Considering it was The Sun that “somehow” got those exclusive first photos of Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston awkwardly Tiddlebanging on some rocks, I put a lot of stock in what The Sun has to say about the breakup. And my God, do they have some funny things to say about the Tiddlesplit. It really is like Christmas! Apparently, Taylor Swift is an independent goddess who loves her career more than any man, and she’s the most private person in the world. Thankfully, there are some Hiddlesources insisting that all Tom ever wanted was to make her happy.

Friends revealed that Taylor Swift has tired of Tom, revealing she just wants to “shake him off”. One confidante told The Sun: “It was fun while it lasted, but Taylor has now had enough. Tom’s a great guy but there’s no room for him in her life. She doesn’t want a serious relationship and that’s where it was heading. It was all far too public, in the end. Tom freaked her out with his love of the limelight. But once things have all died down they are likely to remain friends.”

The source added that Taylor was not interested in being part of a “power couple”.

The source said: “Being in a relationship which brings so much attention is not her thing. It’s all about her being an individual and a strong, independent woman. Taylor is so focused on her career it’s unreal. She is in control of her life, that’s a fact. She is the driving force in what she does and where she goes, and she certainly won’t let a boyfriend interfere with that.”

But pals of Brit actor hit back, saying it was SHE who loved the limelight and Tom simply played along to keep her happy.

One said: “Tom has supported Taylor in everything she does, going along with her antics like splashing around in the sea with all her pals. All he has ever wanted to do was make her happy — and she always seemed to be.”

A flashpoint is said to been Taylor’s refusal to attend the upcoming Emmy TV awards with him. Tom is up for Best Actor, for his role as spy Jonathan Pine in BBC drama The Night Manager, at the ceremony at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on September 18. Pals of his say he was “humiliated” by what he sees as a high profile snub.

One said: “He’s done his duty, so he thought it was only fair she repays the favour herself and is by Tom’s side at the Emmys. He’s humiliated that she’s so against it and won’t put her tradition of avoiding red carpet events with boyfriends to one side for him on his big night.”

[From The Sun]

Obvious Swiftsources are obvious. I’m shocked that those sources haven’t said anything about how Tom tried to use her for fame just like Kanye West. If only Tom kept some receipts like Kanye and Kim, eh? And no, I’m not talking about the receipts from the swan pastries. I find this interesting: “Tom has supported Taylor in everything she does, going along with her antics like splashing around in the sea with all her pals.” See, that’s what I believed too. He got caught up in it and he was like, “Sh-t, I guess this is what Taylor’s boyfriends do, they frolic in an ‘I Heart T.S.’ t-shirt.” And then he got burned. Tighten up, Hiddles. It’s going to get a lot worse.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Saved by the Bell alum Tiffani Thiessen shared a sweet snapshot of daughter Harper‘s first day of first grade.

“First day of 1st grade! Woo hoo #proudparents #firstgrader #schoolsback #summerover #lovethiskid,” the proud mama, 42, Instagrammed the image of her 6-year-old daughter.

When Harper arrived home, the Beverly Hills, 90210 star couldn’t help but post another photo.

“Home from the 1st day of 1st grade. #growingupsofast #soproudofher,” she wrote.

Last month, the actress shared details from Harper’s recent birthday bash.

Thiessen and husband Brady Smith are also parents to 1-year-old son Holt.

First day of 1st grade! Woo hoo #proudparents #firstgrader #schoolsback #summerover #lovethiskid

A photo posted by Tiffani Thiessen (@tiffanithiessen) on Sep 6, 2016 at 10:50am PDT

Home from the 1st day of 1st grade. #growingupsofast #soproudofher A photo posted by Tiffani Thiessen (@tiffanithiessen) on Sep 6, 2016 at 2:40pm PDT

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If you would ask me whom Elin Nordegren would date next (and I care much more about Elin than I do about Gavin Rossdale) I would assume it would be some random rich guy she met through friends. That’s not that she only dates rich guys, just that they are the guys she meets in her social circle. From what we know Elin last dated her billionaire neighbor, a coal executive in his 50s named Chris Cline. Elin and Chris were on and off again for a while, but they must be over now because she went on a first date with Gavin Rossdale. The Gavin Rossdale, the British rocker and Gwen Stefani’s ex who slept with his kids’ nanny (allegedly, according to all the major celebrity outlets). US Magazine has the news so I’m assuming it’s legit:

Gavin Rossdale. Elin Nordegren (ex-wife of Tiger Woods) and the rocker (ex-husband of Gwen Stefani) went on a first date in L.A. on Saturday, August 27, a source reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly.

