Couple

A British couple have shared their honest verdict on the giant mozzarella sticks in Tenerife that have gone viral on social media, with a plate of three setting you back £11.25

A couple have given their candid verdict after sampling the viral, giant mozzarella sticks during their holiday to Tenerife in the Canary Islands.

Whenever you’re gearing up to visit somewhere new, many people turn to the internet and social media to scout out things to do and foods to try, building excitement while piecing together an itinerary for their time away.

This also means that if you’re heading to a well-known tourist hotspot, the chances are you’ll stumble across at least one dish or eatery that’s already taken social media by storm. In Tenerife, one such food that’s been setting the internet alight is an impressive-looking mozzarella stick. But with all the buzz surrounding them, some may question whether they’re truly worth seeking out.

To put them to the test, British holidaymaker Sam Jenkins decided to give them a go while away with her boyfriend, before heading to TikTok to share their honest thoughts.

“Trying the VIRAL Tenerife mozzarella sticks!” they wrote at the beginning of the clip, which shows the pair making their way to the restaurant that serves them.

The footage then revealed the mozzarella stick itself, which appeared thick, lengthy and a beautifully golden shade after being deep-fried. They were presented on a plate of three, which looked to be a rather generous serving given their considerable size. A dipping sauce was also included on the side.

The girl then attempted to tear off a piece, resulting in an impressive cheese pull that demonstrated just how generously packed with mozzarella each stick truly was.

The guy then had a go himself, snapping the mozzarella stick open from the middle, which once again produced a spectacular cheese pull that appeared to stretch wide enough to reach his outstretched arms.

Although they didn’t film themselves actually tasting the mozzarella sticks following the cheese pull, they did confirm the snacks had lived up to all the hype, awarding them a ’10/10′.

“Try the viral Tenerife mozzarella sticks with us!!! From the Winchester Tenerife Costa adeje 10/10 would recommend,” they wrote in the caption of the post.

In the comments section, they revealed that the plate of three mozzarella sticks had set them back €12.95 (£11.25), adding that other dishes on the menu, including burgers and pizzas, were equally delicious.

Numerous viewers also flocked to the comments to share their opinions. One person said: “I’m going to Tenerife in June so definitely will try them.

“10/10 cheese pull,” someone else remarked, while a third viewer gushed: “Omg need!!!! I dream about these everyday.”

Not everyone was convinced, however, with some branding them ‘overhyped’. One person commented: “Over hyped! We loved the seahorse just up the street I would run back there just for their food.”

“Gambrel roofed Barnhaus,” the listing read, “next door to the best burritos in town.”

Its photos revealed something unusual for Inglewood, which is famous for its mix of architectural styles, including Midcentury Modern homes by R.M. Schindler and Googie-style coffee shops: a brick-red barn-style house on a large corner lot, listed at $449,000.

When Meeshie Fahmy and her husband, Aaron Snyder, toured the house, they learned that the burrito claim was true. The photos, however, had clearly been touched up to make the house, located just a few miles from the Kia Forum and SoFi Stadium, look better than it actually was.

Outside, the former dirt lot is now a lush garden with towers of colorful black-eyed susans on arches, planters full of nasturtiums and vegetables, a firepit and pergola.

Inside, the house had “wall-to-wall carpets on both floors that were heavily stained and worn, dated wood paneling on the walls, holes in the walls,” Fahmy says.

Despite these flaws, the couple saw the home’s potential and decided to buy it, even though a leaning retaining wall nearly derailed their escrow. “It was a blank canvas for us to play and experiment,” she recalls a decade later.

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After they moved in, neighbors revealed the house was not original to the site. Years earlier, the original Craftsman had been torn down; the current house, a sweepstakes prize, arrived in two pieces by crane. “Our neighbors recalled it was quite a sight,” Fahmy says.

At the time, Fahmy, 44, worked as an event planner at the Getty Museum. As renovations started and she followed her passion for interior design, Snyder proudly introduced her to staff at the local Carniceria as “an interior designer.” She replied, “That’s not what I do.”

“I told her, ‘If you don’t start saying it, it’s not going to happen,’” says Snyder, 49, who pursued his own dream of becoming a professional skateboarder before moving into video editing. “Speak it to existence.”

Finishing the house took years, patience and a lot of DIY projects because of their budget. But Fahmy didn’t just dream — she made it happen. In 2018, she started working for interior designer Willa Ford, who mentored her at WFord Interiors. By 2020, Fahmy launched her own design firm, Haus of Meeshie. “It’s been a progressive layering of colors, furniture, reupholstering, adding art, wallpaper, lighting,” she says. “Low and slow; the flavor is richer.”

Meeshie Fahmy and Aaron Snyder’s family room is a colorful maximalist dream with thrifted furnishings, art and layered textures and patterns.

Ninety percent of the furnishings are thrifted. “Nothing is too precious,” Fahmy says.

Today, their home reflects Fahmy’s fearless approach — it’s a true “petri dish for experimentation.” The vibrant, layered four-bedroom house is a maximalist fever dream, packed with furniture, accessories and art sourced from Facebook Marketplace, vintage shops, flea markets (Long Beach flea is a favorite), estate sales and secondhand stores in L.A. and elsewhere.

She estimates about 90% of the furnishings and accessories in her home are thrifted, antiques or things she found on the side of the road, and nothing is too precious, reaffirming her playful approach to decor.

A Jonathan Adler dining table, found on sale, sits in front of a wall filled with art arranged salon-style. Among the pieces is Fahmy’s favorite: a wedding portrait her father, Walter Fahmy, painted of her.

The speakeasy features a vintage standing bar from Craigslist, barstools and a Geo pendant light by Los Angeles designer Jason Koharik and a mirror Fahmy found at a neighborhood estate sale.

She likes to refer to her decorating style as “creatively unhinged.”

“It all flows,” she says, curled up with her dogs on a CB2 couch she found on Craigslist. “There’s a rhythm. Every piece tells a story. Pick one — I’ll share it.” She recalls throwing herself on a vintage Baker sideboard at a Florida Goodwill without knowing how she’d get it back to Los Angeles and laughs when Snyder discovers a tiny Jack Black-as-Jesus portrait tucked into a gilded dining-room oil painting.

The sink and vanity in the guest bathroom? That used to be a dresser she found on Craigslist.

Although others have questioned their home purchase, Fahmy never doubted they could transform the space into something special.

Color ties the house together. The powder room is purple, the entry hall is red, the kitchen has blue cabinets and the hallway is painted pink.

“When I first saw the house, when they bought it, I thought she was crazy,” Meeshie’s friend and former colleague, Talene Kanian, says in an email. “Other than keeping the ‘barn’ shape, she completely transformed the interior. Now, when you step inside, you’re welcomed into a home full of color, pattern and playfulness.”

Snyder adds: “Meeshie is able to visualize things 10 steps ahead of everyone else, even things that seem like a complete mess.“

Working together, the couple removed the shag carpeting and wood paneling from the first floor and the stairway, installing drywall in their place.

Next, they painted the walls — no beige here. The deep green living room sets a bold scene: a clock worthy of Dalí, leopard prints, pink Persian rugs, a snake ottoman and a thrifted tufted chair with Art Deco vibes from CB2.

“I did not venture into interior design formally,” Fahmy says. “I feel very lucky to have found this passion.”

