Looking back on the past six months, I think the palace was caught flat-footed with the utter toxicity of the white Markles. The palace had never dealt with family members who weren’t merely trying to get attention, they were trying to flat-out destroy the woman marrying into the royal family. That being said, the palace knew what they were doing when it came to Meghan’s relationship with her mother, and the palace completely understood the way to “show support” for the first black woman to marry into the main royal family. They embraced her, and they were SEEN embracing her. Yes, there was a performative aspect to it, but that’s important too, especially when the British press spent months denigrating Meghan as “less than.” Plus, I think the Queen and Prince Charles both genuinely like Meghan.

Before last week, the only member of Meghan’s family who was widely accepted by the British media and royal-watchers was Doria Ragland. Doria got wildly positive reviews from her attendance at her daughter’s wedding, and people respected the fact that Doria never sold out her daughter. But when Doria attended the launch event for the Hubb Community Kitchen cookbook, apparently *some* royal-watchers and pearl-clutchers thought Doria had finally “gone too far!” I’ve already said my piece on that, and I honestly feel like… there’s just a coordinated effort to attack Meghan over every single thing. So, here’s more grist for the mill: once again, we’re hearing that Doria is likely planning to move to London, at least part time.

When Meghan Markle’s mother, Doria Ragland, turned up for the launch of her daughter’s cookbook at Kensington Palace, it was quite a moment. It is unprecedented for non-royal family members to join royals on official engagements, which made Ragland’s appearance not only a surprise, but a significant statement from Meghan and Prince Harry, a couple who have ripped up the royal rule book. While this was a one-time thing (Ragland isn’t planning to come along to future royal engagements), Meghan’s mother is very much a part of the Sussexes’ inner circle.

Sources said it was important to Meghan that her mother was there. Meghan is exceptionally close to her mother, as she is estranged from her half siblings and her father, Thomas Markle. And Prince Harry and the royal family have also forged a connection with the impressive Doria Ragland. According to a family friend, the Queen, who hosted a tea for Ragland ahead of the royal wedding at Windsor Castle, was “very impressed,” while Prince Charles and Camilla are said to like her enormously. A courtier who has met Ragland remarked, “When you meet Doria, it all falls in place. You understand why Meghan is who she is.”

While she largely lives a quiet life away from the spotlight, that may soon change; Vanity Fair has learned that Ragland is planning to spend more time in the United Kingdom. According to a source, “Doria is very close to her daughter, and she has made several secret trips to England. She has been to Meghan and Harry’s home in the Cotswolds several times and she has stayed with them at Nottingham Cottage. Meghan is very close to her mum. They speak on the phone pretty much every day and they are talking about Doria getting a place in the U.K. so that she can spend part of the year over here.”

Ragland, 62, currently lives in Los Angeles, where she works as a social worker and yoga teacher. While she is said to want to continue living in the States, she wants to spend more time in England.

“It is something they are talking about. I think the idea is that Doria will have a pied-à-terre here so that she has her own space,” said the source. “She wants the ability to be here more often, especially if grandchildren come along.”

While families of royal brides have previously been kept at arm’s length, just like the Middletons, Meghan’s mother has been welcomed into the royal fold. “The Queen knows it’s a big transition for Meghan and she wants it to be a success,” said the source. “That means making sure Meghan feels supported and happy, and including her mother.” It’s a win-win situation: by welcoming Ragland, the Palace is seen as inclusive and in touch, while Meghan indeed feels happy and supported.

[From Vanity Fair]

Once again, there’s a performative aspect to this, but the performance is actually really important. The courtiers were not fretting about Doria’s involvement at the cookbook launch – they are implicitly pro-Doria, and they’re happy that Meghan has at least one family member she can count on AND they don’t want to look racist (which is apparently not an issue for the British press). As for Doria’s plan to have an apartment in London, especially when grandchildren come into the picture… we’ve heard that before. And I think it will happen. And I’m fine with it. Here’s your periodic reminder that Carole Middleton stays at Kensington Palace Apartment 1 quite often.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Backgrid.

