Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates! We’ll be off tomorrow but we’ll have a light day on Friday, come back when you’re online shopping and catch up on some gossip! XOXO

Fox News is mad at Joe Biden for being too Christmas-y. PS… President Biden pardoned two turkeys this week and their names are Chocolate and Chip. [Towleroad]
Charles Barkley hasn’t spoken to Michael Jordan in a decade. [Just Jared]
I love “wholesome vandalism,” although I laugh every time I pass by the “curved road” sign by my house and someone painted balls on the arrow. [OMG Blog]
Iggy Azalea sold some of her masters and now she never has to work again? [Dlisted]
Review of Welcome to Chippendales. [LaineyGossip]
Review of She Said, which is apparently a bad movie. [Pajiba]
The White House press corps is so stupidly salty about Naomi Biden’s wedding. [Jezebel]
Balmain’s Resort collection was…interesting. [Go Fug Yourself]
An interview with Will Sheff. [Gawker]
Will there be a third season of Indian Matchmaking? [Starcasm]
People are crushing on Simona Tabasco in The White Lotus. [Egotastic]
There was a mass shooting in a Virginia Walmart. [Buzzfeed]

New Fox News salvo in the War on Christmas is that Joe Biden is too pro-Christmas. pic.twitter.com/EkbTzuFzqQ

— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) November 22, 2022

The New Yorker profiled Emma Thompson in a wonderful piece called “Emma Thompson’s Third Act.” Emma is not a self-congratulatory person, and the profile is littered with quotes about how she doesn’t believe it when good things happen, how she struggles with self-doubt, how she tortures herself to make good art. She’s also quite intimate in the piece, speaking honestly about the breakdown of her marriage to Kenneth Branagh, the death of her beloved father, her children (Gaia and Tindy Agaba) and more. It’s long but it’s worth the read for fans of Emma Thompson. Some highlights:

Her extended family of actors, artists & her kids: “We’re terrible gossips, but ‘gossip’ in the sense that Phyllis Rose described it, the first step on the ladder to self-knowledge. Gossip is discussion about life’s detail. And in life’s details are all the little bits of stitching that you need to hold it to-f–king-gether.”

Her father’s death: “That’s when I thought, Everything is upside down.” Eric’s death, in 1982, when Thompson was twenty-three, was a “cataclysmic loss,” she said, adding, “He left no money. We all had to earn our livings from then on.”

Falling for Kenneth Branagh: They met while filming “Fortunes of War.” Thompson remembers the moment on the set of “Fortunes” when she first fell for him. On a break between takes during a night shoot, Branagh tried to amuse her by singing in his slightly falsetto voice. “I burst into tears because he sounded exactly like my father singing on ‘The Magic Roundabout,’ ” she said. Branagh was reminiscent of Eric Thompson in other ways, too. He created the same seclusive climate around himself, wore a carapace of privacy, which Thompson compared to a walnut: “hard to pry open.” “He was incandescent with ambition and performance energy… Like two mating lobsters, we clashed claws,” Thompson said of their volatile two-year courtship.

Marrying Branagh in 1989: “I was embarrassed largely by the press version of our marriage. We didn’t present as glamorous in any way. I don’t think we wanted to be some power couple, and we certainly didn’t feel like it. We were lampooned and ridiculed, too—fair enough if you’re famous and overpaid—but it’s no fun.”

