Latest news with #Californian-based


The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Chris Hughes told me how he used old-fashioned trick to make JoJo his girlfriend & revealed exact moment he fell in love
Kelly Allen was the first journalist to interview Chris about how he'd fallen for JoJo... and revealed their relationship secrets LOVED UP Chris Hughes told me how he used old-fashioned trick to make JoJo his girlfriend & revealed exact moment he fell in love ANYONE who has watched an episode of Love Island will know that dating in the modern world is complicated. From using dating apps to 'seeing each other' then going exclusive, to finally being boyfriend and girlfriend, it's a wonder how anyone gets into a relationship. Advertisement 7 Chris Hughes revealed the surprising old-fashioned trick he used to take his friendship with JoJo Siwa to the next level Credit: Instagram/Chris Hughes 7 The Sun's Kelly with the celeb couple But we can reveal that Chris Hughes used a surprising old-fashioned trick to turn his friendship with JoJo Siwa into something more serious. I was the first journalist to interview Chris about how he'd fallen for JoJo - and he revealed he took inspiration from William Shakespeare to woo her. The 32-year-old put pen to paper and declared his love in writing. Advertisement He told me: 'I was confused about how I felt. Then I wasn't confused anymore. I knew I needed to write it down to explain to her how I was feeling.' Perhaps it's because the horse racing commentator previously appeared on the ITV2 dating show Love Island in 2017, finishing third with then-girlfriend Olivia Attwood, that he'd had enough of the confusing modern way of dating - leading him to use more traditional methods to get the girl. The pair were thrown together while both appearing on Celebrity Big Brother in April. Having never met before, Chris, who lives in Ascot, formed an immediate bond with the 22-year-old Californian-based dancer. They both insisted it was purely platonic, especially since bisexual JoJo was in a relationship with Kath Ebbs, who identifies as non-binary. Advertisement After she dumped the 27-year-old Australian actor at the Celebrity Big Brother finale party, speculation intensified about how they felt about each other. Chris and JoJo initially remained coy but after transatlantic trips to see each other, the pair took it up a level. Chris Hughes reveals baby plans with JoJo Siwa as 'besotted' hunk gushes over new love After much speculation about what was REALLY going on with them, they hard launched as a couple after Chris flew out to Mexico City, then onto Orlando to surprise her for her birthday. Chris explained: 'I went to Florida thinking 'I really like this person', but I was slightly confused about the feelings. I had already written her birthday card before I flew over. I took all these presents over for her. They were fun and sentimental gifts rather than anything of monetary value. 'But the night before her birthday, I realised my feelings had changed. I told her: 'I've got to go do something. I'll be back in half an hour.' Advertisement 'I went to the hotel reception and borrowed a pen and came back up to the room. 'I took the card and opened it because I had to redo it. I sat in the toilet on my own and I rewrote the card. I knew my feelings had changed, and there was so much more that I needed to say than what I originally put in the birthday card. I wasn't confused anymore, and I knew what my heart was saying, and I wanted to tell her.' 7 Chris calls JoJo by her full name Joelle Credit: Instagram 7 The couple have been sickeningly loved-up since appearing on CBB together Credit: Instagram 7 The couple faced much speculation from fans while in the house together Credit: ITV Advertisement Since then, the couple, who are having a transatlantic relationship, have been sickeningly loved up and constantly jetting back and forth to spend time with each other. MADLY IN LOVE Speaking about falling in love with JoJo, who he calls by her full name Joelle, he said: 'Some of the best relationships start as friendships. I look back at the CBB clips and could see how we gravitated towards each other. "We just wanted to be there for each other in the house. I adored the ground she walked on and the way she handled herself. How can you not love her? But it was as a friend. 'Then, towards the end of the show, I was confused about my feelings for her. And you don't know what it's going to be like on the outside. I was saying to myself: 'Come on, Chris, pull yourself together.' 'We were just friends at that stage, but we were talking all the time. I was missing her, and I felt like I needed to see her, so I flew to Mexico City to surprise her. Advertisement "I was so nervous, even though I'd lived with her for three weeks. Then we ended up going to Orlando and I met her family – it was the best three days of my life. "From the minute I woke up until I went to bed, I was just so happy. It was at that moment something fully ignited inside me. "I went: 'God, I really like this person', and I knew she reciprocated it.' 7 JoJo dumped Kath Ebbs, who identifies as non-binary, at the CBB finale party Credit: Getty 7 Chris appeared on Love Island in 2017, finishing third with then girlfriend Olivia Attwood Credit: Rex Features Advertisement And despite now being officially boyfriend and girlfriend and sharing constant loved-up snaps together on Instagram, the adorable old school way of communicating continues. He added: 'I like writing her letters. I don't do it every day. But when we are apart and I miss her, I write to her. I like writing, and I like to see my handwriting. I like sitting there. It gives me something to do. So when I'm at home alone, I'll get my little pad out.'


