Table of contents for December 25, 2023 in People (2024)

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People|December 25, 2023Chatter‘I actually have many men in my life who I love and who love me, but in the spirit of this morning and in fear of bras being burned, I’m gonna thank their mothers and not them’—ADELE, accepting the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award, during The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Women in Entertainment Gala‘Be on time and don’t be an a--hole’—HELEN MIRREN, on her advice to women entering the entertainment industry, to People‘Almost 35 years later, we’re still a couple to everybody’—BILLY CRYSTAL, on his When Harry Met Sally … costar Meg Ryan, to People‘There’s much worse things to be called in life’—ANDREW SCOTT, on being known as “the hot priest from Fleabag,” to People‘Can it be a husky Ken?’—RYAN GOSLING, joking about a new variation of his Barbie character if a…1 min

People|December 25, 2023Jonathan Majors’s Domestic Assault Case ContinuesAfter a start to the year that saw his star rise in the films Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Creed III, Jonathan Majors has begun the final month of 2023 in court. In March the actor was arrested in New York City in connection to an alleged domestic dispute involving him and his ex-girlfriend, choreographer Grace Jabbari, 30, whom he met on the Quantumania set. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault in the third degree with intent to cause physical injury, assault in the third degree recklessly causing physical injury, aggravated harassment in the second degree and harassment in the second degree.During the misdemeanor assault trial that began in Manhattan Criminal Court on Dec. 4, assistant district attorney Michael Perez claimed in opening statements that Majors—who…2 min

People|December 25, 2023Selena Gomez Confirms Benny Blanco RomanceUnlike the scenario presented in the title of her most-recent release, Selena Gomez won’t be “Single Soon.” On Dec. 7 the singer and Only Murders in the Building actress, 31, confirmed she’s dating music producer Benny Blanco, 35, by leaving a one-word comment—“Facts”—under a fan Instagram post that speculated about the two being an item. “He is my absolute everything in my heart,” she later wrote of Blanco in the comments section.That same day, Gomez—who worked with Blanco on “Single Soon” and the 2019 song “I Can’t Get Enough”—revealed on Instagram that she and Blanco have been dating for six months. In separate comments, Gomez—last linked to One Direction alum Zayn Malik and the Chainsmokers’ Drew Taggart earlier this year—said Blanco is “ better than anyone I’ve ever been with”…1 min

People|December 25, 2023It’s Oprah’s WorldOprah Winfrey has reached stratospheric heights—cultural icon, movie star, media mogul, billionaire—but rarely lets a day pass without appreciating how unlikely her trajectory has been. She, more than anyone, knows she’s a statistical anomaly—a person who, through some extraordinary alchemy of timing, talent and tenacity, survived a childhood marked by abuse, poverty and hopelessness. Had Winfrey stayed in Milwaukee beyond her teenage years with her mother, Vernita Lee, she believes, the odds of survival would have been grim. “I would have been trapped inside my own body, my own weight, my own pain,” says Winfrey, sanguine and ever-thoughtful on a recent afternoon in Los Angeles. “I would have had an early death.”Today, as Winfrey nears her 70th birthday next month and celebrates the impending release of The Color Purple, a…9 min

People|December 25, 2023Charlie Sheen: ‘I Had to Make a Radical Change’After publicly battling addiction for years, Charlie Sheen decided in 2017 that it was time to fix himself. “I had to go away for a little while, to reprioritize the stuff that matters,” he says. One morning he quit drinking cold turkey. He began working out, eating well and throwing his energy into being a single parent to his twin sons Max and Bob, now 14. (Their mom is his ex-wife Brooke Mueller.) “I’m just thrilled to be in the mix still,” says Sheen, 58, who is making a comeback of sorts with a small role in the Max comedy series Bookie, co-created by his old Two and a Half Men boss Chuck Lorre. “Most people who lived the way I did aren’t here anymore to continue their own story.”Born…4 min

