Quinta Brunson has quickly become one of my favorite celebrities. She’s brilliant, funny, beautiful, and just all-around kick-ass. The fourth season of Abbott Elementary premieres tonight, October 9, and Quinta has been busy promoting it. She recently announced that this season would feature a random yet intriguing crossover with the cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This week, Quinta appeared on Live with Kelly & Mark to talk about the upcoming season. As she was walking out, Quinta spotted a surprise in the audience: some members of her family! After commenting on it to Kelly and Mark when she got up on stage, she noticed that even more members of her family were in the audience, sitting in a different section. And that’s when the waterworks started.

Quinta Brunson got an emotional surprise from her family during a live interview on morning television. As Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos welcomed the Abbott Elementary creator-star to discuss season 4 of her Emmy-winning sitcom, she was moved to tears as she walked out to set and unexpectedly spotted multiple members of her family sitting amid the Live With Kelly & Mark studio audience.

Shortly after Brunson emerged from the backstage area, cameras captured her interacting with the crowd — and her eventual shock over recognizing her family waiting in the front row. Later, Brunson spotted more family members sitting in a different section of the audience, and she was clearly overwhelmed in the moment.

“I just saw basically I have family here. Oh my God!” the 34-year-old said, gathering herself as tears welled in her eyes. “That’s my literal, like, family. My sisters, my niece, and my cousin. I don’t want to cry on TV. That’s crazy.”

Brunson estimated to Ripa and Consuelos that her family must’ve traveled from her hometown of Philadelphia to surprise her, but that she “didn’t know” they’d planned the moment.

“I’m always just crying on TV. I’m so tired of it,” she joked. “Okay, make sure nobody else is here!”

The sweet moment came one day ahead of Abbott Elementary’s season 4 premiere, which producers Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker recently previewed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, in which they teased developments on the growing relationship between Brunson’s Janine and Tyler James Williams’ Gregory.

“We hope for it to go through the course of any normal relationship and to hit the ups and downs. We tend to approach everything from character. A lot of people thought we had this master plan for that, and ‘In this season and this episode, the two will kiss and blah, blah, blah,’” Halpern said. “But we’ve always tried to approach it from a character standpoint of ‘When are they going to be in a place where it would happen and when are they going to be in a place where things might get tough?’ This is all to say that we like to keep everything open in terms of character growth, but no, we don’t foresee at the moment that we’re going to pull the rug out from anybody.”

[From Entertainment Weekly]

This was such a sweet moment, which you can watch below. That was so nice of her family to surprise her like that! Quinta is such a delight, isn’t she? She deserves every bit of success that she can get. Kelly’s joke about bringing out the rest of Quinta’s family made me laugh. I love Abbott and am excited for Season 4. During the interview, she also talks a little bit more about the crossover with Always Sunny, teasing that while Danny DeVito’s character, Frank, won’t be attending school, he will be making an appearance within Abbott Elementary itself. Does this change anyone’s predictions about the crossover’s overall plot? It sounds like it’s going to be more Abbott-centric than, say, the school going on a field trip to Sunny territory or the teachers ending up in Paddy’s Pub. Either way, this most likely means that Danny DeVito will interact with Janelle James and/or Cheryl Lee Ralph, and that’s going to be amazing.

Photos via YouTube and Instagram and credit: IMAGO/mpi099 / Avalon, Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon

Sarah Ferguson was in New York two weeks ago, did y’all know that? I didn’t. There was barely any coverage of her visit in the American or British media. She was in NYC for UN Climate Week, same as Prince Harry. She hasn’t said if they saw each other. She was invited to the launch of Youth Impact Council, which has asked her to be a Founding Ambassador. To celebrate, Fergie spoke to People Magazine about her love of New York and her love of America, in general.

Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, has a special place in her heart for the city of New York. In an interview with PEOPLE on Sept. 25 during New York Climate Week, the Duchess of York reflected on her experiences in the city. During her visit, Ferguson, affectionately known as Fergie, announced the launch of the Youth Impact Council, a new nonprofit organization where she will serve as Founding Ambassador. The council aims to elevate the voices of youth activists who are making significant strides in climate action, social justice, and innovation.

When asked about her plans during her time in N.Y.C., Fergie referenced a quintessential delicacy — a hot dog with mustard, ketchup, sauerkraut and relish!

“It was so good! And everyone laughed at me, saying, ‘You can’t possibly eat the hot dog.’ And I said, ‘Oh, yeah,’ got in the car, and what did they do? [They] all wanted to eat it!” she tells PEOPLE.

“I like to get yellow cabs,” the Duchess of York, 64, shares about her N.Y.C. traditions. “My favorite film is An Affair to Remember, so every time I see the Empire State Building I think of Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. I know you’ve seen Sleepless in Seattle, but I remember An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant.”

“New York has been my home. The American people are extraordinarily kind to me,” Fergie tells PEOPLE. “I feel I am very Anglo-American. I know the language. I got it down. I don’t say ‘lift,’ I say ‘elevator.’ When I arrive in America, I speak American. Sort of. With a posh voice,” she jokes.

[From People]

Fergie has never really talked sh-t about America – America gave her a second chance, she made a lot of money in America, and she clearly enjoys the vibe here. She, more than anyone else associated with that family, understands why Harry chose to move to California. A fully-loaded hot dog though?? Even I wouldn’t do that. Okay, maybe I would get one without the sauerkraut.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Taylor Swift has become a regular at many New York hotspots. It feels like she likes to try all of the buzziest restaurants, most of which tend to be Italian or some Euro-American variation. The exception is possibly Japanese food – I believe she likes sushi. When Taylor visits Kansas City, she and Travis Kelce are usually spotted at steakhouses or Italian joints. Well, apparently, Taylor has a much more diverse palate than even I knew. Taylor has got Travis eating Indian food??

Travis Kelce is expanding his taste buds thanks to his girlfriend Taylor Swift! Speaking on the latest episode of his podcast, New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce, released Wednesday, Oct. 9, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, 35, revealed that Swift, 34, has been introducing him to some new foods.

“You know I’m starting to open up to the Indian cuisine,” Travis said after his elder brother, 36, asked him if he liked curry.

“I know, my girl Tay is getting you opened up,” Jason said, to which Travis replied, “She is.”

“She’s introducing new foods to you,” Jason added. “It’s been one of the greatest things that I’ve been happy about.”

Travis then explained that although he liked curry, he wasn’t keen on it being too thick.

“I’m in on a light curry,” he said. “The more it gets thicker and it looks like a baby food or like baby s— then I’m out.”

[From People]

Desi community: are we offended by “The more it gets thicker and it looks like baby food or like baby s— then I’m out”? I winced, but I also understand what he’s saying – some Indian dishes are too heavily sauced and it’s okay to admit that. You don’t have to drown yourself in curry to enjoy it. Still, I had no idea that Taylor – our new Desi queen??? – would be the one to convince Travis to eat spicy Indian food. Did y’all know that Taylor rolled like that? I thought she was just eating mild pastas and baking sugar cookies.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

As we discussed, we’re currently in Day 4 of the “Meghan wore a red dress at a charity gala” freakout over in Salt Island. Part of the reason why they’re still obsessing over Meghan and her dress is because the left-behinds weren’t giving them anything in recent days. Kensington Palace hasn’t had any new briefings about how much William hates his brother, and no one will even suggest that the Princess of Wales could do a charity Zoom or something. Well, Prince William is here! He stepped out today in London. He went to a smallish event at BAFTA headquarters:

Prince William has arrived at BAFTA HQ in central London to celebrate young creatives with BAFTA, and The Royal African Society. He has been joined by several well-known faces, including Celia Imrie, Andy Serkis, Stephen Merchant and director Paul Greengrass. They are all supporters of the Prince William BAFTA Bursary fund.

The heir to the throne started the bursary in 2021 and helps assist young people from underrepresented groups to progress their careers in film, games or television through grants.

He will meet with the 2024 recipients today, as well as students from the National Film and TV School who have been supported by the Royal African Society.

William will also meet with students who have been working with the Royal African Society on their upcoming Film Africa festival by helping to curate the festival program and give guidance on the short films that have been selected to represent diverse voices and narratives in African storytelling.

[From The Daily Express]

BAFTA and the Royal African Society? Surely this will count as two events. William is BAFTA president, an honorary position, although he skips the BAFTAs half the time. I didn’t even think he cared enough to start the “Prince William BAFTA Bursary fund.” It’s likely something that was handed to him by BAFTA and he got to slap his name on it, like so many of his wife’s carefully curated projects. Anyway, the event is fine, it is what it is (his first day of work this week).

PS… On this week’s Gossip With Celebitchy pod, CB and I talked about his awful beard and I wondered if William is actually trimming his beard to achieve this particular “two day growth” look. I think he is – there’s no way this is a full month’s growth. Meaning, he wants it to look this creepy and scuzzy.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

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Last month, the Duchess of Edinburgh went on a five-day tour of Tanzania and no one in the British media thought to cover it. The only photos of Sophie were taken by the embassy, and there were only a couple of articles published during or after her trip. It was incredibly strange, especially given that the Sussexes had just visited Colombia and British reporters literally flew all the way there to try to barge their way into covering Harry and Meghan. With Sophie, here is a “working royal” and duchess who is maintained and subsidized by taxpayers, trying to highlight work being done at the local level, and no one gives a sh-t.

Well, Sophie and her husband are on a royal tour of Malta this week. They’re getting marginally more coverage than Sophie’s Tanzania trip. The Daily Mail has even dutifully kept up with their events in a rote, perfunctory way: they went sailing, they posed, they took in the views, hurray. Tatler basically skipped right past their events and just went all-in on a story about how much QEII loved Malta.

Sophie and Edward really are the only left-behinds traveling consistently this year, and it’s so remarkable to me to see how little energy they get from the press. That being said, Edward has barely been seen in months? He truly disappears for months at a time regularly and no one says anything (because no one’s checking for him). Anyway, enjoy these photos from Malta.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

Longtime Bob Woodward-watchers understand what’s happening – Woodward kept silent for years about the mountain of criminal activity during and after the Trump administration, and now he’s put all of it in his latest book. Woodward has been doing this same sh-t for decades!! He failed to report – in a timely manner – a lot of sh-t about the Bush administration, and the Obama administration was so clean, Woodward basically manufactured a “threat” made by some mild-mannered economic advisor. Woodward’s latest book reveals that Trump is still in contact with Vladimir Putin, even after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Woodward also reports that Trump sent Putin a lot of Covid tests back when there were extreme shortages in the US. Well, Woodward’s War also focuses on President Biden and the Biden administration, including Biden cussing up a storm constantly.

President Joe Biden’s blunt, profanity-laced assessments of world leaders: “That son of a bitch, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy. He’s a bad f–king guy!” Biden declared privately about the Israeli prime minister to one of his associates in the spring of 2024 as Israel’s war in Gaza intensified, Woodward writes. “That f–king Putin,” Biden said to advisers in the Oval Office not long after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Woodward. “Putin is evil. We are dealing with the epitome of evil.” While Biden rarely invokes Trump’s name publicly, referring to him as “my predecessor” or “the former guy,” in private, Biden calls him “that f–king a–hole.”

The American intelligence on Russia’s plan to invade Ukraine: Biden confronted Putin with the intelligence twice in December 2021, first in a video conference and then in what Woodward describes as a “hot 50-minute call” that became so heated that at one point that Putin “raised the risk of nuclear war in a threatening way.” Biden responded by reminding Putin that “it’s impossible to win” a nuclear war.

Sen. Lindsey Graham on Trump: “Going to Mar-a-Lago is a little bit like going to North Korea,” Graham said. “Everybody stands up and claps every time Trump comes in.” The South Carolina Republican is quoted as saying Biden “won fair and square” but that Trump “doesn’t like to hear that.” Woodward goes on to describe Graham’s attempts to give Trump campaign advice for 2024. “You’ve got a problem with moderate women,” Graham told Trump after the midterms. “The people that think that the earth is flat and we didn’t go to the moon, you’ve got them. Let that go.”

On the withdrawal from Afghanistan: After the disastrous US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden received a commiserating phone call from another member of the president’s club. “Oh boy, I can understand what you’re going through,” George W. Bush said to Biden. “I got f–ked by my intel people, too.”

Biden’s complaints about Obama: Biden complained that Obama didn’t do enough to stop Putin in 2014, when the Russian leader invaded Crimea. “They f–ked up in 2014,” Biden said to a friend, according to Woodward. “That’s why we are here. We f–ked it up. Barack never took Putin seriously. We did nothing. We gave Putin a license to continue!” Biden was angry: “Well, I’m revoking his f–king license!”

Biden regrets choosing Garland as AG: Biden has remained hands off with the Justice Department. But privately, Woodward reveals the president’s anger at the prosecution of his son, especially toward his attorney general. “Should never have picked Garland,” Biden once told an associate, Woodward reports. “This is never going to f–king go away,” Biden complained.

Why Biden endorsed Kamala Harris immediately after dropping out: When Biden dropped out on July 21, he immediately endorsed Harris, allowing her to consolidate Democratic support and avoid messy party infighting. He also remembered what it was like not to get the president’s endorsement. “I think it probably harkens back to the way Biden felt he didn’t get that from President Obama back in 2016,” Blinken said, according to Woodward. “He was disappointed. He felt that, you know, as his vice president that’s the normal and natural order.”

Kamala & Joe’s private dealings: “I’m calling to ask you — to really beg you, actually — could you please talk to the president more than you talk to him?” Harris said to Biden’s friend. “Your president really loves you. You should talk to him more often than you do.” Woodward writes: “The Biden associate was candid with the vice president. Look, one of the biggest reasons that Biden calls me, the associate said, is I provide him a level of comfort to the point where he can swear freely about ‘what a f–king a–hole Joe Manchin is.’” The vice president laughed. “That might be the only reason that he still really is comfortable with me to a point,” Harris said, according to Woodward, “because he knows that I’m the only person around who knows how to properly pronounce the word motherf–ker.”

[From CNN]

Kamala calling up Biden’s friends and telling them to stay in touch with the president? That’s incredibly sweet. And Harris and Biden’s weekly lunches were probably a hoot, both of them swearing up and down about this motherf–ker and that sh-thead. I 100% believe that Biden called Netanyahu a “son of a bitch” and that Trump is always referred to as that “f–king a–hole.” In the history of Biden’s most relatable moments, those are top-tier. Also: hopefully, Merrick Garland will get shown the door pretty quickly. President Harris is going to need a much more focused AG.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

We heard this week that King Charles plans to pause his chemotherapy treatments for more than a week. Charles and Camilla plan to travel to Australia and Samoa, and they leave next week (I think), and they’ll be away for something like eleven or twelve days. Charles’s treatment is weekly, from what we can tell, and he’s been making a point of going to London mid-week for a day for those treatments. It feels like a somewhat big deal that the palace confirmed that Charles is pausing his treatments for his travels. It also feels like a big deal that the palace is confirming that Charles will not go to the Cop29 climate summit next month.

The King will not attend the Cop29 climate summit being hosted by Azerbaijan in November amid his cancer treatment. The monarch has long campaigned on environmental issues but will be absent from the United Nations gathering being held in the oil-rich state from Nov11 to 22.

The head of state has been receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer since early in 2024 and the global climate change conference will begin just over two weeks after the King and Queen’s long-haul trip to Australia and Samoa ends.

Sources told the Daily Mirror “an abundance of caution” is needed with the monarch’s current schedule. A source told the newspaper: “He has not been asked by the Government to attend the event and he is also mindful of his own commitments following the upcoming autumn tour.” The source added the King would have “relished the chance to attend” but he is “incredibly busy already…A decision was taken for His Majesty not to attend the conference this year.”

The overseas tour has been curtailed on doctor’s advice, with a visit to New Zealand dropped from the itinerary and other changes to the programme.

[From The Telegraph]

The start of Cop29 coincides with Remembrance Day, and the Windsors really spread Remembrance events throughout the entire month of November. Meaning, that excuse was right there and they didn’t take it. They could have just said “the king’s priority is on Remembrance events, not traveling to Azerbaijan.” They also could have blamed Downing Street and claimed that Keir Starmer suggested that the king stay home. It’s interesting that instead of those excuses, they’re going with “he’s not going to pause his chemotherapy again to do Cop29.”

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.

VP Kamala Harris did two big media appearances on Tuesday: the Howard Stern show and the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Both men, Colbert and Stern, despise Donald Trump and they were so lovely to VP Harris. Of course, Colbert would interview Trump if Trump agreed to go on The Late Show. That’s just the thing though – Trump prefers his echo chamber in right-wing media, and even those people are exhausted with him (I saw a clip of Laura Ingraham fact-checking his lies in real time the other night). Anyway, the Colbert interview was great. A lot of politicians are in stump-speech mode when they come on late-night shows, but VP Harris was funny, personable and chatty. Colbert’s audience chanted “Kamala, Kamala” when she walked on too. Colbert asked her about Hurricane Helene and Milton (which is making landfall in Florida right now), they talked about the debate, and Colbert asked her about the breaking-news from Bob Woodward’s new book, War.

My favorite part is in the third video, where Kamala passes the “would you want to have a beer with her” vibe check. Colbert gave her a Miller High Life, which is apparently what she requested. Kamala took one sip and she started taking sh-t about how Trump is a loser and how he incited an insurrection. Immaculate, no notes.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Harris’s IG and CBS.

Thomas Kingston passed away in February of this year. His passing came in the middle of a chaotic royal newscycle, including King Charles’s prostate procedure and then his cancer diagnosis and the Princess of Wales’s then-mysterious disappearance (and everything around that). Kingston died by “catastrophic wound to the head,” with a gun nearby. The initial inquest found that the most likely cause of death was self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Kingston was Lady Gabriella Windsor’s husband, and she has been deeply grieving ever since his passing. I kind of thought the inquest was all done and that everything had already been wrapped up, all nice and tidy and Windsor-approved. But no… they’re still investigating. Now they’re looking into what medications Kingston was taking just before his death.

The inquest into the death of Thomas Kingston, husband of Lady Gabriella Kingston, will look at whether his “state of mind was affected by medication”.

Kingston, 45, who married the daughter of Prince and Princess ­Michael of Kent in 2019, died in an outbuilding of his parents’ home in the Cotswolds with “catastrophic” head injuries and a gun left next to his body on February 25 this year. On Tuesday, in a pre-inquest review at Gloucestershire coroner’s court, Martin Porter KC said the family had been ­“advised that there could be a connection” between prescription medication he had taken and his state of mind.

Porter told the court: “The inquiry shouldn’t be limited to the final cause of death, which is clear and obvious.” He said it should include “Mr Kingston’s state of mind and whether that state of mind was affected by medication”.

Katy Skerrett, senior coroner for Gloucestershire, said the “recent prescription … should be part of the scope”, adding: “I agree with Mr Porter, however I do caveat strongly that whether a causative link will be established is a very different matter.”

Porter said Kingston’s death was ­“unexpected” and “impulsive”, adding: “There was no pre-planning. On the contrary there was planning for the future.”

Kingston was a director of Devonport Capital, which provides finance for companies in “frontier economies”. No date was fixed for the inquest but all parties have been asked for availability in early December.

[From The Times]

This is what strikes me as well: “There was no pre-planning. On the contrary there was planning for the future.” He had just had lunch with his parents and gone for a walk at his parents’ estate. His father reportedly found his son in an out-building on the estate. A lot of people who lost friends by suicide say that they had no idea they were depressed and it’s hard to make sense of it. Maybe it was the medication?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Prince Harry has repeatedly expressed his surprise that his ginger genes overpowered Meghan’s genes. Their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, are both redheads, although we haven’t seen either kid in a while, and it’s likely that their hair color has changed as they both get older. Archie’s hair, once bright orange, looks like it’s getting darker with age. Lilibet might end up a strawberry-blonde. Why are we talking about Harry’s genes? Well, he brought it up! He talked about it with one of Hello’s editors when he was in London for the WellChild Awards:

The Duke of Sussex has shared a sweet tidbit about his children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, revealing that the youngsters have been “blessed” with their mother Meghan Markle’s long, thick hair. In this week’s issue of HELLO!, chief content officer Sophie Vokes-Dudgeon writes about meeting Harry at last month’s WellChild Awards. Harry, 40, is patron of the children’s charity and has been attending the annual awards for years, while HELLO! is a long-time media partner.

“I knew that the WellChild Awards were special to Prince Harry, but it wasn’t until I had seen him in action that I was able to understand quite how much this special day means to the 40-year-old royal,” Sophie, who attended the ceremony, writes. “From the moment he arrived in the reception room, he had an infectious energy about him, and there were no airs and graces at all as he chatted animatedly about his own children ahead of the event.”

Sophie adds: “Archie and Lili have been blessed with their mother’s thick hair, he told us, self- effacingly, as he marvelled that it won’t be long until Lili can sit on hers.”

“He was enjoying being 40 and had been told by friends that it was the best decade, so he had high hopes for it. His wonderful wife Meghan was holding the fort, he said, her hands full with not only their two children but also their three dogs, which he joked were not quite house-trained. Not to mention the chickens!”

Sophie adds that the father-of-two was “in his element”. “The real joy for Harry is the time he spends with the children, parents and professionals being celebrated on the night. Our royal editor Emily Nash accompanies him each year and is genuinely moved each time as she observes the Duke down on his knees with the children, joking, laughing and raising smiles while he plays with the kids – something that has become even more profound for him since he became a father himself.”

[From Hello]

“Archie and Lili have been blessed with their mother’s thick hair, he told us, self-effacingly, as he marvelled that it won’t be long until Lili can sit on hers.” OMG. Lili’s hair is so long! And you could tell from the photos of Archie several years ago that he has a full head of thick curls. Hopefully the Spencer and Windsor bald-ass genes don’t descend on Archie too early. As for the rest of it… it’s not like Hello is writing this through gritted teeth. They seem genuinely happy that Harry stopped into London for a good cause. If anything, there’s a tinge of regret, like… we wish he could be around more often. Too bad the left-behinds are psychos!

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Misan Harriman for the Sussexes, the Ellen Show.