Kelly

Chip Kelly didn’t land on his feet by taking the offensive coordinator position at Northwestern on Tuesday, a month after the Las Vegas Raiders fired him.

More likely, he’ll land on his derriere, seated in a comfy chair overlooking Ryan Field, the Wildcats’ gleaming new $850-million stadium, while calling plays for a program that finished 15th in the Big Ten in points per game this season.

This is what a consolation prize feels like. A year ago, Kelly was calling plays at Ohio State, the most prolific offense in college football and eventual national champion. He’d still be there, pulling the strings again for a juggernaut offense in the College Football Playoff, but for his decision to jump to the Raiders.

It’s been quite the free fall. Las Vegas was 2-9 when Kelly was fired shortly after the lowly Cleveland Browns registered 10 sacks in a 24-10 win over the Raiders on Nov. 23. Whatever play-calling magic Kelly mustered at Ohio State didn’t translate in the NFL, where in years past he had mostly failed in head coaching assignments with the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles.

Kelly, who honed his reputation as a man of few words during his mediocre 2018-2023 tenure as UCLA head coach, didn’t express hard feelings toward the Raiders on his way out.

“Hey, we gotta win,” he told a reporter. “I get it.”

Now he’ll have an opportunity to repair his reputation at Northwestern. Coach David Braun clearly is enamored with Kelly, who cemented his offensive genius bona fides by leading Oregon to a 46-7 record as head coach from 2009 to 2012.

“His innovative approach to offense using systems that focus on varying tempo, efficiency and smart decision-making, his track record of developing quarterbacks, and his ability to maximize talent are exactly what our program needs at this moment,” Braun said in a statement. “Make no mistake: this is a program-defining change and is reflective of our long-term commitment to the pursuit of championships.”

The only titles Northwestern can claim are a dozen Academic Achievement Awards from the American Football Coaches Assn. since 2002. Since leaving Oregon, Kelly has stumbled at every stop except the single season at Ohio State, where he could still be calling plays had he not left for the lure of the NFL.

New documents in a lawsuit against Priscilla Presley’s son include claims that Elvis Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough is the biological parent of John Travolta and the late Kelly Preston’s youngest child, Benjamin.

Priscilla Presley’s former business partner Brigitte Kruse and associate Kevin Fialko filed an amended complaint against Navarone Garcia in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday. Included in the allegations are claims that the “Daisy Jones & the Six” actor, daughter of the late Lisa Marie Presley, gave her eggs to Travolta and Preston in exchange for “an old Jaguar” and “between $10,000 – $20,000.”

According to the complaint, “the entire Presley family clamored for control of the estate and for pay-outs” immediately after Lisa Marie Presley’s death in 2023. Among those who allegedly approached Kruse was Lisa Marie’s ex-husband Michael Lockwood, with whom she shared twin daughters Harper and Finley Lockwood. Kruse and Fialko were allegedly tasked with acting as negotiators and mediators amid the “family chaos.”

The document details how Lockwood said Travolta and Preston had “previously used Lisa Marie’s eggs to get pregnant” because Preston “had been unable to bear her own children.” It was unclear whether Presley’s eggs produced a child. Preston died in 2020 at age 57 after a two-year battle with breast cancer.

Lockwood also allegedly said the couple had approached the Presley family again “in or around 2010” but Travolta “no longer wanted to use Lisa Marie’s eggs because they did not want ‘eggs with heroin’ on them.” According to the filing, a deal was “orchestrated” in which “Riley Keough gave her eggs to Travolta so that Kelly could give birth to their son, Ben Travolta” and “Riley was given an old Jaguar and paid between $10,000 – $20,000 for the deal.”

Included in the filing is an image of a handwritten note that features the words “Kelly Preston carried baby,” “medical bills paid” and “old Jaguar 1990s-ish,” as well as a screenshot of messages presumably exchanged with Priscilla Presley that describe Ben Travolta as her “beautiful great-grandson.”

Lockwood further allegedly claimed that “the entire arrangement required a ‘sign off’ from the Church of Scientology, which heavily involved Priscilla’s oversight.” According to the document, Lockwood “demanded” the information be used “to orchestrate a settlement for him and his daughters,” whom he said were “financially destitute.”

Kruse and Fialko’s amended complaint against Garcia alleges that he “threw a tantrum, demanding [they] keep Riley’s and Travolta’s son out of the press, since Priscilla [had] promised him that he would be the only male musician in the family and would now be the ‘king.’” The document also claims “Priscilla’s love for Navarone was, and always has been, incestuous.”

The filing is the latest in the legal feud involving Presley and her former business partner. Presley previously filed a lawsuit against Kruse and her associates alleging fraud and elder abuse. Kruse and Fialko, meanwhile, are suing Presley for fraud and breach of contract.

“After losing motion after motion in this case, and unsuccessfully seeking to have Presley’s counsel of record, Marty Singer, disqualified from representing her in this matter, Brigitte Kruse, Kevin Fialko, and their co-conspirators have demonstrated that there is no bar too low, no ethical line that they are unwilling to cross in an effort to cause further pain to Priscilla Presley and her family,” Presley’s attorneys Singer and Wayne Harman said in a statement to TMZ.

“In a completely improper effort to exert undue pressure on Presley to retract her legitimate, truthful claims, Kruse and her co-conspirators have also sued Presley’s son, cousin, and assistant,” the statement continued. “These recent outrageous allegations have absolutely nothing to do with the claims in this case. The conduct of Kruse, Fialko, and their new lawyers (they are on their fourth set of attorneys) is shameful, and it absolutely will be addressed in court.”

Representatives for Keough did not respond immediately Thursday to The Times’ request for comment.

England and Arsenal footballer Chloe Kelly has been nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award after playing a key role in England’s Euro 2025 success – scoring the winner in the semi-final and the decisive penalty in the final. She also starred for Arsenal in their run to winning the Champions League.

READ MORE: Sports Personality of the Year shortlist announced

Available to UK users only.

Watch BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2025 live from 19:00 GMT on Thursday, 18 December on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

ITV’s Lorraine Kelly made her feelings clear about Meghan Markle during her daytime show, as she discussed the Duchess of Sussex’s attempts to contact her ill father after his leg amputation surgery

Presenter Lorraine Kelly has taken a swipe at Meghan Markle, after the Duchess of Sussex claimed she’d tried reaching out to her sick father Thomas Markle following his hospital admission for an emergency procedure that led to his leg being amputated.

During a recent instalment of her daytime programme, the 66 year old mother discussed the situation with a correspondent reporting live from outside Buckingham Palace, who suggested the Duchess had only been in touch with her unwell father to dodge bad press.

Lorraine’s disapproval was clear as she pulled a face before commenting: “Yeah that’s very true. I mean the press have tracked him down, she could always give them a call. I don’t know if that will happen, though.”

READ MORE: Brit Bondi Beach survivor’s escape – from dodging bullets to heartbreaking call

READ MORE: Heartbreaking comment Bondi Beach hero made before approaching gunman

The 44 year old wife of Prince Harry hasn’t spoken to her dad, who’s currently recuperating from surgery in a hospital in the Philippines, since 2018. Despite insisting she’d attempted to send him a message, she’s apparently wiped his phone number and hasn’t arranged any plans to see him.

According to The Sunday Times, the mother of two avoided ringing him directly at the hospital, worried that a phone conversation might be listened in on, reports the Express.

On Wednesday 10 December, Meghan’s representative confirmed she’d finally managed to make direct contact with her father. “Given that a Daily Mail reporter has remained at her father’s bedside throughout, broadcasting each interaction and breaching clear ethical boundaries, it has been exceedingly difficult for the Duchess to contact her father privately, despite her efforts over the past several days.

“With the support of reliable and trusted contacts, her correspondence is now safely in his hands,” the statement confirmed.

Thomas has been outspoken about his desire for reconciliation with his daughter in recent years. Speaking from his hospital bed to friend Caroline Graham, Mail on Sunday US Editor, he revealed: “Of course I want to speak to her (Meghan) but I am not sure if these are the right circumstances.

“I’ve always said I am open to reconciling with my daughter. I have never stopped loving her. I don’t want to die estranged from Meghan. I want to meet my grandkids. It might be nice to meet her husband too.”

