“I think my understanding is that queerbaiting is when someone is falsely portraying themselves as queer,” Innanen said. He added that Paul Baker is “pretty fluid to the core” and said that quality had resonated with people.

Innanen also acknowledged that some viewers had criticized the storyline for placing a bisexual or fluid man in a heterosexual relationship. He said the love triangle felt accepted, natural and true to the character, concluding: “I think that there wasn’t much queerbait to him.”

PinkNews and Elite Daily published coverage of the remarks on October 1. Both reported that Innanen’s comments came in the "Variety" interview and highlighted the tension he described between Paul’s relationships with women and men.

Paul Baker’s storyline

"Variety" describes Paul Baker as a newer member of the show’s central friend group and says that the second season places him at the center of a love triangle involving Issa, played by Amita Rao, and Anton, played by Owen Thiele. The interview characterizes Paul as “sexually fluid” and describes the relationships as part of the season’s story.

The coverage distinguishes the character’s on-screen sexuality from Innanen’s identity: "Variety" frames the question around Innanen as a straight actor portraying Paul, while the character is sexually fluid. PinkNews likewise reported that distinction and described the criticism as focused partly on a fluid male character being involved in a relationship with a woman.

In the interview, Innanen said some viewers had told him that Paul’s story helped them learn about their own sexuality. He recalled people saying they had discovered they were fluid rather than bisexual, and described feeling a “representative responsibility” while being glad the experience could be represented.

Those comments describe what Innanen said viewers shared with him; they do not establish how widely the character’s storyline has affected audiences. The interview provides no audience survey or broader measure of the show’s impact.

What the coverage establishes

The reporting supports a specific account of Innanen’s position: he does not think Paul Baker’s story amounts to queerbaiting because the character’s fluidity is explicit and shapes the plot, while acknowledging that viewers questioned a fluid male character’s involvement with a woman. The comments are Innanen’s interpretation of the term and of the show’s character—not a ruling on the meaning of queerbaiting or proof that every viewer agrees with his assessment.

Elite Daily also situated the discussion within broader online debate about queerbaiting and cited a dictionary definition emphasizing the deliberate teasing of LGBTQ+ characters or relationships while keeping their identities ambiguous. That framing differs from Innanen’s brief explanation, which focused on someone falsely presenting themself as queer. The sources therefore document his answer and the criticism he acknowledged, rather than a shared definition of the term.

Innanen’s interview also touched on what might come next for Paul and Anton. He said he hoped there would be stability for the pair, while noting he did not know whether that would happen. The interview did not confirm a future storyline.

“Crisco,” the country star's 11th studio album, is a collection of boogie-forward tracks, buoyed by sweeping strings and what sounds like a wink from the dance floor. It's out Friday.

“I’ve spent a lot of my career with fiery songs and heartbreak songs and this record just has a lot of joy on it, and I think that’s just where I am right now in life, too,” Miranda says.

The title track is almost a mission statement: “Baby, we’ve been cookin’ with Crisco/Ain’t we mixin’ country and disco/Stir it around, give it a spin/And it’s a rhinestone world we’re livin’ in.”

“I’ve just never explored that before. I really am a Merle Haggard girl, you know what I mean? I just love three chords and the truth,” says Lambert. “I just felt like I, maybe at this point, earned the creative freedom to try something fun and try something different.”

Lambert has reasons to be smiling

The album release caps a special few months that include getting seven Country Music Association Awards nominations, a disco ball-filled performance at the Academy of Country Music Awards that got attendees up and boogying, and making history as co-writer of the crossover-smash “Choosin’ Texas.”

That tune sung by Ella Langley has gone six times platinum, been crowned Billboard’s official 2026 Song of the Summer and helped her become the only woman to simultaneously hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. It was just named the longest-running No. 1 hit in the U.S.

“We never would have thought just sitting there, on a back porch with a couple of beers and guitars, writing a country song, that it would take over like it has,” Lambert says.

