Jennifer Lopez and her team have been on the warpath in recent days. While I truly believe that J.Lo wanted to “make it work” with Ben Affleck throughout the year, when she decided she was done with his BS, she decided to spill all of the sh-t that’s been accumulating. Suddenly, there are stories about Ben’s erratic behavior and extreme mood swings. I believe Team J.Lo is also behind the rumor about Ben and Kick Kennedy, the 36-year-old socialite daughter of failed presidential candidate and brain-worm-haver Robert Kennedy Jr. Well, People Magazine has a story which is sort of an update on the “Ben has been hanging out with Kick Kennedy” rumor.

Is Ben Affleck moving on with someone new after Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce? Multiple sources tell PEOPLE that the Gone Girl actor, 52, has been mingling with Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, one of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s six children. Page Six was first to report the news.

“Kick and Ben have been spending time together, but I’m not sure what’s happening,” one source says. The source notes they do not know when or how the pair first crossed paths, but, “Kick’s celeb crush has always been Ben.” The source describes Kick, an actress and activist, as a “partier,” adding that she “likes to have a good time.”

However, another insider insists, “I don’t think they even know each other. There’s definitely nothing going on.”

An additional source says Kick and Affleck have been “spending time together” since late spring. The two have been spotted together at the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Polo Lounge and other locations, according to Page Six. A rep for Kick did not respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

Kick was previously romantically linked to Paul Simon’s son Harper Simon. She also dated billionaire banking heir Matthew Mellon prior to his death in 2018.

[From People]

If People Mag has “multiple sources” saying Ben and Kick are doing something, I believe it and I believe Ben isn’t in a position to deny it. It also feels like Kick’s PR has entered the building – she wants to be associated with Ben, she wants to make a name for herself as the other woman in Bennifer’s divorce. “Kick’s celeb crush has always been Ben.” Really? How many Millennial women would name Ben as their biggest celeb crush? It’s definitely weird.

Meanwhile, People Mag had another pro-J.Lo story, where sources said Jennifer is “doing as well as she can” and “It’s been incredibly difficult for her that Ben chose to pull away from their marriage and move on with his life, leaving her behind. She didn’t want a divorce. She wanted to figure things out. They love each other. Jennifer is not the type to just give up. It’s been almost torture for her to wait around… [but] after filing for divorce, she seems relieved.” Given all of the sh-t she’s putting out there about Ben, I imagine it is a relief. I said this before, but I really hope this is the end of it for Jennifer. I hope she got this out of her system.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Sad news: the paperback edition of Prince Harry’s Spare will not include any new chapters. According to the Bookseller – who is probably getting their information directly from Penguin Random House – the paperback edition “will have the same cover image as the hardcover edition, a newly designed package and the contents of the book are unchanged.” Meaning, nothing was removed or updated, and no new chapters were added. Would you like this information to be given to you in the most tabloidized way? Congrats, the Mail’s Royal Editor Becky English had a new piece about how “no new chapters” will be seen as an olive branch.

Prince Harry is finally set to bring out the paperback edition of his vitriolic memoir, Spare. However the Royal Family is likely to breathe a sigh of relief after it was announced by his publisher that the book would not be updated from its hardback form, a somewhat unusual move for an international bestseller.

Unfortunately, however, its October release will clash with King Charles’ high-profile appearance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa, the first time he has attended since acceding the throne and becoming head of the global organisation. The meeting will be held from October 21-25 with Harry’s paperback being published in the US on October 22 and then the UK two days later. Buckingham Palace announced back in July that the monarch planned to attend despite his ongoing cancer treatment as part of an Autumn tour in October that will also take in Australia.

Publishers Penguin Random House announced yesterday that Spare’s new imprint would be published in 16 languages worldwide. It will have the same cover image as the hardcover edition, a newly-designed package but ‘the contents of the book are unchanged’.

Questions had been raised as to whether Harry would, like many authors, update the paperback edition with a new chapter, particularly considering how much has happened in the last year. In that time, his relationships with his family [have] continued to break down, the King has been diagnosed with cancer – which saw Harry make a transatlantic dash to London to see his father for barely 30 minutes – and his children, Archie and Lilibet, have become Prince and Princess. The fact that Harry has chosen not to add to the revelations may be seen by some as an attempt to try and smooth over family ructions.

