Michael B. Jordan covers the March issue of GQ. He’s promoting his latest movie, Sinners, set in the 1930s Jim Crow South. It’s not exactly a historical drama, they just that as a backdrop for supernatural horror. When the trailer for Sinners came out, people joked that it looked like something Jonathan Majors was originally supposed to do, because Majors was known for enjoying vintage clothing, etc. Majors and Jordan worked together before Majors’ arrest and trial for domestic violence, and Jordan has avoided speaking about Majors publicly in recent years. He broke his silence in this GQ piece, and I found it disappointing as hell. Michael B. Jordan is such a talent, and he’s so smart about his celebrity-branding and his PR, but he really shot himself in the foot with this interview. Some highlights from GQ:

He’s not doing projects for the money: “It’s a lot easier for me to say no [to projects]. Look, if I was only moving for profit, my résumé would look a lot different. It’d have six more projects on there. [Producers] will see you in something and be like, Oh yeah, you would be great for this, because of this. It’s like, You want me to do that, again? That’s sometimes boring for us, you know?”

His history with Jonathan Majors: During the long promo rollout for Creed III, Jordan spoke often of the bond he’d formed with his costar Jonathan Majors, whose next-big-thing energy was surging thanks to another blockbuster opening that year meant to center him as a major character in the MCU. Majors’s rise came to a screeching halt soon thereafter, after an incident with his then girlfriend left him facing trial on misdemeanor assault and harassment charges. When Majors was found guilty of one count of reckless assault in the third degree and a charge of harassment as a violation (he was found not guilty of intentional assault in the third degree and aggravated harassment in the second degree), Marvel and other big studios scuttled their plans for him, and he went from ascendant leading man to pariah.

How he feels about Majors now: Today, sitting on the edge of the pool table, he solemnly recalls that it was a “tough situation” to watch unfold. “But he’s doing great, just got engaged. I’m proud of his resilience and his strength through it all, and [his] handling [of] it. I’m glad he’s good. That’s my boy,” Jordan says. Would you work with him again? “Yes. Yes.”

He’s 38 & still childfree: “Like, my dad had two kids at this age, you know what I’m saying? But you got to realize, the time you do put in, you’re building something solid.” If he had carved out time to build a family of his own by now, I offer, his head-down approach to tackling all things would mean either home or work would end up shortchanged. “And that is my perspective on raising [my stop date] a little bit. Just because I’m competitive, and I know I would want to be the best dad. But right now, I’m trying to do my best at this part [of my life] as well.”

His longest relationship—he doesn’t name names—lasted just over a year. The tone of his voice suggests he wasn’t shocked it didn’t go longer. “I’m not tripping over it. I’m so work focused. I would want somebody to fit into the flow of my life, of where I am. And that’s timing, right? You can meet the right person, and be at the wrong time, and it just doesn’t work out. I think the person that’s going to be right for me lines up with the timing with who she is as a person, where I’m at in my life, how open I am to even…to that, you know?”

[From GQ]

The year-long relationship he references is about Lori Harvey, and despite his attitude right now, she dumped him and he was sort of devastated about it. I don’t think he’s been in a serious relationship since Lori (that ended in 2022). As for what he says about Majors… it f–king sucks. Like, it really changes my view on Jordan, that he watched the Majors situation unfold and all of those stories come out about Majors’ abusive behavior, and he’s like “that’s my boy.” I’m not saying Mike is as bad as Jonathan Majors or anything, but what a horrible way to speak about a man who assaulted a woman until she lost consciousness and has a trail of victims going back to his college days.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, cover courtesy of GQ.

I think one of the best things to come out of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship has been the introduction to Travis’ sister-in-law, Kylie Kelce. Longtime Philly fans, forgive me! I know she has been your queen for years. I mean the more “mainstream” introduction of Kylie. She definitely seems like my people and I enjoy hearing her opinions on things. I also love that her podcast, Not Gonna Lie is a reasonable 45 minutes that’s “intended for women.”

Kylie was a guest on this week’s Call Her Daddy Podcast. It was filmed in New Orleans on the day before the Super Bowl, so naturally football comes up. Kylie talks about the 2018 Super Bowl, Philly fans, and sports superstitions (she once coincidentally bent down next to a laundry basket at the same time that the Phillies made a good play and then spent the entire rest of the game bent down next to it, LOL). While they’re talking football, host Alex Cooper asks Kylie how she feels about the term “WAG” (Wives And Girlfriends of athletes). Unsurprisingly, Kylie hates the term and thinks women should be known for their own accomplishments.

Kylie Kelce is more than just Jason Kelce’s wife. The Not Gonna Lie podcast host shared her honest thoughts on being labeled a “WAG”—which stands for “wives and girlfriends” and is often used as a catch-all term to describe the partners of professional male athletes—and it’s safe to say it’s not a phrase she would use to describe herself.

“I don’t like it, because I think it has a serious negative connotation attached,” Kylie told Alex Cooper on the Feb. 12 episode of Call Her Daddy. “I think it’s this suggestion that your spouse’s profession swallows you up, as well.”

The mom to Wyatt, 5, Elliotte, 3, and Bennett, 20 months—who is also pregnant with her and Jason’s fourth baby girl—went on to outline some of the boundaries that she and the former Philadelphia Eagles player have set up to avoid having his career in the NFL define their whole family.

Kylie explained, “I have made a serious effort to make sure that—both Jason and I have made a serious effort—that while he was playing that it was clear that that was his job.”

“In the same way that someone would go to work and come home and not necessarily talk about their entire day,” she continued. “You’re filing taxes, you’re doing spreadsheets…you’re not coming home and telling your spouse about the spreadsheet you worked out.”

In addition to not letting her husband’s profession overtake their home life, the former collegiate field hockey player also wanted to dispel the connotations that come with the
WAG term.

“It’s so funny to me, because it is that stigma,” she said. “You’re with them because they make a lot of money or you want designer bags or you live in a mansion.

“It’s like, no…” Kylie went on. “There have been a number of people who have come to our house and it’s like, ‘Oh…’ Again, not easily offended, I’m like, ‘Yep, that’s what you get!’”

[From E News! Online]

I totally agree with Kylie about calling athletes’ partners WAGs. She wants to make sure she’s known as more than just “Jason’s wife” because she’s trying to raise strong, independent daughters that grow up knowing their own worth. Love that. I remember first learning the term yearss ago when the UK’s football WAGs were making headlines for all of their gossip. I can see how the moniker has a negative connotation, like they belong on a Bravo show or something. That said, if someone wants to go by the WAG label, then let them have it. Label yourself however you want to and we’ll respect that.

Alex also asked Kylie about the first time she met Taylor, and it was when Tayvis did their hard launch at that Kansas City Chiefs/Buffalo Bills game. She knew they were dating before then, though. There’s no drama behind why they didn’t meet earlier, either. Taylor’s just a very busy woman! She was recording The Tortured Poet’s Department during those early days of dating Travis. The rest of the interview is a really fun listen. Kylie praises her mother-in-law, Donna Kelce, for setting such an amazing example for her daughters of what a strong, independent woman looks like. She also talks about the thing that pisses her off the most (lying), the early days of her relationship with Jason and a hilarious story about how her field hockey teammates found out about them, raising girls vs. raising boys, and how she used to be embarrassed by her height, but doesn’t “give a f-ck” about it anymore. You can listen to the full podcast here. I’ll also include the video version below.

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Photos are screenshots from YouTube/Call Her Daddy, credit Getty and via Instagram/Kylie Kelce

On Tuesday, Donald Trump did a press conference in the Oval Office with the president: Elon Musk. Trump was slumped over the Resolute Desk as President Musk conducted the presser, lying through his teeth about what he and DOGE are up to. Trump then signed over more power to Elon and DOGE to run/ruin the federal government. Elon’s son X was there too, and X reportedly told Trump something like “you’re not the president, you need to shut your mouth.” X’s mother Grimes is pissed that Elon has basically kidnapped their son and that Elon is parading X all over Washington and Mar-a-Lago. What’s also notable, I guess, is that President Musk and the dauphin apparently don’t have any kind of residence in Florida or DC. According to People Mag, Elon has been sleeping on the floor of his office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Elon Musk has reportedly been sleeping on the floor of his government office — located just steps from the White House and President Donald Trump, according to two Republican sources in Musk’s orbit.

