Sister Wives star Janelle Brown is settling into her new home in Chocowinity, North Carolina, following her move from Arizona.

The reality star first told fans about her new chapter in December 2024, revealing that she purchased a 156-acre plot of land with her daughter Maddie Brush and son-in-law Caleb Brush. Together, the trio founded Taeda Farms, a flower farm devoted to “building beauty from the ground up,” according to their motto.

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Since announcing the purchase, Janelle — who split from ex Kody Brown in 2022 — has shared frequent updates on building her new home via social media. She finally moved into the property in March 2026.

“Things are progressing along with my move,” she said in an Instagram reel at the time.

Keep scrolling to see photos of Janelle’s new home:

Cameron Diaz just put her own spin on a major spring denim trend — and it’s time to take notes! To promote the new film Outcome, Diaz attended SiriusXM’s Front Row with the movie’s cast, and we couldn’t help but notice her relaxed, cuffed jeans. She styled her comfy-chic denim with a white blazer and matching white heels. It’s the kind of outfit that says, “I have taste,” without screaming, “I spent four hours getting dressed.”

Here’s why we love the look for spring, in particular: The cuffed design makes the jeans puddle-proof, which is an important feature this time of year. One day it’s sunny and the next it’s rainy, and you need a trusty pair of jeans that can tackle any weather. Plus, the shorter length shows off your cute spring shoes! To recreate Diaz’s chic look, we found a nearly identical $28 pair hiding on Amazon (you’re welcome).

Get the Grapent Women’s Stretchy High-Waisted Jeans for $28 at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate at the date of publication but are subject to change.

The Grapent Women’s Stretchy Jeans boast a high waist that pairs beautifully with tucked-in tops, cropped jackets or even a simple white tee. The classic blue wash is the kind of shade that goes with everything you already own, which is exactly the point. With a cotton, polyester and elastane fabric blend, the jeans have a nice stretch that you’ll actually look forward to wearing.

Related: Chrissy Teigen Gives Barrel Jeans a Fresh, Spring-Ready Feel

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Barrel jeans aren’t going anywhere anytime soon . . . but Chrissy Teigen proves they can feel totally new for spring. By pairing hers with a loose, boho-inspired blouse, she showed Us how to give the structured denim a softer, more relaxed vibe. The best part? It’s an easy styling trick you can copy now […]

Speaking of, the stretchy fabric keeps things smooth and clean at the cuff, so the whole silhouette stays streamlined. For a pair of jeans that can make you look like you just stepped off a press tour, the price tag is practically a steal.

The cuffed jeans trend has been gaining momentum again, and Diaz’s appearance at the SiriusXM event is a perfect reminder of why. A simple roll at the ankle elongates the leg, shows off your footwear and adds a casual, polished edge that flat hems just can’t match. It’s one of those styling tricks that takes five seconds but looks like it took real thought.

Even Amazon shoppers are obsessed with the trend. One five-star reviewer wrote, “Favorite jeans!” adding, “Very stretchy and comfortable! Perfect length!” Another shopper said, “Sooo cute and feel like jeggings.”

If you’ve been waiting for a sign to refresh your denim rotation without emptying your wallet, consider this it. Hurry and grab your size while it’s still in stock!

Get the Grapent Women’s Stretchy High-Waisted Jeans for $28 at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate at the date of publication but are subject to change.

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for The Last Thing He Told Me, Season 2, Episode 8

After last week’s episode of The Last Thing He Told Me made its boldest move yet by killing off Frank Campano (John Noble) in broad daylight, the Season 2 finale finds that the power that once held this world together has officially shifted. Whatever fragile balance was left in keeping Hannah (Jennifer Garner), Owen (Nikolaj Coster–Waldau), and their daughter Bailey (Angourie Rice) safe is now in the hands of Quinn (Judy Greer), the eldest daughter of the late mafioso. It’s a turning point that doesn’t just raise the stakes but reframes the kind of danger the family of three initially found themselves in.

As Episode 8’s “Souvenirs d’enfance” highlights a potential Season 3, that shift feeds directly into the show’s biggest emotional reveal that Quinn was actually responsible for Kate’s death. But as co-creator Josh Singer tells Collider, it was far more complicated and unsettling than just a calculated murder. “There are no real bad guys, right? There are humans who make mistakes, and they’re not mistakes that are made out of malice,” he says, making it clear the distinction was always intentional. “They’re mistakes that are made out of some self-interest, but it’s never just pure evil. It’s always relatable and understandable.”

