Roommates, something had the timeline squinting a lil’ harder this morning. Early Friday, Ari Fletcher popped out on Instagram with a message that instantly got folks talking. Without offering too much context, she shared a post… and the energy is giving recovery mode.

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Ari Is Laid Up & In Recovery Mode

In a boomerang clip posted to her Story, Ari appeared to be laid up in bed, seemingly resting and taking it easy. The text read “Beauty is pain” followed by a heart-with-bandage emoji and a weary face. Additionally, her left leg was isolated and propped up on pillows, with a visible bandage placed between her knee and thigh. The TV could be seen playing in the background while she relaxed, suggesting she’s currently in chill-and-heal mode. While she didn’t spill specifics on what led to the bandage, the post definitely raised eyebrows. And, it sparked questions among fans about whether she recently underwent a procedure or is simply recovering from something minor.

So… What Exactly Did She Have Done?

As always, Ari kept it cute and cryptic — but the Roommates didn’t have to dig too hard. In a recent video, Ari Fletcher actually opened up about preparing for leg surgery on her thigh, revealing it’s something she’s been dealing with for quite some time. She shared that the “dent” has been there “forever” and admitted it’s one of her biggest insecurities. Ari even rolled up her pants in the clip to show exactly what she was talking about. She even further explained that she’s tried different things in the past to correct it.

According to her, this one-time procedure is meant to help fix the issue — especially since she’s said she doesn’t even like wearing shorts because of it. While the “dent” appears to resemble something like cellulite — which many would say doesn’t take away from her beauty at all. And procedure or not, let’s be real… Ari is STILL that girl.

@arithedonfanpage_1

Prayers up for Ari as she goes in for surgery this week for her leg, wishing her a speedy recovery in this video already talks about having surgery on her thigh is something she’s been dealing with for quite some time wishing her the best of luck#therealkylesister #arithedon #ari #arifletcher #surgery

♬ original sound – arithedonfanpage_1

Ari’s Fresh Ink & Diamond Are Doing ALL The Talking

While Ari’s leg has the internet talking, some folks are wondering — is that the only recent change she’s made? Just days earlier, Ari Fletcher had social media swooning after she shared a heartfelt post dedicated to her man, Moneybagg Yo. Taking to her Instagram Story, Ari posted a flick of her hand showing off fresh ink of his legal first name, “Demario,” tatted on her skin. And, let’s not forget the massive diamond sparkling heavy on that ring finger.

RELATED: Hol’ Up! Ari Fletcher Appears To Call Moneybagg Yo Her “Husband” In Romantic Clip From Their Valentine’s Day Dinner (WATCH)

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 43 seconds ago

Since Starfleet Academy first began, haters have lobbed one accusation at it above all others: “it doesn’t feel like Star Trek.” Older critics often lament surface-level issues with the show, including its poor humor and its reliance on distractingly modern slang. But to these veteran fans, the real structural issue with this new spinoff is that it feels so glaringly different than the shows (like The Next Generation and Voyager) that came before.

Recently, though, Starfleet Academy has been addressing this problem by directly calling back to earlier Trek, including dedicating an entire episode to the mystery of what happened to Sisko after Deep Space Nine. Now, the most recent episode (“The Life Of The Stars”) calls back to two of Voyager’s best episodes while providing us with plenty of familiar franchise tropes. The result is an episode that decently channels classic Trek but fails to deliver on its full potential. 

Unpacking Trauma

 “Life of the Stars” is a follow-up to “Come, Let’s Away,” and it’s all about our Starfleet Academy cadets unpacking the trauma of that earlier episode. In that story, some of our heroes were ambushed by the Furies, fearsome foes who ultimately killed multiple members of the War College. Chancellor Ahke calls in Nus Braka for help, and Tarima weaponizes her telepathy, but both efforts go away: Braka destroys a Starfleet ship and ransacks a Starbase while Tarima blows her mind, landing herself in a coma that required treatment on her homeworld of Betazed.

Believe it or not, “unpacking trauma” is my lowkey favorite Star Trek episode genre. The stories are predictably good, like the TNG episode “Family,” helping Picard work through his time (as seen in “The Best of Both Worlds”) as the ruthless leader of the Borg. Over on DS9, “It’s Only A Paper Moon” explored how Nog dealt with the trauma of what happened in “The Siege of AR-558,” an episode in which he lost a leg.

Done well, this kind of story makes for great Star Trek, but this Starfleet Academy episode delivers mixed results. It has some great highs, including a killer, dramatic performance from Robert Picardo and the triumphant return of Sylvia Tilly. But “Life of the Stars” drops the ball by focusing so much on its ensemble that its central cadets (namely, SAM and Tarima) don’t get enough screentime or development. 

