How ‘Flo the Progressive Girl’ Made Millions Acting in a Commercial!
Most actors bide time doing TV commercials, waiting for their big break. But then there are those excellent character ads that can really put a performer on the map. You know, Lily the AT&T Girl, Allstate’s “Mayhem,” Jake from State Farm, the GEICO Caveman, and of course, Flo the Progressive Girl. As the red-lipped mascot for Progressive Insurance, Flo has appeared in more than 100 advertisements since 2008. So who’s the real woman behind the beehive? And what’s her net worth?
The comedian and actress Stephanie Courtney was born in Stony Point, New York in 1970. She grew up as the youngest of three; her father is a retired history teacher and her mother is a singer. After high school, Courtney went on to attend Binghamton University where she majored in English but had dreams of becoming an actress. Naturally, she moved to New York City after graduation and began to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
Eventually, Courtney moved to Los Angeles with her sister Jennifer Courtney — also an actress. The two even performed together at the Aspen Comedy Festival. Soon after, Courtney joined the famous sketch comedy improv group The Groundlings and became part of the main cast in 2004. Courtney also met her husband, Scott Kolanach, through the troupe; Kolanach was the lighting director. They wed in 2008.
“Every crazy old lady character I ever walked out as on that stage had beautiful, peachy gem lighting because he liked me,” Courtney once sweetly told People Magazine.
Though Courtney is inarguably most known for her role as the perky insurance company spokesperson, she’s appeared in numerous films: The Brothers Solomon, Blades of Glory, The Heartbreak Kid, Melvin Goes to Dinner, Fred: The Movie, and its sequel Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred. She’s also on TV shows! On The Goldbergs, Courtney played the recurring Essie Karp. On the animated Adult Swim series Tom Goes to the Mayor, Courtney voices the lead role of Joy Peters. And you can also catch her, briefly, in old episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond and 2 Broke Girls. She even had a walk-on role in the first season of Mad Men as Marge, the deadpan switchboard operator!
It was in 2008 though that Courtney’s career took off as Flo. She said the insurance company was looking for a friendly “neighborhood waitress” type — the type whose kindness is almost maddening. And for that, the actress took inspiration from her dear mother Jane Courtney. Her mom (and source material) even accompanied her to the audition. And it paid off.
Stephanie Courtney’s “Flo” salary is $1 million per year. But since becoming the car insurance corporation’s official spokesperson, she likely experienced a serious pay bump. Plus there’s usually SAG contract negotiations, an ad exclusivity buyout… altogether Courtney likely has built up a net worth of $6 million according to Celebrity Net Worth. Not bad for an insurance lady.
90.8K
views
6
comments
Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff Met on a Blind Date
Since Kamala Harris is the first woman — and first black and first Asian — vice president, naturally, her husband Doug Emhoff is the country’s first-ever Second Gentleman. Their whirlwind romance, which began just eight years ago, has led to a blended family and blissful marriage. So what’s the real love story behind this historic couple?
In 2013, Kamala Harris met Douglas Emhoff on a blind date organized by one of Emhoff’s clients. Emhoff was a divorced entertainment lawyer living in Los Angeles. At the time, Harris was the California Attorney General — a pretty intimidating set-up, if you ask me. But Emhoff was interested as soon as he saw a photo of the future Madame Vice President. “She’s hot,” was his first thought, according to a candid online interview with Chasten Buttigieg.
Leading up to their first date, Doug Emhoff has described leaving a nervous, rambling voicemail message for Kamala Harris, saying, “It was like the scene in Swingers when Jon Favreau just keeps calling and calling.” Embarrassing! But it was clear that he recognized just how much his future date — and future wife — would change his life. In an Instagram post on Harris’ birthday last October, Emhoff described their meeting as “love at first sight.”
Doug Emhoff had split from his first wife, film producer Kerstin Emhoff years prior. They share two children: Cole and Ella, who you might remember as a breakout star of the presidential inauguration. Cole and Ella were young teens around the time that their father met Harris. Since both Emhoff and Harris were serious professionals, and there were kids to think of, they quickly decided their budding relationship would need to be serious to work. By 2014, they were married.
In marrying Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris became step-mother to his children from a previous marriage: Cole, who is 26, and Ella, who is 21. Lovingly, they refer to her as “Momala.” During the 2020 Democratic Convention, Ella even called Harris “the world’s greatest step-mom” in a video montage introducing the VP candidate to the world.
Taking over official duties from Mike Pence, Kamala and Doug’s playful relationship feels so directly at odds with the previous administration. Pence famously referred to his wife as “Mother” and was discouraged from spending time alone with other women — even in professional contexts. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris defines our perception of the current White House crew with Doug Emhoff stepping up to become the ultimate Second Gentleman: sharing selfies, stories, and trying to make the most of a ceremonious role.
50.5K
views
6
comments
“The Sonny And Cher Comedy Hour”: Where Is The Cast Now?
The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour was a variety show starring the pop duo of Cher and Sonny Bono. When the couple divorced in 1974, the show was canceled but revived in 1976 as the (quite similar) Sonny and Cher Show. The Sonny and Cher Show ran for two additional seasons, ending in 1977. During its disjointed five-year run, the Sonny and Cher collaboration won an Emmy, flaunted a gorgeous array of Bob Mackie designs, and featured many popular guest stars. Some notable cast members included Teri Garr, Murray Langston, Steve Martin, Peter Cullen, Billy Van, Carol Burnett, Ted Zeigler, and Freeman King. So where are they now?
Cher and Sonny became friends, then lovers, during the early 1960s. Cherilyn Sarkisian was only 16-years-old when she left home to become a performer in Los Angeles and she met not long after. The older Sonny was a somewhat established songwriter who worked for the (now infamous) pop record producer Phil Spector. Instantly recognizing Cher’s unique talent, Sonny wanted to represent her solo career. But suffering from severe stage fright, Cher preferred when Sonny got on stage with her to sing harmonies. This is also why Cher, so often, performed while looking into Sonny’s eyes.
The Hollywood pair marketed themselves as Caesar and Cleo, but didn’t find much success. In 1965, they rebranded as Sonny and Cher (who is a successful Golden Globe winner) and released their “I Got You Babe.” It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and remains one of the most treasured love duets of all time. Now superstars, Sonny and Cher’s funky fashions began to catch on. At the start of their career together, they donned bell-bottoms, frilly shirts, and fur vests. With her jet-black, pin-straight hair, Cher’s vamp style instantly influenced trends. And her statuesque figure, next to the short mustachioed Sonny, made for a funny combination. Enhanced by their on-stage banter, it didn’t take long before Sonny and Cher had a television variety show of their own: The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.
Although some of the comedy is pretty cheesy by today’s standards, more than 30 million viewers tuned in weekly on Sunday Nights to The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. The TV show was praised for the central couple’s comedic timing: usually a sarcastic Cher mocking Sonny’s unusual looks. Americans were drawn to the seemingly authentic warmth that radiated from the Bono family, especially during shares musical numbers. The CBS show also marks the early roots of Cher’s illustrious acting career, as she honed a range characters through short, goofy skits. She also emerged, further, a style icon thanks to the immaculate costumes designed by the endlessly creative Bob Mackie; his creations were the highlight of every episode.
63K
views
9
comments
‘Jeopardy!’ Is FINALLY Getting a New Official Host
It’s been six months since Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek passed away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 80 after hosting the show for a record-breaking 37 seasons. Since the longtime host’s final Jeopardy! episode aired on January 8, the TV show has been hosted by a string of guest hosts — from record-setting former champion Ken Jennings to CNN host Anderson Cooper.
But the months of searching for a new host may be coming to a close. In The Wall Street Journal’s podcast, “The Journal”, executive producer Mike Richards revealed that the show will have chosen its next official host by the start of season 38, which begins filming in late July or early August this year.
During the podcast, Richards explained the reason behind the delay in hiring a new official host after Trebek’s death.
“We started talking about it internally that to name someone right away would be very hard for us because we were still reeling from the loss [of Alex Trebek],” Richards said “[For] the Jeopardy! family — which is the fans, the country, the staff — that if on Friday it’s Alex’s last show and then Monday it’s a new person’s show, that would probably be unfair to the person stepping in to do it.” As of now, no one — not even Richards — knows who the new game show host will be.
In their search for a new permanent host, the network has brought on guest hosts from Hollywood, sports, broadcasting, and beyond. Richards said that the network is watching to see how fans respond to the different candidates.
Before the season ends, the quiz show will have had more than a dozen guest hosts behind the lectern, each hosting for a two-week stint. We’ve included the full list of previous and upcoming guest hosts, plus the dates they will be guest hosting below.
- Ken Jennings – former “Greatest of all Time” Jeopardy contestant of all time (Jan. 4 – Feb. 19)
- Mike Richards – executive producer of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune (Feb. 22 – March 5)
- Katie Couric – Journalist and author (March 8 – March 19)
- Dr. Mehmet Oz – Talk show host, doctor, and 10-time Daytime Emmy Award winner (March 22- April 2)
- Aaron Rodgers – NFL Greenbay Packers quarterback and former Celebrity Jeopardy! champ (April 5 – April 16)
- Anderson Cooper – CNN news anchor (April 19 – April 30)
- Bill Whitaker- CBS 60 Minutes correspondent (May 3 – May 14)
- Buzzy Cohen – former Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner (May 17 – May 28)
- Mayim Bialik – The Big Bang Theory actress (May 31 – June 11)
- Savannah Guthrie – Today co-anchor and chief legal correspondent for NBC News. (June 14 – June 25)
- Dr. Sanjay Gupta – CNN chief medical correspondent (June 28 – July 9)
- George Stephanopoulos – ABC’s Good Morning America co-anchor (July 12 – July 16)
- Robin Roberts – Good Morning America co-anchor (July 19 – July 23)
- LeVar Burton – Star Trek: The Next Generation actor and Reading Rainbow host (July 26 – July 30)
- David Faber – Squawk on the Street co-host (Aug. 2 – Aug. 6)
- Joe Buck – Fox sportscaster (Aug. 9 – Aug. 13)
72.3K
views
4
comments
Patrick Swayze Didn’t Let Cancer Stop Him From Acting
On the morning following September 14, 2009, newspapers across the world reported the sad news: Patrick Swayze, the beloved, balletically athletic star of Dirty Dancing and Ghost, was dead at 57-years-old.The actor’s death, while early, was not unexpected. It came at the end of a five-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
Patrick Swayze was born in Houston, Texas, in 1952. Swayze fell in love with ballet at a young age, thanks largely to his mother, who was the director of the Houston Jazz Ballet Company.
In addition to dance, Swayze excelled in gymnastics, swimming, and football during high school. Eventually, he began catching recruiters’ eyes and was offered a number of athletic scholarships, including ones for ballet and gymnastics. Swayze decided to accept the gymnastics at San Jacinto College in Houston, where he studied for two years before leaving to join the touring cast of the Disney on Parade ice show (Swayze played Prince Charming).
Swayze moved to New York in 1972 to train with the Harkness and Joffrey Ballet companies. He was hired as the main dancer at the prestigious Eliot Feld Ballet Company, but had to give up the role after surgery for an old football injury resulted in infection. After being forced to leave the ballet stage, Swayze decided to focus on stage acting. After starring in the Broadway shows Goodtime Charley and West Side Story, he landed the role as Danny Zuko in Grease.
In 1979, Swayze headed to Los Angeles, where he made his silver screen debut in the movie Skatetown, U.S.A. Swayze went on to portray a leukemia patient on the TV show M*A*S*H before landing a leading role in The Outsiders. Next came major roles in the films Red Dawn and Grandview, U.S.A., and the television miniseries North and South.
In 1987, Swayze was rocketed to international celeb status with the success of Dirty Dancing. His performance as hunky dance instructor Johnny Castle earned him a Golden Globe nomination. Oh, and here’s a fun fact: Swayze along with co-writer Stacy Widelitz worked together to write the hit song “She’s Like the Wind” for the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.
In the years that followed Dirty Dancing, Swayze appeared in Road House and Next of Kin, before nabbing the leading role in Ghost alongside co-stars Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg.
In 1991, Swayze was named “The Sexiest Man Alive” by People. That same year, Swayze would star in Point Break alongside Keanu Reeves. Following Point Break, Swayze appeared in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, Black Dog, and Letters from a Killer. In the early 2000s, Swayze starred in Forever Lulu before joining the cast of cult-classic Donnie Darko. Later on, the actor appeared in One Last Dance and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.
Swayze was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer in 2008. Swayze didn’t let the diagnosis stop him from acting in the movies Jump! and Powder Blue. He also starred in the A&E TV series The Beast as Charles Barker, undergoing chemotherapy in between shoots. The star died on September 14, 2009, after spending more than two years fighting his disease.
43.6K
views
1
comment
10 Forgotten Classic Saturday Morning Cartoons from the '60s
Is anything more nostalgic than the memory of getting up before everyone in the house, fixing yourself a big bowl of sugary cereal with a prize at the bottom of the box, and adjusting the TV’s rabbit ears before settling down for some Saturday morning cartoons? Whether you saw these classic cartoon tv shows during their original runs or in tv series reruns on a channels like Disney or Cartoon Network, you’re due for a stroll down retro toon memory lane.
The Jetsons :Meet George Jetson! His boy Elroy! Daughter Judy! Jane, his wife! The Jetsons were one of many hits from the Hanna-Barbera animation studio and made it seem like the future was going to be all flying cars, robot housekeepers, jet packs, and moving sidewalks.
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: Think of all the crimes the bad guy cartoon characters in ghost costumes and monster masks would have gotten away with if it hadn’t been for those meddling kids Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, and of course the ever-nervous Great Dane with absolutely no chill, Scooby Dooby Doo!
The Flintstones: The Flintstones, like The Jetsons, actually started out as a prime time cartoon before becoming a beloved staple of Saturday morning TV.
The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show : A slightly more obscure offering from the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon universe, Atom Ant had an anthill akin to Batman’s Batcave, complete with massive computer and fancy exercise equipment, and would yell “Up and at ‘em, Atom Ant!” when flying at superspeed to another crime-fighting mission.
The Pink Panther Show: The Pink Panther started out as a character in the animated openings to the live action Pink Panther movie series, which featured the inept Inspector Clouseau attempting to solve crimes, including the disappearance of an enormous pink diamond nicknamed “The Pink Panther.”
The Bugs Bunny Show: Warner Bros.’ The Bugs Bunny Show was another cartoon that premiered in prime time on CBS before moving over to Saturday morning.
Top Cat: Another Hanna-Barbera favorite that started in prime time before becoming a Saturday morning cartoons favorite, Top Cat was an extremely dapper alley cat who was forever coming up with get rich quick schemes while leading a gang of fellow alley cats living in the excellently named Hoagie’s Alley in New York City.
The Huckleberry Hound Show: At the opposite end of the anthropomorphic cartoon animals spectrum was Huckleberry Hound, an extremely laid back coonhound with a slow Southern drawl and a seemingly endless array of jobs, including cowboy, chef, lion tamer, police officer, and farmer.
The Archie Show: Before the ridiculous live action show antics of Archie and the gang on Riverdale, Archie and the gang were a Saturday morning cartoon adaptation of the iconic Archie comic books.
Did we miss any of your favorite animated series? Space Ghost? Dino Boy? The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends? The Impossibles? The Porky Pig Show? The New Adventures of Superman? Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales? Wacky Races? Shazzan? Jonny Quest? The Herculoids? The Magilla Gorilla Show? Underdog? Tom and Jerry? So many memories, so little time.
32.7K
views
1
comment
Legendary Host Johnny Carson Had a Secretive and Stormy Love Life
With his effortless charm and scrubbed Midwestern good looks, TV host Johnny Carson enchanted American television audiences for 30 years on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The NBC late-night talk show ran from 1962 to 1992, receiving six Emmy Awards as well as the Television Academy’s Governor’s Award in 1980 and a Peabody Award in 1985.
Often hailed as the “king of late-night“, Carson reigned as one of the most influential entertainers in show business (remember the time he caused the toilet paper shortage of 1973?) But for all the fame and glory of his on-screen persona, the talk show host was notoriously secretive with his personal life.
The television host attributed his marital woes to his mom, Ruth Carson. “She’s the toughest son of a bitch of them all,” Carson reportedly once said of his mother. “There is no goddamn way to please that woman. She’s Lady Macbeth! My marriages failed because she f – – – ed me up!”
Whether or not his mother was to blame, Carson did have a tumultuous love life, undergoing three marriages troubled by conflict and infidelity (plus one that ended happily). Here’s the run-down on all four: Carson married Jody Wolcott, his first wife, in 1948. The couple had three sons: Christopher, Cory, and Richard. Their relationship was notoriously troubled and marred by abuse and infidelity. Jody filed for divorce in 1959.
Within months after Carson and his first ex-wife divorced in 1963, the talk show host married his second wife, a model named Joanne Copeland.
While they were married, Joanne reportedly had an affair with Frank Gifford. When Johnny found out, he famously went on a drinking bender with his co-host Ed McMahon. The marriage between Johnny and Joanne Carson lasted a little over a decade and ended with a similarly contentious divorce. That same year, Carson married former model Joanna Holland in a surprise wedding. Carson and Joanna were together for 11 years before their divorce in 1983.
Carson was single from 1983 to 1987 before marrying his fourth wife, Alexis Maas, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native and former stock brokerage employee. The couple lived a luxurious Hollywood lifestyle in several massive homes, including a 16-bedroom oceanfront mansion in Malibu and another mansion in Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, California.
Alexis and the NBC host remained together until Carson’s passing at age 79 in 2005. Family members reported that his death was due to respiratory failure caused by emphysema.
After her husband’s death, Alexis has remained largely out of the spotlight. Her most recent appearance was in the documentary, Johnny Carson: King of Late Night.
106K
views
1
comment
Robert De Niro Would Disown His Children if They ‘Acted Like Trump’s Kids’
Shots have been fired by Robert De Niro. Safe to say the actor has never been shy about sharing his, let’s call it just dislike, for former president Donald Trump. In a shocking wide-eyed moment, while on the set of ABC’s The View, he had quite a lot to say about Trump, reserving his sharpest criticism for Trump's adult children.
Before he could get to his native film, The Irishman, De Niro drove straight into a conversation about the impeachment situation going on. He stated, “No matter what happens, which we know probably in the Senate he won’t get convicted or whatever, but we have to do this. We have to go through the motions. Symbolically, it means something. It’s a taint on his presidency, more than a taint. It’s a stain, one that he deeply deserves.”
The topic of Trump’s children quickly came to light after Joy Behar stated De Niro once said the Trumps act like a mob family. That’s when the Hollywood actor shot up, stating, “I don’t want my kids to take this the wrong way, but if my kids did what these kids did, I wouldn’t want to be related to them. I would disown them.” His heavy comment left several viewers and audience members shocked, prompting loud gasps behind the cameras.
De Niro did say it was impossible for his kids to be like the Trumps since they do not act the way they do but went to imply that they have disagreements regarding how strong the Meet the Parents actor feels about Trump’s presidency. He also stated he believed that Trump was worse than any character he has played in a movie. Let’s not forget this man played a spree killer in Taxi Driver and a young, murderous mob boss in the Godfather series.
So, I guess you can say that De Niro has some real hatred for Donald Trump. A bold comment to say on live TV if you ask me. I’m sure he’ll get a few angry viewers for it. If only the camera was pointed to Whoopi Goldberg and Meghan McCain. That would have been something to see.
31.9K
views
4
comments
Sylvester Stallone was Sent to the ICU While Filming "Rocky IV"
There are moments when creating movie magic puts an immense real-life strain on actors’ bodies—like Jared Leto’s dramatic changes in weight between roles or the time Brad Pitt tore his Achilles heel playing Achilles. But one of the most dramatic instances of real pain onset occurred during Rocky IV when a heavyweight blow from Dolph Lungren sent Sylvester Stallone to the ICU.
There are moments when creating movie magic puts an immense real-life strain on actors’ bodies—like Jared Leto’s dramatic changes in weight between roles or the time Brad Pitt tore his Achilles heel playing Achilles. But one of the most dramatic instances of real pain onset occurred during Rocky IV when a heavyweight blow from Dolph Lundgren sent Sylvester Stallone to the ICU.
It was his co-star’s uppercut, Stallone later realized, that put him in intensive care. Initially feeling fine, it wasn’t until that night that Stallone began to feel something was wrong. At the hospital, doctors informed him that his heart had collided against his ribs—an injury typical of head-on vehicular collisions. Reflecting on the Swede’s size, Stallone joked that he’d “hit a bus, of sorts.”
In the later interview, Lundgren joked that he was just following orders. “He was the boss. I did what he told me. We came back to Los Angeles and the producer was like, ‘Hey Dolph, you’ve got two weeks off — Sly’s in the hospital.'”
Stallone would, of course, eventually recover and go on to have a fruitful career. Younger Netflix watchers might better recognize him from The Expendables or Disney’s Marvel movies. Stallone made his MCU debut in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as Stakar Ogord. Or they might know him from his trending friendly jabs at Arnold Schwarzenegger on Instagram— where he also gave a sneak peek of the upcoming director’s cut of Rocky IV.
17.4K
views
1
comment
Dan Aykroyd Was Engaged to Carrie Fisher Before Meeting His Wife
Amid Hollywood’s numerous contentious breakups and divorces, actor/comedian/filmmaker Dan Aykroyd and his wife actress Donna Dixon’s long-time happy marriage is a breath of fresh air.
The lovebirds have been married since 1983 and their marriage is still going strong. To find out their secret, let’s take a look back at the love story and personal lives of the Canadian comedian and American actress.
Before meeting his future wife, Dan Ackroyd was engaged to actress Carrie Fisher. They met while Ackroyd was filming The Blues Brothers alongside fellow SNL alum John Belushi. “Contemplating marriage, I gave Carrie a sapphire ring,” Ackroyd confessed in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
Fisher reportedly called the engagement off in 1980 to get back together with her former boyfriend, Paul Simon. “We had a great time,” Ackroyd said. “She was also in love with Paul Simon. She married him but I hope she kept my ring.”
Donna Lynn Dixon was born in Alexandria, Virginia in 1957. Her father was Earl Dixon, who owned several nightclubs, most notably Hillbilly Heaven located in Lorton, Virginia. After graduation from Groveton High School, Dixon headed to George Washington University in Washington D.C. to study anthropology. Like her husband, Dixon would drop out of college to focus on her passion — which, in her case, was both modeling and acting.
In the late ’70s, Dixon won the title of Miss Virginia and Miss District of Columbia World and was a runner-up in Miss USA. She switched gears to acting in the 1980s, starting her acting career by playing Sonny Lumet in the TV sitcom Bosom Buddies.
In 1983, she was cast in the comedy movie Doctor Detroit alongside her future husband. Dan Aykroyd. Dixon and Ackroyd would go on to co-star in Twilight Zone: The Movie, Spies Like Us, and The Couch Trip.
Ackroyd and Dixon met in 1982 on the set of Doctor Detroit. Sources say that the comedian was smitten with the former Miss Virginia from the start. Dixon soon broke up with her then-boyfriend Paul Stanley so she could date him.
According to Dixon, Ackroyd popped the question right before they were about to embark on a cross-country trip. She remembered the proposal during an interview with Fran Drescher. “Basically we were about to go on a cross-country trip, and [he] said to me that after we go on this cross-country trip, alone, in a car for 72 hours, that maybe then [he] would consider marriage to you.”
According to Dixon, she told the actor, “I don’t have to spend 72 hours in a car to know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
After tying the knot, the couple would share three daughters: Stella Irene, Belle Kingston, and Danielle Aykroyd.
35.6K
views
1
comment
This Remote-Controlled Alligator Head is Hilariously Terrifying
Every day I thank God that I don’t live in Florida. Florida seems to have a gator problem, and I’m not okay with it. (They’re pretty scary creatures.) If you know anyone who feels the same way about gators, then you’re going to love these remote-controlled alligator heads.
65.6K
views
1
comment
Meet Kate McKinnon’s Super Cool Girlfriend Jackie Abbott
Straight, gay, or however you identify yourself, it’s hard not to be in love with Kate McKinnon. Since joining the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2012, the comedian has blown us away with spot-on, sidesplitting impressions everyone from Hillary Clinton to Justin Bieber to Kellyanne Conway to Ellen DeGeneres to Robert Durst to Jeff Sessions… the list goes on.
Her hilarious-yet-somehow-empathetic impressions and delightful characters have won the hearts of fans and earned her plenty of accolades — including two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and the American Comedy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
But despite being one of comedy’s most brilliant and beloved minds, McKinnon has managed to keep her personal life shielded largely from the Hollywood limelight. She explained her reasoning in an interview with GQ: “I just… I decided in my mid-20s that I didn’t feel comfortable sharing personal details like I had in the previous few years. And I just have run with that ever since.”
Kathryn McKinnon Berthold was born in 1984 in Sea Cliff, New York to Laura Campbell and Michael Thomas Berthold. Kate has a younger sister, Emily. Her father died when she was 18 years old. After graduating from North Shore High School in 2002, she headed to Columbia University in New York City.
After graduating, McKinnon came aboard as an original cast member on The Big Gay Sketch Show in 2007. The next year, she began performing in the famous Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York. McKinnon also lent her voice to a number of series, including The Venture Bros., Robotomy, and Ugly Americans.
McKinnon joined the cast of SNL in 2012. In 2016, she became the first SNL actor to win an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series since 1993 (and then she did it again in 2017). She has been nominated for Emmy awards several times, including once for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics along with four of her SNL co-writers for the song “(Do It On My) Twin Bed“.
Currently, McKinnon is NBC show’s longest-running female cast member. Offset, McKinnon has starred in a number of movies. Among her most notable roles was Dr. Jillian Holtzmann in the 2016 reboot Ghostbusters, alongside co-stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Leslie Jones. Her other film credits include Balls Out, Finding Dory, Office Christmas Party, Rough Night, and The Spy Who Dumped Me.
In 2019, Kate teamed up with her younger sister Emily to release an Audible audio series “Heads Will Roll.”
We met Kate McKinnon’s girlfriend Jackie Abbott when they attended the 2017 Emmy Awards show together. Jackie Abbott is an American actress, photographer, and clown. We know from her website that she has a BFA in Drama from NYU, and has appeared in a number of commercials, independent films, and theater productions. She’s also into Argentine tango and Capoeira.
Though both ladies have managed to keep their relationship under the radar and off social media, McKinnon did open up about her sexuality during her speech at the 2020 Golden Globe awards. As she presented Ellen DeGeneres with the Carol Burnett Award for Achievement, McKinnon praised DeGeneres for the good she’s done for the LGBT community. “She risked her entire life and her entire career in order to tell the truth, and she suffered greatly for it,” McKinnon said. “Of course, attitudes change, but only because brave people like Ellen jump into the fire to make them change.”
49.3K
views
2
comments
How Did Mark Wahlberg Become So Famous?
To say Mark Wahlberg came from rough beginnings would be an understatement. A native of Dorchester, Massachusetts, Wahlberg became involved in petty crime, drugs, and gang activity in Boston as a kid. At the age of 16, the star was charged with assault for hitting a Vietnamese man on the head with a large stick and throwing racial slurs. The actor spent 45 days of the two-year sentence in prison after being convicted of a felony.
In a 2014 petition to be pardoned for the assaults (which he later dropped), The Happening actor said he was “deeply sorry” for the attack and had since worked hard to become a better man. The actor has said that the jail time gave him the motivation to leave his violent days behind him.
Despite messing up early and often, Wahlberg really did manage to turn his life around. Read on to learn how he went from hoodlum to Hollywood, and delinquent to caring (if somewhat overprotective) dad.
Right around the time Wahlberg was released from prison, his older brother Donnie Wahlberg was rising to stardom as a founding member of the boy band New Kids on the Block. Mark actually had been an original member of the band but left because he didn’t vibe with their boy-next-door image. With the help of his brother, Wahlberg was able to land a record contract for his rap group, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. As a rapper with the group, Mark became famous for stripping down to his boxers on stage — to the delight of his adoring fans.
His antics caught the eye of the higher-ups at Calvin Klein, landing him a gig as the company’s main underwear model. Soon, he was appearing in boxers on billboards around the country.
But fame wasn’t enough to quell Mark’s rowdy ways. He was frequently in the tabloids for fights, court appearances, and other scandals. After being accused of brutality, homophobia, and racial hatred, his second album fell from the charts.
Humbled and shamed by his music downfall, Wahlberg decided it was time to say goodbye to “Marky Mark”. Now known simply as Mark Wahlberg, he began auditioning for acting roles.
After appearing in a 1993 television movie, The Substitute, Mark surprised everyone by delivering a thoroughly charming performance for his big-screen debut in Renaissance Man in 1994. He continued to turn critics around with impressive performances in subsequent movies like The Basketball Diaries and Fear.
Things really took off when Mark played Dirk Diggler, a troubled adult movie actor, in Boogie Nights, in 1997. From there, he continued on to impress with diverse roles in movies like Three Kings, The Yards, The Perfect Storm, Planet of the Apes, The Truth About Charlie, The Italian Job, and I Heart Huckabees.
Mark won best-supporting actor Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for The Departed, which featured co-stars Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matt Damon. He’d win awards and critical acclaim for subsequent performances as boxer Micky Ward in The Fighter, a policeman Tommy Saunders in Peter Berg’s Patriots Day, a cop in Max Payne, a father in Transformers: Age of Extinction, a Navy SEAL in Lone Survivor, an electronic technician in Deepwater Horizon, and literature professor Jim Bennett in The Gambler. He even demonstrated his prowess as a comedy actor in movies like Ted, The Other Guys, and Daddy’s Home.
In 2018, Mark co-starred with Michelle Williams in All the Money in the World. His salary of $1.5 million for doing reshoots for the film sparked controversy since Michelle had received less than $1,000 — less than one percent of Mark’s pay — for the same reshoot. In response, Wahlberg announced he would donate all the money he received from reshoot to a Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund in Michelle’s name, saying in a statement that he “100% support[s] the fight for fair pay.”
Most recently, Mark has appeared in Netflix’s Spenser Confidential and lends his voice to the animated movie, Scoob. His latest movie, Uncharted, with co-stars Antonio Banderas and Tom Holland, is set to release in 2022.
Outside of acting, the Blue Falcon star has served as executive producer for TV shows like Boardwalk Empire, HBO comedy series Entourage, In Treatment, McMillions, and Ballers, as well as producer for the movie We Own the Night. In his 2014 television project Wahlburgers, Wahlberg plays himself alongside his brothers Donnie and Paul.
Mark is currently married to model Rhea Durham. They are proud parents to four kids — Ella, Michael, Brendan and Grace. And we can’t forget Mark’s hit songs “Good Vibrations” and “Wildside” with Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.
49.3K
views
3
comments
Robert Downey Jr. Threw His Drugs into the Ocean for His Wife
When Susan Downey first met Robert Downey Jr., she wasn’t attracted to him. “Not even a little bit,” she revealed in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar. As Susan remembers, she met the Ally Mcbeal star on the set of Gothika. “The main thing I remember about meeting him was thinking how strange he was,” she said of her initial encounters with RDJ.
Fast-forward to the present-day, and Sarah and Robert are one of Hollywood’s favorite power couple. What happened between now and their fateful first meeting? To find out, read on to hear the love story of the film producer and Oscar-winning actor.
So back to 2003. Susan was hired by Joel Silver to be vice president of production for his company, Silver Pictures, and it’s Dark Castle Entertainment division. Susan had been VP at Silver Pictures since 1999, working on films like Thir13en and Swordfish — but Gothika was her “first full-credit producing job” on the big screen. No way was she going to jeopardize this important career move by falling in love with a cast member. Besides, as we’ve said, she thought the Academy Award winner was weird.
“We were up in Montreal prepping for Gothika, and we had lunch with the director and Halle Berry,” Susan said in an interview with Hollywood Reporter, remembering the very first day they met. “Everybody else ordered Japanese, but Robert told us how oatmeal was the ‘superfood.’ He brought his own packets of oatmeal to have at lunch. And he had this box of various herbs and stuff. And then he started doing these yoga moves. I mean, he was interesting but weird.”
At the time of their meeting, the Chaplin star and movie producer were as different as two people can be. She was valedictorian of her high school class and summa cum laude at the University of Sothern California. Robert, on the other hand, was a high school dropout with a history of substance abuse, drug offenses, rehab stints, and scandal.
By 2003, Robert was on the road to sobriety and doing a pretty good job of walking straight and narrow. So, despite her misgivings, Susan agreed to go on a date with him when he asked her out. “One day [after filming], when we were on the treadmills, Robert goes, ‘Levin, you wanna go to dinner?’” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “I said, ‘Eh, I’ll grab something to eat.’ So we agreed to go change and meet in the lobby and as he walked down the stairs toward me, I remember looking up at him and suddenly thinking, ‘He’s really cute.’”
After finishing the production of Gothika, Robert almost went back to his bad-boy ways. But Susan wouldn’t have it. “I said immediately, ‘This isn’t gonna work.’ I made it clear that to stay with me, nothing could happen,” Susan remembered. As it turns out, Susan’s ultimatum was the final push the Iron Man star needed to conquer addiction once and for all. In July 2003, he threw his drugs into the Pacific and promised never to dabble with substances again.
“Addiction was so foreign to me,” Susan would later admit to The Hollywood Reporter. “I was incredibly ignorant of the hold it had on people.” The Avengers star added, “Thank God for that — if she knew the depths of my depravity, we would not be sitting here.” Within three months of dating, the Golden Globe Award winner popped the question. At the time, he was still married to model-singer Deborah Falconer, with whom he shares a son named Indio.
Although she declined his initial offer, Susan eventually accepted his proposal of marriage. However, she demanded that they put off their wedding for two years to see if the Dolittle actor would keep his word and stay away from substances. He did — and the two were married in the Hamptons in 2005.
Today, Robert and Susan are still going strong after more than 15 years of marriage. Sherlock Holmes director Guy Ritchie has called their marriage “perfectly symbiotic“. “The reason I call them perfectly symbiotic, it’s that they each represent the other side of each other’s coin,” the director said. “There’s no clashing over the same space, although they’re always looking in the same direction. It’s a very rare thing they have.”
The celebs have two kids: a son named Exton Elias and a daughter named Avri Roel. The lovebirds also run their own Warner Bros.-based production company: Team Downey.
25.3K
views
1
comment
Blast Your Friends With This 500-Yard Water Balloon Launcher
‘Tis the season for water warfare. Come within five feet of me this summer, and I’ll be sure you’re wiped out with a Nerf water gun or a water balloon. However, once I get this water balloon launcher, you just might get hit within 500 yards. Yep, we found the ultimate water balloon launcher for endless summer entertainment.
This 3-person water balloon launcher is exactly what the family needs for summer fun. Forget going to the water park. Grab this $18 launcher, balloons, and party supplies for an incredible water balloon fight.
You can find the launcher in stock on Amazon today! The Amazon pricing is incredible and the 3-person launcher comes with 500 water balloons and one carry bag for easy portability. With strong people, this sucker will definitely reach a distance of 500 yards.
Add it to your Amazon wishlist today! The customer reviews are fantastic. A customer gave the 3-person balloon slingshot five stars and said it’s so much fun.
45.2K
views
Emma Thompson’s Marriage to Greg Wise Was Predicted by a ‘Witchy Friend’
Emma Thompson’s marriage to actor Greg Wise was prophecized in the stars. It did, however, take a while for Greg to get the message. When his psychic friend Helen predicted that he would meet his future partner while filming the movie rendition of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Greg knew who it had to be. Of all his co-stars in the Ang Lee film — including Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, and Emma Thompson — only Kate Winslet wasn’t married.
Emma told the story on The Graham Norton Show. “He assumed it wasn’t me because I was married and quite a lot older than him so he thought it might be Kate,” the Academy Award winner explained. So Greg asked his co-star Kate on a date to a Glastonbury festival. “But it was the wrong call,” Greg admitted to The Express.
Luckily, Kate had noticed the chemistry between Greg and Emma, who incidentally was also the film’s screenwriter. “She pointed out that we were right for each other and told me that Emma’s marriage was over,” Greg remembered. Greg got it right the second time. Nowadays, he tells the story of how they met a little bit differently “Before I started filming Sense and Sensibility, a witchy friend of mine said you are going to meet the love of your life and 25 years later, I am still with Em!” he said in 2019.
For Emma, the relationship also seemed to come at just the right time. The same year, the British actress, born in London England, had divorced her husband of six years amid rumors that her husband had an affair with actress Helena Bonham Carter. Emma had met Kenneth Branagh way back in 1987 when they co-starred in the BBC TV miniseries Fortunes of War, for which Emma won a BAFTA Award. After marrying Kenneth in 1989, the pair continued to work together and even started their own production company before their divorce in 1995.
“The only thing I could do was write,” the Harry Potter star told The Telegraph. I used to crawl from the bedroom to the computer and just sit and write, then I was alright, because I was not present. Sense and Sensibility really saved me from going under, I think, in a very nasty way.” According to the Nanny McPhee star, she channeled her heartbreak when for her iconic scene in Love Actually.
“I’ve had so much bloody practice at crying in a bedroom, then having to go out and be cheerful, gathering up the pieces of my heart and putting them in a drawer,” the Golden Globe winner explained.
Things turned around when Greg and Emma started dating. Four years after meeting, the couple welcomed their daughter Gaia into the world. Another four years after that, The Crown actor and Late Night actress were married in Dunoon, Scotland, with Gaia as their flower girl.
The same year they were married, the family welcomed an adopted son named Tindyebwa Agaba into their clan. “Tindy” was a Rwandan orphan and former child soldier who fled the genocide to find refuge in the U.K.
23K
views
Who is the AT&T Girl?
If you have real tv (or crappy streaming services where they don’t take out the commercials for you), then you’re probably familiar with this girl’s face. But, like…who is she? She’s becoming the AT&T version of Progressive’s Flo or the infamous but well-loved “Jake from Allstate.” Here’s a TLDR for that AT&T girl.
Milana Vayntrub. Her full name is Milana Alexandrovna Vayntrub. But, the internet is calling her ‘Lily Adams, the AT&T Girl.’ She is an American actress and totally has more to offer to the world than the meme-ification she’s receiving online. Once, she was lined up to be a Marvel superhero, Squirrel Girl, for a New Warriors pilot. However, it never went anywhere.
She was born in Uzbekistan to a Jewish family when the country was still part of the social union in 1987. Her family relocated to Los Angeles, California. She started acting at 5 years old in Barbie TV commercials. Next, she was in E.R. at eight years old, then Days of Our Lives, and Disney’s Lizzie McGuire.
In college, she started taking classes at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre while studying at USC. She made a Youtube comedy talk show with a friend, Stevie Nelson, called Let’s Talk about Something More Interesting. It was so successful that they even landed guests like Matt Damon on the show. From here, she laded collaborations with CollegeHumor Originals. That was the launching pad for the series of AT&T commercials.
After the AT&T commercial, she landed a comedy sci-fi tv show, Other Space. She was also in Marvel Rising: Playing with Fire, an animated tv movie in 2019.
However, recently she has gotten some unwanted attention from the AT&T television commercial. Her acting was fine, the commercial probably sold a lot of whatever it was AT&T. It was selling at the moment, but more so, she’s gotten social media’s attention. And it’s focused on her body. On her social media’s post, she gets comments of the milk glass emoji, which we can essentially equate to online sexual harassment. She has responded to these comments in a live stream, saying:
“All of these milk and milkies comments…it hurts my feelings. It’s just dehumanizing, a little objectifying, and sad. It makes me sad. I know what you guys are trying to do is be funny and connect and get props from your friends, but it really bums me out.”
At least she tried. Now she’s limiting comments because no one really listened to her. Because, you know, the internet can be a dangerous place. She also said that she feels like she’s suffering from a form of sexual assault with those inappropriate comments. Poor Lily. Hopefully, she can scoot past this unscathed.
21.5K
views
Michael Kutcher: Who Is Ashton Kutcher’s Twin Brother?
Christopher “Ashton” Kutcher was born on February 7, 1978, weighing a healthy 10.5 pounds. To everyone’s surprise, his unexpected twin brother Michael Kutcher followed minutes after, dangerously underweight at under five pounds.
Michael likes to joke that Ashton “must have eaten everything while we were in the womb”. Even though he wasn’t expected to make it, Michael pulled through and went on to become an inspiring motivational speaker and Cerebral Palsy advocate. His fraternal twin brother Ashton, of course, would go on to become one of Hollywood’s most hilarious heartthrobs.
Ashton Kutcher’s twin brother, Michael Kutcher, leads a different life. Growing up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Michael was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age three. After going into cardiac arrest at age 13, Michael received a life-saving heart transplant.
Further hardship would follow in high school when the twin brothers’ parents divorced. Fueled by his own struggles, Michael Kutcher went on to found Reaching for the Stars, an organization dedicating to empowering children with disabilities and Cerebral Palsy. An inspiring public speaker for Cerebral Palsy awareness and promote organ donation, Michael has called Ashton his best friend. Today, Michael lives in Denver, Colorado, where serves as Assistant Vice President for Transamerica.
During a speech accepting the Robert D. Ray Pillar of Character Award, Ashton shared the life lessons his twin brother has taught him, saying, “I was born a twin and from the moment I came into this world I had to share it with someone. I shared every birthday, every Christmas, I shared my bedroom, I shared my clothes, I shared everything I had in this world and I didn’t know that there was another way because I always had my brother with me.”
Kutcher continued, “My brother was born with cerebral palsy and it taught me that loving people isn’t a choice and that people aren’t actually all created equal. The Constitution lies to us. We’re not all created equal. We’re all created incredibly unequal to one another, in our capabilities and what we can do and how we think and what we see. But we all have the equal capacity to love one another, and my brother taught me that.”
21.5K
views
1
comment
Joe Biden Proposed to Wife Jill Five Times Before She Said Yes
When President Joe Biden was sworn in as 46th President of the United States of America on January 20, 2021, the new First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, his wife of nearly 44 years, was by his side. The inauguration was a solemn and historic moment, to be sure, but the Bidens are used to facing all sorts of challenges together. When they met in 1975, Joe Biden was a young senator from Delaware, a widower, and a single father to two small children while Jill Jacobs Stevenson was a college senior who had just split from her first husband. It’s unlikely that they imagined that their love story and resulting partnership would eventually take them all the way to the White House.
Per Biography, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on November 20, 1942, to Joseph Biden Sr., who worked cleaning furnaces and as a used car salesman, and Catherine Eugenia “Jean” Finnegan Biden. His family moved to Delaware when Joe was 13 years old. He attended the University of Delaware where he studied politics and history and played football.
On a spring break trip to the Bahamas, he met Syracuse University student Neilia Hunter and, in his words, “fell ass over tin cup in love — at first sight.” Biden started law school at Syracuse University in 1965 and he and his first wife Neilia married in 1966. They moved to Wilmington, Delaware in 1968 where Biden began practicing law and was elected to New Castle County Council. The Bidens had three children in three years—Joseph, who went by Beau, in 1969, Robert, who goes by Hunter, in 1970, and Naomi, who went by Amy, in 1971. In 1972 Biden ran a tight race for Senator against a popular Republican incumbent and won, becoming the fifth-youngest elected United States senator in the history of the United States at 29 years old.
In the spring of 1975, Joe Biden’s brother, a classmate of Jill’s, set up a blind date between Joe and Jill. In an interview with Vogue, Jill Biden remembered that first date: “I was a senior, and I had been dating guys in jeans and clogs and T-shirts, he came to the door and he had a sport coat and loafers, and I thought, ‘God, this is never going to work, not in a million years.’ He was nine years older than I am! But we went out to see A Man and a Woman at the movie theater in Philadelphia, and we really hit it off. When we came home…he shook my hand good night…I went upstairs and called my mother at 1:00 a.m. and said, ‘Mom, I finally met a gentleman.’ ”
Joe Biden reportedly proposed to Jill five times before she accepted. Jill Biden told Vogue she put him off so much “Because by that time, of course, I had fallen in love with the boys, and I really felt that this marriage had to work. Because they had lost their mom, and I couldn’t have them lose another mother. So I had to be 100 percent sure.” In his 2007 memoir Promises To Keep, Joe expressed particular gratitude for Jill, writing “She gave me back my life. She made me start to think my family might be whole again.”
59.8K
views
17
comments
This Tom Selleck Blanket Can Warm Us Up Any Time
I may be young, but there are a few men much older than me that I would’ve risked it for in their prime. Those men are Sam Elliott, Robert Redford, and of course, Tom Selleck. Especially Tom Selleck. ‘Magnum, P.I.’ is a terrific TV show, but if you watched the CBS TV series strictly for the plot, you’re lying.
If your Tom Selleck crush has intensified recently because you’re binging ‘Blue Bloods,’ then you need this Tom Selleck blanket for some extra viewing pleasure.
Add this super soft blanket to your Amazon Wishlist today. It’s $46.99, and since it’s Amazon Prime-eligible, you can have this cozy blanket at your doorstep in two business days. I wonder what Thomas Magnum would have to say about this.
Well ladies, this is probably the closest we’ll ever get to cuddling with Tom Selleck, so take what you can get. You’re going to ditch all the rest of the sherpa blankets in the living room for this one.
With the pandemic going on, many people are saying, “Oh, catch up on rest!” “Self-care!” “Sleep when your body needs it!” And you know what? They’re right. Absolutely right. I can’t believe it took a Tom Selleck blanket to convince myself that a midday nap or lazy Tuesday afternoon was what I needed.
The blanket is machine washable. Trust me, I’d freak out too if this thing fell apart in the washer! Not only can you get cozy with a Tom Selleck fleece blanket, but you can get a throw pillowcase to match. We do need to stay home as much as possible anyway, so you might as well invest in some items that make lazy days on the couch much more enjoyable.
15K
views
Inside Prince Harry & Meghan Markle’s New ‘Normal Life’
In a January announcement, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, revealed plans to step down from their royal duties on March 31, 2020. Through a statement, they noted, “We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.”
By abruptly relinquishing their royal duties, the Duchess and the Duke of Sussex hope to create a fresh start while preserving their son’s respect for the royal tradition. The BBC reports that the remaining royal family is disappointed and hurt by their decision, which was apparently not disclosed to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William, or the other senior royals until the couple announced it on Instagram.
Here is an excerpt: “After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.”
Harry would have been sixth in line to inherit the crown, behind Prince Charles, Prince William, and his three children. The post continues, “We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.”
After stepping down from their position, Megan and Harry moved to California. They stayed in Los Angeles until finding their future home: a nine-bedroom mansion estimated to be sold for $14 million. They remain in contact with the rest of the royal family via zoom. Last year, the couple welcomed their son Archie into the would. Unfortunately, only a year late, the Duchess of Sussex had a miscarriage. She wrote about the tragedy in a moving opinion piece in The New York Times. “Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few,” Meghan said.
Now, the couple and their son Archie are getting ready to celebrate the holidays in the U.S. for the first time ever. Of course, Christmas plans for all the British royal family members are going to be a little different this year thanks to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Back in London, traditional events like Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace have been canceled as Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip isolate at Windsor Castle to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Meghan and Harry are planning to spend the holiday with Meghan’s mom, Doria Ragland, and baby Archie in Montecito. Meanwhile, Kate Middleton, Prince William, and the Cambridge children will celebrate at Anmer Hall in Norfolk. According to People, Meghan and Harry will celebrate their first Christmas in their U.S. family home, in their new neighborhood of Montecito, California. As for Kate and William, a source told the magazine they “are waiting to hear [about U.K. government guidelines] just like everyone else” to determine whether they can visit the Queen. The source added, “The children miss their great-granny, but it’s the same rules for them as everyone.”
266K
views
13
comments
Bette Midler and Her Husband Were Married on a Whim by an Elvis Impersonator
On paper, Bette Midler’s marriage to her husband Martin Von Haselberg wouldn’t strike you as one destined for long-term success. In fact, their nuptials had all the ingredients for a failure: The German artist and Honolulu, Hawaii native had only known each other for six weeks when they decided to get married at the “spur of the moment”. They eloped to Las Vegas and were married at 2 a.m. by an Elvis impersonator for $45. And (allegedly) no pictures were taken.
“He had a tape of Nino Rota music from Juliet of the Spirits and we walked down the aisle and the Elvis impersonator did the ceremony and we walked out,” the Academy Award-winning actress recalled on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. “And the funny thing is that there were no cell phones, of course, in 1984 and we had no pictures.”
But 36 years later, the Hollywood couple is still going strong. And it turns out, someone did take photos of their wedding. Five years ago, the pair received a surprise in the mail: A photo of them from the fateful 1984 ceremony. “Apparently, there was a photographer there,” the Hocus Pocus star said. “When the Starlight Chapel closed its doors about five years ago, they sent us the pictures. We had never seen the pictures [before].”
Bette Midler met German commodities trader, actor, and artist Martin Von Haselberg for the first time in 1984. He is best known for being a member of The Kipper Brothers, a performance art duo.
Von Haselberg has been with his lady through the thick and thin of her three-decades-long career — from her rise to stardom on Broadway and New York to her conquering of the silver screen in movies like Down and Out in Beverly Hills, The Rose, and For the Boys. He was there to celebrate when she won multiple Oscars, Grammy Awards, Emmy Awards, Golden Globes, and Tony Awards. But perhaps most importantly of all, he was there for Midler as the two of them raised their daughter, Sophie.
Born in Los Angeles, Sophie Von Haselberg is an entertainer, just like her folks — you’d probably know her from Woody Allen’s movie Irrational Man. last year, Sophie just got hitched herself! Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Midler’s daughter was married in a small ceremony. Midler described the wedding in an interview with Manila Bulletin. “It was a pandemic wedding, a very small wedding, and her husband, her new husband, hasn’t had a haircut in three months,” the “Wind Beneath My Wings” singer said. “So she looked online on how to cut hair and she gave him a pretty good haircut. I mean, that is the world we are living in now.”
41.3K
views
3
comments
Did you know that Joe Biden toilet paper actually exists?
We all know someone who would love to use Joe Biden toilet paper. Well, the election is over, but that doesn’t mean your liberal and conservative friends are done fighting on Facebook. I think it’s time people stop fighting online and get creative with their political stances.
Amazon has a shit ton (no pun intended) of political gag gifts for everyone. Start pranking your friends on the opposite side of the political spectrum with gag gifts instead of bickering online. Let the prank wars begin.
We found Trump toilet paper online a while back, and to no surprise, we came across Joe Biden toilet paper and figured someone would love it as well. The prank toilet paper is available for only $11.75, plus it’s Amazon Prime eligible.
The novelty toilet paper is a great gag gift for Democrats. Heck, just because someone isn’t a Republican doesn’t mean they won’t use this bathroom paper. I’m sure if Biden and Harris don’t issue another stimulus check within the next six business days, they’ll be wiping their butt with this bath tissue as well.
It’s probably not high-quality or ultra-soft like 2-ply Charmin, so don’t be surprised if you have President Joe Biden dingleberries hanging from your bottom. Oh well. When you need to go, choose Joe, right?
I wonder if Trump left this funny toilet paper in the White House. We’ll never know.
Grab some Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi toilet paper too.
42.7K
views
3
comments
The Tragic Death of Steve Buscemi’s Wife
Beloved character actor Steve Buscemi has played a part in so many of our most American stories, from crime dramas like Fargo, Reservoir Dogs, The Sopranos, and Boardwalk Empire to comedic appearances in The Big Lebowski, 30 Rock, and more. Nothing livens up the screen like a cameo from Buscemi, whose trademark twitchiness and familiar eyes we’ve all come to appreciate. So being a big star, you might think that Buscemi has lived in Hollywood for decades. But in fact, he is the ultimate New Yorker. And the story of how Buscemi met his wife Jo Andres is, fittingly, a wonderful New York love story. Sadly, Andres died of cancer in 2019. She was a wildly successful artist in her own right.
Steve Buscemi was raised in Long Island and planned to follow in the footsteps of his father, a sanitation worker, by getting a stable government job. He became a firefighter and moved to New York City in the early 80’s. Buscemi famously volunteered as a firefighter in the wake of 9/11 and returned to those roots recently, playing a station chief in Judd Apatow’s The King of Staten Island. On the side of fighting fires, Buscemi took acting classes at the famed Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. Living in the East Village, he naturally fell into the vibrant arts scene, seemingly at odds with the life of a firefighter. Buscemi founded an experimental comedy duo with Mark Boone Jr., “Steve and Mark.” The pair distributed their poster all over town. And the picture caught the eye of a local artist named Jo Andres.
Steve Buscemi, though generally private, opened up about his life in a rare interview with GQ. Buscemi explains that Jo Andres was living across the street from him in 1983. He had been eyeing her and pretended to bump into her on the street while walking his dog. When she finally realized that Buscemi was the comedian she thought was so cute from the “Steve and Mark” posters, the connection was instantaneous.
Jo Andres would soon make a name for herself as a unique choreographer. A modern dancer herself, Andres understood early on that a multi-media approach would draw new audiences to dance. She projected painted slides onto her dancers, with images ranging from abstract to humanoid, as the dancers themselves navigated with props of wispy tulle. The result was a sensory experience of pure mood that seemed to fulfill its title: “Lucid Posession.” According to the New York Times, critics loved her experimental performance art. By the 1990’s both Buscemi and Andres were experiencing professional success.
Steve Buscemi and Jo Andres were married in 1987. Soon after they had their only child, a son Lucian, and moved from Manhattan to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope where they remained, and where Buscemi still lives, even after Andres’ death in 2019. Their long marriage was happy, and full of support for one another’s exciting careers. Even as Buscemi was cast in more and more projects, requiring him to travel to Los Angeles, he and Andres never spent more than three weeks apart. And he wasn’t the only one entering the film business. Buscemi’s wife moved on from choreography to create art videos and short films. One of these, “Black Kites” featured both her husband and son Lucian. It premiered at the Sundance film festival in 1996 to rave reviews.
Steve Buscemi has had many near-death experiences. Aside from the dangers of firefighting, Buscemi was hit by a bus as a child (the settlement paid for his Lee Strasberg acting classes), later a car, and was seriously stabbed while out with Vince Vaughn in 2001. To survive these incidents — and go on to become a household name in entertainment — Buscemi considered himself lucky. Until he lost his wife to a long, painful battle with ovarian cancer.
Speaking of the experience to GQ, Steve Buscemi said of her final years, “The pain was the hardest thing. People who are going through that, it’s painful. It’s painful to die from cancer. There’s just no way around it.” It’s a rough ending to a long relationship that has provided fans with such an extensive artistic output. Buscemi is so alive, so cracklingly funny, and utterly strange in his various roles that it can be easy to forget about the man behind the filmmaker. He’s spent the majority of the Coronavirus pandemic in the residential Park Slope neighborhood, where is he a legendary fixture. Now on his own, Buscemi spends time painting and trying to stay creative inside the brownstone house they once shared.
57.5K
views
1
comment
Meet Joe Biden’s Children
It’s no secret that President Joe Biden has had a long-standing political career. The former Delaware Senator served as vice president to Barack Obama from 2008 to 2016. Currently, he's serving as the 46th president of the United States alongside his vice president, Kamala Harris.
Despite being very open in politics, his family life isn’t necessarily well-known. Many people know of his two sons, Hunter and Beau, but believe it or not, he is actually a father of four. He had his three eldest children, Beau, Hunter, and Naomi with his first wife, Neila Hunter. Beau unfortunately passed away in 1972. Biden later married his second wife, Jill Jacobs, in 1977 and they share Biden’s youngest daughter, Ashley. So, that’s being said, let’s dive in. Here is everything you need to know about Joe Biden’s Children.
Joe Biden’s daughter Naomi was only one when she and her mom, Neila, both died in a car accident in 1972. During the Christmas holiday, after Biden became U.S. senator-elect, Neila along with Naomi and sons Hunter and Beau were driving to buy a Christmas tree. She accidentally pulled into traffic and the vehicle was struck in the right of way by a truck. Both Naomi and Neilia passed away but her two sons survived the car crash.
Biden was sworn in the hospital where his children were being treated. In a commencement speech at Yale University, Biden spoke of his wife, saying, “Six weeks after my election, my whole world was altered forever. While I was in Washington hiring staff, I got a phone call. My wife and three children were Christmas shopping, a tractor-trailer broadsided them and killed my wife and killed my daughter. And they weren’t sure that my sons would live.”
Joe Biden’s eldest son is named after the former vice president himself, but they gave him the nickname Beau in his early years. Beau Biden joined the Army National Guard as a major in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps in 2003. Following his Father’s Footsteps, he also drove into politics and became the 44th Attorney General of Delaware from 2007 until 2015. Biden spoke about his son’s political prospects in an interview with The Hill saying, “ I was sure that bow could run for president someday, and, with his brother’s help he could win.”
Beau married his wife, Hallie Olivere, now Hallie Biden, back in 2002 and had two children, a daughter named Natalie Biden and a son named Robert Hunter Biden II. Beau had announced his intention to run for governor of Delaware, but he passed away in 2015 at age 46 after a battle with brain cancer. The death reportedly impacted The Democratic Presidential Nominee and wife Dr. Jill Biden emotionally and mentally. Dr. Jill Biden spoke with The New York Times about his death, saying, “After our son, Beau, died of cancer, I wondered if I would ever smile or feel joy again. It was summer, but there was no warmth left for me.” She also noted how inspired she was by Joe as a walk through the grief of losing his son.
Robert Hutner, who goes by his second name, is currently an attorney for a New York-based law firm. The 50-year-old is also the founder of the venture capital firm Eudora Global. His personal life has made quite some headlines due to his struggles with alcohol and drugs, as well as his divorce from Kathleen Buhle in 2017. They now co-parent three children, Naomi, Finnegan, and Maisey Biden. Naomi Biden, who is named after her late aunt, recently shared a sweet photo on her Twitter about her grandfather, writing “I am proud to be your granddaughter every single day @JoeBiden. But tonight, I am just as proud to be an American.”
Hunter reportedly has another child, whose identity has been kept Anonymous, with a woman from Arkansas, Lunden Alexis Roberts. The paternity of the boy was a subject of an now-resolved 2018 court case which determined that Hunter was a father. Soon after Hunter separated from Kathleen, he then began dating his brother’s widow, Hallie Biden. According to Joe Biden, he told Page Six in 2017 that the family was lucky that “Hunter and Hallie found each other as they were putting their lives together again after such sadness. “They have mine and Jill’s full and complete support and we are happy for them.” Despite the well wishes, the couple broke up in April 2019 for unknown reasons, but several sources added at the split was very amicable. A month later in May 2019, Hunter married Melissa Cohen, a filmmaker from South Africa.
At 28-year-old Ashley Biden is the youngest of the Biden family. She graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans and got a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania. She was also the former executive director of the Delaware Center for Justice, which is a nonprofit advocacy group. She later went on to work as a social worker for the State Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families. She is now set to be devoted to her charitable clothing line, Livelihood. She’s currently married to Dr. Howard Krein, a plastic surgeon at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
119K
views
24
comments