Father

TIME FOR MEGHAN MARKLE TO FORGIVE AND FORGET

Remember WHERE you read this when it happens, as Meghan Markle is confiding to friends that she’s ready to make peace with her ailing father Thomas! The 79-year-old patriarch isn’t in the best of health, and Meghan’s biggest fear is that she will never forgive herself if her dad passes away before they reconcile. Plus, Meghan knows the optics of her father dying with them on the outs will make her look as bad as she feels. Behind very closed doors, Meghan has asked her mom (Thomas’s ex-wife, Doria Ragland) to offer an olive branch. Time has begun to heal this wound and while Meghan will never forget what she feels Thomas did to her, she knows she HAS to forgive him for many reasons…

STALLONE: NO LONGER A KNOW-IT-ALL?

Sylvester Stallone did a surprisingly candid interview with James Hibbard at The Hollywood Reporter, and it brought back some memories. Sly admitted that he was obnoxious and “thought he knew everything” when he became successful. Back in the day, his biggest competitor was Arnold Schwarzenegger- (it so happens I introduced them when we were all walking out of a screening in the late 70’s.) They became rivals and Arnold admitted to faking interest in a dud movie (Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot) to lure Sly into pouncing on the role. Sly went so far as to pay a UK writer to write a book about Arnold’s father, who was a Nazi, figuring it would kill his career. (It didn’t, and Arnold is quite the opposite of his father) Now that both actors are older – they realize they have a lot in common and are good friends. They like smoking cigars together.

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA  Stallone on the set of Tulsa King

WHO IS THIS MAJOR MOVIE STAR?

We did NOT recognize this actor who turned up at a Netflix premier this week – and we’ve been writing about him for YEARS! (He’s had a VERY colorful career) Also he happens to be the only movie star who ever bought a Star gossip columnist (me) a drink in an LA club. The second photo shows him SMILING so you will immediately recognize him as Robert Downey Jr. with his hair shaved off. He’s promoting his Netflix documentary called Sr– it’s a tribute to his independent filmmaker father Robert Downey Sr (who died in 2021) and their relationship. Robert Jr made his acting debut at 5 in one of his dad’s movies. The second photo shows Robert Downey Jr, his son Indio, and wife Susan.

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

MADONNA’S KIDS LOOK JUST LIKE THEIR FATHERS

Funny, but we never noticed how much Madonna’s two offspring – Lourdes Leon, 25, and Rocco Ritchie, 23, closely resemble their FATHERS- and share very little visible genetic connection with their mother. Lourdes is lucky because her handsome Cuban dad Carlos Leon is 6’2, so at 5’7,” she towers over her petite mother. (Of course it helps her modeling career.) Rocco obviously identifies with his lookalike dad, director Guy Ritchie, and chose to live with him in London for the past few years. Rocco has long had great fashion sense and he’s now an artist. Rocco looks very excited in this photo with Lourdes – they are meeting Madonna at the Tom Ford fashion show in NY and have three seats in the front row awaiting them.

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

IS HER BOYFRIEND SAM BEHIND BRITNEY’S ANGRY TIRADE?

We can’t help but wonder what is going on in the head of Britney Spears’ ambitious boyfriend Sam Asghari while all this family drama is escalating. Britney seems infuriated with her entire family and continues to trade snipes with her sister online. She says she plans to sue the pants off her father for mishandling her conservatorship and also threatened to sue her sister if she talks about Britney while being interviewed about the book she wrote (that Britney hates.) Britney has distanced herself from her entire family- Sam is the only one left. Is he ENCOURAGING Britney to call out family members? (to have her all to himself, perhaps) Or is he terrified by her extreme and angry behavior? Does HE want to be in charge of her unpredictable life? Time will tell…

Photo: Instagram

DRAKE’S FATHER DENNIS GRAHAM DOESN’T MIND TURNING HEADS

Guess who showed up at Drake and Kanye’s Free Larry Hoover concert last night and grabbed a lot of attention? It’s no secret that Drake’s father Dennis Graham thoroughly enjoys being the father of a very famous rap star. He loves giving interviews and posing for photos with his son’s famous friends at big events. It’s also unusual that a famous musician’s father is a more flamboyant dresser than his son! Dennis popped out of his limo last night looking like THIS- Drake takes good care of his dad…

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

ANDY COHEN: NO MORE SWINGING BACHELOR?

Andy Cohen’s little boy Benjamin is now in his terrible twos and Andy admits it’s both good and bad. Ben has started to throw things at his father for fun, but he’s also learning to say “I love you” and that makes up for a lot. At 52, Andy might be the happiest dad in NYC. He’s a single father (via surrogate) but Andy says he keeps Ben surrounded by as many women as possible. He admits “Women have played a key role in my life – especially my mom- we all need them.” His pal Sarah Jessica Parker has supplied Andy with a lot of hand-me-down baby clothes and items, not to mention advice, since Ben was born. Andy says nowadays he would rather just stare at Ben than look at hot guys on his phone. At this young age, Ben is already starting to look a LOT like his dad.

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

MEGHAN MARKLE: WHO NEEDS ENEMIES WHEN YOU HAVE RELATIVES LIKE THIS?

It’s bad enough that Meghan Markle had the UK tabloid press tearing her to pieces, but she also has two of her own family members earning money by saying negative things about her. The fact that the Royals courted the press but did NOTHING to stop papers from writing awful things about Meghan is shocking. It’s understandable that Meghan was hurt and disappointed. On top of that daily tabloid tirade, she had to endure nasty remarks by her own father and 16 years older half-sister. The half sister Samantha (who has reverted back to her original last name of Markle since Meghan married into the Royal family) admits she hasn’t seen Meghan in years and barely knows her, yet she can’t stop talking bad about her. As soon as Samantha realized she could make MONEY selling interviews, she become a talkative “expert” on Meghan’s character, and encouraged her father to do the same. Why journalists like Piers Morgan have been so cruel to Meghan is unthinkable- people who have worked with and known Meghan over the years have nothing but nice things to say about her. We hope she makes a wonderful life for herself in California. And THANK YOU, Oprah!

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

BRITNEY SPEARS: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BOYFRIEND

The new documentary Framing Britney Spears has opened up a whole new discussion about her conservatorship. Britneys father Jamie, while acting as her conservator, controlled every inch of her life – he managed her career, finances, personal life and purchases. At 39, she had to ask his permission to buy an expensive pair of shoes. After earning ALL that money! It all boils down to THE BOYFRIEND – Jamie is very wary of her smoothly handsome boyfriend Sam Asghari, 27. Iranian born Sam is VERY ambitious and advertises his good looks and physical talents lavishly on social media. Compare his posts with Britney’s and you see his level of sophistication. Knowing Britney’s vulnerability when it comes to men (she invited a photographer in to live with her a few years ago, and HE ran her life and was accused of giving her drugs) her father is highly suspicious of Sam’s motives. It’s clear that Jamie doesn’t want Sam running Britney’s life and Sam is not happy. Sam says about Jamie: “I have no respect for anyone trying to control our relationship and constantly throwing obstacles in our way!” Is Jamie not allowing Britney to MARRY Sam? Does he have good reasons? Remains to be seen…

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

NEVER A DULL MOMENT WITH SHIA LA BEOUF

We got interested in Shia LaBeouf years ago when we learned that Megan Fox had a giant crush on her Transformers costar. What was the appeal? Shia turned out to be QUITE a character. Besides being a fascinating actor, his off-camera antics have always been noteworthy. (During a Broadway performance of Cabaret, Shia impulsively jumped onstage right into a bar scene and patted Alan Cumming on the butt) He’s been arrested a few times for disorderly conduct and very honestly discussed his problems with alcohol on talk shows. His intense movie Honey Boy told the story of his youth as a child actor with an abusive father. (He got his father to sign off on the film by telling him his favorite actor Mel Gibson would be playing him.) Shia ended up playing his own awful father with gusto. Above, Shia, 33, is staying in shape for his next project…whatever that might be.

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA