The Hollywood Reporter published an interview with the chief of WarnerMedia, Jason Kilar, a few days ago. He was asked about The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The response:“There’s nothing new there. Ellen’s doing what she does best right now. We’re fully supportive of her. Aside from what’s been shared pub…

If you didn’t notice, I’m completely obsessed with all of the “setting the record straight” stories in Finding Freedom. Maybe it’s because of my encyclopedic memory for completely random gossip, but it feels so good to have solid confirmations and denials on so many of the tabloid stories which were coming out for years about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The sections of FF about Archie’s birth are particularly illuminating, because there was so much nastiness and saltiness in the coverage at the time. Something I’ve always been curious about was the process of naming Archie and the decision to not give him any kind of title at birth. Knowing what we know now, I suspect the viper courtiers would have had a sh-t fit if Harry had insisted on giving Archie a royal title. I also suspect that by the time Meghan gave birth, Meghan and Harry were completely worn out by the smear campaign and they were already loosely planning their post-royal future, and they wanted Archie’s name and lack of title to reflect that. From FF:

Harry and Meghan already had a name ready to go when Archie was born, because the couple had known all along that they were having a boy. According to a source, they settled on their son’s name some time during the final week of her pregnancy. The couple wanted something traditional, a name that was powerful even without a title in front of it. Archie, meaning strength and bravery, fit the bill. “They thought about Archibald for all of one second,” a friend of the couple said with a laugh. “He was always going to be little Archie.” (Mountbatten-Windsor is the surname used by all male descendants of the Queen and Prince Philip. Royals with titles don’t typically use surnames.)

Harry and Meghan—who were going to register Archie for dual citizenship—decided to forgo a title for their son, because they wanted him to be a private citizen until he was at an age where he could decide which path he would like to take. A source said the pair both worried about the day Prince Charles becomes king and Harry’s children could inherit the titles of prince or princess. They shared their concerns with Charles, who said he would consider when he became king issuing a new letters patent, a legal instrument in the form of a written order issued by a reigning monarch, that would change this style. “To not have a senior role in the royal family but have a title,” a senior aide close to the couple said at the time, “is just a burden.”

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

This is fascinating! The repeated insistence that Harry and Meghan both wanted to forgo a title for Archie is consistent – people said that at the time, that it was Harry and Meghan’s decision and the Queen and Charles backed them up. Still, I imagine there was some relief among the courtiers that they didn’t have to wage that war. As for choosing the name Archie ahead of time… well, okay. I still think they could have chosen better, but maybe “Archie” suits him. And it’s fascinating that when Charles becomes king, he might issue a letters patent about his grandchildrens’ titles.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Marie Claire has a great feature in their new digital issue called “100 Influential Women on Why They’re Voting in the 2020 Election.” The list of 100 women includes: Michelle Obama, Yara Shahidi, Megan Rapinoe, Gabrielle Union, Tina Knowles Lawson, Ava DuVernay, Oprah and many more. There were these kinds of pieces in 2016, when we had a woman presidential candidate, but didn’t it feel like there wasn’t a huge movement to get young women – the targeted demographic here – out to vote for the first time? Maybe there was a movement in 2016 and I just missed it. Maybe every four years, we have to go through this. But hey, at least we’ve got Kamala Harris on the ticket! Anyway, you can see Marie Claire’s feature here. Interestingly enough, they got the Duchess of Sussex to participate! Meghan is back in America and our girl is gonna VOTE. This is what Meghan told Marie Claire:

I know what it’s like to have a voice, and also what it’s like to feel voiceless. I also know that so many men and women have put their lives on the line for us to be heard. And that opportunity, that fundamental right, is in our ability to exercise our right to vote and to make all of our voices heard.

One of my favourite quotes, and one that my husband and I have referred to often, is from Kate Sheppard, a leader in the suffragist movement in New Zealand, who said, ‘Do not think your single vote does not matter much. The rain that refreshes the parched ground is made up of single drops.’ That is why I vote.

[From Marie Claire]

Meghan notably voted in the 2016 election, and I would suspect that she probably voted – absentee? – in California elections for most of her adult years. But it’s a big deal because royal peeps are not supposed to vote. It breaks protocol or something, although I think some lesser royals have likely voted here or there in the UK. But this is just a reminder that Meghan is still an American citizen and she still f–king hates Donald Trump. I hope she re-upped her voter registration to her new Santa Barbara home.

Meghan Markle opens up about why she’s voting in our August 2020 digital issue: “I know what it’s like to have a voice, and also what it’s like to feel voiceless.”https://t.co/Z9v5dGR9l8 pic.twitter.com/LWg0IARkaF

— Marie Claire (@marieclaire) August 11, 2020

Photos courtesy of social media, Backgrid.

I can’t wait for Finding Freedom: The Remix, where Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand take on all of the misinformation and false stories around FF and the Sussexes in just the past month. As we heard earlier, the Sussexes’ spokesperson confirmed that they have purchased a family home in Santa Barbara, a ritzy coastal town about 100 miles north of LA. I assumed that Harry and Meghan are paying a mortgage and that they put their own money down as a down payment, because both of them have their own money. Meghan was a successful actress for years and Harry has a trust worth something like $30-40 million. But no, the Daily Mail’s sources claim that Prince Charles is paying for it:

Prince Harry and Meghan had help from Prince Charles to secretly buy their £8million family home in Santa Barbara, after ditching Tyler Perry’s 12-bedroom Beverly Hills mansion for ‘considerable privacy.’ The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been living in the upscale California community for six weeks since early July.

Royal insiders said Prince Charles had contributed money to his son to help him secure the property for his family. A source said: ‘Charles had been keen to help out and put his hand in his own pocket to assist. He is devoted to both his sons and any time he can assist them he always will’. Clarence House declined to comment.

At their peak Harry and Meghan’s combined wealth had been estimated to be worth around £33 million. He was estimated to have earned as much as £700,000 to speak at a star-studded JP Morgan summit in Miami in February. But after stepping down from the Royal Family in January they agreed to pay £18,000 a month to repay £2.4million used to refurbish and renovate their previous Frogmore Cottage residence.

[From The Daily Mail]

All of this bizarre accounting around Harry and Meghan’s finances, my God. People really are butthurt at the idea of a Black duchess living in a nice home or having nice things. That’s what it’s always been about. Anyway… my guess is that Charles actually did offer to help out but maybe Harry and Meghan wanted to do this for themselves. I also think Charles has been covering their security costs this whole time, so maybe that’s what this is too – Charles is paying for whatever security upgrades the house needs. Just as well – Charles has paid out millions to refurbish and renovate Anmer Hall and Kensington Palace for the Cambridges too.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Backgrid.

Dear Gossips, When Joe Biden announced that Kamala Harris would be his running mate yesterday Maya Rudolph was in the middle of an Emmy campaign Zoom call with Entertainment Weekly and other nominees. Maya’s been nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal of Kamala …

For a while it looked like Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas’s quarantine romance had been Heisenberg gossiped into oblivion, but they survived and they’re better than ever! We know because there are new photos of Ben visiting Ana at a beach house in Malibu, where she reportedly had a photoshoot. I’m sorry I missed these yesterday, we were knee deep in Finding Freedom coverage, but I’m sure about five people will be interested so it doesn’t matter too much. Ben was seen smoking a cigarette on a balcony and they kissed, in full view of multiple paparazzi. (I know because these photos aren’t exclusives.) So the world is righting itself. You can tell the outdoor kiss was Ana’s idea, since she kissed him on his mask then pulled it down. Vanity Fair ran a story about this saying they’re breaking CDC guidelines because Ana kissed the outside of Ben’s mask. That’s a stretch, but I’m here for it. You know Ben’s going to read it and get his feelings hurt.

