Novak Djokovic – who is still unvaccinated – made history on Sunday as the first man to win 23 Slams. He ties Serena Williams for the open-era record. [Just Jared]
Ariana DeBose wore Prada to the Tonys. [RCFA]
Tory Lanez tried to ambush Megan Thee Stallion in 2021. [Dlisted]
Alexander Skarsgard was out and about in NYC, and I think he’s got a good shot at an Emmy for his work on Succession. [LaineyGossip]
What do the Ted Lasso shippers think about the finale? [Pajiba]
I also love wide-leg pants! Palazzo pants are my jam. [Go Fug Yourself]
The full trailer for Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things. [OMG Blog]
This photo of Lisa Rinna is crazy! [Seriously OMG]
This is the play which earned Jodie Comer a Tony Award. [Jezebel]
Irina Shayk pretends to be a Virgo for profit!! She’s really a Capricorn. [Egotastic]
These “terrifying home stories” are genuinely unsettling. [Buzzfeed]
Jane Fonda is taking a break to focus on the election. [Towleroad]

Do y’all ever watch Trisha Yearwood’s Food Network cooking show? She’s not really a chef, she’s more of a home cook, but I enjoy watching her cook, make cocktails and hang out with her friends. Her husband Garth Brooks appears rarely, but Trisha references him a lot and they definitely seem to have a solid and fun marriage. Well, I didn’t know that Garth and Trisha are opening a bar in Nashville, but that’s happening this summer. Garth was asked about the bar and whether he would serve Bud Light, and he had some great things to say. Just FYI: the bigots, homophobes and transphobes are “boycotting” Bud Light because they’re mad that Bud Light hired trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote the beer. Several bars operated by bigots have removed Bud Light from their menu. Not Garth.

Country superstar Garth Brooks has stated that his new Nashville bar will sell Bud Light, and that the establishment will not tolerate transphobia. Brooks made the revelation during a panel at Billboard Country Live this week. His “Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk” is named after one of his biggest hits, and the venue is scheduled to open in Nashville’s Lower Broadway area this summer. Many country artists have opened bars in the area bearing their names.

“I want it to be a place you feel safe in, I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people like one another,” Brooks said on the panel. “And yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are. It’s not our decision to make. Our thing is this, if you [are let] into this house, love one another. If you’re an a–hole, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway.”

Bud Light has been hemorrhaging customers since its ill-fated marketing decision to team with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, offending some conservatives. In Nashville, bars owned by John Rich and Kid Rock no longer serve Bud Light. Fox News Digital found John Rich at his bar on Friday and asked him about the Brooks statement.

“If Garth is serving Bud Light in his bar, that’s fine,” Rich said. “Garth can do that. Garth might find out not many people are going to order it. And at the end of the day, you have to put things in your establishment that people are going to purchase if you’re going to run a successful business. So, he might find that out.”

[From Deadline]

What’s worse, transphobic bigots boycotting Bud Light, or Bud Light trying to back-pedal on hiring Dylan Mulvaney? Like, I don’t drink alcohol anymore so it’s not like I have a horse in this race, but Bud Light tastes gross, they didn’t take a moral high ground and they’re being boycotted by terrible people. There are no winners in this particular culture war.

All that being said, I love the fact that Garth doesn’t even wade into the dumbf–k controversy. He’s basically putting out a “no a–holes” sign on the door of his bar and I hope LGBTQ peeps feel safe there. Garth has always been a great ally – his late sister was a gay woman, and he was an early supporter of gay marriage, he’s performed at LGBTQ-equality fundraisers, he sang a duet with George Michael and more. Trisha is the same. (Oh, and Garth and Trisha are also Democrats!)

