Before the Duchess of Sussex jetted off to Germany to reunite with her husband, she was enjoying a peaceful weekend in Montecito with her kids. Apparently, she didn’t feel like cooking, so she went to an In-and-Out Burger. Paparazzi got photos of her driving herself (GASP) in her $140,000 Range Rover (DOUBLE GASP) to In-and-Out on Sunday, with a friend riding shotgun. I thought Meghan and Harry were utterly friendless? I thought they had no friends or family and everyone hates them? Are you trying to tell me that Meghan has friends?

In her Variety interview last year, Meghan said that she and Harry both love In-and-Out, and she orders a cheeseburger, fries and a side of jalapenos, whereas Harry gets a Double Double. How dare they, honestly. Harry’s Double Double is an insult to his late grandmother. QEII was beside herself with grief over a side of jalapenos. Hilariously, the Mail also detailed what Meghan’s food would have cost – $8 for a cheeseburger meal, oo la la, eight whole American dollars for a cheeseburger meal, ordered from the comfort of her Range Rover and taken back to her $14 million Montecito home with the eleventy billion bathrooms.

Meghan is wearing Celine sunglasses in her Range Rover! Remember how Kensington Palace demanded that she turn over her American passport, driver’s license and car keys? Oh, and the haters think these photos are “staged.” I would say the backstory is probably a lot worse – paparazzi trailing Meghan, seeing that she was headed for the In-and-Out drive-thru and a photographer raced inside to “shoot” her from within the burger joint. That is exactly the level of stalking the Sussexes are facing.

Meghan Markle Picks Up In-N-Out Burger at the Drive-Through While Prince Harry Is at Invictus Games https://t.co/2G8sf8IAK7

— People (@people) September 11, 2023

Meghan Markle hits In-N-Out Burger drive-thru https://t.co/RlnJN5ukxa pic.twitter.com/oUg7MRRumC

— Page Six (@PageSix) September 11, 2023

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

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It’s been the summer of the Celebrity Divorce so it’s a nice change whenever we cover weddings. Joey King got engaged to her longtime boyfriend Steven Piet last year and they just got married this month at a villa in Mallorca, Spain. Joey’s ceremony dress (by Oscar de la Renta) is an unusual but beautiful choice: it features several large floral paillettes. It’s super striking in photos. Sabrina Carpenter sang as Joey walked down the aisle and the couple danced to “Sea of Love” by Cat Power. The photos, which the couple shared with Vogue, are gorgeous. It looks like a classic, elegant kind of wedding, which I love. The ceremony took place overlooking the sea with these very classical-looking arches. If I happen to marry rich (we can always hope), I’ll definitely be tracking down this villa.

Joey King stunned in Oscar de la Renta for her big day. The 24-year-old actress recently tied the knot with director Steven Piet in Spain, and gave Vogue a look at her picture-perfect nuptials and her unique gown.

King chose four Oscar de la Renta dresses for her wedding weekend, all of which were “perfect” to the bride. The standout look was certainly the gown King wore for the ceremony at La Fortaleza in Mallorca, Spain, which featured a dramatic strapless neckline and large fabric flower-petal paillettes.

She kept her glam and hair simple, and added scalloped detailing to her manicure to match her gown.

Sabrina Carpenter sang King down the aisle at the beginning of the ceremony, which the bride describes as “absolute perfection.” The couple’s friend, Erik, officiated as guests including Michelle Williams and Thomas Kail, AnnaSophia Robb, Phoebe Dynevor, Kaitlyn Dever and Logan Lerman watched on.

“Looking out from the altar at all of our friends and family was an unforgettable moment. We truly felt so perfectly present, and soaking in every detail was pure magic,” she says. “Between that and hearing Steven’s vows and being able to read mine to him… Nothing could’ve made this moment better. Also might I add, it was raining heavily right before the ceremony, and somehow the sun shone right as guests arrived. We were truly the luckiest people.”

After the ceremony, the newlyweds headed to the reception, which featured speeches from family members, “unreal” food and drinks, and the couple’s first dance to Cat Power’s “Sea of Love.”

“It was magical,” King says. “Looking at my perfect husband while dancing to this perfect song was a dream.”

Then the party really got going, with King noting, “We danced so hard that we looked like we had taken showers because we were so sweaty.”

“The best part was seeing all our friends who didn’t know each other just melting into one another and instantly connecting,” she says. “We are surrounded by the best people, and seeing them all together was infectiously joyous.”

[From Entertainment Tonight]

I love the dress because it mirrors the girlish prettiness in Joey’s features. She’s very much in the “gamine” archetype in my opinion and those types can get away with whimsy without it looking costumey. It fits her vibe and it’s unique! I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it. I also like her reception dress, which is very feminine with a tiered tulle skirt. Normally I hate tiered skirts like that but your wedding day is the best possible occasion to go for something ultra-romantic. Something else I love is the colors of her bouquet and the flower arrangements. The soft pinks and purples work well with the soft blue that her bridesmaids are wearing. Joey and Steven seem like a super cute couple and I wish them a lifetime of happiness.

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Hot Labor Summer is definitely continuing into Fall, and I think it’s in no small part due to excellent messaging from the unions. SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, who handily won re-election last week, ended August by framing the Hollywood strikes as commentary on the “culture of big business.” Well, it seems workers in the auto industry were listening. The 146,000-member United Auto Workers (UAW) have been negotiating new contracts with General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis (they make Chrysler), collectively known as the “Big Three” of US automakers (and the only US auto companies with unionized workers). The deadline for working out new contracts with each of the Big Three is before midnight this Thursday, and all signs are pointing to the clock running out and strikes being declared:

A lack of good faith: UAW President Shawn Fain earlier panned some automakers’ offers and emphasized that union workers stand ready to head to the picket lines, though he told a crowd in Detroit over Labor Day weekend: “Our intent is not to strike. Our intent is to get a fair agreement.” The union is negotiating with all three automakers simultaneously, in a break from previous rounds of contract talks. The UAW also recently filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board accusing GM and Stellantis of failing to bargain in good faith and in a timely fashion. The automakers have said they’re willing to negotiate in good faith and have pushed back against union demands they say are excessive — in some cases warning that big pay hikes could cut into investments needed to make the transition to electric vehicles.

CEO wages have been hiking: Fain has promoted the union’s “ambitious” push for more generous wages and benefits. The UAW is seeking a 40% wage hike over four years (amounting to 46% compounded), along with cost-of-living increases; beefed-up retirement benefits, including pensions on par with what autoworkers previously received; and a shortened 32-hour workweek, down from 40. The UAW has pointed to Big Three executives’ pay in demanding higher pay for workers. For example, GM chief Mary Barra’s compensation grew by 32.5% from 2018 to 2022. During the same period, the median GM employee’s pay grew by 2.8%, public filings show.

Agreeing to better wages would be cheaper than letting it go to a strike: Even a strike lasting just 10 days could cost the Big Three automakers at least $5 billion, according to a recent estimate by the Anderson Economic Group… GM and Ford stand to lose $2.5 billion and $3 billion in revenue, respectively, for every week a strike lasts, Goldman Sachs Equity Research estimated. By comparison, agreeing to a 40% wage bump for UAW members would cost GM $4 billion to $5 billion and Ford $5 billion to $6 billion over four years. Goldman didn’t provide estimates for Stellantis.

UAW has a fund ready in case talks break down: The UAW has amassed $825 million in a strike fund that would pay eligible members $500 a week during a work stoppage, a sum that is expected to last for up to around 11 weeks but could be depleted sooner because of health care costs.

A 2019 strike saw GM lose billions in a little over a month: In 2019, autoworkers at GM went on a 40-day strike that cost the company an estimated $3.6 billion that year. The work stoppage pushed Michigan’s economy into a single-quarter recession.

[From NBC News]

Look, at this point it’s not news that CEOs don’t want to part with their disproportionate salaries. Even though it’s not surprising, I still get angry, especially when the numbers so clearly spell out that there is money available to give workers better wages, and that doing so would cost less than a strike. But the part that really sent me over the edge, though, was the Big Three’s implication that there’s only room in the budget for transitioning to electric vehicles OR giving workers better pay. They simply cannot do both! Please, GMAFB. If only the Department of Energy would invest a couple billion dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act towards domestic manufacturing of electric vehicles…

The countdown is on for midnight on Thursday. UAW sure seems united and prepared should they be left with no alternative but to strike. I’m rooting for the autoworkers, the writers, and the actors. And later down the line I look forward to the Oscar-bait film that will inevitably be made with Charlize Theron as a UAW member just trying to make a living.

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Photos credit: Jim West / ImageBROKER / Avalon and via Instagram

Drew Barrymore is bringing back her talk show during the strike, but she claims it will comply with SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike rules. Meaning… no writers? [Seriously OMG]
Britney Spears was scared during her infamous VMA performance. [OMG Blog]
Jennifer Lopez was the buffer between Anna Wintour & Edward Enninful. [LaineyGossip]
Is the latest film in The Conjuring franchise any good? [Pajiba]
Emma Watson went to the Soho House Awards. [Go Fug Yourself]
Jake Gyllenhaal raves about his brother-in-law Peter Saarsgard. [Just Jared]
Marvel stuff feels like homework these days. [Jezebel]
Photos from the Venice Film Festival’s closing ceremony. [RCFA]
Nicole Scherzinger is in Austria? [Egotastic]
The youths created a new acronym for “being rude at dinner.” [Buzzfeed]
The amfAR gala was star-studded, probably because celebrities are not scabbing if they attend a fundraiser for a charity?? [Towleroad]

Here are some photos of Taylor Swift out in New York on Friday night. She was one again at the Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village. It’s Taylor’s hottest club – she’s been recording at that studio for the better part of a year, and she invites her friends to hang out with her there. On Friday, Margaret Qualley, Karen Elson, Cara Delevingne, Sadie Sink, Hayley Williams and several other friends all joined her.

Guess who else was there? Sabrina Carpenter. If you’re in any way familiar with the backstory of Olivia Rodrigo’s first album, Sour, you know that Sabrina Carpenter was “the other woman” in Olivia’s first relationship. After Taylor and Jack Antonoff sicced their lawyers on Olivia over her song “deja vu,” Taylor then invited Sabrina to open for her Eras Tour. Taylor and Sabrina are now tight, and Olivia is apparently writing music about how Taylor f–king sucks. Behold, Olivia’s “The Grudge,” which many people believe is about Taylor.

There’s also a lot of discussion about Olivia’s “lacy,” which is more clearly about a woman – a rival, someone who screwed over Olivia professionally and personally?

I have no idea what’s about Taylor and what’s about Sabrina or whether these songs are about someone else entirely. What I do know is that on the same day Olivia’s GUTS album was released, Taylor was in her Bad Blood era with her performative girl squad, which now includes Sabrina Carpenter. Sh-t went down and I’m on Team Rodrigo.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

I watched a lot of this year’s US Open, and the fortnight felt especially star-studded. Tennis is back in a big way, and celebrities weren’t just coming out for the final – they were showing up for day sessions and night sessions, they were watching women’s matches and men’s matches, singles and doubles, and they weren’t just hanging out in VIP suites. It was great to see! It felt like Jimmy Butler was there the whole time. Charlize Theron made repeat appearances (she’s apparently a huge tennis fan). Mindy Kaling, Jon Hamm, Aaron Rodgers, Nicole Kidman, Justin Timberlake, Leo DiCaprio, Lil’ Wayne (also a huge tennis fan) all came out. Matthew McConaughey sat in Novak Djokovic’s player box alongside Novak’s parents.

Well, guess who got the most attention at the men’s final on Sunday? Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet. They were together in one of the VIP boxes, towards the back of the box, seated behind Laverne Cox. This was their second appearance as a couple at a public event. Their first was Beyonce’s LA concert a week ago, and that appearance caused the Chalamet fans to have a massive meltdown. I haven’t checked on those people today but I’m sure there are some tears.

I have nothing to base this on besides my gossip gut, but I suspect that Timmy is the tennis fan and Kylie was just there because Timmy invited her. It’s also interesting to me that they’re in New York – it was my impression that their love affair was mainly being conducted in LA, but their love travels. Anyway, I’m rooting for them! Why not.