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

George Clooney plays the title character in Netflix’s “Jay Kelly,” a Clooney-esque movie star who is seemingly on top of the world — but is, in fact, at a crossroads. He’s finished his latest movie and is at a point in his career where he’s begun to worry that every project could be his last. His hope to spend the summer with his youngest daughter, Daisy, is squashed when he realizes she’s set to travel in Europe before heading off to college in the fall. (Jessica, Jay’s eldest daughter, barely speaks to him.) His mentor, a British director who cast him in his first movie, has recently died; on top of the looming sense of mortality is the guilt Jay feels for not attaching his name to the director’s final project in order to get the financing. And after the funeral, Jay runs into the former friend who brought him to that fateful audition as emotional support — and who remains bitter that Jay got the role and “stole his life.”

Instead of sitting down to process these conflicts, Jay decides to run away from them, dropping out of his next movie to follow Daisy to Europe. His professional entourage — a group that includes his longtime manager and friend Ron (Adam Sandler) and his no-nonsense publicist Liz (Laura Dern) — immediately springs into action, accompanying Jay on a chaotic trip abroad, with the final stop being an Italian film festival where Jay is set to receive a career achievement award.

“I did have an idea of an actor having a crisis of some sort, and it would be a journey forward and backward at the same time,” says writer-director Noah Baumbach of the spark that eventually became “Jay Kelly.” As Jay flees Hollywood, the city and its people continue to haunt him. Visions of himself as a young actor float in and out of his mind as he recognizes the mistakes he made by screwing over his friend and neglecting his older daughter. But no matter where he goes — even on board a crowded train from Paris to Tuscany — he’s instantly recognized as the A-list star that he is. Jay Kelly cannot escape himself no matter how hard he tries.

Laura Dern, George Clooney and Adam Sandler in “Jay Kelly.”

(Peter Mountain / Netflix)

Baumbach wrote “Jay Kelly” with British actor and screenwriter Emily Mortimer, who also appears in the film as Jay’s go-to makeup artist: “It really wasn’t until I brought Emily into it that it started to shape itself more into the movie you see,” Baumbach says.

One might assume that the pair’s years in the business (now in their 50s, Baumbach and Mortimer both got their start in the mid-1990s) informed their depiction of fame and stardom, but Baumbach is adamant that he didn’t set out to write a satire of their industry. “As Emily and I were focusing on the characters and the story, meaning started to reveal itself,” he explains. “Part of our job is to be open and aware of that.”

It tracks that a megastar like Jay would be surrounded by a close-knit circle of people managing his life, which led to Baumbach and Mortimer exploring those complicated relationships. One central storyline is the friendship between Jay and Ron, who have worked together for decades. Despite his devotion to his wife and kids, Ron’s top professional priority is Jay, and the inherently transactional nature of their relationship is a conflict that slowly bubbles up to the surface. There’s simply no getting around the fact that the person Jay is the closest to is also someone who takes 15% of his earnings.

Filmmaker Noah Baumbach.

(Sela Shiloni / For The Times)

It’s an awkward situation that many who work in the entertainment industry will recognize — but it’s also a humorous truth, the kind that underscores all of Baumbach’s films. “Jay Kelly” isn’t his first film set, at least in part, in Los Angeles. In “Greenberg,” Ben Stiller’s title character is a cantankerous and neurotic New Yorker who has fled west after a nervous breakdown. In the autobiographical “Marriage Story,” Adam Driver’s Charlie, a New York-based theater director, finds himself trapped in L.A. during his divorce from his actor wife, Nicole (Scarlett Johansson).

Baumbach, a Brooklyn native, calls his relationship with Los Angeles complex. “It’s a place I don’t always love being in,” he says — a bit of an understatement. But he’s more fascinated than repulsed by the city. “I was never drawn to be satirical about it. I think it’s such an interesting, strange place. [My films that] take place here do so for a reason. With ‘Greenberg,’ L.A. is a metaphor for loneliness. In ‘Marriage Story,’ Charlie is forced to fight for a home outside of where he feels his home is.” And at the end of the day, where else could a star like Jay reside? “I mean, Jay Kelly couldn’t have lived in New York, right?”

There is, of course, show business, an industry that values make-believe and vanity and couldn’t possibly exist anywhere else. “Ron has the line, ‘Death is so surprising, particularly in L.A.,’” Baumbach says, reciting Sandler’s dialogue from early in the film. “[These characters are] living in a place that, for the most part, doesn’t change — and that helps support the collective illusion that we’re all going to live forever.”

Jay Kelly might not, but the movies will.