Kevin Costner had to pay his first wife $80 million in their divorce. That was back in 1994, and it was one of the costliest celebrity divorces of all time. After that, Costner slowly rebuilt his career and his finances, and he basically only married Christine Baumgartner after years of stringing her along and after she gave him an ultimatum about wanting to get married. So, he had time to protect his assets this time around, and he made Baumgartner sign a pretty strict and kind of insane prenup. Part of the prenup was that, in the case of divorce, she would have to move out of all of Costner’s homes, which are solely in his name. Not only that, but he only gave her 30 days to move out! Well, I thought Christine had a good plan in place – she refused to move out of the Carpenteria mansion, she brought in the forensic accountant, she lawyered up. But things are not going her way.

Kevin Costner’s estranged wife Christine Baumgartner will have to move out of their shared $145 million compound by the end of the month, a judge has ordered. The couple, who are going through divorce proceedings, was scheduled for a conference management hearing on Wednesday where Judge Thomas Anderele denied Baumgartner’s request to move out of the home in August, according to Fox News and Yahoo.

Baumgartner, 49, who arrived by limo at the Santa Barbara courthouse, was photographed ahead of the proceedings. Costner attended the hearing via Zoom, remaining on mute, according to Entertainment Tonight.

The meeting comes after PEOPLE obtained court documents filed on June 30, in which Costner’s legal team claimed that Baumgartner allegedly “grasps at straws with one baseless argument after another,” as to why she should be allowed to stay in his Santa Barbara home.

Costner, 68, “respectfully requests that Christine be ordered to vacate his separate property residence forthwith and no later than July 13, 2023,” the document states.

These latest documents from Costner, who purchased the property in 1988 before he wed Baumgartner, come in response to his estranged wife’s own June 28 filing, in which she stated his claims that she will not vacate the home are “simply not true” and that she will move out of their beachfront property by Aug. 31 if a child support agreement has been made.

The exes share three children together — Cayden, 16, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13 — who has lived in the Santa Barbara compound their whole lives. In order to set up a “suitable separate household” for them, she has reportedly requested $248,000 per month in child support, a number Costner has rejected as “inflated.”

[From People]

Yeah, I have a bad feeling about this for Christine’s sake. Maybe she’s not going to be able to nullify that bonkers prenup. Maybe Costner really will kick her out of all of his properties and she’ll be forced to raise their three minor children in some beach shack rental. I thought Christine’s position was perfectly reasonable, by the way – she argued that she would move out as soon as they came to an agreement about child support. Plus, I honestly didn’t think the court would force a mother (of three minor children) out of the home she shared with her husband for 19 years before they had even come to any kind of financial agreement.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Over the weekend, the Daily Express had a big story on how the Windsors haven’t been doing the same number of events this year, given the decreased number of “working royals.” The problem isn’t just that there are too few working royals, it’s that the two youngest working royals are incredibly lazy. Don’t forget that they’re stupid too – Prince William and Kate think they’re reinventing the wheel by creating schemes in which they… do f–k all and claim that their events are more important. Not only that, but the Windsors can’t travel anymore, because they’re mostly despised in other countries. All of which brings me to this Mail story about how the Princess of Wales basically only does events “close to home” and only Tuesday through Thursday. This is not the first time the close-to-home work has been noted by the Mail, but this piece is an attempt to put a positive spin on how little Kate does and how few hours she works.

Juggling a full-time job with being a hands-on parent isn’t easy for any of us. Meetings, work calls, drop-offs, pick-ups… the to-do list is endless, and that’s when everything goes without a hitch. Spare a thought, then, for the Princess of Wales, who is rising up the ranks as a senior royal, while simultaneously trying to raise three children under ten.

How does she do it? Well, aside from a rota of assistants and Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, her devoted Norland nanny, behind the scenes, it’s all down to careful planning, especially in terms of timing and location. In the past eight weeks, almost every single one of Kate’s engagements has been within a 30-mile radius of her home — Adelaide Cottage in Windsor, Berkshire. The family moved there from Kensington in September last year. What’s more, they have all taken place between the hours of 9am and 4pm, meaning she can be around both before and after school (all three children attend Lambrook prep school, near Ascot) and never miss her children’s bedtime.

Ingrid Seward, royal biographer and editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, says this clever timetabling is an example of Kate’s ‘extremely logical mind’.

‘Any mum will be wondering how on earth she does it,’ Ingrid adds. ‘From the very start, Kate has been organised and disciplined. She gets up very early in the morning, and she is able to have a say on which engagements she will and won’t do, and discuss in advance which days she wants to work. It’s extraordinary — somehow she also manages to fit in working out, getting her hair and make-up done, and still being there for the children. But don’t forget she can delegate, and she has a lot of help, which most women don’t.’

Kate rarely appears at a royal event on a Monday or a Friday, although she does seem happy to work weekends, when she’s free of the school run. Tuesdays to Thursdays, by contrast, are her busiest days when it comes to engagements — and the ones on which she’s willing to travel farthest from home.

She has only been abroad for work once this year, to attend the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein with William in Amman, Jordan, and has taken just three trips outside the 30-mile radius of her home (to Bath, Southampton and Nuneaton) since the start of last month. Her focus has shifted, too, to daytime openings, meetings and walkabouts: far more school-friendly than the glitzy dinners, galas and premieres she and William used to frequent.

And the working window is likely to get narrower still as the school holidays approach, with the Princess’s official diary currently showing nothing at all for July and August.

[From The Daily Mail]

“The Princess’s official diary currently showing nothing at all for July and August” – lmao. She’s going to Wimbledon next week and then after that, no one will see her until late September, maybe early October. Remember that summer when she completely disappeared for like eleven weeks? “It’s extraordinary — somehow she also manages to fit in working out, getting her hair and make-up done, and still being there for the children.” Is that meant to be shady? It feels like it, because Kate barely does two events a week (usually on a Tuesday or Thursday!) and the rest of the time, all she does is catch up on TV, hang out with her mother, pamper herself, play tennis and God knows what else.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

There’s still no follow-up reporting on the collapse of the Middletons’ house of cards. In May and June, Carole and Michael Middleton “sold” Party Pieces in what was more like a bankruptcy-mandated liquidation. Carole was exposed as a serial grifter who defrauded banks and small businesses out of millions of dollars. We haven’t heard anything more about any of that in nearly four weeks. What was also interesting about the whole controversy is that the Middletons have wealthy in-laws – Prince William has private money, Pippa’s husband is terribly moderately wealthy, and James Middleton is financially supported by his wife Alizee Thevenet.

I always thought James was the black sheep of the family, the one Middleton with no hustle or business sense, just staggering from one financial disaster to the next. Now I know he’s a chip off the ol’ block. I have no idea what James’s latest failed business is – probably dog food? – but Alizee seems to make good money and she seemed fine with supporting their lifestyle. Except she’s going on maternity leave soon! Alizee is preg! James announced it on his Instagram, with photos of a bumped-out Alizee and their dog Mabel. Congrats to them, I guess. I really hope Alizee has a prenup. I hope she keeps her money completely separate from James and his grifter family. Anyway, Carole’s got another grandkid coming. She only seems to care about the royal grandkids, so who knows.

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Photos courtesy of Instagram, Backgrid.

As I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, I’m looking forward to seeing Joy Ride. The movie looks absolutely hilarious and all I knew about the concept was that it’s a raunchy comedy in which four Asian American leads head to China on a business trip that turns into a search for the biological mom of Ashley Park’s character, who was adopted by a white American family. Early reviews show Joy Ride at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes: critics love it and say it’s just as funny and raunchy as the trailer looks. Some highlights:

From The Washington Post: If it sounds odd to call a film in which characters shove cocaine into various orifices earnest and beautiful, that is the line that “Joy Ride” straddles (and I mean “straddle” quite literally at times). On the one hand, Audrey struggles to come to terms with feeling neither White enough nor Asian enough. Believe it or not, the juxtaposition is expertly handled. On the theme of identity, “Joy Ride” pays attention to small but crucial details: using chopsticks to eat bagged chips, Audrey hating the smell of oranges (which in Asia are said to bring good luck and happiness), or Kat and Lolo hilariously lamenting the frustrations of visiting family in China. Without these rich tidbits, the story would be just another hollow road trip. The intricacies and complex relationships elevate the story, painting a full picture of the first-generation Chinese immigrant experience.

