show biz

The news presenter has shared his Alzheimer’s journey in his new Channel 4 documentary

Jon Snow’s wife has opened up about his health condition during a documentary about the star’s life.

The 78-year-old broadcaster has been flooded with support in recent weeks after sharing he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s back in 2023.

Jon was the face of Channel 4 News from 1989 to 2021 and became one of the nation’s most trusted broadcasters before he decided to step down from his role after 32 years to focus on ‘longer-form projects’.

On Saturday evening (June 20), Jon shared his journey in an insightful Channel 4 documentary, Jon Snow: A Last Big Story, in association with the Alzheimer’s Society.

Jon’s wife, Dr Precious Lunga, starred alongside the veteran journalist on in the show. The 51-year-old is an epidemiologist and entrepreneur from Zimbabwe who left the country at 17 to study in the UK.

She graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1998 with a degree in neuroscience, before completing a PhD in neuroscience at the University of Cambridge in 2003.

The couple first met in 2001 on the Caribbean island of Mustique, where they tied the knot nine years later in 2010.

They welcomed a child together via surrogacy in 2021, with Jon also having two children from his previous marriage.

In one scene of the documentary, the camera followed Jon into a doctor’s appointment, where he was accompanied by Precious, and informed that his health has been slowly declining.

Precious responded to the doctor by adding that she felt Jon’s health had recently changed, before opening up about his initial diagnosis.

“When we received a diagnosis, people were writing Jon off, and that’s when I realised how stigmatised Alzheimer’s is, and it made me so angry actually”, Precious explained.

“This is a progressive disease, but you can have Alzheimer’s and still will be a valuable member of society to contribute, if your loved ones are there to help you navigate it.”

Speaking about what the future holds, Precious bravely confirmed: “So, I want to give him as good a life as I can.”

Speaking about his diagnosis in the film, Jon says: “At the beginning I wanted to hide it, there’s so much prejudice. Any sort of hint of mental decay, you’re sort of dead.

“There are moments when it pops up, but it’s not an all-day, every-day condition, and that’s what I cling onto.”

He added: “I’ve witnessed a great deal, I hope I’ve learned something – but I’ve still got a huge amount to learn. We all have. There’s still more to do.”

Jon Snow: A Last Big Story is streaming now on Channel4.com

Casualty fans have been left divided over Stevie Nash’s future on the BBC medical drama

It’s been a turbulent period in Casualty for beloved character Stevie Nash (Elinor Lawless) as BBC audiences discovered her role at Holby ED hangs in the balance.

After her colleague and mate Dylan Keogh (William Beck) uncovered she’d been conducting a clandestine romance with his son and junior medic Matty Linlaker, he informed Clinical Lead Flynn Byron (Olly Rix).

Explaining that the accusations levelled against her ‘amount to sexual coercion’, Matty, Dylan and Stevie were all required to attend hearings with HR panel members during Saturday’s instalment (June 20).

Throughout the medical drama, the three clashed yet again as Stevie subsequently apologised to Matty for the entire situation.

Nevertheless, Matty responded: “You’re not sorry, Stevie. You’ve realised I’ve got the power to end your career and you’re worried what I’m going to say, right?”

When she questioned what he intended to tell the HR panel, he remained silent, while Stevie was subsequently shown in floods of tears confiding in Flynn, confessing she didn’t wish to lose her position, reports the Daily Star.

As the episode drew to a close, audiences witnessed Stevie facing the panel members as she declared: “Look, before we get started. I just wanted to apologise unreservedly for my behaviour.

“I have no doubt whatsoever that I’ve made mistakes. But, I’m a bl**dy good doctor. I deserve to be here, and I’ll fight tooth and nail to make sure I stay.”

Can Stevie preserve her position at the hospital? Or will Matty destroy her career for spurning him?

It didn’t take long for viewers to react to the episode, with many divided over Stevie and her future on the long-running medical drama. One viewer wrote: “WE CAN’T LOSE STEVIE.”

While another urged: “Fight for your job, Stevie.” A third chimed in: “THE WAY STEVIE ENDED THE EPISODE. I’m so happy.”

With one fan commenting: “Stevie is going to fight for her job. Hopefully, she isn’t leaving now.”

Yet not everybody shared the same excitement about Stevie’s decision to fight for her position, with a number of viewers keen to see her go.

One wrote: “Don’t like this storyline. Add in real life, Stevie would be on suspension, I would’ve thought.” While another simply declared: “So tired of Stevie.”

Casualty is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

A Gavin & Stacey icon is tipped to be joining the celebrity line-up for the 2026 season of Strictly Come Dancing – which will see Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe take over as judges

Gavin & Stacey star Melanie Walters is the latest celebrity to have reportedly signed up to the 2026 season of Strictly Come Dancing. A report has claimed the 64-year-old actress will be throwing on sequins and hitting the ballroom floor as one of the star contestants for the upcoming 24th season of the long-running BBC show.

Sitcom fans will know Melanie as Gwen West in Gavin & Stacey – which aired its last ever episode in 2024 – and is also known for playing Bonnie Bevan in Hollyoaks, and for guest roles in a string of shows including Doc Martin, Casualty, and Beyond Paradise. Now fans may be able to see her in a whole new light as a contestant on the BBC’s iconic dance show.

The 2026 cast has started to be unveiled – with an EastEnders favourite and an Australian music icon among the confirmed cast so far. A report has now suggested that Melanie will be the next celeb to be announced as part of the upcoming line-up.

A source told The Sun on Sunday: ““Melanie is loved across the country for her role as Gwen. The Gavin & Stacey Christmas special in 2024 saw millions of fans turning in for the final episode of the series. BBC bosses are very excited to have landed Melanie given her popularity.”

When asked for a statement, the BBC responded to the Mirror to say: “We don’t comment on speculation.” EastEnders star Lacey Turner, who has played Stacey Slater in the BBC soap since 2004, was the first 2026 contestant to be announced – with Australian singer and recent Eurovision contestant Delta Goodrem also unmasked as a participant.

Fans will recall that Love Island star Dani Dyer was forced to drop out of the 2025 contest after suffering an early injury during the competition – but she has now been granted the chance to fight for the glitterball trophy again as she will return as a 2026 contestant. While celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton has also been unveiled as a season 24 participant.

After being announced as the first contestant for 2026, Lacey said in a statement: “I am so excited to being making my way to the dance floor this year to be a part of Strictly Come Dancing! I am a huge fan and can’t quite believe I will be taking part and not watching at home this year! I look forward to meeting everyone and learning a new skill!”

While Love Island’s Dani declared: “I am so excited to be back in the ballroom this September. I just cannot wait to get my dancing shoes back on and hopefully this time around I can actually make it to week one! I’m just over the moon and cannot wait to find out who else is doing it!”

Meanwhile, singer Delta – who was a favourite to win the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, but missed out on the crown – expressed her excitement at taking part in Strictly. She gushed: “I’ve been incredibly honoured to perform on many different stages throughout my career – from tv, theatre, film sets, to touring my own shows around the world, there is however one stage I’ve never stepped onto and that is the ballroom floor! I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining Strictly and can’t wait to get started!”

Chris – who has styled the hair of celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Ariana Grande – said: “I’m thrilled to be joining Strictly Come Dancing and coming home to the UK for this incredible experience. I’ve always believed that the best things happen when you take a chance and try something new. I may know my way around a salon floor, but the dance floor is a whole different story – and I can’t wait to get started.”

A lot is riding on the 2026 season of Strictly – which will be the first to air since the shock resignations of hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. Fans were blindsided last year when they abruptly announced they were to exit the show at the end of 2025 just weeks after the 23rd season started to air.

Model-turned-presenter Emma Willis will front the show alongside former Strictly professional Johannes Radebe and stand up comedian Josh Widdicombe. Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, Motsi Mabuse and Craig Revel Horwood have all been confirmed as returning as the panel of judges.

As news of the new presenting line-up last month, Emma declared: “To be stepping into the Strictly ballroom is something I can’t quite comprehend.” While Josh added he was: “giddy with excitement, honoured and a little overawed to be given the chance to step into the biggest shoes in television”.

And Strictly pro Johannes – who danced professionally on the series from 2018 through 2025 – said returning to the series as a new presenter was “beyond anything I ever imagined”. The 2026 season of Strictly is expected to begin airing in September.

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

Spanish painter Nieves González arrives in Los Angeles for her first U.S. solo exhibition having already experienced a taste of fame.

The 29-year-old caught the attention of the art and fashion worlds last year after being discovered on Instagram and commissioned to paint the cover of Lily Allen’s album “West End Girl.” Depicting the singer as a Baroque aristocrat clad in contemporary designer fashion, the portrait helped propel González onto an international stage.

