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I’ve been a Mandy Moore fan since her first album. I liked that she seemed lowkey and I’ve always rooted for her and her career. I saw A Walk to Remember with my high school best friend on my birthday and loved that soundtrack. Mandy’s been through a lot, but it seems like she’s really happy and in a great place now. She has two adorable boys named Gus, two, and Ozzie, nine months, with her husband, musician Taylor Goldsmith. In a recent interview, Mandy talked about how she and Taylor have their hands full raising their two boys.

Raising two toddlers is definitely a walk Mandy Moore will remember fondly.

However, the This Is Us alum—who shares sons August “Gus” Harrison, 2, and Oscar “Ozzie” Bennett, 9 months, with husband Taylor Goldsmith—isn’t afraid to admit that wrangling two young boys can be a handful.

“Somedays I feel like we’re barely above water,” Moore exclusively told E! News on the July 25 episode. “The potty training is intense, but we’re slowly but surely getting there. I love that someone told me, ‘It’s not an event, it’s a process.’”

And it’s one the 39-year-old makes sure to savor, despite the challenges of parenting.
“My husband and I were saying the other night we’re gonna look back fondly and be like, ‘Remember when he didn’t pee in the potty?!’” she continued. “So, I’m trying to be present and really appreciate all this time we have together now.”

[From EOnline]

Oh, Mandy, I feel ya, girl! Potty training was a process with my older son. A very long, frustrating process that took almost two years. He had the overnights down pretty early on, but still struggled during the day. We tried everything from incentives and rewards charts to having him go pantsless at home to having him sit on a little potty in front of the TV. We must have watched or played the Daniel Tiger potty song a gazillion times. But, of course, every child is different and does things on their own timetable. Gus will get there, Mandy! And trust me, there will be many things you look back fondly on from those early years, but the pre-potty trained times probably won’t be one of them.

Also, for what it’s worth, my younger son has always been determined to keep up with everyone around him and basically daytime potty trained himself at age two, while we were home during the pandemic. He saw his older brother use the potty, decided he was going to use it as well, and never looked back. It was an event that we didn’t even plan for. I’ll cross my fingers for Mandy and Taylor that Ozzie’s potty training experience is also more of an event than a process!

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In January and February of this year, the Princess of Wales “launched” the latest variation of her “awareness-raising campaign” for Early Years. Every year for the past four years, she’s been relaunching this dumb thing, which always amounts to the same thing: the Early Years are important, did you know those years are important, let me tell you that they’re very important. That’s it. Kate has never tied these campaigns to a fundraiser for any of the child-development programs which are being slashed. Kate has never tied these campaigns to direct action of any kind. This year, people finally started criticizing her for her busy-work. The busy-work has always lacked substance, lacked urgency, lacked direction, lacked a mission. Credible experts were actually fed up, and American outlets even lodged some pointed criticism at Princess BusyWork. Kate hasn’t even mentioned Early Years anything in months, right? Well, good news – a government committee cited Kate for special acknowledgement for… raising awareness.

Kate Middleton is being celebrated by U.K. Parliament. The Princess of Wales, 41, was recognized for raising awareness around the importance of the early years in the House of Commons Education Committee’s “Support for childcare and the early years” report, released last week. Princess Kate got a shout-out for the ongoing work of her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, established in June 2021 and the most significant step in her long-term mission to help kids and parents.

“The Princess of Wales has done important work to raise the profile of the Early Years through her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. Its 2020 report ‘State of the Nation: Understanding Public Attitudes to the Early Years’ stressed the importance of elevating the importance of the early years period in the public consciousness,” the Education Committee said in the paper, published July 18.

“The ECEC sector is independent, multi-faceted and diverse, and does not always benefit from the same structural lines of communication through local authorities as the school sector. More outreach and strong channels of communication between the sector and the Government are needed to ensure that practitioners feel both valued and heard,” it continued. The committee also suggested that change is needed to improve low morale among early years practitioners, particularly around pay.