Spare, which was first published on January 10 last year, became an instant publishing sensation and sold more than six million copies, in both print and audio, across the world. It holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest selling nonfiction book of all time, not least because Harry became the most high profile family member to ever ‘kiss and tell’ on the monarchy.

However while the book, ghostwritten by journalist J.R. Moehringer, was a financial success for the prince, his reputation is widely considered to have suffered as a result. Many considered both the book and Harry’s round of equally vitriolic media appearances to publicise it a betrayal too far and criticised his version of events.

It generally takes between six months to a year for a paperback edition to come out after the initial publication in hardback. They can be produced and sold more cheaply, and are designed to attract more readers. Whether Spare will do this considering its runaway success as a hardback remains be seen.

[From The Daily Mail]

They think if they keep pressing their palace-given talking points that “Harry’s reputation suffered” or “Harry is so controversial” or “Americans love King Charles and hate the Sussexes,” then it will be so. Meanwhile, Spare was a huge success, Harry was happy that his story was finally out there, he got a huge ovation when he went on The Late Show, he got a standing ovation at the ESPYs, and the paperback edition is going to steal the Windsors’ thunder throughout October and probably November too. Now that being said, I wish Harry added new chapters. I love that he hasn’t changed anything (all of those scandalized tabloid editors can suck it) but I definitely wanted some new chapters. Maybe he’s saving some stuff for a second book, fingers crossed.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

If I was super-wealthy, I would totally buy a beautiful beach house. The problem for me is that I would just want to live there year-round. I think of that whenever I see photos of Taylor Swift’s gorgeous house in Newport, Rhode Island. Taylor bought the property in 2013, much to the chagrin of her old-money neighbors. Her neighbors really didn’t have to worry long-term though – Taylor is rarely in Newport. In years past, she usually spent a few weeks there in the summer, and maybe a week or two there off-season. For years, she’s hosted friends for a Fourth of July party in Newport, but this year, she was on tour in Europe for Independence Day. So she organized an end-of-summer bash in Newport this year, now that her tour is done.

Most of the photos from her party/holiday are mega-exclusive (and blurry as hell), but I’m including some below. Travis Kelce was there, as was Patrick Mahomes and his MAGA wife Brittany Mahomes. It’s funny that Brittany was there with Taylor as social media exploded over the weekend over Brittany “liking” a MAGA post. Speaking of controversial, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds were also there, their first big outing since they tried and failed to kneecap Justin Baldoni (and the backlash came for Blake instead). It also appears that Gigi Hadid, Bradley Cooper and Bradley’s daughter Lea joined the party over the weekend.

Anyway, if I owned this beautiful mansion, I would live there year-round. It’s so scenic and lovely. I wonder what it feels like for Taylor to just swoop in for a few weeks over the summer with the latest boyfriend. Like, Tom Hiddleston went to Newport. I’m sure Joe Alwyn did too. Matt Healy didn’t stick around long enough to go to Newport? But now Travis is Newport-Official.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce in Rhode Island. pic.twitter.com/8ZrQmBRgcJ

— 21 (@21metgala) August 24, 2024

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

King Charles is a man of faith. Out of all of the Windsor clan, I would also consider Charles to be the best one on multifaith issues and religious topics. He’s spent decades developing relationships within the Anglican community, the Catholic community, the Hindu, Muslim and Jewish communities. Now, does he practice what he preaches? Not at all. He’s a degenerate cheater who gaslighted and emotionally abused his first wife and he was too self-absorbed to raise his two sons. He’s spent the past five years putting his younger son, daughter-in-law and their two children in mortal danger as a way to bring them to heel so he could control them completely. He’s also rebuffed every effort Prince Harry has made to reconcile and have some semblance of a familial relationship. Well, Charles has come to Jesus. He has received religious counseling and he is now open to reconciling with Harry. And yes, this is mostly about optics, as in: how can the head of the Church of England behave in such an openly un-Christian manner to his family?

King Charles has received advice from spiritual leaders that has led him to contemplate repairing his relationship with Prince Harry, The Mail on Sunday has learned. Sources say the monarch has drawn comfort from their guidance as he comes to terms with both the death of his parents and the challenges of his new role. Since inheriting the crown, he has spent more time exploring theologies and the teaching of their central tenets – including the nature of forgiveness.

