The Flash trailer came out during the Super Bowl. They spent all of this money on a film starring… Ezra Miller. [Seriously OMG]
Michael B. Jordan looks amazing in a double-breasted suit. [Tom & Lorenzo]
I love that the Puppy Bowl is still a thing! [Dlisted]
The British tabloids got it wrong about Rihanna! Shocking! [LaineyGossip]
I saw a clip from Your Place or Mine and Ashton Kutcher couldn’t even bring himself to try to “act” – he was literally just standing there, reciting his lines. [Pajiba]
Oooh, Christian Siriano’s collection is great. [Go Fug Yourself]
Rihanna’s Super Bowl ensembles were Loewe and Alaia. [RCFA]
All of the celebrity sightings at the Super Bowl! [Just Jared]
Why is it this hard to make a decent rom-com? [Jezebel]
Hailey Bieber is back in the kitchen. [Egotastic]
The NFL & military industrial complex continues to use Pat Tillman’s life and death for their own purposes, to disastrous results. [Buzzfeed]
British people are not okay. [Towleroad]

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not confirmed anything regarding King Charles’s coronation, or “Chubbly.” Sidenote: the reason why I love the “Chubbly” nickname so much is because so much of this “coronation drama” is just regurgitated Jubbly melodrama from last year. The British media is using the exact same talking points and they’re having the exact same hissy fits about Harry and Meghan refusing to play their game. The only reason why the Sussexes even went to the Jubbly last year is because Queen Elizabeth invited them personally, and she made the effort to ensure that Harry, Meghan and their children were kept safe throughout their visit. By all accounts, Charles has NOT personally invited the Sussexes, nor will he ensure their safety. Instead, the palace machinery seems to be whipping up all kinds of angst, melodrama and fury towards the very idea that the Sussexes would attend.

As I said, it’s driving them all crazy that H&M aren’t playing the game and they haven’t said one word either way about their attendance. The palace keeps briefing the papers and saying that they assume the Sussexes will attend and everything will be “meticulously planned” to keep Harry and Meghan away from William and Kate. Asinine. Well, guess who briefed the Mail again this weekend? You guessed it. Now it seems like the Sussexes will have to be kept away from the Wessexes as well.

The Royal Family is ‘fully expecting’ both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to attend the Coronation, friends reveal. A well-placed source said that many relatives had been ‘spitting feathers’ about some of the allegations made by Prince Harry in his autobiography and the interviews to publicise it. However, the family is now bracing themselves for a visit from their Montecito relatives.

A friend said: ‘Members of the family have told me that both Harry and Meghan will definitely come. They fully expect that. And they should realise that there is only one subject that many members of the Royal Family will be willing to discuss… and that’s the weather.’

Coronation invitations – including those for Harry and Meghan – are expected to be sent out imminently. When they do, the pressure will be on the Sussexes to decide whether or not they will attend. The day falls on the fourth birthday of their son, Archie. Government advisers are putting plans in place in case Harry decides to attend the event alone in a 48-hour whirlwind trip.

Those close to the family, however, say they are braced for a reunion with the Sussexes. Any meeting is likely to be a civil affair, with trust eroded between the couple and other members of the family since the publication of the duke’s bombshell memoir Spare.

A friend said: ‘Harry revealed details of private conversations so everyone is on edge. You ask about the Sussexes and everyone immediately changes the subject. They are spitting feathers but not minded to provide any fuel for the fire.’

If the Sussexes do attend the Coronation, they will be spectators and will not form an official part of the ceremony. There is the added complication that while the Earl and Countess of Wessex are working members of the family, they have not yet been awarded a Dukedom as conversations continue as to whether they will be granted the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh titles by the new King. It means that, as things stand, they would technically have to bow and curtsey to Harry and Meghan. But it is thought that the choreography of family members on the day will mean that they will not be put in that position publicly.

