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DECEASED Friends actor Matthew Perry has sold two original Banksy artworks for nearly £1million – including the iconic Girl with Balloon.

The star tragically died in October 2023 after accidentally drowning in a jacuzzi while high on ketamine, with 127 items from his estate having now been sold at auction.

A pair of iconic Banksy artworks, Girl with Balloon and Nola, that Perry owned have been sold for £975,000.

The Hollywood actor, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the hit TV sitcom Friends, died at the age of 54.

His estate has since been put up for auction with the money going to the Matthew Perry Foundation which helps substance users to recover.

The Girl with Balloon 2005 includes two spray-painted stencils on separate canvases of a child reaching for a red heart-shaped balloon.

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Following an intense bidding war, it sold for a massive £709,674.

After including the 25 per cent buyers premium, it sold for £887,093.

The other iconic artwork, Nola 2008, is a screen print in colours on wove paper of a young girl holding an umbrella while sheltering from the rain.

It was the first Banksy Perry ever bought, according to Heritage Auctions.

The monochrome picture fetched £70,967.

Including the 25 per cent buyers premium, it sold for £88,709.

Both artworks have Banksy’s signature on them.

Other items sold at the auction included signed Friends episode scripts, TV guide displays, and a custom Chandler bobble head.

It also sold Batman memorabilia like a custom ping pong table and The Dark Knight Rises watch.

Perry’s cause of death was determined to be the acute effects of ketamine with drowning as a contributing factor. 

A year after the celeb’s tragic passing, the street dealer who supplied the ketamine, Erik Fleming, was jailed for two years.

Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, was also jailed for more than three years after injecting the actor with the drug.

Both pleaded guilty to the charges during their court appearances.

Japanese filmmaker Chie Hayakawa isn’t afraid to look death in the eye. The writer-director’s 2022 feature debut, “Plan 75,” imagined an unsettling future in which the elderly are offered a subsidy by the government to be euthanized. For her follow-up, she travels into her own past, drawing from memories of her father’s battle with cancer.

But while “Renoir” features no sci-fi elements, the nearness of oblivion remains just as prominent. Shorn of sentimentality, this gentle drama follows a quietly observant fifth-grader who feels the grim shadow of mortality all around her. How the character will absorb that realization is anyone’s guess — including Hayakawa’s.

Newcomer Yui Suzuki stars as Fuki, who lives in a nondescript Tokyo suburb in 1987. Her soft-spoken dad, Keiji (Lily Franky), is suffering with terminal cancer in its final stages, the emaciated man spending as much time in the hospital as he does at home. Fuki’s mother, Utako (Hikari Ishida), doesn’t seem very despondent, though: One senses an emotional exhaustion that comes from preparing so long for the inevitable that she’s now mostly numb, her anticipatory grief having given way to frayed nerves.

Fuki’s pre-mourning process is equally complicated. Outwardly, she shows no signs of being devastated by her dad’s imminent passing, happily playing with him, almost in denial of his fate. But “Renoir” subtly suggests the impressionable girl is more aware than she lets on, surrounding her with random reminders of death. Local news breathlessly reports on random domestic murders. Even when Fuki gets away from the city, the camera lingers on her watching a campfire’s dying embers. The film derives its title from the girl’s interest in “Little Irène,” a painting by influential French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. She asks if Renoir is still alive. No, he’s dead too.

Hayakawa pulls from her childhood in multiple ways for her sophomore feature, which premiered in competition at Cannes last year. “Renoir” takes place in 1987 specifically because that’s the year she turned 11, and, like her protagonist, she was infatuated with “Little Irène.” But there’s a refreshing absence of nostalgia in Hayakawa’s conception of Fuki and her quizzical processing of her father’s fatal illness.

For school, Fuki writes an essay about her wish to be an orphan. She becomes obsessed with hypnotism and mind-reading, an unorthodox strategy to create a sense of control. And, occasionally, she wanders into daydreams that Hayakawa presents so matter-of-factly that viewers may sometimes be unsure if what they’re seeing is actually happening. In “Renoir,” Fuki’s flights of fancy are as naturalistic as her everyday life — a sharp reminder that, for children, imagination and reality are often indistinguishable.

If death has been integral to Hayakawa’s two features, it’s society’s callous reaction to aging that is her primary focus. “Plan 75” eschewed dystopian-thriller conventions to ponder how Japan might one day treat its senior citizens, viewing them as little more than a drain on resources. “Renoir” makes a similar point within a memory piece. Keiji is the one dying, but it’s telling that Hayakawa centers the story on Fuki and Utako, who each, in their own way, seem more concerned about their own personal dramas.

As Keiji’s situation grows more dire, Utako enters the orbit of Toru (Ayumu Nakajima), a workplace advisor with whom she’s instantly smitten, pondering pursuing him romantically. Ironically, Toru preaches the importance of good communication skills in the office, a lesson the film’s guarded family would be wise to heed. While Utako hides her feelings for Toru, Fuki begins a secret odyssey in which she impulsively joins a phone dating service, engaging in conversations with a creepy college student (Ryota Bando) who pushes her to meet in person. This potentially traumatic subplot is the closest “Renoir” gets to traditional suspense, but even here Hayakawa adopts a muted approach, sidestepping shock value for bittersweet commentary about young people’s confusion around love. Both Utako and Fuki chase after human connections fraught with danger, each trying to insulate themselves from the tragedy waiting at home.

“Renoir” may be a delicate wisp of a film, but it’s flecked with thoughtful questioning about whether childhood’s sorrows leave permanent scars on us as adults. Suzuki exudes the fragility and buoyancy of adolescence, playing Fuki as someone constantly imbibing the world, rarely revealing what she’s doing with that stimulus. The simplest moments resonate the strongest, such as when the moody 11-year-old holds a balloon over the balcony of her family’s high-rise apartment, casually releasing her grip so that it tumbles to the ground far below. Does it speak to a desire to jump herself? “Renoir” won’t say, but the character is so poised you feel confident she’ll survive her father’s death. Who knows: Maybe years from now, she’ll even make a touching, emotionally astute movie about it.

A BOND Girl has been spotted on rare outing 50 years after her sizzling scenes aired in one of the most iconic 007 movies.

Former Bond Girl Gloria Hendry, who played CIA agent Rosie Carver, was seen out and about looking amazing this week while running some errands.

50 years after starring opposite Roger Moore in the iconic flick Live and Let Die, Gloria, now 77, was spotted in Las Vegas.

The model and actress wore a casual brown and black top with some black leggings and slip on shoes for the low-key trip.

Looking youthful and content, Gloria wore her hair in a short light brunette bob, which was very different to the afro she sported in the movie.

Florida-born Gloria shot to fame in her 20s when she became 007‘s first African-American woman to become romantically involved with James Bond.

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In the 1973 movie, she was fresh-faced and vibrant, showcasing a voluminous afro that framed her face.

The model-turned-actress played the part of Rosie Carver, who famously gets shot and killed in Bond’s arms.  

Her steamy scenes with Roger Moore catapulted her into the spotlight in the Ian Fleming classic.

The movie theme of Live and Let Die was famously written by Paul McCartney. 

In his memoir, 007 star Roger described how the passion between himself and Gloria impacted his marriage.

“As Bond, I make love to Rosie Carver, played by the beautiful black actress Gloria Hendry, and my wife Luisa has learned from certain Louisiana ladies that if there is a scene like that they won’t go to see the picture,” he penned.

He added: “I personally don’t give a damn, and it makes me all the more determined to play the scene.”

Before her Bond Girl fame, she was a model and spent time at the Playboy Club.

She worked as a Playboy Bunny at the New York Playboy Club from 1965 until 1972.

Her model past led to her acting debut in Sidney Poitier’s For Love of Ivy, which then led to her bagging the James Bond role.

Following her Bond Girl fame, she has maintained a relatively low profile in Hollywood.

However, she did enjoy a moment in the spotlight as the writer and director of Glamour Girls, which was showcased at the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles in October 2011.

Away from the screen, Gloria was married to Phillip W. Wright from 1995 until his passing in 2022.

Love Island bosses had yet another twist up their sleeve with the latest bombshell and fans have been left stunned

Love Island viewers were treated to another huge twist in the latest bombshell action. Following hot on the heels of a double eviction – sort of – the villa was getting ready to welcome two new islanders.

