Latest news with #Remy
News.com.au
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Fears for Kelly Clarkson over ‘painful' personal issues
Kelly Clarkson has experienced a clear-minded 'moment of clarity' following the personal issues that saw her abruptly leave her talk show, sources tell Page Six. The 43-year-old singer left the set of The Kelly Clarkson Show for almost two weeks back in March but has yet to discuss the reasons why publicly. Fans were told only that she was dealing with a 'private matter,' and have been left baffled since. 'This has all been very painful for her,' revealed an industry insider who has worked closely with Clarkson. 'The difficulty is that Kelly, like all of us, wants to be liked, and she had to deal with this new moment in her life. She knew she had to step down for a minute.' A host of stars were quickly drafted in to cover for the star, ranging from Andy Cohen to Wanda Sykes and Brooke Shields, as the insider told Page Six, 'She has her priorities, and her family comes first, but I think she's been humbled by the whole situation … what has happened has given her a moment of clarity, I think. The turmoil came after things seemed to be finally settling back down in Clarkson's life following her very public divorce from ex-husband Brandon Blackstock, with whom she shares daughter River Rose, 10, and son Remy, 8. 'Kelly grew up without a father, and she had an incredible love story with Brandon,' added a friend. 'She is a compassionate and caring person, and what has happened [recently] has helped her to move beyond the divorce.' Clarkson has been candid about just how much the 2020 split after seven years of marriage and following legal battle took out of her, telling Apple Music in 2023, 'Just to be brutally honest, I did not handle [the divorce] well.' Things were made more difficult as Blackstock, 48 — stepson of country music star Reba McEntire — was also his spouse's manager and one of the architects of her fortune. Indeed, as Page Six previously reported, he masterminded her multi-million TV deal with NBC. The star was paid in the range of $10 million per season as a coach on The Voice, we're told, and is believed to get even more for hosting her show — a deal also brokered by Blackstock. 'The irony is that he's had a very positive influence on her life; he made these phenomenal deals for her, and she wouldn't be here without him. But it's hard to be a manager and a husband,' said the industry insider, 'At the time, she greatly appreciated what he had done for her career.' Clarkson abruptly left her show on March 3 and returned on March 18. Two days later, on the show's 1,000th episode, she was close to tears as she celebrated, telling viewers, 'We've created a community and supported each other through a lot of ups and downs … A lot of ups and downs personally as well.' America took down-home Clarkson from Fort Worth, TX, to its collective heart from the minute she stepped into the audition room to sing for Simon Cowell on the debut season of 'American Idol' in 2002. She ended up winning the whole show, beating curly-haired runner-up Justin Guarini. Clarkson went on to sell over 28 million albums and become one of the most successful singers of her generation, before turning her sights to daytime TV in 2019. Her genuine warmth and friendliness have grown a loyal audience season after season. 'She is immensely talented and good at what she does, but she definitely had opinions about the music she sang, the music her contestants sang, she kept in touch with every single contestant, she took it very seriously, she had a relationship with each of them. 'She is totally invested, whether it was wardrobe or music or promo,' said an industry insider. During the show's run, viewers have noticed Clarkson undergo a physical transformation, losing a huge amount of weight since moving her kids' home base from Tennessee to NYC, where she tapes the show. Clarkson, who is 5'3″, told guest Whoopi Goldberg last May she had weighed 203 pounds and admitted using a weight loss medication – not Ozempic – after her doctor 'chased me down for two years' about it, because her blood work was bad, revealing she was pre-diabetic. She's also been working with celebrity stylist Micaela Erlanger. Alongside the daytime show, Clarkson this year launched her own music label, High Road Records, and is set to embark on a Las Vegas residency, Kelly Clarkson: Studio Sessions, kicking off at Caesars Palace on July 4. She will sing 18 performances and finish on November 15. All of this – and dealing with her personal issues – means questions are abounding about how much longer she will host her talk show. As we previously revealed, she plans to call it a day when her contract runs out in 2026, at the end of Season 7. It may seem strange as The Kelly Clarkson Show averages a million viewers per day — an increase from fall 2023 — and consistently ranks as one of the nation's top syndicated talk shows. Despite this, a TV source said the show is expensive to produce. 'It's a tough job and profit margins are low,' they said. NBC, meanwhile, wants to ensure Clarkson isn't burned out or bummed out by the network and still available to host holiday specials like Christmas in Rockefeller Center. 'She knows her limits, even on 'The Voice', when she was working so hard, she knew when she needed a refresh – that's what you're seeing now,' said the industry insider. 'She is a very feeling, sensitive person, as you see on the talk show, and that's both in her personal and professional life.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Kelly Clarkson may leave hit talk show over 'very painful' personal issues after mystery absence
Kelly Clarkson has been trying to grapple with the issues that resulted in her taking an unexpected and unannounced leave from her popular talk show earlier this year. The singer and host, 43, who is allegedly considering walking away from the daytime staple when her contract with NBC expires in 2026, has reportedly experienced a 'moment of clarity,' following some unknown personal struggles. A source claiming to be close to the Stronger singer told Page Six the situation has been a difficult one for the Emmy winner. 'This has all been very painful for her,' said the industry insider who has worked closely with the artist. 'The difficulty is that Kelly, like all of us, wants to be liked, and she had to deal with this new moment in her life. She knew she had to step down for a minute.' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Without going into detail, the source alleged, 'She has her priorities, and her family comes first, but I think she's been humbled by the whole situation… what has happened has given her a moment of clarity, I think.' Daily Mail has reached out to Clarkson's representatives for comment. Clarkson went through a very public and painful divorce with her former husband and manager Brandan Blackstock, with whom she shares two children, River, almost 11, and Remy, nine. 'Kelly grew up without a father, and she had an incredible love story with Brandon,' a source reported to be a friend told the outlet. 'She is a compassionate and caring person, and what has happened [recently] has helped her to move beyond the divorce.' Blackstock, 48, who no longer represents his ex, did help put together the deal that created the talk show and oversaw her contract when was a coach on The Voice for several seasons. When Clarkson abruptly stepped back from The Kelly Clarkson Show between March 3 to March 18, a variety of celebrities were called to fill-in for her at the last minute including Andy Cohen, Wanda Sykes and Brooke Shields. On March 20, when the show celebrated its 1000th episode, an emotional Clarkson told her audience, 'We've created a community and supported each other through a lot of ups and downs … A lot of ups and downs personally as well.' The Grammy winner, who hasn't released any new music in nearly two years, may want to return to her roots. 'We haven't done a [singing] show in a while, y'all, cause I have a talk show,' she said at an Atlantic City concert on May 9. 'It's like a whole other job.' 'We are bummed 'cause we love doing [singing] shows, and it's hard to fit it in,' she told the crowd. The hitmaker launched her own music label, High Road Records in 2024. She will kick off a Las Vegas residency, Kelly Clarkson: Studio Sessions' on July 4 through August 16, and picking up again, November 7 through 15.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
I spent a year training a rat to cook ratatouille (seriously)
This is Remy, and for the past year, I've been teaching him how to cook. I know that sounds crazy, but what if it's not? In "Ratatouille," a food-loving rat dreams of becoming a chef and teams up with a young kitchen worker to make their dreams come true. The duo ends up impressing the most feared food critic in all of France. Together, they prove that anyone can cook — even a rat. It's one of the best movies ever, but so far, it's just a movie. I kept wondering what would happen if I actually tried to teach a rat how to cook and make it a reality. Rats are some of the smartest animals on the planet. They have incredible problem-solving skills, amazing memories, high emotional intelligence and, most importantly, they're trainable. So I did what any dreamer would do: I got an intelligent rat and built a custom kitchen designed just for him, with every specialized tool he could need to cook the perfect dish. Once I had trained real-life Remy, I planned to bring in a food critic who had never seen "Ratatouille," dress him up as Anton Ego, the harsh food critic, and trick him into eating food made by my rat. Let me take you through the whole (crazy) process, beginning to end. Before we could start cooking, the first step was to wash our hands. Remy washed his paws at his personal-sized sink I built for him, and I washed mine too. Then it was time to select the ingredients. I built custom shelving for Remy to climb, with levers set up to release different ingredients. Only six were correct choices for the dish, and the rest were wrong, so he had to be careful. I counted him down — three, two, one — and he immediately went to work. He hit the basil first, then the oregano. He avoided the second row completely, which was the right move. On the third row, he grabbed yellow squash and zucchini, then went for the eggplant. He stopped for a quick broccoli snack, but after that, he grabbed the tomatoes we needed to complete the ratatouille. I couldn't even blame him. I mean, who doesn't get hungry when they're cooking? With the ingredients picked, it was time to chop. Since knives are dangerous, Remy helped by using his weight to slice everything thin. Remy's weight was perfect for helping the knife cut through the vegetables. I barely had to push down. We started with the zucchini, then moved on to the yellow squash. The slices looked amazing. Eggplant came next — not my favorite vegetable, but essential for ratatouille — and finally Roma tomatoes, chosen for their firmer texture. Once the veggies were cut, Remy helped carry them over to a plate, even though he kept trying to sneak little bites. A true chef has to taste their work, right? Organization is critical in a kitchen, and he was doing an incredible job. Ratatouille isn't complete without a tomato sauce, so the next step was getting the base ready with my new friend. Remy tried to light the stove himself but needed a little help with that part. Plus, I didn't want him to get hurt so close to a fire. Once I got the stove going, he ran on a wheel that poured the perfect amount of olive oil into the pan. We added garlic and onions as the base of what was going to be a delicious sauce. Garlic and onions have to be stirred frequently to properly cook them without burning, and since Remy's arms weren't quite built for stirring, I set up an automatic stirrer. He climbed up, hit the button to start it, and kept smelling the mixture to make sure everything was cooking properly. It honestly felt like the mark of a true chef to keep such a watchful eye (and nose) on it. To finish the sauce, Remy climbed into a tiny pot on a pulley system to raise a can of crushed tomatoes for me. He dropped it off perfectly, and I added the tomatoes into the pot to simmer. Remy bit my ear a little as the sauce was almost done cooking. I think he was trying to tell me that it was ready to be blended out. Once I used an immersion blender to combine the sauce, it came out perfect. I could tell how good it was solely based on the smell. Remy and I gave it a taste together, and it was genuinely really good. Before assembling the dish, we needed to preheat the oven. Remy helped me adjust the temperature to around 300 degrees. Then, we ladled the sauce into the base of our pan, smoothing it out just like in the movie. Remy climbed onto my head to get a better view, and together we layered slices of eggplant, tomato, zucchini and yellow squash, over and over, forming a beautiful spiral. Once everything was layered perfectly, I covered it with parchment paper and placed it in the oven to bake. Remy was in charge of setting off a timer when the ratatouille was done cooking — and just like he promised, he rang the bell when it was time to come out of the oven. After baking, we carefully plated the ratatouille. I picked the best-sized vegetable slices to make sure the colors looked great and stacked them neatly. We built some height and pressed everything down into a mold. Pulling the mold off was a big moment, but it held perfectly. We finished it off with a little olive oil on top and our delicious tomato sauce drizzled around the outside, topping everything off with a few leaves of parsley. One of my favorite moments from the movie is when Remy places a single chive on top of the finished ratatouille. I wanted my Remy to do the same. He climbed up a platform, reached the end of a diving board that held a chive, picked it up and dropped it right on top, finishing the dish perfectly. Remy had done it. He made a real-life, rat-made ratatouille — perhaps the first one ever. Now it was time for the biggest test: serving the food to our critic without him knowing a rat made it. Dennis, our critic, is actually a real-life health inspector — someone whose job is to make sure restaurants don't have rats. He had never seen "Ratatouille" and had no idea what was going on. We dressed him up like Anton Ego and even set up a green screen behind him to complete the look. Dennis didn't know why he was dressed up, hadn't seen himself in a mirror and just trusted me to feed him. After offering him a glass of wine — which I definitely need to practice pouring — I brought out the dish. I explained that ratatouille is a famous French vegetable dish with a tomato sauce. Dennis didn't recognize it but prided himself on being an adventurous eater and gave it a try anyway. Dennis, or should I say Anton, thought the dish was simple but executed really well. On a scale of one to 10 for visuals and taste, he gave it a nine. He said he would order it at a restaurant and that it made him want to go back for another bite. He admitted he didn't think I could cook this well but was pleasantly surprised. After tasting and giving his notes, it was time to reveal the truth. I told him I had forgotten to introduce him to the real chef. Dennis assumed I meant myself — but then I introduced Remy. I showed him the footage of Remy picking the ingredients, stirring the sauce, running the pulley system and dropping the chive on top. Even Dennis had to admit that the pulley system was pretty cool. He wasn't mad, just shocked. A little disappointed — but not in Remy. In me, for lying. Dennis thought the rat did an awesome job and admitted everything tasted delicious. He even held Remy at the end, which is huge for a health inspector. When I asked him if he agreed that anyone could cook, Dennis finally said it: anyone can cook, even a rat. Teaching Remy to cook wasn't just a crazy experiment. It became one of the coolest reminders that passion matters more than anything else. You don't need to be the fastest, the biggest or the best right away. You just need to start, to keep trying and to believe that it's possible. Watching Remy pick ingredients, stir a sauce and create something real made me realize that great cooking, like anything else, comes from heart and effort. If a little rat can pull it off, so can you. Anyone can cook, and sometimes the only thing standing between you and something amazing is the courage to try. See Remy cook the ratatouille and try some other really cool tricks in my video below!
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Remy Cointreau names luxury veteran Marilly as new CEO
(Reuters) - Remy Cointreau on Wednesday named Franck Marilly as its new CEO, tasked with leading the French cognac maker through a period of spiralling sales and tariff threats in its key U.S. and Chinese markets. Marilly, 59, who has worked in luxury and cosmetics groups including Chanel, Unilever and Japan's Shiseido, will take office on June 25, replacing Eric Vallat, who resigned earlier this year after more than five years at the helm. Vallat led Remy through the COVID-19 pandemic and a subsequent boom in luxury spirits that has since gone into reverse, with sales tanking. Remy makes some 70% of its sales from cognac, mostly in the U.S. and China. Marilly now has to turn performance around at a time when drinkers in those nations are not buying the brandy, and when Remy faces tariffs on its exports to both. Vallat will work alongside Marilly to ensure a harmonious transition, Remy's statement said, adding Marilly had successfully navigated "high-stakes" environments in his previous roles. "We are convinced that he will bring a new dynamic and will be able to confidently address the new challenges of the group's growth," Remy Cointreau Chairperson Marie-Amelie de Leusse said in a statement. Remy's shares, which have already fallen substantially since 2022, were down 1.2% at 0721 GMT. VALUE STRATEGY Remy's sales have come under pressure amid a sluggish Chinese economy and tariffs on European brandy. Meanwhile, high interest rates and inflation have led to steep declines in the U.S., where Remy's rivals have also been cutting prices and taking market share. Remy however has maintained its approach of cultivating the value of its high-end brands, a strategy it says would be undermined by price cuts. It said Marilly will continue this value-led approach and build up in new markets. Investors however have warned diversification will take time to show results. The new CEO now also faces the threat of steep tariffs from the U.S. Remy is more exposed to tariffs than peers due to its reliance on Chinese and U.S. cognac sales. Marilly said he was delighted to join the group, and would focus on brand value and sustainable results. "Together we will accelerate the group's development... while meeting the needs of a constantly evolving sector," he said. Previously, Marilly led the Europe, Middle East and Africa and fragrance divisions at Shiseido Group and Chanel, where he spent 17 years. Sign in to access your portfolio
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Kelly Clarkson's son hates brushing his teeth
Kelly Clarkson's nine-year-old son "refuses to brush his teeth". The 43-year-old pop star - who has son Remy and daughter River, 10, with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock - has found an unusual way to encourage her son to embrace dental hygiene. She said on 'The Kelly Clarkson Show': "I have a boy and a girl. And my boy and I have a real hard time. He's gonna hate me saying this, I don't care, because maybe it'll shame him into doing it. But he just refuses to brush his teeth." Despite this, Kelly has found an innovative way to get Remy to brush his teeth. She shared: "It's like a thing, and so finally, I was like, 'Hey, let's make a fun thing of it.' So I was in the shower, I'm like, 'Just take your toothbrush and your toothpaste in the shower. You can be messy. You can do whatever'. "So that works. So now he's brushing his teeth." Kelly explained that her son and daughter have very different attitudes. She said: "I don't know what it's about boys. They don't wanna brush. "My girl is always like, 'Oh yeah, of course, I did that.' Like I'm an idiot that I asked her. And then my son, he's just like, 'Yeah, I totally did.' And I'm like, 'You're lying. Let me smell your breath.'" Meanwhile, Kelly previously admitted to suffering from so-called mom guilt. The chart-topping star revealed that she struggled to find a healthy balance between her work and her family life. Kelly - who was married to Brandon between 2013 and 2022 - told Redbook magazine in 2016: "If you're a mom, you want to be with your kid every day. You don't want to miss a moment, you want her to need you and want you and not want somebody else." Despite this, Kelly still loves the challenges of motherhood. The singer shared: "There are days where I cry and I'm like, 'I don't know if I can handle all this!' or get it all done. But at the end of the day, 99 percent of the time, it's awesome and it's worth it, and that's what I say to myself."
