Entertainment
Honey Boo Boo’s Mother Mama June Says New Illness Is Not Cancer
Mama June
It’s Not the C-Word!!!
Published
TMZ.com
June “Mama June” Shannon gave a concerning health update earlier this week, revealing a serious new medical issue … but she tells us it’s not as bad as some have feared.
“It’s not cancer,” Mama June told us when we caught her and her kids out in NYC Wednesday. “Before I had my hysterectomy I was thinking the C-word, because I did have cysts and stuff … But what I’m dealing with now, it has nothing to do with my hormones or anything like that. This is totally different.”
Mama June told Page Six she’s dealing with something that could “immobilize” her, but she didn’t elaborate any further with us … except to confirm that it’s not expected to be life-threatening.
Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson, on the other hand, was more than willing to talk about her relationship with boyfriend Dralin Carswell.
You’ll have to watch the video to find out all about their new life in Colorado and plans for the future!
“Mama June: From Not to Hot” returns to We TV March 13.
The race for Best Actor at the upcoming Academy Awards is suddenly turning into one of the most unpredictable showdowns in recent memory.
For months, Timothée Chalamet looked unstoppable thanks to his performance in “Marty Supreme.” However, as the final round of voting closes, the mood in Hollywood appears to be shifting.
Rivals are gaining ground, industry chatter is growing louder, and a quiet push among insiders is raising a controversial question: Is the industry starting to turn on Chalamet?
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Timothée Chalamet’s Oscar Front-Runner Status Faces Sudden Pressure
Throughout most of the awards season, Timothée Chalamet appeared to be the clear favorite to take home Best Actor.
His performance in “Marty Supreme,” a commercially successful ping-pong drama, positioned him as the star to beat. Momentum grew even stronger earlier in the season when the actor picked up a major win at the Golden Globe Awards in January.
During that moment on stage, he also acknowledged his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, further placing him at the center of Hollywood attention.
At that point, many observers believed the 30-year-old was on track for an easy victory at the Oscars.
After all, the nomination marks the third time Chalamet has been recognized by the Academy, following nods for “Call Me By Your Name” and “A Complete Unknown.”
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However, recent developments suggest the race is far from settled. According to a report from the Daily Mail, Industry watchers now believe the final days before the Oscars could dramatically reshape the outcome.
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Chalamet Faces Growing Competition From Michael B. Jordan
One of the biggest shifts in the race comes from Michael B. Jordan, whose momentum has surged in the final stretch of the awards season.
Jordan’s performance as twin brothers Smoke and Stack in “Sinners” has suddenly gained strong backing among voters.
The turning point came when he won Best Actor at the Actors Awards, where he delivered an emotional speech that resonated with the room.
The reaction inside the ceremony reportedly made the shift in support clear. Presenter Viola Davis was said to have shouted with excitement when Jordan’s name was revealed.
Jordan also benefited from a wave of sympathy after a troubling moment at the BAFTA Awards ceremony.
While he and co-star Delroy Lindo presented an award, Tourette’s Syndrome campaigner John Davidson shouted a racial slur from the audience.
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The incident sparked anger across Hollywood, particularly toward the BBC, which allowed the moment to air despite the broadcast delay.
Many insiders believe the situation created additional goodwill toward Jordan within the industry.
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Timothée Chalamet’s Campaign Style Raises Eyebrows In Hollywood
While Chalamet remains the statistical favorite, his campaign strategy is becoming a topic of debate among Academy voters.
Unlike traditional awards campaigns, which often involve quiet networking with voters, the Hollywood star has embraced an unconventional and highly visible approach.
Instead of focusing solely on industry events, he has appeared in unexpected places. Chalamet reportedly showed up at look-alike contests inspired by himself and made appearances in music videos.
He has also spent time playing basketball with Adam Sandler and interacting with high school students in Los Angeles.
Chalamet has largely avoided the standard awards-season interview circuit. Instead, he has opted for unconventional conversations with podcaster Theo Von and professional wrestler Cody Rhodes.
At the same time, promotional efforts for “Marty Supreme” have included unusual publicity stunts, ranging from themed blimps to viral social media campaigns.
While these strategies have created major buzz around the film, some observers now question whether the approach may have alienated more traditional Academy voters.
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Chalamet Campaign Sparks ‘Stop Timmy’ Buzz
In fact, a subtle backlash against the actor appears to be forming in some corners of the industry. According to insiders, a quiet “Stop Timmy” sentiment is circulating among voters who are reluctant to reward such an aggressive campaign style.
One issue repeatedly mentioned is Timothee Chalamet’s confidence on the campaign trail. Some critics believe his public persona comes across as overly self-assured.
The outlet wrote that Chalamet represents “a less comfortable path for the industry” and pointed to the actor’s bold style as a possible dividing line among voters.
Meanwhile, a prediction site reports that Chalamet’s chances have slipped slightly in recent days. While he still leads the race, his odds have fallen noticeably as support for Jordan grows.
Other contenders, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Wagner Moura, could also benefit if the anti-Chalamet momentum continues.
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Timothée Chalamet’s Oscar Moment Could Still Make History
Despite the shifting narrative, Chalamet still holds a strong position in the race.
“Marty Supreme” has been a major commercial success, earning roughly $173 million worldwide, an impressive total for a film based on an original story rather than an established franchise.
If Chalamet ultimately wins Best Actor, the victory would mark a major milestone in his career. It would also make him the second-youngest winner in the category’s history.
Meanwhile, several other Oscar races are also heating up. Actress Jessie Buckley is widely predicted to win for her role in “Hamnet.”
In the supporting categories, Sean Penn has built strong momentum for “One Battle After Another.”
The supporting actress race appears far less certain, with Teyana Taylor competing closely with Amy Madigan, who received a nomination for the horror film Weapons.
With so many races tightening and the Best Actor category suddenly wide open, this year’s Oscars on March 15 could deliver one of the most suspenseful finishes the ceremony has seen in years.
Bianca Censori turned heads outside a Los Angeles courthouse this week, but not for the reason many expected.
The wife of rapper Kanye West, who is known for her daring and often revealing fashion choices, appeared in a surprisingly modest outfit as she arrived to testify in a lawsuit connected to one of West’s properties.
The unexpected style shift quickly became a talking point as the legal battle surrounding the rapper’s controversial Malibu mansion renovation continues to unfold.
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Bianca Censori Debuts Conservative Look At Los Angeles Courthouse
When Bianca Censori arrived at the Los Angeles Superior Court, her appearance quickly sparked conversation. The Australian-born architect has built a reputation for wearing bold and extremely revealing outfits, including a nearly nude look at the Grammy Awards in 2025.
However, the look she chose for court was the complete opposite. Instead of her usual risqué fashion choices, photos obtained by the Daily Mailshowed Censori wearing a black cardigan paired with a long skirt, presenting a far more modest image.
Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and she added glasses, giving the overall look a more reserved and professional tone.
Despite the toned-down style, she still included a subtle nod to her typical glamour through her tall heels.
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The transformation was striking enough to become one of the day’s most talked-about details.
