On Tuesday, King Charles hosted the annual pre-Christmas lunch for the extended royal family. QEII used to host this sh-t at Buckingham Palace, but this year, Charles scheduled the lunch for Windsor Castle. Some people suspected that hosting it at the castle would mean that Prince Andrew would be able to slip in unnoticed, which is what happened. We also suspected that hosting it at Windsor Castle would make it easier for Prince William and Kate to attend, since they’re supposedly living at Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor estate. Apparently not though – the Prince of Wales and Princess of Wales were no-shows. Yiiiiikes.

The event in Windsor was the biggest family gathering since the late queen’s funeral in September. According to Hello, the family did eat their traditional turkey-and-trimmings lunch. In past years, the turkey was bred at Sandringham, and the family has played with Christmas crackers and donned party hats, seated at round tables of 10. In November, former royal chef Darren McGrady told MyLondon that the family usually eats turkey with straightforward side dishes at Christmas events. “The turkey is served with mashed and roast potatoes, chestnut or sage and onion stuffing, cranberry sauce and bread sauce,” he said. “Vegetables include brussels sprouts, carrots and roast parsnips.”

The king and Queen Consort Camilla, who are still living in their London residence Clarence House, were the first to arrive. Charles’ brother Prince Edward arrived with his wife, Sophie Countess of Wessex, and their daughter Lady Louise Windsor, who recently finished her first semester at William and Kate’s alma mater St. Andrews in Scotland. Princess Anne and her husband Sir Timothy Laurence also attended, along with Zara and Mike Tindall, and their children, Mia, Lena and Lucas, who were photographed smiling in the backseat of their Range Rover as they left the castle. The Telegraph reported that Prince Andrew was also set to attend, but he was not photographed arriving.

A handful of the late queen’s cousins also made the trip to Windsor. The Duke of Kent, arrived with his granddaughter, Lady Marina Windsor, his daughter, Lady Helen Taylor, and her family. Prince and Princess Michael of Kent also attended.

Usually Prince William and Kate Middleton attend along with their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, but this year they were absent, having reportedly traveled to Anmer Hall, their home on the Sandringham Estate, when the term ended at Lambrook, the school they attend in Berkshire.

[From Vanity Fair]

Like… the whole point of this Christmas lunch is that the whole extended family shows up and enjoys a nice lunch together. William and Kate LIVE in Windsor and they didn’t show up. When Charles was Prince of Wales, he always made a point of showing up for these big family gatherings even though he had other sh-t to do. William is too lazy to attend a lunch! Jesus. Anyway, this just serves as yet another reminder that despite all of that talk about how William and Kate were “downsizing,” all that happened was that they added another house to their real estate portfolio – Kate lives in Adelaide, William lives God knows where, and they kept Anmer Hall as their Norfolk property. I imagine the Middletons have already decamped to Norfolk too.

PS… Something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently is that William and Kate must be pretty unpopular within the family, right?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

King Charles’s coronation is scheduled for May 6th, his grandson Archie’s fourth birthday. Since QEII died, obviously the plans for the coronation have been underway, and Buckingham Palace has been briefing the royal rota throughout the process. For years, we were told that Charles’s coronation would be much different than his mother’s, that it would be shorter, breezier, less stuffy and, most importantly, it would be cheaper. Britain isn’t a global leader in anything other than shenanigans, so why burn millions of pounds on some fusty old coronation? Well, that’s exactly what they’re going to do.

The King has rejected the idea of a cut-price coronation and wishes to use the event to showcase “UK plc”, The Telegraph understands. The event will be a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle of “glorious” pomp and pageantry after Buckingham Palace and government aides took heed of the enormous international coverage generated in the aftermath of Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

One of the “key learnings” from Operation London Bridge and Spring Tide – the period of mourning between the late Queen’s death and her funeral, along with the new monarch’s tour of the UK – was that it proved to be a great advertisement for Britain. While it was always expected to be an event of great national significance, the global effect had not been fully considered.

As such, organisers are determined to invest in the coronation, which will take place at Westminster Abbey on May 6, recognising that the rewards will be unrivalled.

The coronation is expected to be shorter than the late Queen’s, with fewer attendees, better reflecting the modern monarchy. Reports of a shorter, simpler service prompted fears of a “cut-price” ceremony that would send the wrong message to the world. However, aides insisted that the only elements to be removed from the ceremony would be those now considered outdated and cumbersome.

Palace insiders and politicians are said to agree that any attempt to reduce the occasion would be a missed opportunity to showcase “UK plc” on the global stage.

The King is deeply conscious of the cost of living crisis and there is clear acknowledgment that the ceremony will take place at a time of economic hardship, meaning that every penny must be accounted for and justified. However, through recent events, organisers have learnt that a grand royal spectacle is the most powerful way to promote Britain’s international standing.

[From The Telegraph]

I remember talking about the “budget coronation” with CB a few months ago, and pointing out that it’s actually cost-neutral for Charles to simply dust off all of the royal family’s gold carriages, stolen jewels, velvet robes and diamond-encrusted orbs. Like, that sh-t already exists and it’s just sitting there in storage. So yes, the coronation is the perfect excuse to get all of that out in public view. If the Queen’s funeral showed us anything, it’s that the only thing the Brits do well is fussy pomp, so sure, do the big parades and whatever else too. But also admit that throwing this big coronation party is a huge waste of everyone’s time and money. They’re going to blow tens of millions of pounds on an hour-long coronation, all for clout and status… and literally everything else in the UK is in crisis.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.

In recent weeks, there’s been a lot of talk about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s titles and whether they should be “removed” or perhaps even “given up.” The conversation flurried again during the run of Netflix’s Harry & Meghan series – which notably didn’t even feature their Sussex titles in the name of the program, and their titles were barely mentioned within the show. The British media and the Windsors feel that they always need to have *something* to “hold over the Sussexes’ heads.” For a while in 2020, it was the cost of Frogmore Cottage’s refurbishment (until H&M paid it back). Sometimes they’ll cry about how much the Sussexes’ wedding cost and how Harry and Meghan should “pay it back” – except the wedding was a boon for the British economy, so if we’re being transactional about it, British people owe the Sussexes, which is likely why that argument goes nowhere. So the Brits are stuck banging their heads against the wall about the Sussexes’ titles. King Charles has done nothing about it, reportedly because he thinks the move would be too petty. But there’s another wrinkle! From the Daily Beast’s Royalist column:

Much energy has been expended lately in the British media and public life on calls for laws to be changed to allow the king to remove Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles.

Most recently the London Times joined the throng, with Valentine Low and David Brown writing in an op-ed: “There is an obvious next step that Harry and Meghan should take. They have made clear that they consider themselves to be at war with the institution of monarchy, an institution that they appear to hold in contempt. They should therefore hand back their titles. The duke should also take himself and his family out of the line of succession.”

One person who is not keen on forcing change, however, is King Charles himself, according to a fascinating nugget in the Daily Mail’s pseudonymous Ephraim Hardcastle column, which cites a source as saying, “His Majesty doesn’t want it.” The reason for this reluctance to make such a massive constitutional change, the column says, is that if the king had the ability to remove royal dukedoms, he would inevitably “come under immense pressure” to strip his brother Andrew of his Duke of York title.

As the Hardcastle column notes, “Andrew has caused comparatively few problems recently by keeping calm and not rocking the boat. Which is more than can be said for the royals lobbing grenades at the throne from Montecito.”

The intelligence is fascinating as it tallies with claims made to the The Daily Beast in recent weeks that the Andrew problem is one of the reasons why there has been absolutely zero effort made to deprive Harry and Meghan of their titles at senior levels.

The Daily Beast’s source said that to make a move against Harry and Meghan’s titles would would open up a “Pandora’s box” of problems, adding that the king would be “very cautious” of such a move, partly because of the backlash to the decision to strip Diana of her HRH after divorcing him, saying: “Imagine if they did something similar to Harry. He would be able to go on Oprah all over again and say, ‘They did it to my mother and now they are doing it to me.’ It would completely play into their victim narrative.”

Titles can only be legally removed by an Act of Parliament. As The Daily Beast wrote, removing a peerage is “fiendishly complicated.” Even if it were possible, a second source told The Daily Beast, “If you forcibly remove [the titles], then why don’t you take them off Prince Andrew? What about Sarah Ferguson? You can extend the list forever.”

[From The Daily Beast]

There’s something so quintessentially vile about the fact that King Charles won’t remove the Sussexes’ titles specifically because he wants to protect Andrew. That Andrew is seen as less problematic than Harry and Meghan, that Andrew is doing what Charles wants, therefore Charles won’t make a move to seize a predator and human trafficker’s title. I’m also enjoying the fact that “it’s hard and it would take work” is an excuse for NOT removing the Sussexes’ titles. These people are hilariously lazy and stupid. Which is why British royal columnists are now left to whine about how Harry and Meghan should willingly “remove their titles.” “They should listen to us and punish themselves, Meghan doesn’t deserve to have a married name!”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Leonardo DiCaprio was in Miami for Art Basel earlier this month, and he spent a lot of time surrounded by models. None of those models were Gigi Hadid, his ancient pretend-girlfriend. Gigi signed up to be Leo’s pretend girlfriend several months ago, when Leo couldn’t handle all of the criticism being thrown his way for his “under 25 rule.” He dumped Camila Morrone on or around her 25th birthday and the internet roasted him hard. So the “relationship” with Gigi Hadid was arranged – Gigi is 27 years old (a decrepit old hag, according to Leo) and a single mother (equally disgusting to Leo). Gigi and Leo were dutifully seen out and about in New York mostly and his publicist dropped some quotes into People Magazine describing Leo’s interest in Gigi. Well, Leo can’t help himself – he was seen out to dinner with a 23-year-old model/actress this week.

Leonardo DiCaprio was spotted getting dinner with actress Victoria Lamas — who is 25 years his junior — in Hollywood on Tuesday night. The “Titanic” actor, 48, and model, 23, were spotted leaving The Bird Streets Club separately before getting into a car together, per photos obtained by the Daily Mail on Wednesday.

DiCaprio appeared to be having a good time with the “Talk Later” actress as he was seen laughing with her while driving away.

Lamas looked effortlessly chic in a black scoop-neck crop top with matching black pants and a black leather jacket. She styled her hair in loose brown waves. DiCaprio also kept it casual in a black T-shirt, baggy blue jeans, white sneakers, a black jacket and his signature black baseball cap. He also accessorized his look with a silver chain necklace.

However, a source close to the situation told Page Six exclusively that Lamas and DiCaprio are not dating.

“Both were seated (not next to each other) at a big group dinner,” the source told us. “They were also joined by a number of other people in the car.”

[From Page Six]

Yeah, after the photos were published, I guess Gigi tapped her written contract and Leo’s publicist dutifully ran around to multiple gossip outlets, denying the fact that Leo was out on a date with Victoria. Again, he was seen leaving the club with Victoria and sitting with her at dinner, although there were other people at the dinner and in the car. Victoria was born in 1999 – while she might have been there for a good time, she was never there for a long time. What’s going to happen when Leo starts up with someone born in 2003????

EXCLUSIVE: Leonardo DiCaprio, 48, has a new girl as he enjoys cozy date with actress Victoria Lamas, 23 https://t.co/cU2ADv8eHz

— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) December 21, 2022

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A post shared by Victoria Arlene Lamas (@victoriaalamas)

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

While the new Princess of Wales somewhat regularly made appearances at the Irish Guards’ St. Patrick’s Day festivities, Kate never had an actual honorary position with the Irish Guards. Prince William was the one with the honorary title, but Kate was expected to show up with William every St. Patrick’s Day and hand out shamrocks. She missed a few years out of laziness, but she will have no excuses now: King Charles has made Kate the new honorary Colonel of the Irish Guards.

