Entertainment
Drew Barrymore Meets Woman with ’50 First Dates’ Disorder
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- Nesh Pillay, who struggles with short-term memory loss as documented in the Prime series, 50,000 First Dates: A True Story, shared her struggle with Drew Barrymore, who played a woman with the same disorder in the film 50 First Dates
- Pillay said it started with “a series of head bumps” until one day, she couldn’t remember that she had a daughter Sinead
- While “I cannot retain my memories, I can make memories,” Pillay said, adding that she’s “grateful” that she exists
Drew Barrymore — who famously played Lucy Whitmore, a woman with short-term memory in the 2004 comedy 50 First Dates — interviewed a woman with the real disorder who shared her life in the Prime documentary, 50,000 First Dates: A True Story.
“I always thought that it was an improbable sort of storyline. It turns out that maybe it isn’t,” Barrymore, whose character woke up every morning unable to recall the previous day, said when welcoming Nesh Pillay to the April 23 episode of The Drew Barrymore Show.
Pillay, 35, told Barrymore, 50, that, from a young age, “I’ve had a series of head bumps.”
Amazon MGM Studios
“My memory was just worse. Then, three years ago, I woke up from a nap, felt a little bit funny. By the end of that day, I started asking JJ [Jakope], my fiancé, questions like, ‘Where are we going?’ ‘What are we doing today?’ Just being confused. By the end of that day, we went to pick up my daughter, and I remember thinking, ‘No. I don’t know how to take care of a child. I don’t have a daughter.’ “
As she explains in the documentary, Pillay thought her fiancé was her Uber driver. She told Barrymore that, over the next few days “my memory regressed to the point that … [it] reset about once a minute.”
“My family took me to the doctor. At first, they were like, ‘This has to be related to her former brain injuries, but she should be fine in a couple of days.’ I wasn’t, so they took me to a different hospital. The assumption was, ‘Well, we don’t know what’s going on, so she must be faking.’ It was not until filming this docuseries, truly, that I was connected to the neuroscientist Morgan Barense … [that we] finally got some very real answers about what’s going on with my brain.”
As she explained, “The different centers of your brain are connected through neural pathways. Like highways almost. And a lot of mine are damaged. The other thing is brain atrophy. If you look at my brain, it’s a lot smaller. There’s a lot of empty space in there, which means that brain tissue is dead. We’re still kind of figuring out if it’s actively dying. There’s no answers. It’s very confusing. I spend a lot of time questioning reality. Like everything I perceive, I kind of go to my therapist and my parents and my journal to piece together what is real life.”
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She also shared that she and her fiancé separated when her memory was “resetting very often” — and sounded off on the imbalance that often occurs “when women’s stories are told.”
“It’s always really a man’s hero journey,” Pillay said. “It’s like a love story and, ‘Ugh this man stayed with her.’ “ But, she added, her documentary isn’t about romantic love. “It’s familial love. It’s sister love. It’s friend love. It’s self-love. And there are all of these other important types of love for women that we really need to be prioritizing. For me in this, I didn’t want the message to be: ‘And then they lived happily ever after.’ I’d rather create something real that connects with people than something pretty or perfect.”
She shared that while “I cannot retain my memories, I can make memories” — and that’s something she focuses on.
“I exist. I’m very grateful for that. For as long as I get to be alive and be present and everything I get to experience, I am endlessly grateful.”
Entertainment
Why stars are flocking back to ‘outdated’ TV dramas
Like vinyl, broadcast TV may be en vogue again. Amid Hollywood contraction, old-school network jobs are suddenly sought after — or at least increasingly viewed as a steadier paycheck for Hollywood’s shrinking creative class.
“A lot of people who used to say to me, ‘I’m never doing a Law & Order show, I’m never doing that,’ are now like, ‘I’m trying to provide for my family. I’ve got two kids and I need to make sure I can put food on the table and still pay for this house,’” one top TV agent tells P6H.
Despite lacking coolness, broadcast jobs offer a level of stability streaming often cannot. “You’re not winning awards or getting nominated for anything if you’re doing a network show, but it pays the bills,” the agent said. “As much as it’s a dying medium, people still want to work there because you can have a consistent style of living and know what your life is like.”

NBC’s reboot of “The Rockford Files” is from Mike Daniels, who most recently was a co-showrunner of Peacock’s short-lived “Ponies.” His last network TV gig was in 2019 with the Jimmy Smits legal drama “Bluff City Law” (also on NBC). Greg Mottola is directing and producing the pilot — his most recent TV credits include a pair of high-profile streaming series, “Peacemaker” and “Nobody Wants This” — in his first network TV gig since he helmed the first three episodes of “Arrested Development.”
Allegra Edwards is co-starring in CBS’ vampire comedy “Eternally Yours,” following five-seasons on Amazon’s “Upload.” One of the bigger hits this past season, Fox’s “Best Medicine,” featured Josh Charles in his first network TV starring role since “The Good Wife.”

For younger actors, streaming still offers something broadcast largely does not: lead roles. “There’s no leads on network television shows for a 25-year-old girl,” the agent added. “But on streaming, you can be the lead of a show making a really good living at 20 or 25 years old.”
One of the biggest frustrations in streaming remains the long gaps between seasons. “You can shoot eight to 10 episodes in one year — after already waiting six months just to get to set — and then have 18 months between seasons,” the agent said. “So in three years, you’re shooting 16 episodes.”
For writers hoping to run their own shows, broadcast offers a stronger training ground, according to another TV lit agent. “You’re getting to produce earlier and you’re involved in production while you’re writing,” the agent said.
Yet another agent argued clients can no longer afford to be overly selective. “Back when all the streamers were launching, it was an arms race for talent,” the agent said. “We could negotiate huge deals and everyone was making money doing cool sh-t.”
Even so, fears remain that the networks could abandon scripted programming altogether in favor of sports and news, and sports-rights costs are expected to further erode scripted budgets. A fourth TV agent summed it up bluntly: “It all comes from somewhere, right?”
Entertainment
Kyle Richards says these under-$20 sunglasses are ‘giving Tom Ford’
Kyle Richards has access to practically any designer accessory under the sun, but she’s shopping these budget-friendly shades instead.
On a recent Amazon Live, the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” OG declared she’s done investing in pricey shades and prefers more affordable styles, like her go-to YMRFW Retro Aviator Sunglasses.
“I do not feel the need to buy any high-end, expensive sunglasses again,” she told viewers. “I get so many compliments on these.”

“They are giving Tom Ford,” she added of the sculptural sunnies, which ring in at well under $20 for a set of three. “I really do love these a lot, if I do say so myself.”
She even held up her personal pair on the Live, saying she’d worn them to the studio. (While she selected the all-black option, they also come tortoiseshell, leopard print and several other solid colors.)
Reviewers also give them high marks, with shoppers calling them “great quality” and a “10 out of 10.”
Richards’ “favorite” Amazon accessories also include the Vanlinker Aviator Polarized Sunglasses, which she assured viewers are very lightweight despite their trendy, oversized appearance.

“These are another beautiful frame that are an amazing price,” she said. “I just love these.”

As for her third “must-have”? Feisedy Retro Square Aviator Sunglasses, which come in a wide range of hues — including a dark green shade Richards raves about.
With sunnier days on the way, it’s safe to say she’s ready to start summer in style.
Why Trust Page Six Style Shopping
This article was written by Hannah Southwick, Commerce Associate Editor for Page Six. Hannah spies deals on actually affordable celebrity-worn styles, puts celebrities’ brands to the test and finds the beauty products that keep stars red carpet-ready. She consults stylists and industry pros — including celebs themselves — for firsthand product recommendations, trend predictions and more. In addition to writing for Page Six since 2020, her work has been featured in USA Today and Parade.
Entertainment
‘Squatters’ host Flash Shelton slams broken system that hands intruders the keys to your home

He thought it would be a simple call to law enforcement.
Instead, when intruders took over his late father’s home in 2019, “Squatters” host Flash Shelton says he was told there was nothing deputies could do.
The moment flipped everything he thought he knew about property rights, the reality TV star told Fox News Digital.
Shelton, who had moved his mother into his own home while the family was grieving, had an instinct to protect his family.
Shelton explained that what would shock most Americans isn’t just that squatters can occupy homes, but also how the law treats them once they’re inside.
“All of the rights, not just some of the rights, but all of the rights fall to the squatter,” he said.
Shelton added that many homeowners would be surprised to hear “that a squatter just has to create reasonable doubt to be given full rights as a tenant.
There isn’t a system in place that says that you have to have a lease, or you have to be able to show rent payments to be a tenant. That if you have possession you have rights.”
In his experience, homeowners don’t stand a chance.
“Squatters figure out different ways to take properties, and they know what to say,” Shelton noted. “The whole system is wrong.”
Shelton claimed some squatters even secure leases with false promises of paying rent. Once that lease is in place, he explained, they are treated as full tenants.
“Every single other contract would be null and void if you enter it, and you sign it under fraudulent means,” he explained.
“Originally, the system was designed because they were looking at homeowners as being rich, and they were looking at tenants as being poor,” Shelton said. “So they created a system to level those terms. But what they forgot is the fact that homeowners are not all rich and just because you own a mortgage, doesn’t mean that you have money. It is unfavorably unbalanced right now and it is failing homeowners.”
And when it comes to lawmakers who defend the system?
“I think they need to understand and try to relate to somebody that doesn’t have the money to go through these situations and understand that some of these people are losing homes over this because they can’t afford to fight.”
Shelton carved out a niche in the digital space as an anti-squatter activist turned content creator, gaining widespread attention for his viral “Squatter Hunter” videos. His popularity led to the creation of the A&E show “Squatters.” He used social media to shed a light on this homeowner issue by uploading viral TikTok confrontations with alleged squatters, YouTube long-form breakdowns of property disputes and collaborations with homeowners documenting eviction standoffs.
His latest venture, “Squatters,” focuses on him and his team as they help homeowners across the country.
While some critics have labeled Shelton’s tactics aggressive, he insists he operates within the law. When he first worked to get his parents’ home back, Shelton figured out a way to mirror the same legal framework he says squatters exploit.
“I had to take it into my own hands and figure it out, and I learned everything about squatters,” Shelton said. “I figured out that if they could take the house, I could take the house, and I was gonna go take my house back.”
Shelton recalled accusing him of being a vigilante as he took matters into his own hands.
“I do a lot to make sure that I am working within the guidelines of law,” he emphasized to Fox News Digital. “Not only to protect myself, but also to protect the homeowners.”
He added, “I am taking the laws and, in a way I’m doing similar to what like – squatters are taking a law that allows them to do something, and they are taking a home.”
“I am doing things in a legal way to take the home back, and I’m not going in with firearms in any way,” Shelton explained. “I am not putting myself or my team in harm. We are doing a lot of research to make sure that everyone is going to be safe … not everyone is going to agree with what I do. But how I defend what I do is preparation research and I do everything that I can to make sure that it’s safe and legal.”
With the premiere of “Squatters” on May 12, Shelton said his goal is to raise awareness and help families across America who can’t afford to fight.
“The thing that I’m most excited about the show is that it gives me an opportunity to bring even more awareness and most importantly, help more families across America,” he said. “Because I was bringing awareness prior to the show, but I think this just helps me take it to another level and a whole new audience. And it enables me to help more families.”
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