Michelle Williams, actress and mother of the late Heath Ledger’s only child Matilda Rose, is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Vogue magazine. In her coverstory interview, Michelle talks about the loss of Heath and how she has managed to come to terms with his death in light of her happy relationship with director Spike Jonze. Here is Michelle’s coverphoto for Vogue magazine along with portions of her coverstory interview:

It’s been more than a year since Heath Ledger’s tragic death, and Michelle Williams is still dealing with the loss. “After the first year, the pain is less intense; it’s less immediate,” the actress tells the October issue of Vogue. “But the magical thinking goes away too. And that’s a whole new reckoning.” For some time after the death, Williams, 29, says she didn’t know what her boundaries were in regards to speaking about her former boyfriend, who died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 28 in January 2008. “I can talk about grief because that’s mine, about single parenting, about trying to balance work and kids,” she said. “But what I don’t have to talk about is what happened between Heath and me in our relationship.” Williams and Ledger, who first met when they filmed “Brokeback Mountain,” had daughter Matilda Rose, now 3, during their three-year relationship. The couple amicably split in August 2007. “‘Brokeback Mountain’ was an unrepeatable moment in time, a very charmed time in my life,” she shared. “I was in love. I was in a movie I was proud to be a part of, and with a beautiful brand-new baby. Everything was good in that moment.” Sadly, the actress’ good times turned dark when Ledger passed. “I was holding it together by a string and a paper clip in the fall and winter,” she reveals. “I didn’t know if I could keep it all together… You console yourself by saying it’s all a deepening process. But it’s wired.” Williams says it is the couple’s daughter that has helped her through the grieving process. “Every time I really miss him and wonder where he’s gone, I just look at her,” she says. Another source of strength – and love – came to the actress last year when she began dating director Spike Jonze. “I thought falling in love again was the only thing that was going to save me from the pain,” she says. “This erroneous idea: It just makes things more complicated.” As for her future, Williams is looking forward to raising Matilda. “I feel hopeful and grateful,” she says. “For a while I thought we had lost everything. It makes you want to love better and live better.”

While I’m happy to hear that Michelle has gotten to a better coping space since Heath’s death, I don’t imagine that the pain of loss will ever be entirely gone. On the positive side, Matilda Rose will be a constant reminder of Heath’s incredible impact on the world and thru her, the best of him will live on. It’s great to see Michelle back in the swing of things … she looks pretty fantastic with this Mia Farrow short hair’do. After the jump, check out a few photos from Michelle’s Vogue magazine photospread …

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First Lady Michelle Obama is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Vogue magazine, becoming only the second First Lady (after Hillary Clinton) to grace the cover. Here is Michelle’s very lovely magazine cover where she is rockin’ a hawt PINK dress designed by Jason Wu, the same designer who created her fabulous Inauguration dress:

Michelle Obama is in Vogue. Literally. As President Obama deals with crises on various fronts, the first lady follows tradition and steps into the March issue of Vogue, on stands in New York and Los Angeles Feb. 17. The magazine has photographed nearly every new first lady since Lou Hoover in 1929. Bess Truman is the only first lady since that has not appeared in Vogue, and Jackie Kennedy opted for a drawing by René Bouche. Only Hillary Clinton and Obama have made the cover. Wearing a magenta silk dress by inaugural gown designer Jason Wu on the cover, Michelle Obama’s image is captured by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, who also shot inside photographs for the article by Andre Leon Talley, who discloses that he is a “passionate supporter” and “volunteered in the campaign trenches.” And while other friends and supporters emphasize Obama’s priorities as far as daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, and her desire to make the White House more inclusive, the first lady talks about those ideals when it comes to fashion. “First and foremost, I wear what I love,” she says. “That’s what women have to focus on: what makes them happy and what makes them feel comfortable and beautiful. If I can have any impact, I want women to feel good about themselves and have fun with fashion.” Vogue notes that Obama’s “lithe frame — an uncommon figure for an American First Lady” and her leanings toward new names in American design, such as Wu and Isabel Toledo, who created the lemongrass ensemble she wore at the swearing-in, have prompted some to dub her the “new Jackie Kennedy.” Vogue insists that Obama’s style is more “pragmatism, not glamour.” When she wore the black cardigan over the Narciso Rodriguez dress during the president’s Nov. 4 acceptance speech in Chicago’s Grant Park, she received some harsh criticism. “I’m not going to pretend that I don’t care about it,” she says. “But I also have to be very practical. In the end, someone will always not like what you wear. … I was cold; I needed that sweater!”

OMG, I love her. She deffo has the right kind of style and altho some of her outfits have drawn criticism, I think that she generally gets it right. While I contend that a woman as intelligent and as accomplished as Michelle Obama should FIRST be lauded for her talents, I absolutely understand why so many people are to taken with her sense of style as well. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a faboo First Lady in the White House like Michelle :) After the jump, check out a couple other photos of Michelle Obama from this new issue of Vogue magazine …

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Gossip Girl star Blake Lively is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Vogue magazine. In her interview, Blake talks at length about how fashion is featured in GG in a coverstory article that tries to explain how the series provides lavish escapism from the everyday doldrums of an economy in recession (while describing a scene that was filmed for an upcoming episode, the article confesses “The lens cropped the Upper East Side down to its most stately and prosperous lines, with no trace of the glaring RETAIL SPACE AVAILABLE signs and GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE posters one block away, signals that the worldwide recession is lapping at the edges of Manhattan’s most privileged ZIP codes.”) but doesn’t really offer any substantial new information. The photospread is pretty to die for, tho! Here is Blake’s very stunning coverphoto and a portion of the magazine’s coverstory:

In the world of Gossip Girl, there are few signs of economic hardship. Mostly, it’s a contest between the haves and have-mores: For example, the Humphrey clan—members include Serena’s on-and-off boyfriend Dan (Penn Badgley), his sister Jenny (Taylor Momsen), and their hipster dad, Rufus (Matthew Settle)—lives in the artsy, waterfront area of Brooklyn that’s one part Williamsburg, one part DUMBO, and must find their way among families who divide their time among Park Avenue, the Hamptons, and Tuscany. After Lily’s latest husband, Bart, dies, the family learns that he “has more towers than Trump, more bucks than Bloomberg.” Thus far, the only character to suffer a serious reversal of fortune is Nate, played by Chace Crawford, who is forced to move in with the Humphreys when his father—a swindler and coke fiend—flees the country. In this New York, nothing as commonplace as bear markets can bring about financial ruin: It requires a dastardly character flaw. Gossip Girl was adapted from the best-selling young-adult fiction series by Cecily von Ziegesar, who was working as an editor at a book-packaging company when the idea floated up to create a more-contemporary line of fiction about private school kids in New York. Von Ziegesar, who had attended the Upper East Side girls’ academy Nightingale-Bamford and knew well the milieu, volunteered to take on the proposal. She invented the Constance Billard School for Girls, where Serena and her BFF and sometime-rival Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) hold court. “The characters came right away,” von Ziegesar says over lunch at Fred’s in Barneys, a crowded watering hole for the blonde, slim, and soignée, and where von Ziegesar, who is blonde, slim, and soignée, fits right in. “It flooded out of me; I always wanted to write, but I never thought I’d be writing for teenagers” … The show has taken many departures from the novels, especially in the second season, which has abandoned any lingering pretense of term papers or gym class in favor of a Dangerous Liaisons romance between Blair and the sulfurous Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), as well as what to wear for such an assignation. “The fashion is just unbelievable. You can watch our show on mute and be entertained,” Lively says. And she’s not overstating it. The characters wear designer clothes that teeter between unattainable chic and self-parody, be it Bass’s wearing a tuxedo covered with paillettes that shimmer like a matador’s suit or Blair’s attending the dean’s party at Yale with an Alice-in-Plunderland pewter-colored satin bow in her hair. For her part, Lively is entranced by Serena’s authentically local look. “Just being here, walking around, you pick it up really quickly,” she explains. “In New York, you put on skinny jeans and riding boots and a leather coat and handbag, and you take on that posture and character,” Lively says. “It becomes very natural.” Lively’s natural style? Costume National boots, dark Rag & Bone trousers, and a Joie cashmere vest over a Ports 1961 white pointelle cashmere sweater, punctuated by Chanel earrings, a Chanel handbag, and a Jeri Cohen diamond bracelet. (”They let me borrow it, and now I can’t take it off,” Lively says mischievously.)

The full interview can be read in the February issue of Vogue magazine (the truncated version is online HERE) but will prolly not offer anything all that new that we haven’t heard already. For me, the photos are the real draw. After the jump, check out a few photos from Blake’s Vogue magazine photospread …

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Jennifer Aniston is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Vogue magazine and, very surprisingly, gives a pretty candid interview — talking for the first time, really — about the circumstances surrounding her break-up with ex-hubby Brad Pitt, her feelings on Angelina Jolie’s involvement with her then-husband and even her current relationship with John Mayer (there’s even a quote about the possibility of having children — “I’ve said it so many times: I’m going to have children. I just know it.”. To my knowledge, this new interview with Vogue is the most open that Jen has been about her private life, like, ever. Here is Jen on the cover of the new issue of Vogue and a portion of her coverstory interview:

Here she comes, in faded cutoffs and a tank top. Has there ever been a more casual star? A more unrepentant Southern California girl? I am standing in the midst of the dust and chaos—the clattering hammers, the buzzing saws—of the massive construction project that is Jennifer Aniston’s sprawling new Beverly Hills home. It is midday in late September, and Aniston is picking her way through the site. As she heads toward me she looks comfortingly—almost defiantly—the same as she always has. Long, sun-streaked hair. Check. Tanned yoga body. Check. Toe rings and hippie beads. Check. There will be no moody movie-star transformations, no fresh tattoos to prove how unpredictable she is. When I arrived a few moments earlier, a big, genial security guy helped me park my car among all the construction vehicles and then took me to an office where a man named Phil introduced himself as Aniston’s “estate manager.” An elegant fellow with a British accent, he is a holdover from her only slightly more grand life with Brad Pitt, when they owned a 12,000-square-foot Normandy mansion not far from here and a big spread in Santa Barbara. “He’s very…Phil,” says Aniston with a laugh. She stops for a second and, as she so often does, rethinks out loud. “Maybe we don’t mention that I have an estate manager.” And then: “He’s more like the butler.” … The post-Brad Aniston is one of the biggest tabloid stars in the world, and her image moves a lot of magazines. Partly because she took two years off from making films, she has been almost entirely defined lately by the tabloids as a woman who dates younger men and spends her days lolling around the pool in Cabo. Woody Allen recently said in an interview that “thoughtful people don’t take the tabloids seriously. They’re basically a form of entertainment.” Aniston knows this, but it still feels to her like a cross to bear. “You basically watch my life,” she says as we eat our chopped salads. “It happens in front of you. And I can protect it and try to control things only to a certain extent. I think what I’m doing now is letting go of the reins a little bit and saying, ‘It is what it is.’ But there is more to me than just a tabloid girl. This whole ‘Poor lonely Jen’ thing, this idea that I’m so unlucky in love? I actually feel I’ve been unbelievably lucky in love. Just because at this stage my life doesn’t have the traditional framework to it—the husband and the two kids and the house in Connecticut—it’s mine. It’s my experience. And if you don’t like the way it looks, then stop looking at it! Because I feel good. I don’t feel like I’m supposed to be any further along or somewhere that I’m not. I’m right where I’m supposed to be.” As we all know, ever since Aniston began dating Pitt in 1998, her love life has never been out of the news. Their divorce only ratcheted up the interest in her every romantic move. These days, the public fascination with her relationship with Vince Vaughn seems almost quaint. I ask her if there’s anything else to be said about that time. “I call Vince my defibrillator,” she says with genuine affection. “He literally brought me back to life. My first gasp of air was a big laugh! It was great. I love him. He’s a bull in a china shop. He was lovely and fun and perfect for the time we had together. And I needed that. And it sort of ran its course.” Most recently she’s been linked with John Mayer, whom she met last February at an Oscar party. “Barely knew his music,” she says. “And then we ran into each other a week later, and that was that.” The two began dating—Aniston flew to England to join him on his tour; they took a well-documented vacation to Miami—and partly because of Mayer’s past relationships with Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Love Hewitt, the paparazzi went bananas. Many people questioned Aniston’s judgment; Mayer, after all, is nine years younger and has a bit of a…reputation. To which Aniston says, half kidding, “People need to mind their own business! Did you ever think Claudia Schiffer and David Copperfield made sense?” She laughs, knowing that this has the potential for a good parlor game. “Did Susan Anton and Dudley Moore make sense? Wait! I got more! Did…did…did…Madonna and….” She trails off. “I don’t want to get a dog in that fight…but we’ll think of more.” We both laugh, and then she gets more serious. “But you know, it isn’t designed. Love just shows up and you go, ‘Oh, wow, this is going to be a hayride and a half.’ ” After they split in August, Mayer, having been trailed for days, famously lost it in front of the paparazzi while leaving a gym in New York. In one of the more ill-advised moves in the history of modern celebrity romance, he burst into a rant, saying, among other things, “If you guys are going to…run every lie under the sun…have me as a man who ended a relationship.” Mayer caught a lot of grief for his lack of chivalry, but Aniston chalks up his outburst to inexperience. “He had to put that out there that he broke up with me. And especially because it’s me. It’s not just some girl he’s dating. I get it. We’re human. But I feel seriously protective of him and us. Trust me, you’ll never see that happen again from that man. And it doesn’t take away from the fact that he is a wonderful guy. We care about each other. It’s funny when you hit a place in a relationship and you both realize, We maybe need to do something else, but you still really, really love each other. It’s painful. There was no malicious intent. I deeply, deeply care about him; we talk, we adore one another. And that’s where it is.” The aspect of Aniston’s tabloid persona that feels truly off base is that she is “needy” and “clingy” and “obsessive” about ex-lovers. In fact, just the opposite seems to be true. As evidenced from our conversation about Mayer, she seems entirely sanguine about how complicated and unpredictable love can be. She even seems to have made peace with her ex-husband. When I ask if she ever speaks with him, she says, “Yes!” in a tone that suggests that it is almost a silly question. How is he? I ask. She looks at me for a long couple of seconds and makes one of those classic Jennifer Aniston faces, one that lets you know that what she is about to say is going to be…ironic. “He seems…great?” she says. How often do you talk? I ask. “We have exchanged a few very kind hellos and wishing you wells and sending you love and congratulations on your babies. I have nothing but absolute admiration for him, and…I’m proud of him! I think he’s really done some amazing things.” I ask her if she can remember exactly when the post-divorce acrimony receded. “You mean, when were Brad and I healed?” she says. Yes, I say. “Well, it never was that bad,” she says, knowing that it will be hard for a lot of people to believe. “I mean, look, it’s not like divorce is something that you go, ‘Oooh, I can’t wait to get divorced!’ It doesn’t feel like a tickle. But I’ve got to tell you, it’s so vague at this point, it’s so faraway in my mind, I can’t even remember the darkness. I mean, in the end, we really had an amicable split. It wasn’t mean and hateful and all of this stuff that they tried to create about Brad can’t talk to Jen and Jen can’t talk to Brad because this person won’t allow it. It just didn’t happen. The marriage didn’t work out. And pretty soon after we separated, we got on the phone and we had a long, long conversation with each other and said a lot of things, and ever since we’ve been unbelievably warm and respectful of each other. Whoever said everything has to be forever, that’s setting your hopes too high. It’s too much pressure. And I think if you put that pressure on yourself—because I did! Fairy tale! It has to be the right one!—that’s unattainable.”

OY! I realize that this is a lot to read but the Vogue interview is very long … and there is still more. After the jump, if you so desire, read some more of the Vogue interview where the topic turns to Angelina Jolie (trust me, it’s worth reading) … and also check out a few photos from Jen’s Vogue magazine photospread …

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Daniel Radcliffe, who will be reprising his Equus role on Broadway next month, is featured in the new issue of Vogue magazine in a couple new photos shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. The first pic was snapped for the magazine, the second pic (I understand) will be used as a promo photo for Equus on Broadway … here is the first, clothed pic:

The second pic is more … risqué … it features Daniel laying atop a big horse completely nekkid while veteran stage actor and his Equus co-star Richard Griffiths stands by looking … uncomfortable (or constipated, I can’t really tell). After the jump, check out the semi-NSFW image …

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It looks like someone else is lookin’ to give David Beckham a run for the title of most fashionable sports star. Sean Avery, Left Wing for the New York Rangers hockey team, has such a love of fashion that he thought it would be fun to take an internship at Vogue magazine. And, because he did such a great job as an intern, he was promoted to guest editor of mensvogue.com in just a few short weeks. Now, I’m not entirely sure what Avery’s fashion pedigree is or what makes him qualified to take on such a lofty position at such an esteemed fashion magazine … but I love it nonetheless. Here are a few pics of Sean Avery hanging out in the closet (as it were) at the offices of Men’s Vogue magazine:

Looks like hockey star and Vogue intern Sean Avery is climbing the publishing ladder with remarkable agility, advancing from lowly intern to guest editor at mensvogue.com in just a few short weeks. In an online diary for the site, the New York Ranger gets shirtless in the Vogue fashion closet and dishes about his unlikely passion. “To me it’s simple: I like clothes. Always have,” he says. “I don’t watch sports. I don’t read about sports … Over breakfast in hotels when the Rangers are on the road, I read the Style section in The New York Times.” And Sean, who swapped his million-dollar Rangers salary for minimum wage (for the summer, at least), reveals that money’s not everything, waxing philosophical about the creative reward he experienced assisting on his first photo shoot. “As I watched the shoot progress,” he writes, “I had to wonder: Was the feeling this designer had — the pride of having his creations shot for the pages of Vogue — anything like the feeling I had after we beat the Devils in round one? … Was a young woman’s anticipation of a night on the town in her favorite new dress just a different version of a 12-year-old boy watching his favorite player No. 16 dominate New Jersey in five games? The world may never know — but that’s what I think.”

OMG … I love this guy. It sounds like this stint for Vogue magazine is the perfect job for a professional hockey player that neither watches nor reads about sports and pontificates about the connection between a woman’s anticipation of a night on the town and a young boy’s fascination with watching hockey. Seriously … he is my new favorite person ever. But wait … there are even more photos to be had of the stocky Left Wing New York Ranger “working” at the offices of Men’s Vogue …

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