Oprah Winfrey has probably tried every diet out there, every weight loss scheme, every fad and every cleanse. But she’s not trying Ozempic, the now-ubiquitous diabetes drug being used by so many people to lose weight fast. It’s not that Oprah necessarily has medical concerns about the drug, she just thinks Ozempic is “the easy way out” of weight loss. I mean… I can recognize Oprah’s perspective while also knowing intellectually how damaging that line of thinking is.

Oprah Winfrey is joining the conversation surrounding using type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic for weight loss. The media mogul, 68, recently hosted a panel, Oprah Daily’s “The Life You Want Class: The State of Weight,” discussing the obesity and weight crisis, which affects 2 billion adults globally. She held the conversation alongside obesity specialists Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford and Dr. Melanie Jay, and psychologist Dr. Rachel Goldman.

Winfrey — a board member and shareholder for WeightWatchers — was also joined by Sima Sistani, CEO of WeightWatchers, which recently started offering a telehealth treatment option for new weight loss drugs. During the panel, Winfrey revealed that she’s had some thoughts about taking Ozempic, an FDA-approved prescription medication for people with type 2 diabetes. It’s one of the brand names for semaglutide and tirzepatide — also known as Wegovy and Mounjaro — which works in the brain to impact satiety, and is the latest Hollywood weight loss trend.

“Shouldn’t we all just be more accepting of whatever body you choose to be in? That should be your choice,” Winfrey said during the panel. “Even when I first started hearing about the weight loss drugs, at the same time I was going through knee surgery, and I felt, ‘I’ve got to do this on my own.’ Because if I take the drug, that’s the easy way out.’”

Winfrey also explained that she was “shamed in the tabloids every week about for 25 years” for “not having the willpower” when it comes to her weight loss journey.

Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity medicine physician, emphasized that “obesity is a chronic disease” and “willpower” isn’t a word she uses when it comes to her patients.

“It’s hard to see you ostracized in the way that you’ve been. Because this isn’t about willpower. It’s not your fault,” she told Winfrey. “It’s how our bodies regulate weight and each of us is different, each of us is unique, not one is superior to another. We’re just different and acting on those differences and treating the differences in the heterogeneity of the population is how we’re going to actually make change in this disease.”

[From People]

I hate that I recognize Oprah’s line of thinking in my own. I sometimes look at Ozempic – when taken purely for weight loss – as a “quick fix” for people who aren’t doing the work of simply eating healthier and staying active. But obviously, it’s much more complicated than that, and Dr. Stanford is right – every body is different and it’s not about “willpower.” I also didn’t realize that Oprah is still on the board of WeightWatchers!!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Jill Duggar Dillard is still promoting her book, Counting On, which came out in mid-September. We’ve previously covered excerpts involving Jill and husband Derick discovering the benefits of therapy and Jill standing up to her controlling dad, Jim Bob, by telling him that he treats her convicted pedophile brother better than he treats her. It’s been a lot and while I still think she still has work to do on herself (don’t we all), I’m really happy that Jill has begun thinking for herself and become her own person who cuts her hair, sends her kids to public school, and <gasp!> wears pants.

Jill recently sat down for another interview to promote Counting On, this time with ET. She spoke about growing up on TV, her own personal journey of growth, and deprogramming from her cult family. Jill also shared the impact that thinking for herself has had on her relationship with her parents and gazillion siblings.

Growing up, Jill said she “never thought” her role in the family would shift “from the people pleasing, sweet Jilly Muffin to finding my voice, and standing up for myself and other people.” In doing so, Jill said, she went “from the golden child to the black sheep.”

“Looking back, I would have never imagined that I would be where I am now. That is not where I wanted to be,” she said. “… But you have to make a decision at some point: Are you going to cower to that or are you going to rise above it and just keep just pressing on?”

With the “great support” of her husband, Derick Dillard, Jill stepped away from her famous family’s teachings, even appearing in the Prime Video docuseries, Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, to speak out about her “cult-like” upbringing. That decision greatly impacted her relationship with her family, no one more so than her dad, Jim Bob.

“My relationship with my father, there were very hurtful things that happened and I’ve chosen to forgive him and to hopefully move on with better boundaries and better rules in place… so that hopefully that level of control and hurt won’t be allowed to happen again,” she said. “I feel like I didn’t have very good boundaries. I didn’t know what that could look like.”