The color story flows through the house: The powder room is purple, the entry hall red and the dining room walls pink, with one wall in a bold 1970s-style mushroom-pattern wallpaper from Londubh Studio. The speakeasy features a vintage standing bar from Craigslist that Snyder squeezed into his car, barstools and a Geo pendant light by Los Angeles designer Jason Koharik and a mirror Fahmy found at a nearby estate sale.

In the kitchen, they removed the 1970s-era wooden cabinets and Formica countertops, replacing them with more pink walls, Moroccan-style tile flooring and blue cupboard fronts from Semihandmade, which creates cabinet doors for IKEA cabinets.

Fahmy painted a Keith Haring-style black-and-white mural at the top of the stairs and continued onto the second-floor walls using a paintbrush taped to a broomstick. She finished by painting the handrail bright blue and wrapping each stair with a Persian-style runner.

Outside, the couple leveled the once-dirt backyard, added pea gravel, built a pergola with a handyman and installed a firepit where they enjoy entertaining their friends.

The main bedroom features burgundy walls, while the bathroom next to it has Persian rug-patterned wallpaper from House of Hackney.

Now the once-empty backyard is a lush garden: towers of colorful black-eyed susans on arches, planters of nasturtiums and homegrown vegetables. A trickling fountain greets visitors as they walk through the French doors. Snyder, an avid cook, can easily step out to cut fresh herbs mid-simmer, making the outdoors a true extension of the home.

The couple’s home is full of memories, and as you walk through, you can sense how much their stories matter to them. In the downstairs hallway, Snyder smiles as he points out photos of his family in Wisconsin. Similarly, Fahmy proudly shows a photo of her great-great-grandmother Theresa “Tessie” Cooke Haskins, a noted harpist whose daughter Maud Haskins was the first harpist to perform with the orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl.

Art is everywhere, from the Polaroids pinned to the walls in the powder room to the ceramics and masks hanging throughout the house. Yet Fahmy’s favorite possession is deeply personal: a portrait of her on her wedding day, painted by her father, Walter Fahmy, who studied art in Egypt before coming to America.

Upstairs, Fahmy created a black-and-white mural inspired by Keith Haring at the top of the stairs, then kept going along the second-floor walls using a paintbrush taped to a broomstick. She finished by painting the handrail a bright blue and wrapping each stair with a Persian-style runner.

French doors connect the house to the garden, so the backyard feels like a natural part of the home.

For Fahmy, these details matter. “I feel like our home is a love letter to my upbringing,” she says, referring to her parents, who were both pharmacists. “It’s an ode to them and the sacrifices they made for me.”

Visitors feel the same way. “Their house is a true labor of love, apparent the second you enter,” Kanian adds. “It radiates warmth and love.”

Snyder feels it too. “I feel an immense amount of pride when I walk into our house,” he says.

Like a barn raising that brings people together, their house has become a welcome part of the neighborhood with its blue siding, bright yellow front door and a playful mural by Venice artist and skateboarder Sebo Walker. “We’ve had neighbors knock on our door and tell us, ‘We love what you’re doing,’” says Snyder.

“I love color,” Fahmy says. “I love to experiment.”

With the main house finished for now, Fahmy hopes to turn the garage into an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, in the style of Mexican architect Luis Barragán: bold with color and texture. “I’m envisioning a mini boutique hotel,” she says. “Simple to execute, yet unique in L.A. I’d love a pink building.”

Like the possibility of a pink building — or not — Fahmy’s freewheeling style proves it’s OK to experiment and make mistakes. (She wants to demo the kitchen next for a fresh look.)

“You’re not tattooing your face. You’re painting your walls,” she says as a way to encourage others to experiment. “Your home should be a reflection of who you are. I hope our home inspires others to live how they want to live.”

One family on Rich House, Poor House decided to ‘break a rule’ halfway through the swap

*Warning: Contains spoilers for the latest episode of Rich House, Poor House*

A Rich House Poor House couple have broken one major show rule.

The hit Channel 5 series sees two families from opposite ends of the wealth divide swap homes, budgets, and lives for a week.

They both experience a dramatic shift in perspective as they step into each other’s worlds but one family appeared to break a rule as they left the property halfway through the swap.

During Sunday’s (April 19) episode, millionaire hotel owners Gez and Rosy Chetal swapped their luxury life with the Bloor family.

In Norfolk, John and wife Ann, live with their three children in a three-bedroom rented terrace house. After basic household bills they have just £79 a week to spend on everything else from food and travel to fun.

Mum Ann works as a cook in a mental health care home, meanwhile husband John works long hours as a bus driver, but they both have a passion for cooking.

Despite both grafting hard, the couple struggle to make ends meet and have previously gone bankrupt for £36k, but they dream of running a music café of their own one day.

Experiencing how the wealthiest 1% live, they exchanged homes for a week with hotel owners Gez and Rosy Chetal, who lived in their luxurious £1.7m 11-bedroom bespoke hotel with their 19-year-old daughter Saanchi.

Given his demanding lifestyle as an entrepreneur, the couple wanted to use the swap as a way for them to spend some quality time together and have a break from their business.

They swapped their hotel— complete with a wine cellar, a large dining room and private chef for a week-long stay in the Bloor family’s house.

While Gez and Rosy were forced to manage on a weekly budget of £79, John, wife Ann and their children got a taste of luxury living with £1,800 to spend.

However, not long into the swap it was clear that the Bloor family struggled to adjust to their new environment living in a hotel as Ann admitted: “My kids are not comfortable.”

After a restless night, Ann was visibly moved as she told husband John: “The children are really uncomfortable. They can’t be in their pyjamas because it’s a hotel, they can’t just go and get a drink, they can’t just go and get a sandwich.” John jumped in and added: “It’s not a home is it?”

Turning to John, Ann explained: “It’s nothing about the hotel. If it was just me and you.. I’d absolutely love it but actually to me we can’t really stay in the hotel.”

The couple then made a big decision and decided to abandon the hotel and use the remaining budget to book a luxury Airbnb, that cost a whopping £1,200.

When the two families finally reunited at the end of their swap, Ann went on to say: “We loved the hotel, unfortunately the children didn’t. They felt very separated from us.” Gez added: “It’s just a big house really, with 11 rooms.”

Rich House, Poor House airs Sunday night from 9pm on Channel 5

Dylan Sprouse sprang to action early Friday morning when he encountered a trespasser at his Hollywood Hills home.

Sources familiar with the incident told The Times that “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” star tackled a man on the lawn near his home after his wife, Victoria’s Secret model Barbara Palvin, spotted “the creepy guy.” Palvin made an emergency call to police around 12:30 a.m. and reported a possible burglary.

TMZ, citing unnamed sources, reported that Sprouse had a gun and held the trespasser down until police arrived.

Police told The Times that the suspect was taken in on outstanding warrants and that no injuries were reported. Additionally, the suspect did not make it inside the couple’s 1920s Spanish-style home, only onto the property.

TMZ obtained footage of the arrest, which showed a suspect, whose face was blurred out, being handcuffed outside a police vehicle. A skateboard was leaned against the fence of the Disney alum’s property, and a “Private Property, No Trespassing” sign was posted on the gate.

Representatives for Sprouse and Palvin have not responded to The Times’ request for comment.

The couple met at a party in 2017 and by the fall of 2018, Palvin was gushing to Vogue that she was “very much in love.”