[From People]

“More outreach and strong channels of communication between the sector and the Government are needed to ensure that practitioners feel both valued and heard.” See, Kate can’t even do that. She can’t even use her position to center the underpaid, undervalued early-years practitioners. Because she’s too busy taking credit for their work and pretending that she alone is “raising awareness.” Anyway, this is the kind of treading-water gold star that bureaucracies love to give. Kate isn’t challenging anyone in government, she’s not bringing up uncomfortable questions about the lack of funding for children’s programs or working families. She’s seen as a good little girl who does safe little nonsense projects and everyone pats her on the head and says “how delightfully apolitical, how unimportant.”

Note by CB: Get the Top 8 stories about Princess Kate’s Early Years Business Initiatives when you sign up for our mailing list! I only send one email a day on weekdays.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Kensington Palace, Cover Images.

To recap what we know thus far, Ethan Slater and Ariana Grande’s affair began several months ago on the set of Wicked. While I believe Ariana’s marriage to Dalton Gomez was pretty much over in all but name, Slater was very much with his wife, Lilly Jay, at the time. Lilly and Ethan welcomed their first child last year, and Lilly and the baby even visited the London set of Wicked. Reportedly, Lilly even spoke to Ariana, let Ari hold the baby and talked to Ari about how Ari wants a baby. Ari was even “liking” Lilly’s Instagram posts at the same time Ari and Ethan were carrying on. Ethan reportedly only told Lilly about his affair just days before Ari’s team broke the news to People Mag. What followed that People Mag story has been non-stop drama, mostly because Lilly Jay is not going away quietly. Lilly spoke on the record to Page Six, saying that Ariana is “not a girl’s girl” and that the real story is Ariana and Dalton’s split. Ethan and Ari then ran straight to TMZ to complain:

Ethan Slater may be done with his marriage, but he “desperately” wants to co-parent his nearly 1-year-old child with soon-to-be ex-wife Lilly Jay … sources connected to Ethan tell TMZ. Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ, Ethan has been talking to Lilly daily, mostly about their little boy. We’re told Ethan spent a lot of time with his son in London after he had split with Lilly, and is determined to have a major presence in the boy’s life.

Our sources say Lilly told Ethan repeatedly she was down with co-parenting. Ethan, we’re told, asked Lilly about issuing a joint statement saying they were committed to co-parenting their son, but Lilly wanted to defer releasing the statement, at least for now.

We’re also told Lilly had assured Ethan she didn’t know where various media leaks were emanating from, so he was more than surprised to read Thursday that Lilly spoke with Page Six, calling Ariana Grande “not a girl’s girl,” adding her family was “collateral damage.”

Sources tell us Lilly told Ethan she did not understand what it meant that she was on the record when she made the comments. It’s unclear what Lilly’s position is regarding co-parenting, but Ethan adamantly wants to raise his son.

TMZ broke the story … Ethan filed for divorce on Wednesday. If they’re at odds on who raises the child, ultimately a judge will decide.

[From TMZ]

This is the dumbest, most obvious deflection from Ethan Slater, a man who cheated on his recently postpartum wife with Ariana Grande. “Let’s talk about co-parenting!” No, let’s talk about how you’re carrying on with Ariana Grande behind your wife’s back and you’ve been lying about it and publicly gaslighting your wife about when your marriage fell apart. Meanwhile, Ariana wants everyone to know that she’s not even hanging out with Ethan at the moment:

Ariana Grande hasn’t seen her boyfriend Ethan Slater in person for awhile … because he’s preoccupied with his estranged wife and their divorce, and she’s giving him space to work things out.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … Ariana and her ‘Wicked’ costar haven’t been in the same city for several weeks. Ethan’s currently in New York, trying to navigate the end of his marriage with estranged wife, Lilly Jay.

Our sources say Ariana is coming to Los Angeles this weekend. We’re told she and Ethan want to see each other, but that’s not in the cards for the immediate future.

While Ariana and Ethan haven’t spent time in person for a minute now, our sources say they are 100% still dating.

