By Wonderwall.com Editors
9:23am PST, Feb 16, 2023
Pharell Williams named Louis Vuitton men's creative director
Two years after the sudden death of beloved Louis Vuitton artistic director Virgil Abloh, the fashion house has announced Pharrell Williams will step in as the brand's new men's creative director. The 13-time Grammy winner – who sparked countless style memes with the big brown vintage Vivienne Westwood hat he wore to the 2014 awards show – was hailed as "a visionary whose creative universes expand from music to art, and to fashion" in an Instagram announcement on Tuesday (Feb. 14). Pharrell, 49, was tight with his predecessor, according to Hypebeast, and has collaborated with Vuitton in the past. Still, his post seemed to surprise industry insiders and fashion fans, many of whom shared quizzical comments on social media about why Vuitton seemingly overlooked emerging designers, like Martine Rose, who were thought to be frontrunner candidates for the role. Pharrell recently scrubbed his Instagram, leaving only the Louis Vuitton announcement post on his page as of Tuesday, a move that could suggest more big news for the multi-hyphenate. His first Louis Vuitton collection is due out next June at Men's Fashion Week in Paris, according to the New York Times.
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'RHONJ' star talks past cheating rumors
Teresa Giudice says she still doesn't know if her ex, Joe Giudice, was faithful during their marriage. "I never caught him [cheating] and if I would have, I would have never stayed with him," the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star said on this week's "Watch What Happens Live," according to Entertainment Tonight. Joe dodged cheating rumors for years over the course of his marriage to Teresa, which ended in divorce in 2020. "I don't know. I had suspicions," Teresa told Andy Cohen on the show. "I asked two women that I thought he did [cheat] with and they both denied it." Now happily married to the man she calls her "soulmate," Louie Ruelas, the reality star also pointed out that when you share four children, as she and Joe do, the stakes are higher when it comes to calling it quits.
"I'm all about the proof," she said. "I can't just leave my kids' father because someone told me he's cheating on me. Like, show me, prove it. Because then I could say that to my kids, like, look, this is who he cheated on me with." That's all water under the bridge now, anyway. "I thought I was in love," she said of Joe, "but when I met Louie, it was so different."
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Tom Brady says Janet Jackson's 2004 Super Bowl incident was 'good for the NFL'
On the Monday (Feb. 13) edition of his "Let's Go!" podcast, Tom Brady said it was ultimately "good" for the NFL when, at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, Justin Timberlake accidentally tore off part of Janet Jackson's costume, exposing her chest to the world. "I think in the end, it was probably a good thing for the NFL because everyone got to talk about it. It was just more publicity and more publicity for halftime shows," Tom said. "Is any publicity bad publicity? That's what they say, so who knows?" His remarks quickly sparked backlash among fans on social media who were appalled at the retired NFL star's casual dismissiveness of an incident that humiliated Janet, through no fault of her own, and nearly destroyed her career.
"I don't think he understands the amount of s*** she went through after that backlash. That comment was too superficial and shallow," one Twitter user wrote, per Page Six. "Janet Jackson faced public humiliation and outright misogynoir resulting in her getting blacklisted by the former CEO of CBS, but Tom Brady thinks all of that was ok because all publicity is good publicity. Sick," tweeted another. "So a black woman's career and reputation is damaged and she was taunted for a number of years by the mainstream media but you know what, it was good for the NFL?! Clearly too many knocks to his head," a third critic posted. Justin apologized publicly for the incident in 2021. In her 2022 documentary for Lifetime/A&E, Janet said she's now "good friends" with Justin.
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Rebel Wilson launches 'label'-free dating app, gets candid about surrogacy journey
After a difficult stretch of hit-and-miss dating amid ongoing fertility struggles, Rebel Wilson found love with Ramona Agruma and welcomed her first child in 2022. Now, those past challenges are inspiring the "Pitch Perfect" star to help others. This month, Rebel's launching a new, "label"-free dating app, Fluid. She's also speaking out about her fertility journey — including a miscarriage before Royce was born via surrogate last fall.
As for Fluid, Rebel tells People it's, "the first dating app where you don't have to actually define yourself or tick a box to say 'I'm straight, I'm gay, I'm bisexual,' and you don't have to describe what you are looking for." She adds, "It's kind of love with no labels." Rebel co-founded Fluid after getting serious with Ramona — the first woman she's fallen in love with — and it's intentionally "open to everyone," she explains. "You might just be interested in checking out a wider dating pool like I was. … The algorithm just picks up who you are vibing with and how much time you spend on certain profiles and it's open enough so that if your sexuality moves into a different direction, it will follow because of what you are preferring on the app."
