Next-Level Gossip

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A generation will never forget where they were when they heard Princess Diana died (at a friend’s house playing Super Mario Bros. 3). We’ll all be reminded of that horrible event anew next year, when — pegged to the 30th anniversary — a slate of documentary projects will likely air. Vanity Fair reports that Prince William’s not interested in participating; Harry, meanwhile, is rumored to be working on his own. It’s no wonder then that Diana’s brother, Charles “9th Earl of” Spencer, decided to release a book about his sister a year early to get ahead of the brouhaha.

Swan Song: Diana, my sister — so sad from the very start, right? – was published worldwide last Tuesday. It contains a litany of grenade-like revelations, including attempts to stymie his barn-burner of a eulogy at Diana’s funeral, which he rehearsed like 40 times beforehand (recounted tremendously by Tina Brown).

The Earl’s portrayal of then-Prince, now-King Charles is particularly unsparing. After he objected to Diana’s children walking behind her coffin, he writes that Charles called to upbraid him, then “hissed,” “Rest assured: We’ll forget her soon enough!”

As he said in an exclusive with People, “I mean, I don’t want this to sound loaded, but there was an awful lot I could have put in and I didn’t. If I wanted to write a scandalous book about Prince Charles or King Charles as he is now, it would really be a jaw-dropper, but I’m not here to do that.” Sounds pretty bad.

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Your friends at Gloria

Writer and editor Anna Holmes will always be legendary in our eyes for the women’s site, Jezebel, that she founded in 2007. Since then, she’s lent her writing to a dream list of publications, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker. Her new book is the fantastic The Power of No: A Celebration. We caught up with her last week by phone to ask her a few questions about it.

What inspired this book?

I was asked to give a commencement speech at a girls’ school and wanted to think of something that I might have wanted to have heard when I was their age, [such as] it was okay to say “no” to people without apology and guilt. That was in 2015. I kept thinking about the idea and in 2021, I pitched a piece to The Atlantic about it, and they accepted it. That was a precursor to the book.

Is there something you said “yes” to in the past that you’d say “no” to now? 

They aren't necessarily things that I explicitly said “yes” to, but things I tolerated, like bad behavior from boyfriends or my ex-husband, that I would now say “no” to. I tolerated it, and that's its own form of “yes.”

What surprised you while researching the book?

It literally takes people longer to say “no” than it does to say “yes.” Their brains have to process how they're feeling, what they want to say. “Yes” can be very, very immediate. We need to pause before we say “yes” or “no” to figure out what it is that we want and don't want. 

Say, ‘I'll need to get back to you on that,’ or ‘let me think about that,’ so you can figure out what you really want and what you don't. 

Why is this particularly important for women?

We've been socialized to have porous boundaries and to put other people's needs and wants first. We might feel, as women, more in control of our own destiny and our own power if we felt more empowered to say “no.”

Saying “no” is a muscle we have to train, and it becomes stronger the more we train it.

There’s nothing like an October weekend for getting dressed. The air is cool enough for a layer, but the outfit options are still wide open. We’ve got our eye on a few pieces from Ann Taylor’s Weekend Collection, currently 30% off: this trench, these polished jeans, a cozy fleece, and a fall hat for dog walks, kids’ sports, or coffee runs. Shop it all here. #partner

All of a sudden, everyone’s breaking out the plaids and checks. We’re seeing the prints on shirts, jackets, pants, bags, even couches. And they’re being mixed into wardrobes in new ways, adding a dose of fall-flavored ease and slouch. A few of our current favorites, below.

TO WATCH Is someone at HBO going through a midlife crisis? The network that just started airing midlife reckoning series Youth has a new show out, War, about a nasty divorce between a lawyered-up rich guy (played by Dominic West) and his beautiful, also lawyered-up actress wife (Sienna Miller). Meanwhile, a new take on John Steinbeck’s epic novel East of Eden arrives this week on Netflix.

TO MAKE This meatless pasta (which you can add meat to, if you wish) is a great, easy weeknight meal. The sauce is quick, but has amazing depth. FYI: One commenter suggested making twice as many fried capers because she ate half while waiting for the pasta to boil, and we can confirm she’s not wrong.

TO READ Perhaps the pain of one family’s experience with a rare form of genetically inherited frontotemporal dementia — cataloged in a new book, The Vanishing Family: Love, Fate, and the Quest to End Dementia — will translate to research, diagnostic tools, and treatments for all dementia patients.

“Over the last few years, without much public fanfare, the financial consequences of ending a marriage have worsened for women in the upper-middle-class.” • Speaking of divorce! • Everyone’s home, but no one’s hosting. • Interesting research is finally underway on the ovary, particularly its function post-menopause. • A fascinating new history.

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