Category: Worldwide

In most cases, Lewis Capaldi’s sense of humor isn’t for the uptight. Whether he’s making a parody song on TikTok, joking about another musician’s body odor, or the death of his grandmother, the “Wish You The Best” singer is an acquired taste. However, Capaldi’s uncomfortable reaction due to his medical condition interfering with his ability to perform at Glastonbury Festival 2023 was no laughing matter.

As he began “Someone You Loved,” Capaldi was only able to muster a few lines. Festivalgoers joined in, but after he remained silent too long, people noticed him trying to resist a spasm. They then cheered even louder as they encouraged him to push through it. Soon the crowd was joining in as the musician fought off his Tourette’s syndrome-caused ticks.

Capaldi has spoken candidly about his condition, saying that he nearly wanted to quit performing in April because of it. During a sit down with The Times, he said, “My tic is getting quite bad on stage now. I’m trying to get on top of that. If I can’t, I’m f*cked. It’s easier when I play guitar, but I hate playing guitar. I know, I’m a walking contradiction. It’s only making music that does this to me. Otherwise, I can be fine for months at a time. So it’s a weird situation. Right now, the trade-off is worth it.”

Aging is a weird thing. From one perspective, it’s something we should be grateful for. Few people would wish for the kind of short, uneventful life that would remove aging from the equation completely. The longer we live, the more we grow and learn and experience life, and “aging” is simply the mathematical sum of those experiences. All good, right?

On the other hand, our society does everything in its power to hide the fact that aging happens. Especially when it comes to women. According to Statista, the global anti-aging beauty market is estimated to be worth $58.8 billion. People will try all manner of creams, serums, masks, acids, lights, technologies and surgeries to try to prevent wrinkles, lines, sagginess, spots and other signs that our bodies are changing with time.

Most of us live our daily lives somewhere in the middle of these two realities, wanting to embrace our aging selves but also hoping to stave off some of the more obvious signs that we’re getting older. It’s natural to resist it in some ways, since the older we get, the closer we get to the end of our lives, which we certainly don’t want to hasten—especially if we actually love living.

It can be helpful to see people who are embracing their age, which is why it can be inspiring to see someone like former supermodel Paulina Porizkova confidently sharing photos of her 57-year-old self.

In posts on social media, Porizkova shared a photo of herself in a bikini and a screenshot of a comment made by a person who felt the need to comment on her aging body. And phew, was it something. The commenter wrote:

“You must be in so much pain to keep posting bikini pictures at your age. I’ve always thought that getting old and ugly is hardest on the pretty people. The fall from grace is so much farther when you were beautiful. Ugly people were always ugly so getting old and ugly isn’t a change. In summary, I feel your pain. I pray you can come to terms with your mortality. We all get old and ugly…you just had to fall from a greater height than the rest of us. Tears Times Infinity!”

So many things to unpack here.

Porizkova shared her thoughts on the comment on Instagram.

A thoughtful reader comment on IG need an equally thoughtful response.nThank you for feeling my pain, rickaroo777. As you can see, Iu2019m suffering indeed.pic.twitter.com/mWijP55iAS

— Paulina Porizkova (@Paulina Porizkova)
1651241361

“Here’s a good follower comment- echoing a few others,” Porizkova wrote. “A woman of 57 is ‘too old’ to pose in a bikini – no matter what she looks like. Because ‘Old’ is ‘Ugly.’ I get comments like these every time I post a photo of my body. This is the ageist shaming that sets my teeth on edge. Older men are distinguished, older women are ugly.”

“People who believe prettiness equals beauty do not understand beauty,” she continued. “Pretty is easy on the eyes, partly because it’s a little bland, inoffensive. It’s easy to take in and easy to forget. Not so beauty. Beauty can be sharp. It can wound you and leave a scar. To perceive beauty you have to be able to SEE.”

“This is why I believe we get more beautiful with age,” she added. “We have earned our beauty, we understand what it is, and we can see it so much better. There is no such thing as ugly and old. Only shortsighted and ignorant.”

On Twitter, Porizkova was a bit more sarcastic, writing, “Thank you for feeling my pain, rickaroo777. As you can see, I’m suffering indeed.”

That tongue-in-cheek response prompted others to share their aging selves in photos, sharing how their “old and ugly” phase of life is going. The thread turned into a veritable celebration of middle-to-late age, with posts about how much more comfortable people feel in their bodies as they get older and the freedom that comes along with not caring what other people think.

You suffer beautifully

You suffer beautifully

— Paulina Porizkova (@Paulina Porizkova)
1651291418

There are two big ironies with the original trolling comment. Most obviously, Porizkova obviously looks freaking amazing in a bikini, so the whole “ugly” and “fall from grace” line of thought is object and off base. The second is that if you look through Porizkova’s Instagram feed, she doesn’t pose in bikinis very often at all. It’s not like she’s plastering her bikini selfies all over social media trying to make herself feel better about herself, as the commenter implies. She just…sometimes wears a bikini. Whoop dee doo.

Do it anyway! Every body is valid. Every body is a bikini body.pic.twitter.com/slDLHLWQo7

— ud83cuddfaud83cuddf8Noel Gigerud83cuddfaud83cuddf8 (@ud83cuddfaud83cuddf8Noel Gigerud83cuddfaud83cuddf8)
1651248625

People don’t have to wear bikinis if they don’t want to. But to tell strangers what they can wear crosses a line. All bodies are bikini bodies, and if the person in the body wants their body to be in a bikini, more power to them.

Wow! Youu2019re suffering for sure!

— Paulina Porizkova (@Paulina Porizkova)
1651287653

The “suffering” and “pain” in the posts were so funny to see.

Ah, so painful. also- frickin

— Paulina Porizkova (@Paulina Porizkova)
1651288265

I’m 49 and I haven’t yet put on a bikini. Steph, thanks for showing me it’s not too late! Tho, somehow I feel like I won’t fill it as well as you & Paulina. But it’s all about attitude, right? So let’s the 3 of us hit the beach! (I’ll stay in the shade of an umbrella, tho.)

— Spark The Genius (@Spark The Genius)
1651262083

The thread brought inspiration to those who may fall prey to the idea that people shouldn’t wear certain things after a certain age or that only people with certain body sizes or shapes should wear certain things.

The hashtag #oldandugly started trending as people responded to Porizkova’s call for a celebration of aging beautifully.

“Todays thread has been my absolute favorite of all time,” Porizkova wrote on Twitter. “Thank you all you ‘old and ugly’ women (and a few men) showing the world how much we ‘suffer’ at in our old age. You’re all breathtaking!”

The love continues! 57 and proud! Keep posting your wonderful beautiful selves and tag #oldandugly so we can keep sharing the pic.twitter.com/Veg72kQOqt

— Paulina Porizkova (@Paulina Porizkova)
1651454555

May we all age beautifully and gracefully in whatever way those words are meaningful to us, and show those who think that aging means “suffering” and “pain” due to being “old and ugly” that they have no idea what they’re talking about.

(And here’s an extra shout-out to Porizkova for using her beauty and her age to make an important point—not only about celebrating getting older, but also about how propaganda works. Brava.)

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This article originally appeared on 05.03.22

Writing a book is no easy task, even for adult professional writers. Many would-be authors dream of a day when their work can be found on library shelves, unsure if it will ever come.

But for 8-year-old Dillon Helbig, that day has already arrived—in truly unconventional fashion—thanks to his own determination to make it happen.

Dillon wrote his 81-page graphic novel, “The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis” (written by “Dillon His Self”) in a hardcover journal with colored pencils over the course of a few days. He even put a label on the back of the book that reads “Made in Idho” [sic] and put an illustrated spine label on it as well. Then, without telling anyone, he brought it to his local library in Boise, Idaho, and slipped it in among the books in the children’s section.