Since assuming his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk, 53, has been working out of an office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The EEOB, which houses various agencies within the Executive Office of the President, is part of the White House compound and is situated directly across from the West Wing.

One source tells PEOPLE that Musk has been “holed up” in his DOGE office space recently, including “sleeping on a couch and sometimes the floor.”

The source notes that the EEOB has “great amenities, including a cafeteria and bowling alley,” and says sleeping where you work is not entirely unheard of in Washington, sharing how some House members “sleep in their offices and shower in the House gym.”

The source adds that Musk’s 4-year-old son, X Æ A-Xii — whom he shares with singer Grimes — “is around quite a bit” as well, though it’s unclear if the boy also sleeps in the EEOB.

A second source — who also tells PEOPLE that Musk has been sleeping on the floor of the EEOB when he’s in Washington — adds that he stays at Mar-a-Lago when he and the president go to Florida.

[From People]

These people are such losers, my god. All of that money and access and he just sleeps on the floor. I bet X is shuffled off to some hotel with his nanny or whatever, it’s not like Elon cares about the kid as anything other than a prop. There was that post that was like… these are not evil geniuses, they’re methheads stealing the copper wiring out of what’s left of America. That’s what this is. Anyway, Trump should just let the president sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

On Wednesday, Prince William had his first event of the week. He hasn’t worked since the 6th, and it still seems bizarre to me that William and Kate planned out a flurry of events ahead of the Invictus Games, but they only scheduled one event each this week. Maybe it’s like I theorized – they finally understood that they were coming across as particularly desperate and attention-seeking. But that doesn’t explain why they’re choosing to skip the BAFTAs on Sunday – even a hater like me wouldn’t have said that their BAFTA-attendance was Sussex-related. William is BAFTA president, and their office hyped the idea that they would attend the BAFTAs this year. There was definitely an expectation that they would go and it’s bizarre that they announced their refusal to go with zero excuses given. People Magazine mentioned something many commenters noted – that the Wales kids’ school break starts on Friday. Yeah, that’s probably it. William, Kate and the kids are going on vacation, so no BAFTAs for W&K.

Anyway, I bring up the BAFTA stuff because William’s Wednesday event was BAFTA-related. He went to the London Screen Academy and met with young people who are learning various filmmaking/technical skills through the Collaboration Project. He got to play around with cameras and make jazz hands. Apparently, this is all part of a new approach for BAFTA President Peg – the BAFTA organization should not expect him to turn up to their film awards because “aides say that the Prince of Wales wants his focus this year to be on highlighting the next generation of talent which is coming through academies and colleges like the London one all across the U.K.” So… no schmoozing with movie stars? No big premieres for charity? What a waste of a royal patronage. They should give the BAFTA presidency to Prince Edward, he would love it. And he would show up to the BAFTAs every year.

PS… I still don’t understand William’s facial hair and how he’s trimming his beard.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

On Tuesday, the Princess of Wales visited a women’s prison, where she highlighted the work being done by her patronage, Action for Children. Basically, Action for Children operates “units” where imprisoned moms can spend time with their babies and children. This is not the first time Kate has been sent to do a prison photo-op, she also visited a women’s prison in 2023. What was sort of weird about Tuesday’s visit is that she mostly repeated the same look she wore to the Royal Marsden Hospital last month, including a “new” Blaze Milano coat and a burgundy Gabriela Heart t-neck (which retails for £770). She did wear a different skirt. Was she making another point about how no one should talk about her fashion? Anyway, Katie Nicholl at Vanity Fair did a piece about Kate’s prison visit and she added some new details:

Kate Middleton visited a mother and baby unit within a women’s prison on Tuesday, as she continues her “gradual” return to work. Princess Kate, who is said to be “thrilled” to be back at work, visited HM Prison Styal in Wilmslow to highlight the importance of strong relationships between incarcerated mothers and their babies. The unit provides care for new and expectant mothers with support for babies who have to spend the first eighteen months of their life in prison.

