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| | Jeff Bezos & Lauren Sanchez's wedding will not 'sink' Venice, the mayor claims | | Added 29 hours ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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While George Clooney is still on my shortlist for People I Never Want To See Again, I have to admit that his Venice wedding to Amal in 2014 really was one of the most unexpectedly glamorous weddings in recent times. The Clooneys and their wedding party went everywhere by gondola and boat, they happily acknowledged the paparazzi, and we got so many great photos of everything around their wedding. Well, I imagine it will be a lot different more than a decade later when Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez?s wedding takes place in Venice this summer. Reportedly, they?re bringing in tons of celebrities and they?ll probably spend millions of dollars (if not tens of millions) on security and image-control. There were already a lot of concerns that the Bezos-Sanchez wedding would ?sink? Venice or harm the fragile, watery city. Well, the mayor of Venice has spoken out about the wedding.
It?ll take more than penny-pinching spaceman Jeff Bezos to sink the ancient city of Venice, it appears. The Donald Trump-backing owner of the Washington Post, who founded online retailer Amazon in 1994, is planning a reportedly over-the-top wedding to his fiancee, former journalist Lauren Snchez, in the historic floating metropolis, which has faced increasing scrutiny as a region of environmental peril since massive floods hit it in 2019. But according to a statement from Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, the City of Canals is ready to handle an influx of celebrities, staffers, and media for the couple?s walk down the aisle.
The city of Venice confirmed at least some of the wedding details on Saturday, in a statement reported on by the AP, among other outlets. ?The many speculations and fake news circulating about Jeff Bezos? wedding are completely unfounded,? the statement?attributed to Brugnaro?reads. ?Venice is used to being the stage for events and shows every week, without significant impacts,? it said, noting that only 200 guests are expected for the Bezos/Snchez nuptials.
According to CNN, mayoral spokesperson Luca Zuin says that the wedding weekend is set for June 24 to 26, and won?t actually be held in the city proper. Instead, the wedding is planned for Bezos? $500-million superyacht, Koru, which will be anchored in the Venice lagoon, though guests might seek accommodations at one of the city?s many hotels during the days of the event.
The news that the big show will be on the ship is likely a relief to those in the United Nations heritage sites site protection branch UNESCO, which issued a 2023 report saying that over-tourism has put the area?s delicate infrastructure at risk. While not currently on the agency?s list of the world?s most gravely endangered sites, it remains under consideration. Officials and agencies ?need the push now to act faster, bigger and do more,? said Union of Concerned Scientists deputy director Adam Markham in 2023. Otherwise, ?Venice is going to really be strangled to death from climate change and tourism,? a situation that even the world?s second-richest man might not be able to reverse.
[From Vanity Fair]
LOL this makes it even funnier and more absurd? They?re going to make people fly into Italy, all to attend a wedding on Bezos? tacky-ass superyacht? They?re just using Venice as a backdrop, they don?t even plan to host anything within Venice? Well, that?s one way to keep it secure, but they could drop anchor anywhere why not the Spanish coast or the Cte dAzur, some place a little less fragile? It?s interesting that the mayor of Venice is also confirming details about Bezos? wedding too my guess is that the wedding planner is working with the local government and the Italians are being assured that the Americans aren?t flying in to destroy Venice.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
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| | Helen Mirren is not a fan of James Bond, doesn't want a female Bond | | Added 31 hours ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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The world is in James Bond limbo right now, on a couple fronts. After decades of safeguarding the franchise, producer Barbara Broccoli relented in February and handed over total creative control to Jeff Bezos/Amazon, for a cool $1 billion. And, of course, there?s the fact that Craig, Daniel Craig, has officially retired from the role. Remember when people were outraged by Craig?s casting? ?But Bond can?t be blonde!!? LOL. Well those naysayers need to get their pearls ready to clutch, because fans have been hoping this will be the time we finally get a POC Bond (I?ve seen support for Idris Elba, Dev Patel, and Reg-Jean Page), or ? GASP ? a female Bond. You know who?s neither shaken nor stirred by that idea? Helen Mirren. But only because she thinks James Bond is sexist to begin with, and there are plenty of original stories to tell about women spies, thankyouverymuch. Mirren shared her thoughts while promoting her new Paramount+ series MobLand, which costars a former Bond himself, Pierce Brosnan.
