Angelina Jolie gave an interview to a publication called – no joke – Dandy Magazine. It’s a French publication. Sigh… I really should just start my own magazine called Fancy Pants. Anyway, Angelina sort of gave the goods for Dandy. This interview sounds WAY more interesting than most of the major interviews she gave during the heat of the Unbroken promotion. I’m still mad about the crappy quality of her last Vanity Fair cover story. Some highlights from Dandy:

She was looking for Prince Charming? “At 20, we’re all looking for Prince Charming, the big handsome hunk, only we’re generally disappointed because of his instability. At 40, you know what you want: a real man.”

Her French wedding: “It wasn’t a wedding in grand style, but we were all very at ease, very cool. It was absolutely adorable to see how excited [our children] were by the idea, and how much they were all involved. For example, we told Knox and Shiloh they’d carry the rings without specifying they’d have a cushion to carry them. On the day, they arrived with two matched cushions on their own. I imagine they’d seen it in a movie. In short, they were so cute!”

Why she’s taken a step back from acting: “It’s somewhat personal. When my mother died, I realized how much my being an actress was linked to her desire to be an actress herself, and especially what satisfaction it brought her when she saw me onscreen. Once she was gone, I didn’t feel the same attraction for it. What I really like is to be behind the camera, to put others into the light. Being in the spotlight’s shine doesn’t interest me. I prefer to have my head almost underwater … than be dainty in front of the cameras.”

Her favorite wines: “All the rosés of Provence…Drinking a glass of wine with friends, people we love – there’s nothing better to take away bad toxins.”

The award-winning Jolie-Pitt Miraval Rosé: “Growing vines, harvesting, barreling them is an interesting experience. I learned a lot these last years. I’ve realized that making wine isn’t something that’s improvised. It takes hard work.”

Whether her kids will get tattoos: “I don’t see how I’ll be able to stop them later on. They only need to look at me to know that I’ve very few arguments to dissuade them. Brad, he’s much firmer on the question: It’s ‘nyet’!”

[From People]

Brad has a lot of ink too, so he won’t be able to argue against tattoos that much either. Still, I hope Brad and Angelina tell their kids to wait until they’re 18 years old at least. As for Angelina going into semi-retirement from acting… she’s been saying versions of that for a while. But it’s funny that she views her filmography as “dainty” in any way. She usually plays badasses, warriors and villainesses.

Oh, and when she was 20 years old, she had already found a Prince Charming, in the way of her then-husband Jonny Lee Miller. He’s still my favorite of all of her men. No joke. I think if Brad hadn’t come along, and Jonny hadn’t met Michele Hicks, Jonny and Angelina might have gotten remarried.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

In honor of the U.K.’s first Children’s Mental Health Week, royal mum-to-be Kate Middleton delivers a moving message to help shatter the shame of anxiety, depression and other mental health struggles.

“The challenges children face in the U.K. today could often feel overwhelming. Both Prince William and I have seen that many young people are struggling to cope with the impact of bullying, domestic violence, family breakdowns and more,” she shared. “Without support, the effects of these challenges can be traumatic leading to serious issues such as anxiety, depression, addiction and self-harm.”

The Duchess of Cambridge, 33, urges people to finally start talking about mental health.

“We need to help young people and their parents understand that it’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help,” she said. “A child’s mental health is just as important as their physical health and deserves the same quality of support.”

Although mental health issues are still a taboo topic, the royal mum-to-be aims to shatter the shame.

“You wouldn’t feel bad about getting your child help for a broken arm. So why would you feel bad about getting your son or daughter help with emotional difficulties?,” she asked. “The sigma about mental health means many children do not get the help they so badly need. This needs to change.”

The Duchess – who promotes the school-based emotional and mental health services provided by the group Place2Be – concludes her powerful message.

“Together, with open conversations and greater understanding, we can ensure that attitudes towards mental health change and children receive the support they deserve,” she said.