The sobbing scene in Sense & Sensibility: “She was not aware of what was inside her, and it suddenly emerges,” Thompson explained. Edward haltingly admits that “my heart is and always will be yours.” She holds up her hand, stopping him in mid-romantic flow. Words can wait; in the moment, she is crying tears of anger and joy. Thompson’s emotional explosion is at once a great piece of acting and a great piece of comedy. (“I was trying to make it as involuntary as possible. A case of the diaphragm taking over,” she wrote in her diary.) “Hugh Grant was so cross,” Thompson recalled. “He said, ‘You’re gonna cry all the way through my speech?’ I said, ‘Hugh, I’ve got to. That’s the gag. It’s funny.’ And he says, ‘Yeah, but I’m speaking.’ I said, ‘I know.’ ”

Branagh’s affair: Offscreen, in 1995, while the film was being shot, Thompson had to exert a steely control over her own pain. Her marriage to Branagh had collapsed, but they had not gone public with the news. Branagh had started a relationship with one of the stars of his film “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” Helena Bonham Carter. Thompson was humiliated, in part by her own stupidity. “I was utterly, utterly blind to the fact that he had relationships with other women on set,” she said. “What I learned was how easy it is to be blinded by your own desire to deceive yourself.”

Falling for Greg Wise: “I was half alive. Any sense of being a lovable or worthy person had gone completely,” she said. The person “who picked up the pieces and put them back together” was the actor Greg Wise, who played John Willoughby, the doe-eyed heartthrob who sweeps Marianne Dashwood (Kate Winslet) off her feet in “Sense and Sensibility.” (“Full of beans and looking gorgeous. Ruffled our feathers a bit,” Thompson noted of Wise in her production diary.) Thompson has now been with Wise for twenty-seven years, married for nineteen. “I’ve learned more from my second marriage just by being married,” she said. “As my mother says, ‘the first twenty years are the hardest.’ ”

Her children: In 1999, Thompson had given birth to her daughter, Gaia Wise, who is now an actress. “We tried for another child, but it didn’t work,” she told me. “I often think if it had worked there wouldn’t have been space. So I’m very grateful the I.V.F. didn’t work, because every day I’m grateful for Tindy.” Agaba recalled feeling that he “didn’t have anything to give,” when he met Thompson and Wise. “What hasn’t he given!” Thompson said. “So much joy, so much insight to share in his empathy and his understanding of the world. We laugh—and he helps me to laugh—at the weirdness of people, at the strangeness of life, at its cruelties and absurdities. It’s such a comfort.”

[From The New Yorker]

Greg Wise, what a man. There’s part of me that still loves the fact that Elinor ended up with Willoughby in real life, only Willoughby ended up being a great guy and a loving husband and father. It’s incredible that she talks about how, in the end, she’s glad that the IVF didn’t work out because “there wouldn’t have been space.” They have Gaia and Tindy and a family of friends. As for Kenneth Branagh… I feel like throwing hands now. I mean, we knew that he cheated, we knew that he left her for Helena, but Emma rarely talks about it and when she does, I get mad on her behalf all over again. Then again, that devastation and betrayal led to her being open for Greg Wise, so it really did work out.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Robin Platzer/Twin Images / Twin Images / Avalon, Ana M. Wiggins / Avalon, Avalon Red.

The Windsors are always whining about how people – mostly dumb Americans – believe The Crown is a documentary, that everything happened exactly that way. You notice that the Windsors don’t say the same thing about Peter Morgan’s script for The Queen, the 2006 film about the week following Princess Diana’s death. Morgan centers the film around QEII’s actions and Tony Blair’s attempts to talk some sense into her, and it ended up being pretty generous towards QEII’s motives overall.

What the film missed out was the palpable anger towards Charles, QEII and the rest of the family for how they treated Diana, and how many people believed (almost immediately) that the Windsors were responsible in one way or another for Diana’s death. What Morgan missed is that the Windsors were f–king terrified, and that’s why they used William and Harry as human shields, making those two grieving boys do a walkabout and talk to people, then forcing them to walk the funeral procession. Harry has spoken a few times about how traumatized he felt about the procession in particular, which happened just days before his 13th birthday. He still blames his father and his family for forcing him to walk behind his mother’s coffin on the world’s stage. But… does Charles have any regrets? I doubt it, but here we go:

A haunting decision. King Charles III deeply regrets making his sons Prince William and Prince Harry process behind Princess Diana‘s casket during her 1997 funeral after learning how much it impacted them.

