Related: Sofia Vergara Ditched Her Old Sneakers for This $88 Amazon Pair
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It comes as no surprise that Martha Stewart was in attendance at the Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California. But something that did leave us a bit stunned? Her comfortable airport outfit, which included a pair of slip-on sneakers that we want as our new travel shoes. Stewart’s exact pick is available on Amazon, and the breathable option is something you’ll want in your rotation, whether you’re walking onto an airplane, gearing up for a road trip or simply commuting to work.
Stewart consciously chose the Skechers Slip-Ins Go Walk Flex-Relish Sneakers to go with her travel aesthetic. In an Instagram post caption, the lifestyle queen noted that the shoes matched her Louis Vuitton coat, proving that celebrities are pros at incorporating high and low pieces into their wardrobes.
Get the Skechers Slip-Ins Go Walk Flex-Relish Sneakers for $64 (originally $81) at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate as of the publishing date but are subject to change.
The magic of the Skechers slip-ins is that the laceless design lets you slide your feet in without bending down. That especially comes in handy at the airport when you’re going through security. These sneakers feature the brand’s Air-Cooled Memory Foam insoles, as well as Ultra Go cushioning and Flex Pillars for support. What also makes them top-tier travel shoes is that they’re safe to throw in the washing machine, so there’s no need to stress if you accidentally kick a dirty suitcase wheel or if they get dirty throughout the day.
Stewart wore the Olive colorway, an attractive earth tone that feels a bit more special than basic black. However, neutral lovers will be thrilled to find that the same pair of sneakers comes in black, off-white, navy, gray and more. We’re also big fans of the hot pink, red and purple shades for a stylish pop.
Between the slip-on design and serious comfort factor, it’s no wonder that Amazon shoppers are raving about these Sketchers sneakers.
“These are the best sneakers (shoes) ever. I wear mine every waking minute,” one happy buyer said. “After some foot problems a few years back, I am more comfortable with these sneakers than barefoot, so I wear an inside pair around the house. They are lightweight and fit perfectly.”
“I’ve tried countless walking shoes, but the Skechers Women’s Hands Free Slip-ins Go Walk Flex-relish Wide truly stands out!” a verified purchaser wrote. :These shoes are incredibly comfortable with their memory foam insole that feels like walking on clouds, and the slip-on design makes getting them on and off a breeze.”
Whether you need a pair of travel shoes like Stewart or prefer an easy everyday option, the price (and comfort!) is right when it comes to these Sketchers. Grab ’em while they’re still in stock!
Get the Skechers Slip-Ins Go Walk Flex-Relish Sneakers for $64 (originally $81) at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate as of the publishing date but are subject to change.
Looking for something else? Explore more slip-on shoes here and don’t forget to check out all of Amazon’s Daily Deals for more great finds!
Southern Charm’s Olivia Flowers and her boyfriend, Alex Williams, surprisingly called off their wedding in October 2025 but have remained together amid the difficult decision.
Flowers met Williams after they both attended a wedding in Texas in 2023. After connecting at the event, the pair started dating and got engaged in September 2024 only to cancel the nuptials one year later.
“After much thought and many heartfelt conversations, Olivia and her fiancé Alex have made the difficult decision to not move forward with their wedding,” read a statement shared via Cabine Creative Flowers’ Instagram in October 2025. “This was not a decision made lightly, but one grounded in mutual respect and love for one another.”
The message added that Flowers and Wiliams “remain committed to each other with a renewed sense of clarity, strength and appreciation for honoring one’s heart.”
Keep scrolling to see why they called off the wedding — and where they stand now:
Olivia Flowers and Alex Williams started dating in May 2023 after meeting at a wedding.
“After arriving late to a wedding (& tripping up the church stairs) I was met by a handsome usher to take me to my seat,” Flowers shared via Instagram in May 2024 in honor of the couple’s first anniversary. “Later, that same usher asked my date (my dad) if he could dance with me … A year later and we’re still dancing 🪩 (and tripping up stairs). Cheers to stage 5 clinging.”
Alex Williams got down on one knee and proposed to Oliver Flowers after two years of dating.
“‘Engagement photos are corny.’ — Me … a week ago,” she wrote via Instagram in October 2024 alongside a series of snaps from the proposal. “It was perfection. Thank you all for this unforgettable PROPOSAL… WHAT?! I love you, especially you Alexander 😘.”
Two months after getting engaged, Olivia Flowers exclusively told Us Weekly that wedding planning was “overwhelming.”
“We’re just kind of staying in the engagement bliss for right now,” she explained, noting that she had “only barely scraped the surface” at the time.
Cabine Creative Flowers’ Instagram revealed via a statement that Olivia Flowers and Alex Williams were not moving “forward with their wedding.”
“Alex and Olivia remain committed to each other with a renewed sense of clarity, strength and appreciation for honoring one’s heart,” the message read. “She is very appreciative of your grace and kindness as they move through this transition together.”
In February 2026, Olivia Flowers got candid about why she and Alex Williams did not go forward with their wedding.
“It was a decision we made together and honestly, we had so much stress about things post-wedding and I think we were scapegoating the wedding planning as, like, ‘Oh this is why we’re stressed,’” Flowers said during an appearance on Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast. “But then three weeks out from the wedding, the wedding’s done being planned, you’re done and we’re still feeling that stressed. So we had a lot of difficult conversations, but they were essential and we realized we were both feeling stressed and nervous about things post-wedding.”
Flowers added that she and Williams were taking a “beat” to get back on the same page while they both focus on their careers .
“We can hit pause and just kind of get back in alignment with each other and what we want to do,” she explained. “The wedding got very big, and as much fun as I had planning it, it did kind of get away from me. And it’s a celebration, it’s a party to everyone with all our people and we love that, but for us it’s a step into forever and we take it very seriously.”
Olivia Flowers and Alex Williams are still dating and the decision to call off the wedding has strengthened their connection.
“It definitely is a level up in the relationship,” she said in February 2026. “There’s a whole new space of authenticity and just, like, talking to each other. That’s how we reached the decision, is being like, ‘Something is off here.’ And recognizing the disconnect we were having. … So taking the time, we really prioritized communicating.”
Flowers also hinted that a ceremony will take place one day.
“You definitely learn as you go, and the cool thing about this is I get to go back and do it again,” she explained. “I do see it being more intimate, but the wear and all that, I guess it just doesn’t matter all that much. I do want three outfit changes.”
More than 30 years after Kurt Cobain’s death, the tragedy is once again making headlines and reopening painful wounds for Courtney Love.
A shocking new forensic investigation is questioning the long-standing ruling that the Nirvana frontman died by suicide.
While officials stand by their original findings, fresh claims have sparked renewed conspiracy theories. For Love, who has faced decades of blame and hatred, the renewed scrutiny feels painfully familiar.
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Kurt Cobain died on April 5, 1994, at 27 from a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.
His body was discovered on April 8, three days after his death, in the greenhouse above the garage of his Seattle home. For decades, the case was considered closed.
Now, an unofficial private sector team of forensic scientists has questioned Cobain’s cause of death ruling.
After reviewing autopsy findings and crime scene records, the researchers suggested that aspects of the case pointed to a homicide rather than a suicide.
Independent crime scene reconstruction expert Bryan Burnett cited blood patterns, clothing evidence and damage to the muscian’s mouth that he argued were inconsistent with a typical suicide scenario.
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The team suggested Cobain was confronted by one or more assailants who forced a heroin overdose to incapacitate him before one of them shot him in the head, placed the gun in his arms and left behind a forged suicide note.
Despite these claims, authorities have not changed their position.
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Following Kurt Cobain’s death, police said he injected himself with ten times the normal amount even a heavy heroin user would have used. The autopsy also detected morphine, codeine and diazepam in his system.
The King County Medical Examiner concluded that the cause of death was a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.
At the time, a spokesperson for the Seattle Police Department said, “Kurt Cobain died by suicide in 1994. This continues to be the position held by the Seattle Police Department.”
It is well documented that Cobain suffered from severe depression and years of chronic drug use.
In March 1994, one month before his death, he was hospitalized in Rome, Italy, after an overdose of champagne and Rohypnol.
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Love found him unconscious in his room at the Excelsior Hotel. She later suggested the overdose was a suicide attempt, though his management team said at the time that it was accidental.
