The promotion for Don’t Worry Darling was chaotic, but you can’t deny that there was word-of-mouth “buzz” for the film. Was most of the buzz about the behind-the-scenes drama? Yes. But that’s worked for other films too. It does look like all of the dramas between Olivia Wilde, Florence Pugh, Harry Styles and Chris Pine created enough interest to ensure that people came out for DWD’s opening weekend. Box office prognosticators were at their wit’s end trying to figure out what the up-and-down tracking meant, which led to a curious piece on Vulture. Vulture spoke to those industry insiders, executives and prognosticators to figure out what could be learned from the Please Worry Darling promotional debacle, and unnamed sources actually spilled some tea about the on-set tensions between Olivia and Miss Flo herself.

An anonymous executive from a rival studio called early estimates of DWD’s opening-weekend box-office performance “schizophrenic,” and an exec at yet another studio called it “all over the place.”

“I’ve never seen tracking go up and down so much,” said the latter exec. “They went up three points of interest, lost five points of interest. Now they’re, like, nowhere. They’ve got young girls excited because of Harry Styles, and that’s it. Their campaign keeps changing: ‘It’s a thriller!’ No, just kidding. ‘It’s a romantic drama!’ ‘It’s this. It’s that!’ Kim Kardashian liked it on Instagram. The audience is like, What the f–k is going on?”

In one alarming indication of ebbing interest for Don’t Worry Darling, ticket presales have leveled off this week rather than spiking upward as is more typical of a film about to make its multiplex debut, according to tracking data. By contrast, Paramount’s supernatural-horror title Smile — which opens a full week later on September 30 — just pulled ahead of Don’t Worry Darling with a score of 13 in the crucial box-office tracking metric of “unaided awareness” versus DWD’s 12, according to a Thursday report from NRG. Not helping matters: Chris Pine’s “last-minute” cancellation of a promotional appearance on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this week. (He joined Pugh in skipping DWD’s New York premiere.)

Pugh’s refusal to do more than the barest minimum of media appearances in support of the film has been parsed as confirmation of her animus toward Wilde… and rumors about the true depths of DWD dysfunction have seemingly picked up the promotional slack. According to an anonymous source who spent significant time on the DWD set and spoke to Vulture last week, a blowout argument between star and director did indeed take place in January 2021 — about three-quarters of the way through filming. Pugh, who is a few degrees removed from Wilde’s ex, Jason Sudeikis, had reportedly grown fed up with the director’s frequent unexplained absences. “Olivia and Harry would just disappear,” the source says. But the breaking point came when Pugh, 26, and Wilde, 38, broke into a “screaming match,” this person recalls.

According to our source, the acrimony between Wilde and Pugh allegedly reached all the way to the top of the studio totem pole, with the highest-ranking Warner Bros. executive at the time, Toby Emmerich, forced to play referee in a “long negotiation process” to ensure Pugh would participate in the film’s life cycle “in any way” and not jeopardize the potential box office. (A Warner Bros. spokeswoman said Emmerich was traveling and unavailable to comment. Vulture also reached out for comment to representatives for Wilde and Pugh, who did not respond.)

An anonymous executive with knowledge of the situation told us that top Warner Bros. brass are ultimately unhappy with how Wilde has handled DWD promotional duties — specifically with regard to how she’s discussed LaBeouf’s departure from the film in interviews. (Warner Bros. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) “Olivia is either a mad genius who figured out a way to make people more aware of the movie in a way that just drives up the box office,” says another source close to the production, “or she doesn’t have any self-awareness that she is f–king up her movie.”

[From Vulture]

This is actually not the first time we’ve heard about a “blowout argument” between Florence and Olivia, nor is it the first time we’ve heard that Florence was upset with Olivia’s unexplained absences, when she was off with Harry. That gossip has been layered into tabloid reporting before now, so it’s interesting to see Vulture’s industry sources backing up those stories. Now, I hadn’t heard about Toby Emmerich coming in to mediate the conflict, but I think it’s worth pointing out that no one from the studio seemed the least bit surprised that Florence refused to do promotion and that she didn’t even do the press conference in Venice. Florence has clearly been backed by Warner Bros for months and the WB has been kept in the loop about Pugh’s issues with Wilde (which is smart for Pugh – go above Olivia’s head, deal with the issues at an executive level). This Vulture piece also confirms something I’ve been half-way assuming this whole time: the studio isn’t happy with Olivia and this whole DWD drama has done serious and lasting damage to Olivia’s career, regardless of the film’s box office.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

Zawe Ashton covers the October issue of Tatler to promote Mr Malcolm’s List, which is a period romantic-comedy in the vein of Jane Austen or Bridgerton, I guess. Freida Pinto is the lead, but Zawe has a significant role. Zawe is also engaged to Tom Hiddleston and pregnant with their first child. She speaks of that and she speaks around it with Tatler – she has clear lines she doesn’t really want to cross, but she does mention Tom and she’s clearly very pregnant. I’ve always sort of thought that Zawe’s energy is very calm, focused and driven, but I never realized (before now) that she’s actually kind of similar to Hiddles – she’s chatty, upbeat, a bit dorky and “keen.” You can feel her bristling against the hurdles and roadblocks set in her path since birth but she doesn’t come right and say “god, Britain is a terrible place to be a Black woman.” Some highlights from Tatler:

Whether she gets a lot of villain roles: ‘I think that’s probably a phase I’ve always been in – certainly the outsider phase. I’ve always played outliers, and that’s great. I think it’s where you can move the needle the most.’

Summers in Uganda. ‘There’s a lot of strength in having a duality. We’re finally seeing that more and more now as something to be celebrated. When I was younger, that wasn’t the case.’

Bullied in school & at drama school: ‘It was rough. They break you down.’ Why? ‘I think they saw my keenness, my enthusiasm… I don’t know why, but sometimes they really want to wash you out.’

She pitched a show like ‘Girls’ which was in development hell: ‘There was just this weird resistance. And bullying. Bullying, demeaning, gaslighting… I was yelled at by one producer because I was questioning something about my own work.’ I venture cautiously that, to some, Ashton might just have been too much of a multi-hyphenate. ‘Yep. We didn’t do that kind of thing here until the success of things like I May Destroy You or Fleabag.’

She supports other artists: ‘We don’t fuel the fire of genuine enthusiasm in the UK. It’s like, “Don’t get ideas above; stay calm; it’s not that good.” I appreciate that, because I’m London through and through – I love that acerbic quality and I love that edge. But it can be really damaging.’

Working with Tom Hiddleston on ‘Betrayal’: ‘Tom and I had done a reading together of the central scene, at a gala for Harold Pinter’s birthday’.

Pregnant with Tom’s baby: ‘Thanks, it’s wonderful.’ I’d read somewhere that she’d always wanted children. ‘I know… I used to talk about it all the time in interviews – it was really unsuitable.’ Has she learnt the art of discretion now? ‘I’ve got to learn it.’

Pregnant at 38: ‘You’re told, “Don’t get pregnant” but also “Don’t leave it too long” because then you’re going to be an old maid. I’ve been prehistoric in this industry since I was 25. The mixed messaging is rough and has to be addressed.’ She hadn’t felt stressed by her biological clock ticking: ‘It was just suddenly this self-permission comes over you that goes against all that messaging.’

Announcing the pregnancy by showing up with her bump: ‘I don’t want to talk about my personal life. I didn’t feel like I had to do anything… it felt like [the pregnancy news] happened in the right way. [It is a] really, really, vital moment where we’re talking about women and their autonomy when it comes to their bodies.’ The Roe v Wade reversal had been announced just days before, and she had no desire to ‘be cute’ about it. ‘I’m not into “announcements” or “reveals”. I’m into trying to carry the narrative as much as possible myself, rather than anyone else feeling like they have an exclusive on my body.’

Doors are opening for young actors of color: ‘I can see that opportunities for so many under-represented students are suddenly there. I don’t worry about them the way I worried for myself – and that’s really lovely. Systemic racism isn’t going anywhere fast. But they can imagine themselves in huge franchises, in the new Netflix show, in the lead in West End theatres.’

She loves Jane Austen’s books but not P&P: ‘I’m not really a Pride and Prejudice girl’, she frowns. Not into Darcy? ‘No, too austere. People love that. I know friends who are like, “I love how emotionally unavailable you are.” I’m like, “Oh gawd!”’

[From Tatler]

“We don’t fuel the fire of genuine enthusiasm in the UK. It’s like, ‘Don’t get ideas above; stay calm; it’s not that good’.” As in, don’t get ideas above your station, Britain is still racist and classist and enthusiasm is always suspicious. Tatler has a thing about mentioning the Duchess of Sussex in random interviews but they didn’t in this one. Perhaps because it was too “on the nose.” Because the whole piece felt like one big subweet of Meghan’s experience and culture shock.

And yes, the fact that she’s not into Mr. Darcy makes so much sense. Hiddles isn’t brooding or austere, he’s a big, energetic puppy. Of course, her favorite Austen books are Persuasion and Emma.

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A post shared by Tatler (@tatlermagazine)

Cover & IG courtesy of Tatler.

A month ago, Jennifer Flavin filed for divorce from Sylvester Stallone, her husband of 25 years. Their three daughters are all “grown up” and somewhat out of the house, although the Stallone daughters are apparently filming a reality show, which also features Stallone and Flavin. The reasons for the divorce seemed shockingly mundane. Sources claimed that the age difference had begun to bother Flavin and that there were a lot of little conflicts about money and how Stallone made big purchases without checking in with Flavin. There seemed to be a looming divorce fight over real estate. Some said that Stallone was actually blind-sided by Flavin filing for divorce. Then something weird happened: the gossip dissipated quickly and Flavin and Stallone began talking to each other. Now it looks like they’ve reconciled.

Sylvester Stallone and his wife, Jennifer Flavin, have decided to reconcile a month after the former model filed for divorce, his rep tells Page Six exclusively.

“They decided to meet back up at home, where they talked and were able to work out their differences,” the spokesperson says. “They are both extremely happy.”

Page Six can confirm that the order of abatement filed this week — which aims to put a hold on divorce proceedings — was submitted due to the fact that the couple are working things out. We’re also told the throwback photo that Stallone, 76, posted of him and Flavin, 54, holding hands Monday was “in his own way alluding to what was coming.”

The “Rocky” star and the Serious Skincare founder have been married for 25 years and share three daughters: Sophia, 26, Sistine, 24, and Scarlet, 20.

Flavin shockingly filed for divorce from the “Tulsa King” star in August in Palm Beach County, Fla., and was seen without her wedding ring shortly thereafter. Stallone then appeared to take permanent steps to cement the split by covering up two tattoos that he had gotten in honor of his wife.

[From Page Six]

Interesting, I guess. I wonder if Flavin intended the divorce filing as a wakeup call to Stallone, or if her original intention was to truly divorce him. It worked as a wakeup call, it seems. I halfway hope that she’s getting something out of this reconciliation, like a payout or her name on one of their properties, something like that. Also: isn’t an order of abatement different than simply asking for the divorce filing to be withdrawn? Is Flavin saying “no, we’re not getting a divorce” or is she saying “we’ve sort of reconciled for now but he’s still on notice.”

PS… At the end of the day, it would not surprise me if the Stallone girls’ reality show was a big factor in all of this. Like, the divorce filing could have been to generate some interest and scandal. And/or Flavin and Stallone got back together for the sake of the reality show.

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Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.

George & Amal Clooney stepped out in New York last night. [Just Jared]
Adam Levine & Behati Prinsloo are putting on a united front. [Dlisted]
Yeah, this part of Brad Pitt’s Vogue interview was stupid too. [LaineyGossip]
Apple Music replaces Pepsi as the sponsor of the Super Bowl Halftime show. [Seriously OMG]
A woman was denied pain medication because she’s of child-bearing age. [Jezebel]
Roberto Cavalli wants everyone to wear pineapples. [Go Fug Yourself]
Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka was suspended for cheating on Nia Long. [Gawker]
Did you know Eva Mendes has a sponge line? [Pajiba]
Rich people spend money in some really bonkers ways. [Buzzfeed]
Billy Eichner looked cute on Late Night with Seth Meyers. [Tom & Lorenzo]
Nikki Haley thinks it’s racist for people to question why she’s actively trying to bury and cover up her Indian heritage. [Towleroad]
Gigi Hadid designed a “workwear” collection. [Egotastic]

The Windsors are just vile people, and they surround themselves with dumb sycophants, and the right-wing British media just eats it up and hypes them endlessly. It’s all a toxic cycle, an ecosystem built on stupidity, cruelty, racism, short-sightedness and buttons. Even though royal commentators are giving the royal institution a hint that, actually, y’all are in trouble without the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the institution is going to barrel ahead with their unhinged revenge plot. Nevermind the fact that, as I’ve said many times, there’s a fundamental miscalculation being made by both the British media and the Windsors. The miscalculation is that Harry and Meghan give a sh-t or that they would come back in any way, under any circumstance. Following the cruel shenanigans of QEII’s funeral, Harry was shown exactly how small and ridiculous his family really is. But please allow King Charles’s aides to brief the media about how Harry is absolutely being permanently “exiled.”

Prince Harry faces a life of permanent “exile,” with King Charles plotting to follow the playbook drawn up by the royals as they overcame the crisis triggered by Edward VIII, the king who abdicated in 1936 and was obliged to live the rest of his life outside the U.K., The Daily Beast understands.

A friend of the king’s told The Daily Beast: “The royals handled the abdication crisis by exiling Edward which meant he and Wallis ultimately came to seem like unimportant, misguided, disloyal, and even treacherous individuals to almost the entirety of the British people. It was a masterful operation in the service of which the Queen Mother, in particular, worked tirelessly. The same thing is already happening with Harry and Meghan, and will only gather pace over the next few years under the rule of King Charles. And of course a wayward second son is far less of an existential threat to the fabric of the monarchy than a wayward king.”

Another source, a former Buckingham Palace staffer, told The Daily Beast that King Charles’ accession statement, in which he encouraged his son and Meghan to “continue to build their lives overseas” was an undisguised message to them to not disrupt his reign by making frequent trips to the U.K.

“Harry and Meghan will get an invite to the coronation but they will be firmly seated in the cheap seats along with Beatrice and Eugenie, as they were at the funeral. That will be it. Charles will be ruthless when it comes to protecting the Crown, and that means keeping Harry and Meghan as far from the center of gravity as possible,” the former staffer told The Daily Beast.

One reasonable interpretation of Harry’s treatment in the days after the queen’s death and at her funeral is that it was part of a strategy of chipping away at Harry’s importance, of reframing him in the public eye from being, “Prince Harry, sixth in line to the throne” to “Prince Harry, minor, non-working royal who lives overseas.”

If Harry and Meghan had sought to blur the lines, via charitable commitments, between their present identity as private citizens and their former identity as royals, the last two weeks offered the palace an unprecedented opportunity to render them again in sharp relief. The most explicit illustration of this was in the seating arrangements at the queen’s funeral which, humiliatingly, denied Harry a front-row seat in favor of his cousins Peter and Zara Philips. Palace sources have insisted that the seating was decided purely in order of age and that there was “no snub” involved.

[From The Daily Beast]

Over the past two weeks, I’ve thought a lot about how sad Harry must be, how much he loved his grandmother, how he was determined to show respect, dignity and class throughout this ordeal, all while his family made asses out of themselves, briefed against him, plotted to destroy him, smeared his wife and kept bringing the focus to Harry and not QEII. I don’t doubt that Charles is making ruthless plans to shun, embarrass, snub and smear Harry and Meghan even more than he already is. I also have no doubt that the media simply cannot play along. Harry and Meghan are where they make their money. The Sussexes’ charitable visit – which got hijacked by QEII’s death – was getting wall-to-wall coverage in the British media. The Sussexes will continue to get wall-to-wall coverage in the UK and everywhere else, even if Charles plots to (somehow) delegitimize Harry as “unimportant.” It actually seems like Harry & Meghan’s importance has only grown and magnified in the past two weeks, as none of these f–king people can keep their names out of their g–damn mouths.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

The second season of Hulu’s The Kardashians premiered this week, and the first episode was apparently about Khloe Kardashian welcoming her second child via surrogacy. I’m going off of reporting and summaries of the episode – I’m not watching this show. There was footage from the birth, and Khloe invited Tristan Thompson to come to the hospital after the birth to meet his latest son. Tristan has two other sons – Prince Oliver (with Jordan Craig) and Theo (with Maralee Nichols). We still don’t know the name of Khloe and Tristan’s son and she didn’t reveal anything on the show other than it’s probably a T-name. So Tristan has four children by three women now. Maralee Nichols was pregnant – and about to give birth to Theo – when Khloe and Tristan arranged for the transfer/embryo implantation. That was also discussed in depth on the show:

Now Season 2 of The Kardashians has returned to our screens, we’ve learned all of the details of the surrogacy journey and paternity scandal — including that Tristan was actively pressuring Khloé to go ahead with their baby plans while knowing full well that Maralee was pregnant. During the episode, Khloé revealed that Tristan had found out that Maralee was pregnant on July 2 2021 — a whole four months before their surrogate underwent an embryo transfer around Thanksgiving on Nov. 25.

But just days after the embryo transfer took place, Khloé was hit with the news on Dec. 3 that Tristan was having another child. And Khloé went on to admit that Tristan had actually been “encouraging” her to go ahead with their surrogacy plans and the embryo transfer “by a certain date” — presumably because he knew when his other baby was due to be born.

“All I know is I was being encouraged to do it by a certain date,” Khloé explained during one confessional. “In hindsight, he always knew when the other baby was being born — especially getting the paperwork that we saw, he found out July 2, so he did know.”

And in another telling scene from the show, Kris, Kendall, Kim, and Kylie gathered to discuss the situation, with Kris and Kendall in agreement that Tristan had deliberately talked Khloé in to going ahead with having a second baby in order to “trap” her. During the meeting, Kylie said, “I just don’t like the fact that Tristan knew that this was happening.” Kendall replied, “That’s what’s wild. Like, you were encouraging Khloé to go forward with this while you knew that this was also happening? It’s almost like he wanted to trap her.” Kris Jenner agreed: “Well, he wanted to hang onto her for sure, and thought that maybe if they did that she would marry him.”

To make matters worse, despite there being much speculation that Tristan and Khloé had split for good over the summer of 2021, she made it clear in the episode that they were actually very much still together — and she’d intended to raise their family with “mom and dad” in the “same home.”

“I thought this was a real, healthy, loving, protective relationship,” Khloé said through tears during her confessional.

Khloé went on to explain that she was terrified of the news of their second baby being made public, because of the vitriol she faces online — including being called an “idiot” and a “dumb bitch” — each time Tristan is caught out.

She was also keen to highlight that she had no idea that Maralee was pregnant when she decided to go ahead with the embryo transfer. “We did an embryo transfer days before Thanksgiving,” she said. “I found out about Tristan’s situation the first week of December, and it’s just so close, I wouldn’t want anyone to think I did this after the fact.”

“Why would I have a baby with someone that’s having a baby with someone else?” she added. “I’m not that much of a sociopath. I’m a lunatic but not, like, that deranged.”

[From Buzzfeed]

Deep sigh… but SHE IS DUMB AS HELL Yes, Tristan is the problem, he’s absolutely a compulsive cheater, liar and psycho, but Tristan wasn’t trying to “trap” her dumb ass. Khloe had already taken him back fully when he was cheating on her constantly and SHE KNEW THAT. Of all the dumbass narratives the Kardashians try to spoon-feed the public, one of the stupidest has always been “Khloe is so naive, she’s always surprised when Tristan cheats on her constantly for years!” He cheated on her constantly during her first pregnancy, he cheated on her constantly when they got back together, and please remember, she made a big deal about how she dumped Tristan again in June 2021 when he cheated on her and didn’t hide it. Then her dumb ass got back together with him last summer, denied getting back with him all summer and fall of 2021, then went ahead with the embryo transfer in November, then suddenly she was shocked all over again a week later? Baby girl, he wasn’t trying to trap your stupid ass.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instagram.

That hateful old bag Angela Levin has written an authorized biography of Queen Consort Camilla. Levin started writing the book months ago, but the whole thing is being revised in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s death. There’s a cover change too, to reflect the fact that everyone is supposed to call her Queen Camilla now. I’m calling this book “authorized,” because it’s clear that it was written with Camilla’s permission, and it’s told with an abundance of generosity towards Camilla and all of her motives within the family. Bye-bye homewrecking rottweiler and hello Queen Consort, and all of that. Levin is completely unhinged, so I think it speaks volumes about Camilla that she would agree to this and cosign all of these stupid narratives, but here we are. Levin’s book was excerpted in the Telegraph and, as I said, the sh-t is bonkers. Some highlights:

Prince Andrew’s scheme: Queen Elizabeth asked several people for advice on the matter of Prince Charles marrying Camilla, including Prince Andrew. She had always had a soft spot for Andrew, who seems to have had a way of persuading her to do what he wanted. This time, a senior insider told me, he had a treacherous request. “He tried to persuade the Queen to block Charles marrying Camilla by being quite poisonous, mean, unhelpful and very nasty about Camilla.” His claims included that she was insufficiently aristocratic and that she was not to be trusted. The same individual went on to say that “when Diana was alive, through her friendship with Andrew’s wife Sarah, [Duchess of York] she plotted with Andrew to try to push Prince Charles aside so Prince Andrew could become Regent to Prince William, who was then a teenager.

Camilla had always been suspicious of Prince Harry: One insider felt that being Prince Harry’s stepmother in particular wasn’t easy. “The Duchess always felt quite wary of Harry and used to see him out of the corner of her eye looking at her in a long and cold way. She found it rather unnerving. Otherwise, they got on quite well.”

Camilla’s relationships with William & Kate: Today, the Queen Consort gets on well with the new Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales. An insider might call it “a very grown-up rapport”, which basically means their relationship works, but they are not in each other’s pockets. Her relationship with Prince Harry, however, developed somewhat differently.

Camilla was keen to help Meghan: They had lunches together and Camilla spent a lot of time offering advice on how to handle the pressure. She tried to be supportive, was happy to be her mentor and took her out for private lunches. A source at the time told me: “She doesn’t want to see anyone struggling and she is fond of Meghan.” Meghan, however, seemed bored, was unresponsive and preferred to go her own way, with the result that the Queen Consort’s advice landed on stony ground.

Supporting Meghan’s Together cookbook: The Queen Consort and King Charles wanted to show their support and invited the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, plus their friend Lucia Santa Cruz, to lunch at Highgrove. Lucia recalls: “As a surprise, Camilla went out of her way to make sure the lunch consisted only of recipes from Meghan’s cookbook, and that included a very hot salsa. It was a really nice gesture.” One that made no impact.

Harry & Meghan have been “horrible” to Camilla: A reliable source has told me that Prince Harry has recently been very negative about Camilla, but believes it, “could be part of his therapy process to relive certain things and he may want to blame someone else for his own mistakes. As I understand it his father and stepmother have become hateful in his mind. I’ve also been told that Meghan has been horrible about her too.” Another source added: “What has happened and how [Prince Harry] has behaved has been very upsetting for her. There have been a lot of hurt feelings all round, but like all families you have to embrace it all and hope it will improve.”

The future with the Sussexes: I was told that there are several options. One is to hope that “interest in what the couple say fades away”. My source said, “Indeed, it already looks as if they have written themselves out of the script.” Other options suggested were to “shrug off” any harmful comments Prince Harry might make or “try to privately negotiate some kind of ceasefire. But that is unlikely to work if Meghan just wants to win.” An important alternative is to keep America close. My source added, “The Sussexes are more liked in America than in the UK, which can damage not only Charles and Camilla but the whole monarchy. The American issue has to be dealt with. The Cambridges have to go to the US to show who the real stars are. As will the Queen Consort and King Charles.”

[From The Telegraph]

Yeah… my take is that Harry always made an effort to get along with Camilla, and then something shifted in 2017-18, during his courtship with Meghan and after their marriage. I strongly suspect that Camilla was saying sh-t about both Harry and Meghan and it came back to Harry. And I’m sorry, the whole idea that Meghan would go to lunch with Camilla and be bored and not listen to her? That doesn’t seem in character with Meghan at all. There’s a real eagerness from Camilla, Sophie and Kate to put it out there that they “gave Meghan a chance” and they were all super-nice to her at the beginning, and then Meghan ruined things by “not listening to them” or what have you.

But really, this is the most important part: “The Sussexes are more liked in America than in the UK, which can damage not only Charles and Camilla but the whole monarchy. The American issue has to be dealt with. The Cambridges have to go to the US to show who the real stars are. As will the Queen Consort and King Charles.” Why is America so important? Because of American media, American charitable contributions, American tourism to the UK and American interest in the British monarchy in general. It’s weird that the Windsors didn’t figure that out before they ripped an American woman to shreds for her “American work ethic” and “American mindset.” Can’t wait to watch Camilla’s haggard charm offensive in America.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

It was interesting to watch the Duchess of Sussex and Countess of Wessex arrive at various funeral/procession events for QEII. Clearly, the Windsors made a conscious choice to NOT put Meghan (in particular) with Prince William and Kate. Part of that was simply a reflection of Kate’s position now, as the Princess of Wales. Part of it was the very real fear that Kate would yet again go berserk on Meghan and/or be obviously evil towards Meghan in some way. So, Sophie was tasked with traveling with Meghan and standing next to her for the most part. It didn’t seem like there was much interaction between the women, and it definitely appeared as if the Windsors were trying very hard to freeze Meghan out. It’s not that they don’t care about the optics, it’s that they believe “the optics” of freezing out Meghan are what the British public wants. Meanwhile, Sophie is trying to get an extra boost from hating Meghan, because apparently she’s always hated her.

Not only did the Queen enjoy Sophie’s company but, remarkably, for someone who had got things so badly wrong when she was newly married to Edward, she came to be viewed by Her Majesty as the Royal Family’s safest pair of hands.

She also has a reputation as a peacemaker – visible last week when she leant in to exchange words with Meghan Markle while the Royal Family waited for the arrival of the Queen’s coffin at Westminster Hall. The Duchess of Sussex seemed visibly more relaxed after the exchange of words as the pair shared in their grief.

Given Sophie’s seemingly unassailable position as the sovereign’s favourite, she was well-placed to offer lessons to the latest female member of The Firm.

A member of the Wessex circle informs me: “Sophie was one of the first to invite Meghan, on her own, to Bagshot for tea.”

However, they add: “They got on perfectly well, but Sophie could feel they were never going to become the best of friends. Let’s just say that Meghan seemed to have her own agenda and was not in the market for words of advice, however well-intentioned.”

[From The Sun]

This comes from a nation which insisted that they “gave Meghan a chance” but “there’s just something we don’t like about her.” It’s her race, you guys. It’s not a big secret. Sophie knew after having tea with Meghan that “they were never going to become the best of friends” because Meghan is Black. Oh, no, I mean “Meghan seemed to have her own agenda.” An agenda of being Black!! I would absolutely love to know what kind of “advice” Meghan was given in the beginning by all of these a–holes too.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

Sharon Osbourne covered Queen Elizabeth II funeral for England’s version of The Talk, on which she is a panelist. I didn’t realize that Sharon was employed again. She and husband Ozzy moved back to England supposedly because they didn’t like the violence in America, which is a perfectly valid reason to leave. But I think they actually moved back because Sharon keeps getting asked to leave her jobs after she shoots her mouth off. But as Oya predicted, she had no trouble getting hired in Ol’ Blighty. And at the same show that fired her. For those who forgot, Sharon was fired for racist comments and then wouldn’t shut up when everyone said, ‘hey, could you stop being racist?’ So back to the funeral…

Sharon was glued to the television the whole day. We’re supposed to be impressed with that, but she was getting paid for it so, I’m not. She loved it, too. The corgis and Emma the pony made her cry. You know who else made her cry? Prince Harry. Being back in England where he belongs. Beside his brother and father. That’s what she said, shouting all those names she left out. The problem is, no one asked her.

Sharon Osbourne was glued to the screen for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.

The Osbournes matriarch, who was in England for the country’s historic event, tells Yahoo Entertainment she got emotional watching the funeral and processions. Seeing Prince Harry back in England for it left her affected as well.

“It was a magnificent funeral, wasn’t it?” Osbourne says of Monday’s final farewell.

And while it was grand — and people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the procession — the small, thoughtful details, like the queens’s corgis and horse waiting for her casket at Windsor Castle made for tear-jerking moments. “Oh, God was it ever,” she agreed.

Osbourne — who gave commentary to Fox News during the funeral broadcast, one of several gigs she’s juggling in addition to being the topic of new Fox Nation documentary out next week — says seeing Prince Harry and Meghan Markle back with the royal family for the funeral and for the events leading up to it made her emotional too, but in a different way.

“I felt really, really sad for Harry when he came back,” she admits. “And I felt sad, sad for the country because it’s — it’s where he belongs. To see him walking with his father and his brother, I just felt very, very sad.”

Though she’s hopeful the face-time between the royals — estranged since Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior royals, alleging they were mistreated by “the firm,” and moved to California — could lead to a reconciliation.

“I think it would be amazing,” she says. “I think it would be amazing for him and his father and brother. They’re family. They need to be together.”

[From Yahoo]

None of us are shocked by Sharon’s glaring omission of Duchess Meghan or Prince Archie and Princess Lili in who Harry needs by his side. Sharon’s racist petticoat is always showing under her skirt. This pitying Harry angle is new, but I guess in keeping with the whole mourning vibe of the funeral. Maybe she and buddy Piers Morgan called each other and decided who got which terrible talking points.

There were many reasons to feel sad for Harry and Meghan, but none of them were provided by Sharon. You’d think someone whose own family acknowledges it’s best to stay the f**k away from each other would get this. But no one is ever going to accuse Sharon of being perceptive. I guess those who want to see Sharon’s ignorance in full force will get their chance on Monday when her Fox Nation documentary airs. It’s called Sharon Osbourne: To Hell & Back. It’s where she belongs.

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Here are more photos from the Prince and Princess of Wales’s outing yesterday at Windsor Castle. I say “outing” like they actually went somewhere – they technically live at Adelaide Cottage in the Windsor estate, so they just had a brief drive over to the castle to greet castle workers and volunteers who worked on QEII’s funeral. There was some kind of meet-and-greet inside the castle, which is where these photos come from. Honestly, there’s a tone problem and there’s been a tone problem the whole time? Not to tone-police the Windsors, but can they actually look sad about QEII’s passing? Kate and William were yukking it up at this event, and they’ve had the same cat-that-ate-the-canary look for two solid weeks.

Meanwhile, I guess we have to talk about the rainbows? Ever since QEII passed, there have tons of rainbows all over Scotland and England. When the first one appeared, I argued that it was Princess Diana hollering “gay rights!” But Kate thinks differently:

Kate Middleton is sharing a personal moment following the death of Queen Elizabeth. While meeting with volunteers and operational staff who helped organize the committal service for the Queen on Monday, the Princess of Wales, 40, said the royal family felt the late monarch’s presence when five rainbows astonishingly appeared over Balmoral Castle the day after she died.

“In Scotland, how many rainbows turned up?” Prince William asked his wife at Windsor Guildhall on Thursday. “You hardly ever see rainbows up there, but there were five.”

“Her Majesty was looking down on us,” Princess Kate replied.

Rainbows similarly broke through the crowds at two other historic U.K. landmarks in recent days. Shortly before Queen Elizabeth’s death was announced on Sept. 8, a double rainbow broke through the clouds over Buckingham Palace. The day before her funeral, on Sept. 18, another rainbow ignited the sky over the Palace of Westminster, as the Queen’s coffin was lying in state.

[From People]

Sure. People can believe what they want, I’m not the Rainbow Police. I do believe it was more about Diana though!

Additionally, William and Kate have made zero plans to visit Wales? I think that’s weird, especially for the new Prince and Princess of Wales. No one is expecting the palace to organize the investiture in a week, but surely William and Kate could stop by Wales?

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.