reveals

SACRAMENTO — He made millions playing an indestructible action hero in the movies, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sounded altogether mortal as he talked for the first time Wednesday about the pain and frustration he has felt since his holiday skiing accident.

At a news conference where he released his new budget, Schwarzenegger told reporters that since his surgery two weeks ago he has been in continuous pain.

“The operation was a very complicated operation,” he said, “and I don’t think I can ever remember having had pain — ongoing pain, 24 hours a day — like after this operation.”

In a statement put out last month after the Dec. 23 accident, the governor’s doctor described the surgery planned for Schwarzenegger as routine.

Schwarzenegger had previously said nothing publicly about his accident, and his staff had refused to confirm reports that the governor tripped and fell while standing on a mountain slope in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Adi Erber, a ski instructor who was with the governor at the time, said Schwarzenegger’s pole got caught in one of his skis, causing the fall. Schwarzenegger was then carried down the slope on a toboggan and taken to a hospital.

Asked for his own account of how the accident happened, Schwarzenegger offered a few details about his complicated medical history, which has included steroid use, a heart valve replacement, a torn rotator cuff and broken ribs. He said that he has also had an artificial hip put in — a procedure that, he maintained, helped cause the leg break.

Schwarzenegger said that because he was moving “at a very slow speed,” his ski stayed on.

Had he been moving fast, he said, the ski would have popped off, probably sparing him any real injury.

“I had an artificial hip that was replaced around five years ago,” he said. “Because it was vulnerable, the ski torqued the leg, and it broke the femur because of that. If I were to have that accident at 50 mph — and many times I’ve crashed at that speed — nothing happens.

“So this is what the unfortunate thing was.”

Soon after the injury, speculation bubbled up that the governor’s steroid use might have left his bones weakened, making him more susceptible to a break. Schwarzenegger has admitted using steroids when he was a champion bodybuilder.

The governor’s office released a statement from his orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Kevin Ehrhart, addressing the steroid question.

“Any suggestion that Gov. Schwarzenegger’s injury was sustained as a result of anabolic steroid use is wrong and has no basis in fact,” Ehrhart said. “His bone was completely healthy and rock solid.”

Normally upbeat in his public appearances, Schwarzenegger said the accident has left him shaken. He has looked thinner and somewhat drawn since the surgery.

At his inauguration last week, First Lady Maria Shriver clutched the governor’s arm as he took the oath of office — as if holding him up — and handed him bottled water afterward. Shriver also attended the governor’s budget address.

Schwarzenegger suggested Shriver has been at the receiving end of his darkened mood.

“So it’s really annoying to me, and believe me, there’s nothing I hate more than having an obstacle like this. So this is very frustrating to me. It’s very tough on my wife.

“When I get frustrated and have those obstacles, I’m very angry a lot of times,” he said, “and so I’m working through all of this and trying to get rid of this problem as soon as I can.”

peter.nicholas@latimes.com

Nathan Fielder would rather you not read this article. At least not until you’ve seen his new movie.

He has a point.

Now in theaters, “You Can See Everything,” the nearly three-hour documentary Fielder co-directed with filmmaker Lance Oppenheim about convicted Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, is full of head-spinning twists and turns best left unspoiled, and the filmmakers have gone to extreme lengths to keep them that way. At its secret premiere at the Telluride Film Festival last month, audience members were required to lock their phones in pouches and warned that security guards with night-vision goggles would be watching for anyone trying to record the screening. Afterward, Fielder pleaded with the crowd to keep the film’s biggest surprises to themselves.

Holmes was convicted in 2022 of defrauding investors in her failed blood-testing company and sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison. Fielder and Oppenheim began filming her and longtime partner Billy Evans, an MIT graduate and heir to a family-owned San Diego hotel business, shortly before she reported to prison in 2023, gaining extraordinary access to the couple and their two young children.

Holmes and Evans welcomed the cameras, hoping they would help vindicate her. But the closer Fielder and Oppenheim got to the couple, the harder it became to distinguish candor from calculated performance. Fielder, whose series “Nathan for You” and “The Rehearsal” put real people through elaborate, often uncomfortable experiments, began to wonder whether the tables had been turned.

“I really am struggling to this day to understand exactly what I experienced in this,” Fielder admitted during a post-screening Q&A at Telluride. “I don’t quite know what I went through.” He said he hoped audiences might help him make sense of the “glitchy feeling” it left in his head.

Having seen the film twice, we’re not entirely sure we can help him.

In deference to Fielder’s wishes, this is your last chance to turn back: Major spoilers follow. For those still with us, here are 10 of the film’s strangest moments — by no means the only ones — along with a few clues from Fielder himself about how they came to be.

Evans takes ’radical transparency’ too far

Evans has a theory about why the world sees his partner as a monster: Nobody really knows her. “In the absence of knowing somebody, it’s really easy to make them feel other and scary,” he tells the filmmakers. His proposed solution is “radical transparency” — a familiar Silicon Valley mantra with an ironic resonance given Theranos’ notorious culture of secrecy. The filmmakers are allowed virtually unlimited access to the family’s life, with Fielder even invited to move into their rented house in Del Mar, near San Diego. In one scene, Evans stands completely naked in the shower, brushing his teeth with the bathroom door wide open and the cameras rolling, as Fielder stands awkwardly nearby. At Telluride, Fielder, who had initially planned to stay behind the scenes, admitted he was still perplexed by the couple’s openness. “I’m a weird guy — why do they want me there?” he said. “That messed with my head a little bit.”

Fielder observes Holmes and her family in a scene from the documentary “You Can See Everything”

(A24)

Theranos, the sequel

A federal fraud conviction apparently hasn’t ended Holmes’ ambitions to revolutionize medical testing. Before heading to prison, she and Evans begin laying plans for a new venture involving lasers and artificial intelligence that Evans describes as “2.0” — a chance, he says, “to put the band back together and do it all again.” Holmes declares, “From wherever I am, I’m going to continue to work inventing, even if it’s inventing from a cage.”

Holmes claims she’s never told a lie

For someone convicted of defrauding investors, Holmes has a remarkably uncomplicated view of her own honesty. Asked by Fielder whether she’s ever told a lie in her life, she replies, “I don’t think so.” Pressed — surely she’s pretended to be sick to get out of a party? — she concedes she has, explaining that she thought he meant the criminal case against her. In a scene that became the centerpiece of the film’s teaser trailer, Holmes fixes Fielder with an unwavering stare. “Why would I deceive you?” she asks. “There’s no reason for me to do that.” When Fielder asks whether she’s being real with him, she doesn’t miss a beat: “I’m always being real.”

The Theranos device gets a second look

Holmes hauls out of storage the infamous Theranos device, the machine that helped bring down her company. “So this is the famous scam device,” Fielder says. “It is not a scam device,” Holmes replies. When she insists the machine can perform any medical test, Fielder finds himself drawn into an absurd debate over the meaning of the word “can.” Did she mean it could actually perform those tests, or that it theoretically would once the necessary chemistry had been developed? The man who has made a career out of baffling other people seems genuinely baffled himself, reduced to explaining the word “can” to the founder of Theranos.

Holmes and Evans enter federal court in 2022.

(Nic Coury / Associated Press)

Elizabeth Holmes meets Abbott and Costello

Still trying to make his point, Fielder turns to Abbott and Costello. He plays Holmes the classic “Who’s on First?” comedy routine — two people hopelessly talking past each other. Holmes watches politely and says she finds it funny. But she seems to have missed the central joke: The first baseman’s name is actually Who. “I didn’t pick it up,” she admits. Fielder’s attempts to explain the joke and why he showed it to her get him nowhere. Evans, watching the exchange, regards his wife’s difficulty following the joke as further evidence that her mind simply works differently from everyone else’s.

Fielder gives Holmes an escape kit

On the morning Holmes is due to report to prison, Fielder arrives with a parting gag gift: hair dye and glasses, in case she’d prefer to disguise herself and flee the country. Fielder is famous for excruciatingly awkward deadpan comedy, but Holmes’ parents are there, the family is preparing for an emotional goodbye and he seems to realize almost immediately that he has misjudged the situation. “I didn’t know your parents would be here,” he says, assuring everyone that it’s “just kind of like a joke.” The more he tries to explain himself, the more uncomfortable things become. “Maybe not appropriate for the moment,” he concedes.

Amanda Seyfried becomes a surprise co-star

Seyfried won an Emmy for playing Holmes in Hulu’s “The Dropout,” which Holmes had avoided watching for fear it would be too emotionally disturbing. Fielder persuades Holmes to watch it for the first time, on a laptop in the couple’s bed. She soon breaks down in tears and asks him to turn it off. Later, Fielder visits Seyfried at her apartment and shows her footage of Holmes watching her performance. So we watch Seyfried watch Holmes watch Seyfried playing Holmes as Fielder watches her. And things only get weirder from there.

At Telluride, Fielder said the filmmakers initially doubted Seyfried would want to participate. But after a brief phone call, she invited them over and agreed to be filmed. Neither side knew where things would lead. “It just actually evolved in that organic way, which was really exciting,” Fielder said.

Seyfried as Holmes in a scene from Hulu’s “The Dropout.”

( Beth Dubber / Hulu)

Seyfried plays detective

Seyfried soon finds herself reenacting Holmes’ conversations with Fielder as he tries to make sense of their encounters. She becomes so invested that she joins Fielder on a visit to Evans’ home, hoping she might get him to open up in ways Fielder can’t. “I feel like an undercover cop right now,” she says, clearly getting a rush. There, after meeting the couple’s children, she unexpectedly winds up on a prison phone call with Holmes herself. With only two minutes for the family to talk, Seyfried suddenly seems mortified to be intruding. “I’m so sorry — I don’t want to ruin your two minutes with your beautiful family,” she says. Fielder, naturally, has a camera running.

Evans takes control of the narrative

With Holmes behind bars, Evans seems determined to manage her public image himself. Armed with power of attorney, he takes over her verified X account, posting messages in her name, some of which sound nothing like the carefully controlled Holmes, including one telling another user to “f— off.” “There’s just so much trust that most things I don’t really consult her on,” Evans says at one point. “I know what she’d want.”

Evans’ attempts to steer the documentary itself begin even before Holmes reports to prison. In a meeting later reenacted in the film, after Holmes leaves the room, he raises the subject of money with Fielder, Oppenheim and executives from A24, the studio behind the film, demanding a share of the profits. Fielder says A24 reluctantly agreed, leaving him worried that the integrity of the project may have been compromised. When Holmes later insists she has no financial interest in the film, Fielder is taken aback. Either she’s “fully sincere,” he tells Seyfried, or “she honestly might be the most manipulative person that’s ever lived.” (The film notes at the end that Evans later changed his mind and decided not to accept payment.)

On Oct. 5, Holmes’ X account promoted the documentary with a tantalizing warning: “I really don’t think you are ready for this doc.” Whether that was Holmes speaking or Evans speaking for her is anyone’s guess.

Seyfried confronts Evans

Things turn ugly during that same visit to Evans’ home. A conversation about conjugal visits and Evans’ sex life gives way to a heated argument over his use of Holmes’ X account. Evans brings up the social media backlash Seyfried faced for criticizing Charlie Kirk after his shooting death, then attacks her portrayal of his partner in “The Dropout.” Soon he’s threatening vengeance against people he believes have wronged Holmes. “I’m going to ruin their lives,” he declares. Asked whose lives he means, Evans replies, “F—ing everyone. I’ve got vengeance in my heart.”

Later, away from Evans, Seyfried offers her own assessment: “He is bat— crazy.”

COMEDY star Katherine Ryan has branded herself “lazy” when it comes to her sex life.

In a new interview with The Times, the comedian shed light on how often she and her high school sweetheart husband Bobby Kootstra sleep together, having previously announced that they have sex “exactly twice a month… just in case I get pregnant.”

“It’s still not loads. It’s probably once a week, sometimes twice a week, but still not loads,” she told the newspaper. “I just don’t try – I’m a lazy shag.

“I’m really vanilla and Bobby is quite vanilla. We’re well matched in that way.”

Katherine added: “But the things I’ve seen and heard on my travels, my God.

“I just want to have nice, brief, marital sex. That’s it!”

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Katherine and Bobby, both 43, married via civil partnership in 2019.

Despite dating as teens, they split and reconnected later in life.

Katherine has a daughter – Violet – from a previous relationship, but now also shares three children with Bobby – Fred, Fenna and Holland.

Previously talking about sex with The Telegraph, she said: ‘I do think it’s important.

“But in reality, working parents who have small children are so knackered by nighttime, intimacy is just off the table.

“We have to find stolen moments in the day like before heading to work or during a nap, which isn’t always very alluring.”

Last year she spoke to The Sun ahead of the second season of revamped fly-on-the-wall show At Home With Katherine Ryan.

“It’s a real in-depth, all-access, no-holds-barred look at our family, my life and my marriage,” explained the Canadian-born star.

In it, she and Bobby attend their first marriage coaching session where they also discussed their sex life.

“I was surprised to find that I am a lot more prudish about my sex life than I thought,” she admitted. “I think when you talk about sex as a greater theme on stage, you have the shield of humour to dance around.

“You go: ‘Oh, well, I was making a joke!’ But when your husband is sat opposite a marriage coach and he’s like: ‘We had intercourse in the bathroom,’ I was like: ‘Oh God. What’s the punchline?’

“There’s no punchline to hide behind!”

Katherine recently got into hot water with a comment she made about Victoria Beckham, having to explain herself and clear the air over it.

The BBC had upheld complaints after she made the offensive joke about Posh Spice while hosting an episode of Have I Got News For You last year.

Speaking in an episode that aired on November 7 in 2025, Katherine made reference to a 2013 private email sent by David Beckham, where he allegedly used the word ‘c***’.

She said on the show: “I don’t know that we are allowed to broadcast the C-word, but you did reference Victoria Beckham earlier and we’ll allow that.”

The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit said “there was no such justification” for the comment which two viewers had complained was “gratuitously offensive”.

They added that the word was justified in relation to David’s alleged use of it, but not in reference to his wife.

Now an edited version of the episode has replaced the original on the BBC’s streaming service.

Katherine publicly apologised to Victoria in an Instagram reel where she shared a screenshot of her message to the fashion designer, elaborating that the context around the slur had not been intended as offensive and that she “actually loves Victoria Beckham”.

EXCLUSIVE Coronation Street star Vicky Myers has told the Mirror what Swarla fans can expect for Lisa and Carla Connor-Swain and their family as we head through the rest of 2026

Coronation Street star Vicky Myers has teased what’s ahead for Lisa and Carla Connor-Swain.

Teasing Halloween and the end of the year, she hinted there was no real drama. A year ago, the couple, known as Swarla by fans, hit a number of obstacles thanks to Lisa’s ex-wife Becky Swain.

Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Lisa actress Vicky agreed Christmas would be happier than last year, before she teased what was ahead for the Connor-Swains. She also teased Halloween, and it sounds like there’s plenty of fun ahead.

She told us: “As far as their relationship’s concerned, between Lisa and Carla, and also as a family unit with Ryan, they’re in a really good place. And I think after last year’s shenanigans, this is good, this is fine, you know?”

Asked if it would be a happy Christmas for once, Vicky replied: “Yeah!”. She then teased what was coming up for her character. On Halloween she said: “Just because it’s Halloween, it doesn’t have to be chaos and mayhem, it’s perfectly fine.”

Asked about the couple’s outfits for the Halloween episodes, she went on: “Just wait until you see them! I can’t really say too much about it, but I was having a chat with makeup, and I’d already suggested the costume and who Lisa should go as.

“And then this person passed away the week that we were shooting it, and I couldn’t believe it, because this person’s a bit of an icon. I just love this person. So to do that, it is a great homage to this person.

“I was made up. And I was very grateful to them for letting me sort of scratch that itch.” Vicky also shared the importance of Lisa and Carla living their own lives on the Cobbles, as well as having scenes together as a couple, amid viewers recently commenting that there’s been an absence of Swarla scenes.

Vicky explained: “It’s important because we get to see them in their own professions and as individuals rather than as a unit. But that doesn’t mean to say that they’re not together, and I know that some people can catastrophise things.

“But I think it’s really important that we can show these women in their their own way, in their own right. Because I think what’s really important is that Lisa came in as this Detective Sergeant.

“Carla’s been a a staple and an icon of the show for 20 years. I think it’s something to celebrate! Especially how ever-changing this industry is, and the show is. For Ali [King] to have been here and portrayed this iconic character for 20 years with the same amount of energy and brilliance and level of curiosity is fantastic, and absolutely should be celebrated.

“People should be sort of singing it from from the rooftops. But I do think it’s important for the viewers to see them in in their own profession and in their own right. It’s good representation as well.

“We have to go to work. Life is is very different to how it was years ago, and also with Betsy’s story, it was really important to be a story of hope, after everything that happened. Because we move, we go on, we continue, we have to. There’s no choice. So, I think for that as well, Betsy to have two working moms, that’s also massively important.”

Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITV X. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok, Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads.

SHARON Osbourne has revealed she has a dent in her face from botched surgery and sworn off future operations.

The former X Factor judge, 74, said she can still feel the indentation in the right side of her face as she discussed surgical procedures.

Speaking on The Osbournes podcast with her son Jack, she explained: “I have an indentation left from it here, all the way down here.”

As she showed the damage above her mouth, Sharon said: “I think the surgeon left it to his mate to do.

“I think he took a phone call and then his mate was all, tap in.”

Sharon once joked that she was on her “third face” after multiple procedures to stay youthful.

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Sharon did not identify which operation had left the dent but said: “You go and you complain and you go there.

“And then he starts injecting, and you go, ‘What is in this that you’re injecting me with?”

She said he replied: “Don’t worry, it’s my special concoction. It’ll work!”

However, she revealed that it didn’t f***ing work because she was still left with a dent.

On the podcast, the TV personality, whose husband Ozzy Osbourne died last year, spoke about a hugely famous actor she had met many years ago.

She said: “The actor came over to me and he said you know what? I couldn’t believe that Ozzy married somebody that looks like a Fraulein.”

Jack explained that a Fraulein was a German word used to describe a full figured woman.

Sharon continued: “I knew exactly what he was saying and I wanted to grab him by the throat and say, you motherf*****, and headbutt him.

“But I thought it wouldn’t go down well. So I just ignored it. But when you are not expecting it you just go f***.”

Sharon explained how remarks about her appearance could erode her confidence.

She said: “You go home and you think, I have got to do something. I have to. So if you’re with this all the time, it affects you mentally.”

She also explained that she believed people who had never struggled with how they look might find it difficult to understand why others had surgery.

She said: “Unless you’re unhappy with your body or your face, other people don’t realise what it’s like to walk around in our bodies having that face that every time you look in a mirror, you don’t like it.

“And it bothers you and how insecure it makes you feel.”

She added: “From the minute you’re born, people are mean about you and you feel uncomfortable in the body that you have.”

However Sharon revealed that she was no longer interested in having more work done.

Asked whether she was finished with surgery on her face, she replied: “Who am I doing it for now?”

A beloved Coronation Street star has candidly opened up about their struggle with alcohol

A Coronation Street actor has opened up about their alcoholism, and revealed that soap bosses sent them to rehab.

Kevin Kennedy joined the ITV soap in 1983 as Curly Watts, renowned for his hapless romantic endeavours and succession of peculiar employment roles. Throughout his tenure on the enduring show, he featured in numerous major storylines.

From his passion for astronomy to his turbulent love life, his years in Weatherfield were packed with drama. Nevertheless, he was last spotted in 2003 when he departed alongside wife Emma (Angela Lonsdale) for a fresh start in Newcastle.

Following his departure, Kevin has remained active, featuring in programmes including BBC’s Doctors, Mrs Browns’ Boys and Holby City.

And on Wednesday (October 14), he turned up on Good Morning Britain to discuss his latest musical, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Kevin also opened up about his battle with alcoholism, disclosing that he has remained sober for 28 years.

He said: “Well, ITV and Coronation Street, effectively saved my life, sending me into rehab. And I was very, very, I still am very grateful for that. You know, I was in there 4 weeks and came out slightly different.”

When questioned about whether his addiction had been impacting his work on the soap opera, he revealed: “Well, that’s the thing about addicts. They’re very resourceful, intelligent people. They have to be. This is why for the charity [Kennedy Street Foundation] that we do, we promote visual recovery.”

Regarding what guidance he would offer those concerned that alcohol or drugs may be becoming an issue, Kevin said: “Well, the rule of thumb with alcohol or any drug or addiction is if it’s costing you more than money, then maybe it’s time to look at it.

“What I would say to you is, we do recover. We do recover. It’s not all doom and gloom. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of commitment, and you have to go to various health centres; there’s enough out there.

“And if you do, as you’re told, and if you do, as is suggested, then you will recover. I can guarantee you if you put down that drink and that drug, do what’s suggested, your life will get better.”

While on GMB, Kevin spoke fondly about his time on Corrie, saying: “Oh, I mean, all of it is my favourite, actually. I’m very proud of that body of work, yeah, poor boy [Curly], he went through it!”

Kevin continued: “Even now when people come up and they do and they say, ‘oh, I remember when you did that’. I think that’s really humbling experience and I really love it. So it’s great.”

Good Morning Britain airs Monday to Friday at 6am on ITV1.

STAR Wars actor John Boyega has revealed he secretly married wife Lashontae Heckard and the pair have also welcomed their first child.

Londoner John, 34, shared a cute video of him cradling his baby and told fans the little one arrived some time ago.

He wrote: “Our bundle of joy has been with us for some time now but thank you for all the well wishes. Also my sister is about to pop! Wish her well too!

“Back to feeding this big baby!”

In the comments, Lashontae, 48, paid tribute to her man, writing: “Love and blessings to my Blessing!!!!”

Lashontae has had a successful career as an actress, and fans quickly recognised her from her past work on screen and in music videos.

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One fan posted: “She looks like Rashad’s old girlfriend from ATL, she was in one of Neo’s videos and Keyshia Cole… in a Dru Hill video… I think that’s her.

“You sho right!! She is so freaking pretty. Congrats to them.”

Fast and Furious star Tyrese said: “Praise God!!!!! I love you both…. You guys are amazing already great parents and now it’s new favor and new blessings!!!!!! Congratulations on the new angel….. Jon sir you are applying a lot of pressure for a brother like me!!!!!!!!!! Yikes!!!! Lol.”

John and Tae largely keep their relationship out of the spotlight, and he recently explained why they opted for a small ceremony for their wedding nearly two years ago.

He told the Guardian: “We both like the idea of celebrating something established, rather than celebrating the entry.”

However, he’s confident the pair will have a huge celebration in the future and said it will be so big they’ll “have to shut Nigeria down!”

Both of John’s parents are Nigerian and he often speaks of his pride in his heritage. He wore traditional Nigerian dress to the Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker premiere in 2019 and introduced co-star Harrison Ford to a Nigerian restaurant in South London while filming.

At the time of the interview, John revealed Tae was pregnant and spoke glowingly of his domestic situation.

He said: “We got a baby cooking. My life is completely, completely fulfilled in terms of family. It’s been so nice with the timing.”

Tae is already mum to son Brandon Jennings Jr from her relationship with ex-NBA star Brandon Jennings.

CHLOE Ferry has opened up about her plans to start a family with her property developer boyfriend.

The reality star, 31, who has previously revealed she would like 10 children, went Instagram official with Alex Swinney in September last year.

Since then, Chloe has loved sharing an insight into her relationship on Instagram.

And during a recent Q&A on the social media platform, she’s hinted that she’s ready to become a mum.

One fan asked her: “Are you going to plan to have kids soon?”

Chloe replied: “I have a date in mind when I would love to have babies, but it could happen any time as I’m not anything.”

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Earlier this year, Chloe gushed over her ‘soulmate’ boyfriend as she opened up about marriage, kids and if he would join the Geordie Shore cast.

Talking to The Sun, Chloe said of Alex: “He is definitely, definitely the person that I want to be with for the rest of my life. I’ve never felt like this ever about someone.

“I thought that I knew what love was before but this is like true love.

“I know it’s a bit cringe to say true love but I just know that this is 100% my person. I’ve planned my full life with this person and I’ve never done that with anyone.”

Chloe added that she is moving in with her beau and would “love” to get married and have children one day.

Back in May Chloe sparked speculation that she had a secret wedding after her boyfriend called her his ‘wife’ in a sweet gesture.

In a snap Chloe was seen holding up a brown envelope.

Scrawled on the back of the envelope were the words: “I [heart] you my wife.”

Chloe wrote over the top of the photo, sharing: “Woke up to this today,” followed by three emojis: a love heart and a teary-eyed face.

The star joined the cast of Geordie Shore in 2015.

Chloe has dated Sam Gowland, Jon Clark, Marty McKenna and Johnny Wilbo in the past.

FORGET simply being a pop star, Westlife’s Kian Egan can now add stylist to his CV after he helped save the day on the first night of their tour.

As Bizarre’s Jack joined the lads backstage for the first of three sell-out shows at the O2 in London, the Irish singer revealed a wardrobe error meant they were an outfit down in Dublin last month.

Kian flew into action before the first show in the Irish capital and found himself, Shane Filan and Nicky Byrne leather jackets to wear on stage.

Shane said with a laugh: “We weren’t going to wear these. We only got them sorted the night before. Luckily Kian came to our rescue.”

The Westlife 25th anniversary tour will see them play 87 dates around the globe during this year and next.

Over the decades, Westlife have clocked up 14 No1 singles and eight No1 albums — an achievement Kian admits they never dreamed of when they formed in 1998.

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Reflecting on their first chart-topper Swear It Again, he said: “We had no expectations at all.

“When our first single went No1 in 1999, I kid you not, we cried. The last few years have been really good to us — we even got our own T-shirts in Primark.

“When I was 16, I was begging for a job there, but they wouldn’t give me one. Now they are selling our T-shirts.”

During the show, which was also watched by Hear’Say’s Noel Sullivan and Suzanne Shaw, Nicky celebrated his 48th birthday.

In a sweet moment, he was presented with a cake by his three children, Rocco, Jay, and Gia who came on to huge cheers from the audience.

An overwhelmed Nicky told the crowd: “It’s 25-plus years we have together now.

“It has been absolutely beyond incredible, to be honest with you.” This tour has been planned for some time.

“You might have seen some of our ideas on the screen, our childhood homes coming to life. It’s a real celebration of Westlife.

“The tour has been pretty incredible, we have all grown up with this, from friendships, to heartbreaks, to weddings, babies, some funerals, and we’re all in this together.

“We are having the time of our lives up here.”

He added: “Nobody wanted to predict it when we were 17 and 18 years of age.

“Just some lads going on stage, eventually winning MTV Europe awards, Brit Awards, World Music awards.

“It’s been absolutely insane. And to stand here on my birthday, still doing this at this level . . . 

“If this was it for us, this would be enough.”

LOVED-UP BENSON ON SONG

BENSON BOONE’s new music is pouring out of him after finding love.

The singer split from his influencer girlfriend Maggie Thurmon a year ago.

But he’s set tongues wagging that there is another special someone in his life.

Asked what’s inspiring him, he said: “Love. I feel like that’s the greatest inspiration of all time. But yeah, new love, I think, is a very beautiful feeling.

“When you first open yourself up to someone, it’s like one of the greatest things ever, to feel as a human being and to have that be accepted.

“Those feelings just very easily turn into melodies and words so easily. It comes very quickly”

Benson released his second album American Heart in June 2025, and will finally get a chance to complete a third album when he finishes his world tour next month.

He told Australia’s Kiis radio: “Before this tour, I wrote quite a lot. Then afterwards, I’m planning on continuing that. So we’ll have, next year, a substantial amount of songs.”

LANCE BASS has revealed NSYNC were pretty much “working for free” in their Nineties heyday.

He said in a new interview they got $35 a day, adding: “Our first cheque was $10,000 after years of No1 albums, sell-out tours.

“You’re like, ‘Oh, thanks’. We should be grateful for that –  been working for free for two, three years now.”

THE CHASE FOR NO1 STATUS

CHASE & STATUS are on course to land their 14th Top 40 song this Friday.

They have the highest new entry thanks to Carnage, featuring Little Simz.

The track comes from the drum and bass duo’s new album, Generic Everything, which they released on Friday.

Taylor Swift is holding tight at the top, with Patient Zero looking likely to have a third consecutive week at No1, holding off Jamie Miller’s Babydoll and Ashe’s Stop The Wedding.

JEREMY CLARKSON’s Hawkstone Farmers Choir swapped planting for partying in the video for their new single, Absolution.

The track is the latest single from the Britain’s Got Talent winners’ upcoming album This Is Home, which comes out on November 20.

A source said: “The choir loved letting loose for the video.

“It’s a celebration of downing tools and coming together.”

STEVEN KNIGHT is keen on a follow-up to his film Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger.

The documentary, now available to stream on Disney+ followed the band’s reunion tour last year.

In an exclusive chat at a VIP screening, Steven told me: “I believe there is another.

“There’s loads of stuff there that people would love to see. Why not?”

Hear. hear.

TAKE OFF FOR MEL’S PHOENIX

MEL B’s daughter Phoenix is the latest of the Spice Girls offspring to go into music – revealing she is planning to officially release her first tunes.

The self-taught DJ has been playing gigs for a while and has now announced she’s been working on original tracks.

Phoenix, whose dad is Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar, said on TikTok: “Been in the studio all summer working on music and I’m finally ready to start sharing it with you guys.

“So nervous but so excited for you to hear what I’ve been working on.”

Phoenix is expected to drop the first of the dance music tracks in the coming weeks, after fans praised her over a snippet she shared online.

While it will be her first proper single, she did get a taste for fame 25 years ago, appearing in the video to her mum’s solo single Lullaby, which was written about her birth.

Victoria Beckham’s son Cruz has so far been the most successful of the Spice babies, touring across the globe and releasing his Wear & Tear EP in August.

Meanwhile, Geri Halliwell-Horner’s daughter Bluebell has performed a handful of intimate shows as she dipped her toe in the water.

DUNC: AXE A DRAG

DUNCAN JAMES has blasted the BBC for dropping RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.

In an exclusive chat, the Blue singer, who came out in 2012, talked about his personal disappointment over the axe, saying: “The BBC has always been about showing inclusivity and showing things for all ages and all genders and all humans.

“I feel we are almost being hidden away again. It’s a huge shame because it was great for the BBC to have something so inclusive.”

Looking to the future, Duncan is preparing to spread some light and laughter as he heads out on the road as part of a new supergroup.

Appearing in All Stars – The Music Of Abba, Duncan will join his bandmate Antony Costa, as well as Samantha Mumba and Una Healy for a UK tour celebrating the Swedish group’s hits.

The tour will kick off at Fairfield Halls in Croydon on February 26 before wrapping up at Southampton’s Mayflower on April 11. Tickets are on sale now.

Duncan said: “I get to dress up in all the sparkles and all the glitz and glamour and just have a fabulous time. The last year with Blue, has been so full on with the 25th anniversary, and we’ve worked so hard.

“It’s been wonderful. But at the same time, it’s always really nice to just have a little break mentally from Blue and go into something else.”

Suki a groover and shaker

SUKI WATERHOUSE continued her love affair with Oasis at the Austin City Limits music festival.

She channelled her inner Liam Gallagher after putting on an Adidas vest and waving a tambourine during her set, just like the rocker.

Suki is a massive fan of Noel and Liam, and has previously covered Don’t Look Back In Anger during her live music sets.

I’ve no doubt Suki and her fiancé Robert Pattinson will also be on the brothers’ live tour next year, after they were spotted down the front at Wembley Stadium during their reunion shows last summer.

LOVE Island star Hayley Hughes has given birth to her second baby.

The reality star, 30, announced the arrival of her “dream girl” on Instagram this morning and shared her sweet name.

Hayley wrote: “Our dream girl is here & we are obsessed. welcome to this little life my little girl, we love you so much Etta x x x.”

Her delighted friends and fans rushed to congratulate her.

Danielle Lloyd wrote: “Congratulations babe she is gorgeous.”

Kendall Rae Knight said: “Congratulations gorgeous girl.”

READ MORE ON HAYLEY HUGHES

IT’S A…..

Love Island’s Hayley Hughes announces baby’s gender in sweet reveal video

baby joy

Love Island’s Hayley Hughes expecting second child – three years after baby boy

Rosie Williams posted: “Congratulations beautiful family.”

Hayley revealed she was pregnant on her birthday in June and told her Instagram followers the news was “the best birthday gift I could wish for”.

The villa girl welcomed her first child, son Cody, three years ago. She said he was going to be “the best big brother in the world”.

Hayley keeps her partner out of the public eye, with the rare social media posts they do share not showing his face.

AMY Childs has admitted to feeling “emotional” having wrapped filming on her Towie wedding special.

Amy Childs: The Towie Wedding follows Amy and her now-husband Billy Delbosq as they prepare to tie the knot.

The spin-off sees the couple make arrangements before getting legally wed in London, followed by a lavish ceremony at San Roque Golf Club, near Marbella.

Taking to Instagram, Amy shared behind-the-scenes snaps from filming.

She captioned the images: “And that’s a wrap!

“Feeling so emotional our show has come to an end however I am so excited for you to all to see (dates coming soon)!

wedding joy

Towie couple in talks for huge wedding spin-off after Amy Childs’ TV nuptials

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“It’s been incredible!”

Referencing her daughter, Amy added: “PS Polly the star of the show!”

Amy’s photos saw the reality star sat for cameras solo as well as with Billy.

Another shot saw Polly, nine, who Amy shares with ex Bradley Wright, sat for her own solo pieces to camera.

Amy also shared a selfie, taken after getting glammed up for filming.

She looked chic in a black blazer and matching top, showing off a freshly-styled mane in shades of caramel and hazlenut.

Amy showcased her flawless make-up, with a tanned glow to her complexion, striking black lashes and a slick of rosy gloss across her pout.

She sported a necklace with Billy’s name on it, as well as the names of all her children: Polly and Ritchie from previous relationships and twins Millie and Billy with her now-husband.

The pair had their second ceremony at the end of September, surrounded by 180 guests including Towie co-stars such as Jordan Brook and Sophie Kasaei.

Amy was walked down the aisle by her dad, who is also named Billy, with guests all adhering to a black tie dresscode.

Amy and Billy had their first wedding back in April having previously postponed their nuptials last year.

The new show is expected to land on ITV in the coming months.

CELEBRITY Big Brother’s Chloe Khan has revealed that her designer clothes have been stolen.

The reality star, 35, is now begging fans for help to find her stolen possessions and has even offered a £10k reward.

Sharing snaps of the items that are now missing, Chloe made a plea to her fans and friends.

In the photos there were designer shoes from Dior, Dolce and Gabbana, Chanel jeans, Gucci miniskirts, Fendi outfits, Louis Vuitton bikinis and a selection of high end designer bags.

Over the top of the snaps, Chloe penned: “STOLEN. PLEASE SHARE. £10,000 reward for discreet valuable information.”

In the caption of her post she added: “EVERYTHING I OWN HAS BEEN STOLEN . PLEASE SHARE AND MAKE THEM TOO HOT TO HANDLE.

TUBE ATTACK

Chloe Khan claims gang tried to steal her dog and jewellery in Tube mugging

FUR REAL

Chloe Khan ‘traumatised’ after finding an animal’s HEAD attached to her coat

“In the early hours of 2nd of October. In Tring, Hertfordshire. I really didn’t want to post this and have been trying to deal with this for a week privately but I need the internets help.

“Will explain everything in a separate post. But someone must have been offered them by now. My boyfriend kindly put a £10,000.00 reward for someone who can give us valuable information/ been offered them / knows who did it.”

She continued: “And the information you give me will be discreet and undisclosed. If you see anyone in my stuff online please tag me / forward to me . It’s possible they bought and did not know it’s stolen.

“There is so so much more stuff then the photos but basically every designer item I have ever posted with has been taken.”

Fans flocked to the comment section to support Chloe in her hour of need.

One person wrote: “This is just absolutely awful and terrifying! I’m so sorry you’re going through this beautiful girl, sending you love and I hope you get your possessions back!”

“So awful you can’t have anything nice these days sad world we live in I hope you find out who did it and get your things back. Sending lots of love,” said a second.

“Posting expensive clothes and bags etc unfortunately makes people a target, I would be looking at your inner circle to be honest,” wrote a third.

Back in March, Chloe claimed a gang attempted to steal her dog and jewellery in a terrifying tube mugging as she said “I thought I’d get stabbed.”

Taking to social media in the spring, she told fans she was travelling back from Manchester to London.

When she arrived at Euston, she decided to jump on the tube instead of sitting in the back of an Uber for half an hour.

She explained in a TikTok video that a “gang” of men got on the tube a few stops after her.

The star told how the men were trying to touch her dog, Dior, and attempted to talk to her.

Chloe said: “I was trying to turn away from them [the men]even though they were sitting right opposite me.

“I’ve got her [the dog] in my arms, my LV case and LV bag and stuff because I’ve been travelling. I clung onto them because I felt like something weird was gonna happen.

“I felt like I was gonna get stabbed or something weird was gonna happen.”

OLIVIA Bowen has revealed her four-year-old son came within millimetres of losing his eye after a freak accident at nursery.

An ambulance was called to rush little Abel to hospital after he impaled his eye with a stick while playing outside last year as part of forest school.

Olivia, 32, described the phone call informing her as the “scariest” of her life and she immediately made her way to the school to be by her son’s side.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Olivia said: “It was probably his first big accident, and when we got there, he just had a patch over his eye, there was blood everywhere.

“We didn’t know whether it had gone right into his eye and touched his eyeball, if it had missed it, if it was stuck, we had no clue, because he wouldn’t let us open it.”

Abel needed surgery to fix the wound, which included a sliced tearduct, and had a stent fitted to help with drainage during recovery.

READ MORE ON OLIVIA BOWEN

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Love Island runner-up Olivia, who is also mum to Siena, one, said it was a “pure miracle” that Abel could still see and a follow-up eye test found he had 20-20 vision.

“I’ve never really thought about how important eyesight is, it’s something we take for granted every single day, especially with the kids, starting school, learning to read, it’s something I’ve never particularly thought about until that moment,” said Olivia.

The terrifying ordeal was the motivation for the mum-of-two to back a new campaign with The College of Optometrists that encourages parents to take their young children for free eye tests before they start school.

New research has found that just five percent of under-fives had an eye test last year.

Now, in a new drive to diagnose conditions early and achieve the best possible outcomes, The College wants parents to book appointments for their little ones.

In the UK all children under 16 are entitled to free eye tests, and this rises up to 19 for those still in full-time education.

And the research shows under-16s fare better than the preschoolers, with close to half having tested their eyes in 2025.

“The opticians, they’re just so kind,” said Olivia. “This is their job, this is what they do, and they want us to be going, because catching things in kids’ eye health early is so important, especially at that stage, before they start school.

“It’s daunting enough starting school, imagine if your child has got an issue with their eyesight? It’s going to make it even harder, so catching it at that point is probably the biggest piece of advice that they want to get through to everyone, and then follow up appointments, every one to two years.”

BECKY Hill has taken a swipe at The Voice bosses as she opened up about how she has missed out on becoming a coach on the show.

The Loose Control singer, 32, shot to fame on the first series of the ITV show back in 2012 when she was 18-years-old.

The current series of The Voice is airing on our screens, with coaches Sir Tom Jones, will.i.am, Kelly Rowland, Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones.

Capital FM host Jimmy Hill was interested to know if Becky would ever return to the singing programme after it was revealed Sir Tom was axed last month.

Jimmy asked her: “Would you ever go on The Voice as a coach?”

Becky replied: “I don’t think the show would have me on.”

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She continued: “Because I had an interview with them a few years ago because they were having a fifth chair.

“And in the interview I said well I’m the only success story from The Voice and there is a reason for that because you have talented people on your show.

“You make a TV show out of them, and then you don’t help them out afterwards.

“I remember being 18 and having to knock on so many doors when I was that age, but there were so many people on that show in my year, that were contestants that didn’t have that experience, kind of came off the show feeling like they had a normal job.

“They were then shoved on TV in front of 12 million people and then they were just spat back out.

“And I would wonder whether me saying to The Voice I would like to help artists. I don’t just want to be employed to be like ‘When it was me, I know how you feel’.

“Because I know that that’s what they’re going to try and get me to do.

“I would love to help people out and make people into, introduce them to people.

“Never got a callback. So I don’t think it’s a case of ‘Would you do The Voice?’

“I think it’s a question of would The Voice do me?”

When Becky appeared on The Voice in 2012 the show aired on BBC One and was presented by Holly Willoughby and Reggie Yates.

The coaches were will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones, Jessie J and Danny O’Donoghue.

The series was won by Leanne Mitchell.

The Voice has now aired 14 series since then and it recently hit headlines after it was revealed that Sir Tom Jones was axed.

A source told us at the time “ITV absolutely love Sir Tom and they’re working very hard behind the scenes to make this work.”

The Sun previously revealed rapper Aitch was to replace McFly duo Danny Jones and Tom Fletcher, who are leaving the show.

Former Girls Aloud singer Cheryl is also set to make her primetime TV comeback as a coach, while rapper will.i.am is returning with Kelly Rowland.

A source said: “Everyone loves Sir Tom but there was a feeling that the upcoming series needed a major refresh.

“With Aitch and Cheryl coming on board and Kelly returning with will.i.am, there just wasn’t a seat going.”

Becky is best known for songs such as Remember, Crazy What Love Can Do, Gecko (Overdrive) and Wish You Well.

Celebrity Traitors star James Blunt made a major move at the Round Table in the latest episode of the BBC show, which left Hannah Fry and Jerry Hall vulnerable for murder

James Blunt has admitted to some serious skulduggery on Celebrity Traitors that only fan managed to rumble.

The You’re Beautiful crooner, 52, is among a slew of stars who have signed up for the second series of the BBC show, which kicked off this month.

Last week, James made a very subtle move at the Round Table, while his co-stars, Hannah Fry and Jerry Hall were vulnerable for murder to save the one he wanted to stay in the game.

After the rest of the Faithfuls received a shield to keep them safe, the singer claimed in front of the cast that he was suspicious of maths whizz, Hannah, while dramatically declaring that the ‘most obvious solution is often truest’.

Musing over the likelihood of one murder and a recruitment, James proposed the perfect plan would be to murder one threat to the Traitors – Amol Rajan – and recruit an even bigger threat – Hannah.

The nail-biting episode ended on a cliffhanger. However, James has now taken to Instagram admitting that mentioning Hannah was actually a ruse to stop her from being murdered as he needed her on side.

One eagled-eyed viewer posted: “I’d like to think it’s a tactic to keep her in the game. If her name is brought up the Traitors are less likely to murder her.”

Confirming that this was his game plan all along, James replied: “Bingo!”

We don’t know if Hannah, stays or not, however some fans reckon she must have survived another night on the show after James appeared to let the cat out of the bag online.

Fans are also wondering if thespian Richard E. Grant has been given the chop after the tense Round Table ended without any votes.

Richard was in journalist Amol’s bad books after being the first murder of the actor last week.

Speaking on Radio 4 today, Amol said that Richard, 69, apologised to him and admitted that he went “completely mad” filming the BBC show.

“Absolutely [I played it all wrong],” he said. “There is generally a tactic that is applicable and effective – you’ve got to try and stay schtum. And the one or two things I might say in my defence are: you know how these things work—it’s all in the edit.

“Also, lots of people were having a go at Richard, we all had a go at him because he said he was a traitor, which has never happened before and is a completely ludicrous thing to do.”

Revealing the pair had lunch together to clear the air, Amol concluded: “So it wasn’t just me doing it. I actually had a lunch with him (it was all filmed in Spring) a few weeks ago, and I did ask him and he said, ‘I’m so sorry, I went completely mad and thought you were a threat.'”

SURELY, he can’t survive?

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ALISON Hammond has hit out at critics of her 22-year age gap with her Russian boyfriend, saying it’s insulting to give her a “wildlife classification” by calling her a “cougar”.

The This Morning host, 51, has been dating massage therapist David Putman, 29, for three years and insists they are happy together because they “make each other laugh.”

However, she said she faces more criticism as a “cougar” – a slang term for a woman dating a younger man – than older men who date younger women.

Asked about whether she found the term offensive, she said: “It depends who’s saying it and how they’re saying it.

“Sometimes I think it’s funny. Sometimes I think, ‘Darling, I’m not a cougar. I’m a whole safari!’

“But there is definitely a double standard. A man dates a younger woman and everyone goes, “Good for him.”

READ MORE ON ALISON HAMMOND

AL’S LOVE

Alison Hammond, 51, and Russian boyfriend, 29, are ‘obsessed with each other’

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Alison Hammond says she ‘thought she was having heart attack’ on This Morning

“A woman dates a younger man and suddenly she’s been given a wildlife classification. Let women enjoy themselves!”

Speaking in the November/December issue of Attitude magazine, which is on newsstands today, she was also asked whether she has a message for those who judge their age difference.

The Great British Bake Off host said: “Mind your business! No, genuinely, I think people spend far too much time worrying about other people’s relationships.

“If two consenting adults are happy, loved,respected and making each other laugh,what exactly is the problem? People will always have an opinion.

“I’ve learned that you can’t live your life according to everybody else’s opinions because you’ll end up exhausted and miserable. Love who you love.”

Praising her partner further, she explained: “I love that we can make each other laugh. That’s the big thing for me.

“Life is too short to be in a relationship where you can’t laugh together. We’re different in lots of ways, but sometimes those differences are exactly what makes it interesting.

“And let’s be honest, I bring the life experience and he brings the youth. It’s basically a human multi-generational home!”

She received the Honorary Gay gong at Wednesday evening’s Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards at London’s Roundhouse, but missed the event after suffering a health scare last Friday which saw her rushed off This Morning to hospital.

In a comment on Instagram on Monday she admitted she “thought it was a heart attack, it was very scary,” although she has since been given the all clear.

JOOLS HOLLAND is recording a one-off TV special with Fontaines D.C.

Their fans crashed the website after he hinted at the band’s new record, Dopamine Chamber, without naming them as he announced the intimate show in London on October 12.

A UK holiday park has revealed its huge multi-million pound upgrade – and will be its largest in history.

Thurston Manor is less than an hour from Edinburgh, and has stays for as little as £18 per night.

Along with its cosy caravans and lodges, there are some very exciting additions coming its way.

The park has announced it is undergoing a huge £4million upgrade with work starting this November.

One of the largest upgrades will be to its existing indoor swimming pool which will be expanded to become 18-metres long.

It will also add a new toddler splash area, designed specifically for little children – and for adults, there will be a new jacuzzi, steam room and sauna.

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The pre-existing gym facilities will also be upgraded.

Its entertainment complex is set to be revamped too with new activities and facilities both indoors and outdoors.

Outside will be a new pirate-themed 9-hole adventure golf course, giant chess and lots of things to do like table tennis, curling – and it will install a padel court.

Inside will be a new soft play area with an upgraded games arcade including interactive darts.

The Hunter’s Bar and Restaurant is being refurbished, and will have a brand-new sports bar, as well as a transformed showbar where there will be entertainment for guests.

A new outdoor terrace will be a new spot that guests can enjoy throughout the year with open-air seating through the summer and covered for when the weather doesn’t play ball.

For those wanting sweet treats, there will also be a brand-new ice cream parlour. 

When it comes to accommodation, holiday homes and pitches will be added to the site too.

Currently, guests can stay in basic caravans, to luxury lodges including The Hideout and The Hideaway which have outdoor decks and lots of inside space.

Work is due to start in November of this year with a Grand Opening event planned for Easter 2027.

For those who want to book a break that coincides with the new additions, three-night breaks on April 23 start from £219 – or £18.25pppn.

With this break, a family of four can stay in an Essential Clover Caravan which has two bedrooms (one double, one twin), kitchen and living area.

Simon Lane, CEO of Verdant Parks, said: “This is an incredibly exciting time for Verdant Parks, our employees, our owners and our holidaymakers.

“We’re committing our biggest investment to date to Thurston Manor Holiday Park and completely transforming what guests can see, do and experience when they visit.

“From the extended swimming pool and new toddler splash area to the new padel court, pirate-themed adventure golf and transformed entertainment offering, there will be something for everyone to enjoy. 

“We’re delighted to reveal our plans for the next chapter of Thurston Manor and we can’t wait to share more details and sneak peeks as the transformation takes shape over the next six months.”

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.

MINI bars at your seat, fancy amenity kits and the ‘world’s biggest business class’ – British Airways’ latest announcement is transforming the way Brits will fly with the flag carrier.

The airline’s huge new upgrades are part of the A380 retrofit programme.

Set to cost millions, it will see new seats in every single cabin, including in World Traveller – economy – and its premium economy, World Traveller Plus.

It will also have what they are calling the world’s biggest business class as well, with 106 Club Suite seats which will be on the upper deck.

This is alongside 12 seats in First, 84 in World Traveller Plus and 215 in World Traveller.

The new amenity kits have been rolled out as well – First Class passengers will get bags designed by Swaine with Wildsmith toiletries, and Business Class will get unique patterned bags with anatome products.