[From TMZ]

This story came out about a day after the Daily Mail published exclusive photos of Ethan and Ariana walking arm-in-arm together in the UK, at the Soho Farmhouse. Those photos are from three weeks before Ari’s people revealed her relationship/affair with Ethan. So… Ari has been alone in London this week, furiously briefing the media about her dramatic affair, all while Ethan has been in New York, and he’s also furiously briefing the media. Meanwhile, Lilly has been telling her story far and wide to ensure that Ari’s narrative isn’t the only one out there. Such chaos… Ari definitely isn’t bored. Yet. That’s the thing, though – while I’m 100% behind Lilly doing and saying whatever she wants, the minute that she stops engaging with Ariana and ignores the whole situation is when Ariana will get bored and dump Ethan.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

At some point last week, Christine Baumgartner returned home from her Hawaiian vacation with one of Kevin Costner’s good friends and neighbors. Christine and Kevin’s kids were also on the vacation, and as soon as they returned to Carpinteria, Kevin took the kids to Aspen for a separate summer holiday. My guess is that Costner told Christine to be completely moved out of their Carpinteria house by the time he returned. That’s what the judge ordered too – Christine needs to be out by Monday, the end of July. On Friday and Saturday, U-Hauls and moving vans were seen at Costner’s estate and TMZ has all the photos. People Mag had an exclusive about where Christine is going now:

Kevin Costner’s estranged wife Christine is officially relocating. On Friday — a day after Christine, 49, was pictured running errands in Montecito, California — moving trucks were seen leaving the $145 million Santa Barbara compound that she has shared with Costner, 68, and their children during her 18-year marriage to the actor in photos obtained by Page Six and other outlets.

“Christine is following the legal advice per the prenup and is vacating the family house,” a source confirms to PEOPLE, adding that she “will stay at a smaller house on the property that’s been used as a staff quarter.”

“This is a temporary solution,” the insider adds. “She is still looking for another house. She is staying in the area to not disrupt the kids’ lives. They will be back at school in the fall with their friends. Christine is trying to keep everything as normal as possible. Her sole focus is the kids,” the source tells PEOPLE.

[From People]

Christine “will stay at a smaller house on the property that’s been used as a staff quarter.” That’s something I’ve never understood about Costner’s insistence that Christine vacate every one of his homes – Kevin owns a huge amount of real estate, and he’s purchased other homes close to their $145 million mansion, homes which he uses as “staff quarters,” editing bays and offices. Why was the situation never “Christine should move out of the mansion in a reasonable amount of time and move into one of the smaller properties?” Don’t tell me – it’s because Kevin Costner is a vindictive a–hole who was hellbent on punishing her for leaving him. At least Christine gets to “stay” in one of those smaller homes now. Ten bucks says he’s making her pay rent.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

The rumors about Leonardo DiCaprio and Neelam Gill started around the Cannes Film Festival. People saw them together at one of the hotels, and while the rumors weren’t very specific, it did seem interesting. Neelam is 28 years old and British-Indian. Leo seemed to raise his age cutoff to 29, so I thought it was more than possible that Neelam and Leo were actually happening, especially since Neelam kept flying out to Leo’s location. A month ago, she was on Leo’s yacht for several days, alongside friends and Leo’s parents. In recent days, she’s been back on his yacht as the boat makes its way around Sardinia. Again, other people are around and there seems to be several model-looking women on the yacht. Which brings me to this: Neelam is now formally denying that she’s Leo’s new girlfriend.

Neelam Gill is putting those Leonardo DiCaprio romance rumors to rest. On Friday, the model and DiCaprio were spotted yachting together in Sardinia, sparking speculation that the pair was an item. Just hours after the two were pictured together, Gill, 28, took to Instagram to speak her truth.

“Just to clear up any rumors… I am not Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘new flame,’ ” the activist wrote. “In fact, I am in a committed relationship with his good friend, and have been for many months now. The only reason we have been pictured in the same vicinity is because I have been there with my partner. I hope this clears up all the false stories.”

