The circle of life was in full effect over the weekend. On the birth side of the circle, Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen reportedly both welcomed their first child. A source confirmed to People that Aubrey Plaza and her boyfriend, Christopher Abbott, were expecting a child in April, and TMZ spotted Aubrey with her newborn on Sunday. Meanwhile, her Ingrid Goes West co-star was papped with a baby bump back in June and has reportedly given birth to her first child with musician husband Robbie Arnett. Ingrid getting pregnant because Taylor got pregnant would also be an incredible plotline for Ingrid Goes West 2, if producers need any ideas.
Meanwhile on the death side of the circle of life, House of the Dragon saw several more key characters killed off in the Season 3 finale. This season we’d already seen main characters decapitated, stabbed in the neck (that’s different from decapitation), shot with arrows, and burned alive, but the finale still found new ways to kill people. Never fear, though! There’s still plenty of Targaryens and Hightowers left to murder in the fourth and final season, which is set to premiere in 2028. More dragon burning to come.
Also this weekend, two new Heated Rivalry leads were cast with Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie set to play Harris Drover and Troy Barrett, respectively. Their romance is detailed in the fifth book of Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series, Role Model, meaning that Season 2 of the show will again intertwine several different gay hockey sagas. Heated Rivalry characters are hot in a different way than House of the Dragon characters.
In other news…
Update On My Close Personal Friends — Katseye is down another member
Katesye — Getty Images
On Friday, Sophia Laforteza, a member of the international girl group Katseye, announced that she would be taking a break from the group to focus on her physical and mental health. This came just months after another member, Manon Bannerman, also announced her hiatus for similar reasons. This leaves just four of the original six members, Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel, and Yoonchae Jeung, performing for the time being. Katseye took the stage as a foursome over the weekend at Head in the Clouds festival, with fans beginning to wonder if HYBE and Geffen Records are possibly pushing the girls too hard too quickly. While both Sophia and Manon expressed a desire to rejoin the group eventually, neither has announced a return date. Joining an international girl group, as it turns out, seems a bit stressful.
The Couch Report — The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip has returned
The cast of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip — Bravo
One season of The Real Housewives with 82 housewives?!?! I really can’t even begin to fathom how this will turn out, but Season 5 of Ultimate Girls Trip, titled Roaring 20th in honor of the franchise’s 20th anniversary, will catch up with dozens of stars, past and present. The series, which features seven housewives on a road trip across the country, started in Orange County this week, where Luann de Lesseps, Teresa Giudice, Kyle Richards, Vicki Gunvalson, Gizelle Bryant, Porsha Williams, and Lisa Barlow got to rub elbows with the RHOC ladies. The series is basically a BravoCon roadshow, and my eyes will be glued to the TV all season long.
If there is one thing influencers are especially good at influencing, it is a birthday cake trend. From the naked cakes and ombre cakes of the early 2020s to this year’s frilly kitsch cakes, we love to follow a cake trend, and I do fear that Kylie Jenner’s edible gemstone birthday cake is about to take the world by storm. Keep your eyes peeled, because every Virgo/Libra influencer is calling up the nearest bakery, requesting a Kylie Jenner cake for their shindig. I guess I’ll find out soon enough if those edible gems are tasty.
Current Hyperfixation — One Night Only’s fake prescription drug songs
Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro in One Night Only — Universal Pictures
One Night Only is a highly unserious movie. Starring Monica Barbaro (aka Mrs. Andrew Garfield) and Callum Turner (aka Mr. Dua Lipa), the film is set in a semi-dystopian future where non-married people can only have sex on one night a year. Think The Purge, but way hornier. The movie is RIDICULOUS from start to finish, but my favorite part is that Barbaro’s Allie works as a prescription drug jingle singer. The movie opens with her singing a version of Sara Bareilles’ “Brave” rewritten about plaque psoriasis. Like, I’m sorry. How can you not find that so delightfully hilarious? Whoever is giving this a 45% on Rotten Tomatoes hates fun.
