Kobe Bryant covers the March issue of GQ. I wouldn’t ordinarily care, but Kobe comes in and out of celebrity gossip like the wind. I have the feeling that he’s a big-time cheater, and I also have a feeling that his wife Vanessa just stays with him because she likes the “good life.” Which isn’t to say that Vanessa isn’t above yanking his chain and filing for divorce every now and then. But the real reason I’m writing this up is because Kobe gives some quotes about his 2003 sexual assault charge. Remember that? You can see the Wiki for the case here. The charges were dropped, although the young woman did sue in civil court and he publicly apologized to her without having to admit any wrongdoing. That incident still creeps me out and it’s tainted any good feelings I might have about Kobe’s athletic abilities. Anyway, you can read the full GQ piece here. Some highlights:

Kobe on his ego & whether that deters good players from joining the Lakers: “Does my nature make me less enjoyable to play with? Of course. Of course it does. Is it possible that some top players in the league are intimidated by that? Yes. But do I want to play with those players? Does the Laker organization want those specific players? No. Magic. Jordan. Bird. We all would have been phenomenal teammates. This organization wants players who will carry this franchise to another five or six championships. The player who does that has to be cut from the same cloth. And if they’re not cut from that cloth, they don’t belong here.”

He’s not selfish: “I chose to extend my deal with the Lakers to play with Shaquille O’ Neal and win championships. I knew what I could have done individually. I could have gone anywhere and destroyed people. I gave that up to win championships.” B

On Shaquille O’Neal: “He had years where he was lazy. But during those three championships we won? To say he was a beast would be an understatement. To say I didn’t learn things from him that I still use to this day would be a disservice.”

His religion helped him through his 2003 sexual assault case: “I started to consider the mortality of what I was doing. The one thing that really helped me during that process—I’m Catholic, I grew up Catholic, my kids are Catholic—was talking to a priest. It was actually kind of funny: He looks at me and says, ‘Did you do it?’ And I say, ‘Of course not.’ Then he asks, ‘Do you have a good lawyer?’ And I’m like, ‘Uh, yeah, he’s phenomenal.’ So then he just said, ‘Let it go. Move on. God’s not going to give you anything you can’t handle, and it’s in his hands now. This is something you can’t control. So let it go.’ And that was the turning point.”

Does he have friends? “I have ‘like minds.’ You know, I’ve been fortunate to play in Los Angeles, where there are a lot of people like me. Actors. Musicians. Businessmen. Obsessives. People who feel like God put them on earth to do whatever it is that they do. Now, do we have time to build great relationships? Do we have time to build great friendships? No. Do we have time to socialize and to hangout aimlessly? No. Do we want to do that? No. We want to work.”

[From GQ]

He seems… tightly wound. That’s what people always say about Kobe. That he’s basketball and nothing else, that he never really developed as a person beyond the game. As for Kobe’s priest asking him point-blank if he assaulted a woman and asking after his legal team… well, all that made me think of was the fact that a lot of priests have been needing legal representation in the past few decades. And of course Kobe’s big life lesson out of that moment was “let it go.” Ugh. Professional athletes.

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Photos courtesy of Peggy Sirota/GQ.

Best in Show of the 139th #Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is Ch Tashtins Lookin For Trouble the Beagle, also known as “Miss P!” #WKCDogShow

A photo posted by Westminster Kennel Club (@westminsterkennelclub) on Feb 17, 2015 at 8:09pm PST

Virginia has been a frozen tundra this week, so I’ve been going to bed early. Last night, I curled up with the Westminster Kennel Club’s Dog Show and I have no regrets. I could veg out and watch show dogs all day long. My preference will always be for mutts (my dog is some kind of Newfie-Chow-Rottweiler mutt, I think), but I have my favorites at dog shows, and they’re usually in the Working Group. My money was on the Newfie in the Working Group, but the Portuguese Water Dog won that group. And then the beagle from Hound Group won best in show. Incidentally, I just discovered that the Westminster Kennel Club has an Instagram, so now I know what I’m doing with my day: LOOKING AT ALL THE PUPPIES.

So, the winner: a beagle who goes by Miss P, although her full name is Ch Tashtins Lookin For Trouble. Miss P – who looks totally over this mess – already has 19 Best In Show titles. I’ve heard she’s a real bitch. Star Magazine said she has fleas.