And with Quinn now firmly in power by the end — effectively taking the reins as Teddy (Luke Kirby) spirals, and with the reveal that Director of the U.S. Marshals Maris (Michael Hyatt) was the mole all along — the finale also leaves the door wide open for a Season 3. It’s a possibility series EP Lauren Neustadter, bestselling author Laura Dave, and Singer are clearly already thinking about.

“If we were to have the opportunity to dive into a third season, I would say the Judy and Luke show’s a pretty good show, right?” Singer says turning to Neustadter and his wife, Dave. “How does our relationship between our primary cast, Hannah, Owen, and Bailey, evolve? What happens with Judy and with Quinn and Luke, and what havoc they wreak? And can we ever get to a resolve with these guys — I think, is a good question.”

‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ Made Quinn’s Kate Twist More Complicated Than Pure Evil

Co-creator, Singer explains why Apple TV’s finale frames Quinn’s secret as a human mistake, not a clean act of malice.

Image via Apple TV

COLLIDER: I wanted to start with the finale, because I think that’s where everything culminates to what this moment is. We also see that Quinn is a big part of it. She does admit the biggest secret, which is that she sent the car to scare Kate, but not really kill her. So why was it important for Kate’s death to come from control gone wrong, and not just pure evil or malicious intent?

JOSH SINGER: That is a great question. Thank you very much. Wow, I didn’t expect that level of detail. That is really terrific. And can I just say, first of all, how great are Jen [Garner], Angourie [Rice], and Judy Greer in that scene? To me, that and all the stuff we shot in Paris was really a pinnacle for me in terms of TV work. I was just saying that I don’t think I’ve seen performances that good since I was just starting out on The West Wing, watching John Spencer and Allison Janney going toe to toe.

Look, I have to say, this whole season was really about how do we keep to the spirit of Laura Dave and yet breathe into, “This is a television show?” That’s where we had Aaron Zelman and Daisy Mayer, who really helped push this in terms of what it could be as a TV show, and yet we had our really good friends at Hello Sunshine and Jen Garner pushing us to make sure we kept true to the spirit of Hannah Hall.

To me, one of the things that’s a hallmark of my wonderful wife’s writing is that there are no real bad guys, right? There are humans who make mistakes, and they’re not mistakes that are made out of malice. They’re mistakes that are made out of some self-interest, but it’s never just pure evil. It’s always relatable and understandable. She puts herself in everyone’s point of view. So, for me to specifically answer that question, for Quinn to just knock off her best friend would be against the spirit of what Laura does in her writing and, frankly, the spirit of what Hello Sunshine tries to do in terms of telling stories of strong women who are relatable and sometimes put in bad situations. Does that make sense?

LAUREN NEUFSTADTER: It makes perfect sense. I also think it’s really that we are giving dimension to every single one of these characters, and I think Quinn wasn’t always the woman that she is when we meet her in this show. To Laura and Josh’s great credit, they really think about all of the ingredients that lead us to the place where we are. So, while she makes very clear choices in the present, clearly they’re very informed by the events of the past, and this is a great example of just that.

‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ Finale Sets Up a Much Bigger Quinn Story for Season 3

Dave says the next chapter could lean into how Quinn and Hannah are more alike than they seem.

After Frank’s death, though, we do see that Quinn lets Hannah and Bailey go, but she makes that call about loose ends to Maris, who we find out is the mole, by the way. Very shocking. I did not think about that. What did you guys want that last beat to say about the world Hannah and Owen’s family will find themselves in now, going into a potential Season 3, which I’m hoping for, fingers crossed? It feels like we’re going to get there.

SINGER: Fingers crossed, as well. That’s very kind of you. What I would say is one of the things we were able to do, and Lauren’s been saying, is open the aperture up a little bit in the second season. We got a great supporting cast, whether it’s Michael Hyatt, who’s extraordinary as Maris, Judy, Luke Kirby, John Noble, Rita Wilson, all these wonderful people to play with in addition to our tremendous key cast of David [Morse], Nikolaj [Coster-Waldau], Angourie, and Jen. So, to me, if we were to have the opportunity to dive into a third season, I would say the Judy and Luke show’s a pretty good show, right? So, continue to be able to explore that. As is the Angourie and David show, as is the Jen and Nikolaj show. So, being able to follow how does our relationship between our primary cast, Hannah, Owen, and Bailey, evolve? What happens with Judy and with Quinn and Luke, and what havoc they wreak? And can we ever get to a resolve with these guys, I think, is a good question.

Laura, I wonder, was there ever a hell for Maris, or along the way were there breadcrumbs that you had in the book that you wanted to plant in the background as nuances? Was there anything that maybe is very obvious to you as the writer, thinking it that way?

