“What a gift,” Vanessa, 43, wrote via her Instagram Stories on Tuesday, December 30, sharing a screenshot from End of an Era. “We love you @taylorswift 💙!!!!!!”
As Swift, 36, practiced an acoustic section mashup ahead of one of her last Eras Tour concerts in Canada, she was dressed in a blue Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation sweatshirt. (Kobe’s widow founded the organization after her husband and daughter Gianna tragically died in a 2020 helicopter crash, along with six other people.)
In a follow-up slide, Vanessa posted another pic of Swift wearing her Mamba merch and added a “We [heart] you” sticker, alongside one of an illustrated pair of hands making a heart like Swift’s Fearless symbol.
Swift has a long history with the Bryant family, starting in 2015 when she enlisted Kobe to join her onstage during the Los Angeles stop on her 1989 Tour. Kobe even presented the pop star with a banner honoring her record 16 sold-out shows at the same venue where his Lakers played home games.
Kobe died at age 41 five years later in a helicopter crash alongside 13-year-old daughter Gianna. (Kobe and Vanessa also shared daughters Natalia, Bianka and Capri.)
“My heart is in pieces hearing the news of this unimaginable tragedy. I can’t fathom what the families are going through,” Swift tweeted in 2020 after the NBA icon’s death. “Kobe meant so much to me and to us all. Sending my prayers, love, and endless condolences to Vanessa and the family and anyone who lost someone on that flight.”
Swift remained close to Vanessa and her family in the years since Kobe and Gianna’s deaths. When the Bryants attended Swift’s Eras show in L.A. in August 2023, Bianka received the “22” hat.
Taylor SwiftCourtesy of Vanessa Bryant/Instagram
“Every person in that audience, hopefully, is being shaped positively in some way by something that they see or something that they hear,” Swift explained of the tradition in her Disney+ docuseries. “The ‘22’ moment stems from a hat that I wore on the Red Tour, so I wanted to really bring back that moment of just kinda, like, [having] a moment with a fan where I actually get close with them.”
While performing “22,” Swift sashayed down her catwalk to give her Red-inspired fedora to a waiting concertgoer.
“What’s so interesting about that moment every night is I never know what kid I’m gonna meet,” the Grammy winner said. “I’ve got people in the audience, scouring the crowd for the first couple of eras, trying to find a kid who knows every single word to the songs and having the time of their lives at this show.”
According to Swift, the lucky child chosen is “basically a representative of every kid in that crowd.”
“It could be, like, a little kid that gets really shy when all of a sudden they’re seeing 60,000 people for the first time or, it could be, there are kids that bloom under the bright lights and they’re just, like, ‘I’m a pop star now.’ It’s always wild to be in this moment with this person that I’ve never met before, this little kid, and everything’s going on around us and somehow we’re able to just have this moment be completely between us.”
Taylor Swift: The End of an Era is now streaming on Disney+.
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LeBron James just made his 41st trip around the sun … and the Los Angeles Lakers shared how they celebrated the four-time NBA champion at practice … with rookie Adou Thiero leading the team in singing “Happy Birthday!” L.A. shared its…
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“We are deeply saddened to confirm the sudden passing of a member of the Emily in Paris production family,” a spokesperson for Paramount Television Studios told Us in a statement. “Our hearts go out to the individual’s family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.”
Borella had collapsed while the crew were preparing a scene at Venice’s Hotel Danieli, according to multiple local outlets at the time. In light of Borella’s passing, the show briefly halted production. Lily Collins, who plays the titular Emily, and her costars resumed filming two days later.
Emily in Paris follows an American marketing executive after she moves from the United States to Paris to begin a new job at a luxury marketing agency. By the end of season 4, Emily was tasked with leading a branch of the company in Rome with new love interest Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini) in tow.
After a whirlwind on-off romance, Emily and Marcello traveled to Venice in the season finale for the city’s fashion week — and the debut of Marcello’s eponymous line. Despite a successful presentation, the couple ended up breaking up when Marcello revealed his plans to move back to Italy to assume control of his family’s fashion house. Emily, for her part, wasn’t ready to say au revoir to the City of Lights.
Courtesy of Diego Borella/ Instagram
The final episode further hinted that Emily could reconcile with ex-boyfriend Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), who sent her a postcard to “meet [him] in Greece.”
“Gabriel is important. He’s part of the DNA of the show,” series director and executive producer Andrew Flemingexclusively told Usabout the chances of reconciliation for the fan-favorite pair. “When he and Emily are in a scene together, something undefinable happens. They have this chemistry. They do. There’s just something about the two of them that’s very watchable.”
Fleming further teased that there’s more to Emily and Gabriel’s story if Emily in Paris gets renewed for a season 6.
“Looking ahead, they’re part of each other’s journey. Who is to say who Emily is going to end up with, but Emily and Gabriel are going to interact with each other,” the director told Us. “Stuff is going to happen [but] I really can’t say anything about what’s going to happen next season.”
Bravo’s Gabriel left his job running the Michelin-winning L’esprit de Gigi restaurant to serve as the private chef on a British businessman’s yacht.
“The ‘sexy chef’ was very much part of me in season 1 and we grew apart season after season because of the choices he makes and because of the direction they make him take,” Bravo told IndieWire in October 2024. “I’ve never been so far away from him. … There is only so much I can do in the limits of a script. I tried for seasons to bring nuances but we don’t have much liberty on set. We cannot change a word or an emotion. They know what they want and we just have to comply.”
Emily in Paris season 5 is currently streaming on Netflix.
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Cape Town welcomes 2026 on a high note – January is peak summer, and the city comes alive with an unbeatable mix of concerts, festivals, sport, culture and outdoor experiences. From iconic events like the Cape Town Minstrels Street Parade and the King’s Plate to international music tours, open-air theatre and cricket at Newlands.
Cats, the Musical
2-11 January 2026 Artscape Theatre, Cape Town
Pieter Toerien and GWB Entertainment in association with Cape Town Opera by arrangement with The Really Useful Group presents CATS. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s world-famous musical Cats brings iconic songs, choreography and theatrical magic to the Artscape stage. Tickets from R180 on Webtickets.
WAV Festival by AfroNation
2 January 2026 Green Point Track, Cape Town
A festival R&B lovers cannot miss! Amapiano’s Kelvin Momo brings his deep, emotional sound to the festival, while Shekinah’s golden voice is set to light up the stage. The lineup also includes Mariah the Scientist, Wale, Langa Mavuso, and Kujenga. Cape Town, get ready for a high-energy stadium showcase featuring the best in R&B. Find ticket information here.
Milk & Cookies Festival
3 January 2026 Kenilworth Racecourse, Cape Town
This multi-genre festival celebrates music, food, and community. From amapiano to R&B, house to hip-hop, Milk and Cookies blends global sounds with local culture for one unforgettable celebration. Vibrant stages, curated food vendors, immersive art installations, and the kind of energy that turns a crowd into a community – it’s a gathering where culture, connection, and creativity meet. For tickets go to Howler’s website and for more information visit the official page here.
Step into the New Year with Blanche; an All-white outdoor celebration, curated by AfroFuture and PVO. This signature experience blends live music, an unmatched atmosphere, and the most vibrant crowd. Presented by Martell, set against Cape Town’s stunning backdrop. Click here for ticket information.
Freshlyground Reunion Concert
4, 11, 18 January 2026 Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
Freshlyground reunites for a special open-air concert at Kirstenbosch, delivering feel-good hits in one of Cape Town’s most popular outdoor venues. Find more information and ticket information.
Cape Town Minstrels Street Parade
5 January 2026 Somerset Road & Fan Walk, Green Point
The iconic Cape Town Minstrel Carnival returns to the Mother City on 5 January 2026. The annual event fills the streets with colour, music and tradition, continuing into DHL Stadium for the Kaapse Klopse Choral Competition. Tap here for the latest event information.
St Tropez presents: Uncle Waffles – The ultimate day time escape
5 January 2026 Cabo Beach Club, Cape Town
Turn on the glitz and glamour at this epic Cabo Beach experience. Headlined by global sensation Uncle Waffles, expect nothing less than an unforgettable day of pulsating beats, high-energy performances, and pure sophistication. The event promises world-class local DJs spinning infectious sounds that keep the energy flowing from noon until sunset. Get your tickets now.
MI Cape Town vs Joburg Super Kings
6 January 2026 Newlands Cricket Grounds
Catch SA20 cricket action as MI Cape Town face the Joburg Super Kings at the historic Newlands Cricket Ground. For ticket info, email info@ticketpro.co.za or visit the website here.
Cape Town Jazzathon
9-11 January 2026 Amphitheatre, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
Celebrating its 29th anniversary this year, the Cape Town Jazzathon is South Africa’s longest-running music festival. Often referred to as “The People’s Festival,” the event will feature performances daily, from 12.30pm to 8pm. Enjoy a rich variety of styles including Afro Jazz, Cape Jazz, Hip Hop, R&B, Reggae, Neo Soul, and Straight Ahead packed into three days of non-stop entertainment… and its free!!! Learn more.
L’Ormarins King’s Plate
10 January 2026 Hollywoodbets Kenilworth Racecourse
The Running of the 165th King’s Plate – the L’Ormarins King’s Plate is one of South Africa’s most prestigious horse racing events, combining elite racing, high fashion and a vibrant atmosphere. The King’s Plate is a totally blue and white affair where guests can enjoy some of the country’s best racing, wine, food, antique car displays and renowned after party in the peak of Cape Town’s summer. Tickets start from R600. For more information visit here.
Maynardville Open-Air Festival
From 13 January 2026 Maynardville Park, Wynberg
Cape Town’s premier open-air theatre experience returns, featuring live performances in a magical forest setting. Opening on 13 January, the Shades of Blue Chamber Concert will feature music from composers influenced by the rhythms and harmonies of jazz. Next up is Jazz in the Park (14 to 15 Jan), a new two-day celebration featuring local jazz legends from Cape Town’s rich jazz tradition. From 16 to 17 January, another crowd-favourite Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra returns with a stirring classical programme. See the full festival programme.
Calum Scott – The Avenoir Tour
14 January 2026 Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
International singer-songwriter Calum Scott performs live at Kirstenbosch as part of his global Avenoir Tour. Gates open at 6pm. Concert starts 7pm. For more information, go to Big Concert’s website.
Sheer City Festival
17-18 January 2026 Harrington Street Precinct
Sheer City is launching its inaugural two-day inner-city festival bringing together Cape Town’s most influential underground nightlife crews with international acts like Horse Meat Disco, Tama Sumo & Lakuti, Make A Dance, Freudenthal, and more. It’s a multi-venue, walkable block party across Harrington Street and the City Bowl fringe, a celebration of Cape Town’s creative pulse, queer culture, music, fashion, performance, and community. Expect six venues, over twenty artists, a full weekend immersion in the city’s next cultural moment.
Sheer Drop at Texas – 2pm to 10pm Sheer Delight at The Electric – 5pm to 2am Sheer Disco at Harringtons – 6pm to 4am Sheer D.O.G at Zer021 Social – 8pm to 4am Sheer Assembly at District – 8pm to 4am Sheer Dive at Surfa Rosa – 9pm to 4am
Long, lazy afternoons, cool beats and Cape Town’s most iconic views. Summer at Durbanville Hills is super chilled, and with it, the popular cellar’s much-loved Sundaze Summer Series. DJ Stefanos will be spinning tracks from 2pm to 6pm while you enjoy crisp wines, cocktails, craft beer, wine slushies, and a mouth-watering selection of eats from the Olive Grove Bistro. Set against panoramic vistas of Table Bay and Table Mountain, Sundaze is the perfect way to vibe with friends and family. Tickets cost R100pp and available via Webtickets.
Shxtsngigs: Daddy’s Home – South Africa Tour
27 January 2026 Grand Arena, GrandWest, Cape Town
The viral podcast duo James and Fuhad bring their Daddy’s Home live show to Cape Town, blending comedy, culture and crowd interaction. Whether you’re a die-hard Cult Baby or just discovering the podcast that’s racked up millions of streams and laughs worldwide, this live experience is your chance to see the boys like never before – live, loud, and uncut. Tickets from R440 via Ticketmaster.
DHL Stormers vs Vodacom Blue Bulls
27 January 2026 DHL Stadium, Cape Town
Get ready for a major rugby showdown as the DHL Stormers face the Vodacom Blue Bulls in one of the season’s most anticipated fixtures. Cape Town is set to bring the gees – get your tickets today on the Stormer’s website.
World Sports Betting Cape Town Met
31 January 2026 Hollywoodbets Kenilworth Racecourse
Prepare for the grand return of the World Sports Betting Cape Town Met, where the thrill of elite horse racing converges with a multisensory celebration unlike any other. The 2026 theme Symphony of Style combines fashion, music, and immersive moments. Book your tickets via Computicket.
Stable Ronaldo from the FaZe Clan was doing what he does best Tuesday afternoon — streaming live on social media — but things went sideways after cops say he became the subject of a “swatting” call in L.A. LE sources tell TMZ … the FaZe Clan…
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In an interview with Gyles Brandreth on the Friday, October 24, episode of the “Rosebud” podcast, the 9th Earl Spencer, 61, said that the eulogy he had originally planned for Diana’s memorial service in September 1997 was “very different” from what he eventually read.
He explained that he was “in bits” flying back to the U.K. from Cape Town, South Africa, when he started thinking about who could eulogize his sister.
“I had a big, thick address book, and I thought, ‘I want to find someone who’s going to make the speech for her.’ And I got to ‘Z’ and I hadn’t found anyone,” Spencer recalled of the “profoundly emotional moment.”
“[I] got off the plane in Heathrow [Airport], called my mother, I said, ‘I can’t think who’s going to give the eulogy. And I’ve got an awful feeling it’s going to have to be me,’” he continued. “And she said, ‘Well, it is going to be you. Your sisters and I have decided it.’”
Spencer said that he initially decided to write a “very traditional eulogy” about their childhood and such, but then thought, “Well, this is ridiculous, that’s not who she was.”
He said he soon “realized” that the moment called for him not to speak about the late Princess of Wales but to “speak for her.”
“And I knew I’d been left at that stage — it had no legal standing — but I knew she’d left me as guardian of her sons,” Spencer added of his nephews Prince William and Prince Harry, who were 15 and 12 when their mother died at age 36 after a car crash in Paris in August 1997.
“Obviously, the other parent being alive, that meant nothing, but it meant something to me. That sort of duty, I think,” Spencer said, noting that the now King Charles III would obviously be caring for his sons. “And then I wrote [the eulogy] in an hour and a half and, yeah, that was it, really.”
He admitted that he took a “name-check” to Rupert Murdoch out, deeming it “rather unnecessary,” but kept the rest of what he had planned to say in his touching speech.
The eulogy is “one of the most unforgettable moments in recent British history,” according to “Rosebud,” and detailed her selflessness, strength, beauty and love of family. It also spoke to Diana’s mistreatment by the British media.
Diana, Princess of Wales.Getty Images
“She would want us today to pledge ourselves to protecting her beloved boys, William and Harry, from a similar fate and I do this here Diana on your behalf. We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair,” Spencer said at the time.
“And beyond that,” he continued, “on behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.”
Spencer has been a champion for both William, 43, and Harry, 41, over the years, notably supporting Harry in January after he settled his legal battle with The Sun. The News Group Newspaper, owned by Murdoch, 94, apologized to Harry “for the serious intrusion” of his private life, along with his late mother’s, for decades.
Spencer praised Harry following the victory, writing in an Instagram post at the time, “It takes an enormous amount of guts to take on major media organizations like this, and incredible tenacity to win against them. It’s wonderful that Harry also secured an apology for his mother — she would be immensely touched by this, I’m sure, and also rightly proud. Well done indeed.”
L-R Earl Spencer Prince Charles Prince William Harry and Prince Charles stand alongside the hearse containing the coffin of Diana after the funeral service at Westminster Abbey.Photo by Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Images
Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped down from their royal duties in 2020 and have since been in disagreement with his father, William and his wife, Kate Middleton.
Harry and Meghan, 44, now live in California with their children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4.
“I enjoy living [in the U.S.] and bringing my kids up here,” the Duke of Sussex said at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York City in December 2024. “It’s a part of my life that I never thought I was going to live and it feels as though it’s the life that my mom wanted for me.”
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