The royal looked happy and relaxed as she toured the grounds in the rain, taking shelter at one point under an umbrella. Sources close to Kate say she wants to break down the stigma surrounding women having babies while in prison and focus on the importance of the bond between mother and child, even in challenging situations. The MBUs aim to help women break the cycle of reoffending.

Princess Kate spoke to some of the inmates about their experiences of having babies while serving a sentence – some are incarcerated for life – and talked to staff about the importance of inmates having the chance to form attachments with their babies.

Last year, Kate was forced to put her work on hold following her shocking cancer diagnosis, but having been given the all-clear in September following a course of preventative chemotherapy, Kate has been eager to get back to work.

Palace sources say while the princess has had a busy start to the year, she will pace herself over the coming weeks. While she is not set to join Prince William on an overseas tour this year, she is, palace sources say, committed to focusing on her projects and charity commitments “picking up where she left off this time last year.”

[From Vanity Fair]

“She will pace herself over the coming weeks” – meaning, she’ll be on vacation with her kids during their school break. At least Kensington Palace is getting a little bit smarter about how they frame Prince William and Kate’s absences. KP sends them out for busywork just before a holiday, then briefs the press that W&K will “pace themselves.” After all of these years, they’ve created these cute little euphemisms for “Will and Kate are lazy and they’re constantly on vacation.” The bit about Kate not traveling for work is funny too, because she’s already been on a ski holiday to the Alps after Christmas, and I guarantee that Kate will be out of the country on another vacation soon enough.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Last October, Prince William agreed to a very odd photo-op involving American football. William was highlighting the NFL Foundation UK, and they had him throw a football and they tried to show him the basics of the game. They even had to lavish him with praise and claim that Peggington has a “golden arm” (he does not). It was especially funny because William has been obsessed with the Super Bowl ever since Prince Harry went to the LA Super Bowl in 2022. After that, William could not stop telling everyone that all of his Earthshot events were “like the Super Bowl.” So, this whole time, I thought William was the only one with the football-as-connected-to-Harry obsession. But they got King Charles to mess around with an American football this week too. It went poorly.

The King showed off his “immense” technique at American football as he enjoyed a crash course in the sport. The 76-year-old monarch won praise from professional players during a tour of Tottenham Hotspur’s £1 billion stadium, where he was also told, much to his amusement, that he was “bigger than Beyoncé”.

The King visited the north London club on Wednesday to celebrate its outreach work in the community, as well as its partnership with the US’s National Football League (NFL). After being shown how to throw a football, he was given a rousing cheer as he threw a pass with his right arm. He was later coaxed into trying his hand as a quarterback, throwing a ball at a net that had hoops as targets. Although his effort fell short, Efe Obada, 32, a Briton who plays for the Washington Commanders, hailed his performance.

“I loved his energy, the fact that he came in here willing to get stuck in,” he said. “His technique was immense. I wanted him to get a hoop, in the target, but he was just having a good time. We talked about the NFL and he’s a fan. He’s going to watch the games.”

Inside the stadium, the King met community groups and local businesses that have benefited from partnerships with the club. This included students from the London Academy of Excellence Tottenham (LAET) – a state-funded sixth form based on the stadium campus that prioritises local students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds – as well as young people supported by The King’s Trust, the youth charity he founded in 1976.

Gina Moffatt, 48, a former prisoner who turned her life around with help from the charity and now runs a successful restaurant in Tottenham employing 15 full-time staff, told the King: “I’m so excited that you’re even back in Tottenham, this year’s looking all good, Tottenham Hotspur’s doing great stuff.

