Late Saturday evening (London time), the @KensingtonRoyal Twitter account (the official Twitter of Princes William and Harry and Duchess Kate) released four portraits of Prince George and Princess Charlotte, all taken by their mum, the Duchess of Cambridge. The portraits were taken at Anmer Hall, by most accounts. The photos caused a stir on social media and on blogs, mostly because the internet thrives on chubby baby cheeks and cats.

Still, it did seem like an odd decision: why release the portraits on Twitter in the middle of a lazy June weekend? Many UK papers don’t even do Sunday editions, so half of the British print media would have to wait until Monday to publish the photos… although most British and American outlets posted the photos online, so it was no biggie. Except many of the British royal reporters are kind of pissed off about the way these photos were released. Richard Palmer is the royal reporter for The Daily Express and Niraj Tanna is the Middletons’ favorite paparazzo:

KP’s use of Twitter to release pictures and information will eventually render royal correspondents jobless. Nearly all info is from KP PO.

— Niraj Tanna (@IkonPictures) June 7, 2015

@IkonPictures We need to work harder at coming up with proper news – what somebody somewhere wants to suppress.

— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) June 7, 2015

@royalmusing @missymckee If the palace tries to cut out the middleman, we need to go back to finding more unofficial stories and pics.

— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) June 7, 2015

Twitter’s great fun but should a British Royal Family funded by UK taxpayers release historic images first on US-run social media?

— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) June 6, 2015

It seems like petty, after-the-fact nitpicking, but it plays into a larger discussion we’re having and many royal-watchers are having about Prince William and Duchess Kate’s disdain for old media, and how they believe they can function as royals – paid for by the taxpayers – without doing much at all and by cutting out the press in total. The release of these portraits comes after William in particular was criticized for choosing a football game and playing polo over attending the opening of Parliament (which is apparently what the Queen wanted him to do, attend the opening). When William and Kate are criticized in the media, they deflect using their children or some “look, we’re just like you!” strategic leaks (which are usually about how they’re different from the royal family because they care about their children).

Oh, and there’s a rumor that William and Kate will bring George out for Trooping the Colour next weekend. If you remember, there were some tabloid reports that the Queen basically had to beg Kate to attend this year’s Trooping the Colour.

Photos courtesy of the Duchess of Cambridge @KensingtonRoyal.

Game of Thrones Season 5, Episode 9 recap.

SPOILERS

Last week Lainey noted that the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones is usually when the Serious Business goes down, but after last week’s episode featured that amazing battle sequence north of the Wall, we all wondered what could poss…      

It looks like congratulations are in order for Corey Stoll and Nadia Bowers.

The House of Cards star, 39, and his Jack, Jules, Esther & Me actress fiancée, 41, are expecting their first child. In a surprise reveal, the Non-Stop actress debuted her baby bump at the Tony Awards in New York City on Sunday (June 7).

Looking radiant in a red maxi maternity dress, Bowers’ bump officially announced their pregnancy news.

In addition to preparing for fatherhood, Stoll is set to hit the big screen next month in Ant-Man, costarring Paul Rudd.

Congratulations to the Bowers-Stoll family!

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InTouch Weekly has been doing a bang-up job with their reporting on this Duggar horror show. After Part 1 of the Duggars’ Fox News interview last Wednesday, InTouch released an amazing takedown of all of the lies Michelle and Jim-Bob told Megyn Kelly. Part 2 of Kelly’s interview aired on Friday night, and most media outlets did coverage that night or the next day – go here to read my assessment of Jessa and Jill’s interview. While they are profoundly sympathetic, they also told a whole lotta lies. So on Sunday, In Touch released their second Duggar takedown, which is – at this point – easily InTouch’s sixth major exclusive on this continuing horror show. You can read the full piece here – the headline is “11 Things the Duggars are Still Hiding After Second Interview.” The following is my summary and edit of the piece.

The “licensed” counseling lies. The Duggars maintained that the whole family got “licensed” counseling, but InTouch points out that Jim-Bob and Michelle “apparently waited FOUR years” after the 2002/03 molestations. The Duggars also omitted the fact that the licensed counseling happened as part of the Department of Human Services investigation in 2006/07. Josh Duggar’s victims did not get counseling back in 2002/03.

The police reports contradict the story of Josh’s “mild touching” of his “mostly asleep” victims. In Touch’s reading of the police reports includes the fact that Josh’s behavior escalated over the course of a year. Josh’s first victims were asleep, but when he was 15, he molested his five year old sister when she was sitting on his lap and he also cornered one girl in the laundry room and put his hand up her dress. The Springfield police report “also reveals that Josh molested another awake victim outside the home.”

