Lauren admits it was a tough transition after filming for ‘Love Is Blind’ wrapped
Viewers watched as Lauren struggled with the idea of giving up her independence in her marriage. In one scene, she spoke openly about her fears of leaving her apartment and the life she built for herself to merge her life with her potential husband. She even asked Cameron if he would be upset if she kept her apartment and moved into his home!
In an exclusive interview with Madame Noire, Lauren admitted that she kept her apartment for a while, despite moving into Cameron’s home after their wedding. “I kept the apartment for three months after the show wrapped. It was for that bumper, transition time, but after that three months, I gave it up. I let it go.”
Looking back on the situation now, she chalks it up to being single for so long. “I did go through a hard time right after the show because it was such a drastic change in my life,” she said. “Like I said numerous times on the show, I had been alone for a long time. I was really used to having my own space and I was set in my own ways, so having to do a complete 180, for me it was definitely a transition.”
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Luckily, she had Cameron by her side to support her as she went through the motions.
“Cameron was very patient with me throughout that time. Even just coming off something like filming a show like this, which is so emotionally deep, and like you said, we didn’t have therapists throughout that, so it’s something I really had to work through myself,” she explained. “I’ve never seen a successful marriage. My parents are divorced. So I kind of had to learn how to be a wife. I had to still learn how to double my personal time and be strong on my own and also grow into this partnership and share a space.”
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How are Lauren and Cameron doing today?
A year and a half after filming wrapped, fans were thrilled to learn that Lauren and Cameron are still married and figuring out life together. They were bound by contracts to keep their status under wraps until the finale aired. Though it was difficult to do so, the privacy helped the two to work through any issues out of the public eye.
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“That’s a lot to go through and transition into, but that’s also a good reason then that we had this buffer time in between the show coming out,” she said. “We needed that time to grow into each other and reflect on everything and get comfortable with our experience and our relationship before the hot light hit us. So that’s why I can talk about that type of stuff in this interview now because I had that time to go through that transition. I’m grateful for it.”
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They celebrated their one year anniversary with a tropical vacation in Mexico and have been side by side at events in promotion of the show. Thankfully for fans, they are finally able to showcase their love on social media!
Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott are back together ... at least that's the signal she's giving, and pretty clearly giving at that.
Kylie posted a bunch of pics from the Houston Rocket's Western Conference Quarterfinals back in 2017. It's when she was pregnant with Stormi. Kylie and Trav certainly look couply. She captioned the photos, "It's a mood."
She posted pics of Travis whispering in her ear, another staring into each other's eyes ... get the picture?
Kylie also modeled shoes Travis released last Saturday ... Nike SB Dunk low-top trainers. BTW ... they've gone from $150 a pop online to $1,000.
In case you forgot, Kylie and Travis started dating at Coachella in 2017 and it wasn't long before she was pregnant with Stormi. They broke up last year but remained close and were super-into co-parenting, but it clearly started getting romantic, and he surprised her on Valentine's Day with a bunch of flowers.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s announcement in early January that they intended to step down as senior members of the royal family has caused plenty of problems for Queen Elizabeth. But, how are Prince William and Kate Middleton handling the unprecedented change? Of course, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will never speak publicly about how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s bombshell decision has affected them. But a new report claims that the “out of control” Prince Harry has caused a “nightmare” for William and Kate.
Prince Harry | ANDREW MILLIGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Prince Harry is causing serious problems for royal staff
It was revealed earlier this month that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s office at Kensington Palace had been closed and their staff was fired. This means the Duke and Duchess of Sussex no longer have anyone working for them who is familiar with royal protocol.
Last week, it was announced that Middleton and Prince William would be visiting Ireland at the same time that Prince Harry and Markle are scheduled to return to the UK together. And, an insider told Express that this would have never happened if Harry wouldn’t have caused so many problems.
“This sort of diary error would simply not
have happened in the days before Harry decided to bale out of royal life,”
explained the source. “That’s why members of the royal family have private
secretaries – and a grid system, similar to the Government’s method – to ensure
that coverage of important events doesn’t clash.”
The insider went on to say that it’s been a
“nightmare” for the staff because there is no longer any control over Prince
Harry. Now, he doesn’t have anyone working for him who has “proper experience
of the methods and protocol of the court system.”
Prince Harry has asked attendees at a tourism conference to call him simply "Harry," as he begins his final round of public engagements before beginning a new chapter away from the British royal family. https://t.co/gilUX3ocXS
The source says that the Sussexes are now relying on “some flash PR person” who is used to working in the American entertainment world. The insider described Prince Harry’s new employee as “more Hollywood than Windsor,” and accused them of not respecting the views of the rest of the royal family.
Harry and Meghan’s return to the UK will overshadow William and Kate
After Queen Elizabeth ruled that Prince Harry
and Markle could no longer use “Sussex Royal” as their worldwide brand name for
their post-royal business and charitable efforts, tensions among the royal
family were apparently heightened.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex agreed to not use the word “royal” after their official exit from the family on March 31. But, when they made a comment on their website that Queen Elizabeth didn’t have any jurisdiction over the word outside of the UK, they were accused of “humiliating’ the Monarch.
To make matters worse, Prince Harry’s new life
is causing problems for his brother and sister-in-law. The Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge’s final day in Ireland will now be overshadowed by Prince Harry and
Markle’s return to the UK after their move to Canada with their son, Archie
Harrison. These will be the final royal engagements for the Duke and Duchess of
Sussex.
“While William fully respects Harry’s
right to come back whenever he wants – indeed he is glad that he is returning,
however briefly – he wishes that it wasn’t at the same time as his Irish trip
because he knows what will happen is that the spotlight as far as papers and TV
are concerned will be fully on Harry and Meghan,” explained the source.
Prince William and Middleton are fully aware that Prince Harry and Markle’s brief return will be “the big story.” The insider made it clear that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge aren’t jealous of the Sussexes and the coverage they will receive. Prince William hoped that his tour of Ireland with Middleton would get its due “media prominence.”
Queen Elizabeth didn’t appreciate being ‘blindsided’
Prince Harry and Markle’s comment about the Queen not having jurisdiction over the word “royal” did not sit well with the British press. Former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt wrote in an editorial for The Spectator that Queen Elizabeth “doesn’t take kindly to being bounced or indeed being blindsided.”
Hunt explained that the Monarch does have
government regulations and royal rules on her side, and the Sussexes are going
to have to deal with the restriction in their “self-imposed exile.”
Megxit’s Financial Aftershocks: Queen Elizabeth Reported To Forbid Meghan Markle And Harry From Using Their “Sussex Royal” Brand. Forbes lauded their dynamic duo just a few weeks ago touting their marketability. Now this, oh my. https://t.co/uBggxbELDg
“Sussex Royal can be no more. A freshly
branded website will have to be re-branded,” wrote Hunt, making it clear that
the Queen’s ban of the world “royal” will “hurt” Harry and Meghan.
“Nothing is left of their half-baked plan to
change what it meant to be a senior member of the royal family. The status quo
has been sustained,” said Hunt. “What’s
striking is that Harry, with his deep insider knowledge of how his family
functions, clearly thought they might succeed.”
Hunt said that Prince Harry convinced himself
that he could move to Canada and earn his money while remaining the
Captain-General of the Royal Marines. Unfortunately, says Hunt, a “harsh
Windsor reality has replaced that misguided optimism.”
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex will lose their Canadian security protection when they step back as senior members of the royal family next month, the country's government has said. https://t.co/5WogsUimrQ
However, Queen Elizabeth didn’t completely shut the door on the Sussexes, as she allowed a 12-month transition period where Harry can keep his honorary military titles. And, it’s possible that Prince Harry and Markle could change their minds between now and then.
“No one could have predicted these last few
months, not least those enmeshed in it,” said Hunt.
“So only the foolhardy would wish to say with any certainty that this is the last we’ll see of Prince Harry and Meghan as full-time royals.”
"When I went into it, I was like, is anyone going to get engaged? Is anyone going to find love?'"
If even the creator of Love Is Blind had that thought heading into Netflix's three-week event series, which launched an experiment, it's understandable that many viewers would be skeptical that the experiment would actually wok or that any of the five remaining engaged couples would actually get married heading into the finale.
And yet...two of the five couples actually went through with it, exchanging vows. (Spoiler alert!)
Cameron Reid Hamilton and Lauren Speed, the pod squad's first engaged (and arguably most solid) couple went through with it, despite some reservations on Lauren's part. Also becoming man and wife? Mike Barnett (aka Barnett) and Amber Pike, despite his slightly chilly cold feet, almost pulling a Big in the Sex and the City movie.
That leaves three couples that ultimately had one party decide they didn't want to get married, with Jessica Batten—surprising no one—by leaving Mark Anthony Cuevas at the altar, Kelly Chase deciding the spark just wasn't there with Kenny Barnes, and, in the most shocking decision, Damian Powers sending Giannina Gibelli running off in tears on her wedding day.
Harsh and a little cruel to have the couples ultimately wait until they are standing in front of their family and closest friends to reveal their decision to the person they got engaged to sigh unseen just four weeks prior? Undoubtedly. Was it riveting television? Absolutely.
But did it have to go down that way?
"They certainly could choose to do whatever they wanted to do," Love Is Blind creator Chris Coelen told E! News of the wedding day decision-making process. "Again, being there on the wedding day, I personally, knowing these people and their stories, I didn't know what was going to happen."
Just take a look at what went down during the first wedding that went down between Damian and Gigi.
The crew was just as surprised by Damian's last-minute change of heart as Gigi was, with Coelen admitting, "With Damien and Gigi, it was like 'What?!' Literally, no idea. People are just gasping in the control room. Like, anything could happen with any of them."
They weren't even sure if Barnett would show up for the ceremony, with the creator saying, "It was crazy, the fact that Barnett…he's texting Amber on his wedding day and I was like, 'What is going on?!' We're hoping, hoping, hoping somebody is going to go through with it."
And while viewers thought Kenny and Kelly were well-suited, as did her entire family and group of friends, Kelly ultimately felt there was a spark missing and left poor Kenny at the altar. "Kenny and Kelly were a big surprise to everybody," Coelen said.
With all five of the weddings providing drama in their own way, Coelen assured, "It's so not contrived," explaining the mix of happy endings with bittersweet partings is what makes the show work.
"I love that it's sad, I love that it's stakes because when you then have a success story like Cam and Lauren, it's real. It's real and they are in love and that love is going to bond them for the rest of their lives," he explained. "It's incredible to be a part of that. It's super high stakes, it's the highest stakes in a relationship standout you can have, so you heighten the stakes t o that level, you are going to have this amazing rush of success but you're also going to have the crash of it not working out and people being devastated. It's all real."
And it all happened over a year ago. Yes, that's right: the weddings filmed well over a year ago, meaning the two couples that actually exchanged vows have had over 365 days together, if they've even remained married.
While fans will get an official update from all of the six inaugural couples when Love Is Blind's highly anticipated reunion special drops on Thursday, Mar. 5, we've managed to assemble some intel on where the relationships stand now heading into the reunion:
Love Is Blind is currently available to stream on Netflix.
During The Bachelor Season 24, Episode 9, we saw Madison Prewett reveal her stance on sex before marriage. She told Peter Weber she has decided to abstain from sex before marriage and she would have a difficult time continuing the process if Weber has sex with the two remaining contestants (Hannah Ann Sluss and Victoria Fuller).
Prewett’s big reveal has us wondering about sex and
relationships. How important is sex in a relationship? We reached out to the
experts to get their take on the issue. Here’s what they had to say.
