If you’re the kind of person who follows a lot of pop culture accounts on Instagram, you already know it was a busy weekend. Kourtney Kardashian is reportedly officially dating Travis Barker, Erika Jayne is apparently Armie Hammer’s neighbor, and the Gen-Z Disney Channel stars are still feuding. But all of that is just some light messiness compared to the pure chaos of whatever the f*ck is going on with Jay Cutler, Kristin Cavallari, and Southern Charm star Madison LeCroy. I realize that sounds like a 2021 pop culture Mad Lib, but this crossover is actually happening, and it’s kind of messy.
Before we really dive in, let’s set the scene and get our bearings. As you probably know, former Laguna Beach star Kristin Cavallari and former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler were married for several years before announcing their separation last spring. For the last few months, they both seemed to be living their best single lives, with rumored flings and new relationships. But then, Kristin and Jay flipped their entire relationship situation on its head on Friday night, when they posted identical photos together, which a cryptic caption that suggested they may be back together.
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With almost no context to go on, these posts obviously stirred up a million rumors, but unfortunately it looks like Kristin and Jay will be remaining tight-lipped about what’s really going on with them. So that’s where the drama ends, right? LOL, if it were, we would not be here. This is where Jesus takes the wheel and makes a complete left turn, because it’s where the Southern Charm cast comes into the picture. On the show this season, one of the main storylines has been Austen Kroll and Madison LeCroy’s struggle to fully pull the plug on their toxic relationship. They hate each other, but they love each other, and we all know how that goes.
Since Southern Charm finished filming over the summer, it seems like Austen and Madison’s breakup has become more final, but the toxic behavior between them has carried over onto social media. And somehow, aside from shady comments and #spon for Budweiser (a slight to Austen’s beer company), Kristin and Jay have become the main weapons in their Instagram war.
In December, Austen and his castmate Craig Conover went to Nashville to hang out with Kristin and her hairstylist BFF Justin Anderson (one of the thirstiest people alive), and the entire weekend was documented on Instagram. This included an instantly classic Instagram Live, where the obviously intoxicated crew danced to Taylor Swift’s “Mean” while Kristin was on Craig’s shoulders. On a subsequent appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Austen revealed that the friendship with Kristin started when she slid into Craig’s DMs, and they all got dinner together while she was visiting Charleston. He also clarified that while they enjoy each other’s company, nothing romantic was going on. But while things stayed platonic between Kristin and the Southern Charm boys, that was apparently not the case with their respective exes, Jay and Madison.
According to a People source, Jay “reached out to Madison” in early December, and “she flew out to see him after filming the Southern Charm reunion.” Yes, this is right around the time that Kristin was hanging out with Austen, adding another layer to this cake of confusion. Considering that Jay and Kristin are objectively more famous than Austen and Madison, this whole love-rectangle situation feels like some complex revenge equation, but it’s not clear exactly who was trying to get revenge on whom. Either way, it’s a damn mess. Though Madison was never splashing her time with Jay all over Instagram, she made comments suggesting they knew each other, and when asked about Jay in her own WWHL appearance, she coyly replied that she wasn’t “kissing and telling.”
So while there was some chatter about Madison’s possible relationship with Jay, it wasn’t until last week that she really threw her hat into the ring of messiness. In an Instagram Live on Thursday night, she and Southern Charm castmate Venita Aspen recreated Kristin and Austen’s infamous Taylor Swift IG Live, and in the same video she spoke vaguely about Austen, Kristin, and Jay. Kristin and Jay made their matching posts the next day, raising speculation that the posts were targeted at Madison. On Jay’s version of the post with Kristin this weekend, Madison commented, “I told you it would all workout ,” and later added that she couldn’t wait to “clear this up.”
After a day of eagerly awaiting further developments, Madison finally fired up her Instagram stories on Sunday afternoon, and she decided to drop some receipts regarding her relationship with Jay. There are two screenshots of their text conversation, one of which appears to show him trying to make arrangements to come visit her. In the other screenshot, Jay chastises Madison for bringing his name into the situation. There are no dates on the screenshots, but it seems likely that the second set of texts came after Madison spoke about Jay on Thursday’s IG Live. Madison pushes back, saying she respects him and his family, and says “if you weren’t interested in something real you shouldn’t have slept with me.” And I OOP. She followed that up with a selfie of her and Jay in hunting gear, so at the very least, we know they’ve spent some time together.
