Oprah Winfrey has been dating Stedman Graham for 27 years but she has vowed she will never marry him.
Despite getting engaged to Stedman for a few weeks in November 1992, Oprah says she has never been interested in marriage, and never will be.
Asked if she would die a “never-married” woman, Oprah told Access Hollywood: Yes. I think that’s my final answer.”
Oprah said she thought about making an honest man of Stedman when she attended long-time friend Tina Turner’s wedding in July, but ultimately decided it wasn’t for her.
“Tina was like, ‘Oprah you need to do this. You need to do it’. I was just thinking, ‘Well, okay, would things really be different?’ And no, I don’t think so.”
In fact, Oprah is convinced marriage would change her relationship for the worse. She thinks she and Stedman would not have lasted as long as they have if they were married because he would expect her to act like a “wife” and she couldn’t do it.
“If you ever interviewed him, he would tell you that had we married, we would not be together today,” Oprah said. “Because he’s a traditional man and this is a very untraditional relationship.
“I think it’s acceptable as a relationship, but if I had the title ‘wife’, I think there would be other expectations for what a wife is and what a wife does. First of all, you’ve got to come home sometimes.”
William, Kate and baby George will reportedly move into their new home next week.
The Duke, Duchess and Baby of Cambridge will move into their new Kensington Palace home next week.
After two years of costly renovations, the 20-room Apartment 1A is finally ready for its new inhabitants, The Sunday Express has reported.
William and Kate moved from St James’s Palace to their current cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace after their 2011 wedding.
Since then, they’ve split their time between the tiny two-bedroom cottage and their isolated rented farmhouse on the Welsh island of Anglesey.
Apartment 1A was previously the home of the Queen’s sister Princess Margaret until her death in 2002.
Kate has played a big part in the remodelling, and has reportedly taken inspiration from Crown Princess Mary of Denmark’s Copenhagen home Amalienborg Palace.
“Mary showed them around their apartment at the Amalienborg Palace and they loved the way they had combined their collection of modern art with antique furniture,” an insider told the Express.
“Kate was truly inspired and wants to use some similar ideas in some of the rooms at Kensington Palace.”
Renovations are currently underway and William and Kate’s new country home Anmer Hall. A new driveway is currently being built, giving the 10-bedroom home greater privacy.
The local council also granted planning permission for other improvements to the hall, including a new garden room built on to the kitchen.
A front lawn will be converted into a car park and several outbuildings will but converted into storage rooms and accommodation for security staff.
The Hall is set in 20,000 acres of farmland and also boasts a swimming pool and tennis court.
Troubled star Lindsay Lohan recently learned you don’t mess with Oprah Winfrey.
The 27-year-old actress, who’s agreed to do a reality show for the media mogul’s TV network OWN, hasn’t been showing up to work on the project. This lead to an “intense showdown” between the pair.
Oprah decided to settle things once and for all by travelling to Lindsay’s mum Dina’s house on Long Island, where she told LiLo to get her act together or she wouldn’t get her $2 million pay cheque.
A source told TMZ that Lindsay offered a lot of excuses for her lack of focus on the TV show, including house-hunting in New York, other projects she was trying to finish, and “miscommunications” between her people and the team at OWN.
But this didn’t sit well with the 59-year-old, who wanted to know once and for all if she was serious.
“There was a lot of chaos going on,” Oprah recently told Access Hollywood about the situation.
“So I went to have a conversation, a real conversation about that, to say to her, ‘Do you want to do it? Because if you don’t want to do it, that’s OK. We could just end it. We don’t have to do it’.”
“And… ‘This is what’s conflicting about it.’ Because it’s television and we stand to gain if it does well. But the real truth is – and anybody who knows me, certainly my producers on the way there – [OWN President] Sheri Salata was in the car – I said, ‘If I get here and Lindsay isn’t serious, I will shut this thing down today.’”
After Oprah’s ultimatum, it seems Lindsay got the message and has been cooperating ever since. Her show is scheduled to debut in 2014.
Kaley Cuoco and Ryan Sweeting on the Emmy's red carpet.
Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco is off the market.
The 27-year-old actress has confirmed she is engaged to tennis player Ryan Sweeting after she was snapped wearing a huge diamond sparkler while on the set of her new and very aptly titled movie The Wedding Ringer.