The name?s Bond, Jane Bond? Not if Helen Mirren has anything to say about it.
The ?1923? star, 79, voiced objections to the idea of there being a female James Bond in an interview with The Standard, calling instead for more films about real women from the world of espionage.
?The whole concept of James Bond is drenched and born out of profound sexism,? she said. ?Women have always been a major and incredibly important part of the Secret Service, they always have been. And very brave. If you hear about what women did in the French Resistance, they?re amazingly, unbelievably courageous. So I would tell real stories about extraordinary women who?ve worked in that world.?
Though Mirren stars alongside former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan in the Paramount+ show ?MobLand,? she admitted she is no fan of the spy franchise. Mirren?s late cousin, Tania Mallet, was also a ?Bond girl? in ?Goldfinger.?
?The whole series of James Bond, it was not my thing,? Mirren told The Standard. ?It really wasn?t. I never liked James Bond. I never liked the way women were in James Bond.?
The actress did note, though, she?s a ?massive fan? of Brosnan and that Daniel Craig, the most recent Bond actor, is a ?lovely gracious person.?
Mirren?s comments come amid questions of who will play Bond next after Craig retired from the role in 2021?s ?No Time to Die.? In the past, Bond producer Barbara Broccoli has ruled out the possibility of a woman succeeding Craig in the role.
?(Bond) can be of any color, but he is male,? she told Variety in 2020. ?I believe we should be creating new characters for women ? strong female characters. I?m not particularly interested in taking a male character and having a woman play it. I think women are far more interesting than that.?
But in February, Broccoli and her producing partner Michael G. Wilson stepped back from the franchise and handed creative control to Amazon, leaving it unclear what the casting criteria is under the new leadership. Just after news that Amazon had taken full control of Bond was announced, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos posted on X, ?Who?d you pick as the next Bond??
[From USA Today]
Oh my Goldfinger, I didn?t realize Tania Mallet was Helen Mirren?s cousin! Tania really is stunning in that movie as Tilly Masterson. Although, if you?re anything like me, then you watched Goldfinger completely blinded by Sean Connery. No, I don?t mean by his beauty. I?m referring to the powder blue terry cloth hot pant belted onesie Connery wears in the pool sequence. And boy, does he wear the sh-t out of it. [insert Thunderball double entendre here] I would totally have watched more Bond films if the enigma agent?s wardrobe had continued along those (skimpy) lines! So I?m with Helen on this one, cause I think James Bond isn?t an interesting enough character to be played by a woman. To me, he?s not even the most interesting spy. (That title belongs to Derek Flint.) But all this talk is likely moot, because the current betting favorite to be the next Bond is Theo James. A great actor and great choice! If exactly the same lane Bond has always been in. So the better question for Bezos to ask might be who we?d pick as the next Bond villain. In which case I would advise him to look in a mirror.
Photos credit: James Warren/Bang Showbiz/Avalon, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Backgrid
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| | Piers Morgan claims that he drove a rift between Princess Eugenie & Prince Harry | | Added 42 hours ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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There?s been so much Sussex news and Sentebale drama, I haven?t paid much attention to another weird storyline being circulated in the British tabloids this week. Unnamed sources swear up and down that Prince Harry has fallen out with his cousin Princess Eugenie. These people are still trying to attack Harry through Eugenie last year, there was a high-level campaign (led by Prince William) to force Eugenie to ?choose sides? in the battle of the brothers. Nowadays, William?s minions are telling people that Harry and Eugenie fell out because she had dinner (in a larger group) with Piers Morgan last year.
For a man often described as ?thin-skinned?, and whose feud with Piers Morgan goes back years, the pictures must have been mortifying. Two of the only family members with whom Prince Harry still maintained a strong friendship, laughing, joking and hugging his sworn enemy.
It was in April 2023 when photographers snapped Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice enjoying a night at the Princess Royal pub in Notting Hill, West London, with a star-studded group of friends, including singer James Blunt and caustic TV presenter Piers Morgan. The group was seen with at least three magnums of Chateau Lynch Bages 1999 red wine, which costs around 145 per bottle.
