Cher calls Trump’s America ‘one of the worst times in our history’, says women will be 'the ones to fix it’
Cher speaks during the Women’s March “Power to the Polls” voter registration tour launch at Sam Boyd Stadium on January 21, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo: Getty Images)
By the time Cher took the stage at the Power to the Polls Women’s March rally in Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon — nearly five hours after the doors to the Sam Boyd Stadium had opened — the crowd was beyond ready to hear some wise words from the biggest celebrity on the lineup. And Cher, in town for her residency at the Park Theater and known for her all-caps Twitter rants against Donald Trump, did not disappoint.
“You know, I’ve been alive for 13 presidents, and I’ve never seen anyone like the president that we have — I can’t even call him the president — that has been willing to destroy our country for money and power,” began the 71-one-year old superstar. I’ve never seen it. Never believed that it could happen.”
She continued, “In 1776, the Union was formed. In 1920 we got the vote. What I’m going to tell you now is, it’s time to step up to the plate and own it. It’s time for women to own it, you know? If you don’t take it, no one’s going to give it to you.”
Cher at the Women’s March “Power to the Polls” voter registration tour launch at Sam Boyd Stadium on January 21, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo: Getty Images)
Cher talked a bit about her hard-won independence, beginning with a personal story about her grandmother. “She had my mother when she was 14 years old, she picked cotton, and didn’t have a say in anything,” she said. “My mother thought that you had to have a man take care of you. And even though she had more fun when she was divorced and with her girlfriends, all of those women thought that was what had to happen.”
As for herself, she shared, “I was kind of a punk girl, and little bit balls to the wall. I once — I didn’t steal the horse I just jumped on him and rode him until the fence gave up, and then I saw a boxcar and I jumped in it. So that’s kind of who I was at the time. Then I got married and I lost a lot of my power through marriage and it was my fault. I was young.” Cher famously married the late Sonny Bono when she was just 18. “It took me a long, long time to get back the power that you see that I have. And even now, it’s so crazy, even now in doing business I have to ask three times for what a man would have to ask for once. And when you ask for it you’re a bitch, and when you don’t ask for it they just run all over you.”
Finally, Cher, who was a big Hillary Clinton supporter, revisited the night of her loss. “There was a march down Fifth Avenue [in New York City] the night that Trump became whatever he became. I didn’t mean to get in it. I had taken a shower. I was really upset, because this is the second time this has happened to me. The last time I was with Al Gore in Nashville getting my makeup on, ready to go to the party, and then it just flashed ‘Bush is the president.’ And this time I was up in a room with Hillary, putting my makeup on. I thought, to hell with this I’m not putting anything on until I find out what’s going to happen. And then he became the president.
“This is one of the worst times in our history,” she declared, “and that’s why I honestly believe that women are going to be the ones that fix it.”
Disney star defends remarriage after death of first husband: ‘There is no timeline for grief’
Tiffany Thornton and Josiah Capaci. (Photo: Instagram/tiffthornton)
Is there any such thing as “too soon” when it comes to finding love again after a spouse dies? Some of Tiffany Thornton’s critics assert that there is.
The former Disney star — whose first husband, Chris Carney, died in a car accident in 2015 — married new love Josiah Capaci in a ceremony she shared on Instagram on Sunday, dubbing it, “Best day of my life.” And while the flood of commenters appear to be supportive and congratulatory, some have apparently called Thornton out for being disloyal, according to the long follow-up post she added in self-defense.
A post shared by Tiffany Thornton (@tiffthornton) on Oct 7, 2017 at 8:44pm PDT
“This. This is love. That all encompassing, enduring, accepting, near perfect love. The kind that trumps my need to snap back at people who have the audacity to comment on my Instagram about whether I loved my first husband or not. But let me take a moment to explain something to you,” she wrote. “There is no timeline for grief or for when God moves in your life in undeniable ways.”
Thornton, whose anger is palpable, closes out with this: “When I say ‘Jo is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me’ that in no way indicates that I didn’t love my first husband with all that I had. How dare any one of you judge me and say that on a social platform. It doesn’t make you any better of a person to cast judgment on others and sit in the seat of mockers. I will always love chris and jo knows that. And I will always love Jo. The beautiful thing about love is that it multiplies as new blessings come into your life. I don’t have to share one bucket of love with the special people in my life. Each one has their own bucket. Get it? Isn’t that amazing?? God’s timing is not our own. And I praise Him for that. You should too.”
A post shared by Tiffany Thornton (@tiffthornton) on Oct 7, 2017 at 8:44pm PDT
Thornton, known for her roles on Sonny With a Chance and So Random!, had announced her engagement to Capaci, a Gospel Light Church worship pastor, in August. And while her move into a new relationship after such a traumatic loss likely required some emotional work on her part, it’s one that is certainly not out of the norm.
By 25 months after a spouse’s death, 61 percent of men and 19 percent of women were either remarried or involved in a new romance, according to a 1996 study (which is out of date, but consistent with even older findings). “It may be helpful for family, friends, and therapists to know that dating and remarriage are common and appear to be highly adaptive behaviors among the recently bereaved,” the study noted.
Still, some people just can’t help but criticize when a survivor moves into another relationship. A high profile controversy erupted when, for example, Sheryl Sandberg began dating Bobby Kotick, of Activision video games, about 10 months after the sudden death of her husband Dave Goldberg, whose death inspired a raw and public expression of grief from the Facebook COO.
The social media backlash to Sandberg’s step forward was nothing less than nasty — as it was when comedian and actor Patton Oswalt announced plans to remarry a year and a half after his wife, Michelle McNamara, died suddenly in her sleep, leaving Oswalt and their young daughter behind. Online trolls came out in full force then, with one saying, “I’d like to be mourned for more than a couple months,” and another suggesting Oswalt was getting “grief laid.”
That tirade inspired at least one forceful clap back, from blogger Erica Roman, a young widow who responded on behalf of Oswalt, herself, and anyone else in the position of being judged for finding love again.
“You aren’t entitled to an opinion,” she wrote to the critics. “You don’t get to comment on the choices of a widower while you sit happily next to your own living spouse. You didn’t have to stand and watch your mundane morning turn into your absolute worst nightmare… Go back to scrolling Facebook and keep your ignorance to yourself. Who gave you the position to judge when it’s ‘too soon’ for a person who has suffered the worst to be able to find happiness and companionship again?”
Connecticut-based psychologist Barbara Greenberg agrees that it’s no one else’s place to say when it’s appropriate to embrace new love. “It’s very judgmental,” she tells Yahoo Lifestyle, noting, “People can have a very hard time celebrating other people’s joys.” Further, she says about Thornton, “Maybe she had a good experience in her first marriage,” which would lead her open to embracing a second one. “I don’t think there’s any rule about when one should remarry or how long one should grieve. There’s no timeline.”
Regarding feelings of guilt that a surviving spouse may struggle with as they move toward a new marriage or relationship, Greenberg advises, “She’s got to stay grounded in her own beliefs that this is right, and work hard to honor her own feelings.” Because, she says, “At the end of the day it’s her life, and she doesn’t have to defend her life to anyone.”
A Brooklyn editor and mother of two tells Yahoo Lifestyle that a year after her husband died of cancer, she began dating her late spouse’s close friend, ultimately marrying him 8 years after that. “For me it was best to take it slowly, even though we initially got together in a timeline that some would consider too quick,” she says. “Only I knew when it felt right. No one else lived through what I did or knew what it was like to mourn or raise kids who lost a father at a young age.”
She also notes that “just because you start dating or marry someone else doesn’t mean that you officially stop mourning. I didn’t stop remembering my late husband when I got involved with someone else. He is still a part of our lives. We celebrate his birthday and think of him on the day he died and at milestone moments for my kids, and spend time with his family.”
Also sharing her experiences with Yahoo Lifestyle is a New York City–based writer, whose wife died of cancer after they were married for just four years; she entered into a relationship with someone new less than two years after her wife’s death.
“I think when you’ve had a happy marriage you are more apt to have an open heart about finding love again,” she explains. “I don’t feel burned by love and to me that’s a good thing. There was no betrayal of trust to get over. But everyone is different, and I think it would be unkind to judge another person’s choices, especially after they’ve gone through such a loss. Too soon? Too late? There’s no one-size-fits all response to loss and grief; it’s a process.”
Jamie-Lynn Sigler’s Push To Be a Perfect Mom Was ‘Killing’ Her
Jamie-Lynn Sigler has reinvented herself as an unofficial MS spokesperson. (Photo: Getty Images)
To fans of a certain age, Jamie-Lynn Sigler will forever be Meadow Soprano — the sweet, smart, scrappy apple-of-his-eye daughter to Tony Soprano on The Sopranos, who grew up before our eyes. Still, that role ended a decade ago, and since then, Sigler, 36, has done quite a job of reinventing herself — through more roles in TV and film (she’s just started shooting a new one, In the Absence of Good Men, directed by Timothy Woodward Jr.), and, since revealing that she has multiple sclerosis in 2016, as an empowering MS activist and role model.
Yahoo Beauty grabbed some time with the Long-Island-native-turned-Californian while she was in New York City recently to kick off her new “Declare Peace” campaign with Serta, talking health and wellness, self-image, parenting her 3-year-old son Beau, and, with a little help from her 27-year-old baseball-playing husband Cutter Dykstra, love and marriage.
Sigler has teamed up with Serta for its “Declare Peace” campaign. (Photo: Amy Sussman for Serta)
What are the challenges of having a serious disease that is largely invisible to others?
I don’t want to say it frustrates me when people say, “You don’t look sick,” because I agree, and I understand — and I don’t feel sick, sitting here in front of you. But one of the bigger issues for me was when I went to Israel [in early May, with best friend Lance Bass], I had to get walking sticks …for the long distances and the terrain and the cobblestones and the heat. I think you can wind up feeling like, that’s not beautiful. It’s not cute to walk with these sticks.
But you wound up doing it anyway.
I talked a lot about it with my husband before I left and he was like, “But Jamie, this is what’s going to allow you to go and do what you want to do, so it’s either sit it out and be resentful or take these freaking sticks and do it.” And so I did. It felt weird, because I could feel people looking at me and thinking I don’t look like somebody that needs these. But I do, so it made me think a lot about erasing that stigma for people, and not being ashamed. I posted a picture of me on Instagram with the walking sticks and a lot of people with MS were like, “Thank you for doing that.” Because we will fight as hard as we can and hold walls and people before we will get a device, because then it feels like you’re losing your battle. It’s a process, still, for me.
