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Time Magazine
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
The True Story Behind Trainwreck: P.I. Moms
On August 24, 2010, Pete Crooks, a senior writer at Diablo magazine, received a call from a Los Angeles-based publicist representing Chris Butler's private investigation firm. The pitch he got was intriguing: Butler had hired a group of local mothers to run surveillance on cheating husbands, and business was beginning to boom. The firm was featured in People, The Today Show, and Dr. Phil—and most recently, Lifetime Television had just greenlit a new reality show called P.I. Moms San Francisco about its East Bay operation. Butler had a proposal for Crooks: Take part in a ride-along with one of the mothers, watch them catch a philanderous man in the act, and write about it. It smelled like a great story and Crooks eventually hopped in a car with Denise Antoon, one of four moms Butler had employed. The mission went like clockwork. The man they were following met up with a young woman and began kissing her in a parking lot, all while Denise grabbed photos and video. Crooks understood why Lifetime was eager to turn this into a series. But did everything go down a little too perfectly? Soon after returning home, Crooks got an email from someone named Ronald Rutherford that made him question everything. 'It would be a mistake to write a story on the P.I. moms and Chris Butler,' the email stated. 'Chris totally played you. The case that you sat in on was totally scripted. All the participants or employees are paid actors. I hope that publishing it is not in your plans.' As chronicled in Netflix's new documentary Trainwreck: P.I. Moms, that mysterious message was just the beginning of a scandal that involved lying, cheating, wire-tapping, methamphetamines, and jail time, and would ultimately kill the Lifetime reality series before it ever aired. In this retelling, director Phil Bowman interviews a couple of the moms, Lifetime producers, and several others involved with the show to paint a better picture of how Butler's enterprise wasn't everything it seemed to be. Reality show origins When Butler started his investigation firm around 2000, the former police officer hired a lot of off-duty, law enforcement officers to work on cases, but he found that the men were all too competitive and impatient to be good investigators. 'Then, I hired a mom, and she was the best investigator I had worked with,' he told Crooks. 'She was patient and a good team player, and she could multitask." Eventually, he hired moms Michelle Allen, Charmagne Peters, Denise Antoon, and Ami Wilt to fill out a team. Butler used their skills and inconspicuousness to perform undercover operations, stings, and other kinds of investigative work, which secretly included a 'Dirty DUIs' scheme in which they'd encourage men to drink alcohol, encourage them to drive, and then alert the police. (The doc doesn't interrogate this aspect of the business.) As the moms started getting media attention throughout the reality TV boom, Lifetime saw potential for a show—along with spin-offs in other cities—centered around them. The network soon reached out to Lucas Platt about showrunning the series. The TV veteran liked the general concept of 'showing this group of women busting criminals together,' he says in the doc, but he also wanted to explore their lives outside the job. As Denise and Ami attest, the moms didn't want to be treated like a group on Real Housewives and create fake drama, so Platt agreed to share more personal and meaningful anecdotes about their lives. Lifetime eventually gave Platt three camera crews and a four-million budget to produce eight episodes with Butler's group, which also included Carl Marino, a former law enforcement agent who helped with cases that needed a male presence. But Platt and the moms could tell there was something off about him—that he was eager to be a television star at any cost. 'It felt like egotism run amok,' Platt says. 'Its called P.I. Moms, and he's not a mom.' Repeated sabotage After Crooks received the anonymous tip about the staged ride-along, he reached out to Platt to share the information. 'If Chris did this to me, how could he not do it for TV?' he thought. The showrunner was confident in the veracity of the women and the cases they were pursuing, until their next sting operation, when their target told Denise that he'd been tipped off. Now Platt was curious. He began investigating and soon discovered the tipster (and the man responsible behind the Rutherford email) was actually Marino. The show wouldn't work if employees were breaking up operations out of spite and jealousy, so Platt told Butler that his employee had been sabotaging the show. But instead of firing Marino, Butler told Platt not to worry about it—an odd reaction, especially for someone hoping to make bank from a reality series. 'Clearly he had other things that were happening that were taking precedence,' Denise says. Marino knew all about those other things, and was willing to spill the information. He continued corresponding with Crooks and explained that Butler was involved in serious criminal activity, selling marijuana, prescription Xanax, and steroids that had been confiscated by a Contra Costa Country Task Force commander. Once in possession of the drugs, Butler would then give them to Marino inside the office. 'I have not sold any and don't want to,' Marino messaged Crooks. 'I don't want anything to do with this.' At the same time, Marino continued to scheme, eventually using insider case files to solve a missing person's case that Platt and the P.I. Moms had hoped would be their opportunity to save the series. As both Ami and Denise remember, Marino was determined to have his 15 minutes of fame, even if that meant continuing to sabotage the show he was so desperate to be on. 'How dumb are you that they're going to push this out and you're going to be the star of the show?' Ami says. The final sting After Crooks reached out to Contra Costa D.A. Daryl Jackson with his information, Marino ultimately came forward and agreed to wear a wire for law enforcement, who was ready to bust Butler after discovering he had planned to sell three pounds of methamphetamines. They arranged a buy at the P.I. firm between the corrupt officer, Butler, and Marino, and as soon as the sale went through, authorities quickly arrested Butler. The news officially sealed the show's fate. Lifetime cancelled P.I. Moms San Francisco and forced Platt to break the bad news to the women and crew. It was an emotional moment, especially for Ami, who had opened up over the course of the show's production and shared intimate details about losing her son at an early age. She hoped her testimony would help other women struggling with something similar. Instead, it would never air. On May 4th, 2012, nearly two years after telling Crooks to write a story about him, Butler pleaded guilty to selling drugs, extortion, robbery and planting illegal wiretaps, and was later sentenced to eight years in prison. The fallout also impacted the P.I. moms themselves—they were called frauds and took heat from their community for collaborating with Butler. (Crooks eventually did write a 10,000-word story about his experience.) Marino eventually got his moment in the sun, playing lead Detective Lt. Joe Kenda, on the Investigation Discovery TV show Homicide Hunter. But to everyone involved with P.I. Moms, he and Butler will always be known as the ultimate schemers that killed their TV careers. 'Chris and Carl just took it away from everybody,' Denise says. 'They put their desires above everyone else's.'
Elle
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Elle
Tracee Ellis Ross Is All About This Subtle Netted Accessory
THE RUNDOWN Tracee Ellis Ross is one of the undefeated street-style champions of our time. In just one week, the High Note actress has turned out a series of impeccable looks, including an A-line tent dress from Givenchy made entirely of leather and a more sculptural look from independent designer LII. This morning, Ross was spotted on the streets of New York City, headed to an appearance on The Today Show in fresh-off-the-runway Jacquemus, styled by her longtime collaborator Karla Welch. The sweeping blue-and-white-striped look effortlessly embodied the oceanside breeze you'd enjoy while summering in the south of France—exactly as the spring 2026 collection intended to do. (The pieces were inspired by designer Simon Porte Jacquemus's peasant-farmer heritage in the region.) To add a further pop of color, Ross enlisted her longtime and legendary hairstylist Chuck Amos for a cobalt fishnet-covered slicked-back bun. The duo has recently been obsessed with the neon-netted chignon cover, pairing teal with a recent Khaite look, and for the LII dress, cherry red that matched the soles of her white Louboutins. On Instagram, the actress joked that it was the theme of the week, even captioning one photo dump: 'I did a lot of fish-netting around the apple.'
New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Jenna Bush Hager slammed by NYC dad for body shaming — after ‘Today' splashes his Speedo pics on national TV
Last week on an episode of 'Today with Jenna and Friends,' Jenna Bush Hager gave her thoughts on men wearing Speedos — leading to body shaming accusations leveled against the morning show personality. In a segment called 'The Internet's Divided,' Hager and guest co-host Dwyane Wade discussed an NYC dad who went viral for wanting to 'normalize' dads wearing Speedos. Advertisement 'If my husband brought out a Speedo, I'd be shocked,' the 43-year-old AM chatter claimed, looking at an image of Big Apple public school teacher Tyler Moore, the daring dad who sparked the conversation with a social media post. 'And by the way, a man thigh?' she continued disapprovingly, to which Wade responded, 'Yeah, a hairy man thigh, nobody wants to see that.' Moore, known to his fans as Tidy Dad, took to his platform to call out the anchor for 'body shaming.' Advertisement 'Last week, my decision to wear a Speedo while lap swimming and open water swimming was discussed on The Today Show,'' the disgruntled Gothamite posted on Threads. 'It's a surreal experience to have your body publicly discussed and shamed on national television,' he shared. Hager herself is no stranger to the scourge of body shaming. 6 Tyler Moore, known on social media as Tidy Dad, bashed the anchor for 'body shaming.' Threads/@tidydad Advertisement 6 Tyler Moore went viral for wanting to 'normalize' dads wearing Speedos. Threads/@tidydad/post 6 Tyler Moore wearing a Speedo that matches his daughter's bathing suit. Threads/@tidydad/post In 2023, she shared with viewers how her late grandmother, former First Lady Barbara Bush, made a comment about her body when she was a teenager that stuck with her. 'I was laying next to my sister [Barbara Bush], and my grandmother, who I adored, but had kind of a biting personality, said something like, 'Oh, Jenna! Looking chubby,'' Hager recalled. 'I remember feeling like I wanted to hide in it,' she said. Advertisement 6 Jenna Bush Hager said she would be 'shocked' if she saw her husband in a Speedo. NBC 6 The late Barbara Bush once called Jenna Bush Hager 'chubby' when she was a teenager. Jenna Bush Hager/Twitter The Post has reached out to 'Today' for comment. Meanwhile, Hager and Wade also further discussed their opinions about Speedo-wearing men — particularly those with bigger butts. 6 Jenna Bush Hager and Dwyane Wade gave their thoughts on dads wearing Speedos on vacation. NBC 'I got glutes,' the 43-year-old basketball legend said. 'I'm not putting no Speedos on 'cause I've got glutes. I think Speedos are not for people with glutes.' 'When I'm on vacation and I see guys walking with the Speedo, it's like, 'What are you doing, bro? We don't want to see all that,'' Wade continued.
USA Today
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Watch Marcus Freeman, Leonard Moore discuss season two of \
The Fighting Irish are ready for more cameras in the complex. There will be a second season of "Here Come The Irish", a documentary that provides an inside look at Notre Dame Fighting Irish football. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman and defensive back Leonard Moore went on "The Today Show" to discuss the second season of the show. We reviewed season one recently. Freeman joked that "it took some convincing. I said 'there are some things they may have to edit'," while Moore said he took advantage of the chance to discuss his epilepsy. "It's something I remind myself of every time I go out on the field," Moore said. Season two of "Here Come the Irish" doesn't yet have a release date -- it's in production now. Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions. Follow Tim on X: @tehealey
Elle
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Elle
Hailey Bieber's Lemonade Nails Are Defining Summer 2025
Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. While the weather may be unpredictable, summer nails are decidedly sunny—and stars like Hailey Bieber and Charlize Theron are trying them out. Both celebrities have been spotted wearing lemonade yellow nails, one of the season's biggest color trends. Departing from her signature chrome and navy tips, Bieber opted for bright, cheerful canary nails complete with tiny polka dots created by her longtime nail artist, Zola Ganzorigt. This isn't Bieber's first foray into yellow—in spring 2023, she embraced the color trend with a high-shine, chrome finish. The intricate spots create a joyful detail that feels fresh yet sophisticated for summer. It's a hue that celebrity manicurist Michelle Humphrey champions. 'It's giving sunshine in a bottle!' she previously told ELLE, recommending Essie Rev It Up and Atelier At The Bay as her top picks. Polka dots are also emerging as one of summer's biggest nail trends, with the simple nail design proving perfect for festival season. Meanwhile, Charlize Theron appeared on The Today Show in New York City sporting an unexpected lemonade manicure in an understated half-moon pattern. Manicurist Mo Qin gave Theron's fingertips an immaculate, clean base and added a pop of yellow in a crescent shape at the nail base. For those who prefer a neutral or dark color palette in their wardrobe, yellow nails offer a great way to experiment with bolder colors without overwhelming the senses. Not ready for a full yellow commitment? Take inspiration from Theron's interpretation. 'If you don't want to commit to the full yellow color, you can just add little accents and still be part of the trend,' says manicurist Julia Diogo. Your next manicure look: sorted.
