Expert comment provided by licensed sexologist, relationship therapist, and author at Passionerad, Sofie Roos.

Previously, we heard from sexologist and relationship therapist Sofie Roos about what straight men and straight women bring up the most in sex therapy.

And this week, she spoke to us about the topics virgins over 30 discuss most with her.

“Many people over 30 who’re still virgins… [talk to me] about performance anxiety… they often worry about not knowing what to do during sex, that they will mess up, or that it will get awkward,” Roos said.

Other common fears include being judged by your partner and not having the supposed “right” physical responses to sex and foreplay.

This stress, the sexologist said, can sometimes create a vicious cycle. “These kinds of worries easily lead to the physical reactions they’re afraid of, such as erection problems, difficulties with getting wet, or having a hard time relaxing.”

Because society often has “norms for when we should have sex the first time,” Roos said, some virgins aged 30 and over feel they’re behind or “as if something is wrong with you, even though it most often isn’t”.

It can make communication with partners and even dating feel more difficult, she added.

Some in this group “develop doubts about their ability to attract, or their desirability as a romantic partner,” the therapist told us.

“Even though there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you,” she said, those who haven’t lost their virginity at 30 or older can “see themselves as less appealing and capable in intimate situations than what they actually are”.

And it’s not uncommon for people to “grow an insecurity around flirting, intimacy and emotional closeness, making many of the natural elements in finding a partner feel too overwhelming,” she added.

Pain during penetration is a relatively common concern for straight women, Roos told us last week. And for virgins aged 30 and over, she told us many are afraid of “pain during sex, which just increases the risk for unpleasant intimacy, especially in women.

“For people with vulvas, being afraid of pain during penetration can lead to difficulties with relaxing and getting wet, making the sex unpleasant,” she added.

And for men, “worrying can cause temporary erection problems, which also tend to put people in a very negative loop where having sex becomes something that feels more and more difficult each time you try”.

Roos had some words of wisdom for people in this group, starting with destigmatising being a virgin after 30.

“There’s no deadline for when you should have sex for the first time – it’s all about what feels right for you! It’s normal to have your sex debut early, and it’s normal to have it late, and at what age you first get intimate says extremely little about how the rest of your sex life will be,” she said.

She also said that sometimes, those who feel they’re “late” to having sex can put a premium on experience, even at the cost of pleasure. But she thinks it’s healthier to stay present, start as slow as you like, and communicate.

“Start with kisses and just being close, and then take it from there at the tempo you enjoy, and focus on how it feels and on the moment instead of on what you’re doing, something that builds safety and makes it feel way better”.

Roos also says many virgins over 30 are “scared about telling the person they’re seeing that they never have had sex before, but in my experience, a date often responds with way more understanding and empathy than we expect.”

Explaining where you’re at sexually can make further communication easier.

You should also learn “what feels good, both physically, emotionally and mentally” – that “makes sexual encounters feel more welcoming, safe and less mystical, which is key for taking that step”.

Lastly, the sexologist said, don’t be afraid of seeking expert help, or even talking to a friend, if you need. That’s “extremely valuable if the fear, shame and anxiety are strong and difficult to deal with on your own”.

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When I was in secondary school, matte lips were everything.

Whether you were part of the crowd who put foundation on their lips and called it a day or not; everyone could agree that a great, statement matte lip was a very powerful thing.

But, as with so many things that are hugely popular when you’re a teen, it’s easy to develop a knee-jerk aversion to it when you’re an adult.

This is what happened to me, dear reader. Around the time I got to university, I turned my back on bold matte lipsticks in favour of, well, virtually everything else, and haven’t looked back since.

Well… That is, until now.

On a whim, I decided to try the Lip & Cheek Blurry Pudding Pot by South Korean brand Fwee, in shade Boss (one of the darkest colours available, naturally).

I was tempted by the fact it’s a lip and cheek duo. Even though I rarely go bold with my blush, I get way too much satisfaction from a perfectly matching cheek-and-lip combo.

Widespread love of K-Beauty isn’t new – and I’m certainly not immune to the hype. In fact, according to the Boots Beauty & Wellness Trends Report for 2026, one K-Beauty product sells every 11 seconds at Boots.

But when it comes to this little pot, the hype is very much warranted.

In fact, I’d go so far as saying that it’s got me feeling a way about matte lips that I haven’t felt since Kylie Jenner had blue hair.

Sure, I dabbled with Glossier’s Generation G just like every other millennial makeup wearer in the world, but that was semi-sheer and a lot more subtle. This is a very different level of pigment.

The first time I popped this pudding on my lips and cheeks, I put it to the test over dinner.

I didn’t top it up once over the course of the meal, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it hadn’t budged an inch while I’d been eating and drinking.

While you want to make sure your lips are in a moisturised, non-flaky state when you put it on (it clings to the cracks as you might expect), I’ve found that this lippy is also super comfortable to wear and non-drying, which is a very far cry from lots of the other matte lip products out there.

Heaven help you if you put it on and change your mind, though! Even when I tried to take it off, a lighter shade of berry lingered.

It’s super easy to apply to the lips – I just used my fingers and blurred out the edges a little for a softer look.

The main drawback is that it’s harder to get the cheeks just right with a colour this big and bold.

I’ve been using a brush to make blending easier, but the balance between too much and too little is a very fine one. For me, striking that balance is still a work in progress.

All in all, however, at £16, the Fwee Lip & Cheek Blurry Pudding Pot is an utter bargain. I’ll be popping at least five more shades on my wishlist.

Ahead of Sunday night’s ceremony, some of Hollywood’s most recognisable faces will be gearing up to find out if they’ve snagged one of those coveted golden statues.

Others, though, weren’t quite so lucky.

Indeed, there are some pretty note-worthy absentees from this year’s Oscars shortlist – while there are a fair few others we were no doubt pleasantly surprised to see make their way into their categories.

Here are our seven biggest snubs and surprises of the 2026 Oscar nominees…

Let’s start with the biggie, shall we?

In 2025, the first Wicked movie racked up a hefty 10 Oscar nominations, including acting wins for both Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, and wins in the Best Production Design and Best Costume Design categories.

However, neither actor has been recognised at this year’s event – and, in fact, Wicked: For Good failed to pick up a single Oscar nomination in something of a blow for the musical sequel.

Worst of all, without a nod in the Best Original Song category, we were subjected to those new additions to the soundtrack for nothing…

Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another)

One Battle After Another, remarkably, marked Chase Infiniti’s first time on the big screen, with her performance in the Paul Thomas Anderson movie earning her nominations at both the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards, Baftas and recently-renamed Actor Awards.

Surprisingly – and, we have to say, disappointingly – this did not translate to an Oscar nomination for the young star, who will next be seen in Niki Byrne’s coming-of-age drama The Julia Set.

Paul Mescal (Best Supporting Actor)

As expected, Hamnet had plenty of love when it came to this year’s Oscar nominations, with lead actor Jessie Buckley the current favourite to scoop Best Actress and Chloe Zhao receiving Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nods.

While many expected that Paul Mescal would rack up his second nomination for his performance as William Shakespeare, it turned out there was not enough room for him in the stacked category after all.

Kate Hudson (Best Actress)

As the date of the Oscar nominations announcement drew nearer, we’d heard rumblings that Kate Hudson might make her way into the Best Actress category, but we weren’t sure whether she’d actually manage it.

Kate plays tribute singer Claire Sardina in the musical drama, earning her first Oscar nomination in 25 years for her work in the movie (she was last nominated in 2001 for her breakout role in Almost Famous).

Delroy Lindo (Best Supporting Actor)

After Delroy Lindo was overlooked at the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards and Actor Awards for his performance as Delta Slim in Sinners, we came to the sad conclusion that the comic relief character wouldn’t be getting any love from the major awards bodies this year.

Imagine our delight, then, when he managed to make his way into the Best Supporting Actor category at the Oscars, one of three acting nods for the film (which has shattered the record for the most nominations in history) at the upcoming Academy Awards.

Amy Madigan (Best Supporting Actress)

To be fair, after winning a Critics’ Choice Award and earning recognition at the Golden Globes, we’re not sure we can really call Amy Madigan’s nomination for her performance in Weapons a surprise anymore.

Still, when we cast our mind back to the first time we were introduced to Aunt Gladys last year, we never thought that Amy would land herself in the running for an Oscar for her role, and given the Academy’s history with horror movies, it’s great to see her getting the recognition she deserves so much.

Like Wicked: For Good, many were shocked that Park Chan-wook’s satirical drama No Other Choice didn’t get a single Oscar nomination – despite its acclaim from both critics and audiences, and the fact that until recently it held a rare 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

What we’re hoping is that the conversation around this snub, paired with its rave reviews, are enough that when it hits UK cinemas later this week, audiences flood to see it.

Check out the full list of this year’s Oscar nominees here.

The Straw Hats have set sail once more in season two of Netflix’s much-loved series One Piece.

When One Piece debuted in 2023, it quickly was hailed as one of the best live-action adaptations of a manga ever, and became the Netflix’s most-watched original series of the second half of that year.

After an agonising three-year wait, Monkey D. Luffy, Nami, Roronoa Zoro and the rest of the super-powered team of pirates are back in action – alongside a new ragtag group of enemies, allies and magical creatures.

Here are all the new actors joining One Piece in its second season, and a quick guide to where you might know them from…

Charitha has joined the second series of One Piece as Miss Wednesday, the princess of the desert kingdom Alabasta.

The British actor is no stranger to popular Netflix shows, having played Edwina in the second series of Bridgerton.

After her big break in the Amazon Prime adaptation of the Alex Ryder books in 2021, playing Sabina Pleasance, Charitha went on to appear in Dune: Prophecy as a younger version of Tabu’s character Francesca.

On the big screen, you may recognise her for her performance as the flight attendant in Josh Hartnett’s action film Fight Or Flight, and in the recent festive film Christmas Karma, which co-starred Kunal Nayyar and Danny Dyer.

Season two of One Piece also welcomes Mikaela Hoover to the cast, who voices the talkative reindeer Tony Tony Chopper.

You’ll likely recognise her for her recent role in Superman, in which she plays journalist Cat Grant.

The superhero movie marked her latest collaboration with director James Gunn, having played Nova Prime’s assistant in Guardians Of The Galaxy, voiced Floor the Rabbit in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 and appeared as the president’s assistant, Camila, in The Suicide Squad.

She has also had guest roles in Charlie Sheen’s comedy Anger Management, 2 Broke Girls alongside Kat Dennings and in last year’s TV crime thriller Duster.

You can next see Mikaela in the second season of Netflix’s Beef, which also features Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan.

David Dastmalchian appears as Mr. 3, the Baroque Works member who can produce candle wax from his hands.

A well-known face to fans of sci-fi and comic book adaptations, David played Kurt in the Ant-Man films, Polka Dot Man in The Suicide Squad and voiced Julian Day in the recent Batman animated films.

Following his big-screen debut in The Dark Knight, playing Joker’s deranged henchman, David teamed up again with director Christopher Nolan in 2024, taking on the role of real-life lawyer William L. Borden in Oppenheimer.

You may also recognise him for his role in Dune as Piter De Vries, the assistant to Stellan Skarsgård’s Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, and for starring in horror, Late Night With The Devil.

On TV, he appeared in the 2017 series of Twin Peaks as Pit Boss Warrick, Dexter: Resurrection as the Gemini killer and all 10 episodes of Apple TV’s eccentric sci-fi series Murderbot.

Katey Sagal, who plays Dr. Kureha in the manga adaptation, is a veritable TV icon.

She is known for playing Peg Bundy on the sitcom Married… With Children and, more recently, starring in Sons Of Anarchy as matriarch Gemma Teller Morrow.

Her other credits include voicing Leela in Futurama, having a leading role in the family sitcom 8 Simple Rules, and playing Dan’s second wife in the TV sitcom The Conners.

Most recently, you might have seen Katey play Nora’s mother in Tell Me Lies, appear in former Married… With Children co-star Christina Applegate’s comedy/drama Dead To Me or star alongside Sophie Turner in the horror film Trust.

Mark Harelik appears in One Piece as another of the doctors on Drum Island.

The actor and playwright has been consistently working since making his TV debut in Wings in 1993.

On the big screen, his long and varied career includes Election with Reese Witherspoon, Jurassic Park III and 2017’s Battle Of The Sexes, starring as real-life baseball player Hank Greenberg.

As for his TV work, he played the head of the physics department in The Big Bang Theory, God in Amazon Prime’s Preacher and most recently worked with Jake Gyllenhaal in Apple TV+ drama Presumed Innocent.

Callum Kerr has a supporting role in the second series of One Piece, playing a Marine Captain who can turn into smoke.

The Scottish actor and country singer found fame playing George Kiss in Hollyoaks between 2020 and 2021, before joining the cast of the musical drama show Monarch, acting alongside Susan Sarandon and Anna Friel.

He later played the young Everett in Virgin River, and starred as Galad Trakand in season three of The Wheel Of Time.

