Check out the chatter on these stories, plus a bonus story at 6:40, with the Dina's Dirt podcast!
Dina's Dirt at 6:40
Michael Jordan's 60th birthday is on Friday, and to celebrate he is donating $10 million to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which he's worked with since 1989. He made the announcement Wednesday. It is the largest donation ever received from an individual in the organization's 43-year history.
Actress and sex symbol Raquel Welch has died at the age of 82 after what her family says was "a brief illness." Empire Magazine named Raquel one of its "Sexiest Film Stars In History" in 1995, and Playboy put her at #3 of its "100 Sexiest Stars Of The 20th Century." She launched to fame in 1966's "Fantastic Voyage" and that same year, debuted the infamous cavewoman bikini in "One Million Years," solidifying her sex symbol status. Future generations got to know her when she played an exaggerated version of herself on the season 8 finale of "Seinfeld" in 1997 and Mrs. Vandermark in "Legally Blonde" in 2001, according to Page Six.
Rebel Wilson, best known for playing "Fat Amy" in the "Pitch Perfect" movies, said her contract prohibited her from losing more than 10 pounds while filming the trilogy. Despite the contract, her team didn't want her to lose weight either, thinking it would negatively impact her acting career. She felt stereotyped in playing the "fat funny friend" roles and wanted to do more diverse roles, Page Six reports. After embarking on her a "year of health" in 2020 (also in an effort to improve her chances with IVF), she lost more than 70 pounds.
HGTV is set to launch a new show called "Flip the Strip," which will feature the stars of Las Vegas stage show "Australia's Thunder from Down Under." The dancers, who are also skilled renovators, will work with designer Kelly Stone to transform clients' homes, premiering in this summer. HGTV's head of content, Loren Ruch, says the team's "unique combination of home renovation experience and problem-solving skills" will enable them to create stunning spaces with "ostentatious Las Vegas flare." HGTV also shared the show is expected to be a hit with viewers who love a mix of high stakes and home renovation – and hopefully will feature shirtless, muscle-y men in hard hats.
Dina's Dirt at 7:40
Keanu Reeves does not like being tweaked too much in his movies. After being shocked by an edit years ago, he has it in his contract that his performance cannot be manipulated digitally, according to Variety. He said, "I don't mind if someone takes a blink out during an edit, but early on, in the early 2000s, or it might have been the '90s, I had a performance changed. They added a tear to my face, and I was just like, 'Huh?!' It was like, I don't even have to be here." He added, "When you give a performance in a film, you know you're going to be edited, but you're participating in that.
If you go into deepfake land, it has none of your points of view. That's scary."
Tyler Perry is donating $750,000 to help Atlanta's low-income seniors, who are seeing their property taxes go up because of the added value in the area due to the success of his new movie studio there. He's worried the rising taxes will force seniors living on a fixed income out of their homes. So, Tyler's donation will cover all back property taxes for nearly 300 low-income seniors and freeze property taxes for another 100 low-income seniors for the next 20 years. He reportedly plans to donate $500,000 every year for the next four years as well, according to TMZ.
"Real Housewives of Orange County" star Braunwyn Windham-Burke "married" her girlfriend, Jennifer Spinner, at a Vegas chapel. It's not official because Braunwyn is still going through a divorce from estranged husband, Sean Burke. On top of that, neither she or Jennifer filed for a marriage license.
DreamWorks' "How to Train Your Dragon" is coming to theaters with a live-action adaptation. The original award-winning writer, director, and producer Dean DeBlois will be leading the project. The franchise has so far accumulated over $1.6 billion, with much more sure to come. The new live-action film is set to hit theaters on March 14, 2025.
Dina's Dirt at 8:40
Tom Brady was talking about the big game on his podcast, and the subject of the halftime shows came up. Saying he never really was able to pay attention to them, he brought it back to the one with Janet Jackson in 2003, noting he didn't even know about the wardrobe malfunction until after. And that's where he should have stopped. Instead, he continued and said, "I think in the end, it was probably a good thing for the NFL because everyone got to talk about it, and it was just more publicity, and more publicity for halftime shows. Is any publicity bad publicity? That's what they say, so, who knows?" Oy. People are coming down on him hard since that's what nearly ended Janet's career. Well, in other Tom news, he shared that his daughter Vivian fell in love with a pair of Siamese kittens, so he adopted them for her. He captioned a video of the two cats playing, "Vivi wins again." There you go Tom, distract them from your comments with cat videos!
The D'Amelio sisters will be opening up their home in February for one lucky guest to sleep over. The reservation window opens on AirBNB today at 2 pm. It includes a free one-night stay, as well as three free meals. The 5,000-square-foot home has been featured in a number of Charli and Dixie's TikToks, and it comes with an opportunity to hang out one-on-one with the two of them.
Baby news…
Anthony Michael Hall, 54, from all those John Hughes movies ("Sixteen Candles," "Breakfast Club," "Weird Science," etc) and wife Lucia Hall, 32, have a baby on the way. The couple is expecting a baby boy, and they will be naming him after Anthony, sort of. Anthony said, "Michael Anthony Hall the II will be born this summer." That was Anthony's name before he changed it professionally.
"Flip or Flop" star Tarek El Moussa and wife "Selling Sunset" star Heather Rae El Moussa welcomed their first child together on January 31, and now he's making his big debut in Us Weekly. Sharing his name Tristan Jay El Moussa – Heather said, "Tarek was supposed to be named Tristan, and his parents ended up naming him Tarek.
And then my dad's middle name is Jay. So it's four generations of the middle name Jay." Opening up about his birth, Heather said she had gone in for a regular appointment and they did the usual stress test they did each time, but this time, "He wasn't moving as much as he usually did." Doctors told her to go straight to a hospital, but Heather asked, "Can I go home and grab my hospital bag that I've been prepping for months now and can I go home and wash my hair?" She said, "Like, I hadn't washed my hair in four days 'cause I didn't think I was gonna be going to the hospital after this appointment. And [the doctor] said, 'No, you can't." At the hospital, the baby's heart rate was dropping during the delivery, so right before they were about to do an emergency C-section, the doctor told Heather, "Give one last big push, give everything you have, let's see if we can make it happen." Tarek said, "All the blood vessels in her face broke and her chest broke. And our son came out."
Lizzo and Adele are apparently pretty close, according to the Daily Mail. While Lizzo was on the UK show "Heart Breakfast," she shared that she's been over to Adele's for a wine night, and she said that they both like their wine with ice. She called Adele's Beverly Hills house "real nice" and "real English," and said that she literally felt like she was in another country the second she stepped inside. As for the scent of Adele's house, when one of the hosts asked if it smelled like cinnamon, Lizzo laughed and said, "Too much wine, I can't remember." I love that line - that's going to be my new official response to everything I'm asked that I don't want to answer. Expect to hear it often.