People|December 25, 2023The Top 10 Style Moments of the Year1 MARGOT ROBBIE’S BARBIE PROMO TOURMargot Robbie’s dolled-up red carpet ensembles had us all screaming, “Hi, Barbie!” The actress, 33, teamed with stylist Andrew Mukamal and the biggest fashion houses as she toured the globe in custom reinterpretations of the Mattel doll’s iconic looks. Not only did “Barbie outfits” become the No. 1 trending search in the outfit inspo category in the U.S. (according to Google’s 2023 Year in Search recap), but moviegoers who watched the film in their own Barbie cosplay spammed the Internet with a sea of pink for months on end.2 BEYONCÉ’S RENAISSANCE TOUR LOOKSWhen it comes to nailing onstage fashion, Beyoncé is definitely that girl. For her first solo world tour in six years, to support the 2022 release of her Renaissance album, Mrs. Carter, 42,…5 min

People|December 25, 2023Buddy the ElfAcross1 Peter the Great was one5 The puss*cat Dolls hit “Don’t ___”8 TV-watching perch12 The Great actress ___ Fanning13 Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and ___14 Study in a hurry15 Artist Salvador ___16 Sandra Oh series Killing ___17 Depend (on)18 Actor who stars as Mattel’s CEO in Barbie (2 wds.)21 NCIS: ___ Angeles22 Rapper ___ Spice23 Actress ___ Streep26 Kerry Washington TV series30 “You made your own ___ … ”31 Craft beer known by its initials32 18 Across cofounded the comedy website Funny or ___33 Sweet Home ___36 18 Across played a cheerleader on SNL with castmate Cheri ___38 V for Vendetta actor Stephen ___39 Former NBA star also known as DJ Diesel (inits.)40 18 Across impersonated this former president on SNL (2 wds. + init.)45 Columbo star Peter ___46 Anger47…2 min

People|December 25, 2023Hoda KotbLast Irrational FearProbably when my kids [Haley, 6, and Hope, 4] scream. I think something’s broken, and I’ll go tearing up the stairs only to find them looking for something.Last Moment of Self-careOn Thursday I went to a place that has those La-Z-Boy chairs, where you can get a foot massage for 30 minutes. I try to do something every Thursday to refill my cup.Last ObsessionTrader Joe’s Ice Cream Bon Bons. At the end of dinner, my kids say, “Can I have our chocolate round thing?” There’s a tray of them, and last night I just started popping them. I was like, “This is what heaven is.”Last Fashion DisasterMost of my stuff is either stained, torn or worn again from three days before. I’m a re-wearer, and I don’t know…1 min

People|December 25, 20235 Things We’re Talking About This Week!1 Maroon 5 extends M5LV residencyAdam Levine is proving that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas as his band Maroon 5 is set to continue moving like Jagger at Park MGM for 16 shows beginning May 17 and running through October 2024.2 Succession and Barbie dominate Golden Globe nomsWith nine each, the HBO hit leads this year’s TV nominations—including one for Brian Cox (left)—while Margot Robbie’s Barbie scored the most for a film. The ceremony airs live on CBS Jan. 7.3 Pantone’s 2024 colorTo peach their own! Pantone announced its newest Color of the Year is Peach Fuzz, designed to “bring a feeling of kindness and tenderness” and inspired by “our desire to want to be close to those we love.”4 McDonald’s spinoffIntroducing CosMc’s—an “otherworldly” cafe outpost with offerings…1 min

People|December 25, 2023Joshua Jackson & Lupita Nyong’o Step Out Holding HandsJoshua Jackson and Lupita Nyong’o appear to be ramping up their new romance. The Dawson’s Creek alum, 45, and the Oscar-winning actress, 40, held hands during a walk in Joshua Tree, Calif., on Dec. 5, a day after they were spotted leaving Erewhon Market in L.A. with groceries. The pair previously attended a Janelle Monáe concert together in L.A. in October, following Jackson’s split from ex-wife Jodie Turner-Smith (with whom he shares daughter Juno, 3) and Nyong’o’s from boyfriend Selema Masekela earlier that month.JESSE GRANT/GETTY IMAGES; LEON BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES; WCP, 4CNRS, LAGOSSIPTV/BACKGRID…1 min

People|December 25, 2023Rosario DawsonI’ve worked with the Lower Eastside Girls Club, which connects young women in New York City through creative programs and mentoring, for a long time. It’s been beautiful to watch it grow, but it’s been 12 years since the building was [outfitted], and it needed updating. Samsung retrofitted the space with screens you can draw on, and it’s amazing to see these kids developing their creativity and learning how technology can benefit them. It heals me to see what the club is doing for the community I grew up in. When I get stressed about what’s happening in the world, I look at [those girls] and know there’s a way forward.For more information, go to girlsclub.org…1 min