With each passing week, it does seem like we find out more and more information about Anthony Bourdain’s final months and the turbulence in his personal life. From the outside looking in, it seemed like he and Asia Argento were possibly going through a rough patch, and she was photographed looking friendly with another man just a few days before Bourdain’s suicide. Personally, I think the bigger issue was the slow realization, on Bourdain’s part, that Argento had likely played him and manipulated him into paying off the young man she allegedly raped. We’ll never know, and I’d just like to say that I was completely fine with refusing to talk about it or write about it. It’s none of my business, and we should let Bourdain rest in peace. The problem? Asia Argento keeps dragging a dead man’s reputation as a way to shield herself from criticism. Argento gave an interview to the Daily Mail where she talked about Bourdain’s suicide and whether she “cheated.”

Asia Argento is tearfully opening up for the first time about the moment she found out her boyfriend Anthony Bourdain had died — and discussing intimate details of their relationship. The Italian actress faced backlash shortly after the beloved chef’s death for pictures showing her getting close with a journalist friend in the days before Bourdain was found dead by suicide. Argento used the opportunity of speaking with DailyMailTV to tell her side of the story.

“People say I murdered him. They say I killed him,” she said through tears in the interview. “People need to think that he killed himself for something like this? He had cheated on me too. It wasn’t a problem for us. He was a man who traveled 265 days a year when we saw each other we took really great pleasure in each other’s company. But we are not children. We are grown ups…. Anthony was 62, I was 42. We had lives, we had wives and husbands, we had children. I cannot think of Anthony as somebody who would do an extreme gesture like this for something like that.”

Argento tearfully explained that she initially felt angry after learning Bourdain had been found dead of suicide.

“I was angry [at him], yes, for abandoning me, my kids,” the Italian actress, 42, tearfully remarked. “But now it’s been replaced just by this loss, this hole, that cannot be filled by anything.” She also shared that “the anger kept me alive, because otherwise this desperation has no end.”

[From People]

She didn’t murder him. She didn’t kill him. He was fighting demons bigger and more profound than a cheating girlfriend. That being said, it’s tacky AF to give this interview and talk about how they were both cheaters. It’s disrespectful and there’s something craven about it. And remember this too: she’d much rather talk about how she cheated on him (and he did the same) rather than how she manipulated him into paying Jimmy Bennett hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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I feel like you guys know me by now, and you know my nature. My nature is cynicism, sarcasm, pessimism and negativity. I can always see the worst case scenario pretty clearly, and in the Age of Bigly, the worst case scenario is often the day-to-day world. So is it weird that my general feeling about this Rod Rosenstein story is just… unfazed? Don’t get me wrong, I can see how this is a big deal. I can see all of the worst case scenarios and I know that if Rod Rosenstein resigns or is pushed out, it will have major repercussions to the Mueller investigation and beyond. But I also just feel like… we’re in too deep. If Rosenstein goes, I actually have optimistic faith that we’ll figure it out?

The Rosenstein mess started last week, when the NY Times published a story about how Deputy AG Rosenstein said some sh-t about the 25th Amendment and how he suggested wearing a wire while he was meeting with Trump. It turns out that the NYT piece was… somewhat false, maybe. Rosenstein was being sarcastic about the wire, and he claims he’s never said anything about the 25th. But that article reminded Trump of how much he hates Rosenstein, and how he (Trump) believes that he could single-handedly shut down Mueller’s investigation. So the rumors started that Rosenstein was going to resign yesterday. Where did they come from? According to Vanity Fair, they came from the Trump administration:

At the beginning of one of the most consequential weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency, an enormous smoke bomb was detonated in the news cycle when Axios, deeply wired in Trump’s West Wing, reported that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had resigned. Quickly, a head-spinning array of conflicting accounts were put forth: had he been fired? Was he heading to the White House to be fired—or was he going to a regularly scheduled meeting? Finally, Sarah Huckabee Sanders brought a measure of clarity by tweeting that whatever was going to happen to Rosenstein would happen on Thursday, when the president returned from New York.

For all the morning’s madness, there may have been an underlying logic. Over the weekend, as Brett Kavanaugh’s prospects appeared increasingly imperiled, Trump faced two tactical options, both of them fraught. One was to cut Kavanaugh loose. But he was also looking for ways to dramatically shift the news cycle away from his embattled Supreme Court nominee. According to a source briefed on Trump’s thinking, Trump decided that firing Rosenstein would knock Kavanaugh out of the news, potentially saving his nomination and Republicans’ chances for keeping the Senate. “The strategy was to try and do something really big,” the source said. The leak about Rosenstein’s resignation could have been the result, and it certainly had the desired effect of driving Kavanaugh out of the news for a few hours.

[From Vanity Fair]

Yep, I believe this. The threat of Rosenstein’s dismissal came from Trumpers and the goal was to distract from the Kavanaugh shambles. The problem is that even Deplorables like Sean Hannity know that if Trump does follow through with firing DOJ officials, it will be an even bigger mess and a massive constitutional crisis just weeks before the midterms. All of this – the Kavanaugh mess, the Rosenstein threats – is about the GOP positioning themselves for the midterms according to what their suicidal, ignorant, racist base wants. You want me to look into my crystal ball? I predict that at the end of the week, Rosenstein and Jeff Sessions will still have their jobs and Kavanaugh will be out.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

Here are some photos of Michelle Obama hosting the When We All Vote rally in Las Vegas over the weekend. I saw this photos Monday morning, and I thought to myself, “Wow, that’s great that MObama is out there, doing GOTV stuff for the midterms.” Michelle and Barack Obama have been somewhat quiet since they left the White House a million years ago (real time: January of last year). But former president Obama has already started making some big moves to support Democratic candidates in the midterms. And now MO is doing GOTV efforts, which is really a non-partisan thing, except not really since the Republicans would prefer to disenfranchise every voter except white dudes. Here’s a little bit of what Michelle had to say:

Michelle Obama told attendees that she is “sick of all the chaos and the nastiness of our politics,” but that the importance of voting still remains. “But here’s the problem, while some folks are frustrated and tuned out and stay at home on election day, trust me, other folks are showing up. Democracy continues with or without you.”

While stressing the importance of voting to attendees, Michelle Obama said Sunday that the way to get “qualified people” into office was to vote.

“You know, we saw that happen. We experienced that we had a great president, but every couple years folks sat out and said ‘well, I did my part, I voted once, I’m done, I’m out,’” she said. “And I’m just telling you that democracy doesn’t work that way. As I said earlier, democracy doesn’t wait for you to be bothered. It moves on as it rightly should and therefore the people who vote determine the direction of the country, determine the mood, the tone, and the people who stay out don’t get a say. And I want every American to feel the power of that choice.”

[From CNN]

Michelle’s words were basically “water is wet, my husband was a great president, and you dumbasses need to vote like your life depends on it because it does.” Guess what part of Michelle’s speech Tomi Lahren – aka Nazi Becky – latched onto?

Michelle Obama said we “had” a great president. By what measure? Not in economic growth. Not in border enforcement. Not in strength on the world stage. Sit down, Michelle.

— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) September 24, 2018

If I wore earrings, this would be the moment when I slowly took them off and handed them to CB. Then I would start stretching, because I am going to rip Tawny a new a–hole. THE AUDACITY OF BECKY. This bitch, Tammy or whatever the f–k she calls herself, has the motherf–king audacity to tell MICHELLE OBAMA to “sit down.” Are you f–king joking, Tarzi? Can you imagine the Fox News meltdown if some ditzy young commentator told Barbara Bush or Laura Bush to condescendingly “sit down”? Nevermind the racial politics of this – a young white Becky telling an older black woman to “sit down.” Toozy is like David Duke with a cheap Nazi Becky wig.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Brett Kavanaugh is still a Supreme Court nominee. I still say that by the end of the week, he will have withdrawn his nomination, or the Trump administration will withdraw it. Part of me hopes that this sh-t gets drawn out for several more days, simply because this seems like the kind of massive cultural-political moment which defines a generation. #MeToo was the groundwork, and we’re primed to believe women like never before. Women are ANGRY. Justifiably so. So what’s happened in the past 24 hours? Like, a million things. Here’s a list:

The Fourth Victim. Christine Blasey Ford was the first victim to come forward. Deborah Ramirez was the second victim (she claimed he whipped it out at Yale), and Michael Avenatti’s client (who is still anonymous) is the third victim. Yesterday, media outlets reported that there is a fourth victim who alleges Vananaugh assaulted her when they were in high school.

Kavanaugh’s Yale roommate believes the accusations. James Roche said in a statement that while he didn’t witness the incident Debbie Ramirez described, he knew Kavanaugh was “a notably heavy drinker” and that he “became aggressive and belligerent when he was very drunk… Based on my time with Debbie, I believe her to be unusually honest and straightforward and I cannot imagine her making this up. Based on my time with Brett, I believe that he and his social circle were capable of the actions that Debbie described.”

Michael Avenatti’s client. Avenatti describes the woman as a former employee of the State Department and US Mint, someone who knew Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh in high school, and the woman’s story “will relate to how they behaved at countless house parties.” He said that she’ll likely come forward in the next 24 hours or so.

This NYT story about “Renate Alumnus.” Kavanaugh and his bros in high school seemed obsessed with a girl (now woman) named Renate Schroeder, who was a student at a nearby Catholic school. Renate had signed the letter of support for Kavanaugh initially, but she has now withdrawn her name because she didn’t know Kavanaugh and his bros were all bragging in their yearbook about how they were all “Renate Alumnus.” As in, they all bragged about sleeping with her, because boys will be boys, huh?

And finally, some words from Kavanaugh. Doughy Brett appeared on Fox News yesterday evening where he claimed to… have been a virgin throughout high school and for years afterward. Like… he’s been accused of non-penetration assault thus far. Christine Blasey Ford said he held her down, covered her mouth and assaulted her. Kavanaugh also claims to have never been to the party with Ford (and I’m sure he has the calendars to prove it!), and his wife sat there like a Stepford Wife too.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Let’s continue talking about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s appearance at Loughborough University for the Coach CORE Awards. I’m absolutely shocked that the mind-numbing tabloids didn’t try to make it sound like Meghan “broke protocol” by wearing trousers again. Instead, People Magazine tried to make it sound like Meg was a fashion rebel for… wearing navy and black together…? You guys, is that really a thing? I grew up in a “don’t wear brown and black together” household, but in my opinion, navy and black naturally go together. Think blue jeans and a black blouse or sweater – that combo looks perfect. So stop with this!

That being said, I’m here for any wild speculation about Meghan’s peplum and what it all means. For the record, I think she probably just liked the Oscar de la Renta top and didn’t care that people would speculate about whether she’s already knocked up. Who knows?

Also, this is a weird story: apparently, Meghan and Harry were in Amsterdam this weekend?!?

There’s nothing like a weekend trip with friends — just ask Prince Harry and Meghan Markle!

While Prince William‘s family (minus 5-month-old Prince Louis) spent Saturday at the wedding of one of Kate Middleton‘s closest friends, Sophie Carter, Meghan and Harry (who is also a longtime friend of Carter’s) jetted to Amsterdam to celebrate the launch of celebrity hangout Soho House’s newest location, according to the Evening Standard. The invite list for the getaway weekend, which reportedly included pampering treatments at the spa and a lobster spaghetti dinner, was full of other A-list guests like Eddie Redmayne, Stanley Tucci and Jenna Coleman.

In addition to doubling as a 55th birthday celebration for Soho House founder Nick Jones, the kickoff party included a tour of Amsterdam’s red-light district (which the Evening Standard notes was not attended by Meghan and Harry) as well as a boat ride through the Dutch city’s famous canals.

[From People]

Is it really possible that Meghan and Harry went all the way to Amsterdam and attended the launch of a private club and zero people took photos or even tweeted about it? That’s so weird. I think Meghan has some connection to the Soho House in Toronto, but does she have connections to international Soho Houses? Or does Harry? And isn’t the point of having celebrities coming to your party the idea of getting those celebrities photographed at your party?

Last thing: stop tweeting me about Samantha Markle, damn it. I saw the headlines: Toxic Samantha is flying to the UK to force a discussion with Meghan about Thomas Markle’s health. I DO NOT CARE. THE WHITE MARKLES SUCK. Samantha is probably going to be photographed as she’s being dragged kicking and screaming from the palace gate.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

It’s time for Phase 2 of Operation Get ‘A Star Is Born’ All The Oscars. Phase 1 was convincing us that Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper were BFFs and they had an incredible connection and she is his muse and putty in his hands and Bradley is some kind of savant writer-director-actor who can sing too. Phase 2 is… not even pretending that Gaga and Bradley are super-tight anymore? They literally did not pose for ONE photo together at the LA premiere last night. Methinks that the Oscar campaign will mostly line up behind Bradley, and that all Gaga will get is a campaign backing her songs.

