Smokers to be given free vape kits in world first and pregnant women to be offered £400 to quit

star Maya Vander is pregnant after suffering a miscarriage last June.ET confirmed the happy news Thursday, which comes after a string of devastating pregnancy losses for the real estate agent. Last year, Vander shared the heartbreaking news that she had a miscarriage at 10 weeks, just six months after going through a stillbirth the year prior.Taking to her Instagram Story at the time, Vander posted a photo of Aiden, her 4-year-old son, sleeping.

Brendan Fraser is opening up about his son, Griffin's autism diagnosis.Fraser — who was being honored at Greenwich International Film Festival's Inaugural GIFF Inspiration Talk and Award Ceremony Wednesday — shared how inspired he is by the 20-year-old and others with autism.«I'm no expert on the varieties of spectrum disorders. I'm a dad, and that's what I can talk about.

family feud and ongoing drama with Teresa Giudice, it appears Melissa Gorga has no plans to depart from .The reality star recently addressed speculation that she might not return to the show after finishing season 13 during a new episode of Gorga's podcast — from PodcastOne.«I have no intentions on leaving,» Melissa said definitively. «I never run away when the going gets tough, that's not my personality.»«Our family has been through ups and downs for so many years on this show,» she added.

For the second time in three years, the final stage of the broadcast pilot season has been upended by an extraordinary event. In 2020, it was a global pandemic. This year, it is a writers strike. The work stoppage, which started May 2, did not impact pilots, which all had been completed before WGA’s contract with the studios expired May 1, I hear.

A seven-mile stretch of the Minnesota State Highway 5 is being renamed for Prince Rogers Nelson, the rocker behind such hits as “Purple Rain,” “When Doves Cry” and “Raspberry Beret,” among many other songs.

EXCLUSIVE: Starz’ The Venery of Samantha Bird has shut down production as a result of the writers strike.

Two private security guards on the set of NBC’s Chicago Fire were injured Thursday when youths broke through a barrier and drove a four-wheeler onto the drama’s Chicago set.

Hollywood labor presented a united front last night at the Shrine Auditorium in support of the Writers Guild of America’s ongoing strike, which is now in its third day. That included Hollywood’s Teamsters Local 399, whose secretary-treasurer and chief negotiator Lindsay Dougherty had the biggest mic-drop moment in front of the crowd of 1,800 WGA West members.

Shohei Ohtani tied a career-high with 13 strikeouts as the Los Angeles Angels beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Wednesday night. But that wasn’t the biggest news on the night.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic We’ve all heard Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” but if you really listen to the lyrics — “Love can touch us one time, And last for a lifetime … Near, far, wherever you are / I believe that the heart does go on” — the tragedy they describe applies to more than just comely Rose learning to live without her blue-eyed cabin boy. Eighteen years after “Titanic” made her a mega-star, Dion lost her husband and manager, René Angélil, and the singer has made no secret of her struggle to move on since. An old-school, straight-faced studio romance featuring five new songs from Ms. Dion, writer-director Jim Strouse’s “Love Again” is all about such healing — to the extent that if it were a book instead of a movie, it would be filed in the self-help section. Liberally adapted from the 2016 German film “Texts for You” (“SMS für Dich”), the more-creepy-than-cute plot focuses on a grieving New York children’s book illustrator who sparks up a new relationship with the complete stranger who’s inherited her dead boyfriend’s phone number. “Truly, Madly, Deeply” this isn’t.

Emily Longeretta Warning: This story contains spoilers from “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story,” now streaming on Netflix. “Queen Charlotte” may be an extension of the “Bridgerton” universe, but its brand-new story by Shonda Rhimes is quite different, with a much more serious tone. “The series in itself is like a different beast,” says Corey Mylchreest, who portrays young King George III in the Netflix drama. “It feels like ‘Bridgerton’ but it has maybe darker moments to it, and it’s a little bit grittier. So it feels like its own thing.” The story of Queen Charlotte and King George III was briefly touched on in Season 2 of “Bridgerton,” but this prequel dives in to the origin story of a young Charlotte (India Amarteifio) as she embarks on her arranged marriage to a young King George. Charlotte’s fearlessness — especially as a Black woman marrying the King of England — changes the country, under the auspices of what the show calls “The Great Experiment.”

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The TV Academy has denied the petition for Apple’s “Schmigadoon!” to move from submitting for outstanding comedy series to the scripted variety category, Variety has learned exclusively. It had been reported that the streamer had filed an official petition to move the show into the newly titled scripted variety category where it would face off against “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” “Saturday Night Live” and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.” However, the news seemed to be premature, with the Television Academy confirming the petition has been denied and Apple has been notified. Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Emmy predictions in all categories.

Formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, the country trio, composed of lead singer Natalie Maines, 48, and sisters Martie Maguire, 53, and Emily Strayer, 50, were asked if the politically-charged statement is still a “defining episode” of the group’s career.“It’s defining in the way it set us free,” Maines told the Los Angeles Times. “It got us out of this box of country music, which we never wanted to be in and never felt like that’s who we were.”“We didn’t have to do any of that bulls–t anymore.

Ellise Shafer Brad Pitt is getting in the cockpit of a real Formula One race car for his upcoming film on the international racing league, according to director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. During a panel about the untitled film at the F1 Accelerate Summit in Miami, Kosinski and Bruckheimer shared production details of the Apple Studios movie, which stars Pitt and counts seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton among its producers. According to panel moderator Will Buxton, Kosinksi and Bruckheimer are “creating an 11th team filming on track and on event from Silverstone to the end of the year.” Silverstone is the track where the British Grand Prix takes place. This year, the event will be held on July 9.

Shalini Dore Features News Editor When last we saw the title character of Mani Ratnam’s epic “Ponniyin Selvan” saga, the real-life prince who would expand the Chola empire from South India all the way to the Ganges in the north was drowning as he crossed from Lanka to India. Instead of picking up at that cliffhanger, the action-packed second installment rewinds a few decades to focus on different characters, before circling back to reveal the fate of Jayam Ravi’s title character, also known as Arunmozhi Varman. “Ponniyin Selvan: Part Two” starts by filling in the backstory of how Arunmozhi’s older brother, Crown Prince Aditha Karikalan (Vikram), fell for Nandini (Aishwariya Rai Bachchan), an orphaned girl living with a priest family at the local temple. The royal family disapproved of him marrying a girl whose antecedents weren’t known, and so she was chased off. The story then picks up to when reports reach town that the younger prince has drowned.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor It’s deja vu all over again for Patric Verrone, the former WGA West president who led the guild during the 2007-08 writers strike. Verrone, who spoke to Variety while picketing outside Fox Studios in West Los Angeles, sees a number of parallels to the dynamic that led to the work stoppage in November 2007 but also a number of important differences. He is a member of the negotiating committee that has been wrangling this latest three-year contract with executives at the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. “I would say the chief similarity is that in 2007, and in 2023, the management didn’t believe us, when we said we were going to strike and that our demands were genuine, and that we had the full support of our membership,” Verrone said. “There was skepticism on the part of the companies that this would actually happen.”

SWNS reports. It’s unclear if law enforcement is handling the case.Fancy homes that date to the 18th century form a crescent on this street, which is known around the world for having a “perfect lawn.” A Georgian-themed “grand coronation party” is scheduled for Saturday in honor of King Charles III’s coronation at Westminster Abbey in London.“Celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Georgian era,” a flyer for the Royal Crescent event reads.”Decorate your own regal crown, watch demonstrations on royal fashion and visit the Georgian Cook cooking up delicious recipes in the kitchen.”It’s unclear how many royal fans are coming to the bash to celebrate the official transfer of power to Charles, 74, after the September death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner’s love story has come to an end after his wife filed to end their 18-year marriage. Costner is reportedly shocked and does not want the divorce.

Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins isn’t someone you might first pick as a music veteran capable of offering some unusual yet penetrating insight on modern rap music, but that’s certainly what he did in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe posted yesterday. The topic of conversation was Yeat, a rapper who has become massively popular for his slurry of debauchery, despondency, and raw energy.

Staying patient! Emily Ratajkowski is open to dating a woman — she just needs to meet the right person.  

Looks like Ed Sheeran won’t be leaving the music industry in disgust after all.