Millie Bobby Brown is pulling back the curtain on her experience as a first-time mom.

“This summer, we welcomed our sweet baby girl through adoption,” Brown and her husband, Jake Bongiovi, wrote via Instagram in August 2025. “We are beyond excited to embark on this beautiful next chapter of parenthood in both peace and privacy. And then there were 3. Love, Millie and Jake Bongiovi.

The couple, who married in May 2024, have not publicly revealed their daughter’s name. 

In September 2026, People reported that Brown and Bongiovi expanded their family by adopting a second baby.

Related: Why Millie Bobby Brown Wants to ‘Protect’ Baby Daughter From the Spotlight

Millie Bobby Brown is already fiercely protective of her newborn daughter. “For me, it’s really important to protect her and her story until she’s old enough to potentially one day share it herself,” Brown, 21, told British Vogue in a cover story published Wednesday, November 5. “It’s not my place to purposefully put her in […]

Keep scrolling for the Stranger Things actress’ candid comments about motherhood:

The Adoption Process

Brown revealed on a June 2026 episode of the “Not Gonna Lie” podcast that the waiting period was the most difficult part of the entire adoption experience.

“Every journey is different. Waiting for the call is the hardest part,” Brown said. “I just would always encourage you to understand that every journey is different. Don’t compare yourself to others, don’t compare yourself to statistics, don’t compare yourself to other families, but your baby is out there, and you’ll find each other.”

Millie Bobby Brown Recalls ‘Magical Phone Call’ Solidifying Adoption

During her July 2026 appearance on Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast, Brown recounted the “magical phone call” she received to inform her that the couple’s adoption plan was approved.

“Getting the call, I mean, I will never forget it. It was the most surreal feeling and yet we both knew in that moment, like that was … that we had found each other,” she gushed. “Like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is our girl, 100 percent, no doubt.’”

The actress continued, “The process is long and rightfully so; it’s a great process and, you know, in fact, it’s very thorough. I would say that’s probably the longest part, is just getting through all of that.”

Brown further revealed that she didn’t record the call, which made it an even more “special” moment.

“I think there’s something so special about it because my whole life’s recorded. My husband and I will never forget those words, where we were, what we were doing, the feeling,” she said. “I think in so many ways, that is why that shouldn’t be recorded. It’s, like, almost like you had to be there. … We were talking to someone, another adoptive mother, and it’s like, there are two ways to have a baby, one through your stomach and one through your heart, and my girl was through my heart.”

Millie Bobby Brown Claps Back at Mom-Shamers

Brown has not minced words about the criticism she has fielded since becoming a mother.

“I was like, ‘This is vicious, you are vicious,’ and I don’t have time for angry women that just need to bring you down, especially when it comes to motherhood,” Brown told
“Not Gonna Lie” host Kylie Kelce in June 2026. “I’ve never experienced anything like this. It’s like, I can always deal with the, ‘Oh, my God, you showed your nipples? What a bitch!’ Whatever; I don’t care about that, but when you’re like, ‘You didn’t put a hat on your baby?’ I’m like, ‘Try putting a hat on my baby. I dare you [to] put a beanie on her.’”

She continued, “Stay in your own lane, put a hat on your baby and put a sock in your mouth. Sorry, the English is coming out of me, but it’s so true. Like, shut up.”

Brown further acknowledged that she receives judgment both online and in person.

 “I’ve dealt with this mostly online, but when I do experience it in person, a lot of people will be like, ‘That’s a really big piece. Are you going to let her eat that?’” she said. “I know what my baby can eat. I will draw the line where necessary.”

Millie Bobby Brown Defends Jake Bongiovi

Brown addressed viral photos that sparked criticism of Bongiovi for supposedly not helping her carry bags or a stroller during her 2026 appearance on Kelce’s podcast.

“Hi, I’m Millie Bobbie Brown and I’m not gonna lie, when did women become incapable of holding their own bags, car seats and stuff?” Brown said in a teaser for the episode. “This stems from me holding all of my suitcases and bags and my kid and people are like, ‘Your husband doesn’t hold a single thing.’ Because I’m three miles ahead. I have been planning this all night.”

She added: “We’re all about empowering girls and, ‘You got it’ and ‘You don’t need a man.’ But then when I’m like, ‘Ok, I can carry my own things,’ people are like, ‘Where’s your husband?’ I can also do it on my own. Nobody knows my husband. My husband is the most polite, sweet, will-do-anything-for-me, but he also knows I’m capable.”

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Millie Bobby Brown Celebrates Jake Bongiovi’s First Father’s Day

Brown gave her husband a sweet shout-out on his first Father’s Day in June 2026, sharing a snap of Bongiovi cradling their baby girl via her Instagram Stories.

“Happy Father’s Day!!!” she wrote at the time. “I knew from the moment we met, you were going to be the best dad. We love you too much, Dada.”

This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. 

Sunny Hostin says Hollywood’s resistance to Black and Brown stories helped drive her decision to partner with an artificial intelligence studio. During a recent episode of “The View,” the 57-year-old television personality explained that she had spent six years trying to bring her romance trilogy to television and film.

Hostin claimed that traditional entertainment companies repeatedly passed on her stories, prompting her to explore an unconventional path involving AI. However, her announcement quickly sparked criticism from commentators who questioned both her allegations of industry discrimination and her willingness to use AI in the creative process.

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Hostin discussed her new partnership with London-based studio Fountain 0 while addressing the growing influence of AI in entertainment. “One of the reasons I partnered with this company, is because I’ve written a trilogy, and for six years I’ve tried to get my films, or my stories, made into a series and films,” she said, per Daily Mail. “And the gatekeeping in Hollywood around Black and Brown creative content is insane.”

Hostin argued that the partnership could give her greater control over how her stories and characters are presented on screen.