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For Love, the renewed investigation feels like history repeating itself.
“Over the years and decades since Kurt’s death, she has heard every story about his death, how it was her fault. Just one misery after another,” an insider exclusively told the Daily Mail.
They added, “She loved him more than anyone else she has ever been with. She will always remember him for who he was, but now that there is another conspiracy of how he died, it is her version of Groundhog Day.”
Love has long been vilified by Nirvana fans worldwide who blame her for Cobain’s death.
Some unfounded theories have claimed she hired a hitman for financial control of Cobain’s estate, something she has repeatedly denied.
One year after his death, a fan threw a spent shotgun shell casing on stage at a Hole concert.

As recently as 2024, Love admitted she wasn’t prepared for the backlash that followed Kurt Cobain’s death.
In an interview with the Evening Standard, she said she always wanted to be thought of as a b-tch, while Cobain wanted to be liked.
“People used to say that I was so difficult. They said I was disagreeable. Yes, I am completely disagreeable and I’m never going to apologize for that,” Love said. “I always wanted to be known as a b-tch. Being liked was never my thing. Kurt wanted to be liked but not me.”
She added, “He was able to hide behind me, but then I got hated. Then Kurt died, and the hatred towards me reached a completely new level. I did not plan for that.”
In a 2011 interview with Vanity Fair, Love also revealed lingering anger over his death.
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“If [Cobain] came back right now I’d have to kill him, for what he did to us,” she said. “I’d f-cking kill him. I’d f-ck him, and then I’d kill him. He tried to kill himself three times! He OD’d at least five times.”

Despite the controversy, Love appears focused on honoring Cobain’s memory.
“She would love Kurt to be able to rest in peace, but it looks like that will never happen. And as the years continue, it will be something else,” the insider said.
The source added that the singer is going to choose to honor him instead of reliving that horrible moment in her life and not give it any life it doesn’t need.
Meanwhile, Love, who has battled drug addiction in the past, is now sober and has been living in London since 2019.
She is also the subject of an intimate documentary titled “Antiheroine,” which premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
The film examines her relationship with Cobain, her addiction struggles, and decades of public scrutiny.
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In the documentary, she reflected on falling in love when Hole toured with Nirvana in 1991.
“When you find somebody you really get along with and can be yourself with, it’s easy,” she said. “We knew we were in love, we knew we wanted to have a baby right away. The thing that got in the way was his need for total oblivion.”
She also recalled the night Cobain died while she was staying at the Peninsula Beverly Hills during rehab. She said he tried to call her, but the front desk did not put the late-night call through.
More than three decades later, Kurt Cobain’s death remains a painful chapter, one that continues to shape Courtney Love’s life in ways she never planned for.
“The Big Bang Theory” star Kunal Nayyar‘s months-old interview is getting online traction, drawing attention to his comments about donating to GoFundMe pages. The actor’s generosity gained renewed interest following the death of James Van Der Beek and the GoFundMe campaign set up for the actor’s family.
The revelation started an online discussion, with users pointing to broader issues, such as the healthcare system and people’s reliance on crowdfunding sources for medical expenses.
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Big Bang Theory star Kunal Nayyar revealed he has been using his wealth to secretly pay people’s medical bills.
He sits on his phone at night and looks through GoFundMe, giving donations to random families in complete anonymity. pic.twitter.com/EGhorr9IFZ
— Pubity (@pubity) February 16, 2026
In December 2025, Nayyar did an interview with The i Paper, wherein he said that having money has given him “greater freedom,” adding that he uses it give back and “change people’s lives.”
“What I really love to do is go on GoFundMe at night and just pay random families’ medical bills. That’s my masked vigilante thing,” Nayyar shared, saying that “money doesn’t feel like a burden.”
His interview has gone viral on social media after news that Van Der Beek’s friends set up a GoFundMe page to support the late actor’s family and six children. As The Blast previously reported, the campaign raised more than $1 million in less than a day.
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Nayyar and his wife, Neha Kapur, are philanthropists, using their wealth to help others in need. Apart from anonymously donating to GoFundMe pages, the couple also supports animal charities and helps fund university scholarships for young adults who come from underprivileged backgrounds.
