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 Shelley Duvall, the big-eyed, waifish performer who won the Cannes actress award for Robert Altman‘s “3 Women” and endured Stanley Kubrick’s intense directing techniques to star in “The Shining,” died of diabetes complications on Thursday in Blanco, Texas, Variety confirmed with her partner Dan Gilroy. She was 75.

“My dear, sweet, wonderful life, partner, and friend left us last night. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away beautiful Shelley,” said Gilroy in a statement.

Duvall was known for working with director Altman, who cast her in “Brewster McCloud” as her first screen role. She went on to appear in his films “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” and “Thieves Like Us” before starring as part of the ensemble cast of “Nashville” in 1975. After gaining attention in “Nashville,” Altman cast her in “Buffalo Bill and the Indians,” then gave her unusual screen presence a chance to shine in “3 Women,” for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress as well as a BAFTA nomination.

Also in 1977, Duvall played a Rolling Stone journalist in Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall,” and met Paul Simon on the set. They dated for two years.

Duvall starred as Olive Oyl in Altman’s “Popeye” in 1980, a role that she seemed born to play, with her giant eyes. Her unnerving performance as a health spa worker in “3 Women” led Kubrick to cast her as Wendy Torrance, the wife of Jack Nicholson’s character in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” based on the Stephen King novel.

The Shining” required more than a year of shooting, and throughout, the legendarily demanding director pushed Duvall to her limit. Some of her scenes in “The Shining” required more than 100 takes.

Years later, she talked about the difficult shoot with the Hollywood Reporter. “After a while, your body rebels. It says: ‘Stop doing this to me. I don’t want to cry every day.’ And sometimes just that thought alone would make me cry. To wake up on a Monday morning, so early, and realize that you had to cry all day because it was scheduled — I would just start crying. I’d be like, ‘Oh no, I can’t, I can’t.’ And yet I did it. I don’t know how I did it. Jack said that to me, too. He said, ‘I don’t know how you do it.’“

Among her other roles were Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits” and the comedy “Roxanne” with Steve Martin.

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 Anthony Mackie is adjusting to a new world order. The actor stars as Sam Wilson in Captain America: Brave New World, the Marvel Studios film that is described as a grounded political thriller that hearkens back to the 2014 feature Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Harrison Ford makes his Marvel debut as General Ross, the role previously played in the MCU by the late William Hurt, who wants to bring Captain America aboard in an official military position after being elected president. Wilson seemingly works to uncover a nefarious global plot – and eagle-eyed fans will spot the brief glimpse of Ford, as the Red Hulk, head-to-head with Cap.

The entire WNBA slate on Wednesday, June 10, is a matinee, and rookies should demand attention in front of crowds filled with youth camp attendees. Backing a couple of rookies will lead our free WNBA picks.

Let’s look through the Liberty vs. Sun, the Dream vs. Sky, and the Mystics vs. Fever.

WNBA player prop bets for July 10

• Jonquel Jones Over 9.5 rebounds (-108 at FanDuel)
• Caitlin Clark Over 8.5 assists (+110 at DraftKings)
• Angel Reese double-double (-280 at FanDuel)

Picks made on 7-9 at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Wednesday's best WNBA player props bets

 The reality-show panelist and cutting-edge fashionista posted the news on TikTok, stitched to a clip of user Em Grace (@emgwaciedawgie), who said, “I love when I see a lesbian with their boyfriend. It’s like, aww, you hate that man.”

Hey. That was me. I was that lesbian,” Fox said in her reply, shooting the video as she walked down a sunny street. “Sorry boys, won’t happen again.”

Representatives for the “Uncut Gems” actor did not respond immediately Tuesday to a request for confirmation. But Fox had pointed toward the future of her sexuality in an interview last year.

“I think I’m just so afraid to open that can of worms, because I know that once I do, that’s it,” Fox told The Times in September, about the decision to get into relationships with women instead of men. “There’s no coming back from it, and I know that I’ll just be a lesbian. It will happen, eventually. I’m just prolonging it, personally, because I’m afraid.”

She also wrote in her memoir about her feelings for a best friend, Gianna.

If I were to have been open with my sexuality, I would’ve been with Gianna,” Fox told The Times. “We were low-key in love. There were times when we would do sexual things, and then never talk about it.”

The feelings apparently ran deep, prompting her to add, “If I could bring her back to life, I would trade everything apart from my son. Every dollar in my bank account, every achievement, every other person in my life. She died, and I was never the same again.”

Of course, outside of her NYC club reputation and her acting and “OMG Fashun” careers, Fox is well known for her brief, allegedly sexless stint on the arm of rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.