And it turns out one already knows a fellow love hopeful very well. In fact, he is his brother! Aidan’s sibling, Kavan, has made a big impression – both with Ellie and online.

Electrician Kavan, 21, is the younger brother of 23-year-old property broker Aidan. One user on X, formerly known as Twitter, said: “Bringing in a brother Love Island are you mad?!” Another added: “Love Island are seriously running out of ideas LOOOOL tf you mean Aidan’s BROTHER? #LoveIsland.”

A third wasn’t keen on the idea, either, saying: “Eww imagine being on Love Island with a sibling. Could not be me. #loveisland.”

A fourth enjoyed the twist, though, writing: “Two brothers in one villa is brazy. Fairs, Love Island, fairs #loveisland.”

And a fourth agreed: “imagine going onto love island and fumbling the hottest girl in there and then ur brother comes in and dates her. sunday dinners gonna be awkward when they get back #loveislanduk

Ellie having a date with Kavan left her stunned and she gasped “f*** off” when he revealed Aidan is his brother.

It comes after Yasmin and Aidan caught up in the Snug to discuss Yasmin’s decision to dump Ellie. She told him: ““I’m sorry it’s put you in a sh*t situation.”

Comforting her, Aidan said: “I’m just shocked, that’s all. I didn’t expect it.” He pulled her in for a hug as the pair got closer.

The pair continued to share a closer bond the next day. On the terrace, Aidan told her: “My attention is of course with you. I think I made a bold statement yesterday and I stick by it… But I feel like you also made a bold decision which was nice.”

Yasmin questioned if her choice was bad and Aidan flirted by saying: “Nah, it was sexy…” As Yasmin joked she did it “all for you” the pair leant in for a kiss, with Ellie appearing to be the last thing on his mind.

But despite their early exit, Ellie and Samraj were in for a twist. Following a shock text informing them that their Love Island journey isn’t over, they were snuck off to somewhere much closer to home than the airport. The duo headed to The Hideaway.

Samraj joked to Ellie: “I didn’t think I’d be spending my first night in the Hideaway with you Ellie, as much as I love you!”

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LOVE Island’s Millie Court has stepped into her “hot girl summer” era with a series of sizzling new bikini snaps after her split from All Star boyfriend Zac Woodworth.

The Essex girl and the American hunk shocked fans when they called time on their romance last month, having been one of the villa’s big success stories earlier in the year.

Millie hasn’t resigned herself to the sofa eating ice cream since the split, instead she’s looking better than ever.

Just days after wowing on the catwalk in Miami, she showcased her toned body in white swimwear beside a pool.

Unsurprisingly, the comments were packed full of compliments, with pals like Sophie Piper and Chloe Burrows championing her.

Another follower said the pics gave them “goosebumps”, while another urged a man out there to “wife her up”.

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Just days ago, Millie and Zac came face-to-face for the first time since ending their relationship, supposedly due to the transatlantic distance keeping them apart.

They crossed paths during a group gathering with fellow Islanders, and fans believe their body language was telling.

Love Island‘s Yamen Sanders captured the moment the former couple reunited and shared a hug, joking that they were “back together” and his girlfriend Whitney Adebayo agreed with the tease.

However, Millie looked far from impressed by the joke, appearing awkward as she briefly hugged Zac before turning to her friends and asking them to “stop”.

Her reaction caught fans’ attention, with many claiming it suggested Millie was the one who dumped Zac.

One wrote: “Millie’s like no thanks”.

A second said: “Millie said hell nah ahahahahaha.”

A third shared: “Millie looks less than impressed”.

CLOVIS, Calif. — Jurupa Valley senior AB Hernandez stood on a hillside overlooking Veterans Memorial Stadium, a booklet of encouraging letters tucked under one arm and two gold medals hanging from her neck.

She rolled the medals between her fingers.

“I still feel like I’m gonna be here next year,” she said. “I guess I’ll process it overnight maybe, then tomorrow, I’m going to Disneyland.”

For most high school seniors, a state championship marks the end of a season.

For Hernandez, it marks the end of three years spent competing as a transgender athlete under a spotlight few teenagers could imagine.

On Saturday, she won state titles in the high jump and triple jump, capping her career as a four-time state champion. Days earlier, she had graduated from high school.

AB Hernandez leaps in the air during the CIF state track and field championship finals in Clovis on Saturday.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

Away from the spotlight, Hernandez likes swimming, spending time with friends and working on her makeup routine. During the past two years, politicians and activists stoked by President Trump have turned her into a symbol in the national fight over transgender athletes’ right to participate in girls’ sports.

“I feel like I’m always going to be in the public eye,” Hernandez said. “It’s never going to go away and that’s weird. But maybe someday it’ll be for something else.”

At the state championships, that fight was visible everywhere except where Hernandez seemed most comfortable: among the athletes competing in the stadium.

At the end of Friday’s preliminary competition, Hernandez and five other high jump contenders sprawled on their stomachs beneath the high jump tent, cheering on West Ranch junior Avery Prestridge and La Jolla junior Anastasia Volkov in a jump-off for the final qualifying spot.

AB Hernandez, second from right, laughs while standing on the first place podium alongside Monta Vista’s Leilani Laruelle after the CIF state track and field high-jump finals on Saturday.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

When Prestridge secured the berth, she and Hernandez exchanged a high-five and a smile.

“That’s what will stick with me,” Hernandez said. “Laying on the field, cheering for other girls, everyone being sweet.”

It was a stark contrast to the image detractors tried to paint earlier in the day.

While Hernandez warmed up on the track, anti-trans activists and politicians gathered across the street in an area marked by a CIF sign reading “free speech area.”

There, organizers who have protested women’s athletic events involving transgender participants across California delivered speeches demanding that the CIF prohibit Hernandez and other transgender athletes from competing. They were unmoved by CIF’s policy requiring that any transgender athlete who advances in track and field playoffs or places in competition be joined by the next cisgender girl in the rankings, with both advancing or receiving the same medal.

“The message being sent to female athletes is clear — your opportunities, your records, your placement and your hard work comes second to males,” former NCAA soccer player Sophia Lorey said during the rally.

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton spoke alongside the protesters.

“The first thing we have to do is overturn the law that set all this in motion, AB 1266, that was passed in 2013, that’s why we’ve been living with this for so long,” Hilton said to Fox News. “That law violates the California state Constitution. … I will immediately suspend the law while we begin legal proceedings to overturn it.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton held a news conference outside the state track and field championships in Clovis denouncing CIF for allowing transgender athletes to compete alongside girls.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

Earlier in the day, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer posted a video on X with Hernandez.

“I’m so proud of you for what you’re doing,” Steyer told Hernandez. “So proud of you for succeeding. So proud of you for competing. That’s really the point. … And I’m going to hope like heck that you don’t just make state but you do really well there. Deal?”

Last year, Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, that, “As a Male, he was a less than average competitor. As a Female, this transitioned person is practically unbeatable.”

He also threatened to withhold federal funding from California if the CIF allowed Hernandez to compete. That came after he enacted an executive order in February 2025 barring transgender women and girls from participating in sports according to their gender identity.

Transgender participation in sports has become a central Republican talking point in recent years and it is impossible to separate Hernandez’s story from that political context.

Focus on the Family, Family Research Council and California Family Council have invested years and millions of dollars into messaging, advocacy and legal efforts surrounding the issue. According to ProPublica and public filings, those organizations collectively reported hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue in 2024.

Transgender athlete AB Hernandez, center, poses with other athletes at the CIF state track and field championships in Clovis on Saturday.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

As a result, a California athlete who confirmed her transgender status became the focus of a national political fight.

“The voice of the kid who’s been targeted gets lost,” said activist Daisy Gardner, who spoke at a news conference supporting Hernandez before Saturday’s meet. “We’re up against a million[-dollar] machine on the other side who has launched the ‘Protect Girls’ Sports’ campaign, and we need to have a little ray of sunshine pushing through the darkness.”

The Trump administration’s Executive Order 14201, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” was issued on Feb. 5, 2025, and was followed the next day by an NCAA ban on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports.

AB is not sure whether she will find a way to continue competing in college.

“I don’t think any child should have to go through this,” AB’s mother Nereyda Hernandez said. “These are adults willingly doing this to a minor child. This is a kid, a breathing human, a child. It’s not what people are making this out to be.”

