kid

Sean and Heidi Cripe will never forget the call from their son’s high school saying Davis was being taken to the emergency room.

“He chugged an energy drink — like, just trying to be cool,” said Sean Cripe, recounting the day nearly a decade ago.

The teen’s heart soon fell out of rhythm and he died. While such deaths are rare, doctors across the country have warned for years that energy drinks contain high levels of caffeine that can seriously harm children, causing problems such as abnormal heartbeats, increased heart rate, sleep disturbances, dehydration, agitation, high blood pressure and seizures.

A newly formed coalition of doctors is highlighting these risks in the wake of a sponsorship deal between Monster Energy and the Big 12 Conference college athletic organization. The group has asked conference leaders to pause the sponsorship and the NCAA to review energy drink marketing to youths in general, citing the deaths of three children including Davis, a 16-year-old from South Carolina.

The doctors stress that they’re not just concerned about Monster but all energy drinks and any similar partnerships.

“Kids are going to see energy drinks now promoted by the universities and the athletes that they admire and want to emulate,” said Dr. Matthew Nelson, an Idaho cardiologist involved with the effort. “The kids will think of them as sports drinks, which they’re not.”

Too much caffeine can harm kids in many ways

Various medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, say children and teens should avoid energy drinks altogether. Yet many are not. According to the latest results of the federally funded Monitoring the Future survey, run by the University of Michigan, 23% of 12th-graders, 20% of 10th-graders and 18% of eighth-graders reported consuming energy drinks daily.

Depending on the product, caffeine content can range from 80 to 300 mg per serving. By comparison, a typical 8-ounce coffee contains about 80 to 100 mg and some sodas contain 50 mg or less. Overall, the pediatrics academy recommends children ages 12 to 18 limit caffeine to 100 mg a day. Younger kids are discouraged from consuming any caffeine.

Caffeine and other stimulants increase heart rate and the reactivity of the nervous system — basically “how fast things go in the body, which can create an overload of the system,” said Dr. Tamara Hannon, an Indiana pediatrician who chairs the academy’s nutrition committee.

She likened it to running a blender until the motor heats up too much. “The same thing can happen when you deliver stimulants to people,” she said. “The heart can wear out, the nervous system can go haywire and you can have really serious consequences.”

Mixing different types of caffeine can be risky

Children with preexisting conditions such as high blood pressure are at especially high risk, Hannon said, but even healthy children who get too much of a stimulant can have serious problems. That includes young athletes.

Another consideration: Kids often drink various types of caffeinated beverages. That was the case with Davis Cripe, who died in 2017. According to the coroner at the time, Davis had no prior heart condition and drank a Mountain Dew and a latte from McDonald’s earlier in the day. He experienced arrhythmia after having the energy drink.

It wasn’t the first time Davis drank one, although he didn’t consume them regularly.

“We had talked to him and let him know that they weren’t healthy,” Sean Cripe said. “We didn’t understand they could be deadly.”

Trade group says the energy drink industry tries to protect kids

The American Beverage Assn. — which includes Monster and other companies comprising 94% of the energy drink category — said members voluntarily disclose caffeine totals on product labels, which carry advisories such as: “Not intended for children, pregnant or nursing women, or persons sensitive to caffeine.” Members also don’t sell or market energy drinks in K-12 schools.

Monster Energy said in a statement that caffeine and other drink ingredients are found in a broad variety of food products. “Mainstream energy drinks have been marketed worldwide for more than 30 years and more than 100 billion energy drinks have been sold and safely consumed globally,” the company added.

The deal between Big 12 and Monster calls for a co-branded logo on football and basketball jerseys, fields and courts, and across digital and social media channels.

“The energy drink category is not new to collegiate athletics,” the Big 12 Conference said in a statement, adding that beverage companies are always looking for ways to reach sports fans.

The NCAA doesn’t have the authority to regulate conference or school sponsorship agreements, Dr. Deena Casiero, the association’s chief medical officer, told the doctor group in a letter. She said the association offers schools educational resources on caffeine and student-athlete health, and caffeine has been a topic of interest for an NCAA committee, which recently commissioned a cardiac advisory group.

How to educate kids about excess caffeine

To protect children, teachers and coaches can educate them about the dangers of too much caffeine and the difference between energy drinks and sports drinks, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sports drinks are designed to help replace water and electrolytes lost through sweating after activity.

Parents and other adults can also model good behavior by not consuming energy drinks in front of kids.

On a related topic, Harvard Medical School experts say there’s no scientifically valid evidence behind the common belief that caffeine can stunt a person’s growth.

At well visits, parents should talk with pediatricians about all the beverages their children are consuming, said Hannon, who often advises families to “Rethink your drink.”

Sean Cripe said sharing stories like his could also help children understand that energy drinks are not for them.

Ungar writes for the Associated Press.

The minuscule yet distinctly humanoid figure of a fairy flaps its wings as it flies into the ancient ruins of a bygone kingdom. Guiding a young heroine to meet a mysterious faun, for a moment, the fantastical creature looks as though it might cross the threshold of the screen.

It is in that instant that Guillermo del Toro — wearing 3D glasses while sitting at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ imposing David Geffen Theater for a tech check — chuckles with pride as if to say, “Look at that.” Later that night, almost 1,000 fans were transported into his entrancing 2006 masterwork, “Pan’s Labyrinth,” (a.k.a. “El Laberinto del Fauno”) at the premiere of the new 3D version.

Back in theaters across the country on Friday (which is also Del Toro’s 62nd birthday), “Pan’s Labyrinth” is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new 4K restoration, available in both 2D and in the aforementioned 3D transfer that Del Toro himself oversaw.

