In 2018, Richard Dennen became the editor-in-chief of Tatler. Dennen was close to then-Kate Middleton at St. Andrews, and he has seemingly maintained that friendship for two decades. I really and truly believe that Dennen likely okayed the new Tatler cover story which is currently blowing up in everyone’s faces. I maintain that it started out as yet another Embiggening Kate project, simply because most of the quotes are variations on things we’ve already heard from “unnamed sources” or “palace sources” over the past few years. That Kate never puts a foot wrong, that she’s controlled and controlling, that Carole stage-manages her life.

So why did the piece end up so shady? My theory is that the Cambridges and their “friends” all think they’re PR geniuses and they’ve shown time and time again that they’re not, actually. William and Kate think that because they successfully bullied the Sussexes out of the country, everyone in Britain will be forced into buying whatever the Cambridges are selling. Now that everything has blown up, the Cambridges can’t distance themselves far enough:

Earlier, royal sources said a claim in the piece that Kate felt furious, exhausted and trapped after Harry and Meghan’s exit left her with a bigger workload was untrue.

— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) May 27, 2020

LOL. It’s gotten so bad that now Keen defenders are claiming the Tatler piece was all some kind of hit job from Meghan! Remember when Prince William ran to Richard Kay to cry that Meghan was to blame for the story about his affair with Rose Hanbury? That’s what this is again. The Cambridges f–k up, they badly miscalculate something and then they blame the Sussexes.

I also wanted to point out something else Tatler had – the cover story was full of hilarious quotes about how much Kate works and how upset she is that Harry & Meghan have left her to pick up the diamond-encrusted shards of royal duty. Quotes like “Kate is furious about the larger workload. Of course she’s smiling and dressing appropriately but she doesn’t want this. She feels exhausted and trapped. She’s working as hard as a top CEO, who has to be wheeled out all the time, without the benefits of boundaries and plenty of holidays.” And sources arguing that Kate’s “perilously thin” figure happened because she’s a “multitasking mother of three – one countenancing the additional worries of defending a Royal Family seemingly under siege.” Or how about this? “Meghan and Harry have been so selfish. William and Catherine really wanted to be hands-on parents and the Sussexes have effectively thrown their three children under a bus. There goes their morning school runs as the responsibilities on them now are enormous.”

I repeated those quotes from the cover story because Tatler did a “Kate by the numbers” piece and I found two of the numbers fascinating: Kate has 21 patronages and she’s done 1,201 royal engagements since her wedding. Nine years of marriage and she only has 21 patronages? Does that figure count The Art Room, which had to close this year because of lack of funding because their royal patron is so lazy? And I’m sorry, but 1200 engagements in nine years is flat-out pathetic, especially when you consider what “counts” for Kate’s engagement numbers. She counts “private meetings,” “private parties,” “Zoom calls” and “walking on a tarmac” as engagements and she still only averages out to 130 events a year.

Update: HOLY CRAP. A Tatler spokesperson spoke to Entertainment Tonight about the Kensington Palace denial and said: “Tatler’s Editor-in-Chief Richard Dennen stands behind the reporting of Anna Pasternak and her sources. Kensington Palace knew we were running the ‘Catherine the Great’ cover months ago and we asked them to work together on it. The fact they are denying they ever knew is categorically false.” Oh my god, the drama!!

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.

I’ve always loved Rachel Weisz. She just seems so cool, so genuine, so talented. The fact that she basically ran off with James Bond (Daniel Craig), married him and had a baby with him at the age of 48? I love that for her. I love that she doesn’t present her life as “inspo/goals” and yet… it really is. She got James Bond to settle down and have a baby and he’s never been happier. James Bond is madly in love with her. It’s a great story! Anyway, Rachel covers the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK to promote Black Widow, the release of which has been delayed. The interview took place in lockdown, via Zoom. Rachel was with Daniel and their daughter (whose name we still don’t know) in upstate New York, and the Bazaar journalist apparently caught sight of Mystery Craig and Daniel on the call too. You can read the piece here. Some highlights:

She began filming Black Widow nine months after she gave birth: “I think all women would recognise that as daunting. I didn’t have my core, shall we say. I was really weak and quite flabby. It was a good incentive to do some Pilates and dance cardio…”

Rachel, who is Jewish, on the need to speak to the white supremacists: “It’s about learning to speak to the other. Right now, we have white supremacists in America – what are we going to do, not speak to them? They’re human beings; how did they get to be like this? Do you know what I mean? Otherwise everyone just stays separate. We’ve had Brexit, we’ve had Trump; people have their reasons, even if you don’t agree with them” (as she clearly doesn’t).

