sex

From having sex with customer in the loos to fist fights in the kitchen

THE UK’s best restaurants used to be ruled by cocky French chefs with big hats and even bigger bellies.

But that all changed thanks to a trio of rock ‘n’ roll Brits.

Marco Pierre White, Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay Credit: BBC
Hotheads Gordon and Marco making pasta at Harveys Credit: Alamy

Kitchen mavericks Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal turned the stuffy industry on its head with their trendy establishments, where members of the Spice Girls, Oasis and Hollywood’s finest would compete with high-society folk for the most sought-after dinner reservations going.

New BBC documentary Rise Of The Rockstar Chefs explores the rise of the three men who were blazing a trial — when they weren’t barking at their sous chefs.

Gordon sums them up as “council house rebels with a f***ing cause”, while Marco says: “Chefs have always been naughty. They were naughty before me, and they’re naughty after me.

“But the likes of Gordon and Heston made it rock ’n’ roll.”

According to Gordon, it was his mentor Marco who exhibited the most rock-star behaviour.

The Leeds-born chef won legions of new admirers by posing semi-naked in black-and-white snaps taken by provocative photographer Bob Carlos Clarke for his cook book White Heat.

And some customers couldn’t get enough of Marco, including a female diner on a date in Harveys, his restaurant serving French cuisine in Wandsworth, South West London.

Gordon, 59, said: “Marco left service, ran through the restaurant, ran upstairs, jumped in the cubicle, did whatever in the bathroom, and then jumped through the window of that bathroom.

“He then dropped down the f***ing skylight, back on to my hot plate having done whatever.

“And then she then went back into the restaurant and continued eating her dessert with her boyfriend.”

Marco also had form for fighting with customers, according to Gordon.

During his time running Harveys — Gordon’s first-ever chef’s job — seeing scruffy-haired Marco brawling in the restaurant would be a common sight, especially if a diner had the nerve to point out something was wrong with their meal.

Gordon recalls: “I remember, I think it was my second week, this customer had complained the pigeon was overcooked and Marco said to him, ‘Do me a favour. Dinner’s on me, and what you didn’t spend in my restaurant, buy your wife some new clothes.’

“This guy said to him, ‘Say that again, what did you say to me?’, and then this guy started walking towards Marco, knocks into me, and then they start going at it.

“This customer, he’s like sprawling all over the floor and I’m boning out my pigeon.”

Nick Munier, who was Marco’s maitre d’ at Harveys, where actor Oliver Reed would often be found lying drunk on the floor, revealed what happened if a customer asked a waiter for salt and pepper.

He added: “What we used to say is ‘You’ve ruined your own meal, we won’t be serving you any more food.”

“We’d start to clear the table and everything will be clear and the guest would be left embarrassed with nothing in front of them, and the only thing they could do was leave.”

Munier also witnessed Marco chuck the entire contents of his cheeseboard trolley against a wall because he was unhappy with how it looked.

He recalled: “No one was to clean them and he wanted me to see these cheeses through service, so that next time I don’t make the same mistakes.”

A young Marco at the height of his fame Credit: Flo Smith
Gordon in his own restaurant in Chelsea in 2001 Credit: AFP

Celebrities were not safe from Marco’s wrath either.

Actor Nigel Havers said he was booted out of The Canteen, which Marco set up with Sir Michael Caine in 1992 in Chelsea Harbour, for commenting about waiting time.

He revealed: “I went there in the first week and it took three hours to get the first course.

“Someone came over and said, ‘How was the meal?’ I said ‘I don’t really remember the food, it took three hours’. Marco looms up and says, ‘Get out of my restaurant’.

“It was scary, and you’re paying through the nose to be harangued by this chef, this mad fool.”

Despite their rock ’n’ roll personas, neither Gordon nor Marco claim to have dabbled in drugs, although other chefs in that era certainly did.

Gordon says: “Chefs were becoming heavy drinkers, drugs were getting involved in the industry.

“Heart attacks every other week.

“Everyone thought you could stay up all night and do drugs and cook.

“That was the opposite of where I came from.”

Marco, 64, added: “I’ve never taken drugs in my life and I didn’t drink until I was 41.”

