Taylor and Tom? Don’t bet on it
Once again, the jackboot of the state grinds the faces of the people: China has forbidden betting on Taylor Swift’s love life.
The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Taobao, the big Chinese online marketplace, has been the site of a burgeoning industry in “insurance policies” against a Taylor Swift-Tom Hiddleston breakup.
You can bet as little as the equivalent of about 18 U.S. cents. But now, Xinhua News Agency says, Taobao has shut down all such offers, citing “laws and regulations.” Most gambling is illegal in China.
(The Reporter did the math and found that Swift’s average relationship length — Joe Jonas, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Harry Styles, etc. — has been about two-and-a-half months. That’s not counting her year-plus with Calvin Harris. Chelsy Davy, who used to date Prince Harry, seems to have abandoned hope of a reconciliation: She’s talking to reporters.
Politely, mind you, and more about herself than Harry. Chelsy, a lawyer, just launched an African-themed jewelry line, and publicity never hurt a new brand. But it never helped a royal relationship.
Chelsy’s from Zimbabwe; her father managed a game park. “At my preschool, there were monkeys everywhere, stealing your crayons,” she told the Times of London. “The kids ran around playing with warthogs.”
She’s 30. Anna Kendrick tells New York magazine how it feels to be doing six movies this year, (including The Hollars, opening in August, with John Krasinski):
“I like the pace, but I feel like it’s not really sustainable. I want to work harder to curate my choices, just so I don’t ruin my life.”
If she doesn’t keep busy, she says, then she worries: “I don’t know if I’m going to end up in a total tailspin.”
An actor’s career is tricky to manage, she says. “There’s no way you can engineer it to be perpetually rising, because nobody knows what’s going to happen.”
She’s 30.
When the lawyers get finished, Prince’s estate will amount to about $1.29: A Minnesota judge has outlined a long process for apportioning the late singer’s estate, estimated at up to US$300 million.
A herd of almost two dozen lawyers were in court Monday, representing a sister, five halfsiblings, assorted others claiming to be long-lost kinfolk, etc.
The judge also warned that he might ask a higher court for legal guidance as he goes along. This is starting to sound like a whole new industry.