I admire Alice Evans’ commitment to keeping the public informed about the state of her marriage to Ioan Gruffudd. No one was even paying attention and then Alice started having a meltdown on social media, claiming that Ioan had come home and announced that he was leaving their family. Then she claimed she was being abused and gaslighted over it, and then there was a joint statement saying very little, and on and on. As far as I know, Ioan has been working a lot in Australia while Alice and their kids stayed in LA. It seems like they’ve been on the rocks for a while, and it also seems like Ioan did tell her that he wants a divorce. Now that we’re two weeks past all of the initial drama, Alice has more to say. From her IG:

Nothing to say excerpt THANK YOU for all the loving and encouraging messages.

I never thought this would happen to us. I am still fighting against it, because I love our kids, and I still love him, but something has happened inside his head and whatever it is, I don’t see him coming back to us.

The pain is excruciating but I am stronger than an ox, and though I weep all day when my kids aren’t looking, at night I add up figures and plan futures for us and you know what? I will do those two angels right if it’s all I ever do.! ???

[From Alice’s IG]

“I am still fighting against it…” Okay. But… what about all of the other stuff she said about being gaslighted and abused? After that, she posted another IG with this message:

Just read the comments in the @dailymail. I shouldn’t have done, but I had had three glasses of delicious wine, ( It’s called ‘Butter’, that’s all I know!) and my guard was down.

Thank you for your kind comments. As for the unkind ones, I get it. It must be weird to comprehend why somebody would share their pain on social media rather than with their nearest and dearest.

I get that. You must think I’m an a–hole. I’m not though. I don’t have a mum, or a dad. I don’t have any close friends in LA. I’ve looked after my kids for half their lives alone.

My husband knows that. We are indeed discussing legal separation, but we are still friends. You can say what you want about me being an attention seeker but you know it’s not true.

You just want a reason to put me down. Please – go ahead. I’m impenetrable ??

[From Alice’s IG]

“You can say what you want about me being an attention seeker but you know it’s not true. You just want a reason to put me down…” I actually feel sorry for her now, so I guess that’s what she wanted. Now, she is absolutely a melodramatic attention-seeker! But I also just feel sorry for her because she’s just dumping out all of her problems online because she doesn’t have a girlfriend who will tell her “oh honey, don’t do that.” She also has a history of being really extra online, so maybe this is just her go-to way of dealing with sh-t.

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Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, IG.

The first teaser we saw for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the one-time kick-off event for the MCU on Disney+, came one year ago during the 2020 Super Bowl. Then COVID-19 hit, and FWS was unable to complete production before the March shutdown of all things. FWS got pushed back, WandaVision beca…

I haven’t covered anything Susan Sarandon-related in nearly a year, when she was doing campaign events on behalf of Bernie Sanders and threatening Nancy Pelosi and Elizabeth Warren. As the years pass, I really do think Sarandon just has a fundamental problem with women in powerful positions. She just has a particular hate-on for the Hillarys, Nancys and Liz Warrens of the world, women who make compromises and deals and act like adults. Sarandon is an immature, all-or-nothing political dilettante who voted for Jill Stein in 2016 and actively hoped that Donald Trump would beat Hillary Clinton. Her privilege knows no bounds. But look, like so many self-proclaimed “leftists,” Sarandon now thinks that she has some kind of moral authority to challenge President Joe Biden on… math.

Actress Susan Sarandon blasted Democrats on Thursday, accusing them of pulling a “bait and switch” when it comes to the party’s push for $2,000 coronavirus relief checks. The actress was responding to a video mashup shared on Twitter that shows President Biden, Vice President Harris and Democratic Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock all calling for speedy legislation granting the American people $2,000 checks at various campaign rallies.

COVID-19 aid legislation passed late last year included $600 direct payments to taxpayers. Biden’s current $1.9 trillion coronavirus proposal includes a round of $1,400 checks, meant to bring the total to $2,000.

