The saying goes that politics is showbusiness for ugly people — but the beautiful people of Hollywood have been getting deeply involved in the recent political turmoil in the U.S.
George Clooney hosted a fundraiser for President Joe Biden — and then urged him to quit days before he did so.
Since then, Jamie Lee Curtis and singer Katy Perry have thrown their weight behind Biden’s Vice President, Kamala Harris, and Robert De Niro has also weighed in, saying: ‘There is nothing more important for our country than defeating Donald Trump at the ballot box.’
Now it can be revealed Sharon Stone has gone one further — and is talking about leaving America for a new life in Europe if Trump wins in November.
Stone, 66, said this week that she is thinking of buying a house in Italy if the 78-year-old Republican candidate gets into the White House again, saying: ‘I am certainly considering a house in Italy. I think that’s an intelligent construct at this time.’ She added: ‘This is one of the first times in my life that I’ve actually seen anyone running for office on a platform of hate and oppression.’
Sharon Stone, 66, (pictured) said this week that she is thinking of buying a house in Italy if the 78-year-old Republican candidate gets into the White House again
Donald Trump (pictured) is the Republican candidate for the 2024 election
Friends of the actress say she’s already spent time house-hunting on the French Riviera, before shifting her gaze to Italy. One said: ‘Sharon has a really beautiful home with her children in Beverly Hills but I know that she did look in Antibes. That was a few years ago but she did not pull the trigger on it.
‘It’s fair to say that she is thinking about it again. I would say that France is still more likely than Italy.’
Stone has an exhibition of her paintings coming up in Rome; and a show on in Berlin at the moment.
Later this year she is expected to film Nobody 2 opposite Bob Odenkirk, in America.
The Casino and Basic Instinct star has lived in the same house for more than 25 years and currently has sons Roan, 24, Laird, 19, and Quinn, 17, there with her. The younger two boys were adopted after her marriage to Phil Bronstein ended.
S he has also informally adopted a fourth boy, a friend of Roan’s, who had been caring for his single father who had Parkinson’s. When his father died in 2022, Stone also took him in.
Before Trump was elected in 2016, a number of celebrities said they would leave the country if he came to power.
Those who promised to skedaddle included Amy Schumer, Chelsea Handler, Bryan Cranston, Jon Stewart, Samuel L. Jackson, Miley Cyrus and Cher.
In the end, though, none of them upped sticks. Only Girls writer Lena Dunham followed through on her promise to leave, and that was in 2021 — a year after Biden won.
The Serpent Queen is streaming now on Prime Video
No pies, by royal command
Samantha Morton, starring again as Catherine de Medici in The Serpent Queen, finds herself sparring with Elizabeth I, played by Minnie Driver.
It’s a fight for the ages on screen, but in real life the two women — both Brits who have made it in Hollywood — are friends and members of a mutual admiration society.
Morton describes Driver as ‘kind, intelligent and incredible’ and adds: ‘I am a huge fan. I’d seen her on this amazing show, The Politician’s Wife, and it just blew my mind.’
As for stepping back into the corsets of Catherine de Medici, Morton says: ‘I’ve been doing costume dramas for a very, very long time. And, to me, it’s a bit of a doddle. I do have to stop the pies before we’re shooting because, yeah . . . there’s that aspect.’
The battle of the bulge was also eased by the fact that Catherine is older in Season 2.
‘So when I said to the amazing costume designer Karen Muller Serreau, “I’m so sorry . . . I’m a bit bigger now . . .” she’s like: “She’s aged! It’s fine!” ’
The Serpent Queen is streaming now on Prime Video.
Dawn French was dressed as a comedy ballerina, complete with a fake swan
Dawn French revealed deeply embarrassing encounter with Princess Margaret
Dawn French recalls an excruciating encounter with Princess Margaret . . . while dressed as a comedy ballerina, complete with fake swan.
The comedian was performing at a fundraiser at the Royal Opera House alongside her partner Jennifer Saunders — plus legendary ballerinas Viviana Durante, Sylvie Guillem and Darcey Bussell.
Afterwards, she told the Titting About podcast: ‘We were told, “Stay on the stage, because Princess Margaret is going to come and greet you all.”
‘I’m standing in the swan costume . . . black tights, huge black flippers. I’ve got a swan wrapped round me. And I’ve got silly pink ballet legs going from my tutu . . . those are the fake legs . . . and I’m holding the head of the swan with reins. She got to me and she looked at me.
‘I thought she was going to kiss my cheek. Instead she said two words that reduced me to a heap. She just went: “How brave.” ’
Marriage in the Pitts, as court papers expected to reveal Angelina was the anonymous complainant about FBI’s handling of marriage ending plane incident
The legal battles around the collapse of the Jolie-Pitt marriage are about to take another twist, with the expected release of court papers which will confirm that Angelina is in fact the ‘Jane Doe’ who complained about the way the FBI investigated the incident on the private plane which ended the couple’s marriage eight years ago.
Judge Randolph Moss has made an order asking the plaintiff — thought to be Jolie — to indicate whether the case should remain under seal and why they should remain ‘pseudonymous’.
No comment from Jolie’s side about what happens next.
The ‘First Cat’ of the fashion world — Karl Lagerfeld’s Choupette (both pictured)— has been living in the lap of luxury since the passing of her master in 2019
Hello, kitty! What Karl’s cat did next
The ‘First Cat’ of the fashion world — Karl Lagerfeld’s Choupette — has been living in the lap of luxury since the passing of her master in 2019.
However it seems that at the age of 13 her modelling career may be nearing the end.
Lucas Berullier, the founder of My Pet Agency, who handles Choupette’s commercial work, says he has recently resorted to using a body double and even airbrushing for the Birman cat famed for her blue eyes and haughty demeanour.
‘We use doubles sometimes,’ Berullier said. ‘For her tail, she doesn’t need to recognised. And for the face, there’s sometimes a bit of Photoshop onto another cat’s body.’
They will use the money she has earned — rumoured to be £11 million — to set up a Choupette Foundation which will rehome stray cats and ‘champion the role of cats in society’.
Chanel designer Lagerfeld adopted Choupette in 2011, eight years before his death. There were plans to bring her to the Met Gala this year (whose theme honoured Lagerfeld) with Kim Kardashian due to carry her up the red carpet.
But Choupette took an instant dislike to Kim when they met, hissing at her and attempting to bite her.
Glen blows into big time
It’s not just cars and cows that Twisters is sending heavenwards — the film has also given a huge lift to the career of its leading man Glen Powell, being talked up as the new Tom Cruise.
Chisel-jawed Powell (who at 6ft is six inches taller than Mr Cruise) is responsible for some of the blockbuster success of the film, which was released last week, with research showing that in the States, 22 per cent of the first weekend audience turned out mostly for him.
Powell, who is single, took his rescue dog Brisket onto the red carpet and Press tour with him.
This weekend the movie will no doubt be blown away by Deadpool & Wolverine, but Powell will feel the uplift for some time.
His next project — which has started filming — is Huntington, which is a riff on Kind Hearts And Coronets and features a young man who wants to kill off his family so he can get rich.
Potty-mouthed Danny Dyer (pictured) is going to be causing a commotion on the Press tour for the TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals
Rivals is ‘filth’ but Tennant’s fans with love it
Potty-mouthed Danny Dyer is going to be causing a commotion on the Press tour for the TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals, if his recent appearance on Alan Carr’s podcast is anything to go by.
Dyer plays self-made electronics millionaire Freddie Jones (pictured) in the Disney+ series, which will stream later this year.
And on the podcast — which made South Park sound like an episode of CBeebies — he discussed the raunchy nature of the highly anticipated show (readers of a delicate nature may want to look away now).
Admitting he had never read Rivals (or any of Cooper’s books), Dyer said: ‘I know a lot of middle-class women f***ing loved it,’ before marvelling: ‘It’s filth!’
Egged on by Carr, who referred to the show’s star David Tennant as ‘Dave Ten Inch’, Dyer went on: ‘If you’re into Tennant you’re gonna f***ing love it! He has got a nice, big . . . No, I’m joking! He’s such a lovely man.’
Ooh Matron — fetch the smelling salts!