Entertainment
Miranda Lambert, Brendan McLoughlin Attend ACM Awards 2026
Miranda Lambert and Brendan McLoughlin‘s chemistry was undeniable at the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards.
While the couple did not walk the red carpet ahead of the Sunday, May 17, ceremony at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, they were seen looking loved-up at the same table as breakout star Ella Langley during the Prime Video broadcast.
McLoughlin, 34, leapt to his feet and began clapping when Langley’s hit song “Choosin’ Texas,” which Lambert, 43, cowrote and produced, received the award for Single of the Year, marking Lambert’s 20th career ACM win. The couple also posed for photos with fellow nominee Lainey Wilson and her new husband, Devlin “Duck” Hodges, inside the arena.
Lambert received eight ACM Awards nominations this year, including Female Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, Music Event of the Year and Visual Media of the Year for “A Song to Sing” with Chris Stapleton and Music Event of the Year for “Trailblazer” with Reba McEntire and Lainey Wilson. Lambert also performed her new single, “Crisco,” in an all-denim outfit with a white cowboy hat during the show.

Brendan McLoughlin, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson and Devlin “Duck” Hodges John Shearer/Getty Images for ACM
Lambert and McLoughlin have kept a relatively low profile since tying the knot in January 2019. In her September 2024 Us Weekly cover story, she offered rare insight into the pair’s relationship away from the prying eyes of the public.
“I guess the thing I’ve learned the most is just that communication is everything,” she told Us at the time. “Love doesn’t always cut it. You’ve got to talk about s***. And you have to compromise sometimes and be willing to listen to each other when you have something important to say. Love is hard some days, but the reward is so worth it.”
Lambert also credited McLoughlin with challenging her in positive ways.
“He calls me out, and I love that. I need that,” she explained of her husband. “I don’t think it’s healthy that people, especially artists or celebrities, surround themself with yes people. If you surround yourself with a group of people who are honest with you, you’ll go a lot farther, and it’s a lot healthier in the long run.”
As for how the duo spend their downtime, Lambert insisted they’re just like any other couple.
“We’re pretty chill,” she noted. “When we’re off work, I’m in my patio hang vibe. We’ll make drinks and listen to music. Sometimes we’ll have the best parties just by ourselves. He loves what he calls ‘happy hour music’ — Matchbox Twenty and Goo Goo Dolls. So we have different tastes, but we’ll sit there for hours and listen. Sometimes I say to him, ‘We kind of live on a date,’ which is pretty awesome.”
Then five years into her marriage to McLoughlin, Lambert looked back on their whirlwind romance.
“I kind of went for it; no risk, no reward,” she told Us of marrying McLoughlin after three months together. “I just felt like the worst that could happen, I’ve lived through. If it ends, it ends.”
She continued, “If you don’t put your heart out there, are you ever going to get the big love that everybody wants, that all the songs are about, that all the movies are about? I’m guarded in a lot of ways, but when it comes to my heart, I’m like, what do you really have to lose? Pain is pain, but it passes.”
Entertainment
Annabelle Wallis Debuts Baby Bump Alongside Sebastian Stan
Annabelle Wallis officially unveiled her growing baby bump in the most glamorous of settings.
The Peaky Blinders star, 41, was joined by boyfriend, Sebastian Stan, on Sunday, May 17, while posing for photos on the 2016 Kering Women in Motion Awards red carpet at Cannes Film Festival.
Dressed in a floor-length one-shoulder black gown that cut out at the side to reveal her torso, Wallis beamed for the cameras while holding one firm hand on her belly. Stan, 43, was snapped placing a protective arm around his girlfriend while rocking his own sophisticated ensemble: a black pinstripe suit paired with a narrow black tie.
News broke in April that Wallis, who was first romantically linked to the Thunderbolts star in May 2022 after they were spotted together at Robert Pattinson’s birthday party, was expecting the pair’s first child. At the time, Wallis was spotted with a baby bump while walking in New York City.
Last week, Stan addressed the prospect of parenthood during an interview with Deadline. “I want to be a good dad,” he told the outlet during the interview, published on Monday, May 11. “I’m feeling the responsibility of being a good father. And not to mention a good man. I’m 43 and I feel, in a lot of ways, I’m just starting to learn now. It’s just crazy to me. So, I love when I see I’m discovering different people’s point of view. I try to read as much as I can, no matter what the point of view is, just to understand it.”
