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Princess Eugenie gave birth on February 10. Everything around the birth happened at a pace Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank determined, meaning they posted photos on their own schedule, announced the name of August Philip Hawke on their own timeline, and now that August is more than a month old, there are absolutely ZERO demands for Eugenie to have a big, public christening or to “show us your baby.” Which… is how it should be. Everything about Eugenie’s pregnancy, delivery and the first months home with her baby was what should have happened with the Duchess of Sussex. Instead, salty white folks were screaming at Meghan on an hourly basis about everything having to do with her first pregnancy and Archie’s birth.

I bring this up because even though no one was asking, Princess Eugenie posted a photo of Baby August Philip Hawke onto her own Instagram for Mother’s Day. Unlike the stiff, obvious PR coming from some in the Windsor clan, you can tell that Eugenie is just enjoying her first weeks in relative seclusion with her baby. These photos were likely taken on the Windsor Castle complex, where Eugenie, Jack and August have been staying at Frogmore Cottage, which was paid for by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. I love August’s little bunny slippers!! The daffodils are gorgeous too. I wonder if, despite people saying the opposite, Fergie and Prince Andrew have been stopping by quite regularly to see their first grandchild.

Photos courtesy of Eugenie’s IG and Avalon Red.

We are seeing talk show The Talk unravel in real time. It might not be a bad thing; I think it’s good for talk TV in general and good for the public to see what happens when white fragility is accepted, centered, and in this case, upheld. Of course, I’m talking about co-host Sharon Osbourne. Like so…

I follow a certain royal reporter who almost always has some of the worst tweets on any given story. He twists himself in knots to justify his hatred towards the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Recently, he was tweeting about Meghan’s legal victory over the Daily Mail, and he indicated that this was all about Meghan being thin-skinned and that she would not last long in the political world, which is apparently where this reporter thinks Meghan will end up. It’s a reminder – to American readers – that the Royal Rota operates much the same way that the right-wing media behaves here: an echo chamber full of references to their own dumbass fake stories. The Royal Rota is obsessed with the idea that Meghan will use her duchess title as a launch pad to… run for office in America, and become a “political figure,” which as we all know, is bad because she’s not Petty Betty, Charles, William or Kate. The British press is so obsessed with this idea that they’re interviewing American politician strategists and trying to make it sound like Meghan is going to run for governor of California.

Meghan and Harry’s private meeting with Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, prompted speculation that Meghan was eying Kamala Harris’ vacant senate seat. Sources close to the Sussexes were quick to crush such speculation, but now Democratic strategist, Mike Trujillo, says he believes Meghan could yet “do an Arnold Schwarzenegger” and run for office in America.

Trujillo told The London Times that Meghan was following a “well-worn path”, adopted by Arnold Schwarzenegger ahead of his foray into politics.

“She’s doing everything that’s appropriate and allowed given her new position but she’s definitely putting her toe in the water,” he said. “And once your toe is in the water your whole foot is in and next thing you know you are knee-deep and then you are fully in.”

Trujillo added: “Everything she’s doing is similar to what other folks have done before they run for office. Arnold Schwarzenegger, before he ran for governor, had a big after-school foundation that promoted opening after-school clubs, that was called Arnold’s All Stars. He used that as a vehicle to talk about the need for tutoring and after school care. Really easy stuff. That’s what introduced him to politics.”

Another Democrat strategist, Roger Salazar, who worked in the Clinton administration, told The Times: “California is one of those states that welcomes fresh perspectives. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Prince Harry getting more involved.”

[From The Daily Beast]

Schwarzenegger did a lot more than just that one program before he ran for governor? Arnold had shown an interest in politics for decades before he ran for office. He worked with Republican presidents, showed up for RNCs, fundraised for the party, did a ton of charity work and he married someone from the Kennedy family, for goodness sake! My point is that British reporters cannot fathom how Meghan could be politically active and well-connected in the political world without… running for office. They just can’t wrap their heads around it, and now they’re getting Americans involved in their delusions.

And British outlets think Meghan is preparing for a damn presidential run too.

Meghan Markle will use the furore over her interview with Oprah to launch a political career which could take her all the way to the White House, if rumours circulating around Westminster last week turn out to be accurate. One senior Labour figure – a veteran of Tony Blair’s Downing Street administration with strong links to Washington – claimed to The Mail on Sunday that Ms Markle, 39, was networking among senior Democrats with a view to building a campaign and fundraising teams for a tilt at the US Presidency.

Last night, a source close to the Duchess of Sussex declined to comment, but the couple have made little secret of their political beliefs.

A source said: ‘The Blairite, internationalist and Democratic party networks are buzzing with talk about Meghan’s political ambitions and potential backers.’

