The Windsors like to pretend that they’ve modernized to the point where any prince or princess can marry for love and that those marriages are never about money. Yet there are persistent “transactional” vibes around many of the royal marriages, from Prince William using money from his trust to help the Middletons purchase their manor home in 2012 (a year after he married Kate), to Pippa Middleton’s terribly moderately wealthy husband having to drop £100,000 into James Middleton’s failing Nazi-marshmallow business soon after TMW James married Pippa. And God knows who got paid off with that suspicious story about a cannabis factory adjacent to Middleton Manor in Bucklebury. I mean… the financials of the Middleton/Windsor clan are sketchy as hell.

But guess what? The financials of the Yorks are f–king awful too. The Yorks’ finances have always been dripping with scandal and shenanigans. No one really knows how Andrew gained and then seemingly lost a fortune overnight, as soon as Jeffrey Epstein mysteriously died. No one knows how much money Epstein lent Andrew AND Fergie over the years. No one knows why Fergie always seems to be out of money, despite her lengthy history of moneymaking schemes. Considering all that is already known about Fergie AND Andrew’s finances, why in the world would anyone want to go into business with either of them? And why did Fergie’s two new sons-in-law not get the memo until now? From Sebastian Shakespeare’s Daily Mail column:

She has welcomed both her sons-in-law in gushing style, declaring ‘never has a mother been more proud’ than when Edo Mapelli Mozzi married Princess Beatrice last month. And she observed of Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank that they ‘float with laughter and love’. But these effusions have not, alas, dissuaded both men from cutting themselves adrift from the Duchess of York — in a commercial sense, that is. In a flurry of activity remarkable even by the sometimes haphazard pattern of Fergie’s business career, I can reveal she and Mapelli Mozzi and Brooksbank became the three directors of a company, Rumpel Water Ltd, which was incorporated on June 25. Yet only three weeks later, on July 13 — just four days before Mapelli Mozzi married Beatrice in a private ceremony at Windsor — both he and Brooksbank resigned, leaving Fergie as the company’s sole director.

A spokesman for Fergie attempts to unravel this brief but extraordinary chapter in British corporate history.

‘Both sons-in-law were going to get involved but then realised they didn’t have enough time to commit to it,’ he tells me, ‘so they resigned as directors.’ Rumpel, he adds, is a ‘water-cleansing company’ whose operations may ultimately be mainly overseas — although not at the moment. ‘It’s now dormant but will start up again at some point in the future,’ explains the spokesman.

It is difficult to envisage either of Fergie’s sons-in-law returning to the Rumpel board. Mapelli Mozzi heads his own highly successful property and design company, Banda. His former fiancée, Dara Huang, with whom he has a three-year-old son, recently relocated her office to the same Kensington building in West London in which Banda is based.

Brooksbank, formerly a manager at Mahiki, the Mayfair nightclub favoured by Princes William and Harry during their carefree youth, is now a brand ambassador for Casamigos, a tequila company co-founded by George Clooney.

[From The Daily Mail]

I mean, Jack is a tequila-shill who got paid to feature Casamigos at his royal wedding (a tacky factoid which is rarely mentioned) and Edo is a real estate guy who might not be as successful as the press would have people believe. Both men are smart enough to know that they shouldn’t get involved with Fergie or Andrew financially. So why did they? And what made them both quit so suddenly? Did it have anything to do with Ghislaine Maxwell being arrested on July 2nd, approximately one week after Edo, Fergie and Jack incorporated? Woooo, I sure wish some enterprising British journalists would focus some of their energy over here.

Photos courtesy of Instagram, Avalon Red.

Apparently, there was a documentary on British television over the weekend called Harry and Meghan: The New Revelations. It was about, I suppose, the excerpts from Finding Freedom. What is hilarious to me is that there are so many British people – not to mention royal commentators – insisting that Harry and Meghan are boring and terrible and everyone needs to move on and stop paying attention to them, and yet… the British media outlets absolutely still see the Sussexes as revenue streams and cash-cows. Anyway, Andrew Morton was interviewed on the documentary and he had some notable sympathy for Meghan. Morton is best known as Princess Diana’s once-authorized biographer, and while Morton has absolutely said and done some problematic sh-t, he’s also been making some interesting points about how little the monarchy has actually changed since the days of Diana.

Lady Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton has claimed that Meghan Markle may have felt frustrated by the fact she could not speak for herself. Speaking during Channel 5 documentary, Harry and Meghan: The New Revelations, the royal author, most famous for writing Diana: Her True Story, reveals how he feels for ‘poor’ Meghan, who had wanted to do her best when she joined the royal family.

Commenting on the Duchess of Sussex’s first steps as a royal, Morton claims opinionated 21st-century woman Meghan was bound to struggle to adapt to the ‘say nothing’ royal rule of thumb – adding that Finding Freedom was her chance to set the record straight. Morton goes on to say that he believes Finding Freedom was Meghan’s way of trying to express how she approached the royal family and ‘how she was dismayed by the easy criticism of everything that she was trying to do.’

‘She’s been frustrated by the fact that she’s not been able to give her side of the story,’ he explains. ‘All kinds of stories have come out about her, and she’s not been able to answer back, and it’s something she’s found immensely frustrating.’

Morton adds that Prince Harry’s apparent hostility for the media, and especially for tabloids and paparazzi, has only grown stronger over the years. The documentary touches on the fact that Meghan, being an active, outspoken feminist and wanting to speak on different political issues, was going to experience a ‘culture clash’ with the traditional – and white – royal family. Morton also says he feels that modern woman Meghan wanted to do her best when she moved to the UK to be with Harry.

‘I feel for this poor girl, I mean, she came into this country, parachuted in,’ he explains. ‘She’s marrying into a very difficult family, that everybody finds difficult to come into. And she’s someone who didn’t know an awful lot about British history, British culture and as she said herself ‘she’s gonna hit the ground running’. And she hit the ground running, but she found she came up against a brick wall.’

Looking back at Meghan’s first engagement with the Queen, which took place at Merseyside in 2018, Morton says Meghan ‘was trying her best’ but had no idea how to behave. She didn’t know the protocol, she didn’t know the etiquette. I’ll give you a perfect example,’ he explains. ‘She went up to Liverpool with the Queen, and she’s sitting on the chairs and it’s a windy day. She doesn’t know what side of the car to get into,to get out of, what hand to hold her handbag in, and you can see that kind of confusion in her face. Meghan, even though she’s an actress, has had to swap the red carpet for the royal road show.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Was a memo sent out from the palace or something? Why are all of these (male) commentators going on and on about how “Meghan didn’t know the rules.” This is what Edward Enninful said too – that Meghan didn’t know “the rules,” which is all part of the Holy Royal Protocol, and no one has ever written these rules down and yet everyone is supposed to know the rules, and as we all saw, the rules were often applied arbitrarily or solely for Meghan. But really, the “rules” conversation is just another way to otherize Meghan and to tell her (repeatedly) that she “didn’t know her place.” Meghan legitimately did feel silenced and otherized and smeared… because they were silencing her, otherizing her and smearing her.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red and WENN.

Dear Gossips,How many times did you listen to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” this weekend or watch the video? It’s been celebrated, it’s been memed, it’s got Christina Aguilera feeling like this: “WAP” is a horny song. As Craig Jenkins writes at Vulture, it’s “Class-A Filth for the Ages”, s…

Dear Gossips,How many times did you listen to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” this weekend or watch the video? It’s been celebrated, it’s been memed, it’s got Christina Aguilera feeling like this: “WAP” is a horny song. As Craig Jenkins writes at Vulture, it’s “Class-A Filth for the Ages”, s…

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I’m writing this Sunday morning around 11 am, and I just spent the last ten minutes watching the live webcam from main street in Sturgis, South Dakota, where they hold the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally, sponsored by Harley Davidson. While I didn’t see shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, I did not see one mask and no one seemed to be social distancing at all. I also saw so many people riding without helmets, which are not required for over-18 riders in South Dakota. A journalist at the site where I found the webcam, rideapart.com, watched the live feed and described heavy crowds and no mask wearing at peak times. Photos and videos of the event show the same. The nine day event has about half the attendance of a typical Sturgis rally and was estimated to draw around 250,000 people. We’ve heard of church revivals, funerals and school reopenings resulting in outbreaks despite earnest measures being taken. What about a huge gathering where no one is wearing masks? Sturgis is about to be a superspreader event. I’m going to quote Justin Hughes at rideapart here, because I like his take as part of the motorcycling community:

While local businesses pushed for the rally to continue as normal, major manufacturers such as Harley-Davidson and Indian Motorcycle have significantly reduced their presence. Earlier this week we reported on Indian’s measures, with an update that only four employees, who volunteered for the task, are attending, rather their usual 50. Indian normally runs a huge operation on Lazelle Street, where I spent some time last year trying a few bikes and borrowing a Springfield Dark Horse for the week. Harley is going one step further and has sent no one to Sturgis, and issued the following statement:

“Harley-Davidson is the official motorcycle of the Sturgis 80th Motorcycle Rally. We will be focusing our on-the-ground support in ways that are consistent with our health and safety goals instead of large consumer activations. This support will amplify the hallmark experience of Sturgis, which is rooted in riding and the spectacular roads of the Black Hills.”

Rather, it is the attendees themselves who are making light of the situation. The webcam shows that virtually no one is wearing a mask, nor social distancing—not that social distancing is really possible in the center of town. It’s a hotbed of potential contagion. With 250,000 people expected to attend and even a 1-percent death rate, by the numbers that means 2,500 Sturgis attendees could die from COVID-19—perhaps more since most aren’t taking even basic safety precautions.

What concerns me most, however, is what happens after Sturgis. People gather from all over, mingle, then go home, potentially bringing the virus with them. The 2,500 who get sick as a result of direct contact at Sturgis is one thing. How many people they, as well as an unknown number of asymptomatic carriers, will affect back home is quite another.

“If we get it, we chose to be here,” quotes the New York Times headline. Indeed, as riders, we accept that anytime we get on a bike could be our last ride. The difference is that if I crash and die, I’ve only taken myself out. I accepted that risk and took it. Friends, family, and co-workers of people attending Sturgis did not sign up for this. Many of them don’t even ride motorcycles, yet could become sick or even die as a result of someone they know attending the rally.

[From RideApart]

I ride, and I’m not surprised to see that so many of the people who attended are the same ones who don’t wear helmets. Attending this event is selfish, it’s reckless and they’re not just potentially making themselves sick, they’re putting their family, coworkers and friends at risk too. I’m also interested in how the sponsors are responding. It sounds like Indian and Harley Davidson had a muted response because they don’t want to piss off any customers. That’s understandable but it’s still really disappointing.

TMZ reports that ZZ Top performed at Sturgis. Willie Nelson and Lynyrd Skynard canceled. I just looked through the photos on Getty from this year and the #Sturgis tag on Instagram. I feel really sick to my stomach.

Also, the Republican governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, is an ally of Trump’s who has entertained his fantasies of getting his face on Mount Rushmore. She’s a complete piece of trash.

like half a million people are going get covid because a bunch of retired dentists and owners of construction companies want to spend a week away from their wives larping as bikers

— mustache guy (official now) (@TonyBeast1957) August 8, 2020

???

A post shared by Virginia Heritage – CBD Smokes (@virginiaheritagesmokes) on Aug 9, 2020 at 6:32am PDT

I’m really sorry for including the caption to this post but you need to see it.

You know wanna know the secret to life? One thing. Just one thing is all it is for any one. And you have to decide what that thing is for you. For me that thing is freedom. Pure, simple, unadulterated freedom to do as I see fit. People are yearning for it. They are crying for it. And here, this week, they are living it. And let me tell you, they are loving it! But that is why I’m here at the worlds biggest party. And I can’t describe to you how good it feels to be here with so many patriots. We’re gonna win folks. Because freedom always wins in the end. #maga #trump2020 #sturgis #covidsucks #merica #freedom #patriot

A post shared by @ nofilteramerican on Aug 9, 2020 at 6:01am PDT

A post shared by 2conejo4loco8 (@2conejo4loco8) on Aug 9, 2020 at 6:17am PDT

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I’ve talked a lot about how I believe Prince Harry was already on a good path and putting in the work on himself before he even met Meghan. Meghan is often credited/blamed for Harry’s awakening, but I truly think Harry was already there – he was in therapy, he was figuring out his life, he was launching interesting projects. The reason he fell so hard and so fast for Meghan was because he was “ready” for Meghan and what she brought to the table. That being said, I do think that falling for Meghan was the first time Harry saw himself, his family and the institution around them for what it’s always been: an institution of white supremacy. Harry went on a journey SO FAST to understand what was happening to Meghan. This was discussed in an NPR interview with Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, authors of Finding Freedom:

Scobie on Harry’s wokeness: ‘Harry’s journey to wokeness has been very public. We’ve seen him learning and educating himself along the way, but this experience of witnessing Meghan face racist remarks and commentary would have been the first time he’d seen someone in his life or someone he was particularly close to affected by it in a certain way. We talk about some of the more obvious examples in some of the media coverage but I think that the things that have flown under the radar are some of the othering of Meghan we’ve seen. We’ve sort of seen it repeatedly that she’s not one of us. And now, what do they mean by not one of us? And I think there are things like that which Harry’s really had to become more attuned to and learn to see when it happens in front of him. And Meghan would have been the person that guided him on that journey.’

Durand on why they stepped away: ‘Harry really was looking out for his family. His wife felt aggrieved, and they thought that the best decision that they could make was to step back, have a little bit more privacy but still be in a situation where they could carry on their mission, devote themselves to the causes that were so important to them.’

Scobie on William & Harry’s issues: ‘I think it’s one of the early stories you saw come out of this book was this conversation that took place between Harry and William where William seemingly gives sort of brotherly advice to Harry about sort of perhaps watching the speed at which his relationship with Meghan was progressing. And I think there’ve been some people have commented that that might have been a moment where Harry was too sensitive. But I think we need to really look at the overall picture here and what led up to that moment. Harry was already aware of some of the murmurings that were taking place behind his back within the royal household about Meghan. He’d also experienced some of his own friends speaking about Meghan or making negative remarks behind her back that word had traveled back to him about. So when William sat down and had that conversation with him, that was the starting point.’

[From The Daily Mail]

It’s so bizarre to me that this is even being debated or that there are still people in denial about how Meghan was treated and why. It was one of the most hateful smear campaigns I have ever seen in my years of gossip-watching and gossip-perpetrating, and yes, the British establishment really did not know what to do when their white prince fell for a biracial American woman. I also think talking about Harry’s “journey to wokeness” trivializes the very real threats Harry and Meghan faced and still face.

As for what Scobie says about the brothers…. I appreciate the fact that Scobie is trying to put the fallout in a larger context. “Emotional Harry” didn’t simply write off “Wise William” because William told him to take it slow. Harry knows his brother. Harry knew what people were saying – Scobie is saying that in that context, Harry knew exactly what William was trying to do, which is be a patronizing a–hole.

Here’s Woke Harry saying woke sh-t.

View this post on Instagram

“Inequality is not unfortunate like a car accident, it has been manufactured” Prince Harry and @iamrashadrobinson talked candidly about systemic racism, hate online and people with privilege, using their privilege for change. Here’s a sneak peek at what happened. Stay tuned for the full convo #ComingSoon!

A post shared by Color Of Change (@colorofchange) on Aug 7, 2020 at 11:55am PDT

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.

It’s depressing to be on the internet on a good day, but I remember the shock, several months ago, when “progressive Twitter” suddenly learned that Dr. Jill Biden is an academic doctor and that she’s a teacher/professor still, to this day. This sh-t was well-known during the Obama administration and beyond. After Joe Biden’s first wife passed away, he spent several years as a bachelor-widower, then he fell for Jill Biden and they married in 1977. She has worked throughout their marriage. She worked as a professor at a community college when Joe Biden was vice president. And guess what? She’ll still work if and hopefully when Joe Biden is elected president.

Jill Biden, a community college professor, says that if her husband, former Vice President Joe Biden, is elected president and she becomes first lady, she plans to continue her work as a teacher.

“I would love to. If we get to the White House, I’m going to continue to teach,” she said in an interview with CBS’ Rita Braver that aired on CBS Sunday Morning. “I want people to value teachers and know their contributions and to lift up the profession.”

It would not be the first time Jill Biden would have to balance official duties with her professional work. She taught English at Northern Virginia Community College during the eight years she served as second lady, along with working on initiatives to help military families.

[From CNN]

This was so refreshing, I almost cried. Think about how amazing it will be to have a First Lady who talks like a community college professor and works in and around education. Compared to Melania Trump, who on her best day is merely an enigmatic golddigger, this is just nice and refreshing. Let’s get Dr. Biden into the White House so she can remain a professor.

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Getty.

The Duchess of Cambridge only wore a mask for the first time at a “public event” last week. It’s August! She’s been doing “public” events now for a few months, and it’s ridiculous that her events last week were the first times she was seen wearing a mask. She didn’t even wear one the right way – she entered a building (the baby bank) without a mask, and removed it inside when she was still inside. She and William also wore masks to visit a nursing home, when they were around seniors, but failed to wear masks when they were on a boardwalk and inside an arcade on Barry Island. My point? While it’s great to see the royals FINALLY wearing masks, it’s ridiculous that it’s taken them this long. Especially since, guess what, it does make a different:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that anything the Duchess of Cambridge wears sells out. In the past week, the so-called “Kate effect” was put to public health use when she was photographed, for the first time, wearing a face mask.

The £15 mask, from the London-based childrenswear brand Amaia, swiftly sold out, while the digital fashion aggregator Lyst reported a 185% spike in searches for “floral”, “Liberty print” and “ditsy print” face masks within 24 hours.

The cheering pink and cream face covering seemed carefully chosen, its delicate Liberty floral pattern recalling 1940s tea dresses, cucumber sandwiches and bunting. The overall optics were carefully choreographed, too, the mask being paired with a colour-coordinated cream dress for a visit to the Baby Basics charity in Sheffield on Tuesday, and with a rose-printed pink and blue dress for a visit to a care home in the city. There Prince William also wore a mask, in a complementary shade of cornflower blue.

Wearing jolly, upbeat masks, and coordinating them with an outfit, has become something of a trend. Celebrities and instagram influencers have been experimenting with the visual possibilities of masks for months, sometimes to encourage others to do the same – posting pictures with the hashtag #wearadamnmask, often for the purpose of showing off rather than in the interest of public health.

[From The Guardian]

So once again, Kate is trying to position herself as a trendsetter when really she’s a bandwagoner. And her late adoption of (selective) mask-wearing merely highlights how she should have been wearing a mask in public this whole f–king time. CB and I talk about this in this week’s podcast – William, Kate and all of the royals are important public figures with a huge amount of symbolic power. Mask-wearing should have been so f–king easy for all of them. I don’t care if this or that locality didn’t have mask mandates – this was an opportunity for all of them to go above and beyond for the public health and they’ve all been failing (except for Harry & Meghan, who have worn masks every time we’ve seen them in public).

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Friday morning, most of us woke up to the music video for Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion’s collaboration single and music video “WAP.” I will not include the video here, because it’s dirty AF, but you can see it here. The song and the video is a celebration of women’s sexuality and a celebration of the very simple idea that “women like sex too.” This has apparently upset a lot of men, men who want to believe (?) that women don’t really want sex. Maybe those men just aren’t comfortable seeing women as sentient, sexual beings rather than sexual objects for men’s gratification. I don’t know, it’s been a lot. The video was filmed just days before Tory Lanez shot Megan in both feet, in case anyone is interested in a timeline.

Also “a lot”? The complaints about who was included in the music video. Cardi and Megan look amazing and they’ve got almost all of their stuff hanging out in lots of sexy clothes. They also invited several celebrities to make cameos, like Normani, Rosalia and Sukihana. And… Kylie Jenner. Kylie and Megan are friendly – they were hanging out together on the night Tory Lanez shot Meghan, which we now know was several days after they filmed the music video. No one knows if Kylie’s cameo was Megan’s idea or Cardi’s idea or both, but wow, people are NOT happy about it.

The release of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s collaborative single “WAP” on Friday brought with it an equally vivacious music video, which has since sat at the top of YouTube’s trending page. The video features a slew of famous guests: Normani, Rosalía, Mulatto, Sukihana, Rubi Rose and Kylie Jenner, who makes a dramatic 20-second appearance clad in leopard print. However, some fans aren’t pleased with Jenner’s cameo.

Fans praised Cardi and Megan for spotlighting Black and Brown women, but lamented Jenner’s appearance, who is often accused of appropriating Black culture. Soon enough, a petition appeared on Change.org calling for the removal of Jenner from the video.

Created by the users Nini YouTube, Megan Hotties and Bardo Gangs, the petition’s caption states: “The video was perfect until we saw K and I wanted to throw my phone.” Those who signed the petition agree, with one commenting: “I was happily enjoying my daily cup of Brown women until that culture stealing colonizer showed up and made me spill.” Another signee said, “She is a culture vulture who doesn’t remember how her own complexion looks! Down with the culture vultures!” At the time of publication, the petition has more than 50,000 signatures.

Though Cardi did not address Jenner’s cameo specifically, she hinted at the situation on Twitter by writing, “I wanna say thank you to every woman that was a part of my video! The fact that you made time in your schedules means a lot to me! It was so important to me to include different women that are different races and come from different backgrounds, but are so powerful and influential.”

[From Variety]

I mean… clearly, Cardi and Megan were totally fine with Kylie being included. Maybe they even had this particular reason for including Kylie, because it would give their fans something to argue about and now people are still talking about “WAP.” But I doubt that was the reason – I bet Cardi simply respects the Kardashian-Jenners’ hustle and money, and I bet Megan just likes Kylie. They’re close in age and Megan seems like a sweet young woman who tries to be friends with everyone. If Thee Stallion and Cardi are okay with her, why all the angst? Hm.

Cardi posted this defense of Kylie (and Kylie-in-the-video) last night – she’s apparently close with Kylie because their husbands/partners are tight and because Cardi genuinely thinks Kylie is a nice person.

#CardiB speaks out against comparisons between #Normani and #KylieJenner, explains why she invited Kylie to be in the #WAP video:

“This is not about f*ckin race. Why did I put Kylie on my music video? She treated my sister and daughter so lovely at her kid bday party.” pic.twitter.com/VcXOMQ4r0x

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) August 10, 2020

Photos courtesy of Kylie’s Instagram.

Intro: Minutes 0 to 2:30
Chandra has been really tired and going to bed early. We’re both feeling run down this week. The hummingbirds are coming right up to me now when I’m outside. Chandra’s cat Dexter is an eating machine. You can listen below!

Royals: Minutes 2:30 to 25:00.
I compliment Chandra for her skill in picking the best photos for posts. She’s been making Ellen look like a villain by choosing photos where she looks like a White Walker. I love the photos that Chandra picked to show that Harry was the third wheel in William and Kate’s relationship. Chandra remembers how Kate used to make googoo eyes at Harry. I say it’s because her husband wasn’t giving her any attention.

Minute 6:00: Last week we talked about Harry fighting with The Queen’s dresser, Angela Kelly, over Meghan’s access to the tiara ahead of their wedding. The Daily Mail reported the palace’s side that “Harry is understood to have used offensive language about Ms Kelly as he heaped pressure on courtiers to persuade her to travel to London and unlock the cupboard where the tiara is kept.” They made it sound like Meghan was being a diva, when she likely planned it all out and notified them ahead of time. Chandra points out that the palace’s story has changed and was originally that Meghan wanted an emerald tiara for her wedding. I play a segment from our Zoom meeting where Zakia talks about how the press smeared Meghan and how Kelly dragged her feet trying to sabotage Meghan.

Minute 10:00: The Sun ran an outrageous story that Harry would be welcomed back but that he would have to leave Meghan and Archie behind! Chandra says this has been the British press’s aim, to break up Harry and Meghan, since Sussexit was announced in January. There’s a segment from Zoom with Rhiannon, Karen and Ameerah talking about Harry’s decision to leave the royal family and how toxic they are.

Minute 14:00: Dan Wootton, who has sources deep in the palace and broke the Sussexit news, wrote a piece claiming the Sussexes knew he was going to publish the story about their exit a full ten days before the piece ran. He also said that Prince William was working in cohoots with Angela Kelly to limit Meghan’s access to the royal jewelry, something Chandra reported last year. Wootten is part of a scandal where journalists were caught paying off royal staff for scoops. Chandra mentions that Wootton go the tip about the Sussexes’ plan before they were even back in the country.

Wootton paints Meghan as a diva with vague stories about how she “horrified” Kate with the way she spoke to staff members. This is similar to all the other vague and negative stories we’ve heard about Meghan.

In our Zoom meeting Sara and Ameerah talked about how Meghan likely scared the courtiers by reminding them of Diana. Chandra follows royals because her mom loved Diana and says it’s more complicated than that.

Minute 21: On Meghan’s birthday Duchess Kate visited a baby bank in a fussy dress and high heels that looked like they hurt. William and Kate also did a trip to South Wales together, to Barry Island to highlight the pandemic’s affect on the British tourism industry. They played games like skeeball and the claw at an arcade. They did not wear masks inside at the arcade at all. Kate didn’t wear a mask all the time at the baby bank either. They are a terrible example for people. We realize not every place has a mask mandate but they’re public figures and should be setting a better example.

By the next time we record the podcast, Finding Freedom will be out. We talked a lot about it on Zoom and everyone is so excited for that! Courtney and Karen from Zoom give their plans for that day.

Kim and Kanye: Minutes 25:00 to 28:00
Kim Kardashian and Kanye aren’t going to get a divorce after all. They’re vacationing together at a compound in the Caribbean to “try and save their marriage.” Chandra has sympathy for Kim but wishes she wouldn’t tell the press about every detail of her relationship. We think Kanye is a terrible person for continuing his presidential run and of course the Republicans are helping him.

User Feedback: Minutes 28:00 to 30:45
Last week we talked about the celebrities we’d like to see together. Chandra is shipping Angelina Jolie and her ex, Jonny Lee Miller. Our user feedback is from Mia4s and Michelle about whether Jonny is separated or still with his wife. We couldn’t figure this out and there’s very little gossip about him so if anyone has any information let us know! We also got a nice text message from a listener.

Comments of the Week: Minutes 30:45 to 34
My COTW is from Silver Charm on the post about Trump saying “let them prove” that Ghislaine Maxwell is guilty.

Chandra’s comments of the week are from Sunny and YaGotMe on the post about Khloe Kardashian getting back with Tristan Thompson. She also picked a comment from Deanne on the post about Lena Dunham describing her coronavirus battle in exhaustive detail. We talk about Gwyneth Paltrow’s “conscious uncoupling” essay, which is just as overwrought as Lena’s writing style.

Thanks for listening bitches! Call us or leave a voicemail at 434-218-3219. We’re on all major platforms including Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio,iTunes, Google Play Music, Google Podcasts, Castbox and more.

I don’t give @KaiseratCB enough credit for picking amazing photos for everything. She’s done this for years and years. pic.twitter.com/Rpm2DBw6RD

— celebitchy (@celebitchy) August 7, 2020

Photos credit: Backgrid, WENN, Avalon.red. Music via Premium Beat and Sound of Picture and credit Meydan and A.A. Alto