Alright, I just finished reading Sophie Hunter’s Vogue profile and let me just say… chica is exhausting. It’s just a simple article about her wedding dress and wedding, and I came out of it feeling like Sophie is an exhausting person. Some Tumblr sites have the scans of her Vogue interview, but here are some highlights:

She actually IS working, people: “Sophie is currently developing a production of Britten’s Turn of the Screw with the Aldeburgh Festival and his Phaedra for the annual Beckett festival in Enniskillen, Northen Ireland…”

Sophie, on being told that she’s “grounded”: “When two people meet and it’s the right combination, it does ground you suddenly.”

What? Vogue says that Benedict and Sophie have known each other for “seventeen years.”

Planning the gown: Her wedding gown is Valentino Couture and normally it takes six months for the house to make a wedding gown, but “Sophie’s ensemble was raced through in three months.” She went to Rome for her first meeting with the designers.

Sophie on the process of planning her wedding: “From a directorial point of view, I see opera in it, I see art, I see theater. There’s a narrative of the individual and the occasion and the setting that is utterly unique.”

Sophie on her gown (which is lacy and silver-grey): “It seemed to encapsulate everything I’d been speaking about. It feels very much of nature, and it’s so detailed and extraordinary that I’m still trying to get my head around how beautiful it is.”

The veil: Sophie was going to wear a “200-year-old family wedding veil” but changed her mind because the old veil is “very ornate.”

The ring: Sophie’s something blue was “the fragile sapphire Tiffany engagement ring that Benedict, to her delight, picked out himself.” Sophie on the ring: “It has that delicacy, it’s certainly not ‘in your face.’” Sophie’s brother made their wedding bands.

[From Vogue, print edition]

The rest of the article is interesting, if you’re obsessed and/or a hater. She had five bridesmaids and three pages! What I came away with is… Sophie has some pretty good connections, mostly family connections, I would assume. She was able to pull together a really fancy, really expensive, really artsy-fartsy shotgun wedding very quickly. And it does sound like she was planning everything and Benedict didn’t get much of a say. It also sounds like her family made the wedding happen. As for her sapphire ring… damn, Benedict WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BRING MY BIRTHSTONE INTO IT?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Dear Gossips,

Angelina Jolie.

She put it in her own words in the New York Times. If you’ve not yet read the piece, click here. This is the part that resonated most with me:

“Regardless of the hormone replacements I’m taking, I am now in menopause. I will not be able …      

Eva Mendes is all about dresses and skirts. She’s all about “femininity” and pleasing her man. She’s also all about shilling for her dress line, the Eva Mendes Collection, with New York & Company. That’s why she’s been doing so much press the past few weeks – she’s shilling for her latest collaboration with NY&Co, plus I guess she has a line of drugstore cosmetics now? Who would have thought that Ryan Gosling would have ended up with the kind of lady who A) shills her own line of drugstore cosmetics and B) shills her own line of affordable dresses at a mall store?

Anyway, her shilling got her into trouble last week when she “joked” about sweatpants and how they were the #1 cause of divorce. She later had to take it back (claiming that it was all said in jest) and even Gosling had to help a sister out on his Twitter. But now Eva is coming after your comfortable pants again!!! She has a new interview with Who What Wear and she’s coming after JEANS. Not the jeans!! NO!

Whether having a baby affected her style: “I don’t think it’s affected anything actually! I feel like I’ve always been kind of rushed—I’m the girl who gets ready really, really quickly. It’s not something I’m incredibly proud of! I wish I was really calm and poised and—for lack of a better word—zen, but I’m not! I just don’t enjoy the getting ready process, although I do like the result.

She doesn’t consider herself a ‘jeans & t-shirt person’: “I love a soft pant, so I make sure they’re included in every collection. But if you see me in jeans it’s probably because all my skirts are at the dry cleaners or just dirty. I mean, I think jeans are really uncomfortable actually—aren’t they? They’re so restrictive! I always prefer a boyfriend jean, but I find those to be restrictive, too! It’s not unrealistic to see me in an outfit like this at home [points to her skirt], just without the belt and the shoes. I’d wear this with a loose tee or a tank top.

[From Who What Wear]

To defend her for a second… some jeans ARE uncomfortable. That’s why women search far and wide for the perfect pair of jeans. It’s a lifelong search in most cases. I remember great pairs of jeans more than I remember most men, honestly. I had the BEST pair of jeans in college. I think they were a thrift-store find, and the leg was perfect for me at the time (boot cut flare, just the right length) and the rise was that perfect not-too-high and not-too-low. They had a great medium wash too. Sigh… I miss those jeans.

My current favorite jeans? No judgment, okay? LL Bean Knit Jeans. They wear like sweatpants, they’ve got the perfect amount of stretch and the leg is perfect (for me). But hey, don’t look at me. I’m the very definition of a “jeans & t-shirt girl.”

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

Before we get into the Prince William stuff, let’s just get through several minor Duchess Kate stories. You know her polka-dotted ASOS dress last week? The one that cost £35? Apparently, Kate bought it online after browsing the site and of course the dress is already sold out. Kate also went shopped a few days ago and after she got some stuff for herself, she picked up some baby booties for the new baby and some little kicks for George. There’s also a rumor – unconfirmed at this moment – that Kate actually will be going to her parents’ home in Berkshire after she gives birth, like she did with George. Like, she won’t be going to Anmer Hall.

Okay, now for the William stuff. Last week, there were some reports that the senior royals had warned about a possible electronic security breach and that they needed to change all of their passwords, etc. A few days later, William made a “secret” visit to the Government Communications Headquarters, which I think is like the equivalent of America’s NSA. The problem? William took a royal helicopter for what was a private visit?

Prince William has made a top secret visit to Britain’s most secretive building, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The Duke of Cambridge made the unannounced ‘private visit’ on Thursday to Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – the maximum security ‘listening station’ which tracks electronic traffic of terrorists and spy agencies around the world.

The Duke’s first ever trip to GCHQ, housed in a doughnut-shaped building in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, comes after The Mail on Sunday revealed that he and other young Royals were being advised to change their email addresses and cut back on social media activities over fears they could be targeted by foreign spies and hackers. But questions were asked last night about the Duke’s use of a publicly funded Royal helicopter to make the trip, as it was not an official public engagement and was not announced in the Palace’s Court Circular.

The Duke was flown from London’s Kensington Palace to Gloucestershire airport on the Queen’s helicopter Flight, funded by the taxpayer, and which is supposed to be only used for official engagements by the Royals. Under Government rules, the Royals have to pay for their own private visits. But last night Kensington Palace declined to comment on the reasons for the trip or confirm whether the Prince would pay back the estimated £8,000 travel costs.

A Palace source initially described the 200-mile round trip as a ‘private visit’ but later suggested it was ‘official’, and so could possibly be paid from the taxpayer-funded Royal Travel Budget.

Kensington Palace and GCHQ refused to say whom he met, or what he saw. But it is believed the Prince met the new head of GCHQ, Robert Hannigan, and also saw the agency’s code breakers at work, monitoring internet and communications traffic to pick up terrorist threats. Other members of the Royal family have previously visited GCHQ, which was opened by the Queen in 2004.

A GCHQ spokesman said yesterday: ‘Prince William paid a private visit to GCHQ on March 19. As it was a private visit we can’t go into further details of what his itinerary involved.’

[From The Daily Mail]

For the love of God, this could have been so easier explained if William wasn’t so privacy-obsessed and obsessed with making the British taxpayers fund his every move. My guess is that this was a formal visit, that he was probably briefed on security and it was mostly work-related. Which means he was probably fine taking his version of “public transport” (taxpayer-funded private helicopter). But William is so GD squirrelly that he can’t even allow his PR guy to say “yes, it was an official visit but secrecy is very important so we won’t be issuing any additional statements.”

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Candice Bergen is promoting her new memoir, A Fine Romance. The book details her marriage to French director Louis Mallie and how she survived his death and moved on with life. Candace discusses aging and the empty nest she belt after her daughter (Chloe) reached adulthood. The most tantalizing excerpts from this book (so far) involve diet. Candice loves food and isn’t afraid to admit it. She discusses her weight gain of 30 pounds since Murphy Brown went off the air in 1998. Candice’s career has remained steady (with a hefty stint on Boston Legal), but she doesn’t care about her figure any more:

She doesn’t care about weight: “Let me just come right out and say it – I am fat. In the past 15 years … I have put on 30 pounds. I live to eat. None of this ‘eat to live’ stuff for me. At a recent dinner party I shared bread and olive oil, followed by chocolate ice cream with my husband. A woman near me looked at me, appalled, and I thought, ‘I don’t care!’”

Her “skinny friends” are “miserable”: “They maintain their weight by routinely vomiting after major meals consisting of a slice of steak or a filet of fish. I am incapable of this. I crave cookies … all the things that dilate my pupils.”

[From Page Six]

Good for Candice for being happy with her weight. Most people can’t say the same thing, although a 30 pound weight gain on her tall frame isn’t too visible. I wouldn’t have noticed if she didn’t point it out.

What Candice says about her “skinny friends” … there’s probably some sarcastic humor with the bulimia jab. Hopefully these women aren’t Candice’s real friends, or they’ll all figure out she’s trashing them. If Candice knows these ladies well enough to be aware of their ED, she shouldn’t reveal such knowledge in her memoir. I like Candice, but she should have stopped at her talk of loving food. She didn’t need to elaborate on vomiting rituals.

Photos courtesy of WENN

Julianne Hough covers the April issue of Allure because, yes, people are still trying to make Julianne Hough happen. I thought that attempt was over more than a year ago, but here we are, with Julianne covering yet another magazine cover for very little reason (I think she’s promoting her judge role on Dancing With the Stars?!). I’m covering this because Julianne actually gave a couple of half-decent quotes about some somewhat interesting subjects, namely her breakup with Ryan Seacrest (I would love it if she really dished about Seacrest, but she does not), Mormonism (she was raised Church of LDS), and most importantly, she admits that she was really, really stupid to wear blackface as part of her Halloween costume in 2013. You can see the Allure slideshow here. Some highlights:

Her short hair is because of Ryan Seacrest: “A little while after, when I cut ties with my relationship. I chopped more. It was about changing it up and beginning fresh—in the movie but in real life, also.”

She’s dating hockey player Brooks Laich, but she still runs into Seacrest: “It’s hard not to—he’s everywhere.”

She begins each day by reciting her “power virtues”: “A power virtue is who you want to be. I say the words, ‘I am’ beforehand… ‘I am determined,’ ‘I am passionate,’ ‘I am grateful,’ and ‘I am love.’”

Mormonism: “I am so grateful that I was raised LDS. I believe in their morals and their standards—and what they give out to the world, the service. I would do a mission, but not for the Mormon church.”

On her blackface Halloween costume: “Ignorance is sometimes not bliss; I really had no idea what I was doing, and it was all out of fun and respect for the character. I don’t even know how to talk about it because it’s such a sensitive topic. It makes me so sad to think that I was that dumb. I learned a big lesson.”

Returning to DWTS: “The fact that I can go back and judge and still pursue other avenues—it’s a win-win for me.”

[From Allure]

I have to give her some credit, because she handled the PR crisis of the blackface controversy pretty well. She gave a complete apology immediately and then she actually “went away” and let people forget about it for several months. And even now, a year and a half later, she’s still eating sh-t for it (justifiably) and taking it on the chin. But that’s what we want people to say when they’ve made a mistake, right? “It makes me so sad to think that I was that dumb. I learned a big lesson.” Thank you, Julianne Hough. Thank you for showing the dumb starlets how to manage a crisis with some kind of grace.

Photos courtesy of Carter Smith/Allure and Pacific Coast News.

As I mentioned in passing last week, Madonna sat down for Us Weekly’s “25 Things You Don’t Know About…” feature. I almost always enjoy this feature, no matter the celebrity, but I was surprised that Madonna agreed to it. Because… don’t we already know everything about Madonna? Turns out, she still has a few surprises. Some people think that her answer about wanting to meet Pres. Obama is shady. As in, people think she was throwing shade at Beyonce and/or Pres. Obama. I’m not sure…but here are my favorite items:

2. My favorite city is Rome. It’s so beautiful. The light is soothing and calming to me, and the architecture is splendid and the food is incredible. I totally love it.

3. I can’t stand mushrooms. Or escargot. Yuck! It’s like snot. Expensive snot.

5. The last time I went grocery shopping was a year ago.

6. I miss absolutely nothing about growing up in Michigan. Nothing at all.

7. The person I most want to meet is President Obama. When the heck am I going to meet him? He just needs to invite me to the White House already. He probably thinks I’m too shocking to be there. I’m serious. If I was a little bit more demure…or if I was just married to Jay Z. Hey, if Jay would only take me as his second wife, then I’d score an invitation.

8. The one thing I’d never be caught dead wearing is a fur bikini.

9. My happiest moments were when my children [Lourdes, 18, Rocco, 14, David, 9, and Mercy, 9] were born and when I got married both times [to Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie].

10. My favorite part of my body is my eyes. My least is my dancer’s feet. They are pretty disgusting.

11. I have found marriages don’t last if you share bathrooms. The best thing about being single is there’s no one to throw out of the bathroom when I want privacy.

12. The thing I miss least about marriage is being called “the wife.” The worst.

13. My most fattening indulgence is either pizza or french fries. Or potato chips, actually. Love them all.

18. The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen was my daughter [Lourdes] playing the ukulele and singing “La Vie en Rose” for me.

19. My secret beauty ritual is to put ice on my eyes every morning. Ice, ice baby.

23. I have major claustrophobia. I don’t like being stuck in small, enclosed spaces or in crowds. They freak me out.

24. My ideal day off is spent lying in bed all day — sleeping for a few hours, then waking up and watching old movies, like my favorite, Breathless. I eat in bed, have my children come hang out with me, and then I fall back asleep. I never leave the bedroom.

25. My favorite memories of Michael Jackson were getting him to let down his guard. He was so shy. The time I succeeded most was after I got him drunk at the Ivy in Beverly Hills. I was driving my Mercedes and dared him to throw his sunglasses out the window. We couldn’t stop laughing.

[From Us Weekly]

It’s a good list! So, was she throwing shade at Beyonce and/or President Obama? I can’t really decide. It’s true, if she was more demure, she might have gotten an invite to meet Pres. Obama. You know what else would have made the difference? If Sasha and Malia were into Madonna like they’re into Beyonce. But who is more into Beyonce: Sasha, Malia or Michelle Obama? I think it might be FLOTUS. Anyway, I’m not mad at the Obamas for not inviting Madonna over. They’re allowed to have Bey and Jay over without having to invite all the pop stars, you know?

Two more things. I think the “fur bikini” thing was shade at Kim Kardashian. And I think the “being called ‘the wife’” thing was shade at Guy Ritchie.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet and Madonna’s Instagram.

This is barely a story, but since it involves our Dragonfly Overlord, I expect this will probably be the most popular post of the day (don’t disappoint me). Tom Hiddleston has begun filming the AMC/BBC miniseries adaptation of John le Carré’s The Night Manager. He’s filming in view of the Matterhorn, the mountain that straddles the Swiss-Italian border. Tommy has posted a photo of the famed Matterhorn on his Twitter, as did Hugh Laurie.

I guess Tom and Hugh Laurie and the rest of the cast only recently arrived at the Swiss Alps a few days ago. I have no idea how long the production will be, but considering it’s supposed to be a six-part miniseries and it’s being produced by the BBC, I would expect they’re on a fast schedule and hopefully this will be wrapped up in three months, maximum. Is that a pipe dream? Eh.

The Night Manager also added some newish people to the cast! The series will also feature Olivia Colman, Tom Hollander and Elizabeth Debecki (I know her from Baz’s version of The Great Gatsby and I wasn’t very impressed).

I’m including some new Twitter photos below, like Tommy’s tweet and producer Rob Bullock’s shot of Tommy filming in the snow. I wonder if Tom has someone around to keep him warm at night. Calling all dragonflies: head to the Matterhorn to warm up Lord Dragonfly.

The walk to work. #TheNightManager pic.twitter.com/WaZaTq1gFh

— Tom Hiddleston (@twhiddleston) March 21, 2015

#TheNightManager pic.twitter.com/frharSRl35

— Rob Bullock (@rob_bullock) March 21, 2015

Photos courtesy of Twitter, WENN.

Bethenny Frankel, 44, has a new relationship book coming out. She’s still not divorced, her last relationship was a flash-in-the-pan with a guy 10 years younger than she is, and she has a relationship book coming out. Sure. Why not? At least Bethenny’s book has a somewhat self-aware title. It’s called I Suck at Relationships So You Don’t Have To: 10 Rules for Not Screwing Up Your Happily Ever After and is out April 7.

In a new interview on Watch What Happens Live, Bethenny called herself “single”. She also went into detail about her plans for the future, and what she’s learned from her divorce. Later, when outlets asked, she confirmed that she split from Michael Cerussi, 34. Here’s some of what she told Andy Cohen on WWHL and People Magazine when they asked about her breakup:

Her dating plans
I’m not dating now. I mean I’ve been. I wish that my dating life were as colorful and exciting as it’s written about, but right now I’m kind of at a standstill. I’ve been — I’ve dated this year. I’ve had a lot of different experiences, but I have a daughter and I am still married.

I’ve never dated anyone in this crazy world that I live in now and I don’t think I would want to. I would only want to date someone low-profile. – From People

I’ve been through a lot with exposing all my personal life so I’m not making any grand statements anymore – From People

What she’s learned from relationships
I’ve learned that you need to go with your gut. As smart as I am in business…. it’s really why I wrote the book [I Suck at Relationships So You Don’t Have to]… I’ve learned more from my mistakes than from my successes. Women have this biological clock, you want things to be a certain way and you have this idea of how things are supposed to be.

How relationships get soured
I write about mutual respect. People should be in relationships with people that really accept them and understand them.

The power struggle between men and women [exists], and [it is hard] when the woman is the breadwinner. I think fame, attention, and money does not bring out the best in everybody. I think that money, in many ways, is the root of all evil.

On problems in her now-over marriage
We brushed them under the rug,. Cracks become craters. Little things that you see in your relationships and your friendships… I feel like in our personal lives, we don’t [acknowledge them]. I think men are just better about that than women.

I don’t want to come in here and start trashing the situation. It’s not good for anyone and it doesn’t help anyone. My daughter’s the most important one… I made an important decision to really just not dive in the mud.

On if she would get married again
If anybody would ever want to get married to me on television, I would run like a thief in the night. I will never get legally married again, I will never ever be legally married again. Marriage is the ‘Hotel California’: You can check out anytime, but you can never leave.

[From WWHL via US Weekly except where noted From People]

So Bethenny had a several month relationship with a guy she flaunted for the paps on multiple photo ops yet she won’t give a direct quote confirming their split because she’s “been through a lot with exposing all my personal life.” She’s also going through a divorce that’s not yet finalized, she’s clearly not even communicating with her ex over custody issues and yet she’s about to publish a book about relationships. I should write a book about baseball. I’ve been to a couple of games, I’ll know what I’m talking about. I can just write in general terms about throwing the ball and running around the bases and such.

Bethenny and Michael Cerussi are shown in January, 2014 and October, 2014. Credit: FameFlynet. Bethenny is also shown at an event in March. Credit: WENN.com

Angelina Jolie has dropped another bombshell New York Times op-ed on all of us, just like she did two years ago when she announced that she had undergone a preventative double mastectomy. At that time, she explained that she carried the same faulty BRCA1 gene that likely runs in her family (her mother, grandmother and aunt all died from cancer). Jolie announced her double mastectomy in May 2013, at the tailend of her surgical process, and explained that she had undergone the preventative measure because doctors told her that her breast cancer risk was much higher than her risk for ovarian cancer, and that more preventative surgeries could wait. Well, in this morning’s op-ed, Jolie describes getting a bad blood test back and deciding to go ahead with the surgery to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes.

You can read Jolie’s new op-ed here. It’s emotional and well-written, and you can tell that she’s making all of her decisions with not only her mother in mind, but her children too. She talks candidly about making the decision to undergo the surgery that will put her through menopause. It sounds like Brad was there for her through every step, yet again:

Then two weeks ago I got a call from my doctor with blood-test results. “Your CA-125 is normal,” he said. I breathed a sigh of relief. That test measures the amount of the protein CA-125 in the blood, and is used to monitor ovarian cancer. I have it every year because of my family history. But that wasn’t all. He went on. “There are a number of inflammatory markers that are elevated, and taken together they could be a sign of early cancer.” I took a pause. “CA-125 has a 50 to 75 percent chance of missing ovarian cancer at early stages,” he said. He wanted me to see the surgeon immediately to check my ovaries.

I went through what I imagine thousands of other women have felt. I told myself to stay calm, to be strong, and that I had no reason to think I wouldn’t live to see my children grow up and to meet my grandchildren.

I called my husband in France, who was on a plane within hours. The beautiful thing about such moments in life is that there is so much clarity. You know what you live for and what matters. It is polarizing, and it is peaceful.

That same day I went to see the surgeon, who had treated my mother. I last saw her the day my mother passed away, and she teared up when she saw me: “You look just like her.” I broke down. But we smiled at each other and agreed we were there to deal with any problem, so “let’s get on with it.”

[From NYT]

Angelina spends some time repeating this too: “There is more than one way to deal with any health issue. The most important thing is to learn about the options and choose what is right for you personally.” I think she was unfairly slammed for “encouraging” women to undergo mastectomies two years ago when really she was just trying to talk about the personal choices she was making and encouraging a larger conversation about women’s health. She finishes her essay by writing that she had undergone the final part of her surgery and she is now in menopause:

Last week, I had the procedure: a laparoscopic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. There was a small benign tumor on one ovary, but no signs of cancer in any of the tissues. I have a little clear patch that contains bio-identical estrogen. A progesterone IUD was inserted in my uterus. It will help me maintain a hormonal balance, but more important it will help prevent uterine cancer. I chose to keep my uterus because cancer in that location is not part of my family history.

It is not possible to remove all risk, and the fact is I remain prone to cancer. I will look for natural ways to strengthen my immune system. I feel feminine, and grounded in the choices I am making for myself and my family. I know my children will never have to say, “Mom died of ovarian cancer.”

Regardless of the hormone replacements I’m taking, I am now in menopause. I will not be able to have any more children, and I expect some physical changes. But I feel at ease with whatever will come, not because I am strong but because this is a part of life. It is nothing to be feared.

I feel deeply for women for whom this moment comes very early in life, before they have had their children. Their situation is far harder than mine. I inquired and found out that there are options for women to remove their fallopian tubes but keep their ovaries, and so retain the ability to bear children and not go into menopause. I hope they can be aware of that. It is not easy to make these decisions. But it is possible to take control and tackle head-on any health issue. You can seek advice, learn about the options and make choices that are right for you. Knowledge is power.

[From The NYT]

I remember reading pieces from women who had undergone mastectomies and how they said it was so powerful that Jolie had said that she still felt feminine and beautiful. I imagine the same thing will happen with this – she’s still the same woman, just in early menopause and with a significantly decreased cancer risk. Jolie is so badass. I love her.

Photos courtesy of WENN.