Kate Middleton has a new title. King Charles III has named his daughter-in-law as the new honorary Colonel of the Irish Guards. The new royal role is a fitting one for the Princes of Wales, who has been honoring that guards regiment most St. Patrick’s Day holidays since marrying into the royal family in 2011.

Princess Kate, 40, is actually taking over the role from someone quite close: her husband, Prince William! Queen Elizabeth named her grandson as honorary Colonel of the Irish Guards in 2011, just two months before Kate and William’s royal wedding, where the groom sported the red Irish Guards officer uniform for the ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

[From People]

I guess it’s interesting that they took this away from William and gave it to Kate. I suspect the decision is purely about optics – the Irish Guards prefer to have a woman handing out shamrocks. Plus, William was given a different honorary position to make up for this loss – Peg is the new Colonel of the Welsh Guards (they will HATE that). Queen Camilla is also taking on a new position: Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, which used to belong to Prince Andrew.

In addition to those announcements, Charles set the date for next year’s Trooping the Colour, which is like the monarch’s birthday parade. Charles will have Trooping later than his mother, who usually held hers on the first weekend in June. Charles’s first Trooping is scheduled for June 17, 2023.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar and Backgrid.

I’ve been sober for a decade, maybe more than that (I honestly haven’t counted). I stopped drinking for a variety of reasons, including “I can’t hold my liquor anymore” and “I’m tired of hangovers and empty calories.” I could feel myself getting duller and dumber and I felt like sh-t a lot of time when I was in my Nightcap Era. Well, John Mayer is also sober now. He’s been sober for six years, and he associates his sobriety with his lack of romance. Mayer explained all of this – in a surprisingly interesting way – on the Call Her Daddy podcast.

His sobriety affects his dating life: “Dating is no longer a codified activity for me, it doesn’t exist in a kind of… it’s not patterned anymore. I don’t really date — I don’t think that I have to, to be quite honest. I quit drinking like six years ago, so I don’t have the liquid courage. I just have dry courage.”

When he got sober: The catalyst for Mayer’s sobriety came in the form of Drake’s 30th birthday and the subsequent six-day hangover Mayer suffered as a result of drinking at the party. The singer has not had a drink since Oct. 23, 2016, he previously shared.

His womanizer reputation: “I think, look, the elephant in the room is that I’m on a show that caters to women, and I have a couple of name plates on me, like ‘Lothario’ and ‘womanizer,’ and I think that is what that is. But I think people would be surprised to know that it was less me going like, you know the meme of the guy behind the tree? It was less this [Mayer rubs his hands together] and more like this [Mayer looks around]: Me? Because it was always set forth to me that like, that shouldn’t happen.” Growing up, Mayer said that he was “made to believe” that if somebody liked or showed any interest in him, the attention was an “accident,” and so he should “capitalize” on the opportunity. “And so I felt very deeply when somebody liked me. Very deeply.”

He’s always believed in making love last. “Every relationship I’ve ever been in was devoted to the idea that this could go the distance. My entire life, today included, if you told me that I could have a great two months with someone but it would end on the first day of the third month, I would not be interested. I’ve always sought potential for a long-term relationship.”

