Ariana Grande dumped Pete Davidson last week as you know, which is a lifetime ago for the two of them. She returned his ring and they have reportedly been getting support from their families. People quotes a source who says that Ariana is focusing on her work but that her friends and family are worried. Ariana performed last Tuesday for the upcoming Wicked special on NBC, which will air October 29th. She was seen with a bandaid covering the little tattoo of Pete’s name she has on her left ring finger. Pete has been trying to cover up some of the many tattoos he has for Ariana, something he had to do when he split with Cazzie David too. So when Pete joked at a gig over the weekend that he was stupid to get tattoos for a relationship that was a few weeks old, note that he did it for his last girlfriend and that his tattoo artist warned him not to do it. It’s not like he was dumb in love in this one instance. He joked during the performance that he was “0 for 2 in the tattoo department,” which could be interpreted as regret for just two tattoos. He’s referring to getting tattoos for two different girlfriends though, because he got around six tattoos for Ariana. To Pete’s credit, he was doing a benefit performance and he showed up despite needing to pull out of an earlier gig right after the breakup. Here’s some of what he said, thanks to US and E!:

[Pete Davidson performed] at the Judd and Pete for America benefit at Largo at the Coronet in West Hollywood on Saturday, October 20.

“Anybody have any open rooms?” he said. “I’m looking for a roommate.”

[Pete] was “not too down” and “laughing at some of his own jokes,” a source told Us. He gave further insight into his current mental state when an audience member interrupted him to ask about DBT, a.k.a. dialectical behavior therapy (the same type of treatment Selena Gomez is currently receiving).

“This is what they tell you when you have mental illness … they go, ‘Oh, you’re sad? Hold onto a pack of ice.’ Nobody knows what the f–k they’re doing … I’m f–king paying $2,000 dollars a session to hold f–king ice cubes,” he told the crowd. “They’re like, ‘Yeah, you’re sad. Go listen to music.’ ‘Oh, thanks! Never thought of that.’”

He continued, “They’re like, ‘When you’re sad, you should distract yourself … all that stuff is bullshit … The only reason why I do all that stuff is so that way [like I], in my head, I’m like, ‘Well, I did it.’ I know it’s not gonna work, but I tried.” – From US

“So, obviously you know I, we [Ariana and I] broke up or whatever but when me and her first got engaged we got tattoos,” he later continued. “And it was like in a magazine like, ‘Was Pete Davidson stupid?’ And 93% of it said yes,” Davidson told the audience. “So my boy, he was like, ‘Don’t listen to that s–t man. They’re literally f–king haters.’ And I’m like, yeah, f–k that. I’m not stupid. And the other day we were in my kitchen and he was like, ‘Yo bro. Turns out you were stupid.’”

[Organizer Judd] Apatow praised Davidson for showing up at the show, which took place three days after he was photographed for the first time since the breakup news, walking in New York City.

“Well, you put me on the flyer, I had to,” Davidson said, joking, “F–k my feelings.”

“I care more about America than your feelings, I do,” Apatow joked. “I care more about America than Pete’s feelings.”

“I feel like I am America,” Davidson said. “I’m a good guy that just keeps getting kicked in the dick. You’re like, ‘Ah, that f–king poor kid. Hope he doesn’t kill himself.’ That’s America.” – From E!

[From US and E!]

Most of that sounds funny and self deprecating except for the last part where he says he’s “America” because he’s a good guy who keeps getting kicked down. He still has his gig on SNL despite the fact that he can’t keep a straight face through most of the sketches. Most comedians would kill for that. (Did you see Don’t Think Twice?) I do think he’s funny but don’t consider him a standout. He may be heartbroken but he’s not down on his luck or persecuted because a pop star came to her senses and dumped him. He massively raised his profile from dating Ariana and he’s only going to get more opportunities from here. The dude has 2.5 million followers on Instagram despite not having any content.

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it’s nonna ?

A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) on Oct 21, 2018 at 7:40am PDT

photos credit: WENN, NBC via WENN, Backgrid and Instagram

Tate! Happy Birthday from Mia! I hear you’re missing your wine right now so, as a ginger distraction, here are Prince Harry and Sam Heughan.

Whenever people/Russian trolls make the argument that we shouldn’t impeach Donald Trump because “Mike Pence is just as bad,” I tend to roll my eyes. Pence is horrible, of course. He’s a homophobe and a bigot and he agrees with Trump 99% of the time. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Impeachment Train needs to leave the g–damn station. Here’s the thing though: every so often, we do see Pence’s fingerprints on something horrible coming out of this administration. There are some “culture wars” that I honestly believe Trump doesn’t give a sh-t about. This is one of them. Apparently, the Trump administration – or mostly Pence and Jeff Sessions – want to legally maneuver transgender people out of existence.

The Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth, the most drastic move yet in a governmentwide effort to roll back recognition and protections of transgender people under federal civil rights law. A series of decisions by the Obama administration loosened the legal concept of gender in federal programs, including in education and health care, recognizing gender largely as an individual’s choice and not determined by the sex assigned at birth. The policy prompted fights over bathrooms, dormitories, single-sex programs and other arenas where gender was once seen as a simple concept. Conservatives, especially evangelical Christians, were incensed.

Now the Department of Health and Human Services is spearheading an effort to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans gender discrimination in education programs that receive government financial assistance, according to a memo obtained by The New York Times.

The department argued in its memo that key government agencies needed to adopt an explicit and uniform definition of gender as determined “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable.” The agency’s proposed definition would define sex as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with, according to a draft reviewed by The Times. Any dispute about one’s sex would have to be clarified using genetic testing.

“Sex means a person’s status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth,” the department proposed in the memo, which was drafted and has been circulating since last spring. “The sex listed on a person’s birth certificate, as originally issued, shall constitute definitive proof of a person’s sex unless rebutted by reliable genetic evidence.”

The new definition would essentially eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million Americans who have opted to recognize themselves — surgically or otherwise — as a gender other than the one they were born into.

[From The New York Times]

Well done, Caitlyn Jenner. I’m so glad she felt so strongly about voting for Republicans when all they want to do is deadname her and refuse to recognize her gender identity. This kind of move is just the kind of petty cruelty and Nazism that the Evangelicals love. This was this trade-off, this was one of their “gets” in their transactional power play: they are political whores who look the other way about a serial sexual assailant and adulterer in the White House, and they’ll actively campaign for a sexual assailant on the Supreme Court, all so they can “get” these kinds of things. In their minds, women have no reproductive rights and transgender people have no rights to exist. The ends justify the means, even as they’ve all sold their souls to the point of depravity and multiple human rights crises.

After the NYT reported this, the Human Rights Campaign and other organizations are pushing even more voter drives and campaigns. #WontBeErased is where trans people can tell their stories.

Trans people #WontBeErased
Trans people #WontBeErased
Trans people #WontBeErased
Trans people #WontBeErased
Trans people #WontBeErased
Trans people #WontBeErased
Trans people #WontBeErased
Trans people #WontBeErased
Trans people #WontBeErased
Trans people #WontBeErased

— GLAAD (@glaad) October 21, 2018

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Dear Gossips,

I mentioned last week that I was worried about my binge bone, like maybe it had stopped working because I have so many shows paused through two or three episodes. Well. Not a problem anymore. All it took was a mandatory weekend of rest and Elite on Netflix. I started on Friday nigh…

The time difference between here and Australia is really confusing me, but I think all of the looks we’re discussing in this post are from Day 7 of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s royal tour. Day 7 meaning… Monday in Australia (and Monday for us as well!). For Day 7, Meghan and Harry traveled to Fraser Island together, but Meghan begged off the first event of the day, which would have involved a very bumpy car ride to Pile Valley and a few hours out in sun. Harry did that event alone, and then he met up with Meghan several hours later so they could do a meet-and-greet and photo op at Kingfisher Bay Jetty. These photos are from that meet and greet.

It’s been said that Harry is the one encouraging Meghan to rest more and he must be concerned that she’ll push herself too hard in the early stages of her pregnancy. The moments of rest seem restorative for Meghan – she looked very happy during the meet-and-greet. She wore a very beachy frock by Reformation and leather sandals for today’s event. The dress is super-cute and it looks completely at home for these beachy, sunny scenes. The quibble I’m sure many people will have is that… the photo op was set up so that Meghan and Harry were backlit. Meaning you could see straight through Meghan’s light, gauzy dress. This happened to Diana too in an infamous moment when she was first dating Charles.

Meghan was seen arriving at Fraser Island in a low-key maroon polka-dotted dress from & Other Stories – it’s an off-the-rack piece which retails for $129, and there aren’t that many clear photos of it. Polka dots and buttons on this trip, oh my. Meghan only wore this for the quickie arrival, then she went to the hotel to rest and met up with Harry hours later, when she switched into the Reformation dress.