Gordon and Marco’s tumultuous relationship and rivalry is very much at the core of this three-parter, which also celebrates 60-year-old Heston’s visionary role and how he quietly equalled their three Michelin star haul from his Fat Duck restaurant in Berkshire.

The trio meet in person for the first time in decades in the third episode, but it is the coming together of Gordon and Marco which is likely to provide the most drama, given the mighty fallout between them.

The pair came to blows inside Harveys during Gordon’s last service in October 1989.

Food boffin Heston at The Fat Duck in 2004 Credit: Shutterstock
Credit: Getty

Marco secretly did not want to lose his protégé, and the skirmish became famous as it was the first and only time Gordon cried in a kitchen.

The F-Word star explained: “I got absolutely pummelled.

“It was almost like, if I can’t have you and own you, I’m going to destroy you.

“There was an issue with the timing, I think it was something to do with the red mullet and I answered him back.

“He was angry, literally two fists, chef jacket buttons flying everywhere, and he’s shaking me on this coffee machine and then a glass bowl of coffee fell and smashed everywhere, and the kitchen went silent.”

When Marco was quizzed about the alleged ruckus, he said: “Not true.”

Gordon continued: “I bawled my eyes out. I was f***ing upset.

“I was in shock that I was leaving and this level of aggression — he knew I could run this restaurant without him and it was a relationship that was coming to an end and he wanted to finish me before I got to somebody else.

“I’ve never forgiven him for that.

“It still brings back incredible moments when you read ‘the chef who made Gordon Ramsay cry’ — why is that a headline?

“Did I f**k up massively and destroy his reputation? Nothing of the sort.

“Was it justified? No, it wasn’t.

“It was just another scenario where he wanted to prove he was better than me and he wanted to dine out on it. You sad c***.”

Marco responded again: “It’s not personal, it’s service.”

Actor Oliver Reed would often be found lying drunk on the floor at Harveys Credit: All Action
Actor Nigel Havers said he was booted out of The Canteen for commenting about the waiting time Credit: Rex Features

Gordon eventually got his revenge on Marco by not only equalling his Michelin stars total but by becoming a household name worldwide.

Both Gordon and Heston profited from the era where the chefs became the stars by landing big-money TV deals, with the former getting further exposure by fronting a cooking show across the pond.

Marco attempted to downplay their achievements, saying in the documentary: “I don’t do TV.

“They like to manipulate, they like manufactured drama — it’s called reality TV.

“Don’t blame me for that.

“Have it, Gordon — it’s all yours.”

But that didn’t stop Marco from hosting ITV’s Hell’s Kitchen for two series from 2007 to 2009 before the show was axed, much to Gordon’s delight given he hosted the debut series in 2003.

Gordon added: “I couldn’t believe my luck.

“I was so happy for Marco to pick up the slack and step into my shoes.

“All that s**t you have given me for doing TV, now you’re following in my footsteps.

“Boy, has the tide turned.

“That was the start of Marco’s demise on TV because Hell’s Kitchen tanked.

“Of all the f***ing people, how many times I’ve told him, do not take sloppy seconds.”

  • Rise Of The Rockstar Chefs starts on BBC Two on Thursday at 9pm.

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‘BoJack Horseman’ animator Lisa Hanawalt turns horses, sex and midlife into a candid memoir

On the Shelf

I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex

By Lisa Hanawalt
Drawn and Quarterly: 250 pages, $25

If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.

While growing up in Palo Alto, it was not uncommon for animator Lisa Hanawalt to pretend she was a horse. This game of make-believe was a way for Hanawalt to escape her “burdensome and awkward” body, as she writes in her candid new illustrated memoir, “I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses And Sex.” “But when I was a horse, I was powerful, graceful, and gorgeous.”

Although Hanawalt might be an unapologetic horse girl, she really hates a horse pun. So when it came time to choose a title for the book, she decided to keep it literal. “This is just the most true version of what this book actually is,” Hanawalt says about the utterly confessional nature of her book’s title, which groups two seemingly unrelated subjects that her mind wanders to when she’s bored. “They’re the two most mentally engaging things I can imagine,” she writes as a self-described “anixous lil freak.”