The Doctor Gets Serious

Perhaps the most interesting thing about “Life of the Stars” is that it permanently intertwines the lives of the Doctor and SAM. She’s the holographic girl who is suddenly on the fritz, and the Doctor travels with her back to her homeworld for repairs. There, he discovers that her glitch is emotional in nature (she’s stuck in a trauma loop, in case you thought the episode was being too subtle), and he volunteers to parent SAM, raising her for the equivalent of 17 years on her homeworld. But that’s only two weeks back at the academy, which is a callback to “Blink of an Eye,” the Voyager episode where three years on a planet is only about three minutes back on the ship.

In “Blink of an Eye,” the Doctor adopted a son, and he later lamented that, thanks to the time dilation effects, his kid is long since dead. In “Real Life,” the Doctor used the holodeck to simulate having a family, and he makes the program so realistic that he loses his holographic daughter to a freak sports accident. “Life of the Stars” basically mashes these plots together: after revealing that he hesitated to bond with SAM because she reminded him of his dead daughter, the Doctor agrees to raise her as a father; 17 years will pass on SAM’s planet while only two weeks pass at Starfleet Academy.

This plot is mostly an excuse to let Robert Picard do some serious acting, and this comedic actor does an amazing job with the dramatic material. Plus, the episode finally answers why the Doctor has had a bug up his holographic butt about SAM all season. However, this focus on the Doctor comes at a cost: SAM is either shut down or mind-controlled for most of the episode, which feels that much weirder considering how much new lore this episode is giving her.

The Girls Are Back In Town

“Life of the Stars” features the long-awaited return of Sylvia Tilly, a fan-favorite Discovery character that most of us originally assumed would be a regular on Starfleet Academy. She is here to help our cadets (no point in guessing) unpack their trauma, and at the chancellor’s suggestion, she is doing so in the craziest possible way: by making them take a theater class. They end up studying “Our Town,” and with all the subtlety of Quark’s sweater, the play becomes a metaphor for returning student Tarima to process her feelings about being transferred out of the War College and into Starfleet Academy after the injuries she sustained in “Come, Let’s Away.”

The results on both ladies’ returns were mixed: while it is always great to see Sylvia Tilly, she barely feels like herself, and she isn’t afraid to get mildly combative with students. She cheerfully tells the class that she doesn’t care if they all fail, and she practically gets into a verbal sparring match with Tarima. Granted, these are both acts of tough love, and her methods get results, but the woman taking these actions rarely feels like the adorkable Tilly we all fell in love with back on Discovery.

As for Tarima, she is a victim of performer’s success: actor Zoë Steiner does an excellent job playing a recently traumatized cadet, but thanks to the script, that means she spends most of her time in a dull stupor punctuated only by bouts of anger and drunkenness. Is this realistic for someone who narrowly survived an attack that killed multiple colleagues? Sure. But it’s not very engaging to watch, and unlike Patrick Stewart in “Family” or Robert Picardo in this very episode, Tarima never gets a satisfyingly cathartic release of her inner pain, and we have to settle for her having a light bulb moment while reciting an ancient play.

The Final Verdict? Good, Not Great

If it sounds like I’m nitpicking, that’s because I am: “Life of the Stars” is a mostly solid episode, and it’s notably better than the early episodes of Starfleet Academy. The show continues to improve, and as usual, spending less time on forced comedy has made the episode stronger. It also features the return of Sylvia Tilly, deep lore for the Doctor, and even updates on Caleb and Tarima, the couple who have quickly become the hottest Star Trek pairing since Riker and Troi.

But we really just get Tilly in name only here, and the Doctor’s cool new lore comes at the expense of sidelining SAM. The Caleb and Tarima stuff remains very cute, but Tarima mostly spends the episode in a boring daze before snapping out of it due to a sleepy inspirational speech. It all adds up to an episode that’s good, not great, and one that showcases both the potential of Starfleet Academy and how much the show fails to reach that potential.

Once again, Starfleet Academy is getting better, slowly clawing its way back from its negative reputation at a snail’s pace (and not even a warp snail). One episode at a time, it’s channeling more classic Star Trek than ever before. The question is, will any Trekkies still be watching by the time this show crawls past the finish line? 

