On March 2nd, we learned that Queen Camilla had boarded a plane and she was about to take more than a week off from royal work, leaving her cancer-stricken husband by himself. What was slightly funny about it is that Camilla really was picking up everyone else’s slack before then – she had been out and about, doing events and representing the monarchy for weeks, even while the heir to the throne went MIA and the other “working royals” were wandering away in various directions. There were also rumors that Camilla had a falling out with William, just as there were rumors that William was so mad about Camilla’s week-long holiday that he went on a sympathy strike too (which actually happened – he had seven full days off during Camilla’s holiday). Some royalists even suggested that Camilla had flown off to get spa treatments in India too. Now a Spanish reporter is revealing where Camilla actually went:

Queen Camilla has been back on royal duty this week as she led the Royal Family at the Commonwealth Day service on Monday, however a few days before she was enjoying a relaxing break at a Spanish finca. The finca, or estate, provided some welcome respite for the Queen, who has been at the head of the Firm temporarily while King Charles undergoes treatment for cancer.

Spanish journalist Marisa Martin Blazques revealed on the TV programme TardeAR that Camilla jetted to the European country for some sunshine for a few days. According to the television contributor, Camilla came to “hunt partridges” in a luxury finca used by former King Juan Carlos and other members of the Spanish nobility and aristocracy in Ciudad Real, south of the capital Madrid.

It is not known exactly where the Queen stayed, however the Duke of Westminster’s La Garganta estate is located nearby in the same province. Hugh Grosvenor, the 7th Duke of Westminster, is a close friend to Prince William and godfather to Prince George and is also one of the wealthiest men in Britain. His huge Spanish estate has previously played host to William and his younger brother Prince Harry, who travelled there to go hunting like Camilla.

The Queen was unable to stay there for too long however as she was back in the UK for the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on March 11.

[From The Daily Express]

The idea that Camilla needed a week off to get spa treatments and day-drink sort of made sense to me, but the idea that Camilla went to Spain to hunt patridges is so random and bizarre. I mean, yes, these people love to hunt. Camilla and Charles’s affair flourished, back in the day, at shooting weekends and hunting holidays. That being said, I think a trip to Spain sounds more reasonable than “she flew all the way to India and back in nine days.” I also believe that Cam stayed at some wealthy person’s estate, probably the Duke of Westminster’s La Garganta. What’s crazy is that Spanish gossips revealed this too – this was not some British royal reporter doing their job and asking where the hell the queen (consort) of England went on holiday. If it had been the Sussexes, they wouldn’t have stopped until they had done a full audit of the finca’s accounts. Also: the Mother’s Day Frankenphoto Fiasco really stopped any further criticism of Camilla’s holiday, didn’t it?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Kacey Musgraves covers the latest issue of The Cut, and it’s all about her new album, her new vibe, going back to her country roots and more. I did not realize that she’s 35 years old! I thought she was a decade younger. I also didn’t realize that she had such a reputation as pothead, and that she’s completely given up weed at this point. She used to wake-and-bake every day, then her marriage fell apart, she sold her post-divorce f–k-you house and she learned how to be alone. Some highlights from The Cut:

The physics of the gravity bong. “It was a cutoff. It was a two-liter cut in half and then on the lid you put … I don’t know. You fashion some sort of socket or something.” Yes, the lyrics to her new song “Deeper Well” are true; she really used to wake up, hit her homemade gravity bong, get high off her face, and go about her day. And yes, much to the dismay of her stoner fans on the Kacey Musgraves sub-Reddit, the lyrics that come after — “I’m getting rid of habits that I feel / Are real good at wastin’ my time” — are also true. She really has given up weed.

No more stoner life: “It’s not for this chapter,” says Musgraves, who now, at 35, is in a different phase: a chiller, late-millennial, Zillow-is-my-favorite-thrill era where sleep and time in nature is a priority and anything that might make her anxious isn’t. Not that she’ll never revisit her stoner days. “Maybe later, when I’m a 60-year-old lady with nothing to do and I’m just doing pottery all day, maybe. We’ll see.”

Returning to her country roots: “It’s just funny because country music has been such a massive part of my life since I can remember. I literally grew up wearing rhinestones in fringe and cowboy hats and cowboy boots. It was my life… Country feels like home to me. It may come and go trend-wise in other genres, but there’s always something really timeless to me about it, whether it’s popular in pop music or not.”

Her life now at 35: “I definitely feel way more grounded now than in the past. I feel like my feet are firmly planted on the ground, and no matter what comes my way and tries to rock me, I feel more planted, if that makes sense. Also, I think turning 35, you’re like, I have less time for superfluous sh-t.”

She couldn’t be alone, so she sold her big house: “It’s always given me anxiety, and especially when you’re on the road a lot and you’re surrounded by people and it’s go, go, go, it’s fast paced. There’s a lot of stimulation. And then you go home and there’s no one there.” Some of it was her — youth and all that — and some of it was that house. “I didn’t feel super-settled. There was just something that was not fully at ease there.”

She got a cottage in the woods: “It’s a happy place, and it feels very neutral and clean and clear. There’s deer and fox and turkeys everywhere and cardinals. I luxuriate in my bed. I hang out with Pepper. I cook for friends. I get song ideas there. I have a sauna. I use that. I just feel like I’m more well there, and I just have gotten better at not being intimidated by alone time.”

[From The Cut]

See, I enjoy being/living alone but I could never do it if I was truly isolated in some cottage in the woods. That would make me panicky and uncomfortable, because I would feel endangered rather than peaceful. It would be too quiet, and I would feel like I was being watched! Kacey showcased her big post-divorce home to Architectural Digest a few years ago, and that’s the one she sold… to Kelsea Ballerini. As for quitting the weed… like, I lived that wake-and-bake life when I was in college, which was a very different time. I wouldn’t be able to function at any level if I was still getting high like that, so it’s amazing that she was able to be a high-functioning stoner for so much of her career? Also, gravity bongs are no f–king joke. One hit from a gravity bong and you really will be stoned off your face.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Cut (@thecut)

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Kristen Stewart’s version of sexy dressing is a grunge mullet and tiny clothes. I actually like her general style these days, but I do wish she would fix the hair! [LaineyGossip]
Here’s the trailer for the new version of The Crow. [OMG Blog]
Socialite Life’s latest obsessions. [Socialite Life]
Review of Dev Patel’s Monkey Paw. [Pajiba]
Carey Mulligan’s awards-season wardrobe. [Go Fug Yourself]
Kelly Clarkson keeps suing her ex, I love her so much. [Just Jared]
Great menswear at the Oscar parties. [RCFA]
Martha Stewart really was (and still is) a babe. [Seriously OMG]
Madison LeCroy & Ciara Miller got a job. [Starcasm]
Khloe Kardashian’s son is getting so big. [Hollywood Life]
Failsafe rules of womanhood and girlhood. [Buzzfeed]

Don’t get me wrong, the Rose Hanbury story was huge royal gossip circa 2019-2020. We were living then and dissecting all of the clues, tweets, timelines and theories. We’re now five years’ past the initial “rural rival” story, which broke in March 2019, wherein Dan Wootton revealed that Kate Middleton was trying to “phase out” her “rural rival,” the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, for some unknown but heavily insinuated reason. The spring of 2019 was full of well-connected posh people and journalists suggesting that there was a torrid affair between Prince William and Rose. At the same time, Kensington Palace ramped up their attacks on the Sussexes as an explicit quid pro quo to get the British tabloids to bury the Rose story. The Rose-William alleged affair story is inextricably linked to what the Windsors did to the Sussexes – the Sussexes were fed to the wolves to protect William and his wandering sceptre.

All of which to say, it feels like casual royal gossips are now playing catch-up on this years-old tea. Which is fascinating to watch, as a somewhat niche gossip story becomes a global headline, all because of William’s missing wife. Stephen Colbert’s monologue on Tuesday gave the international media permission to talk about Rose and run explainers on the story, like this one at Entertainment Tonight. They’re also revisiting Omid Scobie’s Endgame and his interviews where he discussed why he included some interesting behind-the-scenes details on what was going down in 2019. Everything Scobie did and said last year looks so prescient, including calling his book “Endgame.”

Meanwhile, there’s precious little new gossip about Rose and William. I’ve believed for some time now that whatever was going on between them has been over for a while, although I also believe that Will and Kate maintain some kind of relationship with their posh Norfolk neighbors. The scandal in 2019 was, I have always believed, Rose putting KATE in her place and letting Kate know that’s not the way any of this is handled, darling. Speaking of, there is this one new story:

The recently resurfaced rumors of an affair between Prince William and Rose Hanbury have taken a toll on Princess Kate Middleton amid her recovery from abdominal surgery.