“I feel like I found the perfect guy,” she said of Sprouse. “He’s very kind and gentle.”

The couple tied the knot in the summer of 2023. In 2024, Palvin walked in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and during a backstage interview said that Sprouse always has something up his sleeve to surprise her.

Outside the show, Sprouse revealed on the pink carpet that he had signs made with the faces of the couple’s fur babies, a French bulldog named Piggy Cow and a cat named Klaus Von Sprouse, to hold up while Palvin strutted the catwalk.

There’s a couple somewhere in Los Angeles who unknowingly inspired the second season of “Beef.”

Lee Sung Jin, the creator of Netflix’s anthology drama that swirls in the consequences of class struggles, resentment and the absurdity of life’s curveballs, once again found himself inspired by a tense interaction playing out before him. A road rage incident at a stoplight in Hollywood a few years ago, triggered by Lee’s delayed response to a green light, became the catalyst for the first season. An early idea to write about a men’s doubles partnership gone awry lost its luster after “Challengers,” Luca Guadagnino’s drama about a love triangle between tennis pros, came out. But a heated argument coming from a house in Lee’s neighborhood became the next spark that lit a narrative fuse.

“I told the story to people — it caused a little stir in the neighborhood,” he says. “And what I found fascinating was the different reactions. When I told younger folks, I’d get, ‘Did you call the police? Should you go check on them again?’ Very concerned, having an ideological view on relationships. When I told the story to older friends and couples, they were just kind of like, ‘Who among us hasn’t?’ I thought the idea of juxtaposing these couples at different stages felt like ripe ground.”

The overheard in L.A. moment inspired the eight-episode season,

Carey Mulligan and Oscar Isaac square off with Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny in Season 2 of “Beef.”

(Netflix)

The twist-filled, darkly comic thriller kicks off when a young couple, Ashley and Austin (Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton), who work at a Montecito country club, witness the explosive altercation between their boss Josh (Oscar Isaac) and his wife, Lindsay (Carey Mulligan), an interior designer, the night before the club’s new Korean billionaire owner, Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung), takes over. She has her own mess to tend to involving her husband (Song Kang-ho), a doctor whose health is affecting his work on patients. The calamities each couple faces spin out into a web of favors and coercion in this tale of broken systems and characters going to great lengths to get what they want.

“The idea of cycles felt interesting,” he says. “A lot of shows and movies cover marriage through the lens of one couple, you don’t really see that multigenerational juxtaposition.”

Speaking from his office on the Raleigh Studios lot in Hollywood, Lee discussed the season’s Montecito setting, the financial anxiety that drives the story and the four-legged breakout star of the show. These are edited excerpts from the conversation, which includes many spoilers.

Why did you want to set this season in Montecito?

Just writing what I know. My goddaughters — their parents are my best friends. They live in Montecito. The dad is my oldest friend in LA. He has a membership to Montecito Club, which is where we shot the exterior of our show. I was house-sitting for him during the writing of all this. He let me use his membership. I remember when he told me about the membership, I was like, “You pay how much? That’s insane, dude.” But then you start using the membership. This idea of hedonic adaptation — how humans so quickly adapt to this new comfort, this new stimulus — it felt like an interesting thing. I was observing how all the members seemed to be mostly boomers and Silent Gen; then all the workers were Gen Z and millennial. I thought: What a perfect metaphor for society right now. No matter how hard the Gen Z and millennials work, they’re never going to get to be members of this club because, as Austin says, “everyone grabbed the bag before they could.” That’s what made me want to set it at a Montecito country club.

Oscar Isaac as Josh Martin and Carey Mulligan as Lindsay Crane-Martin. Cailee Spaeny as Ashley Miller and Charles Melton as Austin Davis. The second season of “Beef,” follows the two California couples from different socioeconomic backgrounds — though both are struggling — as they spiral into a high-stakes feud. (Netflix)

That feeling of survival and resentment and entitlement really looms over this season. There’s speeches about love, but also capitalism. The anxiety about finances is so prevalent right now.

We certainly didn’t set out to make a season about capitalism. But if you’re constantly trying to chase truth as writers, I don’t know how you say anything in the modern era, in 2026, and not have capitalism be a huge variable because it permeates every aspect of life. It’s like going to get gas. Gas is almost $7 right now. You have to fill your tank and there goes $140? That’s crazy. And relationships face so much stress — everyone is being hit by all these curveballs and trying to keep your head above water — how can you enjoy each other?

It became very obvious to us that if you’re going to write a season about marriage and love to these two couples, financial implications have to be a big factor. There’s a lot of talk about the disappearance of the American dream right now. Birth rates are declining. No one’s owning homes anymore. But then you also see headlines about everyone’s scamming. CVS has everything locked down. You’re like, “Yeah, no wonder.” Everything’s connected. We wanted to really show how that survival instinct, the desperation, is starting to come for everyone. I don’t think it’s going to get easier, especially with AI moving on the horizon, and with leaders who refuse to put checks and balances in place.

Part of Ashley’s story is using the video of the fight between Josh and Lindsay as blackmail to get health insurance so she can afford treatment for her endometriosis. And that moment where she’s waiting in the ER for hours and it’s not until she collapses that they realize she needs emergency surgery — her big concern is whether she has to pay the deductible.

I wrote that episode in a literal day because it was based on an experience I had in an ER with my daughter’s mother. She had this illness fall upon her. We spent 12 hours at the ER and, the whole time, I had my Notes app out and was just writing down everything I saw. Almost everything in that scene is stuff that happened in real life. Our healthcare system is absolutely insane. It’s, again, unhinged capitalism and … felt like it really unlocked so much of the season.

There’s a moment where Josh has to sell some of his prized possessions to pay a gambling debt. Have you been there, needing to sell things to cover your financial obligations?

I’ve been there multiple times. I obviously struggled to find my way for a long time, even after becoming a writer. If you’re in a writing partnership, in a staff job on a show — first of all, this is what the guild has been fighting, trying to get these longer-term employment windows because these jobs sometimes are only … maybe eight to 12 weeks. You’re splitting a staff salary in two [if you’re in a partnership], and you probably haven’t qualified for health insurance by the end of that run. Sure, you’re a working writer, but I remember [by the time I landed at] “Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” my first real writing job, I had amassed so much debt, half of which were from parking tickets. I just didn’t have the money to pay these tickets, and so I just let them run rampant. So, yeah, I’ve been there. There’s this one guitar that I loved; it was the first guitar I bought with my own money after college — it was a Fender Telecaster. I think I bought it for $1,200. I ended up selling it for $300. I’ve sold collectibles. I’ve sold anything that had gold in it. I’ve scrapped to just find anything because you’re desperate.

Song Kang-ho as Dr. Kim, Youn Yuh-jung as Chairwoman Park in “Beef.” Recalling the opportunity to direct the pair, Lee says: “It just makes me feel like a little kid again. It stops feeling like work and starts feeling like play.”

(Netflix)

You directed this season. Is there a moment that stands out with this cast?

A peak of my career that I think about daily is the moment in Korea where we were shooting at Amorepacific. It’s one of the most beautiful buildings in Seoul. I’m shooting the scene between the great Youn Yuh-jung and the great Song Kang-ho — two of not only my favorite Korean actors, but favorite actors period. They have never been in a scene together in any Korean film ever. They’ve been in a movie together, but never acted together. And here we are making Korean history by having them shoot that breakfast scene and, while I’m in the middle of shooting that scene, director Bong Joon Ho surprises us on set. He comes over laughing, pulls up to me, looks at my monitor, gives me stage fright, then elbows me and says, “You sure you want to frame it like that?” He was teasing. Then we started shooting the scene, it’s all in Korean, and I look back at video village and Bong’s just doubled over in laughter. He is just cracking up. Younger me, and present me, is looking around like: Here I am in Korea, in this building I’ve always wanted to shoot in, two of the greatest living actors and the greatest living director — what is happening? What a crazy sentence to say. It just makes me feel like a little kid again. It stops feeling like work and starts feeling like play.

How did you want race and identity to figure into this season, particularly through Austin?

Charles was the first piece of the whole thing. After Season 1, I got to go to Korea multiple times. I shot a music video for one of the members of BTS. I was experiencing Austin’s journey of being courted by this level of Korea that I’d never been exposed to before and feeling warm and allured by it — I’m having dinners with K-pop idols, like what is happening? So, I knew I wanted to have that element of elite Korea involved. The writers and I discussed a lot whether it should be a Korean American that’s being pulled. We had covered a lot of Korean American ground in Season 1, [but] one of the things we didn’t get to cover is the half-Korean experience. Several of the writers on staff are either half-Asian or half-Korean. We don’t want to repeat things, but let’s do explore a half-Korean character who is about to have a child suddenly get this pull toward Korea.

Carey Mulligan as Lindsay acting alongside Jones, the dog who plays Burberry, in “Beef.” “Jones is the best dog actor I’ve ever worked with,” Lee says. “A24 is making Burberry merch. There’s going to be a Burberry shirt.”

(Netflix)

There are some pretty gross, petty and violent acts of revenge. One is Ashley swirling her period blood in Josh and Lindsay’s pitcher of orange juice. The other takes place during a flight — Lindsay wiping gunk from the toilet seat and transferring it to the rim of the cup Ashley drinks from. Please explain how you arrived at these acts. Were there any left on the cutting room floor?

Episode 4 was pouring out of me. And I remember I got to the point where Ashley snooping through the house [where Lindsay and Josh live]. Initially, I had her scratching up the trophy. She opened Josh’s pomade and blew a snot booger into it. I was thinking of juvenile things. But I had the thought of her going to the kitchen and having the thing that happened to her being the expression of her revenge. I remember I was so nervous to show the [writers’] room. The way I wrote it, I had her crouching over the pitcher and Anna Moench, as the main female writer on the show, was like, “Sonny, I don’t think you know this works.” So, we revised it. That’s how the OJ one happened. With Episode 7 [and the toilet seat], we wanted to have a bodily episode on a plane, and there’s just such limited ways to get revenge on a plane. But given the OJ drink — there’s so many mirrors between the two couples, we thought it’d be fun to mirror that with a drink from Lindsay to Ashley. The only place to do that on a plane is bathroom. We shot it on stage with a fake toilet and Carey was almost vomiting. She came to me after that scene, and she goes, “Sonny, in all my years in this business, that is the most vile, disgusting thing I’ve ever had to do.”

The final moments of the finale jumps eight years. Did you always know you wanted a time jump? And did you always know Ashley and Austin were going to repeat the cycle?

The Ashley and Austin side, I knew the inverse graph for both characters would be very satisfying — to me, at least. I didn’t know whether that happened in a time jump or not. That’s something we discovered later. There was great debate in the room. I had a couple writers plead with me, “Why aren’t you ending with the kiss? It’s so sweet. It’s so good. I feel so good at the kiss. Can we just end it at the kiss?” I took it very seriously, but then it felt very similar to Season 1’s ending. Taking two people who start apart and they finally discover that connection but too late. I didn’t want to leave with the same feeling. How we can make it different is the “what happens next?” Life comes at you fast. He’s [Josh] still in prison. She’s [Lindsay] got to move on. Once I started heading down that thought experiment, I’m like, “Whoa, you could do a whole coda showing the literal theme of the show, the cycles, that’s where we can show Ashley and Austin becoming Josh and Lindsay.” That’s where we show, even though they found a connection, it’s lost between Josh and Lindsay — even if they’re still hanging on to the past a little bit. You show Troy and Ava still together [laughs] — they have it all figured out. Then you show the billionaire who, even with all the money in the world, is crying at the graveside of her first love, filled with regret.

We didn’t see where Eunice (Seoyeon Jang) ends up.

I wanted to leave it open. I’m very curious what people think. She really put her neck out there. Austin burned her bad. I don’t know where Eunice is at but it’s probably not good.

Charles Melton as Austin Davis in “Beef.”

(Netflix)

We can’t talk about “Beef” without discussing the needle drops. When you have Austin listening to Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” it was over for me.

The needle drops are usually pre-picked even before we shoot. The source music that’s playing diegetically, usually we discover in the edit. Before, as scripted, it had him scrolling Instagram and it was [the song playing on] his Instagram feed — you know how those Reels have music overlayed on a POV? It just wasn’t that funny to me in the edit. He’s so down and out and I wanted to find different source music in there. One day, I told my editor, “Can you rip ‘What Was I Made For?’ And can you just temporarily do it where, as she opens the door, he’s like, pressing the volume up, being like ‘sh— … sh— …’ [intending to make the volume go down]?” Our AE [assistant editor] did the ADR temporarily of the “sh—, sh—,” filmed it on my phone and I texted it to Finneas [O’Connell, the show’s composer, who is Eilish’s brother and collaborator] being like, “Hey, is it cool if we do this?” And he was dying laughing. [O’Connell also makes a cameo in the season.]

Ahead of Season 1, you gifted the writers “The Sopranos Sessions” and also assembled a Letterboxd list of films that served as reference points. What guidance did you provide for Season 2?

I sent another Letterboxd playlist. For inspo, we got “Handmaiden,” “Phantom Thread,” “Force Majeure,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” “The Informant.” For some reason, I have “Margaret” on there, the [Kenneth] Lonergan film. I also had “Michael Clayton,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” “Burn After Reading,” and lastly, it’s a deep cut, there’s this movie called “Like Crazy,” starring Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin.

Also, can we take a moment for Burberry’s acting?

Oh my god, Jones! Jones is the best dog actor I’ve ever worked with. He would hit his mark. He would listen. He would look at people when he’s supposed to be looking. It was his first time acting. Crushed it. A24 is making Burberry merch. There’s going to be a Burberry shirt.

PREGNANT Molly-Mae has jetted off to Sweden on a very spenny babymoon with her fiancé Tommy Fury as the couple countdown to the birth of their second baby.

The businesswoman is set to give birth at the beginning of June and it seems the pair are keen to spend some quality time together before their family of three becomes four.

Molly spared no expense when she surprised her man with the lavish trip as they posed in front of a private jet.

The 26-year-old gifted boxer Tommy the incredible trip as an “early birthday present.”

Tommy and Molly, who officially reunited in May 2025, have been staying in a stunning £2,791.52-a-night suite.

The loved up pair checked into the five star Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne, in Switzerland.

JETTING OFF

Molly Mae surprises Tommy Fury with lavish babymoon birthday trip

LITTLE SIGNS

Molly-Mae fans spot another baby name clue as star nears her due date

Their luxurious suite has panoramic bay window views of the lake and mountains, a huge fireplace, double bath and a very spacious master bedroom.

Reality TV star Tommy was also spotted hitting up the hotel spa, which can boost the cost of their trip to as much as £3,737.96-a-night.

Molly and Tommy visited Switzerland three years ago with her sister Zoe Rae and her brother-in-law Danny.

Tommy told fans he had been wanting to visit again after the incredible time they had.

The couple’s last trip to Switzerland came before they shocked the world by announcing their split in 2024.

They have since reunited and seem to be happier than ever on their last trip before they welcome baby number two.

As well as Tommy’s birthday, a new baby on the way, and her ever growing empire, Molly has another reason to celebrate today.

The star was named in Forbes magazine’s Top 30 under 30 list.

Taking to her Instagram, she said: “In other news… waking up to this has genuinely made me think I’ve been dreaming the last few weeks.”

The coveted nod is something no other Love Island star has ever managed to achieve.

Molly and Tommy met on the famous ITV dating show back in 2019.

April 7 (UPI) — Two French people held in Iran for nearly four years have been allowed to leave the country and return home, French authorities announced Tuesday.

“Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and on their way to French territory, after three and a half years of detention in Iran. This is a relief for all of us and obviously for their families,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on X. “Thank you to the Omani authorities for their mediation efforts, to the State services, and to the citizens who mobilized tirelessly and thus contributed to their return.”

The couple, both teachers, were convicted of espionage after a trial the French government said was “completely unfounded” and “arbitrary.”

Kohler, 41, is a high school literature teacher, and her partner, Paris, is a retired teacher in his 70s. They were arrested during a tourist trip to Iran in 2022. They were imprisoned in the Evin prison, which is where political prisoners and dissidents are kept.

They were allowed four consular visits over the three years after their arrest. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said their conditions were like “torture.”

Kohler and Paris were convicted in 2025 of spying for French intelligence services, conspiring to undermine Iran’s national security and cooperating with Israeli intelligence services. Kohler was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and Paris was sentenced to 17, the French government said.

After intense negotiations, a month later they were released but couldn’t leave Iran. They moved into the French Embassy in Tehran.

Their families and friends have rallied for them over the years and kept their images with the word “freedom” posted on the gates of the French National Assembly and other ministry buildings.

Once the war in Iran began, French authorities intensified negotiations with Iran to get the pair out of the country. They wouldn’t disclose if anything was given to Iran in exchange, The New York Times reported.

Macron announced the release at a health summit in Lyon. He said they were “free and on their way back to France. This is wonderful news,” The Times reported. When the announcement was made in the National Assembly, lawmakers stood and applauded.

Barrot announced on X that Kohler and Paris “have finally left Iran and are now permanently FREE. On the phone just a few moments ago, they expressed to me their emotion and their joy at soon reuniting with their country and their loved ones.”

They were expected to arrive in Paris on Wednesday.

In March 2025, Iran released French tourist Olivier Grondeau, who was held for two years of a five-year sentence for spying. His family had said he was a passionate fan of Persian poetry and was on a tourist visa as part of a world tour.

Amanda Batula and West Wilson weren’t being coy — not “purposely” anyway.

The stars of the Bravo reality series “Summer House” — where a group of friends spend their summer weekends in the Hamptons and drama ensues — were just letting the romance percolate. And now they’re making it official.

The pair shared statements on their Instagram stories that they “wanted to provide some clarity” as rumors swirled about their status.

“It was never our intention to purposely hide anything. Given the complicated relationship dynamics involved and the scrutiny that comes with being on a reality show, we need a little space to process things privately before speaking on it,” the couple wrote. “We’ve shown up for each other as friends over the years, through all the highs and lows, and what’s developed recently was the last thing either of us expected.”

Over the course of the series, which debuted in 2017, relationships have become intertwined.

Wilson dated fellow “Summer House” co-star Ciara Miller, a close friend of Batula, in 2023.

And Batula was married to series co-star Kyle Cooke. In January, she announced their split, writing on an Instagram story that the couple had decided to “mutually and amicably” end their relationship. They married in 2021 and documented their struggles on “Summer House,” including when Cooke cheated on Batula in 2019, and spent the night at a fan’s apartment in 2025.

The pair explained that they chose to wait to publicly announce their relationship “to take time to understand” what they felt.

“Our connection grew out of a genuine, long-standing friendship, which made it especially important for us to approach this with care,” they wrote. “We also recognize that this has had an impact beyond just us and never wanted our actions to cause any hurt or be perceived as careless.”

Wilson previously insisted that Batula was just his “home girl” on an episode of “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.”

“We were just hanging out in New York. She’s single, I gotta show her the streets a little bit,” Wilson said on Friday. “But if it’s not clear, that’s a very important person to me, and I care about her a lot.”

While on “Watch What Happens” in early March, Cooke said he found the rumors about Batula and Wilson “ outrageous,” and that he didn’t think “there’s any merit to it.” Although he denied the rumors, he still voiced his support for Batula.

“It would certainly catch me by surprise and feel a little reckless. And I think I’d probably be the last person people would be worried about,” Cooke said. “But if it made Amanda happy, I think I just would have to vote ‘yay.’”

The two Taylor Lautners are expecting a baby.

“What’s better than two Taylor Lautners?”

That’s what the couple — call him Taylor and her Tay — wrote Thursday in a social media post announcing that a newborn was in their future.

The couple included four photos: The first showed the “Twilight” franchise star, 34, kissing the belly of his 29-year-old wife as she stands in a field holding sonogram images. The others showed them having fun in that same field as they celebrated the news.

That last one was in black and white and a little blurry, but it showed her sitting in a low chair, hands on her belly, cracking up as he sat low by her side with a big smile on his face. The sonogram made its way through all of the baby-on-board photos.

The couple offered no further details about the baby, including the due date.

Taylor Lautner met the former Taylor Dome in December 2017, and the two went public with their couplehood the next October and got married in November 2022 after a yearlong engagement. She was a registered nurse when they met; he was a few years off playing werewolf Jacob Black in the blockbuster franchise that brought a sparkly vampire-human love story to life.

While co-stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, who played Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, have charted distinctive acting careers since 2012, when “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2” debuted, Taylor has hung back a bit. He met Tay after his sister set them up with invites to the same game night.

Tay, by the way, was Team Edward, crushing on Pattinson more than Lautner when she experienced the “Twilight” franchise. “I was too young for Jacob’s abs,” Tay told Cosmopolitan in a 2025 profile of the Lautners.

“Yeah, when I was walking around in my little booty jean shorts and ripping my shirt off and my abs were on big screens, she’s 11 years old, throwing a ‘Twilight’ birthday party,” he told the magazine. Tay was “a breath of fresh air” for him after years of dating women who worked in the spotlight.

That list famously included Taylor Swift, his co-star in “Valentine’s Day,” with whom he coupled up for several months before that 2010 movie came out.

“Now I have my priorities straight,” Taylor Lautner told Cosmo. “If I do a project and it doesn’t go as planned, I’ll still be coming home to my family that’s always going to be there.”

And soon that family will be more than two.

L.A.’s only dedicated cinnamon roll shop was born during the pandemic, when stay-at-home orders prevented Lindsay Sears-McDonald from going to her family’s favorite bakery to satisfy her craving for sticky sweet buns.