“I think it haunts him because it haunts them, and they’ve spoken about it,” Christopher Andersen exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, November 1, while speaking about his upcoming biography, The King: The Life of Charles III. “I’ve written that I believe it’s a form of PTSD.” The author added that while researching the book, which hit shelves on November 8, he learned that the Duke of Sussex, 38, has found it “triggering” to fly into London sometimes.

“[He said] it reminds him of that day when he had to walk behind the coffin, and they were more or less bullied into doing it by the palace — by the men in gray who really run the palace, the people that Diana used to complain about,” Andersen said. “[Charles, Earl Spencer], Diana’s brother … has also said that he felt that he was tricked into doing it and regrets it. He said it was like walking through a tunnel of grief.”

The entire experience was particularly upsetting for the Prince of Wales, 40, and his younger brother, who were forced to grieve the loss of their mother in front of thousands of mourners.

“I think both William and Harry thought, ‘Who are these strangers who never met her?’” the writer continued. “So they were angry about what had happened. And Charles, I think, understands that to some extent he was responsible for them having to suffer through [that].”

[From Us Weekly]

Yeah, Andersen has it wrong. Charles has no regrets about it. He did what he had to do to survive that moment in the short-term, which was feeding his grief-stricken sons to the slaughter. He would continue to throw them under the bus for his own convenience and PR whenever he wanted, especially Harry. As much as the Windsors have managed to convince everyone that they had William and Harry’s best interests in mind the moment Diana died, that was not the case. The Windsors just carried on like nothing happened, so much so that Harry had a hard time believing his mother really died. Queen Elizabeth wouldn’t even allow the local church to have a special prayer for Diana. Also: this wasn’t something that the courtiers masterminded, it was all a giant royal f–kup. This was QEII, Philip and Charles using William and Harry to shield themselves from very deserved criticism.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Chris Hemsworth has a Disney+ documentary series called Limitless, in which he “test[s] his body and explore ways to live longer and healthier.” As part of the series, he underwent some genetic tests, and he was originally supposed to receive the results live on camera. However, when production received the results revealing that Chris has a heightened risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, series creator Darren Aronofsky told him privately instead. Chris said the news made him want to take time off from acting, and he’ll do so after completing his promotional duties for Limitless.

Actor Chris Hemsworth says he is taking a break from acting after learning he has a heightened risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

The Thor star made the discovery after undergoing tests as part of his Disney+ documentary series Limitless.

He told Vanity Fair the tests confirmed his “biggest fear”, adding he will now be trying to take “preventative steps”.

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia and can cause memory problems, confusion and communication issues.

Hemsworth learned that he has two copies of the gene ApoE4, one from his mother and one from his father, making him between eight and 10 times more likely to develop the disease than those without both copies of the gene.

About 2 to 3 per cent of the population carries two copies of the gene.

“It’s not like I’ve been handed my resignation,” Hemsworth said, but added the news “really triggered something in me to want to take some time off”.

“If you look at Alzheimer’s prevention, the benefit of preventative steps is that it affects the rest of your life,” he said.

“It’s all about sleep management, stress management, nutrition, movement, fitness. It’s all kind of the same tools that need to be applied in a consistent way.”

He explained that he had not been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, but had been warned of the heightened risk. “It’s not a pre-deterministic gene, but it is a strong indication,” he said. “Ten years ago, I think it was more thought of as determinant.”

Hemsworth said the original plan for the series would have seen him receive all his genetic test results live to camera – but series creator Darren Aronofsky told him privately once they got the results.

The Marvel star was subsequently given the option of removing any references to Alzheimer’s from the show, but decided to include his genetic risk of Alzheimer’s to improve awareness and understanding.

“My concern was I just didn’t want to manipulate it and over-dramatise it, and make it into some sort of hokey grab at empathy or whatever for entertainment,” he said.

Hemsworth also confirmed to the magazine his grandfather has also been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

[From BBC.com]

Chris is going to head home to Australia to be with his wife, Elsa Pataky, and their three kids. He hasn’t said anything about the length of his break, but it seems like he’ll take as long as possible before he has to do promo or film for something else he has scheduled (he just finished filming on the Mad Max sequel). Maybe Chris wasn’t completely shocked since his grandfather has Alzheimer’s and it is genetic, but that still must be incredibly jarring news to have confirmed. And to find out through something work-related, no less. Production, of course, did the right thing by telling him privately. And they gave Chris the option to omit it from the show, but he chose to include it anyway to increase awareness. It certainly would have been his right to keep that medical information private, especially since it was new to him and he likely didn’t have much time to process it, but it is admirable that he’s sharing in the hopes of educating others, especially about the preventative steps. I wasn’t aware of the preventative steps until reading this article. It’s good that Chris is taking time off to reflect and relax and spend time with family. I imagine he’s regrouping a bit as well, as this might be something that affects the choice and pacing of his projects going forward.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth)

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

photos credit: ROGER WONG/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images, Getty and via Instagram

Quentin Tarantino has been giving lots of interviews to promote his new book, Cinema Speculation. The book isn’t a memoir, it’s more like a collection of musings about the films, scripts, critics and performances which shaped him as a person and an artist. As he promotes this book, he’s been asked a lot about the on-going Hollywood conversation, “Has Marvel ruined the film industry?” Given QT’s status as a sort-of lowkey Hollywood historian, I’ve been interested in hearing his comments. Previously, he’s said that we’re in the middle of one of the worst eras for Hollywood, and that he wouldn’t be caught dead working on a Marvel movie. He’s no Marvel fan, nor does he think it’s a good thing for Hollywood that superhero films have eaten the industry. Even more than that, he thinks superhero movies have ruined “movie stars.”

Jennifer Aniston made headlines at the start of November when she declared, “There are no more movie stars.” It’s a statement that Quentin Tarantino agrees with, as evidenced by the director’s recent interview on “2 Bears, 1 Cave” podcast (via Mediaite). Tarantino attributed the loss of movie stars to the “Marvel-ization of Hollywood.”

“Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is…you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” Tarantino said. “But they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star. I mean, I’m not the first person to say that. I think that’s been said a zillion times…but it’s like, you know, it’s these franchise characters that become a star.”

For Tarantino, Captain America is the star and not Chris Evans. “I’m not even putting them down frankly, to tell you the truth,” the director said earlier about movie stars no longer existing in bulk. “But that is one of the — the legacy of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood movies.”

Tarantino also clarified in the interview that he does not “hate” Marvel movies but dislikes them for being the only product Hollywood is interested in making these days.

“Look, I used to collect Marvel comics like crazy when I was a kid,” Tarantino said. “There’s an aspect that if these movies were coming out when I was in my twenties, I would totally be f–king happy and totally love them. I mean, they wouldn’t be the only movies being made. They would be those movies amongst other movies. But, you know, I’m almost 60, so yeah. No, I’m not quite as excited about them….My only axe to grind against them is they’re the only things that seem to be made. And they’re the only things that seem to generate any kind of excitement amongst a fan base or even for the studio making them. That’s what they’re excited about. And so it’s just the fact that they are the entire representation of this era of movies right now. There’s not really much room for anything else. That’s my problem.”

[From Variety]

I think QT’s critique is valid and correct. Of course, I thought Martin Scorsese’s criticism was valid and correct too, and everyone yelled at him and called him a racist has-been. I actually do think that Chris Evans is a movie star, and yet I don’t think Captain America “made” him a movie star – QT’s point about the superhero being the star and not the actor is correct. I also agree with QT’s larger point about superhero movies are fine, but we need diverse points of view in film and that’s not happening with the Disney/Marvel system.

