Over the weekend, a British chef named Jameson Stocks went on GB News and lied his ass off. He claimed that he was approached by Netflix to ?consult? on an unnamed lifestyle show. While Stocks said that Netflix didn?t confirm which show, he told GB News: ?I already kind of knew who it was,? meaning the Duchess of Sussex?s With Love, Meghan. To drive home the whole point of his interview, he spent several minutes trashing WLM and Meghan personally. It was clear from the quotes that he had been fed a script, but what many people find galling is that he just blatantly lied about Netflix approaching him.

Despite many claims to the contrary, I cannot find one Netflix or Archewell person speaking on the record as a named source disputing Stocks. Page Six noted in their coverage that ?sources close to production have told The Post that Stocks, 41, was never approached to be a part of the series.? They quote an ?insider? who said: ?Chef Jameson Stocks was not invited to participate in ?With Love, Meghan,? and any claims to the contrary are incorrect. Jameson himself doesn?t even know which show it was for?he noted ?he thinks it was for this show,?? the source continued, while cautioning against ?taking his assumption as fact.? While it?s great that a source/insider clapped back so quickly, I still hoped that someone would come out on the record. This guy ran straight to GB News and lied about being asked on as a consultant and performed a script trashing Meghan and the show. On Monday, Archewell/Netflix people went to Us Weekly too, and once again did not put their name to it:

Celebrity chef Jameson Stocks was not invited to make an appearance on Meghan Markle?s series, With Love, Meghan, Us Weekly can confirm.

Us can also confirm any claim to the contrary is incorrect as James stated that he did not know which exact show Netflix approached him for.

[From Us Weekly]

My only thought is that Archewell ? which executive produced the show ? is trying to clap back but they honestly don?t know if Netflix approached Stocks about a different show. That doesn?t change the fact that Stocks directly indicates that he was approached to consult on WLM and he turned them down because he ?knew? the show was going to be bad/inauthentic/whatever-deranged-talking-point. I know Meghan has some new PR people and they?re being much more proactive ? like that People Mag article about how she?s a great boss ? but this is one of those moments where someone needs to come out and really push back on these lies. All it would take is an Archewell producer directly saying: ?This is completely false.?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Netflix.

Last Friday, we learned that Netflix had already greenlighted and filmed a second season of With Love, Meghan. The second season will come out this fall, but people who want more of Meghan?s lifestyle will get to order her As Ever products soon enough on the website. Remember, Netflix has partnered with Meghan on As Ever as well, and given what we?ve already seen of the product line, I have the sense that they?re starting small to gauge the interest, then they?ll be able to ramp up over the course of a year if the line sells well. Meanwhile, WLM is a hit, quickly making it into Netflix?s top-ten. In the hours and days after the news about the second season, you could feel the wind going out of a lot of hateful sails. They had spent days screaming, crying and throwing up about how WLM was the worst show ever, only to drive more interest and more viewership. So what we?re seeing now is a hell of a lot of COPE, with a dash of SEETHE. The Daily Mail had absolutely no advance knowledge of the second season, and yet they have ?sources? newly claiming that the Sussexes? Netflix deal is still in danger.

Meghan Markle?s bosses at Netflix are ?worried? by the grim reviews of her new show and her own excited announcement of season two does not mean the Sussexes? $100million deal has already been renewed, an insider told MailOnline today. With Love, Meghan has dropped out of the top ten most watched shows globally as well as in the US and UK just six days after its release.

?It?s not a runaway success?, MailOnline?s insider at Netflix has admitted, adding they understood that season two was filmed ?back-to-back? with season one last year.

On Friday, the Duchess showed herself celebrating, with her arms in the air in her garden, as she said the show had been renewed for a second season. She admitted to having made ?mistakes? but insisted that she is ?learning every day?, after her hotly-anticipated Netflix show was widely panned. But one Netflix insider with links to the commercial arm of the streaming giant told MailOnline that the reviews have ?worried? the bosses. Meghan?s own father Thomas also gave a withering review yesterday and is upset by her dumping of the Markle surname for Sussex.

And a new season does not mean her Netflix contract has been renewed, MailOnline?s source says.

?I know they filmed the shows back-to-back so in theory there is no second season, it?s like with lots of Netflix shows it is already in the bag at the same time as the first one. What this does is allow edits to be made to the show from feedback from press and Netflix viewers. It?s clever and cost effective. So no the overall contract hasn?t been renewed yet.?

