
Helen Hunt stuns in bikini after rejecting pressures of Hollywood beauty standards
Hunt, 62, looked effortlessly cool as she slipped into the sea wearing a retro-inspired bikini after earning a coveted award at the Taormina Film Festival.
The "Hacks" actress sported a vibrant yellow bikini top paired with green floral bottoms while relaxing by the ocean.
Hunt was honored this week in Italy with a lifetime achievement award at the Taormina Film Festival.
"It is an honor for us to welcome Helen Hunt to Taormina. Her presence represents a bridge between great international cinema and the eternal beauty of our land. With her elegance, multifaceted talent and artistic consistency, Helen embodies the values that our Festival wants to celebrate: passion, commitment and love of cinematic storytelling," Tiziana Rocca, Artistic Director of Taormina Film Festival, told Variety.
"The Lifetime Achievement Award is a heartfelt and well-deserved tribute to an artist capable of inspiring generations of viewers and colleagues."
Additional honorees included Martin Scorsese, Michael Douglas and Catherine Deneuve.
The "Mad About You" star revealed earlier this month that she felt "misery and shame" in the early stages of her career due to her physical appearance.
"It felt impossible not to internalize the way you're supposed to look," Hunt said. "And [there was] a certain amount of misery and shame around not looking exactly that way."
Hunt added, "I realized, 'This could quietly ruin your whole life.' I made a decision: I'm not playing. Not gonna [let it] take up a lot of space in my mind."
The "As Good As It Gets" actress said her approach was influenced by "The Only Diet There Is," a book written by the spiritual leader Sondra Ray.
"What I took from it is, eat what you want and love every bite, period," she said.
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New York Times
9 minutes ago
- New York Times
Grit, goals and glam: How beauty brands are making up for lost time and tapping into women's sports
For many, the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was defined by U.S. women's national team forward Megan Rapinoe's pink hair. For me, it was Marta's red lipstick – a visual microphone for the Brazilian's impassioned pleas for more support for the team. The moment the six-time FIFA best player of the year stepped onto the pitch against Italy with those bold red lips was still a rare visual of an elite soccer player expressing herself with beauty products on the field. Advertisement When I was a little girl playing volleyball competitively, makeup was frowned upon, rooted in outdated ideas of how female athletes were supposed to look: strong, but not too strong; feminine, but not so feminine that they'd dare show up in lipstick. For decades in Brazil, soccer was considered unsuitable for women and was banned by law. It took until the 1980s for women to be allowed to formally play the sport in the country. And now the nation will host South America's first Women's World Cup in 2027. 'I always wear lipstick. Not that color, but today I said, 'I'm going to dare,'' Marta said after the 2019 game. 'The color is of blood because we had to leave blood on the pitch. Now I'm going to use it in every game.' Seeing Marta embrace an element of femininity and turn it into a battle cry was not just symbolic, it was marketable. Brazil later lost to host France in the round of 16, but Marta's makeup sponsor, Avon, won big time. Marta had a partnership with the British cosmetics brand in 2019, and her lipstick moment at the World Cup sparked an unexpected media frenzy. The timing aligned well with Avon's launch of Power Stay, a new lipstick lasting 16 hours. According to Brazilian advertising executive Miguel Ferreira, who wrote about the moment on his Substack in 2021, Marta's lipstick led to a 2,000 percent spike in Avon store visits, a 585.9 percent increase in searches for 'Avon lipstick,' 7.3 million Brazilian reais (roughly $1.36 million) in earned media, and over 1 million units of Power Stay lipstick sold. Avon did not respond to The Athletic's request to confirm these numbers. Despite the success, beauty brands failed to seize the momentum sparked by Marta and Avon. It would take four more years for the tipping point to come when women's sports exploded commercially and culturally (record crowds, prime-time coverage, and the amplified visibility of social media), with more athletes glamming up before stepping onto the pitch. From a business standpoint, most beauty brands are still leaving a lucrative white space wide open. Genius Sports' Sports Intelligence Unit found that roughly 67 percent of women's sports fans actively support brands that back their favorite teams or athletes. 