Simu Liu reacted to QT’s comments and pointed out (correctly) that Marvel gave him a chance to helm a major movie, which is a valid point. But what’s left out is that… people like Tarantino and Scorsese are a huge reason why Asian filmmakers have been able to get a foothold in Hollywood – when Bong Joon Ho swept the Oscars a few years ago, it felt inevitable because people like Scorsese and Tarantino had been hyping his work for years and years. Not to mention what happened with Scorsese and his film Kundun.

Real, actual gatekeeping is Disney sabotaging the release of Scorsese’s Kundun (hiring Kissinger to assure the Chinese government it would “die a quiet death”) because Disney wanted to build theme parks there

Gatekeeping is not artists saying your movie sucks pic.twitter.com/zizj0hEQFW

— John Frankensteiner (@JFrankensteiner) November 22, 2022

Yeah I’ve seen the Simu Liu tweets. I’m not even gonna acknowledge his statement about Scorsese who literally created the World Cinema Project or Tarantino who’s always elevated Asian cinema and POC led films. Instead I’m just gonna remind us of this great moment. Be like Bong… pic.twitter.com/XioMTLY5oR

— Giovanni Lago (@TheGiovanniLago) November 22, 2022

Scorsese got thrown under the bus by The Walt Disney Corporation in 1998 for making KUNDUN and he still gets called a “cultural gatekeeper” who “only makes Mafia movies”. pic.twitter.com/nFL8KFgQCI

— Jesse Hawken (@jessehawken) November 22, 2022

not to chime in on the discourse but idk i think taking over as many screens as possible to shut out other films feels more gatekeep-y than saying marvel actors aren’t movie stars pic.twitter.com/JSjOBwxjRa

— iana murray (@ianamurray) November 23, 2022

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

A few months ago, 90-year-old Antonia Fraser – a distinguished author and historical novelist – decided to chime in about the Windsors. In her view, Queen Camilla is brilliant and the Duchess of Sussex is terrible. Fraser said that the Sussexes’ interview with Oprah was “worse than a crime; it was a mistake. I just wish vainly she’d shut up. And Prince Harry.” Well, did you also know that Antonia Fraser has some thoughts about the new Princess of Wales? It’s true. Specifically, Fraser has thoughts about the length of Kate’s hair.

Distinguished historian Lady Antonia Fraser applauds the Princess of Wales for continuing to wear her hair long into her 40s.

“I don’t think she should cut her hair,” the 7th Earl of Longford’s daughter tells me at the launch party for Rachel Kelly’s book, You’ll Never Walk Alone.

“Women traditionally cut their hair after [having] children, but she doesn’t need to. She can do whatever she likes. She’s beautiful and she’s a good mother. She gets more beautiful as she gets older.”

[From Eden Confidential, print edition]

It’s a generational thing, to believe that women can’t or shouldn’t have long hair past a certain age. My mother feels that way too and she’s a generation younger than Fraser. I do think “age appropriate hair” is a thing, and I do think that – in general – some women should age out of the more youthful hairstyles. Is Kate one of them? Kind of – I do wonder if she’s going to cling to her long wigs, extensions, falls and sausage curls forever. Will she be “on the throne” and still wearing her hair so long, with that wig plopped on?

That’s something that’s always bugged me about Kate, it’s that she never had a real job and she doesn’t know how to look like a modern, professional woman when she does events. It’s all doll wigs, buttons, bespoke coatdresses, lace and ruffles. Anyway, yes, it’s sad that Antonia Fraser has an opinion on this and that this is really the only thing we can talk about when it comes to Kate. Hilary Mantel was right about Kate nearly a decade ago, it seems. I also think Fraser feels the opposite – she actually does think that Kate should cut her hair, that her hair is too long for a 40-year-old.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

One of my very favorite things is “a story about an immigrant becoming an American citizen and developing a love and affinity for American traditions & American history.” Like, I just love that genre. Well, Daniel Craig is an American citizen now – he and his wife Rachel Weisz are both American citizens and they mostly live in New York City and they have a place in upstate New York too. They raise their child there, and Rachel coparents her son Henry Aronofsky with her ex. Daniel has an adult daughter from an early marriage too, and I believe his daughter lives and works in NYC. So the Weisz-Craig family is very American-based and they’ve fully adopted Thanksgiving. Daniel was on The Late Show and he talked about how he celebrates the holiday:

Daniel Craig is a fan of Thanksgiving. On Monday, the James Bond star told The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that the annual celebration is “probably” his favorite holiday.

