It led to feverish speculation that it would be the first salvo in a concerted attempt by senior Labour figures to unseat Starmer ahead of May’s elections in Scotland, Wales and across England.
Indeed, Sarwar himself made it clear that he wanted to see the PM replaced by someone more popular to at least give Scottish Labour half a chance as they try to defeat the SNP.
Specifically, he said Downing Street’s disastrous handling of the Peter Mandelson scandal meant Starmer had to go.
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“The distraction needs to end and the leadership in Downing Street has to change,” the Scottish Labour leader said.
“We cannot allow the failures at the heart of Downing Street to mean the failures continue here in Scotland, because the election in May is not without consequence for the lives of Scots,” he declared.
But Sarwar’s battle cry went unheeded, with sources close to Welsh first minister Eluned Morgan denying suggestions that she would also be calling for Starmer to quit.
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Significantly, it appeared that the Scottish Labour leader had little support from even his own countrymen and women.
One Scottish MP told HuffPost UK: “Who does Anas want to be prime minister? Does he even know? If he’s doing this with no idea of the end game, then frankly what’s the fucking point?
“The first rule of politics is never demand someone’s resignation unless you know you’re going to get it.”
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Sarwar’s assault also had the unintended consequence of reigniting a seemingly extinct fighting spirit within Starmer’s Downing Street operation.
Cabinet ministers, previously reluctant to make clear their support for the PM, were strong-armed into going on social media and doing just that.
In what was clearly a co-ordinated operation, every member of the cabinet, as well as junior ministers, Labour mayors and potential leadership contenders, took to X to say now was not the time for the PM to go.
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Whether their sentiments were sincere or not, it was an impressive display of raw political power, marginalising Sarwar while gaining buy-in from ministers whose backing for Starmer’s leadership has rarely been full-throated.
The PM was then greeted with loud roars of approval and enthusiastic applause when he attended a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday evening.
Starmer told the MPs and peers present: “I have had my detractors every step along the way, and I’ve got them now. Detractors that don’t want a Labour government at all, and certainly not one to succeed.
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“But I’ll tell you this, after having fought so hard for the chance to change our country, I’m not prepared to walk away from my mandate and my responsibility to my country, or to plunge us into chaos, as others have done.”
Far from fatally undermining Starmer, Sarwar’s act of sedition seems to have, remarkably, bolstered the prime minister at a time when he appeared to be at his lowest ebb.
He is far from out of the woods, of course, and it is still more likely than not that he will be forced out of No.10 by the summer.
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But after days of unremittingly awful headlines, and against all the odds, Sarwar’s cack-handed attempts to unseat him have left Starmer stronger than he has been in months.
WASHINGTON — Jeffery Epstein’s former accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell sat for a video deposition with members of Congress on Monday but refused to talk.
Appearing from the prison camp where she’s serving a 20-year sentence, Maxwell invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself — and indicated she would only speak if President Donald Trump lets her out of prison.
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“Ms Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump,” Maxwell’s attorney, David Markus, said in an opening statement he posted on social media.
Democrats expressed outrage that Maxwell appeared to be advertising favorable testimony in exchange for a pardon or commutation of her prison sentence. Trump has suggested he’s open to the idea.
“She is campaigning over and over again to get that pardon from President Trump, and this president has not ruled it out, and so that is why she’s continuing to not cooperate with our investigation,” Representative Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) told reporters. “The reality is that she is a monster. She should be behind bars.”
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Maxwell was sentenced to 240 months in prison in 2022 for helping Epstein recruit, groom and eventually abuse girls as young as 14. When she was first charged in 2020, a year after Epstein died in prison while facing sex trafficking charges, Trump, a former friend of Epstein’s, said he wished her well.
Last year, the Bureau of Prisons transferred Maxwell to a minimum-security prison camp, contrary to protocols for a sex offender, after she sat for a transcribed interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. In that interview, Maxwell said she never witnessed inappropriate behavior by Trump or by former President Bill Clinton, who also socialized with Epstein and traveled on his private jet.
Bill and Hillary Clinton will sit for depositions with the House Oversight Committee later this month. The committee’s chair, Representative James Comer (R-Ky.), said he was disappointed that Maxwell invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to speak as a witness against herself.
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“We had many questions to ask about the crimes she and Epstein committed, as well as questions about potential co-conspirators,” Comer said.
Through her attorney, Maxwell again volunteered that Trump and Clinton did nothing wrong.
“Only she can provide the complete account. Some may not like what they hear, but the truth matters,” Markus said. “For example, both President Trump and President Clinton are innocent of any wrongdoing. Ms. Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation.”
Cabinet ministers have pledged their support for Keir Starmer as the prime minister fights for his political survival.
In a clearly co-cordinated operation, a succession of senior government ministers took to social media to make clear they do not want the PM to resign.
The UK’s former ambassador to Washington is facing a police investigation over allegations he passed market sensitive information to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when he was business secretary between 2008 and 2010.
Sarwar said: “The distraction needs to end and the leadership in Downing Street has to change.”
The incendiary move led to speculation that cabinet ministers could resign in order to force the PM out.
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But one after another, they posted messages on X making clear they believe he should stay in his post.
Rebuilding Britain takes time. But thanks to the decisions we’ve made NHS waiting lists are falling. Inflation is falling. Interest rates are falling. The conditions for the economy to grow are there.
With Keir as our Prime Minister we are turning the country around.
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I respect @anassarwar but he is wrong. Keir led our party to a General Election victory 18 months ago and he is the right person for the job in difficult circumstances. The public want us to fix the country’s problems, not fixate on ourselves.
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I respect @anassarwar but he is wrong. Keir led our party to a General Election victory 18 months ago and he is the right person for the job in difficult circumstances. The public want us to fix the country’s problems, not fixate on ourselves.
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Keir turned around the Labour Party after one of our worst defeats in 2019. He won a huge mandate at the last general election and is leading a government that is delivering on our promise of change to the British public. Nothing should distract from that.
— Emma Reynolds for Wycombe 🌹 (@EmmaforWycombe) February 9, 2026
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Keir Starmer is a good, decent man with public service running through his veins. He came into politics for all the right reasons. He’s defied the naysayers many time and he’ll do so again. He’s changing and renewing our country and has restored it’s reputation across the world.
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Angela Rayner, who was forced to resign as deputy PM last year and is seen as a frontrunner to replace Starmer if he goes, also called on Labour MPs to back him.
I urge all my colleagues to come together, remember our values and put them into practice as a team. The Prime Minister has my full support in leading us to that end. 3/3
Keir Starmer has spent his career serving our country. Being the Prime Minister is the hardest job in politics – there are no easy days but our country needs stability.
Integrity, duty and resilience are the foundations of serious leadership.
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Keir Starmer has spent his career serving our country. Being the Prime Minister is the hardest job in politics – there are no easy days but our country needs stability.
Integrity, duty and resilience are the foundations of serious leadership.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge, working with international collaborators, have identified a crucial process that shapes how DNA behaves as it moves through nanoscale pores. This process is fundamental to many biological activities and to fast-growing DNA sensing technologies. The research highlights a long-overlooked DNA structure called plectonemes, a finding that could influence future advances in genomics and biosensing.
Nanopores are extremely small openings that allow single strands of DNA to pass through while producing electrical signals. These signals help researchers analyze genetic material in detail. Until now, important features of those signals had been misunderstood.
Why Scientists Thought DNA Was Forming Knots
For many years, researchers believed that complex electrical patterns seen during nanopore experiments were caused by DNA forming knots. The idea was easy to picture. Pulling a shoelace through a narrow hole becomes uneven if the lace tangles, and scientists assumed DNA behaved in the same way. Any irregular signal was thought to mean the strand had knotted as it moved through the pore.
That explanation shaped how nanopore data was interpreted for decades.
Twists, Not Knots, Explain the Signals
The new study, published in Physical Review X, shows that this long-standing assumption was often wrong. Instead of forming true knots, DNA frequently twists around itself during nanopore translocation. These twisted structures, known as plectonemes, resemble a coiled phone cord rather than a tied knot.
This distinction matters because twists and knots affect electrical signals in very different ways.
“Our experiments showed that as DNA is pulled through the nanopore, the ionic flow inside twists the strand, accumulating torque and winding it into plectonemes, not just knots. This ‘hidden’ twisting structure has a distinctive, long-lasting fingerprint in the electrical signal, unlike the more transient signature of knots,” explained lead author Dr Fei Zheng from the Cavendish Laboratory.
Experiments Point to a Missing Mechanism
To reach this conclusion, the researchers tested DNA using both glass and silicon nitride nanopores across a wide range of voltages and conditions. They noticed that so-called “tangled” events, when more than one section of DNA occupied the pore at the same time, occurred far more often than knot theory could explain.
These events became even more frequent as voltage increased and as DNA strands grew longer. This pattern suggested that another force was at work.
How Flowing Water Twists DNA
The team found that the twisting comes from electroosmotic flow, the movement of water driven by electric fields inside the nanopore. As water flows past the DNA, it applies a spinning force to the helical molecule. This torque travels along the strand, causing sections outside the pore to coil into plectonemes.
Unlike knots, which tighten under pulling forces and typically disappear quickly, plectonemes can grow larger and remain present throughout the entire translocation process. Computer simulations that applied realistic forces and torques confirmed this behavior and showed that plectoneme formation depends on DNA’s ability to transmit twist along its length.
Blocking Twists Confirms the Discovery
To test the idea further, the researchers created “nicked” DNA, strands that were interrupted at specific points. These interruptions prevented twist from spreading along the molecule and sharply reduced the formation of plectonemes during experiments.
This result confirmed that twist propagation is essential to the process. It also hints at new ways nanopores could be used to detect DNA damage, since breaks in the strand interfere with twisting behavior.
Reading DNA Signals With New Precision
“What’s really powerful here is that we can now tell apart knots and plectonemes in the nanopore signal based on how long they last,” says Prof Ulrich F. Keyser, also from the Cavendish Laboratory and a co-author of the study.
“Knots pass through quickly, just like a quick bump, whereas plectonemes linger and create extended signals. This offers a path to richer, more nuanced readouts of DNA organization, genomic integrity, and possibly damage.”
Broader Implications for Biology and Technology
The findings extend beyond nanopore sensing. In living cells, DNA regularly twists and tangles as enzymes act on it, and both knots and plectonemes play important roles in genome organization and stability. Understanding how these structures form could improve models of cellular DNA behavior.
For diagnostics and biosensing, the ability to detect or control DNA twisting could lead to more sensitive tools capable of identifying subtle genetic changes and early signs of DNA damage linked to disease.
“From the perspective of nanotechnology, the research highlights the power of nanopores, not only as sophisticated sensors but also as tools for manipulating biopolymers in novel ways,” concluded Keyser.
Women who follow a Mediterranean-style eating pattern may face a lower risk of stroke, according to research published on February 4, 2026, in Neurology Open Access, a journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study found a strong relationship between this diet and reduced stroke risk, though it does not show that the diet directly prevents strokes. Instead, it identifies an association between dietary habits and long-term health outcomes.
Researchers observed lower rates of stroke overall among women who most closely followed the Mediterranean diet. This included both ischemic strokes and hemorrhagic strokes. Ischemic strokes occur when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked and are the most common form of stroke. Hemorrhagic strokes happen when a blood vessel ruptures and causes bleeding in the brain.
What Defines the Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean diet centers on eating plenty of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and fish, along with healthy fats such as olive oil. It limits foods like dairy products, meat, and items high in saturated fatty acids.
“Our findings support the mounting evidence that a healthy diet is critical to stroke prevention,” said study author Sophia S. Wang, PhD, of City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California. “We were especially interested to see that this finding applies to hemorrhagic stroke, as few large studies have looked at this type of stroke.”
How the Study Followed More Than 100,000 Women
The study included 105,614 women who had no history of stroke at the beginning of the research and an average age of 53. Each participant completed a detailed diet questionnaire at the start of the study. Researchers then assigned a score ranging from zero to nine based on how closely each person’s diet matched Mediterranean diet guidelines.
Participants earned one point for consuming more than the population average of whole grain cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, olive oil, and fish, as well as for drinking a moderate amount of alcohol. They also earned a point for eating less red meat and dairy than average. About 30% of participants scored between six and nine — the highest group. Another 13% scored between zero and two, placing them in the lowest group.
Stroke Outcomes Over 21 Years
Participants were monitored for an average of 21 years. During that period, researchers recorded 4,083 strokes, including 3,358 ischemic strokes and 725 hemorrhagic strokes. Among women in the highest diet score group, 1,058 ischemic strokes occurred, compared with 395 cases in the lowest group. For hemorrhagic stroke, 211 cases were reported in the highest group and 91 in the lowest group.
After accounting for other stroke risk factors such as smoking, physical activity, and high blood pressure, the differences remained significant. Women with the highest Mediterranean diet scores were 18% less likely to experience any stroke than those with the lowest scores. Their risk of ischemic stroke was 16% lower, and their risk of hemorrhagic stroke was 25% lower.
Why the Findings Matter and Study Limitations
“Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability, so it’s exciting to think that improving our diets could lessen our risk for this devastating disease,” said Wang. “Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and to help us understand the mechanisms behind them so we could identify new ways to prevent stroke.”
One limitation of the study is that dietary information was self reported, which means some participants may not have recalled their eating habits accurately.
The research was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke.
Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecological cancer, largely because it is usually discovered too late. In most cases, doctors diagnose the disease only after it has already spread widely throughout the abdomen. Although researchers have long known that ovarian cancer progresses rapidly, the biological reason behind this speed has remained unclear.
A new study led by Nagoya University now sheds light on this long-standing mystery. The research, published in Science Advances, shows that ovarian cancer cells do not act alone. Instead, they enlist help from mesothelial cells, which normally serve as a protective lining inside the abdominal cavity. These mesothelial cells move ahead of the cancer cells, creating pathways that cancer cells then follow. Together, they form hybrid cell clusters that are more resistant to chemotherapy than cancer cells by themselves.
Cancer Cells Form Hybrid Clusters in Abdominal Fluid
To understand how this happens, researchers analyzed abdominal fluid from patients with ovarian cancer. What they found challenged previous assumptions. Cancer cells were rarely drifting freely on their own. Instead, they frequently attached themselves to mesothelial cells, forming compact, mixed cell spheres.
The researchers estimated that roughly 60% of these cancer spheres included recruited mesothelial cells. The cancer cells release a signaling molecule known as TGF-β1, which alters the mesothelial cells. In response, the mesothelial cells develop sharp, spike-like protrusions capable of cutting through surrounding tissue.
How Ovarian Cancer Moves Through the Abdomen
As ovarian cancer grows, some cells detach from the main tumor and enter the fluid-filled space within the abdomen. This fluid is constantly in motion due to normal breathing and body movement. As a result, cancer cells are carried to many different areas of the abdominal cavity.
This method of spread differs sharply from that of many other cancers. In diseases such as breast or lung cancer, tumor cells enter blood vessels and travel through the bloodstream to distant organs. Because blood flows through defined pathways, doctors can sometimes monitor these cancers using blood tests.
Ovarian cancer cells largely bypass blood vessels. Instead, they drift through abdominal fluid that lacks a predictable route. This floating phase occurs before the cells attach to new organs. Until now, scientists did not fully understand what occurred during this stage or how cancer cells coordinated their spread so efficiently.
Invadopodia Drive Tissue Invasion
The research team found that during this floating stage, ovarian cancer cells actively recruit mesothelial cells that have naturally shed from the abdominal lining. Once joined together, the two cell types form hybrid spheres. The mesothelial cells then produce invadopodia, which are spike-like structures that drill into nearby tissue.
These hybrid spheres pose a particular threat. When they reach an organ, they invade tissue more rapidly and withstand chemotherapy drugs more effectively than cancer cells alone.
Watching Cancer Spread in Real Time
Using advanced microscopy, the scientists were able to observe this process directly in abdominal fluid samples from patients. They validated their observations with experiments in mouse models and by analyzing gene activity at the single-cell level.
Lead author Dr. Kaname Uno, a former PhD student and current Visiting Researcher at Nagoya University’s Graduate School of Medicine, explained that the cancer cells themselves remain relatively unchanged. “They manipulate mesothelial cells to do the tissue invasion work. They undergo minimal genetic and molecular changes and just migrate through the openings that mesothelial cells create.”
Before entering research, Dr. Uno spent eight years working as a gynecologist. One patient profoundly shaped his decision to pursue this line of study. She had received normal screening results just three months before doctors diagnosed her with advanced ovarian cancer. Existing diagnostic tools failed to detect the disease early enough to save her life. That experience motivated Dr. Uno to investigate why ovarian cancer spreads so quickly and escapes early detection.
New Opportunities for Treatment and Monitoring
The findings point to potential new approaches for treating ovarian cancer. Current chemotherapy drugs focus on destroying cancer cells but do not target the mesothelial cells that assist in invasion. Future therapies could aim to block the TGF-β1 signal or prevent the formation of these harmful cell partnerships.
The study also suggests a possible new way to track the disease. Monitoring these hybrid cell clusters in abdominal fluid could help doctors better predict how ovarian cancer will progress and how patients respond to treatment.
Ovarian cancer kills more women than any other gynecological cancer. Most patients receive their diagnosis only after the disease spreads throughout the abdomen. Until now, scientists have never fully understood why this cancer advances so fast.
A new study led by Nagoya University explains why. Published in Science Advances, the study shows that cancer cells recruit help from protective mesothelial cells that normally line the abdominal cavity. Mesothelial cells lead the invasion and cancer cells follow the pathways they create. These hybrid cell clusters resist chemotherapy better than cancer alone.
Researchers examined abdominal fluid from ovarian cancer patients and found something unexpected. Cancer cells do not float alone in the abdominal cavity. Instead, they often grab onto mesothelial cells and form hybrid spheres. About 60% of all cancer spheres contain these recruited mesothelial cells. The cancer cells release a protein called TGF-β1 that transforms the mesothelial cells and causes them to develop spike-like structures that cut through tissue.
Invadopodia, spike structures that do the digging for cancer
When ovarian cancer develops, cancer cells break off from the tumor. These cells enter the abdominal fluid and float freely. The fluid moves around as you breathe and move your body. This movement carries the cancer cells to different spots in the abdomen.
Most other cancers spread differently. Breast cancer or lung cancer cells enter blood vessels. They travel through the bloodstream to reach distant organs. Doctors can sometimes track these cancers through blood tests because blood moves in predictable paths through vessels.
Ovarian cancer cells avoid blood vessels entirely. They float in fluid that has no fixed path. This floating stage happens before the cancer cells attach to new organs. Scientists did not fully understand what happened during the floating period or how cells worked together to spread cancer so quickly.
The research team discovered that cancer cells recruit protective mesothelial cells that have shed from the abdominal cavity lining during this floating stage. The two cell types stick together and form hybrid spheres. The mesothelial cells then grow invadopodia, spike-like structures that drill into surrounding tissue. The hybrid spheres resist chemotherapy drugs more effectively and invade tissues faster when they land on organs.
Outsourcing the hard work of cell invasion
The researchers examined abdominal fluid from ovarian cancer patients using advanced microscopy to watch this process in real time. They confirmed their findings with mouse models and single-cell genetic analysis.
Lead author Dr. Kaname Uno, a former PhD student and current Visiting Researcher at Nagoya University’s Graduate School of Medicine, explained that the cancer cells do not need to become more invasive themselves. “They manipulate mesothelial cells to do the tissue invasion work. They undergo minimal genetic and molecular changes and just migrate through the openings that mesothelial cells create.”
Dr. Uno worked as a gynecologist for eight years before he pursued research. One of his patients changed his career path. She had clear screening results just three months before doctors found advanced ovarian cancer. Current medical tools failed to detect the cancer early enough to save her life. This motivated Dr. Uno to investigate why ovarian cancer spreads so rapidly.
This discovery opens new treatment possibilities. Current chemotherapy targets cancer cells but ignores the mesothelial accomplices. Future drugs could block the TGF-β1 signal or prevent the formation of these dangerous partnerships. The research also suggests that doctors could monitor these cell clusters in abdominal fluid to predict disease progression and treatment response.
“What’s your name?” Catherine O’Hara asked me, leaning forward in the booth. “What’s your story?”
I was standing in a swanky restaurant in New York City wearing a black dress short enough to satisfy management, my hands clasped behind my back in case a manager appeared. I had just broken the most important rule of the job: Never acknowledge a celebrity.
Three months earlier, I had dropped off my resume anywhere I could in hopes of securing a job that would supplement what my $35-a-week publishing intern stipend wouldn’t get me, which was, of course, everything but my subway fare.
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I was hungry in every sense of the word. By the end of the day, I was offered three serving jobs and took them all. One was at this legendary restaurant continuously full of rock stars, Oscar-winning actors and models.
During my interview, the manager had ignored my flimsy (both in substance and content) resume and assessed my body instead. My waist. My chest. My legs. He said they had a place for me as a cocktail server in the private lounge where the windows were tinted, the tables were low and loungy, and the only clientele allowed in were ultra-wealthy patrons and celebrities.
The manager told me to show up later that night for my first training shift and emphasised that the dress code was all black, dresses only, hemlines not to exceed the end of my fingertips when my arms were hanging by my sides.
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“We prefer the skirt to graze your first knuckles,” he said, making a fist and pointing to the ridged top of his hand to make his point.
I was 22, fresh out of college, and ready to do whatever it took to become a writer. If I can make it here… I thought.
When I walked in for my first shift, I was surprised to see a friend from college working at the host stand. Back in Colorado, he’d been a boisterous theater kid — lanky with bright blue eyes and flamboyant energy. Now he looked hollowed out — dark under the eyes, less “youthfully thin” and more underfed. He seemed tired and nervous, and his eyes flicked around as if we might get in trouble for hugging.
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Courtesy of Sammi LaBue
The author celebrating her first story being accepted for publication in 2011 — a year before she decided to move to New York City.
The server I was assigned to shadow approached the host stand to retrieve me. She was gorgeous, waifish, and in place of the air of sadness my college acquaintance had, she’d built a bitter bubble of sarcasm around herself.
She walked me quickly through the labyrinthine back-of-house, dodging catcalls from her co-workers and managers deftly. She listed off rules as I struggled to keep up. Three of them stuck out.
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1. We were required to try everything on the menu, which perked me up as a hungry, broke person used to only eating family meal slop before a shift.
2. We were a “pooled house,” which meant the managers gathered and then divvied up our tips (after shaving a cut).
3. We were not allowed — under any circumstances — to reveal that we recognised a celebrity. We were to treat everyone as an anonymous guest. Asking for an autograph, a photo, or even announcing that you were a fan of anyone famous would result in immediate termination.
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Perhaps this last rule sounds easy enough to follow, but during my first training shift, Jay-Z, Adam Sandler and Mariah Carey were among our guests.
I lasted one month at this restaurant. Long enough to eat my way through the menu and gather enough celebrity run-in anecdotes to last a lifetime. My cocktail party stories suddenly involved run-ins with Bill Belichick, Jon Bon Jovi, Jonah Hill and Josh Hartnett, among many, many others. But not even these exciting encounters could make up for the depleting atmosphere of working in a place where every staff member was a hopeful singer, model, actor or artist.
After my first shift, I witnessed the server who was training me earn over $1,000 in tips — then walk out the door with only $220 after management’s cut. When I asked about the tip breakdown, my manager was finishing a line of cocaine in his windowless basement office. His explanation made little sense, but he laughed at my confusion, and I left his office feeling dejected and violated.
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However, what really convinced me that I couldn’t survive there long was when I realised that my co-workers all seemed to be struggling with disordered eating. Years earlier, after my dad had died suddenly of a heart attack, I’d developed my own eating disorder — a coping mechanism that came with consequences. I’d slowly healed in college, partly thanks to a tight circle of wonderful friends. Now, without them and being surrounded by behaviours that I instantly recognised as potentially damaging, I felt my anxiety rising in a new — though disturbingly familiar — way.
During my work shifts, my trainer-server and I worked through the restaurant’s menu, each night picking something new for me to try, and we’d sit on the back staircase (there was no break room) while she explained the dish to me. No matter what it was — tuna on crispy rice, a black truffle pizza, half a roast chicken on a mountain of garlic mashed potatoes — she refused to have a bite.
“No way. I’m trying to be an actress,” she told me. “I wouldn’t even eat a cucumber here. They put sesame oil on everything.”
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She joked about it — “I don’t eat, really. None of us do.”
Though I wasn’t attempting to make it as an actress, I still began to leave food on the plate, uneasy about doing so, but also worried she might have a point. She was putting her goals first. Hunger as discipline. Emptiness as a badge of ambition. Maybe fed girls didn’t make it in NYC.
Courtesy of Sammi LaBue
The author right after she moved to New York City in 2012.
By the time I walked in for my last training shift on a Sunday night, I was thinner, my spirit was beaten down, and I was worried about the road I seemed to be headed back down.
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I was also still broke. I’d trained for seven shifts at $10 an hour, and I was relieved when my trainer asked me to take this shift alone. The managers were nowhere to be found, as usual, and she wanted to meet up with her boyfriend — a musician who was always cheating on her. The restaurant was slow, she told me I now knew what I was doing, and, best of all, she would let me take all of the tips I made home.
At nearly 9 o’clock, three women walked in: two women I’d never seen before and the one and only Catherine O’Hara. I froze. My mind flashed to O’Hara’s squiggly sideburns in “Beetlejuice.” Her iconic “Kevin!” in “Home Alone.” The dozens and dozens of times my sister and I had watched “Best in Show.” All of the characters she’d played that shaped my sense of humour. My sense of joy. How could I possibly serve her without telling her I loved her?
They sat in a window booth with Catherine in the centre. When I went to greet her party, her friends enthusiastically interrupted to tell me they were taking her out for her birthday. She shook her head sheepishly, embarrassed and amused.
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“We’ve been friends forever,” she told me. “They don’t let me get away with anything.”
As a writer, I try to avoid cliches, but reader, her eyes truly sparkled with life and kindness.
Soon, they were my only table. I folded napkins a short distance away from them and watched the three friends enjoy each other’s company — and one of everything from the starter section, plus a burger, the tuna and the chicken. They shared a bottle of wine and giggled like girls.
Over the course of their meal, I realised that in just a few weeks, the restaurant I stood in had distorted what success should look like, but no one could extinguish the aura of true success that radiated off Catherine. She had “it” — that thing I’d come to NYC to prove I had, too, and “it” wasn’t thinness or ambition at all costs, or even talent, though of course she had that, too. It was her sense of self — how she held herself and confidently, yet humbly, moved through the world — that no one could rival… or take away from her.
By the time I dropped the chocolate soufflé off, their table held the last lit candle in the restaurant.
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I placed the dessert in front of Catherine, and then I took a breath.
“I’m not supposed to bother our famous diners,” I said, “but I just have to tell you how much your acting means to me and my sister. ‘Best in Show’ is our favourite movie, and your character is my favourite.”
“Me?” she said, genuinely incredulous. “Your favourite!”
“I’m sorry to bother you. I just had to say something. Happy birthday.” I quickly turned away, mortified.
“It was her sense of self — how she held herself and confidently, yet humbly, moved through the world — that no one could rival… or take away from her.”
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“Wait,” she called after me, “What’s your name? What’s your story?”
She insisted that I join them in their booth and asked what kind of artist I was.
“Every server in this city has an interesting story,” she said, gesturing her spoon toward me, her mouth full of birthday soufflé, and the trio’s attention now fully, yet comfortably, on me.
I told her all about my dream to be an author and about the short story I was working on.
“What if one of the characters dies?” she riffed, delighted.
Were we collaborating? I could hardly breathe.
I was glad to have refused their offer of a bite of soufflé because the manager suddenly appeared from his basement lair, and I immediately popped out of the booth.
“I’ll just grab you the check,” I said, with my arms behind my back again, in an attempt to look professional. She winked at me as I walked away.
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She paid the bill herself, though her friends tried, and though my tip out didn’t reflect it, she left me 100% on their $400 bill and a note that read, “I know your day will come. Keep writing.”
The manager wouldn’t let me keep the receipt, but I didn’t need it.
Catherine had given me something invaluable that night. Her kindness has always stayed with me. She showed me a different way to be an artist — to be a person. She chose passion, curiosity, individuality and humility in an industry that often made that feel impossible.
I never went back to the restaurant again after that night. I left before the thinness of the place convinced me I had to disappear to deserve a future. There were plenty of other workplace cultures ahead of me that would also try to normalise self-erasure as ambition, but years later, when I sat down to write this essay just days after Catherine O’Hara’s death, I could still clearly conjure that moment with her. Thanks to her, I still try to follow my appetite, to seek fullness and to believe, even on my hungriest days, that my day will come.
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Sammi LaBue is the founder of Fledgling Writing Workshops (“Best Writing Workshops,” Timeout NY) and basically obsessed with the feeling of having an idea and writing it down. Her latest project is a recently finished memoir written in collaboration with her mom titled “Bad Apples.” Some of her other essays can be found in BuzzFeed, Slate, Literary Hub, The Sun, Glamour and more. To follow her writing journey and find opportunities to write with her flow, visit fledgling.substack.com.