Every so often, a British outlet – usually the Guardian – will attempt to do some real reporting on the British monarchy and their secretive finances. While the details of the Sovereign Grant are made public every year, the SG is far from the Windsors’ only source of income. The monarch has access to the vast resources of the Duchy of Lancaster, and the heir (the Prince of Wales) has access to the Duchy of Cornwall. Both duchies are billion-dollar portfolios of real estate and investments. Personally, I believe that Charles spent a significant amount of time William-proofing the Duchy of Cornwall, so that when William became the PoW, he wouldn’t loot the entire duchy and spend money like a drunken sailor. In any case, the Guardian has done a new series about the secretive money situations of the royal family – you can read one of the pieces here. Some highlights:

The money from the duchies: King Charles and the late Queen Elizabeth II have received payments equivalent to more than £1bn from two land and property estates that are at the centre of a centuries-old debate over whether their profits should be given to the public instead.

The duchies of Lancaster & Cornwall. The duchies operate as professionally run real estate empires that manage swathes of farmland, hotels, medieval castles, offices, shops and some of London’s prime luxury real estate. They also have substantial investment portfolios, but pay no corporation tax or capital gains tax. Duchy accounts, held in parliamentary and state archives, reveal how the queen and her first-born son, in his capacity as the Duke of Cornwall, benefited from a huge increase in their revenues from the duchies during her seven-decade reign. Last year, their duchy income totalled £41.8m. Adjusting for inflation, the pair have received the equivalent of more than £1.2bn in total revenues from the two estates.

The profits: Profits from the Duchy of Lancaster, which consists of 18,481 hectares of rural land, primarily in the north of England and the Midlands, automatically pass to whoever is sitting on the throne. The estate itself is valued at £652m. The Duchy of Cornwall, which encompasses 52,450 hectares, mostly in the south-west of England, is worth more than £1bn. The estate has not kept pace with legislation, passed in 2013, to bring gender equality into royal succession. Its profits still only go automatically to the male heir to the throne.

The Windsors’ claim to the duchies: The royal family’s claim to the income from the duchies stems from archaic charters dating back to when the country was divided into medieval fiefdoms. Ever since the advent of parliamentary democracy, however, generations of MPs have challenged the arrangement and called for duchy profits to be paid to the Treasury instead. Parliamentary debate has often coincided with the accession of a new monarch, amid renewed scrutiny over their public and private sources of wealth.

The Windsors refuse to spend their own money: The royals insist their duchy income is “private” and the government treats it as entirely separate from the sovereign grant, the annual payment the royal family receives from the government to cover its official costs. That too has risen dramatically in recent times, and costs the taxpayer £86m a year. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the Guardian’s figures for income received from the duchies, which it described as “speculative”.

The Windsors claim to spend their duchy money: The palace has long stated that income received from both duchies is largely spent on the family’s official duties, public work or charitable causes. However, the royals have never provided a detailed account of how money from the estates is spent, describing them as “private financial arrangements”. Charles has reported that 49% to 51% of his duchy income was spent covering public and charitable functions in recent years.

How the duchy money is really spent: As Prince of Wales, a large part of Charles’s duchy income was spent privately, including on secretaries, valets, gardeners, chefs, stable hands and farm workers. The late queen was reported to have used Duchy of Lancaster income to help Prince Andrew pay an undisclosed sum – reported to be more than £9m – to end the sexual assault case filed against him by Virginia Giuffre.

[From The Guardian]

There’s more about how little transparency there is with how the duchies function, where the money goes and how the money is spent. This… seems like a pretty easy fix? I’m sure the part about “wanting duchy profits to go to the government” wouldn’t be an easy fix, but the transparency issue is an easy fix – simply pass a transparency law which applies to the monarchy. Audit the f–kers. Make them do the f–king paperwork and file taxes. Tell the royals they can still keep the profits, but everything has to be above-board and taxed. Why does the British government allow for this issue to still be shrouded in so much secrecy? This isn’t a security issue!

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

Megan Fox & Machine Gun Kelly are vacationing together in Hawaii? I guess Megan took him back. Ugh, I hate this. [Dlisted]
Kate Bosworth & Justin Long confirm their engagement. [Pajiba]
Country music people did not like Gwen Stefani’s CMA look. [LaineyGossip]
Rachel Zegler wore a lacy dress which does not suit her. [Go Fug Yourself]
Adriana Lima will be the face of Victoria’s Secret new perfume. [RCFA]
Southern Charm’s Craig Conover is… kind of hot? [Starcasm]
Allison Williams looks nice in black velvet. [Just Jared]
WTF is Bari Weiss’s problem? She’s just the worst. [Jezebel]
Jordana Brewster is getting into adventures in Mexico. [Egotastic]
Dandelion children versus Orchid children. [Buzzfeed]
The Muppets are back! (On Disney+) [Seriously OMG]
Dude lost his job, why would he shut down his OnlyFans? [Towleroad]

One of the big coronation announcements released on Tuesday was a confirmation on which children would have roles. Apparently, King Charles and Queen Camilla each get different sets of page boys and page girls, and they have leeway to select kids from their families or friend’s families. We’ve known for weeks that Camilla wanted her pages to be her grandchildren, much to Prince William’s chagrin, as it elevates the extended Parker Bowles relatives at the expense of the Windsors. But the real gossip is within the names selected as Charles’s pages. Prince George will be a page. But so will the oldest son of Rose Hanbury and David Rocksavage, the Marquess and Marchioness of Cholmondeley. Charles and Camilla are really keeping the Rocksavages close, aren’t they? Charles just appointed David as his Lord-in-Waiting.

Prince George is the most notable – and youngest – page of honour chosen by the King and Queen Consort. But all of the boys who will carry the couple’s robes into Westminster Abbey demonstrate Charles and Camilla’s determination to put loyal family and friends at the heart of this historic occasion.

While the Prince and Princess of Wales were touched that the King wanted his grandson to play such a significant role, they wanted to ensure that nine-year-old George felt up to the public scrutiny. After discussions with their eldest son and future monarch, they felt happy he would rise to the occasion.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said last night: ‘We’re all very excited about Prince George’s role in the Coronation, it will be an incredibly special moment.’

A page of honour is a historic ceremonial position, now only employed on state occasions. The king’s pages also include Nicholas Barclay, 13, the grandson of Sarah Troughton, who is one of the Queen’s companions and oldest friends. He will be joined by Lord Oliver Cholmondeley, 13, son of David, the Marquess of Cholmondeley, and his former model wife, Rose. Oliver’s father was recently appointed to be the King’s Lord-in-Waiting – a significant royal role.

The fourth page is Ralph Tollemache, 12, son of British banker and aristocrat The Honourable Edward Tollemache – a godson of the King and a page of Honour to Queen Elizabeth.

The Queen Consort’s pages of honour all come from Her Majesty’s family. They include her grandsons Gus and Louis Lopes, 13, and Freddy Parker Bowles, 12. Her great-nephew, Arthur Elliot, 11 – whose father is former Tory Party chairman Ben Elliot – will be her fourth page.

[From The Daily Mail]

First of all, don’t even start with “Charles snubbed Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.” Archie and Lilibet are too young to be pages, which is why Charlotte and Louis weren’t asked as well – they’re much too young. It’s not a snub for any of the kids. Now, are these names also a victory lap by Camilla? For sure. Her grandkids and relations are the right age to act as pages, so what Camilla wants, Camilla gets.

As for Charles making a point of including the Cholmondeleys… well. My theory is that Charles and Camilla know exactly what Prince William has been getting up to in Norfolk. The social and professional network between Tom Parker Bowles, Giles Coren, the Rocksavages, the Norfolk Turnip Toffs and Charles and Camilla is a perfect circle with no secrets. Everyone in that crew knows exactly what Rose and William were up to and Charles is making an effort to keep the Cholmondeleys inside the proverbial tent. The added benefit is that it keeps William on a short leash too.

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

The Princess of Wales hasn’t done anything since March 21st, when she “business launched” her Business Taskforce at a business meeting and then posed in front of business buildings, and don’t forget, she also made a big business speech. So, yeah, that was March 21st. She hasn’t had anything on her public schedule, not even any “private meetings” or “phone calls” on the Court Circular. Kate and William always disappear this time of year – their kids are on their Easter break, so Will and Kate use their kids as an excuse to not do a g-ddamn thing for a month. When people start to ask “should we really be okay with these lazy f–king royals,” the Waleses then deflect to the Sussexes. Surely, Kate will get some sympathy if she whines about how Meghan is always stealing her thunder, correct?

