Emily! Happy Birthday! I had to laugh about how your “fangirling crush criteria” has changed over the last decade. You’ve gone from Twilight to The Untamed – excellent progression! As for your loyalty to Keanu Reeves… well… he’s the security blanket we all need, non?  There aren’t a lot of options f…

Dear Gossips,  Authorities have still not released the identities of all eight of the victims of the shooting that happened in Atlanta this week. They’ve said they have to make sure they can contact family members who don’t live in the United States before they can share the information to the publi…

Two days after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview aired on CBS, Buckingham Palace released a four-sentence statement. The background of how the statement came to exist and the very precise wording of it will probably make for an interesting season of The Crown. Apparently, Prince Charles was losing his mind over the interview he wanted to do a larger rebuttal. Meanwhile, William was rage-screaming at the top of his lungs while he punched walls. So it was left to the Queen to officially release this:

“The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan. The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members.”

As we spoke about at the time, “some recollections may vary” is doing a lot of work. Buckingham Palace’s official position was that Harry & Meghan are much loved and the palace is officially concerned, but the palace still had to give some red meat to racists who wanted to cling to any excuse to continue to abuse Meghan and Harry, this time for “lying about racism.” The Queen did that on purpose, big surprise.

Queen Elizabeth’s statement in response to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey contained a line that stood out. Buckingham Palace released a short, 61-word statement on behalf of the monarch, 94, two days after the interview aired in the U.S. While the Queen said the family was “saddened” to hear of Meghan and Harry’s challenges and stated “Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members,” she also remarked that “some recollections may vary” when it comes to the issues and concerns raised in their interview.

The comment was an “underlying jab” and indicates dissent among the family at some of the claims made in the interview, a royal insider tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story.

[From People]

Of course it was an “underlying jab.” I mean, no sh-t Sherlock/“royal insider.” The whole reason the Queen’s statement couldn’t include an explicit jab at her grandson and his wife is because Meghan and Harry had made it clear that they have receipts. By saying “some recollections may vary,” the palace gave itself some wiggle room because they don’t know all of the cards (receipts) Harry and Meghan are holding. The palace does know that it could have been a lot worse though, because while recollections may vary, every one of those a–holes remembers what they did to Harry and Meghan.

Photos courtesy of CBS, Avalon Red.

Post-Oprah-interview, Prince Charles has not been as melodramatically reactive as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Sure, Charles let it be known that he “is at a loss” over the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview and their side of the ordeal. Charles also let it be known that he wanted to do a “point by point rebuttal” of the interview, which sounds about right for him too. But post-interview, Charles has been happy enough to let Kate and William make asses out of themselves while he plays a longer game. There are stark differences in how Clarence House is leaking to American outlets versus British outlets too. Last weekend, this is how Charles’ allies were describing his mood and reaction:

Details of the independent inquiry came as allies of the Prince of Wales accused Harry of “hypocrisy”, challenging his claim that his father had “cut him off” financially. They said Charles was “upset and cut up” about Harry’s remarks during the couple’s interview. A source close to Charles said: “It was a surprise to hear he’d been cut off, given the bank statements. The prince continued to provide Harry and Meghan with financial support after their move to America, while they found their feet.”

A friend of Charles said: “What f***ing hypocrisy. When Harry and Meghan left last year, they wanted to become ‘financially independent’.”

In a further move against Harry and Meghan’s claims, royal sources have expressed dismay at the couple’s allegation that they received no help from the institution when she felt suicidal. Harry added he had not told his family about her mental health struggles because he was “ashamed”. A royal source said: “To throw that at the family, I just couldn’t believe it. His mental health, and hers, were such an open part of the office. Given the number of staff that worked with them, it was a very open part of the conversations generally.”

[From The Sunday Times]

Notice Charles’ allies didn’t say anything about how Charles refused to take Harry’s calls in the winter of 2019/20 And Harry’s main beef was that Charles signed off on the withdrawal of their security. Charles was literally okay with his son, daughter-in-law and grandson dying in North America. Anyway, as you can imagine, Charles’ camp takes a much softer vibe when speaking to an American outlet:

During the couple’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this month, the Duchess of Sussex said there were “concerns and conversations about how dark [Archie’s] skin might be when he’s born” within the royal family. Although they did not specify who made the comment, Oprah later clarified that it was neither Queen Elizabeth or Prince Philip.

Prince Charles “feels enormously let down” by the claims of racism made in the interview, a source close to the royal household tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story.

“The prince believes in diversity and his actions show that,” the source continues. “He was the first person to highlight the Windrush generation [the first mass immigration from the Caribbean to the U.K. in the 1950s] and the contributions they made to British society. He has worked hard for the Muslim community. Of all the members of the royal family, he has taken this issue the most seriously.”

“It’s not a straightforward father-son relationship,” the palace source says. “He is their father and their boss, and they are beholden to him to fund their offices and lives.”

Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth is “worried” about how the racism claims affect the Commonwealth, the 54 countries around the world which view the Queen as their monarch and head of state.

“She will be very worried about how [the racism claims] have gone down in countries she has supported and loved and given her life to throughout her reign,” says a royal insider.

[From People]

While I don’t like Chuck very much at the moment, I am willing to go out on a limb and say that he probably is the *least* racist in his family? That’s not some big prize or anything – clearly, the family is exceedingly racist, so it’s like saying that Chuck is the least racist Klan member. He’s still a member of the Klan! And I’m really starting to feel like Charles probably wasn’t one of the people explicitly talking about the baby’s skin color. I think that was William. Which makes me wonder why Charles is even worried? If the blind item is revealed and it’s William who remarked about skin color, then Chuck is “cleared.” Oh, wait, that would mean his heir is a racist douchebag who is constantly incandescent with rage and Chuck actively tossed aside the better son because William threw a tantrum.

… And of course the Queen is worried about the Commonwealth. She should be.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Thank you to the people who alerted me to these tweets. Over the past two years, we’ve seen time and time again that the British media has a complicit arrangement with Prince William specifically. It’s transactional – media outlets get a whiff of a story involving William and they go to him and he’ll give them something else in exchange. Or they yank his chain whenever they want more photos of his family, but that yanking wouldn’t happen unless they had something they were holding over his head. For the past two years, it’s been clear that one of the things they’ve been holding over his head is his alleged affair with Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, who is his neighbor in Norfolk.

Around this time two years ago was when the affair story was just beginning to spill out into the British papers. A shady item appeared in the Daily Mail, the infamous “rural rivals” story about Kate trying to push Rose out of the Cambridges’ social circle. Then William ran to Richard Kay at the Daily Mail to whine and explicitly throw the Duchess of Sussex under the bus. William spent a lot of time threatening British media about the story. Was there an explicit tit-for-tat, where William served up negative stories about Meghan in exchange for keeping his wandering sceptre out of the news? According to Foreign Policy’s Deputy editor James Palmer, that’s something that’s pretty widely known.

the palace has been protecting Prince William from the tabloids for *years* and has a complicated relationship with newspaper editors, including alternating between sending them legal threats and effectively striking bargains with them to leak on Markle

— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) March 18, 2021

this is why British papers weren’t even *touching* William’s alleged affair with Rose Hanbury.

— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) March 18, 2021

While Palmer isn’t saying anything that wasn’t already known/believed in gossip circles and royal-media circles, it’s interesting to see it spill out on Twitter from a “legitimate journalist.” I genuinely believe that William and Rose’s “alleged” affair is common knowledge in British, American and international media circles, as well as common knowledge among the British aristocrats and probably the Royal family too. It’s just a matter of seeing which outlet – probably American, I would assume – will be the first one to do a major exposé. And the affair story is SO TIED to the smear campaign against Meghan too. March 2019 was when Meghan was in her last trimester with Archie. She was being viciously ripped to shreds in the British media and so much of that was because William actively made her a target in exchange for the media burying the affair story.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

A few weeks ago, Byline Investigates had a story about how the Sun (the UK tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch) had hired an American private investigator to dig into then-Meghan Markle’s life in 2016. It was soon after the British tabloids learned that Prince Harry and Meghan were quietly dating throughout the summer of 2016, and a rash of stories about Meghan began appeared in those tabloids starting in September 2016. The private investigator got so much information about Meghan, her family, her colleagues, and a lot more. He even got her Social Security number. The investigator passed it all along to the Sun. All of that has now been confirmed, and Meghan and Harry reacted to the news.

A US private investigator has told BBC News he was paid by the Sun newspaper to obtain personal information about the Duchess of Sussex in the early days of her relationship with Prince Harry. But Daniel Hanks says he unlawfully accessed detailed information including Meghan’s social security number. The Sun’s publisher said it requested legitimate research and instructed Mr Hanks he must act lawfully.

Meghan and Harry said it was a “moment of reflection” for the media industry.