[From The Daily Mail]

For the love of God. She’s not running for president! Five years from now, if she announces a run for office, you can officially say that I’m an idiot. But I swear to God, Meghan isn’t running. She’ll be politically active, for sure. She’ll fundraise for Democrats, maybe. But more than anything, she’ll raise money for CAUSES that she cares about, and she’ll use her political influence to work behind-the-scenes.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.

I really hope Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez’s breakup/makeup drama isn’t all for attention and headlines. That was not my impression when the breakup story broke on Friday – it felt like a real breakup, about real grown-up sh-t like money and infidelity. But as they got back together on Saturday, it started to feel like a stunt. I don’t know… maybe it started as real and now they’re just milking it for attention? Perhaps. We do know – because they’re telling us so – that Alex flew to the Dominican Republic to be with Jennifer while she films a movie.

J-Rod has reunited. On Sunday, Alex Rodriguez flew to the Dominican Republic to reunite with fiancée Jennifer Lopez after the two announced that they are “working through some things” over the weekend.

“Alex flew to the Dominican Republic yesterday,” a source close to Lopez, 51, tells PEOPLE. “Jennifer was excited to see him in person. They are really trying to figure things out.”

“It was a happy reunion,” the source adds.

On Monday morning, Rodriguez, 45, shared a video of his trip to paradise, sharing a video of the ocean and the Caribbean resort on his Instagram Story. He also posted photos of himself signing baseball cards during his flight. “Happy Monday. New week. New day,” he wrote, tagging Lopez in the post. “Onward. Upward.”

The two “are working on their relationship,” a source close to the situation tells PEOPLE.

Over the weekend — after multiple sources confirmed to PEOPLE that Lopez and Rodriguez had called it quits — Rodriguez told photographers “I’m not single.” Rodriguez’s public appearance came after the couple told PEOPLE in a statement, “We are working through some things.”

“They never officially broke up and talked about it but are still together. They hit a rough patch. But were not broken up,” a source close to the pair told PEOPLE on Saturday. The source added that the speculation that arose last month that Rodriguez had had an affair after Southern Charm’s Madison LeCroy “had no bearing on the rough patch at all. She’s working in the Dominican Republic and he’s in Miami so it’s tough seeing each other especially with quarantining and COVID,” the source added of Lopez and Rodriguez, “but they want to try to stay together.”

[From People]

Alternate theory: Jennifer wanted him to beg. I think that’s very likely! As much as we talk about how Jennifer can’t be alone and how she’s in love with love and her relationships are always so messy, I feel like Jennifer does demand to be treated a certain way (as she should, frankly). It’s more than possible that Jennifer was done with his sh-t, she dumped him to get his attention and she’s getting him to modify his behavior and come running to her. If that’s what it is… I mean, a lot of women do that. I’m not judging.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Leading up to the Bachelor finale, it was quite obvious that Rachael Kirkconnell would win, but the official results and the aftermath were still up in the air until last night. The episode shows that in its current form, the franchise wasn’t ready for their first Black Bachelor, and it’s unacceptab…

I friggin’ love how Gayle King is not playing with these fools. CBS News – specifically CBS This Morning, the show which King anchors – has been doing a fantastic job in recent weeks with their royal coverage. It helps that they’ve been given so many exclusives, from Oprah and from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Apparently, Gayle spoke to Meghan and Harry over the weekend and she kind of unloaded on This Morning:

Prince Harry spoke to Prince William over the weekend for the first time following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, it emerged today. Gayle King, who is close friends with Oprah and Meghan Markle, revealed on CBS This Morning today that Harry had spoken to the Duke of Cambridge and his father Prince Charles.

She said: ‘Well I’m not trying to break news, but I did actually call them to see how they were feeling, and it’s true, Harry has talked to his brother and he has talked to his father too. The word I was given was that those conversations were not productive. But they are glad that they have at least started a conversation. And I think what is still upsetting to them is the palace keep saying they want to work it out privately, but yet, they believe these false stories are coming out that are very disparaging against Meghan, still.’

‘No one in the Royal family has talked to Meghan yet, at this particular time. And I think it’s frustrating for them to see that it’s a racial conversation about the Royal Family when all they wanted all along was for the Royals to intervene and tell the Press to stop with the unfair, inaccurate, false stories that definitely have a racial slant. And until you can acknowledge that, I think it’s going to be hard to move forward. But they both want to move forward with this and they both want healing in this family. At the end of the day, that is Harry’s family.’

She added: ‘The bullying thing was raised in 2018 and now there’s an ongoing investigation about bullying from Meghan Markle, when anyone who has worked with her will tell you exactly who she is. You know, she’s really a very sweet, caring person. And as I say, Meghan has documents to back up everything that she said on Oprah’s interview. Everything.’

[From The Daily Mail]

THE TEA!! It’s piping hot! So, Harry has spoken with his brother and father in the wake of the interview and the conversations were “not productive.” Meaning, William screamed down the phone like a rage monster and Charles was passive-aggressive and patronizing, at least that’s my guess. And Harry was probably like “you guys really don’t get it, do you?” And no one has spoken to Meghan – of course, because they’re still trying to destroy her and it’s perfectly clear that no one in that family actually gives a sh-t about her (and she’s heavily pregnant right now too).

Gayle hits on something really important – that the wave of abuse is ongoing. “What is still upsetting to them is the palace keep saying they want to work it out privately, but yet, they believe these false stories are coming out that are very disparaging against Meghan, still.” Yep. Because all of these people – the Windsors and the British media – are so stuck in this completely bonkers paradigm where they think if only they can delegitimize Meghan’s claims of racist treatment, then racism won’t exist in the Windsor family or British media. That’s why there’s such an emphasis in the past week on nitpicking Meghan’s claims in particular.

“And as I say, Meghan has documents to back up everything that she said on Oprah’s interview. Everything.” AND I OOP.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, CBS.

Judging from the general ambivalence towards the Oscar nominations this week, I’m not sure people are getting too worked up about the “snubs.” This year’s Oscars noms are a buffet of “sure, okay” and “well deserved for that guy” and “WHO?” There are some massively deserving people nominated, I’m not saying that. But taken together, it’s hard to even form a picture about frontrunners or sure-things or who has the best Oscar campaign. My guess is that Mank (the Oscar nom leader) will probably be the closest thing to a consensus pick for most Oscar voters. As I said in a recent Gossip With Celebitchy podcast, Mank is the kind of navel-gazing insider-Hollywood story which Hollywood loves to tell about itself. And it’s about a drunk white dude, so perfect, right? Yeah, I guess so. So what were the “snubs” in this very strange year where no one “went” to see the movies?

The first major snubs of the nominations were revealed early in the announcement when the Best Supporting Actor and Actress races were called. Jodie Foster, who won her category at the Golden Globes just weeks ago, was omitted by the Academy for her role in The Mauritanian. Minari’s Yuh-Jung Youn meanwhile landed in the Best Supporting Actress race, making history as the first South-Korean actress to be nominated in that category.

Jared Leto, a SAG and Golden Globe nominee for his creepy performance in The Little Things, was snubbed for Best Supporting Actor, as was Chadwick Boseman for Da 5 Bloods. Boseman did however score a Best Actor nomination for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, an award he’s favored to win. Sound of Metal’s Paul Raci made it into the Best Supporting Actor race, as did Lakeith Stanfield for his powerful performance in Judas and the Black Messiah.

In the leading actor categories, the only major snub was Rosamund Pike for I Care a Lot, a film which earned her a Golden Globe award in February. Sacha Baron Cohen was also not honored for his second time playing the titular character in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, but the actor did land in the Best Supporting Actor competition for The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Over in the Best Director race, history was made with two women nominated (Nomadland’s Chloe Zhao and Promising Young Woman’s Emerald Fennell) for the first time ever in the same year. Unfortunately Regina King didn’t make that three for her directorial debut One Night in Miami. Spike Lee was also left out for his work on Da 5 Bloods.

And as for Best Picture, both One Night in Miami and Da 5 Bloods were surprisingly omitted, with Judas and the Black Messiah sneaking in to land a coveted spot.

[From People]

I love Regina King as a person, an actress and a director, but… I’m not sure it was a snub that she didn’t get nominated for directing One Night In Miami. It was an okay movie, but it was very clear that it was adapted from a play and I was ready for them to get out of that hotel room after about 10 minutes. But Spike Lee is the big snub across the board – he had so much awards-success with BlacKkKlansman, and Da 5 Bloods was critically acclaimed, well-reviewed and much discussed. I think it’s a shame that the Academy completely blanked on Spike’s movie and Delroy Lindo’s performance.

Are we surprised that Jodie Foster wasn’t nominated for The Mauritarian? They ignored that film completely – no Jodie, no Tahar Rahim, nothing. I haven’t seen it yet. But I’ll watch it (for Bendy Cumberbatch’s bad accent and Tahar Rahim). Also: I don’t really think it’s a snub for Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat. He got nominated for the Chicago 7 movie (he was excellent in that) and Borat got a screenplay nomination. He’s probably very happy with all of that. And was Rosamund Pike really a snub? I don’t know. But I like the fact that there are some equal-opportunity snubs, I guess. Oh, and Jared Leto is terrible and no one wants to nominate him in case there’s suddenly a rash of Me Too stories about him.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, IMDB.

For Melanie and Snoopy who was curious, and naughty, and had so much personality – which is why he had his own photo shoot? Photo shoots?! These are like studio shots! Look at these shots! They are ART! And I’m looking at his little face, his eyes, all the love and sweetness there and I know, of cou…

I never really understand the royal reporters’ reliance on daily YouGov polls. It’s quite common to see many royal reporters citing those numbers to somehow justify their reporting, or claim that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s “popularity” is suffering in the UK. The polling methodology usually seems suspect, and I get the feeling that many of the numbers being thrown around are coming from push polls with small samples. But even then, it’s curious to see members of the Windsor clan treated like politicians in a heated campaign trail. There’s no “voting someone out” or “losing an election.” In the case of Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan, they’re literally in another country, living their lives away from the barrage of hatefulness. They’re not living on the British taxpayer’s dime whatsoever. So why the continuous polling? Newsweek has some data and some analysis. It’s very curious.

The astonishing two-hour prime time interview has caused Meghan and Harry’s approval ratings to plunge, not rise. YouGov data suggests Prince Harry’s net approval fell 15 points to -3 from March 2 to March 12, with 45 percent of Brits feeling positively about him and 48 percent feeling negative. The same research suggests Meghan’s net approval fell 14 points to -27, with 31 percent feeling positive about her and 58 percent feeling negative.

Newsweek’s own exclusive polling points to some possible explanations, identifying that just 21 percent of Brits believe all the couple’s claims. A full 26 percent said they believed nothing the duke and duchess said while 45 percent believed everything. As if that was not bad enough, 48 percent believed Meghan and Harry were motivated by self-promotion with only 36 percent thinking they did the interview to defend themselves. And 64 percent felt cutting Prince Harry off financially was the right thing to do once he had stepped back from royal duties, compared to 36 percent who did not.

Royal biographer Penny Junor told Newsweek: “In terms of whether it’s been successful for Harry and Meghan, I don’t think we know what it was meant to achieve. I’m absolutely mystified about why they did it. Unless it was purely self-promotion. By the sounds of things in America there is much greater approval of them. I still think this is quite worrying for the Monarchy. The queen is head of the commonwealth and Prince Charles is lined up to be head of the Commonwealth after her. All of that is worrying.”

There was, however, some good news for campaign group Republic who seek to abolish the monarchy. They have been buoyed by Survation data that suggests 34 percent of people would like an end to the monarchy while 66 percent want to see it continue. While the findings do not suggest Queen Elizabeth II is going anywhere anytime soon, it is a better than usual response for the group. The campaign Tweeted: “34% is a significant jump in support for a republic.”

There are potential implications further afield than the U.K. among the 15 other countries around the world who have the queen as head of state. Barbados has already committed to becoming a republic and there has been a similar debate in Jamaica as well.

Historian Robert Lacey, author of Battle of Brothers, told Newsweek: “If there is a threat to the monarchy it is obviously to the Commonwealth monarchies. Barbados has already signed off. I think there will be a problem in the future with Australia, New Zealand, certainly in the Caribbean countries. You’ve seen it in recent reports, Caribbean newspapers saying why should we have a white head of state anymore. They will stay in the Commonwealth but I think this could be the end of the strange anomaly of the Commonwealth monarchies where these countries choose to have the British head of state as their head of state. I think that survives as long as the queen is alive but after that people might feel differently about King Charles III and Queen Camilla.”

[From Newsweek]

Imagine spending the money to do a push poll about the motivations for two people publicly detailing their ordeals with a toxic British media and toxic royal family. It’s not shocking to me whatsoever that 48% of people on Salty White Folk Isle believe that Meghan and Harry are doing this all for “self-promotion.” This is something I keep coming back to: the nasty, negative, toxic, racist, misogynistic press around the Sussexes happens because British people want it and are willing to put up with it. If there was an outcry from the public, the British media would change. There is such a significant bloc of the British public who WANT to hate Meghan and Harry, who WANT to read every disparaging, nonsensical, nasty story about them. It’s the same thing with Piers Morgan – he was allowed to publicly abuse Meghan for YEARS because the public was completely fine with it.

As for what Lacey and Junor say about the Commonwealth… yeah. A lot of things will be very different when the Queen dies. And the Republic’s numbers on younger people’s feelings regarding the monarchy should scare the sh-t out of the Windsors.

34% is a significant jump in support for a republic. https://t.co/TkAsDwAjBf

— Republic (@RepublicStaff) March 14, 2021

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Dear Gossips, The Oscar nominations yesterday revealed that the Academy still gets hard over movies like Mank (auteur, black and white, Old Hollywood) and The Trial of the Chicago 7 (film critic Rad Simonpillai told me yesterday on etalk that there could be a comparison here between Brokeback Mounta…