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#BornThisDay: Actor, Maureen Stapleton

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June 21, 1925– Maureen Stapleton is one of those great character actors that I am just crazy about. I loved the film version of the musical Bye Bye Birdie (1963) as a child, and I still do. Stapleton played Dick Van Dyke’s mother in the film and she received an Academy Award nomination for it, although, at just 36-years-old, she was only six months older than Van Dyke. When she was asked her if she minded being regularly cast as an older woman she merely shrugged and said:

“I was born old.”

At the finish of filming Bye Bye Birdie there was a wrap party. The director George Stevens, the producers, and the cast, including stars Van Dyke and Janet Leigh, each gave speeches extolling the extraordinary special gifts of newcomer Ann-Margret.  When it was her turn to speak, Stapleton announced:

“I guess I’m the only person in the room who doesn’t want to fuck Ann-Margret.”

Van Dyke also recounts a delicious anecdote about Stapleton in his dishy, sweet memoir, My Lucky Life In And Out Of Show Business (2011). They were at a party where it seems Stapleton showed up with her own salad, which she ate with toothpicks, and then spent most of her time sprawled out on the floor. Van Dyke asked her: “Maureen, wouldn’t you like a chair?” She answered: “I’d tell you where I’d like to sit, but your wife is here.”

It is one of the oldest stories in show biz: The small-town girl spends her afternoons at the movie theatre, she then moves to NYC dreaming of becoming a star on the Broadway stage. She works, taking employment as a retail salesperson, hotel clerk, and artists’ model, just to afford acting classes. She finds work in summer stock and then gets small roles in Broadway shows. Then, at last, the girl gets that special big break, and what a break! She lands the lead role in the new play by celebrated gay writer Tennessee Williams, fresh off A Streetcar Named Desire.

Williams had written The Rose Tattoo for Italian actor Anna Magnani to play the lead role, but Magnani declined. Other actors were auditioned, but none fit the bill for the character of Serafina delle Rose, an earthy Italian-American widow looking for love. Magnani had declined the offer, feeling that her English was not proficient enough for Broadway. Influential director Harold Clurman, who had directed Stapleton in small role in a play by gay writer Arthur Laurents earlier that year, 1950, suggested that Williams and company give her an audition. After a set of grueling callbacks, she won the role.

Stapleton became a muse for Tennessee Williams with The Rose Tattoo. Her performance was a triumph and she won the Tony Award. It played for 300 performances and then toured for six more months. Stapleton went on to rave reviews for Williams’ The Glass Menagerie and Orpheus Descending. In the next decade she became a favorite of Neil Simon who wrote Plaza Suite for her, bringing her another Tony nomination. In 1971 she won another Tony Award for Simon’s The Gingerbread Lady about an alcoholic actor, somewhat based on Stapleton’s own life.

Stapleton liked to drink a bit, although she claimed that she only indulged after a performance. Suffering debilitating stage-fright and self-doubt, she always vomited just before curtain time. To counter her phobias, Stapleton would constantly walk all over the stage during her performances. Her long affair with famed director George Abbott began when she was in her early 40s and he was in his 70s and ended when he left her for a much younger woman, sending her into a tailspin. Booze was as much fixture in her dressing room as stage make-up and wigs. Stapleton:

“The curtain came down and I went into the vodka!”

She was also convinced that someday, somehow, someone in the audience was going to try to kill her. She also had a lifelong terror of elevators and flying. She was in and out of therapy most of her adult life.

Stapleton had plenty of awards for her mantle. She won an Emmy Award for Among The Paths To Eden (1967), adapted from a short story by gay writer Truman Capote. She was nominated for an Oscar for Airport (1970) the same year that she won the Tony Award for The Gingerbread Lady. She received an Emmy Award nomination for the heartbreaking Queen Of The Stardust Ballroom (1975) in which she and Charles Durning play an older couple who warm to romance when they meet at a dance hall. Stapleton received another Academy Award nomination for my favorite of her roles, Pearl in Woody Allen‘s shockingly unfunny Interiors (1978), a fascinating but excruciating study of an extremely dysfunctional family in NYC, led by humorless parents played by E.G. Marshall and Geraldine Page, both costumed in various shades of beige. Into the picture saunters saucy Stapleton in a bright red dress, ready to steal patriarch Marshall away from the family, much to the horror the very beige daughters played by Diane Keaton and Mary Beth Hurt.

In 1981, she was nominated for another Tony Award for yesterday’s #BornThisDay honoree Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes where she held her own opposite Elizabeth Taylor. I bet there were some liquor bottles in those dressing rooms.

I only saw Stapleton on the stage just one time, in Sean O’Casey’s Juno And The Paycock opposite Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, presented at the Mark Taper Forum in LA in 1974, a truly memorable night at the theatre, filled with jaw-dropping talent. I remain inspired by her work in that play, proof that you don’t have to be traditionally pretty to be a true star.

As Emma Goldman in Reds (1981), photograph from Paramount Pictures

 

When Stapleton won the Academy Award for her small but powerful role as anarchist Emma Goldman in Warren Beatty‘s excellent Reds (1981), she gave what I consider the best acceptance speech of all time:

“I want to thank everybody I ever met in my entire life.”

Minutes after winning her Oscar, a reporter asked her how it felt to be recognized as one of the greatest actors in the world. Stapleton:

“Not nearly as exciting as it would be if I were acknowledged as one of the greatest lays in the world.”

