YES!!! Netflix finally dropped the trailer for The Crown Season 5. They waited so late to drop this! I can see why, though. The production value on The Crown is so good and this season, this era of royalty, was so epic, so dramatic, so crazy. I love that Jonny Lee Miller isn’t really doing a big John Major impression – JLM was like “just put the wig on me and I’ll talk like a normal person.” You know who got the voice right though? Imelda Staunton. I thought I was actually listening to audio of the real QEII. Here’s the trailer:

First impressions… Dominic West isn’t actually doing a Prince Charles impression either. He does not look or sound anything like Charles, so it’s like he’s doing his own little thing. Elizabeth Debicki is simply the only actress this age who can pull off Diana. Peter Morgan is so grateful that at least he got that casting right. Debicki really sounds like Diana too, which is difficult. What else… Olivia Williams was an inspired choice for Camilla. And I simply cannot believe how much I want to bang John Major (or JLM’s version of Major).

The Crown Season 5 premieres on November 9th. Salt Island is already in a full meltdown about it. I can’t stop laughing – it’s going to be just as bad as they think it will be.

Photos and posters courtesy of Netflix.

Matthew Perry has a memoir coming out November 1st. I was intrigued when I heard the announcement because I think Matthew’s a smart guy and I like his humor, so I think he’d be a good writer. And, he has a story to tell, being raised privileged (he grew up with Justin Trudeau), he’d hoped to be a pro tennis player, his enormous fame with Friends, his crippling addiction to opioids, his sketchy romantic life and his near-death experience after suffering from a GI perforation. Only now, in his memoir, we learned the perforation was a burst colon due to an overuse of Oxycontin. He spent two weeks in a coma, five months in the hospital and nine months with a colostomy bag. When he entered the hospital, the doctors told his family Matthew had a 2% chance to live. But he survived to write about it.

Matthew Perry is ready to share the truth about his life.

The Friends star, 53, beloved for his portrayal of Chandler Bing on the hit TV series, has written a heartbreakingly beautiful memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing (available Nov. 1), detailing his journey — one filled with incredible highs and shattering lows.

“I wanted to share when I was safe from going into the dark side of everything again,” he tells PEOPLE exclusively in this week’s cover story. “I had to wait until I was pretty safely sober — and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction — to write it all down. And the main thing was, I was pretty certain that it would help people.”

Perry opens his memoir with the revelation that he almost died a few years ago at age 49.
Publicly acknowledging at the time that he suffered from a gastrointestinal perforation, the actor had actually spent weeks fighting for his life after his colon burst from opioid overuse. He spent two weeks in a coma and five months in the hospital and had to use a colostomy bag for nine months.

When he was first admitted to the hospital, “the doctors told my family that I had a 2 percent chance to live,” he recalls. “I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that’s called a Hail Mary. No one survives that.”

Candid about his relapses — he has been to rehab 15 times over the years — Perry has become well-versed on the tools necessary to maintain sobriety. “I’m pretty healthy now,” he says, before joking, “I’ve got to not go to the gym much more, because I don’t want to only be able to play superheroes. But no, I’m a pretty healthy guy right now.”

While he prefers not to disclose how long he’s currently been sober, he does still count each day. “It’s important, but if you lose your sobriety, it doesn’t mean you lose all that time and education,” he says. “Your sober date changes, but that’s all that changes. You know everything you knew before, as long as you were able to fight your way back without dying, you learn a lot.”

He also has his scars: He’s had 14 surgeries on his stomach so far. “That’s a lot of reminders to stay sober,” he says. “All I have to do is look down.”

His impetus to stop taking drugs? “My therapist said, ‘The next time you think about taking Oxycontin, just think about having a colostomy bag for the rest of your life,’” Perry recalls. “And a little window opened and I crawled through it and I no longer want Oxycontin anymore.”

[From People]

Matthew wrote in the book, “if I did die, it would shock people, but it wouldn’t surprise anybody.” There were seasons of Friends that Matthew didn’t look well and you knew something was off. Following his admission of an Oxy addiction, speculation followed him every time his look changed. I always took his word for it when he said he was sober. But going to rehab 15 times tells me he struggled a lot more than I knew. I also didn’t realize alcohol was such a big part of his addiction, but it predates his issue with opioids. He was starting to have a dependency on booze when he started Friends.

The night Matthew went to the hospital and was put on the ECMO machine, he said five people were put on ECMO machines that night, but he was the only one who lived. He sees that as his call to help others. We know that Matthew turned one of his homes into a recovery house for addicts and has mentored addicts as well. He clearly wants to beat this demon and I believe he wants to help others beat it. I hope he’s really has gotten there this time.

People added this at the end of their article so I will include it too: If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.

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Several years ago, Norway’s Princess Martha Louise fell in love with an American shaman. If you sold their story as a plot of a Lifetime movie, people would not buy it, but it really happened. Earlier this year, Martha Louise and Shaman Durek got engaged. The reaction from the Norwegian royal family was pretty muted. Now, at this point, Martha Louise is basically only part of the royal family in name only, and they already banned her from using her royal title and royal status to sell shaman stuff, like their speaking tours. Shaman Durek has also gone on record about how he believes that no one wants to see “a Black man in the royal family.” Racism, a celebrity shaman, and disputes about royal status. It’s a lot. Well, now Martha Louise’s brother Crown Prince Haakon has gone on the record about all of this.

Crown Prince Haakon of Norway is speaking out on a “difficult” topic. During an outing, the heir to Norway’s throne was asked about the reports saying that discussions are going on about whether or not his sister, Princess Märtha Louise, will keep her royal title.

“This is a topic that I find difficult,” Crown Prince Haakon said, according to Royal Central. Prince Haakon said, “On the one hand, my sister got engaged, and I got to know Durek Verrett and think it is nice to be with him. I have been with him on many occasions. I would like him to feel welcome in our family.”

“At the same time, I feel very responsible for the institution,” the 49-year-old son of King Harald V and Queen Sonja continued, according to the outlet. “We have, of course, noticed that some of what has been said and done has caused quite a bit of discussion. Some of it has also been controversial. We have to talk about figuring this out, and that is what we are trying to do now that we now have this process where we are trying to find a good way forward.”

“At the same time that brings us the feelings and thoughts about the different aspects. So this is going to take some more time. It is natural that if something happens that people think something about, that it creates debate. I think that is part of the living democracy that Norway is a part of,” Crown Prince Haakon said.

King Harald previously talked about the “cultural collision” with his daughter’s American partner.

“I do not think it has fully sunk in yet what we mean, but we are in a process and this will eventually work itself out,” the monarch said earlier this year, according to Royal Central. “We get to know each other better and better, and we will talk to him, as we do in a family. So, it is going to work out. But I don’t promise that it will be resolved tomorrow. It is the culture collision we are now noticing.”

[From People]

I mean… I actually get what Haakon is trying to say, however awkwardly. It’s a lot – a Norwegian princess engaged to a Black man who is also a celebrity shaman, and Martha Louise is in business with Durek too. But I also think the family has already set it up so that Martha Louise is free to do whatever she wants – they already took away her royal styling and she’s not allowed to use “Princess” for any of her business ventures. Will they eventually formalize it and “take back” her princess title? Probably. Also: she lives in LA full-time now. So she’s already got her whole life away from the family. Still, it looks bad and the family is trying desperately to thread the needle of “we’re taking away your title because of the shady shaman stuff, not because you’re marrying a Black man!”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Martha Louise’s Instagram.

President Biden reminds voters about what’s at stake in the midterms, and his closing message is about the need to codify abortion rights. [Jezebel]
Blake Shelton actually has a new game show? [Seriously OMG]
Britney Spears details more abuse allegations against her father. [Dlisted]
Elle’s Women in Hollywood issue/event should have been a Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue cover, but of course VF would never. [LaineyGossip]
Rian Johnson says Daniel Craig’s Knives Out character is queer. [Towleroad]
Doja Cat’s makeup artist has too much time on their hands. [Go Fug Yourself]
Zoe Kravitz has a songwriting credit on Taylor Swift’s Midnights. [Gawker]
Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen’s weather-appropriate hobo chic looks. [Just Jared]
I love this rant about the plot hole in Quantum Leap. [Pajiba]
Bella Thorne is doing a jewelry line now. [Egotastic]
How much does the Sister Wives family owe on their land? [Starcasm]
Classical art memes are surprisingly great. [Buzzfeed]

Here’s Part 2 of our coverage of the Duchess of Sussex’s Variety cover profile. Again, this cover story was originally supposed to come out in mid-September. Variety postponed it and instead of reworking their existing interview, Meghan agreed to simply give a new interview following the death of QEII. Part 2 of our coverage is basically the second half of the Variety interview, where Meghan is talking about the work of Archewell, her work on Archetypes, the Sussexes’ plans for the future and more. Meghan once again confirms the Netflix docu-series and talks a lot about Archetypes.

What we can expect from Liz Garbus’ docuseries: “It’s nice to be able to trust someone with our story — a seasoned director whose work I’ve long admired — even if it means it may not be the way we would have told it. But that’s not why we’re telling it. We’re trusting our story to someone else, and that means it will go through their lens. It’s interesting. My husband has never worked in this industry before. For me, having worked on “Suits,” it’s so amazing to be around so much creative energy and to see how people work together and share their own points of view. That’s been really fun.

On Archetypes: “I think that what happens, looking in from the outside, when there is this much noise, is that you become dehumanized. But if you remember that someone is a human being, then you don’t treat them, talk about them, look at them the same way. My hope for “Archetypes” is that people come out thinking, “Oh! She’s a real person! She laughs and asks questions and approaches things with curiosity.”

Her most challenging interview: “I spoke to Paris Hilton last week. I told her at the beginning that I was the most nervous about her interview. I was embarrassed to admit it, but I’ve had a judgment about her that’s based on everything I’ve seen, and I don’t like to come from a place of judgment. But I also didn’t grow up pretty…I grew up as the smart one. So much of what I ended up thinking about, when I thought about Paris, was envy and judgment — two of the most dangerous things. But then you hear about her trauma and her life and her buying into this persona. Ultimately, I told her, “I’m really sorry that I judged you.” I wanted her to be safe and comfortable. I told her I wasn’t looking for a “gotcha” moment. I want a “got you” moment, where we get you.

How Hollywood has shifted: “The industry has shifted quite a bit since I was a part of it. I left “Suits” right after the 100th episode, in 2018. I didn’t think I’d ever be in the entertainment industry again. But the entire culture has changed; streamers have changed things. The ability to create zeitgeist moments like we had in the ’90s — where everyone would tune in at the same time for a show or gather for one moment? — that doesn’t happen anymore. When I was doing “Suits,” that character, Rachel Zane, was in your living room with you while you were in your pajamas eating Chinese takeout. That’s how connected the experience felt then. But to create a cultural moment or conversation requires something different today. Podcasting has been really interesting in that way. It might be one of the only remaining forums where people are alone to listen. Where else do you have that opportunity?

On #MeToo and #OscarsSoWhite: “We didn’t have a name for it at that time. There were just certain things that were accepted. If there was any discomfort, you just dealt with it. It forced a lot of women to live with this idea of staying silent, not being disruptive, not giving voice to the things that might create concern or discomfort. For me, I had tried for so long to land on a show, filming all these pilots, wondering if they would get picked up. All of Season 1 on “Suits,” I was convinced I was going to get recast. All the time. It got to a point where the creator was like, “Why are you so worried about this?”

Whether she would go back to acting: “No. I’m done. I guess never say never, but my intention is to absolutely not.

The ideal project for Archewell: “So much of how my husband and I see things is through our love story. I think that’s what people around the world connected to, especially with our wedding. People love love. I’m not excluded in that sentiment. And our definition of love is really expansive: Partner love, self-love, the love of community and family. We use that as the baseline of the kind of shows and documentaries we want out there. For my husband, the Invictus Games have been such a huge piece of his life and his work, having been in the army for 10 years and working for the rehabilitation of wounded vets and their families. We talk about emotional injuries that come from those types of experiences. Those are love stories. For scripted, we want to think about how we can evolve from that same space and do something fun! It doesn’t always have to be so serious. Like a good rom-com. Don’t we miss them? I miss them so much. I’ve probably watched “When Harry Met Sally” a million times. And all the Julia Roberts rom-coms. We need to see those again.

An average workday for Meg & Harry: “We share an office. We work from home, as most people started to do during lockdown. It allows us to have significant time with our kids at this really special moment in their lives. We’ll never get this time back. I make breakfast, and we get the kids set for the day. We do a lot of joint calls and Zooms, but also try to divide what we can focus our energies on so we can accomplish even more. My husband is on a 24-hour time zone, where half of your life is waking up as the other half is going to sleep. It’s kind of the reverse of what I went through living in the U.K. He’s very good at responding on text. Me, I try to be as fast as possible on email. I’ve always said, if it takes less than five minutes, do it now.

Snack breaks: “It’s funny. People sometimes think we live in Los Angeles, but we’re a good two hours outside of it. We’re commuters. We drove down recently for a day of back-to-back meetings , equipped with chocolate chip cookies the size of my toddler’s head. Also, my husband’s favorite is In-N-Out. There’s one at the halfway point between L.A. and our neck of the woods. It’s really fun to go through the drive-thru and surprise them. They know our order.

[From Variety]

Harry loves In & Out! They nosh on chocolate chip cookies! Once again, Meghan confirms the existence of the docuseries, which will hopefully come out in December this year. And if Archewell greenlights a bunch of rom-coms, I will laugh my ass off. All of the Salt Island tantrums about Harry and Meghan’s Netflix deal and how “Netflix wants their pound of flesh” and after all of that, the Sussexes might just become producers of inexpensive romcoms for Netflix. Anyway, she’s giving us so much! Enjoy. I haven’t checked in on the Salt Island media yet but I bet there are banner headlines, tantrums and wailing.

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Cover & IG courtesy of Variety.

The Duchess of Sussex’s Variety cover story was supposed to come out in mid-September as part of her promotion for the Archetypes podcast, and as part of Variety’s “Women in Hollywood” issue. Then Queen Elizabeth II passed away, and Variety agreed to postpone the cover in exchange for new comments after the Sussexes returned from the UK. While I love Variety’s photoshoot, they chose a terrible photo for the cover! They’ve been sitting on this editorial for two months and no one said “actually you made Meghan look like a cult leader?” Anyway, Meghan has a lot to say about a lot of different things, including how she loves Jeopardy, she does Wordle “in bed with a glass of wine” and she’s obsessed with Beyonce’s “Cozy.” You can read the full piece here. I’m breaking it up into two posts. Some highlights:

What she wants out of life: “Joy. That’s really it. It’s everything that we can work toward for ourselves, our friends, our kids, those around us — that would feel so good. And we do feel joyful.”

Mourning the Queen: Following the official period of mourning, Meghan agrees to sit again for a lengthy discussion about her road to the present. She worries that any comments about the queen or her in-laws will be “a distraction” from continued mourning, but presses on to celebrate the icon.

How she feels after QEII’s passing: “There’s been such an outpouring of love and support. I’m really grateful that I was able to be with my husband to support him, especially during that time. What’s so beautiful is to look at the legacy that his grandmother was able to leave on so many fronts. Certainly, in terms of female leadership, she is the most shining example of what that looks like. I feel deep gratitude to have been able to spend time with her and get to know her. It’s been a complicated time, but my husband, ever the optimist, said, “Now she’s reunited with her husband.”

Her reflection of the Queen: “I’ve reflected on that first official engagement that I had with her, how special that felt. I feel fortunate. And I continue to be proud to have had a nice warmth with the matriarch of the family.

Processing the loss as a family: “In big moments in life, you get a lot of perspective. It makes you wonder what you want to focus your energy on. Right now, we feel energized and excited about all of the things we’ve been building toward. We’re also focused on our foundation. So much of the work we do includes the philanthropic space.

On her openness in interviews, even if they’re written about in a snarky way: “The [New York] story was intended to support “Archetypes” and focus on our projects. I’ve had some time to reflect on it. Part of me is just really trusting, really open — that’s how I move in the world. I have to remember that I don’t ever want to become so jaded that that piece of me goes away. So despite any of those things? Onward. I can survive it. Part of what I’m doing with “Archetypes” is looking at the nuances around the women who come on the show. I’m not a journalist, but I want a candid, real conversation with them. I’m talking to some really textured, colorful, layered, dynamic women with strong histories. And that comes with a lot of pieces you can choose to include or not; I choose to include something that I feel is fair to them and also uplifting. And something we can all learn from.

What she would say if her kids want to work in Hollywood: “I would say, “Great!” When you become a parent, you genuinely want your kids to find the things that bring them complete joy. They’re our kids, obviously, and they’re part of a legacy and a tradition and a family that will have other expectations. But I want them to be able to carve out their own path. If it’s the entertainment industry, great. And also, good luck. There are so many people that will talk about what opened the door for my children. But it still takes talent and a lot of grit. We’re creating multidimensional, interesting, kind, creative people. That’s who our kids are.

On the idea of actors playing her in the future: “I haven’t given that much thought, to be honest. It’s all weird. You have to compartmentalize. Anyone talking about me or casting an actor to play me, that will be a caricature of me that has been created for a business that makes people a lot of money. Once you can separate that out, it’s much easier to go: “OK. That actually has nothing to do with me.” It genuinely doesn’t. It’s a hard lesson to come to grips with.

Advice to an actor playing her: “I hope that in preparing for that role, she finds the softness and the playfulness and the laughter. The silliness. I just hope she finds the dimensions. Also, she can call me!

[From Variety]

So, basically Variety threw out their first interview/profile of Meghan and did this Q&A after she returned to California after the funeral. I wonder if she had more to say about the Windsors in the first interview, but I guess we’ll never know. She’s being very positive about the experience of being stuck in Salt Island unexpectedly for that length of time – she knows that if she utters one word of complaint, everyone will climb all over her, so she’s smart. Plus, Meghan and Harry have always maintained that they were close to QEII regardless of how much the British media wanted to make it sound like they were recording diss tracks about Ol’ Liz. Part 2 of this coverage will be Meghan talking about WORK!

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You know how King Charles is screaming at a pen right now about Netflix’s The Crown? You know that Charles has put the full weight of the palace behind a completely unhinged campaign to “boycott” a streaming show? Yeah, all of that free publicity has led to a huge uptick in Netflix subscriptions – Netflix has gained 2.4 million new subscribers ahead of the debut of The Crown’s Season 5. Netflix’s stock is climbing, everything’s coming up roses. Entertainment Weekly has put The Crown’s S5 on this week’s cover as well – you can read the full cover story here. All of the cast members talk about where they were when QEII passed away (most of them were working on The Crown’s Season 6 at the time) and Peter Morgan even addresses Charles’s dumb campaign against the show. Some highlights:

Peter Morgan on Elizabeth Debicki as Diana. “She is uniquely magnificent. It was a list of one. Had she said no, I might have had to reconceive the entire show.”

Dominic West on being offered the role of Charles: “I said, ‘You’ve got the wrong guy, I don’t look anything like him,’” West recalls. But there was another reason the actor demurred: “I was very conscious of Josh’s amazing performance, and his amazing success, and thought it was a bit of a hiding to nothing to try to follow that.” So what made West change his mind? “I thought about it for several weeks, and it was one of those things you can’t really get out of your head. [I] realized that you’ve got to give it a go because you’ll regret it if you don’t. He’s a fascinating man, Charles, and it’s a fascinating life, and a fascinating role. I mean, apart from anything else, it’s a huge show, and I loved the first four seasons. I realized that I could very happily live with this character for two years.”

Philip’s affair with Penny Knatchbull: Where previous seasons have detailed the Queen’s love of racehorses, season 5 explores Philip’s participation in the sport of carriage-racing and his friendship with fellow enthusiast Penny Knatchbull, played by Natascha McElhone. Jonathan Pryce declines to go into detail about how that might affect the bond between Philip with Elizabeth, but teases some behind-closed-doors turbulence between his character and Staunton’s Queen. “It was a wonderful relationship, a loving marriage, but not without a few hiccups, like every long relationship,” he says. “You’re going to have to wait and see.”

Elizabeth Debicki on Diana’s revenge dress: “It fascinated me how entranced people were with that dress,” shares Debicki. “When it became known that I had the part, I received these text messages saying congratulations, [but] there was also a huge amount of text messages about the Revenge Dress. ‘Do you get to wear the Revenge Dress?’ ‘Oh my God, you get to wear the Revenge Dress!’” The actress says wearing the outfit felt “very significant and quite powerful, but also it provoked something in me as an actor. I can’t really explain it. It’s pretty incredible that a dress would represent a moment in history, or that this human’s life would represent so much and become so iconic. So that was a big day on set for me!”

The Crown filmed the tampon phone call!!! Charles’ appearance in the documentary was part of a campaign by the Prince of Wales to rehabilitate his image after the embarrassment of 1993’s “Camillagate,” in which media outlets made public an intimate phone conversation between Charles and Camilla that had taken place years earlier and was recorded by an amateur radio enthusiast. At one point during the exchange, the heir to the British throne told his lover that he wanted to “live inside” her trousers. When Parker-Bowles asked if he was going to be reincarnated as “a pair of knickers,” Charles responded that it would be just his luck to instead return as a tampon. West explains that it was fascinating to revisit the controversy and re-enact the phone call with Olivia Williams — and that he found his own thinking reframed by doing so. “I remember thinking it was something so sordid and deeply, deeply embarrassing [at the time],” he says. “Looking back on it, and having to play it, what you’re conscious of is that the blame was not with these two people, two lovers, who were having a private conversation. What’s really [clear now] is how invasive and disgusting was the press’s attention to it, that they printed it out verbatim and you could call a number and listen to the actual tape. I think it made me extremely sympathetic towards the two of them and what they’d gone through.”

Peter Morgan on King Charles’s campaign against the show: “I think we must all accept that the 1990s was a difficult time for the royal family, and King Charles will almost certainly have some painful memories of that period. But that doesn’t mean that, with the benefit of hindsight, history will be unkind to him, or the monarchy. The show certainly isn’t. I have enormous sympathy for a man in his position — indeed, a family in their position. People are more understanding and compassionate than we expect sometimes.”

[From EW]

Yeah, what Peter Morgan says there at the end… it’s like he’s giving PR advice to King Charles. He’s saying to Charles: you should have tried a different tact with this, dude, you should have just said “it was a difficult time, The Crown isn’t a documentary, etc.” Seeing Charles get this freaked out about a TV show just emphasizes that everything Diana said about Charles was correct. And again, Morgan is not trying to take the Windsors down. Then again, he did make Olivia Williams and Dominic West film the tampon conversation!!!

Battle Royal. #TheCrown season 5 stars Elizabeth Debicki, Dominic West, and more take us behind the scenes of the show’s most controversial season yet. https://t.co/uxGsq0rFxp Story by @ClarkCollis pic.twitter.com/KwLcNxudxt

— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) October 18, 2022

Photos courtesy of Netflix, Backgrid.

Yeah, per usual, a lot of women think Olivia Wilde is a sympathetic figure. I disagree. Olivia and Jason Sudeikis’s nanny sold her story (and texts) to the Daily Mail this week and the nanny really sold me on the profound dysfunction of both Olivia and Jason. I’ll never understand why so many women are tying themselves in knots to proclaim that Olivia is some kind of victim though – she was downright cruel to Jason, and he reacted to her cruelty poorly and emotionally. Then she lied about being cruel to Jason publicly and repeatedly for years. One of these people has consistently been a liar, a gaslighter and an emotional abuser and it’s not Jason.

One of the saddest details of the nanny’s story was that just weeks after Olivia began her affair with Harry Styles and just days after she dumped Jason, she stood in their shared kitchen and made her special salad and special salad dressing to pack up and take to Harry Styles. The fact that Olivia made the salad for Harry in front of Jason was some kind of big breaking point for Jason. But most people were incredibly curious about this f–king salad and why it was so special. Well, Page Six pointed out that Olivia submitted a salad recipe to Food Network at some point, and they think it may be her “special salad.”

You can see the recipe here. It’s made with roasted salmon, zucchini and potatoes. You use a lemon juice-based marinade/dressing on the salmon, which also consists of olive oil, dill, garlic, shallot, red pepper flakes and smoked paprika. You use that on the salmon before you throw it in the oven, and then use the same dressing for serving. There’s also a vinaigrette, which consists of red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, salt and garlic, emulsified with olive oil. You put that dressing on the mixed greens, then put the roasted salmon, zucchini and potatoes on top. Oh, there’s feta cheese involved, which is disgusting (to me). But sure, that sounds like a special salad, I guess.

Update: So, after all that, Olivia posted a page from Nora Ephron’s Heartburn on her IG Stories. If you’ve never read Heartburn (or watched the incredible film adaptation), do so immediately! The wife.narrator is a food writer, and the story is interspersed with recipes. So, Olivia’s special salad dressing is just “the vinaigrette from Heartburn”?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Kelly Ripa has written a memoir called Live Wire: Long Winded Short Stories. The blurb for the book reads, “A sharp, funny, and honest collection of real-life stories from Kelly, showing the many dimensions and crackling wit of the beloved daytime talk show host.” One of those stories is about her time on Live with Kelly, from her hiring and working alongside with Regis Philbin to becoming the only name in the title. Except for the Michael Strahan, whom she left out of the book. Kelly gave an interview in which she talked about the section that dealt with Regis saying that “it wasn’t a cakewalk.” When Regis’ former co-host, Kathie Lee Gifford, read those headlines about Kelly’s interview, she expressed concern and vowed not to read the book because of them. Now Kelly is weighing in on Kathie’s comments, saying that if she did read the book, she’d probably feel differently.

Kelly Ripa spoke up on former Live host Kathie Lee Gifford’s declaration about refusing to read her new book, Live Wire, due to her take on Regis Philbin.

Appearing on the podcast Not Skinny But Not Fat, the mom-of-three shared her take on the matter, calling it a “conundrum” right off the bat.

“I didn’t see the interview, so I tend to not go into deep dives on things I can’t comment on,” she continued, talking about “correcting the record” and controlling the narrative.

“I knew writing the book was going to open me up to all sorts of criticism, but people who read the book have a very different take on those chapters, because they read the book.”

She concluded: “My ultimate comment is…thank you! It’s really hard to sell a book,” adding that any person who would pick up the book would have a different take.

[From Hello!]

Eventually I’m commenting on vapor here. Kelly’s comments above are based on something she read that Kathie said, which are based on something Kathie read about something Kelly said about something she’d written in her book. Kelly’s got a point – until one of us reads the actual chapter, it’s theory. I don’t think Kathie needed to weigh in on Kelly’s comments about her working relationship with Regis. First of all, Kathie doesn’t know what Kelly said because she’d only read headlines and secondly, people have different relationships with people. Just because Kathie and Regis adored each other doesn’t mean he and Kelly did. But I suggested from the start that Kelly should prepare herself for Kathie and possibly Joy Philbin having something to say about this. Even if I didn’t agree with Kathie, I wasn’t surprised to see her speaking up.

But, as Kelly said, it’s really hard to sell a book and Kathie announcing that she’s not buying a copy probably sold a whole bunch for Kelly. Not sure Kathie thought that through when she entered the conversation.

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A post shared by Kelly Ripa (@kellyripa)

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A post shared by Party Pieces (@partypieces)

We were told so many times that Party Pieces was incredibly successful, successful enough to finance the private educations of all three of Carole Middleton’s children. Successful enough to allow Carole and Michael Middleton to finance Kate’s Waity Decade, where she barely held down one job and went on vacation constantly. It never made any sense – while I think Party Pieces had a niche market and probably made *some* money, it was mostly shady Uncle Gary Goldsmith financing the Middletons’ lifestyle. I still believe that it’s even weirder than that, what with that pot-growing factory adjacent to the Middletons’ property.

But I digress. For several years, Party Pieces’ financial losses have been well-known. The official reason for the business’s downturn is that the pandemic affected the business. I would also think it’s probably pretty easy to find inexpensive party decorations literally anywhere, especially on Amazon or discounted party-supply stores. So to save the business, Carole has inked a deal with Saker ShopRite, which is a chain primarily in the Northeast. ShopRite is now carrying Party Pieces crap exclusively in America. Carole traveled to New Jersey to pose at a grocery store, which already put up their Party Pieces display. From Party Pieces’ IG:

To mark the launch of our Party Pieces Collection in the United States, Carole visited a few @shopritestores to meet associates, speak with customers and see our product ranges on the shelves.

This marks the brand’s first retail partnership outside of the United Kingdom and is the beginning of larger expansion plans in the United States. This next phase of growth for Party Pieces will make the products available for the first time in retail in the U.S. at 39 Saker ShopRite stores. It comes only a year after a successful e-commerce launch in the UK, which saw Party Pieces Collections quickly become a best-selling ranges for the brand.

“It’s very exciting to see our Party Pieces Collection expanding into the U.S. starting with Saker ShopRites, a leading retailer in New Jersey and family-owned business with a long history of commitment to the customers and communities its stores serve. This is the culmination of great teamwork, and we’re happy to partner with Saker ShopRites for our initial launch,” said Carole Middleton, Founder of Party Pieces.

“We are thrilled to be the first U.S. retail partner for British heritage brand Party Pieces. We know our customers are coming together again to mark special occasions in their lives and they want to make their parties spectacular. We’re sure our customers will enjoy celebrating memorable milestones and moments with these fantastic new lines from Party Pieces,” added Richard Saker, president and CEO of Saker ShopRites, Inc.

[From Party Pieces’ IG]

From the IG pics, it looks like they put the Party Pieces display section in the greeting card aisle, right next to the deli/bakery. Which sounds about right – people are running into ShopRite to pick up a birthday cake and look, there’s an assortment of Party Pieces paper plates, party hats, decorations, etc. Honestly, no shade – this is a pretty good fit? It makes me wonder why Party Pieces hasn’t expanded internationally before now. Also: it’s hilarious to me that Carole wanted her own (hyper-airbrushed) image to be part of the display. Yeesh. Anyway, I hope Carole liked Jersey.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram.