Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for The Pitt Season 2 Episode 7 and mentions sexual assault.
Back in the not-quite olden days, television doctors performed the same tedious work as their real-world counterparts — like filling out patient charts by hand. Choose any episode of, say, ER, and although computers existed, pens, clipboards, and the occasional pocket protectors ruled the ’90s. What now seems as outdated as the dinosaurs was a habitual fact of life, and in TV terms, there was almost always a method to the figurative madness (even when they epitomized the joke about physicians having indecipherable handwriting).
The Pitt‘s creator, R. Scott Gemmill, has recently confirmed that the streaming sensation’s sophomore season won’t retread the same intense ground as Season 1’s mass shooting. That disclaimer doesn’t preclude Episode 7 from ending with the staff trapped in a different crisis. The betting pool has spent episodes giddily speculating about what caused their sibling hospital to close its doors. They learn the answer the hard way: a targeted cyberattack has shut down not one, but two local hospitals, prompting Pittsburgh Trauma to indefinitely shut down their entire electronic infrastructure as a preventive measure. Plunging the ER’s relative normalcy into the analog days couldn’t have worse timing.
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‘The Pitt’s Struggling Staff Don’t Need More Stress in Season 2
Proactively protecting their system is quite understandable, but it’s still an uncoordinated and reckless move. CEO Trent Norris (Victor Rivers) upends the hospital’s entire structure without informing Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) in advance. He doesn’t consult his primary attending about the current workflow, let the staff prepare, or (for now) offer them assistance. Instead, his staff either scramble or stare like stunned deer in the headlights.
Without swift communication between the interconnected departments or access to their online-only information logs, The Pitt‘s crew is now working with their hands tied behind their backs. For one, it’ll be far tougher to divide their time, let alone distribute thorough care, between their existing patient roster and the continuing influx of overflow cases. Secondly, they’re already juggling too many perilous situations: Louie Cloverfield (Ernest Harden Jr.) passing away, Roxie Hamler’s (Brittany Allen) terminal cancer, Jackson Davis (Zack Morris) and his family, and Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa) collecting forensic samples for Ilana Miller’s (Tina Ivlev) rape kit.
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Without Technological Support, the Lives of ‘The Pitt’s Patients Are at Risk
The veterans, such as Dana, Robby, and Dr. Jack Abbot (Shawn Hatosy), can dislike the setback but easily revert to the familiar stopping grounds in which they share decades of cumulative experience; they’ve adapted to the times before. For the younger crowd who don’t know other processes, it’s a steep learning curve that their expensive education had probably ignored. Once again, the current generation has been flung out of a taxing day’s frying pan straight into another fire, all while their destructive internal conflicts writhe in the background.
Mel King (Taylor Dearden) is petrified senseless about her looming disposition, Victoria Javadi’s (Shabana Azeez) parents keep popping in to leave contradictory feedback, and when she’s not arguing with her spam-caller mom, Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) feels distraught about Orlando Diaz (William Guirola) leaving her care. As for poor Trinity Santos (Isa Briones), she might just fall to pieces racing through her charting backlog, paying attention to her ongoing patients, guiding the new trainees, and avoiding Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball). Learning and successfully implementing a new routine on the fly leads to information overload. Accidents become inevitable once someone’s distracted stress heightens — and oversights can be deadly.
LaNasa and Ball also discuss Dana’s lingering trauma and Langdon’s post-rehab journey.
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Modern technology, at its best, provides vital tools. Breakthrough advancements in speedier exams and illness detection turn former impossibilities into remarkable realities. Simultaneously, technology over-dependence is a slippery slope, no matter the context. Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi’s (Sepideh Moafi) favorite generative AI program aims to reduce unnecessary overtime hours — a way of improving the system from the inside. Given the need to verify the app’s wildly incorrect information, however, the hospital is better off without the extra time consumption — and potential harm — it causes. Some old-fashioned ways worked for reliable reasons. For The Pitt Season 2, the time, the place, and the people can’t afford to be thrown into more chaos.
Gabourey Sidibe fans are reeling after news surfaced that her husband, Brandon Frankel, was diagnosed with cancer. The couple, who recently welcomed twins, have been sharing glimpses of their journey. Sidibe has seemingly been showing unwavering support as Frankel undergoes recovery. Social media has quickly filled with supporters sending love as the family faces a frightening diagnosis.
Frankel Shares Hospital Selfies And Early Detection Story
On Friday, Gabourey Frankel opened up on Instagram about being diagnosed with Stage I Papillary Thyroid cancer following surgery to remove the tumor. The father of twins, who shared selfies from his hospital bed alongside Sidibe, explained that doctors caught the cancer early — but only because he refused to be dismissed.
