Selma Blair recalls getting drunk at age 7, past sexual abuse in new memoir
In her forthcoming memoir, "Mean Baby," Selma Blair shares new insights about her decades-long struggle with alcohol addiction, revealing that she first got drunk at age 7 and writing candidly about the sexual abuse that made the feeling appeal to her for many years to come. "My first (time) drunk (was) when I was 7. I had my first drinks much younger," the "Cruel Intentions" star, 49, said in an interview on "Today" on Wednesday, May 11. Her heavy drinking ensued through her school years and college, she said. "It was hard. I don't know. But maybe it was easier. Maybe I never would have survived without a drink." The book, out May 17, also delves into Selma's battle with multiple sclerosis (MS), including the chemotherapy and stem cell transplant she underwent starting in 2018. Though she wasn't diagnosed until adulthood, Selma said on "Today" that she now sees the health problems and pain when she had when she was younger "were so indicative of MS," adding, "I do know for sure I had it by the age of 23. It was definitely there for so long." Despite her blossoming film career in the late '90s, Selma writes that she maintained "the desire to drink as much as I could, as often as I could … for more than 20 years," in part, as a way "to forget" experiences like being raped, which she says happened multiple times, including by a high school administrator. "You bury it. You really do. It's a big deal to have these things happen and hold that shame in your cells," she said on "Today." Now sober since 2016 — she quit after passing out on a plane while traveling with her young son — the actress is also in a better place, physically, as her MS is in remission.
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Rebel Wilson confirms new romance: 'I'm happily in a relationship'
After spending one "Year of Love" going on 50-odd dates, followed by a "Year of Health" in which she lost nearly 80 pounds, Rebel Wilson says she's "now happily in a relationship," thanks to a mutual friend. The "Senior Year" star recently stopped by Jared Freid and Jordana Abraham's "U Up?" podcast, where she dished on the long and prolific dating path that preceded her finding her new guy (whom she didn't name). She explained that she didn't date much until after her career-focused 20s. Then, in 2019, the actress decided to embark on a "Year of Love," she said, according to Entertainment Tonight. "I think I went out with about 50 people in that one year, but some of them were just one date and then you think, 'Oh, no.' … I deliberately wanted to push myself to date a bunch of people and gain that experience …," Rebel explained. "For a woman my age – at that point I was 39 – I really wanted a relationship, but I had only had a few small relationships, so I had to just get more practice in dating." In 2020, she turned her attention to her health, then dated Anheuser-Busch heir Jacob Busch, before the relationship fizzled in 2021. Rebel said she also tried dating apps but found she couldn't necessarily trust the people she met online. (In fact, she claimed the FBI got involved after she correctly suspected something was amiss with one potential suitor.) Finally, a friend set up the "Pitch Perfect" star with someone he's known for years — and so far, so good. "I am now happily in a relationship," she told the podcast hosts. "I think that escalates things quicker, meeting someone from a trusted source. I can trust that they are who they say they are, which is something that you don't really know on the apps."
Did Adele and Rich Paul just move in together?
On Wednesday, May 11, Adele shared a gallery of photos on Instagram showing her and boyfriend Rich Paul together at various points in their relationship, starting with a pic of the two standing before a large, white house as they smiled and held up a set of keys. It seemed suggest the two have moved in together, despite recent split rumors they've faced. JustJared.com identifies the home as the Los Angeles mansion once owned by Sylvester Stallone that Adele was believed to be in the process of buying, and reports she paid $58 million for the pad. There's not much to go on from the gallery or Adele's caption, "time flies," though. Other photos in the post show the singer and her guy smiling at one another from across opposite ends of a McDonald's counter, wearing the same shirts at a softball game, and kissing in a hotel room. The final pic in the batch shows a fortune cookie fortune that reads, "You have found good company – enjoy." Questions about the pair's relationship status surfaced earlier this month after Adele seemed to have spent her 34th birthday away from Rich, who was in Miami with his client, LeBron James. A source recently told People the two are still very much together, they've just been busy with work projects.
