Category Entertainment News

It has been a tough five years for TV favourite Fern Britton after her stalker hell and divorce but she is loving her new life in Cornwall – and her incredible new look

Fern Britton has revealed how she has overcome a “catalogue of difficulty” in the past few years amid her incredible weight loss success.

Last year, James Haviland was handed a 10-year restraining order after pleading guilty to stalking the TV presenter. She also had to come to terms with her divorce from Phil Vickery, and has battle health issues.

There’s been some creature comforts to help get her through it all and Fern hopes her new slim look makes her perfect for also heading back to the small screen and more TV work in the coming years if she returns to London. Losing five stone, the This Morning legend is feeling better than ever.

She told The Sunday Times: “When I’m not feeling well, one of my cats will always sit on my bed with me. They take it in turns, like a shift pattern. This has been particularly comforting in recent years because I’ve had a catalogue of difficult things to face, from getting my home together here in Cornwall to discovering that I had a stalker.”

Fern is back in great shape but is not hankering for a TV comeback or a man in her life. Instead she wants to continue to write bestselling books from her Cornwall home. At 67, it is now five years since her 20-year marriage to TV chef Phil Vickery ended, but Fern insists: “I’m not looking for love.”

She told Woman & Home: ‘I’m still a bit too wary of losing my liberty. There’s nobody to run something past but, on the other hand, I think back to running things past people and it never really worked out, so why don’t I just make my own decision? Then I’m the only person who can go, ‘I f***ed up there’.”

Her stalker hell was her biggest challenge since the collapse of her marriage. Haviland, 63, drove 200 miles to stay in 66-year-old Fern’s holiday cottage in the village where she lived and last week admitted he’d stalked ther for two years. He started by sending Fern flowers and cards before embarking on a mega journey to be close to her – staying in the village she lives – Cornwall’s Padstow.

Fern first met Phil when she hosted Ready Steady Cook in 1999, and they married the following year, having daughter Winnie in 2001. They also appeared regularly on ITV’s This Morning, which Fern fronted for a decade from 1999 and Phil joined as chef in 2006, with Fern quitting in 2009 while Phil still makes occasional appearances.

Appearing to have one of the strongest marriages in showbiz, no one expected Fern and Phil’s split announcement in January 2020. “After more than 20 happy years together, Phil and I have decided to go our separate ways,” Fern tweeted. “We will always share a great friendship and our lovely children . We would appreciate it if our privacy is respected at this time. Thankyou for your continued kindness and support.”

Shoppers can currently save a whopping £300 on a Google Pixel Pro smartphone that shoppers have touted as ‘much better than iPhone’ as it gets its price axed in an Amazon flash sale

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to pick up a new smartphone without having to splash out for its full price, look no further than this Amazon sale. A Google Pixel 9 Pro is up for grabs with a massive discount, saving shoppers £300 while this deal lasts.

The Google device has become a serious contender in the Android mobile market, and this deal makes it even more irresistible. The Pixel 9 Pro is touted as the most powerful Pixel yet. It is armed with Gemini’s built-in AI assistant and has a pro-level rear camera that gives you super-close close-ups, sharp selfies, and rich colours—even in low light.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro is available in four colourways and has three storage options: 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. All three options are currently sporting a major £300 discount, though prices will vary depending on the storage size you opt for.

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Armed with a game-changing Google Tensor G4 chip and a Snapdragon CPU, this smartphone provides 16GB of RAM and promises up to 24 hours of battery life. With seven years of security updates and Pixel Drops, this Google smartphone is built to keep up with you all day long and promises longevity.

Not to mention the revolutionary in-built AI, which helps get things done faster. Gemini makes complex projects easier, searches and organises info, and jumpstarts your creativity in just a few taps.

Another feature of the Pixel 9 Pro that’s supported by AI is the Add Me feature, which ensures no one is left out of a photo—you can take a picture with the group, then swap in the photographer with ease, as Pixel seamlessly merges both photos. Plus, the Magic Editor can suggest the best crop and reframe your photo to ensure you get the best results to post online. It even expands your image to get more of the scene.

Backed by Gemini, Pixel Screenshots helps you save info you want to remember later – like events, places, and appointments. So you can find what you need, right when you need it.

Normally retailing for £999 (128GB), this Pixel 9 Pro is now up for grabs for the majorly reduced price of £699 while this Amazon sale lasts. This model is also available at Argos for the same cost, which is the lowest ever price it’s sold for at that retailer. Currys and Very are also offering this Google Pixel model for £699.

Amazon shoppers can’t stop raving about this smartphone, with plenty of 5-star reviews pouring in. One saitisifed customer shares: “This phone is fantastic. Great photos and ways to adjust photos. Clear sound screen is Sharp. Highly recommend. This is the best phone I have owned. It is smaller than I use to but you lose nothing. Texting is smooth.”

Another buyer beams: “It’s a Fantastic phone— I can’t fault it. I came from iPhones after the damp squib of iPhone 16. It’s seamless for me– feels very much like an iPhone but just much better and customisable. Camera is excellent, even the capacity to swipe back with your thumb is a revelation.”

A thrid raves: “The cameras are insanely good thanks to Google’s AI Processing, they fixed the slow Tensor chipset performance issues, everything is snappy now you would think it has a Snapdragon if you didn’t see the specs. Battery life is stellar, I can get 1 to 1.5 days easily with moderate usage and it looks perfect, people always think I have an iPhone 16 Pro when they see the phone which is a good thing as it has a flat screen and very easy to hold.”

Nicole Scherzinger reveals career plans after Tony Awards Win

Nicole Scherzinger says her Tony Award win is part of a “healing process” after years of feeling disrespected and disregarded by the entertainment industry. Former X Factor judge Nicole broke down in tears when accepting the best actress honour for her role on Sunset Boulevard praising her family and fiance Thom Evans for his continued support

She had detailed her upset and frustration at being treated like a pop flop and “put in a box” for over a decade after the Pussycat Dolls success.

The American star now plans to build a movie career and continue stage shows, including creating her own, asserting: “I’d love to do it all.”

Nicole, 46, was told applying for stage and screen roles was a “a waste of time” for over a decade and branded nothing more than a past it girl band star.

The star feels vindicated to have financially banked and created her own solo show, performing show tunes, at small venues across London and the US. Nicole, who won an Olivier Award for her debut role portraying Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, celebrated her victory with a pizza.

Nicole admitted: “This has been a very healing process for me. I always felt like I wasn’t living in my full potential and full purpose. I was never happy with myself. It is because I knew I had so much more to give. And this role and this opportunity allowed me to give all of me. It’s changed my life.

“But it has been hard. It has not been an easy road. I am so grateful that I am able to connect to people on a spiritual and soulful level and I could make a difference in these people’s lives.

“That is exactly what we do it for. So I am thankful.”

She added: “I am living in my dream. This is my childhood dream come true. I feel like I win every night when people tell me the impact of how my performances impact them. This has been 30 years in the making and I’ve been working and fighting for this my whole life.

“I am completely out of my mind. I just want to go home and cry for a very long time. I won a Tony against an unbelievable category of (women) But I have come home (Broadway) and am back where I was born to be. I mean this – Love always wins.”

On stage collecting the gong at the NYC Radio City Music Hall event, she praised her rugby star partner Thom Evans for his ongoing support.

“For my fiance Thom who believes in me, when I forget to believe in myself.” She added “Andrew Lloyd Webber, it’s happened. It’s been such an honour to create with you.”

Her desire is to continue singing and making music, but in movie musicals or create her own stage show.

Nicole, who wore a blood red custom dress to resemble the final scene of the Broadway hit, added: “I want to do it all. I would like to do movies and movie musicals. I would like to build my own show. There are roles I would like to create.

“It’s validating and it’s fulfilling because I know that I’m on the right path. I know I’m back where I was born to be.

“When you see the show, you see the real depths of me as an actor and as a singer and your voice and the range as well. I want to encourage people to keep an open mind and an open heart. You never know where your unexpected dream opportunity is going to come from.”

Nicole reflected on her tough mental battle to bounce back from constant rejection after being written off as a failed pop artist

Nicole admitted: “Like so many people, I was put in a box. it is hard when you feel like your whole career, you’ve been fighting to be seen and fighting to show what you’re truly capable of.

“Ten years back after The Dolls, I really wanted to go back to doing musical theater stuff. It’s like where my heart whisper is. And there was no path to do that.

“People weren’t even allowing me to be seen for filmed musicals and some live stuff going on.

“They just wouldn’t even consider seeing me, (they were saying) ‘ that’s going to be a waste of our time. ‘ I was like, ‘they’re not taking me seriously.

“So I got to educate them. “So I put on a show exactly six years ago in 2019, I put my money up and did all the songs and the roles I always dreamed of playing that nobody would let me. I created my own show of an hour and 20 minutes.

“I brought it to New York, London, and la and I just put it out there in the universe.”

Nicole is grateful that respected producer Jamie Lloyd took a chance on her talent as “Nobody else would’ve have asked me.

“He came to me with the idea of playing Norma Desmond. He actually dreamed of me. Isn’t that crazy?”

Nicole and the team were huge Olivier Award winners with seven gongs. including best musical revival.It equalled the record for the most prizes for a musical at the ceremony.

Other winners included Succession star Sarah Snook taking best leading actress in a play, for performing all 26 roles in a one-woman stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. And Purpose, about an African-American family who reunite in Chicago, was named best play, a month after winning the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

One of the original Desmond Broadway performers, multiple Oscar nominee Glenn Close has publicly praised Nicole’s work.

She added to Sirius XM: “Glenn was intense, because she originated the role. She wrote to me in a card ‘to my soul mate’.

“It is validating. It is words of affirmation when what you put out, what you’re so passionate about and what you put out is being received with the intention that you put it out and received not from your peers, but even giants before you. It’s affirming,”

The 46-year-old recently spoke of how Thom has been a rock to her during her two year run and they plan to wed after her show run.

Asked directly “will you get married soon? ” , Nicole relied: “Yes, we will get married. We’re engaged – to be married when I’m not working.

“Thank God he is so patient. We’ll get married back home in Hawaii, where my family is from.”

Dolls founder Robin Antin installed Nicole as lead singer in 2003, leading them to huge hits, tours and endorsements until 2010.

BAFTA-nominated actor Harris Dickinson will take on the role of Mr. Darcy as part of Audible’s audio adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, as part of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday celebrations

Harris Dickinson, who reached heartthrob status after starring in Babygirl alongside Nicole Kidman, has officially been tapped to take on the iconic role of Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy. Fans of the rising star actor may be disappointed to learn, however, that the role is audio-only as part of Audible’s audio adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

Still, the project promises to be packed with incredible vocal performances as Dickinson is set to be in the booth alongside BAFTA-winning actress and Industry star Marisa Abela, who will portray the incomparable Elizabeth Bennet.

The English-language cast also includes Glenn Close as Lady Catherine De Bourgh, Bill Nighy and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Mr and Mrs Bennet, Jessie Buckley as Caroline Bingley, Toheeb Jimoh as Mr Bingley, and Sophie Wilde as Jane. Black Mirror alum Will Poulter is also cast as Mr Wickham.

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Dickinson shared that the project has been particularly rewarding. “Playing Mr. Darcy was an amazing experience. I’ve always known him as this iconic character, but getting to really dive into the novel through this process gave me a whole new appreciation for him and the world. Being part of such a talented cast made it even better. It’s a real privilege to be part of something so timeless.”

Audible’s English-language adaptation of Pride and Prejudice will be released in the U.S., U.K., Canada, India and Australia on September 9, 2025. The release leads up to the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birthday (December 16, 1775).

As stated in Audible’s press release announcing the project, the adaptation will remain “faithful to the original text” while also adding a “unique interior perspective” from Elizabeth Bennet. Audible’s Pride and Prejudice has been adapted from the original by award-winning writer Lulu Raczka and directed by Dionne Edwards, marking her audio drama directorial debut.

Additionally, the English-language version will be followed up by local versions in Castilian Spanish, French, German, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese. The subsequent language versions will include “local casts and release dates” according to Audible.

News of this major production from Audible comes less than a month after the company announced it will offer publishers comprehensive AI production services to produce audiobooks. A shift that has been criticised by both voice actors and translators.

The company shared in mid-May that it will work with publishers to produce audiobooks using its new “fully integrated, end-to-end AI production technology”.

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Voice actor Jade Asha recently shared her thoughts on Audible AI narration plan with The Mirror, saying that since the rise of AI, many of her work opportunities have “almost disappeared”. But quality is at stake, according to Asha: “We know that AI is lower in cost than hiring a voiceover artist, but it lacks in quality.”

Still, Asha says AI-generated voices are improving quickly and that the Audible announcement doesn’t bode well for those in her industry. “I can only see AI leading to less work for voiceover artists, which is already an over-saturated industry since the pandemic.”

Newly single Helen Flanagan was all smiles as she partied with Dean Gaffney and Wayne Lineker in Ibiza following her split from boyfriend of one year, Robbie Talbot

Newly single Helen Flanagan gave fans a sneak peek into her boozy holiday with ex soap stars, following her recent split from boyfriend Robbie Talbot. The 34-year-old former Corrie star looked stunning as she posed in a black bikini in Ibiza with a huge smile on her face.

Taking to Instagram, Helen appeared to be having a smashing time as she snapped a few pics in O Beach Ibiza alongside Dean Gaffney and Wayne Lineker. Wayne can be seen planting a kiss on Helen’s head in one of the pictures she posted, along with the caption: “Best day @obeachibiza always the most fun day x”.

The Corrie star also shared a sweet snap grinning next to former EastEnders star Dean Gaffney. She added the caption “old jungle friends” after the duo appeared on the all-stars version of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in 2023, and left the show together.

Helen, who is best known for playing the role of Rosie Webster in Coronation Street, looked stylish as she showed off her toned figure in a black bikini top paired with black and white patterned shorts. She styled her blonde hair in beach waves and wore minimal jewellery.

The mum of three’s partying in Ibiza follows after her split from her boyfriend of one year Robbie Talbot. The split was announced last month and comes just weeks after a source claimed Helen began worrying that her relationship could be “going backwards” after Robbie moved out.

A source said Helen was desperate to make the relationship work, but found it difficult to juggle her role as devoted mum to her three children while building something new. Helen is a proud mum to Matilda, nine, Delilah, six, and three-year-old Charlie.

The source claimed to The Sun last month: “They want different things in life. She has just landed a new acting job and is trying to juggle work projects with the kids.

“She sat him down two weeks ago and said, ‘This isn’t working.’ It was a grown-up chat. She just wants to be on her own for a while although she still has feelings for him.”

Discussing the recent decision for Robbie to move out just months after they started living together, Helen said in a recent interview with Fabulous: “I’d asked him to stay for a while, because I often get quite scared in the house on my own and feel safer with a man there.

“But Matilda is very sensitive and a proper daddy’s girl, and she struggles with not seeing Scott as often as she’d like. I always think about how she feels when she misses her dad, and having my boyfriend there maybe doesn’t help her. When you’re a mum, you do what you’ve got to do for your kids – I will always put mine first.”

Helen shares her three kids with her ex, Scott Sinclair, who she split with in 2022.

Freddy Brazier shared an emotional video on social media when he was ‘at his lowest’ as he urged his followers to ‘check on their friends’, following his recent rehab announcement

Freddy Brazier, Jeff Brazier and Jade Goody’s youngest son, shared an emotional video on social media where he was ‘at his lowest’ as he urged his followers to ‘check on their friends’. The 20-year-old, who recently revealed he is going to a rehab facility in Spain, admitted that it is ‘easy to wear a false smile’.

Just days prior, Freddie opened up on his addiction and said he has been addicted to ‘smoking’ from the age of 12 and will be seeking treatment to ‘get clean.’ Sharing his journey online, Freddie’s recent video shows a collection of small clips, from partying with friends, playing darts and boxing to getting a pedicure.

Although he appears happy in some of the small snippets of his life, he soon shared that is not the case. The caption read: “Check on ya friends cuh this is me at my lowest, it’s so easy to wear a false smile and just get on with you! Check on you mates”, followed by a read heart emoji.

Fans rushed to send their support as one commented: “One day at a time! You’ve got this! Keep fighting through! We’re all behind you!”, while another added: “Takes a strong man to talk about it and seek help! You’ve got this Freddy!”.

The young star’s emotional admission comes just days after he revealed he would be going to rehab. Freddy wrote on his Instagram page that he’s decided to take action in a bid to feel happy again and mend his relationships.

He said: “I’ve decided that I will be cutting down and I want to go to Rehab In Marbs as I feel if I’m in England I won’t take getting clean seriously. I’ve been smoking from the age of 12 and it’s time to stop. It was a bad coping mechanism that turned into an addiction, something I relied on and something that made me feel sane and some what OK.

“I’ve found a boxing club and a rehabilitation centre. Ive found someone I want to get to know and I’m happy. I got a good bunch of friends and I [want to] get out and enjoy myself. I want to be clean so I can live happily and have healthy relationships with people and be there for all of my family rather then feeling like I’m in the middle and have to choose a side.”

He continued: “I haven’t been able to feel loved properly as I have never loved myself and it starts now. I want to play football and take up boxing I want to be happy and be in a healthy relationship and have a healthy relationship with my Nana and my father

“Every day is a new story about me and my Nana and father. It’s getting boring now. Mind your business and have a good rest of the week x,” he finished.

Concern has recently grown for Freddy after it emerged he had left his dad’s family home, a move which is said to have devastated dad Jeff.

The youngest brazier brother has left to spend more time with his grandmother Jackiey and has been sharing snaps of the two spending time together. Jeff has been reported to be taking legal action to stop the two hanging out.