“I refused to ‘wait and see,’” he wrote. Frankel added, “I made the calls [and] leveraged connections. I chased cancellations [and] made a LOT of noise. It worked.”
The surgery went well, and while the pathology showed a more aggressive cell type, Frankel is already focusing on recovery and being present for his family.
Instagram Explodes With Support For Gabourey Sidibe And Family
Fans ran straight to Brandon Frankel’s Instagram comment section to pour out love and support, flooding it with messages of encouragement. Some celebrated that his cancer was caught early. Meanwhile, others shared heartfelt prayers and heart emojis, showing solidarity with Gabourey Sidibe and her family. And, of course, many echoed his message about advocating for your health and never taking access or early detection for granted.
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One Instagram user @kenishiarashauna said, “I’m so happy you are okay for yourself and your family!“
This Instagram user @cpdiva69 added, “Soooo glad that you advocated for yourself and for sharing this with the rest of us!!!!!“
Meanwhile, Instagram user @baobanger shared, “Omggggg glad that you are alright! ❤️❤️❤️❤️”
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While Instagram user @karina.aguiar29 said, “Sending my best wishes to you Brandon ❤️❤️ wish you all the best“
Finally, Instagram user @tarra71 wrote, “Prayers for a speedy recovery and total healing 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽”
What Else Has Brandon Frankel Shared?
The couple, who married in 2021 and welcomed twins Cooper and Maya in April 2024, have been leaning on each other through the process. Frankel emphasized the critical role Gabourey Sidibe played, calling her the backbone of their family during his appointments, surgery, and recovery.
“I don’t know how anyone does this without that kind of love and support,” he wrote, crediting Gabourey Sidibe for holding everything down while he navigated the medical system.
Frankel’s post didn’t just share his personal journey — it was also a critique of the healthcare system. He pointed out that early detection saved his life, but only because he had insurance, access, and people to help move things faster.
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“Healthcare shouldn’t reward the loudest, the most connected, or the most financially secure,” he wrote.
He urged his followers to advocate for themselves and be proactive. His message landed hard: luck and means shouldn’t be the difference between life and death.
Not all masterpieces are created equal. For every classic movie that you can watch over and over again, there’s one that you’ll watch once and never again. Whether it’s because of their subject matter or the presentation of it, these masterpieces can be exercises in endurance that test your emotions.
Real-life and fictional tragedies, traumas and acts of violence are all perpetrated in these masterpieces. While many of them may be far less explicit than the average action or horror film, the ways in which the filmmakers are able to depict the unsettling material will rattle and remain with you far longer. If you haven’t seen any of these ten masterpieces, you should, but one time will be more than enough.
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‘The Virgin Spring’ (1960)
Max von Sydow in The Virgin SpringImage via Janus Films
Ingmar Bergman‘sinfamous, Oscar-winning rape-and-revenge drama The Virgin Springfamously inspired the horror film The Last House on the Left. While that Wes Craven-directed piece of pure exploitation may actually be harder to watch than Bergman’s film, there’s something about the elevated filmmaking of The Virgin Spring that makes it all the more unsettling in the long-term. It’s an arthouse film, not something designed to shock and appall, but rather be studied and examined, and the closer you examine it, the sicker you’re likely to feel.
Set in medieval Sweden and based on a 13th-century ballad, the film follows a young woman who is sexually assaulted and murdered, with her assailants later unknowingly taking shelter at her parents’ home. This act of horrific violence begets violent retribution from the parents, and the film leaves you feeling empty at the futility of what has been accomplished by its end. The fact that it is all so stunningly acted and vividly photographed, by Bergman’s long-time collaborator Sven Nykvist, never once makes it any more palatable or less harrowing. The Virgin Spring inflicts itself on you, and it is hard to wash away.
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‘Come and See’ (1985)
A girl crying and holding a whistle in her mouth at the end of Come and SeeImage via Sovexportfilm
The anti-war masterpiece Come and See is as effective a representation of the brutality and damage wrought by armed conflict as has ever been made. While some war films may downplay the visceral levels of carnage, Come and See puts it on full display and never flinches away from it. War is hell, and the movie wants you to know it, no matter how hard it might be to watch.
It is set during World War II and told from a Soviet perspective, as a young Belarusian boy joins a resistance movement and bears witness to the atrocities committed by the Nazis and the reciprocal violence it inspires. The final film by director Elem Klimov, Come and See finds no excitement or tension to be mined from depicting war, and instead offers only devastation and despair.