Apparently they hit it off, too. Set up by mutual friends, the Florida-based mom of Sam, 9, and Charlie, 7, and the dad of Kingston, 10, Zuma, 8, and Apollo, 2 are planning round two. “Elin flies to L.A. on her private plane a lot,” says the source. “They want to make it work.”

The spark is new, but they already have something in common. Both the British singer, 50, and the Swedish former model, 36, have endured public cheating scandals in the past, though from different sides. Us exclusively revealed in November that Rossdale had cheated on his wife of 13 years, Stefani, with the couple’s nanny Mindy Mann. While pregnant with their youngest son, Stefani discovered explicit texts between Rossdale and Mann on their shared iPad. They split in August 2015.

[From US Magazine]

I believe in the adage “once a cheater,” but I also think that Rossdale, for being a low down dirty dog (it takes a special kind of sleaze to cheat with the nanny), did handle his divorce with grace. By most accounts he gave Stefani what she was asking for, didn’t fight her in the press or in court really, and bowed out. That said, Elin really knows how to pick ‘em right? I have a lot of respect for her because she went to college, graduated head of her class, and never trashed Tiger when it came out that he was a serial cheater who was hooking up with random women in every city he visited. She also worked hard to ensure that he continued to have a relationship with his kids and that she kept communicating with him. That must have taken incredible fortitude and class. So is her picker broken or is she making a halfway decent choice here? Maybe she’s just having fun though, they’re on different coasts after all, and she could do worse than Rossdale. Hell she already has but that’s not saying much.

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I just checked Gavin Rossdale’s Instagram for more photos of this photogenic dog and he is not the best photographer or this dog would surely be famous already. There are photos though! He’s called Chewy!

photos credit: WENN, FameFlynet and PRPhotos

Grey’s Anatomy alum Patrick Dempsey covers the latest issue of PEOPLE and opens up about calling off his divorce from his makeup artist wife Jillian, and raising their three kids: daughter Tallula, 14, and 9-year-old twin sons Darby and Sullivan.

On calling off their divorce: “Our marriage was not something I was prepared to let go of. I didn’t feel like we had done all the work. And we both wanted to do that work. That’s where it started.”

On the “scary” potential end of his marriage: “It’s always destabilizing when you’re potentially breaking up a family or you have a big section of your life that’s ending.”

On the “very important” work done in couples counseling: “Everybody has their own path. Jill and I decided it was time to work on our issues and improve. We wanted to be role models for our kids like, okay, if you have differences, you can work them out.”

On pulling back from his passion for car racing in order to devote more time to his family: “You can only do one thing at a time and do it well. I [learned] to prioritize. Our union has to be the priority. I wasn’t prepared to give up on her and she wasn’t either. We both wanted to fight for it.” ”

On their reunion as a “new beginning”: “You’ve got to keep at it. You’ve got to communicate, and stay open and not get lazy. And not give up. And lots of sex!”

Dempsey’s latest film, Bridget Jones’s Baby, hits theaters September 16.

As I’ve noted several times, no one will just let Zendaya live. So many people try to start beefs with this young woman, and it irritates me to no end. Zendaya is, for the most part, just doing her thing and being a young woman of color, and that bothers so many people. Anyway, here’s a new chapter to the No One Can Let Zendaya Live book. Zendaya was trying to buy some gift cards at a store last night and the clerk was really rude to her.

Zendaya has alleged she was the victim of racism at a supermarket – with the clerk allegedly refusing to serve her and throwing her wallet back at her when she tried to buy $400 in gift cards.

“The lady that was helping us… I don’t think she was a huge fan of our skin tone,” the Spider-Man: Homecoming actress told fans on Snapchat Tuesday night. Zendaya alleged the clerk told her she couldn’t afford the gift cards before throwing her wallet, causing her cards to fall out.

“I can’t make this s— up!” she told the camera.

The 20-year-old star said, “This is what we deal with…” – before her male friend added, “Because we’re black.”

[From People]

I’m including the compilation of Zendaya’s Snapchats below. There’s only one explanation that I can think of where this wouldn’t be a racial thing, which is that some stores have weird rules about people paying cash for their gift cards. Like, you can’t pay for a gift card on your debit or credit in some stores, at least where I live. But that explanation doesn’t make much sense when you hear Zendaya’s story. It sounded like the clerk just didn’t believe that a young woman of color would have the money to buy $400 worth of gift cards. Which is awful.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I wish I could say that I think Shia LaBeouf is a monster. I don’t. I think he’s a screwed up guy with addiction issues, and those addiction issues led to many not-great moments over the past few years. Throughout it all, there’s something strangely compelling about Shia, something watchable, mercurial, unknowable. Which is probably why he still has a career, despite years of violent, stupid and dickish antics. Shia covers the new issue of Variety to promote his latest film, American Honey, and this interview is a trip. Literally, I felt like I got a contact high from this piece. Shia talks openly about his struggles, but what’s weird is that at no point does he apologize or ask for forgiveness for his antics. He even acknowledges that he’s coming from a place of enormous privilege, and that if he was anything other than a white dude, he would have no career. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

His relationship with alcohol: “That sh-t almost f–ked up my life. I had people tell me it was going to. People I respected — dudes I wanted to work with — just looked me in the eyes and said, ‘Life’s too short for this sh-t.’ I’m still earning my way back. I’m happy working.”

He hasn’t had a drink in a year, he attends AA meetings: “You don’t touch it. Alcohol or any of that sh-t will send you haywire. I can’t f–k with none of it. I’ve got to keep my head low… I got a Napoleonic complex. I start drinking and I feel smaller than I am, and I get louder than I should. It’s just not for me, dude.”

He got 12 tattoos during ‘American Honey’, two of Missy Elliott. “I don’t love Missy Elliott like I wanna get two Missy Elliott tattoos. But you’re in a tattoo parlor, and” — he shrugs — “peer pressure.”

He’s not in it for the Oscars: “Nah, dude, not me. The Oscars are about politics. I gotta earn my way back. It’s not about who is the best. I’m not that guy for a long time — for a long, long time. I’m good with that, though. Sometimes that sh-t is a curse.”

If he was a woman… “It’s a double standard, for sure. Women require grace for longevity. I don’t think men require grace. You can be Mickey Rourke.”

He hates the word ‘Method’: “The word is getting embarrassing. You don’t hear about female method actors. The whole thing has turned into weird, false masculinity sh-t.”

He auditioned for Scott Eastwood’s role in Suicide Squad: “The character was different initially. Then Will [Smith] came in, and the script changed a bit. That character and Tom [Hardy’s] character [later played by Joel Kinnaman] got written down to build Will up. I don’t think Warner Bros. wanted me. I went in to meet, and they were like, ‘Nah, you’re crazy. You’re a good actor, but not this one.’ It was a big investment for them.”

He would love to work with Michael Bay again. “Mike is an artist. People don’t realize how dope that dude is. He’s got to get a little ballsier with his moves — he’s trying to toe the line and be James Cameron, but James Camerons are dying. I don’t know what he’s chasing, but that version of director is dead. If Mike is to sustain, he’s got to get f–king weird.”

Working with Steven Spielberg: “I grew up with this idea, if you got to Spielberg, that’s where it is. I’m not talking about fame, and I’m not talking about money. You get there, and you realize you’re not meeting the Spielberg you dream of. You’re meeting a different Spielberg, who is in a different stage in his career. He’s less a director than he is a f–king company. Spielberg’s sets are very different. Everything has been so meticulously planned. You got to get this line out in 37 seconds. You do that for five years, you start to feel like not knowing what you’re doing for a living…I don’t like the movies that I made with Spielberg. The only movie that I liked that we made together was ‘Transformers’ one.”

Texture: “Part of it was posturing. I never knew how to drink. I never liked to drink, but I knew you had to drink. It was a weird post-modern fascination with the f–k-ups. When I met Robert Downey Jr., I was like, ‘Man, you got all this f–king texture. How do I do this? How do I build texture?’”

