The stage is transformed into a replica of a child’s cozy bedroom. Toys are haphazardly strewn across the carpet, picture books are left open, forgotten, and a wicker laundry basket brims with little jumpers and socks.

This setting could easily belong to any young family, serving as the seemingly ideal backdrop for a one-woman show that promises to offer an intimate glimpse into the world of motherhood.

Although the child, a four-year-old as the audience comes to know, remains unseen, her charmingly high-pitched voice occasionally fills the theatre, emanating from speakers during the hour-long performance.

She wonders aloud why her Elsa dress no longer fits, questions why her baby brother bit her, and sweetly asks if spaghetti can be on the menu for dinner.

To this final query, the performer, a 39-year-old brunette, seems ready with a response.

‘No can do, kiddo,’ she replies. ‘Mama has post-traumatic spaghetti disorder.’

It is a line that prompts laughter from the show’s small audience.

Then again, as Amanda Knox declared ahead of the Edinburgh Fringe premiere of her stand-up show Cartwheel, the production is intended largely as a comedy. ‘It’s 70 per cent comedy, 30 per cent rage,’ she told one interviewer. That’s one way of describing it.

For one family there is little to laugh about, which is why their description is rather different. ‘A deplorable offence to Meredith’s memory,’ is how the Kercher family lawyer Francesco Maresca put it.

For the Meredith in question is Meredith Kercher, the 21-year-old British student who was murdered in the Italian city of Perugia in November 2007 – and whom Knox, her former roommate, was twice convicted and twice acquitted of killing.

From the moment it emerged earlier this year that Knox intended to stage a production about her wrongful imprisonment, Meredith’s family have expressed despair that she appears unable to understand the continuing pain such public retellings inflict.

‘Imagine 20 years after Meredith’s death, your pain is turned into someone else’s laughter,’ as Meredith’s sister Stephanie put it this week, appealing for Knox to pull the plug on her production.

Those appeals appear to have fallen on deaf ears. The production made its debut at the Fringe – where Knox also features on the cover of The List, the festival’s 2026 magazine – beginning a sell-out, week-long run that has only deepened the anguish of Stephanie and her brothers Lyle and John, now the family’s surviving members following the deaths of their parents John and Arline in 2020.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Stephanie, 43, said: ‘She has had free speech to tell her story over the past decade or so, with minimal comments from us, despite the ever enduring pain. I am sure we do not need any more material from her side and do not understand why our feelings on this couldn’t be considered.’

Such is the family’s continuing distress that family friend Sally Alington has launched a petition calling for the venue to cancel the show. At the time of writing it had more than 9,000 signatures.

‘This show not only disrespects Meredith’s memory but risks normalising violence by making light of such a harrowing event,’ the petition, launched via the website Change.org, claims.

The family’s anger has been further fuelled by mother-of-two Knox’s claim, made in an interview while promoting the production this week, that Meredith herself would have found it ‘funny’.

‘Meredith was really sophisticated and smart but she was also fun… I think that she would appreciate the show, because it grapples with what it means to be a young woman, and it’s honest,’ she insisted.

It is a suggestion to which Stephanie has a robust rebuttal. ‘She absolutely would not find comedy surrounding these issues funny,’ she responded, adding that she ‘could not fathom how rape and murder can be laughed about’.

To understand why the Kerchers regard the production as such a profound betrayal is to return to the extraordinary case that imprinted itself on the public consciousness and has overshadowed their family for two decades.

On November 1, 2007, Meredith, an exchange student from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found half-clothed, raped and murdered in the bedroom of the cottage she shared with Knox and two other young women in the university city of Perugia.

Within days, attention had shifted to Knox herself, a fresh-faced American student from Seattle who, until then, had been living an otherwise unremarkable year abroad. Almost overnight, Foxy Knoxy – a nickname first coined years earlier – was transformed from an unknown student into one of the most recognisable women in the world.

Her apparently bizarre response to the brutal death of a housemate did not help. Indeed, Cartwheel, the title of her show, is derived from what Knox insists is one of the enduring myths surrounding the investigation – namely, that she performed cartwheels at the police station shortly after Meredith’s death.

She has since explained they were yoga stretches, yet she makes a point of cartwheeling off stage at the end of her show.

Forensic evidence ultimately pointed to Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast-born drifter with a history of burglaries who – after fleeing the country – was later convicted of Meredith’s murder and served 13 years of a 16-year sentence.

Before that, Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were arrested, detained and, in 2009, convicted of Meredith’s sexual assault and murder. In 2011, they were acquitted, allowing Knox to return to Seattle.

However, Italy’s justice system permitted further appeals. In 2014 the pair were reconvicted, leaving Knox facing the prospect of extradition once more until, in 2015, Italy’s highest court finally cleared both defendants, ruling there was no evidence that they had participated in Meredith’s murder.

She does, however, have a criminal conviction for slander after wrongly accusing a Congolese man, Patrick Lumumba, of Meredith’s murder, although it was ruled that her three-year sentence had been served because of her four years already behind bars. Although Knox said she wanted only to be ‘an anonymous college student’ after returning to the US, she has never entirely retreated from public life – initially, she insists, because she felt compelled to reclaim a story that others had written for her.

‘People were authoring my experience and imposing their story on my reality,’ she told one interviewer. ‘So that’s what I’ve been doing. It’s exhausting having to explain yourself over and over again.’ However, she has also rarely stopped trying, earning a lot of money along the way.

There have been not one but two memoirs. The first, Waiting To Be Heard, published in 2013, chronicled her wrongful conviction and four years in prison and earned her a £3 million advance. It was followed by last year’s Free: My Search For Meaning, exploring the years that came afterwards.

Then there are the TV series. In 2016 Knox cooperated with an eponymous Netflix documentary, and in 2025 was executive producer of Hulu mini-series The Twisted Tale Of Amanda Knox.

She has since hosted two podcasts – Hard Knox, in which she interviews people who say they have been wrongfully convicted, and Doubt, where she has discussed controversial criminal cases, including that of Lucy Letby.

She has also become a regular keynote speaker for the Innocence Network, an international coalition dedicated to overturning wrongful convictions, frequently arguing that her own experience exposes wider failings within criminal justice systems.

Of course, few people can claim to understand the consequences of a wrongful conviction more intimately than Knox. Yet nearly 20 years after the events in Perugia, with her 40th birthday approaching and now a mother of two, she seems increasingly reluctant to step away from the story that made her infamous. If anything she has ramped up her efforts.

Last year’s Hulu mini-series was followed earlier this year with Mouth Of The Wolf, a documentary Knox co-produced with her husband, the novelist Christopher Robinson, in which she traced her decision to return to Italy for the first time since her conviction and her confrontation with Giuliano Mignini, the prosecutor who led the case against her.

In April, she flew to the UK to host two screenings and question-and-answer sessions at a south London cinema, attracting an audience of lawyers, campaigners and true-crime enthusiasts, although in the event a technicality (the film had not been given an age classification, required under British law) meant the screening itself could not go ahead.

Then there’s Cartwheel. The show made its debut last month on Vashon Island – a picturesque and bohemian community of around 10,000, a short ferry ride from Seattle – which Knox and her husband now call home.

The pair met at a book launch in 2015 before marrying three years later. It is on Vashon that Knox and Robinson are raising their children, a now four-year-old daughter, Eureka Muse, born in 2021 (and whose voice the audience hears in Cartwheel) and two-year-old son Echo.

Family photographs posted online – with the faces of both children carefully concealed – show beach walks and woodland adventures, while Knox has spoken of cherishing the community feel of the island and life away from the international spotlight.

And it was here that Knox chose to first showcase Cartwheel at the end of last month in front of an audience of around 30 at the island’s Black Cat Cabaret, an intimate venue usually better known for burlesque nights, belly dancing and experimental music.

On paper, its premise sounded deceptively light-hearted.

The promotional material described it as a ‘solo comedy and storytelling performance’ by a woman ‘approaching forty’, ‘juggling motherhood’ and ‘finally getting around to being furious’.

The fury, it added, stemmed from ‘the whole wrongful imprisonment thing’ – ‘especially when half the world is telling her to get over it while the other half still thinks she’s guilty’.

One person who attended later described how Knox talked of the ‘guilty look’ people get when they recognise her in public, or the doctor who read her medical chart aloud and said, ‘too bad that other one ruined your name’ – not realising she was Amanda Knox herself.

None of this seems to have dismayed theatregoers, with those who attended saying the performance was warmly received, as it was at a subsequent performance last week in the West Coast city of Tacoma.

‘There was a standing ovation and a lot of applause,’ Chris Serface, managing artistic director of Tacoma Little Theatre, told the Daily Mail this week, describing audiences as ‘enraptured’. ‘She came out to take a final bow.’

Mr Serface believes the production could have a life well beyond Edinburgh. ‘A group of people I was talking to afterwards said if she takes it on the road and tours it, it could easily be a Netflix hour-long special, a stand-up comedy routine,’ he says.

Seattle theatre critic Greg Heilman reached a similar conclusion, praising Knox’s stage presence and dry wit.

‘She has spent so much time since her 20s with her books and a mini-series… the story is so well polished in her mind,’ he observed. ‘I think this is just another medium, and another way for her to present it.’

While her supporters would argue she is simply continuing to reclaim a narrative that was once written for her, for Meredith Kercher’s family – who have largely maintained a dignified silence in the years since Meredith’s murder – it represents a further mining, not to mention monetisation, of what Stephanie referred to this week as ‘the family’s immense pain’.

‘This is a strong word to use but it almost feels like trolling,’ family friend Sally Alington told the Daily Mail.

‘This country is the home of the surviving members of the Kerchers. To bring it here feels like rubbing it in their faces.’

Not least because the family pain has been compounded by further devastating loss after both Kercher parents died within four months of one another in 2020.

John, 77, died after suffering severe injuries in a suspected hit-and-run near his Croydon home in January 2020, while just weeks later during the first wave of the Covid pandemic, his wife, Arline, died in hospital from health complications.

It is perhaps scant consolation to their surviving children that neither parent lived to see the day their daughter’s murder became the subject of entertainment.

Not that long ago, Knox herself insisted she would rather not still be telling this story, suggesting in a 2021 interview with The New York Times that financial necessity had left her little choice.

‘What I keep telling Chris is that I want to get to a place where I don’t have to keep living the worst experience of my life so that we can pay the mortgage,’ she proclaimed.

Perhaps that day will come -although judging by Knox’s reaction to criticism this week, there’s little sign of it arriving soon.

On Thursday, when news of the petition launched, she hit back on Instagram, insisting that it contained ‘many false assumptions and completely mischaracterises the show’.

‘Cartwheel honours Meredith Kercher’s memory and calls out the violence that was done to her and to me,’ she added.

The statement – which brazenly compares the harm to her reputation with that of Meredith’s rape and murder – is one to which Sally Alington can only react with bewilderment.

‘She says she’s doing it in Meredith’s honour,’ Sally observes. ‘But she never asked.’

Earlier this week, authorities recovered the bodies of a young Illinois couple who vanished during a kayaking excursion on Lake Michigan, near a notorious strait called Death’s Door in Wisconsin. The find brought some closure to a tragic story.

David Thalman and Francesca Warick, both aged 20, were discovered Monday morning in the vicinity of Washington Island, following their disappearance over the weekend. The Door County Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with the Washington Island Police Department, released this somber news in a public statement.

Washington Island is positioned opposite the Door Peninsula. Adventurous kayakers setting out from the peninsula must navigate Death’s Door strait, infamous for its choppy waters, to reach the island.

Investigators suspect that neither Thalman nor Warick was wearing a life jacket at the time of their disappearance.

Hundreds of shipwrecks are believed to have happened in the notorious strait since the 19th century.

The Door County Sheriff’s Office said it had assumed command of the search after it turned into a recovery operation on Sunday.

Jane Lee, broker-owner of a RE/MAX office in Chicago suburb Lake Bluff, told FOX 32 that Thalman was a great employee.

“You don’t see a lot of young people like that anymore today,” she said. “He’s very focused, always on time. We trust him 100 percent.”

She said his family has a cabin on Washington Island and she started to get worried when he hadn’t answered her calls and texts about work after he left for the weekend.

“That moment I did worry,” she said, adding that when her office heard the news, “We all cried. Everybody was in shock.”

She added, “We feel a huge loss.”

Warick, a twin, “brought joy to everyone around her,” according to her obituary.

“She was a bright, happy, and free-spirited young woman whose beautiful smile and kind heart left a lasting impression on all who knew her. She loved her family deeply and treasured every moment spent with them.”

Authorities said the couple likely drowned. Their deaths remain under investigation.

Concerns are mounting among Perez Hilton’s friends as they fear his recent struggle with sepsis may have catalyzed a harrowing self-harm episode. An insider exclusively shared these worries with Page Six, painting a portrait of unease surrounding the celebrity gossip blogger’s health.

Hilton’s tight-knit circle is reportedly anxious that he might be grappling with post-sepsis psychiatric disorder, a condition that can lurk in the shadows long after the initial illness subsides.

This disorder, impacting up to 50% of sepsis survivors, is known for its capacity to unleash new or exacerbated physical, cognitive, and psychological issues. These challenges may persist, as the Sepsis Alliance notes, for months or even years after a patient’s release from the hospital.

Dr. Andrew Mendonsa, a distinguished clinical and forensic psychologist, spoke exclusively with Page Six on Friday, highlighting the enduring impact of sepsis and similar life-threatening diseases. He emphasized that psychological and cognitive difficulties can linger well beyond the initial medical crisis.

“These can manifest as depression, anxiety, trauma symptoms, sleep disruptions, fatigue, difficulties in concentration or memory, and sometimes shifts in mood or behavior,” Dr. Mendonsa explained.

However, Mendonsa cautioned that not all people who have had sepsis will develop a mental health condition.

“Many people recover without significant psychological problems. It just means there is a meaningful group of survivors who do struggle afterward,” he said.

Mendonsa also noted that he is unable to determine whether Hilton’s sepsis contributed to his mental health scare, as he doesn’t have enough information about Hilton.

“I have never evaluated him, I have not reviewed his records, and I don’t know everything that was happening in his life at the time. So I can’t say that his sepsis caused or contributed to the reported self-harm,” he said.

“Self-harm and suicidal behavior are usually much more complicated than a single event or explanation,” he continued. “There can be medical, psychological, social, environmental, and situational factors interacting with one another.”

The University of California professor believes it would be fair to question whether his illness and recovery could be “part of the larger picture.”

“What we can’t responsibly do from the outside is conclude that the sepsis caused the incident,” he said. “That would require an actual evaluation and much more information than we have publicly.”

Hilton, born Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., was hospitalized for three weeks in March after taking flu medication on an empty stomach. Hilton explained that he “developed an ulcer and then a perforation and then sepsis.”

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition in which the body’s extreme response to an infection can damage organs, cause dangerously low blood pressure and lead to death if not treated quickly, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“My stupidity landed me in the hospital for 21 days. It was the worst and best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he shared in a YouTube video at the time.

A month later, Hilton landed in the hospital again when he needed emergency surgery for a “massive” blood clot.

“His health struggles this year have been extreme. The sepsis honestly almost killed him,” a source told Page Six this week, adding, “I don’t know if people realize just how traumatic and horrific that was for him, both physically, but also emotionally.”

The entertainment personality, 48, was again hospitalized this Tuesday after livestreaming acts of self-harm from inside his Miami home.

Authorities received “multiple calls” reporting “an individual livestreaming acts of self-harm on social media,” The Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office told Page Six in a statement.

Hilton was “safely recovered and transported” to the local hospital, where he received medical attention, cops said.

“The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Crisis Response Unit and Licensed Mental Health Professionals are also on scene providing support and resources to the individual’s family,” police added in the statement at the time.

Page Six exclusively obtained 911 dispatch audio, which revealed several units responding to a “suicide attempt.”

Surveillance footage obtained by Page Six captured a swarm of police cars outside of Hilton’s home.

“Mario, it’s the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, please step out of the house,” one officer can be heard repeatedly saying.

Cops were told Hilton was “alone” in his home at the time of the incident. However, his family members fled his home just moments before Hilton began to self-harm.

“Just minutes before the public livestream incident, Perez’s children, niece, and sister were inside the home,” his family shared in a statement Thursday.

“When it became clear that Perez was experiencing a severe mental health crisis and harming himself, they immediately fled to protect the children from witnessing any further trauma.”

Hilton welcomed three children via surrogate: Mario, 13, Mia, 11, and Mayte, 8.

The family confirmed that Hilton was able to communicate after receiving medical attention.

A source told the Daily Mail that Hilton’s first words after being transported to the hospital were, “I need help.”

“He’s a man in a lot of pain,” the source told the outlet, adding, “I think right now he’s focused on the physical, but it’s all tied together. No one deserves the torment he’s going through.”

Page Six has reached out to Hilton’s reps for comment.

Had things gone differently, this June, Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman would have commemorated two decades together as husband and wife.

Such a milestone would typically see the couple sharing heartfelt messages online, filled with declarations of eternal love and a plethora of heart emojis.

Yet, this year, the social media posts were conspicuously absent.

Instead, late in 2025, the pair concluded their journey together. Kidman surfaced in Portofino, Italy, not long after their split, pictured with a new romantic interest—Michael Reinstein, a millionaire in the private equity sector.

At 59, the actress was seen by the pool at a villa, engaged in conversation with the Sunset Magazine owner, under the shade of vivid orange umbrellas. Clad in a minimalistic white ensemble, Kidman reportedly first crossed paths with Reinstein earlier in the year during a pre-Oscars soirée, just months after formalizing the end of her marriage to the country music icon.

Then a few days ago, Reinstein, 54, was seen picking up the smiling actress from Hollywood Burbank Airport in his black Ferrari.

Contrary to reports that Urban, 58, was ‘devastated’ by the new pairing, insiders have told the Daily Mail that he is somewhat relieved because although Kidman may have filed for divorce, Urban was the one who ended the marriage – and friends close to the couple weren’t surprised.

‘Keith’s been unhappy for a long time,’ one source told us. ‘He didn’t want to be on another red carpet or have a staff full of people and be forced to wear designer [clothes]. He doesn’t care about any of that. That’s not who he is, and he’s been dealing with it for a long time.

‘He just wants to make music and play music. The rest was all very complicated and outside of his comfort zone.’

His apparent desire for space and privacy has been documented many times throughout their 19-year marriage. He even skipped walking the red carpet at the Country Music Association Awards last year.

In a 2020 interview with Marie Claire, Kidman spoke about needing to give the only male in the predominantly female household time to be alone.

‘At times, he just needs to escape with his guitar,’ she told the outlet. ‘Sometimes I’ll find him in his closet playing guitar. That’s when I know we really need to give him space.’

As a producer and one of the highest-paid actresses in the world, Kidman’s career naturally generates more high-profile obligations than Urban’s. In the past three years alone, she has starred in 12 TV and film productions and has produced nine. Meanwhile, Urban released just one album, played a Las Vegas residency, and went on a world tour for most of 2025.

While the two have actively supported each other at different events and award shows throughout their relationship, Kidman’s schedule has proved more strenuous than her ex-husband’s at times. Most notably, keeping her from attending his father’s funeral in 2015 while she was on set shooting a film in England. He was, however, in attendance and sang Amazing Grace at her father’s memorial just a year prior.

Her career didn’t just amount to more public appearances, however. In a Rolling Stone interview from 2014, Urban admitted that his wife at the time thought he needed to step outside of her shadow, telling him that ‘no one knows you in Australia’ and that ‘to the populace outside of the country genre he was just Nic’s husband.’

For many years, it seemed the two were determined to make the long distance and busy schedules work. In the same interview with Rolling Stone, Urban revealed their limit for being apart was five days.

Kidman relayed to DuJour how her ‘incredible husband’ was willing to travel ‘even if it’s just for a night.’

‘I had an opening of [a play] three nights ago, and he’s in the middle of a tour in the States,’ she said at the time. ‘He flew ten hours to come and be with me for the night, and then he flew back and did a gig. That, for me, is love in action. That’s extraordinary. But I would do the same for him, and that’s what we’ve committed to as a couple.’

But that commitment seemingly hit a wall. While the divorce was announced in September 2025, there are allegations that the two had been living separate lives for almost three years. They were last seen together publicly in June last year at a FIFA Club World Cup match at Geodis Park in Nashville, Tennessee. Kidman’s close friend, Reese Witherspoon, is a minority owner of the Major League Soccer club there.

Shortly after that sighting, Urban had what felt to fans like a few awkward interviews that mentioned his then-wife. When talking to Ryan Seacrest in July, the singer said mapping out their lives was ‘a job.’

Urban also abruptly ended another interview that same month when a radio host asked him about Kidman’s sex scenes with co-star Zac Efron in the film A Family Affair.

During a game called Wall of Truth with Hayley & Max in the Morning, on Mix 102.3, he was asked, ‘What does Keith Urban think when he sees his beautiful wife with beautiful younger men like Zac Efron having these beautiful love scenes on TV and radio?’

After a bit of silence, a producer confirmed that he had hung up the Zoom call.

‘I think his team hung up on us because they didn’t want us to ask that question,’ the producer told the hosts, to which she answered, ‘I knew that would happen. He doesn’t like talking about his wife.’

Other allegedly uncomfortable moments resurfaced after the two announced their split. A September 2024 interview with Australian radio show Gold 101.7’s Jonesy & Amanda went viral as the internet retroactively tried to decode his actions.

Urban seemed noticeably curt when asked about the origin of their love story.

‘If you hadn’t both been there that day, would your paths somewhere have inevitably crossed? Or maybe this incredible life story wouldn’t have happened,’ the host asked Urban.

He replied: ‘No, I think it would.’ But when she pushed further, asking if he believed in fate, he quickly answered ‘no idea,’ followed by what some deemed an awkward silence. As the host continued the questioning, Urban seemed to get more agitated before removing his jacket and saying, ‘Anyway, moving on.’

But according to our insider, Kidman has privately been the one who is angry. Her getting out and dating could actually ‘be a relief for [Urban],’ they said, because maybe now the Practical Magic 2 actress will ‘ease up a little.’

As of a few months ago, they claimed Kidman was ‘holding the kids over his head.’

‘She’s the one that’s mad at him. He is not getting to see his kids as much as he wants,’ they said. ‘It’s basically an “if you want to see them come back home” kinda thing.’

Kidman has already introduced their daughters to Reinstein, according to another source, who told us: ‘They all got together for lunch and had a nice time together. Nicole said it was a smashing success and everyone had fun because Michael is easy-going and likes to laugh, he is a light-hearted fellow. She is happy her girls are happy for her.

‘Sunday Rose is very pleased with Reinstein because his company Regent owns the fashion houses Bally, Sassoon and Escada, and she can pose for them. He has connections that will help her with modeling.’

According to the divorce filing, Kidman gets daughters Sunday, 18, and Faith, 15, the majority of the year – 306 days to be exact – with Urban seeing them every other weekend and alternating holidays.

That’s been the hardest part of this for the crooner, according to our first source, that and the barrage of rumors about him immediately after the divorce announcement. 

Just days after their divorce was filed, he was said to be dating his guitarist, Maggie Baugh and months later was tied to Karley Scott Collins, the opener on his 2025 High and Alive tour. The women, both 26, denied the reports – Baugh via a friend and Scott Collins directly on her Instagram Stories.

Sources tell the Daily Mail ‘none of the dating or sobriety rumors are true.’

‘He’s not dating anyone. He’s still sober. He didn’t mess up his sobriety. He’s about to hit 20 years this year. He did not fall off the wagon,’ the source said.

Urban, who married the Hollywood star back in 2006, has openly struggled with substance abuse in the past and credited her with saving his life.

‘I wasn’t in AA,’ he said during the 2014 interview with Rolling Stone. ‘I didn’t have a sponsor. I didn’t have anything. Meeting Nic and falling in love with Nic and starting a relationship with Nic became, I realize now in hindsight, my sobriety. That was how I was able to keep it together.’

Reports claim that a prenuptial agreement between the former Australian lovers would pay him out close to $11 million for staying sober – $600,000 a year since they tied the knot.

Despite her playing a major role in his life, Urban’s epiphany about his marriage came after he was asked a poignant question, according to our source.

‘He left her,’ they said. ‘His decision came after he was asked, “When you see yourself in ten years do you see Nicole in that picture?” And he clearly didn’t.

‘He’s a simple guy that just wants a house in Nashville and a house on the beach.’

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Kidman and Urban for comment. 

A dramatic video clip has surfaced from the Ohio Department of Transportation, showcasing an incredibly close call on an Ohio highway when a car barely missed a driver by inches on Monday.

The incident occurred on Columbus’ I-670, where the driver was standing beside his SUV, positioned adjacent to the traffic flow after evidently colliding with a highway barrier.

In the footage, a sedan can be seen veering towards both the man and his vehicle. Reacting swiftly, he leaps onto the highway median just as the sedan crashes forcefully into his SUV, capturing a tense moment of near-miss tragedy.

In a 911 call reported by ABC6 news, it was revealed that during the collision, a passenger was inside the SUV.

The passenger told 911 operators that their vehicle had lost a tire and hit the highway divider before the crash.

“It’s off to the side but we are right in the turnstile, and it’s really worrying me because we’re going to get hit,” the passenger told operators, according to ABC6.

News Media contacted the Ohio Department of Transportation for updates on the conditions of the passengers involved.

A department spokesman highlighted the incident as a safety lesson, noting that the lane the impacted vehicle was in was closed and should not have had any other cars driving in it.

“There will be a green arrow over it if it’s opened, a red X if it is closed. In this case, it was an emergency shoulder, so the person who crashed was stopped on the shoulder of the highway. They were doing the right thing. There should be nobody driving in that lane,” Ohio Department of Transportation press secretary Matt Bruning told reporters.

The emergency lane, Bruning explained to News Media, was a “SmartLane,” a highway feature in Ohio that allows the state to convert the wide shoulder into a temporary travel lane as needed. The SmartLane was closed at the time of the crash.

“Don’t drive in a closed lane. If you are going to drive on the highway, allow that extra space between you and the vehicle in front of you so you have time to react and space to react if something might happen,” Bruning concluded.

Tarik Skubal recently provided a subtle reminder to Los Angeles Dodgers fans that his stay might be temporary. Acquired with much anticipation, the talented pitcher remains a potential rental for the powerhouse team.

On the Pardon My Take podcast, the two-time Cy Young winner revealed he’d be open to a reunion with the Tigers this winter.

“I have a lot of love for those guys, so I’m hoping they’ll be involved in November,” Skubal expressed, his words sparking curiosity. “We’ll see what unfolds then,” he added, leaving the future open-ended.

In a strategic move, the Dodgers sent three promising prospects to the Detroit Tigers just before the August 3 trade deadline, securing the veteran left-hander. This transaction positioned them favorably in the race to secure Skubal as a free agent.

Experts anticipate Skubal could command a massive contract surpassing $400 million during free agency—a record-breaking investment for any interested franchise. The Dodgers, already in the spotlight as potential frontrunners, could finalize such a deal, yet Skubal has not ruled out returning to his roots with the team he played over six seasons for.

This offseason promises significant developments in Major League Baseball, particularly as the current collective bargaining agreement is on the brink of expiration on December 1. Intense negotiations are underway between league officials and the Players Association to establish a new agreement extending into 2027 and beyond.

An impending lockout would have several implications on Skubal’s upcoming free agency. It is unclear what route his agent, Scott Boras, will take to get the pitcher a landmark deal.

Earlier this week, Boras told the California Post that the ace’s arrival to LA would be beneficial for both Skubal and the team.

“It’s great for both the Dodgers and for Tarik that they both get to know one another quite well and determine more about what the future may hold for them,” Boras said.

While the Dodgers may have an advantage to land Skubal in free agency because of the trade, it’s clear the 29-year-old still has the Tigers on his mind heading into the offseason.

Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom has announced his intention to enter the WNBA Draft in 2027, injecting himself into the ongoing debate about transgender athletes in sports.

Freedom, who stands at 6ft 10in and played in the NBA for 11 seasons, shared the announcement with his fans through a post on social media on Friday afternoon.

In a video, the former New York Knicks and Boston Celtics star said: ‘After careful consideration and reviewing the current eligibility guidelines, I’m officially declaring myself a @WNBA prospect.

“If simply declaring your identity is all that’s needed, then I fulfill every requirement necessary to join the WNBA,” Kanter Freedom asserted.

“My team and I have thoroughly reviewed the WNBA’s rules on eligibility and self-identification. According to the current guidelines, I am eligible and thus officially announcing my candidacy for the 2027 WNBA draft this coming April.”

“I understand that my decision will provoke diverse reactions within the community. However, my intention is not to ridicule, offend, or undermine anyone’s personal choices or identities,” he emphasized.

‘I’m simply asking that the current rules be applied equally to everyone – the rules that represent the very values many WNBA players and coaches have publicly advocated for.

‘My team and I are prepared to ensure these guidelines are applied equally, consistently, and without exception, and I look forward to the #WNBA honoring its stated principles. See you at training camp.’

The 34-year-old was previously picked third overall at the 2011 NBA Draft, before enjoying a career that took him to the Jazz, Thunder, Knicks, Trail Blazers and Celtics. He has not played a professional game since 2022.

Freedom’s post quickly went viral on social media as a number of political commentators threw their support behind the NBA veteran and his decision.

Riley Gaines was among those to respond to the post, writing: ‘Genius. Perfect. Waiting to see which WNBA team recruits’.

Similarly, Piers Morgan wrote on X: ‘Brilliant… now let’s see how keen the @WNBA stars are for men to play in their League.’

Clay Travis, meanwhile, who recently offered to pay $10 million to WNBA champions the Las Vegas Aces if they can beat a high school boys basketball team of his choosing, wrote: ‘Amazing. Well done.’

Freedom’s declaration comes amid an ongoing culture war within the WNBA, sparked by Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham after she said in an interview with ESPN that she wants to ‘protect young girls’ from ‘biological men’ in sports.

Since making the comments, the sports world has been left divided. 

While some, such as Riley Gaines and Stephen A. Smith, have seemingly sided with the Fever star, others have openly criticized her and booed her on the court. 

Recently, the bitter culture war deepened after Golden State Valkyries star Gabby Williams claimed she would happily welcome a trans player to her team.

‘I think trans rights, right now, is our new battle,’ Williams said in a recent interview, adding: ‘We see people’s trans rights being stripped away from them; there’s a lot of discourse around trans athletes and what they can compete in.

‘I would welcome a trans athlete on my team or against my team, anytime,’ Williams added. ‘I don’t think it’s a problem in the world.’ 

In the wake of Cunningham’s comments, Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve made her feelings on the topic extremely clear on Sunday – after opting to wear a ‘Trans Kids Belong’ t-shirt on the sidelines of their game against the Fever. 

Elsewhere on the day, meanwhile, Gaines showed her support attending a Fever game and bringing a sign for Cunningham – before allegedly being told to put it away by WNBA staff.

The sign read: ‘Sophie, Thank You – A Girl Mom.’

However, during the game, retired gymnast and friend of Gaines, Jennifer Sey, revealed that the political activist had been told to put her sign down by staff. 

Gaines swiftly reposted Sey’s post on X and added: ‘There were no fewer than 1000 signs in the arena. Most with trans paraphernalia. The only person who was told to put her sign down by WNBA officials was me. Wonder why.’

In the end, Gaines was able to keep hold of her sign and even had Cunningham hold it as they posed for a courtside picture together after the Lynx’s 108-100 win.

Gaines, Cunningham and Sey all posed together, with the two supporters performing Cunningham’s now-iconic ‘point’ towards the camera. 

Gaines also shared a picture with Cunningham on Instagram, writing: ‘I show up for @sophie_cham because she shows up for my daughter.’

Though she didn’t comment on it, the Fever star did take time to like Gaines’ post.

A teenage girl’s desperate attempt to stay alive involved hiding inside a closet as she witnessed a harrowing scene unfold next door. Her elderly neighbor had shot and killed her friend and that friend’s mother in Missouri, as captured in 911 dispatch audio obtained by News Media.

It was a seemingly ordinary evening on July 25 when 73-year-old Robert Winkelman approached the home of his neighbor in House Springs, Missouri, at around 8:30 p.m. Seeking answers, he confronted 38-year-old Jessica Lashly about ongoing issues at her residence, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

The situation escalated when Lashly attempted to respond, only for Winkelman to draw a gun and fatally shoot her in the head. Her 17-year-old daughter, Jersey Greer, sprang into action to assist her mother, but the violent encounter turned tragic as Winkelman shot the teenager in the head as well, authorities explained. Despite chasing a third individual who managed to escape unharmed, no additional shots were fired. Both Lashly and Greer succumbed to their injuries a few days later at the hospital.

Revealing the chilling nature of the event, the newly obtained 911 dispatch audio highlights the fear experienced during the attack, as a dispatcher noted that the 17-year-old’s friend was frantically taking shelter in a closet at the time of the shootings.

“We do have a visual victim hiding in a closet, advising that her friend got shot. We do that law in route, but they are not on scene,” the dispatcher said.

A dispatcher said two gunshots could be heard in the background of the call, which was placed by someone who reported a woman was struggling to breathe.

“Received a call, no longer receiving a response from anyone on the phone. We did hear shots in the background,” the dispatcher said. “It sounds like possibly two gunshots went off.”

“It’s unclear what’s going on at this time,” he added.

When deputies arrived at Winkelman’s home and moved to confront him a short time later, he turned the gun on himself.

He died at a hospital Aug. 2, according to investigators, who said he would have been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action.

Reports state that investigators said Winkleman initially went to Lashly’s home to complain about noise. A spokesman for the sheriff’s office described the horrifying incident to News Media as a “dispute between neighbors.”

Investigators learned that Winkelman had “ongoing frustrations” with activities at Lashly’s home.

Justice Greer, the teenage victim’s twin sister, told KSDK, “She was literally just the funniest person ever.”

“She could make anybody laugh. She was really supportive about anything and everything. She could always tell when someone was sad or needed uplifting, and she was always the one to do it.

“Jersey’s last moments, she was trying to save my mom. It just shows how brave she is, and I hope I can be half as brave as she is,” she said.

Justice Greer said Lashly was a single mother who did all she could to provide for her twin daughters.

“It was always just us three,” Justice said. “It’s going to be really hard because that’s all I’m used to.”

Abby Feldmann, who was Justice and Jersey Greer’s coach in lacrosse, told KSDK Jersey was someone who could “change your whole perspective on life.”

“There’s not one person who would refuse to follow her,” Feldmann said. “Everyone’s behind her. She’s really an amazing girl.”