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Eddie Huang has never felt lighter. Last month, after his debut novel, “Come Undone,” finally released, something shifted.
“I have a family. I feel healed,” he said over coffee and short ribs in Santa Monica hours ahead of a live talk with Ottessa Moshfegh, the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of Huang’s favorite book, “My Year of Rest and Relaxation.”
“People always write me off as a personality or a multi-hyphenate,” he said. “It’s a nice way of saying I’m not really good at anything. But I didn’t have any of that this time.” He leaned forward, serious. “I have to be honest. I do think the Knicks are a big, big part of it.”
His beloved Knicks winning the championship, he said, kept him from spiraling over the book. In person, Huang subdues his ironic braggadocio with polite eye contact and rolling belly laughs at his own jokes. For years, audiences have watched Huang resist whatever box you put him in. His particular brand of cultural fluency — a rapid-fire mix of food, fashion, basketball, politics and pop culture — is what made the “Gua Bao Bad Boy” impossible to categorize.
For most of his career, Huang has seemed constitutionally incapable of standing still. Chef. Memoirist. TV host. Filmmaker. Lawyer. Comic. Podcaster. His first book, “Fresh Off the Boat,” became the longest-running network sitcom centered on an Asian American family, even as Huang publicly distanced himself from the show. Since leaving post-fires L.A. for New York, he’s reopened Baohaus — returning to the kitchen that built his career. Waiting for him at home after the book tour is his wife, Natashia Perrotti, and their 2-year-old son.
Now there’s “Come Undone,” fiction that Huang called his most honest — and vulnerable — work to date.
“It’s sort of this next-gen auto fiction type thing that is creating its own rules,” Moshfegh said ahead of their Q-and-A. “It made me think about my own appreciation for the experience of male heterosexuality and how much it’s been commodified.”
The book follows Hubie, a globe-trotting food-show host drifting through Chateau Marmont, Madeo, Nobu and other “dirtbag L.A” (as Huang coins) spots. He meets Janine, his equal in appetite and id, sending him into a tailspin of yearning and loops of Sky Ferreira’s “Everything Is Embarrassing” on sadboi walks. The “two walking red flags” decide to try to make it work.
Huang called the novel an “autofictional riddle.” The puzzle isn’t especially difficult if you’ve followed his relationship with Perrotti, who co-hosts their podcast, “Canal Street Dreams.” Marrying a writer, she’s learned, often means finding out what he feels by reading it. “We’ll get into a fight,” she said, “and I’ll wake up to a Substack article about it.”
It’s also part of the private life she’s since conceded. “It’s annoying,” she added. “But now I can read it, and maybe understand him a little bit better. He’s trying to communicate through the writing, like sending somebody a song and saying, ‘I want you to listen to these lyrics.’”
The novel goes further, drawing from experiences the couple has never discussed publicly. In the novel, Hubie and Janine’s relationship pivots after an ectopic pregnancy ends in loss. Perrotti said the scene is fictionalized but mirrors a similar experience they had early in their own relationship.
“It brought us closer together,” she said. “It was the catalyst for us realizing we were serious.”
Before Huang could finish the book, the life he was writing about had to fall apart. “This book was very much about breaking up with your family to start your own,” he said. “There was a lot of anger in the book that had not been resolved.”
By the end of 2024, Huang had stopped speaking to his mother. The break followed what he described as a blowup at a Cheesecake Factory. It also unlocked the ending he’d been chasing.
Eddie Huang.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Looking back, Huang thinks the earlier versions failed because he was still arguing with her. He’s still trying, in some way, to communicate with her through his writing. “If there’s one person I wish would read the book,” he said, “it would be my mom.”
There were other chapters he had to close the book on, mainly Hollywood. His foray into fiction coincided with the writers’ strike, drying up all his income and future projects. That same year, he became a father. “I had to accept and realize that my value was not in making money,” he said. “Because for three years, I couldn’t.”
