Dear Gossips,

I read a headline this morning about Cary Fukunaga. He was supposed to direct the film adaptation of Stephen King’s It but has now dropped out over creative differences. Click here for more details. You remember Cary took over the Emmy Awards last year when he won for directing …      

In a Memorial Day model shoot, Jessica Simpson‘s 3-year-old daughter Maxwell showed off her new swimsuit, shared via Instagram by her proud mom Monday.

“maxidrew,” the singer-actress, 34, captioned the image of her daughter sitting on the edge of a garden chair, hand on hip while pouting for the camera in her orange and white Janie and Jack swimsuit.

In the second photo, Maxi is seen at the edge of the pool. “Kiss #maxidrew,” the fashion designer captioned the image.

Speaking of swimsuits, On Friday, May 15 the first pictures were released for the spring-summer 2015 campaign for Simpson’s swimwear collection at Nordstrom.

Last week, Simpson shared a series of family photos, which included shots of her husband Eric Johnson and 22-month-old son Ace.

#maxidrew

A photo posted by Jessica Simpson (@jessicasimpson) on May 25, 2015 at 10:55pm PDT

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Yesterday, the Daily Telegraph ran a Katy Perry interview that made me roll my eyes. The paper quoted Katy about how Russell Brand dumped her via text message around Christmas 2011: “He hasn’t spoken to me since he texted me saying he was filing for divorce. I don’t want to talk about him — my songs will say what I need to say.” Given Katy’s pattern for bringing up Rusty for years (she also discussed the matter with Vogue), I fell for the interview. This is the same woman who signed divorce papers with a happy face, you know? Russell may have been harsh and immature enough to dump Katy via text, but at least he’s stayed pretty classy when discussing her in the press. Anyway, Katy owned the Telegraph.

It’s really inappropriate when journalists repurpose interviews done 3 yrs ago in context of promoting a film & then stamp a new date on it.

— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) May 25, 2015

Katy’s also been doing some PR rounds. She threatened promised a new album by 2016. She spoke with Idolator about how her new album will be a reinvention: “Because I can’t keep topping myself because I’ll just combust at some point.” She promised to “craft songs about real life experiences” after her Prismatic tour concludes. What will she write about? Well, she may end up writing about her marriage with Rusty after all. It wouldn’t surprise me. But the Telegraph shouldn’t have re-run those quotes from an old interview.

All of that nonsense aside, I do respect Katy’s blind ambition. Her grandiose statements about talent aren’t even that annoying. Katy knows exactly what she’s doing with her career. She’s just completely vapid when it comes to everything else.

Photos courtesy of WENN

Stretch star Jessica Alba and husband Cash Warren stepped out with their two daughters – Honor, 6 1/2, and Haven, 3 1/2 – on Memorial Day (May 25).

The famous family-of-four picked up some quick items at Rite Aid in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Warren sisters looked adorable in their matching rainbow tops.

Earlier this month on Mother’s Day, the actress shared a shot with her growing girls.

And over the Memorial Day weekend, the Sin City star, 34, Instagrammed a photo of her daughter and friends enjoying the pool.

“#Air #pool Cali life!,” Alba captioned the action shot.

#Air #pool Cali life! ??

A photo posted by Jessica Alba (@jessicaalba) on May 24, 2015 at 2:43pm PDT

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Here in America, civil service jobs are often considered to be a pillar of middle-class living. Civil service jobs come with great benefits, more job security than the private sector and general economic stability. I feel like royal-service jobs are probably seen the same way in Britain – the jobs don’t pay very well, but the jobs come with great benefits (royal housing, personal gifts from the Queen) and relative stability. Except for right now. Apparently, the Queen just went and fired four of her senior officials in what is presumed to be a “cost-cutting measure” because their jobs were redundant. Whoa. Apparently, morale is at “rock-bottom” at Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace is believed to have axed at least four of the Queen’s senior officials in the last few months, despite them being long-serving employees. The employees, some of whom have young families, allegedly faced leaving their Royal Household homes without anywhere else to live. The redundancies are to be part of sweeping cost-cutting measures throughout the Palace, according to reports.

According to a source inside the palace, morale was at “rock-bottom – the worst I have ever known” among the royal employees. Another said: “The Queen knows they have been made redundant, although she is probably not aware of just how badly her staff have been treated in the process.”