He chuckled as she added: “We’ve got Beyoncé coming but you’re bigger than Beyoncé.”

The American musical superstar is performing at the stadium for six nights in June.

[From The Telegraph]

King Charles is not “bigger than Beyonce.” Beyonce could waltz through diplomatic meetings any day of the week, but Charles could never perform “I ain’t in no gang but I got shooters and I bang bang” while dancing in heels. Let’s be real. As for the football stuff… I’m more forgiving of Charles than I was of William. William’s photo-op was tailored specifically to “one-up” Harry or copy Harry in some bizarre way. I think Charles just sort of bumbled into this terrible Yank catastrophe with an egg-shaped ball.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Here are some photos of Prince Harry in Whistler for Wednesday’s Invictus events. Harry was cheering on the competitors and he did at least one medal ceremony, and posed with the medalists afterwards. Judging solely from the photos, it looks like everyone is having a blast. Invictus’s first “winter games” has been very popular with the veterans and the families, although I do wonder if anyone has busted their ass on all of the ice and snow. Anyway, Harry gave an exclusive interview to People Magazine at the games. Some highlights, directly from Harry (and please keep this interview in mind whenever you guys complain about how we can’t take People’s royal coverage seriously – Harry literally gives exclusives to People).

Harry loves Canada: “It’s incredible to be back in Canada. Canada couldn’t be more appropriate to host the first Winter Games. Everyone is so excited.”

He loved having Meghan with him for the first four days or so: “To have my wife here supporting me is amazing. I love that she’s by my side,” Prince Harry tells PEOPLE. “It’s such an important piece to this whole adventure.”

He’s already looking ahead to the next tournament in Birmingham, England, in 2027. “It’s amazing how, after 10 years, we’re still doing this. We will continue the Games for as long as it’s needed — and the need is increasing rather than reducing. So the fact that there will be a full cycle back to the U.K. is a place that I never thought we would be. I wish that we could close this down because there wasn’t a need for it, but as long as there’s a need for it, we will keep it going. I know the U.K. is looking forward to having the Games back to where it started.”

Whether they’ll do another winter games: “I’ve already had lots of people come up to me and ask whether there’s going to be a continuous cycle of Winter Games, and the answer to that is, we’ll have to wait and see! But everyone is very happy to be here.”

The Opening Ceremony in Vancouver: “What a way to start — a sold-out stadium in front of 40,000 people. It had a very Olympic, Paralympic feel to it. It was great.”

His kids love learning about Invictus: “They are fascinated. It’s a very interesting conversation to have with your kids — to explain why that person is missing a leg, why that person is missing an arm, why do they look the way they do. It’s challenging but important. Our kids are still so young, but Archie, especially, is asking those questions,” Harry, a former captain in the British Army, says of his son. “As any parent knows, once you open that door and those questions are asked, or that conversation starts, more and more doors start opening. And then he starts asking, ‘How did they get injured? What’s a mine? What’s all this?’ It becomes opening Pandora’s box, to some extent, especially with kids this age, because they have no filter, and they’re just so curious and so inquisitive!” the Duke of Sussex says. “They want to know more, more, more.”

He tries talking about those topics in an age-appropriate way. “I’m constantly trying to make sure that I get it right, in explaining what’s happened to [the competitors], and what we do at Invictus to try to make their lives better and give them a chance to redefine themselves. And the power of sport,” Harry says, expressing his hope that his children will also find joy in athletics. “I’m hoping that my kids will take on every sport that they want as well, because I think it’s really important for all of us.”

He plans to tell the kids all about the winter games: “I’m going to tell them all the stories. After we came back from Düsseldorf [for the 2023 Invictus Games] a year and a half ago, I sat down and went through lots of photographs that I had. They were fascinated to see these guys, careering around the field in wheelchairs, playing basketball, wheelchair rugby, sitting volleyball, everything.”

