On this week’s episode of Inside The Hive, author Kate Anderson Brower joins Emily Jane Fox to discuss her new authorized biography, Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit and Glamour of an Icon [https://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-Taylor-Grit-Glamour-Icon-ebook/dp/B09V2ZZ7KK]. Andersen Brower takes us inside the lesser known sides of one of the most famous women of all time. Brower, who interviewed 250 people for the book and combed through thousands of never-before-seen personal effects, paints a vivid portrait of Taylor as a mother, humanitarian [https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/11/elizabeth-taylor-aids-book], and friend—and the toll that fame exacts on even those who are destined for it.

On this week’s episode of Inside the Hive, dietician Kim Shapira joins Emily Jane Fox to talk about the new weight loss drug taking Hollywood and TikTok by storm—how it works, why everyone seems to be talking about it, and what kind of message the “quick-fix” trend is sending. Plus: Fox and Joe Hagan break down Michael Avenatti’s sentence and what it could mean for other wayward political figures.

This week, Vanity Fair contributing editor May Jeong joins Inside the Hive to examine the popular uprising against the Xi Jinping regime over its repressive COVID policies, which have held China’s 1.4 billion citizens in virtual captivity. Jeong, who visited China in 2019 to investigate what happened to the country’s biggest movie star, Fan Bingbing, sees parallels to recent uprisings in Iran—specifically, women on the front lines. “The intersectional ways in which our struggles are linked is interesting,” she says, “and something that Americans can draw from as well.”

Plus, Joe Hagan talks to Emily Jane Fox about her latest feature: a look inside the gilded post–White House life of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, who want to live a normal, everyday billionaire’s existence in Miami—and have no desire to return to DC should Donald Trump win in 2024.

In the short but long weeks since Elon Musk took over Twitter, it seems like the platform, along with the social media class, has been put through the spin cycle. Between debates over who could be verified and how much that might cost, employee layoffs, and, of course, the lingering question of whether and when Donald Trump might be replatformed, there have been many questions about the fate of Twitter. 

Vanity Fair’s Nick Bilton, who literally wrote the book on Twitter, joins this week’s episode of Inside the Hive, taking listeners inside his notebook to lay out the problems that Twitter faces as both a company and a barometer of the mindset of the country. 

“Jack Dorsey and all the folks at Twitter used to say that Twitter is a reflection of society,” Bilton tells ITH listeners. “I think that it is a reflection of the extremes in society, and it brings out the best and, a lot more times, the worst in people because of the way it is designed.” What will happen to the platform given the political atmosphere, and can it help propel someone into the White House—or keep them out?

Gabe Sherman, fresh off his Ron DeSantis feature, and Molly Jong-Fast, the Hive’s newest contributor, join Emily Jane Fox and Joe Hagan for a Wednesday-morning revel in what the midterms portend for the future of the country—not to mention for pollsters and the pundit class—and how the Democrats can contend with the GOP’s “extreme gerrymandering” in battles ahead.

With less than a week to go until the midterms determine our country’s future, Joe Hagan and Emily Jane Fox sit down with The Hive’s newest star, special correspondent Molly Jong-Fast, and VF national political reporter Abby Tracy to break down the final stages of races across the country, including how abortion is playing as an issue. 

Plus, CNBC’s Julia Boorstin stops by for a timely discussion about women in power as her new book, When Women Lead, hits shelves. In conversation with Fox, who recently profiled The Wing cofounder Audrey Gelman, Boorstin runs through some of the common traits she sees in women leaders, such as Lena Waithe, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Whitney Wolfe Herd, who are among the interviews in the book.

The former BuzzFeed editor and New York Times media columnist offers pushback on critiques of his new media offering.

With J.D. Vance, Kari Lake and other Big Lie Republican candidates, America is going to go down a “rabbit hole” of chaos, according to the hosts of The Circus. Plus, Anand Giridharadas toughens up progressive messaging

This week, Joe Hagan talks to James Carville, veteran Democratic strategist and cable news stalwart, about the lead-up to the midterms. On the table: abortion rights, how Ron DeSantis handled Hurricane Ian (“Do you know what Florida needs more than anything else in the world right now? I do. Immigrants," says Carville), Herschel Walker (“You cannot tell me that anybody 60 years old would trade brains with Herschel Walker, cuz you wouldn’t”), and who won the debate between Trump-approved candidate JD Vance and opponent Tim Ryan in Ohio (“That was a T.K.O.”).

Given the political environment, he says, Democrats wouldn’t ordinarily stand a chance in 2022. “You have an election with 'wrong track' for the country at 65%, presidential approval at 41%—all that is a guaranteed landslide [for Republicans],” he says. "Why has this electorate been resisting this and resisting it hard? That's the question that we should be asking ourselves."

Also this episode: Hagan talks to Narges Bajoghli, a professor of Middle East Studies at John Hopkins, about her recent story on the women leading uprising in Iran, and the implications for gender equality around the world. Hive senior editor Tara Golshan joins a conversation that asks: Where does the revolution go from here?