What Women Are Talking About
The Murdoch sibling feud, Elon Musk and Uncle Trump's daycare, Meghan Markle and the girl who cried jam, open marriages vs affairs, Armie Hammer's d*ckhead defence + the wolves or poodles question.
Welcome to What Women Are Talking About - the shiny new name for the Outlouders newsletter. This is your weekly curation of what woman are talking about. We’re all over the internet so you don’t have to be.
BUCKLE UP. It’s been a wild week.
Money Can’t Buy You (Murdoch Sibling) Love.
This week, 28,000 words dropped in The New York Times, followed by a lengthy piece in The Atlantic, offering a glimpse into the Murdoch family's power struggles. And while we thought we'd seen it all with Succession, the real-life version proves considerably more compelling.
At the helm is Rupert Murdoch, the 93-year-old media titan whose personal life rivals his business dealings for headlines. With five marriages and six children, he's created a family tree that's as complex as his empire. But it's his four eldest children — Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James — who take the main stage.
The heart of the story lies with brothers James and Lachlan, whose rivalry has shaped media history for decades. Born just 15 months apart, they've spent their adult lives in an elaborate dance for their father's approval and, more importantly, his empire. Lachlan ultimately secured the crown, aligning with his father's conservative worldview, while James departed following the phone-hacking scandal that rocked their UK operations.
But that’s not all, whispers suggest the other siblings aren't exactly thrilled with Lachlan's ascension. There's talk of a potential coup once their father steps away — proving that even billionaire siblings have their differences, they just play them out on a slightly grander scale than the rest of us.
READ MORE:
Meet the children taking over Rupert Murdoch’s Empire, who make Succession look like child’s play
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Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browserYou can listen to the full episode where we discussed the Murdoch drama below:
Meghan’s As Excited As Ever.
If you’ve been waiting for pots of jam by American Riviera Orchard, there’s a conserve update for you. Our favourite ex-royal and Instagram come-backer Meghan Markle announced on Tuesday a new identity for her lifestyle brand, now called ‘As Ever’, marking an end to the American Riviera Orchard era.
Interestingly, American commentator and royal reporter Kinsey Schofield said in October last year, “There are rumours that Netflix has said ‘Allow us to manage the retail strategy’ if she [Meghan] can't manage to find a CEO or somebody willing to work with her’. Netflix sees an opportunity there.” And lo and behold, Netflix has come on board as a partner.
The ‘As Ever’ Saga So Far.
If you’ve been following the story of American Riviera Orchard, you’ll be aware that this trademark was rejected last year, as you can’t have exclusive rights to the name of a place. Despite Meghan’s original pick for her venture’s name referencing Santa Barbara where she lives with Harry, this was not its only issue. Additional problems involved the logo’s design, where the ‘O’ of Orchard was found to be unrecognisable by the US Trademark and Patent Office.
This all leaves Meghan caught in a very public saga of saving face among past and potentially future trademark issues, especially now that the ‘As Ever’ trademark is also being called into question thanks to the existence of a NYC family-run clothing brand with the same name.
To watch our full discussion of Meghan’s announcement, see below:
READ MORE:
'I believe in my soul that Meghan Markle is trolling us and I'm eating it up.'
Would you believe something *else* has gone wrong for Meghan Markle and her very special jam?
THE QUESTION KEEPING US UP AT NIGHT:
Elon’s Latest Flex: White House Daycare.
If you've been anywhere online this week, you'll have seen Elon Musk strutting through White House corridors with his four-year-old, X Æ A-12, (that’s pronounced X Ash A-12 to his little mates) perched on his shoulders as though entering play school.
The highlight reel? Mini Musk telling Trump to “shush his mouth” and using the President's desk to wipe a booger, as kids are prone to do. Except there’s one key difference, this is happening in *checks notes* the actual Oval Office.
While we're all for normalising working parents (remember Jacinda Ardern with her baby at the UN?), there's something different about this. Maybe it's because Musk is not actually an elected official, or his alleged role in Silicon Valley's “pronatalism” movement — where Musk and others are convinced that low birth rates are the greatest danger to civilisation and that in particular, self-appointed smart people need to have more children to ensure the survival of the human race.
As for Trump’s reaction to Musk Minor’s little ‘gift’? Unclear but in what could be wholly unrelated news, the notorious germaphobe President has sent the Resolute Desk used by Obama and Biden off for refurbishment and announced that he won’t let Musk Major take part in any space-related government decisions.
READ MORE:
Elon Musk just welcomed his 13th child. His response was... bizarre.
Not even Elon Musk and Grimes can agree on how to pronounce their son’s name.
Listen below to Mamamia’s news podcast The Quicky to hear more detail about the Trump/Musk space declaration:
Armie Hammer And A Controversial ‘D*ckhead Defence’.
Remember Armie Hammer? The man who played both Winklevoss twins in The Social Network and romanced Timothée Chalamet in Call Me By Your Name? Well, he's back on our screens, this time sitting opposite Louis Theroux in 2025's most uncomfortable interview yet.
In 2021, Hammer's career imploded when leaked DMs revealed alleged cannibalistic fantasies and disturbing messages about sexual assault. You can read more about that here. While charges were dropped in 2023 (insufficient evidence), Hollywood had already shown him the door.
In his chat with Theroux, Hammer serves up a whole menu of explanations: his marriage wasn't happy (hence the cheating), those texts were “taken out of context” (aren't they always?), and there's some truly wild family drama involving his grandfather that would make even Succession writers say “bit much?”
However, according to Hammer, it forced him to get sober and face his demons. His argument essentially boils down to: “Was I terrible? Yes. Was I corrupted by fame, money, and porn? Also yes. But was I abusive? No, I was just a massive dickhead.”
It's the classic tale of Icarus flying too close to the sun, if Icarus had an IMDB page and a PR team. The question is: can “sorry I was just a privileged jerk” really explain away everything that happened?
READ MORE:
'It was like a monster unleashed.' 6 things we learnt from House of Hammer.
In 2021, Armie Hammer was accused of being a cannibal. Now, he says he's 'grateful' for it.
Armie Hammer's sexual assault case has been dropped following a 'lengthy' investigation.
Are Open Marriages OUT and affairs IN?
Would you open up your marriage? Seems like more couples — and celebrities — are doing so. And off the back of an essay in The Cut this week by Hayley Mlotek where she examines whether she should have had an affair rather than opening up her own relationship, the debate on the topic has heated up.
Nearly 1 in 3 single Americans have tried consensual non-monogamy. In Australia? A survey found that 1.4% of people were in open relationships, and yes, everyone's talking about which celebrities are doing it.
The question is: Are more people actually opening their relationships, or are we just talking about it more? And is it really the answer to relationship difficulties, or should we perhaps... take up pottery instead?
So, are you in an open marriage, would you ever consider it or is it not your cup of tea?
READ MORE:
‘After 20 years we opened up our marriage. Here are the rules that worked.’
‘I went out for a drink with another man. I came home to an open marriage.’
‘Here are all the things my husband and I wish we knew before opening up our marriage.’
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Hey, I weirdly have absolute zero interest in Armie Hammer. Am I alone here and missing something?? Why do people even want to hear what he has to say? I don’t get it..