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

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To be honest I’m not Amy Schumer’s biggest fan. I’ve never loved her comedy. But one thing I respect her for? She’s up-front about things other celebrities would try to keep secret. She’s talked openly for years about her cosmetic treatments, including getting liposuction, and about getting fillers, then having them dissolved. It’s not that I think female celebrities should have to give us a complete breakdown of everything they had done–I just wish they’d be honest and say, yes, I’ve had cosmetic enhancements, I’ve had professional help. Because public curiosity about celebrities’ bodies can be pretty invasive. But when stars say they owe their taut, chiseled, un-wrinkled faces to olive oil or sweet potatoes, it’s just insulting our intelligence. People are too savvy for that nowadays. Amy is breaking the latest treatment taboo, and sharing about taking Ozempic, including the side effects. She was on Watch What Happens Live and she told Andy about her experience. She says she’s not on it anymore because of how it made her feel.

During an appearance on Thursday’s episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, the comedian and actress, 42, said that she previously tried Ozempic, an FDA-approved prescription medication for people with type 2 diabetes.

It’s one of the brand names for semaglutide and tirzepatide — also known as Wegovy and Mounjaro — which works in the brain to impact satiety, and is the latest Hollywood weight loss trend.

“Like a year ago, I tried it,” she told Cohen, 55. “I was one of those people that felt so sick and couldn’t play with my son. I was so skinny and he’s throwing a ball at me and [I couldn’t].”

The most common side effects with medications like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro are nausea and diarrhea, and sometimes it can cause vomiting or constipation, Ania Jastreboff, M.D., PhD., an obesity medicine physician scientist at Yale University, previously told PEOPLE.

Because of the side effects, Schumer decided the medication wasn’t for her. “And you’re like, ‘OK, this isn’t livable for me.’ But I immediately invested [in it] because I knew everyone was going to try it,” she added.

The Life & Beth star then shared her opinion on fellow celebrities “lying” about taking Ozempic for weight loss, noting her own transparency when it comes to her health journey and cosmetic procedures.

“Everyone has been lying saying, ‘Oh smaller portions.’ Like shut the f— up. You are on Ozempic or one of those things or you got work done. Just stop,” she said. “Be real with the people. When I got lipo, I said I got lipo.”

[From People]

Major props to Amy for talking about this. I’m sure she’s always faced pressure to lose weight in her industry, and Ozempic seemed like something worth trying. The fact that it made her feel too weak and sick to play with her son casts it in a new light for me. If there weren’t a shortage of Ozempic that is making it hard for people who truly need it, and if it weren’t a thousand dollars a dose, I’d be tempted to take it, too. But between the side effects, the cost, and the ethical considerations, I think the negatives outweigh the positives. Amy’s story only makes me more sure of that. I also have pretty bad body dysmorphia and a decade-long history of problematic eating so I have no business thinking about weight loss drugs. All I’m saying is, I empathize with people who try to get their hands on this stuff when they don’t have a medical need for it. It’s ultimately about acceptance and belonging. That’s how it is for me, and how it sounds like it was for Amy. She knew everyone else would be taking it and didn’t want to be left out. If there were something that would make my body more “acceptable” in our society, and all it took was a weekly injection? Yeah, it’s tempting. I know that probably makes me seem mercenary and cynical. But when looking good is part of your job, as it is for celebrities, the pull must be even stronger.

What I worry about is how Ozmepic use in Hollywood is going to make the beauty standard even more restrictive and impossible for regular people to achieve. These are people whose job is to be beautiful. They already have every advantage and resource available, from personal trainers, chefs, plastic surgeons, aesthetic injectors, dermatologists, facialists. Hollywood men have access to steroids and human growth hormone, probably, as well as the other drugs bodybuilders have used for decades to lean out. They have the money, and the time, to make looking good a priority. Now they have one more arrow in their quiver that the rest of us can’t get. I like that Amy is calling other celebs out for lying, to be honest. It’s getting super old.

