A Thursday round-up ranges from Billie Jean King’s reflections on tennis, coming out and regret to reality-TV gambits, candid HIV advocacy and a fresh chapter in dating. Across sport, entertainment and personal stories, these profiles and moments offer a lively snapshot of people speaking openly, revisiting the past and finding new ways to be seen.

Essential Takeaways

  • Billie Jean King looks back: The Guardian’s profile revisits her tennis achievements, activism, coming out and personal reflections.
  • A Survivor plan stayed off-screen: Kristin Flickinger told Entertainment Weekly about a last-minute Tribal Council idea that didn’t make the broadcast.
  • Tom Byatt speaks about HIV: Queerty’s profile highlights his message that there’s no shame in living with HIV.
  • Two different returns to the spotlight: Alanis Morissette turned an old remark into a concert joke, while William Laven returned to First Dates after coming out.
  • Connor Storrie’s clowning past gets a playful look: Out connects his earlier performance work with the attention around his current public image.

Billie Jean King’s story is about more than tennis

At 82, Billie Jean King is still speaking plainly about the moments that shaped her life. The Guardian’s profile looks back on a career that brought her 39 Grand Slam titles, alongside a fight to change the economics of women’s tennis.

That work included helping establish a women’s professional tour with the Original Nine in 1970. Her 1973 Battle of the Sexes victory over Bobby Riggs became another defining moment, though the profile also describes a difficult period in her personal life, as she wrestled with her sexuality and a marriage under strain.

King says she was publicly outed in 1981 after a former partner threatened legal action. She chose to tell the truth, despite losing endorsements. The interview also covers her long relationship with Ilana Kloss, their marriage in 2018, her concerns about LGBTQ+ rights and a regret she shares openly: not having children together.

There’s a striking mix here: a sporting legend looking back, but also someone still interested in what comes next. The Guardian reports that King has returned to university and completed a history degree, while she and Kloss support younger generations through charitable foundations.

One Survivor gambit didn’t make the edit

Kristin Flickinger’s exit from Survivor 51 came after a complicated paired Tribal Council involving her and Danny Kilby. In her interview with Entertainment Weekly, she describes a last-minute idea that viewers didn’t see: swapping her tethered idol for another player’s immunity necklace, in the hope of protecting them both.

Flickinger tried to raise the idea before Tribal Council, then whispered about it during the meeting. Another contestant overheard and warned against giving up the necklace. Once its holder said she wouldn’t hand it over, Flickinger decided that pursuing the Shot in the Dark was the better option.

The interview offers a useful reminder of how much can happen around a reality-TV decision. Flickinger also discusses trying to build trust with Maggie, despite knowing Maggie was targeting her, and how her injured foot shaped her challenge strategy.

Tom Byatt puts dignity ahead of stigma

Tom Byatt’s story is a quieter kind of reality-TV moment, but its message is direct. Queerty’s profile centres on his experience of living with HIV and his belief that nobody should feel ashamed of an HIV diagnosis.

Byatt’s decision to speak publicly is framed as a way to make conversations more open and help people who may feel isolated or afraid to disclose their status. That matters in a subject where judgement can make people reluctant to seek support or speak honestly about their health.

The focus is on dignity rather than drama. Seeing someone familiar from reality television talk candidly about HIV can help challenge assumptions; more importantly, Byatt’s central point is simple: a diagnosis doesn’t define a person’s worth.

Morissette turns an old remark into a stage joke

Alanis Morissette used a concert anecdote to revisit a comment from her former Dogma co-star Ben Affleck. According to Just Jared, during her Butterfly with a Machete: A Rock Traumedy residency, she recalled a man asking why she hadn’t led with her sexuality, then identified Affleck as the person who had said it.

The punchline came with a clip from Dogma showing Affleck’s character’s head exploding. It’s a pointed visual gag, and a playful way to fold an old exchange into a list of criticisms Morissette said she’d faced over the years.

Morissette played God in the 1999 film, while Affleck played the angel Bartleby. Just Jared reported that Affleck had not responded by the time its story was published, so the concert moment stands on its own as a bit of audience-facing humour rather than a new exchange between the two.

Clowning, dating and the value of a fresh chapter

Out takes a light-hearted route into Connor Storrie’s earlier creative life, ranking photographs and performances featuring clown-inspired looks. The feature says he trained and performed in Los Angeles’s underground clown scene while modelling and waiting tables, and suggests that experience helped him develop as an actor.

It’s a playful photo countdown, but there’s a career detail beneath the jokes: Out connects that clowning background with Storrie’s approach to playing Ilya Rozanov in Heated Rivalry. The article also notes that he revisited some of his clown material as guest host of Saturday Night Live.

Meanwhile, William Laven is returning to First Dates after coming out as gay. PinkNews reports that his first appearance, in 2024, was his first date; now, at 27, he’s back at the same restaurant hoping to find a husband. Laven says coming to terms with his sexuality brought relief and confidence, and that he wants a partner who accepts him and lets him be himself.

His story also touches on neurodivergence and his stammer, which he calls his superpower. Through Stammer Stories, he hopes to reassure people still working out their identity or not yet ready to date. There’s something quietly heartening in that: a return to the same setting can mean a very different experience when you’ve had room to grow.

From a tennis champion’s hard-won candour to a first-date return, these stories all find their own way to make openness matter.

Source Reference Map

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