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said costs were constantly reviewed and in “rare instances” staff were made redundant, but strongly denied claims of low morale. She declined to comment on whether at least four officials had been axed or if porters were no longer being paid for overtime. She said: “As a public institution, scrutinised by Parliament, the Royal Household constantly reviews structures and staffing to ensure that it is run in the most effective and efficient way possible. In rare instances this can involve redundancies; those affected are routinely offered a severance package and support, including retraining.”

Last year the Public Accounts Committee accused the Royal Household of “mismanaging” its finances. The Queen received £37.9 million in public funding from The Sovereign Grant this year, from which she must cover the cost of official duties on behalf of the nation as well as run her official residences. The Palace spokeswoman said that internal surveys “consistently show that employees are proud to work for the Royal Household and represent the Queen. Morale at Buckingham Palace continues to be high, with low staff turnover.”

Another source within the Palace told the Daily Mail that other senior staff may have left of their own accord because of concerns over the “restructuring”. The source said: “Staff are rarely made redundant… so to see four people go in almost as many months is shocking.”

The newspaper also reported that the Buckingham Palace’s porters have had their overtime stopped as part of the cuts but are still being expected to undertake the same level of work.

[From The Telegraph]

The cries of financial mismanagement came around the same time last year that reports came out about the actual cost of the renovation to Kensington Palace Apartment 1, which is Prince William and Kate’s London residence. Will and Kate blew through £4 million just for the KP renovation with the understand that they would live there close to full time, so obviously as soon as the renovation was done, they declared that they would be living at Anmer Hall full-time. The Queen actually put off several much-needed renovations to BP and other royal residences so that KP could be finished quickly for Will and Kate.

As for these fired senior staffers… I have no doubt that they were redundant. I also have little doubt that the royal households and offices of both the Queen and the Prince of Wales are bloated, redundant messes, and that Charles is likely trying to phase out some of his mother’s courtiers and phase in some of his own. And I also have no doubt that in this transition period, and given the consistent leaks about William and Kate’s work-shy ways, there IS a morale problem overall in all of the royal staffs.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Here are some photos of Sean Bean over the weekend. He attended the annual IFTA Film & Drama Awards in Ireland, and he looked like he was having a great time. He posed with his fiancée Ashley Moore (the redhead) and with his mate Ciaran Hinds, in what has to be the most bittersweet photo-op for Game of Thrones nerds. Ooooh, Jon Snow’s father figures! GAH! A quick note about Bean’s fiancée… the Daily Mail wrote that Ashley is “believed to be in her early 30s…” Ha, no she’s not. More like early 40s. Which is fine because Bean is 56 years old now.

Some GOT SPOILERS follow…

Anyway, I just saw these photos yesterday and I knew I was going to end up writing about Bean in some way today. We rarely get new photos of him and a lot of you enjoy some Ned Stark. Meanwhile, about two weeks ago, Bean ended up talking about Game of Thrones yet again. Last year, Bean dropped some major R+L=J Realness on Game of Thrones fans, and Bean expressed his interest in coming back to Game of Thrones, possibly in flashback episodes or something like that. When Vulture spoke to Bean again a few weeks ago, he reiterated his theory that Ned Stark was never Jon Snow’s biological father.

Back in the summer of 2014, Sean Bean used an interview with Vulture to publicly lobby for his return to Game of Thrones, and in the process revealed his opinion on Jon Snow’s true parentage.

“I’ve definitely got some unfinished business that needs to be resolved there,” he argued. “I’m obviously not Jon Snow’s dad. And you need that to be revealed at some point, don’t you?”

When Vulture told Bean the show had been hinting that way recently, during the Turner upfronts this week, Bean was relieved: “He’s not my child. He isn’t. That’s what I suspected all along.”

But how does Bean see the new Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch reacting to the discovery that his parents may be completely different from who he thought they were? “Probably a bit psychologically confused, I would imagine! I think that’s probably an interesting journey for Jon Snow as a character and for [Kit Harington] as the actor. He’s been very fortunate in being one of the characters that had a very meaty, substantial, very complex story to be able to discover for himself. He’s been lucky to survive!”

[From Vulture]

I love that Sean Bean still cares. And it’s my feeling that R+L=J is probably correct, or closer to correct than any other theory. God, I hope Game of Thrones brings Sean Bean back for at least one episode! HODOR!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Here are some photos of Kristen Stewart and her girlfriend Alicia Cargile going to lunch on Memorial Day. Fame/Flynet says they were out with friends –I guess one of those friends is the dude behind them. Of course, Fame/Flynet also describes Alicia as Kristen’s “live in girl gal pal,” because I guess that’s less confusing then just saying Alicia is Kristen’s girlfriend?

People are also making a big deal about this X17 video of Kristen being asked some really stupid questions at LAX a few days ago. The paparazzi ask her if she’s still in love with Robert Pattinson (REALLY?) and if she plans to move to Ireland with her girlfriend now that gay marriage is legal over there. Kristen just ignores everyone and puts in her ear buds. This is the kind of thing that makes me feel legitimately sorry for her.

Last piece of Kristen news – during the Cannes Film Festival, Olivier Assayas’s announced his new film, Personal Shopper. Assayas’s last film was Clouds of Sils Maria, which earned Kristen a Cesar Award (a first for an American actress). So, obviously, Assayas wants to reunite with K-Stew in the lead role for his new film. Personal Shopper is about (I’m quoting directly from Variety): “a Paris-set English-language ghost story taking place in the fashion underworld.” That sounds…???

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

For some reason, I thought Alison Pill was already married, but that’s because I confused her with Amber Tamblyn, which I know is practically sacrilegious for some people (“some people” = Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-loonies). It’s funny the way my mind works sometimes, because not only did I confuse the two actresses, but I had good reason to confuse these wedding stories: both brides wore yellow! When Amber married David Cross in 2012, she wore a marigold-yellow gown and went shoeless. When Alison Pill married Joshua Leonard over the weekend, she also wore yellow!

I’m including some of the Instagram pics of the wedding in this post, and you can see more here. Pill is 29 and her new husband is 39. They were engaged for four months (I have no memory of their engagement announcement?). The wedding looked pretty hipster, and Pill’s rep told E! News that the wedding was a “Quaker-inspired ceremony.” Are they Quakers though? Or did they just read about Quaker-inspired ceremonies in the latest issue of Hipster Bride?

As for Alison’s yellow dress, it’s not designer. She bought it on Etsy and it’s legitimately a 1930s vintage dress, probably not intended as a wedding gown, but it looks fine. I enjoy a modest sleeve, the neckline is flattering and I like that she could actual dance in her dress. I guess she thought she had to be blonde to pull off a yellow dress? I remember when she was a redhead – I actually associate her more with ginger hair, which may be yet another reason I confused her with Amber Tamblyn.

Photos courtesy of Instagram.

In the wake of the ongoing horror show that is the Duggar family, many sites have been offering more in-depth glimpses of just what the Duggars are all about, their belief systems and what amounts to their cult’s teachings. The Duggars are home-schooled and extremely sheltered about the outside world, especially the women/girls. They’re also very, very, VERY far-right politically, especially about social issues like reproductive choice, LGBTQ issues and, you know, women wearing pants. If you’ve been paying attention to the Duggars even casually before this Josh Duggar story exploded last week, you were probably familiar with the broad strokes of what this cult is all about. But it’s worth discussing some of the stories that have come out in the wake of the scandal.

Jessa Duggar’s father-in-law Michael Seewald is a nutburger too. Michael Seewald penned a lengthy blog post about his daughter-in-law’s brother and the larger scandal – you can read it here. I’m not going to post anything from it because the guy thinks everything is the media’s fault and his arguments fall flat. He also gets some jabs in there about how Josh was raised well and we are all born sinful, and thank God Josh didn’t get his sex education from Planned Parenthood. Seriously. I will give Seewald credit for one thing: he acknowledged the victims of Josh’s crimes and how terrible is must have been for them, which is more than Josh did.

Josh Duggar once made an on-camera incest “joke.” The video resurfaced over the weekend and it’s pretty gross given what we know now.

The police report has been destroyed. The documents pertaining to the 2006 investigation into Josh Duggar’s criminal acts on little girls were destroyed over the weekend, probably. In Touch Weekly filed a FOIA request for the police report, which is how this whole scandal blew up last week. Well… alright. I guess the investigation wasn’t ongoing then.