For the first time during Friday’s preliminary competition, the clouds broke and the Clovis sun beat down on the field.

AB, who had posted the top regional mark, needed only one jump to qualify for the next day’s finals. She went last in the second flight.

As she prepared for her attempt, the public address announcer’s voice echoed through the stadium.

“In girls’ long jump, here comes AB Hernandez.”

A ripple of applause spread through the crowd from those who recognized the name. Nereyda and family friend Trevor Norcross were among the loudest.

Transgender athlete AB Hernandez won the high jump title during the state track and field championships in Clovis.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

Two hours later, after completing her triple jump qualifying leaps, Hernandez headed to the high jump, where she again found herself among the final competitors remaining.

During the long wait between events, Nereyda was interviewed by ABC30. At the same moment, AB was preparing for a high jump attempt.

Gardner, the activist, hurried over, tapped Nereyda on the shoulder and pointed toward the pit.

Nereyda quickly turned her phone sideways and hit record.

“Let’s go AB!”

The night before qualifying, AB, Nereyda and friends sat in a hotel room making bracelets. At first, they strung rainbow-colored beads. AB shook her head. Her colors were pink and gold.

“I know what looks good on me,” she said. “I want something that represents me. People see a flag, and that’s not me in my entirety. I want something that is me personally, me entirely.”

While Nereyda felt the familiar butterflies about what the next day might bring, AB focused on what mattered to her. She decided how she wanted to wear her hair and prepared the custom-made letterman jacket she got last year with money donated by supporters.

Transgender athlete AB Hernandez wears a letterman jacket funded by her supporters and waves during the CIF state track and field championships in Clovis.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

AB Hernandez’s mom, Nereyda, shows a friendship bracelet she made alongside supporters of her daughter that reads “I stand with AB.”

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

“She said, ‘I want my letterman jacket,’ and I was like, OK,” Nereyda said. “And she said, ‘I want that to be a reminder every time I wear it, I want it to be a reminder of the people who supported me,’ and that’s what she did.

“It was a daily reminder that she wasn’t alone.”

Those are the memories Nereyda says will stay with her more than the vitriol she and her daughter have faced during the past two years. AB is a reluctant transgender athlete pioneer who prefers to be known for so much more than just her gender identity, but the prospect of hiding because she was relentlessly attacked didn’t feel right, either.

“I’m always going to think about how hard she tried to be here,” she said. “She didn’t quit. Despite all the pressure, you can’t change my kid.”

The night before AB’s final competition, Nereyda felt sick. She suspected it was stress over what the next day might bring.

But Saturday passed with minimal disruption.

AB’s long jump did not meet her usual standard. She finished third with a mark of 20 feet, 2 1/4 inches, a result she described as “bittersweet.”

“It was a little nerve-wracking,” Nereyda said. “I could see it was a different vibe when she got into the high jump and triple jump.”

In those events, Hernandez delivered the top performances of the day to repeat as a state champion.

She leaped 42-8 3/4 in the triple jump, comfortably ahead of Los Altos senior Daniela Hughes, who finished at 41-1 before sharing the podium. Standing together atop the first-place position, the two posed for photos with Hughes’ arm draped around Hernandez.

“I’m just happy with my performance,” Hughes said when asked about sharing a podium. “I wanted to win a championship.”

Transgender athlete AB Hernandez clinches her fists and reacts after completing a high jump during the CIF state track and field meet in Clovis.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

About 30 minutes after the high jump medal ceremony, AB walked toward her mother.

Nereyda spotted her and threw her hands into the air.

“My baby!”

The two embraced, away from the crowd, the cameras and the ire.

“She did it,” Nereyda said. “With everything else, it didn’t matter, she did it.”

Three Clausen brothers who were quarterbacks — Casey, Rick and Jimmy — have created a fall flag football league for boys and girls in an effort to help youth players learn the game. There also will be six Clausen children playing in the league.

Flag football continues to grow, with the Clausen brothers behind a fall league.

(Los Angeles Times)

Casey is a former head coach at Bishop Alemany. Rick is head coach at Westlake. And Jimmy is a former NFL quarterback.

Casey said the Rising Stars is a 7×7 league that will take place in the fall with focus on rising participation of girls playing. The breakdown of divisions for boys and girls ranges from third grade to eighth grade and will be played on Sundays beginning Aug. 16 at Agoura, Oak Park and Westlake.

Get ready for lots of Clausen cousins, brothers and sisters playing football in the coming years. The oldest is a sixth grader.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

CLOVIS, Calif. — There were many impressive performances at the CIF state track and field championships on Saturday, but the most breathtaking of all was one the fans packed inside Buchanan High’s Veterans Memorial Stadium did not see — Jaslene Massey’s throw of 196 feet and four inches in the discus — a mark that not only broke the state record but was the farthest throw ever by a girl in a U.S. high school meet.

The discus competition finished before any of the track events started and was held on an auxiliary field, but the Aliso Niguel senior got a standing ovation on the victory stand half an hour after her third throw thrust her into the record books.

“My goal was to for the gold first, then the mark,” said Massey, who will continue throwing at Oregon and may even compete in hammer and javelin. “I always dreamed of this and I wouldn’t be here without my support system.”

Aliso Niguel senior Jaslene Massey competes in discus at the CIF state track and field championships on Saturday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Massey waited several agonizing minutes while the distance was measured, but when the mark flashed on the scoreboard, she leaped in the air and screamed “Let’s go! Three more!”

After all, she still had three throws left.

“I wanted something big and I got something big,” said Massey, who defended her state title and topped the meet record of 186-9 set by Anna Jelmini of Shafter in 2009. “I had good warmups yesterday and today, and I knew I had it in me.”

To prove her historic hurl was no fluke, she came back with a 192-6 effort on her sixth and last throw. Shelbi Vaughan from Mansfield Legacy High in Texas set the American Junior record of 198-9¼ at the USA junior outdoor championships in 2012.

Massey later defended her shot put title with a throw of 52-9. She is the national leader in both events.

Also making history was Sherman Oaks Notre Dame senior JJ Harel, who repeated as boys high jump champion at 7-2. Harel cleared 6-9 on his third attempt to stay alive but still trailed Jay Woodson of American Canyon on misses until the bar was raised to 6-11. Harel cleared it on his first try while Woodson failed on his three attempts to ensure a second straight state title for Harel, who won with a height of 6-9 last year.

“I backed up on my first two attempts at 6-9 and that messed me up,” Harel said. “My heart was sinking and it went through my mind that I might finish second so when I cleared it that gave me adrenaline and muscle memory kicked in. At 6-11 I had such a great clearance, I knew I could get over at 7 and even at 7-2 I didn’t touch it.”

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame’s JJ Harel competes in the high jump at the CIF state track and field championships on Saturday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Harel cleared 7-2 on his first attempt — a personal best — tying for fourth on the national list this year. The bar was raised to 7-3½, giving Harel a chance to break the state record of 7-3¼ set by Lee Balkin of Glendale in 1979, but he was unsuccessful on three tries.

“I was 17 jumps deep and that took too much out of my legs,” Harel said of his unsuccessful efforts at the last height. “This season was an emotional roller coaster but I know I can get 7-3.”

Rosary won the girls 4×100-meter relay by a full second in 44.87 seconds.

Calabasas junior Malia Rainey won the girls 100 meters in 11.54. Maliyah Collins, who anchored Rosary’s relay, was third in 11.62, followed by Rainey’s teammates Marley Scoggins (11.63) and Olivia Kirk (11.63).

“I love my teammates, but today I had to focus on me — it was all about getting the win,” Rainey said. “Seeing my name up at the top made me so happy.”

Servite won the boys 4×100 in 39.73, shattering Hawthorne’s 38-year-old meet record of 40.24. Jorden Wells ran the first leg and was followed by Benjamin Harris, Kamil Pelovello and Robert Gardner. The Friars have run the seven fastest times in state history.

Servite’s record-setting 4×100-meter relay team (from left): Jorden Wells, Kamil Pelovello, Benjamin Harris and Robert Gardner.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Harris won the boys 100 meters in a wind-aided 10.14 (the wind-legal state record remains 10.20 by Rodrick Pleasant of Gardena Serra in 2023) in a showdown against top qualifier Cy Lugo of Elk Grove, who won the 200 in a wind-aided 20.31 to edge Servite twins Jace (20.69) and Jorden Wells (20.79). Harris was fifth in 20.84.

“That’s the most locked in I’ve ever been in my whole career,” Harris said of his 100 triumph. “My mentality was kill or be killed.”

Arkansas-bound Braelyn Combe of Corona Santiago pulled off a distance trifecta, winning the 1,600 in 4:35.59, the 800 in 2:05.13 and anchoring the Sharks’ 4×800 relay, which won with a meet record time of 8:46.16. Afterward, Combe hugged her teammates. She pulled away from Stanford commit Chiara Dailey of La Jolla to repeat as the four-lap champion in the fourth-fastest time in the nation this year.

Long Beach Wilson junior Clara Adams doubled in the 400 (circling the track in 52.28, seven-tenths of a second ahead of teammate Saniah Varnado) and the 200 (clocking 23.40 to beat Amirat Temi Aganju of Pittsburg by 12-hundredths of a second.

Loyola’s Ejam Yohannes, left, celebrates after winning the boys 400 meters at the CIF state championships. Riverside King’s Maximo Zavaleta, right, wins the boys’ 1,600 meters.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Varnado won the 300 hurdles in 39.95 and Wilson won the girls 4×400 relay in 3:36.17.

Wilson won its seventh girls team title and fourth in a row, tying the record set by Moore League rival Long Beach Poly from 2008-11.

Dailey won the 3,200 in 10:01.91. Irvine’s Summer Wilson was sixth in 10:16.89.

Transgender athlete AB Hernandez of Jurupa Valley won the girls triple jump in 42-8¾, won the high jump at 5-10 and was third in the triple jump, won by Ellie McCuskey of St. Ignatius with a leap of 20-3½.

Loyola’s Ejam Yohannes (45.73) clipped Servite’s Jaelen Hunter (46.05) at the wire in the boys 400 meters.

Riverside King senior Maximo Zavaleta won the 1,600 in 4:02.78 and the 3,200 in 8:52.47.

Servite closed the meet by winning the 4×400 relay in a state meet record 3:07.62 — the fastest time in the country this year — to repeat as the boys team champion with a state-record 60 points.

Few players are driven to club soccer practice by a national team player. But then few players have two sisters who play for the U.S. women’s team.

Also Zoe Thompson is just 14, so you can’t expect her to drive herself.

But here’s the thing that truly sets Zoe Thompson apart. Although eldest sister Alyssa, 21, has already played in a World Cup and middle sister Gisele made 38 NWSL appearances and played four times for the national team before her 20th birthday, Zoe may actually be the best of the three.

“She’s better technically,” said her father Mario Thompson, who coached all three.

“I think she’s the combination between Alyssa and Gisele,” said Carlos Marroquin, owner of the pre-professional women’s team that gave Alyssa and Gisele their start.

So maybe there should be a line of coaches, teammates and family members waiting to drive her to practice or to her debut with Marroquin’s team, the Santa Clarita Blue Heat, on Saturday evening at The Master’s University.

The Santa Clarita Blue Heat coach Leonardo Neveleff, center, talks to his team before a practice at Valencia High. Zoe Thompson makes her debut with the team Saturday.

The team, which competes in USL W league, has long been a summer proving ground for elite college players and aspiring pros with alumni that includes Venezuela’s Deyna Castellanos, once a finalist for FIFA’s world player of the year award; World Cup veterans Savannah DeMelo and Ashley Sanchez; former Chelsea and Atlético Madrid star Ana Borges of Portugal; and Natalia Kuikka, a five-time Finnish player of the year.

This year’s roster includes more than two dozen Division I college players, meaning Zoe Thompson will be playing with and against women much older than her.

Did we mention she’s still in middle school?

“She’s always having to get out of her comfort zone, no matter what,” said Mario Thompson, whose job as Zoe’s father is to both nurture and protect his daughter’s talent.

Zoe has followed a different path than her sisters. Alyssa and Gisele were born less than 13 months apart and grew up playing together, practicing together and pushing each other. Zoe, born seven years later, grew up watching them, imitating them and wanting to be them.

But she had to do the work alone.

“It’s a unique dynamic where Alyssa and Gisele had each other,” their father said. “It wasn’t just Alyssa by herself. She always had a partner.”

Zoe, however, observed a lot by watching.

“I feel like their mistakes helped me,” she said. “But at the same time, there are some mistakes that I’ve made that they haven’t. I’m learning differently, but I’m more learning from them.”

Zoe Thompson hugs her father Mario Thompson after practice at Valencia High.

Still, this is uncharted territory. No family has ever had a trio of siblings play for the women’s national team, and the pressure of having to match the success her sisters have had will be inescapable, if unfair, for Zoe.

It’s a level of pressure that has the potential to be crushing.

“She kind of has this expectation that’s put upon her already that ‘oh, she’s going to be like her sister,’” Gisele said. “But it’s her own life.”

And Mario Thompson, an elementary school principal who has been intimately involved in all his daughters’ careers, is having to negotiate all this on the fly.

“Everyone sees the glam and the glitz of Alyssa and Giselle, but people don’t really understand it’s a lot of pressure,” he said of the sisters, who will both be heading to Brazil with the national team next week. “They see all the great stuff, but it’s also their job.”

Mario Thompson faced some of the same issues with Alyssa, the second-youngest U.S. woman to play in a World Cup, so he limited her media interviews and tried to let her be a teenager — albeit it an exceptionally talented one. Zoe faces the additional burden of having do all that while following in her sisters’ footsteps.

“I’m very mindful and aware of that,” he said. “She’s already in the spotlight without having to be in the spotlight. It’s that pressure. I want her to love the sport, love this journey. That’s kind of how I raised all three of them.”

Zoe Thompson during a practice session in preparation for her debut with the Santa Clarita Blue Heat soccer team.

For her part Zoe, mature well beyond her tender age, dismisses the hype with a shrug.

“There are going to be comparisons,” she said. “But we’re such different people that I think it’s unfair. At the same time, they can have those comparisons, they can have those opinions, but I’m not them. So it’s not going to be any different, how I play.”

Plus, having two accomplished sisters has its advantages. In the spring Zoe trained with the youth teams at Chelsea, where Alyssa now plays, and this summer she says she’ll train with Angel City, Gisele’s team. But the drawback of being a (much) younger sister is Alyssa and Gisele had each other to lean on growing up. Zoe has had to go it alone and that, she said, has made her stronger.

“Mentally, it is harder. But seeing my sisters and where they are, it’s kind of a motivation for me,” said Zoe, who has already been called in three times by the U-14 national team. “They were kind of at the same place I am. And it’s just very motivating to see them where they are. That’s just kind of where I want to be.”

If there’s been one constant in the girls’ soccer careers it’s been their dad, who has been intimately involved in with all three, drilling them in the backyard of their Studio City home or walking them down the street to a park, where they shared the lumpy grass with softball players and unleashed dogs.

They were often, but not always, willing participants since the family didn’t have a TV when the girls were growing up.

Zoe Thompson controls the ball during a training session in preparation for her debut with the Santa Clarita Blue Heat soccer team.

And while the hours and hours of practice certainly honed the sisters’ skills, their parents can’t explain where the girls got their immense physical gifts. Mario played football and basketball and ran track at Occidental College with modest success while his wife, Karen, an occupational therapist, played basketball and ran cross-country in high school, hardly the pedigree that could be expected to produce three world-class soccer players.

Perhaps part of the answer lies in their unique DNA, a mix of Mario’s Black and Filipino background and Karen’s Italian and Peruvian roots.

“It was never the plan, ‘Hey, let’s have some soccer players’,” Mario said.

But once the sisters decided that was their plan, the parents had to adjust. The girls had rare talent, Mario Thompson quickly realized, and it had to be developed. So Alyssa and Gisele began playing with an elite boys’ team while they were still in high school and passed up scholarships to Stanford to sign lucrative contracts with Angel City while their were teenagers.

Zoe has chosen another way, playing with Tudela FC, an all-girls team that practices near her home, and with the Blue Heat, where she’ll be facing stronger, more mature players for the first time. Mario Thompson hopes those aren’t the only differences, although he said the road his youngest daughter takes will ultimately be up to her.