Ryan, who has been dating the actress for just three months, popped the question three days after they made their red carpet debut at the Emmy Awards in LA.
Not long after Kaley tweeted: “Flying high, I could literally touch the sky with you”.
“It’s only been three months but she knows Ryan is the one,” a source close to the actress explains. “When you know, you know,” a friend told Us Weekly.
“She’s never felt this way. She knows this is it. And the ring is gorgeous!”
Before meeting Ryan, Kaley dated Henry Cavill for a whirlwind two weeks in July and was briefly engaged to addiction specialist Josh Resnik.
Ricky Martin arrived in Australia this morning with two very cute little jet setters in tow!
Arriving in Sydney ahead of his national tour, the Latin singer looked cool and calm as he lead his twin sons Matteo and Valentino through the VIP exit.
The five-year-old boys were dressed equally as cool as their dad sporting their own little suitcases.
Ricky’s tour kicks off in Newcastle on October 3 before heading to Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
See Ricky and his sons, who have certainly gown up over the years, here!
Ricky Martin arrives in Sydney with his sons.
Ricky’s sons looked equally as cool as their dad.
Ricky and his boys jet out of LA.
Ricky’s sons have certianly grown up! Here they are aged one.
Last month, The Weekly’s News Editor, Bryce Corbett visited Jordan and Syria to compile a special report on the refugee crisis unfolding there — and meet the Australian in the middle of it all.
Given that words — and a fair-to-middling command of them — are pretty much my job, it’s not often that I am lost for them. But last month’s visit to the Zataari refugee camp in Jordan and the subsequent day I spent at the Syrian border watching families flee to safety are experiences that are hard to describe.
The UN workers who had organised my trip, clearly keen to get a sense of what I might eventually write about it, kept asking me what I made of it all. “So, what did you think?” they asked as we left yet another tent full of refugees who had matter-of-factly described how their homes in Damascus had been bombed.
And the problem was, it was hard to know what to think. The size of the camp (130,000 refugees and counting), the scale of the problems faced by these people, the distant thudding of artillery shells, across the border some 30 kilometres away — made it all rather difficult to process on the spot.
And so I remained mostly silent — determined to soak it all up, take it all in and faithfully record in my notebook the hard facts of the experience of each refugee family I met.
Hopefully my story, in this month’s Australian Women’s Weekly, combined with the excellent photographs of my colleague, Nick Cubbin go some way to capturing the tragedy currently unfolding in the deserts of northern Jordan.
We travelled in the company of Andrew Harper — the Australian-born head of the UN Refugee Agency in Jordan. The man is an inspiration. One of those salt-of-the-earth Aussie heroes whose no-nonsense approach to managing what is currently the biggest humanitarian crisis on the planet has made him the United Nations’ go-to guy for emergency response.
In Zataari, we visited a rudimentary field hospital where five babies a day are born. We watched children (who make up 60 percent of the camp’s inhabitants) kick soccer balls on dust-blown patches of dirt as their mothers queued patiently for the day’s food rations. Some families have been in Zataari for over a year.
With no real end in sight to the civil war in Syria, they could easily be there for at least another year — perhaps longer. That the UN is frantically building infrastructure for a second camp in Jordan, six-times the size of Azraq and capable of receiving more than half-a-million refugees, speaks volumes for the low expectations experts in the region have for a speedy resolution to the Syrian crisis.
Meanwhile, an entire generation of Syrians is gradually being lost out there in the Jordanian deserts. Education is scant to non-existent, the conscription of men to the war effort in Syria (and the death of at least as many) has meant traditional family and social structures have been upended.
Andrew Harper and his team might be able to truck in the four million litres of water required every day to sustain the camp and its inhabitants. They might just be able to manage the health and sanitation and food requirements of this tent-city in the desert, but ultimately all they can do is keep these people sheltered, fed and relatively safe.
Ensuring they are not permanently scarred by living without a proper home or any of the benefits of living in a normal community is something they have no power over.
But as overwhelming as the Zataari camp experience was, it ultimately paled in comparison to the experience we had at the Syrian border. Under the midday sun. in the middle of a rocky desert, we stood on the border and watched as a family of five dragged their meagre collection of belongings through the dust.
They had been walking for twelve hours through the no-man’s land between Syria and Jordan when our convoy intercepted them, having been dropped off the night before under the cover of darkness to avoid sniper fire. Their border crossing would have been quicker were it not for the fact one of their teenage daughter had picked her way through the rocky terrain on crutches.
A day later, back in the relative comfort of my hotel room, I watched the first disturbing TV images emerge of civilians in Damascus who had been killed in a chemical weapons attack.
And now, while world leaders clash over the best course of action in Syria, the flow of refugees grows ever more steady. An estimated two million Syrians have already fled to neighbouring countries. If Andrew Harper was a betting man, he’d wager that number is set to grow exponentially.
For Bryce’s special report from the frontline of Syria’s refugee crisis, see the historic 80th birthday anniversary edition of the Weekly, on sale now.
Crown Princess Mary hasn’t done an interview and photo shoot with an Australian media outlet since The Australian Women’s Weekly last interviewed her in 2005. Before that, Vogue Australia and Andrew Denton’s Enough Rope were her only Australian media. So we are thrilled to bring you this global exclusive to celebrate our 80th birthday.
I had been told to just turn up at the Palace gates and knock, but arriving in Amelienborg Square the day before we were due to meet Crown Princess Mary I realised we had a problem. Which gates and which Palace!
The square features four identical buildings and each has two sets of gates. All look equally regal and spectacular. My fine-tuned journalistic nose led me to the one palace building open to the public: the gift shop.
“If one were to be visiting Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik, which Palace and which gate might one use,” I gingerly enquired of the shop assistant, expecting to be given my marching orders as some sort of suspicious interloper.
To my surprise he was more than helpful and pointed out the Palace, the correct gate, and added that the royal children were home today but Crown Prince Frederik was off sailing!
The next day, armed with suitcases bulging with designer gowns, myself, fashion editor Mattie Cronan and our photographer Michelle Holden arrived at the gates at the allotted hour and were welcomed inside by Crown Princess Mary and her team who had laid on a lovely spread of fresh fruit and coffee.
We opened up our suitcases to reveal the gowns made by Australian designers specifically for this shoot and hung them up on a rail for Crown Princess Mary to peruse.
She was thrilled by the innovation and beauty of the designers’ work and I think she enjoyed showing off her nation’s creativity to her Danish compatriots. She then excitedly showed us around her home, Frederik VIII’s Palace, one room at a time, each more beautiful than the last.
It is a totally stunning building and not what you would expect; full of natural light and a rather fabulous combination of modernity with antique.
Dominating the walls are incredible works of art by Danish contemporary artists many of whom reference the Crown Princess and Crown Prince and include lots of images of Australia — Tasmania especially — and things special to the couple.
Some of the art works used special paint techniques and each was unique and incredible in its own right. Colour featured everywhere.
Before the renovation — which took six years and was managed personally by The Crown Prince Couple — the walls were largely white, but now they were blue, green and yellow with rich gold on the mouldings and columns.
Every now and again Crown Princess Mary would bend down to pick up a toy or a plastic bracelet left by one of her children. A Palace yes, but a family home as well.
The Crown Princess was incredibly welcoming and following our tour, spent a long time trying on all the gowns we had brought before we decided which would work for our shoot the following day.
We started early and as we arrived with our van of lights and equipment, Crown Princess Mary drove out waving as she took her kids to school.
I had been planning this day for so long and after months of meetings, phone calls, a week in Malaysia with the Crown Princess we were finally here with the sun beaming through the windows and the wonderful backdrop of the Palace to shoot in.
The Crown Princess was a dream to work with, a natural in front of the camera — relaxed and beautiful.
Throughout it all, her faithful hound Ziggy entertained us and ensured he featured in our garden shots. To make Ziggy lift her ears on cue I threw her favourite football in the air. Ziggy obliged.
Late in the day Princess Isabella came back from school, ran upstairs to get changed for her dance class and then snuck into our shots also, hugging her mum. And even though we were still working, Prince Christian carried on with his piano lesson as we photographed his mother in her tiara.
It was a magical day and one I suspect I will never forget. If there’s such a thing as the perfect princessly behaviour, Mary has it in spades.
Read the full interview with Crown Princess Mary and see all the stunning photographs in the October issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly, out today.
She is Australia’s richest person — and one of the most successful businesswomen in the world.
How could we not include Mrs Gina Rinehart in the very special, 80th birthday edition of The Australian Women’s Weekly?
We put the request to Mrs Rinehart’s office earlier this year, not really sure how we’d go since Mrs Rinehart is a private person but, after several months of negotiations, her office came back with an invitation that was too good to refuse.
Would The Weekly like to photograph Mrs Rinehart in her beloved Pilbara? It’s the place where she’s happiest, and she loves to show off the beauty of the landscape.
We could hardly believe it, and immediately accepted.
The trip took place in June. We weren’t the only people on it. Mrs Rinehart had also invited 70 bankers along, including the ANZ’s big boss, Mike Smith.
We toured the Roy Hill mine site, where Mrs Rinehart is planning her next big project. The scale of the investment boggles the mind: Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and its partners, have to build port facilities, a 344-kilometre railway line, and accommodation for 5000 workers, before they can make a cent from the project.
It’s a big risk, and Mrs Rinehart was keen to explain to The Weekly’s readers how much goes into trying to get a big investment off the ground.
The hospitality was incredible: on our first day in the desert, waiters came out of nowhere, carrying silver platters with chilled watermelon juice.
Mrs Rinehart works with a small, trusted team, but the next day, they somehow produced slow-cooked lamb, grilled asparagus, even pavlova.
Lunch was served at long tables, set with white linen cloths and proper tableware, under a vaulting sky, near the Fortescue River.
Mrs Rinehart arrived in four-wheel drive, wearing a pair of hot pink sand shoes. She greeted everyone by name, and she gave a speech about the importance of building for the future.
The Weekly offered to bring glamorous gowns and jewels to the shoot but Mrs Rinehart declined all that fuss, saying she was far too busy and, in any case, when she’s working, she — like everyone else — wears the same tan pants and blue shirt that is the Roy Hill uniform.
Just in case she changed her mind, we borrowed a strand of impressive pearls but when I showed them to Mrs Rinehart, she said: “Oh no, the media picks on me when I wear the small ones, so what will they say if they see me in those?”
She happily sat for two portraits, including one by the river, even as rain started to fall.
She was dismissive of gossip that gets into the media, saying much of it is “inaccurate or distorted anyway, and just people talking out of jealousy, or bias” and so she tends to ignore it, focussing instead on “the honesty and friendliness of country people … I’m very fond of such Australians, wherever they live.”
For the full text of the article and the stunning photographs of Mrs Rinehart in the Pilbara, see the historic 80th birthday edition of The Weekly, out today.
The Australian Women's Weekly first ever issue on iPad
To celebrate The Australian Women’s Weekly’s 80th birthday, we’ve brought the very first issue to iPad, availalable to download for free from the App Store.
The Weekly began life, on June 10, 1933, as a newspaper. It was a smash hit — a sell out by lunchtime. For the next 36 hours, thundering through a fourth winter of Depression, the printing presses churned out extra issues to meet demand.
“Splendid New Women’s Paper. Read and you’ll be won,” read the editorial, launching the magazine that has been a constant for women throughout Australian history.
Eighty years on, The Weekly continues to walk a delicate line between being a trailblazer on women’s issues, while still recognizing the central role of family, and we strive to represent and reflect the voice of all Australian women.
To celebrate the 80th anniversary of The Australian Women’s Weekly, we’ve brought the pages of our first ever issue to life on iPad.
Dated June 10, 1933, the free 44-page issue features a front-page fashion story alongside a piece about the battle for equal rights. Download your free issue from the App Store.
Some of the stars wishing us a happy 80th birthday.
The Australian Women’s Weekly turns 80 this year and to celebrate, some of our favourite celebrities have recorded a video message.
From models Sarah Murdoch and Megan Gale to foodies Maggie Beer and Julie Goodwin, singer Ricky Martin, actress Bec Hewitt and even a prince, a wide range of stars have come together to share their good wishes.
Watch the video above and let us know who your favourite is in the comments below!
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