Collectors have taken notice. The 13 paintings in “A Friendship Story,” opening Saturday at Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica, have already sold out, according to the gallery, with prices ranging from $4,000 to $20,000.

• Share via Close extra sharing options

Elle magazine dubbed González “Fashion’s Favorite New Artist,” while exhibitions in Rome, Paris, Belfast and Bilbao, Spain, expanded her reputation across Europe.

González developed her classic yet defiantly modern approach while studying at the University of Seville, where Spanish masters such as Diego Velázquez and Francisco de Zurbarán painted in the naturalist Baroque tradition. Drawing liberally from fashion, art history and everyday life, she often dresses the subjects of her portraits in puffer jackets — garments she wears herself during the cold winters of Granada, Spain, where she lives. The material, she said, recalls the sculptural rendering of fabric in paintings by Zurbarán and Velázquez: the folds, the volumes, the high shine.

Nieves González often dresses her subjects in puffer jackets.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

“It works beautifully from a visual standpoint,” she said, speaking Spanish during an interview at Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station a few days before the exhibition opened. Wearing blue jeans and a pink button-down blouse, she echoed the pastel blues and pinks that appear throughout many of the works surrounding her.

“Fashion inspires me,” she said. “Just as 17th century artists drew inspiration from the fashion of their day — often creating paintings that served as catalogs of current styles — I do the same,” she said. “The goal is to not merely convey a specific message or ideology but to create a testament to a generation and the era in which we live.”

This fall, González’s painting “La Sfida” (2025) will appear in the Städel Museum’s exhibition “Mary Magdalene. Sin. Pray. Love” in Frankfurt, Germany, alongside works by Lady Gaga, Marlene Dumas and Auguste Rodin. The painting depicts Mary Magdalene with long, flowing hair, draped in a regal red garment and clutching a skull — a contemporary interpretation of one of Christianity’s most enduring figures.

“Nieves González is the youngest of these artists and, at the same time, probably the one who most closely follows in the tradition of the Old Masters,” curators Bastian Eclercy and Stefan Roller wrote in an email.

The Santa Monica exhibition marks an evolution from the paintings that established González’s reputation. Earlier works often centered on solitary women posed with the self-possession of royal portraits or religious icons. “A Friendship Story” focuses on relationships between pairs of women, exploring friendship, intimacy, support and shared experience.

For González, friendship is one of the most profound aspects of women’s lives and a subject she felt deserved greater attention in painting.

Victoria Rios, a curator who works with González, said the artist’s paintings “rewrite the narratives of the past, rewrite the history of martyrdom and place women at the center.”

“Nothing in her painting is arbitrary,” Rios said in an email. “Every formal decision is also an ethical one.”

“The horse elevates the art; symbolically, it carries connotations of elegance and nobility,” Nieves González said. “It seemed like a way to elevate the concept of friendship.”

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

González frequently turns art historical conventions on their head. In “Salir a robar caballos: Go out to steal horses,” she replaces the archetypal portrait of a gallant man on horseback with two young women dressed in puffer and vinyl jackets, posed like contemporary Amazons atop rearing horses.

“The horse elevates the art; symbolically, it carries connotations of elegance and nobility,” González said. “It seemed like a way to elevate the concept of friendship. It also has an element of play, adventure and fun, since having fun is part of the bond too.”

The artist also sees her work through a feminist lens.

“We live in a patriarchal society, and so, unfortunately, I belong to the oppressed segment of that society, and my work relates to that,” she said. “It stems from a struggle, an understanding and a process of redefining concepts that we have historically established as normal, natural and habitual.”

“I am interested in portraying us as brave and powerful, sometimes even with an air of haughtiness,” she said.

Another painting, “Something’s crossed over me and I can’t go back” (2026), captures González’s fusion of historical and contemporary references. Two women dressed in green and pink fur cradle each other’s heads, reimagining medieval depictions of cephalophores — Christian martyrs who carry their severed heads while continuing to preach or pray.

The title comes from a pivotal line in the 1991 film “Thelma & Louise,” marking the turning point for Geena Davis’ character Thelma, fully committing to her ultimately fatal adventure with Susan Sarandon’s Louise.

Nieves González, “Holding You,” 2026 (oil on canvas).

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

González builds each painting from what she calls a “Frankenstein” — a digital composite assembled from archival photographs, found images and reference material. The painting process then takes over. A mid-project visit to the Prado Museum in Madrid, for instance, might send her back to the digital sketch to pull in a compositional element from Velázquez before returning to the canvas. “The final result often ends up being completely different from what I initially envisioned,” she said.

Heller began representing González, whom he calls an “original voice,” last year after being introduced to her work by another painter.

Staging her first U.S. solo exhibition in Los Angeles rather than New York reflects what he sees as a more relaxed environment for an emerging artist, without the glare and expectations of the New York art world.

“L.A. feels a little less constrained,” Heller said. “It feels a little more free.”

González’s portrait of Allen is currently on view at London’s National Portrait Gallery, hanging in the same room as a self-portrait by David Hockney. She said while it “has been very significant in terms of media exposure,” exhibitions and professional opportunities were already in motion before the album cover brought wider attention.

“I’ve always said that what I want to do in life is make a living from painting,” she said.

Mission accomplished.

BROOKLYN Beckham reportedly raked in £753k for his savage World Cup ad that left his estranged family fuming.

The aspiring chef, 27, appeared in an advert for the fast food delivery service DoorDash and took a swipe at his dad David in it.

He said to the camera: “You’re probably wondering why I’m watching the FIFA World Cup 2026 from home…”

Smirking Brooklyn then laughed: “It’s a long story.”

He went on to throw down his tickets onto the coffee table.

The advert then said: “It’s complicated. More soon.”

READ MORE ON BROOKLYN BECKHAM

CLOUD DECLINE

Brooklyn Beckham detailed business struggles weeks before his World Cup ad

BECKLASH

Brooklyn Beckham’s ad ‘could backfire disastrously & tar him as nepobaby FOREVER’

It’s now been claimed that the nepo baby was paid a whopping $1 million dollars, which equates to £753k, according to Mail Online.

The Sun have contacted Brooklyn’s representatives for a comment.

The advert poked fun at Brooklyn’s estrangement from his famous parents David, 51, and Victoria, 52, as well as his brothers and sister and wider family for over a year.

Beloved England player Becks famously played in three FIFA World Cups in 1998, 2002 and 2006.

He’s been out in America promoting the World Cup – watching the opening match with Tom Cruise.

A source close to the Beckhams said: “To do an ad based on estrangement from family as if it’s a joke when his family is devastated and sister and grandparents are inconsolable…

“It just seems a tad hypocritical from someone claiming to want peace and privacy and the trying to cash in on it all.

“He says he wants nothing to do with his family, but is now trading off them by using one of his footballing father’s legacies – the World Cup – as an advertising selling point.

“Brooklyn is absolutely entitled to go and make his own money – his parents laud such ambition – but taking the mick out of a deep-rooted, heartbreaking family situation is not the one.”

DoorDash replied to the video, which quickly gained thousands of views online, saying: “We have a guess on why you’re watching from home…”

The ad came after Brooklyn failed to acknowledge his dad’s Hollywood Walk of Fame honour.

Instead, he took to Instagram to share a story of himself enjoying a run in the park while in New York.

Brooklyn and his wife Nicola, 31, incidentally actually only live down the road from the Los Angeles location that the event took place at.

But he was out of town for a few days as he was at the Tribeca Film Festival promoting his hot sauce range, called ‘Cloud 23’.

Brooklyn has been estranged from his family – including his siblings – for more than a year.

In January, the Beckhams’ eldest son made a dozen explosive accusations in a ruthless statement hitting out at his family.

He called out his famous parents for their “inauthenticity”, accused them of making bribes and scolded the family for their treatment of his wife on their wedding day.

He sent his parents a legal notice warning they can only contact him via lawyers.

In the extraordinary “desist” letter, he also instructed them not to “tag” him on social media.

Jennie Bond was BBC Royal Correspondent for 14 years and struck up a friendship with Lady Diana.

Jennie Bond’s illustrious journalism career stretches back over five decades, during which she has covered a vast array of remarkable stories.

In 1989, she took on the role of Royal Correspondent for the BBC, a position she held for 14 years before stepping down in 2003 to dedicate more time to her family and pursue freelance work.

During her time as a royal reporter, however, she forged a close friendship with Lady Diana, which she discussed with Raj Bisram during her appearance on Celebrity Antiques Road Trip. A repeat of that episode aired this evening (June 20) on BBC Two.

The BBC antiques expert quizzed her on just how close their relationship was, to which she responded: “I was a journalist that she got along with and shared confidences with.

“You know, ‘There were three of us in this marriage,’ all this sort of stuff.”

“Then, at the end, annoyingly, she’d say, ‘Of course, Jennie, this is just between you and me and these four walls.’ I’d think, ‘Ugh!’ So I kept it that way.”