Pictures also showed the group erupting into laughters on the street outside as Blunt?s wife Sofia Wellesley carried a cardboard cutout of one of the guests. And another showed Princess Beatrice tightly hugging TV presenter Piers in a clear show of the sisters? close friendship.
Although it isn?t known what the occasion was for, the photos are believed to have been the catalyst for the alleged break up of Harry?s friendship with his once-close cousins. ?A dim view was taken of this, as Piers has clashed with Meghan and Harry in the past,? a source told The Sun. ?Eugenie has been supportive of Harry and Meghan for years and was right there at the beginning of their relationship but it has now soured.?
[From The Daily Mirror]
Yeah, while I doubt the Sussexes were happy that Eugenie was and is so chummy with racist pond scum like Piers Morgan, I just doubt that Harry and Eugenie?s relationship is in crisis because of it. Eugenie still lives in England half the time, she still has to deal with a lot of these people. The Yorks have always tried to keep many toxic British media figures on their side, just in case. Fergie does the same, as does Prince Andrew and Beatrice. Anyway, now Piers Morgan feels important, like he helped ruin a lifelong friendship between cousins:
Piers Morgan is claiming that he?s the reason for an alleged ? and unconfirmed ?rift between Prince Harry and Princess Eugenie.
?He has zero relationship with his friends and his family,? Daily Mail columnist Maureen Callahan told Morgan, 60, while appearing on a recent episode of his Uncensored show. Callahan brought up a report published by The Sun on Friday, March 28, which alleged that Harry, 40, had ?cut off his relationship? with his cousin Eugenie, 35. Morgan then claimed that the rift came because of him.
?Well, that was because of me actually ? the Eugenie thing ? because she was with me and a group of other people in a pub in London,? he alleged. ?I was seen hugging them goodbye, and Harry saw this and went completely ballistic. And I can confirm ? breaking news ? that this is entirely true.?
Morgan sounded adamant on his show, but a source told Us Weekly that there is no rift between Harry and Eugenie.
?If anything, Eugenie is the only person in contact with him,? the source said.
Us Weekly has reached out to Prince Harry?s team for comment.
The event Morgan was referring to apparently took place in April 2023, when he and singer James Blunt were photographed with Eugenie and her sister, Princess Beatrice. (Morgan has shared some controversial takes regarding Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle over the years.)
?There?s no way to escape Piers,? the same source told Us, noting that he?s constantly ?invited to parties.?
[From Us Weekly]
?Harry saw this and went completely ballistic. And I can confirm ? breaking news ? that this is entirely true.? You mean to tell me that Piers Morgan is completely full of sh-t and he regularly makes up stories about the Sussexes on the fly to get attention?? Jeez, that really is breaking news.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, NFL broadcast, Cover Images, Piers? social media.
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| | Val Kilmer has passed away at the age of 65 | | Added 42 hours ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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The youths don?t know, but Val Kilmer really was a huge deal back in the day. He was an icon because of Top Gun (Iceman!), The Doors (Jim Morrison!) and because he replaced Michael Keaton in the Batman franchise. His heyday was definitely the 1990s, but Tom Cruise insisted on bringing his dear friend Val back for Top Gun: Maverick, in what were some emotional scenes for both men. Well, Val Kilmer has passed away at the age of 65.
Val Kilmer, a homegrown Hollywood actor who tasted leading-man stardom as Jim Morrison and Batman, but whose protean gifts and elusive personality also made him a high-profile supporting player, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 65. The cause was pneumonia, said his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer. Mr. Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and later recovered, she said.
Tall and handsome in a rock-star sort of way, Mr. Kilmer was in fact cast as a rocker a handful of times early in his career, when he seemed destined for blockbuster success. He made his feature debut in a slapstick Cold War spy-movie spoof, ?Top Secret!? (1984), in which he starred as a crowd-pleasing, hip-shaking American singer in Berlin unwittingly involved in an East German plot to reunify the country.
He gave a vividly stylized performance as Morrison, the emblem of psychedelic sensuality, in Oliver Stone?s ?The Doors? (1991), and he played the cameo role of Mentor ? an advice-giving Elvis as imagined by the film?s antiheroic protagonist, played by Christian Slater ? in ?True Romance? (1993), a violent drug-chase caper written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott.
Mr. Kilmer had top billing (ahead of Sam Shepard) in ?Thunderheart? (1992), playing an unseasoned F.B.I. agent investigating a murder on a South Dakota Indian reservation, and in ?The Saint? (1997), a thriller about a debonair, resourceful thief playing cat-and-mouse with the Russian mob. Most famously, perhaps, between Michael Keaton and George Clooney he inhabited the title role (and the batsuit) in ?Batman Forever? (1995), doing battle in Gotham City with Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and the Riddler (Jim Carrey), though neither Mr. Kilmer nor the film were viewed as stellar representatives of the Batman franchise.
He played the urbane, profligate gunslinger Doc Holliday in ?Tombstone? (1993), a bloody western, alongside Kurt Russell, Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton as Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp. He was part of a robbery gang in ?Heat? (1995), a contemporary urban ?High Noon?-ish tale that was a vehicle for Robert De Niro as the mastermind of a heist and Al Pacino as the cop who chases him down. He was a co-star, billed beneath Michael Douglas, in ?The Ghost and the Darkness? (1996), a period piece about lion hunting set in late 19th century Africa. In ?Pollock? (2000), starring Ed Harris as the painter Jackson Pollock, he was a fellow artist, Willem de Kooning. He played Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great (Colin Farrell), in Oliver Stone?s grandiose epic ?Alexander? (2004).
[From The NY Times]
A lot of people are citing Heat as Kilmer?s finest performance, which saw him act against Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in the Michael Mann classic. Kilmer is legitimately great in Heat, but my God, he really captured Jim Morrison in The Doors. Like, the authenticity of that performance is still spooky. I?d also like to shout-out The Saint, because while it was a fruity ?90s action movie, it was actually really enjoyable and he?s great in it. Kilmer had so many health struggles in the last decade of his life, but his friends really looked out for him, and it just showed that he?d earned a lot of goodwill within Hollywood.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
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| | Duchess Meghan's monarchy-destroying jam is already sold out (update) | | Added 42 hours ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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The Duchess of Sussex?s As Ever products officially go on sale today! The press releases were sent out and monarchy-destroying jam and teas will be sold out shortly, I?m sure. Per PR Newswire, Meghan developed As Ever ?in partnership with Netflixs CPG division? and ?products will be available to ship nationwide across all 50 states with plans to expand globally.? The press release also confirmed the appointment of As Ever?s Chief Operating Officer, Melissa Kalimov, who has 15 years of experience in ?scaling brands, go-to-market execution, and strategic leadership for companies of all stages.? To introduce As Ever, Meghan also agreed to a profile in the New York Times. The piece is called ?Inside Meghan?s Real Kitchen, Away From the Cameras.? They sent writer Julia Moskin, a very suspicious white woman, to Montecito. There are chunks of the NYT piece which parrot British tabloid talking points, but Meghan comes across well here unbothered and food-obsessed. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Why Meghan is launching her brand: Why would someone who has for years endured the worst kind of public attention put herself back under the microscope? One reason, of course, is money. The production deal Meghan and Harry signed with Netflix in 2020 ends this year, and most of their other recent efforts ? documentaries about polo and Harry?s Invictus games ? flopped. But Netflix is betting on her: The show has already shot a second season, and the company is an investor in her As Ever brand. And despite the criticism, in the past month millions of fans have showed up for her. According to Netflix, the show was in the top 10 in 24 countries in the week after the premiere, with 2.6 million views. Many of the clothes on Meghan?s ShopMy page sold out within hours or days. Since Jan. 1, when she started a fresh Instagram account (she deleted the old one shortly before marrying into the royal family), she has gained 2.7 million followers.
Meghan just loves to work: ?I need to work, and I love to work,? she said, pointing out that until she met Harry, she hadn?t been without a job since she was 13. With two young children to raise, she said, ?This is a way I can connect my home life and my work.? (Prince Archie is 5 and Princess Lilibet is 3; they are sixth and seventh in line to the throne.)
Meghan isn?t paying attention to the online BS: Befitting a global brand chief, members of her team comb comment sections and social media so she doesn?t have to. When I told her about the Le Creuset controversy, she was baffled. ?This is a thing, in 2025?? she said, throwing up her hands and turning to her mother. ?Everyone is coming in hot these days,? Ms. Ragland, 68, said calmly. Then the women moved on to discussing more important business, like whether a person needs an air fryer, why immersion blenders are so good for soup and whether Grandma Jeanette filled her hand pies with dried or fresh apples.
The ?authenticity? debate: But she is clearly bothered by accusations that she is unrelatable and out of touch. She may be living a fairy tale, but not all that long ago, she was a not-very-famous actress on a medium-popular TV series. She was divorced, in her mid-30s and unsure where her next job or home would be. ?Don?t they know my life hasn?t always been like this?? she said, gesturing at the sweeping views and sleeping dogs.
Doria talks about her parents: Her father, Alvin, had roots in Tennessee. ?My father carried a bottle of Red Rooster hot sauce everywhere he went,? she said. For her mother, Jeanette, as for many Black women of her time, cooking and gardening skills were a given. At home in the Crenshaw neighborhood, Meghan said, her grandmother grew collard greens and tomatoes in the yard, whipped up hand pies from scratch after dinner and did nearly all her cooking in one cast-iron skillet.
Meghan?s interest in food: Meghan started cooking for friends as an undergraduate at Northwestern University, with a Rachael Ray recipe for grilled cheese sandwiches upgraded with fontina cheese and sliced pears. ?At 20, in a tiny little apartment in Evanston, serving that sandwich and a bottle of Two-Buck Chuck ? that was when Trader Joe?s was getting big ? we all thought it was so fancy,? she said. In the years that followed, she threw dinner parties in Toronto, where the series ?Suits? was shooting, started a lifestyle blog called the Tig and taught Prince Harry how to roast a chicken. (Ina Garten?s Perfect Roast Chicken, to be specific, which they were making together when he proposed.)
Meghan?s Montecito kitchen: Unlike the sleek white kitchen in the show, this kitchen ? designed and built by the previous owners ? has a weathered wooden island (in addition to a marble one), a well-used Viking stove and classic accents of blue-and-white tiles. There?s an old-fashioned butler?s pantry with cabinets holding glasses and tea sets, and a modern pantry stuffed with carefully organized ingredients and snacks. Shelves hold cookbooks by Giada De Laurentiis, Yotam Ottolenghi and Toni Tipton-Martin, and a well-thumbed copy of ?From Seed to Skillet,? the 2010 classic by the celebrity gardener Jimmy Williams about creating and cooking from a home garden. And just outside the door, a framed picture of Harry as a boy with his mother, Princess Diana, holds pride of place.
Unused pizza ovens: Meghan is quick to admit she has a lot to learn. The house is equipped with two pizza ovens that are mostly dormant, and she said her first attempt at sourdough bread was both boring and traumatic enough to send her back to bakeries. ?There are professionals who do that better than I ever will,? she said.
What the kids eat: When it?s just her and the kids for dinner, she said, she often relies on chicken nuggets, veggie burgers and Tater Tots (the freezer is stuffed with them).
What Meghan wants from her mom: ?My mom still has Grandma Jeanette?s cast-iron skillet,? she whispered to me. ?That?s what I really want.?
[From The NY Times]
Yeah, Meghan?s not getting Grandma Jeanette?s cast-iron skillet anytime soon. I bet you anything that Meghan only gets to use the skillet on special occasions, like Thanksgiving or Christmas, then Doria packs it up before Meghan can slip it into one of her cabinets. Anyway, I enjoyed the description of Meghan?s kitchen and I?m glad she?s not paying attention to most of the BS. I?m not surprised that Archie and Lili mostly eat nugs and tots I bet they also have a butter noodle obsession, it seems most kids love butter noodles these days.
Update: The As Ever products sold out in less than an hour. Hahaha.
Photos courtesy of Netflix, As Ever.
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