• The best time of the year to buy a new sex toy is during the Black Friday sales
• High-quality and high-tech models can be quite expensive full price, but many brands and stockists offer 50 to 80 per cent off
• The lower prices also mean you can afford to experiment with a new type of toy or pleasure experience

If you’re well-versed when it comes to sex toys, you know the *difference* a luxury device can make in not just reaching that big O but making it last… and last. For those who are just delving into the self-pleasure and sex toy realm, let us assure you, it’s not a purchase you want to skimp out on. You want a toy that’s high-performance and made with high-quality materials.

But all that comes at a price, and for many, it’s far out of budget. Luckily, the best time to shop for sex toys is happening right now: the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. You can grab that top-notch toy for a bargain. Buy a new, more affordable type of toy to experiment with. Or maybe even get something to surprise your partner with.

Previous

This Classic Sheet Style Is About To Eclipse The Linen Trend

These Are The Activewear Brands Defining Our 2026 Wellness Era

Native ad body.

Sponsored by %%sponsor_name%%

I Came For One Thing And Left With A Cart Full Of Designer Pieces, Thanks To The Outnet’s Sale

Next

Below, we round up all the best places to shop for your next sex toy and the Black Friday sales you need to know about.

Read: Editor-Approved: 92 Of The Best Black Friday Deals To Shop—From Fashion To Home

The Best Black Friday Sex Toys Sales To Shop, According To marie claire:

Brands are starting to drop early deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Start crafting your wishlist—these are the best places to shop for sex toys in 2025.

• Lovehoney: Up to 70 per cent off
• VUSH: Up to 70 per cent off + free gift if you spend over $75
• Wild Secrets: Up to 70 per cent off 
• Lelo: Up to 60 per cent off + a free toy
• JOUJOU: Up to 70 per cent off + free gift if you spend over $100
• Adore Beauty: Sale coming soon
• The Iconic: Sale coming soon

Lovehoney

LOVEHONEY
Mantric Rechargeable Wand Vibrator

$119.95$59.95 AT LOVEHONEY

LOVEHONEY
Supreme Sensation Pussy Pump

$49.95 $19.95 at LOVEHONEY

LOVEHONEY
Magic Wand Cordless Vibrator

$229.95$189.95 AT LOVEHONEY

LOVEHONEY
We-Vibe Sync O Couple’s Vibrator

$249 $124.95 AT LOVEHONEY

Wild Secrets

ADAM AND EVE
Eves Suction Ravishing Rose Clitoral Vibrator

$99.99$29.99 AT Wild secrets

SATISFYER
Intensity Vibrating Butt Plug

$119.99 $71.99 at Wild Secrets

VUSH
Orb Vibrating Couples Ring

$79.99$63.99 AT Wild Secrets

WILD SECRETS
Signature 24 Piece Advent Calendar

$799.99 $199.99 AT Wild Secrets

Adore Beauty

LELO
Ina Wave 2 Plum

$289 AT ADORE BEAUTY

WOMANIZER
Enhance Vibrant Pink

$259 at ADORE BEAUTY

SMILE MAKERS
The Tennis Pro

$74.95 AT ADORE BEAUTY

VUSH
Fleur Precision Point Bullet Vibrator

$110 AT ADORE BEAUTY

The Iconic

LADY BONND
Quill Vibrating Feather

$69.95 AT THE ICONIC

LE WAND
Diecast Rechargeable Massager

$379 at the iconic

VELVETINE
Sage

$84.95 AT the iconic

LELO
Soraya Beads

$339 AT the iconic

The post Update Your Bedside Drawer With These Black Friday Sex Toy Sales appeared first on marie claire.

“I thought you said you had a wife…” the doctor replied. 

This scenario would play out several times over as we explained at medical appointments that we had conceived our baby ourselves, using the ‘Turkey Baster’ method. This meant it was a natural conception because it wasn’t IVF which was the only other option on all of the forms. 

It might seem strange to share with the world how we made our baby, Sanna, and other details of our life but somewhere in the haze of pregnancy sickness we realised we had an opportunity to educate.

As a queer couple having a baby, there’s plenty of questions and there’s also plenty of homophobia. Perhaps we could answer some, and eradicate some. 

If we could show that queers having kids is perfectly natural, regardless of the method of conception or how many mums or dads, perhaps we could make the world a little bit safer for those kids and their families.

This is how the idea for our book “If Queers Weren’t Meant to Have Kids…” was born. It is both a satirical picture book for adults and a love letter to rainbow families. We cheekily poke fun at conservative culture warriors and use our personal story to celebrate chosen family, guncles, the queens and the gaybourhood. 

A recent study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found that after two decades of gains for LGBTQ+ visibility and rights in many countries, anti-LGBTQ+ targeted hate and rhetoric are on the rise.

In the offline world this presents as a surge of hate crimes, book bans and government and legislative actions. Online, the queer community is subjected to coordinated harassment campaigns, a rollback of digital protections and systemic erasure from AI training data and moderation. 

We didn’t need a study to tell us this – it is something we experience firsthand. 

When we announced on social media we were having a baby and also publishing a book, the first wave of responses were congratulatory and positive. It was in the second wave that the trolls came, leading us to suspect the post had been shared to an anti-LGBTQIA+ page which was encouraging people to spread hate on our announcement.

“Bloody disgusting,” granthoogendyk commented. Disgusting was one of the most used adjectives by the trolls.

“Poor kid,” justjoe000, and too many others to list, said.

We were accused of child abuse for denying a child the right to know their true biological parents and told hell is waiting for us.

Mostly, the trolls were angry because they’d decided our baby wouldn’t know its father, which is apparently integral, in their view, to it not having ‘mental issues’. 

But it was the comments claiming that two lesbians cannot have a baby that reaffirmed for us why our book is needed. 

Two lesbians did have a baby. Many have. So have two dads. Whether these babies are conceived through IVF, surrogacy, or using turkey basters, their conception is natural.

Not only is it natural, the wonderful thing for these children is that they are never an accident. Their parents jump through any and every hoop they have to in order to bring them into this world, and have the privilege of loving and caring for them.

Research shows children of queer parents do just as well – and sometimes better – than those of heterosexual parents. Unsurprisingly, the trolls are wrong. Kids in rainbow families actually have better outcomes in psychological wellbeing and child-parent relationships. 

The kids are more than alright, and so are their parents. We would hazard a guess that two loving mums is better than knowing a dead-beat dad, who spends his time spreading hate online. 

Our babe will know the man who gave us the greatest gift anyone ever could, and she will call him Dadda. But we don’t respond to those judging other families, and who are trying to write our story for us. 

Instead we wrote our own, because as Nelson Mandela said, “hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that”. 

If Queers Weren’t Meant to Have Kids (University of Queensland Press, $29.99) is out November 4.

The post Narelda Jacobs And Karina Natt: “Queers Are Meant To Have Kids” appeared first on marie claire.

“Mr². & Mrs. Leclerc ,” they captioned the sweet photo.

After Netflix’s ground-breaking sports docuseries Drive To Survive captured our collective consciousness and catapulted the F1 drivers into the celebrity stratosphere, there’s never been more eyes on the trackside happenings of its competitive stars – Leclerc included.

At just 28, the Monégasque racer already has an impressive Grands Prix count of 149, with 43 podium appearances and a total of 8 race wins under his belt, including a hometown victory at the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix.

While his track record is only continuing to rise in the ranks, off-track, his personal life is also making headlines – and for all the right reasons. But the world’s obsession with sports stars and their respective partners is in no way unique to the F1 circuit. A culture shift is occurring, and with it our willingness to embrace – and celebrate – a new generation of WAGs taking trackside coupledom to successful new heights.

So who exactly is Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc’s new fiancé, Alexandra Saint Mleux?

Who Is Alexandra Saint Mleux?

Alexandra Saint Mleux may be spotted trackside most weekends during F1 season, as she watches on in anticipation but the Italian-born beauty is anything but a backseat driver to her partner’s success.

Not only is Saint Mleux a successful content creator, counting Rhode partnerships as just one of her highest profile collaborations, she’s also worked as an art assistant at prestige auction house Hôtel Des Ventes De Monte-Carlo, and on campaigns for Monaco Art Week, which is where her true passion lies.

After first being linked to Leclerc in early 2023, when she was spotted in the background of a TikTok at Paris Fashion Week, Saint Mleux has carved out a name for herself in the hearts, and minds, of both F1 fans and the fashion world alike.

In July of that year, the pair were photographed on a double date at Wimbledon with fellow F1 star, Pierre Gasly, and his partner, Francisca ‘Kika’ Gomes, confirming the couple’s status in the court of public opinion.

Since then, Leclerc and Saint Mleux are rarely seen apart, with Saint Mleux – and their gorgeous puppy Leo -following the star as he competes for a continued place on the podium.

Despite the regular sightings and engagement news, the couple remain pretty private preferring to keep their social media accounts focussed on their personal lives and less on their romantic pursuits.

But as the Formula 1 continues to cross paths with the fashion world, as evidenced by Louis Vuitton’s recent partnership announcement, we’re betting big on Saint Mleux becoming to the racing world, what Morgan Riddle has signalled for the pro tennis circuit.

The post Charles Leclerc & Alexandra Saint Mleux Are Officially Engaged appeared first on marie claire.

After years of quiet speculation, Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster have finally gone public — and they’re not hiding it. The pair made back-to-back appearances in New York this week, first at the Fetch Pet Gala at The Carlyle Hotel on October 20, then backstage at Richard Marx’s After Hours Confessions concert the very next night.

The outings mark the couple’s first official debut after keeping their relationship under wraps, signalling a new chapter following their respective breakups. Jackman, 57, stunned fans in 2023 when he and Deborra-Lee Furness, his wife of 27 years, announced their separation. While both remained silent for months, Furness later called the split a “traumatic betrayal” that “cut deep” after their divorce was finalised in mid-2025.

The couple were last seen walking hand-in-hand and laughing while out in Santa Monica on Monday January 6. In late 2024, news broke of Foster’s divorce, a year after Australia’s golden couple Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness shared the news of their own split following 27 years of marriage.

The split, announced in September 2023, was a shock to fans everywhere, and while speculation around what could have caused the sudden divorce was rife, the couple seemed as solid as ever in their conscious uncoupling.

Previous

We’re Obsessed With Ryan Reynolds & Hugh Jackman’s Bromance

Hugh Jackman Responds To Deborra-Lee’s Searing Statement Amid Divorce Filing

Native ad body.

Sponsored by %%sponsor_name%%

Next

Hugh Jackman & Sutton Foster: A Relationship Timeline

The pair’s friendship has been well documented, with Jackman and Foster first meeting behind the scenes of Shrek: The Musical in 2008 and going on to enjoying a close working relationship for years after starring in Broadway’s The Music Man together from 2021-January 2023.

Both Jackman and Foster have been completely open about their mutual respect over the years. And, in an interview with People in June 2024, Sutton raved about the actor, saying “He’s one of the greatest guys ever, an incredible costar.”

Soon after, the actress followed up with glowing remarks about how the pair’s friendship blossomed during production of The Music Man.

“He’s now become one of my best friends, which was a surprise, because you usually go into these things thinking, ‘Well, I hope we get along.’ But we just spent Memorial Day with our families,” she said in an interview with Vogue. “It’s really fun to meet new friends after 40.”

And don’t get us wrong, there’s nothing more wholesome than a Hugh Jackman bromance or Broadway bestie timeline taking place before our eyes, but after sources revealed there could be more at play as far back as December 2023, questions began circling.

Reports claiming the co-stars were “100 per cent together and are in love and want to spend the rest of their lives together,” added fuel to the fire.

“They spend all of their free time together,” said another alleged source. “They are a regular couple, they are just in private.”

Meanwhile, Sutton wasn’t the only one waxing lyrical about the Wolverine star, as evidenced in a 2022 appearance on Seth Meyers’ Late Night show.

During the interview, the Younger star raves about getting to work alongside Jackman, saying “I’m having the time of my life playing opposite this guy,” to which Jackman responds playfully “You had to say that, but thank you.”

“I did!” Sutton exclaimed, before continuing “But it’s like, it’s like a dream come true. Truly.”

And as rumour turns to reality, a fresh new year delivered multiple sightings of the pair, whose budding relationship is continuing to grow.

After being spotted attending Foster’s latest starring performance in Once Upon A Mattress on January 4, 2025, Jackman appeared relaxed and carefree.

Theatregoers were treated to more than a show as Jackman took photos of his seat partner, iconic actress Carol Burnett, as she received a standing ovation in acknowledgment of her role in the show’s original 1959 production, during intermission.

The couple were then seen walking hand-in-hand and laughing while out to dinner in Santa Monica on Monday January 6, in a very staged outing that put to rest any speculation about the pair’s relationship status.

Deborra-Lee Gave Her Blessing, Or Did She?

As Jackman and Foster’s relationship moved from rumour to reality, Jackman’s ex-wife Deborra-Lee remained reserved, staying out of the public eye and allowing the news to play out without her involvement. However, Furness did eventually enter the ‘new couple’ chat, in a very subtle way.

Tasha Lustig, whose social media account documents scandalous celebrity moments, posted a video explainer of the Jackman/Foster romance titled ‘Hugh Jackman’s Divorce Mess‘ on October 27, 2024. In it, the content creator outlined key points in the new couple’s relationship timeline, including Foster’s previous breakups, and pointed to an earlier post where she’d shared her thoughts on their ‘friendship’ prior to Foster’s divorce announcement.

At the time of writing, the video had received 1.4 million views and over 26.1k likes, one of which apparently confirmed that Lustig’s account was indeed onto something.

According to US Weekly, Deborra-Lee “liked” the post, adding to the chorus of people agreeing with the sentiment expressed by Lustig.

As Furness’ account is private, only accounts that she follows (US Weekly is one) can see her social activity, and so while the general public may not be able to clarify whether this is the case or not, the evidence is definitely there. Especially as one of the top comments on the post was published by Deborra-Lee’s close friend, British media personality Amanda de Cadenet, who weighed into the conversation with the comment: “@tashalustig you are on point with this one. My beloved friend Deb is about to her her glow up any moment fyi!”

After all, we know that a subtle nod or in this case, a single “like” can have the power of a thousand words.

Did Blake & Ryan Choose Sides?

The long-running bromance between Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman has always been a refreshing reminder of real life, in a world rife with PR relationships and Hollywood facades.

In an interview with People earlier in 2024, Jackman and Reynolds gushed about their enviable rapport, sharing sweet anecdotes that spoke to their genuine love for one another.

“There’s probably fewer friends in our life that you can say anything to, the stuff you’re ashamed, embarrassed, anything,” Jackman said.

“And ever since I’ve known you, and I would say in particular in like the last five, 10 years, we’ve had more time where we go for our walks because you’re an unbelievable listener,” he continued. “So you can tell me anything and I can tell you anything, and I don’t feel like you’re going to be judging or necessarily giving me the answer: ‘Do this.’ And I think that has been the key.”

So it will come as no surprise to anyone that the pair’s near-decade-long friendship extended beyond their bromance bubble to their significant others – or rather in Hugh’s case, his ex-wife Deborra-Lee.

Couple friendships are all well and good… that is, until they’re not.

We’ve almost all been part of a friendship group where a couple has broken up the surviving partners are forced into awkward allegiances that test group dynamics in more ways than one. But it’s so much harder when that friendship circle is made up of several, extremely famous members.

Even more awkward, is when the extremely famous members also come with some slightly murky rumours attached to their breakup.

According to Radar Online, sources revealed that Deborra-Lee was less than thrilled with close pals Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, who allegedly “could sense something was brewing between Hugh and Sutton Foster.”

“But they kept their lips sealed out of loyalty to Hugh. Despite their longtime relationship with Deb, they chose to cover for him!” the source continued.

“Now she is seething with rage over being the last to know about the clandestine affair. Deb feels blindsided. She has a memory like a steel trap and isn’t afraid to use it!”

And after Deborra-Lee’s searing post-divorce statement appeared to call Jackman out for his questionable behaviour, something tells us this isn’t the last we’ll be hearing from her on the matter.

Related articles:

• Hugh Jackman Responds To Deborra-Lee’s Searing Statement Amid Divorce Filing
• Why ‘Grey Divorces’ Are On The Rise (And Not Just In Hollywood)
• Everything You Need To Know About Hugh Jackman’s Children

The post Hugh Jackman And Sutton Foster Confirm Romance With First Public Appearance appeared first on marie claire.

The 45-year-old actor from Newcastle in the United Kingdom burst onto the scene in 1999, with the series Queer As Folk. He later shot to international fame as Jax in Sons Of Anarchy, with equally impressive turns in films Pacific Rim, The Gentlemen and King Arthur.

Interestingly, throughout this entire time, Hunnam’s love life has remained intensely private. But that’s not to say it’s without excitement!

For instance, did you know an 18-year-old Hunnam once married his girlfriend of three weeks at a shotgun wedding in Vegas? In the years since, he’s dated models and filmmakers, and has since found happiness with jewellery designer, Morgana McNelis.

Read on for everything we know about Charlie Hunnam’s love life.

Does Charlie Hunnam Have A Wife?