“I do understand Thanksgiving,” Craig jokingly told Colbert when asked if he knew the history of the holiday. “It’s about giving thanks as I understand it.”

“We do celebrate it, and we have American friends as well,” added Craig, 54, who became a U.S. citizen in 2019. His wife Rachel Weisz, also became a U.S. citizen in 2011, the same year as they got married.

“I’ve celebrated it for quite a long time. I think it’s probably my favorite holiday,” continued Craig.

When asked about his favorite Thanksgiving dish, however, the actor turned slightly more critical. “I’m not so good with the fixings and things,” Craig admitted, before calling stuffing “an abomination.”

After Colbert explained that stuffing is just “wet bread mixed with herbs,” Craig jokingly replied, “And you stuff it up the a– of a chicken — turkey!”

“I think it should be cooked separately,” he continued. “It’s good, but I don’t think you should bring it anywhere near the bird.”

[From People]

I agree with Craig – cook stuffing separately, don’t put it in the bird. I also agree with Craig that stuffing is not the best side dish on Thanksgiving. But I love that he says Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday. Thanksgiving is sort of the “gateway holiday” for a lot of immigrants – they like and understand the idea of getting the whole family together and spending an entire day cooking, eating and watching football. From what I’ve seen, British people are especially curious about Thanksgiving.

This clip is so funny!! Colbert makes a joke that makes Craig turn bright red, it’s amazing.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles announced their split last Friday. “Someone” confirmed the news to People Magazine, and that someone was Olivia Wilde or her publicist. Sidenote: Can you even imagine being Olivia’s publicist? Lord, what a job. Anyway, the People report made it sound like Harry and Olivia decided mutually to split and that everything was “amicable” and that they’d been sort of falling apart for a few months. That was the impression I had, that as soon as Don’t Worry Darling’s promotion was done and dusted, it got harder and harder to stay together. Of course, they didn’t want to officially break up the second after promo was done because that would be too obvious. In any case, all of us knew that the “everything is amicable, there’s no drama” line would not hold. Here’s a soft-launch of Olivia’s post-Styles storyline:

Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles’ recent break was the result of a “tricky situation.” PEOPLE reported Friday that the Don’t Worry Darling director, 38, and the “As It Was” singer, 28, are taking a break from their relationship after nearly two years together.

A source tells PEOPLE, “The break has been difficult for Olivia. They have had some issues, but Olivia thought they were gonna work through it all. She is disappointed. It’s just a tricky situation, though.”

An insider said last week that the “very amicable decision” to put their romance on pause was because Styles is “still touring and is now going abroad” while Wilde “is focusing on her kids and her work in L.A.”

They simply “have different priorities that are keeping them apart,” a friend of the pair added.

Wilde — along with her children, daughter Daisy, 6, and son Otis, 8 (she co-parents with ex-fiancé Jason Sudeikis) — were spotted dancing and singing along at Styles’ Nov. 15 concert in Los Angeles. She stepped out for the 13th Governors Awards on Saturday, her first red carpet appearance since news of their break. Styles, meanwhile, is heading abroad for his Love on Tour shows.

Over the course of their relationship, Wilde and Styles have had to endure drama surrounding the release of their film Don’t Worry Darling, namely persistent claims that Wilde and the film’s leading actress Florence Pugh were at odds.

“The public pressure on them has been difficult,” said the friend. “They’ve had ups and downs throughout the relationship.”