The source added that bosses were ?worried? about the poor reviews ? especially as they are a business partner in her lifestyle brand, which will launch in their bricks and mortar stores in the coming months.

?The industry bibles like The Hollywood Reporter and Variety are not keen on it?, they said. ?Netflix bosses are all worried now because they have invested a lot in the product line. They don?t know when and how to roll it all out?.

[From The Daily Mail]

It looks like the Daily Mail also has a cousin whose neighbor works at Netflix, and they got some piping hot tea on whether the Sussexes? contract will be renewed. It?s like the worst kind of confirmation bias, only in this case, I?m pretty sure the Mail?s ?Netflix insider? is just some Sussex-hater with a Netflix account. Given the news about the second season AND given Netflix?s partnership with Meghan on As Ever, I strongly suspect that we?ll get news (at some point) that the Sussexes quietly renewed their Netflix contract with favorable terms. And when that happens, just know that the Daily Mail will shift the goalposts again. It?s only been a week and these are the shifting goals: WLM is trash, everyone will hate it; it?s poorly reviewed across the board, there will never be a second season; it doesn?t matter if it makes the Netflix top-ten, it?s still not #1; sure, WLM got a second season, but will it not get a third; Netflix partnering with Meghan doesn?t mean anything, remember the bad reviews!!

Photos courtesy of Netflix.

Alexandra Shulman is best known for her years as the editor-in-chief of British Vogue, and even better known for her nasty polemic against her replacement EIC, Edward Enniful, as she was leaving. Shulman?s time as EIC of British Vogue was dominated by mostly white covers, while Enniful seemed to do much more to celebrate Britain?s racial and cultural diversity. In any case, Shulman now spends her time writing an occasional Daily Mail column, and of course, she had thoughts on the Duchess of Sussex?s With Love, Meghan. I was shocked that a former EIC of a women?s fashion bible is suddenly against aspirational lifestyle programming ? Shulman whines that it takes too much effort to live like Meghan. Meghan really has the racist white women fighting for their lives. From Shulman?s Mail ?notebook.?

One of my most hated words is effortless. Effortless dressing, effortless cooking, effortless having a bath. Yet while effortless is a buzzword, a life full of unnecessary effort is constantly laid out in front of us. Meghan?s new TV series demonstrates such an effortful existence that it?s quite exhausting to contemplate.

Home-made teabags of Himalayan bath salt for your guests? bedside table to show you care about how they sleep, and all that endless plating. I thought only restaurants plated up. But in Meghanland, plating is an essential activity. No longer is a nice bowl of fruit salad OK, it?s all about creating a colour-coded rainbow platter of fruit, or sprinkling flowers on a frittata. Flowers on your eggs? If that?s plating, I?m happy to pass.

It?s unfair, though, to blame all this effortful existence on Meghan Sussex (as she tells us she prefers to be called).

We must also contend with the high standards of Gen Z and millennial tablescaping, involving an exotic display of candles, floral arrangements and table linen every time a few pals are invited over for a plate of pasta. There?s scarcely any space left for plating there.

Meanwhile, beds that used to be perfectly fine with a bedspread flung on top are now meant to be adorned with so many layers of throws and cushions that serious excavation is necessary to discover the poor old sheets and pillows.

No wonder so many people feel they are time-poor. There?s such a huge amount of effort encouraged in the pursuit of the aspirational life. What?s happened to the late, great Shirley Conran?s attitude that life?s too short to stuff a mushroom?

In other times, I might have suggested, as grumpy old people used to, that we need a good war to sort our priorities out. But the way things are going, perhaps we are about to have one.

[From The Daily Mail]

This is too funny. Like, if I?m being honest, there was stuff in WLM which I would never do because A) I do not care that much and B) it?s too time-consuming when my answer to those kinds of tasks is to throw money at the problem and pay someone else to do it. But I?m not the former editor of Vogue! I?m not writing a Daily Mail column, trying to come up with some ?reason? why I don?t like Meghan or why WLM is a bad show. ?It takes too much effort? is the argument of the defeated. ?Why would anyone want to make anything aesthetically pleasing? FROM A FASHION EDITOR. Besides which, most of Meghan?s tips are not even all that time-consuming (minus that balloon arch). She literally gave a recipe for, like, a seven-minute one-pot pasta dish. She?s like ?add some fresh juice in your champagne, it?s lovely.?