Back in 2013, Cindy Crawford posed for Marie Claire Mexico. The issue was published with no hoopla, but when Marie Claire (US) was looking to reprint some of the photos, Cindy apparently requested that MC print them without airbrushing or Photoshop. Or something. That’s how I’d like to imagine it went down, but there are other versions of the story, like the photo this un-airbrushed photo is an unauthorized leak that Marie Claire just sort of allowed to happen. Marie Claire did issue a statement about the leaked photo, saying: “It is real and it is gorgeous.” Here’s the unretouched pic:

Cindy Crawford’s April spread in Marie Claire features 100% non-retouched photos. Take a bow Ms. C. pic.twitter.com/ttQz2BcRfg

— Charlene White (@CharleneWhite) February 13, 2015

Is this inspirational? I think it is. We live in an age where we’re supposed to applaud 22-year-old beauties for “taking a stand” and going without makeup in a selfie, but it’s really different for women once they get past their 20s. Cindy will be 49 years old this week (she would have been 47 years old when this photo was taken). She’s a mom with two teenagers. And she’s beautiful and she does not have a perfect body (because NO ONE has a perfect body). If Cindy allowed this leak to happen or even if she’s fine with it after the fact, I applaud her. And she looks great!

Cindy has a new interview with Marie Claire too – you can read it here. She talks about wanting to be a good role model for her daughter, and not wanting to say “I’m on a diet” or “Do I look fat?” in front of an impressionable young woman. But she also talks about knowing herself and knowing that wine makes her puffy and she should only eat the small ice cream cone.

Photos courtesy of Marie Claire, WENN.

I love a good Jack White bitchfest, and Jack has delivered once again. This hilarious guacamole-gate story surfaced last weekend, but the BAFTAs and Grammys hit, so I decided to ignore it. Thanks to Jack’s temper, the controversy came back.

Here’s what happened. Jack performed at the University of Oklahoma a week ago. The campus paper got wind of Jack’s tour rider, and they published it for all to examine. Jack’s $80,000 payment was exposed, as was a very specific guacamole recipe. Detailed tour riders are nothing new to gossip hounds, but many delighted in the language (“we like it chunky“) used in the guac recipe. And it was a really good recipe. Jack’s touring PR agency, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, threatened an OU boycott of their artists, which include Pharrell and Alicia Keys.

Jack was reportedly upset about the salary news but not so much about the guacamole (which wasn’t even for him). All of this should have blown over, but the media kept talking. Then NPR discussed about the ins and outs of the guacamole recipe on Weekend Edition, which made Jack angry. He fired off an open letter on his website to call out NPR and the media. Jack ranted about guacamole and bananas and ethics. He’s really fired up, and here are a few paragraphs of the rant:

wow. classy.

seems like there’s a new rule number one for up and coming journalists: don’t let the facts get in the way of click bait. first off, this is none of your business, but i have no specific demands in my dressing room. i know i could ask for lots of things but i actually don’t ask for ANYTHING. i take with me what i need, and that ain’t much. anything on the rider is for the band and the crew. this “guacamole recipe” is my hilarious tour managers inside joke with the local promoters, it’s his recipe, not mine. it’s just something to break up the boredom, seeing who can make it best. though i wouldn’t know because i’ve never had it. i can’t even make kool aid let alone cook any real food enough to have a “recipe.” sorry, i don’t have that talent.

bananas: did it occur to anyone someone on the tour might have an allergy to them? no? hmmm. one day some fantasy journalist out there will call someone in the biz and actually have a rider explained to them, maybe none of them have ever been on tour. oh well, let’s move on, first amendment issues: i fully believe in the freedom of the press (though the supposed search for truth from the press requires microscopes and a some morton salt), and i also defend anyone’s right to free speech (just look at my lack of respect for grammar in this letter and tell me i’m not for communicating freely) and i defend the right to free information in regards to public funds, but never in my 20 years of playing shows has my contract and tour rider been published in the paper that i recall.

do you know why we don’t do that or want that? a hundred articles about bananas, free speech, and guacamole is why; it’s because people don’t understand what a rider is or what the terms of a contract are. they’re out of their element, and you can’t blame them for it. and people who write about that know this. people WANT a rider to be a list of demands that a diva insists occur lest he or she refuse to play a note of music.

[From Third Man Records]

Jack goes on for several more paragraphs about TMZ and how he’d rather make music than crochet. Look … I see Jack’s point. All of this is ridiculous, and that’s why the internet seized upon the story. Because the rider itself made a big deal about guacamole and how Jack required a New York strip steak in his dressing room. Jack calls the OU paper “thin skinned,” which is funny. He’s only guaranteeing that this story shall keep on living. Now there are grumpy Jack White guacamole photo memes circulating. OU shouldn’t have published the tour rider. But Jack should have done what most artists do when their riders leak — ignore it. I’m sure he’s not at all enjoying the “click bait” to his website.

Did Jack overreact?

