Entertainment
Melinda French Gates Remembers Serena Williams Hyping Her Up When She Thought Nothing Would Fit Her Body
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NEED TO KNOW
- Melinda French Gates credited Serena Williams for boosting her body confidence when speaking with her during a season 2 episode of Moments That Make Us on YouTube
- The philanthropist recalled a time where she and the tennis star “connected” over fitting into costumes at an event
- Gates admired Williams for being “strong in her body,” which gave her the confidence to “celebrate” her own
Melinda French Gates found strength in Serena Williams.
The famed philanthropist, 60, praised the tennis star, 43, for giving her the confidence to embrace her own body during a powerful conversation documented in a season 2 episode of her Moments That Make Us series on YouTube.
French Gates recalled meeting Williams for the first time at a dinner, where guests were invited to dress up in costumes before heading into the “joyful” event. The outfits, however, were provided and seemingly limited in assorted sizes.
“We both come in late, and you and I are looking at the costumes,” the mom of three told the athlete. “I’m looking at these costumes and I’m thinking to myself, ‘There is no way one of these is going to fit in my hips’. And I said it out loud,” she added.
Photo Courtesy of Pivotal
Talking to Williams, the billionaire activist recalled, “You said, ‘And you think one of them is going to fit me!’ ” before the pair burst out laughing when thinking back to the situation they found themselves in at the event.
“I just went, ‘Oh my God. Here’s somebody who’s so real in our bodies to celebrate who we are,’ ” French Gates remembered thinking at the time, noting that she told Williams her positive realization that night.
French Gates recalled telling the Olympian that she “didn’t follow tennis that much,” but the “one time” she saw Williams play, she was captivated by the confidence the athlete displayed in her own body and strength.
“I happened to sit behind you [at the match] and I thought, ‘There is a woman who is so strong in her body… Why are we not all celebrating our bodies?’ And it gave me the confidence to do that,” the philanthropist said.
Williams replied, “Super wow. Thank you for saying that.”
Of that night they were trying on costumes, the tennis player recalled praising French Gates’ figure at the party.
Jamie Squire/Getty
“I looked at you. I said, ‘Oh, you got body!'” Williams reminded her in the episode, prompting the duo to smile and laugh at the memory.
French Gates added, “You made me feel much better about it.”
Williams emphasized, “You got a nice body!” She told her, “I’m like, ‘Sis, where do you get that from?’ ”
“I loved it, I loved it,” French Gates replied.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, French Gates recalled the “sweet” interaction she had with Williams and the empowering moment they shared together at the event.
“That is something that we connected over the first time we met,” she told PEOPLE exclusively. “We were at dinner together with a group of women the night before, and then I saw her the next day. Same group of women, but a different setting.”
“It was just one of those vulnerable moments… Everybody else was in these costumes and there was one that fit everybody,” French Gates continued. “I think most women don’t realize that all of us struggle with some form of body issue. You might not like your arms or your legs or your hips or whatever.”
Dia Dipasupil/Getty
“And here she is just this incredibly strong, powerful woman on the court,” she gushed of Williams.
French Gates’ Moments That Makes Us YouTube series released its second installment on Wednesday, Aug. 6. The release came one year after its debut season, which she launched in celebration of turning 60.
Season 1 featured impactful conversations with changemakers of all ages, who candidly discussed their biggest life transitions. Guests included Michelle Obama, Megan Rapinoe, Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King.
Entertainment
Rarely-seen ’80s star Kristy McNichol appears in ‘fangirl’ Carnie Wilson’s selfie

Carnie Wilson had a “fangirl” moment with Kristy McNichol decades after the actress’ retirement.
“Totally fangirling!!!” the singer, 58, recently gushed via Facebook. “Kris ( Kristy McNichol) was a part of my youth. I adored her in her movies … especially ‘Little Darlings’ and ‘The End.’”
The Wilson Phillips member told McNichol, who left the entertainment industry in 2001, “how meaningful her movies are to [her] and [her] bestie.”
Carnie noted in the July 20 upload that she and her pal “were just talking about her … and how special” the 63-year-old is.
Calling McNichol a “gracious sweetie,” she concluded that the “Bionic Woman” star “sure is loved.”
She snapped a selfie with the rarely-seen star, with McNichol smiling in a zip-up jacket and white tee.
Carnie, for her part, sported a patterned top and a black beanie in the cozy shot.
McNichol was a child star who won two Emmys for her role as Letitia “Buddy” Lawrence on “Family” between 1976 and 1980.
Her other notable TV role included Barbara Weston in “Empty Nest,” a “Golden Girls” spinoff.
She is best known for playing Angel in “Little Darlings” in 1980 and Polly in “Only When I Laugh” the following year.
McNichol was nominated for a Golden Globe for the latter.
When she retired from the entertainment industry, McNichol released a statement reading, “My feeling was that it was time to play my biggest part – myself! I must say that it has been the best thing that ever happened to me. So many fans are disappointed that I’m not currently acting; however, some may not realize that the process I’m in at this time is necessary and vital for my personal happiness.”
She chatted with People about the decision in 2014.
“I was on the big stage between ages 8 and 30,” McNichol explained. “I left show business for a variety of reasons, but a big one was my interest in learning what else there is in life.
“This phase of my life is so good,” she continued. “My home life is happy and serene. I love singing. I also enjoy traveling and seeing the world. One of my favorite stops is Hawaii. I like everything about it and may eventually move there part-time.”
When asked about plans to return to her Hollywood career, McNichol quipped, “Never say never.”
Entertainment
Usher boots fan off stage after her painfully awkward response to his seductive dance moves

Usher quickly put a stop to sexily serenading a fan onstage after she got visibly uncomfortable.
In a now-viral moment from the singer’s performance in Nashville on The R&B Tour with Chris Brown on Saturday, a woman from the audience got pulled onstage as the chosen fan Usher sings to. But as a shirtless Usher started singing to her, she looked painfully uncomfortable, though he continued to try to interact with her by lightly touching her chin and face.
But when he tried to get her to recline on the onstage bed and she stiffly moved back, the 47-year-old singer pulled away.
“I don’t think she want to be on the stage, huh?” he asked the audience, looking bewildered.
Eventually, the “Yeah!” singer stepped away from her completely and waved his hand backwards towards the stage in a signal to bring the fan off, looking annoyed as some fans began to boo.
The fan later took to social media to clap back at criticism she received, responding to comments that she should have never agreed to go onstage if she didn’t want to be there.
“First off NOBODY is declining to go on stage,” she wrote. “I looked good asf, you think I wasn’t going to let THOUSANDS of people see me?”
She shared that she and her mom had floor seats to the show, and she was moved up to the VIP section before the concert even started due to “pretty privileges.”
“They don’t say who you’re going up there for!” she wrote. “Y’all wanted me to go up there and f–k him atp?”
On Sunday, she posted selfies, and pointedly captioned her post, “Unbothered 😘.”
But she continued to defend herself on her Instagram Stories, insisting her attitude wasn’t “nasty.”
“Y’all aren’t gonna get on the internet calling me out my name and disrespecting me and expect me to keep it cool!” she expressed, adding, “Don’t think that yall are gonna bully me about an experience that yall didn’t get!”
Usher is known for his spicy concert interactions with fans. His bodyguard hilariously went viral in 2024 for seemingly looking disgusted on the Past Present Future Tour, during the part of the singer’s show when he would let audience members seductively eat cherries.
Usher’s co-headliner, Chris Brown, also went viral in September 2025 but for an entirely different reaction that he got to pulling a fan onstage — that fan being Travis Kelce’s ex Kayla Nicole.
Brown, 37, gave Nicole, 34, a sensual lap dance while singing his 2007 hit, “Take You Down,” during the singer’s Breezy Bowl XX Tour stop in Los Angeles, prompting mixed reaction online. Some fans thought the two went too far, while others praised Nicole for seizing the moment.
Entertainment
John Cusack reveals why he stepped away from Hollywood after decades of films

John Cusack opened up about why he’s largely taken a step back from Hollywood.
The “Being John Malkovich” star, 60, said he wanted to tell stories without studio executives weighing in, prompting him to write his upcoming graphic novel “Momo.”
“I always thought [graphic novels] were the closest things to film, really,” he told Variety at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday. “You’re picking out shots, they’re so cinematic.”
Cusack explained he turned to writing because he “didn’t [want to] negotiate telling a story.”
“When you ask somebody to put $20 million or $30 million into a bank account [for a film], they want to have an opinion and they’re afraid and all that stuff,” he said.
Instead, he teamed up with illustrator Ignacio Noé to create “Momo” on their own terms.
“This was just like, I wrote it, and I said, ‘I like the story,’ and then I got this beautiful, wonderful artist, Ignacio Noé, to do the illustrations and so nobody edited anything I wrote or that he drew,” Cusack said.
“So it’s really a piece of work that was just done by two people. It was just me and Ignacio’s story, and that doesn’t happen today.”
“There’s no bull, and there’s no committee. There’s no computer up in Seattle that’s poll testing it,” he added.
“Momo” — Cusack’s first graphic novel — is set to be released on Sept. 29.
The story follows two fugitives in 1972 who set out to recover an ancient artifact for TV icon Jackie Gleason.
The actor spent decades as one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men, starring in “Grosse Pointe Blank,” “High Fidelity” and “Con Air,” but his acting career has become increasingly selective in recent years.
He appeared in the 2025 films “Fog of War” and the Mandarin-language film “Detective Chinatown 1900” after starring in the Chinese espionage thriller “Decoded” in 2024.
Before that, his only screen credits since 2020 were the action thriller “Pursuit” and Amazon’s dystopian series “Utopia.”
Cusack has been outspoken about the state of Hollywood for years.
“My friend Joe Roth ran Disney [until 2000],” he told the Guardian in 2014. “He made things like ‘The Rock’ and ‘Con Air’ to make shareholders happy, but then he also gave six or seven slots to people he liked.
“I got to make ‘High Fidelity’ and ‘Grosse Pointe Blank.’ Spike Lee got to make ‘Summer of Sam.’ Wes Anderson got to make ‘Rushmore.’ I had that memory of film and that’s gone.”
“Now it’s six for them — with a committee cutting the film who weren’t part of making it – and maybe one for you,” he added.
Cusack isn’t the only member of his family to step away from the spotlight.
His older sister, actress Joan Cusack, 63, made her first red-carpet appearance since 2015 in May when she attended the London premiere of “Toy Story 5,” ending an 11-year absence from public events.
“I feel so honored to have worked in this industry for a long time,” the actress told Variety in June. “But it’s also great to live your life and raise your kids and be in Chicago and be a normal person.”
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