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First passengers will be getting a few other upgrades as well.

This includes new pyjamas with a bespoke tartan pattern design, along with slippers and blankets.

A built in mini bar will also mean First passengers can get their own snacks without having to go to the galley, with chocolates, mints and even electrolytes.

A new dining experience will include onboard Bollinger, and a wide cocktail menu. Even racks of lamb and grilled salmon will be on the menu.

British Airways boss Sean Doyle said: “This is a major milestone for British Airways and the future of our A380 fleet, marking one of the most significant transformations we’ve ever undertaken on any aircraft.

‘We’ve completely reimagined the customer experience, introducing new and updated seats in every cabin, all carefully considered to deliver greater comfort and an elevated customer experience.

“From redesigned interiors and upgraded dining to new amenities and service delivery, every detail has been thoughtfully designed with our customers front and centre, helping them to have a more seamless and memorable experience when they fly with us.”

Off the plane, new airport lounges are also being introduced.

A new lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5 C will open by the end of 2028, while the Heathrow Arrivals lounge is being redesigned.

Lounges across the US including Boston, Newark and San Francisco are being updated, along with Geneva.

PUSSYCAT Dolls star Kimberley Wyatt has revealed she had a hip replacement as she shared tearful videos from her hospital bed.

The singer, 44, shared a photo of herself on crutches with compression socks on after the operation.

Kimberley said prior to the procedure she was left limping around and could barely sleep because of the pain.

She wrote alongside a series of photos from her time hospital: “I had a moment tonight. I’m in Dublin, settling into another hotel room, and I’d taken in too much. Too much news. Too much of what’s happening to women. Too much casual cruelty online.

“Too much of the stuff people seem to get away with and a bit too much from my own little world too.”

She then shared a clip of her in hospital before undergoing an operation.

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The pop star went on: “So I got in the bath and somewhere in there I realised I needed to give my brain something else to hold onto.

“Something good, Something I’m proud of. Which, weirdly took me straight to my hip. A few years ago I could barely walk. For nearly two years, I limped through every day and barely slept because of the pain.

“I remember watching my children playing on holiday and being in too much pain to walk over to them.

“I just stood there and I was scared.”

The star then posted a clip of her in tears while attached to drips from her hospital bed.

Kimberley was told that she would need a hip replacement and ended up ended up having to learn to walk again after the opertation.

She spoke about the photo of her on crutches with her son, who was then four, and said: “I look at that picture now and I don’t really see the surgery. I see the strength.”

Kimberley admitted she barely spoke about her hip at the time but said it felt “frightening”.

Looking at how far she’s come, the American star said: “And tonight I thought about where those legs are now.

“On a Pussycat Dolls tour, after four major surgeries, three caesareans, one hip replacement and somehow this body is still dancing.”

She captioned the post: “I haven’t spoken much about this part of my story.

“Tonight, I realised why I needed to.

“STILL DANCING. Beautiful Movements,” with a broken heart emoji.

Her Pussycat Dolls bandmate Nicole Scherzinger commented: “Thankyou for this.”

It comes after Nicole suffered a horrifying mishap just an hour before she was due to take to the stage with The Pussycat Dolls.

The band’s lead singer took to Instagram to showcase images of painful burns on her leg, leading one fan to claim: “God heal Nicole of any pain”.

Nicole, 48, is in the midst of the band’s jam-packed tour and shared how boiling water had spilled over her lower leg shortly before taking to the stage in Germany.

The Don’t Cha hitmaker uploaded an image showing her limb looking sore with red raw marks across her inner thigh from the knee down to her ankle.

In her caption she wrote: “Nothing like boiling water falling on your leg an hour before your set.

“But the show must go on.

“Thanks Dusseldorf for keeping me going. See you soon Amsterdam!”

MYLEENE Klass has finally spoken out on why she won’t be joining her fellow Hear’Say bandmates for their upcoming reunion tour.

The noughties band announced last week that they were returning for a tour to mark 25 years since their No.1 hit Pure & Simple.

However, fans quickly noticed that Myleene was missing from the line-up – as Kym Marsh, Suzanne Shaw, Noel Sullivan and Danny Foster were all promoting the reunion online while she remained silent.

Now, Myleene has revealed why she turned down the tour.

Talking on today’s Loose Women, the star explained: “They were really sweet and they did include me in the discussions but it’s not something I can commit to at the moment, I just really can’t.

“I know they are still figuring out a lot of the moving parts of it and until they do that, there’s nothing set in stone. For me, I’m just super busy.

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“I’m committed to you guys. I’ve got my work. I love the guys dearly, it was an incredibly important time in my life. It taught me so much, epic songs and moments like that.”

Myleene isn’t totally against the idea of ever joining her bandmates, she admitted.

When quizzed by her fellow Loose Women, Myleene said: “I would say never say never about anything.

“Because, I don’t really agree about revisiting the past but then people say to me, like, ‘you went back in the jungle’ and I went back and had another bob! So, I’m a walking contradiction in that sense!

“Like I said, until there are things set in stone it’s very difficult to commit to something that is so up in the air. I think they are figuring things out as well, but I really do appreciate that they included me in the initial discussions.”

Hear’Say formed on ITV reality television show Popstars and debuted in 2001, splitting the following year.

The band set tongues wagging last week as they reignited an Instagram page to tease their tour.

They posted a screen recording of a WhatsApp conversation between them, with Danny writing: “Wow . . . can you believe the response to that tour clip we posted?!”, referencing a video they had shared of an old performance. Suzanne replied: “I know right, amazing! Ahhh the memories . . . can you believe it was 25 years ago?!”

Noel said: “OK, so hear me out . . . ” Kym urged: “Go on,” before Noel added: “Fancy getting the band back together?”

The post came exactly 24 years after Hear’Say split, with the band disbanding on 1 October 2002.

ONE of the longest piers in the UK has unveiled its latest restoration update after being forced to close four years ago.

Southport Pier in Merseyside has been closed since 2022 after being deemed unsafe but is currently undergoing a huge £20million restoration project.

As part of the project, sections of the pier are being stripped back including the decking.

There will also be replacement steelwork, such as restoring the existing handrails and tramlines.

A total of 27 lighting arches have been removed as well as a half-way house and kiosk that have been taken down.

The pier, which is one of the longest in the UK and dates back to 1860, will undergo construction and reconstruction work until around September next year.

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Sefton Council previously said: “The first task contractors will have is to assess the current condition of the existing paintwork on the structure’s columns. We want to ascertain if there has been any deterioration since previous assessments were undertaken.

“If the condition is good it can be left as is, however if not we will also need to repaint the whole structure as part of the repair works.

“This pre-construction work will take at least five days to complete.

“Following this we’ll shortly be moving onto the ground investigation stage within the coming weeks, which checks the stability of the ground underneath and around the Pier for materials like scaffolding.”

The pier originally opened in 1860 but the pavilion was destroyed in 1897 by a fire.

Another fire damaged the deck in 1959.

Then in 1975, it was awarded a Grade II listed status and a £7million tramway was added in 2002 running along the pier.

Notably figures associated with the pier include Charlie Chaplin, who performed there during his early career.