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SACHA Baron Cohen hooked up with a stunning Kylie Jenner lookalike 28 years his junior – just hours after his ex-wife said she had “cried” over being a single woman.

The Ali G comic, 54, who finalised a £120million divorce from actress Isla Fisher in June, flirted with American influencer Kelsey Calemine, 26.

After they had left an exclusive new nightspot in Hollywood, the movie star chatted intimately with Kelsey, before handing her his pink mobile phone, as she appeared to tap her number into it.

Sacha, who is just two years younger than Kelsey’s 56-year-old dad, had spent two hours inside the club between 1am and 3am on Friday morning.

Kelsey and her friend had also emerged from it when the actor got talking to her outside.

Brunette Kelsey – wearing a figure-hugging pink dress – leaned in close to the actor as he whispered into her ear.

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The US socialite and foodie influencer – who has 2.8million Instagram followers and is friends with Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and entrepreneur Lauren Perez – spent several minutes laughing and chatting with Sacha.

After appearing to exchange phone numbers they finally got into separate Ubers, as he waved fondly at her.

An onlooker said: “Sacha arrived at 1am at a hot new exclusive nightclub that is just up and coming in Hollywood.

“He was on his own with no security.

“He left the club at 3am just seconds after Kelsey and her friend left.

“He instantly noticed her.

“He was staring at Kelsey and then walked over and started chatting to her. Someone told me he had been flirting with her inside the club.

“Outside they were both very flirty and they didn’t stop laughing.

“He then walked over to her Uber when it came and gave her his phone which had a pink case and she typed her number into it.”

Kelsey was previously linked to ex-England and Chelsea footballer Ben Chilwell in 2021 after she was seen with him in a Mykonos club. Fellow Premier League ace Jack Grealish was also there.

She has a mega-wealthy real estate developer father Robert Peck, 56.

Insiders said Sacha, who was wearing a brown jacket and white trainers, has been “playing the field” after his marriage split to Isla.

In an interview with Elle Decoration magazine, published on Thursday – just hours before Sacha was pictured with Kelsey – former Home and Away actress Isla, 49, said her partying days were over as she attempts to build a new life for herself in London.

The star – who was married to Sacha for 13 years – said the move “has been challenging, but deeply rewarding”.

She revealed that creating a fresh life from “a grassroots level” has been “tough”.

Discussing the moment her furniture arrived, Isla added: “I did have a bit of a cry because this was my first time as a single woman, being in a home of my own.”

‘LONG TENNIS MATCH MARRIAGE’

She and Sacha announced their split in April last year, saying that after a “long tennis match” their marriage had come to an end.

They met in 2001 and married nine years later in March 2010. They have three children.

Isla previously revealed how the methods of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung had helped her heal from the divorce.

The Jungian method is a therapeutic approach that explores dreams and symbols.

In a statement at the time, Sacha and Isla said: “We are proud of all we’ve achieved together and, continuing our great respect for each other, we remain friends and committed to co-parenting our wonderful children.”

In July Isla admitted: “I’ve had a tough couple of years but I’m making it through.”

But a month after they received their decree nisi, Isla was accused of poking fun at his manhood.

It was understood the pair resolved their split amicably.

Pals of Sacha said that he’s enjoying being single and is having fun but he also gives out his number for career advice because of his respect in the industry.

She posted on Instagram: “For all those men who say ‘Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free’ here’s an update for you. Nowadays 80 per cent of women are against marriage. Why? They realise it’s not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage.”

It comes after The Sun revealed in September that Sacha dined out with a 27-year-old blonde model called Hannah Palmer.

They spent two hours at a Beverly Hills steakhouse and then left in a limo.

SACHA’S DATES

Kelsey – who has a food page where she reviews restaurants – was snapped in April with basketball player Michael Porter Jr, 27, at an Italian eatery in St Tropez, France.

She posts videos on social media of herself eating food and then rating it.

On her TikTok page she describes herself with the title: “I love food and food loves me.”

She also has a channel called “Cooking w Kels” where she shows her followers meals that she has made.

On Friday she posted pictures to her 2.8million followers on Instagram at a fashion event wearing the same pink dress as in our exclusive snaps.

She captioned it: “Lowkey eating.”

Fans posted online that Kelsey was bought a Tesla by dad Rob to “encourage her to drive” and that she once had an OnlyFans page.

Sacha rose to comedy fame in the 1990s with his character Ali G, a wannabe gangster with the catchphrase, “Is it because I is black?”

He won more fans with characters Borat Sagdiyev, a bigoted Kazakh journalist, and Brüno Gehard, a flamboyant Austrian fashion reporter.

It led to film hits including the Madagascar franchise, Anchorman 2 and Grimsby.

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Oman-born Isla moved to Australia as a child and starred as Shannon Reed in the soap Home And Away.

She got her film breakthrough in Wedding Crashers.

BROADWAY star Elizabeth Franz has died at the age of 84, her husband has confirmed.

The Tony Award-winning actress had been diagnosed with cancer.

Her husband Christopher Pelham told The New York Times that she died as a result of the disease and a “severe reaction” she suffered from the treatment.

She died at home on November 4 in Woodbury, Connecticut.

Franz is best known for playing Linda Loman in a 1999 Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s ‘Death of a Salesman’.

It was this role that earned her a Tony Award and solidified her name among other Broadway greats.

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That production scooped four awards, including the one given to Franz for best featured actress in a play.

She was also nominated for her performances in ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’, a comedy by Neil Simon in 1983, and in 2002 for her role in Paul Osborn’s ‘Morning’s at Seven’.

As well as her husband, she is also survived by her brother, Joe.

More to follow…

CLETO Escobedo III’s cause of death has been revealed just days after Jimmy Kimmel announced the tragic news.

The Jimmy Kimmel Live! house band leader died at the age of 59 on Tuesday.

Now, his death certificate, seen by TMZ, reveals his cause of death was cardiogenic shock – a condition where the heart is unable to pump enough blood around the body.

But it further detailed other underlying health issues that contributed to his death.

It listed Vasodilatory shock (dangerously low blood pressure), disseminated intravascular coagulation (blood clots leading to organ damage) and alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver (advanced liver disease).

Other conditions including sepsis, chronic kidney disease, and pneumonia were also noted as underlying issues.

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CAMERAS OFF

Jimmy Kimmel abruptly cancels a WEEK of shows after devastating tragedy

Jimmy Kimmel confirmed the news of his death in a heartbreaking post on Instagram.

“Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III,” he wrote.

“To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement. Cleto and I have been inseparable since I was nine years old.

“The fact that we got to work together every day is a dream neither of us could ever have imagined would come true.

“Cherish your friends and please keep Cleto’s wife, children and parents in your prayers.”

The pair who grew up together in Las Vegas then worked together on Jimmy Kimmel Live! since its launch in 2003.

Now, the television host is honoring his childhood friend and beloved colleague by launching two fundraisers.

“Cleto was always kind and eager to help others,” he wrote on Instagram on Friday.

“As we mourn his loss, we have started two fundraisers to celebrate his life and give back.”

He shared links to one for the UCLA Medical Center where Cleto received “incredible care” in his final days.

The other is to raise money for The Animal Foundation based in Las Vegas to “honor his love of animals”.

Kimmel canceled his shows on Wednesday and Thursday saying the whole team is “devastated”.

Cleto had been absent from the show for a number of months before his death after he became ill.

Tiffany Calver has quit her role on BBC Radio 1 after seven years on air and has been inundated with messages from her celebrity friends over her decision to step down

A broadcaster has quit her role on BBC Radio 1 with an emotional message. Tiffany Calver, 31, first joined the station in 2019 as a replacement for fellow DJ Charlie Sloth but announced on Friday evening that she had made the decision to ‘move on’ after so many years on air.

She took to social media to post a lengthy statement in which she admitted it had been ‘sheer magic’ to have had that job but that it was time to move on. She wrote: “Hey friends. I’d like to share that I’ve made the decision to move on from 1Xtra.

“It’s quite hard to put into words just what it means to be given the opportunity to live your dream for as many years as I have had the pleasure of doing. I will never be able to quite explain the sheer magic that happens when you press play on that first song, or greet your listeners for the first time on air every week, and I will miss it dearly.”

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During her time at the radio station, Tiffany became known for curating playlists and made history as the first female to host Radio 1’s Rap Show before moving on to her current position.

She added: “I am so grateful for the memories made and for the opportunity to grow as a broadcaster during my time in one of the best places for radio in the world. I feel like now is the right time for me to continue to grow, but from outside of the station.

“Most importantly, I want to thank those of you who have tuned in and spent some time with me and my never-ending quest to keep finding and sharing the music I love with you all every week. That part will never change, as big as this might feel.

Tiffany was inundated with messages from celebrity pals, including Little Mix star Jade Thirlwall, who wrote: “We [love] you! Excited for your next chapter,” whilst Love Island host Maya Jama wrote: “gwan!” and emblazoned her comment with a series of clapping hand emojis.

BBC’s RadioXtra account wrote: “You’re going to be SO missed! Thanks for 7 incredible years of passion and for championing the artists who matter!”

When Tiffany landed her own show in 2023, Kenny Allstar took over from her on Rap Show. At the time, he said: “From the age of 11, I remember taking my mother’s cassette tapes to record The Rap Show on Saturdays.

“This was more than a radio show it was my entire social life. I always wanted to one day be the host of this powerful slot on these powerful networks.

“I hope to uphold the legacy that Tiffany left in place and continue to showcase the hottest in Hip Hop music on a global scale”.

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She doesn’t have a driver’s license. Often doesn’t get movie references. Reminds many of their little sisters.

There’s always some story or tidbit involving Meila Brewer that will make her teammates laugh or gush about playing alongside the freshman center back who’s believed to be the youngest athlete in UCLA history.

Why, it wasn’t so long ago that Brewer floored everybody else on the women’s soccer team when each player shared how old they were when the pandemic hit. As almost everybody ticked off one year or another in high school, all eyes turned to Brewer.

“Oh,” she announced, “I was in fifth grade.”

Meila Brewer extends her arms, smiles and runs to embrace her UCLA teammates during a match against Stanford.

(UCLA Athletics)

That doesn’t mean that she’s easily identifiable. Coach Margueritte Aozasa has made an informal game of asking anyone who inquires about having a 16-year-old on her roster to pick her out when scanning the players on the field.

No one has gotten it right on the first handful of attempts.

“They’ll point out three or four players,” Aozasa said, “and I’ll be like, ‘No, it’s probably the one you would least expect.’ ”

Being one of the tallest players on the team at 5-foot-8 provides some cover, but it’s also her precocious nature and the skills she developed while training with a professional team and playing for the U.S. youth national team that give her a veteran presence.

There’s been no underage shrinking, Brewer living up to every moment as fourth-seeded UCLA (11-5-3) prepares to open the NCAA tournament at 6 p.m. Saturday at home against Pepperdine (11-6-2).

Meila Brewer dribbles the ball while playing for UCLA during the 2025 season. Brewer, 16, is the youngest athlete to ever compete in a sport at UCLA.

(UCLA Athletics)

OK, maybe a hint of her youth emerged when she was asked how she felt about playing on college soccer’s biggest stage.

“Freaking out,” Brewer said. “Like, when you think about it, I’m soooo excited, that’s like the only way you can put it.”

This will be just her eighth game with the Bruins as a result of her recent participation in the FIFA under-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco, where the Americans won their group before losing to the Netherlands on penalty kicks in the Round of 16.

Her UCLA teammates followed the action from afar, one posting a picture of herself shedding celebratory tears in a group chat after Brewer scored in the opening game. After the competition ended, Brewer boarded one flight for Atlanta before getting on another one bound for Los Angeles, only to hop back on a third plane a little more than 12 hours later to accompany her Bruins teammates to West Lafayette, Ind., for the Big Ten tournament.

“Coming back from Morocco, I had missed a decent amount of games,” Brewer said, “but I feel like the girls have been so supportive of helping me get reintegrated and getting right back into the flow just because we’re in tournament time and we want to succeed.”

Aozasa said she’s reminded her players that there’s a 16-year-old on the team and to behave appropriately. Brewer’s roommate, Payten Cooper, is two years older than her even though she’s also a freshman. Lexi Wright, a redshirt senior forward, is seven years older.

But those age gaps aren’t a big deal to Brewer considering she’s already spent a year and a half training with players in their 30s on the Kansas City Current, a team in the National Women’s Soccer League.

“It’s no surprise that she’s gonna be able to fit in right away and be successful at that level at UCLA,” said Vasil Ristov, the coach of the Current’s second team who was also Brewer’s youth club coach, “because she’s seen some of the top talent in the world and she’s participated in training sessions with them.”

Just reaching UCLA at such a young age was a major triumph.

Having taken a heavy class load in middle school and her first two years of high school to lessen the academic burden on her later, Brewer had reclassified once by the time she visited UCLA last spring. That’s when her love for a place she had long considered her dream school truly took hold, Brewer feeling the pull to play immediately even though she had more than a year of high school remaining.

“She was like, ‘What if I just come in this fall?’ ” said her father, Austin Brewer, who was also on the trip. “And I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t think it works that way.’ ”

After checking it out, the family realized it was a possibility. Meila (pronounced MEE-luh) worked nonstop from April through the end of July. She didn’t get to participate in high school graduation ceremonies but was rewarded with something greater — a chance to play for the Bruins.

UCLA freshman Meila Brewer controls the ball while playing Tennessee during the 2025 season.

(UCLA Athletics)

Her schedule includes nearly as many parent check-ins as classes. Austin and Shelly Brewer routinely call in the morning, midday and evening, sometimes adding oldest daughter Sasha, a freshman defender for the University of Miami women’s soccer team, to FaceTime chats.

Classes haven’t been as hard as Brewer imagined, though she’s still trying to pick a major.

“Coming into college,” she said, “I was prepping myself for the worst, so I feel like I was ready for it.”

On the field, Brewer is known for a physical style that allows her to impede opposing forwards in her role as a defender and smart playmaking while on the attack. They’re all traits that could help her fulfill her goal of playing for the U.S. national team.