While the actor believes that not everyone has the luxury to help others the way he does, he says there are other ways to help those who aren’t so fortunate in life.
“We are expecting a president or a politician, some leader, to come and bring us world peace. But there is no world peace if your neighbor comes to your door wanting some sugar for their tea, and you lock it against them and say ‘get away’,” Nayyar noted.
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As reported by Celebrity Net Worth, Nayyar has a net worth of $45 million, largely stemming from his work in entertainment.
Nayyar began acting in 2004, but his breakout role was as Rajesh Koothrappali on “The Big Bang Theory,” which aired for 12 seasons from 2007 to 2019. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the five lead actors in the show, including Nayyar, earned as much as $1 million per episode in the latter seasons of the sitcom.
In 2015 and 2018, Forbes listed Nayyar as the third-highest paid TV actor, earning $20 million and $23.5 million, respectively.
After “The Big Bang Theory” ended, Nayyar went on to star in shows, such as “Criminal: UK” and “Suspicion,” and movies, including “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry,” “Spaceman,” and “Christmas Karma.”
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Nayyar’s acts of kindness, specifically his GoFundMe donations, garnered mixed reviews from online users. Many called him out for donating anonymously, yet sharing it on a publication where thousands, if not millions, could read the information.
“He’s been doing it in private, was there any need for the public declaration?” one user questioned. “If he’s doing it in secret and it’s been going well for him, why the sudden need to make it public. Only make it seem as if he’s seeking public applause and validation. Not downplaying his kind gesture though,” one noted.
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Some came to the actor’s defense, noting that the anonymity aspect referred to the families not knowing the source of the donations, rather than the public being unaware of Nayyar’s generosity. “It’s one thing to give to a massive foundation, but there is something so personal and empathetic about sitting up at night and finding individual families to help,” one commented.
“This is less about a star giving money and more about someone using privilege to reduce random suffering one notification at a time,” another added.
Amid news of the GoFundMe for Van Der Beek’s family and Nayyar’s efforts to help ease the burden of families in need, social media users are turning their attention to a larger concern: the country’s healthcare system.
As one user noted, “It’s incredibly moving that Kunal is doing this but it’s also a heartbreaking reminder of how broken the healthcare system is. We shouldn’t have to rely on The Big Bang Theory stars randomly finding us on an app to pay for life-saving surgery.”
Another user commented, “A celebrity covering medical bills is generous. A country where strangers need GoFundMe to survive is broken. Applaud the man. Question the system.”
Ultimately, Nayyar’s quiet philanthropy has sparked conversations about the ways individuals can make an impact, even amid systemic challenges.
Kyle Cooke put the blame on wife Amanda Batula after she claimed on the latest episode of Summer House that his drinking was the crux of their relationship issues.
“I know I tried last night. I know it came out as some type of justification and excuse. But, I really do think we need to work on our communication,” Kyle, 43, told Amanda, 34, during the Tuesday, February 17, episode of the Bravo series, which was filmed in summer 2025 prior to the couple announcing their split in January.
Kyle said he wanted to “feel like we are on the same page,” and Amanda was in complete agreement as the pair sat on the “apology dune” during a group trip to the beach.
Despite wanting to make peace, Amanda confessed she was “not going to do things” for Kyle when he wasn’t doing the same for her.
Amanda pointed to Kyle’s alleged excessive drinking as her biggest issue amid their marriage woes, telling him, “I need you to get your drinking under control.”
Kyle argued that he “only” drinks “when I’m social,” which didn’t sit well with his spouse.
“But that’s a problem for me. I don’t want to babysit you. I don’t want people to feel like they need to keep an eye on you,” Amanda explained. “I need to know that my husband is responsible enough to go out on his own and come back.”
Kyle alleged that he was “in a horrible place” the weekend prior, which is why he drank too much and aired their dirty laundry to the group. (Kyle accused Amanda of smoking weed every night and claimed they never had sex because of it.)
“I told you going into the summer if we can’t literally, physically get our s*** together I’m going to have a mental breakdown. What did I do? Had a mental breakdown,” he quipped.
Amanda called that explanation an “excuse,” claiming that Kyle “shut[s] down every time that I tell you my issue is with you drinking and you put a wall up. That’s where my anger stems from.”
