← The Nerve with Maureen Callahan
The Nerve with Maureen Callahan
Blake Lively's Marriage Drama, Meghan & Harry's Rumored Rift, and Nepo Privilege at the Met Gala
01:01:40
Maureen Callahan is joined by celebrity reporter and Royal insider Rob Shuter to dive into the latest celebrity drama, including Blake Lively's solo appearance at the Met Gala, stepping onto the red carpet within hours of settling her lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, speculation that she and Ryan Reynolds are having marriage problems, and how he was the reported driving force behind the settlement. They also slam Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and Nicole Kidman for bringing their young daughters to the Met Gala, with zero disregard for the age restriction rules, Blue Ivy's bratty behavior on the red carpet, and whispers surrounding the status of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s marriage. Then Maureen reads through a stack of Troublemaker feedback on some of the The Nerve's cultural offenders who attended the Met Gala, Russell Brand's attempt to mend his reputation in the media, chilling parallels between one of Janet Jackson's childhood acting roles and her real life, Anna Wintour's dictatorship, ...
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- [00:04]
A
If you're listening, this is a Pomeranian making French toast. Oh, my God. Pouring a glass of milk, noshing on the toast. Nothing makes me happier. Nothing makes me happier. Foreign. Hello, and welcome to the Nerve at Night. I am your host, Maureen Callahan. And yes, it's another cold open palms, pearls and prosecutions hot on the heels of our Met Gala live stream, which was so much fun. And Brian Noem, in his big boobs, really stole the show from Lena Dunham, who was wearing a tent that we ordered off of. I forget where, but it was a. It was a major haul. We. Marlena wouldn't do it. She wouldn't order anything on Amazon. She's worried about the algorithm. But go and look at our livestream if you haven't, because it is chock full of visual references curated just for you guys. Celebrity reporter Rob Shooter is back. We have headlines upon headlines. Blake Lively settles her lawsuit in a shock move that no one saw coming. And then within two hours, she materializes on the red carpet or the green carpet, whatever that thing was at the Met Gala. And what does she do? She snaps at her minions. I mean, you can't even like. It's too good. It's too good. We've got that. We've got other really bad behavior on that red carpet. Rob and I are going to talk about this thing as what it is. It's the convention for the worst people in the world. Okay. And then we have, like, breaking exclusive stuff on the state of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's marriage. And. And they're basically their brand ambassadors and nothing more at this point. They're. I mean, Rob's got. He's really spilling some tea. Really spilling some tea. And then we've got lots of your incredible feedback. Really smart stuff we're all going to get into together. We've got a guest coming up. We're going to ask you guys if. If you have any specific questions regarding Mother's Day, which is coming up. The Nerve is going to cover Mother's Day in a different way. And Meg Josephson, the incredible author of Are youe Mad At Me? Is going to come back to answer your questions. We'll explain more later in the show. And again, we will have. There are two more days to enter the competition for one of five signed copies of Rob's book. It started with a whisper. We've got more details on that later in the show as well. Troublemakers, are you ready? Are you ready? Let's go. A lot of skin care companies out there are purporting to sell us wholesome natural products. The trouble is that most of the big names out there are owned by mega corporations and private equity firms that prioritize profit over quality. Fortunately, one company is doing things differently and that is Van Man. They, they started the tallow trend a few years back with their grass fed tallow moisturizers and they have been crushing it ever since. Tallow makes for a great moisturizer because the fatty acids are nearly identical to the oils in our own skin so our bodies actually recognize it. One use and you are going to feel the difference. Plus, no chemicals, no filler and a little product goes a long way. So it's economical too. Tallow Balm isn't just a moisturizer. It can replace your night cream, your wrinkle cream, even Neosporin and diaper balm. It's powerful enough to heal the skin, yet safe enough to spread on your toast. These are real ingredients. If you are ready to ditch the corporate chemicals, go to Vanman Shop Maureen and use code Maureen for 15% off your first order. That's Maureen for 15% off your 1st order. Van Man. Real ingredients. No exceptions. Joining us now, none other than celebrity reporter extraordinaire Rob Shooter, who we were all just with on Monday night for the Met Slash Pet gala Nerve livestream stream. And Rob, you know, it's kind of, it's still a little bit feeling like the morning after, I think for both of us because I noticed on Tuesday you posted like one new item. I was like, even Rob, Even Rob was like, I need an app. If you haven't, if you haven't, go check out Said Substack. Rob's naughty but nice. He has a ton of exclusives. Juicy, incredible intel you're going to see nowhere else. Also, go and get a copy of Rob's new novel. It started with a whisper. And on Friday we are going to announce the winners of the Nerves giveaway contest for one of five signed copies by the author himself. There is still a little bit of time. Enter. We will tell you at the later in the show. Rob, welcome back. How are you feeling, my friend?
- [05:58]
B
Great. Really lovely. It was such a fun night. I didn't even feel like we were, we were on tv. We were broadcasting. I felt like there was four of us at a bar having a drink, giggling and laughing. I left there and it was the best Met Ball night I've ever had and I've been to two of these balls. I had more fun with you and everybody and we made a little bit of news. I sent you a naughty text. An editor in chief of a very fancy magazine was watching and wants to get a drink with the two of us. So we'll do that next week.
