I’ll admit that I have found a certain amount of amusement in the Phil Collins/Orienne Cevey breakup drama. I’m not always one for karma, but Phil has a history of bad behavior when it comes to his exes, and he did take Orienne back, while she was still married to some else, even after she dragged him through the courts during their own divorce in 2006. So when Orienne got mad at Phil for objecting to her affair and retaliated by secretly getting married, stealing his house and refusing to give it back, yeah, I saw a few jokes to make. But this is one angle I really don’t find funny. Orienne and her husband, Thomas Bates, have finally moved out of Phil’s mansion and now they are auctioning a bunch of Phil’s music memorabilia.

Phil Collins’ ex-wife Orianne Cevey is selling off the singer’s gold records and awards for a song.

Cevey — who has been going through a long series of bitter legal proceedings with the pop icon over his multimillion-dollar Miami manse — is auctioning off a number of items that no longer “spark joy” — including Collins’ gold records for just $100.

Last year the 69-year-old “Sussudio” singer su-sued to evict Cevey and her current husband, Thomas Bates, from the property.

In October, Cevey agreed to leave the $40 million house by January 21 per a partial settlement. Now that Cevey has moved out, she’s put a number of items up for auction with Kodner Galleries.

A gold record of Robert Plant’s “The Principle of Moments,” which was presented to Collins because it was released by his label, Es Paranza, is currently going for a mere $100. A lot containing “Assorted Phil Collins Awards” is also at $100.

[From Page Six via DListed]

Phil has been worried about this since the beginning. He warned the courts during the eviction process that he had priceless items in that house that couldn’t be replaced if these grifters decided to make off with them in the middle of the night. When Orienne and Thomas showed up at the house after tying the knot, she and Phil got into a “confrontation.” Phil left so as not to give her any ammunition in court. He fully intended to pack up the house two weeks after he left. He never anticipated these two to become armed squatters. In addition to all his music trophies, Phil has millions of dollars’ worth of artifacts intended for his collection at The Alamo Museum. So far none of those items are on the auction block. I hope she didn’t get her hands on any of them.

Orienne is also auctioning off a bunch of her stuff. According to her rep, she’s moved to a smaller home (no word on whom she stole this house from) and wants to downsize her belongings, including some of the 5,000 pairs of shoes she owns. She is also getting rid of Chanel bags, a bunch of Rolexes, a vintage stamp collection and jewels. The rep said, “Orianne found organizing the move very cathartic and went very Marie Kondo and got rid of a number of items that no longer sparked joy for her.” Points for the passive aggressive swipe at her beleaguered ex but question: aren’t those gold records and awards their sons’ legacy too? All of this spite by unloading Phil’s lifetime of work is hurting more than Phil. According to the article, the Never Give Up Foundation that benefits kids with muscular dystrophy will receive 10% of the proceeds from the auction so at least someone benefits from this mess. And although I will be happy for the foundation, A) I’ll believe it when I see the actual deposit and B) It won’t buy Orienne back her soul.

As for the legalities of what’s happening, none of it sounds right to me but I’m sure if something is crossing a legal line, Phil has his team on it. I guess we’ll just wait to see how this all plays out.

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Photo credit: Instagram and Getty Images

The Duchess of Cambridge did a Zoom call with parents this week, and the subject was home-schooling in the pandemic, and parenting struggles in general. The other parents in the group have kids in the Roe Green Junior School, which is a school Kate visited three years ago to launch “Mentally Healthy Schools.” The parents were asked to write down words or answers to questions like “rate your math skills” and “what one word describes being a parent during the pandemic.”

For the math question, Kate wrote “-5? and joked “I’m obviously right at the bottom!” Which… her kids are small, the most George is doing right now is probably addition and subtraction, right? Maybe multiplication tables? It’s not like he’s in AP Calculus (true story, I aced AP Calculus!!). For the one word that best described parenting during the pandemic, Kate wrote “Exhausting.” I mean, I believe that her schedule is all out of whack with three small kids at home, but nanny Maria is there and the Cambridges literally have loads of staff who are still working – at times virtually – during the pandemic. Kate said, “As parents, we have day-to-day elements of being a parent, but, I suppose, during lockdown we’ve had to take on additional roles that others in our community and lives would have helped us with.”

