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Tag: celebrities

  • Want to See Kris Jenner’s Plastic Surgeon? You’ll Need a Secret Password

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    If you want a consultation with Kris Jenner’s plastic surgeon of choice, you’d better know the password. While appearing on the Not Skinny but Not Fat podcast, the 69-year-old Kardashian matriarch opened up about her recent facelift.

    Jenner revealed that her surgeon, Dr. Steven Levine, gave her permission to reveal that he performed the procedure on one condition: that Jenner create a password for anyone in her inner circle who wants a consultation with him. “He didn’t want the attention, which I loved,” Jenner told host Amanda Hirsch. “I said, ‘But do I have your permission to say who you are?’ And he goes, ‘Listen, I’ll tell you what. As long as we can come up with a password so that if somebody calls and says, ‘I’m Kris Jenner’s best friend, and can I have a consultation?’ they have to say the secret password.’”

    Apparently, even before her most recent facelift, imposters frequently called the office claiming to be close confidants of Jenner’s in order to snag an appointment. “If I told you how many times his office has called and said, you know, ‘Julie Monopoly’s on the phone, and she says she’s your best friend,’” said Jenner. “And I’m like, I’ve never heard of her. So definitely people have tried to get in.”

    Jenner opened up to Vogue Arabia in August about her decision to get a facelift, revealing that though she had previously gotten one 15 years ago, she felt that she was in need of a “refresh.” “Just because you get older, it doesn’t mean you should give up on yourself,” she said. “If you feel comfortable in your skin and you want to age gracefully—meaning you don’t want to do anything—then don’t do anything. But for me, this is aging gracefully. It’s my version.”

    Plenty of others are seemingly trying  to age just like Jenner, but only those in Jenner’s inner circle know the code. “If you know me, you know what the password is,” Jenner said.

    Original story appeared in VF Italia.

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    Marzia Nicolini

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  • D’Angelo, Grammy Award-winning R&B singer, dead at 51

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    (CNN) — D’Angelo, whose cool tunes and one hot music video made him a legend of neo-soul music, has died, according to a statement from his family. He was 51.

    “The shining star of our family has dimmed his light for us in this life,” his family said in a statement provided to CNN by RCA, his longtime record company.

    He died on Tuesday “after a prolonged and courageous battle with cancer,” his family said.

    “We are saddened that he can only leave dear memories with his family, but we are eternally grateful for the legacy of extraordinarily moving music he leaves behind,” the statement added. “We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time but invite you all join us in mourning his passing while also celebrating the gift of song that he has left for the world.”

    RCA also released a statement saying they were “deeply saddened” by his passing.

    “He was a peerless visionary who effortlessly blended the classic sounds of soul, funk, gospel, R&B, and jazz with a hip hop sensibility,” the statement read. “D’Angelo’s songwriting, musicianship and unmistakable vocal styling has endured and will continue to inspire generations of artists to come.”

    Born Michael Eugene Archer in Richmond, Virginia, D’Angelo was the son of a Pentecostal preacher, according to a profile published in VIBE. Growing up in church, his musical talent was discovered early.

    At the age of 16, he won the “Showtime at the Apollo” amateur night competition after he performed Johnny Gill’s hit single “Rub You the Right Way,” he recalled in 2014.

    By the time he was 18, he headed to New York City in hopes of pursuing a professional singing career.

    Given that his family was so deeply involved in the church, it was not a decision he took lightly.

    In an interview with GQ published in 2014, he discussed feeling pulled between the sacred and the profane. Music was incredibly powerful to him.

    “I learned at an early age that what we were doing in the choir was just as important as the preacher. It was a ministry in itself. We could stir the pot, you know?,” D’Angelo said. “The stage is our pulpit, and you can use all of that energy and that music and the lights and the colors and the sound. But you know, you’ve got to be careful.”

    Singing wasn’t how he initially found his success.

    In 1994, a single he co-wrote titled “U Will Know” was featured on the soundtrack of the film “Jason’s Lyric” and cracked the top 10 of the R&B charts.

    The following year, his debut album, “Brown Sugar” debuted and established him as one of the rising stars of neo-soul – a sub genre of R&B that blends soul, jazz, hip-hop and rhythm and blues.

    “Brown Sugar” would go on to be his first platinum selling album.

    Five years later, he released “Voodoo,” an album that was almost overshadowed by the video for his single “Untitled (How Does It Feel?).”

    In it, a seemingly nude and ripped D’Angelo sings sensually while looking directly into the camera lens – a performance that set fans aflame.

    “We made this video for women,” Paul Hunter, who directed “Untitled” along with D’Angelo’s then-manager, Dominique Trenier, told Spin magazine in 2008. “The idea was, it would feel like he was one-on-one with whoever the woman was.”

    The sexy video shot him into superstardom but also contributed to him leaving the music industry for an extended amount of time. The singer later said he was uncomfortable being a sex symbol.

    “‘Untitled’ wasn’t supposed to be his mission statement for Voodoo,” Trenier told Spin. “I’m glad the video did what it did, but he and I were both disappointed because, to this day, in the general populace’s memory, he’s the naked dude.”

    Both the album and that song won Grammy Awards.

    D’Angelo would not release another album until 2014’s “Black Messiah,” which he recorded with the band The Vanguard.

    A deeply private man, he was also a father and shared a now-adult son with fellow singer/songwriter, Angie Stone.

    Stone died in March 2025 after a traffic accident following a performance in Mobile, Alabama.

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    Lisa Respers France and CNN

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  • Before Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry, There Was Pierre Trudeau and Barbra Streisand

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    Justin Trudeau may have more in common with his father, fellow former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, than Canadian politics. In recent months, Justin has reportedly been romancing pop star Katy Perry; the Daily Mail has published photos of the two canoodling off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. Both public figures are recently single as well: Perry ended her engagement to actor Orlando Bloom with whom she shares one daughter, Daisy, earlier this year, while Trudeau separated from his wife Sophie Gregóire-Trudeau, with whom he shares three children—Xavier, Hadrien, and Ella-Grace—in 2023.

    Perry seemingly addressed her romance with Justin during the London stop on her Lifetimes world tour on October 13, one day after the Daily Mail published the photos of her and Trudeau. Perry replied to a surprise marriage proposal from a fan during the concert by saying, “I wish you’d asked me 48 hours ago.” At another point in the concert, Perry referenced her previous penchant for falling for Brits like Bloom and her ex-husband Russell Brand. “London, England, you’re like this on a Monday night after a whole day at work and a whole day at school? No wonder I fall for Englishmen all the time.” She then cheekily added. “But not anymore.”

    Justin Trudeau may be following in his father’s footsteps by dating a world-famous musician. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, early in his first term, his father Pierre romanced none other than Barbra Streisand. Trudeau, who served as prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and again from 1980 to 1984, was 50 years old when he began dating Streisand, who was 27 at the time. The EGOT winner detailed their May-December romance in her biography, My Name Is Barbra.

    Streisand met Trudeau in 1968 at the premiere of Funny Girl. At that time, Streisand’s personal life was complicated to say the least: she was in the midst of a separation from actor Elliot Gould (whom she would divorce in 1971). Streisand wrote that she was “dazzled” by “the mix of Albert Einstein and Napoleon” that was Pierre. Trudeau’s personal life was no less complicated at the time; he was in the process of wooing Margaret Sinclair, 29 years his junior. Pierre would go on to wed Margaret in 1971, and have three children with her including Justin, after his romance with the Funny Girl star came to an end.

    Although they weren’t meant to be, Streisand had nothing but positive things to say about Pierre Trudeau, who died in 2000 at the age of 80 years old.  “He was so elegant, yet totally unpretentious and perpetually curious … an adventurer who had backpacked through the Middle East and Asia as a young man,” Streisand writes in her memoir. “And he had real charisma, generating so much excitement before and after his election that the Canadian press gave it a name … Trudeaumania.”

    Original story appeared in VF España.

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    JAVI SÁNCHEZ

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  • Diane Keaton’s quiet activism helped preserve these Los Angeles landmarks | Fortune

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    While Oscar-winning actor Diane Keaton was best known for roles in Woody Allen movies and the Godfather saga, she was also a vigorous defender of historic buildings.

    People magazine reported Saturday that she passed away at the age of 79.

    Keaton had served on the board of the Los Angeles Conservancy and as a trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

    Her activism included efforts to save the Ennis House, an iconic 1920s residence in the Hollywood Hills that was designed by the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

    The Northridge earthquake in 1994 and heavy rains a decade later caused significant damage. The National Trust for Historic Preservation placed the house on its 2005 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

    It was partially restored by the nonprofit Ennis House Foundation, then was purchased and fully restored in 2011. According to the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, Keaton called on the Hollywood community to help save the house, which has been featured in numerous films, and eventually joined the Ennis House Foundation board.

    The Ennis House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Los Angeles, California on November 18, 2012.

    Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

    Keaton also fought to preserve the Century Plaza Hotel, which was built in the 1960s and also placed on the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list in 2009.

    The owners at the time proposed razing the hotel and replacing it with a mixed-use development, which Keaton said “is part of an uninspired assault on 1960s large-scale architecture in Los Angeles.”

    But the city approved a project that preserved the hotel as the centerpiece. Rehabilitation began in 2016, and the hotel reopened in 2021, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy.

    Efforts to save the 1920-era Ambassador Hotel, however, weren’t successful. An early symbol of the city’s development and the site of Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination, the hotel was demolished in 2005 to make way for the construction of a school.

    In 2008, Keaton wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times reflecting on the iconic hotel, her childhood memories there, and broader preservation lessons for the city.

    “I’ll never understand why architecture is considered a second cousin to painting and film,” she said. “We’ve never been married to our romance with architecture. A building, unlike a canvas or a DVD, is a massive work of art with many diverse uses. We watch movies in buildings. We look at paintings on their walls. We pray in cathedrals. We live inside places we call homes. Home gives us faith in the belief of a well-lived life. When we tear down a building, we are wiping out lessons for the future. If we think of it that way, we will begin to understand the emotional impact of wasting the energy and resources used to build it in the first place.”

    Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.

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    Jason Ma

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  • Jimmy Kimmel Says Critics ‘Maliciously Mischaracterized’ His Kirk Remarks

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    By Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine

    LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Reuters) -Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said on Wednesday he believed his comments about the reaction to the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk were “intentionally and maliciously mischaracterized” by critics before his show was suspended.

    Kimmel drew outrage from conservatives for saying on his September 17 show that President Donald Trump’s supporters were desperate to characterize Kirk’s accused assassin “as anything other than one of them” and for trying to “score political points” from his murder.

    “I didn’t think there was a big problem,” Kimmel said to the initial backlash to his comments. “I just saw it as distortion on the part of some of the right-wing media networks, and I aimed to correct it.”

    Speaking at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles, Kimmel added that he thought critics had “intentionally and maliciously mischaracterized” his remarks.

    ABC parent Walt Disney temporarily pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said the host misled viewers about Kirk’s alleged shooter’s affiliation with Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. Carr urged local stations to push back and raised the possibility of the FCC revoking the licenses of local television stations that did not comply.

    Kimmel said he spent the weekend following his suspension speaking with Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Dana Walden about how to address the situation.

    “It helped me think everything through, and it helped me just kind of understand where everyone was coming from,” Kimmel said. “I can sometimes be reactionary. I can sometimes be aggressive, and I can sometimes be unpleasant. And I think that it helped me really having those days to think about it.”

        Disney reinstated Kimmel after six days off the air.

    The host said he told Disney executives “the spirit of what I’m going to say” when he returned to the airwaves “rather than specifically what I was going to say.”

    Upon his return, Kimmel defended political satire against “bullying” from Trump and officials in his administration.

    Kimmel’s voice choked with emotion, moments after he took the stage to a standing ovation, and he said: “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”

    (Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Kim Coghill)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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    Reuters

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  • Zach Bryan Opens Up About Controversial ICE Song: “I’m on Neither of These Radical Sides”

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    The middle finger’s rising and it won’t stop showing

    Got some bad news, the fading of the red, white, and blue

    According to Google Trends, search interest was quiet for the early months of the song’s existence, before spiking dramatically on Monday. By Tuesday, the song’s lyrics were getting broader attention, perhaps thanks to Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs—who wrote about them on X, quoting a post from Pop Crave about Bryan’s song.

    “Stick to Pink Skies, dude,” McLaughlin wrote, a reference to a song off Bryan’s 2024 album The Great American Bar Scene.

    On Tuesday night, Bryan responded to the recent attention, claiming in his Instagram Stories that the song was not a reaction to recent events. “I wrote this song months ago,” he said. “This shows you how divisive a narrative can be when shoved down our throats through social media. This song is about how much I love this country and everyone in it more than anything.” He said that “hits on both sides of the aisle” would be apparent once the full song is released. “Left wing or right wing we’re all one bird and American,” he added. “To be clear I’m on neither of these radical sides.”

    Bryan also broadened his comments to discuss the political climate in an era of “violence and heartbreak,” adding, “We need to find our way back. I served this country, I love this country and the song itself is about all of us coming out of this divided space. I wasn’t speaking as a politician or some greater-than-thou asshole, just a 29 year old man who is just as confused as everyone else.”

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    Erin Vanderhoof

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  • Chad Ends Ties With Prince Harry Conservation Charity for Wildlife Failures

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    LONDON (Reuters) -A conservation charity which has Britain’s Prince Harry as a board member has been kicked off its projects in Chad after the Chadian government accused it of failing to protect wildlife.

    Harry, King Charles’s younger son, was appointed to the governing board of African Parks (APN) in 2023 after seven years of involvement with the charity, which was set up to protect natural habits and wildlife.

    Chad’s environment minister Hassan Bakhit Djamous said the decision to cut ties came in response to “the resurgence of poaching and the severe lack of investment” including in infrastructure and anti-poaching efforts, “the failure of APN to respect key clauses of the agreements” and “recurring irreverence shown towards the government of Chad”.

    African Parks, which manages parks in 12 other countries including Angola, Malawi and Zambia, confirmed Chad had terminated its two management mandates there.

    “African Parks has initiated discussions with the ministry to understand the government’s position and to explore the best possible way forward in support of the continued protection of these critical conservation landscapes,” it said in a statement.

    It is the second time this year a charity linked to the prince Harry has attracted negative headlines.

    He stepped down from Sentebale, which he helped set up to help people with HIV and AIDS in Lesotho and Botswana, after a public row with its chair, Sophie Chandauka, who accused Harry and the trustees of bullying, misogyny and racism.

    Britain’s charity regulator said in August it had found no evidence of bullying.

    Harry, who lives in California with Meghan and their two children, stopped working as a member of the British royal family in 2020.

    (Reporting by Sarah Young, additional reporting by Robbie Corey-Boulet; editing by Michael Holden)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

    Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

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    Reuters

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  • Taylor Swift’s Mini-Movie The Life of a Showgirl Experiment Paid Off

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    You think a billion dollars is cool? To offer a Taylor Swift-specific paraphrase of The Social Network, you know what’s cool? Two billion dollars.

    Hot on the heels of her latest album release, The Life of a Showgirl, already a success on the charts, Bloomberg updated their estimate of Swift’s wealth and announced that, since they added her to their running billionaire list in 2024, she’s now worth an estimated $2.1 billion—and that’s before any profits from her three-day theatrical event, The Official Release Party of a Showgirl.

    And, seeing as that release—not a movie, but a mish-mash of the music video for “The Fate of Ophelia” and behind-the-scenes footage from that, lyric videos, and straight-to-camera footage of Swift explaining her inspiration behind the songs—topped the weekend’s box office, raking in $33 million in domestic ticket sales. It came in above One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and dwarfed fellow debut The Smashing Machine, which took the third slot with $6 million.

    So, while Swift’s acquisition of her masters, thus upping her profit on the use of her music, expands her net worth, the proceeds from having both the number one album and the number one movie (at the same time, may we add, something even Prince didn’t accomplish with his own Purple Rain one-two punch) certainly aren’t going to hurt her wallet either.

    This isn’t the first time Swift has extended the fan experience to the cinema: In 2023, Swift brought a filmed version of her stage show, perhaps you’ve heard of it, a little something called Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, to AMC Theaters for an initial 13-week run. It went well, to say the least: The film raked in $180.7 million domestically, and $261.6 million worldwide, making it the most lucrative concert film of all time. The extremely limited release of Showgirl won’t top Eras, of course, but if there was any doubt that Swift could get butts in seats (to use the scientific term) in a variety of media, consider it thoroughly banished, opening the door for future multimedia experimentation for the artist.

    A representative for Swift did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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    Kase Wickman

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  • Taylor Swift Reframes Her Legacy in The Official Release Party of a Showgirl

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    Inside the theatre at a screening of “Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl.”

    Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

    In the music video, Swift literally steps out of a slew of frames, including wooden tableaus, life preservers, and more, to break the chain of the ill-“fated” showgirl like the fictional Ophelia. She goes so far as to say that her love life has “saved” her from drowning in insanity, especially given how much “men were gaslighting” her throughout her career. There is a reason why her own story “didn’t end tragically” like the “poetic hero” Ophelia’s. Despite Shakespeare’s, at times overlooked character, Ophelia dying, Swift herself was not “driven mad” like she could have been. (Swift adds that she “loves” William Shakespeare and The Bard is “not overhyped.”) “The Fate of Ophelia” is a rewriting of a character’s cultural history: Swift is asking what would happen if she became impenetrable to criticism–and then she lives out the answer.

    Viewers learn that the music video required three weeks of rehearsals, and nods at Kelce with Swift catching a football in a scene. Her love for baking is also incorporated, as the only quasi-celebrity cameo is a round loaf of sourdough that Swift herself baked.

    Further on, the retconning of Swift’s discography culminates in the title track, “The Life of a Showgirl,” featuring Sabrina Carpenter. The “Espresso” singer recorded her feature during her days off of touring in Sweden. “That is a showgirl for you,” Swift says, praising Carpenter before introducing the lyric video that includes footage of Carpenter opening for Swift during The Eras Tour. In the song, Swift and Carpenter play two characters mirroring the cyclical nature of fame: one is Kitty, a fictional showgirl who advises a fan to not join the music business, and the other is an aspiring singer who then later cautions one of her own fans against becoming a performer. “The more you play, the more that you pay…/You don’t know the life of a showgirl, babe/And you’re never gonna wanna,” the lyrics warn. The sentiment is one Swift now uses as “fuel” to prove she has endured the industry for more than 20 years. Throughout the film, Swift continues to say that there is a prevailing perspective that apathy equates power, and that respect is granted to those only who appear to be the most “unbothered.”

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    Samantha Bergeson

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  • Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sentenced to 50 months in prison for prostitution-related conviction

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    New York (CNN) – Sean “Diddy” Combs has been sentenced to 50 months, or just over four years, in prison for his conviction on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

    Federal District Judge Arun Subramanian announced the decision on Friday, Oct. 3, saying “a substantial sentence must be given to send a message to abusers and victims alike that abuse against women is met with real accountability.”

    The judge noted that this is “hard time” away from Combs’ family, but also noting Combs will have a life after prison.

    The judge said outpatient treatment and mental health programs were warranted. Subramanian also ordered Combs to serve five years of supervised release.

    Combs’ lawyers had argued he should be released almost immediately, asking the judge to sentence him to no more than 14 months including time served. Prosecutors said he should’ve faced more than 11 years in prison.

    Sean “Diddy” Combs becomes emotional as his children go to the podium to make impact statements during his court sentencing on Friday. Credit: Jane Rosenberg / Reuters via CNN Newsource

    Combs was found guilty of two counts of transporting individuals for prostitution in July but was acquitted of more serious sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have led to a life sentence.

    Subramanian said Cassie Ventura and “Jane” have “been through abuse and trauma that most of us cannot imagine.”

    Subramanian thanked the victims for coming forward and said “I want to say first we heard you.”

    “To Ms. Ventura, Jane, and the other victims here who came forward, I can only say — your families are proud of you and your children, when they’re old enough will be proud of you, and I am proud of you for telling the world what really happened,” Subramanian said.

    “You were speaking to the millions of women out there who have been victims but feel invisible and powerless and had to suffer in silence,” he said. “You told those women and the world that violence behind closed doors doesn’t have to stay hidden forever. The number of people who you reached is incalculable.”

    Arick Fudali, a lawyer who represents others who have filed lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs, said he hope’s today’s sentencing encourages other victims to come forward.

    Law enforcement officers stand guard outside the court after Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to more than four years in prison on Friday. Credit: Jeenah Moon / Reuters via CNN Newsource

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    Lauren del Valle, Nicki Brown, Kara Scannell, Elizabeth Wagmeister and CNN

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  • Taylor Swift, on The Life of a Showgirl, Sings of Love, Sex, and Travis Kelce

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    There’s no ignoring the Travis Kelce of it all, either: The newly engaged Swift is happy, happy, happy, not to mention, well, undeniably a bit horny and making sure listeners know that those needs are met too. The track “Wood” is enough to make your mother-in-law clutch her pearls (“His love was the key / To open my thighs,” not to mention her aural smirk on the word “cocky,” or referencing “new heights of manhood” in a nod to Kelce’s…microphone), and “Actually Romantic” turns rivals’ trash-talking into dirty talk, complete with Swift claiming that her haters’ attention is “kind of making me wet.” Gone is Midnights’ “Lavender Haze” and its nonchalant “damned if I do give a damn what people say.” And in the same song, she insisted that she was in no rush to get wifed up: “All they keep askin’ me / Is if I’m gonna be your bride / The only kind of girl they see / Is a one-night or a wife.” Now, on “Wood,” “Girls, I don’t need to catch the bouquet / To know a hard rock is on the way.” Not enough? Fine, let’s be more explicit, as she is in “Eldest Daughter”: “When I said I don’t believe in marriage / That was a lie.” With Kelce, who proposed not long after Swift gushed on New Heights that she’d found the fairytale love that she’d been singing about for decades, she’s writing a new, forward-looking history.

    She self-corrects the long-ago “White Horse” lyric from 2008’s Fearless, “Cause I’m not your princess / This ain’t a fairytale” in “Eldest Daughter,” where she echoes that original melody and declares, “But I’m not a bad bitch / And this isn’t savage” after admitting, in what is perhaps a nod to her initial brush-off of Kelce, “When you found me I said I was busy / That was a lie.” Answering her teenage self who yearned on her debut album for somebody who “might actually treat me well” in the next line of “White Horse,” Swift has come full circle from the hardened superstar she tried to present and admits her vulnerabilities, her need for love, that basketball hoop and the kids that she confesses to dreaming of in “Wi$h Li$t.”

    And look at “Honey,” where she recontextualizes pet names she’s been called, the sweetness of love stripping away passive-aggressive “bless her soul”-type venom: “You can call me honey if you want / Because I’m the one you want / I’m the one you want / You give it different meaning / Cause you mean it when you talk.”

    And there it is in “Opalite,” too. Opal is the October-born Kelce’s birthstone, and opalite is the man-made version of it. “Sleepless in the onyx night / But now the sky is opalite,” Swift sings, perhaps nodding to the theme of paralyzing, sleepless anxiety and darkest-hour regret on Midnights, one of her moodier offerings. “You had to make your own sunshine, but now the sky is opalite,” the song continues. No more “Invisible String,” folklore‘s ode to a long-destined romance: Swift and Kelce finding one another took work and intention (great job, Andy Reid), and now they’re here to reap the rewards of that—together.

    History is written, after all, by the victors. And what is Swift, with all her historic sales and records, if not an all-time champion?

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    Kase Wickman

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  • Did Taylor Swift Diss Charli XCX on The Life of a Showgirl?

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    Taylor Swift rarely fights in public. Instead, she takes shots via her music. On “Actually Romantic,” the seventh track from Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, the biggest pop star in the world seemingly takes a dig at none other than Charli XCX.

    Many outlets, including The Guardian and the Los Angeles Times, believe that Swift’s song, co-written with Max Martin and Shellback, is a diss track aimed at the Brat songwriter. The song’s title, “Actually Romantic,” seems to be referencing the Charli XCX song “Everything Is Romantic” off her critically acclaimed and Grammy-winning album Brat. But while both titles share a word, other believe Swift’s track is a direct response to Charli’s song “Sympathy Is a Knife,” rumored to have been partially inspired by Swift.

    “Actually Romantic” directly addresses a hater of Swift’s who calls her “boring Barbie when the coke’s got you brave.” Charli played with the party-drug culture aesthetic throughout her Brat era. Swift goes on to sing that the same friend high-fived an ex of hers after they found out that Swift and her boyfriend broke up. Many fans read that as a reference to Matty Healy, frontman of the band The 1975, with whom Taylor briefly dated and often seemingly wrote about in her last studio album The Tortured Poet’s Department. This is where the Charli XCX connection becomes more prominent. George Daniel, Charli’s husband, is the drummer for The 1975. Healy and his mother, Denise Welch, attended Charli and George’s wedding in Sicily last month.

    Taylor Swift and Matty Healy in 2023.

    Robert Kamau

    Charli and Taylor weren’t always enemies. In 2018, the British pop star opened for Swift on her Reputation stadium tour alongside Camila Cabello. The following year, however, she said in an interview with Pitchfork that performing in front of Swift’s audience left her cold. “I’m really grateful that (Taylor) asked me on that tour,” said Charli. “But as an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up onstage and waving to five-year-olds.”

    Taylor goes on to describe her anonymous hater in “Actually Romantic” as a “toy chihuahua barking at me from a tiny purse,” accusing her target of writing a song about how much it sucked to see her face. But in the chorus, Swift turns the polemic into something of a compliment. “It’s actually sweet all the time you’ve spent on me / It’s honestly wild all the effort you’ve spent on me/ It’s actually romantic I really gotta hand it to you / No man has ever loved me like you do.” So, is “Actually Romantic” a diss track or a love letter? You decide.

    Original story appeared in VF Italia.

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    Valentina Colosimo

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  • Trump Casts Shadow Over Nobels as Prize-Awarding Body Warns Academic Freedom at Risk

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    STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -As scientists ready for next week’s Nobel Prize announcements, one awarding body is warning academic freedom is under threat in the U.S. and elsewhere, with political interference risking long-lasting negative effects.

    U.S. President Donald Trump has introduced or proposed a swathe of measures in his second term that critics argue will hamper education and scientific research.

    Ylva Engstrom, Vice President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the prizes for chemistry, physics and economics, said the Trump administration’s changes were reckless. 

    ‘PILLAR OF DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM’

       “I think in both the short and long term, it can have devastating effects,” she told Reuters in an interview. “Academic freedom … is one of the pillars of the democratic system.”

    The Trump administration denies stifling academic freedom, saying its measures will cut waste and promote U.S. scientific innovation.

    Engstrom, who is also a board member of the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, is not herself on any of the three committees that will award the prizes for chemistry, physics or economics.

    The Nobel prizes, regarded by many as the most prestigious science awards in the world, are set to be announced from next week, starting with the award for medicine or physiology on Monday and ending with the unveiling of the winners in economics one week later.

    The awards were created by wealthy Swedish dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and are also handed out for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, literature and peace. They come with a prize amount of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million).

    Trump has said several times that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, although experts say his chances are very slim.

        BUDGET CUTS AND PRIORITISING ‘PATRIOTIC EDUCATION’

    Trump has proposed slashing the budget for the National Institutes of Health, the world’s largest funder of biomedical research, and wants to dismantle the Department of Education, in a bid to shrink the federal government’s role in education in favour of more control by the states.

        His administration has also said it would prioritise giving grant money to programmes that focus on “patriotic education,” and demanded that schools cap international undergraduate enrollment at 15%.

        “For research, it’s going to be a big dip in what the American scientists can do and what they are allowed to do, what they can publish, what they can get money for. So this is going to have big effects,” said Engstrom, who is chairwoman of the research policy committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

    The White House said in an emailed response that the United States was the largest funder of scientific research in the world.

    “The Administration’s targeted cuts to waste, fraud, and abuse in both research grant funding and visa programs are going to strengthen Americans’ innovative and scientific dominance,” it said.

    NOBEL LAUREATE WARNS OF DRAG ON ECONOMIC GROWTH

    Trump has also been wrangling with several prestigious universities – some of whose faculty may be among the Nobel prize winners in coming days – threatening to withhold federal funds over issues including pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, campus diversity and transgender policies.

        British-born American economist Simon Johnson, who won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2024 for his studies of how institutions affect prosperity, said that, while he thought it was too early to tell how Trump’s actions would affect academic freedom, they would certainly hamper economic growth.

        “These policies are absolutely, unambiguously very negative and particularly for job creation,” Johnson, who is a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management, said. 

        “All engineering and science-type activities, I think, are going to be affected,” he said. “Life Sciences is a particularly dynamic sector at the moment and NIH is, for whatever reason, being targeted with truly massive cuts.”

    The Nobel Foundation, which oversees Nobel’s will and legacy, said that there were challenges to academic freedom, as there have been previously in the Foundation’s 124 years, and that it was “keeping a watchful eye”. 

        “We protect knowledge,” said Hanna Stjarne, chairwoman of the foundation. “We protect … freedom, the opportunity for researchers to work freely, for writers to be able to write exactly as they want, and for peace initiatives to be taken in all kinds of conflicts that exist all over the world.”

    (Reporting by Johan Ahlander; editing by Niklas Pollard and Alex Richardson)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

    Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

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  • Nirvana Again Defeats Child Pornography Lawsuit Over ‘Nevermind’ Cover

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    (Reuters) -A federal judge again threw out a lawsuit by a man who accused iconic grunge rock band Nirvana of distributing child pornography by using a photograph of him as a naked, swimming baby on the cover of its breakthrough 1991 album “Nevermind.” 

    U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin tossed out the lawsuit filed by plaintiff Spencer Elden for a second time after finding that no reasonable jury would consider the picture pornographic.

    “Other than the fact that plaintiff was nude on the album cover,” nothing “comes close to bringing the image within the ambit of the child pornography statute,” Olguin said.

    Attorneys for Elden did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Nirvana’s attorney Bert Deixler said they were “delighted that the court has ended this meritless case and freed our creative clients of the stigma of false allegations.”

    The defendants included surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, late lead singer Kurt Cobain’s widow Courtney Love and photographer Kirk Weddle.

    The lawsuit stemmed from Nirvana’s use of a photo taken by Weddle at the Pasadena Aquatic Center in California that depicted Elden swimming naked toward a dollar bill on a fishhook. Elden, now 34, first sued the band and its label Universal Music Group in 2021, accusing them of sexually exploiting him through his depiction on the cover and causing him continuing personal harm.

    Olguin dismissed the case in 2022 after finding Elden’s claims were time-barred without addressing the substance of his allegations. The 9th Circuit reversed that decision in 2023.

    Olguin determined on Tuesday that the image could not be considered child pornography, comparing it instead to a “family photo of a nude child bathing.”

    (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by David Bario and Sergio Non)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

    Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

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  • An AI Wake-Up Call From Walmart’s CEO

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    This is an edition of the WSJ Careers & Leadership newsletter, a weekly digest to help you get ahead and stay informed about careers, business, management and leadership. If you’re not subscribed, sign up here.

    In the Workplace

    Walmart’s CEO issued an AI wake-up call, saying the technology will wipe out some jobs and reshape the company’s workforce. Doug McMillon’s remarks—which echo those made by leaders at Ford, JPMorgan Chase and Amazon—reflect a rapid shift in how executives discuss the potential human cost of AI.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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  • UK’s Princess Anne Visits Ukraine to Support Children Affected by War

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    LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s Princess Anne, the late Queen Elizabeth’s only daughter, has visited Ukraine to express her solidarity with children and families enduring the impact of the war, Buckingham Palace said on Wednesday.

    Anne, who celebrated her 75th birthday in August, met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during her visit to Kyiv on Tuesday, where they discussed Britain’s ongoing support for Ukraine, among other issues.

    The royal also paid her respects at a memorial honouring the children who have died since the start of the conflict in February 2022. She was accompanied by Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska and laid a toy as a tribute.

    Anne also spoke with Ukrainian children who have been displaced or deported by Russia and she visited a rehabilitation centre, where she met veterans returning from the frontline.

    Anne’s visit to Ukraine follows that of her nephew Prince Harry, the younger son of King Charles, who travelled to Kyiv earlier this month with a team from his Invictus Games Foundation to highlight the charity’s plans to support the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers.

    (Reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Gareth Jones)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Dawson’s Creek Costars Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes Still Have Chemistry

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    “Despite all my efforts I won’t be able to be there. I won’t be able to get up on that stage and thank each and every person in the theater for joining me in my fight against cancer, when I needed it most.” With these words, James Van Der Beek—who is battling colorectal cancer—announced that he would not be able to attend the long-awaited reunion of the cast of Dawson’s Creek, the series that made its stars famous. Instead, the actor made a surprise appearance at the reunion, which took place at New York’s Richard Rodgers Theatre, via an emotional video.

    But Van Der Beek’s absence was not the only headline that came out of the reunion. During the event, Dawson costars Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes appeared very friendly. Both are currently immersed in the filming of Happy Hours, a movie written and directed by Holmes herself, and photographs taken during the filming sessions have already sparked rumors of a possible romance between the actors.

    Van der Beek’s wife, film producer Kimberly Van Der Beek, attended the reunion, along with the couple’s six children. The family took the stage to sing the series’s well-known theme song of. She shared an image on her social media posing with Williams, Holmes and Busy Philipps. “Meeting these women has been a bittersweet experience. They are magical, kind, talented, sincere and …. sacred. I missed my partner so much but the support and love has healed me deeply,” wrote the producer.

    The capstone to the evening was a video sent by Steven Spielberg, whom the character of Dawson idolizes. “Dawson, you did it. Maybe someday I can have a closet like Dawson’s,” the director said.

    Originally appeared in Vanity Fair Spain.

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  • Like Lenny Before Her, Zoë Kravitz Appears to Have Mastered the Art of the Amicable Split

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    Like father, like daughter, Zoë also seems to really mean it when the old “let’s still be friends” gambit is trotted out. She married actor Karl Glusman in June 2019. After 18 months of marriage, in December 2020, the couple filed for divorce. By 2022, she was already gushing in an interview with Elle that her ex was “an incredible human being.”

    She expanded on her philosophy of romance, which sounds a lot like her dear old dad: “All my relationships in life—my friendships, my romantic relationships, my family—the journey is learning how to show up honestly,” she said. “Sometimes we can’t show up, and that’s okay as long as we know how to communicate that we love those people.”

    Her most recent serious public relationship was with Channing Tatum, who starred in her directorial debut, Blink Twice, and to whom she got engaged along the way. Though they split in October 2024 after about three years, their breakup was—you guessed it!—amicable, according to sources.

    After the breakup, a source told Page Six that the two “both handled the breakup very maturely” and that there was “no bad blood” between them. She continued to sing his praises in life and work, telling Elle in February 2025 that having her ex-fiancé in a leading role in her directorial debut wasn’t a problem.

    “I love this thing that we made together, and I care for him very much,” she said. “Even when you bring up how great his performance is, it warms my heart to hear that, and I’m so happy that all of it happened. I just feel so grateful that we got to go on that journey together.”

    Even her earlier relationships still get the amicable split label: A source insisted that she and Penn Badgley, whom she dated from 2011 to June 2013 and were in what Badgley described as “real, true, earth-shattering love,” ended on “good terms.” “It wasn’t a sad breakup,” the source said. That rumored Drake romance in 2013, complete with kissing photos at a Beyoncé concert? In 2017, Zoë slyly confirmed on Watch What Happens Live that they “hung out for a minute,” adding that “we are very good friends.” Singer-songwriter Twin Shadow, who was romantically linked to Zoë from 2015 to 2016, wished her a happy birthday on social media in 2024, calling her “the sweetest kid.”

    In 2014, she was briefly rumored to be dating Chris Pine. There’s no bad blood there, as evidenced by the fact that he attended the 2019 pre-wedding rehearsal dinner held for her and Glusman in Paris with his girlfriend.

    In an uncertain economy, side hustles are the norm now. In the unlikely event their acting and musical careers see a downturn, perhaps Lenny and Zoë could cash in by teaching a subscription masterclass in the art of the amicable breakup.

    Representatives for the Kravitzes did not respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment.

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  • Is Nina Dobrev TikTok Telling on Shaun White in the Aftermath of Their Breakup? An Investigation

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    Parting is such sweet sorrow, but post-breakup tea isn’t such a terrible flavor profile either, as it turns out. Retired Olympic snowboarder Shaun White and actor Nina Dobrev broke up after five-and-a-half years of dating—the final 11 months of which they were engaged—media outlets confirmed last week. Neither White nor Dobrev has commented publicly on the split. What’s done is, as they say, done, so why are the amateur sleuths of the internet pledging their allegiance to Team Nina and shrieking about Bob the Builder while discussing whether they need to go full Vampire Diaries on White?

    Wondering how a diminutive cartoon handyman fits into this narrative? God, isn’t everyone. Dobrev posted a TikTok on September 5 (the split was reported nearly a week later, on September 11) lip-synching to trending audio that invoked Robert T. Builder’s informal name and retroactively raised suspicions of Shaun-foolery along with eyebrows in the wake of the breakup news.

    “How do you sleep at night knowing people don’t like you? With no underwear in case they want to kiss my ass,” said the audio over which Dobrev lip-synched to the camera. “What’s your advice for women trying to fix their man? Listen, Bob the Builder, he’s got 10 other women trying to fix him too, and you all look like a damn construction crew.”

    For those wondering, the audio appears to originate from an account called Bad Bitch Granny and features two bougie elderly white women on a plane holding dogs that give off an air of canine fanciness. One of the women—and both dogs—are wearing sunglasses. Throughout the full clip, six different beverages, by my count, appear onscreen in varying configurations and states of fullness. You get the drift. The next question in that video, after the point where Dobrev’s audio cuts off, pertains to what to tell attention seekers. “Roses are red, violets are blue, I don’t give a big fuck what you do.” Well well.

    While reps for Dobrev and White did not respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment, an unnamed source told Us Weekly that “Nina is devastated” in the aftermath. “They had finally started planning the wedding and things were in motion,” this “insider” said.

    Now is a fantastic time to remember that media literacy and critical thinking apply just as much to analyzing celebrity news as political reporting. The same day that Dobrev posted the TikTok in question, September 5, she also posted an Instagram carousel of photos of her Greek getaway with White, featuring some lovey-dovey cuddle-time schmoop, sheet masks, and enviably aquamarine waters. Ooh, ahh, see how it sparkles and wonder whether Dobrev enjoyed People We Meet on Vacation, her pictured reading material. Given that the two pieces of social content were posted on the same day, it seems semi-reasonable to wonder whether something happened after the Insta to prompt the Tok, with news of the split becoming public later. Did White do something that made the answer to Bob the Builder’s evergreen question—“Can we fix it?”—“No, we can’t”?

    A look into the guts of both the TikTok and Instagram post reveals exactly when each of the pieces of content was posted. So which came first? According to the metadata, the Instagram post was shared at 19:11 UTC (3:11 p.m. ET) and the TikTok was posted the same day at, drumroll please…18:04 UTC (2:04 p.m. ET), meaning the TikTok preceded the Instagram post by about an hour. The theory fit until it simply didn’t.

    Do with that what you will. Also remember that you probably don’t know either of these people and should examine your investment in their relationship as closely as I did the code, and we’ll see you on the next episode of True Detective: Internet.

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  • Sabrina Carpenter to headline Coachella music festival in April

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    Sabrina Carpenter will headline the Coachella music festival alongside Justin Bieber, Karol G and Anyma, officials announced Tuesday.

    The two-weekend festival takes places April 10-12 and April 17-19 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. Carpenter, whose new album, “Man’s Best Friend,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 last week, will perform on both Fridays alongside acts such as Ethel Cain, Teddy Swims, Katseye, the XX and Sexxy Red. 

    MORE: WXPN announces full schedule for 2025 XPoNential Music Festival

    Festival passes go on sale Friday. They start at $549 for general admission and $1,299 for VIP tickets. Attendees also can camp on the grounds for an additional cost.

    Carpenter last hit the Coachella stage in April 2024, when she performed her song “Espresso” for the first time ahead of the release of her album “Short N’ Sweet” a few months later. In an Instagram post recapping the concert, she lauded the chance to perform “Don’t Know Why” with Norah Jones. 

    The Coachella announcement follows a busy few weeks for Carpenter. The Quakertown native released “Man’s Best Friend” on Aug. 29 and then on Sept. 7 took home three MTV Video Music Awards — best pop artist, best album (“Short N’ Sweet”) and best visual effects (the music video to her single “Manchild”). 

    At the VMAs, Carpenter performed “Tears,” from her new album and referenced her music video, which co-stars Colman Domingo. The performance featured several drag queens who held up signs supporting transgender rights. 

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