In the last week of September, Denmark’s Queen Margrethe announced that she was removing the royal titles from four of her grandchildren, and specifically all four of Prince Joachim’s children. This set off a very real royal scandal, as Joachim and his second wife Marie did several interviews in the Danish media about how hurtful QM’s actions were, how the kids don’t understand why this is happening. Joachim also seemed to indicate that there’s some internal drama within the family, describing his relationship with his brother and sister-in-law (Frederik and Mary) as “complicated.” Crown Princess Mary even came out and said that, in time, they’ll probably have to make similar decisions with their own children too.

In any case, it was all very dramatic and then something even weirder happened: Queen Margrethe publicly apologized to Joachim and Marie. Margrethe didn’t reverse her decision, but she acknowledged that her actions were hurtful and that she caused them pain. That seemed to work – Joachim and Marie haven’t given any additional interviews and now it looks like Joachim returned to Denmark for “peace talks” with his mother. The Mail interspersed news of the “peace talks” with a story from a Spanish tabloid about how Joachim is deeply in love with his sister-in-law? Oh, boy.

Queen Margrethe and her son Prince Joachim have had peace talks this week to smooth things over, the Royal Household has said – amid reports the Prince had a secret crush on his sister-in-law Princess Mary for years. The palace has confirmed that the Queen and her son want to ‘look foward’ following a row over the matriarch’s decision to remove princely titles from Prince Joachim’s children, which he claimed ‘hurt’ them.

Royal fans will now hope any animosity within the family is coming to an end after the Danish royal household confirmed to a publication that the mother and son are trying to ‘find their way through’ their differences after holding talks this week. The palace told B.T: ‘The Queen and Prince Joachim have spoken together at Fredensborg. Everyone agrees to look forward, and as the Queen herself has expressed, she and Prince Joachim want calm to find their way through this situation.’

Amid the scandal, Joachim, 53, and his second wife Princess Marie, 46, admitted their relationship with his older brother Crown Prince Frederik, 54, and his sister-in-law Crown Princess Mary, 50, is ‘complicated’. And now the Spanish magazine has sparked more speculation around the rift, after reporting that Joachim ‘was deeply in love with his sister-in-law Mary’.

A photograph was even published by Swedish woman’s weekly magazine ‘Svensk Damtidning’, allegedly showing Joachim trying to kiss Mary at a gala party of the Royal Guard Regiment.
The Spanish magazine recalled: ‘With obvious signs of drunkenness, it seems that the youngest son of Queen Margarethe tried to stamp his lips on his sister-in-law’s mouth, that she got out of the way as she could and with an unperturbed smile, while Marie witnessed the embarrassing moment.’

It also suggested that shortly after Frederik and Mary’s wedding in 2004, Danish media began to speculate that Joachim ‘was deeply in love with his sister-in-law’.

‘In fact, it didn’t help that in 2007 he announced his engagement to a French girl (Princess Marie) with the same name and a striking physical resemblance,’ wrote the magazine. But with such strong rumours about the prince’s crush on Mary, the magazine claims Margarethe called ‘them to order’ and ‘started a campaign to show that there were no problems between the two women,’ including ‘unscheduled outings’ together.

[From The Daily Mail]

The part about “Joachim has a crush on Mary” seems like royal fan-fiction – the photos of Joachim “trying to kiss Mary” look more like the European double-cheek kiss gone awry, which happens all the time if you don’t time the cheek-kisses properly. Now, is it possible that Joachim is just generally kind of creepy? Perhaps. But it sounds more like CP Mary’s fandom claiming that every man is in love with her. As for the peace talks… interestingly enough, CP Frederik and CP Mary were not involved:

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark ‘was not part of the meeting’ between his mother Queen Margrethe II and his younger brother over royal titles, the Royal Household confirmed – after Prince Joachim admitted the siblings’ relationship is ‘complicated’. Following the meeting, the palace confirmed that the monarch and Joachim want to ‘look forward’ and are trying to ‘find their way through’ their differences – however, Frederik did not attend the meeting at Fredensborg.

Danish publication B.T. reported: ‘According to the Royal House, the Crown Prince was not part of the meeting’, with a statement from the palace reading: ‘The Queen and Prince Joachim have spoken together at Fredensborg. Everyone agrees to look forward, and as the Queen herself has expressed, she and Prince Joachim want calm to find their way through this situation.’

B.T.’s royal correspondent Jacob Heinel Jensen said of the ‘significant and positive development’ between the monarch and her youngest son, that it was ‘not surprising’ that Frederik wasn’t included. The expert said: ‘Prince Joachim himself has acknowledged that the relationship with the Crown Prince couple was complicated, so it is not surprising that he was not there. It is the Queen’s decision, and she is the one who must bear the brunt of it.’

He added of the meeting: ‘This is crucial for their relationship. There will be an event in the future where it is important that we as a population believe that they have become friends again, now the first stones have been laid.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Big Sandringham Summit vibes, right? That was when Prince Harry sat down with courtiers from Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace to work out an exit, only William was too incandescent with rage to sit down with his brother. I’m not saying that’s Joachim and Frederik’s dynamic, I’m just saying that it’s very strange that the Crown Prince of Denmark wasn’t included in this important family meeting.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

The Women’s Rugby World Cup is happening right now. The group stage is still going on. Apparently, there is no “British women’s rugby team” – there are national teams, meaning there’s a Scottish team, an English team and a Welsh team, and they’re all in competition currently. Back in February, the then-Duchess of Cambridge was given the patronages of the Rugby Football League and Rugby Football Union, meaning she’s the patroness of record for all of the English rugby teams (men’s and women’s). She took over those patronages from Prince Harry. The thing is, now Kate is Princess of WALES. And her first “video of support” as Princess of Wales was to… wish the English women’s team good luck.

A special good luck message for the #RedRoses from our patron The Princess of Wales.
#TeamDream | @KensingtonRoyal pic.twitter.com/XsI5loL6U0

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) October 7, 2022

Yeah, again – Princess of WALES is telling her patronage, the English women’s rugby team, to win it all. When the Welsh women’s team is also playing. As is the Scottish team. I realize that she did this for her patronage, but surely she could, I don’t know, wish all three BRITISH teams well?

Also: I actually looked it up, the red coat she’s wearing in this video isn’t the same one she wore to Wales last week. At least she didn’t record a message to the English team on the same day and wearing the same outfit as her visit to Wales.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Mila Kunis is currently promoting Luckiest Girl Alive, which is why she’s on the cover of C Magazine. I haven’t looked at Mila the same since she and Ashton Kutcher kicked off the whole “do rich white people bathe” conversation, which lasted for months. Mila and Ashton barely wash themselves or their children and they proudly announced that last summer. Well, their dirty asses also went to the Oscars this year, and Mila used this interview to brag about how she and Ashton didn’t stand up for Will Smith when he won Best Actor (which happened an hour after he slapped Chris Rock). Predictably, Mila has a particularly smug and patronizing take on that and many other subjects. Some highlights from C:

Mila & Ashton didn’t stand for Will Smith: “The idea of leading by example, only makes sense when you actually have someone to lead. We have our tiny little tribe here at home, and never once do I want to tell them to do something if I’m not willing to do it myself. Not standing up to me was a no-brainer, but what was shocking to me was how many people did stand up. I thought, wow, what a time we’re living in that rather than do what’s right, people focus on doing what looks good. It’s insane to me.”

On her Ukrainian-Soviet roots: “I’m American. I assimilated so quickly. I don’t speak Ukrainian, and my Russian is stunted at an 8-year-old level. But I will say that this war gave me a sense of identity larger than being just American. Having kids changes your perspective. When I was in my twenties, even my teens, my drive was always ‘how can I be more successful at work?’ After I had kids, it was ‘how can I be a person that I want my kids to admire?’ So I went from career growth to self-growth. When the war broke out, my kids identified that Ukraine was a part of me before I did. They were like, ‘Mom, isn’t that where you’re from? Do we have family there? There’s a war happening—what are we doing about it?’ ”

Their Los Angeles farm: “My husband’s from the Midwest, and a lot of this has to do with his upbringing. He’s like, we’re building a farm and we’re all going to work on the farm. I’m from L.A., and I was like, we are? This has been a big learning curve for all of us. My parents make fun of me that it probably costs more to grow a tomato here than to get one at the store. But I say, at least my kids will understand the value of a tomato and how much work goes into growing it. It’s good not to be afraid to get dirty. I was just listening to a doctor who said that the people who grow and thrive in life are comfortable being uncomfortable, daily. Whether it’s learning something new, doing something a little bit scary—all of that makes you stronger.”

The family took a trip in a van: “A trip like this can allow you to love America again. You drive through a lot of red states. Clearly we were from California. No one cared. It was more like, oh, what are you guys grilling? Want to trade? What kind of beer do you have? We’d hang out, talk until midnight. The people we met were wonderful. You realize how the news can create a divide that doesn’t naturally exist, and how much more alike we are than different.”

A beach house in the “weird little town” of Santa Barbara: Back in California, the family divides time between L.A. and their home outside Santa Barbara, which offers the children a reprieve from what Kunis calls “the fishbowl.” Recently her daughter asked whether, if she were to enter her name into Google, she would see paparazzi pictures of herself. “That was a bummer,” Kunis says. The beach house, by contrast, gives them “privacy but with people. It’s a weird little town where no one cares who you are. After two days they all got used to it.”

[From C Magazine]

Oh, we just take the dirty children to our quaint little beach house in a tiny, weird little town called Santa Barbara, where the beach houses go for anywhere between $5 million and $90 million! Seriously, none of those backwater yokels even understand how famous we are, it’s so refreshing, darling! We do that in between looking after our city farm, where we don’t have to adhere to drought conditions to water these precious tomatoes, my dear. But don’t mind me, I am merely an iconic heroine who has to recount my own heroics to a magazine just so they know that it was terribly wrong to stand for a Black man winning an Oscar!

Seriously though, she sounds like a complete a–hole. If you didn’t like Will Smith slapping Chris Rock, okay, fine. It was wrong and he shouldn’t have done it, there. But the slap wasn’t the greatest moral dilemma of our time, for f–ks sake. It’s not like it would occur to Mila that all of the people in the Dolby who stood for Will when he won his Oscar were actually appreciating his work? Or they were genuinely happy for their friend and colleague?

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Photos courtesy of C Magazine.

The Telegraph’s Hannah Furness had a surprisingly normal story about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex this weekend. Ever since QEII’s funeral, royal sources have been abuzz trying to predict what Harry and Meghan would do about their Netflix docuseries and Harry’s memoir. These sources have literally no idea what they’re talking about, but they keep throwing sh-t at the wall to see what will stick. This Telegraph story has some of that as well, but it actually sounds like Furness spoke to someone who has actual knowledge of what’s happening in Camp Sussex. The reason I say that is because the quotes don’t sound like they come from a barking lunatic and the explanations given sound completely reasonable.

A documentary & a memoir: In the coming months, Prince Harry and Meghan are to embark on a round of media activity never-before-known in royal history. A Netflix series and a book from Prince Harry, both part of the blockbuster commercial deals that the Sussexes have signed in the wake of the departure formerly known as Megxit, are on their way. Timed for release one after the other – at least until the death of Queen Elizabeth II changed everyone’s calendars – they are set to be a tour de force of the Sussexes’s truth. Or “truth”, as some might pointedly call it.

The Netflix docu-series: “This is about where they’ve come from, what they’ve been through and where they are,” said a source familiar with the Netflix show. “I think it will explain a lot about the decisions they’ve had to make and how they’ve ended up here.”

LOL, these people are still dumb though: Netflix has still not confirmed that any such television series exists. The reluctance to promote what will doubtless be a ratings hit has been remarkable by UK standards, a sign either of the streaming services’ last-minute shock-and-awe PR strategy or, perhaps, nerves over whether the programme would ever actually make it to the screen. It will, television insiders believe, be make or break for the Sussexes careers. Their deal with the streaming giant is reliant on their output, and their appearing on screen to a certain degree.

The series is not being massively edited: “Ok, the timing isn’t ideal,” said one source yesterday, with some understatement. But, another insists, there is no wholesale editing going on to add or remove bombshell royal revelations. “There seems to be a big misconception that they need or want to turn the project on its head,” they said. “There are always edits being made, but that’s how it works – people give notes, sometimes things are changed if there’s time before a deadline.”

Industry back-and-forth: One industry source confirmed to The Daily Telegraph that there has been “back and forth” on release dates, with a multi-episode series pencilled in for December. The Harry memoir will follow, probably next year and likely subject to edits to make it make sense after the Queen’s death, even down to the basics of clarifying the tenses. Fundamentally, The Telegraph understands, there has been no thawing of the relationship between the Sussexes and their British family that would leave a contrite pile of deleted accusations on the Netflix or Penguin Random House cutting room floor.

LOL: It was the Queen both Harry and Meghan have always publicly lauded above all others. Even a sympathetic American audience will draw the line at her being disrespected after death. With “the boss” gone, one school of thought goes, there is less to stop the Sussexes unleashing their version of events. But, one who knows them insists, the documentary and book are not designed as “Harry’s version of the story. They are his story, full stop. This isn’t supposed to be a take-down of anyone or anything,” they said, predicting people who watch will have greater “empathy”. “There’s no finger-pointing.”

Ruffle feathers: “Everything they do ruffles feathers,” said one dismissively. “It doesn’t matter what they say or write, the chatter will be there regardless. Even if they didn’t mention the Royal family at all, people would still say it’s a snub.”

Double LOL: The Telegraph understands there are no plans for palace aides to be able to read the memoir or watch the Netflix series before the general public.

[From The Telegraph]

What I genuinely hope for with the schedule is this: The Crown Season 5 comes out on November 9, Buckingham Palace goes into full panic mode and Charles calls on all of his media allies to whine on his behalf. Then, in the space of about six weeks following that, Harry’s memoir is released and their Netflix docuseries comes out. It should be like dominoes falling. As much as these people are crying about Harry’s memoir, what’s even f–king funnier to me is that Harry will probably do some interviews to promote the memoir and he’ll spill even more glorious tea. Fingers crossed for a November and December full of receipts! ‘Tis the season.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instar.

Introduction: Minutes 0 to 6:00
My dog did not do well at doggy day care. I’ve been watching 9-1-1. Chandra is watching Archer and Abbott Elementary. I watched a few House of the Dragon episodes but I didn’t care about anyone. Chandra is reading the book Blackout by Erin Flanagan but she hates it. You can listen below!

Royals: Minutes 6:00 to 22:15
Of the three royal biographies we talked about last week, Valentine Low’s Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Throne has the most tea. Low wrote about how Meghan was smeared back in March of 2021, right before the Oprah interview aired, for wearing earrings which were a wedding gift from Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. It’s unclear what Meghan was told about the provenance of the jewelry. These earrings were part of the royal collection and had to be lent to Meghan to wear.

Katie Nicholl wrote in The New Royals about how mad the royal rota was at Harry and Meghan for keeping the news of Archie’s birth a secret at first and for staging the photos at Windsor castle. Meghan said in her Oprah interview that she was scared Archie wasn’t going to be kept safe because he wasn’t being given a title or security, and that she also wasn’t asked to pose for photos outside the hospital. Nicholl said in an interview that staffers were mad that Meghan expected them to do work, essentially. She also wrote that Charles was jealous of Diana, that he was jealous of Kate and that Kate and William were jealous of Meghan.

We got a new official photo of Charles, Camilla, William and Kate that was taken on September 18th at a diplomatic reception the day before Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. The tone is off as they’re all smiling. We talk about how Kate raided the Queen’s jewelry right after the Queen died. We also got two new photo portraits of Meghan and Harry, taken at the One Young World Summit before the Queen passed.

Charles wants to stop Harry’s memoir. The Telegraph reported that Charles is considering getting his lawyers to explore options. They’re also upset about Harry and Meghan’s upcoming Netflix documentary.

Last week we talked about how Queen Margrethe of Denmark was taking away the HRH and Prince and Princess titles from her four grandchildren from her younger son, Prince Joaquim. Joaquim and his second wife, Mary, gave an interview admitting that they were hurt by this decision and that their relationship with the family was complicated. After that Margrethe apologized and said she hopes that they can all make peace, but that she stands by her decision. Joaquim’s oldest son, former Prince Nikolai, 23, said he’s in shock and sad about the decision. Joaquim and Mary have been living in France for years. I play a segment from Zoom where we talk about the royals.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie: Minutes 22:15 to 28:30
We last talked about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in episode 132, when the heavily redacted FBI report came out. We didn’t hear until now that Brad choked one of their children, that he poured beer and wine on the children, and that he hit one of the children in the face. Those details were included in Jolie’s cross complaint to his objection to her selling her portion of Chateau Miraval, their wine company. It took her years of legal harassment from Brad to come out with this information. She gave him so many chances to buy out her portion of the company. Stoli, which bought Angelina’s portion of the business, is now suing Brad. I play a segment from Zoom where we talked about Brad and Angelina.

Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady: Minutes 28:30 to 31:45
Gisele Bundchen is divorcing Tom Brady. This divorce has been exceptional in that she’s been clear about the reasons she’s doing it, because he went back to playing football after announcing his retirement. She’s been caring for their children for years and he’s promised her that she could return to her career when he retired but he reneged on that. They’re being admirably open about their problems. Gisele’s Elle interview was so breezy and forward-focused. There was a story about how Tom was attentive to their children “in the off season.”

Comments of the Week: 31:45 to end
Chandra’s comment of the week is from Emmi on the post about who should be the next Bond.

My comment of the week is from girl ninja on the post about Naomi Watts talking about menopause.

Thanks for listening bitches!

A lot was happening with and around Kanye West last week, and we only covered a fraction of it. It’s always tricky – people want to acknowledge that Kanye is bipolar and unmedicated, but we also need to acknowledge that he’s a complete a–hole who is desperate for attention. “Bipolar” isn’t a catch-all excuse for being racist, for promoting violent ideologies, for body-shaming women, for being a misogynist or for being anti-Semitic. On Friday and Saturday, Ye was at it again. I won’t even do a comprehensive breakdown of all that was said and posted on social media, suffice to say that Kanye got his social media accounts suspended for anti-Semitism:

Kanye “Ye” West’s Instagram account has been restricted for violating the platform’s policies, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

A Meta spokesperson confirms to THR that the company deleted content from the rapper’s Instagram account that uses the @kanyewest handle. Additionally, although the account is still visible, a restriction has been placed on it, according to the rep. Meta has a policy of putting restrictions on users after repeated violations, which could temporarily prevent the user from sharing posts, writing comments or sending direct messages. The Meta rep did not specify which content was pulled or how long the restriction would last.

On Friday, the performer returned to Twitter after a lengthy hiatus, where he criticized Meta chair Mark Zuckerberg and tweeted, in part, “How you gone kick me off instagram.” Elon Musk, who this week confirmed plans to buy Twitter, responded to West’s tweet by posting, “Welcome back to Twitter, my friend!”

This follows West having recently posted to Instagram an exchange purportedly between himself and Diddy in which West used language criticized by other social media users as anti-Semitic. The post has since been deleted.

West also received backlash for comments he made about Jared Kushner during the rapper’s recent appearance on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight that were perceived as perpetuating Jewish stereotypes.

[From THR]

After all of that, he went on Twitter and threatened to go “death con” on Jewish people, so his Twitter account was suspended as well. Celebrities are now speaking out about Kanye’s vile anti-Semitism and hate speech. He was previewing this ramp up all of last week too, as THR notes – the anti-Semitic dog whistles about Jared Kushner, and some stuff he said about who is “controlling” the Kardashians. The messages he posted to and from Puffy were crazy as well – Puffy was trying to reach out to him as a friend and help him and Kanye told Puffy that he (Puffy) was being controlled by Jewish people.

Meanwhile, “sources close to Kanye” told Page Six that Kanye’s friends are incredibly worried about him. He’s not sleeping, he’s ranting day and night, he’s alienating all of his friends and employees. Sources fear that his behavior is “the result of a mental break, and they believe it’s the most serious such episode that the rapper has suffered.” I mean… I remember Kanye having manic episodes which were as bad as this if not worse. The man was in the middle of a full-blown episode in the Trump White House. He had a complete breakdown and needed to be hospitalized right after Kim was robbed in Paris.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Fox news.

Tina Brown’s The Palace Papers came out earlier this year, to much disappointment. Many royal-watchers hoped that Brown would be fair and even “journalistic” to the Windsors, but Brown was largely co-opted by the palace machinery she should have exposed. The Palace Papers ended up being largely asinine, especially when it came to the then-Cambridges and the Sussexes. Which isn’t to say that the book and the promotion was wall-to-wall lies – Brown ended up accidentally telling the truth a few times, especially when she spoke about why Harry and Meghan are such a huge threat to the monarchy. Brown just wasn’t saying that like it’s a good thing, like good for H&M for creating an American royal court and telling their truth! No, Brown made it sound like H&M are dreadful for going away and living their lives and not agreeing to be abused in the UK. Well, Brown spoke at the Henley Literary Festival over the weekend and she had much more to say. File this under “British People Britsplain America to British People.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are poor by Hollywood standards, according to Tina Brown, who joked that “Elon Musk is still single” if the Duchess fancies trading up. The royal biographer, author of The Diana Chronicles and The Palace Papers, was responding to reports that the Duchess is house-hunting in California.

According to local reports, she has been shopping for a “private estate” in Hope Ranch, an upmarket community a few miles from their current home in Montecito.

“Yes, and at some point it might be more than a new house she’s looking for,” Brown joked, adding: “Elon Musk is still single, that’s all I have to say.”

Speaking at the Henley Literary Festival, Brown said: “It’s not very pleasant to be a D-list celebrity who, for them, doesn’t have enough money. It’s a wholly different game to be with those super-rich people. In Montecito, where they live, their $14 million mansion is a humble cottage compared to what these other people have.”

Brown, the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, spoke to many people closely connected with the Royal family for her latest book, The Palace Papers. She claimed that the Duke of Sussex’s tell-all biography may never be published.

“They are now in this bind, where they’ve taken all this money and Harry has made this book deal where he’s supposed to spill everything about his horrible life as a royal, but now he’s actually tortured about it because he understands there is no way back if he does it. If the book continues, I don’t think there is any way for Harry to return. So my view has always been that the book won’t see the light of day. The window is beginning to close but I always thought at some point a deal would be made and Charles would have to pay back the advance to stop Harry writing this book.”

Asked what advice she believed Diana would have given to her son if she were alive today, Brown said the princess would have advised him to return to the family fold. Brown said: “Diana was very pragmatic. I think she would have said to Harry, ‘This isn’t going anywhere. You need to make a deal and find a way to come back.’”

[From The Telegraph]

Yeah, no – Diana would not tell her younger son to return to the abusive system which tried to destroy her and warped her two sons after her death. What the f–k is Tina Brown smoking? It’s completely insane to watch all of these royalists try to reimagine Diana as a conservative Establishment figure who wanted nothing more than to protect the institution. She was not that.

As for what Brown says about the Sussexes… they’re literally living in a giant mansion in Montecito, one of the wealthiest enclaves in the country. If they sold their home, they would turn a huge profit because the value of that kind of California real estate has skyrocketed. As for not having enough money… I’m so, so glad that the Sussexes got out when they did and had the chance to set themselves up financially, because the very second William became Duke of Cornwall, he would have cut them off anyway. People like Tina Brown act as if Harry and Meghan left the cushiest financial situation in the UK – they did not. And it would have been so much worse for them financially when Charles became king.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Jennifer Lawrence walked the red carpet at the BFI London Film Festival premiere of Causeway, J-Law’s new film and her first film as a producer. I was looking at these photos and I got really excited, thinking that Dior had finally designed something special and cool just for J-Law. Not so much! This dress isn’t Dior, it’s by Del Core. Those aren’t polka-dots, they’re sewn-in pearls. The dress is kind of a mess at the very bottom, but otherwise, it’s really good. I’m glad she’s not wearing another boring Dior.

Jennifer did press in at the film festival and she ended up talking about how crazy it was for her right after the first Hunger Games movie came out and then she won the Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook (both films came out in 2012).

Jennifer Lawrence has revealed that she sensed a loss of control in the wake of the huge success of the first “Hunger Games” film in 2012. Talking to Francine Stock about her career as part of the London Film Festival’s “Screen Talk” series, Lawrence opened up about her feelings on working in the hit franchise.

“I think I lost a sense of control. Between ‘The Hunger Games’ coming out and winning the Oscar [for 2012’s ‘Silver Lining Playbook’], I became such a commodity that I felt like every decision was a big, big group decision. When I reflect now, I can’t think of those following years, [because there was] just a loss of control.”

Lawrence went on to explain how she feels she has clawed her identity back again. “It feels personal for me the first time in a long time,” she said.

[From Variety]

Yeah, there was maybe a six-year span when she was just terribly overexposed and overworked. It was film set after film set, premiere after premiere interview after interview. It would often feel wall-to-wall. It didn’t help that J-Law seemed to be a chronic oversharer too, but I’m sure part of that was just Jennifer being a young woman who was in over her head and trying to describe what it was like for her. A loss of control, for sure. Being able to “go away,” take a break from making movies, getting married and having a baby… it sounds like that did ground her a lot.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Embed from Getty Images
New York, watch out. Infamous grifter Anna Sorokin (Delvey) is out of jail! Actually she’s on house arrest in an East Village apartment without access to electronics or social media, but she made time to speak to The New York Times reporter lurking outside of her building the night she was released. Apparently the immigration judge doesn’t believe Anna is remorseful about her crimes, but shrugged and said she’s probably not a danger to the community anymore either. So she’s out and can contest the visa thing from house arrest. Wow, that’s lucky. Some excerpts from her interview are below.

After 18 months in ICE detention, you’re out on house arrest with an ankle bracelet. How do you feel?
I’m really happy. Nothing was guaranteed. They denied bail before. It was an exercise in perseverance. So many immigration lawyers told me I’d get deported to Mars before I’d get out in New York. And I just had to find the person who’d align with my vision, not accept “no” for an answer and make it happen.

You didn’t have to stay behind bars. You could have fought your immigration status from Germany.
I just did not want it to go down the way ICE wanted it to. Letting them deport me would have been like a sign of capitulation — confirmation of this perception of me as this shallow person who only cares about obscene wealth, and that’s just not the reality. I could have left, but I chose not to because I’m trying to fix what I’ve done wrong. I have so much history in New York and I felt like if I were in Europe, I’d be running from something. But if jail does not prove people wrong, then what will?

So why is house arrest better?
Better food, I guess. And I can have visitors beyond just 1:30 p.m. on Thursdays. We’ll just see what I can do from here. I guess everybody will be coming to me.

What are you most excited about doing now that you’re out?
Finding my way back.

With an ankle bracelet.

With an ankle bracelet, yeah. Apparently if I have any issues with it, then somebody will come fix it. It’s a 24/7 service. I’m thinking what I can do with it.

You want to glam it up?
I’m not a glam-it-up type of person, but the possibilities are endless.

When we spoke earlier this year, you said that you had changed a lot since the crimes you committed in your mid-20s. But the judge’s order doesn’t seem convinced of your remorse.
I definitely have a way different perspective now than I did when I came out the first time last February. It’s just impossible to have been through what I’ve been through without changing. I learned so much being in jail. There’s a very well-documented arc about how I’ve felt about everything. It wouldn’t be right if I were just to switch in one day. That would be very disingenuous. It’s a process. I am regretful about the way things played out. The way I’ve tried to see my experience is to learn from it: Who I am today is because of the decisions I made in the past.

Where does your celebrity status fit into your future plans?
It’s literally the last thing I’m thinking about right now. I don’t feel like I have a lot of control over it, especially now that I’m in house confinement without access to social media or electronics.

This isn’t the end of your immigration case. You could still be deported.

My immigration case is just beginning. I’m creating a lot of jobs for my lawyers. So everybody’s happy.

So you’ll be in New York for a while.
I’m really, really happy about that. That’s exactly what I wanted. I’m just hoping to get more freedom eventually. And hopefully, ICE will see that New York will remain safe — even if one day I’m able to leave this apartment.

[From The New York Times]

Guys, she just “didn’t want it to go down the way ICE wanted it to go down.” Wow, it must be a really nice (white) privilege to “not accept ‘no’ for an answer” regarding deportation and not “capitulate” to ICE. It must be so nice to be able to decide things like that and go around ICE to stay in New York and grift another day. She’s far more dangerous to the community than most of the people ICE deports who just want to make better lives for their families, but sure. She’s creating jobs for lawyers, she’s doing a service. Anyway, Anna is as pretentious and self-important as ever. She plays coy about her finances (probably all that money from selling her story), but had to put a lot of money down up front for her East Village apartment (a walk-up, at least). She’s going to do a podcast and has a book coming out. Well. I agree with the judge. The only thing Anna is sorry about is that she got caught. Still the same old Anna, pursuing fame and fortune, but swearing that she isn’t.

Anna Sorokin, the convicted fraudster who posed as an heiress, sat down for her first interview since her release from jail. She discussed her evolution since her Anna Delvey days and what she plans to do now that she’s no longer behind bars. https://t.co/pBGa5thac8

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 9, 2022

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Over the weekend, Netflix announced that The Crown’s Season 5 will premiere on schedule on November 9th. They also released a teaser, showcasing the “war of the Waleses” during the 1990s. Buckingham Palace managed to get a piece into the Sunday edition of the Telegraph, with well-placed palace aides sniffing, complaining and explaining on behalf of King Charles III. What has always bothered Charles about The Crown is that the show gets the broad strokes right, and it takes all of these people away from tabloid caricatures and we get a glimpse of the real history. QEII’s tendency to ostrich, her inability to parent her children, her coldness. Diana’s temperamental nature, her youth and vivacity, how quickly the palace machinery ate her up. Charles’s manipulative side, his dismissal of Diana, the fact that he really never loved her. So, yeah, Season 5 is going to be bad for the new King Charles III. So what is he going to do about it?

“It is my understanding that the palace has devised a plan to fight any misinformation or fiction with facts,” Kinsey Schofield, royal expert and host of the “To Di For” podcast, told Fox News Digital. “Expect King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla’s friends to speak out on their behalf. Expect to see a push of any documentaries the pair have participated in to resurface. Expect a flood of King Charles books to hit shelves. There might even be… I can’t believe I’m saying this… fresh interviews with the couple. Something we never saw from the queen.”

Still, Schofield suspects the palace will find a way to address the public reaction – and any backlash that comes with it.

“The palace wants to make ‘the truth’ more available and accessible than ever so if anyone begins to research their story beyond Netflix’s ‘The Crown,’ they will find it instantly,” said Schofield. “You might see a fresh pursuit to add a fiction warning to each episode of ‘The Crown.’ Netflix has already said they won’t do this, but the PR around a campaign like that highlights intentionally that this is a work of fiction.”

[From Yahoo News]

The “fiction warning” issue is a particularly funny one because they already tried to argue that in 2020 and Netflix came out with Diana: In Her Own Words, using the audio recordings Diana made for Andrew Morton. Netflix shows their sourcing too, and what Charles can’t stand is that Netflix and Peter Morgan bases The Crown on actual historical records, it’s just that the historical records are damaging to Charles. Because he treated Diana so poorly for years. Also: the “fiction warning” issue was about the crown’s inability to control or bargain with Netflix. The BBC caves to the Windsors on a regular basis, as do most British broadcasters. Netflix doesn’t have to cave. Netflix doesn’t care.

It will genuinely crack me up if the new king decided to use the full weight of the palace to try to counter The Crown’s narratives. Will we see a joint interview with Camilla and Charles in November? Lord, that would be something. I think it’s far more likely that Charles will do the same thing he did for Season 4: a completely bonkers pity-poor-me PR campaign which ended up driving more attention to The Crown.

The Daily Beast’s Royalist column also had a piece on Charles’s efforts to ramp up a campaign against The Crown. The Royalist surprised me by calling Charles’s complaints “unfair and disingenuous” and pointing out that overwhelmingly, the show is pretty fair to its subjects. You can read that piece here.

Photos courtesy of Instar, Netflix.