Censori entered the courthouse shortly after the man at the center of the case, contractor Tony Saxon, arrived for the proceedings.
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Censori Appears As Lawsuit Targets Kanye West’s Malibu Mansion Project
The legal dispute surrounding Bianca Censori’s husband’s property renovation dates back to 2021, when the rapper purchased a Malibu mansion reportedly worth more than $57 million.
According to court documents, West hired Saxon as a project manager to oversee the renovation of the oceanfront home.
Saxon claims the agreement involved several roles, including managing construction, caring for the property, and even providing security. According to him, he worked extremely long hours while trying to bring West’s unusual vision for the property to life.
Saxon explained that some days required up to 16 hours of work, and at times he even slept outside on the ground, wearing his coat, to keep the project moving.
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However, the relationship reportedly began to deteriorate just two months into the work. The lawsuit alleges Saxon was eventually fired and paid only for a single week of work.
He is now suing West for more than $1 million, claiming unpaid wages, unsafe working conditions, and wrongful termination.
The rapper’s legal team has denied the allegations and previously filed paperwork seeking to dismiss the case.
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Bianca Censori Linked To Dispute Over Kanye West’s Radical Home Renovation
At the center of the lawsuit is the unusual renovation plan for West’s Malibu property. Saxon claims the rapper wanted the home stripped down in dramatic fashion.
According to the contractor, West ordered major structural changes, including tearing out marble bathrooms and removing plumbing, electrical systems, and windows.
One of the most concerning requests, Saxon claims, involved moving large generators inside the house. The contractor said he warned that such a move could create a serious fire hazard.
The disagreement reportedly escalated quickly. Saxon alleges that the 48-year-old reacted strongly when he pushed back on some of the ideas.
According to the filing, West told him, “If you don’t do what I say, you’re not going to work for me, I’m not gonna be your friend anymore, and you’ll just see me on TV.”
Saxon said he responded that he did not watch television. The contractor claims he was then immediately fired and told to “get the hell out.”
The lawsuit suggests the renovation concept itself was highly unusual. Saxon said West described the house as something like a bunker-style retreat.
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Kanye West Allegedly Wanted A ‘Bat Cave’ Style Retreat
Saxon has claimed the vision for the Malibu mansion resembled something closer to a minimalist hideout than a luxury home.
He described the renovation as turning the property into what he called “a bomb shelter from the 1910s.”
The contractor also said the concept involved gutting much of the house and transforming it into what he described as “a Bat Cave,” per NBC News.
According to Saxon, West wanted the home to function almost entirely without modern utilities. The contractor said the rapper’s plan involved removing electricity and replacing typical lighting with candles and battery-powered lights.
Saxon also claimed the design was intended to create a dark and open environment filled mostly with plants rather than conventional furnishings.
Initially, Saxon believed the project was more of an experimental artistic concept rather than a place West actually intended to live in.
However, over time, he says it became clear the rapper wanted to use the property as a real residence.
West’s legal team disputes Saxon’s claims and argues that the contractor performed work that West was not aware of.
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Bianca Censori’s Court Appearance Comes As Malibu Mansion Falls Into Disrepair
Photos taken of the Malibu property in 2024 revealed the home had fallen into serious disrepair.
Images showed major structural elements missing, including large floor-to-ceiling windows that once faced the ocean. Without the windows, the house was left open to the coastal elements.
Inside the property, visible damage appeared to be spreading. Metal railings had begun to rust after prolonged exposure to salt air, wind, and oceanfront moisture.
Neighbors living near the property also spoke about its condition. Some revealed that the mansion looked as though it had been left to rot, adding that they had not seen anyone around the property for months.
As the lawsuit moves forward, both West and Bianca Censori are expected to play roles in the legal proceedings.
By Jennifer Asencio
| Published
Now that Daily Wire’s The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin has been fully released, finally, someone besides me and a few other small outlets has paid attention to it. At least, a little. The men’s magazine Esquire decided to run a piece about the show, and they had nothing nice to say.
Its title, “There’s a Right-Wing Game of Thrones and It’s as Terrible as You’d Think,” already displays the bias the writer, Josh Rosenberg, took into this “review” with him. By putting “right-ring” in the title, he’s telling you he’s not happy it’s produced by Daily Wire.
Josh Rosenberg Hasn’t Watched A Lot Of The Show He’s Reviewing
Things get worse from there. In his review, Rosenberg judges the streaming service’s content based on its news branch and on a single movie, Ladyballers, a controversial comedy about gender-ideology abuse in sports. Never mind that the streamer has other movies, some of which I’ve reviewed for this site, including Run Hide Fight, starring Isabel May of Scream 7.
Guilt by Association (noun): A rhetorical tactic that attempts to discredit a person, work, or idea by linking it to another person, work, or group viewed negatively, using the connection itself as implied evidence of similar faults.
However, when Rosenberg turns his attention to the show itself, it’s pretty clear he hasn’t seen beyond an episode or two. Everything he singles out for critique is largely from Episode 1: Charis’s bull-leaping and Taliesin’s “come-to-Jesus” moment are mentioned, but nothing of the fantastic battles from episodes 3 or 4, nothing of the high drama of episode 5, or the tragic love story of episode 6. He criticizes the budget without even mentioning the large-scale warfare of episode 7 and its cast of apparent thousands. It seems likely that, as modern critics often don’t, Rosenberg didn’t actually watch the entire show he was “reviewing.”
Misrepresenting The Role Of Christianity In The Pendragon Cycle
He also attacks The Pendragon Cycle for its religious themes. One of the things I have praised about the show is that, while the first two episodes are a little preachy, the show overall has been extremely fair to other religions despite the theme surrounding “Yesu” being “the One True God.” It never openly disparages the other gods that appear in the show. It never presents Christianity as something you should believe in, and it is even sparing in portraying the faith of characters who do believe in it: a prayer here, a priest there.
Straw Man (noun): A persuasion tactic in which someone misrepresents or distorts the content of an argument, idea, or work so that the altered version is easier to attack or discredit than the original.
Jeremy Boreing did claim at first that The Pendragon Cycle was “probably the most Christian piece of entertainment since Braveheart,” and quite frankly, it’s about even between the two, so that’s a fair comparison. To imply it is “Christian” on the same level as, say, Left Behind, is a gross misrepresentation of the King Arthur epic.
Just Follow The Crowd
His next mode of attack is to compare the show to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the HBO Game of Thrones spinoff that has been a media darling since it was released. This mode of attack criticizes the number of viewers the show might have had, compared to the HBO series’ 13 million viewers.
Bandwagon Appeal (noun): A persuasion tactic in which a claim is presented as true, superior, or justified primarily because it is widely believed, supported, or followed by a large number of people.
It’s true The Pendragon Cycle probably had a smaller audience, an issue I have discussed myself, but the limited audience is not proof that the show is “bad,” it just means it isn’t accessible to a lot of people. I’ve said before that more exposure would open the show to a wider audience who would probably enjoy it.