The need for more female stories: “The Eighties and Nineties were really sh-t for women. But I used to watch a lot of black and white movies with my mum –Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, they were very powerful in the narratives. Bette Davis didn’t have super-powers but she’s powerful as hell. I do think it’s important for girls growing up to see stories where women are front and centre, and to see a female politician, or a female prime minister. It’s about identification, it’s seeing possibilities. We need more stories about women. We need more role models!”

Giving birth to her second child at the age of 48: “I’m more tired than I was last time, this car has more miles on it. But I’m really having fun, I’m really enjoying it, it’s a real blessing.” Age, she says, has made her more patient. “We tried to go for a walk yesterday, and I had a plan about where we were going to go, but we only made it two metres, because first there was an interesting stick, and then we discovered a moth. So we didn’t go anywhere at all, did we? I’m just more flexible, I think.”

Her big beauty secret/turning 50: “I drink a lot of water. And I always had very oily skin – I hated it as a teenager because I had pimples.”

[From Harper’s Bazaar UK]

The thing she says about talking to white supremacists was said in the context of a short film, Lore, she was raving about, which was directed by her Black Widow director Cate Shortland. The film basically makes people see the human side of a Nazi family, and her point was that we can’t just write people off once they’ve done or said something deplorable. Which I understand, but it’s also a slippery slope. Personally, I’m not here for seeing the humanity of these Nazi f–ks, but maybe I simply don’t have Rachel’s maturity.

I thought the story about going for a walk with Mystery Craig and only making it two meters was super-cute. She and Daniel must be loving this time alone with their little girl.

Cover & IG courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar UK.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loathe Donald Trump’s Twitter feed. He is at his most unhinged on Twitter, and that’s saying something. He rage-tweets, he pushes conspiracies and dangerous misinformation, and his feed provides an unsettling insight into his deep racism, anti-Semitism, ignorance and hatred. The moment to suspend Trump from Twitter was years ago, before his presidency. But he absolutely should have been suspended early in his presidency too. Jack Dorsey at Twitter kept him on, despite the growing calls to suspend Trump’s account. Yesterday, Dorsey finally did *something*. This is it:

Just a little add-on for a tweet full of misinformation and Trump still threw a tantrum:

….Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020

Meanwhile, Vanity Fair had another piece about how Trump sits in the White House and just rages at everybody and everything.

As he headed into Memorial Day weekend, Donald Trump complained that he was COVID-19’s biggest victim. “He was just in a f–king rage,” said a person who spoke with Trump late last week. “He was saying, ‘This is so unfair to me! Everything was going great. We were cruising to reelection!” Even as the death toll neared 100,000 and unemployment ranks swelled to over 38 million, Trump couldn’t see the pandemic as anything other than something that had happened to him. “The problem is he has no empathy,” the adviser said. Trump complained that he should have been warned about the virus sooner. “The intelligence community let me down!” he said.

Trump’s outburst reflected his growing frustration that, at this stage of the race, he is losing to Joe Biden. According to a Republican briefed on the campaign’s internal polls, Trump is trailing Biden by double digits among women over 50 in six swing states. “Trump knows the numbers are bad. It’s why he’s thrashing about,” the Republican said.

[From Vanity Fair]

There’s more in that piece claiming his advisors desperately want him to stop tweeting about Joe Scarborough, and that Trump’s only reelection hope is for Joe Biden to implode. They should be more concerned about Trump’s continuous implosion, but whatever. Of course Trump thinks he’s the biggest victim of the pandemic.

Also, this happened yesterday:

Trump in Rose Garden on event announcing lower insulin costs for seniors:

“I don’t use insulin. Should I be? I never thought about it.”

