Entertainment

(NEW YORK) — After being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the annual Met Gala is making a comeback with updated COVID-19 protocols.

As opposed to its usual “first Monday in May,” the highly acclaimed fashion extravaganza will be held on Sept. 13 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

While we are used to seeing celebrities and fashion insiders show up in full glam and wide smiles, this year’s attendees will be required to wear face masks.

Anyone attending must also provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccination to partake in this year’s festivities.

“Currently, all attendees at The Met Gala on September 13 must provide proof of full vaccination and will also be expected to wear masks indoors except when eating or drinking,” a spokesperson for The Met confirmed to People. “We will update these guidelines as needed.”

The guidance comes shortly after New York City announced a vaccine mandate for many indoor activities this week.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America and IMG also announced that all September New York Fashion Week events will require proof of vaccination for any guests, staff members or individuals on site.

While the Met Gala will look very different with COVID-19 restrictions in place, one aspect that does remain the same is this year’s theme: “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.”

Also, the affair will be broken into two events starting with the ball and following with an exhibition set to open on Sept. 18 at the Anna Wintour Costume Center, exploring “a modern vocabulary of American fashion.”

This year’s event will also commemorate the Costume Institute’s 75 birthday.

“The @metmuseum’s annual Costume Institute Gala has become synonymous with striking displays of couture, rivaled only by the masterful coifs — decorated with subtle blooms and subversive headpieces alike — that accompany them,” Vogue Magazine captioned a photo by Phil Oh.

For the first time ever, the Met Gala is also planning to feature a sustainable plant-based menu with recipes from 10 New York City chefs, including Fariyal Abdullahi, Nasim Alikhani and Emma Bengtsson.

The chefs were chosen by restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson and Bon Appétit to showcase the talent throughout the industry.

“After a difficult two years for the restaurant industry, this will showcase the work and tell the stories of a dynamic group of chefs while presenting an exciting menu of delicious, plant-based dishes,” Samuelsson told Vogue. “The gala offers an incomparable opportunity for emerging talent to elevate their careers and share their perspectives and craft.”

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To help celebrate her 40th birthday Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, has launched a campaign called 40×40 — dedicated to help women who have lost their jobs since the pandemic began. And in a video announcement, Markle tapped one of her famous friends, Melissa McCarthy, to help explain her unique birthday gift. 

McCarthy was just looking to party, trying to guess what Meghan wanted, including, “another photo shoot under a tree where you’re looking very peaceful?”

Another was a “Suits reunion,” in the vein of the recent Friends special, which McCarthy claimed was her birthday gift from the cast. 

“Yacht party!” was another suggestion. 

Instead, Meghan explained her plan was to have 40 of her friends mentor 40 women to coach them back into the workforce, and her hopes it will have a “ripple effect” that spreads globally. 

“Two million women in the U.S and tens of million around the world have lost their jobs due to COVID,” Markle explained to the Bridesmaids star. 

The video ends with a short gag reel, in which McCarthy praises her own “hat work” in preparation for the video.

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Jenna Dewan took to Twitter on Tuesday to address media reports suggesting her recent revelations about suffering “postpartum anxiety” implied that her ex-husband Channing Tatum was unavailable following the birth of their daughter, Everly, in 2013.

“It’s unfortunate that countless media outlets have taken an important conversation on a woman’s experience with postpartum issues and pulled quotes to make it appear that I was slamming my daughters’ father, something I would never do,” she wrote.

“As two working parents, we both faced challenges at the time, but I speak only for myself and not about him,” she continued.

“Anyone who actually listens to the interview, something I encourage everyone to do, will clearly see that my words have been distorted for clicks and to push false, salacious gossip with no regard for the actual people involved, or the message intended,” the 40-year-old actress concluded.

Dewan and Tatum divorced in 2019 following nearly nine years of marriage.

pic.twitter.com/EeEgUDnaS0

— Jenna Dewan (@jennadewan) August 3, 2021

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Comedian and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Richard Lewis is celebrating 27 years sober, a milestone he reached Wednesday. 

“August 3, 1994 I thought that I was near death from alcoholism,” the 74-year-old comic tweeted. “Early the next day I was rushed to the ER and turned my life around a day, sometimes a minute at a time.” 

To his followers, Lewis added, “If you’re struggling you can get help. I did. 8/4/21 27 years sober.”

The post was liked more than 116,000 times as of Wendesday morning and was commented on by many followers, some of whom added their own stories of survival and struggles with addiction.

August 3, 1994 I thought that I was near death from alcoholism.
Early the next day I was rushed to the ER and turned my life around a day, sometimes a minute at a time. If you’re struggling you can get help. I did.
8/4/21
27 years sober.🙏♥️☮️ pic.twitter.com/VBR2shOxUl

— Richard Lewis (@TheRichardLewis) August 3, 2021

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Legendary entertainer and EGOT winner Mel Brooks is releasing a memoir on November 30 called ALL ABOUT ME! My Remarkable Life in Show Business.

The 95-year-old writer, actor, and director will also narrate the audiobook version of his life’s story. 

Publisher Random House explains, “the long-awaited memoir from one of the greatest influences ever known to American (and global) comedy” will “cover everything from his childhood…to his service in World War II, to his early years in show business alongside such greats as Sid Caesar, Neil Simon and Carl Reiner, to his array of dazzling films…”

Among those films, of course, are The Producers, for which he won an Oscar for Best Screenplay, and the beloved Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, History of the World Part I, and Spaceballs. And that was before Brooks adapted The Producers into a Tony-winning smash.

For his part, Brooks says in a statement, “It was joyous and at times bittersweet writing this book and reliving the peaks and valleys of my incredible journey from Brooklyn to Hollywood to Broadway. I hope fans of comedy will get a kick out of the stories behind my work, and really enjoy taking this remarkable ride with me.”

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Get ready to see some pretty elaborate face masks. The celebrities and other guests at this year’s Met Gala on September 13 will need to wear face coverings and prove they’re vaccinated against COVID-19, ABC Audio has confirmed.  

A spokesperson for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art noted, “Currently, all attendees at The Met Gala…must provide proof of full vaccination and will also be expected to wear masks indoors except when eating or drinking,” adding that guidelines will be updated “as needed.” 

The news comes a day after New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio announced vaccines will be required for patrons seeking admittance to restaurants, gyms, and most every indoor space in the city.

The Met Museum itself currently requires face coverings even if visitors are vaccinated.

Earlier this year, the organizers behind Vogue‘s traditionally gonzo gala — technically called the Costume Institute Benefit — announced dates for two bashes: The first, a “more intimate” gathering on September 13, will highlight an exhibition of the same name, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” which opens September 18 at the Anna Wintour Costume Center. The 2021 event will also commemorate the Costume Institute’s 75th birthday; the festivities were cancelled outright in 2020 over coronavirus concerns.

The 2022 Costume Institute Benefit, the Met Gala’s official name, will be held on May 2, 2022. 

Officially, the Met Galas benefit The Costume Institute, “with its primary source of annual funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, operations, and capital improvements.” Unofficially, the parties have become a place where celebrities show off outrageous red carpet outfits, such as Jared Leto‘s infamous decapitated head ensemble, and Lady Gaga‘s 25-foot-long Brandon Maxwell fuchsia pink cape gown.

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Looks like Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis aren’t the only celebrity parents who don’t wash their children every day.  Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard readily admitted they wait for their daughters smell before throwing them in a bathtub.

When speaking to The View Tuesday, co-host Meghan McCain admitted that Kutcher and Kunis’ recent admission made her reevaluate if she is “bathing my child too much.”

Shepard hailed his former Armchair Expert guests, who made the reveal on his podcast last week and sparked a nationwide conversation about hygiene.  Joking that the couple are now seen as “bad parents,” he and Bell revealed that they’re members of the same club.

“What’s interesting is, we bathed our children every single night prior to bed as part of a routine — and then, somehow, they started to go to sleep on their own without the routine,” Shepard said in reference to his two young daughters, Delta and Lincoln, who are six and eight, respectively.

Continued the Parenthood star, “[Kristen and I] had to start saying like, ‘Hey, when’s the last time you bathed them?'”

Bell nodded along to their joint confession and deadpanned, “Yeah, we forget” as her husband jokingly admitted they can go up to nearly a week before they wash their daughters.

“[We go] sometimes five, six days… They don’t smell so, you know, it’s hard,” Shepard quipped.

“I’m a big fan of waiting for the stink,” added Bell.  “Once you catch a whiff, that’s biology’s way of letting you know you need to clean it up.  I don’t hate what they’re doing.  I wait for the stink!”

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Amid the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, Soleil Moon Frye revealed the virus has impacted her own family.

The 44-year-old Punky Brewster star recently shared on Instagram that three of her four children have tested positive for coronavirus, and she’s urging parents to get their kids tested if they begin to show symptoms.

“I thought my son had a cold or a fever,” she captioned a photo of herself with her four kids — Poet, 15, Jagger, 13, Lyric, seven and Story, five — whom she shares with ex-husband Jason Goldberg.  “I did not know that he had Covid-19. With the encouragement of our doctor, I had him tested.”

When the results came back positive, Soleil says she canceled a scheduled work trip and rushed home to discover that two of her other kids had also tested positive for the virus.

“I want to protect my babies, love them, make them all better, take away the burning fever and tummy aches,” she said, adding that she has “tried to smile through the fear and nurture them,” and has “shed many tears.”

Still, the actress acknowledges “how incredibly fortunate” they are.

“My kids have been able to heal together and support each other through this, we have a doctor we trust, and hospitals close by,” she wrote, adding that her “heart breaks for the lives that have been lost,” as well as those who “do not have the same things that we have or the chance to be with their loved ones throughout this.”

Soleil still hasn’t figured out how the kids contracted the virus.

“That is part of the mystery in this,” she concludes. “How hard it is often to trace and how easy it is to spread. Please be safe.”

 

 

 

 

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Jennifer Aniston revealed that she cut ties with “a few people” who refused to get the COVID-19 shot.

Speaking to InStyle for their September cover issue, the Morning Show star expressed disbelief that some people choose to believe in hoaxes rather than research from accredited scientists and health experts.

“There’s still a large group of people who are anti-vaxxers or just don’t listen to the facts. It’s a real shame,” she remarked. “It’s tricky because everyone is entitled to their own opinion — but a lot of opinions don’t feel based in anything except fear or propaganda.”

Aniston, 52, then revealed she “lost a few people in my weekly routine who have refused or did not disclose [whether or not they had been vaccinated].”

“It was unfortunate,” the Golden Globe winner admitted before making a case why people should be comfortable with revealing whether or not they were vaccinated, adding, “I feel it’s your moral and professional obligation to inform, since we’re not all podded up and being tested every single day.”

Earlier in the interview, Aniston spoke about how she came to reset herself during the pandemic and revealed, “My level of anxiety has gone down by eliminating the unnecessary sort of fat in life that I had thought was necessary. Also realizing that you can’t please everybody.”

Aniston also expressed sympathy for Britney Spears and reflected on how she was mistreated by the media.

Saying the paparazzi was “feeding on young, impressionable girls,” the actress explained how the “Toxic” singer was manipulated because she was still figuring out who she was.

“They were being defined by this outside source,” she said. “The media took advantage of that, capitalized on them, and it ultimately cost them their sanity. It’s so heartbreaking.”

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Jenna Dewan is getting candid about her first time experiencing motherhood. 

The 40-year-old actress, who welcomed daughter, Everly, with ex-husband Channing Tatum in 2013, opened up about the “difficult” time following the birth while on the Dear Gabby podcast.

Revealing that she had to travel to Vancouver, Canada to return to work while Tatum remained in London, where she gave birth and where he was working on a project, she explained, “I had to travel with [Everly] and at the time, Chan wasn’t available to be with us for the most part. So, it was me, my doula and Evie all by ourselves traveling at six weeks.”

The Witches of the East End alum recalled that it was “really hard because that was long hours” and added that she kept her daughter on set with her “constantly.” 

“I had a lot of postpartum anxiety, I would say,” she continued. “It was like, I just never stopped. You know, you’re up a couple times in the night and then you’re working all day. I was breastfeeding, I was pumping, I was without a partner, I mean, it was just craziness.”

When Dewan welcomed her second child, Callum, in 2020 with fiancé Steve Kazee, it was a much “different” story. 

“This time around, I was so grounded,” she recalled. “Even though the world was crazy, I was home and in this love nest and it was different.”

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