The last time DiCaprio, 48, and Gill were spotted together was in the presence of The Wolf of Wall Street actor’s other rumored fling, Gigi Hadid. In June, the models arrived at an up-scale London restaurant first, followed by DiCaprio and his parents moments later.

[From People]

The first rule of Leo D’s Girlfriend Experience is that you don’t talk about Leo. That being said, when he has an official girlfriend, she’s always free to confirm the news and she usually does just that (think Camila Morrone and Kelly Rohrbach). It would be a new thing if Leo really was dating Neelam and she just denied it outright on her social media. So… Leo is not dating a Desi girl. But he’s good friends with Neelam’s boyfriend or girlfriend. Hm.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instagram.

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Michelle Yeoh married Jean Todt after a nineteen-year engagement! [Just Jared]
The Emmy Awards have been postponed because of the strikes. [Seriously OMG]
Mick Jagger turned 80 years old this week. [LaineyGossip]
The Sopranos’ sole out-gay character has been made into a doll. [OMG Blog]
Discussing the sex scenes in Oppenheimer. [Pajiba]
Sofia Vergara & Joe Manganiello are fighting over custody of their dog? [Socialite Life]
The Paris Olympics are one year away! Get hyped!! [Go Fug Yourself]
Funny internet finds of the week (some of these are old). [Buzzfeed]
Madonna is back to terrorizing people on social media. [Towleroad]
Spotlight on Angelina Jolie. [RCFA]

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When news broke that Tony Bennett had passed away one of my first thoughts was, “Gaga must be devastated.” Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett met in 2011 when she was in her Born This Way era (still her best solo album, in my opinion). By 2014 she appeared on his Duets series and they recorded a jazz album together, Cheek to Cheek. The fondness between them was apparent from the get-go. I think Bennett saw past all the outfits and hairdos and just thought, “the kid can sing!” And it seemed that Gaga, for her part, revered Bennett and always treated him with kindness. I imagine she feels like she’s lost a family member, which is why I wasn’t surprised to see this sweet little piece from People on how she’ll always remember him:

Lady Gaga will always have a permanent reminder of the late Tony Bennett.

In 2014, the pop star, 37, had the legendary “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” singer–who died at age 96 on Friday–sketch her one of her tattoos.

“I asked Tony to draw me a trumpet, and he sketched me Miles Davis’ trumpet,” Gaga told PEOPLE that year. “Then I had it tattooed with his last name, Benedetto, underneath. Just so I would always remember this time together.”

Gaga and Bennett–who is remembered in this week’s PEOPLE cover story, on newsstands Friday–first bonded in 2011 at a charity gala where she sang the standard “Orange Colored Sky.”

“Tony heard me sing it, and he asked to meet me,” Gaga said in 2014. “He said, ‘Do you want to do a jazz album together?’ I said, ‘Of course I do!’ We were fast friends.”

Their 2014 jazz album, Cheek to Cheek, debuted at No. 1, making Bennett, at 88, the oldest artist to top the charts. Even after Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, he went on to release a second jazz album with Gaga, titled Love for Sale, in 2021.

In August of that year, Bennett played his final two sold-out shows with Gaga at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. “My time with Tony,” Gaga said at the time, “has changed me forever.”

[From People]

In addition to singing, Bennett was also an accomplished fine artist (he actually wanted to be a painter before he turned to music), so it’s all the more fitting that Gaga’s hand drawn trumpet tattoo is a marriage of both his talents. For all of the crazy Lady Gaga has thrown out into the world–and it’s a lot, I won’t deny that–I think her true character comes through in the way she interacts with the people she adores. We saw this last year when she took care of Liza Minnelli at the Oscars. The tenderness was also there when she and Bennett recorded Love for Sale in 2021, especially when they played his final two shows in New York that year. She knew his disease was progressing, and she put the focus on him. That’s a class act, Lady.

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This week, Kevin Spacey was acquitted of nine sexual assault charges in the UK. The assaults ranged in years, but most of them were from the time period when Spacey was in charge of the Old Vic, a legendary British landmark/theater. Spacey has also been credibly accused of assaulting and raping men and boys in New York, LA and wherever location his movies and TV shows were filming. While Spacey has still not been convicted of a crime, he’s truly faced hundreds of accusations. Everyone knows who he is now, if we can’t prove it in court.

