When Prince George first started attending Thomas’ Battersea big-kid school, we learned about his general curriculum, which in addition to the normal kid stuff, also included computer coding and ballet. The argument I made at the time was that I felt sorry for the poor teachers trying to herd dozens of 5-year-olds in the ballet classes, but many of you (correctly) argued that little kids are sponges at that age and that George will probably retain some of what he’s learning. At one point, Prince William even talked about how much George loves to dance and many assumed that meant George loves his ballet classes. There was a distinct lack of judgment and an absence of toxic masculinity around the conversation – kids are kids and no one “judged” George for, you know, being a little boy who enjoys some of his classes, including dance.

Well, apparently Lara Spencer and the Good Morning America team just learned about George’s ballet classes, and they decided to laugh about them. As Lara reads off George’s classes, she and her cohosts laughed when they came to “ballet.” Lara says to camera, “He looks so happy about the ballet class. Prince William says George absolutely loves ballet. I have news for you Prince William: We’ll see how long that lasts.”

The backlash was swift – Lara was accused of mocking George, and mocking children/boys who love to dance. I’d like to point out that while Lara is definitely the main culprit, the GMA team can be heard laughing about it too (especially George Stephanopoulos). But Lara got the brunt of the criticism for her bizarre judgment, so she apologized in an Instagram post. In an IG nature shot, she wrote:

My sincere apologies for an insensitive comment I made in pop news yesterday. From ballet to anything one wants to explore in life, I say GO FOR IT. I fully believe we should all be free to pursue our passions. Go climb your mountain-and love every minute of it.

[From Lara’s IG]

Kind of bulls–t apology. #BoysDanceToo was the hashtag being used to clapback at Spencer and all of the critics of little boys dancing. (On a personal note, I think Mikhail Baryshnikov is one of the greatest artists of the past century, and I still miss Gregory Hines and his beautiful movement every single day).

Dear @LaraSpencer… #boysdancetoo #menwhodance #princegeorge pic.twitter.com/jpuOMYlfUL

— Debbie Allen (@msdebbieallen) August 23, 2019

Dear @LaraSpencer and anyone that needs to hear it… BOYS DANCE TOO! #BoysDanceToo pic.twitter.com/RLeSaiORD3

— Mark Kanemura (@mKiK808) August 23, 2019

Hey @GMA . If @LaraSpencer thinks a boy doing ballet is funny, have her do this sequence live on air. I guarantee you that would be funnier than shaming a young boy who is passionate about the art of dance. ?#BoysDanceToo #ArtSavesLives #GoodMorningAmerica #LaraSpencer pic.twitter.com/FDlXKMTDRF

— DuJuan Smart, Jr. (@DJSmartJr) August 23, 2019

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Kensington Palace.

Bill Skarsgard and the other stars in IT Chapter 2 don’t need to promote it at all. IT 2 will be a huge hit no matter what, and despite the runtime. I think movies should be an hour and forty five minutes long tops, maybe two if there’s a lot of story. It’s too much to have to sit in a theater for over two hours at this point, but IT Chapter 2 is two hours and 49 minutes long! (I really wanted to put that in all caps.) Edit your movies! I know that End Game made a bajillion dollars and that IT 2 will as well, but a nearly three hour runtime is so indulgent. Advance reviews are largely positive, but say that it’s too long and falls apart in the last half. Less is more.

Anyway Bill is covering CR Men, a division of CR Fashion Book. I can’t find the interview online, but I’ve found some out of context quotes in other sources.

On acting: Acting is a very expensive way of letting that inner child play again.

On driving around Hollywood with Pennywise makeup on after his second audition: [It was] a metaphor for what the profession of acting feels like.

On how he describes himself: [I’m] a bit strange but definitely not an outsider.

American vs. Swedish actors:In America, stars are taught to say they are boring, but they don’t expect us to believe them. I prefer the Swedish system. It prizes actors as craftsmen, not as celebrities.