Kate Middleton is said to be ‘wary’ of Meghan and Harry as she fears more drama ahead of King Charles’ Coronation, says a source. The Princess of Wales has a busy schedule as she celebrates birthdays, anniversaries and the coronation of her father-in-law. Yet a source claims Kate “really doesn’t want” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to “ruin” her upcoming events.

Kate is set to celebrate her youngest son Louis’ birthday this month as well as Charlotte’s eighth birthday on May 2. King Charles’ momentous coronation day will take place on May 6 and she will celebrate her 12th wedding anniversary with husband William on April 29.

“Over and over again, Kate’s had to contend with this ‘look at me’ behaviour from Meghan and Harry, and she really doesn’t want them ruining the next few weeks,” the source told Heat. “Their stunts always seem to happen at the worst possible times – on or around important days or milestones. Everyone knows Kate is the least cynical person you could ever meet, but there are just too many instances of perfectly timed drama for it to be a coincidence. Of course, it’s made Kate wary and anxious about what they might do next.”

Meghan and Harry announced their shock exit from the royal family on the eve of Kate’s 38th birthday. Back in December last year, the first look at Netflix series Harry & Meghan came whilst Kate and Wills were in Boston for the 2022 Earthshot Prize awards, with royal experts claiming the Sussex’s “hijacked” the visit. The second trailer dropped just a week later when Kate also unveiled her Together At Christmas event. Harry’s explosive memoir Spare also hit shelved the day after Kate’s birthday.

[From The Daily Mirror]

Some of the examples of “the Sussexes stealing Kate’s thunder” are actually pretty funny, even if they’re not entirely Harry and Meghan’s fault. Like, Spare wasn’t supposed to come out in January, it was clearly pushed back a month or two after QEII passed away. Same with the Netflix docuseries – I’ve never been certain that the Sussexes intended for the series to come out when it did, or for Netflix to drop those trailers when they did (in the middle of Peg and Buttons’ Boston Keenshot trip).

Besides, Kate, William and the rest of the Windsors are constantly trying (and failing) to compete with the Sussexes when they schedule their events. I remember when Meghan did that little NPR interview to promote The Bench, and the palace machinery was in full panic-mode about it and they made asses out of themselves before the interview, and then it was just Meghan chatting about her kids’ book. That happens constantly, where the Windsors try to impose themselves on the Sussexes’ newscycle. It happened when Harry & Meg lived in the UK too, the Windsors were always making a big deal about being booked and busy whenever the Sussexes did anything. It’s not like King Charles scheduled his whole-ass Chubbly on Prince Archie’s birthday either. I swear, the nerve of these people.

It’s not like Kate doesn’t have the nasty habit of Single-White-Female-ing everything Meghan does, says and wears either.

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

Two pieces of Jill Biden news today, in what is turning out to be an important week for the First Lady’s office. First off, President Biden formally declined the invitation to King Charles’s coronation. Biden did so in a personal call to King Charles. The White House also announced that First Lady Dr. Jill Biden would attend the Chubbly in the president’s place.

First lady Jill Biden will represent the U.S. at the coronation of King Charles III next month, President Joe Biden told the royal during a Tuesday call, the White House said.

Biden said he looked forward to meeting with the king in the U.K. “at a future date,” the White House said, and that his wife “looks forward to attending on behalf of the United States.”

The White House said the pair also discussed the “strength of the relationship between our countries and the friendship between our peoples.”

The president and the first lady jointly attended last year’s funeral in London for Elizabeth II. No sitting U.S. president has ever attended a British royal coronation.

[From The AP]

I feel like Dr. Biden is too important to attend this stupid Struggle Chubbly. Like, if the White House is making a point of President Biden turning down the invite, than surely the WH should just send Pete Buttigieg or something. Definitely not FLOTUS or VPOTUS. Especially not after the palace gave free rein to the unhinged British media to attack President Biden for the past four days.

