AS Jenna Ortega’s star continues to rise, the Hallowqueen aesthetic is sweeping social media and the high street.
Fashionistas are flocking to channel the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Wednesday actor’s pale skin, gothic makeup and all-black outfits – and not just on October 31.
It’s a huge shift from the way many people said they have been treated for being a goth in the past.
Just this week, one woman took to Twitter to say: “Y’all bullied me in high school for being the only goth girl in school. Now look at you. Fan girling over goth women.”
Fabulous spoke to a true Hallowqueen to find out what it takes to wear the crown beyond just dressing the part when it’s deemed fashionable.
Star Khechara, 48, is a self-professed goth and follows Paganism, which values spiritual traditions and a shared reverence for nature, belief in a plurality of gods and a belief in magic.
The skin-nutrition expert, who founded the Facelift Diet, celebrates Samhain – the original Halloween – as a Celtic new year and looks forward to Halloween all year.
She told us: “For me, Halloween is way more exciting than Christmas.
“I don’t even celebrate Christmas so Halloween is my Christmas.
“I dress gothic all year round so at Halloween I get to be extra gothic and creative.”
Star has a wardrobe full of black clothing, wears heavy eyeliner and has faced hateful comments in the street as a result.
And she admitted that the rising popularity of the Hallowqueen aesthetic leaves her feeling conflicted.
She said: “I’m always pleased to see a subculture get more airspace as it makes it easier for me to find the clothes and items I like. But there is definitely a lot of hypocrisy.
“As a goth I’ve been called names in the street and that often increases on the run up to – and just after – Halloween.
“Comments like ‘it’s not Halloween yet’ or ‘Halloween is over you can take your costume off’.
“Important spiritual festivals like Halloween and Christmas often became so popular they turn into just another fun event for everyone to enjoy and that is definitely something I’m happy about.
“Would I like to see more real Halloween / Samhain Themed events and items? Absolutely. But if people are gathering to enjoy themselves and it brings a little spark of joy to what is the beginning of the dark and rainy season in the uk then I say everyone is welcome.
“We all need more joy in our lives and I know it might sound odd coming from a goth but goth is all about seeing beauty in the pain and darkness if life. Life is beautiful.”
She added: “One of my favourite things about Halloween is all of the neighbourhood goths come out for parties and club nights.
“We are often a solitary and introverted subculture so it’s amazing to be gathering in large numbers and also who can resist all that gothic-inspired decor in the shops for us to collect to use all year.
“If you ever go to a store and the Halloween shelves are empty it’s because a goth noticed and told all the other goths then we bought everything.”
But Star, author of the Holistic Beauty Book, admitted that as much as she is a fan of Halloween she cannot stand how commercialised her beloved holiday has become.
And following her tips instead of nipping to B&M or Home Bargains for decor could give you a more beautiful, authentic spooky vibe around your home.
She said: “There’s something magical about being a goth at Halloween, ghoulish pumpkins, fairy lights, witchcraft and misty forests.
“It’s a wonderful time of year and there are so many amazing ways to partake in traditional pagan rituals such as the candlelit pumpkin as a way to show the dead to the afterlife, celebrating apples (the fruit of knowledge!) and honouring all ancestors.”
“I think sometimes the Halloween aesthetic can get a little tacky in the same way that Christmas has”, she continued.
“I’m environmentally conscious so I don’t enjoy the idea that something as sacred as Samhain is now becoming a plastic-festival with lots of cheap mass produced decor that often gets thrown away afterwards.
“I love the more traditional Halloween look: real pumpkins, gathering ivy from the woods to make garlands, making your own spiced ‘potions’ rather than the local high street chain’s high-sugar, synthetically flavoured version.
“Budget-wise it can be much cheaper to do a pagan Halloween that honours the earth rather than using Halloween as a reason to spend loads on plastic tat.”
CHARLOTTE Dawson has opened up about her exciting pregnancy journey as she continues to “rebuild the trust” with her fiance Matt Sarsfield.
Charlotte, is due to give birth in May to a baby girl, said rugby star Matt is banned from using social media.
It comes after Charlotte discovered Matt had been messaging another woman he met online back in August.
The TV favourite, 32, has now insisted that her fiance is a much happier person without hours of scrolling.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun about her relationship, Charlotte said: “We’re just seeing how things go really, still taking it very very slow.
“Obviously we have a family, so it’s quite difficult to just completely shut off.”
When asked if she could trust him again, Charlotte candidly shared: “I think the thing is, trust takes a long time, I wouldn’t say it’s fully there yet, but it’s just taking it day by day, step by step.”
Discussing if there have been any new rules or changes to their marital life since the incident, Charlotte explained that Matt’s now taken a backseat when it comes to social media.
