Trolls love bad-mouthing the beauty industry, but they're wrong
I hope this column finds you well — or at least better rested than you seem most Sunday mornings. You appear to have permanently taken up residence on the wrong side of the bed … so I wanted to check, Pete2444, is everything OK?
I have done my very best to bite my (perfectly lined) lip. I know the golden rule: ignore and rise above. 'Never respond to the trolls, it's what they want,' is the general advice you're given when you write a column or appear on live television. But enough is enough. Last week it was: 'How vain and self-obsessed can you be to talk about make-up all day?' The week before you put caps lock on to troll my frizz
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Telegraph
19 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Ulrika Jonsson: My wrinkles shouldn't matter
Ulrika Jonsson has said her wrinkles should not matter after she was trolled for not wearing make-up. The 57-year-old hit back at 'vindictive and hurtful' online criticism of her appearance on a recent podcast and admitted that it made her feel 'awful'. The Swedish-born television personality said she was kind and intelligent and the state of her ageing skin 'should be of no consequence'. She received abuse after speaking on Matthew Spencer's Untapped podcast earlier this month, where she discussed her alcoholism and achieving more than a year of sobriety. Jonsson did not wear makeup for the interview, which was also being filmed, resulting in her social media being 'flooded with hurtful comments' about how she looked when it was released. Comments included being called a 'hag', that she had 'let herself go' or even 'gone to seed', while others told her to put make-up back on. Writing in the Sunday Times about the backlash she suffered, she said her heart 'started hurting' as a result of the 'nasty' messages she received while having such a 'vital' conversation. She wrote: 'I felt an uneasy sensation in my entire body. It made me feel awful.' Jonsson admitted that she had previously tried both Botox and filler but now she wants to 'look [her] age'. 'I've fought hard against the whole perception of women being solely about beauty and image,' she continued. 'I'm a practical woman and I come with a wealth of experience, kindness and intelligence. 'The fact that I now have wrinkles, lines and jowls should be of no consequence.' 'Getting older is a privilege' Jonsson said she suffered from eczema as a youngster, meaning the idea of wearing makeup as she got older was 'not a priority'. She credited Pamela Anderson, who is the same age as her, for being the driving force of a growing number of women who are going au naturel and leaving makeup altogether. 'I know what the alternative to ageing is and, with my newfound sobriety, serenity and inner peace, I don't want to go there right now,' Jonsson added. 'Getting older is a privilege, even though for some nasty, cruel individuals, that's conditional upon us girls keeping our make-up on and staying wrinkle-free.'
Telegraph
19 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Nicola Benedetti on marrying a man 25 years her senior
As one of the best-known violinists in the world, Nicola Benedetti enjoys a stellar public profile. Yet she has maintained a strict secrecy around her private life, even though it has been long-rumoured in music circles. Now she has confirmed for the first time that she is married to Wynton Marsalis, the celebrated jazz musician who is 25 years her senior, and they have a baby daughter. They met professionally when she was 17 and he was 42, and much later began a romantic relationship. Benedetti has publicly shared the joys of motherhood but did not, until now, confirm the identity of the father. Speaking to the Telegraph, Benedetti, 38, said of her marriage to Marsalis, 63, who counts former US president Barack Obama among his admirers: 'I think it's pretty much out there now. I really don't care any more if people want to write about it or not.' Explaining why she has not talked about her relationship with Marsalis, with whom she has collaborated on musical projects for many years, Benedetti said: 'I don't tend to discuss my private life because people don't come to my concerts because of whom I'm in a relationship with. They come because I play the violin.' Benedetti was 17 when she travelled to New York to attend the American Academy of Achievement summit as a student-delegate. A year earlier, she had won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. She performed in the company of Marsalis, a trumpeter who was the first jazz musician to receive the Pulitzer Prize. 'When we met then, I was already a huge fan, and we just kept in touch as good friends,' Benedetti once explained. Marsalis has said they felt 'a certain type of kinship'. Many years later, Marsalis wrote a violin concerto for Benedetti, although in a joint interview they joked about not remembering who had proposed the idea. Marsalis said: 'It's like a scene from When Harry Met Sally. I don't know if I said it or she said it.' They have continued to collaborate and perform together. Benedetti, from Ayrshire in Scotland, is artistic director of the Edinburgh International Festival and had her daughter in May 2024. Marsalis also has a teenage daughter and two adult sons from previous relationships. The 'Pied Piper' of jazz Marsalis started playing the trumpet at the age of six and went on to become a key figure in the jazz renaissance of the 1980s. He has been credited with rekindling interest in the genre, has been referred to as the 'Pied Piper' of jazz and won nine Grammy awards during his career. He is currently the artistic director of Jazz at the Lincoln Center, in New York. Benedetti told the Telegraph that she has begun to question her upbringing, during which her mother made her and her older sister practise the violin for three hours every day during the school holidays. 'My daughter is only one, but my sister has two children, aged three and five, and seeing her experience has definitely made me consider my own childhood,' she said. 'But both of us have a realistic, even a positive view of our upbringing. It was very strict – we feared upsetting our parents, or doing the wrong thing – but we also knew we were loved to death by our mum and dad.' She believes that today's young people are less willing to make the sacrifices required to become a world-class musician, saying: 'I think young people have become used to a lack of basic discipline in their daily lives – and that really worries me.'
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Labubu fans dote over ugly-cute doll trending at Comic-Con
SAN DIEGO, July 27 (Reuters) - San Diego Comic-Con is the latest location where the ugly-cute dolls named Labubu have been trending, with fans carrying the plushies globally popularized by celebrities Rihanna, Lizzo, Dua Lipa, and Lisa from the K-pop group Blackpink. The wide-eyed and grinning doll was created in 2015 by Hong Kong artist and illustrator Kasing Lung. In 2019, Lung allowed them to be sold by Pop Mart ( opens new tab, a Chinese toy company that sells collectible figurines, often in "blind boxes". "Blind boxes" are sealed boxes containing a surprise item that is usually part of a themed collection. Naomi Galban, from San Diego, waited in line on Sunday at the Pop Mart booth in the San Diego Convention Center for a chance to get her first Labubu. "Every time I go to a Pop Mart store, they're sold out," the 24-year-old told Reuters. She hoped to buy one for her little sister. Emily Brough, Pop Mart's Head of IP Licensing, spoke to Reuters on Thursday about Labubu fans at Comic-Con. "We love to see how fans are personalizing it (Labubu) for themselves," Brough said next to the Pop Mart booth. While Brough noted that there were many people with a Labubu strapped to their bags and backpacks at Comic-Con, the doll's popularity did not happen overnight. Labubus had a huge boost in 2019 after Pop Mart began selling them, and in 2024, when Blackpink's Lisa, who is Thai, created a buying frenzy in Thailand after she promoted Labubu on social media. Pop Mart saw sales skyrocket in North America that same year, with revenue in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2025 already surpassing the full-year U.S. revenue from 2024, Pop Mart said. When he created Labubu, Lung gave the character, who is female, a backstory inspired by Nordic mythology. He called her and his other fictional creatures "The Monsters." Diana Goycortua, 25, first discovered Labubu through social media, and before she knew it, it felt like a "game" to try and collect the dolls. "It's a little bit of gambling with what you're getting," the Labubu fan from San Diego said on Sunday while waiting at the Pop Mart booth, concluding that her love for the character made it worth trying blind boxes. Goycortua already has three Labubus, and was hoping to score her a fourth one at Comic-Con.
