’Trump’ interrupts signing of the Declaration of Independence to announce: ’Just like the Founding Fathers, I am creating a new country, and we’re doing it very whitely’
Like many of us, Alexandra Jones is revisiting the sumptuous Sixties advertising drama, recently added to Netflix, and can’t help noticing a new resonance in how its central character packages dreams
The Fife-born artist has only released two songs but is already drawing comparisons to Jeff Buckley thanks to their extraordinary voice. Poised to release a new single, they speak to Roisin O’Connor about their ill-fated venture into medicine, loneliness in the queer community, and a very specific kind of romantic obsession
The star of new docudrama ‘Brian and Maggie’ sits down with Helen Coffey to talk modern politics, playing ‘horrible’ women, and why the roots of misogyny are set to dictate what we see on screen for a while yet
James Van Der Beek is navigating his recent cancer diagnosis with the help of one special person: his dad.
The Dawson’s Creek star thanked his dad, James William Van Der Beek, for his support in an emotional message shared via Instagram on Saturday, January 25. “The way you have shown up when I’ve been down and out this year – without us having to ask, without the expectation of even a thank you… has been not just life-saving, but life-affirming,” Van Der Beek wrote, in honor of his father’s birthday.
“Moving onto the ranch for when I’m away for treatment. Making lunches, making fires for @vanderkimberly, driving kids, even taking care of the dogs and chickens (neither of which you ever wanted and would just as soon never have had ),” he continued.
The actor went on to thank his father for being there for him “emotionally” as he’s “moved through everything cancer brings up.”
“I know it’s outside your comfort zone, but especially since Mom died, you have come through for me again and again and again in ways that I didn’t even know how much I needed,” he added. “Watching you evolve, seeing what kind of man and father you are… gives me more confidence in myself than I could ever express. I feel so proud and lucky to have come from you. Thank you for being the best. Ever. Period. And I will keep my promise that we won’t ever ask you to change Jeremiah’s diapers.”
The actor announced he was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in November 2024. “I’ve been privately dealing with this diagnosis and have been taking steps to resolve it, with the support of my incredible family,” he explained at the time. “There’s reason for optimism, and I’m feeling good.”
The actor has been married to Kimberly Van Der Beek since 2010. The pair have six children together.
Their daughter Annabel shares a birthday with her grandfather. The actor also wrote the 11-year-old her own message via Instagram on Saturday.
“There are sweet souls… and then there’s you. The softest, most empathetic heart I know. It’s been a really tough year to be so sensitive, and so connected to me, who’s not been well in so many moments – which I know you know without my even having to be in the room,” he said.
Van Der Beek added, “From the moment you came out you’ve had the ability to bring joy and peace to those around you simply by existing. May you continue to trust that and always know that your dad sees you, and recognizes you, and loves everything about you. And always will.”
While speaking to Robin Roberts on Good Morning America in December 2024, Van Der Beek said he’s physically “feeling really good” but the emotional impact of cancer treatment is “really a ride.”
“I’m going to look back on [this in] 30 years and say, ‘Thank God this happened,” Van Der Beek added. “So what can I do right now in order to make that the case? That’s how it was about 90% of the time. I would say that about 10% of the time I was a sobbing, terrified mess.”
Married at First Sight alums Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner have shared the specific ways they’re able to tell their newborn identical twins apart.
Jamie, 38, and Doug, 41, welcomed twin sons, Hawkins Tyler and Huxley James, in September 2024. In a recent Q&A vlog shared via the “Hanging with the Hehners” YouTube channel on Friday, January 24, the couple got specific about how they tell the identical babies apart.
“There’s a couple really good features,” Jamie said while holding Hawkins in her lap. “First things first is this little boy’s nose. He has a little red spot right there, and that’s our best identifying factor.”
Meanwhile, Doug noted that Huxley has “elvish” ears that “come to more of a point than Hawkins,” while Jamie added that Hawkins’ ears are a “little bit more rounder.” Huxley also has a red mark on the back of his leg.
“Those are the only ways we can tell them apart,” Jamie continued. “Especially because [Hawkins] is chunking up nice and good. He was smaller for a long time but now he’s getting a little chubbier. Now his face is about as round as Huxley’s, so it’s really hard to tell them apart. They are very identical.”
Huxley and Hawkins are the couples’ third and fourth children, previously welcoming daughter Henley in August 2017 and son Hendrix in May 2020. (Jamie and Doug met and tied the knot in March 2014 during Married at First Sight season 1.)
As for whether the couple has their sights set on expanding their brood in the future, Doug is a firm “no” when it comes to having more kids. Jamie, on the other hand, said, “It’s hard for me to say ‘no.’ But like, never say never.”
Doug conceded, “I mean anything can happen, but I’m a ‘no.’ I’m a ‘no’ for no more kids.” Jamie replied, “You were a ‘no’ for four kids and here we are with four.”