[From People]

I wondered if Mayer’s sobriety overlapped his relationship with Katy Perry, but no, it didn’t – he was still drinking when he was with Katy on-and-off from 2012-2015. I hadn’t heard (before now) that the catalyst for Mayer getting sober was a six-day hangover following Drake’s birthday party. What a sobriety story, wow. Anyway, I admire Mayer for talking about sobriety like this and talking about how sobriety shifted other parts of his life. That being said, the man is still a womanizer and a douche. He absolutely treated multiple girlfriends like sh-t for decades. Jessica Simpson detailed all the ways in which he manipulated her, made her feel inferior and treated her like sh-t. Taylor Swift has had a lot of sh-t to say too. While I would believe that his drinking was a factor in his behavior with women, it’s not the only factor. The man is a sleazy d–khead, sober or drunk.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Brandi Glanville thinks Piper Perabo had an affair with Eddie Cibrian in 2005 (when Eddie and Brandi were married). [Dlisted]
Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn look is kind of cool? [OMG Blog]
Michael B. Jordan previews Creed III. [LaineyGossip]
The best and worst books of Pajiba’s book column. [Pajiba]
Herve Leger will make a celebrity comeback in 2023. [Go Fug Yourself]
The Rock reveals: Black Adam 2 will not be made. [Seriously OMG]
Marjorie Taylor Greene & Lauren Boebart are fighting. [Jezebel]
Internet crush Meghann Fahy has a boyfriend, booooo. [Gawker]
Lily Collins promises that Emily In Paris’s Season 3 ends on a cliffhanger. [Just Jared Jr.]
Emma Roberts is trying to be a rom-com queen. [Egotastic]
These actors successfully dodged some roles in flop films. [Buzzfeed]
Fan Bingbing looks amazing here. [RCFA]
Rumer Willis is pregnant! [People]

Greta Gerwig is a hot property in Hollywood. She’s also kind of a hipster intellectual multi-hyphenate It Girl. I’ve always felt like there’s something so familiar about Gerwig, like she’s living the life hundreds of actresses want for themselves but only Gerwig was able to do it – be an indie-film actress with a lot of credibility, then transition to an acclaimed writer-director. Mix in commercial work with artsy work. And have a family on top of everything else – she’s currently pregnant with her second child with her partner Noah Baumbach. Baumbach left his wife Jennifer Jason Leigh for Gerwig. What’s most interesting about Maureen Dowd’s profile of Gerwig is that Dowd spoke to Baumbach about the start of their relationship and didn’t position Gerwig as the mistress/other woman. It was a messy start but they managed to own it breezily. Still, I wonder how JJL really feels. Some highlights from this NYT profile:

Gerwig loves donuts & junk food: “I think, particularly on film sets, I become the child version of myself that wants just junk food,” she said. She read that Steven Spielberg had wooed a reluctant David Lynch to play a cameo as John Ford in “The Fabelmans” by acceding to his request for Cheetos on the set. “Then I felt like a kindred spirit with David Lynch, since we have the same addiction to the salty, cheesy goodness of Cheetos.”

On Barbie dolls: “My mom was a feminist, and I think there was some resistance to all of it and eventually there was relenting. I think I was totally compelled by hair that was 10 times bigger than your body.” She wants the movie “to be something that is both able to come from the adult part of your brain and also remember what it was like to be a little girl just looking at a beautiful Barbie.”

She didn’t care about fashion while directing ‘Barbie’: Ms. Robbie recalled that, in order not to “waste brain power” on her wardrobe, Ms. Gerwig wore the same boiler suit, in different colors, every day of the shoot. “We did pink on Wednesdays,” Ms. Gerwig said.

She hates ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’: “I just never liked it. It made me uncomfortable. There’s something at its core I just don’t like.”

She doesn’t offer directing tips to her partner Noah Baumbach: “He’s incredibly open to suggestion. The truth is, I think if I had wanted to sit there all day, every day, even when I wasn’t on the set, he’d be happy to ask what I thought of every shot. I think also, as a director, there’s a certain loneliness. Mike Nichols said directors need a buddy. So someone who has a thought or a point of view or is looking over your shoulder makes you feel less like you’re having an isolated existential crisis every day.”

They voted for themselves at the 2019 Oscars: “It was so weird in the moment when we actually were there. It’s very funny, but we did actually vote for ourselves. We were at our computers and I was like, ‘Just so you know, I’m going to vote for myself,’ and he said, ‘OK, I’m going to vote for myself, too.’”

Their equanimity with their competing careers: “I feel like it must be hard if you’re 25. I think as you get older, things work, things don’t work. You’re up, you’re down.”

Baumbach on leaving Jennifer Jason Leigh & starting up with Gerwig: “I was going through a hard time in my life, and [Greta] was going through a different time in her life. We really wanted to make it work together, we really wanted to be together, and we were both drawn by that. That’s how we still feel about each other.” He said that he and Ms. Leigh — who has stayed publicly silent about the dissolution of the marriage and her opinion about “Marriage Story” (although Mr. Baumbach told The Wall Street Journal that he screened it for his ex-wife and she liked it) — co-parent their 12-year-old son, Rohmer. “In another completely different way,” he said, “you have to work together on that so that you can be the best parents you can to your great kid.”

[From The NY Times]

The thing about Breakfast at Tiffany’s… it’s not a good movie and it’s also racist AF. But I always understand why Holly Golightly was one of Audrey Hepburn’s most iconic characters – she’s incredible in that role and it was all very iconic and still is. But yeah, she played a hooker and a hustler. Maybe that’s what Gerwig doesn’t like?

“I feel like it must be hard if you’re 25” – meaning, I think, that it must be hard to have a career at 25 and date guys your age with similar careers and have professional jealousy wreak havoc. Baumbach is 53, Gerwig is 39. He already had the “starter marriage” and he left his (older) wife for Gerwig. The age difference and life experience when Gerwig and Baumbach met and fell in love is significant.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

When Netflix’s Harry & Meghan Volume 1 dropped, people were surprised to see this panel come up in the first episode: “Members of the Royal Family declined to comment on the content within this series.” Within hours, Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace sent out “royal sources” (their senior staffers) to claim that the Windsors were NEVER contacted by Netflix. That was quickly revealed to be yet another palace lie. Friend-of-the-blog Ellie Hall at Buzzfeed did some digging on the palace’s lies and how quickly they tried to backtrack about whether they were actually contacted. What Ellie found out was pretty funny:

When the first three episodes of Netflix’s Harry & Meghan were released on Dec. 8, the first official response from Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace was that neither of their press offices nor any members of the royal family had been approached to comment for the docuseries. That story soon changed, and communications reviewed by BuzzFeed News now show that not only had the press representatives been contacted, one of the top palace communications officials tried to get advance footage.

The royal family’s top press officials initially told reporters they had not been contacted for comment by the producers of Harry & Meghan… Hours later, the officials changed their story, saying that they had been contacted by “a third-party production company” but their attempts to verify the company’s authenticity with Netflix and Archewell Productions (the Sussexes’ production company, which co-produced the docuseries) received no response.

However, Harry & Meghan production company Story Syndicate told BuzzFeed News that not only had the chief press officers at Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace been contacted for an official response, but that Lee Thompson, communications secretary for the Prince and Princess of Wales, confirmed receipt of the email and requested to see footage from the docuseries.

Spokespersons for each palace said that they contacted Archewell Productions and Netflix in an attempt to verify the authenticity of the production company’s email. These spokespersons said that they did not receive a response to their inquiries from either Archewell Productions or Netflix and thus were unable to provide a response. They also told reporters that the emails they received did not address the entire series. These facts were widely reported by royal reporters from many publications, attributed to a “royal source” or a “senior royal source.”

BuzzFeed News can confirm that these “royal sources” were Thompson and his counterpart at Buckingham Palace: Tobyn Andreae, communications secretary to King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort. The two regularly brief selected royal reporters — and provide instructions about how these briefings and guidance are to be attributed — in a WhatsApp group.

Emails between Thompson and one of the show’s producers, dated Nov. 30, were obtained by BuzzFeed News and their authenticity was confirmed by Story Syndicate. A spokesperson for Story Syndicate told BuzzFeed News that Thompson did not reply to a follow-up email in which the company declined to provide clips from Harry & Meghan (as is standard industry practice) but reiterated the claims that would be made and requested Kensington Palace’s official response.

Story Syndicate said that it had no evidence of anyone from Buckingham Palace reaching out in response to the initial email and confirmed that it was sent not to a general mailbox but to Andreae’s direct email address. (A spokesperson added that there was no “bounceback” to the email, an automatic reply that indicates an inbox is full and the recipient might be unable to read the message.) This spokesperson also noted to BuzzFeed News that a request for comment sent to Jason Knauf, former royal employee and current director of the Earthshot Prize (a competition founded by Prince William), on the same date as the emails to both palaces received a response that was included in Harry & Meghan.

A spokesperson for Netflix said the company can find no evidence that it had been contacted by either Kensington Palace or Buckingham Palace through any common channels of communication, but cautioned that there is a possibility an email could have been sent to an obscure account.

The Sussexes’ global press secretary, Ashley Hansen, told Buzzfeed News that an Archewell employee from an unrelated branch of the company was contacted by a royal employee after the deadline Story Syndicate had given for a response to be included in the docuseries. Hansen said that neither she nor any other members of the Archewell communications team (which represents Archewell Productions, Archewell Audio, and the Archewell Foundation) were contacted by spokespersons for the royal family.

[From Buzzfeed]

Once again, it’s amateur hour at the palace. Why did they feel like they couldn’t say “we were contacted and we declined to comment”? That’s what genuinely happened! Instead, the palace created a psychodrama to try to make the Sussexes look like liars… for no reason other than stupidity and malice. And the fact that William’s comms secretary and Charles’s comms secretary have a dumb WhatsApp group with royal reporters so they can all get their dumb stories straight… behold, the invisible contract. Not so much a contract as a bunch of idiots and liars in a group chat, trying to figure out how to always blame the Sussexes for everything.

Photos courtesy of Netflix.

On December 19th, Brad Pitt celebrated his 59th birthday. 59 years on this earth and the man has some of the most hacky, obvious PR in the world. Even Gawker is calling out Pitt for his latest shenanigans involving Ines de Ramon. Ines is either 29 or 32 (who knows) and she’s Paul Wesley’s estranged wife or ex-wife (who knows). Over the weekend, Pitt’s publicity team and Babylon’s publicity team blanketed the media with gossip about how Ines came to the Babylon premiere and they were loved up, even though they’re not officially dating:

Brad Pitt had his girlfriend Ines de Ramon by his side Thursday night, at the Los Angeles premiere of his new movie Babylon. The Oscar-winning actor, 58, was seen with the jewelry executive, 32, at the afterparty for the new film — the two mingling with guests, occasionally with their arms around each other.

According to the source, “Brad is really into” de Ramon, who separated from her husband, Vampire Diaries star Paul Wesley, earlier this year. “They met through a mutual friend. She is very nice,” the insider added.

“Ines is cute, fun and energetic. She has a great personality,” a second insider said, noting the two aren’t yet exclusive. “Brad enjoys spending time with her.”

[From People]

“A second insider said, noting the two aren’t yet exclusive…” Again, the man is 59 years old and he’s playing the “we’re not exclusive” game with his rent-a-dates. He did the same thing with Emily Ratajkowski and Nico Poturalski too. “We’re not exclusive” must mean that she hasn’t signed the contract yet? Or maybe she has – Page Six bought the exclusive photos of Ines and Brad out together in Hollywood on his birthday. This kind of photo-op is… expensive.

Brad Pitt celebrates 59th birthday with rumored girlfriend Ines de Ramon https://t.co/5NIi6dPlgv pic.twitter.com/fWlRb3JI7P

— Page Six (@PageSix) December 19, 2022

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.