'The business opportunity is hiding in plain sight. Almost 50 percent of the global population is sports fans. Sixty-six percent of Americans are sports fans. Over 50 percent of U.S. women over 13 follow sports,' Kory Marchisotto, CMO of e.l.f. Beauty told The Athletic. e.l.f. Beauty, NWSL's first beauty partner, is one of the companies that made a bold entrance into the sports world in 2023, with a Super Bowl advertisement, a first for a beauty brand, filling a white space in sports and signaling the brand's intention to disrupt the status quo. That move was followed by a partnership with NASCAR driver Katherine Legge, into high-octane territory. 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They're bringing their full selves to the sport and fans want that,' Matt Soloff, NWSL's senior vice president of partnerships and business development, told The Athletic. 'e.l.f. saw something a while ago that others are just starting to realize: women's sports are not a trend or a test. Athletes in our league are already brand builders. The spotlight is finally catching up,' Soloff said. 'The brands that are in now are doing more than advertising. They're building alongside us and unlocking long-term value. Sitting out at this moment means missing something big.' While e.l.f. is the first beauty brand to break into women's soccer, the basketball court has already seen its share of glam. Glossier made history in 2020 as the WNBA's first official beauty partner, paving the way for a wave of partnerships — Fenty Beauty with the New York Liberty, CoverGirl with the Chicago Sky, and Urban Decay with the Los Angeles Sparks. The momentum carried into this year, when French beauty giant Sephora signed a multiyear deal with Unrivaled, the new 3×3 league founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, ahead of its inaugural season. 'WNBA players like Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson were wearing their iconic red lipstick during the earliest days of the league, and women's basketball players have always been influencers across sport, culture, fashion, beauty, and much more,' Kirby Porter, Unrivaled's chief brand officer, told The Athletic. The partnership between Sephora and Unrivaled has resulted in strong media value and social engagement, Porter said, especially for content featuring pregame fit checks and tunnel walks. 'The connection might not have always been obvious, but brands in general are now seeing the ROI (return on investment) of investing in women's sports.' A post shared by Unrivaled Basketball (@unrivaledbasketball) That growing recognition of cultural influence is fueling a shift; beauty brands are no longer asking if they should be in women's sports, but how quickly they can get in. 'Beauty brands are not too late, but the time to move is now,' said Natalie McKeogh, a trend forecaster and color designer at Nike who also started a venture called Sporting Beauty FC dedicated to bridging the beauty industry with sports. 'As long as partnerships are done with authenticity and a real understanding of the athletes and their relationship with beauty, there's still so much room for meaningful impact.' NYX, a subsidiary of L'Oréal, has sponsorship deals with WNBA's New York Liberty and a multi-year partnership with Angel City FC since 2024. They recently ran a 'Make Them Look' campaign with Angel City's Alyssa and Gisele Thompson. 'Generally, there's a growing momentum behind women's sports. That meant bigger audiences and more fans getting to know more women athletes, both on and off the field,' the Thompson sisters told The Athletic via email. 'As that happens, (beauty brands) know and appreciate that we're more than athletes and have other passions and interests, including how we dress, how and when we use makeup, etc. So it makes sense that beauty brands would align with that.' Advertisement Alyssa, 20, and Gisele, 19, love makeup but keep it minimal on game days: usually just brow glue and lip gloss to help them look and feel sharp on the field. They're too young to remember Marta's red-lip moment in 2019 as vividly as I do, but whether it's pink hair, crimson lipstick, or any other form of beauty on the pitch, they're carrying forward the same message: self-expression is power. 'We hope everyone has the space to be and express themselves,' they said. 'For some players, that will mean wearing more makeup on the field to feel their best and play their best. Hopefully, we see more of that.' If the game is truly for everyone, then it can make room for all of it. The grit, the goals, and yes, the glam. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle


Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
‘Mafia: The Old Country' Review — A Great Game That's A Bit Too Linear
Mafia has been around for decades, but we haven't seen a new game in the video game franchise in nine years. Mafia III took place in the 60s' in a fictional version of New Orleans, marking a major departure for the series. I really enjoyed the game, though the setting and tone made it feel like a different game altogether. Mafia: The Old Country takes us back even further than the original Mafia, which was set in the 1930s, and across the Atlantic to Sicily in the year 1904 (though the game's story spans years). You take on the role of Enzo, an impoverished mine laborer who has escapes his brutal employers and, serendipitously, finds himself taken in by Don Torrisi, the head of a powerful organized crime family. You start to work you way up the ranks, taking on both trivial and extremely dangerous jobs for Torrisi and his people. Shoveling horse manure is your first job, but soon enough you're helping collect debts around the countryside or escorting Torrisi's daughter, Isabella, on a picnic. There's a forbidden love angle between Enzo and Isabella that I enjoyed a great deal, as it provides some nice tension between Enzo and his new benefactor. Eventually you'll leave the tiny room you're given at the Torrisi estate and move into grander chambers. You'll also find yourself taking out bandits, exacting revenge on enemies, and sneaking your way into nearby police offices on daring rescues. All of this is extremely linear. Mafia looks and feels a lot like one of its oldest competitors, Grand Theft Auto. It's a third-person shooter with cover mechanics, stealth, and in this case both vintage cars and horses. In fact, this iteration feels more like Red Dead Redemption than GTA at times, with its older arsenal of rifles and revolvers and knives. But unlike those games, this is not an open-world adventure. Sure, there's a big map with various locations, and the Sicily of The Old Country is absolutely stunning, but you'll do very little exploring during the campaign. I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, this is what I expected and I've enjoyed the no-frills linearity of past games, including the original Mafia and its excellent remake. There's something refreshing about a game that just takes you through the story without a million little side-quests to do along the way. The map isn't cluttered with exclamation points. It's a great story with memorable characters and I never felt bored despite many long cutscenes and driving or walking scenes that involve a great deal of dialogue. (One handy touch is the ability to skip drives if you want). There is an exploration mode, tucked away in the main menu's Carcyclopedia, that unlocks after the prologue. You can pick a car and spawn on the map, fast-travel around, go to vendors, find collectibles and take photos at viewpoints. 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When a mission is over, let us do whatever we want until we go talk to the NPC that starts the mission. This wouldn't even have to be between every mission, but between a few would be nice. Have a few side missions to take on. Let us go do another race. Give us some side objectives in the various towns where we can get into some trouble, flirt with local girls, find upgrades etc. Put some bandits in the hills and let us go take them on. Allow us to customize our loadouts before each mission unless there's a good reason not to. Other than this, I really enjoyed my time with Mafia: The Old Country. I played on Steam and it ran great. I didn't experience any major bugs and even the with the graphics cranked up to the max, I was getting a great framerate (though obviously your mileage might vary). Enzo's story is compelling. The writing is solid and the characters are complex and interesting enough to care about. I really enjoyed the love story between Enzo and Isabella and the tension that created in the campaign, waiting for everything to go wrong. The score by Brian Transeau (BT) is dramatic and lovely and really helps set the tone for the game. Between the score and the setting, you really feel like you're in the Old Country. I wanted to just kick back and drink some vino and listen to music and eat fresh-baked bread. They need a 'relax in Sicily' mode. The third-person cover-shooter gunplay, while not revolutionary, is solid and fun. You have a pretty expansive array of vintage rifles, shotguns and pistols to choose from, though there isn't much in the way of crafting or upgrade options. You'll be able to upgrade some of your abilities and passive abilities with special beads and medallions. Enemies are fairly challenging, moving about and taking cover, making it a bit harder to hit them, though they have a pretty tough time hitting you as well. You'll also get into knife fights with 'boss' characters. These involve dodging, parrying, and a handful of attacks. Some enemy attacks can only be dodged, while parrying others gives you the opportunity to riposte. It's a fun mini-game, basically. The missions can feel a bit repetitive at times. Many involve sneaking into a location, silently taking down guards and, if your cover is blown, blasting your way through. Sometimes, even a successful stealth approach will end in a mandatory shootout. Some stealth portions won't let you get caught at all, forcing you to restart at a checkpoint if you're caught. These are my least favorite. More interesting combats are chases. I especially enjoyed one where you chase down kidnappers on your horse. There are also races on both horseback and in the gorgeous vintage cars you come across. The car race brought me back to the ridiculously challenging race in the original Mafia. You had to win that one or start all over and do it again…and again…and again until you won. This game's big race is far more approachable. If you don't win the first time, you'll start at a check-point near the end of the race at the head of the pack. Thank goodness. Finally, I played the game in Italian with English subtitles. I find this far more immersive and less distracting than listening to voice-actors with Italian accents. The only downside is when you're caught in some intense car chase or shootout and have to keep glancing at subtitles. Your passenger is giving you instructions on which way to turn in the race but you have to divide attention between the track and reading. I suppose you could turn it back to English for these challenging segments, but I just use it as an extra obstacle. All told, I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a video game with a good story and setting. I love the Sicilian countryside. I love that this is set in the early 1900s. Very few games take place in this time period and it really gives it a unique feel. As a prequel of sorts to the later Mafia games, it's wonderful. It makes me want to go watch old mobster movies. You should absolutely give this one a chance, especially since it's only $50 – much cheaper than the $70 most premium titles are these days. Yes, it's a shorter game that will take most players 10 to 12 hours to complete, give or take, but I think quality is more important than quantity and I'm always thrilled to get a new single-player title that's focused rather than trying to do everything all at once. While I wish it had a bit more openness at times, I'm happy that Mafia: The Old Country gives us such a riveting story, compelling setting and characters. Score: 8.5/10
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Jimmy Kimmel Says He Secured Italian Citizenship amid Public Feud with Donald Trump
"As bad as you thought it was gonna be, it's so much worse," the talk show host said of Trump's presidencyNEED TO KNOW Jimmy Kimmel revealed that he obtained his Italian citizenship while talking about Donald Trump's presidency on the Aug. 7 episode of Sarah Silverman's podcast "As bad as you thought it was gonna be, it's so much worse," Kimmel said of Trump's presidency Kimmel and Trump have been in a public feud since The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was canceled in JulyJimmy Kimmel is making a contingency plan. While talking about Donald Trump's presidency on the Aug. 7 episode of The Sarah Silverman Podcast, the talk show host, 57, revealed that he obtained his Italian citizenship. "A lot of people I know are thinking about where they can get citizenship," host Sarah Silverman told Kimmel. "I did get Italian citizenship," Kimmel revealed. "I do have that." He continued to comment on Trump's presidency, saying, "As bad as you thought it was gonna be, it's so much worse. It's just unbelievable. I feel like it's probably even worse than he would like it to be." The podcast host said she hopes people who voted for Trump regret their choice and the presidency will ultimately "bring people together." "If you want to change your mind, that's so hard to do. If you want to admit you are wrong, that's so hard and so rare to do," Kimmel added. Kimmel and Trump have been in a public feud since The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was canceled on July 17. The news came amid Stephen Colbert's criticism of CBS's sizable settlement with Trump. The parent network denied the relation of the host's comments and the cancellation of his show. "This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount," a spokesperson previously told PEOPLE in a statement. In response to the news, Kimmel shared a clip of Colbert, who took over the show from David Letterman in 2015, on his Instagram Stories. "Love you Stephen," he wrote in the caption, beforecalling out the network with, "F--- you and all your Sheldons CBS." On the day of the cancellation, Kimmel shared photos of himself and his family at an anti-Trump protest on Instagram. "May every day be another wonderful secret," he wrote in the caption, referencing a line from a cryptic letter that Trump allegedly wrote to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. A few days later, the president took to Truth Social, claiming, "The word is, and it's a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, [Jimmy] Fallon will be gone." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories. While Kimmel has obtained Italian citizenship, Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen Degeneres have relocated to Ireland and England, respectively, in response to Trump's presidency. Read the original article on People Solve the daily Crossword