List of All Articles with Tag 'life'

Nicole Kidman has once again spoken out about her viral Vanity Fair cover that sparked controversy in February 2022. The 56-year-old actor wore a micro-mini skirt and matching bra top by Miu Miu in the magazine cover shoot. She completed her look with calf-high socks and pointed leather loafers. At the time, Kidman’s magazine cover became the center of debates around ageism and beauty standards. Some fans of the actor criticised Vanity Fair for allegedly using too much photoshop on her photo. In a new interview with Australia’s Stellar magazine, Kidman opened up about the viral cover and why she chose to wear the controversial outfit. “I make the most random, crazy choices,” the Northman star said. “I call them ‘teenage choices’ because I just don’t ever think of consequences. “Part of my brain just doesn’t think like that. I just go, ‘Oh, I’m going to wear that; it reminds me of my school uniform.’ Or, ‘Oh my God, yeah, I’d love to do that,’ She added: “I try to [stay] in that place because I think otherwise you get scared or worried.” Reflecting on the online criticism, Kidman said she avoids looking at it. “Don’t tell me, I don’t really want to know – it will stop me doing what I want to do,” she said. “There are times when you hear things and you go, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s really hurtful’. “Because you can’t be under a rock,” she said. “But at the same time, I really try to stay free in the choices because otherwise, before you know it, you’re just closed off and you can’t step anywhere.” “I want for myself just to keep going, ‘Oh, well, I’m trying something or I wanted to do it. It was fun. That was my choice. And yeah, I own it. I’m accountable. Whatever. I take responsibility. Nobody else chose it,’” the Boy Erased actor acknowledged. This isn’t the first time Kidman has spoken about the magazine cover. In a 2022 interview with Australian director Baz Luhrmann, who worked with Kidman on the 2001 film Moulin Rouge, the Kidman revealed that her stylist on the shoot, Katie Grand, had prepared a different outfit for the cover. “I showed up and they had another outfit for me and I was like, ‘No, no, I like this one! Am I allowed to wear that?’,” she said. “And Katie Grand, who’s just fantastic, was on Zoom, and Katie was like, ‘You’re willing to wear that?!’ And I said, ‘Wear it?! I’m begging you to wear it!’” Luhrmann, who sat down with Kidman over the phone for Australian Vogue, said that wearing the outfit on the magazine cover was a “personal achievement” of Kidman’s. Read More Kylie Jenner and Jordyn Woods reunite four years after Tristan Thompson cheating scandal Fans swoon over Stanley Tucci cooking dinner for Robert Downey Jr at ‘Casa Tucci’ Alan Titchmarsh warns against ‘ill-considered’ rewilding trend in domestic gardens Pharrell Williams makes his Louis Vuitton debut in star-studded Paris show Oscars 2023: Why was Morgan Freeman wearing a single glove? Kim Kardashian reveals why she didn’t speak out on Balenciaga backlash

With the Tour de France Femmes kicking off on July 23 for a week of thrills, cycling and entertainment, it will also be highlighting the women making this sport what it is. In its second official year as the Tour de France Femmes, races of this calibre have happened in the past, but never on such a global stage. So, what is happening in the women’s cycling scene, how did we get here, and why does it matter?The women changing the game Women are working hard to bring the sport to people of all backgrounds. “The Amy D Foundation, Black Girls Do Bike, Get Women Cycling and Little Bella’s are all fantastic organisations, helping and encouraging women – and young girls – to get into cycling in spite of age, race and background,” explains triathlon cyclist Kate Dunbar. This year’s Tour de France Femmes will have a determined line-up of women championing the sport. Who should we look out for? “Annemiek van Vleuten was a fantastic contender in 2022, and I expect her to do well again this year. It’s her final year ahead of retirement, so she will want to do well,” says Dunbar. “The course this year is suited to van Vleuten’s skill set and she will have a stronger Movistar team to support this target, including Sarah Gigante and Liane Lippert.”A growing sport There has, in recent years, been a marked increase in the interest of this sport. “There is, without a doubt, a rising interest in women’s cycling,” says Amanda Braverman, global director of brand marketing at cycling tech brand, Hammerhead. “With more events geared towards women’s cycling and growing viewership in the Tour de France Femmes year on year, we’re seeing measurable gains in both interest and access to the sport.” “But we can’t ignore the fact that The Women’s Tour in the UK was cancelled, even though sponsors saw a huge return on investment in 2022, and the Women’s World Tour race Vårgårda, West Sweden was cancelled permanently after 25 years,” says Dunbar. “Even though we are seeing bigger efforts from organisations and the industry as a whole, as with most women’s sports, the Tour De France women’s tournament is still vastly overshadowed by the men’s – we still need more support and encouragement to boost women’s cycling,” she stresses. Cycling as a tool for liberation There is an important link between cycling and women’s liberation, that goes back a long way, beyond racing, to basic transportation. “It gave women social mobility and allowed them to travel faster and further than ever before. They could cycle further for work opportunities, and it also advanced fashion, as women needed cycling-suitable clothing. It allowed women to take control of their fitness and health in an easy way,” says Dunbar. Women’s cycling also subverted norms. “Cycling challenged femininity in the late 19th century, and bicycles were used heavily to support the English suffragettes movement. The bicycle became – and to this day remains – a symbol and a tool of female empowerment, independence, freedom and opportunity,” says Braverman. Trailblazers Some hugely inspiring women came before today’s Tour de France Femmes stars. “Some of the first women to get involved in cycling were true trailblazers, cycling as early as the late 1800s,” says Braverman. “Montreal-based Louise Armaindo raced on the high wheel, also known as the penny-farthing, which was much more dangerous than the modern bicycle. Armaindo set the North American long-distance record in 1872, and was praised as “the champion female bicycle rider of the world”. She also credits ‘The Big Five’ – Lizzie Glaw, Helen Baldwin, May Allen, Tillie Anderson, and Dottie Farnsworth – an influential group of female cyclists who raced in the 1890s, fitting their racing careers into busy lives that often included their families and other jobs. Today, there’s no denying defending champion van Vleuten leads the modern ‘big five’, but who else will be in the mix? Lorena Wiebes is likely to have another great first stage, Elisa Longo Borghini will give it her best shot, alongside the phenomenal Demi Vollering, and maybe Juliette Labous will make even more progress this year. Whatever happens, we are surely in for an exciting week of women’s sport.

Robert Downey Jr was lucky enough to get an invitation for dinner at Stanley Tucci’s house over the weekend. The Iron Man star, 58, sat down with Tucci in “Casa Tucci” and was treated to an Italian feast of pasta and the seafood dish cod alla livornese, which comprises of cod in a tomato sauce with capers, kalamata olives and garlic. Downey Jr shared a video on Instagram showing the Big Night star cooking up a storm in his kitchen. The clip also showed Downey Jr eating and closing his eyes in satisfaction, before giving Tucci a kiss on the cheek after the meal. The Oppenheimer actor also praised Tucci’s wife Felicity Blunt, whose sister is his co-star Emily Blunt, for welcoming him into their home. He wrote in the caption: “Dinner @ Casa Tucci – Truly a gem of a fella and Felicity made me feel like family. Check out Stanley Tucci in Searching for Italy.” Tucci also posted his own video about the dinner and revealed he threw the dinner party for 11 more people. He gave fans a short rundown of all the ingredients in the cod alla livornese and showed off the finished product before serving up. Fans reacted adoringly to Tucci and Downey Jr enjoying one another’s company at dinner, ahead of the release of Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan. The film, about the making of the atomic bomb, is out on Friday 21 July. “My brain may have stopped functioning because [Robert Downey Jr] and Stanley Tucci, two of… Just… I can’t,” one fan wrote on Twitter. Another said: “Stanley Tucci and Robert Downey Jr?? This is everything to me!! I’m in tears, look at them.” One person even tried out the recipe that Tucci cooked for themselves and was effusive about how tasty it was. “I’ve been eating a lot of meat lately, so decided to opt for fish for lunch. I never cook cod, but Stanley Tucci posted a video of himself cooking [cod alla livornese] for friends and I got inspired to try something new. Y’all, this is one of the best thing I’ve made in a minute.” Tucci has many fans who love his recipe videos for dishes and cocktails on social media. One of his most popular videos, posted in 2020 during the Covid lockdown, showed the travel show host demonstrating how to make his favourite cocktail, a negroni. Earlier this month, Tucci admitted that he tried to break up with his now-wife Felicity because of their 21-year age gap and said he was “afraid” to get into a relationship because he “didn’t want to feel old for the rest of my life”. “But I knew this was an incredibly special person,” he told Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. “Felicity has been so incredible taking on a widower and three children. That’s a huge thing, at a very young age too. If anybody made things better for all of us, it’s her. She’s the one.” Before marrying Felicity, Tucci was married to Kate Spath-Tucci for 14 years and shared twins Isabel and Nicolo and daughter Camilla. Kate died from stage 4 breast cancer in 2009. Tucci and Felicity share two children, Matteo Oliver and Emilia Giovanna. They met a year-and-a-half after Kate’s death and married in 2012. Meanwhile, Downey Jr recently teased that John Krasinski, who is married to Emily Blunt, might have a cameo in Oppenheimer. He shared a photograph with his castmates, including Cillian Murphy and Matt Damon, on social media last weekend. Read More The dish that defines me: Alex Outhwaite’s Vietnamese bun cha American travellers spark backlash after claiming that Europeans ‘don’t believe in water’ while on trip abroad From Brad Pitt to Ariana Grande: All of the celebrities spotted at the Wimbledon final Stanley Tucci tried to break up with Felicity Blunt over 21-year age gap The dish that defines me: Alex Outhwaite’s Vietnamese bun cha What to know about vinho verde, Portugal’s effervescent bargain wine

At Bloomberg Pursuits, we love to travel. And we always want to make sure we’re doing it right.

Defining Dishes is a new IndyEats column that explores the significance of food at key moments in our lives. From recipes that have been passed down for generations, to flavours that hold a special place in our hearts, food shapes every part of our lives in ways we might not have ever imagined. I got my first job in Hanoi as an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher and taught a kindergarten class at the weekends. The school had a mix of Vietnamese and other EFL teachers, so I was able to make a lot of really great friends who were very keen to educate all of us foreigners on the best local food. On my first day at the school, they took me to a bun cha stall nearby that was really, really popular and it was always full. They served it with strips of pork belly, which is uncommon. Quite often, you’d have to wait a little while to get a seat, but it was always worth it. Once, I saw a bride and groom dining there in their wedding outfits! My favourite thing about bun cha is the smell of smoky meat coming off the open-air grill. It would fill the air around you while you sat and waited for your food to arrive. That delicious smell is what I miss the most when I try to make it for myself in the UK but it’s really hard to recreate indoors. The way my Vietnamese friends taught me to eat it was to pour the nuoc cham – a sauce made from fish sauce, sugar, lime juice and water – all over the dish and mix it all up, but I know other people just dip the meat in it. I’m sure there’s no one correct or incorrect way to do it, but the sauce is so delicious, why wouldn’t you want to soak the whole thing in it? I spent one year in Hanoi and moved back to my parent’s house in York, where I grew up, in 2011. By this time, I’d done a few embarrassing TV adverts and little acting jobs in Hanoi, and I went on to do quite a lot of presenting work on little local channels and corporate videos. Then I came across a Sainsbury’s magazine, I think, that was running a competition by the British Herb Association, which I’d never heard of before. They were looking for people to cook a recipe using British-grown herbs. I decided to try making a bun cha at home by adapting a recipe by New Zealand-born US chef Bobby Chin. I’m sure I butchered it and Anglicised it (all those terrible things) because I’d never made it before. But I did use some fresh British herbs, coriander and mint that my parents grew in their garden, which was quite sweet. I filmed myself making it and submitted it for the competition, and in the end, I was invited to take part in the final. I’d really like to highlight that I am not a chef. I like my food and I enjoy cooking, but I’ve never pretended to be a chef. Anyway, I went to London and participated in the cook-off against two other ladies and was judged by Masterchef’s John Torode. Of course I’d seen him on TV quite a lot – he was fairly intimidating, to be honest. He was very friendly off-camera, but he plays a part when they’re rolling. I remember he came up to me and said: “Oh, you obviously much prefer cooking in your own home than in a professional kitchen.” I said: “Well, yes, I’m not a professional.” He was very complimentary about my dish, although he did highlight that there was a lack of smokiness in the meat, which was a very fair point. But I won the competition somehow and that’s how it linked me to getting my first proper TV presenting gig. I saw an advert for a TV channel in Mumbai that was searching for a presenter who could also cook, so I sent off my details and a video of me making bun cha in the competition. A couple of days later, they got in touch with me and seemed quite pleased by my enthusiasm. I was flown out to Delhi just two weeks later. It seemed too good to be true, but I started presenting on a show called Quest, which was initially only broadcast in Mumbai on Travelxp. It’s now an international channel that broadcasts in about 30 countries. The show had me visiting chefs and families around India and learning about “forgotten dishes” that people were rediscovering and cooking. It was an incredible opportunity and I feel very fortunate to be able to do what I do. Maybe I should be thanking Sainsbury’s magazine. But it’s bun cha and Hanoi that I have the most love for. When I make it now, I have this image in my mind of the place that I would go with my teacher friends and I’m doing my very best to emulate that flavour. I’m sure if I went back now and tried the authentic version again, I’d think: “God, I’m just butchering it.” But you know, I’m doing my best. Alex Outhwaite is a travel TV presenter. She has hosted several travel shows, including ‘The Wanderer’ on Prime Video. Read More It’s easier to make baklava at home than you might think Get set for Wimbledon with top pastry chef’s strawberry recipes Pinch of Nom: Healthy eating doesn’t have to cost the earth

The history of golf courses serving as a boardroom with grass is a lengthy one

This week’s new entertainment releases include a documentary on Apple TV+ that chronicles the atypical path Stephen Curry took to becoming a basketball legend, new tunes from the rock band Greta Van Fleet and a “Justified” limited series starring Timothy Olyphant

All five answers to the questions below have something in common. Can you figure it out?

Even in a year when media layoffs seem a daily part of the news, the firing of three Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonists in a single day was a gut punch

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, the seventh installment of the action franchise starring Tom Cruise as

A doctor known for advising people on the risks of Covid got a double surprise: He got Covid, and he wound up needing stitches because of it.

It’s just after 9pm and lilac hues have spread across Dorset skies, shadows extending over a panorama of marquee tops. Perfect conditions for the first night of End of the Road, whose Friday headliners – Black Midi, Battles and Fleet Foxes among them – are minutes away from stepping on stage. Yet, rather than slipping through the masses to grab a good spot, I’ve been back at my tent for an hour already. Having unfolded a stool in the last of the sun, simmering lentils and a mug full of boxed cab-sav for company, my one-year-old daughter, Nancy, has finally nodded off in the tent, unaware of earlier negotiations between her parents. After an afternoon watching bands from a lower-decibel distance as a family, it’s my wife who’s out tonight, enjoying her child-free break for freedom. Although, with the Pixies – a band beloved since teen years but never seen live – top billing on Saturday night, I felt confident in my call as “White Winter Hymnal” carried on the breeze. We’re a day into our first festival as a family of three, an experience already proving quite a journey. As a sometimes music journalist, I’d covered events across Europe over the past decade, adept at negotiating stage splits, balancing reporting duties and life-affirming experiences with willing accomplices. Of these, End of the Road has remained a regular fixture, an informal end-of-summer meet-up with industry colleagues and friends – as well as my chosen stag-do destination. With a one-year-old in tow, this year would mark a stark contrast. From the freshly purchased family-sized tent – the subject of substantial research and investment, and an attempt to win over a camping-averse wife – to the travel cot, buggy, strings of fairy lighting, endless layers, toys and first-aid trappings for every eventuality, the baggage was endless. Shoulders ablaze, I’d carried it all in as my wife kept our daughter entertained. Stepping into my role as responsible dad, I’d practised the tent’s set-up at home prior to arrival and, with a tangible sense of optimism about the weekend ahead, started separating pegs from poles. Yet, with the tent almost up, something unsettled me. What was that smell? Unzipping the bedroom it hit me. My earlier garden practice run had provided the perfect sheltered toilet for a visiting fox –  evidence of which no amount of wet-wipe scrubbing could remove, resulting in a showdown with the reluctant camper and a smell that would accent a weekend in which expectations were continuously lowered. After my wife crashed back in on Friday night, earlier than anticipated and hamstrung by a fast-developing cold, we wondered if we were up to the challenge. Nancy was having a nice time, happy tracking insects in the long grass or studiously inspecting the contents of her snack bag. But could this equally have been any other field? Had we been too exhausted and distracted to embrace the experience? By contrast, our camping companions had brought their five-year-old, who enthusiastically shared stories about favourite bands and the wicker dragonfly he’d crafted, as his dad talked about the surprise sets he’d happened upon the previous night. Perhaps we’d just taken all of this on too soon. The next morning, I nudged Nancy’s buggy around the site, stopping at the kids’ area, where a neckerchiefed uke player offered up nursery rhymes with instruments for children, which were seized upon with pleasure. Various childless friends were never far away, entertaining our daughter in bursts. Later, after reuniting with my wife, a highlight was bobbing to Los Bitchos’ buoyant afternoon performance with Nancy held aloft, as was a brief glimpse of Jockstrap packing out a small stage in the woods. Yet other moments – flailing nappy changes amid aghast onlookers, straying too close to the stage with a buggy as the light faded and the crowd surged – presented a sharp learning curve. Still feeling under the weather, my wife headed back to the tent with Nancy as the Pixies arrived, Frank Black’s substantial presence now underscored by a pang of guilt. After checking in and being signed off to stay out, I’d joined an excitable crowd for an unannounced late-night set at the Tipi stage, which, after turning out to be one of the tiny handful of bands I’d already seen that day – again sounded another minor chord on my tiny violin. As the skies cleared, we’d discovered corners along the way we’d otherwise never have seen and met a similarly dazed yet determined community of parents With my wife’s health deteriorating further overnight – diminishing her perception of fox piss, at least – we made the call to leave on Sunday morning and I hauled everything back to the car. On the long drive home, and hours before Covid would be confirmed, it had to be asked: had this been fun for anyone concerned? Was this festival too aptly named for a new dad trying to reconcile past and present lives? This all happened in the summer of 2022 and, unfazed, we tried again this year – albeit at the even smaller scale and decidedly family-friendly Kite Festival in Oxfordshire. While Nancy’s advanced age presented new challenges – tentative first steps now a confident swagger – her inquisitiveness also marked her out as the perfect festival companion. Expectations now firmly in check, we let ourselves be led by circumstance and proximity, stopping for whatever drew the eye rather than dashing from act to act, allowing us to slow down and see the world through her eyes. Occasionally we tag-teamed the lineup, each picking a couple of acts to witness unhindered by short attention spans (my wife took former PM John Major’s packed-out talk in the big top, I took Suede). Under the hot sun, our meeting point at the shaded children’s area also helped keep Nancy from turning pink in the sun. Clapping furiously at the end of shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves’s morning debate, her grasp on Labour’s manifesto pledges seems better than most – although this mimicry of crowd behaviour proves an endearing feature at later events, too. An uncontrollable tantrum during Michael Gove’s appearance at a panel discussion saw us quickly extract ourselves from the tent, drawing smiles from an audience impressed by the effectiveness of her heckle. Further priceless memories included dancing together at Candi Staton’s sundown set, Nancy with a brioche in each hand – ear defenders askew – visibly finding her feet. The following day the skies suddenly broke, with an electrical storm closing all stages, sending Birkenstock-clad families sprinting for cover. The one attendee thrilled by it all was Nancy, who careered around cackling as security attempted to keep punters from the marquee’s lightning-conducting metal poles. As the skies cleared, we’d discovered corners along the way we’d otherwise never have seen and met a similarly dazed yet determined community of parents. We still hadn’t nailed the performative kids-at-festivals thing – there was no trolley adorned with decoration or whimsical outfits – but felt comfortable that we’d struck the right balance, fulfilled by a shared experience led by the spontaneity of a child’s impulses. It marked a shift from any naive attempt to carry on with our lives as normal. An alternative, of course, is to leave your family at home. A couple of weeks ago I joined 250,000 others at Glastonbury, my own spontaneity given breathing space once more. Thrilling, yes, but also a weekend that at times left me seeking my small festival companion among the other attendees. I was temporarily overcome watching a daughter on the shoulders of her father as he introduced her to a favourite band, excitedly explaining each musician’s role. “How old? I’ve got one a similar age,” was shared with various others. Yet it was also at Glastonbury, as the temperature nudged into the thirties, that I spotted another dad – fixed grin but dead behind the eyes – pushing three irritable kids in a trolley up a shadeless slope. I nod my solidarity, before skipping off to the bar – relieved, this time, that’s not me. Bumping into Joe Goddard from Hot Chip, whose bandmates collectively call their kids the Micro Chips, he says that of all the children he knows, it’s those who have always been dragged to festivals who have proved the most rounded. Something that resonates with me as the Glastonbury hangover subsides and – reunited with my family – I start looking forward to carving out new shared experiences in crowded fields once more. 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