Kyle alleged that “the second” they got engaged in 2018, she “started saying ‘no’ to everything,” implying her staying home was part of the problem.
“Me not going out with you shouldn’t change your faithfulness to me and how intoxicated you get when you go out,” Amanda fired back.

Kyle Cooke, Amanda Batula. Courtesy of Amanda Batula/Instagram
Kyle then got visibly upset, telling Amanda that he thinks their real issues stem from not having “compatibility, chemistry, intimacy [and] common interests.”
“Oh, it’s about my drinking? What about the days, weeks, months you don’t ask me a single question?” Kyle asked. “I don’t know who I married anymore.”
He started to storm off before adding, “It’s about my drinking? If that’s what you think you’re coming here to talk about, you’re driving me to the drink.”
Kyle walked away from Amanda before getting in one more jab, telling her to “maybe get some curiosity, drive, intention, personality.”
Amanda claimed “this is how it always ends” between the pair as they’ve weathered many storms following their September 2021 nuptials.
A few minutes later, Kyle came back to Amanda who was getting choked up talking to producers about their latest fight.
“I’m sorry. We’ve gotten this far. I’m not trying to throw it down the drain here. I love you,” Kyle told his partner, confessing, “All of this makes me insanely sad and depressed.”
Amanda was equally upset. “I hurt every f***ing day. I just don’t get why after all of these years I keep asking the same thing and you keep not doing what I’m asking you for and then being like, ‘I don’t know what you need from me, Amanda!’” she explained. “I feel like I’m going crazy.”
After Kyle argued that Amanda knew he was a “social person” when they met, she confessed, “I didn’t think ‘social person’ meant cheating.”
“Every time you go out I get DMs telling me that you were up to something suspicious,” Amanda said. “I don’t even bring them up to you anymore. … It’s just constant.”
When a producer asked whether Amanda thinks Kyle has cheated on her since his 2018 infidelity, she was unclear.
“I don’t know. I’d like to think not. But he has in the past. There have been plenty of rumors about it. Who knows? Only Kyle,” she confessed.
Kyle, meanwhile, apologized for his outburst on the beach, saying, “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to give you the trust you need to be present in this relationship. I’m trying my best. I love you.”
Amanda replied, “I love you too. But, like, something’s gotta change, Kyle.”
After the cameras wrapped filming in summer 2025, Amanda and Kyle sparked split speculation over the fall months. It wasn’t until January that the pair confirmed they had separated after four years of marriage.
Summer House airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
Published
TMZSports.com
If Matthew Stafford ever gets honored with a statue, it shouldn’t live outside SoFi Stadium … so says former Rams star Todd Gurley … but the former NFL running back has a good explanation.
Gurley — who played for the Rams from 2015 to 2019 — broke it down to TMZ Sports at the Fanatics party during Super Bowl week … and based on chatter he’s heard, it’ll take a LOT for anyone to get the honor at the state-of-the-art venue in Inglewood.
“Since they share the stadium with the Chargers, if they build a statue of anyone, or they like put them in the stadium, the Chargers have that same right to do that for their player as well. So I don’t think they kinda wanna do that,” Gurley said. “From my understanding.”
The three-time Pro Bowler said if they’re planning to build one in the MVP’s honor, they should consider displaying it at the Rams Village at Warner Center, a mixed-use complex where the Rams headquarters is located.
“Maybe one of them down that way because it’ll be like a Rams complex,” Gurley said.
Anywhere else, and Gurley, 31, says Stafford will have to do a bit more to earn a SoFi spot.
Stafford finished the season with league-leading stats, throwing for 4,707 passing yards and 46 touchdowns, but came up short in the playoffs after losing to the Seattle Seahawks, who went on to win Super Bowl LX.
There’s always next season.
Olympic Champion Kristi Yamaguchi was only 20 years old when she rose to superstardom after securing the gold at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville. Guess what Kristi looks like now at 54 years old!
Published
TLC
A Texas woman likes to get her fatty proteins from a can …. filled with cat food!!!
TMZ has an exclusive sneak peek from tonights new episode of “My Strange Addiction” … and it features Abigail … a 26-year-old who has been chowing down on kitty cuisine for going on two decades.