“So this is my life now?” – Miss P #WKCDogShow

A photo posted by Westminster Kennel Club (@westminsterkennelclub) on Feb 17, 2015 at 8:18pm PST

And here’s the runner up, from the Terrier Group. His name is Good Time Charlie, which is a great dog name.

Congratulations to GCH Cragsmoor Good Time Charlie the Skye Terrier, winner of the Terrier Group!! #WKCDogShow

A photo posted by Westminster Kennel Club (@westminsterkennelclub) on Feb 17, 2015 at 7:39pm PST

Go here to see more photos of all the dogs.

Photos courtesy of Westminster KC Instagram & ProPlan Instagram.

View image | gettyimages.com

Here are some photos of Keira Knightley and Benedict Cumberbatch at Monday evening’s TimesTalk, a discussion sponsored by the NYT and TIFF. They were there to talk about The Imitation Game and Alan Turing, obviously, although they did talk about a few personal things too. Fashion note: Keira’s dress is Alexander Lewis. Here’s the video of the TimesTalk:

It’s so long, I’ll admit that I just skipped around but around the 45 minute mark, Benedict and Keira started talking about the paparazzi. I liked Benedict here because he just sat back and let Keira talk passionately about feminism and ingrained misogyny in tabloid culture. Keira talked about when she was younger and being under paparazzi surveillance, saying:

“Having 20 to 30 men who you don’t know on a 24-hour surveillance outside your house calling you a ‘whore’ every time you leave the door to try to get a reaction from you is quite a difficult thing to deal with. It was a time when there was a lot of money for pictures of women crying or of women in some state of undress. You’d walk down the street and you’d have men trying to get under your skirt to take pictures up your skirt and all the time calling you a ‘whore’ or all the time spitting at you or all the time trying to get a reaction from the guy you were with because it would make the price of that photograph quadruple.”

Cumberbatch summed up it pretty well when he said, “It’s just disgusting behavior.”

Fortunately, Knightley said things are “completely different” for her now.

“I think there’s a certain point where you get married, you get pregnant and they’re like, ‘Hey, she’s not going out and getting drunk,’” said Knightley, who is expecting her and hubby James Righton’s first baby. “I think there is a level that you grow out of it.”

[From E! News]

She goes on for a while past that and it’s all pretty interesting. Then around the 50 minute mark, the moderator says to Bendy, “Congratulations, your personal life has changed recently.” Benedict jokingly says, “Has it?” And looks sort of sheepish and happy. He’s asked if it feels like his crazy fandom has started to “ebb” and he says “I’m going to stick around” and that he wants to keep acting “into my dotage.” He also says: “I’m not interested in being the man of the moment, I’m interested in longevity…. Ebbing, who cares?”

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.

Here are some photos of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at the big royal premiere of The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel last night in London. I saw the first film and I enjoyed it immensely, and I think the trailer for the sequel looks lovely and sweet. Any film that has Bill Nighy, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith is a winner for me.

Camilla went all out for the premiere, wearing a purple/plum/burgundy (depending on the light) velvet gown by Anna Valentine. Valentine is one of Camilla’s favorite designers, and Camilla often wears custom-made Anna Valentine pieces/ensembles. Camilla accessorized the gown with an organza shawl and a clutch. And what looks like $1 million worth of diamonds and rubies. Considering Duchess Kate’s jewelry p0rn is so lacking – and even when Kate does wear a nice piece of jewelry, it’s usually buried under a mountain of hair – I’m actually enjoying all of this bling on Camilla. It’s said that Charles regularly gifts Camilla with really nice, expensive jewelry, and he’s also given her many pieces that once belonged to his grandmother, the Queen Mum.

The Daily Mail theorized that this ruby and diamond necklace could be the jewelry given to Camilla by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. If it’s the same piece, it’s worth £1million (probably more). The Mail also says that Camilla’s favorite gemstone is ruby. Lovely. My favorite is sapphire, in case anyone wanted to give me a $1 million sapphire necklace. *cough*

So, overall, is this a good look for Camilla? While the velvet feels more like a holiday choice (this would be perfect for a Christmas occasion), I kind of like that Camilla gets all decked out like this for a royal premiere.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

I feel like it’s been FOREVER since I’ve discussed anything to do with Alexander Skarsgard, which is sort of true. He went dark for a large part of 2014 and I haven’t personally written about in months, nor have we had many photos of him. But Bedhead did write about him (*shakes fist*) back in January, when he was hanging out at Sundance. Apparently, Alex was making out with Margot Robbie. Interesting. But now People Magazine (!!) says that Alex might be spreading his Viking goodness to another lady: Alexa Chung. Even though I’m not crazy about Alexa, when I read this story this morning, it made sense. Alexa does seem to be Alex’s “type.”