LAURA DAVE: Well, I can take absolutely no credit for the Maris storyline. That was something that the writers of Season 2 came up with. What I did really want to lean into, and to answer your question also about Season 3 a little bit, is what I really wanted to lean into here. I really appreciate how you mentioned that about Quinn, because I’m always interested in what makes us similar as opposed to what makes us different, and this idea that evil and goodness aren’t as far apart as they seem if it both starts from the place of wanting to get somewhere better, and how we find the nuance there. So, I think really for Season 3, too, it would be leaning into many ways that Quinn and Hannah are more alike than they are different. That wasn’t a question about Maris, but I can’t answer your questions about Maris. [Laughs] I can’t answer that. I can only say they did a wonderful job.

‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ Bosses Explain Why Grady Had To Die

Singer says Grady’s death was meant to hit hard — and his story may not be over just yet.

Image via Apple TV

It’s great. Going back to Episode 4, finding out that Grady got killed off, that whole case starts to get really murky. Do we see justice for Grady down the line? He was opening a can of worms. Did you want to break that trust in the system early on in the mid-season point? What does that unlock then for a potential storyline with whatever comes next in Season 3?

SINGER: It was very bittersweet because Augusto [Aguilera] was so great, and was so great in the first season, and yet Aaron and I very quickly were like, “Well, we’ve got to kill him off.” And it was in part because he’s someone you love. So the idea of losing him really hitting home, like this is real. These stakes are real. One of the interesting things about where we might go in a potential Season 3 is, as we see with Hannah and Owen and Bailey and Nicholas, they’re in such a good place, and Charlie, that they wouldn’t stir stuff up necessarily on their own. But if we know that Quinn and Teddy are going to stir stuff up, and you know that Teddy is going to stir stuff up, then it’s going to go both ways. I think finding justice for Augusto’s character would be a nice thing to explore in Season 3.

This season also reshaped what Bailey thinks she knows about her mom and her family, and then we get to see a mess that follows. Did you ever consider giving her just a cleaner truth, or was that mess supposed to be the point, like it’s supposed to be realistic?

SINGER: Again, as I think I said earlier on, and I think Hello Sunshine responded to this too, was when we started being able to play with different pairings, when we started being able to have Hannah and Owen go off on their own, and Bailey off on her own journey, specifically with talking to Nicholas and then talking to Quinn, there’s something really interesting. And Gary is such a strong actor, which is something we saw in the first season. She could carry the ball right. When you’ve got a great running back, you give her the ball. And she really did run with that ball. It just enabled us to really widen the aperture, as Lauren said, to enrich this drama. But of course, you always want it to be messy, and I think that’s, again, the great thing about Laura’s writing is it is messy in the best of ways. It’s human as opposed to mustache-twirly.

‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ Never Lost Sight of Hannah Hall’s Story, Dave Says

The NYT bestselling author says the story’s throughline is simple: second chances and becoming your own hero.

Image via Michael Becker/Courtesy of Apple

Laura, was there a scene from the book this season that you wanted to circle around a lot, and you were like, “This is the one scene we can’t mess up that we have to have in the series?” Was there something that the show version did that the page didn’t do, like back and forth?

DAVE: Well, something that was so lovely because we’ve been partners in this from the very beginning is that we had this idea. We had a conversation in our backyard with Lauren about the idea of, like, what are the bright lines? What are the things that are going to make sure that the show and the book are really speaking to each other? And that is really this idea of getting to the place of how do we all get a second chance, which I think is something in the zeitgeist that we’re all hungry for right now? How do we get to a place where we can find forgiveness, where we can get somewhere better for all of these characters?

One of my very favorite scenes is between the inimitable Jennifer Garner and Judy Greer in Episode 8, where you first see that fight, and then where you get, as Josh and Lauren were just talking about, that resolution with Angourie and Jennifer and Judy. The other thing that I did want to mention is, and it’s funny how things all come back, but when I started writing this first book, it was 2011, but I started thinking about it all the way back in 2003 — Lauren knows this story. The two things that really mattered to me were an interview I saw with Linda Lay, in which she was talking about how her husband had done nothing wrong, and an interview I saw with Reese Witherspoon in which she was quoting Gloria Steinem and how important it is for women to watch other women become the hero of their own lives. For all three of us up here, if I can say that, that is really what’s at the heart of this, and what would be at the heart of it moving forward, is that Hannah Hall is the hero of her own life, and everything revolves around that.

The Last Thing He Told Me is now streaming on Apple TV.

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Release Date

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April 13, 2023

Network

Apple TV

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Showrunner

Laura Dave, Josh Singer

Directors

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Olivia Newman, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Lila Neugebauer

Writers

Josh Singer, Laura Dave, Jamie Rosengard, Isaac Gómez, Harris Danow, Allegra Caldera, Erica Tavera

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  Jennifer Garner

  Hannah Hall

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  Angourie Rice

  Bailey Michaels

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The stepfather of a 19-year-old who vanished in Virginia more than a decade ago is now facing multiple sex-related offenses in relation to her and other victims, according to authorities.

James Branton was arrested on Friday, April 10, by Spotsylvania County detectives and Virginia State Police, the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release.

Branton — who was the last individual to have seen his stepdaughter, Katelin Akens — is charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery, two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child in a custodial relationship, two counts of indecent exposure of a child, and two counts of child cruelty, WUSA reported.

The charges relate to underage victims, according to authorities.

It was not immediately clear whether Branton, 46, had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

Akens has been missing since December 2015, when she disappeared at age 19, according to the sheriff’s office’s cold case database.

She had been living in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, after growing up in Spotsylvania, Virginia, the sheriff’s office said.

Before her disappearance, she had been in Spotsylvania and was due to board a flight to return to Arizona on December 5, 2015, according to authorities, WUSA reported.

Akens’ mother, Lisa Sullivan, took her to Branton’s home before her flight because he was supposed to drop her off at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Sullivan previously told WUSA.

Sullivan was never seen at the airport, according to the sheriff’s office.

“Her bank accounts were never used again” after that day, the sheriff’s office has said.

Two days later, on December 7, 2015, Akens’ suitcase was abandoned along the side of a road in Spotsylvania, according to authorities, and contained her ID card but was mostly empty.

“It is unknown who put the luggage there or why. As of this date, no one has seen Katelin Akens and no trace of her has showed up on bank accounts, social media or in any other way,” the sheriff’s office said on its cold case database. “Her stepfather was initially cooperative and has since then declined to assist with this investigation.”

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Akens was reported missing the day her suitcase was discovered, according to authorities.

The sheriff’s office continues to search for her.

“As we remain committed to locating Katelin and bringing her home to her family, we ask that anyone with information contact us at (800) 928-5822 or (540) 582-5822,” the agency said in its news release.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters expands on the MonsterVerse world, the next entry of which, Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, is slated for release in March 2027. The series delves into the mystery behind Monarch, the organization whose one-time priority was to search, hunt, and destroy Titans, hiding them from the world, into one that actively protects them. It’s a big hit on Apple TV… and on Prime Video. Yes, you read that correctly. The two giant streamers are playing nice in the sandbox, but the “how-and-why” of their partnership is far less interesting than the “why” Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is capturing the imagination of their respective subscribers.

Typically, if a series or film on a streamer happens to catch your fancy, the only way to actually see it is to subscribe to said streamer, i.e. Stranger Things on Netflix. As such, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters‘ appearance on Prime Video is definitely one of those stranger things, but there is a reason. Prime Video is offering free access to the Apple TV monster hit – yes, intended – without the need to fully commit to an Apple TV subscription, among other notable offerings like Ted Lasso and The Morning Show. It’s promoting the availability to tie in Apple TV as an add-on subscription with one’s Prime account (you can not, however, tie in an existing Apple TV subscription).

It’s a brilliant promotional strategy that is paying off for both parties. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is a huge hit, recently having surpassed 250 consecutive days on the Apple TV streaming charts in the U.S. Serving as one of the streamer’s best offerings, it’s the perfect series to tease what’s available on Apple TV. And when the window closes on the promotional access, those who want to find out what happens in the engaging series over the balance of its second season will need that subscription, driving up its subscriber base. For Prime, because the Apple TV subscription add-on is only accessible through Prime, they aren’t losing anyone, and, in the process, reinventing itself as an indispensable hub to access other streamers.

It’s No Surprise That ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ Succeeds on More Than One Streaming Platform

While it may be moderately surprising to see Prime Video and Apple TV working together, the reason Monarch: Legacy of Monsters succeeds on both platforms is not surprising in the least. The series’ events take place across two timelines, jumping between them in a non-linear fashion. One is set in the 1950s, prior to Kong: Skull Island, where the U.S. military forms “Monarch,” a small scientific group after the destruction of the U.S.S. Lawton, comprised of three people: Officer Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell), scientist Keiko Miura (Mari Yamamoto), and cryptozoologist Bill Randa (Anders Holm). The trio encounters the Ion Dragon and finds evidence of Godzilla, which prompts the military to try to kill him with the “Castle Bravo” atomic explosion at Bikini Atoll. The attempt fails, forcing the government to authorize funding for Monarch, creating an entity that monitors Titans while keeping their existence secret.

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Apple TV’s 2-Part Sci-Fi Blockbuster Is Officially Taking Over the World

The hit series remains a heavyweight for the streamer.

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The second timeline starts in 2014, in the aftermath of the events covered in Godzilla, with the battle between Godzilla and the MUTOs earning the moniker “G-Day.” With the Titans no longer a secret, Monarch shifts its agenda to a concerted effort to understand and protect them, putting Monarch at odds with the military and with Apex Cybernetics, who have their own agenda, looking to exploit the Titans for their purposes. Uncovering the layers of the Monarch mystery are Cate (Anna Sawai) and Kentaro (Ren Watabe), drawn in through their quest to find their father Hiroshi (Takehiro Hira), who is deeply involved with Monarch, and May (Kiersey Clemons), a former employee of Apex. Connecting the two timelines is Lee, played in the present by Kurt Russell, and Keiko, who was stranded between the two eras in Hollow Earth, first introduced in Godzilla vs. Kong.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is engaging, with enough Titan action to sate kaiju lovers, particularly as the series progresses, with the introduction of Titan X, a massive aquatic creature with tentacles that may prove to be too much for both Godzilla and Kong, an especially great addition. But the draw is the human story that is largely missing from the MonsterVerse films themselves. There’s a personal investment that takes its toll on the people involved, and the balance between the kaiju action and the human perspective allows for a connection with the series’ protagonists without them getting lost in the hubbub. Coupled with its high-quality production value, particularly when it comes to creating the CGI beasts and critters that appear, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters isn’t just a spin-off of its cinematic MonsterVerse kin, but an integral part in creating a fully-realized mythology.

Teresa Giudice opened up about reuniting with her brother, Joe Gorga, and his wife, Melissa Gorga, on The Real Housewives of New Jersey following a lengthy filming break.

“It’s baby steps and we’re not sure if we’re going to film together or not. Bravo hasn’t said anything. But, if we do … there’s a running joke that I don’t watch my show but this time I’m going to definitely watch it,” Giudice, 53, said on the Thursday, April 9, episode of the “Couple Things” podcast.

Teresa went on, “Hopefully, we’ll both have each other’s backs. That’s all I want. I love that. I want to show America what my family was really about, how I was raised. My brother and I always had each other’s backs.”

The RHONJ star admitted that the franchise was placed on a two-year break by Bravo “because of how toxic” her relationship with the Gorgas became. The network shelved the show after the cast couldn’t even agree to film a season 14 reunion together in 2024.

However, Bravo confirmed in March that Teresa, Melissa, 47, and Dolores Catania will all return for The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 15. A full cast has yet to be announced but production is expected to start this spring. (RHONJ alumni Margaret Josephs, Jennifer Aydin and Jackie Goldschneider have all confirmed their exits ahead of season 15.)

This unexpected turnaround for RHONJ followed Teresa and the Gorgas sharing at BravoCon 2025 last November that they’d reconciled off-camera.

“I saw my husband’s relief [over the reconciliation], and for me, that’s the most important thing. It’s the siblings, and it’s the kids, and this trickles down,” Melissa told Us Weekly exclusively at BravoCon 2025. “To see the relief in Joe’s eyes and in his face, to me, I’m like, ‘I’m game. Let’s go. Let’s do this.’”

She added, “We can’t really hash it out too deep, because we’ll just keep circling back. It’s better to just say, ‘Listen, we’ve all made some mistakes here, and it’s time to move forward.’”

While some fans were skeptical, Teresa assured Us that her decision to make peace with the Gorgas was completely genuine.

“Ask my brother, I’m the type that holds grudges. I’m very old school,” the RHONJ OG told Us at BravoCon 2025. “For me to do this, it’s real. He said he was waiting for me because he knew how upset I was about things.”

Teresa slammed critics of the family reunion, saying anyone would have a “mean heart” and a “mean soul” to doubt her.

“Everybody should want family to be together. I want to show America what a real Italian family looks like,” she added. “My ex’s family? They are all together, united. That’s what I always wanted. I want to show America that we could be united, and I want to show our children that too. It’s really important.”

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The drama between Teresa and the Gorgas has been an underlying theme of RHONJ dating back to Melissa officially joining the cast in season 3. Over the years, the Giudices and the Gorgas clashed at a family christening and Teresa denied starting rumors that Melissa was a stripper before she met Joe, 52, among various squabbles.

