Hannah Waddingham is not an almond mom. She’s raising her tween daughter to enjoy food, even (gasp) junk food. [Buzzfeed]
Kylie Jenner isn’t going to any more Knicks games! [JustJared]
Brad Pitt went to a Mercedes car unveiling but not Zahara’s graduation. [LaineyGossip]
The guy who was thrown in jail for posting a meme got a six-figure settlement. Good, but he deserved a lot more money! [Jezebel]
I’m only four episodes into The Other Bennett Sister, I don’t want to know how it ends! I didn’t even know that it’s getting a second season! [Pajiba]
Charles Melton in Cannes! [Socialite Life]
We’re going to see the Loch Ness Monster before we see Aaron Rodgers’ mystery wife, I swear to god. Rodgers also announced that he’s retiring after this coming NFL season. [Hollywood Life]
I’m still in awe of the fact that this Jimmy Stewart biopic was greenlit. [Seriously OMG]
Cannes photocall pics. [RCFA]
Current tweens could not care less about Gerri Halliwell. [OMG Blog]

Several days ago, the chief executive of the Duchy of Cornwall made a big announcement. The duchy plans to “sell off” a fifth of their real estate holdings and turn that money into affordable housing and environmentally-friendly housing. This is Prince William’s big scheme for the ancient duchy – liquidating assets, shuffling the money around and hoping that no one ever mentions the word “audit.” Unsurprisingly, this big announcement was met with a collective shrug – not even Buckingham Palace seemed to care, and King Charles was the one who transformed the duchy into what it is today. William is ripping apart his father’s legacy, as well as the legacy Prince George will one day inherit. But I think the collective shrug had more to do with William’s lengthy history of overpromising and underdelivering – people simply don’t believe that he’s going to oversee some huge changes. Well, royalists are big mad that William’s big duchy news was barely a 24-hour story. So Richard Eden is now trying to convince us that William’s duchy news “spells disaster for Harry and Meghan’s future.” Pitiful.

Often characterised as ‘work-shy’ and reluctant to undertake the vast number of engagements carried out by members of the Royal Family decades his senior, Prince William will have surprised some people with one particular piece of news this week.

Not his unfettered celebrations last night in Istanbul with some of his oldest friends – as Aston Villa, the football team he so passionately supports, won the Europa League, their first major trophy in 30 years. No, it was the announcement that the heir to the throne would sell off a fifth of the Duchy of Cornwall, the £1billion estate which he inherited after his father became King in 2022. The sell-off will happen over the next ten years, as William plans to invest £500million in tackling the crises in nature and housing.

…No one will have read William’s announcement this week more closely than the Duke of Sussex, who was always envious of his brother’s position of heir to the Duchy of Cornwall and future king.

Prince Harry and Meghan quit official duties to seek a fortune across the Atlantic before attacking the Royal Family at every opportunity. Despite this, King Charles has declined to take any action against his son and daughter-in-law.

He has allowed Harry to retain his position, fifth in the line of succession. He has also permitted the pair to keep their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles, even though they regularly use them in their commercial activities, in apparent defiance of the agreement made with the late Queen Elizabeth at the ‘Sandringham summit’ in 2020.

Even more generously, the King has allowed Harry to remain a Counsellor of State, meaning that he could, in theory at least, stand in for the monarch if Charles was unable to carry out his duties because of illness.

‘William will take a much harder line with Harry and Meghan when he’s king,’ predicts one of his friends, who declines to spell out exactly what that will mean for the California-based couple.

What we can deduce from this week’s radical announcement about the Duchy of Cornwall – as well as his intense display of emotion at the Aston Villa game in Istanbul – is that William will be different. And that whatever action he takes against the Sussexes, it will be dramatic.

[From The Daily Mail]

Could it be that Prince William is also overpromising on the Sussexes? For years, “sources close to William” have insisted that William will punish and destroy Harry and Meghan, he’ll take away their titles, he’ll order them to stop making money, he’ll strip them of their Montecito mansion!! And like everything else, William can’t deliver on his promises. He runs away and hides whenever Harry is in town. He hides behind unnamed sources and palace insiders. He gets his henchmen to do his half-assed dirty work. Anyway, I have no idea what William’s duchy news has to do with Harry & Meghan, but this is the only way the left-behinds can make news anymore. “Harry was paying attention to William’s announcement, we swear! Harry is worried!”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

On Sunday, Zahara Jolie graduated from Spelman College after earning her four-year Bachelor’s degree. Apparently, Angelina Jolie and all of Zahara’s siblings were in Atlanta for the graduation, and the family happily celebrated Zahara’s achievement. As she walked up to receive her diploma, the name read out was “Zahara Marley Jolie,” meaning Zahara completely dropped “Pitt” from her surname throughout college. We’ve seen that before, when Zahara joined a sorority, she also went by “Jolie” and not “Jolie-Pitt.”

The day after Z’s graduation, a “source close to Angelina” told TMZ that Brad Pitt did not reach out to Zahara before or around her graduation, and that “nothing prevented him from showing up for her. Or ever visiting her. The day was about all she accomplished. Not whether he was willing to attend.” Sources also confirmed that Brad did not contact anyone about getting a ticket to Zahara’s graduation.

Well, Brad and his mangy team of crisis managers were absolutely furious that Angelina got that information in TMZ. A Pitt source told Entertainment Tonight: “It’s sad that someone would distract from this happy occasion by needlessly attacking a father who has been alienated from his family.” Ah, the ol’ parental-alienation chestnut. It’s literally been a decade and four of the kids are adults who can choose to see him or reconcile with him if they want. There’s a reason why they haven’t, and it’s not because Angelina may or may not have referred to Brad as a d–khead (which, btw, I don’t even think she’s done). Specifically with Zahara, this is the child whom Brad failed to acknowledge as his first-born daughter. When Shiloh dropped “Pitt” from her name legally, Pitt sources said: “He’s aware and upset that Shiloh dropped his last name. He’s never felt more joy than when she was born. He always wanted a daughter.” Zahara is more than a year older than Shiloh.

Top 7 stories about the Jolie-Pitt children dropping ‘Pitt’ as a last name

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s children have systematically dropped ‘Pitt’ from their last names and are going by Jolie, both informally and legally. Get the top 7 stories about this when you subscribe to our mailing list!

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Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Given how Prince William apparently has a huge temper and he’s constantly throwing “great bellowing tantrums,” I often wonder how William’s staff approaches him about changing some part of his image or behavior. Clearly, “the heir is an air-punching football hooligan” look is a bad one for the monarchy and just a bad look in general. So one does get the sense that someone was tasked with telling William, “maybe if you go to another football match, you should try not to appear on camera throwing your fists around and braying like a donkey.”

All of which to say, William’s favorite team, Aston Villa, won a title on Wednesday and William didn’t make a horse’s ass out of himself. It was a keen miracle! William stayed mostly calm – with brief interludes of pensive watching and a few bursts of joy – while watching the Europa League final between the Villains and Freiburg. Aston Villa took the trophy, 0-3, ending a 30-year title drought for the club.

William flew all the way to Istanbul to watch his favorite team win this trophy. Which wouldn’t be so notable, except he’s refused to actually travel to watch football matches when it’s his job. The Lionesses were in the Women’s World Cup final in 2023, and William’s big excuses for not flying to Australia for the final were: “I’m on vacation” and “I’m too much of an environmentalist to fly to football matches, even if it’s my job.” Turns out, he’s more than willing to fly thousands of miles to watch football when it’s not work and it’s not about women’s football. And why isn’t anyone calling him out on his environmental hypocrisy???? Where are all of the “Eco-warrior Peg flies to Istanbul, wastes eleventy billion gallons of petrol” headlines?

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Getty Images.

The Kardashian-Jenners are, for the most part, terrible pet-parents. Kylie seems like the exception – I believe she cares about her dogs. But in general, the sisters are missing the pet-parent gene. It’s gotten more difficult for them because they have kids who want pets, and the K-Js refuse to say “no, we’re not good with pets, it’s our family curse.” Well, Khloe apparently has two cats. She got the cats for her daughter True, and instead of reading about cats or talking to other cat people, Khloe just did whatever she felt like. So she declawed her poor cats and now they’re miserable. Jesus, this is awful.

Khloé Kardashian has regrets about how she raised her two cats, Grey Kitty and Baby Kitty. The reality TV star, 41, opened up about caring for the felines in the Wednesday, May 20 episode of her Khloé In Wonder Land podcast. In the episode, Kardashian revealed that she was “misadvised” about declawing them and now regrets it.

Kardashian got her cats, Grey Kitty and Baby Kitty, for her daughter True, now 8. She also has a son, Tatum, now 3. She shares both kids with her ex, Tristan Thompson.

“I was really misadvised about getting my cats declawed. I’ve never owned cats before. I didn’t even know that was a thing. I feel really, really terrible that I did go in this direction,” she said about declawing on her podcast, adding that it made her cats “miserable.”

“My cats wear Air Tags, like they’re not allowed to even go near a door. I’m so afraid if they get out, because they have no way to defend themselves. They’ve lost their protection tools, so it makes me sad,” Kardashian continued.

The American Veterinary Medical Association “strongly discourages” veterinarians from performing surgical procedures “intended to prevent the normal use of the animal’s claws that is not medically necessary. Scratching is a normal behavior of cats that conditions the claws, serves as a visual and scent territorial marker, allows for self-defense, and provides healthy muscle engagement through stretching,” the organization said, adding that the declawing procedure is “acutely painful” and may cause chronic pain.

According to the AVMA, six states and the District of Columbia have legislation banning the declawing of cats for non-medical reasons. The states with bans are California, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. In addition, the cities of Austin, Denver, Madison, Wis., St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Allentown, Penn., also have declawing bans.

The Good American founder also spoke about her cats initially not getting along. She first got Grey Kitty, whom she described as a “saint of a cat,” and then Baby Kitty. However, when Baby Kitty was introduced to the household, Grey Kitty “started peeing on one of the beds to tell us that she hates us and she’s pissed that we have another cat.”

Kardashian said she received “tips and tricks” on how to help the cats, including using a pheromone collar, but the accidents continued. She eventually found out that Baby Kitty started mimicking the other cat’s behavior.

“I had to put cameras to see which cat was doing it. I found it was Baby Kitty. Grey Kitty is back to being an angel, and now I have Baby Kitty, who’s a demon right now,” she said on the podcast about the current situation.

Kardashian also has a black Labrador named Peppermint, which she got for her family around Christmas 2025.

[From People]

If you’re already bad with cats, why would you get a second cat only to scapegoat it and call it a demon? And the declawing issue is horrible. I’ve had and my family had dozens of cats throughout my lifetime. I was raised with cat siblings, you know? Cats are simple creatures and they need their claws. It’s genuinely inhumane and evil to declaw cats just because YOU are an idiot and YOU are too stupid to read up on cats. Declawing was only recently banned in California, and it’s likely she got her cats declawed before it was illegal. But it’s clear that she didn’t read up on the procedure whatsoever, nor did she seek advice from actual cat people. What an awful story to tell on her stupid podcast as well.

Photos courtesy of Khloe’s Instagram.

Underneath all of the keenery around Prince William, Kate Middleton and the Wales children, some truths are buried. While royalists put their spin on the “spare” issue, it’s clear that the monarchy is quite concerned about how the Wales children are being raised, and whether Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis can “break the spare cycle” of dysfunction and neglect. I would say no, the Wales family will not be able to break the spare cycle, and both William and Kate know it too. Which is why we’ve also started getting stories about how William (in particular) doesn’t want Charlotte and Louis to be working royals, and how he wants to ensure that they have their own money too. All of which to say, William has telegraphed the fact that he doesn’t want his kids growing up in the same kind of system. Still, that doesn’t sell newspapers, which is why they’re desperately trying to make it sound like Charlotte will be the perfect working royal for years to come, just like Princess Anne!

Princess Charlotte is set to take on the prestigious Princess Royal title and follow in the footsteps of hardworking Princess Anne, according to a royal expert. The 11-year-old daughter of the Prince and Princess of Wales has long been destined for a special title when her father ascends the throne. The late Queen Elizabeth II, for instance, bestowed additional honours on all of her children.

But while King Charles is said to be keen for Charlotte to take on the Duchess of Edinburgh’s title one day, royal author Robert Hardman believes there may be another rather special title the monarch has in mind.

‘I think she’ll be the Princess Royal, as Anne is,’ Mr Hardman, author of Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, told HELLO! ‘There’s no better model.’

Traditionally, the monarch’s eldest daughter is given the Princess Royal title. However, the title is not hereditary, meaning that it will not be passed down to Anne’s daughter, Zara Tindall.

While Anne, 75, will hold the title for the rest of her life, once she dies, it will be returned to the Crown and would have to be officially bestowed upon Charlotte as it is not automatically inherited.

Mr Hardman added that the monarch could opt to give Charlotte the Duchess of Edinburgh title as it is unlikely to go to Prince Edward’s children. However, he believes there is a stronger chance he may select the Princess Royal title, as it better aligns with Charlotte’s conscientious and down-to-earth nature.

[From The Daily Mail]

This is all just wishful thinking by Hardman and other royal biographers, in my opinion. While the logistics are true – that William could give Charlotte the “Princess Royal” title when Anne passes away – I just don’t think it’s going to happen. Think about how William wants to operate as king. Think about how many things he’s refusing to do right now, and how uncomfortable he is with all of the royal flummery. It’s not like he’s going to become king and suddenly have a huge buy into the system, and he’ll want to see his children in tiaras and velvet robes. Come on. That would interfere with his Aston Villa chatrooms. Now, I can absolutely see Kate wanting all of this, because the titles and jewels and robes are basically the only reason why she’s still there. Of course Kate wants that for her kids.

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

Would you believe that “royal commentators” are STILL complaining about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s so-called “quasi-royal” tours? A month ago, Prince Harry and Meghan wrapped up a successful four-day visit to Australia, where they traveled on their own dime, made some commercial and charitable appearances and generated a lot of goodwill and positivity. Harry followed that up by spending a few days in Ukraine, and Meghan just went solo to Geneva to inaugurate the Lost Screen Memorial. Before all of that, Harry and Meghan were in Jordan for a multi-day visit attached to WHO. This is simply what they’ve done this year – in recent years, Harry has taken two other trips to Ukraine, and the Sussexes have visited Nigeria, Jamaica, Colombia, Canada and all of the countries hosting the Invictus Games. According to royal commentators, all of this needs to stop!

Eight years after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot in a fairy-tale Windsor wedding, they are still doing things their way. Since their bombshell royal exit in 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have rewritten the rulebook with Hollywood deals, tell-all interviews and headline-grabbing moves, reportedly drawing growing concern from palace aides and senior royals.

“There is a huge difference between what the monarchy has to offer and what Harry and Meghan are currently doing,” royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told Fox News Digital. “This was underlined by King Charles’ highly successful state visit to the United States and Princess Catherine’s two-day visit to Italy, her first official trip in over three years. However, in attempting to have something similar to the ‘half-in, half-out’ position within the royal family, which Queen Elizabeth rejected, the Sussexes have shown that their brand still gets huge amounts of publicity.”

“What Queen Elizabeth II viewed as totally and utterly unacceptable has been adopted by the Sussexes as their modus operandi, blurring the line between being private citizens and wannabe celebrities while leveraging their royal connections,” British royals expert Hilary Fordwich claimed to Fox News Digital. “Each trip they make is styled to be rather like a faux royal tour as they seem to monetize almost every moment.”

“It was nonetheless impertinent of them to go on a visit to Australia in April, which was, in all but name, a royal tour as it is one of the king’s realms,” Fitzwilliams said. “Their mix of charitable events, including military-related appearances, also included commercial ventures, from Meghan’s wellness weekend to Harry’s speech on mental health.”

British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard told Fox News Digital she believes the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are “absolutely blurring the lines between private business and monarchy business.”

“Successful working members of the royal family work as a team, supporting the king in his many state and national duties,” she explained. “They do not compete. Both Harry and Meghan realize that, despite leaving royal life years ago, their global relevance is determined by their royal status. They have appeared internationally in what many claim to be self-serving lookalike royal tours involving charity work in a bid to monetize their royal status. However, they are no longer working royals…. The optics no doubt confuse people, blurring the distinction between the Sussexes and the official monarchy, especially as Harry considers himself a working royal.”

[From Fox News]

When they accidentally admit what’s really bugging them, that’s what gives me the dopamine hit: “the Sussexes have shown that their brand still gets huge amounts of publicity…” There it is. That’s why the royalists are screaming, crying and throwing up about the Sussexes’ tours. These people want to argue that it’s “unfair” for Harry and Meghan to get “huge amounts of publicity” because the Sussexes no longer work for the Firm. They want to say that publicity is OWED to the left-behinds alone because of their working-royal status, and the Sussexes have “stolen” the publicity meant for the Windsors. Because that’s how they ALL think – that this is zero-sum, that there’s only one “pie” and the dull left-behinds are fighting for a slice of attention while Harry & Meghan “take” the biggest slice.

Top 8 stories about Harry and Meghan’s successful trip to Australia

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

There’s something about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s visible and obvious happiness that drives people insane. Meghan shared tons of photos for her eighth wedding anniversary, and she also shared some photos and videos of Prince Harry holding a cake and presenting her with a special gift of a bronze sculpture of two penguins. It was all very sweet and Sussex-fans love seeing a glimpse of their happy home life and we also enjoyed seeing all of those behind-the-scenes wedding photos. However, the Sussex critics have been crying about all of this throughout the week. Apparently, the cake is fake and/or from several years ago. Apparently, the penguins are cringe! Apparently, Harry hates being famous, that’s why he allows his wife to humiliate him!

One of my favorite things about all of the anniversary stuff was that Meghan somewhat meticulously chose photos without any of Harry’s family. There was one pic where you could sort of see King Charles, but she really just posted herself and her husband. Which seems obvious enough, since it was their anniversary and not some kind of commentary on the Windsors. Well, the Windsors would like to be included in this narrative!! They also want attention for NOT addressing the Sussex anniversary.

The Royal Family reportedly did not reach out to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on their wedding anniversary, despite the Duchess of Sussex marking it in a very public way. The Montecito-based couple celebrated eight years of marriage on Tuesday with an anniversary cake presented by their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, four. Meghan, 44, documented the moment on her Instagram Story, and also shared a string of previously unseen moments from their May 19, 2018, wedding at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.

Despite the Sussexes’ very public celebration, a source has claimed Harry’s family made no attempt to congratulate them.

“There was no phone call, no private message, no peace offering — absolutely nothing,” a source told Rob Shuter. “The silence was very intentional.”

Meghan’s Instagram pictures noticeably excluded members of the Royal Family, which apparently “did not go unnoticed” by the Palace.

“That omission did not go unnoticed,” another source told the journalist. “The photos focused entirely on Harry and Meghan. It was like the royals had been erased from the story.”

King Charles is seen in just one of the 24 photographs, with his back to the camera as he got ready to walk Meghan down the aisle.

[From Sky News]

There wasn’t actually silence from the Windsors – both Prince William and King Charles made sure to announce random bullsh-t on May 19th, and there were some attempts by the left-behinds to “pull focus” from the Sussexes. But yeah, the rest of it is true – none of the royal social media accounts posted photos or wished Harry and Meghan a happy anniversary. And it’s clear that Meghan didn’t want to even think about or see her husband’s family in the photos she posted. So… that’s the story, right? Meghan has been over it for years. And the Windsors are like “WHY DOESN’T SHE ACKNOWLEDGE US WHEN WE’RE IGNORING HER?”

There’s another reason why the Windsors don’t want to acknowledge the anniversary as well – because they tried everything to sabotage the wedding, then they openly pushed for Harry to divorce Meghan and “send her back to America.” They called her a “Degree Wife” and ranted at her 24-7. They never thought that Harry would choose her over them.

Screencaps courtesy of Netflix’s ‘Harry & Meghan’.

Finally, some of the fashion girls are making late appearances at the Cannes Film Festival. While Cannes has made news this month, precious little of that news was for style or glamour. Bella Hadid is in Cannes because of her modeling contracts, and she usually wears some interesting stuff at the festival. At last night’s premieres, Bella wore a custom Schiaparelli, and it’s a look based on a famous/infamous dress worn by Jane Birkin in Paris in 1969. Birkin’s look was probably off-the-rack, worn with Birkin’s insouciance and je ne sais quoi, while Bella’s Schiaparelli look apparently took hundreds of man-hours to achieve.

Demi Moore wore an unusual Thom Browne, with Chopard jewelry. The detailing on the white dress is super-fussy, with a row of tiny buttons going up the bodice. But I like the idea of this, honestly – the fitted white gown with a loose black “necktie.”

Ruth Negga’s Loewe was nothing special but her styling was amazing here – she needs to keep the people who did her hair and makeup for this look.

Halsey wore a custom Vivienne Westwood. This is so bad! But it’s Cannes, and usually there are like fifty dresses like this on every red carpet.

At least two women were in Dior, and I can safely say that Dior does not give a f–k these days. Why is DIOR dressing Alexa Chung and Ruth Wilson like there was an explosion at the fugly dress factory??

And finally, my nemesis Laura Dern was there with her father, Bruce Dern, who attended Cannes for the premiere of the “Dernsie” documentary. Reportedly, Laura Dern is also around because she was filming The White Lotus (which is set during and around Cannes).

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Cover Images.

King Charles and Camilla have been undertaking their annual tour of Northern Ireland this week, and I’m including some photos from their visit in this post. They truly do this every spring or early summer – spend about three days in Northern Ireland, check out the local drinks and cuisine, plant a few trees, host a garden party, and do a few walkabouts. It’s been unremarkable this year, although it should be said, Charles will be the last monarch to do any of this. Do you think William will spend three days in Northern Ireland every spring, opening up a castle and glad-handing? No. Come on. The reason why we’re being forced to think about William’s reign (of terror) is because a British radio station wrongly announced Charles’ passing yesterday. Charles isn’t dead, he’s just in Northern Ireland, guys.

A radio station has apologised for “any distress caused” after accidentally announcing that King Charles had died. The erroneous announcement was made on Tuesday afternoon due to a computer error at Radio Caroline’s main studio in Essex.

Station manager Peter Moore wrote on Facebook: “Due to a computer error at our main studio, the Death of a Monarch procedure, which all UK stations hold in readiness while hoping not to require, was accidentally activated on Tuesday afternoon (19 May), mistakenly announcing that HM the King had passed away.

“Radio Caroline then fell silent as would be required, which alerted us to restore programming and issue an on-air apology. Caroline has been pleased to broadcast Her Majesty the Queen’s, and now the king’s, Christmas message and we hope to do so for many years to come. We apologise to HM the king and to our listeners for any distress caused.”

The post did not say how long it was before the mistake was discovered but on Wednesday afternoon, playback for Tuesday’s broadcast between 1.58pm and 5pm was unavailable on the station’s website.

The incident came as the king and queen were in Northern Ireland, where they joined a folk group for a performance. Charles and Camilla also watched dancers and sipped Irish whiskey in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter on the first day of their trip.

[From The Guardian]

This is wild. Even more wild? Radio Caroline interrupted 4 Non Blonde’s “What’s Up” to falsely announce the king’s death. I’m conspiratorial by nature, so I do wonder if this mistake was as innocent as Radio Caroline claims. I’m not saying the conspiracy is about Charles, but I just don’t believe the announcement happened because of a computer glitch. (Also: if this had been real, the Scooter King was in Istanbul, watching football.)

NEW: The moment Radio Caroline accidentally announced the death of King Charles live on air

King Charles has not passed away pic.twitter.com/RpBzoCmcFa

— Politics Global (@PolitlcsGlobal) May 20, 2026

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

The outlet reports the transaction took place months after a dispute with the company managing the property was settled in a U.S. arbitration court. The court ultimately ruled in favor of a full transfer to the heirs of Princess Ileana, who inherited the castle from her mother, Queen Marie.

Immediately after the acquisition, Profit.ro reports Ad Populum started to recruit staff to handle daily operations including ticket sales, maintenance, event organization, and tours.

In an emailed statement shared with PEOPLE, an Ad Populum spokesperson noted the purchase is in regards to the business operations of Bran Castle, while the property itself remains owned by the Habsburg family, Princess Ileana’s heirs.

They said: “The family has partnered with Joel Weinshanker, who joins as their strategic partner to help elevate the castle’s standing as a premier international destination. The partnership spans several priorities, including expanding tourism to Bran Castle and the surrounding region from the United States and Western Europe, building on the family’s longstanding stewardship of one of Europe’s most iconic cultural landmarks.”

Bran Castle, Romania’s most popular tourist destination, attracts more than a million visitors each year. It boasts a mix of vampire lore, medieval history, and royal heritage. The attraction brought in a record-breaking profit of nearly $7 million in 2024, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Although Stoker used the castle as inspiration for Dracula, he never actually visited Romania, according to Bran Castle’s website. Instead, he primarily based his work on a depiction of the property available in England.

The character of Dracula was fictional, but the name derives from a nickname given to Vlad the Impaler, ruler of Wallachia between 1456-1462, who was described as a ruthless and bloodthirsty leader.

[From People]

What do you mean Dracula was fictional?? Geez, give a girl a spoiler warning before relaying sensitive info! But no really, it is apparently a point of confusion, as Bran Castle’s own website includes this disclaimer: “It is desirable that visitors to Bran Castle distinguish between the historical reality of Bran and its character. Count Dracula from his novel Bram Stoker Dracula was and remains an imaginary character.” That statement says to me that poor guides onsite spend most of their days breaking the news to wishful tourists that Dracula was not a real person, however much the character was modeled on real life figure Vlad the Impaler. You know, the “ruthless and bloodthirsty” guy? Guess who he’s a distant cousin of? King Charles III!!! No wonder Chuck holds onto his own Transylvanian pile. In any event, I hope the new management proves to be the boon Bran Castle needed to stay afloat and open to the (paying) public. I’m just a little wary of possible cross-brand contamination within Ad Populum’s portfolio. The world doesn’t need a Count Dracula Bat Chia Pet, is what I’m saying.

PS — Bram Stoker didn’t even see the castle in person? HACK!

Photos credit: IMAGO/Peter Schickert/Avalon, IMAGO/Zoonar.com/Phil Bird/Avalon, Ferrari – Look/Look Press/Avalon

Katie Holmes stepped out last night at the American Ballet Theatre Spring Gala. Her mom was her date and they looked very happy and relaxed. Katie is a long-time supporter of the ABT, and she usually comes out for their galas. Last night, she was even honored as a longtime patron, with the ABT releasing a statement: “A longtime friend of the Company, Holmes is a passionate advocate for the arts whose work reflects a deep appreciation for creativity and storytelling. Her connection to ABT underscores a genuine love of classical ballet and a shared commitment to nurturing the next generation of artists.” That’s nice. They gave her an award for supporting ballet.

Meanwhile, can we talk about her two-piece dress? It’s soooo bad. From the neck up, Katie looks great – fresh, pretty. But the dress is so bad, no designer is even claiming credit for it. The bust is tragic and the peplum is an atrocity! It’s just unflattering across the board.

Katie also made news this week for doing a GRWM makeup video on Instagram, in conjunction with Merit. She’s being praised for not looking Botoxed to hell or like she’s in and out of the surgeon’s office. She even says in the video that she’s a ‘90s kid and she thinks it’s cool to go makeup-free still, to this day (I share that belief).

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Photos courtesy of Cover Images.