Once the stories came out in 2017, Hollywood cut their ties with him. It was easier for Hollywood to do that with someone like Spacey – while he was on a Netflix show at the time, he wasn’t part of some big franchise and studios (other than Netflix) hadn’t locked him into any big contract. The biggest issue, at the time, was removing him from Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World and they figured out a way to do that pretty easily. So it was a little bit weird to see, after his acquittal, a few dozen thinkpieces about “will Kevin Spacey be able to make a comeback??” I was surprised to see that Page Six mirrored my own thinking on this issue – no, Hollywood is done with Spacey, but he’ll be able to find work in Europe.

Kevin Spacey may have to stick to working in Europe — as Hollywood isn’t ready to forgive or forget, multiple Tinseltown sources told Page Six.

“It’s not a matter of can Kevin work again, but who will work with him?” one producer told Page Six. Asked about Spacey’s career future, one well-placed Hollywood source told Page Six: “Look at all these men accused of sex crimes, from Woody Allen to Roman Polanski, they’re all working in Europe. Woody’s even got his new movie coming up at Venice Film Festival.”

“All these men get a clean bill of health in Europe, but it’s harder to come back to Hollywood.” the source added.

Two movie insiders cited Johnny Depp’s return to the big screen as an example of making it back after such a harrowing trial. One movie insider told us: “I think Kevin will come back the Johnny Depp way in Europe – I still don’t think people would employ him in Hollywood.”

[From Page Six]

Yeah, I agree? No American studio will hire Spacey and no big-name American actor will work with him. But he’ll find some way to relaunch himself in Europe. Nightmare-casting: Roman Polanski hires Johnny Depp and Kevin Spacey to star in his new film set in a non-extradition country.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Every single one of the Kardashian-Jenner women has gone through cosmetic surgery or cosmetic enhancement at various points of their lives. It’s just a matter of degrees. Kourtney is arguably the most natural one, and she has breast implants and she’s done injectibles. On the other side, I would argue that Kim, Khloe and Kylie are most “fake,” the most worked on, the most surgically enhanced. They always deny it, or they’ll do selective admissions – just a little Botox, or just a few lip injections. Kylie has always had a difficult relationship with the truth about how much plastic surgery she got when she was just a teenager. Well, on the most recent episode of The Kardashians, Kylie finally “admitted” to getting a boob job as a teen.

Kylie Jenner isn’t too proud to admit her regrets. On Thursday’s finale of The Kardashians, the Kylie Cosmetics mogul, 25, reveals a more emotional side of herself while expressing her regret over past surgeries. Speaking with close friend Stassie Karanikolaou, Jenner opens up about her history of cosmetic surgery. Jenner gave birth to Stormi, 5, when she was 20 years old. Jenner recently revealed that before she got pregnant, she got her breasts done. Speaking with Karanikolaou, she details her remorse over the surgery.

“I wish I never got them done to begin with,” Jenner emotionally states. “[I] recommend anyone thinking about it to wait after children.”

Having recently given birth to her second child Aire, 1, big themes of childhood and maturity seem to be dawning on Jenner. Reflecting on her kids brings greater self-reflection for Jenner’s surgery. In an emotionally climactic moment, Jenner reveals that she would be “heartbroken” if Stormi wanted to get cosmetic surgeries when she was 19, like her mom did.

Plastic surgery has been a contentious issue on this season of The Kardashians. On last week’s episode, Jenner denied any claims that she had gotten surgery done on her “whole face.”

“I always remember being the most confident kid in the room,” Jenner said. “I always loved myself — I still love myself — and one of the biggest misconceptions about me is that I was this insecure child and I got so much surgery to change my whole face, which is false, I’ve only gotten fillers.” She adds: “I feel like I don’t want that to be a part of my story.”

[From People]

Kylie was not the most confident kid in the room – she had huge insecurities about her lips, her face, her body. She reportedly begged Kris to let her get plastic surgery and Kris allowed it and here we are. Kylie had more than “fillers” in her face and she’s done more than just get a boob job (lipo, BBL, nose job, chin and eye work). She never needed any of it and she got it because her family has like a dozen plastic surgeons on speed dial. The thing Kylie is saying now, that she worries about what she’ll say or do if her kids want surgery at that age… I’ve always wondered if Kim’s kids will want to mimic their mom in that regard too.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instagram, Cover Images, Avalon Red.

Several weeks ago, the owners of Nouvel – previously Angelina Jolie’s half of Chateau Miraval – blasted Brad Pitt in scathing legal filings in California. Pitt was called a “petulant child” and there were descriptions of how he “looted” Miraval for his vanity projects. The American media covered it like Jolie was the one who did this filing – she was not. It was Yuri Shefler, the man who owns Stoli and its subsidiary, Tenute del Mondo (which technically owns Nouvel). Shefler has been on the warpath for more than a year, and the French authorities are now aware of the dodgy situation in Miraval too. Basically, Pitt is screwed, but he’s still trying to act like he has some power over the situation. Which might explain this idiotic Daily Mail piece:

The war between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie has been the longest — and bitterest — celebrity divorce in living memory. But only a fortnight after a legal filing which accused Pitt of bullying and illegal behaviour over the vineyard they co-owned, it can be revealed that peace — yes, peace — could at last be on the horizon. For both Pitt, 59 and Jolie, 48, have agreed to mediation which could settle their beef.

Documents filed last week in the vineyard dispute show that both stars have agreed to mediation as an alternative method of dispute resolution over Chateau Miraval — rather than the matter going to court. Jolie has also said that she’s willing to take part in a settlement conference.

What’s more, it can be revealed that Pitt has appointed a ‘provisional administrator’ to Chateau Miraval in a bid to resolve the war between himself and the Russians Jolie sold her share of the vineyard to. The move, at Pitt’s suggestion, aims to protect the highly successful wine business which he has helped to build, in conjunction with French wine-makers Famille Perrin. It will see an independent figure come in to assess the winery and how it is run and (it is hoped), in time, facilitate negotiations between Pitt and Nouvel — the investment company his ex sold to Stoli boss Yuri Shefler.

A French source confirms the move, saying: ‘In view of the dispute between Nouvel LLC (controlled by Stoli boss Yuri Shefler) and Mondo Bongo LLC (controlled by Brad Pitt), Chateau Miraval and its director have requested and obtained the appointment of a provisional administrator by the Draguignan (France) Commercial Court, to enable the company and its director to continue to grow the business and its essential partnership with the Perrin Family until such dispute is resolved, in the interests of Château Miraval, its directors, employees, partners and subsidiaries.’

[From The Daily Mail]

From what I understand, this whole “Brad Pitt single-handedly decided to hire a mediator to solve this mess” is obviously false – as part of the many legal filings in multiple countries, Pitt, Jolie and Shefler have all expressed their general openness to seeing this dispute go into mediation out of the spotlight. It’s also worth noting that none of this would have blown up so spectacularly if Pitt hadn’t tried to smear and bully Jolie and Shefler publicly, only to see them fight back. Also: “it can be revealed that Pitt has appointed a ‘provisional administrator’ to Chateau Miraval” – more like the French authorities have all of Miraval’s chaotic business records and there’s a lot of talk about tax fraud. This is Pitt taking credit for hiring an administrator who was likely appointed by one of the courts trying to untangle Pitt’s mess.

Meanwhile, People Magazine has an exclusive about how Pitt is still dating Ines de Ramon. Sources (Pitt’s publicist) tell People that the relationship is still “going very strong” and “they are doing great.” Ines has flown into Europe to spend time with Pitt, apparently, and “The two have been spending a lot of time together this summer as they truly enjoy each other’s company and are very into each other. It’s apparent to anyone who sees them together.” Maybe Ines goes out drinking with Pitt at quaint British pubs.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.