Jennifer Lawrence always looks effortless, but her latest sandal style takes it to a whole new level. She proved that comfy and chic can totally go together, and all it takes is this $25 look on Amazon.

Lawrence was spotted with her little one in the West Village, iced coffee in hand, wearing a soft T-shirt, slouchy lounge pants and easy cork sandals that channeled instant cool-mom vibes. These classic slip-ons are identical, giving you the same off-duty vibes, effortless polish and real arch support for two digits, not three. Thousands of five-star reviews don’t lie!

Get the Odoly Cork Slide Sandals for $25 (was $34) at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate at the date of publication but are subject to change.

The Odoly Cork Slide Sandals mirror J.Law’s in every way: two clean straps across the top, a sleek cork footbed and adjustable buckles that let you customize the fit. They’re a summer staple that works with absolutely everything in your closet, from linen pants and trousers to denim skirts and sundresses. Rich mom style, zero effort.

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If you associate red with winter, think again! Rich moms are swapping summer pastels for red, including Jennifer Lopez, who recently approved the red bag trend we’re seeing all over New York, Los Angeles and Paris. Her pick, of course, has a designer label, but we found an eerily similar version on Amazon. Lopez attended […]

What sets these timeless slides apart from average sandals is the arch support. The contoured insole cradles your foot the way orthotics do, except it’s sleek and doesn’t require a podiatrist’s referral. Cork magically molds to the shape of your foot over time, so the longer you wear them, the more comfortable they get.

Walkers are exceptionally enthusiastic. One happy reviewer wrote, “I ended up wearing them to Magic Kingdom later in my trip, too, because they were comfier than my regular Adidas sneakers.”

Another five-star fan shared, “I’m a travel agent and do several resort/site inspections . . . On an average day of visits, I can clock in about 14,000 steps . . . My last pair lasted me eight years, two passports and countless site inspections and even a trek up the pyramids in Egypt. So yeah, I love these for walking.”

Lawrence styled hers with relaxed loungewear, but these cork sandals earn their keep across an entire summer wardrobe. Throw them on with a midi skirt and a tank for brunch, then cropped trousers and a button-up for date night. They’ll carry you through farmers’ markets, travel days and school pickups alike.

At just $25, this celebrity-inspired look is already in our cart!

Get the Odoly Cork Slide Sandals for $25 (was $34) at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate at the date of publication but are subject to change.

Not what you’re looking for? Shop other chic sandals and don’t forget to check out all of Amazon’s Daily Deals for more great finds!

Related: Skip Chunky Sneakers — These Rich Mom Walking Sandals Are Comfier

‘Walking’ and ‘sandals’ might feel like contradictory terms, and for a while, they were. But it’s 2026. Designers have finally heard our wishes, creating chic walking sandals that deliver the support of sneakers with the style of summer. They’re still hard to come by, but we found 15 comfy sandals that effortlessly balance comfort and […]

Brad Pitt cuddled up with girlfriend Ines de Ramon during a visit to the French Open.

The couple made a rare public appearance on Saturday, June 6, to watch Mirra Andreeva secure the first Grand Slam title of her tennis career with a 6-3, 6-3, win over Maja Chwalińska in the women’s singles final on Court Philippe-Chatrier in Paris, France.

At various points during the finals match, Pitt, 62, draped his arm over de Ramon’s back while they cheered for the exciting action.

The two-time Oscar winner sported a goatee and wore aviator-style sunglasses with a casual styling of his hair. His girlfriend opted for a green leather jacket over a flowing cream-colored dress.

Pitt and de Ramon, 33, rarely step out in public, although they put up a united front to promote Pitt’s racing drama F1 on the red carpet at its London premiere in June 2025.

In addition to keeping their public appearances to a minimum, Pitt has rarely discussed his latest relationship in interviews. One exception was a 2025 profile in GQ where he shut down speculation over whether he and de Ramon purposefully made their public debut at the 2024 British Grand Prix and then walked the red carpet for his Formula One-themed movie one year later.

“It’s not that calculated,” he insisted. “If you’re living … oh my God, how exhausting would that be? If you’re living with making those kinds of calculations? No, life just evolves. Relationships evolve.”

Pitt and de Ramon started dating in 2022 after both got out of very high-profile relationships in the past. Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston from 2000 to 2005 and later to Angelina Jolie from 2014 to 2019 while de Ramon’s three-year marriage to The Vampire Diaries’ Paul Wesley ended in September 2022.

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Related: Why Brad Pitt’s Romance With Ines de Ramon Is ‘A Big Deal’ for Him

Brad Pitt’s romance with Ines de Ramon is the real deal. “They’re super in love,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly of the couple. “Ines has been a huge support system for Brad during the legal feud with [ex-wife] Angelina [Jolie] and what’s happened with their kids. It’s been devastating for him. He hasn’t addressed […]

Us Weekly exclusively reported in December 2025 that Pitt and de Ramon were “still going strong and are very committed,” per a source. The insider suggested that the relationship partially works because de Ramon “has no interest in being in the spotlight and that is what Brad admired about her when they met.”

As for whether they will ever tie the knot, the source told Us, “They aren’t interested in getting married and are on the same page about that. [There are] no wedding plans at the moment. They are super happy in this phase of their relationship and not rushing into anything.”

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Meanwhile, Pitt seemingly has strained relationships with at least some of the six children he shares with ex Jolie, 51. (The former couple are parents to Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 17.)

Amid reports that Maddox, Zahara and Shiloh have all distanced themselves from using Pitt’s last name in recent years, a source exclusively told Us in May that the actor feels “hurt” that his children have disconnected from him, though he remains hopeful of reconnecting someday.

“[Brad] still does hope and keeps the door open to eventual reconciliation, hopefully with all of them, but it is their decision,” the insider explained. “He has no power and he can’t force them.”

Have you ever wondered what happens when a movie throws subtlety out the window? Well, this insane ’90s action-fest is your answer. This is not a “cop chases bad guy” situation; this sees the cop and bad guy take each other’s identities, hamming it up to high heaven while doves, bullets, speedboats and blood all fly past the camera in slow motion.

Face/Off is streaming for free on Pluto this month, so you absolutely must stop what you’re doing and designate two hours to watch John Woo‘s cataclysm of majestic and balletic nonsense. The film stars John Travolta as Nicolas Cage, and Nicolas Cage as John Travolta. That’s what the movie is. Genuinely. It’s that good, and it’s that utterly deranged.

But the thing is, this would not work unless everybody truly committed 100% to the bit. These are exaggerated good guys and bad guys, and there’s utterly nothing subtle about it, because if the film tried to play it straight, it would never work. It’s like if professional wrestling decided it wanted to become a blockbuster movie, and it’s all the better for it.

Alongside the A-list double-bill of Cage and Travolta, Face/Off also stars Joan Allen (Room) as Eve Archer, Alessandro Nivola (The Many Saints of Newark) as Pollux Troy, Gina Gershon (Bound) as Sasha Hassler, Dominique Swain (Lolita) as Jamie Archer, and Nick Cassavetes (The Wraith) as Dietrich Hassler.

Was ‘Face/Off’ a Success?

Financially, Face/Off was absolutely a hit, and honestly a pretty big one for how completely deranged the premise is. It opened at No. 1 domestically with $23.4 million, beating Disney’s Hercules, and went on to gross $112.3 million domestic and $245.7 million worldwide against a reported $80 million budget. And to the surprise of nobody, it was a critical smash too. How can it not be? It is one of the stupidest ideas ever committed to celluloid and ends up being two hours of utter genius. Rotten Tomatoes currently has it at 93%, while it also earned a strong 82 on Metacritic, and audiences gave it a B+ CinemaScore, which is a great score when you consider… they actually swap faces!

Face/Off is streaming for free on Pluto this month.

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Release Date

June 27, 1997

Runtime

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139 minutes

Writers

Michael Colleary, Mike Werb

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Producers

Barrie M. Osborne, Christopher Godsick, David Permut

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This is a plane nobody will ever want to get off, even if you’re being roughly ordered to do so. It’s built around some very simple questions like: What if terrorists didn’t take over a building, but took over the most famous plane in the world to use it as ransom? But what if the most powerful man in the world was on the plane, and he decided that now was the time to pretend to be Rambo? See how good that sounds?