A well-placed insider said Charles had taken ‘spiritual nourishment’ from his discussions with religious leaders and was now more open to the idea of a rapprochement with Harry, who has spent the past four years living in self-imposed exile in California with his wife Meghan and their two children.

‘Faith has always been a part of Charles’s life and something he’s explored, but since becoming King it is playing a more central role,’ the source said. ‘That reliance on faith and quiet contemplation has become a comfort and asset to him and helps him cope with the role as he adapts to being King.’

Healing the rift would require the King to put aside his anger over his younger son’s deeply wounding public comments. In his memoir, Harry called Camilla his ‘wicked stepmother’ and ‘the other woman’. And in a television interview watched by millions he claimed that two members of the Royal Family had made a pejorative remark about the skin colour of his son Archie.

With regard to a possible reconciliation, the source said: ‘Charles misses his son. He still loves Harry and wants him back for personal reasons – regardless that he and Meghan do not [want to] return to royal life. Harry will always be Charles’s much-loved son. He has faith that Harry could return. He misses the bond they once had, and the door will always remain open to him and his family. He does not want years of discord and disharmony clouding his reign.’

The possibility of a thaw in the House of Windsor feud comes at a time when Charles is said to be concerned about financial demands from the Sussexes should their television deals dry up next year, as has been suggested. For his part, people close to Harry say his father no longer takes his calls or responds to his letters. After a positive meeting in February following the King’s cancer diagnosis, relations between father and son deteriorated.

A major barrier to peace, however, is Prince William’s intransigence. He is said to believe his own relationship with his brother is irreparably damaged and to have rebuffed the idea of a reunion. Moreover, William is toying with the idea of abolishing the religious oaths of the Coronation – potentially leading to the disestablishment of the Church of England.

[From The Daily Mail]

“The possibility of a thaw in the House of Windsor feud comes at a time when Charles is said to be concerned about financial demands from the Sussexes should their television deals dry up next year.” Charles has been licking his chops at the idea that the Sussexes would go broke and come crawling back so that he could abuse them and make them into his perfect scapegoats. They are not coming back. Look at this wording too: “He still loves Harry and wants him back for personal reasons – regardless that he and Meghan do not [want to] return to royal life…He has faith that Harry could return.” Is that the only way a “reconciliation” could happen in Charles’s mind, are those his terms? Like, Harry would have to uproot his life in America and “return” just to be with Charles? What even is this? Because it feels like more palace wheel-spinning as they try to position Charles as the one who is pushing for reconciliation and being rebuffed by Harry, when the opposite has been true for years.

As for the stuff about William… that’s Charles’s built-in excuse, that he can’t really make peace with Harry because of Angry, Un-Christian William. It’s also true that William doesn’t give a f–k about the Anglican church or any religion. The stuff about forgiveness… acting as if Harry committed crimes. Gross.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Jennifer Lopez’s fight-back began as soon as she filed for divorce last week. It’s more than likely that Jennifer and Ben Affleck were barely in contact this summer, and whenever they did speak, it was because Jennifer took the initiative. A narrative is taking shape that at some point in March or April, Ben was completely and totally done with the marriage and he stopped trying. After J.Lo filed for divorce, she’s ensuring that her side is being put out there. I believe Jennifer is behind the rumors about Ben and Kick Kennedy. And I know J.Lo is behind this People Mag story about Ben’s mood swings:

Ben Affleck’s unpredictable moods played a central role in his and Jennifer Lopez’s divorce. Despite their feelings toward each other, the 52-year-old actor’s extreme and sudden changes in mood ultimately drove a wedge between them, a source tells PEOPLE.

“The truth is there was a great deal of love but also unfortunately what became clear were Ben’s erratic mood swings that he couldn’t hide from the press, as much as he tried to,” the source says.

“You could see the erratic behavior, the giant mood swings,” the source continues, describing how the actor would go from “being incredibly happy and warm — the best light that emanated from him” to exhibiting “the deepest, darkest behavior. I think he was signaling a message to the press,” the source adds. “But yet participating.”

Since April — Lopez, 55, listed the couple’s separation date as April 26 in her Aug. 20 divorce filing — the duo tried to make their marriage work, but Affleck’s fluctuating mood made things difficult, the source says. “They were trying to work through it, but when the mood swings and the big highs and big lows informed a toxicity that was pervasive, no one can help you — you have to help yourself,” the source explains. “But I would not be so bold to say there isn’t love — of course there is. The world was rooting for them, but who he said he was and who he turned out to be were two different people.”

[From People]

This, combined with the story about his “darkness,” is making me wonder if there was some larger incident in the spring which has not been disclosed. It feels like people are talking around something larger. The mood swings, the darkness, the erratic behavior – it’s like the Kanyeification of Ben Affleck. It’s interesting. Meanwhile, this is just sad, and it’s also from Team Lopez: Ben hasn’t spoken to his stepkids at all in months.

Amid Jennifer Lopez’s divorce from Ben Affleck, Lopez has remained close with Affleck’s children, but he has not been in contact with hers, according to a source. The source tells PEOPLE that the Hustlers actress, 55, often spoke of what a good father the Good Will Hunting actor, 52, is to his kids, Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12, whom he shares with exJennifer Garner.

“[Jennifer] went out there and told the world what a great dad he was,” they say.

Lopez herself is a mom to 16-year-old twins Max and Emme, whom she shares with ex Marc Anthony. The “Jenny from the Block” singer is “still close to Garner and all five kids,” the source says. The Gone Girl actor, meanwhile, is “close to his three kids” but “has not been in touch with her kids.”

“The fact that he has not seen her kids in a long time, it’s like he left, but she is especially close to his kids,” the source continues, citing Lopez’s attendance at Samuel’s graduation ceremony in June and Violet spending a week with the singer during her Hamptons vacation in July.

“But she’s also close to Marc’s kids from [his] previous relationship,” the source adds of the four children the “Vivir Mi Vida” singer, 55, welcomed prior to his relationship with Lopez. Adds the source: “She keeps in touch with the children and she’s a good mom.”

[From People]

This really sucks. It always appeared that Ben seemed especially close to Emme too, and J.Lo really did make an effort to spend time with his kids and blend the family. Ben is really coming across like a major a–hole here, but I believe J.Lo’s narratives. Some of you won’t and that’s fine, but she is making sure that this split doesn’t go down the same way as the 2004 split.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

Over the weekend, Page Six gave us an interesting exclusive, a piece of gossip which put Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s split in a different context. We know that Ben and J.Lo genuinely seemed to fall apart significantly early this year, especially when Ben seemed over it completely at the This Is Me… Now premiere. Usually, J.Lo is the one who lines up a jumpoff for the end of her relationships. But according to Page Six’s sources, Ben was spending time with Kick Kennedy in LA.

Ben Affleck has been spending time with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 36-year-old daughter Kick Kennedy amid his divorce from Jennifer Lopez. A Hollywood insider tells Page Six they have been spotted at the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel and other hotspots.

The nature of their relationship remains unclear. Kick declined to comment, while Affleck’s reps did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request.

[From Page Six]

In case you’re wondering, Kick is Robert Kennedy Jr’s daughter from his first marriage to Emily Ruth Black. His second marriage was to Mary Richardson (who died by suicide in 2012) and his third and current marriage is to Cheryl Hines. Given all of the sh-t Robert Kennedy and his brain worm are up to these days, you would think that most people would avoid anyone immediately related to him. Not Ben though. Anyway, people have been trying to figure out what Kick’s whole deal is. She’s being billed as an actress and socialite, and she has five small credits to her name. Back in 2012, she got a big profile in Town & Country, where she was really trying to break into acting. It was in that profile where she shared this disturbing story about her father:

Kick’s taste for the extreme was fed by her dad’s eccentric environmentalism. Exhibit A: When she was six, word got out that a dead whale had washed up on Squaw Island in Hyannis Port. Bobby — who likes to study animal skulls and skeletons — ran down to the beach with a chainsaw, cut off the whale’s head, and then bungee-corded it to the roof of the family minivan for the five-hour haul back to Mount Kisco, New York. “Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet,” Kick recalls. “We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us.”

