PAGE 56

"I've never been an adult before."

Features

56 Charming Billie

BY KEZIAH WEIR

PHOTOGRAPHS BY QUIL LEMONS

Five Grammys; 72 million fans; 19 years old. Megastar Billie Eilish opens up about her new album and a year of creative evolution.

68 Down in the Valley

BY JEFF WISE

Kobe Bryant should have been home in time for dinner that night. But a series of fateful errors turned a routine helicopter ride into his final flight.

76 MAGA Non Grata

BY EMILY JANE FOX

Complicity comes with a price. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump face a tricky transition back into high society.

82 Gro wing Up Ivanka

BY LYSANDRA OHRSTROM

As Ivanka Trump leaves the White House, her former best friend charts her transition from Park Avenue princess to MAGA royalty.

NOT SO BAD

1023,532,012... and counting Number of streams of "Bad Guy," Billie Eilish's first music video to join YouTube's elite billion-views club. [P. 56]

Contents

Issue No. 725

PAGE 68

Zobayan loved to fly Bryant. Kobe and Vanessa both liked him and requested him by name. He was proud of that, and he wanted to keep them happy.

Features

86 Sir Peter and the Airplane Thief

BY MARC WORTMAN ILLUSTRATIONS BY COREY BRICKLEY

What Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson wanted was a charming pilot to help fulfill his aviation dreams. What he got was a pirate.

96 The Mayor Leagues

BY ABIGAIL TRACY ILLUSTRATION BY ANDRE CARRILHO

New York City has a bad habit of electing lessthan-stellar mayors. Who could possibly be next?

100 Dear Mrs. LEngle

BY ABIGAIL SANTAMARIA

In the late 1970s, Madeleine L'Engle, the beloved author of A Wrinkle in Time, became unlikely pen pals with Ahmad Rahman, an imprisoned 25-year-old Black Panther wrongly accused of murder.

"My dad didn't want me to see Tony Soprano the violence, the angry, the mean. I never knew Tony Soprano. I only knew my dad.",™,

26 Editor s Letter

28 Contributors

112 Proust Questionnaire

FOR DETAILS, GO TO VF.COM/CREDITS.

Contents/Issue No. 725

92

Spotlight

92 Top Brass

BY BRETT MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHS BY MIRANDA BARNES

Trombone Shorty on the future of New Orleans sound.

Vanities

31

31 / Opening Act

Michael Gandolfini on playing a young Tony Soprano.

32 / The Gallery

Prada unveils Re-Nylon ready-to-wear.

34 / Trending

A more conscious fashion world.

36 / My Stuff

Norma Kamali shares her favorite things.

41 / My Desk

Bill Gates loves burgers and bridge.

44 / Beauty

Tending long hair with sustainable products.

46 / Culture

A new Martin Luther King Jr. doc; Patricia Lockwood's inspirations.

Columns

54 We Love Lucy

BY LAUREN MECHLING

The Succession writer dishes on her new pint-size comedy, I Hate Suzie.

JET SET

50 AIRPLANES

Size of director Peter Jackson's personal air force of World War I vintage and replica aircraft. [P. 86]

"Mayor of New York City might now be the hardest job in America." [P.96]

FOR DETAILS, GO TO VF.COM/CREDITS.