PS… I love that Timolie were drinking Honey Deuces, the official cocktail of the US Open.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Here are more photos of Prince Harry at the Dusseldorf Invictus Games over the weekend. He not only gave a wonderful speech at the Opening Ceremony, he’s also attending as many competitions as he can. Plus, he’s doing all of the soft-diplomacy – giving attention to all of the various delegations and different teams. In some of these photos, it looks like Harry was seated next to Bill Nelson, the NASA Administrator and part of the American delegation. I bet Harry can’t wait for Meghan to arrive, and my guess is that she’ll be in Germany either later today or tomorrow. Meghan is also good at this kind of soft-diplomacy work. Here’s Harry’s Opening Ceremony speech:

He got a standing ovation and everyone in that room understands what he did, what he built and the importance of Invictus.

Meanwhile, the British media’s approach to covering Invictus is to basically “seethe and change the subject.” The Daily Mail is running at least five different stories about Harry and Meghan’s “poll numbers,” and I am again asking people to stop including Harry and Meghan’s names in your bullsh-t polls. They’re ranting and raving about how Harry is so “unpopular” (lmao) and how Invictus is a “reset” for him after… his massively successful memoir, which is one of the biggest bestsellers of the year. There’s also a story about how Harry is staying at “a £2,000-a-night Presidential Suite” at a luxury hotel in Dusseldorf. Like… did they expect him to stay at a youth hostel? The Mail literally describes the hotel’s sweeping views as they rant about Harry’s poll numbers. It’s insane.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Prince William, Kate and Princess Anne made a special podcast appearance ahead of the Rugby World Cup. The podcast? The Good, the Bad & the Rugby, which is co-hosted by Mike Tindall, Anne’s son-in-law. The conversation was about the importance of sports in kids’ lives and how rugby has changed over the years. Anne has been patron of the Scottish Rugby League for years. Kate took over the Rugby Football Union from Harry, who was a beloved patron of the English team. Meanwhile, William is patron of the Welsh Rugby League. A lot of the coverage from the podcast was about Kate admitting that she and William are hyper-competitive with each other.

In the episode, the prince and princess — who will be supporting different teams in the Rugby World Cup — addressed rumors of their competitiveness, a topic they both chuckled at.

“I’m really not that competitive. I don’t know where this has come from,” Kate told the hosts, including Haskell, who joked that if the couple played table tennis, it would “go on for hours and hours. I don’t think we’ve actually managed to finish a game [of] tennis, the two of us,” the princess continued. “It becomes a mental challenge between the two of us.”

William echoed his wife, adding that it comes down to “who can out-mental each other.”

When Mike asked if any of their competitiveness had passed down to their children — Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5 — the Princess Royal, 73, interjected to say: “Just a little bit, I would suggest.”

“What I think is really interesting is that they are all obviously very different temperaments,” Kate answered, adding that “they are growing and trying out different sports.”

“They’re obviously still really young,” she continued. “It’s going to be interesting to see how that grows and develops.”

[From People]

From what little we’ve seen of the kids at sporting events, it feels like Charlotte is the sporty one and George just goes along with whatever. I’m thinking about how Charlotte seemed really involved with the Wimbledon men’s final, and how her parents took her to see the gymnastics at the Commonwealth Games. Anyway, you can watch the whole video below, I skipped around to watch a minute here or there. Anne is natural and interesting, William is pompous and Kate’s got a horse tail stapled to the back of her head. The way no one in her life will tell her to blend that f–king hairpiece is really sad. Her accent is…[fill in the blank].

Photos courtesy of YouTube.

Prince William will spend two days in New York next week. Of course, his “Peggington Is Beloved By Americans” campaign has to start this week though, specifically timed to “torpedo” the Invictus Games. The fact that Prince Harry lives rent-free in his brother’s head should be no surprise, and neither should this PR blitz solely in the British media. Like all of the Windsors’ tours and trips these days, they’re solely focused on their domestic audience. I keep saying it because I need people to understand how f–king weird and short-sighted it is – William isn’t coming to New York to win American hearts and minds. He’s coming to New York so he can tell the British audience that Americans love him more than Harry. It’s so beyond pathetic. Anyway, Kensington Palace gave a special briefing to Roya Nikkhah at the Sunday Times. Some highlights:

The stupid Gallop poll which was organized by Kensington Palace: “Of course he’s aware of the poll,” said an aide, insisting the prince is “not distracted by polling — his focus is always on getting on with the job and focusing on his work”. Distracted? Maybe not. Quietly pleased? Almost certainly, because the poll suggests William, 41, will arrive in the United States to a receptive audience unfazed by the who-pushed-who-on-to-a-dog-bowl row, or when the estranged brothers last spoke.

Peggington Goes To the UN: During his solo visit, William will meet the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, hold bilateral meetings with delegations from Ecuador and Vanuatu, wade into the Hudson River to highlight a pioneering water project and unveil this year’s 15 Earthshot finalists before November’s awards ceremony in Singapore, which he will attend with the Princess of Wales. Since postponing a visit to New York last September after the death of Queen Elizabeth, William visited Boston in November with Kate for the second Earthshot awards, but aides say he was “very keen” to return to New York for his second solo overseas visit this year.

A global statesman, lmao: An aide said: “This trip is part of his evolution as a global statesman which is incredibly important, especially since becoming Prince of Wales. He and his courtiers have been thinking about how to manage that transition from Duke of Cambridge to the next king. You’ve seen a number of iterations of that, whether that’s meeting with Joe Biden in Boston or travelling to the border with Ukraine and talking about the importance of fighting for our freedoms. The US is very important to him. The world’s climate movers and shakers will be in New York having conversations about the future of the planet and the prince is keen to be part of those conversations and put Earthshot front and centre. He has huge ambitions for what the prize can become and is extremely focused on its legacy and impact.”

No interviews: After Prince Harry’s round of US television interviews to promote his memoir, Spare, it is understood that all the main television networks have bid for interviews with William. He has no plans to answer inevitable questions about their fractured relationship.

Celebrities & firefighters: William will be joined in New York by the actress Cate Blanchett, an Earthshot champion, and Mike Bloomberg, the city’s former mayor, whose Bloomberg Philanthropies has committed more than $20 million (£16 million) to support previous Earthshot finalists in developing their projects… As well as rubbing shoulders with leading environmentalists, William will meet some of New York’s firefighters to thank them for their service and to discuss mental health.

[From The Sunday Times]

I got caught on “a receptive audience unfazed by the who-pushed-who-on-to-a-dog-bowl row.” Literally no one – not even William, not even Jason Knauf – has suggested that Harry was the one who assaulted William in Nottingham Cottage. There has been no suggestion that Harry’s story was inaccurate or that there was some other context for William’s violence. In fact, the only talking points coming out of Kensington Palace are about William’s rage at Harry for revealing the assault in Spare. And believe it or not, Americans do care about violence and abuse, which is why any American journalist would ask William about it if William did any media while he was in New York. That’s the bigger headline – William is terrified to answer questions from journalists who aren’t part of the invisible contract.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Prince Harry appeared on a German sports-talk show this weekend to promote the Invictus Games, and it was so funny. Like, I one-hundred percent believe that Harry is a sporty, athletic person, and I could watch that clip of Harry doing an obstacle course forever. But even the most athletic people choke when they’re on live television, surrounded by Germans. And the Sussex Squad must admit it: the dude flopped. Harry was charming and funny, and then it came time for Harry to do a “penalty kick” type game where he needed to put the soccer ball into a space about fifteen feet away. He could not do it.

WHAT A FLOP!! How dare Harry’s football-choke steal William’s thunder! How dare Harry get nervous and completely lose the plot. He’s damaging the monarchy! Take away his titles! In case you’re wondering, the older man who easily scored two penalty kicks is the German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. Harry joked that Pistorius should manage Germany’s national team and Pistorius replied, with perfect German timing, “I have enough troubles.” LMAO. After he flopped the penalty kicks, the Germans made Harry wear a Bundesliga side Mainz scarf.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.