The daily gossip: Lea Michele's Funny Girl debut went really well, Kelly Clarkson is working on a divorce album, and more

1. Lea Michele's 'Funny Girl' debut went really well

We're not here to rain on Lea Michele's parade. After spending years campaigning for the role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, the Glee star finally made her debut in the Broadway show on Tuesday night — and she reportedly received a whopping six standing ovations. Rather infamously, Beanie Feldstein left the show early in the wake of some brutal reviews of her performance. So producers turned to Michele, who not only said in multiple interviews she wanted to star in Funny Girl but actually did so as her character on Glee. It sounds like she was pretty warmly received by fans (including Jonathan Groff), and Tuesday's performance concluded with a "rafters-shaking round of applause," according to Variety. But after Michele recently slammed claims that she's illiterate, there was reportedly audible giggling after she delivered the line "I haven't read many books." Official reviews haven't been published, but it seems they may be fairly positive — so it's a shame she won't be able to read them.

Vulture Variety

2. Kelly Clarkson is working on a divorce album

Since she's been gone working on her talk show, we've been holding our breath for Kelly Clarkson's next album — and it sounds like it's going to be a doozy. In a new Variety interview, the "Breakaway" singer revealed she has a new album on the way. "This is an important album," she said. "I'm working on this in therapy: I have a hard time vocalizing what I'm feeling sometimes, so music is helpful for me." Clarkson said she's been working on it for two years and wrote most of the music in the wake of her divorce from Brandon Blackstock. In fact, she says she wasn't even sure she was going to release the music at first, as "you can be very angry in that state of mind." But the album is now set to debut next year. "Some of the songs, they definitely cover the gamut of emotions; there's everything on the album," she told Variety. Sad girl autumn 2023 already sounds promising.

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Variety

3. Leonardo DiCaprio's ex-girlfriend slams 'ageist headlines'

"Life gets so much better after 25," says one of Leonardo DiCaprio's ex-girlfriends, even if that life almost certainly won't include DiCaprio. Kristen Zang, who dated DiCaprio from 1995 to 1999, has penned an essay at People slamming "ageist headlines and comments" amid memes mocking the Titanic star over his young girlfriends. DiCaprio recently split with Camila Morrone after she turned 25, and it sure seems like he refuses to date women older than that. But Zang says "it's none of our business" what happened between them, and she slams people for declaring Morrone "too old for Leo," asking, "What kind of message is this sending to young people?" Weirdly, Zang appears under the impression everyone's making fun of Morrone for being old, when pretty much everyone besides DiCaprio agrees 25 is young. For what it's worth, Zang says she broke up with DiCaprio, who she describes as "sweet and thoughtful" — though it just so happens this occurred "about 4 months after my 25th birthday."

People

4. Zac Efron shoots down plastic surgery claims

Get ready to pick your jaw up off the floor: the internet might have been wrong about something. In this case, Zac Efron's face. The High School Musical star has addressed claims he received plastic surgery sometime in early 2021, which fans theorized after he appeared to look different during an Earth Day promo in April 2021. Well, Efron can explain: He tells Men's Health he shattered his jaw after slipping while running through his house in socks, hitting his chin against a fountain. "He lost consciousness, and when he woke up, he recalls, his chin bone was hanging off his face," Men's Health says. While recovering, Efron says his masseter muscles "just got really, really big." But claims that Efron had plastic surgery, in what was dubbed "Jaw-gate," became so widespread that Efron says his own mother called to ask him if the rumors were true. Don't worry, mom — it sounds like he just watched Risky Business one too many times.

Men's Health Page Six

5. Florence Pugh is skipping the New York 'Don't Worry Darling' premiere

Florence Pugh is staying far away from a possible #SpitGate sequel. The actress will completely skip the New York premiere of Don't Worry Darling on Sept. 19, Rolling Stone reports. That's supposedly because of obligations to filming Dune: Part Two. But this fits with previous reporting that she would do nearly no press for the movie other than appearing at the Venice Film Festival, and even then, she skipped the press conference with Olivia Wilde. Rumors suggest Wilde and Pugh had a falling out, possibly over Wilde's relationship with Harry Styles. "It's pretty clear [Pugh is] choosing not to be a part of the PR," a source told Rolling Stone. But after the Venice premiere was such a debacle that Chris Pine's representative had to issue a statement insisting Harry Styles didn't spit on him, we're honestly surprised to learn the New York premiere is even still happening at all. Pine may be showing up in a poncho, just in case.

Rolling Stone