Air Force One is streaming for free on Pluto this month, bringing one of the great ’90s action thrillers back into rotation. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, the film follows the dignified yet hard President James Marshall (Harrison Ford), a decorated veteran and sitting president whose plane is hijacked by terrorists led by the Russian criminal, Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman). All the while, on the ground, the rest of the White House cabinet tries desperately to negotiate and regain some measure of control.

The cast alongside Ford and Oldman includes Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction) as Vice President Kathryn Bennett, Wendy Crewson (The Santa Clause) as Grace Marshall, Liesel Matthews (A Little Princess) as Alice Marshall, William H. Macy (Fargo) as Major Caldwell, Dean Stockwell (Quantum Leap) as Defense Secretary Walter Dean, and Xander Berkeley (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) as Secret Service Agent Gibbs.

Was ‘Air Force One’ Successful?

Air Force One was a huge hit. This was the kind of original action flick that made serious bank that either wouldn’t get made today, or would just go straight to streaming. The film grossed about $172.7 million domestically and $315.2 million worldwide against a reported $85 million budget. Adjusted for today, that’s roughly $337 million domestic, $615 million worldwide, and a budget of about $166 million. So we’re talking a super smash hit here. But for a movie to be this successful, it also has to be good, and it was a hit with critics too. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 78%, with the consensus calling it “full of palpable, if not entirely seamless, thrills,” while Metacritic listed it as generally favorable and audiences gave it an A CinemaScore.

Air Force One is streaming for free on Pluto this month.

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Release Date

July 25, 1997

Runtime

124 minutes

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Director

Wolfgang Petersen

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Writers

Andrew W. Marlowe

Producers

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Armyan Bernstein, Gail Katz, Jonathan Shestack

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By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 4 seconds ago

The Battlestar Galactica reboot is renowned as one of the best sci-fi series of the modern age. Showrunner Ronald D. Moore got his start by writing extensively for Star Trek: The Next Generation. He took those early writing lessons to transform his own show into the polar opposite of Trek: instead of being an episodic, optimistic utopia, Galactica was a serialized, brutal dystopia. This was perfectly fitting for a show about humanity’s endless fight against genocidal robots. But as with all great sci-fi shows, Battlestar Galactica uses its futuristic tales to express the concerns of the present day.

At the time, one of the biggest national anxieties was the so-called War on Terror. After the 9/11 terror attack, many Americans were all too happy to wage battle against a ruthless foe that killed thousands of civilians in the most brutal attack since Pearl Harbor. Eventually, many began to wonder if the ultimate cost of the War on Terror would be our humanity. Battlestar Galactica was the boldest commentary on America’s post 9/11 anxieties, but not right away. In fact, it wasn’t until Moore clashed with the network over the episode “Flesh and Bone” that BSG became an unapologetic (yet surprisingly unpreachy) critique of the George W. Bush administration.

The War On (Space) Terror

“Flesh and Bone” was a Season 1 Battlestar Galactica episode in which Starbuck interrogated a Cylon, Leoben, who had infiltrated the civilian fleet. When the Cylon reveals that he has hidden a nuclear bomb somewhere in the fleet that will detonate in nine hours, Starbuck resorts to torturing him; rather than revealing the location of the bomb, though, he wants to rant about religion and the importance of the one, true God. The torture intensifies, and shortly before the nine hours are up, Leoben admits to President Roslin that there was never any bomb. In turn, she has him summarily executed by getting airlocked into space.

You don’t have to be a Political Science major to see how “Flesh and Bone” was meant to parallel the War on Terror. Starbuck is someone who must deal with the scenario that came up during every single debate about torture in the early aughts: “What if a bomb is about to go off, and this is the only way to find it?” The fictional Starbuck eventually takes her cue from real-life American soldiers and waterboards her foe (a religious extremist, no less!), but she doesn’t get any answers. The final revelation that there never was a bomb in the first place makes the torture look that much uglier because it was all for, quite literally, nothing. 

The Abyss Gazes Also

Interestingly, the torture in this episode was initially going to be much, much more severe. According to Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion, episode writer Toni Graphia revealed that, “In one draft, Leoben had electrodes hooked up to him…Ron decided we weren’t going to do any fancy torture techniques, because the show doesn’t do a lot of high-tech stuff.” Plus, he eventually concluded that “the heart of the episode wasn’t really about the method of torture, it was about one of the show’s most tough-@ss characters developing a little empathy towards the enemy.” 