A post shared by Jamie Lynn Sigler (@jamielynnsigler) on May 12, 2017 at 4:11am PDT
You were diagnosed with MS at 20, but kept it a secret. Can you describe how hypnotherapy helped you decide to come forward?
I wanted to go in the hopes of learning how to manage it better emotionally, because I was dealing with feeling embarrassed and ashamed. I was always trying to hide it, and it was just really detrimental to my health and wellbeing and my emotional health. Other than doing stuff for my son, I didn’t really leave the house…And after three sessions I was like, “I’m harming myself. I didn’t choose this.”
A post shared by Jamie Lynn Sigler (@jamielynnsigler) on Jan 16, 2017 at 7:36pm PST
How do you practice self-care?
I meditate. I try every day — sometimes it’s 10 minutes, sometimes it’s 30, whatever my day allows me. Acupunture, meditation, Kundalini yoga… My diet fluctuates, but I really feel like I’m more health-conscious than I ever have been, especially since having my son, because I want to instill good eating habits in him. I had horrible habits growing up — a lot of soda, a lot of candy, a lot of carbs, like no grain, no fruit — so I’m really trying to instill that with him and I want him to mirror what I’m eating and enjoy it.
What about beauty routines?
I don’t wash my hair a lot — like, twice a week, unless I know I have an event or something, then I’ll wash it because I know it’s looking funky. There are a couple of days of just buns for me. I’m into exfoliating my body and I love lotions, body butters — I put lotion all over my feet before I go to bed and then put on socks. I’m big into feeling moisturized.
You had an eating disorder when you were younger, but have said you’re no longer a slave to those thoughts. Why do you think that is?
I’ve found that a lot of people with MS are perfectionists and control freaks. That was the whole thing of my eating disorder, control, and we’ve all been given this disease that takes away control. So I feel that there’s a great lesson in that, to just surrender sometimes — the power to just trust and relax. So I don’t stress about things about my weight or my health.
Sigler with husband Cutter Dykstra. (Photo: Getty Images)
You’ve just started working on a new film, about Al Capone’s right-hand man. How’s it going?
I’m playing a 1920s mob wife, and she’s a flapper and a dancer, and I said to the director, “I’m real limited. Are you sure I’m your girl?” And he said, “We will work around it. We will come in close, we will get a body double…” So I’m grateful that people are allowing me to find a way to still fit in and do what I love. Even career aside, everyday motherhood, there are things I have to sit out with my son. But at the end of the day I feel like if you could ask him, and he could articulate it, he’d say, “Mommy doesn’t miss anything, she’s always there,” and that’s how I always want him to feel.
Do you suffer from “mommy guilt” anyway?
Every day, all the time. I don’t think I’m ever going to get away from it. I just this past year got a babysitter who comes every day after pre-school until bedtime. For a while when I wasn’t working I was being really stubborn — I wanted to do everything for him — but it was killing me, and I wasn’t being the best mom I could be. I was exhausted. So it’s been a wonderful balance, and also for him, knowing he can have love and trust and safety with somebody else other than mommy.
How much are you and your Sopranos cast members in each others’ lives?
Rober Iler is one of my closest friends — we talk multiple times a week, and I love him like family. I still talk to Aida [Turturro], and Edie Falco was the first person to text me on Mother’s Day.
Dykstra joins the interview.
YB: So how did you two meet?
Sigler: Through mutual friends. My friend JoAnna [Garcia] is married to a baseball player [Nick Swisher]. It was very organic, it wasn’t a setup or anything.
Dykstra: I didn’t think she would be interested in me, but it happened.
YB: Cutter, how have you dealt with Jamie’s MS, as her partner?
Dykstra: I’m not going to say it’s easy to see her go through it. I see her deal with it every day, and it’s hard. Being there is the most important thing for me — making sure she’s always happy and comfortable, and just kind of becoming a team in the whole process.
Sigler: And I think, for me, I sometimes want us to not talk about it at all. I don’t want him to always see me as someone who needs to help. I want to be Jamie-without-MS, too, sometimes.
YB: You have a nearly 10-year age difference. How has that affected your relationship?
Sigler: The only time I notice it is when I make [pop-culture] references like “Saved by the Bell,” and he’s like, “I don’t know it,” and I’m like “Oh my god!” Or “90210,” and he’s like, “The new one?” And I’m like, “No, Brenda and Dylan!”
Solange brought it in 2016, the year of natural hair. (Photo: Getty Images)
There were so many stories about natural hair this year that we’ve had to shrink them into subcategories just to make sure that most of them got a mention. And yes, they were all over the map, but the takeaway was a great one, according to natural hair guru Nikki Walton. “This year was a mixed bag for natural-hair news — some amazingly positive stories, some that stunk of years past — but all in all I believe that one thing’s for sure: Natural hair is no trend — it’s here to stay,” Walton tells Yahoo Beauty. “Women have embraced their texture and they’re boldly and confidently rocking it in all situations. It’s absolutely the new normal. The world will eventually catch up.” Below, the year in review.
Models set an example
Maria Borges walked the runway, sans extensions, during the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in Paris. (Photo: Kristy Sparow/WireImage)
While the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in Paris was likely the star here — as more natural hairstyles than ever reigned on the runway, thrilling models like Maria Borges and Herieth Paul — it was not the only forum in which models highlighted the new normal. South Sudanese model Duckie Thot, a former contestant on Australia’s Next Top Model, wrote an honest Instagram post about dealing with natural hair in the fashion industry, which resonated deeply. And when Marc Jacobs made the naive misstep of sending his white models down the runway in faux dreadlocks, he was called out mightily until he apologized.
Celebs spoke out
Amandla Stenberg got personal about her hair. (Photo: Getty Images)
Famous folks continued to wear their natural hair with pride this year, including Amandla Stenberg, who wowed fans by gracing the cover of Teen Vogue with her crowning glory in full effect. The 17-year-old also spoke out about cultural appropriation and her personal journey away from hair straightening. Solange made a beautiful statement with her curls on SNL — as did Beyoncé with her Lemonade braids, Olympic fencer Nzingha Prescod with her game-changing curls, and little North West with her highly tweeted ’fro.
Soooo…my daughter had registration today and let’s just say she’s not happy abt the #JCPS no natural hair policy. pic.twitter.com/ApPDyv3sbo
A photo posted by Dana L. Oliver (@_danaoliver) on Sep 2, 2016 at 8:37am PDT
Kids were in the forefront when it came to natural-hair freedom this year — and parents were major cheerleaders, including, most recently, a dad who stood up for his mixed-race daughter’s cornrows. Moms raised hell at schools that caused problems, including Marian Reed of Texas, where she got an apology from the administration, and Attica Scott of Kentucky, who successfully fought to have a “racist” hair policy changed. Fierce parent and student protestors worked to get a similar policy changed at a girls’ school in South Africa, making international headlines.
There were, of course, some ugly stories to report — a woman being fired from her job because of her natural hair and a man being told to cut his braids or else not get hired — but they got attention in the press, which could be seen as hopeful. Plus, there was positive pushback, including from Shea Moisture, which ran a beautifully inclusive campaign, as well as a cringe-worthy moment turned around by stylist Deepica Mutyala, who decided to educate herself about black women’s hair instead of hide from her error.
This doll
My Natural Doll gave kinky-haired girls a new reflection. (Photo: My Natural Doll)
And finally, in a category all her own: the release of My Natural Doll, from Congolese hairstylist Mushiya Tshikuka, the host of WEtv reality show Cutting It In the ATL. “In a world where the dolls we play with and the role models we see shape our perception of beauty and our self-confidence,” the website notes, “it is important that our little girls are constantly exposed to a reflection of themselves — beautiful dark skin and kinky hair like that which grows out of their own head.”
Helen Mirren Praises Kim Kardashian for Changing Beauty Standards
Helen Mirren said that women can have “a butt” nowadays thanks to “Madame Kardashian.” (Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images for Turner)
While Helen Mirren, at 70, is happy about “finally being relieved of the whole sex-symbol tag,” she’s impressed by how the new generation of starlets — Kim Kardashian included — have turned the ideal of sex-symbol beauty on its head.
“I’m not into the Kardashians, it’s a phenomenon I just don’t find interesting, but — and this is the big word: B-U-T-T — it’s wonderful that you’re allowed to have a butt nowadays!” Mirren told the Sunday Telegraphmagazine. “Thanks to Madame Kardashian, and before her, J-Lo. We’re also allowed to have thighs now, which is great too. It’s very positive.”
Praise for Kardashian — at least around her being an empowering symbol — is not a common refrain; criticism is heard more frequently, as with recent outrage from such folks as Bette Midler and Chloë Grace Moretz, who felt her nude-selfie “movement” had gone too far.
But Mirren, who spoke with the magazine in Cannes recently as the brand ambassador for festival partner L’Oréal Paris, was impressed with Kardashian and went on about the brazenness of the younger set.
“When I was growing up, it was thought to be unbelievably sluttish to even have a bra strap showing. Everything was about women conforming. I love shameless women. Shameless and proud!” she said. “Women were controlled by being shamed, so I love women who have claimed their own bodies: Madonna, Chrissie Hynde, Joan Jett, Bonnie Raitt. I love Pussy Riot more than anything in the world. They all raise their middle fingers to this epithet of ‘slut.’ They wear what they want to wear, behave as they want to behave.”
Mirren was chosen by L’Oréal, manager Elen Macaskill told the Telegraph, for being “brilliant, irreverent, beautiful, sexy and quintessentially British.” Still, Mirren, whose tagline is “Gold, not old,” has a demand that L’Oréal never retouch her image — and she also claims to have “absolutely no beauty regime.”
“I sunbathe — I know I shouldn’t but I love sitting in the sun,” she explained. “I drink wine and occasionally I’ll drink to excess. I eat french fries. I’ve never managed to go to the gym for longer than two months. I always forget to take my vitamins.”
Mirren continued, “I’ve done everything but I haven’t done too much of anything — I’ve never had a Coca-Cola, ever. Sometimes I use hotel body lotion as conditioner for my hair. I’m not particular. Life is too short and too precious.”