Meghan arrives at the marina for the whale boat to Fraser Island. Love her & Other Stories frock! pic.twitter.com/AWrbtELsFr

— Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) October 22, 2018

Last thing: some well-wisher told Harry that she hoped that Meghan is expecting a girl. Harry replied “So do I!” William was also pretty vocal about wanting girls too, for what it’s worth. I think a lot of men think girls are “easier.”

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, Backgrid.

Thomas Markle actually waited about five days before he sold out his daughter again, following the news of her pregnancy. He issued one short public statement the day after Meghan’s pregnancy announcement, but all of us knew that would not be the end of it. And it wasn’t. He sold some old family photos of Meghan as a baby to the Daily Mail and he gave them an exclusive interview too, because of course he did. You can see the photos here. Some highlights from the interview:

When he heard the pregnancy news: The announcement, he says, was ‘overwhelming and joyful… I was sitting in line waiting to cross the border when I heard the baby announcement on the car radio. The first thing I thought about was holding Meghan in my arms as a newborn 37 years ago. I thought, “My baby is having a baby.” It was a very proud moment. I was filled with love, joy and happiness for both my beautiful daughter and my son-in-law. A new baby is a blessing and I look forward to seeing a little Meghan or a little Harry.’

On Meghan’s birth: ‘It was in the middle of the night when Meghan was born by caesarean section. Doria [Meghan’s mother] was sleeping [anaesthetised] and so I was the first person in the world to hold Meghan. When they handed her to me and I held her in my arms for the first time it was love at first sight. She was the most beautiful baby. Meghan winked at me and I fell in love and have never stopped loving her from that day forward.’

How he wasn’t included in the palace statement confirming the pregnancy: ‘I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me. Me not getting a call is most likely a misunderstanding about my two back-to-back heart attacks and me missing the wedding. There has been so much misinformation and lies that perhaps made them mistrust me.’

He thinks Meghan will be a great mom: ‘I wasn’t surprised by the baby announcement. Meghan loves children and she and Harry have been talking about wanting a family from the start. I’m delighted for them both. She’s always been wonderful with children and most of her friends have families so she’s used to being around kids. She will make a fantastic mother.’

[From The Daily Mail]

After reading the DM piece, I was more disgusted with the Daily Mail than Thomas Markle. The DM used words like “unnecessarily cruel and unkind” when describing Thomas’s absence from the formal pregnancy announcement, as if Meghan is “unnecessarily cruel and unkind” for drawing boundaries and cutting off a toxic and emotionally abusive parent. You know what was unnecessarily cruel and unkind? When Thomas Markle actively tried to ruin her wedding when all she did was invite him. Also cruel and unkind? Every time he’s sold her out and participated in these coached interviews with British outlets.

As for the rest of it… well, at least we know for sure that Meghan didn’t call her dad and Doria didn’t call him either. He heard the news on the radio.

Photos courtesy of ITV and The Sun.

Claire Foy covers the latest issue of The Hollywood Reporter, and this is the first time I’ve realized how funny and sassy she is. She’s not out here, cracking jokes, but she’s delightfully neurotic and quietly savage in that particular British way. THR interviewed Foy for First Man and The Girl in the Spider’s Web, a one-two punch which will probably make her a household name with people who haven’t watched The Crown yet. The interview took place in Washington, DC, around one of the big premieres for First Man. As I noted at the time, it was a weird moment to for a film premiere in Washington because it came in the middle of the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, when every woman felt on edge, and most women wanted to rage-punch the first doughy misogynist they set eyes on. Claire Foy was no different – the Kavanaugh situation is riddled throughout this piece, and Foy talks about how she wishes she could violently assault one particular d-bag.

When she sees an 18-wheeler with the sign “Black Smoke Matters.” “I want to key his truck,” Foy says of the pro-pollution rig, then smiles. We’re so used to seeing her as the Queen swallowing her anger, it’s refreshing to see her get to enjoy it. She spots the phallic Washington Monument across the Mall. “All powerful! D.C. is where the giant penis of America lives … in more ways than one.”

The protester holding up a sign saying “#MeTooFraud.” Foy stares at the man. “I just want to rip it up,” she mutters about his poster. Then the 5-foot-3 actress walks up to him and says, in a tone the Queen might use to ask a visiting dignitary what colony he’s from, “Why have you got a media badge on?” “What’s that?” the man asks, clearly not a fan of The Crown. “Why have you got media accreditation?” Foy repeats. “Because I’m from the media,” #MeTooFraud says with the affect of patience, as if explaining Apollo 11?s lunar orbit to a child. “What media?” Foy persists, tilting her head to the 3 o’clock position. “KGED 1680,” he responds, turning his iPhone camera toward her. “It’s a radio station out in California.” “You’re a journalist?” Foy asks, cocking her head over to 9 o’clock. “I love this country,” he says in what might be the most patronizing tone in the history of the patriarchy. “I’m not a journalist. I’m an editorialist. I’m an opinions journalist.” “Oh, right,” Foy says, like that makes sense, and turns to me to explain: “He’s got his opinion.”

