It’s time for another chapter in Nicki Minaj and Cardi B’s dumb feud. I’m still Team Cardi, to preface this post. I know a lot of Minaj’s fans will say “but Cardi said this, Cardi said some problematic sh-t,” and yeah, I know. But I’m still Team Cardi IN THIS PARTICULAR SITUATION. Nicki Minaj is the a–hole. Minaj is the one who doesn’t play well with other women. Minaj is the one who was trying to instigate some beef with Cardi for months before Cardi reacted at New York Fashion Week in September. When Minaj got what she wanted – Cardi getting angry and acknowledging Minaj – Minaj then played the victim and continued to slander Cardi. Cardi has always claimed that Minaj talked sh-t about her baby, which I believe too.

So, what’s happening? Because Minaj’s tour was canceled (because people are over her and she’s not even one-tenth as relevant as Cardi), she has tons of free time to talk sh-t on her “Queen Radio.” She started instigating some sh-t with Cardi again yesterday, claiming different things about Cardi, like Cardi wasn’t really assaulted by one of Nicki’s bodyguards, and Cardi has been using her influence to stop people collaborating with Nicki, and that she (Nicki) didn’t leak Cardi’s private phone number. Cardi reacted once again, this time in a series of Instagram videos where she refuted all of Minaj’s bulls–t point by point. You can read a thorough summary of all the back-and-forth here at Pitchfork.

True to form, Nicki Minaj acted all indignant and pleased that she’d gotten a rise out of Cardi, even if it was just Cardi calling her out on her lies. Cardi told Minaj: “I’m tired of talking about it too. I’m tired of the f–king whole internet sh-t, I’m tired of the interview sh-t. If you really wanna talk about it, you know where to link me. … We can talk about it, or we can fight it out. I’m with whatever.” Then Nicki tweeted: “I’ll pay you to take a lie detector test about every claim I made on #QueenRadio. You won’t. I must admit you’re a convincing liar.” Nicki invited Cardi on Queen Radio, then tweeted “I know this stuff is entertaining & funny to a lot of people but I won’t be discussing this nonsense anymore.” For the love of God, Nicki, YOU STARTED IT.

I know why Cardi responded to Minaj, and why she felt like she could set the record straight. But at some point, Cardi has to admit to herself that Minaj is just one of those a–holes always looking to start some drama. Minaj is going to poke and prod and talk sh-t to try to get a reaction. Perhaps the best thing for Cardi to do at this point is refuse to engage. If Cardi is asked a direct question about Minaj, she can just shrug and say “that woman is not even important enough to waste my time on.”

Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid.

These days, I tend to forget about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s announced events. It’s partially because I sort of phased out the idea that we would be seeing much of Kate for the rest of the year, because that’s what Kensington Palace indicated. For all of her plans to be keen, Kate can’t help but lower expectations, so that it will be a pleasant surprise when she does a few events a month. Today, William and Kate were out in Essex to visit the Coach Core Essex program. It has to do with sports and student-athletes and it’s one of Kate’s issues, I believe.

For this appearance, Kate wore a new-to-us blazer which appears to be from Smythe, paired with black jeggings, a black turtleneck and possibly a repeated pair of morganite drop earrings (IDs courtesy of WhatKateWore). I’d venture to say that Kate has a fresh haircut/trim too – her hair seems shorter than I remember. I think she’s also done some subtle highlights, because her hair looks vaguely lighter too.

She looks fine here – it’s a sporty event, and she’s basically doing an all-black sporty ensemble with a cute patterned blazer. The outfit feels somewhat influenced by how Meghan has been putting together some of her ensembles too. I’m not saying Kate is copying Meghan, I’m saying that the two women are influencing each other’s style, for better or for button-slathered worse. (LOL, as soon as I wrote all that, I saw that the Daily Mail used the same angle, claiming that Kate “looks smart in a £600 Meghan-inspired checked blazer” and that Kate is “taking style tips from the royal tour!” LMAO.)

Photos courtesy of WENN.

One week away from the midterms. I’m honestly low-key hatching some escape routes and secondary plans for what I’ll do if we don’t take back the House and Senate. I’m too jumpy and scared all the time now, and every political story seems to be the absolute worst, or the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever read. So, take your pick among these terrible stories:

Mike Pence got a “Christian Rabbi” to pray for the synagogue victims. Pence did a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and instead of doing the work to find a local rabbi, they got a “Messianic Jewish Rabbi” named Loren Jacobs to intone prayers to… “Jesus the Messiah.” Messianic Jews believe in Jesus, and Messianic Jews are not considered Jewish by mainstream or traditional Jewish sects. Wouldn’t it have been easier to just GET A REAL RABBI?

Rabbi Loren Jacobs of Messianic synagogue Shema Yisrael offers prayer before VP Pence speaks at Michigan campaign event: “God of Abraham … God and Father of my Lord and Savior Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah…hate inspired shooting in synagogue in Pittsburgh”https://t.co/tRwFvBTjYE pic.twitter.com/u6JJCfdhgj

— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) October 29, 2018

Jeff Sessions got “heckled” by a Methodist pastor. AG Sessions was fearmongering about migrants in caravans when a Methodist pastor began quoting scripture. Sessions was so upset, and he claimed this man of God had “attacking” him, and security literally threw the pastor out of the event.

Religious leaders interrupt Sessions: “Brother Jeff, as a fellow United Methodist I call upon you to repent, to care for those in need.”

Sessions responds: “Well thank you for those remarks and attack but I would just tell you we do our best.”

They were escorted out. (via ABC) pic.twitter.com/BQEaUMXzdi

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 29, 2018

Trump wants to terminate birthright citizenship. As in, he wants to make it so that babies born on American soil to non-citizen parents would not have immediate citizenship. Several of Trump’s own children are anchor babies, by the way.

Trump watches TV all day. I mean, we knew that already, but Politico had a lengthy article yesterday which reiterated the point – Trump has about nine hours on most days where he has nothing on his schedule, where he just sits around and gossips on the phone and watches Fox News and tweets. This is called “Executive Time.” This is what we, as taxpayers, are paying for.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

For years now, we’ve been asking the question, “What IS wrong with Lena Dunham?” Lena Dunham, who gets off on being problematic. Lena Dunham, the toxic narcissist who makes every event and every interaction all about Lena Dunham. Lena Dunham, the woman who described her rape in the same book she described molesting her little sister. Lena Dunham, who publicly accused another rape victim of lying, just because the young woman said she had been raped by one of Lena’s friends. That same Lena Dunham – what IS wrong with her? One explanation might be that she was whacked out on tranquilizers for years.

Lena Dunham has reached six months of sobriety after “misusing” benzodiazepines, specifically Klonopin. The Girls star opened up about this milestone during Monday’s episode of Dax Shepard’s podcast, Armchair Expert. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Klonopin is a benzodiazepine that can be used to treat panic disorders. Dunham told Shepard benzodiazepines are often “normalized” in their industry and that she started taking them when she had to “show up to things I didn’t feel equipped to show up for.” At first, it seemed like the drug helped.

“I wasn’t just happy,” the actress explained. “It was like suddenly I felt like the part of me I knew was there was freed up to do her thing.” However, she soon started taking the drug much more frequently. “It stopped being I take one when I fly,” she said, “and it started being, like, I take one when I’m awake.”

She was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Even though the drug wasn’t making her feel better, she worried about what her life would be like it she stopped taking it. “It stopped feeling like I had panic attacks and started feeling like I was a living panic attack,” Dunham said. “The only thing that was notable were the moments in the day when I didn’t feel like I was going to barf and faint.”

In fact, Dunham admitted “there was a solid three years where I was, to put it lightly, misusing benzos.” Now that Dunham is sober, she claims the “literal smell of a pill bottle makes me want to throw up. I thought medication was allowing me to be more myself. I can see all of the things that the world [brought] upon me. I don’t blame myself for my illness; I don’t blame myself for the sexual abuse I experienced; I don’t blame myself for the physical abuse I experienced; I don’t blame myself for the challenges of being a woman in this world, and an anxious woman in this world, and living in this body. But I do see the way that I medicated myself, negatively impacted people around me, and decimated my decision making and hurt my creativity. So, I just feel, literally like, on my knees grateful every single day.”

[From E! News]

Alright, let me do the boilerplate sh-t so we can get it out of the way: if this helps one person who is struggling with a prescription drug addiction, then it’s good thing. And I’m glad Lena shared it, because maybe it will genuinely help people. It’s a huge problem, this whole “doctors just passing out prescription drugs like candy” thing. Even TV stars like Lena deal with those kinds of problems. So good for her for talking about it.

…. Now, can I just say? She’s one of the most annoying people ever. She started taking tranquilizers to “show up to things I didn’t feel equipped to show up for.” Like, work or awards shows or the Met Gala. She got hooked on tranquilizers because she HAD to walk red carpets, you guys. As for her riff on how she doesn’t blame herself for anything that happened… like, I understand the point she’s trying to make. But surely some of the horrible sh-t she did and said during that time IS HER FAULT.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Backgrid.

There are so many constants every year. Every Halloween, at least one celebrity – and usually more like a half-dozen celebs – will choose a completely stupid and inappropriate Halloween costume. They’ll “wear” someone’s race or ethnicity as a “costume.” They’ll do blackface, or wear a Native American headdress. But this is somewhat new: Shaun White decided to dress up as a movie character for a Halloween party. The character: Simple Jack, from the movie-within-the-movie in Tropic Thunder. Ben Stiller’s character, Tugg Speedman, is famous for playing a “Simple Jack,” an intellectually disabled man.

Some would argue that within Tropic Thunder, the Simple Jack character was a high-minded – perhaps “meta” – commentary on actors making terrible career decisions. You have to remember, just a few years before Tropic Thunder was made, Sean Penn was nominated for a g–damn Oscar for I Am Sam, and the “Simple Jack” character felt almost like very specific commentary about Penn’s performance. But enough about film history – why did a current Olympian decide to dress up as Simple Jack for Halloween? Ugh. Everyone’s pretty disgusted:

Shaun White is under fire from special needs parents AND the Special Olympics over his Halloween costume — Simple Jack from “Tropic Thunder.” Remember, when the movie came out back in 2008, several disabilities groups blasted Ben Stiller and the flick for the character — an intellectually disabled man who is repeatedly referred to as the r-word.

Now, 10 years later … White thought it would be a good idea to trot out the costume for a Halloween party and people are pissed. In fact, a rep for the Special Olympics tells TMZ Sports …”We are truly disappointed that Shaun White, an acclaimed Olympian, would choose this costume which is so offensive and causes so much pain. Disability is not a joke nor should it be a punchline. We hope that Shaun White and others learn that this just continues stigma, stereotypes and discrimination.”

Others have sounded off on Shaun’s IG page — where he posted the pic. “I’m not sure if it’s worse that this is an actual movie or that you’d think it’s okay to mock individuals who have disabilities. It’s 2018, man. #spreadthewordtoendtheword #rwordhurts,” one person wrote.

Another wrote, “You’re a real POS! Really? At the expense of those who can’t defend themselves?? Hope you’re working on your lame apology speech…I know this will be deleted!! Grow up you douche! #spreadthewordtoendtheword #specialolympics.”

[From TMZ]

I just feel like… we should be past this as a society. I’ll admit that I grew up in a generation that tossed around the r-word in casual conversation frequently, but hopefully we’ve all grown and stopped using that word, and we’ve stopped otherizing, denigrating and mocking the intellectually disabled at this point. It *IS* especially gross coming from one of the most famous and accomplished Olympians too. White eventually apologized, hours and hours after the photos came out. He posted this on his social media:

pic.twitter.com/zczNCaedAg

— Shaun White (@shaunwhite) October 29, 2018

Eh. Incidentally, we learned earlier this year that White had been accused of sexually harassing a woman, Lena Zawaideh, in his part-time band. Lena Zawaideh had filed a lawsuit against White, and they had quietly settled the suit in May 2017. During the Olympics this year, White was asked about the woman’s claims of harassment and his immediate response was to minimize it by calling it “gossip.” The reaction was revulsion, across the board, and he had to come out a few days later and apologize. My point? Shaun White is pretty gross across the board, about many different things.

Shaun White’s deleted Instagram, additional photos courtesy of NBC and WENN.

Here are some photos from the last full day of activities from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s crazy, long tour. They spent all of Tuesday in New Zealand. They started the day in the North Shore, where they dedicated a (privately donated) area of native bush to the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy program. Meghan wore J.Crew skinny jeans in charcoal, rain boots from Muck Boots, a scoop neck t-shirt from Lavender Hill, a blazer from Karen Walker and, in some photos, Meghan also wore an exclusive windbreaker from the QEII National Trust, which is not for sale (but should be). Meghan looked very cute and sporty! She even planted a tree with a kid.

Several hours later, Meghan and Harry stepped out to visit a charity called Pillars, which works with kids whose parents are in prison. Meghan wore a pale beige Brandon Maxwell dress and – you guessed it! – another trench coat, this time a silk trench by Burberry. While these pale neutrals look fine on Meghan, I wish she would have worn more bright colors and jewel tones during this trip.

And finally, in the evening, Meghan and Harry attended a reception at the Auckland War Memorial hosted by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Meghan repeated an Antonio Berardi dress, one which we really haven’t had the chance to see before – she wore this in 2017, when she went to see Harry play polo, but there were few photos of her and the dress back then. I’m not sure if you can see clearly, but this dress has a lot of friggin’ buttons. MY GOD.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Net-A-Porter has a cover story on Iman. Not surprising, the photos are stunning because Iman is one of the best models ever. The article is an overview of her career and personal life, but it interestingly starts at the point she left the runway, focusing on her cosmetics business and philanthropic endeavors. She also discussed people’s crazy reactions over David Bowie’s death. Whereas she gets that we all lost Bowie, she wants people to understand it’s not the same thing as what she and his kids lost.

“People take pictures of me in the street, and say [touching my arm]: ‘I am so sorry for your loss.’” She pulls a face of fierce indignation. “I’m like, don’t touch me. You just took pictures of me, how can you be sorry?” She softens a little. “I get the fans’ grief, but it’s not the same. They have lost someone they look up to; we have lost a husband and a father.”

“And sometimes, I don’t want people to know how sad I am,” she continues. “People say to me, ‘Oh, you’re so strong.’” She rolls her eyes again. “I’m not strong – I am just trying to keep it together.”

I hesitantly broach the subject of whether she’d think about having another relationship. “I will never remarry,” she says, firmly. “I mentioned my husband the other day with someone, and they said to me: ‘You mean your late husband?’ I said, no, he is always going to be my husband.” She concedes: “I do feel very lonely. But do I want a relationship? I can’t say never, but no, not now.”

[From Net-A-Porter]

I’ve said this before, but I cannot imagine what it must be like for Iman to have to deal with Bowie’s death publicly. And it sounds like she understands what he meant to his fans but it really is insensitive to equate your loss with his widow’s loss. Considering Iman lost her husband and her mother only months apart, I don’t know how she’s done it thus far.

I really bristled at the ‘friend’ who felt they needed to remind Iman her husband was dead. I would quickly remove those kinds of friends from all future party invites. I also can’t understand the need to ask about a future relationship at all. She was with her husband for 26 years, let the poor woman grieve. Whether she moves on to another relationship or not, I have no doubt she’ll do what’s right for her. But I do agree with her, there will never be another Bowie.

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Photo credit: Avalon

It’s nice to check in with the Japanese Imperial house every now and then, because even I get tired of the Windsors sometimes. From what little I know of the Chrysanthemum Throne, it feels like the Japanese royal house has a lot more power than most modern European royal houses too, so Japanese royalty actually *matters* more in the day-to-day lives of Japanese citizens. Earlier this year, we heard about Princess Mako, the granddaughter to Emperor Akihito, postponing her wedding to a “commoner” because of what she said was “immaturity.” Mako wanted more time to think about what she was doing and how her life would change, because Japanese princesses have to renounce their titles (and their royal lifestyles) when they marry commoners. Well, as it turns out, Mako’s second cousin (??) Princess Ayako just married a commoner and so now she’s no longer a princess!

Japan’s Princess Ayako is now a married woman — and no longer a royal. The 28-year old, who renounced her royal status to wed a commoner, tied the knot on Monday morning in a Shinto ceremony at Tokyo’s historic Meiji Shrine. A small group of about 30 family members attended, according to news reports. The groom, Kei Moriya, 32, is a shipping executive.

Ayako, who wore a traditional court kimono and hakama skirt and styled her hair in the “osuberakashi” ancient style for noblewomen, spoke to reporters following the ceremony to express her joy.

“How happy I am that so many people have celebrated (our marriage). We want to make efforts to become a couple like my mother and father,” The Mainichi newspaper reported. Her late father, Prince Takamado (cousin of present Emperor Akihito) who died in 2002, “would have rejoiced at my marriage” she added, telling reporters that the top hat Moriya was holding had belonged to her father.

Moriya said, “I want to support her firmly and hold hands to look forward and build a family full of smiles.”

To accommodate the need for more working royals, on Friday, in a first of it’s kind historical change, Princess Hisako, 65, announced her daughter would continue to retain patronage over two institutions.

[From People]

People Magazine goes on to note that there are already attempts to change the Imperial Household Law, which tosses out perfectly capable princesses as soon as they marry. There are now only 17 members of the royal household, 11 of them women. They’re running out of princes and princesses to actually do appearances and take on charitable patronages and such, which is why even though Princess Ayako is no longer a princess, she’s still going to have to do “royal work,” as her mom announced before the wedding. Which is bulls–t!! If you’re going to take away her princess title, you shouldn’t expect her to do royal work. Change the laws, Japan!!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

I remember all the diva stories about Ariana Grande, how she would pose to only show her “good” side, how she insisted on being carried places and how she was caught on camera licking donuts. She was entitled after her music career blew up following her early fame on the Disney channel. Being catered to and flattered was all she knew. Then the Manchester bombing happened and it changed her entire outlook and perspective. She witnessed horror and surely has PTSD from that. Ariana became humbler, she truly appreciated her fans, and she opened up about her mental health issues. This summer she told Vogue UK that she had anxiety but that she never talked about it because it felt selfish when her fans had lost their lives. In a new BBC special she elaborated about that and talked about her philosophy of being friendly to fans as well.

Speaking to host Davina McCall, Ariana revealed that she feels “guilty” about her anxiety because she regards herself as the “luckiest, most blessed girl in the world.”

She said: “I almost feel guilty that I have it because it’s just in your head and it’s just so crazy how powerful it is. You have ups and downs and sometimes you’ll go weeks at a time where you will be crushing it and there will be no anxiety…and then something will happen that can trigger it and then you have a couple of down days, you know.”

She went on to say that she’s found “reaching out to loved ones” for support has helped her deal with her anxiety.

Ariana said: “The most important thing is to remember that … everybody has this. Talk to your love ones, reach out to people, especially your friends online. Reach out to each other.”

She also revealed that she generally tries to “preserve” herself by “not going out” when her work schedule is busy, but will always make time for her fans when she is visible.

Ariana said: “I’m going to be friendly because that’s the life that I have signed up for, and I have to be OK with it.”

And she concluded by revealing that she refuses to hold herself to “perfect” standards when it comes to being a role model.

She said: “If I’m going to be a role model the last thing I should be is perfect, because that’s not realistic. That’s not a realistic goal for anybody to have. So, I think so long as I am honest and genuine and share with my fans my truest self then that’s the best I can do, because that’s allowing them to do the same thing.”

[From Buzzfeed]

I don’t agree that everyone has anxiety, if that’s what she means here. Some people don’t know what it’s like. I didn’t understand anxiety when I was young as I didn’t experience until later in life. I do think of this quote a lot though, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” My mom told me to imagine that the person who cut me off driving for instance is rushing to the dentist because they have a toothache. Having empathy also helps you just be a gentler person, which explains Ariana’s friendliness and vulnerability with fans. I just wish it wasn’t so hard earned for her. She’s gone through so much, especially with the death of her ex this year.

How pretty does she look with white blonde hair? She’s a chameleon, but this is from last year. I’m pretty sure she’s brunette still

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Photos via WENN, Getty and Instagram

David Spade appeared on Ellen DeGeneres’ show yesterday. I guess he was promoting his audiobook that came out last July, A Polaroid Guy in a Snapchat World, for which he might get a Grammy nod. But I also think he was there because he really just likes hanging out with Ellen. They’ve been friends forever, coming up through the standup circuit together. As Ellen noted, his was his 25th appearance on her show. Since it was ‘fun’ visit, David told some sillier stories, like how age is catching up to him, especially around the midsection. David told Ellen that since he’s hovered around 140 pounds since his 30s, he assumed he’d stay that weight and stopped checking. But when he went in for his insurance physical for 2010’s Grown Ups, the doctor’s scale told a different story. According to David, he was clocking in at 165 pounds, which he was convinced was, “25 pounds of mystery weight,” hiding on his person. Only it wasn’t so hidden, which his buddy Chris Rock was happy to point out.

Like I said, it’s just a silly story and as he’s telling it, you can tell he’s doing it more to get Ellen to laugh than anything. But usually when an actor talks about weight, it’s about some drastic weight change they ‘committed’ themselves to for a role. Not David, he’s out here gabbing about “pudging up” and then denying it against all evidence to the contrary. I’ve had this same conversation, right down to shock over the numbers on the scale, even though half my closet doesn’t fit me anymore. I hear you, David – age is a bitch.

As I was looking for what David was promoting, I came across a mention of Warning Shot, which was a violent drama released last month in which David co-stars. You can see the trailer here but like I said, it’s pretty violent so be careful. Good for David. I have no idea if he has any range, I have only ever seen his comedic roles, but I like that he’s branching out. Plus, the movie landed James Earl Jones and Bruce Dern in minor roles, that’s not bad company to keep.

Photo credit: EllenTube and Avalon