Doug Jones, left, plays the faun that beckons to Ofelia, right, played by Ivana Baquero in “Pan’s Labyrinth.”

(Scott A. Garfitt / Andreea Alexandru / Invision / AP)

As brutal as it is spellbinding, the Mexican filmmaker’s modern classic unfolds during the Spanish Civil War — more precisely, in 1944 — as young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her pregnant mother move into the camp run by the ruthless Capt. Vidal (Sergi López).

Amid the bloodshed, Ofelia discovers an underworld of magical entities, including the alluring faun (Doug Jones), who convinces her that she is a princess who must reclaim her royal status.

By winning three Academy Awards and being nominated for two more — one for Del Toro’s screenplay, the other for foreign language film, representing Mexico — “Pan’s Labyrinth” signified an artistic watershed moment in Del Toro’s career. These accolades came after he directed two comic-book adaptations for Hollywood studios: “Blade II” and “Hellboy.”

Beyond the recognition, the experience felt spiritually transformative for the Guadalajara native; not the least because of the hurdles he overcame to bring it to fruition.

“‘Pan’s’ marks a big divide in what I did before and what I did after. I became invested in a different way in filmmaking,” Del Toro tells me. “I don’t know how to describe it, but filmmaking became a religion, as opposed to something that I could do. It fused with me.”

Though the film is now regarded as one of the greatest works of the 21st century, when Del Toro set out to make it, the industry was not receptive to his ideas.

“Everything I thought I wanted to say about war in ‘Devil’s Backbone’ seemed obsolete, because we had gone through 9/11 and the world had changed,” Del Toro recalls. “I didn’t want to do an American movie. I was being offered a lot of comic- book movies and said, ‘I got to do a companion piece for “Devil’s Backbone” no matter what.’ But nobody wanted to do the movie.”

One key objection was the mature tone of the narrative, in which the child protagonist is directly confronted and endangered by the evils derived from fascist ideologies.

“They said, ‘If it’s a fairy tale then it should be a family movie,’ because I’d been offered ‘Narnia’ a year before by [former Walden Media chief executive] Cary Granat,” Del Toro tells me.

“He said, ‘Why don’t you do ‘Narnia’?’ And I said, ‘Because I want to do my own version of a fairy tale where the lion doesn’t resurrect and it’s about a pitiless world against a boundless imagination.’”

Del Toro’s interest in stories where the woes of children are taken seriously was spurred by ‘Los Olvidados,’ Luis Buñuel’s classic from 1950, about a group of neglected children surviving a harsh reality in the streets of Mexico City.

“When I saw ‘Los Olvidados,’ I was in my early teens,” says Del Toro. “I thought every time somebody told a story about a child that was unsentimental and that was a little brutal — it could be ‘The Spirit of the Beehive’ or ‘Los Olvidados’ or ‘The Red Balloon’ or even Bobby Driscoll in ‘The Window’ — whenever you saw a child in real danger, a child in jeopardy, a child in moral dilemma, like ‘The Fallen Idol,’ I really was transported.”

Children, Del Toro believes, are often invisible to adults. They are “cartoons” in the eyes of “regular adults.” Thus, when his mother started reading child psychology books to better understand a young Del Toro, he read them as well, so that he could try to manipulate her.

Del Toro laughs mischievously as he remembers his antics. “I would do exactly what the book said, and I realized I could work within that preconception and make my grandma buy me horror comic books or make my mom allow me to miss school,” Del Tor recalls. “Ofelia is very strong. That was the point of the movie for me. I wanted to see the clash of wills between a young kid and a fascist captain, and I wanted to see the kid win.”

(Teresa Isasi / Picturehouse)

Del Toro’s mother, Guadalupe, died in 2022. But she lives on in cinema, thanks to the 1985 landmark queer Mexican film “Doña Herlinda and Her Son,” by director Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, where she played the titular Doña Herlinda.

And if you look closely, you’ll also find Del Toro in the movie, which was filmed in Guadalajara.

“I have a cameo with my ex-wife in it. Lorenza. She’s the receptionist and I appear dancing in Chapala, but I’m super thin, so you can never recognize me,” he says. “I’m dancing with a girl that I liked, but I was already in the throes of dating the one who became my wife, Lorenza.”

Then there was the question of the picture’s language. Del Toro wouldn’t waver on making “Pan’s Labyrinth” in Spanish.

“Many of them said, ‘We’ll do it if you do it in English — set in Spain, same ending, the girl dies, no problem, but in English.’ And I said, ‘I can’t. It’s not true to the movie.’ I’m not saying you can never do that, but it’s always this ‘Zorro’ thing like, ‘Are you in a hurry, señor?’ or ‘Come to the hacienda,’” he says, doing a funny, exaggerated accent on the Spanish words.

“If you’re trying to contrast reality versus fantasy, the reality has to be in its language, in its location,” Del Toro adds, emphasizing his resolve to make the movie in his native tongue. “I thought, ‘This is about the reality clashing with the fantasy. I have to make the reality stylized, but I don’t want to do it in English, because then everything is a construct. Everything is just an idea.’”

In 2026, the film’s bilingual appeal is a major component of the marketing strategy that Cineverse — the entertainment company that Del Toro approached to handle the restoration and rerelease of “Pan’s Labyrinth” — is implementing to reach audiences across the country.

“A lot of our messages are in English and in Spanish. The messaging around the making of the 3D — Guillermo likes to say ‘F— AI,’ but we positioned it as ‘Made for humans, for humans. Hecho por humanos, para humanos,’” says Yolanda Macias, chief motion pictures officer at Cineverse. “That’s a really strong message that has resonated with our fans.”

A Mexican American woman whose parents emigrated from Jalisco, Macias sees “Pan’s Labyrinth” as a timeless movie that’s as relevant today as it was two decades ago.

“We are not ignoring a very important segment of the audience, which is the Latino population who have always, in my experience, shown an interest in creators from Mexico or from Latin America,” Macias says. “And we are so proud of Guillermo for being that person for this audience.”

When first envisioning “Pan’s Labyrinth,” Del Toro found himself grappling with existential concerns related to the meaning and relevance of what each person leaves behind when they are gone. Can anything we mortals create stand the test of time? Does it matter?

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“One of the things I was going through was I thought, ‘Is making movies worth it? You give them years and years and years, and then they just move down the current into the oblivion of the culture,’” Del Toro says. “A central theme in the film is, ‘Can we give our lives to something that doesn’t change the world?’ That’s why the movie ends with a little flower blooming in a dried tree. That’s all that is left of her story in the real world.”

His films will one day too become flowers left not only as proof of his time on earth, but perhaps as messages for those to come who have the sensibility to appreciate them.

“You can say, ‘Ofelia lived in the other kingdom,’ but in the real world, there’s only one tiny flower. And that’s why it says, ‘For those that know where to look.’ Because that’s what we do as filmmakers. When you ‘discover’ a filmmaker, you say, ‘I discovered this guy Fellini.’ Well, he’s been there for a while, but sure. Or you discover Miyazaki or Mamoru Oshii … They’re continents, but they are only in maps that are very secret. I like that image.”

So long as they are found, Del Toro doesn’t worry that much about how people encounter them.

“[Films] live on to a certain degree. Like when we were shooting ‘Frankenstein,’ I said, ‘We will live forever in the Netflix queue,’” he recalls, trying not to laugh. “Theatrical is the best. There’s no comparison. But I remember my childhood, I saw all the Universal monster movies on TV, and they were monumentally important for me. There’s something to be said about accessibility that is also important.”

I agree with him — and mention that some of the most revelatory movie-watching experiences for me as a young cinephile happened thanks to bootleg DVDs, which I would buy as a teen in Mexico City.

“I love the pirate DVDs in Mexico,” says Del Toro with a laugh. “I’ll tell you a little story: We went to promote ‘Hellboy’ in Mexico City, and we were having coffee. A guy came in and said, ‘You want to buy movies?’ And he had ‘Hellboy’ already, opening week … and it didn’t have a cover either!”

Another distinction that “Pan’s Labyrinth” holds is that it was the last film in Spanish that Del Toro directed. But that could change, he says; he still has another project he’d like to make in Mexico.

“I actually have an idea that I would love to shoot, but I want to make it a drama. I don’t want to make it a fantasy movie,” he explains. “I have a great story that I want to shoot one day. It’s a kidnapping scene from three points of view. The victim, the people doing the pickup, and another component that I will not reveal.” (Del Toro’s late father, Federico, was famously kidnapped in Guadalajara in the late 1990s.)

The thought of Del Toro making another Mexican film in the future, reminded me that the original screenplay for his period ghost story, “The Devil’s Backbone,” was set in Mexico, but a lack of funding forced him to shift the production to Spain, with the help of Pedro Almodóvar’s company El Deseo.

“It was about a traveling circus during the [Mexican] revolution with a mother, a father and a boy. It was full of jarred fetuses. The boy was a clown, and the father was a magician. I was trying to do Bergman’s ‘Hour of the Wolf’ or ‘The Magician’ — modest but creepy,” he explains. “But it was very different. I had the orphanage, I had the legend of the fetuses and a ghost; and I had the devil live in the monastery.”

In any language, Del Toro is a fierce advocate against the use of generative AI in artistic creation. He believes that anything touched by humans has a better chance to endure. The love audiences still hold for “Pan’s Labyrinth” is a testament to this sentiment.

“[Pan’s Labyrinth”] is very truthful to who I was. And whenever you are able to be truthful, people feel that it matters to you,” Del Toro says. “And when you think it matters to someone, you cherish it.”

Nicole Brown Simpson wore a long-sleeved cover-up by the beach, despite the warm weather. “We kept telling her, ‘C’mon, get in the water.’ She wouldn’t,” Denise Brown recalls of a Hawaiian vacation with her sister, Nicole, and the rest of her family, including her brother-in-law, O.J. Simpson. “We didn’t know it then, but he’d beaten the [hell] out of her the night before in the hotel room. We found out later, after she was killed, when we were reading her diaries.”

The incident is one of many chronicled in Brown’s new memoir, “For My Sister Nicole: Love Shouldn’t Hurt.” The book chronicles who Nicole was — from her happy SoCal childhood to meeting beloved celebrity and football star Simpson at the age of 18 (he was 30) to the physical and mental abuse she suffered over seven years of marriage. Brown also reveals the troubling incidents she witnessed behind the scenes, and pairs them with the knowledge she has now of what could have been done to help her sister.

(Blackstone Publishing, Inc.)

Nicole and her friend Ronald L. Goldman were murdered outside her Los Angeles home in Brentwood in June 1994. The brutal homicides set off a media frenzy, and overnight, Brown became the voice for her slain sister.

Images of an angry and sobbing Brown became the media’s hallmark of grief during the criminal trial, particularly when Simpson was acquitted in 1995. He was found guilty in a subsequent civil trial, yet still awarded custody of the divorced couple’s two children.

Now, 69, with sleek silver hair and a voice raspy from the many speaking engagements tied to her advocacy work, Brown has devoted her life to raising awareness about domestic violence. “It’s too late for Nicole,” says the former model who moved from her native Southern California to Florida decades ago. “I want this book to help others avoid what happened to her.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

We’re meeting today in downtown L.A., very close to the courtroom where the trial happened, and to the former LAPD headquarters Parker Center where Simpson was booked after Nicole’s death. Is it difficult being here? Should we have done this somewhere else?

No. This is where it all happened, so it’s OK for me to be here to talk about [the book]. It should start here. And I’m glad it’s with the L.A. Times because Nicole was here in Los Angeles, as was all the chaos. Everything started here.

Denise Brown.

(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)

It’s been 32 years since your sister’s murder, yet this is the first book you’ve written about what happened.

I had a [previous] book deal, but I wasn’t ready.

It was really hard going back because you think about all the things that should have been, that could have been, that she missed out on, especially with her kids. And everything was so public. It was so out in the open, with everybody looking at you. If you were too happy and laughing, it was, “Oh God, she doesn’t even know how to grieve.” If you’re crying, it’s, “My God, can’t she just get over it?”

I understand why people make these kinds of comments now, because if you’ve never been through something so horrific, you don’t know how to act. You don’t know how you’d respond.

Aside from raising awareness about domestic abuse issues, you haven’t spoken much about your sister’s life or murder until the 2024 Lifetime docuseries, “The Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson.” It was the first production that included interviews and involvement from you and your sisters, which is stunning because there have been so many docs and dramas about the case.

I know. And without asking Nicole’s family, can you really make a good documentary?

A girlfriend of mine who is a producer wanted to [make a documentary] at the 10-year mark, and I just wasn’t ready. Then she asked me at the 20-year mark. I said, “No, this doesn’t feel right yet.” Then on the 30th, I asked my sisters [Tanya, Dominique and Wendy], “Do you guys want to do this?” And it was “Yes, let’s humanize Nicole. Let’s bring her back because she was lost in all of this.” Ron and Nicole were both lost. The trial has been done and saturated. Let’s humanize her, get videos of when we were kids. Stuff like that. So that’s what we did.

In the book you write that the docuseries provided new revelations about Simpson.

What I found out all these decades later shocked me. I learned after Simpson moved down to Florida with the kids, there were 17 calls to 911. There was an FBI raid. I don’t know what it was for, but the police came to the house 17 times?! I was friggin’ livid when I heard that. Where were the advocates? Where were the people protecting those children out there? They would have been protected by my mother and father, by all of us. Coming off that, I thought that it’s time to write a book.

We know so much more about recognizing the signs of domestic violence now than we did in the 1990s. The progress is of course welcome, but it also has to be hard applying that knowledge in hindsight to your sister’s case.

Back then I saw. I was privy to. I was there. I was involved. But I didn’t know it was domestic violence, and that’s what I want people to understand. Don’t read this book like it’s something that I knew about all along because I didn’t. I thought [the fights] were isolated incidents because they didn’t happen every single time I saw Nicole. They were years apart. I learned about domestic violence patterns after the murder.

Can you talk about what was in the diary you found in her home after she was gone?

A couple of months after her murder, my dad was reading her diaries, and I saw him lying on the bed, just broken. He said take a look at these, and it was Nicole’s writing and about the things that were happening. And I sat there like, “Oh my God. We were there.” We were there when this happened, like on a vacation in Hawaii. But we were not in the room with them.

Nicole wrote in her journal of that trip that once they were in their hotel room alone, he beat her and threatened to hang her off the balcony. But the diary wasn’t admissible in court. And maybe it wouldn’t have even made a difference given the lack of awareness about domestic abuse patterns.

Domestic violence, the jurors didn’t really understand it. They thought if you’re not dead after he’s finished strangling you, it’s not domestic violence. Jurors even said, “This is not a domestic violence trial. This is a murder trial.” Well, lo and behold, the ultimate form of domestic violence is murder.

Your passionate statement to a reporter during pretrial hearings marked the first time a member of your family publicly expressed doubt regarding Simpson’s innocence. From then on the press made a point of painting you as the furious, avenging sister.

Why wouldn’t I be angry? My sister was slaughtered, for God’s sake. I became the spokesperson for our family after I went upstairs to the press room [during the hearing] and said to a reporter: “If O.J. so innocent, why is he trying to suppress all the evidence?!” I couldn’t sit there and watch the so-called Dream Team [Simpson’s defense] constantly berating Nicole and belittling her and turning her into something that she wasn’t.

Before testifying in criminal court, you testified before Congress in 1994, urging lawmakers to fully fund programs and shelters supported by the Violence Against Women Act.

It was a bipartisan act from Orrin Hatch and Joe Biden, who were both senators at the time. Bill Clinton signed it into law after Nicole’s murder. I went to Washington and spoke before Congress because the funding was all [tied up ] in state appropriations. I was the first one to speak. I thought I was going to die. But it all worked out [laughs].

How did you deal with such an immense loss in private?

I ran every day for like an hour and a half until I collapsed because there was so much anger in me. My mom said, “Denise, I’m really worried about you because you’re just so angry,” and I said, “Why wouldn’t I be?!” She said, “I know, but you need to be able to deal with it.” So she invited our pastor over to the house who was a friend of the family. He said to me, “Denise, this is not God’s doing. This is the evil of man.” And as soon as he said that, there was something that just came off my shoulders. I could breathe again. You’re right. This is the evil of man. So I was the one who kept saying from the very beginning that I knew who did it: Simpson.

Nicole emerges as a whole person in this book, which after all these years feels long overdue.

Nicole was a wonderful person. Even when he gave her a Ferrari for her birthday, she didn’t give a s— if there was French fries in the gear shelf. Her kids, her friends, her people meant everything to her, and that was taken away from her by a f—ing monster. She was the best wife. All she wanted was her two kids, a white picket fence. The American family. So for her to put up with everything that she went through, it just breaks my heart because she was such a good person. Stubborn as all hell, but that’s OK. You don’t get murdered because you’re stubborn.

And people ask, “Why didn’t you just grab her by the hair and take her out [of that marriage]?” Well, because she was an 18-year-old girl who knew what she wanted, and she wanted him. She was totally in love with him, and she was not going to listen to her sister.

Your sister did eventually leave. She had been divorced for two years before she was killed. During that time, she wrote in her diaries that Simpson stalked her at the gas station, the supermarket, when she ate out, and your family witnessed it.

She did get away — for two years, and he couldn’t handle it. His ego could not handle it. His narcissistic behavior couldn’t handle it.

He was there for every move she made. She’s with a boyfriend having dinner, and he’s there, plopping his ass down at the table and having dinner with them. And at the supermarket?! C’mon, he doesn’t shop.

People [like him], they’re just so obsessed with control. And they’re narcissists. I don’t believe she could have ever gotten out of her situation because [of all the support he had]. He was so loved.

Why do you think she kept the abuse from you?

I asked [a family friend] why they think she hid the abuse. They said she was trying to protect her family and her friends, and to me that made all the sense in the world because that’s exactly what a victim does. The abuser will threaten the family. That’s their MO. I’m going to kill you. Your family. The dog. Our kids. Something you love will get hurt, and you’re the only one that knows about it. You’re the only one who knows how bad and how mean he can actually be.

Simpson died in 2024. What has that meant to you?

I don’t have to look over my shoulder. Actually, the funny thing is, I was never afraid. There was never a fear of running into him. But is there a relief that he’s gone? I didn’t even know he was sick, and I hope he suffered the way Nicole did. I wish it would have been longer. You can quote me on that.

Is there ever any closure for you?

You try to move on. You never forget. It’s always there. So to go back, it just ripped my heart out. In 32 years I’ve not told my sister I love her, like we did every single phone call, every single time we left each other. It was always, “I love you. I’ll see you later.” But it was never goodbye. We never said goodbye to each other because that’s so final. It was always, “I’ll see you later.”

What impact do you hope this book has on readers?

I just really want your readers to know, if it can happen to Nicole, it can happen to you. It can happen to anybody: rich, poor, Black, white, gay, Democrat or Republican.

At the end of the book, I say that I think Nicole was put on this earth to be the person that shines the light on domestic violence. The 24-hour national domestic violence hotline didn’t exist before Nicole. The Violence Against Women Act didn’t exist before Nicole. There weren’t a lot of shelters. There wasn’t a lot of education. There weren’t PSAs. She changed that.

“Grey’s Anatomy” and “One Tree Hill” actor Sophia Bush reveals in her new memoir, “And I Will Tell You Mine: Notes From a Life in Progress,” that she married former professional soccer player Ashlyn Harris in summer 2025.

The private ceremony took place in upstate New York with Harris’ children, Sloane and Ocean, attending, Bush and Harris revealed in a Vogue exclusive published Wednesday. The couple said they later made the rounds, visiting friends and family to divulge their secret nuptials.

Sophia Bush, in a 2025 episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” told Vogue she married Ashlyn Harris in a private ceremony with Harris’ children in attendance.

(Anne Marie Fox / Disney)

“We got to have personal experiences with everyone we love, and once we got through all of those, how do we put it out? Because I don’t want to keep sitting on panels or in interviews and being like, ‘My partner,’” Bush told Vogue over Zoom, then turning to Harris. “You’re not my partner, you know? You’re my wife. And it feels so amazing to say that.”

After Harris described her kids running around, picking flowers and generally having fun, stepmom Bush recalled the family roasting marshmallows on their wedding night: “It was so precious, and zero pressure. I will never forget it.”

The newlyweds also explained that, though they value privacy, optics are important for at least one very important reason.

“We understand how sacred and how pure our love is. But the visibility piece matters,” Harris said, “because there are still kids hiding who don’t feel seen, and if we make room and space for one person, that’s worth maybe costing us a little bit of peace in the public eye.”

For months, current and former high school coaches have been asked to respond to my simple question:

“What’s the best lesson a player taught you?”

It’s so hard to come up with an answer that many can’t do it immediately. They’re forced to think, which means the question is very good.

Stories are always written about lessons learned by students in the classroom and on the field, but what do coaches, most of them teachers, learn from their students?

Here are some answers.

Weeks before he died last March, Venice football coach Angelo Gasca told me the story of a player who wanted to quit and what he learned. That player later became one of his assistant coaches.

“I’m not accepting your resignation today,” Gasca told him. “You need to go home and think about it.”

Venice coach Angelo Gasca showing off the City Division I title trophy in 2021.

(Cliff Kensinger)

“He said he went home and thought about it and stayed on the team and was our starting center. He taught me the best thing we can teach is come to school and you never know what connections you’ll make at the school you grew up at. He taught me there’s more to coaching than winning games and scoring touchdowns. In our lives as teachers and coaches, we do learn from players. When we stop learning from our players, it’s time to stop coaching.”

Former Edison football coach Dave White remembers suspending his team’s best player before a trip to Hawaii for a team rule violation. He had to stay home even though his parents had paid money for the trip.

Dave White speaks to a crowd, including the football team, during the official naming of the Belcher White Strength Training Facility at Edison High School in 2022.

(Scott Smeltzer / Los Angeles Times)

“He taught me that I made the right decision and it was best for the team and in the long run best for him,” White said. “I was proud how he handled things. There are consequences for bad decisions. I really enjoyed and respected him more after that.”

Granada Hills girls volleyball coach Tom Harp said he had a player with a disability. She lost sight in an eye during an accident.

“She taught me how to overcome a difficult situation with a positive attitude,” he said. “She was a shining example of how to overcome adversity. It showed me my little problems aren’t as bad as they seem if she can overcome that.”

Lorenzo Hernandez, the football coach and athletic director at Whittier and former head football coach at Garfield, said a comment from a player made him realize to change tactics.

Former Garfield coach Lorenzo Hernandez runs onto the field with his players and assistant coaches.

(Hernandez family)

“You grow up in a certain era and have to adapt,” he said. “These kids want to enjoy themselves. They taught me to keep it as fun as possible. We worked on discipline. A kid said, ‘That’s great coach, but I don’t think we’re having fun.’ It made me take a step back. We have to understand it’s a different era of athletes and they require different ways to handle things. That’s helped me build better relationships. I’ll meet you halfway.”

Former Crenshaw football coach Robert Garrett said he learned to talk to students about their personal lives to understand why they are behaving in certain ways. He discovered one of his players had nowhere to wash his clothes.

Longtime Crenshaw football coach Robert Garrett talks to De’Anthony Thomas, one of his best former players, in 2011.

(Robert S. Helfman)

“Some don’t have a stable household,” he said. “You don’t learn that until you talk to them. I knew he was intelligent and studious but until I found out his hygiene wasn’t good, I realized the environment he was up against. It wasn’t until he shared with me what he was going through I offered assistance to wash his clothes.

“He didn’t need tough love. He needed kid gloves. Every day I try to find at least one child I didn’t know and have a personal conversation, ‘What middle school he went to, where does he live, are his studies OK.’ I try to learn the child before I learn the body. Adults never talk to kids. We just assume a kid is a certain way until you have a conversation and know their background and what they are going through.”

Former Hart baseball coach Jim Ozella, retired and watching his grandson play sports, told the story of his former player, Jack Ralston, reaching the major leagues this year taught him about perseverance.

“Everyone wants instant gratification,” Ozella said. “Here’s a kid who didn’t make the major leagues until he was 29. For us, he was an outstanding pitcher. We made it to the CIF final. Then he walked into UCLA, didn’t pitch as a freshman or sophomore, pitched a little as junior, then boom as a senior. He got drafted. His lesson has been off the charts for me.

Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow with Hart coach Jim Ozella, who coached him in high school.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

“You can’t expect results immediately. You’re talented, put in all the work and effort. In this case, it didn’t work. He kept plugging along. His lesson is everyone is different. His was keep plugging away and it will happen. I called him after he gave up a home run. He said, ‘Today I woke up and it’s a new day.’ What a role model. Don’t expect everything overnight. It takes time. Be patient.”

Then Ozella quoted a famous line, “The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit.”

Hall of Fame football coach Paul Knox had a situation early in his coaching days at Dorsey dealing with two brothers and figuring out what you’re supposed to do when they’re different.

“They were very close in age,” he said. “I learned by trying to coach them you can’t coach everyone the same. Whatever I tried, one was very coachable and his younger brother all the things I tried never worked with him. We went back and forth.

Dorsey coach Paul Knox celebrates a miracle win in the 2001 City championship game at the Coliseum.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“I found out I had to find a whole other way to reach him. I learned you can say how you treat everyone the same, but you approach some kids differently. You never really know precisely who’s listening to you and sometimes the satisfaction of being a teacher or mentor is delayed and you don’t know until years later.”

DARKER nights and chilly days are on the way, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to hibernate – there’s still plenty to do.

From Halloween events with family-friendly discos to terrifying scare mazes and tropical indoor waterparks – we’ve found some of the best days out this autumn that will entertain the whole family.

Alton Towers

Along with its high thrills rides, Alton Towers is getting a spooky makeover this autumn.

During the day, the park is still family-friendly just with a little spookiness thrown in during the lead-up to Halloween.

Trick O’Treat Town is open for business and at the CBeebies Land Monster Ball, kids can dance their socks off.

During Dia de los Muertos, the interactive day of the dead celebrations, kids can stroll through the colourful festival and meet some mysterious characters along the way.

For teens and adults looking for adrenaline-pumping thrills, then book Scarefest when the theme park will be open when the sun goes down.

Take on signature rides like The Smiler, Nemesis Reborn and Wicker Man under the cloak of darkness.

Visitors can also put their bravery to the test in the Edge of the Forest, a live action scare maze – then see if they can find a way out of Compound – a terrifying escape room.

Day tickets start from £37pp and Scarefest Halloween Breaks start from £100pp.

Chessington World of Adventures Resort

With over 40 rides and attractions, a zoo and aquarium, Chessington World of Adventures Resort is a great choice for a family day out – and from October 3, it will have a Halloween twist too.

Returning for 2026 is the Stone Watchers: Vampire’s Lair – try to sneak through the maze without disturbing the terrifying gargoyles.

At the Enchanted Hollow: Trick or Treat, there will be underground burrows full of whimsical characters, with treasures and sweet treat surprises.

Other activities include dancing your heart out at Dr Frankenfun’s Haunted House Party and Barnyard Boogie.

The theme park stays open a little later on selected dates, so you can hop on its rides at dusk too for more thrills than usual.

Howl’o’ween Day Tickets start from £34 and short breaks from £74pp.

Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park are bringing back Fright Nights – or as they’ve named it for 2026, ’25 Years of Fear’.

For those who REALLY want to have their hearts racing, head to the all new Tenement – a fully immersive, pitch-black scare maze.

Set in an abandoned building where the power has failed and the tenants have vanished – anyone who enters will have to find their way out in the dark.

The other four existing scare mazes are all returning too; DeadBeat, Stitches, Survival Games and Trailers.

Other activities for 2026 include Creature Campus: Reunion Reckoning, a terrifying live scare show, and The Conjuring 4D Experience which brings the story to life at the Sunset Cinema.

Purgatory Town will be back with new characters and Rebel Ball has music, dance and fire performances.

Make sure to take on the rollercoasters in the dark, including Hyperia, which is the fastest rollercoaster in the UK, and SAW – The Ride that’s the world’s first horror movie–themed rollercoaster.

Day tickets including Fright Nights start from £39 and overnight stays start from £109pp.

Drayton Manor

Drayton Manor isn’t missing out when it comes to Halloween – on selected dates from October 10 to November 11 it is holding frightfully fun family events.

This year, the theme park is introducing its Blazing Halloween which include an all-new Trick or Treat Trail where little monsters can collect sweet treats and take selfies with mischievous Halloween characters along the way.

Hop onboard the Revenge of the Haunted Express on a ghostly journey through the darkest corners of the theme park (this experience costs an extra £5pp).

Make sure to stay until the evening for the End of the Day Lake Show with waterjets, bursts of fire and flashing lights.

It will all come to an end with two spectacular fireworks nights held on October 31 and November 1.

Day tickets start from £24.90pp (when booked in advanced), overnight stays vary in price depending on the time and day of booking.

Paultons Park

Families will have a great time at Paultons Park, which was crowned UK’s best theme park at last year’s UK Theme Park Awards, this spooky season.

Its Halloween Spooktacular will begin on October 9 and continue up until November 2.

Families can check out Ghostly Manor which is an interactive dark ride open throughout the event, and The Little Monsters Ball dance-party held on the main show stage.

Speaking of shows, there will be two this year; The Great Halloween Mystery and the Spirit Squad Ghoul School.

Even Peppa Pig World will be decorated for Halloween – make sure to meet Peppa and George in their pumpkin and witch costumes.

But if you want to forget the Halloween scaries, head to The Fairy Garden – the majestic secret garden will be decorated with webs and pumpkins.

On selected dates there will be late-night openings until 7.30pm.

Day tickets start from £46.75pp with short breaks in October from £269pp.

Legoland Windsor Resort

Legoland is starting its seasonal event, Brick or Treat, on October 10 – and they’ve teased that it will be the biggest party yet.

There are TWO house parties this year, first up, the Haunted House Monster Party, and the Lord Vampyre’s House Party will also return.

There’s also a Monster Jam show, character meet and greets and dressing up is also highly encouraged.

The dragon rollercoaster will get a disco makeover with sparkly lights.

Don’t miss all the other rides that remain open as usual, like Flight of the Sky Lion, LEGO City Deep Sea Adventure and Driving School.

Day tickets start from £37pp with short breaks including an overnight hotel stay and breakfast starting from £123.

Coral Reef Waterworld, Bracknell

When the weather turns and outdoor pools just aren’t a possibility anymore, it’s time to hit the indoor waterparks.

If you want to go big then head to Coral Reef Waterworld in Bracknell which is one biggest in England – lots of it is interactive too with flashing lights and sounds.

It’s tropical with temperatures of 30C and has an erupting water volcano, rapid river, bubble pool and children’s splash zone

The pirate-themed splash area is centered around a ship called The Coralina which comes with water cannons and interactive water features.

The biggest waterslide is The Cannon, which launches riders down a 67 metre-long chute like a cannonball.

Poseidon’s Peril is another popular ride – it’s for two people who are attached to an inflatable raft as it rotates and swirls through a tunnel with colour-changing lights.

If you’re after relaxation, then head to the Coral Spa which has heated loungers, three saunas, a cool pool and a Japanese steam room.

Adult tickets cost £20.55, children 5-16 cost £14.55 those aged children between 0-4 cost £1.95.

The Wave, Coventry

The Wave in Coventry is a not only an enormous indoor waterpark, but it has the largest wave pool in England too which churns out more than 20 million litres of water per day.

There are six waterslides including The Riptide which is a half-pipe slide that blasts riders in a rubber ring down a near-90-degree drop.

The Cyclone spins swimmers around a giant open bowl, and The Rapids, which is a ‘water-coaster’, hurl riders uphill before dropping them down through tight corners and tunnels.

The Reef is its splash pad which is suited for younger children with miniature slides, tipping buckets, jets and water fountains.

When you want to relax, bob along the lazy river then pop into the Mana Spa which has a spa pool, aromatherapy room, sauna and steam room.

Tickets cost £15 per adult, £13 for children 11 and under and under ones go free.

Waterworld, Stoke-on-Trent

Waterworld has over 30 rides and attractions with wave pools and rapids.

It has the Thunderbolt ride, which is the UK’s first trap door drop waterslide and riders travel at 25mph.

Another speedy ride is Hurricane which descends at 17mph and has lightning effects inside the tunnels.

There are also dedicated water attractions for younger children like the interactive Jungle House and Toddler Boat slide.

Waterworld also has a mini adventure golf course as well as a restaurant and cafe serving up pizza, burgers, salads, drink and there’s a new dessert bar with 22 different flavours of ice cream.

Tickets for adults and children start from £17.70, children under three-years-old start from £6.10.