“My hope is she goes through college and just goes a different pathway, different journey,” Mario Thompson said. “It’s a roller-coaster ride and so for [Zoe], I think she sees that roller-coaster ride and I don’t know if it’s a rush to let me get to that. She wants to eventually be a pro, but I don’t think it’s ‘I need to get there as soon as possible.’”

“It’s Zoe, what do you want?” he added. “It’s not like you have to be here, you have to do this. It’s none of that. It’s about, ‘Hey, Zoe, this is your journey.’ We want you to enjoy it, have fun with it, be happy with it.”

She appears to be accomplishing all three of those goals. She’s also both confident and comfortable in her abilities and believes she’s already ahead of both her sisters despite the weight of expectation.

Zoe Thompson with head coach Leonardo Neveleff at the conclusion of a training session in preparation for her debut with the Santa Clarita Blue Heat soccer team. Thompson, 14, is the younger sister of U.S. women’s soccer players Gisele and Alyssa Thompson.

But she’s also well aware of the pitfalls ahead, having seen Alyssa and Gisele occasionally stumble into them.

“Yeah, it is a lot of pressure but I feel like we just had different paths,” she said. “They didn’t really know they were going to do soccer. They didn’t know that was their sport. But I feel like that path was set for me.

“It was just like I grew faster. I kind of took the understanding of what they were doing, and then I did it a little faster.”

There are other differences as well. Gisele is a defender and Alyssa a forward, but Zoe plays in the midfield. And while it was sometimes difficult to get anything more than a giggle from Alyssa in an interview even after she turned pro, Zoe already gives complete, thoughtful answers to most questions.

Zoe’s game is also different; while Alyssa and Gisele are both exceptionally fast, Zoe relies more on her skill.

“Zoe’s more technical than her sisters at this stage,” her father said. “She’s better on the ball, she has a better understanding of the game. A lot of their game was because of speed. Hers is more thinking, hers is more of the ball on her feet.

“Technically, she’s better and understands the game at this age.”

Gisele, the sister who chauffeurs Zoe to practice in Santa Clarita, agrees. But, she adds, Zoe’s greatest strength may actually be her desire.

“She just has so many great qualities that me and Alyssa don’t have,” she said. “At her age, she wants it way more than we did. She loves soccer with a passion. Me and Alyssa didn’t love it as much as she does.”

And if that passion translates to performance, Zoe will someday join her sisters on the national team. By then she may even be in the driver’s seat.

Santa Clarita Blue Heat team owner Carlos Marroquin talks to Zoe Thompson after a training session at Valencia High.

Some are calling the controversy over Olivia Rodrigo’s recent outfit choices babydoll-dress-gate, Olivia Rodrigo calls it “weird.”

The dress debacle kicked up in early May when Rodrigo released the music video for “Drop Dead,” in which she runs through the Palace of Versailles wearing a pink-and-blue ruffled babydoll set while singing about the intensity of a crush. Then on May 8, she wore a cottage-core pink-and-white floral babydoll dress with knee-high Dr. Martens during a live performance in Barcelona.

Rodrigo was drawing from subversive feminist and punk fashion of yore, but internet critics were quick to slam the “deja vu” singer, saying the ensemble was sexualizing child-like imagery. In an hour-and-a-half interview with the New York Times Popcast that dropped on Thursday, Rodrigo staunchly defended the dress and called the criticism disturbing.

“I have worn outfits that are maybe revealing on stage, like I’ve been on stage in a sparkly bra and little shorts — which is my right — that’s fun,” she said. “I felt cool and comfortable in that, and that wasn’t inappropriate, but me fully covered up in a dress that people deemed to be, like, childlike was inappropriate, and I think it shows how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture.”

Rodrigo further decried the criticism as rhetoric that girls are fed from a young age, “which is ‘don’t wear that, because then a man is going to sexualize your body, and it’s your fault’ — it’s so weird.”

Rodrigo said she didn’t think she looked “sexy” in the babydoll dress; she was going for a cool look à la Kathleen Hannah or like Courtney Love, musicians whom the pop star said are her heroes. Love appeared to defend Rodrigo on social media by resharing posts defending the singer-songwriter in since-expired Instagram stories.

“I just think if we start dressing in a way that’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t want some f— freak to think that I am sexy like a baby’ or some crazy thing like that, I think it’s losing the plot a little bit,” she said. “I’m very protective of younger women and girls, and I don’t ever want them to be fed that rhetoric. You shouldn’t be responsible for some guy sexualizing you in a way that was never your intention.”

Rodrigo’s third studio album, “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,” which features hit singles “Drop Dead” and “The Cure,” will be released June 12.

Warning: This story contains details some may find distressing

A girl whose teenage rapists were spared custody has told the BBC she wants “freedom” from fear. She and her parents spoke anonymously to BBC Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire.

“I just want to be able to go for a walk without being scared that I’m going to see them,” the girl said of her attackers, whose sentences are to be reviewed.

Her father said the boys who raped her should have custodial sentences, as the attack will have a “lifelong impact” on his daughter.

Two boys, then aged 14, were convicted of rape, while a third, then 13, was found guilty of rape by aiding and abetting the attack. Their sentences are being referred to the Court of Appeal, after an outcry when they were given youth rehabilitation orders.

Read more on this story.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found at the BBC Action Line.

Wander Franco is guilty of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl in 2023, a judge in the Dominican Republic made clear Monday.

Yet in his next breath, the same judge ruled that the former Tampa Bay Rays star shortstop will not be sentenced to prison because he was a victim of blackmail and extortion by the girl’s mother.

Celebrity justice in the D.R. can be perplexing, and Judge José Antonio Núñez admitted as much. But he also contended that the judicial pardon he granted Franco was the result of “logical and legal reasoning.”

“It seems contradictory to declare criminal responsibility and, at the same time, exempt him from punishment,” Núñez said. “The court has granted Wander Franco a judicial pardon due to the particular circumstances that made him a material victim, but not a legal one.”

The court found that the girl’s mother extorted thousands of dollars from Franco. The woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of commercial sexual exploitation of a minor and money laundering.

The odds are long that Franco will return to Major League Baseball any time soon. The fact that the court found him guilty of repeatedly having sex with a minor puts him squarely in violation of MLB’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.

The league is in the midst of an investigation into Franco’s conduct.

“We respect the legal process and the decision issued by the court,” the Rays said in a statement. “This is a serious matter, and our thoughts remain with those affected by the case.

“The Rays will continue to cooperate fully with Major League Baseball as it completes its review under the league’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy. Out of respect for the legal process and all parties involved, we will have no further comment at this time.”

Franco’s situation serves as a cautionary tale for MLB teams that hand out long-term contracts years before players become free agents. The Rays signed a 20-year-old Franco to an 11-year, $182 million deal in November 2021 after he batted .288 with 30 extra-base hits in 70 games as a rookie.

Franco appeared on his way to stardom during a stellar 2023 season, but according to court filings he carried on a relationship with the 14-year-old victim for several months.

An investigation was launched in August 2023. Franco was arrested Jan. 1, 2024, after failing to appear before Dominican authorities who sought to interview him.

Tampa Bay placed him on the restricted list early in the 2024 season, voiding his contract.

Franco was found guilty in a June 2025 trial. Although prosecutors sought a five-year prison sentence, he was given only a two-year suspended sentence by Justice Jakayra Veras.

“Look at us, Wander,” Veras said in open court. “Do not approach minors for sexual purposes. If you don’t like people very close to your age, you have to wait your time.”

An appeals court in December ordered a new trial, which took place Monday and resulted in his pardon.

“Thank God for everything,” Franco said as he embraced his mother, Nancy Aybar, after Judge Nuñez announced the pardon.

As he departed the courthouse, Franco was asked by a reporter how he felt.

“I feel calm,” he said.

I’m haunted by the perfection of Roxy board shorts from the early aughts. As a teen surfer girl in El Porto, they were my holy grail. In those years, all the cool surf brands made cute surf clothing, but the emphasis was decidedly more on the aesthetic than the function, which was a bummer when it came to, you know, surfing. Roxy board shorts changed that, especially the particular style I’m thinking of: slightly longer to actually prevent thigh chafe from the board, they sat perfectly on my hips and stayed on with their Velcro and lace-up fly. Unlike when I tried to borrow from the boys section, the board shorts weren’t comically long or baggy or cut straight across the waist. These were made for girls who actually surfed. I bought them in every (very cute) color I could find and surfed them until I couldn’t any longer.