[From CRFashionBook via Just Jared and Page Six]

I lived in Germany for a few years and really noticed the difference in how celebrities were treated there. It’s not so much the system as the general culture, which doesn’t hype things like we do in America. Americans can put a lot of emotion, exaggeration and drama into things that Germans see in a more practical, matter-of-fact way. I haven’t spent time in Scandinavia, but I believe it’s similar. Their celebrity culture doesn’t elevate them like we do because their culture is just more low key. German shows were like that too. Their reality shows seemed boring to me because they were more slice of life and not as ridiculous as our shows can be.

As for Bill, I like that he realizes he’s not an outsider, since his dad, Stellan, and his brother, Alex, are both internationally known. You can see that he’s carving a career for himself as a craftsman. He’s not on social media, he’s not hyping himself much, and we know barely anything about his personal life. (He has a one-year-old child with Swedish actress Aida Morberg. He’s been with her for years, but it was hard to find out much about them.) I respect that, as much as I’d like to know more about him. He’s only 29! He could easily be a heartthrob, but he’s focusing on his work. Also, I just realized how telling that quote about wearing his Pennywise makeup is. He feels like he’s wearing a mask in his profession in general, like he can’t be himself.

Here’s a trailer for Villains, Bill’s movie with Maika Monroe (It Follows), Kyra Sedgwick and Jeffrey Donovan. It’s out September 20th and looks amazing! I so want to see this.

These men!!
Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

photos via CR Look Book and credit: Getty

At the end of May, Iggy Azalea deleted her social media accounts for about a month following a leak of topless photos that were outtakes from a 2016 GQ photoshoot. At the beginning of August, Dave Annabelle unfollowed everyone (except his wife) on Instagram, writing, “Instagram can cause depression and anxiety.” Two more celebrities who have followed the trend of drastically changing their social media habits are Channing Tatum and Jessie J. The couple announced (separately) that they are taking a break from social media.

Here’s what Channing had to say:

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A post shared by Channing Tatum (@channingtatum) on Aug 7, 2019 at 5:37am PDT

If anyone is using a screen reader, Just Jared transcribed his message in their report, which Channing typed in Notes on his iPhone and posted to Instagram:

“I’m gonna take a break and come off socials for a minute. I’ve been trying to get inspired and create again. And to be honest I don’t really feel, or at least I haven’t felt very creative on social in the last couple years now. I’m gonna go and be just in the real world for a while and off my phone. I’ll probably come back at some point. But if I do I want to have a direction or a clear point of view of why I’m on here and what I’m putting out there[.] . . . Love ya! See ya after a while!”

[From Instagram, via Just Jared]

Jessie posted an image of the text: “Done it before. Doing it again. Having a break from the gram. To get out my phone and into REAL LIFE. I spend way too much time scrolling through some BS,” followed by a series of emojis. She wrote a longer explanation in her caption saying she’s doing great and wants to get back into nature.

View this post on Instagram

For the record I’m OK. Happy, healthy and sane. People often presume to come off Instagram you are going through some shit. Lol. Actually it’s the opposite. Im in such a good place that I want to respect and nurture that looking up and not looking down. Instagram is fun, but it isn’t real life. I’m off to write a new album. ? Telling just the people who support me. Love you all. Be back soon. Refreshed and refuelled and ad-libbing OBVIOUSLY ?? (Also try and instagram cleanse every once in a while – it can do you no harm) ??

A post shared by J E S S I E . J (@jessiej) on Aug 24, 2019 at 8:40am PDT

Both Channing and Jessie mention wanting to spend more time in the “real world” and “real life” and wanting to refocus their creative energy. Good for them. Jessie’s right that taking a break from Instagram (or social media more generally) doesn’t do anybody any “harm,” and can help make life slightly more peaceful as one less source of anxiety and frustration. The break I took from Facebook several years ago was great. I knew that I had made the right decision when it occurred to me on the first day that there was something else I “needed to do,” but couldn’t remember what it was. I realized that I had been thinking about “needing” to be on Facebook. Checking it had become a chore, rather than something fun. I wonder whether Channing’s decision spurred Jessie’s, or maybe they’d both been talking about it and decided to do it. Either way, I hope that they enjoy the break. I’ll be curious to see how long it lasts.