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Here are some photos of Queen Camilla and King Charles at Hampton Court Palace on Sunday night. There was a “reception” for the Queen’s Reading Room Literary Festival, which is something Camilla put together. It’s evolved a lot since Camilla started her “reading room” thing during the pandemic, and lots of actors and writers want to participate in it and cozy up to the king and queen. Judi Dench was there, so was Joanna Lumley and Richard E. Grant. Lumley and Dench are very close to Camilla. Unfortunately. I’m incredibly disappointed that Lumley has turned into such an old conservative.

Anyway, I don’t have much to say about the event other than Camilla wore an Anna Valentine jumpsuit and she was especially warm towards her entertainment buddies. She gave cheek kisses to many of them, including Dench. Dench is mostly blind at this point, and I actually thought it was kind of nice to see Camilla take that into account and hold on to Judi as they greeted one another.

Meanwhile, Camilla has been in the background of many of the stories about Carole Middleton in recent days. The Middletons are bankrupt and Carole Middleton has no power anymore. Some people think that this was all a plot hatched by Camilla. It could be – Camilla is currently at the height of her powers when it comes to media connections. But even if Camilla isn’t “behind” the story, Camilla and Charles clearly have no desire to help out the Middletons. That’s what’s even more remarkable – the palace is doing nothing to save Carole, the mother-in-law of the future king. It’s fascinating to watch.

The Queen has made it – looking fab in a blue Anna Valentine jumpsuit pic.twitter.com/AyYhCRhVcV

— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) June 11, 2023

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

It’s been clear for months now that King Charles’s big Windsor real estate shuffle fizzled the moment he “evicted” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from Frogmore Cottage, their family home which was renovated at great cost to them, and to which they had a valid lease. Once Charles punished them, his lust for revenge was over. He stopped caring about evicting Prince Andrew from Royal Lodge, and it definitely seems like Prince William is the only one raging about that at the moment (William wants Royal Lodge for himself). Well, Andrew is still worried that he could be evicted at any moment, which brings me to this weird story in the Mail:

The Duke of York is refusing to leave his home during building works for fear he ‘might never get back in’. The royal, who no longer has official duties after being forced to quit over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, shares the 30-room, £30million mansion with just his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York. The King believes the property could be better re-purposed but Andrew, who took over the house from the late Queen Mother on a long-term lease and has ploughed up to £7million of his own fortune into renovations, is refusing to budge. The Mail understands some necessary works are being carried out later this summer which will include roof repairs paid for by Andrew himself.

Royal Lodge has seven bedrooms across the two uppermost floors. It would make sense, sources say, for the prince to temporarily move to nearby Frogmore Cottage – Harry and Meghan’s former home which the King has suggested Andrew could permanently ‘downsize’ to.

But the source also claims that Andrew – rightly or wrongly – fears he could be permanently evicted if he were to leave the property, even temporarily. ‘It’s become farcical,’ they said. ‘Andrew has roof repairs scheduled later this summer which will take several months to complete and has been advised that staying in the house during those renovations could prove problematic. But he is reluctant to leave.’

Buckingham Palace declined to comment, however another source insisted there was no need for the Duke of York to move out. The Mail understands that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, now based in California, still hold the tenancy of Frogmore, which runs out in July. Princess Eugenie is currently living in the comfortable five-bedroom home with her husband and two children. She gave birth to her second son last week and the arrangement allows her to be close to her parents and ensure Frogmore remains occupied.

Another source added that despite the dramas surround Royal Lodge and the costs needed to repair it, the Duke of York is adamant that he will remain in his home and not become Frogmore’s new resident.

‘They originally wanted Andrew out of Royal Lodge so that the property could be renovated and prepared for new lodgers,’ the source said. ‘But he is adamant that, as he has so many years left to run on his lease and he spent millions from his own fortune doing up the place that he is not going to leave his home. He feels very strongly, perhaps with some justification, that they are moving the goalposts suddenly and it is hugely unfair. No one knows how it will be resolved but Andrew is insistent. It was clearly convenient for Harry and Meghan to leave Frogmore as they were paying for a property they don’t really use. But Royal Lodge is the Andrew’s home.’

It has long been rumoured that the Prince and Princess of Wales, who are currently living in four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage in Windsor with their three children, might move in. But it is believed that the Crown Estate wouldn’t rule out renting the Royal Lodge commercially either in order to get the best return.

[From The Daily Mail]

A thought occurred to me as I was reading this… is this all for show? Are Charles and Andrew putting on a lil’ skit for the gullible rubes? This feels performative to me – at this point, Andrew must know that Charles only really gives a sh-t about “punishing” Prince Harry. Charles has made it perfectly clear that Andrew is still included in almost every family occasion, that he’s still welcome at state events, and that there’s no “rush” on moving out of Royal Lodge. Andrew must know that the hunger to evict him died down as soon as the main story – the eviction of the Sussexes – came out. In fact, I still believe that Andrew’s name was in the mix solely as another “humiliation” for the Sussexes. They spent millions to renovate and decorate Frogmore, believing it to be their forever home, and Charles offered Frogmore to Andrew free and clear. Also: is Eugenie still living in Frogmore? Hm.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green have three sons together. BAG is actually a father of five sons altogether, including his son with Vanessa Marcil and his son Zane with his current partner. Still, the kids Megan and BAG have together have always gotten the most attention. One of their sons, Noah, has always had fun with fashion, even when he was like three years old. He was, like so many kids of that generation, completely obsessed with Frozen, and he would often wear a pale blue princess dress as daywear. BAG and Megan were always completely accepting of Noah’s choices, even as a little kid. BAG was refreshingly open-minded about it and Megan has said that Noah just loves clothes and fashion, and she thinks he’s a budding fashion designer.

Megan and BAG have been answering questions about Noah for years and they’ve gone on the record in really great and inspirational ways about how they want their kids to be free to express themselves and figure it out in their own ways. So, of course, now is the moment where those small-minded bigots are trying to make this whole issue into something awful. A politician named Robby Starbuck (that sounds like a drag name) tweeted: “These are Megan Fox’s sons. We used to live in the same gated community and our kids played at the park…I saw two of them have a full-on breakdown saying they were forced by their mum to wear girls clothes as their nanny tried to console them. It’s pure child abuse. Pray for them.” Megan responded on social media:

hey @robbystarbuck

i really don’t want to give you this attention because clearly youre a clout chaser

but let me teach you something…

irregardless of how desperate you may become at any given time to acquire wealth, power, success, or fame – never use children as leverage or social currency.
especially under malevolent and erroneous pretense

exploiting my child’s gender identity to gain attention in your political campaign has put you on the wrong side of the universe

i have been burned at the stake by
insecure
narcissistic
impotent
little men like you many times
and yet i’m still here
you f–ked with the wrong witch

[From Megan’s IG]

Honestly, the f–king audacity of this douche to use Megan Fox’s children to make some kind of bigoted, close-minded political argument. If I was in Megan’s place, I would sue the f–ker and make a huge issue about it. She probably won’t because those are her babies and she doesn’t want them to become targets for Nazis. It’s sickening though, how eager these a–holes are to attack children.

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As I mentioned last week, I’ve been surprised by the fact that the British press hasn’t made this into a months-long drama full of self-sustaining panicky quotes from “royal insiders.” The issue? The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not been invited to Trooping the Colour, the “birthday parade” of the monarch. Trooping took a hit in recent years, with the pandemic and QEII’s poor health, but this will be the first Trooping of King Charles’s reign. Apparently, Charles did not invite his younger son. Which is unsurprising. I would also assume – although this is not how it’s being reported – that Harry and Meghan have absolutely zero interest in returning for a few days just to be snubbed and vilified. Per Richard Eden at the Mail:

When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit royal duties three years ago, Queen Elizabeth said they would ‘always be much loved members of my family’. And Buckingham Palace officials were keen to stress that they would continue to be invited to family events. I hear that Prince Harry and Meghan have not, however, been invited to the King’s Birthday Parade next weekend. It will be the first time in Harry’s life that he has not been welcome at the monarch’s official birthday celebrations. This year’s event is particularly significant because it is the first since his father succeeded to the throne last September.

‘I’m afraid it’s a reflection of the state of relations at the moment,’ a source tells me.

The couple flew over from California for last year’s Trooping the Colour, which became part of Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee weekend. They were invited by the late Queen to watch the ceremony with other members of the Royal Family from offices overlooking Horse Guards Parade. Long-lens photographers captured through the window grainy shots of the couple briefly larking around with the young children of Zara and Mike Tindall. They were not, however, asked to be on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the official flypast later in the day.

Since last June, Harry and Meghan have done much damage to relations with the Royal Family. First, they took part in a ‘docu-series’, or reality show, for Netflix, in which they made a series of strongly disputed claims. Then, Harry published his highly controversial memoirs, Spare, which included details of intimate conversations with members of his family and lurid claims such as his alleged assault by Prince William.

Harry was in Britain this week, reportedly staying at Frogmore Cottage, Windsor, while he gave evidence in his privacy case at the High Court in London against Mirror Group Newspapers. He is said not to have spoken to his father or brother while he was here.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman declines to comment. Harry and Meghan refuse to communicate with the popular Press.

[From The Daily Mail]

For what it’s worth, Harry and Meghan were only “invited” to last year’s Jubbly extravaganza by QEII herself, when they stopped in to check on her before they headed to the Invictus Games. QEII maintained that they were always invited back to celebrate her Jubbly, meanwhile her staff threw daily tantrums about how the Sussexes wouldn’t be allowed on the fakakta balcony. I thought maybe we would get a repeat of all of that this year, with Charles publicly dithering about whether to invite the Sussexes and/or ban them altogether. The fact that Harry was already back in town for his court appearance took the wind out of that whole storyline. In any case, I do believe that Charles didn’t even bother to invite the Sussexes. I also believe that the Sussexes couldn’t care less.

Also: “Harry and Meghan refuse to communicate with the popular Press.” They refuse to communicate with the tabloids they’re suing. They refuse to communicate with the racist gutter press.

Photos courtesy of Instar, Cover Images.

Over the weekend, the Daily Mail ran an exclusive story with purported quotes from Jamie Spears and Kevin Federline. The story was about how many people are “worried” about Britney Spears, and that there are significant fears that Britney is going “off the rails” again. The Mail quoted K-Fed as saying that he fears that his ex-wife is “on crystal meth” and that’s why he’s moving his family to Hawaii or something. It was pretty bold of the Mail to claim that they had those direct quotes from Kevin, especially given that he’s denying a large part of the story now:

Kevin Federline says he and his family have had to endure way too much over the years, and a recent report claiming those around Britney fear she’s on meth is just too much to handle … and he’s fighting back.

The report, published over the weekend by The Sun and Daily Mail is from a series of convos journalist Daphne Barak says she had with Kevin. In one instance, Barak reports K-Fed told her, “I fear she’s on meth – I’ve been praying someone would make it public and that she wakes up … It’s terrifying. She is the mother of my boys.”

In response to the story, Kevin tells us, “It saddens our family that Daphne Barak and Erbil Gunasti have decided to fabricate lies and publish the heart ache our family has endured, along with the trauma of our minor children in the Daily Mail and The Sun. We did allow Daphne & Bill into our home because we trusted them, but that trust was lost and we severed ties back in March for many reasons we choose not to go into here.”

K-Fed never specifically says which part of the story was fabricated, but the whole piece went in heavy on the meth allegation. He continues, “It is very distressing that she continues to harass our family when we have repeatedly asked her to leave us alone. As was previously published, our family did speak with Ms. Barak and Mr. Gunasti a few times, and this was done in a respectful way with love & compassion for Britney and the Spears family. Her lies and attempts to exploit minors is click bait and another repulsive example of where, unfortunately, certain journalism has sunk today.”

Daphne’s spent a lot of time with the Federline and Spears families, first linking up together last summer for a TV news special. She reports one conversation with Britney’s father, Jamie, where he allegedly stated he feared his daughter would wind up dead like Amy Winehouse if she didn’t get proper care.

[From TMZ]

It’s true that Kevin did sit down for a series of (paid) interviews last year, which was a huge mistake on his part. I still don’t understand why he did it – the money could not have been that good, and clearly, he made a devil’s bargain by hooking up with a British tabloid journalist who will sell this exclusive for years. Britney’s lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, issued a long statement about how the Mail’s exclusive is full of lies and how the tabloid media continues to exploit Britney. Britney also responded on social media, writing:

“The fact that people are claiming things that are not true is so sad … This may not even be them saying such things because it doesn’t make any sense to me for them to be saying that…. So you guys go behind my back and talk about me … it breaks my heart and the news is so low … l’ve always felt like the news bullies me … It’s sad because everyone sits back as if that’s ok to make up lies to that extent … Why am I told I have to sit back and rise above ??? When they all go so low ??? Hopefully it is just the news being hateful and Kevin nor Preston said any of those things either way I will be fine working out to Throb !!!”

[From TMZ]

I feel so bad for Britney, my god. To try to navigate her life now, post-conservatorship, with so many people still trying to exploit her and profit from her name. It’s too much. I sort of want her to just move somewhere else and start over with her life.

Photos courtesy of Instagram, Avalon Red.

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Naomi Watts and Billy Crudup are a low-key couple. They confirmed they were dating in 2017 but didn’t walk a red carpet together until 2022. In April, Naomi appeared on the Today show wearing a giant diamond on that finger but wouldn’t answer questions about it. I’m guessing they planned to keep their wedding as under-the-radar as possible. But after paparazzi photos surfaced of Naomi in a white dress and flower bouquet, and both of them wearing gold wedding bands, Naomi posted a photo to Instagram to confirm that they got married.

Naomi Watts and Billy Crudup are married!

The King Kong star, 54, confirmed her marriage to The Morning Show actor, 54, in an Instagram post on Saturday, a day after the pair sparked marriage rumors when they were spotted in wedding gear in photos obtained by Page Six.

Watts shared a photo of herself and Crudup in front of what appeared to be a Manhattan courthouse with wide smiles as Watts holds onto a bouquet of white flowers.

The actress, wearing a gorgeous white wedding dress, stood opposite Crudup, who donned a sleek navy suit without a tie.

“Hitched! ???????,” Watts simply captioned the photo.

Watts’ social media post came after photos shared pictures of the star in the same Oscar de la Renta dress, holding the same flowers and wearing a gold wedding band a day prior.

In the images, Crudup also wore a band on his ring finger, and rocked the same navy suit he’s wearing in his now-wife’s latest Instagram snap.

Watts was previously spotted out and about in New York City wearing a large diamond on her left ring finger in April, which sparked engagement rumors at the time when she wore the ring on the same finger during a Today appearance.

“My eye is hurting. There’s a big glint coming from some ring over here,” Hoda Kotb said on air. “It just struck me. But it’s beautiful.” Trying to avoid the topic, Watts smiled shyly and replied: “Oh, the brain fog!”

[From People]

I wonder if they would have shared anything with us about the wedding if photos hadn’t come out first. I love Naomi’s Oscar de la Renta dress. It’s perfect for a courthouse wedding, romantic and special without being too grand. In the Page Six photos you can see it better, and it’s one of those dresses with a nude lining so that it looks “sheer” from far away. I normally don’t like that kind of thing, but it’s well-deployed here. You can see the details of the lace pattern better than if it had been lined in white. I’d consider a courthouse wedding if it had beautiful architecture. My friends got married at the San Francisco courthouse and their photos were gorgeous. A courthouse wedding fits Naomi and Billy’s lowkey vibe. It’s also the first time either one of them has been married, which I didn’t expect. In my brain Naomi and her ex Liev Schrieber were married, but they were actually just dating for eleven years.

