FKA Twigs says her latest work – a live performance piece at Sotheby’s – is part of her “huge and healing journey” over the last few years, in which she’s learned “how to use and live in my body again”.
The 36-year-old singer and actress opened her first major exhibition on Saturday, the day after her third album – Eusexua – dropped.
It’s a decade since the Cheltenham-born star – real name Tahliah Barnett – released LP1, and a world away from her first professional gigs as a backing dancer for stars including Kylie Minogue and Jessie J.
Described as “a physical and artistic quest for self-healing”, The Eleven comprises a rotating group of 11 “movers”, cycling through 11 ritualised motions that each last 11 minutes and are designed to improve your life.
Each addresses an issue with modern living, including our relationship with technology, simplifying our lives and self-awareness.
For example, if you’re suffering from screen addiction, the first part of a ritual might demand rubbing your hand when you discover that instead of being in the moment you are itching to check Instagram on your phone.
Or if you’ve got personal traits you want to fix, you might “take two hours out on a Saturday to think, ‘Oh, why do I get angry when I stand in a queue in Sainsbury’s?’ You know it’s not because of the queue”.
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She tells Sky News she choreographed the project to “create a sense of calm, and to just gain more control over my life so that I can concentrate on the things of beautiful and wild and free and not get bogged down with all of the noise”.
Twigs, who studied opera and ballet from a young age, will take part in some performances, which will also feature a revolving cast of “special guests”.
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It’s not only a first for Twigs, but also for Sotheby’s, as the first piece of live performance art in the London gallery’s 280-year history.
Image: Pic: Jordan Pettitt/PA
‘I’m a wild-rooted, earthy woman’
Twigs cites Madonna, Tracey Emin (her pen pal as a teen) and Serbian conceptual artist Marina Abramovic as three of her muses, adding: “In the last two years, as I am a grown-up now, I’ve really looked to these women just to encourage me to keep going and get my message out there.”
Twigs explains: “There have been so many women that have just created something so much bigger than themselves, and they haven’t given up, and they’ve kept on going and they’ve ignored the naysayers.”
Her work is also inspired by her own life, rich pickings for the star who says: “I feel like I could get 10 albums just out of my life and from [ages] 16 to 18 if I just sat down and really thought about it.”
She says she only wore a certain shade of blue in the year she was writing the album (“a worn Japanese blue” according to the star) and created “a modular wardrobe” along with collaborator Yaz XL to sit alongside the project and “take the stress of looking good out of your life”.
One thing Twigs is clear hasn’t inspired the exhibition’s message is the California wellness trends so popular with celebrities and millionaires.
She says: “I’m half Jamaican from a single-parent working-class family. So, I don’t really know of those Californian things too much. I’ve just made it from my life experience and I’m a wild-rooted, earthy woman.”
The exhibition includes intimate photographs and Polaroids taken by Twigs’s partner, photographer Jordan Hemingway, who she lives with in east London.
Image: Twigs with her partner, photographer Jordan Hemingway. Pic: PA
‘It’s about touching, slapping and holding yourself’
Twigs says rather than seeing the images as revealing, she sees them as “true”, adding: “I don’t really see my body in that way. Revealing or not revealing, I’d probably feel more awkward in an outfit I didn’t like, you know?“
The star goes on:“Over the past few years, I’ve been on a huge healing journey and, have had to learn how to use and how to live in my body again.”
She says one message of the show is shrugging off body hang-ups: “It’s about touching yourself and slapping yourself and holding yourself and moving in a way that just gets rid of all inhibitions.
“It’s about realising that we’re in our vessels and we can take control of them… Express ourselves. It’s raw and it’s wild and it’s ugly. And in that way, it’s perfect.”
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It’s been a challenging few years for the singer, filing papers to sue her former partner Shia LaBeouf over alleged abuse four years ago, next month will see the case finally come to court in LA.
Twigs says the 38-year-old Hollywood star physically and emotionally abused her during their year-long relationship.
LaBeouf has denied the claims but apologised for the hurt he has caused.
Image: Twigs has been inspired by ‘strong’ women. Pic: Aidan Zamiri/ Ivor Novello Awards
‘Sistah Space feels like home’
With one in four women suffering domestic abuse during their lifetime, it’s a reality Twigs feels needs to be addressed.
As an ambassador for Sistah Space, a UK charity supporting African and Caribbean heritage women affected by domestic and sexual abuse, Twigs says she has found strength from the “strong women” around her.
Twigs explains: “I think that domestic violence and interpersonal relationship violence is a really misunderstood subject, and I think it can be even more complicated when you’re of colour and from different cultures.
“Sistah Space is an amazing organisation that helps support women and survivors, find their voice again, find their feet again after going through something really horrific. Sistah Space feels like home to me.
“I spoke to Ngosi [Fulani, the founder of Sistah Space] today on the way here, actually. And all of these incredibly strong women really inspired me to make this work and to keep going and to have tenacity and strength and all of these things to carry on and fight through in my own journey.”
Image: Twigs with actor Bill Skarsgard in The Crow reboot. Pic: Lionsgate
Eusexua
The exhibition ties in with Twigs’s new album Eusexua – a “Twigism” coined by the star summing up that lightbulb moment when things just click.
With a new album out, a film out in the UK next month (the reboot of cult classic The Crow opposite Swedish actor Bill Skarsgard) and filming another, plus this exhibition, there’s no denying it’s an exciting year for the star.
But with her feet firmly on the ground, Twigs is just happy to be sharing her work with the world.
She sums up: “I feel like I’ve always kept myself very busy and I really love what I do and I love expressing myself and I love the arts and I’m just really grateful for all the opportunities to get them out there into the world.”
The Eleven is at Sotheby’s in London from Saturday 14 to Thursday 26 September and is free to view.
FKA Twig’s third studio album, Eusexua, is out now.
The Duchess of Sussex’s lifestyle series premiered this morning – in which she talks about her life in California, her time spent living in Argentina and her love of food.
With Love, Meghan – an eight-part series on Netflix – had been delayed from a January release due to the Los Angeles wildfires.
The episodes, which last about 30 minutes each, feature a host of celebrity friends along with a few cameos from her husband, Prince Harry.
From her first jobs growing up to what she was like on the Suits set, here are some things we learnt about the duchess.
Image: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Mindy Kaling.
Pic: Netflix
‘I’m Sussex now’
One of Meghan’s guests is The Office star Mindy Kaling, who she bonds with over their lives as toddlers’ mums while putting together a tea party in the garden.
As they put sandwiches together for the tea, Meghan talks about her love of Jack In The Box – a classic US fast-food chain, to which Kaling responds: “I don’t think anyone in the world knows that Meghan Markle has eaten Jack In The Box and loves it.”
The duchess laughs and says: “It’s funny, you keep saying Meghan Markle, you know, I’m Sussex now.
“You have kids, and you go, ‘now I share my name with my children’… I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me, but it just means so much to go ‘this is our family name, our little family name’.”
Similarities with Archie
During episode four, the duchess goes on a hike with her friend Delfina Blaquier, who is married to Argentinian polo star Nacho Figueras, and together they have a picnic with homemade focaccia bread.
The duchess reveals how she passed time during her childhood – and the similar traits her son, Archie, has: “As a kid, I was taking a bag of tea from the drawer in my house, putting it in a mason jar or probably an empty jar that once held spaghetti sauce and putting it in the sun, and sitting there… waiting for it to change colour.
“Funny enough, which Archie does now.”
Days before the show aired, in an interview with People magazine, the duchess said Archie had told her: “Mama, don’t work too hard” during filming.
She added the five-year-old helped with the clapperboard while visiting the set with his sister Lilibet and Harry.
Image: Delfina Figueras and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
Pic: Netflix
Life in Argentina
The two friends met through their husbands – “The moment we met, we bonded over our love of the outdoors and being in nature. We always hike together whenever she’s in town. And sometimes we let our husbands join us,” Meghan says.
Reflecting on when they first met, Meghan says: “What’s so funny is, I remember when we first met, and you were like: ‘Wait a minute, you speak Argentinian Spanish?’ But it’s such a pretty language because it sounds so musical.”
Her friend says: “When you started speaking Spanish and I recognised the Argentinian, I was blown away, because I didn’t know that…”
“That I’d lived there,” Meghan responds.
She adds: “When I lived in Argentina, I think the reason I loved it so much is because it reminded me of California in a lot of ways. Where you have the mountains and you have this joy of life and the joy of being outside.
“I was only there for a few months interning at the US Embassy, but I loved it.”
First jobs in doughnut and yoghurt shops – and some more childhood memories
In episode five, as Meghan hosts long-time friends, former Suits co-star Abigail Spencer and Kelly McKee Zajfen, she says that her first job was at Humphrey Yogart, a frozen yoghurt shop in Los Angeles playfully named after actor Humphrey Bogart.
That came after she told chef Roy Choi in episode three, as she presented him with doughnuts she prepared for him, that she once had a job at a doughnut shop.
“Doughnuts in general just remind me of my childhood,” she said.
“I once had a job at a little donut shop called Little Orbit Donuts. They made tiny, tiny, little mini donuts.”
She said she often helped them sell at craft venues, adding that doughnuts generally were a big part of her childhood.
“Growing up, driving down Highland to get to school, there was always a Yum Yum Donuts right there.”
“Highland and Melrose,” Choi clarifies.
“Exactly… is it still there?”
When Choi says it is, she responds: “Oh my god. I should go back in.”
In another episode, Kaling asks whether Meghan began cooking at home or picked it up later. Meghan replies: “I was a latch-key kid so I grew up with a lot of fast food and also a lot of TV tray dinners.
“It feels like such a different time but that was so normal with the microwavable kids meals.”
Life in Montecito house
Image: Branden Aroyan and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
Pic: Netflix
The lifestyle show, which was filmed in a California farmhouse rather than in her Montecito house, features her describing her every day life – including how it is a “daily” task to pick fruit when it’s in season at her home.
Episode one Hello Honey! features Meghan’s friend Daniel Martin as she prepares a “thoughtful guest basket”.
It begins with her harvesting honey from bees, saying: “The biggest thing is keeping a low tone – talk in our bee voice.”
With the help of a beekeeper, she talks about “trying to stay in the calm of it because it’s beautiful to be this connected”.
Harry is the king of eggs
When asked by Kaling about how best to season eggs, the duchess says: “I have a family, a husband, who no matter what meal is put in front of him before he tastes it puts salt on, so I try to under salt.”
Harry himself, it is later revealed, is something of an egg connoisseur.
Speaking to two close friends in a later episode, she says “H” is a “great cook” and makes “the best scrambled eggs”.
She further praises him by saying he generally makes “a really good breakfast”.
Bacon was the subject of discussions on more than one occasion during the series, with Meghan saying that whenever she cooks it the kitchen “becomes full of husband and three dogs”.
“It’s not my perfume that’s bringing them all in,” she jokes.
What the duchess was like during Suits
Meghan’s days of playing paralegal Rachel Zane in popular drama Suits came to an end in 2018, the year she married Harry.
But she has clearly remained close with co-star Abigail Spencer, who played Dana Scott.
In episode five, as the pair sat in Meghan’s garden alongside Kelly McKee Zajfen, Spencer reflected on what Meghan was like during the Suits days.
She said Meghan was “the head of morale on the show,” to which Meghan thanked her and added: “I liked to plan fun for everyone.”
Heart-warming moments of Meghan with beloved beagle
The whole series ends with a tribute to Meghan’s late dog, Guy, who featured prominently in several episodes.
One morning, the duchess is seen making bone-shaped peanut butter biscuits for the rescue beagle, who died shortly after filming wrapped, saying you can make them with leftover bacon from breakfast.
Image: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with Guy. Pic: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
She admitted there was “never” any leftovers in her house because “we eat a lot of it” – another reference to the Sussexes love of bacon.
“I would do anything for Guy, and he knows it,” she then says. “He can have whatever he wants ’cause he is whatever kind of guy you need him to be depending on the day. My sweet guy, my silly guy, my saucy little guy. Always my spoiled guy.”
Later, as she hands him a peanut butter cookie, she adds: “They provide us with unconditional love, so they get unconditional peanut butter dog biscuits. Why not?”
The Sussexes also have two other dogs – another rescue beagle named Mia and a black Labrador called Pula, who is seen trying to steal some of Meghan and her guests’ food at various points during the series.
Meghan’s ‘next chapter’
In the eighth and final episode, called Feels Like Home, Meghan prepares for Prince Harry to make an appearance.
She is putting together a brunch for family and friends to celebrate the “next chapter” in her life.
Sharing details of how she envisages the so-called “next chapter”, Meghan, wearing a blue maxi dress and putting the finishing touches to a spread of food outdoors, says: “Of course, my husband will be here, my mum will be here, my best friend since college, my community having a brunch in the sunshine with the people that I love, celebrating this next chapter of my life.”
Dolly Parton’s husband – who she married in a secret ceremony aged just 20 – has died.
The country music star’s website said Carl Dean died on Monday in Nashville.
Parton said in a statement: “Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
Dean was the inspiration behind Jolene, one of her biggest hits.
She said she wrote the song after a flirty bank clerk seemed to take an interest in him.
“She got this terrible crush on my husband,” Parton told NPR in 2008.
“And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention.
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“It was kinda like a running joke between us… So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.”
Image: Parton, 78, said ‘words can’t do justice to the love we shared’. Pic: AP
The pair met outside the Wishy Washy launderette, where Parton was doing her washing, the day she moved to Nashville at age 18.
“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” Parton said in 2016.
“He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”
Anora has dominated the Academy Awards, winning five gongs including best picture.
The film’s star, Mikey Madison, who plays a sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, took home the best actress award – a win that was not a total upset, but many had expected Demi Moore to scoop the prize for her performance in The Substance.
Anora filmmaker Sean Baker was named best director, and used his acceptance speech to make a plea for audiences to support cinemas, which he said were “a vital part of our culture” and at risk of being lost.
Both also thanked sex workers who consulted on the film, saying they could never have made it without them.
Anora also won the Oscarsfor best original screenplay and best editing. Winning all four awards he was up for, Baker tied with Walt Disney’s record for the most Oscar wins by a single person in a single night – although Disney won his awards for multiple works, rather than a single film as Baker has done.
Adrien Brody won the best actor Oscar for playing Hungarian architect Lazlo Toth in architectural epic The Brutalist.
It was his second Academy Award win in the category some 22 years after his first, for The Pianist back in 2003.
Image: Adrien Brody won the best actor award – his second Oscar – for his performance in The Brutalist. Pic: Reuters
Accepting his award in a lengthy speech, he paid tribute to his partner Georgina Chapman, who he said had “re-invigorated” his “self-worth” and “sense of value”.
Best cinematography also went to The Brutalist directror Brady Corbet’s three-and-a-half-hour epic, which also took home the prize for best original score.
Papal thriller Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, took just one award, for best adapted screenplay.
Image: Kieran Culkin won best supporting actor. Pic: Reuters
Kieran Culkin took the first award of the night, best supporting actor, for his role in comedy drama A Real Pain, while the best supporting actress prize was won by Emilia Perez star Zoe Saldana, her first Oscar win and nomination.
One of the highest-grossing actresses ever, she cried out “Mommy, mommy”, on stage, explaining her entire family was there with her. She became tearful at the end of her speech as she spoke of being “a proud child of immigrant parents”.
Image: Zoe Saldana was named best actress. Pic: Reuters
Announced by Mick Jagger, best song went to Emilia Perez’s El Mal (which translates as “Evil”), while the prize for costume design went to Wicked’s Paul Tazewell – who became the first black man to receive the award. The Wizard Of Oz prequel also won best production design.
Brazilian director Walter Salles won best international feature for Portuguese-language film I’m Still Here, set in the 1970s in the midst of the Brazil’s brutal military dictatorship.
A word-of-mouth hit, the film’s Brazilian star Fernanda Torres has gone from a relative unknown to a much-talked-about actress in the US in the last few months.
Image: Star of I’m Still Here, Fernanda Torres. Pic: Reuters
Make-up and hairstyling was awarded to body horror The Substance, a film which showcased extreme prosthetics, make-up and gore throughout. It was the film’s only win of the night.
The documentary categories went to The Only Girl In The Orchestra and No Other Land – made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective – for short film and feature film respectively.
Accepting the prize, it’s makers Basel Dra and Yuval Abraham made a political plea to the US: “The foreign policy in this country is helping to block [the path of peace]. Why? Can’t you see that we are intertwined? There is another way. It’s not too late for life, for the living.”
Best sound and best visual effects went to Dune: Part Two, directed by Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve.
A night where independent and unusual filmmaking was rewarded, best animated feature went to Latvian computer-generated film Flow, while best animated short film was won by Iranian entry The Shadow Of The Cypress. Both international productions are dialogue-free.
Live action short film went to I’m Not A Robot, a study in an AI-fueled identity crisis.
Image: Tributes were paid to a host of late industry greats, starting with Gene Hackman. Pic: AP/Chris Pizzello
A video montage honoured Academy members who have passed away over the last year, including British stars Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Joan Plowwright and Donald Sutherland, and US performers James Earl Jones, Kris Kristofferson and David Lynch.
There was also a moving segment honouring late music producer Quincy Jones, led by Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg and featuring rapper Queen Latifah.
Sky News is livestreaming the Vanity Fair and Sir Elton John after-party red carpets following the ceremony. Catching the Oscar-winners as they party the night away, join us there from 6am.