Entertainment
Milo Manheim on Liz Gillies and Ariana Grande’s Friendship (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW
- Milo Manheim, 24, who stars in the off-Broadway show Little Shop of Horrors with Ariana Grande’s friend Liz Gillies, told PEOPLE it makes “such sense” that the pair are friends
- Manheim, who spoke to PEOPLE exclusively at a recent Disney event, calls the duo “such kind souls” and “such theater girlies”
- The actor met Grande when she came to see the production on April 26 and hung out with the cast backstage
Milo Manheim says it makes so much “sense” that Ariana Grande and Liz Gillies are such good friends after recently getting to know both performers.
Manheim, who stars alongside Gillies in the off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, spoke to PEOPLE exclusively at the Disney 2025 Upfronts in New York City. During the conversation, the actor explained that he met Grande when she came to the show in order to support Gillies, whom she’s been close to for years.
“They’re both such sweeties,” Manheim, 24, said. “I mean, I’ve spent so much time with Liz and she’s like family now at this point. We’ve been through so much together. I’ve learned so much from her, and the more I get to know her, the more incredible I think she is.”
“Ariana came to see the show,” he added, noting, “It makes such sense that they are friends. They’re both such kind souls, both such theater girlies. Like it was, it was really nice to see Ariana there supporting Liz, and I could see them just being like little girls again enjoying being in the theater.”
Gillies, 31, posted photos from Grande’s April 26 visit to the show, jokingly captioning the post, “THANK YOU FOR COMING TO THE SHOP, MY DINGUS!! 😭♥️🪴.”
Grande, 31, attended Little Shop of Horrors with boyfriend Ethan Slater, and a source told PEOPLE that they arrived about an hour early “and hung out backstage with the cast.”
The source went on to describe the visit as “adorable,” adding, “They were both so friendly and warm with the cast, and so supportive of the production. Ariana gave everyone hugs and brought Liz a potted plant for the women’s dressing room.”
Grande and Gillie met as children starring in the Broadway production of 13. The pair were later cast on the popular Nickelodeon series Victorious, which ran from 2010 to 2013.
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The show, which followed a group of teens who attend a high school for the performing arts, was Grande’s first television role and served as the launching pad for her music career.
Nickleodeon Production/Schneider’S Bakery/Sony Music/Kobal/Shutterstock
The pair continued to remain close over the years, with Grande tapping the Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll alum to appear in her “Thank U, Next” video in 2019.
“We’re totally close. She’s like blood to me, she’s like my sister,” Gillies previously told PEOPLE of the in 2015. “So unless we have a massive falling out, nothing will be happening there. We lived together, I’ve known her since what feels like the beginning of time.”
Grande shared a heartfelt birthday tribute to Gillies on her Instagram Stories for her 30th birthday in 2023, writing, “Happy birthday to the most beautiful, brilliant, talented, funniest person I’ve ever met in my life @lizgillz,” over a candid selfie of the pair.
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“You have made my heart so unfathomably happy and whole these past 16 years!” she continued. “Absolutely everything and also, absolutely nothing has changed. I love you more than words can possibly express and I hope we can be best friends in every life.”
Little Shop of Horrors is playing at the Westside Theatre in N.Y.C.
Entertainment
Kelly Bensimon finds out her man was smooching someone else

Kelly Bensimon found out the man she’s been dating was locking lips with someone else just an hour before she walked the runway in a bikini for Miami Swim Week.
A source tells us that the former “Real Housewives of New York” star was backstage at designer Melissa Odabash’s show, “sitting in hair and makeup and she got a text,” that the man she has been dating, financier Robert Flood, was allegedly locking lips with his former fiancée at a bar in Westchester, NY.
A spy tells us that, “people were saying to her, ‘Don’t let this psych you out,’” before she strutted the catwalk in a two-piece suit to open the show last weekend.
We hear that Bensimon confronted Flood — who also briefly dated Tiger Wood’s former mistress Rachel Uchitel — a few days later,and is now trying to figure out what to do.
“She really likes him,” said a source. “It’s early, but that’s the last thing you want to know.”
We hear the reality star-turned-power real estate broker “is sad and trying to find a way to forgive him. But she’s also 57 and doesn’t want to waste her time. She doesn’t know what to do.”
Bensimon was photographed looking cozy with the Greenwich, Conn., financier outside Beefbar in Tribeca last month.
We have attempted to reach out to Flood for comment.
It was the first time the power broker was seen on a romantic outing since calling off her wedding to Scott Litner. She also has a new iHeart podcast, “I Do, Part 2.”
Bensimon did not respond to request for comment, but did speak with us last week about her trip down the runway.
The model has been busy toning up for the job by seeing longevity specialist Dr. Amanda Khan for a regimen of peptides, we hear.
Dr. Khan has become the “it” doctor for New York’s social set, the Post previously reported, counting actress Jenny Mollen and reality star-turned-wellness whiz Lo Bosworth as clients.
Bensimon has been on the trendy NAD+ treatment, which purports to give cells energy.
“It’s a coenzyme that keeps the powerhouse of your cells working optimally,” Dr. Khan told us. “It’s creating the energy your cells need.”
Bensimon also took glutathione, an antioxidant produced naturally by the body that drops with age.
“A lot of longevity medicine is replacing molecules you have lost by 40 or 50 to give you energy you had as a young person,” Khan told us. “That also reflects in your ability to exercise and recover from exercise.”
Bensimon told Page Six, “It’s transformative. It changed my body.”
She listed off a slew of benefits she credits to the peptides she started taking in March.
“You feel healthier. Your skin texture changes, your hair and nail growth changes,” Bensimon told us. “It changed my entire body. I had bad gut health… I have noticed a massive massive change.”
She also tells us, “My skin texture looks totally different. Tighter, brighter. People are like, wow you look so youthful.”
The cost is $1,500 a month or $800 for a single visit to Dr. Khan.
Bensimon also says she ate “tons of protein and veggies,” and worked out with Equinox trainer João Martins.
Entertainment
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Lawyers Make Another Mistrial Request, Their Second in 2 Weeks

NEED TO KNOW
- Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers have made a second request for a mistrial in a June 7 letter to Judge Arun Subramanian
- His legal defense team is claiming that the prosecution presented “materially false” testimony to the court
- Defense attorneys previously requested a mistrial two weeks ago in May, but Judge Subramanian denied the motion
Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs have moved for a mistrial in his sex trafficking case — their second such request within two weeks.
The 55-year-old music mogul’s defense team made the latest request after claiming “prosecutorial misconduct” in a June 7 letter to Judge Arun Subramanian.
The defense claimed in the letter, obtained by PEOPLE, that “the government has presented testimony that it knew or should have known was materially false related to its allegation that Mr. Combs dangled Bryana Bongolan from the balcony of Cassie Ventura’s apartment in September 2016.”
“Accordingly, to avoid an unfair conviction in this case the Court should grant a mistrial,” the defense team continued.
Combs’ legal team then claimed that testimony from Ventura, 38 — in which she stated that she saw Combs dangle Bongolan from a balcony — could not have been true, as text records allegedly show that Ventura learned of the alleged incident after the fact.
“The incident, as alleged, is disturbing and powerful evidence, and the government has used it to depict Mr. Combs in an extremely negative light, as an angry and dangerous man who terrified Ms. Ventura and her friends,” the defense team continued, while also stating that Ventura’s account of the incident is “demonstrably false.”
The defense team also claimed that the prosecution then presented photos of the injuries sustained by Bongolan as a result of the balcony incident that were allegedly taken on Sept. 26, 2016, in Los Angeles.
The defense stated that the prosecution knew “or should have known that this testimony was perjured,” as “the government has long known” that Combs was in New York City between Sept. 24 to Sept. 29 of that year.
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The defense team further claimed that the prosecution “repeatedly attempted to disrupt” the defense’s line of questioning when the defense attempted to “expose the perjury upon cross-examination.”
“All of this was highly improper and exacerbated the harm caused by […] the perjured testimony,” Combs’ legal team stated, before adding that “the balcony incident is just one example of prosecutorial misconduct during this trial.”
The first move for a mistrial from Combs’ legal team occurred at the end of May, after prosecutors asked Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigator Lance Jimenez if fingerprint evidence related to the bombing of Kid Cudi’s car had been destroyed. Prosecutors also asked about who might have authorized the destruction.
Combs’ lawyers argued that the line of questioning could potentially imply the idea that Combs could buy his way out of trouble.
“They were trying to plant this idea to the these jurors that Mr. Combs authorized this,” defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro said at the time.
Judge Subramanian denied the defense’s first motion, ruling that the questions were not prejudicial.
Entertainment
Simone Biles slams ‘sore loser’ Riley Gaines over attacks on trans athletes

You can’t best the champ.
Simone Biles slammed conservative activist and former swimmer Riley Gaines on X, calling her a “straight up sore loser” after Gaines criticized trans athletes.
“You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race,” Biles wrote on Friday.
“You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!!,” she continued.
“But instead… You bully them… One thing’s for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!” Biles, 28, closed, before tagging Gaines in a follow-up post, telling the ex-swimmer to “bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”
The Olympic gold winner’s remarks come after Gaines commented on a post from the Minnesota State High School League, celebrating the school’s first ever Softball State Championship win.
“Comments off lol. To be expected when your star player is a boy,” Gaines, 25, wrote, making a reference to Marissa Rothenberger, a transgender pitcher on the team, per Fox News.
The activist didn’t take too kindly to Biles’ comments as she responded and expressed that she felt the gymnast’s take was “so disappointing.”
“It’s not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces. You can uplift men stealing championships in women’s sports with YOUR platform,” Gaines shot back on X.
“Men don’t belong in women’s sports and I say that with my full chest.”
Gaines continued, adding that her opinion on the issue is the “least controversial take on the planet.”
“Simone Biles being a male-apologist at the expense of young girls’ dreams? Didn’t have that on my bingo card. Maybe she could compete in pommel horse and rings in 2028,” she added.
“And the subtle hint at ‘body-shaming’ ???? Plzzzz I’m 5’5,” Gaines also said in response to the personal attack.
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