Abigail loves the sound the lid makes when she pries open a can of wet cat food … and she says she eats it with chopsticks, forks, spoons … and her personal favorite, her bare hands.
She tried cat food for the first time as a kid feeding her kitties … she noticed they way they went crazy for the grub and decided to try some herself … and ever since, she’s been hooked.
Abigail eats wet cat food on the street with other cats, as a snack when she’s out with her sister … and even at the dinner table when the rest of her family eats human food. This one follows on the heels of another strange addiction TMZ wrote about a few weeks ago … eating toenails.
Check out Abigail’s full addiction story Wednesday night at 8 PM ET/PT on TLC.
Investigators searching for Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy Guthrie, are turning to similar technology once used to capture convicted murderer Bryan Kohberger.
A press release issued on Tuesday, February 17, by the Pima Sheriff’s Office confirmed the news after noting that a pair of gloves found two miles away from Nancy’s Arizona home on Thursday, February 12, did not “trigger a match” in the “national CODIS database.” (The database electronically compares DNA profiles.)
“Investigators are currently looking into additional investigative genetic genealogy options for DNA evidence to check for matches,” the statement read. (Investigative genetic genealogy — commonly abbreviated to IGG — was utilized in Kohberger’s 2022 arrest in relation to the Idaho college murders.)
According to the International Society of Genetic Genealogy, IGG involves “the science of using genetic and genealogical methods to generate leads for law enforcement entities investigating crimes and identifying human remains.”
Tuesday’s statement expanded on the results achieved through the gloves’ testing. “[It] did not match DNA found at the property. The DNA found at the property is being analyzed and further testing needs to be done as part of the investigation.” (Undisclosed DNA evidence was recovered directly from Nancy’s home after she was abducted in the early hours of February 1, per reporting by NBC News, while the glove was found two miles from Nancy’s home more than one week later.)
An article published by CNN in March 2025 reflected on the Kohberger case and how IGG was specifically used to secure crucial evidence against him. Kohberger, 31, was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without parole for the stabbing murders of four University of Idaho students in 2022. (Kohberger pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty.)

Nancy Guthrie Courtesy of Savannah Guthrie/Instagram
The outlet reported that a “knife sheath” contained DNA that “authorities used IGG … to connect that sample to Kohberger’s family. It also noted that subsequent DNA testing, including fingernail clippings taken from one of the victims, found a “statistical match” to the knife sample, which led to Kohberger’s arrest.
Nancy, 84, was first reported missing on February 1 after she failed to attend a virtual church service. She was last seen one night prior by her daughter, Annie Guthrie, who dropped the matriarch off at her Catalina Foothills home following a family dinner.
As the ongoing search moved into its second week, FBI director Kash Patel released a series of black-and-white images and video that showed an individual out the front of Nancy’s home with what appeared to be a gun held in his waistband. The person was dressed in a full mask and gloves as they attempted to shield Nancy’s home security camera before the camera was entirely dismantled and removed from a wall beside the front door.

The FBI later released a formal description of the individual, detailing that he was likely “a male, approximately 5’9 – 1’10” with an average build,” and noting that he was “wearing a black, 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack” in the black-and-white recordings.
A subsequent search led by authorities throughout the surrounding areas of Nancy’s home collected “16 gloves in various areas,” according to the FBI and NewsNation Senior National Correspondent Brian Entin.
“Most of them were searchers’ gloves that they discarded in various areas when they searched the vicinity,” Entin wrote via X on Sunday, February 15. “The one with the DNA profile recovered is different and appears to match the gloves of the subject in the surveillance video. The FBI has and will continue to provide assistance on whatever timeline is provided to us.”
The two young stars became household names on “Dawson’s Creek,” but behind the scenes, their connection ran deeper than fans realized.
Now, a week after his demise, new details are shedding light on their quiet romance, the bond they carried for decades, and the emotional moments that followed before and after tragedy struck.
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From the very beginning, James Van Der Beek and Katie Holmes felt a natural connection. As a teenager, Holmes admitted that her bond with the actor on “Dawson’s Creek” in 1997 “just kind of happened.”