Jamie announced her most recent pregnancy in February 2024, confirming she was expecting twins the following month.
“I’ve always wanted to be a twin mommy,” she told People in March 2024. “My little sister and brother are twins, but my mom said it’d skip my generation and go to my kiddos, so I never expected I’d end up with twins!”
She added at the time that she and Hehner were “over-the-moon excited” but also “a wee bit scared.” Jamie has been open about her struggles with conceiving, previously suffering miscarriages in July 2016, September 2018 and January 2019. However, she spoke candidly about her fears during her pregnancy with the twins.
“The nerves with a pregnancy after loss are out of control. I try to keep myself calm and collected, but sometimes they get the best of me,” she wrote via Instagram last year. “Ultimately, I know I have no control and God’s in charge. I just keep praying he blesses us with two healthy babies. .”
Olympic gold medalists Evan Bates and Madison Chock make the perfect pair on and off the ice.
Chock and Bates, who were first partnered during the 2011-2012 figure skating season, started dating in 2017.
“We just really fell in love on the ice and grew closer together,” Bates exclusively told Us Weeklyin February 2018, noting that he had a crush on Chock when they were teens. “I love her personality. I love her zest for life.”
Bates and Chock have continued to go for the gold at the Olympic games, which impacts their romance.
“When we’re training, we sort of lead kind of quiet lives,” he told Us. “We stay home a lot and we go to bed early!”
After five years together, Bates proposed in June 2022 during a vacation in Thailand. While preparing for their 2024 wedding, they still enjoy skating together in competitions.
“We still love what we do and we enjoy the process,” Chock gushed to Olympics.com in 2023. “Having to put in the work day in and day out over the years, you have to be in love with the process. That’s something that we’ve done and we still have those feelings.”
Keep scrolling for Chock and Bates’ cool-as-ice relationship timeline:
2011
The pair were first partnered during the 2011 season. (Bates previously placed 11th at the 2010 Olympics with then-partner Emily Samuelson.)
Years later, Chock gushed to NBC Sports that she and Bates “got on really well” even before they competed together, gushing that they had “good chemistry right from the start.”
2017
Amid their career highs, Bates and Chock started dating.
2018
They adopted two toy poodles together, Stella and Henry.
“Our dogs look like us! My dog is blonde and has curly hair, her dog is black and has, like, really distinct eyebrows,” Bates joked to Us that February. “We have really nice dogs. They’re amazing!”
Chock and Bates competed together at the Olympic Games in 2014, 2018 and 2022. They were named co-captains of the 2022 ice skating team during the tournament in Beijing.
June 2022
“Left home with my boyfriend, coming back with my fiancé! ,” she wrote via Instagram, confirming Bates had popped the question.
January 2024
They won their first Grand Prix Final title in December 2023, one month before officially becoming Olympic gold medalists.
Chock, Bates and the rest of Team USA had initially finished in second behind the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) during the team figure skating event. After a lengthy investigation, ROC star athlete Kamila Valieva was disqualified for doping, leading Team USA to take home the gold instead.
“It’s been very unexpected,” Chock said on the Today show during an interview with Bates and their teammates. “We just didn’t have much information and people would always ask us. … I didn’t realize how much had been weighing on me, and probably, weighing on all of us, until we found [out] the news. It almost felt like a weight had been lifted to just feel this closure from the Beijing games.”
June 2024
Bates and Chock wed on June 20 in the bride’s native Hawaii, later telling Peopleabout the ceremony’s traditions.
“The leis represent unity and the coming together of separate elements to make a whole greater than the sum of its parts,” Chock said. “In marriage, you come together as individuals to create a partnership together.”
January 2025
Chock and Bates won their sixth U.S. ice dancing championship on January 24, tying the record for most wins by an American team with retired skaters Meryl Davis and Charlie White.
Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert is opening up about the real reason she left Hollywood behind.
“I just didn’t feel like that was a safe place for me to age. It’s so anti-aging, which is one of my least favorite expressions in the world,” she told Page Six in an interview published on Saturday, January 25. “Anti-aging means dead.”
The actress, 60, added that she felt a lot of pressure to “not get any older” and to also “stay a size 2 or 4” while working in the industry.
She went on to explain how things changed for the better once she moved across the United States to Manhattan. “I went from, ‘Oh God, I better not get older!’ to ‘Oh God, I’m so glad I’m older!’” she said. “I love the age I am right now. Sixty has been the most incredible year, just to look back on all the things I’ve done and to know that I’ve earned my opinions, I have value, I am wise.”
Turns out, Gilbert has moved on from Hollywood in more ways than one — her next project is the off-Broadway play Still, in which she stars opposite Mad Men’sMark Moses. The play — which opens on February 6 — follows a former couple who reconnect after 30 years apart. Gilbert says the part gave her the opportunity to revisit her past relationships.
