Category: 5. Entertainment

The veracity of the story told by the author of hit novel The Salt Path, a film version of which is currently in cinemas starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, has been called into question.

Over the weekend, an investigation by UK outlet The Observer cast doubt over events in the allegedly true-to-life Salt Path, a memoir and nature book about Raynor Winn and her husband Moth Winn’s journey along the South of England coast after they lose her home and Moth Winn is diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration (CBD).

The Observer’s report alleges that Raynor Winn, whose real name was revealed to be Sally Walker, was arrested after being accused of stealing tens of thousands of pounds from her employer. This is never mentioned in The Salt Path book, which instead says that Raynor Winn and her husband lost their home after being taken advantage of by a childhood friend of Moth Winn’s.

The events surrounding the loss of their home are also disputed by the report, along with the fact that the couple were made homeless. According to The Observer, the pair in fact owned a property in France that they bought in 2007.

The report also raises questions around Moth Winn’s CBD, a debilitating disorder that has an average life expectancy of 6-8 years according to neurologists The Observer spoke with. Moth Winn, who recently attended the film’s premiere in London, claims to have been living with the condition for 18 years.

The Observer’s report saw the journalist travel back to North Wales – where the couple owned their property – and landed upon one other person who was owed money by Raynor Winn.

A spokeswoman for Rayner Winn called the Observer article “highly misleading.” “We are taking legal advice and won’t be making any further comment at this time,” the spokesperson told us. “The Salt Path lays bare the physical and spiritual journey Moth and I shared, an experience that transformed us completely and altered the course of our lives. This is the true story of our journey.” 

The affair is an embarrassing and potentially problematic one for those involved in The Salt Path movie, which opened in May and has so far taken more than $10M at the UK box office. The movie is yet to launch in key territories including Germany and France while a deal is reportedly still pending in the U.S.

From director Marianne Elliott, and producers including BBC Film, Number 9 Films and Rocket Science, the pic stars Anderson and Isaacs in the lead roles alongside James Lance and Hermione Norris. Anderson and Isaacs have done a fair amount of press in recent weeks about The Salt Path and Anderson was touting it at last week’s Munich International Film Festival. The Observer reported that Raynor Winn is a co-producer on the film.

Deadline has reached out to reps for Anderson and Isaacs, along with BBC Film, Rocket Science and Number 9 Films, for comment.

Andreas Wiseman contributed to this report.

Embeth Davidtz remembers the violence — and the fear.

When she was 8, she moved from bucolic New Jersey, with its rolling green hills and yellow school buses, to her father’s home country of South Africa. Newly off the plane, she remembers walking home from her bus stop and watching as police “chucked” and “bundled” a Black man into the back of a yellow van and drove off. (His crime was not carrying his identification.)

Another time, Davidtz was at a roadhouse with her parents stopping for hamburgers and saw a Black family with two young children. Two drunk white men approached the father, pulled him from the car and punched him as his kids looked on.

“It leaves an imprint on you,” Davidtz, an actor known for starring as Helen Hirsch in Schindler’s List, said in an interview at the Sony offices in New York. “I feel, on a cellular level, my whole being was sort of rewired seeing stuff like that.”

When Davidtz read Alexandra Fuller’s 2001 memoir, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, about growing up in Zimbabwe during and after its War of Independence in the 1970s, she saw a world she recognized and optioned it for a film, now her powerful directorial debut, out July 11.

She spent six years adapting the book into a screenplay, ultimately deciding to reduce its scope to Fuller’s early childhood in 1980, the year Robert Mugabe was elected prime minister. It was a moment of fear that Davidtz herself sensed during the Soweto Uprising in 1976. The 8-year-old Fuller — called Bobo, and played by outstanding newcomer Lexi Venter — begins the film in voiceover calling Africans terrorists, parroting the language of her mother, played by Davidtz.

Telling the story through the perspective of a young child, Davidtz hoped to convey the disconnect she felt between the way adults speak about conflict, and the world children see.

“I would see humanity, and I would see kindness, and I would see people being treated really badly,” Davidtz said. “I knew as an 8-year-old, there’s something discordant about this.”

The project took on new urgency for Davidtz, whose husband and children are Jewish, when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 as she was filming in South Africa. The script was locked, but Davidtz changed her approach in the edit, where she added images of violence on the television, playing in the background while Bobo snacks on cookies and watches.

“There are children in bomb shelters right now hearing that sound,” Davidtz said. “There are kids all over the world having that imprinted in them right now. And I wanted to put that more strongly in the film, because the horror of October 7, I could not shake it. I couldn’t shake what happened there and I can’t shake that human beings do this to each other”

(She believes the campaign in Gaza needs to stop, but the hostages also need to come home. “If you were to decorate me with pins, it would be all the pins, because I think none of this is solving the problem.”)