“Where are the $2K checks you promised @JoeBiden @KamalaHarris @ReverendWarnock @ossoff? At a time when only 39% of Americans could afford a $1,000 emergency & over 15 million have lost employer-sponsored health insurance, the diff between $1,400 & $2K is a matter of survival,” Sarandon wrote. “If voters feel like Dems are pulling a bait and switch, don’t be surprised when they don’t show up in 2022 or 2024.”

A budget resolution that would be the first step in passing the coronavirus relief bill while bypassing the 60-vote legislative filibuster cleared the Senate in a 50-50 party-line vote early Friday morning, with the tie broken by Harris. In addition to the $1,400 checks, Biden’s plan calls for a $400 per week federal unemployment benefit, $350 billion for state and local governments, a minimum wage hike to $15 per hour and more money for child care and schools.

[From The Hill]

If the Susan Sarandon contingent had their way, there wouldn’t even be a Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the Senate. We would still be dealing with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who would absolutely not even allow a vote on President Biden’s relief package. Now instead of being part of the solution, Sarandon somehow believes that “not understanding math” entitles her to whine about an administration which isn’t even three full weeks old.

(And of course I believe that more stimulus/relief checks are needed. People are really struggling. But guess what? I’m an adult and I understand that President Biden KNOWS that people need more economic relief too. The relief bill which just got passed in the Senate is literally the first step in Biden’s pandemic recovery plan.)

Photos courtesy of WENN.

This week, Donald Trump’s impeachment trial will begin and there’s a lot of news about that, especially because over the weekend, we had the one-month anniversary of the Capitol siege, which was provoked and incited by Trump. In the lead-up to his Senate trial, Trump is more concerned about other things though. For example, SAG-AFTRA is being mean to him! SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, planned to hold a hearing to remove Trump from the union following the Capitol siege. Last week, Trump wrote a sniveling letter to the union, removing himself. SAG-AFTRA’s board still made a move to ban Trump from the union for life though.

The SAG-AFTRA National Board has voted to ban former President Donald Trump from future re-admission into the union. The resolution was passed via Zoom videoconference on Saturday, citing concerns over the deadly riot in Washington, D.C. that Trump incited on Jan. 6.

“Preventing Donald Trump from ever rejoining SAG-AFTRA is more than a symbolic step,” SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris said in a statement. “It is a resounding statement that threatening or inciting harm against fellow members will not be tolerated. An attack against one is an attack against all.”

The official press release stated: “The National Board hereby finds that the well-documented actions by Donald J. Trump to undermine the peaceful transition of power in the United States, and to undermine the delivery of truthful information to the public by attacking journalists is anathema to the values embodied by SAG-AFTRA and to the members of SAG-AFTRA; The National Board hereby finds that any future re-admission to membership of Donald J. Trump would not be in the best interests of the union; The National Board hereby directs that any future application for admission to membership in SAG-AFTRA by Donald J. Trump shall be denied.”

News of the resolution comes just days after Trump resigned from SAG-AFTRA amid the union’s move to expel him.

In a January national board meeting, SAG-AFTRA found “probable cause” that Trump had violated the organization’s constitution when he incited the deadly riot earlier in the month. According to a previous release, SAG-AFTRA ordered a disciplinary hearing be held and requested that Trump, 74, be removed from the union.

[From People]

SAG-AFTRA’s board is more functional than the US Senate, that’s what I’m getting from this. I think it’s good that the union did this, even if it was merely symbolic. I’m very worried and concerned that the further we get away from the horrors of January 6th, the more Republicans will minimize what happened or just outright lie about it. It’s good to still feel f–king outraged. Donald Trump literally incited his batsh-t crazy cult members to violently lay siege to the Capitol. More than a hundred police officers were injured. One cop was beaten to death by white terrorists. They smeared feces on the walls. Remember how unsettling it was.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Taraji P. Henson has one of those “how I get it done” day-in-the-life interviews with The Cut. You’ve heard me talk about how much I love those! I’m all about routines and schedules so I love to read about a celebrity’s typical day. Taraji doesn’t wake up as early as I do, she gets up at around 7, but she does sometimes go to bed as early as me. She sounds really grateful and upbeat about the people she has helping her and all the advantages she has at home, like a fully stocked home gym and a salon attached to her house where she makes her own wigs. The wisdom and advice she gives is quite good; I’ve ead this interview about three times I love it so much. I especially like how she thinks about and deals with trolls on social media. Here’s some of that interview, with more at the source.