You might also recognise Callum for his appearance in Robbie Williams ’ video for his 2017 single Mixed Signals.

Camrus Johnson, who plays Mr. 5, is most likely recognisable for his role as Luke Fox in the TV series Batwoman, in which he acted alongside Ruby Rose.

His first big role came when he played Omar Hassabala in the 2019 teen romance movie The Sun Is Also A Star.

One Piece is his latest Netflix collaboration, having also appeared in two episodes of Luke Cage and played a supporting role as Corporal Carson in Millie Bobby Brown’s streaming blockbuster The Electric State.

Julia Rehwald appears as Smoker’s subordinate in One Piece. She, too, is a well-known face to Netflix audiences, after being hailed as one of the most exciting scream queens currently working after starring as Kate Schmidt in the Fear Street trilogy.

Star Wars fans, meanwhile, will know her for voicing Celesta Kami in the recent animated series Young Jedi Adventures.

Rigo plays the leader of the Revolutionary Army in One Piece, but you may better recognise him as Lightner, the mercenary villain introduced in season four of Outer Banks.

The actor also starred in the Animal Kingdom television show, played a firefighter in the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off Station 19 and recently appeared in an episode of Duster.

Zimbabwean actor Daniel Lasker, who plays Mr. 9 in One Piece, is best known for his performance as Furfur in the sci-fi show Raised By Wolves.

His other TV credits include appearing in BBC drama Our Girl as a US soldier, and playing Merrick in the recent adaptation of Mallory Blackman’s Noughts + Crosses.

On the big screen, Daniel recently starred alongside Josh Duhamel and Aidan Gillen in London Calling.

Sophia Anne Caruso stars in One Piece as Miss Goldenweek, a character who can alter people’s emotions using paint.

She is a recognisable face in the world of theatre, originating the role of Lydia Deetz in the Broadway musical adaptation of Beetlejuice.

On screen, Sophia appeared in Paul Feig’s fantasy The School For Good And Evil alongside Charlize Theron and Kerry Washington.

Rob Colletti plays the tyrannic ruler of the Drum Kingdom in One Piece.

Although more famous for his stage work, including originating the role of Dewey Finn in Broadways’ School Of Rock, he also had a small part in 2021′s The Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints Of Newark.

Watch seasons one and two of One Piece and Netflix now.

“You’ll have to excuse me, I’m cleaning a men’s wig.”

This feels as fitting a way as any to begin a conversation with Katya Zamolodchikova (your dad just calls her Katya), the drag world’s queen of all things chaotic.

Katya first captured the world’s attention 10 years ago, as one of the break-out stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race’s seventh season, quickly becoming a popular fan-favourite and returning a year later for the second All Stars season (still considered by many to be the pinnacle of the franchise) a year after being crowned her season’s Miss Congeniality.

A decade on, she’s still considered one of the show’s most popular queens, particularly among non-winners – a title she’s more than happy to retain.

“I’m not a winner – and I mean that not in a pejorative, insult-y way,” she tells HuffPost UK. “I’m not competitive. I found that out the first day I was on the show.”

Katya recalls: “I guess before I went to season seven, I was kind of like, ‘I could win’. And then I got there and I was like, ‘….nope’.”

“But then, I don’t want to!” she continues, pointing out: “When you win, people are like, ’you shouldn’t have won’. And when you lose, they say you should have won. So it’s like, I’ll take that!”

Having not ever picked up a Drag Race crown, she claims, she’s been spared the “the whole combing through your career with a fine-tooth comb” that fans do in order to try and prove, “’see – she didn’t deserve to win here!” or “she should have gone home…”.

“Whatever,” she quips, before adding a playful: “The most important thing is love.”

The Drag Race fandom is something that Katya acknowledges can be a mixed bag, and one which everyone who passes through the show will invariably have a different experience with.

“It’s tough, because real life and online are two very, very different interactions, and two different conceptions of people,” she explains.

“The internet version is a small, nebulous population of people who I don’t know. But in real life – that’s the people coming to the shows, the people who talk to me after the shows, the people who talk to me in the street – those people, 99% of the time, are incredible.

“Online… I don’t know those people. I appreciate them… I think? I don’t know. And also with bots and stuff, who the fuck knows these days?”

For Katya in particular, many of the fans she’s accrued over the last decade know her as well for her work outside of Drag Race as they do her stints on season seven and All Stars.

Much of this has seen her collaborating with her season seven sister turned right-hand woman Trixie Mattel, most notably the web series UNHhhh, the Netflix recap show I Like To Watch and, more recently, their gloriously-titled podcast The Bald And The Beautiful.

Both Katya and Trixie have made no secret of the fact that their more devoted and zealous fans can be a little unfiltered when meeting them in public, but Katya insists that their oversharing is mostly not an issue for her.

“I don’t care! We don’t have that much time! We could all be dead tomorrow! Share it! You know?” she enthuses. “Just – if it’s a meet and greet, don’t overstep, because we’ve got a line.”

Last summer, Katya and Trixie marked 10 years since they went off to film season seven by rewatching the whole thing, and devoting one episode of their podcast to each instalment.

For Katya, this marked the first time she’d watched it all back since she took part, and she found she had a lot of grace for her younger self.

“The other day, I was talking to somebody who was going to go on Drag Race, or somebody had just been on Drag Race, or whatever, and somebody was asking for advice,” she recalls. “It’s really, really simple. You just go and try to be as funny as you can. And so, rewatching it, I was like, ‘oh, I could have been funnier there’.

“But, like, I don’t care about the bad drag, because we were all poor! And I still have bad drag! Who cares? I’m not dressed by Valentino! I don’t have that much money – although I am extremely rich – but you know, it’s cringe-y, but also it’s fun.”

“And here’s the thing,” she adds. “If people are fans of you and they love you, you can’t be too hard on yourself – because then you’re insulting them!”

In fact, she had more notes for her looks out of drag than for anything she wore on the runway.

“The clothing is a huge head scratcher,” she admits. “I don’t know whose clothes those were. I don’t know what that art teacher jacket was, or how that happened. I have actually been kind of goth my entire life, to wear that jacket is so strange.

“Nowadays, the girls go in with entire boy costume selections. That’s unthinkable to me. I didn’t care! And yet, these young kids are doing it all day and going into the interview room looking like a Balenciaga fashion model, and they’re out on the runway looking like Victoria’s Secret.”

“Damn, good on you,” she concludes. “’Cause I’m a goblin!”

Since Drag Race, Katya’s fanbase has steadily continued to grow thanks to her distinct take on the artform of drag, her irreverent sense of humour and her frankness and candour around issues like sex, mental health and addiction.

Her latest venture allows her to lean into all of these skills, flying solo as the host of the Grindr podcast Who’s The Asshole?. (“She let me out of the house!” Katya jokes of not working with Trixie on the interview series. “It was a really pivotal moment in our career and friendship and our sub-dom relationship when she unshackled me from my bed and allowed me to work solo. Of course, I still have to give her all the money…”).

The podcast sees Katya chatting to guests as varied as fashion icon Jeremy Scott, electroclash pioneer Peaches, viral comedian Megan Stalter and Drag Race’s “Queen of Queens” herself, Jinkx Monsoon, about “sex, social mores, taboos and what that means in the digital marketplace for sex and love”.

“I love talking to people, and it’s fascinating stuff!” she beams. “It’s not like hauling bricks down a quarry. Which was my previous job…”

Now onto her third season of Who’s The Asshole?, Katya credits her success as a host to the fact that she knows “how to listen” – and she’s been part of enough interviews over the years, as both a presenter and guest, to know what not to do.

“I’ve noticed – without naming any names – in the current entertainment landscape, there are quite a few people who are hosts who perhaps should… try something else,” Katya says. “Their skillset is just not in that arena.”

“When you’re a host, you’ve got to listen to somebody. And you have to listen to the whole sentence. When you’re talking to someone, and you can see behind their eyes that you’re just waiting for you to finish whatever the fuck you’re saying so they can chime in with their – perhaps non-sequitir – comment, it’s like…” she trails off, groaning.

“That didn’t happen on the Grindr podcast!” she quickly adds. “But just in general – that is just… ugh. It’s hard, sometimes. Sometimes it can feel like you’re the dentist and you’ve got to pull a bunch of teeth, with no laughing gas.”

Katya recalls: “There’ve been very few times [outside of Who’s The Asshole?] when that’s happened, and it’s just a bummer, you know? Because when you’re creating something in the moment, or you’re filming something, it’s like, ‘well we’re not going to use this because who would ever want to watch or listen to this?’.”

Fortunately, Grindr has selected a line-up of guests for Who’s The Asshole? which Katya describes as “consistently, at the very least, nice, mostly wonderful and often incredible”.

As well as an audio podcast, Who’s The Asshole? is also available to watch as a video series on YouTube, with Katya fronting each episode out of drag – surely an endorsement of her skills as a host that Grindr cared more about having her present than have anyone else in drag.

“We’ll go with that as the official word,” she jokes. “But there’s not enough aircon in the world for me to get through a whole day [of filming] in drag.

“My interview skills would be severely compromised if I had to spend 30 to 40% of my brain power worrying about, ‘do I look like crap?’, ‘am I sweating?’, ‘oh my god, I’m worried about my hair…’.”

This way, she says, she “can just show in my little wiglet, put a little powder on and hit it”.

It should be noted that this is the moment, Katya throws on the wig she’s been cleaning since the start of our interview (“I won’t take up all your time with the wig because we’ve got business to do,” she says, modelling. “But this is my Targaryen fantasy”.)

“As fierce as drag is, let me tell you, it feels like a palliative care situation,” she continues, before correcting herself: “No, no, no. Sorry. That would have morphine. Drag feels like you’re in a Saw movie. Like you’re in a Saw trap.

“And if you want to do eight hours of that, good luck. But they’d have to pay me about $3.5 million a minute. No, I’m just kidding…”

Katya’s break-out moment on Drag Race season seven came not just at a turning point for the reality show, but the artform of drag more generally.

While RuPaul famously once declared that drag could “never be mainstream”, it came impressively close in the 2010s. Just a couple of years after season seven, queens were popping up on major red carpets like the VMAs, Grammys and Met Gala.

Drag Race alum were becoming celebrities in their own right, landing roles on primetime shows and popping up on Broadway. Before long, Ru came out with another quote: “Earlier this year I was quoted saying I’d rather have an enema than an Emmy. But thanks to the Television Academy, I can have both!”

Unfortunately, the pendulum soon began swinging in the opposite direction, and in the 2020s, a conservative backlash became steadily louder, with queerphobic rhetoric and legisalation, much of it aimed at drag queens, becoming infuriatingly commonplace.

“Without getting too dark,” Katya says. “Listen, I don’t know any drag queens on that list.” She pauses. “The Epstein list,” she clarifies. “Not Craigslist. Or Angie’s List.

“I don’t think there’s a single [drag queen] that’s gone to that island. And yet, just months and years ago, we were the ones who were considered to be groomers? Give me a break!”

“Look at the person pointing the finger and shouting, because they need to look in the mirror,” she continues. “And voilà. That’s what happened.”

As for the fear felt by many queer people around the world in the current political climate, Katya laments that this is more than justified.

“Be very afraid!” she warns. “Be afraid – and also get engaged, because it’s becoming very clear that the people in power, not just here [in the United States] but around the world, are so greedy, so psychotic, and so selfish that they are going to stop at nothing to make this bizarre world the way that they want it.

“We’re all going to suffer, and we are suffering. Gay, straight, whatever…”

“Jesus Christ,” she sighs. “I don’t have any advice.”

Besides? “Watch Democracy Now?” And? “Wear a funky hat?”

Katya is the host of the Grindr podcast Who’s The Asshole?, which is now back for its fourth season.

The Pentagon is apparently going to war against press photographers who take “unflattering” photos of Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

According to The Washington Post, the Defence Department blocked some press photographers from attending briefings about the ongoing war with Iran because Hegseth’s staffers found them “unflattering.”

The ban was instituted after a briefing on March 2 that marked Hegseth’s first appearance in the briefing room since June 2025. Photographers from several outlets, including Reuters, Getty and The Associated Press, attended the briefing with Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Dan Caine.

After photos from the briefing were published, some of Hegseth’s staff members were reportedly miffed at how Hegseth looked in the pics. It is unclear whether Hegseth’s aides were bugged by a single photo or several, but some photographers were shut out of subsequent briefings on March 4 and 10. Only Defence Department staff photographers have been permitted into briefings since then.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement to the Post that the DoD was attempting to “use space in the Pentagon Briefing Room effectively” by allowing “one representative per news outlet if uncredentialed, excluding pool.”

“Photographs from the briefings are immediately released online for the public and press to use,” Wilson added. “If that hurts the business model for certain news outlets, then they should consider applying for a Pentagon press credential.”

The Defence Department’s relationship with the media has become notably more contentious under Hegseth, according to The Associated Press. Many mainstream news organisations have left their desks at the Pentagon because they refused to accept new rules enacted by the Trump administration that restrict journalists’ movements and the people they can talk to.

HuffPost reached out to the Defensc Department, asking for clarity on the photo policy and the criteria used to determine whether a photo makes Hegseth look bad. No one immediately responded.

Art is subjective, but here are some Hegseth pics that might qualify for the “unflattering” designation:

This article features advice from Emma Cullinan, a BACP accredited psychotherapist based in London.

No parent wants to think of their child as a bully – but the reality is, kids can be pretty mean. And sometimes, especially when peer pressure is involved, young people who wouldn’t usually behave that way can get swept up with the tide.

One parent recently shared on Reddit that they were in disagreement with their husband about how to respond, after they found out their son had been “acting like a jerk”.

The 16-year-old had been on a school trip with friends where he shared a room with three other boys – two of which he’s close to, and one who is more of a peripheral school pal (who the parent referred to as ‘John’ for the sake of the story).

“My son got home from the trip and when I gave him and the other 2 boys a ride home from school, the car conversation was how annoying John was, how funny it was the pranks they pulled on him, how funny it was how mad he got, how much John now hates them, etc,” explained the parent.

“Sounded like John had a crappy time because of his roommates. My son was quiet in the car other than agreeing John was ‘so annoying’, but it was 100% clear he joined in.”

After relaying the story to their husband, the couple agreed that their son “was a jerk” if what they heard was true – but they couldn’t seem to agree on how was best to handle it.

OP (original poster) wanted to have a calm talk with their son, whereas their husband wanted to “yell at him and shame him in his actions, punish him severely (no hanging out this weekend), [and] force him to apologise to John”.

Emma Cullinan, a BACP accredited psychotherapist based in London, suggests parents in this position – or a similar one – need to understand what lies behind their teen’s behaviour.

She recommends approaching with curiosity rather than judgement or an attack. “Ask them what is happening for them and why they felt the need to do this,” she says.

“They may not understand themselves (their cognitive self-reflection is still in its early stages) so it may be a case of you both working through why they might have behaved in this way.

“For instance, if they felt jealous of the other person or if they feel that they can boost their own sense of self through taking down another person, they need to be made aware of this.

“Then you can talk through how else they might deal with feelings of jealousy or lack of confidence in a more constructive way.”

Another key factor behind their behaviour may have been peer pressure – and the threat of being iced out from the group.

“Peer pressure is huge for teens. When we are young our primary attachment is naturally to our parents (or adults who are bringing us up) but in our teens this switches to our peer group,” says Cullinan.

“Being part of group is a way to practice social skills and learn how to develop supportive relationships. But naturally other teens are also learning and they can be erratic and unkind so negotiating how to belong to the group is fraught with conundrums.”

Consider the potential threat of being ostracised or iced out by a group of friends – “being part of a group can feel like such a matter of life or death for a teen, that they can behave in unethical ways just to belong,” adds the therapist.

“This then leaves them feeling at odds with who they actually want to be – at a time when they are learning who they are.”

What’s more, when the rest of the group starts ostracising another person, “everyone in the group is relieved that it is not them and, if preventing also being ostracised means having to go along with excluding someone, people often do that, even if they feel terrible about it,” says the therapist.

“It sounds as if this is what happened with the 16-year-old in this case. He was torn.”

Having a conversation with teens about their behaviour – and what drove it – can help lead you onto solutions regarding what they could say/do next time.

“Talk to your child about ways in which they can verbally become objective about the situation, rather than confronting someone head on,” says Cullinan.

“They could say: ‘What are you doing?’ Or ‘Are you OK?’ Or ‘Ouch.’ In this way, they are naming what is happening and commenting on the situation in a factual way, and calling out the behaviour, rather than engaging with it,” she explains.

“If you state facts about what is happening, it is harder for the other person to challenge it.”

Just as therapists don’t really advise taking away toys or privileges as a way to teach a lesson to younger children, the same goes for teens.

“Taking away privileges aims to train someone through punishment, but learning through fear of consequences will do nothing to aid the growth of a child who is already dealing with complicated feelings, such as shame and guilt. It just adds another difficult emotion into the mix,” says Cullinan.

“Also, it could inadvertently teach them that communicating in a punishing way is OK, which takes them back into the realm of bullying behaviour. Instead, you want to try and model good communication and relationships.”