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  • Reality star Heather Gay shocked by society’s glaring double standards: ‘Drop a few pounds and you’re a hero’

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    Heather Gay knows the challenges of maintaining an impeccable appearance – whether on camera, through her lucrative beauty business or as a former member of the Mormon church.

    The “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star was surprised, though, by how differently she was treated after shedding 30 pounds with weight loss shots. Gay admitted that pursuing her health and using GLP-1’s truly changed her entire relationship with food and her body. 

    “It’s because, for the first time in my life, I have a little bit of power and control over something that’s baffled me,” Gay said. Critics, though, still found a way to pick apart the reality star.

    “I was a pretty outspoken, harsh person when I was heavier, and everyone just thought it was funny,” Gay said before explaining, “When I’m a harsh, outspoken person with less weight, I’m a raging b—h.” 

    ‘REAL HOUSEWIVES’ STAR ACCUSED OF RUNNING CULT-LIKE CHURCH OPERATION, EX-MEMBERS ALLEGE FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION

    Heather Gay reveals double standard after losing 30 pounds with weight-loss shots. (Bravo)

    Despite dropping the weight, the Atkins spokesperson was adamant that the only thing that changed about her was a number on the scale. 

    “Everyone thinks that I am a different person now. I am the exact same person,” Gay said. “I like the exact same foods. I like the exact same activities. I like the exact same people. The smallest change is who I am. The biggest change is my pants size. That’s really it.

    WATCH: Heather Gay felt the world was ‘disappointed’ in how she looked overweight

    “That’s been the hardest thing to reconcile is that attention from people is now so positive, whereas before it was pretty negative about my body and looks really.”

    ‘REAL HOUSEWIVES’ STAR JEN SHAH FREED EARLY FROM PRISON SENTENCE FOR WIRE FRAUD SCHEME

    Gay’s no stranger to putting on a brave face and has used her voice – and television star status – to campaign against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

    From a young age, the bestselling author says she was taught that “perfection is attainable” in the Mormon church.

    Real Housewives of Salt Lake City cast season 1

    Heather stars on the “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” with Lisa Barlow, Mary Cosby, Heather Gay, Whitney Rose and Meredith Marks. (Clark Kirkland)

    “As a culture, you know when I was a Mormon – we want our lives to be beautiful. We want our lives to be like Instagram squares, and I think we have a very gendered culture,” Gay said. “I think that culture bleeds into us having a lot of pressure on us as women to look a certain way. It’s a patriarchal culture and the only way you really have power or currency is through your beauty. And that can be discouraging if it’s not in your wheelhouse.”

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    While Gay has been outspoken against the church between her “Bad Mormon” memoir and “Surviving Mormonism” docuseries, she was surprised by how many people supported her weight loss efforts and not her desire to leave the church.

    “I mean, everybody wants you to lose weight. The before and after – everyone cheered me on. Not one person said, ‘Are you sure this is what you wanna do? Are you sure this is a better choice for you or your family,’” she said. 

    Heather Gay on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

    Heather Gay detailed her weight loss journey with GLP-1’s. (Bravo)

    “It is shocking how it’s kind of universally celebrated – weight loss – but when you unload something much heavier with much more weight on my heart, mind and soul, that was criticized heavily. But, you drop a few pounds, and you’re a hero.” 

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    She noted there’s a certain kind of “secrecy and shame” around not being born perfect in Mormon society. The mother-of-three maintains open and honest communication within her own household of women, in an attempt to change the narrative about physical and personal beauty standards. 

    “I want the focus with my daughters to be on fueling our bodies in a way that they can carry us through life and accomplish everything we want them to do,” she said. “And you have to remember that the majority of my life, people considered me to be totally overweight. I didn’t consider myself to be anything other than who I was. 

    “But I was very aware of how the world wanted more from me and was disappointed in how I looked. And so to be able to lose weight and feel healthy and support my body in a way that feels like a good example to my daughters and also without shame or secrecy has just been a new chapter for me.”

    RHOSLC star Heather Gay poses for Atkins.

    Heather Gay praised Atkins for accessible snack options for her family. (Atkins)

    Gay praised Atkins for helping her maintain her weight loss and also providing accessible snack options for her family.

    “My kids can see that I can be healthy, maintain my weight loss and still eat delicious normal snacks and treats,” she said. 

    “Like our cupboards are full, the fridge is full, like. We never have to jump in the car to go somewhere without asking if we need a protein shake. Do you need a bar? Do you need something to get you through?” 

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    Tracy Wright is an entertainment reporter for Fox News Digital. Send story tips to Tracy.Wright@fox.com.

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  • A peek inside Physical Intelligence, the startup building Silicon Valley’s buzziest robot brains | TechCrunch

    From the street, the only indication I’ve found Physical Intelligence’s headquarters in San Francisco is a pi symbol that’s a slightly different color than the rest of the door. When I walk in, I’m immediately confronted with activity. There’s no reception desk, no gleaming logo in fluorescent lights.

    Inside, the space is a giant concrete box made slightly less austere by a haphazard sprawl of long blonde-wood tables. Some are clearly meant for lunch, dotted with Girl Scout cookie boxes, jars of Vegemite (someone here is Australian), and small wire baskets stuffed with one too many condiments. The rest of the tables tell a different story entirely. Many more of them are laden with monitors, spare robotics parts, tangles of black wire, and fully assembled robotic arms in various states of attempting to master the mundane.

    During my visit, one arm is folding a pair of black pants, or trying to. It’s not going well. Another is attempting to turn a shirt inside out with the kind of determination that suggests it will eventually succeed, just not today. A third — this one seems to have found its calling — is quickly peeling a zucchini, after which it is supposed to deposit the shavings into a separate container. The shavings are going well, at least.

    “Think of it like ChatGPT, but for robots,” Sergey Levine tells me, gesturing toward the motorized ballet unfolding across the room. Levine, an associate professor at UC Berkeley and one of Physical Intelligence’s co-founders, has the amiable, bespectacled demeanor of someone who has spent considerable time explaining complex concepts to people who don’t immediately grasp them. 

    Image Credits:Connie Loizos for TechCrunch

    What I’m watching, he explains, is the testing phase of a continuous loop: data gets collected on robot stations here and at other locations — warehouses, homes, wherever the team can set up shop — and that data trains general-purpose robotic foundation models. When researchers train a new model, it comes back to stations like these for evaluation. The pants-folder is someone’s experiment. So is the shirt-turner. The zucchini-peeler might be testing whether the model can generalize across different vegetables, learning the fundamental motions of peeling well enough to handle an apple or a potato it’s never encountered.

    The company also operates a test kitchen in this building and elsewhere using off-the-shelf hardware to expose the robots to different environments and challenges. There’s a sophisticated espresso machine nearby, and I assume it’s for the staff until Levine clarifies that no, it’s there for the robots to learn. Any foamed lattes are data, not a perk for the dozens of engineers on the scene who are mostly peering into their computers or hovering over their mechanized experiments.

    The hardware itself is deliberately unglamorous. These arms sell for about $3,500, and that’s with what Levine describes as “an enormous markup” from the vendor. If they manufactured them in-house, the material cost would drop below $1,000. A few years ago, he says, a roboticist would have been shocked these things could do anything at all. But that’s the point — good intelligence compensates for bad hardware.

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    As Levine excuses himself, I’m approached by Lachy Groom, moving through the space with the purposefulness of someone who has half a dozen things happening at once. At 31, Groom still has the fresh-faced quality of Silicon Valley’s boy wonder, a designation he earned early, having sold his first company nine months after starting it at age 13 in his native Australia (this explains the Vegemite).

    When I first approached him earlier, as he welcomed a small gaggle of sweatshirt-wearing visitors into the building, his response to my request for time with him was immediate: “Absolutely not, I’ve got meetings.” Now he has 10 minutes, maybe.

    Groom found what he was looking for when he started following the academic work coming out of the labs of Levine and Chelsea Finn, a former Berkeley PhD student of Levine’s who now runs her own lab at Stanford focused on robotic learning. Their names kept appearing in everything interesting happening in robotics. When he heard rumors they might be starting something, he tracked down Karol Hausman, a Google DeepMind researcher who also taught at Stanford and who Groom had learned was involved. “It was just one of those meetings where you walk out and it’s like, This is it.”

    Groom never intended to become a full-time investor, he tells me, even though some might wonder why not given his track record. After leaving Stripe, where he was an early employee, he spent roughly five years as an angel investor, making early bets on companies like Figma, Notion, Ramp, and Lattice while searching for the right company to start or join himself. His first robotics investment, Standard Bots, came in 2021 and reintroduced him to a field he’d loved as a kid building Lego Mindstorms. As he jokes, he was “on vacation much more as an investor.” But investing was just a way to stay active and meet people, not the endgame. “I was looking for five years for the company to go start post-Stripe,” he says. “Good ideas at a good time with a good team — [that’s] extremely rare. It’s all execution, but you can execute like hell on a bad idea, and it’s still a bad idea.”

    Image Credits:Connie Loizos for TechCrunch

    The two-year-old company has now raised over $1 billion, and when I ask about its runway, he’s quick to clarify it doesn’t actually burn that much. Most of its spending goes toward compute. A moment later, he acknowledges that under the right terms, with the right partners, he’d raise more. “There’s no limit to how much money we can really put to work,” he says. “There’s always more compute you can throw at the problem.”

    What makes this arrangement particularly unusual is what Groom doesn’t give his backers: a timeline for turning Physical Intelligence into a money-making endeavor. “I don’t give investors answers on commercialization,” he says of backers that include Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Thrive Capital among others that have valued the company at $5.6 billion. “That’s sort of a weird thing, that people tolerate that.” But tolerate it they do, and they may not always, which is why it behooves the company to be well-capitalized now.

    So what’s the strategy, if not commercialization? Quan Vuong, another co-founder who came from Google DeepMind, explains that it revolves around cross-embodiment learning and diverse data sources. If someone builds a new hardware platform tomorrow, they won’t need to start data collection from scratch — they can transfer all the knowledge the model already has. “The marginal cost of onboarding autonomy to a new robot platform, whatever that platform might be, it’s just a lot lower,” he says.

    The company is already working with a small number of companies in different verticals — logistics, grocery, a chocolate maker across the street — to test whether their systems are good enough for real-world automation. Vuong claims that in some cases, they already are. With their “any platform, any task” approach, the surface area for success is large enough to start checking off tasks that are ready for automation today.

    Physical Intelligence isn’t alone in chasing this vision. The race to build general-purpose robotic intelligence — the foundation on which more specialized applications can be built, much like the LLM models that captivated the world three years ago — is heating up. Pittsburgh-based Skild AI, founded in 2023, just this month raised $1.4 billion at a $14 billion valuation and is taking a notably different approach. While Physical Intelligence remains focused on pure research, Skild AI has already deployed its “omni-bodied” Skild Brain commercially, saying it generated $30 million in revenue in just a few months last year across security, warehouses, and manufacturing. 

    Image Credits:Connie Loizos for TechCrunch

    Skild has even taken public shots at competitors, arguing on its blog that most “robotics foundation models” are just vision-language models “in disguise” that lack “true physical common sense” because they rely too heavily on internet-scale pretraining rather than physics-based simulation and real robotics data.

    It’s a pretty sharp philosophical divide. Skild AI is betting that commercial deployment creates a data flywheel that improves the model with each real-world use case. Physical Intelligence is betting that resisting the pull of near-term commercialization will enable it to produce superior general intelligence. Who’s “more right” will take years to resolve.

    In the meantime, Physical Intelligence operates with what Groom describes as unusual clarity. “It’s such a pure company. A researcher has a need, we go and collect data to support that need — or new hardware or whatever it is — and then we do it. It’s not externally driven.” The company had a 5- to 10-year roadmap of what the team thought would be possible. By month 18, they’d blown through it, he says.

    The company has about 80 employees and plans to grow, though Groom says hopefully “as slowly as possible.” What’s the most challenging, he says, is hardware. “Hardware is just really hard. Everything we do is so much harder than a software company.” Hardware breaks. It arrives slowly, delaying tests. Safety considerations complicate everything.

    As Groom springs up to rush to his next commitment, I’m left watching the robots continue their practice. The pants are still not quite folded. The shirt remains stubbornly right-side-out. The zucchini shavings are piling up nicely.

    There are obvious questions, including my own, about whether anyone actually wants a robot in their kitchen peeling vegetables, about safety, about dogs going crazy at mechanical intruders in their homes, about whether all of the time and money being invested here solves big enough problems or creates new ones. Meanwhile, outsiders question the company’s progress, whether its vision is achievable, and if betting on general intelligence rather than specific applications makes sense.

    If Groom has any doubts, he doesn’t show it. He’s working with people who’ve been working on this problem for decades and who believe the timing is finally right, which is all he needs to know.

    Besides, Silicon Valley has been backing people like Groom and giving them a lot of rope since the beginning of the industry, knowing there’s a good chance that even without a clear path to commercialization, even without a timeline, even without certainty about what the market will look like when they get there, they’ll figure it out. It doesn’t always work out. But when it does, it tends to justify a lot of the times it didn’t.

    Connie Loizos

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  • SpaceX’s IPO could open the floodgates — and secondaries are booming in the meantime | TechCrunch

    SpaceX is reportedly lining up four major Wall Street banks for a potential 2026 IPO — a move that could signal the long-awaited reopening of the public markets after a years-long IPO drought.

    In the meantime, late-stage private companies like SpaceX are finding other ways to create liquidity for employees and early shareholders, largely through a fast-growing secondary market.

    To unpack what SpaceX’s IPO chatter means, how private liquidity works before a debut, and what investors are looking for in today’s pre-IPO giants, we spoke with Greg Martin, managing director at Rainmaker Securities, a broker-dealer specializing in secondary share transactions for late-stage private companies.

    You can listen here or wherever you get your podcasts, or read the conversation below.

    This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

    Greg, welcome to the show. Before we dive in, can you share a bit about your background?

    I’m founder and managing director of Rainmaker Securities, which specializes in helping large late-stage, pre-IPO companies transact shares in the secondary market. I am also the founder of a secondary firm that buys private company shares called Archer Capital Group, and co-founder of Liquid Stock, a business that helps employees and executives exercise their options using their shares as collateral. 

    I’m sure the secondaries business has been booming with this IPO drought from the past couple years.

    No doubt. Private companies are staying private much longer now. Many of these businesses — including SpaceX and other companies that would be top 30 in the S&P 500 — would historically have gone public years ago.

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    These companies are significant in our economy, and investors really want access to these companies. At the same time, there are shareholders and executives and founders who have been in them for a long time and want to start seeing some liquidity from their shares, which are a very high percentage of their net worth. 

    So these two forces have created a thriving secondary market. And we only see this trend growing because more market cap is now housed in the private markets.

    Do you imagine the secondary markets shifting if we have a break in IPOs this year?

    It’s an interesting question, because clearly when a SpaceX goes public, you could argue that $800 billion has just left the private system and is now in the public markets. But I think it just increases interest in more companies offering liquidity, and more investors coming into private markets. While SpaceX is a one-of-kind company, there are a lot of companies that are being started today and that are growing very fast. I mean, three or four years ago, what were OpenAI and Anthropic valued at? Those are now over a trillion dollars of combined market cap. 

    I really see the trend of the opportunity in the private secondary spaces as growing overall, and frankly, when we see the matriculation of SpaceX to the public markets, I think it’s going to actually increase the capital market interest in private companies.

    What are some things you’re noticing around the SpaceX IPO?

    If you think about the IPO market the last few years, it’s been pretty dismal since 2021, so the markets are really waiting for a bellwether company. And I think SpaceX is clearly a bellwether company…and there’s a huge amount of interest in that company. 

    SpaceX also just did a tender at an $800 billion valuation, and we see a ton of interest on our platform at Rainmaker in continuing to buy into the secondary. And it’s not just SpaceX. 

    We’re seeing a lot of interest in some of the other bellwether companies, whether it’s ByteDance, whether it’s Stripe, Databricks, obviously OpenAI, Anthropic, the AI businesses, Perplexity. So there is a lot of interest, but SpaceX, I think, is the one that people are following the most closely. And I really think it could create a reset in the IPO market if it were to go public this year.

    What kind of bid movement are you seeing on your platform?

    SpaceX has continued to defy gravity. Even during the down periods of ‘22 and ‘23, SpaceX was the one company that continued to price up every time there was a hint of the company going public. 

    We have seen a significant uptick in interest, both from a size and a price point – it’s already pricing well above where the last tender round was and getting closer to that trillion and a half that they had discussed as a potential IPO price.  

    Elon Musk famously said he wouldn’t take SpaceX public until rockets were flying to Mars regularly. Why is he racing to the public markets now?

    The company has been private for a long time, so I wouldn’t say he’s racing to go public, although his stance has shifted.

    We are in a very good market, we’re at all time highs across the board. SpaceX has seen a large amount of interest in the private markets, but the private markets are constrained. Not every investor on the planet can access the private markets. 

    SpaceX has a huge opportunity in front of it. They dominate the rocket-launching business. 

    They’re building an amazing Starlink business. They have Starship, which has so many businesses related to it, whether it’s sending bulk payloads into space or logistics around the world. Now they’re talking about building data centers in space, and as a truly vertically integrated company, they can manage it. 

    And so it just makes sense, given the positive market dynamics and massive potential opportunity that SpaceX could address across its many business lines. Why not go and unlock all the rest of the capital markets to help them fund their businesses?

    You could argue that it does open up that potential risk channel. I think if they do a public offering, it’ll probably be a sliver deal, so only 5% of their company that’s technically available. Now we’ll see what happens, but at least things will be out in the open and publicly disclosed, so they can see who owns their shares. 

    The question will then become, do any of these companies – even if they’re in adversarial countries – have any real control? If they’re just economic interests, that’s something that can be tolerated. The reality is, Elon and a pretty tight knit group of people will still continue to control the company. 

    You said it’s not a race to IPO, but it certainly feels that way now, in part because of Elon Musk’s public feud with Sam Altman who is also chasing close to a $1 trillion IPO. Altman is also looking to buy Stoke Space, while Bezos is talking about orbital data centers. A lot of rivals appear to be converging on a similar mission. 

    SpaceX’s success is going to breed some imitation. We’ve heard now that Bezos is going to launch a communication network to compete with Starlink, but they’re a long way behind. And OpenAI has its own set of capital risks in the core business that they have to address. So for them to go public makes a ton of sense, because the AI trade is still very hot in the public markets. They have an insatiable need for capital right now, if you look at their burn rate. So there’s no point in them constraining the investors that can access their company, because right now they need capital. 

    I think SpaceX can be a little more measured. They can find the right time when the market presents itself well, because they have a business that is largely profitable, and they have dominance in their two key businesses. So they’re in the driver’s seat.

    If there’s any downdraft in the market, I think they’ll stay private. 

    It’s not all roses for SpaceX. They are facing their own challenges launching Starship V3, and several of their aircraft have exploded over the past year. But a lot of that might not matter since this is an Elon Musk company, and those tend to do well in terms of stock price just off the back of his name. How do you think the SpaceX IPO will be priced relative to what its actual balance sheet says, versus the impact of Elon Musk and his empire? 

    It will definitely get a premium multiple. There’s an Elon halo effect, and he’s delivered. Even though Tesla’s primary revenues come from automobiles, it’s completely vertically integrated. It captures data. It now has self-driving taxis. It has Optimus robots –

    It’s got a minimal rollout of self-driving taxis and Optimus is still years away…

    Robots are the future at Tesla. Tesla is really a state of the art manufacturing company, and Elon owns xAI, Twitter, SpaceX – these companies can be very virtuous. 

    I do think there’s a halo effect around Elon and that creates some pressure, too. So I expect he will get a premium well and above what typical market rates would be for a company like SpaceX, given their balance sheet and revenue.

    I think people believe in the future of a data center in space that’s cooled by space and run by solar panels directly from the sun. I mean, it sounds crazy and pie in the sky, just like going to Mars sounds crazy and pie in the sky. But if anyone can do it, Elon’s probably the guy.

    You say that, but he hasn’t actually done a lot of the weird pie in the sky stuff that he has promised to do. In fact, others have beat him to the punch, especially when it comes to full self-driving. 

    That will be debated by investors and will be where the tension is. When you put so much value in the belief that one person can exceed expectations continuously, that’s a big challenge. And some people will not be comfortable with that risk. 

    How significant is it that SpaceX is lining up banks for a 2026 IPO?

    It’s a pretty big signal. I don’t think they’re just playing games.

    But having a conversation with banks doesn’t necessarily mean the IPO is coming this year. What are some other signals that people could watch for when a company is getting ready to go public – not just SpaceX, but anyone?

    Look at the people they hire and if that portends more of an IPO senior executive team versus an entrepreneurial team. If they seem really focused on a chief accounting officer from a public company. Or if there’s a swap out and a new CFO comes in with deep public company experience. If they’re beefing up their investor relations team, accounting, legal. 

    Companies like SpaceX have had public grade teams for a while, so I don’t think there’s a lot to learn there.

    Zooming out a little bit, how would you say private market valuations typically compare to what companies achieve in their IPOs?

    It’s a good sign for private companies to pre-understand their demand. If a company didn’t have that and they basically had to rely on a two-week marketing period from when they file publicly or if they start a road show where they only talk to top accountants, that’s often when you have a really difficult pricing environment because they’re not getting proper price discovery.

    So we’re really pushing companies to actually open up your private secondary capability  because it’s a great way to develop price discovery well in advance of the IPO, to start getting people attached to your business, to open yourself up to a broader investor base. That way, by the time you do go on your road show, you actually have a pretty good view of what your price should be, and you end up with a much more efficient IPO. 

    Think about when Figma went public and traded up 200%—that’s not really a good IPO. That’s a company that probably didn’t do very good price discovery in advance. 

    Walk us through how secondaries actually work. Let’s say I’m a SpaceX employee with stock options. What are my options before IPO? 

    All private companies are not created equally. SpaceX has very tight controls on their cap table, partially because they don’t want to exceed the number of shareholders, at which point they would have to be a public company. And so Space X, unlike most companies, runs tender offers two or three times a year, so there tends to be a reasonable amount of liquidity for employees. 

    Now there’s also what I would call the SPV (special purpose vehicle) world that trades in SpaceX, where people put their shares in SPVs and then trade units in their SPVs, rather than the shares themselves. So there actually isn’t a cap table change, but there is an economic ownership change by virtue of trading units in the SPV. That’s where most of the trading in SpaceX lies. 

    Whereas some companies allow trading of shares directly on their cap table, and some companies absolutely prohibit all secondary transactions, which I don’t think is a good idea. That’s why people work with firms like Rainmaker, because we get to know the companies. We get to know how they monitor and guard trades so we can help get those trades done. We can help provide liquidity for people who want it. We can provide either ownership of the shares or ownership in the economics of the shares for investors.

    You say access to information is one of an investor’s biggest problems in the secondary markets. Does Rainmaker help provide information?

    We work with some companies where we’re provided data rooms and can provide access to information. We do our own research on anything publicly available and have a view of supply and demand dynamics. So we have a lot of information we can provide, but we can’t share inside company information unless the company allows it. Increasingly, we’re helping companies with those processes. The more information we can provide, the lower the risk for investors, and that tends to open up markets. But it’s an evolving process. These are private companies for a reason—they’re guarded with what they want to share, and we’re very respectful of that.

    What are sophisticated investors looking for when they buy pre-IPO shares at this scale?

    Just like a traditional investor, they would want to be able to do their due diligence across financials, across management. They certainly would like an understanding of the cap table – like how many shares are outstanding, what’s the preferences? What does this price represent? What’s the debt? They would love to understand what the supply and demand equilibrium is like.

    The more they have, the better. That’s why they’re more comfortable with more public-facing private companies, like SpaceX – even without exact historical financials – than the less well-known names.

    Are you seeing more of an appetite for buying secondary shares from other late-stage unicorns? What companies would you point to?

    We continue to see substantial demand for companies like Databricks, Stripe, OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, ByteDance. The AI trade continues to be strong, whether it’s Lambda Labs or Cohere, which is a Canadian company near and dear to my heart. 

    As companies signal they’re going to go public – like Discord, Motive, Canva – people get a feeling that there’s going to be liquidity, and that’s when we start to see things open. There are probably 20 to 30 companies on our platform that trade pretty regularly, and that just continues to grow. As the IPO market starts to open up, we’re going to see that broaden. 

    Like in 2021, we were trading hundreds of companies, and then as the IPO market closed, and that number compressed. But last year was our biggest year – we were trading over $1 billion worth of secondaries.

    Where can our listeners connect with you online?

    I’m on LinkedIn. They can come visit my website, at Rainmakersecurities.com if they’re looking to sell shares, they could come to archercapg.com. If they’re looking to exercise their options, they could come to liquidstock.com.

    Rebecca Bellan

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  • I built marshmallow castles in Google’s new AI world generator | TechCrunch

    Google DeepMind is opening up access to Project Genie, its AI tool for creating interactive game worlds from text prompts or images. 

    Starting Thursday, Google AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S. can play around with the experimental research prototype, which is powered by a combination of Google’s latest world model Genie 3, its image generation model Nano Banana Pro, and Gemini. 

    Coming five months after Genie 3’s research preview, the move is part of a broader push to gather user feedback and training data as DeepMind races to develop more capable world models. 

    World models are AI systems that generate an internal representation of an environment, and can be used to predict future outcomes and plan actions. Many AI leaders, including those at DeepMind, believe world models are a crucial step to achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI). But in the nearer term, labs like DeepMind envision a go-to-market plan that starts with video games and other forms of entertainment and branches out into training embodied agents (aka robots) in simulation. 

    DeepMind’s release of Project Genie comes as the world model race is beginning to heat up. Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs late last year released its first commercial product called Marble. Runway, the AI video generation startup, has also launched a world model recently. And former Meta chief scientist Yann LeCun’s startup AMI Labs will also focus on developing world models.

    “I think it’s exciting to be in a place where we can have more people access it and give us feedback,” Shlomi Fruchter, a research director at DeepMind, told TechCrunch via video interview, smiling ear-to-ear in clear excitement over Project Genie’s release.

    DeepMind researchers that TechCrunch spoke to were upfront about the tool’s experimental nature. It can be inconsistent, sometimes impressively generating playable worlds, other times producing baffling results that miss the mark. Here’s how it works.

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    June 23, 2026

    A claymation-style castle in the sky made of marshmallows and candy.Image Credits:TechCrunch

    You start with a “world sketch” by providing text prompts for both the environment and a main  character, whom you will later be able to maneuver through the world in either first or third person view. Nano Banana Pro creates an image based on the prompts that you can, in theory, modify before Genie uses the image as a jumping off point for an interactive world. The modifications mostly worked, but the model occasionally stumbled and would give you purple hair when you asked for green.

    You can also use real life photos as a baseline for the model to build a world on, which, again, was hit or miss. (More on that later.) 

    Once you’re satisfied with the image, it takes a few seconds for Project Genie to create an explorable world. You can also remix existing worlds into new interpretations by building on top of their prompts, or explore curated worlds in the gallery or via the randomizer tool for inspiration. You can then download videos of the world you just explored. 

    DeepMind is only granting 60 seconds of world generation and navigation at the moment, in part due to the budget and compute constraints. Because Genie 3 is an auto-regressive model, it takes a lot of dedicated compute – which puts a tight ceiling on how much DeepMind is able to provide to users.

    “The reason we limit it to 60 seconds is because we wanted to bring it to more users,” Fruchter said. “Basically when you’re using it, there’s a chip somewhere that’s only yours and it’s being dedicated to your session.”

    He added that extending it beyond 60 seconds would diminish the incremental value of the testing.

    “The environments are interesting, but at some point, because of their level of interaction and the dynamism of the environment is somewhat limited. Still, we see that as a limitation we hope to improve on.”

    Whimsy works, realism doesn’t

    Google received a cease-and-desist from Disney last year, so it wouldn’t build models that were Disney-related.Image Credits:TechCrunch

    When I used the model, the safety guardrails were already up and running. I couldn’t generate anything resembling nudity, nor could I generate worlds that even remotely sniffed of Disney or other copyrighted material. (In December, Disney hit Google with a cease-and-desist, accusing the firm’s AI models of copyright infringement by training on Disney’s characters and IP and  generating unauthorized content, among other things.) I couldn’t even get Genie to generate worlds of mermaids exploring underwater fantasy lands or ice queens in their wintery castles. 

    Still, the demo was deeply impressive. The first world I built was an attempt to live out a small childhood fantasy, in which I could explore a castle in the clouds made up of marshmallows with a chocolate sauce river and trees made of candy. (Yes, I was a chubby kid.) I asked the model to do it in claymation style, and it delivered a whimsical world that childhood me would have eaten up, the castle’s pastel-and-white colored spires and turrets looking puffy and tasty enough to rip off a chunk and dunk it into the chocolate moat. (Video above.)

    A “Game of Thrones” inspired world that failed to generate as photo-realistically as I wanted.Image Credits:TechCrunch

    That said, Project Genie still has some kinks to work out. 

    The models excelled at creating worlds based on artistic prompts, like using watercolors, anime style or classic cartoon aesthetics. But it tended to fail when it came to photorealistic or cinematic worlds, often coming out looking like a video game rather than real people in a real setting. 

    It also didn’t always respond well when given real photos to work with. When I gave it a photo of my office and asked it to create a world based on the photo exactly as it was, it gave me a world that had some of the same furnishings of my office – a wooden desk, plants, a grey couch – laid out differently. And it looked sterile, digital, not lifelike. 

    When I fed it a photo of my desk with a stuffed toy, Project Genie animated the toy navigating the space, and even had other objects occasionally react as it moved past them.

    That interactivity is something DeepMind is working on improving. There were several occasions when my characters walked right through walls or other solid objects. 

    I asked Project Genie to animate a stuffed toy (Bingo Bronson) so it could explore my desk. Image Credits:TechCrunch

    When DeepMind released Genie 3 initially, researchers highlighted how the model’s auto-regressive architecture meant that it could remember what it had generated, so I wanted to test that by returning to parts of the environment it generated already to see if it would be the same. For the most part, the model succeeded. In one case, I generated a cat exploring yet another desk, and only once when I turned back to the right side of the desk did the model generate a second mug.

    The part I found most frustrating was the way you navigated the space using the arrows to look around, the spacebar to jump or ascend, and the W-A-S-D keys to move. I’m not a gamer, so this didn’t come naturally to me, but the keys were often non-responsive, or they sent you in the wrong direction. Trying to walk from one side of the room to a doorway on the other side often became a chaotic zigzagging exercise, like trying to steer a shopping cart with a broken wheel. 

    Fruchter assured me that his team was aware of these shortcomings, reminding me again that Project Genie is an experimental prototype. In the future, he said, the team hopes to enhance the realism and improve interaction capabilities, including giving users more control over actions and environments. 

    “We don’t think about [Project Genie] as an end-to-end product that people can go back to everyday, but we think there is already a glimpse of something that’s interesting and unique and can’t be done in another way,” he said.

    Rebecca Bellan

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  • Sarah Shahi Addresses Sexually Explicit Book Chapters About Oral Sex Tips

    Sarah Shahi has no regrets about providing tips and advice about sexually explicit topics — including oral sex and orgasms — in her new advice book.

    In her Us Weekly cover story, Shahi, 46, addressed her decision to devote entire chapters in Life Is Lifey, which is out now, to sex education, saying, “[When I was on Sex/Life], so many women reached out that were like, ‘I’ve never had an orgasm.’ There were so many aspects of women when it came to their physicality and their body and their desire that they had ignored for so long.”

    Shahi had hope that her experiences would help others.

    “Personally, I was never promiscuous. I didn’t learn about anatomy until later on in my life, and men — and that was something that did feel very intimidating to me,” she noted. “After Sex/ Life, it just kind of came back full circle to me: This is human nature, and pleasure is a birthright. We’re not here to simply service, but we’re here to be serviced as well.”


    Related: Friends IRL! The Best Behind-the-Scenes Snaps of the ‘Sex/Life’ Cast

    Friends forever! The cast of Sex/Life might portray controversial characters onscreen, but off screen, they are a close-knit group. Sarah Shahi, Adam Demos, Mike Vogel and Margaret Odette’s bond began while filming the Netflix drama in the fall of 2020 and has continued through press tours and beyond. The show documents Billie’s (Shahi) sexy and […]

    Sex/Life aired on Netflix from 2021 to 2023 and followed a housewife who was suffering from a severe midlife crisis. While filming the show, Shahi went through her own changes in her personal life when she ended her marriage to Steve Howey.

    “What’s the point of hardship if you’re not able to share your story with somebody else? I refuse to believe that the pain I experienced was for nothing, so that became my driving force in talking about the hard things,” Shahi told Us. “The chapters where I talk about orgasms and b*** j*** was something I questioned because I thought it would be looked upon poorly. But the minute I’m afraid to do something, that’s a signal to go ahead.”

    Everything We Know About ‘Sex:Life’ Season 2, Where the Cast Stands - 122 Sarah Shahi.

    Sarah Shahi.     Sabrina Lantos/Netflix

    Shahi’s book relied on her personal stories to offer insight to others. One chapter detailed b*** j*** tips she learned when she moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000s. Shahi credited a two-day seminar that helped her gain confidence in the sex act, which she then performed on her boyfriend at the time who was “ten years older, desirable, and a critically acclaimed (in his mind) B+ movie star.”

    The actress also devoted a separate section to the importance of orgasms, writing, “After [Sex/Life] premiered, what hit me the hardest was learning how many women have never experienced an orgasm. Studies show that up to half of women aren’t satisfied with how often they reach that biological imperative. …. After years of extensive personal research (you’re welcome), I’ve realized that embracing your sexuality is like unlocking the cheat code to your best self.”

    Every Time the ‘Sex:Life’ Cast Discussed the Show’s Steamy Sex Scenes - 124


    Related: Every Time the ‘Sex/Life’ Cast Discussed the Show’s Steamy Sex Scenes

    Putting it all out there! After premiering on Netflix in June 2021, Sex/Life has captivated fans with its portrayal of mother and housewife Billie (Sarah Shahi) attempting to find more fulfillment in her life. The drama follows Billie in her marriage to husband Cooper (Mike Vogel). As Billie struggles to find more meaning in herself, […]

    While reflecting on the contents of Life Is Lifey, Shahi stood by her decision.

    “I became the poster child for unhappily married women overnight [through Sex/Life]. And doing something like that allowed me to connect with so many people,” she shared. “This connected me to the audience on such a heart/soul level. That kind of connection is so rare, and I’m very grateful for that. It’s something that, moving forward, the projects that I want to align with have elements of that too — real personal, heartfelt connection.”

    Sarah Shahi
    Maya Dehlin Spach/Getty Images

    Shahi expressed hope that others learn from her mistakes, adding, “I really hope that people have the courage to live their lives as truthfully as they can. That’s literally what I want. I really want people to have the guts to live authentically and to not worry about what people think.”

    She concluded: “I wrote this book to heal myself. I never expected it to make the splash that it’s making. But my point in writing it is, there was so much lightness that came from me finally doing me that I would love for other people to experience that same kind of feeling.”

    Life Is Lifey: The A to Z’s on Navigating Life’s Messy Middle is out now.

    Yana Grebenyuk

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  • Qualcomm backs SpotDraft to scale on-device contract AI with valuation doubling toward $400M | TechCrunch

    As demand grows for privacy-first enterprise AI that can run without sending sensitive data to the cloud, SpotDraft has raised $8 million from Qualcomm Ventures in a strategic Series B extension to scale its on-device contract review tech for regulated legal workflows.

    The extension values SpotDraft at around $380 million, the startup told TechCrunch, nearly double its $190 million post-money valuation following its $56 million Series B in February of last year.

    Across regulated sectors, enterprises have moved quickly to test generative AI, but privacy, security, and data governance concerns continue to slow adoption for sensitive workflows — especially in legal, where contracts can include privileged information, intellectual property, pricing, and deal terms. Industry research has consistently flagged data security and privacy as key barriers to wider GenAI deployment in professional services, pushing vendors like SpotDraft to pursue architectures that keep core contract intelligence on the user’s device rather than routing it through the cloud.

    At Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit 2025, SpotDraft demonstrated its VerifAI workflow running end-to-end on Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops, executing contract review and edits offline while keeping the document on the local machine. SpotDraft said internet connectivity is still required for login, licensing, and collaboration features, but contract review, risk scoring, and redlining can run fully offline without sending documents to the cloud.

    SpotDraft sees legal as an early proving ground for on-device enterprise AI, arguing that sensitive contracts often cannot be routed through external cloud models due to privacy, security, and compliance constraints.

    “The future of how enterprise AI is going to be — right now, there’s got to be AI that is close to the document, which is privacy critical, latency sensitive, [and] legally sensitive, and those are the things that will move on device,” said Shashank Bijapur (pictured above, left), co-founder and CEO of SpotDraft, in an interview.

    SpotDraft says VerifAI’s on-device capability extends beyond simply generating summaries, with the tool designed to apply playbooks and recommendations directly inside Microsoft Word, the way legal teams already work. “VerifAI will compare a contract against your guidelines, your playbooks, your prior policies,” said Madhav Bhagat (pictured above, right), co-founder and CTO of SpotDraft.

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    SpotDraft’s VerifAI works in Microsoft WordImage Credits:SpotDraft

    Bijapur told TechCrunch that the demand for on-device AI is emerging most clearly in tightly regulated sectors, including defense and pharma, where internal security reviews and data residency requirements can slow or block the use of cloud-based AI tools for sensitive documents.

    On-device models have rapidly closed the gap with cloud-based systems, both in output quality and response times, Bhagat said. “Now we’ve come to a place where, in terms of eval, we are seeing as little as 5% difference between the frontier models, and some of these fine-tuned on device models,” he said, adding that speeds on newer chips are now “one-third of what we get in the cloud.”

    Since its launch in 2017, SpotDraft said it has reached more than 700 customers, up from around 400 in February last year, and counts Apollo.io, Panasonic, Zeplin, and Whatfix among its users. The company said adoption is rising on its contract lifecycle management platform, with customers now processing over 1 million contracts annually, contract volumes growing 173% year-over-year, and nearly 50,000 monthly active users. It also expects 100% year-over-year revenue growth in 2026, after growing 169% in 2024 and posting a similar growth rate in 2025, though it did not share specific revenue figures.

    SpotDraft plans to use the new capital to deepen its product and AI capabilities and expand its enterprise presence across the Americas, the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and India, Bijapur said, adding that Qualcomm’s involvement extends beyond financing into joint development and go-to-market efforts for on-device deployments. The startup’s on-device workflow is currently available to a limited set of customers, and the founders expect it to expand more broadly as compatible AI PC hardware becomes more widely available.

    Bengaluru- and New York-based SpotDraft said it has a team of 300-plus employees, including 15–20 in the U.S., where COO Akshay Verma is based, and four to five in the UK, with the rest of the workforce in Bengaluru.

    To date, the startup has raised $92 million, including the latest Qualcomm Ventures investment. Its earlier investors include Vertex Growth Singapore, Trident Growth Partners, Xeed VC, Arkam Ventures, and Prosus Ventures.

    Jagmeet Singh

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  • Apple iPhone just had its best year in India as the smartphone market stays broadly flat | TechCrunch

    Apple’s iPhone is gaining ground fast in India, shipping about 14 million units in 2025, based on market data shared exclusively with TechCrunch.

    Yet the country’s overall smartphone market stayed largely flat at around 152–153 million devices. That means that across the full-year of 2025, Apple’s market share of shipments rose to a record 9%. This is up from 7% in 2024, Counterpoint Research data shows, making it the iPhone’s strongest year yet in the world’s second-largest smartphone market by volume.

    The gains were driven by the iPhone’s product portfolio, growing aspirational demand and wider availability across sales channels, Counterpoint Research’s director for devices and ecosystems, Tarun Pathak, said.

    Apple has repeatedly pointed to India as a standout market in recent quarters, with CEO Tim Cook saying the company set an “all-time revenue record in India” on its last earnings call in October. CFO Kevan Parekh also said iPhone’s active install base hit an all-time high in India and the company set a quarterly record for upgraders, highlighting Apple’s push to expand its user base beyond just new buyers, though the company did not disclose detailed figures for India on the call.

    Beyond shipments, Apple has been widening its footprint in India by ramping up local manufacturing and broadening its retail reach. Last month, the company opened its fifth Apple Store in the country — its first in Noida — as part of a broader retail expansion that began in 2023.

    Apple is also sharpening its services pitch in India. Earlier this month, it introduced Apple Creator Studio — a subscription bundle of creative apps such as Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro — priced at ₹399 a month ($4.35) in India. That’s around 66% cheaper than the $12.99 a month it charges in the U.S., underscoring how the company is tailoring pricing to deepen its reach in the country.

    That strong iPhone year came against a market that has largely stopped growing. India is set to log its fourth straight year at about the same shipment level of 152 million units, Counterpoint estimates, with the October–December quarter down 8–10% year-over-year despite the festive season.

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    Longer replacement cycles, fewer feature phone users upgrading to smartphones, and the growing popularity of refurbished devices are among the key reasons the market has struggled to grow, Pathak told TechCrunch.

    Even as overall shipments stagnated, India’s premium segment continued to expand. Smartphones priced above ₹30,000 (around $327) grew 15% year-over-year in 2025 and accounted for a record 23% of total shipments — the highest share ever — according to Counterpoint.

    That shift has helped brands with stronger premium portfolios, including Apple, gain ground even as the mass market slowed.

    By volume, China’s Vivo led India’s smartphone market in 2025 with a 23% share of shipments, per Counterpoint, followed by Samsung at 15% and Xiaomi at 13%.

    Apple remained outside India’s top three by shipments despite its record year, underlining how the market is still dominated by mass-market Android brands even as premium devices take a growing share.

    Counterpoint expects India’s smartphone market to slip about 2% in 2026, warning that rising memory prices could squeeze demand in the sub-₹15,000 (under-$170) segment and force phone makers to cut cashback offers, trim specifications or raise prices. Even so, average selling prices are forecast to rise 5% in 2026 after a 9% increase in 2025, suggesting the premiumization trend is set to continue.

    Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

    Jagmeet Singh

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  • Quadric rides the shift from cloud AI to on-device inference — and it’s paying off | TechCrunch

    Companies and governments are looking for tools to run AI locally in a a bid slash cloud infrastructure costs and build sovereign capability. Quadric, a chip-IP startup founded by veterans of early bitcoin mining firm 21E6, is trying to power that shift, scaling beyond automotive into laptops and industrial devices, with its on-device inference technology.

    That expansion is already paying off.

    Quadric posted $15 million to $20 million in licensing revenue in 2025, up from around $4 million in 2024, CEO Veerbhan Kheterpal (pictured above, center) told TechCrunch in an interview. The company, which is based in San Francisco and has an office in Pune, India, is targeting up to $35 million this year as it builds a royalty-driven on-device AI business. That growth has buoyed the company, which now has post-money valuation of between $270 million and $300 million, up from around $100 million in its 2022 Series B, Kheterpal said.

    It has also helped attract investors to company. Quadric announced last week a $30 million Series C round led by ACCELERATE Fund, managed by BEENEXT Capital Management, bringing its total funding to $72 million. The raise comes as investors and chipmakers look for ways to push more AI workloads from centralized cloud infrastructure onto devices and local servers, Kheterpal told TechCrunch.

    From automotive to everything

    Quadric began in automotive, where on-device AI can power real-time functions like driver assistance. Kheterpal said the spread of transformer-based models in 2023 pushed inference into “everything,” creating a sharp business inflection over the past 18 months as more companies try to run AI locally rather than rely on the cloud.

    “Nvidia is a strong platform for data-center AI,” Kheterpal said. “We were looking to build a similar CUDA-like or programmable infrastructure for on-device AI.”

    Unlike Nvidia, Quadric does not make chips itself. Instead, it licenses programmable AI processor IP, which Kheterpal described as a “blueprint” that customers can embed into their own silicon, along with a software stack and toolchain to run models, including vision and voice, on-device.

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    Quadric’s tech is chip-agnostic and is driven by codeImage Credits:Quadric

    The startup’s customers span printers, cars, and AI laptops, including Kyocera and Japan’s auto supplier Denso, which builds chips for Toyota vehicles. The first products based on Quadric’s technology are expected to ship this year, beginning with laptops, Kheterpal told TechCrunch.

    Nonetheless, Quadric is now looking beyond traditional commercial deployments and into markets exploring “sovereign AI” strategies to reduce reliance on U.S.-based infrastructure, Kheterpal said. The startup is exploring customers in India and Malaysia, he added, and counts Moglix CEO Rahul Garg as a strategic investor helping shape its India “sovereign” approach. Quadric employs nearly 70 people worldwide, including about 40 in the U.S. and around 10 in India.

    The push is being driven by the rising cost of centralized AI infrastructure and the difficulty many countries face in building hyperscale data centers, Kheterpal said, prompting more interest in “distributed AI” setups where inference runs on laptops or small on-premise servers inside offices rather than relying on cloud-based services for every query.

    The World Economic Forum pointed to this shift in a recent article, as AI inference moves closer to users and away from purely centralized architectures. Similarly, EY said in a November report that the sovereign AI approach has gained traction as policymakers and industry groups push for domestic AI capabilities spanning compute, models, and data, rather than relying entirely on foreign infrastructure.

    For chipmakers, the challenge is that AI models are evolving faster than hardware design cycles, Kheterpal said. He argued that customers need programmable processor IP that can keep pace through software updates rather than requiring costly redesigns every time architectures shift from earlier vision-focused models to today’s transformer-based systems.

    Quadric is pitching itself as an alternative to chip vendors such as Qualcomm, which typically uses its AI technology inside its own processors, as well as IP suppliers like Synopsys and Cadence, which sell neural processing engine blocks. Kheterpal said Qualcomm’s approach can lock customers into its own silicon, while traditional IP suppliers offer engine blocks that many customers find difficult to program.

    The programmable approach by Quadric allows customers to support new AI models through software updates rather than redesigning hardware, giving an advantage in an industry where chip development can take years, while model architectures shift in a matter of months nowadays.

    Still, Quadric remains early in its buildout, with a handful of signed customers so far and much of its longer-term upside dependent on turning today’s licensing deals into high-volume shipments and recurring royalties.

    Jagmeet Singh

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  • Sources: Project SGLang spins out as RadixArk with $400M valuation as inference market explodes | TechCrunch

    A pattern is emerging in the AI infrastructure world: popular open source tools are transforming into venture-backed startups worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The latest example is RadixArk, the commercial company behind SGLang, an increasingly popular tool that helps AI models run faster and cheaper.

    RadixArk was recently valued at about $400 million in a funding round led by Accel, according to two people familiar with the matter, a notable amount for a startup that was only announced last August. TechCrunch could not confirm the size of the funding.

    The news comes as some of the team responsible for maintaining SGLang, which is used by companies like xAI and Cursor to accelerate AI model training, has transitioned to the recently launched commercial startup. RadixArk originated as SGLang in 2023 inside the UC Berkeley lab of Databricks co-founder Ion Stoica.

    The startup previously raised angel capital from investors, including Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, the people said.

    Ying Sheng, a key contributor to SGLang and a former engineer at xAI, left Elon Musk’s AI startup to become the co-founder and CEO of RadixArk, according to a LinkedIn announcement she made last month. Sheng was previously a research scientist at Databricks.

    RadixArk’s Ying Sheng, Accel, and Lip-Bu Tan did not respond to a request for comment.

    Both SGLang and RadixArk focus on optimizing inference processing — essentially allowing models to run faster and more efficiently on the same hardware. Together with model training, inference represents a large portion of the server costs associated with AI services. As a result, tools that optimize the process can create enormous savings almost immediately.

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    RadixArk isn’t alone in making this transition from open source project to well-funded startup. vLLM, a more mature project for optimizing inference, has also made the leap. The newly formed company has had conversations about raising upwards of $160 million in funding at a valuation of about $1 billion, Forbes reported last month.

    Three people familiar with that deal tell TechCrunch that Andreessen Horowitz is leading the investment into vLLM, though the final numbers of that investment remain to be seen. Andreessen Horowitz declined to comment. vLLM co-founder Simon Mo characterized the information about this round “factually inaccurate” in a statement to TechCrunch, though he declined to specify which details were incorrect.

    Like SGLang, vLLM was incubated in Ion Stoica’s lab at UC Berkeley. Stoica, a professor at UC Berkeley, is the famed co-founder of Databricks as well as a number of other startups.

    Several large tech companies already run their inference workloads using vLLM, and SGLang has also gained significant popularity over the last six months, Brittany Walker, a general partner at CRV, told TechCrunch. Her firm did not back either company.

    RadixArk is continuing to develop SGLang as an open source AI model engine. The startup is also building Miles, a specialized framework designed for reinforcement learning, which allows businesses to train AI models to become smarter over time.

    While most of its tools remain free, RadixArk has started charging fees for hosting services, a person familiar with the company told TechCrunch.

    Startups providing inference infrastructure for developers have seen a surge in funding in recent months, underscoring the continued importance of the inference layer for AI. Baseten recently secured $300 million at a $5 billion valuation, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. This follows a similar move by rival Fireworks AI, which raised $250 million at a $4 billion valuation last October.

    Marina Temkin

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  • AI cloud startup Runpod hits $120M in ARR — and it started with a Reddit post   | TechCrunch

    Runpod, an AI app hosting platform that launched four years ago, has hit a $120 million annual revenue run rate, founders Zhen Lu and Pardeep Singh tell TechCrunch.  

    Their startup journey is a wild example of how if you build it well and the timing is lucky, they will definitely come.

    The story includes bootstrapping their way to over $1 million in revenue; landing a $20 million seed round after VC Radhika Malik, a partner at Dell Technologies Capital, saw some Reddit posts; and gaining another key angel investor, Hugging Face co-founder Julien Chaumond, because he was using the product and reached out over the support chat, the founders tell TechCrunch. 

    It all began in late 2021 when the two friends, who worked together as corporate developers for Comcast, decided the hobby they were doing wasn’t fun anymore. 

    They had built setups of specialized computers used to generate Ethereum in their respective New Jersey basements. While they did successfully mine a bit of the cryptocurrency, it wasn’t enough to pay back their investment, they said. Plus, mining was going to end after the much-ballyhooed network upgrade called “The Merge.” 

    On top of that, it was “boring” after a couple of months, Lu said. 

    But they had talked their wives into letting them spend a good $50,000 on the hobby between them, they estimated. Lu and Singh knew that home harmony depended on finding a way to use those GPUs. 

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    The devs had been engaged in machine learning projects at work, so they opted to convert their mining rigs into AI servers. This was before ChatGPT, even before DALL-E 2. 

    As they repurposed the rigs, “We were seeing how really god-awful the software stack was for dealing with these GPUs,” Lu said. As developers, they found a problem they wanted to solve.  

    Runpod was born “because we felt that the actual experience of developing software on top of GPUs was just hot garbage,” Lu described. 

    A few months later in early 2022, they were ready to share what they had built. Runpod is a platform for hosting AI apps, emphasizing speed, easily configured hardware (including a serverless option that automates configuration), and dev tools like APIs, command-line interfaces, and other integrations.  

    Back in 2021, they only had a few such integrations (like support for popular web app tool Jupyter notebooks). The next problem: finding beta testers. 

    “As first-time founders, we didn’t really know how to market or how to do anything,” Lu recalled. “So I’m like, all right, let’s just post on Reddit.” 

    So, they posted in a couple of AI-oriented subreddits. The offer was simple: free access to their AI servers in exchange for feedback. It worked. They landed beta customers, which led to paying customers. Within nine months, they had quit their jobs and hit $1 million in revenue, they said. 

    Bootstrapping growth

    But that led to another problem. “Six months in, business users were like, ‘Hey, I want to actually run real business stuff on your platform. But I cannot run it on servers that are in people’s basements,” Lu said. 

    It had not occurred to the New Jersey founders to raise capital from VCs. Instead they formed revenue-share partnerships with data centers to grow capacity. But it was stressful. The founders needed to stay three steps ahead. 

    “If we don’t have the GPUs, the market sentiment, the user sentiment changes. Because when they don’t see capacity from you, they go somewhere else,” Singh described. 

    Meanwhile, their user base was growing on Reddit and Discord, especially after ChatGPT launched.

    VCs were also on the prowl for investments. Malik saw them on Reddit and reached out, their first VC call. But Lu didn’t know how to pitch to an investor. “Radhika was super helpful, even at the first conversation,” he said. She basically explained to him how a VC thinks and told him she’d stay in touch.  

    Meanwhile, Lu had a business to run that had to pay for itself. “It was almost two years where we really didn’t have any funding,” he said. So Runpod never offered a free tier. It had to at least pay for itself, even if it wasn’t throwing off much profit. Unlike other AI cloud services that began as crypto miners, these founders refused to take on debt, they said. 

    By May 2024, with AI app fever spreading, their lucky decision to launch AI hosting for devs two years earlier was paying off. Their business had grown to 100,000 developers, and they landed a $20 million seed deal co-led by the VC arms of both Dell and Intel, with participation from big names like Nat Friedman and Chaumond.  

    They haven’t raised more money since but are now planning to, armed with a business that, they believe, should command a healthy Series A. 

    Today, Runpod counts 500,000 developers as customers, ranging from individuals to Fortune 500 enterprise teams with multimillion-dollar annual spend, the founders said. 

    Their cloud spans 31 regions globally and counts customers like Replit, Cursor, OpenAI, Perplexity, Wix, and Zillow as users.

    Competition is also fierce. Devs have all the major clouds to choose from (AWS, Microsoft, Google), plus plenty of industry-specific choices like CoreWeave and Core Scientific. 

    But they also see their place in the world a bit differently — as a dev-centric platform. They don’t see coding ever going away but changing. Programmers will become AI agent creators and operators. 

    “Our goal is to be what this next generation of software developers grows up on,” Lu said.  

    Julie Bort

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  • Ben Affleck Praises Best Friend and Costar Matt Damon at The Rip Premiere

    Ben Affleck and Matt Damon really are best friends forever.

    Affleck, 53, and Damon, 55, reunited at the Tuesday, January 13, premiere of their new film The Rip in New York City, opening up about what they are learning and relearning about each other as they continue to work together over the years.

    “I keep relearning things about Matt that I already knew and I forget them,” Affleck, 53, joked to Us Weekly exclusively before getting serious about their decades-long friendship. “Honestly, I am continuously reminded of what a great father he is and what a fabulous actor he is.”

    Affleck added that it’s “fun” he and Damon get to navigate their careers together. “You’re really lucky if you can do this for a living,” he said. “And you’re exceptionally lucky if you can do it with people you love and care about.”


    Related: Matt Damon Says Wife Luciana Thought Ben Affleck Was Cuter Than Him 

    Matt Damon has been married to his wife, Luciana Barroso, for more than 20 years — but turns out her eyes were initially drawn to his best friend Ben Affleck. “This is f****ing completely true,” Damon, 55, began during the Monday, January 12, episode of The Howard Stern Show after being asked if Affleck, 53, […]

    Damon then jokingly ribbed his BFF to “keep going” with the kind words, causing Affleck to reply, “Yeah, pick that money up and put in my back pocket!”

    The ride-or-die duo have been together since they wrote and starred in 1997’s Oscar-winning drama Good Will Hunting. They have since gone on to collaborate together on multiple projects throughout the years, both in front of and behind the camera.The Rip serves as their most recent project, which follows a group of Miami cops who, after discovering a stash of millions in cash, start to question who they can rely on.

    “These are people who don’t make a lot of money. And it’s about going out and doing an honest day’s work, and the integrity and the meaning of that,” Affleck explained of the film during a Monday, January 12, appearance on The Howard Stern Show. “[They’re] under-appreciated, under suspicion often, and underfunded.”

    The pair also reflected on experiencing the highs and lows of fame while speaking to Stern, 72, noting that they feel lucky that they’ve had each other to lean on throughout their 40 years in the spotlight.

    “Getting famous and successful kind of together, [we had] somebody to turn to and go ‘is this f***ing nuts, or what?’ Or to say ‘what are you doing, man?’” Affleck shared, to which Damon replied, “We hit the lottery. We hit it together.”

    That remains true for their personal lives, as well. When asked if he’d been there for Affleck when he was going through “all his problems,” including his divorces and substance abuse issues, Damon told Stern he’s stood by his friend’s side for “all of it.”

    Ben Affleck Praises Best Friend and Costar Matt Damon at The Rip Premiere
    Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Netflix

    Affleck was previously married to Jennifer Garner from 2005 to 2018 and the pair share three children together: Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 13. Their divorce was finalized in 2021, the same year the Argo director reconnected with Jennifer Lopez, who he was previously engaged to in 2002. They wed in 2022 but divorced after two years of marriage. Affleck has also been open about his struggles with alcohol over the years.

    “Could you go to Ben and say, ‘I’m here to help you?’” Stern asked Damon, who didn’t hesitate in his reply. “Oh, yeah, our relationship isn’t affected by what people are saying.”

    Affleck, for his part, shared how appreciative he is of having Damon in his life. “That means a lot to me,” he told The Odyssey actor. “That’s sort of what a real friend is.”

    Damon has been married to wife Luciana Barroso since 2005 and the couple share four daughters: Alexia, 25, Isabella, 19, Gia, 17, and Stella, 15. When speaking with Stern on Monday, Damon confessed that Barroso initially thought Affleck was the “cute one”of the two when watching Good Will Hunting and before meeting Damon in person.

    The trio have since worked together on multiple projects, with Barroso serving as a producer on The Rip. She is also set to l co-produce Affleck’s next directorial project, Animals. Despite the awkward first impressions, Affleck told Stern that they’ve all since become great friends and he’s beared witness to how strong Damon and Barroso are as a couple since the start.

    “It’s a really gorgeous marriage and friendship and two people who when they’re apart and independent of one another are one another’s partner,” Affleck shared of Damon and Barroso’s 20-year union. “I have a feeling it’s improved.”

    The Rip premieres on Netflix Friday, January 16.

    Kat Pettibone

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  • Inside Married Ice Dancing Duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates’ Romance (Excl)

    Madison Chock and Evan Bates both remember the moment everything changed. 

    The Team USA ice dancers — widely regarded as the best duo in the world and the favorites to win gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy — were originally paired together in 2011. 

    Over time, however, their professional partnership blossomed into something more. 

    “There’s definitely a moment that I recall,” Bates, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly alongside Chock, 33, via their partnership with Nulo. “We skated together for five years and it was just a friendship, but the friendship was good. From day one we always had a connection. We were laughing, we enjoyed our time together. It made skating so fun. Over the five years, we had success, but also didn’t have success. We had a lot of trying times. In those trying times, I really realized how much I relied on Maddie and really felt connected to her in a way that went beyond just as a skating partner.”


    Related: Olympic Ice Dancers Evan Bates and Madison Chock’s Relationship Timeline

    Olympic gold medalists Evan Bates and Madison Chock make the perfect pair on and off the ice. Chock and Bates, who were first partnered during the 2011-2012 figure skating season, started dating in 2017. “We just really fell in love on the ice and grew closer together,” Bates exclusively told Us Weekly in February 2018, […]

    As the pair prepared to compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, Bates had the impression “it was going to be the end of the road for us as a career.”

    “I remember thinking, ‘I can’t really imagine one day walking out of the rink and going our separate ways, being friends and just not seeing each other anymore,’’’ Bates said. “I made the realization, I shared the realization and, luckily, the realization was reciprocated. That changed everything in our relationship and our partnership.”

    Bates added, “Since that moment, we’ve been pretty much inseparable.”

    Chock remembers the moment, too, admitting she was “so surprised” by Bates’ admission.

    “It really just came out of the blue for me,” she told Us. “I knew we always had an incredible chemistry. We had so much fun together. We were great friends. Training was always fun because we always just got along. We had the same work ethic. But when he told me how he felt, I was so surprised because I didn’t see it coming at all.”

    Chock continued, “When I really sat with it and thought about it, I was like, ‘Wait a minute. I feel the same things about you. This is incredible.’”

    The couple got married in Hawaii in June 2024.

    “Our day-to-day life is certainly very similar, if not completely unchanged with training and our typical routine that we have gotten used to over the years,” Chock said of life as husband and wife. “But I would say after we got married there was definitely a shift in the emotional connection and pull towards each other. It’s definitely much stronger.”

    Evan Bates, Madison Chock

    Evan Bates, Madison Chock     Courtesy of Nulo

    Chock added, “It’s very rooted in love and our commitment to each other, and our commitment in wanting to continue to improve as people moving forward and be the best partners we can be to each other.”

    With the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on the horizon, Chock and Bates have partnered with Nulo’s “Fuel Incredible” campaign, designed to highlight the unique bond between athletes and their pets.

    Team USAs Dating Histories Inside Shaun White, Mikaela Shiffrin and More Winter Olympians Love Lives


    Related: Team USA’s Dating Histories: Inside the Winter Olympians’ Love Lives

    When Team USA’s finest athletes competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics, their loved ones were some of their biggest fans. Shaun White, who competed in his final Winter Olympics in February 2022, began dating actress Nina Dobrev in 2020. The two were together until they called off their engagement in September 2025. In January 2022, […]

    Chock and Bates are parents to toy poodles Stella, 13, and Henry, 9. 

    “Henry and Stella are a huge part of our lives,” Chock said. “Skating is a huge part, but Henry and Stella are right there along with us. They’re really an active part of our entire day.”

    During training, Chock said both dogs “come with us to the rink on a daily basis.”

    ‘When we have a break, they run around and they greet everybody in the locker room,” Chock explained. “They just brighten spirits at the rink when everyone’s going through the ringer. Doing their run-throughs, having some grueling training sessions. Henry and Stella bring everybody so much joy.”

    Daniel Trainor

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  • Will Trent’s Ramon Rodriguez Reveals If the Show Plans to Cast Sara Linton

    Ramón Rodríguez revealed if ABC’s Will Trent plans to introduce Sara Linton from Karin Slaughter’s book series.

    “I know how popular she is in Karin Slaughter’s books and those theories,” Rodríguez exclusively told Us Weekly. “It’s something we talk about often with our show.”

    Rodríguez didn’t rule out Will Trent finding a way to bring the fictional character to life, adding, “If and when do we bring such a big character into our world? Our world is pretty full already — we’ve got a lot of characters already and there’s a lot going on.”

    He continued: “But we also know this is something that fans love and want — especially the ones that really were obsessed with the books. … Rachel McAdams would be really fun [in the role].”

    Based on Slaughter’s book franchise, Will Trent follows a special agent at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation who was abandoned at birth and grew up in Atlanta’s overwhelmed foster care system. Will now relies on his unique perspective while pursuing justice, which leads to the highest clearance rate in the GBI.

    Disney/Nino Muñoz

    Will has been in an on and off relationship with Angie (Erika Christensen) since season 1 but they have since called it quits for good. He briefly explored a romance with Marion (Gina Rodriguez) but it was too soon for Will.

    In the book version, Will ends up with Sara, who is a pediatrician and medical examiner. She became his main love interest after his split from Angie. The fictional couple got married in Slaughter’s This Is Why We Lied.

    Season 4, which premiered earlier this month, offered Us a new glimpse at Will who is exploring his rage.

    TV Ships


    Related: TV Couples We Need Together in 2026: From ‘The Pitt’ to ‘Tracker’

    Fan-favorite TV couples like 9-1-1’s Buck and Eddie, The Bear’s Sydney and Carmy and Tracker’s Colter and Reenie — or Billie — deserve to finally get together on screen in 2026. Based on Jeffery Deaver‘s novel The Never Game, Tracker has viewers tuning in each week to see their favorite fictional survivalist — a.k.a Colter […]

    “It’s something we really haven’t seen too much of from him. For someone who has such a loaded past in history, for the first time he is really getting into therapy. Then a lot of stuff starts coming up for him. So we were really interested and intrigued by the idea of someone unraveling and peeling back the hood on themselves to see what’s in there,” he told Us. “The process of therapy, I’ve gone through it and it is interesting what comes up. It can be good or it can be complicated. It can trigger things.”

    Rodríguez promised viewers would see a new side of Will, adding, “For someone like Will who hasn’t really taken much time to do that — considering how much he’s been through — he just always moves forward and focuses on his job. He keeps himself busy that those have been some of his coping mechanisms and now to finally meet a therapist who is a bit unconventional where her tactics might be a little strange. But I think that’s what someone like Will needs.”

    He concluded: “I love that we took what we’ve seen a million times before in movies and shows — which is therapy — and we said, ‘How can we make this really different and give it the Will Trent spin that we try to do?’ I loved it.”

    Will Trent airs on ABC Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Hulu.

    Yana Grebenyuk

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  • Nick Reiner losing powerhouse defense attorney may come down to money, experts say

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Nick Reiner’s powerhouse defense lawyer, Alan Jackson, had “no choice” but to withdraw from the case Wednesday during what was supposed to be Nick’s first arraignment of the year. 

    Jackson cited circumstances beyond his and Nick’s control as to why he abruptly stepped down from defending Nick against the double murder charges in the stabbing deaths of Rob Reiner and wife Michele Singer Reiner.

    “Circumstances beyond our control, but more importantly, circumstances beyond Nick’s control have dictated that,” Jackson said during a press conference outside the courthouse. “Sadly, it’s made it impossible for us to continue our representation of Nick. I’m legally, and I’m ethically prohibited from explaining all the reasons why.”

    Criminal defense attorney and Fox News contributor Joshua Ritter believed that Jackson’s hasty withdrawal from the case indicated money issues.

    NICK REINER LOSES ATTORNEY ALAN JACKSON IN PARENTS’ MURDER CASE

    Alan Jackson withdrew from representing Nick Reiner as his defense attorney. (Getty Images/ Mona Edwards)

    “It sounds like it was simply a mutual parting over a lack of ability to retain a private attorney and, therefore, his only option was that he was left with a public defender,” Ritter told Fox News Digital.

    Outside the courthouse, Jackson remained adamant that Nick was “not guilty” of murdering his parents. 

    “We’ve investigated this matter top to bottom, back to front,” Jackson said. “What we’ve learned – and you can take this to the bank – is that pursuant to the laws of this state, pursuant to the law in California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder.”

    Jackson arrived at the Reiner home less than 24 hours after the couple’s bodies were discovered. Soon after, he signed on to represent Nick. 

    Jackson famously defended Karen Read, who was accused of hitting her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her car and leaving him to die during a snowstorm. She maintained her innocence throughout two criminal trials, the first ending in a hung jury, before ultimately being found not guilty of murder and manslaughter in the second.

    ROB REINER’S SON CHARGED WITH MURDER, DIDDY SENTENCED TO PRISON: 2 HIGH-PROFILE CASES THAT DEFINED 2025

    “Sometimes, in these situations, you have to kind of move quickly if you want a lawyer at that first hearing because you only have 48 hours before they’re brought into court,” Ritter said. “So it’s not entirely uncommon that attorneys and clients may come to an agreement on paper, but not exactly the transfer of funds before an attorney will appear in court.”

    Nick Reiner's attorney resigns from the Rob Reiner murder case

    Alan Jackson addresses media outside of Los Angeles Superior Court. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

    Nick Reiner sitting in the courthouse in a tan jumpsuit during his arraignment on Wednesday, Jan. 7.

    Nick Reiner appeared in court Wednesday wearing a tan jumpsuit.  (Mona Edwards)

    Seth J. Zuckerman, celebrity criminal defense attorney and founder of Zuckerman Legal Group, and former NYC prosecutor, told Fox News Digital, “It is likely that whoever paid the initial retainer on Nick Reiner’s behalf is unwilling to continue to fund the defense. There may be other issues at play, but we will never know, as Jackson has an ethical responsibility not to disclose.”

    Zuckerman noted the three reasons a criminal defense attorney would step down from a case, which included financial issues, conflict of interest or conflict with the client on strategy.

    ROB REINER, WIFE MICHELE’S MURDER CASE LIKELY HINGES ON SON’S MENTAL COMPETENCY: EXPERTS

    “If Jackson is claiming circumstances beyond Nick’s control have dictated his withdrawal, then we can rule out number three,” Zuckerman said.

    Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani agreed that money – or the lack thereof – was most likely the reason Jackson stepped down.

    Nick Reiner appears at Build seminar

    Nick Reiner was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner. (Laura Cavanaugh)

    “In the business, we say Mr. Green didn’t show up. Nick can’t pay Jackson. It would be a seven-figure retainer, and he doesn’t have the money. If he did, why would he be living in his parents’ guest house? Maybe his siblings considered paying Jackson but changed their mind.”

    LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

    He added, “The other possibility is that they disagreed on case strategy. But then another private retained attorney would substitute in and not the public defender’s office. Nick has a chance, but not a good one. Jackson or a public defender will have the same problems with the case.”

    Rahmani also explained how under California’s slayer rule, a child who kills their parents cannot inherit from their estate. 

    Michele Reiner, Rob Reiner, Nick Reiner

    Nick Reiner faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. (Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Teen Vogue)

    “That means they can’t take under a will, trust, life insurance, or act as any other kind of beneficiary,” Rahmani said. “The law presumes the killer predeceased their parents.  A murder conviction in criminal court is enough to trigger the rule. A probate judge can also apply it. Nontraditional assets like intellectual property may be held in separate LLCs or trusts, by the analysis is the same. The murderous heir won’t inherit as a matter of law.”

    The 32-year-old was charged in December with two counts of first-degree murder, and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. He remains in custody at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility after formally being charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of his parents.

    CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

    Kimberly Greene, the deputy public defender assigned to the case, spoke briefly with Nick Wednesday morning. “He was understanding that there was going to be a change in counsel,” she said. “We haven’t had any in-depth conversations.”

    Ritter insisted that the public defender’s office is “well qualified” to handle Nick’s case. 

    Public defense lawyer Kimberly Greene in court for the Nick Reiner arraignment

    Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Greene was assigned Wednesday to represent Nick Reiner. (Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times via Pool)

    “They handle these types of cases all the time, and they also have the resources to hire … they have investigators who can work on their behalf,” Ritter said. “I’m not trying to take anything away from whatever representation Alan Jackson may have done on his behalf, but I don’t think that this is somehow devastating to his chances.”

    A spokesman for the Reiner family told Fox News Digital, “They have the utmost trust in the legal process and will not comment further on matters related to the legal proceedings.”

    Fox News Digital’s Christina Dugan Ramirez contributed to this report.

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

    Tracy Wright is an entertainment reporter for Fox News Digital. Send story tips to Tracy.Wright@fox.com.

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  • Nick Reiner removed from suicide watch ahead of arraignment in parents’ deaths: report

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Nick Reiner, the youngest son of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday and may enter a plea in his first courtroom appearance of the year.

    The 32-year-old remains in custody at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility after formally being charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of his parents.

    Sources told People magazine that Nick was removed from suicide watch earlier this week and is being held in solitary confinement where he is required to wear a yellow jail-issued shirt and blue pants.

    Fox News Digital has reached out to Reiner’s attorney and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for comment.

    ROB REINER’S SON CHARGED WITH MURDER, DIDDY SENTENCED TO PRISON: 2 HIGH-PROFILE CASES THAT DEFINED 2025

    Nick Reiner was charged Dec. 16 in the deaths of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner. (Getty Images)

    During his first courtroom appearance, Reiner wore a blue suicide prevention vest. When the judge asked if Reiner waived his rights, Nick said, “Yes, your honor.” 

    No decision has been made on whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty. 

    Seth J. Zuckerman, celebrity criminal defense attorney and founder of Zuckerman Legal Group and former NYC prosecutor, told Fox News Digital that Nick’s defense strategy may hinge on his history with substance abuse.

    NICK REINER’S DEFENSE LAWYER ‘AIN’T CHEAP’ BUT WORTH EVERY PENNY IN MURDER CASE, LEGAL EXPERTS SAY

    “His mental health and substance abuse will factor heavily into the defense strategy, as the defense will look to argue that he had diminished capacity or couldn’t form the intent necessary for murder charges,” Zuckerman said. 

    Nick Reiner wears blue suicide prevention vest in court.

    Nick Reiner appeared in court last month wearing a blue suicide prevention vest. (Mona Edwards)

    “There may also be a ‘heat of passion’ defense in which the defense argues Nick experienced an uncontrollable rage as a result of an argument, and did not have time to cool off prior to, or premeditate, the killing, thus arguing for manslaughter as opposed to murder.”

    “His mental health and substance abuse will factor heavily into the defense strategy …”

    — Seth J. Zuckerman

    Zuckerman added: “The prosecution will evaluate the evidence, including but not limited to physical and forensic evidence of both the home where they were killed and the hotel where Nick Reiner was staying, witness statements, video surveillance, cell phone evidence about prior arguments with his parents, and whether Nick made any statements to the police when he was arrested.”

    Rob and Michele Reiner were found dead inside their Brentwood home on Dec. 14. Multiple agencies worked to find and arrest Nick, 32, who was apprehended near the University of Southern California at approximately 9:15 p.m., hours after his parents’ bodies were discovered.

    ROB REINER, WIFE MICHELE’S MURDER CASE LIKELY HINGES ON SON’S MENTAL COMPETENCY: EXPERTS

    Two days later, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman charged Nick with two counts of first-degree murder.

    Nick Reiner in court accused of killing his parents Rob Reiner and Michele Singer-Reiner

    Nick Reiner is now reportedly being held in solitary confinement at Twin Towers Correctional Facility. (Mona Edwards)

    The Reiner family sits at a table

    Michele and Rob Reiner have three children: Jake, Nick (second left), and daughter Romy. (Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Wynn Las Vegas )

    “These charges will be two counts of first degree murder with a special circumstance of multiple murders,” Hochman said during a press conference.

    “He also faces a special allegation that he personally used a dangerous and deadly weapon – that being a knife. These charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.”

    CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

    The following day, Jake and Romy Reiner broke their silence on their parents’ deaths.

    “Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day. The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends,” they told People. 

    Michele Reiner, Rob Reiner, Nick Reiner

    Nick Reiner was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of his parents. (Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Teen Vogue)

    “We are grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness, and support we have received not only from family and friends but people from all walks of life. We now ask for respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity, and for our parents to be remembered for the incredible lives they lived and the love they gave.”

    Shortly after his arrest, Nick retained renowned attorney Alan Jackson to lead his defense. 

    Jackson famously defended Karen Read, who was accused of hitting her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her car and leaving him to die during a snowstorm. She maintained her innocence throughout two criminal trials, the first ending in a hung jury, before ultimately being found not guilty of murder and manslaughter in the second.

    WATCH: MATT MURPHY EXPLAINED HE ‘WASN’T SURPRISED’ TO SEE ALAN JACKSON REPRESENTING NICK REINER

    Rob and Michele’s death certificates were released just before Christmas on Dec. 23.

    According to the death certificates obtained by Fox News Digital from the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, the couple were cremated at Mount Sinai Mortuary. 

    LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

    The certificates also confirmed what was previously revealed by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office: that the Reiners died due to multiple sharp force injuries. The certificates stated the injuries were caused “with knife, by another.”

    One week later, the medical examiner removed the death reports due to a sealed court order initiated by the Los Angeles Police Department.

    Lawyer for Rob Reiner's accuser killer, his son Nick Reiner, Alan Jackson

    Alan Jackson addressed the media outside of Superior Court in Los Angeles last month. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

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    “While the cause and manner of death were previously released on these cases, due to the court order, the information is no longer available. No other case information or records, including the Medical Examiner report, can be released or posted on the website until further notice,” the press release stated, noting that a “security hold” has been placed for the time being.

    Following the court order, LAPD told Fox News Digital, “The order was sought only to ensure detectives from Robbery-Homicide Division learned of important information surrounding their deaths before the media and the public. The order was not sought to undermine transparency.”

    Fox News Digital’s Christina Dugan Ramirez contributed to this report.

    Tracy Wright is an entertainment reporter for Fox News Digital. Send story tips to Tracy.Wright@fox.com.

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  • Intel spinout Articul8 raises more than half of $70M round at $500M valuation | TechCrunch

    Articul8, an enterprise AI company spun out of Intel in early 2024, has secured more than half of a planned $70 million funding round at a $500 million pre-money valuation, according to its CEO, as it looks to capitalize on growing demand for AI systems in regulated industries.

    The Series B funding round is structured in two installments, with the first led by Spain’s Adara Ventures, Articul8 founder and CEO Arun K. Subramaniyan (pictured above, center) said in an interview. He declined to disclose the size of the initial installment, but said the company expects to close the round in the first quarter of this year.

    Articul8’s valuation for its current funding round marks a roughly fivefold increase from the company’s $100 million post-money Series A valuation in January 2024. Since then, the Santa Clara-based company said it has surpassed $90 million in total contract value — the cumulative value of all signed customer contracts — from 29 paying customers, including Hitachi Energy, AWS, Franklin Templeton, and Intel.

    Subramaniyan told TechCrunch that Articul8 was not under pressure to raise capital, describing the company as revenue-positive following a series of large enterprise contracts.

    “We are not cash-strapped,” he said.

    The company expects to finish the year with annual recurring revenue of just over $57 million, Subramaniyan said, with roughly 45% to 50% of that already recognized.

    Articul8 develops specialized AI systems that operate within customers’ own IT environments, rather than relying on shared, general-purpose models. Instead of selling standalone models, the company packages its technology as software applications and AI agents tailored to specific business functions, targeting regulated industries such as energy, manufacturing, aerospace, financial services, and semiconductors, where accuracy, auditability, and data control are critical.

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    Articul8’s knowledge graph viewImage Credits:Articul8

    “Our competition is pretty much everybody,” said Subramaniyan. “But today, the major competitors are the cloud service providers, because they have realized that their model, as the general-purpose [offerings], are all commodities.”

    He added that Articul8’s focus on specialized systems appeals to customers who need predictable results and clear audit trails, something that is harder to achieve with general-purpose models run on shared cloud platforms.

    Articul8 plans to use the Series B proceeds primarily to expand research and product development and to scale its operations internationally, with a focus on Europe and parts of Asia.

    Adara Ventures’ participation will help speed-up the European expansion plan, as the European Investment Fund backs the Madrid-based VC firm’s energy fund, Subramaniyan said. The company is also looking to scale in markets including Japan and South Korea, where it has begun working with large enterprise customers, he noted.

    India’s Aditya Birla Ventures also participated in the ongoing round, Subramaniyan stated.

    Articul8 works with large tech groups including Nvidia and Google Cloud, Subramaniyan said, adding that Amazon Web Services is both a customer and a partner for the company on some deployments.

    The company employs 75 people, with about 80% focused on R&D, and teams spread across the U.S., Brazil, and India.

    Jagmeet Singh

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  • Founder of spyware maker pcTattletale pleads guilty to hacking and advertising surveillance software | TechCrunch

    The founder of a U.S.-based spyware company, whose surveillance products allowed customers to spy on the phones and computers of unsuspecting victims, pleaded guilty to federal charges linked to his long-running operation. 

    pcTattletale founder Bryan Fleming entered a guilty plea in a San Diego federal court on Tuesday to charges of computer hacking, the sale and advertising of surveillance software for unlawful uses, and conspiracy.

    The plea follows a multi-year investigation by agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a unit within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. HSI began investigating pcTattletale in mid-2021 as part of a wider probe into the industry of consumer-grade surveillance software, also known as “stalkerware.”

    This is the first successful U.S. federal prosecution of a stalkerware operator in more than a decade, following the 2014 indictment and subsequent guilty plea of the creator of a phone surveillance app called StealthGenie. Fleming’s conviction could pave the way for further federal investigations and prosecutions against those operating spyware, but also those who simply advertise and sell covert surveillance software.

    HSI said that pcTattletale is one of several stalkerware websites under investigation.

    A spokesperson for ICE did not immediately comment when contacted by TechCrunch, nor did a representative for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, which brought the charges against Fleming.

    Fleming’s lawyer Marcus Bourassa did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

    pcTattletale was a remote surveillance app that had been under Fleming’s control since at least 2016. Stalkerware apps like pcTattletale allow ordinary consumers to buy software capable of tracking people and their data without their knowledge, including romantic partners and spouses, which is illegal in the United States and many other countries.

    Once physically planted on a person’s phone or computer (usually with knowledge of the victim’s passcode or login), the app would continuously upload a copy of the victim’s information, including messages, photos and location data, to pcTattletale’s servers and make the data accessible to whoever planted the spyware.

    Fleming shut down pcTattletale in 2024 following a data breach, which saw a hacker deface the company’s website and steal reams of data from its servers, including identifiable information belonging to its customers and their victims. More than 138,000 customers who had signed up to use pcTattletale had their breached information shared with data breach notification site Have I Been Pwned. 

    At the time, Fleming told TechCrunch that his company was “out of business and completely done,” after deleting the contents of pcTattletale’s servers.   

    Despite the shutdown, federal agents were already far into their investigation of Fleming’s illegal spyware business.

    Feds search founder’s $1.2M home

    HSI began investigating pcTattletale in June 2021 after finding over a hundred stalkerware websites offering surveillance products, many of which advertised lawful uses of the software, such as monitoring children or employees.

    pcTattletale stood out because it was specifically advertising its spyware for “surreptitiously spying on spouses and partners,” wrote HSI special agent Nick Jones in the 2022 affidavit in support of a search warrant for Fleming’s home. The affidavit was unsealed in early December 2025 ahead of Fleming’s anticipated plea hearing. 

    Crucially for investigators, Fleming was believed to be operating pcTattletale from his home in Bruce Township, Michigan, well within reach of U.S. law enforcement — unlike many overseas stalkerware operators who are not.  

    Unlike some stalkerware operators who shield their identities to avoid legal and reputational risks from working with spyware, Fleming was brazen in how he advertised pcTattletale. In videos posted on YouTube, Fleming could be seen at his home promoting pcTattletale as its creator and founder. 

    A surveillance photo taken by HSI agents outside of Bryan Fleming’s home in Michigan.Image Credits:Justice Department (affidavit)

    According to the affidavit, HSI obtained a warrant in 2022 allowing the search of Fleming’s email accounts. HSI said the emails showed that Fleming “knowingly assisted customers seeking to spy on nonconsenting, non-employee adults.” 

    Federal agents later surveilled Fleming’s home to confirm it was in fact him.

    Jones also went undercover to collect evidence, posing as an affiliate marketer under the guise of promoting the spyware in exchange for a cut of the proceeds. As a result of this operation, Jones exchanged emails with Fleming, in which the pcTattletale founder provided images intended for banner ads that promoted the spyware as a way to “catch a cheater,” which made it clear Fleming wanted to market his product for illegal purposes. 

    By November 2022, HSI had obtained permission from a U.S. judge to search Fleming’s home, which agents raided soon after, seizing an unknown number of items. Agents also obtained records associated with Fleming’s bank and his PayPal account, which had transactions totaling more than $600,000 as of the end of 2021. 

    The search warrant was filed under seal amid concerns that Fleming could destroy or tamper with evidence. Fleming has since sold the house for $1.2 million, per public records.

    Fleming’s conviction is a win for privacy advocates and campaigners who work to counter the proliferation of stalkerware and raise awareness to its dangers.

    Eva Galperin, the director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the co-founder of the Coalition Against Stalkerware, who has investigated and fought stalkerware for years, commented on Fleming’s guilty plea when reached by TechCrunch.

    “One of the most striking aspects of this case is the extent to which stalkware companies like pcTattletale operate out in the open,” said Galperin. “This is because the people behind these companies so rarely face consequences for selling tools that they themselves say are explicitly for monitoring other people’s devices without their knowledge or consent.”

    “I hope that this case changes the risk calculus for makers of stalkerware,” said Galperin.

    Fleming is expected to be sentenced later this year.

    ——

    If you or someone you know needs help, the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) provides 24/7 free, confidential support to victims of domestic abuse and violence. If you are in an emergency situation, call 911. The Coalition Against Stalkerware has resources if you think your phone has been compromised by spyware.

    Zack Whittaker

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  • ‘The Beauty’ Exclusive: Ashton Kutcher Enters His Villain Era in Ryan Murphy’s Nihilistic New Series

    The Beauty is based on the eponymous 2015 comic book series by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley. Murphy and series cocreator Matthew Hodgson optioned the rights nearly a decade ago, long before the release of 2024’s similarly themed body-horror film, The Substance—starring Kutcher’s ex-wife, Demi Moore, in a performance that earned the actor her first Oscar nomination. But Kutcher can’t really speak to any similarities between the two projects. When asked about comparisons between the two, Kutcher shies away from his Zoom camera, lowering his voice to a whisper: “I haven’t seen that film,” he says sheepishly.

    But he does have another comp in mind for The Beauty. “There was a movie that Bradley Cooper did where a drug made him hyperproductive, Limitless. I read that script, wanted to do it—but they hired Bradley instead. Good choice, he’s great.” His new show has a similar premise. “I love this notion of giving people some superhuman capability that is not 10 steps removed from today, but two steps removed from today. I think that’s always more fun because you’re not in outer space. You can imagine this actually happening.”

    It’s a topic Kutcher and his wife, Mila Kunis, had been discussing even before he got the script for The Beauty. “My wife actually said to me, ‘Somebody walks around with braces or Invisalign, and that’s totally fine. But the minute someone gets a rhinoplasty, that’s viewed differently.’ They’re both cosmetic enhancements,” he says. “One’s to your teeth and one’s to your nose. And nobody’s ever going to be judgey about getting braces, or about how your teeth turn out from the braces. But they will for rhinoplasty or lipo or a hair transplant. She and I have had a lot of conversations about this. It depends on what body part it is. That’s a really weird thing.”

    Savannah Walsh

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  • Inside Alix Earle and Tom Brady’s New Year’s Eve Night Out (Excl)

    Alix Earle and Tom Brady enjoyed getting to know each other on New Year’s Eve.

    “Alix and Tom were together the entire night on New Year’s Eve partying at a party hosted by Palm Tree Crew in St. Barths,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly. “They met through mutual friends who were also in St. Barths and had an instant connection. There was a lot of chemistry between them.”

    The insider adds that Earle, 25, was “really into hanging out with” Brady, 48, but isn’t looking for “anything serious” following her recent split from Braxton Berrios.

    “It’s nothing serious between her and Tom, but they were together laughing, dancing and partying, enjoying themselves,” the source explains.


    Related: Alix Earle Rocks Naked Dress for NYE Amid Tom Brady Romance Rumors

    Alix Earle picked up a first down for fashion while ringing in New Year’s Eve. The Dancing With the Stars alum, 25, showed off her elevated take on the naked dress trend, sharing pics of herself in the sheer mauve-brown number she was spotted wearing while mingling with Tom Brady. Earle posted a series of […]

    Brady, meanwhile, was “hesitant” about being seen with Earle in public “but didn’t want to leave her side.”

    According to the insider, Earle “needed” the post-breakup getaway to St. Barths and the influencer “is in a phase of saying yes to fun experiences and not overthinking anything.”

    “She’s just having fun right now and letting loose,” the source says. “She has been in great spirits while on vacation and seems happy and ready to have fun again.”

    Earle and Brady made headlines after they were spotted looking cozy while ringing in 2026 at a night club on the tropical island, per video obtained by TMZ. In the clip, Earle was seen whispering in the retired football player’s ear.

    After sparking dating rumors, Brady posted a cryptic message on social media.

    “People are not beautiful for how they look or speak. They’re beautiful for how they love, care and treat others,” read the quote shared via Brady’s Instagram Story on Thursday, January 1.

    One month before Earle’s outing with Brady, Us confirmed she and Berrios called it quits after two years of dating.

    “[The] majority of their relationship was long-distance and it was hard for them to navigate,” an insider exclusively told Us at the time. “They mutually agreed on the split.”

    Earle was living in Los Angeles as she competed on Dancing With the Stars’ 34th season, where she came in second place. Berrios, who plays in the NFL for the Houston Texans, resides in Florida during the offseason.

    Alix Earle Addresses Claim Giants Rookie Jaxson Dart Messaged Her Hours After Braxton Berrios Split


    Related: Alix Earle Addresses Rumor Jaxson Dart DMed Her After Braxton Berrios Split

    Alix Earle is addressing speculation that New York Giants rookie Jaxson Dart slid into her DMs following her split from Braxton Berrios. “What is this fake photoshopped DM u guys are posting,” Earle, 24, wrote via TikTok on Sunday, December 7. “1. That never happened. 2. That wouldn’t be on my story.” Hours after news […]

    Later in December, Earle broke her silence on her and Berrios’ breakup.

    “Braxton and I are no longer together,” she told her followers in a TikTok video. “We have been doing long distance since, basically, June and we haven’t got to see each other that often. It’s just been really difficult for me.”

    Earle explained that she and Berrios were on “two different paths” in life but are still amicable post-split.

    “We’re on good terms and I don’t want anyone to come for him or be mean to him,” she continued. “I think I ultimately just wanted to go with trusting my feelings. This has just been really hard. … It’s not drama. It’s not because he did anything wrong or I did anything wrong. It just didn’t really feel like it was working out, in the moment.”

    Kaitlin Simpson

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  • ‘Real Housewives’ star accused of running cult-like church operation, ex-members allege financial exploitation

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Reality star Mary Cosby’s TV fame now collides with serious allegations in a new TLC docuseries that examines claims of cult-like behavior inside the church she leads with her husband.

    The three-part series, “The Cult of the Real Housewife,” investigates Faith Temple Pentecostal Church, exploring claims of spiritual manipulation, financial pressure and emotional control that former members say unfolded behind closed doors.

    The docuseries traces Faith Temple’s roots to its founding by Rosemary “Mama” Cosby, Mary’s grandmother, who was widely revered within the congregation. 

    ‘REAL HOUSEWIVES’ ALUM KIM ZOLCIAK ACCUSES ESTRANGED HUSBAND KROY BIERMANN OF CHEATING AS DIVORCE DRAGS ON

    A former church member took out a $300,000 second mortgage on his home and gave the money to Mary Cosby, highlighting the alleged financial entanglements involved. (Koury Angelo/Bravo via Getty Images)

    Following the death of “Mama” Cosby, leadership of the church passed to her husband, Robert Cosby Sr. — Mary’s step-grandfather — whose later marriage to Mary sparked controversy and marked what critics described as a dramatic shift in the church’s culture.

    Fox News Digital has reached out to Mary Cosby for comment.

    Mary’s cousin Dan Cosby told Fox News Digital that what he witnessed inside Faith Temple fundamentally altered his trust in church leadership.

    “How he would do it, how he would use his form of authoritarian-style of leadership and how he would talk to other brothers in the church … pitting them against me or against other members,” Dan said, referring to Robert Cosby Sr. “I wasn’t the only one. There are others that left because they saw the writing on the wall.”

    Dan said the behavior felt unpredictable and deeply unsettling, particularly because it often appeared calculated.

    WATCH: ‘REAL HOUSEWIVES’ STAR RAN A CULT-LIKE CHURCH, FAMILY MEMBERS SAY

    “There’s two sides of Robert… almost a double personality,” Dan said. “You just see his true form come out — a total Jekyll-and-Hyde … He would preach and actually call out people in the church and ridicule them … it was just embarrassing.”

    Over time, Dan noted, the behavior escalated to public humiliation during church services.

    ‘REAL HOUSEWIVES’ STAR MARY COSBY WILL NOT BE INCLUDED IN FILMING FOR SALT LAKE CITY’S SEASON 3: SOURCE

    Mary Cosby appears on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.

    Mary married her step-grandfather Robert Cosby Sr. in 1998. (Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty Images)

    “You were just afraid to leave. People were afraid of leaving,” he said. “This is detrimental to people.”

    For Dan, his time at Faith Temple revealed what he describes as a disturbing pattern of abuse masked as spiritual guidance. He said that church leadership frequently exploited members’ faith to enforce obedience and loyalty.

    “You were just afraid to leave. People were afraid of leaving. This is detrimental to people.”

    — Dan Cosby

    In the docuseries, Dan alleged he endured physical punishments and witnessed abuse as a child — including kneeling on pins and needles and watching another child beaten. Robert Cosby Sr., a military veteran, is accused of shoving Dan during a prayer session, which Dan said became a turning point that prompted him to leave the church.

    “To understand, I think that ‘The Cult of the Real Housewife’ points out trauma is real and that people will manipulate that and make you think that God is a certain way,” he told Fox News Digital. “They’ll put their own righteousness into what they believe.”

    He cautioned that such manipulation can be subtle, making it hard for members to recognize that they are being exploited.

    JOSH DUGGAR’S COUSIN RECALLS HAUNTING WORDS WHEN REALITY STAR WAS CONFRONTED WITH ABUSE ALLEGATIONS

    “I think this is bringing light to — people could be in a cult and not even realize that they’re in one,” he said.

    Financial pressure was central to the alleged control, Dan said, with members shamed for failing to give.

    “People could be in a cult and not even realize they’re in one.”

    — Dan Cosby

    “It wasn’t necessarily what’s going to happen to you … but the pressure that you know you had to give more and [being told] ‘you’re cheap,’” he said.

    Scripture was used to reinforce guilt, making members feel condemned.

    Mary Cosby appears on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

    In “The Cult of the Real Housewife,” ex-members opened up about the alleged emotional toll exacted by church teachings that demanded impossible choices. (Natalie Cass/Bravo via Getty Images)

    “They would put all types of pressure related to scriptures,” he said, adding that members were made to feel condemned. “But when you involve your faith and when you think that you’re doing the right thing, and they put this guilty conscience on you that you are going to hell, damnation to you, that if you’re not going to give.”

    Dan described one of the most damaging tactics as invoking the legacy of “Mama,” the church’s beloved founder, whose teachings emphasized personal faith and moral agency.

    FORMER COUNTESS LUANN DE LESSEPS ADVISES SARAH FERGUSON ON HOW TO SURVIVE EPSTEIN SCANDAL, PUBLIC DOWNFALL

    “One of Mama’s messages was, ‘Know God for yourself,’” Dan said. “But then they began worshiping this man and this woman as their God.”

    WATCH: ‘REAL HOUSEWIVES’ STAR ALLEGEDLY MADE EX CHURCH MEMBER CHOOSE BETWEEN HUSBAND AND GOD

    During Season two of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” a former church member named Cameron was introduced in what the docuseries describes as a deliberate attempt to expose Mary, showing viewers “who she really is and what she’s about.”

    He said he took out a $300,000 second mortgage on his home and gave the money to Mary, highlighting the alleged financial entanglements involved.

    Lisa Barlow, Sharrieff Shah, Mary Cosby, John Barlow, and Robert Cosby Sr. sit together during The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City reunion.

    Mary Cosby and Robert Cosby Sr. appear during “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” reunion. (Heidi Gutman/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

    This storyline played a key role in revealing tensions and controversies around Mary’s character and her dealings within the social circle depicted on the show.

    Dan’s wife, Kim Cosby, told Fox News Digital she also endured a complex journey marked by faith, family struggles and painful divisions within her religious community.

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    In “The Cult of the Real Housewife,” she opened up about the emotional toll exacted by church teachings that demanded impossible choices — even between her husband and God.

    “Extremely,” Kim told Fox News Digital when asked how damaging it was to be told to choose between her husband and God. “If I said I’m going to go home and cook… then I’m putting him above God.”

     “It was always a competition … if I didn’t do what they said, then I’m putting my husband above God.”

    — Kim Cosby

    She added, “It was always a competition … if I didn’t do what they said, then I’m putting my husband above God.”

    “Mama” Cosby’s approach, Kim said, was one of unity and support — a stark contrast to the divisive tactics she claimed emerged after leadership changes within the church.

    LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

    Meredith Marks, Mary Cosby, Bronwyn Newport, Angie Katsanevas, Lisa Barlow, Heather Gay, and Whitney Rose appear together in Season 6 of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

    Meredith Marks, Mary Cosby, Bronwyn Newport, Angie Katsanevas, Lisa Barlow, Heather Gay, and Whitney Rose are pictured in Season 6 of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.” (Koury Angelo/Bravo via Getty Images)

    As painful as the past has been, Dan and Kim see signs of healing and hope in the present.

    Reflecting on two decades marked by turmoil, Dan said, “After 20 years … this year, 2025, and with the help of ‘The Cult of the Real Housewife’ … my family — Kim, my daughters, my grandchildren — I am in their lives, and we are stronger than we’ve ever been.”

    Still, healing is not simple or quick, Dan emphasized.

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

    “It doesn’t mean the hurt isn’t there … Our past, those instances, come back to our minds, and that hurt — that will only take God to be able to forgive,” he said.

    TLC’s “The Cult of the Real Housewife” is available to stream on HBO Max and Discovery+.

    Stephanie Giang-Paunon is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to stephanie.giang@fox.com and on Twitter: @SGiangPaunon.

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