Josh’s behavior showed sexual compulsion, not curiosity. InTouch quotes a psychologist named Dr. Paula Bruce who asserts, “None of them acknowledged that this is predatory behavior. It’s classic. It’s got dominance and exploitation…That’s a pattern of someone who is becoming more sexually compulsive and increasingly so. That’s not the pattern of someone who is resolving their sexual compulsivity.”

The failure of the “safeguards.” Jim-Bob and Michelle claimed they put “safeguards” between Josh and his victims soon after Josh self-reported in March 2002. But they didn’t address the fact that Josh was still molesting for the next year. And why did it take a full year for Josh to be removed from the house?

Josh paid for his own counseling. Jim-Bob, Michelle, Jessa and Jill all stated that Josh paid for his own counseling. But… they didn’t say when. Josh didn’t get counseling from a mental health professional until five years after the initial 2002 molestations. His “counseling” in 2003 was done by “a family friend who remodeled homes but was not a licensed mental health professional, according to the police report.”

The Duggars did not fully cooperate with authorities. The police requested an interview with Josh in 2008 (when Josh was 18) and Josh refused to go. Jim-Bob hired a lawyer for Josh and Josh refused to be questioned. That’s not “fully cooperating.”

Jessa and Jill called out the Arkansas DHS. Except as I said on Friday, the DHS records were not part of the FOIA request. Nothing from the DHS investigation has been reported or leaked. Also, the Duggars participation in the DHS investigation was mandatory, not optional.

The Duggars flew in a crisis public relations specialist. InTouch got a tip that a “plane used by the Duggars show that it flew to the location of their crisis public relations specialist prior to giving these interviews in an attempt to save their TLC show.” The Duggars also met with “their own PR team” ahead of the interviews.

InTouch has gotten advice from first amendment lawyers. Those lawyers believe that if the Duggars try to sue InTouch, they would not have a legal leg to stand on. The Duggars are especially up sh-t creek because Arkansas has some of the best public records laws in America.

The police investigation records were not “juvenile records.” The Duggars repeatedly claimed that they were. Because the Duggars were only investigated years after Josh’s year full of molestations, Josh was 18 years old by the time the investigations were concluded.

The destroyed police record. Judge Stacy Zimmerman ordered the police records to be destroyed following InTouch’s FOIA requests (which had already been granted). The judge only heard an “emergency argument” from the Duggars’ lawyer and most legal experts believe that the judge had no right to unilaterally order the records destruction.

Megyn Kelly is a dumbass. InTouch notes that Megyn Kelly repeated attacked InTouch with specious if not outright false claims about their FOIA requests. In Touch writes: “FOIA documents obtained by In Touch show that Fox also tried to get the police report to report the story AFTER it first came out. Their request was denied.” Oh ho ho.

[From In Touch Weekly]

God, I don’t think I’ve ever loved a tabloid more. In Touch has brass balls for following through on this story so completely. And OF COURSE the Duggars flew in a crisis manager to coach them for the interviews. Here’s what I want to know: did TLC arrange the plane? Did TLC pay for the crisis manager to protect their “brand”? And why the hell hasn’t TLC canceled this GD show by now?

Photos courtesy of the Duggars’ social media.

Elizabeth! Happy Birthday from Emma! Congratulations on the new job – and congratulations on choosing change and opportunity. I’m excited about what’s ahead for you. Which, hopefully, includes a great result for Team Canada and Christine Sinclair who demonstrated her leadership on Saturday. We ne…      

MAJOR SPOILERS for last night’s episode of Game of Thrones.

Last night’s penultimate season episode was “The Dance of Dragons.” It was a reference to a book of history being read by Princess Shireen of House Baratheon, but it was also a reference to the actual dragon at the end of the show. Last week, I asked if the White Walker attack on the Wildlings’ basecamp at Hardhome was a mic-drop moment, so now I have to ask: are Dany’s dragons another mic-drop moment just waiting to happen? Look at what Drogon can do just by himself. Imagine three dragons, working in tandem, with their mother. Incidentally, George RR Martin wrote a reference piece last week, justifying his (and the show’s) use of violence against women – go here to read. Here are some highlights and moments from the show:

Jon Snow’s Sadface Opens the gate at The Wall. I thought Ser Aliser was going to go rogue and deny entry to the Wildlings and Jon Snow, but after waiting a moment, the gate was opened and the Wildlings were allowed to pass through to the other side of the Wall. Ser Aliser is playing the long game, which is smart – no one looks happy with Jon Snow and Ser Aliser probably believes that Jon Snow isn’t going to be long for this world anyway.

Ser Davos says goodbye to Princess Shireen. Stannis orders Davos to return to Castle Black to request more food and horses after Ramsey Bolton and his men launch a highly successful guerrilla attack on Stannis’s camp. Davos knows he’s being sent away for a reason, but I’m not sure Davos even realizes the extent of Stannis’s depravity. So we got a lovely moment with Davos giving Shireen a carved wooden sculpture of a stag (the animal representing House Baratheon). The scene was so sweet and gentle, you knew something terrible was going to happen.

Stannis loses what’s left of his humanity. I’ve always been a Stannis apologist. No more. A few episodes back, Melisandre told him the power of king’s blood and that pretty please, she’d really like to sacrifice Stannis’s daughter Shireen to the Red God. Back then, Stannis was all NOPE. But as he sees that there is no way to launch a successful attack on Winterfell, he decides to do it. And it’s awful. Shireen carrying her little wooden stag as she’s being lead to the stake is one of the most horrifying images ever shown on GoT. Her cries for her father as she’s being burned alive? Ugh. I hate Melisandre now too. And at long last, Selyse finally wakes up and realizes that her only child is being sacrificed and her soul dies along with her daughter. On a superficial note, kudos to the GoT makeup people for what they did to Stephen Dillane in those scenes. He looked like death too.

Meanwhile in Dorne. It feels like this Dornish plot is really going nowhere, right? There’s no drama, mostly because King Doran Martell is an utterly reasonable man and a seasoned diplomat who hates war. King Doran should be king of the Seven Kingdoms, that’s what I come away with. He’s willing to forgive the family that killed his beloved brother in order to avoid war. Doran brings Jamie Lannister into a lovely living room with Myrcella, Prince Tristane and Ellaria. Doran gives his orders, which are perfectly reasonable: Myrcella will return to King’s Landing AND she will marry Tristane and Tristane will be given a spot on the small council. Bronn is freed (and punched in the face as punishment for punching Tristane in the face). Then Doran orders Ellaria to stop trying to instigate a war and she submits in front of the Sand Snakes.

A Girl Is Still Arya Stark. She will never really be A Girl. She will always be Arya Stark with an ax to grind. Jaqen H’ghar has ordered her to poison that old dude but the she sees Ser Meryn Trant arrive in Braavos with Lord Mace Tyrell (a good-natured moron). Ser Meryn is on Arya’s death list so she decides to stalk him instead of fulfilling Jaqen’s assignment. She follows Ser Meryn to a brothel where she finds him ordering up very young girls. I honestly thought that scene was going to end a lot differently, but Arya got out of there and then she flat-out lied to Jaqen. A Girl better watch her ass.

Game of Thrones goes full Neverending Story. Everything was building up to the Meereen story. Dany starts the games with one clap and she and her fiancé Hizdahr – who I truly do not trust – are bickering. Tyrion interjects here and there. Then Ser Jorah appears in the fighting pit and even Daario is surprised to see him. Blah, fighting, Jorah wins and he looks up to Dany and throws a spear towards her. But not AT her – at one of the Sons of the Harpy sneaking up behind her. Daario turns around and sees that the Sons of the Harpy have assembled behind the royal box and they multitude in the hundreds, at least. Ser Jorah helps and Daario screams “Protect your queen!” Hizdahr dies at some point, but that doesn’t negate the theory that he was part of the Sons of the Harpy terrorism. And Tyrion saves Missandei (does Grey Worm have some competition?!). Dany, Daario, Tyrion, Jorah and Missandei are surrounded in the pit and all is lost… until Drogon comes and fire-blasts everyone hurting his mom. The Sons of the Harpy are trying to spear Drogon and he seems to be waiting for Dany to figure something out. Finally, she climbs on top of him and flies away (which is the ending of Neverending Story).

Next week, Brienne hopefully gets into gear, Winter is taking a break and no one knows where Dany is.

Photos courtesy of HBO/Game of Thrones.

Dear Gossips,

“Vlah!”

It’s my new favourite word. OMG I want one so badly. Actually, I want two: a direwolf, still, to sleep at my feet every night, and a dragon outside waiting to mouth-burn all intruder motherf-ckers, after he’s torched Stannis Baratheon. But could Jorah Mormont just DI…      

Zoe Saldana covers the July issue of InStyle. She’s wearing a Dolce & Gabbana dress (that reminds me of Chinese blue and white porcelain) and Dior jewelry. Zoe loves her D&G and stands by them no matter what (even when they say really dumb stuff). She’s not promoting anything right now except for her return to the spotlight. Zoe’s filming Star Trek 3 and has a whole slew of upcoming projects.

InStyle hasn’t released the whole interview yet, but Zoe reportedly had a ball at this shoot because it was her first one in ages. She brought her twin boys, Cy and Bowie, along for the ride. The manicurist described Zoe as someone who’s “silly” and “kept us all laughing with her awesome impressions.” This is surprising because I often feel like Zoe takes herself too seriously. There’s also a very cool excerpt making the rounds. Marco Perego decided to take Zoe’s last name when they got married!

Zoe’s story on Marco taking her name: “I tried to talk him out of it. If you use my name, you’re going to be emasculated by your community of artists, by your Latin community of men, by the world.”

Marco’s response: “Ah Zoe, I don’t give a sh*t.”

[From InStyle]

Marco sounds like an awesome guy. I admit feeling suspicious of him after watching the quickie marriage and checking out his douchey artwork. But the guy has won me over. He’s flat out adorable and seems really devoted to Zoe. He took her last name as his own, which is sweet, and I dig his nonchalant response to Zoe’s concern.

Here are some photos of Zoe in Dolce & Gabbana (again) at the Spike TV’s Guy’s Choice awards on Saturday night. Plus some photos of Marco, of course.

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Photos courtesy of InStyle/Paul Maffi, Getty & WENN

Hollywood couple Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart attended the 14th annual Chrysalis Butterfly Ball in Los Angeles, Calif. on Saturday (June 6).

The Grey’s Anatomy star, 42, and the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum, 43, were joined by their two adorable daughters: Billie, 5, and Georgia, 3.

Billie looked pretty in a light pink sequined gown, while Georgia matched her famous daddy in a gray sparkly dress.

The Chrysalis Butterfly Ball raises funds to alleviate homelessness in the Los Angeles area. Gayheart serves as the foundation’s co-chair.

Looking every bit the proud husband, Dane shared a shot from the charitable event.

“14th annual Butterfly Ball @chrysalisLA –Teaching the kids about giving back and helping others… #ButterflyBall #MyWifeIsAForce,” Dane Instagrammed an image with his youngest daughter.

14th annual Butterfly Ball @chrysalisLA –Teaching the kids about giving back and helping others… #ButterflyBall #MyWifeIsAForce

A photo posted by Eric Dane (@realericdane) on Jun 7, 2015 at 3:19am PDT

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Since I’m not into Doctor Who, I really don’t know much about Jenna Coleman. She’s the Doctor’s current assistant. And… that’s about all I know about her. I barely remembered that Jenna was dating Richard Madden – also known as Robb Stark from Game of Thrones – and she was recently on his arm during his promotion of Cinderella. But it looks like Madden and Coleman are over. Enter Prince Harry? But Coleman is a brunette! Harry usually only goes for blondes. But there is photo evidence – you can see some photos of Harry and Jenna getting cozy/flirty with each other here.

He claims he is happily single and not looking for love – but it seems Prince Harry can’t resist turning on the charm when the opportunity strikes. Yesterday, pictures emerged of the fifth in line to the throne with his hand on the knee of a pretty Doctor Who actress as they chatted intimately at the polo. The prince, whom onlookers described as ‘flirty and tactile’, seemed delighted to be in the company of brunette Jenna Coleman, 29, after playing in a charity match last Saturday.

Harry, 30, led the actress by the hand out of the star-studded after-party to chat on a sofa outside.
Miss Coleman, who plays the Time Lord’s assistant Clara Oswald in the hit BBC series, looked delighted at the attention. The actress is believed to have split up with her long-term boyfriend, Game Of Thrones actor Richard Madden, 28, several months ago, according to the Mirror.

One onlooker said: ‘Harry sneaked outside with Jenna. He took her by the hand and led her away from the crowd in the sponsor’s tent. They sat alone and talked. It was a very flirty, very tactile encounter. She was leaning in to him and he had his hand on her knee. From their body language, it looked like they were really enjoying each other’s company. They were sitting very close, laughing lots and touching each other.’

Another guest said: ‘Everyone had been dancing inside and [the prince and Jenna] were together in a group, but Harry obviously wanted to talk to her alone.’

A spokesman for the prince declined to comment, while the actress’s publicist said they did not discuss her private life.

[From The Daily Mail]

Looking at their body language in the photos and hearing some first-hand accounts of their flirtatiousness… yeah, I think he was into it. And she sounds like she was up for it. I imagine that when Harry really turns on the charm, he’s pretty hard to resist. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel for him. Poor Harry… the royal family’s Bridget Jones!

Interestingly enough, Harry was also spotted at Cressida Bonas’ West End show last week as well. Harry’s been pretty publicly supportive of Cressida’s acting career, like he’s making an effort to make us believe they’re still friends/friendly. Do you think they still hook up sometimes? Is Cressida the one that got away? According to the Daily Mail, “Friends insist the pair are not back together, although admit Harry is still extremely fond of his ex-girlfriend.” Damn, Cressy has game.

And finally, Prince Harry was knighted by the Queen. He got the knighthood for “service to Her Majesty.” It’s not a plain old knighthood either – he was made Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO). Here’s Harry’s fancy new Insignia.

Here’s a photo of the #KCVO Insignia that The Queen presented to Prince Harry privately at #BuckinghamPalace today pic.twitter.com/u3jlMB5Kio

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) June 4, 2015

Photos courtesy of WENN.