I thought it was hilariously petty that Page Six ended the story by reminding everyone that Billy left Mary Louise Parker when she was seven months pregnant for Claire Danes. That is peak dirtbag behavior, and I think that’s why he’s kept his dating life out of the public eye ever since. Between 2006-2017 when he started dating Naomi, we don’t know anything about who he was with. But I’m presuming his dirtbag days are over. I looked it up and he’s a Cancer, she’s a Libra. Is that considered a compatible match? I know traditionally, water and earth signs are good together, but not so much water and air.

Naomi Watts, Billy Crudup fuel marriage rumors as they’re spotted wearing matching wedding rings https://t.co/Ay7yiJaRoE pic.twitter.com/OMvJdSHFDA

— Page Six (@PageSix) June 12, 2023

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You guys know I don’t normally say “you should absolutely read this Daily Mail story,” but you should absolutely read this Daily Mail story. This story is the most comprehensive explanation of what went wrong with Carole Middleton’s (now failed) business Party Pieces. As we’ve heard in recent weeks, PP was utterly bankrupt when it was sold (without its debt) to James Sinclair for £180,000. We learned that PP had racked up seven-figure debt, more than £2.6 million all together, including pandemic loans, back payments on the commercial property, and stiffing so many vendors. The Mail’s Guy Adams and Calum Muirhead tried to untangle the mysterious web of lies and mismanagement that led to all of this and it’s so fascinating. Some highlights:

The mysterious Middleton finances: The Middleton family finances have always been shrouded in mystery. The Middletons have somehow been able to send their three children to top public schools, while simultaneously building a property portfolio that at various points included a Chelsea flat, plus a £4.7 million Grade II listed Georgian mansion in Berkshire.

The Middletons always acted as if they were rich: Having begun life as a sort of catalogue firm, its business model seemed to be transformed by the internet revolution of the late 1990s, which allowed Party Pieces to become one of the most visible operators in the online field. Its website began selling thousands of different product lines to customers across the country and even expanded overseas. In other words, it looked every inch a huge success. How else, one might ask, could Carole and Michael afford to take family holidays in Mustique? Buy prime land? (In 2005, they paid £295,000 in cash for several acres near their home). Own racehorses? (For a time they had a share of a handy sprinter named Sohraab). And employ somewhere in the region of 30 staff at the converted barn headquarters of Party Pieces in rural Berkshire?

Party Pieces was a private partnership: What no one ever really knew, however, was the exact amount of money the family business was making. Run for years as a privately owned partnership, it never had to file full accounts at Companies House. That made it impossible for anyone to work out how much cash was passing through, or what sort of dividends were being paid to the family. Since profit margins in the online sales business are notoriously slim, a handful of cynics have sometimes wondered if Party Pieces was quite the success story we were being led to believe.

PP’s debt: On Wednesday it emerged that, after 36 years in business, the Middleton family firm has gone under, leaving debts of £2.6million. It’s a development that has left many stunned, not least an army of small suppliers who are now left badly out of pocket. Many had prided themselves on dealing with the Middletons and were perhaps entitled to believe, given their royal connections, that outstanding debts would eventually be taken care of.

Carole Middleton’s betrayal: Take, for example, Sultani Gas, a Kent-based company that supplied Party Pieces with helium for its balloons. It’s currently owed £20,430, according to the administrator’s report. A spokesman said this week that they felt ‘betrayed’ by Mrs Middleton. ‘What hurt me the most was that I trusted her as the mother-in-law of the future King and she just betrayed me,’ the representative said. ‘It is absolutely unacceptable.’ Take also the firm’s landlord, Lord Iliffe, on whose Yattendon estate the company has been based for many years. The estate is out of pocket to the tune of £57,480 and James Hole, the agent for Iliffe, said it now faces ‘severe financial consequences’, adding: ‘They have been long-term tenants. We were astonished about the amount of money owed to others.’

Party Pieces seemingly restructured in 2019: Because Party Pieces is now a limited company (the aforementioned partnership structure was dismantled a few years back), Carole and Michael Middleton have no personal responsibility, legally speaking, to repay any of these debts. That in turn leaves ordinary working Britons on the hook for a business failure presided over by the mother-in-law of the future King.

What happened in 2019: That year also saw them turn the business from a partnership into a private limited company, taking on new directors (and investors). They included Steven Bentwood, a lingerie tycoon whose firm Stirling Group used to supply scanties to Marks & Spencer, and Darryl Eales, a former financier and sports businessman who previously chaired Oxford United FC and owns Wigan Warriors — the most successful club in the history of British rugby league. The corporate change meant it would in future have to file accounts. And the first ones to become public, exactly a year ago, revealed that it had managed to run up annual losses of more than £1 million. Still, the period in question had been heavily affected by the pandemic, which for a time had a dramatic effect on the public’s appetite for (and ability to stage) parties. So there was little indication that Party Pieces — in which Carole and Michael remained majority shareholders — faced any imminent threat.

Carole was still hustling as recently as April: In April, the firm said it was looking to ‘secure additional investment’ to support ‘the next phase’ of its growth plans. And only seven months before it went to the wall, Carole launched Party Pieces in the U.S. and used a cardboard cut-out of herself to promote the move.

Carole’s business partners abandoned her as the company fell deeper into debt: Signs of impending disaster only really began to emerge when Bentwood, who was chief executive of its parent company, resigned on March 23. He was followed out the door a day later by Eales. Behind the scenes, many creditors were by this point desperate.

The debt left behind in Carole’s wake: The aforementioned Sultani Gas had been offering credit to Party Pieces but stopped when the debt had reached £35,000. ‘We started chasing; they were making excuses,’ explained a spokesman, who says he was called by Mrs Middleton on ‘her personal mobile…She apologised. She said that one of the managers was failing to deal with it, so she said, “I’m personally going to deal with it. I’ll rectify everything. I won’t be able to pay it in one lump: I’ll pay it on a weekly basis”.’ Sultani, which had been about to hire a debt collector, took her at her word. ‘Then she said, “I need some more stock”.’ This was sold to her — but not on credit. Some of the weekly repayments were made, the Sultani spokesman said, but others were not. ‘Carole didn’t answer her phone.’ Text messages were also allegedly ignored. Ultimately unable to pay its bills, Party Pieces fell into administration.

Sultani Gas & other businesses are on the hook for thousands: ‘We received a letter from the [administrators],’ added the gas firm. ‘After that [Party Pieces] sent us an email and said, “This is what happened”. They said the business [was going to be] taken over by a new firm – “and you’ll be the first person who’ll get paid”.’ This week the administrators’ report has put paid to any lingering hopes of that. The lost revenue means Sultani’s profit for the year has effectively been wiped out. Other major creditors, according to the report, include Portuguese gas canister maker Amtrol Alfa, which is owed £82,872, and party decorations firm Ginger Ray, due £52,304. Worryingly, the administrators’ report made it clear that it is ‘highly unlikely’ that any of these organisations would receive any of the money that they are owed.

[From The Daily Mail]

I cannot even imagine accumulating this kind of debt over the course of a handful of years. The company was running at a significant, seven-figure loss as of 2019, which is when Party Pieces restructured from a private partnership to a private limited company, with business partners coming on board to – I would assume – invest heavily in the business, probably with an idea towards expansion into foreign markets (at least that’s what they claimed at the time). While “sources close to Carole” insist that she had stepped away from the daily operations, it’s more than clear that she still operated (mismanaged) PP’s operations and she still had the largest stake in the company. So my question is: was it always a con job? Was Party Pieces ever successful? Did it ever turn much of a profit? Was it always a shell game?

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instagram.