Ryan Gosling and his post-Barbie hair went to a Tag Heuer event and I barely even recognized him. Whose idea was this hairstyle? [RCFA]
Oh, did Sydney Sweeney dump her fiance for her costar Glenn Powell? [Dlisted]
Yung Miami covers The Cut. [LaineyGossip]
I disagree – most of Ted Lasso Season 3 has been a bummer, but I loved this week’s episode and it felt like a love letter to Amsterdam. [Pajiba]
Reem Acra’s bridal collection is not my jam, but it’s okay. [Go Fug Yourself]
Michelle Obama looked great on the Tonight Show. [Tom & Lorenzo]
The Nicki Minaj-Kim Petras collab is here. [Just Jared]
The Republican lawmaker who voted to eject the Tennessee 3? He just resigned after sexually harassing an intern. [Jezebel]
Iggy Azalea is still, somehow, a thing. [Egotastic]
Wild historical facts – the Great Pyramids used to be white. [Buzzfeed]
Station 19 confirmed for a seventh season. [Seriously OMG]
Madison LeCroy’s new side-hustle sounds like something Emily in Paris would have come up with (and I say that as a compliment). [Starcasm]
Tennessee has been sued over their ban on transgender healthcare. [Towleroad]

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While I arguably have a reputation as a “Taylor Swift hater,” there are legitimately parts of Taylor Swift’s life and business which I admire greatly. She is, in my opinion, one of the savviest businesswomen in the music industry. Does she have great advisors? Sure. But Taylor has shown us time and time again that she’s in those meetings, she’s negotiating for herself, and she knows her own worth. Not only that, she’s not afraid to say that she doesn’t know something or to ask questions. Which brings me to this: Taylor managed to avoid FTX, unlike dozens of other celebrities. As it turns out, Taylor was the only one in those meetings asking the right questions.

Taylor Swift’s inquisitiveness saved her from jumping on the doomed FTX bandwagon. More than a dozen celebrities, including NBA star Stephen Curry, NFL player Tom Brady, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, tennis legend Naomi Osaka, and popular TV show Seinfeld co-creator Larry David are named in a November 2022 class action lawsuit filed in Miami. The complaint blames FTX and its paid brand ambassadors for actively participating in the “offer and sale of unregistered securities in the form of yield-bearing accounts,” as well as abetting fraud “designed to take advantage of unsophisticated investors from across the country, who utilize mobile apps to make their investments.”

Swift avoided getting dragged in FTX’s collapse because the singer did her due diligence, and asked one important question: “Can you tell me that these are not unregistered securities?”, according to South Florida attorney Adam Moskowitz. Moskowitz, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit, discussed the case in this week’s episode of The Block’s The Scoop podcast.

$100 billion: How much FTX was willing to pay the celebrated singer-songwriter. They had reached the late stages of negotiating a sponsorship deal a little before the crypto exchange crumbled last November. A report in Rolling Stones cites an anonymous source saying Swift “would not, and did not, agree to an endorsement deal,” but smaller-scale partnerships, like a ticketing arrangement involving NFTs for her Eras Tour, was on the table. But she turned that down, too.

[From Yahoo]

I’m sorry, they offered her $100 BILLION to endorse FTX? That alone would have made me sit up and ask some questions, because that number makes zero sense. Hey, Taylor, will you endorse Celebitchy as a blog for eleventy trillion dollars? What’s that?? You want to see if I actually have the money? ZOINKS! Still, it’s sad to see the list of names of celebrities who didn’t even do even a cursory investigation into what was going on. Good for Swift for avoiding it entirely. And she avoided the NFT sh-t too! LOL.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Have we decided if the recent rash of Karriett Tubman-themed stories are coming from Queen Camilla’s operations, or whether they’re Kensington Palace’s attempts to make the Princess of Wales look sympathetic? I truly believe it’s both – Kate’s own press operation often makes her look terrible, but I do get the sense that the knives are out for Kate within the family. I bring this up because there’s a new sub-genre – a micro-genre, if you will – of royal reporting specific to the lead-up for the coronation. The micro-genre is “Kate is the reason why Meghan isn’t coming” and/or Kate is so, so pleased that Meghan isn’t coming. While there’s always been an oversized focus on the Kate-vs-Meghan dynamic, this feels interesting – centering Meghan’s absence on Kate specifically. From Entertainment Tonight:

How the Windsors feel about Harry & Meghan: “Relationships between Harry and Meghan and the family are still very tense,” a source tells ET. “The family will be cordial because the King wants his son at his Coronation but there will be no meaningful conversation as there’s still a lack of trust given the revelations in his book and the Sussexes Netflix documentary and the allegations in the Oprah interview.”

Surprise at Meghan’s absence: Another source shared that the family is still surprised that the Duke is attending without his wife. Adding, “There were still several members of the family who expressed surprise she had decided to stay home.”

Kate’s relief: Royal expert Eloise Parker, said Prince William and Kate Middleton feel a sense of “relief” that Meghan will be home. “I think there’s bound to be some relief from William and Kate that Meghan won’t be attending the coronation simply because less emphasis is going to be on them, who’s looking where, who’s lip reading, what’s going on between them. There’s such a fever of interest in these relationships and the truth is we’re never going to see a Real Housewives moment between these women. Everything is going to be kept firmly under wraps and I think for Kate, the fact that Meghan isn’t attending, helps her keep it that way.”

[From ET]

“The truth is we’re never going to see a Real Housewives moment between these women”– are you joking? We’ve already seen dozens of “Real Housewife” moments, mostly because Kate has no pokerface. Kate wearing white to Meghan’s wedding was a Real Housewife moment. Kate not being able to keep her sh-t together at the Commonwealth service in 2020 was a Real Housewife moment. Kate menacing Meghan on the Windsor walkabout was a Real Housewife moment. Kate telling everyone that Meghan made her cry for YEARS was a Real Housewife moment. Meghan telling Oprah that Kate made her cry was also a Real Housewife moment, to be fair. Just because Meghan isn’t calling Kate a copykeening loser to her Botoxface, doesn’t make Kate any less tacky.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgird, WENN.

Republic recently commissioned a YouGov poll to ask British people their interest in the upcoming coronation. The poll found that the overwhelming majority of British people – across demographics – could not care less. Not only that, but a clear majority wish that their taxpayer funds weren’t being used for King Charles and Queen Camilla’s big narcissistic parade and party. One of the huge problems facing King Charles’s reign is ambivalence towards him specifically and the monarchy generally. But there’s another huge issue: no matter how much money he spends, he just can’t get people to love Camilla. There are so many people still thinking about and talking about Diana, and what it was supposed to be, except that Charles treated his first wife like sh-t and now his mistress is going to be queen. Thus, the palace still commissions pieces like this recent article in the Telegraph: “The secret of Queen Camilla’s rise in popularity.” The palace is truly trying to speak this into existence. They’re being helped by the entire royal media machinery. Some highlights from the piece:

Why QEII gave her blessing for “Queen Camilla”: The late Queen’s decision to grant her daughter-in-law this title did not simply reflect a desire for conformity. It reflected the real achievement of the then Duchess of Cornwall in winning the hearts of the people, and the massive contribution she has made to the success of the Royal family since marrying the King in 2005. And when one recalls the rocky foundations of Queen Camilla’s relations with the British people, the scale of that achievement becomes even greater.

A passionate friendship?? As is well known, the King had had a passionate friendship with his present wife long before he married his first one; and it soon developed into something much more than that. His marriage in 1981 to Lady Diana Spencer, which he is said to have regretted before he had even contracted it, included what his first wife came to call a “third person” – Camilla Parker Bowles, as she then was. It is all very well in retrospect to say that none of this should have happened, but it did: and it left Mrs Parker Bowles in an invidious position.

Diana’s revenge: The Princess of Wales had built up a Hollywood-style celebrity among much of the British public long before she and her husband divorced: she was the exciting and charismatic one – “the people’s Princess” – he the dull plodder. When their marriage ended a merciless tabloid press blamed him, effectively citing his mistress as co-respondent. When Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997, full hysteria was unleashed. Rumours went round Fleet Street newsrooms that London would be swamped with plain-clothes police for the Princess’s funeral because of fears of an assassination attempt on her ex-husband.

Rebranding Camilla: For a time, she kept very much out of the limelight – not through any sense of trepidation or cowardice (she is not that type of woman), but out of sensitivity and propriety. Eventually, her emergence as the Prince of Wales’s partner was masterminded by one of his private secretaries, Mark Bolland, who has since made a stellar reputation in the world of public relations. The lingering antipathy to her because of her perceived role in the break-up of the Waleses’ marriage was strong, and continued to be fed by elements of the press who felt there were commercial benefits in sneering at her and the Prince. She, though, began to assert her personality to charm those most affected by her relationship with the King and to have them see her for what she was, and not for what they (on the basis of prejudice) thought she was.

Camilla and her stepsons: Without question the most important step in this direction was building a relationship with Prince William and Prince Harry. The former appears to have accepted her entirely, perhaps understanding far better than his younger brother the realities of their parents’ unhappy marriage, and how reckless it can be to apportion blame.

What Harry has said about Camilla: It is a measure of Queen Camilla’s success in connecting with the British public that various infantile and disobliging remarks about his stepmother by the Duke of Sussex have been widely interpreted as saying more about him than about her.

Genuine Camilla: Although her husband’s consort, she is not in his shadow. She has kept her own friends, has her own interests, is a devoted mother and grandmother, and has not altered her personality to fit in with his: what you see is very much what you get. That, perhaps, is the secret of the apparent miracle of the Queen’s transition to become one of our paramount national treasures. The British people tend to be good at spotting frauds, but in her they have unquestionably the genuine article.

[From The Telegraph]

The absolute desperation. It’s uniquely British desperation too – “It is all very well in retrospect to say that none of this should have happened, but it did.” A grown man used a teenager as a broodmare to provide his heirs, all while carrying on a torrid affair with his married mistress and then the man and his mistress spent years gaslighting his wife. And it’s only in retrospect that we can say that none of this should have happened, but it did and POOR CAMILLA?? Jesus – it’s not enough that “to the winner goes the spoils,” it’s about positioning Camilla as sympathetic in a despicable situation entirely of her own making?

The part about Harry and how he’s called out Camilla’s machinations – how much of all of this Camilla PR is about Spare? A lot of it. And the more articles there are like this, the more Harry’s version is proven correct.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Elon Musk is an idiot. I agree with everyone who says that he’s going to end up “reinventing” basically every Twitter policy that existed before him, especially this issue of verification. Keep in mind, I never cared about verification – I’ve been unverified the entire time I’ve been on Twitter (since 2011). So has Celebitchy. But I appreciated the old verification system, in which brands, companies, media outlets, world leaders, celebrities, athletes and teams could get verified for free so people knew that the content was official. Musk has ended all of that – now people can only get verified if they pay $8 a month. Practically every celebrity, brand, athlete and world leader has declined the ungenerous offer. To make it even more ridiculous, when Musk removed all of the verification blue-checks, he ended up “keeping” some of the blue checks of the celebrities who criticized him, like LeBron James and Stephen King. Musk then claimed that HE is paying for them to be verified:

NEW: Have confirmed that LeBron, who has 52 million followers and has said he won’t pay for verification, was emailed by a Twitter employee with the offer to have his sub comped “on behalf of Elon Musk.”

James did not accept but his account is showing that he paid anyway.

— Alex Heath (@alexeheath) April 20, 2023

It appears that Elon Musk has decided to personally intervene to provide blue checks to Stephen King and LeBron James, falsely saying they paid for Twitter Blue, because each made high profile tweets saying they definitely wouldn’t pay for it. Billionaire manchild. https://t.co/C6B5QdJvaT

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) April 20, 2023

You would be hard-pressed to find a bigger loser than Elon Musk. The business world is pretty shocked by Musk’s mismanagement too – Twitter ad dollars are down 89% since October – companies are leaving Twitter in droves. Musk hasn’t just halved Twitter’s value, it’s likely Twitter will only be worth a tiny fraction of what he paid for it.

Not content to simply torpedo Twitter, the Musk-owned company SpaceX did a big launch yesterday… and the sh-t exploded in air.

The four-minute flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket ended in what the company called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” but employees still celebrated. It’s the latest step in SpaceX’s explode-as-you-learn approach. https://t.co/DM4TDXknHH pic.twitter.com/5dedFoVMgd

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 20, 2023

All the responses from people saying, “Actually, the rocket was SUPPOSED to explode” are basically just the real-life version of this tweet. https://t.co/5TrqoO4r6l

— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) April 20, 2023

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images, Avalon Red.

About two months ago, there was a flurry of activity around the Parker Bowles clan. We learned that Queen Consort Camilla planned to make the coronation all about her family, with her two adult children Tom and Laura in attendance, plus their children acting as pages with actual roles in the ceremony. That was when the Times decided to declare Tom Parker Bowles “the monarchy’s new secret weapon.” Tom is a 48 year old “food writer” and a well-connected gossip, and it felt like he was suddenly being groomed for an earldom or something. Well, we’ll see about that. In the meantime, Tom is free to give interviews. In fact, I’m almost positive that Buckingham Palace wants him out there, trying to put lipstick on a pig (his mother). Especially since Tom made a pointed “rebuttal” of Prince Harry’s comments about Camilla, namely that she’s been running a decades-long campaign to win acceptance, marry Charles and sit on the throne, and (according to Harry) Camilla didn’t care if she left bodies in the street to get what she wanted. According to Tom, his mother did no such thing. ORLY?

The Queen’s son, Tom Parker Bowles, has rebutted the Duke of Sussex’s claim that she orchestrated “a campaign aimed at marriage and eventually the crown”, insisting there was no “endgame”. Mr Parker Bowles issued a staunch defence of his mother, who he said had married the King solely for love.

Speaking publicly about the allegations for the first time, he said: “I think change happens but I don’t care what anyone says – this wasn’t any sort of endgame. She married the person she loved and this is what happened.”

Mr Parker Bowles, a food writer and food critic, also told The News Agents podcast that his mother would ensure that her Coronation day menu was free of chilli and garlic because she did not like “massive spice” and would want to keep her breath fresh while greeting guests.

Mr Parker Bowles told podcast hosts Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel it was “tough” for the Queen to take on such a prominent role during the Coronation Ceremony, but said she had “never complained”. He added: “I think anyone would be anxious on an occasion of this sort of importance in terms of the historical. And yes, I think I’d be terrified if I had to sort of walk out wearing ancient robes. She’s 75, but you know, it’s tough to do it. But she’s never complained. You just do it. get on with it.”

Mr Parker Bowles praised the King and Queen, saying: “I think they’re doing amazingly. I think King Charles is a good, kind, intelligent man who cares deeply about his roles wherever they may be – Prince of Wales, the King.”

Asked if it was weird to think of Camilla as the Queen, Mr Parker Bowles replied: “Not really, because she’s still our mother. I say ‘our’ but not the royal ‘we’, speaking for my sister and me. She’s our mother.”

Mr Parker Bowles confirmed that he would not be getting a title, adding: “You’re not going to find us with great estates and being called the duke of whatever. No. That would be appalling.”