On a typical (pandemic) morning:
I’m usually up around 7, no later than 8 a.m, and of course, I wake up and give thanks for another day. I’m COVID-free, my family’s COVID-free, so I gotta give thanks for all of that. Then I make my water with sea moss and lime juice; it’s warm, and I drink that every morning. I substituted that for coffee, because coffee was a problem for me for so long. I started doing it long before the pandemic hit. About two years ago, Chakabars from Fruits N’ Rootz started sending me incredible packages, and he sent me sea moss. That was at the beginning of the craze when everyone was like Ooh! You need some sea moss! Sea moss! Sea moss! I drink it every morning.

Her bedtime varies
Since the wintertime came in, it gets dark earlier, so I mean, shoot … there are some days I’m in bed by 8, and I’m not embarrassed to say that. What do you want? We’re sittin’ on our asses all day! And then there are other nights, like last night, when I couldn’t go to sleep. I was up until 2 a.m. And the thought is, Well, I don’t have to get up and go nowhere tomorrow, so … guess I’ll just stay up!

On prioritizing:
It’s easy. I have people. [Laughs.] They orchestrate my schedule and send it to me, and I follow it. I have Zoom meetings and calls, but I’m a creative person, and right now, I can’t create my normal way with stage, or theater, or even film and TV. I can’t do any of it at the moment, but I have my own salon that’s next to my house. I come out here and create — nails, hairstyles, wigs, I color my hair … I done changed my hair color about three, four times. I’m just out here creating. I have to exercise that muscle in some kind of way.

On dealing with criticism.
I come from the old school: A bitch say it to my face. Now, these kids, these people, these bullies, these thumb thugs, they just get real bold behind these screens. Most times, I don’t let it affect me, because I know what it is, but then, you know, I have a human moment where I have to clap back, and I think that’s okay. I think it’s okay to let people know, mmm, you can’t just come over here saying any little thing to me. But does it take away from my self-confidence? No, because I’m doing something right. You like to take time out of your day, to take your little thumb, and type this longwinded message, telling me about my life, that I love living? It’s sad. So when I think about it like that, I really do feel sorry for the aggressor. Because I know who I am.

[From The Cut]

She also discussed her acting method, which making sure she separates herself form her roles and not judging the people she plays. She had so many useful sayings for things that I couldn’t excerpt them all. She said you can’t sell yourself if you don’t believe in yourself first. Taraji doesn’t compare herself to anyone and called it a “death trap,” and this was my favorite line “What’s meant for you is yours, and what’s meant for someone else is theirs.” That’s a great way to think about life in general and I’m going to tell myself that. Oh and I appreciated how she’s not ashamed to go to bed whenever she wants. Some days I’m in bed at 7:30 because I get burnt out and it’s so comfy in there. Plus I have a TV in my room now and I’ll just go to bed and watch it. Like Taraji said it’s not like we’re doing much anyway.

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Photos credit: Getty and via Instagram

The moment The Weeknd opened his mouth to scream “Tampa Bay,” as he kicked off his Super Bowl LV halftime performance, I thought to myself, I wonder who’s responsible for his audio levels because they’re about to lose their job. As he sung the first few bars of “Starboy,” things didn’t get much bett…

Around Christmas, we got so much enjoyment from the Hilaria Baldwin story. It all came tumbling out, videos of a Boston woman faking a Spanish accent for years and interviews where she had played fast and loose with the idea of “growing up in Spain” and whether she was actually “Spanish.” The Spanish-themed wedding, the Spanish-named children, and of course, all the times Alec had lied about “his wife from Spain” and his mimicry of her fake accent. It was glorious. The Hillary/Hilaria story died down after a few weeks but there have been updates here and there. I personally believe that Alec moved out of their Hamptons house because he needed some space from Hillary and her web of lies (the official reason was “covid concerns” or some such nonsense).