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN

View image | gettyimages.com

Tom Hiddleston was a guest at Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter’s wedding on Valentine’s Day. I guess he didn’t have any V-Day plans of his own. Although there were some photos of Tom on the Isle of Wight where it looked like he had a female date, so I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not enough of a Hiddlesconspiracist to weave some of kind of detailed explanation for it – if Tom has a girlfriend, I’m sure we’ll know soon enough. Until then, just give him his space. You can see some of the Hiddleston-wedding photos here. There’s also a story going around that Hiddles was Bendy’s best man. True or false?

Then, last night (Sunday night), Hiddleston returned to London for the WhatsOnStage Awards. He was nominated for last year’s run of Coriolanus, and guess what? Tommy won. I’m including some of the few photos we have of Hiddleston from the event – for some reason, we don’t have any red carpet photos of him. Did he even walk the carpet?!

There’s a video too:

Gallery: #WOSAwards winners like you’ve never seen them before – http://t.co/E88bij6Thu pic.twitter.com/K69ulFb6gS

— WhatsOnStage (@WhatsOnStage) February 16, 2015

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Photos courtesy of Getty, Fame/Flynet.

This post is just an effort to give all of you guys a fresh comment feed to discuss Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter’s Valentine’s Day wedding. Our weekend post has 850-plus comments, so here you go. These are photos of Benedict and Sophie flying out of Heathrow yesterday – they only spent one night (as a married couple) in the Isle of Wight, then they flew to LA, which is where they’re going to officially honeymoon. A nice working honeymoon for Bendy. Sophie is so lucky, right? Benedict appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight. Oscar voting ends tomorrow!! Also: look at how Sophie is now showing off her rings. Total Duchess Kate move. I feel ya, Sophie. You got the ring! *slow clap*

It’s not like there’s tons of news about the wedding, but there is some stuff, so let’s get to it.

*Bendy & Sophie were spotted post-wedding on the Isle of Wight – you can see the photos here. They both look tired and cold. She’s wearing one of those fancy poncho-like things with arm slits.

*Benedict’s publicist confirmed the wedding officially, although I’m not sure why she even bothered, considering she was unofficially leaking details to all of the major media outlets in America and the UK. But the official word is that yes, they did marry on V-Day and “It was a magical day.” MAGICAL!!!!

*We know some of the wedding guest list – Tom Hiddleston was there, so was Andrew Scott (Moriarty) and Martin Freeman. We know Benedict spent his last night as an unmarried man at the Royal Yacht Squadron. We know that they chose “My Funny Valentine” to be “played during their service” which… I don’t know? It wouldn’t have been my choice, but maybe that was playing the first time they kissed (or had sex?).

*Because Benedict has a promotional contract with Jaguar, he got to do some promotional work for them for his wedding: Benedict and Sophie departed their service in a vintage Jaguar. It was blue.

And so there you go. Benedict Cumberbatch is no longer a single man. Will Sophie take his name, I wonder? Sophie Cumberbatch. Sophie Hunter Cumberbatch is too much of a mouthful so I hope she doesn’t do that. Ah, well. Yes, at least we still have Tom Hiddleston (and at least I still have Michael Fassbender).

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Duchess Kate and Prince William are pretty much the weirdest people in the world. I’m hard-pressed to name any other public figure or celebrity who consistently makes such strange and nonsensical decisions. So, we know that Will and Kate dropped everything to go to Mustique for a two week island vacation. Kate even worked ahead of the vacation, because someone finally told her that would look better. By all accounts, Will and Kate were really looking forward to their luxury villa and spending time with Kate’s family and all of that. While the Mustique trip is an annual event for the Middletons, this year’s trip was special because Carole was throwing herself a huge 60th birthday party. And that’s how Will and Kate justified it too: they wanted to celebrate Carole’s birthday, that’s why they arranged their schedules that way. Except it turns out that Will and Kate didn’t even GO to Carole’s birthday party. For the love of God…

It was a major bash marking a big birthday – so it’s no wonder eyebrows were raised when Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge missed the party that celebrated her mother’s 60th on Mustique this month. Although William and Kate were staying at the £14,000-a-week four-bedroom Villa Rocina with her mum Carole, they decided against going to the biggest night of the family’s holiday – a beach party that Mrs Middleton co-hosted with Colin Fenn, the multi-millionaire co-founder of clothing brand Fenn Wright Manson, who was celebrating his 70th.

I gather the joint party wasn’t originally planned but when Colin and Carole realised they were both throwing parties, they hastily decided to team up for a huge Pirates of Penzance-themed night attended by the island’s residents, including Rolling Stone Mick Jagger.