In an interview with Concurring Opinions, Battlestar Galactica executive producer David Eick revealed that this episode “represented the most extreme period of tension and disagreement between ourselves and the network.” He reiterated that earlier drafts of the script had more extreme torture scenes that “were emblematic of what was going on at Guantanamo and places like that.” While the final episode did tone things down a bit, it didn’t soften the ugliness of Starbuck’s actions. “It became our argument because we were trying to take something real and force the audience to have the same trouble with it that the network was having.”

All Of This Has Happened Before

Eick and Moore obviously won that argument, as evidenced by the prominent torture scenes in “Flesh and Blood” and the other uncomfortable War on Terror parallels (including suicide bombers fighting the Cylons) in future episodes. As recorded in Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion, Moore claimed that “Flesh and Bone” “was obviously influenced by the Abu Ghraib incident, and all the other examples of prisoners being tortured.” He deliberately avoided any Picard-style speeches about torture, though, because “We wanted to really make viewers think about the issue, without preaching to anyone about it.” In some ways, that’s Battestar Galactica’s biggest strength: It expresses big ideas without telling you directly what to think.

According to Ronald D. Moore, the War on Terror commentary helped inform the show’s other big themes. “We wanted to do an episode that was complicated and also touched upon the larger sort of thematic and theological issues of the show,” he said. Eventually, the show regularly pulled off a narrative hat trick with stories that balanced thrilling narratives with crunchy themes and mind-bending religious questions. But Battlestar Galactica’s transformation into the best sci-fi show of the modern age began with “Flesh and Bone,” a Season 1 episode that helps prove an old adage: whenever you piss off the network, you know you’re doing something right!

The way American families cook, snack and gather around the table is shifting faster than the dinner bell can ring. Three food trends are reshaping home kitchens in 2026: a protein push that touches every meal, the rise of grazing over sit-down dinners and a renewed focus on slipping vegetables into food kids actually want to eat.

For parents juggling sports schedules, hybrid work and after-school chaos, these changes are not just lifestyle tweaks — they are the new playbook for feeding a household.

Why Protein Is Leading Food Trends in 2026

Protein has graduated from gym-bag territory to the center of the family plate. Parents are building meals around it first — eggs, chicken, Greek yogurt, beans and tofu — and rethinking what goes in the lunchbox.

Kid-friendly snacks are following suit. Crackers are giving way to jerky, yogurt pouches and protein muffins. Breakfast, long the most carb-heavy meal of the day, is now the most protein-heavy in many homes.

Sarah Jenkins, writing for The Seattle Times, put it this way: “Protein remains a dominant force in what consumers buy and cook. One recent trend report names powerhouse protein as the top consumer driver for 2026, highlighting nearly 60 percent of global consumers seek protein for overall health across meals and snacks.”

That nearly 60 percent figure helps explain why supermarket aisles, restaurant menus and meal-kit services are all leaning into high-protein options at once.

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When you’re on a health journey, knowing your body weight isn’t enough. You need all the nitty-gritty details to paint the whole picture; luckily, this Hume Health smart scanner measures everything from body fat and muscle mass to metabolic age and bone density. It’s like having a DEXA scanner in your bathroom! Not only does […]

How Grazing Is Replacing the Traditional Family Dinner

The three-meals-a-day structure that defined the American household for generations is loosening its grip. In its place: smaller, more frequent eating moments that fit the rhythm of modern family life.

Snack plates — fruit, cheese, a protein, a dip — are stepping in for lunch on busy days. After-school grazing boards are becoming a household norm. The shift maps neatly onto schedules built around remote work, hybrid routines and back-to-back activities.

Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju, writing in The Washington Times, described the change this way: “This has real implications for how families cook and eat together. The sit-down dinner isn’t disappearing entirely, but it’s no longer the only model. Staggered work schedules, after-school activities, and the sheer unpredictability of modern life mean that getting everyone to the table at the same time is harder than ever. For busy households, having a rotation of ‘mini meals’ on hand, foods that can be eaten alone or assembled into something larger, may be more realistic than insisting on a 6 p.m. gathering every night.”