The interview, sparked by his role in the upcoming film Fjord which premieres at Cannes on Monday, May 18, also touched on his romance with Wallis. Given the actress’ upbringing in Oxford, England, Stan explained that he’s been introduced to the world of British television as a result of their romance.
“Oh, my god! What is the show that my girlfriend [and] I watch all the time where you’re watching other people watch TV? Gogglebox! It’s hilarious,” he told the outlet. “And it has a very weird, pleasing, soothing quality to it.”
Stan and Wallis initially kept their romance under wraps for the most part. After their first 2022 sighting, the duo were only next publicly sighted in Greece while celebrating the actor’s 40th birthday with friends.
Almost three years later, in January 2025, the pair began letting the world in, stepping out for their first red carpet debut as a couple at the Golden Globes. Winning an award for his work in A Different Man, Stan acknowledged Wallis during his acceptance speech.
“Annabelle, I love you,” he told the crowd as she watched him from her seat.
Entertainment
Meryl Streep and Martin Short Sit Intimately in Restaurant
Meryl Streep and Martin Short enjoyed a meal out together in London recently.
In a fan photo shared via X on Sunday, May 17, the Only Murders in the Building costars were seen seated side-by-side inside a restaurant. As Short and Streep, both 76, focused their attention on a phone screen, the actress rested her shoulder on the actor’s chest.
“Spending a few days in London, choosing a restaurant at random and ending up eating just a few meters from Meryl Streep and her husband,” the fan’s caption read, mistakenly taking Short to be Streep’s husband. (Streep is currently single following her 2023 split from Don Gummer, and Short remains single since the the death of his wife Nancy Dolman in 2010.)
Us Weekly has reached out to representatives for Streep and Short for comment.
The sighting comes amid reports that the Netflix series is currently filming its sixth season in London, marking the show’s first filming location outside of the U.S.. In recent days, Short and Streep’s costar Steve Martin posted multiple Instagram photos of himself exploring local sites including Trafalgar Square and a gift store selling beanies inscribed with “London.”
Streep and Short first sparked dating rumors in January 2024 after they attended the Golden Globes together. However, a rep at the time denied that their friendship had turned romantic. “They are just very good friends, nothing more,” a statement obtained by People read.
Rumors refused to die down, however, as Short spoke fondly about his costar during several interviews and Amy Schumer even stated that she believed Short was “off the market” after seeing him with Streep during Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary celebrations. “I think that the tea is, I think Marty might be off the market. That’s what I’m seeing,” Schumer, 44, told People in February 2025.
The pair have also shown a string of PDA while promoting OMITB, including hand-holding.
Short revealed during a June 2025 appearance on the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast that he had been nervous to work with Streep on OMITB. “I remember the first day working with Meryl and driving to the studio and thinking, ‘I’m nervous today,’” he said at the time. “I [hadn’t] been nervous going to the set for a long time.” (Streep first appeared on the show as Loretta Durkin in season 3.)
“The first scene we shot in Only Murders was a scene where we’re at the piano and we’re, kind of, flirting a little bit,” Short went on. “The first shot set up is over her to me, so pressure’s on me and then we break down so that they can reverse the cameras and do her side. We go into [the] holding area and she just says, ‘OK, nerves to half.’ I go, ‘Wait a second, I was nervous. You can’t be nervous.’”
Five months later, Streep and Short attended the opening night of Tom Hanks’ play This World of Tomorrow, posing for a backstage photo with Martin, 80, Martin’s wife, Anne Stringfield, Hanks, 69, Hanks’ wife Rita Wilson, and Chet Hanks.
Streep and Short have also proven to be repeat customers at Los Angeles’ Giorgio Baldi restaurant in recent months, with the pair spotted leaving the star-studded eatery together on multiple occasions.
Entertainment
Ella Langley Tearfully Thanks Women at 2026 ACM Awards
Ella Langley couldn’t hold back tears when accepting a major award at the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards.
After being named the Female Artist of the Year on Sunday, May 17, Langley, 27, became visibly emotional when thanking her fellow nominees.
“I’m trying to say something, but I can’t,” she said. “Thank you. To the women in this category, to the women in this life, this is a weird thing to do. Today I was having a strange day. I don’t know what it is about awards, but I have strange days in the mornings here.”
Fortunately, it was her fellow nominees who lifted her up and reminded her she is more than enough.
“I walked right into Lainey [Wilson’s] room, and I just got emotional, and she hugged me, wrapped me up and started praying for me, and then all of a sudden, here comes Miranda Lambert in her little pink hat,” Langley shared. “And I would not be standing up here without just the encouragement of so many women. Kelsea [Ballerini], thank you so much for loving me.”
Megan Moroney was also nominated in the category but was not in attendance, as she served as her best friend’s maid of honor.
During her emotional speech, Langley also made it a priority to thank her family for their support throughout her music career.

Ella Langley Ethan Miller/Getty Images
“Thank you to my parents for believing in me and my family for showing up and being weird as always, so it keeps me humble,” she said. “Thank you, Jesus, for letting me do this for a whip. Thank you to the ACMs.”
During the star-studded awards show, which was hosted by Shania Twain and held inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Langley also picked up awards for Song of the Year, Artist-Songwriter of the Year, Single of the Year and Music Event of the Year, making her the winningest artist of the night.
“Thank you to the women,” she proclaimed on Sunday night. “I would not be standing up here without that. So, thank you.”
Langley is hard at work traveling the country as part of The Dandelion Tour. From now until August 15, the “You Look Like You Love Me” singer will perform her biggest hits for fans, including her award-winning single “Choosin’ Texas.”
“You know we had to take this record on the road… So excited to announce The Dandelion Tour!” she wrote via Instagram on February 2 when first announcing the tour. “Also, bringing some of my favorite people along, you won’t wanna miss this 🌼.”
The 2026 ACM Awards are streaming Prime Video.
Entertainment
11 Most Intense Thrillers Ever Made
Thrillers are, by their very nature, designed to push audiences to the edge. They mean to leave no knuckle unwhitened and no nail unbitten in their mission to thrill. Sometimes that devotion to thrills can be intense, almost too intense in some cases, with movies that threaten to push audiences over the edge. Those movies might not be for everyone, especially those viewers who prefer their thrills to be more exciting than overwhelming, but for those who can handle them, they are unique experiences.
What constitutes an intense thriller may be a slight matter of opinion. For some, the most intense are the ones that get violent and nasty to the point they almost qualify more as horror than thriller, while others might consider the movies that send them into a spiral of anxiety as the most intense. Then there are those that fill their audiences with a sense of dread based solely on their oppressive atmosphere. Whatever qualifier you want to assign to it, these are the thrillers that crank the intensity up to eleven.
‘The Wages of Fear’ (1953)
The classic suspense thrillerThe Wages of Fear, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, is every bit as potent and palpably tense as it was in 1953. Its razor-sharp sequences of sweat-inducing thrills can be held up against any modern equivalent, which includes both of its remakes, the equally brilliant and thrilling Sorcerer from 1977 and the stunningly dull version released on Netflix in 2024.
Based on the novel of the same name by Georges Arnaud, the film follows a group of expats living in poverty in South America who are hired by an oil company to transport highly volatile nitroglycerin in trucks across the jungle to help extinguish a massive oil fire. The majority of the runtime is then devoted to that transportation, as they make a perilous journey over rocky mountain roads and rickety bridges. With every bump and pothole holding the potential for explosive death, it’s a nerve-wracking viewing experience that is perfectly designed to keep an audience on the edge of their seats.
‘The Hitcher’ (1986)
Open road thrillers are a subgenre that exploits audiences inherent fears of isolation and vulnerability. Expert thrillers like Duel, Road Games, and Breakdown all exploit those fears with visceral efficiency, but there’s no matching the intensity and apocalyptic terror of The Hitcher. It’s a nihilistic thrill ride through hell that comes as close to the horror of something like Wolf Creek but stays firmly within its genre boundaries. It’s also got a devilishly good performance by Rutger Hauer as the titular character, who belongs in the hall of fame of cinematic psychopaths of seemingly supernatural evil.
The film begins with C. Thomas Howell as Jim Halsey, tired and behind the wheel of a vehicle he’s meant to deliver to California. Out on a lonely stretch of desert highway during a torrential downpour, he picks up John Ryder (Hauer), who makes his sinister intentions clear within minutes of getting into Jim’s car. From their its a torturous game of cat and mouse across the American Southwest as Ryder torments Jim and pushes him to the edge of sanity while leaving a trail of bloody bodies. The Hitcher puts the pedal to the metal in its first scene, and it doesn’t let its foot up for one second.
‘Good Time’ (2017)
When Uncut Gems was released, many compared it to experiencing a sustained panic attack. The film’s infuriating and effective depiction of gambling addiction is undeniably intense, but it’s arguable that Josh and Benny Safdie‘s previous film is even more gritty and extreme. Following in the grimy footsteps of the character-driven New York thrillers of the ’70s and ’80s, Good Time is a kinetic film that will get your pulse racing and elevate your heart rate as if you were the one being chased by the cops.
Pattinson plays Connie, who, along with his brother Nick (Benny Safdie), robs a bank in broad daylight. That ill-advised heist gets Nick arrested, and Connie devises a plan to get him out of custody. Through a series of compounding mistakes and bad decisions, the film becomes a nocturnal odyssey of criminal stupidity that would be comical if it weren’t played so heartbreakingly straight by the Safdies and Pattinson. It’s an anxiety-inducing modern masterpiece that was an early herald for its directors as heir apparnet to auteurs like Sidney Lumet and John Cassavetes.
‘Se7en’ (1995)
David Fincher‘s Se7en has a reputation for being visceral and violent, but while the film certainly has some gruesome imagery, it’s far more tame than the more explicit films that would attempt to emulate it. The majority of the kills happen off-screen, but Fincher fills the frame with dread, painting a bleak portrait of a decaying modern world where apathy and pessimism reign and violence is a natural occurrence. Se7en resurrected Fincher’s career after the debacle of Alien 3, and it reinvigorated the genre, influencing dozens of films and television series.
Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman play the archetypal brash rookie and jaded veteran detectives, who team up to track down a serial killer who bases his murders on the seven deadly sins, realized in vivid post-mortems that use the power of suggestion to more effect rather than any Grand Guignol splatter effects. The procedural elements keep us engrossed in the investigation all the way up until the film starts to tug at the rug beneath our feet in its final act. The iconic twist ending is itself an exercise in restraint that had many audience members convinced they’d seen something more explicit than they had.
‘Green Room’ (2015)
Siege thrillers don’t put their characters on the run but instead box them in, exerting external pressure on them until violence inevitably erupts. From the finale of Straw Dogs to the entirety of Assault on Precinct 13, these movies trap their characters in a location and force them to fight their way out. More often than not, that fighting can be rather intense, as it is in Jeremy Saulnier‘s unrelenting Green Room. Here, Saulnier ratchets up the tension incrementally, and while the film does engage with ultraviolence, it does so purposefully and with intent. Every bullet impact and knife wound is viscerally felt, and it makes the danger all the more real.
When a punk band is strapped for cash, they take the next gig they can get, which just so happens to be in the hangout spot of some neo-Nazi skinheads. They play the gig and take the money, but when they also witness a murder, they get locked in the club’s green room with some trigger-happy white supremacists on the other side. Green Room revels in torturing its characters as much as it does the audience, showing them a way out before turning the tables in violent fashion. It’s a grindhouse thriller made with incredible skill, and the cast is filled with above-the-grade talent, including the late Anton Yelchin and Patrick Stewart playing very against type as the leader of the skinheads.
‘Cape Fear’ (1991)
The original Cape Fear is the most Hitchcockian thriller that Alfred Hitchcock never made. Based on the novel The Executioners, the film has a classic suspense setup, and it executes it to a T. The 1991 remake, directed by Martin Scorsese, is similarly well-executed, but it amps up the intensity and ferocity for ’90s audiences. Where the original was a stark tale of good versus evil shot in black and white, Scorsese’s remake is saturated in vibrant color and exists in a morally grey world. It also features a truly terrifying performance from Robert De Niro.
De Niro plays Max Cady, a criminal recently released from prison after serving a fourteen-year sentence for rape. He leaves prison with vengeance on his mind. His target is his former defense attorney, Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte), who deliberately suppressed evidence during Cady’s trial to guarantee his conviction. Sam’s sins are revisited upon him and his family as Cady stalks and psychologically tortures them before the film reaches its biblically bad climax. Cape Fear is Scorsese bringing his cinematic expertise and signature visual language to a piece of pure pulp, and the results are far more intense than even fans of the director’s crime films may be expecting.
‘Funny Games’ (1997)
Home invasion thrillers bring the terror to our doorsteps, and while they often end in gruesome tragedy, they are intensely thrilling right up until that end. Panic Room is the slickest of these kinds of thrillers, while Wait Until Dark is a classic of the subgenre, with both Hush and Don’t Breathe offering two different variations on its premise. They are all varied in intensity, but Michael Haneke’s controversial Funny Games is the most graphic and unflinching. At their lakeside house in Austria, a family of three’s tranquil afternoon is turned into a violent nightmare when two young men invade their home and subject them to a series of sadistic games.
The torture is hard enough to watch on its own, but it is made exponentially worse by the fact that the lead killer likes to break the fourth wall, engaging directly with the audience, inviting us to become participants in their games. Haneke is no simple sadist; his film has a purpose and a message about violent media. The director plays with the conventions of film and film violence, specifically those that would be familiar to American audiences. Years later, Haneke would remake his ambitious thriller shot-for-shot with an English-speaking cast. Both versions are dark, intense thrillers that are as intriguing as they are revolting.
‘Natural Born Killers’ (1994)
Similar to Funny Games, Oliver Stone‘s Natural Born Killers is obsessed with the connection between the media and violent crime. Still, whereas Haneke’s film is a more measure meta-thriller, Stone’s is a hyperactive music video set to the sounds of bloodshed. Shot with a wild mix of film stocks with contrasting visual styles and featuring rapid-fire editing, the film is an absolute assault on the senses. It perfectly encapsulates the era of tabloid journalism and ultraviolent cinema, and is still a very intense visual and aural experience.
Based on a story by Quentin Tarantino, whose script was heavily rewritten by Stone and his co-writers, the film follows the criminal couple of Mickey and Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis). The two come from broken homes and violent backgrounds, and after killing Mallory’s abusive family, they hit the road as homicidal lovers on the lam. They slaughter their way across America, and in the process become media darlings with a cult following. The film is far too blunt to effectively interrogate the relationship the media plays in developing the kind of twisted hero worship that evolves around murderers, but it is undoubtedly unsettling and intensely unforgettable.
‘I Saw the Devil’ (2010)
There is no shortage of violent Korean thrillers that could fill out several spots on a list like this. Movies like Oldboy, Memories of Murder, and The Chaser all make their Hollywood counterparts look like children’s programming in comparison, but if there’s one whose intensity cannot go unmentioned, it’s Kim Jee-woon’s bloody and brutal action thriller I Saw the Devil. Graphically violent, impeccably shot, and imminently watchable, this thriller juggles disparate tones and mixes fist-clenching action with horrific violence in a way that can be strangely, hypnotically entertaining despite how repulsive its content is.
Lee Byung-hun plays intelligence agent Soo-hyeon, whose fiancée is abducted and violently murdered by a serial killer, played by Oldboy star Choi Min-sik. After tracking him down, Soo-hyeon doesn’t immediately exact his revenge on the killer, but instead begins tracking him and methodically torturing him. The cat-and-mouse game takes several violent turns and accumulates plenty of collateral damage before reaching the film’s emotionally brutal ending. I Saw the Devil takes a strong stomach to get through, but it is one of the most compelling thrillers of the 2010s for those with a stern constitution.
‘Irreversible’ (2002)
Gaspar Noé is a true provocateur. Films like Into the Void, Love and Climax push the boundaries of good taste with their explicit violent and sexual content, but it’s his 2002 rape and revenge thriller Irreversible that is his most intense effort. Structured in reverse, the film gives us all its violence up front before any context or character development, which arguably makes it all the harder to watch as we become acquainted with the interior lives of its characters. It’s not a film that can be reasonably recommended, but it is uniquely unnerving and unabashed in its exploration of cycles of violence.
Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci play Marcus and Alex, a young couple living in Paris. When we first meet them, Marcus is descending into a sex club intent on violence, which is unleashed on a man’s head with a fire extinguisher, and Alex is subjected to an absolutely horrendous sexual assault in an underground tunnel. The unpleasantness is right up front in Irreversible, which makes its final act conversely softer in comparison to the majority of thrillers. That does not negate the violence that occurs in the first act, which will linger with anyone who watches the movie. Irreversible is, if nothing else, intense, but it’s up to the individual viewer willing to subject themselves to it whether that intensity is in service of anything more than exploitative brutality.
Entertainment
Euphoria Has Sydney Sweeney’s Cassie Defending Sex Work
Sydney Sweeney‘s risqué character Cassie defended her sex work on Euphoria after several graphic scenes.
During the Sunday, May 17, episode of the hit HBO show, Cassie got her big break on a movie set but it didn’t take long for her job on OnlyFans to come up. Lexi (Maude Apatow) specifically threw shade at her sister for filming herself topless, engaged in sexual situations and even getting paid extra for “jerk off instructions.”
“I am not a sex worker,” Cassie said before clarifying her job, “I’m a performer. That uses my body to tell stories.”
Cassie was ultimately able to book the role, which evolved into a larger opportunity. But that meant deleting her OnlyFans account — and that wasn’t as easy for Cassie. She tried to get advice from husband Nate (Jacob Elordi) but he was too busy trying to come up with the money to pay off his debt. It didn’t work and Cassie received Nate’s finger in the mail.
Cassie’s arc in season 3 has received criticism after some OnlyFans creators weren’t thrilled with how their line of work was portrayed on screen. Creator Sam Levinson, however, defended the decision to push boundaries.
“[Cassie] has got her dog house and her little dog ears and the nose, and that has its own humor,” Levinson explained to The Hollywood Reporter in April. “But what makes the scene is the fact that her housekeeper is the one filming it.”
He continued: “What we wanted to always find is the other layer of absurdity that we’re able to tie into it so that we’re not too inside of her fantasy or illusion. The gag is to jump out, to break the wall.”
Levinson broke down how he and director of photography Marcell Rév brought the scenes to life.
“An obvious choice would’ve been something modern and very plain and fancy, but we ended up choosing this mid-century home, which is a little tacky, but also stuck in the ‘70s,” Rév explained. “It’s probably a strange choice, but also it gives us possibilities. OnlyFans has its own aesthetic and how you elevate that aesthetic to the show’s aesthetic is a challenge. I’m not going to lie.”
Despite the backlash, Levinson stood by his vision.
“Some of these scenes we only lit with these ring lights that she would use. When you’re inside, it’s a beautiful, glowing front light, but then you jump out of it and it’s just a pool of light and everything surrounding it is dark. It’s just gnarly and jarring,” he added. “We wanted to capture what she’s trying to show the audience and be inside of it. But then also pull back wider and see how depressing it is.”
Euphoria airs on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
Entertainment
Lauren Alaina Breaks Down in Tears at 2026 ACM Awards
Lauren Alaina is reminding all music fans that it’s OK to not be OK.
During the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday, May 17, Alaina, 31, chose to bring attention to Mental Health Awareness Month before inviting Dan + Shay to the stage.
“Sometimes, lifting lives can mean saving lives. May is Mental Health Awareness Month and an important time to say if you are secretly suffering, you are not alone,” Alaina shared with the audience inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. “Like too many of you out there, I know what it’s like to lose someone who struggled with their mental health, so to anybody out there tonight suffering, please know there is always someone to listen and someone to help. Just please, please reach out.”
Alaina couldn’t hide her emotions as tears began streaming down her face.
After telling herself, “Oh, man, OK, I’m doing a great job,” she took a deep breath and began sharing why Dan + Shay’s new song “Say So” is so meaningful.
“Two friends of mine, Dan + Shay, whose powerful new song ‘Say So’ was inspired by a heartbreaking loss in our country music family,” she said. “When I first heard it, [I knew] this song is going to save lives.”
According to Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney, their song was inspired by their close friend and mentor, Ben Vaughn, who died by suicide in January 2025 at the age of 49.
“If your light burns out and you’re in the dark / If you can’t pick up the pieces / If the world you trusted falls apart / If your heart’s run out of reasons / I’ll be there every time you call,” the duo sings in the song’s chorus. “Pick you up every time you fall / If you’rе going through hell, you’re not alone / If you need somеbody, say so.”
The performance was part of ACM Lifting Lives, which Alaina described as the philanthropy partner of the Academy of Country Music.
“It’s dedicated to improving lives through the power of music,” she said.
Alaina has been open about her own mental health struggles. The former American Idol contestant said she experienced depression at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. She later documented her experience on her album Sitting Pretty on Top of the World.
The 2026 ACM Awards are streaming on Prime Video.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
Entertainment
Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins’ Relationship Timeline
Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins’ love story is one for the books. The couple met as kindergartners, but it took them about 15 years to realize that they were life partners — and they haven’t turned back since.
Rhett and Akins started dating in 2011 after reconnecting at a party for her sister. They were engaged within six months and married the following October.
After honeymooning in Hawaii, Rhett and Akins tried to start a family. However, the pair struggled to conceive, so they began looking into other ways to have children. Akins visited Uganda in 2016 and quickly developed a bond with a baby girl named Willa Gray, whom they later adopted.
Rhett and Akins have since welcomed daughters Ada James, Lennon Love and Lillie Carolina in August 2017, February 2020 and November 2021, respectively. The couple announced in February 2026 that they welcomed baby boy Brave Elijah.
Scroll down to see a timeline of Rhett and Akins’ relationship:
Entertainment
Dianna Russini Seen With Husband Amid Mike Vrabel Drama
NFL journalist Dianna Russini and her husband, Kevin Goldschmidt, continue to spend quality time together in the wake of her scandal involving Mike Vrabel.
Less than one week after Russini, 43, and Goldschmidt were seen together for the first time since April photos of her getting close to Vrabel, 50, sparked controversy, Russini and Goldschmidt attended a Bruce Springsteen concert at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
In photos obtained by the Daily Mail, published on Sunday, May 17, the couple were seated opposite each other inside Bourbon and Branch bar next to the venue. A group of friends joined the duo, with the outlet reporting that Russini and Goldschmidt “both looked in good spirits” and were “very excitable as they shared drinks and food … before the show.”
Their latest public outing comes after photos of Russini holding hands and hugging the New England Patriots head coach at an Arizona resort were published by Page Six on April 7. About two weeks later, the outlet published a second batch of photos that captured the pair seemingly kissing inside a New York City bar in 2020.
A third batch of photos, published by TMZ on May 7, showed Russini and Vrabel on the dock of a private boat rental company in Putnam County, Tennessee, in June 2021. One day prior, the outlet reported that Russini and Vrabel were the only two people aboard the boat.
Russini was pregnant in June 2021 with her first child with Goldschmidt, whom she married in September 2020. The couple share two sons: Michael, born in August 2021, and Joseph, born in October 2022.

Dianna Russini Anna Webber/Getty Images
Russini and Vrabel, who shares two children with wife Jen, both addressed the first batch of resort photos when they circulated online last month. Speaking to the Post, per reporting by NBC Sports at the time, Vrabel said, “These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable. This doesn’t deserve any further response.”
The Post also received Russini’s statement, which read, “The photos don’t represent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day. Like most journalists in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues.”
One week after those photos were released, Russini resigned from her role at The Athletic following an internal investigation. Another week later, on April 21, Vrabel told NFL reporters that the photos had sparked various discussions of his own.

Mike Vrabel Wesley Hitt/Getty Images
“I’ve had some difficult conversations with people that I care about: my family, the organization, the coaches, the players,” he said at the time. “Those have been positive and productive. We believe in order to be successful on and off the field you have to make good decisions. That includes me. That starts with me. We never want our actions to negatively affect the team. We never want to be the cause of distraction.”
He concluded, “What I can promise you is that my family, this organization, the team, the staff, the coaches, our fans, most importantly, will get the best version of me going forward.”
Entertainment
Kendall Jenner, Jacob Elordi Spotted on Beach Date in Hawaii
Kendall Jenner and Jacob Elordi enjoyed some quality one-on-one time during their Hawaiian getaway.
A photo published by TMZ on Sunday, May 17, captured a bikini-clad Jenner, 30, seated on a beach beside a shirtless Elordi, 28, as the pair engaged in conversation. Leaning into her vacation time, Jenner held a bottle of wine in one hand as the Euphoria star gazed at her intensely.