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Miss your face

A post shared by J E S S I E . J (@jessiej) on Aug 16, 2019 at 5:52pm PDT

photos credit: Getty and WENN

As we heard late last week, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made the choice to fly to Scotland with their children. They chose to fly on a budget airline, Flybe. The Daily Mail scooped up the exclusive photos and video of the Cambridges walking off their flight in Aberdeen. We knew it was a complete set-up at the time. We knew that Prince William and the Kensington Palace communications office had set up the whole tarmac walk as a photoshoot, and we knew why – this was Work-shy Will putting his back into something, and that something was being an a–hole to his brother and sister-in-law. The Sussexes’ private plane rides had been in the headlines for more than a week when the Cambridges pulled their sh-tty budget-flight photoshoot – and the KP comm office even provided unnamed-source quotes praising the Cambridges’ frugality, recent though it may be. It was like William couldn’t help but leave his fingerprints all over the crime scene.

Well, if looks like the whole story is even funnier, stupider and more amazing than all of that. The crux of the plane issue – when it came to the Sussexes – was the ENVIRONMENT. As in, how could Harry speak about environmental anything when he and his *sniff* American wife fly on private planes. The carbon footprint! The fuel! The hypocrisy! So it’s especially funny that when William attempted to show off his family’s frugality and environmentalism, he totally played himself.

Two empty jets were flown on behalf of Flybe some 500 miles as part of taking the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children to Aberdeen on Thursday, The Scotsman has learned. The revelation comes days after William and Kate were praised for using an economy flight from Norwich when Prince Harry and ?Meghan have been criticised for a series of private jet trips. It is understood the empty flights made by the two 49-seat aircraft cost around four tonnes of carbon.

An aviation source with knowledge of what happened said the plane which normally flies the route had been replaced by a Flybe-branded aircraft in an attempt to maximise press coverage for the company. Eastern Airways, which operates the route for Flybe, confirmed to The Scotsman it swapped a Loganair plane normally used for the flight for another of the same type of jet with Flybe markings. Eastern said this was so it would be “wholly compliant and in control of the operation”. The substitution involved an empty Embraer 45 jet being flown some 100 miles from Humberside airport to Norwich to pick up the Royal party and regular passengers.

Loganair’s own Embraer plane then also flew empty some 400 miles from Norwich to Aberdeen so it could operate the next flight back to Norwich. The source said: “An Eastern Airways jet was flown empty from Humberside to Norwich and then flew the scheduled flight to Aberdeen with the Royals on board. The Loganair aircraft which normally flies this route for Flybe and Eastern flew from Aberdeen to Norwich as usual but then flew empty from Norwich to Aberdeen. I guess it was to ensure if they had any Press coverage of the Royal travel, an aircraft with a Flybe logo flew them. Heck of a carbon footprint to achieve it – not exactly environmentally conscious.”

Eastern Airways said it had chosen to switch the aircraft after being told the Royal party had booked onto the flight. General manager (commercial and operations) Roger Hage said: “Following a call and details provided late evening on Wednesday as to members of the Royal Family having been booked onto the service, and that armed Royal Protection Officers would accompany the family on-board, we elected, given this service is operated for Flybe by Eastern, to provide our own aircraft and crew, given the approvals and clearance required ?to accommodate such. This then assured ourselves on our own Air Operators Certificate that we would be wholly compliant and in control of the operation in accordance with associated regulation. Hence we positioned an aircraft on a short 25-minute leg to facilitate the above.”