But it seems the idea of mingling was so daunting for expectant Kate that she and William raised a glass to Carole at the villa but then stayed behind when she headed off to party with husband Michael and their other children, Pippa and James.

My Mustique mole says: ‘The party went on into the early hours with amazing cocktails and fireworks. Most of the locals were there but they were told William and Kate wanted to stay below the radar. Guests were asking after them.’

By all accounts Pippa did an excellent job of flying the family’s fun flag – dancing the night away in a yellow bikini top and floral ra-ra skirt. Kate, seven months pregnant, barely left the villa throughout the stay, though William ventured to the beach in a golf buggy.

‘Kate doesn’t want anyone getting a picture of the bump,’ said my source.

[From The Daily Mail]

I can sort of understand why a pregnant woman – especially a celebrity or public figure – wouldn’t want people to get photos of her bump when she’s in the early months. But when you get to the sixth or seventh month of your pregnancy, who really cares? I mean, the jig is up. You’re knocked up and you have a bump. It’s not shocking or scandalous or even all that newsworthy. Who cares if people see – or even take a photo of – said bump? And to miss out on this huge birthday party, especially when it’s the main reason for the vacation, just because you don’t want to be seen while pregnant? That’s so… weird.

Also strange: the Middletons paid for this vacation. They invited Will and Kate and then Will and Kate tapped out on the birthday party? Rude! Don’t get me wrong, if Kate is tired, so be it. But go to the party and toast your mom and then leave early. And why spend ALL of that money on this luxury Mustique vacation with tropical beaches and shops and parties and spend the entire time holed up in some dark corner? I’m telling you, they’re just weird.

As for Will and Kate’s weird, nonsensical inability to show up at the pre-BAFTA party at Kensington Palace and William’s inability to show up at the BAFTAs as BAFTA president, Vanity Fair had a bit more about it – go here to read. Apparently, Reese Witherspoon was really perturbed that Will and Kate didn’t come to the KP party and she was asking about them loudly. And sources were dishing about William’s radio silence on the BAFTAs too, with one source telling VF: “There were a few sniffs about William in particular not being at the awards. It’s not like he was too busy, he had just returned from a two-week holiday to Mustique, and the party was at his palace!” WHY ARE THEY SO WEIRD?

Last thing: Kate did a video message for Children’s Mental Health Week.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

At some point, about a week ago, I knew Fifty Shades of Grey was going to make tons of money on its opening weekend. The studio believed it, all of the box office prognosticators believed it and you could feel a different vibe coming off of the publicity tour too. All of a sudden, Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan seemed friendlier, looser, happier. Even though Fifty Shades might not be either actor’s best work, at least they didn’t have a massive bomb on their hands.

So, how much money did Fifty Shades make? Something like $81.7 million. Which is less than the $90 million “outside figure” that the studio was hoping for, but way beyond the paltry $50-60 million most people thought would be a “win” a few weeks ago. Fifty Shades’ production cost $40 million, although I’m guessing the studio spent (easily) $20 million promoting the film. According to Yahoo, the film did well in all markets, not just those city-dwelling harlots who wanted to see a sexy movie – like, the movie did well in small town and smaller venues too. And yes, the audience was 68% female. I feel sorry for the 32% dudes who got dragged to the film with their wives and girlfriends.

So, what does this mean? We know from conversations on the promotional tour that Dakota and Jamie had to sign contracts for three films I total. With this kind of box office, I’m sure the studio will greenlight one sequel, if not two. Sam Taylor Johnson has basically said that she would be up for directing the sequels, but after fighting with E.L. James for all those months, I’m kind of hoping Sam just cuts her losses and runs. She’s now a commercially successful director and I’m guessing Universal (and other studios) will be happy to offer her directing projects with moderate-sized budgets from here on out.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Here are some photos of Kanye West, Kim Kardashian and North West leaving their hotel (or apartment?) in NYC this weekend. These pics are from two different outings actually – the whole family went out in the early evening on Valentine’s Day, then Kim and Kanye went out for a late-night NYFW date after midnight. In the photos with North, she looks totally jazzed to see the snow. That’s adorable! We so rarely see North smiling and happy, so it’s nice to know that she’s still a normal kid and she gets excited about snow. It’s also nice to see because North’s parents are idiots that take her to fashion shows and North has crazy tantrums, like most kids. They even took North to Alexander Wang’s show (front row, naturally) and North had ANOTHER tantrum – go here to see the photos.

Speaking of Kanye’s Adidas show last week, Kanye spoke to Andre Leon Talley about what it was like to show at NYFW and have almost all of his celeb friends come out.