Kate also said “I have become a hairdresser in lockdown – much to my children’s horror!” As a child, my mom traumatized me by cutting my hair, which explains my hatred of bangs. I wonder how Kate is traumatizing her kids about their hair? Here’s a little bit more:

Kate also told the group that her husband Prince William has been the biggest support to her during the pandemic. It was clearly the right response – as other parents answered their partners and other family members. “We don’t want it to be Bridgerton or something like that, do we?” quipped Loosemore.

As for parental loneliness, Kate said: “I know how challenging it is juggling work, home life, school life and everything else that you as parents are doing, so really well done. Fingers crossed, let’s hope for the positivity as you’ve all been saying. Make sure everyone looks after themselves — it’s very hard to prioritize but it’s definitely needed now more than ever. It’s important for our children that we look after ourselves too.”

[From People]

Kate didn’t confirm or deny that she’s watched Bridgerton, but I think it’s funny that a Netflix show got name-checked in her discussion, especially after all of that drama with Harry and Meghan’s Netflix deal, and The Crown. As for Kate’s Just-Like-Us normal-mum efforts, I think she was fine, honestly. I think it’s interesting that it still sounds like William just… isn’t there, physically or emotionally. Lockdown rose bushes must have been calling his name.

Photos courtesy of Kensington Palace, Backgrid.

The great state of Georgia gave us Stacey Abrams, the Biden presidency and control of the US Senate when Georgians voted for Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. Unfortunately, in the same election cycle, Georgia voters in the northwest corridor also voted for freshman congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Greene ran unopposed for her congressional seat after her opponent dropped out for personal reasons in September. It’s possible that the DNC did not want to put any resources into trying to win a congressional district which is overwhelmingly white and which went for Trump by a huge double-digit margin. That being said, I definitely feel like Georgia’s local media, the national media and the RNC should have all done a better job of vetting Greene during the damn election, because holy sh-t, this woman is f–king bonkers and she’s going to kill someone.

To recap, Greene is an unhinged conspiracist and a traitor. She rolls with QAnon, she believes in all of the “false flag” conspiracies and she harasses victims of gun violence and their families. She’s a 9/11 truther. She wants to carry weapons in the Capitol. She played a role in the incitement of the Jan. 6th insurrection. She wants to see elected Democrats murdered. And she also believes that California wildfires were started by a Jewish Space Laser.

In November 2018, California was hit with the worst wildfire in the state’s history. At the time, future Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wrote a bizarre Facebook post that echoed QAnon conspiracy theorists and falsely claimed that the real and hidden culprit behind the disaster was a laser from space triggered by some nefarious group of people.

The Camp Fire was a horrific California wildfire that started on November 8, 2018, and, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, “burned a total of 153,336 acres, destroying 18,804 structures and resulting in 85 civilian fatalities and several firefighter injuries. The Camp Fire is the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.” After an investigation, the department “determined that the Camp Fire was caused by electrical transmission lines owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electricity (PG&E) located in the Pulga area.” Scientists have noted that climate change has worsened wildfires in places like California.

Conspiracy theorists have pushed other explanations for the Camp Fire, especially on social media. One theory, which has been promoted by QAnon followers, falsely posits that a nefarious entity used laser beams or a similar instrument to start the fire for financial profit or to clear space for California’s high-speed rail system.

Rep. Greene is a proponent of the Camp Fire laser beam conspiracy theory. She wrote a November 17, 2018, Facebook post — which is no longer available online — in which she said that she was speculating “because there are too many coincidences to ignore” regarding the fire, including that then-California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) wanted to build the high-speed rail project and “oddly there are all these people who have said they saw what looked like lasers or blue beams of light causing the fires.” She also speculated that a vice chairman at “Rothschild Inc, international investment banking firm” was somehow involved, and suggested the fire was caused by a beam from “space solar generators.”

Greene added: “If they are beaming the suns energy back to Earth, I’m sure they wouldn’t ever miss a transmitter receiving station right??!! I mean mistakes are never made when anything new is invented. What would that look like anyway? A laser beam or light beam coming down to Earth I guess. Could that cause a fire? Hmmm, I don’t know. I hope not! That wouldn’t look so good for PG&E, Rothschild Inc, Solaren or Jerry Brown who sure does seem fond of PG&E.”

[From Media Matters]

Why believe in global warming, droughts and everyday corporate malfeasance and legislative apathy/incompetence when you can believe in a super-cool theory that Jewish bankers formed a kabal (it’s always a nefarious kabal) to build a space laser and they succeeded in building a space laser, and then they decided to help out Jerry Brown – and I’m sure San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi too! – to build a high-speed rail, so they decided to use their space laser to set fire to 153,336 acres in California. I mean, why not? Jesus Christ, this woman needs to be out on her ass.

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Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.

I’ll be honest, even as I was covering the Sasha Exeter-Jessica Mulroney drama last summer, I believed Jessica would be able to “come back” pretty easily. I mean, she has money and access and powerful friends. All she had to do was be quiet for six months, then apologize thoroughly and begin to move on. That’s it. And it probably wouldn’t have even taken six months! But Jessica was incapable of both shutting up and offering a sincere apology, which made her completely self-imposed melodrama so much worse. Even if you believed Jessica deserved the benefit of the doubt in June, by November, everyone was sick of her self-absorbed, bratty Karen act.

To recap, the whole thing started last June, when Instagram influencer Sasha Exeter was using her social media for a call to action on Black Lives Matter and racial justice. In Sasha’s version of events, Jessica took it personally that Sasha was encouraging other influencers to use their platforms similarly, and they began DMing, texting and emailing an increasingly hostile back-and-forth which ended when Jessica threatened Sasha’s livelihood if Sasha made any of their conversation public. Well, after Jessica’s November interview with the National Post fell flat as a f–king pancake, Jessica is at it again. This time she went to a “friendly” columnist at the same outlet, the National Post, and provided the alleged paper trail between herself and Exeter. The NP columnist used the email and text trail to declare that Mulroney is completely exonerated from the crime of being a racist brat. *deep sigh*

Jessica Mulroney turned over eight printed-out pages of what she says are her private correspondence with Sasha Exeter to Canada’s National Post in an effort to tell more of her side of the story…Though Exeter has not commented on the Post story, the paper has published what they claim to be the entirety of the correspondence between the two women, beginning on May 31, when Exeter apparently took offense to Mulroney posting a Martin Luther King Jr. quote on her Instagram, as the worldwide protests that followed the death of George Floyd were building.

“You have a large following and should be posting about BLM, not promoting your show,” Exeter writes. Mulroney replies, “I’ve spoken out about racism before. I believe that the real work needs to be teaching my children, doing work behind the scenes.” The next day, Exeter says that she “can’t find the words” to express her displeasure in the stylist’s belief that fighting racism “behind the scenes” is enough, adding, “I am deeply disappointed in the response. But your response will be discussed with my community and followers. If you cannot be uncomfortable for a few minutes and fear what people will say to you, just imagine how ppl [sic] of color have felt their entire lives. It is a cop out. It is cowardly. It is sad and pathetic.”

The pair then apparently spoke on the phone before moving their conversation from DM to text, in which Mulroney compares promoting her TV show to Exeter posting her own sponsored content, to which Exeter replies, “…don’t ever compare yourself to me. Ever.… Don’t ever compare yourself to me. Especially right now.” After a few more days of back-and-forth, Mulroney—who claimed to the Post that she was “fearful of where Sasha’s anger will take her”—attempts an apology. “I had a moment to think and I want to apologize,” she writes. “I was wrong. Comparing myself to you was wrong and what you are doing is all the good the world needs. I will do better and be better.”

Exeter then sends her final message, telling Mulroney, “Your comments in yesterday’s text thread are so problematic, you have no idea. It’s textbook Amy Cooper.” (Two days later she posted her Instagram video about the back-and-forth, calling it “My ‘Amy Cooper’ Experience.”) It was when Exeter stopped responding that Mulroney sent the message that Exeter would eventually use as an accusation. After writing, “Your silence is understood. We don’t always do it the right way. But we learn from our mistakes. Take care,” Mulroney followed up with, “If you go to the press over this nonsense and threaten to go to your followers, I won’t be afraid to go to brands and tell them what you are doing to me.”

Mulroney apologized again after that message, despite telling the outlet she “is still unsure what her mistake is or was,” but the damage, it seems, was done. (Exeter did not respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment.) Though the newly published messages don’t necessarily reveal anything new about Mulroney, Exeter, or their falling-out, the National Post seems eager to paint it as a full exoneration for Mulroney. “Jessica Mulroney is innocent of the moral crimes she has been so unjustly charged with,” the writer, Barbara Kay, concludes.

[From Vanity Fair]

My blood pressure spiked at “Mulroney—who claimed to the Post that she was ‘fearful of where Sasha’s anger will take her’.” No, really, Jessica really thought she was doing something here, didn’t she? Don’t get me wrong, I think Sasha had frayed nerves (as did so many) and she was looking to challenge someone. But Jessica DID threaten Sasha. And Jessica is still leaning so heavily into the racist tropes. Her story is still some version of “The Angry Black Woman Made Me Cry White Tears!” Which is what her argument was back in June too!!

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

At some point, I just stopped covering Robin Thicke and April Love Geary, mostly because they weren’t really scandalous anymore. Sure, the age difference – she’s 26 years old, he’s 43. But after a few years together, they just settled down and stopped making news. She gets pap’d a lot out in LA, and there are updates about their family here and there, but this is the first time in a while that I’ve bothered to write about her. April gave birth to three children in three years’ time: her first was Mia Love (born February 2018), then Lola Alain (born February 2019) and her new baby is son Luca Patrick (born December 2020). Turns out, April had elective C-sections for each birth. Good for her, honestly.

April Love Geary is explaining why cesarean sections are her go-to. The mother-of-three, 26, did a round of Q&As on her Instagram Story Wednesday, answering fan questions that delved into motherhood and pregnancy. Geary shares three children with fiancé Robin Thicke: daughters Mia Love, 3 next month, and Lola Alain, 23 months, and son Luca Patrick, whom she welcomed in December.

When asked whether she is unable to have vaginal births, Geary explains that she’s chosen c-sections because of her aversion to natural birthing.

“I had an elective c-section all three times because I’m terrified of natural birth,” she says, adding with a smile, “So I just decided to have a major surgery instead.” Another follower agreed that she was “paranoid” about giving birth and asked whether it is “bad” to opt for a c-section out of fear, to which Geary says, “It’s your body.”

“I told my doctor, I was like, ‘Hey, I’m actually really scared to have a natural birth, can I do a c-section?’ And she was like, ‘Yeah, this is what you do, and this is what we’re gonna do with the c-section.’ Do what you want to do.”

Geary further elaborates to one fan that doctors reopened the same c-section incision line scar for each subsequent birth “like a zipper — open, close, open, close.”

Reflecting on her recovery time, Geary says “the actual surgery is the easiest part” for her, “it’s the recovery that’s a little tough.” Noting that everyone is different, she says her first go she was scared throughout recovery while not knowing what to expect, her second was a “breeze,” and No. 3 was “the most difficult recovery.”

[From People]

Women can get incredibly judgy and mom-shamey about C-sections and birthing methods and whether or not to take the drugs. Personally, I feel the same as April – terrified of natural birth, terrified of pain. I would have wanted the drugs and the elective C-section too, if I gave a sh-t about having babies. I’m actually a bit surprised that April is so matter-of-fact about it, and I wonder if she’ll get any “backlash” from the mom squad about her elective C-sections. I agree with her completely though – it’s her body, her call, and I’m glad her OB-GYN took her seriously and they planned for the C-sections rather than her doctor trying to “convince” her to give natural birth a shot.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Netflix announced this week that my favorite naughty obsession, Bridgerton, has become their number one streamed original series in its history. Bridgerton has reached over 82 million households in its first month beating out The Witcher series which reach over 79 million households in a month. Of course we all know that one of the major draw to Bridgerton was not only its modern approach to period dramas (they cast several BIPOC in major roles), but its casting of Rege-Jean Page as the duke of Hastings. Well, at least, Rege was what drew ME to the series. The man is gorgeous. I won’t mention how sexy the intimate scenes were or the conveyance of desire through the merest touch or gaze. Which leaves me to wonder if I am sexually repressed Regency maiden deep down.

Anyways, Phoebe Dynevor, who plays Daphne Bridgerton, is often asked odd questions about her scene mate Rege. Daphne says many people ask her how does Rege kiss and how he smells. I know it may be weird to some but I like a full sensory experience when it comes to my crushes. I don’t care about how he kisses but I do need Phoebe to spill the beans on how he smells. Does he smell like Cool Water or Jupe? Or fresh and clean like CK One (I know I am dating myself here, don’t judge me)? Or does he have a nice earthy scent? Phoebe answers our most ludicrous question in a new interview while giving us insight into how she approached bringing Daphne Bridgerton to life. Below are a few excerpts via Glamour:

On what she wanted to bring to Daphne
I really played with the idea of her having anxiety. It was something that connected me to her because I also have anxiety. I wanted to bring everything that was bubbling inside that she couldn’t show. She’s portraying something very different on the outside at all times from what she’s feeling inside. It’s a challenge to be able to express that in a way that obviously no one else can see. It was a lot about the inner workings of what she’s feeling and going through.

I think we’re really good at hiding [anxiety]. Or at least, I’m quite good at hiding it. There were a couple of moments on set where I did have to breathe. I was feeling the pressure of playing that role and being the lead. It was interesting, because I could use that real feeling and put it into the character. But, yeah, I’m glad you picked up on that because so often you see…in a lot of the Regency stuff we’ve seen in the past, we see a very composed woman. There’s not much sexuality there. It’s very much the male gaze. I wanted to make her feel modern and have sexual desires, as women do, and have a lot going on that isn’t surface level.

On the mast-rbation scene, overseen by intimacy coordinator
That was the hardest scene to shoot. That’s saying something, because there were a lot of difficult scenes to shoot. You feel very vulnerable in those scenes. We did the intimate scenes like stunts—we blocked them out, so you have yoga balls in between you and all sorts of things that never make you feel exposed in any way. You always feel safe. I’d rehearse with Regé so much that we both knew what we were doing. It felt very practical.

But on my own, it’s a different thing. The stage directions are very specific: You have to [perform having] an orgasm. It’s a difficult thing to rehearse, which means you don’t. You just do it. I always get back to the fact that Lizzy was on set for that scene. If we didn’t have an intimacy coordinator, it would be our director, who was a male, coming up to me and telling me what to do. That would have been awkward. I felt so safe in the knowledge that Lizzy was there, so that if something went wrong or the director wanted something different he could speak to her first. I think it would have been a very difficult experience if Lizzy hadn’t been on set protecting me and looking after me. No one wants to be told how to perform orgasm [on set] by a man. [Laughs.]

On what Regé smells like.
Oh, my God. Why have so many people asked me that? He smells really, really nice. He never, ever had bad breath, and he doesn’t smoke or anything like that. We both drink a lot of coffee, so sometimes we both smell like that, which was fine. He’s unscented in a good way.

[From Glamour]

Listen I know my obsession with Rege-Jean Page is outrageous. I don’t care ya’ll. A sister has been cooped up for over a year and my fantasy world is all I have. I am glad I am not the only weirdo wondering how Rege smells. He just looks like he smells delicious even if he was knee deep in mud. Reading Phoebe’s interviews makes me appreciate as her Daphne more. Daphne has grown on me and I have come to like her character.

What was one of the most interesting tidbits in this interview is how the intimacy coach protected Phoebe on set and helped her finesse scenes. One of the sexiest scene of Bridgerton to me was when Rege explained to her how to touch herself. The way that Phoebe conveyed that sensory experience was beautifully done and very different from what we usually see in film. I also love that Phoebe reiterated that those scenes were all from the female gaze which is also rare in film and television. Now that my curiosity has been fed, there is nothing left for me to know about Bridgerton nor Rege-Jean that will enhance my imaginary world. I look forward to season two of Bridgerton. I also look forward to more stories as it pertains to romance and intimacy written from a woman’s POV. I believe that writing from a woman’s POV is the next movement in womxn’s liberation and expression as it pertains to the arts. Now, I must go off to imagine what “unscented in a good way” smells like.

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Photos via Instagram and also credit Avlon.red and Liam Daniel/Netflix

As we discussed, I find this week’s People Magazine cover story very suspicious. The first excerpts were all about how the Queen loves to laugh, and how she enjoyed having some “down time” during the pandemic. Sources tried to claim that this was the first time in the Queen’s life that she’s ever had any kind of break. I guess that’s true if we aren’t counting her annual vacation to Balmoral, where she stays for two-to-three months every year, or all of those weeks and months where she’s doing nothing but reading briefing papers and walking her dogs. Or all of those other vacations she’s taken over the course of her life. I’m not saying that the Queen is lazy – she’s not. But it’s a f–king joke to suggest that this past year was her first real “time off.”

Anyway, as additional excerpts from People’s cover story are released, I’m starting to get a clearer idea of why this cover story exists. It’s not just sugary PR out of “nowhere.” The PR has a purpose beyond “normalizing a Queen and make her sound like someone who is NOT icy, petty, emotionally stunted, tone deaf, racist, neo-colonialist and reprehensible.” The other purpose is to once again shut down talk of the Queen abdicating on her 95th birthday this year.

Queen Elizabeth will celebrate her 95th birthday in April, but she has no intention of giving up her role as monarch. Any speculation that the Queen will abdicate the throne and allow her son and heir, Prince Charles, to become monarch has practically vanished — and an insider tells PEOPLE in one of this week’s cover stories that the Queen remains fit to serve.

“Neither her physical nor her mental health are waning,” says the insider. A close source to the monarch adds that she is “well” and “in good fettle.”

In fact, Queen Elizabeth continues horseback riding (although she has switched from horses to Fell ponies, as they are “a little closer to the ground,” her head groom Terry Pendry previously shared).

While Queen Elizabeth has continued to work amid the coronavirus pandemic through video meetings and small-scale engagements from Windsor Castle, the insider says, “In her twilight years, I’m sure it is quite lovely not to have the pressure” of a full calendar of public events. The close source adds, “It is possible this is the only slight rest she’s ever had in her whole life.”

[From People]

‘Tis interesting that someone in the palace communications office is *this* concerned about the abdication stories. I’ve never really believed that the Queen will abdicate, but I also think there’s a de facto Charles Regency anyway. Every year that passes, Charles takes up more of his mother’s work and makes more appearances on behalf of the crown. This People Mag story reads as an overreaction to what is probably more of what is already happening – Charles preparing to take even more work off his mother’s plate, and the Queen spending more time with her horses and her nasty BFF Angela Kelly. And no, I don’t think the Queen’s mental acuity is all that sharp these days. I think that’s also one of the reasons for this sugary PR.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid. Cover courtesy of People.

One of my greatest childhood sheros has gone to be with the ancestors. Cicely Tyson, 96, was an icon to every Black girl who grew up in the 70s and 80s. Cicely personified black excellence, beauty and grace every time she was on screen. Cicely was a pioneer and paved the road for many dark skinned black women who came behind her. Cicely was a national treasure, especially in the Black American and West Indian communities. I will always remember Cicely as Binta from the Roots Miniseries (1977) and as Harriet Tubman in A Woman Called Moses. In fact, every time I think of Harriet Tubman, Cicely Tyson is the face I see. Cicely Tyson was an Oscar nominated actress who received an honorary Oscar in 2018. Cicely also won two Emmys for her role in Miss Jane Pitmann and a Tony for The Trip to Bountiful. President Obama gave Cicely his last Medal of Freedom before leaving office. Cicely was also know for turning down roles as prostitutes, drug addicts and maids. Cicely said those sort of roles demeaned Black women and she wanted to uplift Black women with the characters she portrayed. Cicely was also married to jazz great Miles Davis in the 80s (I always forget that tidbit).

Cicely saw a recent resurgence in her career these last few years when she appeared in The Help in 2011 and alongside Viola Davis again in How to Get Away with Murder. Cicely played Ophelia Harkness, Annalise Keating’s mother. Cicely’s appearance in HTGAWM re-introduced her to a new younger audience and reminded those of us who knew and loved her from our childhoods of her greatness. Cicely’s death was confirmed by her family via her manager Larry Thompson. Below is more on her passing and legacy via ABCNews:

Tyson’s death was announced by her family, via her manager Larry Thompson, who did not immediately provide additional details.

“With heavy heart, the family of Miss Cicely Tyson announces her peaceful transition this afternoon. At this time, please allow the family their privacy,” according to a statement issued through Thompson.

A one time model, Tyson began her screen career with bit parts but gained fame in the early 1970s when Black women were finally starting to get starring roles. Besides her Oscar nomination, she won two Emmys for playing the 110-year-old former slave in the 1974 television drama “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.”

Tyson’s memoir, “Just As I Am,” was published this week.

“I’m very selective as I’ve been my whole career about what I do. Unfortunately, I’m not the kind of person who works only for money. It has to have some real substance for me to do it,” she told The Associated Press in 2013.

Besides her Oscar nomination, she won two Emmys for playing the 110-year-old former slave in the 1974 television drama “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.” A new generation of moviegoers saw her in the 2011 hit “The Help.” In 2018, she was given an honorary Oscar statuette at the annual Governors Awards. “This is a culmination of all those years of haves and have nots,” Tyson said.

She was one of the recipients for the 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. At that ceremony, President Barack Obama said: “Cicely’s convictions and grace have helped for us to see the dignity of every single beautiful memory of the American family.”

“Sounder,” based on the William H. Hunter novel, was the film that confirmed her stardom in 1972. Tyson was cast as the Depression-era loving wife of a sharecropper (Paul Winfield) who is confined in jail for stealing a piece of meat for his family. She is forced to care for their children and attend to the crops.

The New York Times reviewer wrote: “She passes all of her easy beauty by to give us, at long last, some sense of the profound beauty of millions of black women.” Tyson went on to earn an Academy Award nomination as best actress of 1972.

[From ABCNews]

A couple of days ago I had heard that she had written a memoir and I had placed it in my cart on Amazon, preparing to purchase it this weekend. I was editing a video and had just stepped away from Twitter for about an hour. When I returned, the announcement that Cicely had passed was everywhere. The shock of losing yet another great from my childhood hurt my soul. I know she was 96 and that she lived a long beautiful life but she represented so much to me. I sometimes scoff when people say representation matters. I tend to forget and take for granted how often I saw black faces in film and on television when I was growing up. Cicely and Grace Jones were the two melanated queens that I grew up seeing that reminded me of my own beauty despite what society told me. Cicely was my dark and lovely representation who had a special type of regalness that came with the women of her generation. I didn’t want to emulate Cicely but she was a blueprint to the power I carry within from generations of African ancestors.

I feel no matter what I write, I will not be able to capture how much Cicely Tyson meant to me. She represented triumph over adversity, grace in the fire, majestic beauty that transcends all cultural norms and joy through forgiveness. Cicely will always be legendary and someone I looked up to. I know Cicely rests in the warm embrace of the ancestors. And what a fierce warrior to have on the other side. But I shall miss Cicely’s words of wisdom that she would often drop in interviews, and her beautiful face on my screen. Cicely will be missed but may she rest in power always.

Let’s remember Cicely reminding us that we are all queens:

Rest in power, Cicely Tyson. Forever our queen pic.twitter.com/DZH93RDJwV

— Strong Black Lead (@strongblacklead) January 29, 2021

Here’s her interview last week with Gayle King for CBS This Morning where she talks about her book and her life:

In a new memoir, legendary actress Cicely Tyson is opening up about her impressive career and personal life.@GayleKing caught up with 96-year-old @IAmCicelyTyson to reflect on the defining moments in her life, starting with a reporter’s question that caught her off guard. pic.twitter.com/86xvScQ4ys

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) January 26, 2021

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Photos credit: Avalon.red and Getty

The sandwich chain, Subway, is going to need to redirect a ton of its profit margin to a marketing campaign to clean up its reputation. That is, if it has any money left over from all the lawsuits. First they were sued in Chicago for shorting their customers a full inch on their foot-long sandwiches. Then an Irish court ruled what they serve their product on cannot legally be called bread. Now they’re being sued in California because their tuna sandwich allegedly doesn’t offer any tuna. And I don’t mean somebody got miffed that they didn’t get enough meat mixed with their mayo, I mean they are claiming Subway is not serving any tuna in their famous tuna salad. What’s worse, the lawsuit said there is no fish in the tuna fish salad at all.

Subway describes its tuna sandwich as “freshly baked bread” layered with “flaked tuna blended with creamy mayo then topped with your choice of crisp, fresh veggies.” It’s a description designed to activate the saliva glands — and separate you from your money.

It’s also fiction, at least partially, according to a recent lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint alleges the ingredient billed as “tuna” for the chain’s sandwiches and wraps contains absolutely no tuna.

A representative of Subway said the claims are without merit. Not only is its tuna the real deal, the company says, but it’s wild-caught, too.

The star ingredient, according to the lawsuit, is “made from anything but tuna.” Based on independent lab tests of “multiple samples” taken from Subway locations in California, the “tuna” is “a mixture of various concoctions that do not constitute tuna, yet have been blended together by defendants to imitate the appearance of tuna,” according to the complaint. Shalini Dogra, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, declined to say exactly what ingredients the lab tests revealed.

“We found that the ingredients were not tuna and not fish,” the attorney said in an email to The Washington Post.

[From The Washington Post]

The two plaintiffs, Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin, are hoping the case becomes a class action lawsuit, which will open this suit up to anyone in California who purchased a tuna sandwich or wrap after January 21, 2017. So far, Subway is flat out denying the accusation. They say they send pure tuna to their restaurants who mix the tuna with mayo per the chain’s recipe and there you have it. But the plaintiffs say they’ve had samples tested. The article says multiple samples but does not say multiple locations, so I wonder how many got targeted. I don’t know where to come down on this. I love Subway, we eat there all the time. My brother agrees with Ireland about the bread and refuses to eat their sandwiches, but I guess I’m trashy. I do not eat their tuna though. I don’t like tuna. But my husband loves their tuna salad. What caught my attention, though, is the article states the plaintiffs, “argue they paid premium prices for an ingredient that they prize for its health benefits.” Subway’s tuna salad is one of their worst nutritional sandwiches they offer, that’s why my husband has had to lay off them. I kind of wish they had mentioned what, exactly, those labs had found in their testing. If it wasn’t fish, what was it?

I’ll be interested to see if this lawsuit has any legs. The Chicago “where’s my last inch” settlement got thrown out, but hopefully Subway corrected the issue. It feels like if this one has any merit, it would be easy enough to prove. I cannot imagine what would be cheaper than tuna to use, though. Scratch that, I don’t want to know. I guess I’m a little defensive about Subway because my kids fell for it and it became an alternative to burgers. It made me feel slightly better about myself as a mom. It was also the first fast food place close enough they could walk to by themselves, and they felt so grown up going to grab themselves lunch. There are much better sandwich places out there, yes. But I guess I just don’t want my kids’ childhood memories to be tarred with a rat salad brush, so I really want this to be false.

Photo credit: Instagram

There were several “a star is born” moments at Joe Biden’s inauguration last week. Amanda Gorman was probably the most notable one, and of course Amanda is getting tons of opportunities and new gigs now, and I’m so happy for her. But Ella Emhoff also had her own quirky A Star is Born moment. I’m not sure the average voter knew much about Kamala Harris’s family, or the fact that she’s stepmom to two adult children, Ella and Cole. Once we got a good look at Ella, people were like “oh, okay, she’s a cute little hipster.” And she is! She lives in Brooklyn and goes to Parsons. She had her own side-business as a knitter who worked on commission. And she wore an adorable Miu Miu coat to the inauguration, and people were obsessed. So obsessed that now Ella has signed on with IMG Models.

Ella Emhoff, stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris and daughter of Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, is breaking into the modeling business. The 21-year-old, who is currently a senior at Parsons School of Design in New York City studying fine arts with a focus on textiles, landed a major modeling contract with one of the most prestigious agencies in the world: IMG Models. The agency’s known to represent top supermodels including Gisele Bündchen, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Stephanie Seymour, Lily Aldridge and more.

“It’s not really about shape, size or gender any more,” said Ivan Bart, the president of IMG Models, told the New York Times. “Ella communicates this moment in time. There’s a cheekiness and a joy she exudes.”

According to the New York Times, Emhoff caught Bart’s eye “as soon as she walked in the door” during the presidential primaries over the summer. Shortly after, the two began discussing the idea of joining IMG Models.

“I was pretty surprised when everything with IMG was happening because when I was younger, I never saw that as being part of my timeline. As someone who, like a lot of young girls out there, had self-confidence issues, it is intimidating and scary to go into this world that is hyper-focused on you and the body,” Emhoff told the New York Times. But she’s looking forward to being a part of the change occurring in the modeling industry that allows for more diversity and authenticity, whether she shows herself through what she calls her “funky haircut” or “weird tattoos.” (She has around 18 tattoos, many of which she “did herself during quarantine” adding that her parents “may not know” about all of them.)

“I pick and choose the times I want to show my style,” she told the outlet.

Emhoff already caught the eye of the fashion industry when she arrived at the presidential inauguration wearing an embellished Miu Miu coat. And while she’s excited to join the style sphere, she hopes she can “do some good” through this new platform. “There are a lot of people out there that need a lot of help,” she said. “If I can do anything to help with that, I want to, and I think this opportunity will be really beneficial toward that.”

[From People]

I love what she said about how this kind of thing was never on her radar and she too has struggled with self confidence. Very real-girl. Which, I assume, would be her vibe as a model too. Just like IMG signing Amanda Gorman, I’m not sure this is traditional modeling work, like sending Amanda and Ella off to Paris for fashion week. But I could totally see Ella getting some editorial work. And maybe the connections she makes in the fashion and modeling industry will help her when – I assume – she starts her own label, or her own knitted-goods company.

PS… The Biden granddaughters are gorgeous, where’s their modeling contract??

Photos courtesy of Instagram, Avalon Red.