I’m so happy when I correctly assess the potential for crazy divorce drama. And I totally predicted this Bobby Flay-Stephanie March mess. Flay has never been discreet, and there were always rumors about his wandering eye, especially around his female employees. So obviously, when March and Flay split up and he filed for divorce, I assumed (correctly) that we would be hearing about alleged affairs and just how much he (allegedly) fooled around on Stephanie. What I didn’t predict was the idea that Stephanie and her team would be using those rumors to try to throw out the pre-nup. Flay made March sign a prenup that would only guarantee her $5000 a month. I don’t even think she gets the NYC apartment.

Anyway, as we heard over the weekend, Page Six got some leaked information about Flay’s alleged three-year affair with his assistant, a younger woman named Elyse Tirrell. Flay’s lawyer slammed the story as a petty PR ploy by March’s camp, and Flay’s business partner slammed March personally by basically saying March was no angel either. And now we’re all caught up. So, March’s lawyer – who seems perfectly happy to play all of this out in press – issued a new statement about the Page Six allegations of Flay’s three-year affair and how Flay’s camp says March’s lawyer is behind everything.

March’s attorney, Deborah Lans of Cohen Clair Lans Greifer & Thorpe LLP, tells Us that this is not the case.

“Stephanie has worked through all of this to maintain her privacy and her dignity,” she says of March, adding that the actress had surgery last week and is now living with her mother in New York as she recovers.

“Stephanie is terribly upset by what she has been reading in the paper,” Lans adds of the divorce drama. “I would say that what Bobby’s lawyer and his friends are saying is a combination of speculation and projection on their part. There are profound issues with the agreement that was signed at their wedding but we will deal with those in the court,” the lawyer continues of the couple’s prenuptial agreement. “I’m confident a court will consider the agreement to be unconscionable… Stephanie hopes people will respect her privacy and be sophisticated enough to read through what’s coming from the other side.”

[From Us Weekly]

Huh. On one side, if I’m ever fighting a bitter divorce battle, I hope I have a ballsy, take-no-prisoners lawyer like this on my side. On the other side, for all of us out here in the cheap seats, March’s lawyer is being too cute by half. I respect the effort to turn this all around on Flay and his people, but it was Stephanie March’s friend who went to Page Six to talk about Flay’s affair. That story came from March’s camp. End of story. I’d also like to see March’s lawyers dial down the rhetoric a little bit – I mean, we all know Flay cheated (allegedly!) and I think most of us believe that March should get the prenup thrown out. But the prenup is not “unconscionable”. We’re not talking about genocide or human trafficking. It’s just a divorce battle!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Is it that time already? For some reason I thought this was a summer issue…

It’s PEOPLE’s 2015 Most Beautiful. Last year, Lupita Nyong’o was Most Beautiful. This year…

Sandra Bullock. At 50. And in typical Sandy fashion, she kinda laughed about it but didn’t shut it down either, agreeing …      

Two years ago, rapper Waka Flocka Flame tweeted, “I am dead a** running for President in 2016.” Since then, he’s kept on rhyming and handed a swift smackdown and worthwhile lecture to those racist OU fraternity brothers. I didn’t think we’d be covering him again anytime soon, but now there’s some entertaining news. Waka has officially thrown his name into the 2016 Presidential race. Never mind that he’s only 28 years old, and a person must be 35 to run for either President or Vice President. Waka still filled out the official forms on 4/20 (“the best day of the year“). He filmed a very funny, f-bomb filled candidacy video for Rolling Stone. Here’s some excerpts about his platform:

Legalizing marijuana: “The first thing I’ll do as President is legalize marijuana. A blunt a day will take the pain away. You wake up, hit a blunt, go to work, you go to work, sh*t will be okay. You look around, things ain’t looking good, you roll the blunt, sh*t going to be okay. School work getting too hard? Don’t touch the blunt. Think about it. Wait ’till you get old enough.”

On education: “Education is important. We gotta start teaching these kids more reality. Trade skills. And they gotta learn my lyrics.”