He had a Blank Space for her! Kanye West sat down with Vogue’s Andre Leon Talley at the unveiling of his Adidas collaboration on Thursday, Feb. 12, at New York Fashion Week, and noted that one A-lister was missing from his star-studded front row.

Talley asked West, 37, whether he would like to see Taylor Swift wear his latest creations from the collection. “She was supposed to be here today,” the Yeezus rapper remarked. “So I don’t know what happened.”

It may have been that Swift, 25, was preoccupied with the release of her new music video “Style,” which debuted Friday the 13th. The stars’ well-documented contentious history was squashed this past Sunday at the 2015 Grammys. Swift and West were seen hugging it out after the rapper rushed the stage — in what many people thought was a joke — before Beck’s acceptance speech for Album of the Year. West again touched on the topic with Talley on Thursday, after the editor asked him what it felt like to “go viral.”

“I feel good,” West remarked. “I feel like a human being. I feel like a man. A man can make mistakes, a man can have an opinion. A man can be hypocritical. I feel like I have blood in my veins. That my blood hasn’t been turned cold by the concept of celebrity, or missed opportunities or perception.”

[From Us Weekly]

You can see the Vogue video of their discussion here. It’s pretty obvious ALT was ordered to come to the show and talk to Kanye. It’s also obvious that Kanye doesn’t really know how to speak about fashion, you know? Anyway, it’s not like Swifty missed much.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and Pacific Coast News.

Halle Berry has a new interview with Yahoo! beauty, conducted by famous makeup artist Bobbi Brown. (Bobbi just did an interview with Jennifer Garner last month.) Halle is promoting her work with Revlon, and she name drops one of her favorite lipsticks by the brand, Revlon Ultra HD. Bobbi also gets Halle to talk about plastic surgery, which she kind of talks around, never saying what she’s had done (if anything, to give her a massive benefit of the doubt). Halle also says that Lena Horne and Jane Fonda have aged beautifully. Oh and she doesn’t do Valentine’s Day.

She doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day
“Here is the thing. I don’t really do Valentine’s Day. I’m like this rare woman, I don’t really subscribe too much to Valentine’s Day. That’s just honest. I’ll tell my husband, ‘I’d rather you make Valentine’s Day any random day in October, because you just want to tell me you love me. Not because the world tells you, ‘This is the day you’re supposed to profess your love.’ Be more original! Pick any other day.’”

Bobbi: And now you are a beauty role model for so many women. How do you handle the pressure? A lot of celebrities have done way too much to change the way they look, and I think the ones who have not done anything look so amazing.
“It is pressure. When you see everybody around you doing it, you have those moments when you think, “To stay alive in this business, do I need to do the same thing?” I won’t lie and tell you that those things don’t cross my mind, because somebody is always suggesting it to me. “You know if you just did a little bit of this and that, lift this up, then this would be a little bit better.” It’s almost like crack that people are trying to push on you. That’s what I feel like. I just have kept reminding myself that beauty really is as beauty does, and it is not so much about my physical self. Aging is natural, and that’s going to happen to all of us. I think of those women that I thought aged so beautifully, like Lena Horn. Even how Jane Fonda is aging — I don’t know what she has or hasn’t done, but she looks beautiful as she’s going about her way. I just want to always look like myself, even if that’s an older version of myself. I think when you do too much of that cosmetic stuff, you become somebody else in a way.”

On Aging:
“We have to stop wanting to look like that decade before. We have to stop coveting that. Let it go and embrace it now and really be OK. It’s easy to say, I guess, but that’s the goal.”

[From Yahoo! Beauty]

Funny that Halle mentioned Jane Fonda, because Jane looks natural, but she’s one of the few older celebrities who have openly admitted to having plastic surgery. Jane had work done on her chin, neck and eyes in 2010 and she’s said several times that she’s not proud of it. (Although she looks great and kudos to her for owning up to what she’s had done.)

I do think Halle has had injectables. She was looking very pulled and alien for a while (see the October, 2014 photo above, although many of you will disagree), but it’s probably settled for her at this point. I think she got something she assumed would not be noticeable, but it was. She’s also had a nose job, but she’s talking about facelifts here, right? The “crack” is the facelift and Botox and Restylane are the gateway drugs. She does sound like she has a healthy attitude toward aging, but she’s Halle freaking Berry, she’s always going to be gorgeous. Maybe when you start off looking like she does, it’s harder to accept the changes that come with time.

View image | gettyimages.com

photo credit: WENN.com and Getty Images