Since I follow tennis, I kind of love that GQ Hype put the young men’s tennis stars on their GQ Hype cover. It’s really strange that Carlos Alcaraz wasn’t chosen as one of the “young guns” though – Alcaraz won his maiden Slam title in New York last year, and the dude is only 19 years old. He’s having an injured season though, and maybe he didn’t say yes to this. They also left out Daniil Medvedev, the lanky 26-year-old Russian who won the US Open in 2021. GQ’s cover story is for all of the guys who are in the mix but haven’t won a Slam yet, it seems.
GQ gave mini-profiles to Frances Tiafoe (I love him), Taylor Fritz (meh), Casper Ruud (cutie), Matteo Berrettini (super-handsome), Stefanos Tsitsipas (good hair), Felix Auger-Aliassime (cute babyface) and Holger Rune (no comment). You can see the full GQ package here. The whole point is that they’re all hyping themselves and declaring that they could be the next Slam winner, especially now that the era of the “Big Three” is over…? But… Novak Djokovic is still around and kicking their asses. Rafael Nadal has kicked their asses a lot of the time too. Only Roger Federer has retired. And Andy Murray is still around with his metal hip. So… a lot of these guys are still going to have to wait a few more years before it’s really their time.
The larger message from this piece, and one which I think should be a bigger deal, is that once Rafa and Novak retire and/or don’t know when to quit, the whole narrative of men’s tennis changes from what it’s been for the past twenty years. Suddenly, it’s not about the neverending Slam count and battle of the aging GOATs. Suddenly, it goes back to what it was in the ‘80s and ‘90s – dudes who just want to win one Slam, not 22 Slams. Dudes who are happy to peak once and get their big trophy. We’re not going to see anyone like Roger, Rafa and Novak for a long-ass time.
I will say one thing: even though a lot of these guys are himbo idiots, I enjoy many of them. They’re fun and infuriating personalities and they’ll bring new fans to the sport.
Cover courtesy of GQ, IGs courtesy of GQ and Matteo Berrettini/Esquire.
Michael B. Jordan talks friendships, love & Creed following his split with Lori Harvey. Lori really did a number on him! [LaineyGossip]
Ashley Benson & Brandon Davis? Ew, girl, you could do better. [Dlisted]
Paul Tremblay didn’t care for Knock at the Cabin’s ending (spoilers). [Pajiba]
Are you into this Valentino Chain 1967 collection? [Tom & Lorenzo]
Which four teams have never played the Super Bowl? [JustJared]
Kim Kardashian opened a SKIMS pop-up store. [RCFA]
I enjoy houndstooth but people can go overboard with it. [GFY]
Holy crap these photo-backstories are disturbing. [Buzzfeed]
The Habibi art collection sounds amazing. [Towleroad]
The best snacks from Whole Foods? [Egotastic]
Donald Trump hates Ron DeSantis. [Jezebel]
It’s interesting that People Magazine devoted this week’s cover story to the Windsors-in-Disarray, and they put Prince William and Kate on the cover. The story is about how no one knows if the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will go to King Charles’s coronation, and instead of Charles simply calling Harry, we’ve got royal reporters banging their heads against the wall about how William is still raging about Harry’s memoir. It’s all very curious. Well, People released some additional quotes from the cover story, so here’s an update (some of this we’ve already covered, but whatever):
The Sussexes still haven’t been invited to the Chubbly: A palace insider tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be invited to his father’s coronation; however, a source close to Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, says that an invitation has yet to be extended, and there has been no movement toward reconciliation.
How Peg feels: “William is the one who is most upset and needs time to calm down,” says the source. “He has been painted as hotheaded and unsympathetic. But I don’t think he will back down — it’s whether they can move beyond it and accept that they view things differently.” Royal correspondent Valentine Low, author of Courtiers, adds that William “will be furious about the betrayals of confidences.”
