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Mary Elizabeth Williams

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Salon

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“Unzip, let it rip and fly”: Bridget Everett put it all out there for us — and got a gift in return

The HBO star reflects on "Somebody Somewhere” ending, her big break and personal breakthroughs

08.12.2024 5

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

"People were ready to laugh": "Fargo's" Allison Tolman on why "St. Denis Medical" is so appealing

If, instead of becoming an actor, Allison Tolman had become a nurse, you would have wanted her to be your nurse. As Alex on NBC's new hit mockumentary...

05.12.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

"She ripped up her own formula": How Taylor Swift single-handedly changed pop music

There are no accidents in Taylor Swift's world. On the bright June night my family and I saw the Eras tour, her surprise songs were "I Forgot That You...

25.11.2024 4

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

The evolution of Rosemarie DeWitt's career, from "Sex and the City" to "deeply flawed" Disney mom

Take it as a green flag if your partner has a crush on Rosemarie DeWitt. Although the veteran actress ran the gamut playing characters in films like...

22.11.2024 5

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

“A wounding disappointment”: Why Kamala Harris’ defeat cuts so deep for women

I was in a Manhattan museum on a recent October weekend when I noticed the Post-It tacked inside the stall in the ladies' room. "Woman to woman," it...

06.11.2024 50

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

“A wounding disappointment”: Why Kamala Harris’ defeat cuts so deep for women

I was in a Manhattan museum on a recent October weekend when I noticed the Post-It tacked inside the stall in the ladies' room. "Woman to woman," it...

06.11.2024 6

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Scott Speedman embraces his fandoms, from “Felicity” to “Teacup”: “I never want to run from that”

Scott Speedman is in it for the tingle. The 49-year-old actor has racked up dozens of roles in long-running series like "Animal Kingdom," "You" and...

27.10.2024 5

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

My mother's final secret: Searching for the little sister I never knew I had

I'd been having dinner with my cousin Danny, in town for a few days on a business trip, when he lightly dropped the bombshell. We'd been talking about...

15.10.2024 5

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

"All love stories end in tragedy": "The Notebook" author Nicholas Sparks defines his genre

Nicholas Sparks has a talent for making you weepy. His 24th novel, "Counting Miracles," which leapt to the top of the New York Times bestseller list...

09.10.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Peter Gallagher always took “The O.C.” seriously. Sandy Cohen was the dad of his dreams, too

Peter Gallagher is reminiscing about a defining moment in his acting career. It was the early aughts, and he had just been cast in a buzzy Fox drama...

27.09.2024 8

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

"The Old Man" star Jeff Bridges: "I didn't think I was going to work again"

Jeff Bridges really is that chill. Within minutes of our meeting for the first time, he is recommending meditative breathing techniques and calling me...

18.09.2024 9

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

“It’s like we were astronauts”: From peak TV to “Fallout,” Walton Goggins ascends to new heights

"It's always been like the perfect stock," says Walton Goggins. The 52-year-old actor isn't talking about his portfolio — although that's probably...

25.08.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

An ability to play kindness got Lamorne Morris a role on "Fargo," then came the Emmy nomination

When Lamorne Morris got the call from “Fargo” showrunner Noah Hawley offering him a leading role in Season 5, he was confused at first. “You...

22.08.2024 7

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

"God never hands me a softball": Sandra Lee explains why she hasn't worked in 8 years

"Isn't it pretty? " Sandra Lee asks me, and I have to agree. The Emmy Award-winning television host, author and coiner of the word "tablescape " is...

19.08.2024 6

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

The "Star Wars" moment when "Industry" star Ken Leung knew he'd arrived

For an actor who’s currently playing one of television’s most electrifyingly cutthroat characters, Ken Leung is refreshingly upbeat. As Eric Tao...

12.08.2024 5

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Greg Louganis beat calls to "tone the gay thing down" as an HIV-positive Olympian in the 1980s

Greg Louganis wasn’t supposed to compete at the 1988 Olympics. The superstar athlete, dubbed the “Baryshnikov of diving,” had originally planned...

11.08.2024 50

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

“I’m a very strange man”: Dylan Sprouse talks good yogurt, bad twin roles and finding a butt double

“We wanted to frame it in a very morally gray area,” says actor Dylan Sprouse. The premise of his new movie sounds at first like a uniquely...

06.08.2024 5

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Why David Duchovny wrote in his own nude scene at 63: "I find that funny"

“It's all failure to me,” says David Duchovny. The Golden Globe-winning actor has led the kind of life most people would regard as a home run —...

05.07.2024 5

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Grief is brutal, but there is value in it, experts say. So why do we try to "cure" it?

Cody Delistraty wanted to get good at grief. After his mother died of melanoma when he was in his early twenties, he found, as he writes in his new...

30.06.2024 20

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Swiftie dads show the power of positive masculinity

It was still early in the day when the men with glitter in their copper beards started appearing on the streets. They had rhinestone cowboy hats on...

28.06.2024 30

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

The hidden key to healthy aging that we don't tell women about: financial security

"Look, we're all aging," Maddy Dychtwald tells me. "That's a process that starts in the womb, and goes all the way to the day you die." The 74...

23.06.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

The toll of truth: What happens when you expose medical wrongdoing?

Dan Markingson’s mother was worried about him. Her son, seriously struggling with mental illness, had enrolled in an AstraZeneca drug trial at the...

20.06.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

"High intensity training for the mind": A neurosurgeon explains why we dream

I woke up exhausted this morning. It’s not that I didn’t get a good sleep — I did. It was just an incredibly busy one, full of running, climbing...

15.06.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

What do we mean when we say "sober" now?

Nearly ninety years ago, when Bill Wilson and Bob Smith joined forces to create the program what would become known as Alcoholics Anonymous, there was...

09.06.2024 20

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Patriarchy harms boys and men, too. Helping them realize this is key to erasing toxic masculinity

“It really did feel like, ‘My tribe is abandoning my kids,’” recalls author Ruth Whippman. There she was, pregnant with her third son, already...

08.06.2024 60

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

"It was just as normal as taco Tuesday": Why comedian Paul Scheer finally faced his childhood trauma

You don’t spend a career performing and over a decade cohosting a podcast called “How Did This Get Made?” and not learn a few things about how a...

03.06.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Conflict expert William Ury reveals the "cheapest concession you can make" negotiating

“Conflict has become a growth industry,” says author and educator William Ury. “The real question now is, how do we deal with it?” It’s a...

26.05.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Author Cass Sunstein unlocks what it takes to be as big as The Beatles

A book with an intentionally cheeky title like “How to Become Famous” sounds more like the work of a teenaged TikTok star than a 69-year-old...

25.05.2024 9

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

"Gravity is never going to go out of style": Steven Wright on the secret to comedy longevity

“I'm just trying to make them laugh,” says Steven Wright. “I don't focus on emotion.” The 68-year-old comedian and actor, who’s built a...

22.05.2024 20

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Why King Charles' portrait is so grotesque. Hint: It's not just the color

Seeing red? The unsettling horror of the royal portrait may reveal more about how we see him

18.05.2024 20

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Can eating nothing but meat actually be healthy? The real dangers and upsides of restrictive diets

The scales of trends always seem to seek balance. As more Americans than ever are leaning their diets in a more plant-based direction, inevitably, so...

12.02.2024 3

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Our love of soft, sweet foods goes back even further than we imagined

This morning, as I sliced a ripe banana into a pillowy bowl of fresh yogurt, I wasn't just indifferently throwing together another breakfast. I was...

11.02.2024 40

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Is tech making learning foreign languages obsolete?

I wouldn't exactly say the French has been going well. A few decades after I left behind my high school language requirement (and the middling grades...

10.02.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Partial recall: Memory experts explain what's normal forgetfulness — and when you should worry

Do you know where you left your keys? What's the name of that Oscar nominated actor — the one who's not the frontrunner? Is today Tuesday? Do you...

09.02.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Exploring your "night self": How one author embraced the joy of being "Sleepless"

You know that age-old advice that if you're swimming and feel yourself getting pulled out to sea by a rip current, to swim across rather than fighting...

06.02.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

A majority of Americans have stomach problems, so why can't we quit spicy food?

In other "How is everyody doing?" news this month, beverage brand Truly Hard Seltzer announced an "ultra-limited edition" Hot Wing Sauce flavored...

05.02.2024 6

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Pope Francis isn't completely wrong about surrogacy

"Despicable," Pope Francis called it recently during his annual address to the world’s ambassadors to the Vatican, urging for a global ban "to...

05.02.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Why are vegan men perceived as "less masculine"?

Just as surely as cats are girls and dogs are boys, everybody knows that salad is girls and meat is boys. A recent study out of Europe, published in...

03.02.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

J. Smith-Cameron knows why you loved Gerri and Roman on "Succession": "It was kind of sexy"

J. Smith-Cameron misses "Succession" too. "It's hard to get through your head that it's not continuing," the Emmy- and Tony-nominated actor...

01.02.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

What happens when a wine expert doesn't want to drink?

"Dry January is hard for me." When Caroline Conner, a wine expert and educator living in Lyon, France, admitted that on her Instagram feed earlier...

30.01.2024 20

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Adult eating disorders are on the rise, and they're harder to diagnose and treat

I hadn't seen my friend in a long time, and when we met up for brunch I thought she looked great. The years had seemed to have had no effect on her;...

28.01.2024 30

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

In defense of Taylor Swift's performance in "Cats"

When she posed for Time's 2023 "Person of the Year" cover wearing one of her three cats draped around her neck like a boa, Taylor Swift seemed to...

28.01.2024 30

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Water bottles everywhere — so why are we still not drinking enough water?

Buying things is not the same as doing things. Weights don't work unless you pick them up. Books don't read themselves. And those supersized water...

20.01.2024 6

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

"Drag Race" icon Bianca del Rio on performing in an age of drag bans: "Don't take our brunch"

Bianca Del Rio's new tour may be called Dead Inside, but on the outside, she's plenty lively. In the near-decade since her win on "RuPaul's Drag...

18.01.2024 3

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Set a goal to lose weight this year? Experts explain how to do it right to make it stick

It's the time of year for motivational stories. A "new year, new you" narrative, one that's often accompanied by inspiring videos from the gym of a...

15.01.2024 8

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Lily Gladstone's acceptance speech shows why we need to save endangered languages

When Lily Gladstone accepted her historic Golden Globe award earlier this month, the "Killers of the Flower Moon" star didn't just express her thanks....

14.01.2024 50

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Is decaf "the new sober"?

I can't handle my drug of choice the way I used to anymore. I used to think it gave me energy and made me fun. Now, even a little too much makes my...

08.01.2024 20

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Yes, men and boys are in crisis — but traditional masculinity won't help them

I'm tired of toxic masculinity. I mean, I'm tired of its existence in general, particularly in the corrosive radicalization of our boys and young men....

06.01.2024 10

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

A salty, sweet croissant butter to spread on your croissants — and everything else

I'm usually impervious to the siren call of Instagram advertisements, but this one couldn't help but get my attention. From the beautiful Pollen...

05.01.2024 5

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Normalizing separate bedrooms: Here's why you shouldn't feel bad about sleeping apart

Most evenings, I like to get a head start. I kiss my spouse goodnight, put in my earplugs and turn in to bed early. He then comes in a good 30 to 60...

05.01.2024 20

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

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