- [06:29]
A
I cannot wait. You are such a connector. And so we have to talk about the destroyers who showed up at the Met gala, because to me, it's almost feeling okay. So the big headline, which broke right before our livestream aired, Blake Lively settled her lawsuit against Justin Baldoni two weeks before this thing was about to go to court. It was due to. The trial was due to begin on May 18th in Lower Manhattan. Now, we were all, you know, as we were sort of, like, fizzing around, and, you know, before the show, we were all debate. Someone said, I bet you Blake shows up at the Met Ball. And I was like, there's no way. And I think you were in that camp, too. There's no way. And it wasn't until the troublemakers in the livestream started going, hey, Maureen, Blake Lively's there. Oh, my God, look alive. I was like, I can't believe this. We couldn't believe it. What do you know, Rob?
- [07:30]
B
Yeah, it was stunning. So, first of all, what my reporting is, is that Ryan Reynolds was behind this settlement. We know. We've reported it on your show. He's been pressuring her, pushing her, asking her, maybe some would say begging her to settle this for months. It became a real personal, really vindictive, real battle where Blake was no longer looking at the facts or listening to advice. She just was really angry. And I think we've all been in a position like that where we want to settle a score and we want to score a point, and it's actually going to do us a lot of damage. So finally, Ryan got through to her. I'm told the tipping point was when Blake's lawyers and Ryan sat her down and said you were not going to win. The 10 most important charges have been thrown out. All the sexual harassment charges have been thrown out. And now this case is a very, very weak case. And if you go to court and you lose, it's just another loss. Haven't you lost enough already? You've lost your reputation, your best friend, Taylor Swift. Even her marriage is a little rocky. She doesn't want to lose that. And now you're going to lose a court case. Better to just get out. And there's bombshell reporting today in the Daily Mail, but no money exchanged hands. Remember, she wanted $300 million. Now we find out that she settled this for nothing. Neither one of Them have apologized. That's interesting. I always like to read the wording of the statements because often that is part of the settlement. No apology, no apology. They both want to respect women in the workplace and have a peaceful future. But this has cost millions in legal fees, no money to Blake and ultimately potentially destroyed her career.
- [09:11]
A
Do you see Justin suing Blake for attorneys fees?
- [09:16]
B
Good question. I think that might have already happened. The fact that we don't know this. I've been hitting the phones all day. Nobody can tell me that. And so I think that if Blake, if Blake did not have to pay his fees, should be bragging about that. Should be bragging to her friends, should be telling her mates like, this cost him millions of dollars, so screw him. I taught him a lesson. I'm not hearing that, so I'm hearing nothing. So this is conjecture here. I don't have any reporting on that, but I'm trying to get it. And maybe he will, or maybe he already has. Maybe he. Because she's in such a weak position at the moment, this case was falling apart before our eyes. The fact she settled it tells me that she knows she wasn't going to win. And so maybe part of his deal, because he has an opinion in this too, maybe he agreed to settle it if she paid those fees. We don't know that yet, but we will eventually.
- [10:10]
A
Yeah. I mean, Ryan and Blake have so much more money.
- [10:13]
B
Yeah, they have.
- [10:14]
A
They have hundreds of millions of dollars. And Justin Baldoni does not.
- [10:18]
B
He does. What he does have, though, is he does have a billionaire friend who runs his production company. And so when people were, how did this movie get made? Where's the money from? He has a really good friend who's a major investor in his production company. And I think that that that's the person that probably paid these legal bills.
- [10:36]
A
So, Rob, let's talk a bit about the state of the Reynolds lively marriage. Because I've been reading reports that it is. It has been very rocky of late and that this, them, those two being at loggerheads, Ryan, psycho arsonist Ryan, as he's known here at the Nerve, begging her to sue, to, to. To drop this, to settle and to make peace. So it says a lot when somebody who is. Is quite aggressive in many ways. I think just my opinion says we're going to be pragmatic. Drop it. This is costing us reputationally. There is no way any director hires Blake Lively for anything. If she did it to this guy, she'll do it to you. Make no mistake. Ryan's got his own public relations battles to be fighting right now, do they? How does this marriage survive this?
- [11:29]
B
It's rough. It's rough. This would be, a source told me, the trickiest, the most dangerous part of their married life together. This has put them through hell and back, let's be honest. She's put them through hell and back. And I think she thought this was going to be a slam dunk. She was going to win this really easily. I thought she was going to make a lot of money. And the opposite has happened. Blake tried to sue Justin to prove that she was not a bully. She said there was a smear campaign against her. And in the process of suing him, what did she confirm? She confirmed that she was a bully. She went after journalists, she went after a ton of bloggers. Her behavior in this has been absolutely mind, mind bending. And Ryan went along with it until he couldn't anymore. And I'm told that point happened when he realized this wasn't just affecting her anymore. It wasn't just tarnishing her career, her reputation, it was tarnishing his as well. And they had to get out of this. And she knows this. She did not want to settle this. He did tell me. Any marriage that can, can, can survive, that can negotiate something so fundamentally different, there is going to be scars from what has happened over the last year. And even if they survive it, and I hope they do, I do, if they survive this, I think that there's going to be damage there. And we know neither one of them are really good at dealing with this stuff. And so I would predict over the next six months or so, keep a close eye on this marriage.
- [13:00]
A
I agree. And, you know, it's not just this sort of ambient damage done to Ryan Reynolds, his reputation. It's far more substantial than that. Because when you think of what, what came out in discovery, those emails that we read on the air at the Nerve, written by Ryan, which were so embarrassing and so, like, humiliating and the star fuckery he was involved in. And when we saw the emails and texts among Blake and Ryan and say, like a Matt Damon and his wife, who was also his producing partner, talking about how they're gonna flush Justin Baldoni right out of Hollywood, you know, you know, it's like these people, they, their, their reputations are just done. And we were talking last night, I think, before the show about this report, that Ryan is seeking to minimize his character of Deadpool in the next film, which I interpret that as. No, I think the studio is telling Ryan we need to minimize you, if not erase you, because you are. You're going to be such box office poison.
- [14:04]
B
Yeah. I've never ever met an actor and I've been doing this for 30 years. I've never met an actor in 30 years said, you know what? I want a smaller part. That's what I want. Not one actor has ever said, I don't want as many lives. I don't want to be on camera as much. The Real Housewives don't do this. The actors don't do this. They live for this. And so there's no truth to that at all. This is now a studio who is ready to move on with this franchise. It's still a very powerful franchise. They don't care. Studios don't care about actors. They care about money. And Ryan Reynolds at the minute is not a safe bet. It's a bet every time you produce a movie, every time you release a movie. You might as well be in Vegas at the craps table. It is a gamble and you never know. So you want to stack the deck. You want to make sure you've got every possible chance to win this. And I know that Ryan at the moment is not a winner. He's worse than that. He's not neutral, he's a detrimental. He's somebody that studios should be very, very worried about. They'll get Tom Holland, they'll get a new young, fresh face. They'll reboot the franchise. Maybe Ryan will write the script. He'll be behind the scenes. He probably will collect some of the money too. But God, are the days of Ryan opening blockbuster movies. No. No movie studio is going to do that. At least in the foreseeable future.
- [15:24]
A
Thank God. This is exactly why the Nerve exists. I like to see bad actors literal and figuratively. The literal and figurative bad actors flushed out of our lives. Just flushed out. And speaking of you know who show we were talking about last night, the number of female celebrities who showed up at the Met gala without their significant others. Zoe Kravitz without Harry Styles. There were any number of them. But what struck me was this. Must have been later in the evening, Brian's one time bff, Hugh Jackman, showed up at the Met gala with Sutton Foster, who he left his, his wife of many, many years for his wife who gave up her acting career. It was often said back in Australia, she was the truly gifted one. Yeah, she gave up her career to help Q get his, his loft. And so they were there together. But you know, and they were once like Hugh Jackman was always seen With Ryan and Blake always at Taylor Swift shows, at Kansas City Chiefs games, and Blake shows up alone. And we're going to take a look at this reel, which is incredible from the Met Gala steps, where Blake is attempting to pose in a dress that is so voluminous, a train that just goes on and on forever. What I called her territorially pissing all over the Met Gala and the culture, saying, you don't like me? Too bad. Not only am I not going anywhere, I'm going to take up all this stuff, space. And she's like, here we see her. She's like, remonstrating the handlers who are. It's a very Megan Markle move. Oh, you're trying to help me. Well, you're doing it wrong. You're doing it wrong, you know? And I was also looking at commenters online, Rob saying, oh, my God, even the photographers aren't taking her photo. Nobody's in her vicinity. Everybody fucking hates her.
- [17:17]
B
She's just awful. She's over, like, told this story before. I'll tell it again. Whenever there's a celebrity interview or a red carpet, at least in my office, I try to spread it around the staff, the young staff, all the staff love talking to celebrities. That's part of the reason we're in this business. They all raise their hands, and we sort of have to ration it up so everybody gets their fair chance. The one person that nobody wants to interview, nobody raises their hand when I say, I've got a press pass for the Blake Lively new movie. Nobody wants to go. She's that mean to reporters. She just isn't nice. Remember, she has settled the lawsuit just a few hours ago, and she's turning up at the set on the steps of the Met. To reset. To reset. This is a fresh beginning for Blake. And what does she do? Snap at an assistant. She doesn't stop at Beyonce or Madonna or a worthy, worthy opponent. She snaps at an assistant. This is like snapping at a waiter. Shame on you. Once again, she proved in front of the world's press this wasn't in a Starbucks. This wasn't in a private gym. This is literally on the steps of the Met, with every reporter in New York and maybe around the world on those steps. And she was so confident, so arrogant in her meanness, that she snapped at them. I would have at least waited till I got inside to have a few words. No, she doesn't care. Within hours, she showed us once again who she really is.
- [18:41]
A
You know, Rob, it really begs the question if this is how she behaves in public with the world's eyes on this stage. How do you think she behaves in private?
- [18:50]
B
Oh, she must be a terror.
- [18:52]
A
She's one of the worst people I think we've seen in public life in a very long time. I really do. And it really. You know, one of the reasons many of us at the Nerve on Monday night were convinced she wouldn't show up is because of the weeks and months of planning it takes to pull together a look for the Met Gala. The fittings, the negotiations, the styling, the scheduling. And so it leads me to believe that she knew that this. This settlement was obviously as long in the making, that she had reconciled herself to this, you know, over several weeks, that she waited hours before the Met Gala to announce this on purpose so that she would then steal the headlines at the, you know, the Met Gala. It's basically supposed. It was. She stole it from. Okay, if you want to talk about a conglomeration of the worst people in the world, Jeff Bezos. We played the 911 call from the Amazon warehouse. You know, a worker, an Amazon worker, saying somebody just dropped dead at the loading dock. An Amazon worker. And the workers being allegedly reportedly told to work around the dead body. Okay. The EMS crew would come and take that away. So. Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, Anna Wintour, Blake Lively. I mean, the only truly terrible person, Hugh Jackman. It's like the worst people. It's a convention for the worst people in the world.
