Note: This post contains subjects about eating disorders. Please proceed with caution.
1. When Julia Roberts was born in 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King paid for her hospital bill. In a recent interview with Gayle King, Roberts said: "My parents had a theatre school in Atlanta called The Actors and Writers Workshop, and one day, Coretta Scott King called my mother and asked if her kids could be part of the school." Roberts continued: "They were having a hard time finding a place that would accept her kids. [The Kings and my parents] all became friends, and they helped us out of a jam."
2. Before making it big in Hollywood, a bunch of famous women starred in pretty popular television commercials. Zendaya was in a Disney commercial promoting iCarly toys in the mid-'00s, Cate Blanchett was in a Tim Tam commercial in the '90s, and Diane Keaton did an ad for deodorant in the '70s.
3. In the original Playbill for the 1964 musical Funny Girl, Barbra Streisand's debut on Broadway, she made up a bunch of wild facts in her bio. She wrote things like: "[Barbra's] favorite day of the week is Tuesday, since she devotes part of each Tuesday throughout the year to stringing crystal beads which are sold in a Vermont general store." Barbra ended her bio in the wittiest way possible, saying: "For more personal information, write to her mother."
4. Former BFFs Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss were named after James Taylor and Carly Simon (which is pretty interesting, considering these singer-songwriters were married in the '70s).
5. Before Dreamgirls became a huge movie musical in 2006, Sheryl Lee Ralph (aka Barbara Howard from Abbott Elementary) originated the role of Deena Jones in the 1981 Broadway production. Unfortunately, during that time, Ralph developed anorexia because of the pressure she felt playing Deena Jones. "Let's look beautiful, let's put on our gowns, let's go out there and entertain the people — none of our pain needs to be shared with our audience," Ralph told NPR. "When you develop things like anorexia, it's because you feel out of control. You feel you cannot control it and what's going on around you, but you can control yourself."
6. Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, the writer behind the 2022 Netflix film Do Revenge starring Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke, drew hella inspiration from teen movies. Throughout the flick, Robinson purposefully sprinkled in a bunch of references from iconic movies from your childhood, like The Princess Diaries and 10 Things I Hate About You.
7. Not only does Naomi Campbell have four pools (yes, FOUR POOLS) in her beautiful Kenyan villa, but she's also built a spa. Inspired by the late Henri Chenot (a pioneer in the health and wellness community), she has a huge waiting area and a room where she and her guests practice hydrotherapy. First, you bathe regularly for 30 minutes, and then, you step into a second tub for a mud bath.
8. And in Adele's California home, she has a piece of gum chewed by legendary singer Céline Dion. When Dion did Carpool Karaoke with James Corden back in 2019, he asked her to spit her gum into a piece of paper, and sent it to Adele.
9. If you don't recognize Cree Summer by her face, then you'll definitely know her by her voice. She's one of the most iconic voice actors of all time, lending her talents to such characters as Susie Carmichael from Rugrats, Miranda from As Told by Ginger, and Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. During a 2017 panel at BoroughCon, Summer said: "I don't adhere to competition — I believe that the jobs I get are only mine. I've gone into auditions and [have] just taken a dump — and I get that gig, 'cause that's my job. No one else was meant for that job."
10. Grace Jones and Jerry Hall were roommates in Paris in the early '70s before venturing off into their own successful careers as singers and models (they both had modeling contracts at the time). In Grace Jones's 2015 memoir I'll Never Write My Memoirs, she wrote: "I developed long-lasting bonds with the girls I worked with, not least because I also lived with them and we explored new, strange territory together. I've remained friends with Jerry to this day, and we help each other and inspire each other."
11. Around the same time, Jessica Lange moved to Paris to study mime. "I [discovered mime] through this experimental modern-dance theatre in New York in the '60s, working with a woman named Ellie Klein," she revealed to Interview Magazine in 2013. "I thought: 'Mime...I love it, it's beautiful, but I don't know if this is something that I can do.' So, it was a natural next step to try acting."
12. Marlene Dietrich openly identified as bisexual and allegedly had sex with notable actors like her Shanghai Express costar Anna May Wong. Dietrich referred to her affairs with women as "sewing circles" and created a safe space where lesbian and bisexual women in the Old Hollywood community could be themselves. Dietrich was also one of the first actors to have a lesbian kiss in a major motion picture in the US. Dietrich's character in Morocco (1930), Mademoiselle Amy Jolly, kissed a female audience member during one of her performances in a to-die-for black tux and top hat.
13. Leisha Hailey, aka Alice Pieszecki from The L Word and The L Word: Generation Q, played Eric Matthews's girlfriend on Boy Meets World. Named Corinna, she was one of the most memorable characters on the show for being a hippie turned punk rock singer-songwriter. Her character wrote songs about Eric, and after rewatching the episode, I can't believe that was actually Alice Pieszecki!!! (I will truly never watch it the same way again).
14. Alicia Keys wrote "If I Ain't Got You" on a plane immediately after she found out Aaliyah died in a plane crash. In an interview for The Voice in 2017, Keys said: "I wrote it right after I found out that Aaliyah passed away, and I was on a plane. I think being on the plane and knowing that she passed away after a plane crash — there was just this sentiment of being present in the moment and really nothing else mattering but those you love."
15. In 1970, when political activist Angela Davis was arrested in New York City for a crime she was wrongfully accused of — and even threatened with the death penalty — many famous musicians came forward to show their support. Big names like Aretha Franklin offered $100,000 to $250,000 to post bail for Davis. "Angela Davis must go free. Black people will be free. I've been locked up, and I know you got to disturb the peace when you can't get no peace," Franklin told Jet Magazine in 1970. "I have the money — I got it from Black people. They've made me financially able to have it, and I want to use it in ways that will help our people."
16. Liza Minnelli was actually the first artist to sing "New York, New York" in 1977 before Frank Sinatra made it famous two years later. John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote the song for the 1977 film New York, New York starring Minnelli, but unfortunately, her version didn't get the popularity it so rightly deserved. They even made a joke about it on Arrested Development, which Liza guest starred on as Lucille 2.
17. And the summer after Lizzo dropped out of college, she went on a walk in her neighborhood in Colorado and ran away from a coyote while singing Beyoncé's "Green Light." In Vogue's 73 Questions series, she said: "In [my] neighborhood, there were coyotes. I was walking through the neighborhood, and I saw this gray dog, and I was like: 'That ain't a dog.' He had a look in his eyes — I just ran in the opposite direction to 'Green Light' by Beyoncé."
What interesting facts do *you* know about famous women? Let us know in the comments below!