(Trump is not known to have diabetes)

— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) May 26, 2020

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

The “Central Park Karen” story is still being widely discussed online, in the news and basically everywhere. It feels like it’s one of those “perfect victim” stories. A Harvard-educated African-American man goes to the park because he’s an avid bird-watcher. He sees a white woman breaking the rules by refusing to leash her dog. He asks her several times to leash her dog. Woman throws a tantrum, threatens man, calls the police on the man and claims that he threatened her. While she’s on the phone with 9-1-1, she also nearly kills her dog by strangling it. She was the one who approached the man and he told her to back off, all while he recorded her on his phone.

The woman is Amy Cooper and the man is Christian Cooper (no relation). Amy Cooper’s racist Karendry has gotten her dog taken away and she was first suspended and then fired from her job. The suspension happened on Memorial Day – just 24 hours later, Franklin Templeton fired Amy Cooper. At this time, we still don’t know if she’ll have to face bigger repercussions beyond that. Like, she needs to be arrested for false reporting and attempted manslaughter or something. For wasting the cops’ time and resources with her unhinged Karendry.

As the story continued to expand, people began doing more research on both Christian and Amy. Christian really is an avid bird watcher, and he was even part of a documentary short about bird-watchers in New York (the video is cued up Christian’s appearance):

I love this gentle bird nerd and he must be protected from the unhinged Karens at all costs. Speaking of, Christian Cooper is such a bird nerd that he’s a board member of the Audubon Society, and now the Audubon Society is releasing woke AF statements about racism and bird-lovers:

“Black Americans often face terrible daily dangers in outdoor spaces, where they are subjected to unwarranted suspicion, confrontation, and violence,” said Audubon SVP for State Programs Rebeccah Sanders, who is white. “The outdoors – and the joy of birds – should be safe and welcoming for all people. That’s the reality Audubon and our partners are working hard to achieve. We unequivocally condemn racist sentiments, behavior, and systems that undermine the humanity, rights, and freedom of Black people. We are grateful Christian Cooper is safe. He takes great delight in sharing New York City’s birds with others and serves as a board member of the New York City Audubon Society, where he promotes conservation of New York City’s outdoor spaces and inclusion of all people.”

[From Audubon Society]

I both love and hate this. I love that the Bird Watching Community has Christian Cooper’s back and that bird nerds are all about racial equality. But I also hate that it had to f–king come to this all because some racist a–hole couldn’t deal with being told to leash her f–king dog.

Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately. We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton.

— Franklin Templeton (@FTI_US) May 26, 2020

Screencaps courtesy of Topic video.

A post shared by kristen bell (@kristenanniebell) on Feb 13, 2020 at 9:04pm PST

Last week Kristen Bell made headlines for admitting that her younger daughter, Delta, was still in diapers at five. Many of you mentioned that it’s common for children that age to wear pull-ups to bed and that may be what she was referring to. Kristen confirmed that with a tweet defending herself. She wrote that Delta is only in diapers at night and that “My 5yr old wouldn’t be embarrassed even if she was in diapers during the day!” I thought that it was unfair of her to tell such personal stories about her daughter, especially when she and Dax have been so adamant about protecting their identities. Kristen and Dax have been open about their relationship problems and may think that candidness should extend to their children.

The last time we covered Kristen talking Dax, she said that Dax had broken bones in his hand and was too scared to tell her about it. In early April they did a joint interview with Katie Couric for Instagram live where they confessed they had been fighting quite a bit. Before leaving, Dax said, of Kristen, “America’s sweetheart has some character defects.” It just seemed nasty to me, like he wasn’t fighting fair. Plus, in early January, Kristen admitted she’d had a fight with Dax and they hadn’t talked for three days after that. She said she started talking to Dax again when she asked him if they could foster a dog, which would have made the timeline back in September.

In a new interview with Daily Pop, Kristen admitted that she didn’t talk to Dax for three and a half days, but it wasn’t last fall. She gave the timeline that it was early in quarantine.

Is there ever a time where you get upset when he might overshare stuff on his podcast?
No because I trust that he has my best interest in mind. Even if my kneejerk reaction is ‘why did you share that?’ My second thought isn’t ‘he’s out to get me.’ We decided a long time ago that we were in the public eye, we were a couple, there was sort of no getting around it. We could try to take all questions about our relationship off the table for the rest of our lives and just be incredibly boring or we could sort of, open the kimono, as they say and allow people to see what our marriage is like.