The library Facebook page shared that it had officially added the book to the collection at the branch, writing, “Imagine our surprise yesterday when Dillon’s mom called to tell us that her son had authored an entire book, shelved it at the Lake Hazel Branch, then announced to his family later that he had written a book and it could be checked out at the library.”

The library also announced that Dillon’s book had won the first-ever Whoodini Award for Best Young Novelist—an award created in his honor.

Dillon told local news station KTVB that the book features him, his mom, Santa, a bomb, a portal and a giant carnivorous turkey. Because of course.

“I’ve been wanting to put a book in the library since I was five,” Dillon told the station. Nearly half his life, in other words.

Dillon said there were a lot of librarians he had to sneak past with his book to surreptitiously put it on the shelf, but he did it.

“I’ll always be sneaky, like how I get chocolate,” he explained. Classic.

The adults on every front handled this kid’s creativity and determination the best possible way. His mom called the library to let them know the book was there so it wouldn’t get lost or taken. And rather than just returning the book, the librarians actually put it into circulation.

“His parents were worried we would find his book and we would get rid of it,” Lake Hazel Branch Library manager Alex Hartman told KTVB. “Which was an unfounded fear because if there’s ever a place a book would be safe, it would be here.”

The librarians loved Dillon’s book.

“It deserves a spot on our library shelves,” said Hartman. “It’s a good story.”

At the time of this local news report, the book had a handful of people in line to check it out. But The New York Times reports that as of the end of January, the waiting list has grown to a whopping 56 people. If each person kept the book for the maximum four-week checkout period it would take four years to get to the people at the bottom of the list.

The experience has made Dillon decide to become an author, his mom said, and he even has some career goals laid out.

“I’m going to stop writing when I’m 40,” Dillon said. After that, he will switch to game creation. In the meantime, he has a sequel to his first novel in the works.

“My next book is going to be called ‘The Jacket-Eating Closet,’” he said, “based on actual events.”

Amazing. Kudos to Dillon for following his dream and making it happen, kudos to his mom for encouraging him and kudos to the librarians who saw an opportunity to support a child’s creativity and ran with it.

This article originally appeared on 09.13.22

A lot of movies and shows these days are filmed in green screen warehouses or in immersive volumes, so it’s a big deal when a production builds an actual set. And there is no more eye-catching set at the movies this summer than Barbie’s mega-pink house. The manse is so pink it allegedly caused a pink paint shortage. Unreal as it may be, someone spotted a house that looks an awful lot like it.

As per Deadline, CBS Los Angeles helicopter cameraperson John Schreiber shared a video he took while flying over Malibu showing a large home decked out in eye-popping pink tones. “Is that a…real life #Barbie Malibu House?? Seems to be,” he wrote. “Pink everything… a water slide… floating “KEN” letters. Publicity stunt? Huge Barbie fans?”

Schreiber wondered if it wasn’t the real filming location. So did Deadline, who have reached out to Warner Bros. Discovery, who’s distributing the summer blockbuster, but have thus far not heard back.

What is known about the house is that it already has a Barbie connection. Back in 2019, the home was done up in relatively moderate amounts of pink and listed on Airbnb for the Barbie brand’s 60th anniversary. It was even cheap: a mere $60 a night.

Perhaps this will be a similar deal. Till then, it looks like one moneyed homeowner is really stoked for Greta Gerwig’s follow-up to Little Women.

(Via Deadline)

Over the weekend, Russia plunged into a teensy bit of chaos (or moreso). On Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Wagner, Vladimir Putin’s private army, announced he was leading a military rebellion in response to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The coup was called off on Saturday, not long before his army was set to arrive in Moscow. On Monday, Putin finally publicly spoke about the turmoil, and, predictably, he wasn’t happy.

