Terror group threatens to enter war as leader warns ‘fingers are on the trigger’
The Iran-backed Houthi terrorist movement has yet to enter the conflict on Iran’s side but in recent days has been ratcheting up its rhetoric in support of Tehran, with its leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, declaring that it was prepared to enter the war against the U.S. and Israel if necessary.
“Regarding military escalation and action, our fingers are on the trigger, ready to respond at any moment should developments warrant it,” al-Houthi said on Thursday.
“The reason why the Houthis have not intervened is they are last line of resistance for the axis. Especially after other axis members were degraded,” Nadwa Al-Dawsari, an expert on Yemen and an associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital.
The official slogan of the Houthi movement (Ansar Allah) reads, “Allah is Greater. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse on the Jews. Victory to Islam.”
Al-Dawsari, who has written extensively about Yemen and the Houthis, said: “I think the Houthis will intervene at some point. The longer the war continues, the more likely the Houthis will intervene. I think what the Houthis want to do — and they have been itching for a while to do — is to attack the Saudis. If the Saudis intervene, the Houthis will find a reason to attack the Saudis.”
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The Islamic Republic of Iran formed an “Axis of Resistance” prior to Hamas’ invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Iran’s axis coalition of Shiite and Sunni terrorist proxies, includes the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis, Shiite militias in Iraq, and the now-defunct Baathist regime in Syria.
Within the first few weeks of his administration, President Joe Biden launched a reset with the Houthis and pressured the Saudis to end the war against the bellicose Houthi movement. “The war in Yemen must end,” Biden declared in his first major foreign policy speech about the Mideast in February 2021.
TRUMP URGED TO AID YEMEN’S ANTI-HOUTHI FORCES AS TERROR GROUP ESCALATES ATTACKS ON SHIPPING
Biden’s reversal of American support for the Saudi-led allies in their war against the Houthis was also coupled with his administration de-listing the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization. President Donald Trump swiftly reimposed the terrorist designation for the Houthis at the start of his second term and launched military strikes against the terrorists in Yemen.
Al-Dawsari said another reason why the Houthis have yet to join the conflict is that it’s not in the interests of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “to drag the Houthis into a suicidal war.” She argues “If the Iranian regime collapses, and if a new regime emerges, I think the IRGC will regroup in Yemen or Somalia. Yemen is the key ally.”
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There has been discussion between the IRGC and Houthis about why the “Houthis’ continued existence is of strategic importance to the IRGC,” she said.
“The IRGC can’t afford to lose the Houthis. Yemen is so important to them. They need to preserve the Houthis for tomorrow for the IRGC to continue even after the regime,” Al-Dawsari continued.
She noted that “Houthis have established themselves in the Horn of Africa. The IRGC is behind the Houthis. Intervention might be symbolic by the Houthis.” She continued that Iran’s “tactic now is to prolong the war and widen it across the region and to put more pressure on the U.S.”
In May 2025, Trump announced that the U.S. would stop its air bombing campaign against the Houthis because, he said, the Houthis “don’t want to fight.”
“They just don’t want to, and we will honor that. We will stop the bombings,” Trump said. The Houthis had launched attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, as well as the Jewish state, to support their ally Hamas in Gaza.
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Al-Dawsari said after the Trump announcement the Houthis did not attack American ships. “They know Trump does not joke. They know they will suffer consequences.”
Female athlete says she shared beds with with trans teammate, not knowing birth sex
Brooke Slusser remembers the day she moved into “the villa.”
It was a four-bedroom apartment in San Jose, California with white walls and no decorations. Her mom and dad drove her and all of her things there, all the way from Texas.
She was the first tenant to show up that semester.
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Slusser was about to begin her junior year, as a transfer from Alabama, to play her 2023 college volleyball season for SJSU and head coach Todd Kress.
Slusser alleged Kress is the one who encouraged her to live in that apartment. At the time, there were two apartments filled with SJSU volleyball players that were looking for one more tenant on the lease, she claims.
But Kress allegedly told Slusser to move into “the villa” because he thought she would “get along better” with the women in that unit, she claimed.
Slusser lived in the blank-white-walled apartment by herself for her first two days in San Jose. She experienced her first up-close exposure to a homeless man, and witnessed a convention of cosplayers wearing animal costumes, called “furries.”
On day three, Blaire Fleming walked in.
“He was the first person I met when I got on campus, and we were together, just the two of us, I want to say for the first day or two, after he got there until any of my other roommates showed up,” Slusser told Fox News Digital.
At the time, Slusser had no idea Fleming was transgender. She had no idea they would eventually end up on opposite sides of a national culture war.
Over the course of that school year in “the villa,” Slusser shared many things with Fleming. They shared laughs, parties, food, germs, gossip and even secrets. Slusser, now regretfully, said she shared her deep personal family trauma with Fleming in moments of vulnerability.
And Slusser said she still hasn’t even mentally processed one of the most regretful things she shared with Fleming back then.
“You find out you’re just chilling in a bed with a man that you have no idea about… I [was] unknowingly sharing a bed at that time with a man,” she said.