First thing’s first, is Charlie Hunnam married? The short answer is no, he’s not. However, before you get too excited, he’s in a loving, long-term relationship with his girlfriend of nearly 20 years, Morgana McNelis. Despite being in a committed partnership for so long, the two have yet to walk down the aisle—as far as the public knows!

Charlie has been married before, wedding Katharine Towne in 1999. The two met at an audition for Dawson’s Creek, and were married in Las Vegas after dating for only three weeks. They formally divorced in 2002.

Hunnam later described the marriage as “three terrible, painful, expensive years,” and has said he doesn’t want to get married again. In 2020, he told SiriusXM that he is “indifferent” towards marriage, but that his partner was eager. “I’ll do it because it’s important to her, but I don’t have any great romantic feelings towards it,” he said.

He later expressed regret for saying this, telling reporters, “I have to say that really hurt my girlfriend’s feelings,” Charlie admitted at LAX. “I really regretted saying that, cause I actually didn’t mean it at all.”

 “I’m like so romantic!” he continued. “The reality is I sort of consider myself married. I’ve been with my girlfriend for 14 years… I suppose what I was trying to articulate was that the official government sanctioning of it doesn’t mean anything to me; but the romance of it means an enormous amount. I really regret saying that.”

Who Is Charlie’s Girlfriend, Morgana McNelis?

Hunnam has been in a relationship with jewellery designer Morgana McNelis since roughly 2005 or 2006. The story of how they met is yet to be shared, but in 2020, Hunnam confirmed in an interview that he’d been with his girlfriend for “13-and-a-half [or] 14-and-a-half years”.

While Hunnam will happily confirm his relationship status, the two rarely make appearances together in public. They’re not believed to have any children, but have thought about it. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about them,” Hunnam told Entertainment Tonight in 2017. However, the couple was weighing the “responsibility” of parenthood. “We are dealing with seemingly insurmountable challenges in society, like looming, inevitable economic collapse, environmental destruction… it’s a question about the responsibility of bringing more children into the world.”

Despite not being married, McNelis has used her vocational skills to give Hunnam a special diamond ring. “She told me she was making me a diamond encrusted ring… and I was like ‘Uh-oh. This is not going to go well for me,’ ” Hunnam told ELLE in 2012. “But I love it. It’s so discrete and beautiful.”

In 2016, Hunnam came to McNelis’ defence after hearing she’d been targeted by online bullies. “It has been brought to my attention that there is a group of immature girls posting a large number of hard messages aimed at my longtime girlfriend,” he wrote on Facebook at the time. “I would respectfully ask you to stop doing this. She is an intelligent, beautiful, kind person who just tried to live a simple life and has nothing to do with the entertainment industry.”

Despite making a limited number of public appearances, Hunnam took McNelis to the 2025 Emmy Awards, and also to the premiere of Monster: The Story Of Ed Gein, in which he plays the lead.

Charlie Hunnam Relationship History

Katharine Towne, 1999-2002 (married)

Charlie and Katharine had a brief three-year romance, during which time they were both married and divorced. The two actors met at an audition for Dawson’s Creek in 1999. Three weeks later, they were married in Vegas.

Hunnam was only 18 or 19 at the time of the wedding, which he later described as “three terrible, painful, expensive years.”

Towne is the daughter of actress Julie Payne and the Academy Award-winning writer of Chinatown, Richard Towne. She has had small roles in Buffy, But I’m A Cheerleader and She’s All That, to name only a few.

Hunnam is also believed to have dated model Sophie Dahl, actress Stella Parker and filmmaker, Georgina Townsley.

The post Charlie Hunnam Once Had A Shotgun Wedding In Vegas appeared first on marie claire.

What Is The Quinn App? 

Described as being “made by women, for the world”, Quinn takes romantic novels and turns them into sensual readings condensed into 15 to 20 minute clips.

Its audio erotica portfolio spans “spicy audio stories, dirty talk and more” all designed to help you get off. The idea for the platform was born from Spiegel’s own experience and frustration with sexual dysfunction.

How Does Quinn Work? 

Anyone can sign up to be a Quinn voice actor, so if you’ve got the deep soothing pipes to suit, this could be a great gig for you.

As for listeners, you can follow the voice of your favourite creators or listen to one of the many internet boyfriends the platform has recruited.

The platform also has a number of categories to suit every sexual preference from BDSM to age gap romances.

The app works on a subscription model, and costs between $4.99 and $7.99 per month for unlimited access.

Which Celebrities Are On Quinn? 

Chris Briney is the latest star to join Quinn with an original audio story called Hidden Harbour. The synopsis reads: “When River comes home for the summer, he doesn’t plan on falling for his brother’s ex.”
A bit on the nose following TSITP? Maybe. But they’re just giving us what we want. 

Jamie Campbell Bower of The Mortal Instruments fame play rock musician Theo in The Trials.

Then, there’s Tom Blyth, star of the latest Hunger Games film and upcoming Emily Henry adaptation, People We Meet On Vacation, in a tale called The Muse.

Our favourite hot priest, Andrew Scott has leant his voice to the app as has Emily In Paris’ Lucian Laviscount, Thomas Doherty and Jesse Williams. 

The post What Is Quinn? The Audio Erotica App Every Hollywood Heartthrob Is Joining appeared first on marie claire.

Here, the products are out in the open, inviting you to pick them up and turn them on. It used to be the case that entering an adult store would see you peel off the street and into the shadows, clambering up a narrow staircase before being assaulted by neon lights and sexualised imagery.

Now, modern stores like High Tide have adopted a new aesthetic. “Intimacy, sex, masturbation – all these things are incredibly natural. They have natural tones, natural textures, a natural tempo and warmth,” says Paige Aubort, co-founder of High Tide. “We really wanted to invite that back into the shop because that’s what it should feel like.”

Alongside partner Søren Poulsen, Aubort looked to create a space that was relaxed and welcoming, from the furnishings to the second-hand wood sourced for a lived-in feel.

Such thoughtful design elements haven’t just transformed the experience of shopping for sex toys, they’ve elevated sex to essential self-care, something to prioritise just as one does mental and physical health. “You want people to feel empowered by their sex toys,” says Aubort. “You want them to think, ‘I have this thing and it’s just mine.’ That can change the way you walk through the world and how you perceive yourself and what you feel can be yours and what can’t be taken from you.”

Acts of pleasure have now become big business. Once confined to adult stores and hushed conversations between friends, sex has entered the mainstream as an integral pillar of wellness.

In Australia, the sexual wellness market was last year valued at $655 million, and is expected to grow to $975 million by 2033, according to Imarc Group. Spearheaded by the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle website Goop, even the toys themselves have transformed.

Garish designs you’d avoid at a hens’ party have been steamrolled by sleek, sophisticated devices with luxe offerings that reflect consumer demand. “More people are recognising that their sexuality is not separate from their health, but deeply connected to how they feel, relate and move through the world,” says Lara Maree, psychosexologist and relationship therapist.

David Jones expanded into the market in 2021, with a curated “sexual wellness” category sitting alongside lifestyle products.

A year later, Sephora followed suit, reflecting a larger shift among mainstream cosmetic retailers like Mecca and Adore Beauty, all of which sell vibrators online. “By placing vibrators next to skincare serums, we are saying pleasure is part of how we care for ourselves,” says Maree.

“It becomes something you can talk about with the same ease as your sleep, your supplements or your fitness. For many women, this is the first time their pleasure is being acknowledged in a public and normalised way. It validates what many of us in sexual wellness have been saying for years: that erotic wellness is health care.”

It’s an ethos now reflected across modern adult stores, with Passionfruit in Fitzroy and Hall of Harper in Surfers Paradise leaning into design choices that serve to destigmatise sexual pleasure. Founded by sisters Mollie and Charlotte O’Sullivan, Hall of Harper was born from their own frustration with traditional sex shops. “I knew I wanted it to be a luxury experience, I didn’t want it to be overwhelming, and I knew I wanted to empower you as soon as you stepped into the store,” explains Mollie.

Inside, guests are treated to an upscale boutique where floral arrangements frame lingerie and sex toys are showcased like fine jewellery. According to Kate Moyle, psychosexual therapist, author and host of The Sexual Wellness Sessions podcast, the changing decor of sex shops reflects a change within the consumer herself.

“We have seen a real shift with increased openness and reduced stigma around sexual wellbeing, which was always a more hidden and separated-off part of health,” says Moyle.

“The aesthetics previously were considered to be erotic dark colours and sexually charged, whereas now there’s much more focus on the wellness side of the conversation and that this isn’t a part of our health which needs to be denied or for us to be ashamed of.”

Just as a visit to a wellness spa will likely see you experience a service and then leave with some products, these modern stores don’t limit themselves to retail alone. Both Hall of Harper and High Tide want to position themselves as a community hub and educational resource, with the former offering private bookings where guests can browse products in a safe, judgement-free space alongside a team trained by certified sexologists.

“These appointments have become especially meaningful for our community; we often welcome queer couples, partners or groups of close friends supporting someone through a life transition, like the loss of a partner or how to reconnect post-kids,” says Mollie. “It’s about more than shopping, it’s about making room for care, comfort, education and connection.” Prior to opening High Tide in 2023, Aubort asked herself: “Toys – in terms of the material, the design, the people making them – have evolved; surely the spaces have also physically evolved with them?”

At the time, she couldn’t find any examples to point to. Now, she and Poulsen are being the change they want to see, helping people discover their sexuality or reclaim it, and embrace the tools required for their sexual wellbeing to thrive.

As Maree notes, it’s an essential service. “These beautifully curated, modern stores are doing what traditional sexual education never did. When someone walks into a store that feels more like a wellness sanctuary than a hidden corner shop, it changes the conversation. It tells people their pleasure matters, that questions are welcome, and that there is no shame in being curious.”

A-List Approved

As celebrities champion pleasure as self-care, these celebrity-backed toys will help you put desire front and centre.

Cara Delevingne’s Pick: Lora DiCarlo Sway

$234.95 from The Iconic

Best for: Enhanced muscle relaxation

Sway is a dual-ended warming massager with two vibrating points, customisable intensity and patterns, waterproof design, and medical-grade silicone, offering simultaneous internal or external stimulation for enhanced pleasure and relaxation.

Dakota Johnson’s Pick: Maude Vibe

$80 from Get Maude

Best for: Discreet use

Discreet, chic, and surprisingly powerful, this patented three-speed vibrator is made for precision play. Its elegant, elongated silhouette and flutter-tip design deliver pinpoint external stimulation (with the option for gentle internal exploration). It’s not just a bedroom essential — it’s a design icon, displayed at both the MoMA Design Store and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pick: Goop Double-Sided Wand Vibrator

$171 from Goop

Best for: Deep vibrations

This double-sided wand delivers 64 vibration combinations with a deep, rumbly wonder-ball on one end and a slim, flexible tip on the other. Made from silky body-safe silicone, it’s rechargeable, water-resistant, and chic enough for your nightstand.

Lily Allen’s Pick: Womanizer Liberty Rechargeable Clitoral Stimulator

$149.95 from Lovehoney

Best for: Clitoral stimulation

The Womanizer Liberty 2 is a compact, travel-ready stimulator with eight intensity settings and soft suction technology. Waterproof, rechargeable, and discreetly designed, it’s made for easy packing and spontaneous moments wherever you are.

Demi Lovato’s Pick: Bellesa Boutique the Demi Wand

From $90 at Bellesa Boutique

Best for: Beginners

The Demi Wand was designed for all bodies, with five vibration speeds, a compact 4.8” form, and a waterproof, rechargeable build — making pleasure more comfortable, accessible, and inclusive than ever.

Words: Jess Campbell

The post How Modern Sex Shops Became Wellness Temples appeared first on marie claire.

It’s official: the infidelity gap has closed, with women now cheating on their partners at the same rate as men. But the reasons behind the transgressions are completely different.

We explore them all in marie claire series, Why Women Cheat.

Want to share your story? DM us on Instagram or email us at marieclaire@aremedia.com.au

Lily* knows the pain of betrayal all too well. So, when she cheated on the man who would later become her husband, she almost saw it as a pre-emptive strike; hurting him before he had the chance to hurt her.

“I think about it more often than I’d like to admit,” Lily says.

“I wasn’t always prone to jealousy, but I can trace it back to my first serious boyfriend. He cheated on me when I was nineteen. I found out through a friend’s blurry Instagram story of him kissing someone else at a party. It was public, humiliating, and it left a mark. After that, jealousy became a habit. I’d check my partners’ phones while they slept, refresh their social media feeds late at night. It became the way I moved through relationships.”

Previous

‘Years Later, I Don’t Regret My Affair With My Boyfriend’s Best Friend’

Why Women Are Having More Affairs Than Ever Before

Next

Things changed when Lily met Harry*. They clicked immediately, began dating soon after, and Lily felt determined to work through her suspicion and doubt.

“Harry is calm, steady, generous with his affection, and he’s never given me a reason to doubt him. He is objectively out of my league and I often noticed other women looking at him, and it bothered me. A friend once joked that I was ‘punching,’ and though it was meant lightly, it really hurt. Still, he was thoughtful, reassuring, and consistent, and he had chosen me. Over time, I came to trust him — or at least trust that if something was wrong, I’d know.”

But despite Harry’s consistency, Lily began to feel a growing sense of inadequacy. She noticed that strangers complimented Harry more than her, and the imbalance festered into resentment. So, when a new colleague began paying her attention, she found it intoxicating.

“A new hire joined the office, and I noticed him right away, as did most of the other women. He was confident and charismatic, the kind of person who holds a room. He paid attention to me, and I found myself responding to it. I started taking more time getting ready for work, staying later than usual, finding reasons for us to be alone. My friends in the office all found him so attractive, and the fact that he had honed in on me made me giddy, I had never felt so desired.”

What started as harmless flirting soon crossed a line.

“We started getting dinner together and sharing Uber rides home. Before long, I was lying about where I was and who I was with. It was intoxicating and exhausting all at once. At home, life appeared perfectly normal, but at work I was carrying a secret that pressed on me more each day. I craved the tension — the charged glances across the room, the late-night texts, the way we made up meetings just to be in a room alone together. He consumed my thoughts entirely, and the sex was fevered, reckless, impossible to stop. The affair with my colleague made me feel better about myself and, strangely, more confident in my relationship with Harry.”

Eventually, Lily reached a breaking point.

“I realised that if Harry ever found out, I would lose him — and that possibility felt unbearable. My renewed confidence eventually allowed me to end things with my co-worker, and I refocused on my relationship. Harry never knew anything had happened and a year later, we got married.”

Now, three years into their marriage, Lily still thinks about what happened often.

“Sometimes the memory passes quickly, other times it lingers, and I can spiral for days,” she says. “I’ve chosen not to tell him. Instead, I focus on being fully present: planning trips, organising date nights, leaving notes for him before work and embracing how content I am. I try to be the kind of partner Harry deserves.”

The colleague Lily had the affair with has since been promoted and moved to a different department, though she still occasionally passes him in the building. He respected her decision to end things, and their interactions are now entirely professional. Still, she sometimes catches him looking at her and hates the part of herself that still craves the attention as reassurance of her desirability.

“Although I do regret the affair, I think it helped me feel more empowered and confident in myself. Maybe keeping the secret is my reminder of what I nearly lost,” she reflects. “I can’t undo it, but I can try to move on and work on becoming a better person.”

*Names have been changed 

The post ‘An Affair With My Colleague Made Me Feel Better About Myself’ appeared first on marie claire.

From on-set romances to blink-and-you’ll-miss-it flings, his love life reads like a crash course in Gen Z It Girls. And yes, he really did date both Joey King and Zendaya, as well as Kaia Gerber, before his current rumoured flame, Olivia Jade Giannulli.

Now, as the collective interest in Elordi’s love life switches into the next gear thanks to his upcoming role in Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights”, all eyes are on the tall, dark and handsome actor and his rumoured on-again-off-again flame.

Let’s take a stroll down the Jacob Elordi girlfriend memory lane, shall we?

Who Is Jacob Elordi Dating?

Olivia Jade Giannulli (Current, It Seems…)

If you’re wondering if Jacob Elordi has a girlfriend or who he might be dating now – then the answer is a murky reply of Olivia Jade Giannulli…?

The YouTuber, influencer, and daughter of actress Lori Loughlin, has been romantically linked to Jacob since late 2021. At the time, the relationship came as a surprise to fans who knew Olivia best for her role in the 2019 college admissions scandal (aka Operation Varsity Blues), while Jacob was riding high off the success of Euphoria and The Kissing Booth franchise.

Despite their seemingly opposite worlds, the two quietly dated for several months, splitting in 2022 before reuniting in mid-2023. Since then, Jacob Elordi and Olivia Jade have been spotted together on multiple occasions – whether it’s grabbing green juices in LA, vacationing in Italy, or enjoying long dog walks in their activewear.

They’re yet to go red carpet, or even Insta-official, but their pap shots have been consistent enough to confirm their couple status, as far as everyone can tell.

According to People, they’re reportedly “100 per cent going strong” and are “happy together,” while neither have publicly commented on their budding romance, sources say that the pair first bonded over their shared experiences with fame and media scrutiny.