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Amy Schumer wants to be 'healthy and strong' following liposuction, endometriosis surgeries
Amy Schumer's ready to embrace her body and "be healthy" after undergoing multiple recent surgeries, including liposuction and a hysterectomy. On Wednesday, May 11, the comic shared a selfie from what looks like her home gym that showed the "Trainwreck" star in a black corset, strappy black heels and a pair of black shades. "C section. Hysterectomy. Lipo. This summer is about letting the love in," Amy, 40, wrote in the caption. "Trying to be healthy and strong for myself and my family. I want to feel hot too. In my prime. Let's go. Who's with me?" The answer is apparently lots of folks, including Michelle Pfeiffer, Olivia Culpo, Lisa Rinna and Debra Messing, all of whom shared their support in the comments. As Amy told Hoda Kotb in January on the "Today" anchor's "Making Space" podcast, she suffered from severe body image issues after undergoing a difficult pregnancy, followed by a C-section when she had her son, Gene, now 2. And while she knows the ability to have surgery like that is "a privilege thing," she also wanted to be upfront about how she lost weight. "I wanted to share it with people, just because I can't lie about myself," she said at the time. "I just can't do it. I can't be like, 'Yeah, crunches. And I've just been eating smoked salmon,' you know? So I had to be real." Amy's also spoken publicly about her endometriosis pain, which led her to have both her uterus and her appendix removed in the fall of 2021.
Selena Gomez responds on TikTok as fans accuse her of shading Hailey Bieber
Selena Gomez has long said she mostly avoids social media and has her team handle her passwords to protect her mental health. She's also asked fans to stop pitting her against Hailey Bieber, who's now married to her ex, Justin Bieber — Hailey's done the same regarding Selena over the years. But none of that stopped TikTok users from claiming a video on Selena's page this week was intended to shade Hailey. According to screenshots captured by a fan account and published by E!, Selena shared a clip about her personal skincare routine on Tuesday, May 10. Hailey, it seems, had posted a handful of skincare videos on TikTok earlier that day. Even though Selena has her Rare Beauty line to promote and Hailey's launching a skincare line, Rhode, in June 2022, some TikTok users jumped on Selena's post. "LOL I know who she's referring to," one person claimed, according to E! News. Asked another: "Wait…is she trynna make fun of you know who." Others, meanwhile, assured the singer she'd done nothing wrong. In the end, Selena shut down the negativity with a confused but polite apology for whatever sparked the comments. "This is why I believe in taking care of your mental health. Guys no idea what I did but I really am sorry," she wrote, according to the outlet's report. "Zero bad intention. Deleting soon." As Selena said in the January 2022 edition of InStyle, "Taking a break from social media was the best decision that I've ever made for my mental health," she told InStyle in January. "I created a system where I still don't have my passwords. And the unnecessary hate and comparisons went away once I put my phone down."
Johnny Depp fan says she's spent $30k to attend Amber Heard defamation trial so she 'could be here for Johnny'
Johnny Depp's $50 million defamation trial against Amber Heard has been livestreamed from a Virginia courthouse since it began last month. But some fans are so determined to watch the proceedings up-close that they've spent as much as five figures "so I could be here for Johnny," as Ivan De Boer, 59, put it in a People interview published on Wednesday, May 11. Ivan told the outlet she "used a year's worth of paid vacation time" to cover what's amounted to $30,000 worth of travel expenses. "No regrets," says the fan, who lives in Los Angeles. "I'd regret it more if I wasn't here," she said. Other fans recounted tales of arriving as early as 1 or 2 a.m. each night to get a place in line and ensure they could get inside the court. "It is not totally convenient to be in Virginia for most of the week, every week, but I was sleeping in my car when I came here," said a fan who identified themselves as Jarva, 33,from Brooklyn, New York. "And since then, I've been staying at the Ritz with my friends. I stayed in my other friend's apartment, and I'll stay in my car if I need to. It's worth it," they added. The trial, which is on a break this week, is expected to continue with more testimony from both Amber and Johnny, who's suing his ex-wife on grounds the actress' 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post about surviving domestic abuse defamed him by implying he was the abuser, though she never named him in the piece.
Mario Batali acquitted of sexual misconduct in Boston trial
Celebrity chef Mario Batali was found not guilty of indecent assault and battery on Tuesday, May 10, in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations stemming from an alleged incident in a Boston bar in 2017. The former host of ABC's "The Chew," 61, never testified during the trial, which focused on claims made by the chef's accuser, Natali Tene, 32, according to a New York Times report. Natali reportedly claimed the chef forcibly kissed and groped her late at night at the bar. In his ruling, Judge James Stanton said he found Natali "has significant credibility issues," after the chef's attorney, Tony Fuller, claimed in closing arguments that Natali "lied for fun and she lied for money" about the alleged incident, the Times reported. Kevin Hayden, the Suffolk County district attorney, said in a statement after the trial: "When the individual who committed such an abhorrent act is in a position of power or celebrity, the decision to report an assault can become all the more challenging and intimidating."