In other words, the dinner table is not gone. It is just sharing space with the kitchen island, the back seat and the after-practice couch.

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Why Hidden Vegetables Matter for Picky Eaters

The third trend tackles the oldest battle in family kitchens: getting kids to eat their vegetables. The new approach is less about negotiation and more about integration.

Michael Allen, CEO of Kidfresh, summed up the shift: “Hidden veggies, visible impact: Parents love when vegetables are integrated naturally into meals kids actually enjoy. The goal isn’t to hide nutrition; it’s to make it delicious and a seamless part of the eating experience.”

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That framing — nutrition as a feature of food kids already want, not a punishment tacked onto it — points to where packaged foods, recipes and meal planning are headed in 2026.

What 2026 Food Trends Mean for Family Kitchens

Taken together, these trends sketch a clear picture of the 2026 family kitchen, protein-forward, schedule-flexible and quietly nutrient-dense. Breakfast carries more weight. Lunch may look more like a board than a plate. Vegetables show up where kids are already happy to eat.

For parents trying to keep up, the takeaway is less about overhauling the pantry and more about giving permission to adapt — to swap the rigid dinner hour for a rotation of mini meals, the cracker pack for a protein muffin and the vegetable standoff for a meal that just happens to include broccoli.

Tony Goldwyn played two-term president Fitzgerald Grant III on Scandal, but would he ever consider tackling the job in real life?

“Do people constantly ask you to run for president in real life?” Goldwyn’s Scandal costar Kerry Washington asked her former TV love interest, 66, during the Saturday, June 6, episode of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series.

According to Goldwyn, he “generally” gets asked about any political ambitions while standing “on a street corner.”

“I used to say thank you so much, but that’s a really bad idea,” he added.

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For six years, fans witnessed Kerry Washington’s Scandal character Olivia Pope solve the impossible. The ABC drama quickly changed the landscape of TV — even after it concluded in 2018 after 7 seasons. Created by TV mogul Shonda Rhimes, Scandal follows Olivia Pope as she launches a crisis management firm. She left her position as […]

Washington, 49, took a different stance on the issue.

“I don’t think you would be a terrible president, to be honest,” Washington, who starred as Olivia Pope on Scandal, noted. “You’d assemble a really wonderful Cabinet and team around you. And you care!”

Goldwyn, who affirmed that he would care about the gig, noted his plans to enlist Washington for a cabinet position.

“You would not bring me. I would not be available,” she joked. “You’re such a nice guy, clearly.”

Scandal, created by producer Shonda Rhimes, followed a D.C. fixer named Olivia Pope amid her on-and-off affair with Fitz despite his presidency and marriage. Scandal wrapped in 2018 after seven seasons, with Olivia and Fitz getting back together.

“They weren’t the healthiest couple,” Washington admitted on Saturday’s episode. “That doesn’t mean they weren’t madly in love, but they had some difficulties, which is why people loved it. What did you think about the ending?”

Goldwyn and Washington both concurred that they “loved” the finale story arc.

“I feel that Fitz and Olivia are together,” Goldwyn predicted of the beloved Olitz ship. “I feel that what we had at the root of it was very real, and it’s why we could never get away from it — as opposed to being something that was ultimately dysfunctional. I thought ultimately these two people were their answer to each other.”

While Washington similarly believes Olivia and Fitz finally made their romance work, she noted that they’d likely be in “couple’s therapy.”

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Shonda Rhimes is one of the greatest TV writers of all time, creating iconic shows fans can’t stop talking about. But which of her shows’ stars — past or present — is she closest with now? “Oh, that’s interesting,” Rhimes, 55, said during the Wednesday, October 8, episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast before […]

“Yes, regularly!” Goldwyn quipped. “Because they know that’s what they have to do to survive, but I think Fitz [also] spent some time in Vermont. He needed to get out of the toxic patterns. I think Olivia probably taught him how to make jam, but then when she ate his jam, she’s like, ‘Your jam sucks!’”

Regardless of Fitz’s lack of jam-making talent, Goldwyn was sure of one thing about where Olivia and Fitz ended up.

“I feel like he was very supportive of her trajectory — whether she became president of the United States or whatever her thing was,” he said. “I feel like his real jones was to help this woman be, like, her best self.”

Jennifer Fessler is revealing who has been on a recent apology tour after Summer House’s Ciara Miller claimed The Real Housewives of New Jersey star had sex with West Wilson.

“West did reach out and apologize profusely and called and apologized to my husband and kids,” Fessler, 55, exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, June 5, while attending Nancy Davis’ Race to Erase MS Gala sponsored by L’Agence at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, referring to her husband, Jeff Fessler, and their two kids, son Zachary and daughter Rachel.

“But no, I haven’t gotten an apology [from Ciara],” she added. “But who cares at this point? It’s so stupid and not true.”

On May 8, Ciara claimed Jennifer slept with West after the Housewives star defended him amid the fallout surrounding his controversial relationship with fellow Summer House cast member — and her former BFF — Amanda Batula.

“[West] is the cutest, sweetest golden retriever puppy dog,” Jennifer said while attending Vulture’s The Masterminds of Reality TV event.

“Lol, because they slept together too,” Ciara posted via Threads, responding to Jennifer’s comments.

West denied Ciara’s claims via his Instagram Stories, writing “news to me” over a popular meme indicating confusion and tagging Jennifer.

A source close to West also denied the accusation, exclusively telling Us that the claim was “absolutely not true” while describing Ciara’s comment as nothing more than a “silly allegation.”

Jennifer also addressed the viral claim — and issued her own unexpected apology of sorts — via her own Instagram Stories.

“In all seriousness, and while I can’t help but be a little flattered, it is not nice nor is it OK to post something categorically untrue and defamatory on social media,” she wrote. “Regardless of whatever rumors or apparent ‘evidence’ led you to that conclusion, that is the definition of libel.”

She concluded at the time, “If it were true, I would have no recourse. Because it’s a lie, this can get more complicated. Having said that, I hope we can rectify this. It’s enough now.”

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On Friday, Jennifer revealed to Us that her relationship with members of the Summer House cast is effectively “over.”

Related: Ciara Miller Seemingly Reacts After West and Jen Fessler Deny Hookup

Ciara Miller seemingly has weighed in after West Wilson and Jennifer Fessler refuted her hookup claims. Miller, 30, reposted a Summer House still of Amanda Batula via Threads on Friday, May 8, in which the original caption read, “If I send this to you I’m about to lie straight to your face.” Hours earlier, Miller […]

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“I think that my relationship with those kids is probably, let’s call that over,” she told Us. “i’ve had enough. I’m not interested in mingling with the Summer House group. No, no, thank you.”

She added of her current relationship with her husband, “Everything was always well. He laughed at it. He laughed too much, I started to get a little pissed, like, ‘It’s not that funny, Jeff.’ But it really was so stupid. And I don’t know, maybe one day we’ll get an apology. We’ll see.”

New York Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns reached out for some divine intervention before a key play in Game 2 of the 2026 NBA Finals.

“I needed a stop,” Towns, 30, joked during a post-game ESPN interview following the Knicks’ 105-104 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, June 6.

Towns was shown on camera looking up to the heavens in a dramatic moment before his team’s final defensive play. The Knicks ultimately pulled out a squeaker victory in Game 2 when the Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama failed to sink a jumper due to Mitchell Robinson’s blocking.

During the post-game interview, Towns clarified that he’d prayed for help from his late mother Jackie Cruz-Towns, who died at age 58 in April 2020 due to complications from COVID-19.

“It’s amazing as you go through life, you lose a parent, you just look for signs. I’ll take any sign I can get and I prayed to her strong before that possession,” he explained. “A great player got a great shot, it just didn’t go in. It’s great defense. Shout-out to Mitch, shout-out to our team. But I take it as a sign my mom was here with me so I appreciate her so much.”

Towns has frequently credited his mom with watching over him throughout the NBA Finals. Before Game 1, Towns told reporters that he “just felt a calm and a peace that I know had to come from the woman above.”

He also speculated on what it would have meant for his mom to see him make it to the NBA Finals because of her own story as an immigrant.

“It means a lot for my mother when she emigrated from DR [Dominican Republic] to New York,” he said. “Saw Madison Square Garden for the first time and saw the energy the city has for MSG and the Knicks.”

