Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Cali., is demanding that Elon Musk and Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Charles Ezell stop sending mass emails to staffers.
In an open letter published Thursday, Padilla said several legislative branch offices and agencies have received mass emails from [email protected] despite not being subject to personnel actions by the executive branch.
"Neither the White House nor [the Department of Government Efficiency] nor OPM have any authority or legitimate purpose to mass email legislative branch offices and agencies demanding information from employees or to threaten adverse personnel actions," Padilla said.
Over the weekend, the OPM sent out mass emails to federal government workers, asking them to summarize what they did over the prior week using five bullet points. They had until 11:59 p.m. on Monday to provide their responses to the inquiry.
Padilla said these emails, received by legislative staffers, wasted "time and resources and potentially [mislead] employees into responding and sharing legislative branch information in an unauthorized manner."
Padilla added that the emails were "especially concerning" since several executive branch agencies have "even warned their own employees not to respond to these messages because doing so would risk sensitive information falling into the hands of malign foreign actors."
"The fact that these mass emails are also going beyond the scope of the executive branch is yet another sign of how DOGE is operating in an uninformed, poorly executed, and chaotic manner," Padilla said.
The Democratic lawmaker ended his letter requesting that DOGE and OPM confirm they have taken steps "to ensure that they will cease directly any further mass email communications at legislative branch offices and agencies and their employees."
Elizabeth Taylor was a Hollywood icon known for her legendary performances — and several marriages.
The actress was born on February 27, 1932, in Hampstead, London as the second child of parents Francis Lenn and Sara Viola. Before World War II began, Taylor’s parents decided to move to the United States in 1939.
In 1942, Taylor made her film debut in There’s One Born Every Minute and followed it up by starring in 1944’s National Velvet. After becoming a teen star, Taylor transitioned to mature roles including her performances in the comedy Father of the Bride and the drama A Place in the Sun.
In addition to being well known for her acting, Taylor gained attention for her high-profile relationships. She was married eight times to seven different men. Taylor was the mother of four children. She shared sons Michael Jr. and Christopher with Michael Wilding, daughter Liza with Mike Todd and adopted daughter Maria with Richard Burton.
Taylor retired from Hollywood in 2003 to prioritize her advocacy for AIDS research. In 2011, she died from congestive heart failure at age 79.
Keep scrolling to look back on Taylor’s life through the years:
Taylor wed first husband, Hilton Hotel heir Conrad “Nicky” Hilton, at age 18. The pair separated in December of that same year. Taylor was granted a divorce in 1951 on grounds of mental cruelty.
The actress tied the knot with Wilding in 1952. They welcomed two sons, Michael Jr. and Christopher, in February 1953 and January 1955, respectively. Taylor and Wilding split in 1957 after five years of marriage.
Shortly after her split from Wilding, Taylor married Todd while she was months pregnant with their daughter, Liza. The following year, Todd tragically died in a plane crash.
As Taylor mourned the death of Todd, she grew close to Eddie Fisher who was married to Debbie Reynolds at the time. Taylor and Fisher had an affair and tied the knot in Las Vegas.
Taylor appeared in the titular role of Cleopatra opposite Burton's Mark Antony. While on set, the couple fell in love and despite both of them being married to other people.
Taylor divorced Fisher after five years of marriage and tied the knot with Burton that same year. In addition to their whirlwind romance, the pair — who shared an adopted daughter named Maria — starred in 11 movies together.
After a decade of marriage, Taylor and Burton divorced. However, they rekindled their romance and remarried the following year. Their reconciliation lasted for only a year as the twosome split for a second time in 1976.
Following her second divorce from Burton, Taylor moved on with politician John Warner. After being by his side during his time in the Senate, Taylor and Warner separated in 1981 and divorced the following year.
Taylor wed for the final time with construction worker Larry Fortensky. The pair’s nuptials took place at Jackson’s Neverland ranch. Taylor and Fortensky were married until 1996 but maintained a good relationship following their split.
Justin Bieber seemingly poked fun at the rumors about his drug use with a social media video of him smoking.
On Thursday, February 27, Bieber, 30, uploaded a video to his Instagram Story that showed him smoking what appeared to be a joint. The clip showed Bieber smiling directly into the lens as he held the joint. The song “Attitude” by Don Toliver played in the background.