The two hit the scene together for a couple of weeks in early 2021, traveling to Miami, New York City and L.A. and leaving heads spinning among those who follow such things.

Since then, Fox had sworn off men — both in relationships and in general — telling Elle last year that her attitude was, “Like, don’t talk to me, don’t look at me, don’t bother me.”

She went on: “I feel like knowingly engaging in a heterosexual relationship, you are signing yourself up for an unhealthy dynamic.”

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 A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. Sign up for the daily digest chronicling the evolving media landscape here.

George Stephanopoulos, sporting a T-shirt, shorts, and over-the-ear headphones, was traversing the New York City streets by foot on Tuesday when he was approached by a stranger who asked for his thoughts on President Joe Biden’s fitness for office.

“I don’t think he can serve four more years,” candidly replied the ABC News anchor, who had just sat down with Biden a few days earlier for his first on-camera television interview following the CNN presidential debate.

The blunt remark from Stephanopoulos — video of which made its way to TMZ — served as the latest example of the news media turning on Biden, expressing strong concerns about whether he has the fortitude to defeat Donald Trump in November and then serve an additional term in office.

On Tuesday night, Stephanopoulos expressed regret for his frank remark, saying through a spokesperson, “Earlier today I responded to a question from a passerby. I shouldn’t have.” (Notably, Stephanopoulos did not withdraw the viewpoint he articulated, but simply said he shouldn’t have expressed it.) ABC News separately said that Stephanopoulos “expressed his own point of view and not the position of ABC News.” Regardless, any damage inflicted by the comment was already done.

It goes without saying that Stephanopoulos is far from alone amongst his peers in the news media in sharing that opinion. Whether fair or unfair (and I do believe you can argue some of the coverage over the past two weeks has been over the top and irresponsible), the reality is that Biden has, at this juncture, lost much of the press corps. Many journalists simply do not buy the narrative that Biden, his campaign, and the White House are selling.

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 A recent story gleefully made its way through gossip columns this week. It started as a blind item in celeb gossip newsletter, Popbitch.

“The story goes that a recent houseguest of Gwynnie's catastrophically shat themselves in bed while staying there, then fled back to the city before they had to face the music”

The Gwynnie in question was Gwyneth Paltrow and, needless to say, the blind item did not remain blind. The man was outed. No, I am not linking to it. You can Google in case you were planning to invite him to stay in your guest bedroom this weekend.

But I feel like that man deserves some compassion. So if I could talk to him, here is what I’d say:

First, don’t be so hard on yourself! People have digestive problems all the time. Maybe you ate something bad. Or drank too much. Perhaps you tried one of Gwyneth’s delicious concoctions that you thought was a dessert but turned out to be a nourishing peptide serum. We’ve all been there! You panicked, and much like literally everything that was inside of your body at the time, you ran. Was that the ideal way to handle it? Of course not. But this is all very normal and no one will judge you for what is a natural reaction to an embarrassing situation.

Second, it’s time to get a full facial reconstruction, enter witness protection, and start a new life as a boiler repairman slash rodeo clown in Rapid City, South Dakota. Because I am so sorry but there is no coming back from this.

How do I say it nicely? You made the news in a week where one presidential candidate learned he was free to murder anyone he wants as long as he calls it “official business”, and the other one had a debate performance so haunted it could have ended with someone whispering “Joe Biden? Why that man died ten years ago this very night.”

Do you know how hard it is to capture the public’s attention on a week like that? And yet here you are.

By the way, you might notice that I am not using your name. We will also not run pictures of you that some other sites are running, because I do not want this life for you. I do not want to make things worse. I just want to tell you the truth: Rodeo clown. Rapid City, South Dakota. It’s your only option.

What’s that you say? You’ll miss your friends? Sorry, bud. At least some of your friends are out there telling this story to anyone who will listen. But fear not! You will make new friends with your fellow rodeo clowns! I know your previous pals were celebrities, but you haven’t lived until you’ve gone to a Rapid City Applebees, ordered a Prime Rib Dipper, and gossiped about whether any of the pig-wrestlers are juicing.

Besides, you have more in common than you think. These are people who have regularly been in pants-shitting situations and they know how to deal with them.

Rodeo Clown Daren Tuftin jumps over a Mexican fighting bull while fellow clowns Kelly La Coste, in barrell, and Ryan Byrn distract the animal during the 1995 Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta.

Rodeo Clown Daren Tuftin jumps over a Mexican fighting bull while fellow clowns Kelly La Coste, in barrell, and Ryan Byrn distract the animal during the 1995 Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta.

Reuters

But come on, won’t this go away soon? Won’t everyone forget about it as soon as the next celeb-adjacent scandal comes along? Great question.

No.

Unlike the feces that went at an unprecedented pace through your body, this shall not pass. Because the thing is, you have committed the worst possible kind of faux pas: a very funny one.

There is nothing funnier than pooping. And there is nowhere funnier to do it than in a bed owned by Gwyneth Paltrow, a woman who subsists entirely on arugula and the memory of a cake she once saw in a magazine. Gwyneth is a perfect pooper. She poops on a schedule and then it is immediately wrapped and donated to a museum for study.

Don’t worry, I think you’ll actually enjoy your new life. You’ll meet barrel racers and bull riders and people who tie up tiny cows and then immediately let them go. And here’s the best news. In this new life—when a 3,000 pound bucking bull comes running at you full-speed, looking to gore your most important parts? Well, I think you already know how you’ll react.

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 One of Hollywood's oldest companies, Paramount Global, has agreed to merge with independent film studio Skydance Media.

Under the deal, Paramount's non-executive chair Shari Redstone will sell her family's controlling stake in the company in a complex transaction that will result in a new firm worth around $28bn (£21.9bn).

It marks the end of an era for the Redstone family, whose late patriarch, Sumner Redstone, transformed a chain of drive-in cinemas into a vast media empire.

As well as Paramount, the group includes the television networks CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV.

"Our hope is that the Skydance transaction will enable Paramount’s continued success in this rapidly changing environment," Ms Redstone said in a statement.

According to the company its TV channels have a global reach of over 4.3 billion subscribers across more than 180 countries.

The merger would combine Paramount, home of classic films such as Chinatown and Breakfast at Tiffany's, with its financial partner on several recent big releases, including Top Gun: Maverick and Star Trek Into Darkness.

Under the agreement, Skydance will invest around $8bn in Paramount, including paying $2.4bn for National Amusements, which controls the group.

National Amusements owns just 10% of Paramount Group's shares but accounts for almost 80% of its voting rights.

Paramount said it expected to close the deal by the summer of next year.

Paramount Global traces its origins back more than a century to the founding of Paramount Pictures Corporation in 1914.

The studio has made many hit films, including the Godfather, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible series.

But the entertainment giant has struggled over the past decade. Paramount Global's shares have fallen by more than 75% in the last five years.

Skydance is owned by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, who founded US technology giant Oracle.

The announcement came after eight months of negotiations that saw Redstone holding talks with a number of potential partners including Sony and private equity firm Apollo.

In April, Paramount's chief executive Bob Bakish left the company after clashing with Ms Redstone over the planned Skydance deal.

The deal comes as the global entertainment industry is being transformed by the video-streaming revolution.

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 American player Emma Navarro upset No. 2 seed Coco Gauff at Wimbledon, the latest in a string of exits by top-seeded women at the tournament.

Navarro won 6-4, 6-3 Sunday, the fourth round of the tournament, making it her first time making it to the quarterfinals in one of the Grand Slam contests, which also include the U.S. Open, French Open and Australian Open.

Navarro is seeded 19th in the tournament.

“I don’t have a ton of words, but just really grateful to be out here on Centre Court, at a tournament with so much history and tradition that so many legends have played on before me,” she said post-match. “It’s a real honor.”

Navarro said she and Gauff were both trying to impair the other’s forehand stroke during the match.

“I love matches like that where it feels like it’s not just a hitting or striking competition,” she said. “There’s strategy involved and it feels like a chess match or something, so that was really enjoyable for me.”

Gauff has been knocked out of Wimbledon in the fourth round in each of her appearances, including in 2021 and 2019, at age 15.

Navarro also defeated Naomi Osaka in the second round and will play Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in the next round.

Gauff was the latest top-seeded woman to depart Wimbledon. Over the weekend, No. 1-seeded Iga Swiatek lost, while the reigning Wimbledon champion, Markéta Vondroušová, lost last week.

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 A Dutch sperm donor who fathered hundreds of children has described a new documentary about him as "misleading".

A Netflix docuseries, released on Wednesday, focuses on the women who have had children using the sperm of Jonathan Jacob Meijer.

One woman has said she felt "betrayed, sad and angry" after finding out how many other children Meijer had fathered.

But Meijer told the BBC the documentary is deceptive because it gives prominence to those who are unhappy rather than the many families he says are grateful to him.

Responding to the interview, its executive producer described the claim that the majority of families are happy as "completely untrue".

In the interview, Meijer also said he sees "absolutely nothing wrong" with fathering hundreds of children.

The 43-year-old declined to be interviewed for the Netflix documentary, but he spoke to BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour on Wednesday.

"They deliberately called [the documentary] The Man With 1,000 Kids, when it should be 'the sperm donor who helped families conceive with 550 children'," he told the programme.

"So already from the start they are deliberately deceiving and misleading."

He continued: "I think Netflix did a great job at selecting five families [who are unhappy] out of the 225 families that I've helped, and they [the other families] will definitely tell you something else."

Netflix told Woman's Hour it would not comment on Meijer's interview, but Natalie Hill, the documentary's executive producer, did speak to the programme.

"I've spent the last four years speaking to families who have been impacted by Jonathan's lies. I've personally spoken to 45 or 50 families," she said.

"Fifty families made impact statements to the court about his lies, and pleaded with the judge that he stop. So this continued platform for Jonathan to talk about it being a handful of women is completely untrue."

Meijer has been a donor for 17 years. In many cases, he made donations privately, which meant dealing with the families directly rather than via a private clinic.

Some women who chose him as a donor say he did not make clear to them the extent of how many other children he had fathered.

"I'm conflicted because he told me back then that he was donating to five families," one mother, Natalie, told Woman's Hour.

"It turned out in 2021 I read an article in a newspaper that it was hundreds of families. That's why I'm conflicted and don't agree with his methods."

Some women he has donated to have described him as "a narcissist", while others have suggested he represents a public health risk.

Asked if he thought his estimate of 550 children was a lot, Meijer said: "It is for a normal man, but not for a sperm donor.

"For a sperm donor it's quite common. They go up into the hundreds of children. They [the clinics] will ship the donor semen to multiple countries."

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 Dental hygiene student Miki Sudo of Florida has won her 10th title at the annual Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest.

Sudo consumed 51 hot dogs in 10 minutes on Thursday in New York City — and set a new world record for women.

The 38-year-old defending champion last year won after forcing down 39 1/2 hot dogs. She defeated 13 competitors from around the world, including 28-year-old rival Mayoi Ebihara of Japan. Ebihara came in second after eating 37 hot dogs in 10 minutes. She was also the runner-up in 2023.

With the event's biggest star —- Joey “Jaws” Chestnut — out of the contest this year, Sudo’s result set up a possible scenario in which the women’s champ out-eats the men’s winner. Geoffrey Esper, who came second last year, also has a personal best of 51, but only ate 49 last year.

Chestnut, who won 16 out of the previous 17 contests, isn't attending the competition over a sponsorship tiff. Instead, he'll compete against soldiers at a U.S. Army base in El Paso later in the day. That leaves the traditional Brooklyn event wide open for a new winner in the men's division, with eaters from around the world competing on America's Independence Day to see how many hot dogs they can eat in 10 minutes.

Thousands of fans flock each year to the event held outside the original Nathan’s location in Brooklyn's Coney Island, a beachfront destination with amusement parks and a carnivalesque summer culture. ESPN is broadcasting the contest live. The men’s will begin at approximately 12:20 p.m.

Competitors are coming from over a dozen states and five continents, with prospects from Brazil, Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Australia and the Czech Republic vying for the coveted title and $10,000 prize money.

There's going to be a new champion,” Australian James Webb, who holds a world record for eating 70 doughnuts in eight minutes, said at a preview event in New York on Wednesday.

Last year Chestnut, of Indiana, chewed his way to the title by downing 62 dogs and buns in 10 minutes. The record, which he set in 2021, is 76.

“I'm going to be pushing myself,” Sudo said Wednesday. Her rival Mayoi Ebihara, from Japan, said through a translator that she would eat until she passes out, with a goal of downing 50 hot dogs.

Chestnut was initially disinvited from the event over a sponsorship deal with Impossible Foods, a company that specializes in plant-based meat substitutes.

Major League Eating, which organizes the Nathan’s Famous contest, has since said it walked back the ban, but Chestnut decided to spend the holiday with the troops anyway.

Chestnut said he wouldn’t return to the Coney Island contest without an apology.

The event at the Fort Bliss army base in El Paso, scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. ET, will use traditional franks, with Chestnut attempting to out-eat four soldiers in five minutes.

Even though he won't be eating their vegan products, Impossible Foods is promoting Chestnut's YouTube livestream of the exhibition by flying airplanes with banners over Los Angeles and Miami. The company will also donate to an organization supporting military families based on the number of hot dogs eaten at the event, a spokesperson said.

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