Singer-Songwriter Neil Sedaka
Dead at 86

Published
February 27, 2026
1:48 PM PST

Lily Collins Says Recovery Is An ‘Ongoing Process’

The Actress Played A Character Battling Anorexia

Lily Collins’ Preparation For The Role

The Actress Detailed Her Eating Disorder In Her Memoir

Bill Clinton
Pizzagate Prank at Jeffrey Epstein Deposition?!?

Published
February 27, 2026
1:10 PM PST

Kenya Moore is shutting down a report claiming she defaulted on rent payments to her hair spa’s landlord. She teased a YouTube livestream in which she appears to plan to delve into the issue further. For now, she says the landlord failed to pay $80,000 in tenant improvement allowance, and they’re in a legal dispute. Initial reports said Moore is who owes more than that.

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Report Says Kenya Moore Owes Landlord $87,000

Kenya Moore’s business expenses came under public judgment last week after TMZ reported that she owed $87,976 to her landlord. For context, Kenya Moore Hair Spa has been in business in Atlanta since 2024. Last October, the landlord, Northland Chamblee LLC sued Kenya Moore for the unpaid rent, claiming she spotted paying in December 2024. Kenya Moore Hair Spa denied the allegations and said the landlord failed to make improvements.

Citing court documents, a Georgia judge gave Kenya two payment dates to repay the money. She allegedly was supposed to pay $43,988 by the end of February and the same amount, plus $0.467. The judge also reportedly ordered the spa owner to pay $5,500 in monthly rent if she planned to keep her business at the property. A few weeks after the judge’s ruling, the landlord accused Moore of missing the deadline for the first payment and is seeking possession of the property, per TMZ.

Moore Says She Doesn’t Owe Rent

Though a few days later, Kenya Moore is strongly denying that she owes her landlord money. It appears her Instagram post on Friday is the first time she’s speaking out directly, rather than via a statement from her business. She plans to go live on Sunday to presumably tell it all. For now, she’s standing on previous word. Moore said money is owed to her, not the other way around! And apparently, she’s trying to handle it in court. Kenya shared that she dropped six figures to build out her hair salon and the landlord failed to reimburse her.

“The reports about me being behind on rent are false. As I have stated before, my company is in an active lawsuit against my salon landlord for failing to pay nearly $80,000 in tenant improvement allowance OWED TO ME. I invested over $300,000 of my own money to build out my salon in a commercial space from a white box. When the landlord failed to reimburse contractual expenses, I withheld rent in an effort to reach a fair settlement, and subsequently filed a countersuit for the amount they failed to reimburse.”

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There is no bad blood between Megyn Kelly and Candace Owens — even though they have different thoughts about Erika Kirk (née Frantzve).

“Candace knows I disagree with her on this,” Kelly, 55, said in a resurfaced clip from a past episode of SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show. “Petty internet people want to turn that into a catfight between Candace and yours truly, which will fail.”

Kelly added, “She and I have, actually, only gotten closer over the past couple of months as people try to make me attack her, so f*** off.”

Kelly has publicly supported Erika, 37, following the September 2025 death of her husband, Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University. He was 31 years old.

Owens, meanwhile, has not been offering the same support, despite her lengthy history with Charlie. Both Owens and Charlie came up in politics at the same time. In 2017, Charlie hired Owens as the communications director of his Turning Point USA organization, a role she held until 2019.

“For two years straight, Charlie and I flew around the world together on very little sleep. We were always exhausted. I’m not kidding. We took hundreds of flights together. We slept in the crappiest hotel rooms,” Owens said of her friendship with Charlie following his death. “When you’re in that capacity with someone for two years straight just traveling nonstop, you really get to know them. You really see them in every condition. You start bickering like an old married couple.”

In the months after Charlie’s death, Owens started sharing conspiracy theories about his apparent murder on social media. Erika issued a plea for her to “stop” in a December 2025 interview.

“That’s all I have to say,” Erika said. “Stop.”

The two women later met face-to-face, which Kelly helped facilitate.

“I thought that was a great idea and I fully support it and I have been in touch with both of them repeatedly,” she said during a December 2025 episode of The Megyn Kelly Show. “I really fully believe God’s role for me here is to possibly play a role in getting this whole thing to a better place.”

Erika noted that it was “a very productive conversation” between her and Owens. However, Owens came for Erika the following month by releasing what appeared to be audio of a conversation she had with Turning Point USA staff two weeks after Charlie’s death. (Erika was named the Turning Point USA CEO following his murder.)

“It’s the laughter that is off-putting. Again, we are not even two weeks after watching your husband be assassinated,” Owens said, referring to the “tone” of Erika’s voice in the audio. “We’re talking about numbers and metrics that have been hit.”