Photos courtesy of Netflix.

Tina Brown continues to have a huge problem with the Duchess of Sussex. For Tina Brown, it?s almost exclusively a problem with Meghan too ? one of Brown?s biggest complaints is that everything Meghan does is dated, yet Tina also believes that Meghan is the one ?in charge? and Prince Harry follows Meghan?s lead in all things. Which is a pretty dated, ill-informed, and evidence-free theory on the Sussex marriage. Last week, Brown had a bug up her ass about With Love, Meghan. Brown said, in part, that WLM ?was a cultural fossil?She?s always brilliant behind the curve, Meghan. You know what I mean? This was like flashback to 2013 to the era of The Tig, her blog.? Brown said all of that and more during her appearance on The Ankler podcast. Well, Tina decided to flesh out this hot take in her Fresh Hell substack, devoting two full pages to ?Everything Meghan does is wrong, because I said so!? Some lowlights from Fresh Hell:

Meghan?s perfection in Trump?s America: With her unerring instinct for getting it wrong, Meghan has come out with a show about fake perfection just when the zeitgeist has turned raucously against it. Trump?s America is a foulmouthed and disheveled cultural place where podcasters in sweaty T-shirts, crotch-rot jeans, and headphones achieve world domination on YouTube. The real person of the moment is Pamela Anderson with her proudly wan bare face. As early as 2015, the lifestyle OG Martha Stewart understood the tide was turning against over-produced flawlessness when, as she put it, she dug herself out of ?a f?ing hole? of Martha hate by trash-talking her own mistakes at a Comedy Central roast of Justin Bieber. Meghan, on the other hand, has never figured out a convincing persona. Masquerading as an influencer, she?s the ultimate follower, which inevitably means she is behind the curve.

This is Tina Brown?s version of Meghan: The series Meghan should have made is the story of what a flaming flop the last five years have been. Candor at last. If she had shown us that truth, with door-slamming scenes of her shrieking ?find me an effing project? at the multiple ?brand consultants? revolving through her Montecito manse, and Harry conked out on a sofa in his earbuds, the British public would be clamoring to have her back.

Eight years ago: How on point with the era she seemed then, the biracial beauty who, despite bringing out the worst misogyny in the tabloid press, became a feminist influencer the world ? and Prince Harry ? could rush to defend. To sign on as a royal, she had to close down her successful blog The Tig, a lifestyle/female empowerment mash-up that was a strenuous knockoff of Gwyneth Paltrow?s Goop ethos. It presented a Diptyque candle-scented world sprinkled with celebrity girlfriend crushes, humanitarian shout-outs for fashionable liberal causes, and bath products made by women survivors of domestic abuse. Wreathed in social justice umbrage and posing barelegged in daring strapless Ralph & Russo haute couture for Vanity Fair, she was the great youth and diversity connector the House of Windsor sorely needed.

Meghan used to be super-popular: It?s worth remembering that during that blazing year of her courtship and engagement to Harry, she even eclipsed beloved, relentlessly appropriate royal icon Kate Middleton, who had succumbed without a murmur to royal pantyhose and taken five years to appear on the cover of Vogue muffled in a brown suede Burberry coat. To the discomfort of the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the New York Times proclaimed the newest royal couple ?young, diverse and exuding cool.?

Meghan is impatient: The trouble with Meghan is, she?s just too damn impatient. Who announces a new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, and hounds celebrity friends to talk up her strawberry jam on social media, without doing due diligence on the availability of the trademark?

The Sussexes should have stuck around the UK: It didn?t take a rocket scientist to know that, at age 94, the monarch clearly had only a few years more to live, at which point the family chess pieces would start to move around the royal power board. All Meghan had to do was shut up and wait. Go quiet for a couple of years, start a family, keep her eyes trained on the splendid royal real estate that would soon come up for grabs. (As it is, King Charles is so overhoused, he could sleep in a different palace every night.) The moment William ascended to his role as Prince of Wales, there would have been new global gigs and red carpet roll-outs raining down on the Sussexes? heads. But no. Offered the Commonwealth or Netflix, the Sussexes, with na?ve avarice, chose Netflix? AND a three-book deal, AND a Spotify podcast contract? forgetting the dread obligation to grind out successful ?deliverables? they mostly failed to deliver. The commercial blockbusters of the Harry & Meghan documentary and Harry?s explosive memoir Spare were Pyrrhic victories that alienated the House of Windsor for good and burned the Sussexes? London Bridge to the ground.

The Sussexes? life nowadays: Four years later, the Sussexes? life is now all about pretending: showing up at B-list charity galas that would have been tossed into a palace private secretary?s reject pile, making uninvited disaster tourism appearances, or going on mock royal tours that only serve to remind us they could have done the real ones with more sizzle than anyone else in the depleted House of Windsor.

[From Fresh Hell]

What I?m left with is the sense that Tina Brown is incandescent with rage that Harry and Meghan simply refused to stick around the UK to be punching bags for years in the hope that they would eventually be treated fairly. The way Brown and the British media have completely rewritten the actual history of everything that went down in 2019 and 2020 is astonishing too ? it was a life-or-death situation, and the Sussexes managed to escape by the skin of their teeth. The danger they faced was in no small part to the violent and racist jealousy from William and Kate (which Tina seems to be insinuating rather than stating bluntly). Anyway, I don?t think Meghan has a problem with impatience, if anything, I wish she would launch her projects faster. In recent days, I have to keep reminding myself that these awful people are doing all of THIS over a cute little entertaining and cooking show, a show which does not mention the Windsors or ?royalty? or anything like that. Meghan is just showcasing her long-time interests and her haters are drowning in their own bile.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

King Charles decided to do something with Apple Music called ?The King?s Music Room.? It?s basically Charles sitting at a desk, listening to music and talking about music for Commonwealth Day. Is it really a podcast or is it more like a curated playlist? I?m struggling to describe what this is other than ?an attempt to make Charles sound hip.? In any case, we now know that Charles enjoys Beyonce?s music. Or at least he enjoys one Beyonce song, ?Crazy In Love.? Some highlights from his Apple Music thing:

The King, 76, shows off a somewhat eclectic mix of musical go-tos in The King?s Music Room, a show curated for Apple Music, that premieres on Mar. 10. Based around a Commonwealth theme, the music choices are Charles? own, and listeners get a sense of both his enthusiasm for the music, and how, through his charming comments, he has a remarkably good radio voice.

Bob Marley & The Wailers ? ?Could You Be Loved? In the intro, Charles includes a rendition of the song played by the King?s Guard at Buckingham Palace, before playing the actual tune by late singer himself. Charles praises Marley?s ?marvelous, infectious energy, but also his deep sincerity, and his profound concern for his community.?

Millie Small ? ?My Boy Lollipop? The Jamaican-born singer was one of those who came to the U.K. as part of the Windrush Generation of the late 1940s, and ?whose gifts have so greatly enriched our country,? the King says.

Kylie Minogue?s version of ?The Loco-Motion? This song, Charles says, ?is music for dancing. Again, it has that infectious energy which makes it, I find, incredibly hard to sit still,? he adds. ?There is such an irresistibly joyous feeling to that song.?

Al Bowlly ? ?The Very Thought Of You? The track is a song from the 1920s-1930s era that ?reminds? Charles ?of my much-loved grandmother, because she used to play these sorts of music a lot.? The royal adds that the tune ?also never fails to lift my spirits.?

Daddy Lumba ? ?Mpempem Do Me? With a connection to Ghana, which Charles last visited in 2018, he says, ?I found myself dancing along? to this track.

Davido ? ?KANTE? (feat. Fave) The King points out that this song ?features lyrics in pidgin, which I love in all its forms, and in which I attempted to make a speech when I last visited Nigeria.? He adds, ?I understand that, thanks to Afrobeats, it is becoming ever more popular around the world.?

Miriam Makeba ? ?The Click Song? Highlighting how the track is in the Xhosa language, Charles quips, ?I shan?t try too much to pronounce the title, as it requires a great deal of practice!?

Jools Holland & Ruby Turner ? ?My Country Man? Holland is another British musician the royal has known for years, alongside the ?unstoppable phenomenon? of soul singer Turner.

Anoushka Shankar ? ?Indian Summer? Charles says he likes the sitar playing in the song for being ?deeply redolent of the ancient culture of India.?

Siti Nurhaliza ? ?Anta Permana? The royal celebrates how the Malaysian artist sings ?about love that is stronger than time.?