Raj then asked which interview throughout Jennie’s career had left the greatest impression on her, reports Devon Live.

She answered: “I suppose, when I challenged her in Angola on the land mine mission, when she was trying to get an international ban on land mines.

“I said, ‘Ma’am, you’ve been accused of being a loose cannon,’ and she was very shocked and said, ‘I’m just trying to be a humanitarian. That’s it.'”.

“That was pretty momentous. It made an awful lot of news.”

At the time, Lady Diana was described as a ‘loose cannon’ by a junior government Cabinet minister who condemned her position on landmines.

The tense exchange, which took place in 1997, was captured in a documentary of the time, showing Lady Diana’s response to Jennie’s pointed question.

She said: “I’m only trying to highlight a problem that’s going on all around the world. That’s all.”

She was subsequently filmed climbing into a waiting car, visibly moved by Jennie’s remark, as she told the camera team: “I might really burst into tears now. Who said I’m a loose cannon?”

Celebrity Antiques Road Trip is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Unlike the movies, where directors get the glory, TV directors sit lower in the hierarchy, below creators, producers and actors. In most series, which might employ several over a season, they are interchangeable — which isn’t to say they aren’t valuable, transforming words on a page into a four-dimensional living thing. But a director hired to helm a pilot, as James Burrows, who died Friday at 85, was again and again — almost as a lucky charm — helps set the tone for the series. Jake Kasdan’s input was crucial to the feel (and philosophy) of “Freaks and Geeks,” as Hiro Murai’s was to “Atlanta” (and most recently “Widow’s Bay”). In some cases a director is a co-creator in all but title and union affiliation. A show might subsequently pass to later hands, but they’ll be honoring its established look and feel.

But Burrows was more than a little well known. If you sat through the opening credits of “Taxi,” whose pilot he directed along with 74 other episodes — and why wouldn’t you, with its pleasing Bob James theme and Checker Cab crossing the Queensboro Bridge — you would have seen his name for weeks on end. You might have noticed it on “Cheers,” which he co-created and for which he directed 236 episodes, or on “Will & Grace” (246 episodes), or “Frasier,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “3rd Rock From the Sun,” “Caroline in the City,” “Two and a Half Men,” “2 Broke Girls,” “The Neighborhood” or, just last year, “Mid-Century Modern” — all series whose pilots he directed. You might have caught it on episodes of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Phyllis,” “Rhoda” or “Laverne & Shirley,” until you began to think that maybe there was nobody else directing network multi-camera situation comedies, the most human of television formats and a specialty from which he rarely strayed.

And you might have seen him as himself this year in the third season of Lisa Kudrow’s “The Comeback,” as the man she enlists to save a television pilot from hacky AI jokes. “Surprising only comes from a group of writers huddled in a corner, beating themselves up to beat out a better joke,” he says.

“As director, I am there to help create the ensemble, to do everything I can to foster a community among the company, and to train a new set of actors to behave as a group and respect one another,” he wrote in his 2022 memoir, “Directed by James Burrows.” He famously took the cast of “Friends” to Las Vegas before the show premiered in order to foster bonds in a soon-to-be-impossible state of anonymity. “I guess I have a gift for creating families,” he told the New York Times in 2023.

But if “Friends” refers to the characters and the people who play them, it includes the audience too. Burrows’ talent was to midwife a real relationship between the viewer and the viewed, “You want to go where everybody knows your name,” runs the “Cheers” theme, and where you know everyone’s name. The families he excelled at creating were yours as well, and one watched knowing that these things happened in real time in real space, and that you could be in the room, if you made the effort. Tickets were available.

The son of Abe Burrows, who wrote or co-wrote the books for “Guys and Dolls,” “Can-Can” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” and co-created the radio comedy “Duffy’s Tavern” — set, like “Cheers,” in a bar, though the younger Burrows denied any influence — he’d been directing dinner theater when he had the idea to write to Mary Tyler Moore, whom he’d met on the set of a never-opened “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” musical. His stage experience (and his Yale School of Drama degree, presumably) proved eminently transferable to the proscenium reality of multi-camera situation comedy.

What Burrows shows share — the ones we remember, at least, out of many we don’t — is that they’re fundamentally joyful. They lack cynicism. They’re expressive of their times without being showily edgy. They walk a line between freshness and familiarity, which makes one want to return week after week. They may push an envelope — “Friends” was something new, after all — but subtly. We can assume, given his reputation and the fact that he could have retired on “Cheers” alone, that he liked what he did and did what he liked, and regard his choice of projects as a form of personal expression in itself, the basis of a body of work that has and will live on.

PARIS — There’s a present-day answer to the question that was posed in verse by the French medieval poet and street brawler François Villon: “Where are the snows of yesteryear?”

They’re right here, in high summer, on Paris’ oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf, where an enormous art installation, a trompe l’oeil inflatable snow-clad mountain range, has arisen over the river Seine.

Using about 200,000 square feet of printed fabric, Paris-born street artist JR has created “La Caverne du Pont Neuf.” It’s his version of and homage to the innovative work of groundbreaking environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

They’re the fabled duo who first wrapped the arches of this same bridge in straw-colored fabric in 1985. Over the years, they also surrounded 11 islands in Florida’s Biscayne Bay with flamingo-pink cloth, hung saffron-colored fabric “gates” in New York’s Central Park, installed a “running fence” of billowing white material across nearly 25 miles of Sonoma and Marin counties and, in 1991, planted 3,100 yellow umbrellas, blooming like 20-foot-tall poppies, through the Tejon Pass north of L.A.

I interviewed Christo in 2011, and he was eloquent about how his and his wife’s work alters perceptions of nature, and about the deliberately transient character of the art itself. JR, an acolyte of their work, told me in an email that “an ephemeral artwork forces you to come now, and usually to come with other people. The visit becomes a shared moment … and this moment becomes a memory.”

In a city celebrated for artworks that have survived for centuries, this installation was very nearly too transient. A kooky hailstorm in late May, a heat wave in June, followed by ruthlessly ripping winds, delayed the opening by days. At last, beginning one midnight, the air pumps began and the work arose like a limestone-colored soufflé. It will be open around the clock until June 28.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Back in 1985, Christo’s engineer on the Pont Neuf project, Ted Dougherty, pointed out that above 25 mph, “wind is not our friend.”

The piece works from two vantage points: from afar — visible from a lot of central Paris — and also from inside it, in the “cave” part. Pedestrians crossing the bridge pass through a fabricated interior, a cavern-like space printed in 3D realism and enhanced with a specially designed scent to evoke the dank, earthy aroma of humankind’s early habitations.

JR and Thomas Bangalter in “La Caverne du Pont Neuf” in Paris.

(Tara-Jay Bangalter)

JR intended it to be both. “From the start I designed two works in one. There is the silhouette — what you catch from the quais, from the bridges, from a boat on the Seine or simply walking past on your way somewhere else. That image belongs to everyone, including the people who never chose to look at art that day.”

And then, he said, “there is the inside, which is slower and more intimate, almost in the dark, hard to photograph.” That aspect is “a journey to cross the bridge, to go from darkness to light.”

When Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the arches of the Pont Neuf more than 40 years ago, it took years of planning and permits to make it happen. “La Caverne du Pont Neuf” was a breeze by comparison.

JR, whose other vast outdoor works have delivered double-takes of humans’ scale and their architecture, told me that cities have come to understand “that public art brings people together and that the image travels around the world. Once Christo showed it could be done safely and beautifully, the conversation changed. It was much easier for me to have my project accepted, thanks to them. They also proved the economic positive impact to the cities they worked in. I believe there should be more large-scale, ambitious public art projects.”

It’s one thing to conceive of such a project and another altogether to make it happen — so much technology, compared to, say, mixing paints and choosing a paintbrush. But the science that “La Caverne” required “is the art, not an obstacle to it,” JR said.

“Trompe l’oeil turns adults back into children,” JR said.

(Elea Jeanne Schmitter)

All the canvas, the engineering, the meticulous assembly, the permits — “none of that is preparation for the work, it is the work. Christo taught me this. The process is visible, and even more after the storm we experienced a couple of days before opening to the public. Nature always reminds you who is in charge. When the wind tore the canvas before we opened, we took it down, re-sewed it, reinforced it,” all in full public view.

“Where I stay careful is in not letting the technology become the subject. The augmented reality by Snap’s AR Studio adds to the project, doesn’t take you away from it.”

That air should be JR’s vital collaborator — no complex and costly scaffolding for these magic mountains — is nothing new in Paris.

The first free flight of humans above the earth, on Nov. 21, 1783, sent aloft two men in a hot-air balloon crafted by the Montgolfier brothers from silk fancifully painted in blue and gold with figures of the zodiac. It wafted across Paris for about 25 minutes at about 3,000 feet. Ephemeral, yes — and unforgettable.