Filming Schindler’s List on location in Poland, Davidtz remembers seeing antisemitic graffiti and how the crew hoped the project would move the world forward. After Oct. 7, shehe wonders if dehumanization is once again winning. The child who shouts “Goodbye Jews” as the Krakow ghetto is liquidated in that film, absorbed those views from her parents, just as Bobo learned from her mother not to speak to Africans or that their Black servants don’t have last names.

But as formative an experience as the Spielberg set was, she says it was another film of his, 1987’s Empire of the Sun, about a young boy coming of age during Japan’s invasion of Shanghai, that served as a major touchpoint for Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs.

“Empire of the Sun gave this notion of a child who’s been cosseted and given one point of view and not expanded by those parents,” Davidtz said. “And if it’s one thing that I’ve tried to do with my kids, I really try to give them both sides, and say, ‘You have to look at the world in its full entirety, and not just be single minded in one thing.’”

Like much of Spielberg’s work, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs excels in delivering a child’s-eye-view of the world. (Bobo even has a bike like the kids in E.T. — though hers is a motorbike.)

“It’s funny, I think I have an arrested development at the point of my youth, of the age that I was when I entered the world that I cover in the film,” Davidtz said. “And I think Steven has some arrested development in that area of his life.”

Shooting in South Africa with a mostly Black crew, Davidtz said the experience was liberating, if at times difficult when she depicted scenes of racist violence. (Zimbabwe, she hastened to add, had a much bloodier process of decolonization, though South Africa’s “went on for longer, and was much more insidious.”)

Pulling from her own life, she worked with Fuller to recognize commonalities between the two countries and underline the specificity of Zimbabwe’s indigenous culture, including a Shona hymn on the soundtrack.

Asked about allegations of white genocide in South Africa pushed by the Trump administration, Davidtz said she is baffled by the claim, likening it to what she heard growing up — or Bobo’s parents might say — as opposed to what she knows to be true from experience.

Davidtz is eager to direct again, but is looking for the right project, noting it has to be something she feels a personal connection to. But not too personal: When I mentioned Damon Galgut’s The Promise, the Booker-winning novel about a white South African family, with a Jewish matriarch who willed a house to their Black maid, she recused herself.

“He’s my best friend from childhood,” Davidtz said of Galgut.”I just worry about our friendship if I were the person trying to tell the story, because you have to take license.”

Davidtz said Spielberg has yet to see Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs, but his cinematographer Janusz Kamiński, who first collaborated with him on Schindler’s List, has read the script, and gave some good advice as Davidtz panicked about the technical stuff.

“He said, ‘Embeth, you know this world better than anybody. You will know what the world needs to look like. So don’t worry. Don’t get caught up. Don’t let your cinematography take too long to light. Just shoot, shoot, shoot,’” Davidtz recounted. “I sort of went, ‘I can’t doubt myself. What I know is I’ve got to be inside this child’s face and head, and that’s the way to tell the story.’”

It’s telling that Gunn placed as much emphasis on this scene and these chemistry reads as he did on just finding his Clark; if you want a signpost of where he’s going with his take, this is it. Brosnahan doesn’t mince words: “To me, Superman has always been a love story. Superman is an alien who loves humans and is curious about them—and what brings out our humanity better than getting unexpectedly knocked off your ass by love?”

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Now it’s my turn to give Corenswet his own homework assignment: He has never seen Kill Bill, so when I cite David Carradine’s infamous speech as Bill about the caricature of Clark Kent being Superman’s indictment of humanity, the reference is lost on him. But he understands the argument, and says that Superman doesn’t quite fit Bill’s visions.

“This was one thing that James said early on,” Corenswet recalls. “Which is that we all have multiple characters that we play depending on the setting that we’re in. So, it’s not quite true to say that there’s a third person, but I think the true person, the character without pretense, is somewhere between Clark and Superman. And they’re both roles that he plays.”

Gunn has, naturally, seen that Kill Bill speech, and disagrees so vehemently with it that he actually addresses Bill’s idea in the Superman script. “It says it in the script: Oftentimes people say that Clark Kent is a disguise and Superman is the real person, but I don’t see it that way, or at least that’s not the way this iteration of Superman is,” Gunn says. “This Superman is a character who, if you only know Superman, you don’t know the person. If you only know Clark Kent, you don’t fully know the person.”

Corenswet and Gunn very much built the character together. “I think in a lot of ways, James and I are made for each other,” Corenswet says. “James has this habit of, as you’re working on the scene, he’ll sit back by the monitors on the God mic and he’ll yell directions at you, which is not how directors generally work. You usually do the scene, they say cut, and then they come and say very privately and quietly, ‘I loved that moment where you did this. What if we tried something else in the next one?’ That is something that would throw lots of actors off, and understandably so. For me, the second that happened, I went, okay, this is going to be great because I have no idea what I’m doing. I desperately need a director. I need a director who knows what they want and is willing to say it out loud without too much politeness and without beating around the bush. If I’m no good, tell me I’m no good, and then let’s work together to make me good.”