"I Can't Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex" by Lisa Hanawalt

“I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex” by Lisa Hanawalt

(Drawn & Quarterly)

Sitting in her Los Angeles home, the designer of such adult animated touchstones as Netflix’s “BoJack Horseman,” “Long Story Short,” and her personal creation “Tuca & Bertie” is drinking from a mug of tea as we chat over Zoom. When I ask what people’s responses have been so far to her book’s cheeky title, she says, “They just laugh. A lot of them are just like, ‘Well, I have to read that.’”

In many ways, “I Can’t Stop” represents a culmination of Hanawalt’s shtick for truth-telling via colorful anthropomorphized characters. The 43-year-old’s sketches are famously loose, bright and unrefined. Topics like weird body stuff, sex and horniness are never off the table. A typical drawing might feature an animal-human hybrid (say, a bird head on a human body) doing something utterly mundane while Hanawalt’s inner monologue appears in thought bubbles to reveal an intensely personal thought most people would never say out loud, let alone publish in a book.

“They all have personal things in them, some more overtly than others,” Hanawalt says about her particular oeuvre, which includes 2013’s “My Dirty Dumb Eyes,” 2016’s “Hot Dog Taste Test,” 2018’s “Coyote Doggirl” and 2020’s archival collection “I Want You,” as well as countless contributions over the years to publications like the New York Times, McSweeney’s, Vanity Fair and the now-defunct women’s humor blog the Hairpin.

“I think [‘I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex’] fits in with ‘My Dirty Dumb Eyes’ and ‘Hot Dog Taste Test’ in that it’s another kind of mishmash book, and it all goes together in my mind,” Hanawalt adds of her nonlinear storytelling, which in this book intersperses memories of couples therapy and egg-freezing with drawings of a sloth dancing with a bear. Or a deep dive on the filmography of Kevin Costner.

Hanawalt has never shied away from getting personal, but there’s no question that “I Can’t Stop” takes her disarming and revelatory style to a new level. “I think it just needed that extra layer of me going through a midlife crisis and breaking up with my partner and going through all this weird stuff. It’s a weird combo with the horse stuff because my love of horses is so pure.”

An illustration from "I Can't Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex" by Lisa Hanawalt.

An illustration from “I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex” by Lisa Hanawalt.

(Drawn & Quarterly)

If Hanawalt ever felt embarrassment at being a horse girl (and she certainly has — as she got older, Hanawalt eased off of the horse games out of fear of being bullied), that shame has since evaporated. About eight years ago, as she faced a combination of career burnout and gut-health issues, Hanawalt started taking riding lessons in an attempt at self-care. “There’s something about riding that clears my head and eases my physical pain, for a moment,” she writes in a comic titled “How I Got a Horse.” When her then-partner (comedian and podcaster Adam Conover) noted how relaxed Hanawalt seemed when she’d return home from riding, he urged her to consider buying a horse of her own.

So Hanawalt reactivated her dormant Facebook account and began scrolling through local horse sale groups. That’s where she discovered Juniper (“Juni” for short), a 2006 Norwegian Fjord Mare. “I bought her somewhat impulsively,” Hanawalt says. “It was a huge lifestyle shift. Having a horse is often very stressful because it’s like a pet you have to rent an apartment for. It’s expensive, and they injure themselves … But then, being with her, I’m present in a way that I never am in the rest of my life. It just feels nice to care for another creature, human or animal.”

Spending time with Juni and a cast of new friends at the stables was physically and emotionally therapeutic for Hanawalt, particularly as new issues began to sneak up on her. For instance, she began to wonder if she still wanted to remain child-free. Simultaneously, her long-term relationship of 14 years was beginning to come apart. She describes in the book how she and Conover made a Hail Mary attempt at ethical nonmonogamy — an experience she’s glad to have had, even if Hanawalt jokes today about how she’s “a true polyamory fail.” She adds, “I don’t think it’s for me at all, and I never did. But I was willing to give it a go [as a] last-ditch effort to save something I really cared about. I think that’s the case for a lot of people.”

An illustration from "I Can't Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex" by Lisa Hanawalt.

An illustration from “I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex” by Lisa Hanawalt.

(Drawn & Quarterly)

Hanawalt admits how anxious she was to talk about her breakup in the book — so much so that she considered avoiding it altogether. “I was dancing around it, and then I was like, ‘I don’t need to explain every little part of it,’” she says. Hanawalt even solicited creative feedback from Conover, who responded by playing her bits of a new stand-up special, which showcased his perspective of their breakup (that special will be the forthcoming “Big Divorce Energy,” out Oct. 23 on YouTube).

“It’s really nice that we still have that kind of relationship,” Hanawalt says of her ongoing connection and friendship with Conover. “Because I really value his opinion and input. He’s just a really smart, creative person, and that was always a strong point in our relationship. I also just wanted him to be OK with how I was representing us. I’m still very protective of that.”

The latter half of “I Can’t Stop” finds Hanawalt processing the end of her relationship, dipping a toe back into the dating world, and exploring fertility options such as egg-freezing. Despite its heavy subject matter — one especially tough passage looks back at a sexual assault Hanawalt experienced when she was an adolescent — “I Can’t Stop” is packed with absurdist doodles that keep the mood light without seeming dismissive. For example, as she describes how Juni behaves when she’s in heat, Hanawalt considers her own overwhelming “livestock mode,” which once included a hyper-fixation on Kevin Costner. This is all laid out in a section titled “Costner Watch,” where Hanawalt decides to consume every film the actor ever made.

Artist and author Lisa Hanawalt with her beloved horse Juniper.

Artist and author Lisa Hanawalt with her beloved horse Juniper.

(Annie Noelker / For The Times)

“Yeah, I was losing my mind,” Hanawalt laughs at “Costner Watch.” “I don’t know. It was a cope, in hindsight.”

As she prepares to celebrate the release of “I Can’t Stop” with a six-date book tour, Hanawalt can’t say for sure if she’s answered any existential midlife questions. She jokes that her eggs are “still on ice.” She’s working on several new animation projects, though isn’t sure at this point which, if any, will move forward. (It probably also doesn’t help that the animation industry is currently experiencing a severe downturn, with record-high unemployment among even the most seasoned creators. “It’s a weird time,” she says.) To round things out, Hanawalt says she’s “selling hats” and even working with a perfume maker to eventually release a “horsey-themed” fragrance.

Hanawalt also has no clue what being a self-proclaimed horse girl even means in the year 2026. The other horse people she hangs out with at the barn, where Juni lives, come from “every possible income level and political belief, and they’re all kind of shoved together,” Hanawalt tells me. “It’s kind of like ‘Lord of the Flies.’

“It’s just so fun to have a community with people and be able to trust them,” Hanawalt says of the friendships she’s made through caring for Juni. “We help each other. Just to be able to go out on the trail and talk about blow jobs or whatever with women I truly connect to … They’re some of the coolest people I’ve ever met in my whole life.”

All that is to say, Hanawalt has grown more comfortable in not quite knowing what’s next. “You’re never fully happy or fulfilled,” she says. “And that’s part of being alive.”

Catch Lisa Hanawalt live Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at Skylight Books in conversation with Priyanka Mattoo. 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles.

Brodsky is an L.A. culture and music writer. Her biography of Stevie Nicks, “Lessons & Lace,” published by Penguin Random House, is out now.

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Kendall Jenner says she’d be open to sex with women as she breaks silence on Cara Delevingne romance rumours

KENDALL Jenner has denied ever dating fellow model Cara ­Delevingne — but says being a lesbian would be “amazing”.

The US beauty, 30, sees the Brit, who she has been pals with for around 12 years, as a “sister”.

Kendall Jenner says being a lesbian would be ‘amazing’ Credit: Splash
Kendall has denied ever dating fellow model Cara ­Delevingne Credit: 2014 Dave Benett

She said: “There’s definitely a rumour that she and I dated or something in the past, which is not true.

“I love Cara.

“She’s my sister, and that never happened.”

Kendall, who is seeing Aussie actor Jacob Elordi, 29, spoke out in the latest episode of US reality show The Kardashians.

Read more on Kendall Jenner

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Sydney Sweeney doubles down in feud with critics as she poses in new naked ad

Kendall spoke out in the latest episode of US reality show The Kardashians Credit: Getty
Kendall and Cara during Paris Fashion Week Credit: Splash News

She said: “She kind of like brought me under her wing in a way and made me feel really safe and welcome in the modelling world.”

She said that “people think I’m a lesbian to this day.

“I’m not”, but she has not ruled out the idea of same-sex love.

She went on: “For the record, I think being a lesbian would be fun and amazing and easier.

“I just have never had a desire to have sex with women.

“Never say never, right?”

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Katherine Ryan says she’s ‘lazy’ in the bedroom as comedian reveals how often she and husband have sex

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.”

Katherine Ryan has branded herself “lazy” when it comes to her sex life Credit: Getty
The comedian shed light on how often she and her high school sweetheart husband Bobby Kootstra sleep together Credit: PA

“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!”

TAKE TWO

Katherine Ryan takes cheeky swipe at David Beckham – weeks after Victoria slur


‘MOMS OUT!’

Laura Whitmore and Katherine Ryan let loose at Emily Atack’s wedding

“I just don’t try – I’m a lazy shag!” Katherine admitted in a new interview Credit: Getty
Katherine has a daughter – Violet – from a previous relationship, but now also shares three children with Bobby – Fred, Fenna and Holland Credit: Rex
Katherine recently got into hot water with a comment she made about Victoria Beckham Credit: PA
Katherine publicly apologised to Victoria in an Instagram reel where she shared a screenshot of her message to the fashion designer, elaborating that she “actually loves Victoria Beckham” Credit: Instagram/kathbum

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”.

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Timothy Busfield child sex abuse charges thrown out, judge orders

A New Mexico judge on Friday ruled in favor of Emmy winner Timothy Busfield, tossing out multiple child sex abuse charges against the actor.

During a hearing, Judge Joseph A. Montano granted Busfield’s motion to dismiss his indictment, citing prosecutorial misconduct and errors that undermined the grand jury process. According to the order, “the prosecuting attorney failed to act in a fair and impartial manner” and proceedings thus far “were conducted in a manner that violated grand jury statutes designed to protect the structural integrity of our grand jury system.”

State prosecutors had indicted Busfield in February and charged him with four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child. The since-dismissed charges stemmed from his alleged behavior with two actors, who are brothers, on the set of the Fox crime drama “The Cleaning Lady.” The actor, known for “The West Wing” and “Thirtysomething,” has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

While a legal representative for Busfield did not immediately respond Friday to The Times’ request for comment, a spokesperson for the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office said prosecutors are “evaluating our options to determine how we will proceed.”

A New Mexico judge issued a warrant for Busfield’s arrest in January, citing two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and a single count of child abuse. Busfield was accused of inappropriately touching the child actors during his time as an actor, director and producer on “The Cleaning Lady,” according to an affidavit filed by New Mexico officials.

One child actor alleged Busfield first touched his “private areas” multiple times on set when he was 7 years old, according to the complaint. He said that Busfield touched him inappropriately again several times when he was 8. The affidavit also detailed a police interview with Busfield in which he suggested that the boys’ mother might have sought “revenge” on the director for “not bringing her kids back for the final season.”

Busfield filed his motion to quash the indictment in June, alleging the court refused to provide members of the grand jury with additional information and that prosecutors refused to allow jury members to hear from other witnesses, among other claims, according to court documents.

“The State treated the grand jury not as an independent body, but as the arm of the prosecution our courts have forbidden,” the motion says. “The resulting indictment must be dismissed.” Prosecutors rebutted Busfield’s allegations in a response to the dismissal and asked the court to deny his motion.

Before Friday’s order, a jury trial was scheduled to begin May 10, 2027.

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Lawsuit by 2 women accuses ex-Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz of sex trafficking

Two women filed a lawsuit Thursday against former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, saying they were sexually exploited by him and other men in violation of a federal anti-trafficking law.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Orlando, Fla., comes nearly two years after the House Ethics Committee said the Florida Republican had regularly paid for sex, including once with a 17-year-old girl, purchased and used illicit drugs, and violated state laws while a member of Congress.

