing the anti-Semite’s bigotry and propaganda.”

Did you follow that? Oh good, me neither. And this is the closer:

“The Church is not intimidated by Remini’s latest act of blatant harassment and attempt to prevent truthful free speech. If Remini does not believe in free speech, then she should consider emigrating to Russia.”

Like I said, unhinged. I think (hope!) that behind the scenes Xenu is sh*tting their pants. Thank you Leah Remini for speaking out, for filing the suit, and for continuing to raise the question: Where’s Shelly?

Embed from Getty Images

Photos credit: Yolo/gica/Backgrid, PacificCoastNews / Avalon, Getty

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped out last night in Montecito, ahead of Meghan’s 42nd birthday today. The Daily Mail bought the exclusive photos, because of course they did. Meghan wore a bold-striped black & white dress by Posse, which retails for £188. She carried her Cult Gaia bag and she wore black sandals (flats!!) for her birthday. She was like, “I’m going to have a glass of wine or two, I don’t need to wear heels.”

Meghan Markle and Harry in Montecito. pic.twitter.com/MQOPeRgbEh

— @21metgala (@21metgala) August 4, 2023

I could not wear horizontal stripes, but Meghan can wear them and still look tiny. They dined at Tre Lune, an Italian joint. Let me see if there’s a menu online…oh sh-t, this menu is amazing!!! I would dine there as often as possible. The pasta selection is top-notch, as is the soup and salad menu. I wonder what they ordered? The Mail didn’t say.

The Mail’s coverage is centered around how infrequently Meghan and Harry are seen out and about, and the fakakta “separation rumors” or whatever. Once again, the British media is so obsessed with their own completely fake storylines that they miss the gossip threads which have more meat on them. They did that when the Netflix series didn’t get Emmy nominated too – they were so focused on the series getting nominated for a Hollywood Critics Association Award and what that meant. Instead of focusing on the lunatic-fantasist drama of “split rumors,” they could have focused on the same thing People Magazine focused on this week: business drama. I’m not trying to give the Mail tips, but I think it’s interesting that the Mail is so out-of-touch gossip-wise.

EXCLUSIVE Meghan Markle’s birthday date night with Prince Harry! Smiling Duchess of Sussex leaves trendy Montecito restaurant to celebrate turning 42 in couple’s latest loved-up display https://t.co/bRPzL5r3oD pic.twitter.com/a2FbG4thAY

— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) August 3, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar and Backgrid.

Christy Turlington is in my opinion one of the most beautiful women of the last century. But out of all the Supers, she also might be the least interesting. Naomi and Linda have crazy charisma and they’ve each had their messes, but Christy is kind of milquetoast. But I’ll give her credit for pivoting to humanitarian work with her organization Every Mother Counts. Every Mother Counts has programs in multiple countries that expand access to high quality maternity care, including in the US, where there is a shockingly high rate of maternal mortality especially among Black and Indigenous mothers. So Christy and EMC are doing good work. Christy is also the “Fundamental Changemaker in Residence” for a super fancy, expensive skincare brand called Noble Panacea. I’m sorry but that title is so silly. Just call her a brand ambassador.

Anyway, Christy was interviewed for Marie Claire and she talked about her skincare routine (predictably, a lot of $326 face creams from Noble Panacea, but she also likes regular Chapstick and Burts Bees) and how she admires women who don’t “augment” themselves as they age. She called out the late Jane Birkin as one of her inspirations for how she wants to age. Oh, and she only wears mascara for special events. Imagine being that pretty, I’m envious.

She’s a big fan of no-makeup makeup: I only wear a very tiny amount of makeup. Right now, I have on a little bit of the RMS concealer. I love the whole line—it all feels very light and clean. I’ll use a little bit of that under my eyes and then I’ll use some kind of a cheek tint, even if I have a little bit of color in my face. I always like some blush on my face. I love Westman Atelier and I also love Jones Road for a light wash. I’ll fill in my eyebrows a bit—I use a very basic Maybelline eyebrow pencil. I have so many because I used to work for them for years. I have a scar on my eyebrow so I always fill that in. I curl my lashes, but I don’t really wear mascara unless I’m going somewhere special. And that’s it!

Her thoughts on aging: Women who have stayed away from augmentation of themselves—those are the women I really admire. I love seeing a real face. A face of someone who’s lived life. I would say my beauty icons are people like Jane Birkin. They have the kind of faces I like to see and we don’t get to see as many of those in the world anymore. Jane aged in her way. She was as beautiful at the end of her life as she was early on. I will be one of those faces. I am one of those faces.

She’s a fan of regular Chapstick: I’m always grabbing lip balm. I love Burt’s Bees, but I also love good, old fashioned Chapstick. It lasts the longest. When I run, I want to wear something that’s going to last the duration of my long run. Sometimes those fancier products, or the ones that have fragrance in them, just don’t last as long. It’s good, old fashioned Chapstick that does the job. [From Marie Claire]

Her comments about aging are interesting–note what she’s saying…and not saying. She mentions “augmentation” and implies that she hasn’t done anything “augmenting” which would mean fillers. But even if she doesn’t get anything injected into her skin, it wouldn’t surprise me if Christy gets non-invasive or minimally invasive treatments like lasers, radiofrequency, or chemical peels. She does look her age–she has some settled wrinkles–but her skin looks really smooth and even-toned and I find it hard to believe even a $300 skin cream can do that. Christy is also operating on the lowest possible difficulty setting when it comes to aging. She already has one of the most beautiful faces in the whole world. It’s possible for her to opt out of invasive beauty treatments and still look better than most people because she has outstanding bone structure. Her comments come across as maybe a little judgmental towards those of us who are not so blessed and who respond to aging differently, but I don’t think she meant them that way. I think in the circles in which she moves (aka other rich ladies), it’s probably unusual not to be getting Botox and Juvederm.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos credit: John Nacion/startraksphoto.com/Cover Images, Vegan/Backgrid, Getty

Noelle Dunphy is suing Rudy Giuliani for sexual abuse, harassment, withholding wages and so much more. Dunphy just revealed some of the transcripts for various audio recordings of Giuliani and they are shocking and disgusting. [Jezebel]
What is Gay-SMR? An explainer. [OMG Blog]
Robert Pattinson’s small bike and wired earbuds. [LaineyGossip]
How messy is the Marvel multiverse these days? [Pajiba]
Lucy Liu on the SAG-AFTRA picket line! [Tom & Lorenzo]
Did Beyonce cut her ties with Lizzo the second Lizzo’s dancers sued her? Tina Knowles says no, but I say yes. [JustJared]
Mikhail Baryshnikov was and is so beautiful. [GFY]
Wow this Kansas Catholic school is going to get sued. [Towleroad]
A lot of people are talking about Lizzo’s problems. [Buzzfeed]
Stormzy had a big 30th birthday party. [RCFA]