Zendaya stuns as she poses against a fallen tree trunkCredit: courtesy of ELLE / Norman Jean Roy and styling by Law RoachZendaya also laid in the hay in a white cut-out dressCredit: courtesy of ELLE / Norman Jean Roy and styling by Law Roach
Zendaya, whose partner is Spider-Man actor Tom Holland, also laid in the hay in a white cut-out dress.
She told the mag: “I think I do have wisdom to offer, but I also do still feel like a f***ing kid. Like, ‘What the f***, I’m about to be 30?
“I still feel like a child inside.”
A new Euphoria feud has emerged last month as Zendaya’s “tension” with a show star was revealed – and it’s not Sydney Sweeney.
Zendaya showed off her figure as she posed for the cover of Elle magazineCredit: courtesy of ELLE / Norman Jean Roy and styling by Law RoachShe told the mag: ‘I think I do have wisdom to offer, but I also do still feel like a f***ing kid’Credit: courtesy of ELLE / Norman Jean Roy and styling by Law Roach
This comes as insiders told the Daily Mail Zendaya has a rocky relationship with the actress, who apparently flirted with her man Tom Holland on set.
But now, it seems Zendaya has clashed with another member of the Euphoria team.
Eager fans have long questioned why the new series of the show has taken so long to air – but it seems the real reasons have finally surfaced.
The creator of the HBO series, Sam Levinson, recently told fans the delay between season two and three was a result of strikes, the in-demand cast and finding the right way to pay tribute to Eric Dane and Angus Cloud.
However, a source told Vanity Fair the delay between series sparked serious tension behind the scenes, creating a rift between Sam and Zendaya.
Vanity Fair’s source claimed the once close collaborators grew apart and Zendaya was less involved with development of the third season.
The July/August issue of ELLE UK is on sale from 18 June.
Eight years after going off the air, “Sofia the First” is getting another opportunity to find out what being royal is all about.
Disney’s first preschool princess returns for a new set of adventures in “Sofia the First: Royal Magic” premiering Monday on Disney Jr. The following day, eight episodes will stream on Disney+.
The sequel series finds Sofia — once again voiced by Ariel Winter — leaving home to attend the Charmswell School for Royal Magic. Rapunzel makes a guest appearance in the premiere episode and Moana, Jasmine, Cinderella, Aurora and Elena of Avalor will all stop by over the course of the first season.
According to Disney, “Sofia the First” still holds the record for the top three cable TV telecasts for girls ages 2 to 5 with more than 3 billion hours watched since the series premiered. The trailer for “Sofia the First: Royal Magic” was viewed 7.54 million times on social media in the first 24 hours after it was released. The show’s theme song, which has been updated for the new series, remains popular on TikTok among teens who first watched the show as preschoolers.
Series creator and executive producer Craig Gerber says the show’s tone is one of the reasons for its enduring popularity. “The charm, the humor and the storytelling was simple enough for [children] to understand, but sophisticated enough to stick with them as they were growing out of the key demographic,” he says. “They remember [the show] very fondly and it becomes a source of comfort for them.”
Rapunzel makes an appearance in the premiere episode of “Sofia the First: Royal Magic.”
(Disney)
Originally there were discussions to have a spin-off series with a whole new set of characters going to Royal Prep, the school Sofia graduated from in the first series. But soon Gerber realized that a sequel series was the way to go because of the love for the character. “It became clear that the real exciting part of coming back to this world would be to follow the further adventures of Sofia and bring her to a new audience,” he says.
Sending Sofia to a new school was the obvious choice. “We thought it would be very exciting and fresh for her to go to a school where she could focus on learning magic and mastering the powers inside her,” Gerber says. “In the first series, she learned what being royal is all about. In this series, she’s going to learn what being the most magical princess is all about.”
Winter was 12 years old when she auditioned for the role 15 years ago. At the time, she said Sofia’s voice was close to her own — what she thought she would sound like if she were a princess. But even all these years later, it was easy for her to find the voice again because she never really stopped doing it.
“If people told me that they had a child who loved Sofia, I would be like, ‘Oh, do you want me to make a voice recording for them?’ I’d make at least one of these a week, maybe more,” she says. “The show meant so much to me and I know it meant so much to so many people. To know that I am going to get to help influence another generation of kids in a positive way is just so exciting.”
In addition to Winter, all of the original cast is returning, including Sara Ramirez as Sofia’s mother Queen Miranda, Darcy Rose Byrnes as Sofia’s stepsister Amber, Wayne Brady as her beloved rabbit Clover, Eric Stonestreet as her flying horse Minimus and Tim Gunn as the castle steward Baileywick.
But a whole new series and location also means new characters. Here’s a look at three of the new characters who will be entering Sofia’s world.
Eden Espinosa as Zandrya
Eden Espinosa voices Zandrya, the new villain in “Royal Magic.”
(Disney)
Broadway star Eden Espinosa, perhaps best known for playing Elphaba in “Wicked,” will be voicing the new villain Zandrya. “She is loud, bratty, confident and powerful,” Espinosa says.
“We wanted Zandrya to have that entitled air,” Gerber says. “As if all of the magic should just be given to her and she shouldn’t even really have to work for it. She is a sorceress that is after magical items to give her more power. And because Sofia is becoming more and more confident in her magical abilities, Zandrya has a hard time getting what she wants.”
As master of disguise, Zandrya takes a different form each time she appears in an episode — the better to fool Sofia and get her hands on the magic amulet. That means Espinosa, who also voiced the Queen of Hearts in Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland Bakery” and Cassandra on “Tangled,” gets to take on a new voice with each new episode.
“She’s the most fun character to play,” she says. “Voiceover has always been a dream of mine ever since I saw ‘Little Mermaid’ when I was I think 10.”
Espinosa says Zandrya is “the most fun character to play.” The actor has to take on a new voice whenever her villain takes on a different form.
(Disney)
As in the original series, music will play a big part in “Sofia the First: Royal Magic.” In fact, there will be twice as many songs, with each 11-minute episode getting its own number. “What I love about the songs I’ve gotten the privilege to sing is that they feel current,” Espinosa says. “They feel like it’s on the pulse of what’s happening now. They are bops. The challenge is I have to sing the songs in the voice that I’m in for that episode.”
“We’re very lucky to work with folks like Eden, who can take any personality, any voice and still manage to hit all the notes and convey the acting and and really give a fun, rollicking performance,” Gerber says.
And, like Elphaba, Zandrya might be a little misunderstood. “I think as humans we have all sorts of things going on underneath the surface,” Espinosa says. “While she has a very clear mission and intention, I do know that she has moments in interacting with Sofia that she has reflections that make her think.”
Yvette Nicole Brown as Lady Saddlespur
Yvette Nicole Brown voices Lady Saddlespur, Sofia’s new teacher.
(Disney)
Yvette Nicole Brown is one of Gerber’s go-to performers. She’s been the voice of Chief Faye Fireson on “Firebuds” and Luna on “Elena of Avalor.” So it was an easy yes for Brown when Gerber asked her to be the voice of Sofia’s new magical creature teacher and flying derby coach Lady Saddlespur.
“If I’m doing a show, I’m gonna find room for her,” Gerber says of Brown. “Lady Saddlespur is a fun foil for the kids as she pushes them to be better students.”
“She is a Southern belle,” Brown says of her onscreen alter-ego.“She’s very proper. She believes that everything at Charmswell should be done just so.”
Brown says her favorite part of animation is that it encourages her to tap into her child-like side. “When we were kids, we lived in this place of wonder,” she says. “I remember the first shows I watched. I remember ‘Captain Kangaroo,’ ‘Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood’ and ‘Sesame Street.’ Those performers have stayed with me my entire life. The honor of getting to be one of the first voices that these babies hear is everything.”
Brown is also delighted by the life lessons the show imparts. “Lessons about accountability, sharing, kindness, regulating your emotions and following directions. The importance of school and learning and being careful and gentle with animals and other people and their feelings. I think it’s a great stepping stone for the babies to learn how to be productive, caring members of society, which is what we’re all supposed to be trying to be.”
Pepper is Sofia’s pet puppy-unicorn. Nate Torrence, who is also the voice of Clawhauser in the “Zootopia” movies, says nothing sounds more adorable than “the collab of a puppy and unicorn.”
Gerber has wanted to create such a character since the original series. “He’s there for comic relief to a large degree,” Gerber says. “And also to give us that little bit of daily magic because Sofia can talk to animals.”
“He’s a pretty lovable guy,” Torrence says. “Even though he plays a little air-headed, he actually is really witty. It’s that old-school Abbott and Costello kind of timing or Charlie Chaplin because there’s so much physical comedy going on with Pepper.”
Because he’s getting to voice a character for so many episodes, Torrence says he’s felt more growth with Pepper than many of the other characters he’s played. “I do think they’ve allowed my voice to be a new kind of voice in the world,” he says. “I get to have a bit more attitude and sass. To be a part of a franchise like this is a nice little dream come true for me.”
A Labour MP said: “Not sure voters in Wigan, Wandsworth, Salford or Sunderland voted Reform because they thought we needed more advisers from a different era of Labour politics. I think this shows that Keir doesn’t even understand the problem, never mind the solution.”
But that’s not always how she felt decades ago during her time as a student at the Claremont school.
“I grew up very sickly,” Brown told The Times last month while visiting Vista del Valle for a mural unveiling ceremony. “I had asthma. I had pneumonia, bronchitis. … I never thought I’d be running because I just was not the person that would be running. I was told to stay inside, not go outside.”
U.S. sprinter Brittany Brown celebrates winning the bronze medal in the women’s 200-meters at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
Former Vista del Valle Elementary student Brittany Brown wears her 2024 Paris Olympics bronze medal at the school’s district track and field competition April 24.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
Brown’s family also faced housing uncertainty and financial struggles during that time. They moved around a lot, and sometimes Brown and her family — mother Yo-Landa, father Wayne, older sister Brandi, twin brother Brandon and younger brother Bryan — found themselves living in a hotel room near the elementary school.
Her mother told The Times that the school and the community provided invaluable support during those trying times.
“I think emotionally, it took a toll on her,” Yo-Landa Brown said. “But, of course, she was always joyful. She was very observant. She was kind. I could tell she used to cry a lot, but we all just tried to keep things calm and collected around her.”
U.S. sprinter Brittany Brown, a bronze medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, is all smiles after winning a ribbon in the Vista del Valle track meet as a fourth grader in 2007.
(Brandi Brown)
The mural ceremony was held April 24 immediately after the school’s 50th annual district track meet, where Brown interacted with the participants and handed out ribbons. Vista del Valle Elementary hosts all seven elementary schools in the district each year for the meet. It was as a fourth-grade participant at the same event nearly 20 years ago that Brown discovered she loved to run — and also that she was very good at it.
“I remember running just felt very freeing. Like it just felt like, ‘OK, I’m not the sick kid. I can just try and do something,’” said Brown, who holds the Claremont High School record in the girls 100-meter and 200-meter races. “And I was also winning, so that helped as well. … Running has brought me opportunities I never thought I would ever experience.”
The mural was painted by local artist Xiucoatl Mejia, who attended Claremont Unified School District schools from kindergarten (Sumner Elementary) through high school (Claremont High). He has painted several murals at district schools in recent years and was already working with first-year Vista del Valle principal Charles Boulden to start an after-school art club for the students.
The two men thought it would be great to have a mural on campus to tie in with the half-century anniversary of the district track meet. The realization that one of the country’s top sprinters was a Vista graduate who got her start at the same meet served as further inspiration.
The mural depicts an adult Brown running while wearing a Vista track uniform and carrying a torch. A large group of children runs behind her, with some of those kids resembling students from the art club.
People gather in front of a mural featuring U.S. sprinter Brittany Brown prior to its unveiling ceremony April 24 at Vista del Valle Elementary in Claremont.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
“It just made sense to include some of the kids who were in the class and make it a little bit more custom to the school and personal to these kids,” Mejia said.
Third-grader Levi Adams said being depicted in a mural on a school wall is “special because when you’re older you can go back and look at it.”
Second-grader Holland Ly agreed that “it’s pretty special” to be featured in a painting that “many people” will see through the years.
Art club students also helped paint the mural.
“I had the kids lay out the whole track,” Mejia said. “I wanted them to do that very specifically, because I wanted them to understand that that’s the foundation for the race in our scene. … I wanted them to have that part in it, and be able to look back on it and see it.”
The theme of the piece initially was victory, Mejia said, but it evolved.
“As it progressed, the theme kind of changed into carrying the torch and paving the way for a better future for our youth and for our communities,” Mejia said. “It became a lot bigger than what initially it was. It became something that is a little bit more powerful than any singular victory. It was a collective victory with everyone.”
Boulden thinks the mural ended up being a tremendous success.
U.S. sprinter Brittany Brown holds up her bronze medal from the 2024 Paris Olympics surrounded by, from left: mother Yo-Landa Brown, twin brother Brandon Brown, brother Bryan Brown, grandmother Jeanette Royston and sister Brandi Brown.
(Brandi Brown)
“I couldn’t be happier with how it is — the colors, how vibrant it is and what it represents to me,” the principal said. “I see perseverance in there, and I see chasing dreams, and I see kids chasing after somebody who’s chasing their dreams as well.”
Brown is also thrilled with how the first mural in her honor turned out.
“I think it’s really good! I’m really, really happy with it,” said Brown, who is currently training in Los Angeles with the long-term goal of competing for the U.S. again in the 2028 Summer Olympics. “I love the colors. It even has my choker — I wear a choker when I run a lot. It has the little, fine details, so I think that was really cool.”
Her mother said she thought it was “really touching” that Mejia included images of current Vista students in the painting.
“Yes, Brittany is the Olympian, but now you have the next generation involved,” Yo-Landa Brown said. “Their stories will continue to live on and they will remember that. And that will give them the inspiration to be better and to do better in their lives. I thought that was phenomenal. I felt so thankful that he was able to capture that.”
Wearing her Olympic medal around her neck, Brown addressed the student body at the mural ceremony and became emotional while talking about the hardships she overcame while attending the school.
Olympian Brittany Brown hands out ribbons and high-fives to participants in Vista del Valle’s annual district track and field meet April 24 in Claremont.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
“I really just want them to know you can create beautiful stuff, even in the struggle,” Brown told The Times afterward. “It’s going to be a lot harder, but you can still create beautiful stuff in the struggle. And I definitely have created a different life for me. …
“I never thought the little girl in the hotel would freaking have a mural. I never thought, like a little asthma girl, you know, someone who wasn’t allowed outside, that this would be my story. So it’s definitely crazy. That’s what I want them to know.”
Brown’s message seems to have resonated with the students. Fifth-grader Kaylee Mency said Brown’s story of her childhood struggles “really meant a lot to me because she still kept going even though her life wasn’t as good.”
Fifth-grader Eliana Ocegueda added: “She went to this school and now she’s an Olympian. It’s really inspiring and it kind of makes you think about you can be anything you want to be.”
Trevor Brown needs to beat his alma mater, Hart High, to win the Foothill League baseball title.
Brown, a first-year head coach at West Ranch, has his team at 8-3, which is tied for first place with Castaic going into Friday’s regular-season finale against Hart at West Ranch.
West Ranch defeated Hart 6-5 earlier this week.
Brown was a standout catcher for Hart, then went on to star at UCLA and played briefly with the San Francisco Giants.
They say catchers make the best managers, and Brown is another example of using his catcher’s experience to help with coaching.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com
Reporting from Sacramento — Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have barred medical marijuana dispensaries within 600 feet of homes, saying it stepped on the powers of cities and counties that already have authority to regulate pot shops.
The governor also signed 28 measures into law, making it easier for California firms to sell wine over the Internet and allowing bars to infuse alcohol with fruits and vegetables for use in cocktails.
Brown has until Oct. 9 to act on nearly 600 bills sent to him by the Legislature this year and has already wielded his veto pen several times, complaining about the state imposing too many standards on communities and families.
On the medical marijuana issue, the governor noted that he had previously signed a measure giving cities and counties clearer authority to regulate the location and operation of dispensaries.
“Decisions of this kind are best made in cities and counties, not the State Capitol,” Brown wrote in his veto message.
The bill was SB 847, by state Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), who said he wanted to allow cities to chose their own regulations and to protect children living near such facilities from second-hand smoke.
The governor signed a bill Wednesday allowing wine merchants without stores to obtain a special state license to sell to customers over the Internet or by telephone or direct mail. Assemblyman Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara) introduced AB 623 because current law provides for an alcohol wholesaler’s license but requires holders to periodically sell to other retailers, even if they only want to sell directly to customers on the Internet.
The governor also signed a measure eliminating a state prohibition against bars and restaurants providing infused alcoholic beverages, with fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices added to spirits for flavor.
Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), author of SB 32, said the restrictions were decades old and were intended to address health concerns about the infusion process. Modern methods make the practice safe, he said.
On another measure, Brown exercised his veto pen and took a swipe at its author in the process.
With budget cuts forcing many state parks to close or reduce operations, Sen. Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach) proposed that the state post details of potential park closures on a website and respond to any efforts from the private sector to help keep them open.
Brown said the idea in Harman’s bill, SB 386, was good but didn’t require a state law.
“What parks do need is sufficient funding to stay open — something I feel compelled to note the author and his colleagues refused to let the people vote on,” Brown wrote in his veto message, referring to Republican opposition to putting tax extensions on the ballot.
ATLANTA — U.S. Rep. David Scott, a Georgia Democrat and the first Black chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, has died. He was 80.
Scott, who was seeking his 13th term in Congress despite challenges from within his party, was once a leading voice for Democrats on issues related to farm aid policy and food aid for consumers and a prominent Black member of the party’s moderate Blue Dog caucus. But he faced criticism and concerns in recent years because of declining health, enduring a primary challenge in 2024 and facing another one at the time of his death.
Democrats on Capitol Hill praised the longtime lawmaker.
“The news of Congressman Scott’s passing is deeply sad,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Wednesday.
“David Scott was a trailblazer who served district that he represented admirably, rose up from humble beginnings to become the first African American ever to chair the House Ag Committee,” Jeffries said. “He cared about the people that he represented. He was fiercely committed to getting things done for the people of the great state of Georgia, and he’ll be deeply missed.”
News of Scott’s death came during the Congressional Black Caucus’ weekly luncheon on Capitol Hill. The Black Caucus’ chair, Rep. Yvette Clarke, told lawmakers at the outset of the meeting, according to a person who insisted on anonymity to discuss a private conversation. Many lawmakers in the room, some of whom had served with Scott for decades, were shocked and saddened by the news.
Scott’s death slightly widens Republicans’ narrow House majority going into the thick of this midterm election year.
The congressman was not especially active on the campaign trail in 2026. But he had been dismissive of pressure to retire.
“Thank God I’m in good health, moving and doing the people’s work,” Scott said in 2024.
David Albert Scott was born in rural Aynor, South Carolina, on June 27, 1945, in the era of Jim Crow segregation. He graduated from Florida A&M University, one of the nation’s largest historically Black college campuses — and in office he was an outspoken advocate for federal support of HBCUs. Scott also earned an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
He was already a veteran state lawmaker in Georgia before being elected to Congress in 2002.
Barrow, Brown and Amy write for the Associated Press. Brown reported from Washington.