Is the world ready for a couple as hot as Charsgard? Fashionista Alexa Chung and True Blood actor Alexander Skarsgard have been spotted together twice this week. Chung, 31, and Skarsgard, [38], were first seen together at the Father John Misty show at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City on Monday night, when an onlooker tells PEOPLE the two looked “cozy.”

“They were deep in conversation,” continues the onlooker. “He seemed really laid-back but she seemed super animated and into him.”

The next morning, Chung was photographed with Skarsgard at a New York coffee shop.

“Here is @alexa_chung getting avocado toast!! She was with #trueblood hottie #alexanderskarsgard,” comedian Haley Sacks Tweeted along with a photo of Chung on Tuesday morning.

Skarsgard was most recently seen out and about with his Tarzan costar Margot Robbie at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Reps for Chung and Skarsgard have not returned requests for comment.

[From People]

In case you’re screaming “WHO?” at Alexa Chung’s name, I’m right there with you. She’s more famous in the UK, mainly for dating rockers and being a fashionista/entertainment journalist (sort of). Her name cropped up repeatedly in Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow’s conscious uncoupling too, and it was widely believed that Alexa and Chris were in some kind of quiet relationship about a year ago.

As for these rumors, as I said, I’ll believe it. Alexander is The Viking Thunder. I tend to believe he spreads it around to lots of ladies. So yes, I’ll believe that Alexa and Alex had a thing, I just don’t believe that she’s his one and only.

(PS… It was also widely rumored that Chris Martin had a thing with Alex’s ex Kate Bosworth. Do Chris Martin and Alex Skarsgard have the same taste in ladies?!)

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

Yesterday, I talked about Amber Rose’s smackdown of Tyga for dating Kylie Jenner. Amber had some words for Tyga, but she was perfectly nice to Kylie. Khloe Kardashian started a Twitter fight with Amber for daring to state the obvious — that a 25-year-old man commits statutory rape when he dates a 17-year-old girl. Khloe didn’t see it that way. She called Amber a “wh*re,” and so Amber called Kim a whore. It was a mess, and Amber got a lot of credit for “dragging” Khloe. Kim’s friend, Jonathan Cheban, tweeted some rude, misogynistic stuff about Amber.

Tyga decided to clear the air after outlets like TMZ picked up on the story. He visited Power 105.1 just like Amber did. Tyga denies dating Kylie and says they are only buddies. Do we believe him? Kylie’s been spotted with Tyga everywhere. He talked for 37 minutes, first about Kylie, but he spent more time pushing his “brand.” You know, he’s got a zillion gold records without any radio airplay. Here we go:

Are he and Kylie together? “I’m not dating Kylie, I just want to get that out the way. I want to be clear to everybody that I didn’t leave my family to be with Kylie. That’s ridiculous. Me and [Blac] Chyna, we broke up close to a year now and because of the decision we made, and things in our relationship that wasn’t going right, so we decided to split to raise an emotionally stable kid. That’s what we did and now we have a great relationship.”

They’re just friends, really: “It’s because what people make it seem and TMZ, you gotta think, TMZ didn’t really care about me until they figured out that I live next door to Kim and Kanye and all that stuff. But I been friends with them before I even met Chyna. I was friends with Scott, her family for years, so me hanging out with them was nothing new. People just want to make a story out of it. It’s crazy, the s*** that they make up is the craziest things I ever heard of.”

Black vs. white friendship “In black culture it’s different. If you hang around somebody you’re smashing them, white people, white culture, it’s different. They really friends. It’s genuine, it’s different. How we think is a little different with our mentality. For me, if I’m friends with her and I’m friends with her sister, they ho’s or we smashing them. And it’s like, we really friends.”

[From Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club on YouTube]

The rest of the conversation is about Tyga’s beef with Drake, his friendship with Nikki Minaj and a lot of “you know what I’m saying?” The problem is … I really don’t know what he’s saying. For a moment, I wondered if Tyga was telling the truth (and those rumors of gross Instagram comments were fake), but I don’t believe him. The stuff about black vs. white friendship makes it sound like he’s deflecting. Tyga says we’re only looking into his relationship with a 17-year-old girl because he’s black. And he thinks we’re dumb enough to buy that explanation.

