Academy Award-winner Ben Affleck opens up to The Guardian about fame, mistakes, and family life with estranged wife Jennifer Garner and their three children: daughters Violet, 11, and Seraphina, nearly 8, and 4-year-old son Samuel.

On his parents’ separation when he was 12: “I guess contemporary helicopter parents would be aghast at our level of supervision, but it wasn’t bad. There were scary kids and people that you’d want to stay away from, but I tried to make people laugh and make friends.”

On moving to Los Angeles with Matt Damon and his brother Casey Affleck to “live the dream”: “It was me, Matt, my brother Casey and a bunch of friends from Boston – all of them were trying to make it in some capacity or other. It was a time to experiment, to go to auditions and try stuff. And part of what we revelled in was the absurd level of frustration that we went through and the ridiculous hoops we had to jump through. Those years were wonderful – they were great, formative, blissful, fun, free years.”

On how fame affected him: “I’d always had a strong idea about my values and the direction I wanted to be headed in, then I ran into getting famous and it totally spun me around and I flailed around for a few years. When you’re a young man in your 20s, part of that is making mistakes and learning from them. I just made those in front of everybody, rather than privately. There’s stuff I look back on and kind of cringe at but I always tried to treat other people well. My parents imbued that in me and the mistakes I made were mostly just of the embarrassing kind.”

On fatherhood: “I think becoming a father makes you see the world differently and it’s good…You become a public figure and it changes all the rules. The press can become invasive and dishonest, and you have to put up with inconvenient stuff like that. I’m at peace with paying my own price, what I’m not at peace with is when it invades on my kids’ space and time. They didn’t make any bargains. I try to shelter them as best I can. That’s my only real gripe.”

On the greatest benefit of portraying Batman: “Sam thinks his dad is Batman. That’s an incredible feeling.”

For more from Ben, go to The Guardian…

Supermodel Doutzen Kroes and husband, DJ Sunnery James, hit the beach with their two kids – son Phyllon, nearly 6, and 2-year-old daughter Myllena – on Sunday (January 1) in Miami, Fla.

Rocking a bikini, the Victoria’s Secret model, 31, made a splash with her baby girl while her husband and son played soccer on the beach.

During their family getaway, the Dutch beauty shared a sweet snapshot of her kids smooching.

“Brother and sister,” she Instagrammed the image.

In July, we spotted the famous family vacationing in Spain.

Happy New Year to the Kroes-Gorré family!

Brother and sister ?? @sunneryjames

A photo posted by Doutzen Kroes (@doutzen) on Dec 31, 2016 at 5:36am PST

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Grammy Award-winning singer Kelly Clarkson posted a photo of her family – husband Brandon Blackstock sitting with daughter River Rose, 2, and 8-month-old son Remington – via Instagram.

“They’re all mine,” the proud mama, 34, captioned the cute shot.

Clarkson also shared a snap smooching her sweet son.

“I hope this year brings everyone this kind of smile/love #2017 #RemyB #ChristmasPJs,” she tweeted the image.

The Piece by Piece hitmaker, 34, shared the family’s Christmas card – which including her stepchildren Seth and Savannah – over the holiday season.

Earlier in December, the American Idol alum posted a photo with River Rose at the 63rd annual Piedmont Natural Gas Nashville Christmas Parade.

In November, the singer and her husband enjoyed a family vacation with their kids at Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

Happy New Year to the Clarkson-Blackstock family!

They’re all mine….

A photo posted by Kelly Clarkson (@kellyclarkson) on Dec 30, 2016 at 11:19am PST

I hope this year brings everyone this kind of smile/love ?? #2017 #RemyB #ChristmasPJs pic.twitter.com/dRVtkONLdG — Kelly Clarkson (@kelly_clarkson) January 1, 2017

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Troubled reality star Rob Kardashian posted a precious photo with daughter Dream, 7 weeks, via Instagram Sunday.

“2017,” he captioned the image cuddling his newborn as she rested on his shoulder.

On New Year’s Eve, the sock mogul, 29, rang in 2017 with fiancée Blac Chyna and shared a video online.

“Happy New Years woohoo! Hope y’all have a great New Years and be safe! Ciaooooo,” he captioned the clip.

Starting the New Year off right, the couple went for a “2 hour hike.”

On Wednesday night (December 28), Rob was rushed to the hospital due to complications with his diabetes.

After being released from the hospital, he posted some family photos.