What’s the longest you’ve gone without talking to Dax
I’m going to say three and a half days. It was at the beginning because we started quarantine needing a little marriage housecleaning. We had a huge fight and then we didn’t talk for three and a half days and now we’re fine.

[From Daily Pop on Youtube via Buzzfeed]

How often are these people going days without talking to each other? That’s crazy. They live together and have kids together! Plus they were in quarantine at the time. In regard to being open about their marriage, it’s not either/or, being boring or oversharing to the degree they do. I’m thinking about Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. They share sweet stories about each other and about their kids but they don’t tell us their deep personal business. Then again, their fame and popularity doesn’t depend on that. Plus they seem to have a more congenial relationship.

Here’s that interview:

A post shared by kristen bell (@kristenanniebell) on May 23, 2020 at 7:41pm PDT

This commercial is very on brand for these two.

A post shared by Dax Shepard (@daxshepard) on Oct 10, 2019 at 9:11am PDT

As we discussed yesterday, the latest Tatler cover story is amazingly stupid and hilariously out-of-touch. The cover story is about the Duchess of Cambridge and how she is all things to all people – a top-notch CEO being wheeled out constantly, even without loads of holidays; a normal mother who cannot possibly make the school run now that her brother-in-law has scampered away; a pitiful, angry creature who is furious about her exhausting work load; and finally, a stoic Queen-in-training who even speaks in a strangled fake posh accent now. And Tatler even proudly says that Carole Middleton is the brains behind this entire operation. Tatler released their full cover story, so here are some additional quotes (plus I’m repeating some of my favorites from yesterday):

Katie the Keen Kingmaker: ‘Kate understands that the only credo of the Royal Family is duty, duty, duty. Whereas with the Sussexes it is constant uncertainty, [the Cambridges] represent stability and continuity.’

Kate was wheeled out post-Sussexit: ‘Kate knows what the country needs and wants. Championing how to raise your children is perfect.’ Yet, privately, said another friend, ‘Kate is furious about the larger workload. Of course she’s smiling and dressing appropriately but she doesn’t want this. She feels exhausted and trapped. She’s working as hard as a top CEO, who has to be wheeled out all the time, without the benefits of boundaries and plenty of holidays.’

Carole Middleton holds the Cambridge marriage together: In crisis, friends say, Kate retreats to the protective embrace of her family. Her commendable backbone comes from her mother. ‘They are a very close family and totally united,’ says a friend of the Middletons. It helps that in William’s eyes Carole and Michael Middleton can do no wrong. ‘He absolutely adores them. Michael is charming. Really kind, soft and gentle. William loves going to the country to stay with them. Their family life is so soothing for him as it’s so different from his own family.’ Another country grandee says: ‘I’ve heard that Prince William is obsessed with Carole. She’s the mummy he always wanted.’

Carole arranged Anmer Hall to her standards: A skilled craftsman who worked on Anmer Hall, William and Kate’s country home, and is used to a roster of prestigious and potentially tricky customers, said that he found Carole ‘the most difficult client’ he had ever worked with: ‘She was exceedingly demanding, fussy and questioned everything.’ Carole has put her stamp on Anmer decor-wise. Far from being a typical aristo abode, with threadbare rugs and dog hair everywhere, like, say, Windsor and Balmoral, it is, according to a visitor, ‘like a gleaming five-star hotel, with cushions plumped and candles lit’. Another adds: ‘It’s very Buckinghamshire.’

But what about Pippa? ‘Pippa now speaks like the Queen, too, and is absolutely paranoid about the paparazzi,’ says one of her circle. ‘She refers to her sister as Catherine or “the duchess” in public, which feels too regal and try-hard. Pippa is a bit lost now and is struggling to find her place. She’s always in the shadow as someone’s sister or someone’s wife. But they are all utterly loyal to each other. The Middleton family will always close ranks. None of them can quite believe that they have hit the jackpot, so between Kate, Pippa and Carole there is an unspoken bond. A sort of “We have to bring it to fruition at all costs”.’

