Straight Up

Poor Els got mugged last week huns, so today’s episode starts with the download on her enforced digital detox, before taking a sunnier towards perhaps the best news we’ve heard all year  – Maya Jama and Stormzy are back together!! – and our slightly tragic obsession with this ultimate modern day love story.  Then, more summer reading recommendations, including Imogen Crimp’s A Very Nice Girl, the...

All the celebs are on holiday this week, angels, so we’ve got another jam-packed pop culture debrief for you, starting with Coleen Rooney’s fabulous – but divisive – Vogue cover for the September issue, the most important of the year! We get into all her explosive Wagatha Christie revelations and backstory with Wayne, as well as the criticisms of the cover. Are the suggestions that Coleen is not a...

From the outrageous 'dirty' celeb dating story that has blown up our WhatsApp chats to the Harry Styles rumour that sent the internet spinning, it's safe to say we have been SHOCKED by the world of celebrity gossip this week huns!! And of course we are here to share all of our uncensored thoughts. In more serious news, we also look at the claims that Lyme disease is a 'celebrity&#3...

It's a dark and sordid week in the world of fame and celebrity huns, with pop stars Lizzo and Ariana Grande both getting flack from all directions. Lizzo is at the centre of wild allegations from three former dancers – all of which she denies – while Ariana Grande has been accused of living a little close to her lyrics by finding herself at the centre of yet another cheating drama. We get into...

We are SO excited to share this fascinating chat with our favourite chef and cookery writer Gizzi Erskine with you all this week, getting into everything from naked dinner parties to psychedelics, via public shaming, misogyny and body image.  Author of killer books from Gizzi’s Healthy Appetite to Slow and Restore, you might recognise Gizzi from her various TV appearances over the years, or perhap...

The headline speaks for itself huns, this episode is spicy!! After seeing Barbie together last week (dressed in pink, obv) we couldn’t wait to discuss our verdicts and debate the VERY polarised online conversation, including Barbie-burning Republicans and some very cross incels.  Plus, we deepdive into Barbie’s salacious origin story and the woman who created her, and reveal why Ken’s crotch becam...

We are SO excited to introduce you to this week’s utterly fascinating and highly controversial guest: Caroline Calloway, one of the very first internet celebrities, a self- anointed ‘scammer’ and perhaps our first guest who has been publicly shamed.  If you haven’t heard of her before, don’t worry, we give you the complete lowdown in our intro, but in a nutshell: Caroline moved from New York to th...

No interview this week angels, instead, we're covering the hottest celeb talking points from the past few days. First, we get into the topic that's currently ruling the internet, actor Jonah Hill's toxic 'boundaries', which came to light when his ex Sarah Brady shared their private messages on her Instagram. We debate the dangers of therapy speak and at which point it becomes a...

Right huns, gets ready for an episode full of drama, because this week we're debriefing on America’s sweetheart Blake Lively getting her first taste of cancellation, and why celebs are in their peak chaotic divorce era (and we secretly love it).  Plus, is it at all possible to escape the insane multi-million pound marketing campaign for Margot Robbie’s new Barbie blockbuster, encompassing ever...

Today’s guest is the best-selling author Caroline O’Donoghue, the GENIUS behind one of our favourite podcasts, Sentimental Garbage, for a pop cultural deep dive on everything from And Just Like That and Desperate Housewives, to Fleishman in Trouble, the career vs kids conundrum and why fame is less like being the most important in the room, and more like being the entire public’s PA. Plus, Carolin...

Gang, we have waited SO long to debrief about HBO’s new “torture porn” show The Idol, starring Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd that is already the most talked about TV show of 2023, and since three episodes have passed we think we’re finally ready to give our verdict. We get stuck into its grotesque flaws and surprisingly more promising moments, debating everything from whether Lily-Rose Depp is any...

Hi huns, we’ve got someone a little different from the usual celeb on the pod this week: Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell, who is currently having a second wind of fame thanks to his top-charting podcast The Rest is Politics, of which both of us are HUGE fans.  This month he also released a brilliant new book called But What Can I Do? which is all about motivating young, capable p...

This week’s mad developments in celebrity culture has aligned perfectly with Straight Up’s USP, to deconstruct ‘fame’ in all its surreal highs and horrible lows, so we’re talking about everything from Matty Healey’s controversial performative fame and the online outpouring of outrage from Taylor Swift fans, to the the surreal This Morning saga and Phil Schofield's fall from grace, as well John...

Hello huns, we were SO excited to go round for tea at Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s gorgeous London home the other week to chat all about her extraordinary experience of fame, from her initial “failed” start in a band as a teenager, who were dropped by their label before their second album, to the incredible success of her iconic hit Murder on the Dancefloor just a few years later (Europe’s biggest song o...

Welcome back to another cultural debrief gang! This week, Ellie interviewed the icon that is Kesha for the Telegraph ahead of her brilliant new her album Gag Order, out now, and gave us all the behind-the-scenes gossip and juicy talking points, specifically: did Kesha really have a vaginal ghost exorcism?  Plus we both reveal our own experiences with the paranormal, featuring Kathleen’s mum’s run-...

Buckle up huns because today’s guest is one of our all-time favourites: fellow Londoner and proper funny man Allan 'Seapa' Mustafa, the BAFTA-winning actor, writer and co-creator of hit crime comedy, The Curse, as well as the ICONIC People Just Do Nothing, the BBC mockumentary series – and feature film – where he played MC Grindah.  In this hilarious chat, Allan tells us all about the insp...

We’ve got a real treat in store for you today angels, starting with the latest explosive Gwyneth Paltrow interview and the many, many revelations she made on how her exes Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck compare, as well as a big debate on therapy, finding yourself and how the Goop guru’s life advice actually works in practice. Next, we get into a fascinating chronology of the ‘It Girl’ phenomenon, based...

This week hunnies we have musician, The X Factor semi-finalist and Strictly finalist Fleur East on the show for a chat all about what it’s like to go through the often brutal churn of reality TV, and come out very much on top! She shared stories about how she almost pulled out of her big The X Factor audition, dealing with managers who wanted to lie about her age, and the wildest A-List party she...

We’re back with a thrilling culture debrief for you today, angels, and as you can hear from our unhinged giggling, we are really very excited to be reuinited with you all, gossiping about everything from Sofia Richie’s wedding at the infamous, ridiculously luxurious Cap Du Eden Roc hotel in France, to the explosive sex scandal gripping the cast of Netflix’s latest hit, Beef. We also get stuck into...

Hello darlings, have you missed us? Kathleen is back from Mexico so Straight Up is back to business and we have an excellent celebrity interview for you today: Ryan Hennessy, frontman of Picture This, the childhood friends turned Irish mega band who flew to the top of the Irish charts with their debut album in 2017. If you go weak for an Irish accent and swoon over gorgeous introspective songs abo...

Hi gorgeous ones! Today we round up our mini celebrity journalism series with the fourth and final part (listen to parts one to three by scrolling back in our archive - they’re super juicy!). And it’s all about celebrity journalism’s uncertain future: in an era in which celebs increasingly hold all the power, and publications are losing their relevancy, who needs who? After Ellie reveals a shock c...

Jordan Stephens is in the studio today angels and this is defo one of our favourite chats to date – you are going to absolutely love this one! Jordan shot to fame as a teenager as one half of Rizzle Kicks, they disbanded in 2016 and he went on to pursue a super successful, incredibly varied career, from actor and painter to children’s book author (as well as still releasing music ofc). We sat down...

Welcome back angels! We’ve got a corker of a chat for you today, where first we quickly debrief on our favourite Oscar looks, before getting into The Whale, for which Brendan Fraser took home Best Actor, and Hollywood’s surrounding fat suit controversy. Is the portrayal of his character Charlie is ethical? And why are  weight and morality all too often confused? Plus Jonah Hill’s life-long st...

Hi darlings, we’re back today with a chat with the man who got us turning our kitchens into dancefloors over the pandemic, and has just released one of the most disco-tastic albums of 2023, AudioLust and HigherLove. SG Lewis (or Sam, to his friends) is, as Kathleen says, a pied piper of the party! Makes sense that he’s also super-producer to some of the world’s biggest stars, from Mabel to Dua Lip...

First up today darlings is a whistlestop recommendation rundown for New York, where Ellie celebrated her 30th last week, followed by a blow-by-blow look at the car crash that is the Peltz-Beckham wedding lawsuit drama. Then, a further debrief on the unofficial first family of Britain, from whether we think Victoria Beckham is a nice person, featuring *alleged* intel from Kathleen, who once met one...