A source said: ‘From what I know of Harry and Meghan, they will both want to spend some time with their son on his birthday.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Why are the Wessexes in it now? Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Sophie Wessex is in a snit about everything these days, and Sophie and Edward are likely furious that more thought and consideration is being put into the Sussexes’ will-they-or-won’t-they attendance than their own. Once again, we have the Windsors going on briefing sprees and throwing preemptive tantrums about the Sussexes…and Harry and Meghan haven’t said a f–king work in more than a month. The Windsors are just going to keep making the same mistake over and over, aren’t they? The way to play it would be “of course the whole Sussex family is invited, the king would love to see his beloved son, his lovely daughter-in-law and his grandchildren again, but it’s up to them. None of this is conditional or transactional whatsoever, period, the end.” They’re too dumb and tacky to say that though.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Two weeks ago, America was obsessed with the Chinese “spy balloon” floating its way across the continental United States. It was a very weird story – the balloon was being tracked on military radar the whole time, and apparently President Biden ordered the military to shoot down the balloon when it was halfway across the country. They waited until the balloon went over North Carolina, and an F-22 Raptor shot down the balloon just over Myrtle Beach. It was said that the Coast Guard (or whoever) gathered up the remnants of the balloon for intelligence purposes. It was also said that China had been sending spy balloons over America for years, and during the Trump administration, Trump never did anything about them.

Following the mysterious spy balloon, people have simply been paying more attention to the sky. There’s something unsettling about the reality that we’re being monitored in our own airspace, and weirder still, that some of the unidentified flying objects are coming from parts unknown. All of which to say, over the past four days, three UFOs have been shot down over North America. It’s insane.

Pentagon and intelligence officials are trying to make sense of three unidentified flying objects over Alaska, Canada and Michigan that U.S. fighter jets shot down with missiles on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The latest turn in the aerial show taking place in the skies above North America comes after a helter-skelter weekend involving what at times seemed like an invasion of unidentified flying objects.

The latest object had first been spotted on Saturday over Montana, initially sparking debate over whether it even existed. On Saturday, military officials detected a radar blip over Montana, which then disappeared, leading them to conclude it was an anomaly. Then a blip appeared Sunday over Montana, then Wisconsin and Michigan. Once military officials obtained visual confirmation, they ordered an F-16 to shoot it down over Lake Huron.

There are two big questions around the episodes: What were the craft? And why does the United States appear to be seeing more suddenly, and shooting down more?

There are no answers to the first question yet. American officials do not know what the objects were, much less their purpose or who sent them.

For the second, it is not clear if there are suddenly more objects. But what is certain is that in the wake of the recent incursion by a Chinese spy balloon, the U.S. and Canadian militaries are hypervigilant in flagging some objects that might previously have been allowed to pass.

[From The NY Times]

The NYT goes on to say that after the Chinese spy balloon, NORAD adjusted their radar so they could pick up smaller objects, which has led to… all of this. Suddenly, NORAD is seeing all of these UFOs. And I’m not using “UFOs” to mean that all of these flying objects are alien aircraft. I’m saying that they are truly “unidentified” and the government isn’t giving us any explanations (yet) for what the f–k is going on. I’m not naive – I get that everyone is spying on everyone. I get that foreign governments are monitoring North America. I get that the American government monitors its own citizens. But this whole “three UFOs have been shot down in three days” thing feels very different. Right??

Did y’all watch that Unsolved Mysteries episode “Something in the Sky,” all about the UFO sightings in Michigan in 1994? That’s what I kept thinking about this weekend. What if… these are really aliens?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

In both the Netflix docuseries and his memoir Spare, Prince Harry addressed one of the worst moments of his life, the “colonialist and native” costume party in 2005 where he “dressed up” in a rented Nazi uniform. In the Netflix series, Harry called the costume one of the biggest mistakes of his life and he framed it as a moment where he had to choose to learn and grow and try to get to a more righteous and aware path. In Spare, Harry gave additional, never-before-heard background on choosing the Nazi uniform, which was that Prince William and then-Kate Middleton “howled with laughter” at the uniform and told him he should definitely wear it. Well, more than a month after Spare was released, apparently William is engorged with rage about Harry spilling those details. William is mad that… Harry has been holding onto that story for years? My dude, you are not making the point you think you’re making. From the Daily Beast:

The Nazi uniform story in Spare: The friend told The Daily Beast: “It just demonstrates how utterly f–ked the relationship is that Harry resorted to dragging up this thing that literally happened almost 20 years ago. William was completely gobsmacked by it.” The friend did not suggest the story, as told in Harry’s memoir, Spare, was untrue…However the friend said William was stunned by Harry deciding to tell the story, having apparently been “nurturing this grievance for almost two decades.”