Kate & Meghan: ‘I don’t think that she ever pulled Meghan under her wing and said, “I’ll show you the ropes,”’ says a friend. ‘Catherine and William were very circumspect from the beginning about Meghan, which hurt and incensed Harry. William rightly cautioned Harry to slow the relationship down. That’s why they all fell out. As the rift got deeper between the brothers, Kate, who used to be so close to Harry, tried to pacify things. But her loyalty will always be to William.’

A curious mention of Rose Hanbury: Then there’s her ‘Turnip Toff’ crowd, the Norfolk Sloanes, including Sophie Carter and Robert Snuggs, who live near Anmer Hall. And the Cambridges’ glamorous Houghton Hall neighbours, Rose Hanbury and her husband, the Marquess of Cholmondeley – with whom there was an alleged falling-out last year, over Rose’s apparent closeness to William. The whole of Norfolk was agog and the story spilled over into the newspapers. No party has commented publicly on the matter.

A Royal Family “under siege” post-Sussexit. ‘William is absolutely incandescent about Megxit,’ a courtier confides. ‘Every time the Sussexes issue a statement, it hits everyone like a fresh bombshell. The Cambridges are left reeling like everyone else. Everyone is terribly worried about how this is affecting the Queen.’

[From Tatler]

I actually have to thank Tatler for giving us this beautiful gossip gift during a pandemic. It really is a lot of fun. I still believe that this piece started out as yet another vapid Embiggening Kate project, but something happened along the way – some shade was thrown, some truths were told, and some shots were fired. I doubt that Kate is pleased with the mention of Rose Hanbury, nor will she be pleased with these “sources” making it sound like mummy Carole still runs every part of her life and marriage. Interestingly enough, “a Kensington Palace source” ran to the Daily Mail over this Tatler piece and the source apparently “dismissed the claims” and said they are “false.” Which parts? The parts that make Kate seem like a posh, bland robot slowly gaining sentience or the parts that make her seem like a lazy out-of-touch a–hole? These people are awful.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.

Walt Disney World parks and water parks are closed, but some key shops and restaurants are open in their free open mall-like section, Disney Springs. Reports make it sound somewhat chaotic and like they’re not enforcing social distancing or mask-wearing. It sounds dangerous, but at least they’ve kept Disney World proper closed and are adhering to the very lax regulations of the state of Florida. Their trash governor, Ron DeSantis, implemented a “Phase One” reopening on May 4th that allows restaurants, retails stores, gyms, tattoo parlors and even hair salons to open in most parts of the state. (Miami-Dade and Broward counties took a little longer to open up. To be fair, our Dem governor in Virginia, Northam, is allowing businesses like salons and retail stores to open at 50% capacity too.) I think we’ll be seeing so many more cases in a couple of weeks, particularly after the ridiculous crowds we saw around the US over Memorial Day Weekend. There’s no word yet on the reopening plan for Disney World, but Universal Orlando is reopening on June 5th. They’re going to have temperature checks for guests, will limit crowds, and are handing out masks for people who don’t have them.

He then went on to detail several ways the theme park experience will be different, for now — all of which he says have been vetted by health and safety officials. Here are 10 of the most noteworthy:

1. Water and mist elements in the park and on rides will either be eliminated or reduced. This will be done in an effort to prevent the potential spread of the virus through water.

2. Parking will be staggered. Staggering parking times in the numerous lots will keep visitors apart as they arrive and allow for easy social distancing.

3.There will be required temperature checks at all main entrances. If a visitor does not pass the temperature test, they will be given time in a cool area to see if their temperature drops below the required level. If not, they will be sent home. Guests will be asked to test their own temperatures at home before arrival in order to avoid this.

4. Guests and employees must wear masks. If they arrive at the park without a mask, a free disposable one will be provided to them.

5. Single rider lines will be eliminated. Normally these lines allow employees to fill up each ride completely when there are odd-numbered parties. The new practice will ensure no guest will have to come within six feet of someone who is not a part of their party.

6. There will be no meet and greets. Characters will still be performing in shows throughout the park, but will not leave the stage to interact with guests post-performance.

7. Capacity will be reduced in the park and on rides. Fewer people will be allowed to enter the park, and fewer people will be allowed on each ride at one time. Many rides will have entire rows of the ride vehicles blocked off to promote social distancing.

8. Touchless payments will be requested. Cash will still be accepted, but touchless will be the preferred method of payment for food, merch, etc. All menus will also be single-use and disposed of after each use.