The public outing comes two days after the pair were individually photographed grabbing breakfast from a farm on the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i. In DeuxMoi’s snaps, Jenner was seen walking into the venue while Elordi was captured leaning against a car bonnet with multiple iced drinks resting by his arms.
A source exclusively told Us Weekly last month that the pair, who were first romantically linked during the first Coachella weekend following their attendance at Justin Bieber’s headlining set, are “casually seeing each other.”
The insider detailed on April 22 that things were “not serious, but they have been ‘hanging out’ for a few months now” after sparks flew “around awards season in January when they kept running into each other” before developing a deeper connection.
“They have known each other socially for years now and have hung out in similar circles, but it became romantic recently,” the source said at the time, adding that Jenner thought the actor was “a really cool and down-to-earth guy.”

Kendall Jenner ANGELA WEISS / AFP
As for the pair’s future, the insider said that Jenner “likes spending time with [Elordi] when it works, but she’s not trying to force a relationship. It’s very much a ‘have fun when they’re in the same place’ situation. Neither of them want anything serious right now.”
One month prior to their Coachella sighting, the duo were seen together at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party. Photographers inside the bash snapped the pair engaged in an animated conversation as they let their hair down alongside a star-studded guest list including Kendall’s sister Kylie Jenner, who attended with her boyfriend, Timothée Chalamet.

Jacob Elordi Brendon Thorne/Getty Images
Us’ insider said that through witnessing the romance that Kylie, 28, and Chalamet, 30, have grown since January 2023, Kendall became open to dating an actor despite not usually going for them. “[Kylie has] opened her eyes to a new world,” the source stated.
“It has been fun for Kylie and Kendall to hang out with Timothée and Jacob together because they are all friendly and have a lot of common ground,” the insider concluded. “It doesn’t happen often, but it has been fun for the four of them.”
Entertainment
Why Megan Moroney Missed the 2026 ACM Awards in Las Vegas
Megan Moroney had a very good reason why she couldn’t attend the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas.
“I’m so honored to be nominated tonight at @ACMAwards & I’m rooting on all my friends from afar!” Moroney, 28, wrote via her Instagram Story on Sunday, May 17. “I’m out of the country this week on MOH [maid of honor] duty to get my bestie married @Inatalieking.”
Instead of showcasing a designer gown perfect for a red carpet, the country singer posed in a comfy two-piece loungewear set as she prepared to get Natalie King — the subject of her 2021 song “Wonder” — married.
“I love you guys & can’t wait to see y’all in Columbus!” she said when referring to her sold-out tour date on May 29. “Counting down the days.”
During the 2026 ACM Awards later on Sunday, host Shania Twain acknowledged that Moroney was not present inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for the star-studded event.
At the same time, Twain, 60, was thrilled to welcome the “Tennessee Orange” singer to the show virtually with a pretaped message.
“Country music has the power to bring people together, to help people improve and heal lives, so it’s only right that ACM Lifting Lives supports great causes like St. Jude Children’s Hospital,” Twain shared. “Megan Maroney, one of country music’s newest superstars, couldn’t be here tonight but for a really beautiful reason. She’s busy being the bridesmaid of honor at her best friend’s wedding. However, Megan still sent us this very special message on this very important cause.”
Soon after, Moroney appeared wearing a St. Jude Music Gives T-shirt and asked fans and viewers alike to show support.

Megan Moroney Courtesy of Megan Moroney/Instagram
“I wish I could be there tonight,” she said before praising St. Jude Children’s Hospital staff members for providing “life-changing and life-saving work.”
“Let’s all band together to help St. Jude beat childhood cancer,” she said while showcasing her T-shirt, available online. “Please get yours and twin with me.”
During Sunday’s awards show, Moroney led the pack of nominees with nine nods, including Entertainer of the Year and Female Artist of the Year.
She will continue celebrating her success on The Cloud 9 Tour, which kicks off May 29.
“Rehearsals are complete✅,” she wrote via Instagram on May 12. “17 days until opening night! which means u have 17 days to learn a new song! swipe for a surprise ;).”
The 2026 ACM Awards are streaming Prime Video.
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