The daily gossip: June 10, 2020

(Image credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Balmain)

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1. Anna Wintour: 'It can't be easy to be a black employee at Vogue'
2. Caitlyn Jenner reflects on the 5-year anniversary of her transition
3. Surprise! Iggy Azalea is apparently a mom
4. Skai Jackson is taking down internet bullies using her massive Twitter platform
5. Anna Kendrick likens shooting the Twilight movies to a 'hostage situation'

published 10 June 2020

1. Anna Wintour: 'It can't be easy to be a black employee at Vogue'

As bosses everywhere are resigning following reports exposing their toxic or racist behaviors, legendary Vogue editor Anna Wintour is taking some time to reflect, too. Hmm, seems about time! "It can't be easy to be a black employee at Vogue, and there are too few of you," she wrote in a letter to the staff, which acknowledged "mistakes" the magazine has made including "publishing images or stories that have been hurtful or intolerant." As Page Six notes, Wintour's letter follows the publication of a memoir by André Leon Talley, which accuses Wintour of dropping him for being "too old" and "too fat," and not thanking him for an op-ed he wrote about the significance of the 2018 Beyoncé September cover to the black community.

Wednesday marks five years since Caitlyn Jenner reintroduced herself on the cover of Vanity Fair under the headline "Call Me Caitlyn," and she reflected on the anniversary of her transition in an interview with People. "It was so emotional," Jenner, 70, recalled of getting her new driver's license in July 2015. "There I was. Caitlyn Marie Jenner. But then, I wondered, did Bruce deserve to be thrown away like this? … But I wasn't turning around." Jenner said initially she "thought I could change the world" but "now I know I can only try and change one person at a time." As she put it, "This is my journey. Yes, it is different than other trans people … [But] when I wake up in the morning, I'm happy with myself."

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Iggy Azalea abruptly announced that she is a mom on Wednesday, telling her fans that "I have a son." As Azalea put it on Instagram, "I kept waiting for the right time to say something, but it feels like the more time passes, the more I realize I'm always going to feel anxious to share news that giant with the world." Before you call him her secret son, though, the rapper explained that she wants to "keep his life private" but "make it clear he is not a secret and I love him beyond words." Azalea had not shared that she was pregnant, though E! News notes that back in December 2019 there were briefly rumors she was expecting a baby with her boyfriend, Playboi Carti.

Twitter is a little bit of a better place thanks to Skai Jackson. The 18-year-old actress is not unfamiliar with racist bullying, and she's begun posting screenshots that call out bullies in the hopes of there being real-world consequences for cruelty and intolerance. "I'm not exposing anything that's private — that's one thing I won't do," Jackson told Entertainment Tonight, noting that her fans have sent over 3,000 DMs with examples of racist speech on the platform. Most notably, she "exposed" The Flash's Hartley Sawyer, resulting in him being fired from the show. As Jackson sees it, "People can say whatever they want. But if you're that bold to go on a public platform and say these things, please don't get mad when someone addresses it."

Anna Kendrick told Vanity Fair that making the Twilight movies was akin to living through a "hostage situation," calling it similar to a "trauma event" that leaves survivors "kind of bonded for life." Kendrick, who played Bella's friend Jessica Stanley in the movie, put much of the blame on the conditions in Portland, Oregon, where the films were shot. "I just remember being so cold and miserable, and I just remember my Converse being completely soaked through, and feeling like, 'You know, this is a really great group of people, and I'm sure that we would be friends in a different time, but I want to murder everyone,'" she said.

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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.