[From Town & Country]

If she was six years old at the time, this was pre-brain worm. I hate that I know the chronology of the brain worm, but I do. Robert Kennedy didn’t get the brain worm until 2009-10. I truly hate that the “Bennifer split” gossip is now connected to the “2024 election cycle has a guy with a brain worm” gossip.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Embed from Getty Images
We can add the Foo Fighters to the ever-growing list of musicians that don’t want the Trump campaign using their songs at his hate rallies. Two weeks ago, the family of Isaac Hayes joined Celine Dion at the cease-and-desist party, requesting $3 million in licensing fees for the song “Hold On, I’m Coming” which has been played at Trump’s rallies going back to 2022. Last week, after allegedly negotiating his way towards a cabinet position, RFK Jr. dropped out of the race and endorsed America’s most hated reality TV star. On Friday, RFK Jr. appeared on stage with Trump to give his endorsement. Trump is an old school New Yorker that values what old money has to say, and he looked like the cat that caught the canary while announcing that a Kennedy was endorsing him.

The song that Kennedy came out to was the Foo Fighters’ “My Hero.” On social media, people were very quick to ask the band if they had given the campaign permission to use their song. They responded with a very obvious “no” and let it be known that they planned on donating any royalties made off of the campaign’s usage right to VP Kamala Harris’ campaign.

The Foo Fighters are clarifying that they didn’t approve of one of their songs being played during a Donald Trump rally in Arizona.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the presidential race and the independent politician is now backing the former Republican president. During a rally in Gilbert in the swing stage, the song “My Hero” was played, and now the band, fronted by Dave Grohl, is breaking their silence.

“Let us be clear,” the band’s social media account on X/Twitter posted.

The band shared a screenshot of an exchange with another X user asking the Foo Fighters if they had let Trump use their song.

“No,” the Foo Fighters replied.

A Foo Fighters representative said in a statement to EW, “Foo Fighters were not asked permission, and if they were, they would not have granted it.” The band also noted that they would donate royalties generates from Trump’s usage of the song to Kamala Harris’ campaign.

[From Deadline]

I actually watched this Foo Fighters thing unfold in real time over Twitter, and it made me laugh. So many people have asked Trump to stop playing their music over the years, and during the DNC, the Democrats were able to get the rights to play 60+ songs, including the ones played during that awesome roll call. What a flex.

But yeah, I don’t know what to say at this point. There’s no self-awareness. Republicans will continue to whine and cry about how they’re the real victims here without ever stopping to think about just why artists (and just regular people in general) don’t want to be associated with their sh-tty cult and backwards beliefs. At this point, I really do think that the Trump campaign doesn’t give a sh-t. They want the Hollywood liberal elites to come after them so they can keep the grift up. Good for the Foo Fighters for donating the royalties to VP Harris’ campaign. I love that! That’s how you do it.

Let us be clear. pic.twitter.com/gexHWjPMYh

— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) August 24, 2024

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Halle Berry is busy promoting her new Netflix movie, The Union. My husband and I watched it last weekend. I liked it, but he did not. It followed the basic format of its genre and I correctly guessed the back-half of the movie’s plot twist within the first five minutes, lol. That was exactly what I was looking for in that movie and it hit its marks. Plus, I appreciated that almost every actor who was playing a spy in it was over 40.

Anyway, Halle did one of Wired’s Autocomplete Interviews, which features celebrities answering questions about themselves that have been taken from Google’s autocomplete search results. One of the questions Halle was asked was, “What James Bond movie was Halle Berry in?” (Halle played Bond Girl “Jinx” in Die Another Day.) In her answer, Halle responded with some high praise for Pierce Brosnan, who was playing Bond at the time. According to her, Pierce is such a wonderful human being that he restored her faith in men.

“What James Bond movie was Halle Berry in? That would be Die Another Day with Pierce Brosnan,” Berry said in the video, in response to a prompt derived from Google searches with her name. “He will always be my Bond, always.”

“I am a Pierce Brosnan fan. He restored my faith in men on that movie,” she added. “There couldn’t be a human who is more of a gentleman than Pierce Brosnan.”

Die Another Day marked Brosnan’s fourth and final turn playing British spy Bond. He first played the role in 1995’s GoldenEye, and Daniel Craig memorably took on the part following Brosnan, beginning with 2006’s Casino Royale. In Die Another Day, Berry played an American intelligence agent named Jinx. The movie released six months after Berry won her Academy Award for her role in 2001’s Monster’s Ball.

“Bond wasn’t on my wishlist, no, to be in one, but I loved the movies always,” Berry further recalled of making the movie while speaking with Wired. “But having been in one, I feel like I’m a part of cinematic history. Those movies are iconic, they will forever be a part of our history, and I’m really honored to have been part of one, especially with Pierce.”

Berry has noted Brosnan’s kindness towards her on the movie’s set in the past, including in 2020, when she shared during an appearance on The Tonight Show that Brosnan once saved her from choking while they filmed a scene together.

“I was supposed to be all sexy and and seduce him with a fig,” she said at the time. “And then he had to get up and do the Heimlich. So not sexy. You should’ve seen it — James Bond knows how to Heimlich.”

“He was there for me,” she added of Brosnan during that interview. “He will always be one of my favorite people in the whole world.”

Berry’s appearance in Die Another Day proved popular enough that the producers behind the Bond movies began working on a spinoff movie for her character, but as Variety reported in September 2020, the studio decided not to move forward with the idea.

“It was very disappointing. It was ahead of its time,” she told the outlet of the idea at that time. “Nobody was ready to sink that kind of money into a Black female action star. They just weren’t sure of its value. That’s where we were then.”

[From People]

I didn’t know that Halle has spoken about how great Pierce is before. That is crazy that he had to perform the Heimlich on her! I looked up what was going on in Halle’s life around the time that she was filming Die Another Day and she was married to Eric Benét at the time. I’m glad Pierce treated her with kindness and respect on set. In response to Halle’s comments, people have been sharing stories on Twitter about their positive experiences with Pierce, from randomly running into him while out and about to confirming that he’s “lovely” to crew members on set. In an age where so many actors have ended up being problematic, it’s really refreshing to hear stories of the good ones. Between Doug Emhoff, Gov. Walz, and now Pierce Brosnan, tonic masculinity is having quite the week.

Right now, Pierce is busy filming the film adaptation of one of my favorite new book series, “The Thursday Murder Club.” He’s playing Ron, which I wasn’t behind at first, but am absolutely willing to give him the benefit of the doubt now. I can’t wait for that movie, especially since we’re going to have to wait so long for book five.

Sometimes I’ll see a headline about Pierce Brosnan and think “Surely, he isn’t *still* that handsome.” and I am always wrong. pic.twitter.com/ISOh4U6sGd

— Richy Craven (@RichyCraven) August 21, 2024

Photos credit: London Features/Avalon, Anwar Hussein / Avalon, Look Press Agency/Look Press / Avalon, Peter Van der Berg/Avalon

Ted Lasso’s third season ended in May 2023. I loved the first two seasons but I absolutely loathed the third season. It felt like Jason Sudeikis’s personal situation affected every part of the show, from the writing to the decisions about all of the characters to the way everything “wrapped up.” It was no secret that Jason was basically the only one who wanted the show to end, the rest of the actors and writers would have loved to keep going. There were rumors about a spinoff starring Hannah Waddingham’s Rebecca and there were other rumors that AppleTV+ basically went to Jason and said “name your price, we want more Lasso.” Well, now that everyone is more than a year removed from the Lasso finale, they’re deciding to do a “fourth season.” Hmm.

Ted Lasso fans, this is not a drill. In a major step toward the long-awaited fourth season of Apple TV+’s hugely popular soccer comedy, the series’ studio Warner Bros. Television has picked up the options on the three original cast members who had been contracted under the aegis of the UK acting union Equity, sources tell Deadline. They are Hannah Waddingham, who plays AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Walton, Brett Goldstein, who plays hardman Roy Kent and Jeremy Swift, who plays Director of Football Operations Leslie Higgins.

After securing the trio, the studio is expected to start reaching out to Ted Lasso cast members with SAG-AFTRA contracts whose options had expired, so they will need to make new deals, we hear. In addition to co-creators/executive producers Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso) and Brendan Hunt (Coach Beard), that is believed to include Juno Temple (Keeley Jones). We hear one of the Ted Lasso OGs, Phil Dunster (Jamie Tart), has not been picked up, presumably due to a conflict with another series; he is on both Prime Video’s The Devil’s Hour and Apple’s Surface.

It is unclear which other stars may be approached about Season 4; the cast have all said repeatedly that they would be happy to reprise their roles if an opportunity arises. Many would likely pop in for guest appearances.

Getting the cast back paves the way toward a Season 4 greenlight, contingent on budget approval and scheduling as actors whose options have lapsed may have joined other series that have them in first position, sources said.

Starting the process for a Season 4 greenlight indicates that the main Ted Lasso driving force on and off-screen, Sudeikis, is on board for a new installment as the studio would not have proceeded without his consent. The fate of Ted Lasso has always hinged on Sudeikis, who’d originated the character in NBC Sports videos. While being open that they would love to extend Ted Lasso, one of the biggest and most acclaimed comedies of the past decade, Apple and Warner Bros. executives have made it clear that it would be up to Sudeikis whether the show would continue.

[From Deadline]

In the dreamlike final sequence where we saw what happens to the characters, it felt like they were setting up a post-Ted Lasso series in Richmond. That was what most of the conversations were about last year, all of the potential spinoffs now that the Ted character is back in Kansas. I wonder how they’ll explain Lasso’s potential return to Richmond? Suddenly his kid doesn’t need him anymore? His ex-wife is still banging their marriage counselor? Rebecca and Roy can’t manage the football club without him and they beg him to return? Or will Ted see the light and come to the conclusion that, actually, Richmond is his home and he needs to go home? This is why I would tune in, to see how they resolve Ted’s return to Richmond and what “happened” to everyone in the two years Ted was back in Kansas. I also wonder what happened with Sudeikis – he was so burned out on Lasso and he was phoning in his performance in the third season. Maybe he just needed a real break and now he’s ready to come back.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid, AppleTV+.

Before Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce, there was some talk that she would wait until after the Toronto Film Festival, mostly because she and Ben Affleck would likely have promotional duties together for the film Unstoppable. Ben produced Unstoppable through Artists Equity and J.Lo has a supporting role in it. According to People Mag, the new plan is that Jennifer will attend the film festival and Ben is going to skip it. Matt Damon will be there though. That should be interesting – will Matt and J.Lo pose together?

Additionally, TMZ and other outlets report that J.Lo has already filed to change her legal name back to Jennifer Lynn Lopez. She really did become Mrs. Jennifer Affleck after their wedding, although no one called her that. Not only did she change her name, she didn’t sign a prenup and neither did he. They really went into it thinking it would be forever. Even after Ben lost interest, Jennifer still hoped he would come around or come back to her. But, according to Page Six’s sources, Jennifer now understands that Ben has a “darkness” inside of him. Page Six also introduces another party into the equation – Kick Kennedy??

No one in the Western hemisphere was shocked when Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce from Ben Affleck this week, after months of torrid speculation. But it’s not for a lack of J. Lo trying to make the marriage work. Friends had long told Page Six that the singer and actress harbored dreams she could salvage the relationship, even though the couple had been living apart for months.

“She loves him, she will always love him, that’s the problem,” one pal told us. Friends desperately hoped that Affleck would join Lopez in the Hamptons for her 55th birthday last month, which she celebrated with friends and family at a “Bridgerton”-themed bash, but the Oscar winner never showed.

Instead, over the past few months, we’re told that the Affleck has been spotted at Hollywood haunts including the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where sources told us he was seen hanging out with friend Kick Kennedy, the 36-year-old daughter of failed presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“She truly believed this was the greatest love story she’d ever known and she was finally getting her chance at the fairy tale,” said one Hollywood source who knows the couple. “She just really didn’t stop to consider who the actual man was [in] the fairy tale.”

The source added that the kind of “big love Jennifer believes in” is “not in [Ben’s] DNA” — adding, “Ben has a darkness to him that no other person can fix. [His actress ex-wife] Jen Garner couldn’t fix it, all the success in the world couldn’t fix it. [Lopez] gave this everything she had; her whole heart. She would have done anything to make this work. She opened herself up to criticism, ridicule and countless naysayers who told her this was a bad idea, that it was doomed, that there was a reason it didn’t work the first time,” the source said. “But she didn’t want to believe it— she truly believed love would conquer all.”

[From Page Six]

This bummed me out. I know it’s coming from J.Lo’s side and that’s fine, but there’s so much truth to it, right? “Ben has a darkness to him that no other person can fix.” I believe Ben is extremely charismatic when he wants to be, and that he can convince a woman of anything. Then I think he gets bored or complacent or he just loses interest. The stuff about Kick Kennedy is definitely interesting too. This is the first mention, that I’ve seen, of a third party’s name.

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