Sylvester Stallone is still in shock after receiving a Kennedy Center honor for doing work he would “do for free” if he had to.
The “Tulsa King” star told Fox News Digital that receiving this prestigious award was never something he planned for himself.
“I try to put it into words. It’s such a shock and revelation. It’s something I didn’t expect, ever. And now I don’t know what to do,” he said.
Sylvester Stallone will be honored with a Kennedy Center award this December.(Getty Images)
Stallone explained that he’s in the process of writing a book, “How Rocky Happened: 1969 to the Oscars,” and has been going down memory lane, remembering all the “insanity” that came from filming the famed “Rocky” movies.
“When you get this Kennedy Center honor, it’s just something I still, at this age, can’t fathom that you actually get a prize for what you do that you would do for free. You know what I mean? I’ve been so lucky. I’ve been blessed, everything. And on top of that, you’re gonna give me a chocolate sundae? Come on. Jesus,” Stallone said.
“When you get this Kennedy Center honor, it’s just something I still, at this age, can’t fathom that you actually get a prize for what you do that you would do for free.”
— Sylvester Stallone
In August, President Donald Trump announced the stars set to be honored at the highly anticipated ceremony in December. Aside from Stallone, the honorees this year are country legend George Strait, rock band KISS, English actor Michael Crawford and iconic singer Gloria Gaynor, known for her hits, including “I Will Survive.”
Trump, now chairman of the Kennedy Center, is ramping up efforts to reshape the honors program — pushing for a glitzier, star-studded celebration.
WATCH: Sylvester Stallone says Kennedy Center honor is ‘something I still can’t fathom’
“The 48th Kennedy Center Honorees are outstanding people, incredible, we can’t wait… in a few short months since I became chairman of the board, the Kennedy Center, we’ve completely reversed the decline of this cherished national institution,” he said in his speech.
When reporters asked Trump how involved he was in selecting the 2025 honorees, he didn’t hold back.
President Donald Trump is chairman of the Kennedy Center.(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
“I was about 98% involved… they all came through me,” he said.
Trump explained he personally greenlit each honoree, and made it known that some didn’t make the cut.
“I turned down plenty, they were too woke… I had a couple of wokesters. No, we have great people. This is very different than it used to be.”
Trump ended his “very long answer” by saying he “was very involved” in the selection of the Kennedy Center Honorees.
President Donald Trump at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.(Getty Images)
During Stallone’s interview with Fox News Digital, he discussed his hit show “Tulsa King” and explained that it’s the closest role he’s played that shows his true self.
“It’s as close as I’m ever going to come to showing who I am, my real personality. That’s how I would react. It was an experiment.
“This is pretty much me as a gangster,” Stallone said.
Sylvester Stallone led all of the “Rocky” movies.(Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
He also said the pressure is high to keep up with high-quality seasons as “Tulsa King” progresses and compared the TV show to the “Rocky” films.
WATCH: Sylvester Stallone talks season 3 of ‘Tulsa King’
“It’s pretty tense, it is. It’s unnerving because, just like with ‘Rockys’, how do you top the last round that did better than the one before that? And that comes with, here we go again, the team. You gotta have that great team behind you. But the thing is, it’s true. You don’t win the big games without a great team,” Stallone told Fox News Digital.
Sylvester Stallone’s “Tulsa King” is gearing up for its season 3 premiere.(Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Paramount+)
“Tulsa King” season three premieres on Sunday, September 21, on Paramount+.
Fox News Digital’s Stephanie Giang-Paunon contributed to this report.
Two humpback whales came dangerously close to a boat off the coast of New Hampshire on Tuesday.An exclusive video sent to News 9 shows the whales breaching before one surfaced for air and swam directly under the vessel. Captain Dale Sprague and his first mate, Matt Hamilton, said they were haddock fishing about six or seven miles past the Isles of Shoals when they spotted the whales.”Just really kind of bottom fishing, so sitting around, and whales were all over the place, and then they started to get a little bit closer, it seemed,” Hamilton said.Both said they have seen whales before, but being this close was rattling.”Pretty good-sized whale jumping to the right of us. And then as that one landed, another one kind of to the left, very close to the boat. And then as we looked behind, we could see one kind of coming at us. And that’s when I got a little freaked out,” Hamilton said. The fishermen’s boat was a fraction of the whale’s size. “That whale seemed to be about probably three times the size of what we had,” Sprague said. The team quickly pulled in their lines and moved farther away. “It definitely will rattle you, to go get some life jackets and think about what can actually happen,” Sprague said. Experts said seeing humpbacks breach is rare.”You’re considered lucky if you see it,” said Ashley Stokes, director of Marine Mammal Conservation. “They’ll sometimes do it as a method of play and then on top of that, they may also be doing it to rid themselves of parasites or skin irritants.”While breaching is not a sign of aggression, Stokes advises anyone out on the water to stay aware of whales in the area.Despite the close encounter, Sprague and Hamilton said it won’t keep them off the water.Last July, a humpback whale crashed into a boat in Portsmouth Harbor. Both of the fishermen on board had to be rescued by people nearby. They were uninjured.
Two humpback whales came dangerously close to a boat off the coast of New Hampshire on Tuesday.
An exclusive video sent to News 9 shows the whales breaching before one surfaced for air and swam directly under the vessel.
Captain Dale Sprague and his first mate, Matt Hamilton, said they were haddock fishing about six or seven miles past the Isles of Shoals when they spotted the whales.
“Just really kind of bottom fishing, so sitting around, and whales were all over the place, and then they started to get a little bit closer, it seemed,” Hamilton said.
Both said they have seen whales before, but being this close was rattling.
“Pretty good-sized whale jumping to the right of us. And then as that one landed, another one kind of to the left, very close to the boat. And then as we looked behind, we could see one kind of coming at us. And that’s when I got a little freaked out,” Hamilton said.
The fishermen’s boat was a fraction of the whale’s size.
“That whale seemed to be about probably three times the size of what we had,” Sprague said.
The team quickly pulled in their lines and moved farther away.
“It definitely will rattle you, to go get some life jackets and think about what can actually happen,” Sprague said.
Experts said seeing humpbacks breach is rare.
“You’re considered lucky if you see it,” said Ashley Stokes, director of Marine Mammal Conservation. “They’ll sometimes do it as a method of play and then on top of that, they may also be doing it to rid themselves of parasites or skin irritants.”
While breaching is not a sign of aggression, Stokes advises anyone out on the water to stay aware of whales in the area.
Despite the close encounter, Sprague and Hamilton said it won’t keep them off the water.
As speed becomes the defining currency in an AI-driven software world, Blacksmith has raised another round led by Google Ventures — just four months after its seed — to accelerate how code gets shipped.
The $10 million Series A closed in just 14 days, with Google Ventures doubling down after first backing Blacksmith’s $3.5 million seed in May. At the time, Alphabet’s VC arm bet on the size of the market and the founding team, which included veterans of Cockroach Labs, another GV portfolio company. But for this round, GV was swayed by results.
Blacksmith, which offers a continuous integration and continuous delivery service for developers that complements GitHub actions, had pulled in hundreds of customers since May, and the boom in AI coding agents has blown the market wide open, co-founder and CEO Aditya Jayaprakash (pictured above on the left) said in an exclusive interview.
The San Francisco–based startup hit $1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in February with just four people — Jayaprakash, co-founders Aayush Shah and Aditya Maru, and a product designer. Since then, revenue has reached $3.5 million ARR with more than 700 customers, supported by a team of eight, and the company is aiming to double that figure by year’s end, Jayaprakash told TechCrunch.
Founded in January 2024, Blacksmith was born from the experiences of its founders, who met at the University of Waterloo before building large-scale distributed systems at Faire and Cockroach Labs. There, they saw firsthand how costly and unpredictable the build and unit testing stages of software releases, known as continuous integration (CI), can be.
You would have to spin up hundreds of machines and burn through hundreds of hours of computing power just to test new code before shipping it, Jayaprakash said.
A typical software development process involves developers continuously pushing new code into repositories such as GitHub or AWS CodeCommit. To manage the testing and integration of that code, cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure all offer their own solutions — but these are often slower, costlier, or less predictable than teams need.
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Unlike many rivals that rent generic cloud servers from cloud providers like AWS, Blacksmith’s service runs on high-performance, gaming-grade CPUs. The result, the startup says, is up to double the processing speed and lowering, by as much as 75%, compute costs. And because teams can switch by changing just a single line of code, they can start shipping faster within minutes.
“Because we’re going the bare-metal route, we have much better control over our economics compared to the hyperscalers,” Jayaprakash told TechCrunch. “I’m not saying every company should go bare metal… but if you are a compute company, if you are an infra company, where your bread and butter is compute, like ourselves, it makes a lot of sense, and it gives us abundant control over our margins.”
By using hardware at its premises, the startup improves its margins as it grows its customer base, the founder said.
Blacksmith also offers test analytics and an observability roadmap, giving customers deeper insights into GitHub Actions — GitHub’s CI/CD platform that automates how developers test and deploy software.
Blacksmith targets companies with teams of 500 engineers or more. Customers already running their GitHub Actions through the platform include Ashby, Chroma, Clerk, Devsisters, Mintlify, Pylon, Slope, Supabase, and VEED.
The latest funding round also saw participation from existing investors and angels, including Spencer Kimball, CEO of Cockroach Labs, and David Cramer, co-founder of Sentry. Blacksmith launched out of Y Combinator’s Winter 2024 batch and today has a team of 11.
“Most of [the trip] was kind of like a pile-on to bash Lisa, to be totally honest. It was not really positive for her,” Meredith, 53, exclusively shared with Us Weekly when celebrating her RÜMORS & NASTINESS game, available for preorder now. “I felt pretty bad because she wasn’t there, and there was a lot of conversation about things that I didn’t know all that much about. I was only able to speak to the parts that I knew, and it was not that easy to defend her, because we were talking about things that she should have been there to talk about herself.”
On the Tuesday, September 16, episode of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,Mary Cosby and Angie Katsanevas hosted a girls’ camping trip that kicked off with an RV ride.
Lisa, 50, was noticeably missing for the overnight getaway, which also included Whitney Rose, Heather Gay, Britani Bateman and Bronwyn Newport.
“I definitely did defend Lisa, and for me, it was really, really difficult, because it’s kind of like people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” Meredith explained to Us when looking back on the season premiere. “I do not have legal issues going on, but a lot of the people on the cast do, and we kind of give a lot of space to that, and they didn’t give that to Lisa. They didn’t give her the ability to answer it for herself.”
She continued, “They threw it out there into the universe to sit and stew for however long until she can answer for herself. And I don’t think anyone else was shown that disrespect with their legal issues. In fact, there are several that are outstanding that have not been discussed yet. Perhaps it’s time.”
Koury Angelo/Bravo (2)
When The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City launched in 2020, Lisa and Meredith were best friends. While the duo’s friendship has faced some highs and lows as the show has progressed, they are in a good spot as season 6 kicks off this month on Bravo.
From Meredith’s perspective, some of her costars tried to create a wedge in her friendship with Lisa.
“What really was a turning point for both of us was the realization that there was a lot of gas being poured on the fire that we’re seen as too strong together,” Meredith shared. “A lot of the women wanted to break that down, and were determined to break it down, and there were several attempts over the course of this past season to break it down. The problem is we’re on to you. Your tricks don’t work anymore.”
As a new season begins, Meredith is having some fun with all the rumors and nastiness that she faces.
Chloe Kom
The Bravo star teamed up with Samantha Topping Gellert to create an outrageous new party game designed for watch parties, pre-games and unforgettable nights with friends.
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Meredith’s newest business venture — TOGG, or The Original Game Girls — is launching RÜMORS & NASTINESS, described as a bluff-and-gossip game built for the reality TV era.
“We all know there’s a lot of rumors and nastiness and obviously, the name ties back into the way you play — Is it a rumor or a nasty truth?” Meredith shared when teasing the game. “I just think it’s fun and it’s light. … We were looking for something to play off of rumors and nastiness. It’s just a really fun game.”
RÜMORS & NASTINESS is available for preorders online now. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. Stream old episodes on Peacock.
When James Van Der Beek announced via social media last November that he’d privately been receiving treatment for Stage 3 colorectal cancer, a generation of Dawson’s Creek fans were stunned and devastated. They’d grown up with this guy, and loved how, in his many family-centric social media posts, his real-life persona reflected the earnestness of Dawson Leery offset with warmth, wisdom and a great sense of humor. How could this be happening to someone so positive and healthy?
But the star’s inner circle had already been rallying around the actor, 48, for months — not just his friends and family, but also his Dawson’s crew. Because, while many stars of the golden era of teen shows may occasionally “like” each other’s Instagram posts, bonds go deeper than that for this group, proving that what happened in Capeside — actually, Wilmington, North Carolina, where the show filmed — didn’t stay in Capeside. They made meaningful relationships that have supported them through serious ups and downs since.
That’s why their long-awaited public reunion is as exciting for them as it is for the hordes of fans who clamored for tickets (it sold out in 12 minutes!). The September 22 event, which takes place on Broadway, will see the original cast performing a live reading of the show’s iconic 1998 pilot episode to benefit the nonprofit F Cancer and Van Der Beek, as well as raise awareness of the importance of early detection.
“We grew up in Capeside, and that’s a bond that will last a lifetime,” Van Der Beek’s costar Michelle Williams said in a statement announcing the reunion, which will also feature creator Kevin Williamson. “We wanted to gather around our dear friend James and remind him that we are all here. We always have been, and we always will be. And I know the fans of Dawson’s Creek feel the same way.”
Getty Images
Coming Back Together
Since the show wrapped in 2003, the core cast has gone in different directions — professionally, personally and geographically. Van Der Beek has settled in Texas with wife Kimberly and their six kids, taking on sporadic acting gigs and a memorable run on season 28 of Dancing With the Stars; L.A.-based Joshua Jackson (Pacey Witter), 47, has become a big, serious actor, starring on TV dramas like The Affair and Little Fires Everywhere while also romancing a string of Hollywood beauties; Williams (Jen Lindley), 45, has blossomed into a respected indie actress who leads a quiet, private life in Brooklyn, New York, not too far from arguably the show’s biggest name, Katie Holmes (Joey Potter), 46, who lives in Manhattan and is now an empty nester since 19-year-old daughter Suri — her only child with ex-husband Tom Cruise — has left for college.
Despite their individual paths, the four stars still have plenty in common — not least the unique, life-altering shared experience of shooting to fame in such a well-loved and critically acclaimed show along with their other good friends, Busy Philipps (Audrey), Meredith Monroe (Andie), Kerr Smith (Jack) and, of course, Mary-Margaret Humes and John Wesley Shipp, a.k.a Gail and Mitch Leery, who will all be at the Broadway reunion. Humes exclusively tells Us that this enduring bond is why the group didn’t hesitate to sign up to support TV’s most verbose aspiring filmmaker.
Ever since Dawson’s Creek premiered in 1998, the show became a favorite among fans and remains one of the most popular teen dramas to ever hit the small screen. The series followed the life of Joey Potter (Katie Holmes), a tomboy who is just trying to make it through high school following the death of […]
“The first phone call I got was from James himself,” Humes says. “He told me that Michelle was spearheading this, and it was a way for us to actually have a reunion, all of us together, and celebrate James’ life. Because he’s dealing with a very difficult situation; very optimistic, but a difficult situation. Together as a TV family, we just thought we needed to be there for him and rally around him.”
Smith, 53, also heard from Van Der Beek directly about Williams’ plans. “Back in April or May, we were doing a convention together in Pittsburgh and he had mentioned that Michelle wanted to do this and put it together. It’s Michelle’s baby — she gets the credit,” Smith tells Us. “When I was pitched, I said, ‘Of course, I’m in. This is fantastic.’” He last saw the group in person for the 2018 Entertainment Weekly reunion photo shoot, but has been in touch with several cast members for his upcoming book about his journey on the beloved show.
Instagram Kerr Smith
“We went out to dinner before we did the photo shoot for that 2018 reunion. And I sat down next to Katie and one of the first things we said was it feels like no time has gone by at all. We just dove right back into a conversation,” Smith says. “It’s just easy.”
Parental Figures
Humes, 71, tells Us that Van Der Beek’s diagnosis resonated with her more than most, due to her own private battle with colon cancer in 2007, something she hasn’t previously shared with the media. “It was just about ready to break out of the wall,” she reveals. “It could’ve been a terrible situation, but we caught it in time. My doctor said we dodged a bullet, and it was all because of early detection. Cancers are survivable, but go out and get screened — thankfully, that’s part of James’ journey.”
Humes vividly remembers the moment Van Der Beek called her to share his sad news. After playing mother and son for six years, the pair have stayed close. “Since [then], we’ve had multiple conversations that are very uplifting and spiritual. He knows I’ve got his back 100 percent. He’s going to get through this, and we’re all coming together.”
The actress has long assumed a maternal role over her younger castmates and has, in many ways, been the glue that’s kept them together. She still stays in regular contact with most of the actors — and it all goes back to those early days on set. “Our executive producer Paul Stupin used to call me the ‘den mother’ because I was like the elder, with the exception of Mary Beth Peil [Grams],” she recalls. “I did take the kids under my wing, but they didn’t need much guidance. We all just fell into this. Everybody just gelled as a family and came together. There were no ego problems — there were tense moments behind the scenes from time to time, but that will remain a mystery!”
Her onscreen husband Shipp — who, as Dawson’s dad, was cheated on by Gail and was later brutally killed off in that infamous ice cream incident (we’re still not over it!) — tells a similar story. “We were cocooned from Hollywood in this southeastern coastal town,” he tells Us. “We were out of the glare of the bright lights, and it was a really special experience. Not that they would have engaged in any bad behavior, our young cast was too smart for that.”
Columbia TriStar Television/courtesy Everett Collection
Like Humes, Shipp, 70, says that his parental role extended beyond the script, recalling that he and Humes even took Van Der Beek to watch his first big movie, Varsity Blues, since his IRL family couldn’t make the trip to Wilmington. “I remember when James signed his first autograph!” he says. “It’s just incredibly dear. Everyone was on the same level, regardless of experience, and even after they shot up to superstardom that surpassed mine and Mary-Margaret’s, it was still the same dynamic, and I think that’s testament to each and every one of those kids, now in their 40s.”
First and Lasting Loves
Of course, there was occasional drama on set — not least when, early on, Jackson and Holmes became a real-life couple, which the actress talked about in a 1998 interview with Rolling Stone. “I fell in love, I had my first love, and it was something so incredible and indescribable that I will treasure it always,” she said. “And that I feel so fortunate because he’s now one of my best friends.”
Shortly before the show wrapped in 2003, Jackson made a rare remark of his own about the relationship. “In the very beginning, Katie and I did have a romance, which is ancient history now. I can’t tell you how much fun it is to have an actual romance and then we broke up and then a year later to have an onscreen romance because there’s nothing more fun than going to work with your ex-girlfriend every day. Sorry, Katie, I love you, but it was a little difficult there for a while,” Jackson said as then-Late Night host Conan O’Brien joked that the writers did it to torture them. “You’re reading the scripts and you’re actually like, ‘Didn’t I say that to her? That’s not healthy!’”
That meaningful connection is why Dawson’s mania hit a new crescendo recently, when the pair reunited to shoot their forthcoming movie trilogy, Happy Hours. Joey and Pacey, pictured together, grinning and pushing a stroller? It doesn’t get better than that for Dawson’s fans — especially if you were always Team Pacey! (While Smith stays neutral as a “team Jack” in the great debate, he admits of Holmes and Jackson: “It seems like it’s a natural relationship, and I can’t wait to see it.”)
But they’re not the only stars who’ve stayed incredibly close — Williams and Philipps, 46, are also certified BFFs. When Philipps joined the cast in 2000, playing party girl Audrey Liddell throughout the show’s college years, they hit it off straight away. “She’s proof that the love of your life does not have to be a man!” Williams told People in 2016, adding, “Someone had said, ‘When you two meet, there is going to be a chemical reaction.’ I had been really excited for this girl to land in Wilmington. She was so beautiful and cool… I said to her recently, ‘You have really saved me from ever being lonely because you are always right there.’”
LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 29: Actors Busy Philipps (L) and Michelle Williams attend the 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Expo Hall on January 29, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)Getty
Philipps is just as smitten. “Michelle is a very easy person to fall in love with,” she wrote in her 2018 memoir, This Will Only Hurt a Little. “Anyone who really knows her will tell you that. And probably anyone who barely knows her would say that, too.” Philipps was there for Williams when her former partner, Heath Ledger, with whom she shared daughter Matilda, now 18, died in 2008, just three months after their breakup. “I understand the public’s fascination with Heath’s death, with him in general, as a cultural icon or as the greatest actor of a generation or whatever,” Philipps wrote. “But you know, for me it was really simple. He was my best friend’s love and the father of her child. My beautiful, magical goddaughter.”
Ebbs and Flows
It’s only natural that with such a big, talented group of actors, there have been ups and downs. Both Shipp and Humes note how different Van Der Beek and Jackson approached the show.
“James was always prepared. He took his job very seriously, and he asked a lot of questions because he was searching for authenticity,” Humes says. “So he would make a lot of phone calls to Kevin to search out the route that he should take to bring what Kevin’s dream was to his character. Josh was such a seasoned actor — he had worked more — and he was the life of the party on set. He was joking around with everybody and with the crew, and then the cameras would roll, and he was just magical. He’s smart, he’s intelligent. I always used to say, ‘You could ask Joshua what time it is, and he would build you a watch.’ I mean, he knew his stuff. He knew everybody’s stuff.”
Shipp also recalls Van Der Beek being “very analytical.”
“He was very script analysis oriented … And I’m not saying that Josh wasn’t, because certainly he maintained a consistent character, but he was very improvisational, you know, up to the last minute before action,” he says.
More recently, during an April appearance on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s “Dinner’s on Me” podcast, Jackson admitted that, at the end of the day, he and his costars are essentially a family. While they aren’t always in touch — “it’s not a daily call” and “sometimes it’s not a weekly or monthly or even a half-yearly call” — it’s like no time has passed when they’re together. “There is, you know, these moments, these major moments in life [that]… there’s probably no other people in your life that you are that forged to,” he explained. “’Cause you had to go through good and bad and happy and ‘F*** you’ and ‘Don’t talk to me’ and ‘I love you.’”
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When it comes to the reunion, Jackson noted that it’s been the show’s female stars who’ve done the organizing (why doesn’t that surprise Us?!). “James is going through something really, truly terrible right now,” he said. “And, I wish I could take credit for this, but I was kind of the absentee partner here, but the girls all got together and were like, ‘We need to do something to help this guy out.’” Philipps echoes his sentiments. “I’ve been helping organize it. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s so exciting to bring everyone together for James,” she tells Us. “It’s going to be amazing.”
Courtesy of Andy Towle (@AndyTowle_art)
As for Van Der Beek himself, while his diagnosis has clearly been devastating, he feels grateful that it’s brought the gang closer together again. “We all went our separate ways and, you know, just didn’t speak for years because we’re just living our lives and doing our things,” he said on Jana Kramer’s “Whine Down” podcast in March. “And to just reconnect and be like, Oh, wow. I love who you’ve become… [has] been so great. It’s just been so great to talk to them and catch up with who they are now, this many years out, and to have that shared experience from back in the day.”
It’s a sentiment shared by the show’s millions of fans all over the world, which is why the forthcoming reunion hit such a viral chord online. “Not only will we be having a lot of fun seeing each other on stage, but we know we’ll be doing it for a worthy cause,” Shipp tells Us, stressing the importance of raising awareness for cancer screenings and early detection. We have a feeling there won’t be a dry eye in the house, so get your Dawson crying meme lined up for the group chat, fast!
Tracy Ifeachor hinted that she isn’t thinking about coming back for a possible third season of The Pitt yet after her shocking exit.
During the Warner Bros. Television Group’s Emmy Party on Saturday, September 13, Ifeachor, 40, teased her future with the hit HBO Max series, exclusively telling Us Weekly, “I’ve been so busy working on other projects. I’m actually in a movie with Jake Gyllenhaal so that’s been exciting and then I go to my next project.”
“I loved playing Dr. Heather Collins. I put so much into her and I gave so much of myself to that and I really left it all on the field,” she added before joking, “I left it all in the bathroom that day. So, I really loved that character and as a person. I just keep walking forward.”
Us confirmed in July that Ifeachor will not be reprising her role in season 2. Amid reports that the decision was made by the show’s creative team, a source told Us that it was always the plan for Ifeachor’s character — who was a fourth-year resident in the first season — to go on and be a doctor in future installments of the show.
The insider noted that due to the nature of The Pitt, Collins won’t be in season 2, but Ifeachor “didn’t choose to leave the show” and isn’t aware of “any doors being closed” on a possible return.
MAX
“It was just such a joy and a pleasure to play Dr. Heather Collins and to know that my character has been so phenomenally well-received. It just blew me away,” Ifeachor told Us on Saturday. “I don’t know where she will be on the weekend of next season but I know where I’m going to be, which is on my next project, which is just so amazing. But I take the lessons that I’ve learned from playing Dr. Heather Collins — playing this character who goes through such a traumatic event and still shows up every day for other people.”
She continued: “[No one] stops to ask if she’s OK, if she needs time out, if she needs to run away. I think as a woman, sometimes we carry a lot of emotional labor without even knowing it. I’ve learned that through this character so I wouldn’t change that. This experience has been so life-changing, really.”
Ifeachor admitted she didn’t know where her character would be after the events of season 1.
“These are the tough stories. Do I think she will get out of this? Maybe. Again, if she is able to be safe, she’ll have fun. Where would she go next?” she added. “The thing about playing a character that’s so wonderfully nuanced and well written, there was so much to mine is that it’s a story that could go anywhere. At the same time, I will leave it up to the viewer to decide where she would be.”
“I try to make everything a little bit different. I’m not a huge repeater of things. It’s you so there’s only so many colors you can show,” Ifeachor explained. “[Remain] is two different audiences coming together. It feels scary and it’s dark. They come together so perfectly because they’re both really intense. Something that takes so much focus and takes so much of you.”
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Ifeachor loved the chance to film with costars such as Gyllenhaal, 44, and Phoebe Dynevor.
“Phoebe is so lovely. She’s got an amazing calm presence. She’s really generous, very gentle, strong and has a musical spirit,” she gushed. “Jake is a powerhouse. He has this attention to detail that is almost second to none. It’s been amazing because he was my first film crush. When I met him, I was like, ‘Do you age backwards, man? What’s going on?’ He’s been the same my whole life, I swear. He’s the same.”
It was the night of nights for Hollywood’s television industry — and action rolled even when the cameras didn’t.
Staged inside Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater on Sunday, September 14, the 2025 Emmy Awards brought together the year’s most acclaimed actors and actresses, leading to an incredible star-studded gathering caught in person by Us Weekly.
Celebrating exceptional performances and behind the scenes work in TV, host Nate Bargatze opened the night with an unconventional bang, roping in three Saturday Night Live cast members (Bowen Yang, Austin Johnson and Mikey Day) to set up an unexpected skit and kick off a night of entertainment.
The opener set the tone — this Emmys was full of surprises, especially when it came to the sought-after statutes themselves.
Despite 10 nominations, The White Lotus walked away without a single accolade, as did The Bear, which was up for six awards. Netflix series Nobody Wants This left empty-handed too, failing to convert its own three nominations.
But the most talked-about surprises undoubtedly arrived off the stage. Scroll down to see what you didn’t catch on TV.
Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost Enjoyed a Date Night
Scarlett Johansson and Colin JostMichael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
The husband and wife duo were seen whispering in each other’s ears, visibly enjoying their night out together. As some Emmy winners strived — but failed — to keep their acceptance speech under 45 seconds to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club, the pair appeared particularly amused by the donation count’s hilarious decline.
This Is Us Star Justin Hartley May Have Instigated Sterling K. Brown’s Scooter
Before Brown was spotted on stage with a knee scooter, Hartley was seen saying, “Chin up” to his former costar, who in fact arrived to the Emmys on crutches. Following the interaction, an Emmys official brought a scooter out for Brown, who had torn his Achilles tendon prior to the ceremony.
Sarah Paulson Went Nuts for The Pitt Star Katherine LaNasa
Katherine LaNasaChristopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images
American Horror Story alum Paulson got out of her chair and screamed whenLaNasa won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Paulson was genuinely thrilled for her friend, creating a standout moment of support.
Celebrities Couldn’t Wait to Get Chatting
Pedro Pascal and Cate BlanchettFrancis Specker/CBS
Us spotted quiet conversations between Martin Short and Dax Shepard; Jake Gyllenhaal (who posed for photos with girlfriend Jeanne Cadieu) and Kristen Bell; Ryan Murphy and Paulson; Cate Blanchett and Pedro Pascal (who were also joined by Gyllenhaal before long); and Jason Segel and Leslie Bibb.
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The Bromance Between Ike Barinholtz and James Marsden Is Strong
The Jury Duty costars were delighted to see each other, launching into a major handshake and beaming together once they began chatting.
Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco Were Couple Goals
Selena Gomez and Benny BlancoGilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
The engaged couple were seen in deep conversation as Gomez enjoyed a drink. Her Only Murders In the Building costar Short was also included in the mix, as Us spotted the trio laughing enthusiastically at one stage.
James Marsden Was a Doting Boyfriend
James Marsden and Frederique BronsFrancis Specker/CBS
The Paradise star was seen checking in on his model girlfriend, Frederique Brons, who sat separately from him a few rows back. Before he returned to his seat, Marsden gave Bons a sweet kiss.
Just because Lucas and Lauren ended up together on Ransom Canyon doesn’t mean season 2 can’t shake things up by creating a love triangle — with his brother.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly while promoting The Long Walk, Garrett Wareing played coy when asked whether Lucas’ brother, Kit (Casey W. Johnson), and Lauren (Lizzy Greene) could be a romantic possibility in the future.
“Wouldn’t that be crazy?” he teased. “Wouldn’t that up the stakes? Wouldn’t that be crazy? I can’t say anything. My hands are tied, but I will say the stakes are high and Ransom Canyon season 2 will be a joy to watch for the fans.”
Ransom Canyon has finally been renewed for season 2 — and there have already been teases about possible love triangle outcomes, spinoff plans and more. Based on Jodi Thomas‘ book series of the same name, Ransom Canyon introduced Us to a town full of drama, romance and hope. The first season kicked off with stoic […]
“Our writers listen to the fans — and I’m referencing something in particular right now — but I’m not going to tell you what it is. But our writers listen and and I think it’s really cool to be able to — in real time — engage with the fans and see these scripts come to life,” he noted. “I’m so delighted to be able to share these new episodes with you guys after we start shooting them [soon].”
He continued: “I’m so grateful to get to return to Ransom Canyon with my favorite people in this world. It’s thanks to all the fans on TikTok, and it’s thanks to all the fans who watched on Netflix. We get to go back and make more episodes for you because of you. So I thank the fans. They loved our show wholeheartedly and I’m grateful to get to go back and play Lucas Russell and bring more hot and steamy and sexy Ransom Canyon to TV screens.”
Netflix
Based on Jodi Thomas‘ book series of the same name, Ransom Canyon introduced Us to a town full of drama, romance and hope. The first season kicked off with stoic rancher Staten (Josh Duhamel) grieving two major losses while navigating an undeniable connection to childhood friend Quinn (Minka Kelly), who has also caught the eye of Staten’s brother-in-law and rival Davis (Eoin Macken).
There was also newcomer Yancy (Jack Schumacher), who had a past he was hiding from Ellie (Marianly Tejada). And if that wasn’t enough, viewers found themselves invested in another love triangle between high school students Lucas (Wareing), Lauren and Reid (Andrew Liner).
After season 1 premiered in April, some viewers questioned whether there was meant to be potential romantic tension between Lauren and boyfriend Lucas’ brother, Kit. Despite Lauren being with Lucas (and Kit hooking up with Lauren’s mother), interest picked up since love triangles with siblings are in — courtesy of shows such as The Summer I Turned Pretty and My Life With the Walter Boys.
“We saw Lucas and Lauren very happy in season 1. What does it look like when we don’t see them happy and when we are facing real world hardship? And what does it look like to feel that pull and come back together?” he told Us in April. “Lucas is looking to explore [life outside of Ransom Canyon] but is it worth exploring without the love of his life? That’s a question that we’re going to have to answer in season 2 — if we’re lucky. Lucas loves Lauren so much that his dream wouldn’t be complete without her.”
For now, Wareing is focused on the release of his new movie, The Long Walk. Based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, the movie is set in a dystopian America ruled by a totalitarian regime where a walking contest — known as The Long Walk — is held annually.
Wareing plays Billy Stebbins in the movie, which is out now.
Garette Wareing
“Believe it or not, I got the call that I booked The Long Walk on my final day of Ransom Canyon season 1,” he recalled. “I actually taped for this audition with my cast in Ransom Canyon. They went out to the desert with me and we all shot this tape together. It was a team effort from the beginning — and even now — it’s a team effort making this film. It was truly like a dream come true.”
While discussing the process, Wareing revealed he originally auditioned for Gary Barkovitch — a role played by Charlie Plummer. He then tried out for Stebbins, which was the perfect fit.
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“I had three days off between Ransom Canyon and The Long Walk. I read the book three times and I knew how intense this was going to be,” he continued. “To prepare for this, it is about finding that character, finding the voice and finding the walk. What is it like for your body to walk after 300 miles? What does it look like to build that gradually? What is it like Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3?”
Wareing continued: “Of course, Stebbins gets sick throughout the film. So what is it like to play this physicality of being sick? Believe it or not, I had an upper respiratory infection when I taped for this initially. It might have been a blessing because I think it made it more convincing.”
Ransom Canyon is currently streaming on Netflix and has been renewed for season 2. The Long Walk is in theaters now.
The Rainmaker took a shocking turn with that firing — but what comes next?
During the Friday, September 12, episode of the USA Network show, Rudy (Milo Callaghan) crossed a line at work that caused Bruiser (Lana Parrilla) to fire him from J. Lyman Stone.
“Rudy ends up running his own show. He’s making decisions without Bruiser’s approval. She sees this in him now,” Parrilla, 48, exclusively told Us Weekly. “She sees how earnest he is, how good-hearted he is and how right he is about this case. But it’s how he’s going about it that she doesn’t agree with.”
“She has to pull back on the reins and let him know who’s in charge here. He needs her at this stage in his career. So it’s a hard decision for her to make but she’s doing it because she needs to protect her reputation and protect the case as well,” Parrilla noted. “It’s not just the firm that she’s trying to protect or her reputation. She’s also trying to make the best decisions here for her client. So she lets him go and it’s more like a teaching lesson. It’s not an easy decision for her.”
Based on John Grisham‘s 1995 novel of the same name, The Rainmaker follows young lawyer Rudy, who is fired from his prestigious white-collar firm and signs on with small-time ambulance chaser Bruiser. Rudy subsequently faces off against his former boss in court. The book was adapted into a movie by Francis Ford Coppola in 1997 starring Mickey Rourke and Matt Damon.
“I think Bruiser is a great character to gender swap for so many reasons. One, she’s much more powerful as a woman. The reason being that Bruiser — in the novel — is super, super shady and questionable,” she exclusively told Us Weekly. “In the movie version, Mickey Rourke portrays Bruiser, and that character is present in the beginning, but then goes on vacation and escapes to the Caribbean.”
2025 is a big year for TV — but which shows do we definitely know are coming back for more seasons? Apple TV+ surprised viewers by renewing Bad Monkey after the ending left the show’s future unclear. Based on the novel of the same name by Carl Hiaasen, Bad Monkey follows former police detective Andrew […]
“Rudy has multiple maternal figures [on the show], but Bruiser is the one who comes from a place of tough love. She’s like his coach and his mentor, who’s really pushing him to think outside of the box,” Parrilla noted. “She really has this great relationship with Rudy that I don’t think this character would have if Bruiser was male. It just would’ve been a battle of egos.”
She continued: “I feel like she’s much more effective as a woman and her influence with Rudy — but also in a courtroom. She’s a smart, sassy and ballsy woman who has a lot of street smarts and grit to her. She’s a much more interesting version of Bruiser. Everyone’s version is great, but I really just love that this character gets to be a woman.”
The Rainmaker airs on USA Network Fridays at 10 p.m. ET.
ComingSoon is debuting an exclusive trailer for Shakey Grounds, Gravitas Ventures’ upcoming rock ‘n’ roll drama led by Emmy and Tony Award winner Eric Nelsen. The movie will be available to rent or own on digital platforms starting on September 16, 2025.
“The movie follows a troubled musician and his band as they navigate personal demons and a shot at redemption with a disgraced record executive,” reads the official synopsis. “After several obstacles, they rise together, finding purpose in their music and each other.”
The video introduces Nelsen as Travis, the frontman for the rock band named the Cuticles. When his band gets a shot at landing a record deal, he must first deal with his personal problems, including his complicated relationship with their band manager. The cast also includes Ella Cannon (Letterkenny, iZombie) as Mel, Kelly Thiebaud (General Hospital, Station 19) as Carrie, Kenzie Ziegler (Dance Moms) as Liza, Matthew Gumley (Law & Order) as Darby, David Lautman (General Hospital), Johnny Danks as Nick, Bernardo Garcia as Clint, and more.
Shakey Grounds is directed by Michael Garcia from a screenplay written by Trace Slobotkin. It is produced by Gary Dankner, Jack Sattin, and Johnny Danks. Before its digital release, the movie had its world premiere at the WorldFest Houston International Festival. The creative team also consists of cinematographer Parris Stewart, editor Juan Carlos Gonzalez, production designer Laura Hicky Kraus, and costume designer Abigail Freeman.
Prince Harry made the journey from California to Britain to pay respects on the third anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death.
There has been a great deal of speculation about whether King Charles will see his son, but an expert told Fox News Digital it is unlikely.
On Monday, Harry visited the late monarch’s burial site at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor. The Duke of Sussex brought a wreath of flowers to pay his respects to his late grandmother, according to People Magazine.
Prince Harry returned to Britain on the third anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death.(Max Mumby/Indigo)
Queen Elizabeth died on Sept. 8, 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. She was 96-years-old.
Richard Fitzwilliams, a royal expert, said Harry’s visit this year is necessary given the trouble he and his wife, Meghan Markle, caused the royal family during last year’s visit.
“Since he has arrived in Britain on the third anniversary of the Queen’s death, it is only fitting that Harry pays his private respects at her grave at St George’s Chapel in Windsor. However, it will not be forgotten that he and Meghan made Queen Elizabeth’s last year’s extremely difficult,” he said.
Queen Elizabeth died on Sept. 8, 2022.(Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
Harry arrived in the U.K. early Monday morning. Markle did not attend his trip overseas, neither did his children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Fitzwilliams told Fox News Digital it’s unlikely that Harry will be reuniting with Prince William or King Charles during his four-day visit.
“It seems certain that William will not be seeing his errant brother during his four-day visit this week.”
— Richard Fitzwilliams, royal expert
“William and Catherine have paid a personal tribute to the Queen today with a visit to the Women’s Institute. It seems certain that William will not be seeing his errant brother during his four-day visit this week. They reportedly have not spoken for about three years.”
“There has been a good deal of speculation about whether King Charles will see Prince Harry. It does seem unlikely as the royal family, understandably, do not trust the Sussexes,” he said.
Prince Harry spoke at the annual WellChild Awards 2025 on Sept. 8.(Aaron Chown – Pool/Getty Images)
Royal expert Helena Chard pointed out to Fox News Digital that Harry is also in Britain to complete a job.
“Prince Harry, I mean, obviously he’s over here for a job. He’s doing the WellChild Awards. It’s the 20th anniversary, which is something also that’s close to his heart,” she said.
The WellChild Awards, which celebrates the courage of seriously ill children and those who care for them, is sponsored by a charity Harry has long supported.
Harry seemed to click with his audience on Monday when he alluded to his strained relationship with William as he met with a group of young people ahead of the awards. Chatting with Declan Bitmead, 17, winner of an inspirational young person award, Harry learned the teen had a younger brother.
“Does he drive you mad?” Harry asked and Declan replied “no, we get on fine.”
But when Harry, who followed William to Eton, learned that Declan and his brother went to the same school, he said: “That sometimes makes it more challenging.’’
Harry has been estranged from his family since he and his wife Meghan stepped back as senior royals in 2020. At the time, they cited the unbearable intrusions of the British press and the lack of support from the palace as their reasons for the move.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry walked away from senior royal duties in 2020.(ANGELA WEISS)
After the couple settled in California, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex aired their grievances in interviews and documentaries. Harry’s 2023 memoir “Spare,” which revealed embarrassing details about the House of Windsor and exposed his sibling rivalry with William, worsened tensions.
In May, the 40-year-old told the BBC he wanted to reconcile with his family, but the king would not speak to him.
“I would love reconciliation with my family,” he said at the time. “There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore. I don’t know how much longer my father has.”
King Charles has not met Prince Harry in person since February 2024.( HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)
Harry’s stay in London gives him a chance to see his father, 76. It’s believed the king will be at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where the queen died in 2022.
Charles and Harry have not met in person since February 2024. They met days after Buckingham Palace announced Charles was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer.
Fox News Digital has reached out to reps for Harry and Buckingham Palace for comment.
OpenAI is reorganizing its Model Behavior team, a small but influential group of researchers who shape how the company’s AI models interact with people, TechCrunch has learned.
In an August memo to staff seen by TechCrunch, OpenAI’s chief research officer Mark Chen said the Model Behavior team — which consists of roughly 14 researchers — would be joining the Post Training team, a larger research group responsible for improving the company’s AI models after their initial pre-training.
As part of the changes, the Model Behavior team will now report to OpenAI’s Post Training lead Max Schwarzer. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed these changes to TechCrunch.
The Model Behavior team’s founding leader, Joanne Jang, is also moving on to start a new project at the company. In an interview with TechCrunch, Jang says she’s building out a new research team called OAI Labs, which will be responsible for “inventing and prototyping new interfaces for how people collaborate with AI.”
The Model Behavior team has become one of OpenAI’s key research groups, responsible for shaping the personality of the company’s AI models and for reducing sycophancy — which occurs when AI models simply agree with and reinforce user beliefs, even unhealthy ones, rather than offering balanced responses. The team has also worked on navigating political bias in model responses and helped OpenAI define its stance on AI consciousness.
In the memo to staff, Chen said that now is the time to bring the work of OpenAI’s Model Behavior team closer to core model development. By doing so, the company is signaling that the “personality” of its AI is now considered a critical factor in how the technology evolves.
In recent months, OpenAI has faced increased scrutiny over the behavior of its AI models. Users strongly objected to personality changes made to GPT-5, which the company said exhibited lower rates of sycophancy but seemed colder to some users. This led OpenAI to restore access to some of its legacy models, such as GPT-4o, and to release an update to make the newer GPT-5 responses feel “warmer and friendlier” without increasing sycophancy.
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OpenAI and all AI model developers have to walk a fine line to make their AI chatbots friendly to talk to but not sycophantic. In August, the parents of a 16-year-old boy sued OpenAI over ChatGPT’s alleged role in their son’s suicide. The boy, Adam Raine, confided some of his suicidal thoughts and plans to ChatGPT (specifically a version powered by GPT-4o), according to court documents, in the months leading up to his death. The lawsuit alleges that GPT-4o failed to push back on his suicidal ideations.
The Model Behavior team has worked on every OpenAI model since GPT-4, including GPT-4o, GPT-4.5, and GPT-5. Before starting the unit, Jang previously worked on projects such as Dall-E 2, OpenAI’s early image-generation tool.
Jang announced in a post on X last week that she’s leaving the team to “begin something new at OpenAI.” The former head of Model Behavior has been with OpenAI for nearly four years.
Jang told TechCrunch she will serve as the general manager of OAI Labs, which will report to Chen for now. However, it’s early days, and it’s not clear yet what those novel interfaces will be, she said.
“I’m really excited to explore patterns that move us beyond the chat paradigm, which is currently associated more with companionship, or even agents, where there’s an emphasis on autonomy,” said Jang. “I’ve been thinking of [AI systems] as instruments for thinking, making, playing, doing, learning, and connecting.”
🧪 i’m starting oai labs: a research-driven group focused on inventing and prototyping new interfaces for how people collaborate with ai.
i’m excited to explore patterns that move us beyond chat or even agents — toward new paradigms and instruments for thinking, making,…
When asked whether OAI Labs will collaborate on these novel interfaces with former Apple design chief Jony Ive — who’s now working with OpenAI on a family of AI hardware devices — Jang said she’s open to lots of ideas. However, she said she’ll likely start with research areas she’s more familiar with.
This story was updated to include a link to Jang’s post announcing her new position, which was released after this story published. We also clarify the models that OpenAI’s Model Behavior team worked on.
John Rich is grateful for the current administration’s help.
The country singer told Fox News Digital about his battle with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which inspired his new single, “The Devil & the TVA.”
The 51-year-old explained that the TVA was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and it only answers to the president, “so senators, congressmen, governors, mayors, and definitely the general public has no sway over the TVA at all.”
He said there’s a long history of the TVA allegedly coming into “communities and towns and just ransacking these places – eminent domain, taking everybody’s land and building these monstrous projects. And so this started happening in my home county of Cheatham County, Tennessee.”
John Rich is grateful for the current administration’s help. The country singer told Fox News Digital about his battle with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which inspired his new single, “The Devil & the TVA.” (Jason Kempin/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
According to Rich, the TVA allegedly has a task force that tells homeowners, “‘Hey, we’re coming on your land whether you like it or not,’ which steps all over the Fourth Amendment and a lot of other rights that Americans have. And so, when I learned that’s what they were doing, and I actually saw a video of that exact thing happening to an 88-year-old woman in Cheatham County, that’s when I decided to enter this fight.”
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation that manages flood control, electric power, economic development and conservation.
Last fall, the TVA told FOX 17 in a statement: “TVA filed condemnation proceedings related to potential transmission lines that TVA may locate on these properties, and the Federal Judge overseeing the cases issued Orders of Possession. These orders immediately authorize TVA to enter the properties for the purpose of conducting surveys. The landowners’ objections do not bar TVA’s authorization to access the properties pursuant to the court’s orders, nor does authorization hinge on further activity in the lawsuits.”
In July, the public utility said Cheatham County is no longer the preferred site for its natural gas power plant.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the TVA and to the White House for comment.
“I think one great thing about this particular Trump administration is they are paying attention,” he continued. “They are listening to voters. They are following what’s happening in the news, even on social media … And if they see something really bad going down, they engage.”
As an example, he said when he told Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins the TVA was planning to tear up 6,000 acres of farmland in the county, she was shocked.
“She goes, ‘Yeah, I don’t think so. And that’s my jurisdiction, farming, agriculture.’ And so, she stepped in, good for her, she’s a hero,” he said. “I mean, she helped save almost 500 houses, five school districts in less than five miles from this plant, the main water source for two towns in that County with a 900-megawatt methane gas plant with 10 acres of lithium battery storage. Literally, I mean, you might as well drop a bomb on that county.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Rollins for comment.
Rich said Rollins had been alerted to the problem after he started posting interviews with residents who had been affected by the TVA, which started getting clicks on his YouTube channel, and eventually the attention of the president.
“And that’s when we actually had a fighting chance to push TVA out,” he added.
Rich said that because of the administration’s intervention, the residents of his country are celebrating and literally plan to have a parade.
“I think one great thing about this particular Trump administration is they are paying attention.”
— John Rich
“They had given up hope. They’re like ‘There’s no way you beat the TVA,’” he explained, adding that the TVA had allegedly sued more than 100 families because they wouldn’t allow them on their property. But it’s a low-income county and only around half of the residents in the county could even afford attorneys.”
John Rich performing in 2011. (Sara Kauss/Getty Images)
“I mean, does that sound like America to you?” he asked. “Does that sound like anything our country was founded on? It doesn’t to me. And again, that’s why I decided to engage.”
Rich said his new single is about “People power — we the people power is an actual thing.”
He wants low- and middle-income people to know it’s possible to go up against a multi-billion-dollar entity and win.
Going back to the Trump administration, Rich said he doesn’t know how anyone could have made more progress than Trump in his first eight months.
John Rich with Donald and Melania Trump in 2011. (Jim Spellman/WireImage)
“And again, I think a lot of that is due to the engagement level of his cabinet, of Trump himself and of his Cabinet,” Rich said. “You know, when you see live Cabinet meetings and everybody’s sitting in a room, I think he’s done six or seven of them so far, and he just goes around the table, what have you done this month? Okay, tell us what you’ve done, what about you? And the whole table, have you ever seen anything like that? I haven’t. It’s because those people are patriots. They know they have a short window to get a lot of things done.”
Rich said he has been texting back and forth with the president about the TVA.
“He’s like, ‘What is going on?’ I said, ‘It’s bad.’ ‘What’s going on down here?’ And so he weighed in on it, started firing members of the board of the TVA and is gonna replace them all. What I want to see happen is TVA to completely have to change their charter, we’re … still: ‘Go build power, go build power.’ We need power in this country, but treat American citizens like they should be treated and respect their property rights and respect their constitutional rights.”
“I asked if there’s an NDA, and he said, ‘No,’” Sosa, 24, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, September 3, after he was announced as a season 34 cast member. “So I said, ‘Oh this is gonna be fun for me.’”
Sosa will be partnered with Olympian Jordan Chiles on the upcoming season of the hit reality dance competition, revealing to Us that their pairing is “so easy.”
“I mean, we get along so well, to the point where it’s just casual,” he explained. “It doesn’t feel like I’m teaching her. It feels like we’re just going through this journey together, and I’m just teaching her how to dance.”
Chiles also expressed her excitement at being paired with Sosa, who is entering his fourth season of the show. (He participated as a member of the troupe for two seasons, and as a professional dancer in seasons 33 and 34).
“Honestly, I literally screamed the moment I walked in and found out he was my partner, because, you know, this is his second year as a pro,” Chiles explained to Us. “This is my first time ever doing Dancing With the Stars. So I think being able to learn off of each other and just have fun, I think, is the biggest thing. So I’m really excited. And our energy just matched so well. It’s crazy in practices.”
Sosa had plenty more to say about Chiles’ abilities — including how the Olympian is making him feel more at ease on the dance floor.
“I’m approaching this season with a little more confidence, that’s for sure,” he said. “But I definitely feel like having someone who is very capable is really going to showcase my ability to choreograph.”
It’s also easy for people to “forget I can dance,” he continued. “So I can actually show that side of myself, right? I am a dancer [so it’s] like, ‘Guys, I got this job for a reason.’”
Ezra Sosa and Jordan ChilesRaymond Hall/GC Images
While training for the show isn’t as “intense” as training for the Olympics, Chiles admitted she’s been doing “too, too many” splits in preparation for the season. Though the experiences are different, “I think it’s still the same worth ethic,” she added.
“Like, obviously working towards the Olympic Games isn’t going to be the same as working towards the Mirrorball,” Chiles explained. “I say to everybody, you know, being able to have the opportunity, like winning a Mirrorball or even getting to the final is like us getting to that last point of being in the Olympics.”
She added, “So it’s just going to be a fun experience, and again, [I’m] just going to have fun [and] enjoy the moment. I’m a competitive person, but at the end of the day, I just want to have fun.”
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Sosa admitted he’s also competitive — something he thinks will help the pair succeed throughout the competition.
“She’s an Aries. I’m a Scorpio,” he said. “Together, we are very feisty.”
The 34th season of Dancing With the Starswill premiere on ABC and Disney+ on September 16 at 8 p.m. ET and will stream the following day on Hulu.
For nearly thirty years, Todd and Julie Chrisley have been by each other’s side through all of life’s challenges. But in January 2023, the “Chrisley Knows Best” stars’ marriage was tested when they were forced to separate as they began their respective prison sentences for tax evasion and fraud charges.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Todd and Julie — who are currently promoting Lifetime’s new docuseries, “The Chrisleys: Back to Reality,” alongside their family — spoke about the challenges they faced when it came to maintaining a healthy marriage and strong bond.
“Todd and I didn’t speak for 28 months and I was lucky and so blessed to be able to see my children and they were able to visit and we were able to talk, but that wasn’t the case for Todd and I,” Julie explained. “We had an email that’s very antiquated and we got messages every two, three days. So it was almost impossible to even keep a conversation going.”
Todd and Julie Chrisley’s marriage was tested while in prison, making it nearly ‘impossible’ to connect. (Lifetime)
“For me, I never felt, and this is the weirdest way of saying this, but I was never in my mind away from her,” Todd said of being separated from his wife of nearly 30 years. “She stayed in my mind all day long and all night. I thought about her every waking second.”
“I used to say in my emails, I thank God for my mind, for my memory and for all the memories that we’ve created because I was around men who were being diagnosed with dementia, Alzheimer’s, things like that. And I used to say, ‘God, thank you for my mind.’ And I survived on my memories that Julie and I have made for 30 years.”
“I survived all my times of seeing my children laugh and when they were crying and me telling them ‘It’s going to be okay’ … And then all of a sudden we’ve moved on to something much bigger. So for me, it was not an option of is this marriage going to last? It was, how do we pick up and start rebuilding from where we are right now?”
WATCH: TODD AND JULIE CHRISLEY’S MARRIAGE WAS TESTED IN PRISON, STAYING CONNECTED FELT ‘ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE’
The Chrisleys, who rose to fame with their hit reality show “Chrisley Knows Best,” were convicted in 2022 of federal bank fraud and tax evasion. Todd and Julie, who have maintained their innocence, reported to prison on Jan. 17, 2023 and were sentenced to 12 and seven years, respectively.
In May, the couple were released from federal prison after they received pardons from President Trump.
The reality TV stars have been married for nearly 30 years. (USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
“It’s a terrible thing, but it’s a great thing, because your parents are going to be free and clean, and I hope we can do it by tomorrow. Is that OK? We’ll try getting it done tomorrow,” Trump told the Chrisleys’ children, Savannah and Chase, in a phone call from the Oval Office that was posted on the X account of a White House aide. The post was captioned in part, “Trump Knows Best!”
Todd recalled waking up in prison on May 28, expecting to go about his daily routine. He never expected to walk out a free man.
“Listen, I’ve said again on our [‘Chrisley Confessions 2.0’] podcast that I’ve had so many Joseph moments to happen in my life from the time this whole thing started,” he said. “And so you go to bed on May the 27th, and you know that on the 28th you’re going to get up and do the same thing over and over and over again. That’s not the way my life happened.”
“My Joseph moment was getting up that morning and then that afternoon being told, you’ve been pardoned, we’ve got to get you out of here,” he continued. “That’s how quickly your life can change. When I spoke with President Trump via FaceTime, his first thing was, ‘Well, wow, you look great.’ And I was like, ‘Well, thank you.’ But he was very kind and very gracious.”
The Chrisleys have previously opened up about their experience in prison. (Fox News / My View)
Since returning home, both Todd and Julie have been navigating the transition as well as possible.
“There’s definitely been a transition period, a period of just, I think you just kind of pinch yourself to say, ‘This is really happening,’” Julie explained. “And when you are incarcerated, when you’re in prison, you have this protective shell because you have to. It is just self-preservation of just getting through each day. And so I think it takes time to let your guard down and to say, ‘Okay, this has really happened. I’m really home and I can really continue living.’ So I’m just grateful for every day.”
“I think for me, Julie and I have talked about it. Julie had reconciled that she was going to do this many months on her sentence or this many years, whatever it was. For me, I never believed that for me. Every day I was getting up, getting dressed, I was leaving,” said Todd.
“I got up and I got dressed and I put my best foot forward,” he continued. “I would go call my daughter and say, okay, what’s the plans for the day? What do you have going on today? Who are you talking to? What’s your next steps? And so we always had a plan. And I think through my communication with Savannah, that helped to keep me focused and motivated because we had more communication than what Julie was able to have with them… which is so bizarre that women get less in the Bureau of Prisons and in the prison system as a whole than what men do. But I think that through my constant communication with Savannah and her coming to see me and giving me the blow by blows of what’s happening and what she hopes to see happen next, that continued to fuel me with hope. And that’s what I hope that our family will be able to do to the 155,000 that we’ve left behind, is to instill hope in them to let them know that there is a brighter tomorrow.”
WATCH: TODD CHRISLEY SHARES PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SURPRISING FIRST REMARK AFTER PRISON PARDON
In July, Todd and Julie opened up about life in prison and explained why life on the outside can sometimes be more difficult.
“I’ve actually talked to a few of the women that I was in prison with that they’re already home,” Julie, 52, began to explain during the July 23 episode of their “Chrisley Confessions 2.0” podcast.
“We all have this general consensus that — it’s kind of weird to even say it.”
Todd, 56, added, “No, it’s not weird. Life is rougher than prison life.”
“It is so horrific, the conditions that you’re there for, but that’s from a physical standpoint,” he explained. “But from an emotional and psychological standpoint, it is harder dealing with day to day.”
“The Chrisleys: Back to Reality” will premiere as a two-night event on Lifetime September 1 and 2 at 8/7c. The remaining episodes will air Tuesdays beginning on September 9 with the finale on September 16.
TikTok is giving users new ways to interact with others via direct messages (DMs), the company told TechCrunch on Friday. Users will now be able to send voice notes and share up to nine images or videos in one-to-one and group chats on the platform.
With these new features, TikTok is positioning itself as more than just an entertainment platform, aiming to become a place where users interact regularly beyond simply sending each other TikTok videos. Additionally, the new capabilities bring TikTok’s messaging experience more in line with that of other popular social apps and services.
With voice notes, users can record and send audio messages up to 60 seconds long. The launch of the feature comes as services like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Apple’s Messages already offer the ability to send voice notes to others via DMs.
It makes sense for TikTok to add voice notes to its DMs, especially as a growing number of people, particularly Gen Z, are embracing the format for communication.
The feature is rolling out over the next few weeks, TikTok says.
Image Credits:TikTok
As for sharing photos and videos, users can either take a photo or video with their camera or select one from their camera roll to share it with others. They can also choose to edit the content before sending it.
For user safety, people can’t send an image or video as their initial message request. For example, if someone messages you for the first time, they can’t send a photo or video they have taken themselves; they can only share content already on TikTok.
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Additionally, when someone chooses to send a photo or video, TikTok will remind them to protect their privacy and be mindful of who they’re sending that content to.
While DMs on TikTok are unavailable to users under the age of 16, the company is adding protections for users between the ages of 16 and 18. For instance, TikTok has automated systems in place to detect and block images containing nudity. This means that the sender will be blocked from sending the nude image, and the receiver won’t see the image at all.
Users above the age of 18 can choose to toggle this safety feature on in their app settings.
TikTok sees the new features as a way for users to express themselves and connect with others in ways that they’re already accustomed to.
The move comes as TikTok has been working to build out its messaging product. Last year, the platform launched group chats, giving users the ability to chat with up to 32 people at once. TikTok also recently rolled out Creator Chat Rooms, a dedicated space for creators and their followers to connect and interact with each other.
The social nonprofit explains that Mastodon doesn’t track its users, which makes it difficult to enforce such legislation. Nor does it want to use IP address-based blocks, as those would unfairly impact people who were traveling, it says.
The statement follows a lively back-and-forth conversation earlier this weekbetween Mastodon founder and CEO Eugen Rochko and Bluesky board member and journalist Mike Masnick. In the conversation, published on their respective social networks, Rochko claimed, “there is nobody that can decide for the fediverse to block Mississippi.” (The Fediverse is the decentralized social network that includes Mastodon and other services, and is powered by the ActivityPub protocol.)
“And this is why real decentralization matters,” said Rochko.
Masnick pushed back, questioning why Mastodon’s individual servers, like the one Rochko runs at mastodon.social, would not also be subject to the same $10,000 per user fines for noncompliance with the law.
At the time of our reporting on this exchange, Mastodon gGmbH, the community-funded nonprofit organization, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
On Friday, however, the nonprofit shared a statement with TechCrunch to clarify its position, saying that while Mastodon’s own servers specify a minimum age of 16 to sign up for its services, it does not “have the means to apply age verification” to its services.
That is, the Mastodon software doesn’t support it. The Mastodon 4.4 release in July 2025 added the ability to specify a minimum age for sign-up and other legal features for handling terms of service, partly in response to increased regulation around these areas. The new feature allows server administrators to check users’ ages during sign-up, but the age-check data is not stored.
That means individual server owners have to decide for themselves if they believe an age verification component is a necessary addition.
The nonprofit says Mastodon is currently unable to provide “direct or operational assistance” to the broader set of Mastodon server operators. Instead, it encourages owners of Mastodon and other Fediverse servers to make use of resources available online, such as the IFTAS library, which provides trust and safety support for volunteer social network moderators. The nonprofit also advises server admins to observe the laws of the jurisdictions where they are located and operate.
Mastodon notes that it’s “not tracking, or able to comment on, the policies and operations of individual servers that run Mastodon.”
“One of the reasons Mastodon was founded was to allow different jurisdictions to have social media that is independent of the U.S.,” per the statement shared with TechCrunch. “People are free to choose to have their account on a Mastodon server whose policies meet their needs.”
What did it look like at the end of a hard day for you?
The hardest parts are the night shoots, because I’m useless after a certain hour anyway. I’m not a night owl. Everybody’s a different beast. But they were really the true night shoots, where we’d see the sun come up, and you’d sleep all day—I’d come home to my little hotel room. At one point they said, “Do you want to stay at the hotel where we’re filming?” Because that’s where Mary was staying. And I was like, “I’m good.” Church and state. But I would usually text Mary at some point later, going, “I think I screwed this up. Did you get enough of this? I’m sorry if I didn’t get that.” I’d go through a series of thoughts in my head of what I could have done better, what we missed, how we’ll fix it—just neurotic actress things.
Mary mentioned to me that she wouldn’t run a lot of takes.
She didn’t. It’s a tiny movie—it’s not like a Kubrick film where you can do a hundred takes. Or allegedly, those sorts of things you hear about. [Laughs] This was four weeks. It was like doing a play. I just stepped onto the set, but before I knew it, I was off the set. The adrenaline of it got me through all of that.
Did it take a toll—physically, emotionally, all the above?
It’s funny—having small children, they just couldn’t care less if it’s taking a toll on you or not, whether it be work or something else. That’s always very grounding. But I felt sad it was over. It was such a gift to be able to do it.
Because the camera was so close, it was a very technical exercise as well a lot of the time. And my scene partner, you never see. There’s twists in the filmmaking that people will hopefully recognize, but that was wild, going, “How’s that going to work? How’s this story going to be told?” It’s just all from the perspective of Linda, in a way that I’ve not experienced for a while in the cinema—watching it, just like, “Oh, you are inside this person’s eyeballs.”
Do you remember what state of mind you were in when you finished filming?
Whew. I have an Australian kind of relaxed, laid-back quality that I know is culturally similar, but I am peddling fast underneath a little bit. I was just like, “Is this okay? Did I fuck it up?” I didn’t want it to be over. When Mary and I talked again later, I was having separation anxiety from the character—and from Mary, and Mary as part of the character, and our friendship. I felt a little of that when I was coming away from it. And I felt pretty wrecked, physically.
There’s the physical toll I was asking about!
[Laughs] I admit, I looked busted.
You play another intense role in the film Tow, which premiered to strong reviews in Tribeca. But it still hasn’t found distribution, correct?
“Not everything is supposed to make you comfortable.”
This line is whispered by Julia Roberts in After the Hunt—but it easily could have been said by filmmaker Luca Guadagnino. The Italian auteur has never shied away from unsettling storytelling: cannibalistic romances (Bones and All), sweaty love triangles (Challengers), and an age-gap gay love story (Call Me by Your Name).
For his latest film, he’s bringing that discomfort to the hallowed halls of Yale. Guadagnino’s twisty psychological thriller After the Hunt is centered on power and privilege, truth and secrets, and ambition and disgrace. It grapples with timely contradictions, and the things that people think but are too afraid to express.
“For me, our role as storytellers, filmmakers, or artists, must always be the one of pushing the envelope, of being able to say everything. It depends on how you say it,” Guadagnino tells Vanity Fair.
“Some people who watched the movie who were at Yale, they couldn’t believe we didn’t shoot in Yale, which is for me a great compliment,” says Guadagnino of recreating the Ivy league school in London.
Yannis Drakoulidis/Amazon MGM Studios.
The story follows Alma Imhoff (Roberts), an ambitious philosophy professor on the verge of tenure. But when Maggie (Ayo Edebiri), one of her top students, accuses Alma’s close colleague Hank (Andrew Garfield) of assault, Alma’s secret history and future success both come under threat.
After the Hunt combines Guadagnino’s affinity for complicated storytelling with his focus on craft, as well as intricate, nuanced performances by Roberts, Edebiri, Garfield, and supporting actors Chloë Sevigny and Michael Stuhlbarg. With its August 28 Venice Film Festival world premiere just one day away, After the Hunt aims to ask hard questions, and let audiences grapple with their answers. “The idea that something cannot be said, an idea cannot be used, a reference cannot be brought to light because there is a sort of unspoken impossibility of doing so and a self-censorship—it’s so upsetting to me,” says Guadagnino. “In a movie about dynamics of power and control, it was very important that we felt the joy of our expression, without being mindless, but actually being very thoughtful.”
Emmy winner Edebri plays a Yale student who admires her philosophy professor until she comes to her in a time of need.
Yannis Drakoulidis/Amazon MGM Studios.
After the Hunt could have been inspired by any number of true stories. But first-time screenwriter Nora Garrett says she didn’t base her script on a specific case. Instead, she was more curious about how the culture has explored moments of reckoning like the #MeToo movement. “We were missing a sense of gray area,” she says. “But also, we were missing a sense of how power obfuscates, how those within power are insulated from consequences, and those without it are often naked to consequences.”
Garrett felt as though the cloistered world of academia—a closed community marked by infighting and a very clear hierarchy—would be the perfect setting to explore these weighty issues. She wrote the first draft of the script during a 12-week writers workshop.
Garrett spent years as a struggling actor; when her script was making the rounds, she was also working as a data analyst for Meta to make ends meet. “I’ve always been really fascinated by power and power structures and successful people within those power structures,” she says. “Partially because I was outside of success for so long. I was like, ‘What does one do? What happens to your mentality? What happens to the way you tell stories about yourself when you start getting power, when you start having success?’”
Stuhlbarg previously worked with Guadagnino on Call Me By Your Name and Bones and All.
Yannis Drakoulidis/Amazon MGM Studios.
The script found its way to the production company Imagine Entertainment, and eventually to Guadagnino, who worked with Garrett to push its more challenging and uncomfortable explorations to the forefront. They beefed up the screenplay’s focus on the divide between generations, with Alma and her colleagues struggling to understand the culture of Gen Z. (“I believe her, but whatever happened to stuffing everything down like the rest of us?” says Sevigny’s character in the trailer.)
“He really wanted to make it so that neither generation felt like the right generation, or they had the right ideas,” says Garrett of Guadagnino. “He wanted it to feel like all of these people are products of the society in which they were born into, in which they grew up in. They’re all acting out of that sort of primordial soup, as opposed to acting out of righteousness.”
Alma is the center of the story, and all the other characters pivot around her—from Maggie and Hank, who adore and worship her, to her husband (Stuhlbarg), who cares for and challenges her. Guadagnino says Roberts was the first actor to see the script. “We started talking and became instant friends,” the director says. He cast the Bear star Edebiri because of her “wit and spirited intelligence,” and had wanted to work with Garfield for years—since he saw Garfield in his 2007 feature film debut, Lions for Lambs.
Sevigny, who plays another Yale professor, worked with Guadagnino on the HBO series We Are Who We Are and Bones and All.
Yannis Drakoulidis/Amazon MGM Studios.
Each character is layered and full of contradictions. But Garfield’s Hank, the man accused of assault, required an incredible amount of agility and intensity. “There were a lot of discussions about the ambition of this man, his capacity of being so mindless about his vanity,” says Guadagnino. “And we discussed the idea of being dispossessed in his own truth. How does he deal with that? What that triggers: rage, fury. At the same time, what is behind his own truth? Because if he has his own truth, that doesn’t mean that that’s the truth.”
“There are seasons that I know that I go back [to set] and I know they’re gonna be really fun. We’re doing comedy — I’ve bleached my hair out, and it’s fried and it’s looking crazy, and I’m so excited. And there are seasons that have ended in an explosion and everyone might be dead, and those are not the seasons that I want to return to,” Luddington, 41, told Us Weekly in an exclusive interview. “In fact, I get, like, a version of back-to-school nerves going back to set, and I had that this season.”
Luddington, who spoke to Us while promoting her partnership with Get’ems!, explained that the cast is currently filming episode 3.
“We just had that table read. It was incredible. This season is bananas already. I can’t give any spoilers … it was not my favorite premiere to shoot, because it was just so traumatic for everyone involved,” she said.
Season 21 of Grey’s Anatomy ended with a gas tank explosion in an operating room after a patient’s mother threatened to blow up the hospital. While Luddington seemingly hinted that her character, Jo, is alive (or at least still on the show) with her comment about episode 3, Jo’s husband, Link (Chris Carmack), was in the OR when the explosion went off.
“I should have known,” she told Us of Jo and Link’s short-lived wedded bliss. “It didn’t occur to me — and I’m a vet of 13 years of that show — and I was like, ‘Damn things are going so well,’ like, so naive. And I’m like, ‘Oh, of course. No, no, no, no, there’s gonna be an explosion, and my husband will be in it. I should have known!’”
After more than a decade on the show, Us had to ask what the actress’ dream story line for Jo would be now. “Jo needs to be chief,” she declared. “I think she needs that office. She needs a pair of heels. She needs some cute outfits. I’m just in it for the outfits, to be honest. Chief Jo Wilson has a ring to it.”
Disney/Tina Thorpe
Luddington is also always rooting for her costar and “Call It What It Is” podcast cohost Jessica Capshaw (who returns to ABC on 9-1-1: Nashville this fall) to stop by Grey Sloan.
“I’m about to have twins — possibly, we’ll see, maybe — and I need a good pediatrician,” Luddington teased. “And that is Arizona Robbins.”
While things are as crazy as ever at Grey Sloan, Luddington is turning to Get’ems! to help her get her kids — she shares daughter Hayden, 8, and son Lucas, 5, with husband Matthew Alan — ready for the new school year.
“I’m very type B. There’s no packing the night before and getting things ready. I lean into the chaos of the morning, which probably isn’t the best thing, but I think that a lot of moms can probably relate, and packing the lunch is one of my least favorite things to do,” she told Us. “I have very picky eaters at home. I’m picky about what I put into the lunch box. They’re even pickier about what they take out. So what I love about Get’ems! is I know that when I put it in, I’m not gonna see that on the return home when I open it. I might see everything else, but at least that section that has Get’ems! is gone. My kids really, truly, really love them.”
While Lucas loves the Ocean World Crackers — “he’s learning about sharks right now and the other day he came home and was like, ‘The octopuses taste the best,’ and I was like, ‘They all taste the same. But I’m sure that’s true!’” — Hayden is into the Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Roundos Puff Snack.
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“My daughter got braces this year. Her favorite thing are chips, and she can’t have chips anymore. And so I introduced her to the Apple Cinnamon puffs. And she was like, ‘I can’t eat those though, right?’ And I was like, ‘No, you can eat these!’ She loves them. They’re in her lunch box,” Luddington explained. “I’m from England and nobody gets braces until they’re, like, 90 or ever. So this is all very new to me. There’s a whole laundry list of stuff you can eat with braces.”
Luddington concluded that Get’ems! aren’t just good for the lunch box.
“They get in the car. They are so hangry. Their mood is like they’ve had the worst day, even when they’ve had the best day. And food is the key,” she said. “They don’t even say hi to me. They’re like, ‘Mom, do you have any snacks?’ I know I have Get’ems! in the car and I literally throw it like a football in the back, hope they catch it, and as long as they do and they end up eating, they are fine. I have a peaceful car ride.”