Corenswet became so intent on nailing Gunn’s vision that it almost started to irk Gunn. “After we finished shooting, we were hanging out and [James] affectionately—I think—described me,” Corenswet says with a big smile. “He said a very nice thing: ‘You’re a filmmaker, and so you want to be involved in the filmmaking and you want to help make the film as good as possible.’ Then he said, ‘I think you’re also like a kid sticking his finger in light sockets and sometimes I gotta slap you on the wrist and say stop fucking doing that.’”

Operagoers have been warned they will be banned from entering Milan’s prestigious La Scala theatre if they turn up wearing shorts, tank tops or flip-flops. Kimonos, however, are acceptable.

The venue’s management team reminded people how not to dress for an opera after complaints that some spectators were donning attire more suitable for the beach.

A “rules of conduct” sign has been placed at La Scala’s entrance urging its audience to “choose clothing in keeping with the decorum of the theatre”, adding that “spectators wearing tank tops, shorts and flip-flops are not allowed”. Those who arrive inappropriately dressed will not be given a refund. The message has also been placed on tickets and the opera house’s website.

The anti-beachwear dress code was introduced in 2015, the year Milan hosted the World Expo and La Scala stayed open for the entire summer, as a way to stop people from turning up in swimming costumes.

But until now it has never been strictly enforced, partly because of calls for more tolerance over attire by La Scala’s former French director, Dominique Meyer, who in his youth was criticised by fellow spectators at Paris Opera productions for his “worker’s look”. Meyer later became the general director of the opera company.

“The rules now need to be reinforced, especially due to the heat we’ve been experiencing,” said a spokesperson for La Scala. “Some spectators were getting annoyed after seeing others not dress appropriately, for example in flip-flops, especially in a theatre where people are sitting shoulder to shoulder.”

The tank top ban does not prohibit women from wearing sleeveless blouses or dresses, and, according to the Corriere della Sera newspaper, the flip-flop ban does not prevent “Japanese spectators with kimonos and traditional footwear” from entering.

Before 2015, there was a message on La Scala tickets recommending a “jacket and tie”, although the formal dress code was not obligatory. However, there is an unspoken rule that people should at least be elegantly clothed.

“It is incorrect to tell people how to dress, but they do need to be dressed,” the spokesperson said.

The dress code reminder is part of a broader overhaul on etiquette rules at La Scala. Spectators are banned from bringing their own food and drink and from taking photos and filming during performances. In addition, operagoers must not place their mobile phones on the balustrade of balcony boxes after one fell off and hit a spectator seated below.

Traditionally, in heterosexual relationships, the honor of proposing falls to the man. However, to quote Schoolhouse Rock!, “Who says women can’t propose?”

Here are 17 famous women who proposed to their boyfriends:

1.Rita Ora proposed to Taika Waititi in 2022. She told the podcast Begin Again with Davine McCall, “I rented a hotel room in Palm Springs. A really nice fancy one, filled it up with balloons — heart-shaped balloons and a heart-shaped cake, because I’m basically doing what I would have wanted for mine. He walks into the room, and he’s like, ‘What the hell? Is it Valentine’s Day?’ I’m like ‘No!’ …Anyway, I get down on one knee, and he was just like, ‘What is happening?’”

She said that she worried, “Maybe he doesn’t want it. Maybe it’s okay to just be in a relationship. Which was fine with me, too. But I just wanted to lock him down.” However, Taika answered, “Absolutely. What the hell? Get up.” They got married that August.

2.After four years together, Pink proposed to motocross racer Carey Hart during the Pro 250 class finals. She wrote, “Will you marry me?” on a pit board and held it out in front of him as he made his third lap. At first, he didn’t stop, so she added, “Serious!” to her sign. The next time he saw it, he pulled over and accepted her proposal.

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They got married at the beginning of 2006.

3.Jodie Turner-Smith proposed to Joshua Jackson — who was actually her first crush. He told The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, “She asked me. On New Year’s Eve…we were in Nicaragua. It was very beautiful, incredibly romantic. We were walking down the beach, and she asked me to marry her. There was like a preamble, there was a lead up to it… I did not know, but she was quite adamant. And she was right. This is the best choice I ever made.”

The couple got married in 2019, but Jodie filed for divorce in 2023, citing “irreconcilable differences.”

4.During the 2020 lockdown in Melbourne, Sarah Snook and her best friend David Lawson “got stuck in a house together, and [they] just sort of fell in love.” On Halloween, she popped the question. She told the Telegraph, “Nothing spooky, it just turned out that way.”

Four months later, they got married with only “[her] housemates and the celebrant and a photographer, and a friend and partner who were [their] witnesses” in attendance. The growth of their relationship from friendship to marriage was unexpected. Sarah said, “It’s still such a shock and surprise for us really, and we still get a kick out of it.”

