There’s an update on two infidelity stories: Pastor Posse member Carl Lentz and his wife Laura Lentz are together after he was very publicly exposed for cheating on her (which prompted his resignation from Hillsong). Aside from Carl, Hillsong has been through its own swirl of scandals and leaving at the time he did probably worked in his favour in the long run. There’s a long list of pastors who seek to redeem themselves after a scandal and I do think we are seeing the beginning of a “broken man who puts himself back together” narrative. As for the Lentzes social standing with celebrities and pro athletes, it’s basically non-existent. Getting back in those circles will be very hard because many will want to avoid the headlines. “Celebrity X hangs out with disgraced pastor Carl Lentz” would be the hook and no one wants to be a heatscore, especially an athlete or actor or musician who may be stepping out in the same way Carl was.
Next is Michelle Branch as she has called off her divorce from Patrick Carney. To recap: she tweeted out a cheating accusation, filed for divorce, was arrested for slapping him and is now asking for privacy (which she acknowledges is difficult as she took the story public on social media). She spoke about it to PEOPLE and it sounds like the situation is in flux. Here’s the thing: should we slap people? No. Let’s just make that clear. The next thing I want to point out is that Michelle has a seven-month-old baby at home (as well as a teenager). Seven months post-partum is still a very delicate time. On top of that, she has an album coming out that he had a hand in. So I hope she has good friends and family and lots of support because (and this is something I learned from Real Housewives!), the “honeymoon” post-infidelity phase is a real thing. And it is usually just that: a phase.
One more thing, because it’s not all doom and gloom: Jodie Turner-Smith and Joshua Jackson have not posted about each other on Instagram since May, which could be pinging some alarm bells. But they were just together three weeks ago. Things appear to be fine and it’s more likely that Joshua hasn’t been joining her so he can take care of parenting duties while she promotes her film.
As the Leonardo DiCaprio and Gigi Hadid rumours continue, Leo has been spotted out with his boys around New York. One thing he is probably mindful of right now is that he can’t be photographed on an island surrounded by models, or in a club surrounded by models, or on a yacht surrounded by models because that doesn’t exactly fit with the “pursuing” narrative that’s being pushed. Is he feeling stifled?
Noah Centineo has been pretty quiet since the last To All the Boys movie dropped and I think it will help his heartthrob-to-superhero jump because, right now, he’s not overexposed. He leaned into the “internet boyfriend” thing just the right amount and then stepped back, which is key. Make the audience miss you a bit.
