A celebrity facialist’s murder-for-hire case was worthy of a Hollywood thriller. Now it is one
CNN
Dawn DaLuise says new movie “Skincare” only scratches the surface of a real-life ordeal in which she was stalked, harassed and falsely accused of soliciting murder.
When former “facialist to the stars” Dawn DaLuise received a sudden stream of text messages in late June, it triggered memories of the months-long stalking campaign that derailed her beauty career and landed her in jail charged with soliciting murder. A decade earlier, the messages might have contained threats from unknown senders, or responses to fliers offering “free” sex that had been printed with her contact details (alongside images of her and her daughters’ faces superimposed onto X-rated photos) and distributed on Santa Monica Boulevard. As it happened, however, the texts were from friends and clients informing DaLuise of the latest chapter in a life story that came to resemble a Hollywood thriller: She was being portrayed by Elizabeth Banks in a new movie. Hitting theaters today, “Skincare” tells the semi-fictional story of LA esthetician Hope Goodman (Banks), who becomes convinced that rival salon owner Angel Vergara (Luis Gerardo Méndez) is out to ruin her. Her tires are slashed, she receives creepy videos and nighttime phone calls, and a man shows up at her clinic after a classified ad invites strangers to fulfill her workplace rape fantasies. “My phone was a receptacle for all sorts of harassment… during my ordeal, so when (all these messages) popped up, and the first thing I see is a trailer about my life, it caused me to revisit a bit of that trauma,” DaLuise told CNN in a video interview ahead of the movie’s release. “Reputation is everything in this business,” Goodman observes in the movie, and hers is left in tatters by an explicit sexual email sent to her entire contact book from her account. Once-loyal customers flock over the street to Vergara’s booming salon, while an increasingly hysterical Goodman buys a gun for self-defense and follows her rival to his home. A friend’s offer of protection then takes a dramatic turn — as does her suspicion of who is really behind the harassment.
Speaking to CNN ahead of Tuesday’s announcement, the founder of one of China’s first private architecture firms reflects on a career designing unpretentious buildings in an era of excess.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the ground in Texas to respond to the growing measles outbreak. The agency posted on X that it’s partnering with the Texas Department of State Health Services.
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Selena Gomez was among the celebrities to wear intricate, hand-embroidered gowns featuring thousands of shimmering embellishments to the 2025 Oscars.
As a measles outbreak in Texas has grown to nearly 150 cases, US Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in an opinion piece on Fox News on Sunday that parents should consult with health-care providers “to understand their options to get the MMR vaccine” for their children.
Selena Gomez was among the celebrities to wear intricate, hand-embroidered gowns featuring thousands of shimmering embellishments to the 2025 Oscars.
Another new discovery in the ruins of Pompeii has shed light on the wilder side of the ancient Romans.
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One hundred forty-six measles cases have been reported in the outbreak in West Texas, the Texas Department of Health Services said in an update today. This is 22 more confirmed cases since an update on Tuesday, when 124 cases were reported.