Gaetz had left office when the report was released and denied wrongdoing. But the report helped to tank his nomination to become attorney general in President Trump’s second administration.

Two women said they were in their early 20s in 2017 when they met Gaetz through Joel Greenberg, who was a tax official in Seminole County and is now in prison for a raft of crimes, including a sex crime.

Gaetz provided drugs and paid the women for sex, out-of-state travel, lodging and other expenses, according to the lawsuit.

“Much of the conduct alleged against me is false,” Gaetz said in response.

“The lawsuit relies almost exclusively on a Congressional Committee report that didn’t allow me to confront my accusers. Now I will finally have that chance,” he said in a statement.

Gaetz also appeared to mock the women on the social platform X, sharing a 2018 social media photo of the backs of three women in bathing suits looking at the ocean in the Bahamas.

“I’m shocked nobody responded to their repeated cries for help, posted to instagram,” he said Thursday.

The lawsuit also names Greenberg, another man and businesses tied to Greenberg’s family.

“Every part of this venture ran on an exploitative power imbalance,” the women’s attorney, Spencer Kuvin, said in the lawsuit. “On one side stood a sitting congressman, an elected tax collector, and a former state legislator, men with public office, private homes, and money to spend. On the other stood young financially vulnerable women in their early twenties.”

Gaetz hosts a political talk show on One America News Network. He was recently appointed to the board of Triumph Gulf Coast, which oversees how Florida spends money recovered for damage from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

White writes for the Associated Press.

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Ex-fiance of U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace and 2 others charged with sex crimes she detailed in a House speech

Meg Kinnard and Jeffrey Collins

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace’s former fiance and two of his business associates were charged with sex crimes and voyeurism on Wednesday over an episode the South Carolina congresswoman described in detail during a speech last year on the House floor about how crimes against women are not investigated thoroughly.

John Douglas Osborne committed sex acts on a 23-year-old incapacitated and intoxicated woman while Mace’s ex-fiance Patrick Bryant and Eric Bernard Bowman watched, according to sworn statements by agents from the State Law Enforcement Division, which brought the charges.

The men talked about who would assault the woman beforehand, took photos and recorded the assault, which was also seen on a security system feed at the home in Sullivan’s Island, an affluent suburb of Charleston, state agents said. The woman had fallen into a pool and was passed out on a couch covering herself with a pillow, agents said.

Another woman who happened to be watching the feed saw the assault and took pictures and wrote about it in a journal, police said. Mace and Bryant were not yet engaged at the time of the October 2018 assault.

Osborne, 46, is charged with first-degree assault and battery and two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Bryant, 53, and Bowman, 46, are each charged with voyeurism.

Along with the voyeurism charge, Bowman was also charged with obstruction of justice after agents said he did a factory reset on a cellphone he knew investigators were seeking in a search warrant, and with publishing the name of a victim of criminal sexual conduct after posting the victim’s name and a video of her on X.

Bryant didn’t return a message seeking comment on Wednesday, and attorneys who have been listed as representing Bowman and Osborne in other cases did not immediately return messages.

Mace, a Republican, described the assault at length in a nearly hourlong speech in February 2025 that named the men and described other photos and videos found when she looked at Bryant’s cellphone when they were still together.

Mace said she “accidentally uncovered some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable. We’re talking about rape, non-consensual photos, non-consensual videos of women and underage girls, and the premeditated, calculated exploitation of women and girls in my district.”

At the time, Bryant completely denied the allegations. “I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name,” he told the Associated Press.

The State Law Enforcement Division didn’t say if their investigation into any of the men is continuing.

After the arrests, Mace released a statement detailing the 25 bills she says will protect victims of sexual assault, harassment or discrimination, including in retaliatory defamation and libel lawsuits that may result from allegations they bring to light.

The Republican, who is leaving the House this term after losing her bid to be South Carolina governor, introduced a proposal this week to require that anyone who brings such a case and loses must pay attorney fees for the defendant.

“Protecting women and holding predators accountable isn’t a slogan. It’s been one of my top priorities in Congress. For too long, survivors have faced broken systems while predators exploited loopholes and walked free,” Mace said in her statement.

Kinnard and Collins write for the Associated Press.

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