While “things have not changed entirely” with her dad, Jill said he now understands that she and Derick are “serious about boundaries” and respects that.

“My relationship with my dad on a daily basis, we don’t have a whole lot of one-on-one contact at all right now, but we see each other at weddings or funerals or occasionally if there’s a family function that we might choose to go to,” she said. “That’s what we’ve kind of had to put in place just to keep things healthier.”

As for where she stands with her mom, Michelle, Jill said she tries “to keep my mom out of the middle of it.”

“As we’ve processed and really lived our story, the more I felt like… [she doesn’t] have to be the go-between between me, my dad, whatever. She can just be Mom or be Grandma,” Jill said. “… It is very separate. I try to keep it that way, because I think it’s healthier right now. I think it’s happier. It makes us be able to actually see each other.”

Jill noted that she last saw her parents several months ago, admitting that the interaction was “hard” and “not comfortable.”

“I don’t think it’s comfortable for them either. It’s sad,” she said. “You want everything to be perfect. You can hang out sometimes and have surface-level conversations, which is what I am actually wanting right now… because that’s easier. That is where we need to be right now.”

While Jill said she’s not “resentful” about the situation with her parents, she noted, “I would say that I’m sad about the way that the relationship is and that I’m sad about certain aspects of my relationship with my parents, but I’m hopeful moving forward. Not naive, but hopeful.”

Then there’s her siblings, some of whom she communicates with via a group text. Ahead of the release of her book, she sent her adult siblings a letter, in which she explained her reasons for speaking out, and was “pleasantly surprised that most of my siblings were saying, ‘I would love to read your book.’”

“I love all my siblings,” Jill said. “I hope that they know that I love them.”

Even so, Jill said she “didn’t write the book to try and change my parents” or her siblings, but rather as “our story to help other people who I had talked to, who felt validated, who came away saying, ‘I felt the same feelings of isolation and I felt like it bred this control aspect that’s not healthy and I feel validated in that.’”

“I think it could be helpful for some of my siblings to read and to hear our perspective on our story that may have been filtered. I think that it could be helpful for them to hear our story, but then also I think it could be freeing for some of my siblings,” she said. “… I think if that helps them, and frees them, and gives them their voice, and it empowers them, then I think that’s amazing. I would love for all of them to read it.”

[From ET Online]

When it comes to her family, I think Jill is doing the best she can with the hand she was dealt. She sounds even more well-adjusted in this interview than she has in previous ones. Most young adults want that autonomy of thinking for themselves and I think there are people of all ages who crave the approval of their parents. Given Jill’s insular upbringing, it must have been a tough realization that in the fundamental Christian world that she grew up in, one is directly tied with the other. I wonder if she understands the way women are perceived and treated in that world. As for her siblings, I thought she explained herself to them directly in a matter-of-fact, well-thought-out way. It would be nice if she reaches one or more of them and convinces them to leave the cult, too.

I also hope she realizes that while Jim Bob may be laying low and respecting her and Derick’s boundaries right now, abusive a-holes like JB don’t give up control over the women in their lives that easily. It sounds like she realizes it, though, when she says she’s “not naive, but hopeful.” Hopefully, she’s continuing with her therapy and building up the tools she’ll need when he inevitably tries to break those boundaries again.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jill (Duggar) Dillard (@jillmdillard)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Entertainment Tonight (@entertainmenttonight)

Embed from Getty Images

photos via Instagram, Getty and screenshots from YouTube

The Windsors have run out of punishments for Prince Harry, so they’re inventing things to “give” him so that they can hold these fantastical privileges over his head and eventually take them away. Like, how much of the royal establishment is just busywork and spinning wheels? Because it feels like that’s most of it. Last weekend, Buckingham Palace went on a briefing spree about Harry and their internal debate about what to do about a man who wants no f–king part of their bullsh-t. The biggest issue is that King Charles evicted the Sussexes from their British home, Frogmore Cottage, years after the Sussexes had paid back the full cost of renovation and refurbishment. Charles is currently floating the idea of “giving” Harry (and Harry alone) a “few rooms” in Kensington Palace so that Harry will have a place to stay when he comes into the UK. Instead of being outraged that the king is such a dogsh-t father who can’t even pretend to give a crap about the security of his grandkids, the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden is currently raging about how Harry needs to be punished even more.

The King should take a firm line with his wayward younger son – and refuse to provide a free British home for Prince Harry, says Richard Eden. In fact, he should go further, still and strip Harry of his special status as a Counsellor of State, one of the people who would stand in for the monarch were he to become unwell. Writing in the latest edition of his Palace Confidential newsletter, Eden explains that Charles has landed himself with an unexpected problem – because a Counsellor must be resident in Britain, yet Harry no longer has a home here. The answer, says Eden, is straightforward.

‘It’s time for the King to remove Harry as a Counsellor of State,’ he writes. ‘He should ask our lawmakers to remove the Duke of York at the same time. It would undermine His Majesty’s authority, and cause a public outcry, if he was to give Harry and Meghan a new home after their disgraceful attacks on the Royal Family.’

Eden says he was among those who applauded King Charles when he made the decisive move to evict the Duke of Sussex from Frogmore Cottage.

‘It made no sense for a couple who had quit official duties to be allowed to retain one of the biggest perks of life in “The Firm”: a royal residence in a highly desirable location on a heavily guarded estate. Ill-advisedly, however, the King then extended an olive branch by allowing Prince Harry to remain as one of his Counsellors of State.’

Others currently holding this role are Queen Camilla, Prince William, Princess Beatrice and, controversially, Prince Andrew, Duke of York. The King has recently asked Parliament to add Princess Anne and Prince Edward to the list.

‘This has now come back to haunt the King because, by law, counsellors of state are required to have a British domicile and Harry has no home here after giving up royal duties,’ he explains.

The Sunday Times reported that courtiers had discussed leasing a property on the royal estate to Harry and Meghan to try to resolve the counsellor-of-state conundrum. ‘This, in my opinion, is the wrong approach,’ says Eden.

[From The Daily Mail]

These people are sadists, and they’re perfectly comfortable showing the world just how sadistic they are. But a funny thing has happened – they already “punished” Harry so much, he’s basically numb to all of it now. Harry has moved on – he’s not begging to come back, he’s not begging to be a counsellor of state, he’s not begging for a royal home. The only reasons he has to visit the UK are to make charitable visits or appearances in court for his many lawsuits.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Joe Jonas and his team began their campaign against Sophie Turner on Labor Day, and by the end of that week, he had filed for divorce in Florida and served Sophie with an order saying she couldn’t remove their children from America. During that week, Joe’s team tried out several different strategies for why Joe was dumping Sophie – something about how she parties too much, how her career stagnated while his is thriving, and Joe seeing Sophie do or say something on their Ring camera. It was a lot and none of it worked, people saw through it. But I was still curious about the Ring camera story in particular! Well, Us Weekly has some answers to that in their cover story this week. Some highlights:

No end in sight: On September 25, a judge ordered Turner and Jonas to keep the kids in New York, but sources tell Us there may be no end in sight to the ongoing drama between the singer and the Game of Thrones actress. Friends are hopeful they can be mature for the sake of the kids, but neither one is going to acquiesce to the other. “This could go on for a very long time.”

Why Joe agreed to live in the UK: A second source says Jonas had agreed to relocate across the pond because “he wanted to make Sophie happy, and he supported her because that is where she wanted to live.” Now that they’ve split, the source says Jonas “is hoping they can come to an amicable agreement,” noting that Turner is “dead-set on moving to the UK full-time.” Adds a third source: “They’re both laying down these aggressive legal markers, but eventually a compromise will have to be made.”

Things went downhill when the JoBros went on tour: The first source says Turner wasn’t thrilled about Jonas’ decision to go on tour with his brothers Nick and Kevin. “Sophie didn’t want to always be ‘the Jonas brother’s wife,’” says the source. “She didn’t want to go on tour and do everything together. It’s not her personality, and she wanted to keep their family separate from all the Jonas Brothers hoopla.” The third source says Turner felt overwhelmed juggling her career, two babies and Jonas’ demanding schedule. “Being a mom on the road is not easy, even when you have unlimited resources. It was just hard for them to settle into a regular routine because of Joe’s career especially.”

They looked miserable together at an industry party in March. “Sophie says Joe was too controlling,” says a fourth source. “She also said Joe liked to flirt a little too much while out in public, but then he wouldn’t like it when she would get too close to her male friends. It was clear their marriage was crumbling.”