It’s not Peg’s fault!! William’s office at Kensington Palace have made no comment on Harry’s book and said they did not wish to comment to The Daily Beast for this story. The friend who spoke to The Daily Beast said: “Whatever Harry wore to a fancy dress party could never possibly be William’s fault.” They added that William was stunned by “the realization that Harry has been nurturing this grievance for almost two decades.”

The Keens would never deign to read Spare: The friend said their understanding was that William and Kate had not read the book but said they would “of course” have been apprised of its contents by their advisers and would likely have read many media reports on it. “You can understand why William has his reservations about Harry attending King Charles’ coronation,” the friend said—referring to Harry’s older brother being the apparent sticking point in getting Harry and Meghan to the ceremony in early May.

Why the Nazi uniform story out of all of the Spare stories? Of course, attention will now turn as to why it is this particular story that has so got under William’s skin. There was no shortage of arguably much more damaging brickbats thrown at William in Spare, after all, including allegations that he physically assaulted Harry and that he and Kate acted dismissively towards him and Meghan on countless occasions. Asked if Harry recounting the incident had upset William more than any of the other accusations made in the book, including the aforementioned claim that William pushed him to the floor in a physical fight, the friend said, “There is plenty for William to not like in the book. But he found it particularly astonishing that Harry wanted to reopen this issue, and rather than to accept responsibility for it, to try and blame William and Catherine for it, when it was clearly no-one’s fault but his own.”

[From The Daily Beast]

One of my takeaways from Spare and the various ways Harry described William was that William seems like a guy who smokes his own product, you know what I mean? William lives in his own sheltered little world, an echo chamber full of rage and sycophantic yes-men who regurgitate familiar talking points to him because that’s what he wants to hear. Like, I actually believe that William believes many of the lies coming from his own office, some of which he even started. My point is that I halfway believe that William is too lazy to sit down and read Spare, so the content of the book is being filtered to him by those Tory political operatives grooming him to be the king they need.

Anyway, Harry didn’t “blame” William and Kate for the Nazi uniform thing – what Harry has said and written is that he owned his choice for nearly two decades, and people should know that William and Kate thought the Nazi uniform was hysterically funny. It’s not “this is William and Kate’s fault,” it’s “they’re in it too.” Harry also treated the story with perspective, because (clearly) William has done a lot of sh-t to him over the years.

Cover courtesy of The Sun, additional photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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This story about Olaplex causing hair loss came out a couple of weeks ago, prior to this lawsuit being filed. When I first saw this story on Buzzfeed, I wasn’t sure I would give up my Olaplex shampoo, conditioner, bond smoother and oil. That stuff costs a lot of money and I have plenty left. My hair has been breaking lately and it’s thinner than usual however. I just assumed that I was going through menopause-related hair loss but now I’m not so sure. Insider interviewed a handful of women who have hair loss and brittleness they associate with Olaplex. Some switched to cheaper hair products and noticed their hair growing back. Dermatologists say that it’s unlikely a topical hair product can cause hair loss, but women experiencing it disagree. Here’s some of both Insider and Buzzfeed’s earlier reports on this as background, with much more on Insider if you’re interested.

Sarah Horrell Richardson battled dry and damaged hair after spending a lifetime curling, straightening, and coloring it for dance competitions. So she was excited to try Olaplex, the TikTok-famous brand that says it can build chemical bonds to repair weakened hair.

But within days of using Olaplex’s Bond Smoother in January 2022, she said her hair began to break in half.

“I would see it all over the counter and my clothes,” she told Insider. She swore off the products after just six uses. “I don’t really have much hair left to lose.”

