The daily gossip: Michelle Williams pays tribute to her Dawson's Creek 'Grams,' Jennifer Lopez reveals inscription on engagement ring from Ben Affleck, and more

Today's top entertainment and celebrity news

Michelle Williams
(Image credit: LISA O'CONNOR/AFP via Getty Images)

1. Michelle Williams pays tribute to her 'Grams' on 'Dawson's Creek'

Michelle Williams hasn't forgotten where she came from. The Fabelmans star received a performer tribute at Monday's Gotham Awards, and in her speech, she paid her own extensive tribute to Mary Beth Peil, who played "my Grams" on Dawson's Creek. "Whenever something good happens for me in my life, I can draw a straight line back to" Peil, Williams said, noting the 82-year-old actress was the "first artist I'd ever met" when she was 16. "She showed me that creativity was more than a mere profession," Williams added. Dawson's Creek helped put a young Williams on the map, and she reflected she "couldn't have played" any of her most iconic roles "without having first played Jen Lindley" on the WB show — and she couldn't have played Steven Spielberg's mom in The Fabelmans "without having been Mary Beth's granddaughter." You can take the girl out of Capeside, but you can't take the Capeside out of the girl.

People Vulture

2. Ben Affleck engraved 'not going anywhere' on Jennifer Lopez's engagement ring

This time, Bennifer is here to stay — at least, that's what Jennifer Lopez's latest engagement ring says. Speaking with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, Lopez revealed the inscription Affleck had engraved on her second engagement ring from him. "On the inside of this ring right here," she said, "my engagement ring that he gave me, it says, 'Not. Going. Anywhere.'" This, Lopez explained, is how Affleck would "sign his emails when we started talking again." The phrase inspired a song on her new album This is Me … Now, which is titled "not. going. anywhere." In the interview, Lopez also recalled that her original split from Affleck was so painful, "I honestly felt like I was gonna die," and it sent her into a "spiral for the next 18 years." But she says with her new album, a sequel to 2002's This Is Me … Then, she's sending the message that "some things do last forever." Hey, fingers crossed!

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E! News Vanity Fair

3. Aubrey Plaza prank had co-star on the 'brink of a psychological break'

If the DC universe needs yet another Joker, Aubrey Plaza certainly has the right resume. In a GQ profile, the Parks and Recreation actress admitted she got her White Lotus co-star "to the brink of a psychological break" with an on-set prank. While shooting the show at a hotel in Sicily, Adam DiMarco found reed diffusers "arranged in a large Blair Witch–style symbol" on his dressing room floor, GQ writes. Plaza's dressing room was similarly "defiled," and "papers with ominous messages that read here lies …" also started being slipped under people's doors. She denied responsibility at the time, demanding to know, "Who did this?" But it turns out, Plaza was, in fact, behind the prank. "Adam was so innocent, like a baby bird," she told GQ. "It was really sick, what I was doing to him." DiMarco confirmed, "I was definitely questioning my reality for a while there." Even April Ludgate is reading this and thinking, "Okay, you're weirding me out."

GQ HuffPost

4. Hailey Bieber has an ovarian cyst the 'size of an apple'

Hailey Bieber can confirm: Ovarian cysts are decidedly unfun. On Instagram, the model and wife of Justin Bieber shared a photo of her belly, telling fans she's not pregnant but rather has a "cyst on my ovary the size of an apple." Writing "not a baby" next to her stomach, Bieber said she has had ovarian cysts "a few times" before, and as you'd imagine, "It's never fun." This comes after Bieber had a health scare earlier this year, as she was hospitalized in March due to "stroke like symptoms" and was found to have a "small blood clot to my brain." While sharing her experiences with ovarian cysts, Bieber said they're "painful and achey" and make her "feel nauseous and bloated and cramps and emotional," adding, "Anyways … I'm sure a lot of you can overly relate and understand. We got this."

Us Weekly

5. Oscars will present all awards live again after backlash

It wouldn't be Oscar season without a widely hated decision being walked back. The Academy Awards will present every category live in 2023 after a controversial attempt to cut some awards from the broadcast. At the 2022 ceremony, eight below-the-lines categories like best original score were given out before the Oscars, and acceptance speeches were then edited into the show — prompting backlash from those who felt all crafts should be honored equally. The aim was to trim the length of the broadcast, but the Oscars ended up being even longer than the year prior, which kind of defeated the purpose. Now, Academy CEO Bill Kramer tells Variety "that all categories will be included in the live telecast." It wasn't clear if the other changes to the 2022 ceremony, including the addition of an "Oscars Cheer Moment" category honoring a movie scene selected in an online vote, will also be scrapped. But if not, Matt Smith's Morbius dance surely has that in the bag.

Variety

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Brendan Morrow

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.