Joe’s September campaign: “Sophie was essentially painted as a party animal,” says the third source. “She was shocked and hurt.” As for Turner’s claims she found out about the divorce through the media, the second source says the actress and Jonas “had discussed it prior — it’s not true that she learned about it in the press.

The Ring camera: Another report claimed Jonas had discovered something scandalous via footage from their security camera at home prior to filing for divorce. The first source says the camera caught Turner saying some not-so-nice things about Jonas to a pal. “It wasn’t anything more than that,” the source says, “but that was the final straw.”

The Jonas family: Joe is leaning on his family. “They know that this divorce was not an easy decision for him, and they’re supporting him in any and every way they can,” shares a fifth source. His brothers’ wives, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Danielle Jonas, are trying to remain neutral. “They’re being supportive of both of them,” says the second source. “It’s a difficult time. They’re very busy, but wish Sophie and Joe the best in working it out.”

[From Us Weekly]

The Ring camera stuff… like, I actually see both sides, maybe. Sophie has every right to bitch about her husband to her friends or family, and it’s clear they were both unhappy and telling other people about their misery. On the other side, it was probably really hard for Joe to hear her talking sh-t about him behind his back. Like, I understand why this marriage broke down and why they were sort of doomed to fail from the start. But I genuinely hope that they figure something out which doesn’t involve a long, drawn-out, international custody fight.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, cover courtesy of Us Weekly.

In the past three-and-a-half years, the Windsors have tried and failed to stick to different messages about the Sussexit, the Sussex estrangement and the larger institutional and existential threats the Windsors face because of Prince Harry and Meghan’s thriving success outside of the royal establishment. The problems have only increased for the Windsors in the past year, following the death of QEII, who was not only a unifying figure for the nation and the family, but she was also the only person Harry and Meghan really respected and honored. Since her funeral, the new king has paid his advisors to come up with increasingly stupid strategies to deal with “the Sussex issue.” For months, it was “Charles is sanguine, he thinks the estrangement makes him look like a normal father!” But given that he literally just refused Harry’s simple request for one room for one night, Charles feels the need to change tack and go with a different media strategy: a detente must happen, but no apologies will be made to achieve the rapprochement.

No apologies: The friend of the king and Camilla told The Daily Beast that while Charles hopes to be able to build relations with Harry in due course, he would not be tempted to start dishing out apologies. They said: “It has been reported that Charles wants an apology from Harry, but that’s far from the case. [Charles] wouldn’t expect that. He knows the Windsors are a stubborn lot and Harry is no exception. The quid-pro-quo is, can Harry accept that he won’t be getting an apology either? Don’t forget that Charles authorized Jonathan Dimbleby to write a book which attacked his parents, but ultimately they all basically forgot about it, chalked it down to experience and moved on. Charles wants to hit the reset button—but not at any price.”

Dithering about having a conversation: While there is little doubt that an entente cordiale with the Sussexes would represent a win for King Charles, such hopes and dreams are balanced by concerns on the king’s side over the past years of doing anything that may breathe new life into the media narrative of a destructive royal feud. Arranging a meeting with Harry, no matter how cordiale, would risk doing just that. Indeed, the palace has been notably quick to quash as false rumors of “peace summits” or other tête-à-têtes in recent weeks. However, the fact that courtiers are understood to have told Harry he would be made welcome if he wished to visit his father at Balmoral earlier this month is “clearly a positive sign that things are moving in the right direction,” the friend said.

Charles’s priority isn’t Harry, BP’s briefings to the contrary: The friend said: “The Harry issue doesn’t have to be sorted out immediately but it will be sorted out eventually. Charles loves Harry but his priority is to fulfill his duty as king and not let his mother down. That means constitutional considerations have to come first.”

The Sussex estrangement makes Charles look like a dogsh-t father: Charles has inherited that instinct, but times have changed, and the reality is that, while people are sympathetic, the continued alienation of Harry and Meghan reflects poorly on Charles as a leader. It will only become an even more pronounced problem if his grandchildren, who are a prince and princess, grow up in California without any apparent contact with Harry’s family. And while royal sources like to give the impression that Charles has no need to hurry, the simple fact is that Charles is already 74. At the age of 73, he was the oldest person yet to ascend to the British throne. Given that both his parents lived well into their nineties, he is generally expected to do the same.