Meanwhile Ben is slated to direct a movie about the making of the 1974 film Chinatown, it’s called The Big Goodbye. (More on that in this story. I’m surprised Matt Damon isn’t involved.) Hollywood loves movies about itself, it also loves when white people tell other people’s stories. Roman Polanski directed Chinatown, so this film has even more chances to be problematic. Outlets are wondering whether Polanski’s sexual assault history will be covered at all in the film, and who will be playing Polanski. The original starred Faye Dunaway and Jack Nicholson. I nominate Sarah Paulson and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Ana also posted a new photo of her new dog, Salsa. She’s dying to post another video making out with Ben.

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Sunday

A post shared by A N A D E A R M A S (@ana_d_armas) on Aug 9, 2020 at 10:51pm PDT

Photos credit: Backgrid

I’m sitting here, somewhat agape at how extensive the “tiara selection” story is in Finding Freedom. It’s clear that Team Sussex wants to really and truly set the record straight on everything having to do with Meghan’s tiara and how it was selected for her 2018 wedding. I’m going to summarize a great deal of the story because of just how much space it takes up in Finding Freedom, which again signals (to me) that Harry and Meghan were both very offended at the oft-repeated lies that Meghan “demanded” this or that, or that Meghan had a tantrum about tiaras or anything like that.

FF’s sources do say that originally, Meghan did think that a tiara with emeralds would have been great, but this was early in the wedding planning and dress planning. Meghan liked that rich shade of green, and she was already incorporating emerald green into some of her wedding styling. A source said: “At some point during early planning there could have been talk about the ideal tiara having emeralds in it.” But then the sources insist – and I believe them – that Meghan always knew that the wedding tiara selection would not be ultimately up to her. She knew that she would be given a few options and that she would select what she wanted from those options. Even Clare Waight Keller confirmed as much on the record, pointing out that for the tiara-selection in February 2018, she had already begun to design the dress but she and Meghan “weren’t sure of what the final options would be. It was a case of waiting to see what they were presented with,” tiara-wise.

The tiara-selection is a big deal, and the Queen and Angela Kelly pre-select a group of, like, three to five tiaras they want to show a royal bride. Then the Queen likes to be there for the bride’s selection process:

According to a high-ranking aide, “Her Majesty takes great joy in being able to offer a little something” for important events and enjoys being part of the process, which usually involves the sovereign picking out designs for special occasions like state dinners and other formal engagements. “She will often have something in mind,” the source said.

What was different with Meghan’s selection was that Harry tagged along. The couple, who had been engaged and living together in Kensington Palace for almost four months, arrived at the reception room in Buckingham Palace, where they were then escorted down a secure elevator, forty feet below the palace, to the large vault where five tiaras had been assembled for display ahead of the couple’s appointment in February 2018.

…While gloves were normally worn when handling tiaras, Angela Kelly —who was also responsible for the basic cleaning of the Queen’s jewelry before and after it was removed from the vault—chose to go without so she could have a better grip on the often-priceless pieces.

With the Queen and Prince Harry looking on, Angela presented five different tiaras for Meghan to consider. Although the Queen was a great conversationalist, as was Meghan, who became particularly talkative when she was nervous, everyone was quiet as they focused on the task at hand. Angela had presented various options to the Queen before the meeting. Her Majesty then offered her own thoughts until she and Angela had whittled down the choices to five. With Meghan seated in front of a full-length mirror, each tiara was carefully placed upon her head, until a decision was made.

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

FF then goes on to say that Meghan, the Queen and Harry were all pretty much in agreement very quickly that Queen Mary’s diamond bandeau was the best option out of the five Meghan got to choose from. Meghan thought it “stood out” and “the Queen agreed with Meghan upon her choice of tiara for the wedding. Meghan tried on all five but knew right away which one she liked best.” A palace aide remarked that “it was a special moment for” both the Queen and Meghan. When there were reports that Meghan wanted a different tiara, she told a friend, “How sad, I love my tiara.”

After the tiara selection, the shenanigans with Angela Kelly began. The selection happened in February, and in March, Meghan’s hair stylist did fly in from New York and they “hoped to visit Buckingham Palace to meet Angela, who would have handled the tiara just as she had done when they picked it out with the Queen.” The problem? Kensington Palace aides had been calling Angela Kelly repeatedly to set up a date for the tiara-hair appointment, and Angela Kelly had completely and utterly blanked on all of the calls. Harry “was furious” and “he thought she was purposefully ignoring Meghan. What followed between the prince and Angela was a heated exchange that was far from the typical restraint expected.”

Even as the wedding date grew nearer, Angela Kelly refused to answer any and all calls from the Sussexes or their Kensington Palace aides. From FF:

People were frustrated—and confused. Why was it so hard to set up a time for Meghan to try the tiara with her hairdresser? In the end, Harry had to speak to his grandmother about the situation. And she got her trial.

A senior Buckingham Palace aide insisted that Harry was simply being “oversensitive” when he accused Angela of trying to make things difficult for his fiancée. But a source close to the prince said nothing could convince Harry that some of the old guard at the Palace simply didn’t like Meghan and would stop at nothing to make her life difficult.

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

Yep. Pretty much. And I bet that’s why Angela Kelly merrily took part in the smear campaign against Meghan too – she was pissed off that Harry went over her head to the Queen to get Meghan her hair-trial with the tiara. And if THIS was the story the entire time, why all the bullsh-t about “diva Meghan demanding tiaras”?

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Yesterday was a great day for Black women! Serena Williams won her match in Lexington from a set down, the Duchess of Sussex continues to be free from all of the Petty Windsors’ crap and now Kamala Harris is the first Black woman and Asian-American woman to appear on a national ticket. Joe Biden had clearly chosen Kamala Harris weeks ago, if not months ago. So it wasn’t the most startling news yesterday, when his campaign announced it via text-blast. Still, I was happy, because Biden could have f–ked it up at the last minute, but he didn’t. He chose the most experienced person on his shortlist. He chose the woman who held his feet to the fire and called him out publicly during the campaign. He chose the woman who would challenge him the most. But is Kamala the “safe choice”? That’s what political analysts say!

What’s telling is that Biden — and his team — didn’t feel the need to reach for a less predictable pick. They knew that while picking Harris would draw considerable attention, it would also be the thing most people expected them to do. Despite the historic nature of putting Harris on the ticket, Biden and his advisers knew that selecting Harris might be described by some as unsurprising. But one man’s “unsurprising” is another man’s “safe.” And that’s exactly what Harris is — and what Biden believes he needs.

See, if you are Joe Biden, making your third run for president and ahead in virtually every swing state and nationally over President Donald Trump, every day between now and November 3 you want to do nothing that threatens to change the underlying dynamics of the race. And those underlying dynamics are that this election is a referendum on Trump’s first term in office and, more specifically, the deeply haphazard and erratic way in which he has handled the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Under that theory of the case, Biden needs to spend most of his time convincing voters that Trump deserves to be fired and a (relatively) small amount of time making sure they believe he could do the job in the incumbent’s place.

[From CNN]

I disagree! I think if Biden wanted to play it safe, he never would have promised Jim Clyburn that he would choose a black woman as a running mate. If Biden wanted to play it safe, he would have chosen some boring-ass white dude as a running mate. If Biden wanted to play it safe, he wouldn’t have chosen the bête noire-candidate of the Bernie people (although they don’t like anyone). I do believe that Biden’s polling position means that he felt like he could take a bigger chance with his VP pick. I also think that Biden is like everybody else: he wants to see the debate between Kamala Harris and Mother’s Husband. LOL.

Also, the Trumpers have literally no idea how to attack Kamala. It’s amazing. I’ve seen so many comments about how Senator Harris treated Brett Kavanaugh badly at his Senate hearing and I’m like… lol, you get that’s why we like her so much, right? She was mean to a drunk rapist, oh noes. Where the Nasty Women at??!

Trump wasted no time calling Kamala Harris “nasty” pic.twitter.com/jze9yQKe9V

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 11, 2020

A historic photo: @JoeBiden asking @KamalaHarris to join the ticket — taken just a few hours ago, from his home in Wilmington. Your next President and Vice President!! pic.twitter.com/vLNHxnvkb3

— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) August 11, 2020

Photos courtesy of the Biden campaign, Avalon Red, Backgrid.

One of the pettiest moves in the history of the Petty Windsors will forever be Prince Harry being stripped of his military titles and honors. All because he married a biracial American woman and he wanted to protect her from abuse and harassment. That’s it. That’s why the Queen made Harry give up all of his military positions and honors as part of the Sussexit negotiations. At the time, Harry reportedly told friends that he was “devastated” to step down from those positions. I’m devastated on his behalf, still, to this day. Especially since, and I will holler about this all the time, Prince Andrew didn’t have to give up HIS military appointments even though HE LIED ABOUT RAPING A VICTIM OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING. Prince Andrew is still an HRH, a duke and he has all of his military positions still, to this day. Apparently, Harry and Meghan were both incredibly emotional about all of this on Harry’s last event with the Royal Marines. From Finding Freedom:

The most demoralizing aspect of the new deal was his being stripped of the honorary military appointments that had been awarded to him as a senior royal. As a retired serviceman, Harry would always be able to wear his medals, but no longer could he wear uniform as Captain General of the Royal Marines, Honorary Air Force Commandant of the Royal Air Force Base Honington, and honorary Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Navy’s Small Ships and Diving Operations. Those roles had come to an end. “That’s been a tough pill to swallow, and one that has been most painful to Meghan witness him go through,” a source close to the couple said. “It’s the one that made Harry emotional.”

“It was so unnecessary,” Meghan later told a friend of the decision to strip Harry of his military honors. “And it’s not just taking something away from him; it’s also that entire military veteran community. You can see how much he means to them, too. So why? The powers [of the institution] are unfortunately greater than me.”

Though the evening served as a poignant tribute to Britain’s Armed Forces, it also became a moment to thank the much-loved prince for his contributions to the military community. Usually reserved for the end of the performance, guests at the Royal Albert Hall rose to a standing ovation as Harry and Meghan entered the royal box. As they stood, listening to the rapturous farewell and obvious affection, the couple both did their best to hold back tears as they gripped each other’s hands.

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

That was probably one of those “we’re never coming back” moments. Harry served in combat! He created a whole new thing, the Invictus Games, for wounded warriors. He loved being a soldier. He loved being around his comrades. But Petty Betty wanted to punish him for leaving. And I strongly suspect that Petty Willy was also pretty jealous of Harry’s actual military service, especially considering William’s RAF service mostly consisted of hiding in the Welsh countryside and refusing to work.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II covers the September issue of Men’s Health Magazine. He has been making the rounds to discuss his roles in Jordan Peele’s Candyman Reboot out sometime this year (its summer release was delayed), The Trial of the Chicago 7, and the upcoming Matrix reboot. He has been really candid in his recent interviews about how he wishes to choose thought-provoking roles and advocated for social justice.

In MH, Yahya opens up about going to a therapist and the stigma around mental health in the black community. He tells a harrowing story about his first time experiencing racism and how his parents gave him confidence to pursue his dreams. Below are some excerpts from the interview:

On one of his first times experiencing racism:
“One of the first times I remember experiencing any kind of victimization centered on my Blackness was during my freshman year at Berkeley. I studied architecture, and for architecture students, it was common to spend the whole night working in the studio. One night, I left the studio around 1:00 a.m. to go to my dorm and get something to eat, and then I headed back to the studio to keep working. As I approached the building, there was a woman going inside, just a couple steps ahead of me, and I thought, Okay, I’m just going to have her let me in. She must have felt me walking behind her, because she began to hurry. She made it to the door, and as she was going to close it behind her, I tried to go in after her. She turned around and pulled on the door and wouldn’t let me in. She said, “Stop, you don’t belong here.” I said, “What are you talking about? I’m going to the studio. I’m going to the same place as you.” And she said, “Please stop. You don’t belong here.”

As we stood on either side of the door, still slightly open, I went to pull out my ID—to say, Look, I’m a student, too. She said, “I’m gonna call the police and tell them that you’re trying to rape me.” I pulled the door open, and she began running and screaming at the top of her lungs, “Help! Help! He’s trying to rape me!” It’s 1:00 a.m., and I’m trying to get her to be quiet, but she’s still screaming, so I just stopped and let her walk. I knew there was no rationalizing with this person. Two minutes later, I walked up to the studio and sat down at a computer. I saw her across the room, but she wouldn’t make eye contact.

The campus police came in, because she called them. They asked her to step out to talk, and then they called me out to ask what happened. They apologized and left. What more could they do? I went back to my computer to work, and I remember being so angry that I cried. It was frustrating. I deserved to be there. Period. That was my reminder that even if I did everything right—played the game by the book—some things in life would be unavoidable. Because I was Black.

I was 18 years old. I did the only thing I knew to do. I cried, and I swallowed that shit.”

On the Black community and therapy:
“There’s a stigma around mental health in the Black community, particularly with men, that means we don’t talk about how we’re feeling, and it was strange to be around Black people who openly discussed seeing a therapist. It wasn’t until 2019 that I finally motivated myself to go. I found a Black therapist, a woman, and within three minutes, I’m telling her everything. I’m comfortable, because she can relate. I trust her. She’s Black. We speak the same language. (With my therapist, I wanted to be able to talk about being Black. I wanted to be able to use my vernacular. I didn’t want to have to explain what it felt like to have someone follow me around the store. I just wanted to talk about the fact that it happened and have that person understand.)

Then I began telling everybody else about it: “Man, I started doing therapy, and it changed my life!” It changed the way that I believed in myself, the way that I began to move through the world. I had a completely new understanding of what therapy could be, and as I’d talk to my friends about it, they would say, “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about therapy, too.” There was this collective curiosity that I didn’t even know was there. Historic disenfranchisement kept those resources out of reach to the point

that many believed that our rejection of therapy was primarily cultural. I’m glad to see this narrative changing. We’ve got a lot of internal healing to do in this world, and therapy is going to be a big part of that. With the right relationship, therapy can be a safe space where we can be heard and seen in a world that too often chooses not to hear or see us.”

On how his upbringing enabled him to feel confident in accomplishing anything he wants:

“My life is hardly without struggle, but I guess when I was a kid, love kept things hidden that needed to stay in the dark. Because my parents insulated us with love, I’ve been blessed with a naivete—some might call it confidence—that allows me to think that I can do anything I want. I got into Berkeley. I got into Yale. I had a job before I graduated. I went straight from The Get Down to my next job. And then I got Aquaman and The Greatest Showman. I had the fortune of following my appetite.”

[From Men’s Health]

There are several high profile people taking on the stigma around mental health, like Prince Harry and Oprah Winfre,y but it is powerful having a black man talk about seeing a therapist and how it has helped him. My heart dropped reading about his first encounter with racism. It is every innocent black man’s nightmare, being accused of rape by a white woman when there was none. That entire situation could have ended terribly and these blatant false accusations enrage me. Honestly, I am tired that this is something BIPOC must face every day.

However, it is encouraging to see many like him doing the work to heal our society. I also love the fact that his parents did not raise him with a stigma for blackness. Instead, they gave him a different definition of it. Black is love and community and that is dope. Needless to say, each story I read about him makes me lust like him even more. In the meantime, however, I’ll be drooling over every photo of him I can get my hands on as I wait for the Candyman reboot to drop.

photos credit: Dana Scruggs for Men’s Health received via promotional email