One of the big reasons why James Matthews was seen as a good match for Pippa Middleton is because of his wealth, of course, but also because his family owns one of the biggest and best resorts in St. Bart’s, the Eden Rock. Terribly Moderately Wealthy James doesn’t have that much to do with the operation of the resort, as he works full-time at his family’s hedge fund, Eden Rock Capital Management.

Anyway, TMW James was a good match because he’s rich and he and Pippa can go on holiday whenever they want in St. Bart’s. After Christmas, that’s just what they did. These photos are from this week, where Pippa and TMW James were seen taking a dip in the ocean. They didn’t bring baby Arthur Michael William Matthews, who was only born about eleven weeks ago. I can totally believe Pippa looks this great, only 11 weeks postpartum – she’s always been incredibly athletic, and during her pregnancy, she talked a lot about how she was striving to stay very fit. Look at her stomach muscles!! My fried chicken gut just grumbled and demanded some chocolate.

Pippa’s father-in-law David Matthews was around too – there were photos of him kissing his grandson, while Pippa held the baby. I haven’t heard any updates on those rape accusations and charges, by the way. This vacation seemed to mostly involve the Matthews family – TMW James’ brother Spencer was around, with his wife Vogue Williams. But Pippa got to invite her brother too, and look who has a new girlfriend!! James Middleton was seen canoodling quite openly with a blonde in a red bikini. I would say that it looked like they were performing for the cameras, but I don’t even know. Maybe he just has a new girlfriend and he doesn’t care who knows. I wonder if Prince William and Kate will find some time to slip down to Mustique for a few weeks this month or next.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

This weekend is Golden Globes Weekend. There will be parties and events and last-minute screenings and big pushes for certain actors or films. The day after the Globes, Oscar nomination voting begins, and the Oscar nominations will be announced January 22. The next six weeks, this is all the prime calendar-time for Oscar campaigning. I expect to see Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga and the women of The Favourite EVERYWHERE. But lost in all of the Oscar-campaigning shuffle is this: this year’s Oscars still don’t have a host!! Kevin Hart was announced as the host back in December, but he ended up quitting the gig in a flurry of bad PR and homophobia. Since then, the Academy is all “uh, what do we do now??”

The Hollywood Reporter has a breakdown of why all of this is so odd, and what the Academy’s options are at this point – you can read the story here. Rarely has a host been named this late in the Oscar season, and finding a replacement for Hart hasn’t been easy because ABC has no idea what “the kids” want to see.

What is known is what the Academy and ABC, which broadcasts the Oscars, do not want. They do not want someone who is socially divisive (especially after the Hart debacle), having concluded that politically-outspoken hosts have contributed to the show’s ratings declines in recent years; and they do not want someone who primarily appeals to older viewers, who are likely to watch the show regardless of who hosts.

One or both of these prerequisites probably rules out most past hosts — the AARP-eligible Billy Crystal (whose appearance in blackface at the 84th Oscars is also problematic), Steve Martin, David Letterman, Stewart and Goldberg, plus the controversial Alec Baldwin (who plays Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live), Seth MacFarlane (who was accused of being misogynistic at the 85th Oscars) and Chris Rock (who made Asian kids the butt of a joke at the 88th). And one or both of those reasons would probably preclude some other interesting candidates — such as Ricky Gervais, Hannah Gadsby, RuPaul, John Oliver, Sarah Silverman, Bill Maher or Dave Chappelle — from receiving an invitation.

Further complicating matters is the Hart factor. Anyone who has been approached since Hart’s withdrawal knows — and knows that everyone else will know — that he or she was a backup option, a second choice. Moreover, people who might consider hosting in other years, such as Dwayne Johnson, are probably reluctant to accept this year, not wanting to look like they are benefiting from the misfortunes of a friend.