The two sides have reconciled in the past but have always fallen out again over time.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs on Bravo. Old episodes are available to stream via Peacock.

Frankie Muniz knows exactly what he wants. During his appearance on the “Lightweights Podcast with Joe Vulpis,” the “Malcolm in the Middle” actor recalled getting the chance of a lifetime when he was younger, but refused the offer because of his crush on another child star.

Frankie Muniz Had A Massive Crush On Amanda Bynes When He Was Younger

Muniz built quite a resume as a child actor, starring in “My Dog Skip” and “Agent Cody Banks.” The one show he wanted to be on, however, was “All That” with Nickelodeon stars Drake Bell, Josh Peck, and, of course, Amanda Bynes.

Muniz called being on the show a “dream” of his as a child, particularly because of his massive crush on Bynes, who later starred in her own show, “The Amanda Show.”

While Muniz wasn’t part of either show’s cast, his dream of meeting and working with Bynes came true a little while later when he was asked to host the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards.

“And Amanda Bynes was one of the other co-hosts. And I was like, ‘I’m gonna meet Amanda Bynes, right?’ It’s this huge deal. So I’m so excited, right? I’m like, this is my chance, you know?” he said.

Frankie Muniz Turned Down The Chance Of A Lifetime To Meet Bynes In The Early 2000s

Before the ceremony, however, Muniz said he received an offer to host “Saturday Night Live.”

“[My mom] goes, ‘You got asked to host Saturday Night Live,’ and I’m like, ‘What’s that?’” he recalled. “And she’s like, ‘It’s huge. You’ll be one of the youngest people ever [to host], it’s this big deal. Blah blah blah.’ I’m like, ‘When?’ She’s like, ‘April 3rd.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, hell no! I am going to the Kids’ Choice Awards. I don’t care. I’m meeting Amanda Bynes at the Kids’ Choice Awards.’”

Muniz already had a strong work ethic, he said, which is why he told his mom he wouldn’t be able to accept the offer.

“I committed to it, I’m not going to back out of the kitchen. They’ve been airing my commercial saying I’m going to be co-hosting,’” Muniz added.

Muniz got even closer to Bynes years later, when the pair starred in the comedy film “Big Fat Liar,” which followed a 14-year-old compulsive liar whose school assignment is stolen by a Hollywood producer and turned into a feature film.

Frankie Muniz Was Intimated By Bynes While Working With Her

In an interview with PEOPLE, Muniz looked back on the film with Bynes, calling it a “full-circle moment.”

The movie, which also starred Paul Giamatti, grossed $53 million at the box office and won Bynes an award for “Favorite Movie Actress” at the Kids’ Choice Awards in 2003.

While he’d been on set before, Muniz recalled being nervous for this role because he was working with Bynes so closely.

“I actually remember being fairly intimidated by her on set, because she was just so naturally funny. I wasn’t really someone who did a lot of ad-libbing and all that kind of stuff,” he said.

However, the pair “got along great,” Muniz said.

Muniz Worked With Another Childhood Star In The Early 2000s

And Bynes isn’t the only megawatt star Muniz worked with as a young kid. He also worked with “Lizze McGuire” alum Hilary Duff, calling her one of the “first friends” he made in Los Angeles.

“She was living at the Oakwood Apartments, which is where all the, I don’t want to say just child actors, but a lot of people come for pilot seasons and stuff,” he said.

Muniz explained that he used to visit the apartment complex many times because of his connections there.

His bond with Duff grew even more once they both began starring in their own sitcoms. “I was on an episode of her show on Lizzie McGuire, and I got to do the film with her and had a blast,” he said.

Muniz Is Back In The Spotlight

And while “Malcolm in the Middle” concluded in 2006, Muniz reprised the titular character in the Hulu reboot, “Life’s Still Unfair.”

“When I was Malcolm 20 years ago, I was a kid,” Muniz told PEOPLE about portraying the character again after 20 years. “I was playing a kid, and it made sense to be in the situations he was in a little bit. And kind of the same thing now. I am 40 years old. I do have a kid at home.”

The series is now available to stream on Hulu, and Muniz boasted about how “proud” he was of the finished product.

“I haven’t said that many times when I leave a set. Normally, I’m kind of like, ‘I probably could have done that better. I could have tried this. I could have done that.’ But every day I left the set on this revival, I was really proud of what we were making,” he said.

Let’s be honest — when Bethenny Frankel, Ramona Singer and Sonja Morgan all agree on something, we’re listening. The former Real Housewives of New York City stars have spent years in front of cameras, so they know exactly what it takes to keep skin looking smooth and lifted. However, the real shocker is that their go-to wrinkle cream isn’t some luxury splurge — it’s a $28 drugstore staple.

The trio reunited in partnership with RoC and didn’t hold back about what they actually use. Their top pick? The brand’s Deep Wrinkle Rich Cream, a formula designed to target dryness, firmness and fine lines all at once. Given that the reality stars are 55, 62 and 69 respectively — with skin that still looks incredibly youthful! — we’re definitely taking notes.

Get the RoC Deep Wrinkle Rich Cream for $28 at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate as of the publishing date but are subject to change.

Related: Cameron Diaz Uses This Gentle (And Super Clever) SPF for Sensitive Skin

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With Amazon’s Big Spring Sale ending soon, now’s the chance to snag what you’ve been eyeing before it returns to full price. One item that definitely made its way into our carts? Charlotte Tilbury’s revamped Magic Cream, which is surprisingly discounted by 20%, despite recently hitting the market. The original Magic Cream has been a […]

Since Stephen King has written a massive number of books, he’s also, quite naturally, had to write a huge number of endings, and some of those endings aren’t exactly well-loved. Even if you want to look at his best works, you’ll find people who have issues with how those books end up wrapping up, as can be seen with the likes of The Stand, It, and the final book in The Dark Tower series.

In the eyes of this writer, those endings are all good, actually. And then there are also books like 11/22/63 and Pet Sematary that have genuinely great endings, or at least endings where most people are like, “Hey, yeah, that wasn’t bad.” The following novels, on the other hand, do not conclude very well, and all of them have some of the worst endings Stephen King has written to date.

8

‘Cell’ (2006)

Image via Charles Scribner’s Sons

The best part of Cell is how it opens, and that’s not too controversial an opinion to have, by any means. This is one of a fair few Stephen King stories where the author expresses his displeasure with cell phones, but while such “old man yelling at cloud” moments are usually relegated to little one-off moments, here, the whole book has that kind of energy. The phones turn people into zombies, basically, or zombie-like creatures.

And when it’s all starting to go down, early on, it’s kind of thrilling, with Cell being one of many Stephen King books that the author manages to get off to a good start. But it becomes increasingly harder to stay invested, even with the novel not exactly being an epic, by any means (there are longer books by King that stay entirely interesting throughout). It’s a novel that gets slowly worse as it trudges along to an eventually merciful ending, but at least the book still manages to be a potentially decent (or not entirely irredeemable) read, unlike the movie adaptation of Cell.

7

‘The Tommyknockers’ (1987)

The Tommyknockers sees Stephen King getting very weird, even by the standards of a King book released in the 1980s, and there are probable reasons for that there isn’t time to get into here. Let’s just stick to the basics, as much as that’s possible, for such a wild and chaotic book. In The Tommyknockers, the people of a small town all become affected by an object discovered in the woods, and said object seems to be of an extra-terrestrial origin.

Stephen King isn’t the best at sci-fi, but he’s helmed some good ones a little more recently than The Tommyknockers, like 11/22/63 and Under the Dome (the ending to the latter isn’t quite as disastrous as some people make it out to be). With The Tommyknockers, though, you get the sense he really wasn’t in control, and while the wildness of it all can be sporadically fun, the whole thing eventually collapses under its own weight, especially near the end. Finding a final page and getting through it feels like a mercy kill; like The Tommyknockers finally being Old Yeller’d. Takes a while to get there, but better late than never, right?

6

‘Holly’ (2023)

Image via Charles Scribner’s Sons

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If you read everything Stephen King has ever written, you’re going to run into the character of Holly Gibney a fair few times. She was introduced in Mr. Mercedes, then played a supporting role in the following two books centered around Bill Hodges, all before having another supporting role in The Outsider, and then going on to be at the center of one of the novellas featured in If It Bleeds.

All these stories ended up better than Holly, which is, unfortunately, the character’s first protagonist role in a full-blown novel, and the novel itself is a bit of a mess. After If It Bleeds, which explicitly takes place at the end of 2020, Holly is all about COVID and the main character dealing with it, while taking on a case, which wouldn’t feel jarring if If It Bleeds had mentioned it. But it couldn’t, since King wrote it before COVID, and then he decided that Holly’s world would have COVID anyway, just not the sort that anyone worried about in 2020, anyway. Even beyond that, Holly is a fairly weak novel, and pretty half-hearted, with an ultimately laughable pair of antagonists who are brought down in a boring and predictable fashion, by the book’s (eventual and merciful) end.

