It’s so fascinating to watch Leonardo DiCaprio’s reaction to being publicly and vociferously called out for exclusively dating women under the age of 25. Leo was with Camila Morrone for over four years, and in those four years, the culture changed in a way Leo didn’t expect. He expected to just be able to date 21-year-olds forever, and everyone would still think he’s cool. He was shocked when everyone clowned on him when he dumped Morrone around her 25th birthday. He tried some desperate damage control, throwing himself at Gigi Hadid (an ancient spinster of 27) and he was shocked by the universal condemnation at being seen with a 19-year-old Israeli model. Now Leo’s “friends” are whining to the Daily Mail about how Leo never wanted to be clowned on like this and he never expected people to make jokes about his under-25 rule.

Leonardo DiCaprio is ‘not pleased’ with the ongoing jokes and speculation about his love life – and is desperate to ‘ditch’ his image of only dating women under the age of 25 while settling down in a ‘more mature’ relationship.

A source close to the 48-year-old actor laid bare his frustrations over the scrutiny he faces every time he is photographed with a young woman, while revealing that the Titanic star wants to find a ‘real’ relationship – much like the long-term romance he had with 25-year-old model Camila Morrone.

‘Leo is very single right now and he is not keen on the hype suggesting that he is seeking out these very young women,’ the insider revealed to DailyMail.com. ‘He is looking for something more mature in the relationship department. It is just ridiculous because he cannot go anywhere without being linked to the youngest beautiful woman there,’ the source adds. ‘He wants to ditch this image once and for all and he is really bothered that this continues to follow him. Leo wants something like he had with Camila, something real.’

[From The Daily Mail]

For what it’s worth, I do think Leo cared a lot about Camila. That was the most serious and long-term relationship he’d had since, when? Gisele, really. Leo and Camila even had dogs together. So the question is… if he had something real with Camila and he really cared about her and they were raising dogs together, why did he dump her on her 25th birthday? And why is he looking to recreate what they had by dating a 19-year-old, who he will inevitably dump on HER 25th birthday? Anyway, I love how unsettled Leo is about being criticized. That man has hundreds of millions of dollars, billionaire friends, a whole-ass P-ssy Posse at his beck and call, and he can’t stop the internet people from making fun of him and it’s driving him crazy.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Damson Idris & Lori Harvey made their red-carpet couple debut. [JustJared]
Here’s the new trailer for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. I’ll watch it? I binge all of the Bridgerton seasons. [LaineyGossip]
Rest in peace, Raquel Welch. [Dlisted]
It’s not that weird to have a pet duck? [OMG Blog]
Jonathan Majors likes to carry a little cup with him at all times. [Jezebel]
TikTokers are reporting the news from the Ohio disaster better than the media. [Pajiba]
Elizabeth Banks wore a cute Jason Wu dress. [RCFA]
Jana Duggar is vacationing in Italy with a gal pal. [Starcasm]
Unpopular opinion: I think Thom Browne’s stuff is fug. [GFY]
Ladies, y’all really ignore some big red flags. [Buzzfeed]
So… mpox is different than monkeypox, but WHO is worried about mpox right now, and they’re issuing an emergency alert. [Towleroad]
Kylie Jenner spent V-Day with a female friend. [Egotastic]

Over the weekend, when I should have been watching one of the Oscar-nominated movies, I ended up watching Half Time, the Jennifer Lopez documentary about her life/work in 2019-2020, when she was promoting Hustlers and preparing for the Super Bowl Halftime show. They used archival clips of talk shows and media around the original “Bennifer” relationship, and I was actually kind of appalled at just how f–king racist everyone was circa 2003-04. Talk show hosts were really calling her “the cleaning lady” and the South Park clips were especially nasty, misogynistic and racist.

Well, South Park is still a thing. In 2021, Trey Parker and Matt Stone signed a $900 million deal with ViacomCBS for six more seasons of South Park, plus original films for Paramount. Following that very rich deal, there were conversations about whether South Park was worth all that, and whether the show has declined in popularity and quality. There’s a ratings slump, for sure. So… after all that build-up, here’s the story: South Park satirized the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in an episode which aired last night.

Harry and Meghan were branded “dumb and stupid” as they were taken apart in the latest episode of South Parkpic.twitter.com/VrmmuR9h2k

— The Mirror (@DailyMirror) February 16, 2023

I cringed. God, I haven’t watched South Park in a long time, I guess I didn’t realize that Parker and Stone were still like this?? Obviously, the British media is salivating at the chance to claim that this South Park sh-t means “Americans hate Harry and Meghan!!” Y’all.

The British media views America as a monolith in which every American shares the same opinion about the Windsors or the Sussexes. I don’t doubt that South Park still does pretty well for a cable comedy – after all, ViacomCBS isn’t paying them $900 million for nothing. But it’s also true that the Sussexes are popular and people are interested in their story – the Netflix docuseries had amazing ratings, and Harry’s memoir is one of the biggest bestsellers of the past three years. Both things can be true – some people agree with the South Park send-up and many people are interested in the Sussexes’ story.

So the makers of South Park have lampooned Harry and Meghan mercilessly, much more so than the teaser hinted. A sign the Sussexes have really made it in the US or further evidence of a loss of support? https://t.co/RO1qbVOgoohttps://t.co/6a2vDsMpcf

— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) February 16, 2023

Photos courtesy of 60 Minutes, The Late Show, Cover Images, AppleTV.

For all of the talk about Prince William and Kate’s devotion to their children, I’m often left wondering why the Wales kids are constantly being put on display by their parents. I understand bringing the kids to some of the bigger events for the monarchy, like Trooping the Colour and maybe the Sandringham Christmas walk, but we’ve seen entirely too much of those kids in the past year. It wasn’t just Louis’s overstimulated performance during the Jubbly, it was Prince George having to wear a suit on an incredibly hot day to attend the men’s final at Wimbledon. It was Charlotte and George’s obvious discomfort during a day-trip full of events in Wales. It was Charlotte and George constantly being placed as physical and emotional buffers for their parents in public. The less William and Kate do, the more they rely on trotting out their kids for a quick PR hit. So, yeah, obviously, I have some thoughts about their parenting skills. Did you know that apparently this is called The Middleton Parenting Model? Lolz.

Prince William and the Princess of Wales have adopted the ‘Middleton parenting model’ and want their children to see them as their ‘best friends’, an expert has claimed. Speaking to Ok!, royal expert Duncan Larcombe said it’s evident that the Prince and Princess of Wales have taken inspiration from Kate’s parents Carole, 67, and Michael, 73, in how they are raising their children. As a future heir to the throne, the expert acknowledged that Prince George’s upbringing has its ‘similarities’ to Prince William’s – but that the Wales family are a closer unit just like the Middletons.

The expert said: ‘William has based his children’s upbringing on the Middleton model – three children, affluent, but hard-working parents and lots of love in the house. By the time Kate was in her early twenties, she counted her mother and father on the list of her best friends. That’s what William and Kate are aspiring to with their children.’

Unlike the Princess of Wales’ childhood, the expert highlighted that the Wales family have the pressure of being in the spotlight.

As such, Robert says the Prince and Princess of Wales are easing their children into royal life by ‘drip-feeding’ them to the public – most recently on Christmas Day and at the Princess’ carol service at Westminster Abbey.

What’s more, royal expert Katie Nicholl claimed the couple have told their eldest son that he will one day become King – but have been conscious not burden him just yet with a ‘sense of duty’.

[From The Daily Mail]

There have been royal-commentary conversations before about when William and Kate told George about his heir status and what that meant. Personally, I think he’s always known because everyone (including his parents) treats him differently than his siblings. I think Carole has been “preparing” George and coaching him this entire time. And that bugs me, the fact that William, Kate and everyone in that orbit has already assigned all three kids their roles and dynamic for the rest of their lives. George is the heir, the perfect one who never puts a foot wrong, the one who gets singled out with special gifts and attention. Charlotte is the perfect and only daughter who can be a bit wilder than George, and who is there to “support” George for the most part. Louis is already the foil to his older siblings, the scapegoat. And they reinforce all of that publicly. And no, it’s not the Middleton way – it’s the royal way. And it sucks.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

This week, the Daily Mirror reported that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are rather ambivalent about attending King Charles’s coronation, despite the palace’s wall-to-wall insistence that Harry and Meghan will inevitably show up. The British media has been feeding on this “will the Sussexes come to the Chubbly” storyline for more than a month, with all of those media outlets conveniently forgetting that Harry was very direct and specific about what he wanted from his father: a sit-down meeting, an apology, accountability. Well, the Mirror article presented all of that like it was “new” – the idea that Harry and Meghan’s Chubbly attendance is conditional, and that they will opt out if the vibes are toxic. Now it’s time for the palace machinery to once again brief against the Sussexes:

King Charles “simply won’t have the time” to sit down with Prince Harry for a private summit before the coronation, a friend of the king’s told The Daily Beast, while Prince William has no intention of apologizing to Harry and Meghan because he believes he hasn’t done anything wrong, a friend of William and Kate Middleton’s told The Daily Beast Wednesday.