Sonia Kasparian, the original designer of Roxy’s board shorts back in the mid-’90s, smiles in our recent conversation when I recount my astonishment at their discovery. She’s grinning because of course they fit — that was the ethos behind her design. “I wanted [the board shorts] to be totally functional, exactly to the same standards that the men’s were, but designed for women. There was a completely different fit for women than men.” And true to Roxy’s style bona fides, the board shorts looked good enough to pair with a T-shirt. “Everything was designed with the idea of being something that women would not only want to wear in the water, but just wear out walking around in everyday life,” Kasparian explains. “But if you were to go out in the water, those shorts would stay put. They would be comfortable — and they would be completely authentically built.” The brand was testing prototypes in the surf, eventually with pros like longtime Roxy team rider Lisa Andersen, but initially with Kasparian and her fellow Roxy and Quiksilver colleagues Lissa Zwahlen, Melissa Martinez and Amy Grace Patrick, among others. They’d paddle out in the board shorts in the morning to try out their designs before heading into the office, their noses dripping saltwater later in the day as they bent over fabric bins and sales reports.

Some of the first pairs of Roxy board shorts from designer Sonia Kasparian’s personal archive.

(Sonia Kasparian)

The functional ethos was always part of Quiksilver too. For the uninitiated, Roxy is the women’s brand of Quiksilver, the legendary Australian company that began in 1969 and made board shorts that performed as well as they looked. Their innovative, stylish design quickly became a nonnegotiable for the best and coolest surfers, and when Angeleno Bob McKnight discovered the board shorts on a surf trip in the early ’70s, he knew they’d become ubiquitous among surfers in California too. But when McKnight brought the brand to the U.S., he was met with skepticism. As McKnight tells it during our conversation at Quiksilver HQ, when he first approached Walter Hoffman, the renowned California maker of Hawaiian print fabric and eventual supplier and mentor, Hoffman exclaimed that board shorts were “the worst idea I’ve ever heard in my life.” The apparel business, according to him, was an impossible one to succeed in. McKnight protested to Hoffman, though: “We’re not in the apparel business. We’re making equipment for surfers.” The distinction paid off with pros and wannabes alike, and by the time Quiksilver launched Roxy with Kasparian in 1990, they were a cultural juggernaut. PacSun, anyone?

When I ask Kasparian about being a part of my personal archives, about being part of the historical surfwear archives, she’s “just so happy.” Despite Roxy’s eventual runaway success — it’s responsible for about 30% of Quiksilver’s sales — it was hard work to convince others in the industry that there was absolutely a need and a desire for fashionable, functional surfwear for girls. “I mean, you would go into the surf shops and you’d see all this men’s product, and you’d see a poster of the Reef girl with her butt in your face, wearing a thong,” Kasparian recounts. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Kasparian and her team made history, not just for teenage me but for countless other girls who wanted to look and feel confident in and out of the surf. “[Roxy board shorts] changed the dynamic of where women fit in the surf industry. They weren’t just the girls that sat on the sideline with the thong and watched their boys out in the water. They were the ones out in the water. And that was huge.”

I haven’t had any luck in finding the grown-up surfer girl version of Roxy board shorts. I still comb thrift racks and bulk bins for something close enough, even trying on the odd pair of early aughts Quiksilver men’s board shorts, as if, just by wanting it enough, I can somehow manifest the completely different fit that Kasparian was so intentional about designing. But board shorts for women these days just don’t hit the same way, especially the longer ones. They read midlife modesty, not stoke; they’re lacking in the joyous, playful audacity that Kasparian and her team infused into their groundbreaking designs. Maybe the board shorts I’m seeing aren’t the vibe because, well, they’re made for women, not girls, and despite my best efforts to never grow up (see: still surfing), I am in fact an adult woman and no longer a girl. And maybe, most of all, when I say I long for those Roxy board shorts from long ago, what I really mean is that I’m nostalgic for a younger version of myself: a surfer girl who was just discovering clothes that made her feel more like herself, with all the evolutions of that person still ahead of her.

SOUTHERN SECTION LACROSSE PLAYOFFS

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

SEMIFINALS

BOYS

DIVISION 1

Loyola 19, Mater Dei 5

Santa Margarita 14, St, Margaret’s 8

DIVISION 2

Mira Costa 10, Los Alamitos 4

St. Francis 17, Village Christian 4

DIVISION 3

Oaks Christian 11, El Dorado 6

Dana Hills 16, Riverside King 15

GIRLS

DIVISION 1

Santa Margarita 11, Marlborough 10

Mira Costa 17, Mater Dei 11

DIVISION 2

Huntington Beach 8, Corona del Mar 7

El Segundo 14, Eastvale Roosevelt 3

DIVISION 3

Westridge at Glendale, Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Great Oak at Northwood, Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Note: Boys finals in all divisions Friday, May 15 at Fred Kelly Stadium (times TBA); Girls finals in all divisions Saturday, May 16 (times TBA) at Fred Kelly Stadium.

JEFF Brazier has shared a sweet tribute to his granddaughter and heaped praise on youngest son Freddy after he became a first time dad. 

Freddy, 21, and girlfriend Holly Swinburn welcomed their daughter in March and, despite the on/off nature of their relationship, it seems proud pops Jeff, 46, isn’t losing out on quality time with the tot. 

The presenter took to Instagram to post a photo of little Isla Jade, whose name is a sweet nod to Freddy’s mum the late Jade Goody, taking a nap on his chest. 

Jeff wrote: “I don’t know that I could love her more.

“A weekend to celebrate our special girl and her Mum and Dad who are doing a great job. She’s perfect.”

Hunky Jeff was keen to prove he’s still got it after becoming a grandad in his forties, stripping off to his pants and poking fun at the new title recently. 

family goals

Why Jeff Brazier is determined to be the best grandad ever at 46

STILL GOT IT

Jeff Brazier strips off to his pants after becoming a grandad at 46 years old

He joked: “Get dressed with Grandad??!!”

And his words of praise for Freddy and Holly come after The Sun revealed Freddy and Holly are in a “solid place” after the new dad “stepped up”. 

An insider said: “Freddy and Holly are in a really solid place right now, they’ve taken the time to work through things properly rather than rush it.

“They’ve had their ups and downs, but that’s actually brought them closer, they understand each other a lot better now.

“There’s a real sense they’re stronger as a couple this time around, more grounded and more focused on what matters.”

They continued: “They’ve both made an effort to communicate better and not let small issues spiral into bigger problems.

“Freddy has really stepped up recently, and Holly has seen that change in him which has helped rebuild trust.”

Our source added: “Those around them feel like they’re more united now, especially with everything going on in their lives.

“It’s less about proving anything to anyone and more about quietly making it work this time.”

Beanie Feldstein and Bonnie-Chance Roberts are expecting a baby, the “Booksmart” actor and her wife announced Monday on social media.

“Limited Edition Scouse Beanie Baby coming soon!!” the couple said in a joint Instagram post, captioning a carousel of pictures showing Feldstein with and without her wife, both dressed in shades of pink and white, plus a white-frosted cake ringed with the pink inscription “B+B are having a baby.”

Anyone want to place a bet on whether it’s a girl?

The “Beanie” in the baby caption is self-explanatory, while “Scouse” is a reference to the accent in Roberts’ Liverpool home town.

Feldstein and film producer Roberts, who met in 2018 during preproduction on the 2019 movie “How to Build a Girl,” made their red-carpet debut at the movie’s premiere and then got married in June 2023. The wedding festivities spanned two days in New York’s Hudson Valley and incorporated a summer camp theme.

Feldstein told Vogue at the time that the ceremony’s outdoor and rustic nature was inspired by “our happy place together.” The “Lady Bird” actor grew up going to summer camp and said her family has a history of finding love in those childhood spaces.

“To get married at a camp was a truly beautiful emotional homecoming,” she said.

Friends including Whitney Cummings, Kaitlyn Dever, Ben Platt, Olivia Wilde, Uzo Aduba, Joey King and Monica Lewinsky chimed in with glee in comments on the joint post.

“Luckiest baby,” wrote Wilde, who directed “Booksmart.” “And I’m finally a grandma!!!!”

Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.

THEY say good things come to those who wait, so I have high expectations for Roger Sanchez’s first studio album in two decades.

And as he gears up to release the 13-track record, Spectrum, on June 5, the superstar DJ reveals he’s thrown fans a curveball after teaming up with Melanie C on his song I Don’t Wanna Know.

“That’s one I didn’t have on my dance card,” Roger tells me after popping into Bizarre HQ, where he takes his tea “milky, two sweeteners”.

“When the Spice Girls first came out, I always felt she was underrated. There was such a power in her voice and I didn’t feel in the Spice Girls she got her due for how powerful her voice is.

“She’s the bubbliest one of the group. She’s a powerhouse.

“I had this track and I was talking to my team about artists who people wouldn’t expect me to work with.

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“My manager was like, ‘How about the Spice Girls?’ and I said, ‘Well it’s got to be Mel C if we’re going to do it.’

“We sent the track that I had originally done to her team, and she loved it. And so she sent me back the song that she wrote. And I was like, let’s go.”

Sanchez has scored numerous hits in the European and World Charts with both his own music and the remixes he has created for an array of superstars including Diana Ross, Kylie Minogue, Daft Punk, Madonna, The Police, No Doubt and Maroon 5.

Like us, Roger is now waiting to hear Madonna’s new album Confessions On A Dancefloor: Part II after previously working with her on remixes of her songs.

“You don’t ever count Madonna out,” Roger explains.

“I know she’s been around for quite some time.

“And as somebody who’s been around for a minute myself, I can say creative forces like that are probably becoming a little more rare as time goes on, because of just the way things are done now.

“You just never count her out because she’s always brewing something

“And it’s always going to be something that moves the needle somehow.”

Just days after Roger drops Spectrum, he will head to his spiritual home in Ibiza to take up a residency at super club Pacha, after spending weeks in the UK finishing the record.

“I started forming where I wanted a body of work to go around 2020. Before we dove into the hell that was known as Covid.

“Coming out of that, the UK was one of the first markets to reopen so I started touring.

“I wound up spending a lot of time in London and I’ve got a flat in Shoreditch.

“The UK became a real central point for me. I connected with a lot of writers and artists here. This is a London album.”

Spectrum is packed with dance bangers including my favourites Midas Touch, Come My Way and How Do We Say Goodbye with Karen Harding, which will be the next single to be released.

And Roger is hoping to return to Glastonbury one day to play the record, after a killer headline set at NYC Downlow back in 2016.

“That was my first kind of performing experience at Glastonbury,” Roger explains.

“It felt like a 1989 rave in the UK. Very, very dark and very loud.

“And people weren’t on their phones. They really plugged into the moment.

“I’ve played a few times since. I did one for Glitterbox and I did another for Greenpeace in a tree.

“There’s a little door opening in the base, and you climb up a bloody ladder.

“You feel like you’re a hobbit. It felt a bit like Gandalf walking into Bilbo Baggins’ home.”

SPICE IT UP

MELANIE C teamed up with another special someone at the weekend – Spice Girls bandmate Mel B.

They sang Spice Up Your Life for the first time since the group’s 2019 tour at a concert in Leeds.

Mel C played the gig to celebrate the release of latest solo album Sweat, which is on course to go to No2 this Friday.

TENSIONS between Gordon Ramsey and Brooklyn Beckham were high back in February after the famous chef fired a warning shot to the wannabe over his feud with his parents.

Now it seems Gordon is coming for Brooklyn in business.

Gordon has trademarked Hotter Than Hell by Gordon Ramsay – the name given to the spicy relishes he uses in some of his restaurants.

But it appears he could be preparing to flog bottles of the sauce to customers and if he goes ahead with the venture, he will be competing with Brookylyn’s Cloud 23 hot sauce, which he launched back in 2024.

“If Gordon is launching his own sauce he’ll be going up against Brooklyn in that market,” an insider told me.

“Things will get spicy if they end up clashing over it.”

In February, Gordon told our newspaper he thought Brooklyn had got carried away by his marriage to Nicola Peltz.

Asked about how Posh and Becks were coping after their son’s acid-tongued Instagram statement about them, Gordon said: “Victoria is upset, and I know 24/7, seven days a week, just how much David loves Brooklyn.

“Brooklyn and I have messaged a little bit. Our relationship is solid. I love him.

“His heart is incredible. But it’s hard, isn’t it, when you’re infatuated?

“Love is blind. It’s easy to get up on that rollercoaster and get carried away. But it will come back.”

Awkward.

Moment in the sun

PROMISING British pop star Bellah Mae is having her moment in the sun after signing a record deal in the States.

The Birmingham-born singer posed on a lounger in a snap to promote her new single Salt And Sugar from her upcoming EP, Keep It Peachy, which will be out on May 29.

It’s the first release for Bellah, who is currently on tour across the US, with her new label Sony Nashville.

She told me: “I’ve been coming to Nashville to write since I was 19 years old and knew I wanted to eventually spend more time here from the first time I came over, so to be one of the first UK artists signing to Sony Nashville and be here is a lot of dreams all coming true.

“I wanna bridge the gap between the UK and US country-pop worlds and take over the space one song at a time… the British Hannah Montana!

“The new era is fun, flirty and confident.”

Shakira loves a Brazilian

SHAKIRA made history on Saturday as she played one of the highest attended concerts of all time.

More than 2million fans saw the Colombian superstar play a free gig at Copacabana Beach in Rio De Janeiro.

During the spectacular show, the She Wolf singer wore ten costumes, many of which were made by local designers – including a jumpsuit with Swarovski crystals in the pattern of the Brazilian flag.

More than 1,500 drones lit up the sky before Shakira took to the stage.

And the singer was later joined by Anitta to perform their new single, Choka Choka.

Shakira’s Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran Tour will come to Europe in September, where she will play 11 nights at the purpose-built Shakira Stadium in Madrid.

GRAHAM DRINKS IN EURO FUN

GRAHAM NORTON has told how he turns to drink to survive the madness of Eurovision.

The BBC star, who will be commentating on the song contest in Vienna on May 16, said the live final is such a slog, he needs a drink to get through it.

On Alan Carr’s Bottoms Up! podcast, Graham said former host Terry Wogan called him before his first ever contest in Moscow with some tips.

He said: “The only bit of advice he gave me was, ‘Don’t have a drink before song nine’.

“But I’m drinking whatever I can lay my hands on because it’s a long old stretch.”

Graham also admitted that refreshments are not easy to source at the venues, saying “normally, it’s smuggled in”.

But he knows better than to overdo it during the live show.

Given the quality of some of the songs, I’m amazed he can wait until number nine.

OLIVIA RODRIGO mocked Jake Paul as she hosted Saturday Night Live in the US.

Speaking about the boxer, who she starred with on the Disney show Bizaardvark a decade ago, Olivia said: “We’d always talk about our futures, me and Jake.

“I’d say, ‘I wanna create music that explores the complexities of girls my age’, and he’d say, ‘One day I wanna beat up old guys on Netflix’.”

LIAM AND NOEL NOT IN TUNE

LIAM GALLAGHER has admitted he’s in the dark when it comes to the new music his brother Noel has been writing – and whether it could be for Oasis.

Last month, Noel revealed he had been “in the studio, noodling away” on new tunes.

But when asked about it on X at the weekend, Liam was none the wiser.

He said: “I’ve not heard anything unless he’s doing a solo album, which would be a real shame, I mean really good.”

When someone else commented: “So he just doesn’t tell you his plans?” he replied: “Pretty much.”

Given how much Liam spouts off online, I can’t really blame Noel for keeping schtum.

Spotted looking chic

NICOLE SCHERZINGER is spotted in Kentucky – 4,000 miles away from her Pussycat Dolls bandmates back in London.

While Nicole looked chic in a polka dot dress as she sang the US national anthem at Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, Ashley Roberts and Kimberly Wyatt were busy going through their paces during rehearsals.

The Dolls, who are now a trio, kick off their reunion tour in California in a month’s time, before shows on this side of the Atlantic in September.

If their tour is anything like their shows back in the day, they will have a lot of dance moves to learn between now and then.

A young girl in southern Lebanon joined hundreds mourning her father, one of three paramedics killed in an Israeli “double-tap” strike during the US-brokered ceasefire. At least 95 emergency responders have been killed in Lebanon, a pattern the UN says may amount to a war crime.