Richardson is among a number of people claiming in social-media posts and online reviews that Olaplex damaged their hair. The Facebook group “Olaplex Hair Loss/Hair Damage?” is devoted to sharing negative experiences with the brand, and has gained roughly 1,000 members within the past several weeks.

The complaints stand in sharp contrast to thousands of glowing Olaplex reviews from celebrities, influencers, and others that helped supercharge the brand’s recent growth. Olaplex went public in September 2021 at a valuation of more than $15 billion.

Insider interviewed 10 former Olaplex users who voiced concerns about Olaplex on social media and in emails to Insider. Their ages ranged from 26 to 63 years old, from cities across the US and the UK. Some said their hair fell out in “clumps,” or accumulated on sinks and pillows after they had started using the brand’s products. Several said their hair turned dry and straw-like. One said her hairline receded and another said she could see her scalp as her hair thinned. Some feared health problems and sought medical tests. Insider viewed documentation from users such as before-and-after photos, blood-test results, and doctor-visit summaries, as well as correspondence with Olaplex customer service.

Olaplex states its products are third-party tested, and a dermatologist said hair loss from topical treatments was relatively uncommon unless an ingredient caused an allergic reaction. Olaplex has offered refunds for up to 12 months’ worth of products to dissatisfied customers.

“There is so much hair loss now, I’ve never, ever seen in my life so many patients, I see at least 10 patients a day,” Viktoryia Kazlouskaya, a board-certified dermatologist and dermatopathologist at the University of Pittsburgh, told Insider. “And hair fall from shampoo or oil or products is super rare in general, so I would be very careful claiming that.” – From Insider

---

Olaplex has been around since 2015, and so the fact that there are all these hair loss complaints is unexpected if it’s something in the formula, Wong said. “The formula hasn’t really changed.”

Wong believes that reports of hair loss from Olaplex and many other hair products over the last few years may be related to the pandemic. Illness and stress, both of which have been at an all-time high, are two known causes of a sudden and temporary hair loss called telogen effluvium. Researchers also found people who had persistent symptoms after COVID were four times as likely to report hair loss than those who had not been infected.

People often interpret a company’s decision to refund some customers as an admission of guilt, but Olaplex has stood behind the science and testing that goes into their formulations. The company told us that when customers aren’t satisfied with a product, they are willing to “explore a possible refund.”

There’s “no evidence that Olaplex products cause hair loss or hair breakage,” according to a spokesperson. “We believe in the safety and efficacy of our products, which are thoroughly tested in-house and by independent third-party laboratories.”

The experts we talked to unanimously agreed that the products alone are probably not making users’ hair fall out, though they did have other ideas about why people think otherwise.

“There isn’t a form of hair loss that occurs from applying a hair product topically once unless you’re allergic to that product,” said Dr. Chesahna Kindred, a board-certified dermatologist who specializes in hair loss. There are no ingredients in Olaplex products that she considers to be markedly different from other products on the market. Her advice to anyone experiencing hair loss is to see a dermatologist to get to the bottom of it. – From Buzzfeed

[From Insider and Buzzfeed]

How is Buzzfeed minimizing this so much! They’re making it sound like no big deal or like user error. I initially thought it might be just covid-related hair loss that people were attributing to their products, similar to people saying Yankee Candles don’t smell because they can’t smell. I’m going to stop using Olaplex after reading that Insider story though. My hair is a lot softer, I haven’t had the brittleness other people mentioned, but at what cost? Is my thinning hair due to Olaplex? Is it possible that all of these women are going through other health problems and just blaming their haircare products? The personal stories in the Insider article convinced me to take a break from Olaplex for now.

After I wrote up this story, I read that Olaplex is being sued by about 30 different users in a class action suit for hair and scalp damage. Some of it has to do with an ingredient, commonly known as lilial, in their No. 3 hair treatment. Lilial has been banned in the EU, and Olaplex says they changed the formula of No. 3 to remove it.

