VANITY FAIR

Sir Patrick Stewart, the beloved actor of stage, screen, and television, died Wednesday following “a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia,” according to his representative Kelly Bush Novak. He was 86 years old. The performer, best known in this and every other star system as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise, first appeared in the legendary role in September 1987. After seven seasons of television, four feature films, several video games and site-specific interactive experiences, he returned to the character in the age of streaming, finally warping to retirement, surrounded by his crew, in April 2023. Read the full obituary by Jordan Hoffman: vanityfair.visitlink.me/JGX7… Photographer @annieleibovitz (October 2013 Issue)

The biggest star of Oscar season may be a woman who can’t even attend. This past month, one name has been circling around Hollywood more than any other: Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. The documentary ‘You Can See Everything’— which follows Holmes during the 34 days leading up to her 11-year prison sentence for fraud (now reduced to 10 years)—has become a must-see sensation and a box-office hit. We’ve already covered the most shocking revelations from the A24 film, but another big twist could be coming: ‘You Can See Everything’ is very likely to become the first documentary ever nominated for best picture. Read more from VF's @Beccamford: vanityfair.visitlink.me/-X5Q…

For close to a decade, livestreaming extremist Nick Fuentes has led a growing cohort of young men toward what’s looked like the insidious post-Trump future of the right. But as his movement is consumed by nihilism and infighting, it’s become a fitting outgrowth of Trump’s own cult of personality. When reached for comment, though, Fuentes said he’s moving strategically: vanityfair.visitlink.me/fRT0…

Welcome to the 2026 midterms: weird, wild, vital, nasty, and unnervingly online. If 2024 was the podcast election, 2026 is shaping up to be the short-form-video election. A fresh crop of young Democrats is using viral videos to catapult their campaigns to national attention and build massive war chests. Ossoff has pulled in $110 million this election cycle thanks in part to this modern media strategy, while Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is betting that social media stardom can translate into votes. In Vanity Fair’s series leading up to Election Day, we’re popping around the country to examine the hope and mire of the campaign trail and take stock of where the country might go next. Read more from Vanity Fair’s @aidnmclaughlin: vanityfair.visitlink.me/n5eP…

Is Elizabeth Holmes the biggest star of Oscar season? 'You Can See Everything' will likely make history as the first documentary nominated for best picture—and there’s potential for a few more surprise twists: vanityfair.visitlink.me/jyTv…

Anthony Boyle on reaching out to Sam Bankman-Fried in prison: "Annoyingly for this interview, I promised him that I wouldn’t divulge anything. I asked him to open his heart up to me, and he really did. He was very forthcoming with over 100 questions in emails. He answered, I’d say, 98% of them. Even the ones that he didn’t answer were very telling for me, because you’re like a detective, trying to figure out how he answers them and in what way. And can you trust it?" vanityfair.visitlink.me/F9Y9…

Anthony Boyle on playing a character outside of period dramas: "It’s the first time I had to act with a laptop and an iPhone, and it’s so annoying. There’s no one there that you’re looking at. You’re just looking at a green screen. And then it [causes problems]—like, Oh, we saw the camera in the reflection when you turned it that way. These things that I didn’t have to deal with before because I was, as you said, Mr. Period Man." vanityfair.visitlink.me/F9Y9…

The next two years in the United States will be informed—heavily—by what happens in the 2026 midterm elections on Tuesday. Will Democrats take control of the House and haul an endless parade of Trump administration officials before their committees for questioning? Will they take the Senate too, and really put the brakes on Donald Trump’s presidency? Which state legislatures and governors’ mansions will change hands? Yes, the proceedings are freighted with world-historical gravity. But the many campaigns barreling toward their conclusions across the country have also proved impressively wild and weird. Before the results roll in after Tuesday’s big night, here’s everything you need to know—and a few things you don’t: vanityfair.visitlink.me/1BtE…

At Medieval Times, a dinner-theater kingdom faces a reckoning. Alessandra Schade spent months reporting on the people who worked inside the popular themed restaurant, and what she found was lawsuits, allegations of sexual harassment and animal abuse, and a workplace some employees found to be as medieval as it’s namesake. Schade investigates how a place built around a fairy tale became a nightmare for the people living it. Read the full story: vanityfair.visitlink.me/j-I1…

For over a year, wealthy donors have been trying to find a replacement for LA mayor Karen Bass. Billionaire developer Rick Caruso was encouraged by Ari Emanuel to consider another run for elected office. Spencer Pratt, the reality TV villain whose house burned down in the Palisades fire, transformed his personal tragedy into an insurgent mayoral campaign. But neither man became Bass’s 2026 general-election opponent. vanityfair.visitlink.me/Xvdc…