Here are some photos of Johnny Depp in Stockholm on Monday. He’s still touring Europe with his band, the Hollywood Vampires. Do you think Team Depp’s crisis management just operates without him? Or is Depp on those conference calls, suggesting quotes that need to be placed in People Magazine? The only thing I know for sure is that Team Depp was hard at work on Memorial Day. Their current vibe is “let’s throw everything against the wall and see what sticks.” Which is the only explanation for two of the most blatantly pro-Depp pieces thus far, in People Magazine and TMZ. Some highlights:
TMZ’s police sources are chatty. TMZ’s “law enforcement sources” want you to know that Amber Heard did not tell police officers that Johnny Depp had smashed her in the face with an iPhone. TMZ’s sources have already claimed that Amber was sporting no visible injuries and now they’re reiterating that Amber did not tell cops the whole story. TMZ ends their story with this: “We’re told Amber still has not filed a police report. If Johnny’s right and he never touched her … had she filed an official report she could be prosecuted for a felony — filing a phony police report.” Just what every victim of domestic abuse wants to hear, right? If you do come forward and tell (gossipy) police officers about your abuse, you could be prosecuted. Thanks, TMZ! Update: Oh, great, TMZ has another story about how Amber tried to “set up” Johnny by screaming for security when they were 20 feet away from each other.
Dancer Benjamin Millepied announced Thursday he’s stepping down as dance director at Paris’ premier ballet company. Millepied’s efforts to innovate at the storied Opera de Paris have met mixed reactions since his arrival 15 months ago, and French media have reported tensions between him and some of the company’s star dancers. He said in a statement that he’s leaving for “personal reasons,” and that his role didn’t allow him enough time for “creation and artistic expression.”
He sought to leave the Opera de Paris on friendly terms, appearing Thursday at a news conference with his successor, star dancer Aurelie Dupont, and Opera de Paris director Stephane Lissner.
“I am convinced we’ve opened up things that are really important,” Millepied said. “The future is bright. What’s important for me is to create, to be inspired by the parts. That’s what motivated me in the ballet and today this position (the dance director position) isn’t for me, it doesn’t suit me,” he told a news conference.
Speculation about a possible departure surfaced after a recent documentary in which Millepied said he still wasn’t satisfied with the level of dance. In an interview with Le Figaro in December, he said dancers should have more of a sense of entrepreneurship and fundraising — a concept foreign to many in France’s more traditionally funded cultural world. He was also quoted as saying, “To be a dancer is to express oneself, not to resemble a wallpaper pattern.”
His predecessor, Brigitte Lefevre, played down any resistance to his unconventional ideas, saying instead that Millepied didn’t have the necessary management experience for the job. “Directing a great institution doesn’t happen by itself,” she said on Europe-1 radio. “You must have competence and energy to manage each post, from administration to rehearsal.”
Some people believe Taylor Swift can do no wrong, that everything that comes out of her ruby red lips is nothing but the angel-kissed truth, and that Swifty’s flawless honesty dances around with butterflies and kittens. I am not one of those people. In fact, it’s always bothered me on those rare occasions when Taylor is publicly caught up in a lie, because on those rare occasions, the lies serve no purpose. Earlier this week, Taylor tweeted this:
What the press says I’m doing: Buying a Bev Hills mansion, getting married in an English castle What I’m doing: Playing a show in St. Louis
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) September 29, 2015
Just one of Taylor’s hits on the “tabloids” for making up stories about her, nevermind the fact that she and her friends call up the tabloids to spread certain agendas, or was the whole Jake Gyllenhaal drama just a fantasy concocted by Us Weekly? So, Taylor wants everyone to know that while SOME PEOPLE are spreading terrible real-estate-buying rumors and wedding rumors about her, she’s just getting on with her business. Except the mansion story is true.
Taylor Swift scoffed at reports she didn’t buy the legendary, $25 million, Samuel L. Goldwyn estate in Bev Hills, but we checked the tax records and the paper trail leads right to her doorstep!
Taylor went on social media Tuesday to shoot down stories she bought the late movie mogul’s estate. She said, “What the press says I’m doing: Buying a Bev Hills mansion, getting married in an English castle. What I’m doing: Playing a show in St. Louis.”
So we checked the property records. We found out today, Thursday, October 1, 2015, title to the estate changed hands from the seller to a company that’s headquartered in Nashville. The address of the business goes right back to Taylor’s Nashville address.
[From TMZ]
Why lie about it when no one really cared? Why go on Twitter to mock the reports of the real estate purchase when you were really making a real estate purchase?
A little piece of gossip history: Taylor covered the April 2013 issue of Vanity Fair, which was pretty much Peak Crazy Swifty. She had just come off a year where she dated a guy who was still in high school (Conor Kennedy), then had on-and-off drama with Harry Styles, which really seemed like it ended badly when he broke up with her and she stalked him for a few months. Remember all of that? I was reminiscing as I glanced through this 2013 interview, which was full of “unnamed sources” slamming Styles all over the place. But I bring it up because once again, Taylor LIED TO A REPORTER about a real estate purchase.
In response to the rumors that Swift was looking to buy a house next to the home of her then boyfriend Conor Kennedy’s family in Hyannis Port, Swift tells Sales, “People say that about me, that I apparently buy houses near every boy I like—that’s a thing that I apparently do. If I like you I will apparently buy up the real-estate market just to freak you out so you leave me.” Swift continues, “One of these things I say to myself to calm myself down when I feel like it’s all too much. . . If there’s a pregnancy rumor, people will find out it’s not true when you wind up not being pregnant, like nine months from now, and if there’s a house rumor, they’ll find out it’s not true when you are actively not ever spotted at that house.”
But Sales reports that Swift actually did purchase the house. According to someone close to the situation, she had been viewing the property with her parents for over a year under the recommendation of Rory Kennedy. In November 2012, the Cape Cod Timesreported the house had been sold to Ocean Drive LLC for $4.8 million. The company’s filing papers name a certain “Jesse P. Schaudies” of 13management—Taylor Swift’s management company. Schaudies did not return calls made to 13management’s offices, but according to the source, the Hyannis Port house was recently resold. “It was like a house-flip,” the source says. “A good short-term investment.”
[From Vanity Fair]
Why does Taylor Swift lie about her real estate? Don’t say it’s because she has crazy stalkers or whatever – clearly, the best way to handle public interest in her real estate holdings would be to simply never confirm or deny any real estate purchases either way. Another great idea? Don’t real estate stalk your current or former boyfriends. To be fair, I don’t think she is currently real-estate stalking anyone with the Beverly Hills home purchase. But it does make you think twice about all of the stories about Taylor buying a Scottish castle to be closer to Calvin Harris, right?
Plus-sized supermodel Tess Holliday is billed by Milk Management as “the first size-22 model.” Her career is on the rise, and she covered People last month. She wrote an essay that challenged preconceived notions of beauty. Tess detailed how countless modelling agencies rejected her, so she started posting her own photos on the internet. She posed in bathing suits “and other clothes that I liked but weren’t considered suitable for large and curvy women.” Her photos drew attention, and she started booking modelling gigs.
Several days ago, Tess spoke with The Guardian about her career. The journo observed Tess during a lingerie shoot that took place on a public street. At one point, Tess yelled, “Never seen a fat girl in her underwear before?” This piece got progressively messier:
On being called “fat”: “To me it’s just a word, but it wasn’t until I discovered the body positive community that I became OK with it. I’ve been called fat my whole life. I am fat, so it’s kind of silly to get mad about it.”
She loves to comfort eat & won’t apologize: “Everyone has their vices, but mine are visible. If I shot all day and I want a f***ing hot chocolate and a chocolate croissant I’m going to eat it. Am I going to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner? No. Is it OK to do it? If you want. But, you know, no one is coming at celebrities for smoking two packs of cigarettes. Or people who post a photo with their drink at the end of the day. So why is it OK to do that to me? Life is sh*tty, so why would you judge somebody for dealing with it in the best way they can?”
The excerpt that raised eyebrows: We’re in a cafe, finally sitting down after a six-hour shoot that’s had Holliday traipsing blocks in oppressive heat and then a rainstorm. Throughout, she’s been a hilarious corrective to the notion of models as mute and biddable clotheshorses. At one point, an African American guy, middle-aged, said something appreciative as he walked by. “What do guys think they’ll achieve by yelling something?” She asked, shifting her weight and adjusting the cape primly. “They’re like: ‘She’ll love this, I’ll definitely get her number.’” A pause, and then she added, with some satisfaction, “I do admit that black men love me. I always forget that, and then I come to a black neighbourhood and I remember.” And no one quite knew what to say. Later, finally and effortfully manoeuvred into some lethal-looking Christian Louboutin stilettos, adding height to her 5ft 5in, she’d calmly told the photographer: “If you’re not shooting my shoes, I will f*** you up.”
[From The Guardian]
The writers at The Grio weren’t impressed by Tess’ stereotypical declarations and reacted with a series of GIFs. Associate editor Danielle Belton wrote, “Um … ‘Good for her’? I also want to add that ‘black guys like me’ too, if we’re only basing this on who hollers at you on the street.” Yeah, Tess needs to watch her words. Her personality is very abrasive, and the Guardian journo pointed out the dead silence that followed this particular statement.
Tess believes her words were misinterpreted. She took to Facebook with an apology:
“I apologise for any hurt that my flippant comment has caused. Being followed and quoted is something new for me and I am going to occasionally say or do things that make people unhappy. For that I am sorry, your opinions are important to me. The incident in question occurred when I was on the street, feeling rather exposed in my underwear for the shoot, and an older black man cat called me as I was walking behind the team. I replayed the incident to the team once we were set up for the next shot, and jokingly said some semblance of what appeared in print. It was in relation to being cat called by black men significantly more than by white, but perhaps my tone and wording didn’t convey this clearly. It was also meant to play into the idea that black men like bigger women, but the humour of that doesn’t come through. To further add context, the team included two talented black women – so it was clearly not something intended to cause offence.”
[From Tess Holliday on Facebook]
Tess claims to be misquoted, which is possible. The entire Guardian piece presents Tess as an unpleasant person, but it’s possible that the journo carved a false narrative. Or maybe Tess was upset about being catcalled, and she said things she didn’t mean. If some of the catcallers were negative, that could throw a person’s mood completely off.
Here are some photos (all of which are tagged #effyourbeautystandards) from Tess’ Instagram page. She uses the hashtag to counteract online bullying.
A photo posted by +Size Model || Feminist🎈 (@tessholliday) on
A photo posted by +Size Model || Feminist🎈 (@tessholliday) on
A photo posted by +Size Model || Feminist🎈 (@tessholliday) on
Until next time NYC! (Dress is @ftfsnaps styled by @littlelimedress for my press day) #tessholliday #exhausted #effyourbeautystandards 🌴🙈💅🏻🎂
A photo posted by +Size Model || Feminist🎈 (@tessholliday) on
Photos courtesy of People & Tess Holliday on Instagram
Here are some photos of Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince William at the “commemorative ceremony marking the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign,” otherwise known as Anzac Day, in London yesterday. William added this to his schedule somewhat last minute, I guess he was expecting Kate to be in labor around now (which will probably happen today or in the next few days, I’m hoping). As you can see, Kate didn’t join William and no one was expecting her to. As you can also see, the Queen looked fabulous in black & white.
Meanwhile, on Friday, The Express’s royal reporter Richard Palmer published a rather scathing exposé on William’s work-shy ways. Palmer cited a study done by the “anti-monarchy” group Republic and their examination of the real numbers of William’s work schedule. The study picks up on William’s schedule after he left his RAF job in September 2013, and while Republic acknowledges that William did some work on anti-poaching campaigns (in between hunting trips with Jecca Craig, obviously), Republic does not a distinct lack of… actual WORK.
Republic complained that William’s decision to leave his job as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot after serving only one three-year tour of duty had left the taxpayer with a £400,000 bill in training costs never recovered. Graham Smith, Republic’s chief executive, said: “Despite continuous claims of being a hardworking royal, Prince William has been anything but. William has done fewer than 47 days of work in the year since leaving his RAF job. A lot of these engagements have been entirely self-serving, promoting the royal brand as much as performing any kind of public service.”
The Duke, who has postponed becoming a fulltime working royal to pursue a career as an air ambulance pilot, has always undertaken part-time royal duties, like his brother Prince Harry. In the year between September 2013 and September 2014, when he began studying for air ambulance exams, he worked on royal duties for at least part of 78 days, according to Republic. But after calculating the time he was actually on official duty and allowing for travel and planning time, the group estimated that William worked the equivalent of 46.7 full days.
Some 49 of the engagements he took in that time were for parties, trips to the cinema, sports fixtures or other kinds of entertainment, according to Republic. There were two trips to the cinema, 14 to a show, sports event or theme park, while 21 were attending a party, 10 a dinner, and two were going to church. “For most public figures these would be considered private events or perks of the position, even if deemed to be part of the job, as it might with a political leader,” Mr Smith said.
Much of William’s royal work is funded by his father Prince Charles’s income from the Duchy of Cornwall estate, a property empire designed to give each heir to the throne a private source of funds. But he and Kate live in taxpayer-funded accommodation at Kensington Palace. Their 21-room apartment cost taxpayers £4.5 million in renovations before they moved into it. They are also protected around-the-clock by taxpayer-funded Scotland Yard police officers and have their travel and costs met from the Government in the Queen’s Sovereign Grant.
Royal sources pointed out that William’s 10-week agricultural management course at Cambridge was designed to prepare him for his future royal role as Prince of Wales managing the Duchy of Cornwall. Privately, some friends of the family have admitted, however, that his “transitional year” was not as busy as Kensington Palace might have suggested initially. Palace officials objected in the strongest terms when British media described it as a second gap year.
Mr Smith said: “The claims of hard work by royals have always sounded hollow – hardworking people do long days five or six days a week and get paid normal salaries, while keeping up with the demands of family, mortgages and struggling with the rising cost of living. This research puts the lie to the claims and shows William to be every bit as lazy and cynical as any other royal.”
[From Express]
This is what gets me: “Privately, some friends of the family have admitted, however, that his ‘transitional year’ was not as busy as Kensington Palace might have suggested initially…” No sh-t, Sherlock. William didn’t even have Kate’s built-in excuse of “wanting to be a stay-at-home mom to her first child.” Even Kate said that William was barely around for George’s first year (nor do I believe that William is around that much for George right now). William doesn’t want to do royal work and if you’re going to make him do any kind of work, it’s got to be fluff like “going to a film premiere” and even then he’s going to pad the numbers. So he doesn’t want to do royal work, he doesn’t want to spend time with his family, he wants to fly planes… until he gets bored with that too. Whatever is a petulant princeling to do?
Here’s a photo of Justin Bieber hitting the gym on Tuesday. He seems to be doing fine, physically. Swaggy broke his foot over the holidays during a soccer game. You can see a gross photo of Swaggy’s little tootsie here. It looks like a hefty bruise, but it wasn’t a bad enough break to require a fracture boot. He’s been swagging all over the place in normal shoes. Swaggy’s still in a lot of pain, or so he says. He’s using the foot as an excuse for not completing the community service requirements for his probation.
So much has happened with Swaggy that it’s hard to recall why he’s on probation. It’s not for the drag racing in Florida or brothelgate. He’s on probation for — of all things — tossing eggs at his neighbor’s house. I predicted he’d never make it two years without doing one of the following: (1) Breaking the law again; or (2) Making endless excuses about how he can’t finish his community service (in manner of Lindsay Lohan).
Swaggy chose option #2. Here’s the lowdown from TMZ:
Justin Bieber has been taking lots of anger management classes recently but he hasn’t done a single hour of community service because of a soccer injury … so says his lawyer.
Attorney Shawn Holley was in court Tuesday morning for a progress report in his egging case. Justin has completed 9 out of 12 anger management classes. As for his 5 days community service, Holley said Bieber screwed up his foot and couldn’t pick up trash or remove graffiti.
You’ll recall, Bieber screwed up his foot during a soccer game last month in Turks and Caicos. Holley submitted a doctor’s note to satisfy the judge.
According to the probation report, obtained by TMZ, the probation officer wrote a report saying, Bieber “has displayed a cooperative attitude and has expressed a sincere desire to be more diligent in complete anger management and community labor.” Bieber was supposed to attend 1 anger management session per week, and he’s fallen short.
[From TMZ]
Kaiser pointed out that Bieber even has the same lawyer as Lohan, which is hilarious. At least Scooter Braun will make sure Shawn Holley gets paid for this client. I wonder if Bieber realizes his redemption tour will be marred by this new development? Everyone already laughed at how Swaggy wondered if he was human. I don’t know if people would laugh at him for going to jail, but I think his team is more concerned about his career. Big mistake.
Photos courtesy of Justin Bieber on Instagram & WENN
Robyn Lawley, first ‘plus-size’ model that appeared in Sports Illustrated, on accepting her body:
My agent Chelsea Bonner was the only agent to put me on contract upon meeting me 6 years ago. When she met me, the first thing she told me after years of having to diet too extremes, having to go to castings and not fit a thing to being embarrassingly sent home constantly, and hating my naturally sized Aus 14-16 body “You don’t need to lose any weight, you just need to be you, you’re perfect just as you are”
You have no idea how happy and amazing that was to hear as a teenage girl. ACCEPTANCE. She promised me work and travel and for the first time in years I believed it. I know people can get outraged at times that my body constantly gets referred to as plus size but I think you should check out what she’s written @bellamodelmanagement It’s time we started to embrace #sizediversity EVERYWHERE
I will tell you a secret, the first time you give up diets, or terrible fat free, sugar free toxic whatever foods and embrace real food the happier you will ever be. I will NEVER diet again and I made that pact to myself 6years ago #loveyournaturalsize #changeiscoming #realfoodftw #robynlawleyeats