Intimacy is just as important as sex
The Bachelor star Peter Weber | Paula Lobo/ABC via Getty Images
The experts agree that it’s important to build intimacy. Sex
alone isn’t enough to sustain a deep connection with your partner. Adina
Mahalli, a certified relationship consultant and sexual health expert for Maple Holistics told Showbiz Cheat
Sheet that sex isn’t as important as creating intimacy. “Sex is not vital in a
relationship. However, intimacy is very important,” Mahalli told us. “There are
many ways to be intimate and people’s need for intimacy varies depending on the
individual. Finding someone whose need for intimacy matches well with yours is
important when finding a partner. People often confuse this with being sexually
compatible with someone, but this is a misconception.”
Sex encourages bonding in a relationship
Another point our experts made is that sex can help a couple
bond. Conflicts about sex can also make or break a relationship. “Sex is very
important in a relationship,” Ingrid Sthare, relationship
coach and founder of Relationship Coaching & Coupling, told Showbiz Cheat
Sheet. “It’s so important, it’s one of the top two reasons for divorce. The
other is money. Sex is another form of communication and is good for you too!
It’s healthy and helps bonding in your relationship.”
Sex helps nurture a relationship
Madison Prewett and Peter Weber | John Fleenor/ABC via Getty Images
Dating expert and Datingscout.com founder Chris Pleines, says sex is a great way to nurture a relationship. Although you can still nurture a relationship without sex, it can help move the process along. “Sex plays a crucial part in a relationship, especially for married couples,” says Pleines. “It’s beneficial not only for its physical or hedonistic benefits, but also it fosters and nurtures positive affect for the couple and it also creates a strong bond between them. In the long run, this means that both partners will have high satisfaction in their relationship.”
Madison Prewett waited almost two months to tell Peter Weber about her stance on sex before marriage
Some of our experts think Prewett should have spoken up sooner
(it took her almost two months), while others think The Bachelor
contestant isn’t obligated to talk about her beliefs before she’s ready.
Mahalli says she understands Prewett’s reluctance, but she
also says some people might assume Prewett was leading Weber on. “It’s understandable that she didn’t want to
tell him right away because it is a rather awkward subject to talk about,”
Mahalli told us. “Nevertheless, some would [assume] she was leading him on by
not telling him. It’s not that he’s in it solely for the sex, but their
compatibility significantly drops if they’re not on the same page for this.”
The unlikely pair rocked out while Bon Jovi recorded a new version of his song "Unbroken" for this year's Invictus Games, the sporting competition for injured military personnel that Harry created in 2014.
Battling rainy weather in the UK's capital -- which made surfaces Slippery When Wet -- the prince met with Bon Jovi outside the famous Abbey Road Studios, chatting casually with the mop-topped singer.
The two were then ushered into the control room overlooking Studio 2, where the Beatles recorded during the 1960s, and shared a quick duet in front of the studio's microphones.
"It's gonna be really easy, just pretend you're singing in your bedroom," the New Jersey rocker told his counterpart. "Just shout it out," he added -- an approach Bon Jovi never shied away from during his band's 80s heyday.
Harry shared a tease of the encounter on his Instagram page.
"We've just been gargling next door so we're ready to go," he joked to media afterward.
Never one to Runaway from a photo opportunity, the pair then engaged in one of London's ultimate tourist activities by posing on the road crossing made famous by the Beatles, on the cover of their "Abbey Road" album.
Harry also spoke with members of the Invictus Choir, which has been working with Bon Jovi as he re-worked "Unbroken." Originally released last year, the pro-veteran anthem now features backing vocals from members of the choir.
The stop is part of Harry's final round of engagements before he and his wife, Meghan, step back from royal duties, splitting their time between the UK and Canada.
Rather than holding on to what they've got, the couple decided earlier this year to say "It's My Life" to the rest of the royals -- scaling back their duties and agreeing to a transition period that starts on March 31.
"He's a wonderful young man," the singer told the BBC after the visit, adding that Harry is a "Bon Jovi fan" -- but the rocker declined to comment on his decision to step back from the family.
Bon Jovi is set to release a new album in May, and will tour the United States with Bryan Adams during the summer.
One of the 12 jurors who found Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape and a criminal sex act said they focused on the law and the testimony they heard and did not let the cultural impact of the #MeToo movement influence their decision. Drew, who was juror number nine, said the deliberations took an emotional toll on him and the other jurors.
He told "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King that the #MeToo movement did not impact the verdict.
"That's not the job, and it's not what we were asked to do," he said. "It would be an adulteration of the process to take outside factors and have that weigh on our decision-making process and eventual findings. And, you know, I have no appetite or aspirations to be the voice or face of both the jury and the larger movement. It's, you know, this case, these people, this is our decision."
He said it didn't mean anything to him that some of Weinstein's alleged victims thanked the jury publicly.
"I took no joy in any aspect of it, you know, this is a serious matter for serious crimes," he said.
Weinstein juror says #MeToo movement didn't impact verdict
Drew said the jury took the five-day long deliberation process seriously and that coming to a unanimous verdict required a close look at the legal definitions of the charges.
He said actress Jessica Mann's testimony was compelling enough for a guilty verdict of third degree rape, but not enough to convict Weinstein of the most serious charges he was facing.
"It wasn't rape in the first degree. There was no physical compulsion with the threat of bodily harm or death," he said. "But there was no consent given, despite a lack of physical resistance, and a reasonable person should have known that there was no consent given in that instance."
Mann testified that Weinstein sexually assaulted her several times during their yearslong on-again-off-again relationship.
Describing how Mann's testimony affected him, Drew said, "On a personal level, it affected me very deeply … But that's not what we were there to do. We were there to do a job and to interpret the law and make a decision based on evidence and testimony."
Asked if the testimony that women can be sexually assaulted but still maintain contact with their attacker factored into the decision, Drew said, "In the earlier parts of the deliberation, there was huge discourse about things of that nature."
"I ask that because so many people have trouble understanding that. Did that factor into your decision-making process?" King asked.
"The decision making, no," Drew said. "It's an alleged incident, not kind of this whole canvas of relationship. It's, you know, husbands can rape their wives. And it's a complicated issue, for sure, but it was our contention that it's one incident."
Three of the five charges stemmed from Mann's accusations. The other two focused on Miriam Haley, a former production assistant who testified Weinstein sexual assaulted her at his apartment in 2006.
Mann and Haley both took the stand after "Sopranos" actress Annabella Sciorra testified, as the prosecution tried to show a pattern of behavior to the jury. Weinstein was charged with predatory sexual assault, but was found not guilty.
Drew said Sciorra's testimony was "compelling in and of itself."
"But these are serious allegations, and that's a very high burden that the prosecution took upon itself in bringing these charges," he said. "It's 27 years ago, and in this country, you know, you and I and even Harvey Weinstein are innocent until proven beyond a reasonable doubt of the opposite."
Asked if it influenced him that Weinstein did not take the stand, Drew said, "I wanted him to. And I could hypothesize as to the whys that he didn't, you know, that he could lose kind of his shield of representation once he goes up there."
But, he said, Weinstein not taking the stand did not influence the verdict.
"The only thing that influenced mine and our collective decision making was what we had in front of us," he said.
In their fourth day of deliberations, jurors sent a note to the judge asking if they could be split on some counts, but unanimous on others. Drew explained the jury was simply looking for clarification, but outside the court, he said it was mistaken as a sign that a verdict was imminent.
"Maybe that's our fault for the syntax of the note. But I know now that people kind of deduced that maybe he was guilty somewhere along the line, and I'll tell you, I was sick about it. Because, he's a human being and he's going home that night and knowing that he's walking into court Monday morning and potentially not leaving," Drew said. "Regardless of what any other human does to any other human, for me to affect another person like that really took a toll on me."
Asked if he thinks Weinstein should go to jail, Drew said, "That's not for me to say."
"I could say that a man of his age and of his current health, general population at Rikers sounds like a pretty dangerous place. That's really all I can say about that," he said.
Drew also said the jury was not trying to send any type of message.
"We were there to do a job, to make a decision based on the information that was presented to us, and we have absolutely no stance or voice or opinion as to any type of larger movement," he said.
Weinstein juror reveals the emotional toll of deliberations
Thinking back to the start of the trial, Drew said it was "mind-blowing" to be in the jury.
"What are the chances, you know, that of the people who were subpoenaed for jury duty," he said. "The happenstance was mind-blowing."
He said he knew "some" about Weinstein and the case, but "probably not as much as others." He knew about "Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker, The New York Times, things of that nature," he said.
Drew told King that a lot of people have asked him how he could be impartial in the trial.
"I take absolute pride in my objectivity," he said. "Judge Burke instructed us, he said, 'You can know who Harvey Weinstein is and still be impartial,' and I agree with him 100%."
Drew said any tension "was not person-to-person" or confrontational.
"This is heavy, heavy stuff, heavy stuff," he said. "Twelve people, you know, me and 11 strangers, everybody brings their own belief system and everything, inclinations, inspirations, motivations, but … it was our job that was put to us to be impartial and to interpret the law, and to render unanimous verdict in the case."
Drew described "a rough moment" for him during deliberations.
"I kind of found myself just, you know, I was holding my head," he said. "And I turned actually to one of the other jurors, and I said, 'Thanks for being my friend,' and in retrospect, it's such a silly thing to say."
"It was like I had, like, cut myself open and dumped it all out for everybody to see, and instead of judging me for it, they kind of all put me back together again," he said.
Drew said he suggested to the other jurors that they all take a different seat each day of the deliberations.
"I think it's a change of perspective, quite literally," he said. "But also if you sit next to the same person every day, it's kind of an echo chamber of affirmation."
They wanted to avoid any type of "groupthink" or "subconscious gestures to one another," he said, adding that "to just force yourself quite literally out of your comfort zone might also force you to take a more objective approach to what we're talking about."
Asked if the male jurors felt differently than the female jurors, Drew said they didn't.
"There was no gender bias, there was no race bias," he said.
Drew wouldn't say if it was difficult for the jury to reach a unanimous decision.
"I understand that people have an interest and a desire to know, but this is how we found on these counts, and I see no upside to kind of pulling back the curtain any further than that," he said.
Asked if he is comfortable with the decision, he said, "That is an interesting question, and the answer is yes. And to speak to the respect I have for the people in the room, we have to live with these choices."
The first season of Love Is Blind was full of drama and Jessica Batten was one of the reasons for that. She wasn’t happy with her relationship and often was seen drinking. Now she is answering why she drank so much. Find out what she said about being on the Netflix show and more.
Jessica Batten struggled on ‘Love Is Blind’
Love is Blind | Netflix
Batten hit it off with two men in the pods. One was Matthew Barnett and the other was Mark Cuevas. She was hesitant about getting with Cuevas because of their age difference. Barnett gave her hope that he would propose only for him to change his mind.
In the end, she accepted Cuevas’ proposal and Barnett got engaged to Amber Pike. When they saw each other for the first time it was obvious Batten was more attracted to Barnett than Cuevas.
This led to some awkward moments. A few of them happened when she was very drunk.
She had multiple drunk awkward moments
There were multiple moments when Batten talked about her feelings while drunk. One episode showed the engaged couple after a party with the other couples. Batten was very drunk and got mad at Cuevas. She then said, “I think Barnett is f*ckin’ sexy and like, hot.” He decided to sleep on the couch instead of being in bed with her that night.
Another episode showed her getting drunk with Cuevas again and even letting her dog drink some of her wine. She also was visibly drunk for her bachelorette party, which led to an awkward conversation with Pike.
She answered if she’s an alcoholic
Some fans thought Batten’s drinking might be a sign of problem. She addressed this accusation with Entertainment Weekly.
“I think there’s a reason that there’s sometimes alcohol around during these reality shows,” said Batten. “Sometimes you loosen up and these moments can kind of come out. I really wish that I would have been better about the drinking for me.”
She continued, “I was really uncomfortable and so I had a few moments where I overdrank. I know the first one I took accountability for on camera and then the bachelorette party as well. If I could do anything differently it would be that I didn’t have so much to drink.”
Batten went on to talk about the emotion that led to her turning to drinking. “That is something that I tend to do if I’m nervous, I drink a little bit more,” she admitted. “But actually I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me like, ‘Are you an alcoholic,’ or something like that, and I actually don’t drink very often. I take several months off a year. I think it was just in that moment I was so uncomfortable and unfortunately I was using alcohol a little bit to defer that.”
It sounds like Batten does have one regret about filming this season and that’s how much she drank. Fans will be able to see her talk about the season with the rest of the cast on the reunion, which will be available on March 5.
Love Is Blind — joining Netflix shortly after the premiere of the hit reality show and social media experiment, The Circle — asks viewers if love is truly blind. When a group of men and women “meet” with a wall between them, will they be willing to jump into an engagement and say “I do” at the aisle, or will social pressures and real-life stressors get in the way of their happily-ever-after fairytale? On the show, multiple individuals fall in love — seemingly overnight — and proceed down the show’s whirlwind set up.
Netflix’s ‘Love Is Blind’ VIP viewing party | Marcus Ingram/Getty Images for Netflix
From vacations in Mexico to living together in an apartment, the show recreates life, yet takes the fast lane… the ultra-fast lane. Of all the couples, Mark and Jessica still have fans up in arms — fans feel he was too good for her; he fights too hard for her love and acceptance. Many feel he deserved to meet a girl who was as ready for commitment, or as willing to be honest with what she needs.
Spoilers for Netflix’s ‘Love Is Blind’ below
What happened between Mark and Jessica on ‘Love Is Blind?’
Jessica falls for two men — without ever meeting them — on Love Is Blind: Barnett and Mark. While she initially felt she would wind up with Barnett — a man falling squarely into the frat-boy persona she usually aims for — Barnett ended up changing his mind, and he chose a different woman (after imagining a married life with Jessica from behind a wall).
Jessica then goes crawling back to Mark – emotions all over the place — and winds up engaged to the man who is a bit more introspective, vulnerable, and communicative than Barnett. While Mark seems like the superior catch, Jessica struggles to match his physical appearance with the voice when they finally meet.
Jessica wavers back and forth — feeling for Mark, and then wanting to cut things off. She jumps between thinking he’s the perfect guy and then wondering if their age difference will cause a rupture in their romance. She’s an established career woman (34 years old), and he’s a fitness trainer figuring it out (24). And, these facts (among others) wind up preventing Jessica from saying “I do.”
Throughout the course of the show, Mark fights for Jessica; he does all in his power to make their dynamic work. He is patient and sweet, communicative, and accepting. He is mature and open, while she (though ten years older) often feels stuck in her sorority days. He tries, and she remains lost and largely unappreciative. Thus, where they stand today should come as no surprise.
Jessica virtually ghosted Mark following ‘Love Is Blind’
When talking about where he and Jessica stand, Mark told the New York Post that she ghosted him after running from the altar. He stated:
We haven’t talked since the wedding day…I reached out at some point — nothing bad, just to say, like, ‘Hey, I hope everything’s going well, I hope everything’s doing all right.’ I didn’t hear back. But to me, it’s just sending love out there. Like, ‘Hey, I hope you’re doing OK.’ And that’s that.
New York Post
Should it come as a surprise that Mark — once again — revealed hoq big his heart is, and how much of a gentleman he can be, while Jessica failed to rise to his level? She couldn’t even send a text to catch up. In the end, age and maturity don’t always go hand in hand.
On Thursday, the day the finale began streaming, The Washington Post caught up with the couple to find out what it was like to fall in love and get engaged without having seen one another — and what their life has been like since taping wrapped in November 2018. (They’re still together!) The following phone interview has been edited for clarity and length.
The Washington Post: Why did you apply to be on this show?
Lauren: I applied because my dating life was pretty much in shambles. I was really intrigued by the fact that it wasn’t based on aesthetics, because nowadays that’s such a big part of not only dating but our culture as a whole.
Cameron: I was doing the dating apps and I was finding myself picking the wrong people for me. I was making quick judgments based on how they looked and was ignoring their personality. So I thought that this might be a chance to get to know someone on a deeper level, an emotional level, first.
The Post: Do you remember what you talked about in your first conversation together?
Lauren: Our very first conversation was super-brief — about seven minutes. We did a basic introduction of ourselves: where we’re from, what we do, the stuff that’s important to us.
Cameron: We both kind of related on the fact that we have very entrepreneurial minds and that we’re self-taught in a lot of different ways. We also bonded over the fact that we’re both introverts that are able to be extroverted when we need to be.
The Post: Do the pods make it easier to date as introverts?
Cameron: I think so. I like to describe them as kind of like a meditation chamber, because all you have are the acoustics of their voice. So it really allows you to focus in on them as an individual. You’ve got this nice hypnotic wall in front of you that helps keep your focus. So we were able to just delve incredibly deep.
Lauren: And you don’t have to worry about what you look like.
The Post: How did you fall in love so quickly?
Lauren: You definitely have to be open and vulnerable, and willing to fall in love. At the same time, when you connect with someone, you connect. When you feel a certain something with someone that you’ve never felt before — especially if you’ve been in long relationships or relationships that haven’t worked — you feel something different.
Cameron: I went into it with a bunch of questions [about] things that I would want to know about a potential partner. But the other part was just that Lauren and I really were economical about how we spent our time together.
The Post: What were some of those questions that you asked?
Cameron: What’s something that you’ve done that you weren’t proud of?
Lauren: When was the last time you cried?
Cameron: What are some of your biggest fears?
Lauren: Political views.
Cameron: How would you want to raise your children, spiritually, religiously? What sort of those values would you want to instill in them? How would you want to discipline our children?
Lauren: Do you believe in spanking?
Cameron: We wish a lot of those conversations were captured. Of course, there is so little time to spare and [they] have to show everyone’s story line. But we just wish [they] showed more of the complexity of our relationship.
The Post: What is it like talking to someone and you can’t see them?
Lauren: You can actually tell a lot with the inflection in someone’s voice. You can kind of tell if someone’s angry or sad or upset or if something excites them. You can kind of hear when people are smiling, too, when they talk.
The Post: Let’s take it out of the pods. Cameron, I’m so struck by the way you look at Lauren. It’s so adoring. Can you explain what was going through your heart and mind as the two of you were falling in love? What was in that look?
Cameron: After we got engaged and we saw each other during the reveal, my whole mentality about the experiment and the process shifted to focusing on: How are Lauren and I going to make it to our wedding and be in a healthy spot? So I stopped thinking about the cameras. I was just thinking about Lauren. I was kind of in my own world with her.
The Post: Lauren, is it fair to say that you had a bit of catching up to do to get where Cameron was?
Lauren: I guess in a sense, because Cameron was definitely all in, ready to go, right away. Of course I knew that I loved Cameron, and I knew that I would want to marry him in the long run. But I’m not going to lie, it scared me to make such a huge commitment so fast. He was ready; he had no doubts. I’m like: “You don’t have any?” I feel like I would ask him every day, just because it would make me feel better if he was a little scared. But he was just like: “No, I’m good.”
Cameron: Everyone wanted me to be scared and to have doubts. I tried to search inside myself to see if I had any. But I really didn’t.
Lauren: That made me feel more confident. He literally has no doubt, so that pushed me to stop being so afraid.
The Post: I was thinking about that moment where you are on Cameron’s balcony, discussing: Will Lauren keep her apartment? Cameron wanted her to move in. I had this surge of anxiety, thinking: She barely knows this guy! Of course she’s not moving into his house.
Lauren: That’s exactly how I felt. This is all brand new and we’re talking about getting rid of my place? It was something that I had to communicate.
The Post: Did you guys end up moving in together?
Lauren: Yes, we did.
The Post: Into Cameron’s place?
Cameron: Into our house, yeah.
The Post: How much producer meddling is involved? Did they try to push you in certain ways?
Lauren: No, actually, everything that you see was super authentic. Everything that I said was my real thoughts, my real actions, who I really connected with, who irritated me.
Cameron: Same here. The producers would bring up stuff like: “Hey, can you guys talk about race?” But we had those discussions anyway, Lauren and I.
The Post: Lauren, you said on the show that this has been your first interracial relationship. What has that been like?
Lauren: It’s actually been pretty normal. Me and Cameron, we just interact like any other couple. Of course at times we discuss our cultural backgrounds or sometimes we even joke about it. Outside of our race being different, I’m from Detroit; I’m a city girl. He’s from Maine; he’s a country guy.
[Race] is definitely something that we talk about, even when it comes to having children and how our children might be perceived or look. We talked about Cameron learning how to do curlier, thicker hair because our child will probably have hair like me.
The Post: Cameron, when you first met Lauren’s dad, he was skeptical of you. How has that relationship changed?
Cameron: I love Lauren’s dad. He lives very close to us, so he gets to come over quite a bit for dinner and bonding time. I think of him as a second father.
The Post: How is your relationship different today than it was when you first got out of the pods? And what has remained constant?
Cameron: We’ve definitely picked up parts of each other. Lauren’s made me a bit more bubbly or expressive.
Lauren: He’s very smart and intelligent, so I’m always learning something new from him, whether it’s words or just things about the world and philosophy. Even his little sayings, I’m starting to pick them up. It’s like we’re becoming one entity. We’re one soul now.
Lady Gaga made a storming return as a pop music renegade late Thursday (Feb. 27) with the release of “Stupid Love,” and its interstellar music video.
There’s more where that came from. Gaga poured all her heart and cosmic energy into her forthcoming full-length project, the followup to 2016’s Joanne.
“We are definitely dancing,” Gaga says of the new album, in an interview with Zane Lowe for his New Music Daily on Apple Music, “I think the best way to describe all of the things that you just said is that I put all my heart, all my pain, all my messages from the other realm that I hear of what they… what they tell me to tell the world and I put it into music that I believe to be so fun and you know, energetically really pure, and I want people to dance and feel happy.”
Gaga adds, “Someone asked me the other day what my goal was with this album and it actually sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud. But I go, I said, 'I would like to put out music,'" she says with a laugh. "That a big chunk of the world will hear, and it will become a part of their daily lives and make them happy every single day."
While there’s no title or release date yet for the new album, expect it be the dopest thing you’ve heard for some time. Because, well, Gaga says so.
“There were so many different iterations of these songs because we all wanted it to be perfect and literally nobody cared who put their fingerprints on it," she tells the New Zealand-born presenter, "as long as it was the dopest thing that we could give the world and that it was meaningful, authentic, and completely me.”
Gaga also opened up on the experience collaborating with Max Martin, BloodPop, and Tchami, and cutting the album in her studio digs, formerly owned by Frank Zappa.
“I used to cry a lot in the studio because I, I would listen back to what I was singing and I would hear my voice and I would hear the music and it would be so joyful and I, and celebratory, and it, I would essentially see the arc of my entire day,” she recounts.
Gaga took a left turn on Joanne, a personal effort that leaned on country and soft rock elements and which she promoted with an intimate "dive bar tour".
That set dropped Oct. 21, 2016, becoming Gaga's fourth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Later, of course, Gaga collaborated with Bradley Cooper on the chart-topping 2018 soundtrack to their award winning film A Star Is Born.
BOSTON — Attorneys for Lori Loughlin and fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli said new evidence released Wednesday exonerates their clients and other parents still fighting charges in the nation's college admissions scandal.
In a court filing, lawyers of the celebrity couple highlight written notes that Rick Singer, the mastermind of the nationwide admissions scheme, took on his iPhone following discussions with FBI investigators in 2018 about recorded phone calls they directed him to make to parents.
In one of the notes, Singer wrote that FBI officials got "loud and abrasive" and "continue to ask me to tell a fib" about what he told clients before they paid into his scheme. He said the FBI wanted him not to restate what he actually told his clients — that they were making a payment to an athletic program, bot a college coach.
"Essentially they are asking me to bend the truth," Singer wrote.
More: Lori Loughlin told daughters they needed to do better in high school, new court doc alleges
Loughlin's and Giannulli's lawyer Sean Berkowitz said the notes, turned over Wednesday by prosecutors, prove the underlying argument of their clients — that they thought they were making "legitimate donations" to a nonprofit operated by Singer that would help universities, not bribing college officials.
The US attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying Singer $500,000 to get their two daughters falsely tagged as crew recruits to get them admitted into the University of Southern California.
More: Lori Loughlin's attorneys argue feds are concealing evidence in college admissions scandal
Federal prosecutors say it was part of a sprawling, nationwide scheme in which wealthy parents paid significant sums to Singer, a college consultant, to either fix test scores on their children’s college entrance exams or get them falsely tagged as athletic recruits to get them admitted into prestigious universities.
Prosecutors turned over the Singer notes to defense attorneys Wednesday on the eve of a status conference hearing before U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton. He's expected to set trial dates for 15 parents who have pleaded not guilty to federal charges in the scheme including Loughlin and Giannulli.
Parents' attorneys have argued the government has failed to turn over exculpatory evidence during pre-trial proceedings; in particular, FBI "302 reports" that detail witness statements and interview notes taken during the investigation. Defense attorneys have asked the judge to postpone setting a date until the dispute over the evidence is resolved.
More: College admissions scandal: Fight for FBI notes a new battlefront for accused parents
At the direction of the FBI, Singer made wiretapped phone calls to past clients to try and get them to recite their crime. The full note that Singer wrote on Oct. 2, 2018 reads:
Loud and abrasive call with agents. They continue to ask me to tell a fib and not restate what I told my clients as to where there money was going - to the program not the coach and that it was a donation and they want it to be a payment. I asked for a script if they want me to ask questions and retrieve responses that are not accurate to the way I should be asking the questions.
Essentially they are asking me to bend the truth which is what they asked me not to do when working with the agents and Eric Rosen. Liz raised her voice to me like she did in the hotel room about agreeing with her that everyone Bribed the schools. This time about asking each person to agree to a lie I was telling them.
"This is precisely the kind of exculpatory – and indeed, exonerating – information defendants have been seeking," Berkowitz wrote in the court filing.
Singer, in the same note, also wrote that FBI authorities "want to nail Gordon at all costs," referring to prominent New York attorney Gordon Caplan. Caplan pleaded guilty to paying $75,000 to have someone correct answers on his daughter's ACT test to inflate her score. He was sentenced in October to one month in prison.
More: NY attorney sentenced to 1 month in prison for paying $75K to have daughter's ACT answers fixed
A federal magistrate is expected to rule this spring whether the FBI 302 notes – which are separate from those taken by Singer – must be turned over to defendants.
In a letter a letter Wednesday releasing Singer's notes, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Rosen said federal prosecutors learned about the existence of Singer's notes during the "Varsity Blues" investigation in October 2018. But at the time they believed it to be privileged information that was not subject to review. He said Singer's attorneys this week agreed to waive privilege rights of the notes.
"We intend to disclose the remaining iPhone content shortly, once the privilege review is
complete," Rosen wrote.
But Berkowitz said the evidence should have been released no more than 30 days after parents were indicted. He called it "devastating to the government’s case," adding that it "demonstrates that the Government has been improperly withholding core exculpatory information, employing a 'win at all costs' effort rather than following their obligation to do justice."
They predicted it would set off a series of motions of defendants, including potential motions to dismiss the indictments.
Thirty-one of 53 defendants charged in the college admissions case have pleaded guilty, while others, including Loughlin and Giannulli, dig in for trial. Fourteen parents and two college coaches have been sentenced for their crimes, with sentences ranging from no prison to nine months behind bars.
Taylor Swift not only sings about "The Man" in her new music video for her single, she straight up becomes him.
The singer wrote, directed and stars in the visual for her song about the double standard between men and women in the entertainment industry, while making veiled references to her very public feud with both Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta, after Braun purchased Swift's masters from Botchetta's Big Machine.
Donning prosthetics, a fake beard and dark brown hair, the video sees Taylor becoming "Tyler Swift," a powerful guy who manspreads on the subway, urinates in public and takes exotic trips with bikini-clad models.
Calling out her Scooter-Scott drama, one scene sees "Tyler" standing in front of a wall covered in graffiti listing the names of Taylor's albums. One sign on the wall reads "Missing: If Found Return to Taylor Swift," while another has the image of a scooter with a red line through it.
No Scooters, get it?
YouTube
The video ends with Tyler shooting a music video of his own, directed by Taylor, who gives him the one piece of advice women are sick of hearing: "Could you try to be sexier, maybe more likable this time?"
Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss) in The Invisible Man.
Director and screenwriter Leigh Whannell didn’t set out to make a movie about the dangers of men gaslighting women and the true horror of people not believing victims when they talk about their abuse.
But when Whannell started to work on the script for the latest iteration of The Invisible Man, a remake of the classic sci-fi novel by H.G. Wells that has been adapted into television and film numerous times, these timely themes came up organically and ultimately shaped the entire plot of the film, which stars Elisabeth Moss as Cecilia and Oliver Jackson-Cohen as her husband, Adrian Griffin (aka the Invisible Man himself).
“I didn't go into this film thinking, How do I wrap this iconic character around a story about gaslighting?” Whannell told BuzzFeed News. “It was during the writing of that first draft that I felt the movie drifting in this direction of gaslighting, domestic abuse, and women not being believed or feeling like there's an unseen threat. It felt like it really fit his character naturally.”
At a time when movements like #MeToo have led to abusive and toxic men being held accountable more than ever, the 2020 version of The Invisible Man has a whole other meaning — and induces a whole other level of fear — for viewers.
Photo Credit: Mark Rogers
Moss (left) and Whannell on the set of The Invisible Man.
The audience first meets Cecilia when she’s escaping from her husband Adrian and their cold, isolated home. She manages to hide out at a friend’s house and is told that Adrian killed himself, but Cecilia believes she’s being haunted by her dead husband after countless instances of an invisible figure torturing her and those around her.
“I didn't want to be that person who's shoehorning a social issue into a movie that doesn't warrant it,” Whannell said. “I felt that it was organic and it spoke to the metaphor of the Invisible Man. This is a villain who is notable by his absence; the superpower that this iconic villain possesses is the ability to be standing next to you without you knowing it. And so what better way to exploit that than through gaslighting and all these issues?”
Whannell said Elisabeth Moss was his “partner in crime” who helped give significant feedback on the script once she came on board the project. As a man telling this story about the abuse and violence experienced by a lead woman character, Whannell said that Moss “brought invaluable perspective as a woman that I don’t have.” The two would “dissect the dialogue together,” and she would talk the director through how she would handle a particular situation if she were in Cecilia’s shoes.
“I obviously saw her as the authority on the woman's point of view, so I was just really receptive and thankful to have her,” Whannell said. “It was that stamp of approval that I got from Lizzie that allowed me to sleep at night when I was making this film and not feel like an imposter telling a story that I wasn't qualified to tell.”
In addition to his conversations with Moss, Whannell said he spoke to counselors at domestic violence shelters for women in Los Angeles, as well as other friends of his, about women’s relationships and fears. He wanted the story to come across as authentic as possible, which meant doing research.
“It was interesting to see the commonalities that would come up between disconnected friends of mine separated by oceans,” he said. “It didn't matter where they were from — they would come back to this thing about having to walk back to their car at night with their keys between their fingers, ready to go. I felt like there was a chance for the Invisible Man to literalize this fear of the unseen person that’s watching you walk back to your car.”
According to Whannell, the horror genre lends itself to depicting the worst of society’s systemic problems because it can illustrate our collective fears. In the case of The Invisible Man, Cecilia’s character is an example of what it’s like for a woman to be driven to feel “crazy” in the wake of abuse when no one around you believes what you’re saying.
When he was alive, Cecilia’s husband Adrian was charismatic and manipulative enough that no one would believe her when she told them about the abuse. When he’s allegedly dead, Cecilia tries to tell her friend James, her sister Alice (Harriet Dyer), and Adrian’s lawyer brother Tom (Michael Dorman) that she thinks Adrian is still alive and haunting her, but no one believes her because they think it’s impossible for her brilliant scientist husband to have created technology that would allow him to exist invisibly.
Photo Credit: Mark Rogers
From left: James Lanier (Aldis Hodge), Cecilia Kass (Moss), and Sydney Lanier (Storm Reid) in The Invisible Man.
“It’s the idea that you’re losing your mind. A lot of women I spoke to talked about this feeling of being afraid to speak up or say a certain thing in case someone thinks you're crazy or thinks you're difficult,” Whannell said. “Horror has always been a Trojan horse for a wider social message. To me, horror films are an expression of our anxiety as a society. It's always been that way.”
While no one believes her, the Invisible Man continues to wreak havoc in Cecilia’s world: He switches her medication, sends a nasty email to her sister, hits James’s daughter Sydney (Storm Reid) in the face, and even slits Cecilia’s sister’s throat at a public restaurant. Everyone thinks Cecilia is the perpetrator of all these acts, causing her to be arrested and placed in a psychiatric hospital.
The director said he wanted Cecilia’s character to be “the voice of reason in the film, the one who knows what’s really going on” and that everyone else around her “has a warped view of the situation.” But despite what’s real and what’s not, people see what they believe to be true, allowing Adrian to continue to successfully gaslight Cecelia even in his alleged death in the same way that he successfully haunted and tortured her when he was alive.
“He's a charming narcissist and he’s a sociopath. If you do the research into narcissists and sociopaths, they’re very, very charming. They're scientists of the human condition and can break someone down very quickly, assess their needs and desires, and play to that,” Whannell said. “Some people live their whole lives in a state of performance and you get very good at manipulating people in such a skillful way that everybody falls into line. There are people out there who are just amazing at manipulation, and society rewards them.”
Universal Pictures
Cecilia Kass (Moss).
After Cecilia escapes from the psychiatric hospital and ends up in a violent battle with the invisible figure back at her friend James’s house, Cecilia unmasks the man in the invisibility suit and viewers are surprised to see Adrian’s now dead brother. The cops then find Adrian tied up in his basement, with him claiming that his brother kidnapped him and orchestrated the whole ordeal.
Cecilia still doesn’t believe this to be true and comes up with one final plot to reveal Adrian’s abuse by agreeing to have dinner at their former house — only this time she’ll be wearing a wire to record him. She has the intention of getting him to admit on tape that he was, in fact, the Invisible Man the whole time. When he refuses and Cecilia fails to make any headway, she beats Adrian at his own game and excuses herself from the dinner table, puts on his invisibility suit, and kills him, making it look like a suicide.
The twist ending is Cecilia’s own bit of redemption; if the law wasn’t going to hold Adrian accountable, she was going to find her own way to ensure her own safety and peace.
“I've dragged the protagonist through the mud and at the end I want to give some catharsis,” Whannel said. “I wanted the character to feel free.”