Towns revealed in March 2020 that both of his parents had tested positive for COVID-19. While the NBA star’s father, Karl Towns Sr., ultimately recovered, his mother’s health declined and she suffered a stroke.

Following her death, Karl-Anthony shared in a November 2020 vlog that he “pulled the plug” on his late mom when it was clear she would not recuperate.

“At that moment I pulled the plug and just let her pass,” Towns recalled. “They told me she may be alive another hour, maybe two.”

He remembered that Jackie eventually drifted into unconsciousness as family members spoke to her remotely via video calls.

“She was sent off with laughter,” he noted.

Karl-Anthony confessed at the time that he’d temporarily put his own grief on the back-burner to help his family deal with such an immense loss.

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“I think for me, I think if I was to say how am I coping and how am I healing from this, I’m trying to heal myself through others,” he explained. “I’m trying to do as much as I can for my sister and my father. Trying to take care of my friends, and I’m trying to heal myself through them.”

He added, “It’s helped, but I think that one day, and I know it’s creeping up, I feel it every day, it’s gonna creep up and I’m going to have to find a way to deal with it, actually. That’s why I wanted to do this [vlog]. I thought this would be therapeutic for me to admit that these things are real and how I feel is real and being able to try to find some normalcy. Life is a game, and I’m just playing one chess piece at a time.”

Karl-Anthony has experienced much happier times in recent years. In addition to making it to the 2026 NBA Finals, he announced his engagement to Jordyn Woods on Christmas Day in 2025 after five years of dating.

Richard Childress spoke out for the first time following his NASCAR driver Kyle Busch’s shocking death at age 41.

“Kyle will go down in history as one of the greatest race drivers that’s ever been,” Childress, 80, told reporters at the Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, June 6, per the Associated Press. “His legacy is that he was a man that a lot of people thought he was tough to deal with, and that he wouldn’t last long. He is a man that loves his sport.”

Busch spent the final three seasons of his career racing in the NASCAR Cup Series for Richard Childress Racing (RCR). On May 20, Busch became unresponsive in Concord, North Carolina, while preparing for that weekend’s competition and was hospitalized.

NASCAR confirmed hours later on May 21 that the driver had died at age 41. (A death certificate obtained by Us Weekly confirmed that Busch suffered a “chain of events” in his final days, as bacterial pneumonia progressed into sepsis and intravascular coagulation, or small clots. By the time Busch died, he’d developed hemorrhagic shock due to blood loss.)

At Saturday’s press conference, Childress likened Busch’s death to that of NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt Sr., who was killed at age 49 in a February 2001 crash. (Earnhardt spent 18 seasons on the RCR team.)

“You lose two of the greatest drivers that’s ever driven a car in NASCAR and to have to go through it again,” Childress told the media. “I just feel so bad for the family and the employees and everybody. But yeah, I mean, I haven’t slept very good lately.”

He reflected on his final phone call with Kyle the night before his hospitalization, revealing that he’d planned to offer the driver a contract extension.

Childress also said that he wanted to help Kyle guide the amateur racing career of his 11-year-old son Brexton Busch in hopes of the boy turning pro one day. (Richard Childress Racing announced on May 22 that it will retire Kyle’s No. 8 car unless Brexton chooses to race professionally some day.)

“Talking to Kyle at different times, knowing his plans and what he had in the future for Brexton and his family,” Childress said. “The many things that we all could have done together, that was probably the toughest part of this whole thing.”

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Earlier this week, Kyle’s wife Samantha Busch — with whom he shared Brexton and daughter Lennix, 4 — paid tribute to her late husband’s legacy in her first statement since his death.

“As a family, we wanted to take a moment to say thank you,” Samantha, 40, wrote via Instagram on Friday, June 5. “The prayers, messages, flowers, meals, hugs, and countless acts of kindness have carried us through the most heartbreaking days of our lives. While our hearts are absolutely shattered, we have felt God’s presence and arms wrapped tightly around us through each and every one of you.”

She wrote, “The love that has surrounded our family during this unimaginable time has brought comfort in the middle of so much pain. Knowing the impact Kyle had on others and seeing how they are honoring him through each unique act of generosity is a true testament to how special Kyle is to so many people. There are moments when the weight of this loss feels impossible to carry, yet time and time again God, through you all, has shown us we are not alone.”