THE OTHER STUFF . . .

Sen. John McCain made a huge impact on countless people before his death -- especially his 106-year-old mother, Roberta McCain. A close McCain family friend tells PEOPLE that Roberta is "incredibly proud" of her middle child, the longtime politician and decorated war veteran who lost his battle to stage-four brain cancer at the age of 81 on Saturday. "Roberta was his biggest supporter and the leader of his fan club. She was incredibly proud of him," the source says. "His mommy loved him. He knew that." As Roberta grieves the loss of her son, the source points out that she "is a very strong woman," noting the centenarian's age as proof. "She is all there, mentally, and is still going strong at 106," the friend tells PEOPLE. "She outlived her 81-year-old son. That tells you a lot. But it's a tough blow to bury your child." The insider adds that while Roberta did not travel to Arizona following Friday's news that her son would be ceasing medical treatment for glioblastoma -- the most aggressive form of brain cancer, with which he was diagnosed in July 2017 -- the two did speak on the phone recently, and she knew the extent of Sen. McCain's illness. "I can only imagine what she's going through," the friend says of Roberta through tears. The source tells PEOPLE that Roberta Carol still keep in touch and have frequent conversations. (The two divorced in 1980 after 15 years of marriage and share three children: sons Douglas and Andy and daughter Sidney.) "John never stopped loving Carol," the insider says, adding that the exes spoke regularly before Sen. McCain's death. A close family friend revealed exclusively to PEOPLE on Friday, "Roberta is 106, but she's spunky. She knows he is ill." Roberta has been a vocal supporter of her son's political efforts over the years. At 96 years old, during Sen. McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, she gave a speech to campaign workers, captured by CSPAN. "Johnny is going to be the president of the United States and he's going to keep the traditions ... and the standards high," she told the crowd, receiving applause. "All we want is a world where we can raise our children, have a chance at prosperity and happiness, and we can vote any way we want to," she continued before ending on a sweet note. "I can't thank you enough ... I wish I could kiss each one of you on the cheek. If I get a chance, I will." PEOPLE spent time on with Roberta on Sen. McCain's campaign bus during his presidential campaign in 2007. At one point, Roberta, then 95, teased her son, "I want to correct you when you start telling all those big lies." When the conversation turned to the "Straight Talk Express" campaign bus itself -- "This is wonderful! Can you imagine me comfortable on a bus?" Roberta said -- Sen. McCain asked his mother to regale the group with a story about a driving mishap in Arizona. "It's so dumb!" she began. "I was driving across the continent [in 2003] and had 300 miles to Los Angeles. I thought, well, I can make it tonight. So I put the gas on. I got a ticket for driving 112 miles per hour, signed my name and went on my way." When her granddaughter Meghan McCain, then 23, praised her for the tale, Roberta responded, "Honey, I shoot my mouth off like a neophyte!" Roberta spoke earnestly about her son, too, during the interview. "I think civilization depends on this election," she told PEOPLE. "Johnny should have been dead 10 times already. Not just when he was a POW in Vietnam. He had so many near-misses [as a naval aviator]. He was saved for some reason." In an emotional tweet following Sen. McCain's death, his wife Cindy, 64, wrote, "My heart is broken. I am so lucky to have lived the adventure of loving this incredible man for 38 years. He passed the way he lived, on his own terms, surrounded by the people he loved, in the place he loved best." His daughter Meghan McCain was among the people praising Sen. McCain on social media in the wake of his death. "In the thirty-three years we shared together, he raised me, taught me, corrected me, comforted me, encouraged me, and supported me in all things," she wrote in part. Meghan added, "He taught me how to live. His love and his care, ever present, always unfailing, took me from a girl to a woman -- and he showed me what it is to be a man." (People)

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's The Row to launch men's line. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are making a foray into men's fashion through their luxe line The Row. According to WSJ. Magazine's September Men's Style profile on the twins, they've "dabbled in selling a few men's pieces" in the past. But they'll debut a full men's collection this fall, including a $7,850 chinchilla coat. (Most of the more practical separates and suits go for $3,950 to $5,795.) They also throw shade at streetwear: "I don't think people are taking big risks in menswear," says Ashley. (PageSix)

Blake Lively wears over $6.5M worth of jewelry in four days. Blake Lively's new movie might be called "A Simple Favor" -- but the rocks the actress is rocking these days are anything but simple. Last week, Lively hit the NYC press circuit wearing a series of sharp pantsuits accessorized with a colorful array of Lorraine Schwartz jewels worth over $6.5 million in total. Highlights included the black opal, emerald and Paraiba tourmaline cuff Lively paired with matching emerald-cut earrings on August 17, and the one-of-a-kind strawberry brooch she wore with coordinating ruby earrings and cocktail rings on August 18. On August 19, Lively got even more creative, wrapping two of Schwartz's pink pearl and brown diamond necklaces around her wrists to wear as bracelets. She finished the look with a flower brooch crafted from pink coral and two enormous diamond rings -- one weighing in at 28 carats, the other at 15 carats. And at the MTV VMAs on August 20, the star added 30-carat diamond stud earrings, sapphire cufflinks and a smattering of rings to her Ralph & Russo Couture pantsuit. Lively's Upper East Side-dwelling "Gossip Girl" character, Serena van der Woodsen, would surely approve. (PageSix)

Roseanne Barr reveals she has a new doctor, says she's 'doing better now'. Roseanne Barr seems to have given fans an update on her health via Twitter by sharing a pair of photos. Over the weekend, the star shared a pair of selfies to her more than 885,000 followers not only showing off her new blonde look, but she also seemed to indicate that she has made a change with regards to her health. The first photo shows Barr in a well-lit room with a coy smile. The image is simply captioned, "Hello." The next was much more telling, showing Roseanne in significantly worse lighting but still smiling. The caption reads: "got new Dr.'s and am doing better now. Thanks everyone!" It's unclear specifically what Barr means by "doing better now." Several of her followers were quick to assume that she's blaming the tweet and subsequent behavior that led to her being fired at ABC. As previously reported, the second season of Barr's sitcom revival "Roseanne," was cancelled abruptly by ABC after Barr tweeted at former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett in which she compared her to an ape and linked her to the Muslim brotherhood. Since losing her show, Barr has been on damage control, first blaming the sleep drug Ambien for her tweet. She later pivoted to declarations that she thought the tweet would be OK given that she was under the impression that Jarrett, who is African-American and was born in Iran, was white. Barr has stayed pretty far out of the public eye, even amid news that ABC will be moving forward with a spinoff to "Roseanne," titled "The Conners," following the controversy over Barr's tweet. (PageSix)

Eric Decker Announces Retirement From NFL Weeks After Joining New England Patriots. Eric Decker is hanging up his spikes. The veteran wide receiver announced his retirement from the NFL on Sunday, August 26. "It has been my childhood dream and my passion to play the game of football," Decker, 31, wrote in a statement shared on his Instagram Opens a New Window. account. "I was very fortunate and blessed to have had the opportunity to have those dreams fulfilled and to have played with such extremely talented and hard-working teammates, coaches and staff. This has been a passion inside of me since I was a little boy but I know now it is time to hang my helmet up and start a new chapter in my life." He continued, "I love football and always will. It will continue to be a part of my life. I'm looking forward to spending more time with my wife and kids. I want to give a special thank you to my family, friends and fans for all your support on this incredible journey. It's been an amazing chapter in my life. I look forward to the future and the many adventures ahead!" The news came just three weeks after the athlete signed a one-year contract with the New England Patriots. He played for the Denver Broncos, New York Jets and Tennessee Titans during his eight-season career. He caught 439 receptions for 5,816 yards with 53 touchdowns since entering the league in 2010. Decker and his wife, Jessie James Decker, welcomed a son named Forrest in March. The Eric & Jessie stars, who wed in June 2013, also share daughter Vivianne, 4, and son Eric Jr., 2. The country singer, 30, shared a sweet photo on Instagram Opens a New Window. on August 15 of herself and her husband hanging out with their three children on the football field. She captioned the shot, "Family is football." Jessie has not yet spoken out about Eric's retirement, but she is likely looking forward to spending even more time together. In October 2017, she told Us Weekly exclusively, "We're never apart that much. The kids go to bed and we watch a movie, have popcorn and watch our little TV shows. We're such homebodies. We don't love to go out that much." (Eonline)

Paris Jackson Honors Macaulay Culkin With Sweet 38th Birthday Tribute. Happy birthday, Macaulay Culkin! The Home Alone star and former child actor, one of the most famous in the world, turned 38 on Sunday. His goddaughter Paris Jackson, the 20-year-old daughter of his friend, the late Michael Jackson, honored him with a sweet tribute on Instagram. She included several throwback photos, including a pic of the two cuddling, with him wearing bunny ears, and an image of them displaying the matching spoon tattoos they got last year and a photo of the two. "Happiest of birthdays Mack Attack," Paris wrote. "I love you so so dearly and keep you very close to my heart. Always ????." Paris included a photo of Macaulay and his girlfriend Brenda Song posing in front of the Louvre Pyramid in Paris. The actor, who rarely acts and mostly lives off the millions of dollars he made as a child star, had lived in the city for several years up until this year. Paris also included a pic of Macaulay as a child with Michael on the set of the singer's iconic 1991 music video "Black or White." "I am close with Paris," Macaulay said on Marc Maron's WTF podcast earlier this year. "I'm going to warn you now I am very protective of her so just look out," said Culkin. "I am a very open book when it comes to things but like with her, she is beloved by me." Macaulay talked about his birthday on his Bunny Ears podcast. "I spend birthdays by myself. I'll be just like stoned or drunk, like in bed, kinda like, 'Yeah, this is what I want,'" he joked. "This year, same thing as last year, Medieval Times," he added. "My special lady friend, she made me go to Medieval Times last year. She couldn't go. She made me and 12 of my friends [go]." Macaulay later said, "I'm 38 now, look at me. I'm old." (Eonline)

Noah Cyrus and Lil Xan Gift Billy Ray Cyrus a Bong for His Birthday. Here's a headline you don't see every day. Billy Ray Cyrus celebrated his 57th birthday on Saturday and, as such, the country crooner celebrated his special day with his longtime wife Tish Cyrus and some of their famous kids, among them Noah Cyrus and her new boyfriend, Lil Xan. The birthday festivities included quality time at home with the fam, blowing out the candles on his birthday cake and....being gifted a birthday bong by his daughter and her new boyfriend. "Happy Birthday Daddy!" the songstress wrote on social media along with home video of their gathering. "(The bong was my gift to him)," she noted. "Thank you for showing me the meaning of true love! youre the King of my world forever. i love you sooo much," the star continued online in tribute to her famous father. It seems her 21-year-old rapper beau was feeling at home with the Cyruses. "Had to get dad a present ya dig !" he captioned a photo of him with Billy Ray and the bong. "Happy B Day." While their romance hasn't been long, it looks like Lil Xan has joined right in with the most important people in Noah's life. "My family wants whatever makes me happy and I'm so happy," she previously shared with E! News at the 2018 Teen Choice Awards. E! News confirmed at the start of August that the two were seeing each other. However, as Noah revealed to E! News on the red carpet, Lil Xan had come into her life months earlier. "Xan slid into the DMs. It works people," Noah explained to E! News' Tamara Dhia. "Actually, it didn't work. He DMed me like in February and I didn't see it for months and then I saw that he was following me and I was like, 'Lil Xan, cool, he's following me. I'll follow him back.' And then I saw his DM and we're just hanging out making music." In fact, the couple just debuted their first track together last week -- a duet titled "Live or Die." We just have one question: what did you think of Lil Xan's present, Billy Ray? (Eonline)

Kim Kardashian West had some pretty dramatic implants installed under her skin ... and these make her look like she just arrived from another planet. Kim posted a couple vids Monday showing a growth in her neck that lights up to the rhythm of her heartbeat. The temporary piece -- that looks like an alien necklace -- is part of a larger art experience called A. Human ... founded by Simon Huck. "Queer Eye" star Tan France got in on the action too -- with a piece called The Tudor -- a living piece of jewelry made to look like ruffled skin with bioreactive crystals. Transgender supermodel Andreja Pejic wore skin-sculpted shoulders, a design called The Pinnacle, that was part of a collab with designer and former Lady Gaga creative director Nicola Formichetti. A. Human will open as a month-long interactive art experience, starting September 5 in NYC. We're told the experience is sure to be one for the avid Instagrammer ... and could feature some celeb appearances too. (TMZ)

Colin Kaepernick's message will be coming to a store near you very soon ... because TMZ Sports has learned the QB has filed an application to trademark his signature "I'm With Kap" slogan for clothing. Kap's been using the mantra since the beginning of his schism with the NFL ... with the hashtag taking off on social media, and celebrities like G-Eazy, Kenny Stills and Harry Belafonte rocking shirts bearing the slogan. Now we've learned Kap has filed paperwork in California to own the slogan for use on shirts, hoodies, caps and other apparel. It's an interesting move ... there's some talk that major clothing brands, like Adidas and Puma, could make a move to sign Kap in the future, so owning the trademark could mean big business for him. It's not like he's desperate for the cash -- Kaepernick reportedly made more than $40 mil in contract money during his NFL career. Plus, he had a bunch of sponsorship deals. But, he's been huge with philanthropy -- donating $1 mil of his own money to various charities and non-profit organizations, including his "Know Your Rights" campaign. So, if he profits from "I'm With Kap" ... the extra cash could go a long way. (TMZ)

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