The daily gossip: Britney Spears flies a plane in celebration, Suni Lee chickened out of meeting Justin Bieber, and more

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1. Britney Spears freed from her father, flies a plane
2. Gold medalist Suni Lee relatably chickened out of meeting Justin Bieber
3. Shakira was attacked by wild boars in Spain
4. Bridges? Katie Couric burns a few.
5. Daniel Craig finally learned about his 'weekend' meme

published 30 September 2021

1. Britney Spears freed from her father, flies a plane

Britney Spears' father, Jamie Spears, has been suspended as conservator of her estate, with Judge Brenda Penny declaring on Wednesday afternoon that she believes this move "is in the best interest of the conservatee." During a June hearing, Britney Spears said her father was "abusive" and keeping her from getting married and having more children. Her new attorney, Matthew Rosengart, started in July, and immediately filed to have Jamie Spears removed as conservator. The next month, Jamie Spears filed his own petition to step down, but his attorney stated in a court document that there "are, in fact, no actual grounds for suspending or removing Mr. Spears as conservator of the estate." In an Instagram post shared after the judge's ruling, Britney Spears — flying a plane — wrote that she was "on cloud 9 right now."

Suni Lee, the 18-year-old Olympian who helped win Team USA their gold during the Tokyo Olympics, confessed to Ellen DeGeneres on Thursday that she turned down the opportunity to meet Justin Bieber when his wife, Hailey, offered to introduce her at the 2021 Met Gala. "I met Hailey Bieber — oh, my gosh, I love her," Lee said. "I talked to her, and I was shaking … And then I was just telling her how I was dancing to Justin Bieber's 'Stay' for my first Dancing With the Stars dance. And she's like, 'You should tell him.' And I'm like, 'OK.'" But when the opportunity finally arose, "I got too scared," Lee said. Lee still wants to meet Bieber one day, though, since it'd be pretty full circle: "Me and my sister, when we were younger, we had posters of him and blankets of him, and the posters have kissy marks on it with red lipstick," Lee admitted. "So Justin, if you're watching, just forget that I said that."

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Shakira and her son were attacked by wild boars in Spain, the singer revealed on Instagram on Wednesday. "They've destroyed everything," the Colombian-Lebanese pop star explained in Spanish, as translated by Page Six. "Look at how two wild boars which attacked me in the park have left my bag. They were taking my bag to the woods with my mobile phone in it." Shakira apparently wasn't letting her belongings go without a fight, however: "Milan, tell the truth," Shakira instructed her 8-year-old, Milan Pique Mebarak, in the video. "Say how your mummy stood up to the wild boar." At least she only had to contend with two, rather than 30 to 50.

Katie Couric, uh, went there. In excerpts from her new memoir, Going There, the former news anchor makes a number of unsavory confessions, including that she was unwelcoming to other women at Today because she felt the need to "protect my turf." Couric went on to single out Ashleigh Banfield as an example of "someone younger and cuter [who] was always around the corner," adding, "In that environment, mentorship sometimes felt like self-sabotage." (Banfield, for her part, seems shocked by Couric's call out). Couric also slammed Prince Harry, who she interviewed during his bachelor days and who she claimed had the smell of cigarettes and alcohol oozing "from every pore" — which might make working with him at the Aspen Institute's Commission on Information Disorder a liiiiiittle awkward now.

Ladies and gentlemen, Daniel Craig has just learned he's a meme. The James Bond star was asked in an interview with The New York Times about the viral clip that makes the rounds every Friday of him introducing the Weeknd on SNL, which has been repurposed to indicate the actor is officially declaring the weekend is here. Until this conversation, though, Craig had no clue this was a thing. "What is that?" he asked. When it was explained to him, he deemed the meme "amazing," adding, "That's lovely. I suppose I'd have to have social media to know what that was all about." He may be hanging up his tuxedo as Bond, but his weekend declarations may well never end.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.