By Wonderwall.com Editors
1:30pm PDT, Aug 12, 2022
Kaley Cuoco recalls deep depression amid divorce: 'I had an intervention on myself'
The second season of "The Flight Attendant" sees Kaley Cuoco's character Cassie face a whole lot of personal demons after getting sober. As the star reveals in a new interview with Variety, Kaley was dealing with her own demons in the form of a divorce from Karl Cook at the same time she was filming the heaviest of those scenes. "It was one of the hardest years of my life," Kaley recalls. "Not only personally, but doing this character that was so tormented. It was the first time that I started therapy — I've been very open about that. I started at the beginning of Season 2, just because I was going through so much right before we started shooting. It was horrible. And I developed a stress rash that ran all the way down my body for three straight months that wouldn't go away." She asked her co-star Zosia Mamet to move in with her at one point because, as she puts it, "I was really losing my mind." Looking back, Kaley says she was open about therapy and the divorce because she "wanted people to know that things just aren't always what they seem." She took more drastic action a month into filming season 2. "I had an intervention on myself in my trailer — all my producers were in there. And I said, 'I need help,'" she recalls. "It was interesting to say that out loud. And to have everyone be like, 'Yes, we want to help!' I'm a working woman, and so independent, and I really take pride in being able to do everything. Well, this time, I literally couldn't." She was in the midst of her split from Karl when she finally asked for help. "Going through my divorce, it was really a super dark time," she admits. "I just didn't know how to deal with it. I was throwing myself into work to deny my depression, and how upset I was. Unfortunately, the character was so depressed that it wasn't helping me! I was really, really, really struggling. A lot of tears." Ultimately, those tears inspired some of her most memorable acting — specifically, a scene she filmed while spending two hours on beach crying, screaming and sitting quietly with herself as the cameras rolled. "The trauma I was going through probably helped whatever I needed to do for this season. Did I mean for that to happen? Oh my God, no." Kaley says she's "so much better" today. "And now I can tell other people that have the worst years of their life: It's gonna get better.
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Angelina Jolie gets emotional about becoming a 'Spelman mom' as daughter Zahara kicks off her college career
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's daughter Zahara Jolie-Pitt is now officially a Spelman girl after her mom dropped her off at college this week. The star popped up in a sweet video shared by Spelman's VP of Student Affairs on Wednesday, Aug. 10, documenting move-in day for the freshmen class at the prestigious HBCU institution. The clip shows Angelina chatting with Spelman President Dr. Helen Gayle when she's asked by a voice off-camera how she feels now that she's a Spelman mom. "I'm gonna start crying," Angelina says with a laugh. She goes on to say she's avoided the waterworks so far, then adorably admits tears are probably in her future. When President Gayle jokes that the week's activities are designed "to induce" parents' emotions so they can move on, Angelina laughs again and jokes, "I'm holding together." Asked again "how does it feel to be a Spelman mom," the mother of six puts a hand to her chest and smiles. "I'm so excited," she says. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, President Gayle said the Spelman community is "honored that Zahara Jolie-Pitt and her family chose Spelman College," telling the outlet: "As the No. 1 HBCU in the country, there's no place quite like Spelman, which has been an incubator for Black women's education and excellence for more than 140 years." Zahara's college debut follows that of her elder brother, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, who began studying at Seoul's Yonsei University in South Korea in 2019.
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Serena Williams honored with standing ovation, shouts of 'I love you' at final Canadian Open
Two days after announcing her upcoming retirement from tennis, 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams was moved to tears by a standing ovation and chants of "I love you" at the Canadian Open in Toronto on Wednesday, Aug. 10. Serena, 40, lost to Belinda Bencic in the second round on Wednesday, following her revelation in Vogue that she's "evolving away from tennis." After her round, likely her last in Canada, the pioneering athlete was presented with a giant bouquet of flowers on the court, as the roaring crowd jumped to its collective feet and cheered, holding signs emblazoned with messages like "Thank you Serena," "Queen" and "23 We Will Miss You." "As I said in the article, I'm terrible at goodbyes. But goodbye, Toronto," Serena told a reporter after the match, per CNN. "It was a lot of emotions, obviously," she continued. "I love playing here, I've always loved playing here. I wish I could have played better but Belinda played so well today. It's been an interesting 24 hours. Anyways, this is what it is. I was really happy to be out here today and play in front of you guys, thanks for the support." Serena, who said in her Vogue essay that she plans to expand her family while pursuing other business ventures, is expected to end her farewell tour at the US Open.
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Lisa Kudrow says Jerry Seinfeld once told her 'you're welcome' for 'Friends' success
Call it "The One Where Jerry Seinfeld Takes Credit for the Success of 'Friends.'" In a recent interview with the Daily Beast, Lisa Kudrow was asked if she and her "Friends" co-stars felt "competitive with 'Seinfeld'" during the years when the two hit NBC sitcoms — both set in New York City and featuring ensemble casts — were the top shows on television. Though she replied "no," saying she personally never felt competitive, she acknowledged that "Friends" benefitted from airing right after "Seinfeld" in 1995. Jerry Seinfeld apparently acknowledged the connection, too — and not in the most polite way. "Not to take anything away from the writing on 'Friends,' or the cast, or how good 'Friends' really was, but the first season our ratings were just fine," said Lisa, whose Phoebe Buffay character on "Friends" was set up as the twin sister of the Ursula character Lisa was already playing on yet another NBC sitcom, "Mad About You." "We held onto enough of 'Mad About You' and [started] building," she continued. "But it was in the summer when we were in reruns after 'Seinfeld,' where 'Seinfeld' was our lead-in, where we exploded. I remember going to some party and Jerry Seinfeld was there, and I said, 'Hi,' and he said, 'You're welcome.' I said, 'Why, thank you … what?' And he said, 'You're on after us in the summer, and you're welcome.'" And I said, 'That's exactly right. Thank you.'" "Seinfeld" premiered on NBC in 1989 and aired for nine seasons, followed by "Mad About You," starring Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser, which aired from 1992 until 1999. "Friends" kicked off in 1994 and proved to last the longest of the three, airing for 10 seasons.
Madonna recalls being told her career was 'over' after 'Like a Virgin' performance at 1984's MTV VMAs
During an appearance on "The Tonight Show" to promote her new album, "Finally Enough Love," Madonna spent some time reminiscing about the not-so-good-old-days with host Jimmy Fallon. Now 63, the longtime Queen of Pop specifically recalled being told her career was "over" after her performance of "Like a Virgin" at the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. The then-scandalous performance opened with Madonna standing atop a giant wedding cake decked out in puffy white bridal garb and a bustier. "I walked down these very steep stairs of the wedding cake and I got to the bottom and I started dancing around and my white stiletto pumps fell off," she told Jimmy on the Wednesday, Aug. 10, edition of the late-night show. "And I was trying to do this smooth move, like, dive for the shoe and look like it was choreography. And my dress flipped up," she continued, admitting part of her rear "was showing." With mock horror, she asked, "Can you imagine?" The slip was an "accident," though, she said, and she had no idea she'd shown any skin. Besides, she reasoned, "it was just like half a … cheek" that anyone saw. "Yeah, when I went backstage, my manager told me my career was over with," Madonna continued. "Those were the days when you shouldn't show your [bottom] to have a career. Now it's the opposite," she joked.
Taika Waititi faces backlash over anti-trans comments in resurfaced tweets
"Thor" director Taika Waititi is facing a wave of backlash this week, thanks to a series of resurfaced tweets featuring anti-trans comments. The posts popped back up on Twitter, causing Taika's name to trend, shortly after he reportedly married singer Rita Ora. One of the controversial posts appeared to be a follow-up to a criticism of beauty pageant contestants. "Combining heels and bikini whilst plastering your face in orange so you resemble a leather pudding is totes empowering," he wrote in the first tweet, according to the Daily Mail. A second post, dated Jan. 16, 2013, read: "No disrespect to men who want to be/dress as women. I should have just said their makeup looks manly. Also no disrespect to meth users." At the time, another Twitter user called Taika out for "slut-shaming, transphobia, and immense misogyny all in one tweet," adding that his remarks were "not cool." Rather than apologize or let it go, however, the director replied, "No it is cool," setting off a back-and-forth in which he was told to apologize and reminded how much trans people suffer as a result of such characterizations. "My trans friends can walk in heels. but you're right, actual kathoey are better looking," Taika replied, invoking the word for the identity claimed by people in Thailand who are often considered a "third gender" more than trans. In another tweet from 2015, Taika made a sarcastic comment about Caitlyn Jenner's transition. The director had not yet commented publicly on the backlash as of Thursday, Aug. 11.
Studios respond to Chelsea Handler, Mindy Kaling and more showrunners' demands for abortion policy
At the end of July, Chelsea Handler, Issa Rae, Mindy Kaling, Natasha Lyonne and some 1500 more TV showrunners and directors sent an open letter to the major networks calling for stronger abortion policies following the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Nearly two weeks later, most of the networks have responded in a group letter that, as the AV Club points out, fails to even acknowledge most of the demands made in the showrunners' missive. The initial communication — signed by more than 400 female showrunners and co-signed by more than 500 male showrunners and directors — demanded specifics on how employees' reproductive rights will be protected when working for the studios and networks in states where abortion has "been criminalized." The group gave the networks 10 days to respond, which all but Lionsgate did (just under the 10-day mark). "We want to assure you that we are individually focused on supporting the health, safety, well-being and privacy of our respective employees and those who support our productions as we continue to monitor this evolving situation," the letter reads. It goes on to promise that employees will be notified "as plans and policies change and expand to provide reproductive care and other support now needed in states that have restricted or outlawed abortion access," according to the AV Club. It then points to unions, saying health plans are still being updated and information should be coming from the unions directly. The signees — including Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal, Apple, Paramount, Amazon and AMC — did not address a request for a "policy regarding criminal and civil legal protection" in cases of employees needing procedures associated with abortions. It also failed to respond to the demand that the studios "discontinue all political donations to anti-abortion candidates and political action committees immediately."