And if you’re wondering whether Jacob Elordi and Olivia Jade are still together? As of now, all signs point to yes. Despite breakup rumours surfacing just last month, Giannulli was seen with Elordi at The Toronto Film Festival.

We guess this means they’re still an item and she’s officially taking the title of Elordi’s longest relationship. Could Olivia Jade be endgame? That’s between Jacob, his publicist, and the next A24 script that lands in his lap.

Kaia Gerber (2020–2021)

Jacob Elordi and then-girlfriend, Kaia Gerber first went public with their relationship in 2020, making red carpet appearances (Met Gala included) and posting the occasional curated couple pic to keep the internet happy.

During their short but no-less-sweet time together, the pair even committed to matching costumes for Halloween, which is a totally underrated celebrity couple milestone if you ask us.

In interviews, Kaia didn’t hold back when it came to sharing her affections with the world, most notably in a candid chat with Vogue, where she made it clear just how fond she was of her beau at the time. “Being able to be with someone I trust, where we don’t want anything from each other, having a safe, steady relationship like that has really opened my eyes to the possibilities of love and what it feels like to love without conditions,” she told the publication in 2021.

And for all his dark brooding energy, Elordi wasn’t shy about expressing relationship anecdotes of his own, revealing he’d also been so into Gerber, that he’d let her cut his headline-making mullet just a week into dating. “She took me to the bathroom and she got scissors and she cut it off,” he told Jimmy Kimmel, of the act akin to sacrifice.

They broke up quietly in late 2021, and honestly? We miss this era.

Zendaya (2019–2020)

Yes, Jacob Elordi and Zendaya really did date – and for a brief moment in 2020, it felt like the internet had collectively lost its mind. The two first met on the set of Euphoria, playing Rue and Nate in the HBO hit that launched a thousand glitter eyeshadow palettes and deep-dive TikToks. Rumours of an off-screen romance sparked shortly after filming for the first season wrapped, with fans asking did Jacob Elordi and Zendaya date in real life? The answer: yes, but neither of them said much about it.

By mid-2019, the rumours reached fever pitch after the pair were spotted vacationing in Greece with Zendaya’s family (you know, casual), followed by more public outings in Los Angeles, and Elordi’s home country, Australia. In early 2020, they were photographed kissing in NYC, essentially confirming what everyone already suspected: Jacob Elordi and Zendaya were more than just co-stars.

The relationship was famously low-key, but during this era, Jacob referred to Zendaya as just “like my sister” in a GQ interview, which – depending on your level of media literacy – was either a classic celebrity fake-out or a total misread. Regardless, their chemistry was undeniable, and their matching tall-hot-energy had fans falling hard.

Joey King (2017–2018)

Before Euphoria, before Saltburn, before he became a fashion week front-row fixture, Jacob Elordi was the towering heartthrob from The Kissing Booth – and his first public relationship was with none other than his co-star Joey King.

The two met while filming the first Kissing Booth movie in 2017 and quickly became a real-life couple, much to the delight of Netflix viewers and Tumblr stans everywhere.

Their off-screen romance coincided with the film’s massive success in 2018, making them one of the internet’s favourite young Hollywood couples at the time. But by the time The Kissing Booth 2 rolled around, things had cooled off—Jacob and Joey had reportedly broken up, though they never addressed it directly in the press.

Fans were shocked to see the pair reunite on-screen for not one, but two sequels post-breakup. While some speculated tension behind the scenes, Joey later called working with Jacob “a great experience” and praised their professional dynamic. So, was Joey King on the Jacob Elordi girlfriend list? Yes – and while it didn’t last, their teen rom-com legacy lives on.

Related articles:

• Jacob Elordi Is In His *Serious Actor* Era, And His Ex Has Something To Say About It
• We Have Our First Glimpse Of Margot Robbie In ‘Wuthering Heights’
• Everything We Know About ‘The Narrow Road To The Deep North’ TV Adaption

The post Let’s Unpack Jacob Elordi’s Complete Dating History appeared first on marie claire.

PEOPLE reports Penn and Domino’s newborn twins are boys, but we don’t have any names or confirmation of this yet. The birth of twins grows Badgley and Kirke’s family to a total of four kids. While we don’t know when exactly they were welcomed into the world, Kirke posted a photo of she and Badgley on Instagram three weeks ago with the hashtag “still cookin'”.

Curious about how Badgley met his very-cool match in Domino Kirke. Here’s a look at their family life, and a walk back through their adorable romance—including their unlikely beginnings in a meatball shop.

Does Penn Badgley Have Kids?

Penn Badgley has a son with Domino Kirke, as well as a step son, Cassius, 16, whom Kirke had in a previous relationship in 2009. Their son, James, was born in August 2020.

In 2025, Badgley and Kirke revealed they were expecting twins. Making the announcement, Domino took to Instagram with a photo of her, Badgley and James in a photobooth. The caption read: “Babies #3 and #4 coming this Summer! Talk about a PLOT TWIST! Spontaneous twins are beyond magical. We are stunned. We are in awe. Can’t think of anyone else I’d rather be on this ride with @pennbadgley.”

Kirke and Badgley welcomed the twins around August 2025. No official birth announcement was made, until September 4, when Badgley posted a video on Instagram saying he was on “twin paternity leave”.

Kirke had previously been vocal about her experiences with pregnancy loss prior to conceiving James.

Is Penn Badgley Married?

Yes, Penn Badgley is married to Domino Kirke, who has since adopted the hyphenated surname Kirke-Badgley. Badgley and Kirke met in 2014 and quickly became an item. The two were married in a courthouse ceremony in 2017, followed by a rustic reception at an “upscale organic eatery”. It seems the two were married again months later, with new photos emerging of Domino in a different wedding dress, celebrating with friends on a farm. It was a celebrity affair, with the guest list including Heidi Klum, Mariska Hargitay, Sophia Bush, Debra Messing.

Who Is Penn Badgley’s Wife, Domino Kirke?

So, who is the mystery goddess who stole Badgley’s heart? Well, she’s not that mysterious, after all. Domino Kirke is the daughter of Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke and Lorraine Kirke, who ran the prominent Lower East Side vintage store, Geminola, which frequently supplied costumes to Sex And The City. Her sisters are Girls and Conversations With Friends star Jemima Kirke, and actress and singer, Lola Kirke. Domino is the oldest of the trio, born in December 17, 1983.

Domino is a doula and reiki practitioner but, like the rest of her family, also has a foot in the arts. A talented musician, Domino has released two LPs, her most recent recording, The Most Familiar Star, coming out on April 18, 2025. She’d previously been in the band DOMINO, which toured with Lily Allen and had released an EP with Mark Ronson.

How Did Penn Badgley and Domino Kirke Meet?

Penn and Domino reportedly met for the first time at a meatball shop in 2014. At the time, Badgley had been couch surfing and Kirke—as fate would have it—had a room available. They met at this “meatball shop”(per Kirke’s description), where she offered him the room. But it’s safe to say she had other things in mind from the start…

“I got his number because I was really interested in him living with me, and I thought he was cute,” she said on the podcast. “And it would have been nice to have a little winter, you know, fling with my roommate.”

And if you’re wondering if she’d been eyeing him since Gossip Girl days, the answer is a firm no: Kirke had never seen it.

Who Are Penn Badgley’s Ex Girlfriends?

If you’re wondering about Badgley’s previous relationships, let’s take a look back at his dating history…

Blake Lively, 2007 – 2010

As if we could forget, Penn Badgley dated his Gossip Girl co-star an on-screen love interest, Blake Lively, for three years. The two met after Badgley was cast as Dan Humphrey. They dated for three years on-and-off while filming the series, which ran from 2007 until 2012. However, the two separated in 2010.

Reflecting on the relationship in an April 2025 interview with Call Her Daddy, Badgley said dating Lively while acting opposite her was a “struggle”. Both actors expressed difficulty separating themselves from the characters they played on screen, which they say contributed to a strained relationship. “It was the struggle,” he said. “What starts to happen when you’re in this one role for a long time — the aspect of celebrity being a part of it, a huge part of it — there is not enough separation, I think, for anybody.” Badgley added that he wasn’t “emotionally mature” enough at the time.

Zoe Kravitz, 2011 – 2013

While we may never know exactly how Penn Badgley and Zoe Kravitz met, we know they hit it off and dated for nearly three years. Badgley was filming Gossip Girl at the time, and was therefore living in Kravitz’s hometown of New York. The two reportedly lived with each other for some of that time, and Badgley has described their relationship as “real, true, earth-shattering love.” Sources say they eventually broke up due to busy work schedules and not having “enough time” for each other.

The post Penn Badgley And Domino Kirke Welcome Twins appeared first on marie claire.

It’s official: the infidelity gap has closed, with women now cheating on their partners at the same rate as men. But the reasons behind the transgressions are completely different.

We explore them all in marie claire series, Why Women Cheat.

Want to share your story? DM us on Instagram or email us at marieclaire@aremedia.com.au

The night Ashleigh* cheated on her long-term partner, Ben*, with one of his closest friends, Noah*, had been building for months.

It all began, however, on a night out with Ben’s friends.

“I was spending a lot of time with Ben’s friends, but not for the reason you might think,” Ashleigh recalls.

“Ben had moved an hour away for work, so the weekends were our only time to see one another. He’d come to stay with me every weekend but then go out with his friends drinking, so the only way to get as much time with him as I could was to go along, too.”

Previous

Why Do People Cheat?

Why Women Are Having More Affairs Than Ever Before

Next

After a few months of weekend drinks with Ben’s friends becoming a regular occurrence, Ashleigh had formed her own friendships with the group. It was a Friday night on a long weekend when Ben, feeling unwell, decided to head home early. Ashleigh, however, did something she’d never done before and decided to stay without him.

As the night came to a close, Noah, who was also in a relationship, offered to walk her the few blocks home.

“I’m a naturally flirty person and Noah was absolutely gorgeous, so there had been a few innocent-bordering-on-flirtatious DMs here and there but as we walked home alone for the first time, there was this electricity in the air I’d never felt between us before,” she says.

“Suddenly, he was holding my hand, asking if that was okay. I let him and as PG-13 as it sounds, it spiralled quickly from there.” 

Over the next few months, messages became increasingly flirty and suggestive and whenever they were in a room together, Noah would find a reason to be near her or hold her hand when no one was looking. Emotionally, a line had been crossed, Ashleigh acknowledges, and the physical was just a matter of time.

“The way our messages were going, it was clear where we were heading,” she recalls.

“One night, Noah’s girlfriend was away and Ben was back at home, and he suggested I come over. The tension became unbearable and we ended up making out for hours.”

What followed was weeks of stolen kisses in bathrooms at parties and staying up until everyone else had called it a night just so they could be alone together. Fleeting and heated exchanges eventually turned into sex – in a dark alley on a night out, in his car after work, multiple times in a row on weekends Ben stayed back home.

While Ashleigh says she never asked for anything more from Noah, it soon became clear he would never leave his girlfriend.

“I stayed with Ben longer than I should have, I think in part because I didn’t want to give up that connection to Noah and wasn’t sure what would happen to us if I did break it off with Ben.

“Finally I decided I couldn’t keep lying and doing what I was doing. I felt a surprisingly little amount of guilt during and after, and I constantly ask if there’s something wrong with me for that,” she confesses.

“I think part of me was looking for a way out of a relationship where I wasn’t a priority, and another part of me thrived on how sexy and confident Noah made me feel.”

Ashleigh admits she still thinks about her affair with Noah, but she puts that down not to the connection or Noah himself, rather the endorphins of lust and being lusted after.

“I don’t miss Noah, our connection was purely sexual, but occasionally I’ll long for that thrill or feeling I had with him – like when you’re in the early, lusting stages with someone new. In an affair, or at least in my experience, that almost felt amplified – you want each other but can’t have each other, which can be addictive but dangerous.” 

The post ‘Years Later, I Don’t Regret My Affair With My Boyfriend’s Best Friend’ appeared first on marie claire.

Are Tom Cruise & Ana de Armas Actually Dating?

Cruise and de Armas’ relationship looks to have transitioned from co-stars to something more, if new photos from TMZ are anything to go by.

On July 29, the actors were spotted holding hands during a low-key romantic getaway in Woodstock, Vermont—a far cry from their usual red carpet-ready appearances or helicopter-arrival photo ops. Dressed down and smiling, the pair looked more like a couple on holiday than co-stars preparing for a press tour.

Tom Cruise & Ana de Armas Dating Timeline

The pair were first spotted out together in London having dinner on Valentine’s Day (of all days!) which immediately sent celebrity-watchers into relationship speculation.

The Mission Impossible star, 62, and the Blonde actress, 36, were seen posing for photos with fans while carrying takeaway bags out of a restaurant before getting into a taxi together.

Sources told People at the time however, that the dinner was purely platonic, instead insisting it was a meeting to discuss “potential collaborations down the line” and there’s “no romantic connection, [they’re] just friends.”

A month after first sparking romance rumours, Cruise and de Armas were spotted together again. On this occasion, the duo were seen arriving at a London Heliport via helicopter before returning to the same restaurant. It’s certainly not the most conventional of travel methods for a dinner meeting, but any solid proof of a romance still remained to be seen.

Come May 2025, de Armas appeared on Good Morning America and confirmed she was working on several projects with Cruise.

“We’re definitely working on a lot of things. Not just one but a few projects with Doug Liman and Christopher McQuarrie and, of course, Tom. And I’m so excited,” she revealed.

More recently, the pair attended Oasis’s sold‑out reunion concert at Wembley Stadium on July 25, with People confirming they were among several celebrities at the London shows.

Cruise has had a series of high-profile romances and marriages, most notably to Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes, but was most recently linked to Russian socialite, Elsina Khayrova. According to Us Weekly, that relationship ended in December 2023.

The Cuban-born actress is also believed to be single, with reports she split from long-term boyfriend, Tinder exec, Paul Boukadakis in late 2024.

The actress has previously cited Cruise’s stunt work as inspiration for her own films deeming it “mind-blowing” in an interview with USA Today back in 2023.

“I totally get why he does it,” she said at the time. “It’s demanding and painful and your body is hurting everywhere, but it’s also very rewarding as I saw myself getting better at it.”

The post Did Tom Cruise & Ana De Armas Just Confirm Dating Rumours? appeared first on marie claire.

What Is The Tea App? 

Branded as a dating “safety tool,” it lets women anonymously review their dating experiences with men and share red flags (and green ones) in the hopes of protecting one another from potentially toxic men.

“At its core, Tea is built on one fundamental belief: Women should never have to compromise their safety while dating,” the site states.

For many, it’s being hailed as the future of dating safety, offering women a way to share experiences without fear of being silenced, gaslit, or harassed.

How Does The Tea App Work? 

Only women and nonbinary users are allowed to create accounts. Once in, they can “drop tea” by posting anonymous reviews of men, flagging everything from ghosting and love-bombing to more serious behaviours like coercion or boundary-crossing.

Some have questioned whether the app itself – naming, identifying and on some occasions making legally concerning claims about their behaviour – violates the rights and privacy of men being discussed. The biggest concern for those posting is a potential claim of defamation.

Legally, defamation is the publication of false information that harms someone’s reputation. For this reason, users are wanted against making “revenge claims” or false statements. 

The Tea App Leak & 4Chan

While calls to “hack and leak” Tea’s data are said to have originated on 4chan, the exact source responsible remains unclear.

The BBC reports that 72,000 images submitted by women including 13,000 verification photos and government IDs of female users were accessed without authorisation. 

Following the data breach Tea said it was “working with some of the most trusted cyber security experts” to rectify the issue. 

Since the leak, 404 Media reports that some of the stolen images have surfaced on 4Chan while NBC revealed one Google Maps user created a map showing the locations of some Tea users. 

The post The Tea App Hack Proves Exactly Why It Needed To Exist appeared first on marie claire.

Who Is Jessica Alba’s Rumoured Boyfriend?

Enter Danny Ramirez, 32 – the Captain America: Brave New World actor who’s been quietly catching Hollywood’s eye. The pair’s connection is fresh, with sources telling PEOPLE that things are “very new” but already full of fun and good vibes.

Their chemistry was on display just days earlier, with photos showing them smiling inside a car after dinner. And it’s not just LA – they recently escaped to Mexico together, giving fans a peek at Alba’s new romantic chapter under the Cancun sun.

Who Is Jessica Alba’s Current Husband?

Jessica was married to film producer Cash Warren for nearly two decades. The couple tied the knot in 2008 after meeting on a film set, building a family together with three children — Honor, 17, Haven, 13, and Hayes, 7.

But their romantic journey quietly ended in late 2024. Alba filed for divorce in February 2025, citing irreconcilable differences and requesting joint custody of their children, along with restoring her maiden name, Jessica Marie Alba.

Are Jessica Alba And Her Husband Still Together?

Romantically? No.

Though legally still married as the divorce proceeds, Jessica and Cash have been living separate lives since December 2024. Alba has publicly embraced this “new chapter of growth and evolution,” making it clear their priority remains co-parenting their children with respect and love.

Meanwhile, Jessica’s post-divorce glow is unmistakable. She’s found her stride – and it comes with a new spark, new love, and a fresh sense of freedom.