5.Kat Dennings and Andrew W.K. proposed to each other simultaneously. On The Drew Barrymore Show, she said, “We had a special moment that makes me believe in magic. We were doing kissing, and we had, like, a shared feeling. I felt this intense…thing that I was like, ‘This is my person. This is it. I can’t live without him. This is the man I’m supposed to be with.’ And we looked at each other, and we both proposed at the same time. Not planned. No knee down — I don’t even remember what happened after that. We just were like ‘Should we get married?’ And ‘Yes.’ I just burst into tears.”

“It was, like, I never thought I had it in me, you know, because I’m kind of a toughie. But I did. I wept happy tears. I felt this sense of relief that I’ve done it. I made it through the wilderness and found this incredible person, and yeah. No one believes me. But I assure you, that’s what happened. I’m so glad I waited until I found the right person. Everybody goes through this nightmarish time of life looking for a person — or not. Whatever floats your boat. But I feel very lucky. He’s the best,” she said. They got married in 2023.

6.Britney Spears proposed to Kevin Federline, but he declined because he thought he should be the one to propose. Per Us Weekly, he said, “It wasn’t like a ‘Will you marry me?’ It wasn’t that straightforward. The way she said it was kind of beating around the bush. Still, I was taken by surprise. I thought the guy was supposed to ask the girl. So a couple of minutes went by, and then I asked her. I wasn’t really thinking about asking her right away, but I did without reservation. I’d known for a while that she’s The One.”

Three months after their relationship began, they had a surprise wedding at their small engagement party. Britney told People, “I just thought it would be too much if we had done it when we were supposed to. It became this huge thing, and I was like, ‘What are we waiting for? We know this is the real thing, why not just do it now?’ That’s why I wanted to sneak and do it our little way.” However, she filed for divorce in 2006.

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7.Judge Judy (aka Judy Sheindlin) proposed to Jerry Sheindlin because she was frustrated with his lack of commitment. She told Dujour, “I did propose to him. I said to him, ‘Where is this relationship going?’ And he tried to weasel out of it, with his, ‘Well, you know, why do we have to get married?’ Whatever. He finally capitulated. I told him to pick a date. He picked Flag Day.”

They got married in 1978, but they divorced after her father’s death in 1990. In the book What Makes a Marriage Last, Judy said, “I said, ‘I’ve been taking care of you for 12 years, now it’s your turn to take care of me.’ And he was totally unaccustomed to that role. I wasn’t asking for anything unreasonable, and he wasn’t being unreasonable saying that he really didn’t know how to do that. He was 55 and had lived a certain way all his life. He couldn’t even conceptualize taking over that role. He just couldn’t.” She told Jerry, “Unless you change, we can’t stay together.”

Jerry said, “I missed her presence the very first week that we were separated. It was the first time in years that we didn’t get to see each other every single day. It was such a strange experience.” However, a year later, he asked her to dinner, and they got back together.

They got remarried in 1991, and Jerry proposed the second time around. He said, “I picked her up from work at family court one day, and we were walking through downtown Manhattan. Suddenly I said to her, ‘This is silly. I’m uncomfortable being with you all the time and not being married to you. Let’s get married again.’ She said, ‘Well, how are we going to do that?’ I said, ‘The clerk’s office is right up the street. We can go in and get a license…’”

8.Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard both proposed to each other. Initially, he didn’t believe in marriage, but he asked her to marry him in 2009 because he knew how important it was to her. Dax told People, “Ultimately, I was like, ‘Well, I’m doing it because my partner wants that. Forget the tradition or history of marriage as a concept, you knowing I was doing something that I didn’t want to do because I loved you was a big sign for you.”

They decided to hold off on getting married until same-sex marriage was legalized in California. Kristen told PrideSource, “What are we gonna do? Have a party and be like, ‘Look at us celebrating this thing you can’t do?’ That’s fucking putrid. Like, 90 percent of our friends are gay!” In June 2013, the Supreme Court deemed the Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional. So, Kristen tweeted, “@daxshepard1 will you marry me? Xo #marriageequality #loveislove.” Dax tweeted, “DOMA is dead. Prop 8 is dead. Now let’s bring my big, gay marriage to @IMKristenBell to Life!!!!”

Jimmy Kimmel gifted the couple a pillow to celebrate. Kristen told Oprah Daily, “It’s embroidered with my tweet asking my husband, Dax Shepard, to marry me, as well as his tweet saying yes. We’d waited to get married because half our friends are gay, and we didn’t think it was appropriate to have a wedding until they could, too. The morning DOMA was squashed in the Supreme Court, I proposed on Twitter.” The couple tied the knot in October 2013.

9.Olympic skier Lindsay Vonn and NHL player P.K. Subban also proposed to each other. In August 2019, he asked her to marry him with an emerald ring. He told Vogue, “I got the ring and said, ‘You know what? I’m just going to do it [at] home.’ Everything kind of came together on that day. Everyone says the stars aligned — well, it was actually a full moon. I was worried because I knew she would want to be dressed up and not in her pajamas, and it just so happened she had a business meeting, so she was fully dressed up.”

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Four months later, Lindsay popped the question herself. On Instagram, she said, “Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!! On our 2 year anniversary I returned the favor and asked PK to marry me… and he said yes ☺️. We talk about equality but actions speak louder than words. Men should get engagement rings too and this is what PK deserves. Can’t wait to marry you babe.”

She also told Entertainment Tonight, “I was like, ‘Well, I have an engagement ring but you don’t, so not everybody knows we’re engaged.’ And I think it should be like, really equal.’ We were going to give each other rings, so I just kind of made a thing about it. But I never knew it was going to be that big of a deal… I just wanted to do something that was for us, and special for us.” However, they called off their engagement a year later.

10.Haley Lu Richardson proposed to Brett Dier, her boyfriend of seven years, in 2018. She told Busy Tonight, “I asked him to marry me. Neither of us are, like, crazy romantic people, so nothing was planned. He was sitting there eating a pizza, and he was telling me a joke that Shia LaBeouf had said in an interview, and he was, like, pretending to be Shia LaBeouf explaining this joke, and for some reason, I just cut him off and was like, ‘Wanna marry me?’”

She also told Cosmopolitan, “Here’s the thing. I didn’t prepare at all. I had no idea when I woke up that morning that I was going to ask someone to marry me that day. I was totally in the moment, and this gut feeling came up and coerced me to ask him to marry me, and I did. And he said yes. I feel like the trick to that was just not thinking about it at all before it happened. I just kind of did it. We were at this outdoor strip mall eating pizza when it happened.”

“When we were crying and having this really amazing moment that I’ll never forget, crying and holding each other and saying, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to get married. We’re going to be together forever.’ We were like, ‘We’re gonna have to do something about it,’ because we didn’t have any rings. So we went over to this bush and got these twigs and each knelt down one at a time and tied these twigs around our ring fingers. We have them saved in a little baggie. My engagement ring now, it’s custom-made. It’s a really simple ring, but it’s engraved like a twig. It was just the best day ever. It’s the best my heart has ever felt. I never knew my heart could feel that good,” she said.

However, in a 2022 Instagram story post, Haley shared, “Hey guys. This is me and Brett. We actually separated two years ago. But life goes on and we are both existing and doing pretty well turns out. We shared a deeply special chunk of our lives together. I’m so glad to have had the last couples years to heal and grow without the internet knowing but we kinda wanted to share it move on now. [sic]”

11.Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg popped the question to her longtime partner Barry Diller in 2001. She told O magazine, “One year, I didn’t know what to give him for his birthday. And I called him and said, ‘You know, if you want, for your birthday, I’ll marry you.’ And he said, ‘Let me see if I can arrange it.’ It’s what he always says, and he always arranges it. A week later, we married at City Hall, and he gave me — this is so Barry — he gave me 26 wedding rings, for the 26 years we had not been married.”

12.Four months into their relationship, Billie Piper reportedly proposed to British presenter Chris Evans in 2001. Later that year, they got married in Las Vegas. At the time, she was 18, and he was 35.

The couple separated in 2004, then their divorce was finalized in 2007. However, Billie looked back on their marriage fondly. In 2022, she told the Guardian, “Loved it. Loved that time. Learned so much. Really needed it after the experiences that I’d had, leading up to that point. And I felt like I’d actually found a real friend. I guess meeting someone who had experienced [fame] for 20 years, at that level, it was very nurturing. And also very drunken, which I needed. I had a lot of fun during those years.”

13.Three months into their relationship, Jenna Bush Hager spontaneously proposed to Henry Hager. On TODAY with Hoda & Jenna, she said, “I asked Henry to marry me. He said no, and then he asked me five years later … I might’ve had a Christmas cocktail, and we were dancing, and I said, ‘This is it. I know it. Let’s just get married. What are we waiting for?’ He smiled, and he was like, ‘I’m crazy about you, but you’re young.’”

Henry proposed to Jenna on top of a mountain in 2007, and they tied the knot the following year.

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14.Elizabeth Taylor proposed to her second husband, Michael Wilding, and chose her diamond-studded sapphire engagement ring herself.

They had an intimate wedding in London in 1952, and then they split in 1957.

15.In 2022, The Bachelorette Season 14 star Becca Kufrin proposed to Thomas Jacobs, whom she met on Bachelor in Paradise. On Instagram, she said, “In the ultimate plot twist…HE SAID YES! We’ve been keeping this secret just between us and close family & friends for a while but we’re so excited to shout it from the rooftops! I finally found my chauffeur for life and the one who makes my heart smile every single day. I can’t wait to do it all with you Tommy, thanks for making me the happiest gal alive. I love you to the moon & back ♥️.”