When they asked her if she had expected to win, she answered:

“Yes, because I’m old and tired and I lost three times before.”

I cannot recall another actor with such a down-to-earth personality, completely devoid of pretension. When asked the key to good acting, Stapleton stated:

“As far as I’m concerned, the main thing is to keep the audience awake.”

Maureen Stapleton took her final curtain call in 2006, taken by lung disease after a life of smoking. In her memoir, A Hell Of A Life (1995) she says of her career:

“I did the best I could.”

The post #BornThisDay: Actor, Maureen Stapleton appeared first on The WOW Report.


Watch Now: “RuPals” Recap of “Drag Race” Episodes 11-13

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After their action-packed outing on the Mexico Wind cruise, gal pals Damiana and Tanya (Michael Lucid and Drew Droege) are back with their ruper-sized “RuPals” recap of “Drag Race” Season 9 episodes 11 through 13! After reminiscing about their cruise experience, the ladies lovingly skewer their favorite moments from the past few episodes, from the naming of the Top 4 queens to the drama-filled reunion. Be sure to subscribe to the Michael Lucid Presents channel to catch the ladies’ upcoming recap of the Season 9 Grand Finale!

The post Watch Now: “RuPals” Recap of “Drag Race” Episodes 11-13 appeared first on The WOW Report.

#WTF?!: Daniel Day-Lewis Just Retired From Acting

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Variety is reporting that three-time Oscar-winner Daniel Day-Lewis is retiring from acting.

In a career that has spanned four decades, he has just one final film awaiting release, an untitled drama set in the world of high fashion scheduled to hit theaters on Christmas Day. It reunites him with Paul Thomas Anderson, who directed him in 2007’s There Will Be Blood.

He gave no reason for his retirement. His spokesperson, Leslee Dart said,

Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor. He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years. This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject.

Day-Lewis is the only performer to ever win three best actor Oscars; his first for his performance as writer and artist Christy Brown in My Left Foot, one for Spielberg‘s Lincoln, and another for There Will Be Blood.

He is the son of poet Cecil Day-Lewis and English actress Jill Balcon, and made his screen debut at the age of 14 in 71’s Sunday, Bloody Sunday. In 1985 he hit us with the one-two punch of My Beautiful Laundrette and A Room With a View, and became a star.

In the late ’90s he gave up acting for a while, working as a cobbler before Martin Scorsese convinced him to return to the screen for Gangs of New York.

DDL has three children and is married to writer and director Rebecca Miller. What’s your favorite performance of his? Let us know on Facebook.

“My Left Foot”

(Top photo, Pacific Coast News; via Variety)

The post #WTF?!: Daniel Day-Lewis Just Retired From Acting appeared first on The WOW Report.

#LGBTQ: There’s a REALLY Good Reason Why Boy George Covered “YMCA”…

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It’s 2017 and some Australians still can’t marry the person they love… Why Not?

YMCA Australia is hoping that Boy George‘s cover of YMCA will help the organization raise money for its Why Not? campaign. It will raise awareness of “issues young people are facing today,” including that their battle for marriage equality.

Boy George was stunned to learn Australians were still fighting for their right to marry who they love. And for some reason, it’s taken nearly 40 years for any branch of the YMCA ANYWHERE to capitalize on the 70s classic.

Melinda Crole, CEO of YMCA Australia said

It was a challenging conversation for us as leaders – the baby boomers and Gen X, We have to let go – it wasn’t about what we thought. It was about the young people.

Research shows an overwhelming link between marriage equality and mental health – we are prepared to stand up for that.“

Crole told the Guardian she did not consult with any Christian organizations before agreeing to the collaboration. FYI, YMCA is an acronym for Young Men’s Christian Organization.

The YMCA says more than 10,000 people have been reached so far as part of its Why Not? campaign.

Watch.

And not to worry, here’s The Village People‘s original recipe!

(via LGBTQ Nation)

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#LGBTQ: This Out High School Football Player Also Performed in Makeup with the Drill Team

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At halftime, while his teammates on the Anahuac High School football team traipsed into the locker room, Austin Hodges went to the other side of the field. Still dressed in his football uniform, he applied a touch of makeup and then prepped to perform with the drill team.

I grew up in Texas myself, but my high school experience was NOT like this. I was gay, but I wasn’t on the football team or the drill team. Surprisingly, his male teammates and teachers have never had a problem with the fact that he’s on the drill team.

He wrote this excellent first-person piece for Out Sports;

Halftime had just started, and my teammates on the Anahuac High School football team in Anahuac, Texas, headed to the locker room. But I headed to the other side of the field where, still wearing my football uniform, I applied some makeup and got ready to do high kicks and splits with the drill team.

I was the only guy in my school district to be on the drill team, which also made me the only gay guy on the team.

I could feel the crowed turn their heads as we marched to the sounds of our captain’s whistle. The fans seemed a bit in awe and had no idea what to think seeing a guy out there doing drills. As we got in our formation and waited for the music to start, I was very nervous, but once the music started we got to dancing and my nerves went away. It was an amazing moment.

I would have to say that the best faces to watch were those of the other teams and their parents because they all just realized “the gay kid who wears makeup and does the splits” was kicking their butts on the field — I played both offensive and defensive line — and was going to do it again when halftime was over.

My male teammates never had a problem with me doing double duty with the drill team and neither did my coaches. I was always welcomed back to the game with support and applause from my teammates and coaches when halftime was over.

I like to think that by performing with the drill team, that I opened some minds. I was able to show that not only can gay men play sports but that they can also have, for lack of a better word, a “flamboyant” side as well and that it was OK that straight men and gay men can have both sides, that it was OK to be different.

Despite growing up as a gay person in conservative Texas, I was embraced by my school and teammates on various sports. I can’t say the same for my family, my home life or my community.

Anahuac, in Chambers County in Southeast Texas, has a population of around 2,500, which is smaller than most high schools in my surrounding area. The area stressed hardcore traditional values and my family is Southern Baptist.

Going through elementary school I was always made fun of because I was different. My only friends during my elementary years were girls and because of that, I was made fun of by the other boys in my class.

Moving into middle school I started to realize that I wasn’t really sexually attracted to women. I found sports to be an outlet, once I was old enough to play in junior high. I played football, basketball, track and field, and was the only boy at the time to run cross country.

Sports gave me something I never had before: “guy friends.” Even though I knew I was gay, I was very much in the closet but somehow one of my coaches found out.

This coach went to his boss and told him that he didn’t think it was a good idea that I be allowed to be in athletics with the other boys. I didn’t know any of this was going on until another one of my coaches approached me and pulled me aside to talk to me about it.

I was scared to death because I thought athletics was over for me, but that turned out to not be the case. This coach instead assured me that he would make sure I got to stay in athletics and continue playing sports and that me being gay made me no different than the other boys. This was the first time a male figure ever gained my respect and trust, and this coach earned a special place in my heart.

In ninth grade in high school I had my first boyfriend and my mom found a letter he wrote me. She told my father and when I came home from school that day my parents were awaiting me with a look of disgust on their faces.

As soon as I walked into the house my dad started yelling at me and saying many hurtful things that are just too hard to even type. My mom was screaming as well, saying it was “my choice” to be that way. As she saying this, she grabbed my hand and said just as it would also be my choice to not let her burn my hand on the hot stove as she was pressing it closer and closer.

My mom is a very stout woman and it took every bit of my strength to pull away from her so that she wouldn’t burn my hand. The next weekend, when my parents left the house, I stayed home knowing what I was about to do.

As soon as they left I went to the medicine cabinet and tried to overdose on some pills. I went to sleep that night hoping to die in my sleep. Luckily, I didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t take enough of them to kill me and I woke up the next morning. After that I decided that nothing would ever bring me that low again.

I also decided that it was then time to officially come out to everyone at school. I remember the first teacher I told was my biology teacher, Mrs. Broomas. We had a sex-ed quiz and one of the questions asked, “How could you prevent getting a girl pregnant while having intercourse?” My reply was, “I’m GAY so I don’t have to worry about that.”

As she got to my paper she broke out laughing and just smiled at me. She then asked if she could read it to the class, and with confidence I told her she could. When she did, all the kids laughed and gave me a hug afterward and told me no matter what that they would always be my friends and still support me. Everyone in that class was either on my cross-country team or on my football team.

After that, the whole school found out and word traveled to all my teammates in athletics. Each of them made sure I still felt welcome with them and that we were all a family with the same goal, to win at whatever sport we were playing.

During my high school career, I played football, ran cross-country, did powerlifting, played golf and did track and field. Football was fun but cross-country had its special significance since running gave me time to think and de-stress from what people thought about me being gay.

My cross-country teammates and coach were incredibly supportive and they pretty much were the family I didn’t have at home and my coach was a substitute mom though she never knew I thought of her that way.

In track and field, I decided to throw the discus; it was my favorite sport. It is a very manly sport and even though I was told I wasn’t bulky enough for it, I never let that stop me. I attended regionals every year and at the end of my senior year at my final meet I broke my high school’s discus record, which had stood for 30 years.

My discus coach was a father figure to me, and wanted nothing more than for me to succeed just as a real father should. I never told him either how much that he did for me or meant to me. He never gave up on me and for that I will be forever grateful.

As supportive as my school, teachers, coaches, and teammates were of me and my sexuality, the same couldn’t be said for my home. After I came out, home was never truly home again. It was just a roof and a place to sleep, a place where I went and shut my door to be alone and to avoid conflict at all cost.

But every morning when my alarm went off to go to school I was so excited because to me I was going to my adopted family and to people who cared for me in a way a real family should.

I was getting to be the man I knew I could be by doing sports, even though my father said no “faggot” can do that type of stuff and be supported or successful. The school was my get-away and athletics was my family unit. Sports gave me brothers and sisters, parental figures, advice-givers and many other things a real family should provide.

I graduated from Anahuac High School on June 3, 2016, ranking 13th out of 84 students in my class and was awarded the most scholarship money in my class. The gay kid that some people thought wouldn’t succeed just because he was gay, did.

I now attend the University of Houston and am majoring in geology. In my first semester of college I joined the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, which is an athletic fraternity; it has given many brothers, and I also became a Sexuality and Gender Acceptance Ambassador to the university. Though I don’t have a college athletic career, I do still throw the discus in track and field clubs and I also am a part of UH’s cross-country club.

I give thanks to that first coach who pulled me aside to tell me he supported me so long ago. Without him I may have never stayed in athletics and gained the leadership skills that have gotten me to where I am today. I also want to thank my other coaches and teachers who to me were parents and to my many teammates who were my brothers and sisters. Many of you will never know what you truly mean to me.“

Austin Hodges is 19 and will be a sophomore this fall at the University of Houston.

Bravo, young man!

(Photos, Austin Hodges; via Out Sports)

The post #LGBTQ: This Out High School Football Player Also Performed in Makeup with the Drill Team appeared first on The WOW Report.

12 European Queens Whose Looks Are GAGGING “Drag Race” Fans!

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The worldwide drag scene is exploding and RuPaul’s Drag Race can take a queenly bow for jumpstarting some of the sickening fierceness. And the European queens, from the looks of these dozen gorgeous specimens, are giving Mama Ru‘s girls a run for their ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLAS! We are just two days away from crowning America’s Next Drag Superstar. Could we see one of these queens emigrate for season 10? Have a look.

You’re welcome.

1. Chloe Waldorf • Berlin

EYE @limecrimemakeup VENUS PALETTE LIPS @maccosmetics RETRO MATTE LIQUID LIPCOLOUR IN HIGH HEELS + LIP GLASS

A post shared by Chloe Waldorf (@chloewaldorf) on

2. Cheddar Gorgeous • Manchester

3. Rafaella Pop • Madrid

5. Moonia • Croatia

6. Charity Case • London

7. Ghōst • Paris/ Berlin

Look 2 out of 3 for @technoireparis #4 How about these manly arms? Dress by @gillesasq

A post shared by Lenny Cartwright AKA Ghōst (@lennycartwright) on

8. Leroy Sparx • Milan

9. Hungry • Berlin

💙💦 #isshehungry 📷 by @purenift

A post shared by • Hungry (@isshehungry) on

10. Tiggy Thorn • Paris

👑🐼 at #gangbambi – pic by @ranobrac / top by @kaan.illu #partyparis #clubkid #klubkid #panda #kingpanda #yellow #look #makeup #glitters

A post shared by • scorpio • club kid • paris • (@tiggythorn) on

11. Dshock • Milan

12. Anna Phylactic • Manchester

(via BuzzFeed)

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#WTF?!: George Clooney & Rande Gerber Just Sold Their Tequila Company for $1 Billion!

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Yes, George Clooney with partners Rande Gerber and Mike Meldman are selling their premium tequila brand Casamigos to British beverage company Diageo for $1 billion.

Clooney confirmed the deal:

If you asked us four years ago if we had a billion dollar company, I don’t think we would have said yes. This reflects Diageo’s belief in our company and our belief in Diageo. But we’re not going anywhere. We’ll still be very much a part of Casamigos. Starting with a shot tonight. Maybe two.

Not bad for a four year-old brand.

(Photos, Casamigos; via Deadline)

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WOW Premiere: Sir Ari Gold is Out, Proud & Gay in GoldNation’s “Make Music” Video

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NYC icon/superstar/WOWlebrity…and SEXY A F Sir Ari Gold (GoldNation) has released his next single Make Music, from album Soundtrack To Freedom, just in time for Pride. This is the most recent project for Gold since his appearance in RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Peppermint’s tribute video George MichaelToo Funky (below). The out singer/songwriter was recently diagnosed with blood cancer, which made this the perfect time for him to continue doing what he does best… roseate, feel good pop tracks, like no other! In the video, directed by Jono Freedrix, Gold navigates the New York subway system, while taking time to stop and hear the music of local underground musicians. The final scene features Gold performing at the Delicia Glam fashion show, alongside voguing dance legend Javier Ninja. Watch the video below, and get Make Music, out now on iTunes!

 

Sir Ari Gold:

“After being diagnosed with blood cancer last year, and often feeling ignored by my own community about the impact I’ve had as an openly gay artist during a time when no one else dared, I continue to make my own path, my own music. Especially when all our human rights are now being threatened. It’s what I’ve always done and what I will continue to do for as long as I live. It’s awesome to share the screen with all the talented artists and musicians of New York City making powerful music together. This video is a tribute to all the folks out there making their own music, in whatever way that means to them.”


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Oh MY: Gay “Love & Hip Hop” Star Milan Christopher Goes EXTREMELY NSFW for PAPER

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I… feel like we’ve turned some sort of corner in celebrity journalism today. PAPER magazine has a blisteringly hot interview and photo shoot with Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood star (and recent “Let Me Pick You Up with TS Madison” guest!) Milan Christopher – the results can be seen below, but I warn you, this is beyond NSFW. We are in full-on gay porn mode here. And GOD BLESS. I suppose Grindr and Snapchat and PornHub and Tumblr have pushed the boundaries for what’s acceptable for photo shoots, so why NOT incorporate what’s going on in real life into magazine editorials? It would be archaic and prudish not to do otherwise.

Here’s a portion of his fascinating interview, before we delve into one of the super-scandalous pics.

PAPER: What made you want to do or what made you agree to do like a fully nude shoot?
MILAN: Well, I just feel like in our culture it’s so taboo for a guy to show their bodies but it’s ok for a woman to do it. I just kinda want to break that. I think I have a nice body and I think it’s art and I just think that it should be celebrated like they celebrate women’s bodies. So you know, I could be a guy and be gay and be black and be artistic and be artistic in a nude fashion shoot in the same way that anybody else could.

Yeah, and you mention all the different things that you are, because you tick many boxes — which, if any of those, communities do you feel like will most embrace the shoot and which will not embrace the shoot?
I think that all communities have like kind of walls that need to be broken down so I’m not really sure. I’m not really sure which one would be like, “Oh, this is awesome,” or which ones would be like, “He shouldn’t have did that,” you know? I think it will be a mixture of both — I think that some people will see the art in it and I think that some people will see something else but that’s just human nature.

You overlap these different identities–you’re black, you’re gay, you’re artistic–do you think about this question of how do you balance these different sides of yourself? Do you kind of transcend all these roles? Do you even think about them separately ?
I think about them separately because they are very separate. But I also feel like all those things encompass who I am. During pride month, I always think about all of the things that the LGBT community lacks and things that I feel like should be changed. And I think about equality, and the stigma and the taboo, and all the things that we work so hard to break through. So I think that this particular shoot, I think this is really important for not just the culture but for the community and pop culture in general. I’ve never seen it done in you guys’ magazine before and I’ve really never seen it done in a way where it’s like woah. It’s been years–I think something [there was something like it in] the 70s–I forget the actor, but he did a full frontal and it was really crazy.

Burt Reynolds.
Burt Reynolds, yes.

I don’t even think that he showed dick, but he did this nude thing for Cosmopolitan and it was a huge scandal.
And so I want that. I want that “break the internet” moment. I want people to look at this and be like, “Oh, wow, it’s ok.” This guy is a musician, he’s on TV. He’s doing this, he’s doing that but it’s ok.

Do you think about representing gay African Americans?
I do—I think it’s not that many gay guys who are African American who are out and who are comfortable? Right now, I can probably name about 5. And it’s millions, you know what I mean? I do think that I have a huge [responsibility for] representation of the community and I do think that I’m doing pretty well. I’m always being honest and being my authentic self, not really holding back and just putting my best face forward and trying to make things happen.

Read the whole interview here. And hold onto your wigs because I’m going to post one of the pics by Matthias Vriens-McGrathbelow. You’ll have to go to PAPER to see the rest.

Now maybe you want to revisit his “Let Me Pick You Up” episode…

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Kim & Kanye Hire a Surrogate for 3rd Kid – Here Are the Details of Their Agreement

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TMZ is reporting that Kim and Kanye West have made a deal with a surrogate to have another child, and agreed to the following terms and conditions:

The surrogate is to receive $45,000 in 10, $4,500 monthly installments…

If there are multiples, the surrogate gets $5k for each additional kid…

If the surrogate loses reproductive organs, she gets $4,000 Kim and Kanye are also required to deposit $68,850 with the agency.

The surrogate is required to refrain from smoking, drinking and drugs during the pregnancy. She also agrees to restrict sexual activities in the weeks leading up to the pregnancy, including foregoing sexual intercourse for 3 weeks following embryo implantation.

The surrogate cannot go in hot tubs or saunas, cannot handle or change cat litter, apply hair dye, drink more than one caffeinated beverage per day or eat raw fish.

The agreement provides that Kim and Kanye “assume the legal and parental responsibilities for any child … that may possess any congenital or other abnormalities or defects.” –

All of which seems pretty standard. (Although I’d never heard that about kitty litter before. You learn something new every day.)

Good luck to all the parties involved. I’m sure that will be one lucky kid.

(Photo: Pacific Coast News)

The post Kim & Kanye Hire a Surrogate for 3rd Kid – Here Are the Details of Their Agreement appeared first on The WOW Report.

Giggly and Gorgeous: Janet Mock Charms the Wendy Williams Audience

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New York Times best-selling author and ultra-iconic trans activist Janet Mock appears on the Wendy Williams Show and shares her inspiring story – including the surprising way she chose her name (HINT: It involves a certain “NASTY” and “CONTROL”ing superstar). The shock here isn’t how lovely and well-spoken she is (we know THAT), but just how giggly and relatable she is. She does such important work, it’s easy to forget that she’s just a regular person. Watching the audience melt like butter at her beauty, her message of self-love, and her incredible aura gives me hope for the world. Check out the full interview below.

And get her book Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me here.

The post Giggly and Gorgeous: Janet Mock Charms the Wendy Williams Audience appeared first on The WOW Report.

Moby’s Violent, Dystopian, Anti-Trump Music Video Is Driving the Alt-Right BERSERK. Let’s Give It Some Love

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Moby takes aim at just about everything you would EXPECT Moby to take aim at in his new video “In This Cold Place.” We have President Trump depicted as a Nazi-esque leader who takes over the world with a missile-firing machine shaped like a swastika and dollar symbol. We’ve got CareBears building walls, baby chicks going into grinders, mice being killed by drones, a He-Man-like character attacking Rupert Murdoch, Theresa May, Kim Jong Un and Steve Bannon…. The list goes on. It’s all ABSOLUTELY riveting if you’re a liberal and WILDLY triggering if you’re an alt-right Trumpster.

“Moby cartoon video corrupting children into hatred and accepting violence against President Trump” reads the headline of a post at the American Thinker blog decrying the “Trump derangement syndrome” apparent in the satirical cartoon.

“The artistic quality and budget of this video overshadow anything Hamas could produce. But as I see it, Moby and Cutts are breeding fanatics, just as the Palestinians do,” American Thinker’s Thomas Lifson wrote.

Breitbart focused on the dollar-turned-swastika symbolism in the video, as did the conservative Washington Times, who noted that Trump “transforms into a robotic, missile-firing swastika” during the three-minute animated video.

Watch it below. Then watch it again. Give it a “like” and forward it to a friend. Let’s make this thing go ultra-mega-viral.

Here are some of the butthurt tweets from Trump supporters….

(via Raw Story)

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Deadly Hookup: NYC Financier Found Naked and Dead in Penthouse with Wet Towel Stuffed in His Mouth

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Police are investigating the suspected murder of Neil Rodney Smith, the founder and CEO of Manhattan-based investment firm Infraccess, who was found dead in his $15 million Brooklyn apartment after what appears to be “a gay sex romp gone awry.”

Police sources say he was discovered lying on his back in bed, naked, with a wet towel stuffed in his mouth and a pillow over his face inside the apartment around 1:45 p.m. Monday.

Via The Daily Mail:

Police sources said they believe the 57-year-old died shortly after he was heard having sex with a man he met on the internet, who may have been a prostitute.

‘He went online and hooked up with some guy and, whatever they were doing, he died,’ a source reportedly told the New York Post.

The insider added that moments before the man died, a guest staying in the apartment with his wife allegedly: ‘heard a guy in there with him… he heard them having sex.’

NYPD confirmed they are currently reviewing Smith’s phone, computer, and tablet for clues as to who the killer might be.

“There were text messages exchanged and Facebook stuff where he’s hooking up with this guy,” the NYPD source says.

Investigators are also examining security footage from the building which shows a man and a woman arriving at the apartment, however only the man goes inside the apartment while the woman with him waits outside, according to the New York Daily News.

(Photos: Facebook; Clocktower pic: Google Maps)

 

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Man Sent Home From Work For His Shorts… Returns In A Dress! BAM!

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Meet adorable, twenty-year-old twink JoeyBarge?

He’s a Call Center Agent from Buckinghamshire, England. Like Joey, on a hot day, everyone prefer to dress lightly, as sweating can sometimes feel like your skin is coming off.

So, instead of wearing an outfit that makes you sweat MORE… Joey had a different plan.

Joey decided to wear shorts to work to cool himself down, because, it’s just TOO damn hot in England!

Paired with his shorts, Joey wore a long, black sleeve shirt which, mind you, is still pretty hot!

While he got us steamy, his employer was none too pleased and sent Joey home!

Rude.

Well, Joey decided to clap back at his employer. Following the dress code, Joey wore a pink and black dress when he reentered work. #Kudos

He backed up his wardrobe with claiming girls can wear dresses, so he should be able to as well.

Joey’s company ended up complying with his demands. They are allowing all of their male employees to wear shorts for the summer, as long as they are solid colors of black, beige, or navy.

Way to stick it to the man, Joey! Shantay, you stay!

 

 

 

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#VintageBeauties: 42 Victorian Drag Queens (and One Hunky Drag King)

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It’s Wayback Wednesday, so let’s revisit these fabulous 19th century photos showing men dressed in sweeping gowns, fluttering delicate fans, and showing off their cinched waists in whale-boned corsets.

From the website littlethings.com:

The pictures provide a rare glimpse of some of the most laughed at, and often reviled, members of Victorian society – female impersonators and drag queens.

We acknowledge that not every person in the photos below is a “drag queen,” and that there’s a big difference between a transgender person, a transvestite, and a drag queen: A transgender person is someone who does not identify with their assigned sex and would most likely not want to be referred to as a “drag queen.” A transvestite is a cisgender male who enjoys wearing women’s clothing. A drag queen tends to be someone who dresses in women’s clothing more so for performance or entertainment purposes.

 ‘We can’t tell you how most of the subjects in the following photos identify, but we can say with certainty that these people took a major risk by dressing this way during less tolerant times.’

Late 1800s: The etymology of the phrase “drag queen” is debatable, but many scholars believe that the phrase was coined in the 1800s as a reference to the hoop skirt. As seen in this photo, hoop skirts would “drag” along the ground.

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Below. 1800s: Frederick Park and Ernest Boulton shocked Victorian London when they dared to leave their home as “Fanny and Stella.” They were the first men to openly walk through the streets in women’s clothing and shocked society so much that the police launched investigations that were normally reserved for extreme criminals.

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Bearded drag queens – ALWAYS IN STYLE. 
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Below. Lili Elbe was one of the first transgender women whose story was told in the film The Danish Girl

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Below. 1916: Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald performed in drag during a college performance of a musical he co-wrote.

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1900s: Florin, pictured here, was a well renowned “female impersonator” in Paris, where there was also a flourishing drag scene.

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Below. 1800s: This photo shows that drag was not always as taboo as it would eventually become.

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Below. 1800s: This photo features a 19th-century student dressed in drag for pure amusement. You may think that he’d have been punished for such behavior, but this man went on to become a well-respected Estonian judge and held rank in the Livonian Knighthood.

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1883: Drag was perfectly acceptable as a theatrical device. In fact, it was still more respectable for a man to play a woman in drag (such as these three Yale students) than for a woman to pursue a career as an actress.

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1800s: In the 1800s, the term “drag queen” becomes more specific, referring to any man who dresses as a woman in a theatrical and professional setting.

1800s-Men-In-Drag-mattsko.wordpress.com_

Below. 1800s: A man and woman in switched outfits. One can presume this was more for a lark than any other purpose.

1800s-drag-pinterest-and-imgur

Below: Brigham Young’s son, Brigham Morris Young, made a career in drag performing as Madam Pattrini. Supposedly, his falsetto was so convincing that many audiences did not know he was a man. It’s hard to believe early LDS audiences responded so positively to such a concept, but it was quite popular at the time.

1800s-Brigham-Young-Jr-Connell-Donovan.com_

1916: There is not much evidence of “drag kings,” but this photo does feature a woman in a gender-bending outfit, obviously poking fun at gender norms with her upturned pinky finger.

1910-Drag-King-fyeahqueervintage.tumblr.com_

(via The Daily Mail)

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Former Glee Star Comes Out as Trans and Reveals New Name

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In 2013 the Glee star then known as Chalice Pempengco came out as a lesbian. A year later, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Pomenenco revealed his soul was male.

“I was in grade school and I saw this girl and I felt different… I didn’t know what it was, but I just knew at that time, it felt special. I’m not exactly transitioning to a male, but basically my soul is male. I’m not going to change my body, I’ll cut my hair and wear boys clothes, but that all.”

Now he has revealed the next stage of his journey and revealed his new name: Jake Zyrus.

Welcome, Jake!

He recently took to Twitter to thank all his fans for their support.

“My first tweet as Jake. Overwhelmed. Saw all your love comments and I’m so happy. Finally. I love you, everyone and see you soon,” Zyrus tweeted.
“I won’t let anyone ruin this moment. I won’t let anyone ruin my happiness. Thank you to all the beautiful write ups about me.”

The star also took to Instagram posting an image reading, “Thank you.”

(via LGBTQ Nation and Pink News)

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Isis King on ‘Hey Qween’! Elle Bradford’s Summer Look Book! Peter Pratts’ Beauty Faves! New Videos From the WOWPresents MCN!

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Check out the latest videos from our WOWPresents Network! Hey Qween, Elle Bradford, Peter Pratts, Luke Birch, Michael Lucidand SO MANY MORE all have new videos from the WOWPresents Network!!! Watch all these and more right now on the WOW Report!

Here are the latest videos from our fabulous partners! Make sure you subscribe to their channels for new videos!
















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June 22nd: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch!

#BornThisDay: Meryl Streep

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The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Fox 2000 Pictures

 

June 22, 1949– Mary Louise Streep is probably the greatest actor since the invention of film.

At last year’s Golden Globe Awards, she said:

“Once when I was standing around on the set one day whining about something, we were going to work through supper, or the long hours or whatever, Tommy Lee Jones said to me, isn’t it such a privilege, Meryl, just to be an actor. Yeah, it is. And we have to remind each other of the privilege and the responsibility of the act of empathy. We should all be very proud of the work Hollywood honors here tonight. As my friend, the dear departed Princess Leia, said to me once, take your broken heart, make it into art. Thank you.”

To prepare for today’s post,  I watched  Ricki And The Flash (2015) which I had somehow missed. This film, directed by the late, great Jonathan Demme has Meryl Streep playing a 60-ish year old former rock musician, who plays gigs at a bar by night, but by day works as a cashier at a supermarket. One day she gets a call from her ex, well played by Kevin Kline, saying their daughter Julie, played by Streep’s actual  talented daughter, Mamie Gummer, is in the middle of a breakdown after her marriage fell apart. I almost always love Demme as a director, and I am zany for Kline, but mostly I was glad I caught this film so that I could realize that Streep can appear in a mediocre movie and give a somewhat less than stellar performance. It was character building for me to understand that Streep is human, even if she is in possession of a talent that is unrivaled.

I also recently caught The Devil Wears Prada (2006) again while channel surfing. The film certainly still stands up. Streep’s Miranda Priestly may be her greatest achievement in her long career so far.

She is not gay, of course, although she could play a lesbian. She is neither needy nor tragic, or outrageous in her private life. But I feel that Streep has the making of a true Gay Icon. She turns an astonishing 68-years-old today and she has never been bigger at the box-office. Only a handful of female stars can guarantee a winner at the box-office, and even fewer who are over 50-years-old. Even Ricki And The Flash made money.

Streep has received 20 Academy Award nominations (winning three) and 29 Golden Globe nominations (winning seven), more than any other actor in film history. Her work has also earned her two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival Award, five New YorkFilm Critics Circle Awards, five Grammy Award nominations, 14 nominations and two BAFTA Awards, plus a couple of Tony Award nominations. In 2004, she was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award and she received the Kennedy Center Honor. President Barack Obama awarded her the 2010 National Medal Of Arts and in 2014 the Presidential Medal Of Freedom, our country’s highest civilian honor. France made her a Commander Of The Order Of Arts And Letters. In fact, I don’t consider it an awards season without Streep. Beginning in 1979, when she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Deer Hunter, and then winning in that category the next year for Kramer vs. Kramer, we just never get weary of celebrating Streep.

Manhattan (1979) with Woody Allen, United Artists

 

I think it says something of her sense of craft and sense of adventure that a star of her caliber will take on supporting roles. Streep was nominated in the Academy’s supporting category two more times, for Adaptation (2002) and for Into The Woods (2014). Those four supporting nods are the whipped cream and cherry on top of the 16 Oscar nominations for Best Actress.

Streep moves easily between large and small films, between comic, musical and dramatic roles. Since she turned 50-years-old, ancient for a female film actor, she has showed her age gracefully, grandly and seductively.

A consummate craftsman, Streep is also, undeniably, a genuine film star. This is my favorite part of her story because it happened so late in her career. An admired actress for 30 years, she became a surprising box-office draw with The Devil Wears PradaMamma Mia! (2008, Streep’s highest grossing flick to date), Julie & Julia (2009) and It’s Complicated (2009). In the 21st century Streep has become the sort of actor whose name can guarantee a film’s success. Esteemed since her first films in the 1970s, she is now one of the most beloved movie stars.

I was initially reluctant to give her my love. At the start of her career, I thought her performances were all about technique and they lacked heart. Sophie’s Choice (1982), Silkwood (1983) and A Cry In The Dark (1988), as well as the other stuff from that period, seemed to be all about the accents and the wigs, nuanced gestures, high craftsmanship. It was as if her audiences were being asked to stand in awe of her remarkable range and her ever changing, fully committed, controlled, calculated character choices and hairstyles.

But, then along came She-Devil (1989), Postcards From The Edge (1990) and Death Becomes Her (1992) and suddenly our Streep seemed to tone down the technique and her performances were less intimidating and had gained a lightness. She seemed to be having fun with her characters without being less ambitious, working in unapologetically commercial projects for the entertainment of adults.

It is not that Streep gave up on her jaw-dropping acting chops or challenging accents and looks. One of my favorites of her varied roles is the bored, Italian war-bride farmer’s wife in Clint Eastwood’s underrated Bridges Of Madison County (1995). I still like her to break my heart, but Streep shines when she is playful and impish. Her formidable timing and technique are well served in comedies and musicals. I love that she seems to be enjoying herself. She is light as air as the spacey folk singer in A Prairie Home Companion (2006), and as a romantically confused California bakery owner in It’s Complicated, or as the lady fox married to George Clooney in Wes Anderson’s fantastic Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009).

My first experience seeing Streep was not on film, but on stage, in The Taming Of The Shrew opposite the much missed Raul Julia at The Public Theatre in 1975. In my own NYC era, I also saw Streep in Trelawny Of The Wells by gay writer Arthur Wing Pinero and in Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, both at Lincoln Center. Streep’s work on stage and her beauty felt inspired, heartfelt and even transcendent. Yet, I am such a fan of this current period, now in Streep’s authentic prime. Real film stars belong to everyone and that is what has happened to Streep. With nothing left to prove, she has become easy to love.

Florence Foster Jenkins (2016),
20th Century Fox

 

Last year she gave a fearless performance opposite Hugh Grant in Stephen Frears’ Florence Foster Jenkins (2016), comic biopic about the noted blithely unaware tone-deaf opera singer who insisted on giving a public performance. Streep won received her 20th Academy Award nomination, plus Golden Globe, SAG and BAFTA nominations for her work.

This coming Holiday season, Streep will be seen in Mary Poppins Returns. The film also reunites Streep with her Into The Woods director Rob Marshall and costar Emily Blunt, and her Mama Mia friends Colin Firth and Dame Julie Walters. She is set to begin filming Steven Spielberg’s The Papers, which centers on The Washington Post’s publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Streep will portray the paper’s publisher Katharine Graham to Tom Hanks’ editor Ben Bradlee.

Earlier this year when Streep accepted the Golden Globe’s Cecil B. DeMille Award. her speech was highly political and critical of the President-elect. She said that Trump had a very strong platform and was using it inappropriately. He responded on Twitter, of course, calling Streep “One of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood” and “A Hillary flunky who lost big”. It seems that it is a love-fest that continues.

A month later at the Human Rights Campaign Greater New York Gala where she received their Ally For Equality Award, Streep responded with speech without even mentioning POTUS’ name:

“If we live through this precarious moment . . . if his catastrophic instinct to retaliate doesn’t lead us to nuclear winter, we have much to thank this president for, because he will have woken us up to how fragile freedom really is. Yes, I am the most overrated, over-decorated, and currently, over-berated actress . . . of my generation,” she joked. “But that is why you invited me here! Right?”

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Bullied 4th Grader Gets Escorted to School by Hundreds of Bikers

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Xander Rose isn’t worried about going to school this morning. The fourth grader from Nova Scotia, who has ben mercilessly bullied for years, will be escorted to the school doors by hundreds of local bikers who say they’re doing it to send a message to the bullies: Don’t mess with Xander. We’ve got his back.

Via HuffPo:

The boy’s mom, Katie Laybolt, told CTV News this week that her son has been mercilessly bullied in school for years. He’s been ridiculed about his weight and the leather biker vest he likes wearing. He’s endured racial slurs and “disgustingly” sexual comments. One boy even threatened to kill him with a gun, Laybolt said.

In an effort to mitigate the bullying, Laybolt reached out to Xander’s school and its board, a local children’s welfare group and the parents of other students. But the abuse, she said, has only intensified over the past year. “It’s been crazy,” she said.

So Laybolt reached out to Defenders of the Children, a New Zealand-based biker organization, for help. The group, which offers support to child victims of violence and bullying, promptly responded and shared Laybolt’s story on social media.

Describing Xander as a “future biker” who “loves his biker gear,” the group asked motorcyclists in the Nova Scotia area if they would “give him a ride to school some time, in numbers, as a sign to kids and teachers that he’s much loved and has a very protective family on two wheels.”

The response was immediate, with local biker groups like the Cape Breton Bike Rally and other community members agreeing to escort Xander to school on Wednesday.

The bikers plan to meet Xander at a local shopping center before heading to his school this morning. The bikers will then dismount from their motorcycles and form two lines at the school’s entrance to ensure that he is escorted safely into the building.

Here’s hoping that the gesture sends a clear message to all the school’s bullies.

“I’m hoping he knows from now on, if somebody bullies him, he’s got somebody to go to,” Mike Basso of Cape Breton Bike Rally told the station. “He can look on the corner on any street. He’s going to find a leather vest. He’s now one of our brothers.”

“It’s time to put up what we call a wall of leather and steel,” Basso told the Cape Breton Post this week. “We’re here for the kids. They need to know there’s somebody out there rooting for them.”

 

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