On emotion: “I always felt like the odd one out. Just so emotional. Someone tells me a story and I’m, like, crying. People — men especially — are like, ‘Emotion is manipulative.’ Like, why does it have to be a bad thing? I’m really tired of people being like, ‘Women are too emotional.’” She brings up Serena Williams, who lost the U.S. Open final after being penalized a point for allegedly being signaled by her coach, and then a game when she protested the first punishment. “Serena Williams is allowed to get emotional. It matters to her. Maybe we need more emotion. Maybe we need more people fighting for what they believe in.”

She doesn’t want to go to the Trump White House: “Is that the White House?” she asks, surprisingly surprised for someone on a walking tour of Washington government buildings. “I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to go there because he’s in there.” Foy reconsiders: “Actually, isn’t he doing his weird rally somewhere?”

[From THR]

She’s so damn polite. She even politely confronted a douchenozzle carrying a #MeTooFraud poster and she didn’t even violently attack him or his poster. There’s been so much talk about women’s anger these days, or “female rage” or “female seething.” These are good conversations to have, and Claire is right – why is it that emotion is only considered “manipulative” or off-side when it comes from a woman? Brett Kavanaugh is an emotional, rage-filled sexual assailant and liar. But that emotion – performative emotion, mostly – got him a SCOTUS seat. I hope Claire went back to that poster guy after the THR journo left. I hope Claire ripped up his poster and set fire to the pieces.

Claire Foy: “Serena Williams is allowed to get emotional. It matters to her. Maybe we need more emotion. Maybe we need more people fighting for what they believe in” https://t.co/Ll4axA3cwv pic.twitter.com/dB2ZEtyKY7

— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 17, 2018

Cover and photo courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter.

Last week, Kristen Bell said in an interview that she uses fairy tales to help start discussions with her daughters about consent, women’s agency and more. Keira Knightley had just revealed that she doesn’t let her three-year-old daughter watch Disney movies like Cinderella or The Little Mermaid because they show women being rescued by men essentially. Kristen said that she does read those stories to her five and three-year-old daughters (it was unclear if she was responding to Keira or if it was just timely) but that she makes sure they talk about the issues raised, like a lack of consent to a kiss when the prince wakes up Snow White by kissing her or taking food from strangers when Snow White is coerced into eating the witch’s apple.

Well people came for Kristen because it’s the internet and the mommy wars are real. She had some thoughts for them.

Lets stick w/ the facts. u know NOTHING abt how I teach my children b/c weve never met, nor have u met my kids. But since u asked(read: sarcasm, b/c u weren’t enlightened enough to actually ask):my kids r strong&fiesty &use critical thinking & noone plays the victim in our home.

— Kristen Bell (@IMKristenBell) October 18, 2018

Thank u Margot, I find the outrage annoying and misplaced as well. I’m a mom who wants my girls to possess critical thinking and aks a ton of questions. So that’s what we do when we read books. https://t.co/wptcM2DfLt

— Kristen Bell (@IMKristenBell) October 18, 2018

Cool use of sarcasm here.
Nope, just trying to be a good mom, and believe me, they get plenty of visuals of chivalry every day when they see how @daxshepard treats me and all the women in his life.

— Kristen Bell (@IMKristenBell) October 18, 2018

It’s cute that you guys are making jokes about something that I feel is very important. I’d be happy to send you copies and snow white and frozen, and you can see the differences. How far the example set for women has come. It might enlighten your point of view.

— Kristen Bell (@IMKristenBell) October 18, 2018

She took outlets to task for misrepresenting her interview:

A news source should be more reliable than this. It will mean your viewers know your messing with them to get clicks. Its tacky and low. Please do better.

— Kristen Bell (@IMKristenBell) October 18, 2018

I never sparked a public debate. I was interviewed about my parenting style, what I read to my kids and why. I answered honestly. And “spark” has been added by outlets and click bate. That’s apparent when u read the origional interview which, not surprisingly, noone did.

— Kristen Bell (@IMKristenBell) October 19, 2018

There were also cases where people wished ill on her and she talked to them too.

You’ll not give me CPR if I was dying bc I have a different point of view of a fairy tale? Harsh. Your bio say youre trying to make the world a better place. I wanna do that too. I just think thier are better ways to do it than threatening ppl on social media. Have a good day.

