Tag Archives: Cover Story

Princess Kate Middleton’s Brother James Middleton Tells Us All

In November 2010, the day earlier than her engagement to Prince William was introduced, Princess Kate Middleton sat in a nook at The Outdated Boot pub close to her childhood residence in Bucklebury along with her sister, Pippa, and her brother, James. In accordance with James’ new memoir, Meet Ella: The Canine Who Saved My Life, the close-knit siblings have been quietly chatting when Kate informed them the large information.

“Pippa and I wish to be visibly excited, however we have now to tamp down our feelings so nobody suspects a factor,” he writes. “We make a quiet acknowledgment that we’ll all the time be there for one another, look out for each other, help one another. Irrespective of how loopy issues get.”

It was one in all Kate’s final moments of normalcy, and he or she wished to spend it catching up with folks she loves. Whereas a lot has modified since then — the beloved 42-year-old royal has attended hundreds of engagements, met with world leaders and Hollywood stars and purchased quite a few titles, all whereas being a hands-on mother to Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6, and a supportive spouse to William — some issues haven’t.

In an interview with Us Weekly, James, 37, provides uncommon perception into who Kate actually is and the way she’s managed to stay grounded regardless of her standing as the long run Queen of England. “Catherine may be very a lot on a public stage and I’m in awe of numerous the issues she does,” James shares within the newest problem of Us. “I feel the factor I’m most happy with is that she’s nonetheless the identical individual that I grew up with.”

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Wanting Again

James says Kate was a doting and beneficiant huge sister who by no means let her youthful brother really feel unnoticed. “Rising up surrounded by three robust, succesful ladies felt like having three moms, and I might depend on Catherine and Pippa for recommendation,” he writes in Meet Ella, which chronicles how his former cocker spaniel Ella (who died in 2023) helped him deal with extreme despair. “They by no means dismissed me as their little squirt of a brother who wasn’t worthy of their consideration. Quite the opposite, they let me be part of of their video games and included me of their friendships — they nonetheless do to at the present time.”

He additionally says Kate — who revealed in a September 9 video that she’s completed her chemotherapy remedy and is at the moment cancer-free — was particularly useful throughout his darkest moments (the entrepreneur reveals he contemplated suicide in 2017) partly due to the work she’s completed round psychological well being points. “Catherine had been doing numerous work with Heads Collectively, so there was really extra consciousness of easy methods to talk,” he tells Us, including that each Kate and Pippa, 41, “have been unbelievable in supporting my mother and father by way of that as effectively.”

Duchess Kate Through the Years From Commoner to Future Queen Consort

Associated: Princess Kate By means of the Years: From Commoner to Future Queen Consort

Princess Kate made her approach by way of the ranks of the royal household, shortly reworking from a commoner into the long run queen consort of England. The Princess of Wales met her future husband, Prince William, in faculty, and the couple tied the knot in 2011 after practically a decade collectively. They went on to welcome son […]

No Airs

James’ sentiments are shared by others who’ve inside information of what Kate is like behind palace partitions. They describe her as sort, fiercely aggressive and surprisingly foolish. As a baby, she was a Woman Scout who loved occurring discipline journeys and incomes badges, writes Catherine, the Princess of Wales: A Biography of the Future Queen creator Robert Jobson. “She was fairly easygoing,” Brownie pack chief June Scutter has mentioned. At age 11, she landed the lead function of Eliza Doolittle in her college’s manufacturing of My Honest Woman — maybe early preparation for her many public speeches as a royal.

In highschool at Marlborough Faculty in Wiltshire, Kate made pals simply and did effectively in her courses. “Contemporaries recall her as the right pupil, listening to her Walkman, watching… Pals and indulging in Marmite sandwiches,” Jobson writes. Kate stays shut with former classmates Alicia Fox-Pitt and Emilia Jardine-Paterson, one in all seven of Prince George’s godparents and credited with setting her up with William.

A former boss at one in all Kate’s first jobs (she was an assistant purchaser on the clothes model Jigsaw in 2006) says the long run queen was “down-to-earth and unpretentious,” including, “She sat within the kitchen at lunchtime and chatted with everybody from the van drivers to the accounts women. She wasn’t valuable.”

The artwork historical past main remains to be an artwork fanatic, and gallery-hopping is a pastime she indulges when her schedule permits. “When in London, she has been identified to go out early within the morning to meet that zeal with secret visits to artwork galleries,” Jobson reveals. “It’s a uncommon prevalence, and he or she has confided that she actually misses getting the repair from that cultural facet of her life.”

Princess Kate Middletons Brother James Middleton Tells Us All
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The Folks’s Princess

Well-known people who’ve met Kate rave about how approachable she is. “She’s so bizarre!” British pop star Cheryl Cole mentioned after their 2012 assembly. “I imply, clearly, she isn’t as a result of she’s a princess, however she’s straightforward to get together with.” Former first woman Hillary Clinton referred to as herself a “nice admirer” of Kate’s, including, “I feel she carries herself with such dignity and poise within the public highlight.” The Duchess of Edinburgh (William’s aunt Sophie and an in depth confidante of Kate’s) has mentioned the princess is “very straightforward to get together with” and “very a lot the lady subsequent door.”
In 2016, tennis nice Serena Williams (a great pal of Kate’s estranged sister-in-law, Meghan Markle) referred to as the royal “tremendous candy, tremendous stage [and] so stunning,” and in her 2018 guide, Whiskey in a Teacup, Reese Witherspoon mentioned that Kate’s heat and class blew her away. “[She] informed a joke, and I instantly fell below her spell,” Witherspoon wrote, including, “She’s simply as magnificent as she appears to be. She’s a really compassionate, socially acutely aware, deeply caring individual.”

Inside Kate Middleton s Relationship With Her Family Through the Years 323

Associated: Inside Kate Middleton’s Relationship With Her Household By means of the Years

Christopher Furlong/Getty Photographs Princess Kate Middleton was totally thrust into the highlight when she and Prince William dated for greater than a decade earlier than tying the knot in 2011. However simply because she turned a royal doesn’t imply she pushed her circle of relatives out of her life. The truth is, the Princess of Wales has remained […]

Dedication & Drive

Beneath her accessible public persona lies a robust aggressive streak. Kate’s cousin-in-law (and Rugby World Cup winner) Mike Tindall playfully nicknamed her “Engine” due to her spectacular endurance. A longtime tennis fanatic, Kate has mentioned she, Pippa and their dad, Michael, used to line up for Wimbledon tickets on the first light, and on Tindall’s podcast, “The Good, The Unhealthy & The Rugby final September,” she admitted she and William “haven’t managed to complete a recreation of tennis” as a result of it “turns into a psychological problem between … us.” (Tindall additionally famous Kate was “uber aggressive” throughout a recreation of beer pong.) Jobson tells Us: “Kate may be very sporty. She goes to the health club repeatedly and has been doing that in her convalescence, too.”

Royal creator Christopher Andersen says Kate additionally has a lighter facet and will be fairly cheeky. “William and Kate have all the time shared a goofy humorousness,” Andersen tells Us. “It’s very Monty Python — they each crack up at issues which are simply plain foolish.”

James agrees that Kate and William are “so clearly a great match, excellent for one another.” He tells Us that he admires their robust bond. “I wished someday to expertise what they have been experiencing as a pair,” James says, including that he’s come to view William as a part of the household. “Having been introduced up…with robust, succesful ladies surrounding me, I’ve loved having this older brother-type determine to bounce questions [off of],” he explains. “I’m simply extremely grateful that [Kate and William] have been supportive of me over these years 
as effectively.”

Kate Middleton s Inner Circle Meet the Princess of Wales Closest Friends 417

Associated: Kate Middleton’s Interior Circle: Meet the Royal’s Household and Pals

Princess Kate Middleton’s interior circle is made up of the folks she will depend on. The Princess of Wales has a decent bond along with her youthful siblings, sister Pippa Middleton, and brother James Middleton. After Kate introduced her most cancers analysis in March 2024, James shared an encouraging message for his huge sister. “Through the years, […]

Devoted to Royal Responsibility

In her current video message, Kate mentioned she’s “trying ahead” to returning to work and “enterprise just a few extra public engagements within the coming months” as she continues to recuperate and monitor her well being. First on her agenda was a gathering with members from the Royal Basis Centre for Early Childhood at Windsor Fort on September 17 to debate her Early Years marketing campaign. There are experiences she’ll attend Remembrance Sunday on November 10 in London alongside William.

The royals are excited for Kate to get again in her groove — and he or she is as effectively. The princess is captivated with public service. In a clip that went viral on TikTok in 2023, Queen Rania of Jordan mentioned Kate’s “face lights up” when she talks about her work. “She does it out of a way of responsibility, however extra importantly, she does it as a result of she completely cares,” Rania mentioned. “She provides from her coronary heart and … there’s a sense of sincerity and a way of affection in every part does.”

For extra on Kate, watch the unique video above and choose up the most recent problem of Us Weekly — on newsstands now.

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi and Shelby Stivale

Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie’s Legal Battle: How Did it Come to This?

Nestled among the many rolling hills of the French countryside within the small village of Correns sits Château Miraval, the centuries-old 1,200-acre property Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie bought for $28.4 million in 2008. For the A-list megastars, the sprawling property was an idyllic escape from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood. It was a spot the place their younger youngsters performed with goats and chickens and rode dust bikes and the place, in August 2014, Jolie and Pitt exchanged vows in entrance of 20 company in a personal stone chapel.

Slightly greater than a decade later, the vineyard is on the middle of Pitt and Jolie’s seemingly unending feud. A authorized battle that originally started after Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016 over custody of their six youngsters (they share Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18, and 16-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne) shifted to a tug-of-war over the château when Pitt, 60, sued Jolie, 49, for promoting her stake to a Russian billionaire in February 2022. The acrimonious exes have been going forwards and backwards ever since, slinging mud by attorneys and authorized filings, and dragging out what has turn into one of many nastiest superstar divorces of all time.

On July 18, Jolie’s lawyer Paul Murphy advised Us Weekly the Eternals actress has requested her ex to withdraw his lawsuit “and finish the preventing and eventually put their household on a transparent path towards therapeutic.” Whereas a supply near the matter says “all Jolie needs is peace,” two further sources solely share within the newest difficulty of Us it’s unlikely Pitt will again down.

“Brad has no plans to drop the swimsuit,” says one supply, noting that the Bullet Prepare actor feels doing so will solely delay their authorized drama in the long run. “Brad is aware of there will probably be no decision. He has nothing to realize by dropping it.”

Us Weekly

Fixed Battle

Eight months after Pitt filed a lawsuit towards Jolie for promoting her share of Miraval to Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler, Jolie’s former firm, Nouvel, filed a $250 million cross-complaint claiming Pitt wished to retain full management of the vineyard as revenge for his or her break up and their subsequent little one custody battle.

Whereas legal professionals for Pitt say the previous couple had agreed to not offload their stakes to a 3rd social gathering with out the opposite’s consent, a supply near the matter tells Us: “There is no such thing as a contract, written or verbal, that Pitt can level to that stated if he refused to buy her shares that she will be able to’t promote to anybody else. In truth, Pitt is the one who stated they’d not want a contract for that.”

Jolie’s authorized crew claimed the actress meant to promote her share of the winery to Pitt till he insisted she signal an “expansive” NDA (nondisclosure settlement) prohibiting her from talking out about “Pitt’s bodily and emotional abuse of her and their youngsters.” (In her authorized paperwork, Jolie described occasions she alleges befell on board a personal jet 5 days earlier than she filed for divorce by which she stated a drunken Pitt “grabbed [her] by the pinnacle” and “shook her” and poured wine and beer on her and their youngsters. In a movement filed in April, attorneys for Jolie declare Pitt’s “historical past of bodily abuse of Jolie began effectively earlier than the household’s September 2016 airplane journey.”)

In Could, a choose ordered Jolie to supply eight years’ price of NDAs that she’s used with third events. (Pitt’s authorized crew is trying to show his request to have Jolie signal one is a typical enterprise apply.) “The difficulty of NDAs has turn into a key battleground within the dispute,” a member of Pitt’s authorized crew tells Us. “Jolie claims she backed out of promoting her stake to Pitt after he requested her to signal an ‘unconscionable’ privateness settlement as a part of the enterprise deal — a protection Pitt insists is undermined by her personal routine use of NDAs.”

0 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Ups and Downs divorce

Associated: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s Ups and Downs By the Years

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have been locked in a messy court docket battle ever since she filed for divorce in September 2016, however the pair weren’t all the time at odds. The Oscar winners allegedly fell for one another whereas filming the 2005 motion movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The origination of their relationship immediately precipitated […]

Jolie’s legal professional refutes that. “For Pitt to equate widespread NDAs they each routinely use protecting confidential info staff study at work with him trying to cowl up his historical past of prison abuse is shameful,” Murphy tells Us.

In a July 25 submitting, Jolie’s legal professionals stated Pitt’s NDA was “particularly designed to pressure her silence” and that “proof will present why Jolie’s sale to Pitt fell aside over Pitt’s demand to develop the NDA to cowl his years of abuse, denials and cover-up,” including that Jolie plans to make use of “Pitt’s personal contemporaneous communications describing and demonstrating precisely the habits he later sought to cowl.” (The Babylon actor contends he didn’t use the NDA to try to cowl up any abuse.)

A Pitt supply says Jolie’s facet has turned the struggle over Miraval right into a rehashing of their divorce case. “This was a easy enterprise dispute, however sadly, this authorized assault is simply the newest instance of [Jolie] harming your entire household by making it private.” Says the supply near the matter: “Suing Jolie for $67 million as a result of she refused to signal an NDA protecting up his prison abuse isn’t a ‘easy enterprise dispute.’ Pitt is the one suing Angelina but he someway thinks he can say she’s attacking him.”

See Angelina Jolie Posing With 5 of Her Kids at 'Eternals' Premiere

Associated: Images of Angelina Jolie With Her 6 Children By the Years

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s youngsters have grown up within the highlight. The previous couple began relationship in 2005, three years after the actress adopted her son, Maddox, from Cambodia. Pitt then accompanied Jolie to Ethiopia in 2005 to undertake Zahara, and he legally adopted each youngsters in 2006. The Oscar winners went on to […]

Jolie feels Pitt ought to again off. “[Jolie] didn’t wish to be in enterprise together with her ex-husband, particularly one involving alcohol. She merely exchanged the asset for money. The cash is for the kids,” says the supply near the matter, including, “She by no means pressed expenses, she left [Pitt] all their properties, and he or she’s the one who tried to promote him the enterprise within the first place. But he was not happy and nonetheless he sued her and continues to assault her within the press immediately.”

Professional Take

There’s little profit to Pitt if he dismisses the lawsuit, says enterprise litigation legal professional Michael M. 
Ahmadshahi (who doesn’t characterize Pitt or Jolie). “He’ll both need to work with Shefler to function the vineyard or promote his shares to him.” (Ahmadshahi says it’s “unlikely” Pitt can invalidate Jolie’s sale.) The one upside, Ahmadshahi tells Us, “is that there can be an finish to the controversy, and Brad and Angelina can transfer on with their lives.”

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Cover Us Weekly 000 Inglourious Basterds Premiere held at the Palais Des Festivals during the 62nd International Cannes Film Festival
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Photos

Ripple Impact

The collateral injury continues to pile up. On her 18th birthday in Could, Pitt’s daughter Shiloh filed to legally drop his surname. On July 22, Shiloh’s lawyer Peter Levine stated she’d made the “important” resolution to alter her identify “following painful occasions.” (The listening to in her case was delayed till August 19 “due to a clerical error,” Levine stated on July 29.) “Brad has no intention of sharing any public response to Shiloh dropping Pitt from her final identify,” says the primary supply, “nevertheless it breaks his coronary heart.”

At this level all however Knox seem to at the moment be utilizing Jolie’s final identify. There’s no indication Pitt has had contact with Pax since he was hospitalized on July 29 after crashing his e-bike in L.A. (A buddy of the Jolie household advised Us on August 4 that Pax — who “suffered complicated trauma” — had been launched from the ICU and was starting “a protracted street of restoration and bodily remedy.”) In June, an insider advised Us the children have “struggled to forgive and join with Brad because the divorce,” including, “As soon as Brad left it was very exhausting for them to see him go to struggle with Angelina. They’ve actually struggled with that.”

Hollywood's Ugliest Divorces

Associated: Hollywood’s Ugliest Divorces: From Johnny and Amber to Erika and Tom

All through their time within the highlight, some A-listers — together with Brad Pitt, Britney Spears, Madonna and Tom Cruise, amongst others — have discovered themselves concerned in fairly messy divorces. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard finalized their divorce in 2017, however their relationship drama continued on with a nasty court docket battle after they’ve each accused one another of verbal and […]

No Finish in Sight

It’s been a protracted — and really public — ordeal. “Brad’s extraordinarily non-public in the case of his private life,” says the primary supply. “He goes to nice lengths to not be photographed by paparazzi, even taking excessive measures corresponding to driving to his mailbox on the finish of the driveway simply to get his mail. Angelina’s a nepo child,” provides the supply. “She’s used to being within the highlight, so she is aware of the best way to navigate the media. Brad prefers laying low.”

Each Pitt and Jolie have discovered distraction of their work. Their new movies — Pitt’s Wolfs and her upcoming biopic Maria, by which she performs opera singer Maria Callas — are each set to display on the Venice Movie Competition in late August. A supply confirms schedules are being organized to make sure they don’t cross paths.

Whereas Jolie — who’s remained single — focuses on the children, Pitt has discovered solace in his girlfriend of over a yr, 34-year-old jewellery government Ines de Ramon. They have been photographed smiling and holding palms on the Grand Prix race in Northampton, England, on July 7. “Ines has been a rock for Brad this previous yr,” says the primary supply, “notably throughout these previous few weeks with Shiloh and all the ongoing authorized drama involving the vineyard. It’s clearly loads to take care of.”

With reporting by Brody Brown, Travis Cronin, Sarah Jones, Kat Pettibone & Andrea Simpson

For extra on Brad and Angelina, watch the unique video above and choose up the newest difficulty of Us Weekly — on newsstands now.

Sandra Lee Talks ‘Heartbreak’ of Andrew Cuomo Split and Cancer Battle

Ten years in the past, Sandra Lee had all of it: a lady raised in poverty who’d turn into a massively profitable entrepreneur, starring in her Emmy-winning TV present, Semi-Do-it-yourself Cooking. The upbeat queen of pantry hacks, 58, was additionally the longtime accomplice of good-looking and dynamic politician Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York. After which her life — a seemingly excellent mixture of magnificence and suburban sensibility akin to her iconic tablescapes — derailed quickly.

First got here the breast most cancers prognosis in March 2015, leading to a double mastectomy and full hysterectomy. Lee’s ongoing most cancers therapy left her unable to proceed her hit TV sequence, and it ended later that 12 months after 15 seasons. Nonetheless, the worst was but to come back. In 2019, her relationship with Cuomo, 66, imploded, touchdown the fiercely personal Lee in the course of a chronic and really public scandal. As photographers documented each step of the top of that relationship, Lee fled New York for L.A. and withdrew from public life.

“After I obtained sick, I used to be so wired and overwhelmed that when the Meals Community canceled me, I didn’t have the vitality to struggle them,” Lee tells Us Weekly of the destiny of Semi-Do-it-yourself.

The girl who sits down with Us in the lounge of her Malibu house is a far cry from the Sandra Lee of previous. Gone is the perky 50s throwback kitsch that outlined Semi-Do-it-yourself. As an alternative is somebody who’s gone via hell and are available out happier, decided and extra genuine. Now she’s lastly robust sufficient to speak about what occurred. “I’ve resigned myself to the truth that I’ll by no means recover from the heartbreak of lack of the final 10 years,” she says wistfully. “The grief has been infinite however I’ll use it to gas and feed me and make me wiser and stronger.”

John Chapple/MEGA

Lee pauses to sip her (constructed from scratch!) iced tea, her makeup-free face radiant within the pure mild. She stares out of her window, tears in her eyes, as she takes within the view: the Pacific Ocean glowing calmly as a pod of dolphins makes its method up the coast. “I’d say,” she continues, lastly, “that I’ve had probably the most difficult decade of my life.”

Darkish Occasions

To name her evaluation 
an understatement is placing it mildly. However the Sandra Lee of as we speak is able to get again to the enterprise of residing. She has two new TV sequence, Dinner Price range Showdown on Roku and Blue Ribbon Baking Championship premiering August 9 on Netflix. She additionally simply celebrated her third anniversary with Ben Youcef, a good-looking youthful man who swept in and taught Lee to like — and to belief — yet again.

It wasn’t straightforward. Cuomo, who appeared as a faithful and supportive accomplice in Lee’s documentary about her most cancers therapy, may apparently be a distinct individual behind the scenes. More and more distant, he spent increasingly time other than Lee. A spokesperson for Cuomo tells Us: “Governor Cuomo has all the time been completely supportive of Sandra via good instances and unhealthy. She partnered with him, frolicked with [his] women, and dealt with features as first woman very properly. Sandra and the Governor had separate and busy lives and grew aside over time. Breakups are all the time tough and there are all the time two sides of the story, however the Governor chooses to concentrate on the optimistic and he needs her nothing however success and happiness within the years forward.”

Stars Who Beat Breast Cancer Julia Louis-Dreyfus Cynthia Nixon and More p

Associated: Stars Who Beat Breast Most cancers

Many celebrities have spoken out about their private battles with breast most cancers through the years. Julia Louis-Dreyfus went public together with her breast most cancers prognosis in September 2017 through Instagram. Practically one 12 months later, she had efficiently crushed the sickness and returned to work on Veep. “It sounds type of corny, however there’s one thing about after […]

Lee’s self-described lowest level got here in the course of the day of her birthday in 2015 following her double mastectomy.

“Most cancers is aggressive and difficult, and it hides and waits,” Lee says of her battle with the illness, which she was recognized with that very same 12 months. “I needed to spend a 12 months coping with that, as aggressively as I may.”

In most cancers therapy, any birthday is important, a marker of private success towards the illness. “I spent the day on my own. I used to be sitting on my garden alone,” Lee says. (Cuomo denies this and says he cleared his schedule to be there.) “My birthday was a valuable day to me, particularly that one. I’m not somebody who feels sorry for themselves, however that day was a bit a lot for me.” Lee provides he ultimately got here residence and so they went out for dinner, however the harm was achieved.

Sandra Lee Cover Story
John Lamparski/Getty Pictures

Their relationship continued to deteriorate. In spring 2019, Cuomo made a comment, and it was the straw that broke the camel’s again. “I used to be in my kitchen,” she remembers, “and he mentioned one thing, and the minute he mentioned it, I knew what he’d simply mentioned. And each window and door closed. And that was it.” Lee’s dedication to integrity makes it unimaginable for her to disclose what was really mentioned. “He is aware of what it’s; I do know what it’s,” she tells Us, refusing to elaborate additional. Cuomo says that he didn’t see Lee throughout this time interval.

Breaking Level

After enduring the media protection of the break up — a humiliating time that Lee will solely describe as “s–tty” — one other tragedy rocked her world. A beloved uncle on the West Coast turned terminally unwell, and Lee instantly devoted herself to caring for him. “My job was to purchase him time,” she says. “And I did.” Lee made positive to get a lot of her uncle’s bucket record completed earlier than he succumbed to his sickness, and his December 2023 loss of life, although immensely painful to her, additionally proved cathartic.

“I went into the toilet and simply began throwing up,” she says quietly. “I believe that was my physique simply purging that 5 years of time.” Lee pauses. “Truly, that needed to be the bottom level of my life, leaning over a bathroom, vomiting from disappointment and grief.”

Round this time, after stepping up so courageously in the course of the pandemic, her ex Cuomo’s life and profession fell aside amidst quite a few accusations of sexually inappropriate habits with feminine staffers. (Cuomo denied the allegations and said that any suggestion he was untrue to Lee was false.) The controversy turned a media snowball because the allegations piled up, in the end ending his tenure as governor. The scandal introduced Cuomo and Lee’s breakup again into the highlight, and the renewed consideration threatened to engulf her. When requested in regards to the allegations, Lee takes the excessive highway, refusing to invest on what occurred.

Lee nonetheless refuses to debate her painful break up from Cuomo intimately, saying solely, “Once you dwell separate lives, you aren’t making a life collectively.”

Dream Man

Sandra Lee Cover Story

Sandra Lee and Ben Youcef attend Elton John AIDS Basis’s thirty second Annual Academy Awards Viewing Social gathering in March 2024.
Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

For Lee, there was a lightweight on the finish of the tunnel: Within the midst of the turmoil, she discovered love. “Assembly Ben was unbelievable,” Lee enthuses. “It was the right intersection of timing and chemistry.” Nonetheless, she was “terrified” of starting something and it took months earlier than something occurred with Youcef. “I hadn’t been intimate in years and years. I actually felt like a virgin at 55,” says Lee, “and I simply didn’t need to get entangled once more.”

Youcef, 46, was mild and protracted, not even making an attempt to kiss Lee till they’d been relationship for 2 months. “He lastly kissed me and I stood there stone-still,” Lee remembers. “He saved his lips on mine, and my thoughts simply went clean. I nonetheless didn’t kiss him again.”

When Lee known as him the next day to apologize for her odd habits, Youcef brushed it apart. “He waited and continued, and right here we’re,” she says with a smile, including that she not has any issues relating to intimacy. “My chemistry with Ben is one thing that I’ve by no means had earlier than,” she says. “It’s psychological, it’s emotional, and it’s a connection that I can’t even describe.”

The connection is signified by the dedication rings that the couple put on. When requested to distinction Youcef with Cuomo, she thinks for a minute earlier than answering. “Ben could be very affected person, and he’s very clear,” she says lastly. “He checks in on a regular basis, and shares every thing with me. He loves serving to folks with out agenda or motive. He actually tries to be a greater human each day.”

Candy Spot

With the romantic aspect of her life below management, Lee turned her consideration again to TV. Her newest undertaking, Blue Ribbon Baking Championship, is a cooking competitors set within the cutthroat world of state honest baking contests. The concept first got here to Lee 12 years in the past, impressed by her personal experiences as a blue-ribbon-winning baker on the 1992 Los Angeles County Honest. “These persons are probably the most aggressive within the nation,” she says. “We combed the nation for the most effective bakers in america. One lady, Eileen, has 700 ribbons!”

Stars Who Have Had Mastectomies

Associated: Stars Who’ve Had Mastectomies

Angelina Jolie is not alone. Christina Applegate, Giuliana Rancic, and Sharon Osbourne — amongst others — have additionally undergone surgical procedure to deal with or scale back their threat of breast most cancers

On high of Blue Ribbon Baking Championship, Lee is again in full swing, with, fittingly, “a baker’s dozen” different initiatives in varied levels of improvement. And on the finish of the day, she miraculously can look again on the previous 10 years with positivity and optimism. “All of us undergo ache and harm,” she says. “You’re both at first, the center or the top of harm and ache. It’s life. It’s a cycle. And you then get these wonderful runs of happiness that make all of it price it,” she pauses, looking for the proper phrases. “My life was a nightmare that slowly was a dream.”

Sandra Lee Heartbreak Andrew Cuomo Split and Cancer Battle
John Chapple

 

As Lee returns to the general public eye, she has a brand new mantra from an unlikely supply. “I discovered some life administration strategies from Taylor Swift,” she says with fun. “I test in with myself typically, really discuss to myself. ‘Is it OK with you, Sandy? Does this be just right for you? Have you ever made this error earlier than?’”

Because the interview winds down, Lee is relaxed and at peace. When requested if there’s something she’d like to depart readers with, her reply is immediate. “Loving,” she says with an enormous smile, “makes life price residing.”

For extra on Sandra Lee, watch the unique video above and choose up the newest subject of Us Weekly — on newsstands now.

With reporting by Amanda Williams

Christina Hall Was ‘Done’ in Her Marriage With Joshua Hall

On July 2, Christina Corridor sat down with Us Weekly to debate the brand new season of her present Christina on the Coast. Throughout the interview, the HGTV star talked about her almost three-year marriage to Josh Corridor, explaining that they find time for date nights and had plans to exit to dinner for her birthday on July 9.

However when the subject turned to the pair’s upcoming sequence, The Flip Off (which costars her ex-husband Tarek El Moussa and his spouse, Heather Rae El Moussa), there have been simple hints of rigidity.

“It’s by no means straightforward to work with a partner,” Christina mentioned. “It’s a complete new dynamic for us, and it’s going to be attention-grabbing the way it performs out.”

Fascinating, certainly. Two weeks later, on July 15, the pair filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable variations,” with Christina itemizing their date of separation as July 7. Based on an insider, Christina, 41, and Josh, 44, had been “having points for some time,” including that Josh has moved out of their shared residence.

The previous couple — who quietly tied the knot in October 2021 — received collectively after her cut up from British TV host Ant Anstead in September 2020. (Christina shares son Hudson, 4, with Anstead in addition to daughter Taylor, 13, and son Brayden, 8, with Tarek, 42.)

“Christina was making an attempt, however issues occurred, and it simply wasn’t working,” the insider shares within the newest problem of Us, noting that the HGTV star is shortly choosing up the items. “Christina was completed when she filed the papers. It’s exhausting, however she’s doing nice.”

Vince Flores/startraksphoto.com; Inset: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Cash Issues

Issues might get ugly. The insider tells Us Christina didn’t signal a prenup, and in courtroom paperwork, Josh is requesting spousal help and an equal division of neighborhood property acquired throughout the marriage.

That features the $12.6 million Newport Seaside, California, residence bought in April 2022 (Us can verify that Christina and Josh’s names are each on the title) and any rights to the Discovery and HGTV exhibits they developed, produced or contracted with throughout the marriage. (Josh, who’s labored as an actual property agent, has made appearances on Christina on the Coast and Christina within the Nation and has served as a consulting producer on the exhibits.) Christina isn’t requesting spousal help and is asking the courtroom to not award any to Josh.

The insider says cash has lengthy been a supply of rivalry for Christina and Josh. “Christina works very exhausting and is profitable,” says the insider. “She felt like Josh was not contributing sufficient to the family.” A second supply acquainted with the matter tells Us Josh was working all through their partnership.

Christina Haack and Joshua Hall’s Relationship Timeline - 047

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New York-based divorce lawyer Dror Bikel, who hasn’t labored with the Halls, tells Us that regardless of the shortage of prenup, Christina will doubtless come out OK.

“She’s the monied partner, she was extra profitable. We all know that as a result of he’s searching for alimony and equal division of property and belongings from the media program they’ve collectively,” he explains, noting that in the case of any exhibits they’ve labored on collectively, the courtroom “will ask if persons are tuning in for her or for him. Is it equal? Her aspect will doubtless argue that persons are tuning in for her, [and that] it’s not 50/50, perhaps 80/20, so she could have declare over extra of that income.”

Christina and Joshua s Hall Why She Was Done
Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage

The Fame Sport

Bikel says many actuality star {couples} are the victims of Fleeting Fame Syndrome — during which they get collectively “underneath magical circumstances” which can be unsustainable or hit the skids when their lives — and relationships — are placed on public show. (He namechecks The Bachelorette’s Rachel Lindsay and Bryan Abasolo, The Actual Housewives of Miami’s Alexia and Todd Nepola and Promoting Sundown’s Chelsea and Jeff Lazkani as potential victims of Fleeting Fame Syndrome.)

“Beneath any circumstances, fame is troublesome to take care of,” Bikel has mentioned. “When companions react in a different way to life within the public eye, it’s troublesome to take care of a relationship.”

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Not Wanting Again

Christina’s shifting ahead. Based on the insider, The Flip Off — which is ready to debut in 2025 — is in manufacturing with out Josh.

“They’re shifting ahead with out him,” says the insider, including that Christina wasn’t going to remain within the marriage any longer for the sake of a TV sequence. “It doesn’t matter [that] a present was introduced. That is her life, and children are concerned.”

She’s been down this street earlier than. In a sit-down with Us final July, Christina mirrored on her earlier breakups, saying, “Going by means of divorce may be very exhausting. It’s exhausting on me; it’s exhausting on the children.”

She later famous that her requirements had gotten greater lately. “Issues that I’d put up with in my 20s are issues I’d by no means put up with in my 40s,” Christina defined, including that she wasn’t the kind of individual to reside with regrets. “I’ve made errors, however I have a look at them as classes discovered.”

For extra on Christina and Joshua Corridor, watch the unique video above and decide up the newest problem of Us Weekly, on newsstands now.

With reporting by Amanda Williams

Taylor Swift Feared Her Fame Would ‘Scare’ Travis Kelce ‘Away’

Over the course of the previous 12 months, Travis Kelce received one Tremendous Bowl, landed a internet hosting gig on the upcoming Prime Online game present Are You Smarter Than a Movie star? and have become the NFL’s highest-paid tight finish. Taylor Swift shattered data together with her extremely profitable Eras Tour, took dwelling the Grammy Award for Album of the Yr (her fourth!) and formally grew to become a card-carrying member of the billionaires membership.

The 2 powerhouses additionally fell in love, spectacularly and publicly. Their story is straight out of a Hollywood rom-com: On July 8, 2023, Kelce, 34, attended Swift’s present at Arrowhead Stadium with the hopes of giving her his telephone quantity.

He recounted his disappointment over not having the ability to ship his digits (through a home made friendship bracelet) two weeks afterward his podcast, New Heights, telling his brother, Jason Kelce, “I used to be form of butthurt.” Swift, additionally 34, was impressed with Travis’ candid confession — she later referred to as the transfer “steel as hell.”

What adopted was a whirlwind romance involving behind-the-scenes matchmakers (sportscaster Erin Andrews and Travis’ teammate Patrick Mahomes have each individually taken credit score for taking part in Cupid), her headline-generating appearances at his video games, an epic backstage kiss in Buenos Aires, letting free within the crowd at Coachella and, extra just lately, double dates with well-known friends like Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper.

“This has been the perfect 12 months of each of their lives,” a supply solely shares within the newest problem of Us Weekly. “[Between] the Tremendous Bowl and their households assembly and touring the world collectively, it’s been fairly a journey for Taylor and Travis.”

Getty Photos; FilmMagic

Scorching Merchandise

Whereas neither is new to the celebrity sport, being one-half of probably the most well-known couple on Earth was extra of a transition for Travis.

“His life has modified considerably with the elevated public consideration,” says a second supply. “Taylor was frightened that bringing Travis into her world would scare him away, however he embraced it and dealt with it so nicely.” (Travis addressed the newfound consideration throughout an October 2023 press convention, saying, “You’ve acquired lots of people that care about Taylor, and for good motive.”)

The supply says Travis’ perspective “made her fall in love with him much more.”

A 3rd supply says there have been some rising pains for Travis, who moved right into a $6 million Kansas Metropolis mansion shortly after they went public.

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“Folks would present up at his home and go away issues on his doorstep,” says the supply. “It form of freaked him out at first. He didn’t really feel protected.”

Travis’ close-knit household — together with his mother, Donna Kelce, his brother, Jason, and his sister-in-law, Kylie Kelce — helped preserve him grounded.

“Travis was a star earlier than Taylor, however this has catapulted him to a family title,” says a fourth supply. “He has been dealing with it the perfect he can. He’s at all times had good folks round him.”

In a Groove

They spent months jet-setting across the globe to see one another throughout his soccer season and her Eras Tour. Travis memorably flew to Argentina for 48 hours to attend her November 11 live performance.

“Taylor’s exhibits are unbelievable,” he instructed Us at his Kelce Jam competition on Could 18. “In case you haven’t been to them, you bought to strive it.” Swift, in the meantime, rushed from Japan to make it to Las Vegas inside hours of the Tremendous Bowl.

Now issues have mellowed out a bit for the reason that early, frenzied days of their romance. “Taylor and Travis are very assured of their relationship, so that they don’t should bend over backwards and journey to see one another for lower than a day,” says the primary supply.

Provides the second supply: “They’re in a simple period. They’ve day by day FaceTimes after they’re aside and ship cute texts to one another. They’re wildly in love.”

Regardless of their hectic schedules, they make it work. “Taylor and Travis each have a whole lot of calls for of their careers, which permits them the time and house to overlook one another,” says the third supply. The second supply says additionally they keep linked with “little gestures and items to maintain the romance alive.”

Taylor Swift Feared Her Fame Would ‘Scare’ Travis Kelce ‘Away’ in Early Days of Relationship
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A Banner Yr

Sources say Swift has by no means been happier. “No one has ever made Taylor really feel this fashion,” reveals the third supply. “Taylor and Travis convey out the perfect in one another and elevate one another up. She completely sees this going the space.”

Provides the primary supply: “A 12 months in there’s such an ease between them. It looks like they’ve been collectively longer as a result of they’re so in tune.”

Swift will get a three-month break from her Eras Tour between August and November. The primary supply says she plans on staying at Travis’ dwelling in Kansas Metropolis whereas he performs within the NFL season.

“Taylor’s been having enjoyable adorning his Kansas Metropolis [place],” says the second supply, “and she or he’s trying ahead to the straightforward joys of being collectively.”

Mates suppose Swift and Travis are in it for the lengthy haul, however neither one is dashing something. “They’re taking issues one step at a time,” says the second supply, “and having fun with their journey collectively.”

For extra on Travis and Swift’s romance, watch the unique video above and choose up the newest problem of Us Weekly — on newsstands now.

With reporting by Travis Cronin, Sarah Jones & Andrea Simpson

Kate, Oliver Hudson’s Estranged Dad Bill Details How ‘Rift Is Healing’

Throughout an April look on CBS Sunday Morning, Kate Hudson received candid about her strained connection to her organic father, Invoice Hudson. When requested what her relationship along with her dad is like now, Kate, 45, mentioned, “I don’t actually have one,” earlier than including a glimmer of hope about what the longer term would possibly maintain: “Nevertheless it’s warming up.”

It’s been an extended and winding highway for Kate, her older brother Oliver Hudson, 47, and Invoice, who was married to their mother, Goldie Hawn, from 1976 till 1982. The siblings have been open about feeling deserted by Invoice once they have been youngsters.

In 2015, Oliver posted a scathing Father’s Day message on Instagram, writing, “Glad abandonment day,” alongside a throwback picture of Oliver and Kate with Invoice. Afterward, Invoice mentioned he didn’t wish to see his eldest youngsters “ever once more” however reconnected with Oliver three years later.

Now Invoice, 74, solely shares within the newest subject of Us Weekly that the household is embarking on a recent begin collectively.

“Kate put it completely. We’re warming up [and] letting issues take their course,” Invoice says, who can also be dad to Emily, 42, and Zachary, 38, together with his late ex-wife, Cindy Williams, and 18-year-old Lalania with ex Caroline Graham. (He additionally had son Paul as a teen, who was put up for adoption.) “All households have rifts. It’s good that our rift is therapeutic.”

In 2016, Kate instructed Howard Stern that Invoice “was round after we have been younger, then it form of teetered out.”

Getty Photographs (2)

His absence was painful for the siblings. “I feel we each in all probability suffered otherwise and really equally to anyone who feels deserted by a father or mother,” Kate mentioned a couple of months earlier. (Goldie’s longtime companion, Kurt Russell — affectionately known as “Pa” by Oliver and Kate — was a hands-on stepdad. Goldie and Kurt, 73, are additionally mother and father to Wyatt, 37.)

Invoice tells Us their relationship had “years of ups and downs,” in order the household mends fences, they’re taking issues sluggish.

“There’s no strain,” Invoice explains. “We’re simply letting it’s what will probably be. As a result of nobody is pushing it, there’s no turmoil or points.”

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They’re additionally doing their finest to look ahead. “So much went down, and we aren’t revisiting it,” Invoice says. “Nobody needs to rehash the previous. You’ll be able to’t transfer ahead if all you’re doing is analyzing the previous. We’re within the current.”

Kate and Oliver aren’t simply reuniting with their dad — they’re additionally again in contact with their stepsiblings.

“My sister and I and my brother have all simply began speaking once more,” Kate revealed throughout a January episode of the “Sibling Revelry” podcast, which she cohosts with Oliver. “I had this second final yr the place I used to be like, ‘I don’t know why I don’t speak to my different siblings.’”

Kate famous that she’d reached out to considered one of her sisters, believed to be Emily. “I received on the cellphone with [her], and we simply began bawling our eyes out. It was nice. She even mentioned it. We begin now. We begin now,” she mentioned.

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Invoice says he’s thrilled all people is getting alongside. “My daughter Emily simply had a child [and] Kate’s been nice about that,” he tells Us, including that Emily — who’s a songwriter — and Zachary — who’s additionally a musician — just lately attended Kate’s premiere social gathering for her upcoming debut album, Superb.

“It’s nice,” he says of the renewed bond. “I like it. We’re all coming again. Everybody has gone by means of life experiences and all of the crap within the public eye and realized that each one you’ve got is your loved ones.”

As for future get-togethers between the stepsiblings, a supply tells Us that issues “will occur naturally,” including, “Everyone seems to be married with youngsters, and everyone seems to be busy and off doing their very own factor.”

The insider additionally notes that Invoice has met his grandkids: Oliver shares Wilder, 16, Bodhi, 14, and Rio, 10, with spouse Erinn Bartlett; Kate has Ryder, 20, with first husband Chris Robinson; Bingham, 12, with ex Matt Bellamy; and Rani Rose, 5, with fiancé Danny Fujikawa.

Goldie, 78, is alleged to be supportive of Kate and Oliver as they discover making amends with their dad. “She’s completely happy about it,” the supply says. “They’re adults, to allow them to do what they need. Everyone seems to be cool with what everyone seems to be doing at this level.”

Throughout a latest episode of “Sibling Revelry,” Oliver talked about his expertise attending a weeklong course on the Hoffman Institute. In the course of the private development retreat, he frolicked “unpacking” a few of his childhood trauma.

He mentioned he felt “unprotected” at instances by his mother when she was away working and that the restricted time he spent with Invoice was “unimaginable,” including, “We performed soccer, we performed basketball, we have been on the seaside, he taught me the best way to fish. He was so current, however he was by no means there.”

Oliver later clarified that he was not disparaging his mother: “I don’t know who I’d be with out my mom. The love I’ve for her and the respect and the reverence that I’ve for her is past something.”