By Wonderwall.com Editors
6:00pm PDT, May 30, 2023
Health update
Jay Leno is well on his way to recovery after two devastating accidents in recent months. In November 2022, the former "Tonight Show" host suffered third-degree burns in a car fire. Then, just a few months later in January 2023, he broke his collarbone and two ribs and fractured both kneecaps in a motorcycle accident. Despite all of that, the comic tells Page Six he's "doing good" and already done with his physical therapy. "It's fine! I'm fine," said Jay, 73. "Look, when you're in my position, when you're any kind of celebrity, you're luckier than most people," he added. "So when something bad happens to you, you can't whine and complain about it because bad things happen to people every day — either they get burned or they get cut — and they don't have the financial wherewithal I did. So I just make jokes." Without missing a beat, he then did just that, joking that "people love to see rich people catch on fire," adding, "… plus, it's Hollywood, as long as you look OK, you're OK. Nobody really cares how you feel." Jay returns to the small screen on May 30 as a celebrity guest judge on the NBC series "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge."
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'You can't fix everyone'
Two years after her divorce from Kanye West, Kim Kardashian says she now knows it's futile to try and change a person's views and beliefs. Speaking to Jay Shetty on the May 22 edition of his "On Purpose" podcast, Kim said she's in "a really good place" now, then, without naming names, reflected on a relationship that ended after more than a decade. "I've learned maybe the hard way … but something I learned is that you cannot help people that don't want the help," Kim said. "You can't force your beliefs and project that on someone that thinks something totally different." She went on to say that "if you don't align in the same values and morals and things at your core," then it's OK to look for someone who does. "Thinking you have the power to change someone is so selfish and so crazy, and everyone does it," added the Skims creator. "Sometimes I feel like people think that if a relationship doesn't work out that it's a failure, but I don't really look at it like that — 15 years together, 10 years. That's not a failure. That is so beautiful."
Kim and Kanye called it quits in 2021 after seven years of marriage, four kids and more than a decade as partners. The two diverged in their opinions on politics and parenting, as Kanye made very clear over the course of a number of social media rants. Kim, for her part, sounds like she's made peace with moving on. "Know it's OK to choose yourself and find what does align and that it's OK that you can't fix everyone. And maybe those people don't need fixing," she said. The Hulu star also pointed out that while it can be "painful" to see someone you love falling, "sometimes that's what they were here to go through."
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Father knows best
Turns out Sylvester Stallone's writing skills extend way beyond screenplays. According to his daughters, Sistene and Sophia Stallone, Sly's got some serious skills in the "break-up text" writing department. In fact, the 76-year-old is so good at helping his 24 and 26-year-olds give potential beaus the heave-ho, Sistene says the actor is their go-to scriptwriter for ending "most" romances. "My dad is a savant when it comes to our dating lives in so many areas," she said this week in an appearance on the "Giggly Squad" podcast with Sophia. "In one area, he writes most of our breakup texts." Sophia then explained: "I highly suggest girls should go up to their dad and have their dad write a breakup text because men know men. I'm telling you." Sophia jumped in to note the exes "never get mad for being honest," which is presumably Sly's approach to saying "thank you, next."
The "Rocky" star apparently has a sixth sense about which guys his daughters will want to see again, too. "We're like, 'Oh, this [person] is a good egg. We're gonna bring him home.' And [our dad] is always standoffish," Sistene said, describing how Sly just "stands in the corner, doesn't say anything … just to intimidate" a date sometimes. "I go, 'Why do you do that?' And he goes, 'I can tell within the first four minutes of meeting [a boyfriend] if he's going to last or not, and so I'm not going to waste my time,'" she continued. "And he's right every time." In addition to Sistine and Sophia, Sylvester and his (now on-again) wife, Jennifer Flavin, also share 20-year-old daughter, Scarlet. According to Sophia, it's only Scarlet whose boyfriends tend to be a slam dunk when it comes to their dad's approval.
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Hostile set rehash
"The Little Mermaid" star Halle Bailey told CNN her co-star, Melissa McCarthy, encouraged her to stand up for herself on set — something Melissa said she didn't learn to do herself until she was older. Now, Melissa's opening up about the toxic work environment where she found her voice. "I did work for someone once who ran such a volatile, hostile set that it made me physically ill," Melissa, 52, recently told The Guardian. "My eyes were swelling up, I was absorbing all of this nuttiness … There were people weeping, visibly so upset by this one person. And I think that's why the manipulation worked, because to get to me this person would fire people I loved, which kept me quiet. It was very effective," she recalled. "Then one day, I was like, 'It stops today!' I just kept saying to them, 'it stops, it stops.' And I know now I'll never keep quiet again." Halle, 23, previously said Melissa had admitted she "wasn't always" able to speak up for herself, telling Halle, "when you're young, you're timid." Halle's Ariel and Melissa's Ursula hit theaters in "The Little Mermaid" on Friday, May 2.
Rumor fix
Lupita Nyong'o is weighing in on speculation about her history with Janelle Monáe. In a new cover story on Janelle for Rolling Stone, Lupita was asked about the pair's relationship — and rumors that became more than just friends after meeting at the 2014 Met Gala. "She has magnetism that they were obviously picking up on. She is that enigmatic. People are curious about enigmatic people," Lupita told the outlet, adding that she was "not surprised" about the buzz. "I don't mind being associated with her in any capacity," she added of her "extremely gifted" pal. "Her openness creates intimacy onscreen. It's really cool to see her move from one thing to another and do it with such mastery." The actress also noted that "just because you're a close friend of [Janelle's] doesn't mean you get to know everything about her," which Lupita says "makes [Janelle] interesting as an artist." Janelle, who came out as pansexual in 2018, also discussed her love life — if only to explain why she prefers not to divulge those kinds of details. "I have a policy and agreement with myself — that is a part of my life that I want to keep private. I can talk about my identity; I can talk about my sexuality," said Janelle, who identifies as nonbinary. "I can talk about all things Janelle Monáe without having to go into detail. You know what I mean? It's not necessary. I'm not obligated to share my story. Nobody's obligated."
Song for Christine
Stevie Nicks is still grieving the November 2022 death of her Fleetwood Mac bandmate and longtime best friend, Christine McVie. But as she told her audience in Atlanta on Monday, May 22, there's one song that's been helping her get through the pain — Taylor Swift's "You're On Your Own, Kid" from her "Midnights" album. Onstage, Stevie said track summarizes "the sadness of how I feel" in the wake of Christine's death at 79 after a short illness last fall. "As long as Chris was even on the other side of the world — we didn't have to talk on the phone; we really weren't phone buddies," Stevie shared in Atlanta, according to Entertainment Weekly. "We'd go back to Fleetwood Mac and we'd walk in and it'd just be like, 'Hey, little sister, how are you?' It was like never a minute had passed. Never an argument in our entire 47 years. Never. When it was the two of us, the two of us were on our own, kids. We always were," she continued. "And now, I'm having to learn to be on my own, kid, by myself."
Taylor's moving lyrics include lines like, "Everything you lose is a step you take / So make the friendship bracelets / Take the moment and taste it / You've got no reason to be afraid. / You're on your own, kid / Yeah, you can face this / You're on your own, kid / You always have been."
Police protection ruling
Prince Harry won't be allowed to pay for the cost of police protection for his family when they're in the U.K., The High Court in London ruled on Tuesday, May 23. Harry and his wife, Duchess Meghan, lost access to police protection when they stepped down as working royals and relocated to California. Harry initially challenged that decision out of concern for his family's safety, particularly given that his mother, Princess Diana, died from injuries she sustained in a car accident after being chased by photographers. According to CNN, the U.K.'s Home Office argued that it was "not appropriate to support an outcome whereby wealthy individuals could 'buy' Protective Security from specialist police officers" in situations where the governmental group charged with protecting royals and other public figures had already determined taxpayer-funded protective security wasn't warranted. Harry's also asked for a review of the initial decision to withdraw his publicly-funded police protection in the U.K., CNN reported. The decision comes one week after a rep for Harry, Meghan and Meghan's mom, Doria Ragland, said the three were aggressively pursued in a car chase by paparazzi in New York City. No one was hurt.