“Kate taking her wedding ring off [in a recent family photo] just intensified all the drama surrounding their marriage and the rumors of William’s affair with Rose,” a source exclusively tells In Touch. “You can’t blame her for being at her wits end with the rumors about Rose and William completely haunting her. It’s hurtful, especially because she’s still recovering from major surgery.”

Rumors that William, 41, cheated on his wife, 42, first surfaced in 2019 after it was reported that Kate and Rose, 39, had a falling out. None of the parties involved have ever publicly commented on the unverified rumors. However, the allegations resurfaced earlier this month, as fans have come up with conspiracy theories about why details of Kate condition following her January 16 operation have been kept under wraps.

Rose has not weighed in amid the resurfaced affair rumors. The former model is married to David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, and they have three children together.

[From In Touch Weekly via Yahoo]

Eh. I’m sure William isn’t happy about the revived interest in his alleged mistress from 2018-ish, but I’m also sure that he’s grateful we aren’t talking about his other alleged side chicks. Like, there are other people and other rumors and other avenues for royal gossips to investigate. A little bit surprised that no one has even bothered going down the Jecca Craig rabbit hole.

Everything we know about Rose Hanbury, Kate Middleton’s former friend and the woman rumored to have had an alleged affair with Prince William.

The 39-year-old former model’s official title is Sarah Rose Cholmondeley, Marchioness of Cholmondeley. She and her 63-year-old husband,… pic.twitter.com/B4SAGleVcJ

— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) March 14, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

One of my favorite things about royal-approved messaging from palace staffers is that they always try to make it sound like they’re super-busy doing everything else but working on the giant crisis they themselves are responsible for. The entire world is asking if the Princess of Wales is still on this plane of existence and why someone who had serious abdominal surgery would manipulate a Frankenphoto as proof of life, and Kensington Palace’s staff are gaily briefing, “we’re too busy to deal with that, we have do much other stuff to do!” Like, Kate has not worked a day since Christmas and William looks like he fell ass first into a bottle of tequila, what else are their staffers doing with their time? Be a manager! Do your job! Speaking of, Harper’s Bazaar got this exclusive:

The entire world seems to be awaiting Kensington Palace’s next move following the unexpected controversy over the family portrait released on Sunday, which showed Catherine, Princess of Wales, for the first time since the firm announced she’d been hospitalized for a “planned abdominal surgery” in mid-January. But we are told Kate and her team are holding steadfast through the storm.

A royal source tells Bazaar that the atmosphere at Kensington Palace offices has been “tense, but there is a sense that this will pass. They aren’t too worried.”

A Buckingham Palace insider adds: “Some staff can’t quite believe how badly KP have cocked things up by not paying close enough attention to what was being released to the world. Didn’t anyone there think to check the photo before it went out?” The insider adds that King Charles III is being “kept abreast” of latest developments, but “isn’t too concerned” about the current situation.

As for Kate’s recovery, a source says the Princess of Wales is “doing well, all things considered,” adding that the princess has left the house at least three times in the past two weeks. On one of those occasions, just over a week ago, she was “smiling, upbeat, and enjoying being out.”

A royal insider says, “[This situation] has caused some stress for the princess, but she tends not to pay attention to online chatter or even the press. I think people forget that this was simply a mother wanting her family to look their best in a photograph that was going to be heavily scrutinized. She was protecting her children.”

Regarding the various rumors surrounding Kate’s so-called disappearance, the source added that the palace is ignoring the “ridiculous conspiracy theories. It was always made very clear that following the princess’s surgery, she would recover in private until returning to duties after Easter. Nothing has changed on that front.”

The Buckingham Palace insider says that, while “this is all rather unfortunate, there is also a sense that, despite the hysteria and fevered online response, it will also blow over soon. This is not the first storm to hit these parts!”

[From Harper’s Bazaar]

Note: this is the first time I’ve seen unnamed Buckingham Palace staff criticize KP’s screwups. Beyond this, it’s been radio silence, which is another story altogether. While there’s a lot of incompetence to go around, at least BP’s staffers can do their jobs without tripping over their d-cks 24-7. That being said, ostriching is not the answer here, and these people have literally no concept of how social media or international media function. They’re like “oh this will blow over, it’s no biggie!” Agence France-Presse’s director compared the Windsors to North Korea and Iran. The biggest international press agencies in the world have said that the palace has zero credibility and they’ll be going over every press release and photo with a fine-toothed comb. The British media was caught with their pants down, having colluded with the palace to bury these issues for months, and they’re mad as hell.