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In the year of our lord Beyonce 2023, Prince Andrew has spent a significant amount of time trying to convince people that he can and will launch a comeback. His late mother left him millions in her will, and he’s willing to blow all of that money to orchestrate a smear campaign against a victim of human trafficking, not to mention a woman who has credibly claimed to have been raped by Andrew. Andrew has been huffing and puffing about wanting to sue Virginia Giuffre and somehow “overturn” the out-of-court settlement he made to her last year. The only people buying it are Ghislaine Maxwell and her family – Maxwell’s brother provided a disgusting photo of two people in a bathtub as a way to “exonerate” Andrew, and the whole thing was just… despicable. So that’s where we are. Omid Scobie devoted his latest column to how no one is buying what Andrew is selling and Andrew needs to be put out on an ice floe and forgotten. Basically! Some highlights from Scobie’s piece:

Andrew’s reinvention: While much of the world has been focused on the lives of other Royal Family members, Prince Andrew has been quietly plotting his reinvention. One that he hopes will clear his name for good and allow him to finally step back into the public eye. You’d be right for feeling like we’ve been here down this road before. It’s well-worn territory. In the run-up to Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations last summer, the Duke of York was busy planning a similar kind of PR do-over.

He planned to use his mother for PR: Without royal duties to prop him up, or titles to validate his position on the world stage, it appeared to many that he would instead focus his efforts on being a steady – and visible – presence in his revered mother’s life as she struggled with illness and episodic mobility issues. It was, he may have felt, a fool-proof way of winning over the public – the dutiful son by his frail mother’s side. But when the monarch passed away in September, so did any hopes of riding on her popularity. Without the Queen to stick up for him, he’d find little sympathy from the rest of the family, who were all keen for him to remain out of sight and not tarnish their own reputations.

Andrew’s Plan B is all about fighting Virginia Giuffre: Recently I met with a long-time acquaintance of Andrew for a book I’m writing and they described a similar motivation. “The death of his mother has meant he feels comfortable revisiting this, regardless of any discomfort it may bring to the family,” they said. “He has always maintained his innocence and now he is keen to prove it.”

Andrew’s lack of empathy: But if Andrew thinks that any of this will help exonerate himself, he’s sorely mistaken. Just like the several other times he attempted to squeeze himself back into public life, he’s once again forgetting the same key weakness – a lack of empathy. It’s ultimately what turned so many off after his car crash of a Newsnight interview aired in 2019. Though the primetime special was filled with ridiculed responses, it was his lack of empathy for the victims of his pedophile acquaintance Epstein that incensed viewers the most.

The lack of a sensitivity chip: “This will always be his problem,” says an associate of the prince. “He has a sensitivity chip missing… When everyone criticised him for not showing sympathy, he didn’t see the problem. Even today, I don’t think he’s particularly horrified. He certainly doesn’t express that privately. I’d say the public can already sense that.”

Virginia Giuffre’s memoir: Over the next year he’ll have more than a few challenges to his innocence campaign. It was recently revealed that Giuffre—who had only agreed to a one year silence deal after settling with Andrew—has signed a major publishing deal. Her memoir will not only reveal more the horrors of her relationships with Epstein and Maxwell, but also provide new and unheard claims about Andrew.

Charles & William are not on Andrew’s side: Over at the Palace, both King Charles and Prince William are said to be poised to do whatever is necessary to prevent Andrew from causing further embarrassment and shame to the institution of the monarchy. “He has support privately but publicly, he is alone,” says a royal source.

The only people in his corner are being paid: In fact, other than the lawyers and aides on his payroll – including UK solicitor Gary Bloxsome and US lawyer Andrew Brettler – Prince Andrew continues to have no one in his corner. And if that’s not a sign for him to give up on this delusional comeback, I don’t know what is.

[From Yahoo UK]

I mean… I understand what Scobie says about the lack of a sensitivity chip, and the lack of empathy. That’s a huge problem for Andrew, the fact that he comes off as an arrogant, insensitive buffoon. But surely the larger problem is that he’s a liar, a rapist and a co-conspiracist to two human trafficking abusers? Like, yes – it looks bad that Andrew is so careless and insensitive, but the larger issue is that he actually DID what Virginia said he did.