Charles worries more about looking like a terrible father than actually being a terrible father: Says the source close to the royal household: “It is such a momentous occasion for Charles, and he would want his son to be at the coronation to witness it. He would like to have Harry back in the family. If they don’t sort it out, it will always be part of the King’s reign and how he has left his family disjointed. He has had a reputation as a distant parent, and it would be awful for him for that to continue.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s role in this melodrama: There is talk that the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who married Harry and Meghan and will officiate the coronation service, was tapped to help bridge the two sides. Reports that Charles had already asked him to reach out to the Sussexes have been downplayed, but Welby is close to the couple, and, as a close source points out, “If he could reconcile the family members, that is what he would want to do.”
King Charles is bad at his job: Royal historian Robert Lacey notes that “quite apart from [Charles’] paternal hope to reunite with his son, one of the jobs of the royal family is showing how to cope with the problems we all have in a human and thoughtful way. What will be a success for the family in the future is not reconciliation necessarily, but mutual acceptance of different ideas and priorities.”
Seriously though, Lacey’s comment is something the British media doesn’t want to acknowledge or accept, which is that Charles can’t even make a good-faith effort to reconcile with his SON, and what does that say about his leadership and diplomatic skills overall? Of course, I’m of the opinion that Charles would go a long way to help himself and his image by simply making a statement acknowledging the dysfunction within his family, but also making a point to say he loves Harry, Meghan and their children. Charles should have done that months ago. Why hasn’t he? Is it because the Other Brother would blow a f–king gasket and rage-shriek for months?
Speaking of the Other Brother, “William is the one who is most upset and needs time to calm down… He has been painted as hotheaded and unsympathetic…” Every time we hear about William, his default emotion is violent rage. Harry didn’t “paint” William that way – William IS hotheaded, unsympathetic, a violent bully and a complete psycho.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are in Cornwall today for their first official joint visit since QEII’s passing. William and Kate are not simply the Waleses – they are also the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall now as well. It’s been five months since they got the Cornwall titles (and access to the Duchy of Cornwall money) and this is their first joint visit? Lordy. Now, William did visit Cornwall solo – he went to a Cornwall farm last November, and he spoke about his daily diet.
For today’s activities, Kate dusted off a Hobbs coat which has been in her closet for over a decade. She last wore this in 2012. Of all her coats, why this one? I don’t know. That thin little belt is fug, as are the leather wrist details which look like handcuffs. It looks like she’s wearing a turtleneck sweaterdress in cranberry under the Hobbs coat. That’s been her style this winter – lots of clingy sweaterdresses, lots of high necks. The boots look like an old pair from her closet too.
Do you think it’s notable that in the past month, it feels like Kate has been doing a lot more than William, and she’s been much more visible? I have to wonder how King Charles feels about how William is doing next to nothing with the “Prince of Wales” role. A couple of lazy 40-something a–holes.
Update: someone was detained for merely being a republican at one of their events.
A protestor was detained by police – although not arrested – after holding up a blank piece of paper as William and Kate visited Cornwall. He said:‘It’s the 21st century and we don’t need a monarchy any more.’ pic.twitter.com/AobSagxJHu
— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) February 9, 2023
When Prince Harry “negotiated” the Sussexit at the so-called Sandringham Summit, he and Meghan believed that a deal could be worked out in which they were treated somewhat like the York princesses. Meaning, able to support the crown, able to be included in family events, and able to make their own money and do their own thing apart from the institution. Harry was told no, that isn’t possible, that it would all in or all out for the Sussexes. In the years that followed, it turns out that the Windsors were able to easily accommodate exactly the kind of half-in arrangement the Sussexes wanted, as evidenced by the Sussexes’ Jubbly appearance and the bullsh-t at QEII’s funeral. Now, suddenly, the institution is like: let’s go with the York princesses as a model for the Sussexes, but it’s punitive!
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle can ‘expect to be treated like Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie’ if they choose to attend King Charles’ coronation, an expert has claimed.
Writing in Vanity Fair, royal expert Katie Nicholl said that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry would potentially take on a role similar to Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie in proceedings.
Describing how they would be less visible, she explained: ‘Now that they are no longer working royals, the Sussexes can expect to be treated the same way as Harry’s cousins Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, who attend important family occasions but are not in the spotlight and do not appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony. It has already been agreed that only working royals will make a balcony appearance during the coronation and sources have said that the focus will be on King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Kate.’