Bieber then took a puff of the joint and blew smoke out while looking at the camera. As the screen fogged up with smoke, Bieber remained silent and continued to grin and approached the camera closer.
The singer took a second puff and smiled even more. At one point, he closed his eyes and placed his hands under his chin.
As the song continued to play, Bieber started dancing. He then took an additional puff as he bounced to the beat.
This isn’t the first time Bieber alluded to drug use on his social media. On Tuesday, February 25, Bieber raised eyebrows when he posted a video of himself rapping about being “high.”
“I fly high like a magpie / I go high like I’m that guy,” he lip-synced while swaying back and forth alongside the track.
Courtesy of Justin Bieber/Instagram
Bieber was joined by a friend who appeared to have a cigarette in his mouth.
Both videos came shortly after a representative for Bieber addressed the rumors that the “Baby” musician was using drugs.
The rep told TMZ in a Sunday, February 23, statement that speculation about Bieber using drugs are “absolutely not true,” labeling the speculation “exhausting and pitiful.” The statement added that the chatter surrounding Bieber’s mental health “shows that despite the obvious truth, people are committed to keeping negative, salacious, harmful narratives alive.”
Justin sparked concern from fans in January after eagle-eyed social media users noticed he was not following his wife, Hailey Bieber, on Instagram. However, Hailey was still following Justin on the platform. (The couple wed in 2018 and share son Jack Blues, 6 months.)
After making headlines for the alleged unfollow, Justin took to social media to claim his account was hacked.
“Someone went on my account and unfollowed my wife,” he claimed at the time. “S— is getting suss out here.”
In addition to the unfollowing incident, Justin was spotted out and about wearing sweats and leaving a spa shirtless.
“He’s just being himself and won’t create a squeaky clean image just because the public wants him to,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month.
Carl, 40, exclusively told Us Weekly on Monday, February 24, that he felt his and Lindsay’s chapter was “100 percent” closed after he learned she was pregnant. Lindsay, 38, announced her pregnancy in July 2024, which was the weekend she and Carl reunited in the Hamptons to film the new season of Summer House.
“At first hearing it was like, ‘OK, wow, she’s really moved on.’ Not that I was expecting the door to be kept open for me,” Carl explained, noting he learned about the pregnancy one day before he arrived at the shared house. “You almost envision it’s going to be some time [before your ex moves on].”
Carl recalled calling his friend after hearing the news and he told him, “‘This is some of the best information you could have. It’s really good closure, be happy for her,’ which I was.”
Carl Radke, Lindsay HubbardDaniel Zuchnik/Getty Images for CLD;Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images
In that moment, Carl said he had to “recognize that this is the reality, and you can now really move on and then you don’t have to worry [about] choosing someone else. And that’s what it is.”
Carl and Lindsay met in 2016 while filming season 1 of Summer House. They dated for a year before he proposed in August 2022. Carl broke off their engagement in August 2023, just a few months before they were set to get married. Lindsay moved on with Turner Kufe in early 2024 and they welcomed their baby girl that December.
During the season 9 premiere, which aired on February 12, Lindsay told the whole house about her pregnancy, but Carl wasn’t there. When he arrived in episode 2, which was filmed the next day, the exes had an awkward talk in the kitchen where he congratulated her on the news.
“There was a lot of nerves. I care about her. I wanted nothing but the best for her, but I didn’t know how to say it,” Carl told Us of the moment. “I also knew that I was the elephant in the room about to walk in the house.”
Once he did get the words out, Carl said he was “proud” that they were mature and got it out of the way.
“I am glad I actually had that closure because it actually allowed, I think, both of us to move on,” he recalled. “If anything after that kind of awkwardness in the kitchen, we were just cool and cordial.”
Carl teased that there will be “another pretty epic moment” between him and Lindsay that isn’t so cordial, but it doesn’t taint the whole season.
“For the most part it was two former friends who just get along just because it’s easier,” he added.
Carl shared that his longtime BFF Kyle Cooke, who is also close to Lindsay, thinks that the former couple “might be friends down the line at some point.”
While the non-alcoholic Soft Bar + Café owner doesn’t have any “prediction” of what’s to come he noted “there’s so much history between us” that a friendship could happen again.
“There’s no playbook for how to do it. And it’s unusual to have to be in the same circle,” Carl confessed. “But I’m sure we’re not the only people in the world that have had a breakup and still have some mutual friends. And you navigate that.”
Since filming wrapped, Lindsay has welcomed her daughter, Gemma. However, Carl is still on the outside looking in and hasn’t spoken to her much.
“I’m blocked on social media, so I’ve kind of taken that as understood,” Carl told Us. [I’ve been] blocked since the breakup.”
Carl RadkeUs Weekly
He explained that Kyle, 42, will “let me know” what’s going on in Lindsay’s world and other people send him things about her.
Carl noted that with the social media block he “didn’t get a chance” to send her congratulations through that channel.
“I said congratulations to her, but just in person,” he shared. “And then I saw her at the premiere party two weeks ago, and we just said ‘hello’ and it was very casual and nice.”
He revealed, “I know she’s going to make an amazing mom, and it makes me happy seeing her happy. It really does.”
Carl added that he is still “trying to move on” and said fans will see him do that with a few “cringey” and “embarrassing” romantic moments.
Throughout the summer, Carl said he was just focused on his healing and is grateful he got “closer” with both Ciara Miller and Paige DeSorbo. “It was nice to get back to some places that I had been in the past with people,” he said.
Summer House airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
Georgina Sparks may not have been Gossip Girl, but her wardrobe embodied that of actor Michelle Trachtenberg, who passed away at age 39 on Wednesday, February 26, at her New York City apartment. Her cause of death is currently unknown.
Her character, a scheming villainess with impeccable taste in clothes, is one of Trachtenberg’s best and most well-known performances. In 2022, ten years after the original Gossip Girl ended, she reprised her role in season two of the Gossip Girl reboot, which marked her last time on screen. However, it gave Us another look at how she manifested the antagonist’s arc flair and made Georgina a fan (and fashion) favorite.
The clothes were so fantastic, in fact, Trachtenberg previously admitted she saw no reason to differentiate her own personal style in real life. “I came in dressing exactly like Georgina,” she told the New York Post in 2015. “[Costume designer] Eric Daman said, ‘That’s exactly the character.’” She continued: “My go-to outfit is black leather leggings, black shirt. Everything that Georgina wore either ended up in my closet or was inspired by the things that I would wear.”
Trachtenberg described the fittings in a 2017 podcast with Vanity Fair: “There was a ginormous rack of predominately black clothing, which is perfect for me because I’m not the biggest color wearer.” The role was a career highlight because it revealed new layers of the actress’s talent. And, as Gossip Girl fans can attest, Georgina loved layers. “We really started with accessories,” Trachtenberg told the outlet. “It was a game to us. ‘What bigger necklace can we do for her?’”
At the time, Trachtenberg also revealed that Georgina “was one of her “all-time favorite characters; there was never enough bitch for her.” She added: “The more spikes, the better.”
Take a look back at how Trachtenberg put a sartorial spark in Georgina’s mean-girl aesthetic.
In the season four finale, Georgina is now married and living in Brooklyn but is reunited with her Constance Billard-St. Jude’s School frenemies at an alumni gala where she bumps into Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and, without being prompted, proceeds to tell her: “I mean, I’d say I’m great. look at my hair, my clothes, my body… But I’ve actually become a Bedford wife, and it’s really just the worst thing.” She adds: “Please let me in on whatever scheme everyone seems to be a part of.”
Trachtenberg also needed some convincing about her costume: a pink Marchesa dress. As she recalled in 2017, costume designer Daman talked her into wearing pink “only because it had snakes all over it, like Medusa.” Her Carlos Flachi clutch also had a crocodile patchwork finish. In hindsight, she said it was one of her favorite looks.
On a stroll through Manhattan, Georgina, now a mother to a newborn Milo, reads about Blair Waldorf’s (Leighton Meester) forthcoming wedding on the front page. She is dressing the part of an Upper East Side mom with an edge in a gem-embellished Burberry trench coat and Saint Laurent gold metallic platforms. But it was her Philip Treacy fascinator that looked like she was en route to a royal wedding when, in fact, she was vowing to destroy Blair’s (a.k.a. Queen B’s) big day.