Meanwhile, Dr. Biden has never gotten such bad press as she did this week, when she spoke about how much she enjoyed the NCAA women’s basketball final and expressed her desire to invite the winning team (the LSU Tigers) AND the losing team (Iowa Hawkeyes). It was a bad look, it was an insensitive look, and it looked like Dr. Biden wanted to make a point of giving white women a participation trophy. Dr. Biden’s office began walking back her comments on Tuesday, making a point of saying that only the LSU Tigers are invited to the White House:

First lady Jill Biden appeared to walk back suggestions that the White House might invite both LSU and Iowa’s women’s basketball teams after Tigers star Angel Reese called it “A JOKE” on Monday. Speaking on Monday, Biden congratulated both teams on their performance in Sunday’s national championship game, as well as specifically highlighting Iowa’s sportsmanship.

“Last night, I attended the NCAA women’s basketball championship,” said Biden, while speaking at an event at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. “So I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House, we always do. So, we hope LSU will come but, you know, I’m going to tell Joe [Biden] I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.”

It is traditional for the national champions to be invited to the White House, but not for the runners-up. Reese tweeted a link to the story which included Biden’s comments, calling it “A JOKE” along with three rolling-on-floor-laughing emojis.

In a comment on an Instagram post from ‘The Shade Room’ which included Reese’s tweet, the recently crowned NCAA champion said: “WE NOT COMING. period.”

Press secretary to the first lady Vanessa Valdivia sought to clarify Biden’s comments on Tuesday, saying in a tweet that they “were intended to applaud the historic game and all women athletes. She looks forward to celebrating the LSU Tigers on their championship win at the White House.”

Before Valdivia’s clarification, ESPN host Stephen A. Smith had echoed Reese’s sentiment, replying to her tweet saying: “I mean absolutely zero disrespect to the First Lady, but you are 1000% correct.

[From CNN]

I think we can do two things at once: call out Jill Biden for the insensitivity of suggesting that it wouldn’t be enough to recognize the mostly-Black team (the Tigers), that white women (the Hawkeyes) must be included too; and also recognize that Jill Biden’s comments were in the moment, and likely came from a place of wanting to praise all of the young women for being amazing. She’s a teacher and professor and she’s seen the benefits of Title IX for decades. But yeah, it was insensitive and I think most people would appreciate it if Dr. Biden went on the record about what she’s learned from this incident.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

There’s a lot of talk this week about King Charles’s coronation, because it’s almost one month away exactly and plans are being firmed up and the guest list is being confirmed. And yet… the Duke and Duchess of Sussex still haven’t confirmed whether they’re coming or not. It’s so funny. As I’ve said before, I have no tea about what the Sussexes are thinking or if or when they’ll announce their decision. Hilariously, in the BBC’s coverage of all of the coronation keenery, they got in touch with the Sussexes’ spokesperson, who basically indicated that Harry and Meghan aren’t saying anything this week?

But with the coronation approaching, it is still not clear whether the invitation for Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is going to be accepted.

A spokesperson for the California-based couple said this week there was no update on whether they were attending.

[From The BBC]

LMAO. Keep ‘em waiting, Harry. Someone shared a theory on Twitter that the Sussexes have probably already privately declined and the palace is actively trying to guilt-trip Harry and convince him to come (so that they can treat him like sh-t), and then when the palace has to admit that Harry declined the invite, the Sussexes will release a statement saying that they declined weeks ago. It could totally go down that way. I hope it does. Meanwhile, palace sources are still trying to milk the Sussex drama:

While King Charles III may “very much” want Prince Harry and his grandchildren to attend his upcoming coronation, a source tells ET that the royal family feels Harry and Meghan Markle attending could divert attention away from the historic event.

A source close to the royal family tells ET that there’s concern that if Harry and Meghan attend the May 6 coronation ceremony in London, it could steal the spotlight from the king himself.

“The big concern is the chaos that could overshadow the coronation if they attend,” the source says. “No one wants to see the focus taken away from King Charles with the press focused on Harry and Meghan and past family squabbles.”

The source adds, “The fear is — if they do come — more private matters could be made public, so efforts are being made to prevent that.”

[From ET]

If King Charles was so worried about being overshadowed by the Sussexes, he shouldn’t have authorized his courtiers and his bloody wife to leak sh-t about the Sussexes for months now. The palace was actively cultivating all of this attention onto the Sussexes and whether they would accept the invitation. Meanwhile, Charles was also making a point of evicting his rent-paying son and grandchildren from their British home! Anyway, I love how terrified these people are that the Sussexes might come to the Struggly (and overshadow Charles) or stay home (which would also overshadow Charles).