From The Chicago Sun-Times: Female-fronted ensemble comedies are still relatively rare, but with “Bridesmaids” setting the tone some 12 years ago (!), we’ve since had “Trainwreck” and “Booksmart” and “Girls Trip” and “The Heat” and now comes “Joy Ride,” which had a working title of “The Joy F— Club” and that would have been amazing and absolutely accurate. This is a ferociously funny, raunchy, bold and original buddy comedy with a mostly female, Asian American lead cast that teams up with director Adele Lim to deliver the funniest movie of 2023 so far.

From The Seattle Times: Drugs and sex ensue, in vast and creative quantities and combinations, and yet with “Joy Ride” something else emerges as well: a surprisingly gentle story of friendship and identity.

From The Austin Chronicle: Joy Ride slides comfortably into the tradition of hard-R road-trip movies while also demonstrating that American culture still has many areas to open up in terms of representation.

From Tribune News Service: Hilariously daring, deeply moving, and stereotype-busting in equal measure, “Joy Ride” is also the raunchiest movie to most likely to make you shed a tear.

I didn’t read every single review because I didn’t want to learn too much in advance, but the ones I did read filled in some of the blanks about the plot and the characters. But I’m not spoiled yet and I’m super excited to see this movie. Honestly, I was sold when I saw the first trailer and even more so when I learned that the working title was the “Joy F*ck Club.” Apparently the movie lives up to its original name, while conveying a deeper and more meaningful message about friendship, family, identity, and belonging. I’m glad that a movie like this will broaden Asian American female representation, showing more facets of people in all their wild, complicated glory. A lot of the reviews mention raunchy buddy comedies like Bridesmaids, Girls’ Trip, and The Hangover, but from what I’ve heard so far it seems like Joy Ride is its own very unique thing.

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Ricky Martin and Jwan Yosef are getting a divorce. They met in 2015 and married in 2018, although it feels like they’ve been together for a lot longer than that. They have two children together, and Ricky also has sons Matteo and Valentino – he was a single dad when he met Jwan. Jwan and Ricky were a hot couple, but they’re both single now and back on the market.

After six years of marriage, Ricky Martin and Jwan Yosef are divorcing.

“We have decided to end our marriage with love, respect and dignity for our children and honoring what we have experienced as a couple all these wonderful years,” the Puerto Rican superstar and the Syrian-Swedish artist tell PEOPLE in a joint statement.

“Our greatest desire now is to continue having a healthy family dynamic and a relationship centered on peace and friendship to continue the joint upbringing of our children, preserving the respect and love we have for each other,” continue the ex-couple, who share two kids: daughter Lucia, born in 2018, and son Renn, born in 2019. (Martin previously welcomed twin sons Matteo and Valentino, born in 2008, whom he’ll continue to raise as a single parent.)

[From People]

I’ll be curious to see if we ever find out if there was something which triggered the divorce, an affair or a fight or something else. Ricky keeps his personal and professional business on lockdown for the most part, and he has a huge team helping him with every aspect of his life. Which is probably draining on a marriage, but it will probably mean that Ricky has the money and power to dictate terms about what comes out next. It was just last year when Ricky leveraged that machinery to shut down his nephew, who made some heinous claims about Ricky. I also kind of wonder if that whole “nephew story” played a role in the end of Ricky’s marriage.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

As a royal gossip fan AND a tennis gossip fan, I’ve really enjoyed all of the commentary and jokes from both sides of this story. On Tuesday, the Princess of Wales made an appearance at Wimbledon, showing up at the Royal Box just in time for Wimbledon’s salute to Roger Federer. Roger won eight singles titles at Wimbledon, so Centre Court gave him a standing ovation and a seat next to his biggest fan, Kate. Of course, Roger’s wife Mirka was also there, as were Roger’s parents (they were in the second row).

