Selena Gomez went on some bad dates after Justin Bieber split, before Benny Blanco romance
Gomez got candid about feeling lonely in the time between ending her relationship with Bieber and sparking a new connection with Blanco on the "Table Manners" podcast on April 29.
"I hadn't liked anyone in a very long time," the "Lose You to Love Me" singer said.
Gomez said that when she and Blanco shared their first kiss, the moment felt refreshing after a few years of dating misfires.
"Some kisses are for fun, and then when you feel something behind a kiss, it's completely different," she said. "And I'd been alone for about five years, with the exception of a few (bad) dates here and there, but never felt that way. And I was a little embarrassed."
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Gomez reportedly dated DJ Zedd in 2015 and singer The Weeknd in 2017. Gomez's on-again, off-again relationship with Bieber lasted over seven years, from 2010 to 2018.
In a Time interview published in May, Gomez opened up about how her romance with Blanco started, saying that though she'd only considered the "Diamonds" producer a friend at first, she'd discovered her feelings were romantic after attending a birthday party to meet his friend. "It just happens when you least expect it," Gomez said.
Selena Gomez's relationship with Benny Blanco, from music collaborations to engagement
The couple went public with their relationship in December 2023. In a since-deleted comment at the time, the Rare Beauty founder appeared to reveal the two had already been dating for six months. They shared their engagement a year later.
Bieber has also moved on with model Hailey Bieber. The couple's own on-again-off-again relationship began in 2015 and culminated in their marriage in 2018. The Biebers welcomed their first child together, a baby boy named Jack Blues Bieber, in August.
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Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
Meet the 24-year-old designer who's becoming the face of avant-garde fashion in L.A.
Erik Charlotte VonSosen has always talked of her craft in a nonchalant fashion. I've often witnessed this whenever I see the L.A.-based designer. We go somewhere, maybe a crowded house party or a flea market, and someone strikes up a conversation. They may be a stylist, an industry insider or simply a courageous flirt, but a compliment on what Charlotte is wearing is inevitable. Sometimes she's wearing a tightly laced corset, a wool minidress or a methodical two-piece set. But either way, she quickly responds to the flattery with a return compliment, an unpretentious, 'Thanks, I made it,' and moves the conversation forward. Though ever-changing, Charlotte's stylistic instincts were clear from early on in our friendship. Her brows are almost always freshly bleached. A Victorian cameo typically clings to her neck as a choker and her industrial '90s Jean Paul Gaultier handbag punctuates her daily wardrobe. A few years ago, we took an art class together where she created an entire corset dress to simply use as a canvas. (The rest of us had settled for paper.) For our final critique, I offered to help lug her sewing mannequin across campus. As I fought gravity and refused to let the white fabric drag, my gut was telling me I had a front-row seat to what was developing into an undeniable, fashion-forward vocation. Once the 24-year-old designer began sharing her clothing online, a little over a year ago, things started to change. With her Art Deco fireplace as a backdrop and an iPhone perched on a tripod, she stunned the internet with her outlandish silhouettes, statuesque poses and high-fashion innovation. Her avant-garde exaggerated ruffles, engulfing puff sleeves and sporadic seafarer motifs have since been fast-tracked into the world of celebrity stylists, red carpets, music video sets and the stages of touring musicians. Emma Chamberlain, Christina Aguilera and Richie Shazam alike have been crowned with Charlotte's signature sailor hats. The musicians Marina, formerly of the Diamonds, and Rebecca Black have both ordered custom looks — Marina put in for a brocade corset and taffeta bubble skirt to wear on Coachella's main stage, and Black indulged her sailor-bride fantasies at the American Music Awards. Many understand Los Angeles fashion as a scene that depends on fast trends and lengthy lines outside of sneaker stores. But as a born-and-raised Californian, Charlotte wants to satisfy the sprawling city's need for extravagance. 'I don't think I should have to move to make the rest of the fashion world or anyone feel more comfortable. L.A. has so much untapped talent that's hiding because people think fashion in L.A. is a monolith of hype and trends,' said Charlotte. I pick up Charlotte from her off-Wilshire apartment, like usual. She's wearing overalls, half undone, oversize glasses, her golden hair tossed up in a messy bun with a stuffed sketchbook in hand. We set out to go fabric shopping at Fabric Planet in Venice. She's on a mission to create an all-white lace look, complete with a bonnet, puffy sleeves and feathers, for her own creative fulfillment. Cerys Davies: When you are making something for yourself, how does your creative process start? Erik Charlotte: I will only start drawing when I have an idea. Sometimes a building I saw or someone on the street will catch my eye. I let the thought marinate for a few days, or I'll write it down in my notes. Or an idea will come to me really quick. And then, if I don't have my sketchbook, I'll sketch it here. Surrounded by bolts of fabric, she whips out her phone and swipes through a series of finger-drawn sketches in her notes app. I only have a couple minutes to sketch before the idea changes. It needs to be as pure as possible. Sometimes, I'll even get out of the shower to sketch something. CD: It seems like you have a constant flow of ideas coming out of you. How do you know when it's done living in your sketchbook? EC: Once it becomes the most exciting idea. There's always a couple things on standby. The look [we are shopping for] has a lot of elements that I'm familiar with, like the puff-sleeve job, the bonnet and the inclusion of feathers. It's all elements that I've already attempted and really liked — so, I'm Frankensteining them. She lands