[From People Magazine]

I love that he describes Archie and Lilibet as so curious about Invictus, and I’m sure they are – and it makes me wonder why Harry and Meghan didn’t just bring the kids to Canada. I’m not saying that Archie and Lili should have been front and center for all of the events, but let them come to the Opening Ceremony? Still, I understand why Harry & Meghan didn’t bring the kids. People have been obsessed with seeing those two ginger babies for years, and there’s a lot of lunacy around all of it. That will become one of the next storylines too – “will the Sussexes bring their kids to the UK for the Birmingham games?” I hope not, but it’s a long way away (July 2027).

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

In Possible Hook Up News: Revolting Edition, Page Six is gleefully reporting that Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert and Sleazeball Representative Kid Rock may have bumped uglies (literally, in this case) the night of the inauguration. Well, they don’t say that outright. In fact, the outlet is very careful to say they have no evidence to support that something definitely happened; they’re just relaying the fact that Boebert hopped into a cab with Rock at 2:30 am, and then letting us filthy beasts run wild with our imaginations. And oh, what imagery that invokes. Please enjoy this hilarious blurb from Page Six:

Perhaps they were going somewhere to discuss the Second Amendment.

Page Six spies spotted Kid Rock and Rep. Lauren Boebert getting into a cab together in Washington, DC, at 2:30 a.m. as the parties celebrating the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term wound down.

While our (rather tawdry!) source suggested the pair planned to, er, keep the inaugural balls swinging into the wee hours, we have no evidence to suggest that was the case.

It’s perfectly possible that the “Bawitdaba” recording artist might have been, for example, dropping the Colorado congresswoman off at her hotel.

TMZ posted a story about the pair the day after the Jan. 20 events, when Rock, 54, and Boebert, 38, were photographed chatting at one of the inaugural bashes.

“Lauren was totally transfixed by the rock star, yapping away, doing a little dance, and clapping like she was front row at his concert — basically giving Kid Rock all the hype he needed,” the site said.

Either way, they have much in common.

Both are among Trump’s most die-hard supporters, and they’re both enthusiastic gun-toters (even by rural Republican standards).

They’re also both veterans of the novelty restaurant biz.

She owned Shooters, a Colorado eatery where servers were encouraged to carry guns, and he is the proud proprietor of Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk and Rock & Roll Steakhouse in Nashville, Tenn.

Of course, Boebert’s horniness is legend.

The lady from Colorado was famously booted from a performance of the musical “Beetlejuice,” in part for an amorous auditorium encounter with her date.

Boebert filed for divorce from husband Jayson in 2023.

Rock has reportedly been engaged to Audrey Berry since 2017.

[From Page Six]

“They’re also both veterans of the novelty restaurant biz.” YOU GUYS. That’s it, I’m dead. Death by understatement. Never has a collection of nine words so effortlessly caused such damage while being assembled in an innocuous-seeming sentence. Plus it’s educational, as I, for one, did not know these two MAGAts shared that in common! Honestly, I can’t believe a Rupert Murdoch-owned publication put out such a snarky article on two Republicans, but I’ll take it. I’d also question why they’re branding the story as an “exclusive”… three weeks after TMZ first talked about it, but I’ll chalk it up to Page Six holding the (alleged) love news in time for Valentine’s Day. If anything happened, my guess is that it was a one night affair of two straight white people basking in the euphoria of their team about to dismantle the American experiment. (We already know Kid Rock was feeling amorous that day.) But should this turn out to be a romance that lasts longer than intermission, I know this is what my late father would say of the match: “It’s really considerate of them to take each other out of circulation.”

photos credit: IMAGO/Annabelle Gordon/CNP/MediaPunch/Avalon, Rod Lamkey/CNP/INSTARimages, Backgrid, Ron Sachs/CNP for NY Post/INSTARimages

For about two years, I have been meaning to get a new iPhone. The phone is almost five years old and the battery is absolute crap. I have to carry around a backup battery pack if I’m going to be away from a charger for more than, say, two hours, and I charge it at least twice a day – once overnight and again around 2 p.m. (if I haven’t been using it, of course). Two days ago, I woke up around 3:45 a.m. to use the restroom and had this thought out of nowhere, ”Oh, I should unplug my phone. I wonder if leaving it charging overnight isn’t helping with my battery situation.”