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

My father was fond of several English expressions, and one of his favorites was “no fool like an old fool.” So it is with Rupert Murdoch, forever unlucky in love. Three marriages down the drain, the last of which was his seemingly solid companionship-based marriage to Jerry Hall. They seemed surprisingly well-suited for each other, but I guess Jerry simply got tired of the old goat and she dumped his ass last year. Months later, Rupert started up with a 66-year-old named Ann Lesley Smith. They announced their engagement two weeks ago in the Murdoch-owned New York Post. Welp, it looks like they’re no longer engaged, you guys. Oh noes.

Wedding bells may not be ringing for Rupert Murdoch anytime soon. According to sources close to Murdoch, the 92-year-old Fox Corporation chairman and Ann Lesley Smith, a 66-year-old former dental hygienist turned conservative radio host, have abruptly called off their engagement. Murdoch and Smith reportedly planned to marry this summer, less than a year after Murdoch finalized his divorce from his fourth wife, model-actor Jerry Hall. One source close to Murdoch said he had become increasingly uncomfortable with Smith’s outspoken evangelical views. A spokesperson for Rupert Murdoch declined to comment.

The breakup ends a whirlwind romance that generated headlines around the world. In January, Murdoch and Smith were first photographed vacationing in Barbados. The photos captured Smith helping a shirtless Murdoch out of the ocean. In February, Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal reported that Murdoch was set to buy a $30 million, 6,500-square-foot co-op on Central Park South, which could have been his and Smith’s New York residence. In March, Murdoch announced his engagement in the pages of his New York Post. “I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love—but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy,” he told gossip columnist Cindy Adams. Last week the Daily Mail reported that Murdoch had given Smith an 11-carat diamond engagement ring said to be worth upwards of $2.5 million.

Murdoch’s adult children from his second marriage to Anna—Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James—were reportedly relieved that Ann Lesley had no children of her own, which could have complicated the already-complicated succession battle over the future of the Murdoch empire. Murdoch’s third marriage to Wendi Deng in 1999—less than a month after his divorce from Anna—ignited a revolt from his adult children, who opposed allowing Murdoch and Deng’s daughters, Chloe and Grace, to receive voting shares on the family trust that controls the media empire.

[From Vanity Fair]

VF also included a passage about how, just days after the engagement announcement, various media outlets began trying to patch together Ann Lesley’s “patchy biography.” Her first marriage was to a man with family money, and she spent $65,000 a month on clothes. When they divorced, she became an abusive alcoholic, then she found Jesus, then she found a second husband – a country music singer named Chester Smith. After Smith’s death in 2008, Smith’s children accused her of financial elder abuse. There was a quiet settlement and everything was hushed up. That sounds like the thing which probably convinced Murdoch to walk away, the financial elder abuse stuff. But I’m sure her evangelical ranting and raving probably drove him crazy too. Some men are just unlucky in love, and they grow more foolish as they age. I’ve been trying to think of who he should marry next and I’ve got nothing. Marjorie Taylor Greene?

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.

On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace dropped a lot of new information about King Charles and Queen Camilla’s coronation. I’m doing several different stories about all of this, so please don’t threadjack! This story is about, you know, “Queen Camilla.” For months now, we were supposed to call her Queen Consort Camilla, but most English-language outlets dropped the “consort” part two seconds after QEII’s passing. Well, now the palace has formally dropped the “consort” part of Cam’s title too, and they did so on the coronation invitation which was just released last night. The invitation is… colorful. Some might say gaudy?

First she was to be known as Princess Consort. Then she became Queen Consort. But Buckingham Palace’s coronation invitation confirms what most have suspected all along. From now on, it’s officially Queen Camilla. For years, the palace has shied away from answering “the queen” question when asked directly what Camilla would be known as when Charles acceded the throne.

Upon her 2005 marriage to the then Prince of Wales, a statement from Clarence House mooted that she would be known as Princess Consort, such was the sensitivity around the thorny subject. In February last year, Queen Elizabeth II made clear her wish for her daughter-in-law to hold the title Queen Consort.

But the official invitation, being sent out to more than 2,000 guests for the 6 May ceremony at Westminster Abbey, is the last word on the subject. Finally fulfilling Charles’s immutable ambition, it invites recipients to the “Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III & Queen Camilla”. It marks the incredible journey of Camilla over more than five decades, from secret romantic involvement to official partner and finally wife of the king – and which will end with her formally being crowned queen alongside the new king.

A palace source said: “It made sense to refer to Her Majesty as the Queen Consort in the early months of His Majesty’s reign, to distinguish from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. ‘Queen Camilla’ is the appropriate title to set against ‘King Charles’ on the invitation. The coronation is an appropriate time to start using ‘Queen Camilla’ in an official capacity. All former queen consorts have been known as ‘Queen’ plus their first name.”

The royal website will be updated post-coronation to reflect Camilla’s change in title, with Queen Consort being replaced with Queen Camilla, the Palace said.

[From The Guardian]

What’s funny/stupid is that Charles thinks he’s being so slick with this? Like, he really believes he pulled off some brilliant decades-long campaign to ensure that the British people “accept” Queen Camilla, the Sidechick In Chief, the woman who neighed her way into his first marriage. When really, people didn’t “care” about what Camilla was called formally because everyone knows she’s the homewrecker, the side-chick, the mistress-turned-official. As I’ve said for years now, while The Crown never really exposed Charles and Camilla for how dreadful they really were and are, that show completely exposed that their support is a mile wide and an inch deep. Queen Camilla is tolerated, not loved (and she’s barely even tolerated). Just because people aren’t screaming about Queen Sidepiece 24-7, doesn’t make her popular. In fact, Charles and Camilla are both historically unpopular. And so is their Struggle Chubbly.

The palace also released a new portrait of Charles and Queen Camilla. Too much blue – instead of coordinating, they’re too matchy.

Quite the journey.

From ‘there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded’ to being anointed with holy oil and crowned in an abbey. pic.twitter.com/BwIGOn2qRV

— Peter Hunt (@_PeterHunt) April 4, 2023

Photos courtesy of Buckingham Palace, Backgrid.

The fourth season of Love is Blind started recently and the show is just as messy as ever. Aside from the new location (Seattle), one distinction is that there was more than one clear villain this season. Irina and Micah banded together early on to behave as total mean girls toward the other women, some of the men (like Irina’s fiancé), and later, each other. They were roasted online, especially Irina, and she took to Instagram with a video apology for mistreating her costars. She was really awful to them.

Irina Solomonova apologized to all the people she “mistreated” while on “Love Is Blind” after being called out for being a “mean girl.”

“The first thing I want to say is that I have privately apologized to the people that I have hurt and mistreated,” she said in an Instagram video Sunday.

“Second of all, I wanted to say I am so, so, so sorry for the people that watched the show that felt frustrated, angry, hurt by the way that I was mistreating people on the show. It was very immature and naive of me in a lot of those situations.” she continued.

The controversial reality star, 26, specifically apologized to castmates Zack Goytowski, Bliss Poureetezadi, Amber Wilder, Jackelina Bonds and Micah Lussier, who also raised some eyebrows with her catty behavior.

“None of those people deserved to be treated the way that I treated them,” Solomonova explained. “I know that none of those things were OK.”

She concluded the video by saying that she is actually someone that wants to make people “feel seen” and felt like she acted the “exact opposite.”

“I feel like being on the show was like getting a mirror put in front of your face, in the sense of seeing yourself from a different perspective,” she continued. “That opened up so much to me and I’m still processing and going through everything that happened.”

However, most of Solomonova’s followers didn’t seem to believe her emotional plea, saying it didn’t seem even “slightly authentic.”

“What? Sorry..I only heard ‘I’m posting this so I don’t get fully cancelled and this is all about me’ lolol,” one person commented.

“You can use me as the dislike button ppl,” another person said, prompting over 3,000 users to “like” the comment.

“The way you put down and belittled Zack was really difficult for many people to watch especially anyone who has been bullied,” a third person added. “You really wouldn’t care at all if not for all the backlash on yourself.”

During the first half of Season 4, Solomonova and Lussier came under fire for laughing at some of their female co-stars while they were crying while still in the pods.

Solomonova also feuded with Poureetezadi as they tried to win over the same man. She also made a pass on Lussier’s fiancé, Paul Peden.