Guardians fan Evelyn Moore got a pretty cool souvenir from Monday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays — a two-run home run ball hit by Cleveland second baseman Daniel Schneemann.

The 11-year-old softball player from New Philadelphia, Ohio, almost got the ball right after Schneemann hit it in the bottom of the fifth inning.

But, as seen in video footage that quickly went viral on social media, a man appeared to snatch it away as Evelyn was trying to pick it up near the rail in the left-center field stands at Progressive Field.

He eventually gave it to her, however, and now the girl’s mother wants folks on social media to leave him alone.

“This man’s life shouldn’t be ruined over this,” Nikki Moore-DeVore said. “Jokes and memes are one thing, but it’s getting excessive. It’s too much.”

Moore-DeVore said her family — which also includes her husband, Jon DeVore, and her son, Theo Moore, 9 — attend several Guardians games a year. They sit in the outfield stands, where Evelyn — an avid baseball fan and baseball card collector — likes to take her glove down to the rail and try to persuade Cleveland outfielders to toss her a ball.

Video of Schneemann’s home run shows the ball flying over the left-center field wall, where a bearded man wearing a throwback Cleveland Indians hat and T-shirt tried to catch it in the air. Instead, it bounced off his hands toward the rail to his left.

Cleveland Guardians’ Daniel Schneemann, right, is greeted at the plate by teammate David Fry after hitting a two-run home run in the fifth inning of a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday in Cleveland.

(Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press)

Evelyn ran down from her seat two rows up, dropped to the ground and attempted to secure the ball in front of her. The man ran over and also dropped to the ground next to her, starting a brief struggle for control of the ball.

The man eventually emerged triumphantly.

“I did not really see how the ball came over to us. I just saw it bounce in our direction and my daughter go down to get it,” Moore-DeVore said. “And I saw the scuffle kind of from behind, but I couldn’t see much of the hands or anything like that. I just saw the shoulders shifting around.

“And then she got up empty-handed, and people started booing. The guys sitting in front of me were like, ‘That was her ball!’ My husband was booing. He was not happy, but we didn’t want to ruin the game.”

Evelyn also was upset by the turn of events, her mother said, “but she didn’t cry.”

“She actually took it like a champ,” Moore-DeVore said. “Every inning, she still went up to the rail to try to get one of the players to throw a ball to her. She didn’t give up.”

Meanwhile, Theo approached the man to request he return the ball to his sister. Moore-DeVore said her son told her the man politely refused.

“I was just proud of him for going over there and taking it upon himself to try to help his sister,” Moore-DeVore said.

The Rays broadcast of the game showed the incident involving Evelyn and the man, with the announcers taking the girl’s side. On social media, fans shared the video and shamed the man for his behavior, with some looking to make his identity public.

Later in the game, Rays sideline reporter Ryan Bass visited the family at their seats and presented both kids with baseballs.

That’s when Evelyn became emotional.

“She cried happy tears,” her mother said. “I think she just felt seen. The incident made her feel small, and Ryan made her feel seen.”

Bass posted about the moment on X.

“We had to make it right,” Bass wrote, adding in a separate post: “We got the chance to make a sweet little girl’s night. There’s nothing better. Kindness is free. Always remember that.”

Before the bottom of the eighth inning, Evelyn went down to her usual post at the rail to try to persuade an outfielder to toss her a ball. She returned with the home run ball from three innings earlier.

“She came back with the biggest smile on her face: ‘Mom, he gave it back to me!’” Moore-DeVore said. “The guys in front of me were like, ‘yeah, he’s, like, getting a lot of social media flack.’ … I’m sure he realized eventually that it was probably the wrong action to take, just not good etiquette.”

In return, Moore-DeVore said, Theo offered the man — whose name has not been revealed despite the internet’s attempts — one of the balls that Bass had given him and his sister.

“He respectfully declined,” she said, “so my son gave it to another kid.”

Moore-DeVore said both of her kids are “on cloud nine” over how everything turned out — and she wants everyone else to get over it as well.

“I don’t want this one moment to ruin this guy,” she said. “And my kids, they wouldn’t want that. They’re sweet kids. I feel like, if kids their age can forgive and offer him a peace offering, grown adults and other fans can, too.”

Sara Cox has landed a new deal after her hit series The Marvellous Miniature Workshop was recomissioned for a bumper new series – with DOUBLE the number of episodes

Presenter Sara Cox has officially cemented her status as the BBC’s golden girl after landing a major new television deal just days after being unveiled as the new host of the Radio 2 Breakfast Show.

In a move that proves the broadcaster is firmly betting on the 51-year-old star, the Beeb has handed Cox a bumper new contract for her hit series, The Marvellous Miniature Workshop.

Insiders say the move is a “huge vote of confidence” in Sara, who is now arguably one of the most in-demand women in British broadcasting. The BBC One show, which Sara hosts, has been recommissioned with more than DOUBLE the number of episodes. It will also be extended from 30 to 45 minutes.

The crafting show is seen as a “new Repair Shop” for the channel and was a big hit when it launched at the end of last year. A BBC insider said: “This is a massive show of faith in Sara who is going down a storm with audiences – and the BBC is backing her all the way.”

The show sees Sara and a team of expert miniaturists recreate cherished buildings and locations tied to contributors’ personal histories. BBC bosses have upped the show from eight to 20 shows.

Sara said: “I’m absolutely over the moon about the new series of Marvellous Miniature Workshop, it’s easily the most heartwarming and wonderful programme I’ve ever been involved with. I can’t wait to hear more stories, help unearth more memories and watch our superb miniaturists breathe life back into places long since gone or neglected.”

The show – which was nominated for a Royal Television Society award earlier this year – is made by EarlyBird, the newly launched production company founded by Dom Bird.

Bird, who is also the executive producer of Gladiators and The Apprentice, said: “I’m delighted Sara’s returning to BBC One for this new run.

Seeing audiences respond so positively to The Marvellous Miniature Workshop has been a real pleasure and I’m thrilled that the BBC has commissioned EarlyBird to deliver this super-sized order.

These extended 45-minute episodes will enable Sara to immerse viewers even further into the extraordinary artistry of our miniaturists, showcasing the programme’s exceptional ability to capture the magic in the minutiae.”

Rachel Platt, commissioning editor for BBC Daytime added: “We’re delighted to be able to bring back this absolute treat of a series with an extended run and run time. Sometimes small things need bigger packages.”

News of the new TV deal comes after Sara was announced as Radio 2’s second female breakfast host, after Zoe Ball. It came after Scott Mills was sacked by the BBC over an investigation into serious sexual offences involving an underage boy.

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April 27 (UPI) — A 5-year-old girl who went missing from a central Australian Indigenous community over the weekend was abducted, authorities said Monday, as they search for a 47-year-old man who they believe may be connected.

Sharon Granites was reported missing from her residence in Old Timers, an Aboriginal town camp in Alice Springs, located in Australia’s Northern Territory, at about 1:35 a.m. local time Sunday, according to a statement from the Northern Territory Police Force.

She was last seen at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday wearing a dark blue short-sleeve T-shirt with white stripes around the neck and sleeve hemlines and a pair of black boxer-style underwear.

Northern Territory Police Acting Commander Mark Grieve told reporters at a press conference that they believe Sharon was abducted and that officers are seeking to speak with Jefferson Lewis, “who may be able to provide us with some information in regards to that.”

Grieve said Lewis had been in and around Sharon’s residence on Saturday, is one of the few people who were in Old Timers who have not made themselves known to police and is believed to have gone missing at around the same time as the little girl.

Grieve stopped short of accusing Lewis of being involved in Sharon’s disappearance, saying police wanted to speak with him because he and Sharon appeared to have disappeared around the same time.

“Considering himself and Sharon went missing at around about the same time, it certainly brings about those suspicious circumstances and we’d like to speak to him about that,” he said.

Lewis was recently released from prison and has a criminal history that includes physical assault and domestic violence, Grieve said, adding that no offenses were related to child endangerment.

Drones, dogs, horses, ATVs, motorcycles and ground patrols were among the assets police deployed in the search for Sharon, he said, stating they are calling on members of the public with information on either Sharon or Lewis’ location to contact authorities immediately.

“Obviously, it’s a terrible situation to have such a young child go missing,” he said. “We’re just over 24 hours now, so it would certainly be my worst nightmare as a parent.”