Author: Bradley Chadwick

Steve Scalise has now survived two events that would have killed most people: a gunshot wound severe enough to leave him in critical condition on an Alexandria, Virginia, baseball practice field, and a diagnosis of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer with a grim prognosis even for early detection. The fact that the same person experienced both of these events within six years of one another is the kind of biographical detail that challenges credibility. And yet here he is, back at his Capitol Hill desk, voting, working, and serving as the House Majority Leader with the subdued resolve of someone…

The British tabloid press has always reserved a certain kind of cruelty for young women who gain notoriety before they’ve had time to discover who they are. As one of the original members of the Sugababes, Mutya Buena became well-known at the age of thirteen. The harm had already been done by the time she was old enough to comprehend what the media was saying about her appearance. When attempting to understand the Mutya Buena plastic surgery story, this background is crucial because, in contrast to the meticulously crafted celebrity narratives that surface in carefully curated magazine exclusives, Mutya’s version…

Like so many of these discussions, it began with a picture. When Kumail Nanjiani shared a shirtless photo on Instagram in December 2019, it actually stopped users in their tracks. The Silicon Valley comedian, who was best known for portraying the subtly sarcastic Dinesh, a character whose physical presence had never really been a part of his brand, appeared to have been assembled in a Marvel production facility. It turned out that this was essentially what had occurred. He had worked with professional coaches and nutritionists for a year in preparation for Eternals, and the results were so striking that…

Television fan communities have a particular talent for noticing things that most casual viewers would scroll right past. A slightly different camera angle. A wardrobe choice that seems designed to obscure rather than complement. A hairstyle that feels off. When Ghosts returned for its fifth season on CBS, the Reddit thread that surfaced with the title “Something about Sam…” captured exactly that kind of granular, communal observation — viewers cataloguing changes in Rose McIver’s appearance with the focused attention of people who have spent four seasons watching her face in close-up every Thursday night. The comments ranged from sympathetic to…

A picture of LaToya Jackson in the late 1970s, with her wide-eyed, youthful face and full, rounded nose, which was a natural trait of the Jackson family’s common genes, occasionally makes the rounds on the internet. It appears to be a completely different person. which, depending on your point of view, is either a silent tragedy unfolding over decades in plain sight or a monument to the power of cosmetic surgery. The debate over LaToya Jackson’s plastic surgery has been ongoing for a while, and there is no indication that it will reach a consensus. According to public accounts, the…

When was the last time you felt like your skin was working against you when you entered a crucial room, such as a client meeting, panel interview, or first day? That has an unexpectedly high mental cost. Angling your face away from the light, being aware of whether the concealer is holding, and being slightly preoccupied with something unrelated to the conversation and entirely focused on how you think you appear to the people across the table are all examples of being half present and half managing. When you’re focusing on something else, it’s hard to project authority. However, this…

The appointment was scheduled before the onset of anxiety. A slot at a skincare clinic three blocks from my apartment opened up during the hectic week of preparation. The interview was set for two in the afternoon and involved a four-round process at a company that had already put me through a phone screen and two video calls. 8:30 a.m. 30 minutes. The website stated that there was no downtime. I made the reservation, convinced myself that it made sense, and then I silently wondered for the next two days whether this was a perfectly reasonable choice or a great…

On a Saturday afternoon, observe who is in the skincare section of any Sephora. It won’t be the person you anticipate. Teens and young adults in their early twenties, some of whom are hardly old enough to drive, are carefully navigating shelves filled with vitamin C serums, niacinamide toners, and retinol formulas while paying close attention to ingredient lists. They have. They arrived at the store with a clear idea of what they wanted after watching hundreds of TikTok videos, following dermatologists on Instagram, and cross-referencing YouTube routines and Reddit threads. If you think back to earlier generations’ skincare regimens,…

Mention that you have red hair when you walk into practically any laser hair removal clinic in London, the kind with spotless white walls, dimly lit treatment rooms, and a receptionist who speaks in calming tones. In the past, the reaction has varied from a courteous wince to a direct “we probably can’t help you.” For many years, redheads were discreetly denied access to one of the most well-liked procedures in the beauty industry, claiming that the technology was just not made for their hair. In general, that was accurate. It’s getting much less so. Nowadays, the question is more…

The fact that Shania Twain, the woman who sold over 40 million copies of a single album, spent 99 weeks in the Billboard 200’s Top 20, and became by most accounts the most commercially successful female country music artist in history, almost lost the one thing that made it all possible during a horseback ride is somewhat shocking. Not an automobile collision. Not a mishap on the stadium stage. Somewhere in 2003, during what ought to have been a typical afternoon, there was a tick bite. Lyme disease was present in the tick. Twain contracted Lyme disease. It would take…