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‘Grave of the Fireflies’ (1988)
Image via Studio Ghibli
Grave of the Fireflies is another harrowing WWII film, but one whose tragedy unfolds in a more quiet and more sorrowful manner in comparison to the shocking violence of Come and See. An animated film produced by Studio Ghibli, it relates the civilian cost of war from the perspective of two young siblings in Japan, and if you understand the nature of this list, you know nothing good awaits them.
After the American bombing of Kobe, brother and sister Seita and Setsuko find themselves in dire straits after the death of their mother. Left without food or shelter, their struggle to survive is reflective of the realities faced by many civilians in war-torn countries, a subject not often reflected in film, especially from Western cinema. Grave of the Fireflies is heartbreaking, and its ghosts will haunt you with phantom emotions long after.
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‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)
Image via Universal Pictures
One last wartime drama that few will find themselves rewatching, Steven Spielberg‘sSchindler’s List,is one of the filmmaker’s greatest achievements as a director, and undoubtedly his most harrowing to watch. The Holocaust is a subject that few filmmakers dared to touch before this film, and many that did after fell prey to emotional manipulation bordering on exploitation. Spielberg’s film avoids those pitfalls, and while it may certainly massage the truth behind its real-life story, it is an undeniably empathetic masterpiece.
Oskar Schindler was a member of the Nazi party and a wealthy industrialist who would save the lives of over 1,000 Jewish citizens by employing them in his factory. He would eventually go bankrupt as a result of his humanitarian cause, and later became immortalized in Spielberg’s film, which was based on the novel Schindler’s Arkby Thomas Keneally. The film is as technically impressive as any of Spielberg’s work, but here the director uses his keen eye for visual storytelling for greater emotional purpose in chronicling the true horrors of the Holocaust, making it vivid in a way no textbook could. Schindler’s List feels even more urgent in this modern era of denialism.
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‘Happiness’ (1998)
Dylan Baker with his son in ‘Happiness’Image via Good Machine
Todd Solondz has never been a filmmaker to shy away from audacious or awkward material, and his black comedy masterpiece Happiness has both in full supply. An ensemble film following three separate narratives, the film is alternatively cringey, uncomfortable, and downright horrifying, shining a light on subject matter that many filmmakers wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.
Following the lives of three sisters and the issues they separately face, the film deals with sexuality, harassment, assault and, most infamously, pedophilia. It is that latter subject, handled in such a casual yet upsetting manner, that makes Happiness such a discomforting watch. Despite the film’s deft ability to mix harsh humor amid its mortifying storylines, it cannot lessen the impact with which it will make you squirm in your seat, itching for relief.
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‘Mysterious Skin’ (2004)
Joseph Gordon Levitt leans outside a car window with others in the car behind him smiling in Mysterious SkinImage via TLA Releasing
Gregg Araki‘s Mysterious Skin, adapted from the novel by Scott Heim, also deals with the sexual abuse of children, however, in a manner and tone vastly different from Happiness. The film has beenlauded for its portrayal of how this form of violent trauma can have long-lasting psychological effects. While the filmmakers took great pains in depicting the most horrific actions in a way that suggests far more than it explicitly shows, the film is still uncompromising and emotionally devastating.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and future Oscar-nominated director Brady Corbet play two young adults whose shared experience of abuse as children has deeply affected both their lives in different ways. One of them engages in unhealthy sexual experiences, while the other has completely repressed his memory of the event. Through their parallel journeys, Mysterious Skin examines the reverberating effects of trauma, and while it manages to find traces of hope within its narrative, it never negates the tragedy that underlines it.
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‘United 93’ (2006)
Image via Universal Pictures
Paul Greengrass‘ visceral film depicting the events that took place on the ill-fated flight United 93 on 9/11 was a painful viewing experience when it was released in 2006, only five years removed from the tragic events, and it hasn’t lost any of its potency since. Far from an exploitative or glossy Hollywood bastardization, the film is both a tense thriller and a queasily realistic recreation that honors the lives lost on one of the most infamous days in American history.
Using the same cinema vérité style that Greengrass had honed on his previous films Bloody Sundayand The Bourne Supremacy, the film juggles multiple characters and locations as it details the events leading up to the hijacking of the titular flight. Eventually, it focuses solely on the efforts of those heroic passengers onboard who fought back against their hijackers, depicting it with brutal authenticity without any hint of bombastic embellishment. United 93 is a white-knuckle thriller that drops into the pit of your stomach and makes you never want to experience its thrills again.
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‘Incendies’ (2010)
Lubna Azabal as Nawal Marwan looks distraught in front of a burning wreckage in Incendies.Image via Entertainment One
Before he became synonymous with sci-fi epics, Denis Villeneuve directed some incredibly provocative and disturbing films, none more so than his gutwrenching masterpiece Incendies. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad‘s play of the same name, the plot was inspired by real events that occurred during the Lebanese Civil War, and as such is unflinching in its depiction of atrocities committed by extremists. While the turns in the narrative are something akin to a Greek tragedy, the content is horrifically historically relevant.
Structured as a mystery, the film follows a twin brother and sister as they attempt to find a previously unknown sibling to honor the wishes of their deceased mother. Concurrently, the film details the mother’s harrowing experiences of torture and assault while a prisoner of war. The film’s notorious plot twist could easily have come off as cheap shock value in less skilled hands, but under Villeneuve’s direction, it is a shattering emotional climax that is impossible to forget.
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‘The Act of Killing’ (2012)
Many documentaries manage to capture the horrific realities of all manner of subjects with an urgency that is often unattainable in narrative films. Films like Shoahor The Thin Blue Lineexpose ugly truths with words straight from the mouths of those who lived through the events. Joshua Oppenheimer‘ssingularly affecting film The Act of Killingis even more unsettling for how it lets those who committed atrocities speak for themselves, and even recreate the acts themselves.
Filmed in Medan, North Sumatra, the documentary details the mass killings that took place in Indonesia between 1965 and 1966 as part of the country’s transition to the New Order. More than just a series of talking heads recounting the killings, the film instead has the perpetrators reenact their murders, confronting them with the violence and exposing their impunity. It is an extremely difficult film to watch, cataloging now the actual events but instead interrogating the acts of killing and the banality of the evil behind them.
‘Mass’ (2021)
Image via Bleecker Street
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It is both upsetting and completely understandable that Fran Kranz‘simpeccably written and acted masterpiece Masshas gone so underseen. In dealing with the subject of school shootings, the film dives headfirst into a subject that has torn the fabric of American society and inspired virulent debate. Though the film does not directly depict any of the violence that its characters seek to understand, unlike Gus Van Sant‘s equally damaging Elephant, it studies the pain and grief that result from it in distressing detail.
Reed Birney and Ann Dowd play the parents of a school shooter, while Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton play the parents of one of his victims. They all come together to discuss the tragedy, trying to find understanding years after the senseless violence. The film interrogates many of the discussion points that have become common refrains in the wake of such real-life tragedies, but never once does it become a didactic or tedious lecture. It treats its characters and subject matter with ultimate empathy, which makes it necessary viewing that many will find unnecessary to repeat.
Premiering in 1999, The Sopranos quickly cemented itself as one of the most influential dramas ever made. Although every character was great, Adriana Le Cirva (Drea de Matteo) was a personal favorite, being the closest thing to a wholesome person this world had. This made her death all the more devastating, and it was just as difficult for the crew to say goodbye to one of their greatest leads, who gave everything she had during her final scene. Even by the standards of a show known to push boundaries, her death stands out as an emotional and tragic demise for a truly lovable character, one whose horrific fate hammers home just how terrifying a life of crime can be for everyone even remotely involved.
Few Characters Were More Innocent on ‘The Sopranos’ Than Adriana
In any kind of story with morally gray characters, you need a genuinely good and idealistic person to balance things, and no one did this in The Sopranos better than Adriana. While not blind to the criminal lifestyle of her partner, she was hardly involved in the mob life, and there was an innocence to her that not even the literal children like Meadow (Jaime Lynn-Sigler) or AJ (Robert Iller) possessed. Yet, she could also be incredibly naive, and in a violent show like this one, the more intimate abuse Adriana suffered made me constantly fear for her safety. As the walls started to close in, I knew a confession and confrontation between Adriana and Christopher (Michael Imperioli) was likely inevitable. Still, I was left terrified at how it would unfold.
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Their emotional final scene together, for which both actors won an Emmy, was just as heartbreaking as I had initially feared, but the writers also made an important decision afterward, which worked to great dramatic effect. By not showing the conflict Christopher faces, instead saving his discussion with Tony (James Gandolfini) for a future flashback, it makes the phone call and his claimed suicide believable. Of course, this is a mob show where anybody could be killed, but just like Adriana herself, I’d held out hope that she would get away from it and live a happy life. The episode even plays with this idea by showing a brief dream sequence where she escapes before cutting to the shot of her in the car with Silvio (Steven Van Zandt), at which point her destination becomes clear to both herself and the audience.
Killing Adriana Was Hard on Everyone
Drea Matteo as Adriana with her dog Cosette look ahead during a car ride from The SopranosImage via Max
In the deadly world of The Sopranos, dark moments are to be expected, but that does not mean they will be easy to stomach. Nobody was left quite as heartbroken to lose Adriana as series creator David Chase, who broke his one rule by having the scene pan away just as the fatal shots were fired. Recently, Drea de Maetto revealed in the documentary Wise Guy that another version of the scene where Adriana escapes was filmed to avoid leaks.
But she quickly deduced that her time on the show was probably nearing its end. Still, once her last day finally arrived, the actress was ready, and she openly encouraged Steven van Zandt to drop all restraint and deliver the most devastating hit in the series. For many viewers, myself included, not seeing her final moments is a relief, but this emotional farewell by the cast and crew strongly contrasts with their characters. Within a few episodes of her death, Adriana is reduced to a historical footnote, and her own partner, who sacrificed so much for the mob, is later killed anyway for being a liability.
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The Execution of Adriana Shows the Darker Side of ‘The Sopranos’
Adriana in The SopranosImage via HBO
At first glance, one might wonder why the death of Adriana hits so hard in The Sopranos, especially since it was building for an entire season, and she was far from the first character to get whacked. What makes her demise so much more devastating is just how much hope had been invested in such a tragic character. Unlike either Big Pussy (Vincent Pastore) early on or Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi) later in the same season, there is no honorable last drink with friends or a quick mercy killing. Rather, it’s just a woman realizing the true nature of her lover and the mob he serves in all its horrifying clarity, just as it becomes too late to change anything.
While I’ve always loved mob stories, scenes like this serve to remind us just how terrifying a criminal lifestyle feels in reality. By the end of the series, almost every character is either dead, imprisoned, or left under witness protection and forever looking over their shoulder. Gangster films like The Godfather or Goodfellasmight make the mob life seem worth all the trouble it brings, but The Sopranos was made long after the golden age of the mob had ended and had become almost irrelevant. Therefore, such a warning about the show holds up even more today, a full generation after it first aired.
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The Sopranos is available to stream on HBO Max in the U.S.
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Release Date
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1999 – 2007
Network
HBO
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Showrunner
David Chase
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Directors
Tim Van Patten, John Patterson, Alan Taylor, Jack Bender, Steve Buscemi, Daniel Attias, David Chase, Andy Wolk, Danny Leiner, David Nutter, James Hayman, Lee Tamahori, Lorraine Senna, Matthew Penn, Mike Figgis, Nick Gomez, Peter Bogdanovich, Phil Abraham, Rodrigo García
Writers
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Michael Imperioli, Jason Cahill, Lawrence Konner, David Flebotte, James Manos, Jr., Salvatore Stabile, Toni Kalem, Mark Saraceni, Nick Santora
A still from the romantic comedy film Fly Me to the Moon.Apple
Before it struck gold with last year’s F1, Apple Studios had experienced a series of setbacks in its efforts to crack the theatrical distribution model. Nearly half a dozen Apple movies underperformed at the box office, despite massive budgets, major stars, and the support of legacy studios at their disposal. F1, however, was both a critical and commercial hit; it grossed more than $630 million worldwide and went on to earn a Best Picture nod at the Oscars. No Apple movie had made even a third of this amount at the box office previously, although Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon earned a Best Picture nod. Scorsese’s film failed to recover its reported $200 million budget, grossing only around $160 million worldwide. However, it wasn’t Apple’s biggest underperformer.
That title goes to another period movie featuring A-list stars, which grossed just around $40 million worldwide against a reported budget of $100 million. It made less money at the box office than fellow Apple underperformers Argylle, the Henry Cavill espionage comedy that grossed around $95 million worldwide, and Napoleon, the period epic from Ridley Scottthat grossed a little more than $200 million globally. The situation was so dire that Apple removed the George Clooney and Brad Pitt-led crime comedy film Wolfs from its theatrical release schedule, and debuted the movie directly on the Apple TV service. This caused a dispute between the company and Wolfs director Jon Watts, who publicly slammed Apple for canceling the film’s theatrical release and declined to return for a sequel.
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The Apple Dud That’s Heading to a New Streamer
Who knows how Wolfs would have done had it been released in theaters, but for now, the title of the worst-performing Apple movie rests with Fly Me to the Moon. Starring Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson, the movie was directed by Greg Berlantiand released in theaters by Sony. It earned mixed-to-positive reviews and is now sitting at a 66% critics’ score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The website’s consensus reads, “Sustained by Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum’s screwball chemistry even when its plotting strains credulity, this throwback romance is a pleasant enough trip to the moon and back.” The movie’s 89% audience score is perhaps the biggest reason for its sustained success on home video, which can continue on Starz beginning March 1.
Liza Minnelli is finally telling her side of one of the most talked-about Oscars moments in recent memory, and she’s not holding back. In her upcoming memoir, the legendary performer opens up about what really happened during her widely scrutinized 2022 Academy Awards appearance alongside Lady Gaga, claiming she felt blindsided, humiliated, and forced into a situation she never agreed to. The bombshell revelations are just one part of a deeply personal book that also explores Liza Minnelli’s childhood with Judy Garland, her struggles with addiction, and the life experiences that shaped her career.
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Liza Minnelli Says She Was ‘Ordered’ Into Wheelchair At Oscars
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Liza Minnelli tore into Lady Gaga and the Oscars four years after she was humiliated by her chaotic appearance at the awards show.
As a refresher, Gaga rolled Minnelli onstage in a wheelchair to present best picture at the 2022 Academy Awards, then leaned down and tried to get her to sing a song from her 1972 movie “Cabaret,” only for Minnelli to cut her off and say, “Hi, everybody!” The younger singer then whispered, “I got you,” which was caught on the mic and only fueled speculation about Minnelli’s health.
Now Minnelli has offered her own honest account of the onstage fiasco in her upcoming memoir, “Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!,” as told to Michael Feinstein and excerpted by PEOPLE.
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Minnelli alleged that she “was inexplicably ordered, not even asked, to sit in a wheelchair or not appear at all.”
“I was told it was because of my age, and for safety reasons, because I might slip out of the director’s chair, which was bullsh-t,” she claimed. “I will not be treated this way.”
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Emotional Fallout From The Onstage Moment
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Minnelli revealed she was devastated by how events unfolded, particularly because the change impacted her ability to perform comfortably.
She was “heartbroken” by the turn events had taken, on top of which she “was much lower down than I would have been in the director’s chair. Now I couldn’t easily read the teleprompter above me. How would you feel if you were wheeled out, against your will, to perform in front of a live audience, and unable to see clearly?”
Minnelli then pointedly recalled that “when I stumbled over a few words, Gaga, who was at my side, didn’t miss a beat to play the kindhearted hero for all the world to see. ‘I got you,’ she said, leaning down over me.”
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Liza Minnelli’s Dressing Room Encounter With Lady Gaga
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Following the presentation, Minnelli said Gaga approached her privately backstage.
Gaga asked, “Are you okay?” to which Minnelli replied simply, “I’m a big fan,” having “learned this lesson years ago from Mama and Papa. At a moment of high stress, you stay gracious.”
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In the immediate aftermath of the Oscars, Minnelli’s close friend Michael Feinstein publicly claimed she had been “forced” into the wheelchair appearance at the last minute after initially agreeing to appear in a director’s chair due to back trouble.
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Memoir Also Explores Childhood With Judy Garland
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The memoir also delves into Minnelli’s upbringing as the daughter of Hollywood icon Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli.
In one excerpt, she reflected on caring for her mother during Garland’s struggles with addiction. “At 13, I was my mother’s caretaker, a nurse, doctor, pharmacologist, and psychiatrist rolled into one,” she wrote, per PEOPLE. “I lost count of the times I called doctors to say she’d run out of pills. I’d say, ‘I’m a kid! Please fill my mama’s prescription!’”
She also recalled the constant travel of her childhood. “I’ll never forget the day she sat us down and gave Lorna and me a choice; Joey was less than 1 year old,” Minnelli shared. “We could stay in school in Los Angeles. Or we could come on the road with her. We’d be in and out of different hotels, schools (I’d eventually attend 22 of them), and cities. ‘When do we leave?’ we answered in unison.”
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Addiction Struggles And Life Lessons
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Minnelli also opened up about her own struggles with substance abuse following her mother’s death. “I cried for eight straight days. Stress and tension overwhelmed me. I was reeling, and a doctor prescribed Valium to help me relax just before the funeral,” she shared. “What began as a one-day blessing soon turned into a habit, then a full-blown case of addiction in the years ahead. It was a final gift, a genetic inheritance from Mama I could not escape.”
She also credited Elizabeth Taylor with urging her to seek help during a difficult period. “I’ll never forget the urgency in her voice and her words, ‘Liza, this disease is going to kill you if you don’t do the right thing,’ she said. ‘Please, no more lies. Look in the mirror and see what we all see. You look like hell, and you feel even worse. You’re not able to do this alone.’”
Minnelli ultimately sought treatment multiple times over the years, including a return to rehab in 2015 after recognizing warning signs in her own behavior.
“I think that would be one of the big themes if it was made today: the current climate in the U.S. and what they’re doing to immigrants,” the “White Lotus” star speculated.
Eric Dane spent years playing the confident heartthrob on television, but away from the cameras, his life was far more complicated.
The actor’s final chapter was marked by illness, reconciliation, financial strain, and emotional honesty.
As ALS slowly took control of his body, Dane leaned on the people closest to him, including Rebecca Gayheart, despite their long separation.
Behind the fame was a man grappling with fear, regret, and the reality of leaving his daughters too soon.
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Eric Dane Faced A Devastating Diagnosis In Private
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Long before the public learned of Eric Dane’s illness, subtle physical changes had already begun.
What first seemed minor gradually became impossible to ignore. Still, those closest to him reportedly struggled to accept the seriousness of what was happening.
“When he started getting symptoms, they both made excuses to each other about them. The last thing either of them thought was that he was suffering from anything fatal,” an insider revealed to the Daily Mail.
When doctors confirmed ALS in late 2023, the news was paralyzing. “When they finally got the terrifying news, they were in shock for days,” the source added.
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Dane chose not to go public immediately. Instead, he processed the diagnosis quietly with his family.
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By the time he shared his condition in April 2025, his inner circle had already begun preparing for a future they never imagined.
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Dane And Gayheart Put Divorce On Hold
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Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart had been separated for years, with divorce proceedings lingering since 2018. However, once ALS entered the picture, everything shifted.
The month before the “Grey’s Anatomy” star disclosed his illness publicly, Gayheart withdrew her divorce filing.
According to one source, “Rebecca has been by Eric’s side through his entire health battle.” The insider added, “She is a kind woman and has been nothing but loving to him during his darkest hours.”
Despite living separate lives, their bond endured. “There was a lot of love there,” the source explained.
Gayheart reportedly attended many of her husband’s medical appointments and helped shoulder the emotional weight for their daughters.
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Watching his rapid decline was overwhelming. “Watching him deteriorate so rapidly took its toll on Rebecca big time,” another insider shared.
Even her relationship with businessman Peter Morton was affected. Though they had discussed a future together, Dane’s health crisis put those plans on hold.
Still, Morton remained supportive. “Peter is generous. If Rebecca has ever needed anything, he has been there,” a source said.
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Eric Dane’s Financial Reality As ALS Progressed
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While Dane had starred in seven seasons of “Grey’s Anatomy” and appeared in HBO’s “Euphoria,” ALS dramatically changed his earning power. The disease eventually left him wheelchair-bound and in need of full-time care.
Considering that treatment for ALS is notoriously expensive, especially when families seek top specialists, his finances took a big hit.
“He spent a fortune on getting the best doctors, which insurance doesn’t always cover, and he had to hire full-time care,” one insider revealed.
The source admitted, “I don’t know if I would say Eric was broke when he died, but I don’t think there was a lot of money in his bank account.”
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In his final months, Dane reportedly lived in a Los Angeles property owned by Johnny Depp, staying rent-free to ease financial pressure.
For a man once at the height of network television fame, it was a humbling turn.
Meanwhile, Gayheart prioritized stability for their daughters, who had been living with her full-time for years.
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Dane’s Long Battle With Addiction And Depression
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ALS was not the first major struggle Eric Dane faced. Years earlier, his career had been rocked by addiction issues.
After initially achieving sobriety before joining “Grey’s Anatomy,” he later relapsed during the 2007 writers’ strike.
“I am not good with a lot of time on my hands,” he once admitted. In 2011, he entered rehab for prescription painkiller addiction.
Around the same time, he experienced severe depression. “That was a scary thing, when you wake up and you’re like: ‘I don’t want to get out of bed,’” he recalled during a 2017 appearance on “Today.”
Those dark periods unfolded while he was building a family. His eldest daughter was still a toddler, and Gayheart was pregnant with their second child.
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The weight of fame, fatherhood, and internal battles collided years before ALS would test him in an entirely different way.
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Eric Dane Confronted Mortality With Anger And Acceptance
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As ALS advanced, Dane spoke openly about his fears. In a June 2025 interview on “Good Morning America,” he confessed, “I’m angry because, you know, my father was taken from me when I was young… And now, there’s a very good chance I’m going to be taken from my girls while they’re very young.”
The thought of history repeating itself haunted him. Yet, according to a third insider, there came a point when he stopped fighting the inevitable.
They said, “He wasn’t getting better and he was eventually able to meet his fate head on.”
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In the end, Dane reportedly had the chance to say goodbye. “Eric knew it was his time to go, and he wanted to go,” the insider shared, noting he made sure to express his love to those closest to him.
Although Dane’s friends, family, and loved ones are devastated by the loss, a source revealed that they are relieved “he is no longer in pain.”
Yung Miami has the girlies tapping their two fingers to her new ‘Tea Time’ track. Tyla just entered the chat with her reaction. Although some fans are here for the vibes, others are seated and trying to clock whether it’s all love or some shade.
Yung Miami’s ‘Tea Time’ Track Has The Girlies Clocking In
It looks like Yung Miami’s new record is really tea, because Tyla just popped out tapping her two fingers together. The singer posted a video of herself vibing to Caresha’s track from what looked like her bedroom. She served a whole look while clocking in, rocking a striped halter top, acid-wash denim jeans, and a furry black hat. Miami reshared Tyla’s video on her IG Story and X. Now, fans are busy trying to figure out if there’s more to Tyla’s support.
The rapper also shared a lil’ more commentary about Tyla’s video on X, patting herself on the back for the track!
Even Tyla fingers Touchin 🤏🏾🤏🏾🤏🏾 I’m really that bitch fr ain’t no denying it 😏
Fans are torn on whether Tyla’s support is love or shade, since Miami previously aired her out for supposedly stealing her song back in 2025. If you missed it, Miami has been chanting her slogan ‘Take Me To Chanel’ ever since her shopping trip with Diddy went viral in 2023. But it appears Tyla was also inspired by the luxury store and later went on to release her own track called ‘Chanel.’ That move had Miami accusing Tyla of “running off’ with her song.
Fans React After Tyla Vibes To Miami’s Track
Folks kept speculating in The Shade Room’s comment section about whether Tyla was really feeling Miami’s track. Meanwhile, others were convinced the two had managed to put their supposed differences aside.
Instagram user @bcg_mag wrote, “Go Tyla 🔥”
Instagram user @minxandpinks wrote, “Looks like they moved on, I like Caresha more and more ❤️❤️❤️”
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While Instagram user @leahs_mommy_bbw wrote, “Thank you cus that Chanel song had absolutely no similarities to Careshas 😒😂😂”
Then Instagram user @chythe_empath wrote, “The beef were one sided. Tyla just being supportive.”
Another Instagram user @moe_shai wrote, “It’s giving the bigger person 😂🔥”
Instagram user @log_off_an_go_work_out wrote, “iiiamkwasiii wrote, “Ouu i love Tyla, she knew exactly what she was doing AHHH 🤣🤭”
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While Instagram user @_billionairemh wrote, “Nah She Dead Playin In Her Face Being Funny I Know How Certain Girls Move IDC! Maybe That’s Just The NY in Me 😩😭”
Then another Instagram user @nick_iamofficial wrote, “Love this ❤️ They both are stunning 🤩”
Finally, Instagram @divalicious_ng wrote, “Love her for this …😂😂❤️❤️”
All Love? The Verdict On Tyla & Caresha’s Relationship Now
Once Caresha peeped that Tyla’s track mentioned ‘Chanel,’ she was quick to hop online back in October 2025. At first, she didn’t say who the “girl” was that “ran off” with her song. But she told fans on X (formerly Twitter) that she played the song for the person. Later, when a fan dragged the South African artist for including ‘Chanel’ in her lyrics, Miami jumped in and replied, “Let’s talk about it!!!!” For now, it looks like the ladies are on good terms, since neither of them has said otherwise.
Millie Bobby Brown David Harbour’s No ‘Stranger’ Despite Show Wrapping … Attends Her Birthday
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Millie Bobby Brown brought out some close friends and family together for an intimate birthday party … and, if those David Harbour rift rumors weren’t dead before, they certainly should be now.
The actress turned 22 earlier this week … and the party raged at Maison Close in the Soho district of New York City Friday night, where our sources say the group congregated into the early Saturday morning hours.
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Millie and her man Jake Bongiovi looked like the toppers of a wedding cake … with Millie in a chic white dress — while holding what looks like a Union Jack, the UK’s flag, and Jake dressed up in a thick black coat and white dress shirt with a frilled collar.
Among the other attendees were Millie’s mom and grandparents, reality stars Whitneyand Conner Leavitt, director Shawn Levy, “Stranger Things” villain Jamie Campbell Bower … and, Harbour, who we’re told arrived early and exited late in the evening.
Harbour kept a low profile in a black baseball cap … but that coat and thick beard are instantly recognizable.
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As you know … rumors that MBB filed a bullying and harassment claim against Harbour swirled right before the release of “Stranger Things” season 5 — rumors Brown repeatedly denied.
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