Everything I Haven’t Tried Is Terrible
His final criticism is the most disingenuous sideswipe: that no reviewers have even glanced at the show, so it has no score on Rotten Tomatoes. This is especially underhanded in the wake of the Scream 7 review-bombing fest that critics have had about the slasher film; angry about Melissa Barrera’s firing, they panned the movie out of hand, even though audiences loved it and it broke franchise box office records.
Appeal to Ignorance (noun): A persuasive claim that treats the absence of evidence, information, or evaluation as proof of a conclusion. Instead of demonstrating that something is false, bad, or ineffective, the argument relies on the fact that it has not been proven otherwise or has not yet been examined.
The Pendragon Cycle has been suffering from the same treatment but is easier to ignore than Scream 7 or even the First Lady biopic Melania due to its lack of visibility. But, once again, a lack of reviews isn’t the same thing as being a bad show, and if Esquire and the Scream 7 kerfuffle are any indication, mainstream reviewers would probably pan it anyway just because it’s Daily Wire.
I Was Wary, But I Actually Watched The Entire Show
The Pendragon Cycle is a really good show being maligned by Esquire and ignored by everyone else for reasons that have nothing to do with its quality or its content. I can say this without bias, because all the same objections raised by the men’s magazine are the reasons I was wary of the show, but I like King Arthur content enough to have set aside those prejudices and watched every episode.
Whatever it is that mainstream critics think The Pendragon Cycle is, they’re sorely mistaken and drunk on their own biases. To top it off, they’re trying to tell us that it’s so bad, we shouldn’t watch it. This is not criticism; it is social engineering by suppression. Maybe we need new critics.
The Pendragin Cycle: Rise of the Merlin is streaming in its entirety on Daily Wire+.
Mari announced on Instagram that she is expecting the couple’s second child together. The former Miss World America confirmed that they are preparing to welcome a baby girl.
Duhamel and Mari have been married for three years and share a two-year-old son, Shepherd.
The “Transformers” star is also father to an older son, Axl, whom he shares with his ex-wife, pop star Fergie.
As Duhamel looks forward to the arrival of his first daughter, he recently reflected on his past marriage to Fergie, maintaining that he has “no regrets” about how things transpired between them.
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Audra Mari Announces Baby No. 2 With Sweet Gender Reveal
Mari shared the happy news of her pregnancy with a series of photos on Instagram, showing off her growing baby bump.
The images were accompanied by a heartfelt caption that read, “Adding a little girl to our story…”
Mari also tagged Duhamel in the post and added that the couple couldn’t “wait to meet” their daughter.
The announcement quickly drew an outpouring of congratulatory messages from fans and friends in the comments.
“Congratulations, Audra! I had a feeling!” one user wrote.
Another commenter celebrated the upcoming arrival of a baby girl, joking that she would help to balance out the gender ratio in the Duhamel household.
“I did too! Those boys need some pink in their life!” the comment said.
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Josh Duhamel Explains How Life With Audra Mari Differs From His Marriage To Fergie
Duhamel and Mari tied the knot in their home state of North Dakota in September 2022.
The nuptials marked Mari’s first marriage, but Duhamel had previously been wed to former Black Eyed Peas star Fergie. In a 2023 appearance on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger,” he reflected on the differences between that first marriage and his current one.
According to Duhamel, his relationship with Fergie struggled in part because he never fully felt at home in the glitzy Hollywood.
“I’m just not a guy who is comfortable going to red carpets, doing all the Hollywood stuff,” he said.
In contrast, the actor pointed to the quieter lifestyle he now shares with Mari back in America’s heartland.
“That’s why Audra’s so great for me,” he continued. “Because we’re both hardcore North Dakotans who love it here.”
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Josh Duhamel Still Co-Parents Son Axl With Fergie After Their Divorce
Duhamel and Fergie were married for nearly a decade after they walked down the aisle in 2009.
The couple announced their separation in 2017 and finalized a divorce roughly two years later.
Their son, Axl Jack Duhamel, was born in August 2013, and the pair have continued to co-parent him since their split.
During his conversation with Bensinger, Duhamel said he holds no regrets about the end of their relationship and emphasized that they maintain a cordial dynamic for their son’s sake.
“I’ve made peace with that part of my life,” Duhamel said. “She and I have a great relationship; we’re both raising that boy together.”
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Duhamel Says Fatherhood ‘Forces You To Grow Up’
Duhamel might be preparing to become a girl dad for the first time, but the actor already has plenty of experience when it comes to fatherhood.
During a July 2025 appearance on the “Inside of You” podcast, he opened up about how becoming a father has changed him over the years.
“[Having children] just forces you to grow up and think beyond your own little universe,” Duhamel said. “It gives you purpose… At least in my case. I can’t speak for anybody, but if I didn’t have kids, I might be in a much worse place.”
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Josh Duhamel Thanked Audra For Being ‘An Amazing Mommy’
Mari celebrated her first Mother’s Day as a mom in 2024, and Duhamel made sure to acknowledge her on the special occasion.
As reported by PEOPLE, the “Las Vegas” star shared a photo of himself and his wife on his Instagram Story along with a warm message.
“Here’s to you, my love, on your first Mother’s Day,” Duhamel wrote over the image. “What an amazing mommy you are to our baby Shepherd, and Axl couldn’t ask for a better stepmother. We’re beyond blessed to have you in our lives.”
Entertainment
New Music Friday March 6: Harry Styles, Jennifer Lopez, David Guetta, Shakira, Willa Ford & More
Happy New Music Friday! The weekend is here, which means more streaming, new playlists and the best that music has to offer — and ET has you covered for everything in between.
Harry Styles’ highly anticipated fourth album, KISS ALL THE TIME. DISCO, OCCCASIONALLY is finally here. To celebrate his new album, Harry has launched pop-up shops around the world in partnership with American Express with 16 locations in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Berlin, Chicago, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Paris, Phoenix, Rome, Seattle, Sydney, Tokyo, and Toronto. The pop-up will give fans a chance to experience and celebrate his new album with special activations and unique merchandise designs. Merchandise items will include language-specific crewnecks, limited edition media, t-shirts, hats, clocks, socks, mugs, totes, and more. Harry will perform his new album live in Manchester, England and the special performance, Harry Styles. One Night In Manchester will premiere March 8 on Netflix.
Jennifer Lopez and David Guetta have released their dance-pop single, “Save Me Tonight.” Jennifer is back in Las Vegas tonight for her residency, Jennifer Lopez: Up All Night Live In Las Vegas at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace and will perform the live debut of “Save Me Tonight.” Fans have been wanting Jennifer and David to release the song after she first teased it during her set at World Pride Music Festival last summer.
LANY celebrated their latest album, Soft, with a Q&A and performance at the GRAMMY Museum. Paul Klein and Jake Goss opened up about how their album was made, their creative direction, and what they envision next for their band. They also performed “Why” “Stuck,” “Cause You Have To,” and debuted a new song “When Did You Stop Loving Me.” LANY will take their album on the road for the 2026 Soft World Tour and make stops across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, UK, and Europe for thirty eight dates.
Plus, new music from Jennifer Lopez, David Guetta, Shakira, Ty Dolla $ign, Bebe Rexha, Gnarls Barkley, Willa Ford, Anitta, Maya Hawke, Erin Nam and more.
KISS ALL THE TIME. DISCO, OCCASIONALLY – Harry Styles
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Save Me Tonight” – Jennifer Lopez & David Guetta
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“ALGO TÚ” – Shakira feat Béele
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
girl music vol. 1 – Ty Dolla $ign
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“New Religion” – Bebe Rexha
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
Atlanta – Gnarls Barkley
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Michelangelo” – Rita Wilson
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
amanda – Willa Ford
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Devil You Know” – Maya Hawke
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
JuanesTeban – JUANES
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Pinterest” – Anitta
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“How The Fire Started” – Eric Nam
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“JUMP” for Coca-Cola’s Anthem for the FIFA World Cup 2026 – J Balvin & Amber Mark with Travis Barker & Steve Vai
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Freedom” – Kaskade feat EZI
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Iris (Remix)” – Goo Goo Dolls & Steve Aoki
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
WORTH YOUR WILD EP – Russell Dickerson
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Apambichao” – Manuel Turizo feat Maluma
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“I Went Back To Ibiza” – Mike Posner
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
OPHANIM – Voices Of Fire
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“The Weekend” – Train
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Love, Love, Love” – Stephen Sanchez
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
Make-up is a Lie – Morrissey
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
Evergreen – Hunter Hayes
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Tweak” – GIRLSET
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“leaving is easy” – almost monday
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Come and Get Your Boy” – HunterGirl
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Medicine”– Channel Tres
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Island” – Sharon Marley feat Cedella Marley & Rica Newell
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
HUMILDE – Jon Z
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Same Time”– Matt Hansen
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“SOMEWHERE ELSE” – TOMORA
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Tumbleweeds and Chewing Gum” – Lily Meola feat Willie Nelson
Stream it now: Apple / Spotify
“Burning Bridges” – Southall
Christina Applegate is opening up like never before. The Emmy-winning actress, best known for her iconic role as Kelly Bundy on “Married…with Children,” is sharing deeply personal chapters of her life in her new memoir, “You with the Sad Eyes.” In a candid interview with AARP’s Movies for Grownups, Applegate reflected on the highs and lows of her career, while also revealing painful memories from childhood, health battles, and the emotional process of putting her life story on paper. For Christina Applegate, the memoir isn’t just about Hollywood success. Instead, it’s about survival.
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Christina Applegate Opens Up About Writing Her Deeply Personal Memoir
In her memoir “You with the Sad Eyes,” which is out now, Applegate details both the professional milestones and personal struggles that have defined her life. The book reflects on her rise in Hollywood, from her breakout role as the sharp-tongued Kelly Bundy on “Married…with Children” to later successes like the 2016 film “Bad Moms” and Netflix’s “Dead to Me.” But beyond the career highlights, the memoir focuses on her life as a mother, friend, and survivor.
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Applegate, who shares 15-year-old daughter Sadie with husband Martyn LeNoble, explained that telling the full story of her life was something she had been thinking about for years. “I’ve been wanting to put these things down for my whole life, especially the things that are pretty hard to read,” she said. “Too many people go through these things and feel alone.”
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The Memoir Revisits Childhood Trauma And Early Life Struggles
At the heart of Applegate’s book is a deeply personal exploration of her early years. Drawing from journals she has kept for decades, the actress reflects on difficult experiences growing up, including sexual abuse at the age of five and life in a chaotic home environment marked by instability and violence. Those early experiences, she explained, played a significant role in shaping how she viewed safety and self-worth.
Years later, Applegate would face additional life-altering challenges. At age 36, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent treatment while continuing to work and raise her family.
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More recently, she revealed another major health battle: multiple sclerosis, a progressive neurological disease she publicly disclosed in 2021 after noticing symptoms that began affecting her daily life. Applegate has also undergone preventative surgeries, including the removal of her ovaries and fallopian tubes after testing positive for a BRCA1 gene mutation.
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Christina Applegate Reflects On Aging And Letting Go Of Hollywood Expectations
During the interview, Applegate also spoke candidly about aging in an industry that often places intense pressure on women to maintain a certain appearance.
“…I’m not in the public eye in the same way, so I can just be whatever I want. I’m still good at what I do. Who gives a f-ck what I look like? I’m not going to pull my face up, I’m not going to do all that, and I never have. As long as you can still tell a story, who cares? I mean, I was Kelly Bundy. People expect me to look like that forever. I’m 54 years old. This is what it is. But then I’ll see a commercial I did and think, ‘Who is that person?’ So it’s bizarre. I still get insecure, obviously. I’m not going to say I’m in full acceptance of my jowls, I don’t love them, but they’re there. It’s a life lived.”
Despite the expectations that come with decades in the spotlight, the actress said she has learned to focus more on her work and storytelling rather than physical appearance.
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Recording The Audiobook Became The Most Emotional Part Of The Process
While writing the memoir was already an intense experience, Applegate revealed that recording the audiobook version proved to be even more difficult. Reading her story aloud forced her to confront the emotions behind each memory in a way she hadn’t anticipated.
“The hardest part was, honestly, doing the audiobook, sitting down and reading it out loud. Because there it is. I’ve told these stories so many times to friends over 40 years. But once I sat down to record it out loud, I found myself crying and getting really emotional. That was hard.”
Despite the emotional toll, Applegate remained committed to sharing her story honestly, even when others suggested she lighten the tone.
“You don’t understand how many arguments I got into with people about that. They kept saying, ‘Christina, it’s a little depressing.’ And I said, ‘Well, that was my life.’ I can add funny things, and there are funny things, there are great times, but the point of writing this was never to tell my Hollywood story. It was to tell the story of a little girl with sad eyes.”
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Christina Applegate Says She’s Still Processing What Healing Will Look Like
Although the memoir represents a major step in telling her story, Applegate admitted that the emotional impact of sharing it publicly is still unfolding.
“I don’t know yet. Maybe a year from now I’ll know. Right now, the anticipation and fear of sharing all of this is weighing on me quite a bit. I feel like once people actually receive it, if even one person who has been through abuse reads this and goes, ‘Thank you,’ that’s going to be the healing part. Right now, I’m in complete and utter anxiety about it. People are going to be judging my life. It’s very scary.”
Ultimately, she hopes the book resonates with people who have experienced similar trauma.
“Kids who came from abuse, who watched a parent be abused, or who experienced it themselves, and are trying to navigate life afterward. This isn’t a self-help book. It’s not even inspirational, really. It’s literally just my thoughts, pulled from journals I’ve kept my whole life, stored in a fire-retardant box…”
“You With the Sad Eyes” is out now.
Tom Sandoval remains one of the most talked-about of the former “Vanderpump Rules” cast. This is due both to his appearances on shows like “The Traitors” and “America’s Got Talent” and to his involvement in “Scandoval.” Now, two years since his time on “VPR” ended, he’s both returning to reality television and teasing a possible marriage with girlfriend Victoria Lee Robinson.
