King Charles gives young local hero the call of a lifetime
King Charles delivered something truly personal to 12‑year‑old Ella Jeavons last week, praising her uplifting work singing for dementia patients at local nursing homes.
The proud family shareable moment was posted on Twitter by retired fashion retailer Steve, who beamed with pride at the recognition from Buckingham Palace itself.
The beautifully simple note, penned on palace stationery and signed by the King’s Head of Royal Correspondence, said His Majesty was “deeply touched” by Ella’s music and community spirit, and sent his “very best wishes for a full and swift recovery” after she’d been unwell.
For someone her age, drawing encouragement straight from the monarch is nothing short of unforgettable and, as her grandfather put it, “not bad for a 12‑year‑old!”
But that wasn’t the only royal nod making headlines this week. As Scotland’s traditional celebration of poet Robert Burns took place on January 25, King Charles marked Burns Night with a Scottish flourish straight from his Balmoral Castle library.
The palace released a striking portrait of the monarch in his own tartan kilt designed by the Scottish Tartans Authority and named in his honour to commemorate the bard’s birth.
Charles has long shown a fondness for Scottish culture, often appearing in Highland dress and embracing his role as a custodian of British and Scottish heritage.
Victoria Beckham celebrates major win after Brooklyn bombshell claims: ‘Grateful’
Victoria Beckham is paying tribute to her family as she receives a fashion milestone.
On January 26, the French Ministry of Culture honored the former Spice Girls with the award of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.
The ceremony, which took place in Paris, Victoria was joined by her husband David Beckham and their kids, including daughter Harper, sons Cruz and Romeo.
Victoria took to her Instagram to mark the milestone and expressed her gratitude to the French government for the recognition, while saying a special thanks to her husband, calling him the “original investor.”
“I’m so honoured to be named a Chevalière de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. I have always deeply admired the French aesthetic and the seriousness with which it treats fashion: as a form of art,” she wrote, along with snaps from the event.
“So to be recognized here and embraced in this way, is a profound privilege — one that reflects decades of commitment and dedication,” she continued.
“My sincere thanks to the French Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati for this honour. Thank you also to business partners who believed in me, my family, and especially David — my husband, and original investor. I couldn’t be more grateful, you are my everything,” she concluded.
This came after Victoria and David’s estranged son posted a six-page-long bombshell claims, alleging his parent attempted to ruin his marriage to his wife Nicola Peltz.
The menopause is linked to changes in the brain similar to those seen in Alzheimer’s, according to a large UK study.
The loss of grey matter in areas involved with memory and emotion might partly explain why women are generally at greater risk of dementia than men, researchers speculate.
The findings come from nearly 125,000 women, of whom 11,000 had MRI brain scans.
In the study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use did not appear to prevent the grey matter loss.
Prof Barbara Sahakian, senior author and from Cambridge University, said: “The brain regions where we saw these differences are ones that tend to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
“Menopause could make these women vulnerable further down the line. While not the whole story, it may help explain why we see almost twice as many cases of dementia in women than in men.”
The brain changes occurred in:
a area which has a major role in learning and memory – the hippocampus
a region essential for forming memories and spatial navigation – the entorhinal cortex
a part which helps with attention and regulating emotions – the anterior cingulate cortex
White matter and grey matter are both essential parts of the brain and spinal cord.
Grey matter consists of neuronal cell bodies and their dendrites – short protrusions that communicate with neurons nearby.
White matter consists of long axons of neurons that transmit impulses to more distant regions of the brain and spinal cord.
Asking for help
According to guidelines for the NHS, HRT can be considered for menopausal symptoms such as sleep problems and hot flushes.
There is limited understanding of the effects of menopause and HRT use on the brain, memory and mood, say the researchers.
The study found women on HRT were more likely to suffer poor mental health. But may of those already had poorer mental health before being prescribed the medication.
Co-researcher Dr Christelle Langley said it was important to recognise the variety of struggles that can come with menopause.
“We all need to be more sensitive to not only the physical, but also the mental health of women during menopause.
“There should be no embarrassment in letting others know what you’re going through and asking for help.”
