I’ve had several requests to cover the NYT profile on FKA twigs. You can read the piece here, published in advance of twigs’s Congregata performances in Brooklyn – 3 shows beginning Sunday, tonight’s the last one. The NYT review of Sunday’s performance is here. Sounds like it’s not just a concert…      

Earlier this year, I covered an interview Rebel Wilson had done with an Australian outlet – go here to read. The interview was enjoyable and I really do like Rebel and I’m happy that she’s carved out such a great career for herself. But in that Aussie piece, the journalist had done some cursory research into Rebel’s background and they discovered a pretty big discrepancy with her age. At the time, IMDB had her age at 28, but Australian records showed that she was actually 34 then (and 35 years old now). Since then, her IMDB has been changed, reflecting the fact that she was actually born in 1980.

Some Aussie sources have come out to claim Rebel was actually born in 1979 and she’s actually 36 years old right now. A former classmate went to the media and provided some old yearbook photos and documentation of a classmate – a classmate who looks nearly the same as Rebel Wilson – named Melanie Bownds. Bownds graduated high school in 1997. You can see the photos here.

So Rebel finally reacted to the speculation/Rebel-Proofing of her age. She wrote on Twitter:

OMG I’m actually a 100 year old mermaid formerly known as “CC Chalice” ….thanks shady Australian press for your tall poppy syndrome x

— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) May 18, 2015

Okay but all jokes aside now…my real name is Fat Patricia x

— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) May 18, 2015

I think it’s perfectly possible that there’s some “tall poppy syndrome” (where certain media outlets will attack a star on the rise because everyone must be “brought down” to a certain level) to this. I also think it’s more than possible that Rebel Wilson is actually a 36 year old woman who shaved seven or eight years off of her age so she could get more work. Shaving off a few years here and there is practically industry-standard at this point, but I am a little bit startled at just how many years Rebel shaved off. Jessica Chastain did something similar – back in 2012, press pieces kept describing her as a “30 years old” when she had actually shaved off five years (she was 35 years old, and now she’s 38).

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Alyssa Milano’s hit the news several times over the past few days. I can’t figure out what she’s promoting, as the Project Runway: All Stars season finale already aired. I think Alyssa simply enjoys talking about parenting issues. She’s a breastfeeding advocate and recently battled on Twitter with Heathrow airport when they confiscated her breast milk. Alyssa recently visited The Talk where she revealed that she actually loves her stretch marks from pregnancy. She says they’re not “imperfections” but “beauty marks” from having a baby. Alyssa says she has stretch marks “on my boobs, on my a**, on my belly,” and she’s proud of them. She’s a soccer mom too (to 3-year-old Milo, who’s just starting the sport), so she did a quickie parking lot interview with Yahoo! parenting:

On being a working mother: “It’s hard to juggle everything. Every day is a process and a balancing act, but I try to take everyday as it comes. My schedule is sporadic, which is good because it allows me some real quality time with my kids. When I have business to attend to, I’m always aware that I need to get home as soon as possible or I feel guilty.”

Why Alyssa believes moms feel guilty: “I have learned, through a lot of therapy, that a lot of guilt is pre-wired in a woman’s being. I think if you go back to the caveman days, we are wired to not want to be away from our young because they didn’t have caretakers then. They didn’t have nannies. We needed to keep our offspring safe, and I don’t think we’ve evolved out of that. We still have the biological urge to be with our kids, and to know that the guilt is coming from some place biological, it helps. You realize, ‘oh, this instinct makes total sense.’ I think the same goes for dads. I hear friends complain that their husbands work even more now than before they had kids, and it’s because they’re hard-wired to want to provide.”

[From Yahoo! Parenting]

I can appreciate Alyssa’s enthusiasm for the realm of parenting. She enjoys being a mother, and it shows. The wide-sweeping statements about the pre-wiring of maternal urges is a bit judgy. Alyssa says she received that knowledge from therapy, but there are so many schools of therapy, and not every therapist believes we’re still wired like cavepeople. Alyssa believes it’s the truth, which is fine for her. But not all women and men feel the same way about the issue.

Alyssa’s still more relatable than a lot of celebrity moms. Yesterday, she tweeted “This last 10-15 pounds of baby weight is a BITCH.”

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN

Here are some photos from the Cannes photocall for Sicario, starring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro. Blunt wore this pretty, summery Peter Pilotto dress for the photocall. I like it, but that’s mostly because I’m relieved to see something summery and season-appropriate at Cannes. Blunt caused a lot of headlines at today’s press conference because she chatted about several hot topics. One, she talked about gender equality in films (the studio wanted to make her character into a dude). Two, she talked about Tom Cruise and how pro-woman he is (that’s interesting). Three, she talked about how stupid it was for the Cannes Film Festival to ban flats on the red carpet. Did they seriously do that? Some highlighted quotes:

Blunt on working with a lot of dudes: “It’s something that I’ve become quite used to in films. There aren’t a ton of chicks around.”

In praise of Tom Cruise: “I’ve actually worked with a lot of great male actors, like Tom Cruise for example. He is very empowering to females in a huge way. I thought [when I got to set], Oh it’s going to be a boys club. But he was someone who was very much about my character being a girl. It was refreshing.”

Playing strong characters: “I get [told] a lot, ‘You play a lot of tough female roles,’ but I don’t really see them as tough. I think there are plenty of strong women out there and I don’t think they can be compartmentalized as being one thing. ‘You’re tough.’ What, because I have a gun? I found [my Sicario] character strangely quite damaged and vulnerable and she is struggling with this role of being a female cop. Certainly, the morally questionable things that she is having to experience with these guys. It’s not safe. And you see this girl going through pretty much the worst three days of her life. And she is trying to maintain face through most of it.”

The idea of playing a character that could have been male: “I wasn’t really thinking about adjusting to making it more masculine. I think [the character] is definitely trying to survive in a male-driven industry. The F.B.I. agents that I spoke to sound like me. They sound like normal girls, and they go home and watch Gosford Park and Downton Abbey. They’re great girls. You definitely want to have a beer with them.”

The Cannes ban on flats: “I think everyone should wear flats to be honest. We should not wear high heels anyway. That’s just my point of view. I prefer wearing converse sneakers. That is very disappointing. You kind of think that there’s these new waves of equality and waves of people realizing that women are just as fascinating and interesting to watch and bankable.”

[From Vanity Fair]

Apparently, some women have been turned away from the Cannes red carpet for wearing flats. WHICH IS INSANE. Of all the crazy stuff that’s “allowed” on the red carpet, Cannes organizers are taking a stand on… flats? RLY? As for the rest of it… I’m surprised at how she consistently defends Tom Cruise – they worked together on The Edge of Tomorrow and they seemed to genuinely get along. Which just goes to show you, Tom Cruise is definitely a nutburger and a central part of a dangerous cult, but he also inspires a lot of loyalty with his friends.

PS… Josh Brolin apparently just got engaged to his personal assistant. He and Diane Lane divorced a few years back, and I feel like Brolin is a major mess, but we haven’t heard much about him lately. So I don’t know what to say about it. I bet he’s cheating on his fiancée though.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

So The Good Wife, right? In case you didn’t know: the Alicia and Kalinda characters, played by Julianna Margulies and Archie Panjabi, used to be friends. Viewers loved the friendship, not least because it was nice to see women at work who were friends instead of rivals.

Then the characters ha…      

Part 2 of Keeping up With The Kardashians: “About Bruce” aired last night. It was more in-depth than part one, with Bruce’s daughters and ex wife questioning him about his plans for surgery and transitioning. As we saw yesterday, Khloe in particular was having problems with her father’s transition, but mostly because she felt that he hid it from them. Most all of his family members were loving and accepting, particularly Kim and Scott, surprisingly. Everyone expressed love for Bruce and said they wanted him to be happy. Kris and Bruce cried as they discussed the end of their marriage, with Bruce claiming that Kris had treated him badly and Kris lamenting that Bruce had lied to her for years.

Many of you are skeptical of this family, which is understandable. Even if they’re playing exaggerated versions of themselves, which they seem to have done for years, their emotions did seem genuine to me. This is a weighty topic and it’s real for Bruce and his family. Here’s some of what they said:

On if Bruce is going to have sex reassignment surgery
“That’s kind of the last thing you can do. You can do an awful lot before that. No, as of right now [I have no plans].”

On if he considers himself a lesbian
“I’m totally heterosexual. I’m not doing this for that reason. [sexuality]”

Scott didn’t know about Bruce’s transition but he’s cool
Scott: “Bruce is going to open the door for so many people who are going to be able to live their lives they way they want to… I’m just excited to see him be nice and be happy…It’s only a positive for my son and my daughter to know all these different things that go on in this world.”

Khloe is still mad, bitchy
Khloe: “What I was mad about was feeling like you were robbing me of having the opportunity to let go [of you as Bruce]… I’m mad that you weren’t telling us.”

Bruce wants to bring awareness to transgender issues
“I feel like I can help people. I can do some good… The transgender issue right now is kind of where the gay issue was 30/40 years ago. A lot of people don’t understand it, and what we need is tolerance towards that community.”

Kris and Bruce cry it out, she tells him to be honest
Bruce: “You’re an amazing women… We raised amazing children and those memories will live inside me forever… I would hope that you would be onboard.”
Kris: “I’m just so confused. I think you shut me out a long time ago.”
Bruce: “You know you treated me badly those last four or five years of our marriage.”
Kris: “You were just very angry.. You never said this would be the end result… being honest is something we all would have appreciated.”

Kris knew about the crossdressing but didn’t know about the hormones
Kris: “I always knew you struggled with… wanting to dress as a female… That’s the only thing I experienced with you, Bruce, and I don’t know when you went from this isn’t working for me anymore [to] I’m going to go all the way. You never even told me as a married couple that you were taking hormones.”
Bruce: “I wasn’t taking them when we were together… I took hormones back in the 80s when I met you and I told you.”
Kris: “No, you said you had taken them at one time… I didn’t know [when]. You’ve never explained… You need to own what the truth is. I never saw this coming in a gazillion years.”
Bruce: “Sometimes it’s much easier to talk to somebody that I’m not going to hurt… you’re the toughest one to talk to out of anybody.”
Kris: “Maybe it’s because I’m the one you lied to the longest.”

After that Bruce apologized to Kris, but it seemed half-hearted. She said she is still trying to process everything and “has to mourn this person I was married to for so many years.” You know, I really felt for Kris. She was bawling and it was emotional and raw. Bruce didn’t seem to get the extent of her pain but he was gracious toward her and told her he still loved her. They both said they wanted each other to be happy and she told him he was a great dad.

At the end of the episode Kim went over to Bruce’s to look through his closet. She took out some of his clothes and told him to get rid of them and helped him put a few outfits together. He admitted to stealing one of her outfits a long time ago. It was cute and fun-spirited.

As of the taping of that episode none of Bruce’s daughters had met Her, but Kim has since seen Bruce as Her and told Access Hollywood that “she looked beautiful, really beautiful.” Kim also said that she know Bruce’s female name but she’s not revealing.

Say what you will about this family, but I’m impressed with how they’re handling this and how they are sticking together. Sure these episodes were somewhat rehearsed, but I still found them uplifting and honest.

photos are screenshots from E!

Academy Award-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, 42, covers the latest issue of Women’s Health and opens up about her exercise routine and everyday life with kids Apple, 11, and Moses, 9.

On her daily routine: “My routine is the same every weekday. I drop my kids at school. I do an hour of dance cardio, then I go to work. For lunch I usually have a big salad with grilled chicken, and then for dinner I’ll have whatever I want. Most nights I eat with the kids, like, a stir-fry of chicken and broccoli or pasta or roast chicken and potatoes.”

On her personal mantra: “I believe in having sex and I feel way more comfortable in a bathing suit now than I did 20 years ago! I believe, as cheesy as it sounds, in exercise, laughing, having sex, being yourself.”

On what she feeds her kids: “My food philosophy is: Nothing should be ruled out. I don’t believe in saying, ‘You’re not allowed that.’ If my kids want a Shirley Temple with the radioactive cherry in it, go for it, you know?”

Emily Blunt has been to Cannes for a few parties here and there. But I don’t recall ever seeing her at the Palais, representing her own film. It’s well worth the wait though as she was joined by Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin today at the photo call for Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario, in competitio…      

Here are some photos of Beyonce out and about last Thursday, I just never got around to posting them. I like the idea of hot pink short-shorts more than I like the execution here. I think it’s the pleating that’s throwing it off? Anyway, there has been a sudden influx of Beyonce & Jay-Z stories the past few days, so let’s go through them. Note: over the past year especially, some of the older African-American activists (like Harry Belafonte) have been calling on the younger generation of African-American entertainers, specifically Beyonce and Jay-Z, to become more engaged in social justice movements.

Bey and Jay visited Haiti, apparently. They went with the consent of the Haitian government, and Beyonce posted photos to her Instagram. Some photos were also posted on the American Embassy in Haiti’s website, and the New York Times points out that many people saw B&J’s visit as little more than a short-sighted photo-op. The goal of the visit was to highlight the progress made following the 2010 earthquake, but the coverage around the visit is just about “Bey & Jay want to look charitable.”

Bey and Jay anonymously donated hundreds of thousands of dollars. Allegedly. This came from activist (and Jay-Z’s ghost-writer?) Dream Hampton in what are now deleted social media posts. Hampton claimed that Bey and Jay donated thousands to bail out jailed protesters in Ferguson and Baltimore AND that Bey and Jay have quietly funded some local chapters of Black Lives Matter across the country. If true… good for them. If true, they should get credit for it and it would be great if they were even more public in their support.

Bey and Jay visited Freddie Grey’s family. Grey was the young man killed in police custody in Baltimore, setting off a chain reaction of awfulness in Baltimore. Bey and Jay visited Grey’s family more than a week ago.

Bey and Nicki Minaj released a teaser. It’s for their new single, “Feeling Myself.” The song is being released through Tidal? And Tidal released this clip of the music video. It’s actually pretty cute – I like Bey a lot more when she’s acting silly with girlfriends, like the “7/11” music video. Minaj looks really pretty here too.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Mom-of-three Jennifer Garner stepped out with her kids – daughters Violet, 9, Seraphina, 6, and 3-year-old son Samuel – in Brentwood, Calif. on Monday (May 18). The Danny Collins star, 43, was seen walking with her kids, who were donning PJs and crazy hair.

The Alias alum has teamed up with Jo-Ann Fabric to create “We Made It,” a craft line for kids.

The creative kits will be projects that children can work on alongside their siblings, parents and grandparents.

“The We Made It line makes it easy and fun for families to form lasting memories together while developing their children’s creativity and intellectual abilities,” Jennifer said of the line, which hits stores this June.

Jo-Ann Fabric is donating $75,000 to the Save the Children foundation, whose goal is to ensure that every child in America has access to quality education from cradle to cap and gown.

“As a mom and children’s advocate, I believe it’s very important we encourage children to express themselves and explore their imaginations,” Jennifer said of the project.

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