The list of options is further winnowed by other considerations. The host cannot be someone closely associated with a rival broadcast network — like Kimmel’s late-night competitors from CBS, Stephen Colbert or James Corden, or NBC, Jimmy Fallon or Seth Meyers, or probably even someone from the scripted side like Sterling K. Brown of NBC’s This Is Us. The host also cannot be someone who has already agreed to host a competing awards show this season, such as Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg (the Golden Globes) or Megan Mullally (the SAG Awards). And the host won’t be Tiffany Haddish, whose performance at last year’s Oscar nominations announcement knocked her out of the running as far as the Academy’s president was concerned, even before her New Year’s Eve meltdown in Miami; Amy Schumer, who is very pregnant; or Hugh Jackman, who is already training several hours a day for his recently announced worldwide concert tour that will begin in the spring.

Some people who undoubtedly are on the Academy’s wish-list have explicitly stated that they will never agree to host the Oscars — among them, Justin Timberlake, Melissa McCarthy, Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, John Krasinski, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. And others who might well do a good job — such as Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Kumail Nanjiani, Busy Phillips, Josh Gad, Billy Eichner or Ken Jeong (Whoopi Goldberg’s preferred choice) — probably lack the sort of profile needed to garner ABC’s support.

[From THR]

THR goes on to say that ABC will probably have to call in some favors to get Jimmy Kimmel to host again as a last resort, or maybe get Lin-Manuel Miranda and Emily Blunt to do it, because Mary Poppins Returns is a Disney movie (and Disney owns ABC). And of course Ellen DeGeneres could conceivably get a call too – the last time she hosted, the Oscars actually gained viewership. Other names being floated? Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, John Legend, Ryan Reynolds, Kristen Wiig and Neil Patrick Harris. This is such a mess!! My God. I honestly feel like Jennifer Lawrence would be a good Oscar host – she’s quite funny, she works hard, and she could do pratfalls. Out of the larger list (above)… Kumail Nanjiani. He would be great. Put Kumail and J-Law together!! F–k it, it’s so random, it could really work.

Also: it’s a shame they haven’t given Seth Meyers more consideration – he works for NBC – because he would be amazing. John Oliver deserves more consideration too!! The Academy loves a British accent, and they would love to hear Oliver’s dulcet tones for four hours. John Oliver and Kumail. That’s what should happen.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Back in December, the smear campaign against the Duchess of Sussex was in full effect. Most of the smears were centered around the “feud” between Meghan and Kate. The duchesses seemed to nip that in the bud on Christmas Day, by making the effort to look chatty and friendly with each other. Their friendliness seemed to expose something else though: that the real feud is probably between their husbands, and that Meghan and Kate are being used as pawns in the brothers’ war. Anyway, back in December, I lost track of how many stories were about how Meghan and Kate were sniping at each constantly. One of those stories was hilariously about how Kate and her people were super-mad about Meghan “copying” Kate’s style. Which… please. Meghan has worn some buttony ensembles and she’s worn a few looks which reminded me of Kate, but mostly Meghan has carved out her own style story. And “sources” say that Meghan did that on purpose:

Meghan Markle has worked over the past year to establish her fashion identity as a working duchess—and consciously create a style different from Kate Middleton’s, a royal insider tells ELLE.com. Despite salacious tabloids alleging Kate and her team are annoyed that Meghan has copied her, Kate is not actually upset by or jealous of Meghan, as the women have very different styles and interests. In fact, Kate has been helping her. “Kate has been on hand to help guide Meghan with advice about certain designers and royal protocol,” the royal insider explains.

Meghan and Kate have different teams to plan their outfits. Meghan works with her friend and stylist Jessica Mulroney to review what she’ll wear to events long in advance, as Mulroney is based in Toronto and visits Meghan only periodically.

From the very start, Meghan and Mulroney knew that the Kate comparisons would be inevitable—and they treaded carefully in the beginning. The royal insider explains that there was a “conscious effort” by the two women to “not be accused of copying Kate’s style.” Their goal was to give Meghan her own unique wardrobe. But Meghan and Mulroney aren’t completely opposed to taking a little inspiration from Kate since the Duchess of Cambridge dresses so well and according to royal protocol. Mulroney has “certainly kept an eye on Kate’s style because she hasn’t put a foot wrong and is a great role model,” the insider says.

[From Elle]

Eh, they’re bending over backwards to make it sound like Kate always looks flawless, like she hasn’t spent a good chunk of her duchess years with flyaway hems, hot pink coats at memorials and what must be a million button-slathered ensembles. What bugs me is that Meghan will never be given the same time to develop her duchess-look – she’s expected to instantly get it right from the word “go” and that’s impossible. As for Meghan making a conscious effort to not copy Kate…yes, and you can see that. But what’s weird is that it definitely feels like Kate has subtly copied Meghan several times over the past few months.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid.

I had been hearing that Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik had another breakup towards the end of 2018. There was evidence building towards the breakup story, given that they hadn’t been seen together in a while, and given the absence of gushing in some recent interviews. But I still waited to see what would happen – Gigi and Zayn have had several smaller and bigger breakups, but they always seemed to get back together. Well, it looks like they really did take a break as of November:

It appears this may be the end of an era for Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik. Zigi fans were beginning to speculate that they split up because it had been a decent amount of time since the couple was photographed together. Sadly, the news might be true. A source informed E! News that the 25-year-old singer and Victoria’s Secret model “have been spending apart since early November.” The insider said the two of them “think it’s best for the sake of their relationship right now.”

According to the source, they have “both been really focused on themselves and their separate careers,” hence the time apart. Zayn has been “in the studio recording new music and pushing out his new album” whereas the 23-year-old model has been focusing a lot of time on herself. The source explained to E! News that Hadid’s schedule “slowed down after the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.”

There were some murmurs about their relationship around the time of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show because Zayn was not in attendance. A source told E! News at the time, though, that his absence from the show didn’t mean anything about their relationship status. “Everything is going smoothly, they are just trying to keep it more under the radar. It’s no surprise that Zayn didn’t attend the VS show. He is not one for public outings, and usually skips out on going.” Hadid and Zayn had also been “keeping their relationship more private,” according to the source.

Speaking of private, the “Pillow Talk” artist doesn’t follow her on Instagram anymore.

[From E! News]

One of the last times Zayn talked about Gigi was back in November, in an interview which was probably conducted in the last gasp of their relationship (in that moment), and Zayn talked about how Gigi is “super-organized and I’m really not” and how he “leans on her a lot.” We talked about how it is with the younger celebrities and with women fulfilling the caretaker roles in relationships, and basically… I just wonder if Gigi gets tired of taking care of Zayn. Like, she gets annoyed by his drama. Maybe I’m wrong.

Also: in her Mary Poppins gear on NYE, Gigi looked SO plastic.

I didn’t wanna take my Mary costume off pic.twitter.com/d5s1uZEvZ8

— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) January 1, 2019

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Just a spoon full of sugar helps 2018 go down … in the most delightful way! HAPPY NEW YEAR ! ??

A post shared by Gigi Hadid (@gigihadid) on Jan 1, 2019 at 9:13am PST

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Twitter, Instagram.

Julie Bowen was a guest on Busy Tonight about a week before Christmas. It’s new to me so we may as well talk about it. One of the videos was labeled “Julie Bowen explains why dating is terrifying,” which surprised me because I forgot that she broke up with her husband early last year. I’m the one who wrote that story too! Julie said that she isn’t dating because the divorced mom dating scene is a zoo, that’s what she called it and then she used euphemisms to explain that her friends showed her d*ck pics they’d been sent. That’s the worst. It’s only happened to me once but I was so upset by it. She also told a story about getting really high and not being able to function. Busy brought it up! The story I found the most interesting was how she got convinced to get Botox in her upper lip to avoid the lines you get from pursing your lips. Then she demonstrated not being able to drink or chew afterwards. It looked like trying to eat after getting dental anesthesia.

