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Picture this: You finally walk through your front door after a long, chaotic day of meetings, commuting, running errands and interacting with a seemingly endless stream of people. You drop your keys on the counter, kick off your shoes and sit down in your living room. The TV is off. No music is playing. Your phone is face-down and on silent. For the first time all day, there is nothing but absolute, uninterrupted silence—and it is exactly what you’ve been desperately craving.

In a society that constantly glorifies hustle culture, packed schedules and extroversion, people who deeply need quiet time to decompress are often unfairly mislabeled. If you’re someone who regularly seeks out complete isolation after a busy day, you might have been called moody, aloof or even anti-social. Friends might misunderstand your declined invitations, and family members might take your need for a closed door personally. But the truth is far more complex than simply wanting to avoid people.

According to psychology, the intense craving for solitude after a demanding day has nothing to do with disliking others. In fact, it often points to the exact opposite. If you feel incredibly drained by crowds, loud noises and bustling environments, you’re likely carrying the heavy emotional weight of high empathy.

We live in a hyper-stimulating world where you are constantly deciphering body language, absorbing the energy of the room and managing the unspoken expectations of everyone around you. This constant state of emotional vigilance takes a massive toll on your nervous system. Seeking silence isn’t an act of rejection; it’s an act of sheer psychological survival.

Related: 12 Signs You Might Be a ‘Highly Sensitive Person,’ According to a Therapist

Why Your Need for Silence Is Actually a Sign of Deep Empathy

For highly empathetic individuals, moving through the world is an entirely different sensory experience than it is for the average person. It’s not just about observing what is happening around them; it’s about physically and emotionally feeling it.

Dr. Golee Abrishami, PhD, a psychologist and the Vice President of Clinical Care at Octave, explained in a recent Parade interview that for highly sensitive or empathetic people, a busy room isn’t just loud—it’s an intense emotional marathon. “They may walk past someone who is anxious or upset, and they will notice it and pick up the feeling themselves,” Dr. Abrishami explained.

When you magnify that single interaction by dozens—or even hundreds—of people at a grocery store, a bustling office or a family gathering, the emotional load becomes astronomical. Highly empathetic people are continuously scanning the room, assessing everyone’s comfort levels and picking up on unspoken dynamics.

“It can be very exhausting for them because they’re constantly experiencing everyone around them without a break,” she noted.

So, when you finally escape the noise and crave absolute silence, your brain is simply begging for a pause.

“This isn’t about being anti-social,” Dr. Abrishami clarified. “It’s about making space for yourself to process and get some rest.”

Related: 7 Signs You’re Not ‘Too Sensitive’—You’re Actually Highly Perceptive, a Psychologist Says

The Exhausting Reality of Sensory and Emotional Overload

Sensory overload happens when your brain receives more input from your senses—sight, sound, touch—than it can process at once. For those who are highly empathetic, the physical stimuli of a busy day are inextricably linked to emotional labor, creating a perfect storm for total exhaustion.

Consider the invisible labor you might be doing in a group setting. While others are casually enjoying a dinner party or a networking event, empathetic people are working tirelessly behind the scenes to maintain harmony.

“If they’re in a group, they are the ones who are checking in on everybody else, smoothing over awkward moments and making sure everyone feels included,” Dr. Abrishami told Parade.

This type of selflessness is a wonderful trait, but it is deeply taxing. Because empathetic individuals rarely put themselves first in social settings, they often ignore their own rising levels of overstimulation. The bright fluorescent lights of a store, the overlapping conversations at a restaurant or the physical proximity of strangers on public transit all chip away at their energy reserves.

As a result, highly sensitive people often push themselves until they completely crash. As Dr. Abrishami pointed out, these are the types of individuals who might go to a loud concert on a Friday night and spend the entirety of Saturday by themselves just to physically and mentally recover.

Related: 9 Signs Someone Is Emotionally Overstimulated, Not Actually Angry, According to a Psychologist

How To Reclaim Your Energy Without Guilt

If you find yourself utterly depleted and craving some peace and quiet after a busy day, it is crucial to stop feeling guilty for needing time to recharge.

Instead of forcing yourself to push through social fatigue out of obligation, start building intentional recovery time into your schedule. Dr. Abrishami suggested setting firm boundaries and time limits before you even enter a highly stimulating environment. By deciding in advance how long you will stay at a gathering, you can preserve your energy rather than frantically trying to assess if your “energetic tank” is completely empty in the moment.

Related: Psychology Says People Who Can’t Relax With a Messy House Often Have These 7 Unexpected Personality Traits

Additionally, when sensory overload hits, grounding techniques can help quickly regulate your nervous system. Stepping outside for fresh air, practicing deep breathing, or using the 5-4-3-2-1 method (identifying five things you can see, four you can feel, three you can hear, two you can smell and one you can taste) can anchor you back to the present moment.

Ultimately, needing absolute silence after a long day is a beautiful testament to the depth of your care for others. “Learning how to balance overstimulation and sensitivity is a superpower,” Dr. Abrishami shared.

You are the person who makes others feel truly seen and heard. By fiercely protecting your quiet time, you are ensuring that your empathetic superpower doesn’t burn you out.

Adapted from Parade’s “7 Habits of Highly Empathetic People Who Easily Get Drained in Crowds” by Ashley Broadwater

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Related: These 9 ‘Selfish’ Habits Actually Signal High Intelligence, Psychologist Says

Source:

• Dr. Golee Abrishami, PhD, a psychologist and the Vice President of Clinical Care at Octave

Luke Bryan just lined up another massive career win. His latest track, “Country and She Knows It,” officially cracked the Billboard Hot 100 this week at number 81, giving the Georgia native a serious milestone to celebrate. The single serves as a major anchor for his studio album, Signs, and it has been gathering massive momentum across streaming networks and country radio stations alike. For a guy who has spent the last two decades anchoring the genre’s mainstream, this latest chart debut is a direct reminder that he still commands a massive, highly loyal audience.

It is easy to forget how much of a footprint he has outside of his television presence. While a massive segment of the public knows him best these days from his network television gigs, his core brand is still built entirely on high-energy, crowd-pleasing country music. Longtime fans will easily point back to his deep history of heavyweight collaborative success, most notably when he teamed up with Jason Aldean on the multi-platinum, chart-topping smash “The Only Way I Know.” That historic run solidified his reputation for delivering big, stadium-ready anthems.

For this new track, he linked up with heavy-hitting songwriters Josh Miller, Parker Welling, and Matt Dragstrem to capture that exact same energy. They dialed in a sharp, rhythmically driven cadence designed specifically for massive live crowds and heavy summer radio rotation.

The strategy paid off immediately. Tracking data from the initial release window shows the track pulling in millions of premium streams alongside a massive wave of radio airplay audience impressions. That dual-format dominance made climbing onto the all-genre Hot 100 chart an absolute certainty. By checking off his 38th major Billboard milestone, Bryan continues to extend an incredibly rare kind of career longevity, firmly holding his ground in a competitive industry where modern trends constantly shift.

The Beatles booked an early session at Abbey Road on Sept. 18, 1968 so they could leave partway through. A film was on television that night, and they did not want to miss it.

They started at 5 p.m. and did not leave until 4:30 the next morning. In that time, they wrote and recorded “Birthday.”

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The Movie Break Was Planned

George Martin was on holiday that month, so Chris Thomas was producing. Thomas flagged the film.

