Social media culture is starting a trend where famous people no longer want to take photos with fans because it’s become more about bragging rights on Instagram than about sharing a moment. JIM CARREY is the latest. He says he flat out refuses to take photos with people now, and he doesn’t feel bad about it. “I don’t feel there’s a pressing responsibility to please everyone. I’m not unkind to people, but I’d much prefer saying ‘hello,’ and ‘who are you,’ and ‘what are you doing today?,’ to giving a selfie. Because selfies stop life. It’s [just] going on Instagram to give people a false sense of relevance.” Chris Pratt doesn’t take photos with fans for the same reason – social media devalues the experience. As did Emily Blunt, Frances McDormand, Amy Poehler, and “Game of Thrones” star Maisie Williams. Emma Watson has said she doesn’t do it because people post it on social media immediately, and then everyone knows where she is and what she’s doing. Panic! At the Disco won’t do it on their downtime on tour, because they think it’s creepy when everyone knows where they’re staying. Jennifer Lawrence won’t do it for safety concerns, and she’s perfectly fine coming across as “rude” about it. The same goes for Amy Schumer. Zoe Saldana won’t do it if she’s with her kids, because then she’s showing them it’s okay to talk to strangers. Russell Crowe won’t do it if he’s with his kids, because he doesn’t want their time with him stolen away. Chrissy Metz from “This Is Us” says she’s learning to say no if she’s in the middle of ‘life’ and it could disturb others. Justin Bieber and Sean Penn say the photos make them feel like “zoo animals,” and Kit Harington says it makes him feel like a mannequin.
Before we knew BILL COSBY had been drugging and sexually abusing women, he was always lecturing lower- and middle class African Americans on education, behavior, drugs, parenting, and responsibility. He’s doing the same behind bars. Cosby’s rep says he’s conducting as many as four formal LECTURES per week for three months, with up to 100 fellow inmates per lecture. He’s encouraging them to lead by example for their kids, and stay out of prison in the future. He’s also urging them to re-bond with their kids as soon as they get out. Cosby works mostly with a group called “Man Up”, which is made up of inmates set for parole, and his lectures include tips on finding work post-prison, interviewing techniques, and staying clean. Cosby has been convicted of a very serious crime, and still has DOZENS of other accusers, from sexual assaults spanning DECADES.
BRETT FAVRE shocked the sports world yesterday with an Instagram post saying that he was coming out of retirement . . . AGAIN. But he later said that he was hacked and has no plans to ever play again.
Almost 31 million people watched the ADAM SANDLER / JENNIFER ANISTON movie “Murder Mystery” on Netflix in its first three days. That’s a record. And the movie might break the first-week record set by “Bird Box” last year.
As part of the 20th anniversary of “SpongeBob”, Nickelodeon released a poster of all the celebrities who’ve done guest voices, including Betty White, Kristen Wiig, Jon Hamm, Andy Samberg, and Victoria Beckham.
“Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club” is reportedly not coming back for a second season, due to bad ratings and a lack of drama. A source says, “They wanted ‘breakdowns.’ That’s not where [Lindsay] is at with her life anymore.”
The issue of “Playboy” featuring MAREN MORRIS came out yesterday. There are more PG-13 photos, plus an interview where she doesn’t hold back. She agreed to pose because she was inspired by Dolly Parton’s iconic 1978 “Playboy” cover. “I [read] about the drama surrounding this wholesome figure being part of a magazine that showcased naked women. It was such a faux pas in country music. I was intrigued, because so many of the moves Dolly made in her career were about bucking the status quo, especially when it came to sexuality and gender norms within country music. As a woman in country music it always fascinated me.
Gloria Vanderbilt built a career as an actress, artist, fashion designer, author and socialite, amassing a fortune on top of her inherited money — but she didn’t leave an inheritance for her son Anderson Cooper and other children. Vanderbilt, who died Monday morning after battling stomach cancer, was the beneficiary of a $5 million trust fund since she was born. The great-great-granddaughter of financier Cornelius Vanderbilt became known as the “poor little rich girl” in 1934 at age 10 when her mother, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, were embroiled in a custody dispute. Whitney eventually won custody, and by 1945, Vanderbilt came into her own trust fund at age 21. Although it’s unclear what will happen to Vanderbilt’s estate, Anderson most likely won’t receive a trust fund from his mother. Cooper said, “My mom’s made clear to me that there’s no trust fund. There’s none of that. And] I don’t believe in inheriting money.”
“Jeopardy!”’s JAMES HOLZHAUER donated money to a pancreatic cancer charity in ALEX TREBEK’s name. James’ last appearance on the show was the highest-rated episode in 14 years.
LUKE COMBS is the first artist to have five songs on “Billboard’s” Hot Country Songs Top 25 since Johnny Cash in 1959. They’re on his new EP, “The Prequel”, and they are: “Beer Never Broke My Heart” . . . “Even Though I’m Leaving” . . . “Lovin’ On You” . . . “Refrigerator Door” . . . and “Moon Over Mexico”.
TYLER RICH says he’s interested in acting, and would love to play a bad guy. Quote, “I think being a villain would be cool, being the bad guy in a movie. Nothing too crazy but just something different than who I actually am . . . not a musician. [Maybe] something random that’s not me.”
A statue of Marilyn Monroe was stolen from the top of a gazebo on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Dolores Del Rio, Dorothy Dandridge, Mae West and Anna May Wong have statues around the gazebo, while Marilyn’s adorned the top. The theft occurred Monday night when a witness claimed to see someone climb the structure and saw off the statue. Authorities are investigating.
Jed Wyatt was allegedly 4 months into a relationship with musician 26 yr old Haley Stevens when he left to join the cast of The Bachelorette, vying for the heart of Hannah Brown. “We spent the night together the night before he headed to L.A, He told me [the show] was just an obstacle and we’d be stronger on the other side because of it.” She says Wyatt was unequivocal about his motives for going on the reality series, for which he applied before they started dating. “He told me [early on] that he had applied. He said, ‘It’s probably not going to happen, but it’s a huge opportunity. I’m only doing this for my music.’ He only did it for his career. He wanted a platform. He kept telling me, ‘I don’t want my dad to have to help me pay rent anymore.’ He said he only wanted to be top five … to be a major player so that it would be beneficial.” (Wyatt, 25, admited to Brown, 24, during a one-on-one date. “When I signed up for the show, I was so clueless. I was open to the idea because I love love. I do, I love the idea of it. But my first thought was this is like a huge platform, and I just want you to know the truth. So I came in with that mindset, but every moment that we’ve had has taken that away and shown me that now more than anything I want to be with you.”) When the notion that Wyatt could potentially be seriously dating another woman came up, Stevens says he was prepared with answers. “He was always so reassuring. He told me, it’s not real. It’s acting.” And so Stevens, who met Wyatt last October in Nashville, stayed in the relationship, and says that even after Wyatt got the call in February that he was officially joining the cast of the show, the two took a romantic trip to the Bahamas, where they said ‘I love you’ for the first time. The last time Stevens spoke to Wyatt before he began filming The Bachelorette, “He called me when he landed in L.A. He said, ‘I love you, and I’ll call you when I get back.’” Like all contestants, Wyatt had to surrender his phone during filming, so Stevens had no idea what was happening — and grew increasingly anxious. (For more on the Bachelorette bombshell, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on stands Friday.) “I was following along on spoiler accounts, trying to figure out when my boyfriend was going to come home,” she says. “I bought a homecoming outfit that I was going to wear to maybe pick him up at the airport.” But as the series progressed, “I was terrified that he would fall in love with Hannah,” she says. “In the beginning I felt bad [watching the show] because I thought he loved me and was faking dating her. But then I thought, my boyfriend could be engaged to someone else. Seeing him kissing her for the first time was the worst day.”
CHRIS LANE and former “Bachelor” contestant LAUREN BUSHNELL are engaged. He asked her on Sunday in the backyard of her family’s house in Oregon. “I knew she wouldn’t want some elaborate crazy proposal, so I kept it casual.” He’s 34 and she’s 29. There’s no word on a wedding date.
Zoe Saldana is 41.
Paula Abdul is 57.
Phylicia Rashad is 71.