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Tom Sandoval Says Marriage May Be Next For Him
TMZ recently caught up with Sandoval in New York City at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The interviewer discussed a few topics with the “Vanderpump Rules” alum, including his thoughts on “Traitors” and if he thinks he’s finally passed the “Scandoval” situation. He said, “Moving on has felt so good, so great, and I’m enjoying life.”
Sandoval continued, “I’m enjoying my experiences. I went to the ‘Outlander’ premiere a couple of days ago, and it was awesome. My girlfriend and I just celebrated our two-year anniversary.” The interviewer then asked whether the world would see “the next level” with them, hinting that they would become engaged and marry in the future.
He responded, “Oh, yeah. Probably.”
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Tom And Victoria Are Going Strong
Sandoval and Robinson began dating in early 2024. Since then, they’ve made multiple public appearances together, and he has been open about being happier and more at peace with her than he was before. Before being asked about potentially marrying Robinson, he shared the Valentine’s Day gift to her on social media.
Per Yahoo Entertainment, the handwritten note read, “Victoria, with a love that stands the test of time. To a woman that’s beautiful out[side] and inside. To a Behbay that’s truly one of a kind, will you be my Valentine?” The note had check box options for “yes” and “no.” Robinson checked “yes.”
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Before this, he appeared on The Viall Files podcast in April 2025. Regarding their relationship, he said, “I’m in a committed, loving, awesome relationship. This is my person. I’m serious about where I’m going, what I want to do, and our future. We have goals, we have things we want to do together, and I’m all about it, and I’m 100 percent in.”
Robinson, who was also in the interview, echoed similar sentiments.
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Fans Are Reacting To The Idea Of Sandoval Becoming Engaged
Some “Vanderpump Rules” fans don’t have the best opinions of Sandoval following his having an affair while in a relationship with his former co-star, Ariana Madix, with another co-star, Raquel Leviss. Still, everyone wants the best for him despite his past actions. Regarding him possibly getting engaged, one X user said, “If both of them are happy together, that’s what matters. Hope it works out for them.”
Someone else said, “Good for him. He got way too much hate.” Another person wrote, “Lowkey didn’t expect this… but I’m watching how this plays out.” Finally, a different social media user joked, “Who and who? And why do we hate them?”
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The Former ‘VPR’ Star Recently Gave An Update On Ariana Madix
Sandoval appeared on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” in March 2026. While on the show, host Andy Cohen asked for an update on the $2 million home he and Madix once shared. He said, “Yes, the house is going on the market. She got her clothes out.” Cohen then asked what he did with “the big Lego thing” that was seen on “Vanderpump Rules.” Sandoval stated that he was unsure where it was.
Afterward, Cohen asked whether Sandoval and Madix had spoken recently, and the reality star said they had not.” Notably, they moved into the Valley Village, California, home in 2019. According to E! News, it’s a 4,450-square-foot five-bedroom home, described as a “modern farmhouse.”
Tom Recently Joined ‘House of Villains’
Sandoval has been open about his hesitation to appear on Bravo’s “The Valley,” which is a spin-off of “Vanderpump Rules.” However, he is one of the cast members on season three of “House of Villains,” which has now switched from E! to Peacock. He spoke about filming the season in an interview with US Weekly.
In discussing who he bonded with from the cast, Sandoval revealed that he and Tyson Apostol became quite close. He said, “He was the best roommate, and it was fun just being around somebody that wasn’t taking it all so seriously all the time.”
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The “VPR” alum added, “Plus, he’s a legendary game player. He’s awesome, and it was cool to just be able to riff with him. He would tell me about how if somebody comes up to you to make an alliance or wants to have an alliance with you, you have to just say yes, no matter what, because otherwise they’ll turn on you. He gave me this really good advice, and I feel like we worked really well together on the show and just had a blast.”
New episodes of “House of Villains” premiere on Peacock on Thursdays.
Entertainment
Elisabeth Hasselbeck compares “The View” to enduring the world's 'deadliest snakes' on “Survivor”
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The controversial conservative cohost said “Survivor” gave her a “great training ground” to debate Hot Topics with the ladies on the panel.
Nevaeh Akira shared a precious clip of Blueface cradling and loving on her growing baby bump.
RELATED: Jaidyn Alexis Breaks Silence & Reacts To Blueface & Nevaeh Akira’s Pregnancy Announcement (WATCH)
Nevaeh Akira Shares Precious Clip Of Blueface Cradling Her Growing Baby Bump
Earlier this week, Nevaeh Akira took to TikTok to share a clip of her bare bump alongside Blueface. Furthermore, the clip appeared to show them lying in bed as Bluefac cradling her growing bump, dropping soft caresses and kisses. As background audio, Akira used Lauryn Hill’s ‘Sweetest Thing,’ and dropped an on-screen caption of some of the song’s lyrics.
Watch the precious clip below.
@iamnevaehakira “The lesson is to accept and not expect, he definitely does what a partner is supposed to do, that is develop you.”✨💙
More On Nevaeh & Blueface’s Baby Bump Announcement
As The Shade Room previously reported, last month, Blueface and Nevaeh Akira turned heads when they took a livestream to take a pregnancy test and ultimately revealed they were expecting. Furthermore, the viral announcement prompted an immediate reaction from Karlissa Saffold Harvey.
“Kids are a blessing if he happy I’m happy [heart hands emoji] congratulations to them both and may God bless the baby,” Harvey wrote via her Instagram Story at the time.
In the days that followed, Nevaeh Akira took to her Instagram Story to share her excitement and love for Blueface. In one message, she remarked that she is “overly in love” with him compared to her previous partner, her young son’s father. Even so much so, Akira said she doesn’t think she’ll have “parts” in their unborn child resembling her, per The Shade Room.
Additionally, another reaction that rolled in came from the mother of Blueface’s oldest children, Jaidyn Alexis. As The Shade Room previously reported, Alexis seemingly shared her acceptance of Blueface’s new chapter while on a livestream with fans.
What’s The Latest With The Pair?
It appears Blueface and Nevaeh Akira’s pregnancy journey has largely been filled with bliss since their announcement. Later that month, Blue and Akira noted their plans to have a “healthy pregnancy” — though some perceived their sentiments as shots at Chrisean Rock, the mother of Blueface’s younger son, Chrisean Porter.
Nonetheless, more recently, Blueface and Akira revealed that they are expecting a baby boy, and also shared his name. This is where things apparently went left with Akira and Blueface’s mom.
RELATED: Karlissa Saffold Shares That She Was Blocked After Reacting To Blueface And Nevaeh Akira’s Gender Reveal (PHOTO)
What Do You Think Roomies?
Summary
- Collider’s Perri Neiroff chats with Milla Jovovich for Protector.
- In this Q&A, Jovovich takes us behind the scenes, from her first reading of the script to the final days of production.
- She discusses the most challenging action sequences of her career, going “back to basics” after CGI’s hold on Hollywood, serving as a producer, and why Protector is so special to her.
