The daily gossip: Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett reunite, Gwyneth Paltrow claims nepotism babies have to work harder, and more

(Image credit: David Livingston/FilmMagic)

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1. Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett reunite at 'High School Musical' premiere
2. Gwyneth Paltrow claims celebrities' children have to work 'twice as hard'
3. George R.R. Martin misses 'House of the Dragon' premiere after getting COVID
4. Beyoncé shares note with fans ahead of 'Renaissance' drop
5. 'Oppenheimer' trailer released as live stream with updating countdown

published 28 July 2022

1. Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett reunite at 'High School Musical' premiere

Do you get deja vu when she's with him? Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett reunited at the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series' premiere on Wednesday, a sight fans were pretty shocked to see after some massive off-set drama. Rodrigo and Bassett seemingly went through a bad break-up after playing love interests on the show, allegedly inspiring Rodrigo to write her hit song "drivers license." None of that's been confirmed, but Bassett told GQ last December that Rodrigo "hasn't spoken to me" since the song came out. Her music career has since blown up, so she's been downgraded to a "special guest star" in the new season. But she still made it out for the premiere, and Rodrigo and Bassett seemed relatively friendly while taking photos together on the red carpet, or at least not actively at each other's throats. Are they both ready to move on? Is this the start of something new? Hey, good for them.

Won't somebody please think of the nepotism children? Gwyneth Paltrow has sparked backlash after claiming celebrities' kids have to work twice as hard as everyone else in the industry. In an interview with Hailey Bieber, Paltrow, whose parents are actress Blythe Danner and director Bruce Paltrow, acknowledged that children of famous people "get access that other people don't have, so the playing field is not level." But after offering that massive caveat, she argued that "once your foot is in the door, which you unfairly got in, then you have to work almost twice as hard and be twice as good because people are ready to pull you down." Her Kim Kardashian-esque comments were quickly criticized as being "out of touch," though on the plus side, at least that overshadowed the fact that Paltrow opened the interview with a weird joke about having sex with Bieber's father. "[Imagine] if I had, like, f--ked your dad in the bathroom," Paltrow quipped before assuring Bieber, "I didn't!"

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Game of Thrones fans are sending well-wishes to George R.R. Martin after the 73-year-old author missed the House of the Dragon premiere because he caught COVID. In a 10-minute YouTube video titled simply "Covid Video," Martin said he was "startled" to test positive shortly after attending Comic-Con, where he participated in the show's panel with the cast and crew. Still, he said it's a "mystery to me" how he got COVID since he was quite careful and didn't go to any Comic-Con parties, and he said he was bummed to have to miss House of the Dragon's star-studded red carpet premiere. Luckily, Martin's feeling mostly "fine" with just a bit of sniffling and coughing. "I hope you won't worry too much about me," Martin said, noting, "If you're gonna have to go into quarantine, a four-star hotel is a good place to do it." Get well soon, George — and let's all lay off on pestering him for The Winds of Winter updates, shall we?

The time has finally (officially) (almost) come. Beyoncé shared a note with fans on her website Thursday, hours before her highly anticipated album Renaissance is set to drop — for those who didn't already listen to a leaked version. Her seventh studio album is a "three act project" recorded over three years, which helped her "find escape during a scary time" during the pandemic. She thanked her children Rumi, Sir, and Blue Ivy, sharing a rare photo of the four of them sleeping in bed together, also thanking her husband, Jay-Z, and late "Uncle Jonny," who died from HIV. "He was my godmother and the first person to expose me to a lot of the music and culture that serve as inspiration for this album," she wrote, paying tribute to "the fallen angels whose contributions have gone unrecognized for far too long." The note came after reports circulated that the entire album had somehow leaked days early. But that won't break her soul.

Counting down the hours to Christopher Nolan's next film? Universal has got you covered. The studio has dropped the first trailer for Nolan's upcoming movie Oppenheimer, which played theatrically in front of Nope last weekend. It doesn't reveal much about the movie, which stars Cillian Murphy as the father of the atomic bomb, but it's got a fascinating gimmick attached. The teaser includes a countdown to Oppenheimer's July 2023 theatrical release, and Universal released the trailer online as a live-stream that continuously loops — meaning every time you watch it, the countdown clock actually updates. In one year, "the world forever changes," the trailer promises, though we like to think that's referring to a far more monumental event that's also happening on July 21, 2023: the release of Greta Gerwig's Barbie. Thanks for the free advertising, Chris!

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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.