Having always played up one or more levels on club teams, sometimes alongside boys, Brewer developed a strong sense of self.

“I asked her once who her favorite player was, who did she want to be like,” Shelly Brewer said, “and I’ll never forget this — we laugh about it all the time — she said, ‘I don’t want to be like anyone; I want to be like me.’ ”

In a nod to her age and the fact that she’s still growing, Brewer sometimes gets tendinitis in her knees. She wants to be just one of the girls, her youth a novelty but not a defining characteristic.

“I want to be seen as an equal on the field or a leader on the field in what I can do besides my age,” she said. “I just want to be able to stand out for how I play and not on the age side of it.”

That’s not to say that someone who won’t turn 17 until March isn’t having as much fun as everybody else whenever the subject comes up.

“It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re a baby,’ ” Brewer said, “and I’m like, ‘Yep, I am.’ ”

Strictly Come Dancing will see another celebrity and their professional partner leave the competition this weekend

Strictly Come Dancing will witness another departure this weekend – and the prospects aren’t promising for one pairing.

Last weekend, Balvinder Sopal and her dance partner Julian Caillon managed to avoid finding themselves in the bottom two despite being the bookmakers’ top picks to depart the show.

Nevertheless, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and La Voix found themselves in the bottom two and were forced to perform once more in an attempt to remain in the contest.

Unfortunately, it signalled the end for the Gladiator star, as all the judges chose to rescue La Voix.

Yet this week, Balvinder and Julian’s journey could be over, according to exclusive odds from Betway, reports Wales Online.

The duo has been handed odds of 150/1 of departing on Sunday.

La Voix, who received salvation last weekend, is also in danger of exiting, with odds of 100/1.

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the spectrum, George Clarke remains the favourite to claim victory in the competition, with odds of 10/11.

Emmerdale star Lewis Cope sits in second position with odds of 11/4, whilst Vicky Pattison occupies third spot with odds of 6/1.

Whoever ultimately departs this week will also forfeit the chance to perform at the iconic Blackpool Tower during Strictly’s Blackpool Week.

Following their bottom two placement, Balvinder and Julian featured on It Takes Two, where they discussed landing in the dance off once again.

Balvinder told It Takes Two host Fleur East, “The rumba, it was the hardest thing to learn. Literally, on Tuesday, I’d thrown the towel in and went, ‘I can’t do it,’ I sat in a corner and cried.

“Jules was standing there and went, ‘When you’re ready, bro… we’ve got to get this done’.”

Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday at 6.30pm on BBC One.

DAVE Burgess, who was the leader of the band that recorded the popular track Tequila, has died at 90.

Burgess was part of The Champs, which soared to fame in 1958 with the track.

He died on October 19 in Tennessee.

His cause of death hasn’t been revealed.

Tequila spent five weeks as the top-selling chart, beginning in March 1958.

More than one million copies of the instrumental, which won a Grammy for the Best R&B performance in 1959, were sold.

The song defeated tracks such as Harry Belafonte’s Belafonte Sings the Blues, Nat King Cole’s Looking Back, and Perez Prado’s song Patricia.

It even received a gold disc from officials at the Record Industry Association of America.

Burgess, from Los Angeles, worked with Challenge Records during the 1950s, which was founded by the rodeo crooner Gene Autry.

When Chuck Rio, the saxophonist, wrote Tequila, it was initially viewed as a throwaway song.

But, it ended up rising to fame.

Saxophonist Eddie Platt produced a cover in 1958 and it rose to number 20 in the US charts.

The song featured in a scene of the 1985 movie Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.

The character played by Paul Reubens irritated a group of bikers by knocking over their motorcycles.

He then tried to appease them by picking the song on the jukebox.

Reubens’ character then started to dance to it.

Tequila was used as the theme song for Banana Split between 2009 and 2011.

And, it has been adopted into chants for sports stars.

The Tequila tune is sung by Arsenal fans when they chant about the team’s defender, William Saliba.

During his music career, Burgess wrote more than 700 songs.

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Look around lately and 20th century science fiction has become 21st century fact. Real life in the year 2025 — the date in which Stephen King set his 1982 novel “The Running Man” — involves technological surveillance, corporate feudalism, infotainment propaganda and extreme inequality, all things that his story about a grisly game show predicted. King, like the great sci-fi authors Philip K. Dick and George Orwell before him, was writing a cautionary tale. But the decades since have seen people take their bleak ideas as a blueprint, like when Elon Musk bragged on X that the Tesla Cybertruck is “what Bladerunner would have driven,” missing the point that we don’t want to live in a dystopia (and that Bladerunner isn’t even Harrison Ford’s name in “Blade Runner”).

The timing couldn’t be better — and worse — for Edgar Wright to remake “The Running Man,” only to put no fire into it. He and his co-writer Michael Bacall have adapted a fairly faithful version of the book, unlike the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger meathead extravaganza. (The only way to suffer through that one is if you imagine it’s a parody of pun-driven testosterone flicks.) Tellingly, they’ve left off the year 2025 and only lightly innovated the production design with spherical drones. But there’s little urgency or outrage. Instead of a funhouse mirror of what could be, it’s merely a smudged reflection of what is.

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Glen Powell stars as Ben Richards, a cash-strapped, employer-blacklisted father who begrudgingly agrees to be a contestant on a television hit that no one has survived. There’s only one network, FreeVee, and its goals overlap enough with those of the government that the distinction between them isn’t worth parsing. Every day Ben dodges a death squad, he’ll earn money for his wife, Sheila (Jayme Lawson), and sick baby, up to a billion “new” dollars if he can last a month. (The updated bills have the Governator’s face printed on them.)

But as ever, the game is rigged. The network’s boss, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), and smarmy host Bobby T (Colman Domingo) rally viewers to turn Ben in for a cash prize, fibbing that he’s a freeloader who refuses to get a job, the typical tax-leeching scapegoat trotted out to turn the middle class against the poor and the poor against themselves. One enraged FreeVee-addicted granny (Sandra Dickinson) genuinely believes Ben eats puppies. “She used to be a kind, clever woman,” her son says with resignation.

Clearly, Wright wants to make a political satire that echoes the drivel of our own actual news. The politics are there in the armored vehicles rolling down city streets and the masked militias out to nab Ben for the bounty money. Yet we don’t feel the paranoia of eyeballs over the streets, even though it turns out that there’s no way to disguise Powell’s foxlike features under a silly stick-on mustache. A hustler named Molie (William H. Macy) warns that the TVs themselves are watching people. It doesn’t really feel like they are. I’ve felt more uneasy in a house with an Alexa.

As for the satire, this faintly cruder version of right now doesn’t have much bite. Little we see is surprising, stimulating or even that futuristic. Screens blare commercials for a drink called Liquid Death (real) and a Kardashian-esque reality show called “The Americanos” (essentially real). The film’s sole representative of upper-middle-class normality — a hostage named Amelia (Emilia Jones) — could trade places with any Pilates instructor.

When an underground rebel, Bradley (Daniel Ezra), breaks down how the network chases ratings by flattening people into archetypes, he’s not telling today’s audience anything it doesn’t already know. King wrote the character as an environmental activist; here, he’s more of a TV critic. Likewise, Bradley’s crony Elton (Michael Cera) has mutated from a pathetic idealist to a Monster-chugging chaos agent — as if “Home Alone’s” Kevin McCallister grew up to join Antifa. Elton’s motivations don’t make sense, but at least Cera barges into the movie with so much energy that his sequence is a hoot. Chuckling that he likes his “bacon extra crispy” as he takes aim at a police squad, he also breaks the seal on this remake’s use of bad puns. From his scenes on, the script crams in as many groaners as it can.

Wright has talent for casting actors that pop. Domingo’s fatuous celebrity host is fantastic, even doing the retro running man dance with Kid ‘n Play aplomb. We see just enough of Ben’s fellow competitors, played by Katy O’Brian and Martin Herlihy, to wish we had more time with them. One of the hunters, Karl Glusman, has so much intensity that I’ll be looking out for what he does next. Pity that the charismatic Lee Pace’s main villain has to spend most of the film covered by a shroud.

Meanwhile, Powell is being put through his own test of Hollywood survival. Everyone seems to agree that he’s the next movie star, but he hasn’t yet landed the right star-making vehicle. Here, as ever, he’s being treated like a Swiss Army knife on a construction site: Handy at a lot of things from humor to action to drama to romance, but his character lacks the oomph to truly showcase his skills. We’re told over and over that Ben is the angriest man in the world, but Powell’s innate likability, that cocky-charming heroic twinkle in his eye, makes him come across peevish at worst. His best moments are all comedy, like when Ben slaps on a thick brogue to hide out as an Irish priest, or his snappy back-and-forth with a psychologist who puts him through a word-association test. (Anarchy? “Win.” Justice? “Hilarious.”)

Still, I missed the truly misanthropic lead of King’s novella, a sour bigot radicalized to see himself not just as a cog in a machine but as a spoke in a revolution. There’s lip service to that idea here, but the film doesn’t take itself seriously enough to give us the chills. It’s not fair to judge “The Running Man” by how closely it hews to the book — and if you remember King’s ending, then you know there’s no way Wright could have pulled that off, although his fix is pretty clever. But tonally, there’s just not enough rage, gore or fun.

Maybe Wright feels the same way too. He’s been wanting to make this movie since 2017 and had the lousy luck to do it for Paramount in the year that the studio embraced the government and sacrificed its employees for its own billion-dollar reward. There’s no bleaker satire than making it through “The Running Man’s” end credits, past images of a raised fist that reads “Together Against the Network,” to see the last words on screen: A Skydance Corporation. Or maybe there is, if someone makes a documentary about what Edgar Wright may have had to cut.

It’s election night in Robert Icke’s “Oedipus,” a modern retelling of Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King” that must be the buzziest, if not the chicest, Broadway offering of the fall season.

The production, a prestigious London import that opened at Studio 54 on Thursday under Icke’s smart and sleek direction, stars a charismatic Mark Strong in the title role. His elegant and urbane Oedipus, a politician on the cusp of a momentous victory, prides himself on not playing by the old rules. A straight talker who has made transparency his calling card, he frequently veers off script in paroxysms of candor, to the chagrin of Creon (John Carroll Lynch), his brother-in-law who has been steering the campaign to what looks like a landslide victory.

But “count no mortal happy till / he has passed the final limit of his life secure from pain,” as the chorus intones at the end of Sophocles’ tragedy. There is no chorus in Icke’s version, but the sentiment holds, as Oedipus unravels the puzzle of his identity with the same relentlessness that has brought him to the brink of electoral triumph.

Anne Reid, left, and Olivia Reis in “Oedipus.”

(Julieta Cervantes)

A birther conspiracy has been raised by his political opponent, and Oedipus, speaking impromptu to reporters on-screen at the start of the play, promises to release his birth certificate and put an end to the controversy. What’s more, he vows to reopen an investigation into the death of Laius, the former leader who died 34 years ago under circumstances that have allowed rumor and innuendo to fester.

Oedipus calls himself Laius’ “successor, the inheritor of his legacy,” and in true Sophoclean fashion he speaks more than he knows. Jocasta (Lesley Manville in top form), Oedipus’ wife, was married to Laius, and so Oedipus is occupying his predecessor’s place in more ways than one.

In Sophocles’ play, Oedipus confronts a plague that has been laying waste to Thebes. In Icke’s drama, which had its premiere in Amsterdam in 2018, the pathogen is political. The civic body has fallen ill. Oedipus sees himself as an answer to the demagogic manipulation that has wrought havoc. The water is poisoned, economic inequality is out of control and immigrants have become an easy target. Sound familiar?

Icke’s Oedipus has an Obama-level of confidence in reason and reasonableness. His direct, pragmatic approach has seduced voters, but has it deluded him into thinking that he has all the answers? Oedipus is an ingenious problem solver. Puzzles entice his keen intellect, but he will have to learn the difference between a paradox and a riddle.

Mark Strong, left, and Samuel Brewer in “Oedipus.”

(Julieta Cervantes)

His daughter, Antigone (Olivia Reis), a scholar who has returned for her father’s big night, ventures to make the distinction: “One’s got a solution — one’s just something you have to live with?” But Oedipus is in no mood for academic hairsplitting.

A countdown clock marks the time until the election results will be announced. That hour, as audiences familiar with the original tragedy already know, is when Oedipus will discover his true identity.

Merope (Anne Reid), Oedipus’ mother, has unexpectedly turned up at campaign headquarters needing to speak to her son. Oedipus fears it has something to do with his dying father, but she tells him she just needs a few minutes alone with him. Thinking he has everything under control, he keeps putting her off, not knowing that she has come to warn him about revealing his birth certificate to the public.

The handling of this plot device, with the canny veteran Reid wandering in and out of the drama like an informational time bomb, is a little clumsy. There’s a prattling aspect to Icke’s delaying tactics. His “Oedipus” is more prose than poetry. The family dynamics are well drawn, though a tad overdone.

Mark Strong and the cast of “Oedipus.”

(Julieta Cervantes)

Reid’s Merope and Reis’ Antigone, ferocious in their different ways, refuse to play second fiddle to Manville’s Jocasta when it comes to Oedipus’ affections. Manville, who won an Olivier Award for her performance in “Oedipus,” delivers a performance as sublimely seething as her Oscar-nominated turn in “Phantom Thread.” Endowed with a formidable hauteur, her Jocasta acts graciously, but with an unmistakable note of condescension. As Oedipus’ wife, she assumes sexual pride of place, which only exacerbates tensions with Merope and Antigone.

Oedipus’ sons, Polyneices (James Wilbraham) and Eteocles (Jordan Scowen) are given personal backstories, but there is only so much domestic conflict that can be encompassed in a production that runs just under two hours without interruption. And Polyneices being gay and Eteocles being something of a philander would be of more interest in an “Oedipus” limited series.

When Sophocles’ tragedy is done right, it should resemble a mass more than a morality tale. Oedipus’ story has a ceremonial quality. The limits of human understanding are probed as a sacrificial figure challenges the inscrutable order of the universe. Icke, who views classics through a modern lens (“Hamlet,” “1984”), is perhaps more alert to the sociology than the metaphysics of the tragedy.

