Weekend Argus Saturday 2025-04-19

Melinda Gates realised her marriage to Bill Gates was in jeopardy in 2019 after revelations about her then-husband’s association with Jeffrey Epstein. Melinda, 60, details the period in her new memoir, The Next Day, describing how she began suffering nightmares and quickly came to understand they were connected to the unravelling state of her relationship. At the time, scrutiny was mounting over Bill’s reported ties to Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and federal conspiracy charges. The couple divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage. She says in her autobiography: “That October, things had reached a fever pitch when The New York Times published a deeply disturbing article that raised serious questions about Bill’s conduct – questions that…

If you grew up in the days of playing in the street with your friends, building mud pies, chasing each other around barefoot, and sneaking a popsicle when no one was watching, consider yourself lucky. Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing, the new three-part documentary that recently dropped on Netflix, is a brutal reminder that many children today are trading their carefree childhoods for ring lights, scripted “fun”, and a parent armed with a spreadsheet and a camera. I’ve been binge-watching doccies lately, and this one stopped me in my tracks. Coming fresh off watching Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke, I couldn’t help but notice how similar the themes are: manipulation, abuse of power, and a shocking lack of accountability. The documentary hits differently because…

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ legal team is trying to stall the start of the rapper’s sex trafficking trial. The trial of the former music mogul, 55, is currently scheduled to begin in less than three weeks on federal charges, and he appeared in a New York federal courtroom on Monday, during which it has now emerged Combs’ lawyer Marc Agnifilo told the court the defence may request a two-week adjournment. He cited discovery issues, including the government’s alleged failure to obtain a full set of e-mails from a key witness. Agnifilo said: “The government let the witness select which e-mails were important, instead of asking for all 200 000.” But Judge Arun Subramanian gave Combs’ lawyers until Wednesday to formally request a delay – and told them: “We are a freight…

If you’ve ever binge-watched The Real Housewives or scrolled through Instagram, you’ve likely seen the influence of cosmetic surgeries. From lip fillers to facelifts, the “Instagram Face” trend has shaped how people, especially women, view beauty. But while these trends dominate social media, they don’t always work for everyone, especially if you have darker skin. The truth is that what works for fair skin may not work for darker skin tones. This isn’t just about aesthetic preferences; it’s about biology, cultural narratives, and the risks involved in certain cosmetic procedures. To unpack this, Independent Media Lifestyle spoke to Durban-based plastic surgeon Dr Kajal Klutch, a respected expert in cosmetic surgery for diverse skin tones. The beauty gap: why skin tone matters When it comes to cosmetic procedures, one size doesn’t…

When it comes to breakups, society loves to paint women as the emotional wrecks, drowning in tubs of ice cream and tear-stained playlists. Meanwhile, men are supposedly tough, brushing it off with gym sessions and casual hookups. But guess what? Science is turning this stereotype on its head. According to a Psypost.org study, men suffer more emotionally after a breakup than women do. Shocking, right? Turns out the “macho motto” of men being stoic and women being emotional isn’t just outdated; it’s flat-out wrong. Why do men hurt so much after a breakup? The explanation is surprisingly simple: Men lean on their romantic partners for the majority (if not all) of their emotional support. Women, on the other hand, have built-in support systems: friends, family, therapy, and even group chats…

If you’re a millennial, chances are you’ve been hit with slang that leaves you completely baffled. Words like “drip” or “slay” might seem simple enough, but to Gen Z, they have entirely different meanings. This younger generation has taken everyday vocabulary and spun it into their own unique language. So if you’re a parent or even a grandparent, it might be worth picking up a few of these phrases just to stay in the loop. You never know when you’ll need to decode a conversation between them or even understand what they’re saying to you. That said, just because you manage to understand the slang doesn’t mean you can start using it. Most Gen Zers find it deeply embarrassing when older generations try to talk like them. Of course, that…