BBC News has seen the so-called “comprehensive report on Meghan and her family” which the investigator, also known as Danno Hanks, passed to the Sun. It included her phone number, addresses and social security number as well as information on her family members. His report also included information on her ex-husband and a former boyfriend. In the US, licensed private investigators are allowed full access to databases of personal information for some permitted reasons such as court reports. But accessing this additional level of detail for journalistic purposes is unlawful.

Mr Hanks said: “Pretty much everything I found out they could find out themselves using legal means – with the exception of the social security numbers. When you have that information… it’s the key to the kingdom.”

While there is no evidence it happened in this instance, social security numbers in particular could potentially be used to further other intrusive investigations.

A spokesman for Harry and Meghan said: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex feel that today is an important moment of reflection for the media industry and society at large, as this investigative report shows that the predatory practices of days past are still ongoing, reaping irreversible damage for families and relationships. They are grateful to those working in media who stand for upholding the values of journalism, which are needed now more than ever before.”

[From BBC]

It really was so much, so fast for Meghan. She met a cute prince, said why not, then everything went sideways in a few months. The only thing she could hold onto, to anchor her, was Harry, who had some inkling about how his future wife would be treated. But holy sh-t, if I was dating a guy and after a few months, a national British paper gained access to my Social Security number and all of my vital information – not to mention the information about my family – I would be out the door. It wasn’t Harry’s fault, of course. This part of it wasn’t even the Windsors’ fault. But I would not have been able to handle it with any grace. I would have sued everybody and thrown a huge incandescent fit. While it’s not clear whether Meghan knew – at the time – that a private investigator had accessed her SSN, she knew pretty quickly that September/October that the media had their hands on her address, phone numbers, and family information. The Murdoch media empire needs to be dismantled, my God.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.

As we discussed, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s divorce trial is coming up soon, after a series of delays. Some of the delays were because of the pandemic, but most of the delays were because of all of the legal, financial and custodial drama which has been drawn out for four and a half years. This week, we heard that Angelina had filed new paperwork with the court, basically saying that she planned to provide evidence and testimony of Brad’s domestic violence. As I’ve said for years now, something went down on that private plane in 2016 and it involved Angelina, Brad and Maddox. Whatever it was, it was the breaking point for Angelina. She left Brad and literally never looked back. If Angelina has evidence and testimony that Brad’s domestic violence was happening before the plane incident, then I would expect that she will detail that in court as well. Now Us Weekly claims that Maddox – who is 19 – has already provided testimony to the court. Us Weekly also has some gross quotes from a “Pitt source.”

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s eldest son, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, testified against his father during the exes’ lengthy custody battle.

“Maddox has already given testimony as [an] adult in the ongoing custody dispute and it wasn’t very flattering toward Brad,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly. “He doesn’t use Pitt as his last name on documents that aren’t legal and instead uses Jolie. Maddox wants to legally change his last name to Jolie, which Angelina has said she doesn’t support.”

Jolie, 45, filed new court documents on Friday, March 12, that accused Pitt, 57, of domestic violence. The papers state that the actress and their children — Maddox, 19, Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 14, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 12 — are willing to offer “proof and authority in support” of the claims against the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star.

Earlier this week, a source close to Pitt classified Jolie’s new filing as an attempt to get back at him: “Over the past four-and-a-half years, there have been a number of claims made by Angelina that have been reviewed and not substantiated. The children have been used by Angelina to hurt Brad before and this is more of that behavior. This leaking of documents by her fourth or fifth set of lawyers has been done to hurt Brad.”

[From Us Weekly]

Maddox was a teenager during the plane incident – he understood enough, you know? And like Angelina, he never wanted to have anything to do with Brad after that. And all of the other kids witnessed it too. Pax also has no interest in Brad now, and I get the sense that Zahara (the next oldest kid) doesn’t see much of Brad. The kids’ testimony should not be overlooked. Whatever happened, especially throughout the year of 2016, changed those kids and it changed Angelina. It’s not like Angelina has just decided to manipulate all of the kids and turn them all against Brad. She’s literally been following all of the court-mandates completely, including family therapy sessions. Brad is the one who had to adhere to a strict visitation schedule with a monitor in the room at all times, and that was still happening for YEARS after the plane incident.

You know what I keep thinking of this week? Brad’s completely desperate Oscar campaign in late 2019/early 2020 which was successful, but left such a bad taste in my mouth. He went full Prom King and all of those Hollywood douches lavished him with praise and prizes. “This leaking of documents by her fourth or fifth set of lawyers has been done to hurt Brad.” Yeah, didn’t she fire Laura Wasser because Jolie found out that Wasser was in cahoots with TMZ and Brad’s lawyers? Didn’t Jolie’s current lawyer (her second) discover all kinds of undisclosed business arrangements between the judge and Brad’s lawyers? Don’t go down that road, Brad.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.

As someone who consumes a lot of royal media (partly for the job, partly because I like the soap opera), I have to say that People Magazine’s royal coverage has not been all that great recently. I think it’s because there are genuine “sides” and they are wary of alienating readers who want sugary coverage of Keen Kate, and likewise alienating readers who want a proper account of the Sussex saga. It wasn’t like this in the ‘80s and ‘90s: American media was automatically on Princess Diana’s side. She was their golden goose. There must be some concern at People Mag that they can’t go all-in with Meghan OR Kate, so they have opted out of a lot of the trickier discussions and stories. Like, People didn’t even put the Sussexes’ Oprah interview on their cover last week even though it was a MAJOR gossip story. And now this week’s cover is about how the palace is reacting to the interview. Hmm.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey continues to send shockwaves through the royal family. As the royals and their staffs digested the various claims and counter-claims in the wake of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s sit-down, there was “anger,” a palace source tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story: “There were genuinely mixed emotions and deep sorrow and shock there too.”

Among many stunning revelations in the interview, Meghan, 39, said she had suicidal thoughts and that there were “concerns and conversations” within the royal family about how dark her son Archie’s skin might be. Harry also said that his father and brother are “trapped” within the monarchy.

Before the interview, The Times in the U.K. reported that the Duchess of Sussex faced a bullying complaint made by one of her close advisers during her time as a working royal at Kensington Palace — allegations her office has strongly denied. “The Duchess is saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma,” a spokesperson added in a statement. The palace has set up an inquiry and will likely bring in an outside law firm to assist. “For [some staffers] there was real stress and real trauma,” one source tells PEOPLE of the discomfort of revisiting the painful period. “These are real people and there is a human toll.”

As the aftershocks of the interview continued to be felt, both princes — who were once so close — separately took time to honor their later mother Princess Diana on what was Mother’s Day in the U.K. on March 14. William released pictures of cards his children had made for “Granny Diana,” while Harry ensured flowers were placed on Diana’s resting place at the Spencer family home, Althorp.

“It’s a sad state of affairs, because William and Harry could have been so brilliant” as a team, a close insider tells PEOPLE. “To think of what they could have achieved together is almost heartbreaking.”

[From People]

Yeah, we get it, palace peeps watched the Oprah interview and their first instinct was not “holy sh-t, we had no idea how traumatic these past years have been for Meghan and Harry.” The reaction was RAGE. Spite! Jealousy! ANGER. And there’s not even any way that the Windsors’ inappropriate reactions can be spun either. The Windsors want us to know that they’re terribly enraged. And then to end it with “William and Harry could have been so brilliant…” They’re really lamenting the fact that Harry grew up and grew tired of his brother bullying him and being a rage monster. They’re mad that Harry married Meghan. Full stop.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Vanity Fair recently did a long-read story about Armie Hammer and his family history. There are so many dysfunctional seeds in Armie’s family history, and I was left with the impression that the Hammer men just treat women like garbage, forever, across generations. The VF story included sources who took pains to say that Armie had not been changed with any crime, but it felt like that was only a matter of time. As more of his exes and victims became aware of each other and began publicizing his patterns of emotional, financial and physical abuse, it seemed inevitable that someone would file a police report. It’s happened: the woman who is likely behind the “House of Effie” Instagram (which did so much to expose Hammer) has now filed a police report, accusing Hammer of rape.

The anonymous woman who first made allegations about Armie Hammer on social media has come forward publicly.

“I thought that he was going to kill me,” the woman, named Effie, said through tears on Thursday during a press conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred. Effie is accusing Hammer of violent rape and physical abuse, during their on-and-off four-year relationship from 2016 to 2020. “On April 24, 2017, Armie Hammer violently raped me for over four hours in Los Angeles, during which he repeatedly slapped my head against a wall, bruising my face,” Effie said. “He also committed other acts of violence against me to which I did not consent.”

Crying uncontrollably at the virtual press conference, Effie says during the alleged rape, Hammer beat her feet “so they would hurt” with every step she took. She says she tried to get away, “but he wouldn’t let me. He then left with no concern for my well being. I was completely in shock,” Effie said.

Along with a statement strongly denying the rape allegation, Hammer’s attorney, Andrew Brettler of Lavely & Singer, sent a screenshot of text message correspondence they say is between Hammer and Effie, in which Hammer texts, “I am not going to be able to engage in you in that specific way right now. It never ends well. We can talk and be friends, but I can’t do that.”

Hammer’s attorney says the screenshot is “just one of hundreds” Effie sent to Hammer. “Effie’s own correspondence with Mr. Hammer undermines and refutes her outrageous allegations. As recently as July 18, 2020, [she] sent graphic texts to Mr. Hammer telling him what she wanted him to do to her. Mr. Hammer responded making it clear that he did not want to maintain that type of relationship with her,” Brettler said in a statement.

Shortly after the press conference, Variety confirmed that Hammer is being investigated by the LAPD. “We can confirm that Armie Hammer is the main suspect in an alleged sexual assault investigation that was initiated Feb. 3 of this year,” an LAPD spokesperson said.

Effie, who is 24 and lives in Europe, did not disclose her full legal name during the press conference. Up until now, it is believed she has been the woman behind the Instagram account “House of Effie,” which first surfaced claims against Hammer. (During the press conference, Allred would not comment on whether her client was behind the social media account.)

[From Variety]

Gloria Allred spoke at length during the press conference about consent and consent within an ongoing sexual relationship, meaning just because you consent to one thing one time, doesn’t mean you consent to it all the time. The point is that Effie admits to having a consensual affair with Hammer for some of the time, but that the relationship became profoundly abusive physically and emotionally and she didn’t consent to that. I think… there will be others. Other victims will be coming forward shortly. He’s disgusting. He’s a predator.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.

Of all the ways in which Spencer Pratt annoys me, and there are many, his fascination with hummingbirds is something I can get on board with. Animal preservation is important, Spencer values birds and his dedication to them is heartwarming. Apparently Katie Couric agrees. She recently paid Spencer and wife Heidi Montag a visit at his home-grown hummingbird oasis. According to Katie, who appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show, there are “millions of hummingbirds on their terrace.”

Katie Couric credits Spencer Pratt for allowing her to experience one of the “coolest” things she’s ever done.

During a new episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, airing Thursday, the award-winning journalist revealed that she recently visited Pratt’s home after DMing him to ask if she could come over to see his flock of hummingbirds.

Couric, 64, said that her daughter, Ellie, informed her that Pratt and his wife, Heidi Montag, “love hummingbirds” and many of the birds flock outside the couple’s home.

“So I DMed him on Instagram, and I said, ‘Hi Spencer Pratt, can I come over to see your hummingbirds?’ and he said, ‘Sure Katie Couric come on over!’ ” Couric told host Ellen DeGeneres. “So I went to their house and they have millions of hummingbirds on their terrace.”

Couric explained that Pratt, 37, “makes the nectar every day with sugar and water” to attract the hummingbirds to his home.

“It was insane,” Couric said of the experience. “They’re little hand feeders and you fill them up with the sugar-water mixture. It was one of the coolest things I had ever done.”

“It was really, really fun. So thank you Pratt daddy,” Couric said, referring to Pratt’s Instagram handle.

[From People]

As far as I can tell, Katie and her daughter Ellie really just went for their own curiosity, nobody was promoting or filming anything. In one of the videos Katie posted in her Instagram below, she asked Spencer what led to his hummingbird attraction. He said “first of all, everyone loves hummingbirds.” He has a point. I’m not a big bird person. I far prefer them outside and at a distance. But I get pretty giddy over a hummingbird. In a second video, Katie is able to capture a hummingbird sitting on her thumb while a second feeds from one of the little individual feeders Spencer uses to attract them. Katie’s also wearing one of Spencer’s flower hats that looks like a little flower garden with both silk flowers and his personal feeders throughout. You might talk me into a hummingbird on my thumb but I doubt I’m letting one dive-bomb my head, I don’t care how pretty they are.

Spencer and Heidi’s home looks like it’s atop a hill somewhere and their living room’s back wall is all windows. Their roof overhang is lined with feeders, all filled with Spencer’s homemade nectar. So they could spend a whole afternoon in their sun streaked living room, watching hummingbirds dance outside. I have to admit, that sounds fairly relaxing. My brother has two bird feeders outside his living room window. Watching all the birds coming and going is one of the highlights of our family Zoom. Don’t tell my family I said the birds were more interesting than they were, but you know what I mean. CB put up a bird feeder she suggested and said she’s thrilled with all the birds that feed there. I’ll bet Spencer and Heidi’s son Gunner loves having all those beautiful birds flying around and it’s teaching him to respect nature at a young age. Like I said, hummingbird is a a nice shade on Spencer.

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