The expert noted how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would be asked to take a similar approach what they did for late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations last June.
This is what’s known as smoking your own product – Nicholl, like most royal commentators, believes that the biggest hang-up is the balcony. Because the royal commentariat cares so much about the Windsors looking as if they’re “punishing” Harry and Meghan, they believe that’s what the Sussexes care about too. My point? The Sussexes don’t give a sh-t if they’re on the balcony at this point, and if their demands were meant, they would fine with being treated like the York princesses… because that’s what they wanted the whole time. This mess really is the “Chubbly,” isn’t it? We’re having the exact same conversations, except this time QEII isn’t here to smooth things over. She was the last one Harry gave a sh-t about.
Samantha Markle (Grant) sued her half-sister last year, something about how the Duchess of Sussex “defamed” her by saying that they barely knew each other and something something about Finding Freedom, a book which was not written by Meghan. It’s a nuisance suit and Meghan’s lawyers have already tried to get it thrown out a few times. The problem is that it really looks like someone is bankrolling all of this, just as I always suspected that “they” were bankrolling many of Thomas Markle’s activities too. Do I have any names for these mysterious figures, do I know who they work for? No, not at all. I just have some educated guesses, especially given the British media’s outsized focus on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex potentially sitting for depositions.
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex will be deposed as part of a defamation case brought against the duchess in the United States by her half-sister, Samantha Markle, a Florida judge ruled on Tuesday.
Markle is suing Meghan for “defamation and injurious falsehood” following the couple’s 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, and seeking damages in excess of $75,000. Samantha Markle’s March 2022 lawsuit claims that Meghan made “demonstrably false and malicious statements….to a worldwide audience,” including the “roughly 50 million people in 17 countries” who watched the interview.
Meghan filed a motion in September last year to stop depositions – a witness’ sworn out-of-court testimony used to gather information – in the case. The presiding judge, Charlene Edwards Honeywell, dismissed the motion, ruling that Meghan “does not show that unusual circumstances justify the requested stay, or that prejudice or an undue burden will result if the Court does not impose a stay,” Britain’s PA Media news agency reported.
“Defendant Markle does not satisfy the high standard required to stay discovery pending the resolution of a dispositive motion.”
Samantha Markle said in the initial filing that Meghan defamed her in the interview when she said she grew up as “an only child.”
The filing says that “Meghan…published and disseminated false and malicious lies,” which have subjected Samantha Markle “to humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale,” and spread “lies worldwide” about their father, Thomas Markle. It alleges that Meghan orchestrated “a premeditated campaign” to “defame and destroy her sister’s and her father’s reputation and credibility in order to preserve and promote the false ‘rags-to-royalty’ narrative.”
This is completely asinine. But whatever. This isn’t some big issue. Depositions will happen, Samantha will look like an unhinged and amoral nutjob and hopefully this will get thrown out. But the real purpose for Samantha and her financial backers is to get Meghan and Harry “on the record” and then the British papers can use those statements to create more controversy and misery. What a clownshow this is.
I dislike the style, but this color is gorgeous on Jessica Chastain. [Go Fug Yourself]
Julianne Moore wore a great caped Valentino. [RCFA]
Why was there a CGI kiss between Jonah Hill & Lauren London? [Dlisted]
Ashton Kutcher & Reese Witherspoon try to look friendly. [LaineyGossip]
An explainer for MILF Manor. [OMG Blog]
Marc Maron calls out “anti-woke” comics. [Pajiba]
Is this the end of The Late Late Show? [Seriously OMG]
Harry Styles hit the gym post-Grammys. [Just Jared]
The deplorable fascist girlies are fighting. [Jezebel]
Sister Wives’ Christine Brown is in a serious relationship. [Starcasm]
Mckayla Maroney went to the Grammys. [Egotastic]
More news from Dark Brandon’s SOTU. [Buzzfeed]
Ivanka Trump hates Don Trump Jr’s fiancee. [Towleroad]
The Princess of Wales has not done a live public event in more than a week (as of this writing). Last week’s “launch” of Kate’s latest awareness-raising campaign, Shaping Us, was done mainly online, through carefully edited videos and a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The Shaping Us launch was apparently only a one-week thing, something which will be forgotten until she needs a quick, breezy event, and then she’ll go to a nursery and she’ll use some Black children as props and we’ll be told that this is Shaping Us. But that’s not all – Kensington Palace organized yet another embiggening piece in the Telegraph, all about how this is (again) Kate’s life’s work and she’s ready to do “battle” with her A-team of keen experts. Some hilarious highlights:
Keen goes into battle. Five months since she moved up to the second tier of the monarchy, the Princess has started beefing up her top team to make sure she succeeds not only with her “life’s work” on child development, but also with the task of besting Meghan Markle. Ever since the publication of Prince Harry’s book Spare, which was less than kind to Kate, she has rarely been out of the public eye, while the Duchess of Sussex, who has unquestionably become her nemesis, has retreated to the shadows.
Baby Brain Rides Again: The timing may be coincidental (royal events are never last-minute additions to the diary) but the Princess is without doubt in the midst of a rebranding exercise, and the evidence so far suggests she is winning her battle with the woman who dared to suggest she had “baby brain”.
Her new private secretary Alison Corfield: The sharp-elbowed Corfield will be the Princess’s new right hand woman, and her brief, when she starts the job later this year, will be to take Brand Kate to the next level. One royal insider says: “You can often see the ambitions of individual members of the Royal family by the hires that they make. When Prince William hired Simon Case [now the Cabinet Secretary] to be his private secretary in 2018 that showed a new maturity of outlook in his ambitions, as Case was a more heavyweight appointment than what had gone before. What the Princess of Wales is doing is a very clear sign that she is redefining herself now that she has this new role. The role of heir, or wife of the heir, brings opportunities and also responsibilities as you represent the monarchy not only around the country but also around the world. She has a greater platform now, so she needs the right team to deliver for her.”
Steely determination, not baby brains: The same source says that while the Princess “comes across as a warm and gentle character” she is “at her core” a woman with a steely determination, as well as being deeply aware of the power and potential that comes with her elevated position. “She is extremely strategic and methodical, and she takes her work very seriously,” says the source.
Shaping Us is Kate’s Invictus: One of Corfield’s tasks will be to turn Shaping Us into the sort of brand that will outlive the Princess, in the same way that the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme, the Prince’s Trust and even the Invictus Games have become part of the national psyche and ensured a legacy for Prince Philip, the King and Prince Harry. At the age of 41, the Princess is launching her big idea rather later in life than Prince Harry or the King, who were both in their twenties when they set up Invictus and the Prince’s Trust respectively, which is largely because the Princess and the Prince of Wales prioritised having a family when they got married.
Heads Together: Those close to the Princess also feel she has never had the credit she deserved for the Heads Together campaign on mental health, which was her idea but which was launched as a joint campaign with Princes William and Harry. Allies say it became “a success with many fathers”, meaning it has never been associated with the Princess. Its impact, though notable, is also far harder to distil than the tangible, measurable success of the “DofE” or Invictus.
Buttons enters the political arena: She has already talked about the need to “invest” in child development in the 0-5 age group, which has been interpreted as a hint to ministers that more money would help under-fives with their social and emotional development. Significantly, the Princess’s second major hire of the year also comes with plenty of experience of politics. Christian Guy, who will become director of the Royal Foundation’s Centre for Early Childhood in the spring, is a former Downing Street special adviser and one time speechwriter for Sir Iain Duncan Smith. He will lead a team of around half a dozen full-time staff at the Centre for Early Childhood, which was founded in 2021 and shares office space in central London with the Royal Foundation, the Prince and Princess’s umbrella charity.
I burst out laughing at “the evidence so far suggests she is winning her battle with the woman who dared to suggest she had ‘baby brain’.” It continues to be bonkers that Kate felt like Meghan was insulting her when Meghan was being entirely sympathetic and sisterly. The fact that Kate is carrying this f–king grudge against a woman who lives rent-free in her head for daring to… show Kate some sympathy, it’s one of the craziest f–king storylines out there. It’s also a one-sided battle, and truthfully, it’s not a battle – Meghan has already won and left the battlefield. Kate is the one copying Meghan’s style, her typography, her color schemes, her projects. That’s not a battle, that’s stalking.
As for all of the busy-work keenery around Shaping Us… it will go nowhere because it was never supposed to go anywhere. The sole purpose was to give Kate something to do, to make her look busy and important, literal style over substance. She’s pathetic.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, social media screencaps.
The Cut released a new thinkpiece this week, and it’s been a talking point among the social media intelligentsia. The article? “The Fleishman Effect: In a city of Rachels and Libbys, the FX show has some New York moms worried they’re the ones in trouble.” Basically, affluent – perhaps even downright wealthy – women in New York feel especially exposed since Fleishman Is In Trouble streamed on Hulu. The miniseries is based on the book by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, and the whole thing is apparently THE talking point among a particular set of working mothers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. These are older Millennials, Xennials and young Gen-Xers who bought into Rise and Grind Culture, who believe that if they hustle hard enough, they can afford that three-bedroom co-op with a terrace, or they can get their children into the “perfect” nursery school. You can read the full piece here.
People have been discussing it all week, as I said. There are some bold takes and some unkind comments, honestly. While I don’t find these rich women sympathetic, I do find them sad and I do think they’re deserving of some compassion. Like, they were challenged by the all-too-real themes of Fleishman – class, ambition, aging, grinding without enjoyment. I wanted to excerpt a little bit:
Throwing money at problems: “Money is the fix for anything here,” says Paige, 40, who cringes as she tells me about the consultant she and her husband hired to help their 5-year-old get into a private kindergarten next year. “I’m like, Are we crazy? Am I doing this? We are two decent human beings, we are on boards, we are community leaders, and we are hiring someone to draft and edit our thank-you letters and to tell us to hold the door open on school tours? It’s just like, In what world is this normal? IN WHAT WORLD?” They’ve also hired a tutor and enrolled their child in Russian math—a trend now among preschool parents who’ve heard that the old Soviet method might give their children a leg up.
Beth in the suburbs: Beth, also 39 and in the suburbs, finds herself constantly asking her husband, “How do we get back to the city?” The math feels impossible. Even with a combined household income of $500,000, the New York life she wants for her family feels out of reach. “My dream life would be to live in Brooklyn and send my daughter to Saint Ann’s, but the reality of my life is I live in the suburbs and haven’t taken a day off in two years. I get up at 6 a.m., and I work until she wakes up, then I do breakfast and get her ready, then the nanny comes, I work all day, I relieve the nanny, and then get back on my computer and work until midnight after my daughter goes to sleep. I do that every day,” she says. “And it’s still not enough.” ‘
Beth is miserable: Since leaving New York, Beth has found herself in tears at least once a week. She makes $300,000 a year—more than she’s ever earned in her life—but she’s running out of minutes in the day to squeeze out more dollars. “How do I make the $700,000 that I’m going to need to send her to private school or do the renovation in the attic so I can turn it into the master suite so I can have a tub and so I can have one thing I enjoy in my life?” she says. Her takeaway from the show: “Both avenues are sh-t. You can stay in New York and climb, climb, climb and never get where you need to go and give yourself a nervous breakdown, or you can move to the suburbs and be like, Who the f–k are these pod people? Neither seems great. Is the secret to it all that we have to just choose a lane and embrace it?”
Someone commented that many of these women’s problems would be solved by simply sending their kids to public school. I agree? The whole thing of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to send your children to “the best” nursery schools and elementary schools is so f–king idiotic. Maybe – MAYBE – I would understand spending the money on a fancy private high school, but not private the whole way. I also agreed with all of the sentiments of… just move. If you’re grinding away without enjoyment, try a different f–king city. Jesus.
But really, there are larger problems – when did people in New York get so provincial? Why are they acting like these struggles are completely new? The problem isn’t that women in their 40s are experiencing some new dilemma of work-life-hustle-competitive-parenting, it’s that they fell into the exact same f–king traps as several generations of women before them.