Instead, she attempted the dessert at home. When her first try yielded delicious results, she set out to perfect the recipe. Soon, she and her husband Lawrence were popping up at events across Los Angeles, and in 2023 they nabbed a vendor spot at Smorgasburg L.A.

They named their outfit All About the Cinnamon, a play on the hit song “All About the Benjamins” that features Lil’ Kim and Notorious B.I.G. The menu follows a similar theme, with plush cinnamon rolls named after the rap and R&B artists that Lindsay and Lawrence grew up listening to, such as the Em dotted with milk-chocolate M&M’s or the Busta topped with warm Nutella. Last summer the couple opened a small storefront in Sherman Oaks, complete with a mural of hip-hop greats.

In pastry cases across the city, you’ll see a diverse range of sweet buns inspired by the comforting flavors of childhood. That translates to vegan cinnamon rolls with ube halaya and pandan at a Filipino bake shop in Long Beach and miso-honey milkbread buns sprinkled with sesame seeds at a Korean-inspired bakery in Highland Park. Here are 11 of our favorite cinnamon rolls in L.A.

Stephen and Viv have been to 60 countries but say this was their worst experience

A couple who have travelled to 60 countries after appearing on Race Across the World have blasted a “shocking” airport lounge as the worst they’ve ever experienced. Stephen and Viv Redding, from Uppingham, Rutland were left stunned after paying nearly £50 to access what they thought would be a relaxing business class lounge.

Stephen, 64, and Viv, 68, visited the Avianca lounge while waiting for their flight to Bogotá before returning to London Heathrow, following a six-week trip around South America. They claim to have been met with “tasteless” food and shabby surroundings.

“We bought business class tickets because it was a long-haul flight and that way we can have flat beds and get a bit of sleep,” Stephen said. “We’d been led to believe that we would have lounge access [at the airport] but when we went up to the lounge, we were told that our tickets did not qualify.

“So we decided that we would pay for the upgrade because we knew we had over two hours to spare.”

Once inside, the couple, who appeared on the BBC travel show in 2024, say they were shocked by the poor quality on offer at the San Jose lounge. Stephen said: “There was only one meal available, tasteless and watery spaghetti bolognese.

“The pasta was cold, the sauce was not very nice. There was a little side bread thing that was dried and tasteless. We were given drinks tokens for a glass of wine, which meant we were only allowed one drink each – one glass of wine each!

“The place was not good. The seats weren’t comfy, the tables were shabby, it was not what we’d experienced from any other airport lounge that we’ve been to. And to be fair, there have been quite a few since Race Across the World two years ago.

“We’ve been to about 60 countries now and probably up to a dozen lounges across the globe and this is the worst lounge that we’ve ever been to.”

The pair raised their concerns with staff at the time but claim they were met with little interest. After returning home, they contacted Avianca to request a refund, but say their complaint was rejected. Stephen added: “We asked for money back because of the poor lounge quality but they have refused and rejected that claim and basically said that’s just the way it is.

“I must also say though that the flight with Avianca was absolutely spot on, I have no complaints at all.

“[That being said], we were disappointed and actually after being away for six weeks touring through the north of South America we were tired and just wanted to relax in a bit of comfort, but this did not fulfil our needs by any means.”

AS NEWS of Olivia Attwood and Pete Wicks’ romance has been confirmed, there was actually numerous signs of a relationship brewing over recent months.

The Sun revealed on Saturday night how the pair’s friendship has turned to romance, with the KISS Radio co-hosts sharing a kiss in front of pals during a night out this week.

It comes after Olivia’s split from her footballer husband Bradley Dack earlier this year, following a “breach of trust” from his side.

Friends have now assured there was “no crossover” between the relationships.

While things may have been strictly friendship until recently, there were several nods that Pete and Olivia’s romance was on the cards; from the cosy Ibiza boat snaps which caused a stir last summer to their late-night pizza date earlier this month.

Here, we take a look at all of the signs the duo were a secret couple.

Read more on Olivia Attwood

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BRIT’s Pizza Date

Enjoying a night out at the BRIT Awards earlier this month, Olivia and Pete spent the majority of the evening together.

Despite sitting at different tables inside the ceremony, a source told at the time how they had managed to remain together at several points in the night.

At 3AM, Pete was then snapped carrying two pizzas up to his hotel room following the boozy night.

The next morning, they were seen exiting the same hotel together and sharing a car back home.

3AM night out

The month after her split from Bradley was revealed, Olivia let her hair down on a night out which ended with Pete in the early hours.

Celebrating her Garnier brand deal at The Newman Hotel in Central London, she partied with colleagues and friends before heading out to Soho with Pete and some other pals.

Olivia and Pete were then pictured at 3AM as they left in a taxi together.

THOSE Ibiza boat snaps

It was long before Olivia’s split from Bradley that her relationship with Pete raised eyebrows.

Last summer, during a trip to Ibiza, Olivia was snapped in a cosy embrace with Pete as she laid back into his arms on a yacht.

Wrapping his arms around Olivia, Pete had his legs open as she lay in between them and they both laughed with friends.

Other pictures from the day showed the pals walking together with Pete’s arm around Olivia.

At the time, Pete and Olivia were solely friends, but it was reported that her husband Bradley was left “furious” over the “reckless” party-hard behaviour.

Following the snaps, Olivia admitted that the pair had a rocky summer and reminded fans she “isn’t perfect.”

“It’s no secret. We had a really bad summer. I know this is not how people do things in my world. They do not talk and marriage in this way,” said Olivia on her podcast, Olivia’s House.

 “I think that there was stuff going on on both sides…. At the end of day marriage is really f***ing hard.”

Olivia said that Bradley hadn’t been perfect, but she wanted to give him the chance to share that side of the story when he eventually joins her on the podcast.

She accepted that she could be “self-destructive”, and when the going gets tough she tends to push him away rather than lean into the issues together.

But following the incident, the pair got back on track and appeared to move on with their marriage.

Pete admits to ‘missing’ Olivia

In a passing comment months after their trip to the White Isle, Pete admitted he missed his holiday “partner in crime” after taking a trip to Vegas without her.

Pete, who was still just friends with Olivia at the time, said of his holiday: “It did make me think of you. Because you were there before and we have said before we like a holiday. 

“I just wish you’d been in Vegas with me. Because I feel like it’s very me and you Vegas. I needed another Vegas partner in crime.”

Bradley blocks Pete

While Olivia’s estranged husband Bradley continues to follow the TV star on social media, one person he doesn’t follow is Pete.

In fact, he has even blocked the former TOWIE star.

Hours after Olivia and Pete were seen leaving their Manchester hotel together following the BRITs, Bradley made his opinions on the relationship clear.

He blocked Pete the day following the BRITs, with neither stars now following one another.

I’ve seen enough. It’s time to revise our expectations about the midterms.

For more than a year now, conventional wisdom has been that Democrats would take back the House — but not the Senate — in the November midterms.

That’s because this year’s Senate map would require Democrats to win numerous seats in red states.

In fact, if you had asked me a couple of months ago, I would have told you that, yes, Democrats have a shot at the Senate, but in the same way my teenage son has a shot at someday dating Sydney Sweeney. Which is to say, technically possible but cosmically unlikely.

But recent developments (such as President Trump’s plunging approval ratings on the economy) are encouraging me to revise my thinking.

I’m not alone. Independent journalist Chris Cillizza recently observed that for the first time ever, prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi showed Democrats with a narrow edge.

Now, prediction markets are not scientific. Neither, for that matter, is licking your finger and holding it up to the wind — but both have outperformed political polling at various times in the last couple of years.

The difference is that in prediction markets, people are wagering actual money, which tends to sharpen the mind in ways that answering a pollster’s call during dinner does not.

Of course, you probably haven’t heard much about this revised political outlook. That’s because nobody has any incentive to shout it from the rooftops.

Democrats don’t want to inflate expectations and risk turning a solid win into a perceived disappointment. Republicans, meanwhile, are not eager to advertise that their Senate majority is wobbling like a shopping cart with a bad wheel. And we pundits, chastened by having been burned, are reluctant to get too far out over our skis.

Even Cillizza still leans Republican on balance. But if I had to bet today — and I tend to define bet as “regret later” — I’d put my chips on the Democrats. Not because it’s a sure thing, but because almost every political and economic development seems to be trending in their direction.

History helps. The “out” party in the midterms usually does well. Current events help. Policies, including the war in Iran and rising gas prices, tend to sour voters on whoever’s in charge. And candidate quality helps. Voters do occasionally notice who’s actually on the ballot, and Democrats are serving up a semi-respectable offering.

Let’s pause to appreciate what’s at stake. Control of the Senate isn’t just about who gets the nicer office furniture. It determines judicial confirmations, including the possibility that Trump could fill a fourth Supreme Court vacancy (if one opens up in 2027 or 2028).

Now, it would be irresponsible of me to just drop this idea without delving into some logistical details.

For Democrats to flip the Senate, they need to net four seats. That means defending everything they already have while winning four more. The encouraging news (if you’re rooting for the Democrats) is that there are at least eight plausible opportunities for that to happen.

In North Carolina, incumbent Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is widely expected to win. In Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins once again finds herself in a political knife fight — her natural habitat, though perhaps not her preferred one. She will face Maine’s current governor or a flamboyant and controversial oysterman. I’m not sure who’d be the tougher opponent.

Out in Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown benefits from the rare political skill of being a Democrat who still seems at home in Ohio.

The Democrat running in Alaska is a former member of Congress (and the first Alaska Native elected to Congress). And for the open seat in Iowa, Democrats seem likely to nominate a two-time Paralympic gold medalist who represents the reddest state house seat held by a Democrat.

Then there’s Texas, the perennial Democratic mirage — always shimmering on the horizon. But this year, it might come into clear view. James Talarico has emerged for Democrats, while Republicans are stuck choosing between scandal-plagued Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton and incumbent Sen. John Cornyn — a process that currently resembles a family feud conducted with vicious attack ads.

Meanwhile, in Nebraska and Montana, Democrats aren’t even pretending to compete. Instead, they’re relying on independents who — like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Angus King — would likely caucus with them.

In Nebraska, independent Dan Osborn already proved he can make it close: He lost in 2024 — a bad year to run against a Republican. And in Montana, the sudden announced retirement of Sen. Steve Daines has created an opening that didn’t exist five minutes ago (in political time).

Let’s not get carried away. The idea that Democrats could sweep all these races is still the kind of thing you say after your third drink. But winning half of them? That’s no longer fantasy. That’s … plausible. Maybe even more likely than not.

This isn’t a safe bet. It’s not even a comfortable one. But for the first time, it’s starting to look like smart money isn’t laughing at the idea anymore — it’s quietly sliding chips across the table.

Matt K. Lewis is the author of “Filthy Rich Politicians” and “Too Dumb to Fail.”

LEONARDO DiCaprio has been romantically involved with some of the most beautiful women on the planet.

And his current girlfriend is no exception. Here’s everything you need to know about Italian supermodel Vittoria Ceretti.

Who is Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriend Vittoria Ceretti?

Vittoria Ceretti was born in Brescia, in northern Italy, on June 7, 1998, making her 23 years younger than Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Italian model is one of the most sought-after figures in the fashion industry.

She first caught the fashion world’s attention as a teenager, going on to walk the runway for major brands including Chanel, Valentino, Louis Vuitton and Versace.

Vittoria has also appeared on dozens of Vogue covers in numerous countries all over the globe.

read more on Vittoria Ceretti

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SHEER LUCK

Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriend Vittoria goes braless under see-through dress

Her relationship with Leo first made headlines in the summer of 2023, when they were spotted together in Santa Barbara.

Dates in Santa Barbara, Paris and Milan followed, and by November of the same year they were reportedly exclusive.

Speaking to Vogue France in March 2025, Vittoria said preserving a private life was “a luxury” she intended to hold onto.

She also opened up about how “annoying” being referred to as someone else’s partner can be.

Vittoria said: “As soon as you’re in a relationship with someone more famous, you become ‘so-and-so’s girlfriend. That can be extremely annoying.”

She has been welcomed into Leo’s inner circle, having met his mum Irmelin Indenbirken, with whom the actor is famously close.

Who else has Leonardo DiCaprio dated?

The Oscar-winning actor has been romantically linked to many beauties over the years, including:

• Bridget Hall (1994): Leo was briefly linked to the American model, who became one of the most recognisable faces of the early 1990s as a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover star and Victoria’s Secret model.
• Naomi Campbell (1995): They were rumoured to be romantically involved in 1995, when Leo would have been 21.
• Kristen Zang (1996–1998): His first serious relationship was with the American model and actress.
• Gisele Bundchen (1999–2005): Leo spent five years with the Brazilian supermodel, who went on to marry NFL superstar Tom Brady in 2009, before the pair divorced in 2022.
• Bar Refaeli (2005–2011): For the best part of six years, he dated the Israeli model and television presenter.
• Blake Lively (2011): The Gossip Girl star and Leo enjoyed a brief five-month romance in 2011, before Blake went on to marry Ryan Reynolds later that same year.
• Erin Heatherton (2011–2012): He dated the American model and Victoria’s Secret Angel from Illinois for around a year.
• Toni Garrn (2013–2014 & 2017): Leo was involved with the German model and humanitarian activist twice.
• Kelly Rohrbach (2015–2016): He was linked to the American model and actress, who went on play CJ Parker in the 2017 Baywatch film alongside Dwayne Johnson.
• Nina Agdal (2016–2017): The actor dated Danish model and influencer Nina Agdal, who is now engaged to YouTube star Logan Paul.
• Camila Morrone (2017–2022): Leo was in a relationaship with the Argentine-American actress and model for five years.
• Gigi Hadid (2023): He was spotted getting cosy with Zayn Malik’s ex, but the romance was never confirmed.

NEW YORK — What makes life worth living? For hard-core “Harry Potter” fans with money to burn, it might be getting Broadway tickets to interact fleetingly with Daniel Radcliffe in “Every Brilliant Thing,” an ingenious and touching solo performance piece written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe on the subject of suicide — or more precisely, on the ordinary joys that militate against such a drastic step.

Radcliffe was breathlessly scampering up and down the aisles of the Hudson Theatre before the show began, enlisting audience members to be participants in the play. Having seen “Every Brilliant Thing” twice before, once at the Edye (the black box at Santa Monica’s BroadStage) starring Donahoe in 2017 and once at the Geffen Playhouse’s intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater starring Daniel K. Isaac in 2023, I knew exactly what he was up to.

The play revolves around a list that the narrator began at the tender age of 7 after his mother first attempted suicide. While she was still in the hospital, he started compiling, as much for her benefit as for his own, sources of everyday happiness.

Ice cream, water fights, kind people who aren’t weird and don’t smell unusual. These items are given a number, and audience members assigned a particular “brilliant thing” are expected to shout out their entry when their number is called.

The list gradually grows in complexity as the narrator gets older. Miss Piggy, spaghetti bolognese and wearing a cape give way to more sophisticated pleasures, such as the way Ray Charles sings the word “You” in the song “Drown in My Own Tears” or the satisfaction in writing about yourself in the second person.

Music plays a prominent role in “Every Brilliant Thing,” which was adapted from a monologue/short story Macmillan wrote called “Sleeve Notes.” The narrator’s terribly British father takes refuge from the emotional storms of his household by listening to jazz records in his office. John Coltrane, Cab Calloway, Bill Evans, Nina Simone are favorite artists, and the narrator can tell his father’s mood simply by the record he’s decided to play.

The production, directed by Jeremy Herrin and Macmillan, involves every level of the Hudson Theatre. I assumed I would be safe, occupying an aisle seat in the murderously expensive prime orchestra during a press performance attended by critics. But I wasn’t flashing a pad as my colleague across the aisle from me was doing to ward off any intrusions. And just before the show was about to start, Radcliffe was suddenly kneeling beside my seat asking if the person I was sitting with was my partner.

I told him that we weren’t a couple, just friends, and that I would be the worst person he could possibly ask to perform anything. But Radcliffe wasn’t so easily put off. “Let’s just say that you’re an older couple who have been together for some time,” he whispered. “And all you have to do is hand me this box of juice and candy bar when I refer to the older couple.”

OK, what harm could there be? Little did I know that “older couple” was to become “old couple,” a term that seemed to be repeated incessantly, at least to my Gen X ears not yet accustomed to scurrilous millennial attacks! I composed myself by pretending that we were in the world of anti-realism. But in truth, I would like to be the kind of person who would offer an anxious kid in a hospital waiting room a juice box and a candy bar, so maybe the casting wasn’t so far-fetched after all.

Daniel Radcliffe in the Broadway production of “Every Brilliant Thing.”

(Matthew Murphy)

A theatergoer was called upon to play the vet who euthanized the narrator’s childhood pet, a dog named Indiana Bones that was symbolized by a coat someone volunteered from the audience. It was the boy’s first experience of death, a difficult concept for a young mind but an important precursor for a boy not given the luxury of existential innocence.

Other audience members, particularly those seated on the stage, played much more elaborate roles. One man, first invited to serve as a stand-in for the narrator’s father, was asked instead to play the boy. He was given one word to say in reply — “Why?” — as his father tries to explain the reason his mother is in the hospital. This same enlisted actor was later called upon to play the dad giving a toast at his son’s wedding, one of the rare occasions when he was able to summon language for the kind of deep feeling he would normally only be able to express through his records.

One kind and patient spectator conscripted to play the school counselor had to remove her shoe to improvise a sock puppet, one of the tools of her empathetic practice. Another audience member sensitively played Sam, the narrator’s love of his life, a relationship that reveals the long-term toll of being raised by a parent suffering from suicidal depression.

Radcliffe’s audience wrangling was as intuitively sharp as his deeply felt performance. He has the comfort of a good retail politician, who’s not afraid of making direct contact with crowds. Two-time Tony winner Donna Murphy, in the house at the reviewed performance, gamely went along when Radcliffe briefly enlisted her luminous services.

Obviously, Radcliffe is the main reason “Every Brilliant Thing” is on Broadway. The show, which began at Britain’s Ludlow Fringe Festival in 2013, is a gossamer piece, a 70-minute curio best experienced in close quarters without the high expectations and ludicrous prices of New York’s turbo-charged commercial theater. The Hudson Theatre lends a mega-church vibe to the proceedings, but the spirits of theatergoers are nonetheless moved.

A scruffy-faced Radcliffe, twinkling accessible geniality in jeans and a sweatshirt, zips up and down the cavernous theater as though waging a one-man campaign against the isolation epidemic. There’s no denying that Harry Potter has matured into an assured stage actor. His Tony-winning performance in “Merrily We Roll Along” should have put to rest any doubts, but the glare of his fame can still obscure his serious chops.

Sincere yet never smarmy, ironic without ever being cynical, well-groomed though far from swank, he’s a more glamorous version of the character than the one originated by Donahoe, the British comedian with an everyman demeanor whose portrayal seemed so genuine at the Edye that I mistakenly thought that the play was his personal story.

Donahoe’s performance was filmed for HBO, but “Every Brilliant Thing” is meant to be experienced in a theater. The whole point of the show is to transform the audience into an impromptu ensemble, a group of strangers emotionally united through the story of one young man’s intimate knowledge of suicide, a subject that Albert Camus called the “one truly serious philosophical problem.”

I’m of two minds about “Every Brilliant Thing.” I was moved once again by the piece, but I’m grateful I didn’t have to wreak havoc on my credit card to pay for my seats. I love the interactive, gentle humanity of the play, but I was also acutely aware of how the work has been commodified. I applaud Radcliffe’s willingness to carve an independent path as an actor, but I might have been more impressed by his adventurousness had he decided to perform in a pocket venue that didn’t have the tiers of pricing I associate with airlines.

Yet launching a conversation around mental health with an audience magnet as powerful as Radcliffe is on balance an excellent thing. And Radcliffe’s compassionate portrayal of a survivor recognizing that he’s not out of the woods just because he made it into adulthood is one of those things that makes a theater lover just a little more appreciative of the humanity at the center of this art form.

SINGER Harry Styles takes a stroll with girlfriend Zoe Kravitz — who shows her dedication to him by wearing his merchandise.

The couple were seen in New York with actress Zoe, 37, wearing a £35 baseball cap with the word “Kiss” on it — a reference to Harry’s new album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.

Harry, 32, wore white sunglasses for their date.

We revealed earlier how fans reckon his brand new tattoo is a poignant tribute to his late 1D bandmate Liam Payne.

It came just days after the Aperture hitmaker, 32, spoke out for the first time on the dad-of-one’s passing.

Harry, who was in the group with Liam from 2010 to 2016, said living his life “to the fullest” is the best way he can “honour” his friend.

STYLES’ SIGNAL

Harry Styles’ fans spot blink-and-you’ll miss it nod to girlfriend Zoe

APPY DAYS

Harry Styles makes shock comment about dating app Raya amid Zoe Kravitz romance

Now eagle-eyed viewers have spotted Harry in the crowd of US TV show Saturday Night Live donning a surprise new inking on his right arm.

He had swirling writing etched in black on his upper arm that spelled out the word Slinky.

One fan took to TikTok to muse: “Harry Styles’ slinky tattoo that people suspect harry got in honour of Liam Payne’s love for Toy Story”.

Slinky is a much-loved spring dog that features in the Disney Pixar movies, and is a loyal pal to protagonist Woody.

Another user then commented: “He loved him so much”.

One mused: “And that’s the arm that he said was going to be only for his family…. (he said that years ago it may not even be true anymore but it’s cute)”.