[From People]

“The break has been difficult for Olivia. They have had some issues, but Olivia thought they were gonna work through it all. She is disappointed. It’s just a tricky situation, though.” Hm. I assume this means that Harry wanted the breakup more than Olivia, and she was trying to persuade him to stick with it and he was like “nah.” And Olivia being “disappointed” – I assume this will be her thing, that she had to end it with Harry because of her disappointment in his immaturity or something like that? Well, there’s no need to try to figure this out now. Olivia will tell us her version of events in the weeks and months to come. Trust that she will find a way to make herself the victim and the heroine of the story!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images and Backgrid.

Over the weekend, President Biden’s oldest granddaughter Naomi Biden got married at the White House. For those in the back, the Bidens paid for the wedding privately, meaning the family picked up the cost of the event planner, the flowers, the dress, the cake, the food and whatever needed to be rented from outside the White House. It’s clear that President Biden and Dr. Jill are hands-on grandparents with all of Hunter and Beau’s kids, and for Naomi in particular, I feel safe in saying that her grandpa was probably more of a father to her than her actual father, Hunter. In addition to the photos posted by the event planner, the Bidens also organized a gorgeous wedding shoot with Vogue. Vogue gave Naomi and Dr. Jill their first digital cover. There was a lovely write-up too – go here for the full piece. Some highlights:

Naomi & Peter just wanted to get married in someone’s backyard: At 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 19, the young couple, both lawyers—Naomi at the Washington, DC, firm Arnold & Porter, and Peter at the Georgetown Law Center on National Security—married on a crisp and cloudless day on the South Lawn in front of 250 family members and friends. “We’re so close to our families, so we always knew we’d get married in someone’s backyard,” explains Naomi. “I think if my pop weren’t president, it would probably be their house in Wilmington or Peter’s family’s backyard in Jackson [Wyoming].”

Bittersweet Symphony: In a high-neck, long-sleeved Chantilly lace Ralph Lauren dress and carrying a bouquet of sweet peas and lily of the valley, Naomi was accompanied down the aisle by her parents, Hunter Biden and Kathleen Buhle, to a string quartet playing Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony.” White scarves and hand warmers were placed on each seat to help guests combat 40-degree temperatures during the hour-long ceremony, which was overseen by a priest and a pastor from each of the families’ churches. Wearing a navy three-piece Ralph Lauren suit, Peter then escorted his wife up the stairs of the South Portico—swathed with ivy and white roses and hydrangea—for a luncheon in the State Dining Room.

An evening reception in the White House residence: In the evening, guests returned to the residence for a black-tie reception with dancing, cake cutting, and “all that fun stuff,” per Naomi, who wore a strapless ivory silk Mikado Reem Acra dress with her grandmother Roberta Buhle’s pearls sewn into the sweeping six-foot train. (For late-night dancing, Naomi switched to a beaded fringed Markarian mini-dress.) The bride and groom climbed a ladder to cut a seven-foot-tall, eight-tier lemon cake with buttercream frosting, while nearby, a dessert bar included everything from 20-inch apple pie (the groom’s cake) to the president’s favorite Graeter’s chocolate chip ice cream. “He used to be a Breyers guy all the way but we’ve gotten him to upgrade to Graeter’s,” Naomi says.

Why Naomi & Peter are living in the White House: When the couple’s lease ran out on their DC apartment, they asked Nana (Jill) and the president if they could move in for a few months while wedding planning, along with their mini Australian shepherd, Charlie, who can often be seen gamboling on the South Lawn with the Bidens’ German shepherd, Commander. “I try to remind myself it’s the White House, but it also gets normalized over time,” says Naomi.

She’s lived close to her grandparents for much of her life: Naomi has lived less than a mile away from her grandparents for most of her life. “The relationship hasn’t changed that much,” Naomi says. “When I was in middle school, we lived so close, and they were at every sports game and our school plays. We still do the same things. It’s always been this way.” Of course, prosaic family activities like movie nights are now held in a White House screening room with freshly made popcorn and Secret Service in the back.

Jill Biden enjoyed being involved in the wedding planning: “Naomi has a strong sense of herself and had a vision for her wedding,” says the first lady. “It was fun to see her finding so much joy in all the details.” These details were discussed in the evening over a glass of wine—Cabernet for Dr. Biden, Sancerre for Naomi—or when attending barre and SoulCycle classes together in Georgetown. “She slips right in; it’s pretty normal,” Naomi says. “I do know she lost sleep over the fact that I was planning to serve turkey sandwiches at the lunch,” Naomi adds. (They amended the menu to chicken pot pie, as a surprise for the father of the bride, as it is Hunter’s favorite and the dish Dr. Biden cooks for him every year on his birthday.)

Advice from Nana: But keeping perspective was the main thing: “She has really stressed to me that every time I get anxious about wedding stuff to take a breath and remember that it’s just a day about Peter and me and being around the people we love,” Naomi explains. “She’s taught me so much about being independent and self-sufficient. But that doesn’t mean you can’t also be a selfless and fiercely loyal partner.” (When asked about marriage advice, Dr. Biden says she told her granddaughter only to “maintain your independence.”)

[From Vogue]

I almost cried at the sweetness of the Biden family’s closeness, and how much the grandchildren adore Pop and Nana. Jill Biden was so happy to be included on so much of the wedding planning and helping to ensure that her beloved granddaughter have such a special day. I love that Naomi made sure to include Pop’s favorite ice cream at the dinner reception too!! I’m reminded of some lowkey Delaware gossip, which is that Joe and Jill Biden have always been social butterflies and they love hosting parties and events. It was hard for them to be hosts like that when Joe was VP, and it’s even harder now that he’s president. President Biden and the First Lady must have loved every second of this, that they got to give this to Naomi.

PS… Yes, I’ve seen the White House reporters freaking out about this and calling the Bidens “liars” and I think it’s all pretty pathetic.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vogue (@voguemagazine)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vogue (@voguemagazine)

Cover & IGs courtesy of Vogue. Additional photo courtesy of the White House and Cover Images.

Here are photos from Tuesday night’s state banquet at Buckingham Palace, the first state dinner of King Charles III’s reign. Earlier in the day, Charles, Camilla and the new Waleses welcomed South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa to London.

For the state banquet, the Princess of Wales wore a Jenny Packham gown in white and silver. Kate paired the look with Princess Diana’s diamond-and-pearl earrings (the same ones Kate inappropriately wore for Remembrance Sunday) and Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot tiara. The tiara looks good with the earrings, and everything complements the dress. A solid look, which ends up showing off how wrong it was to pair those earrings with her severe Remembrance look. Kate’s diamond bracelet is also from the Royal Collection, and she wore all of her royal honors (the Royal Family order and the Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order star and sash).

Queen Camilla also had a tiara moment. Camilla recycled a blue lace Bruce Oldfield dress and then went full sapphire with her jewelry. She wore the Belgian Sapphire Tiara and the full sapphire suite (minus the matching earrings) of bracelet and necklace for the banquet. If she had worn the full suite, it would have been the King George VI Victorian Suite, given to Princess Elizabeth by her father in 1947. Also: the Countess of Wessex was there with her husband. Sophie, rather shockingly, looked nice.

If you’re curious about the menu, Charles served President Ramaphosa his choice of either a stuffed Windsor pheasant with quince compote or a grilled brill with wild mushrooms, truffles and sorrel sauce. This is different from QEII’s usual go-to main course for state dinners, some kind of lamb dish. The sides last night were “a selection of assorted Chantenay carrots, kale with roasted butternut squash, braised fondant potatoes and salad.” The dessert? “Iced Vanilla Parfait with Caramelised Apples or coffee and bite-sized confectionery.” There was also a huge assortment of wines on offer.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.