Advertisement
Home Page 4806

Christina Applegate: ‘I miss my exquisite breasts’

Christina Applegate: I miss my exquisite breasts

Photo: Getty

Christina Applegate has opened up about how she came to terms with having a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I miss my exquisite breasts sometimes,” she told More magazine, making reference to a line about her breasts in the comedy Anchorman, in which she starred with Will Farrell.

Christina, who discovered she had breast cancer in 2008, explained how she reacted to the news.

“I was just shaking and then also, immediately, I had to go into ‘take-care-of-business-mode’,” she said.

The 40-year-old credits her family, friends and a spiritual advisor for helping her through the “total emotional collapse” that later followed.

The actress, whose mother is also a breast cancer survivor, says she had no time to grieve the loss of her breasts at the time, after news of her life-saving operation was leaked to the press.

“The good thing is that we got the information out, but talking about the facts of the disease [to others], I didn’t have to see what was going on with me,” she said.

“I think when [the attention] slowed down, it all came crashing down.”

Thankfully, Christina’s cancer was found early due to a doctor-ordered MRI and she has made a full recovery following her surgery.

Now a first-time mum to one-year-old Sadie Grace, Christina says she has overhauled her lifestyle and switched to a more healthy diet.

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 4806

‘Prince Harry had me jailed’ kiss-and-tell girl claims

Prince Harry's Vegas 'lover' writing tell-all book

Carrie Reichert (© Facebook) who claims to have drunkenly kissed Prince Harry in Las Vegas.

The model who claimed to have had a “drunken fumble” with a naked Prince Harry in Las Vegas has sensationally accused the royal of having her jailed.

Carrie Reichert, 40, gave a tell-all interview in September, in which she claimed to have had a romantic encounter with a naked Harry.

Related: My drunken fumble with naked Prince Harry

The next day, she was arrested for fraudulent cheques she wrote in 2004 and jailed for one month.

Now, the blonde beautician has made the astonishing claim that Harry’s minders and the British Secret Service arranged for her to be imprisoned to keep her quiet.

“I believe the British secret service or whoever protects the royals have something to do with my situation,” she told the UK’s MailOnline.

“I am not being treated the same as someone else in my situation.”

Reichert’s attorney Donald Rafferty says he believe his clients outrageous accusations and is now investigating them.

“Carrie feels like she is being treated much different to other people,” he said. “Professionally since 1984, in my experience a charge of this nature is typically not prosecuted at the same level that she is being prosecuted at.

“She became high profile very quickly because of an interview she gave and that had an impact. I am not convinced that Mississippi authorities were the ones necessarily stirring that gumbo as we say, but something was.

“I am trying to get my teeth into the case to help that young lady. She is disappointed and very upset over the way this is going down.”

Related: Harry’s kiss-and-tell girl jailed for fraud

Reichert is currently awaiting trial on a felony fraud charge. She is accused of writing four bad cheques worth a total of $21,672 in 2003.

She alleges the cheques were the result of a failed business venture.

A St James’s Palace spokesman has flatly denied Reichert’s tale of a romantic encounter with the 28-year-old Prince, saying Harry had never met Reichert.

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 4806

‘People love my size 16 body’

'People love my size 16 body'

Stella Boonshoft has received an overwhelming positive response to posting this image online

After years of being bullied and feeling bad about her body, 18-year-old Stella Boonshoft did not expect to be overwhelmed with positive feedback after an image she posted on her blog wearing only her underwear went viral last week.

The photograph of the size 16 New York student and the impassioned blog post that accompanied it garnered 270,000 likes, nearly 10,000 shares and over 26,000 comments in only 14 hours. It has since been viewed over four million times.

Related: Does Facebook cause eating disorders?

“I got an outpouring of love, like pretty much instantly, but it was also extremely overwhelming because I made myself so vulnerable on the internet. It’s a one-way conversation with people,” she told the US Today show.

While the reaction has been mostly positive, Stella’s impassioned post has also attracted some negative responses.