— Kristen Bell (@IMKristenBell) October 18, 2018

Kristen is responding to people who are open deplorables. Once in a while I’ll comment on those tweets, I’m not going to lie it’s hard to resist and I did it just a few days ago, but my general strategy is to block or mute trolls. All you need to do is look at the person’s account for 10 seconds to see if it’s worth responding to them. I get why she’s defensive though. She made a very good point about the media we’re letting our kids consume and how you can turn it into a lesson. Then a bunch of people twisted it and yelled at her for explaining a rather sensible parenting strategy. Kristen can be annoying and she’s an oversharer but I’m with her on this one. Oh and she understands she shouldn’t respond to everyone. I thought this was cute:

Thank u for the reminder. I dont often come to Twitter anymore for that very reason. I appreciate the reminder and the encouragement

— Kristen Bell (@IMKristenBell) October 18, 2018

As we discussed yesterday, it seems like the Duchess of Sussex was feeling tired and possibly a bit barfy in Sydney this weekend. She kept up her full schedule for Saturday, but she was due to pass out medals with Prince Harry at Cycling event, but Harry did the event alone. A palace source told media outlets: “After a busy programme, The Duke and Duchess have decided to cut back The Duchess’s schedule slightly for the next couple of days, ahead of the final week and a half of the tour.” Meghan was reportedly “feeling fine but resting,” and trying to pace herself for the rest of the tour.

Just hours after Harry did the cycling event for the Invictus Games solo, Meghan did come out to join him. Which makes me think it really was about Meg feeling barfy and tired, and just wanting a few more hours of sleep. The thing is, if she was feeling barfy, I feel extra sorry for her because one of the Sunday events involved a boat ride along Sydney Harbour to watch the sailing competition. This poor woman… imagine being jostled around on a boat while you’re pregnant and not feeling 100%. In the boat photos, people think Meghan is repeating the same pair of Outback Denim jeans from the stop in Dubbo, an Invictus Games windbreaker and what appears to be a pair of sustainable Veja J-10 sneakers.

One event was a Sunday afternoon reception with the Aussie PM Scott Morrison, and Meghan wore black jeans, a black turtleneck and a very ‘80s blazer from L’Agence, and her favorite pair of Aquazzura pumps in black, with a bow. The Oroton crossbody bag is a repeat – she used the same bag earlier this year at an event with Harry. I’m actually astonished by how much I hate this blazer, by the way. It has huge shoulder pads and it looks like something an Omaha secretary would have worn in 1987.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, Backgrid and WENN.

Did you know that Cate Blanchett made a movie with Jack Black? For some reason, I want to believe that they had a ball together as they worked on The House with a Clock In Its Walls. That’s the film Cate was promoting in Rome late last week, at that Rome Film Festival. The movie has been out in America for weeks, but this was likely part of the European promotion for the film. Cate seems like the only one from The House with a Clock in Its Walls sent to Rome on promotion? She was probably there as part of her Armani contract too, although she did not actually wear Armani. Huh.

For the premiere, Cate wore this Maison Margiela gown, designed by John Galliano. Cate is an old-school fan of and believer in Galliano, and she stuck with him even when he was run out of Dior for his drunken hate speech. Say what you will about Galliano, but the man can still design the crap out of some couture. This gown is such DRAMA. I love it. I always love fashion more at the Rome Film Festival, for what it’s worth – the red carpet in Rome always makes clothes look more dramatic and enchanting. I’m also including photos of Cate at the photocall, wearing an Acne suit which is super-unflattering. Satin pleated pants, ick.

When in Rome, Cate was whether, at this point, straight actors need to stop playing LGBTQ roles in film and television. Cate thinks it’s fine:

“I will fight to the death for the right to suspend disbelief and play roles beyond my experience. Reality television and all that that entails had an extraordinary impact, a profound impact on the way we view the creation of character. I think it provides a lot of opportunity, but the downside of it is that we now, particularly in America, we expect and only expect people to make a profound connection to a character when it’s close to their experience.”

[From BBC]

I don’t think Cate’s argument is bad, per se – people should be able to suspend disbelief, and many people do suspend disbelief. But along with that comes the difficult realization that there are those in the audience who only find gay characters palatable or acceptable if the audience believes that it’s just a straight actor “pretending.” Not to mention the fact that no openly gay actor has ever won an Oscar for an acting performance. Suspension of disbelief or ingrained homophobia?

Anyway, here’s the trailer for Cate’s silly new movie:

Photos courtesy of WENN.