Here’s a clip of Tyga’s Power 105.1 interview.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN

Mel B is the latest female celebrity to reject the feminist label while revealing that she has no clue what the word means. See also: Salma Hayek, Shailene Woodley, Lana del Rey, Meghan Trainor, Evangeline Lily, Kaley Cuoco, et. al. All of those interviews happened last year and were widely ridiculed. It’s become standard to ask female celebrities about feminism so you would think that they would spend 10 minutes trying to figure out what it means. (And many do, I just cited the worst ones.) Not Mel B, she claims she’s not a feminist, she just believes in “girl power” and supporting other women. *headdesk*

In an interview with the London Times, the X Factor judge opened up about her stance on feminism and whether or not she would consider herself one. Spoiler alert: she doesn’t.

“I wouldn’t call myself a feminist,” she told the publication.

Although that’s a surprising enough answer in it of itself, what’s more surprising is her explanation.

“I try to live by the girl-power motto. It’s about believing in yourself, no matter how bad a day you’re having, and lending your support to other women,” she added. “It’s empowering to have that camaraderie with other women.”

Isn’t that what feminism is?! How you confuse us, Mel!

[From E! Online]

Feminism is about equality for women, it’s not about lording it over men and it’s not about acting like a man. I hate to even bring that up, but several celebrities have made statements confusing feminism with being macho or rejecting men. I don’t have to explain this to 99% percent of you, because you know this. This is something everyone should know, and yet somehow people either don’t understand or the word has become tainted. Technically I shouldn’t care that Mel B is ignorant but when celebrities continue to spread these misconceptions they need to be called out.

Moving on to Mel’s personal life, she’s still with her maybe-abusive husband, Stephen Belafonte, following speculation that they had split around the holidays. She has an interview in the latest issue of Hello! in which she won’t discuss the medical crisis (rumored to have been abuse from her husband, which both of them have denied) that caused her to miss a taping of The X Factor UK last December. Mel won’t address any of that or whether there are problems in her marriage. Hello! reports “this isn’t an issue Mel wants to discuss. As far as she is concerned, the only problem with her marriage is the fact people can’t accept that there is no problem.” Mel later says “Everyone goes through good and bad times and that’s what family life is about. Stephen treats me like a queen and I treat him like a king – but we’re not like that all the time.” Not very convincing, but she doesn’t quite have a way with words, does she?

Photo credit: WENN.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Most of the time when the fashion industry employs a “plus-sized model,” the term refers to a size 10-12 woman who stands 6 feet 2 inches. The most recent example is the phenomenally gorgeous Robyn Lawley, who was touted as the first official plus-sized model in SI: Swim this year. Back in 2012, Ralph Lauren hired Robyn as their first ambassador into the plus-sized market. By 2014, Robyn was railing against what she called a “derogatory” label. She’s correct. It’s ridiculous that anyone over a size 12 gets shuffled into a different section of the clothing department.

Anyway, the big argument over Robyn’s appearance in SI was that she wasn’t a “real” plus-sized woman because she wasn’t a size 14 or above. This was one of those “gotchas” from the fashion industry. On one hand, it was nice to see a successful model over size 4. But it would be better to see true, plus-sized representation in fashion.

Enter Denise Bidot. She’s the first plus-sized model to walk a runway during New York fashion week. Denise is a true size 14 and stands 5 feet 9 inches. Denise tells Cosmo that she also has a problem with being called plus-sized:

On the meaning of “plus-sized”: “I think other people have a problem with [the term ‘plus-size’] more than I do. I don’t care what you call me. I’m glad to even have a place in this fashion industry. Plus-size, straight-size, in-betweenie — I don’t care regardless. I’m just a woman. I’m a curvy woman, and hopefully some day they do end up cutting out the word plus-size. But, for right now it’s nice to just have a section for us.”

[From Cosmopolitan.com on YouTube]

Denise speaks to her dilemma. It’s a big step for designers to make clothes for plus-sized women, but a better option would be to drop the plus-sized label. What need is there to place a label on certain sizes? Denise also stresses how motherhood has had her more accepting of her body. She wants to spread this newfound attitude to young women. Here’s a clip of Denise’s interview with Cosmo.

