First lady Melania Trump entrusted her Inauguration Day look to longtime stylist Herve Pierre, the UK Daily Mail reported. Because of President Donald Trump is a Republican, the first lady was snubbed by many designers in the past, though that may be changing.
All eyes were on Melania Trump Monday as her husband was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. Dressed in a navy blue suit and statement hat Pierre chose for her, Melania Trump exuded confidence and class.
Her demure daytime look was second only to the stunning evening gown Pierre designed for her to wear to the Inaugural Ball that evening. Peirre's instincts have made Melania Trump the most stylish first lady, even with the fashion world against her.
Let’s give a HUGE round of applause to Hervé Pierre, Melania Trump’s stylist, on this historic and iconic look for Inauguration Day 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/F76CAWEImg
— FLOTUS Report (@MELANIAJTRUMP) January 20, 2025
Long before she married the man who made her first lady, Melania Trump was a supermodel. She graced the covers of magazines, including left-wing activist Anna Wintour's Vogue.
However, since moving into the White House in 2017, Melania Trump has become a pariah in the fashion industry. Ralph Lauren designed the light blue dress and matching bolero she wore for her husband's first inauguration but chose to dress the outgoing first lady Jill Biden instead this time around.
Still, it's difficult to keep such a beautiful woman from shining. Pierre, who has been by her side since the beginning, did just that when he chose a Harry Winston brooch with a black ribbon as a choker to compliment his custom design.
The gown, a white strapless affair with black zigzag embellishment, told the story of a woman who is an icon through and through. What Pieree said began with "a simple scribble with a marker on a piece of paper" turned into a look for the ages, securing her place in fashion.
From Hervé Pierre on Instagram:
“How it started … a simple scribble with a marker on a piece of paper can be the beginning of an idea !”
“It was such an honor to create the dress for the First Lady Melania Trump tonight.. I can’t thank her enough… it was a wonderful project,… pic.twitter.com/Ss1D47BwWC
— FLOTUS Report (@MELANIAJTRUMP) January 21, 2025
According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Melania Trump had more choices this time. Designers have warmed to the idea of her and others in her orbit donning their pieces, including second lady Usha Vance wearing Oscar de la Renta and Ivanka Trump carrying a Dior bag.
Even Vogue writer José Criales-Unzueta had to acknowledge the shift. "Does this mean that the designers who decide to dress Melania Trump have let go of their values by aligning themselves with her? Not exactly," Criales-Unzueta wrote Monday to explain away the change.
"Should the industry or the public be surprised if and when Trump is embraced by fashion in a different capacity this time around? Not at all," the author added.
It's also a different political and cultural climate, considering that Trump won with both the electoral and the popular votes. A majority of people have spoken when they voted for President Trump, and even fashion designers can't ignore that fact.
Melania Trump is a beautiful and classy woman who wears her clothes very well. It's about time that the fashion industry caught up to that fact and quit with the partisan politics.
Former U.S. Olympic cyclist Inga Thompson admits that she used to "hate" President Donald Trump until he became one of the few voices protecting women in sports from gender-confused men, the Daily Caller reported. Trump made steps to make good on his promise during his first day in office.
Trump was sworn into office on Monday in large part because of the pledge he made to stop the so-called transgender movement in its tracks. His promise was enough to get people like Thompson to change their minds about him.
"The first time he was up for election, I was making fun of him," recalled Thompson. "This time around, my position is, ‘If he’s going to protect women, I will vote for him,'" Thompson shared in an interview with The Telegraph.
"This is the biggest threat to women that I can think of happening in my generation. And I have to vote for women," she said.
Thompson initially did not expect to side against the Democratic Party. "I don’t want my boyfriend to hear this, because we’re both Democrats," she said.
"I used to hate Trump because I come from Reno, Nevada, around the casinos. I grew up with a lot of people who were in gaming, and we hated Trump. I knew people who would make deals with him, then he would back out," Thompson explained.
That changed for her when Trump took on the issue near and dear to her heart while the Democrats leaned into the idea that men could compete against women in the name of equality. Thompson said there were signs that this was a losing position, but Democrats ignored them.
"Did they not learn their lesson at the Olympics about how tone-deaf they are, how blind they are about what they’re doing to women? I’m angry at the party, being a Democrat myself, that they continue to throw women under the bus," Thompson said.
"It would have been so easy for them to allow common sense to come back. But they won’t. It’s the final straw," she added.
Trump made good on his promise on Inauguration Day with an executive order that acknowledges there are only two genders, the New York Post reported. While it doesn't specifically address the problem of men in sports, it goes a long way to correcting the insanity.
"What we’re doing today is defining that it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes: male and female. These are sexes that are not changeable, and they are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality," a newly-minted Trump White House official said.
"Across the country, ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex have increasingly used legal and other socially coercive means to permit men to self-identify as women and gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women, from women’s domestic abuse shelters to women’s workplace showers. This is wrong," the order says, according to CBS News.
"Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being. The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system. Basing Federal policy on truth is critical to scientific inquiry, public safety, morale, and trust in government itself," it added.
Trump is wildly popular because he is on the side of sanity. The left tried to turn women against him, but his commitment to holding the traditional line on this issue has been a game-changer.
It's done: Joe Biden is now the former President of the United States, and the second non-consecutive term of Donald Trump has begun.
At a rally on Sunday ahead of his inauguration as the nation's 47th president, Trump said he would end his presecessor's "diversity, equity and inclusion" mandates and put back in place a merit-based system as well as repealing many other of Biden's executive orders.
“Every radical and foolish Executive Order of the Biden administration will be repealed within hours of when I take the oath of office. Oh, you’re gonna have a lot of fun watching television tomorrow,” Trump said.
He then focused on DEI specifically.
“But we’re going to stop the destructive and divisive Diversity Equity and Inclusion mandates all across government and private sector and return our country to the merit system,” Trump declared.
“You know, the Supreme Court ruled that the United States is allowed to go by the merit system, which is what made us great in the first place,” he added. “That was a big, big ruling that a lot of people don’t even know about, but that was a big, tremendous ruling.”
In 2023, the high court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions, reacting to policies that kept many deserving Asian students out of top colleges.
“And you’re focusing on character, competence, qualifications in all hiring decisions,” Trump said. “Now, you’re allowed to go by competence, ability, and genius. You don’t have to hire somebody to send up one of his rocket ships that doesn’t know anything about what’s happening.”
He definitely has a point: some aspects of DEI have resulted in less competent workers in roles where competence is essential.
We all hope that the U.S. has reached the point where no one is discriminated against because of their race, sex, or any other part of who they are.
When Trump was elected after vowing to get rid of DEI, it caused some companies to purge their DEI policies.
Amazon, Boeing, Lowe's, Meta, McDonald's, and several major car manufacturers are among those getting rid of DEI policies.
Several have cited the Supreme Court ruling in 2023 as justification for doing so.
Sources have said that the Pentagon is in "absolute disarray" as they expect Trump to fire military leaders who have pursued DEI over merit.
The agency has been deleting DEI pages from its website and some officials are reportedly in "panic mode" as they try to figure out if they are on a list to be cut.
With Inauguration Day set for Monday, the nation is poised to turn the page on four years under President Joe Biden, a fact that has prompted a host of reflections on what was accomplished – or not – during his term in office.
As Reuters reports, one of the least impressive aspects of Biden's presidency is the manner in which his agenda -- and many liberal policy shibboleths -- faced repeated and strong rebuke at the U.S. Supreme Court, on issues ranging from abortion to student loan forgiveness.
To be sure, the conservative court majority solidified during Donald Trump's first term in office put Biden at a disadvantage when it came to matters coming before the justices in recent years, but the sheer number of defeats suffered by the president garnered significant attention.
Perhaps most staggering to Biden's supporters on the left was the high court's 2022 decision to overturn the precedent set in the 1973 case of Roe v. Wade, an outcome that sent the issue of abortion back to the respective states.
2022 also saw the court ruling in a manner that substantially expanded gun rights in the United States, a decision that has prompted the reversal of a series of state-level limitations on the Second Amendment, much to the chagrin of liberals everywhere.
The administration went down to defeat in 2023, when race-conscious college admissions were invalidated by the justices, an undeniable blow to the culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion championed by Biden and his allies.
Biden also suffered an embarrassing rejection when his campaign promise-driven plan to forgive billions of dollars in student loan debt went down to defeat at the high court, adding to the list of policy positions thwarted during the course of the president's Oval Office tenure, a time also characterized by the Supreme Court's reversal of the Chevron doctrine of deference to administrative agencies, a concept long revered by liberals.
The staggering number of losses sustained by the Biden administration at the Supreme Court did not escape the notice of numerous legal scholars who spoke to Reuters about the outgoing president's legacy in this regard.
University of California Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky opined, “I think it is the toughest series of defeats since Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s had many New Deal programs declared unconstitutional.”
Having served as a Department of Justice lawyer during George W. Bush's time in office, John Yoo offered his own, unique take on the losses suffered by Biden in recent years.
“It's hard to think of another president in our lifetimes who lost so many high-profile cases on issues so near and dear to his constitutional agenda,” Yoo said.
Yoo suggested that the administration stubbornly refused to change its approach when the majority justices evinced their preference for an originalist approach to cases, and it therefore “rendered itself irrelevant on the most important constitutional questions of the day.”
Biden himself took aim at the trends seen among the justices, declaring the institution “not a normal court” and a body he said was responsible for “extreme opinions that...have undermined long-established civil rights principles and protections.”
However, as he leaves office, a USA Today/Suffolk University poll suggests that the lion's share of Americans may either agree with the high court's frequent rebukes of Biden or at least realize his administration's inability to prevail before the justices, with 44% of respondents labeling him a “failed president,” and just 26% calling him either good or great -- a damning verdict no matter how you slice it.
A federal appeals court struck down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration policy that included amnesty for illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, Just the News reported. The decision imperils the pet program of President Barack Obama
A lower court had already deemed that DACA was unconstitutional. The decision Friday at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a majority of its findings.
Notably, the Fifth Circuit upheld U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen's September 2023 decision that applied only to Texas. It was the only state that presented "sufficient evidence that DACA has caused the harms it alleges and that those costs would be partially alleviated if DACA were enjoined."
The Lone Star State noted that "DACA recipients impose over $750 million in annual costs" and that "a favorable judgment against DACA would at least partially alleviate Texas’s harm," according to Hanen's decision. It's unclear what the future of the program is except that it will likely go to the U.S. Supreme Court for review.
According to Fox News, President-elect Donald Trump attempted to abolish DACA during his first term while trying to make room for the so-called Dreamers. These children of illegal immigrants number nearly half a million who have gone to school, lived, and worked in the U.S.
Their fate has not yet been determined, though they have been allowed to work and live in the U.S. while the courts hash it out. The fight has persisted even as President Joe Biden drafted his version in 2022, which would have eliminated the portion that was rejected.
If the challenge ends up in the Supreme Court once again, it will be the third time the highest court in the land has had a crack at it. The provision has been under legal challenge since Obama presented it in 2012.
In 2016, the Supreme Court heard the appeal but was deadlocked 4-4 since there was a vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. DACA survived a 2020 challenge because the court determined Trump did not follow proper procedure when trying to end the program.
The high court now has a 6-3 conservative majority, which may help decisively cancel the problem altogether. Coupled with the fact that Trump is about to begin another four-year term, the future of the immigration policy appears to be in peril.
At the heart of this issue is the fact that Obama tried to overhaul immigration enforcement in an unprecedented way. Welcoming illegal immigrants was a goal of the administration, and Obama expressed outrage when Trump tried to cancel his pet provision to do just that.
"Let’s be clear: The action taken today isn’t required legally. It’s a political decision, and a moral question," Obama said at the time, according to the Washington Post.
"Whatever concerns or complaints Americans may have about immigration in general, we shouldn’t threaten the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no threat, who are not taking away anything from the rest of us. … Kicking them out won’t lower the unemployment rate, or lighten anyone’s taxes, or raise anybody’s wages," Obama claimed.
"It is self-defeating — because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel," Obama later added, tugging at the heartstrings.
It's a terrible thing to be in the position many of those who came to the U.S. as children and have built their lives here are in now. However, caution is necessary as every amnesty program encourages more of the behavior that created the problem in the first place.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has removed House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner from his position overseeing the FBI and CIA, the UK Daily Mail reported. President-elect Donald Trump supposedly had no part in the drastic decision as critics believe otherwise.
The Ohio Republican, who has been chairman since January 2023, has been accused by some Trump allies of having a cozy relationship with the agencies. This is problematic as Trump has promised to "drain the swamp" again, especially in the FBI and CIA.
Notably, Trump believes it was the intelligence community that was part of the "Deep State" effort to keep him from becoming president again. He has gone with other picks, such as Kash Patel for FBI head and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to be National Intelligence Director, who are not insiders.
"Trump personally got involved and believes that Turner is basically an intel community sycophant," an anonymous source told the publication. Turner is not only out as chairman, he's completely off the committee.
According to The Hill, Johnson, who has complete discretion over the chairman position, has selected Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AK) to take Turner's place. Johnson denied that Trump had anything to do with the choice and shared his reasons in a statement to the publication.
“Our intelligence community and its oversight must maintain the highest levels of trust. The House Intel Committee will play a pivotal role in this work in the new Congress, and Rick Crawford will provide principled leadership as its chairman," Johnson wrote.
"He has earned the respect of his colleagues through his years of faithful service on the committee and his steady approach to the challenges facing our country," the House Speaker added. Johnson also gave due credit to Turner.
"He led the committee well during a very challenging period of our nation’s history and was fully dedicated to the task. He is a highly valued member of our Conference, and we look forward to his continued contributions to keeping America safe and expanding our global security, including in his important position as the Chair of the U.S. Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly," Johnson added.
For his part, Crawford has promised to "aggressively uphold our mandate to provide credible and robust oversight of the Intelligence Community’s funding and activities." Many in the "America First" crowd are hoping he can rein in the intelligence agencies' overreach.
Trump is right to be wary of the FBI, considering that they launched a years-long investigation and spied on his campaign based on the fake Steele dossier, according to the New York Post. Even after the probe proved bogus, they didn't leave him alone.
In August 2022, the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago residence for classified documents he allegedly mishandled. Trump was rightfully outraged over the unprecedented move and railed against the FBI in an email from his Save America political action committee.
"These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, was raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," Trump said. He pointed out that they had been after him since he announced his presidential run in 2015 and throughout his presidency.
"I stood up to the Radical Left’s corruption. I restored power to the people and truly delivered for our Country like we have never seen before. The establishment hated it," Trump added.
Now is definitely the time to clean house with a clear mandate from the people. Trump has four years to clean up the Washington, D.C., bureaucracy, and it looks like Johnson is helping move that objective along.
First lady Jill Biden shared that she good-naturedly called President-elect Donald Trump "a talker" during their viral exchange captured last month at the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Fox News reported. Trump seems to be getting along better with his so-called enemies since winning the 2024 presidential election.
Trump rocked the White House when he had fun with the viral photo and used it to hawk his cologne and perfumes. "Here are my new Trump Perfumes & Colognes! I call them Fight, Fight, Fight, because they represent us WINNING," he captioned his Truth Social post on Dec. 8.
"Great Christmas gifts for the family," the ultimate pitchman captioned his version of the photo. He added a tagline on the photo: "A fragrance your enemies can't resist."
Trump released a fragrance called "Fight, Fight, Fight!" and used a photo of him and Jill Biden to announce it – "A fragrance your enemies can't resist!"
LMAO pic.twitter.com/qz9l8e2RdF— Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo (@JaneidyEve) December 8, 2024
There was much speculation about what the two were talking about when an iconic photo was snapped of Trump and Biden appearing to share a moment. French first lady Brigitte Macron, who was sitting between them, had just gotten up, allowing the pair to chat.
Despite all of the fun speculation, the exchange was little more than a cordial chat, according to Jill Biden. Trump had recently met with President Joe Biden following his victory on Election Day over Vice President Kamala Harris.
The nastiness of the last four years, including the campaign, appeared to be over as the men were all smiles and laughter together. "I had a good meeting with your husband in the Oval Office," Trump said to Jill Biden.
"Yes, because you’re both talkers," Jill Biden quipped, lending the situation to the now infamous photo. While presenting the contents of the chat, Jill Biden explained that she and her husband "respect our institutions, our traditions," so they felt being friendly was "very important" in this situation.
Moreover, civility was required, given that the exchange happened at the momentous reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. The historic building sustained significant damage in a fire on April 15, 2019, and only recently was restored to its former glory.
There is no doubt there's a new warmth between Trump and his former enemies. Not only is Jill Biden open getting along with Trump, but so is former President Barack Obama.
During the late President Jimmy Carter's funeral services last week, Trump and Obama looked like old friends as they chatted while mourners were filtering in. At one point, Trump said something that made Obama laugh, though nobody knows what the two were saying.
This is incongruous considering what was said about Trump during the election by people like Obama and the Bidens. According to The Hill, sports commentator Stephen A. Smith said this "wasn't a good look" for the political class.
"It wasn’t a good look because of all the things that were said about Trump during the campaign while you were trying to convince tens of millions of people to vote for Kamala Harris. Fascist, threat to democracy. You know, people bringing up Nazis and all of this stuff when they talked about Trump," Smith pointed out.
The change in how Trump's former enemies treat him is remarkable. Perhaps they know that they've been beaten, but more so that what they were saying about him was a lie the whole time.
Melania Trump said she will live primarily at the White House after her husband, President-elect Donald Trump, is inaugurated, The Economic Times reported. The notoriously tight-lipped first lady spoke with host Ainsley Earhardt on Fox&Friends Monday about the transition back to her role and her new documentary.
Eager to dispel rumors that Melania Trump was not planning to live at the White House, Earhardt asked Melania Trump about her intentions. "I will be in the White House. And you know, when I need to be in New York, I will be in New York; when I need to be in Palm Beach, I will be in Palm Beach," Melania Trump said.
"But my my first priority is, you know, to be a mom, to be a first lady, to be a wife. And once we’re in on January 22nd, you serve the country," Melania Trump added.
Earhardt also asked Melania Trump about moving into the White House again and whether she has changed since her husband became president in 2016. "Do you feel like you’re in a different space now than you were eight years ago?" the host asked.
"I feel I was always me the first time, as well. I just feel that people didn’t accept me," Melania Trump added.
"Maybe they didn’t understand me the way maybe they do now. And I didn’t have much support," Melania Trump added. That's an understatement, considering that Donald Trump called the media's treatment of his wife "vicious" in 2018, Axios reported.
“Maybe some people — they see me as just the wife of the president, but I’m standing on my own two feet independent," she went on. "I have my own thoughts. I have my own Yes and no. I don’t always agree with my husband is saying or doing. And that’s okay."
Earhardt asked if Melania Trump could "disagree" outwardly with Donald Trump. "I give him my advice, and sometimes he listens. Sometimes he doesn’t. And that’s okay," Melania Trump added.
The First Lady is the subject of a new documentary currently in production for Amazon. "We started the production in November," Melania Trump shared.
She added that they "are shooting right now," so it will follow her through the transition to her new home at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. "So it’s a day-to-day life, what I’m doing, what kind of responsibilities I have," Melania Trump went on.
"People, they don’t really know, and they will see it. It’s day to day, from transition team to moving to the White House, packing, establishing my team, the First Lady office, moving into the White House, what it takes to make the residence your home, to hire the people that you need," the first lady shared.
When asked if she would make changes to the White House, Melania Trump said she would update things "a little bit" but that it would mostly stay the same. The first lady also said she would continue with her "Be Better" initiative she started during her husband's first White House stint.
Melania Trump is a woman of class and grace, but the media has always disparaged her and intentionally painted her as a villain. Now, she is using her voice to dispel rumors and a documentary to show her side of things, and it's about time.
President Joe Biden admitted that assisting the fire-devastated sections of Southern California will likely cost "tens of billions of dollars," the Times of India reported. Biden has promised the federal government's assistance on his way out of office as firefighters continue to battle blazes.
As infernos rage throughout Southern California, people are being displaced and homes destroyed. The president weighed in on the tragedy in a post to X, formerly Twitter. "Our hearts ache for the 24 innocent souls we have lost in the wildfires across Los Angeles," he wrote.
"Jill and I pray for them and their loved ones. I am being frequently briefed on efforts to suppress these fires and have directed my team to respond promptly to any requests for additional federal firefighting assistance," Biden said in a statement to X on Monday.
Our hearts ache for the 24 innocent souls we have lost in the wildfires across Los Angeles. Jill and I pray for them and their loved ones. We are deeply saddened by the devastation caused by the unprecedented ongoing wildfires across Southern California.
I am being frequently…
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 13, 2025
Biden also held a briefing with Vice President Kamala Harris, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FEMA Director Deanne Criswell, and Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. The outgoing president promised help for the residents to get back on their feet.
"We’re not waiting until those fires are over to start helping the victims. We’re getting them help right now, as you all know," Biden promised at the White House briefing Monday.
"People impacted by these fires are going to receive a one-time payment of $770, one-time payment, so they quickly purchase things like water, baby formula and prescriptions," he added. Biden went on to say that some 6,000 victims signed up with $5.1 million paid out.
“It’s going to cost tens of billions of dollars to get Los Angeles to what it was. We are going to need Congress to step up with the funding," Biden said.
The devastating fires that began last week are not showing any signs of letting up on their own. As CBS News reported, the Santa Ana winds, which blow hot and dry, continue to fuel the spread of fire.
As of Tuesday afternoon, four wildfires were still burning in the Los Angeles area. The largest is the Palisades Fire, which has swallowed up 23,713 acres.
The blaze is only about 17% contained in the western part of Los Angeles County. Meanwhile, Northern L.A.'s Eaton Fire has consumed 14,100 acres and is only 30% contained.
In Ventura County, which borders Los Angeles, the Auto Fire broke out Monday evening and has spread to 56 acres of land. One positive note is that the Hurst Fire, which spanned 799 acres, was 97% controlled by Tuesday.
Biden is correct that the cost will be astronomical to the local, state, and federal governments. It's necessary to help with the cost after the fact, but there must be an invitation into how these fires started and spread so quickly.
Leslie Charleson, an actress who spent 46 years on the cast of "General Hospital," died at a hospital on Janaury 12 in Los Angeles at age 79.
Charleson played Dr. Monica Quartermaine from 1977 to 2023, when she left the show and the role for health reasons.
She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy four times for her performance.
"General Hospital executive producer Frank Valentini confirmed Charleson's death on X in a series of tweets.
“It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my dear friend and colleague, @lesliecharleson," he began.
"Her enduring legacy has spanned nearly 50 years on @GeneralHospital alone and, just as Monica was the heart of the Quartermaine family, Leslie was a beloved matriarch of the entire cast and crew," he continued. "I will miss our daily chats, her quick wit and incredible presence on set."
Finally, he concluded, "On behalf of everyone at #GeneralHospital, my heartfelt sympathy goes out to her loved ones during this difficult time.”
Charleson was born in Missouri and got her start playing small parts in soaps "A Flame in the Wind" and "As the World Turns."
She had a number of parts in other TV shows including "Adam-12" and "Happy Days" before landing the role on GH.
Of her start on that show, she told Soap Opera Digest in 2022, “I started the show the day Elvis Presley died, and being such a huge fan, I of course was very upset driving to the studios, and then getting there I was told that they hoped I had brought my own wardrobe and makeup because there was a strike going on — and that was before I even got in the building."
“Then I got in the building and I realized that no one really liked me, because the girl playing Monica before me was very rudely fired," she added.
From that inauspicious start, Charleson became a show favorite.
Her character's on-again, off-again marriage to Alan was a popular plot in the show for years, until the actor Stuart Damon's death in 2007.