Scottish Sun
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Chris Hughes told me how he used old-fashioned trick to make JoJo his girlfriend & revealed exact moment he fell in love
Kelly Allen was the first journalist to interview Chris about how he'd fallen for JoJo... and revealed their relationship secrets LOVED UP Chris Hughes told me how he used old-fashioned trick to make JoJo his girlfriend & revealed exact moment he fell in love ANYONE who has watched an episode of Love Island will know that dating in the modern world is complicated. From using dating apps to 'seeing each other' then going exclusive, to finally being boyfriend and girlfriend, it's a wonder how anyone gets into a relationship. 7 Chris Hughes revealed the surprising old-fashioned trick he used to take his friendship with JoJo Siwa to the next level Credit: Instagram/Chris Hughes 7 The Sun's Kelly with the celeb couple But we can reveal that Chris Hughes used a surprising old-fashioned trick to turn his friendship with JoJo Siwa into something more serious. I was the first journalist to interview Chris about how he'd fallen for JoJo - and he revealed he took inspiration from William Shakespeare to woo her. The 32-year-old put pen to paper and declared his love in writing. He told me: 'I was confused about how I felt. Then I wasn't confused anymore. I knew I needed to write it down to explain to her how I was feeling.' Perhaps it's because the horse racing commentator previously appeared on the ITV2 dating show Love Island in 2017, finishing third with then-girlfriend Olivia Attwood, that he'd had enough of the confusing modern way of dating - leading him to use more traditional methods to get the girl. The pair were thrown together while both appearing on Celebrity Big Brother in April. Having never met before, Chris, who lives in Ascot, formed an immediate bond with the 22-year-old Californian-based dancer. They both insisted it was purely platonic, especially since bisexual JoJo was in a relationship with Kath Ebbs, who identifies as non-binary. After she dumped the 27-year-old Australian actor at the Celebrity Big Brother finale party, speculation intensified about how they felt about each other. Chris and JoJo initially remained coy but after transatlantic trips to see each other, the pair took it up a level. Chris Hughes reveals baby plans with JoJo Siwa as 'besotted' hunk gushes over new love After much speculation about what was REALLY going on with them, they hard launched as a couple after Chris flew out to Mexico City, then onto Orlando to surprise her for her birthday. Chris explained: 'I went to Florida thinking 'I really like this person', but I was slightly confused about the feelings. I had already written her birthday card before I flew over. I took all these presents over for her. They were fun and sentimental gifts rather than anything of monetary value. 'But the night before her birthday, I realised my feelings had changed. I told her: 'I've got to go do something. I'll be back in half an hour.' 'I went to the hotel reception and borrowed a pen and came back up to the room. 'I took the card and opened it because I had to redo it. I sat in the toilet on my own and I rewrote the card. I knew my feelings had changed, and there was so much more that I needed to say than what I originally put in the birthday card. I wasn't confused anymore, and I knew what my heart was saying, and I wanted to tell her.' 7 Chris calls JoJo by her full name Joelle Credit: Instagram 7 The couple have been sickeningly loved-up since appearing on CBB together Credit: Instagram 7 The couple faced much speculation from fans while in the house together Credit: ITV Since then, the couple, who are having a transatlantic relationship, have been sickeningly loved up and constantly jetting back and forth to spend time with each other. MADLY IN LOVE Speaking about falling in love with JoJo, who he calls by her full name Joelle, he said: 'Some of the best relationships start as friendships. I look back at the CBB clips and could see how we gravitated towards each other. "We just wanted to be there for each other in the house. I adored the ground she walked on and the way she handled herself. How can you not love her? But it was as a friend. 'Then, towards the end of the show, I was confused about my feelings for her. And you don't know what it's going to be like on the outside. I was saying to myself: 'Come on, Chris, pull yourself together.' 'We were just friends at that stage, but we were talking all the time. I was missing her, and I felt like I needed to see her, so I flew to Mexico City to surprise her. "I was so nervous, even though I'd lived with her for three weeks. Then we ended up going to Orlando and I met her family – it was the best three days of my life. "From the minute I woke up until I went to bed, I was just so happy. It was at that moment something fully ignited inside me. "I went: 'God, I really like this person', and I knew she reciprocated it.' 7 JoJo dumped Kath Ebbs, who identifies as non-binary, at the CBB finale party Credit: Getty 7 Chris appeared on Love Island in 2017, finishing third with then girlfriend Olivia Attwood Credit: Rex Features And despite now being officially boyfriend and girlfriend and sharing constant loved-up snaps together on Instagram, the adorable old school way of communicating continues. He added: 'I like writing her letters. I don't do it every day. But when we are apart and I miss her, I write to her. I like writing, and I like to see my handwriting. I like sitting there. It gives me something to do. So when I'm at home alone, I'll get my little pad out.'


Scotsman
27-05-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
New managers announced for ‘peaceful' Scottish island whisky hotel
A grand Scottish island hotel known for its peaceful, seaside location, is under new management. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Islay House Hotel, which was put on the market in April 2024 for £3M has been taken on by Perth-based 7Hospitality Management (7H) after being sold in late 2024. The house , which originates from the 17th century, has most recently been run as a hotel following its sale in 2014 by the family of retired United States Navy Top Gun Captain Thomas Friedrich, who lived in the property for 20 years. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Islay House Hotel has new management after being sold in 2024. | contributed Major renovations were carried out following the building's purchase by a group of investors, with the property first opening as a hotel in 2016. It was put on the market last year , having closed in 2023. But it is now entering a new chapter with the appointment of 7H, whose portfolio of venues includes 9 The Links St Andrews, The Grosvenor Hotel in Glasgow, Braid Hills Hotel in Edinburgh, Dunalastair Hotel Suites in Pitlochry and Eight Acres Hotel in Elgin. The hotel was sold in October last year by a consortium to the Californian-based Payne-Clark family. Situated in the heart of the whisky-famous island of Islay , Islay House Hotel combines 17th-century grandeur with modern Scottish hospitality. The new owners say they are committed to preserving the estate's heritage while elevating the guest experience and have appointed 7H as operational partner to lead the hotel into its next era of success. The property will benefit from 7H's support across operations, sales, marketing, revenue strategy, and guest experience innovation. Renovation and brand initiatives are already in planning to honour the hotel's legacy while positioning it as a leading luxury destination in the Inner Hebrides. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Martin MacPhail, managing director at 7H said: 'This is a landmark moment for Islay House. We look forward to reintroducing this historic gem to the global market, offering guests a timeless yet refreshed Scottish experience.'


West Australian
13-05-2025
- Health
- West Australian
Aussie mum sparks national debate after revealing she travelled to the US to seek IVF and choose the gender of her fourth child
An Australian mother has sparked a national debate after she travelled to the US for fertility treatment to choose the gender of her fourth child. Influencer Caitlin Bailey told the Herald Sun that she spent $45,000 to attend a fertility clinic in Los Angelos to conceive a baby girl. The mother of two boys and one girl aged between one and five always wanted two of each sex, so she contacted Gender Selection Australia (GSA) about conceiving another girl as a single parent. The clinic puts Australian families in touch with Californian-based fertility doctor Daniel Potter, who specialises in gender selection to balance families as well as genetic disease screening. Gender selection to balance families is generally banned in Australia, so hundreds of Australian families travel overseas to choose the gender of their baby via IVF, according to GSA's website. The practice is only permitted in Australia to reduce the risk of transmitting serious genetic conditions, diseases or abnormalities from future generations. Connect IVF scientific director Lauren Hiser said while it was possible to know the sex of an embryo prior to it being transferred to a woman's uterus, sex could only be selected in Australia when a genetic component was involved in IVF. Gender selection through IVF was available in NSW between 1999 and 2004, which Ms Hiser said was used mostly for family balancing reasons so people could select the sex they were desiring before pregnancy. 'Whenever people hear about sex selection, they are always very concerned that people are selecting boys over girls, that's the first thing that comes to people's mind,' she said. 'If you look into the data when it was available in NSW, between 1999 and 2004 the ratios did not change. 'In the patients that were able to select based solely on sex, they were actually choosing more girls and doing it for family balancing reasons. 'But sex selection is happening in Australia, it's just not happening within the IVF realm.' A La Trobe University study found that Australian families were terminating pregnancies following non-invasive prenatal testing to find out the sex of their child. Researchers found a cultural preference for sons among some ethnic groups led to more boys than girls being born in Victoria. The naturally occurring ratio worldwide was 105 boys born to every 100 girls; however, the study showed there were 108 and 109 boys born respectively to Indian and Chinese-born mothers for every 100 girls born between 1999-2015 in Victoria. La Trobe Judith Lumley Centre lead researcher Kristina Edvardsson believed some women may be terminating pregnancies after discovering they were expecting a girl and, in other cases, travelled overseas to access non-medical sex selection services through assisted reproduction. 'We know even Australian-born women and men can choose to go overseas and select the sex of their baby, but what we can see from the sex ratios in the Australian-born group is that it's not skewed to any gender,' she said. Ms Hiser said gender selection and whether it should be introduced to minimise harm was an ethical discussion. 'If there are people already getting pregnant, then testing a pregnancy and choosing to terminate, well, could we as an industry stop that from happening?' she said. 'Could we select an embryo before it becomes a pregnancy so people do not have to go through medical terminations or anything more drastic?' Ms Hiser said other international jurisdictions introduced gender selection as a way of reducing infanticide, backyard abortions and other things that could cause harm. 'We have a group of people in Australia that are looking for the services and are willing to travel internationally to achieve that,' she said. 'We have great IVF service in Australia that can do all that, but we are sending our patients overseas to jurisdictions that may not be as well set up, that have higher risks associated and certainly higher costs. 'There's a lot of ethical considerations to be had if we should be selecting for sex or not.' Ms Hiser said reproductive technology laws in Australia sent a lot of citizens overseas to seek treatment. 'People looking for surrogacy, it's not easy to do in Australia so they go overseas, certainly for sex selection and some donor situations as well,' she said. 'Because our laws don't support it, it's easier for people to access that outside of Australia.' Ms Bailey and GSA have been contacted for comment.


Perth Now
13-05-2025
- Health
- Perth Now
Aussie IVF mum chooses child's sex
An Australian mother has sparked a national debate after she travelled to the US for fertility treatment to choose the gender of her fourth child. Influencer Caitlin Bailey told the Herald Sun that she spent $45,000 to attend a fertility clinic in Los Angelos to conceive a baby girl. The mother of two boys and one girl aged between one and five always wanted two of each sex, so she contacted Gender Selection Australia (GSA) about conceiving another girl as a single parent. The clinic puts Australian families in touch with Californian-based fertility doctor Daniel Potter, who specialises in gender selection to balance families as well as genetic disease screening. Aussie influencer Caitlin Bailey travelled to the US for IVF treatment to select the gender of her fourth child as a single parent. Instagram Credit: Supplied Gender selection to balance families is generally banned in Australia, so hundreds of Australian families travel overseas to choose the gender of their baby via IVF, according to GSA's website. The practice is only permitted in Australia to reduce the risk of transmitting serious genetic conditions, diseases or abnormalities from future generations. Connect IVF scientific director Lauren Hiser said while it was possible to know the sex of an embryo prior to it being transferred to a woman's uterus, sex could only be selected in Australia when a genetic component was involved in IVF. Gender selection through IVF was available in NSW between 1999 and 2004, which Ms Hiser said was used mostly for family balancing reasons so people could select the sex they were desiring before pregnancy. 'Whenever people hear about sex selection, they are always very concerned that people are selecting boys over girls, that's the first thing that comes to people's mind,' she said. 'If you look into the data when it was available in NSW, between 1999 and 2004 the ratios did not change. 'In the patients that were able to select based solely on sex, they were actually choosing more girls and doing it for family balancing reasons. 'But sex selection is happening in Australia, it's just not happening within the IVF realm.' Ms Bailey has two boys and one girl but always wanted two of each sex. Instagram Credit: Supplied A La Trobe University study found that Australian families were terminating pregnancies following non-invasive prenatal testing to find out the sex of their child. Researchers found a cultural preference for sons among some ethnic groups led to more boys than girls being born in Victoria. The naturally occurring ratio worldwide was 105 boys born to every 100 girls; however, the study showed there were 108 and 109 boys born respectively to Indian and Chinese-born mothers for every 100 girls born between 1999-2015 in Victoria. La Trobe Judith Lumley Centre lead researcher Kristina Edvardsson believed some women may be terminating pregnancies after discovering they were expecting a girl and, in other cases, travelled overseas to access non-medical sex selection services through assisted reproduction. 'We know even Australian-born women and men can choose to go overseas and select the sex of their baby, but what we can see from the sex ratios in the Australian-born group is that it's not skewed to any gender,' she said. A national debate has erupted around gender selection through IVF. NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia Ms Hiser said gender selection and whether it should be introduced to minimise harm was an ethical discussion. 'If there are people already getting pregnant, then testing a pregnancy and choosing to terminate, well, could we as an industry stop that from happening?' she said. 'Could we select an embryo before it becomes a pregnancy so people do not have to go through medical terminations or anything more drastic?' Ms Hiser said other international jurisdictions introduced gender selection as a way of reducing infanticide, backyard abortions and other things that could cause harm. 'We have a group of people in Australia that are looking for the services and are willing to travel internationally to achieve that,' she said. 'We have great IVF service in Australia that can do all that, but we are sending our patients overseas to jurisdictions that may not be as well set up, that have higher risks associated and certainly higher costs. 'There's a lot of ethical considerations to be had if we should be selecting for sex or not.' Ms Hiser said reproductive technology laws in Australia sent a lot of citizens overseas to seek treatment. 'People looking for surrogacy, it's not easy to do in Australia so they go overseas, certainly for sex selection and some donor situations as well,' she said. 'Because our laws don't support it, it's easier for people to access that outside of Australia.' Ms Bailey and GSA have been contacted for comment.