The film adaptation of Philip Roth’s novel American Pastoral has undergone some upheaval during its development. First Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly were going to star as the central couple, then Bettany dropped out and was replaced by Ewan McGregor—but Connelly stuck around (doe…      

The film adaptation of Philip Roth’s novel American Pastoral has undergone some upheaval during its development. First Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly were going to star as the central couple, then Bettany dropped out and was replaced by Ewan McGregor—but Connelly stuck around (doe…      

I’ve tried to go easy with the raging fanfiction of the supposed Rihanna and Leonardo DiCaprio romance. We first heard of their alleged hookups about a month ago. They both partied together in St. Bart’s for New Years, and they brought the party stateside. Then came gross details about how they’ve been hooking up for years, and Leo is “the best she’s ever had.” I didn’t buy it because Leo doesn’t seem like he’d put in much effort.

There have been seen several additions to this mess. My favorite one was how Rihanna was pressing Leo to get a six pack: “Leo thinks it’s all highly amusing. He’s never had a girl tell him what to do, so you can imagine how much he’s loving it.” Come ON. I’m not making fun of Leo’s bod, but you know he wouldn’t do anything to retain a woman’s fancy. Da ladies all flock to him.

A story from last week said the greatest romance of our time was over because Leo was making out with a model in front of Rih. That sounds possible, but a new story from Us Weekly says DiCaprihanna lives:

She found lust in a hopeless place! Rihanna has one seriously sexy new piece of arm candy in the form of Leonardo DiCaprio.

The two stars, who have been flirting and orchestrating occasional meetups for months, took their fling to the next level this past week when they spent Valentine’s Day weekend together. The “FourFiveSeconds” singer, 26, was spotted with the Wolf of Wall Street actor in New York City.

On Friday, Feb. 13, Rih and DiCaprio did a little clubbing, hitting celeb-happy Manhattan hotspots. They continued their sexy weekend the next night when they both attended Paul McCartney’s secret concert at the downtown venue Irving Plaza.

“They were whispering and staring into each other’s eyes,” an insider tells Us Weekly exclusively of the pair’s get-together at the the show, adding that they were standing very close to one another as they took in the music and slipped out quietly together halfway through the show.

“He thinks she’s incredibly hot,” a second source tells Us of DiCaprio’s feelings for Rihanna, and adds that they’re looking for the same no-strings fling. “Like him, she’s not looking for a relationship!”

[From Us Weekly]

This is so ridiculous, but “lust in a hopeless place” is a pretty savvy pun. I can’t see either Leo or Rihanna whispering adoringly to anyone. Who is telling this stuff to Us?

Here’s a new wrinkle. Hollyscoop claims that Rihanna isn’t really with Leo at all. He’s simply acting as a wingman to his buddy, Richie Akiva, a nightclub owner in NYC. Why is this a semi-plausible theory? Because Richie has a photo of Rihanna on his Instagram page.

Never ending week! #happymonday #DAVECHAPPELLE #SHOW #TEAMCHAPPELLE

A photo posted by Richie Akiva (@richie_akiva) on Feb 16, 2015 at 8:17pm PST

I don’t know if I buy this explanation. Richie posts photos of lots of celebs on his page. He also spent Valentine’s Day Instagramming a NSFW female tush photo, and it wasn’t Rihanna. I’m familiar enough with Rih’s tush to know this much. Richie posted this selfie with Kristen Wiig last weekend. That must mean they’re hitting it too.

Sunday Night Live! #SNL with this funny adorable one! #Kristenwiig

A photo posted by Richie Akiva (@richie_akiva) on Feb 16, 2015 at 12:06am PST

Here’s a photo of Rihanna leaving a dentist’s office in NYC on Tuesday. She still looks fierce in miserable circumstances.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN

We studied Thomas Hardy for a few weeks in one of my elective Fem-Lit university classes one year. I was not great with attendance at the time. There was a casino that had just opened two hours away. My parents were out of the country. For several months, I made some very bad decisions. Can&rsquo…      

We studied Thomas Hardy for a few weeks in one of my elective Fem-Lit university classes one year. I was not great with attendance at the time. There was a casino that had just opened two hours away. My parents were out of the country. For several months, I made some very bad decisions. Can&rsquo…      

As we mentioned on Wednesday, Jessa Duggar-Seewald and her husband Ben cover this week’s issue of People Magazine. The cover interview is interesting, if you like reading about Evangelical cults and the rare women trying to break free of said cult’s misogynistic shackles. Jessa and Ben told People that they plan to adopt and that they’re already doing the paperwork for an adoption. This struck me as odd, mostly because Ben and Jessa are both young and presumably healthy, and they both were raised to believe that baby-making is the most important thing for a young family. So why isn’t Jessa pregnant already? They’ve been married for nearly four months and there’s still no pregnancy announcement. Well, Star Magazine has a theory: Jessa is on birth control!! OMG.

With 19 kids, three grandchildren and three in-laws, the Duggar family was bound to get a wild child. Star has learned that Jessa Duggar may be defying her ultraconservative Christian family by secretly using birth control! “Jessa and [husband] Ben [Seewald] are definitely active in the bedroom,” says a source, “so it’s suspicious she hasn’t gotten pregnant yet.”

While Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar believe they should happily accept as many children as God will give them without interfering, sources say Jessa, the most rebellious daughter, is nowhere near ready to be a parent, and is taking the necessary steps to make sure that doesn’t happen. “She wants to enjoy being a wife for a while,” reveals the insider. “She’s not like her siblings. She doesn’t feel any pressure to get pregnant.”

