Latest news with #CloserWeekly
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Little House on the Prairie' Star Reveals if She'll Return for the Netflix Remake
Fans of the original Little House on the Prairie will no doubt remember Alison Arngrim. Arngrim, 63, played resident mean girl Nellie Oleson on the series from 1974 to 1982. Though her character was often regarded as bratty and manipulative, she certainly left her mark on the beloved show. 'I've had people just go off about how much they hated me and how they wanted to punch me in the face,' Arngrim told Closer Weekly in an interview published earlier this week. Arngrim's Nellie and Melissa Gilbert's Laura Ingalls hated each other on screen, but they're still very much a part of each other's lives to this day. 'We're always talking and texting. She's in New York, but she's come on the podcast. She's just a riot. She's married to Timothy Busfield and those two are perfect together. It hasn't changed when we talk. I mean, we still have weird inside jokes, crack up and make fun of people. It's like it has not changed at all,' Arngrim gushed. As for returning to the prairie, the longtime actress has some thoughts. 'It is not a reboot. It will not be exactly like our show in the '70s. And it shouldn't be. That would be terrible! I think it is going to be very much like the books,' Arngrim explained of the upcoming Netflix adaptation. 'Very historical. If this was a Star Wars thing, I'd call it a prequel. It's going to go all the way back to when Laura was very young. I think that could be really good.' 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 On making a cameo, she said, 'Of course! I've always said, 'I'm old enough to be Mrs. Oleson now, so call me.' The show has to obviously become its own thing, get its own footing with its own people. They have to find people who are good and will have the same kind of incredible chemistry together that we had.' 'Little House on the Prairie' Star Reveals if She'll Return for the Netflix Remake first appeared on Parade on May 24, 2025
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Danica McKellar Talks to Closer — and Calls the Story Her ‘Most Faithful Message' to Date
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways At 50, Danica McKellar is entering a new chapter, one filled with purpose, perspective and profound gratitude. The beloved Wonder Years star recently sat down with Closer Weekly to reflect on life's twists and triumphs, sharing what she calls her 'most faithful message' to date. 'The way we experience our lives is exactly because of what we choose to focus on,' she shares. 'We all get dealt a hand. Some parts are good, some are challenging. But the story we tell ourselves about that hand, that's what defines our life.' It's a truth she's learned over time, through both joy and pain. Danica shared that, for much of her life, she lived in a state of constant worry. 'I used to be a really stressed-out kid,' she admits. 'I thought if I didn't work really hard all the time, I'd fail.' But over the years, Danica's mindset shifted, thanks in part to a spiritual awakening that began in college when she was dating someone in recovery and started attending Al-Anon. 'That's when I heard things like 'Let go and let God' for the first time,' she recalls. 'It opened something in me. I started to realize I didn't have to control everything.' Danica's strength lies in what she's let go of, especially the expectations of Hollywood. After The Wonder Years, she walked away from acting to pursue a degree in mathematics at UCLA, a move that surprised many. 'I needed to know who I was without all the glamor and superficiality,' she explains. Pursuing a math degree at UCLA gave her that chance, and she describes it as 'empowering' and 'grounding.' But when she finished school and began thinking about returning to acting, the fear crept in. 'I worried I made a mistake. I felt like I was behind and had to catch up. What if I couldn't go back?' She began taking roles in indie films, unsure if her career would regain momentum, until she landed a role on The West Wing, which she appeared on for two seasons. 'That show was a turning point. It reminded me that I still had something to offer in the industry,' she says. GettyImages-2206910728 Still, even with her successes, the doubts lingered. 'You second-guess yourself,' she admits. But now, with 12 math books and millions of copies in print, Danica realizes the move was exactly what she needed, she recalls, 'Looking back, I know everything unfolded the way it needed to. I had to step away from Hollywood to come back on my own terms and that made all the difference.' As she looks ahead to the next decade, Danica's vision is simple: more movies, more books and more time with her family. 'Turning 50 is a blessing,' she shares. 'It's made me more committed to my health, my work and my peace.' More recently, a deeper relationship with her faith helped ease the anxiety she once felt every day. 'Three years ago, I came into my faith fully. I used to have a lot of biases about religion, but I've realized it's not about rules, it's about relationship. That changed everything.' That message she shares daily with her 14-year-old son, Draco. She and her ex-husband, Mike Verta, coparent with care and mutual respect,'We really work as a team. And that means putting ego aside and focusing on what's best for him,' she says. Now starring in and producing films for Great American Family Channel and authoring math books for kids, Danica has transitioned from teen stardom to educator and inspiring mother. Her latest book, I Love You 100: A Counting Book Full of Love (available for preorder), marks her 12th math title, teaching little ones to count while reminding them they are loved unconditionally. 'It's about loving your child through every emotion,' she says. 'Happy, sad, angry, it doesn't matter. I love you no matter what.' Danica stays true to herself, "I can't think of another article that was so faithful to my message,' the Wonder Years alum tells Closer of her interview, 'Faith, health, family, coparenting, all the projects I wanted to promote, everything."