Meanwhile, the new mom is continuing to share her fertility experiences, both good and bad. "I tried with one surrogate to have the baby and sadly the embryo miscarried," she recently told the hosts of "The Pick Up with Britt, Laura and Mitch." "You get so excited when it takes and it was really sad." After "mourning" the miscarriage, Rebel was stunned when the second embryo survived and Royce was born. "I really do think it's a bit of a miracle [that] it happened," she said. "I'd been through quite a bit on the fertility journey for a few years but I was like, 'Wow.'"
Alec Baldwin to resume filming 'Rust' this spring amid increasingly thorny involuntary manslaughter case
As Alec Baldwin prepares for his first hearing on involuntary manslaughter charges stemming from the fatal "Rust"-set shooting of Halyna Hutchins, the actor is also getting ready to resume filming the Western, which has been on hiatus since Halyna's 2021 death. According to The Hollywood Reporter, filming will start back up in the spring, after being pushed back from a schedule that would have resumed production in January. As of this week, Alec is still on board as the movie's star and producer and will work alongside Halyna's widower to finish the movie, in accordance with a previous wrongful death suit settlement agreement. It's unclear how the movie's completion will pan out, given the serious charges Alec and former "Rust" armorer Hannah Guttierez-Reed now face. Things are pretty murky as far as the manslaughter case, too.
This week, prosecutors for the Santa Fe, New Mexico, District Attorney's office added Dave Halls to their witness list, meaning the former assistant director of "Rust," who was involved in rehearsing the scene during which Halyna was shot and killed, could testify against Alec. Dave already took a plea deal that presumably spared him from the charges Alec and Hannah were hit with. But Alec, who was holding the gun that killed Halyna on the set, has repeatedly said Dave told him the gun was "cold" or free of live rounds, then handed him the weapon he and Hannah were technically responsible for checking, according to Deadline. Live ammunition is never supposed to be on a movie set, per basic Hollywood safety standards.
Alec's legal team, meanwhile, has filed multiple motions that have yet to be resolved. Among those are Alec's firearm enhancement charge, which carries a mandatory five-year prison sentence, as opposed to the 18-month sentence on the first charge. Alec's lawyers say the enhancement claim is irrelevant because the statute allowing it was not added until after the shooting. The first hearing is scheduled for Feb. 24.
Gigi Hadid shares Serena Williams' invaluable advice on navigating fame
From going to therapy to taking note of her famous friends' advice, Gigi Hadid has plenty of good coping skills for life in the spotlight. Still, when the model, mom and newly minted Netflix star was asked to share something about herself that the world might not already know, her eyes welled up with tears in a recent interview for Elle's March 2023 cover story. "What does the world not know about me? I don't know. I'm getting emotional [thinking about it]," Gigi said. "I think that I'm someone who you have to be in front of to experience. It's not hard. This isn't a complaint," she clarified. "It's more that in my job, you see a lot of snapshots … really quick moments where, again, there's not a lot of context given."
Therapy has helped Gigi learn to set boundaries, she said. And having smart pals with a few more years' experience navigating fame hasn't hurt. "Serena Williams once told me, 'Nothing stays in the press longer than three weeks," she said elsewhere in the interview. "You can feel like your life is ending, [but] if it's a mistake, then it will pass. I think it's about not taking yourself that seriously and being like, 'When I am on my deathbed, I'm not going to remember that one awkward interview from when I was 19.'" Gigi also relishes being able to share a more holistic version of herself as a new co-host on Netflix's "Next In Fashion," which returns March 3.
Raquel Welch has died at 82
Actress Raquel Welch, whose decades-spanning career in TV and film began in the 1960s with "One Million Years B.C." and "Fantastic Voyage," has died "after a brief illness," her manager confirmed to CNN on Wednesday (Feb. 15). She was 82. After getting her start in Hollywood, Raquel quickly became known for her beauty, though she noted in 2001 that "being a sex symbol" is only helpful career-wise "to a point," as it "does cloud people's imagination" and keep them from seeing one's potential beyond that. In addition to her prolific acting career, the Chicago native and mother of two launched and maintained a number of businesses, including jewelry, skincare and wig lines. Her final credited role was on UPtv's "Date My Dad" in 2017.