on six different kinds of white lace, with plans to layer them. An employee comes up to double-check that she only wants one yard of each pattern. I'll give myself a challenge: One yard of each and they're all really different textures — maybe each sleeve puff might even be different. I like when things are so different that they can't be replicated. Honestly, [with my work] things really can't be, because there's always tiny splotches of blood on my corsets' lining. It's such a physical labor that I'll break half my nails or my hands will be full of cuts. She opens her hands up to me, revealing Band-Aids and well-formed callouses. For some reason, I can only cut with my left hand. I do everything else with my right hand. CD: Have you always been like that? Ever since kindergarten? EC: Yeah, they thought I was ambidextrous. But I could only use my left when using scissors. It's strangely helpful, because I can position fabric and then cut it perfectly. CD: That's hilarious. It's almost like cutting fabric is innate to you. We continue to circle the racks with no real goal — looking for something that strikes up inspiration. Charlotte lands on a fabric with a white background, detailed with fine line drawings in blue. EC: I've always wanted to do something with this, but Moschino has something similar. I don't want to be too matchy-matchy. CD: Is that something you think about a lot? EC: I am influenced by a lot of people, but I don't want to ever create something that looks exactly the same as something else. I get kind of paranoid sometimes because there's always a billion things in my head. I actually have this whole crusade against Pinterest. I never use Pinterest, and I don't do mood boards either, which is uncommon. I want what I create to be translated exactly from the way I see things. If I were inspired by a fountain or a landmark, I wouldn't be looking at pictures of it. I'm inspired by what it looks like in my brain. That's what I'm putting on the page. I'm not looking at pictures of it and going back and forth. I'm thinking, what's my mental recollection of this? We keep doing laps around the store. She digs through the scraps and dreams of making a swimsuit. She grabs a zipper and spool of thread. Her eyes linger on the shelves of silks. A gray plaid sticks out. In the blink of an eye, she's handing it to an employee and asking for six yards. She has a vision of making it into a skirt and wearing it to the bar that very night. EC: Now I'm feeling a bit over budget. The original budget was $300. CD: What's your final guess? EC: I think it'll be around $360, just because of the silk. The final total was $359.61. We make the journey back to her rent-controlled apartment. Every inch of the couch is piled high with pinstripe bustles and mountains of sailor hats. She lays out the plaid and begins to craft her outfit for the night. In between pinning every inch, she tells me about how her grandma taught her the sewing basics at 15, as she had dreams of being a drag queen. CD: Do you consider yourself to be self-taught? EC: For sure. It manifests in my technique studies, because I don't know school-taught techniques. A lot of times people will ask me how I did a certain thing, and I don't have an answer for them. CD: Does being self-taught ever cause any tension within yourself and your work? EC: Sometimes I get insecure about it. When a stitch isn't working, or I mess up the seam, I'll delegitimize myself a little bit and think I'm a fraud because I'm having people pay me for this. But sometimes it can be a real learning opportunity. CD: How do you think your roots in drag culture informs what you create today? EC: It's where I get my affinity for exaggeration. I love an exaggerated silhouette. I always pattern my corsets with an exaggerated hip shape, because that's the drag definition of what femininity looks like. I don't think it's my definition of femininity anymore, as a trans woman, but having that exaggeration still live somewhere in my work is a testament to drag culture. It's how I spent my teenage years. There are also so many queens who don't know how to sew and can still do a whole re-creation of a Met Gala look with hot glue. In drag, you can do so much with such little material or proper experience. There's no guidebook on what to do. I bring that same approach to fashion. CD: Thinking back to your drag days, did you ever think you would end up as a designer? EC: Not really. I was really set on doing drag. When I first moved to L.A., all I wanted to do was perform. But once I started my transition, I realized it wasn't drag that I wanted. It was the womanhood and the power. The whole reason I was still doing it was because I loved being able to make the clothes. It was the only excuse I had to wear the clothes and keep presenting feminine. So, when I transitioned, I didn't need an excuse. I could just start making what I wanted to and it didn't have to be a costume anymore. CD: How do you think your relationship to creating clothes has evolved since then? EC: It almost feels like a calling or a necessity. Before it really felt like a hobby, I was so focused on getting my degree and trying to figure out how to be a person, but now my relationship to it is almost primal. I can't imagine doing anything else. The thought of not being able to sell or make clothes is devastating. I know it sounds like it's not that deep, but it is for me. CD: Is it fair to say you've been reaching your goals faster than expected? EC: I can't believe that this is all real. It's crazy — this is all stuff that I make in my apartment. But on the other hand, my vision for what I want has always been so clear in every decision that I make. Everything is really intentional, from the stylists I work with to the types of jobs I take on. This has been my dream for a really long time. I'm in this dream, but I'm in the dream with a map. I have a general sense of where I'm going. It is definitely surprising and not what I would have expected, timeline-wise. It's insane to be 24 years old and think that I need an assistant. But I don't dwell on the surprise. Instead, I just take it in stride and keep aiming higher. It's not even out of necessity per se, but more out of desire. I don't think there's anything wrong with dreaming a little bit bigger.
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
What it really means to be a Disney adult, according to an expert
Swifty. Gamer. Backpacker. Foodie. All these labels bring vivid images to mind, but one group elicits particularly strong feelings from fans and observers alike: Disney adults. Whatever you think of when you hear the term, Disney expert AJ Wolfe, owner of and wants to challenge that in her new book by the same name, 'Disney Adults.' 'Stereotypes are there for a reason, but what are the reasons that people are attacking this particular subculture? And what does that say about them versus us, as well?' she asked. Wolfe spoke with USA TODAY about what she discovered and her own experiences as a Disney adult. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Question: Disney has been popular with adults from the very beginning. It's not a new phenomenon. Can you tell us about that? Wolfe: There have been Disney adults for 100 years, really since Walt Disney started his whole empire back in the 1920s. Walt has a pretty well-known quote that says, 'You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway." He knew from the very beginning that he had to make sure to entice the people who held the purse strings. What we've seen Disney adults evolve into though is an online subculture – primarily online, although things are starting to put their tendrils into in-person meetups and communities. Love theme parks? Thank Disneyland. Here's why. People have this idea of what a Disney adult is. What do you want people to know about them? Stereotypes come out of truth, right? There are some of us who are obsessed and obnoxious and selfish and problematic, but every fandom has those people. That's called humanity. That's what we are, as a culture in general. What people aren't really looking at – especially with Disney adults and I think with a lot of subcultures – is what's below the water when it comes to the iceberg. Online, what algorithms are pushing is what people are watching: the extremes. You're not seeing the reality. Every culture, every subculture, the majority of what's going on is stuff you don't see, stuff you have no idea about, so that's what we're doing with the book. It's really kind of showing how broad and extensive this subculture is and also pros and cons of it. Let's talk about some of those pros. What's great about this particular fandom is that people are finally finding their tribe. I think a lot of Disney adults don't fit anywhere else, and this is some place that they fit exquisitely. They find their best friends; they find their partners. You can find people you'd never find in your regular community or your workplace or your school. I think because a lot of us don't fit anywhere, we're very open and and happy to welcome everybody who finds some sort of solace here or who finds Disney to be interesting or compelling or curious or whatever. We're happy to talk to you about it. We're happy to bring you on where you are. We are also very willing to help each other, so you see a lot of positives within the Disney community of fundraisers, charity work, people helping other people in the community and doing outreach outside of the community. But the most important one, especially for me personally, is you find your tribe and your community, which honestly you can't be healthy without. For many fans, Disney brings back core memories and a deep emotional connection that they feel when they go to the places Disney has created. This is something that I really wanted to figure out while writing this book. How does Disney do this? Like, we're lining up to give them more money. How did they get such a hold on us? What it all stems back to for a lot of us as Disney adults is family and emotional connections. I blame our parents and our grandparents 1000% for bringing us to those Disney movies, for bringing us to Disney World and for having such a fabulous time while they were there that we kind of cottoned on to that and said, 'This is when my dad and I really connect. This is when my grandma and I have something in common, and I remember this time.' And now, with the world doing what it's doing and people just being high anxiety and feeling stressed and just regular life, you're going to want to try to get back to that feeling of safety and predictability and warmth and being taken care of, and so a lot of times people will go back to Disney. It's a cycle because as you grow up with these things, you want to pass them on to your kids so they have the same experiences, and it raises another generation of fans. Exactly. The thing that's also interesting about that is when I was raising my son, who's 11 now, we could have gone to Europe for vacation. We could have gone to Costa Rica, but that's harder than just going to Disney because Disney is so easy. They speak English, they take dollars, but it's still this experience you get to have. It's the easier choice. It can be really hard to try to figure out an entirely different city that speaks a different language. And so I think when you have little kids, sometimes it's just, "We're going to go to Disney for a little while because we know what to expect." You want your kids to experience what you experienced, but also it's the devil you know. Can you talk about that feeling of FOMO a lot of Disney adults have about the latest snacks, the latest merch? The marketing is unbelievable, and I'm not going to lie, the whole Disney adult community is doing this marketing for Disney for free. Disney has become a 24-hour news cycle. Hungry is the perfect word for the information, details, hot goss on their happy place, and that's exactly what they're trying to key into, because that's going to bring them that dopamine hit, that joy, that little feeling of "I know what's going on and this person doesn't know what's going on." There's also this weird hierarchy of "How much do you know, and do you know more than other people? Do you have this pin? Do you have that Loungefly bag? Have you tried that snack? Have you been on that ride?" It's just this wild subculture of one-upmanship and FOMO, and "I have to right now book this trip because I have to be on that new ride." It's fascinating. I'm all caught up in it, too. Can you speak to some of the cons and address some of the criticisms people have of Disney adults? Absolutely, and we have a whole chapter in the book about it. Two main points that kind of keep coming up are, first, people are loving something that general society considers to be for kids. It's like you are not allowed, as an upstanding citizen, to like something that was built and created for children. We heard Walt's quote. We know it wasn't built and created for children, but people are like, 'Disney is for kids. Why do you like something that's for kids? That's weird.' And so that's verging on a lot of other weird things that people are uncomfortable with. Sometimes Disney adults can be othering towards other theme parks. As far I'm concerned, a rising tide lifts all boats. Disney's going to get better because Universal's getting better. Universal's going to get better because Disney's getting better. I do feel like this is great for all of us. Can we just be cool? I think we shoot ourselves in the foot a lot when it comes to themed experiences because we're not willing to open our minds. Of course you can love something for free, but a lot of experiences cost money. Can you tell us about the role of money plays with Disney adults? That's interesting that you say you can love something for free because what Disney has definitely done, even more so in the last couple of years, is there's a lot of their experiences that you cannot have unless you have a certain amount of money. Can you go to Disney cheap? Sure, but not that cheap. Those tickets cost at least $100, and so I think there is a feeling among Disney adults that Disney is out-pricing a lot of people and that they're getting to the point that it's just going to be a luxury item, at least for the parks, and they cannot afford to go anymore. I think you're starting to see, 'Oh, only rich people can go to Disney. Only rich people can have these experiences.' And Disney, in the past five years, has made a lot of their amenities that used to be free into paid amenities. You can't get them anymore unless you pay for them, so it's an evolving space. People will still pay it. That's the thing. No Lightning Lane needed: How to save time in line at Disney World, Disneyland without paying extra Is there anything else you want people to know? Most importantly, the thing about this particular subculture and this book in general is that we are talking about humanity here. It's aspects of any group or community or subculture that you're seeing. I think you're going to see more and more and more subcultures emerge online, and you're going to see a lot more of our friends and connections and chosen family be people we've never met before. So just sort of thinking about that and how do we comprehend these communities? How do we involve ourselves in these communities? How do we not be scared of these communities? Realize that there's so much more to these groups than you might think. Give yourself some time to really explore.
USA Today
5 hours ago
- USA Today
Puzzle solutions for Friday, Aug. 8, 2025
Note: Most subscribers have some, but not all, of the puzzles that correspond to the following set of solutions for their local newspaper. CROSSWORDS USA TODAY crossword Play the USA TODAY Crossword Puzzle. Los Angeles Times crossword Today's crossword (McMeel) Daily Commuter crossword SUDOKU Play the USA TODAY Sudoku Game. JUMBLE Jumbles: PENNY GUESS NESTLE FIXATE Answer: After seeing how difficult the Jumble would be to solve, they had an − UNEASY FEELING (Distributed by Tribune Content Agency) CRYPTOGRAPHY PUZZLES Celebrity Cipher "Like most modern people, I don't believe in prophecy or magic and then spend half my time practicing it." − John Steinbeck (Distributed by Andrews McMeel) Cryptoquote IF YOU WANT TO SEE A MIRACLE, BE THE MIRACLE. − MORGAN FREEMAN (Distributed by King Features) Cryptoquip IF PEOPLE ARE SNOOZING ON THE SURFACE OF A BILLIARD TABLE, YOU MIGHT CALL THEM POOL-DOZERS. (Distributed by King Features) OTHER PUZZLES Boggle CUBA FIJI JAPAN ICELAND (Distributed by Tribune Content Agency) Lexigo NESTS, SENDS, SIESTA, ANTACID, DATING (Distributed by Andrews McMeel) KenKen Scrabblegrams 7 Little Words (Distributed by Andrews McMeel) Find the Words Where do you want to visit? (Distributed by Creators Syndicate) Kubok
