Every single morning when I’m chewing my gummy vitamins, I think about Naomi Campbell’s 2020 video of her morning routine. I have no idea why it stuck with me for all of these years, but without fail, I have a memory flash about Naomi taking about 30 vitamin supplements every single morning. She added like twenty different powders to her morning smoothie, and in addition to the smoothie, she also takes handfuls of vitamin pills. If you told me that most famous women have the same kind of morning routines, I would believe you. I think especially for the women who are meticulous about their “upkeep,” they’re taking all kinds of vitamins and supplements. Another constant memory flash for me is Gwyneth Paltrow regularly getting IVs because she’s so malnourished and vitamin-deficient. Being “too rich to swallow vitamins” is also a thing. Anyway, I was thinking about all of that as I read through these comments from Kim Kardashian:

Kim Kardashian is focused on her health. The 45-year-old mother of four opened up about the steps she takes to take care of herself on a daily basis while she popped by Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast on Tuesday, May 19.

“I take probably 35 supplements a day,” the reality star revealed. “I spread them out three times a day.”

The SKIMS founder admitted to struggling with one of the supplements, sharing, “I thought, ‘Okay, I can’t do this fish oil anymore. I have pill fatigue. I have to stop these fish oil [supplements], and I got my bloodwork, and it was so evident that I stopped and I had to start again.”

Kardashian noted of the fish oil, “I wish there was like an IV drip I could do every day, and I would just do it on my way to work.”

In addition to her supplements, Kardashian also encouraged Poehler to look into a DEXA scan, revealing that she, her mom Kris Jenner and sisters use the body scanner regularly.

“I actually know a portable DEXA scan person that comes in a van and you lay down,” she shared. “Each one of my sisters and my mom — we all live in the same gated community — so we have the van drive by and we all jump in the van and you just lay down and it scans your body maybe like three minutes. And, it tells you all about your bone density.”

[From People]

I’m including the Good Hang video below, and I’ve cued it to the start of Amy Poehler’s chat with Kim. Amy cracked up at Kim’s “I know a guy who will scan you in his van” stuff, and Amy was shocked by the 35 supplements a day stuff. I’m shocked too, and I would be very interested in knowing what all Kim is taking. I’m sure some of it is everyday stuff, like Vitamin C, creatine, and as she says, fish oil. But what are the other 32 pills? Damn. With the Naomi Campbell story, every commenter was like “she has really expensive pee, basically.” At some point, that really is all it is. Although I do swear by Vitamin C & D gummies and glucosamine chondroitin.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, screencap courtesy of Good Hang.

Long-time royal watchers know full well how Camilla Parker Bowles captured and kept then-Prince Charles, now King Charles. She looks a great deal like Charles’ childhood nanny, and Camilla has always “mothered” Charles and nurtured him like a man-child. Charles was also very close to his grandmother, the Queen Mum, who was more of a mother to him than QEII. Camilla is probably a lot like the Queen Mum as well – a drunk, a snob and a real piece of work with a vicious streak. Royal biographers speak about this openly like it’s a good thing, and like the queen consort should be best known as a “ruthless” side-chick who destroyed the king’s first marriage and ruined his relationships with his sons and family. Well, Christopher Wilson has written a new book about Charles and Camilla’s love story, and wouldn’t you know, we’re hearing all about Camilla’s ruthlessness and viciousness.

Christopher Wilson, author of A Greater Love – Charles and Camilla, insists that the Queen has a secret steely nature and indeed a ‘ruthless streak’.

‘She’s every bit as convincing as the old Queen Mother was when it comes to putting on a sweet smile and saying just the right thing to put people at their ease,’ Wilson said. ‘But – again like the Queen Mum – there’s a ruthless streak to Camilla which she takes care to keep hidden from view. Her job, as she sees it, is to support and protect her man. Her predecessor as Queen Consort, Elizabeth, did just the same during the war years and after with her husband, King George VI.’

‘Monarchy is about survival, and Camilla understands that. She’s read the history books and knows how, when the House of Windsor was brought to its knees in 1936 with the Abdication of King Edward VIII, she put fire in the belly of her reluctant husband, turning him into a successful wartime monarch who did a great double-act with Prime Minister Winston Churchill. King George needed her iron-clad courage, just as King Charles needs Camilla’s today.

‘If Charles has a weakness, it’s that he’s too kind and too forgiving when things go wrong – just as his mother was,’ I was told by an ex-courtier. ‘He’s lucky to have Camilla there to stiffen his backbone when needed.”

‘This weekend it emerged that plans are finally afoot to take Andrew Mountbatten Windsor out of the line of succession, an uncomfortable procedure for Charles to agree to, but one which, according to royal expert Phil Dampier, Camilla is urging him to do. Leading the charge against the old House of York alongside her stepson, Prince William, it’s even likely that her influence will take Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie out of the royal pecking order as well. Royal biographer Andrew Lownie has said that they were complicit in Andrew’s association with Jeffrey Epstein and must pay the price, too.’

‘Camilla agrees. Interestingly, it’s clear that while Charles has some lingering affection for his (ex) York nieces, she has frozen the family out – even though back in the good old polo days at Smith’s Lawn, she was chums with Sarah Ferguson’s mother, Susan Barrantes. But friendship must come second to loyalty to the Crown. Camilla was nowhere to be seen at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral, where the House of York stood centre-stage (and William had words with his uncle). Neither was her name attached to the list of names congratulating Eugenie on her pregnancy. As far as she’s concerned, their names need never be mentioned again.’

‘The Queen Mother ensured, after the damage of the Abdication, that her brother-in-law, the Duke of Windsor, went into exile – and stayed there. Camilla is likely to push for the same thing to happen to her brother-in-law, Andrew.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Funny, I remember when Camilla took credit for bringing Andrew and Fergie in from the cold soon after Charles became king. Camilla made sure to let people know that she invited them both to Christmas at Sandringham, and she was happy enough to have them at family occasions in 2023 and 2024. Camilla only became a York-hater recently and it wasn’t because of any long-standing concerns about Andrew and Sarah’s relationships with Jeffrey Epstein. All that being said, of course Camilla is vicious and ruthless. Of course she sticks her nose into interfamily disputes. Of course she’s got her knives out for multiple royals. She didn’t become the most smug side-chick success story in history by being a good person.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

In This is Me, Hayden writes that her mom, Lesley Vogel, refused to have a personal relationship with her after Hayden fired Lesley as her manager. Late last week, we covered Lesley’s mean response to Hayden’s memoir, which was typical DARVO and blamed Hayden for everything. In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Hayden responded to Lesley’s statement, saying that it was false and that her mom is closing the door to a potential reconciliation.

On the abuse she went through as a child
I was like overwhelming that I hadn’t like made the connection so much sooner in their forms of abuse and some things that I have to work on and keep my eye out eye out for because no one else is going to protect me.

On her mom’s statement
It was so false. She slammed that door in my face. When people ask me about the relationship, if there’s any hope for future, I always say that I always leave that door cracked open in case because who doesn’t want a relationship with their mother? You pray for it and you hope it eventually comes, but she slammed that door pretty hard in my face.

On if she’s talked to her mom
No, she has very clearly prioritized herself, which I should not be shocked by. But I can’t imagine how she feels about doing what she did and then saying what she said. I don’t know how she lives with that.

[From ET Online’s YouTube transcript]

It’s surprising to me that Hayden is open to having a relationship with her mom, because it seems like a textbook situation that calls for no contact. For what it’s worth, Hayden’s abusive ex boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, called Hayden’s mom “one of the worst people I’ve ever met in my life.” TMZ interviewed Hickerson because of course they did.

Later in the interview, Hayden was asked about the fact that she recently came out as bisexual. She said she didn’t want people to think she was coming out for the wrong reasons or that it was a fad for her. I’m 53 and bisexual and this is sadly relatable to me. I hardly ever mention it for that reason and am grateful that the younger generation is more open and understanding.

Kudos to Hayden for being so forthcoming about everything she’s gone through. She’s so matter-of-fact and vulnerable. I’m so happy to see her on the other side of everything she went through and I hope she has a long career as a scream queen.

photos credit: Avalon.red and T. Jackson/Backgrid

One of our biggest stories last week was about Tom Sykes, The Daily Beast’s Royalist, ranting about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Montecito kitchen. His comments came via his podcast, and he claimed that Prince Harry and Meghan’s rustic Italian kitchen was a “laughingstock” in Montecito because it looked like an “Olive Garden.” Sykes also claimed that all of Montecito thinks the Sussexes are broke-ass because they never ripped out or remodeled the kitchen specifically. Yesterday, Meghan posted some videos and a photo from her kitchen – I even pointed out (jokingly) that this was the alleged “laughingstock kitchen.” Well, guess who rage-typed a five-page diatribe about Meghan’s kitchen? Here’s some of Tom Sykes’ latest Royalist Substack, “Eight Years On, Meghan’s Taco Bell Kitchen Is the Symbol of Project Sussex’s Failure.” Why is Taco Bell in it??

Yesterday was Harry and Meghan’s eighth wedding anniversary, and to mark the occasion Meghan did what Meghan does: she posted to Instagram.

Loads of previously unseen photographs from the wedding day, beautiful images by photographer Chris Allerton, set to Paula Abdul’s Forever Your Girl. The grand dress sweeping across the floor of St George’s Chapel, Harry gazing at her veil, the serious black-and-whites, the joyful colors. Lovely, even if she couldn’t show us a picture of a royal family member for the obvious reason that she said on TV that they are racists who didn’t care that she wanted to kill herself.

But she also posted something else. New stills and video from inside the house — Harry blowing out a lemon and elderflower cake (a nod to their wedding cake, but one which raises the immediate question: who made it? Meghan has told us, on her own show, that she doesn’t bake. Is this a freebie? A brand deal? If you’re Meghan Markle, lifestyle influencer, surely the whole point is that you made the cake yourself?), an ornamental statue of two penguins nestling together (a gift from Harry which might have been better kept private, but instead we got the whole backstory, some guff about them dressing up as penguins at a party), and the children audible off-camera.

A lot of the new content (yes, that is what it is) was shot in the kitchen. Oh, that kitchen. Orange-brown wood cabinets. Copper pots hanging from the ceiling. An interior that looks like it was last touched in 2003 and specifically like it was designed by someone who thought the Olive Garden was aspirational.

In Montecito — where billionaires routinely knock houses down the moment they buy them and start again from the footprint, where the baseline expectation is that if any aspect of the house doesn’t perfectly suit you, you remodel it— that kitchen is a potent symbol of where things now stand for this couple.

A source who lives in the area told me recently that the Sussex house is a laughing stock in Montecito social circles. In a town where conspicuous renovation is a hobby for rich wives, the fact that they haven’t remodeled EVEN THE KITCHEN of a house that I suspect was last decorated when bought in 2009 by former owner, the Russian fraudster Sergey Grichin (who died in suspicious circumstances in 2023) is a significant tell.

The virtual tour of their embarrassing kitchen is a visual explainer to what a catastrophic mess Project Sussex has become. At the end of last year, they fired the bulk of their staff, shuttered their charity, and pared down their production company to a staff of two (Hollywood people tell me it is now what is dismissively referred to in the town as a “label”, it means the company primarily exists to attach its branding to other projects). Time for a rebrand!

In an ill-advised attempt to make money, the Sussexes went to Australia where Meghan literally sold selfies of herself for money. It was a disaster. The polling was brutal. The line from Team Sussex was that you had to be there, it was different in the room. Website traffic in Australia says otherwise; traffic actually went DOWN while they were there according to Jack Royston’s analysis of Similarweb data.

Time for a rebrand! So off Meghan goes to Geneva to play Serious Meghan at the World Health Organization, with a speech about children and social media, and a photo-op with Dr Tedros. Except Geneva was ignored. And being ignored is a worse fate than being criticized. Criticism means you still matter. Matt Wilkinson from the Sun, Rebecca English from the Mail, Victoria Ward from the Telegraph, Kate Mansey from the Times, the people who actually set the global royal narrative, didn’t go.

…What Meghan would obviously love to be showcasing right now (wouldn’t we all) is a spectacular new renovation; clean lines, bespoke cabinetry, the kind of kitchen that makes people stop scrolling. The kind of kitchen, indeed, that she chose for With Love, Meghan, which at least looked like someone had made a decision about how it should look. Instead we’re getting the original fittings, the copper pots, the whole dreary inheritance of whoever owned the house before them. The wider point is that the whole Meghan and Harry brand is in a state of total chaos, a scattergun, no-one-is-steering-this chaos.

[From The Royalist Substack]

As I said last week, I cannot even imagine being full of such bitch-eating-crackers bile for a KITCHEN. Like, Laura Dern is my nemesis but I would never rant about her OR her kitchen for weeks on end. Think of how desperate these people are to grasp onto any lie, any bitchy comment, all to “prove” that Meghan is “failing.” And throughout it all, it’s beyond clear that it would never occur to Sykes that Meghan hasn’t renovated her kitchen because she likes it? She’s not hiding it – she regularly posts photos from her kitchen and she regularly uses her kitchen for her As Ever photoshoots too. She genuinely likes all of that warm wood and the blue-and-white tile work and her expensive, good-condition stove. This too is a marker of class – many real elites would think it’s very gauche, wasteful and nouveau-riche to rip out a perfectly good kitchen which fits the aesthetic of a home. That is the kind of thing Kate Middleton has done multiple times.

Photos courtesy of Meghan’s Instagram and As Ever’s Instagram.

The most unserious people in the world are a ginger prince and his American wife. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex truly went all out for their eighth wedding anniversary. The day started bright and early, with Meghan posting tons of never-before-seen wedding & reception photos on her Instagram. All of that made me happy and that was all I expected from Meghan, truly. But I forgot that Meghan and Harry are amazing dorks.

So, hours later, Meghan kept fans updated on the anniversary situation via her Instagram Stories. Prince Harry surprised her with a lemon elderflower cake, just like their wedding cake. He had the children sing “Happy Anniversary” to Meghan, and then he presented her with an anniversary gift: a bronze sculpture by Georgia Gerber – a sculpture of two penguins. When Harry and Meghan were first engaged, they had a small engagement party with friends, and H&M dressed up in penguin onesies because “penguins mate for life.” Harry obviously included a photo of himself and Meghan dressed in the penguin onesies, and Meghan included the pic within her IG Stories. As you can see from the videos and photos, Lili and Archie made gifts for their parents too. Little handmade clay bowls and posters.

My favorite part? A nice glimpse at that “laughingstock” Montecito kitchen. Meghan loves her kitchen, and you can see all of her personal touches, like another sign for Archie’s Chick Inn, some of her cookbooks, all of her copper pans. How dare she enjoy such an “outdated” kitchen!

Prince Harry and Meghan celebrating their 8th Anniversary with their children.

And a beautiful gift from Harry to his “one and only”

“I love you” – Meghan#HarryandMeghan pic.twitter.com/sntsAFb7ot

— ChrisBaronSmith (@ChrisBaronSmit1) May 19, 2026

Photos/screencaps courtesy of Meghan’s Instagram stories.

A few days ago, the “rent” paid by the Prince and Princess of Wales was revealed. This is the rent for Forest Lodge, their millionth forever home and the Windsor property which they swear will be their home whenever they’re king and queen-consort. Prince William and Kate wanted a gold star for paying £307,500 annually for Forest Lodge, but they don’t want to admit that the lease was determined before their royal protection “decided” that William and Kate also needed to grab 150 acres of public park land for their “estate.” Anyway, the latest addition to this story is that their lease agreement has a weeding clause. William and Kate must maintain their garden and “keep it in good condition, clean and tidy and free from weeds [and] must preserve all the trees, bushes, shrubs and plants in your garden.” Again, does that go for the whole 150 acres? And why would the Crown Estates need to specify that? Is it because of that Middleton-adjacent pot farm??

Meanwhile, we’ve known for years that William and Kate don’t like “live-in help.” Even their nanny Maria does not live within their forever home(s). They have plenty of maids and cooks and such, but none of them live on site either. Well, Robert Hardman has more – apparently, there’s no “butler.”

The Prince and Princess of Wales moved into their new home, Forest Lodge, in November last year, and there is one member of staff the royal couple reportedly won’t have. According to royal biographer Robert Hardman, William and Kate have ruled out employing a royal butler. The author made this revelation in his book, New King, New Court.

Robert wrote: “The couple did not seek to boost the staff numbers at Adelaide Cottage, not least because there would be little room to do so. Reports that the Prince was hiring a valet were knocked back. The Kensington Palace team does include a ‘yeoman’, a multi-tasking attendant who looks after everything from luggage to uniforms, but there is no ‘gentleman’s gentleman’ on the staff. ‘And certainly no butler,’ adds one source. ‘It’s very much them at home with the kids.’”

[From Hello]

Hardman has it wrong – William does employ a valet, those claims were not “knocked back.” Now, whether William’s valet knows what he’s doing is another story altogether. Since William got a valet, he’s wandered around in wrinkled robes and too-tight trousers and he keeps trying to make French-made cardigans happen. As for Hardman’s other claim… I actually believe that they don’t have a butler. It’s more like… Carole Middleton comes over and organizes everything. I also think it speaks to how Kate doesn’t really know how to run/organize a house in the same way that someone like Rose Hanbury knows how to run a house. It shows a difference in class for these people.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Kensington Palace.

Apple Martin is having one hell of a 2026. She wrapped up her undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt and graduated a few weeks ago. Before graduation, she already signed up for representation from CAA, and she was steadily booking modeling jobs throughout college. Her latest modeling job is for Chloe, and she stars in Chloe’s print campaign (which came out around her Vanderbilt graduation). Well, Apple has barely had time to take a graduation trip and she’s already booking acting jobs. Everything’s coming up nepo baby!

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s daughter, Apple Martin, is set to make her feature-film debut. The 22-year-old was announced to be joining the star-studded cast of Nancy Meyers’ upcoming comedy, which has been categorized as semi-autobiographical in nature for the Parent Trap writer and director.

Deadline shared news of her casting alongside Arrested Development’s Tony Hale and National Lampoon’s Vacation star Beverly D’Angelo on Monday, May 18.

The role marks Martin’s first since appearing in an episode of the HBO show Rooster. She has previously worked as a model for brands like Chloé and Gap, and is currently celebrating her graduation from Vanderbilt University with a degree in law, history and society.

While Martin previously had plans to go to law school, she told Vogue in February that she now wants to follow in her mom’s footsteps after getting out of her “rebellious ‘I don’t wanna be like my parents’ type of phase.”

“I don’t wanna be a singer,” she said, despite noting that she does like to sing, like her Coldplay frontman dad. “I like musical theater, but getting onstage by yourself to sing is so terrifying.”

“I love dancing and I love acting,” she continued. “My dream is to act.”

Now, Martin is making that dream come true in comedy legend Meyers’ next movie, which she said is “about a group of people making a film and the magic and mystery of what we do” in a March 2023 Instagram post. The movie will mark her first since 2015’s The Intern and stars Penélope Cruz, Kieran Culkin, Erin Doherty, Jude Law and Owen Wilson. Like with many of her films, Meyers will both write and direct.

[From People]

It’s crazy that Nancy Meyers hasn’t made a movie in over a decade, but it’s not for lack of trying – several years ago, she was supposed to make some kind of mega-budget rom-com but the studios balked at the cost. So here we are – will this film get made? Perhaps, perhaps not. For Apple, I’m sure this isn’t the only film she’ll book this year. And of course she’s going into acting now! She was never going to pursue anything else.

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Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

The ‘Ferrari or Prada’ of tomatoes: A popular U.S. food distributor has long promised premium, Italian tomatoes in its products. Two Californians claim the company is committing tomato fraud. A lawsuit filed this month alleges that Cento Fine Foods, a U.S.-based Italian food distributor, falsely labels its products as containing San Marzano tomatoes. The tomatoes in question are a premium variety that can be grown only in Italy’s Campania region and are recognized by the food industry as the “Ferrari or Prada” of tomatoes, the lawsuit claims.

No proper certification, no San Marzano tomato: The complaint alleged that the company is falsely branding its tomato products because they lack the proper certification required to use the same. “They lack the taste, consistency, and other physical characteristics associated by consumers with certified San Marzano Tomatoes,” the lawsuit states. The plaintiffs in the California suit claim they were misled by deceptive labeling when purchasing the product more than a dozen times in California stores. The lawsuit seeks class-action certification and asks the judge to award more than $25 million to customers.

To-may-to, to-mah-to: San Marzano tomatoes have protected status in the European Union, meaning that an independent consortium must regulate and certify that the product is grown in the right region and with the proper techniques before it is sold. Cento says it has the right to use the name as its tomatoes are grown in the same region. Its website offers a detailed description of its harvesting and packaging process, which it says are in line with the consortium’s guidelines. Cento’s tomatoes, however, are certified by an independent third-party agency not affiliated with the consortium. … Cento had the consortium’s certificate until the 2010s.

A similar case filed against Cento in NY was dismissed in 2020: The judge ruled in favor of Cento, ruling that a reasonable customer wasn’t likely to seek tomatoes certified by the consortium over a product that matched the same standards but was certified by a different agency.

More on Cento’s process: The third-party certifying body administers random testing throughout the growing process and tests each product that arrives at the company’s New Jersey warehouse before it is released to stores, according to the website. The website also has a traceability feature, which enables customers to use a can’s lot number to find the field in Italy where the tomatoes were grown.

[From LA Times]

First of all, yes, these tomatoes really are worth all this agita. The San Marzano tomato is prized as the premier tomato for sauce-building, thanks to the variety’s meaty flesh, low seed count, and sweet taste. (San Marzanos are also noted for their “elongated plum shape” and “pointed tip,” which no did not sound to me like descriptions for a dildo, get your mind out of the gutter!) Now that we have that simmering on the backburner, back to the case at hand. I’d question the audacity of that judge in NY to insult the tomato-educated public by suggesting we think all certifications are the same. But honestly, I’m worried about this judge’s safety, because surely the Italian pomodoro mafia consorzio has gotten to them by now. Pomodoro is just one of the four families of DOP-certifiers in Italy, along with Prosciutto di Parma, Aceto Balsamico di Modena, and Parmigiano Reggiano, aka Big Parma — remember how they sponsored an Italian gymnast at the 2024 Olympics? These are big players, mess with them at your own risk!

All that to say, I hope the judge who takes this case in California spends a bit more time stewing on the facts and all the relevant precedents before determinating a decision. You know, landmark cases like Beefsteak v. Consortiums United and Griswold v. Campari (satirical). Fraud is fraud, tomato or otherwise, and not taking it seriously is a recipe for disaster.

Photos via Instagram

Hilary finally broke her silence in late February, saying that Ashley’s version wasn’t true. In April, Meghan told Us Weekly that she was never really a part of the group and that Ashley had apologized for dragging her into it. Now, it’s Mandy’s turn to speak out. Andy Cohen asked her about it during an interview on Watch What Happens Live to promote her new movie, The Breadwinner. Mandy said the whole ordeal really upset her. She also said that she would have handled it much differently. From People:

“It’s wild to have anybody talk about your life, and I know Hilary [Duff] has sort of mentioned this too. It’s like we both have grown up in this business and had people dissect who we are and the choices we make and all of that, but this was something altogether different and decidedly way more upsetting,” she said. “It just cuts to the core.”

“The most important thing in my life is being a kind person and like that legacy of kindness, and anyone even insinuating that that might not be the case, and with the company that I choose to keep is very upsetting,” she added. “I’d say that was the biggest takeaway, sort of the shock of like, ‘Wow.'”

While she admitted to being “really scared by confrontation,” Moore explained that she’s a “huge proponent” of communication when her feelings are hurt, or she needs to get something off her chest.

“It’s not always like the most comfortable of situations, but I think that’s where I sort of differed in feeling like I wouldn’t have handled the situation this way,” she said. “I think the biggest takeaway from that whole ridiculous debacle … is that I feel like it just sort of it perpetuates this silly trope that women can’t be supportive of one another and that we’re inherently petty and that we’re inherently out to one-up each other, and I have not felt that one iota since becoming a parent.”

“I’ve actually been so surprised by the meaningful relationships I found with other moms and other parents just in general,” she continued. “That has always been my takeaway, and you need that. You need community. You need to find that support wherever you can get it. You need to be able to talk about all of that.”

[From People]

Mandy’s answer was way better than Hilary’s vague, non-answer. While Ashley has every right to share her feelings, I would have handled the situation differently. No matter how hurt I felt, I wouldn’t put a bunch of famous former friends on blast like that. I also prefer to communicate and am not afraid of confrontation. A reality TV podcast that I like once mentioned that all contestants have some form of “Main Character Syndrome,” where they all think they are the star of the show. That’s totally true in real life, and it’s what happened here. Both sides had issues and drifted apart. Ashley felt she was being left behind and decided to speak out. We’ll never know the full story, but I would still love to know what Hilary thinks “wasn’t true” about what Ashley said.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos credit: Jennifer Graylock/Avalon, Faye Sadou/Avalon, Getty Images and via Instagram

For Claudia Buonocore, the thought of parting ways with her 15-year-old Kindle Touch e-reader is painful.

“I’ve never felt the desire to have another device,” said the 39-year-old Pittsburgh area resident. “It’s ‌a part of me, a lifesaver, I fall asleep with it almost every night.”

But Buonocore and other Kindle users ‌face an unwelcome change. Amazon last month said it would end support for e-readers released in 2012 and earlier, preventing users from downloading new books or receiving ​software updates after May 20.

“It’s just a complete betrayal of customers,” said Buonocore.

Amazon will continue to support newer devices and has offered a 20% discount on recent models, priced from $110 to $680m, and $20 in e-book credits. But many Kindle loyalists are not ready to turn the page on their beloved gadgets.

Brian Oelberg has been loading up his 2010-era Kindle Keyboard with e-books since learning of Amazon’s plans, and estimates he ‌now has about 250 titles. He plans to ⁠switch off the device’s WiFi starting Wednesday to keep it safe from any software updates that wipe it clean.

Oelberg, 64, said he recently tried newer models at a Best Buy store but was unimpressed, ⁠noting they lack physical page-turn buttons. “There’s no reason for Amazon to be doing this,” said the Chicago resident, adding the buttons allow him to read outdoors in cold weather without removing gloves.

Fans of older Kindles say the devices’ durability and physical buttons are unmatched by newer versions ​such as ​the $180 Kindle Paperwhite, which they say drains battery life more quickly with ​its backlit screen.

Many technology firms phase out older devices ‌due to security, cost and other factors, prompting users to upgrade. It was not possible to determine how many devices are affected by Amazon’s move. Amazon said it had supported the devices for 14 years or more and could not continue doing so indefinitely. “Technology has come a long way in that time,” said a spokesperson.

While the company wasn’t the first to produce e-readers, it pushed them into the mainstream with the introduction of the first Kindle in 2007. Today, Amazon commands 72% of the e-reader market, according to research ‌firm Business Research Insights, though

Commentators on social media sites offer plenty of solutions ​to keeping the devices useful for years to come. That includes so-called jailbreaking, ​meaning removing software restrictions to allow other software to be ​installed; and sideloading, a means of adding books to the device from a computer, typically through a ‌USB cord.

Cathy Ryan, who repairs older Kindles for resale ​on eBay as a hobby, expects ​the change to hurt her business. The 59-year-old Vermont resident owns five Kindles and still uses a second-generation device bought in 2009.

“I suppose nothing lasts forever, but I am just really annoyed,” said Ryan.

Cathy DeMail, 69, from The Villages, ​Florida, said she sees an ulterior motive and ‌has been trying to load her device with books. “It’s a shame I am getting railroaded into this,” she said, ​adding she will likely have to buy a newer touchscreen model.

“I hate it, it’s the principle of the ​thing that bothers me.”

[From Reuters]

I feel for everyone who is scrambling to figure out a Kindle storage solution right now. The download and USB transfer option for Kindles was discontinued for Amazon e-Books in February 2025, although you can still transfer other formats like PDF, ePub and DOCX to them.

Despite how evil Amazon is, I love how convenient my Kindle is for traveling and adjusting the font size and page brightness. But, as the saying goes, the pendulum swings both ways. Once companies realize their product’s profitability, it all goes south. When they start taking away media we’ve paid for in order to force us to buy newer products, it’s just going to push people back towards physical media. This is why digital cameras and DVDs are on the rise right now. Corporate greed will always end up ruining a good product.

Amazon should make an affordable “retro edition” Kindle that includes fan-favorite features like the page turning buttons. I also think Apple missed the boat by not releasing a retro iPod in honor of its 25th anniversary. The iPod would be completely wifi-free and use a USB connection to add music. Businesses should embrace the demand for analog products. Give us more products that don’t require us to be so connected.

Photos credit: Ivett M, Mayara Klingner and Ekaterina Swiss on Pexels

Mindy Kaling is the cover interview for Bustle, all to promote her latest series, Not Suitable for Work. She’s currently show-running for this new Hulu show and Running Point on Netflix. NSFW premieres on June 2, and it follows a friend-group in their early 20s as they navigate careers, friendships and love. Within this Bustle piece, there are multiple references to BJ Novak, Mindy’s “best friend” and “godfather” to her three children. One of the first references comes during the Bustle writer’s description of Mindy’s office, full of her personal artifacts including “her old Dartmouth mailbox, gifted to her by her alma mater; the words ‘Never Complain, Never Explain’ embroidered on mustard fabric in a bedazzled frame (a gift from her close friend and ex B.J. Novak). There are also framed photos of her children — Katherine aka Kit is 8, Spencer is 5, and Anne is 2 — and a framed selfie of Kaling and Novak.” While neither Novak nor Kaling will say it out loud, I hope there are no doubts about what they’re doing. Some highlights from Mindy’s interview:

Her big plan was to become a comedy writer, get married at 24, have her first baby at 27, complete her family by 32. A teenage Kaling had laid out her personal timeline with such conviction that when she actually landed a job writing on The Office at 24 and moved to LA, it seemed only natural that the other pieces would fall into place. Instead, “literally none of that happened,” Kaling, 46, says. “All I wanted was a serious boyfriend and to follow this path that I’d set out for myself. I remember feeling like an overachiever at work and just wishing that my personal life matched my professional success — and it didn’t.”

Focusing on characters in their early 20s for NSFW: “Those time periods are just so juicy. When I was younger, I didn’t have the same compassion for 20-year-olds that I do now. I was like, They’re all my competitors. I have so much love and compassion — for both the younger version of myself and all of these characters.” Her own early 20s were full of 18-hour days spent “scraping by,” she says. “All I wanted to do was have health insurance, make money, and write on a hit show because I was so insecure and panicked about my career.”

She didn’t become community-minded until her 30s: “I didn’t come into this career in 2004 as a scared 24-year-old thinking in a community-minded way. That has completely changed in the past 20 years.”

Working with so many Indian-American actresses: “I love seeing young women, particularly young Indian American women, and how different they are than I was at the same age, how confident they are, how unafraid they are to be activists, speak their mind, do their craft.”

Her weight loss in recent years: Kaling has said she focuses on food moderation, running, hiking, and strength training. One of Kaling’s charms has always been her vocal enthusiasm for celebrity culture writ large, and she gets why some fans may feel frustrated. “It’s sometimes no fun when one of your favorite actors loses weight. You have an idea of what they were like when you grew attached to them, and it made them endear themselves to you. Of course, it’s never a joy to be scrutinized, but also I truly understand it, as someone who consumes pop culture.”

Why she lost weight: Her decision to lose weight, she says, was motivated by concerns around her health and the realization that she needs to “live at least 20 more years” for her children. “Do I wake up every day being like, ‘I look amazing and I’m so gorgeous’? No, unsurprisingly, but I truly feel so healthy,” she continues, adding that she may write about her weight-loss journey in the future. For now, she holds the boundary at talking about her motivation. “When I was younger, I would want to lose weight because of vanity reasons. Now I want to lose weight or have lost weight because I want to stave off things like diabetes. I had it on both sides of my family, and trying to avoid those kinds of things will, I think, help longevity for me, and that’s my goal.”

On BJ Novak: He’s the godfather of her three children, and the pair continue to refer to each other as “soup snakes” (an Office reference about soulmates). “He really is in our family, and I love talking about him because my kids adore him, and he’s such a huge part of our life. But I also know that it gives people a lot of ideas. If I was just watching it from the outside, I would have the same questions and the same reactions.”

She’s not dating anyone & not looking: She’s not “actively searching for that person,” she says now. “I obviously have eyes and ears, and if there was someone that I had a crush on, of course I would react to that, but right now, there is not anyone out there. It is crazy for someone like me, who only wrote about the pursuit of romance for so much of my life, to be very happy and content without a partner.”

She was never a ‘kid person’ before she became a mom: “It’s one of the biggest mysteries in my life, this fervent knowledge that I knew I had to have kids that was not based on any real love of children. B.J., for instance, he’s always been a kid person. He has a brother who’s 13 years younger than him, and he loved his little brother and just always has been a kid person. It’s such a deep mystery why I needed to do it.”

[From Bustle]

I’m fine with her not talking specifics about her weight loss, because I think for-sure she’s on a GLP-1, but I also don’t doubt that she had legitimate health reasons for going on it. Like, I buy that it’s not a vanity thing, and she literally had three children in quick succession in her late 30s and early 40s. I’m sure all of that did a number on her body and her health. I’m less fine with all of these stupid games about BJ Novak. This piece is the clearest indication yet that the theory about her children’s paternity is absolutely correct, and all of the assumptions about BJ and Mindy’s relationship are sadly correct too. And it’s just so…uncomfortable. I have a few other words for it too, but I’ll save my breath.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Here are a few photos of Donald Trump in China last week, meeting one-on-one with China’s Xi Jinping. The sheer amount of catastrophic-trainwreck stories happening this month has been ceaseless, so much so that I’m considering spamming all of the New York Times “breaking news” alerts to protect my peace and keep my blood pressure from spiking constantly. All of this to say, I don’t have the energy to even cover half of the crazy bullsh-t coming out about this deeply evil man and his equally evil supporters. For what it’s worth, Trump’s approval numbers have never been lower. They’re, like, historically low for the modern presidency. Most of that is because of the domestic economy and the enormous surge in gas prices, which has brought inflation across the board. Obviously, Trump doesn’t give a f–k.

Donald Trump downplayed still-rising gas prices amid the war in Iran, telling reporters outside the White House on Tuesday, May 19, that Americans’ financial woes pale in comparison to the possibility of Iran expanding its nuclear program.

“We have to do something with Iran. We cannot let them have a nuclear weapon,” the president said Tuesday, speaking in front of a construction site for his White House ballroom project. “You want to see the world exploded? You want to see a problem? This is peanuts.”

“I appreciate everybody putting up with it for a little while,” he added. “It won’t be much longer.”

Global gas prices have soared since the start of the war in February, increasing by more than 50% in the U.S., according to the Associated Press. Trump has proposed a temporary suspension of the gas tax to help offset consumer strain.

The president’s comments on Tuesday are consistent with earlier remarks about his administration’s approach to the war. Asked ahead of a scheduled visit to China last week whether rising costs tied to the conflict have affected his thinking, Trump responded: “Not even a little bit.”

“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody,” he said, adding that preventing Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon is “the only thing that matters.”

[From People]

Calling $7-a-gallon gas “peanuts” would be enough to sink any other presidency in history. But not this one. This would also be enough to sink any other presidency – Trump got his acting Attorney General to pinky-swear promise to end any and all audits of the Trump-family’s finances from now into perpetuity.

The Justice Department has granted President Trump, his family and businesses immunity from ongoing inquiries into their taxes, a potentially lucrative arrangement that could shield the president from significant financial liability.

The provision, quietly inserted on Tuesday as a supplement to a remarkable deal that also created a $1.8 billion compensation fund aimed at benefiting Mr. Trump’s allies, protects the president, his relatives and his businesses from pending audits and tax prosecutions.

The one-page document, signed by the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, said that the government would be “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing” pending tax claims against Mr. Trump, his family members and businesses.

The provision invited immediate criticism as tax experts raised the possibility that it was illegal.

That the addendum to the deal was posted, without fanfare, on the department’s website belied its bare-knuckled audacity. It revealed the determination of Mr. Trump and his appointees to ram through maximalist measures with minimum outside scrutiny at a moment when they still have uncontested control of government.

[From The NY Times]

If you voted for a con artist, sexual predator, tax fraud, sh-tty businessman and demented madman, this is exactly what you signed up for. Even the actual mob is probably shocked by what Trump is doing.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.