2017

A photo posted by ROBERT KARDASHIAN (@robkardashian) on Jan 1, 2017 at 11:35am PST

Happy New Years woohoo ! Hope y’all have a great New Years and be safe ! Ciaooooo A video posted by ROBERT KARDASHIAN (@robkardashian) on Dec 31, 2016 at 11:36pm PST

2 hour hike with @blacchyna !! SNAPCHAT name – robphuckedme

A video posted by ROBERT KARDASHIAN (@robkardashian) on Jan 1, 2017 at 5:05pm PST

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Mothers and Daughters star Eva Amurri Martino revealed that her newborn son Major suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on his brain after a night nurse dropped him.

In a blog post shared on her website Happily Eva After, the mother of two — including 2-year-old daughter Marlowe — opened up about the traumatic experience that has left her with feelings related to postpartum depression.

“A couple of days after Thanksgiving, our Night Nurse fell asleep while holding Major and dropped him, and he cracked his head on the hardwood floor,” the actress, 31, wrote. “Kyle and I were sleeping at the time and were awoken by the sound of his head hitting the floor, and then hysterical piercing screams. He suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on his brain, and was transported by ambulance to Yale Medical Center where I spent two harrowing days with him to receive emergency care and further testing. To say these were the most traumatic and anxious two days of my life is an understatement.”

The mom-of-two fears she’s suffering from some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder linked to postpartum depression.

“It’s nearly impossible for me to trust anyone but myself to take care of Major now,” she shared. “We definitely don’t have night time help anymore, but it has only been in the past week or so that I have felt comfortable with somebody coming during the day to help me with him so that I can complete normal tasks and work responsibilities. Hearing Major cry hard immediately triggers my memories of the moments after the accident and instigates an immediate panic attack– my heart races and tears spring to my eyes. Sometimes I get dizzy spells. I feel nauseous and overwhelmed and even small discomforts he has make me anxious. My appetite has decreased to nothing, I have a hard time getting to sleep after night time feedings, and my milk supply goes up and down depending on the stresses of the day. Any time we are near an edge or a ledge, I fear that he will fall, somehow, and be hurt again.”

But don’t start the mommy shaming and the guilt trips.

“I know that this news might reach many, and of those many there will always be the people who say that this accident was my fault,” she said. “That if it had been me in there holding him instead of a Night Nurse, that this never would have happened. That I deserve this for allowing my child to be in the care of somebody other than me. Well, let me tell you– the guilt I bore in the days and weeks after this accident was more intense and more damaging than anything I would wish upon my worst enemy. I had all those same thoughts and more. I wept in the hospital, telling anyone who would listen that it should have been me. That I was to blame. The truth is, even this woman who came so highly recommended, with a perfectly clean track record, could make a very human mistake. It “could happen to anyone”, and as they told me repeatedly in the hospital, it DOES happen to anyone. More often than you’d like to hear. Obviously, the (extremely upset and remorseful) nurse is no longer working for our family, though we forgive her. And even though I finally made peace with the fact that this freak accident could not have been avoided by me, it has continued to effect me to my core and in all aspects of my daily life.”

Thankfully, Major is going to be ok.

“We were absolutely, divinely lucky that day,” she shared. “He had no other broken bones, and no spinal effects whatsoever. He has been healing well, hitting milestones, cooing, smiling, and generally showing us that he is and will be ok as he grows and develops.”

To read Eva’s blog, go to Happily Eva After…

Several months ago, I was reading a profile of Lin-Manuel Miranda and the writer sort of half-joked that Lin-Manuel could complete his EGOT by winning an Oscar for the songs he wrote for Moana. Since I hadn’t heard much about Moana at that time, I was like, “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” Skip ahead to present day and Moana is a huge hit and the songs Lin-Manuel wrote for the film are being praised around the world. Moana has become another “feminist Disney princess” movie and Lin-Manuel has a real shot at collecting an Oscar in a few months, thus completing his EGOT (Emmy-Grammy-Oscar-Tony). He already has the EGT, he just needs to O. Anyway, Lin-Manuel talked about all of that and much more in a new interview with The Daily Beast. The whole piece is worth a read – go here. Some highlights:

The feminism of his Moana songs: “With both of the songs “Where You Are” and “How Far I’ll Go,” you have a character who is being prescribed a role by her community. This is a role you are meant to play, and you will be happier if you just play it. I think that strikes a chord for just about anyone. Our family puts us in a role based on whether you’re a younger sibling or an older sibling; whether you are in a society in which women are allowed to play this but not this; or boys are allowed to play with these toys but not these toys. Did you see that amazing “Wells for Boys” sketch on Saturday Night Live? It nailed that notion of ‘What are you allowed to play with? and what speaks to you when you’re a child that society doesn’t necessarily let you play with? I think “Where You Are” speaks very specifically to Moana and her island and her individual story, but I think it strikes a deeper chord of ‘What do you do when your individual world wants you to be this, and you want to be this?’

