Category Entertainment News

Fans know Stacey Solomon’s a keen gardener, but she’s just shared the artificial products she relies on in winter to bring life and colour back to her outdoor space

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Stacey Solomon is always sharing her home and garden buys with fans via her social media, giving her followers an insight into what furniture and DIY products she’s shopping for. And this week is no different, as Stacey shared with fans the one product she’s been filling her garden with to keep her outdoor space bright and colourful, even in the dreary and wet months of winter.

Telling fans: “They last forever, and when there’s nothing growing in the garden, they’re the biggest mood booster for me,” Stacey shared the exact products she’s been filling plant pots with in her garden, and they’re still available to buy on Amazon.

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Finding good quality fake plants that don’t cost a fortune can be difficult, that’s why Stacey has compiled a shopping list of all her affordable favourites for fans to shop too. Included on that list are the LOMOHOO Artificial Flowers. This set includes 8 Bundles of flowers in the colour of your choice. Stacey opted for blue, as seen above.

These flower bundles include 7 large flexible stems, 35 small leaf branches, and 21 detachable flower heads per bustle. With measurements of 14″/36cm length, 6″/16cm width and 1.5″ /4cm flower head diameter.

Suitable for various vases, pots, and flower boxes, these flowers are made of high-quality plastic and soft silk cloth, ensuring UV resistance, preventing fading or withering, and being durable, making them easy to decorate both indoor and outdoor spaces, like Stacey.

Boasting brilliant colours, natural shapes, fresh green leaves and full-blooming flowers, these bundles are said to be hardly distinguishable from a bunch of real flowers, compensating for the lack of colour found in gardens throughout the winter period.

Eight bundles of these flowers currently sell for £13.99 on Amazon. If you prefer to shop elsewhere, Dunelm is offering these Artificial Million Star Gypsophila Stems for £15. Or, head over to Debenhams to find this Scottish Everlastings 50cm Blue Hydrangea Bouquet for £22.

Stacey’s artificial flowers also come with the love of shoppers, as plenty of 5-star reviews pour in. One thrilled buyer beams: “These flowers look like real plants in my garden borders and keep some bright colours when the real plants are fading. They blend in well with the real plants. Ideal too for colour in the garden during the winter months.”

Another shopper shares: “Looks amazing in my baskets and neighbours have commented on them.”

The Princess of Wales has been wearing her Penelope Chilvers knee high boots for over two decades, and the brand just slashed a huge 50% off the price in one colourway

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We can always rely on Kate Middleton to pick a timeless classic that never goes out of style. Case in point, her Penelope Chilvers Long Tassel Boots , which she has been wearing for over two decades.

She most recently wore them in her birthday celebration video whilst out and about in the British countryside, opting for her beloved Conker-coloured pair to fit her country chic style. Whilst her brown pair are still full price at £485, fans of the style can get their hands on the black pair with a huge 50% off, slashing the price to £242.

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The boots are made from sustainably sourced Spanish leather, and are created in London and crafted in Europe, so they should withstand years of wear and tear. The Long Tassel Boots come in European sizes 35 up to 42, with half sizes available – although some are beginning to sell out thanks to the huge discount.

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However one of the biggest advantages of the Penelope Chilvers boots is that they also come in two leg lengths, regular and tall, as well as standard and “generous” calf widths, making it easier to get a perfect fit. The boots have a slim-fitting style that are cut close to the ankle for a more feminine, flattering silhouette, which would make it tricky to get the perfect fit if you didn’t have options for different sizes.

The zip panel on the boots has a scallop trim, whilst the zip pull features a leather tassel which gives them their name. The Long Tassel Boots are also partially lined in deerskin for warmth and have a rubber tread sole which gives them great grip even when it’s icy, making these the perfect practical boots for the winter.

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You can also get similar styles of boots at Duo Boots, which also offer a vast range of calf sizes. Not only do you choose your shoe size – with sizes UK2 to UK10 available – but you can also pick from calf widths spanning from 30cm to 50cm, which go up in 2-3cm increments, giving you plenty of options to get a perfect fit.

Jones the Bootmakers also have a great selection of wide calf boots, many of which are on sale at the moment with as much as £130 off. There’s everything from heeled leather boots to suede flat soled ones, so you can find a style to suit your wardrobe.

However, considering Princess Kate’s Long Tassel Boots have been her go-tos for more than 20 years it’s safe to say these are an investment that will last you a lifetime. And now they have 50% off, you’ll get even more for your money.

Kerry Katona, who is a mum of five and has her own OnlyFans account, has weighed in on Sammy Winward’s fallout with her daughter Mia, which is said to have sparked over OnlyFans

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Kerry Katona has slammed Sammy Windward over the ex Emmerdale actress’ two year feud with her daughter Mia – who this week announced she is pregnant.

Former soap star Sammy’s sad fallout with her daughter was revealed in August 2024 – as Mia’s parents Sammy and ex-footballer David Dunn are said to have cut contact with her after she signed up to adult site OnlyFans. Earlier this week, Mia announced she was pregnant, and sadly revealed she’s yet to share her baby joy with her parents, due to their ongoing fallout.

Mum of five Kerry, who is an OnlyFans model herself, has now weighed-in, revealing she would never stop talking to her own children – even if they were to make a decision that she didn’t agree with. Writing in her column with new! magazine, Kerry revealed: “Sammy Winward’s daughter Mia recently announced she was pregnant – but hasn’t told her mum yet because of their fallout over OnlyFans two years ago.

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“I don’t think you should fallout with your child because they’re doing OnlyFans, life is too short. Everyone is doing OnlyFans and she’s not breaking the law. If one of my children were to do OnlyFans I’d be devastated but I’d never not talk to them.

Pointing out a conflicting detail in Sammy’s sad fallout with her daughter, Kerry said: “All the Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Hollyoaks actresses all did sexy photoshoots at one point for FHM so there’s not much difference in that.” Actress Sammy, 40, posed for FHM during her time on Emmerdale, and was even voted number 73 on FHM’s list of top 100 Sexiest Women in the World in 2006.

It comes after Sammy’s daughter Mia announced she was expecting her first child this week – but sadly revealed she it yet to tell either of her parents. Revealing she is yet to share her happy baby news with her parents, Mia said: “I haven’t reached out to them yet and they don’t really know how to contact me.

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“I am emotionally vulnerable while I’m pregnant and I really don’t want a big, stressful situation,” she told The Sun. Mia has a much more low-key life now – as she decided to stop her career on the adult site ‘the minute’ she found out she was expecting her first child. The former ‘party girl’ now lives in a rural home in the Lake District with the father of her unborn child, who she has been in a relationship with for a year but has decided not to name.

Meanwhile, Mia hinted at hopes to mend things with her parents – which got to such a low point that her former Blackburn Rovers player dad called her a “w***e” for joining the adult site. However, she revealed her pregnancy has made her wonder how her parents could cut ties with her. She said: “Now that I have my own baby inside me, I just couldn’t imagine not speaking to my child.”

EXCLUSIVE: Soon to turn 61, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh is a solid mentor and confidante to Kate, Princess of Wales – with the bond seen as one of the monarchy’s biggest strengths

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With her 61st birthday just around the corner, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh’s growing bond with the Princess of Wales is a sign of her soaring importance within the royal family.

Sophie and Kate’s close affinity is now seen as one of the monarchy’s biggest strengths, and former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond tells OK!, “They have a lot in common, and I’m sure that Sophie was an invaluable mentor for the princess as she learned about royal ways of life. I think they’re now much more like friends than aunt and niece, and the two of them have established a very solid friendship which will serve our future Queen well in years to come.”

Kate, 44, is said to have called Sophie a “tower of strength” during her cancer ordeal and subsequent recovery, and Jennie adds, “I’m sure it’s been a comfort for the princess to know that Sophie was on hand during the last difficult couple of years. After all, Sophie had her own serious health problems with an ectopic pregnancy and then a very difficult birth.”

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To coincide with her birthday earlier this month, Kate released a “deeply personal” video discussing the healing powers of nature during her cancer treatment. During the film, which is the final instalment of her Mother Nature series, Kate reflects on how “deeply grateful” she is to “discover what it means to be alive”.

“Even in the coldest, darkest season, winter has a way of bringing us stillness, patience and quiet consideration. Where the stream slows just enough for us to see our own reflection,” she says, adding, “To discover the deepest parts of ourselves. Alongside the whispers and the pulse of every living thing. I find myself reflecting on how deeply grateful I am.”

Although Sophie is 17 years older than Kate, the two women are similar in that both came from non-aristocratic backgrounds before marrying into the family. Sophie wed Prince Edward, 61, in 1999, while Kate tied the knot with Prince William, 43, in 2011. “Life has thrown these two women together quite randomly, and landed them on what must have seemed like an alien planet at first,” says Jennie. “The rest of us can only imagine what it must be like to find yourself suddenly inside palace walls.”

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Living just a few minutes’ drive apart – Kate at Forest Lodge in Windsor and Sophie at Bagshot Park – the pair have been snapped joking together at events, including the annual Order of the Garter service and Wimbledon. At Royal Ascot in 2017, they were seen laughing as Sophie lost her footing in their carriage. With both also being busy working mums – Kate to Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, and Sophie to Lady Louise Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex – they no doubt swap parenting tips, too.

“Sophie has been able to give her children as normal a life as possible, while bringing them up in the public eye,” says ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship. “The spotlight they’re under is not as great as the one on Kate’s children, but it’s nice to see Kate and Sophie have that rapport. Whenever they’re at an engagement together, you can see the close bond between them.”

Set to celebrate her birthday on 20 January, Sophie has been called the royal family’s “secret weapon”, but Jennie believes she has now exceeded that. “Sophie is not so much a ‘secret’ weapon these days: she’s an outright star of the royal family,” Jennie says.

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Sophie and Edward have both taken on bigger workloads in recent months to support King Charles, 77, through his continued cancer treatment, with the duchess increasingly seen as a go-to representative on home soil and overseas. “It must be of great comfort for the King to know that the duke and duchess have been on hand to carry out extra duties whenever necessary,” adds Jennie. “The warmth of the relationship between Charles and Sophie is obvious. She is completely relaxed with her brother-in-law and they often seem to share a joke together.”

Over recent years, Sophie has also developed a close rapport with her nephew Prince William. “They occasionally carry out engagements together which, of course, is a double win,” says Jennie. “At the Royal Cornwall Show last June, they toured the stalls together laughing and joking as they tried out local produce. They’re obviously extremely comfortable in one another’s company and seem more like cousins than aunt and nephew. It’s always good to see members of the family getting along so well.”

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On the global stage, Sophie regularly champions survivors of sexual violence in conflict zones, and was the first royal to visit both the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2022 and Baghdad in Iraq in 2023. “Sophie has established herself as a champion of incredibly difficult causes,” adds Jennie. “Her work has taken her to a number of dangerous countries, but she has never flinched and often goes under the radar. She speaks with authority and confidence – frequently without notes. She is immersed in the detail of her campaigns and her passion shines through.”

There is one particular reason that Meghan, Duchess of Sussex agreeing to return to the UK with Prince Harry might be a bitter pill for William and Kate, a commentator has claimed

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Meghan could be finally be poised to return to the UK, but her in-laws might not be too happy about it. It’s been years since the Duchess of Sussex stepped foot in Great Britain – with the last time she came back to her former home when the late Queen Elizabeth died.

While Prince Harry has come back to his home country a few times since then, including to attend his father King Charles’ coronation, Meghan has been decidedly absent, as have the couple’s two children: Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four. This could all be about to change, however, with reports claiming that the Sussex family are likely to finally have their police security reinstated, which would mean Harry feels much more comfortable about bringing them with him when he comes to visit.

It’s no secret that relations between Harry and Meghan and some of the other royals have been strained for some time – to say the least. William and Harry are understood to not be speaking at all, with the brothers even having some high-profile diary clashes last year, one of which saw them conduct engagements only miles apart.

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But relations were turning frosty between the once-close brothers and their wives even before Harry and Meghan quit royal life and moved to California back in 2020. In his memoir, Spare, Harry divulged that frustrations were growing between the so-called ‘Fab Four’ around the time of his wedding to Meghan in 2018 – when his bride and sister-in-law had an argument over bridesmaids dresses.

One commentator has claimed that there is one particular reason that Meghan’s return now to the UK will be something of a “bitter pill” for Kate and William. Shane Watson, writing for the Sunday Times explained, “Of all the royals, William and Kate are the ones who will need to assume the brace position when the Sussex show rolls into town and, unfortunately for them, Meghan’s year has started with a mega boosting bang.

“Thanks to a technical glitch on the website of the duchess’s As Ever brand, shoppers were momentarily able to see how much of her product was left in stock, which then allowed some motivated sleuths to work out exactly how many boxes of her signature ‘fruit spread’ had been sold.” Meghan has, if the sums are accurate, made a whopping £26.7 million in jam sales – making it pretty clear that her fledgling business launched only a year ago, has been a resounding success with her fans and customers.

The commentator continued, “Meghan was not coming back to the UK as the dutiful wife of the Invictus Games founder. She was never stepping onto the tarmac at Heathrow as the Yoko of the royal family, somewhat chastened by the cancelled Spotify deal, the reduced Netflix deal and the alleged backlash in the US where Wills and Kate’s popularity polling outstrips theirs by some considerable amount.

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“She will happily return now because it will be as one of the Californian business elite, flying the flag of mindful wealth and success — all of which is going to make it even harder than it would have for the Waleses to swallow, and even more gripping to watch for the rest of us.”

An ill-thought out comment from Meghan about Kate’s “baby brain” back in 2018 is said to have also added to the strain between the two couples – though Harry detailed attempts to resolve the conflict the foursome tried in private. Harry wrote that during the meeting behind closed doors to resolve things, he could tell quite quickly that little progress was being made, writing: “None of this airing of grievances was doing us any good, I felt. We weren’t getting anywhere. Kate looked out into the garden, gripping the edges of the leather [seat] so tightly that her fingers were white, and said she was owed an apology”.

It appears that lingering tensions have never totally disappeared, if anything only intensifying after Meghan and Harry decided to start new lives in California. In their self-titled Netflix documentary about their love story, one scene which was filmed after their bombshell interview with Oprah aired back in 2021 saw Harry receive a text message, allegedly from William.

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Though the contents of the message were not shown on camera, Harry swiftly looked devastated by whatever he had read. With the release of the tell-all Spare, which detailed much of the duke’s perspective on the internal family dysfunction and the competitiveness he perceived to have had with William since their childhoods, little seems to have improved.

Bernadette Hunt, who was better known as Gladiators star Falcon, left a substantial sum to her children in her will after she died from cancer in 2023 aged 59

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Bernadette Hunt, fondly remembered as Falcon from the legendary TV show Gladiators, left a hefty sum to her family in her will after sadly losing her battle with cancer in 2023 at the age of 59.

The surprising amount she bequeathed has now been revealed. The formidable gladiator left her son and daughter a total sum running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

After debts and costs were taken into account, Bernadette’s estate amounted to £293,000 from an original £444,000, according to probate documents seen by The Sun. This means her children, Adam and Angel, inherited nearly £300,000 from her will.

The much-loved 90s TV show Gladiators made a triumphant return last year, three decades after its first airing. However, just weeks before filming was due to start, Bernadette, affectionately known as Falcon, tragically passed away following her fight with cancer.

She had appeared in every series until its eventual cancellation, and her absence has certainly left a significant gap for fans everywhere. On the iconic show, members of the public went head-to-head with a team of ‘gladiators’, made up of bodybuilders and gymnasts, in a range of challenges.

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Regularly pulling in over 14 million viewers, the original cast quickly became household names, propelling stars like stern referee John Anderson and hosts Ulrika Jonsson and John Fashanu to fame.

Rick Jango, the partner of Bernadette’s elder sister, shared the devastating news of her death in an emotional Facebook post. The poignant tribute stated: “It is with great sadness that I have to tell you of the death of my partner’s younger sister Bernadette Hunt. Most people will remember her as Falcon From the hit TV Show Gladiators.”

Rick continued: “I had the privilege to be in her company a few times and I have to say she was one of the most lovely people I have ever met. She never had a bad word to say about anyone, indeed she was always known as the nicest ‘Gladiator’, always stopping to speak and sign autographs for anyone. She had been battling cancer for a number of years until sadly she lost her fight R.I.P. Bernie.”

Throughout her time on Gladiators, Bernadette also appeared on International Gladiators from 1994 to 1995, and took part in three live performances.

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She primarily took on challenges including Joust, Powerball and Tilt. Queen’s hit Breakthru served as her entrance music during her appearances, and she attracted a devoted following, with numerous fans affectionately calling her the ‘nicest Gladiator’.

Prior to her television career, the Brighton-born star had trained as both a ballerina and an aerobics instructor. Aged 18, she secured a place at the London Contemporary Ballet School, but a back injury put an end to her ballet ambitions.

She first made her mark in the competitive scene in 1992, bagging the Miss Natural Health title. Over time, she also clinched the titles of Miss Novice Britain, Miss London and Home Countries 1992, and Miss South Britain.

Following her exit from Gladiators in 1999, after the eighth series, Bernadette pivoted to a career as a personal trainer in Basingstoke. The tragic news of Bernadette’s passing was shared on 31 March.

She is survived by her partner Mark and their two children, Angel and Adam.