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa ? ?E Te Iwi E (Call To The People)? The song holds special meaning to Charles, as the New Zealand opera great performed it at his wedding to the late Princess Diana.

Michael Bubl? ? ?Haven?t Met You Yet? Bubl? ? who recently dined with Charles? son Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Vancouver ? is Charles? pick to represent Commonwealth country Canada on the list.

Beyonc? ? ?Crazy In Love? (feat. Jay-Z) Charles thanks the musician for her work helping support the Prince?s, and now, the King?s Trust, before congratulating Beyonc? for winning her first album of the year award at the 2025 Grammys last month.

[From People]

It will be interesting to see if there are any follow-ups on this, including any talk of a ?King Charles bump? for some of the artists who are not well-known to British or European audiences. As in, is there actually a bump, and do people really seek out certain music if King Charles recommends it? Or was this Charles pandering for Commonwealth Day and no one cares or pays any attention to it?

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Apple Music, Avalon Red.

Donald Trump?s schizophrenic tariff drama has sent the markets into a huge tailspin. Sobriety has set in among the investor class ? in the past week, the S&P 500 has dropped nearly 6%, a $1.7 trillion selloff. The Asian markets are panicking and preparing for a global downturn. This might be the fastest any American president has tanked a great economy ? Trump hasn?t even been in office for eight full weeks, and a recession looks inevitable by the summer, if not the spring. The NY Times decided this was the moment to remind everyone of Trump?s moronic economic messaging on the campaign trail:

As a presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump promised an economic ?boom like no other.? But eight weeks into his presidency, Mr. Trump is refusing to rule out a recession ? a striking change in tone and message for a man who rode widespread economic dissatisfaction to the White House by promising to ?make America affordable again.?

His comments come as the stock market is tumbling ? the S&P 500 fell 2.7 percent Monday after falling 3.1 percent last week ? and business leaders are spooked about the uncertainty over his tariffs. Even some Republicans, who fear retribution if they cross Mr. Trump, have started to raise concerns about his levies.

The moment captures a fundamental challenge for Mr. Trump, a showman who makes absolute and sweeping promises that inevitably run into the reality of governing. The economy Mr. Trump inherited was by many standards in solid shape, with low unemployment, moderate growth and an inflation rate that, while still higher than what the Federal Reserve wants, had declined substantially. But the uncertainty that his policies have injected into the outlook is a jarring contrast with the picture Mr. Trump painted on the campaign trail.

?We will begin a new era of soaring incomes,? Mr. Trump said at a rally in October. ?Skyrocketing wealth. Millions and millions of new jobs and a booming middle class. We are going to boom like we?ve never boomed before.?

[From The NYT]

All it took was a looming Trump Recession for the Times to admit that the Biden economy was actually pretty good. By the end of this year, investors and the donor class will be begging for just a sliver of the old Biden economy. As I said in the previous coverage of Trump?s tariff BS: this is what will get some of his people to turn on him. The MAGA faithful are in a cult and that won?t change. But the donor class? The business class? We?ll hopefully see some significant pushback from them.

The Daily Beast notes: ?The Magnificent 7 tech stocks?Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla?all fell, with Elon Musk?s car brand taking the biggest hit with a 15% tumble.? Yeah, Tesla?s stock is falling rapidly, Tesla dealerships are being burned to the ground in Europe, and governments around the world are canceling their contracts with Musk and his companies. So much winning! Meanwhile, Trump went on a Truth-Social rampage, posting 100 times in six hours.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Here are more photos from yesterday?s Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey. At last year?s service, Prince William and Queen Camilla were the only ones holding down the proverbial commonwealth fort and it was not great. This year, the service saw the return of King Charles and the Princess of Wales, alongside their spouses. Camilla chose a pale pink suit, and I hate to admit that pale pink actually suits her. She and Charles subtly coordinated, and it looked nice when they were standing or sitting together.

Meanwhile, William and Kate looked like they got dressed in completely different houses. Kate repeated a familiar Catherine Walker coat with a giant bow detail ? she wore this in 2023, for the South Korean state visit, and she wore it one year for her Together at Christmas piano recital. So many repeats in the past six months or so. I?ve said it before, but it?s definitely giving ?slashed clothing budget.? Kate was also allowed to borrow the same diamond-and-pearl pieces from the Royal Collection ? the Garrard pearl choker and Diana?s Collingwood pearl drop earrings. These are either on permanent loan to Kate OR Camilla just sends her the same pieces for all of the significant events. Kate also wore Big Blue! It goes missing at least half of the time these days.