“I’m thrilled that ‘Choosin’ Texas’ is a country song and the world is loving it. Like that makes me happy. I’ve dedicated my entire adult life to country music so that alone is like so much happiness for me.”

Lambert and Langley wrote “Choosin’ Texas” with Luke Dick and Joybeth Taylor. It's a song exploring what it feels like when someone is falling out of love with you and Lambert can only guess why America has fallen so in love with it.

“It kind of feels like something fresh, but something you’ve also heard before. When you hear it, you’re like, ‘I kind of want to sing along to this, even though it’s the first time you heard it.’ You know what I mean?”

Lambert co-produced Langley’s album “Dandelion,” the first time she's produced another artist, something she says she enjoyed. Langley returns the favor by being featured on the swaggering opening “Crisco” song “Snakeskin Boots.”

“I think the reason that we are drawn to each other is because I see a lot of my young self in her,” Lambert says of Langley. “She’s definitely a pistol. She’s fiery. She knows exactly what she wants. She’s a true artist and songwriter and she’s an inspiring person to be around.”

Lambert also has good news about another fellow country artist, squashing any lingering beef she had with Kacey Musgraves. The two collaborated on “Horses and Divorces” — “Maybe we’re more alike than we think,” they sing — on Musgraves' new “Middle of Nowhere” album.

Miranda points to the “crazy grind of this business” for prompting ebbs and flows in their relationship and the stress during “early stages of your career, trying to really plant your feet in the ground, plant your stake in the ground, and say, ‘This is my spot.’”

“Sometimes it gets tricky when you're navigating that with other female artists and it was really cool to just come together and talk about it and it's, as we say, whiskey under the bridge now.”

‘Crisco’ and how disco and country fused this time

“Crisco” came to life after she and Chris Stapleton wrote and recorded the lovely “A Song To Sing,” their version of “Islands in the Stream,” which earned two Grammy Award nominations.

“We wrote this song a few years ago and it really opened up my mind to exploring different sounds. I think it set us on the path to explore more and got me really curious about parts of country music I hadn’t explored yet, which eventually inspired the entire record,” she says.

The video features Lambert and Stapleton in matching red suits at a roller rink. If you look carefully, you'll see she's wearing a pair of Dolly Parton’s hoop earrings lent out by the late superstar and he's got on a Kenny Rogers necklace.

“I feel like I’ve got to thank her a little bit for this record because that song, that video, that whole day, having a little piece of her around me all day, definitely inspired me for this whole project.”

Grammy Award-winning songwriter Natalie Hemby, who has cut some 40 songs with Lambert over 20 years collaborating, co-wrote and played on five tracks this time, including “Snakeskin Boots.”

“Every record has just been completely different from the next, but I would say this is the most fun era that I’ve had, as far as writing for a project of hers,” says Hemby. “Her star is just shining so bright, as big as Texas, if you will.”

Miranda says country music is in a great spot right now, reminding her of the 1990s when there was something for everyone and a lot of female artists.

“There is finally room for everyone,” she says. “We’re not fighting for like only 30 spots on the chart. And people find music all different kinds of ways now. That has allowed for there to be all kinds of voices out there within our genre.”

Clarkson made her case during the show’s “I Don’t Think So, Honey” segment, where she offered a brief argument about AI. She said she was “very into it artistically” and enjoyed experimenting with it, but objected to AI artists “competing on a chart with humans.”

“I think there should be a separate chart,” Clarkson said. She described AI as “welcome to the table” and said it could enable people who “maybe can’t do certain things” to create music.

Her position, as reported from the podcast, was not a call to exclude AI from music altogether. Instead, she argued that human and AI-generated work should be distinguishable and that each could have an audience. “We can’t lose human,” she said, while adding that “there could be an appetite for both.”

Clarkson compared the prospect of AI artists competing against human performers to robots competing with people in the Olympics, asking rhetorically who would throw an object farther. The analogy framed her objection as one of categories and comparison, rather than a rejection of all AI-assisted creativity.

A debate over categories and disclosure

Clarkson’s comments arrive as the music business grapples with how to identify and account for songs made with AI. On August 25, "Billboard" said it was committed to greater transparency around AI use, including identifying songs using AI on its charts and in its editorial coverage.

That announcement described an identification and transparency approach; it did not announce that AI-generated music would be placed on separate charts. "The Hollywood Reporter" likewise reported that AI-generated music had not been banned from "Billboard" and noted the publication’s commitment to identifying songs that use AI.

The distinction matters: labeling a song’s use of AI can inform audiences and chart readers, while assigning AI-generated music to a separate chart would change how those songs are ranked against one another. Clarkson’s comments addressed the latter question, but her proposal does not itself establish a charting policy or indicate that "Billboard" will adopt one.

"Billboard" said that greater transparency from artists and creators, combined with reliable tools for identifying AI-generated music, would be important to its effort. It also pointed to the development of tools and initiatives, including Luminate’s announced AI-detection program.

The chart question therefore involves more than a proposed division between human and AI work. Identifying the presence of AI, deciding how much AI use merits a label, and determining which songs qualify for a given chart are related but separate issues; the sources reporting Clarkson’s remarks and "Billboard"’s policy announcement describe transparency commitments, not a settled universal standard.

What Clarkson said—and what she did not

Clarkson described AI’s potential in broad, positive terms, saying it could be “really cool and creative” and pointing to its possible use by people who may not be able to do certain things without such tools. She also said AI was not going away and praised its use in scientific work.

At the same time, she said she did not want AI artists competing with human performers on the same chart. Her proposed solution was a separate ranking, allowing listeners to engage with both forms of music without treating them as directly interchangeable in a single chart category.

The available reporting does not establish that Clarkson’s comments were a formal policy proposal to a chart company, nor does it report a response from "Billboard" to her specific suggestion. Her remarks were made in a podcast conversation, and the separate-chart idea should be understood as her stated view rather than an announced industry change.

For now, the contrast is between Clarkson’s preference for separate chart categories and "Billboard"’s stated commitment to disclose AI use in its charts and coverage. The conversation highlights an unresolved question for the music industry: how best to make AI’s role visible while ranking music made through different creative processes.

The release comes as the play begins its limited engagement at the Hammersmith venue. The production opened on September 26 and is now scheduled to run through November 28.

Schnapp, best known for playing Will Byers in "Stranger Things", is making his stage debut in the production. Janette Manrara, known for "Strictly Come Dancing", appears alongside him; the ensemble also includes Rupert Young, Juliet Cowan, Wallis Currie-Wood and Donald Sage Mackay.

A run extended to November 28

The newly released images accompany news that the show’s booking period has been extended. London Theatre reported that the production added a week to its run, with performances now scheduled through November 28.

The extension was attributed by the production’s coverage to ticket demand. West End Theatre reported extra performances on October 4 and November 3, while BroadwayWorld also reported that the limited engagement would end on November 28.

The date matters because the original booking period had been announced to end on November 21. The additional week moves the scheduled closing date to November 28.

The play’s subject

Written and directed by Andy Sandberg, "Affluenza" is set among wealthy families in the Hamptons and centres on a teenager whose drunken drive ends in devastation. The play’s central question, as described in coverage and production materials, is whether extreme affluence can be used to explain—or excuse—a person’s inability to understand the consequences of their actions.

The work is described as inspired by true events and a legal defence related to a Texas teenager. Time Out’s London theatre listing characterizes the premise as drawing on a teen’s successful legal defence that his privileged upbringing left him unable to comprehend the consequences of drunk driving.

The sources describe the play as raising questions about privilege, moral accountability and the justice system. Those are descriptions of the production’s themes, rather than conclusions about the legal case or the people involved in it.

Schnapp’s stage debut

For Schnapp, the production marks a move from screen work to live theatre. Variety reported in August that he was set to make his world stage debut in London, and recent production coverage confirms that the engagement is now underway.

The production’s October 2 photo release places that career milestone in the context of the show’s current run: Schnapp is appearing in a newly opened play whose booking has been extended, with further performances scheduled at Riverside Studios through November 28.

The Grammy-nominated rapper is moving forward with fatherhood, healing and a sense of purpose. Now a father to a daughter, he says that growth is at the heart of his new album "QRÖMELIFE,” out Friday. The 14-track offering is executive produced by Pharrell Williams, who Quavo says helped him tune out the noise and return to the melodic instincts that made him a defining voice with the rap group Migos.

The album features appearances from Justin Timberlake, Tyler, The Creator, A$AP Rocky, Future and Lil Baby. It also reunites Quavo with Offset after the two repaired their relationship following a public falling out in 2022 and grew closer in the years since the death of Quavo’s nephew and fellow Migos member Takeoff.

“QRÖMELIFE” arrives as Quavo and Takeoff's 2022 ”Hotel Lobby" performance fuels a flood of AI-generated videos featuring everyone from Barack and Michelle Obama and Spider-Man to soccer stars Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham — even dogs and cats.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Quavo spoke about the meaning behind “QRÖMELIFE,” how Pharrell helped him tune out the algorithm, the viral resurgence of “Hotel Lobby” and a new Migos project.

Remarks have been edited for brevity.

AP: What does "QRÖMELIFE” mean to you? What does that actually look like as a lifestyle?

QUAVO: When it comes to a lifestyle, it’s a way of life. When you get up, got to go to work every day, and something happened in your life, but you still have to go hit that nine-to-five, you come in qrome. That’s your qrome state.

I feel like God put you through those states to make you qrome. It’s in your chromosomes. … Everybody go through ups and downs, but what’s gonna make you come out strong? What’s gonna make you come out qrome?

AP: You talked about becoming a father changing “the motive to the mission.” How has fatherhood changed you?

QUAVO: You got mouths to feed. You got little people of yours that look up to you. What you gonna do to add or take away from what you didn’t learn from your parents, or what you didn’t have?

For instance, I didn’t have a dad. So me being a father, it’s important to me because my dad died when I was 4 … I just want to be there the whole step of the way.

AP: What did Pharrell bring out of you while making this album?

QUAVO: Just to challenge my versatility. The “Stir Fry” Quavo, the “Congratulations” Quavo, the “Apeshit” Quavo.

You master that with one of the greatest producers of all time. … Sometimes the student passes the mentor. But in this case, it’s still light-years. I gotta catch up to him from a business standpoint.

AP: “Hotel Lobby” has become this huge AI phenomenon. Did you ever imagine you and Takeoff standing in that orange room, sharing one microphone, would become this viral moment four years later?

QUAVO: I just look at it as God. Losing (Takeoff), I just know that he's in a better place. And then coming through it at a time like this, the week before I’m rolling out my album. ... Then this hit.

It just let me know like, “Bro, I’m here. I’m here with you. I got you.”

The viralness of it made me feel like it was something bigger than just a click of a button or internet sensation. Everybody just started doing it, man. From the corporate of the corporate down to the streets.

I’m proud of it. I thank you for keeping my brother and his name alive.

AP: Some fans love the videos. Others feel uncomfortable seeing AI manipulate Takeoff’s image after his death. Where is the line for you between celebrating his legacy and going too far?

QUAVO: You can’t control it. I can’t spend all day trying to find someone that got a phone in their hand or sitting behind a desk. It don’t help me mentally. Don’t help me emotionally.

When I see it, I just say, “All right,” and go by it. You just got to be strong to be able to look at stuff and move on.

AP: You’ve talked about eventually doing one final Migos project. What would another Migos album mean to you now?

QUAVO: It means the world to me. Obviously, we miss one, and it won’t be the same without him.

I’ve been honored to be his uncle since the age of 3. So just having that relationship with him and knowing how he move and think, I kind of feel like he's in my body.

I talk to him about it. Be like, “I don’t want to do it if you ain’t got the vision for it.”

I know I can take the music that he got and get the Migos album ready. It just depends on how we want to honor the legacy. Because I want this music to benefit us and the estate.

AP: When you and Offset work on Migos music now, how do you make something that still feels like all three of you?

QUAVO: We’re cooking right now, and the chemistry is always gonna be there. We always learned to do four, five, six songs dolo and bring them to each other. But right now, we're just dumping the bags and seeing what we can put together.

AP: Has the work you’ve done through the Rocket Foundation helped you process your own grief?

QUAVO: It helped me just realize that this could happen to anyone. You would feel some type of way, but you don’t feel it till it hit home.

And when it hit home, I thought when it got to me everybody is gonna stop. But it still kept going.

You can go into a hole and not do nothing, or you can stand up and try to change and do something.

Seeing other families go through what I go through, I feel like I’m turning into this superhero to be a therapist to a family where I need a therapist.

The show came at an uneasy moment for luxury: cosmetics giant L’Oréal overtook Louis Vuitton owner LVMH as France’s most valuable listed company in September. And consultants forecast modest growth in personal luxury goods this year after two years of contraction.

Designer Chemena Kamali returned to Chloé’s archives for her spring-summer 2027 “Obsession” collection.

It was a personal declaration of affection for the house — and a test of how much decoration its promise of easy dressing could bear.

Luxury, ready to wear

Gaby Aghion founded Chloé in Paris in 1952, pioneering luxury ready-to-wear: finely made designer clothes sold ready-made, rather than couture created for individual clients.

The idea helped bridge exclusive dressmaking and mass production, offering luxury with less formality.

That inheritance sets a demanding standard: elaborate workmanship should not make the clothes look difficult to wear.

“I wanted something deeply personal — to return to things I love, the emotions they trigger in me,” Kamali said.

Broderie anglaise — embroidery punctuated by small decorative holes — appeared on crisp cotton and sheer organza.

Kamali traced the patterns to 19th-century needlework, while raised floral embroidery recalled the 1960s. Puffed sleeves, tiered ruffles and swinging tassels added volume and movement.

At times, flowers, lace and tassels competed within a single look.

The workmanship impressed, but the result could feel crowded: a lot of visible effort for clothes meant to suggest ease.

Lingerie offered a leaner proposition. Kamali cut away lace to create what she called “romantic harnesses,” framing exposed skin with delicate lines.

A metallic bust strap added a hard glint among the floating fabrics.

These pieces needed fewer flourishes to command attention.

Romance meets rainwear

The coats supplied the collection’s most convincing change of pace: reds and yellows interrupted the softer colors, while wide-brimmed hats pushed the proportions toward the theatrical.

Fishermen’s coats and capes provided the starting point.

Kamali layered transparent vinyl in smoky shades over her silhouettes, bringing sharper outlines to the collection’s softness.

Here, the contrast worked. Substantial outerwear gave the delicate clothes a counterweight, and the bold shapes carried the drama without requiring another layer of ornament.

Tailoring brought further definition. Kamali cited Chloé’s scalloped 1972 “Noël” tuxedo as a reference, revisiting the house’s history of adapting men’s suiting for women.

It offered a firmer framework for her romantic instincts, and her affection for Chloé was clear.

The strongest moments came when that familiarity produced a clear idea: a fisherman’s coat expanded to dramatic proportions, or lingerie stripped back to its outlines.

Those transformations gave the collection direction.

“It should be normal to take time to create your next album. I know we live in a world where we want everything fast,” the three-time Grammy winner said in an interview with The Associated Press. For inspiration, she said she had to let life take its course.

“I’m OK with people asking for more music or feeling like, ‘Dang, I missed her.’ Or this is a comeback, because that makes me feel like there was a gap in time where they noticed that I was gone,” the artist said.

The “On My Mama” singer returns Friday with “Frequency of Love,” a 22-track studio project that follows her Grammy-winning “Jaguar II,” which she made in 2023.

The new album is powered by singles like the house-flavored “Reach Out,” yacht R&B-inspired “Juicy” and “Let Me,” which is a slow jam that already reached No. 1 on Billboard’s adult R&B airplay chart. Some of the new work features heavyweights Bruno Mars and SZA, as well as R&B hitmakers Bryson Tiller, Leon Thomas and Chlöe Bailey.

“I’m really, really, really passionate about love. ... A lot of it was just reflective of what I was going through or feeling while dating,” said Monét, who originally considered creating a yacht-R&B album. “The album covers many bases, including love for my daughter, love for the world, what I want to see for it.”

Monét aimed to channel Michael Jackson's risk-taking artistry

“Frequency of Love,” executive produced by Camper, takes listeners on a sonic excursion beyond romance, with several interpolations of classic '90s R&B songs skillfully peppered throughout.

“Almost,” which includes a reference to Brandy’s “Almost Doesn’t Count,” is a sensual take on feeling sexually unsatisfied, while “For You” reimagines Kenny Lattimore’s classic romantic ballad. “Care for Somebody (Interlude)” is Monét's rendition of a song she first encountered as a child while watching Halle Berry in “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge” with her grandmother.

Michael Jackson’s musical growth between “Off the Wall” and “Thriller” inspired Monét’s creative process. While she’s quick to halt any comparison to the commercial and critical acclaim of one of music’s most prolific artists, she aimed to channel the same risk-taking artistry.

“I did not make ‘Thriller,’” Monét said. “I just made my version of what I would make with that mindset.”

The singer, 37, is keenly aware of heightened expectations. But she was slightly unprepared for some negativity that followed her 2024 Grammy wins for best new artist, best R&B album and best non-classical engineered album.

“I think there was a flip from me being an underdog that everyone wanted to support,” she said. “If I get millions of supporters, I can also have millions of haters. But who am I paying attention to? And that’s what the album for me is about.”

Monét was in the recording studio — and in the kitchen

Recently serving as a special guest on the European stretch of Bruno Mars’ “The Romantic” tour, Monét is gearing up for her own “Frequency of Love” dates, visiting 27 North American cities starting in late October.

After beginning her career penning songs for Ariana Grande, Blackpink, Chloe x Halle and Selena Gomez, Monét is still interested in writing collaborations and working with “unexpected” artists. She also dreams of writing scripted TV and film projects, including a comedy.

A creative at heart, Monét also recently graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education as its top student. During class, she’d listen to music associated with the country of the dish she was preparing. Often bringing meals to her production team during recording sessions, she says the vibes of the international music, and the camaraderie that food and fellowship can bring, would influence some of the sonic tones of her songs.

So why would a performer at the height of her career become a chef?

“Maybe rebellion. ... I want to do something that I don’t get paid for, that I’m not defined by,” said Monét. “You don’t have to make your schedule around only the things that clearly pay you. And you never know where it will take you.”

“Frequency of Love” will largely dictate where her career is headed next. But Monét hopes to move with intention and a spirit of gratitude, which she's prioritizing throughout her life.

“I went through a moment where I was critical of everything. I was looking around and seeing what could be better: criticizing myself, the workplace, the state of my mood, the state of music, state of voice, my body, just nitpicking everything,” she said. “And so, it’s really been a journey to come to a place where I can operate in that shift — that paradigm shift — that makes me OK with everything that is, and also OK with everything that is going to come.”

Her case began with vocabulary: the same animals are “sea life” when people marvel at them and “seafood” when they order.

“Who makes that decision?” she said backstage.

Of the industry that stocks the menu, she was blunter: “It’s war. We’re at war with the oceans.”

For one piece of fish on a plate, she said, the nets bring up dolphins and octopuses, and most of the catch goes back over the side dead.

Through the greenery, models walked to PJ Harvey’s “Down by the Water,” a murder ballad that keeps its promise.

Juliette Binoche sat near Lopez. On the runway, Karlie Kloss and Miranda Kerr came dressed in waves.

Suits that swim

The clothes made the case more gently.

The palette ran seafoam, sage, coral, blush and chocolate, and the tailoring — schooled under Savile Row’s Edward Sexton — loosened until it moved like water.

Drawstrings threaded through oversized blazers, a rain-jacket trick smuggled into office clothes.

The back-on-trend peplums were everywhere — and rounded softly at the hip.

Sheer layers left bandeaus and brief-cut shorts in the open, on the season’s underwear-as-outerwear tide.

Sport, her other signature, answered back: second-skin leggings under boxy technical jackets and airbrushed dolphins mid-leap across T-shirts.

Kloss’ minidress had small waves curling over one shoulder; Kerr’s seafoam gown was cinched in a knot at the waist.

For evening, gowns wound around the torso and dropped in unbroken columns, after Madame Grès, with ruffles breaking like surf at the hems.

“It’s really, really important to want to wear the clothes,” McCartney said. “For me, that’s the main thing.”

Message in a bottle

The house called the ready-to-wear 100% responsible: recycled cotton denim, organic cotton and silk, and a black pigment grown from algae rather than refined from oil.

Older fronts are better supplied: the certified wool she uses is traced back to the farm, and since 2026 she has knitted with Brewed Protein, a wool alternative fermented by Japanese biotech firm Spiber.

A week before the show, McCartney co-founded The Climate Pledge Fashion Coalition with Amazon and the forest nonprofit Canopy, pooling the orders of more than 60 companies so such materials can reach factory scale.

She bought back LVMH’s minority stake in her label last year, but still advises its chief, Bernard Arnault.

“I’m advising him on so many things in sustainability,” she said.

McCartney took her bow in jeans, a white T-shirt and a roomy blazer, thumbs up, and was gone.

Backstage, when the questions finally drifted from oceans to hemlines, she asked one of her own: “You mean you want to talk about the clothes?”

After 25 years, they are still her best argument.

But he no longer claims to be an underdog.

“It would be so disingenuous to say you’re an underdog, ‘as he said from his penthouse,’" Stallone said during a recent interview, on a high floor of a luxury Manhattan hotel. "Yeah. Come on. I am a lucky dog.”

Stallone, who turned 80 in July, is among the most successful movie stars and filmmakers in history. He has generated billions of dollars through such blockbuster franchises as “Rocky,” “Rambo” and “The Expendables” and portrayed some of the most memorable film characters. And he is still working, starring as mobster Dwight “The General" Manfredi in the Paramount+ series “Tulsa King.”

By choice and otherwise, Stallone has been reliving his early years as a struggling actor-writer who somehow convinced United Artists to back his modest story of a journeyman boxer's shot at the heavyweight championship, and even allow him to play the lead despite having little acting experience. His memoir “Steps,” published Tuesday, arrives less than two months before a fictionalized and semi-authorized version of his story, Peter Farrelly's “I Play Rocky," arrives in theaters, with Anthony Ippolito in the starring role. (Farrelly spoke about the film with Stallone, who was otherwise uninvolved.)

“Rocky," which beat out “Taxi Driver” and “All the President Men's” among others to win the best picture Oscar, is one of those classic movies that only seem to benefit from the back story; Stallone's own journey from the streets of Philadelphia to the Oscars stage echoes so well his character's improbable rise.

As he writes in “Steps,” he was a hard-luck case, an unplanned and unwanted child who seemed to face endless discouragement right through the production of “Rocky," when he feared every day on the set might be his last.

Stallone was in Manhattan to promote his book, but spends much of his time at the Palm Beach, Florida estate he shares with his wife, Jennifer Flavin. Even when — especially when — he's talking about his rare fortune, Stallone speaks in a warm, rumbly, offhand manner, a kind of private street talk that suggests he doesn't believe it all.

Last year, he was a Kennedy Center honoree, his award presented to him by President Donald Trump, who had previously named Stallone, Jon Voight and Mel Gibson his “ambassadors” from an otherwise liberal Hollywood. Stallone has called Trump “the second George Washington,” but he has contributed to both Republicans and Democrats and broken with conservatives by calling for stronger gun control laws. He also condemns war, including the Iran War, as a story of sending people into a "meat grinder while the military complex is making zillions of dollars."

“I do believe that you have to defend yourself. But to go on the offensive?” he says, adding that he would prefer not to be known as a ”political figure."

“I love the common architecture of trying to just survive. That’s noble," he says. "To be a politician, that’s a different animal.”

During his interview, he also talked about fate, insecurity and why he was probably better off for his unhappy childhood.

Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

AP: Why write this book?

STALLONE: I was approached a few times (over the years) and the one thing I didn’t want to write about is my life. It’s this ambivalent roller coaster ride. It's not always the most pleasurable ride. And I thought, ‘What am I known for?’ Pulling off this minor miracle in 1976, which falls under the heading of inspiration. That’s what I want to do. Because the character was an inspiration, I wanted to tell the people how it all came to be.

AP: How hard was it to relive some of those early memories?

STALLONE: It was very hard because I spent 50 years burying that stuff. And it’s like you come across a lost city, and you start to become your own spiritual archaeologist, digging down. And it’s not pretty. But I didn’t want this to be, ‘Oh, woe is me.’ Everyone has issues and a lot worse than me. I just wanted to touch on the essence because I still have this conundrum. If everything was really nice, maybe I wouldn’t be here, you know what I mean? If I didn’t have that insecurity which drives us. You know, insecurity is a great motivator.

AP: For people at your level of success, do you find they all have that sense of insecurity, that drive?

STALLONE: I think so — especially the ones that are desperate to do better and constantly pushing it. For example, I don’t have to do my dialogue for another month before we start “Tulsa King.” I'm up every morning at 5:00 o'clock, studying until literally it’s like breathing. Now, that’s probably insecurity, but that’s the way I approach it.

AP: When was the last time you actually watched “Rocky” in its entirety? Did you look at it while working on the book?

STALLONE: No, I didn't. You know what I see. You're sitting there and going through messages and somebody who's 18 has put it on the internet or on TikTok. And how would this person relate to an 80-year-old guy? They're not, though. They're not relating to me. It's that character.

AP: Young people know about Rocky.

STALLONE: In retrospect, that to me is the greatest gift. You know, you write something — I’m just trying to get some footage on myself. I'm just trying to write something really simple. I didn’t ever expect it to be in more than one or two theaters. So all this is a tsunami of good luck. It ('Rocky') tapped into something that I cannot take credit for.

AP: Writers talk a lot about how they learn how they think through the act of writing. Did you experience some of that while working on this book?

STALLONE: A lot of it, yeah.

AP: Like what?

STALLONE: I was thinking while I was working (on the book). “You were really at the end of your rope.” Nothing was working. I was 29 years old. And I had this epiphany, like in the backyard, pounding the soil, asking for spiritual help. I had always avoided it. And I had thought, you know, “To each his own.” I don’t want to rely upon some idol, god, symbol, anything. But maybe we need something that makes us believe in the invisible — faith. I had no faith. I was agnostic, and then it came literally back that night.

And that's why I pay homage in the “Rocky” movie. The first scene is, you know, at “The Resurrection” (gym). It's amazing we found that place. A boxing club called "The Resurrection."

AP: You've described how the priests in Catholic school said it was necessary to suffer for your faith, and how you turned away from that. But look at what you put yourself through to make a movie.

STALLONE: It's the way I’m built, I think. There are no free lunches. I’ve had back operations, neck surgeries, both shoulders, heart — you name it. And it’s all because ... you do it yourself. There was a necessity to feel it. You’re not going to be like the other guys. You’re going to do it, which is completely wrong (laughs).

AP: And now you have a movie about you, “I Play Rocky,” coming out.

STALLONE: How strange is this? A movie about me being in a movie.

AP: What did you think of it?

STALLONE: It’s fantastic. And the kid (Ippolito) did a great job. This is so odd. They usually do this when you’re dead and gone. It's 50 years almost to the day when it came out and if he gets nominated ... It’s so surreal. I have to give Peter Farrelly, the director (credit). I never in a million years had any confidence this would work. But he said that to the everyday person, this is kind of a fantastic journey. Rocky is fiction, this is real. And that's what people are holding on to.