On Congress: “I’m not wearing a suit when I go to the meeting. It’s f***ing irritating. Everybody’s got hot-a** suits on, arguing, sweating.”

Minimum wage: “I’m gonna raise minimum wage. I feel like all fast food restaurants should be paying $15 an hour, since In ‘n’ Out’s doing it.”

Women’s rights: “I feel like women’s got all the rights already. What else they want? My mother was my father and my mother, so she controlled the house. She raised me. She put food on the table. She kept lights on. Women are pretty tough. I feel like it’s not really rights for women, it’s more of a respect thing.”

His competition: “Hilary is my only competition right now because the women love her. She’s honest, and her husband is Bill, so it’s a tough one. I hope I make it.”

[From Rolling Stone]

Waka admits that he’s not very tolerant about people with big feet, and he’d outlaw dogs in restaurants. The part about women’s rights could be read the wrong way, but Waka’s making a point similar to Chris Rock’s assertion about how he grew up “in a matriarchal society. You never hear, ‘Women need to step up.’ No, it’s all, ‘You’re the greatest thing that ever walked the Earth.’” Waka’s saying his mother raised him and was very powerful and tough. He thinks she’s already asserted all her rights and deserves more respect.

This Presidential bid is hilarious even though Waka swears he isn’t joking. The best part is when Waka talks about how Hilary is his only real competition. He’s not wrong! Right now Waka’s winning on Twitter against Hilary, but dude has his work cut out for him. All those distracting blunts, man. Learn more about Waka’s campaign here.

#WakaforAmerica

Photos courtesy of Rolling Stone, Fame/Flynet & WENN

Blake Lively was a flurry of activity and costume changes yesterday… for no real reason. She was promoting The Age of Adeline in NYC, and she made stops at Good Morning America, Live with Kelly and Michael and Sirius Radio, just to name a few. Each stop involved multiple costume changes. People Mag did a breakdown of all of her costumes here. Anyway, I don’t really like any of these looks, but if you’re making me choose… I guess the pink/lilac Cushnie et Ochs pantsuit is my favorite? Sure. It’s better than the other stuff. The bright turquoise and yellow ensemble is Roksanda Lockwood Resort 2015. The quilted-looking grey and maroon suit is Marc Jacobs.

So, with all of those costume changes and all of those TV and radio appearances, you would expect that we would be knee-deep in Blake quotes, right? Not so much. She’s been talking a lot about her sweet baby James and motherhood in general, but nothing earth-shattering. While on GMA, she talked about why they named their daughter “James,” saying: “It’s a family name, and I liked having a boy’s name.” Yeah… I’m a fan of the unisex/androgynous baby-name as well, but I still believe Blake just named her little girl “James” to be “different” and “whimsical”.

When Blake went on Live with Kelly & Michael, she joked about how Ryan Reynolds smelled like baby poop (ha?) and when asked if the baby takes after either parent, Blake said: “I think she looks like her daddy. I want a maternity test!” Here’s the video of that interview:

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, WENN.

Sienna Miller’s name was on the list of 2015 jury members at the Cannes Film Festival released yesterday, one of the reasons why people were calling it the prettiest jury ever. Sienna is, obviously, very pretty. But inviting her to be part of the judging panel was not just motivated by her looks,…      

Warm Bodies star Teresa Palmer was all smiles with son Bodhi, 14 months, in Hollywood, Calif. on Monday (April 20). The mother-son duo stepped out for breakfast together on the sunny morning.

The Australian actress, 29, has been busy promoting her new film Kill Me Three Times.

In a series of Instagram images, the actress shares family photos with husband Mark Webber and their sweet son.

Continue looking through our gallery to see the Palmer-Webber family photos!