She was crawling on the ground after eating edibles
My therapist told me ‘[Ambien is] addictive, you need pot. It’s legal, get yourself some edibles.’ The directions say ‘eat half the bag.’ I was really conservative and only ate a quarter of the bag. Cut to me going down the hall [crawling and whispering]. [It took] five to eight hours [to wear off].

She had a bad Botox experience
One time somebody convinced me to [get Botox above my lip]. Let me show you what happens when you try and drink afterwards it’s like this *opens mouth wide, can’t suck straw, dribbes* I was like ‘how bad can it be?’ [It was] really bad.

She doesn’t read Instagram comments
The last time I read a comment it was so nasty and mean.

[From Busy Tonight videos]

One of my friends got so paranoid after eating edibles that he had to go to the emergency room. I’ve only smoked a few times because I hate how it makes me think. I end up analyzing my whole life and hating myself. I don’t think I’ll ever try edibles after hearing horror stories like this. As for Botox, I sort of want to try it but I’ve had such good results from all the new skincare we’ve been talking about that I’m going to wait. I’m also worried that I’m going to end up with a frozen face or not being able to smile or chew.

Here’s the video of Julie demonstrating her bad Botox experience:

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#Madonna shows off curvy backside at Stone Wall Inn where she delivered a surprise performance of “Like A Prayer” during New Year’s Eve. ?

A post shared by Pop Crave (@popcravenews) on Jan 1, 2019 at 9:03pm PST

Madonna wasn’t in her newish home of Portugal for New Year’s Eve: she was in New York, attending an event at the Stonewall Inn. The Stonewall Inn is the Greenwich Village bar where, in 1969, cops raided the undercover-gay establishment and a riot broke out. That riot is widely considered to be the biggest start of the gay-rights movement, at least in America. Days before NYE, Stonewall had announced that they were naming Madonna as their ambassador for the 50th anniversary celebrations. Madonna came by on NYE and made a speech and everyone was happy.

The thing is, Madonna is getting all kinds of headlines because she suddenly appears to have a Khloe Kardashian-esque Pinocchio Butt. People debate the whole “butt lift” versus “butt implants” versus “padded butt shapewear” thing and I’m no expert – I can only tell when someone’s butt looks suddenly different. Like, one day Khloe Kardashian just grew an absolutely circus-like ass. Obviously butt implants, right? Taylor Swift also had a moment where she suddenly appeared to have more of a bubble-butt than ever before, but I still think that might have been padding. Anyway, I think Madonna got the same thing as Khloe. Madge has always had a smallish dancer’s butt, so the Instagram photo (above) is startling because now it looks like her butt is coming to us from all angles.

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If THIS is not a HaPpY NeW YeaR I don’t know what the fuck is!!!!! 2019 will be aMazinggg! ?? Thank you @stonewallgives Thank you Madonnaaaaa! ?? #Madonna #NoTattooPost #OnlyLove #StonewallInn #BestNewYearsEveEver

A post shared by @Adibar1-MbitiousSupporter-NYC (@madonnastattoos) on Dec 31, 2018 at 9:38pm PST

Photos courtesy of WENN, Instagram.

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Merry Christmas ?

A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Dec 26, 2018 at 3:14pm PST

Seeing North West wear all of that makeup for the Kardashian-West’s Christmas photos makes me feel gross. I get that North is a girly-girl who loves to play with her mom’s makeup and hair stuff, but it’s quite another thing to let a five-year-old have a face full of makeup for Christmas photos. That’s what I always worried about with Kim as a mother – that she would pass on her body dysmorphia and extreme superficiality to her daughters. Well, Kanye and Kim already have two girls (Chicago and North) and one son (Saint). According to Us Weekly, they want to have another child, and they’ve already implanted their remaining boy fertilized egg into their surrogate.

Party of six! Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are expecting their fourth child, via surrogate, multiple sources confirm in the new issue of Us Weekly. In August, Us reported that the couple, who used a surrogate for their third child, 11-month-old Chicago, had one embryo left, a male. Now he’s due to arrive “in very early May,” says an insider.