“I will say that both of those times when I was single again, there was a weight that was lifted and a peace that filled my home because I didn’t have to clamp down on my opinion or not start an argument because I disagreed,” Gilbert confessed.
Gilbert was previously married to Bo Brinkman from 1988 to 1994. She moved on and married Bruce Boxleitner in 1995 and until their divorce in 2011. Gilbert later wed her third husband, Timothy Busfield, in 2013.
Despite leaving Hollywood in her rear-view and moving across the country, Gilbert said she still has a lot of love for Los Angeles — something that came into sharper focus in the wake of the devastating wildfires this month.
“I did not realize the depth of love that I have for my hometown until the wildfires,” she explained. “The amount of people I know who have lost everything, and not movie stars and television stars.”
On Friday, January 24, several people — including former reality stars Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt — filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and its Department of Water and Power (LADWP) after their homes were destroyed by the wildfires that devastated parts of the greater Los Angeles area.
“LADWP and City of Los Angeles had a duty to properly construct, inspect, maintain and operate its water supply system,” the suit reads, per Rolling Stone. “The Palisades Fire was an inescapable and unavoidable consequence of the water supply system operated by LADWP and City of Los Angeles as it was planned and constructed. The system necessarily failed, and this failure was a substantial factor in causing Plaintiffs to suffer the losses alleged in this Complaint.”
In addition to Spencer and Montag’s house burning down, Spencer’s parents, who resided nearby, also lost their home.
“I did it,” the Grammy-winning rapper, 36, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, January 25. “Today when I stepped on my scale, I reached my weight release goal.”
She added, “I haven’t seen this number since 2014! Let this be a reminder you can do anything you put your mind to. Time for new goals!”
Lizzo (real name Melissa Jefferson) also uploaded a workout selfie, where she posed in a burgundy-colored sports bra with a matching pair of leggings. She also added a sticker to the image, which read, “Congratulations! You’ve met your weight goals.”
In a follow-up post, Lizzo revealed that she has dropped both 10.5 on her BMI and 16 percent body fat since January 16, 2023.
“I actually am on an intentional weight loss journey right now,” she said in another Instagram Story video on Saturday. “Even at the end of my weight loss journey, I’m not going to be considered thin by any means. I will still be considered morbidly obese on the BMI and little bros on the internet are still gonna call me big-backed, but I will be happy — and I am happy.”
Lizzo added in a singsong, “Told y’all I was gonna bump like this. Y’all didn’t know I could bump like this. Let this be a reminder that you can do anything that you set your mind to. Now, I guess it’s time to set new goals.”
Since last year, Lizzo has prioritized her health.
“I’ve been methodical, losing weight very slowly,” Lizzo told The New York Timesin an April 2024 profile, noting she tries to take a walk or do Pilates at least once a day. “I don’t really see it because if anyone who’s on a natural weight-loss journey knows, losing weight is actually the slowest thing in the world and you don’t really notice it until you notice it. Also, the scale’s not really moving. But anyway, that doesn’t matter. I’m super proud of my current lifestyle.”
She further noted at the time, “I’m not going to lie and say I love my body every day. The bottom line is, the way you feel about your body changes every single day. There are some days I adore my body, and others when I don’t feel completely positive.”
Five months later, Lizzo was accused of using Ozempic to slim down.
“When you finally get Ozempic allegations after 5 months of weight training and calorie deficit,” she wrote via Instagram in September 2024, denying the speculation.
Ozempic, Wegovy and other similar semaglutides are commonly prescribed to adults with conditions including high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes to help manage their weight. Many celebrities have tried these medications as a way to slim down quickly, but doctors have warned against its use for casual weight loss.
The actors and met while costarring in the film Changeland, which was released in 2019. They first sparked romance rumors while the film was in production in September 2017, when they went on a double date at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California.
While Song and Culkin have kept their relationship relatively private over the last few years, they have occasionally opened up about their love.
“[The relationship is] great!” Song exclusively told Us Weekly in September 2018. “I don’t like to talk about my personal life, but everything’s wonderful and I’m happy.”
Less than three years later, the couple welcomed their first child, son Dakota, in April 2021. Song and Culkin expanded their family the following year when they secretly welcomed their second son, Carson, in December 2022.
Scroll down to take a look at Culkin and Song’s relationship through the years:
Jewel had a heartfelt message for fans who were upset by her decision to perform during one of President Donald Trump’s inauguration events.
“As many of you know, I’m a mental health advocate,” Jewel, 50, said in a video shared via Instagram on Friday, January 24. “If there’s anything that I’ve learned in the past 20 years, it’s that mental health affects everybody’s lives across party lines.”