The frank remarks come after sources said to be close to Harry and Meghan told the Mirror that the couple are still reluctant to attend Charles’ coronation without having a family meeting first, fearing a “toxic” atmosphere, with a source saying: “Harry has been very clear and his position hasn’t wavered—he isn’t going to come if he feels the atmosphere will be as toxic as it was during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and funeral. He’s said he wants to reconcile with his family and it’s their call, but so far nothing has changed.”

However a friend of Charles’ told The Daily Beast Wednesday, “Charles adores Harry and wants him to be there. But he has a coronation to organize. He simply won’t have the time to organize a special meeting with Harry.”

There is considered to be zero probability among William and Kate’s friends that William would “apologize” to Harry. “No. What should he apologize for?” one friend told The Daily Beast, when asked if such a gesture was likely.

Neither Charles, William or Harry’s offices responded to a request for comment to The Daily Beast for this story.

[From The Daily Beast]

“He has a coronation to organize. He simply won’t have the time to organize a special meeting with Harry…” Charles has been briefing against and about Harry this whole time, there has been an endless stream of articles about how the palace is preparing for Harry to come to the Chubbly and all of these contingency plans are being hashed out and punishments are being devised… and Charles is still playing the “I’m too busy” card. Charles is such a dogsh-t father, my God. Absolutely no one said that Charles would have to “meet” Harry just before the coronation either. Charles could have called Harry a month ago, two months ago, three months ago, and asked him to visit for a private meeting where they hash out some of their issues. That would take maturity and care from Charles, and he’s not a mature or caring person. Charles’s message is clear: I’m a neglectful, terrible father and I’m not going to change.

As for Peg and Buttons…lol, of course they won’t apologize or admit fault, not even for bullying or violent assault. What a toxic family.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Buckingham Palace social media.

Late last week, Prince William made a “surprise” visit to an Ipswich hospital and ambulance center. “Surprise” meaning that it was unannounced and presumably William did not bring anyone from the royal rota. William and Kate used to try to cut out the rota on their events all the time – they would bring someone in-house to post photos on social media. I’m sure that’s what happened here. William likely didn’t want to get caught out like he did recently on the foodbank visit – he and Kate arrived empty-handed and brought along a half-dozen photographers for their poverty tourism. The thing is, William still showed up to this Ipswich hospital empty-handed. And it wasn’t even a surprise to the emergency-care workers either, because one woman brought cupcakes for William. Well, guess who was rude about the cupcakes? Yeah. He’s such a douchebag, my god.

The Prince of Wales proved he is ripping up the royal rulebook when it comes to formality as he surprised a group of schoolchildren with a video call during an engagement earlier this week. In a video posted on TikTok by 18-year-old Hannah Wickison, Prince William, 40, appears on a pupil’s phone screen while sitting with one of their mothers.

The prince was on the video call with Kelly Gaskin, a service delivery manager at the East of England Ambulance Service, who had made a batch of royal-themed cupcakes for his visit. A video of the call shows the children, from Colchester in Essex, laughing with the father of three, who was on a surprise informal visit to the hospital and ambulance station.

It was a markedly informal gesture from the future king, who appeared relaxed as he laughed with the students. He even joked with one pupil, who had red hair, saying he looked like Ed Sheeran. The surprise call is the latest in a series of lighthearted gestures from William which perhaps hint at his desire to make the monarchy more approachable and relatable for the younger generation.

During the call, the prince says: ‘Who’s the guy, to the corner?’ and points to the pupil as the others laugh and the camera focuses on the bashful boy, who giggles and bows his head. Amid the giggles, William asks: ‘Are you guys doing any work?’ to which the chorus of pupils replies: ‘No!’ The pupil’s mother chimes in and tells the children: ‘You should be’, before they inform her they’re on their lunchbreak.

William then makes another joke to his eager audience, telling one young boy: ‘Your mother’s feeding me her cakes.’