Blenheim Place, Oxfordshire

Of course, you can visit Blenheim Palace year-round but there are lots of events coming to it this autumn.

Halloween at Blenheim Palace runs from October 22 to November 1.

Kids will love its after-dark trail, light displays, immersive entertainment and spooky surprises – you might stumble upon the Spider’s lair or the Pirate’s Wreck.

Haunted half-term will return between October 24 and Sunday 1 to the Walled Garden – here there will be a circus workshop, witchy storytelling sessions and are even giant wizards will wander about.

There will be a chance to get up close and personal with animals like snakes, tarantulas, giant snails and frogs with ZooLab.

As for its other exhibitions, Dinosaurs Are Forever runs until November 1 – and it has five full-scale Megalosaurus sculptures.

Tickets for Halloween at Blenheim palace start from £23 for adults and £32 for children (between 3-16).

Tickets for Haunted Half-Term are included in general day tickets starting from £31 for adults and £15 for children.

Cumbria Dark Skies Festival

While most Brits won’t be looking forward to the darker evenings, but for stargazing, they’re perfect – where better to see them than at a dark sky festival?

From October 23 to November 20 the Cumbria Dark Skies Festival will be taking place across the county.

You can try out dark sky canoeing on Coniston Water or even try out a stargazing swim in Ullswater if you’re feeling brave enough.

There are also guided walks, and lantern-making at Nenthead Mines.

If you want to see more of the night skies, head to the new Grizedale Observatory and Planetarium which holds daily shows and stargazing events.

Make sure to check out the camping and glamping opportunities where you can see the night sky right from your bed – check out all the events and stays during the festival, here.

Tulleys Farm, West Sussex

Whether you’re after an autumnal day out pumpkin picking with the kids or want to be scared witless in a scare maze – Tulleys Farm has it all.

This year, the family-friendly Pumpkin Festival returns with Europe’s largest pumpkin patch (with 1.5million pumpkins), an observation wheel, live music, carousel, street food and marshmallow roasting.

A new land within it is The Pumpkin Valley which, as the name suggests, is filled with pumpkins scattered across winging paths and ponds.

If being scared is on your list then head to Shocktober Fest – Europe’s largest scream park.

It has scare mazes, escape rooms, even immersive zombie experiences as well as live music across three stages and rides too.

New for this year is an escape room called Relic which has a scare rating of eight out of 10.

Teams must enter to explore forgotten chambers, find clues and solve puzzles to escape the temple before the doors seal forever.

Tickets for the Pumpkin Festival start from £8.95pp, tickets to Shocktober Fest with an XScream pass start from £42.95.

The Enchanted Forest, Pitlochry

On the outskirts of the Scottish Highlands in Faskally Wood is The Enchanted Forest – a light and sound show – perfect for an autumnal evening.

This year, it celebrates its 25th anniversary with a new show  called ‘Stop The Clock: The 25th Hour. ‘

When the sun goes down, The Enchanted Forest transforms the natural woodland into a glowing wonderland with synchronized laser lights, projections to the backdrop of music.

The event will run from October 8 to November 8.

It’s worth noting that all visitors are transported to Faskally Wood by bus and there are accessible sessions too.

Adult tickets start from £28.50, child tickets start from £15.50 – and family tickets start from £78.50.

Autumn Fest, Morden Park

If you love everything autumn has from the cosy pumpkin picking with a hot chocolate in hand to spooky experiences – consider Autumn Fest in Morden Park.

It has an Enchanted Light Trail, a carnival, roaming entertainers, flash mob performances and plenty of places for seasonal photos.

The park will have a spooky makeover too with spiders suspended from the trees and haunted lake instillations.

With add-on tickets, you can see inside The Freak Show where there will be entertainment from sword swallowers, fire breathers, aerial performers and theatre.

Friday Fright Night is the outdoor Halloween cinema experience with themed movie screenings – with family and adult screenings throughout the day and night.

Autumn Fest runs between October 22 – October 31.

Tickets to the Light Trail start from £18 for adults, £12.50 for children.

Additional ticketed experiences, workshops and performances vary in price and must be purchased as an add-on.

Heritage Open Days, UK

Across 10 days Brits can enjoy thousands of free events thanks to Heritage Opens Days.

From the races at Silverstone to codebreaking trails at Bletchley Park, there’s something for everyone.

If strolling about a country home filled with autumn trees tickles your fancy, head to the likes of Lyme Park in Cheshire, Wightwick Manor and Lyveden.

For any transport enthusiasts then you can check out vintage vehicles from trams to trains at the likes of Aldridge Transport Museum, Dover Transport Museum, East Anglia Transport Museum and the Museum of Transport in Manchester.

To get into the Halloween spirit, check out the ghost walks – some of which will be held at Ripon Market Place in North Yorkshire, Knutsford, and Chester.

The event runs from 11-20 September – for a full list of the events check out the website (for some you may need to pre-book a slot online).

The Eden Project, Cornwall

Thanks to its two heated biomes – The Eden Project is a great place to visit throughout the year, and it’s a great place to warm up in the colder months.

Make sure to wear layers so you can be comfortable in the world’s largest indoor rainforest which can be as hot as 35C.

Inside are beautiful waterfalls, a canopy walkway, wobbly bridges, free-roaming partridges and over 1,000 varieties of plants.

The Mediterranean Biome is slightly cooler but can still get up to 25C with pretty flowers and plants from the Mediterranean, California and even Western Australia.

There is an upcoming Celebration of Stories Weekend coming up where children’s authors will read stories – there will also be workshops and family activities.

General admission tickets for adults start from £35.50 and children (between 5-15) start from £12.50.