In his own Instagram post, Thomas shared, “The ultimate UNO reverse card / power move. You keeping me on my toes for a lifetime has a great ring to it. Cheers to forever Boops #Fiance.”

Some people criticized Becca for her decision. On the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, she said, “We’ve received so much love from people, but I’ve also seen comments where people are like, ‘She’s desperate.’ ‘I would never allow a woman to propose to the man.’ ‘I would never do this.’ And it’s like, cool, that’s you. But why does it, as a female, make me desperate to want to [propose] to somebody? If Thomas in a week were to do the exact same thing, no one says he’s desperate. It doesn’t make sense to me. The logic’s not there.”

Likewise, on Off the Vine, Thomas said, “Having a ring on your finger as a male, when your partner proposes to you as a female — you just feel like a bad bitch… That is the biggest compliment. That she wants to tie me down? That she proposed to me? Like, what? Am I a trophy husband now? Do I walk different? Do I talk different? Do I wear a monocle? Where do I go from here?” Five months later, Thomas proposed to Becca, and they got married in 2023.

16.The Bachelorette Season 21 star Jenn Tran made franchise history as the first female lead to propose to her final pick. Stopping Devin Strader from popping the question, she asked him to marry her. However, on the “After the Final Rose” episode, she said that he began “pulling away” after filming ended. She said, “We left Hawaii engaged. I thought I found the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. As soon as we left Hawaii, things were different… I was confused, I didn’t understand because we had just left so happy. He basically said he didn’t love me anymore and didn’t feel the same was… He was checked out. It wasn’t what he wanted anymore.”

She said he ended their engagement in a 15-minute phone call a month before the live finale episodes. The show aired the proposal segment, despite Jenn quietly asking, “Do I have a choice?” As it played, a live camera broadcast her emotional reaction with Devin right beside her. Many fans criticized the network for the “cruel” decision.

17.And finally, The Real Housewives of Orange County cast member Grechen Rossi didn’t have any compelling storylines for Season 8 — until she decided to propose to Slade Smiley, her boyfriend of four years, via song. However, she denied that she only did it for the show. In a Season 8 clip, she said, “Absolutely, 100 percent no. I wasn’t gonna do something just for TV. I wasn’t gonna do something just to make money.”

Gretchen and Slade have been engaged since 2013. On the podcast Scheananigans with Scheana Shay, she said, “Honestly, it’s really just been the timing of everything… Life just got so busy. And then I started trying to have a baby, and that was so much money just doing the whole IVF thing and all that for four and a half years. And then after we had the baby, we were just busy being parents… I’m not the kind of girl that’s like, ‘Let’s go down to the courthouse and get married.’ I want the wedding…I want to have more of the big hoopla.”

If you’re a woman who proposed to her husband, tell us about your experience in the comments!

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Hollywood dinosaur franchise reboot “Jurassic World Rebirth” charged into first place at the South Korean box office for the July 4–6 weekend, grossing $5.6 million from 804,654 admissions across 1,645 screens.

According to KOBIS, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council, the film accounted for 45.2% of the market. Including earlier weekday previews, the film has now grossed $7.3 million in Korea.

South Korean film “Noise” moved up to second, in terms of admissions, with $2.3 million and 326,270 admissions, bringing its cumulative total to $4.7 million. Directed by Kim Soo-jin, the psychological horror stars Lee Sun-bin as Ju-young, a woman haunted by disturbing sounds tied to her sister’s disappearance.

Brad Pitt‘s “F1” dropped to third from last week’s pole position with $2.6 million from 320,675 admissions. The film has amassed $7.8 million in total gross. DreamWorks’ “How to Train Your Dragon” placed fourth, earning $687,056 and bringing its Korean total to $12.3 million. Disney-Pixar’s “Elio” followed in fifth, adding $457,508 for a cumulative haul of $3.6 million.

In sixth place, local film “Hi-Five” grossed $93,976. It has now reached $12.7 million from more than 1.87 million admissions. Studio Ghibli’s classic “Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Winds” climbed to seventh with $75,095, raising its re-release total to $338,548 in Korea.

Tom Cruise‘s “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” came in eighth with $73,715, pushing its total to $24.1 million. South Korean faith-based documentary “Nameless” was ninth, earning $58,798 over the weekend. Directed by Ha Jung-woo, the film has now grossed $336,591.

Rounding out the top 10, post-apocalyptic horror sequel “28 Years Later” collected $51,260 for a running total of $2.2 million.

The top 10 films collectively grossed $12.1 million over the July 4–6 weekend, marking a notable rise from the previous frame’s $7.2 million.

Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet quashed swirling breakup rumours in the wake of their brief separation.

During the past weeks, while the Khy founder was enjoying Jeff Bezos-Lauren Sanchez’s star studded wedding with her family, including Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner, in Venice, Italy, the Oscar nominated actor appeared to be busy filming his upcoming projects.

Prioritising their respective commitments, the two hadn’t made any recent public appearances or gone on dates, which raised concerns among fans about a possible split.

Adding further fuel to the fire, a photo of Kylie, 27, spending quality time at a beach with a “mystery man” surfaced on social media.

Some users claimed the handsome hunk was one of her half-brothers, Brandon or Brody Jenner, others suggested it was a friend’s boyfriend.

Nevertheless, the breakup rumours were put to rest when Kylie and Timothee, 29, were spotted together at Shellona Beach in Saint-Tropez, making a very public reunion.

While the Kylie Cosmetics mogul donned a black and white striped mini dress, A Complete Unknown star went incognito in a Nigerian jersey, a matching green head scarf wrapped around his face, and a blue baseball cap.

Notably, the A-list couple, spotted walking hand-in-hand, were not alone, Kylie’s older sister Kendall Jenner also joined them, but gave the lovebirds some space to enjoy their time together.

Any profession can corrupt its practitioners — and arts critics are no exception. Are they enlightened standard-setters dragging us back from a cultural abyss — or deformed exiles from the arts who, with sharpened pens and bent backs, are ready to pounce on plot-holes and devour careers at a moment’s notice?

If Charlotte Runcie’s debut novel, “Bring the House Down,” is anything to go by, it’s a bit of both. The book centers around four heady weeks at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which begins the unraveling of two newspaper critics who have traveled up from London to cover the sprawling performance art event. Runcie, a former arts columnist for the Daily Telegraph, has created something so delightfully snackable that you may, as I did, gulp it down in two or three sittings.

Runcie’s anti-hero is theater critic Alex Lyons. Alex gives everything he reviews either one star or five, and the latter are vanishingly rare. He bemoans a world of “online shopping reviews,” where “five stars has come to mean the baseline, rather than outstanding,” and so insists on panning almost everything he sees. What’s bad for artists is good for him: His reviews become desperately sought-after career makers or breakers. “The paper didn’t allow Alex to award zero stars. Otherwise, he’d do it all the time.”

We learn about Alex’s story through our narrator Sophie Ridgen, his colleague who, despite being in her mid-30s like Alex, is on a very different track. Alex rose quickly through the newspaper’s ranks, and his reviews are featured on the front page almost daily. Sophie continues to toil as a junior culture writer, picking up whatever scraps nobody else wants. Sophie is also a new mom, overworking to compensate for time lost to maternity leave. She feels uncomfortable in her post-pregnancy body, exhausted and frustrated with her husband. Alex, on the other hand, finds it “embarrassingly easy” to get laid.

But Alex’s glory days are numbered. Early on at the Fringe, he sees a one-woman show that, unsurprisingly, he hates. He writes a review as devastating as it is personal (calling the star a “dull, hectoring frump,” her voice a “high-pitched whine”). All of this would be business as usual for Alex except for one problem: After quickly filing his review of the show, he bumps into Hayley Sinclair, its creator and star, in a bar. He takes her home and sleeps with her. He knew the one star was waiting for her; she did not.

When she finds out, there is hell to pay. Hayley transforms her nightly show into the “Alex Lyons Experience,” collecting testimony from his ex-girlfriends and lovers, or even those who have simply received bad reviews from him. Over the following weeks her show swells into a Greek chorus of one man’s wrongs. The whole nation, including members of Parliament, have hot takes (the performance is livestreamed). It doesn’t help his case that Alex is a bit of a nepo baby, as his mother Judith is an actor whose name would be recognized in most British households.

Sophie, living with Alex in the company-rented flat, has a front row seat to his public unraveling. She watches the livestreams with guilty awe, stalks Alex and Hayley compulsively online, and feverishly scans social media for the latest gossip (Runcie is great at writing a fake mean Tweet/X dispatch). She starts missing calls with her husband and their toddler son, as she becomes fully obsessed with the drama unfolding in Edinburgh.

As she continues to inhabit the same flat as her colleague, Sophie is increasingly questioned by others as to whose side she’s on, Alex or Hayley’s. For much of the book, she seems unable to make up her mind. She refuses to give up on Alex, and increasingly becomes his only source of companionship, which she can’t help but find flattering. But she also finds herself sympathetic to and magnetized by Hayley, whose popularity is blossoming on the Fringe circuit and beyond.

While Alex and Hayley both appear to possess other-worldly levels of charisma, one flaw with Runcie’s novel is that this is something we are repeatedly told, rather than shown. Alex spends most of the book being condescending to Sophie, and yet she is transfixed by him. “He had the strange ability to make you feel as if you were the only person who was in on a joke, the only person who understood some fundamental truth about the world that escaped other people.” This feels unsatisfyingly generic, like something you might find in an online wedding vows template.

We are at least given more backstory and a more plausible explanation for Sophie’s fascination with Alex: the ego trip. Having been dragged down by motherhood, a rocky marriage, and grief over the death of her own mother, Sophie enjoys Alex’s increasing dependence on her, a lone rock of support amid an ocean of alienation. There is something undeniably delicious in watching someone you revere fall to their knees, and Sophie begins to see in Alex “a tiny flickering of fear, at first only visible as a barely perceptible interruption to his arrogance, like a power cut that dims the lights for just a hundredth of a second.”

Hayley, unfortunately, never quite comes to life in the same way. And it remains unclear why her show, which is essentially a litany of (legitimate) complaints about a real-life terrible man with some added pyrotechnics, takes Edinburgh and the entire country by such storm. “I find I can’t explain why it had the effect that it did,” Sophie tells us. “This wasn’t theater, not really; it was a happening. The audience weren’t spectators anymore, but a silent, connected web of righteous energy.” Without more to go on, we have no choice but to take her word for it.

The result feels like a missed opportunity to interrogate some important questions. How much does the identity (gender, race, or class) of the critic matter when it comes to their ability to judge art? What about the identity of the artist themselves? In other words, who shall criticize the critics? Readers may leave Runcie’s novel feeling that some of these questions go unanswered, but this deeply entertaining novel is nonetheless well worth the price of admission.

Mills is a writer and human rights researcher who has worked for Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Wall Street Journal and Associated Press. She lives in New York.

Pakistani horror hit Deemak has gained international recognition, winning the Best Editing award at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Film Festival 2025 held in Chongqing, China.

The horror thriller was among two Pakistani films honoured at the event, alongside Nayab, showcasing the growing global impact of Pakistani cinema.

Directed by Rafay Rashdi and starring Sonya Hussyn, Samina Peerzada, and Faysal Quraishi, Deemak has stood out for its gripping narrative and technical finesse. 

Following the award announcement, Rashdi expressed his gratitude on Instagram, calling it a “historic win for Pakistani cinema on an international stage.” 

He thanked the SCO, the Ministry of Information, and those who supported the film’s vision. “Pakistan Zindabad,” he added, sharing a photo with the award and lead actor Sonya Hussyn.

Hussyn, who attended the festival, also celebrated the honour on social media, writing, “Our film Deemak bring home an award at the prestigious film festival,” and calling it a proud moment for Pakistan.

Produced and presented by Geo Films, Deemak was released nationwide on Eidul Adha and quickly became a box office phenomenon.

It set a new record for the horror genre in the country, collecting Rs70 million in just its first two days. Viewers praised the film for delivering a chilling yet emotionally resonant experience, with many crediting Geo Films for backing such a bold and innovative project.

The film explores themes of horror, folklore, and complex family dynamics.

Written by Syed Murad Ali, Rashdi, and Ayesha Muzaffar, Deemak features a stellar cast including Javed Sheikh and Bushra Ansari alongside the leads. Its combination of fear, drama, and social commentary has resonated deeply with audiences.

Geo Films, known for producing acclaimed titles such as Khuda Ke Liye, Bol, Teefa in Trouble, The Legend of Maula Jatt, and Donkey King, continues its legacy of supporting groundbreaking Pakistani cinema. 

With Deemak now earning accolades on the international stage, the film marks yet another milestone for the studio and for the country’s evolving film industry.

Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet were recently spotted spending time together in France amid their engagement rumors. Since reports about them dating took over the internet in 2023, the power couple has not shied away from flaunting their romance in public.

Last week, the Kylie Cosmetics founder arrived in St. Tropez with her sister, Kendall Jenner, for a summer retreat. Soon after, the actor joined his girlfriend on vacation. Prior to hitting the French coastal town, the Jenners explored Venice, Italy, where they also attended Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding.

Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet are all smiles in Saint-Tropez date photos

Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet’s photos from their vacation in France have recently gone viral amid their engagement rumors. Deuxmoi exclusively shared pictures of the two holding hands on their Saint-Tropez date. The couple was all smiles as they stepped out for a sun-soaked day at Shellona Beach.

The beauty mogul looked gorgeous in a striped black and white dress and chic sunglasses with her hair let loose. Her boyfriend, on the other hand, went for a casual vibe as he wore a “Nigeria” jersey and a green head scarf wrapped over his cap. They seemed comfortable in each other’s company as they wandered around the beach with their staff.

Last week, Jenner and her sister, Kendall, enjoyed a beach outing with their friends at the Lou Lou Beach Club. Several photos on the internet featured the siblings flaunting their bikinis while frolicking in the water. Before that, the KHY founder shared adorable moments from her trip with her kids on Instagram.

After attending Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding in Venice, she visited Tuscany with some friends and her children — daughter Stormi (7) and son Aire (3). The reality TV personality uploaded a few photos from the vacation on Instagram, captioning the post: “italian summer yes pleaseeee.”

Besides that, Jenner has been spending some quality time with her beau. Reportedly, Chalamet will soon begin filming for “Dune: Part Three,” which will give the pair less time with each other.

Originally reported by Sushmita Sen on RealityTea.

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