Here’s something that is not at all destined to provoke yet another asinine battle front in the American culture war: HBO Max is going to stream an abortion dramedy next month. Unpregnant stars Haley Lu Richardson (adorable, love her, watch Support the Girls) and Euphoria’s Barbie Ferreira as a pair…

I do like the mindlessness of just talking about fashion for a second, especially because this week has been A LOT! So let’s sit back and enjoy some of Queen Letizia’s fashion, can we? Queen Letizia, Prince Felipe and their two daughters are still doing a tour within the Spanish borders, highlighting local economies and encouraging a gradual reopening of businesses in the pandemic. The problem is that with all of the reopenings last month, Spain has also been experiencing a “second wave” of Covid-19. They were hit hard, like New York and Italy, in the first wave in March. The Spanish government set down big restrictions across the country and it worked for months and Spain flattened their curve. But there has been an uptick in the past month.

All of which to say, I’m not entirely sure why the Spanish royal family is still “on tour” and highlighting local businesses. But here we are. At least Letizia has been wearing some interesting Spanish fashion. In these photos, her white eyelet dress is by Vintage Ibiza, a local label in (you guessed it) Ibiza. Her red dress is by Adolfo Dominguez. Both are apparently pretty affordable (in the $100-200 range) which is consist with Letizia too. She’s not wandering around, doing one event a week while wearing a thousand-dollar summer dress. *cough* That being said, Letizia and Kate share one style tick: terrible wedges.

Increasingly, the situation with King Juan Carlos’ self-imposed exile is getting more attention from the English-language press. I’m currently reading this interesting NYT op-ed about how it was an open secret for decades in Spain that Juan Carlos had weaknesses for women and money. But the NYT also has a story about how Spanish politicians are somewhat rallying around Felipe and Letizia in the wake of Juan Carlos’ exile, and everyone is trying to make sure that Felipe and Letizia “look clean” given all of the scandals. Maybe that’s what L&F’s tour is really about too – “hey, we’re a perfectly unscandalous nuclear family, pay no attention to that other guy!”

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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Fleetwood Mac singer/songwriter, Stevie Nicks, 72, has been vocal about keeping safe during the coronavirus pandemic. The virus has taken over 164,000 lives in the US and despite how aggressive and contagious it is, many people are still not taking it seriously.

Stevie Nicks is rightfully worried, and she is making sure everyone knows it. She recently posted a plea on Facebook that everyone wear a mask and practice social distancing. She compares the pandemic to American Horror Story, stating that this situation is the real AHS. Below are some quotes from her post.

On July 29th, 2020 when I posted my journal entry about wearing masks, there were 141,430 deaths from COVID 19 in the United States.
Today, August 10th, 2020 there are 163,465 deaths from COVID 19 in the United States.

22,035 people have died in 13 days

A lot of people still aren’t taking the wearing of a simple mask seriously~ or, just trying to be aware of how close you are to others. The masks and the distancing have now become a political statement. It is not political. It is a silent killer hiding in the shadows. It is stalking you. It doesn’t care who you are…It’s just looking for a victim.

This is like the season of American Horror Story I was in. It had turned into an apocalypse above ground. A serious “shelter in place.” And unless you were a famous witch or a wealthy warlock or just a very rich person you did not get into one of the underground bunkers~ But if you did get in, you arrived in a beautifully tattered black Victorian carriage drawn by two noble, monstrous but dying ~ black horses. It was just a great story, but I felt the gravity of it even then… You did not want to leave that safe house because only death awaited you above ground. When those characters ventured out for just a moment~ They wore their hazmat suits and black gas masks~ no questions asked. I found it terrifying. It was the end of the world ~

What’s going on in our country now, is a real “American Horror Story.” Nobody is leading us. Nobody has a plan. Unless people change their attitude from – “Oh this is such a bummer to stay in and wear a mask and follow the rules, and not party” ~ We will never get ahead of this virus.

[From Facebook]

There are several countries whose lax policies have allowed the virus to spread while crashing their economies. America is one of them. What’s worse is how some sectors of the population have turned wearing a damn mask into a political statement exposing how extremely self-centered and idiotic they are.

Stevie is one of many celebrities asking followers to protect not only themselves but those they love. We also can’t meet any new people until we can get our numbers down. I love how she not only provides facts and statistics, but connects how wearing a mask and social distancing will allow concerts and other activities to come back sooner. She even talks about being more vulnerable to the virus because of her age.

I am still sheltering in place, six months later and it isn’t f-king easy. Sometimes it is downright depressing. I do it to protect myself, my mother, family and friends as well as those I may come in contact with. My mom and I still only go out for necessary shopping and occasionally to browse. We always wear a mask and keep our distance from others. I still can’t understand how this has become about “constitutional rights and freedoms” when people are dropping like flies, including those who called the pandemic a hoax. Whatever, I’m tired, just wear a damn mask.

photos credit: Getty and Avalon.red

Donald Trump’s attacks against Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are as predictable as they are unhinged. The Trump campaign really and truly doesn’t know where they want to go or what argument they want to make. Kyle Griffin transcribed the full quote from Trump, in Trump’s recent press conference, when asked about Senator Harris:

“Now you have sort of a Mad Woman, I call her, because she was so angry and such hatred with Justice Kavanaugh. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it. She was the angriest of the group and they were all angry. They’re all radical left angry people.”

Part of me believes that Trump is actually happy that Kamala is on the ticket because now he gets to “run” the same kind of campaign he ran against Hillary Clinton: a campaign of misogyny and sexism, where women are supposed to be white suburban housewives terrified of minorities, and if there’s a woman who doesn’t fit into that demographic, she’s mad, nasty, angry, radical. It’s been four years, and that’s still his playbook.

President Donald Trump is dropping any effort at subtlety with an overt and concerted last-ditch effort to win back a core constituency that propelled his 2016 win: white women. Faced with a rival, Joe Biden, who just tapped a Black woman to join him on the Democratic ticket, Trump is trying to stop a defection of women voters — using a flurry of tweets and 11th-hour policy initiatives designed to play to potential fears about their families and communities.

He has altered fair-housing regulations — telling “suburban housewives” the move will “preserve” their neighborhoods and keep out low-income housing projects. He has falsely warned that Biden wants to defund the police — insinuating unchecked crime will soon spread to the suburbs. He has insisted that schools fully reopen — hoping to win over women struggling to care for their children. And this week, a bright pink “Women for Trump” bus started a tour across the country, with planned stops in places like Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

[From Politico]

I love it when Trump is sweaty and nervous and accusatory. I like it when he panics. And trust me, he’s been binge-eating cheeseburgers and screaming at staff all week.

The Fake News Media is giving @KamalaHarris a free pass despite her Radical Left failures and very poor run in the Democrat Primary. There was nobody meaner or more condescending to Slow Joe, not even me, and yet she quickly evaporated down to almost zero in the polls. Bad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2020

Wow you can really see his orange bronzer in these photos.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Selena Gomez’s new show, Selena + Chef premieres tonight on HBO Max. It’s ten episodes, each featuring Selena with a prominent chef, each of them in their respective kitchens, as Selena learns how to cook. And it’s not “learning”, as in someone who already has some basic skills and is trying to get …

Selena Gomez’s new show, Selena + Chef premieres tonight on HBO Max. It’s ten episodes, each featuring Selena with a prominent chef, each of them in their respective kitchens, as Selena learns how to cook. And it’s not “learning”, as in someone who already has some basic skills and is trying to get …

I’ve gone back and forth about what I believe regarding Prince Charles and the smearing of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. I believe that Charles is perfectly capable of throwing his sons and their wives under the bus to make himself look good. Not only is he perfectly capable of it, he has done so on many occasions. I think Charles might have been behind *some* of the smears of the Sussexes, but ultimately… I don’t know, I just don’t believe that Charles ever really wanted Harry and Meghan out of the country. Charles isn’t that short-sighted, and he was reportedly closer to Harry than he was to William for much of their adult lives. Most royal sources (in Finding Freedom and beyond) maintain the idea that Harry doesn’t have much of a beef with Charles right now, and that they’re still in contact. And that’s what sources are now telling The Sun:

They have both been plunged into the darkest tragedy – and forced to pit their devotion to the women they loved against their duty to the Crown. This has created a very special father-son bond between Prince Charles and Harry. But while the Prince of Wales was forced by tradition to marry Diana in 1981 instead of his true love Camilla, causing him two decades of pain and anguish, Harry was able to seize on changing times to break free and run off to America with Meghan. It is that brutal shared experience — and the death of the Princess of Wales — which perhaps means Charles has more understanding than any member of the Royal Family of Harry’s decision to walk away from Queen and country. And it is that bond which has led to the Prince keeping in regular contact with Harry and Meghan throughout the devastating fallout from their biography Finding Freedom.

Packed with hurtful personal blows against his brother and sister-in-law, his father and the institution of the Royal Family itself, the book could have led to Harry and Meghan being cast out forever. Many royal watchers and members of the British public would say that would be no more than they deserved. But Charles, the future King, while deeply hurt at some of the book’s revelations, is nevertheless still keeping the door open for a dramatic return for the Sussexes.

Through it all, Charles has been a calm voice of reassurance to his son and daughter-in-law, despite royal sources saying Charles has been “disappointed and crushed” by Finding Freedom. The Sun can reveal he has been in regular contact, providing emotional and financial support, with phone and video calls from Castle of Mey in Scotland — the Queen Mother’s former holiday home — to Harry in California.

A royal insider said: “They have a very strong and close father-and-son relationship. Many people have speculated that the book was the end for Harry and Meghan in Britain. Too many people were criticised and too many people attacked, including William and Kate. But the Prince of Wales has made it clear the door is always open. Since his move to Los Angeles they have been in regular contact. Charles is not an avid user of texts but there are video and phone calls. The book has never been a massive talking point between them and Charles is determined that it is not an obstacle. He has provided financial support, as any father would do when their son moves with a young family to the other side of the world. Their relationship is rock-solid and they remain close. They speak at least once a week and Charles is still a massive driving force in Harry’s life.”

[From The Sun]

From the excerpts I’ve read of Finding Freedom, Charles is not positioned as the biggest villain in H&M’s narrative – Harry and Meghan’s biggest issues are with William, Kate and the viper courtiers. The worst criticism that could be lodged against Charles is that he was absent from the turmoil, or that he ignored the catastrophe which was unfolding between his sons, or that he played his sons against each other. This is likely by design on the Sussexes’ part and Charles’ part as well. Those three – Charles, Harry and Meghan – are the forward-thinkers. Harry and Meghan know that their situation will be greatly improved no matter what when Charles becomes king. Charles knows that his reign would be greatly improved with the Sussexes in the UK in some capacity. My point is that all three want to keep on each other’s good side and that’s what we’re seeing here – Charles wanting credit for being magnanimous, for being wise enough to keep a good relationship with Harry, etc. And truly, it IS wise.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.

Has anyone done better than Sarah Cooper in quarantine? Her TikTok videos mocking Trump became a viral sensation, this week she guest-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live, and now she is getting a variety special on Netflix. Cooper didn’t exactly spring out of nowhere – she is a comedian and the author of two b…

Rihanna covers the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar. Don’t get your hopes up about this cover being advanced promotion for the new album: it is not. Bazaar doesn’t even mention the possibility of Rihanna putting out the album! Now, it’s possible that she could drop it at any time and break the internet. But the vibe I’m getting is that Rihanna just agreed to pose for Bazaar as some kind of vague promotion for Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin. I say “vague promotion” because Rihanna is barely quoted in the “cover story,” which you can read here. The piece, written by Kahlana Barfield Brown, is all about how Brown met Rihanna in 2007 and she was super-cool then and she’s super-cool now. It’s true! Here’s one of the few times Rihanna was quoted in this piece:

With Fenty Skin, Rihanna is looking to bring that same sensibility to skin care. More than two years of development went into the line, which led to a tightly curated collection of three multitasking two-in-one products: makeup remover/cleanser, serum/toner, and an SPF moisturizer. “I’ve always seen the Fenty brand as more than just makeup, and I knew I wanted to make skin care from the very beginning,” Rihanna says. “It was just about getting it right. You have to live with the formulas for awhile and test them in different ways. It’s very different from makeup in that sense. It takes a long time.”

[From Harper’s Bazaar]

Since I rarely (if ever) wear makeup, I always feel so left out of the makeup conversations and conversations about how Fenty Beauty is awesome. I trust everyone who stans Fenty Beauty, I’m just saying – I have zero first-hand knowledge of it. But Fenty Skin? I might try it. I looked at the site and… the products are not really what I’m looking for? It’s all sunblock and moisturizer. I would love it if Rihanna made the definitive night cream or the best under-eye circle cream. She has not, thus far (plus it looks like almost everything is sold out already).

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Covers courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar.

From the early excerpts of Finding Freedom, we knew that there would be some tea about “the war of the duchesses,” and what the Duchess of Cambridge and Duchess of Sussex’s relationship was really like, behind-the-scenes. We already learned that Kate did zero labor (she’s so lazy) when it came to welcoming Meghan into the family. Kate and Meghan first met on January 10th, 2017, soon after Harry and Meghan returned from a trip to Norway to celebrate the New Year. Meghan was not the fiancee yet, she was just the royal girlfriend, and Harry was the one pushing for Kate and Meghan to meet. It didn’t go well:

The couple returned to London, where Meghan finally met Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. The January 10 get-together at the Cambridges’ Apartment 1A home was brief, but Harry wanted to make sure the two had a chance to connect. Despite the fact that Harry was a regular guest in her household, Kate had seemingly not shown much interest in finding out who this woman was who had made her brother-in-law so happy. But that indifference wasn’t necessarily directed toward Meghan. “The Duchess is an extremely guarded person,” a friend explained. After she married William, she was careful about letting others in to her social circle. Her friends today—including Lady Laura Meade and Emilia Jardine-Paterson, both of whom married friends of William’s—are for the most part the same ones she had on her wedding day. Like her husband, Kate ran in a tight group.

Meghan brought a present for the duchess, who had celebrated her birthday just a day earlier. The soft leather Smythson notebook helped to break the ice, as did Meghan’s cooing over then twenty-month-old Charlotte. The meeting ended with Kate letting Meghan know that she was always welcome to contact her if she needed anything. Having been through the experience of being a royal girlfriend herself, Kate knew how trying it could be to suddenly have one’s personal life laid bare.

[From Finding Freedom: Harry, Meghan, and the Making of a Modern Royal Family]

I think… a lot of different things can be true at once. Maybe Kate did tell Meghan to contact her if she needed anything, and I also think Kate was immediately jealous of Meghan and saw Meghan as a rival. Of course Kate had never shown any interest in meeting Meghan – Kate has never shown any interest in spending time with any women besides her mother and sister. From the start, Meghan put in the labor.

Finding Freedom also dials down the “war of the duchesses” narrative and sources say that Meg and Kate “had struggled to move past the distant politeness of when they first met…Their relationship hadn’t progressed much since she was Harry’s girlfriend.” We also get a confirmation: Kate brought flowers to Meghan for Meghan’s birthday – I would assume this was in 2019 – and FF notes: “Flowers for her birthday were nice, but Meghan would far rather have had Kate check in on her during the most difficult times with the press.” Oh, and FF says that Kate rubbed Meghan’s back at Wimbledon after Serena Williams lost in the 2019 final. The point FF makes repeatedly is that while Kate and Meghan were not friendly and were competitive, the real story was always about Harry versus his family and the “institution.”

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.