It’s also abundantly clear that the Windsors don’t actually get why Andrew is so disgusting. It’s clear that Andrew IS being “privately” supported in the family. Charles should have kicked him out of Royal Lodge and put him on that ice floe. But instead, Charles included Andrew in the Christmas walk and Andrew was given Wood Farm for the holidays, and on and on. The Windsors are sending the message that they are also quite insensitive to the very real crimes Andrew has committed.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

Last week, the Princess of Wales joined her husband for their first joint trip to Cornwall since becoming the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall. While they were there, Kate unexpectedly (?) ran into one of her old teachers, and she chatted with the older gentleman briefly and then she gave him a hug and continued on with the event. The hug got a lot of play in the British media, almost as if it was set-up and Kate knew ahead of time that she was supposed to hug the man and give the photographers a good angle. I have no idea if it was prearranged or not – Kate’s a terrible actress and she has no pokerface, so I kind of believe that she was genuinely surprised to see her former teacher there and her enthusiasm was genuine.

Now, all that being said, it was the second time that week in which Kate hugged someone on camera. The other time was when she saw Captain Prett Chandi – the two women greeted each other with a particularly warm embrace. Orders have been given and a plan has been put into action: Operation Hugs and Buttons. Even People Magazine openly suggested that this is a change in Kate’s personal branding from icy bitch to affectionate hugger, and it’s all to do with Meghan:

Kate Middleton is on a hugging spree. The Princess of Wales, 41, was quick to embrace some familiar faces during royal engagements this week. While congratulating Captain Preet Chandi on her record-breaking expedition in Antarctica during a school visit on Wednesday, Kate greeted the explorer with a big hug. Another sweet moment came on Thursday during Princess Kate and Prince William’s visit to Cornwall, when she reunited with one of her former teachers.

Although Meghan Markle said in the Netflix show Harry & Meghan, which premiered in December, that she was surprised by Kate and Prince William’s formality behind closed doors, a friend of the Princess of Wales recently told PEOPLE that the royal is quite affectionate.

“Kate’s a big hugger,” the friend said. “She is warm and friendly and greets everyone with a big hug and kiss. It comes naturally to her to be like that.”

Recalling the first time that Meghan met Kate, the Duchess of Sussex said on Netflix show that she was “in ripped jeans and barefoot” when Prince William and Kate came over for dinner.

“Like I was a hugger, always been a hugger,” Meghan, 41, said. “I didn’t realize that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.”

“I guess I’d start to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside, carried through on the inside,” she added. “There is a forward-facing way of being and then you close the door and you relax now. But that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.”

[From People]

As I said previously, the “Kate is a hugger, we promise” thing is not the way to play this. Kate is a reserved, self-contained, unaffectionate person – that’s not a crime, and she should have owned that and acted like Meghan was wrong to go around hugging people constantly. That would have been the smart way to handle it. But no, we’re getting performative hugs from the Princess of Copykeening. It’s not enough that Kate copies Meghan’s clothes, jewelry, shoes, typeface, color schemes, billboards and charitable branding, Kate also has to copy Meghan’s affectionate, demonstrative nature. Pretty soon Kate is going to go around barefoot, claiming to be a California girl. It’s giving CREEPY.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

First off, that was a pregnancy confirmation for Rihanna at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Shortly after the show, Rihanna’s rep confirmed that Rihanna is expecting again. She just welcomed Baby Boy Fenty in May of last year! She got pregnant again right away, damn.

So, I’m sure Rihanna’s pregnancy affected the staging and choreography of the Halftime Show, but even without the pregnancy, I’m not sure she would have chosen to do much differently. Unlike many Halftime shows in recent memory, Rihanna didn’t throw everything and the kitchen sink into this sh-t. There were no guest-stars – Rihanna knew she was enough. There wasn’t a ton of choreography for Rihanna – she let her dancers take care of that. There weren’t elaborate costume changes – Rihanna said she’s not doing all of that. What we got was a simplified, almost elegant stage set-up with floating Plexiglass platforms and a very basic red-and-white color scheme. It worked… in my opinion.