The three novels in her “Summer Beach” series are “Summer on the Bluffs,” “Summer on Sag Harbor” and “Summer on Highland Beach.” The books center on affluent Black communities and explore romance, family, friendship and generational legacies. Hostin has playfully described the series as a love story with “a little bit of smut on the side.”

She also declared, “I do write smut!” while discussing the first novel during a previous episode of “The View.”

Her AI Partner Made History At The Tribeca Festival

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Hostin highlighted Fountain 0’s role in making “Dreams of Violets,” a 75-minute feature that uses AI-generated visuals and performers. “It’s the first time that was done,” Hostin said while discussing the film’s acceptance at a major festival.

“Dreams of Violets” premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Festival. The project was promoted as the first fully AI-generated, live-action feature accepted into the main program of a major film festival. The film, created by Iranian brothers Ash and Pooya Koosha, dramatizes the experiences of Iranians facing execution and draws on accounts of the government’s violent crackdown on protesters.

According to Variety, Fountain 0 reportedly produced the movie for approximately $2,000. The filmmakers used artificial intelligence for its visuals, voices and other production elements. The technology allowed them to create a feature without a traditional cast, physical set or camera crew, although those same methods have fueled concerns about AI replacing entertainment workers.

Sunny Hostin Previously Discussed Resistance From Publishing Executives

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Hostin has made similar allegations about the publishing industry. During a 2024 interview with Entertainment Weekly, she recalled encountering skepticism when she initially pitched a romance series centered on Black women.

“The first two meetings I had were unsuccessful because the people in the room didn’t get it. They just didn’t get it,” the daytime television host said.

She remembered one executive asking, “Well, what’s the market for this? And I was like, ‘Black women.’ She was like, ‘Really? You think so?’” she said. “Executives didn’t even think there was an audience for it. It was surprising and a bit disappointing.”

Hostin eventually found support from Gallery Books editor Carrie Feron, whom she credited with understanding her vision and intended readership. “She not only saw the characters, she saw me and the audience. She saw three books,” Hostin said.

The first book was released in 2021, followed by its sequels in 2023 and 2024.

An Earlier Television Adaptation Was Reportedly In Development

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Although Hostin said she spent six years attempting to have the books adapted, Entertainment Weekly reported in 2024 that Amazon Prime Video was developing a television version of “Summer on the Bluffs.” The publication reported that Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer was attached as an executive producer and could potentially star in the project.

No completed series has been released, and the current status of that earlier adaptation remains unclear. Hostin’s Fountain 0 agreement may represent a new route for the property, but neither she nor the studio has announced a finished movie or television series based on the trilogy.

The Author Licensed Her Stories And Likeness To Fountain 0

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Hostin signed the licensing agreement with Fountain 0 in August. The arrangement reportedly covers her intellectual property as well as the use of her image in AI-assisted productions. “To be able to bring my novels to life in movie and TV form, and actually have my image inserted in the productions, so that audiences can relate to me through my stories beyond my role as an author, is incredibly exciting to me,” she told Variety.

She added, “This entire generational innovation in filmmaking from Fountain 0 gives me confidence that AI can give me a way to both more fully develop, and more fully immerse myself in, [intellectual property] I have developed.”

Hostin also operates Roots & Wings Productions, the production company she launched in 2021. Her deal with Fountain 0 signals that she is continuing to pursue screen adaptations despite the setbacks she described. It also places her directly in the contentious debate over whether AI offers new opportunities to underrepresented creators or threatens the human artists who traditionally bring those projects to life.

Hawkins, Indiana isn’t exactly a place you’d want to take a vacation, is it? If you lived there, you’d probably be looking at selling up after the fifth or sixth supernatural incursion and disaster, right? Demogorgons, secret laboratories, alternate dimensions, giant monsters, and yet barely a flea market or local town fair to keep yourselves going. And yet, none of it has been enough to convince anyone to pack a suitcase and find somewhere considerably less cursed to call home.

The Stranger Things universe officially returns to Netflix today, September 17, with the second season of Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 now available to stream. The animated spin-off heads back to the winter of 1985 for another adventure featuring younger versions of Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, and Max.

The gang is back at it, and so are the strange creatures lurking about their seemingly quaint town. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, mysterious “ghostly” apparitions and a swarm of hate sprites are wreaking havoc around Hawkins. The HIC must uncover the truth behind these paranormal events before a new gate to the Upside Down is ripped open. Upcoming episodes will see the gang return to familiar places, like Hawkins Middle School and the Palace Arcade.

Who Stars in ‘Tales from ’85’?

Tales From ’85 features a new voice cast. Brooklyn Davey Norstedt voices Eleven, Luca Diaz plays Mike, Benjamin Plessala voices Will, Braxton Quinney plays Dustin, Elisha “EJ” Williams voices Lucas, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport (In Your Dreams) plays Max, Odessa A’zion (Hellraiser) as Nikki Baxter and Jeremy Jordan (Supergirl) as Steve Harrington. The cast also includes Janeane Garofalo, Lou Diamond Phillips, Brett Gipson, Alysia Reiner, and Robert Englund, while it comes from showrunner Eric Robles (Glitch Techs), with original Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer serving as executive producers alongside Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen.

Netflix revealed when announcing the renewal that Season 1 debuted at No. 7 in its global Top 10 and ranked among the streamer’s 15 biggest animated series debuts. Netflix also reported that the five seasons of the original Stranger Things had accumulated 1.5 billion views by that point

Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Season 2 streams exclusively on Netflix.

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Release Date

April 23, 2026

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Netflix

Showrunner

Eric Robles

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Directors

Phil Allora, JJ Conway, Ben Choi

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Writers

ChatGPT, Dan Milano, Ray Utarnachitt, Jennifer Muro, Chad Quandt, Chris Wyatt, Kevin Burke, Jen Bardekoff, Joshua Pruett

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  Brooklyn Davey Norstedt

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  Eleven (voice)

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  Jolie Hoang-Rappaport

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Benny Blanco is less than a week away from his one-year wedding anniversary with Selena Gomez. Ahead of the occasion, the “Eastside” singer is opening up about his desire to become a father, saying he’s not afraid of the challenge. This comes after the record producer previously said becoming a father was next on the list.