[From Variety]

There are about a million other good/interesting quotes from the piece, but you should really just read the whole thing. The thing is, as I said up top, Shia is not really sorry. He doesn’t say he’s sorry. He’s not going on an apology tour. He’s not Justin Bieber. Shia believes all of the drama and antics and drinking have helped him shake off his stardom to a certain extent, and now he’s a different person with a different kind of fame. And he’s not sorry. And he won’t be working with Spielberg again any time soon. He probably will work with Bay again though?

Photos courtesy of Variety.

Dear Gossips,

Today is Leslie Jones’s birthday. And she came back to Twitter this weekend to celebrate her birthday week. Leslie took a break from Twitter for almost two weeks after her website was hacked. Leslie’s first posts upon her return were about the Golden Girls. Then she thanked her …

As we discussed over the weekend, Lena Dunham and Amy Schumer are cut from the same douche-cloth. While Lena got most of the attention from her interview with Schumer, it’s worth noting that Lena was supposed to be interviewing Amy Schumer about Amy’s book. Like, that was the whole reason they were being a—holes together. Amy was shilling for her book and Lena wouldn’t stop talking about herself and how she makes up fantasies about being sexualized and objectified by black men and presents those fantasies as real life. Amy has been doing promotional work for her book, The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo, for weeks now. And while the book is selling okay in its first few weeks, I guess everyone expected the sales to be through the roof?

Amy Schumer’s book, “The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo” — despite being No. 1 on the best-seller list for two weeks — is a disappointment, sources say. Although it sold 36,000 hardcover copies in its first week, Simon & Schuster paid $9 million for the funny memoir.

“The publishers are hugely disappointed. They are going to lose a ton of money,” an industry insider told me.

While critics liked the book, Internet trolls flooded Amazon with one-star reviews, which angered Schumer so much that she canceled some promotional appearances.

“How thin-skinned she is to get upset over reviews by haters who probably didn’t even read the book,” the insider said. “For $9 million, she should do whatever [the publishers] ask her.”

“Amy’s book has sold [more than] 170,000 copies across formats in the first two weeks,” a Simon & Schuster spokeswoman told me. “We are beyond thrilled.” The rep also noted that Schumer had to cancel two promotional appearances due to illness.

A source at a rival imprint said, “It’s not a disaster, but it’s not a huge success. Simon & Schuster has a long way to go to recoup their investment.”

As for the rival publishers who underbid for the book? “They are happy they lost the bidding war,” the source said. “They are breathing a sigh of relief that it isn’t theirs.”

[From Page Six]

There are several lessons here. One, publishers should not spend $9 million on an Amy Schumer book/memoir. That’s completely asinine. Two, the whole idea that dude-bros and/or haters are flooding the reviews reminds me a lot of what happened with the Ghostbusters remake and those reviews. Even though I loathe Schumer, here’s a fundamental point that I hope we can all get behind: WOMEN ARE ALLOWED TO MAKE ART. They can write, act, direct, paint, sculpt and create and they should be able to do all of those things without butthurt men getting their panties in a twist because women dare to use their voices. Is Amy a thin-skinned hypocrite? Sure. Do I have any interest in reading her book? I do not. But I’m not offended by the fact that she’s a woman and an artist. People need some perspective, for the love of God.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

I was all prepared to rant about patriarchy and entrenched sexism and privileged white dudes not caring about other people in this country. But then I slowed my roll and read the full quote, and now I’m not so mad. First, some backstory: many conservatives believe that South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker are closeted Republicans/conservatives, and years ago, there was this movement amongst Young Republicans to call themselves South Park Republicans or whatever. I always thought that belief – that Parker and Stone were secretly conservative – came from the fact that they lampooned both sides of the political debate pretty equally. In previous interviews, Stone and Parker identified themselves as more libertarian, and they’ve said they hate both political extremes equally.

They’ve been talking more about politics this year in interviews though, and a few months back, they did a great piece with NY Mag about how much they hate their “anti-PC” comedy is being repurposed by Trump-supporters and Trump himself. Then, over the weekend, Parker and Stone did an event at the Paley Center to celebrate twenty seasons of South Park, and they answered some political questions. Some highlights:

Trey Parker on the election: “It doesn’t matter who wins. I mean, either way, it’ll be great. Either person that wins will be great for comedy…. If Trump becomes President, I’m moving in with Barbara Streisand,” said Parker, before Stone added: “And she’s moving to England, and I’ll have to move down the street from Trey, so we’ll be in England with Barbara Streisand.”

Why they included Donald Trump in last season’s South Park: “We thought we’d better do this before it goes away. When you’re doing something that contemporary, you’re worried that it will drop out [of the news] the next week.” They thought people might wonder why they were doing an entire episode about such a “marginal character” in the election. They did not expect he would go on to become one of the two major party nominees.

In the new season, they’re using Mr. Garrison as a Trump stand-in: They decided to do that in the first place because they “didn’t really want to service Trump as a character,” according to Parker. As Stone added, “We were like, f–k him, we don’t want to give him the satisfaction.”

Their own political views: As for their own political views, Parker and Stone said that while they have been labeled as “libertarian” in the press over the years, all they would say is “we believe in liberty.” If he thought there was “any chance in hell” that Gary Johnson could win, Parker said he would “probably” support him over either Trump or Clinton, who he described, jokingly, as “the giant douche and the turd sandwich,” without specifying which is which.

Don’t expect direct comedy about the election: “Good political satire has a point. And for us, it would be such a sacrilege—South Park is the most important thing.” They never want to “use” the show for a political end. Instead they see figures like Trump, Clinton, and other celebrities as “serving” the show.

[From NYDN & The Daily Beast]

I mean… we could still potentially rant about Stone and Parker’s privilege, that they don’t have to take this election seriously because they’re not the people a President Trump would want to bomb, destroy, censor, deport, malign or kill. That being said, they’re entitled to their opinions and it sounds like they’re as appalled by Trump as everybody else.

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Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.

When Halle Berry filed for divorce from Olivier Martinez last October, many of us were expecting some full-tilt craziness to come out during what we thought would be months of bloody divorce settlement negotiations. While there were some Classic Halle punches in the press initially, the crazy got dialed down a lot within a matter of a few weeks. Halle and Olivier had been having problems for months, and their divorce announcement was not shocking, but it seemed like they were truly trying to work things out in the months that followed. They even vacationed together, and by most accounts, they seem to co-parent their son together with little drama. Neither Halle or Olivier has done anything about the divorce filing sitting there for 11 months. So now the court wants them to figure it out formally.

Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez raced to the courthouse last year, trying to beat each other to the punch in filing divorce papers, yet a year later they are poised to dismiss the case and stay married. We found a legal doc in which the clerk in divorce court sent a notice to both Halle and Olivier, saying they’ve been asleep at the wheel and done nothing to make the divorce final. The clerk issued an ultimatum … either do something or the case will be dismissed.

We’ve spoken with multiple sources, on both Halle and Olivier’s side, and they say the same thing. Neither is in a rush to make the divorce final, and they’re fine with staying married. As for why … we’re told Halle isn’t convinced she wants a divorce. We’re told she still thinks Olivier might change, especially in the anger management department, and if he does she thinks the marriage could work. Olivier’s clearly had anger problems … the last straw was when he pushed an LAX employee with a baby car seat and got in trouble with the law.

There are other reasons why both Olivier and Halle aren’t going through with the divorce. We’re told they’re getting along great and both are actively involved in parenting both 3-year-old Maceo and 8-year-old Nahla. Although Olivier isn’t Nahla’s dad, he’s still actively involved in her life. And there’s another reason. Halle — who just turned 50 — isn’t crazy about getting a third divorce. She doesn’t think it’s good for her, or her kids. So, we’re told the divorce will probably just go away. For now, they’re just friends and good parents, but who knows.

[From TMZ]

I always thought it was smart for Olivier to marry Halle, because even if the marriage fell apart (and we all knew that would happen), he would have more built-in legal rights and custodial rights because of the marriage. That was one of Gabriel Aubry’s biggest issues in fighting for joint custody of Nahla – he was merely the boyfriend, not the husband. That being said, I am surprised that Olivier and Halle have been so quiet for so many months. I genuinely thought they would be tossing accusations back and forth and that Halle would give Olivier the Full Scorched Earth Treatment. Maybe they’ve both mellowed out. Who knows?

Also: God, those drop-crotch pants are so stupid. I HATE THEM!

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.