In an address to the nation, Putin called those who orchestrated the aborted rebellion traitors who played into the hands of those who want to see Russia “drowned in a bloody domestic strife.” He also claimed that had the rebellion entered Moscow, the Russian army would have crushed them.

“Any kind of blackmail, any attempts to create internal turmoil are doomed to failure,” Putin declared.

When calling off the rebellion, Prigozhin had cut a deal with the Kremlin, brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, that vowed to drop charges against him and allow him to seek exile. Putin assured Wagner members that they could either join the Russian army or join Prigozhin in Belarus.

Still, Putin wasn’t exactly forgiving. “The organizers of this rebellion not only betrayed their country and their people, but also betrayed those whom they dragged into this mutiny,” he averred.

He did try to be diplomatic. “We know that the overwhelming majority of the Wagner company are also patriots of Russia, faithful to their people and country. They proved it with their courage defending the Donbas and Novorossiya,” he said, nodding to parts of Ukraine where Wagner fought.

“I thank those commanders and soldiers of the Wagner private company who took the only right decision,” Putin added, “and stopped at the last line to prevent bloodshed.”

Whether the famously prickly Putin will make good on his promise to forgive and forget remains to be seen.

In the meantime, the attempted rebellion has seeped into the U.S., where numerous Republicans, and one questionable Democrat, have been spouting conspiracy-laden nonsense.

(Via NBC News)

When you buy a new house you tend to find things that you missed during your walk through and initial few months there. You’re busy unpacking and settling in to notice things that may be just a little off. Sometimes the discovery is something like a forgotten train set still assembled in the attic or left behind photo albums.

Other times people discover secret doors that lead to underground caves or a prohibition era bar under the floor boards. Julia Henning, found something more similar to the latter. One day while she was cleaning, she noticed something weird on her closet floor and posted her discovery on TikTok in. 13 Second clip that has amassed over 31 million views.

“As I cleaned out the closet, my eyes kept tracing the small glass knob that stuck out in the corner of the room close to the door frame,” Henning told Newsweek.

When Henning pulled on the knob, the floor of her coat closet lifted up and revealed a small, slightly creepy winding staircase. The rickety wooden stairs lead to darkness. You can’t see the bottom of the stairs just by looking down the hatch’s opening so Henning wasn’t feeling brave enough to test her luck going into the unknown alone for the entertainment of social media.

In a second video update she gives a better look at the stairs and shows the immense darkness that awaits at the bottom.

“Can you imagine that I say hello and something literally says hello back,” Henning says. “So here’s the update. We’re going to get somebody else here by the end of the week, I’m either going to send them, (sorry to whoever that ends up being), or they will video tape me going down there. But I am not a vlogger so I am not willing on a Tuesday morning to put my life at risk for your entertainment; however, stay tuned because we’re going to crack this mystery.

@iamjuliahenning

I was cleaning the closet and decided to invesitgate. This is what I found… should I go in?! #hauntedhouses #hauntedhouse #creepytiktok #creepyhouse #crawlspace #creepycrawlspace #hiddenhorror #scarystories #homediscovery #hauntedhollywood #ghosthunters #investigation #whatliesbeneath #barbarian #oldhousetiktok #hiddengems #docuseries

Honestly, anyone with a healthy sense of self preservation probably would avoid going down those stairs as well. There really is no telling what would be awaiting. A well filled with the spirit of some girl that’s going to climb out of your television or an old box that possesses the opener. Horror movies have taught us that we really can’t be too careful!

Luckily for Henning, when she finally went down into the dark room, she didn’t find a box with a Dybbuk but she did admit to having some weird things happening in the house.

“Legit though all week weird stuff has been happening. I literally got locked in this closet the day i discovered the crawl space opened and would not have been able to get out if i was home alone. Go ahead and laugh but this is legit weird,” Henning wrote in a TikTok caption.

@iamjuliahenning

So mini update from yesterday before we dive into this crawl space mini series… #hauntedhouses #hauntedhouse #creepytiktok #creepyhouse #crawlspace #creepycrawlspace #hiddenhorror #scarystories #homediscovery #hauntedhollywood #ghosthunters #investigation #whatliesbeneath #barbarian #oldhousetiktok #hiddengems #docuseries

She originally hired a medium to explore the uncovered cellar but even the medium, one who is paid to commune with passed spirits declined. That left no one but the homeowner who was trying desperately to avoid going down the steps herself. After suiting up to avoid getting bit by spiders, Henning finally made it down the stairs.

In a very dramatic, then anticlimactic turn of events, Henning first spots faded names written on the wall, only to discover it appears to be a storage area. Wine racks, shelves and a single Miracle Whip jar that appeared to be from the 60s filled with old kids’ trinkets. The room is sealed so everything is pretty pristine, but Henning tells her followers, the discovery leaves more questions than answers.

Comments on each video in this accidental series is filled with reactions ranging from excitement and terror to skepticism. There’s no pleasing everyone, but it’s clear the internet wants to know what’s up with the house.

Watch the big reveal below (Warning: The video does contain profanity):

@iamjuliahenning

You asked for it. I want to keep it but also slightly terrfied. Its giving cursed items. But here you have it: the crawl space is a hidden room! Whats next? We need to learn the history… more questions than answers if you ask me. Hosting house events just got a lot more interesting… #hauntedhouses #hauntedhouse #creepytiktok #creepyhouse #crawlspace #creepycrawlspace #hiddenhorror #scarystories #homediscovery #hauntedhollywood #ghosthunters #investigation #whatliesbeneath #barbarian #oldhousetiktok #hiddengems #docuseries

A major part of parenting is setting kids up for as best an adult life as possible. It’s also a major source of every parent’s stress, as this is essentially a question without absolute answers.

Sure, there are many helpful strategies that can be implemented—setting up a college fund, enrolling into a great school, finding enriching activities—but even these cannot guarantee anything when the future is unwritten and the world continues changing at a rapid pace. Any jobless millennial still struggling to pay student loans for a prestigious university degree can tell you about that.

With all these unknown variables that could wreak havoc on even the best laid plan, what is a parent to do? Popular content creator and fellow dad Abraham Piper argues that maybe parents shouldn’t even make it a goal to provide a good future in the first place.

After all, it’s “impossible anyway,” he says in the now-viral clip.

“The future is uncertain. So, is it the best use of our parental energy, our love, to continue trying to achieve the impossible? Isn’t there something instead where the success could happen right now instead of 30 years down the road, if at all?” Piper continued.

With this compelling logic, the goal should instead be on giving kids a “good past”, according to Piper. In other words, just focusing on providing a happy childhood every day. “Trips to the park, hugs before bed, letting them choose the music in the car,” etc. This kind of goal is not only achievable, it’s incredibly impactful.

Referencing Allison Gopnik’s book “The Philosophical Baby,” Piper added that one of the few aspects of a child’s adult life parents actually do get to determine is the quality of childhood that they bring into it. And considering that a huge part of one’s identity is based on core memories, a truly happy childhood is an “ ineradicable gift.”

Judging from the comments of other parents, Piper’s advice struck a chord.

“As a parent who is working so hard to break the generational trauma cycle; my heart needed to hear this today,” one person wrote.

“I feel that their future is not for me to control or project, it’s their foundation that’s my responsibility. For them to be secure and confident,” added another.

@moreabrahampiper Don’t worry about giving your kids a good future. ❤️ #parenting #lifeadvice #alisongopnik #dadsoftiktok #parentingadvice #liveinthemoment ♬ original sound – Abraham Piper

The lingering effects that childhood trauma can have in adulthood are well documented— heightened anxiety, addiction, depression, difficulty in relationships, insomnia…the list goes on. And we have learned over time that trauma exists in a spectrum. It can manifest in many ways, not just physical abuse. Neglect, verbal bullying and parental separation play their parts as well.

On the bright side, research indicates that happy core memories have the same lasting effect. Studies show that even with the presence of early adversity, creating positive childhood experiences can still provide a foundation for creating better family health in adulthood.

While parents of course want to do whatever they can to help kids become successful, happy and healthy for the rest of their lives, perhaps constantly moving the goal posts isn’t in anyone’s best interests. At the end of the day, it might prove more fruitful (and more fulfilling) to focus one what is within one’s power now, rather than later.

As Piper noted: “The present, we can almost control. Or at least feel like it. And that feeling is all we’re dealing with here because we get to see our effort work right now and not just hope that they will.”

The violent implosion of the Titan submersible on the way to visit the Titanic captured people’s attention across the globe. It brought up a lot of conversations about social class, the vehicle’s questionable construction and the haunting history of death surrounding the Titanic itself.

For those of us who don’t work in oceanography or physics, it also brought up a lot of questions about underwater implosion. A big one circulating among conspiracy theorists and confused laypeople alike: Why did the Titan implode while the Titanic didn’t?

The Titan submersible is understood to have disintegrated in milliseconds somewhere neat a depth of 11,500 feet. In comparison, we can still see most of the wreckage of the Titanic 12,500 feet down on the ocean floor.

A lot of people are asking the question on Twitter.

why didn’t the titanic or the bodies implode on the way to the ocean floor too

— maybe: hayley (@HayleyStrickler) June 26, 2023

So why didn’t the Titanic Implode then?

— Emiko Yamasaki (@emiko_yamasaki) June 22, 2023

The Titanic didn’t implode, so why would the sub?

This story does NOT make sense.#trustyourgut https://t.co/GYIrVEjx6R

— Swee_Liberty (@Sweet_Liberty76) June 22, 2023

First, what is an implosion versus an explosion? “In an explosion, the force acts outwards, but in an implosion, the force acts inwards,” Arun Bansil, professor of physics at Northeastern University, said. “When a submersible is deep in the ocean, it experiences the force on its surface due to water pressure. When this force becomes larger than the force hull can withstand, the vessel implodes violently.”

Blair Thornton, a professor at the University of Southampton, told NBC that the force of the implosion was up to 10,000 tons of physical force, the equivalent of the weight of the Eiffel Tower.

So, if the Titanic also traveled through the same depths en route to the bottom of the ocean, why didn’t it suffer a similar fate?

In some ways, it’s quite simple: There was a difference in pressure between the enclosed submarine and the Titanic, which had doors and windows so that water could easily travel through it, equalizing the pressure on the inside and the outside.

However, researchers believe there may have been two implosions on the Titanic’s journey to the bottom of the ocean. Research published by Dave Gleicher posits that parts of the stern and the poop deck imploded as the ship sank. But most of the boat was water permeable, so the wreckage was recognizable when it was first discovered in 1985.

Although no one is sure why the Titan submersible, created by OceanGate Expeditions, succumbed to the pressures of the ocean depths, many experts are pointing to its carbon fiber hull as the culprit. Carbon fiber is a relatively new material, especially for submarines, that hasn’t been adequately tested in extreme depths. Some speculate that the Titan’s hull could have been compromised due to its 2 dozen previous dives. Like a balloon, all it takes is one hole at extreme depths for the entire vessel to collapse.

“It was very clear that these people were operating a submersible that was unsafe,” Katy Croff Bell, president and founder of the Ocean Discovery League, told NBC News.

“They knew it. They had been warned on multiple occasions,” she added. “And I think that we can only hope that we ensure in the future that something like this does not happen, and people take this very, very seriously.”

It’s no secret that even the most seemingly safe of public places can instantly turn dangerous for a woman. Is it fair? No. But is it common? Absolutely, to the point where more and more women are documenting moments of being stalked or harassed as a grim reminder to be aware of one’s surroundings.

Lacie (@lacie_kraatz) is one of those women. On April 11th, she was out on a run when she noticed a man in front of her displaying suspicious behavior. Things got especially dicey when the man somehow got behind her. That’s when she pulled out her phone and started filming—partially to prove that it wasn’t just her imagination, and also out of fear for her safety.

“Hello. I’m just making this video so that women are a little more aware of them,” she begins in the video. “See this gentleman behind me? Yeah, this is what this video’s about.”

According to Lacie, the two were initially running in opposite directions. But at some point after seeing her, the man stopped in the middle of the trail and waited for her to pass so that he could follow her path from behind.

“Now, I know what you’re thinking—‘Why are you suspecting that he’s following you?’” Lacie continues. “Well, let me tell you. I was just walking like this, and I look up, and he’s in front of me, and he just keeps doing a ‘peek’ like this behind him, over and over again.”

Lacie added that at one point, she even made an illegal crossing when “do not walk” sign was still up in an attempt to put some distance between herself and the man. After looking over her shoulder, she noticed that the man was visibly “speeding” to keep up.

In case there is still any doubt, Lacie then begins to run to see if the man will follow suit. Sure enough, he does.

Luckily the man eventually seems to give up, though he still seems to be watching her from a distance. Lacie ends up safe back home, but she didn’t even accomplish what she set out to do that afternoon.

“I couldn’t even finish my run,” she concludes. “I only ran like a mile and a half. I wanted to do 3 miles, but no—creepy men just had to be creepy f****** men today.”

Watch:

@lacie_kraatz #foryou #ladies #awareness ♬ original sound – Lacie

Countless women empathized with Lacie in the comments section. Clearly, this was not a unique circumstance.

“What I do when I’m being followed is act feral,” yet another person shared. “Like I’ll bark and growl really loud and flail my arms around. If you look crazy, you’re doin’ it right.”

Another added, “Man, nothing pisses me off more than men who make me feel uncomfortable doing things that I NEED to do for my health and well-being.”

Others tried to give their own tips for handling the situation, from finding nearby police or fire stations to using a variety of running trails to simply notifying the first visible passerby of what’s happening and asking to stand with them.

And of course, the resounding advice was to use the public space, and modern-day technology, to one’s advantage.

As one person wrote, “Girls we have got to normalize turning around and yelling at people following us. Let them know you know, take pictures of them, scream, make a scene.”

It’d be nice if these kinds of unsettling interactions didn’t exist. But here we are. At the very least, it’s good that women are speaking up more so that these situations are easier to spot early on and women can know how to navigate them in the safest way possible.

This article originally appeared on 4.4.23

There’s been a fair amount of dog-piling on Meghan Markle lately, and not only from the usual Royal Family obsessees (or Piers Morgan). She and her husband Prince Harry recently parted way with Spotify, where she did the podcast Archetypes, and though the split was initially presented as amicable, Bill Simmons, who runs the streamer’s podcast department, let loose that he thought they were “f*cking grifters.” That may have opened Pandora’s box, because now others are trashing the semi-ex-Royals as well.

As per The Daily Beast, Jeremy Zimmer, CEO of United Talent Agency, unloaded on Markle specifically while speaking to Semafor.

“Turns out Meghan Markle was not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent,” Zimmer told them. “And, you know, just because you’re famous doesn’t make you great at something.”

It’s not clear if Zimmer had any direct run-ins with Harry and Meghan or if he’s just opining based on what he’s heard and/or read about them. But Zimmer and Simmons aren’t the only with unflattering things to say about the pair. Last week Markle was accused of faking the interviews in some of her podcasts.

What’s more, over the weekend, a Netflix source alleged that the streamer’s brass had been pressuring them to create more good content as part of their mammoth deal. So far they’ve only done one, the doc series Harry & Meghan, with another en route.

(Via Semafor and The Daily Beast)