Hillary was too dumb to understand that she needed to go dark immediately, and/or give a thorough apology and explanation. What we got instead was that December 30 interview in the NY Times where she kept claiming that this was all an issue about how she needs “boundaries” from the people she lied to for years. After that, she claimed that she would take a break from social media – which she did, she avoided posting her crazy yoga poses and Instamommy crap for like five whole weeks. And she didn’t give any more interviews for the same time period. Now she’s ready to “come back”! She posted this on her IG:

I’ve spent the last month listening, reflecting, and asking myself how I can learn and grow. My parents raised my brother and me with two cultures, American and Spanish, and I feel a true sense of belonging to both. The way I’ve spoken about myself and my deep connection to two cultures could have been better explained – I should have been more clear and I’m sorry. I’m proud of the way I was raised, and we’re raising our children to share the same love and respect for both. Being vulnerable and pushing ourselves to learn and grow is what we’ve built our community on, and I hope to get back to the supportive and kind environment we’ve built together.

[From Hillary’s Instagram]

“The way I’ve spoken about myself and my deep connection to two cultures could have been better explained – I should have been more clear and I’m sorry…” Whew. It was never “I’m in love with Spain and Spanish culture, and I want to throw myself into Spanish culture forever.” It was, flatly, “I’m from Spain, I grew up there, I have a Spanish accent!” And by literally ALL accounts, her parents did NOT raise her in Spain, or raise her to consider herself Spanish at all. She lived in Boston, went to school in Boston, and her white, American family just took some vacations in Spain in her childhood! THAT’S IT. My God this woman.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Hillary’s IG.

It’s become one of my favorite things over the past year, watching British tabloids try to explain American politics, American mindsets or how Americans feel about royal titles. I realize that these British outlets are not targeting an American audience – they are poorly explaining Americans to British people who seem to want to believe that Americans only “like” or “support” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex because of their titles, or that Americans can’t tell the difference between “rejecting hate speech” and endorsing a political candidate. It gets even trickier because now the Sun is trying to explain why Meghan and Harry might have had a video-conference meeting with California’s Governor Gavin Newsom last October. This was before the election, but look how the Sun is trying to spin it:

Prince Harry and Meghan risked a new row by holding a secret meeting with a top US Democrat in the run-up to the American election, it has emerged. The California-based pair spent an hour chatting to the influential Governor of the state, Gavin Newsom. Their video link-up came shortly after they were widely criticised for wading into the presidential election debate.

The virtual meeting happened while Governor Newsom was under pressure to replace California Senator Kamala Harris — who went on to become the new Vice President — with another black woman. A memo seen by The Sun on Sunday reveals Meghan, 39, and Harry, 36, had the conference with Newsom, 54, once widely tipped to be a White House frontrunner, on October 19 last year — two weeks before the election.

His office refused to reveal what was discussed in their chat. It was listed as an “introductory meeting”. A spokesman said: “We do not comment on the content of meetings between the Governor and private parties or his staff.”

It came weeks after Meg described the battle between Donald Trump and Joe Biden as “the most important election of our lifetime”.

She added: “When we vote, our values are put into action and our voices are heard. Your voice is a reminder that you matter. Because you do. And you deserve to be heard.”

The meeting came as reports in America claimed Governor Newsom was being urged to find a black woman to replace Harris as her departure left no women of colour in the Senate. He eventually chose Mexican immigrants’ son Alex Padilla as the state’s first Hispanic senator. It has long been rumoured Meghan wants a career in politics, with some suggesting she has even set her sights on being President.

