This week, we learned that Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly broke up again over the Thanksgiving holiday here in America. Apparently, she found something on his phone and she broke things off and they haven’t seen each other since. She’s also about six months pregnant with their rainbow baby, and this is not the first time they’ve broken up or broken off their engagement. Megan and MGK’s relationship has always been a giant ball of chaotic drama, and sources told People Mag that Megan and MGK will probably get back together at some point:

Megan Fox was caught off guard by the latest rift in her on-off relationship with Machine Gun Kelly. The Subservience actress and the musician broke up in late November, just weeks after announcing that they are expecting their first baby together.

A source close to Fox says the actress was “blind-sided” by the recent split, adding, “She’s been distraught.” Still, Fox is “trying to focus on” preparing for the baby on the way: “It’s her priority.”

Reps for both stars have not responded to PEOPLE’s requests for comment. Fox and Kelly, a.k.a. Colson Baker, met while making the movie Midnight in the Switchgrass together, and got engaged in January 2022. They’re both already parents: Fox has Noah, 12, Bodhi, 10, and Journey, 8, with ex-husband Brian Austin Green, while Kelly is dad to daughter Casie, 15.

Another source said Fox and Kelly’s romance “has always been bumpy” and there’s a possibility they’ll reconcile soon.

“They love each other but don’t have compatible personalities. They’re both hot-heads, dramatic and stubborn. When they’re good together, they’re great,” said that source, adding, “They will very likely get back together. They’ve split in the past and then worked things out.”

Still, they have “both been ecstatic about the baby,” said that source: “They really wanted this baby.”

[From People]

Some people mentioned Megan’s previous marriage with Brian Austin Green, and how she left BAG only to get pregnant with Journey and return to BAG for a few more years. Megan has trouble leaving relationships cold – it takes her years to finally cut things off for good, so I agree with this source that there’s a very high probability that Megan and MGK will get back together. Meanwhile, TMZ had this interesting report on how Megan bought herself a house even before the breakup:

Megan Fox is sold on taking time apart from former fiancé Machine Gun Kelly … we’ve learned the actress has just purchased her own home — without the rapper. Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ … Megan and MGK haven’t actually been living together for the past year. We’re told he bought a house a couple years ago and always had a lot of people over … which left the “Transformers” star concerned about safety and resolved to have her own space.

Sources say Megan has been bouncing from rental to rental this past year … but is ready to settle down in one place — and she’s since scooped up a large home, worth about $8 million, in a popular celeb-filled neighborhood in the Los Angeles area. We’re told she’ll be moving in soon. However, don’t expect MGK to join her … we’re told Megan purchased the house before she and her baby daddy broke up — and there was never a plan for him to move in. The new pad was always just for her.

Sources say Megan and MGK have never been a good match living together … so, they ultimately decided it was better to live apart.

[From TMZ]

I’m all for separate spaces, but it’s just like… girl, add it to the list of reasons why you should be done with this guy. It’s not worth all of this! Megan doesn’t want to live with him, she doesn’t trust him around her things, she doesn’t trust him to NOT invite complete randos over, and he’s probably been cheating on her this whole time? Throw out the whole man, for goodness sake.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Deranger math is “Prince Harry & Meghan got a $100 million Netflix contract in 2020, and if Netflix doesn’t renew the contract in 2025, the Sussexes will be broke!” That has been the raison d’etre of the British tabloids for five years: to somehow engineer “Harry & Meghan need lose all of their money!” They’re tried screaming about their money, they’ve tried shaming Harry for “writing a bestseller” and “selling out his horrible family.” They’ve mocked every single thing Harry and Meghan have done. And they still believe, in their tiny little peabrains, that the Sussexes are just one Daily Mail column away from being broke and having no other option than “crawling back to the UK and begging to do royal work.” Speaking of, did you know that the British papers published “bad reviews” of Polo, the Netflix series? Well, now the Mail is speaking to some guy who says, for sure, the bad reviews mean that Netflix won’t renew their contract with the Sussexes, and you know what that means!

UK brand and culture expert Nick Ede has revealed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Polo may be the ‘nail in the coffin’ for their £80million Netflix deal. Prince Harry, 40, who served as an executive producer alongside Meghan, 43, promised the series, released globally this week, would showcase the ‘true depth and spirit of the sport’ as well as the ‘intensity of its high-stakes moments’.

However, the five-part docuseries, which centres around the build-up to the polo World Cup in Florida and mainly focuses on players such as Adolfo and Poroto Cambiaso, Timmy Dutta, and Nacho Figueras, struggled to impress critics. It’s a reality that Ede considers threatening for the Sussex’s Netflix deal, he told MailOnline: ‘The new polo documentary hasn’t received good reviews, and this is another foray into producing from Meghan and Harry. All eyes will be on whether the show rates and makes the very important top ten. It could, like the Invictus documentary, start well due to the public’s fascination with the pair and with polo potentially. But it’s more than likely to [fare] badly when up against blockbusters like Black Dove and safe Lindsay Lohan Christmas films.’

‘This could potentially be a nail in the coffin for their deal with the streaming giant who now use algorithms to make sure their programming is perfect for their subscribers.’

The series hardly features Harry and Meghan and has been nicknamed ‘the Nacho show’ behind the scenes because it focuses primarily on the Argentinian player – another drawback for Ede. He said: ‘With very little airtime, we don’t get to see the pair much and also hardly any PR around the series, this looks like it’s Oh No! Rather than Polo!’

The brand expert concluded: ‘We are still waiting for the new food show from Meghan and with the hype around this new show simmering rather than boiling, TV bosses will be starting to get worried about their big investment.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I haven’t watched the entire series, but Nacho is just providing commentary and explaining the sport and the characters. It’s called color commentary and he’s good at it, but no, it’s not The Nacho Show. Despite the predictable “bad reviews” in the British outlets, I get the feeling that most haters have greeted Polo with disappointment – Harry & Meghan aren’t centered in the series, it’s built around interesting (but barely-known) professional polo players and it’s set up like a standard sports docuseries, meaning sports-centered soap operas and Real Housewife-esque family moments. I’m saying that as a compliment – it’s a slick, well-done series which is very watchable. Now, will it be another sports docuseries success like Full Swing, or will it bomb like Break Point? Possibly somewhere in-between – Break Point sucked because the people working on it didn’t give a sh-t about tennis or what was actually happening on the tour. Full Swing worked because of the drama, personalities and authentic relationships.

As for the Sussexes’ Netflix contract… I’ve seen some suggestions that Harry and Meghan actually want to move on to other things. I don’t know. Given Meghan’s cooking show and how American Riviera Orchard is being built around it, I suspect that Meghan actually wants to stay with Netflix. Whatever happens, I hope they learn how to promote their damn projects.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Netflix.

Just after Thanksgiving, President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden, much to the dismay of too many idiotic elected Democrats and podbros. Most of us understood why President Biden pardoned Hunter, and most of us understood that the pardon was mostly about the incoming administration next year. The only surprising part, to me, was that Biden didn’t wait until January to issue the pardon, which is traditionally when lame-duck presidents issue their most controversial pardons, right as they’re about to leave office. As it turns out, Pres. Biden is making December the month of pardons and commutations. One of the criticisms was “why does Hunter get special treatment?” So Joe was like “you know what, I’m gonna pardon and commute 1500 people in one day.”

President Biden is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoning 39 convicted of nonviolent crimes, the largest grant of clemency by an American president in a single day, the White House announced in a statement on Thursday.

The commutations affect mostly those who had been released from prison and placed in home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic. The people who received pardons were convicted of nonviolent crimes, including possession of marijuana.

The announcement came two weeks after Mr. Biden issued a pardon for his son, Hunter, who had been convicted of gun possession and income tax evasion. That decision was harshly criticized by both Republicans and Democrats because Mr. Biden had long ruled out clemency for his son.

The White House said that the clemency announced on Thursday represented Mr. Biden’s commitment to “help reunite families, strengthen communities, and reintegrate individuals back into society.” Mr. Biden, the statement said, is the first president to issue categorical pardons to people convicted of simple use and possession of marijuana, as well as to former service members convicted of violating the military’s former laws against homosexual conduct.

In his statement on Thursday, Mr. Biden said that many of those people would have received lower sentences if they had been charged under current laws.

“These commutation recipients, who were placed on home confinement during the Covid pandemic, have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have shown that they deserve a second chance,” he said.

Mr. Biden said that he would take more steps in the weeks ahead and would continue to review clemency petitions. His staff has been debating whether he should issue blanket pardons for a number of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s perceived enemies to protect them from the “retribution” Mr. Trump has threatened, people familiar with the discussion have said.

[From The NY Times]

Wait… there were still military people in jail from the don’t-ask-don’t-tell era?? They were still people in prison for homosexual acts? That’s f–king wild. And yes, someone has needed to commute the sentences of nonviolent drug offenders for a long-ass time. We had people in prison for smoking joints or carrying a dime bag. Enough. I’m so pleased that Biden did this, and I hope there are even more pardons and commutations to come. I’m not sure if Biden should do blanket pardons for everyone on Trump’s enemies list, but if he does that, I’ll defend him? One thing I will not defend is James Clyburn’s suggestion that Biden should pardon Donald Trump.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

I’ll admit it: I have not been a supporter of Selena Gomez’s relationship with Benny Blanco. I felt like there was another shoe to drop, or that he would turn out to be an idiotic man-child who was wasting her time. But Benny stuck around… for a year, and this is maybe the happiest Selena has been in a while. Benny just proposed, and Selena obviously said yes. She posted photos of her ring – a nice-sized marquise diamond – on her Instagram with the caption “forever begins now.”

Congratulations are in order for Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco! The singer-actress, 32, announced that she and the producer, 36, are engaged!

She shared the news via an Instagram carousel on Wednesday, Dec. 11, including an up-close snap of her engagement ring and a pic of her and Blanco celebrating their engagement with laughs and a hug.

“forever begins now..,” she captioned the post.

Blanco is ready to make their union official as he commented, “hey wait… that’s my wife.”

The bride-to-be also proudly posted a mirror selfie, showing off her new ring even more in her Instagram Stories. During a May appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Blanco told Stern that he could see marriage in his future with the Only Murders In The Building actress.

[From People]

I’m sort of examining my own feelings about why I was sure Benny would end up screwing her over. I think it’s because Selena has historically had a bad picker? But maybe she’s changed or maybe she accidentally found a good guy. Anyway, congrats to them. One great thing is that he seems fine with Selena being “the star” of the relationship. He doesn’t seem insecure about that at all, which is what she needs.

Photos courtesy of Selena’s Instagram.

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Sentebale is the first charity Prince Harry ever founded. He was only 21 years old when he and Prince Seeiso started it, and in nearly 20 years, Sentebale has done a lot of great work in Lesotho. It was started as a way to support children born with HIV. Over the years, Sentebale’s focus has expanded to more general support for the children of Lesotho, plus working on issues that face Lesotho across the board. Harry just visited Lesotho for the first time in like four or five years (the pandemic, remember) and it looks like he’s decided that Sentebale needs to adapt even more. As such, he’s bringing in some new people. This, of course, is being reported by Richard Eden at the Daily Mail as some kind of “people are always quitting on the Sussexes!”

Prince Harry was in ebullient form at an art gallery party in New York last week to celebrate the launch of a fundraising exhibition for his African children’s charity Sentebale. Behind the scenes, there have, I hear, been major changes going on at the organisation he co-founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006.

This week, Richard Miller quit as chief executive of Sentabale after five years in the role. His departure follows that of Baroness Chalker, the overseas development minister, who stepped down as a director last month.

It was the latest blow for the Duke of Sussex’s organisation, which lost advertising king Johnny Hornby last year. He stood down after 11 years as a trustee, five of which he spent as chairman. Last month, The Mail on Sunday disclosed that Andrew Tucker, whom Harry affectionately calls ‘Tucks’, had stepped down from his senior position at Sentebale after almost a decade.

In another sign of Harry and his wife, Meghan, cutting links with Britain, Miller will be the last London-based chief executive of Sentebale, which means ‘forget me not’ in Sesotho. The charity says Miller, 62, will be replaced by an interim executive director, Carmel Gaillard. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, she has been asked to deliver a ‘strategic transformation’ of the charity.

It has evolved from supporting children and young people affected by HIV/AIDS in Lesotho and Botswana to addressing broader issues of ‘youth health, wealth inequity and climate resilience’.

‘This shift reflects our continued commitment to being guided by voices from within the region we serve,’ say Princes Harry and Seeiso in a joint statement. ‘We sincerely thank Richard for his pivotal role in steering our organisation toward this important evolution.’

Miller says: ‘It is the logical next step for Sentebale, and the time is right for this shift to local leadership. Carmel is an incredible asset to position Sentebale further as a leader in the region.’

[From The Daily Mail]

What it sounds like is that Harry is really withdrawing as much as he can from the UK, and he no longer wants so many British folks involved with Sentebale. If the switch to Carmel Gaillard is any indication, Harry probably wants executives and board members who are actually from Lesotho or South Africa or the broader region. My guess is that this is all part of a shift where Sentebale will not even have an office in England – perhaps it will be registered as a charity in the US. Anyway, the real story is the evolution of a small, local charity in Lesotho growing into an internationally-recognized charity with a much broader agenda.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red, Instagram.

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Happy Birthday Rita Moreno! The triple-threat EGOT winner celebrated turning 93 years young yesterday, but the party got started over the weekend when lovely Rita hosted a Mardi Gras-themed bash in Berkeley, California, where she lives. In true New Orleans style, she hired a brass band to fill the venue with music, and there were masks and beads everywhere. The birthday girl herself was decked out in head-to-toe sequins: a jacket in the signature Mardi Gras colors of purple, green, and gold, paired with a brown (perhaps mocha mousse?!) skirt, capped off with a miniature, shimmery purple top hat. What a lovely, joyous way to treat yourself and 60 of your nearest and dearest family, colleagues, and friends made at the supermarket. People Mag got exclusive coverage of the party:

Rita Moreno brought a bit of New Orleans to Northern California as she celebrated her 93rd birthday.

The West Side Story icon was the guest of honor at a Mardi Gras-themed birthday party in the Berkeley area on Dec. 7, four days before her actual birthday.

Moreno dubbed the day — complete with purple, green and gold color scheme — “Fat Saturday,” a play on “Fat Tuesday,” the final day of Carnival and the Christian feasting period before the start of Lent.

“How remarkable it is to be 93 and still enjoy all the good things in life!” Moreno tells PEOPLE. “I am particularly grateful for my family and friends who have filled my life with love and laughter.”

Those 60 friends and family members who helped mark the occasion included her daughter Fernanda, former One Day at a Time costar Justina Machado and the Netflix comedy’s executive producers Brent Miller and Mike Royce.

During the lively evening, a brass band played several songs, including a special rendition of “Happy Birthday,” and a handful of guests offered sweet toasts to the EGOT winner, who wore a purple sequin jacket emblazoned with Queen of Mardi Gras on the back.

In lieu of a cake, Moreno had a chocolate fountain with strawberries, pretzels and other items for dipping.

At one point, Moreno, spurred on by others, yelled out her catchphrase from the 1970s educational program The Electric Company, “Hey you guys!”

Moreno also celebrated — and showed off — her Barbie tribute doll from Mattel, which launched Nov. 20.

“I was a girl who decided to go for it, and despite the challenges I faced, I never gave up on my dreams. That’s what I hope this doll inspires in each and every girl today: to live their life with courage and resilience so that they can make their dreams a reality,” she said in a statement in November.

[From People]

She posed with her Barbie, I love it! Hell, I’d be carrying mine around with me everywhere I went if they made a Kismet Barbie (hint hint, Mattel — I had a birthday this month, too!). Everything about this party sounds delightful. Well, except for the lack of cake, which definitely should’ve been done in addition to the chocolate fountain. Why hold back for your 93rd?? And speaking of food, I wish People Mag had reported more on what was served. This is a Mardi Gras theme, after all, and Nola is famous for their food. I grew up in San Francisco (near Rita in Berkeley), and my family used to go to a (since-closed) restaurant called Cajun Pacific, that married the cuisines of Louisiana with Northern California. They were usually only open on the weekends, but would obviously do a special service for Mardi Gras. One year we attended for the holiday, and my sweet, dearly-departed, professor of a father was lamenting the timing falling in the middle of the week when he was teaching. So he said — and this man reportedly took French in high school — “Why do they always have Mardi Gras on a Tuesday?!” My mother and I never let him live it down, but I think he secretly loved how much it made us laugh.

Happy Birthday again to Rita, my fellow December babies, and all the marvelous nonagenarians out there! Laissez les bons temps rouler.

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Photos credit: JKP/Avalon, IMAGO/Jennifer Bloc/Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon, Getty and via Instagram

Angelina Jolie is back to work in Paris, fresh off her latest Golden Globe nomination. Is her award-season narrative “Angie is back?” [LaineyGossip]
Wait, Chris Pine has a girlfriend?!! [Just Jared]
Michele Morrone did not have an affair with Megan Fox. [Socialite Life]
Lioness and Taylor Sheridan’s foreign policy. [Pajiba]
Wait, Kiernan Shipka has bangs now? [Go Fug Yourself]
Lana del Rey talks about marrying that alligator guy. [OMG Blog]
Olivia Wilde’s Carolina Herrera dress is too “low.” [RCFA]
OMG, I’ve never seen a photo of Lenny Kravitz’s dad. [Seriously OMG]
Sister Wives and real estate. [Starcasm]
Getting to know Don Trump Jr.’s new girlfriend. [Hollywood Life]
Re: the Trump tariffs – should I buy a new car before the inauguration? I’ve been thinking about it a lot, I’d love some input. My current car is running well but it’s 2013 model and I’ve been weighing getting a new car for the past year. [Buzzfeed]

In September 2023, the California Legislature passed the California Food Safety Act. The CFSA banned the sale of food and drinks containing red dye No. 3, as well as three other harmful chemicals that are frequently found in processed foods: potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil and propylparaben. They also banned red No. 40, yellow No. 5, yellow No. 6, blue No. 1, blue No. 2 and green No. 3 from public school foods and drinks by 2027. New York and Illinois are also in the process of doing the same.

If you aren’t familiar with red dye No. 3, it’s a synthetic food coloring that’s made from petroleum and used in nearly 3,000 different food products, including fruit cups, gummies, frostings, and candies like Skittles and Peeps. It’s controversial because studies have found that the dye can cause cancer and trigger behavioral issues like irritability and hyperactivity. The US banned it from cosmetics in 1990. Use in food is already banned in Europe, but my fellow American know how it goes whenever we try to enact any positive change here. Money makes the rules, and there’s always resistance for resistance’s sake. Well, it looks like progress may finally be coming. The FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods said in a Senate hearing last week that the administration is open to finally banning red dye No. 3.

There’s a petition to get rid of it: At the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee meeting Thursday, Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods, said, “With Red 3, we have a petition in front of us to revoke the authorization board, and we’re hopeful that in the next few weeks we’ll be acting on that petition.”

Bad for rats, fine for humans? Some of the same dyes that are used in food are also used in pharmaceutical drugs, but the dyes are approved separately for each use. In 1990, the FDA banned Red No. 3, also known as erythrosine, from cosmetics and topical drugs under the Delaney Clause, because the chemical was shown to be carcinogenic at high doses in tests on lab rats. “We don’t believe there is a risk to humans,” FDA’s Jones said.

Europe’s all over it: Some of the dyes allowed in food in the U.S. are either banned or require a warning label in other countries. The European Union requires a warning label on products that contain three artificial food dyes approved in the U.S.:

Yellow No. 5, also known as tartrazine.
Red No. 40, also called E129 or Allura Red AC.
Yellow No. 6, called sunset yellow or E110.

The required label warns that the additive “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”

It’s apparently a ‘badge of honor’ to ignore warnings in the US: “There is something called the precautionary principle, which is basically the thought that it’s better to be safe than sorry,” said Jerold Mande, an adjunct professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who is also a former FDA senior adviser and former deputy undersecretary for food safety at the Agriculture Department. “The U.S. wears it as a badge of honor that we don’t adhere to it.” Other countries do not want to take a risk, even if data on potential harms is not conclusive, he said.

They only exist to make food look pretty: “These food dyes only serve one function in food, to make them look pretty so you and I want to buy it, it’s a marketing tool,” said Thomas Galligan, principal scientist for food additives and supplements at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

The FDA says: An FDA advisory committee conducted a review of the possible link between artificial food dyes and hyperactivity in 2011 and determined that “a causal relationship between exposure to color additives and hyperactivity in children in the general population has not been established.” The agency revisited the issue in 2019 and maintained its stance. Regulatory agencies and scientists alike have reached conflicting conclusions about what research has found.

What science? “The most concerning is that we do so little science to understand the harms,” Mande said, referring to research funded by the U.S. government. In a 2012 review of studies on artificial food dyes and ADHD symptoms, which included the research presented to the FDA in 2011, researchers concluded that artificial food colorings “are not a main cause of ADHD, but they may contribute significantly to some cases, and in some cases may additively push a youngster over the diagnostic threshold.”

Science says: More than a decade later, officials completed the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, a 2021 review of all the available research that studied whether artificial food dyes may have an effect on human health. The conclusion: “Consumption of synthetic food dyes can result in hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral problems in some children, and that children vary in their sensitivity to synthetic food dyes.”

“The evidence now shows pretty conclusively that when some kids eat these, they will experience nervous system effects that look like ADHD,” Galligan said. “There are 27 human clinical trials that show these dyes do in fact harm children’s behavior.”

No further research: The government spends very little money researching synthetic food additives once they are approved, Mande said. Less than 5% of the National Institutes of Health’s research budget goes to studying issues related to nutrition. Acute harms, such as poisoning, are well understood among FDA-approved products, Mande said, “but the effort to understand the effects in the long term or subtle things like behavior, we don’t study that.”

How the US differs from Europe: “The biggest distinction between the U.S. and Europe is that they have been doing post-market review of chemicals for over 20 years,” he said. “The FDA, although we have authorization to do post-market review, there’s no statutory mandate.”

Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated: Mande said. “These food dyes are things that a lot of countries already don’t allow. It’s one thing to produce different foods for different countries, but to do it for different states is a nonstarter,” he said.

[From NBC News]

As for that last part about it being “tricky” to make food with dyes in some states and not others, I’m pretty sure that’s short-hand for “it’s too expensive to do that.” If that’s the case, it does not surprise me that banning a harmful food additive could come down to it being more cost-effective to do so, but so be it. The lobbying industry is killing us all. It’s insane how unhealthy American food is in comparison to what our European counterparts are serving and it’s criminal that they don’t bother to really research things that we put into our body once they’ve been approved, even if there is evidence that it’s harmful. FFS, we decided that it’s harmful to put red dye No. 3 on our faces but just fine to put into our bodies even when it’s been linked to carcinogens. It’s about time that we seriously re-evaluated these dyes and banned them. They have no business being in our foods.

Photos credit: Alejandro Peralta on Pexels, April Walker on Unsplash

The Princess of Wales’s “new reality” covers this week’s issue of People Magazine. What new reality is that? You see, Kate and William are quietly preparing to be king and queen. It’s been months of this, months of Kensington Palace and unnamed “friends of Prince William” reinforcing a narrative that King Charles is not long for this world. Not just that, but sources seem to indicate that William and Kate are not actually all that prepared, so they’ve been consumed with angst and anxiety about all of it. Tina Brown also used a similar argument when she tried to explain WTF was happening with Will and Kate earlier this year – that Will & Kate were “frozen with intense anxiety” as they “flailed” around with incompetence. Obviously, People Mag isn’t that harsh, but this whole cover story is rather curious. Some highlights:

Kate’s future role as queen: As Kate continues her recovery, she’s confronting the looming responsibilities of her future role as Queen. Following Queen Elizabeth’s death in September 2022, William and Kate found themselves on the brink of the roles of King and Queen. When William’s father, King Charles, 76, revealed his own cancer diagnosis in February — treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer remains ongoing — that position came into sharper focus. Additionally, Queen Camilla, 77, was recently forced to step back from several royal engagements as she battled pneumonia, a further reminder of the family’s vulnerability.

Charles’s limitations: Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith adds, “Although the King is carrying out his duties with typical determination, he has had to accept limitations during his cancer treatment. As a result William has been taking on more responsibilities, and he and Kate have been preparing for their future roles sooner than they would have expected.”

The calm before the storm: Adds an insider: “There’s a sense of calm before the storm. They are next in line for the biggest job of their lives, and of course, Kate’s health has taken priority, but it’s also allowed everyone to take a step back and figure out what’s important right now.”

Transition plans: The transition to the throne will inevitably come, though it remains a complex and carefully considered path. “It is something the institution is always mindful of,” says a close source of how plans are frequently updated. “It is an institutional preparedness.” The source adds, “Their circumstances will eventually change. Given what the future holds, it would be very sensible to build back slowly and prioritize family time.”

Kate’s journey back to public life: As she navigates her way back to public life, Kate’s path won’t be straightforward. The sense is that when she does make public appearances, she will be alongside William, likely joining engagements he was already set to attend as well as landmark royal occasions. “They can’t raise people’s expectations with lots of engagements only for her to face a setback, not feel well, and things are canceled,” Queen Elizabeth’s former press secretary Ailsa Anderson tells PEOPLE. “The strategy of an unexpected visit gives her flexibility. She doesn’t have the pressure of feeling she has to turn up.”

Unpredictable disease: Adds Robert Hardman, author of The Making of a King: Charles III and the Modern Monarchy: “We are being encouraged not to look at this as a chapter that’s over and then it’s back to normal, because cancer doesn’t work like that. The details remain private, but there’s no sense of trying to gloss over the reality that it’s an unpredictable disease.”

Kate’s reshaped focus: Friends and sources say Kate’s experience has reshaped her focus, both at home and in her approach to royal duties. “Life-threatening illnesses bring a reconsideration of priorities. She and William have always made it clear that family is the most important thing,” a source close to the royal household says. She will return to more public-facing duties when she’s ready and her doctors give the go-ahead. A second source close to the household adds, “She has to get back on top of it. And she will if she is left alone to work it out for herself.”

[From People]

This reads, to me, like yet another “promise to be keen,” which have been regular features coming out of Kensington Palace for more than a decade. Kate spent years doing the bare minimum as Duchess of Cambridge because she was “preparing to be queen.” Now that she’s Princess of Wales, it turns out that there are still so many preparations, all of which need to be done privately, and she cannot do more than a handful of public appearances while she prepares. The truth is, Kate has never thought of her DoC or PoW titles as preparatory for queendom. She always told herself – and the courtiers always told us – that she would not do a damn thing until she was queen. And now that it’s closer than ever, she’s still like “meh, nevermind.” She really will be the least visible consort in history.

Cover courtesy of People Magazine, additional photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Several days ago, Jay-Z was sued for raping a minor alongside Sean Combs. The assault reportedly happened in 2000. Before the lawsuit was amended to include Jay-Z’s name, Jay-Z had already sued the lawyer, Tony Buzbee, claiming that Buzbee was trying to blackmail him or extort him. Jay-Z’s perspective/argument is that this is all a shakedown from an overzealous lawyer. The whole thing has turned into a huge mess with the gossip blogs, social media, the fans and everything else. I wish more people were in a “let’s see how this plays out in court” mode. But if Jay-Z has his way, this case will never make it to court. His lawyers have already filed a peculiar motion.

Jay-Z is pushing for the woman who is accusing him of rape to be required to reveal her identity or for her lawsuit against him to be dismissed. An attorney for Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, made the request Monday, one day after an anonymous accuser alleged Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs drugged and raped her in 2000 when she was 13 years old.

“Mr. Carter should not have to defend himself in the brightest of spotlights against an accuser who hides in complete darkness while leveling allegations that describe the purported acts occurring in the plain sight of witnesses who could refute the plaintiff’s claims if only her identity was revealed,” the filing said. It went on to say, “Mr. Carter deserves to know the identity of the person who is effectively accusing him — in sensationalized, publicity-hunting fashion — of criminal conduct, demanding massive financial compensation, and tarnishing a reputation earned over decades.”

The music mogul’s motion alleged the rape allegation is part of a “campaign of extortion” carried out by Tony Buzbee, the attorney who filed Jane Doe’s complaint. This “extortionate campaign” attempted to force the rapper to pay an “exorbitant” amount of money, he alleged.

“Make no mistake, this case is about retaliating against the rare target who would not pay,” the filing said.

Buzbee told USA TODAY in an email Monday that he “can’t and won’t respond to every court filing” but added, “Sending a basic demand is not extortion or blackmail. Throwing those types of allegations around is irresponsible and silly.”

[From USA Today]

There are a number of rape shield laws on the books at state and federal level, but those laws (granting anonymity to the accuser) are for criminal actions. While the accuser was a minor at the time, it’s been 24 years and she’s now a legal adult, and this is a civil case. While Jay-Z’s motion is horrible in the larger victims-rights sense, it also feels like he’s panicking and trying to defend himself in any way possible.

As for how Jay-Z’s wife feels about all of this… I mean, she’s stayed with him this long. She’s committed to the marriage and to Jay. A “source” told Page Six that Beyonce is “sticking by Jay” and has “no intention” of leaving him. Sources also say that Beyonce has no intention of canceling her Christmas Day halftime show.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.