This Week in Tabloids: Miley in Danger of Drug-Induced Heart Attack
CelebritiesWelcome back to Midweek Madness, in which Callie Beusman and I try to snuggle up to tabloid gossip, using the silky sheets from the new issues of Ok!, In Touch, Life & Style, Us, and Star. This week: One cover features a sonogram “dramatization” to “prove” that Angelina Jolie is knocked up; Tori Spelling offers TMI; and Miley Cyrus’s ticker is about to give out. Climb on in.
Ok!
TWINS!
Oh, good: another Brad-and-Angie-are-having-twins story that reads exactly like the THOUSANDS we have already encountered. The mag trots out the now-traditional narrative: Brand and Angie really want kids; she wants to be pregnant at their upcoming wedding; they need to do it fast before she has her ovaries removed; etc. Because Angelina Jolie is not actually pregnant, and tricking folks standing in line at the supermarket is the goal, the sonogram on the magazine cover literally says “Ultrasound Dramatization” in very tiny letters (Fig 1). Yawn. Moving on: Lindsay Lohan went to the Gramercy Park Hotel with friends, where they all drunkenly watched her OWN docu-series, which is not a good way to celebrate one’s sobriety; an onlooker says she was “wobbling all over the place” and “could barely stand” in the hotel lobby afterward. In other news, here is a very good rumor: Nicki Minaj is going to marry her long-time boyfriend Safaree Samuels in a hot tub. There will also be pink elephants and fire breathers in attendance. Sounds like a very classic and understated ceremony. Elsewhere in the mag, Khloe Kardashian is moving too fast with French Montana, who is maybe just using her because he wants to be famous and would like his own reality TV show. And, finally, Ok! had its own Sexiest Celebrity contest-thing. Jennifer Lawrence is the sexiest female celebrity, which makes sense. Adam Levine has been voted the sexiest man, WHICH IS BONKERS. And unoriginal.
GRADE: F (trying to sleep on a rock in the frozen tundra)
Life & Style
IT’S OVER!
We’ve heard this rumor before, but it’s resurfacing like zombie gossip: Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert’s marriage is “over.” Of course, no one has filed for divorce and there’s no official statement — only phrases like “Blake really enjoys drinking” and Miranda is “desperate to have a baby” and the “proof” that at the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 6, Miranda didn’t mention Blake in an acceptance speech. Says an insider: “I have no doubt that she’s leaving Blake if he doesn’t change.” Speculation! Also inside: Kaley Cuoco married Ryan Sweeting after dating him for three months and ta-da: They’re having big problems, says an “insider.” Go ahead and yawn now, it’s okay. In other couples news, Taylor Kinney is on the verge of proposing to Lady Gaga — he just needs to find the right ring, says an insider, “something unique that will suit her personality.” May we suggest a carved tooth covered in dried blood and set in platinum? Or two tiny mechanical hands constantly applauding? Next, the Amanda Bynes story is titled “How I Got My Life Back,” but it is not an interview with or an essay written by the actress, just another smattering of quotes from an “insider” who explains that Amanda is really into school and her family now. Finally, Winona Ryder is under the magnifying glass on the “Knifestyles of the Rich & Famous” page, and the mag speaks to a doctor who accuses her of getting Botox, rhinoplasty, cheek fillers, lip filler and a “non-invasive neck lift,” because if you look terrible, everyone needs to pick apart why, and if you look great, everyone needs to pick apart why, and because this magazine peddles in Crimes Against Womanity. (Fig.2)
GRADE: F (trying to sleep on burning-hot sand in the desert sun)