Artists and couturiers are fond of the whimsy of trompe l’oeil, the trick of the eye, the illusion of reality. I am a sucker for it, for fashion like that of clothing designer Elsa Schiaparelli. JR has used it often, as a massive-scale magical deception to make the Louvre Pyramid “disappear” into the old Louvre, and opening up an imaginary subterranean world below the Eiffel Tower.

“Trompe l’oeil turns adults back into children,” he told me. “You know it isn’t real, you know that ‘La Caverne du Pont-Neuf’ is not made of rock, that this is printed canvas. And yet your eye wants to believe it, and for a moment you let yourself. That gap between knowing and believing is where the play happens, and people love being inside that gap.”

In early June, hundreds of fans dressed to the nines were in attendance at a rock star’s sold-out show at New York’s Beacon Theatre. There was lace everywhere and leather too. Chains dangled from belt loops and wrists. Some attendees arrived with dyed crimson hair, others with orange or pink.

Sheer black outfits that looked pulled from the pages of a gothic romance novel were draped on bodies. If “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” had collided with a modern concert, it might have looked something like this.

Then a man took the stage. Was it Lestat de Lioncourt, the immortal vampire-cum-rock star, or was it actor Sam Reid?

Moments earlier, attendees had watched the first episode of AMC’s “The Vampire Lestat,” the rebranded third season of “Interview With the Vampire” that premiered earlier this month. This season adapts Anne Rice’s novel of the same name, which is told from the perspective of Lestat, played by Reid, and transforms him into a touring musician.

Now Reid, dressed in black with his chest partially exposed beneath an open jacket revealing a scar, stepped on stage and into the role of Lestat in front of the audience. As he moved across the stage, phones shot into the air. Fans screamed. People sang along to a slew of songs, and for a moment, the line between actor and character seemed to disappear.

At first glance, the assignment to turn Lestat into a rock star seemed straightforward. The vampire at the center of Rice’s beloved novels has flirted with music before. In 2002’s “Queen of the Damned,” he emerged as a leather-clad nu-metal frontman capable of commanding massive crowds. But bringing Lestat into the present introduced a different challenge. Rock music no longer occupies the same place in popular culture. Fame is fragmented. Audiences are skeptical of celebrity. Social media can build a star overnight and tear them down just as quickly.

Yet “The Vampire Lestat” asks viewers to believe something as audacious as a centuries-old vampire still being able to captivate people, launch a music career and inspire a movement. Reid thinks part of what drives the character is something surprisingly modern.

“Nobody cares that I exist, nobody cares that I’m not relevant,” Reid said of Lestat’s mindset entering the season. “It’s really fun to see him struggle with that and see him try to find his place in the world and not immediately get world domination.”

Making that fantasy feel believable required far more than putting Lestat in leather and handing him a microphone. To pull it off, the show’s creative team had to build a rock star from the ground up, crafting a visual identity, creating music that could stand on its own outside the series, and transforming Reid into a performer capable of owning a crowd rather than simply acting in front of one.

Sam Reid’s Lestat de Lioncourt crowd-surfs in “The Vampire Lestat.”

(Sophie Giraud / AMC)

“Dropping Lestat down into 2025 and making the decision for him to play rock ‘n’ roll was a really great dramatic switch because while there are many great rock bands that are alive and kicking right now, their hold of the cultural landscape is quite small,” showrunner Rolin Jones said. “You couldn’t think of a worse way to get your message out than going to be a rock star right now.”

That challenge became the foundation of the season.

Step 1: Making the music

A polished aesthetic, marketing and, in Lestat’s case, book buzz can only take a musician so far. It’s the music that had to make diehard fans believe he’s an artistic genius, or at least a star in the making.

That challenge landed with composer Daniel Hart long before a single script was finished. In an unusual twist, many of the songs that would eventually appear throughout the season were written before the writers’ room fully mapped out the story.

“There were so many unknowns when we started,” Hart said. To find a way in, Hart and Jones started with their familiar reference point: David Bowie.

“We settled, I think sort of obviously, on David Bowie as the launch pad for our Lestat,” Hart said. “The way that Bowie was so mercurial, and he was a chameleon. He reinvented himself throughout his career.”

Hart also looked to artists as varied as Kurt Cobain and Chappell Roan, while drawing inspiration from classical music, blues and the old-world sound Lestat would have absorbed over his long life. One early writers’ room exercise even involved breaking down the influences embedded within “Long Face,” the Bowie-coded first single released from Lestat’s fictional album.

“‘Long Face’ feels like a Bowie rip-off to Daniel Molloy [played by Eric Bogosian], and so then Lestat breaks the song down for him and goes into all the other influences that are in there,” Hart said. “ ‘Long Face,’ you could say, was in some way influenced by Bach, and then [he] talked about Willie Dixon, and how the blues had influenced Lestat when he was around the … 1920s and ‘30s.”

“He’s been alive for 250 years,” Hart continued. “He’s seen and heard a lot of music.”

The creative team never set out to replicate the hard-rock sound that defined “Queen of the Damned.” If anything, Jones felt trying to outdo that soundtrack would have been a losing battle.

In “The Vampire Lestat,” Sam Reid sings every song himself, including “Long Face,” “Butterscotch Bitch,” “Your Biggest Fan,” “All Fall Down” and “Black Licorice.”

(Sophie Giraud / AMC)

“I mean, that soundtrack is deservedly very famous,” Jones said. “And I think if we decided to out-Korn Korn, we were going to be in trouble.”

Instead, their Lestat was a musician still searching for his voice. Jones says the season begins in a more performative glam-rock space before gradually evolving into something more personal.

“We thought ‘70s Bowie is where we would start, and that we would musically make a journey with him as we went deeper and deeper,” he said. “He would put his band on one tour, what a normal band would do, over four albums. The music just keeps changing. And as he gets more and more vulnerable, the songs begin to change. They get more raw. They get more exposure, and the music style evolves.”

Reid sang every song himself, including “Long Face,” “Butterscotch Bitch,” “Your Biggest Fan,” “All Fall Down” and “Black Licorice.”

“The more bombastic, the more over-the-top songs — he doesn’t seem to like them by the end of this season,” Hart said. “The more introspective songs that come later on are more in his new wheelhouse.”

That journey also shaped how Reid approached the material. While audiences will ultimately see the songs unfold within the context of the show, Reid encountered many of them before he fully understood where Lestat’s story was heading.

“I think in the beginning, he’s coming from an artificial kind of construct,” Reid says. “As the show goes on, the music becomes more personal, and he becomes less interested in actually finding love through his audience and more about finding who he is as an individual and as an artist.”

When Jones first began adapting “The Vampire Lestat,” he briefly considered making the character the sort of arena-filling superstar audiences might expect, like a Beyoncé or Taylor Swift. But the more the writers discussed it, the less interesting that version felt.

“If we were gonna start chipping away at all the armor that Lestat had, one of the great repetitive ways of a tour is you just can’t seem to break a ceiling,” Jones said. “He’s a niche star. And I think that is part of the gas that fuels this little journey.”

Hart also had the impression that Lestat would be a massive star.

“But it became more apparent that [he might] not exactly have the kind of success that he wanted and desperately felt like he needed — that was a more interesting story to tell,” he said.

Step 2: Getting the rock star look

While the audience has to believe Lestat is a rock star, they also have to believe he’s someone with the look — and worth staring at.

Lex Wood, the show’s costume designer, said that the challenge began long before cameras rolled on Season 3. Jones first floated the idea of rock star Lestat while the team filmed Season 2 in Prague in 2023, giving Wood time to begin imagining what a nearly 300-year-old vampire might wear while reinventing himself as a singer. During a production trip to Paris, she started sourcing pieces and collecting references that would eventually make their way into this season years later.

“The main aim of building costumes for Lestat was to maintain an element of the unachievable,” says show costumer designer Lex Wood. “To emphasize that Lestat is untouchable.”

(Sophie Giraud / AMC)

Being fashionable wasn’t the only goal.

“The main aim of building costumes for Lestat was to maintain an element of the unachievable,” Wood said. “To emphasize that Lestat is untouchable. Hence, building specific costume build shapes and patterns that we adapted throughout the season.”

That idea guided nearly every aspect of the wardrobe. While the first two seasons often presented Lestat through structured tailoring and muted palettes, Season 3 arrives in a much louder world.

“A big thing really was that we wanted to push more color into the season in general,” Wood said.

Wood said the choice reflected where Lestat finds himself emotionally. No longer confined to drawing rooms and period silhouettes, he’s navigating celebrity, performance and self-reinvention. Leather remains. Black remains. But so do bursts of color, softer fabrics and strange patterns.

“We wanted to break Lestat free of the suiting,” Wood said. “Though we wanted to remain true to his roots in the 18th century, we also wanted Lestat’s pieces to feel slightly otherworldly at times.”

That meant weaving in elements of garments from the 18th century and making them feel contemporary. This could look like a very specific cut of a sleeve of a shirt that nods to that time.

Wood also studied the backstage photography of Mick Rock, pulling references of Bowie, Iggy Pop and Freddie Mercury. She blended that with punk-inspired designs from Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier. Goth icon Siouxsie Sioux also became an influence, particularly in the use of layering, texture and attitude.

Wood said the scattered references reflect a character actively trying to figure out who he wants to be.

“He’s investigating social media himself,” she said. “As he’s discovering his presence as a rock star. He’s investigating what it means to be a rock star.”

“He’s finding his persona,” she continued. “And trying on different personas.”

That idea extends all the way down to accessories, with Lestat’s jewelry blending old and new — a custom necklace created by a U.K. silversmith recalls one worn by Mercury during Queen’s early years, while rings featuring sculpted teeth serve as subtle reminders of his vampiric nature.

“We purposefully wanted some of his wardrobe to not be recognizable to any particular brand — at other times, we wanted to celebrate high-end fashion, to explore his playfulness and unpredictable character through his clothing,” Wood said.

Even the shoes became part of the transformation. One of Wood’s earliest conversations with Reid centered on abandoning the heeled footwear that helped define earlier versions of the character. This Lestat needed something heavier for a performer who could pace a stage.

“He wanted something that felt more grounded,” Wood said. “Something he could bounce around more in.”

Wood said the redesigned footwear altered Reid’s posture and movement, helping create a version of Lestat that she noted feels more volatile and more comfortable captivating a crowd than charming one.

Step 3: Becoming the rock star

For all the work that went into the costumes, music and scripts, none of it mattered unless the watchers believed the actor tying it all together.

Reid had already spent two seasons playing Lestat through other characters’ memories and perspectives. This time around required him to carry the character’s story through his own reflections. More importantly, he had to answer a deceptively difficult question: Why would anyone follow Lestat in the first place?

“It’s not fame that he’s after,” says Reid of his character in “The Vampire Lestat.” “Fame is totally temporary for a creature that lives forever.”

(Sophie Giraud / AMC)

The surface answer might be fame. The character launches a music career, records songs and steps into the spotlight. But Reid doesn’t think that’s what drives him.

“It’s not fame that he’s after,” Reid said. “Fame is totally temporary for a creature that lives forever.”

Reid sees Lestat as someone searching for validation.

“Not for the vampire that he is, but for the human being that he was,” he said. “He’s been pretty heavily rejected. From Louis through the book, and then his mother knows exactly how to string him along, when to give him love and when to take it away. So he’s really looking for validation and going into an audience space is where he first experienced that.”

While developing the season, Reid says he became increasingly interested in the gap between the public version of Lestat and the person underneath it.

“His whole life has been performance,” Reid said. “His whole life has been a lot of adversity, and the way that he kind of climbs out of that is to build a construct that he can perform and operate in. It makes a lot of sense for him to do this rock star persona. Through this season you start to see him realize that the music and the art can allow him to access himself as opposed to it just being a performance.”

“He’s trying to discover his sound as a musician,” Reid continued. “But he’s also trying to discover who he is.”

Throughout the season, viewers see a musician struggling to connect.

“Why can’t I sell out 5,000 seats?” Jones says, describing the character’s mindset. “I used to be able to walk into a room and everyone would love me.”

For Jones, that’s ultimately what makes Lestat feel like a contemporary artist. Sure, he may be an immortal vampire, but he’s navigating the same questions that confront plenty of artists: How much of yourself to reveal? How much should one perform? Can admiration ever substitute for genuine connection?

By the time the season reaches its conclusion, Lestat is still larger than life. But he’s also a more complicated performer forced to reckon with the distance between being seen and understood. Jones said none of this would be possible without Reid in the role.

“I think his performance in Season 3 is one of the 10 greatest American TV performances of all time,” Jones says. “I’d put him right next to Carroll O’Connor, Walter White [played by Bryan Cranston] and James Gandolfini.”

“And I’d look at all of them and say, ‘You guys didn’t sing.’ ”

PARIS — A founder of global gaming company Ubisoft, maker of “Assassin’s Creed,” was killed in a plane crash in western France, authorities said Saturday.

Claude Guillemot, co-founder of the company and president of the Guillemot Foundation, died in an accident, Ubisoft said in a statement to the Associated Press. It did not elaborate.

A Cessna plane carrying Guillemot and one other person crashed Friday evening in a field just before landing at La Baule Airport on the Atlantic coast, a La Baule airport official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to be publicly named.

Local media said both people aboard were killed.

Guillemot and four brothers founded Ubisoft in 1986. In addition to the popular “Assassin’s Creed” franchise, Ubisoft’s games include “Just Dance,” and the “Rayman” and Tom Clancy game franchises.

Charlton writes for the Associated Press.

KATIE Price has made a cryptic post about the hardship couples who are meant to be together sometimes face.

The TV star, 48, took to Instagram to share a quote for her followers and left it standing alone with no extra input on her story.

The quote reads: “Sometimes the two people who are truly meant for each other will face the hardest battles.”

Upon clicking on the post the quote expands to share more detail, continuing to say: “Not because they are wrong for each other. But because the world will test everything real.

“Love like that doesn’t come easy. It’s built through pain. Distance. Misunderstandings. Growth.

“But if they can hold on through the chaos. If they choose each other over and over again. They’ll find something most people only dream of.

JAIL TRUTH

I know exactly why Lee was banged up in Dubai – & why he may end up back in jail

FAME GAME

Princess Andre puts mum’s issues to one side as she makes This Morning debut

“A love that didn’t just survive the storm. But became unbreakable because of it.”

The post comes shortly after Katie’s husband Lee Andrews was released from Dubai’s Al Awir prison.

After being accused of spying Lee claimed he was captured at gunpoint and ‘slapped around’ before Katie managed to save him.

He then praised his wife for her help in getting British authorities involved in his release.

Posting a video of himself on social media, Lee said: “Hi everyone, this is Lee. I’ve been missing now for several weeks. I can tell you I’m now safe and healthy and with my wife.

“I was taken close to the Hatta-Oman border by men at gunpoint and then I was captured by men with assault rifles.

“They did slap me around a little bit, little s***s, and I was hand-tied, shackled and also had a hood over my head.

“From there I was taken to a black site and I had no use of my phone and from what I know it was an extended arm of the National Guard and that’s all I can reveal at the moment.

“I have signed disclaimers now with state security and from there I was put into the system.

“At no point have I faced anything to do with fraud allegations or any criminal activities such as that.

“So thank you to Katie for making such a noise where the UAE actually listened and let me go.”

However, UAE officials debunked his claims he was in jail for spying and confirmed he has spent the past four weeks behind bars on suspicion of fraud.

Katie appeared to accept his story, sharing Lee’s video on Instagram saying: “My husband is back. I love you.”

Jon Snow went into a “deep depression” after retiring from Channel 4.

Jon Snow’s wife has revealed they felt he was “struck off” following his dementia diagnosis.

The veteran broadcaster will feature in the one-off 90-minute documentary Jon Snow: A Last Big Story, as he exposes injustice while fighting for a Zambian community whose homes have been demolished by mining operations.

The Channel 4 News presenter will also speak candidly about his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2023, two years after stepping down from his long-running career.

Audiences will also be introduced to Snow’s wife, who joins the renowned journalist on his journey to Zambia as he “rediscovers his purpose”.

Who is Jon Snow’s wife?

Former Channel 4 presenter Jon Snow is married to Dr Precious Lunga, a Zimbabwean epidemiologist and neuroscientist.

Born in Rhodesia, she pursued her studies in the UK, obtaining a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

Currently, she serves as CEO and co-founder of Baobab Circle, an award-winning health technology firm utilising AI to tackle the rising challenge of chronic diseases such as diabetes throughout Africa.

Jon, 78, and Precious, 51, first crossed paths on the Caribbean island of Mustique in 2001, tying the knot nine years later in 2010.

The couple went on to welcome a son via surrogacy in March 2021, marking the third time Jon has become a father, having previously had two daughters with his former partner of 35 years, human rights lawyer Madeleine Colvin.

Prior to Jon Snow: A Last Big Story, Precious described how her husband fell into a “deep depression” for six months following his retirement.

Speaking candidly with Anita Rai on Woman’s House, she revealed why Jon has chosen to go public about his condition.

“He said ‘if I don’t speak out who will?'”, Precious began.

“It is something that affected his own mother and affects so many people.

“He felt that when someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s they are written off, but it’s not like you fall off a cliff.

