Newsletter Friday, January 26, 2018

[LaineyGossip.com - Calling all smuthounds!] Friday, January 26, 2018 [Intro for January 26, 2018]( [Taylor Kitsch attends 'Waco' world premiere screening at The Paley Center for Media on January 24, 2018 in New York City](Dear Gossips, I saved two articles to read at bedtime last night. It’s one of my favourite things to do every day – decide which pieces to bank, to look forward to, a small reward after a day of work. Sometimes they’re dense, serious essays. Sometimes it’s a dirty short story. Sometimes it’s a sports column. Tonight, ahead of the Grammys this weekend, it’s going to be The Ringer’s Rob Havilla on Cardi B and “[what does she do now](” after the biggest performance of her career (she and Bruno Mars are bringing Finesse to the Grammys on Sunday) and the big year she’s had. Last night, first, it was [BTS + VOGUE](, OMG. The magazine spent a day with the band on a party bus in LA in November. The guys don’t understand why there’s a pole in the middle of the sitting area. They learn a new word: “lituation”. At one point the fans found out about one of their intended stops and they almost get mobbed so a detour is arranged. Jungkook, my favourite, looks amazing. And is the best. And they are obsessed with clothing and accessories – which I appreciate so much. This is not a small deal. This is a Korean boy band featured in what’s known to be the fashion bible. Which adds to the ongoing conversation that’s been happening about beauty and style and who gets to decide and where beauty can come from. Also… they have really, really great hair. And when they dance I lose control and fall apart. Come on! Look at them! After BTS it was Taylor Kitsch in GQ who looks hot AF in every single photo. I always forget he used to model. He knows what he’s doing. The profile is full of unexpected treasures and deserves a full read and not just because of the excerpts. Did you know Taylor Kitsch is friends with the notoriously saturnine Tommy Lee Jones? And it was Tommy Lee Jones who initiated it? There are several men who show up in this article with mancrushes on Taylor Kitsch including, but not limited to, Taylor Sheridan and Peter Berg. Even Michael Shannon is impressed. Also, like us, Taylor Kitsch too thought the Landry/Tyra murder plotline in Season 2 of Friday Night Lights was bonkers and not in a good way. And he’s friends with real-life Landry, Jesse Plemons, and Kirsten Dunst. Who he calls “Dunst”. In fact, in one paragraph, we learn that Taylor Kitsch has nicknames for almost everyone: Kitsch is also genuinely generous, lavishing praise on Cons and Chands (Friday Night Lights' Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler), Pizzo (True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto), Bromance (his relationship with Only the Brave co-star Josh Brolin), Rach (Rachel McAdams), Jesse and Dunst (FNL co-star Jesse Plemons and fiancée Kirsten Dunst, who I have a hard time believing actually answers to that), the aforementioned Dave (David Koresh, though this one is maybe less "praise" and more "empathy"). Kitsch loves "Oz," where he loved filming "Wolvie" with "Hugh," whom Kitsch loved learning so much from about "working your 'bag' off." (That's Australia, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Jackman, and scrotum, in order.) You know what that is to me? It’s so specifically Canadian hockey player. If you’ve ever been in a hockey environment, that’s exactly the rhythm of the salutations. There are all kinds of articles written about hockey and nicknames. And an identifiable standard formula, with exceptions. Like, the most common hockey nickname creation technique is to simply shorten someone’s first or last name and add an “-s”, or “-ie”, or “-er” to the end. Example: James Hartwick becomes “Harts” or “Hartie” or “Harter”. My husband Jacek’s hockey nickname was “Jazzy”, pronounced “Yazzy”, because that’s how the “J” sounds in his name. I mean, sure, there are exceptions. But, generally, this is how it works. This is why Wolverine is “Wolvie” in Taylor Kitsch-speak. It’s now been almost 12 years since Friday Night Lights first premiered and Tim Riggins became a thing. This, however, is probably the definitive profile of Taylor Kitsch’s career, a career that he appears to be reclaiming. Because after FNL there didn’t seem like there was a lot opportunity. And now, with Waco and Pieces, the upcoming film he’s writing, directing, producing, and starring in (inspired by his days as a weed snipper for the Hell’s Angels!!!), Taylor is being reconsidered by the industry and the message he’s been sending with his David Koresh performance – and through this interview – is that not only does he look good but he talks good too. [Click here]( to read it. Grammys coverage coming at you on Monday. Have a great weekend! Yours in gossip, Lainey [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 2:11 PM [What Else?]( [Dog that looks like Laura Dern]([Suki Waterhouse and Darren Aronofsky are not dating](. They were just walking very close together and we were played by Photo Assumption, our favourite game of baseless conclusions…? These denials came quick though. So does this mean that Suki is still with Diego Luna? Does it mean that Darren wants to get back together with Jennifer Lawrence? Does it mean that he’s already back together with Jennifer Lawrence? Not that it’s any of my goddamn business but that would not be my preference. (Dlisted) I recently read Tina Brown’s Vanity Fair Diaries. It was work porn and dishy 80s and 90s celebrity and royal stories all at once. [Kayleigh Donaldson’s new essay on the why the Vanity Fair Hollywood issue is such a big deal]( is a nice companion piece to the book in that it reminds you of what the issue did in the past and wonders whether or not it can do the same now. There’s no doubt that, in browsing through those past covers, many of the people featured (especially the Kristen Stewart/Carey Mulligan cover – which put Emma Stone on the inside!) did indeed live up the hype. But also, go back to the 1995 issue. Look where Sandra Bullock is positioned. And the expression on Gwyneth Paltrow’s face. Two years later she won an Oscar. It’s almost like she’s saying, “Wait for it”. What will we be saying when we look back at this year’s Hollywood issue in 20 years? (Pajiba) [Have you seen that photo of the dog that looks like Laura Dern]( This KILLS me. And she loved it. But what is the science behind these resemblances? How can a dog look like a person? How can I find a dog that looks like me? I once heard that people choose dogs that look similar to them. This never made sense to me and we have beagles and neither one of us looks like a beagle. (Mashable) The Grammys are happening on Sunday. [Throwback to the Grammys ten years ago in 2008](. Every single one of these dresses is dated. With one exception. ONE. And it’s the one you would expect: of course Rihanna wearing the dress that can still stand up today. (Go Fug Yourself) The source for this story is a magazine in New Zealand that has a bullsh-t track record. Which means it’s not true. [But don’t we want it to be true](? Angelina Jolie and Tom Hiddleston? Can you f-cking imagine how extra he would be if he were dating Angelina Jolie?!? That said, I don’t know if she could stand him. Picture her face when he breaks out in spontaneous dancing and exclamation points. (Cele|bitchy) James Franco was originally part of the Vanity Fair Hollywood issue but they had to take him out because… well…you know. Not a great week for James Franco. And now, considering what we do know, it’s worth revisiting his relationship with the LGBTQ+ community and, as Jezebel notes, [how he exploited queerness to his advantage](. (The Muse) [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 8:57 PM [Dunst is a belly cupper]( [Kirsten Dunst out for lunch in LA with a friend, January 25, 2018](My favourite part of the hysterical Taylor Kitsch GQ profile Lainey wrote about in the intro [this morning]( was "Jesse and Dunst." I also love that the writer is sure Kirsten would never answer to "Dunst." I'm pretty sure of that too which is why I will now forever call Kirsten Dunst by her Kitsch-approved nickname. There are new photos of Dunst doing something else I would have guessed she'd never do: belly cupping. Here's Dunst in a pair of cute overalls out with a friend and in some, not all, of the photos, she's cupping her unborn child. Lainey has written extensively over the years [why she thinks belly cupping is gross](. I agree that when a dude gets all territorial over his partner and grabs her belly bump like “I DID THIS!” it is gross. But I’m not sure what Dunst is doing here is all that bad. I’ve never been pregnant but I have friends who say they’ve cupped in photos because they wanted people to know they were pregnant instead of just peculiarly bloated. I also have friends who say that when there’s a basketball where your stomach used to be, it’s natural to want to touch it. I assume that if/when I’m ever pregnant, I’m going to be poking and caressing my belly at all times – like a science experiment. My friend Kayla is pregnant right now and she has to yell at me to stop touching her belly when we’re together. My response is always, “But my future nephew’s in there!” So, I’m going to give [Dunst]( the benefit of the doubt that she’s not doing the cutesy, Motherhood is My Calling signature pose. These aren’t staged photos. Maybe she just wanted to feel up her science experiment. Or maybe she and her friend just had a big lunch. I belly cup after a bowl of pasta too. I’m OK with this until [Meth Damon]( starts cupping her belly while on a red carpet. Does he seem like the type of guy to do that though? [Landry Clarke]( would never. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 8:05 PM [Smutty Social Media, January 26, 2018]( [Kanye West out in LA, January 23, 2018](Sandra and Madonna (and Debi Mazar, Madonna’s longtime friend)! You know who this made me think of? Ingrid Casares. Madonna’s Miami years. I couldn’t find Ingrid on Instagram, but I did find this. [A post shared by Madonna (@madonna)]( on Jan 25, 2018 at 5:49pm PST [A post shared by kroywen79 (@kroywen79)]( on Apr 10, 2017 at 4:21pm PDT “You think you're crazy? I'll show you crazy. Just try me, bitch.” – Beyoncé in Obsessed. You ever be like, "Oh wow, I'm crazy." — Issa Rae (@IssaRae) [January 26, 2018]( I have a wedding to go to next month and I was shopping for an outfit and this came up in my search. I hate this dress so much, it’s not even quantifiable. [A post shared by Paris Hilton (@parishilton)]( on Jan 25, 2018 at 4:05pm PST Lindsay Lohan has wiped her Instagram, leaving only this photo. Could she be back in the US to do Celebrity Big Brother? It starts soon. [A post shared by Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan)]( on Jan 24, 2018 at 1:02pm PST Kanye looks downright chipper these days. [A post shared by Takashi Murakami (@takashipom)]( on Jan 23, 2018 at 4:20am PST Mark Wahlberg was a big part of the pay disparity discussion a few weeks ago. And I wonder if that worked in his PR favour, because there was another story floating around – one having to do with his workout regimen – [that he denied to TMZ](. And now he’s promoting his line of “natural workout supplements” with absolutely zero blowback from the steroids story. [A post shared by Mark Wahlberg (@markwahlberg)]( on Jan 25, 2018 at 5:43am PST Taryn Manning told the paps she was upset her SAG gown only cost a few hundred dollars. It sounds like she felt like she was played by her stylist and resentful of the free press the designer was getting, but I think it’s a bit of ego, too. “Every artist dreams of wearing couture on a red carpet if given the opportunity.” Sure, but the top tier designers are not giving out dresses worth tens of thousands of dollars to every actress on the red carpet. It’s a combination of relationships, connections and generating enough press to justify the freebie. There is of course a whole way around this game – buy your own dress. Then you’ll know exactly how much it costs. [A post shared by Taryn Manning™ (@tarynmanning)]( on Jan 25, 2018 at 7:48pm PST Jack Antonoff and Lorde have sent their “sources” to US Weekly to clear up a rumour that they are dating. And curiously, the very same day a story was buried on US Weekly, Lena Dunham’s ‘[Friends and Family are Relieved](’ about Jack Antonoff Breakup. Both Jack and Lena are trying to get in front of something – but what? And is Lorde just caught in the crosshairs, or [was Kathleen onto something](? [A post shared by Lorde (@lordemusic)]( on Jan 25, 2018 at 3:56pm PST I mean, what did I tell you. [A post shared by Tom Cruise (@tomcruise)]( on Jan 26, 2018 at 6:00am PST [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 5:59 PM [Casey Affleck won’t present at the Oscars]( [Casey Affleck at the 2017 Oscars](Typically, not always, but typically, it’s tradition at the Oscars for the previous year’s best actress winner to present to the new best actor and for the previous year’s best actor to present to the new best actress. This is why Brie Larson stood on stage and [didn’t clap]( for Casey Affleck last year. As we saw, Casey Affleck was able to pretty much coast through award season last year unchallenged about the allegations [made against him]( by two women who worked with him on I’m Still Here. That was before Harvey Weinstein was exposed, before #MeToo gained momentum, and before the Time’s Up movement was launched. It was also because Casey is well connected in Hollywood. This report at [The Wrap]( about Casey’s PR machine and how they worked to protect his Oscar campaign that was posted just before the end of 2016 is worth revisiting to better understand the machinery that was in place – and is still in place – that eventually resulted in Casey’s Oscar win. I wrote about this [at the time](, noting that the way it has always worked in Hollywood is that the celebrities have the power to ask people not to talk about something. Because otherwise the dot dot dot implication is that if you do talk about it, you won’t get access to them later on or risk being shut down completely. That’s basically how Harvey Weinstein did business for 30 years. Does Hollywood still work that way now that #MeToo and #TimesUp have dominated the cultural landscape? Deadline first [broke the news]( yesterday that [Casey Affleck]( will not be presenting at the Oscars this year. And it was his decision. He and his team evidently decided to get ahead of the situation and informed the Academy that it would be best if he stayed away. Here’s how Deadline explained it: EXCLUSIVE: Casey Affleck has withdrawn from presenting the Best Actress Award at the upcoming Oscars, Deadline hears. He has notified the Academy he will not be attending the event, sources said. I’ve heard that Affleck did not want to become a distraction from the focus that should be on the performances of the actresses in the category and that is why he made the proactive move. He was in a no-win situation, with all the attention surrounding the #MeToo movement. The specter of Affleck presenting would have created controversy. Does the wording of this seem… favourable here to Casey Affleck? It was his decision, he didn’t want to take any attention away from the performances, and it was a “no-win” situation for him. You’ll recall, as I mentioned last week in my post [about Michael Douglas](, Deadline is the outlet that published the interview with Michael when he came forward about then-upcoming sexual harassment allegations against him, to get ahead of the story. And [that piece]( had a positive tone to it too. The point is Casey Affleck might not be presenting at the Oscars because of all the controversy surrounding his past but it doesn’t mean he can’t come out the situation looking not that bad. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 5:02 PM [The Necessity of Lupita Nyong’o]( [Lupita Nyong’o covers The Hollywood Reporter](There was one word I kept coming back to while reading Lupita Nyong’o’s stirring feature in [The Hollywood Reporter]( and that word was “necessary.” Her story, her words and her presence are so vital, so NECESSARY, that I think this feature should be required reading for everyone in her industry – heck, for anyone in the entire United States of America, and the world! I don’t think my hyperbole is excessive here. The quality and merit of African countries have ignorantly [come into question lately]( and Lupita Nyong’o continues to – even though she shouldn’t have to – provide a glimpse into the life of an African woman that the world doesn’t typically get to see. I’ve used this description before when writing about Lupita but she is the exception, not the rule. She is a dark-skinned black woman who has, as THR puts it, “an Academy Award, beauty megadeals and two Disney franchises.” The only other actress I can think of with an Oscar, multiple endorsements and TWO big franchises is Jennifer Lawrence. If we’re looking at precedent in Hollywood, Lupita Nyong’o shouldn’t exist. Women who look like her haven’t been allowed to exist in this way in that space until now. Lupita has accomplished all that she has while overcoming impossible odds. I’ve read almost every feature written on Lupita Nyong’o in the past four years. I feel like I know her way better than anyone who has never met her should and yet, I didn’t know the incredible story of her father’s political exile and some of the painful details of her childhood. I didn’t know that after college, she left New York to go back to Kenya. “And so I decided: You know what? I need to go back home, where I have my community, I have a roof over my head, I have my parents, and figure out what my next chapter is." That quote might seem innocuous to some but to me, it’s so relatable and universal and she’s talking about her home in Kenya, a supposed “sh-thole”. I keep driving home the same point because people are still ignorant as f-ck about the continent of Africa, the same place half of my family calls home. Just look at the comments of this THR piece. An African experience can be universal and relatable. I just want to scream that in all caps until people start to hear it. The other ridiculously relatable thing Lupita says that instantly made me emotional was this: "There is a part of me that will always feel unattractive." I don’t like speaking on behalf of all black women because we are all different, unique and complex but if there’s one thing that binds us, it’s that we grow up with popular culture that rarely tells us we’re beautiful or desired – especially if your skin is darker than Beyonce’s or Tyra Banks’ or Halle Berry’s or Zendaya’s or Yara Shahidi’s, I could go on. Like Lupita, there will always be a part of me that feels unattractive. But like Lupita, I’m OK with that. As to her lingering doubts about her appearance: "That's OK," she says, with a sly smile, "because it will keep me grounded. I don't need to be so full of myself that I feel I am without flaw. I can feel beautiful and imperfect at the same time. I have a healthy relationship with my aesthetic insecurities." But seriously, she’s perfect. [Lupita Nyong’o]( knows she is the exception which is why she is using her position to empower the next generation. So maybe, their insecurities will be a little less engrained and a little less tied to their skin colour. Lupita is writing a children’s book. For the second time reading this THR piece, I teared up. This synopsis! "Sulwe is a young Kenyan girl who, though her name means star [in Luo], her skin is the color of midnight… And she's uncomfortable because she's the darkest in her family and goes about trying to change that, then she has this adventure that leads her to accept herself." Whew. Look at Lupita, doing the lord’s work. I am SO excited for this. Most of the headlines about this THR piece mention Lupita’s comments on Harvey Weinstein. She simply says this about why she wrote her [powerful New York Times op-ed](. "That was just what I felt I needed to do, quite viscerally. I couldn't sleep. I needed to get it out." She needed to get it out and the industry needed to hear that sexual harassment doesn’t only affect white women. Lupita’s account was necessary. Again, I’m back to that word. I am aware that it has taken me over 750 words to mention BLACK PANTHER. You know it’s a good feature when. Lupita doesn’t give away anything about Wakanda we didn’t already know but she does sum up its importance pretty damn perfectly. "We were creating an aspirational world where an African people are in charge of their own destiny. And that really appealed to me and had the little girl inside me jumping for joy. To just have African people, black people, at the center of that narrative is so exciting." As much as I am obsessed with everything Lupita says in this piece, I’m also consumed by the styling of the accompanying photoshoot. The burnt orange co-ord she’s wearing on the cover is giving me life. Yesterday, I stared at this cover for my entire commute. F-ck this world for ever giving this woman the idea that she wasn’t f-cking flawless. You can see more of Lupita being flawless and adorable in THR’s Fishing for Answers video series below. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 4:13 PM [Talking myself into Captain Marvel]( [Brie Larson arrives on set of Captain Marvel in Atlanta, January 24, 2018](At every step and stage Captain Marvel has failed to produce excitement, which is a shame when you consider it is Marvel’s first and long-awaited solo superheroine film. [Brie Larson]( is a good actress but an [uninspiring choice]( to play Carol Danvers—PLEASE prove me wrong, Brie—and that first “okay, I guess” moment has set the tone for everything about the movie up to this point. The latest “okay, I guess” moment is our first look at Larson in costume as Captain Marvel. Here take a look at this: Um. What. Why. [#CaptainMarvel]( [pic.twitter.com/vRTJMo8PAQ]( — Alisha Grauso (@AlishaGrauso) [January 25, 2018]( So this is not great. There is an excuse for the hair, at least, as the movie is set in the 1990s, and that is 1990s hair. (Some are calling it “the Rachel”, but Meghan O’Keefe from Decider nailed it, that’s [Dr. Susan Lewis hair](.) Though the suit has a nice functionality to it—no weird boob armor or impractical wedge boots—it’s not Captain Marvel’s [ICONIC suit](. This is probably a starter suit for when she just gets her powers. In short: Carol Danvers gets her powers from aliens, the Kree, and Kree warriors [wear green]( so this is probably a “Kree suit”, if you will. Some are speculating this suit could be green because it’s meant to be redone with CGI later, but there is distressing on the suit you wouldn’t bother with if you just mean to paint it over later. It’s most likely this is a Mark I look before Carol “graduates” to her red and blue look from the comics. So why is THIS the first look? It’s not like they didn’t have opportunities to make another decision. They could have revealed Captain Marvel—in [HER]( costume—in [Vanity Fair](. They could have shown her off during filming of Avengers 4, but Brie Larson was under lock and key and not a hint of what she’ll look like in that movie got out. And now we get green for our first look. But these are paparazzi photos, you say. They couldn’t plan this! Couldn’t they? Marvel has been making movies for a decade. By now, they know if they’re filming on location photos will be on the internet within minutes. They knew this would be the first look. They protected the reveal only to give us Carol Danvers in not her famous, immensely popular costume, but in this alternate JV get up. And now we’re talking ourselves into this green suit, excusing it as a prototype, hoping for a CGI fix, and dear god, PLEASE, a haircut. This green suit will undoubtedly look better in the finished film—they always look better in the movie than they do on the street. We just shouldn’t have to talk ourselves into liking Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel is the sh-t. Be honest, does she look like the sh-t in this green suit? Does this get you excited for a Captain Marvel movie? Or are you talking yourself into it, too? Here’s Brie Larson reporting to set the other day. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 3:36 PM [Gwyneth & Colbert]( [Gwyneth Paltrow out in New York after an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, January 25, 2018](Stephen Colbert, over the years, has mocked Gwyneth Paltrow and goop for their batsh-t recommendations and promoting of fake science. Have you seen his [Covetton House features](? Basically he dresses up as a poncy asshole and recommends things like “scrotal dry cleaning” and “nacho cheese soaks”. Gwyneth was his guest last night on The Late Show. And he was nice. But he also made fun of goop. I mean, he didn’t hardline challenge her on the crazy wellness endorsements and, [some would say](, irresponsible health claims put forward by her brand but the snark was there. And she played along with it, at first, in a segment that combined Covetton and goop but during the interview, she seemed a little uncomfortable to me. Here are the two videos back to back below. Watch and meet me on the other side? There was some hesitation there, right? Gwyneth isn’t new to this. She’s played the talk show game for years. Typically though, when she’s on a talk show, she’s fawned over – and earnestly. Being fawned over basically sums up her entire life. Colbert is complimentary here, but there’s also an edge to what he’s saying…and she’s not stupid, she can hear it. This is not a space she usually occupies. But the interview ends on a lighter note: Pepper Potts. Pepper might be the best thing about Gwyneth right now as we approach In goop Health, the New York summit, happening this weekend and featuring [anti-vaxx speakers and an AIDS denialist](. And they’re calling them “[experts](”. Jesus, Gwyneth. What the f-ck are you doing? Next week is [Bell Let’s Talk Day]( in Canada in support of mental health and awareness. There are already so many stigmas faced by those who struggle with mental health and now here’s an expert endorsed by [Gwyneth Paltrow]( and goop [who claims that]( “depression is in fact a message. It’s a message and an opportunity to change. And the primary pillar of this change is nutrition.” I find this incredibly insensitive to anyone who has depression or anxiety and other mental health disorders, who have battled suicidal thoughts, to tell them simply that what they’ve gone through and what they’re going through is a “message” to live a better lifestyle, to say nothing of how dangerous that can be. There are already so many misconceptions about mental illness that have delayed treatment for millions of people and resulted in lives broken and lost and, sure, while the issue is obviously very complicated, I’m not sure the solution here is to give a platform over to someone who is undermining the work of legitimate experts and telling us that gut health and going gluten-free is the path to mental wellness, my GOD. Also attached - Gwyneth at the PGA's on the weekend. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 3:15 PM [January 26, 2018 – Smutty Shout-Outs]( [Kathleen for Pam](Pam! Happy Birthday! By request, which she will LOVE, here’s your “January bday sister Kathleen and my parents. Well, actually no, just my ma. Because she always insists on having her picture taken by herself, like a true narcissist. Have a great birthday weekend! And for Milly but especially for Mary who’s missing Milly after 16 years of devotion and companionship. You’re right about being an asshole though. The expression on her face while she’s sitting on the table is pure beagle asshole. This is what you remember though. That girl had a long, sweet, and, evidently, delicious ride. And she knew it too. I’m sure she knew it on the way out. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 2:37 PM [Privacy Policy]( - [Unsubscribe](