Yet after getting engaged to Goytowski, Solomonova called him “creepy,” saying he looked like a “cartoon character.” The pair eventually called off their engagement.

The next three episodes of “Love Is Blind” hit Netflix on April 7.

[From Page Six]

That apology looked and sounded more like a hostage video! Irina is clearly doing it because of the backlash and not because she is actually sorry. I think she’s just mean and liked being mean to the other women, to her fiancé, and eventually to Micah. I said to my friend as we were watching that it seemed like Irina and Micah were just in it for influencer fame/clout and didn’t care much about their guys or the experiment. And I stand by that theory, even more so after this weak apology. Irina even alludes to eventually sharing what she was going through emotionally at the time that caused her to behave in such a way, which sounds like a rebrand attempt if I ever heard one. If season two Shayne is defending you, you are 100% in the wrong. The only thing I will say in Irina’s slight favor is I feel like none of the male villains like Shane, Shake, Bartise, or Cole, were pressured to apologize quite like this.

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Photos courtesy Netflix

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Last week we talked about Justine Bateman’s 60 Minutes Australia interview in which she said she had no desire to erase the evidence of her age on her face. I was thrilled to see the positive response to her comments. Apparently, we were not the only ones to fist bump Justine and her ‘rad’ appearance, she’s seeing a lot of love in her DMs. While promoting her new book Face on Today, Justine told Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie that women get plastic surgery because of fear. But we’re being “lied to” about what would happen if we did look older because people make a lot of money off our desire to look younger.

Speaking to Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie this morning on the TODAY Show, Bateman said that after the segment aired, she received a meaningful message. The woman, a mom, said, “I never realized what impact this conversation was having on younger women until my [16-year-old] daughter came in from the other room. She said, ‘Hey, did you guys see the 60 Minutes thing with Justine Bateman?’ She said it was great–now I’m not afraid of getting old.”

Bateman was glad to hear it. “I was like, oh my god, if just one person, like, is not afraid,” she said. “It’s silly. I’ve never been smarter, I’ve never had more connections. It’s like when you’re younger you know the [guy at the] door of the nightclub? When you’re older, you know the person who owns the building that the nightclub is in.”

The 57-year-old said the war on aging was an “inside job” that left some women doubting their appearance. “I would say to any young woman, you’re being lied to. Who is making money off this? You’re being lied to and you’re being tricked off your path… You’ve got awesome things coming your way. Just stay on your path and just ride it out.”

Bateman told Kotb and Guthrie it was this fear that left people not wanting to look older. “Some people are afraid they’ll lose their job or never get a job or not get a mate or no one’s going to listen to them or whatever. And that fear, my position is, that fear existed before their face started changing,” Bateman says.

“I’m just somebody who got myself on the other side of what that fear was for me in particular, and I’m just sharing what worked for me. Lots of ways to get there, but for anyone who wants to get free,” she told the TODAY Show.

[From Yahoo!]

To be fair to Justine, in the full interview, she emphasizes that she is not an advocate against plastic surgery, she just pushed past the desire to do any work. Ultimately, I agree with her points, too. I absolutely agree that Bottled Youth is big business and nobody’s willing to give up that cash cow. I agree that the pervasive ageism in society motivates women to hide their age. But in Justine’s segment, posted below, when she spoke about how we are being lied to, she suggests the hurdles are all in our heads and we just need to push past it like she did. On this point she may be coming from a position of privilege of being able to jump from actress to director/author. Any job site warns you to restructure your work experience on your resume so potential employers can’t tell your age. While some myths are being perpetuated about the need to turn back the clock, it isn’t just in our heads.

Justine’s primary message, though, is to push past the fear of looking older, which is a good one. I appreciate the part that we should embrace our age and celebrate who we are. I also still believe, however, that we all have our little ways of getting there. I’ve admitted that I dress flamboyantly as kind of an armor. Justine clearly still dyes her hair. Maybe someone else minimizes their smile lines but keeps their crows’ feet. We all push past the fear in different ways so let’s continue to lift each other up along the way.

In an exclusive interview with @SavannahGuthrie and @hodakotb, @JustineBateman opens up about women and aging: “When you’re younger, you know the doorman of the nightclub. When you’re older, you know the person who owns the building that the nightclub is in.” pic.twitter.com/84tZHf9LuK

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 3, 2023

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