People|December 25, 2023Smile!Merry Swiftmas! Family Decks House With Eras-Inspired DecorNaperville, Ill.For the past 15 years the Scott family has gone all-out with their Christmas decorations. But this year, after seeing Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour film, mom Amy, 45, knew she had her theme. “The whole reason we do this is to bring joy and happiness and good energy to the community,” she says, adding that she and her daughters Emily, 20, and Rebecca, 18, are handing out homemade friendship bracelets on select nights. “We’ve seen Taylor on tour twice; my daughters have grown up on her music.” As for when the display will come down? Says Amy: “We’ll leave the lights up until January.”Santa Speaks American Sign Language to Spread CheerGrowing up, Charles Graves “never had the opportunity to tell Santa…1 min

People|December 25, 2023Ryan O’Neal (1941-2023)Ryan O’Neal would be the first to admit he wasn’t always the greatest talent onscreen. Of his most famous role, preppy Harvard student Oliver Barrett IV in Love Story, he said, “I didn’t worry about whether I was preparing enough for the part. I made sure I looked right—you know, the right scarf, the right sweater.” That look—coupled with his charm and undeniable chemistry with costar Ali MacGraw in the hit 1970 film, made him a Hollywood star. But his turbulent life offscreen as the patriarch of one of Hollywood’s most famously self-destructive families often eclipsed his work. As O’Neal, who could be surprisingly candid, once said: “My poor children had a father who was a self-centered bastard, who was constantly in search of success and adventure.”O’Neal, who died on…5 min

People|December 25, 2023Norman Lear (1922-2023): Farewell to a Game ChangerNearly a century ago, a boy named Norman Lear stood by a lake with his grandfather, tossing pebbles into the water. When the old man told Norman that every additional pebble raised the water level, Norman chucked in a rock. Well, he said, the lake looked just the same. No, the water was higher, his grandfather responded, adding, but “all you see is the ripple.” Reflecting on this decades later, after he’d become one of the most powerful creative forces in TV history, Lear supplied a moral: When you measure how you yourself might have changed the world, “be satisfied with the ripples.”The venerated writer, who died at the age of 101 in Los Angeles on Dec. 5, redefined prime-time TV in the ’70s as the creator and producer of…4 min

People|December 25, 2023Peter Sarsgaard: Mr. Nice GuyThroughout his 30-year career, Peter Sarsgaard has played an array of characters, including villainous turns as a transphobic murderer in Boys Don’t Cry, a convict on death row on The Killing and an evil baron in The Magnificent Seven. But don’t be fooled by how expertly he tackles dark roles. Sarsgaard, 52, is a total softie who loves hanging out with his wife (actress and director Maggie Gyllenhaal, 46), their daughters and their dog, as well as tinkering in the garden, which is where he keeps his bees.While sipping a coffee at a cafe near his Brooklyn home in late November, the actor, who has worked with A-listers from Tom Cruise to Jodie Foster and starred in blockbusters like 2023’s The Batman, says it’s the smaller films, like his new…3 min

People|December 25, 2023StarTracksROYAL TRADITIONLondon, Dec. 8Princess Kate kicked off the royal family’s festive season with her third annual carol concert at Westminster Abbey (below). “Kate really has become the spirit of Christmas,” author Ingrid Seward says. Kate’s husband, Prince William, and their children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, joined in the merriment. The next day the couple released their family Christmas card photo (above), taken by photographer Josh Shinner, who shared that the royal siblings told “jokes” throughout the “relaxed and enjoyable” portrait sitting.TIMOTHÉE SHOWS HIS SWEET TOOTHLos Angeles, Dec. 10Timothée Chalamet rocked out at the premiere of his new movie Wonka. When asked to describe his Wonka press-tour vibe, the actor told People, “Willy Wonka expressionistic mix mélange, confection, chocolate.”OWNING THE STAGELos Angeles, Dec. 5Gwen Stefani…3 min