The post Jessica Alba Has Entered Her Post-Divorce Era – And It Suits Her appeared first on marie claire.

So she did it again. And again. And again. Multiple times a week for a month or so, Zara and Mateo* met up in secret. Her partner, Joshua, was none the wiser. “We’d been together for six years but didn’t live together, so there was a lot of time I didn’t need to account for,” she says. “I would text him to say I was at dinner, and he never wondered who with, or when – or if – I got home.”

Logistically, sexually and morally, the affair was easy. But at some point, Zara did start to wonder if she had a morality chip missing. Why didn’t she ever feel guilty? “I started to become really consumed with, ‘Why don’t I feel bad?’ and the only thing I could come up with was that I’d been cheated on by an ex, and now it was my turn. And the universe was making it easy for me because I’d had such a hard time all those years earlier. It’s pretty deranged logic.”

Eventually, Zara broke up with Joshua without telling him about the affair, and continued to see Mateo for another year – until she cheated on him, too, with a friend of a friend, Ben. “I still never felt guilty, but I definitely felt like there was something wrong with me,” she says. “Like, I’d never done this before, and now I’m doing it twice in a row? I should be in jail,” she jokes.

Far from being locked up, what cheating women need is understanding and a listening ear that’s curious rather than judgemental. Silence stands in the way of honesty, repair and the ability to build stronger relationships – with their partners and themselves.

When men have affairs, it’s the stuff of locker-room talk and boys’ night bragging. It’s not entirely shocking to hear of a married man straying. But when a woman does it, she’s treated with contempt, judgement and scorn. And so women don’t talk about it, and they think there’s something wrong with them.

Women are made for romance, for settling down, for fairytales and happy endings, we’re told; it’s men who stray, who roam, whose sexual appetites are so heightened that they’ll look elsewhere as soon as their partner claims one too many bedtime “headaches”. But all the while that narrative has been spinning, the rates of female infidelity in heterosexual relationships have been increasing yet men’s rates have remained steady.

According to research cited by the wildly popular psychotherapist and author Esther Perel, between 1990 and 2017 there was a 40 per cent jump in the number of women having affairs. And last year, a study found that we’ve achieved infidelity parity.

“Women are wired for sexual variety, novelty and adventure. Women cheat in every society, even in ones where they are put to death for it,” says Wednesday Martin, a New York-based researcher, social commentator and the author of Untrue: Why Nearly Everything We Believe About Women, Lust, and Adultery is Wrong. “It’s time we accept that, however we feel about it personally, stepping out on a long-term partner is a regular feature of female sexual behaviour, not just male sexual behaviour.”

We may have closed the affairs gap, but insight into the reasons women cheat has been understudied. We know men tend to cheat from a place of insecurity or a lack of attention or praise from their primary partner, but until now researchers have struggled to agree on what drives women to look outside their marriages.

In the 2024 study, published in the journal of Evolution and Human Behaviour, researchers surveyed 254 heterosexual men and women from across the globe who were currently or previously engaged in an affair with the precise mission to find out why women were cheating.

The findings were interesting: many women rated their sidepiece as more physically attractive but less parentally attractive and with a worse personality than their primary partner, which dispelled the hypothesis that women cheat to “mate-switch”, an upscaling tactic that also minimises the chances of being single in a society that’s taught women they need a man’s resources to survive.

So, if women weren’t necessarily looking for a new relationship, what were they looking for? One participant said she wanted extra help with her kids, many said they were seeking revenge on their unfaithful partners, others wanted to feel like they were still attractive to other men, and several said they were simply bored. The study also found that women are more likely to cheat when they feel dismissed by their partner or fall in love with someone else.

Zara, now 42, says both of these scenarios apply to her. The affair with Mateo was easy because Joshua wasn’t curious about her. “He didn’t really ever ask questions about what I was doing or how my day was, which, at the time, felt like trust and freedom,” she says. “But now, I can see that it was just complete disinterest in me and my life. My thing with Mateo grew in the space where Joshua’s interest in me as his partner should have been.”

And what about the affair with Ben? “Mateo and I never really got serious – I didn’t introduce him to any of my friends, he kind of stayed a secret. I was keeping him around until I found someone I could actually see a life with. I was too scared to be single, and when I fell in love with Ben, I was too much of a baby to end it with Mateo.”

Affairs can also stem from the mental and household load women typically carry when they become mothers. In the latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (Hilda) survey, in 2022, men spent an average of 12.8 hours a week on housework – the same as they did 20 years prior – while women do an average of 18.4 hours (50 per cent more than two decades ago). When you’re the primary caregiver for your children and your partner, sometimes you just want something all to yourself.

For Lisa, a 40-year-old mother of two who’s been married for 18 years, that something came in the form of her handsome and flirty colleague David. “I had spent years being the responsible wife, mother and caregiver, and my needs were background music to everyone else’s leading vocals,” she says. “At home, I had become this pared-down version of myself, and I didn’t even notice it happening.” Her marriage to Michael* wasn’t bad, exactly, just a bit meh. “It wasn’t toxic, it was quiet, dutiful, predictable. At some point along the way, I stopped feeling like a woman and more like a co-manager of a household.”

And then along came David, whose well-tailored and clean-shaven presence in the office became irresistible. “There was chemistry between us, but I ignored it for a while. Given we saw each other every day, the connection grew,” Lisa says of the “non-dramatic” start of their affair. “He gave me the feeling of being wanted: not relied upon, wanted. He looked at me with hunger instead of expectation. It was about remembering there’s a version of me that still has desire. I’d forgotten who she was.”

The moment Lisa knew she’d crossed a line actually had nothing to do with sex – that came later. “I knew it had started the moment I deleted a text I didn’t want my husband to see. That was the point of no return,” she says. “I felt nauseous and euphoric – it’s wild how the same moment can give you a high and hollow you out completely.”

Dr Tammy Nelson is a sexologist and psychotherapist and the author of several books on infidelity, including 2019’s When You’re the One Who Cheats. She’s seen the difference between men’s and women’s affairs play out in real time in her practice and undercover online as a consultant for Ashley Madison, the infamous dating site where married people go to have an affair. Despite the 2015 data leak that saw the names and email addresses of its 36 million users made public, the site still claims more than 65 million members.

Having direct access to that many unfaithful spouses is an infidelity researcher’s dream. Earlier this year, Nelson was allowed to create two profiles: one male, one female. She provided little by way of personal information: no photograph, only a name, hair colour and height. She didn’t respond to any messages, but watched them pour in. “When I was a woman, men sent me requests saying, ‘I’m not going to leave my wife, but I am really not interested in a one-night stand. I really want a girlfriend who I can connect with. I want to text every day. I don’t want you seeing a whole bunch of other people.’

They really wanted a relationship,” she says. “All of them.” When Nelson was a “man”, “all the messages I was getting from women were all lingerie photos, boob shots, and they all said, ‘Look, I don’t want to hear your problems. Don’t tell me about your day. I just want to have hot, Fifty Shades of Grey sex while my kids are at school.’ Women are tired. They want to escape. Whereas the men, they’ve already got a relationship, and they want a second one.”

It’s a generalisation, Nelson says, but the men who are cheating often do so because they “feel emotionally abandoned. Their wife or partner is overwhelmed by the responsibilities of being a woman. He wants to be her first priority, and when he can’t be, he finds someone else. Whereas the woman just wants to have sex and enjoy herself because she’s already taking care of everyone else.”

Nelson adds that these differences also demonstrate that everything we’ve been taught about female sexuality is wrong. Studies show that in long-term heterosexual relationships, it’s the women who get bored with sex first. “Married men will keep having sex even if it’s boring, whereas women will lose interest or it’s just not satisfying, and they’ll shut it down,” Nelson says. “Then there’s resentment in the middle of the bed.” Both partners think the woman has gone off sex altogether.

In writing Untrue, Martin found “an epidemic of female sexual boredom among married or cohabiting heterosexual women in Western industrialised society”, she says. The idea for the book came from first-hand experience. “When I had been happily married for nearly 20 years and realised I was still attracted to and sexually curious about other people, I thought there was something wrong with me,” she says.

Now, she wants women (and men) to know: “No, she hasn’t gone off having sex. She’s gone off having sex the same way with the same person over and over again, because she is a woman.” Nelson agrees: “I don’t think it’s pathological to not want to have sex if it’s boring,” she quips. “Traditionally, women have been conditioned to not ask for what they want or even know what they want,” Nelson continues. “It can be easier to shut it down, maybe seek it elsewhere.

Sometimes it’s easier to say what you want to someone who you don’t really know that well, because shaking it up at home can feel threatening.” “Everyone benefits when we educate people that women evolved for and thrive when they have sexual variety, novelty and adventure,” Martin adds, “and that they wither sexually without it.” By not asking for what they want, you might say, women are only cheating themselves.

While some women, like Zara, cheat to leave a relationship, some women cheat to stay in one. Lisa has no intention of ending her affair with David or leaving her marriage to Michael. “The secrecy was exciting at first, but then the guilt crept in. I’d look at my daughter sleeping in her crib and I’d feel pretty sick,” she says. “I kept wondering, ‘What kind of woman does this to her family?’ Apparently me. And I can’t stop.”

Still, she credits her affair with improving her love life at home. “I started initiating more intimacy with Michael, and I think he feels the shift, even if he doesn’t understand it,” she says. “There’s more intimacy in the air. I also feel happier. It’s so complicated.” Maybe having something just for herself makes it easier to be everything for everyone else.

Margot, now a 70-year-old grandmother, also had affairs as a way to stay in her marriage. It was the late 1970s when she wed Christopher at the tender age of 22. They’d only been newlyweds for a few months when she had her first affair.

“I was already regretting the marriage. Everyone told me I should marry him, so I did what people told me to do,” she recalls. “I tried to leave him once, but my mother sat me down and told me to stay with him. But I was never committed to the marriage. I had many affairs.”

Margot didn’t hate her husband, he just wasn’t right for her. “He was a decent man in many ways – he had a steady job, he was good on paper – but I felt invisible,” she says. “He was working so much and I was home with the children, and we weren’t growing together. I wanted connection, freedom, laughter. I wanted to be wanted, but I also wanted to be understood, and affairs gave me that, at least temporarily.”

Her trysts gave her the strength to make the most of a marriage she didn’t want to be in but couldn’t get out of. Divorce was still so taboo. “Every time I came close to leaving, I would look at the children and tell myself to wait a little longer, ‘Not yet,’ ” she says. And so, when the kids were at school and her husband was at work, she’d invite other men over. There were a few close calls – like when a school mum stopped by to drop something off while Margot’s lover hid in the bedroom – but her infidelities stayed secret for decades.

It was only when Margot met and fell in love with Paul*, when she was 40, that she confessed the truth to Christopher. “[The fallout] was awful, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she says. “I became The Woman Who Ran Off. I lost most of my friendship circle, and people accused me of leaving my children, which I didn’t. It was painful but necessary, and I don’t regret it. I left at the right time: I left when I found my soulmate, the man I’ve now been with for almost 30 years, the love of my life.

I’m so grateful I met him. I’ve never cheated on him because he fulfils me. I found happiness and stopped needing something outside of my marriage.”

The reason many women (and men) cheat can have nothing to do with what’s lacking in their marriage and instead have everything to do with what’s missing within themselves. In recent years, a new guard of therapists and researchers – which includes Perel, Martin and Nelson – have posited that affairs aren’t always about turning away from your partner and towards someone else; they’re often about turning away and towards different versions of yourself. “I don’t think people necessarily look for another person,” Nelson says. “I feel like they look to be another person.”

In this way, infidelity can be seen as an act of self-discovery. While that can sound like a generous get-out-of-jail-free card, it’s merely the reality for a lot of couples dealing with infidelity. For Lisa, her affair allows her to spend time with a version of herself who feels desire and is desired in return; for Margot, her affairs were about embracing the freedom of her youth from the confines of a traditional, and reluctant, marriage. Nelson knows that even if we can define the different reasons men and women cheat, there’s no way to prevent infidelity.

What she would like to prevent is the lying. “It’s the dishonesty that’s painful,” she says. “The breaking the promise.” She recommends couples agree on a definition of monogamy early on, and check in regularly.

“If we’re going to be married for 50 or 60 years, we have to come to some flexible understanding that we might be attracted to someone else during that time, but we don’t need to trade in our partner.” She suggests incorporating your desires into your relationship so you don’t feel the need to lie.

It’s about safe destabilisation. Do you want to go to a sex club together, do you want to talk about a threesome? “You can say, ‘I don’t want to lie, I don’t want to cheat, I don’t want to get divorced, I’d like to stay with you and explore these things together,’” she says. Then there’s only one version of yourself to turn towards: your true self.

*Names and some identifiable details have been changed.

The post Why Women Are Having More Affairs Than Ever Before appeared first on marie claire.

Dating younger men isn’t new, but it has been considered relatively taboo. While we don’t expect an earworm tune and micro TikTok trend will overhaul years of patriarchal standards drummed into us that it signifies a woman is “desperate” or a “cougar” it may be another sign of changing perspectives.

Recently, we’ve seen a wave of older-woman-dates-younger-man films, including Babygirl and The Idea Of You and women like Kristin Cavallari and Charlize Theron speak openly about their experiences with younger men. Could this latest social media trend be just further proof we’re finally shaking the taboo for good?

“It almost flips the script by challenging those old school double standards that used to say it was normal (or even admirable) for older men to date younger women, but not so ok the other way around,” Clinical Psychologist Dr. Maria-Elena Lukeides tells marie claire Australia.

“Women proudly sharing their relationships with younger men, it can help to dismantle old biases”

Still, the trend highlights this idea that older men (even slightly so) are thought to be a more desirable match. This isn’t universally said for all women, of course, but depicts another possible misconception about the age dynamic: that dating an older man equals security and maturity.

“Those that do prefer older men, tend to be seeking security and stability,” Dr. Lukeides explains, “That’s because there is an element of evolutionary psychology at play – where women unconsciously seek partners who offer stability and resources.”

Maybe it’s a case that men in their 20s are more emotionally mature than the generations before. Dr. Lukeides suggests that rather than age, it’s maturity we’re seeking from a relationship — and that has more to do with someone’s upbringing and attachment style.

“Attachment theory posits that our ability to form healthy relationships, to prioritise connectedness, to be responsible and accountable partners, is based on our early parenting experiences,” she explains.

“It may be a sign that women are more interested in the quality of the relationship dynamic, that eventually that is what they fall in love with as opposed to some ideal or idea that an age matched or older man will be ‘emotionally mature’.”

They say age is just a number, so maybe we take cues from the TikTok trend and not base our perfect match on it.

*Name has been changed

The post TikTok Is Embracing Dating Younger Men And Maybe You Should, Too appeared first on marie claire.

Posts about the deadpan glare often associated with the viral moniker have spread through social media like wildfire. And, like Millennial moths to a zoomer flame, debate around its deeper meaning and possible reasons behind it, are fueling intergenerational discourse once more.

But far from another Gen Z gesture for Millennials to get worked up about (we’re still processing their claim to the side part tbh) the seemingly judgemental reaction – or rather, non-reaction – has transcended the usual methods of interpretation – one that seeks to pigeonhole the younger generation as “lazy” or “chronically online” – and evolved to something more.

So what exactly is the Gen Z stare and why is it impossible to escape right now?

What Is The Gen Z Stare?

According to social media, the “Gen Z stare” is a vacant, expressionless stare that some zoomers are using to respond to questions or conversation prompts in lieu of what most generations would call etiquette.

If you asked zoomers (though there’s plenty of conflicting arguments) they’d likely tell you it’s the look they give someone when they’ve just been asked a stupid question that doesn’t deserve a verbal response.

For the most part, examples have been associated with the blank look of a customer service or hospitality employee when they’re asked what most would consider an innocuous or even well-meaning question. However, there’s a cohort that considers it to be a broader phenomenon, too.

One video by TikTok user Riley Despot, 30, describes an interaction with a gen z golf instructor that left her confused. In the video (currently sitting at one million views) she recalls thanking the instructor for agreeing to teach her child, only to receive a blank stare and a “yeah” in response. When she pushed through the awkwardness to ask how she should pay the instructor, she was met with an equally indifferent answer, that wasn’t really an answer at all.

What Does It Mean?

While there’s still conflicting arguments about the exact meaning behind the Gen Z stare, most argue that it’s an inability to make small talk brought on by a generation raised on screens. Others have likened it to an anxiety-led response, or even the result of being forced to spend their formative years locked inside because of Covid.

Dr Jean Twenge, author of Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers and Silents told the New York Times, that while it’s possible a pandemic has played some part in the disconnect between social etiquette-related expectations and gen z’s ability to perform them, it’s more likely about a decline in face-to-face interactions.

“Social skills take thousands and thousands of hours to develop and adolescence is a critical period for developing social skills,” Dr. Twenge said. “And Gen Z has spent much less time with their peers in person during that critical stage.”

The origins of the term aren’t exactly clear, and the definition is vague, but for the most part, it seems to have originated online sometime in late 2024, before reaching its subsequent virality in the last few weeks after thousands of clips started appearing in response to the #genzstare.

Online, the Gen Z stare is being read as everything from disaffected apathy to a refusal to “play nice”. Some say it reflects emotional detachment, while others see it as a coping mechanism to demanding workloads and professional expectations (especially in service-related jobs).

“Fair. A lot of Gen Z don’t know how to talk to people,” Efe Ahworegba, 19, said in her now-viral TikTok where she discussed the Gen Z stare. “But a lot of older generations talk too much, too rudely, and too proudly while being too stupid.”

“The Gen Z stare is basically us saying the customer is not always right,” Ahworegba added, prompting many to flood the comments section with observations of their own, including objections to Gen Z laying claim to the “stare” in the first place.

“I think it’s hilarious that Gen Z thinks they’re the first generation to ever deal with stupidity or difficult customers,” wrote one user, adding: “And that’s how they justify the fact that they just disassociate and mindlessly stare into space whenever they are confronted with a difficult or confusing situation, instead of immediately engaging in the situation like every other generation has ever done before them lol.”

Is It Just Another Form Of The “Millennial Pause”?

TikToker @maybesantana argued that while the “customer service stare” might be valid in some situations, it’s different from the “Gen Z stare.”

Any customer facing worker might respond with a blank stare when you ask something “stupid,” they explained. But the “Gen Z stare,” is the “lead paint stare that customer service workers receive instead of response to anything,” they said.

The user referred to the “lead paint stare” associated with the baby boomer generation, which was a literal result of lead-poisoning from using lead-based paints in the 70s. But it’s not the only parallel.

Of course, Gen Z have long roasted the older generation for what they called a “Millennial Pause”. Classified by a brief pause that occurs at the beginning of a video recording, the stereotype is just another example of intergenerational judgement that seems to have reared its divisive head yet again.

“Generations have been doing these comparisons for time immemorial, but nowadays there is this medium that allows for those conversations to be ramped up,” Edith Cowan University psychology lecturer Shane Rogers explained in an interview with ABC.

“If there were more boomers and gen X that use TikTok, you would probably see more conversations about that as well.”

“But the main users are millennials and gen Z right now, so that is where a lot of the conversation is at,” he added.

Who Is The Gen Z Age Group?

Gen Z is a generation defined by people born between 1997 and 2012. That makes the oldest members in their late twenties and the youngest still in school.

It’s a cohort that grew up with smartphones and entered adolescence during a global pandemic – and one that’s increasingly being linked to phenomenons like abstaining from sex for longer, clean living, and even (heaven forbid) setting boundaries in the workplace.

They’ve also come of age at a time when social and economic precarity is the norm as opposed to the exception – which has arguably influenced their ability to move through the world. And who could blame them?

Related articles:

• Is Gen Z In A Sex Recession?
• Three Generations Debate What Appropriate Work Boundaries Actually Look Like

The post The ‘Gen Z Stare’ Is Everywhere: Here’s What It Actually Means appeared first on marie claire.

And although the former Saturday Night Live cast member might be reticent to reveal too much about his girlfriends – ex and present – it doesn’t stop the internet from lusting over the star’s romantic inclinations.

After all, who could blame them? The charming stand-up has been linked to ex-fiancé Ariana Grande, Kate Beckinsale, Margaret Qualley, Kaia Gerber, Phoebe Dynevor, Kim Kardashian, Emily Ratajkowski, Chase Sui Wonders, and Madelyn Cline. And that’s not including his most recent relationship with model, and soon-to-be mother of his child, Elsie Hewitt.

Now, since it was revealed that Pete and his partner are expecting their first child together, that interest has reached fever pitch.

While it might seem like Davidson plays along with the intrigue sparked by his celebrity couplings, he’s been pretty candid about how the attention has affected him in the past.

Most recently, the actor spoke with W Magazine about his experience navigating the heartthrob headlines, sharing, “I just want to be known for doing good work. I want to be out there only when it’s movie, stand-up, charity, or business ventures. That’s when I want to be seen. I don’t want to be this f***ing loser who just dates people. That’s not who I am.” 

All jokes aside, there’s a reason why Pete Davidson and his hyper adoration for his girlfriends gets the tick of approval from us and it has to do with his willingness to date – and be dated – in an all-in way. There’s no denying this Scorpio king’s love language centres his partners and he’s more than willing to admit it.

“My love language, when I’m in a relationship, is I treat the person I’m with like a princess,” he revealed in an interview with Paper Magazine in 2019.

“I try and go as above and beyond as possible, because that’s what you’re supposed to do? If you’re in a relationship with someone, you’re just supposed to make that person feel as special as possible.”

And who could argue with that?

In light of the recent news that Pete Davidson is about to be a dad, let’s take a light-hearted stroll down memory lane and explore his girlfriends from past, to present.

Who Is Pete Davidson Dating Now?

A new year meant a new addition to the Pete Davidson dating timeline, only when it comes to his latest flame, we’ve witnessed a slight departure from the comedian’s usual A-list dating pool.

The stand-up is currently in a relationship with 29-year-old model and actress Elsie Hewitt.

Clearly enjoying their time away from public pressure in the early days of their blossoming romance, the lovebirds were first snapped soaking up the sun at Palm Beach during a weekend away.

Although she might appear to be a departure from Davidson’s usual type, Hewitt is still very much a part of the celebrity universe having previously has several high profile relationships herself.

Most recently, the London-born beauty had been linked to fellow funny man Jason Sudeikis, and was also rumoured to have dated Benny Blanco after she appeared in his music video in 2019.

Earlier this year, sources close to the loved-up couple confirmed to Page Six that the pair has started out strong, revealing “[She] is very different from anybody else he’s ever dated before.”

“She respects Pete and his desire for privacy.”

Back then, we bet big on the two of them going the distance – and it appears our hunch was correct with the parents-to-be working out for the best.

Pete Davidson Girlfriends: A Complete Dating History

Carly Aquilino: 2015

Prior to Pete Davidson landing in our collective consciousness – and well before BDE was even in the popular vernacular – there was his dalliance we fellow comedian Carly Aquilino.

While not much is known about their low-key relationship, we do know that Davidson’s shotgun engagement to Ariana Grande appeared to stir up some feelings in his ex.

Posting a screenshot of a text she’d received on the day of the announcement that read “I know I’m the 9 billionth person to text you today about this, but… I can’t”.

Aquilino captioned the post: “My day in a text message.” Read that as you will.

Cazzie David: May 2016 – May 2018

To date, Cazzie David – daughter of comedic legend, Larry David – is the comedian’s longest relationship.

The creative couple were first linked in 2016 and spent the next two years together.

Speaking with People soon after the pair went public, Davidson said “I just love her very, very much,” and credited her with helping him through his journey with sobriety and various health struggles. “It wasn’t easy, but I got a great girl, great friends and I consider myself a lucky man.”

Sadly, they weren’t to last, with the stand-up confirming their breakup in a May 2018 interview with Complex: “We’re not together anymore,” he revealed. “Very talented girl, she’ll be great and she’ll be fine. Yeah, I think she’ll be OK.”

While the ex-couple have since been able to overcome their heartbreak and end up as friends, it wasn’t an easy path to get to for Cazzie, whose own experience was later documented in collection of essays titled No One Asked For This.

In the book, David revealed the breakup left her “screaming in agony” when just days after severing the relationship, she found out he’d moved on with Ariana Grande and was “the happiest he’d ever been.”

She admitted she found the thought of the two together torturous and couldn’t shake her mind replaying the two “immediately falling in love, accompanied by audio of her baby voice whispering sweet nothings in his ear, dubbed over his past declarations of love and trust to me.”

Of course, Pete Davidson and Ariane Grande were moved to the girlfriends history book and didn’t last, but it didn’t make it any less real for his ex.

Ariana Grande: May 2018 – October 2018

The whirlwind romance of Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande had the whole world gripped from start, to speedy finish.

Davidson and Grande were first spotted hanging out in May 2018 at a Saturday Night Live after-party, just days before announcing his own break-up from long-term love Cazzie David.

Exhibiting peak Scorpio behaviour, Davidson went for the hard and fast approach, reportedly introducing Ari to his mum days in before confirming engagement news just four weeks later.

Their relationship timeline read like a love story for the ages – only condensed into a five-month period.

Two sets of couple tattoos and one very public emotional rollercoaster later and the flash-in-the-pan partnership was over, with the couple announcing their split in October 2018.

Responding to the relationship breakdown, Grande acknowledged “it was frivolous and fun and highly unrealistic.”

“I loved him, and I didn’t know him. I’m like an infant when it comes to real life and this old soul, been-around-the-block-a-million-times artist. I still don’t trust myself with the life stuff.”

Thank you, next, indeed.

Kate Beckinsale: January 2019 – April 2019

Not one to remain single for long, the next name added to the list of Pete Davidson girlfriends was none other than famed British actress, Kate Beckinsale.

The pair were first spotted together in January, when they reportedly “hit it off” at Netflix’s Golden Globes afterparty in January 2019.

According to People, Davidson was spotted getting cosy with Beckinsale at the party, with one source saying the “literally cuddled up to each other”.

Beckinsale and Davidson enjoyed a fun and flirty few months and weren’t shy about their attraction to each other.

One particular exchange at a New York Rangers hockey game turned into an internet sensation after they were papped packing on the PDA next to Queer Eye’s Antoni eliciting a slew of make-out memes.

As it turns out, the two were in it for a good time, not a long time, and they quietly ended their relationship April 2019.

Margaret Qualley: August 2019 – October 2019

Pete’s next leading lady was actress Margaret Qualley. The couple enjoyed a brief romance, making headlines during the Venice Film Festival where they appeared at the screening for Seberg.

At the time, a source told US Weekly, that the couple was happily dating and planned to make it red carpet official. “They’ve been seeing each other for a couple of months and Margaret is really excited about him,” a source told the publication.

By October 2019, they had amicably parted ways, but not without a few positive reflections from Qualley’s mum – actress Andie Macdowell.

“She has a beautiful relationship with him but I don’t want to step on her relationship too much,” she told People adding, “They have a nice relationship.”

Kaia Gerber: October 2019 – January 2020

Fashion’s favourite nepo baby, Kaia Gerber, enjoyed a brief romance with the stand up star from October 2019 to January of the next year.

During their short lived relationship, they were spotted enjoying the throws of a devoted honey moon period, often snapped packing on the PDA whilst out and about.

But sadly, all with all good things, this too came to an end, and the loved-up pair parted ways after a whirlwind three months.

Reflecting on their brief time together during an interview with Charlamagne Tha God, Davidson admitted their breakup came down to timing.

“She’s very young, and I’m … going through a lot and it was before I went to rehab,” he revealed.

“It’s just like, she should be having fun,” he continued. “She shouldn’t have to worry about some dude that just has issues and s***. She should be enjoying her work.”

“It just wasn’t the right place or the right time at all,” he added, before praising her parents Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber. “Her parents were really helpful and stuff, so they’re cool.”

Phoebe Dynevor: March 2021 – August 2021

Davidson began dating Bridgerton actress Phoebe Dynevor in March 2021 after the comedian was spotted in Manchester, England.

The pair seemed as happy as could be, even enjoying a very public date courtside at Wimbledon, but the long distance relationship didn’t last long.

Sadly for the cross continent couple, their time ended after just five months, when the conflicting time zones became too much to navigate.

Kim Kardashian: October 2021 – August 2022

Kim Kardashian’s relationship with Pete Davidson was memorable to say the least. Becoming his second longest relationship – ever – Kim was added to the iconic Pete Davidson girlfriends list straight off the bat.

In true form for the reality star, their love life began with an on screen kiss during her SNL appearance, evolving into a full blown love affair soon after.

The cute couple made their red carpet debut at the 2022 Met Gala, where he accompanied the media mogul as she showed off her iconic Marilyn Monroe dress.

Although their partnership was the target of various outside noise via her ex-husband Kanye West and his vitriolic statements about her new beau, the two lasted quite a while, before naturally coming to an end in August 2022.

“There truly wasn’t drama between them when they decided to separate,” a source told Us Weekly at the time. “It was something they talked through; it wasn’t a sudden breakup.”

Emily Ratajkowski: November 2022 – December 2022

Short and sweet, Emily Ratajkowski’s time as a Pete Davidson girlfriend was but a blip in the star’s dating timeline, but no less fun.

The model had previously made her appreciation for Davidson known during an appearance on the Seth Meyers show where she gushed: “He’s got the height…Obviously women find him very attractive.”

“He seems super charming,” Ratajkowski added. “He’s vulnerable. He’s lovely. His fingernail polish is awesome. He looks good!” And, according to the model, the King of Staten Island star also maintains a “super great relationship with his mom.”

I mean, who can blame the girl for wanting to give him a whirl? Certainly not us.

Chase Sui Wonders: January 2023 – August 2023

Following his brief run with Ratajkowski, Davidson dived into a relationship with his Bodies, Bodies, Bodies costar, Chase Sui Wonders.

The two were first linked to each other romantically in January 2023, after photographs emerged of the pair ordering food at a Brooklyn restaurant.

“Pete and Chase Sui have been hanging out and having fun,” a source close to Davidson told People at the time. “It doesn’t seem like a long-term thing though.”

In February of that year, the two appeared besotted with each other, taking their love life into the next gear at the NASCAR Cup Series 65th Annual Daytona 500.

But as much as the pair seemed like a good fit, their time came to an less than a year after they first started dating.

“There’s no bad blood or any hard feelings between them,” a source revealed to Us Weekly at the time. “Their relationship had simply run its course and they decided they just wanted different things.”

Madelyn Cline: September 2023 – July 2024

Not longer after he parted ways with his costar, Davidson started dating another screen siren – Outer Banks‘ Madelyn Cline.

“Madelyn and Pete have been dating for several weeks but have grown close fairly quickly,” an insider told Us Weekly at the time.

The couple remained incredibly private throughout their nearly year-long relationship, keeping things low-key before they eventually ended things in July that same year.

The post A Complete Guide To Pete Davidson’s A-List Dating History appeared first on marie claire.

But the 28-year-old’s accomplishments haven’t happened over night. Instead, Paul’s ascent is the result of nearly a decade’s worth of work, including scoring major upsets over top seeded players such as Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz.

As his crowds of fans continue to grow, so too does the world’s curiosity around his life love – namely Tommy Paul’s relationship with his long-term partner, Paige Lorenze – a star in her own right. But the intrigue has recently hit fever pitch, after the couple revealed they’d taken their relationship to the next level.

Announcing the wonderful news in a joint Instagram post on July 14, 2025, Paige Lorenze and Tommy Paul revealed their newly-engaged status. Captioning a set of candid photos depicting the loved-up couple (and Lorenze’s stunning ring) celebrating the update, Paige proclaimed a simple, yet meaningful “forever.”

Naturally, fans and friends alike flocked to the comments section to congratulate the couple on their big news.

Below, everything we know about the pair’s off-court romance, including Lorenze’s own position atop the tennis WAGs rankings.

Who Is Paige Lorenze?

Paige Lorenze, 26, is an American influencer, entrepreneur and business owner.

She, along with influencers and fellow tennis WAGs Morgan Riddle and Ayan Broomfield, have courted a huge amount of success of the back of their star-powered romance.

But, as is the case with her likeminded cohort, Lorenze is very much a power player in her own right.

At the time of writing, Lorenze has 996K followers on Instagram and counts brand deals with Dior Beauty, Chanel, and Illy as just some of her more prominent partnerships. But these high profile collaborations only account for one part of her success.

What Is Paige Lorenze Known For?

Aside from making a name for herself as a model and influencer, the Connecticut native earned her fashion stripes at New York’s Parsons School of Design.

After graduating in 2021, Lorenze launched her own fashion and lifestyle brand, Dairy Boy, allowing her to leverage her strong social media following into an even more engaged consumer base for the label.

Initially launching with a small selection of products like loungewear, denim and candles, Lorenze has steadily built up the label’s offerings, extending into the world of homewares and bedding.

In an interview with The U.S. Sun, Lorenze revealed her plans to eventually pivot away from influencing and transition to working on her various business ventures full time.

“My dream is to be the creative director and CEO of [Dairy Boy] and as I get older kind of lean away from the influencer world,” she explained. “I’m proud of what I’ve been able to create and it’s been a fun journey.”

Proving the ball is very much in Lorenze’s court, the entrepreneur has continued to make headlines on her own terms, especially when it comes to her influence on the next generation of tennis fans. An undeniable impact that her partner, Tommy Paul, has been openly proud of from the beginning.

How Long Have Tommy Paul & Paige Lorenze Been Together?

Though exact dates are unconfirmed, Tommy Paul and Paige Lorenze first started dating back in 2022.

Paul confirmed the partnership with a post in October of that year captioned “Photos by P” accompanied by a carousel of shots (mainly of him) finishing with a cute couple pic announcing the two were in fact, an item.

Since then, Lorenze and Paul have been vocal about their admiration for one another, with Lorenze frequently showing her support both on, and off the court.

In a recent profile in Interview Magazine, Lorenze spoke about the pair’s dynamic and how the couple balance their relationship while remaining respectful of each other’s commitments.

“He is the least needy boyfriend, first of all. He’s so supportive of me. He wants me to be doing what makes me happy. And as much as he wants me at every tournament, he totally understands. We just have such good communication,” she said.

“But at the Slams, I think support is more important. The guys are nervous. But we’ve built out a really healthy relationship where he’s not dependent on me. He’s not superstitious. And it’s not an unhealthy sporting relationship where, if I’m not doing something in the box a certain way, he’s going to spiral.”

Continuing to sing Paul’s praises, Lorenze also notes that the key to their long term success lies in the pair’s ability to stay grounded when the world around them might feel chaotic.

“He’s just very humble, and I look up to him a lot in that sense. With him, what you see is what you get, and that’s how he is as a partner as well. He’s the best.”

Now, with news of the couple’s recent engagement making headlines – it’s game, set, and a perfect match.

Related articles:

• The Tennis WAGs Courting Success On Their Own Terms
• Who Is Australian Open Favourite Carlos Alcaraz Dating?
• Tennis Stars Alex de Minaur And Katie Boulter’s Are Officially Engaged

The post Tennis Star Tommy Paul And Paige Lorenze Are Officially Engaged appeared first on marie claire.

And who can blame those wondering?

Hailed as the next Rafael Nadal, the budding champion is just as likeable off the court as he is on it, recently sharing a post-match ritual that only makes us like him more.

“When I finish a tournament, it doesn’t matter if I win or not, I just want to get home to be with my family,” he told The Times after his history making Wimbledon win against Novak Djokovic in 2024.

While he admits that getting to travel with his father and older brother helps to keep homesickness at bay, he still goes long stretches without seeing his mum and two younger brothers.

For Alcaraz, it’s this distance that truly makes the heart grow fonder. “Getting home is great because I miss them. The longer you are away, the more you realise how much you need them.”

And it looks like he’ll be needing them much more this year, as the world number three Spaniard seeks to add to his (already) four grand slam titles and reclaim his career high of world number one.

While there might not be a tennis WAG currently watching on from the sidelines during Alcaraz’s matches, that doesn’t necessarily mean the champion hasn’t courted public relationships in the past.

Below, we address those Carlos Alcaraz girlfriend rumours with a deep dive into the tennis star’s dating history including his current off-court status.

Are Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz In A Relationship?

Does Carlos Alcaraz Have A Girlfriend?

In good news for those who are interested, it appears that Alcaraz is indeed single. At least for now.

He confirmed his relationship status back in June 2024 in an interview with The Times when he admitted he wasn’t doubled up quite yet.

“I am looking for someone,” he revealed, before explaining the drawbacks of a relentless professional touring schedule.

“It can be difficult as a tennis player to meet the right person because you are travelling all the time.”

Who Is Carlos Alcaraz’s Rumoured Ex-Girlfriend Maria Gonzalez?

Despite his single status, Alcaraz has previously been linked to fellow Spanish tennis player Maria Gonzalez Gimenez.

It seems that Gimenez shared more than just a romantic connection with her athletic beau.

According to Daily Mail, the rumoured couple also hailed from the same Spanish village, El Palmar, Murcia, and had been close friends since childhood.

While she keeps her private life largely under wraps, according to her social media accounts, Gimenez still lives in Spain where she’s recently graduated from a law degree at University of Murcia.

Although the pair never confirmed their relationship, Gimenez alluded to a breakup in a 2023 interview with Vogue where he spoke about the pitfalls of a life on the road.

“It’s complicated, never staying in one place,” he said.

“It’s hard to find the person who can share things with you if you’re always in different parts of the world.”

But if his popularity and ace personality are anything to go by, we don’t think he’ll have any issues finding his perfect match moving forward.

Related articles:

• The Tennis WAGs Courting Success On Their Own Terms
• 5 Female Players To Watch At The Australian Open in 2025
• Stefanos Tsitsipas & Paula Badosa Are The Australian Open Power Couple To Beat

The post Tennis Fans Are Convinced Carlos Alcaraz Is Dating Doubles Partner, Emma Raducanu appeared first on marie claire.

Now, as the world gears up for the release of F1 The Movie, adding the title of film producer to Sir Hamilton’s list of professional achievements, the fandom’s fervour has reached fever pitch.

From highschool sweethearts to high-profile relationships with pop stars like Pussycat Dolls lead singer, Nicole Scherzinger, and low-key dates with the likes of Sofia Vergara and even Shakira, the Lewis Hamilton girlfriend lore runs deep. Below, a breakdown of the champion racer’s dating history, from his early years on the circuit, to now.

Does Lewis Hamilton Have A Girlfriend?

At the time of writing, Hamilton is very much single, using his recent visit to Monaco to test the dating waters.

During race week, Hamilton was spotted leaving a restaurant with model Darja Sobakinskaja and partying with another mystery girl. So by all accounts, he’s keeping his focus on securing his first championship with Ferrari, not on matters of the heart. Which to be honest, is comforting to know as Hamilton stans who welcome his attention staying on track.

Sir Lewis Hamilton: A Girlfriend Timeline

While he might be keeping his eyes on the prize right now, there’s been no lack of love interests over the years, and here’s proof.

Jodia Ma: 2003-2007

Lewis and Jodia first met as students at Cambridge Arts and Sciences College. The pair hit it off and began dating in 2003, before parting ways in 2007 in what appeared at the time, to be a very conscious uncoupling.

Speaking shortly after the split, Mar told The Daily Mail that the two were still on good terms. “We didn’t split up because there was anything wrong with our relationship,” she shared. “But rather because we both wanted to pursue our different careers.”

While in the same interview she admits she was tempted to provide a tell-all account of their time together after seeing photos of Lewis strolling on the beach with another woman post-breakup, she decided against it. “We always tried to keep our lives and relationship private and there’s no reason why that should change now.”

Nicole Scherzinger: 2007-2015

After meeting at the MTV Awards in 2007, F1 driver Lewis Hamilton and singer Nicole Scherzinger began an on-again, off-again relationship that would last for eight years before finally calling it quits in 2015.

While the power couple kept their private life relatively low-key, they experienced a serious glow up together, with The Pussycat Dolls singer and her F1 beau rising to huge levels of fame at roughly the same time.

Scherzinger was a frequent presence in the paddock, making appearances when she could, with Hamilton joining her for various awards ceremonies and galas across the years.

Despite their clear love for one another, a life of conflicting calendars and grueling tour schedules eventually led to the two parting ways, but not before the couple cemented their place in the hearts and minds of fans around the world.

Scherzinger expressed her grief post-breakup in 2015 statement, per Glamour, “I’m devastated that it didn’t work out. It was the hardest decision we had to make, but we made it together,” she confirmed. “I love Lewis and I know he loves me. We wish nothing but happiness and the very best for one another.”

By all accounts the pair remained friends over the years, with Scherzinger showing support for Hamilton’s role as co-chair at this year’s Met Gala and even becoming one of the few ex-couples to walk the red carpet on the night.

Rihanna: 2015

In 2015 headlines started speculating about a rumoured relationship bubbling between Rihanna and Lewis, after the pair were spotted on board the singer’s yacht. The whisper network went into overdrive when the pair were then snapped partying together in New York shortly after.

Despite the sightings, a relationship was never confirmed, but Lewis did try his best to shut down any escalation of the like. “You know, I’ve known Ri for a long time,” he told reporters at the 2015 MTV awards. “We’ve been friends for a while. We get to hang out every now and again.”

Barbara Palvin: 2016

Before she married Dylan Sprouse, model Barbara Palvin was linked to the Formula 1 driver for a brief stint in 2016.

The pair were spotted on multiple occasions throughout the year, with Palvin joining him trackside for several Grand Prixs across the season.

Things never progressed beyond the casual for this ex-couple, but the connection was definitely there at the time.

Rita Ora: 2016

Although Rita Ora and Lewis Hamilton never publicly acknowledged their relationship, the pair were papped, and snapped, together throughout 2016.

Rumours turned into the realm of reality when paparazzi captured the maybe-couple enjoying some fun in the sun on a luxe getaway to Montenegro and the singer was even spotted getting cosy with his mother at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Despite their clear chemistry, the spark seemingly fizzled out before any foundations for a future were formed.

Nicki Minaj: 2018

From fashion week to social media follows, Lewis Hamilton and singer Nicki Minaj continued to fuel dating rumours for a few months in 2018.

But the rumour mill went into overdrive in September of that year, after Minaj shared a candid snap of the pair in Dubai together to her personal socials.

“ Caribbean tingz what I on. Me & Lewis gettin paper like what ink dry on. #Versace,” Minaj captioned her post at the time.

Shakira: 2023

In 2023, Lewis Hamilton dating rumoured shifted up a gear when it was revealed the driver might be seeing Shakira.

Although the relationship was never confirmed, the singer was spotted trackside at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2023, fueling talk of a budding romance.

Alas, it wasn’t to be, with Shakira confirming her mind was on more important matters (perhaps with a different romantic interest) in a Rolling Stone interview soon after. “I’m not thinking about that,” she said. “What space do I have for a man right now?”

Sofia Vergara: 2025:

Whispers of fling between actress Sofia Vergara and Lewis Hamilton became the talk of the town when she was spotted outside the Ferrari garage during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend.

But that wasn’t the first time the pair had been linked, with snaps of the two enjoying a flirty exchange over lunch months before making an appearance trackside.

While a source for US Weekly reportedly claimed the lunch was anything but romantic, it was impossible to ignore the chemistry radiating from their casual glances across the table.

Related articles:

• If Not Us, Then Who Is Carlos Sainz Dating?
• Who Has Oscar Piastri’s Heart? Meet The Aussie F1 Star’s Girlfriend
• We’re Sat And Strapped In For The Release Of The F1 Movie 

The post A Concise Timeline Of Lewis Hamilton’s Enviable Dating History appeared first on marie claire.

At 19, I etch my university tutor’s name into my diary: Peter. It is 2014, and I think about him often, rehearsing how I’d react if – God forbid! – he asked to see me after class. I am credulous and hopeful, imagining what I’d tell my boyfriend if I discovered, lodged into an assignment’s feedback, an invitation for a drink.

Two years later, newly single, I adjust my skirt while sitting across from Peter* in a bar, nervous. A year after that, he and I sign a lease together. It is all so sleek, until it isn’t. Eventually, we grow apart. Once this happens, he enlists my counsel – my expertise – insisting I help him make sense of the classroom hieroglyphs of love, sex and ethics after having slept with another former student.

By the time the third student-turned-lover comes around, I am 30 and nursing a nameless betrayal, the kind that demands its own thesis. Was I an unwitting kink in another man’s repertoire? Who was I, if not a member of some terrible stockpile of precocious young women? An academic’s plaything? Universities around the world have long floundered when deciding how best to police consensual relationships between faculty members and their students, if at all.

In 2010, Yale introduced a blanket ban, with faculty members prohibited from entering into sexual relationships with any Yale undergraduate student, least of all their own. Once upon a time, such initiatives were met with significant outcry.

How infantilising, many feminists argued, insisting female students were adult enough to manoeuvre the murky labyrinth of consent on their own shaky terms, be it in the classroom or otherwise. Why feminists felt it necessary to weigh in on such a dilemma was, in and of itself, worthy of an eye roll.

This is because – irrefutably – the students in question were women and the professors and tutors men. Gender was to be the impervious combat zone upon which these relationships often played out, making their battle wounds all the more intricate. Possibly, it is this – how obviously gendered these relationships are – that has left me so dirtied.

Had my womanhood, for all its worth, been fumbled with? It were as if it had fallen squarely into the hands of some ham-fisted institution, only to be mishandled. Scholar Amia Srinivasan, author of The Right to Sex, explains it better when she writes in her essay “Sex as a Pedagogical Failure” that “such relationships often feed on, and reinforce, women’s second class standing in higher education”.

She goes so far as to state that “these relationships can thwart the legal right of women students … to exist in the university on equal terms with their male counterparts”. In another world, I may have come to know of the women Peter procured relationships with elsewhere: be it having seen them speak at conferences, or having read their authored papers, or even joined them for a whinge at knock-offs about the trials of teaching ourselves.

I may have imagined them instead outside of the boundary lines of Peter’s wobbly embrace, if given the chance. Late into the evening, I let my eyes rove over the spaces between the words on my old university’s website, the ones regarding staff-student relationships.

What am I looking for, exactly? Proof of what? Listed are six examples of inappropriate conduct, and while all seem egregious, none here – when it comes, at least, to describing Peter and myself – feel particularly right, particularly honest. It is not difficult to imagine an inappropriate supervisor who touches the leg and shoulder of a student or makes small talk of a sexual nature.

It is difficult to imagine Peter as such. It isn’t difficult, though, to imagine him hunched forward in a fit of laughter, as I endeavour to neaten his hairline with an electric razor, as I did every six weeks or so. It isn’t difficult, even, to imagine him sitting squarely on a stool sometime past 1am, by an arcade machine, in a dingy bar with a former student. To imagine him there and then, the first time he placed his hand on my upper thigh.

To imagine me letting it rest, before reaching for it myself. Before squeezing. During one of my last conversations with Peter, he tried to explain how he got here. Here, as in, in bed with another student. He had me conjure up a familiar image, even had me taste the pure salt of it all. I listened carefully as he pleaded: something about how badly he wishes he had met her, the third, outside of the academy.

While cushioned by Peter’s love, I was able to weigh up the costs of our relationship, and – for a couple of years – there seemed to be none. Our days together were monotonous in all the ways they ought to have been, rounded out by dog walks, grocery runs, snooze buttons. I wasn’t Peter’s student, then. I hadn’t been for some time. I was his girlfriend. This, of course, made me the exception to the rule.

The anomaly in a boring, old book of truisms: too smart, too beautiful, too astute to be the dewy-eyed pupil who stared a moment too long in the direction of her teacher, just someone who – as if in wrong place at the wrong time – met her intellectual equal in costume, in make-believe.

If it didn’t happen again, which it wouldn’t, we’d be able to throw our heads back, have a giggle, and – in due time –peel ourselves from the stitching of our pedagogical garb. It is 4.32am, and Srinivasan is reciting to me a familiar tale in her book, The Right to Sex. “Imagine a professor,” she begins. “Who happily accepts the infatuated attentions of his student, takes her out on dates, has sex with her, makes her his girlfriend, perhaps as he has done with many students before.”

I am sitting, propped up on my couch, as my dog whimpers beside me in his sleep. The occasional twitch of his legs interrupts my thoughts. His own shaggy confessionals proof he is dreaming. I scroll through an exhaustive anthology of Facebook messages between Peter and me, all the way to the top, where I discover it: the first bite. I remember where I was when I sent Peter that message, tucked into a blanket in the curve of my parents’ couch, so eager and girlish. Hardly scorned. Hi Peter, it reads.

This may be totally left-ofcentre, so please feel free to disregard it entirely, but would you be keen to potentially get a drink, or a coffee, or a bunch of caramels sometime?

I’m not sure what it is about my mention of caramels that makes me sad – so sincere, so darling! – but I think it has something to do with who I was then, how young I seemed, how I’d watched Good Will Hunting in the home I grew up in, remembered Matt Damon’s smug mention of caramels as he was being courted by a woman nearly as intelligent as him, but not quite, and wondered what it would be like to be with the smartest man in the world. Proof, of course, I was dreaming.

Srinivasan continues: “The student has consented, and not out of fear. Are we really prepared to say that there is nothing troubling here? But if there is something troubling, and the problem isn’t the lack of consent, then what is it?” Perhaps what’s troubling about all of this is how it is felt. I’ve discovered here that familiar, innate canniness all women feel if – and when – they are reduced to their gender. It is hardly quaint. It arrives, as if a puritanical slap in the face, tsking pitifully.

It lived between the spaces of each #MeToo tweet in 2017, and – closer to home – in my direct messages after I’d posted online that I’d like speak to others who have had relationships with, or just slept with, their professor or tutor. I didn’t specify women, and yet it was only women who came forward in droves. Is it unreasonable to expect university classrooms be free from prejudice? Is it not exactly where women go to imagine themselves as scholars, not merely a scholar’s arm candy?

When I reflect on my studentship, I am bestowed instead the unsteady outline of a heterosexist cliché I don’t stand by, but once did. Right? Or should I say, once had to? I have, in due time, become the rule. This is because here, it seems, there are no exceptions. I just didn’t know that then.

This is an edited extract from Sweet Nothings, by Madison Griffiths (Ultimo Press, $36.99) out July 1.

Related articles:

• Is It Love, Lust Or Limerence? When It’s (Not) Just A Crush
• “I Trial Male Escorts To See If They’re Up For The Job”
• The Tell Tale Signs Of A Love Addict

The post Can The Power Dynamic Ever Be Equal In A Consensual Student Professor Relationship? appeared first on marie claire.

The Melbourne-born star has well and truly earned his place as McLaren’s golden boy, along with his fellow Papaya team mate of course, and at just 24, his career is accelerating at full speed.

After dominating the junior categories with consecutive wins across Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula 3, and Formula 2, Piastri landed his first F1 seat with McLaren in 2023. By 2024, he’d collected multiple podiums, his first Grand Prix win, and a hefty dose of industry recognition to match.

Now, as he continues to dominate the 2025 season, all eyes are on Piastri to see if he can turn five wins (so far) into a championship title by the end of the season.

His talent is undeniable, but Piastri’s rise in F1 isn’t the only thing turning heads – so is his love life – and as he dominates on track, his girlfriend has been quietly cheering him on from behind the scenes.

So who exactly is Lily Zneimer? Everything to know about Oscar Piastri and the low-key girlfriend who’s been by his side through it all.

Who Is Lily Zneimer?

Lily Zneimer met her now partner, Piastri, while attending Haileybury, an elite boarding school in Hertford, England, where the F1 star moved at the age of 14 to pursue his professional racing career.

Sparking up a connection in their second-last year of high school, the couple have been together ever since.

Unlike some of the more public-facing F1 partners, Lily Zneimer prefers to keep a low profile, so very little is known about her personal life.

Although the couple seldom post about their relationship, Piastri has been known to share rare snippets into his life with Lily, most recently offering his 4.3 million Instagram followers an insight into his trip home in the lead up to the season-opening Melbourne Grand Prix.

In a promotional video for F1 Australia, Piastri was seen showing Lily around his hometown. “I’ve really enjoyed coming back here when I can and to be able to share that with my partner as well is very special.” Piastri said in the clip. “It’s been nice to have her here this time and relax a little bit, have a bit of downtime, and show her some of the sights of Melbourne.”

What Did Lily Zneimer Study?

What we do know, is that the British-born Zneimer is an engineering graduate who, according to the faculty’s website, left high school with some of the best GCSE exam results in the school’s history.

Since graduating, Zneimer has been spotted supporting Piastri at various races throughout the season, often carrying her laptop with her.

According to Australian photographer Kym Illman – a paddock regular – the McLaren star first introduced him to Lily at the 2022 Australian GP when he was still an Alpine reserve driver. It was during this meeting that Illman learnt of Zneimer’s own career aspirations. “She wants to get a job in F1 and with her contacts you’d have to say she rates a pretty strong chance,” he revealed in an interview with The Sun in 2023. “They are a delightful couple.”

How Long Have Oscar Piastri & His Girlfriend Been Together?

Oscar and Lily have been together since their late teens, meaning they’ve racked up over six years as a couple. And in the world of elite sport – where travel schedules are relentless and relationships often don’t survive the pressure – that’s a serious feat.

Speaking with Dax Shepard on the Eff Won with DRS podcast in 2019, Piastri spoke about the burgeoning romance, sharing: “We keep it private, [but] not secretive like some relationships are,” he said. “We keep it to ourselves and try to be out of the spotlight and just live normal lives.”

Despite being together since high school, the couple only became Instagram-official in February 2022, after Piastri shared a picture of the couple attending that year’s Autosport Awards.

In 2023, Piastri shared how essential his partnership with Lily has been to keeping him grounded in the fast-paced world of F1, noting: “It’s been nice to have someone there from the start that’s still with me.”

While Oscar Piastri is busy battling wheel-to-wheel with the best drivers in the world, his girlfriend seems happy to let him take the spotlight. She occasionally pops up at races, but with a private social media account, it’s less likely you’ll be hearing from her any time soon. Instead, she’s been a quiet but constant presence in his life – providing a refreshing contrast to the usual high-profile F1 romances.

Standing by as Piastri as he claimed his most recent title at the Miami Grand Prix, it’s clear that she’ll remain a paddock-side figure as he continues to fight for his place on this year’s podium.

Whether or not she’ll step into the paddock limelight remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure: Oscar Piastri’s rise to F1 stardom isn’t the only long-term success story in his life.

Related articles:

• Meet The Australian Women Joining The F1 Grid In 2025
• If Not Us, Then Who Is Carlos Sainz Dating?
• Where To Watch The Next Formula 1 Grand Prix

The post Who Has Oscar Piastri’s Heart? Meet The Aussie F1 Star’s Girlfriend appeared first on marie claire.

To be a ‘work wife’ is a term that is sort of polarising depending on who is saying it and who they’re saying it about. At its core, it’s describing a work best friend, but it’s more than that. Just as the term ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend’ can sometimes feel too juvenile, too casual a descriptor for a romantic partner, ‘work best friend’ sometimes can’t convey how much you depend on this other person from the hours of 9 to 5 (if you’re lucky).

This person keeps you sane. They know all of your office enemies and share your resentments about unfair workload and people who wear really strong perfume in the office. You have a secret chat that if it were to be made public, would have dire legal consequences for you both. ‘Work wife’ hints to some deeper level of bond and a special loyalty to each other that has been decreed from on high – even if that loyalty just means waiting for each other to get your morning coffee.

In their book Big Feelings: How to Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay, Mollie West Duffy and Liz Fosslien create a typology of work friends. There’s the frenemy (your competitor in the office), the inspiration (a career crush of sorts) and the confidant, who is the keeper of all your secrets and therefore fits into the work wife realm.

If roughly a third of your life is spent at work, this confidant knows a hell of a lot of your secrets – secrets that could probably get you fired. The funny thing is that despite these stakes you may have never ever seen your work wife on the weekend.

Being a work wife can mean building a secret world of support with a colleague. I’ve been a work wife to friends I still have today, women who have helped me navigate sexist workplaces that seemed to take almost Squid Games tactics in their determination to keep us underpaid.

But I’ve also been referred to as a work wife by people with whom I have not shared that sort of reciprocity of struggle – older male colleagues, who have said it when I’ve reminded them of a meeting they needed to be at or when a report was due. This version of work wifedom does not feel like solidarity.

It feels like a reproduction of old school domestic gendered labour, the kind that requires a frilly apron and the presentation of a 5pm martini. The notion that the highest compliment and marker of appreciation that someone can give you is to refer to you as a wife, feels like a relic of the past; an assumption that unfaltering trust can only be found in marriage, which we know isn’t really true. In 2023, Newsweek asked if it was actually okay to have a work wife or husband these days (the answer being a resounding “not really”).

The merging of the domestic and work spheres is not new, and the corporate refrain “we’re a family here” feels like one of the great cons of the 21st century. Encouraging you to think of your colleagues and bosses as relations asks you to treat them with the sort of self sacrifice and unconditional love that’s expected in families… except you can be fired from this family at any time and you should not kick up a stink if your twin brother is being paid more than you.

It’s a handy way for organisations to demand absolute, emotional investment from their employees, despite all odds. “You tend to see [work as family] bandied about in offices where boundaries are routinely violated and you’re expected to work long hours, accept lower pay, not complain about bad management, and generally prioritise loyalty to your employer over your own interests – even if your employer doesn’t reciprocate that loyalty in any meaningful way,” writes Alison Green in her column Ask a Boss.

So is being a work wife just a way to survive a corporate hellscape? Or can it be a boundary-blurring reproduction of the emotional labour of the domestic? It’s a mix of both, probably. When it’s good and, well, healthy, being a work wife is just a shorthand for ‘I won’t screw you over’. It’s someone who provides emotional support, who vocally has your back in an environment that doesn’t always operate in a just way. Often they make your work better, pushing you to new creative heights. The term may feel outdated, but the sentiment isn’t.

It’s hard to make friends in the modern workplace: contract work has increased, millennials are less likely to stay in a job for more than a few years and with working-from-home the new norm, you’re less likely to make those accidental bonds by the watercooler. A recent study by KPMG found that having a work friend boosts your general job satisfaction (and boosts business outcomes for corporations – which might be why you’ve been forced to go to so many work socials this year). The real magic happens when you turn a work friend into a weekend friend – or just a friend, you might say. You don’t need a marriage certificate for that kind of bond.

Sinéad Stubbins is a Melbourne/Naarm-based writer, editor and cultural critic. Her novel Stinkbug is out now.

The post Will You Be My Work Wife? appeared first on marie claire.

She filled binders with information from hundreds of people suffering through the exquisite agonies of romantic heartache, trying to make sense of the “madness” of love, to identify the psychological foundations of romantic obsession and to figure out how she could help people recover their emotional balance.

She identified a very specific mental state of romantic infatuation that only some people experience and coined a new word to describe the phenomenon that she was uncovering: limerence.

Limerence is an overwhelming feeling of elation and excitement triggered by the presence of this remarkable other person. When you are with them, it feels like you are walking on air. They cause a surge of giddy euphoria that is intoxicating.

Your whole body feels supercharged – your thoughts fizz and pop, you are more optimistic, your heart races and flutters, you tingle with excitement and energy. You feel invincible. Unfortunately, that state of bliss is fragile.

It’s like riding a wave and, inevitably, the wave breaks. The over-arousal of their company becomes exhausting. It becomes hard to focus on anything else – your concentration is shot, and you come to realise that the whole world is full of reminders of them.

Worst of all are the times when they seem cold to you. Your heart, that used to flutter like a butterfly, now hammers and aches. Shame and anxiety shiver through you. Desperately, you cling to memories of times when they were kind or attentive or flirtatious – using happy memories like anchors to stabilise your mood and soothe the pain of rejection.

This emotional volatility is a symptom of limerence, and it is largely involuntary. Your mood seesaws back and forth, seemingly out of control. Your thoughts and feelings are at the complete mercy of this person, who has entered your life and upended it: your limerent object (LO).

Dorothy Tennov died in 2007. We’ve accumulated an additional half-century of knowledge since she began her work, and know far more about the neural mechanisms that control euphoria, reward, motivation, obsession and addiction.

My best estimate is that about 50 per cent of US and UK adults have experienced limerence, and 25 per cent of adults found it so disruptive that it affected their enjoyment of life. There are many times in life when limerence can be a problem.

Perhaps you have fallen for someone who is unavailable or disreputable, and so getting tangled up with them is an emotional train wreck. Perhaps you are already committed to someone else and are building a life together, and a new episode of limerence threatens that future.

Sometimes the timing just isn’t right, and limerence becomes a drag on your productivity, a waste of mental energy, and a distraction from more important goals. Whatever the circumstances, it’s obvious that there will be lots of situations in which wild, dizzying, uncontrollable infatuation is inconvenient. Learning how to get rid of unwanted limerence is therefore a life-changing skill.

Recovery from limerence isn’t a fool’s hope. It’s entirely possible. Many limerents have done it; many have pulled back from the brink of disaster with their dignity and integrity intact.

An important first step is to consider a foundational principle: adopting a “recovery mindset”. Developing the right frame of mind at the outset will make it more likely that the techniques for recovery will bear fruit. A recovery mindset is an attempt to construe the situation in a useful way, to approach it as a problem to be solved, to recognise that limerence is a self-reinforcing mental state that can be escaped from, and to behave in accordance with that perception. Adopting this mindset means believing that you have the power to improve your life by the actions you take, and that it is possible to make progress even in the face of external pressures that might work against you.

How To Recover From Limerence

Over the years, I’ve boiled down some of the most powerful lessons into a list of key principles for limerence recovery, which are outlined below:

Limerence Is Happening In Your Head

The extravagant passions of limerence lie within you, are generated by you, and that’s where they need to be fixed. We can’t expunge limerence from the brain, but we can find ways to turn down the volume and neutralise its effects. Limerence is happening in your head, and that means it’s within your power to reverse it.

You Make Them Special

The effect your LO has on you has its roots in your complex personal history. What limerence practically means is that this person has triggered something deep within you, some pattern of traits that is recognised by your subconscious and provokes an all-guns-blazing motivational program to try to get you to bond with them. This means that, once again, limerence is all about you. Facing the past, and understanding yourself, is the way to understand where their power over you comes from.

Check Your Instincts

We don’t go through life questioning every decision we make, we run on autopilot – doing things that feel good and avoiding things that feel bad. Because of the way our brains are wired, our instincts train us to seek our LO until addiction sets in. To stop this, reason needs to step in and moderate instinct; your mental CEO needs to pay attention and take charge.

Don’t Self-Medicate With Limerence

Repeating the learned pattern of behaviour – I feel bad, I daydream about my LO, I feel better – trains you to become more dependent on them. Once the urge to seek the LO becomes a compulsion, limerence causes more psychological distress than pleasant reward. Using limerence for mood regulation is another instinctive behaviour that works against the goal of attaining freedom. It’s important to learn alternative strategies.

You Can’t Just Be Friends

It isn’t credible to try to remain friends with an LO during recovery, but there is some benefit to mollifying your limerent brain with a sliver of strategic hope: it is possible to be friends with an LO, but only after you have freed yourself from the limerence. Until that time, be highly suspicious of your motives for maintaining an attachment.

You’re In Charge

You may have an LO who makes life difficult by flirting, encouraging your attention, or acting in other ways that make it hard for you to detach. Alternatively, you might feel the problem is with your partner. They might be withholding affection or disrespecting you and making you want to seek solace outside of your relationship. It’s wishful thinking to believe you can persuade your LO to change their behaviour to take away temptation and make your limerence struggles easier. It just invites conflict when they inevitably don’t do as you ask. Look to yourself for the solution.

Anticipate Hardships

Like any process of recovery from addiction, there are going to be withdrawal pains, relapses and missteps. The secret to setbacks is to reduce their impact by knowing they are coming and anticipating their arrival. Adopt the mindset that you are aiming for gradual improvement over the long term, but it won’t always be a straight path without obstacles.

A Better Life Awaits

The last and perhaps most important principle is that you have to believe that the obsession will end and that you can look forward to a better life beyond it. That requires a vision for a more purposeful life. Living with purpose means you stop depending on the LO for comfort, stop following their lead, stop letting their behaviour dictate your mood. Unshackle yourself from the false comfort of LO. Seek out new passions, new rewards, new directions in which to take your life. Find a new north star and follow it to freedom.

This is an edited extract from Smitten by Dr Tom Bellamy (Penguin) Out now.

Related articles:

• The Tell Tale Signs Of A Love Addict
• Can Asking These 36 Viral Questions Still Make You Fall In Love?
• This Is Why We Become Obsessed With Our Romantic Partners

The post Is It Love, Lust Or Limerence? When It’s (Not) Just A Crush appeared first on marie claire.

Here, the famous pairs proving that romance doesn’t need to come with a matching date of birth – just mutual respect, a touch of style, and perhaps a decent publicist. 

Celebrity Couples With Big Age-Gaps

Harrison Ford & Calista Flockhart 

When Han Solo met Ally McBeal, a 22-year age gap didn’t seem to stand in their way. More than two decades on, the couple – who wed in 2010 – are still going strong.

The secret, according to Ford? “Doing the dishes.”

A domestic god and an action hero. Who knew? 

Jason Statham & Rosie Huntington-Whiteley 

What happens when a Victoria’s Secret angel meets a gruff action star? Sparks, clearly.

Despite a 20-year age difference, Statham and Huntington-Whiteley have become one of the most low-key glamorous couples in the business, raising two children and occasionally reminding the world what smoulder looks like on a red carpet. 

Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds 

They roast each other online, dominate the Met Gala, and somehow make parenthood look chic.

The internet’s golden couple share an 11-year age gap, though it’s rarely the focus. Perhaps that’s because their energy is ageless – and their banter unbeatable. 

George & Amal Clooney 

He was Hollywood’s eternal bachelor. She was an Oxford-educated human rights barrister. Cue one of the most elegant plot twists in celebrity history.

With 17 years between them, George and Amal have redefined the power couple dynamic – equal parts glamour and gravitas. 

Sam & Aaron Taylor-Johnson 

The film set romance that launched a thousand headlines: Sam, then 42, met Aaron, then 18, while directing Nowhere Boy.

Fast-forward 15 years, two daughters, and multiple collaborative projects, and the Taylor-Johnsons remain defiant, devoted – and unusually stylish. 

Catherine Zeta-Jones & Michael Douglas 

Born on the same day (just 25 years apart), this enduring duo has weathered public scrutiny, health scares, and a few breaks along the way. But whether they’re posing at award shows or relaxing in Majorca, Catherine and Michael radiate old-school elegance and mutual admiration. 

Priyanka Chopra & Nick Jonas 

When Priyanka Chopra began dating a Jonas Brother ten years her junior, the internet had… thoughts. But after a multi-day wedding in India and the birth of daughter Malti in 2022, they’ve more than quieted the sceptics.

If anything, they’ve become a case study in how to turn a tabloid frenzy into a love story. 

Camila Alves & Matthew McConaughey 

She was a model. He was a movie star. She spoke Portuguese. He barely spoke at all (in the beginning). Yet something clicked.

With a 13-year age difference and over a decade of marriage, the Alves-McConaugheys are proof that faith, family and a shared love of Texas can go a long way. 

Alec & Hilaria Baldwin 

Some couples stay under the radar. Alec and Hilaria are not one of those couples.

With a 26-year age gap, seven children, and a never-ending carousel of headlines (remember the Spanish accent drama?), they remain unapologetically devoted – and oddly compelling. 

Jay-Z & Beyoncé 

They’ve been through it all – from Lemonade to 4:44, elevators to world tours – and come out the other side even more iconic.

With a 12-year age difference, music’s first couple don’t just define relationship goals – they define an era. 

Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi 

Their 15-year age gap is hardly the most interesting thing about them.

Together since 2004 and married since 2008, Ellen and Portia have curated a life of eco-conscious luxury, artistic reinvention, and, most recently, a vow renewal officiated by Kris Jenner. Naturally. 

Sarah Paulson & Holland Taylor 

When Sarah Paulson (now 49) and Holland Taylor (81) made their relationship public, the reactions ranged from inspired to intrusive.

But Paulson shut down the noise early on: “If someone wants to spend any time thinking I’m strange for loving the most spectacular person on the planet, then that’s their problem.” And with that, an age-gap love story became a queer cultural touchstone. 

Leonardo DiCaprio & Vittoria Ceretti 

It wouldn’t be a conversation about age-gap romances without that man. But Leonardo DiCaprio’s relationship with 25-year-old Italian model Vittoria Ceretti has felt – dare we say – less yacht party, more grown-up?

At 49, he’s seemingly slowing down. Maybe. Possibly. (Though the memes persist.) 

The post The Celebrity Age-Gap Couples Rewriting The Relationship Rules  appeared first on marie claire.

Set to host the American Music Awards in Las Vegas on 26 May and headline WorldPride in Washington, D.C. just weeks later, the 55-year-old icon declared that “everything in my life right now just feels really healthy and good.” The phrase that stood out most? “It seems like a perfect summer to celebrate being free and being happy.”

This isn’t just Lopez’s personal moodboard – it’s emblematic of a wider cultural shift. A generation of women, from Gen X to Gen Z, are rewriting the divorce narrative. No longer a shameful failure or a lonely heartbreak, divorce has become a radical act of self-love – one that, more often than not, leaves women happier, healthier and more fulfilled than they were in marriage. Yes, it’s possible. Trust me.

Divorce Is No Longer a Dirty Word – Really

Once shrouded in stigma, divorce is now discussed openly, even celebrated. The statistics reveal a deeper story: the vast majority of divorces are initiated by women, and research from institutions like Kingston University shows that post-divorce, women report higher life satisfaction – often for years to come.

Why? Because for many, leaving a dysfunctional or unequal marriage opens the door to clarity, autonomy and transformation. “There is a societal assumption that divorce is always negative,” said University of Minnesota professor Connie R. Wanberg, who studied divorce and job performance. “But we found that many people – especially women – were better at their jobs, more focused, and more confident after divorce.”

There’s a growing body of research revealing a surprising truth: many women feel happier and more fulfilled after divorce. A 2013 study from Kingston University in London found that women often experience higher levels of well-being for up to five years after ending their marriages – sometimes even surpassing their own happiness before the split. According to Yannis Georgellis, director of the university’s Centre for Research in Employment, Skills and Society, “Women who enter unhappy marriages feel a much greater sense of liberation after divorce than men do.”

Sociologist Paul R. Amato at Penn State University points out that divorce can be a catalyst for personal growth, boosting self-confidence and opening doors to new career and social opportunities. While much of the past research focused on divorce’s downsides, Amato argues the positive effects deserve just as much attention. Post-divorce women are more likely to seek mental health support, prioritise enriching experiences like travel or education, and lean on strong friendships – all of which fuel healing and renewal.

Of course, financial struggles can’t be ignored – women often bear the brunt economically. But emotionally, divorce can bring much-needed relief, and happier mothers create healthier environments for their children, challenging the old idea that divorce inevitably harms families.

A New Sisterhood Of Divorce

Models like Gisele Bündchen and Emily Ratajkowski have been vocal about the courage it takes to end a marriage – and the lightness that follows. Ratajkowski famously turned her engagement ring into a “divorce ring” and used the split as an inflection point for personal growth. Bündchen described her separation from Tom Brady as a “new chapter.”

These stories strike a chord because they tell a truth many women feel but rarely voice: marriage – especially the heteronormative kind – can be stifling, even when love exists. Divorce, while painful, often becomes a portal to self-actualisation.

J.Lo and the Joy of Letting Go

Jennifer Lopez’s current glow-up perfectly captures this new narrative: a woman reclaiming her joy, freedom, and sense of self post-divorce. She’s not just surviving – she’s thriving. And in doing so, she’s giving all of us permission to do the same.

Her summer plans? Touring, performing, and parenting on her terms. Her tone? Joyful, defiant, and wholly self-directed.

It’s easy to read her upcoming Up All Night Live tour as more than a comeback. It’s a reintroduction. A reminder that a woman – whether she’s famous or not – is allowed to start again, and not just survive, but thrive.

From Survival to Selfhood

Divorce is still hard. Financial hardship, emotional upheaval, and societal judgment don’t vanish overnight. But more and more, women are emerging from the wreckage not broken but reborn.

“I divorced my husband not because I didn’t love him,” one mother of two told me. “I divorced him because I loved myself more.”

Whether you’re Jennifer Lopez on stage at Pride or a single mum setting up her first apartment, post-divorce freedom can be a revelation. And if it looks a lot like happiness? That’s not a side effect. It’s the whole point.

The post Jennifer Lopez Is “Free and Happy” – And So Are Thousands of Divorced Women appeared first on marie claire.

Annie Knight, a 28-year-old Australian OnlyFans creator, made headlines (again) this week after revealing she was hospitalised following a sex marathon with 583 men in six hours. The self-styled “world record” event, which took place on Sunday, May 18, was documented in real time on Knight’s Instagram – complete with behind-the-scenes footage, customised pink balaclavas for participants, and a post-event health scare that saw Knight admitted to hospital with vaginal bleeding. 

“I’m not doing very well,” she told her followers. “I’ve been bleeding a lot since the challenge.” Knight, who has endometriosis, said she suffered a small cut and underwent medical testing following the ordeal. “It’s quite painful and unpleasant at the moment,” she added. 

Painful, yes. But also deeply disturbing. Not just for Knight, but for the 680,000 Instagram followers – many of them teenage girls – who watched the event unfold. What message does this send to young women learning to navigate sex, self-worth, and power in a digital world where virality is currency? 

Empowered Or Exploited?  

Knight framed the stunt as a bold act of autonomy. “At the end of the day, these men just want to have sex. And I’m providing a service – for free,” she explained, brushing off criticism and defending the participants. 

But let’s be clear, this wasn’t liberation. It was performance, designed for clicks, dressed up in soft lighting and influencer spin. And it’s far from harmless. Because when girls are watching this play out online – edited to look glamorous, fun, even aspirational – what they’re actually seeing is the aestheticisation of harm. 

This is a culture where physical trauma is reframed as content. Where pain becomes part of the brand. Where the caption, “I guess 583 guys in a day isn’t that good for your body,” is offered with a wink – as if it’s all just a bit of fun. It’s not just a bit of fun and if my daughters ever stumbled across this kind of content, I’d be horrified.

Try Reversing It  

Let’s imagine the roles were reversed. Imagine a man lining up 583 women in a room, filming the whole thing, handing them masks to protect their anonymity, and walking away injured. Would we be calling it empowerment? Would we applaud his freedom of expression? Or would we recognise it for what it really is, mass objectification under the guise of consent? The fact that we even have to ask says everything. Knight’s stunt plays directly into age-old misogynist fantasies – but this time, the narrative has been cleverly flipped to sound like feminism. That doesn’t make it any less degrading. 

When The Currency Is Clicks, What Are We Really Selling? 

Yes, Knight is savvy. She’s monetised her sexuality, built a platform, and turned controversy into visibility. But that doesn’t absolve the wider cost. Because when online algorithms reward extremes, when boundaries are continually pushed in the name of engagement, it’s not just one woman’s body on the line. It’s the cultural wellbeing of an entire generation. 

Platforms like OnlyFans have, in many ways, offered women financial power and creative control. But they’ve also created a system where the most intimate, extreme, or self-sacrificing acts are the ones that perform best. That’s not freedom – that’s market-driven coercion. 

What Are We Telling Young Women? 

This story will go down as a viral moment in internet history. But what will be harder to erase is the impact it leaves behind – especially on young girls still forming their understanding of sex, consent, and self-worth. 

The post Why Annie Knight’s Stunt Feels Like A Misogynist Fantasy, Not Empowerment appeared first on marie claire.

On May 27, she’ll take that candour to the Museum of Desire – a new immersive exhibition in Melbourne that explores sexuality, technology and fantasy across time – for a one-night-only conversation with cultural historian and Kinky History creator Dr. Esmé Louise James. The evening promises provocative insights, historical hot takes, and one very mysterious “orgasmic laser harp.” But for Chatfield, the event is part of a larger mission, which is to normalise female pleasure and pull desire out from the shadows.

On Defining Desire And Living Without Shame

“Oh my God. That’s such a complex, high-level question,” Chatfield tells marie claire when asked to define desire. “I don’t think I’ve ever really had to reclaim desire in my personal life, because I haven’t experienced a lot of shame around it. It’s not that I grew up in a particularly sex-positive household, but I didn’t grow up with any patriarchy at home either – no dad or male figure I respected enough to instil that kind of shame about bodies or sex.”

To Chatfield, the way society treats desire is both absurd and revealing. “It’s kind of funny that desire has been stigmatised. Like, God forbid you enjoy something,” she laughs. “There’s this cultural narrative that if you’re enjoying life, you’re selfish or indulgent or just obsessed with yourself. But the reality is, especially since COVID, our lives have become more and more devoid of pleasure. So it’s important to actively figure out what brings you joy, not just what we’re told should bring us joy.”

On Helping Others Reclaim Pleasure

Through her public work, Chatfield often sees how deeply shame is embedded in conversations around sex and pleasure – especially for women. “For a lot of my audience, I think reclaiming desire is deeply tied to overcoming shame,” she explains. “When I did the collaboration with Normal, people messaged me saying they’d never tried vibrators or butt plugs before, and it literally changed their lives – some even said it saved their relationships.”

In heterosexual relationships, she notes, there’s still an imbalance in how desire is perceived. “Men wanting sex is normalised, but if a woman initiates or talks about it, it can be seen as threatening. Poor men, right? God forbid your girlfriend wants to orgasm too.”

That’s why, for Chatfield, being vocal is powerful. “If I can speak about this publicly – on TV or online – then maybe someone else feels safe enough to talk about it privately with their partner. That’s the goal.”

On The Museum Of Desire And King Edward’s ‘Fuck Chair’

Despite being a leading voice in sex-positive spaces, Chatfield admits the word ‘desire’ isn’t part of her everyday vocabulary. “You’re right – we don’t really use the word ‘desire’ that much. I don’t even use it that much myself. But it’s not a stagnant or singular thing.”

That’s part of why she’s so excited about the upcoming event at the Museum of Desire. “The Museum is all about exploration, and I think that’s what desire is too. I love Dr. Esmé – she’s incredible – and we’ll be having a conversation about the history of desire and the tools used throughout time.”

True to form, Chatfield has already gone down a few (very NSFW) rabbit holes. “I saw this TikTok going around about King Edward’s ‘fuck chair’ – have you seen that? So embarrassing that I have. But it’s fascinating! There are all these weird and wonderful historical sex toys. I want to understand how people – both elites and ‘normal’ people – expressed desire over time.”

There’s one installation she’s especially intrigued by. “They have something called the ‘orgasmic laser harp.’ I don’t even want to Google it – I want to go in blind and just experience it. The whole night is immersive. People can enjoy the museum, listen to the conversation, explore. It should be really fun.”

On Conservative Backlash And The Myth Of The Divine Feminine

But as conversations about pleasure become more public, Chatfield has noticed a disturbing trend, a conservative resurgence that threatens the progress made. “I think there’s a new wave of conservatism happening,” she says. “You’ve probably seen the PrettyLittleThing rebrand, or how House of CB is leaning into this cottagecore conservatism. It’s definitely a pushback.”

During COVID, sexual wellness flourished. “All people could really do was masturbate and reflect,” she jokes. “But now… there’s this far-right, anti-liberation movement trying to roll things back. And that includes sexual liberation.”

Even supposedly empowering trends, like “divine feminine” advice online, can be insidious. “Some of it seems harmless, but a lot of it is just the same old patriarchal values repackaged -telling women to be quiet, small, and to never express what they actually want, whether that’s in bed or in life.”

On AI Teaching Women How To Text Men

Chatfield is equally horrified by the rise of AI tools teaching women how to be more “dateable.” “My jaw is on the floor. That is horrifying,” she tells marie claire. “That’s feeding right into this patriarchal idea that we need to trick men into liking us.”

She’s blunt about the cost of that kind of compromise. “It’s very easy to find a partner if you’re willing to become someone completely different to please them. But what kind of relationship is that? It’s built on performance, not authenticity.”

And the statistics don’t lie. “Men benefit more from relationships than women do. Married men live longer; single men don’t. But for women, it’s the opposite. Single, child-free women live the longest. That tells you everything.”

On Women Using AI For Emotional Labour

While she hasn’t heard of friends relying on AI for relationship advice, Chatfield sees the risks. “If you’re typing, ‘Why did my boyfriend ignore me last night?’ into a chatbot instead of talking to him… maybe rethink the whole relationship.”

She recalls a chilling listener story from her podcast. “She found her boyfriend’s ChatGPT history. He’d written something like, ‘My girlfriend is perfect – she does my laundry, gives me money, cooks for me – but she’s a bit bigger than I’d ideally like, and I don’t know if I should be with her because I’m not coming hard enough.’ I’m not kidding.”

The woman dumped him, but the damage was done. “Can you imagine? Asking a robot if you should leave someone because they’re doing everything for you… except being your exact body type? It’s grim.”

The Power Of Being Loud – And Real

At the end of the day, Chatfield’s mission isn’t about shock – it’s about honesty. “These systems are deeply embedded,” she says. “But if talking about orgasms online helps one person feel less ashamed, I’ll keep going.”

With her appearance at the Museum of Desire, she’s inviting others to be curious, unfiltered, and unafraid. Because when it comes to reclaiming pleasure, there’s nothing shameful about wanting more.

Abbie Chatfield in conversation with Dr. Esmé Louise James at the Museum of Desire, Melbourne. One night only. May 27

The post Why Abbie Chatfield Wants You To Stop Talking to ChatGPT About Your Love Life appeared first on marie claire.

The questions, developed in the ’90s by Arthur Aron and his research team (which included his wife, naturally – this was a couples’ project after all), are designed to create “interpersonal closeness.”  Not love, not lust – closeness. Others might describe it as emotional oversharing. Whatever. Same, same.

Fast forward to 2015 and Mandy Len Catron wrote about her own experience in a New York Times Modern Love column that went viral – trying the questions with a gym acquaintance. Spoiler: they fell in love, which made the rest of us download the question list faster than you can say “attachment issues.”

Now, word has spread that Catron recently married the gym guy and the quiz’s popularity is experiencing a resurgence. Singles are using these questions like some kind of emotional BuzzFeed quiz for dating. TikTokers have been known to bring them on first dates. Therapists assign them like homework for couples who haven’t touched each other since Covid. But do they actually work?

Yes, If You Like Falling In Love On Hard Mode

If you’re the kind of person who cries when someone says, “Tell me about your relationship with your mother,” then congratulations: this might be your love language. The questions start with icebreakers like “Would you like to be famous?” and escalate to “Your house is burning -what’s the one thing you save?” (Note: If they say “my iPad,” run.)

For some, the questions work. People have gotten married. Others, not so much. “It made the relationship feel more serious than it was,” one woman said, like she accidentally skipped dating and went straight to couples therapy. Another described it as a great second date (he now lives with her). One person ended up arguing mid-date.  A few just cried. (Honestly not too different to any dating experiences).

But here’s the kicker: intimacy is not the same as compatibility. You can emotionally strip down with someone and still not want to see them naked. That’s the real magic of the 36 questions. They create fast intimacy, not necessarily sustainable love. It’s like romantic speed running. Or a vulnerability trap. Or both.

Bottom Line?

The 36 questions won’t guarantee you fall in love. But they will guarantee one hell of a night, a lot of eye contact, and possibly a full-body vulnerability hangover. They work best when you’re already a little into someone and just need a nudge to get into “we stayed up all night talking” territory. As was outlined in the original article, the biggest takeaway about the quiz is that  Love doesn’t happen to you. In this scenario you have to choose it. Which, honestly, might be the most romantic part.

Also, if someone whips out a Google Doc of these on a first date? Marry them or block them. There is no in-between.

In the end, maybe love isn’t about magical questions or finding your perfect match. Maybe it’s just about being brave enough to share yourself – and trusting someone else will do the same. Give them a try.

What Are The 36 Questions To Fall In Love

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?
2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?
3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?
4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?
5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?
6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?
7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?
8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.
9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?
11. Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible.
12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?
13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future, or anything else, what would you want to know?
14. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?
15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?
16. What do you value most in a friendship?
17. What is your most treasured memory?
18. What is your most terrible memory?
19. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?
20. What does friendship mean to you?
21. What roles do love and affection play in your life?
22. Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items.
23. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s?
24. How do you feel about your relationship with your mother?
25. Make three true “we” statements each. For instance, “We are both in this room feeling…”
26. Complete this sentence: “I wish I had someone with whom I could share…”
27. If you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for them to know.
28. Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you’ve just met.
29. Share an embarrassing moment in your life.
30. When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?
31. Tell your partner something that you like about them already.
32. What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?
33. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet?
34. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?
35. Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?
36. Share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how they might handle it. Then, ask your partner to reflect on how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.

The post Can Asking These 36 Viral Questions Still Make You Fall In Love? appeared first on marie claire.