I must have been intuiting something, because later that morning, an article popped up in my inbox that talked about the effects of charging your phone to 100% and then leaving it charging before you’re ready to use it. According to research done by Penn State University, constantly charging your phone to 100% actually makes it “degrade faster.” Letting your phone get too hot is bad too.

Bad for battery life: You might have heard that charging your cell phone battery and leaving it plugged in once it hits a full charge is bad for long-term battery life. According to Chao-Yang Wang, the director of the Electrochemical Engine Center at Penn State University, there is some truth behind this thought. Over time, “a battery will degrade faster if you charge it to 100% versus a little bit lower state of charge,” Wang said.

A slow deterioration: Keeping your phone plugged in once it hits a full charge and consistently charging it to 100% keeps the battery at a high voltage, which causes chemical aging in the product, said Dibakar Datta, an associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Wang noted that if you frequently charge your phone to 100%, your battery will deteriorate roughly 10% to 15% faster over your phone’s lifetime than if you charged it to consistently to a lower percentage like 90%. “So it’s not a whole lot, but it’s noticeable,” he added. Overall, this deterioration is slow, and phone batteries now are pretty durable, so you don’t need to be too worried. “[Batteries] last, probably, longer than the other features of the phone,” Wang said. You likely will need a new phone for other reasons, such as camera quality or a broken screen, before you need one for battery issues.

Go on ahead and charge it to 100% if you need to: While charging your phone to 100% consistently isn’t great for the battery, this doesn’t mean you can never give it a full charge. “This all depends on people’s needs and also convenience,” Wang explained. “If you do have a mission-critical day, you will be better off to charge to 100% so you have more electricity and longer usage time.” Say you have a big travel day and need your phone for directions. You can certainly make sure it’s fully charged before heading out. But if you’re at home for the day and don’t need to rely on your phone, charging to 85% or 90% can help bolster the battery over the long haul, Wang added.

20-80% is that “sweet” spot: Datta said that it’s also not a good idea to drop your battery to 0% regularly and that instead, you should plug it in once it hits about 20%. Allowing your phone battery to frequently drop to 0% can harm your phone’s ability to hold a charge. Keeping your phone charged between 20% to 80% tends to be the sweet spot, Datta added.

Temperature damage: “I think that the battery is probably more afraid of too cold or too hot [temperatures],” Wang said. “I think that damage under those extreme conditions probably is greater than charging to 100% under normal temperatures.” In most cases, smartphones are designed to change their charging rate when in different climates, Wang noted. This explains that too-hot-to-charge notification that appears on smartphone screens from time to time. “If you’re consistently getting too hot [notifications], then you need to be aware and pay some attention to the battery usage,” Wang added. Ideally, your phone should be in room temperature environments whenever possible, Datta said.

A fast charger is a bad charger: It’s natural to be tempted by fast chargers. Who doesn’t want access to their phone more quickly? But experts say they shouldn’t be used too often. “Slow charging is more preferable,” Datta explained. “Because when you charge very fast, it actually generates some heat in the battery, and when you generate heat in the battery, it can also degrade the battery over time.” Having a battery that gets too hot can be dangerous, too. Phones have caught fire multiple times because of an overheated battery, Datta said. So, safety is a factor here, too.

Check your battery’s health: If you are concerned about your phone’s battery, most smartphones let you check your battery health in battery settings. Or you can go to an expert at a store like Apple or Samsung, for example, to check your battery health. If your battery health is below 80%, Datta recommends replacing it.

[From HuffPost]

Well, then…the more you know. I have always been a “plug it in and leave it” kinda gal, so I have no first-hand anecdotal experience about saving your battery by only charging it (in general) to 80%. Does anyone do that on the regular for the purpose of extending your battery’s life? Mr. Rosie infamously rarely charges his phone and although we got ours on the same day, for whatever it’s worth, his battery did last a solid year longer than mine did. My phone also tends to overheat when charging it in the car, so I guess I’m double-screwing it up.