And if Kate is choppering off to Norfolk regularly and getting out of the house, why are they not planning to relaunch/revive/resurrect Wiglet Christ Superstar on Easter Sunday? Why are these sources like “we told you AFTER Easter?”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

The Royalist column at the Daily Beast has yet another hilarious exclusive about Prince William and the Princess of Wales. In case you missed it, Kensington Palace has been trying, throughout the week, to spin the Mother’s Day Frankenphoto Fiasco into their favor. As in, poor Kate is so stressed out about the manipulated Frankenphoto fallout, won’t someone please think of her health? Meanwhile, Kensington Palace staffers were the ones tossing her under the bus in the first place and making her shoulder the blame for the fiasco. The fact that all of this is playing out in the American and British media instead of being handled internally is also a KP f–k up, clownery on top of clownery, lie on top of lie. Sources now tell Tom Sykes that Kate is under intense stress and it’s all the Sussexes’ fault! Harry and Meghan forced the Waleses to surround themselves with clownish staff.

Friends of Kate Middleton have blamed “intense stress,” including the fall-out from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s repeated denunciations of her and Prince William, as being at least partly responsible for her absence from public life, and her need to spend several months recuperating from abdominal surgery. They predicted that William and Kate would move to “clear out” Kensington Palace staff who had made mistakes later this year after an extraordinary meltdown in royal communications triggered by Kate publishing a photo in which she was not wearing a wedding ring.

The friend told The Daily Beast: “She has been under incredible pressure for several years, and is now being harassed by the media over f–k-ups made by other people. How her office could have put out a picture without her ring when it was clearly going to be one of the most scrutinized pictures of all time is just unfathomable. And she is to blame? Sorry, no. That was their failure and they should have accepted the blame. They will clear out all those people when the dust settles.”

The friend added that Kate’s office’s failure to properly vet the photo was also “to blame” for the resurgence of speculation over the state of her marriage to William.

Another friend of the family also told The Daily Beast that they believed the stress of the last few years, including the regular and damaging attacks made on the couple by Harry and Meghan, and the pressure of a whole raft of changes that came when the queen died, had triggered a stress-related illness in Kate.

The source said: “She and William have been under intense stress ever since Harry and Meghan left the family. They spent three years just waiting for the next horrific media interview. On top of that they have moved house, the kids have moved school, the queen died, and she became Princess of Wales. It’s not surprising she got ill, and it’s not surprising she needs a break from it all to get better.”

A former staffer told The Daily Beast that Kate and William’s priority would now be protecting their children. They said, “The thing that will be absolutely top of both their minds right now will be the impact this is having on their children. They are very fortunate that other parents at the school are very loyal, but the reality is that keeping this from children these days is an impossible task. I imagine the Easter holidays can’t come soon enough.”

A friend of King Charles’ told The Daily Beast that he and the queen would be “wholly sympathetic” towards William and Kate over the debacle. “The only answer is for her to get better and get back to work,” the friend said. Riffing off a reputed maxim of the late Queen Elizabeth II, the friend said, “Now more than ever, they will have to be seen to be believed.”

[From The Daily Beast]

This reminds me, in a way, of last year’s week-long gossip-cycle over Kate’s thunder-stealing appearance at the Chelsea Flower Show. King Charles and Camilla were supposed to get all of the attention on the flower show’s Media Day – Charles’s first Chelsea Flower Show as king! – and then Kate bused in children and threw a picnic on the same day, and Buckingham Palace ripped her to shreds. That’s when “sources close to Catherine” ran straight to Royalist to hysterically defend her and claim that she could do whatever she wanted and the king can’t do sh-t about it. I’m reminded of that whole storyline because palace insiders are making moves against the future queen consort and Kate is defending herself by throwing a huge pity party about the stress she’s under. She’s also reminding those palace insiders that they should remember their common enemy: the Sussexes.

Anyway, I honestly believe that Kate is getting the blame for other people’s “f–k ups,” but that’s one of the most interesting parts of this whole fiasco – WHY is Kate getting the blame, why is she being thrown under the bus, why are Kate’s few allies throwing hysterical tantrums to the Daily Beast?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

I enjoy Jennifer Lopez’s dogged, determined spirit. Plus I’m a gal who loves excess, so I admire the over-the-topness she was going for with releasing This Is Me… Now the album, This Is Me… Now: A Love Story the musical film, and The Greatest Love Story Never Told documentary. Only the album hasn’t done that well in the charts or sales, and as we all now know, Jennifer personally funded the $20 million it cost to make these projects. But J.Lo also has a This Is Me… Now Tour later this year, where she can deliver a great live show. Except now, one month on from announcing the tour, several dates have been canceled without much of an explanation

Some Jennifer Lopez fans will have to wait a little longer to be introduced to the woman J.Lo is now.

According to a message on Ticketmaster’s website, the pop star and actress has canceled concert dates on her upcoming This Is Me… Now tour dates, including planned stops in Nashville, Tenn., Raleigh, N.C., Atlanta, Ga., Tampa, Fla., and New Orleans, La.

The canceled dates were all planned to take place across a consecutive eight-day stretch from Aug. 22-30. EW has learned that a logistical issue through the promoter forced the last several dates to be canceled, but that there’s potential to work something out for the affected cities in the future.

EW has reached out to representatives for Lopez and tour company Live Nation for comment on the cancellation, as Ticketmaster’s note indicates only that, “Unfortunately, the Event Organizer has had to cancel your event.”

The cancellations follow the high-profile release of Lopez’s accompanying cameo-filled, self-funded streaming movie project and its parent album This Is Me… Now, a sequel to her 2002 album This Is Me… Then that, like its predecessor, chronicles Lopez’s love life — particularly her marriage to actor Ben Affleck.

While the streaming film (and a subsequent documentary about its creation) made headlines and courted viewer eyeballs according to Amazon streaming lists, This Is Me… Now the album marked one of Lopez’s least successful outings to date. It debuted and peaked at No. 38 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and fell off the ranking entirely the following week, though it did reach No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart.

[From Entertainment Weekly]

On the one hand I’m really impressed with Jennifer sticking to her guns for the trifecta projects. It takes equal parts confidence, delusion, and chutzpah to say YES! when absolutely everyone else in your life advises NO! The thing is, though, you kind of have to be right in order to pull off this maneuver and, well… yeah. By the time Jane Fonda weighed in with her doubts, that’s at least where I would’ve taken a pause. As for these cancellations, it could be something or it could be nothing. I think it’s too early to tell. But it certainly gives the vibes of an inauspicious start. I had a dorky idea, though: if AARP can sponsor the latest Rolling Stones tour, do you think Ben Affleck is on the phone with Dunkin’ to broker a deal? This Is Me… Caffeinated!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jennifer Lopez (@jlo)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jennifer Lopez (@jlo)

Photos credit: BauerGriffin/INSTARimages, IMAGO/mpi099 / Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon, Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon

In this week’s Gossip With Celebitchy podcast (which comes out this weekend!), CB and I had a minor debate about whether Kensington Palace released the Mother’s Day Frankenphoto as a reaction to the Sussexes’ successful and well-received trip to Texas. I think the Sussexes were, as always, a factor in the palace’s calculations, but I failed to mention another theory. That theory? That KP went into overdrive to create a counternarrative because Kate’s horrible uncle was saying all kinds of sh-t on Celebrity Big Brother, then Uncle Gary was the first one evicted from the CBB house and he kept on giving interviews. Interviews which have barely gotten any attention because everyone in the UK is obsessively following KP’s fiasco. Something to consider! As for Gary Goldsmith, he spoke to Nigel Farage at GB News (one of the most cursed sentences in the English language).

Gary Goldsmith has said he believes his niece Kate Middleton will definitely return to public duties at Easter. Following abdominal surgery, Kate has remained out of the public eye for two months as she recovers. It comes as royal insiders claim that The Princess of Wales, 42, is recovering well and will be back by Easter.

Gary appeared on Thursday’s GB News with Nigel Farage following his short-lived stint on Celebrity Big Brother where he chatted about his family. He said of Kate’s recent health issues: ‘I think she has the best support on the planet, she has the best people looking after her. They [The Palace} have said we would see her at Easter and nothing has changed since that! They have been very transparent.’

He added that he was shocked when Kate revealed it was in fact her that had edited the Mother’s Day picture of her with her three children. Gary said: ‘I did say when it came out the photo ‘there’s not a chance in hell she photoshopped them herself’ and then it came out that she did!’