In addition to baby Chicago, the couple are also parents to North, 5, and Saint, 3, and another source reveals that 38-year-old Kardashian “always wanted four kids.”

[From Us Weekly]

Kris Jenner had four kids with Robert Kardashian, then Kris has two daughters with (then) Bruce Jenner. It feels like Kim is stuck on the idea of “four” because of her own childhood and family. And hey, Kim got along really well with the surrogate, and Kim even hinted at the idea of reusing the same woman if and when they wanted their fourth. Basically, this wouldn’t surprise me. I think Kimye probably are expecting another baby – a boy – through surrogacy and that’s when Kim will call it a day. Unless she and Kanye split at some point and then Kim will probably have a kid with the next guy.

Photos courtesy of Instagram, WENN, Backgrid.

Embed from Getty Images
Rosario Dawson did an interview on Access Live about three weeks ago I’m not going to lie. (I was mildly desperate to find stories in this post holiday slump so I started watching celebrity videos and realized I should be doing this more regularly.) Anyway Rosario has a 16 year-old daughter, she adopted her daughter in 2014 when the girl was 12. That’s really cool and I didn’t know that about her. I can’t find her daughter’s name so I think Rosario tries to shield her from fame, although she has brought her on the red carpet. Rosario said she embarrassed her daughter by posting a strategically nude photo of herself on her 39th birthday. She doesn’t let her daughter have a cell phone however because she thinks it’s detrimental to brain development and because she didn’t have one.

She embarrassed her daughter with a semi-nude selfie
I have a teenager in high school who was just like ‘mom, I have kids who follow you online.’ I’m like ‘right well there’s probably a lot more compromising stuff about mommy online from different characters.’

This is about me and I just feel especially in this industry you get to a certain age they want you to sort of like disappear. You don’t get enough people celebrating and actually saying their age.

Her tips for heath
Getting enough sleep. Drinking a lot of water. [She represents Quaker] I eat a lot of oatmeal. [It’s good for] fiber and energy.

Her daughter doesn’t have a cell phone
No cell phone. No social media. I just think it’s really critical. I grew up, I didn’t have one. You’re seeing more and more stuff around brain development and how important it is that we learn three dimensionally. I talked to her about it. I go ‘you can see this with a lot of other kids who are developing themselves online according to the likes and dislikes they get. You don’t need that right now.’

[From Access Live]

OK so on one hand she’s like “yeah I’m posting semi-nude selfies, deal” and on the other she doesn’t let her 16 year-old daughter have a cell phone! How does her daughter keep in touch with her friends? Couldn’t Rosario set limits on it, like only an hour or so a day after homework is done, or tell her she’s not allowed to have Instagram? We didn’t have cell phones when we were kids because they didn’t exist. The entire accumulation of human knowledge is now on demand in our pockets. Plus teenagers have a whole social life that plays out online, and not necessarily on Instagram. There’s a way to let your teenager have access to the best parts of the Internet while keeping them away from the worst. Maybe her daughter has a computer though and other ways to use technology to be social. It’s Rosario’s prerogative of course and I understand wanting to keep teens off social media.

Here’s the video of Rosario’s interview:

Just know that I completely understand that I am getting increasingly grumpy as I get older. I spend a lot of time doing imaginary rants at whippersnappers. The Gerber kids particular annoy me – I’m loathe to cover Kaia Gerber because A) she’s just as much a nepotism model as Kylie Jenner; B) she’s too young to book all of these huge campaigns and runway jobs and C) I actually don’t think she’s grown into her face or body yet. The joke from Absolutely Fabulous has come true: the fashion industry is just chucking fetuses down the runway at this point. I cover Kaia because she’s been hailed as the next big thing, but I’ve always ignored Kaia’s brother, Presley. Presley Gerber is also a (nepotism) model, all cheekbones and sullen looks. But it seems Presley is very dangerous: he’s the kind of 19-year-old kid who gets blitzed and speeds around LA in his Tesla.

The son of Cindy Crawford and Randy Gerber — who has become a force in the modeling world — ended the year on a bad note … getting arrested for DUI. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … cops pulled Presley Gerber over Sunday at around 4 AM in Beverly Hills for speeding in his Tesla. Cops say he reeked of booze, so they gave him a field sobriety test … which he failed.

The 19-year-old model was booked for DUI and released without bail. In California, it doesn’t matter what his blood alcohol level was … there is zero tolerance for underage drivers who drink. A .01 will get you arrested. If convicted, Presley will automatically have his driver’s license suspended for at least 1 year.

Presley’s lawyer, Scott Spindel, tells TMZ, his client has no criminal record and has never been arrested, adding, “Presley Gerber takes this very seriously and is taking the necessary steps to address the allegations.”

Presley’s still a teenager but he’s already huge in the modeling world. He’s been signed to IMG for several years now and has done campaigns for Calvin Klein, Doce & Gabbana and Paris Vogue.

[From TMZ]

That’s interesting about California being a zero tolerance DUI state. I didn’t know that – people could conceivably blow a .01 if they just had a glass of wine with dinner. But it sounds like Presley’s blood alcohol level was a lot more than a .01, especially if he reeked of alcohol to the point where it was obvious to the cops. Take him off the road, California. Also: I wonder how Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber will play this? Odds on favorite “boys will be boys” or will they make him lean into the “bad boy” persona so that Kaia can be the Good Girl?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Happy New Year, Celebitches! I hope everyone enjoyed the various holidays and general merriment over the last month. I loved seeing the celebrations and decorations on Instagram so thank you to all who posted them, they were beautiful. Our buddy Dwayne Johnson posted a few Christmas themed pics to his Insta as well, all with his general message of positivity and spreading the love. Then he put his money where his mouth is and posted this video of his mother opening her Christmas gift from him, which turned out to be a new house. Good lord – that must have been one impressive tree to fit a whole house under it:

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This one felt good. Surprise! Bought my mom a new home for Christmas. All our lives growing up we lived in little apartments all across the country. Lived like gypsies on the road from one state to another. The first home my parents ever lived in was the one I bought for them in 1999. They divorced about 5yrs later and as with life, stuff happens and things got a little complicated. Since then I always made sure my mom and dad have everything they’ll ever need – houses, cars etc. But the house this time is a special one and the timing is very meaningful. I told her to treat this card like it’s “Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket” because she gets to choose any home she wants – anywhere she wants. I always say, if you got a good mama, then you gotta pretty good shot at becoming a decent human being. And somehow, somewhere along the line I became one lucky SOB to be able to make stuff like this happen. Merry Christmas Ma and WOOOHOOO enjoy your new home. Dwanta ??

A post shared by therock (@therock) on Dec 29, 2018 at 1:59pm PST

DJ is always generous, especially with his mother. And he’s explained before how tight things were growing up but that she made sure she was able to provide the necessities. This is lovely. I’ll bet it felt good to give it, too. And clearly Mama Rock can be trusted with the Real Estate Section because if I got a “Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket” for any house, anywhere, there’d be a castle with my name on it in the middle of Europe pronto. I hope he posts what she selects. Like, is she keeping the house he already bought her and just getting a pied-a-terre somewhere cosmopolitan? Or maybe a vacation getaway in some sunny locale? A ski cabin? (Yes, I’ve thought about what I’d choose – a lot).

One thing no one seems to have to worry about is how much this is going to set DJ back. It was recently reported that he picked up a $22M paycheck for The Jungle Cruise. Ah, Disney money. DJ’s co-star, Emily Blunt, is likely stunned at that number as well, considering she was only paid $9M to star in the same film. I understand there are box office numbers and track records to consider, possibly high-powered, better-negotiating agents as well but that percentage is gob-smacking. Considering Emily’s track record, less than half what he’s making? That’s outrageous. I hope Disney makes some kind of amends to Emily but I won’t hold my breath. That said, $9M would be a nice little down payment for my Castle Hecate.

Photo credit: Instagram and WENN Photos