[From The Scotsman]

Despite what some reporters claimed about the Cambridges’ trip being booked “months in advance,” William really called up the budget airline Flybe and asked for budget tickets last minute, and he and his staff made sure that Flybe knew that he, his family and his protection officers would all be on board. This was a wink-and-nudge for Flybe to provide special service, which they did. Of course William knew that it was a special service. I say this because “sources” are strenuously denying any knowledge:

According to their fellow travellers, the Cambridges slipped on to the plane discreetly shortly before take-off, and sat in the front few rows, exiting first in the hope they would not be recognised. The Loganair aircraft which should have taken them to Scotland, and had brought an earlier load of passengers from Aberdeen to Norwich as part of its regular shuttle service, took off from Norfolk empty around 45 minutes later, according to official flight records.

The source said: ‘It’s utterly extraordinary and makes a mockery of their family’s very laudable attempts to travel more economically and in a more environmentally friendly manner. An additional 4.5 tons of carbon emissions were created simply to ensure that an aircraft with Flybe written on the side operated the flight with the Royal party aboard, instead of the usual aircraft which flies the route. It’s obviously not their fault but is utterly ridiculous.’

William and Kate were completely unaware of the switch and had not asked for special treatment, aside from slipping in at the last minute. A Kensington Palace spokesman declined to comment but it is likely the couple will be mortified.

[From The Daily Mail]

“It’s obviously not their fault but is utterly ridiculous.” Is their blamelessness actually obvious at all? I don’t think it is. You know what would not surprise me at all? If this was all supposed to be some kind of undercover advertising for Flybe anyway, like the royal family’s undercover sponsorship with Land Rover. William probably offered Flybe free publicity – in exchange for what? – and of course Flybe jumped at the chance to be featured within a story of William’s petty clownery. Oh, well, Work-Shy Will. You actually tried to do a thing and it came back to bite you on the royal arse. Well played, karma.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.

The day after Jeffrey Epstein died under mysterious circumstances in a Manhattan jail cell, the Duke of York went to church with his mother, the Queen. Both were photographed with sh-t-eating grins that morning, and why not? Perhaps they believed the worst was over. Perhaps they were even right about that. The problem was that questions still persisted, and old stories kept coming out about Andrew’s association with Epstein, to the point where Andrew looked like a conspirator in the human trafficking crimes. So Andrew’s office issued a lukewarm statement, a blanket denial. The stories kept coming – stories about Virginia Roberts and flight logs and stories about Andrew hosting Epstein at Balmoral and Windsor Castle, and stories about “foot massages” (hork). Even though the palace courtiers happily threw the Sussexes under the bus for jolly old Andy, reporters are still digging around. So… he released yet another statement:

Prince Andrew is continuing to speak out about the sex abuse claims surrounding his former friend Jeffrey Epstein. Less than a week after Buckingham Palace released a statement about how the Duke of York, 59, was “appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes,” the royal released a second statement.

“It is apparent to me since the suicide of Mr. Epstein that there has been an immense amount of media speculation about so much in his life. This is particularly the case in relation to my former association or friendship with Mr. Epstein. Therefore I am eager to clarify the facts to avoid further speculation,” he wrote.

“I met Mr. Epstein in 1999. During the time I knew him, I saw him infrequently and probably no more than only once or twice a year. I have stayed in a number of his residences. At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behavior of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction. I had said previously that it was a mistake and an error to see him after his release in 2010 and I can only reiterate my regret that I was mistaken to think that what I thought I know of him was evidently not the real person, given what we now know. I have tremendous sympathy for all those affected by his actions and behaviour.”

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to a felony charge of solicitation of a minor and was sentenced to 18 months in jail. After serving 13 months, he was granted work release and registered as a sex offender.

The royal added: “His suicide has left many unanswered questions and I acknowledge and sympathise with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure. This is a difficult time for everyone involved and I am at a loss to be able to understand or explain Mr. Epstein’s lifestyle. I deplore the exploitation of any human being and would not condone, participate in, or encourage any such behavior.”