“I had mentioned to Paul a couple of days earlier about ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ being on television during this evening,” he said in Mark Lewisohn‘s The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. The plan was to start early, walk around the corner to Paul McCartney’s house on Cavendish Avenue, watch the film and come back to work.

That is what happened. McCartney got to Studio Two ahead of the others and started turning over a guitar riff, and the others jammed on it until it became a song. They cut 20 takes, walked over, watched the film on BBC2 from 9:05 to 10:40 p.m., then came back and finished it.

The short window is why the track is so plain. The band kept to a simple blues structure, then wrote the words after the credits rolled. Nothing else about these sessions moved like that. Weeks earlier the band had burned more than 100 takes on George Harrison’s ‘Not Guilty’, and it did not even make the album.

Why That Film Mattered

The Girl Can’t Help It stars Jayne Mansfield, but the draw was the music. Little Richard is in it, along with Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. Little Richard was a huge influence on McCartney, and John Lennon had seen the film at 16, when it showed him his American heroes were real people.

‘We Decided to Make One Up’

Friends were in the room, which almost never happened. “Normally we didn’t have friends around to sessions so it was very unusual,” McCartney said in 2008. “We didn’t know what song to do so we decided to make one up.”

McCartney said the riff came out of Little Richard’s “Lucille” and Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman.” He has also called the song “50-50 John and me, made up on the spot.” It was one of the last things he and Lennon wrote together.

That churning organ is not an organ. It is a guitar run through a Leslie speaker.

Pattie Boyd, who sang on it with Yoko Ono, still remembers it. “I remember going to Paul’s house around the corner to watch a movie at some point during the evening,” she posted on the anniversary last year.

It’s hard to know what someone is truly going through, especially when appearances can be deceptive.

Brittany Snow knows that all too well.

The Hunting Wives actress, 40, is marking 17 years of recovery from an eating disorder, reflecting on an Instagram post the difficult place she was in when she decided to begin healing.

“Seventeen years ago, I didn’t know if I would make it,” Snow wrote. “I couldn’t see a future, and I certainly couldn’t imagine one where I would learn to be kind to myself.”

What carried her through, she says, was a quiet internal voice that refused to go silent. “Somewhere underneath the noise, there was a tiny voice inside me that kept saying: don’t give up. There is so much more to your story.”

Snow has spoken openly in the past about her experiences with anorexia, exercise bulimia, depression, and self-harm – struggles that, from the outside, were entirely hidden behind a successful career. “I had so much disdain for my body and I couldn’t see myself as a functional, beautiful being,” she told Self in a 2025 interview as covered by PEOPLE.

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But 17 years on, her message is one of hard-won hope. “There was so much beauty ahead that I couldn’t see yet. So much love,” she wrote, before turning her words directly toward anyone still in the thick of it. “There is life beyond the place you are in today, even if you can’t picture it yet.”

She closed with the line that may stay with readers longest: “I’m so grateful I stayed.”

Snow tagged several mental health and eating disorder organizations in her post, including the National Alliance for Eating Disorders, The Mental Health Coalition, and Bring Change to Mind. If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, the National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline can be reached at 1-866-662-1235.

Halloween decor has officially left its jump-scare era. There’s still room for the laughing monsters and shrieking zombies, but the real energy this season belongs to the small, sweet, slightly strange stuff—pumpkins in muted, unexpected colors, cutesy ghost garland made out of fabric scraps and soft, velvet mantel skeletons. The vibe is playful, cottagey and only slightly eerie, yet full of personality.

And if your floors have been missing out on the fun, Aldi is about to fix that. On Sept. 23, the Finds aisle is rolling out its Halloween Collection 3′ x 5′ Crystal Print Rugs. There are four designs, and each one costs $19.99. That’s a friendly price for something that can anchor an entryway, a living room corner or a playroom.

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The Halloween Collection Crystal Print Rug, Jack-O-Lanterns, $19.99 at Aldi

Aldi

The headliner is the jack-o’-lantern print, where grinning carved pumpkins mingle with leafy greenery and a few mini pumpkins. It’s both a little spooky and a little adorable, giving off harvest-and-haunt vibes.

If you’d like to go slightly spookier, the skeleton design pairs twinkling stars with pumpkins and spiderwebs. It’s a classic combination, this time delivered on a soft, welcoming rug.

Then there’s the skulls-and-flowers print, which nails the moody-romantic look that’s been all over the place lately. Skulls hang out amongst the blooms, part gothic and part cottage garden, a winning design in our book.

Related: This $20 Marshalls Rug Proves You Don’t Need to Splurge for a High-End Look

Rounding out the lineup is the bats and stars design, a celestial take that’s a little witchy and a little whimsical, which is what we love about it.

Because all four share the same size and budget-friendly price, mixing and matching is practically encouraged. Put the jack-o’-lanterns at the front door and the bats and stars in the hallway, or line up two designs for a makeshift path for trick-or-treaters. Just be ready for guests to ask where you found them.

One little heads-up—Aldi’s limited-time seasonal drops tend to move quickly, especially around the holidays, and availability can vary by store. If one of these prints has your name on it, don’t wait until the last weekend of October to look for it.

Related: Aldi’s $15 Halloween Sheet Sets Are Too Cute to Pass Up

When the mega-yachts pull out of Puerto Portals and the August charter stampede finally clears the coast, Mallorca drops the high-season performance. The island goes back to its roots: sea, salt, and soil.

Tucked into the rugged southwest valley of Camp de Mar, just minutes from the cliffside villas where international A-listers like Pierce Brosnan and Michael Douglas vacation for privacy, Zafiro Palace Andratx is offering guests this quieter take on fall travel by offering a slow travel immersion into both grape and olive harvest season. The independent, family-run resort rejects standard multi-story hospitality blocks in favor of low buildings framed by the Serra de Tramuntana mountains. Guests checking into penthouses step straight out onto rooftop terraces overlooking private plunge pools tucked into the mountainside and Balinese beds, while the Zafiro Club tier acts as an all-inclusive enclave within the grounds, complete with dedicated food trucks and secluded pool decks.

October on the island doesn’t mean winding down. It means plugging into the land. While fall travel guides steer travelers toward leaf-peeping and pumpkin routes, Mallorca runs on two agricultural timelines. September kicks off the vermar, the historic grape crush celebrated inland at Binissalem with street-side vats and foot-treading. Zafiro pulls that viticultural legacy straight into its subterranean cellar, where resident sommeliers host tastings across more than a hundred labels, spanning indigenous Mallorcan grapes like Mantonegro to heavy-hitting Spanish reds.

Once the wine cellars quiet down, the island’s ancient olive groves explode into action. The resort funnels guests out of the valley and into centuries-old rural fincas hidden deep in the Tramuntana foothills. Under twisted canopies of native Mallorquina trees, travelers watch olives hit harvesting nets before heading to stone-mill tafones to watch the first press yield pungent, emerald-hued extra virgin oil.

Back at sea level, the itinerary avoids synthetic resort entertainment entirely. Days off are spent steering a 100% electric llaüt, a modern nod to the traditional Balearic fishing boat, out toward empty coves for October snorkeling. For travelers done with cookie-cutter luxury, the Mediterranean shoulder season isn’t an afterthought. It’s the main event.

There are certain TV moments that stand out, and the removal of one of the lead actresses from Charmed is one of them. On Oct. 4, 2001, the series changed fantasy TV forever by writing out Prue Halliwell in a storyline that is still debated by fans to this day.

Charmed Season 4 premiered, bringing answers to the first major cliffhanger the series had seen. As Season 3 ended with the lives of all the Halliwell sisters on the line, the fourth season opened with a devastating death and a new character being introduced.

What’s even more shocking is that Shannon Doherty, who played Prue, directed her own character’s death without knowing. She directed the Charmed Season 3 finale, which ended with Shax leaving Prue and Piper for dead, while Phoebe was in the Underworld trying to strike a deal. She didn’t know that she was being written out until the summer break, when she received her pink slip while filming another movie.

It’s led to a debate among fans, as more and more details about the situation have come out. The exit was due to an on-set feud between Doherty and Alyssa Milano, something that would shape the entire series and friendships of the cast for years to come. The network initially attempted to resolve the differences, as it seemed impossible that such a major character could be written out and the show could go on, but it was futile.

L. Cohen / Getty Images

In the end, the writers found a way around the “Power of Three” storyline, using an arc introduced during Charmed Season 2. It was revealed that Patty had a secret child with her whitelighter, Sam, and that child was given up for adoption. With the death of Prue, Paige Matthews came into her powers, and Rose McGowan joined the series.

However, that nearly didn’t happen. The initial thought was to recast Prue, following similar steps that Bewitched and Roseanne had taken. However, that wouldn’t work for a fantasy TV setting, so a new character was needed.

Prue was never seen again on the series. She was removed from pictures on the walls, and even in an episode that involved Piper heading to the past, a body double was used, shown only from the back — and it clearly wasn’t the original scene from the series.

There was a tonal shift as Charmed Season 4 began, and the ratings started to fall after that. Doherty fans stepped away, and others were frustrated with the focus on Phoebe’s love life instead of the “Power of Three,” and it was only when Chris and Wyatt Halliwell were introduced, with the future storyline on Charmed Season 6, that ratings picked back up again temporarily.

Garth Brooks nearly talked himself out of the best decision of his entire life. He heard Tony Arata play “The Dance” at Nashville’s Bluebird Café and he absolutely loved it immediately. He promised Arata right then and there: get me a record deal and I’ll record your song. He got the deal. Then he started stalling. The song had a piano in it, and he was from Oklahoma. “It’s always just steel and fiddles,” he told The Kelly Clarkson Show years later. The album was almost done. He still hadn’t cut it. That’s when producer Allen Reynolds had enough. “You don’t cut this song,” he told Brooks, “it will be the biggest hit you never had.” Brooks went into the studio. He cut the song. Everything that followed came from that one afternoon.

Here’s the part that makes it better. Tony Arata wrote “The Dance” in 1986 after watching Peggy Sue Got Married and having an idea so clear he wrote the whole song the next morning in 30 minutes. He then spent three years getting rejected by every label and publisher in Nashville. Every single one. “I was turned down by the biggest and the best,” he said. Then Brooks heard it at the Bluebird, and it cut through everything. He could hear every word Arata sang — which was apparently unusual for Arata. “The two songs right up to ‘The Dance, ‘ I didn’t understand a word,” Brooks recalled. Then “The Dance” came and it was clear as a bell. He made the promise. He meant it.

Related: 1969 Johnny Cash and Linda Ronstadt’s Duet, Almost Canceled by June Carter Over a Wardrobe Crisis, Was Wildly Unexpected

The night before they finally recorded the song, Brooks and his wife Sandy went to see a film in an almost empty theater. There were only four couples total. A slow-motion scene played over a piano riff that stayed with him. The next day he described it to his manager Bob Doyle. Doyle said, “Let me play you something,” and rolled tape. It was how “The Dance” started.

Doyle had been at the same movie. Same theater. Same piano. They cut the track on November 1, 1988. When Arata heard the final version, he didn’t even recognize his own song. His demo started on a major chord with no piano. Brooks’s version opened with a dramatic minor chord and strings. “I thought to myself, ‘Well, I guess it didn’t make it,'” Arata said. It was the last track cut on the album. It made it.

The Biggest Hit He Almost Never Had

“The Dance” was released as the fourth single from Brooks’s debut in April 1990 and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart that July. It won ACM Song of the Year and Video of the Year in 1991. Rolling Stone ranked it among the 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time. The music video featured JFK, Martin Luther King, John Wayne, Keith Whitley and the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger — people who died pursuing their dreams. “To me it’s always been a song about life,” Brooks said. In his 2019 documentary The Road I’m On, he said if he were remembered for only one recording, he hoped it would be this one.

He almost didn’t cut it because it had a piano. Reynolds told him he’d regret it forever. He was right.

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Finding bed bugs can make every mattress, couch and upholstered chair feel contaminated. The first question is often: Should I throw away my mattress if I have bed bugs?

Usually, no. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advises against discarding furniture when bed bugs can be safely eliminated from it. Professional treatment and mattress encasements can often preserve mattresses while addressing the infestation.

If you have found live bed bugs or signs of an infestation, avoid moving the mattresses or furniture to another room. And before you throw anything away, get a free quote from Orkin to find out what needs to be treated and what you can keep.

Should I throw away my mattress if I have bed bugs?

No, not automatically. A mattress with bed bugs can often remain in the home when properly treated and enclosed in a bed-bug-proof encasement. Throwing it away creates unnecessary expense in many cases and can spread bed bugs if the mattress is moved through the house.

When Keeping the Mattress Makes Sense

Keeping your mattress is generally reasonable when:

• The mattress is structurally sound.
• A professional treatment plan addresses the room and the surrounding hiding places.
• A bed-bug-proof encasement can be installed without tearing.

The EPA recommends encasing mattresses and box springs with covers designed for bed bugs and leaving them in place for a year. Orkin also recommends mattress and box-spring encasements as part of bed bug control, while noting that an encasement alone does not kill bed bugs.

What should I do with furniture during bed bug treatment?

Leave furniture in place unless your pest professional instructs you otherwise. Bed bugs can hide in sofas, chairs, dressers, bed frames and other furniture. Removing items without treating them can spread the infestation.

Treat Furniture Instead of Replacing It

Depending on the item and treatment plan, professionals may use heat, steam, vacuuming, insecticides or other approved methods. The University of Minnesota Extension recommends professional treatment rather than trying to control an infestation yourself because technicians can inspect furniture and address hiding places that are easy to miss.

Do not apply pesticide to furniture unless the product label specifically allows that use.

Heat treatment requires specialized equipment. The EPA warns against trying to heat a room yourself with a space heater or by turning up the thermostat. These approaches are unreliable and can create a fire hazard.

If you’re dealing with an active infestation, a professional Orkin inspection can tell you whether the mattress needs treatment, encasement or replacement before you spend money on new furniture.

When should you throw away a mattress or furniture?

Replacement makes sense when an item cannot be safely or effectively treated. Severe damage, inaccessible hiding places or an inability to maintain an intact encasement can affect that decision.

If you discard an infested mattress or piece of furniture, don’t simply leave it intact at the curb. EPA guidance recommends damaging the item and clearly marking it so someone else doesn’t take it home.

Item

Usually keep?

What to consider

Mattress

Yes

Treat and use a bed bug encasement

Box spring

Yes

Inspect, treat and encase

Bed frame

Yes

Inspect seams, joints and crevices

Sofa or chair

Often

Treat upholstery and hiding areas

Dresser or nightstand

Often

Inspect drawers, joints and cracks

Severely damaged furniture

Sometimes replace

Determine whether all hiding areas can be treated

What should I remove before bed bug treatment?

Preparation helps eliminate hiding places and gives the treatment better access to affected areas. Follow your pest professional’s specific instructions before moving anything. The EPA recommends reducing clutter and carefully containing items removed from an infested area.