How he’s coping with Trump’s victory: “Obviously I supported the other team quite publicly, and I found myself in a very weird circumstance where I was on a plane on Election Day headed from London to Mexico to do press [for Moana], and so I was sad to be away from my family—because you want to be close to your family when momentous events happen—and, in addition to the disappointment that comes with not having your candidate win, I went through that before. I remember going through that in 2000 not knowing who was president, with Gore conceding and then taking it back. It’s interesting how kids who are voting now don’t remember that. That felt way scarier in a way because we didn’t even have a president. You’re supposed to have someone by the end of the night. But I woke up with a very pronounced case of moral clarity. In addition to the disappointment, it was like, oh, this does not change the things that I believe in. The things that I believe in that this candidate doesn’t means we’re going to have to fight for them. You don’t want to go backwards when it comes to our LGBT brothers and sisters; you don’t want to go backwards when it comes to the disenfranchisement of voters of color. We have to keep fighting for the things we believe in, and it just made that very clear: I know who I am, and I know what I’m going to fight for in the years to come. That felt like the tonic of it.”

He’s a vocal supporter of Planned Parenthood: “People are going to believe what they’re going to believe. For me, my mother is on the board of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and my mother has her own personal stories with Planned Parenthood. That’s an organization that’s really saved lives time and again. The thing it’s controversial for [abortion] is a very small part of the health services it provides, and so, like I said, this is a way to support something that is so important. It’s a no-brainer, and the fun bonus is that my mom gets to look like the cool board member because of our efforts. I’m happy to support it, and that’s just that. Women’s health is a priority, it’s worth protecting, and if I can be of service in that way, then that’s how I’ll be of service. Full stop.

[From The Daily Beast]

I didn’t know he was so involved with supporting Planned Parenthood, and I didn’t know his mom is on the board of PP’s Action Fund. Bless him and bless his mom. What a great ally he is for women too, across the board. I love what he says about the feminism of Moana, and I love what he says about knowing what he believes in and what he will fight for in the years to come. There’s a clarity there that I feel too – it’s not like “maybe we need to change our ideas to succeed.” It’s more like “No, we don’t need to change, we’re right and we just need to fight for all of this.”

Photos courtesy of WENN.

As much as it sucked to see the end of Brangelina in 2016, I suspect that the dissolution of Brangelina is going to suck even harder in 2017. We’ve probably got months to go in a terrible custody/divorce battle. Reportedly, Brad Pitt did get to see the kids over Christmas, in a visit that was described as “cordial.” It was also overseen by a therapist. I’ve been wondering if Angelina – who has temporary full custody of the kids – was even allowed to leave LA, with or without the kids. As it turns out, she is allowed? Maybe? According to Us Weekly, she took the kids to Colorado for New Year’s.

Bundle up! Angelina Jolie and her six kids are celebrating New Year’s Eve in Colorado, Us Weekly can exclusively reveal. The Maleficent actress, 41, and her children — Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8 — arrived after Christmas, a source tells Us. Jolie and Vivienne were recently spotted shopping at a toy store on Friday, December 30.

As Us Weekly exclusively reported, Brad Pitt was able to see his kids over Christmas amid his divorce custody battle with Jolie.

“Brad did see the kids at some point for a holiday gift exchange,” an insider told Us. “[Brad] gave them presents and it was cordial.”

A second source told Us that Jolie was the one who organized the get-together.

[From Us Weekly]

I guess a NYE trip to Colorado means… Aspen? Aspen is full of celebrities this time of year, and it seems out-of-character to imagine Angelina taking the kids to such a celebrity hot-spot, but maybe. Or maybe she took them to another Colorado city, who knows? Denver’s probably nice this time of year. Or Boulder. Or Vail.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail published an incredibly sympathetic story about how Brad has been coping with the “worst holiday season” of his life. An unnamed friend told The DM:

“Brad’s anguish is palpable right now. He desperately misses having his kids with him at Christmas and New Year. These supervised visits are sheer hell on him. He’s broken down in tears so many times – he’s not ashamed to cry any more. Brad is like a broken man. He feels betrayed by a woman whom he says he still loves. He misses her despite everything that has happened between them. He was blindsided by their divorce – he still believes Angelina made an impulsive decision and can’t figure out how to reverse it and save face. He vacillates between being furious with her and longing for her. He thumbs through scrapbooks of photos of better times and wonders how it all went wrong. He calls her but she doesn’t return the calls. He sends gifts as peace offerings but she sends them back. He’s learned to stay away from the internet rather than risk reading about his situation.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I don’t know. I don’t think Angelina acts on impulse when it’s about her kids. Sure, she used to be an impulsive person when she was a lot younger (who wasn’t impulsive in their early 20s?), but I just keep thinking that for Angelina to bolt with the kids and start this whole divorce/custody battle process, she was faced with something she truly could not abide or sweep under the rug. She couldn’t justify staying with Brad to herself or the kids. So she left. And I’m still waiting for the tabloids and papers to give her even one-tenth of the sympathetic coverage Brad gets.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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I have no regrets about my New Year’s Eve – I spent the evening binge-watching my new favorite British-ish detective show, Shetland. But other people watched the live NYE shows, like ABC’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. This year, ABC got Mariah Carey to perform at midnight, and it was an unmitigated (and hilarious) disaster. Considering the garbage fire that was 2016, the fact that the year ended with a really funny live blooper from Mariah is actually a little bit charming and quaint. Here’s the video of what happened:

Total mess. And isn’t it remarkable that producers did nothing to save her? The backing track wasn’t stopped. No one cut to commercial. No one came up to say to Mariah and the audience, “We’re having some technical difficulties, just give us a moment.” They just made Mariah vamp for several minutes live. At first, Mariah tweeted a “sh-t happens” message, but why shrug something off when you can turn it into a five-act drama? Which is what’s happening now:

The fallout over Mariah Carey’s chaotic New Year’s Eve performance continues as her team claims the singer was sabotaged in an attempt to get higher TV ratings for the ABC broadcast.

“I will never know the truth, but I do know that we told them three times that her mic pack was not working and it was a disastrous production,” Carey’s manager, Stella Bulochnikov, told Us Weekly on Sunday, January 1. “I’m certainly not calling the FBI to investigate. It is what it is: New Year’s Eve in Times Square. Mariah did them a favor. She was the biggest star there and they did not have their s–t together.”

Bulochnikov added that she was “furious” with TV executive Michael Schimmel and New Year’s Rockin’ Eve production company, Dick Clark Productions.

“They acknowledged that they knew her inner ears were not working,” she said. “They did not cut to a commercial. They did not cut to the West Coast feed, they left her out there to get ratings.”

A source tells Us that emails were sent to Dick Clark Productions on Sunday, “asking why they are suspiciously silent and let Mariah take all of the hits today when they are responsible for the mess.” The source also confirms that her team “did call it sabotage.”

Dick Clark Productions responded to the allegations in a statement to Us on Sunday night: “As the premier producer of live television events for nearly 50 years, we pride ourselves on our reputation and long-standing relationships with artists. To suggest that dcp, as producer of music shows including the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and Academy of Country Music Awards, would ever intentionally compromise the success of any artist is defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd. In very rare instances there are of course technical errors that can occur with live television, however, an initial investigation has indicated that dcp had no involvement in the challenges associated with Ms. Carey’s New Year’s Eve performance. We want to be clear that we have the utmost respect for Ms. Carey as an artist and acknowledge her tremendous accomplishments in the industry.”

[From Us Weekly]

While I don’t think that Dick Clark Productions maliciously intended for Mariah to look foolish, I also think Mariah’s management has every right to be mad and to demand some answers. What happened to Mimi was unprofessional on the part of the production company and producers working that night. In any case… I love the shade here: “Mariah did them a favor. She was the biggest star there and they did not have their s–t together.” Ha! It’s weird but I sort of agree with that.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

A week before Christmas, I went down with what I thought was just a nasty seasonal cold. As that sh-t lingered for two weeks though, I realize that it was probably the respiratory flu, the same one which has also been going around. I’m mostly fine now, although I’m still taking a half-dose of Tylenol PM at night. But I’m a relatively healthy 30-something. Surely this cold and flu season is even worse for a 90-something queen? As it turns out, Queen Elizabeth and I probably had the same flu. More than ten days after she came down with a terrible “heavy cold,” the Queen is still feeling terrible.

Queen Elizabeth II missed church on New Year’s Day – a week after canceling her annual trip to Christmas mass for the first time in decades as she battles a heavy cold.

“Her Majesty The Queen will not attend Sunday worship at Sandringham today,” a statement from Buckingham Palace released early Sunday reads. “The Queen does not yet feel ready to attend church as she is still recuperating from a heavy cold.”

Her absence from two consecutive high-profile appearances underscores how seriously doctors are taking the 90-year-old sovereign’s illness. After canceling their annual train trip to Sandringham Estate for Christmas due to “heavy colds,” the monarch and Prince Philip, 95, were well enough to travel the following day by helicopter. However, the Queen was forced to drop out of the royal family’s annual walk to church on Christmas morning as she continued to recover.

“Her Majesty The Queen will not attend Church at Sandringham this morning,” a Palace spokesperson said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. “The Queen continues to recover from a heavy cold and will stay indoors to assist with her recovery. Her Majesty will participate in the Royal Family Christmas celebrations during the day.”

The Queen’s last public appearance was Dec. 9, when she hosted the ambassador of Liberia for a private audience at Buckingham Palace. She also made an appearance across the realm during her pre-recorded Christmas broadcast. It also marked her first outing since she was the victim of a Twitter death hoax last week.

[From People]

To be fair, I think it was a bigger deal to miss church service on Christmas. Christmas is more church-oriented than New Year’s Day, just my opinion. Her Maj probably still feels like ten kinds of hell, and if we had the same illness, she still has a rattling cough, chest congestion and general tiredness. Let her take a year off, I say. I think her doctors are smart to tell her to rest and really get better before making any appearances, even to go to church.

Meanwhile, did you see this item in Ephraim Hardcastle’s column a few days back? Apparently, the Queen supported Brexit – which was widely rumored at the time – because of the British Commonwealth. Hardcastle’s “royal source” told the Daily Mail: “After Elizabeth II, who was crowned Queen of an Empire, all will be different. Charles’s inevitably short reign will be followed by that of William, who grew up in an EU nation. And, like his father, he doesn’t seem keen on courting most of the realms his grandmother currently reigns over.” Meaning, the Queen wanted to Brexit because her priority is holding together the British Commonwealth nations, as opposed to holding together European nations in the EU.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Despite my extreme dislike of her hair, I do think Gwyneth Paltrow is ageing gracefully and naturally. There was a time, several years back, when I think she fooled around with Botox briefly, but these days I think Gwyneth is keeping it natural. As in, she probably pays thousands of dollars a month on facials and non-medical skin treatments, not to mention paying for the best makeup and maintenance. Add to that the fact that she has (sigh…) great bone structure, yet another thing for Gwyneth to be smug about. So yeah, I don’t see why a rich white woman in her 40s with access to the best of everything would complain about ageing. Thankfully, Gwyneth isn’t complaining. She told People Magazine that she actually “genuinely” loves her wrinkles and gray hair. Um-hm.

She isn’t fazed by ageing: “Of course I have wrinkles [and] gray hair. But I genuinely love it. This is who I am. I have been through incredible ups and downs and I feel so blessed that I have the wrinkles to tell the story.”

Being a grown woman: For the actress, who declared herself “a mess” in her 20s, being a “grown woman” has never felt better. “I feel good about [it]. I think it’s incredibly sexy. … And I wouldn’t want to erase years off my face or to travel back in time for anything.” Her secret to self-confidence? She says, “part of that is just accepting where you are in time and space.”

Being 5’9” tall is one of her insecurities: “I am kind of a gangly girl, but it was a lot worst when I was a teenager.”

She worries about motherhood: “I mean, the other night I was in the bath and I texted my best mom friend: ‘Am I f***ing this up?’” Her friend wrote back, “No! Breathe. We all feel this way, take a step back. Your kids are great.”

Parenting Moses & Apple: “It’s like going through childhood again, but standing next to the people that you love more than anybody in the world and helping them bear their heartaches and mistakes and triumphs.”

[From The Daily Mail & People]

I’m younger than Goop but I’ve noticed the small wrinkles around my eyes and… yeah, I don’t think I would say that I “genuinely love it.” The wrinkles don’t send me into a panic, nor am I super-bothered by my grey hair (which I’ve had since my early 20s). I like where I am with my age, but anyone who tells you that they “genuinely love” those wrinkles or grey streaks is just trying to sell you something. Same with Goop: she’s shilling her new book, Goop Clean Beauty. You too can love your wrinkles if you buy Goop’s book and her Juice Beauty products and spend tens of thousands of dollars on her Goop-branded clothes every season.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.