The daily gossip: Michelle Obama shares her unsolicited opinions about Tinder, the trailer for Netflix's Rebecca remake is strangely steamy, and more

(Image credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Jump to category:

1. Michelle Obama claims 'you can't Tinder your way into a long-term relationship'
2. Armie Hammer might actually be too hot for Netflix's remake of Rebecca
3. Queen of Twitter Chrissy Teigen sets boundaries on social media
4. Jane Fonda fondly recalls her first Fire Drill Fridays arrest
5. The New York Yankees are being big babies about their trip to Buffalo

published 8 September 2020

1. Michelle Obama claims 'you can't Tinder your way into a long-term relationship'

Michelle and Barack Obama are obviously major #CouplesGoals, but listeners of the former first lady's podcast want a fact check after she claimed on the most recent episode that "you can't Tinder your way into a long-term relationship." "Literally yes you can," replied one person on Twitter, while The Washington Post's Tonya Riley quipped, "Has she read the [New York Times] Vows in the past … decade?" Others even shared wedding photos to refute the claim. Obama celebrates her 28th anniversary with Barack next month, and also said that "young couples" can be easily "ready to give up" on relationships, but "if I had walked away from [my marriage] in those tough times, then I would've missed all the beauty that was there as well."

The first trailer for Netflix's adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's 1938 novel Rebecca dropped Tuesday, and Armie Hammer might actually be too hot in it. The actor, who once pooh-poohed Fifty Shades of Grey as "mommy porn," stars as the brooding aristocrat Maxim de Winter, opposite Lily James in the role of the young Mrs. de Winter. But so much for avoiding mommy porn: Rebecca "looks like a Fifty Shades of Grey ripoff," claims Jezebel. LitHub, meanwhile, says "if we can get past the fact that Armie seems too handsome, too warm, and honestly too sensual for the the icily enigmatic [Maxim] ... this latest incarnation of Rebecca might be a worthy addition to the vast video library of du Maurier adaptations. But can we?"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Chrissy Teigen has been spending less time online at the request of her therapist, she told Marie Claire. "I take on other people's pain and sadness as my own. So it's good for me to take a break," Teigen said. The star made her Twitter account private twice this summer, but is hesitant to go silent. "It does feel very selfish and weird to say that my mental health is important when there are people being murdered by police and murdered in their own homes. ... I have Black children, so is it really the right time to not want to step on anyone's toes?" This morning, the star mocked her ambitions to limit screen time (on Twitter), writing, "Narrator: She never did go offline."

Jane Fonda did not waste the time she spent in a jail cell following her first civil disobedience arrest during a Fire Drill Fridays climate crisis demonstration last October. The actress and activist did wall squats as she chatted with her cellmates about climate change's connection to democracy, war, and health, while brainstorming ideas for teach-ins, she reveals in an excerpt from her memoir What Can I Do?, published in Marie Claire. "I felt proud that we had done this. I loved the voices we included in this launch: respect for the native land, for youth, and for science," she wrote. When she was released, a reporter outside asked her why she went to jail. "To get you to cover climate," she replied.

The New York Yankees deigned to travel to the backwaters of — ugh — upstate New York on Monday to play the Toronto Blue Jays, who've been using Buffalo's Sahlen Field for their home games since Canada isn't letting Americans into the country. It was there, in the birthplace of the chicken wing, that the Yankees blew their four-run lead, including a humiliating sixth inning when Toronto scored 10 runs. Naturally, the city-slickers had to salvage their bruised reputations, and blamed the lights. "It's pretty dark there," Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka — who'd probably also forgotten what stars look like — told the Toronto Sun. Jays pitching prospect Adam Kloffenstein didn't buy it: "Reports are saying the lighting was at its worst in the 6th inning," he teased.

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.