In the ongoing Duggar Family horror show, I’ve been surprised by how few of the Duggars’ political allies have had anything to say about them either way. Mike Huckabee came out first to defend the family and Josh in particular, but Huckabee has his own horrific issues with his son and Huckabee is tied to the Duggars in a unique way: Josh Duggar molested his sisters when Huckabee was governor of Arkansas and Huckabee’s relationship with the Duggars has always been extremely cozy. But what about the Duggars’ other far-right allies? What about Rick Santorum, who benefited (?) from the Duggars’ endorsement during his presidential campaign in 2012? Well, Santorum got the question.
Santorum announced his new presidential bid yesterday, because I guess he really thinks he’s got a chance at being president. He does not. But he’ll be a great spoiler. After the announcement, Santorum gave his first big interview to Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos (you can see the video here). And George asked him the Duggar question. Santorum’s answer was very interesting.
The morning after his big reveal, Santorum appeared on Good Morning America, where he discussed his aspirations with ABC News vet George Stephanopoulos.
“I’m ready to do this again,” he said on Thursday, May 28. “It’s an exciting opportunity to come back home…I’ve been working on this really my entire political career.”
Stephanopoulos then brought up Santorum’s previous run for president, during which he had the support of the Duggar family, who’ve dominated headlines for the last week because of a molestation scandal involving eldest son Josh Duggar, 27.
“I’m sickened by it,” Santorum said when asked for his thoughts on the controversy surrounding the 19 Kids and Counting star. “I’m just sickened by it. I pray for those girls, in particular. To have gone through that is just hard to think about.”
[From Us Weekly]
Well, at least someone prominent has made a public statement and specifically noted the trauma of what happened to Josh Duggar’s actual victims. I hesitate to say that Santorum is really throwing the Duggars under the bus though. Yes, “sickened” is a powerful word to use against a closely allied family, but he stops short of saying anything meaningful about what should come next, if he still offers any kind of support for the Duggars, etc.
Next up: we should definitely hear some words from Scott Walker, Ted Cruz and every other far-right Republican who has ever tried to play up their evangelical street cred by standing next to a Duggar.
Photos courtesy of Josh Duggar’s social media.
Rachel McAdams and Emma Stone joined director Cameron Crowe at the premiere of Aloha in LA last night. Bradley Cooper’s doing The Elephant Man every night in London so he couldn’t be there. But… do you miss him when these two women are around? I don’t.
Rachel McAdams and Emma Stone joined director Cameron Crowe at the premiere of Aloha in LA last night. Bradley Cooper’s doing The Elephant Man every night in London so he couldn’t be there. But… do you miss him when these two women are around? I don’t.
Taylor Swift and Katy Perry used to be friends (back around 2009 when these photos were taken). I always thought they were frenemies more than anything else. Katy seemed to overcompensate her cheery vibe in joint photos, and Taylor looked like she couldn’t stand Katy and was afraid of her too. Fast forward to today. Taylor sits at the top of the pop world. She’s even more successful than Katy. Taylor’s confidence has grown, and she recently wrote a revenge song (Bad Blood) about Katy and rallied all her friends in the video. Katy is no saint either. She’s tossed plenty of shade Taylor’s way. When she was dating Diplo, she was fine with letting the guy trash Taylor.
The fanfiction ink wells are primed. Katy may resent attending the Billboard awards (she was nominated for Top Touring Arist, Best Female Artist, and Top Artist) because of the show’s Bad Blood video premiere. Katy and John Mayer are back “on” (more about that in a minute), and he’s still tushhurt about Taylor. So maybe Katy and John will team up and trash Taylor in yet another revenge song. That’s what Heat magazine (via Cosmo Australia) writes. The source is sketchy, but this could happen:
Katy Perry was noticeably absent from the Billboards because, well, Taylor Swift. Would you want to see your frenemy and her posse as she wins the whole awards while showcasing her bitching-about-you-song?
Yeah, we’d pass too.
But apparently K-Pez was all set to go to the awards (she had an eyelash appointment and everything!), but boyfriend (and ex-boyfriend of Taylor Swift) John Mayer persuaded her not to go.
“John convinced her it was a bad idea,” Katy’s friend told heat magazine. “Katy realised she couldn’t stand the idea of the cameras being on her face as she had to watch Taylor win every award with all her friends applauding her.”
“Katy thinks revenge is a dish best served cold,” the friend added. “She’s even more determined to show people what she calls ‘the real Taylor’ – she’s writing some big, anthemic-type songs that’ll feature dirt on Taylor that John’s told her from when they used to date.
“Katy’s sure that she’ll be back on top before long, and Taylor will regret ever starting this stupid row.”
[From Cosmo Australia]
I don’t think Katy would be as obvious as Taylor, and if there’s a revenge song coming, Katy won’t do it right away. But Katy and John are back together again. Shocking, I know. People has photos of them on rides at Disneyland where they wore hooded jackets in an attempt “to keep a low profile.” Supposedly, these two are just friends who hook up now.
Photos courtest of Fame/Flynet & WENN
I’ve mentioned this a few times over the past few weeks, but George Clooney has been looking really, really old during the Tomorrowland promotional tour. He’s 54 years old now and during some of his appearances, he didn’t look a day under 63. While we all age and I don’t want to get age-shaming about anyone, male or female, I have been wondering why George’s appearance seemed to really decline so rapidly over the past year. What could it be, what could it be? Could it be that George’s attempt to rebrand himself as a happily married man with a lovely 17-years-younger wife has sort of blown up in his face? Or is it just that George’s back is killing him and chronic pain will age you?
In any case, George thought it would be a good idea to chat about how he’s totally fine with aging and that trying to look younger will just make you look older. Yeah, George, that goes for trying to look hip by marrying a woman 17 years younger too!
George Clooney is Hollywood’s ultimate Silver Fox, so we’d probably go into mourning if he ever decided to dye his salt-and-pepper strands. Luckily, the 54-year-old actor maintains he’s not touching his grays.
“For me, it’s never been an issue or an option,” he told BBC radio’s Jenni Murray about his famous hair during an interview promoting his new film, Tomorrowland. “I don’t think it would make much sense. I’ve seen it happen, and particularly on men I don’t think it works very well. I think it actually makes you look older. I’m a big believer in the idea that you can’t try to look younger — you can just try to look the best you can at the age you are.”
And although he embraces his mature mane, the actor said that aging does affect him.
“There is nothing fun [about aging],” he shared. “I know for actresses it’s infinitely worse because of public perception based on nothing except studios not hiring them, but I think for all of us you have to come to terms with getting older and not trying to fight it. You have a couple of options, which [are]: get older or die. You have to get used to the idea that your roles in films and who you are and how you’re perceived is going to change. And that will disappoint people at times.”
We imagine the support of his successful, gorgeous and crazy-stylish 37-year-old wife, Amal Clooney, helps the star feel youthful as well.
“She’s someone I enjoy spending every minute of the day with, and I’m very proud to be around,” he gushed about the lawyer and civil rights activist. “And watching the things she does I admire so greatly. I’ve always been involved in things other than this business, long before I was successful at it. She’s been doing it quietly and unheralded for a long period of time, and I’m very proud to be married to her.”
[From People]
His grey hair is like the least offensive part of Clooney. That being said, he has dyed it before, usually for a particular role, which I guess is “okay” in the book of Clooney. I don’t think hair dye is a big deal for men or women, and I’m saying that as a woman who started going grey in my 20s, and I’ve been dyeing my hair for years now. So my attitude on dye is: no judgment. But George is right in general – the more people try to seem youthful, the older they look.
Photos courtesy of WENN.