The greatest of nature ?? #CostaRica @likemark

A photo posted by Teresa Palmer (@tez_palmer) on Mar 15, 2015 at 2:10pm PDT

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Yesterday we ran a story about how Ben Affleck had yet to respond to the controversy over the fact that he had requested that the PBS show, Finding Your Roots, remove footage revealing that he had an ancestor who was a slave owner. We knew this because emails from host Louis Gates Jr. were revealed as part of the Sony hack. In the emails, Gates expressed concern over the fact that a celebrity guest was trying to influence the show. We read, in Gates’s own words, that the show had “never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found” and that to remove the material “would be a violation of PBS rules.” Affleck’s lack of a statement at that point was kind of glaring after Gates and PBS had both issued statements on Friday explaining the change as one of editorial choice, not undue influence.

Well Affleck issued a statement last night, and unlike Gates’s kind of brief, well-stated response, Affleck tried to explain his position more thoroughly. That’s understandable, considering that the story grew so much in the interim, but I think he could have nipped it in the bud with a shorter statement earlier. The longer he avoided it, the more this story grew. Affleck wrote that he asked that parts be included and excluded from his segment, similar to the movie-making process where he makes his preferences known to a director. He’s a director too, so it makes sense to me that he wanted that level of control. Then he talked about how he felt embarrassed for his family and that it was hard to be vulnerable or something and he lost me there.

After an exhaustive search of my ancestry for “Finding Your Roots,” it was discovered that one of my distant relatives was an owner of slaves.

I didn’t want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves. I was embarrassed. The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth.

Skip decided what went into the show. I lobbied him the same way I lobby directors about what takes of mine I think they should use. This is the collaborative creative process. Skip agreed with me on the slave owner but made other choices I disagreed with. In the end, it’s his show and I knew that going in. I’m proud to be his friend and proud to have participated.

It’s important to remember that this isn’t a news program. Finding Your Roots is a show where you voluntarily provide a great deal of information about your family, making you quite vulnerable. The assumption is that they will never be dishonest but they will respect your willingness to participate and not look to include things you think would embarrass your family.

I regret my initial thoughts that the issue of slavery not be included in the story. We deserve neither credit nor blame for our ancestors and the degree of interest in this story suggests that we are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy of slavery. It is an examination well worth continuing. I am glad that my story, however indirectly, will contribute to that discussion. While I don’t like that the guy is an ancestor, I am happy that aspect of our country’s history is being talked about.

[From Facebook]

E! notes that PBS has also launched an internal investigation into what happened in this instance. Outlets were questioning whether PBS had compromised their integrity by caving to Batfleck’s request and PBS took it seriously. They’re not making reality shows, they’re trying to show history good and bad.

NPR had some excellent coverage of this story during Morning Edition today. (You can hear it here.) Commentator Gene Demby pointed out that the omission of Affleck’s slave owning ancestor is very glaring “if you watch the episode in context.” Affleck’s episode focused on the fact that he had a fore-bearer who fought in the Revolutionary war alongside Washington and that his mother was active in the Civil Rights movement. So Affleck’s episode was about freedom, but he refused to include the negative parts of his genealogy along with the positive parts.

At least Affleck addressed this and admits that he should have included the issue of slavery in his story. However, I do find his statement too self-focused and defensive. This sentence in particular bothers me “The assumption is that they will never be dishonest but they will respect your willingness to participate and not look to include things you think would embarrass your family.” Did he not read the emails? He doesn’t even address the editorial integrity of PBS and he’s assuming the “collaborative creative process” applies to what is supposed to be a documentary-type show. He’s still acting as if it was his right to ask them to whitewash his ancestry when the issue was so serious that Gates sought advice on it and PBS is launching an internal investigation.

A Canadian reader sent us a tip that Ben was spotted in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia last Thursday. Reader Steph emailed me that Affleck “was seen near a Buddhist monastery in Cape Breton… He may be on a retreat there and if so, may not even be aware of all the fuss about his ancestor and his attempt to censor the story.” They have video of Affleck and everything so it’s known that he was there. It’s possible that he was on a retreat without electronics, but Affleck was photographed at the Farmer’s Market in LA on Sunday Morning, and again out with his wife yesterday. He must have learned about this story over the weekend at the latest.

Photo credit: FameFlynet, WENN.com and PRPhotos

Stories about Johnny Depp haven’t been so positive lately. His last few films have been sh-t. He hurt his hand while in Australia shooting Pirates 5, but not actually when he was shooting Pirates 5. And there are a lot of rumours about how it actually happened, where it happened, his state of min…      

These are photos of Renee Zellweger and her boyfriend of two years, musician Doyle Bramhall II, at an event for The ALS Association on Monday night. As Fishwrapper notes, whatever Renee had done to her face and eyes last year has settled a bit, or maybe we’re just used to her new look, it’s hard to tell. She does look more like the Renee we came to know. The too-long bangs are throwing me off a bit, though.

Renee Zellweger looked radiant on the red carpet with her love Doyle Bramhall. See more pics! http://t.co/FkgPa9wmXG pic.twitter.com/Biy2BIMpvR

— Us Weekly (@usweekly) April 21, 2015

Renee’s lace overcoat is Burberry and People reports that she has a little black dress on underneath, although I couldn’t find any photos of her with the coat off. Burberry is often fabulous, but I dislike the trend of overcoats as dresses and something feels wrong about lace on a coat. It’s like too many disparate trends that don’t go together. Plus the coat is ombre at the bottom and along the sleeves (comparison photo to runway here.) That’s yet another trend that doesn’t belong.

Anyway I feel like a superficial bitch (which I’m fine with) for focusing on Renee’s coat when she was there for such an important cause. In her speech to the crowd, Renee talked about her longterm friend and publicist, who is living with ALS. Just reading what she said is getting me choked up. On the red carpet, Renee also gushed about her boyfriend. She does seem really happy.

“I’m great. I’m busy. I’m happy,” the actress, 45, told PEOPLE at the star-studded event, which raises money to help conquer amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the progressive neurodegenerative disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Donning a Burberry jacket over a little black dress, the Bridget Jones’s Diary star was all smiles while chatting about her boyfriend of more than two years, musician Doyle Bramhall II, who was by her side at the charity gala.

“Isn’t he cute? He’s a very sweet man,” she said. “I’m very, very happy right now.”

But the night wasn’t just any red carpet appearance for Zellweger. She explained that the organization has been extremely supportive of her close friend and longtime publicist Nanci Ryder, who was diagnosed with the disease nine months ago.

“It wasn’t hard to throw on a pair of shoes for this one,” she said.

“As a person who loves someone who is living with ALS, I’m happy to be here among so many of you who understand what that diagnosis means,” the actress said during her speech about Ryder. The audience then applauded the famed Hollywood publicist.

“We’ve learned that living with ALS does not mean being defined by the disease. She’s a beautiful example of that,” Zellweger said of her friend. “Her spirit is as vivacious as ever.”

[From People]

The ALS Association raised so much awareness and funding with the ice bucket challenge last year, and I’m sure they’re grateful when celebrities continue to support the cause. This is a disease affecting Renee’s dear friend, and right now there is no cure. It must be incredibly difficult to see someone you love gradually lose the ability to control their body. I cannot even imagine it.

Renee and Doyle also went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony together last week. I’m including photos of them there below. Stevie Ray Vaughn was one of the inductees and Doyle has been friends with him since childhood. Doyle also founded a band with Charlie Sexton and two former members of Vaughn’s Double Trouble band. Look at how happy Renee is with Doyle!

30th Annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony (April 18, 2015) #ReneeZellweger #DoyleBramhall pic.twitter.com/a4lxR43Ds8

— Team Renee Zellweger (@TeamZellweger) April 19, 2015

photo credit: Getty Images

Tomorrow night, the neWCHapter committee, proud partner of the Women’s College Hospital Foundation, is hosting the now annual Night At The Movies event to raise awareness and support for Women’s College Hospital. Last year the film was August: Osage County. This year it’s The Age Of Adaline.

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