[From The Telegraph]

“I don’t care what anyone says – this wasn’t any sort of endgame…” Horsesh-t. Camilla absolutely plotted, schemed and calculated. Maybe in 1991, it wasn’t a clear strategy of “then I’ll do this and then I’ll hire this person,” but there absolutely was a strategy, a plan, a conspiracy. Camilla openly carried on with Charles for years, all while briefing the press about Diana and the state of the Waleses’ marriage. Camilla and Charles both masterminded the “Diana is crazy” narrative. Once Charles and Diana got divorced, Camilla seamlessly moved in and took over. She’s been in charge ever since, let’s be real. Painting Camilla’s journey as some kind of “she never schemed, she never planned this” is utterly bizarre. Tom’s comments do show that Camilla and her team are very worried that people believe Harry’s version of events.

As for Tom denying the talk of a peerage… well, we’ll see about that too. For all of the cost-cutting plans being made by Charles, I would be willing to bet that Charles and Camilla both plan on elevating Tom and Laura and ensuring that they have the means to live large.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

I watched the first season of Schmigadoon. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a playful send up of Broadway musicals about a modern couple who happen into a world that exists as if it was a – wait for it – musical. Everything about the show should have been right up my alley – the ridiculous concept, the musical, the irony, the cast. But while I saw it through until the end, it fell short for me. I haven’t watched the second season… and now I know why! Those b@stards turned down Patti LuPone. As in, they had the opportunity to have Patti LuPone grace them with her presence and they said “no.” And if there is one thing La Patti is going to do, it’s tell on you. So she did. She told Mashable that she approached them for season one because she really wanted to be a part of it and was told she was too old. Uhm, they said what?! Patti surmised it by saying “it’s their loss!” No, Patti – it’s our loss.

Apple TV+’s Schmigadoon! is a delirious dream for theater kids, combining playful parodies of a slew of major musicals with an ensemble cast stuffed with Broadway stars. Incredibly; however, Patti LuPone, one of the celebrated living legends of the Great White Way, was denied a chance to join in.

Season 2 (aka Schmicago) spoofs the songs of Stephen Sondheim, with whom LuPone has worked repeatedly and iconically in shows like Company and Sweeney Todd(opens in a new tab). So, Mashable asked if she’d been approached about the musical TV series. In fact, she approached the show first for Season 1.

“I wanted to be in Schmigadoon!, and I was too old,” LuPone said. Asked what she meant, she responded, “Exactly what I said. We reached out to them and said I want to be in Schmigadoon!. They said, ‘Sorry. You’re too old.’”

“It’s so sad. And it’s depressing,” she said of the rejection, before declaring, “It’s their loss! I don’t know what else to say. I so wanted to be in it!”

[From Mashable]

While I am playing up the hyperbole to match the Broadway tone of the story, I am generally stunned by this. Keegan-Michael Key and Cecil Strong play the “modern couple” but the rest of the cast includes Alan Cummings, Kristin Chenowith, Jane Krakowski, Aaron Tveit, Ariana DeBose – some real theater powerhouses. People who would probably list Patti as their hero. In addition to those folks, as Kristy Puchko at Mashable points out, is Martin Short, who is 73 years old – the same age as Patti. Now I’m doubly ticked. Because this is ageist and sexist. There are people who should have a Golden Ticket for roles and one of them is Patti. If Patti wants to make an irreverent Apple TV+ musical, write her a part. If Patti wants a role on Ted Lasso, make room for another coach. If they’re remaking JAWS and she wants to play the shark? Give her a swim cap and call her Bruce for christsakes! Mashable reported that Apple hasn’t responded for comment. I’ll bet they haven’t. Whoever told Patti she was too old is currently hiding under a desk and the rest are trying to gather their notes because Patti keeps her receipts. She’s not worried about being liked. If some idiot told a woman with Patti’s credentials that she was too old to appear on a show for which she was overqualified to appear, she’ll put them on blast.

Thankfully some casting people have sense, though. And this news will especially delight my fellow Penny Dreadful fans. Patti is joining Kathryn Hahn and Aubrey Plaza in Agatha: Coven of Chaos. This is, of course, the Wandavision spin-off for Kathryn Han’s character Agatha Harkness. Patti plays Lilia Calderu, a 450-year-old Sicilian witch who’s been a part of the MCU since 1973. (Oh thank goodness – a role Patti’s not too old to play!) Honestly, if I don’t hear another word about Coven of Chaos until the premiere, I would still be on the edge of my seat to watch it. Witches? Patti? Kathryn and Aubrey? Say no more – I’m in.

Photo credit: Robin Platzer/Twin Images and Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon and Cover Images

On Oct. 21, 2021, Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza were shot with a gun being held by Alec Baldwin on the New Mexico set of Rust. Hutchins died from the gunshot, and Souza survived. Baldwin has maintained this entire time that he had no idea the gun was loaded, that he was told that the gun was “cold,” and that he doesn’t even believe that he pulled the trigger. While I’ve always believed that Baldwin and several others on Rust were criminally negligent, I never believed that Baldwin had any intention to harm anyone. It was an accident fueled by misinformation, professional incompetence and negligence. Still, back in January (almost three months ago exactly), a New Mexico prosecutor charged Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter. Now those charges have been dropped.

New Mexico prosecutors are dropping the involuntary manslaughter charges that were filed against Alec Baldwin for the 2021 shooting death of a cinematographer who was killed on the set of the film “Rust” when a gun he was practicing with went off, his lawyers said.

The decision to drop the charges came after a new team of prosecutors took over the case and reviewed new evidence that showed that the gun Mr. Baldwin was practicing with had been modified before it was delivered to the set, according to an official close to the investigation who was granted anonymity to discuss the case. That undercut the prosecution’s original argument that the gun could not have fired unless Mr. Baldwin had pulled the trigger, the official said.

Mr. Baldwin, who was told on the set that day that the gun did not contain any live ammunition, has maintained from the beginning that he did not pull the trigger before the gun fired, telling investigators that it went off after he had pulled the hammer back and let it go. But the original prosecutors had said that an F.B.I. analysis of the gun showed that he must have pulled the trigger, which contributed to their decision to bring charges.

In a statement, Mr. Baldwin’s lawyers, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, said, “We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident.”

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, who loaded the gun the day of the shooting and was responsible for weapons on the set of the western, was also charged with involuntary manslaughter in the case. One of her lawyers, Jason Bowles, said that he had been informed of the prosecutors’ decision to dismiss the case against Mr. Baldwin, but that the charges against Ms. Gutierrez-Reed remained.

[From The NY Times]

“The charges against Ms. Gutierrez-Reed remained…” Good. By almost every account and investigation into the Rust set, Gutierrez-Reed was the main person at fault. She was the armorer, she was the one in charge of all of the weapons, she was in charge of making sure no one handed Alec Baldwin a loaded gun with a literal hair-trigger. As I’ve said several times, I am not claiming that Baldwin should not be criminally or civilly liable for anything – he was a producer on Rust, he was one of the people in charge of the production, he has managerial liability in a general sense. But manslaughter was always a stretch.

So, we aren’t getting a Hilaria Baldwin courtroom telenovela, si? We’ll just have to fondly remember her impromptu, Mexican-accented press conference on the street just after her husband was charged. Alec posted this IG shortly after the news came out (Luke is apparently his lawyer):

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alec Baldwin (@alecbaldwininsta)

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, ABC.

You know what I forgot? I forgot that Timothee Chalamet dated Lourdes Leon. I thought his “type” was more like Lily-Rose Depp, but now that I remember that Timmy dated Lourdes, his thing with Kylie Jenner makes more sense. Maybe he doesn’t have a physical type. Maybe he’s ready to be a stepfather to Kylie’s kids, Stormi and Aire. Maybe he’s just a fun hookup for Kylie! I truly have no idea. But it does look like they’re seeing each other casually, and it looks like the Kardashian-Jenner team is dictating the storyline.

Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet have been seeing each other on the regular. A Jenner source tells PEOPLE the reality star, 25, and the Oscar nominee, 27, “hang out every week,” but “it’s not serious.”

“She is getting to know him,” the insider continues. “Kylie is having fun. After years of back and forth with Travis [Scott], she just wants to date without any pressure.”

The source claims Jenner and Chalamet met earlier this year at an event in Europe. “They have a lot to chat about,” the Jenner source says, adding that the actor “is fun and charming.”

News broke in early January that Jenner had split from her rapper ex, with whom she shares 5-year-old daughter Stormi and 14-month-old son Aire.

“Everyone wants Kylie to move on,” the Jenner source says. “Everyone in the family is happy and supportive of Kylie dating.”

[From People]

I believe several things concurrently: Kylie is a chronic back-slider who keeps going back to exes and giving them second, third, fourth and fifth chances; I believe Tyga messed her up romantically; I believe that Travis Scott cheated on her a lot; and I believe that even if Kylie is up for fun-times with Timmy, she’ll probably go back to Travis at some point. Still, what a pairing. It would be fun (for gossip) if Timmy and Kylie did get serious and they started doing red carpets together. Come on! People would lose their minds.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

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Kaley Cuoco and Tom Pelphrey welcomed their first child, Matilda, on March 30. They were obviously very excited and in the weeks leading up Matilda’s arrival, Kaley mentioned that Tom was the one doing most of the planning and prepping. Now Tom has given an exclusive interview to E! News to gush about Kaley and Matilda and talk about the joys of fatherhood. This is super sweet.

Tom Pelphrey is basking in the glow of fatherhood.

The actor—who next appears in the HBO Max limited series Love & Death, premiering April 27—and his partner Kaley Cuoco welcomed daughter Matilda, the couple’s first, on March 30.

In an exclusive interview with E! News, the Ozark alum opened up about how incredible—and surprising—the experience has been thus far.

“It’s so beautiful,” the 40-year-old said. “I was excited for it and you obviously have some idea of what it might be and how it cool it might be. Nothing compares to the actual feeling. It’s so wild.”

Tom, who started dating Kaley in April 2022, said he’s even managed to find joy in the not-so-pretty moments.

“Even if she’s fussy or you haven’t slept as much,” he continued, “when holding Matilda and she makes those little noises and coos, your heart just melts.”

In fact, being a new dad has turned Tom into a bit of a homebody.

“All I want to do is sit at home with Kaley and the baby and never leave the house,” he expressed. “It’s a miracle. We’re so happy.”

As far as what has shocked Tom most about the process, well, it’s good news on that front, too, as he said, “The biggest surprise for me right off the bat was how comfortable I felt.”

However, the Outer Range star admitted that he wasn’t always so confident.

“The only experience I’ve ever had with infants or newborns in the past: My brother has two beautiful girls,” he said. “I got to be around them and other family members. But I was always one of those guys like, ‘Ooh, I don’t know if I want to hold the baby. I don’t want to break it. That seems too small.’”

But it didn’t take long for Tom to find out that he’s a natural.

“I dove right in and I felt like I immediately understood how to hold her and how to support her little head,” Tom gushed. “I was changing all the diapers in the hospital. Kaley got a kick out of that. It was amazing in a surprising and beautiful and magical way how intuitively I felt like I understood how to take care of this baby and what she needed.”

[From E! News]

It sounds like Tom was nervous at first, but ended up feeling super comfortable, which is really nice! I can definitely relate to feeling like the baby is so small and feeling worried. The time period when they can’t hold their own heads up is a little nerve-wracking. Anyway, they’re still in early stages and completely blissed out with their little girl. They probably have some help from family and/or a baby nurse, but it sounds Tom and Kaley are both super involved and doting on their little girl. Kaley has posted some cute pics of baby Matilda at home and wrapped up in a hoodie towel after a bath with her little tongue sticking out. Matilda really is so cute and they seem so happy.

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