9. Lines will look different. People will be able to enter a “virtual line” for some attractions meaning they will not need to stand close to others to wait to enter. Entrance times alerts will be shared digitally. Where lines are required, there will be markers on the ground to indicate where people should stand in order to remain six feet apart.

10. Interactive play areas will be closed. Social distancing is near-impossible in these sensory-focused playground areas meant for young visitors, so they will be closed to ensure no children are at risk.

[From People]

The digital line notification is smart and I hope they keep that available after this passes. Otherwise I have so many questions and concerns. So many people with covid are asymptomatic, or have mild symptoms and no fever. Without immediate testing, there’s no way to know who has it and can spread it. There’s antibody testing but it’s not widely available or particularly accurate. Plus testing positive for antibodies does not necessarily mean a person is immune to re-infection. There are just too many risks to open up theme parks in the US at this time. Meanwhile, there are still over 100,00 crewmembers of Cruise ships stranded at sea with no word on when they will be allowed to go home. I know that’s a completely different issue, but it seems relevant when a huge theme park is about to reopen.

These photos are from 2018 and 2019, Credit: C. Cagnin and Craig Adderley via Pexels.com

I’m hard on Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom. I’m hard on them because I don’t like them together. I think they’re a bad match. But clearly, other people like them and defend them and that’s fine! Where am I going with this? My instinct is always to knee-jerk hate whatever Katy and Orlando are doing as a couple. But I couldn’t knee-jerk this story. I actually found it sort of cute and real, in a weird way. As it turns out, Orlando has a secret hobby: he likes to quietly go to a room and build LEGO sculptures while sipping whiskey. We all have to cope somehow and this is Orlando copes, according to Katy.

Orlando Bloom is just a big kid at heart. Katy Perry revealed on Friday’s broadcast of SiriusXM’s “The Morning Mash Up” that her 43-year-old fiancé is a serious Lego lover.

“We have a Lego room in our house,” Perry, 35, explained. “It was a TV room and now it’s a Lego room. He gets these Legos which are super hard to do, like the model cars and stuff and he’ll make those in two days and then he displays them on the wall.” The “Swish Swish” singer noted that the actor, who she says drinks whisky and builds Legos for hours at night, is even contemplating building his own car out of the plastic building blocks.

“I was like, ‘Oh, you are a lot more handy than I thought you were!,’” Perry remarked of Bloom’s newly discovered skills. “I was like, ‘Can you hang this for me, please?” she added.

Also during the interview, Perry addressed the widely circulated sonogram photo she shared on Instagram which many say appears to show her baby flipping the bird. “If you really look at it, maybe she’s giving me the peace sign which would definitely be Orlando’s genes, but the middle finger is sure predominant, the middle finger is my genes,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Grammy-nominated musician confessed that quarantining together has tested the “Carnival Row” actor. “He’s seen it all and God bless him he’s still here which is amazing and commendable,” Perry said. “I have definitely tested him and been like, ‘Oh yeah?! Oh yeah, you think you can handle me? Let’s see it!’”

[From Page Six]

You might even call Katy a LEGO-LASS? Get it? Because he played Legolas. I can’t believe Page Six avoided that dumb pun and yet I went for it. Anyway… a dude retiring to his LEGO room with a glass of whiskey for hours at a time is kind of a sweet thing? Am I an idiot for thinking that this is really harmless and soft? It honestly sounds like a great stress reliever. Maybe I should put a LEGO room in my house.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Embed from Getty Images
Dakota Johnson redeemed herself from those awful 50 Shades movies by being one of the first celebrities to openly call out Ellen DeGeneres for being a phony, essentially. A lot of us respect her for that. Dakota’s nerve to call it like she sees it may be due to the fact that she comes from an old Hollywood family. Dakota’s parents are Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith and her grandmother is legendary actress Tippi Hedren (The Birds, Marnie). Tippi is now 90 years old and she looks amazing. I’ve included a recent Instagram photo that Melanie Griffith posted of Tippi. Tippi has been an advocate for animal rights, particularly big cats, for decades. There are photos of Tippi in the 1960s living with tigers that look like something out of Tiger King. In a new interview with Graham Norton, Dakota revealed that her grandmother still lives with about 13 big cats.