“It’s a gradual degradation of the brain. It doesn’t mean you still can’t contribute to the world and he felt he still had so much to give, which is why he decided to make this documentary.”

Precious also revealed that she was initially hesitant about appearing in the Channel 4 documentary, but quickly had a change of heart.

She said: “What helped me overcome it was the fact I am one of over one million people affected by dementia.

“That helped me get over the nervousness of telling our story. It is not the end and we are looking for opportunities to enjoy our life.”

Jon Snow: A Last Big Story airs tonight, Sunday, June 21, at 8pm, on Channel 4.

Nick Robinson currently stars in Netflix’s hit rom-com Voicemails for Isabelle, but who is he dating right now?

He has been in a relationship since 2019.

Voicemails for Isabelle is a brand new rom-com that dropped on Netflix yesterday (Friday, 29th June) and is already shaping up to be another huge hit for the streaming giant.

Zoey Deutch plays Jill, an ambitious pastry chef whose talents are suppressed by the insufferably pretentious San Francisco chef Bastien (played by Nick Offerman).

When her sister Isabelle (Ciara Bravo), who has battled cancer for the majority of her life, tragically dies, Jill attempts to process her grief by leaving voicemails on Isabelle’s old number.

What she doesn’t realise, however, is that the number has since been reassigned to Austin-based estate agent Wes (Nick Robinson), reports Wales Online.

Robinson, 31, is one of the most recognisable faces of his generation, yet he guards his private life closely. Here’s what we know about his romantic life.

Who is Nick Robinson dating?

The Hollywood star has reportedly been in a relationship with Samantha Urbani, 39, since 2019.

Urbani is a singer, model and DJ who co-founded the band Friends in Brooklyn in 2010, before they went their separate ways in 2013.

Since then, she has launched her own record label, URU, worked alongside fellow artists and put out a single and EP as a solo performer, while also securing modelling and DJ work.

Watch Netflix hits like Beef season 2 for free

This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more

from £15

Sky

Get the deal here

Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan. This lets customers watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes the new season of Beef.

The pair are thought to still be together, although they rarely appear in public as a couple and haven’t shared any joint social media posts since 2024. Their most recent post together was a photo shared on Urbani’s Instagram in March 2024, showing the pair attending the premiere of Robinson’s previous Netflix project, the fantasy-action film Damsel, starring Millie Bobby Brown.

In addition, a post shared the month before saw Urbani give fans a heartfelt glimpse into how they first met, marking their fifth anniversary together.

“Hello fyi exactly 5 years ago on this very day yes the day of valentines I played spin the bottle with some friends and then a very special one of them- who I’d met a couple years before in berlin- asked me if I wanted to go to SNL…” she wrote.

“Which became adventure all night > which turned into lighting tiny fireworks stolen from afterparty, outside the Plaza, in chilly NYC sunrise > and perfectly magically became morning borscht at veselka… aka top tier heart thawing revitalizing joyful times / ultimate nyc dream date / a # 1 best memory ever.”

Robinson’s past romantic history has largely remained out of the public eye, though he has previously been linked to two of his co-stars.

Rumours circulated in 2016 that he was in a relationship with his The 5th Wave co-star Chloë Grace Moretz following their appearance in the sci-fi thriller together, though this was never confirmed.

Fan speculation also connected Robinson to his Melissa and Joey co-star Taylor Spreitler, however this too was never substantiated.

Voicemails for Isabelle is available to stream on Netflix.

Two of the biggest box-office standouts of 2026 so far were not made by established studio directors or built on franchise IP.

“Obsession” and “Backrooms” — horror films from internet-native directors in their 20s — have outperformed far more expensive studio releases.

The breakout success of these films has ignited debate across Hollywood about what made these movies so popular, especially among Gen Z moviegoers who haven’t been flocking to cinemas in recent years. Here’s what to know:

The numbers

”Obsession” was directed by 26-year-old Curry Barker, who got his start on YouTube with sketch comedy and horror shorts. Released May 15 by Focus Features, the film was made for just $750,000 but opened to a staggering $17 million and has improved on its debut every weekend since.

“Obsession” set an all-time horror record for the biggest fourth weekend for a film at the domestic box office, raking in $25.4 million. It now ranks as the year’s fifth most popular film, nearing $200 million domestically and roughly $295 million worldwide — ahead of Pixar’s “Hoppers” ($166 million) and Paramount’s “Scream 7” ($121 million), per Box Office Mojo.

“Backrooms,” from 21-year-old Kane Parsons — known on YouTube as Kane Pixels — drew on an online fascination with liminal spaces, leading audiences through an endless run of nearly indistinguishable rooms.

Released May 29 by A24 (known for such acclaimed films as “Moonlight” and Everything Everywhere All at Once”) on a reported $10-million budget, it opened to $81 million and crossed $100 million in under a week.

Within two and a half weeks, it had outgrossed the entire theatrical runs of horror films “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” “Smile” and “Scream 7.” It sits as 2026’s eighth-highest-grossing film.

Who is watching?

The audiences are young. In recent weeks, nearly 90% of “Backrooms’” viewers were under 35, with more than half under 25. Over “Obsession’s” first few weekends, 75% of the audience was 17 to 34, which is significant at a time when major studios have struggled to consistently get younger viewers to trek to the multiplex.

Why it’s working

Audiences have clearly latched onto the stories, said Jason Blum of Blumhouse–Atomic Monster, who worked on both films.

“There’s been an audience kind of waiting to get back to the movie theaters, and we in Hollywood really have not landed on what would get them back,” he told The Times in an interview this week.

Blum, who upended horror genre with the “Paranormal Activity” franchise, ties the success of “Backrooms” and “Obsession” to a connection to the directors’ origins.

Because the films were made by creators who speak to younger viewers daily on YouTube, he said, that generation “feels like they’re being spoken to.”

David Gross, an analyst at FranchiseRe, framed it as a new pipeline of talent and material. Creators can build large followings very inexpensively, he said, and their stories arrive further developed — which expedites the development and discovery process. He called internet-based storytelling “another additive source for material for movies.” Blum added that the films’ success could make studios more willing to bet on undiscovered directors who “might not have been considered” before.

Rosie Ramirez, chief marketing officer at Galaxy Theatres, said a young first-wave audience tends to generate buzz. More than a month after “Obsession” was released, she said, the Nevada chain’s four California locations are only now seeing a second wave of moviegoers curious about the hype.

Notably, the rise of these two films has unfolded in the shadow of major releases like Disney’s “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” and Mattel’s “Masters of the Universe,” both of which returned underwhelming numbers in their respective opening weekends.

Is it a trend or an anomaly?

Whether this marks a lasting shift or a fluke is unclear. May crossed $1 billion in box office — with “Backrooms” and “Obsession” doing much of the heavy lifting. Despite the improvement, the box office has yet to full return to pre-pandemic levels, with the summer tracking roughly 3.5% behind summer 2019, said Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian.

And Dergarabedian questioned how the industry could replicate a success that, in his words, was “authentically and organically created” rather than manufactured: “It just happened,” he said.

Ramirez argued the broader summer slate — franchise tentpoles like “Toy Story 5” alongside some original surprises — points to a healthy box office regardless, a reminder that “it doesn’t always have to be the big summer blockbuster.”

PERRIE Edwards is already booked and busy following her stunning wedding to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The former Little Mix songstress, 32, and her footballer husband tied the knot in an intimate ceremony less than a week ago after after nine years of dating.

But it appears Perrie is already getting back to work, and was pictured dressed up behind the scenes at the Isle of Wight Festival yesterday.

The singer got up on stage and performed for a buzzing crowd while wearing an all black skintight outfit.

Though she couldn’t help but take a moment to gush about her wedding to everyone, sharing how she is utterly “obsessed” with being able to call Alex her husband now.

Perrie and Alex jetted off to Portugal for their big day alongside friends and family.

Bridal beauty

Perrie Edwards stuns in her THIRD wedding dress at Portugal wedding

IN THE MIX

Perrie Edwards stuns in unseen wedding clip – as Little Mix bandmate spotted

Insiders said the pair married in a low-key ceremony before hosting their closest family friends at the posh Parrilla Natural restaurant.

The pair said their vows in the Igreja Matriz de Estoi church in the village of Estoi in Faro, close to where they own a villa.

Perrie, who had six bridesmaids including her sister Caitlyn wore a long-sleeved, lace gown, while Alex looked smart in a tux.

Her bandmate Jade Thirlwall missed the celebrations as she was booked to perform at Primavera Sound Festival on the same day.

A source said: “Perrie and Alex’s wedding day could not have been more special.

“It was intimate and emotional.

“Perrie and Alex’s son Axel had a special role to play in the ceremony. It was adorable to see.

“She looked absolutely radiant and Alex didn’t stop smiling. It was a truly beautiful day.”

In the days after the wedding Perrie debuted two more wedding dresses in Portugal, including a gorgeous sparkly mini dress with a detachable jacket.

Former Little Mix bandmate Jesy Nelson is said to have not received an invitation.


NICKY Campbell’s daughter was rushed to hospital after she was hit by an e-bike.

The broadcaster announced that Lilla, 26, was badly injured while out in Peckham with her sisters last night.

“It’s been a long and emotional night,” he said on Instagram.

He added that he hoped CCTV footage would be able to track down the rider, who allegedly “scarpered” once the ambulance arrived.

She is now recovering at home.

“It could have been so much worse. We are incredibly lucky,” said the BBC radio host.

He thanked the staff at King’s College Hospital for their “superb” treatment.

The prominent Scottish broadcaster, journalist and author is best known for hosting ITV’s Long Lost Family and BBC Radio Live.

He rose to prominence in the late 1980s, with a ten year stint as a DJ on BBC Radio 1.

His personal life has been shaped by his experience as an adoptee and his advocacy work for children in care.

He was awarded an OBE in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to children, adoption and fostering.

The radio star is married to journalist Tina Ritchie and has four daughters, Breagha, Lilla, Kirsty and Isla.

As the noise-rap-electro act Jane Remover shrieked and pleaded through a 90-minute marathon set at the Fonda on Thursday night, one very young couple dressed right out of a conservative‘s nightmare — gender-ambiguous, purple hair, facial piercings — tapped me on the shoulder. They politely asked if I could mind their newly bought vinyl for a bit as they thrashed in the heaving crowd. Of course, this unc obliged them.

Anyone who laments that L.A. crowds don’t dance should go to one of the last sets of Jane Remover’s three-night stand at the Fonda this weekend. It had the most genuinely raucous pit I’ve seen in 2026, made all the more feral for how sweet and earnest it was. After a hotly tipped Coachella set, this Live Exhibit tour affirmed that the subculture Jane Remover built may or may not have wider pop potential, but it’s getting big enough to count for stardom in the fractured music world of today.

Jane Remover is a trans polymath producer and singer-songwriter with influences across rave, shoegaze, trap and beyond. They’ve built up a ferocious elaboration on the hyperpop of predecessors like Sophie, who similarly packed so many good ideas into songs they became talismanic to fans, a tonic to reinvent yourself (new Charli XCX opener Underscores is another fellow traveler).

The music itself sounds like reverse-engineering the moment in the 2000s when metalcore kids discovered EDM. Only now it’s Discord-disaffected youth ramping up hardstyle techno, autotuned girlypop ballads and rage-rap to an explosive fusion point. “Census Designated,” Jane’s brash and dramatic 2023 coming-out LP, tipped them as a force beyond the underground. But they soon eclipsed it with 2025’s “Revengeseekerz,” a deliriously overheated mix of romantic yearning, internet score-settling and virtuosic production prowess.

Backed by just a DJ (Dazedgxd, who opened the set) and a retina-scorching light rig up front, Jane acknowledged on Thursday that the stakes were getting much higher. They joked that they’d played the El Rey like three times before this tour, and to judge by the wild-eyed passions out in the audience, the Fonda will probably be the smallest venue they’ll play for some time. “It gets so cold this high up,” Jane sang on “Turn Up or Die.” “Can’t go to hell but I can drop you off.”

The sentiments driving the music are ultramodern: self-aware, vicious and desperately vulnerable. The hilariously zesty “Angels in Camo” (home to the all-time banger of a line: “Jesus never had it with a freak b—”) wrapped up with a bloodletting plea that “I can’t let you b— win.” Jane wields that word like the flaming sword on the “Revengeseekerz” album cover, with all the casual lustiness of Future but also the wrath of a reclaimed slur.

On “Professional Vengeance,” they grappled with the weird lures of celebrity and intimacy, where no one really knows anyone but desire still courses; “Experimental Skin” found them craving and fighting off God and nihilism and technology and addiction all at once.

The tension in these tracks are the binding agent for Jane’s fan base — the music is full of contradictions and incompatibilities smashing together that just feel like being young right now. Other than a quick affirmation that fans of all identities and backgrounds will always be welcome at their shows, they let the contorting, violent music speak for itself about the way queer fans are feeling about life under siege in the United States.

If the set was a bit too long for the limited setup onstage, it was because Jane simply had that much music to let out — that caliber of emotion to unburden, that much want to acknowledge. It seemed like the set was closing with “In the Dark,” an aching ballad from their Venturing side project, plainly declaring “I still dream of us” through a fog of effects. But instead they ramped it back up for one last cathartic blast to close, sending their faithful out onto Hollywood Boulevard, sweaty and filthy and fundamentally known.

TOM Parker’s pregnant widow Kelsey has revealed her emotional struggle ahead of the first anniversary of her stillborn baby’s death.

Kelsey, 36, tragically lost her son Phoenix in June 2025 after he was born sleeping.

Kelsey has two children with The Wanted singer Tom, who died in 2022 aged 33, – Aurelia, six, and Bodhi, four – but had been expecting her third child with new partner Will Lindsay.

In May, she announced she is pregnant with her rainbow baby but she explained she is now set to tackle a bittersweet weekend.

Amid her pregnancy joy, it will be the one-year anniversary of Phoenix’s passing and in a candid Instagram upload, she admitted she “deeply misses my little boy and wish things had been different”.

Kelsey uploaded a selfie showing her in the sunshine, wearing a white vest top and sunglasses with a gold chain.

bump’s day out

Kelsey Parker shows off growing baby bump in first public appearance

MUM’S PAIN

Kelsey Parker opens up about the moment ‘she knew’ son would be stillborn

In a frank message posted alongside it she put: “I’ve been really quiet on here the last couple of days.

“Truthfully, I’ve been working a lot, trying to keep busy and just processing the fact that Sunday is a big day.

“It’s Phoenix’s first anniversary and it’s Father’s Day too.

“Grief is a strange thing. Some days you can keep going and stay busy, and other days it all catches up with you.

“I’m learning that both things can exist at once. I can feel excited about this next chapter of life, be grateful for everything I have, and still deeply miss my little boy and wish things had been different”.

Giving advice to her followers, Kelsey added: “If you’re navigating grief, anniversaries or simply carrying something heavy right now, please know you’re not alone.

“As always… stop waiting, start living. But also, give yourself permission to feel it all”.

Recently, the brave mum appeared on ITV daytime series Good Morning Britain to reveal her home was “treated like a crime scene” after Phoenix arrived into the world.

Kelsey’s spouse Tom died in 2022, aged 33, following a brain tumour battle.

She previously admitted that that grieving Phoenix was “harder than grieving Tom” as she spoke on the Mum’s The Word podcast.

She shared: “It was so hard. I think with Phoenix, it was harder than it was with Tom.

“I think because they [her kids] were so much younger, it’s like I could just be like, ‘daddy wasn’t coming back.’ 

“And you know, when I said about the angels taking daddy, ‘we won’t see daddy again’, it was like they accepted that and we sort of moved on. 

“And now as time’s gone on, they asked me more questions about their dad and stuff, but that initial I suppose with Bod as well. He was 18 months old. It wasn’t a question that he even thought.”

At the time of Tom’s death, Aurelia was around three, and Kelsey’s co-host Georgia pointed out: “They were almost ages where they didn’t understand. 

“So you almost didn’t have to explain it too much. You obviously have to explain it, but it’s very different to having a child that completely understands, knows what death is”.

A LITTLE-known band were left totally gobsmacked after a rock legend turned up in the audience at one of their shows.

The Rolling Stones cover band were playing to a small crowd in a bar when the iconic musician revealed himself as a fan, dancing alone in the bar.

The mystery figure was none other than Noughties nu-metal megastar Fred Durst, frontman of Limp Bizkit.

Fellow punters couldn’t believe their eyes and quickly pulled out their phones to capture the surreal moment as the Rollin’ singer rocked out to their set.

Musician Jenny Teator, who was singing on stage shared the clip on TikTok, writing: “This was unexpected. Get it, Fredddd!! We had so much fun at @GRAYSonMAIN.”

The unlikely scene unfolded at Grays on Main, a bustling music venue and dining room in downtown Franklin, Tennessee – the town Fred now calls home.

rock of ages

Can YOU tell who this 90s rock icon is? Fans say he looks like Richard Gere!

doped up

Shaggy 2 Dope fails as he tries to dropkick Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst on stage

The star looked almost unrecognisable with a full white beard, although he still sported the signature baseball cap fans will remember from the band’s heyday.

Other diners appeared oblivious to the famous face in their midst, continuing with their meals unaware they were in the company of rock royalty.

One viewer commented: “The people sitting there eating, completely unbothered that Fred Durst is getting down right beside them, is killllling me!”