She’s humble too — and admits to still having insecurities, even after a lifetime of glamorous fame, while hanging out in Cannes. “Well, it’s terribly intimidating, you know. It’s very hard, with all these amazing women — glorious creatures — and their clothes and their makeup … Sometimes you feel wonderful and — it’s the same whether you’re 13 or 26 or 86 — sometimes you feel insecure and frightened. That can change five or six times a day.”
Still, Mirren noted, there are plenty of advantages to aging. “For me, one of the best things about getting older is finally being relieved of the whole sex-symbol tag. There is good and bad in aging. Each age you become reveals a new person you’ve become. I loved being young but I’ve enjoyed every stage in different ways.”
Rosie O’Donnell usually usually disguises her her bald spots with good styling. (Photo: Getty Images)
Rosie O’Donnell, who has tweeted and spoken out about everything from her troubled teenager to bitter breakups, is certainly not one to shy away from personal overshares. But on Thursday, the celeb crossed into new territory: her hair loss.
“Male pattern baldness … Aging is fun,” she tweeted, along with a makeup-free selfie in which she is cringing as she points out apparent bald spots on her head, which sports a messy bun.
The brave exposure prompted a flood of likes and empathetic comments — some of which offered advice (take biotin and vitamins, check your thyroid, stop pulling your hair back so much) — but many were from women who are having a similar experience. “That’s mild compared to mine,” noted one. “I feel your pain RO. That’s how my scalp looks!” came from another, as did, “I think we are about the same age and I am fighting the same battle.” And, finally: “Women losing hair doesn’t get same attention, but hair loss is not confined to men.”
That’s true, as women make up about 40 percent of American hair-loss sufferers, according to the American Hair Loss Association. So why don’t we hear more about it?
“There is still some degree of stigma attached to women’s hair loss,” Lars Skjoth, founder and head scientist behind Harklinikken, a Danish hair-loss treatment clinic that recently entered the U.S. market, tells Yahoo Beauty. “[Rosie’s] post is helpful the way it’s done. It tells a lot and is open about the subject. Because female hair loss is more common than we think.”
In fact, Skjoth says, if you were to put 100 women between the ages of 30 and 60 in a room, “more than half would have fairly visible signs of thinning,” which is “about the same” as with men. But one of the main reasons we don’t talk about it much — besides the stigma — is that it’s easier for women to style their hair in a way that hides their bald spots. That’s mainly because women’s hair loss often occurs in different patterns from men’s — sporadically, with thinning behind the hairline (so it can be hidden), and with hair first becoming limp, lifeless, and brittle. Men, on the other hand, tend to bald more neatly, at the temples and crown of the head.
And while women’s hair thinning is sometimes caused by pulling it back into very tight ponytails and braids — creating sometimes irreversible “traction alopecia” by the bleeding that’s prompted within the hair follicles — the primary cause, Skjoth explains, is hereditary.
In order to have the best chance at reversing hair loss, it’s helpful for women to pay attention to early signs. “One is that you notice you can suddenly get the elastic band around your ponytail many more times,” Skjoth says, as are signs of brittle hair, a more visible scalp, and what looks like hair breakage but could actually be “miniaturizing,” or thinning.
Individuals need to be evaluated to see if they are good candidates for treatment (take note, Rosie), including Skjoth’s, which involves the application of customized extracts to both stimulate growth and improve the texture and fullness of strands that already exist. And to stop hair loss to begin with, he suggests sticking to the following measures: Don’t pull your hair back too tightly or wear extensions; thoroughly wash your scalp every other day (not once a week!) to get rid of product buildup; and, finally, “Get enough sleep. This can reverse a lot of stress in the body.” Amen to that.
Jordana Brewster on Celebrity Beauty: ‘We Do Get a Lot of Help’
Jordana Brewster has teamed up with Zyrtec to talk about combating “allergy face.” (Photo: Zyrtec)
Jordana Brewster is having a major moment. Currently working on or in three winning projects — Season 2 of Secrets and Lies, Fox’s reboot ofLethal Weapon, and The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, in which she plays Denise, the grieving sister of slain Nicole Brown Simpson — she is also having the time of her life parenting her 2-year-old son, Julian. Meanwhile, Brewster, 35, is an allergy sufferer and just signed on to a partnership with Zyrtec to bring anti-puffy-face beauty tips to the masses just as spring pollen begins to explode. We couldn’t wait to hear (achoo!) what she had to say about that — as well as her beauty routine and meditation practice, her look on The People v. O.J. Simpson, and, because we had just heard the devastating news before our interview, her feelings on the loss of Prince.
So what’s your favorite Prince song?
I think “Little Red Corvette” is one of my favorites. I am a huge Prince fan, and it’s very shocking, because it seems like he was so young and such a force. It’s bizarre to lose him so early.
This is one of those pop-culture moments that will resonate for decades. What do you remember about the actual O.J. Simpson trial?
I remember watching the Bronco chase. I remember it being on in my parents’ room all the time, like they had CNN on and they were constantly watching it. And I remember being at high school, and they literally stopped classes and wheeled the television into the assembly room, and we all watched the verdict. And none of us could believe what it was.
In the role of Denise Brown. (Photo: FX)
What was it like working on the show with director Ryan Murphy?
It was so nice to just be able to completely trust your director 100 percent. He’s done everything, every genre, and he’s so good at everything that I just trusted him completely. He’s a force. I felt very lucky to work with him.
Tell us about your very of-that-moment beauty look in the role of Denise Brown.
Your own personal vanity has to kind of go out the window. Although my sister recently said to me, “I’m sorry, but you’re really doing the poof now — what are you doing?” [Laughing] I’m apparently now putting my hair to the side and having this giant poof that Denise had — in real life. Like, I’ve kind of gotten used to it! Whereas before I was like, “Oh my God, this is so bad.” There were inspiration pictures all over the trailer of the real people … so they were very true to how the characters looked. If Denise was wearing a scrunchie that day, we found a scrunchie. If she wore minimal makeup, we didn’t put lashes on that day. It was cool to kind of put your preferences aside and do what was best for the character. I really enjoyed that.
So what’s your own real-life beauty routine — skin, hair, makeup?
With my skin, I’ve always believed in washing every morning, every night, and being really diligent about that. I love using oils; I love using serums, as my skin gets really dry. I love getting facials. And hair? I’m a blow-dry-bar junkie — it’s really embarrassing, but I am! I wash my hair maybe two to three times a week so it doesn’t dry it out so much. I also rely on dry shampoo. Jen Atkin, who is a hairstylist I’ve worked with a lot who I love, has a new line called Ouai, and it’s really nice texturizing dry shampoo. I love makeup — I’m a makeup junkie — and my favorites are Charlotte Tilbury and Armani. It’s like an instant confidence boost to be able to add a little color to your face and make yourself feel better. The other thing I think is really important and that I’ve used for years now is the YSL Touche Éclat, add a little bit of lightness under your or nose. It works so well, and it feels so light.
With son Julian. (Photo: Instagram)
What about when you’re having a majorly rushed mom moment, with just five minutes to get ready for going out in public?
That usually happens in the car and has to be mascara and lip balm and blush — cream blush, because it’s easier to put on. I’ve been known to be pretty heavy-handed with my blush. It’s like, did you look in the mirror before you went out? Cream blush I can sometimes apply with a little more subtlety.
So let’s talk about allergy season and combating the redness and puffiness that comes along with it.
Zyrtec makes me feel better for 24 hours, and that’s really good. I take it every day. And makeup artist Jaime Greenberg, who I’ve worked with for so many years and is a good friend and who also suffers from allergies, helps me look good. The repercussions are sometimes having “allergy face,” which is puffy eyes, red nose, puffy face. Jaime gave me tips — things I never considered, that are pretty simple, like switching a waterproof mascara. Because your eyes are watery and running, so if you’re using regular mascara and eyeliner, they’re going to run. And also switching wands, which I never really thought about, but using disposable wands on your mascara in case it’s a really heavy pollen day and your wand is getting dirty. And then contouring with bronzer — I love bronzer — to make your face less puffy, and using a pop of color on your lips so that everyone’s not paying attention to the rest of your face!
Getting help from a makeup artist. (Photo: Instagram)
You’re a big meditator, right? How did you get into it, and what are your tips for staying dedicated?
I’ve been meditating for six years and I got into it because I needed stress release. I needed to quiet my mind, like everyone else. I think it’s really helpful to start with baby steps. I downloaded guided meditations, which are about five to seven minutes long and give you a little bit of help. I tried that for a couple of months and I loved how I felt. Then a friend told me about Vedic meditation, and she was like, “I do it before meetings, in my car.” It’s so possible, you just need 20 minutes twice a day, and the rules are more flexible for moms, which is great — you can just grab 10 minutes, whatever you can get. Like this morning I meditated with Julian in my arms, because that’s what I could grab.
What are some other healthy routines you stick to?
I know it’s cliché, but I love eating as close to farm-to-table as possible. I can taste the difference, especially with eggs and avocados, when I buy at the farmers’ market and it’s locally grown, versus the supermarket. I really like working out. I love running, I love hiking, and I’m old-school: I like weight lifting. I lift with [trainer] Harley Pasternak, who I’ve been working with for several years. I still want to get into yoga, but I have not. I feel like if I did get into yoga, I’d want to complement my meditation practice. Maybe I’ll just learn a couple poses!
Finally, what advice can you offer to tired, hardworking women, particularly moms, who want to do it all and look beautiful in the process?
I really respect so many women who are posting makeup-free selfies, because you know, we do get a lot of help. When I’m out there and I’m pretty on the red carpet it’s because I have hair and makeup [people]. It’s not how I’m going around in daily life. I think it’s important to be easy on yourself and know that a lot of the images out there have gotten a lot of help.
Guess Justin Bieber Didn’t Get That Memo on Dreadlocks
Justin Bieber revealed his new ’do on Sunday. (Photo: Instagram)
Not since last year’s media frenzy over the tale of Rachel Dolezal has the idea of “cultural appropriation” been so front-and-center. That time, if you recall, it centered on the controversial white NAACP chapter president and African-history professor who claimed she identified as black. This time, we have a hairstyle to thank: dreadlocks, specifically on white people, first on San Francisco University student Cory Goldstein, who was confronted about his hair by a black woman in a video that went viral last week, and now on the head of none other than Justin Bieber.
“Why,” was the only caption the pop star offered along with the first of four photos of his dreads, posted Sunday on Instagram. But the responses — more than 52,000 comments on that first pic and just as many on the most recent — were more loquacious, with folks weighing in on his new look and arguing about whether the Biebs even “deserved” dreadlocks, not a traditionally Caucasian domain.
He reportedly defended his new look backstage at the iHeartRadio Music Awards Sunday night, telling rapper Big Sean “[People say] you wanna be black and all that stuff, I’m like ‘It’s just my hair.’”
Reactions to Bieber’s Instagram pics have been all over the map. “Locks aren’t a look, they’re a lifestyle,” said one Instagram commenter, while one of many anti-Bieb tweets has announced, “I’m keeping Justin blocked until he takes out his dreads.”
Photo: Instagram
Another Instagram comment — from a white woman with dreadlocks — argued that anyone was welcome to take part, as long as they understood what they were doing. “Dreadlocks are not for only one ethnicity of people to have… But they are absolutely a cultural thing,” she noted. “No one should be hated on simply for being a white dreadhead, even if it’s Justin Bieber who I can’t stand. What matters is that you know and respect the history and meaning behind them.”
Many, of course, disagree that it’s ever okay — including the woman in the recent SFU video, who contended that dreadlocks belong to “[her] culture.”
Indeed, when Tyra Banks revealed her new dreadlocks on Instagram in March, the public response was overwhelmingly positive — unlike when Miley Cyrus unleashed her own while hosting the MTV Video Music Awards last year, and was accused of appropriating the look. The same has been said of pop stars taking on various aspects of black hip-hop culture over the years by opting for such looks as cornrows (sported by Bieber in January) and grills (hi, Madonna), as well as looks from other cultures, including henna tattoos (recently worn, in the face of some criticism, by Beyoncé) and bindis of South Asia — the latter of which recently inspired a social media movement and hashtag, #reclaimthebindi.
“The line between cultural appropriation and cultural exchange is always going to be blurred but here’s the thing: appropriation occurs when a style leads to racist generalizations or stereotypes where it originated but is deemed as high-fashion, cool, or funny when the privileged take it for themselves,” explained 16-year-old actress Amandla Stenberg in a 2015 video post (seen below, and viewed nearly 2 million times) for Hype Hair Magazine — kind of like how Zendaya was said to look like she “smells like patchouli oil or weed” when she wore dreadlocks on the red carpet last year.
It can be tricky to draw the line between cultural theft and borrowing, but it’s possible, according to Susan Scafidi, founder and academic director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law School and author of Who Owns Culture? Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law.
“My guideline for separating cultural appropriation from misappropriation comes back to three S’s: source, significance (or sacredness), and similarity,” she tells Yahoo Beauty. “Is the source culture particularly vulnerable or historically oppressed? Does the cultural product in question or its use have special significance to the source community? And is the appropriation a direct copy or just inspired by the source community?”
Dreadlocks, she continues, have religious significance in “a number of global historical and cultural contexts,” such as Ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Aztecs, and Africans (including the Masai tribesmen, of Kenya, who originated the look), as well as early Christians, Vikings, Hindu yogis, and holy men in India. But the term dreadlock, notes CNN, comes from the Rastafarian culture, which considers “the locks a sign of their African identity and a religious vow of their separation from what they call Babylon, a historically white-European imperialist structure that has oppressed blacks and other people of color since way back when, according to Migrations in History.”
Says Bertram Ashe — dreadlock wearer, University of Richmond English professor, and author of Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles — “Dreadlocks are definitely a flashpoint, no question about it.” He tells Yahoo Beauty that discussions about appropriation are vitally important but basically believes everyone gets to wear their hair as they wish. Regarding the woman in the SFU video, “The problem, is I don’t know how easy it is for her to say ‘that’s my culture’ when you talk to Rastafarians and they’re looking side-eyed at African Americans. There’s always going to be someone who feels robbed,” he says. “So I just don’t think it’s as simple as ‘That’s my culture.’”
Still, Ashe can “appreciate that people feel fantastically annoyed” by folks like Bieber wearing locks. And according to Scafidi, the long-lasting legacy of slavery has given black hairstyles particular cultural and political weight in this country. “As recently as 2014, new U.S. Army guidelines for women’s hairstyles were criticized as unduly restricting African-American servicewomen and had to be quickly revised,” she says. “Justin Bieber’s dreads or Kendall Jenner’s braids can seem less like aesthetic solidarity and more like a superficial style statement that ignores complex cultural meaning.”
That was how rapper Azealia Banks felt about white hip-hop star Iggy Azalea when Azalea stayed silent around police brutality in 2014. “I have a problem when you’re trying to say that it’s hip-hop … It’s like a cultural smudging,” she said in an interview. “All it says to white kids is, like, oh yeah, you’re great, you’re amazing, you can do whatever you put your mind to, and it says to black kids, ‘You don’t have s***. You don’t own s***, not even the s*** you created for yourself.’ And it makes me upset.”