In Protector, star and producer Milla Jovovich’s Nikki is called a “force of nature,” and there’s just no better way to describe Jovovich’s presence on screen. No matter the movie, no matter the role, whether it be The Fifth Element or Alice in Resident Evil, Jovovich commands the screen with a ferocity unique to her. This time, however, she tells Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, the job was personal: “I needed to tell this story.”
From director Adrian Grünberg (Rambo: Last Blood), Protector is an action movie that will appeal to fans of Taken, with propulsive fight sequences, and the “reigning queen of kick-ass” herself leading the charge. For Jovovich, who plays special ops soldier Nikki Halsted, and a mother who will stop at nothing to save her kidnapped daughter (Isabel Myers), it’s a powerful story that resonated with her own personal life.
In a recent Q&A with Nemiroff, Jovovich hit the stage to highlight the team that made their low-budget, 23-day shoot a reality, from condensing the script to a tighter 90-minute feature, all the way to the editing process. She shares her experience not only as the star, discussing why Protector is the most challenging action of her career, but also as the producer. “It’s the first movie I’ve ever taken from point A to point Z, and I am really proud of it,” she says, explaining how involved she stayed throughout, from evolving the script on set to handling the simpler matters at 4:00 in the morning. “It was the chance of a lifetime, and I never expected that I could do something like this.”
You can watch the full conversation in the video above, or read the transcript below.
Milla Jovovich Goes “Back to the Basics” With ‘Protector’
“There’s been such an overwhelm with big visual effects movies.”
MILLA JOVOVICH: We literally locked the picture less than two months ago. So, it’s been this whole year just editing and doing the soundtrack and scoring and editing and more scoring and color grading and editing and re-editing.
PERRI NEMIROFF: Not to jump ahead to the score, but it’s got an A+ score. I feel like the theme for your character almost has this booming The Shining-type feel. I just really enjoy those sounds!
JOVOVICH: Yeah, we definitely wanted Nikki’s theme to be strong, so when you hear that dun, dun, boom, you know it’s going to go down. You know something’s going to happen.
I need that to play every time I walk into a room.
Going back to the beginning now, from the perspective of an actor, when this material first came your way, is there anything about it that made you stop and go, “I would have something to gain from this as an actor who’s always looking to challenge myself in new ways and evolve my craft?”
JOVOVICH: When I got this script, definitely, for me, it always has to resonate, and, like, “What can I bring to it?” in a sense that immediately I can feel that this is something I could really bring something to. The script was very different when I got my hands on it. It was beautifully written, but it was all in Korean, and it was kind of translated. I don’t know, it kind of felt a little bit translated by ChatGPT, maybe, but the essence of it was so powerful, which is really like the relationship of the nightmare the parent goes through when their child is taken from them. In a way, for me, what I found that I could do with this is I sit up at night thinking of what I would do to somebody that took my kid, and here’s my opportunity to make a movie where I can actually put that out there, and get that out of my system, while also highlighting something that is so prevalent in this country and so prevalent everywhere right now in some of the highest circles of society.
Now, to look at the other hat that you wear on this production, you’re not only the star of this movie, you’re also a producer on it, and I’m always curious to hear about this part of the process. When the material comes your way, at what point do you figure out, “I can best serve this movie by not only starring in it, but also serving as a producer, too?”
JOVOVICH: When I realized that it needed to be rewritten to condense it, to get to the meat of it, and simplify it so that the concept would be able to be something that would come across to an audience in like 90 minutes. It was much more sprawling. The original took place in Bangkok and many other places, so I wanted to bring it to a place where we could make it for the amount of money that we had, as well, but also make it well.
I’ve been very lucky to work with our DP and the cameraman, Vern Nobles, on many of the films I’ve made in the past with my husband, and he happens to live 15 minutes away from our house, so we called Vern and said, “Listen, there’s this film, and we need you because we need cameras.” And he just happens to collect cameras. He literally has, like, 15 cameras in his garage, so he took his U-Haul. He had just worked with the director, Adrian Grünberg, on Rambo: Last Blood, and he said, “There’s this great director that I think would really bring a lot to the film because we have a very short shooting schedule, and we need someone who knows what they’re doing, who knows how to shoot action really well, and who knows how to keep to a budget and keep to a timeline.” And of course, that’s super important. So, we were able to bring this team together that was very close, that had worked together before.
A lot of films, I feel like they start, and nobody really knows each other. It’s like starting a new company. By the time you wrap, it’s like a well-oiled machine, but at the beginning, it’s like everyone’s still getting to know each other. Here, we had that core team that knew how to work together. We had experience of over 10 years working together, so I think that really helped.
And of course, having such an awesome cast and being able to get such great actors, being able to shoot in Las Cruces, where so much of this actually happens, it was incredible to really be able to take this film and make it as gritty and raw and realistic as possible. I think there’s been such an overwhelm with big visual effects movies, and I’m part of the problem. [Laughs] I’ve done a lot of them. So for me, it was actually really fun to go back to the basics and really use the practical effects, really make sure that my fight sequences were something that a woman trained as I was in the special ops in the military, using our close friends, who were military advisors on other films that I had been on to really develop the character from the ground up, and make sure that the style of fighting that Nikki had was something that a woman could do. It wasn’t just about, “Let’s do some wire work and fix it in post and do some Hong Kong flips and some butterfly kicks and some crazy martial arts,” which, actually, on my first day, there was a lot of that, and I was like, “Okay, guys, calm down. This is different. This character needs to be real, and I want to portray her in a way where any woman watching this with that military experience, any woman, let’s say in the military, watching this with her experience, would be like, “Yeah, I could do that.”
Obviously, it’s a movie, and obviously it’s action-packed, and it’s supposed to be exciting and fun to watch Nikki kick ass, but it’s really rooted in reality, which I love. It’s got that gritty feeling to it, that raw, practical, we-did-it-ourselves feeling. I mean, when I was hanging upside down, that wasn’t makeup. I literally was a newborn baby, like purple and blue. [Laughs] That was not makeup. That was for real.
There was something Adrian said in our press notes about that that really wowed me. He was saying that you can hang upside down for about 1.5 minutes and then you start to get dizzy, but you did it for 4.5 minutes-worth of the cameras rolling. How? How do you do that?
JOVOVICH: Well, I felt fine, first of all. I wanted to get it because it was 2:00 in the morning, we had to wrap in a few hours, and it was one of the most important scenes in the film. It’s so beautifully shot, as well. It’s such a great sequence. I really wanted to get it right. So, a lot of it was just because I was hanging upside down, and every time they would put me down, everyone would disperse. Everyone would go get coffee, go to the craft truck, and talk, and this and that, and it would take like half an hour to get everybody back and get me up there again. So at one point, I was like, “No, no, no, just keep rolling. We have two cameras.” So at this point, I’m talking to the other actor, Manny. I said, “Manny, at this point, take my head, but be aware of where the camera is. Just turn my head, and don’t block me because light is there.”
It was just really so much in a way like you would do it on stage. It was just one long scene, and we just continually reset so that at the end it was almost choreographed in that sense to where we knew each beat so that the cameras and we were all in sync, and we could just get it done.