The thing that occurred to me is… I bet the NFL is very happy about this. She kept it simple, there was no vulgarity, no crazy moments overshadowing the game, yet she delivered a memorable performance. Considering all of the (completely justified) sh-t she’s talked about the NFL, I wonder if they were shocked that she kept everything (relatively) wholesome. She’s even being praised by NFL moms for being a glowing example of pregnancy and motherhood.

Also, the fact that she whipped out a Fenty compact and checked her makeup mid-performance? She said, I’m a billionaire now, be grateful you’re getting this.

Rihanna checks her makeup in the middle of the #SuperBowl halftime show. pic.twitter.com/HHICnGAQXb

— Pop Base (@PopBase) February 13, 2023

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Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Getty.

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I love how obsessed we are, as a society, with Sheryl Lee Ralph. She’s been around forever, but Abbott Elementary has suddenly made her a household name in her 60s. What’s great is that she’s being invited everywhere and she’s saying yes to all of those invitations. For the first time ever, the NFL wanted the Black National Anthem performed at the Super Bowl, and they invited Ralph to sing it. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is a 123-year-old song beloved by the Black community, and Ralph did a beautiful rendition of it. Of course, people are complaining that this song made the Super Bowl “woke.” Imagine being that stupid and racist.

There were people complaining that Sheryl lip-synced? To which I say… at this point, everyone’s lip-syncing. Rihanna lip-synced too, call the cops. When approached for comment about the alleged lip-syncing, Sheryl Lee told THR: “Does it matter? Does it matter? No. Thank you.”

I missed this last night, but Babyface was invited to sing “America the Beautiful” – a nice rendition, I think.

Here’s Chris Stapleton’s performance of the National Anthem. I thought it was good/fine, honestly. I prefer female singers doing the anthem, but Stapleton’s countrified version was acceptable, and clearly a lot of the football dudes loved it. Loved that Oscar-winner Troy Kotsur was invited to sign the anthem too!!

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Kaley Cuoco and Tom Pelphrey are expecting their first child very soon. I’m going to guess in March or early April. They announced in October and had a big baby shower in January. Kaley has posted a lot and been pretty visible at award shows and filming her latest series. Kaley talked to Entertainment Tonight about their upcoming parenthood and it turns out she’s not a planner and hasn’t read any books to prepare. She says she “trust[s] the process.”

Last October, Kaley Cuoco announced that she was expecting her first child!

The actor made the news public in a heartwarming Instagram post, which revealed that she and her partner, Tom Pelphrey, were having a baby girl.

“Baby girl Pelphrey coming 2023,” Kaley wrote, adding that she was “beyond blessed and over the moon.”

Needless to say, fans were absolutely thrilled for Kaley and Tom, who went public with their relationship a few months prior, in May.

Now, Kaley has opened up about her pregnancy experience in more detail, admitting that she has absolutely “no plan” whatsoever when it comes to being a mom.

“I have no plan and I’ve read zero books, so that’s the type of mom I will be,” she told Entertainment Tonight this week.

“I’m not a prepper. I’m just not that way. It’s gonna be great, I trust the process,” she said, before suggesting that she finds the depths of parenting information available on the internet far too overwhelming.

“I’m just like, ‘It’s gonna be great.’ But that’s how I’ve gone through life. I think nowadays we get so caught up, right? We didn’t even have all this stuff at our fingertips and now it’s almost too much,” she said.

And Kaley went on to reveal that Tom is actually the total opposite, having done enough research for the both of them.

[From Buzzfeed News]

I’m very much a planner/prepper/preparer for everything, so I can see the value in Kaley’s tactic. Too much planning and info have definitely caused me to psych myself out in the past and be more nervous and anxious than I would have been otherwise. That said, I’m talking about, like, flying with my pet and not having a whole human baby. So probably a little bit of pre-reading wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for Kaley. But she’s right that people have been doing this forever without a million books and articles and it does sound like Tom has it covered for the both of them. In the article, Kaley also says that they wrote her pregnancy into the storyline of her new show and talks about how well she was treated on set throughout. I hadn’t thought much about how her pregnancy would affect her pending projects, but I guess if they’re filming it will come out later this year.

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