By Wonderwall.com Editors
3:18pm PDT, Sep 30, 2020
Christina Aguilera on how her sense of beauty has changed since 2002's 'Beautiful'
It's been nearly two decades since Christina Aguilera released "Beautiful," a song about how beauty comes from who we are on the inside, not how we look on the outside. Now 39, the singer believes that message more than ever, especially having weathered years in a pop music landscape where women artists are expected to fit body and beauty standards that aren't necessarily healthy. In a new cover story for L'Officiel Italia, Christina, who looks stunning in black lingerie and thigh-high boots on the fashion mag's cover, shares how she's been able to shrug off an industry that urged her to look a certain way by simply announcing, "I'm not going on a diet, get over it," while knowing she's "fine" just the way she is. Christina also recalled how the day she and Linda Perry wrote "Beautiful," she knew it would always be important to her because of its message. Though she's had to face her own criticism and "anxieties" over the years, Christina explains, "Being able to cope with disappointments and insecurities becomes a strength when you decide to turn everything into your superpower." So how does the singer define beauty today? "True beauty for me is the ability to know you and project who you are in an unmistakable light," she says, allowing that "you" won't always be "pretty" or "perfect," but rather, "pure." As for fans who still struggle to see themselves that way, she says, "Be kind to yourself. … [we are all] different … so there's no point in making comparisons." Christina was slated to appear in a series of shows at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas in November. She announced this week the shows have been canceled due to concerns around safety and the coronavirus pandemic.
RELATED: The biggest music moments of 2020 so far
Kylie Jenner's bikini pics drive nearly 50,000 users to Vote.org in one day
Nothing to see here, folks … just a mega-wealthy reality star using her superpowers for a good cause — those superpowers being nearly 200 million Instagram followers and some seriously dangerous curves. This week, Kylie Jenner shared a pair of thirst trap bikini pics on the 'Gram. The first included a caption announcing it was the seventh day of fall. The second was captioned, "but are you registered to vote? click the link in my bio.. let's make a plan to vote together 🤍🤍." Kylie's bio currently features a link to a voter registration signup via the nonprofit Vote.org. According to TMZ, the first day the post was up, the website — which also features easy-to-access info about polling locations, election tidbits and more — had a 1,500 percent uptick in traffic coming from Instagram. Vote.org's voter registration and verification tools also reportedly jumped more than 80 percent from the day prior. Finally, the site reported 48,000 visitors who clicked over from the link in Kylie's bio. Kylie, by the way, has not endorsed any particular candidate yet.
RELATED: Celebrities react to Donald Trump and Joe Biden's first debate
Cardi B gets a warning about her plea deal options in strip club case
Between Cardi B's massive "WAP" success, her recent divorce filing and her social media-centric fascination with the upcoming election, it's almost hard to remember the circumstances that landed the rapper in court last year over an alleged fight in a strip club. Prosecutors in New York City's Queens borough haven't forgotten, though, and they're more than ready to move forward despite delays in the case related to Cardi's rejection of a plea deal offer. At a virtual hearing on Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Ryan Nicolosi issued a stern warning about the plea deal talks that have dragged on since early 2019, according to Page Six. He said he was making one final offer that would allow the rapper to take a misdemeanor charge in allegations she attacked sisters Jade and Baddie Gi, both bartenders at a strip club called Angels in 2018. If she continues to reject the offers, she could be stuck facing higher charges, including two counts of felony attempted assault. "We are not going to go lower than a misdemeanor … We are again offering this misdemeanor but we cannot guarantee that that offer will be held open or offered again in the future," he said in the hearing, which neither Cardi nor her co-defendants attended. He said he was done waiting as "it seems like there is not going to be a plea." Cardi has pleaded not guilty; her lawyer didn't respond to Page Six for comment but reportedly told the A.D.A. Cardi would be informed "the plea offer may have an expiration date."
RELATED: Cardi B's best style moments
Late-night hosts react to the first presidential debate of 2020
It seems the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden did an "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" number on poor Stephen Colbert. "I come to you tonight, ladies and gentlemen, an empty vessel, a man with a mind wiped clean," Stephen said on "Late Night" Tuesday after the historically chaotic and shrill affair. "Forget fact checking this debate, we couldn't even do sentence finding," he continued (via Deadline). "I never thought I'd say this but I am so looking forward to the vice presidential debate. I mean for Pete's sake, children watched that! I'm glad I already had my children because I think just watching that sterilized me." While the CBS host joked that the candidates' nonsensical arguing was reminiscent "of that time Abraham Lincoln debated a leaf blower," Jimmy Fallon over on NBC noted, "Usually when you see two guys this age arguing, it's about leaves being blown onto each other's lawns," on "The Tonight Show." Jimmy Kimmel agreed, describing the special as "a terrible debate." He added: "I'd call it a nightmare, but at least during a nightmare you get some sleep."
Sacha Baron Cohen unveils first look at 'Borat' sequel just in time for the debate
As Tuesday night's debate between presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden got underway Tuesday night, celebs on both sides of the aisle provided plenty of commentary on social media. One star, however, went above and beyond. Sacha Baron Cohen, who recently completed a sequel to 2006's "Borat" movie, posted the first teaser for the film. Rather, his fake Republican of Kazakhstan Twitter account did the posting. Either way, the whole thing was a riff on the debate and election, which appears to be the focus of the secretly shot film. "Congratulation to great friend of the Kazakh people @realDonaldTrump for winning debate today!" Sacha captioned the clip. "Impressive and amazing result for a strong premier who always put America and Kazakhstan first!" The teaser featured archival footage of the president (dubbed "strongest premiere in history" by Borat's voiceover) doing things like watching women dance ("protector of womens!" Borat exclaims) and shaking the hand of his on-off pal, Kanye West ("he not racist!"), along with some archival footage that decidedly did not feature Trump. "War hero!" Borat yells as footage from a combat zone includes a circled soldier identified as Trump, who infamously avoided the draft via five deferments during the Vietnam War. Another scene shows a graph with America's coronavirus case numbers far exceeding those of most other countries. "Because of Trump," Borat hollers, "350 million Americans still alive!" The new film, "Borat: Gift of Pornographic Monkey to Vice Premiere Mikhael Pence to Make Benefit Recently Diminished Nation of Kazakhstan," premieres on Amazon Prime on Oct. 23, two weeks before the Nov. 3 election.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk celebrate two years of marriage
"Year two, through!" That's how Gwyneth Paltrow marked her second wedding anniversary with writer and producer Brad Falchuk on Tuesday. The actress and Goop founder, 48, shared the sweet note alongside a selfie of the smiling pair on Instagram. Despite their two years of marriage, Gwyneth and Brad, 49, held off on moving in together for about a year, primarily out of consideration for their teenaged children from previous relationships, all of whom were in the wedding party. "We took a year to let everybody take it in and let the dust settle," Gwyneth told InStyle last summer. "And now we're moving in together this month." On Sunday, in honor of Gwyneth's birthday, Brad paid tribute to Gwyneth by sharing a photo of the birthday girl kicking back on a sofa by her laptop. "She makes pizza from scratch, is never late for cocktail hour, makes looking good annoyingly easy and never skips an opportunity to put an a—— in his place," he wrote. "She makes friends feel like family and family feel like friends. Trust me, she's the best. Happy, happy, happy birthday, Beauty. I love you."
Kevin Hart and Eniko Parrish welcome a baby girl
Back in May, the same month Kevin Hart's wife Eniko Parrish revealed the couple was expecting a girl, Kevin told ET he felt "blessed beyond [his] years" that they'd soon be a family of six — "two girls, two boys, two dogs." On Wednesday, Eniko announced on Instagram that that time had finally come. "9 months prepping to fall in love for a lifetime," Eniko shared. "Thankful • grateful • blessed 🙏🏽 a little bit of heaven sent down to earth .. welcome to the world baby girl.. we couldn't love you more..💜 ✨Kaori Mai Hart✨ 9.29.20." Kaori is the couple's second child together. They welcomed their 2-year-old son Kenzo in 2017, the year after they tied the knot. In addition to her big brother, Kaori also has two older half-siblings, Heaven, 15, and Hendrix, 12, from Kevin's previous marriage. Congrats!
Machine Gun Kelly premieres PDA-filled 'Drunk Face' video starring Megan Fox
Machine Gun Kelly's homage to his new love Megan Fox via music video has a sequel. In the wake of the singer and rapper's "Bloody Valentine" vid, which features a lot of Megan pawing MGK's face with her feet, comes his new video for "Drunk Face," out this week. Once again, the primary action that accompanies the song revolves around Megan and MGK's budding romance, which began after they met on the set of "Midnight in the Switchgrass," their upcoming film. Per Page Six, the vid shows Megan and the singer exploring the nooks and crannies of Los Angeles as a pair, smooching, partying and jetting off together in a private plane. A note on the screen alerts fans that "this all happened the day [MGK's new album] 'Tickets To My Downfall' came out." Speaking to Howard Stern last week, the rapper said he "didn't know what love was" until he and Megan made eye contact.
Andy Cohen addresses 'ageism' claims related to 'RHOC' departures
Andy Cohen insists "ageism" had nothing to do with the departures of Tamra Judge, 53, and Vicki Gunvalson, 58, from "The Real Housewives of Orange County." The issue came up during his appearance on the latest edition of Brandi Glanville's "Unfiltered" podcast, where she claimed Tamra and Vicki accused Andy of firing them because of an age-based prejudice. "I felt like they told their entire stories, and they both said that you were an ageist …, " Brandi relayed to Andy. "They said that you were ageist, that you were going against them because they got too old." It's not the first time the stars' ages have come up as possible reasons for their departures. According to People, Tamra said during a "Behind the Velvet Rope" podcast appearance that she thought Bravo wanted to replace some cast members with "younger Housewives." Andy took issue with the claim. "If you look at the women on our shows, there are a lot of women who are really thriving in their 50s and late-50s. Yeah, no. I don't care for that [comment]," he said. "… We just felt like the show needed some new air. We just needed to kind of air it out and see where it went," he continued. "… Even though these two women — who are so identifiable with it and will always be and I hope will someday be back in some capacity — the show is still the show. And I was very happy about that. It needed to go in new directions." Tamra later tweeted something to the effect of a denial she'd called Andy ageist, posting, "Setting the record straight, Brandi is lying ….again! Andy knows it! The link to the story is in my bio & story @ Liar." She previously told People she was simply "looking forward to a life away from the cameras." Season 15 of "RHOC" premieres Wednesday, Oct. 7.
Kristin Cavallari is 'working on' dropping Cutler from her name
Kristin Cavallari is technically still Kristin Cutler — but she's "working on changing" that, she told Ryan Seacrest Wednesday. It was Ryan who actually spotted the error on her Zoom screen, which features her married name. Given her recent high-profile split from Jay Cutler, the "Live!" host asked about her plans. "I'm literally going to take a note right now to change it," she said, admitting she hadn't even noticed (via People). Kristin and Jay reportedly separated in April after a decade together. They share three kids and are currently in the process of negotiating their divorce.