The popular star told us: “He’s not back on social media and he won’t be for a while, maybe never.
“And it’s probably better for him as well, because he used to look at peoples lives.
“You know what it’s like…you end up in a rabbit hole on social media, scrolling – so it’s probably better.
“He’s a lot happier as well not being on it.
“It is a shame because we used to do fun videos but we can still do that together, but him not being on it.
“That’s probably the one thing that has changed.”
She said that Matthew was overjoyed with the news and is excited for the arrival of their little girl.
The star went on: “He’s [Matt] really excited to be a girl dad, hopefully that will be good for him as well. They end up like daddy’s little girl.
“I think it will be really nice for him, because I’ve got two mummy’s boys. I think it will be nice for Matthew to have that as well.”
Charlotte is making her debut as the villain in this year’s Panto, playing Abanazar, who an evil sorceress hell-bent on stealing the genie’s magical lamp in Aladdin at The Globe theatre at Pleasure Beach Resort this November.
The media personality is busy juggling work life alongside motherhood and preparation for her third birth.
Charlotte gushed: “I do love being pregnant and I love everything about my body changing but I think having Jude and Noah, it’s really hard picking them up and carrying them.
“And just trying to juggle everything, I forgot I was pregnant because I had loads going on at the start of the pregnancy and then I just look down and I feel those little kicks.
“It’s really exciting, it’s a baby girl as well which is even more exciting.”
Discussing why she won’t have a birth plan this time round, Charlotte said: “Definitely not, I had a birth plan with Noah and it went out the window.
“I did have a birth plan with Jude, I was booked in for a c-section because I had quite a traumatic birth with Noah and he literally came out, my waters went and I went to hospital five centimeters dilated and I still demanded a c-section.
“I didn’t realise because I didn’t push Noah out the first time, I was pushing Jude out the whole way to the theatre.
“I think Matthew had gone to get my bag from the car, I had literally been in hospital for about half-an-hour, rushing me to theatre and they were trying to put the epidural in and Jude’s head was there.
“I could feel a head.
“I had to push him out with no pain relief on the theatre table and Matthew nearly missed the birth. That was an hour after my waters went.
“So this time, I pushed Jude out with no pain relief, so I can do it and if my waters go, I just have to push her out, I’ve got to do it.
“If there is a any problems then I’ll go for a c-section, but I can’t really go for a c-section at the third baby, can I?
“I think the thing is with birth plans, is that it’s nice to have an idea what you’re doing but it all goes out the window.”
Charlotte may not have a birth plan this time, but said her fiance will of course be holding her hand in the delivery room, and
Charlotte admitted that finding out she was pregnant for the third time was a “surprise” as she opened up about “gender disappointment”.
She explained: “I just wanted two, I wanted a girl and a boy but you can’t write that, but I’m so happy I’ve got Jude because he just brings us so much joy, little cherub in the world, he doesn’t stop laughing and giggling.
“I’m so grateful and blessed to have another boy, even though that I cried.
“I remember my 12 week scan when they told me, it is a natural thing that people don’t speak about – the gender disappointment and people have such an opinion on it and it is okay to feel like that.
“Once the baby is here, you don’t think like that.”
Charlotte said she believes that her baby girl is a gift from her late dad and much-loved comedian Les Dawson.
“I’ve always just wanted a girl. I’m very girly and I love dressing up and I’m really close with my mum and I just wanted that relationship,” she said.
“Even though my boys are my best friends, I just wanted a relationship with a little girl.
“So when I found out I was pregnant, this was a complete show, he wasn’t feeding on me as much, the breastfeeding and that’s when you get fertile and I was like ‘please be a girl’, I was adamant it was another boy and thought I was just going to be a boy mum.
“I had this early blood test and I couldn’t believe it and thought she has been sent from my dad.
“Obviously how much I wanted a little princess, it’s the icing on top of the cake.”
Charlotte said she will be christening her whole family on the same day that they christen their newborn daughter.
The star said her little girl will be wearing her christening robe that she never got a chance to wear when she was born.
Charlotte also said Gigi or Penelope are at the top of her baby name list.
The Sun previously told how Charlotte had allowed Matt to return to the family home after their romance hiccup in a bid to move forward as a family.
In August, Charlotte revealed she was pregnant with her third child.
THEY were once the picture-perfect couple with a glamorous showbiz life and three kids they doted on.
But Paddy and Christine McGuinness‘s storybook romance ended in a shock split in June 2022 – before spiralling into a messy and bitter divorce.
Yesterday, it was revealed that Paddy, 51, had won a victory in their toxic divorce battle and will be able to keep the £2.5million mansion they both call home.
But in an unexpected twist, it was ruled that Christine, 36, and their kids could continue living in the seven-bedroom Cheshire home, which has a gym and swimming pool.
Paddy reportedly argued that he would not be able to afford anything similar, while Christine reportedly didn’t want to uproot their kids from the house they grew up in.
Relationship expert and psychologist Jo Hemmings tells The Sun the ruling will come as a shock to Christine as she has previously revealed her autism means she “doesn’t like change.”
“I think it’s a bit of a blow,” Jo says. “The only thing I think is alright about is that she is going to be living there and he has access to it.
“Their three children, who, like Christine, are neurodiverse, are more secure in an environment they’re used to. I think she’s disappointed [she doesn’t get to keep the house].
“But we know Christine has autism and ADHD. Paddy has always been this loud, big character. His career is not as successful as it was. I suspect he got very frustrated at that.
“When you’ve got ADHD, you sometimes have sensory issues. You can’t have someone being too loud. She was probably dragged along to a load of social events that she had to mask her distress.
“I think, on an emotional basis, she’s probably okay. On a financial one, she’s probably not very happy.”
Now, the pair will have to face the difficult conversation of sorting out the living arrangements, including when and how Paddy would be able to visit the home.
Jo says: “At the moment, while Christine is allowed to live there, Paddy can come and go as he pleases. That’s clearly not going to work because she has her own private life to lead and he just can’t come in and open the door.
“But [it could work] if they say the access is that, ‘You come here once a fortnight or a weekend, I will move out and stay with friends. If it’s very formalised, then it would work because the children will learn to understand.
“They’ve got to make sure that it’s a pretty water-tight living situation. Otherwise, if it’s left to be fluid, that is not healthy for any family.”
The couple first met through a mutual friend in 2007, when she was 19 and he was 33. Two years later, he popped the question and they married in 2011 at Merseyside’s Thornton Manor Estate.
They share three children – twins Leo and Penelope, nine, and Felicity, six. Christine and their kids are all on the autism spectrum.
In 2022, the couple shocked fans when they announced their separation. While it initially seemed they were still on good terms, it appears that’s no longer the case.
Recently, Christine was reportedly “furious” over becoming the punchline for some of his jokes on tour.
Last week, during his return to stand-up comedy at Blackburn’s King George’s Hall, the Take Me Out presenter wasted no time to get in a dig at his ex-wife.
He said: “Loads of love in this room. I don’t care what race you are, what religion, what your sexuality is.
“I don’t care how you identify. You can identify as a cat, for all I care. Put your litter tray in the corner, knock yourself out.
“Tonight, folks, we’re all here as human beings with one common goal — and that’s to help me pay for my divorce. I’ve had the pants down, me, the pants down.”
While the joke was received with roars of laughter from the crowd, Christine allegedly did not see the funny side.
A source told The Sun: “She was devastated yesterday and was horrified to be a laughing stock. She didn’t know Paddy was going to make her the butt of his jokes and felt shocked that he did.
“She has kept a respectful silence throughout their divorce proceedings and their marriage fallout.”
Speaking about his jibe and her reaction, Jo says: “I’m sure, if she wasn’t warned, she was really distressed. He hadn’t done stand-up for a while. He did it in the first minute of his show. He mocked their divorce and their financial situation.
“She would have felt brutalised by this. It’s a cheap shot. Is he feeling he wants revenge? Is he feeling he’s hard done by? I don’t know. But it’s a really unpleasant way to start your stand-up show.
The latest developments is a far cry from the amicable statement they put out when they revealed they were going their separate ways.
In the write-up, they said: “A while ago, we took the difficult decision to separate, but our main focus, as always, is to continue loving and supporting our children.
“This was not an easy decision to make but we’re moving forward as the best parents we can be for our three beautiful children.”
Their announcement came in 2022, shortly after a documentary about how they cope with autism was aired. Speaking to The Times, Christine revealed they still lived together despite their separation.
In 2021, the couple announced their separation shortly after a documentary centred around their family's autism diagnosis aired.
It read: “We hadn’t planned on sharing this publicly until we were ready but after a lack of privacy surrounding our personal life, we feel left with no other option but to clarify.
“A while ago we took the difficult decision to separate but our main focus was as always is to continue loving and supporting our children. This was not an easy decision to make but we’re moving forward as the best parents we can be for our three beautiful children.
“We’ll always be a loving family, we still have a great relationship and still live happily in our family home together. We hope this now draws a line under anymore unwanted and unnecessary intrusion into our private life.
“Although we work in the public eye we ask kindly if you could respect our wishes for privacy on this matter. We’ll be making no further comment.”
“We have a unique family, with four of us being autistic and one not”, she said. “For me, I care more about how my life feels than how it looks to others.
“I don’t know how I would have felt if I hadn’t been diagnosed [with autism]. But now I understand myself and my children, I am quite strong in doing what I believe is right, rather than what society says you should do.”
In March, Paddy also spoke about the new dynamics in their household after the split.
In a chat with The Sun, he said: “There’s no toxicity in the house, says it all really.
“We have separate bedrooms because we respect that we aren’t together anymore but, whether we work it through or we don’t, what we do have is a really, really lovely family unit at home. We both love each other.
“We still hug and we’re still messaging and phoning each other every day, we’re just not jumping into bed together any more.”
But it all seemed to have gone out the window when they each hired “pitbull” divorce lawyers to represent them. Christine opted for Catherine Bedford, who represented Ant McPartlin’s ex, Lisa Armstrong.
Paddy, on the other hand, hired Emma Hately, known for her work with high net worth clients.
On how it went from their earlier sentiments to how the divorce turned so toxic, Jo says: “Part of it, I think, was living in the same house together.
“Another part was when they weren’t together as a couple, it seemed that he didn’t have the compassion (he used to have) for her. She’s always talked about the children. But he didn’t really speak about them – maybe I just didn’t read it or hear it.
“I think it could have started off amicably and maybe he wasn’t putting the effort into her or the children when they separated.
“If he was focusing on himself, that might be why it’s turned a bit nasty and unpleasant.”
The couple will have to turn their attention to parenting their three children and working out how they will both spend time with them.
Jo says: “It is easier for them now if they both sit them together and explain that mummy and daddy are not going to live together anymore, but this is still their home. They don’t have to move.
“Sometimes Mummy will leave when Daddy comes and look after you for the weekend. To explain to them in a really age and neuro divergent appropriate way is a lot better than what they had during that really toxic period when there must have been rows and anger.
“When they were both living in the same house, but in separate bedrooms. I think that is really distressing for children because they understand what a parental relationship is like.”
In an interview with Closer, Christine spoke about how her new romance makes her feel and a discovery she made about her ADHD and autism diagnosis.
“I met somebody on my birthday, we got on really well, kept in touch and then we started dating”, she said. “I’m completely different when I’m comfortable around somebody.
“I thought the ”walking on eggshells” feeling was part of my autism, but I haven’t got that anymore.”
However, with Paddy still having access to the family home, questions have been raised about how easy it will be for Christine to move forward with her newfound love.
But Jo hopes jealousy over Christine’s new romance won’t make matters worse.
Jo says: “I hope he’s a grown-up, uses his emotional intelligence and is actually pleased that his ex-wife has moved on to someone she feels happy with and they’ll work out a co-parenting situation together.
“He should not be interfering with her current relationship situation.”
He’s quite self-absorbed. And I think it could have started off amicably, and he wasn’t maybe putting the effort into her or the children when they separated.
Jo Hemmings
Although he claimed in March that he had only been on two dates since the split, Paddy also said he was not in a rush to enter a new relationship.
“As far as Christine is concerned, she would be happy if he sees someone else”, Jo says. “That will make her feel more comfortable in her own relationship and less likely for him to be “hanging around”.
“I think Paddy is really career-driven. I think he prioritised that. I think part of his problem is he struggled with his career and his profile in recent years.
“I suspect the reason he’s not dating is because his self-worth lies in his professional success.
“I think his focus at the moment is on this very typical celebrity thing. You know you’ve peaked, you don’t recognise you’ve peaked and you start falling off the other side.
“And you realise, ‘How am I going to scrabble back up there again?’ He probably won’t prioritise his dating life until he feels his professional life is in a better place.”
Paddy and Christine met when she was just 19 – he is 14 years older than her.
In her documentary Unmasking My Autism, she spoke about her fears of being a single mother and how their decision to split was partly due to her autism diagnosis.
She said: “Starting life on my own is scary, I struggle making decisions. I was only 19 when I met Patrick and for the last 15 years my role has been wife and mum.
“When I was diagnosed, I set out on a journey to find out who I was. I have separated from my husband in the process, I’m shedding my old identity and finding out who I am.
She added: “‘I’ve only ever had this one man in my life, I don’t know what it is like to date, I can’t imagine being single or with another man.
“But I’m going into a new chapter on my own which is petrifying for someone who doesn’t like change.”
Christine has also opened up about how her autism diagnosis influenced her decision to stay in her marriage and how she felt “safe” with Paddy despite being unhappy.
Additionally, the model revealed that she had been raped before meeting Paddy.
“My relationships before I met Patrick were not very good”, she explained. “I’d say they were pretty bad experiences. Before Patrick, I had been sexually abused, I was raped.
“I used to pray every night that I wouldn’t wake up in the morning because it was so awful. When I met my husband that was a time when I was very safe and I wonder if that’s why I stayed.
“I know that I’ve stayed in a place where I was probably unhappy because it was safe and I don’t like change.”