Oedipus’ flaws are writ large in his rash, heated dealings with anyone who stands in his way. Icke transforms Creon into a middle-of-the-road political strategist (embodied by Lynch with a combination of arrogance and long-suffering patience) and blind Teiresias (a stark Samuel Brewer) into a mendicant psychic too pathetic to be a pariah.

Mark Strong and Lesley Manville in “Oedipus.”

(Julieta Cervantes)

But Oedipus’ strengths — the keenness of his mind, his heroic commitment to truth and transparency — mustn’t be overlooked. Strong, who won an Olivier Award for his performance in Ivo van Hove’s revival of Arthur Miller’s “A View From the Bridge,” exposes the boyish vulnerability within the sophisticated politician in his sympathetically beguiling portrayal.

Wojciech Dziedzic’s costumes remake the protagonist into a modern European man. Yet true to his Ancient Greek lineage, this Oedipus is nothing if not paradoxical, suavely enjoying his privilege while brandishing his egalitarian views.

The production takes place on a fishbowl office set, designed by Hildegard Bechtler with a clinical and wholly contemporary austerity. The furnishings are removed as the election night draws to its conclusion, leaving no place for the characters to hide from the unwelcome knowledge that will upend their lives.

What do they discover? That everything they thought they understood about themselves was built on a lie. For all his brilliance, Oedipus was unable to outrun his fate, which in Icke’s version has less to do with the gods and more to do with animal instincts and social forces.

When Oedipus and Jocasta learn who they are to each other, passion rushes in before shame calls them to account. Freud wouldn’t be shocked. But it’s not the psychosexual dimension of Icke’s drama that is most memorable.

The ending, impeded by a retrospective coda, diminishes the full cathartic impact. But what we’re left with is the astute understanding of a special kind of hubris that afflicts the more talented politicians — those who believe they have the answers to society’s problems without recognizing the ignorance that is our common lot.

Watch the best goals from the latest round of fixtures from the Women’s Champions League, including Olga Carmona’s screamer for Paris St-Germain against Manchester United and Bayern Munich’s Pernille Harder’s equaliser against Arsenal.

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I USED to fancy the pants off of Charlie Hunnam.

But after seeing him turn into creepy serial killer Ed Gein in the latest instalment of Ryan Murphy’s Monster series on Netflix, I have cooled a little.

Luckily for Charlie, his girlfriend Morgana McNelis was spotted with a huge diamond on her ring finger, so it looks like she said yes top being his wife.

She was seen wearing the enormous rock during a day out this week.

A photographer friend of mine in the US said: “Charlie and Morgana have been together for almost 20 years so it’s about time he popped the question.

“She had this huge diamond on her ring finger, so it seems like Charlie has asked her to be his wife.

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“This is the first time she’s ever been seen wearing it too, so maybe that Netflix pay cheque came in handy.”

Charlie previously admitted Morgana had been pushing him towards the aisle, despite the actor feeling “indifferent” about getting married.

He said: “She does not feel the same. She’s very eager.

“I’ll do it because it’s important to her but I don’t have any great romantic feelings towards it.”

After feeling the heat from social media, Charlie later clarified his comments and said: “That really hurt my girlfriend’s feelings and I really regretted saying that.

“I actually didn’t mean it at all, it was, frankly, just stupid s**t I said in the heat of the moment.

“I’m, like, so romantic, and the reality is I sort of consider myself married. I’ve been with my girlfriend for 14 years.

“I suppose what I was trying to articulate is the official government sanction of it doesn’t mean anything to me, but the romance of it means an enormous amount.”

After that hoohaa, I wouldn’t be surprised if Charlie went all out with his proposal.

Ellie’s beau strips for vid

ELLIE GOULDING has roped in a favour close to home for her new video – by enlisting her real-life boyfriend to play the love interest.

She will drop the visuals to Destiny at 3pm today and my exclusive first look shows her with muscly actor Beau Minniear, who I told you she was dating in July.

It features a series of steamy scenes, including Ellie hugging the topless hunk, straddling him with a camera in hand, and, in one of the quirkiest parts, snogging with veils over their faces.

Now I’m excited for the next album.

Gaga lithium breakdown

LADY GAGA had a psychotic episode after shooting A Star Is Born, which is why she cancelled much of the European leg of her 2018 Joanne tour.

She told Rolling Stone magazine: “I did A Star Is Born on lithium.”

On breaking down afterwards, she said: “There was one day that my sister said to me, ‘I don’t see my sister any more’.

“And I cancelled the tour. There was one day I went to the hospital for psychiatric care.

“I needed to take a break. I couldn’t do anything. I completely crashed, it was really scary.

“There was a time where I didn’t think I could get better . . .  I feel really lucky to be alive. I know that might sound dramatic, but we know how this can go.”

Thankfully Gaga, who said she is on “some, but not as many” antipsychotics now, is in a much better place.

And she’s got a surprise career away from music, having co-founded a skin-health research firm in the US alongside her fiancé Michael Polansky.

It’s called Outer Biosciences and 20 employees.

Meanwhile, the couple are more eager than ever to tie the knot.

Michael said: “We’re talking about it all the time. We have these breaks, and they’re tempting.

“It’s like, ‘OK, can we get married that weekend?’ We don’t want a really big wedding, but we want to enjoy it.”

Sara sis surprise

IT’S the final day of Sara Cox’s epic Radio 2 Great Northern Marathon for Children In Need – and she has absolutely smashed it.

Through tears and triumph, the teatime presenter proved that with great support, physical resilience and pure grit you can achieve so much.

She will today complete the 135 miles, heading past my old University digs in Headingley, Leeds, for the final mission of getting Pudsey Bear to the Yorkshire town of Pudsey.

Sara was yesterday given an extra boost as her sister Dot turned up to give her a cuddle, with Sara telling me: “That was a lovely surprise.”

And she got another when her mum Jackie rang her, saying: “We’re tracking you from India.”

Sara said: “It’s been amazing and painful. My shins are so sore.”

Speaking to me ahead of the final day, Sara paid tribute to the thousands of people who have turned out for her along the route.

Some have driven miles to catch a glimpse of her.

Sara told me: “The people coming out in the villages made me skip along a little bit faster. It’s been tough finishing in the dark because miles in the dark just seem to go so slowly.

“It has been brutal and tough but I’ve been given such a boost from people. It’s been amazing.”

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Sara was this morning starting to push her fundraising to over £3million. I expect donations to go through the roof as she appears live on BBC One’s Children In Need tonight.

If you can, join me in donating at donate.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/sara.

JACOB ELORDI is gracing our screens once again, this time as the Creature in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein – and it seems audiences can’t get enough of the Australian actor. 

According to Google Trends data, Elordi’s global search record charts an extraordinary rise from Netflix romcom newcomer to one of Hollywood’s most in-demand leading men.

Google Trends shows his career highs with clear spikes in search interest. 

His breakthrough role came in 2018 when he starred in Netflix’s The Kissing Booth, introducing him to Gen Z audiences around the world. 

The following year, he solidified his profile as Nate Jacobs in HBO’s Euphoria, a role that won critical acclaim and expanded his fanbase beyond romcom audiences.

But it’s in the past two years that Elordi’s popularity has skyrocketed. 

Searches for “Jacob Elordi” reached new global highs after the release of Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn in 2023.

It makes sense that all these projects are among the top 25 related searches – alongside relationship history, of course. 

Searches have surged again this fall, thanks to the release of Frankenstein.

Early reviews of the film have praised Elordi for his ability to combine vulnerability with intensity, showing he can tackle challenging characters. A million miles away from the character he played in The Kissing Booth. 

The data also shows that Elordi has international appeal. 

Early searches were mainly in Australia, the US and the UK. Recent trends show growing interest across Europe, Asia and South America, with his choice of roles boosting his global profile.

Elordi looks set to maintain his momentum with Wuthering Heights, scheduled for release in 2026, in which he will star opposite Margot Robbie. 

The casting is already sparking excitement, appealing to fans of classic literature as well as general moviegoers. 

Frankenstein audiences have been fascinated by how Elordi brings Mary Shelley’s iconic character to life. As Wuthering Heights is also a beloved literary classic, expectations are sky high. 

Literary fans will be watching closely, hoping for an adaptation that honors the original and doesn’t just appeal to Hollywood.

Each major appearance sparks a worldwide search spike, making Elordi a soon-to-be household name. 

He is a phenomenon whose every role – from Nate Jacobs to the Creature and, soon, Heathcliff – triggers global attention.

With Frankenstein out last month and Wuthering Heights on the horizon, one thing is certain: Elordi’s well on the way with his journey from teen heart-throb to Hollywood A-lister.

Ruby Rose has entered the ring to take a swing at Sydney Sweeney — blaming the actor, now known for her choice in jeans, for “Christy’s” disastrous debut.

“The original Christy Martin script was incredible. Life changing,” the former “Batwoman” star wrote in a Monday post on Threads. “I was attached to play Cherry. Everyone had experience with the core material. Most of us were actually gay. It’s part of why I stayed in acting.”

“Christy” stars Sweeney as Christy Martin, the groundbreaking boxer who raised the profile of her sport during her Hall of Fame career. The movie follows Martin as a closeted lesbian boxer trying to navigate her professional ascent, an abusive marriage to her toxic coach and her identity. It made just $1.3 million at the domestic box office during its opening weekend.

In her Threads post, Rose mentions “losing roles happens all the time” in Hollywood, but doesn’t hold back from expressing her disapproval that Sweeney is the one portraying Martin.

“Christy deserved better,” Rose said. “None of ‘the people’ want to see someone who hates them, parading around pretending to be us. You’re a cretin and you ruined the film. Period.”

Her comments appear to be in response to Sweeney’s Monday Instagram post in which she shared how “deeply proud” she was of “Christy” despite it flopping at the box office.

“[W]e don’t always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact,” Sweeney wrote in the caption accompanying a gallery led by an image of her bloodied but smiling. “[A]nd christy has been the most impactful project of my life. thank you christy. i love you.”

Attitudes regarding the “Euphoria” actor have been increasingly divided since her part in a controversial American Eagle ad campaign around her “good jeans.” Since then, it has been reported that Sweeney registered to vote as a Republican in Florida shortly before the 2024 presidential election and prominent right-wing figures including President Trump and Vice President JD Vance have voiced their support for the actor.

Sweeney, for her part, has avoided discussing her political beliefs. In the lead-up to “Christy’s” release, she told LGBTQ+ news site PinkNews that she was “excited” for the queer community to see the movie because “she is an unbelievable advocate for the community and I believe this is a beautiful story to tell.”

Loose Women star Kelly Brook is about to head into the I’m A Celebrity jungle but has admitted that she is afraid of just about everything prior to the show’s launch

Kelly Brook has sparked fears that she could quit I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! before the show has even started. The model, 45, is one of the famous faces gearing up to take part in Ant and Dec’s reality show and recently landed in Australia but recent admissions from her could mean that it’s all over before it has even begun.

The Loose Women star will have to live in the jungle with her fellow celebrities, which include big names like Emmerdale legend Lisa Riley, Spandau Ballet singer Martin Kemp and presenter Alex Scott amongst a host of others, and face all sorts of unpleasant things. Kelly discussed her phobias during an appearance on the How to Fail podcast – and it seems she may struggle.

Speaking to host Elizabeth Day, she admitted: “I’m even scared to get the Tube at Leicester Square… I wait for someone to be in front and behind me so I’m sandwiched. I’m scared of heights, snakes, spiders — all of those things.”

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Kelly previously claimed she would never take part in the survival reality show and had always ruled it out because of her fears, but, upon announcing that she has changed her mind, she admitted that she now “didn’t give a damn”.

She said: “What changed? Really good question. A friend of mine got asked to have a meeting with the producers of I’m A Celebrity and I said, You have to do it, I love watching it, what an incredible life experience… I was thinking, why can’t I give myself that advice? I realised it was basically out of fear, and I thought, it’s about time that I live my don’t give a damn era!”

Before flying out, Kelly was spotted at Heathrow Airport with husband Jeremy Parisi as she prepared to say goodbye to home comforts – and her beloved dog, Teddy.

She admitted: “I am going to miss my dog Teddy and my husband Jeremy.” According to insiders, Kelly went above and beyond to make sure her pampered pooch was well cared for during her time away.

A source told The Sun: “Kelly is besotted with Teddy and he is used to fine dining, so Kelly spent all hours making sure the freezer was piled high with his special dinners.”

They added: “There’s everything from poached salmon with cavolo nero cabbage through to venison steak with Chantenay carrots. She didn’t have much time to get everything sorted among all her work commitments but catering for Teddy was the priority.”

Reports also claim Kelly even labelled Teddy’s meals to stop her husband from accidentally eating them.

Kelly, who married Italian model in 2022, is said to have finally been convinced to enter the jungle after years of saying she’d never do it.

Back in 2018, she told The Sun: “I hate confined spaces. I don’t want to eat eyeballs or sheep testicles. Even if I had a huge tax bill I had to pay it urgently, I still wouldn’t do it.” Now, seven years later, Kelly has had a change of heart – and fans are eager to see how the glamorous TV personality copes with bugs, bushtucker trials and jungle life.

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

FORGET who will be the next Bond or AI taking over acting.

There’s currently a bigger issue that’s tearing Hollywood in two… and standing in the middle of it is a doe-eyed firebrand named Sydney Sweeney, who might – or might not – know exactly what she’s doing.

Over the past few months, Sydney, 28, has found herself in the eye of a raging public storm, thanks to never-ending questions over her social and political leanings, and her unapologetic refusal to set the record straight. 

On the one side, we have fans, mostly on the right, praising their “anti-woke warrior” after she chose not to comment on or apologise for her controversial American Eagle advert. 

On the other, the woke corner of the internet accuses her and the commercial – which plays on saying she has “good jeans/genes” – of having a Nazi-like stance on eugenics. 

So, the fact that she hasn’t desperately begged for forgiveness in the wake of all the frenzy and outrage is music to woke-fatigued ears.

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Add to that the fact that Sydney’s been revealed to be a registered Republican and a MAGA supporter – with President Donald Trump himself publicly praising her – and it’s no surprise she’s copping flak to go with her fandom. 

In the past week, whether coincidental or not, her Oscar-touted biopic Christy has definitively bombed at the box office, making a paltry $1.3million in the US in its opening weekend.

Now, no one knows what to think. Has the young budding starlet, who could have been Hollywood’s next leading lady, shot herself in her genetically blessed foot? Or is this all just a storm in a teacup?

The jury’s still out, but for every commenter yelling “anti-woke warrior”, there’s another shouting “white supremacist!”

Yes, Sydney’s swiftly becoming the most polarising thing since pineapple on pizza.

And that’s before you consider her other public stunts – including, but not limited to, her overtly sexual self-branding and her apparent romance with another very controversial character in Scooter Braun.

Scooter, 44, is the disgraced record executive who people’s princess Taylor Swift called a “manipulative bully” after he bought the rights to her first six albums and blocked her performing some of the songs.

He’s also had very public fall-outs with his former protegés Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato.

With all this in mind, getting into bed – so to speak – with such a figure may not do Sydney any favours. But does she care? 

Fresh fury

Last week, the star caused fury again, after speaking to GQ to promote her new movie Christy, in which she plays the boxer Christy Martin. 

During the – at times – uncomfortable chat, the topic turned to all the noise surrounding the alleged white supremacist undertones of her American Eagle “good jeans” ad. 

The interviewer began: “White people shouldn’t joke about genetic superiority; that was the conversation. Since we’re talking about this, I just wanted to give you an opportunity to talk about that situation specifically.”

Seemingly unfussed, Sydney simply replied: “I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear.”

Elsewhere in the Q&A, she said: “I did a jean ad. I mean, the reaction definitely was a surprise, but I love jeans. All I wear are jeans. I’m literally in jeans and a T-shirt every day of my life.” 

As for President Trump’s praise for the jeans campaign – he called it “the hottest ad ever” specifically after hearing that Sydney was a registered Republican – the actress remained coy. She simply responded that his endorsement was “surreal”. 

Again, the masses were divided. Fans – and some loyal celebrity friends – spoke out in defence of the Euphoria star.

Sydney’s former Anyone But You co-star Glen Powell called the public indignation over the ad “bulls***”, while Amanda Seyfried – who’s starring in the upcoming movie The Housemaid alongside Sydney – commented under one of her posts: “You Kill. Brave and true.”

She’s also been publicly supported by Euphoria co-star Maud Apatow and fellow lightning rod Nicola Peltz-Beckham, who have both liked her Instagram posts over the past week.

Woke backlash

But then, there are the celebrities who have no time at all for Sydney’s supposed alt-right politics – and they’re letting it be known. 

In response to YouTuber Jupiter Baal’s video – shared to Instagram – in which he chastised the actress and said, “She was given an opportunity to push back, she didn’t, therefore she’s in on it”, actress Christina Ricci responded: “100%” .

Likewise, fellow The White Lotus star Aimee-Lou Wood made her own feelings known – posting a vomit emoji under a post that talked about the now notorious ad. 

According to insiders, Sydney’s Euphoria co-star Zendaya is refusing to speak to her co-worker, and she won’t be associated with her in any capacity…which makes their future promo trail for season three of Euphoria tricky. 

“It’s a difficult position for Zendaya to be in,” a source told Mail Online this week. “Because if she even stands next to Sydney on the red carpet, it can be read as her excusing Sydney’s views on Trump and her refusal to apologise for the racist ad.” 

I did a jean ad. I mean, the reaction definitely was a surprise, but I love jeans. All I wear are jeans.

Sydney Sweeney

Then, there’s model and actress Ruby Rose, who went apoplectic on Tuesday in response to a post shared by Sydney.

Earlier in the week, Sydney had reflected on the film’s box office failure, telling her followers: “We don’t always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact. And Christy has been the most impactful project of my life.”

But Ruby – who had previously been cast in the project before being let go – was having nothing of it, writing in a scathing Threads post: “Everyone had experience with the core material. Most of us were actually gay [like Christy]. It’s part of why I stayed in acting. Losing roles happens all the time.

“For her PR to talk about it flopping and saying SS [Sydney Sweeney] did it for the ‘people’. None of the ‘people’ want to see someone who hates them, parading around pretending to be us. You’re a cretin and you ruined the film. Period. Christy deserved better.”

She later doubled down in her comments again, calling Sydney a “psychopath”.

Joining the anti-Sydney brigade, Downton Abbey actor Dan Stevens reshared a post which read: “Sydney Sweeney’s GQ interview is a reminder that ‘not having a stance’ on white supremacy is 100% having a stance on white supremacy.”

So, what’s the strategy? And is there even one to begin with?

Brand and culture expert Nick Ede is unconvinced. Speaking exclusively to The Sun, he says that – whether it’s naivety or not –  Sydney’s not helping her career prospects, proven by the fact that her most recent film flopped. 

He explains: “She’s a young girl – she’s making a lot of money, but this proves she’s not a box office draw.

“That not only goes towards her movie career, but her brand deals too, and suggests that the equity she had really isn’t there anymore.

“She might decide to write an autobiography at this early age and be really honest about her opinions and how she felt. And that’s always a cathartic way of getting your story across and winning the affection of the public again. 

“But I think she’s almost too big now to be a character in a film or a show. You just go and see Sweeney and that can be really detrimental to her in the future.”

No backing down

All evidence so far suggests that apologising for herself is the one thing Sydney’s not willing to do. 

Last year, she teasingly wore a T-shirt that read: “Sorry for having great tits and correct opinions”. 

The suggestion was that she knew that people were writing her off as an overtly sexualised starlet – but that she was laughing all the way to the bank.

What’s more, in her most recent GQ interview, she again hinted at her secret shrewdness. 

She said: “I think as time goes on, people will see that I’m way more aware of things than people think.”

Then, in response to the interviewer’s claim that – by not speaking more about her intentions – she’s giving us permission to “keep taking what you do and putting it up on our board of ‘What does Sydney think?’ the actress remained non-committal. 

“I can’t wait to see what the board says,” she deadpanned. 

Last laugh

Sweeney has also got billionaire Jeff Bezos in her corner, who’s reportedly invested “seed money” into a private equity business that will help Sydney launch her very own lingerie line soon. 

Now that Jeff’s Amazon Prime empire has the rights to the James Bond franchise, his admiration for the actress might just clinch her that ultimate prize of being the next Bond girl.

In which case, again, this could all be nothing but hot air surrounding her supposed demise – and prove she might have the last laugh anyway.

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One thing we do know is that Sydney’s not about to go on some self-flagellating apology tour anytime soon. 

Love her or hate her, like Marmite, she’s here to stay. 

As Jasmine Harman addresses her husband’s heart attack in her brand new series, the Mirror takes a look at the A Place In The Sun star’s family heartbreaks, including the devastating loss of her sister-in-law

A Place In The Sun star Jasmine Harman has opened up about her husband’s heart attack horror, and it’s sadly not the first family struggle she’s endured.

While filming a recent episode of Jasmine’s Renovations In The Sun, 46-year-old cameraman Jon Boast, whom Jasmine met on the set of A Place In The Sun, began suffering persistent chest pains while renovating their family home in Estepona, Spain.

In dramatic scenes that aired yesterday, Jasmine, who will this week celebrate her 50th birthday, told viewers: “So, we’re at the hospital now. Jon had a funny turn at home, and I had to call an ambulance, but he’s sleeping now, having a little rest. Hopefully it’s nothing serious, but we’re just waiting for some test results.”

Giving an update from his hospital bed, brave Jon said: “Just when we thought we were getting back to normal life, or as normal as life could be, mid-renovation, and I was getting back on my feet.

“This afternoon, when we were with one of the builders, I got sort of pains in my chest and tight chested, aching arms. We called an ambulance and now I’m in hospital, and the blood test results suggest that I’ve had a mild heart attack.”

Speaking out for the first time about the ordeal, Jasmine told The Mirror that Jon has recovered and is back working. She said: “I know this sounds strange, but even with the background of what could have happened and worrying he could have died, it makes you feel lucky he just had a mild heart attack and everything is fine. But the challenges life throws at you has made me take things in my stride a lot better than I used to.”

Here, the Mirror takes a look at some of the painful heartbreaks mum-of-two Jasmine and her family have had to deal with over the years…

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Tragic loss of sister-in-law

Back in 2016, Jon tragically lost his sister, Joanne ‘Jo’ White, who died suddenly after going into cardiac arrest. Jo was just 40 years old, and her death came as a terrible shock to loved ones. In the years since, Jon has thrown himself into supporting CRY, a charity which helps to screen for cardiac risk among young people.

A video previously shared via Jasmine’s Instagram sees a tearful Jon announce: “I support CRY in memory of my amazing sister, Joanne White. [She] passed away suddenly in the night in 2016, from sudden cardiac death.

“Jo was an amazing mother, daughter, auntie, wife and sister. The reason I support CRY is they were there for her family when she was taken so suddenly, offering us guidance and immediate screening.”

Asserting that Jo would have wanted her story to be used to raise awareness, Jon continued: “CRY continue to support us with yearly heart screenings of myself and some of Jo’s family. […] Any funds raised will continue to support the amazing work CRY do in their research, the screening of young people for potential heart problems and raising awareness of young, unexplained cardiac deaths.”

In her new series, Jasmine explained that she and Jon had decided to move to Spain partly because of the shock of losing Jo. She said: “She was fit, well and very healthy. It was a very big shock.”

Baby agony

Jasmine and Jon share two children together, Joy and Albion, but their road to a happy family life was far from easy. Opening up in an interview with Fabulous magazine, Jasmine, whose two children were both welcomed via IVF, spoke candidly about the heartache she and Jon faced when trying to expand their family.

Back in 2017, the couple had tried for baby number three, only for their hopes to be dashed when the embryo didn’t implant. Jasmine shared: “Sadly, when we tried for a third baby in 2017, our embryo didn’t implant. This came so soon after losing Jon’s sister, Jo, who died suddenly at 40 from an unexplained heart problem.”

She continued: “We’d hoped that welcoming a new baby might have lifted the family and brought fresh joy after such a painful time, but instead we were reminded how fragile and precious life can be.”

Mum’s extreme condition

Although Jasmine is well used to looking around beautiful homes, she faced a very different sort of challenge in 2011, having set about helping her extreme hoarder mother clear away 30 years’ worth of clutter. This emotional journey was highlighted in the BBC doc My Hoarder Mum & Me, which resonated with many viewers.

In a candid 2023 episode of This Morning, the property guru gave a heartfelt joint interview with mum Vasoulla, admitting that she previously found her condition “embarrassing”, and feared it would affect the career she’d worked so hard for.

Speaking with Dermot O’Leary and Allison Hammond, Jasmine shared: “In fact, when I started working in television, it was my biggest fear that someone would find out about the way I’d grown up and the way that we lived at the time.”

However, gaining a deeper understanding of her mother’s hoarding and where it stems from has helped her prioritise “having a loving relationship” with Vasoulla, putting aside the fights they once had.

Recognised as a mental health disorder as of 2013, the World Health Organisation (WHO) defines hoarding as “an accumulation of possessions due to excessive acquisition of, or difficulty discarding possessions, regardless of their actual value”.

During the same interview, Vasoulla explained that the 1958 murder of her father, Evangelos, who was just 32 when he died, triggered her anxiety-based disorder. After the killing, Vasoulla and her mother Maria fled their home country of Cyprus for England, and it’s then that the hoarding started.

According to Vasoulla: “We moved from Cyprus when I was about three, so I left my baby things back home and started collecting trinkets in bombed-out houses that were still about in the early Sixties, after the war – trinkets that I treasured.

“Then we moved back to Cyprus for a couple of years, and those things all got lost. Then we moved back to England and all my new ties got lost – so I just had lots of upheaval, lots of loss.”

She continued: “It’s more the loss, like a bereavement. Losing your father is a big thing, moving country …you lose everything, and you get a new place to live. The trauma of loss [is] something that a lot of people have as the onset of their hoarding behaviour.”

Jasmine’s Renovation In The Sun is now available to watch on Channel 4.

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Don’t expect to see Oscar Isaac reprise his role as hot-shot pilot Poe Dameron in the “Star Wars” franchise any time soon.

The “Frankenstein” star admitted in a GQ interview released Monday that he’s not interested in working for the media company given its acquiescence to the Trump administration.

“I’d be open to [returning to ‘Star Wars’], although right now I’m not so open to working with Disney,” Isaac said. “But if they can kinda figure it out and, you know, not succumb to fascism, that would be great.”

The interview, while released this week, was conducted in the days immediately following the shooting death of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk and Walt Disney Co.-owned broadcaster ABC saying it was pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely following sharp backlash over the host’s remarks about Kirk’s death. Kimmel’s program ultimately returned to ABC on Sept. 23, after nearly a full week off air.

“But if that happens, then yeah, I’d be open to having a conversation about a galaxy far away. Or any number of other things,” Isaac continued.

The 46-year-old actor was also the lead in the 2022 Disney+ original series “Moon Knight,” based on the Marvel superhero of the same name who first appeared in print in 1975.

In a 2020 interview with Deadline, Isaac voiced hesitation about returning to the “Star Wars” franchise following 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.”

“I enjoyed the challenge of those films and working with a very large group of incredible artists and actors, prop makers, set designers and all that was really fun,” he said five years ago. “It’s not really what I set out to do. What I set out to do was to make handmade movies, and to work with people that inspire me.”

When asked point blank if he would accept a “Star Wars” role again, Isaac blankly answered in 2020, “Probably, but who knows. If I need another house or something.”

Responding to the flippant nature of his previous response, Isaac noted how seemingly obnoxious that quote sounded.

“Yeah. That was a real likable quote. Jesus Christ,” the “Dune” actor said in the recent GQ interview. “Y’know, people ask you things, you say stuff, you don’t really think about it that much. I said a slightly d— thing.”