[From People]

“I have stayed in a number of his residences. At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behavior of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.” Ah, that clears everything up! Sure, he only saw Epstein once or twice a year from 1999 to 2008, and yet… Andrew stayed in a number of Epstein’s residences. Which ones? The New York house, the Florida compound, the pedophile island too, one would assume. And Andrew NEVER saw anything. That’s not even why he would stay over at Epstein’s residences, this man he barely knew, the man whom he only saw a couple of times a year. He was staying at Epstein’s homes for completely different reasons! And notice what Andrew doesn’t say, like how many times he might have hosted Epstein at one of the royal residences.

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Getty.

Jordyn Woods covers the September issue of Cosmopolitan UK, and my first thought was “really, the shunned friend of a reality star is worthy of a September cover?” But Cosmo UK is just all-digital now and honestly, Jordyn’s interview was really good. Like, surprisingly good. Jordyn used to be famous for being Kylie Jenner’s live-in BFF. Then Jordyn was kicked out of Kardashian-Jenner World after she kissed Tristan Thompson (or let him kiss her) and Khloe basically lost her mind about it. Jordyn is still piecing together her life post-Kardashian but she sounds… fine. You can read the full interview here. Some highlights:

Where she is now: “Life is crazy. A lot can happen in four years. There’s been so much that’s happened in my life, I feel like I’m so old.”

On Tristan Thompson kissing her: “I didn’t know how to feel. I was like, ‘That didn’t just happen.’ I [told him] ‘I need to go.’ I was leaving already so I walked out immediately. I got in the car. I was in shock…. You know that saying, ‘I feel so alone in a room full of people’? I went through a phase of thinking, ‘I’m going to isolate myself, because I don’t know how I feel. I don’t know what the right thing to do is.’”

On clapping back: “I don’t believe in clapping back, or reacting out of emotion. I could have handled this a million different ways, but I just went with what felt the most natural to me. Would I ever have wanted this to happen? Never. But sh-t happens. And in the end, I never want to see anyone hurt; I would hate to be the reason for anyone’s pain. We all have to go to sleep with ourselves at night…. It becomes addictive to look on the internet, to look at your name. When I would look at my name and see all of the things that people were saying, it became like a tumour. It became cancerous to me.”

Even though she grew up in a mostly white area, she understands her blackness: “I’ve had the privilege of not having to face it as hard as the girls in [that] school because of my surroundings, but now I have a clearer understanding of how this game works, and how people feel like it’s OK to say whatever they want. I know that I’m a black woman and I love being a black woman.”

Body-positive advocacy: “I feel like being body positive means wanting to be the best version of yourself. If you want to be skinny, big, or whatever you want to be, you have every right to be that, as long as you’re being good to your body.”

On Kylie Jenner: “I love her. That’s my homie. I hope everything falls into place and that we can all grow and build our relationships with our family and God and come back together one day and be stronger and happier… A lot of people can be around when things are good, but you don’t know who’s really around until things are bad. It’s not about public statements for me and it’s unfortunate that something so private had to happen publicly… Let’s stick together. The world is so crazy. Our politics, our wars, our this, that and the other, the last thing we need is to start going against each other about things on social media. Let’s be better humans and learn from our mistakes.”

[From Cosmopolitan]

She sounds… fine. She sounds like she’s done a lot of growing up in the past year, and she’s thoughtful and open to learning more about herself and the world around her. It’s almost like she was happy to be in the Kardashian-Jenner bubble, but she’s learned that she can be totally fine without them too. You can tell she misses Kylie and misses their friendship. Maybe I’m projecting, but it also seems like she’s learned that if Kylie and her sisters are going to “cancel” her so suddenly, then she doesn’t need them either.

Cover courtesy of Cosmo UK, additional photo courtesy of Backgrid.

Alright, I’ll give Cara Delevingne some credit: this is a good cover. Cara covers the September issue of Marie Claire, and she managed to turn what could have been a neutral shot into something else. There’s Cara’s sullen air, almost like she’s challenging us to a fight without saying a word. And yet she doesn’t look angry? I’m telling you, it’s a good cover. Good colors too, love that shade of green. Anyway, Cara covers MC to promote her latest acting project: the Amazon series Carnival Row, which is sort of like Penny Dreadful but… more political, I guess. It’s set in sort of funhouse-mirror Victorian London and Cara plays a fairy. Sure. You can read the full MC piece here. Some highlights:

On her girlfriend Ashley Benson: The two met in the spring of 2018 on the set of Alex Ross Perry’s Her Smell: “We weren’t looking for it,” Delevingne tells me. “It was really just very authentic and natural.” I can’t help but feel that she may be doing some emotional transference when she describes Benson’s dogs as “f–king adorable” with the “f–king calmest dispositions. These two”—she gestures at her own pups—“are psychopaths” that have been punishing her for a recent absence by relieving themselves all over the house.

She’s only 26 years old: “So many people have said to me, ‘You’re 26? It seems like you’ve been around forever.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, that’s horrendous.’”

On Carnival Row: “It’s the first [thing] I’ve done where I’m really full-blown acting.” The role was taxing; fairies fly, which meant she had to master wirework. And learning the stunts was nonnegotiable: “If I hadn’t done them, I wouldn’t have been able to get there emotionally. Physicality to me is a very important way of expressing emotions.” That’s true in life too. When she struggles to process her feelings, she’ll turn on Fiona Apple or Lauryn Hill “and throw myself around and cry. They scream and you just feel it.” She grabs her neck and moans. “Just that raw female ahhhh!”

Her posh childhood: “I hope people never think I’m complaining. I had an incredible upbringing. I went to amazing schools. We were able to go on holiday.”

Her mom’s heroin addiction: “I was a nurturing child and wanted to make sure everyone was OK. It didn’t feel wrong. But looking back, I’m like, Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have been put in that position. But I wasn’t put in it; it just happened.”

On Harvey Weinstein: She was one of the cascade of women to lodge allegations against Harvey Weinstein, describing on Instagram an incident in which he lured her up to a hotel room and tried to kiss her. When other women came forward, “I was like, Oh my God, that means I was abused? I don’t think he’ll ever be able to repay what he’s done.”

Learning how to be alone: These days, Delevingne is embracing the proverbial “balance.” She drinks celery juice. She spends time alone, which used to be tough. Her family is closer now: “It’s taken time to grow apart, get some boundaries, and come back together.” She’s no teetotaler but is conscious of her inherited addiction risk—“We’re all addicted to something,” she says, indicating her phone—and tries to avoid “habitual things. I shouldn’t do the same thing every day, apart from breathing and eating.”

Her sex positivity. “I’m not just talking about sex for sex. I’m talking about experience, whether it’s abuse or confusion, positive or negative.”

[From Marie Claire]

Obviously, I’ve never been a fan of Cara, but I’ve covered a lot of her interviews and shenanigans over the years, and she sounds better here. She sounds like she’s calmed down a lot and matured a bit. I noticed the change when she fell for Ashley Benson too – suddenly, Cara wanted to be a better person, and a more private person too. She’s got the love of a good woman and it shows. And honestly, that was what Cara needed: to be in a real relationship where she could feel safe and secure. And then other sh-t fell into place.

Photo courtesy of WENN, cover courtesy of Marie Claire.

A few weeks ago, a squirrel came by our yard with a peanut. We didn’t know he was out there when we opened the back door and our beagles immediately charged. The squirrel had to leave her peanut behind. But she ten minutes later she tried to come back for it. Jacek was impressed with the squirrel’s …

A few weeks ago, a squirrel came by our yard with a peanut. We didn’t know he was out there when we opened the back door and our beagles immediately charged. The squirrel had to leave her peanut behind. But she ten minutes later she tried to come back for it. Jacek was impressed with the squirrel’s …

A few weeks ago, a squirrel came by our yard with a peanut. We didn’t know he was out there when we opened the back door and our beagles immediately charged. The squirrel had to leave her peanut behind. But she ten minutes later she tried to come back for it. Jacek was impressed with the squirrel’s …