Michelle Dyson from the Alzheimer’s Society said women account for around two-thirds of people living with Alzheimer’s disease in the UK.
“And while we still don’t fully understand why they are more susceptible than men, it is thought that hormones may play a role,” she said.
“This large study adds to evidence showing how menopause impacts the brain, including physical changes such as loss of brain volume.
“But without long-term participant tracking, to check if they later develop dementia, we cannot be sure that these brain changes associated with menopause also increase dementia risk.”
She said getting regular exercise, not smoking and limiting alcohol intake can help cut the risk of dementia.
A new team that aims to help small businesses win more defence contracts and make defence an “engine for growth” has been launched by the UK Government.
Luke Pollard, minister for defence readiness and industry, described small business as the “backbone of UK defence” as he announced the establishment of the Defence Office for Small Business Growth (OfSBG).
The OfSBG team will be made up of staff who are policy and commercial experts, who will support small and medium (SME) sized UK firms to bid for and win more defence contracts.
It is hoped the OfSBG will reverse the decline in Ministry of Defence (MOD) spending on SMEs and help deliver on the UK Government’s pledge to increase defence spending with SMEs by 50% by 2028.
Mr Pollard said: “We’re establishing the Defence Office for Small Business Growth as part of our mission to increase the amount of spend that the Ministry of Defence makes with small businesses across the country.
“We currently spend about £5 billion a year, and we want to increase that by 50% to £7.5 billion by 2028, now that’s a huge increase that will create lots of jobs, lots of growth, and make Britain stronger.
“But to do that, we want to make it easier for small businesses to be able to interact with defence, so we can procure faster and quicker, and they can bring their products to market even faster as well.
“So it’s the start of a process about making defence more small business friendly, creating good jobs and growth, and making sure that defence is an engine for growth in every part of our country.”
The team will help to simplify and speed up processes, provide advice to SMEs and encourage private sector investment.
Mr Pollard said the establishment of the OfSBG is important amid the current security climate.
He said: “We know we live in a new era of threat, and we can see the dangers on our TV screens every single day, so bringing more resilience to our industrial supply chain is so important.
“An army, a military, is only as strong as the industry that sits behind it, and as a government, we want to direct more of our increasing defence budget at British companies, both large and small, and to do that, we want to make it easier for small businesses to sell their goods and services into defence so we can support growth in our country as well as making our supply chains more resilient.”
Ahead of the announcement on Tuesday, Mr Pollard was in Renfrewshire on Monday to visit the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, which backs the manufacturing of innovative technology, and also visited Viper::Blast, based in Aberdour, Fife, which specialises in fast, high-fidelity simulation of air blast, explosive detonations and structural loading.
The OfSBG will act as a central hub for advice and support on engaging with defence, ensuring procurement processes are faster, simpler and more effective.
Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said: “The creation of the Defence Office for Small Business Growth is great news for Scottish businesses, workers and the economy as it will help boost opportunities and access to investment, supported by our pledge to increase spending with SMEs by £2.5 billion by May 2028.
“Defence is already a key driver for renewal in Scotland, with the Ministry of Defence spending more than £2 billion a year with the sector in Scotland, supporting nearly 12,000 industry jobs.
“Now with our historic uplift in spending to protect our own and European security and this new support for small and medium enterprises, we will further transform the sector.
“As we up our game on defence, Scotland’s world-class industry and supply chain and global demand for Scottish expertise will play a big role in ensuring Britain’s security, deterring our adversaries and driving economic growth for years to come.”
A public-facing web portal and contact centre will initially support 30 SMEs, from carefully selected sectors, ranging from aeronautical engineering to cyber, and covering the whole of the UK from the south of England to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Chinese state-linked hackers breached mobile phones at “the heart of Downing Street” amid a global cyber-espionage campaign over several years targeting telecommunication networks, according to reports.
U.S. officials first alerted its allies in 2024 after finding out that hacking groups had gained access to telecom companies around the world, according to The Associated Press.
The campaign reportedly targeted multiple countries, including the U.S. and the other members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance: Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
The breaches allegedly gave China access to the phone data of millions and the possible ability to eavesdrop on calls, read text messages and track users’ locations.
Chinese cyberattacks reportedly reached “the heart” of the U.K.’s Downing Street, a source told The Telegraph.(Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)
The hackers also had the ability to record calls “at will” according to Anne Neuberger, who was a deputy U.S. national security adviser between January 2021 and January 2025, The Telegraph reported.
Neuberger said that the “Chinese gained access to networks and essentially had broad and full access,” giving them the capability to “geolocate millions of individuals, to record phone calls at will.”
U.S. intelligence agencies believe the breaches date back to at least 2021, but they were only identified and disclosed by U.S. authorities in 2024.
A source told The Telegraph that the breach went “right into the heart of Downing Street.”(Leon Neal/Getty Images)
In 2024, The Associated Press reported that U.S. federal authorities urged telecommunication companies to boost network security. The guidance, issued by the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, was to help root out the hackers and prevent similar attacks in the future.
A joint cybersecurity advisory was issued in August 2025, with the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and allied partners warning that Chinese state-sponsored actors were targeting networks globally.
“The malicious activity outlined in the advisory partially overlaps with cybersecurity industry reporting on Chinese state-sponsored threat actors referred to by names such as Salt Typhoon,” an NSA release said.
In the U.K., officials raised concerns that senior government figures may also have been exposed. One source told The Telegraph that the breach went “right into the heart of Downing Street.”
There were reportedly “many” hacking attacks on phones across the British government, particularly under the tenure of Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.(Hannah McKay/Reuters)
Similarly, The Telegraph was told that there were “many” different hacking attacks on the phones of Downing Street staff and across wider government, especially when Rishi Sunak was prime minister between 2022 and 2024.
Yuval Wollman, a former Israeli intelligence chief, also told The Telegraph that Salt Typhoon was “one of the most prominent names” in the cyber-espionage world.
“While much of the public reporting has focused on U.S. targets, Salt Typhoon’s operations have extended into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where it has targeted telecoms firms, government entities and technology companies,” Wollman of cybersecurity platform CyberProof added.
In the past, China’s foreign ministry dismissed the claims as “baseless” and “lacking evidence,” according to The Telegraph.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Downing Street for comment.
Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.
Every year around this time, we take a stab at identifying which teams might break out in the coming season. Two years ago, I tackled it with an algorithm. Last year, I went with a more player-centric approach. The conclusion: It’s not easy predicting which teams are about to break out.
First, what even is a breakout team? Let’s define it like this: A breakout team is a club that wins at least 10 more games than what would be expected by its established level of play.
To define the latter, we won’t get fancy: We’ll use wins per 162 games for the previous two seasons, while giving double weight to the most recent season. Entering last season, the highest baseline win level was — you get one guess — the Los Angeles Dodgers, at 98.7. The lowest was the Chicago White Sox at 47.7.
Last year, there were three teams that beat their baseline win figure by at least 10, all in the American League: the White Sox, the Athletics and the Toronto Blue Jays.
Breaking out means different things for different teams. For the White Sox, it meant being less terrible than their record-setting 2024 collapse. For the Athletics, it meant a return to respectability, laying the foundation for a possible playoff run in 2026. For the Blue Jays, it meant falling inches shy of a World Series championship.
The total of three breakout teams in 2025 was lower than usual. By these definitions, there has been an average of 5.1 breakout teams per season during the wild-card era (since 1995). The yearly totals range from just two (in 2010) to nine (2023), not counting the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
There it is: In a typical season we can expect to have five breakout teams. The trick is to figure out who they will be. So, using some recent examples, let’s figure out why some of those teams broke out, and try to match them with the profiles of five teams looking to pop in 2026.
I’ve also included the percentage chances of these teams meeting our breakout criteria, based on how often they did so during my most recent run of simulations. Bear in mind that these five teams were selected with a combination of subjective and objective criteria, so they are not necessarily the clubs with the five highest breakout probabilities.
Breakout key: Getting healthier
Model: 2022 Diamondbacks
Baseline wins: 80
Breakout target: 90
Breakout probability: 59%
The 2021 Diamondbacks bottomed out at 110 losses, a depth the Braves didn’t approach during their injury-fueled collapse of last season. But like Atlanta, that Arizona club was beset by injuries. The starting rotation didn’t feature a single hurler who qualified for the ERA title, as each of Merrill Kelly, Zac Gallen, Madison Bumgarner and Luke Weaver spent at least one stretch on the injured list. The Diamondbacks had injuries all over — both Ketel Marte and Christian Walker missed time among the batsmen — but the bulk of the impact came on the pitching side, as Arizona allowed 5.51 runs per game. The D-backs shaved nearly a run per game off that total in 2022, won 22 more games and by 2023 found themselves in the World Series.
That Arizona club could be a model for the Braves in more than one way. Like the Diamondbacks, Atlanta has actually “collapsed” two years in a row, if we define collapses as the opposite version of our breakouts, or a 10-game decline. The Diamondbacks followed their two collapses with two straight breakouts and that aforementioned pennant. The Braves, who suffered an Arizona-like dip in run prevention while slipping from 89 to 76 wins, hope to do the same. The Braves finished 19 games under their preseason over/under line in the betting markets, the largest shortfall in the majors.
Injuries were the primary culprit, though there were certainly some underperformances as well. Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider both missed time, as they did in 2024, and when they played they were still working their way back into form. Getting those stars and others, such as Austin Riley and Matt Olson, back to full capacity and/or productivity is the Braves’ best hope for a quick bounce-back. The projections think they have a good chance of getting that. My simulations have the Braves winning 11 more games than their baseline win estimate of 80. In other words, their average projection qualifies them as a breakout team, the only team for which that is the case.
However, better health can’t be assumed. As if the Braves needed a reminder of that after the past two seasons, they already are dealing with a hand injury to shortstop Ha-Seong Kim that is expected to keep him out well into the regular season.
Breakout key: Plain old regression
Model: 2001 Astros
Baseline wins: 80
Breakout target: 90
Breakout probability: 35%
I badly wanted to use the 1919 White Sox here, as Chicago went from 101.8 wins per 162 games in 1917, dropped to 74.5 in 1918, then rebounded to 103.8 in its infamous 1919 season. But too much of that 1918 collapse was due to players such as Shoeless Joe Jackson being drawn into World War I-related service. A defensible collapse indeed.
A much more contemporary example is the 2001 Astros. The three-year winning progression for those Houston teams: 97 in 1999, 72 in 2000, then a regression all the way back to 93 in 2001. The collapse in the middle was pitching related, as Houston’s staff ERA ballooned from 3.84 in 1999 to 5.42 the next year. Mike Hampton departed via free agency after a 22-4 1999 season, and Jose Lima, Shane Reynolds and Scott Elarton fell off in performance.
In 2001, however, Wade Miller broke out after an up-and-down rookie season, Reynolds regressed in a positive direction and Roy Oswalt arrived as one of that season’s standout rookies. The staff ERA improved to 4.39, and Houston was back in the playoffs.
Last year, the Orioles were the AL’s version of the Braves. Although Baltimore didn’t fall as far short of its preseason over/under as the Braves did, its 19-game shortfall compared with its win baseline (94) was the game’s biggest. The collapse was present on both sides of the ball. The Orioles declined from 4.9 runs scored per game in 2024 to 4.2; their runs allowed increased from 4.3 to 4.9.
The current Orioles are winning an average of 85.2 games in my simulations, a healthy bounce-back that still leaves Baltimore well short of where it was in 2024. Signing another pitcher (Framber Valdez) would help. But even without more impact additions, the Orioles should almost certainly be better. Health is one key factor, as with Atlanta. According to Baseball Prospectus’ injury data, only Houston had more player value lost to injury a year ago than the Orioles.
But the Orioles need their key hitters to regress in the right direction as well. Gunnar Henderson was once again outstanding, just not as much as in 2024, going from a 155 OPS+ to 121. His career mark is now 135, and just hitting that would be a huge boon for the Orioles. In the same vein, Adley Rutschman‘s production dipped, but his case is more troubling. His OPS+ progression during his four big league seasons is 131, 128, 105, 90. If he can break that trend and hit his career mark (115), the Orioles will be thrilled.
Luckily, the Orioles haven’t stood pat and pinned all their hopes on better health, positive regression and continued development for key young players such as Jackson Holliday, Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers. They also went out and added some impact veterans, including a new closer (Ryan Helsley) and a new cleanup hitter (Pete Alonso).
But they still need to add another pitcher.
Breakout key: Targeted spending
Model: 2024 Royals
Baseline wins: 73
Breakout target: 83
Breakout probability: 29%
The 2023 Royals won 56 games. The 2024 Royals won 86 and made the playoffs. Sure, having a generational star like Bobby Witt Jr. coming into his own played a key role in that. But as has been written many times since that shocking turnaround, the biggest factor was that the Royals tried.
It seems like such a low bar, yet so many teams don’t seem to clear it, at least when it comes to accessing the talent pool of each winter’s free agent class. The Royals were such a team, then between the 2023 and 2024 seasons, they focused on upgrading their starting rotation, zeroed in on free agents Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, and convinced them to move to Kansas City. They’re still there, and the Royals’ rotation is still their non-Witt team strength.
For Pittsburgh, the rotation was already the strength, and the Pirates have demonstrated a knack for identifying and developing quality relievers. This was true before last season, when it seemed so clear that a modest, targeted investment in the team’s offense could pay outsized dividends. We weren’t talking about going after Juan Soto, just someone to lift the offense in the direction of league average.
Last winter, it didn’t happen. The Pirates picked up Spencer Horwitz in a trade but didn’t sign a single free agent hitter to a multiyear contract. This winter they did — Ryan O’Hearn — and supplemented that with Brandon Lowe, Jake Mangum and Jhostynxon Garcia as trade acquisitions. Do the Pirates have a Royalesque 30-game leap in them? Doubtful. But half that gets them into the wild-card conversation.
Breakout key: Prospect ascension
Model: 2022 Orioles
Baseline wins: 61
Breakout target: 71
Breakout probability: 12%
Maybe I’m jumping the gun a bit on the White Sox, whose definition for “breakout” remains “less bad.” But you can sense the team is starting to take shape, and although last year’s 19-win leap will be hard to replicate, it’s just as unlikely that the White Sox will take a step backward. There are too many young players who have a little big league time under their belts now, and Chicago hasn’t even started to gently add right-now major leaguers. I wouldn’t expect this season to be the breakout for this team, as in a return to playoff contention. More likely it’s a soft breakout, in the mold of the 2022 Orioles.
Few teams have tanked with the wanton depravity of the 2018 to 2021 Orioles. And the end of that miserable stretch didn’t really offer much of a glimpse of what was taking shape in Baltimore’s highly ranked minor league system. Then, in 2022, Rutschman, Henderson, Kyle Stowers, Kyle Bradish and Felix Bautista began to establish themselves. Baltimore’s fortunes turned quickly, as it followed a 52-win season with 83 victories in 2022. There was more work to do, but the Orioles’ contention window had opened.
The White Sox are similar in several key ways. They’ve dropped more than 100 games three years running, so by Baltimore’s standard we might expect another year of that. But Chicago has already pushed a number of its key building-block players to the majors, and more are on the way. I don’t know that the White Sox can leap over .500 like those Orioles did, but if there is a club from baseball’s bottom rung most likely to do it, it’s Chicago.
Breakout key: A new catalyst
Model: 2018 Red Sox
Baseline wins: 89
Breakout target: 99
Breakout probability: 10%
The Cubs improved by nine games last season, reaching 92 wins — their high-water mark since the Kris Bryant–Anthony Rizzo teams were broken up — and returned to the postseason. With three straight winning campaigns behind them, the Cubs’ baseline is already in division-contention territory, making their breakout bar a high one. But if they clear it, we’re talking about a leading World Series candidate — and a threat to the Dodgers.
OK, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. But the Cubs have continued to upgrade their roster even after last season’s gains. Edward Cabrera — if healthy — could prove to be one of the winter’s biggest additions. Chicago raised the floor of its bullpen with a number of veterans such as Phil Maton, Hunter Harvey, Jacob Webb and Hoby Milner.
But of course the headliner move was the signing of Alex Bregman to a five-year, $175 million deal to become a catalyst for the Cubs, on and off the field. Bregman will be with his third team in three seasons after two straight offseasons in free agency, but he’ll be bidding to take part in the postseason for a 10th straight time. That Bregman has been a key part of so many good teams is no coincidence.
As for the model here, those 2018 Red Sox, the catalyst I have in mind is J.D. Martinez. The 2017 Red Sox won 93 games but lacked a true middle-of-the-order anchor. Their primary DH was Hanley Ramirez, who slugged .429. Then Martinez arrived, hit .330/.402/.629 and led the league with 130 RBIs. With Martinez’s technician-like approach to hitting and preparation serving as an example, Boston jumped from sixth in runs scored in 2017 to first, then went on to win the World Series.
It’s highly unlikely that Bregman will have the same kind of statistical impact with the Cubs. He’s ostensibly replacing Kyle Tucker in the lineup, and Tucker is both younger and more productive at the plate. Still, Bregman improves the team on both offense and defense from where it was before he signed, and he improved the depth by pushing promising second-year player Matt Shaw into a utility role. But his overall impact could be similar to what Martinez did for those 2018 Red Sox.
Xuan Thai is a senior writer and producer in ESPN’s investigative and enterprise unit. She was previously deputy bureau chief of the south region for NBC News.
Stanford and the family of Katie Meyer, the former star soccer goalkeeper and two-time team captain who died by suicide in 2022, settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the university, the two sides announced Monday.
At the time of her death, Meyer, 22, was facing disciplinary action for allegedly spilling coffee on a Stanford football player who was accused of sexually assaulting a women’s soccer player. Meyer’s father said his daughter was defending that teammate, who was a minor at the time.
The lawsuit, filed in November 2022, stated that, on the night of her death, Stanford “negligently and recklessly” sent her the formal disciplinary notice that “contained threatening language regarding sanctions and potential ‘removal from the university.'”
A Stanford spokesperson at the time disputed the lawsuit’s assertion that the university was responsible for her death.
In a joint statement Monday, the school and Meyer’s family announced Stanford would create a Katie Meyer Leadership Award “to be given to an exceptional Stanford student-athlete each year.” The statement, which made no mention of any monetary settlement, said that Meyer’s jersey “will be retired to honor the impact Katie had on Stanford women’s soccer.”
The university also announced that it would “adopt the principles of Katie Meyer’s Law to provide support to students” who are facing the school’s disciplinary process.
The law was passed by the California legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2024 in honor of Meyer. It mandates that any California college or university that receives public funding for financial aid have a designated adviser during disciplinary proceedings.
Additionally, the joint statement said, Stanford and the Meyer family agreed to “collaborate … to launch an initiative focused on the mental health and well-being of student-athletes.”
US President Donald Trump has announced he is raising tariffs on South Korean imports to 25% after accusing Seoul of “not living up” to a trade deal reached last year.
In a post on social media, Trump said he would increase levies on South Korea from 15% across a range of products including automobiles, lumber, pharmaceuticals and “all other Reciprocal TARIFFS”.
The two countries reached a deal last October, which included a pledge from South Korea to invest $350bn (£256bn) in the US, some of which would go to shipbuilding.
Trump said South Korean lawmakers have been slow to approve the deal while “we have acted swiftly to reduce our TARIFFS in line with the Transaction agreed to”.
Tariffs are paid by companies who import products. In this case, US firms will pay a 25% tax on goods they buy from South Korea.
Trump has frequently used tariffs as leverage to enact foreign policy during his second term in the White House.
On Saturday, he threatened Canada with a 100% tariff if it struck a trade deal with China.
Before that, Trump said he would impose import taxes on eight countries – including the UK – who opposed US plans to seize Greenland, an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark which is a member of Nato.
He later backed down from the tariff threat over Greenland citing progress towards a “future deal” over the island, but the episode strained US relations with Denmark and other Nato allies.
Amelia Gray has addressed a long-running speculation about the procedures she has undergone, including an emergency surgery after complications from breast implants.
In an interview with Variety, the 24-year-old model explained that her history with breast surgery began years earlier, when she underwent a medically necessary breast reduction as a teenager to prevent sepsis after an infection caused by a piercing there.
After the reduction, Gray said she later chose to get breast implants, a decision she now links to outside influence. She admitted that she allowed someone else’s expectations of her appearance to shape her choices, and sought further surgery because she was unhappy with the scarring left behind.
The procedure, however, went badly wrong. Gray said she woke up from surgery in a condition she had not agreed to, and the implants placed in her body caused severe physical distress.
According to her account, the implants put pressure on her nerves, leaving her unable to perform basic movements without pain. The situation escalated into a medical emergency, ultimately requiring a 14-hour reconstructive surgery.
Beyond her experience with breast surgery, Gray also addressed rumours about other cosmetic work. She confirmed that she has previously had a nose job but firmly denied ever using lip filler. She explained that her lips are natural and that she currently uses SkinVive, a skin hydration treatment rather than a filler.
Gray has previously discussed her teenage health scare on a podcast, explaining that a strep infection combined with an injury from her nipple piercing led to mastitis and a dangerously high fever. She called the experience traumatic and stressed how severely it affected her at a young age.
Drinking heavily and consistently over an adult’s lifetime could lead to a higher risk of colorectal cancer, according to a study published in the journal Cancer by the American Cancer Society (ACS).
The study analyzed 20 years of data from more than 88,000 U.S. adults to determine how long-term drinking impacted the risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) or precancerous colorectal adenomas (polyps).
The participants reported their average weekly intake of beer, wine and liquor intake during four age periods — 18 to 24, 25 to 39, 40 to 54, and 55 and older.
“Heavy drinkers” were identified as having more than 14 drinks per week and “moderate drinkers” had between seven and 14 drinks per week.
The observational research revealed that consistent heavy drinking over adulthood was linked to a higher risk of colorectal cancer, especially rectal cancer.
Researchers found a major association between colorectal cancer diagnosis and heavy lifetime drinking.(iStock)
Heavy lifetime drinking was associated with a 25% higher overall CRC risk and nearly double the risk of rectal cancer. Moderate lifetime drinking had a lower overall CRC risk.
Compared to light drinkers, the consistently heavy drinkers had about a 91% higher risk of CRC.
For colorectal adenomas (precancerous polyps), higher current lifetime drinking did not show a strong pattern, although former drinkers showed a significantly lower risk of non-advanced adenoma compared to current light drinkers.
Out of the 88,092 participants, 1,679 were diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
Out of the 88,092 participants in the study, 1,679 were diagnosed with colorectal cancer.(iStock)
The authors noted that the research was limited, as it was observational and not based on a clinical trial. It also hinged on self-reported alcohol use.
The findings suggest that consistently heavy alcohol intake and higher average lifetime consumption “may increase CRC risk, whereas cessation may lower adenoma risk,” the researchers stated. Associations “may differ by tumor site,” they added.
In a recent episode of the podcast “The Dr. Mark Hyman Show,” Dr. Mark Hyman, chief medical officer of Function Health in California, detailed how even moderate drinking can impact “nearly every organ system in the body,” due to metabolic stress, inflammation, impaired detoxification and its effect on hormones.
The link between drinking alcohol and cancer is not a new discovery, according to health experts.(iStock)
Drinking has been found to increase the risk of many cancers, metabolic dysfunction, gut microbiome disturbances and mitochondrial toxins, Hyman said.
“Bottom line, alcohol taxes every major system in your body, especially your liver, your brain, your gut, your hormones,” he warned.
Reducing or eliminating alcohol can lower the risk of several cancers, according to medical experts.(Getty Images)
In a previous interview with Fox News Digital, Dr. Pinchieh Chiang, a clinician at Circle Medical in San Francisco, shared that taking a break from drinking alcohol for longer periods of time can “reshape health more profoundly.”
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“Over months to a year, we see sustained improvements in blood pressure, liver function and inflammation,” she said. “Those changes directly affect long-term heart disease and stroke risk.”
Chiang added, “Reducing or eliminating alcohol lowers the risk of several cancers, including breast and colorectal, over time.”