“It’s hard to process. I don’t even know if I can say I’ve fully processed it to this day. It’s just, you’re told something for so long, you think something for so long and you act very normally about a situation, and then come to find out it’s all a lie.”
Sometimes, the other teammates living in the house would all climb into bed with them, to watch movies or just talk, Slusser said. But other times Slusser said it was just her and Fleming.
“Watching movies snuggled up in bed, like, all the normal things you’d think girls do in an apartment, like, my bathroom is across the hall from my bedroom and I’m going back and forth and everyone’s out doing their thing, and I probably would have covered up more,” Slusser said.
“I would have changed everything about what I was doing in that apartment if I would have known that it was a man. So it’s just hard to fully say I can grasp all of that when it was almost two years of me living with this situation.”
About two months living together, Slusser said she began to share personal secrets with Fleming and the other teammates in the apartment.
“There was a time when one of our roommates was kind of struggling with something, and I just opened up with all of us in the living room talking about what I’ve been through with my family, and how there’s a better side to things, and it gets better, and I’ve probably only told only two people in my life about what had happened back home in Texas, so opening up about that was just very vulnerable,” Slusser said.
With Fleming around for that conversation, Slusser said she put sensitive information in the hands of someone who she wished she hadn’t shared it with.
Slusser said the person she holds most responsible for causing it to happen is Kress, for allegedly suggesting she live in “the villa” with Fleming, all while there was another house of volleyball players she could have lived with.
“Todd Kress, knowing this person was a man, and saying that I’m going to ‘fit in better’ with these girls on my volleyball team, couldn’t have been further from the truth,” she said.
“We were all in the same class, so if all of us are there next year it’s not like we’d have to find another roommate, so he thought it would be nice that I was with all of the girls that are in my class so we could spend a full two years together.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Kress and Fleming for comment, but did not hear back at time of publication.
Fox News Digital also reached out to SJSU for comment.
In response, the university provided President Cynthia Teniente-Matson’s announcement that the SJSU and California University (CSU) system are suing the “federal government” in response to a U.S. Department of Education investigation that determined SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of Fleming, Slusser and the other players, adding, “We have no further comment.”
Teniente-Matson announced Saturday that the school was going on the legal offensive.
The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) offered a set of compliance points for SJSU to resolve the alleged Title IX violations involving the trans athlete. Teniente-Matson claimed the OCR’s findings “aren’t grounded in facts.”
“Because we believe OCR’s findings aren’t grounded in the facts or the law, SJSU and the CSU filed a lawsuit today against the federal government to challenge those findings and prevent the federal government from taking punitive action against the university, including the potential withholding of critical federal funding,” Teniente-Matson said Friday.
Teniente-Matson also affirmed the school’s allegiance to the LGBTQ community in the announcement.
“Our support for the LGBTQ members of our community, who have experienced threats and harms over the last several years, remains unwavering. We know the attention the university has received around this issue and the investigative process that followed have been unsettling for many in our community,” the president said.
“We’ve heard the fear and anxiety that it has created and recognize that waiting for the university’s response has been difficult at a time already filled with uncertainty.”
Slusser said she cried tears of joy when she initially learned the news that President Donald Trump’s administration determined her former school violated Title IX.
“I didn’t think it would hit me that way, but just seeing that finally something, even if it’s not really affecting me much and what I went through, but something was being done,” she said. “So that feeling brought tears to my eyes… everything I’m doing isn’t for nothing.”
Then, when she learned the news that instead of complying with OCR, the school was fighting back, she was so frustrated that she went on X and made her first original post since October.
“It makes me so mad that SJSU still refuses to see that everything they did is wrong. I think they’re just too scared to admit it and face the repercussions of their actions!” Slusser told Fox News Digital immediately after learning the news.
Now, a new legal precedent related to Trump’s authority to enforce Title IX for the rest of his presidency potentially hangs in the balance.
And the conflict behind it all dates back to a regretful college recruitment and housing decision.
Slusser and Fleming did end up playing two full seasons together, just as planned
As Slusser alleges, Kress lobbied for her, Fleming and the two other roommates to live in “the villa” for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, since they were all set to be returning players in 2024.
Beyond “the villa,” Kress allegedly also put Slusser and Fleming in the same hotel rooms during trips for away games, according to former SJSU assistant volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose.
“Blaire wanted to room with Brooke Slusser, and that’s who Blaire felt comfortable, so Blaire gets what Blaire wants,” Batie-Smoose previously told Fox News Digital.
Batie-Smoose is currently suing SJSU for wrongful termination.
In their first season together in 2023, SJSU went 13-18.
Slusser led the team in assists with a whopping 753, which was over 436 more than the team’s second-place leader in assists.
Fleming led the team in kills-per-spike with 3.57, which was 1.84 more than the second-place leader in that stat.
Slusser previously told Fox News Digital in December 2024 that at one point in that 2023 season, Fleming spiked a ball at her thigh, and she had to nurse dark bruises on her thigh for an entire week after that.
Slusser had just assumed Fleming was just a very strong and talented biological female at that time.
The team fell well short of qualifying for the Mountain West Tournament, but there was momentum going into the following season with a strong core of returning players, headlined by Slusser and Fleming.
And a lot of them were already living together in the same apartment, partying with the school’s other sports stars, living the California dream.
The apartment became a regular destination for not only the volleyball players, but all of San Jose State’s sports teams, Slusser said. She said their door was regularly left open for the school’s athletes to hang out and sometimes party.
“It was an open-door policy,” Slusser said.
The women living there would cook dinner together, Slusser said, and she even organized a group trip to a local HomeGoods to get decorations for the apartment’s blank white walls.
“We were really close, we would do everything together,” Slusser said.
Through it all, Fleming earned a special reputation with Slusser, when she thought Fleming was just another girl. But it ended up being a cruel irony after Slusser learned of Fleming’s birth sex.
“One of the things I loved most about Blaire as a friend was that I knew he would always tell me the truth, no matter what I asked. That’s something he was known for on the team, when you ask him something be ready for the truth,” Slusser said.
One day. when Slusser asked other teammates how she looked, they told her, “You look amazing.” But when she asked Fleming, Fleming responded by telling Slusser she needed to put on more bronzer, she said.
Then one day, Slusser learned that transparency was an illusion.
That day came in the 2024 spring semester.
“I got home and all the doors were shut, which, like I said, is very odd, because we were very much an open-door, always hanging out type apartment,” she said.
A news article had come out earlier in the day. Slusser had not seen it yet.
“Blaire and my other roommate had asked if I wanted to get Chick-Fil-A, because I had a car and they didn’t. So I ended up taking them there and it was kind of quiet, again, which is weird. And I remember we were parked and they were eating, and Blaire just looked at my roommate and said ‘I don’t know how to tell her.'”
Slusser said her other roommate told Fleming to show her “the article.”
The article, published by the independent women-owned media outlet “Reduxx” reported that Fleming was transgender.
“I read it, sat there in silence reading it in front of them,” Slusser said, before turning to Fleming and saying, “I hope you’re doing OK. I know you’re apparently getting bashed all over online and I don’t really want that for anyone. But I think you know my opinion on this situation.”
Nothing happened right away. They continued to live together, go to class and prepare for the 2024 volleyball season.
Once fall rolled around, Slusser made a decision that would change her and Fleming’s life.
“If I had a daughter one day, that was in my position and I never did anything about it and could have, then I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself,” she said. “Having kids is literally my biggest dream in life.”
The rest is history
Slusser joined Riley Gaines’ lawsuit against the NCAA at the onset of the 2024 season. Other volleyball teams began to forfeit. The team was an epicenter for regular national news coverage during an election-season media cycle. And police protection had to be assigned to the team on a regular basis.
At one point, throughout the chaos, Slusser posted a video on her Snapchat, with her and other roommates celebrating Fleming moving out of the apartment.
Then Slusser took legal action, just days before the 2024 election. This time, she was leading her own lawsuit with other players in the Mountain West against the conference and representatives of SJSU and CSU.
Slusser and her co-plaintiffs tried to end Fleming’s season prematurely, when they filed a request for preliminary injunction which would have ruled the trans athlete ineligible.
After weeks, then months of legal conflict and nonstop media coverage, all while navigating classes and the rigors of a Division I volleyball season, Slusser fell ill.
She developed an eating disorder and began to turn anorexic, she claims.
Fleming, as a former roommate, previously addressed those claims.
“She’s been anorexic and struggled with food since I’ve known her[,] aka since 2023. She literally would weigh herself 2-3x a day and keep track of it on her whiteboard in her room…. So I really don’t care or feel bad for her,” Fleming previously told Fox News Digital of Slusser’s eating disorder revelation.
Slusser disputed those claims.
“These statements are just not true. I have always lived a very healthy lifestyle. Before these events took place[,] I was very disciplined in fueling myself for athletics and [kept] track to make sure I was where I need to be[,] to be the best athlete. It wasn’t until all the craziness started that my healthy lifestyle turned very unhealthy into not eating the amount I should,” Slusser previously told Fox News Digital.
Through it all, she still showed up to practice every day and took her spot next to Fleming on the court. They continued to travel together for games. They traveled all the way to Las Vegas for the conference tournament, where they finished with the second-best record in the Mountain West, assisted by six games forfeited.
Then they advanced to the Mountain West final without even having to touch the court in Vegas. Boise State forfeited in the semifinal round, marking the Broncos’ third forfeit to the Spartans that season.
It all ended in a championship loss to Colorado State. Fleming and Slusser’s volleyball careers were over.
But their post-career controversy-ridden lives had only begun.
And for Slusser, born and raised as a Christian in Texas, just a year and a half living in Northern California had taken a frightening toll.
The stress, depression, anxiety and exhaustion caused her to temporarily suffer the fear of losing the very thing she was fighting for.
She faced fear for her very fertility, losing her menstrual cycle for nine months.
“I want to have the dream future for that I envision for myself of having kids in the future, I want as many as possible, and I think if that weren’t able to happen, that would break my heart,” she said, adding it “100%” caused her to feel panic and worry that it could impact her in a permanent way.
“That was probably one of the biggest factors of why I need to keep myself healthy.”
With her family’s help, and regular prayer, Slusser recovered from her eating disorder, and everything went back to normal, physically, her father Paul previously told Fox News Digital.
But even the fear from that experience isn’t keeping Slusser out of the fight now. She continues to take an active role in the legal conflict related to the SJSU scandal, and even beyond that.
In January, Slusser spoke outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for the two cases related to state laws prohibiting trans athletes in women’s sports.
And just last week, she found out the outcome of those cases could play a consequential role in her own lawsuit.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews dismissed all the plaintiffs’ charges against the Mountain West Conference, but did not dismiss charges of Title IX violations against the California State University (CSU) system.
Crews deferred his ruling on whether to dismiss those charges to after the decision in the ongoing B.P.J. v West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June.
The CSU provided a statement to Fox News Digital in response to Crews’ ruling.
“CSU is pleased with the court’s ruling. SJSU has complied with Title IX and all applicable law, and it will continue to do so,” the statement read.
But Slusser’s lawyer, Bill Bock, is optimistic his side will prevail in those charges.
“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital.
“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the Congress and the members of Congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”
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SJSU is fighting a legal war on multiple fronts, suing the federal government and awaiting a landmark Supreme Court ruling regarding Slusser’s lawsuit, all while Batie-Smoose is waging her wrongful termination suit.
The outcomes of those cases could impact the future of women’s sports in America, forever.
Mom’s 24-year disappearance exposes silent crisis inside American families
A North Carolina woman who vanished more than two decades ago was found alive earlier this year, authorities confirmed — a case an expert says highlights hidden struggles within American families.
Michele Hundley Smith, now 63, who was reported missing in December 2001, was located on Feb. 20 in an undisclosed location within North Carolina after detectives received new information about her case, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Fox News Digital.
Sheriff Sam Page said Smith told investigators she left her family of her own accord and cited “ongoing domestic issues” as the reason for her disappearance. Page did not elaborate on those issues, and investigators have said there is no evidence of foul play.
Dr. Stephanie Johnson, a clinical psychologist, told Fox News Digital that voluntary adult disappearances often prompt questions about the internal pressures that may drive such choices.
“Michele was experiencing a lot of stressors and may very well have been suffering from major depressive disorder. When someone is experiencing depression, the mind processes information differently.”
In a 2018 interview on “The Vanished Podcast,” Michele’s daughter, Amanda Hundley, said her parents’ marriage was deteriorating amid alcohol abuse, infidelity and increasingly volatile arguments.
Hundley said her mother had recently been fired from a veterinary practice for drinking on the job.
“My dad didn’t like the fact that my mom hid her drinking. I knew about it, and I was the only one. And I felt, you know, I was young, and I felt obligated not to say anything to betray my mom,” Hundley said on the podcast.
Johnson said depression often manifests as persistent negative self-perception, hopelessness, feelings of worthlessness and social withdrawal.
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“On top of that depression, she [Michele] was drinking alcohol. Alcohol can make depressive symptoms even worse.”
Those compounded family and mental health struggles may have narrowed her perceived options, Johnson said, potentially leading her to believe disappearance was the only solution.
“She could have felt hopeless, like a burden and felt that there was no way to fix the situation other than to remove the burden — herself,” Johnson said.
Smith was 38 when she disappeared after leaving her three children at an Eden, North Carolina, home on Dec. 9, 2001, to go Christmas shopping at a K-Mart in Martinsville, Virginia. Her vehicle was never found, and she did not return home. Her husband reported her missing later that month.
Over the ensuing decades, local, state and federal agencies participated in efforts to locate her. Despite periodic appeals and flyers distributed in the region, her whereabouts remained unknown for 24 years.
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Authorities say a recent lead in a national database prompted detectives to check on Smith’s status and ultimately find her alive. The sheriff’s office said they contacted her face-to-face and confirmed she was “safe and well.” At her request, authorities declined to disclose her exact location.
The New York Post reported it had located Smith in a trailer in a rural community near the South Carolina state line. Smith told the outlet she is trying to make amends with her daughter and the family she walked out on decades ago.
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“My daughter is forgiving me. We are in contact, so leave me alone,” she told the outlet.
Smith’s neighbors said she had “been here for years and years” and mostly keeps to herself.
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“We asked why she didn’t come out of the house much, and she said her husband passed. He passed last year… She was really sad about it. She said she was depressed and stayed inside,” the neighbor said.
Court records show that Smith had a DWI charge in November 2001 and an arrest order was later issued for failure to appear, records indicate.
The order stemmed from a DWI charge issued by the Eden Police Department on Nov. 11, 2001. Smith failed to appear in court Dec. 27, 2001, for that charge, the statement said.
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On Feb. 25, 2026, Smith was taken into custody by the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office at the request of Rockingham County authorities. She later posted a $2,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Rockingham County District Court March 26, 2026.
The district attorney’s office confirmed that they will not pursue charges related to her disappearance.
LA Marathon lets runners grab medal and bail 8 miles early in bizarre move
LA Marathon organizers made a head-scratching decision to reward runners “who have had a tough day” through 18 miles of the course.
Runners participating in the marathon have the option to receive their medals at the 18-miler marker, and don’t necessarily have to cross the finish line after 26.2 miles.
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“If you’re having a tough day and want to end your race before 26.2, you can choose to take the turn at Mile 18 and head into the finish line early,” The McCourt Foundation says on its website. “You do not need to notify anyone of your decision and can opt to take this route at any time.”
The organization said the option is only for this year.
The decision received some mocking on social media.
The race was set to begin on Sunday with temperatures reaching as high as 88 degrees in the Los Angeles area. Marathon organizers in the past have canceled races or moved them earlier or later because of hot and humid conditions.
“You will still receive your finisher medal and any challenge medal you’ve earned, and your official race results will be updated at a later date to reflect your time and mileage,” The McCourt Foundation added. “There is no shame in making a smart decision for your body.”
Treat Public Relations owner Meg Treat told Runner’s World that officials had the weather in mind when making the medal decision. Treat Public Relations is handling PR for the race.
“Our weather conversations have been ongoing… We start actively monitoring it with the LA Fire Department who partners with the National Weather Service 10 days before the race,” she told the outlet.
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“This was earlier this week that the team was alerted about the warmer temperatures… [and] we communicated to our runners about how they could have a safe race day.”
Audrey Hepburn’s son reacts to new film’s casting as fan firestorm erupts online
Lily Collins will be stepping into the shoes of legendary actress and icon Audrey Hepburn.
Collins has been slated to play Hepburn in a film based on the book “Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the Dawn of the Modern Woman” by Sam Wasson.
The movie will focus on a specific time in Hepburn’s career, when she filmed the 1961 movie, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
Fans appear divided over her casting, despite her resemblance to the star, with some calling it a “bold choice.”
However, her son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, gushed about the casting.
Ferrer, who authored the biography “Intimate Audrey,” told Fox News Digital: “I love Lily Collins. Sam Wasson, the book’s writer, is a good friend of mine and I’m very happy for him. I don’t have any huge thoughts on the film as it hasn’t been made yet.”
“I believe that my mother might cringe at ‘Dawn of the Modern Woman,’ but she cringed at any compliment. And now there are two films in prep for her, this one and ‘Dinner with Audrey,’” Ferrer noted.
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Adding: “I’m not sure how one adapts such a ‘historical snapshot.'”
Fans took to social media to discuss the casting news.
Some called her casting the “perfect choice,” with Collins being “the most perfect person to play Audrey Hepburn,” while others said, “Dont [sic] bother love you look nothing like Audrey she was one and only and will never be replaced by you or anyone,” and another said: “Are you kidding me? You are nothing like her.”
Experts noted that while it’s a “tall order to fill,” the key to Collins nailing the role lies in her performance and whether she can embody the essence of the Oscar winner.
Professor Charlie Keil, Cinema Studies Institute, University of Toronto, says taking on a role like this “can be a field full of landmines.”
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“When a contemporary star takes on the role of an iconic figure from the past, they may be judged by many different standards. If that figure is someone like Audrey Hepburn, who has been immortalized on screen in numerous famous roles, it is a much greater challenge,” Keil said.
Keil said that Hepburn “set the standard for 1950s-era elegance”: “She was at the vanguard of fashion trends, had perfect diction, and having been born in Europe,” noting she had a “distinctive and lightly accented voice. She is fondly remembered by her many fans as svelte and almost aristocratic, but also a bit coltish and beguilingly insecure at times,” adding that “this is a tall order to fill.”
Keil said fans “don’t necessarily want a carbon copy” of Hepburn, but rather, “they are looking for a new way to think about a familiar star and the performance should give them that.”
Keil gave Natalie Portman’s portrayal of Jackie Kennedy in the film “Jackie” as an example, and how she gave “a particular purchase on the former first lady, and not a comprehensive imitation of every known aspect of a famous person’s persona.”
“Don’t imitate — differentiate. Show, as an actress, that you are exercising some control in how you are conceiving of the re-imagining of a legend. And of course, hope the material you are starring in is worthy of the risk,” Keil added.
Paul Schnee, who, with his business partner Kerry Barden, has cast films such as “The Help,” “Winter’s Bone,” “Dallas Buyers Club” and “Spotlight,” called Collins a “wonderful actor,” noting that “her vague resemblance to Audrey will be an assist, but talent trumps that.”
Schnee said that “a vague resemblance is sufficient, but not always,” noting that what works best as a viewer is “the embodiment of the essence of the person.”
He and Barden cast her as Snow White in the film “Mirror Mirror,” noting that her “talent transcended her genes,” referring to her being the daughter of musician Phil Collins.
It boils down to the performance: “The better the actor is, the less focus there will be on physical appearance,” Schnee, who cast Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone,” said.
Collins revealed the project has been in the works for almost 10 years, in an Instagram post she shared after the casting news was announced in late February, noting that she felt “honored and ecstatic.”
“It’s with almost 10 years of development and a lifetime of admiration and adoration for Audrey that I’m finally able to share this. Honored and ecstatic don’t begin to express how I feel…” she wrote on her Instagram page.
Collins has been open about her love for the icon, often sharing her images on her Instagram.
Howard Fine of Howard Fine Acting Studio, who worked with Austin Butler as Elvis Presley on “Elvis,” Jaalen Best as Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali in “The Greatest” and Carla Gugino as Vivien Leigh in “Vivien & the Florist,” said “the challenge when playing an iconic figure is not to do an imitation.”
“If Austin had done an imitation of Elvis, it would have been career-ending rather than award-winning. The actor must find where the character lives inside themselves,” Fine said.
Hepburn was known for her distinct voice and cadence, which is something Collins will have to focus on mastering.
“I am a big believer in voice and dialect work to master accents and the distinctive vocal patterns which Audrey Hepburn had. However, the actor must find the personality behind the patterns in order to steer away from a hollow copying them,” Fine added.
Fine said the actor “must avoid imitating” the actor, and focus instead on “inhabiting the soul that motivated this behavior.”
Fine said the actor must ask themselves: “Who am I as the character and then how can I find the character inside myself. The vocal and physical manifestations of the characters must become second nature. The actor needs to practice until everything becomes effortless, until we don’t see the acting.”
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Ancient herb known as ‘nature’s Valium’ touted for improving sleep and anxiety
Valerian, an herbal supplement long used for sleep and relaxation, has been referred to as “nature’s Valium” — but experts are divided on whether it truly compares to the prescription sedative.
The herb, which is sold as a dietary supplement in the U.S., is a common ingredient in products marketed as “mild sedatives” and sleep aids, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Valium, the brand name for diazepam, is used to treat anxiety, seizures and muscle spasms by calming the nervous system, Cleveland Clinic notes.
Valerian supplements are derived from the roots of Valeriana officinalis, a flowering plant native to Europe and Asia that has also naturalized in northeastern America, according to the American Botanical Council (ABC).
The plant has a “long history of medicinal use,” per the ABC, with the primary goal of reducing anxiety and stress as well as improving sleep quality. It has historically also been used for migraines, fatigue and stomach cramps.
Dried valerian roots can be prepared as teas or tinctures, while other plant materials and extracts have been distributed as capsules or tablets, per the NIH.
The agency noted, however, that there is a “relatively small amount of research” investigating the herb’s impact on various conditions.
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However, Stefan Gafner, Ph.D., chief science officer of the American Botanical Council in Texas, confirmed that some clinical trials have explored valerian root’s effects.
A 2020 medical review published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine found that both powdered root and root extracts show a “clear” benefit in treating anxiety, Gafner told Fox News Digital.
The researchers concluded that valerian could be a “safe and effective herb to promote sleep and prevent associated disorders.”
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While valerian may have some benefits, Gafner said he doesn’t think it “makes sense” to compare it to diazepam (Valium).
“I can understand that both are used to relieve anxiety, but valerian is a much milder ingredient, and is really used for mild cases of anxiety and sleep issues,” he told Fox News Digital.
Unlike valerian, diazepam carries a risk of dependence and is generally prescribed short-term, the expert said, and the spectrum of potential adverse effects is “very different.”
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Gafner said he “absolutely” recommends the use of valerian root to relieve anxiety and stress and to improve sleep.
“I have used it myself and I believe it’s an ingredient with well-documented benefits, especially for people with problems falling asleep,” he said. “It is well-tolerated and very safe… although some sources caution [against] driving a car or using heavy machinery when using valerian.”
Dr. Joseph Mercola, a board-certified family medicine osteopathic physician and author of the new book “Weight Loss Cure,” said valerian’s comparisons to Valium may “exaggerate what the science actually shows.”
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“Valerian root contains compounds that appear to enhance calming brain chemicals, particularly the neurotransmitter GABA, which helps quiet nerve activity and supports relaxation,” the Florida-based expert told Fox News Digital.
“Some studies do report modest improvements in sleep quality or shorter time to fall asleep, while others find no meaningful difference compared with placebo.”
Side effects may include headaches, dizziness, digestive upset or next-day grogginess, Mercola noted, adding that he would not recommend it as a primary strategy for anxiety, stress or sleep.
“Because long-term safety studies remain limited, and supplement quality varies widely, you should approach valerian with caution rather than view it as a universal sleep solution,” he advised.
“You should approach valerian with caution rather than view it as a universal sleep solution.”
“I encourage people to focus first on strategies that correct the underlying drivers of poor sleep,” Mercola advised. “When you fix those foundations, you often find that you no longer need an herbal sedative at all.”
“Bright sunlight during the day helps regulate your circadian rhythm and signals your brain to produce melatonin later at night,” he said. “At the same time, complete darkness [at night] supports the hormonal signals that allow deep, restorative sleep.”
Certain nutrients can also promote relaxation and sleep quality, including magnesium, which helps to regulate the nervous system, according to the doctor.
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GABA may help to calm nerve activity, reduce stress markers and improve perceived sleep quality, Mercola said, while glycine — taken at about 3 grams an hour before bed — may support relaxation, promote the body’s nighttime temperature drop, and improve sleep onset and overall quality.
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“When you combine sunlight exposure, magnesium, GABA and glycine, you support the biological systems that control sleep instead of relying on a sedating herb with mixed evidence,” the doctor concluded.
Fox News Digital reached out to valerian root manufacturers requesting comment.
American automaker secretly builds custom ride — and gifts it to Pope Leo
Ford CEO Jim Farley and his wife, Lia, recently gifted Pope Leo XIV a new Explorer SUV.
The couple personally delivered the vehicle during a private audience with the American-born pontiff on Feb. 28.
The black Explorer Platinum, customized with a 3.3-liter V6 hybrid powertrain and 10-speed hybrid transmission, was assembled at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, located about 5 miles from Leo’s hometown of Dolton. It also features vanity license plates that read “DA POPE” and “LEO XIV.”
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Inside, the seat tags feature the Chicago flag and the city’s skyline is stitched into the vehicle’s center console. Engravings of the skyline and St. Peter’s Basilica are found on the scuff plates near the bottom of the SUV’s doors.
Seat tags featurE the Chicago flag.
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Leo plans to use the vehicle to cross the grounds of the Vatican, according to Ford.
“He noticed and appreciated the personal touches,” said Farley. “We even took a quick drive, and I can confirm the Holy Father enjoys driving a sporty ride. But more than anything, what stays with me is the feeling of gratitude and joy we experienced meeting him and sharing this small gesture – one that reflects the pride and care of the Ford team back home in Chicago.”
Employees were aware that they were building a vehicle for a VIP, but due to confidentiality reasons, were not told it was for the pope.
“When I found out it was the pope, I was so excited,” said Jennifer Barilovich, lead electrical systems integration engineer for the Explorer. “I can’t believe I helped make a vehicle that the pope is going to drive! As soon as I could, I told my family. I come from a huge Catholic family, so everyone was thrilled and just thought it was the coolest project.”
Barilovich, like other team members, sent a letter to the pontiff.
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The connection for Ford pre-delivery specialist Adolphus Harper was even closer to home.
“I graduated from St. Rita in 1986, so knowing that the pope who once taught me is now driving something I helped assemble – it’s unbelievable,” he said. “I am proud to be part of this. To see someone connected to my own education become part of something so historic – it’s amazing.”
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Among the gifts the team sent to Leo were a special Chicago Assembly Plant recognition coin and a pizza box from Aurelio’s Pizza, one of his favorite hometown restaurants.
“Knowing a vehicle built here in Chicago is going to the pope, it’s hard not to feel proud,” said pre-delivery specialist Danny Golubovic. “As someone with deep faith, it feels like an even greater honor. The work we do here is important – to our city, our families and people.”
Actress says she ‘cringes’ at how fans used to lust after her rebellious teen character
Christina Applegate knows better than anyone why her character Kelly Bundy in the sitcom “Married… with Children” was such a success.
In her recently published book, “You with the Sad Eyes,” Applegate explained that Bundy was an icon in the ’80s because she was a “full rock s—.” Looking back on old scenes now, the 54-year-old “cringes” at how fans used to lust after her rebellious teenage character.
“I played Kelly as a tease and as a virgin — which is why I think viewers loved her rather than hated her. One of the creators, Michael Moye, and I talked about this regularly. We agreed to keep Kelly virginal and have the ‘Kelly is a tramp’ opinion come solely from her brother, Bud,” Applegate wrote.
“By season five, my God: I could walk into the living room, as I did in episode 13, ‘The Godfather,’ in a leather fringed jacket over a short red shirt and there would be a five-second break in the scene while the crowd hollered lustily at me,” she wrote. “I look at all this now and cringe. The show was indeed broad, and lewd, and it wouldn’t have a shot in hell of being made these days. That’s a good thing: It’s hard enough for young women to thrive in a world of appearances.”
Applegate explained that she was aware that her character was written in a provocative way and has no ill-will for the crew.
“I look at all this now and cringe. The show was indeed broad, and lewd, and it wouldn’t have a shot in hell of being made these days.”
“Sure, it was always part of the show that I would be an object for men to leer at, but I wanted to wear those Kelly Bundy dresses. And as hard as it may be to believe, I was genuinely innocent of my effect on people. I was just a kid,” she wrote.
In the book, Applegate emphasized that Bundy could not be further from who she was at the time. She was 16 when she took on the role as Kelly Bundy whose main goal was to tease boys while she “waited until the propitious date of 8/8/88 to have sex for the first time, as diligently noted in my diary.”
Applegate included an excerpt from her teenage diary: “Guess what? You know when I was talking about how I needed to have sex? Well, I did. And I did the dirty deed with the only person I would want to do it for the first time with anyway. I just made love to [name redacted] trice. It hurt like a motherf—er. But oh well, it’s over with.”
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In her book, Applegate wrote that she already struggled with body image issues before taking on the role as Bundy for 11 seasons, and it only worsened throughout the course of the show.
“I dug myself into a hole with that character, though, because I had to be skinny. I had a vision of the specific clothes I wanted her to wear, and to wear those clothes — clothes that would show if you ate something as tiny as a single grape — I had to lean even deeper into my eating disorder,” she wrote, explaining that she was anorexic.
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“If I was going to eat something as horrendously huge as a bagel, say, I would scoop it out and maybe have half of it, or half of a half,” Applegate continued. “That would be my food intake for an entire day. Sometimes I’d punish myself and wouldn’t eat at all. I was a size 0, and the costume people on ‘Married… with Children’ would often have to take my clothes in. I was bone, bone, bone.”
Applegate added that she worked so hard on her body, but she was “never satisfied.”
“There were days when I’d go to a spin class, then work out with my trainer, then go to a dance class for two and a half more hours, always chasing the unobtainable, abusing my body in the service of a quest for perfection that was as damaging as any addiction,” she wrote.
Applegate’s memoir, “You with the Sad Eyes,” hit the shelves on March 3.
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University president warns young men ‘drifting’ as college enrollment gap widens
Throughout the country, states are moving to curb student phone use in schools. From New Jersey’s push for a strict bell-to-bell ban to tighter rules in Indiana and Florida, lawmakers are responding to a growing consensus among parents and educators: constant distraction is harming children – and boys are often taking the hit hardest.
But phones are not the real story, they are just a symptom. Across America, something is wrong with too many of our young men. They are not stupid, and they are not hopeless, but too many are drifting, less resilient, less anchored and less prepared to carry adult responsibility when life stops being more negotiable than previous generations.
As a university president, I see the consequences up close. Young men arrive with talent and ambition, yet too many struggle with the disciplines that make success possible, such as sustained focus, perseverance, teachability and the maturity to control impulses instead of being controlled by them.
I have sat across from students who were bright enough to thrive and motivated enough to dream big – yet were repeatedly undone by ordinary responsibilities we all take for granted. They fell behind not because they lacked intelligence, but because they could not sustain attention, accept feedback without taking it as a personal attack or treat deadlines as real until they had already passed. By the time a university sees that pattern, it is not a campus issue alone, but a problem years in the making.
The broader evidence points in the same direction. In October 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that among recent high school graduates aged 16-24, 69.5% of young women were enrolled in college, compared with 55.4% of young men.
Gallup reported in 2025 that 25% of U.S. men aged 15-34 said they felt lonely a lot of the previous day. A Bureau of Labor Statistics analysis found that labor force participation among men aged 20-24 fell from 82.6% in 2000 to 73.1% in 2022, with a further decline to 68.2% projected by 2032.
Higher education is a powerful avenue for preparation, yet it is one of several honorable paths. Our country depends on builders, tradesmen, entrepreneurs, service members, skilled workers and professionals alike. But every young man does need a path that builds discipline, competence and purpose. When boys become men without durable friendships, meaningful work and mentors who not only inspire them but also know their names, the consequences do not stay private, they surface in families, workplaces and communities that depend on dependable men.
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We should not be surprised by what we are seeing, because our culture has weakened the conditions that help boys become men. We have mistaken love for the removal of hardship, lowered standards in the name of compassion and avoided hard conversations in the name of sensitivity. Empathy matters, but empathy that never expects growth becomes surrender. Boys often rise or fall to expectations, and when expectations disappear, many do not become stronger, they become fragile.
We have also outsourced too much of boyhood to screens and then wondered why attention, patience and self- control have eroded. Used without restraint, a phone becomes a training ground in impulse, distraction and endless stimulation. A boy formed by constant gratification will struggle with the unglamorous habits adulthood requires, such as showing up, sticking with difficult tasks, finishing what he starts and doing the right thing when nobody is watching.
We have also made a serious mistake in the way we talk about masculinity. In condemning what is genuinely destructive in some expressions of manhood, we have too often treated manhood itself as suspect. Boys hear what not to be, but too rarely hear what they should become. That vacuum fills with apathy, anger or counterfeit bravado that imitates strength while evading responsibility. The answer to toxic masculinity is not hostility toward masculinity. It is noble masculinity, strength under control, courage in service of others, restraint over appetite and honor that does not need applause.
If we are serious about changing this, we do not need to wait for a perfect federal plan or another national commission. Families, schools, churches, employers and civic leaders can begin now by rebuilding the conditions that form boys into men. That means mentorship must become normal again.
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I have sat across from students who were bright enough to thrive and motivated enough to dream big – yet were repeatedly undone by ordinary responsibilities we all take for granted.
Every school community, church, civic club and neighborhood should be able to say, with integrity, that no boy grows up here alone. Boys need sustained contact with good men who showcase integrity, hard work, restraint and responsibility, and who challenge them, correct them and pull them into real life through service and honest conversation.
It also means restoring standards that actually mean something, including respect for women and for authority figures. Schools should enforce conduct codes that protect learning and require decency. Coaches should bench talent that will not respect teammates. Employers should reward reliability and correct immaturity. Parents should insist on chores, punctuality and integrity at home and teach boys early on that strength is never an excuse to demean, objectify, intimidate or manipulate women.
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This is urgent, and we should stop pretending otherwise. The window to form boys into men does not stay open forever. Habits are learned early, reinforced often and either strengthened or neglected with every passing year. If we keep debating this as theory while boys continue drifting in real time, we will lose another generation, and the repair will be longer and harder than the prevention.
America does not need more commentary about young men. It needs adults willing to rebuild the conditions that form them. Families, churches, schools and communities all have a role, and at universities like mine, we are taking up that responsibility by helping shape not only capable graduates, but men of character. Do it now, before drift becomes the default and before another generation is damaged in ways we will spend decades trying to undo. We are not simply trying to move boys into adulthood. We are trying to raise noble men.