‘Protector’ Has the Most Intense Action Milla Jovovich Has Ever Done
“Let’s make it brutal. Let’s make it real.”
I have so many stunt-specific questions. You leaned into this a little bit before, but I love digging into the specifics of what it takes to fight like someone with this kind of military background. Given all the action movies you’ve done, do you come into this project mostly prepped, or are there any specific things you really have to brush up on to get just right for this kind of person?
JOVOVICH: For me, the action was some of the most challenging I’ve ever done in a film, period, because it was really happening. It wasn’t like, “Oh, we’ll do it in post. We’ll fix it in post. Oh, it’s a green screen. Let’s just get the double in.” But yeah, I have 30 years of experience of being an action hero, and so I come with that experience. I think what really sets this movie apart for me was that, as a producer, I had the ability to really tailor the action sequences to Nikki’s character, so it wasn’t just kind of redundant and didn’t feel generic in that way. It felt real, and it felt different from the movies I had made before. It felt like, “That’s Nikki Halsted. That’s the way she fights.”
There were a lot of things that I learned and that we all learned when we had to fix the way we were looking at it, which was this isn’t about taekwondo. This isn’t about wushu. This isn’t about big flourishing stuff. This is about tight combat. This is about using your mind. This is about really taking people by surprise. This is really about using your wits, being sharp, and being fast. People, I think, really underestimate the element of surprise. In most fights, number one, you end up on the ground, but in reality, you have to do what people don’t expect because you win half the battle just by putting people off, and I think that’s what she does in the end is using her skills, but at the same time, using her brain to be able to really have the element of surprise on her behalf, and using it to the best of her ability.
So many follow-up questions! You emphasized before that some of the stunts you did in this movie were some of the most difficult of your career, and it made me want to ask this. Of all the movies you’ve made, is there any particular stunt from a past film that you would deem the toughest, and how does the toughest in this movie compare to that?
JOVOVICH: Well, this isn’t the first time I’ve hung upside down. But again, in the past it has been easier because we had more money, we had more time, we had more cameras. We had more freedom. The action sequences, for instance, in the Resident Evil movies, we would have days to do them. On this, we would have a few hours. We shot for 23 days, and literally, over three weeks of that were nights. So, it was really hard for me on my body, because when you’re shooting nights, and then it’s six-day weeks, you have that one day to recover, and usually that one day was spent talking to my military advisor, Natalie Mallue. She’s a lieutenant colonel in the Army.
We were lucky because we got to shoot a lot of it in the order that you see it in, and so there was a lot of thought that went on, where it was like, “Okay, now I’ve shot this, so are we going to just go by what’s in the script? But maybe we need to change it.” So there was a lot of just talking with the director, and talking to the writer, and being able to, on the spot, change dialogue, change where Nikki’s coming from, what she does in a certain situation. Like that whole scene with Sullivan, where I shoot his kneecaps off. That was something that happened literally on the day, because of the fight where I said, “I don’t like to repeat myself.” I was like, “Let’s do that again.” [Laughs] Because at this point, this guy is pissing me off. He’s not answering my questions, and now he’s down on the floor, and she’s going to kill him anyway because he deserves it, so let’s make it brutal. Let’s make it real.
Also, I’m not one for just gratuitous violence in that sense. I love fantasy. I love sci-fi. I love horror. I love the fun of it. But this movie, I did not want the violence to feel gratuitous; I wanted the violence to feel satisfying and validating, and I wanted every person watching it to go, “I would have done the same thing.” It’s just something that comes from your gut, where you just want to destroy somebody.
‘Protector’ Is Personal
Jovovich shares why this is more than an action movie for her.
Of all the ambitious set pieces you have to do in this movie, going into filming, which did you think was going to be the most challenging for you, and ultimately, was it, or did a different one catch you by surprise?
JOVOVICH: This is a question for the audience because I’m really interested, coming from the writing and the editing: did you guys see the ending coming?
AUDIENCE: No.
JOVOVICH: Good. [Laughs] For me, through the editing process, that was one of the things, there was always talking with the other producers about, “How much do we show? How much do we show?” And so many times in cinema, and especially, I think, not to say anything adverse about Western cinema, but it almost feels like people feel like they need to spoon-feed it to an audience, and I really felt like I wanted people leaving the theater with questions. I didn’t want to put this big bow on it. This is a woman who’s suffered such trauma in her life, and I think in the end, it wasn’t about the action sequence; it wasn’t about killing the bad guy at the end. That happens, but actually, that’s not the end of the movie. That’s not the reality. The reality is what it is, what you saw, and that was so hard.
For me, being a mother of three girls, obviously, it was something that I really felt like I needed to tell this story. It was really important for me when my eldest daughter watched the movie to see it because I did it for her, and I wanted her to know how hard it was for me to make, because I was thinking about her the whole time. The scene where I finally find her, I was just sitting on my phone and looking at all these pictures of her as a baby and growing up and getting ready to do the scene. Emotionally, it’s crazy because I’m not a method actor in any way, but at the same time, I feel like every character you do leaves an impression on you, and changes you because you do end up living in someone else’s shoes and seeing through their perspective no matter who they are. So, it does kind of change you in a way.
But coming to this film as a producer, as well, my husband produces all of our movies, and I’m constantly asking him, “Why do you need to do that again? Why do you need to go to the sound edit? Why do you need to go to the color grade?” And then suddenly, here I am doing what he does and understanding, like, “Oh my god, if I’m not there, that’s what the movie’s going to look like. If I’m not there, that’s what it’s going to sound like. If I don’t take it and just kind of hold it close and really work on it to the best of my ability…”
My god, this whole last summer, we were on vacation, and I tell you what, I know a lot of people say after vacation you need a vacation, but we had three kids on vacation, and we were waking up at 4:00 a.m. because our sound engineer and Don Cherel, who did the soundtrack with us… He’s a fabulous musician and was also a cameraman. He’s also a friend of Vern’s. Everybody did everything. It was amazing. But he’s on the East Coast, we were on the West Coast, so it’s three hours ahead for him, so we would be waking up at 4:00 in the morning just to sit down and go through the sounds of stupid, simple things, where you go, “What does this slide sound like? That slide just sounds so eh. You need like the slide to be like…” There are so many slides you can have, and you never realize how difficult that is until you actually experience it, and you realize how different a movie can be when you give it that love, and you give it that energy and that time. Especially not just with my scenes, but with the scenes in the police station, with the scenes with the other actors, the scenes that I wasn’t in, to really be able to keep the momentum going, to have the right music, to make sure that the way it was cut together to form the relationships that I knew were there, but just needed to be found.
As an actor, I think it gave me a really great upper hand because I was looking for performance, and a lot of times I would find moments that you wouldn’t even think. It was like a moment, even sometimes, where the actor didn’t even know they were being filmed. They were just reacting. I was like, “That’s real.” In the end, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing.
