The Senate has confirmed former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) CEO Linda McMahon to serve as President Donald Trump's Secretary of Education, heading the department that he intends to close "immediately."
The Senate held a full floor vote on Monday evening, confirming McMahon 51-45, along party lines.
McMahon, who co-founded WWE with her husband, Vince McMahon, served as the administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) during Trump's first term but exited her post early to return to the private sector in 2019.
In November, the president tapped McMahon to serve in another top post during his second term. But this time, he said he wanted her to "put herself out of a job."
"It’s a big con job," the president said of the Education Department. "They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40."
In a letter to Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), McMahon said that she "wholeheartedly" agreed with Trump's plan to abolish the department.
"President Trump believes that the bureaucracy in Washington should be abolished so that we can return education to the states, where it belongs. I wholeheartedly support and agree with this mission," McMahon wrote.
In the opening remarks of her confirmation hearing, McMahon said that "many Americans today are experiencing a system in decline," but that "the opportunity before us these next four years is momentous."
"If I am confirmed, the department will not stand idly by while Jewish students are attacked and discriminated against," McMahon said in her opening remarks, shared first with Fox News Digital. "It will stop forcing schools to let boys and men into female sports and spaces. And it will protect the rights of parents to direct the moral education of their children."
Ruby Franke's two oldest kids, Shari and Chad Franke, participated in a new docuseries about her.
Kai Pfaffenbach/Disney; 8 Passengers/YouTube
Two of Ruby Franke's kids participated in a new docuseries about her.
The former vlogger was convicted of child abuse and sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.
Shari Franke says she'll never speak to her mother again; Franke's son Chad still has love for her.
One of the most harrowing parts of "Devil in the Family," Hulu's new docuseries about the downfall of former mommy vlogger Ruby Franke, happens minutes before it ends.
Shari Franke, her eldest daughter, was an internet personality as a child alongside her five younger siblings Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve, who were all featured on their mother's popular YouTube channel "8 Passengers." Shari participated in Hulu's series alongside her father, Kevin Franke, and her younger brother, Chad Franke.
In an interview near the end of the third and final episode, Shari reflects on her fractured current relationship with her mother as she watches old footage of herself as a child with her mother.
It's a dark moment for Shari. The now 21-year-old saw her family, presented for years as idyllic and perfect, crumble in the public eye.
Ruby Franke, who started her YouTube channel in 2015, was convicted on four counts of child abuse and sentenced to between four and 30 years in a Salt Lake City, Utah, prison. Before that, she'd become controversial in 2020 over her parenting style, which some viewers called abusive.
The true depth of her crimes was uncovered in 2023, when her younger son, one of the two kids she abused, escaped from the home of Franke's friend and collaborator Jodi Hildebrandt and told authorities he and his sister had been subjected to horrific abuse.
Here's where Ruby Franke's six kids are now, amid their mom's imprisonment.
Ruby Franke's 4 youngest kids are being kept out of the spotlight
Ruby Franke with five of her kids in an early YouTube video circa 2015.
8 Passengers/YouTube (via Hulu)
Ruby and Kevin Franke's four youngest children are still minors. Though they were prominently featured in their mother's YouTube channel and on her Instagram for years — and even had "official" individual Instagram accounts managed by their parents — their identities were concealed in footage shown in the Hulu docuseries. The kids' faces were blurred out in old videos, and they weren't named.
In legal documentation related to Franke's trial and conviction viewed by Business Insider, the four youngest were also referred to by their first initials. The two youngest kids, "R." (Russell) and "E." (Eve), were 12 and 10 at the time of Franke's arrest and were the ones subjected to physical abuse.
The abuse stemmed from Franke and Hildebrandt's belief that they were possessed by the devil, and that their "deviance" needed to be addressed with harsh punishments. Those punishments, chronicled in Franke's detailed journal about the abuse made public by authorities during the trial, included withholding food for days, making them stand in the hot sun for hours, and having them run shoeless in the Utah desert.
As the docuseries recounts, the two middle sisters, Abby and Julie, did not appear to be physically harmed at the time Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested in August 2023. All four kids were taken into the custody of Utah's Department of Child and Family Services when Franke was arrested; their father, Kevin Franke, alleged in the docuseries that he had been pressured to leave the family home and cut off contact with all his children for over a year by his wife and Hildebrandt.
Kevin Franke's attorney told Today.com in September 2023 that he was "focused on doing what is best for his kids" and was "making an effort to rebuild and bridge these relationships." Kevin filed for divorce that year and has been seeking to regain custody of his four youngest children. It's unclear whether the kids are still in the custody of the state, in Kevin Franke's custody, or elsewhere, as the status of his guardianship case isn't publicly accessible.
As of a June 2024 filing in Kevin Franke's lawsuit against Hildebrandt, viewed by BI, all four kids were residing in separate homes while in the state's custody.
When reached via email, a representative for Utah's DCFS declined to comment further on specifics of the case or the whereabouts of the Franke children "in order to protect the integrity of the necessary working relationships with those we serve, and to respect the privacy of children and families."
Chad Franke still has love for Ruby Franke despite her crimes
Chad Franke.
Kai Pfaffenbach/Disney
Chad Franke is Kevin and Ruby Franke's second-eldest child and eldest son. He and his older sister Shari, who are now both adults, participated in the Hulu docuseries where they opened up about their family's vlogging career and their mother's abuse case.
In the docuseries, Shari and Chad recalled how the two of them were the most popular of the Franke siblings among viewers, remarking that photos with the two of them in the thumbnail tended to perform best on "8 Passengers." Chad in particular became something of an internet celebrity in his own right, and he said he played into the charming goofball character.
Kevin admitted in an interview for the docuseries that he was living vicariously through preteen Chad, who was much cooler and more confident than he ever was, and said he and his wife exploited that for monetary gain. At its peak, Kevin said they were making over $100,000 a month in YouTube revenue.
As a teen, Chad started to act out, culminating in his expulsion from school. At that point, the Frankes brought in Jodi Hildebrandt, a therapist referred by a family friend, to help keep Chad in line. He was sent to the Anasazi Foundation Wilderness Therapy Program, a troubled teen program.
In the docuseries, Chad said he didn't mind working with Hildebrandt at first, as she mostly focused on trying to get him to be more spiritual. He even grew to love her, despite her encouragement of Kevin and Ruby Franke's harsh punishments. It was Chad's revelation in a 2020 YouTube video that he'd had his room taken away and was made to sleep on a bean bag chair in the basement for seven months that kickstarted the backlash against the Franke family and precipitated their downfall.
Chad was ultimately kicked out of the family home by Franke and Hildebrandt, who'd moved in with them, when he was 17 for admitting to watching pornography in the house. He went to live in an apartment nearby and didn't have contact with his parents or siblings for a year. He recalled in the docuseries finding out about his mother's arrest when someone at his lifeguarding job saw it on the news and told him.
Initially, Chad still believed that his punishment and his siblings' treatment were appropriate and that Hildebrandt and Franke had been acting as "God's chosen people." It was only after his father finally realized they'd both been lied to and told Chad that he realized the extent of the abuse.
In the docuseries, Chad said it was "heartbreaking" seeing his mother on trial. He admitted that his feelings about her are complicated, though he believes she belongs in prison — at least for now.
"I miss a mother figure. I miss how she was when I was very young. But I think what she's going through is deserved," he said. "I don't think she should get out, at least until the kids, all the kids, turn 18 years old. But that doesn't mean I don't have love for her."
Chad now works as a real estate agent in Utah. He's also started his own influencing career, growing his personal following on Instagram and TikTok, where he posts videos with his girlfriend.
Shari Franke says she'll never speak to Ruby Franke again and is lobbying against family vlogging
Shari Franke.
Kai Pfaffenbach/Disney
In the docuseries, Shari and Chad recalled how their mother grew her following by forcing all the kids to constantly create content for the channel, which began when Shari was a preteen. Shari managed to break away before the situation deteriorated, leaving the family home to attend Brigham Young University in 2020; Shari says Franke kicked her out of her room two weeks before she left for college in order to move Hildebrandt in.
She recalled being immediately suspicious of Hildebrandt and found negative reviews of her online that said she'd destroyed other families and even had her license revoked. Shari told her mother, but Franke didn't listen. Ultimately, Franke cut Shari off after Shari refused to stop contacting her father Kevin and brother Chad from college.
In the docuseries, Shari and a family friend who was her former teacher recalled going to the Franke home to confront Franke, who was unmoved even as Shari cried and begged Franke not to cut her off. From that point, Shari didn't have contact with her family, but neighbors would keep her updated on the situation with her siblings amid their father's absence.
In 2022, they alerted Shari that Franke appeared to be gone for hours at a time, leaving the younger kids home alone. Shari placed a call to the Springville Police Station in September 2022 asking for a welfare check; a case opened by the DCFS was eventually closed because according to documentation previously viewed by BI, there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
Shari addressed cutting ties with her family on a podcast in 2023, months before Franke's arrest, saying that they'd left her "spiritually drained." When Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested that August, Shari reacted to the news on Instagram, sharing a photo of a police car with the word: "Finally."
"Today has been a big day," Shari said in another post. "Me and my family are so glad justice is being served. We've been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up."
She also appealed to her followers and former "8 Passengers" fans to help her crowdsource "questionable or concerning" video evidence against Franke and ConneXions, the controversial group started by Hildebrandt that Franke had joined, shortly after the arrest.
Today, Shari is an outspoken critic of family vlogging, testifying at an October 2024 Utah Senate committee hearing in favor of laws to protect child influencers. In her speech, she called herself a "victim of family vlogging" and said "there is no such thing as a moral or ethical family vlogger."
"If I could go back and do it all again, I'd rather have an empty bank account now and not have my childhood plastered all over the internet," Shari said. "No amount of money I received has made what I've experienced worth it."
She also published a memoir, "The House of My Mother," in January ahead of the Hulu docuseries, about her family life with Franke.
"Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke" is streaming on Hulu.
The fiberglass statue depicting the eponymous Peruvian bear eating one of his signature marmalade sandwiches was cut open to expose his hollow white interior.
"The unprecedented global epidemic of overweight and obesity is a profound tragedy and a monumental societal failure,” said lead study author Emmanuela Gakidou.
“For the past three years, the Russians have been spending 10% of their GDP on defense,” Macron told the French Le Figaro outlet. “We need to prepare for what comes next, with an objective of 3% to 3.5% of GDP.”
Content warning: This story discusses child abuse.
Ruby Franke's son Chad Franke is defending himself.
As his mom continues to serve prison time on child abuse charges, the 20-year-old—who is the...
If you’re a coffee addict (and admittedly, a bit of a coffee snob) like me, you may want to know how celebrities make their cup of Joe! You’ve undoubtedly seen them with their Starbucks cups, but many of them turn into baristas with their own coffee machines at home.
While there are certainly a few high-priced machines that the rich and famous use for their morning cup, many use the same convenient, simple and relatively affordable Nespresso and Keurig brands you see everywhere. I’ve rounded up some of the best coffee machines actually* used by celebrities, so now you can feel like a star too, even if it’s only before you take your kids to school!
*During my research, I found a few lists with false information!
Stars Are Just Like Us – Best Affordable Coffee Makers
The Good Place actress certainly knows the value of relaxing with a great cup of coffee. According to Apartment Therapy, co-podcast host Monica Padman snapped a photo of Kristen showing a full coffee bar next to her bathtub! Do we also spy a few bottles of whiskey to make Irish Coffee? It appears so but we’re not judging!
If you watched the recent Netflix documentary, Beckham, you may have spotted this fancy stainless steel espresso machine. According to Esquire, David makes director Fisher Stevens a very special Italian espresso at the beginning of Episode Two using a La Marzocco Linea Mini machine.Beckham even says, “It’s quite temperamental, but I love it. It’s the best.”
It certainly should be the best since it’s the most expensive espresso machine on our list at $5,900. If you want to bend it like Beckham, this is the best option for your kitchen or coffee bar.
If you want a true coffee shop experience that won’t entirely break the bank, check out Martha Stewart’s recommended espresso machine, the Breville Barista Express Machine. At just under $700, you’ll be able to make coffee and cappuccinos just like Snoop Dogg’s pal. According to Page Six, Martha says “Everybody loves the cappuccino from my Breville”.
Martha also has a $6,000 commercial espresso maker in her winter home from La San Marco, according to her blog. With the cost and upkeep of that model though, you’re better off sticking with the Breville!
John Shearer/97th Oscars/The Academy via Getty Images
Despite months of preparation, Conan O’Brien wasn’t sure which jokes he was actually going to deliver at the 2025 Oscars.
“There are times where you think, ‘We’ve got a good joke here, but I’m not gonna do it. It doesn’t feel right.’ We made a lot of changes backstage,” O’Brien, 61, shared with E! News at the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Sunday, March 2. “You just decide, ‘Oh, this is a better joke,’ or you think of something in the moment, and you just go with it, and those can be blessings.”
On Sunday night, the late-night host kicked off the annual awards show with a monologue featuring jokes directed at Timothée Chalamet, a cameo from Adam Sandler and even a performance discussing the art of not wasting time.
According to O’Brien, many of the jokes viewers heard were developed weeks before showtime.
“There’s the agony of before — preparation, getting ready — and that goes on for months,” he said. “Then we worked so hard that by the time we got to the point where it was time to go, I couldn’t wait. And it was a really great crowd. They were laughs, thank God.”
Conan O’Brien and Liza Powel O’Brien attend the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar PartyMatt Winkelmeyer/VF25/WireImage
While O’Brien doesn’t want to toot his own horn after his hosting performance, he’s grateful that things went well.
“I’m letting people compliment me,” he joked at Vanity Fair’s annual celebration. “I was really happy with how it went. It’s an honor to be asked to do it, and I’m just happy that people seem very pleased. And now I’m really happy to sleep for two weeks.”
O’Brien’s hosting gig came at a unique time for the comedian. In December 2024, the podcast host mourned the death of both of his parents. One month later, O’Brien and his family had to evacuate their homes during the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
“Everybody I know has been affected,” he told the Associated Press in January. “The fire got very close but my house survived. But we won’t be back in there for a long time. And I’m the lucky one. I mean, I know so many people who lost their homes and I’m just, was ridiculously lucky. So we want to make sure that that show reflects what’s happening and that we put a light on the right people in the right way.”
During the 2025 Oscars, firefighters and first responders received a standing ovation when they appeared onstage inside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
“On behalf of all of Los Angeles, thank you for all that you do,” O’Brien said during the telecast. “These are heroes.”
Brandon Sklenar doesn’t have much to say about the drama surrounding It Ends With Us, but he hopes viewers don’t forget the film’s deeper meaning.
“It’s a tough situation,” Skelnar, 34, told The Hollywood Reporterwhile walking the Vanity Fair Oscars Party red carpet on Sunday, March 2. “I just hope everyone remembers what the movie is about and why we made it in the first place.”
The August 2024 film tells the story of Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) who experiences domestic violence in her relationship with Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni). Sklenar plays Atlas Corrigan, Lily’s childhood love who reemerges amid her marriage.
“It’s about love and it’s about supporting women in general and helping people through tough times,” Sklenar said about the film. “That movie has helped so many people, and I just want people to remember what it’s about and why we made it.”
His comments come amid a highly publicized legal battle between Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 41, who also directed the film.
In December 2024, Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios production company, accusing him of sexual harassment and fostering a hostile work environment. Baldoni has since denied the allegations, filing two lawsuits of his own.
Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
Baldoni has since sued The New York Times for $250 million dollars after they initially published Lively’s complaint in full. (The newspaper has since filed to dismiss the suit.) He also sued Lively along with her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and publicist, Leslie Sloane, for $400 million dollars. (Lively has denied Baldoni’s claims, and Sloane has filed a motion to be removed from the suit.)
Lively has since hired PR crisis managerNick Shapiro, who previously worked for the CIA, as the legal battle continues.
“The litigation team for Ms. Lively retained Mr. Shapiro to advise on the legal communications strategy for the ongoing sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit occurring in the Southern District of New York,” her legal team shared with Us Weekly in a statement on Friday, February 28.
Sklenar initially showed support for Lively, sharing the NYT article to his Instagram Story in December 2024. He has since addressed whether he’s “Team Justin” or “Team Blake” in the ongoing legal battle.
“I’m Team It Ends With Us,” the actor told CBS Mornings last month. “I just want people to remember why we made the movie in the first place and what it stands for, just keeping the focus on that. That movie meant so much to me.”
Lively and Baldoni are set to face off in court starting in March 2026. But Judge Lewis J. Liman is prepared to move up the trial if the legal battle continues to play out in the public eye.
Madison’s performance in the 2024 film Anora earned her the Best Actress in a Leading Role win at the 2025 Oscars on Sunday, March 2. “This is very surreal,” she began her acceptance speech. “Thank you so much to the Academy. I grew up in Los Angeles, but Hollywood always felt so far away from me. So, to be here standing in this room today is really incredible.”
In addition to thanking her family, the film’s cast and crew and her fellow nominees, Madison gave a shout-out to the “sex worker community,” stating, “I will continue to support and be an ally,” she stated. “All of the incredible people, the women that I’ve had the privilege of meeting from that community has been one of the highlights of this entire incredible experience.”
Anora follows the whirlwind love story between Ani (Madison), a stripper, and Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch. Her fairytale romance implodes as Vanya’s strict family threatens to end their marriage.
Prior to Anora, Madison got her Hollywood start acting in short films in 2013 and 2014. After booking her first film role in 2017, the L.A. native continued to appear in projects such as Imposters, Nostalgia, Monsters and The Addams Family before booking her breakout film role in the 2019 Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.
Scroll down to take a look back at Madison’s biggest roles before her big Oscars win:
‘Liza, Liza, Skies Are Grey’ (2017)
Ocean Releasing / courtesy Everett Collection
After appearing in a handful of short films, Madison scored her first feature film role in 2015’s Liza, Liza, Skies Are Grey. She stars as the film’s titular character, who sets off on a four-day motorcycle trip across California with her boyfriend, Brett (Sean H. Scully), before he moves to the East Coast.
‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood’ (2019)
YouTube
Madison’s character, Sadie, met a gruesome end in the 2019 Tarantino film. Loosely based on the 1969 murder of Sharon Tate, Madison’s Manson Family member is severely injured and bloodied during a fight with Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth before being finished off by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton with a flamethrower.
‘It Takes Three’ (2021)
YouTube
Madison plays Kat in the 2021 rom-com, which puts a modern spin on the classic story of Cyrano de Bergerac. The film follows popular jock Chris (David Gridley) as he recruits the help of outcast Cy (Jared Gilman) to help him win over his crush, Roxy (Aurora Perrineau).
Madison cemented her place in horror movie history as one of the two killers in the fifth Scream installment. Much like her Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood character, Madison’s murderous Amber Freeman met a fiery demise at the hands of Courteney Cox’s Gale Weathers — only to be finished off by Jenna Ortega’s Tara Carpenter.
The FX family drama, which ran for five seasons from 2016 to 2022, marked one of Madison’s most prominent roles to date. The series followed the ups and downs of Sam Fox (played by series creator Pamela Adlon), a divorced actress juggling her career while raising her three kids — played by Madison, Hannah Alligood and Olivia Edward — as a single mother.
‘All Souls’ (2023)
Lionsgate Home Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection
In All Souls, Madison plays a young single mother who is tasked by police to help take down her drug-dealing ex, played by G-Eazy. After her cover is blown, she sets off on a dangerous mission to rescue her kidnapped daughter.
Madison starred alongside Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram in the Apple TV+ thriller miniseries. Her character, Judith Weinstein, helps Maddie Schwartz (Portman) in her investigation into the mysterious deaths of Tessie Durst (Bianca Belle) and Cleo Sherwood (Ingram).
The hip-hop argues his accuser and her lawyer were "soullessly motivated by greed, in abject disregard of the truth," per a complaint Page Six obtained.
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Content warning: This story discusses child abuse.
Ruby Franke's son Chad Franke is defending himself.
As his mom continues to serve prison time on child abuse charges, the 20-year-old—who is the...