Roger sat in-between Kate and Mirka in the first row of the Royal Box. Many photographers just focused on Roger and Kate, cutting Mirka out of the frame. Mirka and Roger have been together since 2000 – she’s literally seen it all, including all sorts of women fawning over her man. As Mirka watched Kate try to flirt with Roger, I’m sure Mirka thought “this again, jeez.” And Kate absolutely was trying to flirt with Rog and she was so pleased to be in his company yet again. Roger is something of a family friend to the Middletons, although who knows if he’ll bother with the rest of the broke-ass Middleton clan at this point. He attended Pippa’s wedding, and he’s gotten invitations to Kensington Palace and more. I know Mirka is tired.

Anyway, it was curious to watch the British media try to make this into a thing. Maybe it was because Roger was nice to Kate and he didn’t look like he openly loathes her, which is how Kate’s husband looks most of the time. Maybe it was because Roger is a handsome athlete and Kate’s husband… is not. Maybe Roger is the new Prince Harry: someone Kate can obsess over and flirt with and then she can Mean Girl his wife. Well, the articles have been fascinating. From the Telegraph: “Kate and Federer’s double act is stealing the show at Wimbledon. Laughing in the royal box, the pair looked like the hottest non-couple in town – but let’s not make a racket out of it.”

Leo and Kate. Fred and Ginger. Bill Nighy and Anna Wintour. History is peppered with examples of famous names that fans have wished, just wished could be real-life couples, but for various valid yet inconvenient reasons – they’re happily married to other people, their dating cap is firmly 25 years old, they don’t actually get on in real life, they’re simply too chic to ever confirm anything – will never be.

To that list we can now, tentatively, add “Catherine and Roger”. Or Kate and Fed, if you are on such terms. Last week, the Princess of Wales and the Swiss Maestro, who have been friends for a decade, filmed a video at Wimbledon to promote the work of the ball girls and boys at the tournament. They laughed, they quipped, they rallied, they… flirted? No, no, too far.

And, yesterday, they were back together, sitting side by side in the royal box on Centre Court, where Federer was being honoured by his loyal flock. She wore a light green and ivory Balmain jacket, like a beautiful cauliflower. He wore a superb taupe double-breasted suit – the kind of shade the Prince of Wales only dares choose if he’s within two hectares of an African elephant.
To the other side of Federer was Mirka, his wife and the mother of his two sets of twins, but that’s plenty about her, thank you very much. Catherine and Roger, the hottest non-couple in town, were back on show.

“Whenever the Princess of Wales is with Roger Federer, she is like a giggly teenager,” one observer noted on Twitter. “Roger and Kate standing alongside each other look beautiful together. They would make [a] perfect couple,” wrote another. “Sorry Mirka and Prince William but Roger and Kate look stunning together,” went a third. And those are the clean ones.

One newspaper this morning has noted, with some outrage, that Federer even broke royal protocol by touching Catherine on the waist as he greeted her. Well, she started it: the Princess, who took over the presidency of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club last year, kissed Federer three (three! So Swiss!) times when he won a record eighth men’s singles title in 2017. Love all.

[From The Telegraph]

It’s so weird to talk this way about two people who are married to other people. Mirka and Roger famously have a great marriage – Mirka was known as the gold-standard tennis WAG, and she’s truly spent the past 23 years of her life watching women throw themselves at Roger. Meanwhile, they’re starting to write about Kate like she’s already separated from William and on the prowl for a new man. It’s definitely odd. It also feels like the message is overwhelmingly: “Look, a man was nice to Kate, maybe this will make William jealous!” Silly goose, William is only jealous of Harry.

Y’all tell me you see it! And she knows what she is doing, total mean girl energy. pic.twitter.com/T0QeiHn8Me

— Dr. Zanye (@bookedbusy) July 4, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

The only thing funnier than Taylor Swift and Matt Healy’s relationship was their breakup. Taylor gave Matt the full Boyfriend Rollout, and it was clear that they started months before the news broke in May. Even with the Swift machinery supporting Healy, he couldn’t hide the fact that he’s pretty racist and disgusting. Which made it hilarious when Swift was in the trenches just weeks into the Boyfriend Rollout – it was clear that her people were encouraging her to pull the plug on the whole relationship, which she did by early June. Overwrought quotes were provided to People Magazine and TMZ about how Swift and Healy are still good friends, that the relationship was never that serious, that Swift absolutely did NOT dump Healy because of his racism. It felt like Swift was fighting with her team about it. Well, now the Sun – the outlet which broke the news of Swealy in the first place – claims that Healy and Swift are back in contact and probably back in a relationship.

Superstar singer Taylor Swift has rekindled her romance with British rocker Matty Healy. Sources say the pair’s surprise reunion comes after The 1975’s frontman, 34, fired a female crew member from their touring party.

Friends say Matty has sacked a female crew member from The 1975’s touring team — suggesting a potential issue between her and US superstar Taylor. A pal said of the couple, who also briefly dated early in their careers: “There is just something electric between them and they seem to have overcome it all quite quickly and decided they definitely want to make it work at all costs. They’re arranging time together in between tour dates and talking all the time. He’s utterly smitten and it seems to be mutual.”

“One thing that was pretty telling was when a girl who had worked with the band for a while — she took care of their image, some styling, hair and make-up, that sort of thing — suddenly left. It sounds as though there may have been a bit of an issue over her closeness to Matty. One thing is for sure, he isn’t letting anything come between his chances of making it work with Taylor.”

[From The Sun]

Yeah… I actually believe that the Swealy breakup wasn’t even about romantic, racial or socio-political drama, it was about simple logistics of keeping up a relationship while they were both on tour this summer. Swift’s people even left open the possibility of a reunion when they confirmed the breakup. So… it’s even funnier that Swift’s team ran to People Magazine with a denial of The Sun’s story:

Taylor Swift and Matty Healy are not giving romance another go. Despite a report that the Grammy winner and The 1975 frontman are back together, a source close to Swift tells PEOPLE the musicians are not dating again.

“They are absolutely not together and aren’t even in contact anymore. She is enjoying being single and has been spending time in the studio and hanging out with friends in New York City. This is all B.S.,” says the Swift source.

“It’s complete nonsense,” a source close to the British band adds. “Not true at all.”

Reps for Swift and The 1975 have not commented.

[From People]

I know a secret love affair when I see one. Again, the Sun broke the story of Swealy in the first place, just as the Sun broke the news (with exclusive photos) of Swift and Tom Hiddleston back in 2016. The Sun has some kind of “in” with Swift’s team, so in this narrow situation, I kind of believe that the Sun might be more on-target here. I think the denial to People is an attempt to turn down the temperature on her controversial taste in racist incels.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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In July, 2021 Allison Mack was sentenced to three years in federal prison for her leadership position in the NXIVM cult, which included acting as lead recruiter for the cult’s exclusive master-slave sorority, D.O.S. Thanks to brave ex-members speaking on the record, documentaries like HBO’s The Vow and Starz’s Seduced exposed D.O.S. as a group of women who were groomed to be sexually abused by NXIVM leader Keith Raniere. These women were coerced into filming future-blackmail material on themselves which was handed over as collateral, and they were branded. Mack pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors by handing over evidence against Raniere and displaying “remorse” in court, which was why she got off with the shamefully low sentence of three years. On Monday she was released after only serving two of the three years:

The television actor Allison Mack, who pleaded guilty for her role in a sex-trafficking case tied to the cult-like group NXIVM, has been released from a California prison, according to a government website.

Mack, best known for her role as a young Superman’s close friend on “Smallville,” was sentenced to three years behind bars in 2021 after pleading guilty two years earlier to charges that she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for NXIVM leader Keith Raniere.