Gary also spoke on GB News about his experience in the Celebrity Big Brother house. He said: ‘I wanted to change perceptions. I’m not a celebrity really. Looking back I looked so uncomfortable in those first few days in the house but everything is down to an edit. But it was the best thing I’ve ever done. It was a sneak peak at the celebrity life. They were hoping I would win that vote and not get kicked out!’

Gary spilled royal secrets in the Big Brother house which have ‘infuriated’ his family, as his niece Kate recovers from abdominal surgery. Despite leaving some viewers cringing with his behaviour, Gary insisted in his exit interview that he ‘achieved his agenda’ while living in the house. Speaking in his first interview on Late & Live, he said: ‘I’ve had the best time, I went in with one agenda and I’ve achieved it in five days. I don’t consider myself to be a celebrity, I just happen to be related to someone who is a big celebrity.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I don’t have the time or patience to track the ever-evolving predictions for when and where the Princess of Wales will reappear. Going from memory, my recollection is that the official timeline was always “after Easter,” and then it morphed into “she’ll probably take off for her kids’ Easter holiday too” and then “well, she’ll probably be back by Trooping the Colour in June” and currently, sources are insisting that Kate will rise like Wiglet Christ Superstar on Easter Sunday. Whatever plan they had for Kate’s relaunch, the events of the past week have multiple people, including Uncle Gary, insisting that she’ll be seen ON Easter. Sure.

Re: the Mother’s Day Frankenphoto, in several interviews, Gary insisted that it was real and “genuine” and “beautiful.” On Good Morning Britain, he also admitted that he hasn’t spoken to Kate in a while: “I haven’t spoken to Kate for ages. Years, maybe a year,” he said, adding that he typically only sees her at “weddings and funerals.” He also said that he hasn’t spoken to anyone in the Middleton clan since he was evicted from the CBB house. Do you believe him?

Photos courtesy of CBB and Kensington Palace.

Embed from Getty Images
RuPaul is having an excellent 2024 so far. Season 16 of Drag Race began in January and has had its trademark drama and celebrity guest appearances. Later that month the show won Best Reality Competition at the Emmys, where Ru also became the most decorated Best Host in the awards’ history with his eighth consecutive win. And just last week he released a memoir, The House of Hidden Meanings. This book is unequivocally RuPaul’s most searingly honest to date. Or at least that’s what the reviewers who were able to look away from the gorgeous cover photo say. Seriously, Ru is out of drag (even sporting facial hair!) in the black-and-white stunner, while staring directly at the camera, and by extension, us. Swoon! RuPaul sat down with Alex Cooper at the Call Her Daddy podcast on Spotify to discuss the memoir, in a conversation that covered his 30 years of drug use:

His first experience with hard drugs came when he was 13 in the form of a pill called a red devil. While RuPaul said he doesn’t remember the effects of that particular drug, he noted, “I wasn’t afraid of drugs.”

RuPaul said that in all the years he was a drug user, he “never shot up.” However, in his 20s, RuPaul “dropped acid every weekend.”

“Every weekend. Four hits of acid every weekend,” he said, before describing the experience of the drug. “It was the proof I had that this world is an illusion. That everything you think you know about solid objects or what people are is a lie. I had that suspicion before I dropped acid, so when I dropped acid, it was like, ‘Yes, this is it exactly!’”

“The people who freak out… those are the people that it never occurred to them that this is an illusion,” he added. “… It lifts the veil of the illusion, the fantasy that we collectively agree to in our lives.”

Looking back on his drug use, RuPaul said, “I used for 30 years. The first 20 were a blast. Had a great time. It was those last 10 that were pure hell.” Even so, RuPaul noted that he thanks “God for the drugs and alcohol, because it saved my life.”

“It gave me a layaway plan, a deferment plan until I was strong enough to deal with what was going on,” he said. “Thankfully, I found a 12-step program that really, really, really helped me so much that I am in love with. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that… The success I have today, I wouldn’t have that if it weren’t for this 12-step program… because it gives you all the processing tools to deal with all of the trauma of what life is.”

[From ET Online]

Wow, RuPaul offers a lot of depth just in that little summary alone. The perspective of being grateful for the drugs is intriguing. It’s certainly not what people usually talk about when discussing sobriety. But the way Ru explains his appreciation for a particular period of time, I actually understand his thinking? What I’m getting from him is that he’s afraid he would’ve shut down, either figuratively or in the worst way imaginable, if he didn’t have something to get him through until he was ready to deal with himself. Of course the huge caveat to that approach is, man was he lucky things worked out the way they did. You could think “this is what I need to get through for right now,” but your body could decide something else. Still, I think RuPaul sharing his full story, completely unvarnished, will do a world of good.

I’m ready to adopt “Everything you think you know about solid objects or what people are is a lie,” as a mantra. Though I haven’t ever dropped acid, I did have a very intense dream along these lines in my twenties that still haunts me. I was sitting in a circle with people from my childhood, in what felt like a meditation retreat. No talking, just sitting. And then kind of slowly yet suddenly, it was like a light was turned on and we realized there weren’t any definitions between us. The end of my arm or leg was just a trick of the eye. Once you had the right vantage point, it became apparent that everything was part of the same matter. We were all one, endless expansion of being, any perceived separations were merely illusions. I was so swept up in the moment, that when I woke up it nearly felt painful to be reconnected with solid, separated objects. The dream left me with the feeling that that field of connection is the place where I/we are supposed to find our way back to. Can I get an amen?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RuPaul (@rupaulofficial)

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Last month, the most anticipated superhero movie of the year, Madame Web, hit theaters. No one really knew why it was a thing, but the trailer was bonkers and well, it’s been a long four years, so there was some intrigue. Would it be one of those “so bad it’s good” movies? Or would it just be…bad? Sadly, not enough people dragged themselves to the theaters to hate-watch it, so it not only bombed with critics, it bombed at the box office too. It’s currently down to 12% on Rotten Tomatoes, woof.

At some point during the promotion for the movie, every star but Dakota Johnson bailed, as though they were distancing themselves from a trainwreck of a movie. Johnson’s co-star, Sydney Sweeney, is at SXSW promoting her upcoming horror movie, Immaculate. It’s about a virgin nun who ends up pregnant, a “seemingly miraculous event that soon takes a sinister turn.” While talking with the LA Times, Sydney gave some quotes about Madame Web, her acting method, and how she’s handling becoming more famous.

On Madame Web: Such is Sweeney’s current career trajectory that she is unfazed by the severe, mocking response to the recent disappointment “Madame Web,” saying, “I was just hired as an actress in it, so I was just along for the ride for whatever was going to happen.”

On producing: “I am a very hands-on collaborator. I like being able to give ideas, be a part of it, help come up with solutions. It just changes the whole process. It’s so hard for me now to be on a set and not be able to help in any type of way and be able to take action. And being able to actually have a voice and have a valued opinion — it means so much. And I still have a billion things to learn, but I love being able to be a part of the process from the beginning to the end. I’ve always built my characters from the ground up. And so I feel like I’m getting to do that on an entire script-level.”

She’s “dorky” IRL: “I am actually super dorky. I make very sarcastic dry remarks, and everyone close to me knows in real life I’m more of a comedian than a dramatic person.”

No method acting for her: “The number one thing [Andy McPhee, father of Kodi Smit-McPhee] always told me was to make sure that I separated myself as much as possible from my characters. Don’t put any of my own memories, emotions, feelings, people, relationships, anything in the thoughts of my characters, so that I can jump in and out.”

On how she’s handling her growing fame: “I am such a homebody that life kind of stays the same for me. I just hang out with my dog and my family and my close friends. There’s just more people who say hi to me when I go outside. That’s all…Nothing about this industry is normal. And I think it’s really important to remember that.”

[From LA Times]

I have the most to say about Madame Web, so let me first note that Sydney comes across as someone who is a very hard worker and very ambitious. It’s nice that she acknowledges that she still has a “billion” things to learn when it comes to producing. Also, good on her for being able to separate herself from her characters. That said, in some of her other answers, she gives me the impression that she is also someone who is trying very hard to say all of the “right” things to portray herself as a humble up-and-comer that’s been unchanged by fame.

Okay, so Madame Web. Lordy, the shade of pulling an “I don’t know her” about it. I think all of the actresses involved are missing a big opportunity here, and that’s to make it a cult classic. Do you think Susan Sarandon expected the following and residuals that would come from the The Rocky Horror Picture Show? That movie is crazy bonkers but I love the hella outta it thanks to the rituals that arose around it. Office Space was panned by critics too, but a red stapler, broken copy machine, and 15 pieces of flair made that instantly memorable. The groundwork was laid out for a campy classic when the whole “He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died” line trended on Twitter after the trailer came out. If a movie is laughably bad, there’s always a path to make people love it.

Photos credit: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon