Celebs running from the California wildfires. Zendaya’s ring!! Post Malone’s generosity. A celeb breakup. And text messages in the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni case.

Pacific Palisades is a celeb-filled neighborhood in Los Angeles, and it is basically burning to the ground. A fast-moving wildfire first sparked yesterday morning and a little more than an hour later it had spread to more than 200 acres. Strong winds a fanning the flames while keeping firefighting planes grounded. More than 30K people have fled their homes and many, like Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, will return to find them completely destroyed. Other celebrities living in the Pacific Palisades include Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Miles Teller and his wife Keleigh, Reese Witherspoon, Adam Sandler, and Michael Keaton. Jennifer Lopez’s new movie Unstoppable and the new horror movie Wolf Man were supposed to have their red carpet premieres in West Hollywood last night, but those were canceled. While Unstoppable will be debut on Prime Video next Thursday, January 16, Wolf Man will hit theaters next weekend.

Please pray for Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires. It’s devastating pic.twitter.com/n1WaaXQth3

— Candace Cameron Bure (@candacecbure) January 8, 2025

So TMZ reported that Tom Holland went to Zendaya’s dad and asked for permission to propose months before he actually did. Well, DailyMail.com hopped on the phone with Mr. Zendaya’s Dad, aka Kazembe Ajamu Coleman, to ask about his conversation with Tom, and he said, “That was a bunch of crap dealt out by TMZ…I don’t know what you’re talking about.” DailyMail.com asked him to expound but Mr. Zendaya’s Dad refused to comment further. DailyMail.com has now reached out to reps for Zendaya and Tom, but so far, they haven’t heard back. TMZ said the proposal happened between Christmas and New Year’s but we had no idea until she popped up with that ring on the Golden Globes red carpet. Because Zendaya isn’t talking — and neither is her fiancé or her dad — people who know these things believe her cushion-cut diamond is about 5-carats and set on an 18K white and yellow gold band created by London-based jeweler Jessica McCormack, and that it’s worth over $200K. 

Renee Brown is a single mom who works two jobs to make ends meet. One of those jobs is bartending at this neighborhood dive bar in Houston called The Railyard Bar, where Renee was scheduled to work on Christmas Eve. As Renee told Music Mayhem Magazine, “Going into work Christmas Eve, I was so sad I had to leave my baby girl to go to work, oblivious that God would send me a Christmas miracle.” So what happened was, Post Malone and his buddies walked into that bar on Christmas Eve. Renee said everyone knew exactly who he was, but she told her regulars “not to be weird and bug him” because she knew he just wanted to feel normal. She said Posty and his friends enjoyed their drinks and listened to music until the bar closed. When he asked for his check, Renee told him some of the regulars and his friends had covered it. Post then asked her to charge him something so he could tip her, so she rang him up for one dollar. Then as she was closing out all her checks, she saw that Post left her a tip for TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS. Renee broke down in tears. She told the magazine she’d recently moved after losing everything and had been making do for the past two years without a car. So now she can afford to get a car, catch up on rent and even save a little bit for a new business she wants to start so she doesn’t have to keep working two jobs and can spend more time with her daughter.

Post Malone left a $20,000 tip for Renee Brown, a single mother working as a bartender on Christmas Eve. pic.twitter.com/47AhhtrteW

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) January 8, 2025

We’ll probably be hearing about a lot of celebrity breakups here in the New Year. First up, Austin Butler and Kaia Gerber. If we can trust them at this point…TMZ says they actually broke up just before the end of 2024. TMZ’s source says that after 3 years of dating, Austin and Kaia mutually agreed to go their separate ways and that there’s no animosity between the two of them. Austin and Kaia started dating in December 2021, about a month after she broke up with Jacob Elordi. But breakup rumors began this past October when fans started noticing they hadn’t seen the two of them together since Austin’s birthday in August.

On December 20, Blake Lively filed a complaint in California claiming Justin Baldoni sexual harassed her while filming It Ends With Us and retaliated against her with a smear campaign after she complained about his inappropriate behavior. The next day, The New York Times published report about Blake’s accusations, leaning favorably toward her. Then on NYE, Blake formally filed a lawsuit in New York against Justin, his production company, his publicist and others for retaliation, sexual harassment and other workplace safety concerns. That same day, Justin filed a $250M libel lawsuit against The New York Times for how it reported Blake’s allegations, saying they had “cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites” – those untouchables would be Blake and her husband Ryan Reynolds. Justin said he would also be taking further legal action against Blake and others. Justin is being represented by Bryan Freedman, who also happens to be Megyn Kelly’s attorney. Yesterday, Megyn had Bryan on her show, and shared some information that we haven’t been privy to …. until now. Yesterday, Bryan shared over six months of text messages between Justin and the two editors he’d hired to work on the movie. In the group chat, Justin calls the editors “Dream Team” but to protect their identities, their names were blocked out and changed to Editor #1 and Editor #2. IT IS A LOT!!! But I’ve edited it down a good bit here. You can read the texts in their entirety on Megyn Kelly’s website. Apparently, Blake wanted to be in on the editing room from the get-go, but Justin had been putting her off. In February 2024, Justin texted that he finally decided that “the best path forward spiritually and what’s best for the movie is that I suck it up and let her in.” They’d already done a test of their first rough cut, and Justin said Blake asked to see all the notes. The plan was for her to watch the movie, take her own notes, put in her two cents during an editing session, and then take off for vacation in Italy. Editor #1 said he thought this was “the right call,” adding, “She’s fresh eyes, so we can talk to her about things that came up from the screening.” Later, Justin texted that Blake messaged him that she was wrapping up her vacation in Italy and wanted the editors to fly in from LA to meet with her in NY for more edits. Justin told them if that’s something they wanted to do, great. If not, he’d support them staying in LA and meeting virtually. Editor #2: “… I want Blake to feel like she’s getting what she wants so we can move on from this need of hers.” Justin: “For the record she’s been getting what she wants this entire movie….And she’s getting to edit, which is what she wants, let’s remember that lol.” After some back and forth, the editors decided to fly in to NY because that would also give them a chance to see some of their friends. Justin: “…Win win / I’Il let them know – I think the game is to ask for virtual and then give in and send you. As a practice, we can’t just keep giving her everything on exactly her terms.” Editor #2: “Make her stay in Italy. Tell her I DEMAND to edit in Italy.” On May 15, Justin texted the report from his rough cut of the movie that had been screened for an audience a couple nights before. EDITOR #1: I hope Blake got a copy!!! Justin: “No, I don’t think so. Wouldn’t matter anyways – she has her mind made up. We focus on what’s best for the film! It will all work out.” The next day — Justin: “Just curious if you guys have peaked at her cut and if anything has changed?” EDITOR #2: “I have just been told we are not permitted to look.” Justin: “Haha wow / When did that happen.” EDITOR #1: “As per Sony.” Justin: “Wow ok then / The editors and director isn’t allowed to look at an actresses cut. Got it. Well here we go! / We will keep taking the high road.” On May 31, Editor #1 sends a screenshot of the preview results from both Blake and Justin’s rough cut screenings, showing how males and females responded to each version, while also breaking down the female audience into Under 35 and 35 and older. EDITOR #1: “In our key demo, OVER 20% higher in the Excellent rating and 15% percent higher in the Definite Recommends… That says it all…..The only group she went up with in the ‘excellent’ category was men, and they are absolutely NOT our audience! And that’s only because she focused more of the movie on herself, and men like to look at Blake Lively… men are such pigs.” On June 6, Justin sends a photo from his hospital bed, explaining that he’d been there for 3 days for a possible infection. He also apologized for not being able to re-record some of the lines from the movie just yet. EDITOR #1: “….We didn’t wanna bug you during all of this, but our secret source has let us know that the new version they are previewing tomorrow has a bunch of our version put back in! We just have to keep it quiet, because we want to keep our back channel open… We love you and all of this craziness (health and movie) is gonna work out, dammit!!!” Justin then texted that doctors had diagnosed him with a spinal infection, and he would be stuck at home with an IV pumping him full of antibiotics for 6 weeks. That meant he wouldn’t be able to start promoting the movie for a while. Editor #1: “ … If Blake is so determined to handle the marketing on the movie, then just let her! Perfect time to look out for number one…Btw, picture was supposed to get locked this week, did that happen? Just curious what version is going out in to the world with all of our names on it!” Justin: “I’ll watch soon! No idea re picture. Evidently they are all at book bonanza. Hard.” *This would be Colleen Hoover’s book bonanza in Grapevine, Texas. EDITOR #1: “Oh boy…” Justin: “….I guess Sony asked for more changes to get it closer to our cut but I haven’t watched / They are showing it at book bonanza.” EDITOR #2: “The whole movie?” Justin: “Yup. Hers.” EDITOR #1: “WOW.” Justin: “Was supposed to be ours and then I was uninvited ‍♂️ whole thing is pretty cruel and intense.” EDITOR #1: “UN (BLANKING) BELIEVABLE.” On Aug. 5, Editor #2 wished Justin a wonderful time at the NY screening, saying he was sorry he wouldn’t be there. Editor #1: “Same! Just couldn’t bring myself to be in the same room with your know who… but will be cheering you on from here!” Justin: “Long story but we won’t be in the same room- I was asked to not even come to premier. I can figure it out.” EDITOR #1 said the reason they weren’t going was because they were under the impression Justin wouldn’t be there. EDITOR #2: “It would be very hard for me to sit and watch the ‘final’ film for the first time at the premiere. Just cheer for us when our names come up!! Sending all love.” Justin: “Ok. Yeah I haven’t seen it either.” EDITOR #2: “Crazy times.” One week later on Aug. 12, Justin texted the Dream Team from Sweden. He said he flew there as soon as the press tour was over and was still recovering from the emotional stress of how they were all treated. Justin: “I just wanted to tell you that I am so grateful for you both because the movie that’s been released is 97 percent our film. And while it’s not exactly what we had done, it’s very close.” Justin said he had a problem with the music Blake chose and that “it doesn’t really have a theme that stays with the movie.” But he was happy that “people are responding, and I’m getting messages from survivors that they are feeling seen and our intention, I believe, has, has overcome… Justin: “It’s been really hard for me…On what could have been one of the most beautiful nights of my life – career wise – I literally was sent to the basement with my whole, all my friends and family for over an hour because I wasn’t allowed to be seen. (Blake) didn’t want me anywhere near her or the rest of the cast, so they ushered me off the carpet and they sent us down to the basement. We were down there together – my friends and family, the people that love me the most – and they start laughing because of the ridiculousness of this whole thing….we were all joyful and laughing because none of that sh-t matters. None of it. That’s not why we’re in the business. That’s not why the three of us are in this business is to attend a premiere like that and be celebrated. We’re in this business because we are artists, and we believe in what we do, and because we want to create art that touches people’s hearts and souls and can move people. And that’s what we did, that’s what you both did, and I believe that will follow each of us and that truth will prevail and that light and love will win. And I say this in a weird place, because, you know, she’s leaked some attacks of me already, and I just believe that there’s protection, because this whole thing has been so crazy and so unjust, and yet we just keep taking the high road, all of us, you know. Great things will come from this for everybody, and I will be singing both of your praises until the end.”