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Meet Juliana Pasquarosa, the 'Bachelor' contestant who's emerging as a frontrunner for Grant's heart

✇Latest News
By: Olivia Singh
A headshot of "The Bachelor" season 29 contestant Juliana.
Juliana Pasquarosa is one of the remaining contestants on season 29 of "The Bachelor."

Matt Sayles/Disney

  • Juliana Pasquarosa is one of the contestants on Grant Ellis' season of "The Bachelor."
  • She caught Grant's attention on night one, but doesn't go on a one-on-one date until week five.
  • Juliana is a 28-year-old client service associate based in Newton, Massachusetts.

As the competition heats up on season 29 of "The Bachelor," contestant Juliana Pasquarosa is quickly becoming a strong contender for Grant Ellis' heart.

"It has been so long since I have had a big crush or felt the butterfly feelings for a man. It's a little bit of a fairytale and my heart's happy," Juliana, 28, says during week three.

By week five of the show, Juliana is one of the seven remaining women. After patiently waiting all season, she finally gets to spend solo time with Grant during a one-on-one date in Scotland on Monday night's episode, and their connection grows even stronger.

Here's everything to know about Juliana.

Juliana has a job in finance

"The Bachelor" season 29 contestant Juliana during week one.
"The Bachelor" season 29 contestant Juliana during week one.

ABC

Grant is a day trader, and Juliana also has some ties to the financial sector. According to her LinkedIn profile, Juliana has been working as a client service associate at Winthrop Wealth, a wealth management firm, since May. She's also a social media manager for La Beautique Salon.

She graduated from Lasell College with a degree in marketing in 2018.

Juliana's family is the most important thing to her

"The Bachelor" season 29 contestant Juliana during week one.
"The Bachelor" season 29 contestant Juliana during week one.

ABC

In her intro package during the season premiere, Juliana says, "My family is like the center of my life."

"We're big, Italian, loud, crazy,'" she adds. "We really support each other."

Juliana also explains that she was cheated on a lot during a long relationship, which led her to a "dark place," but she credited her family with picking her up.

Juliana's ABC bio says that her parents were high school sweethearts, and she hopes to similarly find lasting love.

Based on the caption of one of her Instagram posts, Juliana's older sister signed her up for "The Bachelor" without telling her. Given how things are going with Juliana and Grant so far on the show, she may have to thank her sister.

She loves dogs

Juliana has a dog named Charlie and her ABC bio says that she "wants to own a dog-friendly bar one day."

"For a random $5-Walmart-parking-lot purchase, you sure turned out to be one of the biggest blessings," Juliana wrote in part on Instagram.

Juliana's bubbly disposition gets Grant's attention from the start

"The Bachelor" season 29 contestant Juliana plays piano for Grant during the season premiere.
Juliana and Grant during "The Bachelor" season 29 premiere.

ABC

After sharing a cannoli with Grant during her limo entrance on night one, Juliana impresses the Bachelor with her piano skills later that evening.

"Juliana immediately has my attention," Grant says. "She has some skills that I definitely don't have. Not to mention, she's gorgeous. She's a talented woman and I love that."

Juliana also tells Grant that she's a bubbly person because of the love she got from her family. Although the competition begins with 25 women, Grant tells her that he has his eyes on her.

"I like your personality and you're beautiful," he tells her before they share their first kiss.

Their connection gets overshadowed by some of the drama throughout season 29, but Juliana does eventually get to spend time with Grant at a castle in Scotland.

"I just feel like a princess," Juliana says. "Cinderella can take a full backseat because this is like, next-level type of love."

New episodes of season 29 of "The Bachelor" premiere on Mondays.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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Epic Games v. Apple: the fight for the future of the App Store

✇The Verge News
By: Verge Staff

After months of preparation, Epic Games will finally take on Apple in court in a trial that could fundamentally change the makeup of the App Store. The fight dates back to August, when Epic added a direct payment mechanism to its hit battle royale game Fortnite in violation of Apple’s rules. The iPhone maker quickly removed the game from the App Store, and Epic responded shortly after with an antitrust lawsuit aiming to establish the App Store as a monopoly. The case will finally be brought to trial starting May 3rd.

The trial promises to deliver huge revelations about the inner workings of one of the biggest and most influential companies in the world, with testimony from Apple CEO Tim Cook, Craig Federighi, Phil Schiller, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, and more. We’ve already made some fascinating discoveries from documents published ahead of the trial, and there’s sure to be a lot more news ahead.

You can follow along with everything right here.

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Justin Bieber’s Candid Quotes About Past Drug Use Struggles

✇Us Weekly News
By: Kaitlin Simpson
Justin Bieber Quotes About Past Drug Use
Justin Bieber. XNY/Star Max/GC Images

Justin Bieber has been open when it comes to his struggles with past drug use.

In the January 2020 docuseries Justin Bieber: Seasons, the singer revealed that he began smoking marijuana when he was “12 or 13.” As Bieber grew up in the spotlight, he later turned to “pretty heavy drugs,” including lean (a mixture of codeine cough syrup, soda and hard candy), pills, MDMA, psychedelic mushrooms and more.

“I was young, like everybody in the industry and people in the world who experiment and do normal, growing-up things,” he reflected. “But my experience was in front of cameras and I had a different level of exposure. I had a lot of money and a lot of things.”

Bieber ultimately sought out therapy for his substance abuse and mental health struggles.

In February 2025, concern for Justin’s well-being sparked online after fans noticed he was seemingly no longer following his wife, Hailey Bieber, on Instagram. Justin later claimed his account was hacked.

Justin Bieber’s Most Honest Quotes About His Mental Health Struggles

That same month, he was also photographed out and about while shirtless.

Rumors swirled that Justin was doing drugs again, but the musician’s rep slammed the “absolutely not true” speculation in a statement to TMZ. Per the rep, the discussion about Justin’s mental health “shows that despite the obvious truth, people are committed to keeping negative, salacious, harmful narratives alive.”

Keep scrolling to see Justin’s honest quotes about his past drug use:

Taking Adderall

In February 2016, Justin shared that he was on Adderall, which is meant for treating ADHD, for at least a year.

“I’m not getting restful sleep, so during the day I need [Adderall] to concentrate because I’m not getting the proper [amount],” he said in an interview with GQ. “You know, when you sleep, your body creates endorphins, creates these things, and when you’re not getting that sleep … ”

Justin confessed he was hoping to stop taking the medication soon because it felt like it gave him “anxiety.”

An Unhealthy Coping Mechanism

Justin Bieber Quotes About Past Drug Use
Aeon/GC Images

In a joint Vogue interview with Hailey, Justin opened up about how he turned to drugs like Xanax to self-soothe amid his personal struggles.

“I found myself doing things that I was so ashamed of, being super-promiscuous and stuff, and I think I used Xanax because I was so ashamed,” he told the outlet in February 2019. “My mom always said to treat women with respect. For me that was always in my head while I was doing it, so I could never enjoy it. Drugs put a screen between me and what I was doing.”

Getting Real

Justin took to social media to share that he was feeling “overwhelmed” about his past struggles.

“I started doing pretty heavy drugs at 19 and abused all of my relationships. I became resentful, disrespectful to women and angry,” he wrote via Instagram in September 2019. “I became distant to everyone who loved me and I was hiding behind a shell of a person I had become. I felt like I could never turn it around.”

While Justin was having a hard time, he admitted he was focusing on the future and becoming the best version of himself.

“It’s taken me years to bounce back from all these terrible decisions, fix broken relationships and change relationship habits,” he continued. “Luckily God blessed me with extraordinary people who love me for me.”

Having Security Step In

Justin Bieber Quotes About Past Drug Use
XNY/Star Max/GC Images

Justin confessed that his drug use once got so bad his security team would have to check to make sure he was alive.

“My security and stuff would come into my room at night to check my pulse,” he recalled in his 2020 docuseries. “People don’t know how serious it got. It was legit crazy scary. I was waking up in the morning and the first thing I was doing was popping pills and smoking a blunt and starting my day. It just got scary.”

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Kieran Culkin Reveals Mom's Sad Reaction to Family's Hollywood Success

✇Us Weekly News
By: Justin Harp
Kieran Culkin Reveals Mom Sad Reaction to Family Hollywood Success
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Kieran Culkin has revealed his mother Patricia Brentrup‘s bittersweet reaction to her family’s Hollywood success.

“My mom used to say when I was a kid, ‘How come whenever there’s a script about a dysfunctional family they always come to us?’” Kieran, 42, told Entertainment Weekly while walking the Screen Actors Guild Awards red carpet on Sunday, February 23.

Kieran, his older brother Macaulay Culkin, 44, and their younger sibling Rory Culkin, 35, were three of the most prolific child actors of the 1990s, with their father, Kit Culkin, 80, personally managing all three of their careers. Kit and Patricia had seven children in total but were never legally married.

Reflecting on his childhood on the SAG Awards red carpet, Kieran said his depiction of family dysfunction in awards season contender A Real Pain reminded him of his own complicated family dynamic.

Kieran Culkin’s 'Incredible' Mom Patricia Brentrup Is in Poor Health

“What’s a functional family?” he joked. “Aren’t they all [dysfunctional]?”

Kieran Culkin Reveals Mom Sad Reaction to Family Hollywood Success
Patricia Brentrup and Rory Culkin at the 2002 ‘Signs’ World Premiere Evan Agostini/ImageDirect

Kieran’s older brother Macaulay notably broke away from his father Kit’s management after his parents split during his teenage years. A nasty custody battle ensued, where Macaulay sought to block both parents from controlling his trust fund.

“It’s always misconstrued, that I ‘emancipated’ myself from my parents,” he told Esquire in 2020. “I legally took my parents’ names off of my trust fund and found an executor, someone who would look over my finances, just in case anyone wanted to stick their f—king pinkie in the pie. But the next thing you know, the story was that I divorced my parents. I just thought I was doing it cleanly – taking my father’s name off, taking my mom’s name off, so my opinion is unbiased. And when I did that, the whole thing kinda ended a lot faster.”

The Home Alone actor suggested in 2020 that, despite working from an early age and enduring his parents’ messy split, his childhood “coulda been worse.”

Macaulay Culkin Addresses ‘Complicated Relationship’ With Father’s Day

“I wasn’t working in a coal mine. I wasn’t a child soldier,” he quipped. “My father was not sexually abusing me. Certain f—ed-up things happened, but f—ed-up things happen to kids all the time and they don’t come out the other end. I’ve got something to show for it, man. I mean, look at me: I got money, I got fame, I got a beautiful girlfriend and a beautiful house and beautiful animals. It took me a long time to get to that place, and I had to have that conversation with myself and go, like, ‘Honestly, Mack? It’s not so bad.’ I want for nothing and need for even less. I’m good, man.”

In December 2024, Kieran laughed off the suggestion of having family therapy, telling The Guardian: “Us siblings, we’re already cooked, we’re baked. My godfather has this thing, he goes: ‘I will fully indulge anybody that wants to complain about their upbringing and childhood. I want to hear everything about that. And you can completely blame your parents for everything until you’re 30, and then figure s— out.’ He’s oversimplifying it, but I like that.”

Kieran Culkin Reveals Mom Sad Reaction to Family Hollywood Success
Kieran Culkin and Macaulay Culkin at the 2005 ‘After Ashley’ premiere Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic

While the Culkin boys’ relationship with their father has been strained in adulthood, Kieran said last December that he has immense respect for his mother’s sacrifices.

“If I wanted chocolate milk light, but my brother wanted more chocolate, and my sister wanted hardly any, she would make it those different ways. I love that s—,” he said at the time. “How did my mom do it? Yeah. And I have no idea … So, [she dealt with] 15 to 20 kids in the house [when friends were over]. I can’t believe I’m back at the grocery store sometimes three times a day. My mom had to do it on coupons. She would get cheap liver at Key Food, two giant gallons of milk, all that. For me, getting them to sleep is enough.”

Kieran Culkin Feels Dad Guilt After Whirlwind Awards Season and Sundance

Kieran’s performance in A Real Pain has been one of the surprise hits during awards season, as he most recently won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Sunday and previously took home a Golden Globe for the role.

Next up is the Academy Awards on March 2, where Kieran has earned his first-ever Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category.

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Maks Chmerkovskiy Says Kirstie Alley Called Him 'Flirty' on 'DWTS'

✇Us Weekly News
By: Paige Strout
Maks Chmerkovskiy Recalls Kirstie Alley Saying He was Being Flirty During Rehearsal
Maks Chmerkovskiy, Kirstie Alley Amy Sussman;Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images(2)

According to Maks Chmerkovskiy, Kirstie Alley once mistook his dance moves as something else while rehearsing for Dancing With the Stars.

“Kirstie Alley told me, ‘Oh, my God. You’re so flirty.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’” the former DWTS pro, 45, recalled on the Monday, February 24, episode of the “Sibling Revelry” podcast. “[It was] in rehearsal and it’s on tape, and she’s like, ‘Yeah, look where your hand is.’ I’m like, ‘My hand is where?’ She’s like, ‘All over my back.’”

Though Alley seemingly interpreted the touch as a flirtatious gesture, Chmerkovskiy clarified that it was all technical. “I’m like, ‘Your gravity is down. I got to use two hands sometimes to move,” he explained before joking, “’It’s not ‘cause I love you that much.’”

The pair competed together twice on DWTS during season 12 in 2011 and season 15 in 2012, coming in second place and seventh place, respectively. Their relationship took a turn when Leah Remini joined the cast of DWTS season 17 in 2013 — the same year Alley called Remini, 54, a “bigot” for her criticism of Scientology.

Every Time ‘DWTS’ Partners Have Defended Their Onstage Chemistry

The conflict led to Chmerkovskiy and Alley cutting ties due to his friendship with Remini. “She stopped getting along with me. I think the world of her. I’m not judging people by their religion. I’m Jewish. I don’t really believe in science fiction, whatever,” he said on Watch What Happens Live in July 2014. “Now that I’m associating with other people, that [she said] she can’t be associated with, I am no longer to be spoken with.”

Two years later, Chmerkovskiy exclusively told Us Weekly that a friend of his received a note stating he was “no longer allowed to be Kirstie’s friend.” He added, “I find it ridiculous for an adult human being to ‘disconnect’ from someone. But everyone is entitled to their own insanity.” He later criticized Alley in February 2022 for stating she didn’t know “what’s real or what is fake” about Ukraine’s ongoing conflict with Russia.

Maks Chmerkovskiy Recalls Kirstie Alley Saying He was Being Flirty During Rehearsal
Maks Chmerkovskiy and Kirstie Alley Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage/Getty Images

Despite their ups and downs, Chmerkovskiy paid tribute to Alley after she died at age 71 in December 2022 following a battle with colon cancer. “We haven’t spoken lately and I’ll tell you everything when I finally see you, but for now I want to say that I love you very much and I wish you the most peaceful rest,” he captioned a pic of them on DWTS via Instagram at the time.

He went on to call the late actress “one of the most unique people I have ever met and easily one of the brightest moments of my personal and professional life.” He also compared their relationship to a “wild roller coaster.”

He concluded his tribute by writing, “I thought you’d be around forever. I wish we spoke often. Thank you for everything. I love you Kirstie Alley.”

On Monday’s podcast, Maks brought up his memory of Alley while discussing how DWTS pros keep things professional with their partners with his brother, Val Chmerkovskiy. “There’s a duality to it. It’s a little bit of both,” Val, 38, shared. “It’s a balancing act [to] have a partner that you can talk to and vent to and be reassured from. Then it’s cool. But if you don’t have that, then yeah, it’s an issue. It’s a big issue.”

Maks, for his part, noted that only “one relationship out of [the] 17 seasons that I did” turned romantic. Though he didn’t name which of his past partners it was, Maks said the romance was “short-lived and it was a mistake all the way in the beginning.” He went on to wed fellow DWTS pro Peta Murgatroyd in 2017, and the two have since welcomed three kids together.

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Did Below Deck’s Anthony Apologize to Tzarina After Secretly Taking New Job?

✇Us Weekly News
By: Yana Grebenyuk
Below Deck Down Unders Chef Tzarina Reveals Whether Anthony Apologized After Secretly Taking New Job
Tzarina and Anthony Fred Jagueneau/Bravo

Below Deck Down Under’s Chef Tzarina Mace-Ralph was left high and dry when sous chef Anthony Bird secretly took another job — but did she receive an apology after the dramatic episode aired?

“I don’t think Anthony knew exactly what his job role was, which I don’t think is 100 percent his fault. Anthony comes from very big boats and on boats that size, you have five chefs there and you have someone washing up, you have someone doing crew food and as the sous chef you make guest food,” Tzarina, 30, exclusively told Us Weekly. “On a 60-meter yacht — if you Google what the job role is — the first thing that comes up is exactly what I expected from him and asked him to do.”

Tzarina noted there “was definitely a confusion there” for Anthony, 26, adding, “And [there was] definitely space for growth for the future when he joins a boat. But there hasn’t been an apology.”

Despite not hearing from Anthony, Tzarina didn’t think she “needed” to.

Below Deck Down Under's Biggest Drama Through the Years

“Watching [the episode] back is going to be so difficult for him that I think it’s just better that he doesn’t think about me and he looks after himself and goes through the next steps,” she continued. “It is difficult watching yourself back. So I can’t even imagine what he’s going through.”

Tzarina and Anthony were at odds in the kitchen since the first charter when the sous chef felt underutilized. Captain Jason Chambers attempted to smooth things over by encouraging Tzarina to lead her department, but Anthony continued to pick fights and throw shade at his boss’ cooking behind her back.

“[Below Deck] definitely aired the best bits for everyone to understand what it was like. It is so easy to say, ‘Well I did say this or that.’ But it doesn’t really matter. It is what it is,” she told Us. “That’s what happened. And there’s definitely things that I would much rather be able to improve on myself.”

Anthony ultimately started a secret job search after feeling unhappy in his role on the Katina. Before Tzarina could make a decision about Anthony’s future on the boat, he got offered another job and told her he would leave after two more charters. Jason, 52, however, informed Anthony that his services were no longer needed.

Every Star Fired From ‘Below Deck’ Through the Years

“[I felt like a] damsel in distress [when Jason stepped in]. My Prince came and saved me,” Tzarina quipped to Us. “I felt so lucky to have Jason’s support. But he is also a very sneaky captain. He does hide behind doors and listens. So over those days, I think he definitely heard a lot more than what viewers saw.”

Tzarina assumed that Jason was “actually getting fed up” with how she was “being spoken to,” adding, “So when the opportunity arose — and even though Anthony offered to stay on a bit longer to help me out — Jason knew that, for my mental health, I would probably be better if he just went immediately. And he made that decision for me. I probably would have been like, ‘Oh, maybe we can keep him for a few more days, and I can try really hard and might be able to convince him to stay.’ Jason though was like, ‘Nah, he is gone.'”

Former 'Below Deck Down Under' Stars: Where Are They Now?

While Tzarina does get help “eventually,” she will initially shoulder all the work in the kitchen following Anthony’s exit.

“I had a challenge while being on my own for a bit. With a galley that size you are going to see a woman break internally,” she teased to Us. “I was already on five or six hours of sleep a night. But without a sous chef, I was running off four hours of sleep a night, so I really just needed some rest.”

Tzarina continued: “This is definitely the first time I’ve experienced something like this on a yacht and since I’ve been a head chef for about 11 years now. But normally I interview my sous chef, and I get to see if it’s a fit. But with this, I was assigned a sous chef. So it was the first time in my career that I’ve ever had that sort of personality around me. That’s why I found it so difficult to manage because I’ve never been put in a situation like that before.”

Below Deck Down Under season 3 premieres on Bravo Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.

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