London’s Dorchester Hotel. November 1993. Britain’s royal family arrive as the guests of Sultan Alan Sha, the king of Malaysia. A grand gala dinner, one of the ceremonial high points of any visit from a foreign head of state, and every member of Britain’s first family attends. They arrive two by two,…
On a day like thousands of others, Diana, Princess of Wales, came out of her palace to see and be seen. It was a ritual, a formula, an unchanging routine. And what made it so special was her sense of style and fashion, her warmth and kindness. This was her role, her…
Queen Mary didn’t welcome women into the royal family the way ordinary mothers welcome daughters-in-law. She inspected them. She measured their breeding, their manners, their jewels, their usefulness, their obedience, and their ability to disappear into the institution without making trouble. To marry one of Queen Mary’s sons wasn’t simply to join…
An 84-year-old legend, who had danced with Ginger Rogers, who had defined elegance for half a century, was about to learn that everything he thought he knew about dance was incomplete. NBC Studios, 1983, Fred Astaire versus Michael Jackson. The old guard versus the future. What happened in the next 5 minutes…
The bouncer’s hand is on Mike Tyson’s shoulder. 3 seconds from now, that bouncer won’t have a job. But right now, he doesn’t know who he just grabbed. Doesn’t know the hand gripping that shoulder is about to learn the difference between authority and power. Doesn’t know this moment will become a…
Michael Jackson was told to step down from the Motown audition stage before he had finished his first song. He was 9 years old. He didn’t step down. What happened next left every person in that room unable to speak. It was August of 1967 and the audition had been arranged through…
10-year-old Michael Jackson was told by his school principal that his dancing during assemblies was a distraction and needed to stop. Three teachers disagreed. What those three teachers did about it became the reason Michael Jackson performed at every school event for the next 2 years. It was the spring of 1968…
At 89, Dick Cavett names the five celebrities he hates most. For over a decade, Dick Cavett hosted one of the most intelligent talk shows in American television history. And while Johnny Carson ruled late night with easy charm and celebrity small talk, Cavett did something entirely different. He put intellectuals, authors,…
You show yourself on that rock and they’ll pick you off from below. I may be needed. Stop. >> Hollywood’s toughest cowboys wore two costumes, the hat and holster on screen and the mask off screen. While millions watched them ride into sunsets and win shootouts, these gunslinging heroes hid truths that…
In Hollywood, the hardest role to play is yourself. For a decade, David Schwimmer was the ultimate romantic, chasing the girl of his dreams on television’s biggest stage. But when the cameras stopped rolling, he was harboring a quiet, heartbreaking secret. It took surviving the crushing weight of global fame, a private…
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