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Photos courtesy of Getty & WENN

Dealing with the tash in readiness for the Royal Premiere tonight! Go Jolen! XT

A photo posted by ThandieKay.com Instagram (@thandieandkay) on Feb 17, 2015 at 6:24am PST

CB always tells me that I’m lucky to have such dark hair, because it means I have naturally dark eyebrows and dark eyelashes and I can go without makeup and not look like an Uma Thurman-esque zombie. While that’s true – I go without makeup nearly every day and I think I look fine – there are some negative parts about having dark hair. Like, I have a mustache. A dark one. Many brunettes do (especially as we age). I’m pretty hirsute all around, but my ‘stache is the worst.

So what do you make of Thandie Newton openly acknowledging her need to bleach her ‘stache? I think I might respect her more for posting this photo to her Instagram. She was about to attend the premiere of The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (her husband Ol Parker wrote the first film and the sequel) and she decided to give us a glimpse of her red carpet preparations. I would never feel confident enough to post a photo like this on social media. It’s one thing to post photos of a leg waxing or eyebrow threading, but the ‘stache is so personal. Props to Thandie.

And here are the photos of Thandie and Ol Parker on the red carpet in London last night. Thandie’s ensemble is Chanel. I’m not in love with it, but she looks pretty.

Photos courtesy of Instagram, WENN.

Jane Fonda is 77 years old and still shilling. She’s shilling her newest book, Being a Teen: Everything Teen Girls & Boys Should Know About Relationships, Sex, Love, Health, Identity & More, and she’s shilling some various projects, like Grace & Frankie, with Lily Tomlin. While I admire the fact that Fonda still feels like she has stuff to say to the world and art to create, I hope when I’m 77 years old, I don’t still feel like “look at me, I have something to say!” Jane covers the new issue of DuJour – you can read the full interview here. It’s actually a pretty long piece and she covers a wide variety of topics, so if you’re into Jane Fonda, I would recommend reading the full piece. It reads as a retrospective of her life and career, but what’s startling is how many times she’s completely changed her personality/life/career, etc. Some highlights:

Winning her first Oscar in 1972: “I wore a Saint Laurent wool suit—black. A Mao wool suit that I’d had for five years. I never had a stylist. I didn’t know you could get someone to come and do your makeup. I thought you had to buy a dress.”

Ted Turner told her ‘People aren’t supposed to change after 60′: “I think about that all the time. He has hardly changed. And I feel like a different human being.”

Her second marriage to Tom Hayden & winning her second Oscar in 1979: “I wore a dress that a Tom supporter had made. I went home after. In a station wagon. Because Tom didn’t like going to those parties. I never went to a party. Ever.”

Looking young: “People always say, Oh my god, how do you stay looking so blah blah blah. I’ve had plastic surgery. I’ve talked about that. That doesn’t matter. What matters is realizing you can always get better. That you have to keep taking leaps of faith. It gets harder as you get older. You have to stay brave and keep trying to go beyond your comfort zone and see what you need to get to become who you’re supposed to be.”

Questioning her priorities over the years: “As I look back over my life, which I do a lot, I sometimes wonder if it was a mistake that I had so many other things besides acting. Would it have been better if I had focused more?”

She’s still scattered: “It started maybe six or seven months ago. I have to be very intentional about keeping myself grounded and centered. I can fly off and become scattered and lose confidence…In everything.”

Who she is now: “A feminist, small-c Christian who is studying Buddhism.”

Whether she would stump for Hillary Clinton: “No. Not because I don’t care for her and admire her and respect her, but I don’t stump for anybody anymore.” Because you’re polarizing? “Hmm hmm. They don’t ask me. But you know, I hope she wins. More than that, I hope if she wins that it will make a difference.”

She still smokes weed: “I’ll smoke pot every now and then. I cannot see a movie on pot. The number of movies I’ve seen thinking, This is probably the best I have ever seen, and then I’ll see it again sober and think, What was I thinking?”

[From DuJour]

Yeah, it would be bad if Jane Fonda came out to stump for Hillary Clinton. I think it’s politically smart for Fonda to be the one to say “I don’t stump for anyone now.” We know she’s a liberal. I’m glad she’s not putting her face on political campaigns these days. Beyond politics, I think it would be fun to sit around with Jane and get high and talk about all the dudes she’s dated over the years.

Jane’s outfit at the Grammys was crazy, right?

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet, Thomas Whiteside/DuJour.