Kate looked really different to me and it?s not Photoshop ? something is different and I can?t put my finger on it. Is it her hair part with that hat? Something?s been altered on her face too. The Telegraph on Will & Kate?s outing: ?Beaming Prince and Princess of Wales are sign of royal harmony.? The Telegraph also noted that Camilla greeted them with double kisses and Charles embraced William. I can?t find those photos, although it might have happened.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes are still going strong. I know most of us didn?t think these two messy bitches would last long once they moved in together, but they?re proving us all wrong. Honestly, good for them. Last year, they said that although they had no plans to get married anytime soon, they were still planning on spending the rest of their lives together. I won?t speak for everyone, but I assumed that if they did tie the knot, T.J. and Amy would end up eloping at some point. As it turns out, I?m not the only person who made this assumption. Amy?s mom did too! She recently saw the two of them wearing their Oura Rings and suspected that they?d gotten married and forgot to tell her.

?The truth is my mom even asked me [if we were married] because we wear our [fitness tracking] Oura Rings,? says Robach, 52. ?She thought that maybe we had actually gotten married and not told her, and just were wearing our rings on the other finger. I was like, ?Mom, I would definitely tell you if that were the case.? ?

?We?re not going to do that, Mom,? Holmes, 47, chimed in.

Robach went on to share that while she and Holmes are firmly in ?family mode? with their respective kids these days, there is ?no date? set for a wedding.

The couple ? who previously revealed they had moved in together in 2024 ? also told PEOPLE that the transition to cohabitation went relatively smoothly.

?We just know each other so well for so long. We?ve been best friends for so long. We spend so much time together. I don?t think there was a surprise of any kind,? Holmes said.

Robach added: ?I think the only surprise for me is that he has to sleep with the television on at all times. I did not know that. How would I know that if we were just friends? So, that was the biggest surprise that I have now gotten used to. I?ve moved over from white noise to television.?

And as to what they watch together while drifting off to sleep? True crime.

?Snapped is our absolute favorite because it?s about women committing murder. I don?t know why I like that show,? Holmes said.

?And you sleep so soundly next to me,? Robach added, before joking that it makes him realize he?s ?not with a murderer,? and so ?it could be worse.?

[From People]

Don?t you just hate it when you and your boo are minding your own business and your mom thinks you?re secretly married because you?re wearing a health tracking device on one of the other nine fingers that aren?t associated with a wedding band? Amy?s mom must really be on wedding watch over there. Good thing someone from People was around to set the record straight! Sarcasm aside, my husband has one of those Oura Rings and they?re so cool. He wears his in place of his original wedding band and he loves it. I kinda want one myself, but have no idea what finger I?d wear mine on. I like my OG ring set too much to swap them out.

One other thing, and that?s regarding T.J. needing to sleep with the TV on. That would drive me absolutely insane. I need silence and pitch black. Mr. Rosie and I compromise with a white noise app for him and a sleep mask for me. Yay, adulting. It?s also wild that they fall asleep watching murder documentaries together. I definitely had them pegged for the type that falls asleep to either Bravo or the Weather Channel together, but true crime makes a lot more sense.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos credit: Getty, Michael Simon/startraksphoto.com and via Instagram

With most gossip storylines, I can quickly see the machinations behind the scenes: which celebrity wants a certain story out there, whose publicist is on the attack, which couple is soft-launching, etc. But the past week of Ben Affleck gossip has thrown me for a loop. All it took was Ben getting handsy with Jennifer Garner at their son Samuel?s birthday party for the gossip world to go haywire. Page Six claimed that Ben was suddenly ?open? to ?giving it another shot? with Garner, even though sources close to Garner were like ?hell NO.? Ben?s PR then ran to TMZ to claim that of course Ben isn?t interested in getting back with Garner and he?s not even dating anyone right now. Then, suddenly, it looked like this whole ?are Ben and J-Garner reconciling? storyline was about bringing it around to Jennifer Lopez:

A source recently told Page Six that the ?Maid in Manhattan? actress is ?not happy with constantly seeing photos? of Affleck and Garner, who were married between 2005 ? 2018. The pair have sparked speculation that there may be something more between them as they were pictured cozying up to each other on a recent paintballing event with their children, Fin and Samuel.

