One of the more surprising revelations in Reality Check, the Netflix docuseries about America’s Next Top Model, is the deterioration of the friendship between Jay Manuel and Tyra Banks. After cycle eight of ANTM ended, Manuel told Banks he wanted to leave the show, and Banks allegedly refused to let it happen; Manuel worried about being blacklisted from the industry if he left despite Banks’s disapproval. The docuseries attempted to get Banks’s perspective on the friendship falling-out, but she simply said “nah” to the discussion, claiming she was going to give Manuel a “call.”
That hasn’t happened. “My phone number is the same. She knows it,” Manuel said while speaking with Entertainment Tonight after the docuseries aired. “I haven’t gotten a phone call, but I don’t think I will get that phone call, to be honest with you. And I’m not expecting it.” The last time Manuel spoke to Banks was in 2017, according to People. “If I never spoke to Tyra again in this lifetime, I’m okay with that,” Manuel added to Entertainment Tonight. When asked if he missed his friendship with Banks, he was blunt: “I don’t.”
Manuel wasn’t the only one from the Top Model team who was seemingly promised some closure from Banks. “She called me up three weeks ago and said she wanted to come visit. I said, ‘Sure, okay.’ But I haven’t seen her yet,” Miss J. Alexander told us in an interview this week. “I think she’ll wait for a ticket to be paid for.” Thankfully, the trio (Manuel, Alexander, and photographer Nigel Barker) have each other to talk through their Top Model fallouts.
Former Disney Channel star Christy Carlson Romano is facing what she calls a “very vulnerable time” after revealing that a recent cancer screening returned concerning results.
The 41-year-old actress and host of the “Vulnerable” podcast shared the emotional update in a tearful Instagram video posted Tuesday, opening up about her family’s history with cancer and the fear she now carries as a mother of two.
She revealed that both of her parents were diagnosed with the disease — her mother “beat it,” but her father “eventually didn’t.” Romano’s maternal grandmother also died of lung cancer, a history that weighed heavily on her decision to get screened.
Christy Carlson Romano opened up about her health scare after an abnormal cancer screening.(Andrew Toth/Getty Images)
Romano said she and her husband, Brendan Rooney, underwent testing together. “My husband’s [results] came back completely negative,” she shared. After a long pause, she added quietly, “Mine did not come back negative.”
She shared that her next steps in the medical process include a PET scan — a high-level imaging test that can help reveal the metabolic or biochemical function of the body’s tissues and organs. The PET scan uses a radioactive drug called a tracer to show both typical and atypical metabolic activity, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Romano said even getting to that appointment has been its own battle. She revealed she is “fighting with companies to get” the scan “covered,” describing the process as yet another emotional weight during an already unsettling time.
The former Disney Channel star said both parents battled cancer, and she’s “fighting with companies” to get a PET scan covered.(JC Olivera/Variety via Getty Images)
She additionally spoke about the recent death of James Van Der Beek, who died at age 48 after battling colorectal cancer. Romano, who lives in Austin, reflected on knowing the actor personally.
“I live in Austin, and I was able to meet James Van Der Beek a bunch. His family’s amazing. He’s a pillar of our community in Texas,” she said. “They always were raising money for the most amazing charities, and he’s not with us anymore. Cancer is everywhere… which is why I got this test.”
“It’s time to have a strong sense of faith and know that it’s in God’s hands, most of it,” she shared. “I’m sure people think I’m overreacting, but I’m not, because cancer is pretty f—ing serious, and I have two little girls.”
Romano almost lost an eye while shooting clay pigeons with her husband, Brendan Rooney, last year.(Getty Imagesl Christy Carlson Romano/Instagram)
Romano and Rooney share daughters Sophia, 7, and Isabella, 9.
The “Even Stevens” alum described herself as being in “disbelief,” attempting to steady her nerves by immersing herself in work — a recently filmed movie and the rollout of her upcoming memoir — while she waits for definitive answers.
The looming test marks another major health crisis for Romano – in February 2025, she stunned fans when she disclosed she had been accidentally shot in the face while shooting clay pigeons at a birthday celebration for her husband.
“Very vulnerable time for me,” Romano said in her new video. “About 367 days since I got shot in the face.”
Romano said she wanted to share the news of her results to inspire others to get their own cancer screenings.(Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)
In her Instagram caption, she admitted she hesitated before posting, worried about how it might be perceived.
“Right now the news is that something is going on. I’m nervous and a bit scared (heck who wouldn’t be!). I’m going in for a PET scan later this week and hopefully it’s something easy to treat,” she wrote.
“I debated whether or not I was going to post this because I was afraid I’d come off ‘cringe.’ But I decided it was my duty to share, so that people get out there and get screenings. Let’s keep the good vibes going and I will keep you all posted as I get more information.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Romano for comment.
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.
With this episode, Vanderpump Rules officially turned into a dating show. Jason goes on a date with Natalie. Natalie hangs out with Shayne. Shayne wants to get back with Natalie. Angelica wants Shayne to want her. Shayne wants Angelica’s new boobs. Chris wants to be with Audrey, but Audrey wants to do stand-up comedy. All of the stories aren’t about work or friends or life as a partying 20-something living in Los Angeles who can only use their microwave or their A/C? but not both at the same time. All of the stories in this episode are about dating. I’m sorry, but yawn. This was the first episode where I thought that the reboot might not be worth the refashioned SUR menus its printed on.
I think the producers have vastly misidentified what made Vanderpump Rules a hit in the first place. Yes, there was a romantic component to the show, but it wasn’t about dating, it was about couples. Katie and Tom Schwartz, Jax and Stassi, and Kristen and Tom Sandoval were already well-established duos when the show started. Even when those people became single again, we never really saw them date, and when they did, it was a flop. Sandoval went right into a relationship with Ariana and then, famously, right into a relationship with Racquel, nee Rachel, before that relationship was even over. Jax left Stassi and dated around, but was always pining for her until Brittany came along and stayed for good. We don’t want to see these loose connections; we don’t want to see people finding each other. We already have Love Is Blind, and this episode felt like a rip-off of that show, especially when Shayne, Natalie, Jason, and Audrey are in the SUR Alley, a future UNESCO World Heritage Site, talking about how they all may or may not have a connection with each other.
Speaking of connection, that is what Vanderpump Rules was always about. Yes, there were couples, but they were female best friends dating a group of male best friends. We weren’t interested in the changes in the couples that much; what was more interesting was how those changes affected the friendships. That is why, strangely, Scheana is the lynchpin of the early years. She came in and was trying to butt into the friend group which the girls hated. That was the story engine, not who was hooking up with whom. By season two, we saw the story of whether or not Jax hooked up with Kristen (spoiler alert: they did), but what was perhaps even more compelling was what that did to Stassi’s friendship with Kristen (she punched her in the face) and Tom’s relationship with Jax (he punched him in the face).
That’s the problem with this here reboot: the focus is too much on the couples and not enough on the friends. Know why? None of them are friends! They have all been slapped together to be on a reality show. They don’t even really work together. Jason and Chris were still in training, Angelica is a new hire, and Shayne hasn’t had a job that didn’t start with “hand” or “blow” in several years. There is nothing bringing these people together, and the connections they do have seem new and not that deep. If you look at Next Gen NYC, they may have also been smooshed together to create a reality show, and they’re also young people who haven’t known each other that long, but there are people in the cast who are close, who have been friends forever, who do actually spend time with each other outside of the production schedule. That’s why that show sings and gels and this one feels like a Bride of Frankenstein that Lisa Vanderpump is using to prop up a failing business.
Yes, SUR itself is also a big problem. There is no way that place needs four hosts/hostesses. Not even the busiest Cheesecake Factory in America has that many. SUR doesn’t even feel like a real restaurant anymore. The show is doing a lot of work trying to cut around the fact that the place is always empty. We see everyone at work, but they don’t have much to do because we hardly ever see any customers. In the first few seasons of Pump Rules, the restaurant did seem full; it seemed like they really worked there. Now it just seems like a set for a reality show. While I do think that the cast is coming together and there are some stars here (notably Audrey, Shayne, Marcus, Natalie, and Demy as a lifelong friend of), and I can see the connections getting deeper and realer in season two. But if they can’t fix the restaurant, what use is there in having a show about the staff of said restaurant?
So, what exactly happens in this episode? Natalie and Jason go to a studio where they spray paint all over each other. Jason thinks it’s a date, but Natalie says it’s not, it’s just friend vibes even though they’ve been sucking face for weeks. Natalie says she can’t have any guy friends who don’t catch feelings. The way she treats them, I can’t believe she has any guy friends who don’t catch her colds.
Chris tells Jason that he doesn’t know if he wants to get serious with Audrey after all, even though in the last episode, he gave her the hard sell and she decided to give it another chance. Jason says this reminds him of that time Chris filmed with a porn star who became obsessed with him but he didn’t date her because she was a porn star. Dude! You’re a porn star!
Shayne hangs out with Natalie and decides he wants to pursue her again and tells her that he even asked Jason if he could go after her. Natalie has lunch with Angelica at Something About Her, and production can’t afford Katie or Ariana, and they didn’t even get free sandwiches. Natalie tells Angelica, who is back from boob-job leave, about Shayne wanting to try things again. Angelica says, “Do I have to stab you?” Sister, this man told you he is through with you. Angelica also says she already has a new man and she’s picking him up from LAX. That is something I would only do for someone I’d been dating for over a year. This girl moves fast.
Angelica tells Audrey about Shayne and Natalie, and Audrey tells Jason that Shayne asked about dating Natalie, but Shayne hadn’t asked him yet. I’m already confused and exhausted. (Conhausted? Exfused?) Natalie, Shayne, Jason, and Audrey all end up in the alley talking about it, and Natalie says she’s not even into Jason. Jason says, “Fine. Have at it, bro.” And then Natalie is like, “I don’t want him to have at me either. Gross.” Now this is all over.
Venus plans for the big season-finale Pride party. Angelica is bringing swimsuits, Marcus is going to DJ, and Natalie is going to perform her hit song “Sure As Silver” with Chris and Jason as her backup dancers. Everyone has something to do except Kim. Oh, wait. She’s going to stand out front and serve scowls at all passersby. Venus also goes to hang out with Marcus and he laughs when Marcus tells him that Kim is off her birth control. It’s the best scene in the whole hour. See! Friends!
The episode culminates with Audrey’s big stand-up debut. Shayne shows up with a new girl, and Angelica, who already has a new man staying at her place, is all bent out of shape and says that Shayne “can’t have any of this sandwich until it’s the only sandwich on the menu.” Girl, Shayne has given up on sandwiches. He is a gluten-free vegan. Just give it up.
Audrey’s set fits into the long line of Vanderpump Rules ladies trying their hand at comedy, whether it is Kristen, Ariana, or the roast of Jax Taylor that made his future mother-in-law anxious because there were gay jokes. I thought Audrey was going to bomb harder than Iranian nuclear facilities (too soon?) but she told some solid jokes about herself and her friends. Marcus looks like he pays for gas with quarters! I couldn’t have said it better myself!
Her worst jokes, however, are reserved for Angelica, whom she digs on for still living with her ex, coming after her for seeking male validation, and generally being absolutely lame. Angelica gets up in the middle of the set to leave because she has absolutely no sense of humor. On her way out, Audrey shouts, “Go say hi to your ex,” which was objectively hilarious. But Angelica totters away thought he weird alley where the comedy club is, and she reflects on what a failure this whole thing is. Her ex is gone, her LAX boyfriend has flown away again, Shayne is on another date, Jason broke her back, and moved on to Natalie. She has no romance and that’s what this show is all about. But there’s something worse for both Angelica and the show and it’s not her lack of a lover. It’s that she has no friends whatsoever.
“There are always conversations being had. I don’t know what that looks like,” Quinn, 37, exclusively shared with Us Weekly while promoting season 3 of House of Villains on Peacock. “I’m always open to having fun and turning looks, but it needs to make sense for me, so it’s just a question mark right now. We’ll see.”
Earlier this month, a report surfaced claiming production is gauging Quinn’s interest in a possible return for season 10 after Chrishell Stause confirmed she is done with the franchise.
While Netflix isn’t confirming anything just yet, Quinn explained that she still has connections to some of the cast.
Jason Oppenheim didn’t shut down the idea of Christine Quinn coming back to Selling Sunset. “I have nothing against her coming back. I think everything deserves a second chance,” Jason, 47, told TMZ on Thursday, June 13. “I think I would be onboard. But that would be a group decision.” The Oppenheim Group owner then […]
“I do keep in contact with some of the cast. Jason [Oppenheim], I actually talked with yesterday. I love him. I’ve always loved him, and he’s always been really supportive of me,” she told Us. “I do talk to a lot of the girls, also Nicole [Young], Davina [Potratz], Bre [Tiesi], here and there, and I see them at events and stuff like that.”
Season 9 of Selling Sunset wrapped in November 2025. Since then, several Oppenheim Group agents have stayed mum on whether they will return to the Netflix reality show for another season.
Although Quinn said she hasn’t kept up with the show, she has seen clips on TikTok and isn’t sure why things took a “darker turn from when I was on the show.”
Christine QuinnArt Streiber/Peacock
“It’s like the tides have changed, and I’ve seen a huge uproar and people being like, ‘Oh my gosh. Christine was right. Why did we not see this the whole time?’” Quinn said. “I had a lot of people that told me, ‘I went back and watched the season over again, and it’s like I was wearing rose colored glasses the first time I saw it.’ And so that does make me feel good.”
The How to Be a Boss B*tch author added, “I always saw things much sooner than the other girls did. My intuition is just really, really strong, and I could read people. I think a lot of them were blinded. It would be fun to come back and be like, ‘Bitches I told you. Saddle up. Let’s go.’ But I don’t know if they can handle it.”
For now, Quinn is gearing up for the season 3 premiere of House of Villains.
Hosted by Joel McHale, the hit comedy competition series brings together 11 reality all-stars who must scheme, strategize and shade each other in different challenges for a chance to win $200,000 and the title of “America’s Ultimate Supervillain.”
Selling Sunset is all about the drama, but according to the cast, the context isn’t always fully present on screen. The Netflix series, which debuted in 2019, revolves around the employees at high-end Los Angeles real estate brokerage the Oppenheim Group. Selling Sunset has covered everything from the cast’s love lives to their office drama […]
Basketball Wives’ Jackie Christie, Mob Wives’ Drita D’Avanzo, Tom Sandoval and Tiffany “New York” Pollard are just some of the familiar faces set to join Quinn in the show.
“I’ve always loved the show. I’ve watched it. I’m a huge fan,” Quinn told Us about House of Villains. “When this opportunity came to me, I was like, ‘I have to do this.’ I was just excited to show my real personality and have fun and be silly and goofy. It’s very different from everything that I’ve done. I’ve never done a competition show. I’ve never done anything where I have roommates, let alone share a shower in a bathroom with someone. It was all new to me, but in the best way.”
House of Villains premieres on Peacock Thursday, February 26, at 9 p.m. ET with the first three episodes. Beginning Thursday, March 5, episodes will drop weekly on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.
Tell Me Lies will not be coming back for more episodes after its third season.
Creator Meaghan Oppenheimer confirmed on Monday, February 16, that the hit Hulu series would be concluding its run, writing via Instagram, “After three amazing seasons of Tell Me Lies, tonight’s episode will be the series finale. This was always the ending my writing team and I had in mind, and we are insanely proud of it. Your incredible response to this season inspired us to explore whether there was another organic way to continue the story, but ultimately we felt it had reached its natural conclusion.”
She concluded: “My main goal has always been to protect the quality of the show and give you the best experience I can give you. And so, while it is bittersweet to leave something that has been such a happy experience, I am very grateful that we are able to tell a complete story with an intentional ending — a privilege very few shows get. Thank you for loving our show. We are excited to bring you more stories in the near future.”
The season 3 finale scheduled to be released on Tuesday, February 17, will now be considered a series finale as well. Oppenheimer previously broke her silence on the assumption that season 3 of Tell Me Lies is the show’s last.
“In terms of future seasons, it’s impossible to really know at this point,” Oppenheimer exclusively told Us Weekly in January. “I certainly had always thought this was always more or less the ending I’d had in mind.”
Oppenheimer didn’t rule out a return, adding, “But you never know what’s going to happen in the future. But there’s definitely a sense where I didn’t want to leave anything hanging this season. Basically, I wanted to satisfy everyone.”
Based on Carola Lovering’s novel of the same name, Tell Me Lies follows the messy relationship between college students Lucy (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen (Jackson White). Their problematic on-and-off romance ends up lasting eight years — and everyone around them is affected by Lucy and Stephen’s ups and downs.
Season 3, which returned in January, raised the stakes with a surprise romance involving Bree (Cat Missal) and Wrigley (Spencer House), which complicated the present timeline. Bree’s wedding to Evan (Branden Cook) seemingly went off without a hitch despite her still having feelings for Wrigley — and previously learning that her now-husband hooked up with Lucy in college.
Off screen, Oppenheimer spoke to Us about how the writers’ room juggles the story lines that happen across two timelines.
“I always had a sense of where they are in 2015 and what their dynamic is and what secrets everyone is holding. Once you at least know what people know and what they don’t know, that gives you a lot of space to play,” she noted in 2024. “But the way that we constructed it is we definitely did the 2008 story line first in the room. We kind of mapped out the whole season and then we did 2015 as its own thing.”
Oppenheimer continued: “I knew where I wanted to end the season, though, in 2015. I knew where it needed to get to.”
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After Tell Me Lies was renewed for a third season, Oppenheimer signed an overall deal with 20th Television, which is a part of Disney Television Studios.
“Meaghan has shepherded Tell Me Lies for two intensely addictive seasons that fueled an incredible wave of obsessive fan and social conversation,” president of 20th Television Karey Burke said in a December 2024 statement. “We are thrilled to have her officially in the studio fold and at the helm of another dramatic season.”
The final episode of Tell Me Lies airs Tuesday, February 17, on Hulu.
While Netflix’s America’s Next Top Model docuseries reexamined Shandi Sullivan‘s onscreen sexual assault — including what had to be cut out from the final edit — executive producer Tyra Banksrefused to discuss the incident.
During the three-part special, released on Monday, February 16, Sullivan recalled nearly winning season 2 before a group trip to Italy.
“When we first got there, they said, you’re gonna go to a bunch of go-sees,” she said of the 2004 episode. “That was all day long. It took all day long. And then we went back to our little house that we were staying at.”
The locals who drove the aspiring models around in Vespas joined the cast for dinner. But Shandi, now 43, who had not “eaten anything” that day, remembered drinking “two bottles of wine” by herself before one of the guys took advantage of the situation.
“I remember him on top of me. I was blacked out. No one did anything to stop it,” she claimed. “And it all got filmed, all of it.”
Tyra, 52, an executive producer and host of the show, declined to expand on the sexual assault that took place on screen, saying, “I do remember her story. It’s a little difficult for me to talk about production because that’s not my territory.”
Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model offered Shandi a platform to share her unfiltered account of the situation. There was also insight from creative director Jay Manuel and executive producer Ken Mok about what took place behind the scenes.
Keep scrolling for the biggest revelations:
Shandi Sullivan Shares a Harrowing Recollection of the Sexual Assault
Before joining America’s Next Top Model in 2004, Shandi Sullivan worked at her local Walgreens in Missouri. She was part of the second season of the then-UPN series, where she made it to the final 3 before a group trip to Milan.
“I don’t remember who said it, but somebody was like, ‘How would you guys feel about having, like, the guys that were on the mopeds come by and have dinner with you guys? And we’ll have some wine and stuff,’” she recalled. “I’m just excited to just have a night. We were just talking, drinking. I don’t think I’d eaten anything at all or had any sleep.”
Shandi didn’t remember much of the night from there.
“I remember getting in the hot tub. I remember April [Wilkner], Mercedes [Scelba-Shorte] getting in the hot tub. And then I just remember the guy looking at me and I looked at him. And I was pretty drunk at that point. Everything kind of after that is just a blur,” she continued. “I was hammered.”
While Shandi was allegedly barely conscious, the cameras kept rolling. ”I just remember little bits and pieces. He threw me in the shower and then just sitting in the shower,” she noted. ”And then we’re in the bed. I was blacked out for a lot of it. I didn’t even feel sex happening. I just knew it was happening. And then I passed out.”
She concluded: “The next day, I woke up. I was, like, ‘Holy s***, what the f*** happened last night?’ It all f***king hit me. It just flooded over me. I just sat there and cried.”
Shandi Sullivan Addresses the Aftermath of the Sexual Assault
Despite Shandi Sullivan being too impaired to consent to sex, the incident was introduced as a cheating story line on America’s Next Top Model.
“I think after getting out of the hot tub and whatever happened after that, I think [production] should have been like, ‘All right, this has gone too far. We have to pull her out of this,’” Shandi told the docuseries producers while executive producer Tyra Banks had a different response, saying, “It’s a little difficult for me to talk about production because that’s not my territory.”
Fellow executive producer Ken Mok defended the decision to keep filming. “We treated Top Model as a documentary. We told the girls that on the first day when they would show up. We would go over the rules with them like, ‘There’s going be cameras with you 24/7 – day in and day out — and they’re gonna cover everything,’” he recalled. “‘It will cover the good, the bad and everything in between. No matter what happens – while you’re on camera – we’re going to document all of that.’”
What Was the Crew Told About Shandi Sullivan’s Assault Behind the Scenes?
CW / Courtesy Everett Collection
Creative director Jay Manuel said they “got word” that Shandi Sullivan was “having sex in the shower with a guy,” adding, “The rule on Top Model was that if you went into a bathroom alone, a camera could not follow you in. But when she went into the shower, she was technically not alone. So the cameras went in and they captured it. I don’t know whose decision it was but as producers do, this was a story point now and we’re going to see it all the way through.”
“Everybody has messed up, Shandi. I’m not judging you. But I think that we have to fight against our carnal desires,” she told Shandi at the time. “I understand that people do become attracted to other people. It’s all about your relationship and how open your relationship is and how honest you can be with one another.”
Shandi Sullivan’s Infamous Call to Eric on ‘America’s Next Top Model’
Shandi Sullivan said in the Netflix docuseries that she asked to call Eric, but was denied. She then requested to leave, which producers tried to talk her out of doing by then providing her with a phone to contact Eric — a conversation they then subsequently filmed.
“After I talked to Eric again on the phone, they actually filmed me talking to the guy and asking him myself, ‘Did you wear any protection? Do you have any STDs?’” she recalled. “Why can’t you just ask them yourself? Why do you have to film this? You already got me on the phone with Eric calling me a f***king bitch.”
All she needs is her signature smize! Tyra Banks got her start as a model, but she is perhaps more well-known as a TV host in this day and age. The businesswoman took the world by storm when she kicked off America’s Next Top Model in May 2003. She not only served as a host and mentor […]
What Didn’t Make It Into the Final Cut After Shandi Sullivan’s Sexual Assault?
Jay Manuel recalled Shandi Sullivan being sent to the doctor after the encounter, which was also filmed. Shandi, meanwhile, was told by the cameramen that they felt terrible about having to record her call with Eric, who broke up with her at the time.
“I will tell you this. When I went into postproduction and saw the footage, we scaled back that scene in a significant way … That was – for good or bad — one of the most memorable moments in Top Model,” executive producer Ken Mok said before Tyra clarified in her own confessional, “I’m not head of story. That is Ken Mok. But I did become a master editor. It’s important for people to know that we didn’t put everything on TV.”
According to Jay Manuel, the censorship was related to the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show when Justin Timberlake briefly exposed Janet Jackson’s breast on live TV and FCC investigations fined CBS $550,000 for the wardrobe malfunction.
“When that happened, regulations clamped down on what you could show,” Jay noted. “So then they had to rush and re-edit that scene.”
Shandi Sullivan’s Reunion With Tyra Banks on Her Daytime Talk Show
Netflix
Three years after season 2 aired, Shandi Sullivan appeared on Tyra Banks’ daytime talk show, sharing in the Netflix doc, “I told her I’d never seen [that episode in Milan]. It just brought up too many things and then I was like, ‘I can’t watch this show anymore.’ Then she just puts it on the screen in front of me. I don’t look at it and she’s like, ‘I noticed you weren’t looking.’ I literally told you behind the scenes that I’ve never seen it and I don’t want to see it.”
Shandi called Tyra out for not respecting her wishes. “That was awful. That was miserable. That behavior doesn’t stop. Her behavior doesn’t change.” (Tyra didn’t address The Tyra Banks Show moment between her and Shandi.)
Where Is Shandi Sullivan Now?
After leaving America’s Next Top Model, Shandi Sullivan briefly reconciled with Eric, saying, “We tried – he really tried. He moved with me to New York after the show. But it would suck when I’d be walking with Eric down the street and somebody would recognized me and called me a s*** to my face. Or [called me] a cheating whore with Eric standing right next to me. It was fun. It made me hate myself.”
Shandi ended up returning to her pre-ANTM job at Walgreens. She now takes care of animals for a living, sharing at the end of the special. “I want to live on a farm and have a sanctuary for animals. I’ve always loved animals,” she added.
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Tyra Banks, for her part, expressed hope of doing another season of America’s Next Top Model.
“After the show, I had so many different ideas for my life. I’m obsessed with pivoting. And I live in Australia now,” Banks said in the doc. “I feel like my work is not done. You have no idea what we have planned for cycle 25.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Spencer Pratt’s quest to positively impact Los Angeles was lost on his sister’s ears.
Stephanie Pratt voiced her concerns about her brother’s mayoral campaign and claimed his intentions aren’t so pure.
In a series of posts shared on X, Stephanie noted that Spencer was a vital asset to the community more than one year after the devastating LA wildfires. However, she assured her followers that “The Hills” star was simply trying to stay relevant.
Spencer Pratt’s sister Stephanie encouraged followers to not support her brother’s campaign for LA mayor.(Michael Tran)
Pratt and his wife, Heidi Montag, lost their Pacific Palisades home in January 2025 during the deadly LA wildfires. Pratt said his parents also lost their home in the fires.
“Spencer has done great work for the palisades,” Stephanie wrote. “But LA does not need another unqualified and inexperienced mayor. A vote for him is a vote for stupidity.”
She continued, “He’s just trying to stay famous and sell his memoir don’t be fooled.”
Stephanie mused over an “ideal world” where the Palisades received their own “mayor and police department,” but was more concerned with the current issues plaguing Los Angeles.
“I’m worried about LA. I have no problem playing government but our city needs help,” Stephanie wrote.
Spencer Pratt declared his intent to run for Mayor of Los Angeles on the one year anniversary of the Palisades fire.(MEGA/GC Images)
“Everyone saying I should support him no matter what. Sorry he beat me up when I was 18 & put me in the hospital. So no he doesn’t belong in the government. Run the palisades all you want not LA.”
She added, “Leopards never change their spots. Stay in the palisades Spencer.”
A vocal opponent to current Mayor Karen Bass, “The Guy You Loved to Hate” author launched his Los Angeles mayoral campaign last month. He told Fox News Digital that while he often finds himself standing alone in public, the support he receives behind closed doors tells a very different story.
“I know actual A-list stars support what I do, because I’ve been at restaurants, and they sit down at the table, and they quiz me about everything that I know for 20 minutes and thank me,” Pratt said. “But these people know if they do that publicly, they risk losing their careers that some of them have been working for 30 years to have.”
Pratt said he understands the risks that come with speaking publicly and doesn’t fault those who choose to stay quiet.
“So, I don’t judge them,” he added. “It’s just the same with firefighters that don’t come forward with the truth because of retaliation. There’s no difference between public employees who know what’s going on and celebrities. Everyone sees what’s happening, but everyone’s scared to talk.”
The reality star said the release of his memoir and his decision to run for mayor unfolded simultaneously in a way that felt beyond his control.
“The timing of the mayor and the book — that’s God’s timing because the book actually came together right after the fires over a year ago,” he told Fox News Digital. “So, the writing’s been happening all year.”
WATCH: SPENCER PRATT SAYS A-LISTERS PRIVATELY SUPPORT HIS LA MAYOR CAMPAIGN
As the manuscript took shape, Pratt said he was watching the political landscape closely and growing increasingly frustrated.
“And then when I saw that nobody was stepping up to run against Mayor Karen Bass in the last month or so, I had to do it,” he said. “Again, it’s God’s timing.”
Great Britain have claimed a second gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics after Huw Nightingale and Charlotte Bankes won the mixed team snowboard cross event.
Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images
James Van Der Beek’s younger brother, Jared, shared a heartfelt tribute of the late actor, who died on February 11. “There’s a special bond that exists between brothers and two days ago, that physical bond was broken,” Jared began in an Instagram post on February 13. “I now know why people call it heartbreak when you lose someone close to you. There is a feeling of devastation and pain that runs so deep in the heart, I didn’t know it would hurt so badly. He was my person, the one I went to for any and all things. I’ve looked up to him since I was born. He has never failed to be there for me whenever I needed him.”
Jared continued, “It has been wonderful reading and seeing how he touched so many lives not because of something he did, but because of who he was. He shared with an open heart and with his wise soul. As painful as this pain deep in the heart is, the healing has already begun with all the outpouring of love, prayers, and support. I truly thank all of you have taken the time to reach out, letting me know that you’re there. The community of people who were intimately involved in his passing were nothing short of amazing.”
Brooks Nader is opening up about why she decided to get her fillers dissolved.
In a recent interview with US Weekly, the 29-year-old model shared why she felt she had to get facial fillers in the first place and the biggest difference she’s felt since getting them dissolved.
“I honestly felt really good about it, because I feel like I get a lot of the comments that are like, ‘You look 40, you look 40, you look 40,’” Nader explained. “I’m like, ‘What? I don’t want to be 40.’”
Since getting her filler removed, Nader says, “Everyone’s like, ‘Finally, you actually look like 28,’” and that even her parents told her that her face doesn’t look “blown up” anymore.
Nader shared people have stopped telling her she looks 40 years old.(XNY/Star Max/GC Images)
During the interview, Nader revealed she got fillers when she first moved to New York at 18 years old, after her “parents gave me, like, $1000 and they were like, ‘Have fun.’”
“I felt like it was what everyone was doing,” Nader added. “I was thrown into this world of Hollywood and chasing perfection. And I thought that getting filler was the answer.”
After getting them removed, Nader explained she is “loving my smile and how I’m looking” but hasn’t ruled out trying them out again when she gets older.
Nader recently posted a series of steamy photos from her vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, captioning the post, “Old lips, new clothes, same me.”
Brooks Nader poses on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, wearing a cropped T-shirt and red bikini bottom during her girls’ trip getaway.(Brooks Nader/ Instagram)
The post featured photos Nader posing in a cropped white graphic T-shirt featuring a cherry design, paired with a red string bikini bottom, as well as snaps of her in a leopard-print bikini.
“The natural lips are YOU and that is always the best, natural beauty!!” one fan wrote in the comments section. Another added, “Old lips are good, everything is good.”
A third fan chimed in writing, “Old lips, new clothes… same knockout.”
Nader shared she couldn’t wait to move to a big city after growing up in Baton Rouge.(Michael Simon/Getty Images)
When it comes to her more risqué looks, Nader told Maxim magazine in September 2025, that having grown up in a more conservative family in Baton Rouge, she always dreamed of living in a big city.
“I always wanted to express myself and I wanted to look sexy,” she said. “I fantasized about living in LA or New York, but it seemed worlds away. I also had to toe the line because of where I’m from.”
Lori Bashian is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital.
After a self-imposed political exile to Ireland after President Donald Trump’s re-election, Rosie O’Donnell quietly returned to the United States.
During an interview with Chris Cuomo on his new show, “SiriusXM’s Cuomo Mornings,” the 63-year-old actress revealed she recently returned to the country to visit her family. The actress moved to Ireland with her teenage daughter in January 2025, just prior to President Trump’s second inauguration.
“I was recently home for two weeks, and I did not really tell anyone,” she told Cuomo. “I just went to see my family. I wanted to see how hard it would be for me to get in and out of the country. I wanted to feel what it felt like. I wanted to hold my children again. And I hadn’t been home in over a year.”
She then shared that she “wanted to make sure that it was safe” for her and her daughter to come back over the summer so that they could be with family during her break from school.
O’Donnell said she recently returned to the U.S. without telling anyone.(Dave Benett/Getty Images)
When speaking to Cuomo, she went on to discuss how America “feels like a very different country” to her than when she lived here because she hasn’t “been watching the news” or keeping up with “American culture television” while living in Ireland.
“I’ve been in a place where celebrity worship does not exist,” she explained. “I’ve been in a place where there’s more balance to the news. There’s more balance to life. It’s not everyone trying to get more, more, more. It’s a very different culture. And I felt the United States in a completely different way than I ever had before I left.”
O’Donnell claimed she doesn’t “regret leaving at all” and feels she did “what I needed to do to save myself, my child and my sanity.”
O’Donnell added that she doesn’t regret moving to Ireland.(Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for Tinderbox Productions)
“And I’m very happy that I’m not in the midst of it there because the energy that I felt while in the United States was — if I could use the most simple word I can think of — it was scary,” she added. “There’s a feeling that something is really wrong, and no one is doing anything about it.”
The bad blood between O’Donnell and President Trump goes back 20 years, when she criticized him while on “The View.” They continued to throw jabs at each other over the years, with O’Donnell telling the Irish radio show “Sunday with Miriam,” “He uses me as a punching bag and a way to sort of rile his base.”
After announcing she had moved to Ireland, the star shared she was applying for Irish citizenship during an interview with the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph in October 2025.
“What great news for America!” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital about the news at the time.
President Trump had previously threatened to revoke O’Donnell’s American citizenship twice before through posts on Truth Social.
“Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,” he wrote in July 2025. “She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
He later renewed the threats in September 2025, writing, “She is not a Great American and is, in my opinion, incapable of being so!”
O’Donnell fired back against the president’s threats, using the Constitution as her defense against the President.
President Trump threatened to revoke O’Donnell’s citizenship.(Getty Images)
“He can’t do that because it’s against the Constitution, and even the Supreme Court has not given him the right to do that. … He’s not allowed to do that. The only way you’re allowed to take away someone’s citizenship is if they renounce it themselves, and I will never renounce my American citizenship,” the “Now and Then” star said. “I am a very proud citizen of the United States.
“I am also getting my citizenship here so I can have dual citizenship in Ireland and the United States because I enjoy living here,” she added. “It’s very peaceful. I love the politics of the country. I love the people and their generous hearts and spirit. And it’s been very good for my daughter. But I still want to maintain my citizenship in the United States. My children are there. I will be there visiting and go to see them. And I have the freedom to do that, as does every American citizen.”
Under the United States Constitution, a president does not have the power to strip the citizenship of someone born in the country, meaning since O’Donnell was born in New York, her citizenship is protected by the 14th Amendment.
Rosie O’Donnell has been one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent critics in the entertainment industry.(Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images)
But are you fun-loving Will, sweet Ashley, or the original bougie icon, Miss Hilary Banks? Take this quiz below to finally come face-to-face with your Fresh Prince character twin.
Now, if you could only brag about your results in the schoolyard again. Those were the days, y’all.
She would love “Cinderella,” by the Cheetah Girls. Photo: Liam Daniel/Netflix
There may not be a pumpkin chariot, a fairy godmother, or any fun-loving mice, but hopefully this Cinderella story keeps the happy ending. Netflix just dropped the trailer for the second part of Bridgerton’sfourth season, and things are getting steamy in the Bridgerton household with both Sophie and Benedict in the same place. In part one, the lovers met at a masquerade ball, where she had to hide her identity from her stepmother, who treats her like a maid. Then, he got her a job at her own house and offered her the prestigious position of his mistress, which she turned down. Now, they’re still dealing with the fallout. “Being a mistress is the last thing I would ever want,” Sophie (Yerin Ha) tells her beau. “How else am I supposed to be with a woman that society has made it impossible for me to be with?” Benedict (Luke Thompson) asks.
The trailer even teases what looks like will be Benedict’s big speech, à la Anthony’s beloved “bane of my existence and the object of all my desires” monologue in season two. “I cannot love a maid,” Benedict says. “And yet you have taken possession of me.” Then, while she’s still in her maid outfit, the two kiss. Shondaland’s version of Regency-era society can handle a lot, but it is not going to be able to handle that. “There is one sacrifice that you will have to make,” the typically sweet Mama Bridgerton says. “Your family.” That’s a tough one to stomach. Find out what big B.B. chooses when season four, part two premieres on February 26.
Onassis began receiving chemotherapy in January of 1994. She publicly disclosed her diagnosis, saying initially that the prognosis looked good. She even continued to work as an editor at Doubleday. But by March her cancer had spread to her spinal cord and brain. When the cancer spread to her liver in May of 1994, doctors deemed her condition terminal. As “America’s Widow” depicts, Onassis decided to leave New York Hospital of her own volition on May 18, choosing to spend her remaining time at her Upper East Side home. The next evening, at 10:15 p.m., Jackie O died in her sleep with her children by her side.
Love Story’s third episode eschews the fox-hunt accident, instead choosing to portray Jackie’s deteriorating condition at home. An early scene finds Watts as Onassis sitting by her lit fireplace, going through her old letters, rereading each one and then tossing them into the fire. “I don’t need my personal correspondence memorialized in The Smithsonian,” she says when Kelly’s John asks her why she is destroying her keepsakes. According to Jackie’s former lover, architect Jack Warnecke—whom she fell for while he designed JFK’s presidential grave memorial—Onassis really did make a habit of burning her old letters as her health declined.
John F. Kennedy Jr, Caroline Kennedy, and Jacquline Onassis Kennedy at the rededication for the John F. Kennedy President Library and Museum in Boston on Oct. 29, 1993.John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe/Getty Images
Journalist J. Randy Taraborrelli interviewed Warnecke in 1998 for his biography of the first lady, Jackie: Public, Private, Secret, which was released in 2023 and excerpted in People. Given Onassis’s fiercely private nature, Warnecke requested that Taraborrelli not publish their interview until 10 years after Warnecke’s own death, which occurred in 2010 when the architect was 91. “As I took my seat, Jackie handed me a stack of envelopes neatly tied together with yarn,” Warnecke told Taraborrelli. “My presence that evening was part of a ritual. Every night that week, she was inviting a trusted friend or family member to her home to take part in it.”
According to Jackie: Public, Private, Secret, Jackie read each letter before placing it into the fireplace. “There were letters from Jackie’s children, John and Caroline…. There were also letters from Jack Kennedy, Aristotle Onassis, her father, Jack Bouvier, and even a few from me,” Warnecke told Taraborrelli. “She held one of the photographs and stared at it. It was her and Jack [Kennedy] on the day of his inauguration. ‘Keep this for me, will you?’ she asked.”
Before she died, Jackie O wrote one final letter to her son. According to Us Weekly, in the three-episode CNN docuseries American Prince, family friend Gary Ginsberg revealed that Jackie O wrote a heartfelt letter full of words of encouragement to her then 33-year-old son. “I understand the pressure you’ll forever have to endure as a Kennedy, even though we brought you into this world as an innocent,” she wrote, repeated almost word for word in the Love Story episode. “You, especially, have a place in history. No matter what course in life you choose, all I can ask is that you…continue to make me, the Kennedy family, and yourself proud.”
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and John F. Kennedy Jr. attends a tribute on the anniversary of the birth of John F. Kennedy, May 24, 1993.Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma/Getty Images
Austen seems to be prioritizing literally anyone else over his friendship with Shep and Craig —and for good reason. Photo: Bravo
Hello, and welcome to Miss Patricia’s Pet Cemetery. Here, you will see a collection of plaques for all of her departed pets, most of which have human names, a convention that has plagued the South at least since Reconstruction. There are Lily and Toby, Ashley and Rhett, Rocky and Nyla. And of course, my favorite, a cat named Kitty Kelley, presumably after the author of salacious unauthorized biographies about Jackie Kennedy, Nancy Regan, and Frank Sinatra. (Everyone who knows Miss Pat knows she still isn’t over that thing Nancy said about her at a cotillion back in 1977.) Now we are here to lay our beloved pug, Chauncey, to rest. If you can, please keep quiet and your photos to a minimum. We’ll now hear a eulogy from Austen Kroll, who was not a member of Chauncey’s immediate family, but they had a lot in common, like licking faces, soiling couches, and exceeding people’s expectations. Over to you, Austen: “He was a couch warmer, a confidant, a snack stealer, a friend. And those who knew him knew that what he lacked in brain power, he really made up for in spirit.” Thank you, Austen, that was both touching and funny. That concludes our tour of Miss Patricia’s Pet Cemetery. If you want to go inside the Stabin’ Cabin, we have a special exhibit on her son Whitney Sudler-Smith’s collection of rare guitars and matchbooks from bordellos around the world. Enjoy the rest of your stay.
Wasn’t that a wonderful tour and a fitting good-bye for our dear Chauncey, which happened at the end of the episode. Curiously, it was also when the episode ran the end credits, not during the final scene where Madison calls Venita to say that she is giving birth to her baby the next day. Were they afraid of putting the second AD’s name next to Madison’s big announcement? Anyway, the timing makes you wonder, is Madison’s daughter the reincarnation of Chauncey the dog, much like Trisha Paytas’s child is the reincarnation of Queen Elizabeth? Even if it’s not, it really makes you think about the cycle of life and death, how there are always people coming in and out of our lives, kind of like one great big reality show.
Honestly, those two things at the very end of the episode are the most interesting things to happen in the whole hour, as the only storylines we have to follow are Austen’s continued annoyance with both Shep and Craig; the love rhombus between Salley, Charley, Craig, and Austen; Venita and Salley being the best of frenemies; and why no one will date Whitner. Okay, the last one is more of a mystery than a storyline, but we shall see. Also, why can’t he and Molly just fall in love and get married and have a ton of Itchy Grass Babies? It’s what the fans want! Do it for us!
As for the trouble with Austen, Shep, and Craig, we get our first glimmer of it at the big dinner party that Whitner’s delightful parents throw. They play a game at dinner where there is a question under everyone’s plates, and they have to answer, which is apparently a family tradition. The game is honestly a bit of a flop. Has the Slagsvol family never heard of the hit party game, “Who Do You Trust Least Around This Table?” Always a guaranteed banger. Anyway, when Austen leaves the table to go to the restroom, Charley tells Craig that he needs to fix their friendship and tells Craig that Austen’s going through a breakup. Craig’s eyes bulge out of his head like he’s an extra in Who Framed Roger Rabbit and asks, “What?!?!?!” He’s shocked that he doesn’t know that Austen is broken up, even though neither he nor Shep has made it easy for him to talk to them about it. Charley tells Craig that everyone knows, which seems to make it worse.
After dinner, Shep sits Austen down to have a chat about his relationship because he wants to give him some advice. Madison tells him, instead of scolding Austen about his indecision, that he should ask questions and get Austen to open up. Shep, of course, ignores all of this and basically just tells him he needs to break up with his girlfriend. Austen tells Shep he doesn’t want to talk about it. Shep thinks that he’s being evasive, continuing to avoid a decision. He coaches Austen to be vulnerable. Then Austen tells him that he has been vulnerable, just not with him. He’s talked all about it to Rodrigo and Madison, a pair that I would trust to solve literally any problem: girlfriend issues, what to wear to a semi-formal event, the affordability crisis, how to get Gallery Girls back on television, and the collapse in the bee population.
It’s not until the next day, when Shep, Austen, and Rodrigo go fishing in the umpteenth adorable little shack we’ve seen on Whit’s family farm, that Austen finally tells Shep that, yes, he did break up with Audrey. Of course, neither Shep nor Austen can bait the hook because they hate touching the worm, a problem that my man Rodrigo certainly doesn’t have. That man really can touch a worm. But it’s Austen who caught the only fish, prompting Shep to make a joke about “catch and release,” which then becomes about how Austen always talks about releasing his girlfriend but won’t do it. Austen should have known this was coming, that by not answering Shep’s questions about it, he would be hounded. But I also get his motivation. Shep and Craig wouldn’t have consoled him or applauded him on finally making a tough decision; it would be a chorus of, “I told you so,” and, “Why did you wait so long?” and who wants to hear that when fresh off a breakup. It seems like Austen is prioritizing other friendships over these two clowns, who are about as good at giving relationship advice as Diane Warren is at winning Oscars.
On to the love-rhombus! Things are going well for Charley and Craig, who had a cute date out in a canoe while everyone else traveled around the farm and fought about their friendships. Salley and her extra E still aren’t quite over Craig, but she’s really trying hard to get under Austen. At dinner, Austen tells a story about stripping naked in a bar as a 20-something and she can’t help but interject that she wants to see him naked. When he gets up from the table at dinner to go pee, she asks him, “Do you need any help?” Finally, Austen has to say, “Down girl,” because, like loving cupcakes, it’s so obvious as to be annoying. And even still, Salley is like, “I want Austen’s dick.” Yes. We get it.
Salley has a lot going on with Venita though, which, honestly, is a fight I don’t understand. They have a talk in Whitner’s pool house with Molly and Whitner as witnesses, and Salley is still pissed that Venita tried to start shit between Molly and Salley. I don’t know guys. It seems like Salley is just salty that Venita was right about Craig and is holding onto this slight for ammunition. Venita already apologized to Molly about talking about her vagina prettying surgery (that is the medical term) and Molly has accepted that apology. Venita apologizes again here, but it seems like Salley is willfully choosing not to get over this to be mad at Venita.
That’s not to say that Venita behaved well in this discussion. When trying to explain herself, Venita tries to show the difference between herself and Salley and Whitner inserts himself into the conversation and says, “Why is that an important distinction?” Venita turns nasty at the drop of one of the dopey hats that either Austen or Shep was wearing at the party the night before. She tells Whitner to “shut the fuck up,” and he has nothing to do with this. Whitner points out that he was just trying to defend Molly, who he is clearly in love with and should marry. (I’m not giving up on this until it happens. Sorry.) It was an outsized reaction from Venita who should have either welcomed Whitner into the conversation, ignored his comment, or found a nicer way to tell him to butt out.
However, Salley then says that Venita was trying to “pin” her and Molly against each other, which is not the term, and then Venita gets teary and storms off. Salley calls after her, saying that Venita is always walking away, and she’s right. Venita needs to stay and finish one of these conversations. She needs to get snotty and snarly and cry-y and let all of the emotions out on Salley if not only for her own catharsis but also so that they (and us) can move on from the fight. But she doesn’t. Venita, in her Daisy Dukes, walks off into the itchy grass, hoping that her problems won’t follow her. But that’s the thing, they always do. Even when you escape the confrontation, even when you put those tough discussions off until the next day, as Austen did, they’ll always be there waiting, with their snarled heads and their rotted teeth just getting worse and uglier by the day.
James Van Der Beek, a heartthrob who starred in coming-of-age dramas at the dawn of the new millennium, shooting to fame playing the titular character in “Dawson’s Creek” and in later years mocking his own hunky persona, has died. He was 48.
“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith and grace. There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come,” said a statement from the actor’s family posted on Instagram. “For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother and friend.”
Van Der Beek revealed in 2024 that he was being treated for colorectal cancer.
Van Der Beek made a surprise video appearance in September at a “Dawson’s Creek” reunion charity event in New York City after previously dropping out due to illness.
He appeared projected onstage at the Richard Rodgers Theatre during a live reading of the show’s pilot episode to benefit F Cancer and Van Der Beek. Lin-Manuel Miranda subbed for him on stage.
“Thank you to every single person here,” Van Der Beek said.
Forever tied to ‘Dawson’s Creek’
A one-time theater kid, Van Der Beek would star in the movie “Varsity Blues” and on TV in “CSI: Cyber” as FBI Special Agent Elijah Mundo, but was forever connected to “Dawson’s Creek,” which ran from 1998 to 2003 on The WB.
The series followed a group of high school friends as they learned about falling in love, creating real friendships and finding their footing in life. Van Der Beek, than 20, played 15-year-old Dawson Leery, who aspired to be a director of Steven Spielberg quality.
With Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want To Wait,” as its moody theme song, “Dawson’s Creek” helped define The WB as a haven for teens and young adults who related to its hyper-articulate dialogue and frank talk about sexuality. And it made household names of Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson.
“While James’ legacy will always live on, this is a huge loss to not just your family but the world,” Sarah Michelle Gellar wrote to his widow on Instagram. Katharine McPhee Foster added: “This is just beyond devastating news.” Others posting messages of mourning were Jenna Dewan and Olivia Munn.
The show caused a stir when one of the teens embarked on a racy affair with a teacher 20 years his senior and when Holmes’ character climbed through Dawson’s bedroom window and they curled up together. Racier shows like “Euphoria” and “Sex Education” owe a debt to “Dawson’s Creek.”
Van Der Beek sometimes struggled to get out from under the shadow of the show but eventually leaned into lampooning himself, like on Funny Or Die videos and on Kesha’s “Blow” music video, which included his laser gun battle with the pop star in a nightclub and dead unicorns.
“It’s tough to compete with something that was the cultural phenomenon that ‘Dawson’s Creek’ was,” he told Vulture in 2013. “It ran for so long. That’s a lot of hours playing one character in front of people. So it’s natural that they associate you with that.”
A popular GIF and ‘Varsity Blues’
More than a decade after the show went off the air, a scene at the end of the show’s third season became a GIF. Dawson was watching as his soul mate embarks on a love affair with his best friend and burst into tears.
“It wasn’t scripted that I was supposed to cry; it was just one of those things where it’s a magical moment and it just happens in the scene,” Van Der Beek told Vanity Fair. He seemed exasperated when he told the Los Angeles Times: “All of a sudden, six years of work was boiled down to one seven-second clip on loop.” (Van Der Beek himself recreated the GIF in 2011 for Funny or Die and gave it a second life.)
While still on “Dawson’s Creek,” Van Der Beek hosted “Saturday Night Live” — the musical guest was Everlast — and landed a plumb role in “Varsity Blues,” playing a second-string high school quarterback who leaps into the breach when the star suffers an injury.
Van Der Beek’s character, Mox, turns out to not be a football fanatic, preferring to read Kurt Vonnegut and yearning for the college education that will allow him to escape the jock mentality of his Texas town.
“I don’t want your life,” he screams at one point. Critic Roger Ebert called him “convincing and likable.”
After ‘Dawson’s Creek’
Some of his projects after “Dawson’s Creek” included co-creating and playing Wesley “Diplo” Pentz, a dull but likable music producer in the mockumentary satire on Viceland, “What Would Diplo Do?” In 2019, he made it to the semifinals of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” and played a balding, out-of-shape ex-boyfriend on “How I Met Your Mother.”
“The more you make fun of yourself and don’t try to go for any kind of respect, the more people seem to respect you,” he told Vanity Fair in 2011. “I’ve always been a clown trapped in a leading man’s body.”
Between 2003 and 2013, he made appearances in shows like “Criminal Minds,” “One Tree Hill,” and “How I Met Your Mother.” He played himself with a crackpot intensity in the Krysten Ritter-led ABC drama “Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23,” and the short-lived “CSI” spinoff “CSI: Cyber” and CBS’ “Friends With Better Lives.”
He’s also appeared in movies such as Kevin Smith’s 2001 comedy “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and its 2019 sequel, “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.” He was in the Bret Easton Ellis adaptation of “The Rules of Attraction” in 2002 opposite Jessica Biel and Kate Bosworth.
In 2025, he was unmasked as Griffin on “The Masked Singer,” after singing a cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen.
Early life as a theater kid
Van Der Beek, who was raised in Cheshire, Connecticut, started acting at 13 after suffering a concussion playing football that prevented him from playing for a year. He landed the role of Danny Zuko in his school production of “Grease.”
He stuck with theater, landing at 16 in 1994 an off-Broadway role in “Finding the Sun” by Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee and one of the sons in a revival of “Shenandoah” at the prestigious Goodspeed Opera House in his home state.
He earned a scholarship to New Jersey’s Drew University but left school early when he was cast in “Dawson’s Creek.” In 2024, he returned to campus to accept an honorary degree for his “selfless service and exemplary commitment to the mission of Drew,” the university said.
Drew University President Hilary Link welcomed Van Der Beek with a popular quote from his “Dawson’s Creek” character: “Edge is fleeting,” she said, “but heart lasts forever. So on this morning, we pay tribute to that heart.”
He is survived by his wife, Kimberly, and six children, Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn and Jeremiah.
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AP Music Writer Maria Sherman contributed to this report.
James Van Der Beek died in February 2026 at age 48 after a battle with colorectal cancer.
The Connecticut-born actor was diagnosed with the illness in August 2023, but kept his battle under wraps until November 2024. At the time, Van Der Beek revealed that he had “been privately dealing with this diagnosis and [was] taking steps to resolve it” with support from his family, including wife Kimberly and their six children.
Van Der Beek’s death was confirmed in a statement shared via Instagram on February 11, 2026.
“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” the statement read. “There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.”
Van Der Beek, who was very vocal about his cancer fight prior to his death, rose to fame as a teen with his starring role as Dawson Leery in The WB’s Dawson’s Creek. The teen drama, which aired from 1998 to 2003, turned him into a household name and led to other famous projects, including the 1999 film Varsity Blues and more.
Keep scrolling for a look back at Van Der Beek’s most beloved TV and movie roles:
‘Dawson’s Creek’
James Van Der Beek became a teen idol due to Dawson’s Creek, in which he played young wannabe filmmaker Dawson Leery. The show followed Dawson’s life with his best friend Joey (Katie Holmes), close pal Pacey (Joshua Jackson), girl next door Jen (Michelle Williams) and more.
“It’s tough to compete with something that was the cultural phenomenon that Dawson’s Creek was,” Van Der Beek told Vulture in 2013.
The cast of Dawson’s Creekreunited in September 2025 for a live script reading of the 1998 pilot episode in support of F Cancer. Though Van Der Beek was supposed to attend the event in person, he announced the day prior that he would have to skip due to illness. He ultimately made a cameo via a video statement.
Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
“I can’t believe I’m not there,” the actor said. “I can’t believe I don’t get to hug my castmates, my beautiful cast, in person, and I just wanted to stand on that stage and thank every single person in this theater for being here tonight — from the cast to the crew to everybody who donated their time and has been so generous. And especially every single last one of you. You’re the best fans in the world. Thank you for coming.”
‘Varsity Blues’
Shortly after Dawson’s Creek debuted, Van Der Beek landed the role of Jonathan “Mox” Moxon, an academically successful but rebellious backup quarterback for his high school’s varsity football team, in the 1999 sports comedy-drama Varsity Blues. Jon Voight, Paul Walker, Ron Lester and Scott Caan also starred in the film.
In 2012, Van Der Beek appeared in the sitcom Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 as a fictionalized version of himself. The series also starred Krysten Ritter and Dreama Walker.
‘The Rules of Attraction’
Van Der Beek took on a darker role in the 2002 black comedy drama The Rules of Attraction, based on Bret Easton Ellis‘ 1987 novel. Van Der Beek stars as Sean Bateman, a drug dealer from Berlin, New Hampshire, and the younger brother of Patrick Bateman, the main character of American Psycho.
The film also starred Shannyn Sossamon, Ian Somerhalder, Jessica Biel, Kate Bosworth, Kip Pardue and Joel Michaely.
It’s an amazing episode for Siegfried and Mrs. Hall shippers — complete with sexual cribbage innuendo. Photo: PBS
Wow, so there’s horse racing, greyhound racing, and apparently whippet racing. Whippets: the smaller version of greyhounds*. (*Not an official definition.) This is the week I learn not only that people race whippets, but that it is popular specifically in the north of England, and that it is dying out. Probably for the best.
We’re talking about dog racing because James discovers the practice is doing particularly poorly and needs more revenue. Siegfried is not being helpful because he is focused on making Jimmy identify what different animal poops smell like. At least I think that’s what’s happening. Jimmy’s having a great time, anyway. James brings up that they received a job offer from a local dog track that needs an attending vet. Siegfried hated how the horses were taken care of at the racing track he attended, so he immediately nixes the idea. James is pretty sure it’s a great idea and that the dogs at this unofficial racetrack in the middle of nowhere will be taken care of very well. So off he goes to Hensfield!
I see that one of the extras from Guys and Dolls is here to head up the dog track. This is Mr. Coker, wearing a fedora and a dark pinstripe suit. Follow the fold, sir. Mr. Coker says he doesn’t do dog racing for money. Of course not. Who would? He doesn’t need to see James’s references or certifications. Well, this all seems very legit. They go look at the dogs. A veteran named Willie has a dog with a full stomach, which apparently is a big no-no when the dog has to run super fast. James lets it slide after they bond about The War. Jaaaaaames, no, James. The dog gets last place, and James realizes that Willie overfed him on purpose to make the odds better for him in the next race. Someone cheating? At a dog track? James tries to tell Mr. Coker about it, but Coker is like, “It’s definitely fine; why don’t you treat this guy who skinned his knee? I know you’re a veterinarian, but that’s okay.”
So now James is out here knowing that Siegfried was right, which is annoying. Meanwhile, Tristan is having a time of it with George the Parrot. Can anyone explain why Tristan is still wearing his uniform all the time? I know the war is technically still on, but isn’t his part done? Does he have to wear it, or is this a personal preference? But okay, the parrot. George’s owner died and he was adopted by the Ainsley family, which includes one million children (okay, maybe four?). George is grouchy and mainly says “silly arse” all the time. He’s also pulling out his own feathers, which isn’t great. Tristan thinks it’s psittacosis, which can be transmitted to humans and is fatal to birds, so he gets George out of the house and quarantines him at the practice for monitoring.
Tristan asks Siegfried to watch the parrot, because Tris has dinner with Charlotte. Siegfried is too busy taking Jimmy on a hunt for fox droppings. And he has a proposal for Mrs. Hall! Yes, it is cribbage, and she finally tells Siegfried she doesn’t really like cribbage, actually (character growth!), but then he suggests backward cribbage and Mrs. Hall says she’s never tried it that way. Maybe I’ve been watching too much Bridgerton but SEXUAL CRIBBAGE INNUENDO. This episode is really a 10/10 for Siegfried/Mrs. Hall shippers. And it all starts with cribbage.
Because of being on ParrotWatch, Tristan runs over to Charlotte’s and explains he’ll have to miss dinner. They are still very cute, and we find out she hasn’t met his family other than Siegfried. Also, dying at her calling them his family. FOR THEY ARE. But then Tristan’s all weird and cagey about her meeting them, and is like, well, the parrot is very infectious, you see. Stop it, Tristan! She’s Emma Thompson’s daughter, for God’s sake. Think of the voicemails you could get from your mother-in-law. So now we have to worry about Tristan messing up his very good new relationship.
Meanwhile, Maggie stops at Skeldale and chats with Mrs. Hall about darts. Mrs. Hall is in fact very good at darts! She lends Maggie her board and decides to ask Siegfried to change their plans for the evening and go to The Drovers to play. “It’s not just about what he wants,” Maggie tells her. Okay, see? Character growth. Things are happening. It might be season six and it’s been glacial, but I will take it. When Mrs. Hall brings it up to Siegfried, though, he says he already spends most of his day inserting needles with varying degrees of accuracy, so no, they’ll stick with cribbage. Siegfried! Wasn’t it just the other week you were crying in the kitchen about Mrs. Hall possibly leaving you? Go play darts! That was a very funny line, though, well done.
Mrs. Hall isn’t the only one getting her suggestions shot down — James asks him to help him out at the racetrack and Siegfried says nope to that too. So it’s going to be James versus the Dog Track Powers That Be, which are Mr. Coker and The Tall Man in the Hat. Fortunately for James, back at home, Jimmy mentions to Siegfried that they can’t live at Skeldale because Helen said Siegfried is a shellfish. Siegfried takes this child-based feedback, drinks four double scotches, and asks Mrs. Hall if he’s selfish. She very tactfully says yes, and Siegfried decides to go to the dog track to help James. Fortunately, Mrs. Hall insists on driving. Has this happened before?? I do not think so.
At the track, James is telling everyone that Willy’s dog has bloat and cannot run or he risks dying. Willy finally agrees, but Mr. Coker and Tall Man in the Hat are very opposed. What, is something shady happening? At the dog track … okay, right, I’ve already done that joke. Siegfried stumbles up just in time and tells Tall Man to walk away. “I warn you,” Siegfried informs him, “I am fully versed in whippet racing code.” Then he and James grab the dog and run away in what proves to be a madcap dognapping, with Mrs. Hall as getaway driver. Everyone does a great job, except for the man who didn’t close the gate on them in time. He’ll probably be in trouble.
They save the dog’s life; Tristan finds out that George the Parrot is not sick, but sad, and Tristan tells George that he is also sad; Siegfried tells James that he wants to apologize to Helen about his behavior, and he wants them to stay at Skeldale. Hurray! Also, we get our next excellent Siegfried and Mrs. Hall moment as she dabs at the cut below his eye. Her hand is on his face! Her hand! Is on! His face! Siegfried asks if she wants to go to The Drovers for darts. Good lord, just get married; what is wrong with you two? Are you “complex human beings” with “emotionally loaded backstories” and things aren’t “as easy as that?” Booooooooooooooo.
After his heart-to-heart with George, Tristan invites Charlotte to meet his family. She comes into the family room, and all quickly becomes chaos in a charming Skeldale way. We end on everyone throwing paper planes at each other. Bless you all.
While performing in Prague, Czech Republic with his brothers, Nick Jonas abruptly runs off stage after a laser is pointed directly at him. (CREDIT: Jolanda Hofmann and Nicole Berousek/TMX)
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Nick Jonas opened up about how his faith was tested after being “betrayed” by his longtime church and losing his family’s home during his early rise to fame.
When Nick, 33, and his brothers Kevin, 38, and Joe, 36, first began pursuing music careers in the early 2000s, their father, Kevin Jonas Sr., was the senior pastor at the Wyckoff Assembly of God church in Wyckoff, New Jersey.
Shortly after the trio formed the boy band the Jonas Brothers and signed with Columbia Records in 2005, Kevin Sr. was effectively forced to resign from his pastoral role and the family had to move out of their church-owned home.
During a recent appearance on the “Jay Shetty Podcast,” Nick reflected on the circumstances behind his family’s departure from their church and how it marked a turning point in his faith and personal life.
Nick Jonas reflected on questioning his faith after being “betrayed” by his church. (Lloyd Bishop/NBC via Getty Images)
“Our dad was at that church for 10 years,” he said. “It was a real safety net for us and a place where we felt a part of a community.”
“Some of the families that were there prior to our arrival did not like my dad and made it their mission to get him pushed out of the church,” Jonas recalled. “So effectively, he lost his job while also funding this dream of ours.”
“We had to move out of our home because we were living in the church parsonage, which is owned by the church,” he explained. “We moved into basically a little house in a place called Little Falls, New Jersey. The owners of the home were kind enough to let us rent it from them for basically nothing while we were in this transitional period.”
Nick recalled that at around the same time, the Jonas Brothers had embarked on a small high-school tour in New Jersey to promote their music. During this period, the “Levels” singer said that he began to experience health issues, and he was eventually diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
The Jonas Brothers formed their band in 2005 and rose to fame in 2007. (Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images)
“We would show up at 8 a.m., load in our own gear, and play a 30-minute assembly,” he said. “Around this time, I’m starting to lose weight. I’m thirsty all the time. I’m using the bathroom all the time. I kind of just thought it was a growth spurt or that I was just going through puberty. Obviously, it wasn’t that. It was a diabetes diagnosis.”
Additionally, Nick revealed that his family was facing enormous financial strain at the time. In 2006, the Jonas Brothers released their debut album “It’s About Time” but Columbia Records declined to continue their deal with the band after the record failed to meet sales expectations.
“We got dropped after our first album came out and we were hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, credit card debt, money that we did not have because there’s no money in in ministry really,” he said. “We had to sort of figure something out.”
Nick revealed that his family faced enormous financial strain after the band was dropped by Columbia Records. (Andrew Chin/Getty Images)
Nick admitted that he began to experience doubts about his faith due to the convergence of his personal and professional challenges, along with feeling abandoned by his church.
“It all kind of collided at the same time, and you look up and life just looked very different,” Nick recalled. “It took a lot of faith, and even questioning faith at that time, going from the safety net of the church to all of a sudden being sort of betrayed by them and having to redefine your relationship with God while going through some of your toughest moments.”
However, the Jonas Brothers’ fortunes began to change when they were signed by another major label in 2007.
The trio shot to fame after they were signed by Hollywood Records. (Bryan Steffy/Getty Images)
“Thankfully, we got a call from Hollywood Records, which is, you know, under the Disney umbrella,” he said. “And a couple weeks later, they had us on the Disney Channel, and things just started going.”
Looking back, Nick explained that though he struggled with institutional religion after leaving his former church, he didn’t lose his belief in God, and he believes that working through those questions ultimately helped him grow.
Jonas explained that his relationship with God is “totally” intact. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for dcp)
“Throughout those years following our exit from the church, I really questioned faith and what relationship I would have to organized religion at all, which is something that I can say now knowing that my relationship with my God is totally intact and that my belief is totally intact,” he said.
“And I think it’s important for everyone to go on that journey of self-discovery.”
Ashley Hume is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to ashley.hume@fox.com and on Twitter: @ashleyhume