Indeed, Jessa’s sister, Jill, who wed Derick Dillard in June, is expecting a son who was conceived on their honeymoon. In a strange twist, Jim Bob and Michelle have admitted to using birth control at the beginning of their 30-year marriage. But after Michelle became pregnant while on the pill and suffered a miscarriage, the couple blamed the oral contraceptive for “aborting” their baby and have been against it ever since.

But Jessa and Ben seem to be carving their own path away from their restrictive families. “Jessa lived under her father’s rules for her entire life,” a family insider explains. “She would never tells her parents she’s on birth control because she doesn’t want to disappoint them, but she’s making her own rules now. It’s her life and she and Ben will have a child when they decide the time is right.”

[From Star Magazine]

First the harlot front-hugs a boy. Then she French kisses him. Then she goes on birth control! What is the world coming to, allowing a young woman to control her own reproductive choices? Doesn’t Jessa know that her religion and political party considers the birth control pill to be “slut pills”???

Meanwhile, People Mag released more of their cover story with Jessa and Ben. This new excerpt – go here to read – includes Jessa and Ben’s marriage advice. Apparently, Ben comes to Jessa when he thinks she’s irritated by something, which is also weird because she isn’t supposed to be irritated by anything unless her husband tells her she’s allowed to be irritated. They also suggest not giving your partner the silent treatment and how to work on a family budget.

Photos courtesy of People Magazine, Jessa’s Facebook.

Lainey emailed me last night and said I needed to go look at Norm Macdonald’s Twitter. So I did and it turns out that Macdonald, who appeared on SNL40 over the weekend, was having an SNL-themed story time about the week running up to the anniversary special. The big revelation that everyone…      

Lainey emailed me last night and said I needed to go look at Norm Macdonald’s Twitter. So I did and it turns out that Macdonald, who appeared on SNL40 over the weekend, was having an SNL-themed story time about the week running up to the anniversary special. The big revelation that everyone…      

Newlyweds Jessa Duggar, 22, and Ben Seewald, 19, have got babies on the brain.

The 19 Kids and Counting stars chat with PEOPLE about their first three months of marriage and speak candidly about their plans to start a family.

“Kids are so important,” Jessa says, “We hope to adopt a lot of kids. If God blesses us with biological kids of our own, it’s not going to quench our desire to adopt.”

The reality star adds: “Even before we were married, we wanted to adopt.”

Jessa’s plans for adoption comes after years of criticism that her parents – Michelle Duggar and Jim Bob Duggar – have contributed to the planet’s overpopulation crisis.

“We have studied it and I believe that there is a misconception about overpopulation,” Michelle told Celebrity Baby Scoop of the criticism. “I think that the whole mindset of overpopulation is really overrated. A few years back, we stated that the whole population of the world could be stood shoulder-to-shoulder in Jacksonville. That may have changed a little bit since we’ve heard that statistic.”

Jessa’s sister Jill Duggar is currently expecting her first child with husband Derick Dillard, and her brother Josh Duggar is expecting his fourth child with wife Anna.

19 Kids and Counting airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on TLC.

Kristen Stewart covers the March issue of Interview Magazine. The interview was conducted by icon of not giving any f—ks, Patti Smith. It’s interesting to me that Patti Smith would agree to interview Kristen “It’s like a poem, it’s about water” Stewart. But stranger things have happened, of course. Anyway, I only skimmed the Interview piece – I find Interview Mag’s cover stories pretty tedious these days, too much mutual appreciate and ass-kissing for my taste, but you can read the full piece here.

On Twilight: “Anybody who wants to talk sh-t about Twilight, I completely get it, but there’s something there that I’m endlessly, and to this day, f-cking proud of. My memory of it felt—still feels—really good. People are always comparing Twilight to things and trying to figure out why I’ve made certain decisions that I’ve made, and I always say every single moment that has led me to this moment has made me who I am. Every movie that I’ve done, they don’t stand independently from one another because a little bit of me is in every single one of those, and it’s part of my own personal growth.”

Becoming a child actor: “Well, I’m sitting back and enjoying the benefits of a decision that I made when I was a person who I can still relate to but am not anymore.”

On Jodie Foster: “I was really lucky to work with her at such a young age because I’ve had some serious self-persecuting … People sometimes actually get me to think I take things too seriously and maybe I’m too earnest and it’s coming across like I’m better than them. But working with people like Jodie—we are quite kindred. There’s just something when people look at you and go, “Listen, I know it’s awkward, but just keep being honest.” I could have gotten really unlucky and compared myself to another kind of actress and felt inadequate. I can’t, like, put on the show. I’m not a performer. And it’s hard for people to accept a serious tone from a kid without thinking they’re sort of stuck up.

On wearing heels: “I can do it for about three minutes.”

Her next project: “I’m writing a poem for the wedding of one of my best friends.”

[From Interview Magazine]

Here’s something interesting: Patti Smith is a Twihard!!! For real. She compliments K-Stew on the Twilight franchise, saying, “I loved your work in those films. I thought the commitment of everyone in those films was true. Like The Hunger Games—if you accept the world that you’re entering, and if the people deliver that world, that’s what we’re looking for.” Ha, that’s a dangerous thing to compare the Twilight franchise to The Hunger Games, but whatever. Patti Smith is a Twihard. Patti Smith likes sparkly vampires and lip-biting heroines.

As for Kristen still feeling proud of her work in the franchise… so be it. I like her more for owning that part of her filmography. It’s not like it’s something she can walk away from, you know?

Photos courtesy of Steven Klein/Interview Magazine.