Further, “there is no Supreme Court of Culture or Miss Manners of Misappropriation,” notes Scafidi. “Instead, in today’s world we’re having a broad conversation around culture, facilitated by social media and the Internet, which allows everyone to have a voice. Culture is fluid and evolving, and online debate can help everyone understand the community significance of particular cultural products — including hairstyle, tattoos, piercings, and even body paint and makeup — so that we can move toward social norms that respect both cultural values and personal expression.”
Happy Birthday, Gloria Steinem! 7 Reasons to Celebrate the Feminist Icon
Gloria Steinem in 1977. (Photo: Getty Images)
Gloria Steinem turns 82 on March 25, and this feminist icon knows a thing or two about the pressures of beauty — particularly the persistent, sexist belief that good looks and brilliance are mutually exclusive. Steinem has always had both, and while that combo helped her gain national attention for the advancement of her equal-rights platform, it also held her back in her quest to be taken seriously.
“Though a combination of beauty and power threatened men, it reassured women,” wrote biographer Carolyn G. Heilbrun in Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem. That perceived dichotomy followed Steinem throughout her career, as she repeatedly faced comments from male reporters about her “stunning” looks “in spite” of her feminism. (Women played into that as well, including Washington Post columnist Maxine Cheshire, who once referred to Steinem as the “miniskirted pinup girl of the intelligentsia.”)
Steinem in 2016. (Photo: Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images)
Early on, during a TV interview with two male news anchors for which she wore jeans and a leotard, she was asked, “Is there a paradox between women’s attitudes toward, you know, the fact that they don’t want to be treated as sex objects and the fact that you dress very sexily?” The line of questioning continued with, “I hope you forgive our masculine notion that you’re an absolutely stunning sex object.” To that, Steinem famously replied, “Well, I should comment on your appearance, but I don’t have the time.”
Decades of snappy comebacks followed — including, of course, when she unintentionally turned off young feminists recently, who slammed her for being “reductive” after she suggested to Bill Maher that young women were supporting Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton because they were thinking, “Where are the boys?” She later apologized.
Steinem in 1965. (Photo: MPTV Images)
It was a questionable moment, to be sure. But in the span of 40-plus years between the aforementioned TV interview and that perceived slight, Steinem achieved more than most could hope for: She founded Ms. Magazine, went on global peacekeeping missions, lobbied for pro-abortion-rights leadership, and was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2015, after many years of struggling against writer’s block, she published her memoir, My Life on the Road, sharing anecdotes from her hugely influential life. She is “the face of feminism,” as Gail Collins noted in her honorary 2014 op-ed “This Is What 80 Looks Like.”
How it looked, Collins wrote, was brilliant, powerful, and, for better or worse, beautiful — something the icon fights against to this day. “I think for her, as an individual, in one sense aging has been a relief,” Steinem’s friend Robin Morgan told Collins, “because she was so glamorized by the male world and treated for her exterior more than her interior.”
Steinem in 1972. (Photo: Getty Images)
Here are seven great reasons to honor Steinem’s whole self on this, her 82nd birthday:
1. She co-founded Ms. Magazine in 1972 — which, under her direction, became the first national publication to feature the topic of domestic violence on its cover — and is still a consulting editor of the original feminist publication. She also started the Women’s Media Center with Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan in 2005 and helped form the National Women’s Political Caucus.
2. Steinem has been a tireless mentor to younger women, working with the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College (her alma mater) to document the grassroots origins of the U.S. women’s movement and co-founding URGE (Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity) to support comprehensive sex education in schools. She was also the founding president of the Ms. Foundation for Women, a national organization that supports grassroots projects to empower women and girls.
Steinem in 1981. (Photo: Getty Images)
3. As a young writer, her essays paved the way for new ways of thinking about the world — particularly “A Bunny’s Tale,” for which she went undercover to work as a Playboy Bunny, and “If Men Could Menstruate,” which noted that, if men had their periods, “menstruation would become an enviable, worthy, masculine event.” She wrote, cheekily, “Men would brag about how long and how much.”
4. She established Take Our Daughters to Work Day (later expanded to include sons) in the summer of 1992 to address issues of self-esteem and exclusion among young girls.
5. In 1971, she was one of 300 female activists who founded the National Women’s Political Caucus, a multipartisan organization that, to this day, works to actively support, recruit, and elevate women in political office.
Steinem in 1997. (Photo: AP Images)
6. Steinem made the concept of feminism accessible to a generation of women who had grown up in the 1950s and experienced the post-World War II backlash of “women’s lib.” And while there’s been another, more contemporary backlash against the F-word (Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and Kelly Clarkson all said, early on, that they were not feminists, although they later reversed their stances, while Lady Gaga and Shailene Woodley remain distanced from the identity), there have been plenty of new young embracers, including Lena Dunham, Tavi Gevinson, Ellen Page, and Zooey Deschanel.
7. She has been open about growing up with her mentally ill mother, who was unable to take care of her and who was consistently neglected by doctors unmoved by the health needs of women. Steinem admits to her own failings here too, including the times she yelled at and was bitter toward her mother for her shortcomings. “Perhaps the worst thing about suffering is that it finally hardens the hearts of those around it,” Steinem wrote. In sharing her personal stories, she taught millions of men and women to forgive their parents — and, in turn, themselves — for being human.
