Celebrity

It’s hard to say out loud, but it looks like The Howard Stern Show may finally be winding down at SiriusXM. With his contract coming to an end and no clear word on renewal, even Stern himself sounds noncommittal. For the first time since the 1970s, the radio world is bracing for a future without him.But for many of us – particularly those of us in Gen X who came of age during his prime – that future started a long time ago. Because the Howard Stern we grew up on, the one we admired, feared, laughed with (and sometimes fought with) has been gone for years.I was a teenager in the Eighties and a driven, hard-working young professional in the Nineties. I didn’t just listen to Stern – I studied him: his timing, his fearlessness, his command of the mic.

You may not have realized it, but the actress Lindsay Lohan has been quietly orchestrating a comeback over the past few years. In 2022, she signed a multifilm deal with Netflix that led to such forgettable pieces of fluff as the Oirish romantic comedy Irish Wish, and now she has returned in her highest-profile film in years, the Freaky Friday sequel, Freakier Friday. Lohan stars opposite the Oscar-winning Jamie Lee Curtis in what is clearly (and cynically) intended as a piece of four-quadrant fluff, and Disney will be hoping that the sequel recaptures some of the 2003 original’s box-office alchemy; it grossed $160 million worldwide on a $26 million budget.

Ellen DeGeneres, the former queen of American daytime television, says she escaped the social turmoil of the United States by finding a $29 million farmhouse in the English countryside. And she would very much like the rest of us to take note. She and her wife, Portia de Rossi, reportedly arrived in Britain the day before the 2024 US election. When the results came in, accompanied, she says, by a flood of sad-face-emoji-laden texts from anxious friends, the couple made their decision: they wouldn’t be going back. Now they’re happily settled in the Cotswolds, that beautiful part of southern England where celebrities, rockstars and former politicians play out their fantasies of rural living.

Milo Yiannopoulos has fallen out with another Trump-supporting musical artist. The right-wing provocateur and one-time intern of Marjorie Taylor Greene had been teasing his intention to start managing Azealia Banks, a rapper and singer as talented as she is controversial best known for her songs "212" and "Anna Wintour." "At Yeezy, I discovered a gift for navigating, protecting and advising mercurial and demanding geniuses," he tweeted ten days ago. "I deliver and close ruthlessly, effectively and efficiently. So I’m moving into artist management full time. Signing my first client in a few days. You will, as they say, gag." Banks retweeted his post. Yet days later, on the eve of Banks's UK tour, the blossoming working relationship appears to have unraveled.

In just one short year, Amber Heard has transformed from arguably the most hated woman on the planet to some kind of new and improved Spanish celebrity. Amber moved to Madrid months after she was sued by her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, for defamation. In a viral TikTok video, Heard answers questions from reporters, saying in Spanish, "I love Spain so much."  When they asked if she plans on staying, she replied, "Yes, I hope so. Yes, I love living here." After being asked if she has movie projects on the horizon, she says yes and adds, "I move on. That's life." It turns out that exiling yourself to a new country for privacy can be an effective PR strategy. Take note, Harry and Meghan.

Swifties rejoice! Or, at least, stop self-harming. Taylor Swift and 1975 singer Matt Healy are officially over. A friend close to the couple told TMZ that Taylor is in fact "single" again. It's still unclear exactly why they've now split up. A source told Entertainment Tonight that: "Taylor and Matty broke up. They are both extremely busy and realized they're not really compatible with each other. "The source added that "Taylor's friends want what's best for her and aren't shocked that their relationship fizzled out since she recently got out of a long-term relationship." It was a pretty wild romance. Just last month, Matty was spotted at all three of Swift's Nashville concerts.

Over the weekend, singing sensations Miley Cyrus and Shakira brought the "diss track" — a song whose primary purpose is to disparage someone else — back into the mainstream. Both artists chose to target their ex-husbands. Shakira’s new song, which was released last week, racked up 63 million views in the first twenty-four hours following its release. It has since been viewed more than 142 million times, making it the most watched new Latin song in YouTube’s history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CocEMWdc7Ck Last year the Colombian singer split from former soccer player Gerard Piqué, her husband of more than a decade.