People|December 25, 2023PassagesBabiesSinger Ciara, 38, and Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, 35, announced the arrival of daughter Amora Princess on Dec. 11. The couple also share daughter Sienna Princess, 6, and son Win, 3, and Ciara is mom to son Future Zahir, 9, with her ex, rapper Future, 40.Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, 28, and his wife, Emily Wilkinson, 32, an influencer, announced on Dec. 4 they are expecting their first baby, a girl.EngagementsActress Vivian Benitez, 27, revealed in a Dec. 5 Instagram post that she is engaged to The Diplomat star Rufus Sewell, 56. “Till death (or him continuing to walk on bath mats [in] his outside shoes) do us part,” she joked.CrimeOn Dec. 6 police responded to an active shooter at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The perpetrator,…3 min

People|December 25, 2023Picks1 OppenheimerAn unforgettable film about the most explosive moment in American historyDRAMADirector Christopher Nolan’s three-hour masterpiece is about how a life-annihilating force—the atomic bomb—was unleashed on a world already (always) buffeted by other, older forces, the ones that have made and broken societies: political, ideological, psychological. Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), having followed a line of thought to its logical end to create the bomb, is horrified—destroyed—when he realizes that his genius can’t influence the White House’s dangerous Cold War vision. (Truman considers him a crybaby.) His tragedy is at the heart of a colossal, almost assaultive cinematic experience that’s exciting, dismaying and invaluable.2 Killers of the Flower MoonDRAMAMartin Scorsese directed the most sinister western ever to come out of Hollywood: an epic about the systematic murder of members…8 min

People|December 25, 2023Drugged and Strangled, Husband Arrested: Married to a Murderer?Friends and neighbors welcomed invitations to the intimate dinner parties and lavish annual New Year’s Eve bash thrown by Timothy Smith and Herb Swilley and set in the tropical decor of their home in Ocala, Fla. Yet even those closest to the pair—who were married in a purple-themed celebration in 2015—considered them to be something of an odd couple: Smith, 59, the executive director of a senior living center, was fun-loving and liked to entertain. “He was caring and quite flamboyant,” says Tammy Warner, a former colleague. On the other hand, Swilley, 55, a self-employed handyman, was sometimes boastful and aggressive. “He had to be the big man on campus,” says Warner, 56. “I always thought he was all talk.”Not anymore. On March 25, Marion County Sheriff’s officers, performing a…4 min

People|December 25, 2023Jason Momoa: ‘This Has Been My Dream’Many kids dream about being a superhero, but Jason Momoa says that was never on his own to-do list. “I grew up wanting to be a marine biologist,” says the actor, 44, who was born in Honolulu and raised in Iowa. “I’m an environmentalist at heart.” Luckily for Momoa, his new film Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (in theaters Dec. 22), the sequel to the 2018 DC Comics film Aquaman, has allowed him to combine his passions for acting and for preserving the oceans. “I really love the idea of trying to stop single-use plastic and [using] this beautiful movie to attack that,” he says.For Momoa, who landed his first acting role on Baywatch Hawaii in 1999 while in college, making it in Hollywood hasn’t been easy. “It took me…4 min

People|December 25, 2023NICU Nurse Adopts Her Patient: ‘I’m So Lucky to Be Her Mom’When Mackenzie Denich heard that a family at her mother’s church was looking for someone to adopt the baby that their daughter was carrying but would be unable to care for, the 39-year-old neonatal nurse practitioner wasted no time expressing interest. She even began compiling a list of everything she’d need for a baby, only to dismiss the idea because the family was also considering placing the child with a married couple who had a few kids. “I started telling myself, ‘Why would they choose a single woman with no kids? This just isn’t happening,’ ” she says.But just three months later, in October 2021, Denich met the 4-hour-old infant at Children’s Nebraska, the Omaha-based hospital where Denich works in the NICU. She’d only recently learned the baby would have…4 min

People|December 25, 2023Second LookSee If You Can Find the Differences in These Two PicturesEvery picture tells a story! Rod Stewart was joined by Jools Holland on piano and backing vocalists Joanne Harper (left) and Holly Brewer for a surprise performance at St. Pancras train station in London on Dec. 5 to celebrate Stewart and Holland’s upcoming album Swing Fever, out Feb. 23. Stewart later wrote on Instagram that the new record is sure to “lift the spirits” of everyone who hears it.10 changes to keep score!1. The word “they” has moved up a line on the teleprompter. 2. The word “the” in the first line on the teleprompter has vanished. 3. The woman behind the teleprompter is now wearing a blue shirt instead of a green one. 4. Jools Holland’s microphone has been…1 min

Table of contents for December 25, 2023 in People (2024)

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