Kristin and Jay haven’t said anything about Madison’s involvement, but Kristin’s BFF Justin (the thirsty one) has had no problem speaking out. In a TikTok comment, he accused Madison of “making stuff up for attention,” and said that she’s “created all of this nonsense.” Justin posted many more similar comments, also confirming that nothing happened between Austen and Kristin, and again accusing Madison of wanting “fake TV drama.” Later on Sunday, Justin posted some more Instagram stories, where he said that posting private text messages is “f*cking low,” and that he’s only involved in this situation because he wants to stick up for his friend.
Honestly, I kind of love the fact that Kristin and Jay dropped a bomb with their photo together, then immediately disengaged from the situation. They knew they would get their headlines and reposts, and now the real thirsty people (Justin and Madison) are left to duke it out in the social media trenches. Austen, for his part, was posting about his golf outing over the weekend, seemingly ignoring the drama completely.
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It’s unclear what’s really going on with Kristin and Jay—I have my doubts that they’re really back together. But it’s even more unclear what Madison is trying to do here. Prove to the world that Jay Cutler knows she exists? Okay, sure, mission accomplished. Maybe the texts suggest that he was the one pursuing her, and maybe he was an asshole, but nothing here is rock-solid proof. And even if they did have some kind of relationship going, did she think this technically-still-married father of three was her soulmate? If so, then maybe there is hope for my crush on Timothée Chalamet. She’s already pivoted to posting vague, shady captions on Instagram, so she’s definitely going to be milking this for a while.
And as for Justin, I understand the urge to jump in when people are talking about your friend, but I’m not sure what Madison is doing even really affects her? If anyone is unbothered by this whole situation, it’s probably Kristin. At the end of the day, everyone in this story is going to go their separate ways, and the thirsty will stay thirsty.
Images: Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images; kristincavallari, madison.lecroy / Instagram
Remember way back in April, when days of quarantine were still filled with random activities, and the biggest story in the news was Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler’s shocking divorce? Well, here we are five months later, still in quarantine, and still talking about Kristin Cavallari. What a f*cking year. Back in April, we didn’t get much information about the split, other than their initial Instagram posts, and some messy legal details that were seemingly resolved pretty quickly. This was all just weeks after the fam returned from their never-ending trip to the Bahamas, so the whole timeline was very confusing. But his week, Kristin spoke to People, and while she was mostly there to promote her new cookbook (random, but sure), thankfully she also spilled some much-needed info on WTF happened between her and Jay.
Unsurprisingly, she says that the split “didn’t happen overnight,” despite whatever happy façade fans saw. She continued, saying “We tried really, really hard for years and years,” and that the split “was the hardest decision I’ve ever made.” I think most of us assumed their divorce wasn’t just a split-second decision, because that’s not how divorces tend to work, but Kristin and Jay were definitely a couple that managed to keep most of their drama private, despite the fact that they did a reality show together for three seasons.
Speaking about the public perception of her marriage, Kristin told People, “I always thought it was interesting when people would refer to us as ‘couple goals.’ I was like, if you guys only knew.” Maybe I’m in the minority here, but from watching Very Cavallari, it never actually seemed like things were that perfect in Kristin and Jay’s relationship. They weren’t having huge fights or anything, but Jay never seemed that thrilled to be there, and Kristin was almost constantly annoyed with him. Kristin admitted that things were not going well during filming for the show’s third and final season, but that “we definitely kept a lot of stuff private. Producers saw stuff, but they didn’t put it in the show—which is good, because I don’t want my kids to ever .”
When asked about the actual reasons that led to the breakdown of her marriage, Kristin kept things pretty vague. And by that, I mean that she definitely did NOT reference the cheating rumors that have persisted about Jay Cutler since before the split was even announced. Instead, she painted a broad picture, saying, “Every relationship has their stuff. I met Jay when I was 23. I was a baby. Jay and I had so much love for each other, but we grew up. When you work at something for so many years and nothing’s changing, I think you have to just make a decision. We all want to be happy.” Amen, sister… but what about the cheating rumors?
But rumors aside, it sounds like Kristin and Jay are in a pretty good place now. After those initial legal issues immediately following their split, they came to a co-parenting agreement, and Kristin was able to buy her new house in Nashville. She shared that “I still care so much about and talk to him almost every day. We have three kids together. He’s going to be in my life forever.”
She may be stuck with Jay, but she seems happy with her decision to leave reality TV in the past—for now, at least. When she began Very Cavallari three years ago, the focus was mainly on her business, but the spotlight shifted to her personal life in more recent seasons. She says that she’s “relieved” the show isn’t coming back, because “I just knew I was going to have to talk about everything, and I didn’t want to. Thinking about filming was giving me anxiety.” Kristin maintains that her current focus is on what’s best for her three kids, and that’s “Probably not doing a reality show, having to talk about divorcing their dad.” Fair enough. Honestly, Very Cavallari was not that entertaining to begin with, so I’m happy to find something else to watch.
Along with the cheating rumors, I’m also a little disappointed that Kristin didn’t address that photo she posted with Stephen Colletti this summer. Like, I know in my heart that they’re not back together, but I still need to hear it directly from her. Kristin says that she’s “really excited about the future all around,” but who’s to say that future can’t include a fling with her old flame? For now, I will continue to hold out hope, because it’s really all I have left at this point.
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Images: Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images
Welcome, friends, to the first in what I hope will be a recurring column in which I investigate whether recent celebrity news is real or a PR stunt. Now, you might be asking yourself what gives me the right to judge the intimate details of a complete stranger’s life and decide for myself if their most recent headline-making dalliance is real or something cooked up by their publicist? Well, I have been recapping The Bachelor for the last five seasons and seeing as how that show is a modern-day Ringling Brothers Circus that specializes in creating Kris Jenner-worthy storylines for the sake of our Monday night entertainment, I’d say that’s all the certification I need. Mmkay?
Moving on. Today I thought we’d focus on a headline that is dominating entertainment news feeds as well as five of my personal group chats. I’m, of course, talking about the selfie seen ‘round the world of Kristin Cavallari and her ex-Laguna Beach lover Stephen Colletti. Last night Kristin shared a selfie on Instagram of her SITTING ON HER EX’S LAP for the entire world to see with the caption “2004 or 2020?!” Subtle, Kristin, veeery subtle.
As you’ll recall, in March, Kristin and Jay Cutler announced that they were getting a divorce after 10 years of marriage. Soon after their very chill, very “we love co-parenting” divorce Instagram announcement, headlines started popping up accusing Jay of some alleged “misconduct.” There were cheating rumors, rumors that Jay was holding the family’s bank account hostage so Kristin couldn’t find another house to live in, and other wild accusations. In May they finally reached a joint custody agreement and have been laying relatively low ever since.
Which brings us to Tuesday night and the Instagram that launched 1,000 ships speculations. Are Kristin and Stephen back together? How long have they been talking? Will she plan a vacation to Cabo for old time’s sake and, more importantly, will Stephen get drunk and call Kristin a slut for dancing on the bar?
Ah, young love! So cute! So healthy!
These are the questions that keep me up at night. But is this for real or is this a mere PR stunt? Well, let’s take a look at the evidence.
From the outside (and probably all sides, tbh) this looks very much like a PR stunt. As we’ve mentioned, Kristin’s marriage is over. For those of you who watched Very Cavallari (guilty), you know that her marriage was arguably the most interesting thing about the show. What we used to love about Kristin during her Laguna Beach era (her mean girl antics, outrageous love triangles, and ability to make choppy bobs look chic) have been completely abandoned on Very Cavallari in favor of interviews about her pilates schedule, b-roll of her pretending to cook family meals, and modeling microscopic jewelry for her Instagram followers. Jay carries the show with his bare minimum personality while Kristin maintains the stage presence of a Cobb salad.
Speaking of Very Cavallari, in May Kristin announced that we wouldn’t be getting another season of the hit E! show and was instead focusing on this “new chapter” in her life. Booooo. I’m assuming this next chapter is going to focus on growing her jewelry “empire” which consists of mid-level expensive midi rings and layering necklaces. Let’s be honest here folks, the girl could really use a PR boost.
And she’s not the only one whose publicist is probably thirsty for more media coverage. According to Stephen Colletti’s IMDb page, his last television appearance was on a show called Everyone Is Doing Great about washed-up heartthrob actors “struggling to reclaim their previous level of success and relevance”, and the pilot appears to have been filmed in his basement during quarantine. Brb just going to copy and paste that entire entry to share with Merriam Webster in case they’re looking for a sentence to illustrate the definition of “rock bottom.”
Now, I can already hear some of you coming for me in the comments section with “bUt WhAt iF tHeY’rE jUsT fRiEnDs??” and, yes, they could just be friends! In fact, sources tell TMZ that the two have remained “good friends” since their break-up many eons ago, and that’s why they were seen together Tuesday night. Good friends that in the last 16 years have never posted or spoken about each other unless they’re in the midst of promoting their latest book or a trailer for the upcoming season of their show.
Final verdict: this is 100% a PR stunt. This wasn’t a nostalgic get-together with old friends or—and I hate to break my eighth grade heart—an epic Laguna Beach romantic reunion. If anything, it was a casual dinner and drinks situation that maybeee ended in a hookup on Stephen’s futon couch that triples as a bed and dining room table (IDK, I just feel like he has one of those), and Stephen pretending they’ll “totally do this again sometime” as he responds to a random’s DM on Instagram. Good luck, kids! Ever happiness to you both!
Images: @kristincavallari /Instagram (3); SheKnows.com (1); Giphy (1)
As the coronavirus has spread, and we’ve all been forced into various forms of quarantine, this spring has been a stressful time for everyone. For some of us, it means we’ve spent way too much time alone (hi), but for those in relationships, it’s been an intense few months of ~quality time~ together. I’m sure this has brought some couples closer together, but not every relationship is meant to survive, and quarantine szn has turned into breakup szn.
Several high-profile celebrity couples have called it quits since mid-March, when things really got real with Miss Rona, and the details are fascinating. From out-of-nowhere divorces to couples that seemed like a ticking time bomb, here are all the celeb couples that have broken up during quarantine.
Mary-Kate Olsen & Olivier Sarkozy
I won’t pretend to be sad about this relationship ending, because it always felt a little weird. But I was surprised by last week’s sudden revelation that Mary-Kate wants a divorce. I say “wants” because for the time being, the New York courts aren’t accepting new divorce filings, and her request for an emergency divorce was denied. According to new sources, one of the major issues in their marriage was that Mary-Kate wants to have kids, and Olivier isn’t interested in having any more. Now, he’s trying to terminate the lease on their main apartment together, and it seems like things will probably be ugly between these two for a while.
Kristin Cavallari & Jay Cutler
Am I the only one who feels like this happened six years ago already? As we all know by now, Kristin and Jay announced their decision to divorce last month, and they’ve already settled their disputes surrounding custody of their children, and whether Kristin is allowed to buy a gigantic house (answer key: joint custody, and yes). With allegations of misconduct, this seemed like it would be dramatic at the jump, but things seem to have worked out okay for now.
Surprisingly, Kristin announced this week that after three seasons, she won’t be continuing with her reality show Very Cavallari. Honestly, the show is okay at best, so this isn’t a great loss, but I wasn’t expecting it. If anything, I thought Kristin would use the show, which has previously focused a lot on her home life with Jay, as a way to launch her new chapter as a single woman. But it’s important to note that this decision would potentially clear a path for Kristin to return to The Hills in the future. Much to consider!
Megan Fox & Brian Austin Green
It’s been a long road for these two, but it seems that they may finally be done for good. They started dating way back in 2004 (when she was just 18), and eventually got married in 2010. After having two kids, Megan filed for divorce in 2015, but they got back together and had a third child the following year. Fast forward to 2020, and they’re officially separated again. After Megan was seen hanging out with Machine Gun Kelly and Brian posted the bizarre butterfly Instagram above, he confirmed their separation on his podcast. Thankfully, he said he and Megan are on good terms, and will still go on trips and spend time together with their kids. I’m glad they’re in a good place for co-parenting, but it looks like it’s finally the end of the line for their relationship.
Cara Delevingne & Ashley Benson
Out of all the breakups on this list, this one hit hardest. Earlier this month, reports surfaced that Cara and Ashley had split after roughly two years of dating. It seemed like they went through a lot together—they even bought a sex bench! While neither of them gave any details, things seemed pretty final when Ashley was recently spotted kissing G-Eazy. Sad, but I would kiss G-Eazy too. In her first public comment on the whole situation, Cara posted an Instagram story asking people to stop coming for Ashley, and saying that only the two of them know the truth. Ashley reshared the story, so whatever happened here, at least it seems like they don’t hate each other.
Stacey Dash & Jeffrey Marty
I loved Stacey Dash in Clueless, but times have changed. These days, she’s mostly known for her questionable political views and messy personal life, and she announced last month that her fourth marriage was coming to an end. Dash and Jeffrey Marty got married in April 2018, just TEN DAYS after meeting for the first time. I’m sorry, but nothing good has ever come of getting married that quickly. Their relationship has been rocky, and last year, Stacey called the cops, alleging Jeffrey tried to choke her. But when they showed, Stacey ended up getting arrested for assaulting Jeffrey. The charges were ultimately dropped, but it seems like these two might be better off apart.
Considering that LA’s stay home order has already been extended through July, I’m sure that there will be some more Hollywood quarantine breakups in the weeks and months to come. We already have some ideas about which couples might not make it, but you never know who will be next. For a second, I was even scared that Bella Thorne and her Italian pop star boyfriend had broken up after she tweeted about being done with dating, but he’s back to commenting “would smash” on her Instagrams, so I think we’re good. It was a close call, and in times like this, these breakups can come out of nowhere.
Images: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com; kristicncavallari, arent_you_that_guy, ashleybenson, staceydash / Instagram
UPDATE: As this week has gone on, there have been about a million anonymous sources popping up, claiming to have some insider info about Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler’s divorce. It’s hard to know which of these stories are true, but now we finally have a concrete look at some of the alleged “misconduct” that Kristin included in her filings. According to new documents obtained by Us Weekly, Kristin is accusing Jay of withholding money from her, and the situation sounds pretty rough.
According to the court papers, things weren’t good in their marriage for a while, and Kristin started looking for her own house way back in November 2019. She even had a house under contract at one point, until Jay “informed her that his attorney was going to stop her from purchasing the house she wanted” and that the attorney “was going to tell their business manager to not release the funds” for her to buy the house. Yikes.
For a normal couple, buying a second house would be a huge financial strain, but considering that Kristin and Jay have an estimated net worth of over $60 million, this feels a little petty. In addition, an Us Weekly source says that Kristin “always knew that Jay was trying to keep some of his money from her,” and the house situation was just the proof that she needed. If their marriage was already on the rocks, this kind of situation definitely wouldn’t have helped things.
Fast forward to April, after they got back from their extended Bahamas trip, and the money disagreements continued between the couple. As they decided to separate, the documents show that Jay offered Kristin an initial settlement amount. Kristin’s filing says that she “refused to accept the settlement,” finding it “unfavorable,” because she has made “significant financial contributions to the marital estate.” We don’t know any specifics about the amounts here, but obviously Kristin has her own money on top of whatever Jay made playing football. No one is broke here, and any settlement should reflect that.
Kristin also alleges that Jay filed divorce papers as quickly as possible “as a way of punishing her” for turning down the settlement offer. Of course, Kristin’s filing is only one side of the story, but if she’s telling the truth, there was definitely some financial manipulation happening here. I’m sure we’ll get more details and context in the weeks and months to come, but there was clearly more going on in this marriage than we ever knew about.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Let’s face it: most divorces are messy. While not every marriage ends with a dramatic scandal or betrayal, most people don’t wake up and decide to get divorced just because they’re bored. When Kristin Cavallari announced on Sunday that she and Jay Cutler were splitting after 1o years together, the tone was positive—a little too positive. She wrote that their relationship had reached a “loving conclusion”, and that she and Jay have “nothing but love and respect for one another.” That’s all well and good, but of course, we wanted to know what really happened here. If things were really so loving, would they be filing divorce papers?
Well, that “loving conclusion” didn’t last long. On Monday morning, less than a day after Kristin Cavallari’s divorce announcement, Kristin filed legal papers that suggest there’s a lot more to this story than her initial claim of “two people growing apart.” Color me shocked. Kristin’s filing, obtained by TMZ, is in response to Jay’s original divorce filing, and it’s clear that they are not on the same page when it comes to any of the details surrounding their split.
In her legal filing, Kristin Cavallari accuses Jay Cutler of misconduct, stating that he “is guilty of such inappropriate marital conduct as renders further cohabitation unsafe and improper.” There have been some cheating rumors surrounding Jay Cutler in the past, but “unsafe and improper”? That sounds serious. Her filing also claims that “any misconduct alleged or implied against in the complaint for divorce” was only a result of Jay’s original misconduct… but Jay didn’t make any misconduct allegations in the divorce filing. I’m not a lawyer, but something’s not adding up here, and I want answers.
Unfortunately, the consequences of divorce are often harshest on young children, and it looks like Cavallari and Cutler are gearing up for a custody battle. While Cutler is seeking joint custody of their three children, Cavallari wants primary custody, with Cutler only having visitation rights. Both Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler are claiming that they have been the “available at-home parent and primary caretaker” during their marriage, and since two people can’t be the primary caretaker, I have a feeling this is going to get messy.
While the new filings bring up a lot of questions, and not too many answers, we are getting a clearer picture of the timeline here. In Jay Cutler’s divorce filing, he listed a separation date of April 21st. That was just last week, but this is another spot where Kristin disagrees. In her filing, the separation date is listed as April 7th—the day after the family returned from their month-long Bahamas vacation-turned-quarantine. I really need to know what the hell went down on that trip, because it sounds like it was far from paradise.
Images: Dfree / Shutterstock.com
While we were all mixing our quarantinis, cleaning our apartments, or just generally lazing about this rainy Sunday, Kristin Cavallari took to Instagram to announce that she and Jay Cutler are getting a divorce. To be perfectly clear, I haven’t thought about Kristin Cavallari since approximately 2009, but I still didn’t see this one coming. I’ve honestly been waiting for more celebrities to announce divorces once the effects of being quarantined together started kicking in, but I still wouldn’t have predicted that Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler would be the first ones to bite the dust. They have been together for 10 years and have three children together, Camden, 7, Jaxon, 5, and Saylor, 4.
In an Instagram post that depicts the now-exes with their backs to the camera, Kristin wrote, “With great sadness, after 10 years together we have come to a loving conclusion to get a divorce.” She added, “This is just the situation of two people growing apart,” and if you ask me, the whole announcement smacks of “conscious uncoupling.” Still, it’s better than a Notes App screenshot.
News of Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler’s divorce comes just a few weeks after the couple returned to Nashville after being “stuck” in the Bahamas on vacation with Kristin’s friend and hairstylist, Justin Anderson. On March 15, the group traveled to the Bahamas (despite there being a confirmed case of coronavirus in the Bahamas that same day). In the days that followed, they would complain about being “stuck” on the island despite there being no travel restrictions at the time; later, on March 24, they would remain on the island even after the U.S. Embassy urged travelers to return home. After catching some flak online for remaining on vacation while almost everyone around the world was staying home in an effort to flatten the curve, they all returned home on April 6.
In light of recent events, this trip to the Bahamas is raising even more eyebrows. Was it a last-ditch attempt to save their marriage? Were they trying to escape more than the reality of coronavirus? Or was being stuck on an island together the straw that broke the camel’s back? God knows I’ve returned from a family vacation wanting a hell of a lot more than a legal separation. With Kristin asking “everyone to respect our privacy”, we’ll probably never know. But I’m predicting that this won’t be the first seemingly solid celebrity marriage to crumble under quarantine, and we’re going to be seeing a lot more of this verbiage the longer we’re stuck inside.
Images: Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images; kristincavallari / Instagram
Many of us are approaching the one-month mark of working from home and social distancing, and if you’re not going a little crazy right now, I either don’t believe you, or I need to know what pills you’re taking. Thankfully, for me, “a little crazy” mostly just means watching too much TV and eating frosting straight out of the container. But as we’ve seen, some celebrities and influencers aren’t handling this crisis so gracefully, and our latest example is Kristin Cavallari.
Last week, we unpacked an absolutely bonkers Twitter thread about Arielle Charnas and, to quote The Office, her “pattern of disrespect and inappropriate behaviors.” Today, we’ve got another Twitter thread about a lifestyle personality and their puzzling actions in response to COVID-19 to unpack, so let’s just get into it. Basically, Kristin Cavallari has been traveling for almost a month, and she just got home yesterday. As in April 6th. As in, I haven’t left my immediate neighborhood in three and a half weeks, and she got on a plane YESTERDAY. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
In her Twitter thread, writer Claire Downs gives a detailed breakdown of what Cavallari has been up to lately, and it starts on March 12th. This was the day that Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a State of Emergency in New York, and on the same day, Kristin posted this Instagram, saying that she “woke up in NYC.” As anyone who has watched Very Cavallari (guilty) would know, Kristin lives in Nashville. So while the coronavirus situation was escalating, she was already on a trip to one of the most-affected places in the country. Not a great start.
Cavallari didn’t stay in New York for long, but she didn’t go home, either. Three days later, on March 15th, she posted a picture on a beach in The Bahamas with her friend and hairstylist Justin Anderson, with the caption “modern family spring break.” In her tweets, Downs notes that this was the same day that NYC announced restaurants and schools would close, and also the day that the Bahamas had their first confirmed case of coronavirus. Sounds like spring break time to me, no?
A couple days later, the gang was still posting Bahamas pics, showing that Cavallari’s husband, Jay Cutler, was there along with their kids. In an Instagram caption, Justin Anderson referenced “being stuck on an empty island”, and specifically reiterated in the comments that they were “STUCK” in the Bahamas. Downs comments that the idea of an “empty island” is ridiculous, considering there are no doubt lots of locals who actually live and work there.
But the idea that his group was “stuck” in the Bahamas is even more questionable. At that point, there were no travel restrictions between the Bahamas and the US, and it stayed this way for another week. While non-essential businesses shut down, travel was still allowed, but Kristin Cavallari & Co. stayed put, posting beach pics and promoting her brand Uncommon James on Instagram.
Finally, on March 24th, the travel restrictions came into play. All incoming travel to the Bahamas was cut off, and the Governor urged travelers there to go home immediately. On the same day, the US Embassy also encouraged citizens to return home unless they wanted to be stuck abroad indefinitely. As Downs notes, Cavallari posted a video on the same day dedicated to “keeping it tight“, aka, not letting yourself get out of shape. In general, aside from noting that things felt ~weird~, the group seemed pretty unbothered, and Kristin kept promoting Uncommon James along with posting beach content.
Downs estimates that it was around the beginning of week three in the Bahamas that our motley crew started to get a little sick of vacation. Must be tough! Justin Anderson posted about missing his bed (I don’t feel bad), and Cavallari promoted her new cookbook, which is all about comfort food. I had no idea Kristin Cavallari could cook, but I’m learning a lot about her from this Twitter thread—including that she’s an anti-vaxxer! Damn, I really thought I liked her, but this isn’t looking good.
I think around day 15-17 is when it sets in for the group that they may be stuck for a v long time. Anderson says he misses his bed and posts about negativity in the comments. I almost feel like they are getting Covid FOMO when I read her cookbook promo caption about comfort food pic.twitter.com/bUO1B4vFQP
— claire (@clairecdowns) April 6, 2020
At the time of the original thread, the Cavallari fam was still chilling in the Bahamas indefinitely, but they ultimately made it back home to Nashville on Monday evening. On her Instagram story, along with posting videos of her supplements, Cavallari said that “we had a short window to get out of the Bahamas so we jumped all over it.” Funny how, two weeks ago, they refused to take the advice of two different national governments to cut their vacation short, but I guess things get less fun when you’re actually stuck in paradise.
Update!!! They made it back to Nashville this evening! Congrats to them! pic.twitter.com/QGpk7Iibmq
— claire (@clairecdowns) April 6, 2020
Ultimately, the group spent 22 days in the Bahamas (though Jay Cutler said 28 days in one post, I think he might just be bad at math), just long enough to make a lot of people mad. I’m glad Kristin Cavallari and her family made it home safely (as far as we know), but their choices over the past few weeks are frustrating, to say the least. I’m sure we’d all love to be enjoying a vacation in the Bahamas right now, but we’re busy doing our parts to flatten the f*cking curve. But hope all those beach workouts were fun! I hope all of these people are going to seriously self-quarantine themselves for 14 days—if Kristin posts from the grocery store or some sh*t, she’s going to have to turn off her comments.
Images: Dfree / Shutterstock.com; kristincavallari / Instagram; clairecdowns / Twitter
I feel like people always hate on summer TV shows, but if you ask me, they’re some of the best ones out there. Personally, I like my summer shows to echo my summer activity, which consists of drinking in a tropical locale with plenty of hot singles my age. (Okay, so maybe I just described my recurring dream, don’t @ me.) In any case, there’s a new show on Fox, from the producers of The Bachelor and Jersey Shore, that’s going to be your go-to summer show. It’s called Paradise Hotel, and it’s different than anything out there right now.
Paradise Hotel has all the elements that make up a great reality TV show—sexy singles, tropical location, and big drama. So what makes Paradise Hotel better than anything currently on TV? It’s all about strategy. This show is a game, for love or money. And the rules are simple: you either hook up or check out. Game on!
So here’s the deal. Paradise Hotel is an unscripted dating competition hosted by Kristin Cavallari (so perfect) in which sexy singles looking for love (not near you) check into an exclusive, gorgeous tropical resort. There will be fun. There will be sun. There will be cocktails. There will be flirtation. There will be romance. But here’s the catch: they can’t all stay in paradise. At the end of every week, someone will get sent home. The contestants will try to remain in paradise for as long as they can by pairing up. Whoever doesn’t have a roommate at the end of each week goes home, and a new guest will arrive in Paradise to shake things up. One week there will be more men, the next week more women. Nobody is safe!
But are the contestants playing for love or the $250,000 cash prize? It’s hard to say, given that there is a lot at stake for anyone who makes it to the end. I can’t tell you what will happen, because even I don’t know, but I can tell you that each week, there will be dates, challenges, and of course, twists you’re not going to see coming. Like, even bigger than jumping a fence.
Speaking of twists, there’s already one huge one that’s been announced: Paradise Hotel viewers can play along at home by using social media to try to influence what happens on screen, including deciding who gets to check into the hotel. Cool, so like, even though I’m not hot enough to get cast on a reality show, I can still live vicariously through everybody and try to set up my faves with their perfect matches. Bet. Sure beats sitting at home week after week, watching my fantasy bracket deteriorate.
Starting Thursday, May 9 at 8pm with a two-hour premiere event, Paradise Hotel will be airing three times a week. Three! Well, that’s my entire week of TV programming, already picked out. And even better, the Thursday episodes are live and two hours. Honestly, I love when other people do the work of making my plans for me. Now I have a built-in excuse to cancel plans, sorry! So join me, Kristin Cavallari, and the cast of Paradise Hotel in tuning in TONIGHT, May 9, at 8pm on Fox for the two-hour premiere, and then on Mondays and Wednesdays at 9pm and Thursdays at 8pm.