Online records maintained by the Federal Bureau of Prisons said Mack, 40, was released Monday from a federal prison in Dublin, California, near San Francisco. Her release was first reported by the Albany Times-Union.

Mack avoided a longer prison term by cooperating with federal authorities in their case against Raniere, who was ultimately sentenced to 120 years in prison after being convicted on sex-trafficking charges.

Mack helped prosecutors mount evidence showing how Raniere created a secret society that included brainwashed women who were branded with his initials and forced to have sex with him.

In addition to Mack, members of the group included an heiress to the Seagram’s liquor fortune, Clare Bronfman; and a daughter of TV star Catherine Oxenberg of “Dynasty” fame.

Mack would later repudiate Raniere and express “remorse and guilt” before her sentencing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

[From HuffPost]

This is despicable. Yes, Keith Raniere got a hefty sentence to serve 120 years in federal prison (the rest of his life) and to pay $3.46 million in restitution (arguably a low figure). But the NXIVM women who held prominent positions have walked away with paltry sentences–just under seven years for Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman who funded the cult, and 3.5 years for co-founder Nancy Salzman–and now Allison Mack has been released a whole year early. Mack was running D.O.S. right up there with Raniere. Their initials are branded onto women’s bodies–including one who was 15 at the time. All Mack served was two years. I’m angry, are you?

One last note: I find it beyond distasteful that media like HuffPost above, and even The New York Times, are still referring to NXIVM as a “cult-like” group. NXIVM is a cult, full-stop. Labeling it as anything less is a slap in the face to the victims.

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I ask this question constantly, but really: what is wrong with the Princess of Wales? Why is she so insistent on playing grab-ass with her husband when he clearly does not want her to touch him whatsoever? Why does she continue to create these awkward photo-ops where she’s leaning over and grabbing his ass at public events like the BAFTAs and Royal Ascot and the Scottish coronation? Even if you believe – as I do – that it must be a really miserable existence to be married to Prince William, a violent man with a hair-trigger temper, I actually feel bad for William in this narrow instance. Imagine trying to do a work event and your lunatic wife is constantly grabbing your ass in front of cameras.

So, yeah – it happened again. Kate groped her husband at St. Giles’ Catherdral in Edinburgh. She did it in the middle of the church service which was, in fact, the Scottish coronation. What kills me is that William is so visibly unsettled by Kate grabbing at him – you can see in the photos that he doesn’t appreciate Kate molesting him in church. What’s even weirder is that the British media is gaslighting William about his visible discomfort, with outlets like the Mail and the Independent falling all over themselves to call it “cute” and “playful” and “rare PDA.” It’s not even rare – this is like the fourth time she’s done it in public in the past six months.

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Here are more photos from the “Scottish coronation” on Wednesday, July 5th. King Charles, Queen Camilla, and the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay (William and Kate) went to a church service in Edinburgh and the Scottish Crown Jewels were dusted off. This was always scheduled to be part of Scotland’s Royal Week, aka Holyrood Week, although I think many people (myself included) sort of didn’t realize that this service counts as some kind of Scotland-specific coronation.

What’s fascinating is that the people of Scotland understood what Charles was trying to do yesterday and they protested his royal arse. Big time. Republic staged another massive protest, but this time, the cops didn’t shut it down, which is what happened at the Chubbly in May. As long as protesters were just chanting and holding signs, they weren’t arrested. Two people were arrested, but it was because they broke past the barriers. The “Not My King” chants were so loud, you could hear them over the band and bagpipes playing upon Charles and Camilla’s arrival at St. Giles’ Cathedral:

They’re boo’ing and chanting #NotMyKing at Charles Scotland
procession. pic.twitter.com/E1H5FhPbS9

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) July 5, 2023

Yeah… Scotland is restless. I genuinely feel like there will be a Scexit in my lifetime. Scottish people are not fond of Charles or his wife or his heir. The photos are atrocious too – these four look completely miserable. Hahahahaha.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.