He recalled a particular low point researching life insurance policies. “I had to rebuild my whole self. Really love myself despite not being able to offer anybody anything.”
That new certainty didn’t make Huang any less willing to pick fights. Last year, as his documentary “Vice Is Broke” — an autopsy of the media company behind “Huang’s World” and its eventual bankruptcy — awaited release, Huang said distributor Mubi shelved the film after he boycotted the company over Sequoia Capital’s investment in an Israeli defense technology startup. (Mubi denied this and said it still planned to distribute the film.)
The ghost of Vice still lingers in today’s media ecosystem in what he called our “era of cartel journalism:” creators navigating a world of blurred incentives and corporate interests. He traced this instinct to challenge those systems back to Socrates’ “gadfly” — the person whose job was to annoy power. “As a writer, you should be challenging people,” he said. “If your memoir can be turned into a sitcom, it probably wasn’t challenging.”
Eddie Huang.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
After the 2025 L.A. fires drove his new family back to New York, Huang went back to cooking. He worked pop-ups, reopened Baohaus and found himself alongside line cooks half his age. In March 2025, he rewrote the novel in five days. That same month “was the first month I didn’t overdraft my credit card,” he said, with the majority of his income today coming from the restaurant. It’s allowed him to make films, write books and walk away from deals he doesn’t believe in. “Being a chef is the anchor that allows me to maintain my artistic integrity.”
For years, comparisons to Anthony Bourdain followed Huang everywhere. The two eventually became friends.
“He was one of the few people who was as advertised,” Huang said. “Nicer and more generous in person. And wounded.”
Bourdain is the only real person who appears in “Come Undone” under his own name.
When Huang mentions him, he stops talking. He covers his face. Tears come.
“I don’t believe in God,” he said, “but I asked the universe why for many, many years.”
Bourdain’s suicide, he said, was one of the reasons he walked away from “Huang’s World” in 2018. At the time, few people understood why. “It was Tony. It was family. It was everything.”
Eddie Huang.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Now, looking back, Huang thinks he was writing “Come Undone” toward a different ending than the one he’d imagined.
“This book is a guy saying, ‘I don’t want to be like my biological father,’” he said. “And, in the most respectful, loving way, I don’t want to go out like Tony.”
He paused. “I needed to name the sadness in me. I needed to allow myself to be loved.”
Huang is already writing another memoir about getting back into the kitchen. Still, he said, these days, he’d rather write fiction.
Rudi, an L.A. native, is a freelance art and culture writer. She’s at work on her debut novel about a stuttering student journalist.
The world of influencer boxing takes another surreal turn on Saturday when former World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall faces reality television star and professional boxer Tommy Fury in Manchester.
The heavyweight contest at the AO Arena is understood to be an exhibition bout, meaning it will not count towards either fighter’s professional boxing record.
It is scheduled for six two-minute rounds, bringing together two Britons from entirely different worlds.
The event is promoted by Misfits and is the latest example of a boxing show that increasingly blurs the lines between professional sport, entertainment and social media celebrity.
Fury’s professional resume includes high-profile victories over influencers-turned-boxers KSI and Jake Paul.
He insists his ambitions remain tethered to world-title aspirations. In reality, however, the 27-year-old has cemented himself as the poster boy for the influencer boxing boom.
Hall, 38, headlined what was billed as ‘The Heaviest Boxing Match in History’ in 2022 against rival Hafthor ‘Thor’ Bjornsson.
After losing to the Icelander in the exhibition bout, Hall transitioned into MMA and scored a knockout victory over fellow former strongman Mariusz Pudzianowski last year.
The undercard perhaps best illustrates the unusual crossroads at which modern boxing now finds itself.
Sharing the bill is social media personality ‘The Ibiza Final Boss’, real name Jack Kay, who became an internet sensation in 2025 after videos of his confident dancing, distinctive bowl haircut and gold-chain-wearing persona went viral on TikTok.
Also appearing on the card is two-time Olympic taekwondo gold medallist Jade Jones.
Tommy will fight former World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall this weekendCredit: facebook/@SportskeedacombatTommy has been a hands on dad in the build up to the boutCredit: Instagram
The insider continued: “Now the little fella is here it’s a no-brainer — what better way to announce his name than on his dad’s boxing shorts.
“Molly is now obsessed with it — she’s hoping to be there.
“They’re working out the walk outs at the minute because that’s when it will be revealed, with music and blue fireworks — it will be cool.
Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has called on UFC president Dana White to release Tom Aspinall from his contract and says the heavyweight champion is not being paid his worth.
Aspinall has been the standout performer in the UFC’s heavyweight division in recent years, with seven of his eight wins ending in the first round.
Hearn is prepared to offer Aspinall higher earnings if the UFC allowed him to leave, as tensions continue to grow between himself and White, though it is unclear whether that would be in boxing or MMA.
Matchroom chairman Hearn is also willing to drop planned legal action over Conor Benn’s decision to leave his stable for White’s Zuffa Boxing promotional company if they release Aspinall.
Hearn, 46, previously described 29-year-old Benn’s departure as a “dagger in the heart”.
“I’ll walk away from all their problems they’ve got on the Conor Benn legal situation if they release Tom Aspinall,” Hearn said.
“And I will, in writing, it will be five or six times more money he’ll be making, but I will put in writing that Tom Aspinall will make a minimum of three times more than he will under his current contract.”
Aspinall remains under contract with the UFC and is one of its biggest stars.
Hearn has previously criticised the UFC’s pay structure and suggested leading fighters could earn considerably more elsewhere.
There is no indication the UFC would consider releasing Aspinall, but Hearn’s remarks have increased debate around fighter pay in mixed martial arts (MMA).
“I would like to propose that Dana White should be happy for Tom Aspinall, who is extremely unhappy, and he should release him of his obligations with the UFC,” Hearn added.
“And he should allow him to go out and make considerably more for himself and his family because that’s what Dana White’s all about, isn’t it? He’d be happy for Tom. So that’s what I would like.”
Oleksandr Usyk defends his WBC world title against Rico Verhoeven on Saturday in Egypt.
The fight is unusual in location as in nature, with kickboxing world champion Verhoeven getting a title shot in just his second boxing fight – and first since 2014.
The 37-year-old Dutchman is aiming to pull off arguably the biggest upset in the sport’s history.
Ukrainian Usyk, 39, is aiming to continue his near 17-year winning streak.
Will we see an underdog win for the ages or will Usyk’s dominance continue?
BBC Sport asks the boxing world for their predictions.
Verhoeven is a huge underdog and victory over Usyk would rank among the biggest shocks in boxing history, arguably surpassing Buster Douglas’ stunning win over Mike Tyson in Tokyo in 1990.
The Dutchman won 66 of his 76 kickboxing fights and has not lost in more than 4,000 days. But the 37-year-old has had only one professional boxing bout – a stoppage win over a journeyman 12 years ago.
Usyk, meanwhile, is one of boxing’s most decorated fighters; an Olympic gold medallist, undisputed cruiserweight champion and two-time undisputed heavyweight champion who remains unbeaten in 24 professional bouts.
The 39-year-old wore a striking Egyptian-inspired white and gold outfit, complete with a cape and draped sleeves, though his answers did not match the extravagance of his attire. At one stage, he even appeared to be on a video call during the media-only event.
When it was put to him that Verhoeven believes his lack of experience could bring an element of surprise Usyk has never faced before, the champion replied: “I have no idea how many rounds this will go. I’m not sad with 12 rounds. It’s normal. But I don’t know. When I have the chance, I’ll do it.”
The contest will count as a defence of Usyk’s WBA ‘Super’ title and he would also lose his IBF belt if defeated, although Verhoeven is not eligible to win either championship.
EastEnders has aired worrying scenes for George Knight as he struggles being around his father Eddie – but fans think it’s going to get a lot worse, especially as Gina takes drastic action
George Knight’s murderous plan revealed(Image: BBC/Jack Barns/Kieron McCarron)
EastEnders‘ George Knight might be close to doing something ‘murderous’ as he struggles to cope with having his father in his house. Since last week, Eddie has been living in George’s home as he dies of cancer, but fans think George might hurry things along as he gets desperate to have Eddie out.
George (Colin Salmon) has long had a strained relationship with Eddie (Chris Fairbank), as the elder Knight had murdered George’s biological father Henry Asare. While Eddie had been in prison for the murder, he was released to stay with George and his partner Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington), though the police did not know George would be involved.
His daughter, Gina (Francesca Henry), spent tonight’s episode (18 May) arguing with George over letting Eddie stay. She ultimately decided to take drastic action and call the police to let them know that Eddie was in contact with George, despite that being banned.
Yet, fans think it might be George who ultimately cuts the cord – in the most final way. This comes after the BBC released a trailer for a week of special episodes titled ‘The night that changes everything’, where George is set to make a decision that turns everything on it’s head.
One fan said: “I was confused as to what George was doing in the everything changes trailer but I wonder if maybe he ends up suffocating Eddie or something.”
Another agreed: “It would be fitting if something murderous happens – Eddie being taken out by his son years after murdering George’s bio father.”
George wasn’t the only one featured in the new trailer. Some of Walford’s biggest names were involved, including Ian Beale, Denise Fox and Max Branning.
According to the BBC, the night where ‘everything changes’ is Vicki and Ross’ wedding in June. After the wedding, the Beale, Branning, Knight-Mitchell and Fox-Trueman families will “find themselves at the heart of the drama”, but all for different reasons.
Over the course of a week, the same night will be explored, with new details emerging about what happened to each family and how this will effect them in the run up to New Year.
Posters released alongside the video reveal which characters will be drawn into the drama. Denise can be seen looking at the camera as an upside down Yolande Trueman and Jack Branning, her mother figure and husband, stand behind her. Fans have already been told that Denise is soon going to be diagnosed with blood cancer.
Meanwhile, Jack’s brother Max appears in another picture, with his children, Lauren Beale and Oscar Branning, behind one shoulder, and girlfriend Cindy Beale behind the the other.
Newly elected councillor Ian Beale is also seen with an upset Chelsea Fox behind him. The two currently do not have any connection to each other, so it is uncertain why they have been paired together.
Former England boss Eddie Jones has been fined and suspended as head coach of Japan for abusing match officials during an under-23 tour of Australia last month.
The Japanese Rugby Football Union (JRFU) says that because of the “seriousness of the matter” and the contents of their contract with Jones, the 66-year-old has been stood down from his post for six weeks and banned from having any part in the Brave Blossoms’ next four matches.
Jones will miss his team’s opening Nations Championship match against Italy on 4 July, as well as two matches against a Hong Kong China Select side and a warm-up fixture with the Maori All Blacks.
The JRFU added that it had also imposed a salary reduction on Jones.
Jones, 66, said he accepted his punishment and “deeply regretted” his behaviour.
“Some inappropriate remarks that I made caused discomfort to local match officials and other related parties,” the Australian added.
“I would like to offer my sincere apologies to everyone involved.”
Japan’s under-23 team returned from the tour with three wins from four games, including a 38-21 victory over Jones’ old Sydney club side Randwick in their final match.
It is not the first time that Jones, who oversaw the Wallabies’ pool-stage exit from the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, has been involved in incidents on his return to his home country.
Head coach Eddie Howe says the desire of Newcastle United‘s owners to get to the top remains “unchanged” after meeting with them this week.
Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), and minority owner Jamie Reuben are among those who have flown in for a two-day annual summit at Matfen Hall in Northumberland.