This is a great story my mom told me when she was in film school in the former Soviet Union. She was watching this senior actor on stage, and it was the last show. The graduates of that year would do their big performance, and he had this big speech, and at the end, he did this pause, and everybody was just watching him, like, “What is he thinking?” And then he finally said the line, and everybody was just overwhelmed. After the show, they came up to him, and they said, “What were you thinking when you took that pause?” And he goes, “You see those lights at the end of the theater? I was counting every single one.” [Laughs] I mean, the fact is, sometimes it’s as simple as just being real. It’s not about emoting or pretending or method acting. It’s just being real. Just doing something real.
Sometimes when I’m doing a scene, I’ll pinch myself, just something to get a reaction that I know is going to make my face do something. It might not be “respectable,” it’s not method, but it’s real. For an audience watching a movie, you need to make it real for them. In the end, we’re making movies. We’re not living real life, right? So we don’t need to really do drugs to play a drug addict, we just need you to believe that through our ability to trick you, right? It’s smoke and mirrors, and it’s the ability to have the education and the experience to make those smoke and mirrors work so well that people have that, “Wow!” They believe it, you know? In the end, that’s what performing has always been about, from the very beginning, from when people were on stage doing vaudeville. It was just that magic of bringing people into a story and then having them live with you through it and having you believe it — not because the special effects were the best, it was just because it was a great story. The actors, we’re giving you something real, and you went with it, and you bought it because you wanted to.
But this movie, it took a lot out of me. I mean, here I am still in the middle of it. It’s going to get released, finally. Finally, it’s going to be behind me. Not in a bad way, but just in a way of like, I can release it and move forward with my life because I’ve been obsessed with it for a year, and I need to take a step back and put Nikki to bed, finally.
‘Protector’ Shows a Whole New Side of Milla Jovovich
“It was a chance of a lifetime.”
For anyone out there who watches Collider Ladies Night, you know we always end those interviews with this particular question, and the way you’re describing how all-in you were with this production and how close to it you’ve been for so long is making me want to ask you this right now. Before I ask the question, I will just stress that when we were watching the credits, every single name you saw is of the utmost importance to making the movie. It’s a team effort, and every single one of those people is invaluable, but I find that in film and television, not enough of us stop to tell ourselves, “Good job,” nearly enough, so I want to know something that you accomplished making this movie that you know you’re always going to be able to look back on and say to yourself, “I’m so damn proud of what I did there.”
JOVOVICH: It’s such a funny question. It’s a great question because I think I am really hard on myself. I guess in the end, you do your best, and I know I did my best to make this movie the very, very best that it could be, and the story moved me. Everybody involved worked so hard, and I’m so grateful to the cast and to the crew for putting their all, for coming back to do some reshoots for free, literally in our home. People were there for real. Even when we were filming, a lot of times, they’ll say action, and some of the crew will check their phones and this and that, but people were watching. People were there with us.
But it’s the first movie I’ve ever taken from point A to point Z, and I am really proud of it. I am really proud of it, regardless. Some people are going to love it, some people are going to hate it. That’s the business I’m in, right? It is what it is. Some people are going to love it, some people are going to hate it. But it was a chance of a lifetime, and I never expected that I could do something like this. I never in my life expected that I could do something like this, so yeah, I am very proud of it.
As you should be! Let’s take a couple of audience questions now.
AUDIENCE: Did anybody ever figure out how many people you killed throughout the movie?
JOVOVICH: You know what? My dad is a great person who will be able to answer that because he keeps a really good body count. Because every time I call him, he’s like, “Kiddo, how many did you kill today?” [Laughs] So I know he’s going to be keeping score! I hope I don’t lose my crown as the reigning queen of kick-ass with this movie.
AUDIENCE: What made you decide to go from modeling to acting? What was the draw? What was the attraction?
JOVOVICH: Acting was something I was always going to do. My mother was an actress. We came to America with nothing, and she taught me what she knew because she realized that we needed some way to make our way in a new country. She didn’t speak the language. She was young, and she was gorgeous and so talented, but she wasn’t going to find work in a new country. So, she kind of put all of her energy into me. So I never really had a choice of what I was going to do, because I had a family to support. That was always very ingrained in me from a very early age, was that we all have to do our part to help our family make it to move forward in a new country.
AUDIENCE: It just seemed like you were so big as a model.
JOVOVICH: But, you know, at the same time, if you look at my early work, like Return to the Blue Lagoon, for instance, I was 14 years old when I did that press tour, just turned 15, and I got ripped to pieces. The kind of things that grown people said about a child, like how horrible I was, what a horrible actress I was. I’m in the middle of a press tour, and I’m having to read these reviews and then go on national television and try to hold my head up and be professional. It gave me a really big chip on my shoulder for a long time.
Thank god I had music. I love to sing, I love to write, and I had something else to do to kind of take my disappointment in myself, knowing that my mom was this amazing actress and I could never live up to her, and here was the proof. And at the time in a kid’s life that’s so pivotal when you’re a teenager, it was very hard. I think it definitely made me who I am. It’s still things that I’m dealing with today, of trying to love myself and accept myself, and go, “You’ve done a lot of good and inspired a lot of people with your career,” and to remind myself of that, because in the end, that girl who got those bad reviews is still there going, “Will I ever really be good?”
I do feel like this film was one of the first of my career where you kind of see, not the real me, but definitely a part of who I can be. Not the fun me, but the me that, in a disaster scenario… [Laughs] My family will laugh because there have been times when we went on vacation, there was a tsunami warning, and I started hiding food under the table. Then they were like, “It’s coming! It’s coming!” and I took my hand luggage, and I started walking like 50 feet up, and I was like, “Come on, family! We’re going 50 feet up,” as if that’s going to save us. But that part of me that’s like, “I’m going to take care of my family no matter what.” It’s just this calm.
That’s what I love about Nikki. I find in a lot of parents, and with myself, as well, in some of the most traumatic situations with your kid, when they get hurt or are in the hospital, you get this calm. You don’t panic because you have to take care of your child, so you can’t be like, “Ahh!” So, it’s almost like a shark, when their eyes glaze over, and you just have to do what you have to do. That is so what Nikki is all about, until that one moment where she almost dies, and she snaps. That was the one moment where I wanted to show her let go, and to show the human behind that machine of, “I’m gonna make this happen. I’m gonna make sure that my daughter gets found. I’m going to save her. I’m not going to panic. I’m never going to panic. I’m just going to go from one point to the next,” like a machine, almost. That was very real for me.
PERRI NEMIROFF: I’m so glad you brought that scene up. There are so many standout beats in this movie, but that particular one left me breathless.
JOVOVICH: That scene was written in the midst of everything. Again, this movie evolved, and that scene in particular really stood out for me because when it came to the day of shooting it, I talked to Isabel Myers, who played my daughter, and she’s such a wonderful actress and such a wonderful collaborator, and I said, “This has to be real.” We talked to the DP, and I said, “You can’t be like this angelic figure with this light around you. I want people, for a second, to go, ‘Wait a minute, is that her daughter sitting right next to her?’” Again, to just strip away all of the fluff and really just have that moment of, “Wow, this is what I’ve wanted to say to my kid all this time, and I never could because we didn’t leave it on a good note.” And I just want her to know that I’m going to do everything I can to get her back, to get her home. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
Protector is in theaters now.
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