He then holds up a cupcake to the camera, quipping: ‘They’re not very good!’ The children then burst into laughter as the prince adds: ‘I’ve told her she wouldn’t win Bake Off.’

William then shares a giggle with the pupil’s mother, as she can be heard saying: ‘Right, we’re going to go.’

[From The Mail Plus]

“Your mother’s feeding me her cakes” – I imagine he says that often in Houghton Hall. Cough. As for “they’re not very good” – again, he went empty-handed to visit first responders, overworked healthcare staffers, nurses, doctors, ambulance EMTs. Someone did something nice and brought some cupcakes for William. And his first instinct is to make fun of the woman’s baking. A f–king tool. As for all of the talk about “his desire to make the monarchy more approachable and relatable for the younger generation” – he’s behaving like an arrogant elitist so the youths will like him??

A big thank you to @kerryjgaskin for the incredible cakes, we heard they went down a treat! pic.twitter.com/hIFGW4c5oE

— EEAST Ambulance Service (@EastEnglandAmb) February 13, 2023

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, social media.

For weeks now, Buckingham Palace has been openly briefing the British media on their belief that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will attend King Charles’s coronation. From what I can tell, Charles still hasn’t spoken to Harry, nor has anyone from the palace reached out to set up a meeting between father and son. Charles seems to be hoping to exert public pressure on Harry to show up when invited, and instead of merely speaking to Harry, you have courtiers and government officials running around squawking about what will happen when (inevitably!) the Sussexes show up at the Chubbly. It’s been really stupid, and very… gossip busy-work. Well, a new chapter for this saga: the Daily Mirror’s sources say that the Sussexes still haven’t decided if they’ll go a’Chubblying.

Prince Harry and Meghan have still not decided whether to attend the King’s coronation, sources close to the couple revealed. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be invited as part of the 2,000-strong congregation at Westminster Abbey on May 6. Despite being the King’s son and remaining fifth in line to the throne, Harry will play no special role if he does show up.

The Mirror can reveal that neither the King nor Prince William have spoken directly to Harry and Meghan about their attendance at the event. Harry, 38, is understood to want a summit with his father and brother ahead of flying to the UK from his family home in California.

A source said: “Harry has been very clear and his position hasn’t wavered – he isn’t going to come if he feels the atmosphere will be as toxic as it was during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and funeral. He’s said he wants to reconcile with his family and it’s their call, but so far nothing has changed.”

The Royal Family are understood to be “fully expecting” Harry and Meghan despite reported anger at allegations in his memoir Spare. But the Sussexes would not be invited to appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony. Government advisers are also putting plans in place in case Harry decides to attend the coronation in a 48-hour whirlwind trip. One scenario is that Harry may come to the event on his own, with Meghan staying at home in California. Their son Archie’s fourth birthday is also on May 6.

However, the royal source said: “Whatever they do it will most likely be as a family.”

[From The Daily Mirror]

Yeah. I believe this? The invitations haven’t even gone out but there’s been a month of palace leaks and briefs about how they’re “expecting” Harry to come when summoned. Harry made his stance perfectly clear in his Spare promotional interviews: he wants a real conversation with his father, he wants real accountability and an acknowledgement of what the institution did to the Sussexes. If you ask me, Charles has been equally clear with Harry by refusing to speak to him and by leaking all of this sh-t about his “expectations” for Harry’s visit. I hope Harry takes a good hard look at all of the bullsh-t that’s happened since QEII’s passing and Harry decides to just stay in Montecito and celebrate his son’s birthday.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

In the Netflix docuseries Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex described how naive she was when she first met Prince Harry’s royal relatives, and how she really didn’t know that she wasn’t supposed to greet Prince William and Kate with a hug. In Spare, Harry noted that he prepared Meghan on how to curtsy and formally greet his grandmother and his father, but he made it sound like he didn’t give her any specific instructions on William and Kate. Perhaps because he hoped they would greet Meghan warmly and match her affectionate, demonstrative nature. That is not what happened.

What’s funny is that after Meghan’s big reveal about how her hugs weren’t really welcomed, tons of royalists sniffed and argued that she should keep her hands to herself and not assume that everyone wants a hug. Instead of simply leaning into that – “Meghan is wrong to hug people” – Kensington Palace has gone full-throttle into “Kate is a hugger too, watch her as she hugs everyone BUT Meghan.” These people do not have the good sense god gave a goose. So, that’s where we are now: performative hugs from Kate, all aimed at “proving” Meghan wrong and/or copykeening Meghan’s warm, affectionate demeanor. But that’s not all – they have to “explain” why… Kate didn’t want to hug Meghan.