Fred and Limp Bizkit were one of the biggest bands of the late Nineties and early Noughties, with hits including Break Stuff, My Way and Rollin’.

Their album Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold over one million copies in its first week.

The singer was also linked to a string of high-profile romances, including rumoured relationships with pop stars Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne. He has been married four times and has two children.

Despite stepping out of the spotlight in recent years, Fred, now 55, continues to record and perform with Limp Bizkit.

Limp Bizkit’s last official UK tour was last year, with the band appearing at the Reading and Leeds festivals.

Besides continuing to tour and perform with the band, Fred has made his mark as a film director with movies like The Education of Charlie Banks and The Longshots.

He also directed the film The Franatic in 2019 which starred John Travolta.

Vanessa Feltz has addressed some of her struggles in the early 2000s and argued that while people were very excited by the introduction of reality TV, vetting is now too ‘sketchy’

Vanessa Feltz has called for an end to “sordid” reality TV shows which she said gave her some of her lowest moments in her career.

The broadcaster, 64, shared her thoughts on how the format has changed over the past two decades, while reflecting on some incidents involving reality stars. According to Vanessa, vetting processes on some shows were “sketchy at best.”

In an article for You, the journalist said reality shows often recruit “individuals desperate for exposure” from social media – with women often asked whether they are looking for love, and men asked whether they are hoping to have some fun. Describing the reality genre as “sordid,” Vanessa said things have significantly changed since the early 2000s.

At the time, the idea of having “real people, doing real things, in real time” on TV seemed “revolutionary”, she argued, as demonstrated by the success of Big Brother. “We wanted ‘ordinary’ people scratching their armpits, pairing socks, quarrelling, vying, lying, picking their toenails and getting their rocks off,” Vanessa, who famously broke down and told Big Brother to “f*** off” during the first-ever Celebrity Big Brother in 2001, wrote.

Back then, mental health wasn’t given the same importance it has now, Vanessa said, meaning that many people – including herself – didn’t realise that reality TV posed any risk to participants. But she wrote: “When I said I’d had enough and please could I pack my case and go – we weren’t being paid, we were doing it free for Comic Relief – Big Brother replied: ‘If you leave, Vanessa, you’ll be the most hated woman in Britain.'”

She said that after being evicted, she “shook uncontrollably” and was “disorientated, trembling” until she was able to reunite with her daughters, which made her “remember how it felt to be myself.” She said: “A quarter of a century later people still ask, what the beep happened? I tell them, when you are on a reality TV show it isn’t a game.

Opening up on her experience of filming Celebrity Fit Club in 2004, Vanessa said she was “so scared” of letting her team down that she “stopped all food and water on Friday mornings” and after the weigh-in on Saturday afternoon, contestants “were all shaky and faint with hunger.”

She said that after drinking a glass of water and eating a couple of Ryvita crackers, they would go back on the scales and find they had already gained back the weight presenter Dale Winton had announced they had lost. “It was hell,” Vanessa reflected.

Giving the example of reality star Sinitta, who appeared on her Channel 5 show Vanessa on June 1 and said she needed therapy after I’m A Celebrity…South Africa due to the amount of trolling she faced, the broadcaster said reality TV is capably of leaving people damaged.

Vanessa’s reflection comes after her Channel 5 daytime chat show was cancelled only a year after its debut. According to reports, the presenter was blindsided and left furious by the news. The chat show sees Vanessa talk to guests and people at home who had called in to share their experiences of whichever topic was on the agenda.

But this week, a 5 spokesperson confirmed to the Mirror that the show would be coming off air, saying: “Due to afternoon scheduling changes, ‘Vanessa’ will be rested from July 17th. We thank Vanessa and her team at ITN for 18 months of warm, witty, wise and searingly honest shows. Vanessa remains a valued member of the 5 family and we are discussing future projects together.”

Following the cancellation, a source told the Mail that Vanessa was blindsided when she was told that the show had been axed. They said: “Vanessa was brought into a meeting after her show came off air this week. She had no idea what the meeting was about and certainly didn’t expect to be told it was not being renewed. She feels so blindsided but also let down by bosses.”

The cancellation is thought to be linked to low ratings for the programme, as well as an inability to get the scam callers under control. The source said that producers “tried their best to crack down” on the pranks, but it couldn’t be done.

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

ASHLEY Cain’s axed BBC documentary is still available to watch on iPlayer.

The reality TV star, 35, came under fire this week after historic tweets were exposed, in which the reality star allegedly made degrading comments about women.

The second series of Ashley Cain: Into The Danger Zone, which was filmed earlier this year, will not air on the BBC – yet the first series remains on the channel’s catch-up service.

It’s after the BBC acknowledged that its vetting process had “clearly failed”.

The Twitter posts made in 2011 and 2013 are said to have referenced extreme sex acts and appeared to make light of consent.

He reportedly used offensive, sexualised and aggressive language about women.

VETTING FAILURE

Ashley Cain’s show axed by BBC after ‘unacceptable’ posts about women

STAR PROBE

BBC launching investigation into Ashley Cain ‘failings’ after his show is axed

Despite this, series one of Ashley Cain: Into the Danger Zone aired in April 2025.

It followed his journey to the world’s most dangerous places, interviewing young men who live on the fringes of society.

Filming for a second series took place earlier this year however, it will no longer air following The Guardian‘s report accusing Ashley of writing derogatory terms in 2014 and 2015 including “sl**s”, “b***hes” and “psychos”.

The newspaper also revealed Ashley was secretly sacked from a BBC job last year for being “drunk on set”.

After the success of his documentary, he was picked to host, Sin City: The Real Las Vegas.

Ashley was flown out to Nevada to film the show but concerns were raised about his conduct.

Appearing to be drunk during filming of the show, the production was suspended and Ashley was ultimately dropped from the project and replaced by another presenter.

Despite this, the incident went largely ignored as Ashley returned to filming with the BBC earlier this year for the second series of his Into The Danger Zone series.

A BBC spokesperson told The Sun:  “The posts by Ashley Cain, albeit from many years ago, are completely unacceptable.”

“The BBC has clear requirements around vetting and social media checks, which are undertaken by the production company.

“In this instance, the process clearly failed and we are investigating why.

“We are continuing to strengthen our processes to ensure everyone working for, and on behalf of, the BBC meets our values and standards.

“We have no plans to broadcast the new series of ‘Into the Danger Zone’, and no future projects with Ashley Cain.”

Netflix Inc. is under contract to buy Radford Studio Center, a historic Los Angeles movie studio space, for a fraction of its 2021 $1.85-billion sale price after lenders including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. repossessed the property.

The price is close to $400 million, according to two people with knowledge of the transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter.

The Times reported in April that Netflix had plans to buy the studio property.

The one-time silent movie lot has been home to many popular TV series over the decades, including “Gunsmoke,” “Gilligan’s Island” and “Seinfeld.”

Netflix wants to consolidate its real estate footprint in one place and has been considering relocating from a group of Hollywood buildings it leases from Hudson Pacific Properties Inc. The Hudson Pacific leases expire in 2031.

Radford’s current owner, Hackman Capital Partners, defaulted on $1.1 billion of bondholder debt and turned the property over to lenders led by Goldman after it was unable to reach a refinancing deal last year. The sale will wipe out close to two-thirds of the debt.

The value of Los Angeles studio real estate has tumbled since interest rates climbed and production plummeted following strikes in 2023 by unions representing writers and actors. Landlords unaffiliated with studios, such as Hackman, have been hit particularly hard as production moved to space owned by the entertainment giants. Occupancy of L.A. soundstages fell to 62% in the first half of last year, according to FilmLA, a local permitting group.

Representatives of Goldman and Netflix declined to comment. A Hackman representative didn’t immediately provide a comment.

Netflix, which has historically leased rather than owned real estate, has stepped up investing in studio lots. It’s currently developing a $1-billion production center in Fort Monmouth, N.J. The streaming service reported $12.3 billion in cash and equivalents in its most recent quarter. Netflix was paid a $2.8-billion breakup fee by Paramount Skydance Corp., which won a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

Before the recent slowdown, Hackman went on a buying spree of movie lots, banking on ever-growing demand for streaming TV production. In March, Deutsche Bank AG sued Hackman to foreclose on its Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York. Hackman-owned Television City in Los Angeles and Manhattan Beach Studios in nearby Manhattan Beach are both being marketed after lenders led by Deutsche Bank pushed for the sale, Bloomberg reported in May.

Brokerage Cushman & Wakefield Ltd. is selling the $240-million loan on the 22-acre Manhattan Beach property, which it describes in a marketing document as “one of the most strategically positioned opportunities in coastal Los Angeles, combining an institutional-quality operating asset with some of the most irreplaceable underlying land in the South Bay.”

The Radford Studio lot was only 71% leased as of March, according to mortgage filings.

Gittelsohn writes for Bloomberg.