Gawker did a lengthy exposé on Advanced Training Institute. Go here to read. The Duggars are closely connected to the Advanced Training Institute, which is “a Bible-based homeschooling program run by alleged cult figurehead Bill Gothard.” Gothard also has his own sex scandal, just FYI. The Duggars follow Gothard’s home-schooling program… religiously. The program includes advice for parents on how to deal with a situation involving an older child sexually abusing his younger siblings. That advice mainly boils down to blaming the victims for dressing provocatively and behaving immodestly. Like, it’s a six-year-old’s fault for getting molested because she had evil friends, she was wearing the wrong clothes, etc.

Quiverfull mom compares Josh’s actions to “playing doctor.” Go here to read this total nonsense. I used to play doctor with a neighbor boy. We were the same age (5 years old) and we would practice kissing in my closet. That is completely and utterly different than a 14 year old groping and molesting his 7-year-old sister. And then doing it again to three other sisters and one other little girl. That we know about.

Dan Savage is my spirit animal. As he does with most things, Dan Savage is giving some great analysis on why the Duggar situation is so awful, so hypocritical, and so disturbing. Go here to read.

Photos courtesy of Josh’s social media.

I read a summary of Gwyneth Paltrow and Tracy Anderson’s Hamptons Magazine cover story a few days ago, but I only read the full piece on Sunday. It’s the kind of thing that you really just have sit down and read and let the pretentious, ass-kissy, ridiculousness wash over you. Goop and Tracy are business partners and they cover Hamptons Mag because they’re opening up a new studio IN the Hamptons for Tracy, plus they’re doing a new food-delivery service called 3 Green Hearts. As you’ve probably guessed, the food service will be all organic, gluten-free and salad-based, although surprisingly, there is some meat involved (mostly fish). I would highly recommend reading the full story here, but here are some of the most eye-roll-inducing moments (note: Gwyneth was supposed to be interviewing Tracy).

Tracy on her connection to the Hamptons: “Funny you should ask that of me, since you’re responsible for introducing me to [the Hamptons]. But the Hamptons is where I’ve called home for the last eight years—ever since we first started working together on your lovely body for the first Iron Man. You, of course, have a beautiful home in Amagansett, and were lovely enough to bring me and my family out for the summer to continue our work together. We just have never left.

Goop’s shill for Tracy: “To me, you’re a total fitness expert. You look like some kind of swimsuit model, but you’re really a scientist. That’s how I see the Tracy Anderson lifestyle. [You know the regimen,] the food combinations, and the best exercise clothes, but you also have such great style. All of that will be available at the new East Hampton studio.”

Tracy judges women who don’t wear the correct workout clothes: “If you need to lose weight, if you want to make sure you’re balanced everywhere and you’re able to perform, the food really matters. [And what you wear to work out really matters.] If you’re just in a crummy T-shirt with spit-up on it from your baby, then your performance is not going to be what it can be.”

Goop on Tracy’s workout don’ts: “Are there any fitness methods that you don’t recommend? I know you told me once not to only do the elliptical. Why don’t you like fitness methods that rely on one repetitive motion?”

Tracy’s workout don’ts: “Because I think that when people want to feel balanced and connected, they shouldn’t overdo anything. Many people don’t know what is going to make them feel balanced. If someone is pushing a ton of weight or if they’re slinging things in the air or cycling, they’re wearing down their joints. They’re compartmentalizing the larger muscles that are bone movers and they’re actually creating further imbalance in the body. It’s not even that your little muscles don’t activate; you’re charging up the same larger muscles over and over again. I see women all the time who say they run 15 miles a day but their butts are saggy. You’ve got muscles underneath the glutes that are inactive. There’s no reason for them to work right now because your glutes are crazy strong. That’s not what is going to lift your butt up. It’s just purely an education. I’m fine with anybody wanting to do whatever they want; it’s just about understanding what you’re actually doing with your body and what the result is going to be.

[From Hamptons Magazine]

There’s so much shilling for all of their crap throughout the piece, and Tracy has to spend half the time kissing Gwyneth’s ass (Tracy actually calls Gwyneth an “iconic entertainer” because OMG). Tracy has criticized other workouts before and even if she has some minor point about changing your routines and trying to get a full-body workout, I always get the impression that Tracy just thinks ALL workouts are terrible except for the ones she’s “designed.” She hates yoga, she hates running, she hates cycling, she hates the elliptical. The only workout that counts, in Tracy’s mind, is her “Method”.

Photos courtesy of Hamptons Magazine.