The insider told the news outlet that the photos have been like ?salt in the wound? to Lopez, adding that she?s not only ?furious,? but also the situation is ?completely messing with her head.?

Another source, however, maintained that the ?Let?s Get Loud? singer is seemingly oblivious of Affleck?s recent closeness with Garner, explaining that she?s focused on her upcoming Netflix movie, ?Office Romance.?

?I doubt she has even seen these stories as she is consumed with the film,? the insider shared. ?She has been fully concentrating on her life, her growth, and her happiness.?

[From Yahoo]

I don?t think it?s one extreme or the other ? I doubt J.Lo is consumed with rage about the Affleck-Garner gossip, nor is she solely focusing on herself. She?s probably like everyone else, wondering what the hell is going on there. Which brings me to the latest chapter in this story: Ben wants nothing to do with J.Lo.

Ben Affleck is ?happier than he?s been in years? after settling his divorce from Jennifer Lopez two months ago, a source exclusively tells Page Six. We?re told the Oscar winner is ?in a much better mood lately? and is ?excited? about this next chapter.

?Ben hasn?t been in regular contact with Jennifer since their divorce unless it revolves around their kids? school functions,? the insider says. Affleck, 52, ?has no hard feelings for Jennifer but he would rather keep things at a distance.?

According to the source, the ?Gone Girl? star ?doesn?t really see a point in remaining close friends? with the ?Let?s Get Loud? singer, 55.

[From Page Six]

Was this all for an audience of one? Am I crazy for thinking that? Like, Ben was doing the most to show Jennifer Lopez that he?s over her and he?s not thinking about her and he?s more interested in the other Jennifer? I almost believe he was trying to get a reaction out of J.Lo.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Kevin Bacon has a reputation for being one of the ?good? celebrities. He lives a drama-free life on a maybe-haunted farmhouse in Connecticut with his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, and takes his fame and all that comes with it in stride. He goodnaturedly leaned into the Six Degrees game, he loves to cook, and he?s gracious when approached by fans. Last year, he helped kick off the final senior prom at Payson High School, the Utah high school where Footloose was filmed. But, as it turns out, even Kevin has a limit. While doing a Q&A during a career retrospective event at SXSW last week, Kevin shared that his ?worst nightmare? involves weddings, boozy guests, and the title song from Footloose.

?It?s what I wanted, I have no one to blame but myself. It was definitely my dream to have all those things. But until you really have that, you don?t really realize there?s something kind of strange about it,? the Emmy nominee shared. ?My worst nightmare is to be at a wedding and the DJ puts on the music.?

Bacon admitted, ?They always start out being about the bride, and then there?s alcohol involved. And by about 10:30, the song comes on, and suddenly the wedding becomes about me getting out and dancing. People will literally form a circle around me and clap their hands like I?m a trained monkey.?

To avert that scenario, the Hollow Man star said he approaches DJs ahead of time to ask them not to play ?Footloose? by Kenny Loggins, which soundtracked his iconic dancing scene in the classic movie.

?It?s not because I don?t love the song, I do love this song. It?s not because I?m not proud of the movie, I?m 100% proud of it,? Bacon clarified.

[From Parade]

I totally understand the cringe factor here. Even for someone as seemingly chill as Kevin is, it sounds like a nightmare to have to perform when he?s just trying to celebrate with his friends. It?s nice that he takes the bride?s (and groom?s) feelings into consideration and doesn?t want to take the focus off of their night. Boundaries can be difficult to establish, but they are the best. Protecting his own peace while simultaneously keeping someone else?s big day from centering around him? Yeah, Kevin?s status as one of the most well-liked celebrities is well earned.

I also wonder what those DJs think when they turn around and see Kevin Bacon standing there, asking them not to play one of the most popular songs to dance to at big events, lol. That said, I wonder what Kevin?s actual jam is when it?s time to dance at weddings. Is he an ?Electric Slide? kinda guy? Does he do the conga? The Macarena? Or does he really rock out to the Cupid Shuffle? Inquiring minds want to know.

Embed from Getty Images

photos credit: Doug Peters/PA Images/INSTARimages, Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com, StarinfluxLA/Backgrid and Getty