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The 38-year-old record producer appeared on a September 2026 episode of Jenna Bush Hager‘s “Open Book” podcast to promote his new book, “F-uck Failure.” On the show, Blanco said he wants to become a father in the future and revealed why he’s “not afraid” of this potential major life change.

According to him, “Some of the negative things from my childhood are what helped me really get where I want to be and gave me the courage and bravery to do something different. He then said, “I’m not afraid. I mean, I of course want to be the best parent, the best partner. I’m excited when that day finally comes.”

From there, the musician admitted that he’s fully aware that his fatherhood journey won’t be perfect. He said, “I’m convinced that when that finally does happen, I am going to make mistakes, and that’s okay.”

Benny Said Failure Will Make His Child ‘Special’

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As the podcast appearance continued, Blanco shared his thoughts about someday becoming a father after his marriage to Gomez. Specifically, he discussed his views on failure and how it shapes people. He stated, “Failure in real life, that’s what’s going to make my kid, that’s what’s going to screw ‘em up a little, but that’s what’s going to make them special.”

Blanco continued, “I do think it’s important, because we all have those blemishes on our report card, but that’s what makes it look so good when you did have that blemish, and then you’re like, now I have an ‘A.’”  

Notably, Blanco’s comments come just days after he appeared on “Today with Jenna & Sheinelle,” where he also discussed fatherhood, saying he was “pressing” the idea of having children in his marriage to Gomez. He added, “I’m full-court press over here.”

The ‘Eastside’ Singer Has Spoken About Fatherhood On Multiple Occasions

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Blanco appeared on “The Howard Stern Show” in May 2024. During the conversation, he shared that becoming a father was one of his next goals.

He said, “It’s always a topic of conversation to me every day. That’s my next goal, to check the box. I have a ton of god-kids; I’ve got a ton of nephews. I love being around kids.” In that same interview, he talked about marriage, saying they were taking things “one day at a time.”

Blanco then said, “I just know that when I look at her, I just say, ‘I don’t know a world where it could be better than this.’ That’s what I always say to her.”

Later, in June 2025, the record producer spoke to InStyle, telling the outlet, “I love kids; I love being an uncle.” He continued, “I want to be a dad, though, God willing. I’m just dreaming and praying every day.”

Selena Gomez Has Been Open About Wanting Kids

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Like Blanco, Gomez has shared her desire to have children on multiple occasions, most recently during a March 2026 episode of the “Friends Keep Secrets” podcast. During a discussion about how many kids to have, the “Only Murders in the Building” star said, “I want four, but that’s out there.”

She continued, “Whatever happens, happens. If we’re only able to have one, none. I hope… we don’t know.” Before that, in March 2025, Gomez also discussed motherhood. According to her, “I don’t know what will happen, obviously, but I love children. I have an 11-year-old sister that I absolutely adore.”

She then said, “I love making [children] laugh; they’re just so sweet. So absolutely, when that day comes, I’m so excited for it.” Notably, according to ABC News, in September 2024, Gomez revealed that she’s unable to carry her own children due to medical complications. However, she’s open to other methods like adoption or surrogacy.

His New Book Was Recently Released

Simon & Schuster published Blanco’s new book, “F-ck Failure,” on September 15. The book includes personal experiences and offers advice on creativity, ambition, rejection, and learning from one’s mistakes.

Per the book’s description, “You want success? You gotta fail better. I fail constantly—small everyday failures and massive failures that last for years. I’ve learned a few tricks along the way, and all of them have to do with turning f*cking up into an art form.”

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Coi Leray and Benzino have definitely had their ups and downs, but through it all, Coi has made it clear that she still has plenty of love for her dad. During a recent interview, the rapper kept it real about working to rebuild their relationship and opened up about seeing Benzino step into grandpa mode now that she’s a mom to her baby girl, Miyoco.

RELATED: Grandpa’s Baby! Coi Leray Melts Hearts After Sharing Sweet Moment Between Benzino & Baby Miyoco (PHOTO) 

Coi Leray Gets Real About Rebuilding Her Bond With Benzino

The rapper didn’t hold back during her exclusive sit-down with Jason Lee. Coi Leray kept it real about motherhood, co-parenting with Trippie Redd, and reconnecting with her dad, Benzino. Coi explained that she created some distance between them early in her career because she already knew her dad had some history in the industry. Although she feels some of that baggage has followed her throughout her own journey, Coi refuses to let it define her.

“I also feel like whatever my dad was doing and whatever bridges he was burning, I never wanted that to affect me, and still to this day I think it has affected me,” she said.

Instead, she has focused on staying true to herself, carving out her own lane and keeping any baggage that comes with her dad from weighing her down.

“So, I just try to push through and be me and let everybody get to know me so I don’t have to be attached to any baggage,” Leray explained.

It’s All Love? Coi Spills On Forgiving Her Dad

When it comes to forgiving her dad, Coi explained that she’s leaving the past right where it belongs — in the past.

“I forgive my dad because, bruh, like I’m the breadwinner now in the family. I’m the one that’s holding it down, so I get it,” she said.

The ‘No More Parties’ hitmaker also admitted that she doesn’t understand why Benzino gets such a bad rap, especially because she sees him as a hardworking Black man who put his all into making it out of the trenches. Coi said she has a lot of admiration for her dad, too. And yes, she knows he stays showing off his abs on Instagram, but she loves seeing him pour into himself and stay consistent in the gym.

“My thing is people talk so bad about him, they’re like, ‘Oh, his neck, this, that and the third’ […] but what I see is a man that went through sooo much like, my dad is from the trenches,” she said.

