Wilmer Valderrama on his vanilla tobacco scented book
Actor and writer Wilmer Valderrama answered our Very Important Questions about writing at the L.A. Times Festival of Books.
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Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Yahoo
Age-Gap Celebrity Couples Who Met When One of Them Was a Child
Age-gap romances are not outside the norm in Hollywood, in fact, quite a few of the most well-known relationships in Hollywood have pretty major age gaps. Some are big, some are small, and some of them are so wildly problematic, that we have no idea how it went on for as long as it did. Now, It's true that you can find the love of your life at any time in your life, whether it be high school or at a local coffee shop; you just don't know. We love love, but what we don't love is when there's a relationship where there's clearly some sort of power dynamic at play. We've seen some disturbing relationships in Hollywood where an adult starts dating someone who's 16 or 17, and along with that, the other aspect people also need to discuss: when an adult celebrity met another celebrity when they were a literal child. One example is how Wilmer Valderrama and Demi Lovato met when she was 17 and he was 29. They dated a year later and were together for quite some time. And before that, Valderrama dated minors like Mandy Moore and Lindsay Lohan (but waited to make his relationship with Lohan public until she turned 18). There's also when Don Johnson met his future wife Melanie Griffith when she was 14 and 22, and truly the list goes on. Below, check out age-gap relationships in Hollywood where a couple met when one was a child, and the other was an adult. More from SheKnows Ellen DeGeneres' Talk Show Demeanor Toward Female Comedians Raises Eyebrows Best of SheKnows Everything to Know About Leonardo DiCaprio's 27-Year-Old GF Vittoria Ceretti A Look Back at Prince William's Sexiest Photos in Celebration of the Future King Amanda Bynes, & More Celebrities Who Joined OnlyFans Over the Years Demi Moore's first marriage was to Freddy Moore, with whom she was with for four years. While they got married when she was either 17 or 18 years old, they met when she was just 16, and he was nearing his thirties. Met: She was 16, he was 29. You may or may not have known this but Sonny Bono and Cher met at very different stages of life. They met when she was just 16 and he was 27. They met at a coffee shop, when Cher was singing backup for hits produced by Sonny's employer, per Distractify. Met: She was 16, he was 27. Celine Dion met René Angélil when she was 12 years old, and he was 38, when Angélil became Dion's manager. When they first met, he was allegedly brought to tears by her singing, and later, they married and were together until his death. Met: She was 12, he was 38 The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Demi Engemann confirmed that she met her future husband Bret Engemann when she was nine years old, and he was 25. Demi herself openly talked about this in a Feb 2023 TikTok video. She revealed that she first met Bret as a child through a family friend, saying, 'He was so much older than me. When I was 9 years old, he was married to his first wife and having babies.' She then added that she always had an 'innocent little girl crush' on her now-husband. Met: She was 9, he was 25 Prince Charles and Princess Diana were together from 1980 to 1992 and welcomed two sons, but didn't officially divorce until 1996. They got together when she was 19, and he was 31. However, they met when she was 16 years old, and he was around 29 when he went to her house to see her sister, per Biography. Remember when Joel Madden and Hilary Duff dated? Yknow, when she was 16 and he was 25? They dated for nearly three years until breaking it off in Nov 2006. During a 2005 appearance on The View, Duff said they met three months prior before dating, and kept their relationship secret because of their age gap, per Refinery29. Despite Mila Kunis being only 14, they still made her character, Jackie, frequently kiss Ashton Kutcher's character, Kelso, even though the actor was 20, on That 70's Show. She said he was her first kiss. They reconnected in 2012, when she was 28 and he was 34. They got married in 2015 and share two children together. Elizabeth Gillies and her husband Michael Corcoran met while she was starring in the show Victorious. He worked as a composer on the show, making songs like ' 5Fingaz to the Face,' 'L.A. Boyz,' and 'Freak the Freak Out,' per The List. While they started dating when she was 18 and he was 39, they met earlier. Corcoran worked on the show when it first aired in 2010, when he was around 37 or 28, and she was around 16 or 17. While the timeline is hazy, it is confirmed they met on the show, because in an interview with Vogue, Gillies said: 'I always had a crush on him. But I played it cool.' Leonardo DiCaprio and Camila Morrone started dating in 2017, when she was 20 and he was 43. However, according to W, they may have met much earlier. As many know, Morrone's former stepdad is Al Pacino, who is one of DiCaprio's best A-list buddies. Now, because of this, DiCaprio allegedly met Marrone when she was only 12, and he was in his 30s since they were 'old family friends.' As we said, the pair started dating back in 2017, causing a bit of controversy due to their 23-year age gap. However, after five years together, they called it quits two months after her 25th birthday. A couple people often forget about is Gigi Hadid and Joe Jonas, two A-listers who dated briefly in 2015. However, they met years prior. Per Business Insider, they met when she was 13, and he asked her out, when he was around 18 or 19. He allegedly asked her out, she said he did it 'at the Grammys when I was 13 years old.' 'He asked me to a baseball game, and I said no,' she added. 'I was so nervous; I literally didn't even know what it meant to hang out with a boy.' Get ready, because Wilmer Valderrama has done this a few times. Okay, so one couple you may have forgotten was Valderrama and Lindsay Lohan. They dated for six months back in 2004 after working on the set of That 70's Show. They were spotted together in May 2004 but didn't make their relationship public until she turned 18 years old in July 2004. But they definitely met when she was 17. Wilmer Valderrama and Mandy Moore started dating when he was 20 and she was 16 years old in 2000, but they actually met sometime prior on a photoshoot when she was 15, per People. They were together until 2002, and during their relationship, Valderrama claimed he took her virginity?! He said that in an interview with Howard Stern, and Moore later said it wasn't true. 'I love him and I still love him, and he's a very good friend and that's why I was so shocked by it because not only was it a fib, but it was so unlike him, it was so uncharacteristic,' she said. Wilmer Valderrama and Demi Lovato met when she was just 17 and he was 29, but they didn;t date until she turned 18. They dated on and off for six years, and officially called it quits in 2016. Lovato talked about when they first met via Mamas Latinas, saying, 'I was only 17, and so he was like, 'Get away from me.' After I had turned 18, we began dating. I think it was love at first sight and I don't really believe in that but I believe that it happened.' She later released a song called '29,' which was seemingly a jab at Valderrama, and the age he was when they started dating. Dane Cook and Kelsi Taylor have been together since 2017, when she was 18 and he 45. They recently got married, and many online sleuths believe there's more to their relationship timeline. Specifically, they think they met before Taylor was 18. According to an Instagram Q & A, via Us Weekly, the couple met when he hosted a game night at his house. Their friendship took a serious turn where they 'fell in like with each [other] and then upgraded to love.' Twitter users found photo evidence that they allegedly met when she was 17. Jerry Seinfeld and Shoshanna Lonstein dated from 1993 to 1997, and they started dating when she was 17 and he was 38. Per TheThings, they met at Central Park and she gave him her number after they flirted. He tried to claim they didn't start dating until she was 18, but either way, they definitely met when she was 17. Remember when the late Liam Payne and Cheryl dated, and welcomed a kid? They were 22 and 32, respectively when they got together….but they met years prior. They originally met in 2008, when he was auditioning for The X Factor, and he was 14. 1990s it-couple Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder had a pretty big age gap. They met when she was 17, and he was 25. They met in 1989 at the movie premiere of Great Balls of Fire, and apparently, when they locked eyes, Depp claimed it was love at first sight, saying, 'I knew then,' via Rolling Stone. They didn't start dating until a few months later, and were together until 1993. Rob Lowe and Winona Ryder were together in the mid-1980s. They later starred in the 1987 movie Square Dance and attended the Golden Globes together in 1988. She was around 14-15 when they met, and he was 21. Back in 2011, Harry Styles and Caroline Flack started dating, when he was 17 and she was 31. They dated for a few months until early 2012. Later, in 2015, she said she wouldn't apologize for their relationship, saying, per Washington Post, 'I'm not going to ever apologize for it because there was nothing at the time that was serious or bad and nobody was getting hurt.' Tyga and Kylie Jenner met earlier than people may have thought: in Nov 2011 at Kendall Jenner's Sweet 16 party. At the time, she was 14, and he was around 22 years old. They started dating in Sept 2014, a month after Kylie's 17th birthday party he attended. They were together, on and off until early 2017, per Billboard. In the early '70s, Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith met when he went over to her house, when he was 22 years old and she was 14. They briefly dated, then got together when she was 18, and married quickly after. Their marriage lasted six months. However, they remarried two years later, and welcomed their daughter Dakota Johnson. However, they divorced in 1996, per InStyle. Priscilla Presley was quite young when she met Elvis — 14 years old to Elvis' 24 years old. They met back in 1959, specifically at a party. While she claims nothing sexual happened until she was 18, there was definitely a romance, which she detailed in her memoir. They were together from 1959 to 1973, and welcomed a daughter together. Jasmine Pilchard-Gosnell was only 16 when she and Paul Walker started dating in 2006. They dated until his death in 2013. She was only around two years older than his own daughter. And per TheThings, he also dated Aubrianna Atwell, who was 16 when he was 28.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Actor and USO Global Ambassador Wilmer Valderrama to Be Recognized at USO Gala
Gala will also honor USO Service Members of the Year and feature a performance by the 82nd Airborne Chorus Arlington, VA, May 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The USO Gala, on May 29 at The Anthem in Washington, D.C., will recognize Wilmer Valderrama, actor and longtime USO Global Ambassador, with the USO Merit Award. The Gala will also honor the USO Service Members of the Year and feature a performance by the 82nd Airborne Division's All-American Chorus, which made it to the finals of 'America's Got Talent' in 2023. 'We are thrilled to honor USO Global Ambassador Wilmer Valderrama and the USO Service Members of the Year during our 2025 USO Gala, which is dedicated to raising awareness for our mission to strengthen the well-being of the people serving in America's military and their families,' said USO CEO and President J.D. Crouch II. 'Wilmer Valderrama has gone on more than 12 USO tours since 2007, delighting thousands of service members and their families across a dozen countries, becoming a USO Global Ambassador in 2021.' Food Network personality Carla Hall, Miss America 2025 Abbie Stockard, former Washington Nationals player Ryan Zimmerman, and host of TLC's 'Say Yes to the Dress' Monte Durham will also attend the USO Gala, as well as senior government and military leaders, and business and community leaders. In addition to the 82nd Airborne Division Chorus, performances during the Gala will include world renowned saxophonist Mike Phillips and combat veteran and motivational speaker Vann Morris. About the USO The USO is the leading nonprofit dedicated to strengthening the well-being of the people serving in America's military and their families. Since 1941, the USO has been by the side of service members throughout their military service. Impactful support is provided through our 250+ locations around the world, a robust care package delivery program, entertainment, military spouse and youth programming, and much more, all made possible by donors, corporate partners, volunteers and staff. To learn more and support our critical mission around the globe, please visit or follow us on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram and LinkedIn. CONTACT: David Carrier USO dcarrier@
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Yahoo
Jon M. Chu slams Silicon Valley for AI excesses — and studios for forgiving it
Jon M. Chu suspects artificial intelligence may have been born wicked. The hit filmmaker's Silicon Valley upbringing, which he details in his 2024 memoir "Viewfinder: A Memoir of Seeing and Being Seen," made him comfortable with technology from an early age, he said Sunday during an L.A. Times Festival of Books panel. It even gave him an edge as a young person pursuing a creative career that now includes directing credits for blockbuster films such as "Wicked" and "Crazy Rich Asians." But Chu said he believes the entertainment industry has been too lax about tech companies' ethically questionable training methods since the advent of generative AI, calling the unauthorized use of Hollywood creations an "original sin." "There was an initial sin that I think we're not over yet, which is they gathered all the data. They took all the scripts, they took all the movies," Chu told the audience. In his view, the studios who owned such copyrighted materials didn't fight back hard enough. "It feels like they're saying, 'We're past it, move on,'" he said, adding that he could "never forgive that." Read more: Broadway makes way for 'Crazy Rich Asians' with new musical directed by Jon M. Chu But the "Crazy Rich Asians" director said that despite generative AI being "freaking scary" for the entertainment industry, he is confident it will never replace human creativity. Nor will it rob people of the right to define "art" for themselves. "I don't think the robots choose what we decide is valuable," Chu said. "We decide, and that's very empowering for me," he said. Read more: Hollywood creatives urge government to defend copyright laws against AI Chu also spoke during the Sunday panel about his forthcoming projects, including "Wicked: For Good," which is slated for a Nov. 21 theatrical release. Outside of the movie musical, Chu is also working on adaptations of Britney Spears' 2023 memoir "The Woman in Me" and the video game "Split Fiction," which centers on two writer friends who become trapped in a high-tech simulation of their imaginations. "That was leaked, so I cannot confirm or deny that, but yes," he said of the latter adaptation project reportedly starring Sydney Sweeney. Still, the director said the challenge of visualizing the video game's dual realities "excites me, because I don't know how to balance that correctly yet." Get the latest book news, events and more in your inbox every Saturday. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