The singer, who performed at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again Inaugural Ball on Monday, January 20, went on to claim that she “reached out to the last administration,” referring to former President Joe Biden, and spoke to the “surgeon general about the mental health crisis that’s facing this nation.”
“I believe that there are things that we can do to save lives,” she continued. “I believe I can help. I have to try. And if I wait to try until I agree 100% with the people who might be willing to help me I would never get off the bench — I don’t think that’s how activism works, waiting until everything is perfect enough to participate. It’s actually because things are so imperfect that we have to find ways to engage and to participate. And we have to act now. We cannot wait another four years.”
Jewel faced harsh criticism from many of her fans — including members of the LGBTQ+ community — for participating in the event. In the same Instagram post, she spoke directly to those fans.
“Half of our country feels hope right now, and I honor that. And half of our country feels disenfranchised and scared and vulnerable, and that is unacceptable,” she said. “And I am so sorry that I caused pain, especially in my LGBTQI+ community because you guys are treasures — you make the world a better place. You’ve made my life a better place. And I will not stop fighting. None of us can stop fighting.”
Jewel’s Monday appearance at the inaugural event was apparently an unexpected gift to Kennedy’s wife, Cheryl Hines — the singer was not included on the list of performers for the 2025 Inauguration events.
“I got a call from a woman, who is Cheryl’s favorite musical artist in her whole life, and she said to me, ‘I’m going to come and sing to the crowd tonight,” Kennedy, who ran for president in 2024 before suspending his campaign and endorsing then-candidate Trump, said to the crowd. “We have a special treat. Please, welcome Jewel.”
Jewel, who didn’t publicly endorse either candidate in the 2024 presidential election, then took the stage.
“I am happy to be here,” she said. “I want to thank Bobby for sacrificing so much to make America healthy again. To start treating us like we’re a whole human. We’re a physical, mental and emotional body.”
In her Instagram post, Jewel said that she believes “there are people in the new administration that are willing to help” on the issue of mental health.
“I do not agree on all the politics, but if I can help shape policy and make sure mental health is in the conversation when it comes to American health, if I can help put resources or mental health tools in the hands of the most vulnerable who need it, I’m going to try,” she continued. “I am going to fight.“
The 21-year-old son of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt was spotted riding his purple and black e-bike hands free around Hollywood’s Los Feliz neighborhood when he crashed into a vehicle the morning of Friday, January 24, according to multiple outlets including TMZ and the Daily Mail. He was wearing a helmet at the time of the collision.
Photos obtained by the outlets show that Pax had collided with the front passenger side door of a white hatchback car. After the crash, he appeared to be mobile and uninjured as he and the driver and passenger of the white car exchanged information and went their separate ways. Per TMZ, Pax appeared to ride off after re-aligning his handlebars —his bike still in working order.
Pax crashed a similar electric bike in July 2024, but was hospitalized following the accident. According to law enforcement, Pax had crashed his e-bike into a stopped car at a red light while driving around Los Angeles during rush hour. The incident occurred around 5 p.m. local time, according to TMZ, and Pax was reportedly not wearing a helmet.
Us Weekly confirmed at the time that Pax was “stable” when he was brought to a local L.A. hospital. “His mom is with him,” a source told Us, referring to Jolie.
Along with Pax, Jolie, 49, and Pitt, 60, share Maddox, 22, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18, and 16-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox. Earlier this month, Jolie was spotted grocery shopping with son Knox amid the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires.
“We’re having people at our house,” she said while packing up her trunk in a video published by the Daily Mail on January 10. When asked if she plans to donate toward relief efforts, Jolie replied, “Yeah I will, right now I’m taking care of people close to me and having them at my house.”
Pax’s accident comes weeks after Us confirmed Jolie and Pitt, 61, had finalized their divorce on December 30, 2024. The exes originally split in September 2016 and were declared legally single in 2019.
“More than eight years ago, Angelina filed for divorce from Mr. Pitt. She and the children left all of the properties they had shared with Mr. Pitt, and since that time she has focused on finding peace and healing for their family,” Jolie’s lawyer James Simon told Us in a statement at the time. “This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago. Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over.”
“The kids have grown up seeing that some people have so much power and privilege that their voices don’t matter. Their pain doesn’t count,” a source close to the matter told Us in December. “They have wanted [Angelina] to speak up for herself, to defend herself over these years but she reminds them to focus on changing laws over telling public stories.”
Justin Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman has forcefully responded to Blake Lively’s request for a gag order in the former costars’ ongoing legal case surrounding the filming of It Ends With Us.
“The irony is not lost on anyone that Ms. Lively is so petrified of the truth that she has moved to gag it,” Freedman told Us Weekly in a Saturday, January 25, statement. “The immense power that she wielded in Hollywood built on pure fear of her husband and their powerful friends came to an end the moment Ms. Lively planned a mass distribution of a disturbingly false and well-calculated hit piece in The New York Times.”
Lively, 37, publicly accused Baldoni, 41, of sexual harassment and alleged workplace misconduct via an article published by the Times in December 2024. Baldoni denied the claims and subsequently filed a lawsuit against the newspaper for libel. He also filed a separate lawsuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, earlier this month, alleging in court docs that Lively was “determined to make Baldoni the real-life villain in her story” to mask her alleged “tone-deaf” promotion of the film.
Earlier this week, Freedman released a 10-minute video of Lively and Baldoni filming a dancing scene for 2024’s It Ends With Us. As a result, Lively requested a gag order via her legal team, claiming the footage was “damming.” Baldoni’s team is now filing to stop Lively’s motion from being approved by a judge.
“Ms. Lively did this with the sole intent to ruin the lives of innocent individuals, and then went the extra mile to place blame on a fictitious smear campaign, all because she quite simply could not accept that the public had organically seen through her facade,” Freedman added in his statement. “When you accuse innocent individuals of something so disturbing as sexual harassment without thinking of the destruction it would cause to not only them but the entire domestic violence community, this is where accountability for such mean-spirited actions must be taken.”
He continued, “We will always respect the court; however, we will never be bullied by those suggesting we cannot defend our clients with pure, unedited facts. All we want is for people to see the actual text messages that directly contradict her allegations, video footage that clearly shows there was no sexual harassment and all the other powerful evidence that directly contradicts any false allegations of sexual harassment and subsequent smear campaign. It seems that in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
Lively has not publicly addressed Freedman’s latest statement. Us has reached out for comment.
The Gossip Girl alum, who starred as Lily Bloom in It Ends With Us, has previously denied all of Baldoni’s accusations and slammed Freedman for releasing the set footage.
“The video shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character,” her legal team said in a statement at the time.
This Is Us Star Sterling K. Brown is recalling a missed opportunity as he prepares for the debut of his new television series, Paradise.
“This Is Us offered a bit of catharsis. Usually, at the end of every episode, you got a chance to lay a burden down,” Brown told Variety in an interview published on January 24, referring to the new series. “This one, the burdens just keep piling up. It’s more intrigue and anticipation.”
While this new Hulu series offers Brown an opportunity to grow in a different direction from his beloved character, Randall Pearson, he is reunited with Dan Fogelman, who serves as the series creator and executive producer — the same role he had on This Is Us. And unlike his last experience with Fogelman, Brown said, he might branch out and direct an episode (or more) of the new series.
“What I’m most intrigued by in any sort of thing is performance. As a director, you have to be intrigued with the totality of it all. And sometimes I’m like, ‘I don’t really care about this,’” he explained. “I’ll let the world-builders do their thing. But if I was going to do it, that would be a fun opportunity, because I know that crew. I know they would have my back.”
Brown is also an executive producer on the new show — a position that’s provided him the opportunity to really dig into the details of the series, like the show’s 80’s-inspired soundtrack.
“It almost feels very much like Bridgerton, which I was watching over the pandemic,” he explained. “It’s like we’ve taken these songs that are very familiar and we’ve updated them in the covers. I remember Jordan Peele in ‘Us’ did a cover of ‘I Got 5 on It’ — ba-dump bum, ba-dump bum, ba-dump bum. And as soon as you heard it in the trailer, every Black person was like, ‘Oh, s–t! “I Got 5 on It”!’ We’re hoping for a certain demographic, they’ll hear the songs and be like, ‘Oh, s–t.’”
Partnering with Fogelman on the new Hulu series was easy, the actor also said. “He goes, ‘I wrote this show, and as I’m writing it, I realized I was kind of writing it for you.’ He said, ‘If you’re not interested, all good, I understand — but if you are, then we can talk about it.’ So I was like, ‘Bro, you’ve written six years of dope-ass shit — let me take a gander.’”
Paradise is set in a quiet, wealthy community and follows the story of Xavier Collins, Secret Service agent and father of two whose world turns upside down after a former U.S. president is killed.
As Brown put it, “Paradise is the exploration of that storyline, but it’s also about how people deal with crisis, how you move on when the world has been flipped upside down and you don’t necessarily see a way to move forward but there is.”
Jack Nicholson’s daughter Lorraine Nicholson used to be close friends with one of her father’s paramours.
“For many girls, best friends are their first loves. They spend all their time together. Learn from each other. Protect each other,” Lorraine, 34, wrote in a Friday, January 24, essay for Vanity Fair. “And when the time comes for boys to enter the picture — and a best friend’s attention is split between them and another — it is their first great heartbreak. When I was 9, my best friend was 30-year-old ingenue Lara Flynn Boyle.”
“Much like the universe, Lara’s romance with my father began with a bang. One quiet summer night in 1999, the nascent couple was dressed for dinner, the engine of his Mercedes the only sound,” Lorraine recalled. “My father moved to make a left on Mulholland from Coldwater, just a quarter mile from our house when their car collided with another. When Dad finally came to, head dripping blood, he looked up to see Lara crawling out of the sunroof. She reportedly screamed, ‘I can’t be here!’ and abandoned the steaming hunk of metal like it was a dead horse.”
Lorraine further claimed in the essay that she didn’t learn about the car accident from a family member, but instead from “a nosy mother at school.”
“I’d seen my dad just a few days previously and he didn’t mention a car accident,” she wrote. “Not knowing the news would be picked up by the tabloids, he wanted to introduce Lara on his own terms.”
Jack and Boyle, who have a 33-year age gap, dated from 1999 to 2004. Eventually, he introduced the actress to his children. (Jack is a father of six, sharing Lorraine and son Ray with ex Rebecca Broussard. He also shares daughter Jennifer with Sandra Knight, son Caleb with Susan Anspach, daughter Honey with Winnie Hollman and daughter Tessa with Jennine Gourin.)
“I’ll never forget the first day Lara was introduced to us children. She came down the outdoor staircase to join us by the pool,” Lorraine said. “I remember the sun reflecting on the water, the sound of wind chimes in the trees. Most importantly, I remember what Lara wore — a thong bathing suit with flames licking up the crotch. We didn’t have to know she had been nominated for an Emmy that year for her work on The Practice for my brother and I to know we were in the presence of a powerful person.”
She added, “That day, I was too afraid to speak to her. Instead, I watched her surreptitiously from the shallow end, as she read a book on a plastic raft, the wind gently pushing her back and forth across the surface of the water. Finally, she had arrived, the answer to my prayers — the Mary Poppins of Mulholland Drive.”
Once Lorraine met Boyle, she said that she was captivated by the actress’ charm, confidence and compassion.
“With extrasensory intuition, she sensed I was a self-harmer and told me stories about the time she had to wear knee socks to hide her scratched-up shins,” Lorraine said. “Lara made me feel like my pain mattered. … I was a kid who felt, despite everything I had materially, there was something missing in my life. Lara did not belittle these feelings. She told all these stories with a cigarette and a smile because she was a survivor.”
With time, Lorraine said that she “grabbed onto [Boyle] like she was made of glue.”
“For my father, Lara acted as a bridge between him and his children. Suddenly, we were doing things we had never done before,” Lorraine added. “In Aspen, we went whitewater rafting down the Colorado River. We cackled wildly while playing Parcheesi. In one particularly traitorous game of Uno, my brother and I kamakazied ourselves so that while we wouldn’t win, my father wouldn’t either.”
Jack and Boyle eventually called it quits in 2004 and, as Lorraine wrote in her essay, she still has “no clue why.”
“I don’t know if he cried or if she cried, but I certainly did. I woke one snowy winter morning at our house in Aspen and she had just — vanished,” Lorraine remembered. “I’d known my father’s relationship with Lara couldn’t last forever, and yet when I was with her, I had no clue what I would do without her.”
According to Lorraine, the last words Boyle ever told her were, “I’ll always have you in my heart, baby.” Lorraine has not seen Boyle since her breakup with Jack.
Billy Ray Cyrus has returned to social media following son Trace Cyrus’ concern over his father’s health.
Billy Ray, 63, enjoyed a day out with his dogs on Saturday, January 25, sharing footage of his outing via Instagram Story, including one clip of a puppy running across a field, set to the song “Rocky Top” by The Osborne Brothers.
In another video, the same puppy was curled up in the passenger seat of a car while Coldplay’s “Yellow” played on the radio and another one of Billy Ray’s dogs sat outside.
Earlier this week, Trace, 35, shared an emotional message on social media claiming his famous father was not “healthy.” In his caption, Trace offered to support Billy Ray for the issues he might be “struggling with” following his performance at the Liberty Ball on Monday, January 20, in honor of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
“Since my earliest memories all I can remember is being obsessed with you and thinking you were the coolest person ever,” Trace wrote via Instagram on Wednesday, January 22, alongside a throwback photo of himself onstage with his dad. “I wanted to be just like you. The day you adopted me was the happiest day of my life.”
In his post, Trace also noted that “the girls,” including his sister Noah Cyrus, are concerned about their dad as well. “Sadly the man that I wanted so desperately to be just like I barely recognize now,” the former Metro Station frontman continued. “It seems this world has beaten you down and it’s become obvious to everyone but you.”
Billy Ray is the father of six children. He adopted Trace and sister Brandi, 37, the biological children of ex-wife Tish Cyrus from a previous relationship, and welcomed Miley, 32, Braison, 30, and Noah, 25, with Tish during their marriage. (Billy Ray also shares son Christopher Cody, 32, with Kristen Luckey.)
Not all of Billy Ray’s children are on the same page about their dad. On Friday, January 24, Braison claimed via Instagram Stories that Billy Ray was on the mend following a hospital stay in 2024.
“After he spent a week in the hospital in the fall, I’m grateful that my dad is happy, healthy and ready to make this record,” Braison wrote. He and Billy Ray confirmed on Friday that they’d be working together on the Grammy winner’s next album, with Braison set to produce the record.
Billy Ray has not commented on Trace’s claims. Trace, however, responded to Braison’s statement on Friday, writing via Instagram Story, “Birds of a feather, flock together. This is what healthy looks like. Braison, I can help you too. Damn, man up boys.” Us Weekly has reached out to Braison for comment.
“Football is awesome, it turns out,” Swift told TIME in a 2023 profile. “I’ve been missing out my whole life. … When you say a relationship is public, that means I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care.”
For Swift, that means attending home and away games all while slaying her iconic game-day style. She even traveled over 13 hours from Japan to make it to the 2024 Super Bowl after performing at one of her history-making Eras Tour concerts the night before.
At every Chiefs game she attended, Swift cheers on Kelce from a private suite. She’s often joined by their respective families and friends — and a slew of other Hollywood celebrities. Keep scrolling for their insights:
Making Up Handshakes
During an October 2023 game, Swift sat with quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ wife, Brittany Mahomes, and her eldest two children. The two women made up a special handshake to celebrate every time the Chiefs scored a touchdown as seen in now-viral photos. (The Mahomeses share Sterling, Bronze and Golden, who were born in 2021, 2022 and 2025, respectively.)
“I need to talk to Travis because me and Travis don’t even have a handshake yet,” Patrick joked on Kansas City’s KCSP radio show later that month. “They’re ahead of the game on us. So we’re gonna have to get on the whiteboard, and we’re gonna figure out a handshake so that we can try to one-up theirs.”
Kelce and Aric Jones have been friends since childhood. Jones, along with pals like Harry Clark and Ross Travis, have unofficial standing invitations to Swift’s Arrowhead suite.
“Taylor’s great. Taylor’s her own woman. And like, if Taylor wants to participate with us on theme nights, of course, we welcome it,” Jones told Page Sixin October 2024. “But at the end of the day, just having her there and having her presence there is awesome. She’s there to cheer on her boyfriend and hang out with us and, to be quite honest, that’s enough.”
At a January 2025 playoff game, Jones and the rest of Kelce’s pals wore all black. Swift appeared to coordinate, opting for head-to-toe Chanel.
Keeping Up With In-Laws
Swift sat in a box with Travis’ brother, Jason Kelce, and the retired Eagles center’s wife, Kylie Kelce, at a January 2024 playoff game in Buffalo, New York. During the game, Jason ended up going shirtless and jumping out of a window in order to greet fans.
“Tay said she absolutely loved you,” Travis told his sibling on their “New Heights” podcast days later.
Kylie, however, was less impressed by her spouse’s antics.
“I don’t think [Kylie] was happy about it, to be honest with you,” Jason quipped. “The moment we got into the suite, I said, ‘I’m taking my shirt off and I’m jumping out of the suite.’ And she said, ‘Jason, don’t you dare.’ I’m not asking for permission, I’m doing this.”
According to Jason, Kylie tried to encourage him to be on his “best behavior” the first time he met Swift.
“I was like, ‘Kylie, the first day I met you I was blacked-out drunk and fell asleep at a bar,’” he joked. “This is part of the Jason Kelce charm. I want to make my best first impression, this is my best chance. Set that bar nice and low.”
Travis shelled out upwards of $3 million for a suite at the 2024 Super Bowl at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium. In addition to friends and family, Swift brought along celebs like Blake Lively, Ice Spice, Keleigh Teller and Lana Del Rey.
“There was so much happening in the suite,” Jason said on “New Heights” afterward. “Turns out everybody wants to meet Taylor. [Shaquille O’Neal] came into the suite … I think it was my first really understanding of kinda some of the things she has to deal with.”
He added, “There were so many star-studded people there, where it’s like, ‘Dude, everybody wants to come see her, but the suite’s only so big.’ It was overwhelming, to be honest with you, it was very overwhelming.”
Jason and the brothers’ dad, Ed Kelce, were also excited to meet Sir Paul McCartney in the box.
Girl Gang
Swift has also bonded with fellow Chiefs partners Chariah Gordon and Sheawna Weathersby, who are in respective relationships with athletes Mecole Hardman Jr. and Chris Jones. The trio of women often share group pics from the suite via social media on game days.
“I call her my sis, that’s my sis,” Gordon gushed to Glamour in November 2024. “She’s just really a sweet, down-to-earth girl. I forgot that she was even Taylor Swift, that’s how she makes you feel. I wasn’t saying, ‘Oh my God, this is Taylor.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, this is one of my home girls from back home.’”
Impromptu Interview
After the Chiefs 2024 home opener that September, Swift partied with Gordon.
“This is an exclusive interview with Chariahafter the game. How are you feeling?” Swift asked in a now-viral social media video shared by Gordon herself.
Tennis pro Francis Tiafoe and his girlfriend, Ayan Broomfield, watched a November 2024 game from Swift’s suite.
“I’m sitting there and I say it in real time [to] whoever I’m with, like, ‘I’m taking shots with Taylor Swift,’’’ Tiafoe recalled on “The Pivot” podcast in January 2025. “Granted, I’m … a Beyoncé guy, but at the moment, I was like, ‘Man, this is crazy.’”
He added, “She’s the biggest star out here and then, you know, Trav and [Patrick] Mahomes [are] like, ‘Yo, we got to have you in KC.’ Them saying that is wild to me and they rolled out the red carpet for me. It’s crazy ‘cause playing tennis and people want to reach out and hang out and actually do stuff. Those are the things [that] are why you do what you do.”
Dressed to Impress
Travis invited Jason’s former Eagles teammate Beau Allento a January 2025 game, where he crossed paths with Swift, her parents and WNBA star Caitlin Clark.
“[Taylor’s] cool, man. She led with a compliment,” Allen later recalled on the “Green Light with Chris Long” podcast. “She said I was funny and that she respected my commitment to, like, making a joke or getting a laugh or something like that. I was just like, ‘Oh, wow, I really wasn’t expecting a compliment out of you. Like, thank you.’”
The night ended with Travis giving Allen the Bottega Veneta jacket off his back when the latter complimented its suave style.
WWE alum Baron Corbin (real name Tom Pestock) revealed on a January 2025 episode of the “Insight With Chris Van Vliet” podcast that his pal Travis invited him to watch a Chiefs game in his suite. Corbin brought along his uncle and his brother.
“So, we went [and] they took us up to the suite, and then [either my uncle or my brother] was like, ‘I wonder if Taylor’s going to be here,’ and as they say it, she was [walking] into the room,” Corbin recalled. “My brother’s freaking a little bit and she walks right up to everybody, gives them a hug [and] gave us a hug like … you were instantly family.”
Watching the 2024 matchup also made Corbin feel like he was in a “fishbowl.”
“It’s just mobs of people taking selfies of Taylor and just her existing. I’ve never been around someone like that,” he said. “It’s a different magnitude. You felt like everyone in the stadium is staring at you because you’re standing behind her.”
Despite the pandemonium, Corbin noticed that Swift remained “super dope and super humble.”
Travis Kelceisn’t the least bit worried about speculation that he’s slowing down as he gets older. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end told reporters on Friday, January 24 that he “laughs at” so-called concerns about his stamina on the field.
“As long as I’m going out there and we’re winning, baby, that’s all that matters,” Kelce said during the press conference ahead of the Chiefs’ Sunday, January 27 playoff game against the Buffalo Bills.
This isn’t the first time Kelce has addressed claims he is older and slower on the field. On January 13 he told ESPN’s Pat McAfee he was “fired up” ahead of the team’s game against the Houston Texans on January 18. “I’m feeling 22 all over again, baby. Let’s go,” Kelce said, a reference to girlfriend Taylor Swift’s hit song “22.”
The Chiefs are hoping to make history as the first NFL team to win three consecutive Super Bowls after having won in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Kelce said the team’s upcoming game against the Bills is “one of the biggest challenges that we’ve ever had.”
Kelce also said that Bills quarterback Josh Allen “is who I used to dream about being like in the NFL,” adding that, for better or worse, he “never had the arm talent that Josh has.”
“Obviously, you could tell he’s really took the bull by the horns and really been their leader up front and channeled that,” Kelce continued. “Guys come in and out of the building and he’s the main piece in there, making that thing go week in, week out. I got so much respect for that guy.”
Despite the very real possibility the Chiefs could make NFL history with another Super Bowl win, Kelce has previously disputed the idea that the team is solely focused on achieving a three-peat. In a preview for his ESPN interview with Chris Berman last week, he explained, “I haven’t heard anybody talk about anything ‘three-peat’ [or] anything like that.”
“We’re focused on the Houston Texans right now,” Kelce continued. The Chiefs ultimately prevailed against the Texans on January 18, winning 23-14.
The Chiefs, who are ranked No.1 in the AFC conference, advanced to the conference championship against the Bills following the win. The winner of Sunday’s game will face the winner of the NFC conference in the Super Bowl.
“Anybody can get beat in the playoffs if you don’t come in with the right mentality and the right mindset dating back to training camp and throughout the season,” Kelce also told ESPN. “We have such a veteran team. We have so many leaders in so many different ways. Guys step up and guys just understand the task at hand.”