I keep thinking about the The Fleishman Effect article, lol. Are we like…gently rebranding pecuniary emulation and its emptying effects or what.
— Brandon (@blgtylr) February 7, 2023
that Fleishman article in The Cut underscores that people can live in new york city and pull half a milli each year and be so, so terribly provincial. like myopic does not begin to cover it
— Sarah Thankam Mathews (@smathewss) February 7, 2023
I like to feel solidarity with women having a little a breakdown but the fact that public school is not even the faintest consideration for these people feeling strapped with minimum 300k annual household incomes is why I simply cannot https://t.co/B0XdL7Va8G
— Lydia Kiesling (@lydiakiesling) February 6, 2023
Where did it all go wrong? One could make the argument that it went wrong in 2018, when the palace-approved smear campaign against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex began in earnest. One could argue that it went wrong in early 2020, when the terms of the Sussexit were negotiated and the palace courtiers got away with lying to Harry and shoving him out completely, and in essence leaving the Sussexes to die and/or come crawling back. But really, the point of no return was when the Sussexes were told to sink or swim and they ended up being massively successful, financially independent and open about how they were abused and mistreated by a racist, dogmatic, right-wing institution. Now, following the success of Harry’s memoir, the Windsors are on the back foot yet again, as they have been since 2020. Thus, this week’s People Magazine cover story. Some highlights:
Spare has overshadowed the Chubbly: “This is all so ghastly,” a royal insider tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “Although there is sorrow because the Queen has died, the coronation should be a joyful moment, too, because Charles will be crowned. But this is a massive shadow.”
The Windsors’ “silence” on Spare: “They didn’t want to fan the flames of the rift and the dispute,” says royal correspondent Valentine Low, author of Courtiers. “They know that anything said in a statement or a briefing would prolong it. They wanted it to calm down as soon as possible. The longer it goes on, the less hope there is for reconciliation.”
Incandescent with rage: Behind the scenes, “William is the one who is most upset and needs time to calm down,” says a source close to the royal household.
Reconciliation: Despite public silence, discussions are underway on how to work out a reconciliation between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with the royal family. There’s “fatigue” at the consequences of the brothers’ estrangement, as one insider puts it, and recognition that something — or someone — must bridge the divide.
The Sussexes & the Chubbly: All eyes are on King Charles and Queen Camilla’s May 6 coronation — and if Prince Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, will attend. A source close to the Sussexes says there has been no movement toward reconciliation and that Harry’s initial position on the matter also hasn’t changed….The way things stand now, there is still a long way to go. “The problem is that [the Sussexes] want a capitulation and apology by the palace, but when ‘recollections vary,’ that’s quite difficult,” a close source tells PEOPLE.
Charles only wants Harry, not Meghan: Says the source close to the royal household, “It is such a momentous occasion for Charles, and he would want his son to be at the coronation to witness it. He would like to have Harry back in the family. If they don’t sort it out, it will always be part of the King’s reign and how he has left his family disjointed. He has had a reputation as a distant parent, and it would be awful for him for that to continue.”
Royal historian Robert Lacey speaks: “It is almost insulting to ask, ‘When are they going to kiss and make up?’ There have been some very grave disagreements between them. But the Platinum Jubilee and the funerals of the Queen and Prince Philip did demonstrate that they could put personal enmity aside for the sake of the bigger cause. And that is what the coronation will be all about.”
Harry and Meghan were able to attend QEII’s funeral because they were already in the country and the Windsors basically kept them hostage for a week and a half. The Sussexes attended the Jubbly because QEII invited them personally and she made special arrangements for their security, same with Harry’s attendance at Philip’s funeral. The reason why the Chubbly is hanging around as an unsolveable issue is because Charles is incapable of picking up the phone and speaking to his son. Charles is also incapable of standing up to his heir, and incapable of admitting publicly that Harry and Meghan were abused and treated badly. So here we are. The same as it ever was – Charles, the distant father who only cares about optics and himself, William, the abusive and violent psycho who is burning with rage, and Harry, the man who successfully boxed in an entire British institution and has no desire to perform any kindness for his father.