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Hugh Jackman turned 55 on October 12. I really like Hugh and hope that the public persona we’ve seen over the years matches his real-life persona. Some celebrities you root for, and for me, Jackman is one of them. Hugh’s had a busy few months: He spent the pre-WGA strike filming Deadpool 3 with his friend Ryan Reynolds, he and Deborra-lee Furness announced their divorce after 27 years of marriage last month, and he joined Reynolds and Blake Lively on a Taylor Swift pap walk for a Jets/Chiefs game. He also announced last week that he’s working on a memoir with “big bombshells.” (Insert the “oh rly…” side eye emoji.)

Anyway, I think that it’s fair to say that a lot of people were surprised when Hugh and Deborra announced their split. PR statements keep insisting that the couple are on good terms and remain friendly. It looks like that may actually be the case because Deborra and their children joined him for a birthday meal at NYC restaurant Polo Bar.

There’s always an interesting crowd at Polo Bar. But last night there was a particularly fascinating table of revelers among the power crowd, we hear.

Page Six spies say that soon-to-be-exes Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness were at the chic Midtown hot spot, cheerfully celebrating the “Wolverine” star’s 55th birthday.

“Very happy time [had] by all,” said a source, “Think it was good birthday.”

Asked for comment on the former couple’s Thursday night out, a rep for Jackman told Page Six Friday morning: “Yes, it’s true. It was a lovely evening.”

Insiders confirmed that they were joined by their kids, Oscar, 23, and Ava, 18, and “a few close friends.”

Of course, the pair announced last month that they had decided to split after 27 years of marriage.

(It’s perhaps worth noting that if one were keen, say, to underscore that one’s breakup is an amicable affair, see-and-be-scene Polo Bar would certainly be the place to go to for a friendly dinner to prove it.)

[From Page Six]

If the Jackman family is happy to come together to celebrate Hugh’s birthday, then good for them! Seriously. By visiting Polo Bar, they’re clearly sending a signal for paparazzi to leave them and their family alone. It’s like, “We’ve heard the response to our separation and we want everyone to know that there’s no hard feelings here! Move along, now!” I respect that. Message received.

Meanwhile, Hugh also continues to have his friends around him. On the morning of his birthday, he went for a walk in NYC with Reynolds and Lively. It’s always nice to be able to count on friends and family when you’re in the middle of a big life change, and his friendship with Reynolds feels like the real deal. I’m sure Deborra and the kids also have a good support structure around them too. It looks like Hugh had a really nice birthday this year.

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photos via Instagram and credit: Robert O’Neil/Backgrid

So much of modern politics is not a battle between two extremes of the political spectrum, but a battle between those who live and breathe politics and the vast majority of people who are largely apathetic. I bring this up because something happened in Australia and at least one royal reporter thinks it’s a good sign for Australia’s monarchy. Meaning, King Charles and his merry band of colonialists. This was Richard Palmer’s tweet:

No doubt there will be conflicting views but, watching from afar, it does look as if Australians struggle to agree on the best way to achieve constitutional change.

— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) October 14, 2023

So what is this all about? Australia had a referendum vote on recognizing and enshrining Aboriginal people and their rights in the Australian constitution. The referendum failed – apparently, Australians overwhelmingly dislike change. Or at least that kind of constitutional change, and perhaps the kind of constitutional change it would take to toss out the Windsors.

Australians have resoundingly rejected a proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in the country’s constitution and establish a body to advise parliament on Indigenous issues. Saturday’s voice to parliament referendum failed, with the defeat clear shortly after polls closed.

To succeed, the yes campaign – advocating for the voice – needed to secure a double majority, meaning it needed both a majority of the national vote, as well as majorities in four of Australia’s six states. The defeat will be seen by Indigenous advocates as a blow to what has been a hard fought struggle to progress reconciliation and recognition in modern Australia, with First Nations people continuing to suffer discrimination, poorer health and economic outcomes.

More than 17 million Australians were enrolled for the compulsory vote, with many expats visiting embassies around the world in the weeks leading up to Saturday’s poll.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, called for Australians to show “kindness” to each other after the referendum.

“This moment of disagreement does not define us. And it will not divide us,” he said. “We are not yes voters or no voters. We are all Australians. And it is as Australians together, that we must take our country beyond this debate without forgetting why we had it in the first place.”

The vote occurred 235 years on from British settlement, 61 years after Aboriginal Australians were granted the right to vote, and 15 years since a landmark prime ministerial apology for harm caused by decades of government policies including the forced removal of children from Indigenous families.

The referendum had been a key promise that Labor party took to the federal election in 2022, when it returned to power after years of conservative rule. Support for the voice to parliament had been strong in the early months of 2023, polling showed, but subsequently began a slow and steady decline. All major polls had foreshadowed that the no campaign would succeed and the voice would be rejected. Nationwide support for the voice was hovering at about 40% in the week before the vote, with coverage of the campaign being overshadowed by the outbreak of war in the Middle East in the crucial final days.

[From The Guardian]

This sounds like the kind of thing which should have already happened long ago and it’s heartbreaking that the referendum failed. I have to admit though, Palmer might have a point? If Aussies are overwhelmingly apathetic about Aboriginal people’s rights and reluctant to change their constitution, that probably IS good news for the Windsors. It means Australians will by and large say “you know what, we don’t like the monarchy but it’s not like we care enough to actually remove them from the constitution.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Oh, here we go. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were out in New York last night – they made surprise appearances on SNL (which I’ll cover tomorrow) and then they went to the SNL afterparty at Catch Steak, where they held hands, etc. The Swifties are calling this Traylor’s “hard launch.” Like, it’s been a hard launch for weeks! But I appreciate that we now have photos of them together. He seemed very protective of her! Apparently, they plan to attend the Eagles game tonight (to see Travis’s brother play).

Meanwhile, in the first weekend in October, Travis Kelce was in New York ahead of the Chiefs playing the Jets. He came to New York a few days ahead of the game, and he was seen going into Taylor Swift’s apartment building that Saturday night (the night before his game) and leaving the next morning. We can also sort of assume that when Taylor went to Kansas City to see her first Chiefs game, she spent some time with Travis in his surroundings, although we don’t know if she went to his house that weekend. I mean, maybe she stayed at a hotel? Who knows though. Well, Tay was back in Kansas City on Thursday and she went to the Chiefs game. She decided not to stay at a hotel, I guess. The Kansas City paparazzi claim that Taylor spent the night with Travis at his mansion.

Taylor Swift appears to have crashed at Travis Kelce’s home in Kansas City, Mo., Thursday night after cheering on the Kansas City Chiefs star in his game against the Denver Broncos earlier in the evening.

Photos obtained by the Daily Mail show the pop superstar’s security vehicle parked outside of the NFL star’s $1 million property early Friday morning.

According to the outlet, the white SUV is the same car that was spotted picking up Swift, 33, from the airport.

Reps did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment.

Swift arrived in Kansas City early Thursday to make her way to Arrowhead Stadium for Thursday Night Football.

[From Page Six]

If you go to that Page Six link, you can see Travis’s $1 million Kansas City home, which is honestly lovely. It has great curb appeal and I bet the interior is really nice too. That home would probably be $8-10 million in LA. One of the photo agencies had photos of Taylor’s security in Travis’s neighborhood, which brings up something weird – I guess he doesn’t live in a gated community? I mean, yes, it’s Kansas City, but it’s amazing that people really don’t bother him or come up to his house.

Anyway, it’s sort of like “two 30-somethings spend the night together, news at seven.” I get that. But Taylor’s parasocial relationship with her fans means that I’m sure there are Swifty Puriteens crying about how Taylor would never have sex with a jock. To those Puriteens, let me say this: I bet it was really good too. That man looks like he knows how to lay some pipe. Taylor wouldn’t be hard-launching this thing if the pipe wasn’t good as hell.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Prince William was in France on Saturday with a special guest: his eldest child, Prince George. George has become a regular at sporting events in the UK, but George’s appearance at the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal was his first overseas sporting event. William and George watched Wales vs. Argentina. Argentina won, which made me think back… has George ever attended a sporting event where his team or the national team won? He went to the Euros final and Britain lost. He went to the Ashes and it was a draw (with Australia retaining the Ashes).

