Not only did Mila Kunis find love through her marriage with Ashton Kutcher, but she also found a new perspective on her Jewish identity.
While chatting with activist Noa Tishby about Hanukkah in a Thursday, December 26, YouTube video, the actress, 41, revealed that she credits Kutcher, 46, with making her feel “Jewish and proud.”
“[He’s Jewish] by choice. By choice? I was like, ‘Why would you choose this?’” she quipped before adding: “I fell in love with my religion because he explained it to me. The thing about being Jewish is it’s like a choose your adventure, where you can pick and choose things about it that resonate with you. And there’s no right or wrong way to be Jewish.”
While Kunis was born and raised Jewish in present-day Ukraine, Kutcher grew up Catholic but has been practicing Kabbalah (a form of Judaism focusing on Jewish mysticism) for several years. He even called Kabbalah “one of the essential ingredients” in his marriage to Demi Moore in a March 2008 interview with Harper’s Bazaar. (Kutcher and Moore, 62, were married from 2005 to 2013.)
“Every time we come up against a challenge, we turn to the tools we have learned and a solution follows,” Kutcher told the outlet. “Imagine waking up every day knowing with certainty that whatever obstacle you come up against, you will be able to navigate through it to the best possible outcome. That’s what our spiritual foundation provides.”
During Thursday’s interview, Kunis revealed that she was told “never” to talk about being Jewish during her childhood. “I think because I was in a country that didn’t allow for religion,” she explained. “I was raised culturally Jewish, so for me, it’s a culture.”
Kunis also quipped that she was “raised with a lot of guilt,” and that carried over into her adult life. “I think I have a fear of not having enough food. My fear of someone being hungry. Like, the worst thing my kids can say to me is, ‘I’m hungry,’” she stated. “Food fixes everything. You’re tired? Eat some food. You’re cranky? Eat some food. … It is just something that’s embedded in me.”
Kunis and Kutcher wed in 2015 and went on to welcome two kids — daughter Wyatt, 10, and son Dimitri, 8. While chatting with Tishby, 49, about the holiday season, Kunis said she “never lit Hanukkah candles until I had kids.”
Now, Kunis is getting to experience new aspects of her culture through her and Kutcher’s children. “My kids very much identify with the religion aspect of it,” she said. “I was like, ‘OK, I guess we’ll do [Shabbat] and we’ll do the candles.’ There’s so much beautiful tradition in it.”
Kunis helped Tisby light candles for the second night of Hanukkah during Thursday’s video, and the pair even called Kutcher to clarify which way they should do so. “It’s right to left, babe,” he told Kunis over the phone. “You load them right to left, but you light them — you start with the center candle, so it’s like the anchor candle, and then you light them left to right.”
After successfully lighting the menorah, Tishby joked: “When in doubt about Judaism, call Ashton Kutcher, I guess.”
Kim, 44, revealed via social media that Khloé, 40, gave her a bedazzled knee scooter for Christmas. “Merry Christmas Keeks! Love, Khloé, True and Tatum,” read the tag attached to the scooter in an Instagram Story clip Kim shared on Wednesday, December 25. In addition to tagging Khloé, Kim captioned the video with laughing, diamond and star eyes emojis.
Kim continued to show off the scooter in a second Instagram Story clip, stating, “I’ve literally never been more excited for something. This is so cute.”
Khloé reposted both of her sister’s Instagram Story videos via her own page, captioning the latter clip, “It was a hit!!! She said she’s gonna keep it forever .”
Kim first stepped out with her knee scooter at the December 12 opening of her Skims flagship store in New York City. She sported a pair of white heels on both feet in addition to a chic white bustier top and matching pants.
Days later, the Kardashians star kicked off a camp new trend by showing off her high heel-shaped foot cast via her Instagram Story. Her red pedicure stuck out of the cast’s open front.
Kim ditched the heel cast in a TikTok video her eldest daughter, North, shared of the two of them on Christmas Eve. In the Tuesday, December 24, post, Kim sat by the fireplace in a high-neck snakeskin-patterned dress and matching heels while North, 11, danced to Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me.” (Kim shares North and kids Saint, 9, Chicago, 6, and Psalm, 5, with her ex-husband Kanye West.)
Kim gave fans a look at more of her Christmas presents via her Instagram Story on Wednesday, one of which was a Kardashian-Jenner version of the board game Guess Who? The back of the game box featured hilarious clues such as “Did your character lose a diamond in the ocean?” and “Is your character the least exciting to look at?”
Kim went on to showcase elaborate gingerbread houses on display at her mom Kris Jenner’s house featuring the names of all the family’s members. Kim, for her part, wrapped presents she gave out in shimmering white wrapping paper sealed with a letter “K” wax stamp.
The Kardashian-Jenners celebrated Christmas Day together, with several family members sharing glimpses of their get-together via social media. In one Instagram Story snap shared by Kylie Jenner, each person’s presents were wrapped in paper featuring their face on it. Kylie, 27, also helped Khloé make beeshee (a.k.a. Armenian pancakes) at the stove.
Kourtney Kardashian dressed in a Santa-inspired minidress for a holiday photo shoot with her husband, Travis Barker, while Kendall Jenner sported a backless, long-sleeved white silk gown for the family’s Christmas festivities.
The live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas has become a holiday classic, but fans may not know one of its most memorable stars died just two years after the film’s release.
Actor Joshua Ryan Evans died at age 20 not long after winning fans’ hearts as the 8-year-old Grinch in the Ron Howard–directed Christmas movie. Evans, who lived with a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, died as a result of a medical procedure to correct a congenital heart condition at a San Diego hospital in August 2002.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which hit theaters in November 2000, marked Evans’ second-to-last acting credit before his death. Evans famously appeared as the younger version of Jim Carrey’s Grinch in a flashback sequence explaining the character’s dislike for Christmas. Adopted by two Whoville residents, the young Grinch tries to impress his crush, Martha May Whovier, by shaving his face, but cuts himself in the process. After being laughed at by his classmates and teacher, the young Grinch flees to Mount Crumpit and vows to hate Christmas.
Though Evans’ version of the Grinch was only 8 years old, the actor was a teenager when he filmed the movie. His achondroplasia made him appear younger than his actual age, standing at only 3-foot-2. Evans also suffered from a congenital heart condition that caused him to undergo several surgeries during his childhood.
As a result of being homebound by his medical issues, frequently watching TV shows and movies inspired Evans to become an actor. “I thought, if it’s all pretend, why can’t I do that,” he told the Los Angeles Times in a November 2000 interview.
Evans got his acting start on TV shows such as Family Matters, Ally McBeal, Hey Arnold!, Rugrats and 7th Heaven before booking How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He also starred as Timmy the living doll on the NBC soap opera Passions from 1999 to 2002.
Joshua Ryan Evans
In an odd Hollywood coincidence, Evans died the same day as an episode of Passions aired where his character died and donated his heart.
Evans’ role in How the Grinch Stole Christmas was originally meant to be a small one, but his skills inspired Howard, 70, to expand the part. “As it turned out, he was able to create a character and generate a lot of heart for the story,” the director told the Los Angeles Times in November 2000. “It was such a pleasant surprise. The days working with Jim were always amazing, but Josh was just delightful.”
Similar to Carrey, 62, Evans spent several hours in the makeup chair. “I have had heart surgery three times, so I know what it was like to have pins and needles stuck in you,” he told the newspaper. His mother, Cheryl Evans, added: “At one point, we were there 16 hours and I was ready to pull him. Then Ron said, ‘Action,’ and he just came to life.”