According to her, they had a lot in common and had mutual feelings. At the time, a then 20-year-old Van Der Beek said they “just kind of clicked from the read through.”
“We got really lucky I think because we met each other like two days before we started shooting,” he shared per the Daily Mail.
That spark quickly translated onscreen as Dawson Leery and Joey Potter when the hit teen drama launched in 1998.
The show ran until 2003 and became one of the most popular series among teenage girls, averaging six million viewers.
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Fans were drawn to their love story, unaware that the chemistry they saw on screen reflected something very real behind the scenes.
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While viewers watched their romance unfold on television, insiders now say James Van Der Beek and Katie Holmes briefly dated in secret.
According to sources, they kept the relationship quiet while filming in Wilmington, North Carolina.
One insider told theDaily Mail that the actress has told close friends that James was her “teen love.”
“James and Katie dated for a bit,” the source said. “They tried to keep their relationship secret but everyone on the set knew about it. Then news of them being a couple began to filter out.”
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At the time, Holmes was a shy 19-year-old from Toledo, Ohio, adjusting to sudden fame. “Katie was a shy 19-year-old and James was just into his twenties,” the insider continued. “They didn’t want to talk about their love lives in public, so they decided to keep quiet about it.”
The cast had grown close during those early years. A second insider explained, “The set was high school for the cast. Everyone had crushes on each other, and everyone at one point or another would date and hookup. Katie and James had a brief fling with each other.”
The source added that the two realized quickly they were better as friends and never made it an issue whatsoever.
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After the show ended, James and Holmes moved forward in very different ways.
The 47-year-old later married Tom Cruise in a lavish ceremony in November 2006.
Nearly six years later, she filed for divorce and was granted full custody of their now 19-year-old daughter, Suri Noelle.
James on the other hand married Heather McComb in 2003, the same year the show ended, before they divorced in 2010.
He later married film producer Kimberly Van Der Beek. Together they share six children, Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn, and Jeremiah.
The actor eventually left Los Angeles with his family for a quieter life in Texas. During that time, he experienced deep personal loss, including the death of his mother, Melinda Weber, in July 2020.
Kimberly also endured multiple miscarriages, including two late-term.
Family remained central to James’s life, even accompanying him while filming his final role in the upcoming horror movie “The Gates.”
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Despite their different journeys, insiders say the bond between James Van Der Beek and Holmes never disappeared.
One source shared that although they went on to have very different lives, Holmes admitted, “There would always be a strong bond between them. Especially for her as he was her teen love.”
In September 2025, much of the “Dawson’s Creek” cast reunited in New York City for a script reading benefiting F Cancer.
The event was organized to support James after his 2023 diagnosis. Though he was expected to attend, he pulled out at the last minute due to a stomach virus.
Instead, he sent a video message, while Lin-Manuel Miranda stepped in to read his role. His daughters also performed a sweet surprise solo tribute during the theme song singalong.
According to an insider, “Katie was upset she didn’t get to see James when the cast got together in New York last September for a special reading of the pilot episode.”
After the event, Holmes posted again, writing, “I will never find the words for what these three beautiful humans mean to me. For our shared journey. For our everlasting bond. James, Josh, Michelle… from April 1997 — I love you. James, you got this. We got you.”
Van Der Beek replied simply, “Love you! Thank you for being you.”
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After a three-year battle with colorectal cancer, James tragically passed away on February 11.
Holmes was left devastated by his death and took to Instagram to pay tribute.
She poured out her heart in a handwritten note, captioning the post, “I formed some words with a heavy heart. This is a lot to process. I am so grateful to have shared in a piece of James’ journey. He is beloved. Kimberly, we love you and will be here always for you and your beautiful children.”
In the note, Holmes revealed the Hollywood star was loved both in his lifetime and in death. She thanked James for being an inspiration to everyone around.
“James, thank you. To share a space with your imagination is sacred. Breathing the same air in the land of make believe and trusting that each other’s hearts are safe in their expression,” Holmes wrote.
The movie star finished the note by sending her heartfelt wishes to James’s wife, Kimberly, and their six children.
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“I made some mistakes. I’ll own those mistakes,” season 10 star Chris Fusco tells EW as he opens up about everything that went down in episodes 7-9.
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