Baby Miyoco Has Paw Paw Wrapped Around Her Finger

Fans have already seen a lil’ peek at Coi and Benzino’s growing bond as she continues to share sweet moments between him and her daughter, Miyoco. Back in July, Coi dropped an adorable photo on her Instagram Story showing Benzino fully in his grandpa bag while spending some quality time with baby Miyoco. Miyoco looked like she was living for every second of her quality time with her paw paw. Baby girl flashed a huge smile in the flick while holding up a ball in what appeared to be her play area.

RELATED: Coi Leray Reveals Where She Stands With Trippie Redd Following His Apparent Callout Over Not Seeing Their Daughter Miyoco (VIDEO) 

Fantasy as a genre is defined by the presence of magical and mystical elements. It can be as mundane as a version of our reality where one in every ten humans has the power to control one of the four elements, to as expansive as a secondary world populated by brave heroes, dark wizards, and ferocious monsters. Thus, it’s been a very common genre for literature, where authors are not limited by the constraints of reality and budgets like in television and film, and can let their imaginations run wild.

With how busy our lives can get these days, it can be hard to find the time to indulge in a little reading. Fortunately, there are a fair few fantasy books that, thanks to their digestible pros and gripping content, make the pages fly by over a couple of days.

‘After Hamelin’ (2000)

Image via Annick Press

The Pied Piper of Hamelin is one of the most famous European folk tales, but have you ever wondered what happened after the Piper lured away the town’s children? Bill Richardson explores this question through After Hamelin, which follows Penelope, the deaf child left behind in most versions of the story. With the aid of the village’s wise man, Penelope follows the piper into a magical world, where she discovers that there is much more to him than his hypnotic pipe than initially assumed.

The book is written for a younger audience, which makes it a pretty quick and easy read. That doesn’t mean it pulls any punches, however: there are plenty of dark and emotional moments that have permanent consequences for the characters. All of this is used to explore interesting themes of responsibility, the burden of one generation being passed to the next, and the power of imagination.

‘Dragon Princess’ (2014)

Image via DAW Books

One of the most classic and well-known tropes in fantasy is a hero rescuing a princess from a ferocious dragon. Author S. Andrew Swann decided to play around with it in his novel Dragon Princess, the first in a trilogy, that follows a thief named Frank who is hired by the royal wizard to play the part of the hero. Unfortunately, this was all part of an elaborate plan by the wizard and dragon to seize power, but Frank disrupts the wizard as he casts a spell, resulting in a magical mishap that sees Frank alone in the woods in the princess’ body.

This is the kind of book written by someone who has a true love of fantasy stories, and thus knows how to tweak and play with the classic tropes in just the right way. A lot of time and care is put into exploring how a world where magic rarely works as intended operates, and many of the twists are hilarious in how off the beaten path they are. Meanwhile, it also knows when to be serious, best seen through the book’s exploration of Frank’s body dysmorphia.

‘Phantastes’ (1858)

Image via Dover Publications

Many people like to call J. R. R. Tolkien the father of modern fantasy, but that title arguably belongs to George MacDonald. His works inspired authors such as Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Lewis Carroll, the latter of whom he helped further by encouraging him to publish Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The book that best showcases MacDonald’s influence on the genre is Phantastes: A Faerie Romance, about a young man who finds his way into the land of the faeries and attempts to find his ideal personification of beauty.

Modern audiences might have a bit of a hard time adjusting to MacDonald’s style, but once acclimated, the book is nothing short of magical. Events and structure are based more around emotion than a classic three-act plot, with plenty of allegories and characters who embody certain aspects of the human psyche. This gives the book the atmosphere of moving through a lucid dream, especially as it changes alongside the protagonist’s ideals.

‘Tooth and Claw’ (2003)

Image via Orb Books

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you mixed dragons with a Victorian romance novel? The result is Tooth and Claw, which details the lives of a family of dragons shortly after the death of their patriarch. While his eldest son, Penn, is wracked with guilt after listening to his father’s final confession, another son, Avan, risks his reputation by trying to regain his stolen inheritance. Meanwhile, his younger daughters are separated from each other and forced to find their footings in a world that primarily sees them as future wives.

Tooth and Claw has all the witty banter, family crises, and navigation of rigid social classes that one would expect from a Victorian romance, but the fact that everyone is a dragon also allows for fantastic worldbuilding opportunities. It is customary for dragons to eat the deceased, for example, and scale color is used to mark a female’s position in society; gold scales for maidens, pink for expected brides, and red for mothers. It’s also got plenty of grim moments as well, such as serf dragons who have their wings constantly bound, tyrannical nobles being permitted to cull sickly hatchlings among their people, and if a female dragon’s scales turn pink, she is expected to marry the dragon who caused it regardless of their reputation.

‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ (2015)

Image via Random House Worlds

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If you’ve ever wanted to try getting into George R. R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire series, but are put off either by its bleakness and or incomplete nature, consider checking out A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. This omnibus combines three novellas—The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword, and The Mystery Knight—that are set 100 years before A Game of Thrones. They follow the adventures of the wandering hedge knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his squire, Egg, as they are forced to deal with arrogant lords, dark conspiracies, and too many life or death situations.

Martin has always succeeded in creating characters who draw you in and keep you turning the pages, and Dunk is one of his strongest. He’s an honest protagonist who might not be the smartest person around, but he always tries to do what is right, even if it costs him dearly. His point of view also provides a more ground-level look at Westeros and how the commoners and lesser lords try to live their lives while the high lords play the game, all of which is brought to life through beautiful illustrations by Gary Gianni.

‘The Last Unicorn’ (1968)

Image via Ace Books

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Peter S. Beagle has had a very prolific career as a writer, from best-selling novels to the screenplay of Ralph Bakshi‘s The Lord of the Rings film and “Sarek,” an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. His best work, however, is his 1968 novel, The Last Unicorn, for which he also wrote the screenplay to its 1982 film adaptation. It follows a unicorn who ventures off into the world to find others of her kind, encountering unlikely allies and fearsome enemies along the way.