Common preparation steps include:

• Bag potentially infested clothing, bedding and loose items before moving them elsewhere.
• Wash and dry washable items using the hottest temperature appropriate for the fabric.
• Vacuum floors, furniture, bed frames and cracks around the sleeping area.
• Avoid moving furniture or belongings from an infested room into another room.

Related: How Long Does Bed Bug Treatment Take To Completely Eliminate an Infestation?

How do I know whether my mattress has bed bugs?

Look for physical evidence rather than relying on bites alone. The CDC notes that bed bug bites can resemble other insect bites and that reactions can take time to appear.

Check mattress seams, tags, folds and the area around the bed for:

• Live reddish-brown insects
• Dark fecal spots
• Shed skins
• Pale eggs or eggshells
• Rust-colored blood stains

Orkin identifies these as common signs of bed bug activity and recommends professional inspection when an infestation is suspected.

Get a Professional Bed Bug Inspection Before Replacing Furniture

Bed bugs can hide beyond the mattress, including in bed frames, furniture joints, baseboards and nearby clutter. The EPA notes that overlooking hiding places can contribute to treatment failure.

But a bed bug infestation does not automatically mean your furniture needs to go. In many cases, treating and containing the items you already own is enough to avoid unnecessary replacement.

Before buying a new mattress or throwing away furniture, request an inspection and free quote from Orkin to identify where bed bugs are hiding and determine what needs treatment.

Billy Baldwin revealed Sharon Stone was a former co-star he would never like to work with again, and the actor clapped back with her own biting words about their film Sliver.

In her interview with Variety, Stone was asked to try to guess some of the famous lines from her films. She read, “You’ve been spending too much time with your vibrator,” and couldn’t place which role it was from. She initially believed it was from her film Sphere before her memory kicked in.

“No, not ‘Sphere.’ The one, the name of the building. Oh! Sliver,’ she said. “I made a rule that no one was allowed to even say that word for years. And that’s why, because, what terrible dialogue. Clearly written by a man without enough to do.”

Sliver was written by Joe Eszterhas, who had worked with Stone on Basic Instinct. The erotic thriller, directed by Phillip Noyce and based on the Ira Levin novel, starred Stone as a book editor who moves into a new luxury Manhattan apartment. She soon starts a heated romance with video game designer Zeke Hawkins, played by Baldwin, as murder and mystery take place.

The film wasn’t Stones’s biggest success, but many see her comment about Sliver as a possible dig at Baldwin’s recent comments about her.

On Tuesday’s episode of the Lisa Guerrero Unleashed podcast, Baldwin revealed that the ‘Basic Instinct’ star was someone he will “never, ever work with” again. It was largely due to what happened on the set of their 1993 film. Baldwin alleged that there was horrible tension between him and Stone that made being on set together miserable.

“We got along pretty well the first couple weeks,” he recalled. “And then she wouldn’t say ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’ to me for the next three months.”

Their tension on set was palpable and made filming their erotic scenes together difficult. He went as far as having a meeting with producers and saying, “I can do the scene but just please don’t make me kiss her. … I can’t kiss her.”

It led to their movie characters hooking up against a column in the film, and they did, in fact, not kiss in the scene. Baldwin admits that he’s never told the story before, and it might go “viral.”

The actor also called out Stone for “badmouth[ing]” his acting skills on Larry King Live when the film first premiered. Stone also claimed in her memoir that the film’s producer urged her to sleep with Baldwin to have him perform better on camera, but Baldwin claims he had a different story. He was told they were getting reports of bad tension, but the producer chalked it up to “pent-up sexual energy” and not bad acting.

Related: Christine Taylor Once Believed Ben Stiller Was a ‘Rebound’ Romance: ‘We Took a Big Leap’

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When it comes to fall decorating, some of us are ready to cover every available surface in pumpkins as soon as September rolls around. Others would rather ease into the season with a few smaller swaps, bringing in warm colors, woodland motifs, and autumnal foliage. And while the front porch and living room tend to get most of the attention, the kitchen is one of the easiest places to add decor.

The Martha Stewart Autumn Harvest 2-Piece Kitchen Towel Set does exactly that with a whimsical motif that looks right at home this time of year. Instead of leaning into Halloween, the mushroom design brings the woodsy side of fall to the kitchen, so you can hang it up now and leave it out through Thanksgiving. Best of all, the set is currently 40% off at JCPenney, dropping from its usual $30 price to just $18 when you use code HARVEST at checkout. 

Martha Stewart Autumn Harvest 2-Piece Kitchen Towel Set, $18 (was $30) at JCPenney

Courtesy of JCPenney

Shop at JCPenney

These towels lean into a whimsical woodland design, with scattered red-and-white spotted mushrooms, tiny brown fungi, and delicate green sprigs across a crisp white-and-sage gingham-print background. The print feels playful and almost storybook-like, but the earthy palette keeps it firmly rooted in fall. A coordinating towel in warm rust picks up the reddish tones in the mushrooms while giving you a solid option to break up the print.

Made from 100% cotton, the towels are soft, machine-washable, and absorbent enough to dry dishes and hands, wipe down counters, or tackle the inevitable spill while you’re cooking. Each measures 16 by 28 inches, giving you plenty of fabric without feeling cumbersome, and the hanging loop lets you keep one on a hook or peg instead of digging through a drawer every time you need it.

Shop More Deals

• Martha Stewart Autumn Harvest Leaves Kitchen Towel Set, $16 (was $35) at JCPenney
• Martha Stewart Honeycomb Chambray 4-Piece Kitchen Towel Set, $31 (was $55) at JCPenney
• Martha Stewart Pumpkin 2-Piece Oven Mitt Set, $16 (was $35) at JCPenney

For styling, hang one over the oven handle, leave another beside a wooden cutting board, or bring them out with the cider and baked treats when company comes over. The mix of rust, brown, green, and white looks especially at home alongside wood accents, warm metals, and other earthy fall colors. 

Shoppers were obsessed with the “adorable” and “super cute” design, highlighting its “cottagecore” look as well as its durability. “The fabric is so soft but also strong enough to resist kitchen wear and tear,” one reviewer wrote.

Other customers appreciated the handy hanging loops, with another shopper noting that they make the towels “super easy to air dry after using or to store.”

Related: Martha Stewart’s Glass Kettle Boils Water in Just 2 Minutes and Comes With a Removable Infuser

There’s no foraging required for this fall find. Shop the Martha Stewart Autumn Harvest 2-Piece Kitchen Towel Set for $18 at JCPenney while it’s 40% off, and don’t forget to enter code HARVEST at checkout!

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Sitcom star and NASCAR Craftsman Truck racer Frankie Muniz shared an extremely vulnerable social media post on Friday, September 18, telling his followers that “the last 6 weeks of my life have been a nightmare I’m praying to wake up from.”

The Malcolm in the Middle star continued, “Everything felt heavy, unclear, and like it was falling apart at the same time. I wouldn’t wish this season on anyone.”

Muniz did not specifically reveal the cause of his heartache, but he and his wife Paige Price Muniz announced in July that they were amicably divorcing after 10 years together. They share a five-year-old son, Mauz, whom they took to Universal Studios for a family day on September 4.

“The unexpected gift in the middle of it is that I’ve had nowhere to hide,” Muniz continued in his post, featuring a photo of him looking pensive. “I’ve had time to sit with myself, do real self-reflection, and finally see the areas of my life that need work if I want to become a better version of me. Not the polished version I show the world…the actual one.”

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Muniz, who turned 40 in December, wrote, “I read that sometimes hitting rock bottom is the thing that wakes you up. It forces the changes you needed to make all along so you can live the best life possible. That idea has been sitting with me. In five years I believe I’ll look back at this exact low point and feel grateful for it, because the high I’ll be standing on then only exists because I went through this.”

“This isn’t the end of the story,” Muniz concluded. “It’s the part where I start doing the work…the uncomfortable, unglamorous, necessary work. I’m choosing to treat this season as the foundation, not the finish line. If you’re in a low place right now too, you’re not broken. You’re being rebuilt. Let’s keep going!”

Muniz, who left Hollywood to focus on his passion for racing, reunited with his sitcom family in April 2026 for a four-episode reboot, Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair.

Fans quickly rallied around the star, leaving encouraging comments on his post, including one who wrote, “You will come through this, Frankie. I’ve been there a couple of times. It’s bloody hard, but I got through it. My advice would be to ask for, and accept help. Sending hugs x”

“I’m so sorry you are going through this,” another commented, “but you are an awesome person who many people look up to. Hang in there.”

If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text “HOME” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or visit their website.

Madonna’s 1994 song “Take a Bow” dominated the airwaves and became a major Billboard hit, but behind the track’s success is a bittersweet story.

Over the course of the Queen of Pop’s decades-long career, she has released countless iconic songs across genres, from infectious dance anthems to heartfelt ballads, including “Take a Bow.”

Written by Madonna and Babyface, whose real name is Kenneth Brian Edmonds, “Take a Bow” was one of the songs that the duo worked on together at Babyface’s house, where they also worked on “Forbidden Love,” according to Songfacts.

The R&B artist revealed what sparked the collaboration with the “Like a Virgin” hitmaker.

Madonna performs during the video shoot for her single ‘Take a Bow,’ 1994.

Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

According to him, it was after the singer heard one of his hit songs.

“Madonna was a fan of a song I did, ‘When Can I See You.’ Because of that, she was interested in working with me,” Babyface told Billboard in 2014. “She came to me for lush ballads, so that’s where we went. I wasn’t so much thinking about the charts. I think I was more in awe of the fact that I was working with Madonna.”

The 1994 hit explores a failed romance set against an orchestral R&B melody.

In an interview, Madonna revealed that a particular movie star was behind the song’s inspiration.

“No, I was actually thinking of a movie star when I was writing it,” she told MTV’s Kurt Loder, per Rhino.

Madonna’s statement sparked speculation that the person was Warren Beatty, with whom she co-starred in the 1990 comic-book adaptation Dick Tracy.

At that time, the duo had a high-profile romance, dating on and off for roughly 15 months.

Beyond the heartbreaking meaning of the song, the iconic singer spoke about how “Take a Bow” and the follow-up song “You’ll See” showcased two contrasting sides of her personality, especially when it came to love and relationships.

“‘Take A Bow,’ lyrically, it only reflects one side of my personality,” the award-winning singer told NME, adding, “I have that side which is completely masochistic and willing to, literally, do anything for love. But there’s another side too which is – ‘Don’t f—k with me, I don’t need anybody. I can do what I want’ and ‘You’ll See’ reflects that.”

The song quickly climbed the charts, spending seven straight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 while spending nine straight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

In addition, “Take a Bow” won Best Female Video at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards with the music video directed by Michael Haussman.

The music video’s impact also inspired Justin Timberlake to work with Haussman on the former NSYNC member’s “SexyBack” music video.

“Even today, I still remember the visuals, the images, how he captured her,” Timberlake told MTV News in 2006. “A lot of times, Madonna seems like she’s the person in control, and in that video, she seemed vulnerable. It was a cool thing to see.”

The music video’s timeless appeal extends beyond her star power, with iconic songs like “Take a Bow” continuing to cement her lasting legacy.

Related: Madonna, 67, Stuns in Sultry Holiday Photos With Boyfriend

Apple TV+’s smash hit show Shrinking, starring Harrison Ford and Jason Segel, is currently working on its fourth season, but now, the show has come under fire with a brand-new sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television Studios (WBTV), the show’s executive producer and others.

As reported by Deadline, the show’s Key Second Assistant Director Mindy Tessa McKoin has alleged that she was fired by Shrinking executive producer Kip Kroeger in July not because of “different needs of production,” which was reportedly the reason given, but because she had previously reported sexual abuse by Shrinking executive producer and director Randall Winston at a season 2 wrap party for the series in June of 2024.

The specific accusations include Winston’s alleged “unwelcome, severe harassment because of [McKoin’s] sex, including by grabbing and groping her breast without her consent at a work-related function in the presence of a coworker.” McKoin also reported “inaccurate time records and pay statements,” which she believes played a role in her termination as well.

In the seven-part complaint, filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Sept. 15, attorney Avi Gholian states that, regarding the termination, “no performance deficiency, misconduct or business rationale was identified then or anytime thereafter.” The lawsuit also alleges that, in response to McKoin’s report of sexual harassment, WBTV did nothing.

In a statement to Deadline, WBTV claimed that was not the case, saying, among other things, “The Studio takes all allegations of misconduct and retaliation seriously and has policies and procedures in place to prevent, investigate and address such concerns…Once the allegations were raised, the Studio immediately engaged an independent third-party to conduct a thorough investigation, consistent and in accordance with those policies and procedures. Based on the completed investigation, the Studio concluded that the allegations were unsubstantiated and unsupported by any corroborating evidence.”

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available 24 hours a day through RAINN‘s National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.

At the start of the 1970’s, Lowell George found himself starting a new band called Little Feat, and released one of their most well-known tracks that became known as a trucker staple.

There are a few stories behind how George wrote “Willin'” in 1969 and how it became Little Feat’s first hit song. At the time, he was a guitarist for Frank Zappa‘s band, the Mothers of Invention. After George showed the track to Zappa, the band leader felt the guitarist was too good to continue with the band and encouraged him to form his own.

George formed Little Feat shortly after, with “Willin'” being a song about a truck driver doing everything possible to make a living, even smuggling illegal substances across the border. Little Feat keyboard player Bill Payne believed Zappa passed on “Willin'” due to its drug references. Drugs and the hippie movement were steadily growing at the time.

“I think Frank was both impressed and put off by the song because of the drug reference,” he said, according to SongFacts. “He was somewhat conservative on certain levels. He was afraid of the very thing that bit the hippie movement in the ass, which was the craziness of what would happen to people when they got fried on drugs – like Charles Manson.”

The track was covered by Little Feat on their 1971 debut album, but it never managed to chart due to its drug references. According to Stereogum, George was inspired to write the song based on people he had met at a gas station in Southern California before his career really took off.

In an interview with ZigZag magazine, George remembers having written the song at Little Feat drummer Richie Hayward‘s house. Someone had been talking about the “‘three wicked W’s,’ which were weed, whites, and wine, and I went, ‘Oh, that’s it.’” Hayward’s sister-in-law then gave him more inspiration when she said that the chair had been “warped by the rain.”

“I thought, ‘I’d better start making some notes here.’ So I scribbled various things down and bashed it into shape, and it all seemed to come together with a tune I’d written the previous day … some music without words that I’d started. The song just happened … and I feel that those songs … are subsequently the ones which have been the most successful … in terms of a song having substance and quality,” said George.

Many artists were enamored by George’s song, even Linda Ronstadt. She released a cover of “Willin'” as part of her 1975 album, Heart Like a Wheel. It was also reported that she and George were dating around the time her version was released, until she discovered he was married. Ronstadt thought George was one of the best singers in the industry.

“He was a truly singer,” she said in Willin’ The Story Of Little Feat. “He just had technical ability, proficiency that was just beyond the pale.”

Ronstadt’s version is one of the more popular covers and was predominantly featured in James Cameron‘s 1989 movie The Abyss. Steve Earle, Gregg Allman, and a duet by Willy Nelson and Emmylou Harris later covered it.

Related: 1966 Blues Rock Song, Written by a 27-Year-Old, Launched Eric Clapton’s Solo Career

Country music and animated adult satire might sound like an unexpected pairing, but Brad Paisley is no stranger to keeping fans on their toes.

The Grammy-winning global country music superstar shocked viewers during Wednesday’s Season 29 premiere of South Park on Comedy Central by revealing a brand-new song written and recorded specifically for the episode. Here’s what to know.

Related: I Watch TV for a Living—These Are the 21 New and Returning Shows I Can’t Wait to See This Fall

Why Brad Paisley Joined Forces With ‘South Park’ for Season 29

In classic Trey Parker and Matt Stone fashion, the long-running animated comedy kicked off its 29th season with a characteristically bold joke. The show’s creators temporarily retitled “South Park” to “South America” as a comedic satire of our “nation’s current renaming efforts.”

As an added bonus, Parker and Stone enlisted Paisley to write and record an original track titled “We Are South America.” The unexpected anthem delivers Paisley’s signature sound alongside the sharp, irreverent humor that fans have come to expect from the iconic series over the past three decades.

Brad Paisley’s Busy Year: From ‘Tacklebox’ to William Shatner

The South Park collaboration is just one piece of a remarkably active season for the country icon. Paisley recently released Tacklebox – Disc 1, a digital-only project that he describes as “full of hooks, country music hooks.”

The nostalgic collection draws heavily on Paisley’s vast catalog. Some of the songs on Tacklebox are unreleased tracks dating back to the ’90s, when his career first began. Other songs were inspired by the unmistakable sound of Alan Jackson, Brooks and Dunn, Alabama, George Strait and Garth Brooks.

In addition to his own solo releases, Paisley also co-produced William Shatner‘s new “spoken-word album,” Love & Other Mysteries. He even collaborated with Taylor Goldsmith and Gordon Mote on the album’s musical arrangements, proving once again that his talents stretch across multiple genres and entertainment mediums.

Related: September Is Bringing Back Some of TV’s Biggest Shows—Here Are the 11 We Can’t Wait For

A Look Back at Brad Paisley’s Legendary Country Music Career

Paisley’s foray into television satire and spoken-word production comes on the heels of decades of country music dominance. As an MCA recording artist, he has earned his place in country music history as one of the most decorated solo artists of all time.

Paisley has earned three GRAMMYs, two American Music Awards, 15 Academy of Country Music Awards and 14 Country Music Association Awards.

These include a highly coveted Entertainer of the Year honor and recognition as the most successful CMA Award co-host in history, alongside Carrie Underwood, for 11 consecutive years.

A member of the Grand Ole Opry since 2001, Paisley has written 21 of his 25 No. 1 hits and, in 2008, became the first artist to achieve 10 consecutive Billboard Country Airplay No. 1 singles. The superstar’s past works have amassed nearly 5 billion career streams. Paisley was recently inducted into Nashville’s Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Related: The 100 Best TV Shows on Netflix Right Now (September 2026)

How to Listen to Brad Paisley’s ‘We Are South America’

Brad Paisley’s “We Are South America” debuted during the Season 29 premiere (Episode 1) of South Park. If you missed the live broadcast on Comedy Central, we’ve added the official clip below:

View this post on Instagram How To Watch ‘South Park’ Season 29

For fans eager to tune in, South Park Season 29 is available to stream on Paramount+. New episodes air bi-weekly on Comedy Central, and are available on Paramount+ the following day.

Related: The 22 Absolute Best TV Shows of All Time, From ‘All in the Family’ to ‘Modern Family’

There’s something about an old, community-written spiral-bound cookbook that immediately makes me want to know what’s inside. Maybe it’s the handwritten notes in the margins or the recipes attributed simply to “Mrs. Smith,” or the (sometimes) hilarious and mystifying list of ingredients, but these books hold some serious culinary secrets. They’re little snippets of time that teach us way more than just a simple recipe; they teach us what life was like in those bygone eras.

And as someone who loves exploring vintage recipes and going through her grandmother’s old recipe box, I’ve learned along the way that what you find can be very, very good; very, very questionable; or somewhere in between.

So when my editor asked me to track down some popular chicken casserole recipes, pick one, and give it a modern upgrade, I figured finding the recipe would be the easy part. Poppy seed chicken? Maybe some chicken tetrazzini? Surely one recipe would quickly rise to the top…right?

Instead, I went down a chicken casserole rabbit hole for days involving cookbook dealers, food historians, chefs, archivists and roughly 150 digitized community cookbooks. Bonnie Slotnick, owner of Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks in New York City, looked through more than a dozen Midwestern, Southern and New York community cookbooks in her collection and Jennifer Brannock, curator of rare books and Mississippiana at the University of Southern Mississippi, searched the university’s digitized collection for me.

The more recipes I looked at, the more a pattern started to emerge: chicken, a starch, something creamy and a handful of ingredients that varied from cook to cook. Rice appeared frequently, along with everything from mushrooms and almonds to pimientos, green peppers, water chestnuts and, of course, the number one ingredient, condensed soup (more on that later).

With some advice from the vintage recipe pros I’d spoken with, as well as a recipe developer, I decided to home in on one recipe and see what would happen if I kept the casserole’s comfort-food roots intact but gave a few of its ingredients a little 2026 refresh. And let me just say, I was not prepared for how good it was (seriously!).

Related: Professional Chef Says These 3 ‘Old-Fashioned’ Meals from the 1940s Are the Definition of ‘Comfort Food’

What Is a Classic Church Cookbook Chicken Casserole?

As it turns out, there really isn’t one recipe that everyone was making way back when, but rather a few. Let me explain.

Baker, writer, and food and theology scholar Kendall Vanderslice, who has cooked through church cookbooks from all 50 states, says these recipes vary significantly by region and appear under different names. So the “classic church cookbook chicken casserole” is probably better thought of as a formula than one specific recipe: chicken, something starchy, something creamy and whatever else made sense to the cook making dinner that night.

Brannock and her colleague, Andrew P. Haley, associate professor of American cultural history at the University of Southern Mississippi, have been studying community cookbooks for years. This year, Haley created an experimental database using the university’s digitized cookbook collection to pull individual recipes from old church and community books.

The recipes he shared made it pretty clear just how loosely defined “chicken casserole” could be. In the 1954 Cornerstone Cookery from Gulfport, Mississippi, for example, Mrs. Pratt Moseley’s Chicken Casserole paired chicken and rice with a homemade sauce of butter, flour and light cream, plus canned mushrooms, almonds and pimientos.

Related: Julia Child’s Skillet Chicken Supper Recipe

A 1960 Chicken Casserole submitted by Mrs. Nell Brown to the St. Luke Methodist Church Cookbook in Tupelo also used chicken and rice with a homemade creamy sauce, adding mushrooms, green pepper, pimiento and almonds before topping the casserole with cornflakes or breadcrumbs.

By the early 1960s, condensed soup was appearing in the recipes I found, rather than a homemade cream sauce. A 1963 Chicken Casserole from Mrs. H.W. Entrekin in the Methodist Cook Book from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, called for chicken, rice and canned mushroom soup. Another 1963 recipe from Mrs. Joe McCall in Southern Recipes: My Friends and My Own combined chicken and raw rice with mushroom, chicken and celery soups. The note accompanying that one pretty much sums up the appeal: “Good for after church dinner with green salad and French bread.” (Sounds delicious, honestly.)

Slotnick has a succinct explanation for why recipes like these stuck around, with variations appearing in church and community cookbooks over the years.

“These recipes are popular for family dinners and church suppers because they are quick, easy, cheap, bland, creamy, salty and familiar,” she tells Parade. “Basically variations on tuna-noodle casserole.”

That practicality is part of what makes these old cookbooks so interesting. These were recipes designed to feed people without requiring a full day in the kitchen.

Related: We Asked 4 Chefs Their Favorite Canned Soup, and Their Answers Will Inspire Dinner Tonight

Why Vintage Recipe Pros Say It’s Time To Ditch the Canned Soup

Condensed soup may be one of the ingredients we most closely associate with vintage casseroles, but one of the most interesting things I discovered was that some of the earlier recipes I found were making their creamy sauces from scratch.

Vanderslice says there’s a reason for the homemade-to-canned-soup jump, explaining, “So many of these recipes emerged because…companies like Campbell’s and Jell-O needed to teach people how to use their products. And so they released all of these recipes that taught housewives how to use the products and were able to make them.”

She says that the recipes that appear in these church and community cookbooks may not be as flavorful as the made-from-scratch version, but “the convenience [took] priority.”

Related: We Tried 10 Canned Chicken Noodle Soups and the Winner Won By a Landslide

She explained that many post-WWII church-cookbook recipes originated with companies such as Campbell’s and Jell-O and that repeated casserole recipes can indicate a company-developed origin.

Convenience products made these casseroles especially easy to assemble, which was part of their appeal in the first place. However, nearly 70 years later, the easiest way to upgrade one of these recipes might actually be to go back to the scratch-made sauce some of those earlier cooks were using.

For Jess Smith, a recipe developer, cooking instructor and food writer, this is one change she feels strongly about.

“My non-negotiable would be to swap out the canned cream of chicken soup,” she tells Parade. “A fresh cream sauce is simple and fast to make and will make the casserole taste lighter without taking away from the creamy flavor.”

Related: 100+ Super Cozy Soup Recipes to Keep You Warm All Season Long

Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel

Ingredients Needed for an Upgraded Chicken Wild Rice Casserole

After combing through dozens of recipes, I eventually landed on Marian Woetzel’s Chicken Wild Rice Casserole from the 1978 Dassel Minnesota Covenant Church Cookbook. It combined cooked chicken with white and wild rice, canned mushrooms, cream of chicken soup, onion, parsley and almonds. In other words, it was exactly the sort of comforting, creamy casserole I had been searching for with just enough room for improvements.

For my updated version of Woetzel’s Chicken Wild Rice Casserole, I used 1/2 cup wild rice, 2/3 cup cooked white rice, 2 tablespoons butter, one small chopped onion, 8 ounces sliced fresh white mushrooms, 10 ounces homemade condensed cream of chicken soup, 3 cups diced cooked chicken, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, 1/2 cup sliced almonds and 2 teaspoons dried thyme.

The fresh mushrooms were one of Smith’s recommended swaps. She also suggested sautéing a diced shallot in butter before adding the mushrooms to build more savory flavor. I decided to stick with onion, which was in Woetzel’s original recipe, but increased the amount from 1/4 cup to one small onion because I wanted more onion flavor throughout the casserole.

I also doubled the parsley and added thyme, which wasn’t in the original, but mushrooms and thyme are one of my favorite combinations, so two teaspoons of dried thyme felt like a small enough addition to give the casserole more flavor without changing what it was.

Related: 70 Years Later, This Iconic Dessert Is Still a Family Favorite, According to a Celebrity Chef

How To Make Upgraded Chicken Wild Rice Casserole

Start by cooking the wild rice according to the package directions and preparing enough white rice to measure 2/3 cup once cooked.

Smith’s recipe for a homemade cream sauce is simple: Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add in 3 tablespoons of flour, and cook, whisking continuously for a minute to form a thick paste. Slowly pour in 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of heavy cream while whisking. Simmer until thick, three to four minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in 1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

I recommend cooking the chicken breasts in a skillet—once they’re cooked, remove them from the pan but keep all of those flavorful juices right where they are. Then, add the fresh mushrooms to the same skillet and let them soak up that chicken flavor as they cook.

Next, melt the butter and sauté the chopped onion until tender, adding the dried thyme as it cooks. Add the mushrooms and continue cooking until tender.

Related: This Depression-Era Cooking Hack Still Hits Home, Chef Explains

Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel

Combine the cooked wild and white rice, diced chicken, mushroom and onion mixture, homemade cream of chicken soup, salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons of the fresh parsley.

Transfer everything to a casserole dish and sprinkle the sliced almonds evenly over the top.

Related: I Made Dolly Parton’s Corn Pone Recipe—and Now I Finally Understand the Hype

Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel

My Experience Making It

Woetzel’s original recipe simply says to “bake,” with no temperature or time listed, so this was one part I had to figure out for myself.

Smith recommends baking it at 400° for 25 to 30 minutes (or until bubbly around the edges), and covering it loosely with foil if the topping started getting too brown.

At 20 minutes, the almonds were beautifully golden, the casserole was hot and creamy and everything had melded together without the already-cooked chicken drying out (very important). I pulled it from the oven and scattered the remaining 2 tablespoons fresh parsley over the top.

I took some pictures, grabbed a spoon, and dug in. And then came the biggest surprise of this entire chicken-casserole research rabbit hole: It was super delicious.

Related: We Asked 6 Chefs About Their Favorite Grocery Store Rotisserie Chickens, and They Didn’t Agree

Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel

The onion had developed this deep, almost caramelized flavor that ran throughout the casserole, and the thyme gave the mushrooms exactly the little punch of flavor I had hoped it would.

Sautéing the fresh mushrooms in the chicken juices was absolutely worth the extra step, and the sliced almonds added some much-needed crunch against all that creamy chicken and rice. It was filling, creamy, delectable and the perfect re-introduction to fall cooking that I had been missing in my life.

The basic casserole didn’t need reinventing. The formula still works decades later. But a few simple swaps and upgrades (and a lot of history lessons) made me understand why people loved these casseroles in the first place.

Related: I Tried Lucille Ball’s Sunday Night Special Casserole, and It’s a Throwback Totally Worth Revisiting

Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel

Make-Ahead and Freezing Instructions

One of the reasons chicken-and-rice casseroles have remained so useful is that they lend themselves well to advance prep. For this version, the casserole can be assembled, covered tightly and refrigerated for up to 24 hours before baking.

Because a casserole going straight from the refrigerator will be colder than one assembled and immediately baked, expect it to need additional oven time. The USDA recommends heating casseroles to an internal temperature of 165°F.

You can also freeze the assembled casserole before baking. Wrap it tightly and freeze it for up to two months, then thaw it completely in the refrigerator before baking. Because this version contains a homemade creamy sauce and cooked rice, there may be a slight change in texture after freezing and thawing, but it should still work well as a freezer meal.

Related: I Tried the Viral Chopped Grilled Cheese—and Cream Cheese Is the Upgrade I Didn’t See Coming

3 Expert-Approved Upgrades for the Best Chicken Casserole

If you’re looking to make a few modern upgrades to a treasured family favorite, the best upgrades, Smith says, are less about adding more and more ingredients, and more about getting better flavor and texture out of what’s already there.

1. Ditch the can

Fresh mushrooms over canned made a huge difference in my version. Smith recommended button mushrooms or shiitakes sautéed until tender rather than canned mushrooms. This goes for any other vegetable you’re cooking your casserole with, whether it’s peas or broccoli.

Related: It Might Be Time To Toss Those Slimy ‘Shrooms—Here’s How To Tell if Mushrooms Are Bad

2. Texture matters

“The biggest problem that rice-based casserole recipes often have is that they’re completely lacking in texture,” Smith says.

Woetzel’s almonds were already working to solve that problem in my recipe, although Smith suggests that buttered cracker crumbs or panko breadcrumbs could also create an evenly golden, crunchy topping to keep things interesting.

3. Spice up your life (with caution)

While Smith advises against adding lots of spices, a little seasoning goes a long way.

Vanderslice has seen the lack of seasoning firsthand. Her sister’s mother-in-law, who lives in the Twin Cities, still cooks from an old church cookbook. When Vanderslice first opened it, she laughed as she remembers thinking there were virtually “no spices in anything.”

My two teaspoons of thyme turned out to be the happy medium. It didn’t transform the casserole into something trendy or unrecognizable. It made the mushrooms, onions and chicken simply taste better.

Up Next:

Related: The 1970s Chicken Dinner That Deserves a Spot on Your Weeknight Rotation

Sources:

• Bonnie Slotnick, owner of Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks in New York City
• Jennifer Brannock, curator of rare books and Mississippiana at the University of Southern Mississippi
• Kendall Vanderslice, baker, writer, and food and theology scholar
• Jess Smith, recipe developer, cooking instructor and food writer

Duncan Sheik, the singer behind the 1996 hit single “Barely Breathing” and the Tony Award-winning composer of Spring Awakening, died Thursday. He was 56. Sheik’s mother, Suzanne, confirmed his death to The New York Times on Friday, September 18, saying the cause was cardiac arrest.

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Sharing a devastating statement, his family said: “Duncan was a father, husband, son, brother, and friend. He will be remembered for his sensitivity, wit, intelligence, and depth of spirit he brought to those who knew and loved him,” the statement continued. “We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of love from his fans, friends, collaborators, and the artistic community. His musical legacy will continue to inspire generations to come.”

Earlier in the week, the singer-composer had been in “critical but stable” condition in a hospital, receiving medical care for an unspecified health issue, the statement shared on his social media profile on September 17 read.

Sheik’s path to a solo career began at Brown University, where he performed alongside Lisa Loeb before stepping out on his own with a self-titled album in 1996. The record featured “Barely Breathing,” which went gold and reached No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the charts for 55 consecutive weeks, as per American Songwriter. 

The song earned Sheik a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

“Barely Breathing” gave Sheik his biggest pop-chart moment, but his career soon moved well beyond radio success. He went on to release nine studio albums and increasingly focused on theatrical and collaborative work.

That shift deepened after he connected with poet and lyricist Steven Sater, whom he met through Nichiren Buddhism. Their early work together included Sater’s 1999 play Umbrage, for which Sheik wrote music set to Sater’s lyrics. The partnership continued with Sheik’s 2001 album Phantom Moon, a project influenced by Nick Drake’s Pink Moon.

A few years later, the pair created the work that would come to define their collaboration: Spring Awakening, the 2006 rock musical adapted from an 1891 German coming-of-age play. Spring Awakening ran successfully off-Broadway before moving to Broadway, winning Best Musical at the 2007 Tony Awards. Sheik himself took home Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations, followed by a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album.

Over the following two decades, Sheik continued composing for the stage, reuniting with Sater on 2019’s Alice by Heart and scoring a theatrical adaptation of American Psycho.

Sheik also composed music for stage adaptations of The Taming of the Shrew, The Secret Life of Bees, and Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen, an off-Broadway production set to debut this fall, Broadway World reported.

The show must go on after Coachella takes its bow every year.

After two weekend of the famed Indio, California music festival each April, the world’s largest country music fest takes over the Polo Grounds the following weekend.

And now, passes to Stagecoach 2027 are on sale. Headliners include Riley Green, Zach Top and Garth Brooks. What’s stopping you?

Sticker shock may be among the reasons. But the festival’s official Instagram account recently posted that fans can lock in passes for just $49 as part of an offered payment plan. See below.

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Other top-billed performers include Willie Nelson, Journey, Kelly Clarkson, Pitbull, Sean Paul and Flo Rida.

Fans have since flooded the above reel’s comments section to voice their thoughts on next year’s performers. While there are a fair share of excited users weighing in, many shared their reservations about who is featured this time around — and who isn’t.

One Instagram user wrote, “No female headliners when you have such a strong female country music era is happening is honestly appalling. Megan, Ella, Lainey, Kasey, Miranda, heck how about ones that are still touring that are great-Carrie, Shania, Carly, REBA, Wynonna…”

Another person commented, “These lineups are so weak for what they charge nowadays. 10 years ago was half the price for twice the talent.”

More info about pass purchasing can be found on the official Stagecoach website. All passes include:

• A single wristband granting access to the festival for all three (3) days
• You may wander from stage to stage and experience other activities such as the HonkyTonk, Half-Pint Hootenanny, delicious BBQ and more
• There are various shaded areas with places to sit down and enjoy a meal or rest from roaming throughout the day
• Ample shaded rest areas
• Free water refill stations
• A variety of food vendors
• Wide beer selection & full bars. Non-alcoholic beer also available.
• Extensive restroom facilities (incl. flushing toilets)
• Free phone charging stations

Tiffany took her bow, then gave the room what it came for.

The ’80s pop star made her New York stage debut Thursday night in Spandex the Musical at Asylum NYC, and she closed it by performing “I Think We’re Alone Now” as a curtain call encore.

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A Housewife, a Mullet and an Aerobics Showdown

Tiffany, 54, plays Linda Gustafson, a housewife who befriends a former gymnastics prodigy turned aerobics instructor, Lorraine Stubenski, played by Sims Lamason. Lorraine teaches at Bronze Bodies Gym, run by a man the theater calls “menacing and poorly mulleted.”

Linda, Lorraine and Lorraine’s protege, played by Harry Potter and the Cursed Child alum Catherine Ashmore Bradley, take him on at the show’s invented 1988 Crystal Light National Aerobics Championship.

Daniel F. Levin and Julian Blackmore wrote the score, Liz Piccoli directs and choreographs, and two-time Tony winner Kai Harada designed the sound.

The Song She Did Not Want to Record

Tiffany was 15 when her producer handed her a cassette of a 1967 Tommy James and the Shondells single and asked her to cover it. She did not want to do it.

“When I came back the next day, they’d remade it as a dance track,” she said. “I didn’t want to record it.”

It went to No. 1 and made her a teenage star the same year Debbie Gibson broke through.

‘It’s Never Too Late’

Acting came first for her, and the hit got in the way. “Before music came into my life, I was a dancer and an actor, and those dreams were put on hold when ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ took off,” she stated back in July.

She called the show “a true full-circle moment,” and added, “It’s a reminder that it’s never too late to reinvent yourself.”

The run ends Sept. 27.