The William problem: But time is not, actually, on [Charles’s] side, and were something unthinkable to happen and Prince William to take the throne, even the most optimistic of palace spinners concede that an outbreak of brotherly love would be unlikely. William has remained implacably furious with his brother, outraged by what he sees as his betrayal of him and his family, and their privacy, for financial gain. He has no wish to see him, The Daily Beast understands from sources. Charles, however, does.

A strategic need: A former staffer who worked for the king in their time at Buckingham Palace, told The Daily Beast that Charles has a “strategic need to resolve the issue” of Harry’s estrangement from the family. The former staffer said: “It’s not sustainable for the king, who is the national symbol of unity, to be on such bad terms with his son that they haven’t been pictured together in years. Ultimately Charles has not just a personal but also a strategic need to resolve the issue.”

It’s all in Camilla’s hands, actually: “The division between state and family is sacrosanct so Camilla will be pivotal in all this,” the source added, “She is the only one who will be in a position to advise him who he will listen to. She is a pragmatist and I’m sure she understands the importance of putting this saga to bed.”

[From The Daily Beast]

Yeah, the issue is that it’s always been Camilla advising him, and Camilla likes where things are now, so that’s how things will stay – Camilla managed to get her way at every level. Charles’s first wife is dead, Camilla found a way to drive a wedge between Diana’s sons, she figured out a way to get the clever, charismatic son exiled and the other brother is malleable and stupid, as is his wife. This is Camilla’s monarchy. But I agree with the “sources” saying that Charles needs detente for strategic reasons. Too bad he can’t problem-solve his way out of a paper bag and simply treat Harry like a much-loved son, and simply offer the Sussexes a thorough apology explicitly for the sake of his grandchildren. Like, just on a managerial level, Charles sucks at this. At a parental level, the bar is in hell.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

The Earthshot Prize ceremony in Singapore isn’t until November 7th, so there’s still a lot of time for gossip about who’s going and who’s not going and why. In fact, it’s pretty clear that this Singapore trip is “the next big thing” for the British tabloids’ soap opera storyline. They must be bummed that they can’t find a way to make it about Prince Harry or Meghan! Anyway, for months, we heard that the Princess of Wales would join her husband in Singapore, just like she joined him in Boston for last year’s Earthshot mess. Then, rather suddenly, Camilla Tominey suggested that Kate would not go to Singapore. The Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle column doubled-down on Tominey’s reporting this week, claiming that Kate is “a reluctant overseas traveller” who prioritizes the school run ahead of any requests from Britain’s Foreign Office. Kate (or her mother) then ran to Tom Sykes with a delightfully unhinged and panicked rant about how Kate is not too lazy to travel. The latest update is that the Mirror’s Russell Myers seemingly got it confirmed that Kate will not go to Earthshot:

The Princess of Wales will miss Prince William’s third annual Earthshot Prize awards in a huge blow for organisers.

Kate has attended every awards since they began two years ago but it can now be revealed that she will not be travelling to Singapore with her husband for the 2023 event in November.

Instead, she will remain at home with children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who will be at school as the event coincides with term time.

It is believed Kate does not want to disturb the youngsters’ schooling and works hard to ensure the trio have a stable home life in preparation for their royal careers later down the line. Kensington Palace is poised to release further details about the 2023 Earthshot Awards soon.

[From The Daily Mirror]

All of these newspapers and tabloids are just flat-out refusing to speculate or investigate what’s going on here, meanwhile how much ink was spilled over “the Sussexes are separating” or “Meghan isn’t coming to London with Harry” or “Meghan didn’t go to the coronation.” It’s always projection. Whatever they say about the Sussexes, it’s always really about (P)Egg and Buttons.

Also: Sky News Australia suggests that Kate is refusing to do anything resembling a tour after she made an ass out of herself during the Caribbean Flop Tour last year. That was her last “tour” if we don’t count Boston (and I agree that Boston doesn’t count). The Wiglet Is On Strike, y’all. Kate’s gonna picket outside Buckingham Palace with a sign reading “Wiglet Rights Are Worker Rights!”

Update: Becky English is confirming it too.

Rumours the Princess of Wales will not be accompanying her husband to @EarthshotPrize in Singapore have been around for a bit. I’ve now had confirmation she won’t be attending. My understanding is that Prince George has exams that week and she wants to be at home to support him.

— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) September 29, 2023

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

From my very unofficial survey of Swifties, it seems like there is not a consensus about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s portmanteau. Are they Traylor? Tayvis? TayTray? Swelce? You guys need to figure it out – y’all insisted on Hiddleswift when, honestly, CB came up with “Tiddles” and we held the Tiddles line here on this blog. I’m personally leaning more towards Traylor, but I’m sure the Snake Fam is clever enough to come up with something better than “Taylor and that football guy.” Anyway, TMZ has been running all kinds of Traylor exclusives this week, including a photo taken inside of the Kansas City restaurant they went to following last Sunday’s game:

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce at the Chiefs game after-party in new photo obtained by TMZ. pic.twitter.com/M86WjeXsjg

— Pop Base (@PopBase) September 27, 2023

The body language was not what I expected. Taylor slinging her arm around her beefy football player boyfriend? Sure. It’s a vibe. Meanwhile, TMZ also got a tip that Taylor will attend the Chiefs’ next game in New Jersey on Sunday:

Taylor Swift is really digging Travis Kelce … because she’s expected back at his next NFL game. Sources confirm to TMZ … as of now, Taylor is expected to attend Sunday’s game between Travis’ Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

We’re told Taylor’s team is still working out security logistics with MetLife Stadium, where she played a huge concert earlier this summer on her “Eras” tour.

Taylor would be going back for seconds … she went to the Chiefs game last Sunday, watching Travis score a touchdown from a private suite with his family. It was the first time she went to one of his games since they started hanging out, and the first time she met his parents.

The NFL schedule is lining up perfectly for Taylor and Travis … his team is playing on the road against the Jets, across the river from New York City … where Taylor owns a place.

[From TMZ]

Oh God before this is over, the Swifties are gonna get into fantasy football, aren’t they? Literally, my first impulse was to look at the NFL schedule to see where the Chiefs would play next. Football was already America’s favorite sport, but Traylor is going to bring millions of new fans to the sport. I hope the football bros are ready to share stadiums with 20-something women with dip-dyed hair, face glitter and friendship bracelets. The NFL better embrace it too.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Getty.

During last weekend’s Buckingham Palace briefing spree, I kept wondering if King Charles was actually mad because he didn’t know where Prince Harry stayed overnight. BP’s courtiers briefed the Sun, the Telegraph and the Times about “the drama with Harry” and Harry’s breezy visit to the UK just before the Invictus Games. Harry attended the WellChild Awards, stayed overnight somewhere and then visited his grandmother’s crypt the next morning. Harry possibly requested a spare room at Windsor Castle for the night, only to be refused and told that there was no place for him in a 1000-room medieval castle, that he should fly up to Balmoral or something. It was dumb.

What I kept wondering was… did Harry stay at Eugenie and Jack’s UK home, wherever that is? I actually don’t know where they are now – they stayed at Frogmore Cottage for a time as well, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family, but I have no idea where they are now when they’re in England. That’s just it – they spend a lot of time in Portugal now that Jack has a fancy job with some kind of real estate/tourism company. Harry hasn’t seen his favorite cousin since the coronation, and he hasn’t met her new baby Ernest. Well, according to Portugese sources, Harry and Meghan might have stopped into Portugal to spend a little time with Eugenie and Jack post-Invictus.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may have taken a detour via Portugal on their way home from the Invictus Games, according to reports. According to Portuguese media, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, 39 and 42, took a ‘lightning romantic escape’ to the village of Melides in the Alentejo region of the country following a week in Dusseldorf – and they may have caught up with Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank too. Prince Andrew’s daughter, 33, and her wine merchant husband, 37, have strong ties to the region where Jack works in marketing and sales at the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club.

Now Portuguese magazine Nova Gente has reported that the Sussexes flew back to Montecito, California via Portugal on invitation of Eugenie.

Despite a fraught relationship with most of his family, Prince Harry has revealed he remains close to Eugenie and shared snippets of days out with her in his $100 million Netflix series last December.

The Portuguese magazine reported the Sussexes’ visit to Eugenie and Jack was a ‘mega-secret operation’ which saw them departing Portugal on September 20 on a British Airways flight to London Heathrow airport, accompanied by two bodyguards.

‘The couple reached the plane in a white van carrying just them and their bodyguards,’ a witness told the publication. They added Meghan was wearing a dress with cropped sleeves and flat shoes, with her hair in a ponytail – and she looked ‘tired’ following a busy week at the Invictus Games.

[From The Daily Mail]

A commenter mentioned, months ago, that one of the most amazing things Diana and Fergie did was encourage their children to interact as siblings and loving family with no agenda. That’s really stuck with me, because it’s really true – Fergie still feels like an aunt to Harry and William, she’s proud of them in that way and she would never say a bad word against them. Diana and Fergie’s plan worked in Harry’s case – he adores Eugenie and Bea so much. The more we see and hear of Harry and Eugenie’s relationship, it really feels like she’s the little sister he always wanted, the trusted confidante and friend. The fact that the Windsors can’t find some way to force Eugenie to cut her ties with Harry is also fascinating to me. Anyway, I kind of believe this – I bet Harry and Meghan both wanted to meet Eugenie’s second son and spend a little time with Jack and Eugenie.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

I love Hot Ones, the YouTube show which has arguably become one of the hottest promotional stops for actors, musicians, writers and reality stars. Cate Blanchett appeared on Hot Ones during her Tar promotion, and it felt like that was a huge breakthrough. Suddenly, A-listers were booking it to Hot Ones, a show where celebrities just sit around, eating progressively spicier wings and answering questions. Well, Cardi B finally decided to do Hot Ones. She says she did it for her fans, because they were begging her to do it. She acquitted herself well, honestly, although she did take very small bites for the most part. Here’s the full video:

Cardi looks beautiful, but I wish she had worn her hair back. The giant chandelier earrings were also annoying me. But overall, she did well, especially when someone handed her the ice cream. I always wonder why every Hot Ones guest doesn’t bring their own ice cream. Surely, that’s the best way to combat the heat?

My favorite parts, in no particular order: Cardi using logic and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War to explain why aliens are not real and not visiting Earth; Cardi being a history nerd and geeking out about how much she loves FDR and Elenor Roosevelt; Cardi being a fashion girlie and geeking out about Thierry Mugler; when the heat starts kicking her ass and her voice breaks; Cardi referring to each wing as “her” and “she.”

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images, screencap courtesy of Hot Ones/YouTube.

The curse of Taylor Swift’s exes continues! Matty Healy announced that his band The 1975 are going on hiatus, at least from touring. He said this on stage at a show while the band is in the middle of a six month long world tour. It’s not clear if they’re breaking up the band or just not touring afterwards. But Matty’s string of racist controversies and scandals has probably contributed to this. Since Taylor dumped him at the urging of the Snake Fam, he hasn’t cleaned up his act at all. Just a few days ago he deactivated his Twitter account after making an ableist joke aimed at indie group Boygenius. He is a gross person.

English pop band The 1975 is taking a break–with no indication how long it will last.

Frontman Matty Healy delivered the news on Tuesday to a California crowd at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento between songs. The announcement was followed by audible screams in a video that has since gone viral on social media.

“We always love coming to this place to play for you guys whenever we get the chance,” said Healy, per footage on X. “And it’s wonderful you’re all here. After this tour, we will be going on an indefinite hiatus of shows, so it’s wonderful to have you guys with us tonight.”

The announcement kicked off the North American leg of the band’s Still…At Their Very Best Tour.

Band manager Jamie Osborne hinted at the possibility of a hiatus in August. Still, Healy’s announcement left some fans shocked. Others seemed fed up with Healy’s antics over the past year.

“The guy should just take an indefinite break from everything,” one person wrote on X.

Healy made headlines in January after a performative Nazi salute onstage, which flared into virulent backlash against his brief relationship with superstar Taylor Swift. His self-admitted interest in watching p-rn showing Black women getting brutalized attracted further outrage.

[From The Huffington Post]

It’s always annoyed me that these guys were critical darlings because the music is mostly pretty basic. There are a lot of bands that are doing more interesting things, that are not fronted by morons. A lot of frontmen are at least a little bit narcissistic, sure, but he’s in a league by himself. Maybe The 1975 would be a better band if they just replaced Healy with someone who isn’t a racist edgelord who thinks that being offensive is a kind of performance art. Reading between the lines I do think that this indefinite hiatus “from touring” is a more permanent break. Their manager said on Instagram that this tour would be “the final The 1975 dates of this era and for quite a while.” We can only hope, right?

Photos credit: Justin Ng/Avalon, Cover Images