In the season five finale, Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) picks up Georgina in a town car on the way to the airport before they fly to Italy together to write the ultimate expose on the Upper East Side. Georgina’s travel outfit is a Helmut Lang jacket with leather sleeves, Rag & Bone skinny jeans and B Brain Atwood purple suede platform pumps with a towering five-inch heel.The pièce de résistance, however, was her Christian Louboutin Roxane bag — one of few pieces from Trachtenberg’s character’s wardrobe that got to keep. “The more spikes, the better,” she said on a 2017 episode of the V.F. podcast, where she explained that the bag was from one of the designer’s earliest bag collections, which to her delight, “all had spikes” on them. “I still wear it as a weapon,” she joked.“A lot of our pursues that were loaned out to us were sold out from under us. There would be so many paparazzi photos and then they would hit the internet, and fancy buyers would contact whoever their personal shoppers were, and by the time we finished…it would be sent [off].”
In June 2022, the show’s Instagram account posted a cryptic video announcing Trachtenberg’s return to the series reboot. The clip showed an opera curtain being pulled back and Georgina clapping in the wings wearing this Valentino dress. “It only takes one spark…to start a fire,” the text overlay read, while the caption stated: “And I have a feeling that this city is about to burn.”Indeed, Georgina brought the sartorial drama in the snake-embellished velvet gown, which the costume designer also styled with Magda Butrym crystal fringe cuff earrings and an Alexander McQueen skull four-ring crystal-studded clutch that conveniently doubled as a bag and bijoux.
Once the news was announced that she’d be joining the reboot, Trachtenberg and Daman shared behind-the-scenes photos of the actor being styled by the show’s longtime costume designer Daman, who, for his part, aptly described her character as the “goddess of chaos and glamour” in a December 2022 Instagram post that he captioned with a fire emoji. It wasn’t until episode seven that the social media message read more like a page from Gossip Girl’s playbook. When Trachtenberg returned as the smoky-eyed revenant ready to burn high society, she carried a flame-embroidered Louis Vuitton bag. Trachtenberg and Daman also masterminded the perfect ensemble to go with it: a sequined Valentino blazer, a silk Cami NYC top with lace and a sparkling Pearl Octopuss.y. Serpent chain necklace with glass crystals.
“I’m a jewelry whore—e,” Trachtenberg said in a 2017 V.F. podcast episode while discussing the similarities between Georgina’s style and her own. Little did Trachtenberg know that she would soon be playing the show’s main antagonist, an inveterate plotter in a statement necklace, for the series reboot in 2022. True to form, she brought her accessory A-game to every scene. A standout moment was when she wore a Moschino studded blazer with Elizabeth Cole earrings, an Alessandra Rich crystal choker, a Cartier Panthere de Cartier ring and a Valentino finger cuff.
Billy Joel took a tumble during his concert last Saturday, February 22, prompting audible gasps from the audience.
The incident happened while Joel, 75, was performing his 1980 single “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” at Mohegan Sun in Montville, Connecticut. Concertgoers said he was twirling his microphone and lost his balance as he threw it toward the crowd. He fell on his back as his band came to his aid to help him back up.
Joel managed to finish the song and play one more for the crowd before the concert ended. Even so, fans said he didn’t look well throughout the concert.
“Before he fell, I said to my friend ‘he’s going to fall’ and then he did,” a fan told the Daily Mail. “He definitely looked thrown off but somehow he managed to finish the show with a final song.”
Joel’s fall comes on the heels of him canceling a Florida concert in January for an unspecified “medical procedure.” The concert was later rescheduled for November 2025.
Myrna M. Suarez/Getty Images
The “Piano Man” singer has not publicly addressed his fall, but he doesn’t appear ready to slow down. In the days since, he has announced more 2025 tour dates, which will take him around North America and the UK with famous guests joining him along the way.
He will also become the first artist to play all three New York City-area stadiums in one summer when he performs at Yankee Stadium, MetLife Stadium and Citi Field in the span of just over a month. Rod Stewart will join him July 18 at Yankee Stadium, along with Stevie Nicks at MetLife Stadium on August 8 and Sting at Citi Field on the 21st.
“I’m looking forward to playing these iconic stadiums this summer – each holds personal significance to me,” Joel, a Bronx native, told Billboard in a story published Monday, February 24. “There’s nothing like the energy of the crowds in New York, and sharing a stage with my friends, Rod Stewart, Sting and Stevie Nicks, whose music always inspires me, is extremely rewarding.”
Joel’s historic New York run comes after he finished his 10-year-long residency at Madison Square Garden, where he performed one show a month for a decade. Billboard Boxscore reported that Joel made $266.7 million and sold 1.9 million tickets over his 104 total shows.
“Alec and I have a great relationship,” Basinger, 71, told Variety in an interview published on Thursday, February 27. “I have great respect for where he is today, and his family. You know, we don’t spend Christmases and holidays or see each other very much. But we talk.”
Basinger, who was married to Alec, 66, from 1993 to 2002, noted that the former couple have a “genuinely cordial” and “loving relationship” because of their daughter, Ireland Baldwin, 29.
“I don’t wish him anything but everything good. He’s been through a lot lately,” the L.A. Confidential actress shared with the outlet, seemingly referencing Alec’s trial for involuntary manslaughter, which was thrown out in December. “But [his wife] Hilaria [Baldwin] seems to have a great handle on that. So more power to her.”
After their divorce in 2002, Basinger moved on with hairstylist Mitch Stone in 2014 while Alec tied the knot with Hilaria, 41, in 2012. Alec and Hilaria share seven children together: Carmen, 11, Rafael, 9, Leonardo, 8, Romeo, 6, Eduardo, 4, María, 4 and Ilaria, 2.
Basinger rarely speaks out, but she reflected on her split from Alec several years ago, noting how the breakup was very difficult for Ireland.
Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin, 1999.Ron Wolfson/Liaison Agency
“Divorce is hard on a kid,” she told The Edit in April 2016. “Ours was very public and nasty. So I brought up Ireland in a very unconventional way. I just wanted her to be free. If she wanted to have her friends over and write over the walls with pen, that was fine. I wanted her childhood to be full of love and light and animals and friends.”
Alec, for his part, previously shared that his life was a “blur” for six years after his split from Basinger. Though their divorce was finalized in 2002, they remained in a bitter custody dispute for several years.
“That was very painful in so far as someone who I thought wasn’t capable of a certain kind of behavior wound up being the Marquis de Sade,” he told The Guardian in November 2013. “That point of my life is a blur. I know exactly what projects I was doing from 1986 to 2000. And then from 2000 to 2006, during the Dien Bien Phu of my divorce litigation … I can barely tell you what I did for those six years. It was a period that was so painful, I was staring off a cliff for six years.”
Like Basinger’s challenging relationship with Alec, Ireland similarly had a strained relationship with Alec for several years especially after his infamous 2007 voicemail where he called his daughter a “rude, thoughtless little pig.”
“It took a lot of time and a lot of therapy. We were both in really dark places in our lives,” Ireland told Entertainment Tonight in February 2020. “I think things being publicized the way that they were made things seem more heightened and escalated than it really was.”
The Bravo reality star began her year-long stay in jail, reportedly at Maryland’s Montgomery County Correctional Facility, on February 27, 2025. (Us Weekly has reached out for comment.)
That same day, a Maryland judge ruled that Huger’s official sentence would be two years in jail with one year suspended, meaning she will be behind bars for one year.
The decision came after Huger was found guilty by a jury of her peers on multiple charges including DUI and DWI.
“Although we are disappointed in the jury’s verdict, we of course respect their decision and appreciate their time hearing our case,” Karen’s attorney, A. Scott Bolden, told People in a statement shortly after the verdict was revealed in December 2024. “We continue to reserve Mrs. Huger’s right to an appeal and intend to fully pursue justice on her behalf. We appreciate your support and prayers for Mrs. Huger and her family at this time.”
As Huger’s new reality begins, keep reading to see what life could be like at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility:
Television
Most housing pods have two televisions for inmates to watch and/or listen to. At any time, one TV is expected to be set to an English-language channel while the other TV is set to a Spanish-language channel. While there are a variety of channels to choose from, specific networks are not revealed online.
Dress Code
Amanda Edwards/Getty Images
While Huger may be used to getting dressed up for red carpets, TV appearances or The Real Housewives of Potomac reunion, her new reality has a different set of fashion rules.
“You must wear your institutional jumpsuit whenever outside of your cell or in the day area. Whenever you leave your housing area, inmates are not allowed to wear sweatpants and/or sweatshirts underneath your jumpsuit,” the inmate guidebook stated. “Approved religious headwear may be worn in inmate cells, day areas and during religious programs.”
Inmates are responsible for their own laundry and the legs of the jumpsuit shall not be rolled up to expose socks or an inmate’s leg.
If Huger is looking for a hair appointment, barbering services are provided via a professional barber approved by the Department. They are available on a scheduled basis by submitting a haircut order form.
Rise and Shine
Shannon Finney/Bravo
Inmates are expected to be dressed in their jumpsuit and ready for daily and weekly inspections by 8:00 a.m. At that time, beds should be made and desks should be clear of all items except for one authorized religious book.
Family Visits
According to the inmate guidebook, each eligible inmate at MCCF is authorized to have two visits per week with authorized visitors during scheduled visiting hours.
“Relatives and friends may visit unless disapproved by the Warden or their designee,” the guidebook stated. “Inmates who are participating in any school, work or program (Bible Study, etc.) at the time of the family visit will not be sent to the visiting area.”
Each eligible inmate will receive one 30-minute visit on their assigned visiting date. All visitors and inmates are required to wear masks at all times regardless of vaccination status while inside the facilities. In addition, all visitors are expected to stay six feet apart from other visiting groups at all times, according to guidelines.
As stated in the guidebook, inmates will have daily access to collect call only telephones. All telephone conversations may be monitored and/or recorded.
As for letters, facility policies do not limit the amount of authorized mail correspondence. All incoming mail, however, will be screened for contraband.
Once searched, the mail will be photocopied, and originals will not be provided to inmates. Cash or personal checks will not be accepted through the mail.
Meals
Each inmate will be served three meals daily. Individual food preferences cannot be honored, and substitutions cannot be made on trays.
The guidebook warns inmates that extra helpings, beverages or trays are not permitted.
If you would’ve told my younger self that died to go to the mall every weekend that I’d actually pull off being able to be paid to shop for a living everyday, she would’ve never believed it. Sure, there are some difficult parts of the job, like scrolling through Amazon page after Amazon page all day long. But one of my favorite parts is being able to let everyone in the best deals out there — and these 10 finds starting $7 are the very best of this week!
The theme of deals for this week? Mainly best-selling anti-aging finds mixed with some cozy spring fashion fashion pieces too. I’ve been dying to test this jawline lifting mask to help with my double chin, so I’m snagging it while it’s still 15% off! And an almost unbelievable deal, I’ve been wanting this chic striped cardigan for a while now and as luck would have it, it’s now 75% off. That’s not all — find these plus even a few designer deals below!
The 10 Best Deals on Amazon This Week According to an Amazon Shopping Writer
1. My Absolute Favorite: I’ve had my eye on this rich mom style cardigan for awhile now and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that it’s now 75% off. I’m grabbing this still of a deal before it goes!
2. Bye, Bye Double Chin! As someone who struggles with a slight double chin, I’m intrigued by this jawline lifting mask that promises a lifted face — now 15% off!
3. A Beauty Favorite: With over 60,000 purchased in this last month, it’s proof to me that slicked back buns aren’t going away any time soon and neither is the Samnyte Hair Wax Stick.
4. Glossed and Gorgeous: After having tested the Covergirl Lip Plumping Gloss, it proved to me that spending money on higher end versions is a total waste. This is just as good — and it’s only $7!
5. Serious Sale: Just in time for the warmer months ahead, I’m grabbing this wrap front top while it’s still 73% off!
6. Easy Organization: So, my friend could not stop raving to me about this lightweight toiletry bag for how well it keeps all her things organized. It’s now 17% off!
7. It’s in the Bag: The bag is in the bag . . . literally! Rare is it that Michael Kors hosts a sale so I’m scooping this crossbody style up while it’s still 45% off!
8. Watch Me: My goal with this designer-looking watch is to make myself look richer without breaking my budget!
9. Luxe Loungewear: I plan on wearing this cozy two-piece set for all of my upcoming spring travels — now 50% off!
10. Wrinkle Eraser: With over 2,000 bought within the last month, I’m testing to see if these forehead wrinkle patches actually live up to the hype!
Boy George may have gotten carried away after exchanging email addresses with his musical role model David Bowie.
“I used to send him emails. I’d send these tirades of love and worship, and I’d get, like, a line back,” the Culture Club star, 63, revealed on “The Lulu Podcast: Turning Points” on Tuesday, February 25.
The “Karma Chameleon” singer confessed to host Lulu that he was an obsessive fan of Bowie from the time he was a teenager. Describing his older brother as “the original Bowie fan” in his family, Boy George cited seeing Bowie’s alter-ego Ziggy Stardust for the first time in 1973 as a pivotal moment in his own life.
Boy George remembered “bunking off school” as a teenager to greet Bowie when he returned to London following his self-imposed exile in Berlin in 1976.
“There’s a photo of me at Victoria Station when I was 14 that I found recently. … He arrived at Victoria Station in the big sort of Cadillac, and I remember being photographed and I remember thinking, ‘I might get in trouble because I’m being photographed. What if my mum sees it?’” he recalled. “So I recently saw [the photo] and it’s mind-blowing.”
Rick Kern/WireImage
The musician soon faced unexpected consequences when he met up with other young Bowie superfans to gather outside Bowie’s home.
“I used to sit outside his house,” George said. “There’s a famous story about [Bowie’s ex-wife] Angie opening the window and telling us to f— off. She opened the window and goes, ‘Would you just f— off!'”
Boy George understandably delighted in forming a friendship with Bowie after he too became a pop music sensation in the 1980s.
“I think Bowie was one of those people that if he liked you, it was like, ‘Oh I’m absolutely cool, don’t even try to consider that I’m not,'” Boy George explained.
In 2001, Boy George paid tribute to his idol by performing as Bowie in the U.K. reality show Stars in Their Eyes, where contestants impersonate their musical heroes. His cover of Bowie’s 1973 hit “Sorrow” won the competition over the likes of Ladies of London star Caprice Bourret portraying Nancy Sinatra and pop icon Kim Wilde impersonating singer-songwriter Carly Simon.
Following Bowie’s death from liver cancer at age 69 in 2016, Boy George told the Daily Mailthat being introduced to the rocker’s music was a “life-affirming event.”
“I have been a loyal fan since that first concert in 1973,” he added. “As a teenager growing up in suburbia, I was very much the odd one out, and Bowie was the light at the end of a very gray tunnel. He validated me and made me realize I was not alone. Listening to his early songs, I felt he was speaking directly to me when he sang, ‘We’re painting our faces and dressing thoughts from the skies, from paradise.’ Bowie painted a mythical landscape where otherness and individuality reigned supreme.”
Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. He sold more than 100 million albums worldwide throughout his lifetime and won six Grammy Awards.
His wife, the supermodel Iman, vowed in 2018 that she would never remarry following the legendary musician’s death. The couple were married for 24 years before Bowie died.
“I mentioned my husband the other day with someone, and they said to me: ‘You mean your late husband?’ I said, no, he is always going to be my husband,” she explained to PORTEREdit.
For creators, YouTube is still the top platform for making money.
No surprise there. It’s had a head start, fine-tuning its monetization model while others scramble to keep up. And with U.S. creators expected to rake in over $15 billion from social media alone this year, according to eMarketer, the stakes have never been higher. For platforms, courting creators isn’t just a strategy, its table stakes. And more often than not, the winning move comes down to cold, hard cash.
“If you asked 10 creators what platform they prefer for monetizing outside of brand partnerships, you’d probably get at least nine (if not all) saying YouTube,” said Keith Bendes, chief strategy officer at Linqia. “Interestingly though, if you asked 10 brands which platform they prefer for creator partnerships, you’d probably get nine (or all of them) saying Instagram or TikTok.”
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