Does Tippi still live with the big cats?
Yes she has 13 or 14 lions and tigers. There used to be like 60 cats and now there’s just a couple.

Do you remember this from when you were little?
By the time I was born they were all in huge compounds and it was a lot safer. It wasn’t totally as psycho as when they first started.

[From Graham Norton via People]

Judging from the photos on Melanie’s Instagram and how Dakota described it, the lions and tigers have large outdoor spaces now and aren’t lying on the couch in her living room. I also bet she has a team of people taking care of them for her, and that she doesn’t spare expenses keeping them fed and housed. (I have to mention that after seeing Tiger King.) Tippi has the Shambala Preserve in Acton, California, which takes in circus animals including elephants and big cats which are dependent on humans. It’s maintained by Tippi’s non-profit, the Roar foundation. I would bet that’s what Dakota is referring to.

Here’s that interview clip. Do you think she’s in Chris Martin’s house? There are tons of sound panels and instruments around her.

My 90 year old Mom! She still got game! ????????????????? @tippihedrenofficial photo by @wodow07

A post shared by MELANIE (@melaniegriffith) on Mar 6, 2020 at 5:57pm PST

This is 90 ???

A post shared by Tippi Hedren (@tippihedrenofficial) on Jan 19, 2020 at 9:23am PST

Happy Mother’s Day! ?

A post shared by Tippi Hedren (@tippihedrenofficial) on May 12, 2019 at 10:59am PDT

A post shared by MELANIE (@melaniegriffith) on Mar 18, 2020 at 12:04pm PDT

I kind of like the way Cameron Diaz went into retirement or semi-retirement. Her last film was in 2014 (Annie) and she didn’t spend that promotional tour going on and on about how this would be “her last.” She didn’t make any kind of announcements in the months or years that followed either. She just stopped reading scripts, stopped saying yes, and just did her own thing with no splashy “I’m Retired!” People Magazine cover. But since it’s been six years since we’ve seen Cameron in a movie, people do ask her about whenever she is in a position to take a question, which is also pretty rare. During an IG Live last week, she was asked about it:

Is Cameron Diaz going to get back into acting after retiring years ago? Fans of the star may not be pleased with her answer. During an Instagram Live with probiotic company Seed founder Ara Katz Wednesday, the actress, 47, discussed whether she would be doing more movies.

“I am not going to do more films at the moment,” she said. “But I am doing a lot of Instagram Lives because I think it’s a lot of fun to get to connect with you guys and say hi.” She continued, “Everybody’s out there in quarantine right now, which is really, really hard and discouraging, but it looks like we’re getting the swing of it at least.”

[From USA Today]

From her own words, it sounds like Cameron is leaving the door open to work again at some point, if the script is good and if she feels like it, but that’s not her headspace right now. A source also spoke to Entertainment Tonight about Cameron’s retirement:

Cameron Diaz is all about that mom life. The 47-year-old actress announced in January that she had welcomed her first child with husband Benji Madden, a daughter named Raddix. Being the best mom she can be has become Diaz’s “main focus,” a source tells ET, forcing the star to be “selective” when it comes to her return to acting.

“Cameron is enjoying her time away from the action, and spending it with her husband and baby Raddix,” the source says. “Cameron worked consistently for almost 20 years and needed a break. Cameron loves being a mother and that is her main focus now. Cameron plans to be selective in any projects she considers for the future, but for now it’s all about family.”

[From ET]

Sure. Again, she’s leaving the door open. I still wonder what exactly happened with Diaz – was it a gradual burn-out? Did she intend to only take a year off and then just kept on going? Or did something *happen* to her around 2012-13? I still wonder, and there are a few rumors in the deepest recesses of the internet. Anyway, it will be interesting to see if Cameron actually does come back to acting at some point. I imagine if she does, it will be years from now, especially now that she just became a mom.

Here’s a recent thing Cameron did on Instagram. I only watched a few minutes of it and she’s very cute. She just looks really healthy and content these days too.

View this post on Instagram

Talking about the Microbiome … THE most cutting edge science in well-being and health..

A post shared by Cameron Diaz (@camerondiaz) on May 20, 2020 at 6:24pm PDT

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.