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Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
'Middle aged' Taylor Swift blasted for 'masquerading as a 17-year-old' by MAGA ally as he reveals major problem with celebrity culture
Taylor Swift was called 'middle aged' by a conservative media pundit who launched a scorched-earth tirade that claimed the pop star was just one of many aging entertainers 'masquerading as 17-year-olds.' Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire issued a devastating takedown that called out a handful of celebrities who he said failed to 'grow up' in a desperate attempt to remain culturally relevant. 'You see it in the lyrics of a Taylor Swift also who pretends to be a lovelorn 16-year-old girl, when in fact Taylor Swift is currently age 35,' he said on his podcast. Shapiro has been a vocal critic of the popstar for months, celebrating trolls who booed her at the Super Bowl as she cheered on her boyfriend Travis Kelce. But she wasn't the only celebrity to be caught in his crosshairs on Wednesday. Shapiro also raged against Katy Perry and Jennifer Lopez, who sparked age-related criticism for her group make out session with multiple backup dancers during a performance at the American Music Awards. The red-wing hero, who admitted he is a 'fuddy-duddy grumpy old man,' lamented that the A-listers' behavior is a reflection of a modern-day cultural flaw in society. 'There is this thing that's happening in our culture where a bunch of people are masquerading as 17-year-olds who are actually middle-aged,' he said. When did we decide that adults are going to be the new kids? — The Ben Shapiro Show (@BenShapiroShow) May 28, 2025 ft-theo-von-and-jennifer-lopez-for-masquerading-as-17-year-olds%2F] 'If you are of middle age, you should act like you are middle age... Like you're not a 17-year-old, or a 21-year-old trying desperately to gain attention.' 'Middle aged' is technically defined in the United States as aged between 40 and 60. Setting his sights on 40-year-old Katy Perry, Shapiro said the I Kissed A Girl hitmaker is 'making a fool of herself doing her international tours right now.' Perry has faced mounting criticism for her poor album sales and mocked for her 'midlife crisis' after an ill-fated trip to space. But Shapiro reserved potentially his most scathing criticism for 45-year-old fellow podcaster Theo Von. 'I enjoy Theo Von as much as the next guy — although I think that his political takes are insanely stupid... I mean, Theo Von's a comedian. That's fine, it's also worth noting Theo Von is 45 years old,' Shapiro pointed out. 'Theo Von is four years older than I am. In the olden days, Theo Von would be closing in on the gold watch and retirement, and he dresses like a skater who's 16 years old, wears his hat backwards, and acts as though he's a refugee from the stoners club in junior high. 'It's a little weird... I see a bunch of people who are sort of in the podcast space, who are cosplaying at being 17-year-old Beavis and Butthead types.' Shapiro's comments sparked a wave of backlash on X as audiences questioned why he would care about the behavior of strangers. 'You're jealous, aren't you?' one critic asked. 'People flew all over the world to see Taylor Swift, and you're barely a blip on a list of podcasts. You lose.' Another wrote: 'The s**t you care about is f***ing ridiculous.' Shapiro anticipated the backlash and conceded that he was on the opposite end of the spectrum compared to the celebrities he complained about, admitting: 'I've been 80 since I was 15.' 'I am a fuddy-duddy. I am a grumpy old man. I've always been a grumpy old man. I was a grumpy old man when I was a teenager.' But he argued that his analysis uncovered something deeper about American society. 'There is something strange about a country that is rapidly aging in which because we are rapidly aging, and we don't have enough kids, we have decided that adults are going to be the new kids,' he said. 'We're going to treat 40-year-olds as though they are 20, and 60-year-olds as though they are 30. It's a strange look. It's very, very weird. 'Are we gonna do this forever? Is everybody just gonna turn into Madonna, twerking her way to glory with two artificial hips at the age of 92?' Shapiro's reference to Madonna comes after Jennifer Lopez reused her 22-year-old stunt at the AMAs. Madonna first the stage kiss to stun audiences back in 2003, when she shockingly pulled a then-21-year-old Britney Spears and 22-year-old Christina Aguilera into a three-way smooch at the MTV Video Music Awards. At the AMAs, the 55-year-old singer locked lips with both a male and a female dancer on stage, sparking theories she was desperately trying to make her ex-husband Ben Affleck jealous.
Malay Mail
13-05-2025
- Health
- Malay Mail
Kelly Osbourne says ‘being fat' got her more hate than drug addiction
LOS ANGELES, May 13 — Kelly Osbourne says the harshest criticism she has ever received was not for her past drug use, but for her weight. Speaking at a health summit in Los Angeles on May 10 May, the 40-year-old said body shaming has followed her throughout her life in the public eye, People reported. 'We live in a fat-phobic world,' she told the audience, adding that the judgment for being overweight outweighed any reaction to her struggles with addiction. Osbourne revealed that even at her lowest points, people seemed more concerned with how she looked than how she was doing. She recalled hearing comments like, 'You're so pretty. Why don't you just lose a little bit of weight, and then you'll be the total package.' The reality TV star said she once accepted these comments as normal, even though they cut deep. Her remarks reveal the continuing stigma around body image in celebrity culture and society at large. She stressed that weight loss, for her, was not just physical but also emotional and psychological. 'You have to come to peace and acceptance about where you are in your life before you can start,' she said. Osbourne, who previously underwent gastric sleeve surgery, said it helped — but only after she spent a year in therapy to prepare.
The Guardian
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Dianaworld by Edward White review – why we're still obsessed with the people's princess
A thriving industry of books, TV shows and films has kept Diana, Princess of Wales's image alive since her death in 1997. Most focus on her flawed inner world, and claim to uncover her 'true' self. Edward White's lively, deeply researched Dianaworld gives us something very different. White, whose previous work includes an acclaimed biography of Alfred Hitchcock, approaches Diana's story through the people who saw themselves in her – the doppelgangers, opportunists and superfans who found parallels between the princess's life of extraordinary privilege and their own. His subjects are the frequently ridiculed devotees who fuel celebrity culture: women rushing for the Diana hairdo; impersonators opening supermarkets; psychics jolted awake the night of the fatal crash. It is, White says, 'less a biography of Diana, more the story of a cultural obsession'. He marshals an impressive range of sources – diaries, oral histories, teenage scrapbooks, adverts and comedy skits. There is the woman who, eight months pregnant and living in a homeless hostel, feels a deep bond with the princess also expecting her first child; the sex worker who sees in Diana's rejection of royal pomp her own disdain for British hypocrisy; the owner of an Ealing boutique specialising in Shalwar Kameez who, after Diana wears one on a trip to India, encourages her customers to 'look like a princess'. There are nationalists and internationalists, royalists and republicans, conservatives and progressives, those who pitied, admired, were beguiled or infuriated by Diana. In their stories it is very hard to see where Diana ends and the rest of us begin. Such intense connections to celebrities are easily dismissed as 'parasocial relationships', one-sided, delusional versions of love. But the strength of White's approach is his desire to take seriously the stories that drew people to Diana and continue to shape her afterlives. There is no single explanation for her enduring appeal – and in fact, any attempt to provide one will seem foolish after White's book. Instead, he traces what sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild calls the 'deep stories' that power our gut reactions. Some of White's subjects connected with Diana through narratives of the 'doomed family', seeing their own generational histories of trauma in hers. Others, particularly immigrants and gay people, recognised her as a kind of outsider. White demonstrates how some of the most radical images in Diana's life derived their power from older tropes. Photos of her shaking hands with HIV-positive men certainly challenged the stigma and misinformation surrounding the disease. But they also summoned more ancient ideas: the laying on of royal hands and the religious concept of the 'healing touch'. As White's subjects try to explain why Diana mattered to them, they often find themselves inside these deep stories, repurposing them for the modern age. As White astutely puts it: 'Blair once told an interviewer that Diana invented a 'new way to be British'. It might be more accurate to say that through Diana, the British invented a new way of fantasising about themselves.' Above all, what Diana offered was a new way for British people to imagine the place of emotion in public life. Again and again, White's subjects tell us that what drew them to Diana was her messy but apparently authentic expression of emotion, the way she challenged British reserve. The historian Thomas Dixon argues that the stiff upper lip was only a brief, 20th-century anomaly in the emotional history of Britain, where sobbing in the streets has been far more common than not. Yet, by the 1980s and 90s, Britain seems to have felt like a place where a reservoir of long-repressed sentiment was ready to overflow. Right from the start, people were fascinated by Diana's feelings. First it was her tears, her blushes, her bitten fingernails, her self-conscious head tilt. Later, it was her weight loss, reckless outbursts, and her penchant for what Julie Burchill called 'damp, self-dramatising American therapy-speak'. Finally came the endless cruel speculation about her mental state and accusations of borderline personality disorder and paranoia. Her seemingly excessive or apparently unwanted emotions resonated with people struggling to express their own in a world only too eager for them to quietly conform. Though, as White observes, Diana's pain was also an essential tool in neutralising potential resentment towards her gilded life: 'Poor Di, so human, so lovable,' as one man put it. As have others before him, White sees this emotionality as a watershed moment, when Britain was forced to reckon with the new self-actualisation culture that had been gathering momentum for some time on the other side of the Atlantic. 'Arguably of greater social significance than her embrace of any specific cause – homelessness, domestic abuse, addiction, mental illness, Aids – was the emotional tenor in which she approached them,' writes White. As bouquets mounted up outside Kensington palace after Diana's death, some grieved, while others found the public spectacle coercive, seeing it as synthetic as the plastic wrapping on all those flowers. Today, with far more terrifying spectacles of public emotion to contend with, worrying about the authenticity of mass grief seems quaint. This book is an ingenious solution to the problem of biography in an age of global celebrity, where identity seems much less stable, a jumble of ever-changing projections and imaginings. It is hard to know what White himself makes of the continuing obsession with his subject. Dianaworld is a kaleidoscopic place, stuffed full with contradictory perspectives. But perhaps that is appropriate for a life that ultimately seemed so mercurial and slippery, so un-pin-down-able. As one visitor to Althorp comments at the end of a rather lacklustre tour of Diana's childhood home, 'Is there nothing else Diana? Is that it?' Dianaworld: An Obsession by Edward White is published by Allen Lane (£25). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Celeste Barber, 43, reveals the secret behind her youthful glow as she spruiks new skincare line: 'I'm excellent just as I am'
Celeste Barber has revealed the secret behind her glowing complexion as she celebrated her 43rd birthday this week. The Aussie funnywoman, known for mocking celebrity culture with her wildly popular parody videos, took to social media on Friday to share a candid clip with her followers – and to plug the latest product from her skincare line, Booie Beauty. In the footage, Celeste was seen having a hydrating cleanser gently applied to her face as she beamed at the camera. Her skin looks radiant and refreshed, proving she practices what she preaches when it comes to ageing gracefully. 'I turned 43 on Tuesday and I spent a fair amount of time looking at my face in the mirror,' Celeste wrote in her caption. 'A) because I was testing new products and B) because I'm really grateful for my face and for the lines on my face and I wanted to make sure I kept reminding myself that I'm excellent just as I am.' Celeste, who launched Booie Beauty just 10 months ago, said she's proud of the community that's quickly formed around her brand, which champions ageing with confidence and humour. 'If you haven't already, check out @booiebeauty,' she urged fans. 'It's all about bringing out the best version of you, and celebrating the excellent faces we have as they grow older and wiser and a little more pickled.' She also revealed the brand had launched a 'super sexy hydrating cleanser' on her birthday, with more products in the pipeline over the coming months. 'I'm proud as punch of the community we have already created in 10 short months. You guys are the t**s,' she added cheekily. She joked one of the benefits of her beauty product is that it would 'make it look like you actually slept.' Celeste is known for mocking models and celebrities, and is currently touring her latest stand-up comedy show across Europe. In July, Celeste moved into the beauty space by launching her own affordable makeup brand. Since launching, it has been a hit, with some items already sold out on the brand's website. Among the offerings are the Where The Hell Is My…? Nourished Lip Stick in three colours for $28 each. Also on sale is the Bam! Bam! Bam! Lip, Cheek and Eye Tint in two shades for just $22. In 2021, Celeste appeared on The Project and revealed that desperate influencers and celebrities often contact her begging to be parodied. 'Yep. Heaps,' she said when asked if anyone had asked to be featured on her profile. 'I also get people going, "Have you seen seen so and so? You need to parody her. She needs the followers." It's full on,' she added. However, Celeste has also made friends with some big names after mocking them. 'I am friendly with some of them, which is nice,' she said.
Daily Mail
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Pale and frail Kathy Griffin sparks health fears while spotted hiking in Malibu after hysterectomy
Kathy Griffin has endured all kinds of hell. A recent sighting of the firebrand comedienne walking in her Malibu neighborhood suggests her many professional, mental health and medical crises have taken a toll on her appearance. Griffin, 64, looked almost unrecognizable when spotted for the first time since undergoing a hysterectomy in early April to treat a pre-cancerous condition. Although she seemed to have her energy back post-surgery while logging her steps with a female companion, her gray pallor was almost as startling as what appeared to be the bloody, severed head of Donald Trump she posed with in a notorious 2017 satire that nearly tanked her career. Contrasting with the jarring paleness of her skin, her signature bright red hair fell loose around her shoulders while it seemed her hairline was receding, and she had either a scalp condition or bald spot. Known for her biting humor and criticism of Republicans, the Catholic League and celebrity culture, Griffin has opened up about her history of health struggles, starting with a binge eating disorder as a teen. Her appearance was drastically different from her last sighting. Griffin's signature fiery-red hair had drastically receded and thinned out, while her face looked gaunt She also has spoken out about her long string of cosmetic procedures ranging from a breast augmentation, nose job and lip tattoo to a botched LASIK surgery in 2003 that partially blinded one of her eyes and complications from a 1999 liposuction that nearly killed her. She also has struggled with her mental health, especially since a photo of her holding what looked like Trump's hacked-off head triggered heavy pushback starting in 2017. Trump, tweeting about the image at the time, wrote, 'Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11-year-old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!' Donald Trump Jr. told Good Morning America that 'She deserves everything that's coming to her.' Griffin, along with her then-elderly mother and dying sister, received death threats during the biggest controversy of her controversial career. The Trump administration placed her on its no-fly list and its Justice Department spent at least two months investigating whether the photo she posed for constituted a conspiracy to assassinate the president. Nothing became of that probe, at least legally. Even Trump weighed in to express his disgust, saying she 'should be ashamed of herself' and how it negatively affected his family, particularly his son Barron who was 11 at the time Still, the image caused her career to nosedive, at least temporarily. Talk shows and theaters canceled her appearances, and CNN ended her annual stint co-hosting its New Years Eve show with Anderson Cooper from 2009 to 2017. 'I wasn't canceled,' she told the New York Times. 'I was erased.' Griffin ended up apologizing for the Trump effigy, posting on Twitter that, 'I went way too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people, it wasn't funny, I get it.' She financed and produced 'Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story,' a 2019 documentary about the Trump photo and how it changed her life. Meanwhile, her anxiety and chronic back pain triggered a pill addiction, which spiraled into severe depression and an attempt to end her life in 2020. Then in 2021, she was diagnosed with lung cancer, even though she never smoked. A surgery to remove half of her left lung damaged her vocal cords, causing her to undergo at least one more operation to improve her ability to speak. Griffin came forward on social media in 2023 to say that her cancer fight and years of Trump backlash contributed to extreme post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and caused severe anxiety attacks that at times had her writhing in bed for eight hours. She talked about the ordeal in a video posted to her TikTok account. She said at the time that she managed her anxiety partly by pushing herself to do daily tasks such as feeding her dog or taking walks. Griffin took small, but brisk steps on her recent trek in Malibu wearing a gray top, black leggings and designer purse. Such details are the kind of fodder she has used in her brand of caustic comedy aimed at everyone from Barbara Walters to the Octomom to Jesus Christ. Raised in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, Kathleen Mary Griffin attended acting school and launched her acting and comedy career in Los Angeles in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her supporting role on the Brooke Shields sitcom Suddenly Susan and starring role in Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List — winner of two Emmys for Outstanding Reality Show — marked her big breaks on TV. She was a regular on late night talk shows, has performed in 20 stand-up comedy specials on HBO, Comedy Central and Bravo, and has appeared in 45 movies. Griffin finalized her divorce from marketing executive Randy Bick in January after four years of marriage.