- [20:17]
B
It absolutely is worried. My mouth was on the job, on the floor. But I think you make a really valid point in a really important point. People don't know this. And I understand why. Why they don't. And I probably didn't understand it until I went through the process, too. To get ready for the Met takes weeks, if not months of preparation. The gown that she had had to be pulled by the designers, which meant they couldn't give that dress to anybody else, which is a huge loss of opportunity, of publicity. So to pull a dress and then to not wear it is a really shitty thing to do to a designer. So she pulled a dress, hair and makeup. Tried booking a hair and makeup person in New York that night. They're all booked. They're all booked. Now. A lot of the hair and makeup people do three or four stars, and normally that's fine because Julia Roberts is not at the same premiere as Jennifer and blah, blah, blah. So they had to. But tonight, last night, Monday night, was all bets off. Everybody had to be done at the same time on the Same night at the same city, going to the same event. So she booked hair and makeup, she booked that huge van she arrived in, she booked security, she booked that dress. This was months and months and months of planning, which goes to show you how manipulative all this is. Don't feel sorry for poor Blake. Don't feel sorry for Blake having to do a last minute decision here. This is all planned out. And then she planned to turn up at the Met, which really, let's be honest now, it's not a ball, it's a photo op. People go up the stairs and they leave. The Met ball is the 20 steps, the 40 steps from the pavement to the front door. Then it's over. We saw so many celebrities. I had my reporters outside the hotels last night at 8, 9 o'. Clock. Celebrities were coming back to the hotel to get changed for the after party. Some celebrities had left before Rihanna even arrived. And so it's a very early night. Anna Winter starts on those steps, 4:35 o'. Clock. And so by the time 8 o', clock, 9 o' clock comes, it's over. A lot of celebrities have left. The year that I went, lots of celebrities left and it was crushed at first in the, in the cocktail part. And as the night goes on, you see them leave because they're more interested now in getting dressed up in something even, even more sexy to wear to Beyonce's party. And so this was all planned, I'm told. Blake did not spend very long in the actual ball. She wasn't there to be, to be a princess at a ball. She was there to walk up those steps because it was a press up. That's all this is now. It's not a ball, it's not a gala, it's a press opportunity.
- [22:58]
A
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- [26:36]
B
It's shocking, isn't it? The video is really amazing. So they arrive together as a family. It's a beautiful family shot. She's there a little late though. I was told that Anna was a little, little peeved by this because if you host the ball, you're meant to get there early. Once again, Anna got there about 4:30. Beyonce did not rock up till 8:30. And by then the whole introduction line, the whole receiving line had disappeared. But she arrived with her daughter, with her husband. They wanted to pose as a family. Except one of them was wearing sunglasses. And it wasn't the two stars, it was the daughter, the 14 year old daughter. And so I noticed at first. Beyonce's longtime publicist, Yvette Flip Round. I saw it in the video and was doing this. Take the glasses off. She didn't listen to Yvette. Why would she listen to a publicist? Then her dad told her to take her glasses off. Her sunglasses didn't listen. Then the designer told her to take the sunglasses.
- [27:32]
A
Stop it. The designer did it.
- [27:34]
B
She didn't do it. Let me explain why this is important. It sounds trivial. I'd listen to what my mom and dad said. I'm only there because I'm a mom and dad. Nobody invited you, Blue Ivy. Your mom and dad were invited. But the other reason that this is so important is photographs with sunglasses on do not sell. Editors writers will not select pictures with sunglasses on. If you want to be on the COVID of the Post the next day, if you want to be on the COVID of the Daily Mail the next day, you can't be wearing your sunglasses. That's why Anna takes her sunglasses off for certain pictures. When she doesn't want to be photographed, she puts her sunglasses back on. It just doesn't sell. As a reader, we need to connect with someone's eyes in order for us to spend those two, $3, $6 to buy that magazine. So Beyonce was there because she wanted a picture taken. She was getting dressed for four or five hours. This was not a moment where Beyonce was low key. She turned up to look like Beyonce. She looks fantastic. And now that picture is going to be more difficult to sell because her daughter refused to take off her sunglasses.
- [28:42]
A
Well, they're building that monster. You know, that's what happens when you take your kid to award shows and you're just trying to make them famous from, from the moment they're born. I mean, honestly, they set the table. Remember when she, she gave birth? I'll never forget that interview where she was like six months, seven months pregnant and sat down and it like, I've never seen a pregnant belly cave in like that. But they set that table when they, they, they rented out the entire floor of Sloan Kettering, whatever hospital was uptown in Manhattan for Beyonce to give birth. They call it the Beyonce floor to this day. And not in a, not in A way that's like fuck them. But Rob, why do we never see their son? Sir? Carter, why are we always seeing Blue Ivy and we never see sir? It's very big in Markle and Harry. Right? We always see Lily and never Archie.
- [29:31]
B
Yeah. They've made a decision. This is not by accident. They can choose. You know, like Beyonce wants an extra ticket to bring her son or an extra ticket to bring her mom. She'll get an extra ticket. She didn't want one. This is not like you and me and we're like, please, can I bring a plus one? Beyonce can bring as many people as she wants. They chose not to. I'd like to believe that the son and we know so little about him. So this is just, just a guest. Is more private and isn't comfortable in these moments. Let's also be clear too. The. This ball is out there. When I went, I saw a lot of almost naked people inside. People are not behaving that well. They're drinking, some are smoking around all that million dollars worth of art. We've seen the pictures. Yeah. You're seeing stuff that I would not expose a 14 year old to if I was.
- [30:17]
A
Sex in the bathrooms.
- [30:18]
B
They're hooking up. They are. This is like going to a nightclub at four in the afternoon. At five. This is like going to the Limelight at two in the morning. It is debauchery in there. People are there to get attention. If you put together some of the sexiest people in the world who are all drinking and having a good time, stuff happens in there. And I think that's. They're like this.
- [30:40]
A
They're like this shy of a glory hole at the Met Gala. You know what I mean? There's no reason a 14 year old girl should be in there only to
- [30:50]
B
go go in the day to see the art. If you want to be at the Met. The only way a 14 year old should be at the Met is on a guided tour, which are great and free. Go and do a guided tour of the Met. Learn something about the art. God forbid Beyonce and Jay should take their daughter to the Met this weekend to see the Costume Institute. A lot of celebrities don't even get to see the Costume Institute. They walk up that step and they get a drink or they walk out of the back end and to arrive that late. What are the reasons that you should get there early? Is that you are welcome to walk through the galleries, go and have a look at this incredible art, these incredible costumes. They play this sort of pissing game Celebrities do. I've seen it a lot where the last celebrity to arrive is the biggest star. I've been in limos with celebrities where if the carpets too full, we drive around the block. We'll be back in a minute. I once saw Jennifer Aniston. I think it was at the Golden Globes. And she arrived so late. The door was this close to being shut in her face. And it was her own fault. They play this game. So Rihanna ultimately was the latest to arrive about 9:30. But Beyonce got there pretty late.
- [32:00]
A
They got there so late that it. It almost feels irrelevant. It's so over. And it's like, what do you. And it also is just again, indicative of how little power Anna wields anymore. There was a time when you would be. Even a Beyonce would be terrified or Rihanna to piss off Anna. I got to get to another story about Harry and Meghan because again, Meghan was. It's a worst person in the world convention. And she was not invited. She was. Too bad. Too bad for the world. Inside. This is a Radar exclusive. Inside Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's most explosive fight yet and how their kids are caught in the middle of the. The fight is allegedly over Megan's attempts to continue to use the children for publicity. And we just saw her a day or so ago boarding a private plane, I believe. But she was flying alone to Chicago for the first communion of one of her God children. And I thought that was very significant.
- [33:12]
B
I. I can even push that reporting even further. Radar did an incredible job. I love the folks over there at Radar. What I'm told is they're pretty much now living separate lives. He has his friends. They pretty much now are living. They. They don't share anything in common. They don't really have any common interests apart from the Sussex brand. And he's Mr. Mom. He's. He's with the kids a lot. She is too. But I'm told now that their interests were always. They were never aligned, but they tried to figure out things that they could do together. And now that all those business projects have broken up, they have separate friends. He has no friends. And so she went by herself. It's such a weird thing, isn't it? This could have been a family weekend away, or they could have got a nanny and Harry and Meghan could have had a romantic weekend in Chicago. It's a great city. But no, she. She went by herself. And that's not because they couldn't afford a babysitter. Often when my mom and dad traveled Separately, it's because they couldn't afford someone to look after the brat that I was. But they can afford people. I'm told now their lives are pretty much non existent together.
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If this is the same God child, I have it on. I have impeccable sourcing that when this godchild was christened about seven years ago, that's about the length of time Harry and Meghan went together and spent the entire time going out to dinner with this couple. And you know, they were in there for the whole weekend. It was people at this level of wealth. It's not just a first communion. It's like days of festivities. It's days of cell. Right. So when you say they're not sharing anything, Rob, my last question to you is that always reads as code to me as like they're living separate lives, they don't share anything in common anymore. That always reads as code to me. And they don't share a bedroom anymore.
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That's. I think you're going in the right place. I don't have that reporting, but from what I hear is they, they live such separate lives. And Meghan still has this burning ambition to be around rich people. She'll jump on a plane if you're rich enough, if you are famous enough, she'll make an effort. He's given up. He doesn't want to do this anymore. He's a goddamn prince in his mind. And he does not think he should be jumping. People should be coming to him, not him going to them. And so I hear that this is now pretty much a marriage in name only.
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Rob impeccable, impeccable reporting as ever, my friend. I got a double dose of Rob Shooter. We all got a double dose of Rob Shooter this week. And hang on to that YSL velvet tuxedo bow that you wore the other night because it's going in the Smithsonian. When the nerve gets its wing, your tuxedo bow is going in the Smithsonian. We will see you soon, my friend.
- [36:04]
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Take care. Bye bye.
- [36:08]
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Coming up, troublemaker feedback. We have a tease for our Friday show. We want you guys to write in. We have a really great guest coming up. Familiar to you, loved by you and our final. Our final, final installment of how to enter the competition to win one of Rob's signed editions. A signed first edition of it started with a whisper. We will be back in a minute. If you are One of the 30% of Americans who wake up with a sore jaw, frequent headaches and increased tooth sensitivity from grinding your teeth at night, consider giving Remy a try Their custom night guards are clinically tested and FDA cleared to prevent teeth grinding, to reduce jaw tension and facial muscle strain, and to improve sleep quality. Here is what is so great about Remy. Their impression kit arrives at your door. You apply two molds to your teeth. It takes about 10 minutes for those to set. Then you just mail it back and two weeks later your custom guard will arrive at your door. It is that simple. Best of all, Remy offers the same quality night guard you would get from your dentist, but it costs 80% less. Protect your teeth with Remy by using Code nerve to get 50% off your new night guard with Remy Club. Subscribe and save. That's 50% off at shop r e m I.com nervous with code nerve and thank you to Remy for sponsoring this episode. We are back now, before we get in to all of your incredible feedback, and we are hearing just really strong stuff about our Russell Brand segment, our Michael Jackson segments, and the Met Gala livestream. But coming up, before we know it, this weekend is Mother's Day. And it got me to thinking about the other side of Mother's Day, which is that it's not always a happy day for children, whether small adolescent, adult children of difficult mothers. And I thought it would be interesting if we asked Meg Josephson, who wrote an incredible book called Are youe Mad at Me? And she was one of the Nerve's earliest guests. She's amazing. If she would come on the show on Friday and answer questions that troublemakers have about dealing with their mothers or mothers in law on Mother's Day or how they deal with not really, you know, sort of there's a thing where you can sort of love your mom, but maybe you don't always like your mom or maybe you feel that like nothing you do is enough for your mom on Mother's Day. And I think it's a worthwhile segment because I never, ever, ever see this talked about in the culture. Instead, we get pablum like on the Today show and, you know, mental midgets like Chanel Jones going, everybody loves our. We all love our moms. Like, no, not everybody loves their moms. You know, some have really terrible moms. And I thought of this because I was reading something, I think it was a woman who wrote into an advice column and she said something like, you know, my mother has been hypercritical of me all of my life, and the last thing I really wanna do on Mother's Day is, like, see her. I think I just want to stay home and, like, take care of myself and Just do nothing. And I thought, wow, like, we don't really talk about this. It feels like a third rail. So if you are among that cohort, please email me or email the Nerve Show. Send in your questions or, you know, maybe this is a difficult Mother's Day for you because it's your first Mother's Day without your beloved mother. You know, maybe you had a great mother and you're struggling this year. Whatever it is, email me maureenvilmakeremedia.com or the nerve show@devil may care media.com I think that's right. Or you can DM me. Okay, now we're going to get into your feedback. Maureen, this is. We're going to run this photo full screen. I missed this. This is from troublemaker Natalie, a frequent writer, to the Nerve. You will notice this is again at the at the Met Gala. Chloe Mal is supposed to be the new Head bitch in charge. And Anna Wintour and Nicole Kidman are basically saying, not so, sister. She is in there. Okay, look at this. This is the nerves version of like the Last Supper, okay? It's an automatic nominee. Nerve Awards 2026, left to right, Nicole Kidman dressed in Chanel, looking stunning. In the back, Chloe Mal with her hands clasped as almost as if in prayer. Boxed out in between Nicole and Lauren Sanchez Bezos, her bought and paid for rack on display. And then next to her, a few steps behind Lauren, that's the real Head Bitch in Charge. Make no mistake, it's Lauren Sanchez Bezos is Anna Wintour, but it is Chloe who is in the back. It's what, Chloe? You know it. Just pick up your self respect and leave. Leave Vogue. Okay. Anna is putting you through a humiliation ritual for the ages and it's not ending anytime soon. Okay? Hi, Maureen. I just watched the parade of circus acts enter what used to be the epitome of fashion and elegance. The Met Gala, the theme was Fashion as art, which is like just a bullshit theme. But this troublemaker says art always reflects the culture of the times. True. Need I say more? Looking at these people tells me that we are in big trouble. Listen, stay. Hang with us over at the Nerve, okay? We're not. As long as the Nerve is here to push back. I think we're going to be okay. I think we're going to be okay. This is another one about the live stream. We heard really lovely positive feedback from you guys about the live stream, which was so gratifying because we had so much fun putting it together and it was just a blast. And we're so happy that you enjoyed it as much as we did. Did Troublemaker Beth goes on to say, I actually wasn't surprised to see Blake Lively there. When I heard on Monday that the lawsuit was settled, I knew she would show up. I believe that she and Anna Wintour are just mean girls in a pod. Birds of a feather, two sides of the same coin. I think you are absolutely right, Anna. By being a fashion dictator who made Vogue into something that mattered when it really didn't matter to most people, Blake married a man to elevate herself. This is just this troublemaker's opinion. And becoming friends with Taylor Swift to again elevate herself. This tracks. This tracks. I think in the end, just like her husband. Again, just this troublemaker's opinion. Blake has no shame. And it should have surprised no one that she showed up acting like she is America's sweetheart. I truly think she believes she is important to the culture and that we will all just forgive her because she knows how to dress on a red carpet. It's not happening. Okay. As a troublemaker, I am no fan of the Met gala, but just my opinion, Paul Anthony Kelly was the best looking man on the red carpet. I wholeheartedly agree. This guy has it. His old school Hollywood masculinity, the kind of man they don't make anymore. This guy should send the likes of, you know, Jacob Elordi running the other direction. Okay. Dear Maureen, in response to our deep dive on Russell Brand supposed to transformation into a Christian, I have to say I couldn't agree more. This is Troublemaker N. I'm gonna keep you anonymous because you are divulging some personal things here that you are, I think are very, very relevant and very, very moving. As a devout Christian, this Troublemaker writes, I am personally offended by Russell Brand's manipulation and degradation of my faith. Just this troublemaker's opinion. He is an expert at obfuscation and deliberately communicates in an unclear, manic fashion with often confusing ideas and unnecessary wording. That is deliberate, I believe. I absolutely believe it. So that. No. So you can't like pin this guy to the wall. And I'm just going to say I heard from many of you, many of you in London who said, listen, we all knew about this guy. There was a major whisper network. Everybody in media knew this guy. Stay away from him. I've heard the same thing in la. Just saying, you know, just, just saying, not saying it's true, but I am saying I have heard from many of you who have said there was a. There you know, it was like just a no go zone, no fly zone. The giant cross Russell wears around his neck reminds me of those who sit in the front pew and how they may be the ones furthest from God. Jesus himself cautioned his followers to look beyond appearances, to discern true character in the verse, beware false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. And whether you believe in Jesus Christ himself as either the Son of God or historical figure or a prophet or the Bible is just literature. I mean, I love those lines. I love those lines. As discussed, I'm agnostic, but I love those lines. On a personal note, I am suffering with chronic neuropathic pain in my body that is debilitating and agonizing on a daily basis. I am so sorry, Troublemaker, and so glad that you are hanging with us. Over at the Nerve, she continues, My eyes fill with tears as I write this. I climb, cling to the Bible and paraphrase verses over and over to comfort me. The Bible and my faith have been a lifeline, a headrest, an overflowing well, not a golden calf. Dear Maureen and the whole Nerve family, this email stopped me in my tracks because I remember this. I think the first time Gen Xers in particular were introduced to Janet Jackson really, really was when she was a child actress and she was on the Norman Lear sitcom Good Times, about a black family in the projects. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant show. Janet came on well into the series run playing a character named Penny. If memory serves, this troublemaker writes, neighbor Wilona adopts Penny after it's discovered that Port, poor little Penny is, wait for it, an abused child. This goes back to our conversation on Last week's Nerve about the abuse that reportedly all of the Jackson children suffered at the hands of the monster that was Joe Jackson. This Troublemaker continues. There are disturbing scenes of little Janet Jackson bruised up during the first episode. Excuse me introducing Penny to the plot. This is. I'm gonna warn you, this is a little bit graphic if just be aware. There is even an envelope pushing scene. I think I blacked this out, but now that you're saying it, this sounds all too familiar. An envelope pushing scene of Penny's mother burning her with an iron or forcing her hand on the stove. I just remember her being burned by her mother. Isn't it a shame that mega producers such as Norman Lear didn't have the fortitude to really investigate what was happening to Janet Jackson in real life? Poor little Janet is being directed on stage with three cameras pointing at her as she acts as a little girl being abused by a parent. While she truly didn't need any coaching in this department, reportedly, allegedly our culture would be a lot healthier if we were to stop worshiping the rich and famous and use the same metrics of decency on them as we used to judge our fellow plebes. P.S. why has Janet been so silent? I think that's a very loaded question for another time. Wonderful email. Thank you. Troublemaker wow. Hello Maureen. Troublemaker Joyce here. I am so excited to receive my first substack email from you. We're so excited you have subscribed Joyce. She is happy that we recommended the movie Between Friends, which actually came to us via another troublemaker. But I did recall seeing it as a teenager. It stirred up a memory of another TV movie. I love this chapter of Elizabeth Taylor's life when she was doing TV movies. Elizabeth Taylor as Luella Parsons and Jane Alexander as Hedda Hopper, the dreaded gossip columnist who could make or break a career in old Hollywood. The movie is called Malice in Wonderland. It is going on my list. Oh my God, I love it. Troublemaker Joyce, thank you. Okay, I got several emails about this and a fair amount of comments on the YouTube channel and it was a pushback from my observation that the art in Michael Jackson's home during the 1993 live primetime interview he did with Oprah Winfrey was very telling as to his predilections and interests vis a vis young boys. And I'm gonna read this sort of gets to it because I didn't recognize a famous statue that was over Oprah's shoulder. But I'm going to push back on these pushbacks. Okay. As a member of a die hard Pennsylvania wrestling family, I have a special fondness for this particular statue. The Wrestlers. That's the name of the statue my Irish Catholic mother who raised three grapplers love that had this statue on our coffee table. It depicts Greek wrestlers of the original Olympic Games. Anyone who appreciates the sport sees the statue as a depiction of a cross body ride, crossbody ride used in folk style wrestling. If only I could become the gatekeeper for this beautiful work so that it does not become sexualized. I guess I wasn't surprised to see it in Jackson's home. Just heartbroken for the sin of sexualizing my beloved wrestlers into the wood chipper with the late Michael Jackson. I mean, he's not with us anymore, so he can't really go into the wood chipper. It's just a logical problem. But at Troublemaker C I have got to say, I feel like, you know, there is something extremely sexual about wrestling. I'm sorry. It's like kind of homoerotic. Mo bros don't come at me. We can talk about it with Bill from Brooklyn on a later show. He's coming back very soon because there's much in the news cycle to discuss with him. But I heard this from many people who were like, listen, it's a statue. It's wrestling. First of all, the figure on top looks far larger than the figure on bottom. I think it's a man on top of a teenage boy at best. And secondly, in ancient Greece, it was an accepted practice, much as in ancient Rome. Rome? Why did I say Rome? In ancient Rome, where men and having teenage boys sexually was, you know, a societal. It was fine, you know, I mean, they had their. It was like a class thing. They had to be of a certain class or, you know, but like, so I'm not pulling this out of thin air, you know, I'm not. Okay. Oh, I love this. Okay. This is troublemaker Kate from Florida. I wanted to share a quick win from my classroom. Kate works with high school students with special needs across a range of ability levels. Many are in. I love this. Many are in life skills programs, others focusing on social, pragmatic language. By the time they reach high school, they are practiced. You know, I think this should be across the board part of a curriculum. I really, really do. They've practiced just about every facial expression, activity, idiom, and metaphor out there. This year, Kate says she was looking for something fresh to help with the lesson plan. She has a group of five juniors and seniors preparing for the workforce, including a few interested in corporate environments. In January, Kate started using the nerves body language segments with them. And her students love them. They even asked to watch, quote unquote, the British guy on the nerve. Our beloved Mark Bowden to learn about micro expressions. Here's the highlight of my year. One of 11th grade six student students. Excuse me. And this is a student in Melody, interviewed for a summer job at a Wendy's. She had been working hard on her interview skills. I asked her how it went. She lit up and said, I got the job. And I knew I would because I could see the micro expressions of interest on her face during the interview. It absolutely made my year. Troublemaker Kate, this email has made our year. That is phenomenal. We love it. And hello to your students. We wish them all the best as they enter the workforce. Okay, this is the final one and I want to say I'VE ordered for further discussion, this book and some others, because this story will develop. We've got a. We've got a. A trial coming up in the fall, a suit against Michael Jackson's estate by two men who say he groomed and abused them as children for years and years and years. Now, this is a piece this troublemaker says, Remember this? Name withheld. And it's a People magazine article from July 26, 2023. And it's ostensibly about the drama between Prince and the Prince estate and Sinead o' Connor when she was still with us, those of us who were. I was such a fan of Sinead oconnors. The lion and the Cobra is one of the best solo debut albums ever made, ever. God, there was nobody like her. What a complete original. Anyway, Sinead covered Prince's Nothing Compares to youo, which Sinead turned into a blockbuster. And it's one of those rare moments where a cover version not only artistically supersedes the original, but just lands in the culture in a different way, for whatever reason. There are two others that I would say fit that bill. One would be Whitney Houston's cover of Dolly Parton's oh, My God, the song from the Bodyguard, I Will Always Love youe. The other Cowboy Junkies cover of Sweet Jane, better than the Velvet Underground. Okay, so now the salient point, because I have her memoir right now on top of my pile, and I'm going to read it. In her memoir, Rememberings, o' Connor detailed an evening that she spent with Prince. And I got the memoir because so many of you troublemakers emailed me and talked about this in the comments on the YouTube channel. O' Connor detailed an evening that the two spent together where she described Prince trying to have a, quote, pillow fight with pillows stuffed with items designed to hurt. I'm going to read this very closely and report back to you. But, you know, for Sinead, Prince was something of a hero. And, you know, I think this happened at Paisley park. And what really. Oh, she says here, when I was recording the audio for the book, the thing that messed me up was the Prince chapter. I had to go to bed for a couple of days because I don't think that I emotionally engaged with it at the time. Wow. Wow. She then goes on to say that his death, despite what happened that night, where he was trying to physically hurt her, I believe he did chase her out of the house and around a car. I think she was. I think she basically ran to get out of there. You know, it's like very Phil Spector adjacent. Despite her strange encounter with the icon, o' Connor says his death affected her deeply, even sharing that she felt terribly sorry and sad for him. I sobbed when he died, o' Connor said. I just felt terribly sorry and sad for him of the loneliness of his death. The price you pay for being so successful, not everyone, it really does depend, but I think Prince had many demons, many. The price you pay for being so successful is an awful, aching loneliness. And, and I think he was terribly lonely, terribly vulnerable. The loneliness of fame, I think, was ultimately his undoing. And this is the dark side of the moon where the Nerve is. We are explorers here. This is the real truth of it. You're not going to see it on the Access Hollywoods, the Entertainment Tonights. You're not going to read about it on people or most friendly podcasts. You know, where stars are talking to other stars. This is the real stuff. This is the real stuff. So keep your feedback coming. Email me at maureenevilmakeremedia.com or DM me on Instagram @maureen callahanrider or henervshow. Send in your questions for Meg Josephson on Friday's show. And there's still a little bit of time to enter for Rob's signed copy of Rob's book. Give us the greatest celebrity scandal of all time. It could be anything from Brad and Angie all the way back to Jesus and Mary Magdalene, whoever it is, whatever floats your boat and tell us why you think it deserves to be considered the number one scandal. And I'm gonna tell you troublemakers, there are a few, I'm writing them down that have yet to cross my desk. And we're gonna have such a fun segment talking about all these, like, celebrity scandals and how they landed and why they stick with us. That does it. That does it for this edition of the Nerve at night. We are going to be back on Friday with a full nerve and a mini on Saturday. If you haven't already, please check out our substack. That is our weekly email full of bonus and exclusive content over@thenerveshow.com that's the mothership. Go to thenerveshow.com and you will. You'll see a prompt. Just enter your email address. That's it. Every Friday, end of the last full Nerve of the week, in comes an email full of lots of just more unhinged crazy stuff plus nerve merch. Go grab something for yourself or a fellow troublemaker slash traveler@shop thenerb.com we will see you back here on Friday for a full edition of the Nerve, where you will never guess what we're about to say next.
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