Part of me still thinks that Apple secretly puts some sort of “self-destruct” coding in these batteries because they always seem to go right around the same time in their lifecycle. That said, I’ll give it a shot because why not? It’s definitely too late for my current battery, but I will totally try this 80% method with my next phone. Speaking of, I need to make sure I get a new one ASAP, before the new tariffs make it like $10,000 for an iPhone.

Photos credit: The Painted Square, Sini Leunen and Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels

Ariana Grande is in full Oscars campaign mode. Given her wild wicker basket dress at the Critics Choice Awards this weekend, it looks like she’s having just as much fun as she did during that bonkers Wicked press tour. Ari was on a recent episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. During her appearance, she talked about mental health. Speaking from experience, Ari said that because dealing with fame from a young age can be extremely difficult, studios and record labels should be providing their talent with therapy sessions.

Ariana Grande is advocating for therapy for young stars in both the acting and music worlds, saying that weekly appointments should be built into their contracts.

The Oscar-nominated actor and Grammy-winning pop star — who got her start on Broadway and the Nickelodeon show “Victorious” — opened up to Marc Maron on his “WTF” podcast about having to deal with fame at such a young age, particularly with the media scrutinizing her personal life and body.

“I was 19 when all of that nonsense started happening to me, and it’s just a crazy piece of the puzzle,” she said. “It’s something you work so hard to try and understand, and it will never make sense to me. I just love art and that’s all I care about, so it’s just weird that that’s a part of it … It started when I was so young with my body or rumors about my relationships or about my team or about my mom or about people I love. There was just no limit.”

Grande said the situation was “impossible to navigate,” and that’s why she chooses to speak up about the topic whenever she gets the chance. She’s particularly passionate about therapy, and told Maron she thinks it should be built into the contract of every young star.

“It’s so important that these record labels, these studios, these TV studios, these big production companies make it a part of the contract when you sign on to do something that’s going to change your life in that way, on that scale,” Grande said. “You need a therapist to be seeing several times a week.”

She continued that because the big studios and labels “know how your life is going to change” and have seen how fame can “impact people in a negative way,” they “should be responsible for protecting you from that.”

“When these people are cast in these life-changing roles, or when they get that record deal, when they get that moment, that should be non-negotiable in the contract,” Grande said. “Because to be an artist, you are a vulnerable person with your heart on your sleeve … So the same person who is meant to do art is the exact same person who is not meant to deal with that shit.”

Grande added about her own therapist: “I love her so much. We do great work!”

The star has spoken up about these issues before, telling Penn Badgley’s “Podcrushed” podcast in June that she was “reprocessing” her time on “Victorious.” Though neither Badgley nor Grande specifically mentioned it, the episode aired just a few months after the release of Investigation Discovery’s “Quiet on Set,” which included misconduct allegations against “Victorious” creator Dan Schneider. He has denied the allegations and is pursuing a defamation suit over the documentary.

“A lot of people don’t have the support that they need to get through being a performer at that level at such a young age,” Grande told “Podcrushed.” “The environment just needs to be made a lot safer all around and like I said, I’m still in real time reprocessing my relationship to it.”

[From Variety]

Preach, Ari. I think this is a great idea. Several former child stars have strongly advocated for mental health support and increased protections for stars, including Alyson Stoner (Cheaper by the Dozen and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) and Ariana’s former Sam & Cat costar, Jenette McCurdy. Labels and studios *should* provide easily accessible mental health support for their talent. Executives and publicists do know how much life is going to change for the actors and artists that hit it big. It’s also difficult for the talent that has a flop or receives a lot of negative reviews. And, of course, there’s the overall trauma of dealing with sketchy, sh-tty people in the biz. I think “impossible to navigate” is a good way to describe it. Hopefully, this topic will reignite now with even more eyes and ears hearing it and lead to some form of meaningful change.

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Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon