Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2025 i Vanity Fair

Five years ago this January, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they would be “stepping back” from royal duties, a decision that would lead to an even sharper break with their English family than the couple perhaps had anticipated, and ended with their relocation to California. Once there, they sat down with Oprah, as celebrities do, and told a lot, if not all. Then they set about charting a path to Stateside financial and cultural power. But manifest destiny can be harder to pull off than it looks. Anna Peele, whose last story in the magazine probed the off-screen subculture of the Real Housewives, examines the Sussexes’ life as Americans, from their media deals and charitable causes to the state of their union. In a modern world where tech bros,…

ON THE EVE of Art Basel Paris, around 80 performers dressed in Miu Miu filled the Palais d’Iéna, the expansive Art Deco building currently home to the French Economic, Social, and Environmental Council—and each Paris Fashion Week, the brand’s prêt-à-porter shows. This time, though, the actors and models were there for “Tales & Tellers,” an immersive exhibition celebrating women in film. For the exposition, Miuccia Prada tasked Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona director Elvira Dyangani Ose and Polish multidisciplinary artist Goshka Macuga with creating performance pieces and conversation panels inspired by 28 short films from Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales series. The initiative, which launched in 2011, gives female directors—past participants include Janicza Bravo, Haifaa Al-Mansour, Miranda July, Chloë Sevigny, and Ava DuVernay—free rein to create short films with costumes by…

ROBERT PATTINSON’S STAR is back in orbit. Before returning to the big screen this spring in Mickey 17, a sci-fi dark comedy from Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon Ho, he appears as a sensual Everyman in a new Dior Homme campaign. Pattinson rocketed to global fame in the Twilight series, and that vampire vibe—dark, moody, enigmatic—shaped his early days in the spotlight. But when he turns up on Zoom in a Supreme hoodie, his hair standing in all directions, it all seems to rest more lightly on his shoulders. “Everyone has some level of impostor syndrome, but for many years I was very envious of people who I perceived as feeling very comfortable in their own skin, especially when they’re performing. Why can’t I just feel like that? Maybe it’s just…

ON A COOL SEPTEMBER EVENING IN 2021, A 65-YEAR-OLD ARTIST NAMED ALDEN MARIN TOOK A STROLL DOWN TO THE MAJESTIC BEACH AT POINT DUME TO TAKE IN THE SUNSET. The beach itself is public property, but the easiest ways to access the best parts are through private land owned by the residents of this upscale stretch of Malibu. In practice, its miles of picturesque cliffs and pristine coves are among the most exclusive preserves in California. Owning a “beach key” to one of the accesses is a serious status symbol. It means you’re a local. You belong. On this particular evening, Alden would later tell his sister, he encountered a quirky, energetic middle-aged woman. She had shoulder-length frizzy brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and a British accent, and she introduced…

Celia AZOULAY “RED HOT,” P. 46 Stylist, fashion editor, and consultant Azoulay takes inspiration from 1970s Paris and the edgy, contemporary street style of New York City. She described working with Natasha Lyonne as akin to the actor’s signature hair: “intense, energetic, and playful.” Karine JEAN-PIERRE “BEHIND THE PODIUM,” P. 30 “For the past four years, I have spoken for the president. With this piece, I wanted to speak for myself and remind folks there is often more going on behind the camera than most people know,” says Jean-Pierre, the first Black, openly queer immigrant to hold the role of White House press secretary. Evgenia PERETZ “GIRLS, INTERRUPTED,” P. 40 Contributing editor Peretz says getting to know the sexual assault survivors of Matt Rutledge, a teacher at Miss Hall’s School,…

MATT RUTLEDGE was watching television with Annie, his wife of 35 years, when the bombshell phone call came in. On the other end was Julia Heaton, the head of school at Miss Hall’s—the small all-girls boarding school across the street, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where for three decades—since 1991—Rutledge had been the star history teacher and a charismatic face of the school. Heaton had bad news to share: The school had received a letter accusing Rutledge of sexual misconduct with a former student. Frantic, he texted Hilary Simon, his former student and advisee. “[If] this is related to you and me,” he wrote, “I am SO sorry.… I am not sure how to conduct myself here, other than knowing that I can only offer a blanket denial and decline the opportunity…

ON THE LAST DAY OF SCOTT MINERD’S LIFE, HE AWOKE BEFORE DAWN IN THE “BIG HOUSE”—WHAT FRIENDS CALLED HIS SPANISH REVIVAL MANSION IN RANCHO SANTA FE, JUST NORTH OF SAN DIEGO. The six-acre estate has its own vineyard and horse stables, a palatial master bedroom warmed by a 17th-century-style fireplace, and a lagoon with waterfalls and a swim-up bar. Neighbors once included the former chair of Hewlett-Packard, who reportedly paid the Rolling Stones $2 million to perform at a private party for his wife just down the road. Minerd was new to Rancho Santa Fe, having fled south from Marina del Rey to escape the pandemic, but he got COVID anyway. When he awoke that morning of December 21, 2022, he felt sluggish. Was it just jet lag from a…

PAGE 25 MRS. PRADA’S MOVIE MAGIC PAGE 26 THE ART OF WRITING A LETTER PAGE 28 SCENT AND SENSUALITY WITH ROBERT PATTINSON Leo Woodall was worried. He was starting to doubt his ability to play a particularly tricky role: Jack, a stealth gigolo posing as an older gay expat’s nephew in the second season of HBO’s latest watercooler hit. Then he remembered his acting teacher’s mantra: “Take the safety belt off,” Woodall says, mimicking the strap’s removal. “You’re on White Lotus. You’ve got this part where you can get away with doing anything, so just go to set and fuck it up. I decided to be braver.” Since breaking out on The White Lotus, Woodall’s been given plenty more opportunities to court danger. He starred in Netflix’s One Day, a…

THE MOMENT WILL forever be seared in my memory. It was December 1, 2022, at President and Dr. Biden’s France state dinner. That evening was the first time the administration felt a dinner was safe to host since the pandemic began. Every centerpiece seemed just a little bit brighter, every conversation a hair lighter. We were nearing the holidays, and the White House was adorned in sweeping ribbons and twinkling lights, making the night glow. My mom turned to me and said, “This is the happiest day of my life.” She had never met President Biden, and never in her wildest dreams had she envisioned being at a White House state dinner, but I figured now was as good a time as any. All night long, my mom beamed—especially when…

“WHAT’S SO AMAZING about having a moment is they let you do stuff,” says Natasha Lyonne, her halo of orange curls bobbing in the East Village twilight. “It means your ideas are worthy of bankrolling and worthy of actually getting made. And it means the freedom to not have to hustle quite so hard. You don’t have to go in and open your briefcase, show your wares, and have people say, ‘No, thank you, we’re not looking for any stopwatches today.’ I’ve had decades of that.” Lyonne lurked at the margins of Hollywood a long time, an eccentric with self-confessed niche appeal. But in recent years, she’s moved closer to the center—or maybe the center has finally come to her. After creating the mind-bending Emmy-winning series Russian Doll, Lyonne scored…

KNOX COUNTY. CAMDEN, Maine. In summer, beach roses tumble over dry stone walls and the long lupine spines streak roadsides and garden beds with purple. On certain winter days, when the temperature’s right, sea smoke—a vaporous, ghostly fog—rises from the harbor. The craggy face of Mount Battie looms to the north. On the cover of Camden’s 2024 annual report, available for passersby at the town office, the town slogan: “Where the mountains meet the sea….” For visitors, Camden might be a stop along US Route 1, called the Coastal Highway, though it only briefly kisses the water. What the drive on US Route 1 lacks in actual coastline it makes up for in dense stretches of trees, various rock and mineral shops, excellent thrift stores, and the Taste of Maine…