“I think people are cruel because they are uncomfortable with seeing images of someone who, you know, is not thin, and they also don’t understand what the body acceptance movement is,” she said.

Stella said her first reaction was to ‘burst into tears’ when thousands of people started looking at her picture, but decided to leave the picture online after a flood of supportive comments about the post.

Having faced incessant bullying and being made to feel like her body was no good, the 18-year-old New Yorker has come to terms with her ‘imperfections’, and decided to share her thoughts online as part of an online positive body image movement.

“WARNING: Picture might be considered obscene because subject is not thin. And we all know that only skinny people can show their stomachs and celebrate themselves. Well I’m not going to stand for that. This is my body. Not yours. MINE,” she wrote.

Stella went on to dedicate the picture to anyone who had made her feel bad about her body, including schoolyard and social media bullies, her horseback riding trainer “telling me I was too fat when I was nine,” the girl from summer camp “who told me I’d be really pretty if I just lost a few pounds, and finally to advertisers who constantly make young women feel bad about their bodies.

“MOST OF ALL, this picture is for me,” she wrote.

“For the girl who hated her body so much she took extreme measures to try to change it.

“Who cried for hours over the fact she would never be thing. Who was teased and tormented just for being who she was.

“I’m so over that. THIS IS MY BODY, DEAL WITH IT.”

Related: How you can boost your daughter’s body image

She hopes the viral post will help other women embrace their bodies, and that advertisers might listen up too.

“Every single day I’m bombarded with images of half-naked women, and they all look the same. They all have the same kind of body type, and somehow that’s okay, but, you know, God forbid we put someone like me, who is a (US) size 12 on the billboards.”

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 4806

Rachael Beck gets her scrumptious on

Q+A with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Rachael Beck

Rachael Beck

As the world’s most famous flying car prepares to touch down in a theatre near you, Aussie musicals star, Rachael Beck sits down for five minutes with The Women’s Weekly

1.What attracted you to the role in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

The name of my character of course! Truly Scrumptious!!

2. What is it about the story that has endured for as long as it has?

It is a magical tale. People can escape into another world in this story. Boys love the car, girls love the children and comical characters. The book is very clever. Jokes for adults and jokes for children.

3.. The child-catcher is the most terrifying character in children’s literature. Discuss.

I agree. Terrifying. Tyler Coppin will play this role brilliantly in this production. I was once told by a friend of mine who noticed my children were running away from me in the supermarket that if I told them the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang would catch them they would stop doing it. There’s a tip for you.

4. Is there a high-corset count in your wardrobe for this role? Is it tough to sing in a corset?

Yes there is. Luckily I sang in corsets when I played “Fantine” in Les Miserables. I am used to it. It also means I can eat more creme brulees and sticky date puddings and just pull it in.

5. The original book was penned by Ian ‘James Bond’ Fleming – does that make you a Bond girl?

Definitely! You wait for the sexy swimmers scene. Mmmmm might have to be in the sequel.

6. Belle, Sally Bowles, Fantine or Truly Scrumptious – besides the fact you have played them all, what do these characters have in common?

They are all searching for love.

7. Does the car fly? Or would that be giving too much away?

You will have to come and see it! All I can say is, whatever happens it is very magical.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang plays in Sydney from November 19 and in Melbourne from January 30. See the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang website for details

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 4806

Charles and Camilla’s Australian tour

Scientists find formula for 'the perfect day'

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will arrive in Australia on November 5.

Clarence House has revealed details of Prince Charles and Camilla’s Australian tour, which will kick off at a cracking pace on November 5 as the royal couple begin their whirlwind tour visiting five states in just six days.

The Prince and Duchess’ whip around Australia is part of a three-country tour making up one of the last of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

They will spend two weeks visiting Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand on a tour themed “service to the community”.

The trip to Australia is a first for the Duchess of Cornwall, who is known to dislike travel, but is very much looking forward to the Pacific tour.

Key among the couple’s engagements will be the presentation of the Melbourne cup to the winner by Camilla, with Charles presenting a trophy to the winner of the Diamond Jubilee Plate.

After visiting Papua New Guinea, the couple will touch down in Longreach in far north Queensland where they will be welcomed by Indigenous custodians to inaugurate a new aircraft for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and the tour will end with wreath laying at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on November 10.

Other highlights include meeting NRL indigenous stars in Sydney and cricket stars at the MCG who help disadvantaged youth, a community BBQ in Queensland, an Adelaide school visit and supporting Australia’s armed forces with a number of formal ceremonies.

The couple will then go on to New Zealand for the tour’s final leg where the Prince of Wales will celebrate his 64th birthday, celebrated with an event at Government House on November 14 accompanied by other New Zealanders also celebrating their birthdays on the same day.

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s Australian schedule

  • A Welcome to Country by Indigenous custodians

  • The Prince of Wales, as Patron, officially naming a new aircraft for the Royal Flying Doctor Service at the QANTAS Museum, Longreach;

  • visiting the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame;

  • joining hundreds of families at the Diamond Jubilee Community BBQ in Longreach;

  • The Prince of Wales meeting tapestry makers demonstrating traditional weaving skills during a visit to the Australian Tapestry Workshop;

  • The Prince of Wales viewing cricket skills clinics and meeting young participants in Cricket Victoria’s ‘Harmony’ programme for migrant and Indigenous communities at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), including players from men’s and women’s representative teams;

  • attending the Melbourne Cup;

  • The Prince of Wales attending the Housing Melbourne Symposium on sustainable urbanism at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne;

  • The Duchess of Cornwall attending a reception for Osteoporosis Australia at Government House, Melbourne;

  • attending a youth performing arts showcase; gardening and cooking with the children of the Kilkenny Primary School, Adelaide, together with chef Stephanie Alexander;

  • participating in a showcase of South Australia’s Food and Wine Industry at Penfolds Vineyard, Adelaide;

  • The Prince of Wales attending an event to promote South Australia’s economic innovation at the Adelaide Convention Centre;

  • meeting a wide range of people attending Diamond Jubilee functions in Adelaide, Hobart, Sydney and Canberra;

  • meeting local residents, shopkeepers, volunteers and heritage workers during a walk through Richmond, Tasmania;

  • The Duchess of Cornwall attending a reception with Tasmanian Rural Women in Richmond, Tasmania;

  • The Prince of Wales seeing sheep shearing and wool classing during a visit to a sheep stud in Sorrell, Tasmania;

  • The Prince of Wales seeing demonstrations and displays from a range of Antarctic and Marine Research programmes, Hobart;

  • meeting members of the Australian Defence Force recently returned from active service, and their families, at Garden Island, Sydney, including a Royal Salute and inspection of Royal Guard and Band;

  • promoting the Australian Wool industry at the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney;

  • The Prince of Wales highlighting the work of the New South Wales’ lifesavers and other emergency workers and volunteers at a reception at Icebergs Club, Bondi Beach;

  • The Prince of Wales joining NRL football stars for a discussion with high school students participating in the National Rugby League’s “Dream Believe Achieve” programme for Indigenous young people at the Bondi Surf Bathers’ Lifesaving Club;

  • The Duchess of Cornwall accepting Colonel in Chief of the Royal Australian Corps of Military Police, Victoria Barracks Sydney, including Royal Salute and inspection of Royal and Band;

  • The Duchess of Cornwall attending a reception for leading women in the community at Government House;

  • Their Royal Highnesses officially naming Queen Elizabeth Terrace, Canberra;

  • official meetings with the Governor-General, Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition;

  • wreath-laying at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra on the eve of Remembrance Day, at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra

Video: Camilla: A new Queen?

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 4806

Popular kids earn more money as adults

Popular kids earn more money as adults

Kids who were popular in high school earn more money as adults, a new study has found.

US researchers from the National Bureau of Economic research found that teenagers from “cool groups” earned 10 percent more than “social rejects” and two percent more than classmates with the average number of friends.

Related: Does Facebook cause eating disorders?

The study used data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, which surveyed more than 10,000 people who graduated from a Wisconsin high school in 1957.

It found that students who were popular earned more 35 years later than their less-social counterparts, and significantly more than “loners”.

Researchers said the extra income earned by popular students was as much as half of what would be earned by an extra year of tertiary study, proving the importance of good social skills.

A recent New Zealand study backed up this finding, concluding that popularity in high school is linked to happiness later in life.

The survey of 1000 adults found that “adolescent social connectedness” was more important than academic achievement when it came to predicting “adult wellbeing”.

Related: One in five kids overweight when they start school

Being unpopular at school is also linked to poor health. Researchers from Sweden’s Umea University found that children with fewer friends were more likely to suffer from obesity and high blood pressure in their 40s.

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 4806

Sexism debate continues with Abbott’s baby comments

Sexism debate continues with Abbott's baby comments

Tony Abbott has apologised for accusing the government of not understanding families.

Comments from Tony Abbott accusing the Gillard Government of being “inexperienced” when it comes to having babies are the latest in a series of assumed sexist slurs and personal attacks that have clouded Canberra these past two weeks.

The Opposition Leader has apologised over comments he made in response to the government’s plans to cut the baby bonus as part of its budget delivery update on Monday.

Related: Misogyny tirade inspired dictionary rethink

When announcing the change which will see the bonus cut from $5000 to $3000 for second and subsequent children, Treasurer Wayne Swan justified the change arguing “after the first child you’ve already bought the cot, the pram and the other items that you can use again”.

Mr Abbott told the Seven Network this did not reflect the reality of family living.

“If the government was a bit more experienced in this area they wouldn’t come out with glib lines like that,” he said.

The Prime Minister responded insisting that Mr Abbott explain what he meant by “that line”.

The Opposition leader specified that he was referring to his own experience of needing a double pram after having his first daughter when the second was born 15 months later.

He said that he meant the Prime Minister no offence, but was happy to apologise.

“If she (Ms Gillard) wants to take offence of course I’m sorry about that. And if she wants to take offence of course I’m sorry about that. And if she would like me to say sorry, I’m sorry,” Mr Abbott said.

The Opposition Leader — who was the subject of a scathing speech delivered by the Prime Minister in which she attacked him for sexism and misogyny — went on to say he thought people read too much into his comments.

“This was as innocent as a comment can be,” he told Fairfax Radio.

Mr Abbott’s suggestion that the debate “move on” from sexism and personal attacks has been echoed by shadow treasurer Joe Hockey, who described Labor’s reaction to Mr Abbott’s comments as “just pathetic”.

Related: Was the PM’s tirade at Abbott justified?

“If they had more experience in a range of different areas they would understand the pressures,” he said.

Mr Hockey said that Abbott’s comments referred to the whole government, not just the Prime Minister, and supported the Opposition Leader’s remarks, saying that he, as a father of three children under five understood the pressures.

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 4806

Scientists find formula for ‘the perfect day’

Scientists find formula for 'the perfect day'

A new study breaks down what women want from their day. Does it sound like your perfect day?

Men are constantly grappling with the mystery of what women want. A new study could help them get to the bottom of it, and they might be pleasantly surprised.

Aside from eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, a German and US survey of 900 women suggests that a woman’s top priority is a bit of romance, saying their perfect daily routine would include an average of 106 minutes enjoying ‘intimate relations’ with their partner.

Related: Can looking your age kill your career?

Favourite activities also included computer time, with the fairer sex opting for an average of 98 minutes on their favourite websites and checking emails.

The more predictable pastimes also got a look-in, with socialising coming in a third favourite way for women to spend their time preferring to spend 82 minutes a day on honing their social skills.

Fifty-seven minutes on the phone and 56 minutes at the shops were found to be part of a woman’s perfect day, but neither of them could trump relaxing, which the women surveyed wanted devote 78 minutes each day to.

Exercise, preparing food, commuting and some work (only 36 minutes!) were also considered in data collected to find the ‘perfect day’ which was found to include 16 different activities, each taking between 33 and 106 minutes.

“Our research asks what a perfect day would look like if we take into account the crucial fact that even the most pleasurable activities are usually less enjoyable the longer they last and the more often we do them,” said the study’s researchers.

Related: Older women have more one night stands

The researchers also analysed data from the US Time Use Survey which measures the amount of time men and women spend on activities and used it to work out the perfect routine, combining this with the survey of 900 women with an average age of 38.

The study found it was better to divide the day up into smaller packages of things you like and a variety of activities, partly to avoid boredom.

Your say: How would you divide up your perfect day?

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 4806

Pippa Middleton on being famous for her ‘brother-in-law and bottom’

Pippa Middleton on being famous for her 'brother-in-law and bottom'

Pippa Middleton reveals her struggles with 'startling' sudden fame in her new book

Pippa Middleton has revealed her struggles over coming to terms with fame brought on by her family and figure.

In her debut book, Celebrate: A Year of British Festivities for Families and Friends, the usually private princess of party planning talks about being suddenly thrust in to the limelight thanks to her sister Kate marrying the second in line to the throne, admitting she is still coming to terms with fame.

Private Pippa’s publishing debut

“It is a bit startling to achieve global recognition (if that’s the right words) before the age of 30, on account of your sister, your brother-in-law and your bottom,” she writes.

“One day I might be able to make sense of this.”

Earlier this month, it was reported that Pippa was all set to tour the US promoting her party-planning book, but had to cancel the many television appearances she had scheduled following the publication of topless photos of her sister and the scandal that ensued.

The canning of Pippa’s publicity tour is another disadvantage of being a royal-in-law, as is the sudden fame and loss of privacy she discusses in the book.

Despite all this, Pippa says in her celebration bible, that she tends to “concentrate on the advantages.”

Related: Pippa Middleton ‘devastated’ by ugly face taunts

“In the meantime I think it’s fair to say that it has its upside and downside. I certainly have opportunities many can only dream of — but in most ways I’m a typical girl in her 20s trying to forge a career and represent herself in what can sometimes seem rather strange circumstances.”

The book Celebrate: A Year of British Festivities for Families and Friends is the result of a publishing deal reported to be valued at more than $600,000.

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 4806

Jodi and Braith’s amazing wedding!

Jodi and Braith's amazing wedding!

There were tears of joy, lots of laughter and a whole lot of love when gorgeous actress Jodi Gordon married big-hearted rugby league champion Braith Anasta.

“Yes, I cried,” smiles a beaming Jodi Gordon, who was overcome with emotion when she tied the knot with her “Mr Handsome”, Braith Anasta, on a clifftop in Bali last week, in front of her family and closest friends. For the beautiful bride, resplendent in J’Aton couture, the tears began as Braith vowed “I promise to love you always,” and continued as he leant in to tenderly brush a tear from his bride’s cheek, pledging to share his life with Jodi.

It was the culmination of three years of joy since they fell in love after Braith’s team mate Brett Finch set them up on a blind date. “From day one we just clicked and got on like a house on fire,” an emotional Braith told the 120 guests who travelled from Australia and New Zealand to Bali for the couple’s modern take on a classic white wedding.

“From very early on I knew I’d found the one – and Jodi really is amazing. She is my best friend and I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together and start a family together.” Braith held hands with Jodi like he never wanted to let go after his radiant bride walked down a white rose petal-strewn aisle, dazed with happiness and beaming an infectious smile.

“I was also crying my eyes out there,” admits the Sydney Roosters and State of Origin hero, who will play with the Tigers next season. “The emotions are running so high because it means so much to both of us.” Jodi, 27, and 30-year-old Braith spent 12 months planning their dream wedding, booking the sumptuous villa Istana at Uluwatu and meticulously planning a spectacular white wedding above the dramatic white cliffs of Bali’s famous surf break.

See all of the beautiful photos from Jodi and Braith’s special day, plus find out all the details of the dress and reception in in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale Monday October 22, 2012.

Related stories


Advertisement