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Yasmin Rufo

Reporter | Presenter | Interviewer

BBC News culture and entertainment reporter, presenter and interviewer covering film, television, books and internet culture.

Highlights of my work for BBC News

BBC News •

What Guess's AI model in Vogue means for beauty standards

There's a new supermodel in town. She's striking, stylish... and not real. In August's print edition of Vogue, a Guess advert features a flawless blonde model showing off a striped maxi dress and a floral playsuit from the brand's summer collection.In small print in one corner, the ad reveals that she was created using AI.While Vogue says the AI model was not an editorial decision, it is the first time an AI-generated person has featured in the magazine.The advert has been met with controversy a...
BBC News •

Secret Lives of Mormon Wives on swinging scandals, friendship fallouts and religious backlash

From allegations of infidelity to swinging scandals, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives offers a look into a version of Mormon life far removed from traditional public perception.Set in suburban Utah, the TV series follows a group of Mormon women – most of whom rose to fame on TikTok and became MomTok influencers – as they manage scandals, confront marital breakdowns and clash over everything from business ventures to party invitations.But beneath the sensational plotlines is a more complex story...
BBC News •

Not so demure any more: The rise of 'free the nipple' fashion

Six months ago, a viral TikTok trend made us obsessed with being very demure and very mindful - but now, modesty has taken a back seat among celebrities who have made see-through outfits all the rage on red carpets and catwalks.At the Brit Awards last week, big winner Charli XCX went full brat as she wore a sheer black dress, prompting hundreds of complaints to media watchdog Ofcom.She used one of her acceptance speeches to address the controversy of her outfit. "I heard that ITV were complainin...
BBC News •

EastEnders: I watched a soap opera for the first time aged 27, here's what I thought

I have a confession: I've never watched a soap opera before.I'm not sure why, as I regularly binge shows with hundreds of episodes and love drama series. As a teen, I was addicted to programmes such as Waterloo Road and Skins, which, like soaps, followed the lives of a community who found themselves embroiled in increasingly outlandish plot lines.Despite ratings which are far below their 1980s peak, EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale consistently rank in the top 20 most viewed shows on...
BBC News •

The Roses: Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch's secret to successful marriages

Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch have spent the best part of the last year swearing, shouting and sneering at each other.Their latest roles see them play Ivy and Theo Rose - a wealthy couple once blissfully in love, who now find themselves in a marriage breakdown and bitter divorce battle.Ironically, the relationship between the two actors couldn't be further from their warring characters - they're actually close friends, having met decades ago in a radio recording studio.As I sit down wit...
BBC News •

Thursday Murder Club: Pierce Brosnan felt 'huge responsibility' towards fans of the book

Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club book series is one of the most successful of recent years - more than 10 million copies have been sold, all four books have broken UK sales records and the fifth instalment will be released in the autumn.It's no wonder, then, that the star-studded cast of the film adaptation are somewhat nervous about how fans will receive the movie.Speaking to the BBC, Pierce Brosnan says nerves have ramped up over the past few weeks. "It's a huge responsibility when you hav...
BBC News •

Freakier Friday: Lindsay Lohan on motherhood, acting again and the Freaky Friday sequel

It has been more than two decades since the body-swap comedy that captured the complexities of mother-daughter relationships became a global hit. Now Freakier Friday sees Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan reunite in a sequel that explores those same themes from a very different stage in life.The film picks up with Lohan's character, Anna, having a daughter of her own and dealing with the challenges of also taking on a stepdaughter. The family dynamic gets freakier as there is a quadruple body-s...
BBC News •

Why Gen Z & Millennials are hung up on answering the phone

Hi, you’ve reached the voicemail of Yasmin Rufo. Please don't leave a message as I won’t listen to it or call you back.Unfortunately that isn't my answerphone message but do I, along with most Gen Z and millennials, wish it was? Absolutely.A recent survey found a quarter of people aged 18 to 34 never answer the phone, external - respondents say they ignore the ringing, respond via text or search the number online if they don't recognise it.The Uswitch survey of 2,000 people also found that nearl...
BBC News •

Are celebs such as Charli XCX and Addison Rae making smoking 'cool' again?

Brat summer might be over as we grapple with how dark it is at 4pm, but the concept of being a brat – “pack of cigs and a Bic lighter”, according to the singer Charli XCX – lives on.There's Rosalia gifting Charli XCX a bouquet of cigarettes on her birthday, Addison Rae smoking not one but two at the same time in her music video Aquamarine, and the actor Paul Mescal saying he refused to give up smoking when getting into shape for Gladiator II. The risks of smoking are well known – it's still the...
Lily Collins speaking on the phone
BBC News •

Lily Collins: I'd love an Emily in London spin-off

She’s eaten croissants by the Eiffel Tower, drunk espressos outside the Colosseum and now, could it be time for fish and chips on the London Eye?Emily in Paris star Lily Collins has told the BBC she is keen for an Emily in London spin-off as it "would be so fun".Collins, 35, has been living in London for the past few months while preparing to make her West End stage debut in Barcelona.The romantic thriller sees Collins play an American tourist who has a one-night stand with a handsome Spaniard,...
BBC News •

Harry Potter: Is Miriam Margolyes right that adult fans should 'grow up'?

I visited Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross station as a child. Obsessed with Harry Potter, I was convinced that if I ran through the wall I would find myself arm in arm with Ron and Hermione boarding the Hogwarts Express on my way to becoming a fully fledged witch.Sure, I would have to leave my Muggle parents behind, but aged 10 that was a sacrifice I was prepared to make. However, my attempt at running into a brick wall left me with little more than a bruised head, and the magic had, quite literally...
BBC News •

BBC asks Huw Edwards to return more than £200,000

Huw Edwards has been asked by the BBC to hand back more than £200,000 salary he earned after being arrested in November on child abuse image charges.The ex-presenter "behaved in bad faith" in continuing to take his salary despite knowing what he had done, said BBC Chair Samir Shah in a letter to staff.Edwards, formerly the BBC's most high-profile newsreader, continued to earn his salary for five months after he was arrested on three counts of making indecent images of children.He was suspended i...
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Love Island's Tommy Fury and Molly-Mae: Bursting the bubble on reality TV relationships

Your first kiss, the first "I love you" and your first fight are all formative parts of a relationship that most couples experience privately. But when all your firsts are broadcast to millions of people across the country, is your relationship doomed to fail before it's even started?On Wednesday Molly-Mae Hague announced her split from fiancé Tommy Fury, five years after they met on reality show Love Island.The couple were seen as a rare success story that made even the most hardened critics qu...
BBC News •

Timothee Chalamet to Harry Styles: Celeb lookalike contests are more than good looks and big egos

There is something quite bold about telling people you look like someone famous - especially if your supposed doppelganger is one of the world’s biggest heartthrobs.But that hasn't put off the hundreds of men in the UK and US who have taken part in a recent craze for lookalike competitions.It all started with the Timothée Chalamet competition in New York three weeks ago, which even attracted the real actor himself.Since then, similar contests have attracted crowds of young people hoping to get a...
Married at First Sight experts
BBC News •

Married at First Sight counselling 'nothing like the real thing'

The eight couples have wedded, their week-long honeymoons are over and now they are adjusting to married life, living on top of each other in small London apartments. But can they really be coached into loving each other? Channel 4's Married at First Sight is a bold social experiment, where single people marry total strangers, meeting for the first time at the altar.In this series, several couples are off to a rocky start - issues of attraction, clashing personalities and avoidant behaviour has...
BBC News •

Has Strictly been tainted by scandal after Amanda Abbington claims partly upheld?

Three days into the rehearsals of 2023's Strictly Come Dancing, actress Amanda Abbington complained about her dance partner, Giovanni Pernice. A year later, the BBC apologised to Abbington and upheld verbal bullying and harassment complaints but cleared him of the most serious allegations of physical aggression.Over the summer, other former celebrities made complaints - Zara McDermott reported her partner, Graziano Di Prima, kicked her in rehearsals and junior staff told BBC News that the cultur...
BBC News •

Very demure, very mindful - are we missing joke of Jools Lebron trend?

If brat described our wild and unapologetically messy summers, then exemplary manners, politeness and being a stickler for rules is what's taking us into autumn. In recent weeks, thousands of videos showing us how to refine our etiquette have popped up on TikTok, all off the back of the "very demure, very mindful" trend.The satirical idea started out as poking fun at the stereotypical ideas of femininity, but it has since taken on a life of its own.While half of the internet are using the phrase...
BBC News •

Blake Lively says It Ends With Us is both tragic and inspiring

For many young women, there have been very few film adaptations as hotly anticipated as Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us.The 2016 book became an internet sensation a few years ago - it took TikTok's #booktok by storm with more than one billion tags and sold 20 million copies as the number one New York Times bestseller.While on the surface the film appears to be a standard romantic comedy, it comes with a dark twist. Starring Gossip Girl star Blake Lively, it tells the story of Lily Bloom, a youn...
BBC News •

Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and Chappell Roan: Brat, messy and vulnerable

"It's so confusing sometimes to be a girl," sings Charli XCX on her latest album, Brat.The vulnerable lyrics, existential questions and honest exploration of the complexity and contradictions of womanhood has turned Brat into much more than a collection of music.For millennials and Gen Z, it reflects a highly relatable way of life.Brat is, in the words of Charli XCX, a girl who "has a breakdown, but kind of like parties through it", who is honest, blunt, "a little bit volatile". In recent weeks,...
BBC News •

The Bear star Ayo Edebiri on having her directorial debut on show

Ayo Edebiri may be best known for her acting and comedy, but it seems she is also just as capable behind the camera as in front of it. The Bear star tells the BBC about her experience stepping behind the scenes to direct episode six of the new season of The Bear."I had a total blast and I learnt so much from it," Edebiri, who plays sous chef Sydney, tells the BBC."I love our cast but being able to collaborate with them from a different vantage point gave me so much more appreciation for them but...
BBC News •

Olivier Awards 2024: Sarah Snook's chicken and nine other Olivier moments

The musical of a movie star haunted by the memories of her glory Hollywood days, starring Nicole Scherzinger, has swept the board at the Olivier Awards.Sunset Boulevard picked up seven wins including one for the former Pussycat Dolls star for best actress in her musical.Sarah Snook and Mark Gatiss were among other actors picking up awards.Stranger Things: The First Shadow and Operation Mincemeat won awards for best newcomer plays.

The musical of a movie star haunted by the memories of her glory...
BBC News •

Idris Elba: I know what heartbreak feels like

Luther actor Idris Elba told the BBC he knows what heartbreak feels like as he spoke at the opening of a new play he is promoting.Shifters, starring Heather Agyepong and Tosin Cole, tells the story of Des and Dre, two young black people who meet again after years apart.The drama of first love is described by The Guardian in a four star review, external as having "giddy kisses, real heart and soul" while also showing the "everyday tragedy of long-lost first loves".Speaking after the show at Londo...
BBC News •

Chloe Ayling: Drugged and kidnapped model says people still call her a liar years on

Model Chloe Ayling was kidnapped after being lured to a fake photo shoot in Milan. She was released six days later, but her ordeal was far from over - seven years on, she is still being called a liar."Headlines really stick in people's minds, even years later," Ms Ayling tells the BBC, explaining that she still receives online abuse from people questioning her account.Her story is being told in a new six-part BBC series, Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story. The series, which follows Chloe's experi...
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Why Anjana Vasan is done people pleasing

The actress Anjana Vasan has a lot in common with her character Amina in We Are Lady Parts.Both refuse to be people pleasers, both say no when necessary, and both have non negotiables.Vasan, 37, told BBC News that just like Amina, she is in her "villain era" now.Her character is the unlikely lead guitarist of a Muslim female punk band and in the second season of Channel 4's comedy written and created by Nida Manzoor we see her and her bandmates facing a set of new challenges. "This season is all...
BBC News •

Gregg Wallace and the celebrities who have overshared their daily routines

Masterchef judge Gregg Wallace went viral this week after he shared his typical Saturday routine. He's not the first celebrity to reveal more about his inner life than he may have intended.There is a fascination in what celebrities get up to when they're off duty, and occasionally one will oblige by sharing details of a typical 24 hours. But sitting down to write a "day in the life" piece is no easy feat. How honest is too honest? Should you mention your diva-esque daily habits? Do your hobbies...
BBC News •

Hanif Kureishi: Young people have nothing to be hopeful for

For novelist Hanif Kureishi, growing up in the 1970s was all about hope and optimism - feelings well-documented in his semi-autobiographical novel, The Buddha of Suburbia.Now, over 30 years after its publication, The Buddha of Suburbia is being adapted for the stage - and Kureishi, along with theatre director Emma Rice, have been reflecting on one of the book's main themes."There was a sense that you could do anything or be anyone," Kureishi, 69, tells the BBC as he thinks about his own childhoo...
BBC News •

Jacqueline Wilson: 'Delighted to be viewed as a gay icon' after coming out

Jacqueline Wilson has been described as many things over the years, but one title that still surprises her is "gay icon". In 2020, the British children's writer announced that she was in a long-term relationship with a woman.The beloved author, who is known for her nuanced depictions of childhood struggles, has found a new and unexpected audience after opening up about her sexuality. "I'm very touched to be thought of as a gay icon, it's an absolute delight," she tells the BBC.Aged 78, she can't...
BBC News •

Richard Osman: I'm terrible at playing detective

In just four years, Richard Osman has transformed himself from a TV presenter and producer into a best-selling author. But despite having a knack for writing cosy crime, he admits to the BBC he is "terrible at playing detective". "My grandfather solved crimes for a living and my mum would watch any Sunday night crime drama, and within five minutes know who done it. "I think I'm brilliant but I'm always wrong. My wife and I think we know who did it and then at the end we both don't get it right,"...
BBC News •

Wicked Little Letters: Olivia Colman on why abusive notes were original trolling

In the spring of 1920, the House of Commons scheduled a debate on one of the most pressing issues facing the country at that time - who was behind the slew of profane letters being sent to well respected members of a community.For months, Littlehampton, a small seaside town in Sussex, had been alight with rumours over who was sending sweary and scandalous letters. A well-respected, pillar-of-the-community Christian, Edith Swan pointed the finger at Irish foul-mouthed neighbour Rose Gooding.The s...
BBC News •

An Enemy of the People: Matt Smith says audiences left in tears by new production

Audience members have been left in tears, walked out halfway through and had "full-blown" arguments with each other, Matt Smith has told the BBC of his new play.The Doctor Who actor is starring in a new production of Henrik Ibsen's 1882 drama, An Enemy of the People.During the play, audiences are invited to participate in a townhall discussion and ask "whatever they want".The FT called it a "brilliant idea that drives home the resonance of the play".In a four-star review, Sarah Hemming said, ext...
BBC News •

Skepta: I’m bored of the black James Bond narrative

Rapper Skepta says he has decided to create a film about a black undercover secret service agent after he "got bored of talks on who was going to play the black James Bond".Speaking about his debut film, Tribal Mark, Skepta tells the BBC he is set on making an anti-hero character for black actors. Known as one of the pioneers of British grime music, it is the first time the 41-year-old artist, real name Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr, has ventured into film directing, producing and acting.His new sho...
BBC News •

Griselda: Colombian 'Cocaine Godmother' given Hollywood makeover by Sofia Vergara

"The only man I was ever afraid of was a woman named Griselda Blanco." This is what infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar allegedly once said about the person who created one of the most profitable cartels in history.A woman who had people murdered because "she didn't like the way they looked at her", Blanco was a ruthless criminal mastermind whose name was one of the most feared in 1970s and 80s Miami.Now the notorious drug lord has had a Hollywood makeover as Modern Family's Sofía Vergara joins for...

A selection of BBC News TV reporting