The beauty of The Last Unicorn is how casual and unapologetic it is about the fact that it is a fantasy book. Tropes such as evil uncles usurping their niece’s throne are baked into the bones of the world, and it’s not afraid of letting things be weird, like through butterflies that sing in riddles, and the existence of real-world mythologies like Robin Hood. Yet, amidst all of this, the story is also one of tremendous melancholy, as the unicorn’s immortal nature and the changes she must make to rescue her kind touch on themes of regret, the price of immortality, and the power of memory.

‘The Hobbit’ (1937)

Image via HarperCollins

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While grading papers one day, a bord Professor Tolkien wrote: “In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.” From this one line, he crafted the story of Bilbo Baggins, a respectable hobbit who is whisked away by the wizard Gandalf to join an expedition to the Lonely Mountain to reclaim it from the dragon Smaug. While originally intended as a one-off story for his kids, Tolkien eventually brought it into the greater legendarium he was writing, and would eventually write a sequel called The Lord of the Rings.

The Hobbit has never been out of print since its publication, and has continued to delight and inspire readers and creatives alike. This is thanks to how well structured it is: the story is broken into easily digestible episodes that play out like an epic quest, born from Tolkien’s love of Germanic mythology and the epic poem Beowulf. Those familiar with The Lord of the Rings might find Middle-earth a tad more whimsical than expected, but it still has plenty of epic battles and hard-hitting themes about greed, corruption, and finding one’s courage in the darkest of times.

Ari Fletcher is making it clear she’s not here for the commentary when it comes to her role as a mother. The influencer recently found herself responding to a conversation about her son, Yosohn, and his relationship with his father, rapper G Herbo. And let’s just say…Ari had a few things to get off her chest.

RELATED: Okay! Internet Users Are Sharing Their Thoughts After Ari Fletcher Flexed Her New Whip! (PHOTOS + VIDEO)

Ari Fletcher Claps Back At Comments About Yosohn

This week, Ari hopped into the comments section of an Instagram post captured by Live Bitez after seeing folks weigh in on her and Herbo’s co-parenting situation. One user claimed, “I see him more with Herb than I do with Ari,” while another pushed back, writing, “No you don’t stop the cap.”

Ari then responded directly, making it clear she felt the comments had crossed a line. She wrote:

“Ho* no tf you don’t he get him for entertainment purposes don’t ever come at me as a mf parent ho I DO THIS MOM SHIT GET YALL LOW LIFE A** MISERABLE A** OUTTA HERE ALWAYS WORRYING ABOUT WTF I GOT GOING ON.”

Social Media Has Entered The Chat

Meanwhile, folks quickly ran to Live Bitez’s Instagram comment section and ran it up with reactions to Ari’s remarks. While some felt Herb caught a stray in the exchange, others suggested it’s possible Ari’s words were taken out of context and that there may be more to the situation than what made its way online.

One Instagram user @mellow.angel.u9r said, “Dang Herb really took that stray 😂”

This Instagram user @dremurro wrote, “Unprovoked disrespect fueled by a stranger. Yikes!”

And, Instagram user @thaats.drea commented, “Ari literally always has her son like I’m confused”

Meanwhile, Instagram user @queeen_reyes claimed, “That could mean he’s with her for school drs appts and daily things while he goes with his dad for vacations birthdays and holidays aka entertainment !? Dang ya so quick to run with a narrative 😭😅”

While Instagram user @plzstopbeingmessy shared, “Yoshon stays weeks at time at Herb house. And he has also taken him on family vacations. And visits him in ATL. Both of them love their son…”

Finally, Instagram user @toeshagreen added, “The internet be real bullies it’s sad”

Ari Fletcher Has Words For Her Parenting Critics

And if Ari’s latest clapback feels familiar, that’s because sis has been here before! Following the chatter surrounding her parenting, Ari took to X with a series of posts making one thing clear: watch your mouths when it comes to her son, Yosohn. The influencer addressed speculation about whether Yosohn lives with her, pushing back on folks who felt entitled to question her role as a mother. Ari also responded to criticism over not posting Yosohn’s first day of school, reminding social media that she doesn’t have to share every moment of her son’s life online just to prove she’s present.

RELATED: Ari Fletcher Shows Off Massive New Ring & Some Internet Users Can’t Stop Mentioning G Herbo & Taina Williams (VIDEOS)

These days, Christopher Nolan is a brand unto himself and a walking advertisement for the IMAX format. But it’s easy to forget that, because of how well regarded the films are, he cut his teeth on superhero movies. Long before Oppenheimer and The Odyssey, Nolan earned Hollywood’s trust by taking Batman seriously — and Hans Zimmer believes the success of those movies directly enabled Nolan to make one of his most ambitious originals.

Speaking exclusively with Collider, Zimmer argued that Nolan wouldn’t have been given the money to make Inception if his Batman movies hadn’t first become such enormous successes. The Dark Knight ultimately passed $1 billion worldwide, while Inception followed two years later and earned $839.8 million globally. Funnily enough, Zimmer says that despite the extraordinary scale of Inception, he and Nolan approached the movie with something closer to an independent filmmaking mentality:

“You know something? We treated it a bit like that. Chris and I come from independent movies, from English independent movies. One of the beauties of working with Chris was always that it didn’t feel like working within the Hollywood system; it felt like working with an independent filmmaker. Then there came a point where they poured a little bit more money on us. That’s the perk of doing well, I suppose. You get a few extra pennies.”

But Zimmer doesn’t believe Nolan would have received those “extra pennies” without Batman. “But if you think about it, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk — Chris’s work is masterful, but it’s odd,” said Zimmer. “Had we not done the Batman movies, and had they not become as successful as they did, I don’t think anybody would have given Chris the money to go and do Inception. I loved Inception. I always thought of it as a movie about shared dreaming and a great time-travel movie. There have been so many time-travel movies that I think have failed miserably at actually doing it right, and I thought Chris did a really good job.” That’s an understatement, though. As Nolan went on to prove with Oppenheimer and The Odyssey, he managed to turn a $160 million original science-fiction movie about dream infiltration into a worldwide blockbuster.

Hans Zimmer Is Taking His Nolan Scores Back on the Road

Zimmer’s long association with Nolan will also be represented as the composer takes Hans Zimmer Live – The Next Level to North America in 2027. The new production sees Zimmer performing alongside 19 musicians in a show designed to transform his movie scores for the live environment rather than simply reproduce their theatrical recordings. The North American leg begins in Hartford, Connecticut, on February 17 and runs through April, following a European run that sold out 50 shows across 17 countries.

Hans Zimmer Live – The Next Level begins its North American run on February 17, 2027. Tickets go on general sale September 25 at 10 a.m. local time.

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Release Date

July 16, 2010

Runtime

148 minutes

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Franchise(s)

Inception

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The Bold and the Beautiful reveals that Carter Walton (Lawrence Saint-Victor) wants Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) to be his and Daphne Rose (Murielle Hilaire)’s fake surrogate to hide the fact that Steffy is pregnant with Carter’s baby.

We just saw Steffy tell Carter no, but apparently that’s not stopping him. This surrogacy scheme is pushing forward and when Steffy and Carter are busted and the truth comes out, the fallout is going to be epic. Today we’re going to talk about the troubling aftermath from Carter and Steffy’s fake surrogacy scheme.

Bold and the Beautiful: Carter Horrifies Steffy

Although Carter pleaded with Steffy to agree to this fake surrogacy plan to save their marriages, Steffy said no. She told Carter she cannot give up her baby, but he is so desperate he left Steffy and went back to Forrester Creations and started selling it to Daphne. And her initial reaction was shock, but I do think she’ll agree with Carter. It’s a perfect idea because Daphne wants a surrogate they know and trust. Friday spoilers have Steffy caught off guard.

And I think it’s by Daphne telling Steffy how excited she is to hear from Carter that Steffy is going to be their egg donor and surrogate. So, it sounds like Carter does an end run that puts Steffy in the position of telling Daphne, “Oh, okay. Yeah, I’m your surrogate.” Or Steffy will have to say, “I can’t do that because I’m already pregnant with Carter’s baby because he and I cheated on you and Finn Finnegan (Tanner Novlan).” So, we’re going to see Steffy cornered and basically forced into Carter’s scheme is how I think it’s going to go. I think Steffy will be ticked off about it. And of course, we know that Carter and Steffy’s secret is going to come out.

The Doctors Get Suspicious on B&B

Taylor Hayes (Rebecca Budig) or Finn may look at Steffy’s medical records and see that something is off. Nosy Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown) may poke around and find out. The reveal could even be delayed until Steffy delivers the baby and then the timing is off to align to a post Monaco surrogacy. You know, somebody could overhear Carter and Steffy because people love to talk about secrets at Forrester with the door cracked. So, it doesn’t really matter how it comes out. We know it will and the after effects are going to be insane. So many lives will be affected.

Let’s talk about who’s going to be hit hardest. So the first person is Steffy. She does not want to lose Finn. And I’m sure Steffy will say she wanted to tell the truth and she only did this scheme to protect Finn and the kids and that Carter made her. But Steffy’s going to lose the moral high ground with everybody, including Hope Logan (Annika Noelle) and Katie Logan (Heather Tom) and Sheila.

I think Steffy may end up losing everything. Finn may walk out, especially since he forgave Steffy for her one night stand with Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton) in that paternity incident. And Steffy has shredded Finn over Sheila because of the Monaco thing, then cheated and then lied to Finn’s face. And Steffy was plotting to give away her baby behind Finn’s back by the time this scheme sets in. So Steffy’s life’s going to be wrecked.

Bold and Beautiful: Carter Loses It All

The second person obviously affected is Carter, the mastermind of this insane scheme. He will lose his job at Forrester, lose his wife Daphne, lose his best friend Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye) all at once, and what happens to Carter and Steffy’s baby? Big question. Carter and Daphne will probably split, so will Carter and Steffy share custody, and Daphne’s cut out is just messy.

You know, Carter can claim, “I was just trying to give Daphne a child.” And Carter may beg Daphne to even keep it secret so Ridge doesn’t fire him. But I think Ridge will assume Carter took advantage of Steffy just like Ridge assumed that Bill Spencer (Don Diamont) took advantage of Steffy in their one night stand. It’s all going to be messy.

Bold and the Beautiful: Daphne Absolutely Devastated

And the next person to be heavily impacted, of course, is Daphne. There’s the double betrayal of Carter cheating with her best friend Steffy and then Carter using Daphne’s baby dream to cover up the cheating. Steffy and Carter are both lying to Daphne’s face. They’re going to be doing it for months to come. So Daphne may ruin Carter and Steffy, publicly expose what they did.

Daphne could name and shame them, and that would really hurt Forrester‘s brand even more. We expect that Carter will be fired. Steffy will be in the doghouse at work. Daphne may cancel the fragrance line. That would be a huge financial hit for Forrester.

All because of Steffy and Carter’s one night stand. The knife in the back is Daphne wanted a surrogate she can trust, and she cannot trust Steffy. We may see Carter trying to negotiate with Daphne and say, “Look, I’ll just move to Paris with you. Anything you want, just don’t out us.” But I think she will.

Finn Goes Ballistic on B&B

And now, let’s talk about Finn. Not only did Steffy cheat on Finn, but Steffy wanted to keep this baby from the cheating, which means Finn would be raising the product of Steffy’s tryst with another man. Now, she could have come clean, confessed to being pregnant, and just lied and said it was not Carter, but some random dude. That would at least protect Carter’s marriage. But since Steffy has been so demanding on Finn about every little thing and he always gives Steffy her way, I think Finn’s going to be crushed and he’s going to feel stupid and he’s going to be mad.

He’s been singing Steffy’s praises like she’s a saint. Finn wants his birth mom, Sheila, in his life, but because it makes Steffy uncomfortable, he gave up on that wish. Finn always does everything Steffy wants every time. And this is the ultimate betrayal. And it’s even worse because Steffy did almost the same thing with Liam. So Finn may walk out because he can’t be with Steffy after he’s shown all this loyalty and she’s just lied to him.

Bold and the Beautiful: Li Turns Her Back on Steffy

Next on the list is Li Finnegan (Naomi Matsuda). She’s a big fan of Steffy’s. Supports their marriage, but Li hates cheaters, so she may turn on Steffy. Obviously Li won’t let this slide. She loves Finn and I think she’s very fair where Steffy’s concerned because Li doesn’t side with Finn just because he’s her son. But in this case, obviously she has to.

And then of course there’s Ridge. He’s going to be reeling that Steffy got pregnant by Carter, his COO, his best friend, a guy Ridge sees as a brother. Ridge may view this as a huge betrayal from Carter, one of many. You know, first he got with Hope, then she and Carter pulled the coup and Carter took Ridge’s family company from him on Bold and the Beautiful. And now Carter slept with Steffy and then manipulated her into this insane surrogacy scheme. Ridge already asked Daphne if it matters who helps her and Carter have a baby as long as they get the kid and he meant it.

But when Ridge learns this was all a cover up, he may feel like they made him look complicit. Daphne may even turn around and ask Ridge, “Is that why you told me this? Did you know that Carter cheated with Steffy?” I think Ridge is going to lose his mind. I think he’s going to punch Carter and then fire him. And also Ridge may never look at Steffy the same way after all this comes out.

Bold and Beautiful: Sheila Hits the Jackpot

The last person to talk about with this fallout is Sheila. Even if she doesn’t expose Carter and Steffy’s surrogacy scheme, we know that Sheila is opportunistic and she may use this as a way to get closer to Finn. And if Sheila does expose Steffy, it will probably be because she wants Finn and Hayes in her life. And that is something that Steffy has been blocking. So Sheila may blackmail Steffy or just outright expose her if Sheila is the one to find out.

But if somebody else exposes the one night stand and the surrogacy scheme, Sheila may just run to Finn, offer sympathy, support, and worm her way into his life while he’s estranged from Steffy. There were some spoilers a while back saying the Monaco trip leads to life-changing things that involve Sheila. And one of the big pieces of fallout could be that Finn demands that Steffy accept Sheila into their lives in exchange for Finn not walking out on their marriage. This is all going to be so soapy and so messy.

Goodreads is a popular site for logging and rating books, meaning it can be a solid source of new reading recommendations. The highest-rated novels on the platform tend to be classics and bestsellers, often works with wide commercial appeal, but it’s still interesting to see which titles its users love the most.

With that in mind, this list looks at the top-rated sci-fi books on Goodreads, from the cosmic absurdity of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to the political horror of 1984. There should be something here for almost every kind of genre fan.

10

‘The Martian’ (2011)

Image via Ballantine Books

“I’m pretty much f—ed.” It’s no surprise that Andy Weir‘s fast-paced, problem-solving-based thriller made the Goodreads Top 10. In it, astronaut Mark Watney is accidentally left behind after a violent dust storm forces the Ares 3 crew to evacuate Mars. Injured but alive, he discovers that he has limited supplies, no immediate means of contacting NASA, and nowhere near enough food to survive until another mission arrives. Fortunately, he’s a botanist and mechanical engineer with an almost superhuman ability to remain funny while confronting probable death.

From here, the plot becomes a succession of problems and ingenious solutions. A big part of the fun here (as in the movie) is watching Watney try to MacGyver his way out of tricky situations. He grows potatoes using Martian soil, modifies equipment, attempts to establish communication with Earth, and continually improvises around new disasters. Weir explains enough of the underlying science to make those solutions convincing without ever sacrificing narrative momentum.

9

‘Ready Player One’ (2011)

Image via Crown Publishing Group

“Videogames are the only thing that make life bearable.” In the bleak 2040s, teenager Wade Watts is among the millions obsessed with finding an Easter egg hidden somewhere inside the OASIS, an enormous virtual universe, by its deceased creator, James Halliday. Whoever discovers it will inherit Halliday’s enormous fortune and control of his company. The problem is that Halliday designed his hunt around an encyclopedic knowledge of the pop culture he loved, particularly games, movies, music, and television from the 1980s.

Wade’s discovery of the first major clue transforms him into a celebrity and puts him in direct competition with both other “gunters” and the sinister corporation IOI. Along the way, the book serves up high-stakes dystopian adventure, along with a nostalgic celebration of nerd culture. Classic movies, Dungeons & Dragons lore, and obscure 1980s arcade gaming all become integral to the plot.

8

‘Ender’s Game’ (1985)

Image via Tor Books

“Humanity does not ask us to be happy. It merely asks us to be brilliant on its behalf.” Earth has fought two devastating conflicts against an alien species known as the Formics, and military leaders are searching for a commander capable of winning the next one. The young Andrew “Ender” Wiggin’s unusual empathy and strategic ability make him an ideal candidate… and therefore a child whom adults are willing to manipulate relentlessly. Recruited into a brutal orbital Battle School, Ender is isolated and systematically broken down by military authorities to shape him into the ultimate weapon.

He’s also caught in a profound inner conflict. He possesses a terrifying capacity for calculated violence alongside an intense desire for peace and love. Author Orson Scott Card uses that premise to delve deep into themes of war, tragedy, xenophobia, and the difficulty of communication, going way beyond the usual ‘humans vs. aliens’ tropes.