Owens claimed Erika moved “pretty quickly to the acceptance phase” after her husband was killed. “The video is real and authenticated,” a spokesperson for Owens told Us at the time.

Owens has continued her feud with Erika by releasing two episodes of a YouTube series titled The Bride of Charlie.

“I will tell you my personal opinion and experience with her,” Owens alleged in the episode released on Wednesday, February 25. “What alarms me about Erika isn’t so much the fact that she lies, which we will prove to you over and over again, but it’s also the fact that I don’t know that she’s aware that she’s lying.”

“I’ve always wanted my life to be as private as I can make it,” Bijou Phillips tells Us Weekly at her home in Beverly Hills. It makes sense: She was born famous and stayed that way.

Her father, John, founded the Mamas & the Papas; her sisters are One Day at a Time actress Mackenzie Phillips and Wilson Phillips singer Chynna. More recently, the Almost Famous actress has been in the news as a result of her ex-husband, Danny Masterson, who in 2023 was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. (Phillips filed for divorce that year.) She hasn’t given a sit-down interview in a decade and is breaking her silence now because she needs help — for herself and anyone else who is fighting for their life.

Phillips, 45, was born with underdeveloped kidneys; she spent her first three months on dialysis and recovered, but with limited kidney function. She needed a transplant at 36 (her friend Chris Wadhams was the donor), but on February 11, she revealed on social media that she was hospitalized and on dialysis again. Finding a new donor was a matter of life and death.

“To put my health out there publicly was terrifying, but my friends and family got fed up with me. They took control and were like, ‘We’re doing this.’” Her support system includes her siblings, her boyfriend, businessman Jamie Mazur, and lifelong pals like Nicky and Paris Hilton, and Kimberly Stewart. They serve as her advocates when she can’t be, sending messages and presents and even talking with her doctors via group chat.

Related: Inside Bijou Phillips’ Health Struggles as She Seeks 2nd Kidney Donor

Even before Bijou Phillips revealed she needed a second kidney transplant, the actress had been open about her health struggles over the years. Phillips, who is the daughter of musicians John Phillips and Geneviève Waïte, was born with underdeveloped kidneys. She required her first transplant in 2017. “I’m asking as a friend, a sister, an […]

In person, what shines through is her remarkable spirit, despite the fact that there’s currently a catheter in her chest that makes it impossible to shower, and dialysis can skyrocket her heart rate to 190. She is upbeat and calm, wearing a wide smile throughout our interview. There is a sense of peace as she talks to Us about facing her mortality, raising organ-donation awareness and trying to maintain a sense of normalcy for her 12-year-old daughter, Fianna.

It’s lovely to see you, and I’m sorry it’s under such sad circumstances. How are you feeling?

I feel pretty good since I started dialysis… I was possibly going to be able to get a kidney from my brother [Aron Wilson], but he wasn’t a match. He’s maybe going to be able to get into the kidney exchange, but they’re not sure. They’ve already denied him once, so he’s gonna try again.

How does that work? 

If he gives his kidney, it would put me higher on the list. So then I would get the next kidney that’s a match for me. I have antibodies [that make kidney rejection more likely], so it makes it complicated.

How are you feeling emotionally?

Strong. I’ve been through a lot in my life, and I don’t know if I would change anything. I’m a pretty happy-go-lucky person, and I usually look at the bright side of things. It takes a lot to make me lose my way or feel sad.

Have people reached out after your Instagram post on February 11? 

So many people, it’s just beautiful.

Like, 1,300 people came forward and said they want to get tested. Out of those, I think we have like 50 or 60 that could possibly be a match [Phillips’ blood type is B negative, so O+, O negative and B negative can donate.] There’s 90,000 people in America that need a kidney. It’s something people don’t really understand or talk about. There are so many people that are suffering and on dialysis. Dialysis is not a cure, and it’s not something that is going to help you live a real life. You really do need to get a kidney transplant… I think it’s useful to raise awareness, [to encourage] more people to donate into the ether. It’s such a wild disease. Your kidneys balance your electrolytes; they make a hormone that tells your white blood cells or your bone marrow to make red blood cells. It really affects you in so many different ways.

We’re seeing many stories about stars struggling with the cost of medical care. What has your experience been? 

On my first transplant, SAG denied coverage. We had to fight for months to get approval. Then, once I was on dialysis, I qualified for Medicare. They initially said they’d cover it, and then they didn’t. SAG also refused to pay. [A rep for SAG-AFTRA Health Plan could not provide comment to Us, citing HIPAA regulations.] I was left with a massive bill while trying to survive. This time around, because of that experience, I carry multiple insurance policies and Medicare. It’s insane that you have to strategize insurance while fighting for your life… There are still medications I need that won’t get approved. They’re unbelievably expensive. I pay out of pocket because I don’t have a choice. The system is incredibly complicated, opaque and stacked in ways that make it hard even for people with resources. For families without them, I can’t even imagine the pressure.

Have doctors given you a timeline for when you need a transplant?

I’ve needed a transplant for a year. I’m sort of hanging on by a thread. My dad had a liver transplant when I was 10, and then when I was 20, he had to get on dialysis at UCLA. The medication you take when you’re transplanted is very toxic to kidneys. So when you get a transplant — heart or liver or kidney — within a decade, you’re probably going to need a kidney transplant. My dad needed to get on dialysis after his liver transplant, [and] he got an infection in his line and was dead within three days because his immune system was so weak. So for me, getting on dialysis at UCLA was terrifying.

Because you saw your dad go through it.

I’ve been immunosuppressed for so long… I could make it on dialysis for a couple years, or I could get an infection in my line tomorrow and be gone in a few days. I’m really hopeful, [but] it’s an extremely urgent situation.

How has this experience changed your approach to life?

I have so much more compassion for myself and an ability to really take time to take care of my body and myself… I’ve found a deep need for spirituality that I didn’t have when I was younger. I’ve been praying a lot. I’m in a little group that prays the rosary in the morning, right after drop-off. I’m going to try to do a traditional Lent, fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays. [Despite widespread reports that Phillips left the Church of Scientology, her rep tells Us she was never a member, and her only connection to the Church was being married to Masterson, a lifelong Scientologist.]

Are you afraid of death?

Before the first transplant, I went through a dark night of the soul. You get to this point where you have to be OK with your life and think, “You know what? I’m proud of myself. I’ve checked all the boxes I wanted to check. I feel confident leaving.” I was married and able to let go and be at peace with it. It’s sort of the death of the ego, because there’s this part of you that wants to keep going and make another movie and make another album and fight, fight, fight. You have that fire inside of you when you’re an artist… Now I’m a single mom and things are different. I want to be here for her, and I have to be here for her. The fight is back. That had been gone for a long time. I’m it. I’m all she’s got.

How is Fianna dealing with things?

She’s the strongest little human. She’s brilliant. She’s a great piano player and songwriter, and she does phenomenal in school. And she’s very cool, way cooler than me. She’s really wise, and I’m just so proud to be her mother. She takes things that are really hard in life and handles them in this really classy way. I don’t deserve such an amazing human in my life. It’s magical.

She was 3 when you had your transplant. Has she always understood it?

She would play with her dolls and be like, “This doll is going to dialysis.” In some ways, this is normal for her.

What does your typical day look like right now? 

Today I took my daughter to school, came home, had a little snack, went to dialysis, came home, and normally I would go do a couple things, grab her from school, take her if she has an after-school thing, or maybe go get an early dinner or come home and make dinner. That’s my day. If I don’t have dialysis, I’m running errands and going to the grocery store.

Related: Bijou Phillips’ Rare Photos With Daughter Fianna Francis Through the Years

Bijou Phillips has kept a close bond with her daughter, Fianna, following her split from ex-husband Danny Masterson. Phillips tied the knot with Masterson in 2011 after seven years together. The pair welcomed their only child, Fianna Francis, in February 2014. After Masterson was found guilty on two counts of forcible rape for incidents that […]

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Are you still able to create things or work at all?

Before I got the call that my… kidneys were failing again, I was playing shows and putting music out. I was working on a new album… I was about to go make a movie in Bulgaria… I was so excited — it was such a good part — but I had to pull out because I got sick.

How do you cope with the uncertainty of finding a donor?

I’m just giving it to God. I’ve been tested my whole life. There have been so many things that have brought me sadness and shame and fear and worry. I had to grow so much. I’ve had to really look at myself [and be] thankful for what I’ve had. We’re so lucky to be here on this planet, in these bodies, getting to live this life. There’s so much love, there’s so much beauty. It’s unbelievable. When you live in a body that you can’t always trust… it makes the things that are beautiful so much more beautiful. It’s kind of like the cheat code. You go through all of these hard things, but God, it makes the sunsets prettier, and it makes taking a breath like a glass of champagne. Everything is better because you have so much gratitude. I find that the people who really haven’t suffered, haven’t gone through too much, they have the hardest time. The littlest things can send them into a spiral. The people that have really gone through it, you can’t help but just be overwhelmed by the beauty of life.