Joshua Ryan Evans
At the time, Evans said he would “never have forgiven myself” if he was pulled from the film. “I came close [to pulling myself]. I had two days left and I knew I had to go back. It was in the morning and, while getting up and putting on my clothes, I did not want to go,” he shared. “The night before I was yelling at my mom every minute she was saying something.”
Before his death, Evans was considering his options behind the camera as well. “Ron gave me an offer to intern because I asked him if I could observe him,” he recalled. “I can’t think too far ahead. I am feeling better than I have ever felt. I love being an actor. I love my work. I love the payoff.”
Saturday Night Live has featured several celebrity hosts throughout its nearly 50-year run, but only a select few have joined the show’s coveted Five-Timers Club.
Tom Hanks became the club’s first official member upon its creation in 1990, though several stars such as Steve Martin, Danny DeVito, Drew Barrymore, JustinTimberlake and Melissa McCarthy have each hosted SNL five or more times over the years. Upon reaching the entertainment milestone, each member is presented with the club’s iconic velvet robe.
While the honor is usually bestowed upon the show’s hosts, several musical guests have also appeared on the NBC sketch series five or more times, including Paul Simon and Jack White.
Emma Stone became the show’s youngest (at 35)Five-Timer Club inductee in December 2023. “Emma, this is your day. You’re part of SNL herstory,” fellow member Candice Bergen quipped, making a special cameo.
Scroll down to see every SNL celebrity host who has joined the Five-Timers Club:
Kotb, 60, shared photos on Wednesday, December 25, of her and Schiffman, 66, with their daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, in matching pajamas. The Today anchor previously hinted that she would reunite with Schiffman over the holidays.
“For us, our Christmas isn’t huge ‘cause it’s me, my kids, my mom, my sister, Joel,” Kotb shared on the Tuesday, December 24, episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna, which was pre-recorded. “We get together. That’s the group, and it’s kind of just a cozy Christmas. So, we’ll put out cookies tonight for Santa and the carrots. He always seems to like the cookies more.”
The exes quietly dated for two years before making their romance public in 2015. After adopting Haley in 2017, Schiffman popped the question to Kotb in 2019, the same year they adopted Hope. However, Kotb revealed on a January 2022 episode of Hoda & Jenna that the pair had decided to call it quits after eight years together.
“We decided that we are gonna start this new year and begin it on our new path as loving parents to our adorable, delightful children and as friends,” she explained on-air at the time. “And it’s not like something happened. They say sometimes relationships are meant to be there for a reason, for a season or for a lifetime. And I feel like ours was meant to be there for a season.”
Schiffman’s inclusion in this year’s holiday festivities is special as it’s the first Christmas Kotb and her girls will spend in their new suburban home. (Kotb announced in March that she and her kids were moving outside of New York City.)
“I’m so excited because to have stockings hung in a place that you know will be the place where they’re gonna be hanging for years — we just, for the first time, decided where the tree was gonna go, and we know from this day on, this is where it’s gonna go — all these cool things,” she told her cohost, Jenna Bush Hager. “We decked our house out, like, all those kinds of neat things.”
Kotb went on to note that her new house began to feel like a home after she hosted her first Thanksgiving in the space last month. “The fact that we all sat at a table together, and I’m imagining that at Christmas, too,” she stated. (Schiffman was not featured in Instagram pictures Kotb shared of her Thanksgiving celebration.)
Hoda with family.
Kotb teased Schiffman’s participation in her Christmas plans over the weekend. Sharing Instagram pics of her home’s holiday decorations, a stocking with the name “Dad” was shown among the rest of the family’s stockings hung over Kotb’s living room fireplace.
“It’s all happening! Merry Everything!!,” Kotb captioned the photos, which included a selfie of her being hit in the face with a snowball while playing outside with Haley, Hope, and her mother, Sameha.
Bush Hager, 43, shared her own holiday plans on Tuesday’s episode of Hoda & Jenna, stating it’s her family’s “tradition” to travel to her home state of Texas for Christmas. (She shares kids Mila, 11, Poppy, 9, and Hal, 5, with her husband, Henry Hager.)
“We’re outdoors. Especially when we lived here in the city, it was so good for my kids because they didn’t know — I remember when Mila was 2, she’d go, ‘No buggy! No buggy!’ because she’d never seen a bug before,” she joked. “And my dad [former President George W. Bush] was like, ‘Oh, Jenna. You’re gonna need to get her outdoors.’ So, we go outdoors, we hike, we hang. It’s just fun. And then, carolers come from this local church and they sing, like, ‘Oh Happy Day,’ which is my dad’s favorite. He wants it at his funeral.”
The former spouses finalized their divorce on Thursday, December 19, according to court documents obtained by Us Weekly. Gilbert, 49, filed to legally separate from Perry, 59, in 2019 after five years of marriage.
In her original divorce docs, obtained by Us, Gilbert cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their split and listed their date of separation as August 13, 2019. At the time, Gilbert requested joint legal and physical custody of the pair’s son, Rhodes, now 9. (Gilbert also shares son Levi, 20, and daughter Sawyer, 17 with her ex Ali Adler.)
“I mean, it’s life, man,” Perry told Us of the breakup in January 2020. “Life is happening and you’re witnessing it. You know, this is a moment in life and people will get to witness it and I’m not. … I’ve had an incredible journey and I’m still on an incredible journey.”
She added: “Things that end doesn’t mean they’re over or they’re bad. It’s just you’re evolving into a different place and that’s kind of how I’m looking at it.”
Gilbert and Perry were declared legally separated in October 2021, the same month they reached a custody agreement for their son. The two were granted joint custody over Rhodes and would split time with him 50-50, in court docs obtained by Us. The duo agreed that neither would pay child support, in addition to settling financial issues and spousal support.
News of the pair’s divorce finalization comes two months after Gilbert filed an uncontested dissolution of marriage on October 24.
Sara Gilbert and Linda Perry
The exes began dating in 2011, one year after Gilbert publicly came out as a lesbian. “I can’t believe anyone cares,” Gilbert stated on a November 2011 episode of The Talk. “All these articles are out that I’m in a new relationship … I go online, and it’s on CNN … It’s weird.”
She continued: “I do want to share [my news] with you… But I want to do it on my terms, in full hair and makeup.”
Nearly six months after they tied the knot in March 2014, Gilbert announced she was pregnant with her and Perry’s first child. After refusing to have a cinderblock broken on her stomach during The Talk’s September 2014 “Face Your Fears” week, Gilbert informed her cohosts and viewers of her pregnancy news. The announcement came as a surprise to her castmates, who jumped from their seats and hugged Gilbert in excitement. She gave birth to Rhodes in February 2015.
In November 2019, Perry exclusively told Us that she and Gilbert had no plans to continue expanding their family. “Sara can’t have any more kids,” she shared at the time. “That part’s done. We barely squeaked out this one.”
Noting that she loves kids, Perry told Us: “I’m always doing panels. I’m always trying to teach kids. My artist friends are always bringing their 13-year-olds to my studio, like, ‘OK! Do your thing!’ So it’s fun. There are always kids. There’s always somebody that needs you.”
“As Blake Lively’s castmate and friend, I voice my support as she takes action against those reported to have planned and carried out an attack on her reputation,” Jenny Slate shared in a statement to Today.com on Monday, December 23. “Blake is a leader, loyal friend and a trusted source of emotional support for me and so many who know and love her.”
She added: “What has been revealed about the attack on Blake is terribly dark, disturbing, and wholly threatening. I commend my friend, I admire her bravery, and I stand by her side.”
Slate, 42, portrayed Allysa, who is the sister of Baldoni’s character, Ryle Kincaid, in It Ends With Us. The film, which hit theaters in August, follows Lively’s Lily Bloom as her relationship with Ryle turns dangerous around the same time her first love, Atlas (Brandon Sklenar) re-enters her life.
Months after Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 40, made headlines for a reported on-set rift, the actress filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her former costar on Friday, December 20. In the legal documents, obtained by Us Weekly, Lively accused Baldoni of causing her “severe emotional distress” and creating a “hostile work environment.”
Blake Lively and Jenny Slate
Among the lawsuit’s several claims, Lively claimed she turned down gratuitous sex and nude scenes Baldoni wanted to add to the film and alleged he improvised kissing and discussed his sex life around her without her consent. Lively’s lawsuit also alleges Baldoni body-shamed her during production and that Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath once entered her trailer while she was undressed and breastfeeding.
Lively’s lawsuit heavily accuses Baldoni of launching a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” her reputation and cites multiple texts and emails between Baldoni, a crisis management expert and a publicist working with the studio.
Blake Lively and Jenny Slate
The docs alleged that Baldoni and his team proposed engaging in “astroturfing,” which is defined in the lawsuit as “the practice of publishing opinions or comments on the internet, in the media, etc. that appear to come from ordinary members of the public but actually come from a particular company or political group.”
“I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted,” Lively said in a statement to The New York Times earlier this week.
Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, called the lawsuit’s allegations “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious” in a statement to Us. Freedman claimed Lively filed the lawsuit to “fix her negative reputation” and alleged that she threatened to not show up on set or promote the film “if her demands were not met.”
Slate is one of several celebrities who have spoken out in support of Lively in the wake of the lawsuit, with Sklenar, 34, and It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover both encouraging fans to read the NYT story. “[Blake], you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met,” Hoover, 45, wrote alongside an Instagram Story snap of herself with Lively on Saturday, December 21. “Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.”
Several male celebrities took the internet’s heart by storm in 2024, but a handful stood out from the rest of the pack.
For those unfamiliar with the phrase “Internet Boyfriend,” the term is applied to popular celebrities who fans collectively have a crush on at the same time. For example, Nicholas Alexander Chavez not only won fans over with his impressive performance in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story but also for a viral TikTok fan edit.
Longtime internet boyfriend Timothée Chalamet, meanwhile, had a jam-packed 2024 with his films Dune: Part Two and A Complete Unknown. Not to mention, he was one of the first stars to be the subject of the recent celebrity look-alike competition trend. He even showed up to his own New York City doppelgänger contest in October.
Similar to Chalamet — who sang live on the set of A Complete Unknown — Jonathan Bailey made fans fall in love with singing chops as Fiyero in Wicked: Part One. Stars such as Adam Brody and Josh Hartnett made millennials nostalgic with 2024 comeback projects, while Marcello Hernandez and Jack Schlossberg made waves online with their hilarious personalities.
Keep scrolling for Us Weekly’s unofficial ranking of the internet’s top boyfriends of 2024:
Ryan Gosling followed up his 2023 Barbie success with the action movie The Fall Guy. As if we couldn’t love him enough already, his character in the film cried while listening to Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” in a car. Gosling even tweaked the lyrics to the hit song during his Saturday Night Live hosting monologue on April, bringing out costar Emily Blunt as a special surprise.
Tyler James Williams’ Gregory Eddie and Quinta Brunson’s Janine Teagues are finally a couple on Abbott Elementary, and fans couldn’t be happier.
“What we have seen up until this point was a mutual admiration for each other,” Williams exclusively told Us of the TV couple’s future in October. “Regardless of where it goes, it's about how much they really respect and care for each other. That's the key.
The only grandson of late President John F. Kennedy, Schlossberg has made waves on social media since becoming a political correspondent for Vogue earlier this year. “If you’re going to ask people to think about something serious, you need to make it entertaining or fun,” he told the outlet in July. “That’s what all the great leaders do. You can’t just hammer people with how bad stuff is. You’ve got to bring some positivity and good energy to the things you think are important. That’s the only strategy I have.”
The Welsh native added another swoon-worthy role to his Hollywood resume as Ethan Kopek in the Netflix holiday thriller Carry-On. The film quickly rose to the No. 1 spot on the streamer’s Top 10 movies list following its December premiere.
One year after the release of Heartstopper season 2, Kit Connor and Joe Locke returned to their beloved roles as Nick Nelson and Charlie Spring, respectively, for the Netflix series’ third season. Outside of Heartstopper, Locke joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Billy Kaplan (a.k.a. Wiccan) in the Disney+ series Agatha All Along. In addition to voicing the adorable Brightbill in The Wild Robot, Connor made his Broadway debut alongside Rachel Zegler in the play Romeo + Juliet.
The British actor romanced Anne Hathaway as boy band star Hayes Campbell in the Prime Video film The Idea of You. Plus, he surprised fans by showing off his impressive body transformation into He-Man for the upcoming Masters of the Universe movie with a buff Instagram Story snap earlier this month.
Hartnett made moviegoers fall in love with a serial killer thanks to his performance in the thriller Trapped. He also made a surprise appearance on a season 3 episode of The Bear.
Hernandez — or should we say, Domingo — went viral for his latest Saturday Night Live original character. He played-up the Domingo hype by appearing as the character at a Sabrina Carpenter concert in November.
The cast of Netflix’s Outer Banks made Us fall in love with them all over again when the show’s fourth season dropped in November. Unfortunately for the on-screen besties, the season ended with the shocking death of Rudy Pankow’s character, JJ. (R.I.P.)
Donald Glover had big footsteps to follow for Prime Video’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith TV adaptation, as Brad Pitt starred in the original 2005 spy romance. Luckily, Glover (a.k.a. Childish Gambino) pulled off the role with ease and cemented himself as an action star to watch.
Glen Powell showed fans many sides of himself in 2024, from taking on multiple personas in the Netflix movie Hit Man to chasing storms as Tyler Owens in the summer blockbuster Twisters.
The men of Bridgerton continued to make Us swoon in season 3. While the latest installment ended with Luke Newton’s Colin Bridgerton and Victor Alli’s Lord John Stirling happily in love with their respective romantic partners, the finale set up Luke Thompson’s Benedict Bridgerton to take on the leading man role in season 4.
Taylor Swift’s “guy on the Chiefs” continued to prove he’s the ultimate Hollywood boyfriend goals by attending several of her Eras Tour concerts and taking the Grammy winner out for several romantic date nights. Not to mention, he threw Swift a surprise Eras-themed party to celebrate her December birthday and the end of her record-breaking tour.
On top of earning critical and fan praise for his work in A Complete Unknown and Dune: Part Two, Timothée became an uncle in 2024 with the birth of his sister Pauline Chalamet’s baby girl.
Andrew Garfield made fans fall in love and cry their eyes out with his role as Tobias in We Live in Time, cementing himself as a British rom-com heartthrob.
The internet was just as obsessed with Challengers stars Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist as their characters were with Zendaya’s Tashi Duncan in the sports drama.
Gilmore Girls and The O.C. fans rejoiced when Brody returned to the small screen as Noah (a.k.a. the hot rabbi) in the Netflix series Nobody Wants This. Luckily for viewers, the show was renewed for a second season.
As if fans weren’t already obsessed with Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Joseph Quinn before their roles in Gladiator II, the Ridley Scott-directed sequel furthered their status as some of the internet’s favorite boyfriends.
The two actors gave emotional and chilling breakout performances as the Menendez brothers in Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. Chavez went on to play the hot priest in the Ryan Murphy series Grotesquerie, while Koch scored a 2025 Golden Globes nomination for his portrayal of Erik Menendez. (Shout-out to Koch’s performance in the show’s one-take episode titled “The Hurt Man.”)
To Us, Bailey dominated the 2024 pop culture zeitgeist. He began the year reprising his beloved role of Anthony Bridgerton in Bridgerton season 4, and later made a cameo as Nick and Charlie’s famous author crush, Jack Maddox, in Heartstopper season 3. However, it’s his performance as Fiyero in Wicked: Part One that will have Us dancing through life and into the new year.
Hoda Kotb is feeling short of festive heading into her first Christmas in her new home.
“It’s all happening! Merry Everything!!,” the Today coanchor, 60, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, December 22, alongside a carousel of festive photos, the first slide of which featured a look at her living room’s holiday décor.
Hanging from Kotb’s fireplace mantel are several stockings for herself, her daughters — Haley, 7, and Hope, 5 — and more family members. Kotb even included a “Dad” stocking for her ex-fiancée Joel Schiffman, with whom she shared her kids.
In addition to her sparkling Christmas tree with several presents already wrapped and sitting underneath it, a small, pink, ceramic tree rests on her coffee table alongside a holiday-themed snow globe. One of Kotb’s girls even got their stuffed animal bunny into the Christmas spirit by placing a Santa Claus hat on its head.
Kotb’s Instagram update also included several snaps from her and her girls’ snow day with her mother, Sameha. In one of the post’s pics, Kotb attempted to take a selfie with her kids and mom, but not before being hit in the face with a snowball.
In a follow-up Instagram post, Kotb shared a sweet photo of Sameha with Haley and Hope, as another shot of Hope outside in the snow. She captioned the upload with a series of emojis, including a Christmas tree and red and green hearts.
Kotb was one of several Today hosts who were absent from the show’s Monday, December 23, episode. While Craig Melvin filled in for her and Savannah Guthrie during the show’s first two hours, Monday’s third and fourth hours were pre-recorded as the hosts got an early start to their holiday celebrations.
This year marks the first time Kotb will celebrate Christmas in her new home. Back in March, she revealed to fans that she was moving with her girls outside of New York City. Before taking her kids trick-or-treating in October, Kotb shared her excitement about getting the full suburban Halloween experience.
“Everywhere I look in our town, [there’s] those big spiderwebs, all the things,” she shared on the October 18 episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna. “They have parades. They said, ‘Your kid needs three Halloween costumes or else the first one’s gonna get all ruined.’ … Some people block off their streets for block parties and then go trick-or-treating and then come back. It’s a days-long thing.”
Last month, she hosted several family members for her first Thanksgiving in her new house. “Happy thanksgiving from our family to yours xo,” she wrote via Instagram alongside pics of their holiday gathering.
Hoda Kotb with daughters Hope and Haley in December 2023.
Shortly after celebrating Christmas, Kotb will be saying goodbye to Today after nearly 30 years at NBC. She announced she was stepping down from the morning show in September, citing turning 60 and wanting to spend more time with her kids as the main reasons for her decision.
Following her final episode on Friday, January 10, Melvin, 45, will take over her role as Guthrie’s coanchor. Jenna Bush Hager will continue to cohost the fourth hour — retitled Today With Jenna & Friends — alongside a rotating lineup of guest hosts until a permanent replacement is selected.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck aren’t letting their ongoing divorce stop them from celebrating the holiday season together.
The exes reunited to exchange Christmas gifts at the members-only social club Soho House in West Hollywood on Sunday, December 22. In photos obtained by the Daily Mail, Lopez, 55, channeled the winter season by sporting a patterned, oversized knit cardigan, wide-leg jeans and hoop earrings for the lunch outing.
Affleck — who donned a blue top with jeans, a black peacoat and sneakers — was photographed carrying a black tote bag seemingly filled with festive presents.
That same day, Lopez shared a sweet Instagram Story video of her 16-year-old child Emme singing along to Justin Bieber’s “Beauty and a Beat” in the car with family. “When all the Kids Get Together For the Holidays,” she captioned the clip. She tagged her sister Lynda in the video, as well as pals Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Michelle Chiaravalle. (Lopez shares twins Emme and Max, 16, with her ex-husband Marc Anthony.)
In August, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that the pair’s split was “planned” and that they “had gone through all the details” for their separation before Lopez’s filing. “J.Lo finally pulled the trigger because that was their agreement that she would file, and she was the one who ultimately made the decision,” the insider explained.
A second source later told Us that Lopez and Affleck called it quits after it became “more and more apparent they weren’t a good match,” adding, “It boiled down to [the fact that] they are two different people.”
Lopez and Affleck have been publicly spotted together several times since their split. Earlier this month, Lopez joined Affleck and his ex-wife Jennifer Garnerat a play put on by their kids. (Affleck and Garner, 52, share kids Violet, 19, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12.)
Despite continuing to support their blended family, Lopez and Affleck aren’t planning to get back together. “There’s still a lot of love between them, but the divorce is still going forward,” another source exclusively told Us in September.
The insider went on to note: “When they’re together as a family and see the kids together, it reminds them of how good they are as a team and what’s important.”
Blake Lively followed in her family’s footsteps by joining the entertainment industry.
Born in Los Angeles in 1987, Blake is the youngest of Ernie and Elaine Lively’s five children. Elaine previously welcomed her eldest three children — Lori, Jason and Robyn — with her ex-husband, Ronnie Lively, before marrying Ernie in 1979. The couple later welcomed a son, Eric, and Blake.
Ernie — who adopted his wife’s last name — and Elaine both worked as actors throughout Blake’s childhood, with Elaine also taking on the role of a talent manager. Just like her siblings, Blake also caught the acting bug and became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars with her roles in Gossip Girl, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, A Simple Favor and more projects.
She found her own happy ending with fellow actor Ryan Reynolds, whom she married in 2012. The couple share three daughters — James, Inez and Betty — and son Olin.
Several of Blake’s family members had her back after she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her It Ends With Us costar and director, Justin Baldoni, in December 2024. (Lively also accused Baldoni of creating a “hostile work environment” on set and attempting to ruin her reputation with a smear campaign. (His lawyer denied the “outrageous” accusations in a statement to Us Weekly, claiming the actress filed the lawsuit to “fix her negative reputation” and threatened not to show up on set or do press for the film “if her demands were not met.”)
Scroll down to get to know Blake’s family:
Ernie Lively
Ernie got his acting start in the ‘70s with roles on TV shows such as The Waltons, McCloud, Fantasy Island, Fame and Falcon Crest. Over the years, he’s appeared in notable projects such as Turner & Hooch, Quantum Leap, Passenger 57, Murder, She Wrote and The West Wing, among others. He even shared the screen with Blake, playing her onscreen father in 2005’s The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its 2008 sequel.
Ernie died at age 74 of cardiac complications in June 2021 with his family by his side. Blake’s drink company, Betty Buzz, is a nod to her late father, whose mother and sister were named Betty.
In her December 2024 lawsuit against Baldoni, Blake accused her castmate of exhibiting “shocking and emotionally distressing” behavior, including “[claiming] he could speak to the dead.” Baldoni allegedly told Blake “on several occasions” that “he had spoken to her dead father,” which Blake believed was “off putting and violative.”
Elaine Lively
Blake has joked about inheriting traits from her mother, an actress and talent manager.
“I would like to replace the term ‘hoarder’ in favor of ‘maximalist’. It makes me feel better. Wonder where I get it from,” Blake jokingly captioned a December 2023 Instagram selfie with her mom sporting Tiffany & Co. jewelry. “Me: mom come take a pic for Tiffany with me. Which necklace do you want to wear? Mom: All of them. Me: no. pick your favorite. Mom: ALL of them. Turn on The Makeup Light. … the woman wins. Every time.”
Lori Lively
Born in 1966, Lori is the eldest of Elaine and Ronnie’s three children. Lori has appeared in a number of TV shows and movies over the years, including Working Girl, The Bold and the Beautiful, Melrose Place, ER, Two and a Half Men and The Mentalist.
Lori, Elaine and Robyn joined Blake on the red carpet at the New York City premiere of It Ends With Us in August 2024. “The only thing I loved more than celebrating this magical night with my sister and family was seeing her in this film,” Lori captioned Instagram pics from the event. “If you thought you loved her before, it won’t compare to how you’ll feel after experiencing the pain and joy that she brings to this role. It embodies all that she is in the most beautiful way.”
Jason Lively
Elaine and Ronnie welcomed their second child in 1968. Jason appeared in a number of shows and films throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, including The Dukes of Hazzard, 21 Jump Street and Class of Fear. He took a brief break from acting after appearing in the 1993 video game Return to Zork. His most recent credits are the 2017 films Hickok and The Possessed, per IMDb.
Jason has been married to his wife, Lani Lively, since 2005, and the pair reportedly share three children.
Robyn Lively
Born in 1972, Robyn is the youngest of Elaine and Ronnie’s kids. After a number of small TV gigs, Robyn scored her breakout role as Louise Miller in the 1989 film Teen Witch. She has built a lengthy Hollywood career over the years with roles in The Karate Kid Part III, Twin Peaks, Doogie Howser, M.D., Chicago Hope, Savannah, JAG, Letters to God, 9-1-1: Lone Star and Landman.
She tied the knot with fellow actor Bart Johnson in 1999. The two share sons Baylen and Wyatt, as well as daughter Kate.
The couple each shared messages of support for Blake after she sued Baldoni in December 2024. “FINALLY justice for my sister @blakelively,” Robyn wrote via her Instagram Story at the time, sharing screenshots of The New York Times’ article about the lawsuit.
Johnson, meanwhile, defended Blake in the comments section of The New York Times’ Instagram post about the drama. “Her complaints were filed during the filming. On record. Long before the public conflict. The cast unfollowed him for a reason. Read this article before spiting [sic] ignorance. His PR team was stellar,” he wrote. “Gross and disgusting but highly effective. Read the article, their text message exchanges and his PR campaign strategy to bury her by any means necessary. No one is with out [sic] faults. But the public got played.”
Eric Lively
Elaine and Ernie welcomed their first child together in 1981. Much like his parents and siblings before him, Eric began his acting career in the early ‘90s with roles in Full House, American Pie and So Weird. In recent years, Eric has starred in shows and movies such as A Minute With Stan Hooper, The L Word, Modern Men, A Madea Christmas and BFFs.
Eric has been married to his wife, Angelina Davydova, since 2005.
Ryan Reynolds
Blake and Reynolds met playing love interests in the 2011 superhero film Green Lantern and began dating shortly after Reynolds finalized his divorce from Scarlett Johansson in 2011. The two tied the knot one year later.
Blake hilariously shut down breakup rumors in July 2024, responding to an Instagram comment which read: “You and Ryan need to post more of each other, there were rumors going around that you two got divorced and I didn’t believe it because you two are literally the perfect couple.” Blake replied: “Haha they wish .”
Blake and Reynolds became first-time parents with the birth of their daughter James in 2014. They welcomed Inez and Betty in 2016 and 2019, respectively, and Olin in 2023.
Blake and Reynolds’ close pal Taylor Swift is the godmother of their three girls, and she famously incorporated their names in her 2020 track “Betty.” Director Shawn Levy, meanwhile, is Olin’s godfather.
Hilary Duff is still working hard to keep family traditions alive this holiday season, even though her family will be spending Christmas on the road.
“We’re actually traveling on Christmas day this year, which is really exciting,” Duff, 37, exclusively shares in the latest issue of Us Weekly. “I think that I love the whole buildup of the holidays. I know it’s chaotic, but I really love being in town, all the festivities, like, we’re going to a holiday road and we’re going to pick out our Christmas tree, we always play tag on the Christmas tree lot. That’s one of my favorite family activities.”
One of Duff’s personal holiday traditions happens when her kids are out of the house. “We put the tree up together, and then once the kids go to school, I replace all of the ornaments and put them where they actually belong,” she quips.
Duff shares her eldest child, son Luca, 12, with her ex-husband, Mike Comrie. She and her husband, Matthew Koma, welcomed their first child together, daughter Banks, 6, one year before they tied the knot in 2019. They continued to grow their family with the arrival of daughter Mae, 3, in 2021. Duff and Koma, 37, welcomed their third child, daughter Townes, on May 3.
This year, Duff introduced a new tradition that’s fun for the whole family. “We’ve been doing night swims with hot cocoa,” she reveals. “It’s a little bit of a spoiled thing ’cause we heat the pool and get it really warm, but we’re out there doing night swims and cocoa. Sometimes I’ll have a glass of red wine. It’s really fun. We try to do it on the weekdays so the kids — it took, like 30 minutes, but the kids feel like it’s something special and it’s not a normal night around here.”
She adds: “We’re traveling on Christmas day and then we’re skiing, and that’s it for the holidays.”
While the holidays come with plenty of excitement, they also come with stress, especially for parents. “The burden is heavy for moms,” Duff tells Us. “I wake up in the middle of the night like, ‘Oh, I have these things I didn’t handle.’ … So, I’m getting slowly but surely prepared and [am] definitely excited. I love the holiday season so much, but being an adult now and making it magical for so many people is just so much.”
To help keep things organized, Duff is partnering up with Meta AI, which she describes as a “thought partner.”
She explains: “It’s just something that you can rattle your thoughts off with, and it comes [up] with ideas. … [If] my normal approach to this part of the holiday is a little stale, what can I do? Or [it can] help me get these lists together. ‘I’ve already done this. What can I add to it? I’m going to be in this part of town.’ It’s really amazing that we have this assistant for people that, one, don’t have access to a normal assistant. The other day I had to bring an appetizer and I was like, ‘I have this, this and this. What can I do with it?’ And it helped me.”
She goes on to joke: “I have a personal assistant and I even still need it.”
For more on Duff, watch the video above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now.
Brittany Murphy was a Hollywood star unlike any other before her tragic death.
Born in November 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia, Brittany’s (full name Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack) parents, Sharon Murphy and Angelo Bertolotti split when she was 2 years old. She became interested in acting after she and her mother moved to New Jersey.
Murphy got her big break on the sitcom Drexell’s Class before going on to appear in critically and commercially acclaimed films such as Clueless, Girl, Interrupted, 8 Mile and Uptown Girls. After two failed engagements, she tied the knot with Simon Monjack in 2007.
Murphy unexpectedly died at age 32 in December 2009, sending shock waves through the entertainment industry. Her death was ruled an accident, with the official cause cited as pneumonia, anemia and prescription drug intoxication.
The mystery of why Murphy seemingly didn’t seek out medical treatment is what Dr. Lisa Scheinin, who performed the actress’ autopsy, thinks continues to hold peoples’ interest. “I think that’s why people just don’t let it go,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in December 2024. “A lot of times, when a celebrity dies, there’s an initial flurry of interest and then it just fades away.”
Makeup artist Trista Jordan, who worked with the actress on the film Something Wicked, told Us: “Brittany left an impact on a lot of people’s hearts. She truly was a sweetheart, but I don’t think she surrounded herself with the right people. I think if she hadn’t met Simon Monjack, she’d probably still be alive.”
Scroll down for a look at Murphy’s biggest personal and professional moments:
Murphy appeared on a 1991 episode of Murphy Brown before booking her breakout role as Brenda Drexell on Drexell’s Class. The series ran for one season from 1991 to 1992, after which she continued to book TV gigs on shows such as Almost Home, Frasier, Party of Five and Sister, Sister.
Murphy famously voiced Luanne Platter on the long-running animated series King of the Hill. She continued to lend her voice to the cartoon comedy up until her death.
Murphy starred alongside Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Elisabeth Moss, Clea DuVall and Jared Leto in the drama Girl, Interrupted. She portrayed Daisy, a young woman struggling with OCD and self-harm.
Murphy began dating Ashton Kutcher after meeting on the set of their movie Just Married. Their short-live romance fizzled out in 2003, the same year as the film’s release.
The same year she entered her relationship with Kutcher, she starred as rapper Eminem’s love interest in the semi-autobiographical film 8 Mile.
Another of Murphy's most memorable roles was that of Molly in Uptown Girls. The film follows Molly as she forms a sweet bond with a young girl named Ray (Dakota Fanning) after taking a job as her nanny.
Murphy was briefly engaged to talent manager Jeff Kwatinetz in 2004. The engagement reportedly only lasted for four months, but the two remained friends after their split.
Murphy followed up her engagement to Kwatinetz by accepting a proposal from actor Joe Macaluso. Similar to her previous romance, the duo’s relationship didn’t last long as they reportedly called it quits in 2006.
Murphy died on December 20, 2009. She was transported to a Los Angeles hospital after not seeking out medical treatment for flu-like symptoms. Brittany’s official cause of death was ruled as severe anemia and pneumonia.
“Any decent doctor would have her in the ER, hooked up to a transfusion as quick as they possibly could, because this is a life-threatening situation,” Scheinin stated in the October 2021 HBO documentary What Happened, Brittany Murphy?. “The anemia in itself would've been fatal even without the pneumonia. The pneumonia was fatal, and then you're adding this to the equation.”
In a bizarre coincidence, Monjack also died of pneumonia less than one year later at age 40. Given the couple died of the same cause, rumors speculated about what could have caused their health issues. Brittany’s father, Bertolotti, accused her mother, Sharon, of poisoning Brittany and Monjack (which she denied), while others have speculated the couple suffered from mold poisoning in their home. (Scheinin stated in the HBO documentary that no evidence of mold was found in Brittany’s lungs.)
In the What Happen, Brittany Murphy? film, retired Coroner Asst. Chief Ed Winter said that Brittany’s cause of death is not the “mystery” in the case, but rather why her health issues weren’t caught sooner. “Had they taken her to the doctor a few days before, she'd still be alive. There are some people that, they're not satisfied,” he stated. “They think maybe there's more [to the story]. You just have to go on the facts.”
Brandi Glanville put her recent health struggles aside to celebrate the holiday season.
The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, 52, showed off her healing face at her friend Amouranth’s Winter Wonderland birthday party in Burbank, California, on Wednesday, December 18, 2024. The event marked Glanville’s first public outing since revealing she’s suffering from what doctors believe is a facial parasitic infection.
Glanville sported a fuzzy leopard-print coat on the event’s red carpet before posing for pics inside the party with Twitch and OnlyFans streamer Amouranth, 31. Sporting a black mini dress and matching knee-high boots, the Bravolebrity accessorized her look with a festive red and leopard-print Santa hat.
Glanville rocked a natural glam makeup look and red lip for the birthday party. Her face appeared to be healing and improved compared to the selfie she shared earlier this month to announce she was battling an unknown skin issue.
“Sick it!” she captioned the snap via X on December 7. In a follow-up tweet, she added: “What happened? I wish I knew. I’ve been in &out of the hospital this passed [sic] year 1/2 spent almost every dollar I have trying to figure it out. Some Dr.’s say I have a parasite that jumps around my face. Some say it’s stress-induced edema. I personally say it’s Bravo.”
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight published on December 10, Glanville said she has had “every test under the sun” done to figure out what the cause of her face condition is. “They’re like, ‘It could be a parasite.’ That’s, you know, new,” she shared.
Having “been on meds” for the past year, Glanville told the outlet she’s spent around $70,000 on trying to fix her skin issue. She also speculated she contracted the possible parasite while filming season 5 of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip. (Glanville was accused of sexually harassing costar Caroline Manzo while filming the show — which has yet to air — in 2023. She has denied the allegations.)
Brandi Glanville
“We had food sitting out for hours on end and some of it was meat. In Morocco,” she explained to ET, noting she began experiencing symptoms after filming had wrapped. “Six months after I got back from Morocco, I started having this speaking thing and the swelling up thing, it started in July and we’re still here trying to figure it out.”
Botched and Real Housewives of Orange County star Dr. Terry Dubrow later told TMZ that he did not believe a parasite was the issue, but suggested that Glanville get an official diagnosis sooner than later. “She’s like a ticking time bomb. Every minute that that microorganism is allowed to stay in her skin and do potential damage, she could suffer worse for it,” he told the outlet on December 12. “It could be more difficult to treat and she could form more scars and more nodules. So Brandi needs a diagnosis. She probably needs a surgical intervention to get a piece of tissue and figure out what’s going on.”
One day later, Glanville told fans via X that she had “been in touch” with Dubrow, 66, and that “all the fillers that were in my face have been dissolved.”
Glanville described the feeling of her supposed facial parasite on Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast earlier this week, sharing: “Whenever I get the chills, it’s generally an infection. Then I start having the ticking in my ear, and then whatever’s in my face, moving around, started moving around again. And it starts sinking in again.”
Admitting that she’s unsure whether the issue is a parasite, she added: “I prefer [my face] when it’s a little swollen, to be honest. When it’s only swollen on one side, it’s not great. But the sinking in thing is killing me slowly, because I just feel like I look like a crackhead.”
Not only do Kim Kardashian and her bestie Tracy Romulus have matching outfits, but they now have matching cars.
While heading out to celebrate Romulus’ 45th birthday in twinning black leather trench coats on Wednesday, December 18, Kardashian, 44, surprised her pal with a black Cybertruck. “Thank youuuuuuuuuu … There is no one like you my crazy, over the top bf @kimkardashian,” Romulus captioned a blurred Instagram Story snap of the car on Wednesday, which Kardashian reposted via her own account the following day.
The Kardashians star also reshared her BFF’s Instagram Story reaction videos to the lavish gift. In the first clip, Kardashian told her friend, “Look outside.” Romulus then jumped with joy after spotting the Cybertruck.
“Kim, are you serious? Are you nuts? Are you crazy?” she asked Kardashian, who simply replied, “Happy Birthday!” Looking to put the gift to the test, Kardashian went on to ask, “Should we take your car tonight?”
In a separate Instagram Story clip, the women walked outside to get a closer look at the vehicle. “You’re so crazy,” Romulus said before embracing Kardashian for a hug. “I don’t even know what to say.” (Kardashian’s knee scooter, which she has been spotted using after recently breaking her foot, also appeared in the videos.)
In addition to being close friends with Kardashian, Romulus is also the executive vice president of communications for the reality star’s clothing brand, Skims.
Romulus’ car is not the first Cybertruck the Kardashian-Jenner family has gifted this year. Back in May, Kris Jenner got her grandson Psalm a mini version of his mother’s silver Cybertruck for his 5th birthday. (Kardashian shares Psalm and kids North, 11, Saint, 9, and Chicago, 6, with her ex-husband Kanye West.)
“Thank you mom! @krisjenner for the coolest gift for Psalms for his bday,” Kardashian captioned a cute Instagram Story snap of her son sitting in his toy car. “Baby Cyber truck.”
Kardashian gushed about the present in a follow-up Instagram Story clip, telling Psalm, “Now you match Mommy, huh?” Psalm, for his part, told her: “I want to drive this to school.”
Last month, Kardashian made headlines after posing alongside a Tesla robot to promote the new Cybertruck model, the Cybercab. After the photos sparked controversy, a representative for Kardashian told The New York Times on November 22 that she did not receive payment in exchange for her posts about the Tesla products.
Along with gifting the latest technology to her family and friends, Kardashian is focusing on her love life. A source exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month that Kardashian has started dating someone new” and is “keeping it very under wraps.”
The insider added: “She’s said the next person she dates will be someone who isn’t famous.”
“I think pooping next to each other in open spaces really creates a really deep bond,” Nicole, 32, exclusively told Us Weekly while chatting about the upcoming season of the Fox reality competition show. Jenner, 41, hilariously added: “She had my back every time I needed to drop a deuce.”
Nicole and Jenner are two of the 16 celebrities who will be put through a series of grueling challenges akin to actual Special Forces training on the show’s third season, which premieres on Wednesday, January 8. As the cast is pushed to their physical and mental brink, only a handful will emerge from the competition stronger than ever.
“When you’re stripped down like that, I mean you literally have nothing else,” Nicole told Us of the filming experience. “You don’t have your family, you don’t have your friends, you don’t have your phones, you don’t have social media. There’s no way to disconnect. You have no other option but to connect. And thankfully it was a cast full of really amazing, dope people that we were able to connect with. I’m really thankful.”
Jenner doubled down on her kind comments, calling his costars “phenomenal.” He added: “The camaraderie going through these team challenges because it’s not a contest. You’re not there to compete against each other. You’re there to get to know each other and to help each other, motivate each other and to just try to make it to the end.”
Jenner went on to credit former NFL stars Golden Tate and Cam Newton for helping to keep things light on set despite the hard conditions. “Just having people there that were funny and there was just such diversity and we got really lucky. We really did,” he stated.
Brody Jenner, Kayla Nicole in ‘Special Forces.’
Nicole told Us that she joined the show to prove to herself that she’s “capable of anything that I put my mind to,” which included facing a newfound fear. “I was unaware that I had a fear of heights up until the show,” she revealed. “I love roller coasters. I can do all of those things, but there’s something about jumping off of a bridge over land [that] spooks me. I can jump off of a helicopter into the water every day. I loved those tasks. But for whatever reason, put me on a bridge over standstill land and I freeze.”
Jenner, meanwhile, said having to leave his fiancée, Tia Blanco, and 16-month-old daughter, Honey, was “one of the toughest parts” about his Special Forces journey. (The couple welcomed their first child together in July 2023.)
“Tia’s the best mom ever, so I knew that Honey was well taken care of,” he said. “And so, knowing that I had an incredible support team at home and they’ll be fine, and going out there and just trying to get the job done, it was great.”
Season 3 of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test premieres on Fox Wednesday, January 8, at 8 p.m. ET.
“The first day that we worked together, I think I told people this, but I was worried that I would cry,” Ritter, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly while chatting about the upcoming film, which hits theaters on Friday, December 20. “When you meet somebody who you’ve watched your whole life — and I loved him so much.”
Ritter has been a longtime fan of Carrey’s, telling Us that she did “impressions of him very early in my career to get my acting manager.” So when she got the chance to work with him in Sonic 3, the actress said she was “very worried that I was going to cry.”
She explained: “I was telling everybody just to let the charge out a little bit, and thank God I didn’t in front of him. I didn’t cry to his face, but I kept it together. I was very cool, but I did a lot of acting.”
Carrey returns as Dr. Robotnik for the third Sonic installment. Rather than face off against the titular hero (voiced by Ben Schwartz) and his pals Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) and Tails (voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey), Sonic 3 will see Dr. Robotnik team up with the trio to take down the villainous Shadow the Hedgehog (voiced by Keanu Reeves).
Just like his on-screen character, Ritter — who joins the franchise as Director Rockwell — told Us Carrey was like a “mad scientist” on set. “He’s a comedic scientist. And I think just watching how he would make subtle changes, big changes — he would do the scripted version and then he would have pages and pages of alts to try, stuff that he had written the night before, or an idea that came to him,” she shared. “And he would just make these subtle little changes, and the comedy would land differently. It was so cool to watch.”
Krysten Ritter, Lee Majdoub, Neal H. Moritz, Jeff Fowler, Toby Ascher, Tika Sumpter, James Marsden, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey and Keanu Reeves attend the ‘Sonic The Hedgehog 3’ photocall to ‘Push the Button’ and turn the London Eye Blue on December 10, 2024.
Ritter’s favorite credits of Carrey’s include In Living Color, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Liar Liar, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber. “He’s so funny. He’s created a language the same way, like, Tim Burton,” she gushed. “You can look at one image like, ‘Oh, that’s so Tim Burton.’ You can look at the music of Jim Carrey’s comedy and be like, ‘Oh, it’s so Jim Carrey.’ He’s just doing his own thing. He’s just one in a billion.”
Not only was Ritter excited to work alongside Carrey on Sonic 3, but the film will mark the first project of hers that her 5-year-old son, Bruce, will get to watch. (She shares her son with longtime partner Adam Granduciel.)
Jim Carrey as Ivo Robotnik and Sonic (Ben Schwartz) in ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3.’
“I have some Jessica Jones little action figures, so he knows about [the TV show] Jessica Jones, but he could not see any of that ever,” she quipped. “So, this will be the first thing that he’s able to see of my work, which is really exciting.”
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 hits theaters on Friday, December 20.
“I want to be clear that we’re including travel expenses, hotels, and me also flying and putting up everyone that I would invite to go with me, plus tickets, plus merch,” the comedian, 40, told People in an interview published on Thursday, December 19, noting it was “all well worth it” and she “would’ve paid even more.”
Glaser said she justifies her Eras Tour spending on the fact that she does not have kids, something she said wasn’t the “easiest decision” to make. “There was a part of me that was like, ‘I would like kids,’ but it just doesn’t fit in my life. And so, in order for me to make myself feel better about the decision, I did look up how much it cost to raise a kid,” she explained. “And so, once I saw that number, I thought, ‘It’s no problem for me to spend this on Taylor Swift.’ People spend that much on their kids playing hockey for five years, so it’s OK.”
She continued: “No one ever shames anyone for having kids and says, ‘Oh, what a waste of money. Oh, you’re flaunting your wealth.’ But for some reason, when I go to 22 Taylor Swift shows, it’s like, ‘You’re so privileged. How dare you spend that money.’”
Swift, 35, began her record-breaking Eras Tour in March 2023 and traveled to five continents before wrapping up in Vancouver, Canada, on December 8. The Grammy winner played to over 10 million fans over the course of her 149 shows, bringing in over $2 billion in ticket sales, according to The New York Times.
“It’s nice to see the total that she made,” Glaser told People. “I love that it was down to the dollar, and I could see my own money in that number and be like, ‘Yeah, there it is.’”
Nikki Glaser
Glaser documented her Eras Tour travels for fans via Instagram and even captured a sweet moment where Swift spotted her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, in the crowd of one of her June shows in Dublin.
It was after the tour’s June 30 shows in Dublin that Nikki’s parents, Julie and Edward Glaser, made headlines for criticizing footage of Julia Roberts rubbing her hands on Kelce’s shoulders at the concert. Julie called the interaction “weird” in a July 1 video on Nikki’s Instagram Story, adding, “[Julia] just wants to get in there.” Edward, for his part, stated, “The scratching is weird.”
Nikki subsequently made her parents film an apology video after their comments about Roberts, 57, and Kelce, 35, went viral. Julie apologized for her use of the word “gross,” stating in a July 2 Instagram Story clip, “It’s not a nice word. … So, I’m issuing an apology right now for using the word — but I think it was really weird.”
Edward hilariously chimed in, saying it was “too late” for his wife to take back what she said.
Taylor Swift
Now that The Eras Tour has officially come to an end, Glaser is gearing up to host the 2025 Golden Globes on Sunday, January 5. “The Golden Globes is not only a huge night for TV and film, but also for comedy. It’s one of the few times that show business not only allows but encourages itself to be lovingly mocked (at least I hope so),” she joked in an August 28 press release.
She went on to call the gig “exciting, yet challenging” because of its live format, adding, “[And it’s] in front of Hollywood’s biggest stars, who also might be getting wasted while seated next to their recent exes.”
There’s one present on Hoda Kotb’s daughters’ Christmas lists that Santa Claus won’t be placing underneath the tree this year.
“They want makeup, but what is that about?” Kotb, 60, shared on the Wednesday, December 18, episode of Late Night With Seth Meyers. “That is not happening. What are we talking about? All these little kids, like young kids, 7, 8, 9 [years old], are into skincare and stuff. But we don’t have that in my house. That’s a big no.”
Kotb shares daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, with her ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman. This year will mark her first Christmas in her new suburban home outside of New York City, where she moved her family earlier this year.
Luckily for the Today show host, her girls have more than just makeup on their holiday wishlists. “They asked Santa for magic sets. They like magic sets,” she shared. “They like American Girl dolls. They’re into anything with bubbles.”
Host Seth Meyers went on to joke that Kotb’s kids will have to put up with a “few more years of bubbles” before they are allowed to start wearing makeup.
Kotb will be by her daughters’ sides when that time comes, as she will be leaving Today next month after nearly 30 years at NBC. While announcing her exit in September, Kotb cited turning 60 and wanting to spend more time with her kids as the main reasons behind her decision.
“All of us, like, have a time pie and you kind of have to decide how much of your time pie do your kids get and how much does your work get,” Kotb reiterated on Late Night With Seth Meyers. “And so, I thought, it’s time for my kids to get a bigger slice.”
Hoda Kotb with daughters.
Following her final episode on Friday, January 10, Craig Melvin will take over her role as Savannah Guthrie’s Today coanchor. Jenna Bush Hager will continue to cohost the fourth hour — which will be retitled Today With Jenna & Friends — alongside a rotating lineup of guest hosts.
On Wednesday, Meyers, 50, questioned Kotb about what parts of her Today job she will and won’t miss. One thing she, Haley and Hope will all miss about 30 Rockefeller Plaza is eating at the NBC commissary dining hall.
“I love the NBC commissary,” Kotb gushed. “In fact, when my kids come to hang out or come to see me at work, the only thing they ask for is to go up to the ninth floor of the commissary, because it’s got a good spread.”
Among the things Kotb won’t miss are waking up at 3 a.m. for the show and having to work on holidays. Though she will no longer receive her morning weather report from Al Roker on-air, Kotb said she will keep up the tradition from home.
“I’m still gonna get that [weather report]. I’m texting Al,” she stated. “I’m gonna be like, ‘What’s up for my trip? What’s up for today?’ And Al, he’s the first one to respond.”
The Today cast and crew will celebrate Kotb throughout her final week on the show next month, which will culminate with a special “Hoda-bration” episode filmed in front of a live studio audience in 30 Rock’s Studio 8G, a.k.a. the Late Night With Seth Meyers studio.
“This is gonna be the spot. And we, first of all, we love you. We love this spot. And to think that the last one’s gonna be live on a Friday is pretty cool,” Kotb told Meyers, who hilariously responded: “But don’t get, like, any sticky fingers while you’re here.”
The actress reshared several birthday tributes from family and friends via her Instagram Story on Wednesday, December 18. Among the posts, Holmes revealed the sweet gift she received from Suri, 18.
“I am so grateful for all of my blessings especially my daughter ,” Holmes captioned an Instagram Story snap of a bouquet of purple roses.
Holmes shares her only child with her ex-husband, Tom Cruise, to whom she was married from 2006 to 2012. Suri was spotted in New York City on Wednesday to watch her mom in the Broadway revival of Our Town, per pics obtained by the Daily Mail. (Suri is currently in her freshman year at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.)
“I’m proud of my daughter,” the Dawson’s Creek alum told Town & Country in August of Suri beginning college. “Of course, I will miss the close proximity, but I’m really proud of her and I’m happy.”
Reflecting on her own teenage years, she added: “I remember being this age, this time of beginnings. It’s exciting to learn about yourself, and I loved that time, so it makes me happy to think about it like that.” (Holmes was just 19 years old when Dawson’s Creek premiered in 1998.)
Holmes’ Wednesday post about Suri comes one week after she shut down rumors that Tom, 62, has a $1 million trust fund set up for their child. “Completely false,” she wrote over a December 8 Instagram screenshot about the rumors. She captioned the post, “Enough.”
She defended herself in the post’s comments. Responding to one that read, “Hey are you worried if you can pay your rent AND eat this month? No? Yea me either I Wish these were my problems,” Holmes stated that she “didn’t disagree” with them. “But in the world today, I don’t want a target on my child’s back,” she added. “It’s dangerous.”
Despite keeping her daughter out of the spotlight, Holmes has made a handful of rare comments about Suri over the years. “I love her so much. My biggest goal has always been to nurture her into her individuality. To make sure she is 100 percent herself and strong, confident, and able. And to know it,” she told InStyle in July 2022.
Holmes continued: “She came out very strong — she’s always been a strong personality. She’ll pick an activity and work her butt off until she’s really good at it. Then she’s like, ‘OK, I’m going to try the next thing.’ She’s very focused and a hard worker. … She’s pretty special.”
In addition to Suri’s flowers, Holmes’ Our Town cast and crew sang her “Happy Birthday” backstage after a performance on Wednesday. “Love you all @ourtownbroadway,” she captioned an Instagram Story video of their performance. (The show’s star-studded cast includes Jim Parsons, Zoey Deutch, Ephraim Sykes, Richard Thomas, Michelle Wilson and Billy Eugene Jones.)
The group followed up their serenade with a delicious meal. “French fried and falafel and homemade red velvet cake from @bobbydaye I am so blessed!!!!” Holmes wrote alongside a snap of herself, Parsons, 51, and more making a plate of food.