Anyway, I have no idea what to say here. I feel bad for George. This was the first day of his autumn school vacation and the poor kid had to wear a tie and a suit jacket. Let the kid wear a sweater and some chinos! Let him wear a team jersey! The purpose of George and Will both wearing red ties was because red is the color of the Welsh team. They weren’t doing some kind of father-and-son twinning thing.

I assume that William and George flew private to Marseille, just as William and Kate flew separately and privately to the previous Rugby World Cup matches last month. Of course that’s not mentioned in any reporting though! They’re also not mentioning William’s refusal to support the Lionesses when they made it to the Women’s World Cup final.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Josh O’Connor is arguably best-known for playing a youngish Prince Charles in The Crown Season 3 & 4. I say this every time, but Charles should be grateful that Josh played him – Josh brought a real sadness and pathos to the role, plus Josh is inherently charismatic and even quite dashing. Anyway, I’ve been excited to support Josh in his other endeavors, so I’m all about his role, opposite Zendaya, in the tennis love-triangle/drama Challengers. I’m honestly more excited about Challengers than I am about most of the Oscar-bait films coming out this fall and winter. Josh was profiled in GQ Hype to promote Challengers and he comes across very well. There’s a lot of space given, in this piece, to the fact that Josh owns a van and he drives it all around Europe while he’s working and he’s all about that #VanLife. Some highlights:

He named his van Winnie: She’s a refurbished yellow DHL delivery van. Inside, fairy lights are strung above the dining table, near a neat stack of gardening manuals and cookbooks. In the tiny kitchen, a waxy plant tumbles down past a spice rack, containing the big three of oregano, chili, and cumin. Hung on the walls are two needlepoint canvases of a medieval woman and man, made by O’Connor’s mother. Winnie is both a getaway car and a home away from home for O’Connor; he takes her on camping trips to unplug or, as he did last year, to Italy to live in while filming. “I got the van to get out of London and be away from all of it.”

He studied angry, brash tennis players for Challengers: “It’s really nice to play someone who is just pure outward energy. I remember when I first read it thinking he’s this tough guy, like a Gallagher brother. But then I remember having a breakthrough where I was convinced he needed to smile. Anytime he’s angry, I’d just whack in a little smile.”

His training alongside Zendaya & Mike Faist: They would spend two to three hours playing tennis six days a week, followed by two hours in the gym. “Then extra gym and tennis, then rehearsals,” O’Connor says, still aghast. “If left to my own devices, I’d go to the gym for an hour, then think I could eat whatever I want. I wouldn’t have done anything.”

Living in a nice penthouse in Boston during filming: “I remember Luca saying to me: ‘Actors are like racehorses: You have to keep them in condition if you want them to run as fast as they can.’ I think what he means is nice hotels, nice food…but being in a hotel room isn’t the best condition for me. It was so luxurious and I just felt depressed.”

He’s dyslexic: “It’s frustrating, because everything takes longer and you have to focus on something really hard… [but] You see things in a different way that aren’t necessarily generic.”

He went to school with FKA Twigs. O’Connor tried to use music as a way to impress her. “I really shouldn’t be saying this, but it’s hilarious. I was in a band called Orange Output basically to try and get Twigs to go out with me. I was the lead singer, and one of the lyrics I wrote was ‘I’m addicted to crack, motherf–ker.’ The closest thing I’d had to crack was Coco Pops.” Did she ever respond? “No,” he says. “I don’t think she knows who I am.” (Fact-check: She does. “I’m very flattered that he tried to do that because I was definitely not cool and not particularly popular,” Twigs told GQ, via email.)

He doesn’t support the British royal family or the concept of monarchy. When the real Charles had his coronation in May of this year, O’Connor didn’t tune in. Still, he was asked by the press if he wanted to comment, which made him laugh. “I felt really happy for [Charles] because it must feel like his whole life has led to that moment. I’m sure it’s the icing on the cake to put a really expensive hat on in a nice cathedral.”

Fragile masculinity: “There seems to have been a theme in my work of men that have struggled with masculinity… I think, generally, we’re all still trying to figure out what the f–k is wrong with men.”

[From GQ]

Josh has spoken before, in pretty plain terms, about how he’s a small-r republican and he thinks the whole monarchy thing is ghastly. Which is funny, because again – he was so good as Prince Charles, I’m sure people were more sympathetic towards Charles because of Josh’s portrayal. Anyway, it sounds like he was raised by two hippies in the English country and that’s still part of his identity – the guy who is very happy sleeping in a van and doing his pottery. I’m in love with him, truly.

Cover courtesy of GQ Hype, additional pic courtesy of Backgrid.

Over the summer, everybody decided, en masse, to binge-watch all nine seasons of Suits. In August, we heard that between Netflix and Peacock, people had streamed 18 billion minutes of Suits. Suits, a show which ended in 2019, was the surprise hit of the summer of 2023. Recently, Nielsen Streaming announced that Suits had been the #1 streamed show for the twelfth week in a row and “Only 11 streaming titles have sat atop Nielsen’s Top 10 for five weeks or more.” What do the youths want? MOAR SUITS. So Suits creator Aaron Korsh will give people more Suits.

For the past four months, Suits has been the hottest series on television, breaking a slew of streaming viewership records. Now the franchise, which ended in September 2019 with the Suits series finale, is plotting a comeback.

Series creator Aaron Korsh is in development of a Suits offshoot for NBCUniversal, sources tell Deadline. Deals are still being negotiated, but I hear the project is expected to be fast-tracked with a serious commitment.

This is not a revival or reboot and, unlike the 2019 Pearson, the new legal procedural is not a spinoff either — it would be a Suits universe series in the vein of the CSI and NCIS franchises featuring new characters in a new location, sources said. I hear Los Angeles is a backdrop considered for the workplace drama.

Like is the case for most NBCUniversal development, a network or platform for the potential new series has not been determined yet. The original Suits and spinoff Pearson both aired on the company’s USA Network. They were produced by UCP, part of Universal Studio Group. I hear UCP, where Korsh was based for many years with back-to-back overall deals, is in discussions to produce the new offshoot. Korsh is expected to executive producer alongside David Bartis and Doug Liman who were EPs with him on the original series. A rep for NBCU declined comment.

[From Deadline]

Basically, Suits is so popular that Korsh will get to create a Suits Extended Universe with new characters, maybe even one or two returning characters? What would be amazing is if they could arrange the “Suits Universe” in a way in which the old stars could pop in and out in guest-starring roles. Obviously, the Duchess of Sussex isn’t looking to return to acting full-time or part-time. But I could totally see her doing a one-off episode out of love for the Suits team and Aaron Korsh.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, NBC/Universal IG.

The trailer for The Curse looks interesting? Emma Stone should do more stuff like this, she’s great at weird/funny. [Egotastic]
What is Angelina Jolie doing about the Paris bedbug situation?? [LaineyGossip]
Gugu Mbatha-Raw looked amazing at the Bulgari event. [RCFA]
Why did Holly Willoughby leave This Morning? [Pajiba]
More photos from the big Bulgari gala, so many jewels! [Go Fug Yourself]
Ethan Slater is returning to Broadway in Spamalot. [Just Jared]
Kendall Jenner loves a Midwest bar scene. [Jezebel]
Are you guys watching For All Mankind? [Seriously OMG]
I also had a crush on the “Robin Hood” fox. [Buzzfeed]
RHOP has some golddigger drama. [Starcasm]

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The entire week, the British media has been desperately clout-chasing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and tried to attach the Sussexes’ New York trip to Prince William and Kate. It goes unspoken and unwritten that Harry and Meghan are off, doing their own thing with charisma, glamour, empathy and purpose, all while William talks about how the eggplant is his most-used emoji. One couple is serious, driven and compassionate. The other couple shows up half-assed and poorly prepared, and their appearances are (at best) perfunctory. As I said, the British media has been trying to tie the two couples together all week, but now Richard Eden at the Daily Mail is taking an even bolder stance: the Sussexes’ mental health work means nothing because of how Harry and Meghan have “hurt” Peg and Buttons’ mental health. You know what…

Harry and Meghan’s ‘disgraceful’ treatment of William and Kate undermines their high-profile commitment to promoting mental health, says Richard Eden. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex appeared in New York on Tuesday to warn of the dangers posed by social media.

But in a trenchant newsletter for Palace Confidential, Eden suggests that the Duke of Sussex and his wife have done little to support the mental well-being of his brother William, the Prince of Wales, or his wife, Catherine. The Waleses ‘have had to put up with the most disgraceful personal criticism from Harry and Meghan on television and in Harry’s book while being unable to answer back publicly,’ writes The Daily Mail’s Diary Editor.

He also takes online fans of Harry and Meghan to task for alleging – without foundation – that William and Catherine had somehow failed to support Meghan when she was experiencing difficulties of her own as a member of the Royal Family.

The Prince and Princess of Wales visited Birmingham, where they held a forum for young people focusing on the importance of understanding emotions and building positive relationships. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, meanwhile, were making their own contribution more than 3,000 miles away in New York.

‘William and Catherine have had to put up with more sniping from Harry and Meghan’s cheerleaders,’ writes Eden. ‘They claimed the Waleses’ concern for mental health issues was only skin deep because they had ‘failed’ to support Meghan when she was suffering problems of her own. This is grossly unfair. Harry previously praised his brother for encouraging him to seek help when he was suffering mental challenges after serving in Afghanistan. What about William and Catherine’s own mental well-being?’

[From The Daily Mail]

Controversial take: while Eden is predictably unhinged and full of sh-t, at least he’s saying something out loud which royal reporters rarely admit. Which is: William and Kate’s continued attempts to talk about “mental health” always fall flat because of the “original sin” of what they did to Harry and Meghan. While Eden brings this up merely to blame everything on the Sussexes and the Sussex Squad, he’s actually emphasizing a very real thing, which comes up in conversation every time William and Kate try, in their lazy, bumbling, assy way, to do mental-health advocacy. William and Kate were exposed as frauds, racists, elitists and chronic gaslighters. Instead of showing care and concern for Harry and Meghan throughout 2018 and 2019, Will and Kate leaked lies about them, sold them out, bullied them, abused them and (in one case) physically assaulted them. Anyway, Eden is just begging the Squad to interact with him so he can play the victim. Don’t do it.

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Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.

This entire time, Prince Harry and Princess Eugenie have remained especially close. To me, they seem more like brother and sister than first cousins. In Spare, Harry made his fondness for Eugenie in particular perfectly clear. Eugenie is still the only Windsor family member to visit the Sussexes in Montecito, and it’s likely that the Sussexes stopped by Portugal for a few days last month to spend time with Eugenie, Jack Brooksbank and their children. Considering Harry is making it clear that Eugenie is one of the few family members he’ll speak to, you would think that the Windsors would simply want to keep this “Sussex back channel” open. It’s Diplomacy 101 – even if you don’t have formal relations with a “hostile” entity, you need some way to communicate, and Eugenie is the neutral third party through which messages can be sent back and forth. She’s part of the royal family, but also separate enough to carve out her own life and she’s taken pains to remain friendly with both sides. So, of course, the Windsors want to figure out a way to force Eugenie into breaking off contact with the Sussexes or something.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could have a new royal feud on the horizon as the King and the palace worry what the couple could find out amid their ongoing close bonds to some of their relatives. According to an insider, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have remained very close to Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, which has “left the Royal family worried” about what palace information the Montecito-based duo could end up hearing, as per Heat Magazine.

The Duke and Duchess are said to have caught up with Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank recently, with reports even claiming they jetted off to Portugal together where they had a “wonderful time”. It was also revealed that Harry and Meghan are even planning on hosting Eugenie and Jack in California over the holiday season.

“They’ve got so much in common: the kids, a shared interest in philanthropy, and Harry enjoys offering advice to his cousin about how to further her career, while Meghan’s great with parenting, lifestyle, and nutrition,” the insider spilled.

But this bond is said to be causing a stir inside the palace, with them supposedly “worried” that the friendship could lead to a “new royal feud”. Speaking to the outlet, an insider said: “For the King, Camilla, and the Waleses, it’s rather unfortunate that Eugenie and Beatrice are so close with the Sussexes.”

The insider added that these fears are cropping up because Beatrice and Eugenie are “still privy to a lot of what’s happening inside Buckingham Palace, so there’s a concern about what they’re telling them, and what they could reveal – even unintentionally”.

[From The Daily Mirror]

“Beatrice and Eugenie are ‘still privy to a lot of what’s happening inside Buckingham Palace’” – are they though? Charles has made it clear that they’re not working royals, but they’re invited to “family events” like religious holidays. They don’t have an office or courtiers, and whatever they hear about Charles and Camilla’s machinations is probably through their father. It’s not like they’re hearing and sharing state secrets. They hear sh-t like “Camilla was drunk as a skunk at that event.” And I hope they do tell Harry about it and he laughs. Anyway, I don’t think this is actually about Charles and Camilla, neither of whom seems to care one way or the other about Eugenie and Bea or their friendship with the Sussexes. This is about William still being full of rage that everyone in the family hasn’t picked a side and chosen HIS side.

Meanwhile, Eugenie and Jack celebrated their fifth anniversary this week and Eugenie made a really sweet video:

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

It’s still sort of incredible that people continue to relitigate the 2022 “Oscar Slap” only to come to the conclusion that Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith were both at fault. Literally, there have been comments just this week about that. Jada was the target of Rock’s cruel joke, just as she’d been the target of his cruelty and harassment for decades before that night. Following the Oscar Slap, Chris Rock continued to blame JADA, targeting her yet again in his Netflix standup special, which he filmed in her hometown (Baltimore) and where he referred to her as a “bitch” dozens of times, claiming that she “started it.” Perhaps in Chris Rock’s delusional mind, Jada started it by refusing his advances. Well, Jada has more to say about how f–king crazy it was that she got the blame for her husband slapping Chris Rock.

Jada Pinkett Smith is looking back on the aftermath of her husband Will Smith’s Oscars incident.

“It was ridiculous in how far it went,” Jada, 52, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue, reflecting on the rumors that she was somehow to blame for when Will, 55, struck Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards.

“But I also understood at the same time. Considering the false narrative that I had cheated on Will or I was like some adulteress, Will had never done that before,” Jada says. “And I think that when we just look at human nature… when you look at the breadcrumbs, people need something to blame.”

“And so people not knowing what was happening behind the scenes, I surely wasn’t surprised that I got blamed,” she adds of how some interpreted the incident. “But I understood that that’s just the human nature of it all.”

[From People]

She’s right – it’s ridiculous how far it went, and she probably wasn’t surprised that so many people found a way to blame her. My heart still breaks for her when I think about that moment, especially knowing what we know now. She supported Will throughout his Oscar campaign, walking red carpets with him as they played as elite Black Hollywood power couple, even though they had been separated for years. She did that because she genuinely supports him and loves him, and she was there on Oscar night as the wife of a Best Actor nominee. Then Chris Rock – someone who has targeted her and harassed her for many years – got on stage and made fun of her alopecia. All she did was roll her eyes and look disgusted. That’s it. The rest of it was Will.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Instar, cover courtesy of People.