[From The Sun]

During Election Week, we learned that Meghan had voted absentee in California and I JOKED that, should the Biden-Harris ticket win, Meghan should be appointed to Kamala Harris’s Senate seat. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of the way American politics – specifically California politics! – works knew that it was a joke, that of course Gov. Newsom would be appointing a state leader from his party and someone who would hit a certain demographic important in California. There were many people upset over the fact that the only Black woman (and the only Indian-American woman) in the US Senate was not replaced by another Black or Indian woman. But Gov. Newsom at no point considered Meghan Damn Markle to replace Kamala Harris. My guess is that the video conference was probably about food banks or online abuse or something like that. And the Sun is trying to gin up hate against Meghan and Harry for speaking to a governor… when royals SPEAK to political figures all the time.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.

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I was shocked when I first saw the crowd at the Super Bowl last night. I tweeted about it and people told me the stadium was at a third capacity and that they had given away 7,500 tickets to vaccinated healthcare workers. When they showed shots of the crowds I saw that what I first assumed were people were just cardboard cutouts. It didn’t look as bad close up but the optics were still terrible. Many people weren’t wearing masks or had them down under their chin. It turned out that there were a total of 25,000 people there in a stadium with a capacity of 65,890. There were 22,000 fans (including the 7,500 healthcare workers) plus 3,000 “players, personnel and other NFL staff.” That makes thousands of people in a stadium during a pandemic that has us unable to have in person funerals or graduations. On one side at least they did something to limit capacity, on the other they still let people attend, only 1/3 were vaccinated that we know about, and they chose to make it look like the stadium was full, which was jarring. Here’s part of a writeup on this from Buzzfeed, which is kind of neutral:

A lot of people tuned into the Super Bowl on Sunday and freaked out at seeing a packed stadium — but on closer inspection, there are thousands more cardboard cutouts than people.

Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa is the smallest crowd in recent history, due to the dangers of COVID-19 and the need for social distancing…

However, the stadium still looks crowded because of 30,000 cardboard cutouts made to look like cheering fans are in the stands. A Super Bowl cutout cost $100, and also include a bunch of celebs, such as DJ Khaled and Lady Gaga.

Brian McCarthy, a spokesperson for the NFL, tweeted an explanation noting that the cutouts “provide physical distance btwn pods of fans & vaccinated health care workers.”

McCarthy also pointed out that they are quite a visual effect. “Place looked packed when I arrived at 8:30 a.m. today,” he said.

[From Buzzfeed]

Tickets were cheaper than usual, but still cost more than most of the cars I’ve owned. You could also pay $100 to get a cardboard cutout of yourself in the stands to watch the game. I don’t know what to say about this exactly because I’m kind of numb in general lately. Every time I go to a store I see some ugly a-hole’s unmasked face and it’s forever changed me. I’ll give a typical mom response. I’m disappointed, but not surprised. At all. They wanted to give a semblance of a full stadium and they did that by faking it and pushing the boundaries as much as they could. That’s capitalism.

They couldn’t even get all the people in this staged photo to wear masks:
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not my in-person graduation canceled but the super bowl looking like this during a pandemic. pic.twitter.com/tXEoMzqSYG

— King Taurus (@TevonBlair) February 7, 2021

k lol pic.twitter.com/wQ1vNB1Dbg

— áine – black lives matter (@annebann18) February 8, 2021

i see 8 unmasked people in this picture alone

— august (@c__spice) February 8, 2021

I hope the crowd at the super bowl enjoys themselves as much as I, who am sitting in the same house I’ve been quarantined in for ten months so I don’t get myself and others sick.

— Ryan Stiles (@WhoseRyanStiles) February 7, 2021

Is it me or does it seem weird to fill 1/3 of the occupied seats with vaccinated HCWs as a way to give the appearance of enhanced safety? There’s just something about capitalizing on vaccinated frontline workers that rubs me the wrong way.. ?????

— Dr. Saskia Popescu (@SaskiaPopescu) February 8, 2021

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This is Suzie Dorner, a COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit nurse manager at Tampa General Hospital. She presided over the coin toss.
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Dear Gossips, You know what I was stupidly naïve about heading into Super Bowl weekend? How many celebrities would be there… considering that, you know, it’s a pandemic. But celebrities have always been part of the big game – in the stands and in commercials so, I guess, why would this year be any d…