5

‘Lisey’s Story’ (2006)

Image via Charles Scribner’s Sons

Of all the dozens upon dozens of novels King has written, the man himself considers Lisey’s Story as his best, and he’s welcome to feel that way, even if it’s a little strange he does. Okay, okay, Lisey’s Story is an undeniably personal novel, and for better or worse, you do really feel that while reading it, since it’s about mortality, grief, and writing, all centered around a recently widowed woman dealing with the loss of her husband, who was a writer.

She grapples with memories of him while uncovering things he’d written, and then there’s also some stuff involving a different realm or something, and everything kind of merging and getting messy and, look, it’s a really annoying read. The way the characters talk to each other, and the way it just goes on and on… it’s infuriating, and beyond self-indulgent. If someone who wasn’t King tried to get Lisey’s Story published, it would almost certainly not have been accepted without radical edits. That it ends badly isn’t massively disappointing, in all honesty, since it also starts and progresses throughout (all before the ending) badly, too.

4

‘Desperation’ (1996)

Image via Viking Press

There’s a sister novel to Desperation called The Regulators, and that’s probably the worse book overall, but Desperation ends up being a little more disappointing when it comes to its ending. The Regulators (one of King’s Richard Bachman books) is a mess throughout, but Desperation does have a pretty great start that’s heavy on mystery, involving various people who are all abducted and held captive in a small town by a potentially possessed – or perhaps just deranged – police officer.

Once the truth of what’s happening starts to get revealed, things suddenly become less interesting. Without going into too much detail, Desperation is kind of just another rather fantastical/supernatural battle of good vs. evil, in the end, and one that King had done better before, and with more interesting characters, too. If you read the first half of Desperation and make peace with a lack of conclusion, you’ll probably come away more satisfied than if you stick it out and actually finish the dang thing.

3

‘Elevation’ (2018)

Image via Charles Scribner’s Sons

One of two novels about rapid weight loss that Stephen King has written, Elevation is a good deal more optimistic than Thinner, which is the other one, and also, Elevation is a bit of a fantasy (or magical realism) novel compared to the horror focus of Thinner. In Thinner, a man is cursed to lose weight, while in Elevation, a man gradually gets lighter and lighter, all to the point where it seems like he might just float off into the atmosphere, at a point.

And… uh… that’s what happens. This is barely a novel, and sometimes gets called a novella, which feels more accurate. Elevation has been spoiled here, but you’re better off knowing about how silly the ending is (and also, the ending happens so soon after the beginning of the story, so it’s all very slight, in any event). But hey, it’s got that Castle Rock setting. That’s always a somewhat fun town to go back to, right?

2

‘Gwendy’s Final Task’ (2022)

Image via Cemetery Dance Publications

Like Elevation, Gwendy’s Final Task makes for a pretty short read, and it’s also one of several books King has co-written, with the other author here being Richard Chizmar. It would be nice to feel sincere appreciation for the Gwendy trilogy and highlight it as being underrated, but nah, it’s kind of messy. The first book is a nice (but slight) coming-of-age/fantasy/horror book, and then the second, which was written solely by Chizmar… okay, that one’s not great.

But King came back for the third book, Gwendy’s Final Task, and his return did very little. This book concludes the whole trilogy in an admirably baffling fashion, so that makes it more memorable than book #2, albeit maybe not for the reasons you want a book to be memorable. The titular character goes to space, and also, she has Alzheimer’s. In the first book, she was a child, and in the second book, she was a young politician. This is skimming over a lot of stuff, but even in context, reading the whole bleeding thing, it doesn’t really make all that much more sense. Wild ending to a wild and messy trilogy, really.

1

‘The Colorado Kid’ (2005)

Image via Hard Case Crime

If you’re willing to go with The Colorado Kid being an anti-mystery book, in effect, then maybe the ending is defensible. Just that one sentence might already be a spoiler, but also, The Colorado Kid is so very short, so there’s not a great deal to spoil. Also, it’s obscure, and you’re probably only going to feel compelled to read it if you’ve already dedicated yourself to reading everything King ever wrote. If you’re okay with sitting out a few books of his (life is finite and all), then The Colorado Kid is one of the skippable ones.

The narrative here largely concerns the discovery of a dead body, and a large number of questions that come about while trying to identify the person whose body it was, and figure out why he might have died. But then also, so much is not known, and The Colorado Kid intentionally ends with whatever the literary equivalent of a shrug is. It’s pretty lackluster, for a crime/mystery novel, even a short one (thankfully, King’s later works within the genre – including Mr. Mercedes, Joyland, and Later – are all better and more satisfying).