7

‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ (1969)

Image via Dell

“All this happened, more or less.” With this one, Kurt Vonnegut uses time-warping sci-fi elements to tell an allegorical, deeply personal anti-war story. In Slaughterhouse-Five, protagonist Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time. One moment he’s an optometrist living in postwar America; the next he’s a POW in Germany, an elderly widower, a frightened child, or an exhibit inside an alien zoo on the planet Tralfamadore. At the center of Billy’s life is the bombing of Dresden, which Vonnegut himself survived as an American soldier.

The fractured timelines serve as a strong metaphor for PTSD, and the way trauma memories can extend their tentacles into the present. That said, the book doesn’t get too overly heavy, thanks to Vonnegut’s short, punchy sentences (the whole novel clocks in at under 200 pages) and deadpan humor. By treating historical atrocities with a sense of bizarre irony and cosmic absurdity, he highlights just how irrational and senseless human cruelty truly can be.

6

‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ (1979)

Image via Pan Books

“Don’t Panic.” Arthur Dent is having a terrible Thursday. His house is about to be demolished to make way for a bypass, his friend Ford Prefect turns out to be an alien, and before Arthur can properly process either development, Earth itself is destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Things become considerably stranger from there, as Arthur encounters the two-headed galactic president Zaphod Beeblebrox, the relentlessly cheerful Trillian, and the terminally depressed robot Marvin.

The whole book treats the universe as an enormous cosmic joke. Author Douglas Adams stuffs the novel with ideas that other sci-fi writers might build entire books around and then uses them for punchlines. There’s the Babel fish, the Infinite Improbability Drive, Vogon poetry, and a supercomputer designed to calculate the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. It’s simultaneously entertaining and genuinely philosophical.

5

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ (1985)

Image via Anchor Books

“Better never means better for everyone, he says. It always means worse, for some.” Before it was a hit show, The Handmaid’s Tale was a provocative, much-analyzed novel. In it, the United States has become a totalitarian theocracy where women’s lives are rigidly determined by their social and reproductive roles. For Offred, that means becoming a Handmaid, assigned to a powerful Commander and expected to bear his child. She remembers the world before Gilead, but attempting to bring it back looks like a fool’s errand.

The dystopia works because it’s not all that far-fetched or speculative. Writer Margaret Atwood draws on real-world examples of sexism and oppression, extrapolating believable elements of religious extremism, political fear, surveillance, control over language, and the gradual erosion of rights. Not for nothing, The Handmaid’s Tale has exerted a grip on the cultural imagination for over four decades.

4

‘Brave New World’ (1932)

Image via Horizon Ridge Publishing

“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.” Not every dystopia needs secret police kicking down doors. Aldous Huxley‘s Brave New World imagines something potentially more disturbing: a society whose inhabitants have been conditioned so thoroughly that most of them don’t want to rebel. In the World State, rampant consumerism is encouraged, lasting relationships are discouraged, and unhappiness can be chemically suppressed with a little pill.

This ‘softer’ vision of totalitarianism was a marked contrast with most sci-fi dystopias at the time, though one could make the case that it was ultimately more prescient. Indeed, some parts of the book now hit a little too close to home, particularly its portrait of citizens who surrender their individuality and critical thinking willingly, content to while away their lives with cheap pleasures and shallow entertainment.

3

‘Fahrenheit 451’ (1953)

Image via Ballantine Books

“It was a pleasure to burn.” This classic has been let down by some mediocre movie adaptations, but the original novel remains solid. In the future society imagined by Fahrenheit 451, books have been outlawed, and firemen are responsible for finding and burning them. Our protagonist, fireman Guy Montag, initially performs that duty without seriously questioning why. Then he meets Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse’s curiosity destabilizes him because she asks questions his society has largely forgotten how to ask. Is Montag happy? Why do firemen burn books? What was the world like before?

The dystopia here is often summarized as a warning about censorship, but Fahrenheit 451 is equally interested in why a society might cease valuing complex ideas before authorities need to destroy them. Constant entertainment, shortened attention spans, discomfort with challenging ideas, and a preference for easy gratification all contribute to the cultural decline surrounding Montag. A cautionary tale.

2

‘Animal Farm’ (1945)

Image via Penguin Essentials

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” While some might quibble with whether Animal Farm can really be classed as sci-fi, there’s no denying the book’s power. With it, George Orwell compresses the bleak tendencies of political revolution into a remarkably short allegorical novel. The plot kicks into gear when the animals of Manor Farm decide they’ve finally had enough. Inspired by a vision of a society free from human exploitation, they overthrow farmer Mr. Jones and establish a new order built upon equality.

For a brief moment, the revolution appears to have worked. Then the pigs begin taking charge. Soon, principles are corrupted, rules change almost imperceptibly, and history is rewritten. Failures are blamed on enemies and privileges become necessities for the ruling class. Here, Orwell was specifically satirizing the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalinism, but Animal Farm has endured because its observations about political power extend beyond one historical context.

1

‘1984’ (1949)

Image via Secker & Warburg

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” Claiming the top spot on Goodreads’ sci-fi rankings, with an average score of 4.21 out of 5 across 5.7 million ratings, is 1984, far and away the most influential dystopian story the genre has ever produced. Main character Winston Smith lives in Oceania, where the Party controls not only people’s actions but their understanding of reality. They continually rewrite history to suit today’s narrative and have tools for bending dissident minds to their will.

Indeed, the scariest thing about the dictatorship here is that they don’t simply want people to obey but to actually believe the government’s lies. In telling that story, Orwell introduced a ton of concepts that have since become political shorthand: Big Brother, doublethink, thoughtcrime, Newspeak, Room 101, and the Thought Police, to mention just a few. A political sci-fi masterpiece.