Gaga did have fun posing on the black carpet though – it felt like she probably shut it down so she could pose for every photographer all by herself. She wanted to show off her Givenchy gown – a striking silver gown with a built-in cape. We’ve seen this silhouette a million times over the past five years or so, just as we’ve seen a million silver-grey dresses. But this was done well, and I actually like the gown and cape a lot, even if I don’t think it’s the most discussion-worthy fashion moment of the year. What bugs me is that Gaga’s styling is WAY off. Her makeup is much too heavy and the wig – or dye job, who knows – is flat-out awful.

B-Coop and Gaga did talk about each other on the red carpet, even though they didn’t pose together whatsoever. Bradley told People: “I made a friend for life. As great as this movie was the thing that I think I’ll take away forever is the relationship I have with her because she is an incredible person. I’m very lucky to have worked with her.” Gaga said it was an “honor” to watch him work and “Our friendship is exactly what set the tone for this film. He’s such a wonderful person. He says it to me in the movie, he says, ‘All you gotta do is trust me.’ I trusted him the whole time. He pulled things out of me that I never thought that I even had.” Ugh, this Oscar campaign is going to be so long and tedious.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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The “Cher-stravaganza” in advance of her new album and Here We Go Again world tour rolls on, and I can’t get enough of it. Cher made another appearance on Ellen on Monday, her second this month. The 72-year-old icon played a game of “Five Second Rule” with Ellen. When asked by Ellen’s sidekick, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, which three artists she’d like to duet with, she quickly responded, “Oh! Adele, Pink and…uh, um—not Madonna.” If there was a sound that accompanied a jaw drop, that’s the sound the studio audience made. Ellen jokingly called Cher “Ms. Negative” to which Cher asked, “Did I cheat?” Ellen said she did and repeated the question, to which Cher clapped back with, “I took a little license.” Sick burn, Cher.

Later, Cher was asked to name three terms for hooking up, to which she pointed out, “I don’t even know those. I can’t think of it.” Cher also does not know what “knocking boots” means and, after further pressing from Ellen, still doesn’t knw what she would call hooking up. Cher may have lost the game, but I think she won some hearts.

In addition to dissing Madonna, Cher is also continuing to share music from her upcoming ABBA tribute album, which will be released on Friday. Last week, the full-length video for “S.O.S” was released and it is gorgeous. Paying homage to the look and feel of the original ABBA videos, the Cher-less video, directed by Jake Wilson, features a cast made up entirely of women, including Rumer Willis, Betty Who, Lauren Weedman, Transparent star Trace Lysette, comedian Sabrina Jalees and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s Vella Lovell telling a story of empowerment, support and unity, all while wearing some fabulous clothes.

I personally think the video takes more from ABBA’s “Mamma Mia” than “S.O.S.”, but the style has been often imitated, most notably in the video for Erasure’s cover of “Take a Chance on Me” and in the movie Muriel’s Wedding. Cher actually credited the latter with inspiring her ABBA tribute, telling the Sydney Morning Herald that “I got into ABBA, really, because of Muriel’s Wedding. I just loved that movie so much when it came out.” But I digress, watch this.

Earlier this week, Cher also took to Twitter to share a :30 clip from her cover of “One of Us.” I don’t buy albums much anymore, but this one is definitely going in my collection. And check out the photos from Cher’s recent shows in Auckland, New Zealand. I need to get tickets for this one.

One of Us ??? https://t.co/vpjPUxsRaZ pic.twitter.com/aqQsHaguSN

— Cher (@cher) September 21, 2018

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Photos: Getty

I owe Hilary Duff an apology. I like Hilary, but I’ve always assumed that she called the paps on herself because we have so many photos of her doing every day activities. After her encounter with a paparazzo this weekend, maybe I’ve been wrong this whole time. As we know, Hilary is very pregnant with her second child, a girl, with boyfriend Matthew Koma. According to a video Hilary filmed and posted to her Instagram, this particular paparazzo followed her all morning and would not let her alone, to the point that it made Hilary uncomfortable. Not only did he show up at her son Luca’s soccer game, he followed to her sister Haylie’s houses, who also has small children. She asked him to leave her alone, but he refused and continued to follow her throughout the day. And when she told him she was pregnant, sick and uncomfortable with his constant presence, he put it back on her, telling her he’d wasted his morning and hadn’t gotten any pictures:

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This guy has been at my sons soccer game this morning then followed me to my sisters house and was basically parked in her drive way to get photos. Followed me to run errands. I politely asked him to let me be and he continues to follow and stalk me down like pray for hours now. This is not ok. I am 9 months pregnant. When people say that’s what you get for signing up to be a celebrity it honestly makes me sick. This is every day of every month and it’s simply not ok. If a non “celeb”(I’m sorry to use that word) was dealing with this the law would be involved

A post shared by Hilary Duff (@hilaryduff) on Sep 22, 2018 at 11:14am PDT

I’ll admit, I used to be one of those people who would occasionally use the “that’s what you signed up for” argument but that was before I had any idea how relentless some of these paps can be. Hilary’s right, no one deserves this, “every day of every month.” And add to that, she’s sick AND nine months pregnant. Christ, I didn’t want my husband around me when I was that pregnant, let alone some creepy photographer. This is gross and the photographer’s beady-eyed glare he has trained on Hilary as she asks him to back off gives me chills. You can hear the fear in her voice – she’s trying to be firm, but it’s obvious she’s pretty rattled. This is yet another frightening example of a person who refuses to accept that No Means No. I’d hate for Hilary to have to hire security to be around her full time because of this kind of behavior but I wouldn’t blame her if she did. She’ll soon have two kids to worry about and if these guys are getting worse, I’m sure she’ll do whatever she needs to do.

Photo credit: Instagram and Avalon Red

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RuPaul was featured on CBS Sunday Morning over the weekend, technically a rerun of a segment that originally aired in March. This was reaired after Ru won his third Emmy for Outstanding Reality Show Host and RuPaul’s Drag Race finally got the Outstanding Reality Competition award. If your parents and/or grandparents want to know about Ru, you can show them this interview.

Ru told CBS reporter Nancy Giles (who called Drag Race a “game show”, but I’ll give her a pass) that “I think ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ at its core, is about the tenacity of the human spirit.” He went on to add that, “To watch a boy play with feminine things in a society that is so masculine, and come through it, and find their fire and their own voice, is a very powerful thing.” When asked how he handles those who don’t get him, he threw out his famous quote, “What other people think of me is none of my business.” I still want this embroidered on a pillow. Here are some other highlights from the interview:

On the need for a show like Drag Race: “I know that this show is for the kids out there who are looking for some type of guidance. These kids on our show have been through hell, literally. Their families have thrown them out of the house. They’ve been abused and beaten up. But they have come through and shined. That is the lesson right there.”

On “standing out” as a kid: “People in my family, my mother and my father, basically ignored it. It wasn’t something that they knew how to deal with. The kids in the neighborhood would say, ‘You’re a sissy.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, okay,’ you know? But because I am a sweetheart, no one ever really came for me in a really negative way.”

On becoming RuPaul: “I was always looking for the way to fit onto this planet. And I love to dress up. Through drag I was able to find who I really am. Period. Drag was never about wanting to be like a woman. It was always about challenging identity values of society, and saying, ‘I am whatever I put on.’”

On being named one of TIME Magazine‘s most influential people: “I didn’t set out to do that, but I was smart enough to realize this is my calling. You have to be open enough to hear the universe’s stage directions.”

I’d like to think I know a lot about RuPaul, but one thing I learned from this interview is that he has quite the affinity for vintage cars, showing off his powder blue 1968 Mercedes 280SL. Sweet ride. As always, I’m so glad that we live in a world where RuPaul’s Drag Race can exist. I’m Also thrilled that news shows skewed towards older audiences are running stories like these to help increase visibility and understanding.

In other Ru news, The Hollywood Reporter shared casting news about Ru’s new scripted show for Netflix, AJ and the Queen. Joining Ru for the upcoming comedy series are Josh Segarra from Orange Is the New Black, Michael-Leon Wooley, who voiced Louis the Alligator in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, Katerina Tannenbaum from the Starz series Sweetbitter and Tia Carrere from Wayne’s World. According to THR:

Segarra will play Hector, Ruby’s boyfriend who has a dark and dangerous side. Wooley is Louis, a blind drag queen. Tannenbaum is set as Brianna, described as a clueless hooker with a deep connection to AJ. Carrere is Lady Danger, a comic villain who is infamous in the local drag scene for injecting cheap silicone into her clients at the clubs.

Sounds quite campy, but Ru is set to perform on every episode, so there’s that. And, boy, do I love RuPaul.

Photos: Getty, WENN