Former Brexit leader Nigel Farage says Kate Middleton didn’t hug Meghan Markle because she sussed her out “very early on”.

“The whole idea that Kate is this very cold fish, and yet you’ve seen the joy when she met a former schoolteacher of hers, you saw the joy with that wonderful polar explorer,” he told Sky News host Paul Murray.

“The point is, Kate hugs people she likes, which is why she didn’t hug Meghan because she sussed her out very early on – how wise and how magnificent Kate is.”

[From Sky News]

Ah, yes, it’s no secret what Kate and Nigel Farage “sussed out” about Meghan right away – the fact that she is a Black American woman who “doesn’t know her place.” All of this is a clear admission that everything Meghan said was correct – Kate didn’t want to hug her or be sisterly towards her. Kate was a bitch to Meghan from the word go. Oh, but that’s not all. From Amanda Platell’s column in the Daily Mail:

Adorable pictures of a beaming Princess of Wales embracing her old prep school teacher this week. So much for Harry and Meghan’s snipe at Kate that she’s Ms High And Mighty, a cold fish and not ‘a hugger’ like Meghan. Maybe Kate just doesn’t like cuddling up to scorpions.

[From The Daily Mail]

How is THIS the argument they’re all going with at the same time? “Kate hugs people all the time, except for Meghan, because Kate was rude as f–k to Meghan as soon as she met her.” And “scorpion,” really? These people are deranged.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

Do I want to write about or defend Chelsea Handler in any way? No, I don’t. I can’t stand the woman. She’s dreadfully unfunny and deeply hateful and bigoted. I clearly have a lot of reasons to dislike Handler. One of those reasons is NOT “because she’s childfree.” Chelsea Handler, like many women, has chosen not to be a mother. It’s actually becoming something of a trend – women in their 30s and 40s just opting out of the whole motherhood thing altogether. Especially after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, I find “the childfree option” to be completely reasonable in a society literally forcing women to carry unwanted or dangerous pregnancies. In any case, Chelsea Handler decided to make a video about her happy childfree life:

Just another day. pic.twitter.com/Bf4cdBqunG

— Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) February 10, 2023

Again, she’s just so utterly unfunny. That’s my issue with this – I don’t care that she’s childfree, but I care that she’s one of the unfunniest “professional comedians” out there. But of course, this was bait – Chelsea is hyping her gig hosting The Daily Show, so she was trying to stir up some culture-war controversy, and the entire right-wing media apparatus is now crying about Chelsea Handler being happily childfree. All of these conservative dudes are super-worried that women will realize that, oh right, they don’t have to have babies if they don’t want to. It’s not just men though – there are a lot of judgy moms in her comments, yelling at her about her “meaningless” existence. Congrats to Chelsea – she got what she wanted. I’ll even defend her: at no point does she say that no one should ever have kids or whatever. She’s just promoting her childfree lifestyle… like tons of people promote their parenthood lifestyle.

This sexist rant is so unbelievably unhinged.

I literally watch Tucker Carlson as my job and even I’m sitting here like, “Jesus Christ, dude.” pic.twitter.com/eEEKGKBQGc

— Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) February 15, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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Halle Berry has a sense of humor about falling ass over tea kettle at a charity event last week. I would have been too embarrassed! [Dlisted]
Check out Sarah Paulson’s Malibu home. [OMG Blog]
The group behind those Jesus commercials during the Super Bowl is bankrolling the effort to criminalize medication abortions. [Jezebel]
Michael B. Jordan’s Creed III promotion has begun in earnest. [LaineyGossip]
There are three movies called Stalingrad?? [Pajiba]
Photos from the Goya Awards! [RCFA]
Craig Conover is ready to marry Paige DeSorbo. [Starcasm]
Jay-Z was Blue Ivy’s Super Bowl photographer. [JustJared]
Oof, this Rodarte collection is kind of bad. [GFY]
Czech footballer Jakub Jankto comes out as gay. [Towleroad]
Kendall Jenner and her sisters have the jankiest Photoshop. [Buzzfeed]
Speaking of janky Photoshop, here’s Khloe Kardashian in a bikini. [Egotastic]