John Galliano has withdrawn the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition honoring his work after plans to celebrate the controversial designer sparked widespread criticism. The exhibition was scheduled to open on May 3 in connection with the 2027 Met Gala, but Galliano announced Monday that it would no longer move forward at this time. The backlash centered on antisemitic remarks Galliano made during a 2011 incident in Paris, which resulted in his firing from Dior and a conviction in a French court.

Galliano confirmed his decision in a statement shared on Instagram. “After much reflection and discussion with all those involved, I have decided, with great sadness, that it is best for the exhibition not to take place at this time,” he wrote.

The designer explained that he did not want the controversy surrounding his past to place additional pressure on the Met or overshadow the work of its Costume Institute. “I do not want the debate surrounding me to place the Met in a difficult position or to distract from the remarkable work of the Costume Institute. I also recognize and respect that the exhibition honoring my work would be painful for some,” Galliano added.

The statement did not indicate whether the exhibition could be reconsidered at a later date.

Galliano’s withdrawal ends months of debate over whether his artistic influence could be celebrated without minimizing the conduct that destroyed his relationship with Dior.

Anna Wintour Faced Pressure Over The Planned Honor

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art first announced in July that Galliano’s work would become the focus of the Costume Institute’s next major exhibition. The annual exhibition traditionally serves as the theme and creative centerpiece of the Met Gala, which brings together celebrities, designers and other prominent figures in fashion and entertainment.

Anna Wintour, Vogue’s global editorial director and a Met trustee, oversees the gala. Galliano’s exhibition would have made him only the third living designer to receive a solo presentation at the Met. Yves Saint Laurent received the distinction in 1983, followed by Rei Kawakubo in 2017. However, the decision to place Galliano in that exclusive company prompted renewed scrutiny of his past.

The Blast previously reported that Wintour had met with New York City’s “influential rabbis and Jewish leaders” to discuss concerns surrounding the exhibition. Galliano and Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton also reportedly participated in conversations intended to address the controversy before the exhibition opened.

Met Curator Acknowledged The Ethical Challenge

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The exhibition placed organizers in the difficult position of attempting to examine Galliano’s contributions to fashion while fully confronting the behavior that cost him one of the industry’s most prestigious jobs. Bolton had reportedly considered organizing a Galliano exhibition since 2010, before the designer’s career was derailed by the Paris incident.

The curator acknowledged that the presentation would need to “hold artistic achievement and ethical accountability together without allowing one to erase the other.” That challenge became central to the backlash.

Galliano is credited with helping transform Dior into a global luxury powerhouse through his elaborate runway shows and theatrical designs. However, critics questioned whether a solo Met exhibition would elevate his creative achievements while reducing his antisemitic conduct to a chapter of his career history.

Galliano’s withdrawal means the Met will no longer have to navigate that question through the planned exhibition, at least for now.

Designer Was Fired From Dior Following 2011 Incident

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Galliano was serving as Dior’s creative director when video footage surfaced of him making antisemitic remarks while intoxicated at a Paris café. During the incident, he declared, “I love Hitler.”

Dior fired Galliano after the footage became public. A French court later found him guilty of public insults based on religion, race and ethnicity. The designer was ordered to pay a fine, damages and court costs.

Galliano subsequently apologized and claimed he could not remember the incident because he was struggling with alcoholism and drug addiction. He withdrew from public life for approximately two years, entered rehabilitation and later met with Jewish leaders and rabbis.

Some organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, acknowledged his rehabilitation efforts. However, those steps did not erase the pain caused by his remarks or eliminate criticism of institutions choosing to honor him.

Met Gala Plans Now Face An Uncertain Future

A lasting love! Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade are the definition of relationship goals, but they have also worked hard to ensure the longevity of their romance.

The Being Mary Jane alum and former Miami Heat baller met in 2007 while cohosting a sponsored Super Bowl party. Though things appeared to be heating up between the pair, they briefly called it quits in early 2013.

“When you’re debating whether to go backward or forward, you have to look at the original issue,” she explained to Glamour in 2014. “[When Dwyane and I broke up briefly in 2013], it was because of distance and scheduling. I finished filming the show, then I flew to Vegas right away to start shooting Think Like a Man Too. I couldn’t take time off, and I missed some quality togetherness we desperately needed.”

Union continued, “Over the summer, I reassessed priorities. I’d always wanted an awesome career with back-to-back projects, but I realized I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my relationship for it. Moving forward, I decided my work schedule has to make sense for our family.”

The lovebirds reconciled and got engaged in December 2013 after taking some time apart. Union and Wade tied the knot in August 2014 in a lavish ceremony in Miami.

Four years after their nuptials, the duo welcomed their daughter Kaavia via surrogate after Union suffered multiple miscarriages. The retired NBA star, who welcomed children Zaire in 2002 and Zaya in 2007 with ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches, has had sole custody of his oldest kids since 2011. He was also awarded full custody of his nephew, Dahveon, in 2014.

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Wade and Union faced another challenge in their relationship when he welcomed son Xavier in 2013 with Aja Metoyer while on a break from the actress. In his 2020 ESPN documentary, D. Wade: Life Unexpected, he admitted that telling Union he was expecting a child with another woman was the “hardest thing” he’s ever done.

“Me and Gab just went through something that you never want to go through and we still came out of it,” he said at the time. “Not that it was easy, and that was another moment that showed me life could be different.”

Scroll down to see Union and Wade’s love story through the years.

Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 was far from the cultural juggernaut of his previous film Parasite. But the film — which marked Korean director Bong’s return to working in English after Snowpiercer and the offbeat creature feature Okja —still gave audiences the dark comedy and suspense of his best films, with an unexpected secret ingredient: two Robert Pattinsons. A dystopian science fiction story about Earthlings colonizing a distant world, the movie is a direct mirror to contemporary life in the way the best sci-fi can be. Viewers didn’t necessarily agree at the time, as the movie lost Warner Bros. Discovery roughly $75 million during its theatrical run according to Variety. But if any movie deserves to find a strong cult audience after bombing theatrically, it’s Mickey 17, which has the claim to being Bong’s best English-language film and a masterfully grotesque satire about the wicked solipsism of the wealthy.

At the center of the movie’s satire is Mickey Barnes (Pattinson) himself, the 17th clone of a man who was desperate enough to sign away his life (and future lives) to a potentially suicidal space mission. Based on the novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, the movie crafts a rich sense of space and life on the spaceship, complete with internal politicking and a strict hierarchy favoring the politician leading the exposition: Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), whose plastic features, blustery voice, and desire for more resources announces him as a critique of a very particular kind of leader. Mickey, by comparison, is happy to just be able to hang out with his girlfriend Nasha (Naomi Ackie) and die in more and more ways (ten more than in the original novel, in fact).

‘Mickey 17’ Has the Same Pros and Cons of Bong Joon Ho’s Other English Films

Mickey 17 is something of a mix of Bong Joon Ho’s two earlier English efforts (with a fair bit of the eccentricity of his original Korean films included). Snowpiercer’s sci-fi dystopia, set on a vessel moving through an icy world, crammed the have-nots onto the back of a train with no hope for progress, and Okja’s tale of a genetically modified super pig revealed the extent of Bong’s love of putting cute critters through the ringer to demonstrate the cruelty of the bad guys. On Niflheim, the ice world of Mickey 17, the cute creatures are called Creepers, and they become the key to the movie’s satirical sensibility. As the indigenous population receiving the hostile Earthlings, they are immediately a thorn in the humans’ side.

Mickey is inconvenient for them as well. By signing himself up to die repeatedly for the sake of the expedition, he has effectively doomed himself to an eternity of servitude. In the movie’s cold open, he’s even left behind to die by his buddy Timo (Steven Yeun), who we later learn to have been a bit of a scumbag on Earth, as well. Mickey survives due to the protection of the Creepers, but his return is too late — there is already a Mickey 18 (Robert Pattinson), who’s cooler and angrier than the goofy 17 and whose very existence suggests a paradox. The movie establishes early on that cloning is a controversial science in this world, and one way people like Marshall escape any ethical quandaries is by confirming that any redundant clones will get killed on sight. The Mickey clones are trapped, and that — as well as 18’s defiant personality — leads to a wild third act that puts the ruling class on the ropes.

‘Mickey 17’ Is An Entertaining (and Sometimes Frustrating) Sci-Fi Satire

Image via Warner Bros.

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While Mickey 17 thrusts this group of humans and clones into a pressure cooker and lets the action flow, it also tells a moving, if obvious, political story. The people in charge of the expedition — Marshall, his wife Ylfa (Toni Collette), and their various cronies — are fine with using a literal copying machine to create humans to die for them, just as they’re fine threatening annihilation to the Creepers. By using the ship as a miniature society ruled by people obsessed with wealth, power, and legacy, the movie also explores what it means to be considered “Expendable,” as Mickey’s initial job application states.

Mickey 17 is not quite as sharp as Bong Joon Ho’s previous Korean films, like his similarly-minded class thriller Parasite, in which the rich lived exceedingly nice lives while the poor had to fight for scraps. Nor does it have the tonal control of his 2003 serial killer epic Memories of Murder, which used a series of vile killings to explore the nature of obsession and the structure of a small town police department. In fact, Mickey 17 is probably a bit too eager to give viewers villains to root against and heroes to adore compared to Bong’s previous work, and its comedy relies a lot on Pattinson’s mugging, as well as its grimy Terry Gilliam-esque production design. But the movie is also fun and endearing, with Bong’s satirical sensibilities keeping everything running smoothly.

Sports broadcaster Al Michaels appeared to poke fun at President Donald Trump’s erroneous decision to rename Lake Ontario during a recent NFL game.

“That is Lake Erie. We think it is still called Lake Erie on the right,” Michaels, 81, said as an aerial shot of Ohio’s Huntington Bank Field was showcased on Prime Video’s Thursday, August 27, broadcast of the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns preseason game.

“We’re not quite sure at this point,” the legendary sportscaster continued. “But we’ll be by Lake something like Ontario or whatever it’s going to be called by the time we get to Buffalo [for Week 2].”

Michaels added, “Anyway, you know what I’m talking about, some of you do. Read the news.”

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Just days earlier, Trump, 80, claimed he has the authority to rebrand Lake Ontario as the so-called “Lake America.”

“The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don’t expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer,” he wrote via TruthSocial on Tuesday, August 25. “Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

On Thursday, Trump confirmed he would be signing an executive order granting him what he claims is the authority to rename the smallest of the five Great Lakes as part of an escalating trade feud with Canada.

Google Maps has since changed the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” for U.S. users to reflect Trump’s executive order, according to ​a Google statement obtained by Reuters.

“Since we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in ​official government sources, which is GNIS for the U.S., people using Maps in the U.S. will see ‘Lake America,’” Google said in a blog post on Saturday, August 29. “Those in Canada will continue to see ‘Lake Ontario,’ and those outside of the ​U.S. and Canada will see both names.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has since rejected ​the lake’s so-called name ​change.

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“The name of Lake Ontario derives from the Wendat word « Ontari’io », which means « the lake is beautiful, the lake is great ». This name dates back more than 400 years, well before the Canadian Confederation and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America,” Carney, 61, wrote via X on Thursday. “We know that the United States is changing. Their trade relations, their foreign policy, their national monuments, their hydronyms. Canadian women and men also know that things must be called by their name, and this lake is called Lake Ontario — today and forever.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that “New York won’t be calling ​it” Lake America, while Vermont Gov. Phil Scott called ⁠Trump’s decision “petty and disappointing” on social media.

“We should be at the negotiating table, finding a path forward that strengthens both the U.S. and Canadian economies,” Scott, 68, wrote via X on Thursday. “Further escalating tensions does nothing to help American or Canadian families and businesses.”

Grand Theft Auto VI will be the biggest game of the year, probably even the biggest of all time. However, history shows that may not be enough to be considered the best. Rockstar’s last two blockbusters, Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2, performed on a scale that most developers could only dream of. Yet there’s one achievement that seems to keep slipping through their fingers: a Game of the Year award.

Now in 2026, three games have a high chance of making history repeat. Marvel’s Wolverine arrives on September 15 with Insomniac’s impressive Spider-Man pedigree behind it. Gears of War: E-Day releases a bit later on October 6, a return to form that looks to deliver an emotional campaign alongside a bombastic multiplayer suite. Lastly, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake is the wildcard, a modern take on a game that still stands on top as Metacritic’s highest rated game of all time. GTA VI will surely outsell all three titles combined, but one of them has the potential to block Rockstar from a total victory.

Unfortunately for Rockstar, It’s Not a Popularity Contest

Image via Rockstar Games

It may sound hard to believe with Rockstar’s track record of massively successful and highly rated releases, but there’s a precedent that is hard to ignore. At multiple big award ceremonies, Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2 came up short to The Last of Us and God of War (2018), respectively. Neither winner comes close to competing with the scope and ambition of Rockstar’s open world games, but what they do excel in is offering focused, emotional experiences that deliver on quality every step of the journey.

That’s the pattern worth analyzing. Panels have twice looked at the largest game of the group, in both popularity and ambition, and valued the more intimate experience higher. Although gamers have picked their winner by purchasing a combined 317 million copies of GTA V and RDR2 so far, the critics aren’t fazed by the numbers. With the lineup as stacked as it is this fall and winter, it’s easy to assume the 2026 award ceremonies will end the same way for Rockstar.

‘Marvel’s Wolverine’ Comes In Swinging

Image via Insomniac Games

Marvel’s Wolverine is the first big threat to launch and Insomniac’s track record should speak for itself. Since Marvel’s Spider-Man launched in 2018, they’ve become one of PlayStation’s premier studios, delivering fast-paced, action-packed superhero adaptations that set the bar. However, they’ve never been able to take home the big trophy despite three out of four of their last games being nominated. With Wolverine trimming the open-world fat that was one of the few sources of tedium for the Spider-Man games, Insomniac could have its best shot yet at taking the top spot.

Even the combat in Marvel’s Wolverine looks to have upped the ante over their previous efforts. The gameplay shown off looks to be more visceral, more intense, and more engaging. What they lose in Spider-Man‘s fluid web-swinging, they make up for in pure adrenaline-pumping action. With a focused scope and PlayStation’s signature cinematic flair that has succeeded in defeating Rockstar twice, Marvel’s Wolverine looks to be the exact type of game that could snatch the gold from Grand Theft Auto VI.

‘Gears of War: E-Day’ Saws a Path to a GOTY Nod

Image via Xbox

Gears of War: E-Day is a game that is likely to have an even bigger critical impact than Wolverine. The multiplayer open beta launched a couple of weekends ago and was universally praised by participants. The Coalition hit out of the park with Horde Siege, a huge highlight that revolutionized the iconic Horde mode that the franchise popularized in 2008.

The campaign is where E-Day needs to impress in order to not only become Xbox’s first exclusive first-party game to ever be nominated for Game of the Year at The Game Awards, but to be Xbox’s first win as well. Luckily, the cards are stacked in their favor with the prequel tackling the single most important day in Gears lore: Emergence Day. It’s ripe for a narrative that will bring back the feel of the beloved original trilogy with Marcus and Dom back in the spotlight and explore major events like the invention of the iconic Lancer.

More importantly, this is a prequel that will probably be heartbreaking in a memorable way. We’ve seen a few characters introduced in this game that don’t appear in previous titles. You can only assume the worst, knowing how brutal this universe can be. Meeting Maria before she was captured would be another obvious candidate for an emotional story beat. Pairing a campaign with such huge potential with a multiplayer suite that’s already receiving immense praise makes Gears of War: E-Day a formidable Game of the Year contender.

‘The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’ is Reborn to Repeat Its Dominance

Image via Nintendo

Then there’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, a game that carries a reputation unmatched by anything else in the medium. The original release remains the highest-rated game in Metacritic history with a score of 99, the only title to ever reach that number. Even with generational successors like Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild, Ocarina of Time lives on as many fans’ favorite of all time and continues to top best of all-time lists across the internet.

The hype for this ground-up remake of the most influential 3D adventure game ever made may end up exceeding any remake before it, Final Fantasy VII Remake included (and Nintendo can do it without splitting the content into three full-priced releases). Although we haven’t seen any gameplay yet, don’t expect this to be a 1:1 remake like Star Fox (2026) that keeps the game intact. This is likely to feel like a brand new, modernized Zelda game twisted around all the elements that made Ocarina of Time special. That sounds like a recipe for another Game of the Year caliber Legend of Zelda title. It may even be the first remake to ever run off with the grand prize.

‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ and Rockstar Breed Controversy

All that’s not to say Grand Theft Auto VI won’t be an amazing experience. The extended look was impressive in a way that only Rockstar can pull off, but it’s the same impressive feats they pulled off with GTA V and RDR2 before it. Yet they still lost. And that was when Rockstar was still revered by gamers and the industry alike. In 2026, their reputation has taken a few hits due to some avaricious decision-making.

The first offense was the decision to make GTA VI a digital-only game. PlayStation’s follow-up announcement that they would no longer offer physical games starting January 2028 sparked a vocal movement against the all-digital future and Rockstar is caught in the middle of it. On top of that, pre-orders went live (before we had even seen a second of gameplay) for GTA VI with a base price tag of $79.99 and an Ultimate Edition at $99.99. It didn’t help that the Ultimate Edition mostly featured seemingly cut content such as access to exclusive shops, exclusive mission content and the ability to change Jason’s facial hair.

Then came the long-awaited GTA VI gameplay reveal. The hype was sky-high for what Rockstar had been cooking for 13 years. Surely there was nothing they could do to ruin the moment, right? Well, Rockstar (or more than likely parent company Take-Two) found a way, selling the first extended look to Netflix and effectively paywalling the trailer for millions of fans. This decision also sparked mass backlash online, which Rockstar could easily ignore, but they ended up irritating the wrong person.

‘GTA VI’ Leaks Shattered the Internet

Image via Rockstar Games

An anonymous individual set the internet on fire last week when they decided to leak an old build of GTA VI gameplay, dubbing it the “Cyberleeks.” Rockstar and Take-Two may have been able to ignore the cries of disgruntled fans, but this was something that finally sent them into a panic. DMCAs were being placed across the internet and a cyber hunt for “Cyberleek” was underway. With all the bad press that this game has been getting lately, it’s hard to believe there wouldn’t be some negative impact on the panels who will be deciding the Game of the Year winner this winter.

Grand Theft Auto VI arrives November 19 with a short turnaround of roughly three weeks before The Game Awards (which may be an additional blockade for voters). Rockstar will surely break every sales record in the book, and it will be deserved for the meticulous craft and detail they put into their worlds. But scale and quantity can also be a deterrent we’ve seen, and GTA VI seems to be going even bigger than its predecessors. Just don’t be surprised if the final envelope at the end of the big night doesn’t read “Grand Theft Auto VI“.

Okay, we need to talk about Regency romance. Walk into any bookstore right now and the historical romance shelf is buckling under new arrivals, most of them with a shirtless lord on the cover and a viscount in the title. That’s a lot to wade through, so we did the wading for you.

The titles below make up our permanent starting lineup for anyone new to the genre. Some are certified classics you probably already have opinions about; the rest are the ones we hand to anyone who claims historical romance isn’t for them. Every last one of them is guaranteed to make your petticoats flutter.

‘The Rakess’ (2020)

Image via Avon Books

Seraphina Arden is a scandal, by design. She takes lovers on her own terms and is finishing a tell-all memoir about the powerful man who ruined her, with the profits earmarked for the women’s rights movement she keeps getting arrested for. When she retreats to her family’s abandoned house on the Cornish coast to write, her new neighbor turns out to be Adam Anderson, a widowed Scottish architect with two children and a career he cannot afford to lose over matters of reputation.

Scarlett Peckham writes the gender-flipped rake premise with real teeth. In The Rakess, Seraphina isn’t a fixer-upper waiting for a rich man to unlock her potential; she is, as Cher would say, the rich man in this equation, and Adam has to decide whether he can live with what she wants for herself. The book is filthy and unusually smart about what it’s doing, and it never once asks Seraphina to apologize for the space she takes up.

‘Queen Bee’ (2023)

Image via Joy Revolution

Amalie Howard’s YA Regency, Queen Bee, has one of the best pulpy premises going for it: The Count of Monte Cristo, but with debutantes and better dresses. Three years ago, Lady Ela Dalvi’s best friend Poppy betrayed her over a boy and got her exiled from society. Now Ela is back, disguised as a mysterious heiress, and out for social annihilation. The complication is the marquess she fell for as a teenager, who has been carrying his own version of that story for the same three years.

We love Ela precisely because she is furious… but also wrong about nearly everything, and Howard writes her with more moral complexity than most YA books even attempt. The ballrooms are lush, and Howard doesn’t condescend to her reader’s age for a single sentence. If you love a proper Bridgerton revenge arc, this one delivers.

‘Bringing Down the Duke’ (2019)

Image via Berkley

It is 1878, and Annabelle Archer has just talked her way into Oxford’s Lady Margaret Hall, the university’s very first women’s college. She joins a suffragist cell whose newest strategy involves lobbying and, ideally, seducing influential Tories into supporting the Married Women’s Property Act. First target: Sebastian Devereux, Duke of Montgomery, who has been ordered by Queen Victoria to hand the Tories a win and is quietly trying to earn back a family castle his father lost on cards.

Author Evie Dunmore is doing scholarly work here. The suffrage politics in Bringing Down the Duke are researched down to the pamphlet copy, and the romance never papers over the class chasm between a duke and a country vicar’s daughter. Sebastian cannot let himself want Annabelle without betraying the queen who owns his political future, and Annabelle cannot let herself want Sebastian without betraying every woman in the movement. Dunmore refuses to let either of them wave those stakes off, which is why the romance is so deliciously tense.

‘The Viscount Who Loved Me’ (2000)

Widely considered the best of the Bridgerton novels and correctly so, this is Anthony’s book, which means, it’s really Kate Sheffield’s book, and that’s where its greatness lies. Anthony decides he needs a wife and settles on Kate’s younger sister Edwina as the diamond of the season, without accounting for the older-sister energy about to blow up his life.

Anthony is haunted by his father’s early death and running from the shadow of it in the worst possible ways. Kate arrives to protect Edwina, sees through him inside a chapter, and then makes the awful mistake of falling in love with the exact man she was warning her sister about. If you’ve only seen the Netflix adaptation, you should know the Pall Mall scene alone is worth the paperback.

‘If You Deceive’ (2007)

Image via Pocket Books

Buckle in. The third and best of Kresley Cole‘s MacCarrick Brothers trilogy should come with a warning label. It’s angsty and operatic, with a hero who, Cole, is willing to do something borderline unforgivable in the middle. Ethan MacCarrick is a scarred Highlander who has spent a decade nursing a grudge against the man who ruined his life, and when he tracks the man’s daughter Madeleine to a masquerade, his plan is to seduce her and vanish.

Madeleine, however, is not the naive mark Ethan was counting on. She is a bankrupt aristocrat picking pockets in Paris to survive, and completely uninterested in playing victim in anyone’s revenge fantasy, especially not one hatched by a man she is beginning to actually want. The book is emotionally brutal and shameless about its steam. And if you like your rakes made to grovel for every last inch of the eventual reconciliation, Cole delivers.

‘The Duchess Deal’ (2017)

Image via Avon Books

Meet Emma Gladstone, a London seamstress who is owed money for a wedding dress the client will not be needing. That client is George, Duke of Ashbury, whose fiancée broke off the engagement when he came home from the Napoleonic Wars with burn scars across half his body. When Emma turns up at his front door wearing the unpaid gown to demand her wages, he responds by proposing to her instead.

Tessa Dare is our reigning queen of the Regency rom-com, and The Duchess Deal is her at her most polished. The whole romance turns on Emma flatly refusing to treat Ash’s scars as a tragedy, which forces him to figure out what to do with a wife who is not afraid of him. It is a comfort read that respects your intelligence, which is a harder trick to pull off than the genre usually gets credit for.

‘Lord of Scoundrels’ (1995)

Image via Avon Books

If you ask a romance reader for the single best historical romance novel of the last 40 years, half of them will name this one. Sebastian Ballister, Marquess of Dain, is a half-Italian aristocrat with a lonely childhood and a wall of self-loathing so tall you can see it from Devon, and Jessica Trent is the 27-year-old bluestocking who arrives in 1828 Paris to pry her idiot brother out of Dain’s orbit and instead ends up shooting the marquess in the arm.

Loretta Chase writes Dain as a character rather than a lustful prop. He’s cruel and funny in the same breath, with a tenderness that catches him off guard more than anyone. Jessica gives as good as she gets and then some. The book is unusually smart, and it has earned every accolade thrown at it.

‘The Grand Sophy’ (1950)

Image via Sourcebooks Casablanca

When Sophy Stanton-Lacy arrives at her aunt’s London townhouse in 1816, she has been raised on the continent by a diplomat father with unconventional ideas about what a young woman should know. Her cousin Charles Rivenhall, who has been keeping the family solvent through his father’s shredded finances, would strongly prefer she left everyone’s private business alone.

Georgette Heyer basically invented the modern Regency, and The Grand Sophy is the strongest argument for that legacy. The prose is bone-dry funny, and the romance is the delicious mess of Charles slowly realizing that the cousin driving him up the wall is the only woman he has ever met who is his equal. Some parts of this haven’t aged well, but the romance is still romancing.

‘Slightly Wicked’ (2003)

Image vial Dell Books

Judith Law’s stagecoach overturns on the way to her aunt’s estate, where she is being sent to become an unpaid companion for the rest of her natural life. Rannulf Bedwyn, the rakish third son of a formidable ducal family, happens to be riding by and offers her shelter under an assumed name; by morning they have spent an unforgettable night together with no plans to repeat it. They part expecting never to meet again, and then Rannulf turns up at Judith’s aunt’s house a week later to court Judith’s beautiful cousin.

Mary Balogh is a master of the class-clash Regency, and this one uses the awkward second meeting to do real work. Rannulf has to stop trying to charm Judith and start convincing her that a night she has spent the last week trying to forget is worth building a real life on, and Judith has to decide whether she can risk hoping for one. It is the second book in the Bedwyn Saga and a natural on-ramp for anyone new to Balogh.

‘Pride and Prejudice’ (1813)

Image via Penguin Classics

Yes, we’re including Pride and Prejudice. It’s the reason most of these books exist, and on reread, it’s still the sharpest, funniest of the bunch. Elizabeth Bennet is the second of five sisters in a family with no money and a mother desperate to marry each one of her offspring off. Mr. Darcy is the wealthy, aloof friend of her sister Jane’s suitor who insults her within five minutes of meeting her.

Look, nobody has ever caught up to Jane Austen on comedy. Every line of her dialogue is working overtime, and Elizabeth and Darcy are still, two centuries in, the couple every other writer in this genre is trying to write. If you last read this in high school, read it again as a grown up. You’ll find a new appreciation for it.

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Pride & Prejudice

Release Date

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November 23, 2005

Runtime

127 minutes

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Director

Joe Wright

Writers

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Deborah Moggach

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Former Spice Girls singer Victoria Beckham appears to be heavily involved in finding the right partner for Hollywood A-list actor Tom Cruise.

According to Victoria, who has been friends with Cruise for a very long time, believes the actor can be incredibly “uptight” when it comes to dating, and that has harmed his chances of finding his “Mrs. Cruise.”

Tom Cruise has also previously enlisted the help of Victoria’s husband, former professional footballer David Beckham, in finding the right person for him, preferably an English woman.

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Globe reported that a source close to Victoria said she has received somewhat negative feedback from women she has tried to set Cruise up with. According to the source, “The feedback Victoria’s gotten from the friends she’s tried to set him up with is that he’s just a bit too intense; he can be very uptight.”

The insider added that Cruise’s habit of “micromanaging everything” has not worked out well for him in finding love.

The “Mission Impossible” star reportedly comes across “as very controlling,” and his behavior is a turnoff for the women he goes out on dates with. Victoria, with decades of relationship wisdom from her 27-year marriage to David, wants Cruise to focus less on the destination and more on the journey.

The source also revealed that Victoria thinks Cruise “needs to chill out and try to enjoy the process.”
Cruise was first married to Mimi Rogers in 1987, then to Nicole Kidman in 1990, and lastly to Katie Holmes in 2006.

His most recent high-profile romance was with actress Ana de Armas, who reportedly found the relationship with him “exhausting.”

Cruise’s Intensity Was Glaring During His Relationship With Ana de Armas

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Cruise was reportedly termed “high-octane” during his nine-month romance with Armas.

Reality Tea reported at the time that Cruise treated the relationship like a production when Armas wanted a partnership. An insider told the outlet that “Tom adored her, but he acted like a director, not a boyfriend. Every dinner, every outfit, every weekend plan, he had notes. It was exhausting.”

The Ballerina star reportedly found peace after stepping away from the romance. She sought more independence and freedom than the relationship allowed.

“Tom’s still chasing the perfect script. Ana’s chasing freedom and for once, she’s winning,” the insider concluded.

The Beckhams And Cruise Have Been Friends For Decades

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Cruise’s bond with the Beckhams can be traced back nearly two decades to when David was transferred to LA Galaxy in 2007, and the couple relocated to Los Angeles.

In a 2024 Hello! publication, David reportedly gave credit to Cruise for guiding them in the transition. According to David, he asked for Cruise’s advice because “he’s a very wise man and a very good friend of mine.” He added that Cruise “couldn’t speak any higher about LA” and that “It’s a big help to us to have friends in LA when we arrive.”

While they were still in the US, the Beckhams forged a well-known friendship with Cruise and ex-wife Katie Holmes. The quartet was spotted together on several occasions, and Cruise, who is a huge football fan, was frequently seen at David’s matches.

Cruise was a surprise guest at Victoria’s 50th birthday celebration in 2024, where he reportedly broke out a ‘breakdance’ routine that “floored” fans.

More recently, Cruise delivered a speech while attending the former football player’s Walk of Fame ceremony, and David publicly thanked Cruise for the friendship the pair have shared for over two decades.

David Beckham Also Plays ‘Cupid’ For Tom Cruise

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Victoria isn’t the only Beckham helping the “Top Gun” star find love. Earlier reports indicated that Cruise asked David for his help in finding an English girlfriend.

According to Mandatory, an insider revealed that Cruise was leaning on David and Victoria in finding the right person for him. The source stated that Cruise “loves every part of the culture and [would] do anything to top that off by finding himself a leading English lady.”

The actor was reportedly looking for a young woman within the 25 to 35 age range who has connections to Britain’s royal family.

Cruise was supposedly “thrilled to have his old wingman back,” and finding “Ms. Right,” who is ideally a “bona fide English rose,” was their top priority.

Forget everything you thought you knew about your Labor Day Weekend outfit — because LAVO just changed the dress code. The Las Vegas hotspot known for its wild, over-the-top brunches is throwing a one-night-only bash called Villa Bianco, and there’s one rule: come dressed in all white, or don’t come at all.

The details are giving major main-character energy. On Sunday, September 6, LAVO at The Venetian and Palazzo is transforming into an all-white supper club straight out of a European summer fantasy — think white florals, white linens, and a room full of guests dressed head-to-toe to match. Doors open at 9 PM, and LAVO already dropped a Villa Bianco lookbook to get everyone’s outfit inspo flowing before the big night.

The Dress Code Is Non-Negotiable

Here’s the part that has everyone talking: it’s white or nothing. Every single guest has to show up in all-white attire to even get through the door — no exceptions. LAVO isn’t playing around with this one, and honestly? That’s exactly what’s making Villa Bianco feel like the event of the weekend.

It’s Giving LAVO’s Legendary Brunch Energy — But at Night

If you’ve ever been to LAVO’s famous Party Brunch, you already know the vibe: elevated Italian food that somehow turns into a full nightclub experience by the end of the meal. Villa Bianco is taking that same electric, can’t-sit-still energy and moving it into a nighttime dinner party format, with LAVO’s signature bottle presentations and DJ-fueled atmosphere carrying the night from dinner straight into a full-blown party.

Heads Up: You Need a Table to Eat

Quick tip before you plan your night — dining at Villa Bianco is only available if you’ve purchased a table in advance. So if you’re hoping to actually eat (and let’s be honest, you probably want to), lock in your table ahead of time instead of counting on general admission.

Why Everyone’s Going to Be Talking About This One

Vegas has no shortage of Labor Day Weekend parties, but Villa Bianco is different — it’s not just another club night; it’s a full aesthetic moment. Between the all-white dress code, the lookbook hype, and LAVO’s reputation for turning dinner into a full-on scene, this is shaping up to be the single most photographed, most talked-about party of the weekend.

Tom Cruise paid tribute to late NASCAR driver Kyle Busch while at Daytona International Speedway, where he announced the long-awaited sequel to his 1990 movie, Days of Thunder.

Cruise, 64, sat next to an empty chair, reserved for Busch, at the pre-race driver’s meeting ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series race on Saturday, August 29. A sign taped to the chair read, “Kyle Busch” with the legend’s No. 8, as Cruise occasionally patted the seat in acknowledgment.

Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, died in May at age 41 after a battle with pneumonia progressed into sepsis and further complications.

The Days of Thunder sequel, slated for a June 2028 release, will star Cruise, reprising his role as NASCAR driver Cole Trickle. Anne Hathaway will also join the cast, playing a team owner and engineer.

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Cruise and Hathaway, 43, both announced the movie via Instagram on Saturday, posting a photo from the Daytona racetrack next to a green car with “Days of Thunder, Summer 2028” written across it.

Fans of Busch noticed that while Cruise was there to promote his movie, his patting the chair next to him served as a subtle tribute.

“I wonder if Tom knows that the original Days of Thunder was Kyle’s favorite racing movie,” one fan wrote via X. “Thanks Tom we appreciate the respect!”

“That’s respect, thank you Tom Cruise,” another added.

Busch is survived by his wife, Samantha, and their two children, Brexton, 11, and Lennix, 4.

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The 2025 Super Bowl was a truly star-studded affair. In a rematch of the 2023 championship, the Kansas City Chiefs took on the Philadelphia Eagles at New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome on Sunday, February 9. (The KC squad notably won the first time around, which saw brothers Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce face off on the […]

“Our entire NASCAR family is heartbroken by the loss of Kyle Busch,” NASCAR said in a statement following his death. “A future Hall of Famer, Kyle was a rare talent, one who comes along once in a generation. He was fierce, he was passionate, he was immensely skilled and he cared deeply about the sport and fans.”

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Samantha, 40, has been open about her grief, often sharing via social media her struggles to cope as she continues to raise Brexton and Lennix. She also spoke publicly about losing Kyle while accepting an award at the Carlos Rodón Foundation’s annual Willow Gala in New York last week.

“Losing him has been the greatest heartbreak of my life,” she said. “And if I’m being truthful, there are still so many things I don’t understand and so many times I wish God’s plan looked different than it does.”

Samantha continued, “Caring for the things that Kyle and I built together can feel incredibly heavy because he should still be here doing it beside me. But I also know that the same God who carried us through infertility is still carrying me now.”

Misty Copeland just reminded Us that a basic black top doesn’t have to feel, well, basic. With the right silhouette and styling, the closet staple can look polished, elevated and far more expensive than you’d expect. Her latest outfit is all the inspiration needed to trade an everyday tee for something with a little more texture.

Copeland was spotted in New York City on Aug. 25 wearing an oversized black knit top with a sparkly black skirt, pointed-toe pumps and a sleek leather bag. The slouchy silhouette gave her monochromatic outfit a relaxed feel, while the knit texture made the simple staple look instantly more elevated. While we couldn’t pin down her exact top, we found a similar style on Amazon for just $24.

Get the Saodimallsu Short Sleeve Cropped Knit Sweater for just $24 (Was $31) at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate at the date of publication, August 31, 2026, but are subject to change.

The Saodimallsu Short Sleeve Cropped Knit Sweater captures the same relaxed, expensive-looking feel as Copeland’s top. It has a drapey drop-shoulder silhouette, ribbed knit texture and rolled hem that make it feel like a major step up from a standard black tee. Better yet, it’s the kind of versatile piece that works now and can stay in rotation straight through fall.

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If there’s anyone we’re looking to for the most up-to-date fall shoe trends, it’s Anna Wintour. The iconic Vogue editor-in-chief has spent decades at the center of fashion, so when she trades basic black boots for a rich brown style, we take note. Her latest look has Us convinced that this warm shoe color is […]

Pair it with a silky or sparkly skirt to recreate Copeland’s dressed-up look, or make it more casual with jeans and loafers. The lightweight knit also makes it easy to layer under blazers and jackets once temperatures start dropping. It comes in sizes XS to XL and several colors and patterns, including black, olive, brown and stripes.

More than 600 Amazon shoppers have given the sweater a five-star rating. One buyer called it “extremely versatile,” adding, “you can dress them up for work or down with jeans for casual get togethers,” and said it’s “perfect spring through fall and easily layered.” Another shopper praised the “very soft, flowy knit” that “seems more expensive than it is.”

Copeland’s look proves that swapping a basic tee for a textured knit can make even simple outfits feel more polished. Wear the Amazon sweater with everything from jeans to skirts now, then layer it under jackets once fall weather arrives. With fall around the corner, the 21% discount makes now a great time to add it to your rotation.

Copeland’s black top is proof that a little texture can transform an outfit. Shop more elevated Amazon finds below — from relaxed knits to dressier everyday staples.

Shop more expensive-looking black tops that we love:

Not your style? Explore more short sleeve tops here and don’t forget to check out all of Amazon’s Daily Deals for more great finds!

UsNow Summer Sale Alert: These Chic Fashion Finds are over 30% off – Plus Free Shipping

Welcome to summer with our biggest sale of the year. This summer’s chicest dresses, tops and swimsuits are all over 30% + free shipping. Inventory is limited so hurry before they’re gone.

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Related: Savannah Guthrie’s $2,645 Dress Has a Slimming $26 Lookalike

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Savannah Guthrie just found a chic way to bring summer florals into fall. Instead of the light, breezy prints we’ve been wearing all season, she opted for a darker floral that feels a little moodier, a little more polished and surprisingly flattering. The “Today” show host was spotted at the U.S. Open on August 25, […]