New York Post
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
‘The Wonder Years' star Danica McKellar opens up about escaping Hollywood's ‘superficiality'
Danica McKellar found stardom as the girl next door, Winnie Cooper, on 'The Wonder Years' as a teenager, but by the time the show was over, the actress knew she needed a break from Hollywood. 'When I finished 'The Wonder Years,' I went to UCLA to get a degree in mathematics,' the 50-year-old told Closer Weekly. She continued, 'I stopped acting for four years. I just needed to find out who else I was. For me, the way I could find out was just to do something else and really exercise my brain and let go of all the glamour and superficiality of Hollywood. That was really empowering to me.' After college, McKellar returned to her acting roots on shows like 'Love Boat: The Next Wave,' 'Even Stevens,' and former 'The Wonder Years' co-star Fred Savage's late '90s show 'Working.' But she said when she returned to the industry, she felt like she was trying to 'catch up.' 'I was doing all these independent films that weren't very good,' she admitted. 'Then I started getting some traction. I did 'The West Wing' for a season.' 5 Danica McKellar found stardom on 'The Wonder Years' as a teenager, but by the time the show was over, the actress knew she needed a break from Hollywood. Getty Images McKellar told Closer that even though she knew she 'had to' take a break from acting during college, 'I was still worried about it. What if I can't go back to acting? What if I don't pass the math test?' Along with 'The West Wing,' McKellar also did episodes of 'NCIS,' 'NYPD Blue,' 'How I Met Your Mother,' and 'The Big Bang Theory' before she began to find her stride as a Christmas movie princess. Last fall, McKellar told Fox News Digital that she was excited about her latest holiday movie with Great American Family, 'A Cinderella Christmas Ball,' because it's the first time she's gotten a writing credit on a movie. 5 McKellar starred as Winnie Cooper on 'The Wonder Years.' 5 'I stopped acting for four years. I just needed to find out who else I was. For me, the way I could find out was just to do something else and really exercise my brain and let go of all the glamour and superficiality of Hollywood,' McKellar said. 'This is a wonderful experience for me. It's been amazing because I got to write the script with someone else, but it's the first time my name is on the script for one of these movies, and it's really gratifying,' she said. 'Plus, I get to waltz in it! I love ballroom dance, as I think everybody knows who follows me on social media.' McKellar has been starring in Christmas movies since 2012, when she played the lead in 'Love at the Christmas Table,' and has acted in many since, including 'Crown for Christmas,' 'My Christmas Dream,' 'Coming Home for Christmas,' and 'Christmas at Dollywood.' In her opinion, the popularity of Christmas movies continues to rise because 'people need comfort' and a way to 'escape from this crazy world,' which holiday flicks provide. 5 'When I finished 'The Wonder Years,' I went to UCLA to get a degree in mathematics,' the 50-year-old told Closer Weekly. Getty Images 'More than an escape, it provides a reminder of what human nature can be,' she told Fox News Digital. 'We need that. We need that reminder. We need, yes, the feeling of comfort, but also ideas for how to move forward in a wholesome, earnest kind of way.' In addition to her work, McKellar is passionate about her faith. She said she finally got perspective on her life three years ago when she 'came into' her faith. 5 Since coming back to Hollywood, McKellar is now known as the 'Christmas movie princess.' ©Hallmark Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection 'It just hit me like all at once,' she told Closer. 'I had a lot of biases against Christianity for most of my life because of looking at the wars – the Spanish Inquisition.' She said she previously thought of Christianity as some sort of 'evil force that was controlling people,' adding that it's 'really interesting and strange for me to suddenly be talking about Jesus.' McKellar said she realized faith isn't about religion but rather 'having a relationship with God,' which she said for her is about 'letting go and trusting and not thinking that I have to be in charge of everything all the time.'
Fox News
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Dick Van Dyke ignored warnings about 46-year age gap with wife Arlene Silver
When Dick Van Dyke first laid eyes on Arlene Silver, he was instantly smitten. It was 2006, and the much younger Silver was working as a makeup artist at the SAG Awards. But for the "Mary Poppins" star, age was just a number. "I never said hello to a strange girl in my life. I was too scared," the actor told People magazine on Sunday. "But I was at a show backstage, and she walked by, and for some reason, I just jumped up and said, 'Hi, I'm Dick,'" the 99-year-old recalled. "There's something about her that got me, and I was right." Van Dyke went on to hire Silver for other projects. Despite their 46-year age gap, they said "I do" in 2012. "We get along so well," said Van Dyke. "Everybody said it wouldn't work." "It's… eerie how well it works," chimed Silver, 53. "People the same age don't last." "We just care about each other so much," she shared. "He's made me feel like I can do anything." When it comes to date nights, the couple told the outlet they like to keep things simple. WATCH: DICK VAN DYKE SHOW STAR NEVER BECAME CLOSE WITH MARY TYLER MOORE "We just love being home," Silver explained. "We love Malibu, and it's our favorite place, our house especially… We're so grateful. Our house did get hit by the Franklin fire, but in the scheme of things, we got very lucky." Back in 2022, the actor admitted to Closer Weekly that he worried the public would object to their age gap. "I thought there would be an outcry about a gold digger marrying an old man," he told the outlet at the time. "But no one ever took that attitude." "We share an attitude," he reflected. "She can go with the flow. She loves to sing and dance, which we do almost every day. She's just delightful." Silver said life with Van Dyke is blissful. "He is the most perfect human being," she said. "I've never met anyone so happy, so genuine, so amazing. He's just like a happy pill." Van Dyke said his secret to longevity is to "keep moving." "I've been one of those lucky people that got to do something for a living that he would have done for nothing," he previously told the outlet. "That's why I'm still here… They can't get me off the stage." The star credited his stamina to "good genes and not getting hit by a bus." "I've always been an exerciser and still am," the actor told the outlet. "I go to the gym three days a week, get in the pool and exercise. At my age, they say to keep moving. Put me on solid ground and I'll start tapping." Van Dyke shared he does water aerobics, lifts weights and walks on a treadmill. Back in 2015, Van Dyke wrote a book titled "Keep Moving and Other Tips and Truths About Aging," where he candidly shared his advice about enjoying old age. "Keep moving is the main thing," Van Dyke told NPR at the time. "I think I reiterate three or four times in the book, 'Do not start going down the stairs sideways.' It feels good on your knees, but it throws the hips out and the back starts to go out, the next thing you know, you've fallen down and broken your hip. So even if it hurts a little, go down the stairs front-ways." "It's more in my nature to be optimistic, I think," he continued. "I'm one of those people who gets up on the right side of the bed in the morning. I get up and have a cup of coffee and go to the gym because I talk myself out of it because I will, as anybody will." "Everybody should dance," he explained. "And everybody should sing. People say, 'Well, I can't sing.' Everybody can sing. That you do it badly is no reason not to sing. I have a beautiful, young wife who sings and dances, so there's a lot of [duets] going on at my house." Still, Van Dyke admitted he does have regrets — but he doesn't let the past prevent him from enjoying his life today. "Well, I would not have smoked or drunk anything," said Van Dyke on what he would have done differently. "I think that set me back. There are times that I feel like apologizing to my body for the way I treated it… I have arthritis and all those things, but I keep moving… I didn't discover dancing and singing until I was in my 30s. It just happened out of nowhere. I regret that I didn't train a little or take some vocal coaching or something. But I just enjoyed what I had and had fun with it. If I had to go back, I'd train." Van Dyke told the outlet that his wife keeps him on his toes. "I sometimes forget that we're doing a great experiment here — 46 years difference," said Van Dyke. "And we work at it to some extent. There's got to be some understanding, find out what old habits don't work anymore. It takes some adjusting and fitting in, but that's part of the fun of it."
Fox News
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
‘Facts of Life' actress sets record straight about reboot after co-star claims 'greedy b----' sabotaged it
Lisa Whelchel wants to get the facts straight on what really happened to the "Facts of Life" reboot. The actress spoke to Closer Weekly a year after co-star Mindy Cohn claimed plans fell apart thanks to an unnamed "greedy b----." "We were all very, very disappointed that it didn't work," the 61-year-old, who played Blair Warner, told the outlet. "We'd been trying to find a way to work together in some capacity for probably the last 10 years," Whelchel explained. "So, when it looked like this was going to happen, we were all really excited. The contracts were signed and then the writers' strike happened, the actors' strike happened, and then, unfortunately, Pa [Charlotte Rae] and Norman Lear passed. After that, it just kind of dissolved." "We were all quite disappointed," Whelchel stressed. Rae, who played a wise and patient housemother to a brood of teenage girls, died in 2018 at age 92. Lear passed away in 2023 at age 101. A year later, Cohn was on Sirius XM's "Jeff Lewis Live," where she revealed a "greedy b----" was to blame for reboot plans being shelved. Cohn explained that after the success of an ABC special, "Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes," in 2021, which featured an all-star recreation of episodes of both shows, including Jennifer Aniston in Whelchel's role, Lear reached out to the cast. "He said, 'Are you guys interested?' And we had all never really talked about it, but we all started to consider it a little bit, and we got into talks. And we hired a writer, and the four of us got together on Zooms. This was during COVID, and we had meetings with Norman about it," Cohn said. Asked what happened, Cohn replied, "What happened was not cute. Yeah… There was drama." "More than that," Cohn said. "[She] went behind our backs and tried to make a separate deal for a spinoff just for herself and devastated the rest of us. … I had booked 'Palm Royale;' another girl is working. I'm just saying it was for a 40-year friendship and sisterhood. There was a tidal wave of emotion around it." "She was a greedy b----, I'll say it," she added. The 58-year-old said the actresses didn't talk "for a while and now we do-ish, but there's definitely, it was an ouch." She added that there is "no desire to ever work together" and the reboot is "dead. It's very dead." "A couple of people can't move past it, don't want to move past it. We are not as united. Let me put it that way. We were united for 40 years over not talking about each other, not doing dirty, not, you know, all for one, one for all, and this kind of wrecked that, which is sad. Really sad," Cohn said. The "Palm Royale" star was asked who the "greedy b----" was among her co-stars — Whelchel, Kim Fields or Nancy McKeon. Cohn refused to say but hinted that her Instagram contained the answer, noting who she spends time with and who she doesn't is clear. The hosts continued to attempt to guess, but they said Cohn wouldn't budge. WATCH: FACTS OF LIFE STAR LISA WHELCHEL EXPLAINS WHY SHE DIDN'T RELEASE MORE MUSIC AFTER HER '80S SOLO ALBUM At the end of the show, a caller suggested it was Whelchel, based on combing through Cohn's Instagram. Cohn joked it was George Clooney, who appeared on the show early in his career. At the time, Cohn shared birthday messages to Fields and McKeon but not Whelchel on her Instagram. Representatives for Whelchel, McKeon, Fields and Cohn didn't respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. A few days after Cohn's interview, Whelchel posted a promo for her MeTV show, "Collector's Call." Some fans chimed in with their support for her amid speculation about who caused the reboot to fall apart. "FYI I am Team Lisa," one person wrote. "You/Blair have been my favorite since I was a little kid…I really admire the class you've always shown including now. Lots of fans sending you support!" another person wrote. Whelchel liked both comments. On "Jeff Lewis Live," Cohn said she accepts that the revival didn't get off the ground. "No one wants to see us now," she said. "You know what's cute? They want to see where you are now. They don't want a show about it. Be honest." "It should stay where it is," Cohn shared. "… I think it's so good where it is... This thing should stay wrapped." In 2022, Whelchel spoke to Fox News Digital about a possible reboot. "It's a wonderful trip down memory lane," she said at the time. "… We've been talking about a reimagining of 'Facts of Life' and bringing it back again. Nothing is set yet, but it's been really fun to talk about it. What I have brought to the table for those conversations is [that] I would love to see a little bit more acceptance of what reality looks like for a midlife woman." "… I'm about 15 pounds heavier than I was on 'Facts of Life,'" she shared. "If we were to do a re-imagining of the show, I would really like my character to address the realities that we face when we get to a certain age." Whelchel noted she wanted to give a realistic portrayal of her character navigating life today. "You just get fluffier, and it's really hard to lose weight, no matter what you do," she said. "Unless you want to devote your life to working out four hours a day and eating celery sticks, you're going to look like a middle-aged woman. And I don't want to hide from that. I don't want to feel less than." "Actors and actresses on television and movies have personal trainers and personal chefs," she continued. "They devote their lives to looking a certain way. I'd like to look a bit more realistic. And I'm proud of my journey." WATCH: FACTS OF LIFE STAR LISA WHELCHEL SHARES HER FAVORITE MEMORIES FROM THE SET, NEW LIFE WITH 'COLLECTORS CALL' "The Facts of Life" aired from 1979 to 1988 on NBC, spinning off from the series "Diff'rent Strokes," both created by Lear. The sitcom has remained popular and beloved over the years, running in syndication for years on multiple networks. In 2001, most of the cast reunited for "The Facts of Life Reunion" TV movie on ABC. The only missing member was McKeon, who had scheduling conflicts with her work on the Lifetime TV series "The Division."