Newcastle are 14th place in the Premier League, but Howe stressed the “determination to succeed” came through from those above him in the meetings he attended on Thursday.
“The desire is unchanged,” he said. “It’s to try and get to the top of the Premier League, to try and consistently win as many trophies as possible.
“I don’t think that will change while the PIF are our owners, part owners or majority owners. They are very ambitious for the football club.”
Following a major capital investment, an announcement is expected regarding plans for a new state-of-the-art training ground to underline the owners’ commitment.
There have also been discussions this week regarding the future of St James’ Park as Newcastle weigh up whether to expand the stadium or build a new ground in a bid to turbocharge income streams in the long run and bridge a huge revenue gap on the league’s highest-earning clubs.
“They clearly care so much about the football club [given] the long-term planning that’s going on, on a number of levels,” Howe said of the PIF, who bought an initial 80% stake in 2021 before going on to increase their share.
“[There are] very exciting times ahead for the club, regardless of what happens short-term. The long-term vision is clearly there.”
This gathering of executives, which had been in the diary for several months, was viewed as an opportunity to discuss such infrastructure projects, recruitment plans, the team’s slide down the table and how the club go about addressing it.
Howe was among those to give a presentation on Thursday, as was always planned.
Rather than reacting emotionally, the view internally remains that Newcastle need to respond rationally with the help of cold, thorough analysis.
Howe had “challenging conversations” with those at the top, but the head coach sounded upbeat at his news conference on Friday before the visit of Brighton.
“I was pleased by the level of support given to me, but of course still understanding how football works and knowing we need to get results,” he said. “That will never change.”
Eddie Murphy is celebrating not just his lifetime achievement award, but also the arrival of his third granddaughter, perhaps the funniest baby alive.
Murphy’s son Eric and Martin Lawrence’s daughter Jasmin have welcomed their first child together, baby Ari Skye.
On Saturday, Murphy was honored with the 51st AFI Life Achievement Award at a gala in Hollywood and told reporters that he had recently celebrated back-to-back milestones.
“I just had my first grandson two months ago, and I had my third granddaughter two weeks ago. And I turned 65 a month ago,” he told “Entertainment Tonight” ahead of the gala. “It’s raining blessings on me.”
The ceremony celebrated his storied career across comedy and film, and featured tributes from fellow funnyman Dave Chappelle and “Shrek” co-star Mike Myers. The special will premiere May 31 on Netflix.
The “Dr. Dolittle” star also gushed about his new grandbaby to E! News, and told the outlet that being honored for his work was “a wonderful thing” but that his legacy wasn’t his work.
“My legacy to me is my children,” he said.
Asked whether he or Lawrence offered their kids any parenting advice as they prepared to welcome Ari Skye, Murphy said he’s more of a lead-by-example kind of dad.
“You don’t give advice like that,” he told the outlet. “Your kids don’t go by your advice. Your kids go by the example you set. They watch you. Stuff you be saying, they don’t even pay that no mind. They watch and see what you do.”
In March, Jasmin and Eric posted photos from their lavish baby shower on social media. The shindig included a three-tiered pink cake, pink cocktails garnished with meringue that looked like clouds and balloons galore. “The most beautiful and special celebration for our baby girl,” the couple captioned the post. “Thank you to our parents and everyone that made this day so magical! Ari Skye Murphy, you are SO loved already!!”
Excitement around Ari Skye’s arrival had been brewing in the media long before the couple even announced they were expecting. Murphy joked about a potential grandbaby when Jasmin and Eric were dating back in 2024, during an interview with Gayle King.
“They’re both beautiful,” he said. “They look amazing together. And it’s funny — everybody’s like, ‘That baby gonna be funny!’ Like our gene pool is just going to make this funny baby.”
Murphy agreed, saying: “If they ever get married and have a child, I’m expecting the child to be funny.”
