By Wonderwall.com Editors
1:12pm PST, Jan 18, 2019
'To Catch a Predator' host Chris Hansen faces eviction, $1.5M-plus debt after arrest
Ten years after "To Catch a Predator" went off the air, its former host, Chris Hansen, is in serious financial trouble. Earlier this week, TMZ reported the 59-year-old TV journalist was arrested for larceny in Connecticut after writing $13,000 worth of bad checks to a local vendor to cover the cost of mugs, T-shirts and other materials he intended to use as prizes in a Kickstarter campaign to reboot his MSNBC series. A few days after his arrest, the "Crime Watch Daily" host was evicted from his apartment in New York City for allegedly failing to pay thousands of dollars to his landlord. But bills for his back rent and mugs barely skim the surface of Hansen's full debt. According to the Daily Mail, multiple creditors have filed complaints about Hansen over the years, alleging he owes more than a million dollars to various banks and credit companies. Specifically, the Mail reports Hansen owes US Bank Trust $1,078,164.73 plus $126,356.35 to TD Bank; $57,931.72 and $15,000 to Ally Financial. He's also reportedly at least $250,000 behind on his taxes — and in the midst of a divorce from his wife, Mary Jo Hansen. As for that Kickstarter campaign? The goal was to raise $75,000. He reportedly raised $89,000 courtesy of donors, many of whom later complained on the page that they never received the prizes they'd been promised. Hansen had not yet commented as of Friday, Jan. 18.
RELATED: Celebs in trouble with the law in 2018
Chris Pratt moves in with fiancee, Katherine Schwarzenegger
Bride and groom-to-be Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger are both religious, but that hasn't stopped the lovebirds from moving in together ahead of their wedding. An insider tells People the pair now share a home in west Los Angeles. "Since they started dating, Katherine has taken Chris to all of her favorite neighborhood places," the source says of Katherine, who was in nearby Santa Monica before the move. "And Chris clearly likes her neighborhood." Chris previously lived in the Hollywood Hills section of the city with his then-wife, Anna Faris. Now, Chris, Katherine, Anna and her boyfriend, Michael Barrett are all in the same 'hood per a stipulation in Chris and Anna's divorce that mandated they reside within five miles of one another for the next few years for the sake of their son, Jack. Luckily, the whole crew gets along just fine. Earlier this week, Anna joked on her podcast that as an ordained minister, she'd even be happy to officiate her ex's wedding. Chris announced he and Katherine were engaged on Jan. 14 after a little less than seven months of dating.
RELATED: Celebrity weddings of 2018
Kylie Jenner and Stormi Webster hit the beach for an early birthday getaway
Guess who's almost 1?! Kylie Jenner kicked off the birthday celebration for her daughter, Stormi Webster, a little early this week with a trip to some lovely seaside locale, where she and her mini-me enjoyed a colorful sunset together. "Let the birthday adventures begin..," Kylie captioned a shot of Stormi's tiny footprints in the sand. Kylie and Travis Scott welcomed their first daughter on Feb. 1, 2018. They've both made it clear since then that No. 2 won't be too far behind.
RELATED: Stars are nothing like us: Kylie Jenner edition
Beyonce wins Michelle Obama's birthday tributes: 'Bow Down'
Michelle Obama turned 55 on Thursday, Jan. 17, and one of former First Lady's No. 1 fans made sure to send some love her way on social media. Sharing a photo of the attorney and author as a little girl decked out in a white bow, frilly dress and gloves, Bey — who performed at Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009 — added two little words in big block letters: "BOW DOWN." The love goes both ways, too. Michelle has posted her own b-day love on Beyonce's birthday multiple years in a row, writing messages like her 2015 post, which read: "Happy birthday to the one and only, Queen 🐝! Thank you for being a role model for young girls around the world, @Beyonce." Last summer, Us Weekly reported the former POTUS and FLOTUS "danced all night" at Bey and JAY-Z's "On the Run" show in Maryland. Michelle also caught Bey's performance in Paris last year.
Ryan Reynolds wishes his 'ex-girlfriend' Betty White a happy 97th
Michelle Obama wasn't the only star celebrating another trip around the sun on Thursday. Betty White turned 97 on the same day — a fact that was hard to miss if you ventured on any form of social media this week. Like the former FLOTUS, the erstwhile Golden Girl was treated to a slew of birthday wishes from famous friends, including Ellen DeGeneres, Mindy Kaling and Hoda Kotb. As Mashable pointed out, however, it was Ryan Reynolds' whose homage to Betty kinda took the cake. "Happy birthday, @BettyMWhite!" he wrote on Instagram. "I don't usually talk about ex-girlfriends," Ryan wrote. "But Betty's special. Happy Birthday to the one and only, @BettyMWhite 🎂." The joke-prone pair reportedly met in 2010 when they both appeared as Jay Leno's guests on "The Tonight Show."
Taylor Swift's next album could be here sooner than expected
Earlier this month, Taylor Swift's fans posted up a storm about their theory the singer is already working on new music — and that it has something to do with mermaids. The Swifties might be onto something. On Thursday night, outlets including Hollywood Life spotted her leaving a music studio in New York City, sparking a new round of hopeful posts on social media about "T7," or Taylor's seventh studio album. While she hasn't announced plans for a new recording, she does have a habit of toying with iconography when it comes to promoting new work. Eagle-eyed fans have pointed out the "Little Mermaid" costume Taylor wore at her New Year's Eve party, along with the mermaid-inspired looks she wore on her "Reputation" tour could be album hints. Mermaids or not, new music is likely to be in the works for Taylor in the not-too-distant future. In November, she signed a new contract with Republic Records and UMG. It was hailed as progress for artists' rights proponents, thanks to a term in which the label agreed to her request that "any sale of their Spotify shares result in a distribution of money to their artist, non-recoupable," according to Taylor's announcement on Instagram.
Madonna tries out a new look
Who's that girl, indeed! Madonna recently went for a drastically different new hairstyle, seemingly chopping her usually blonde locks to pixie-length, '40s-glam waves and dying them almost black. "But what if……………….😍 #photobomb," she joked in a selfie on Instagram on Friday. Followers who peered at the pic closely noticed something was a bit off, though — namely, the fact that her daughter's not the only one photobombing the image. An array of wig heads sits on a counter behind Madge. Seems likely Madonna's new 'do belongs to one of them.
Cardi B to star in Pepsi's Super Bowl ad
Shortly before she heads to the Grammys in the hopes of snagging five awards, Cardi B's headed to small screens across the country on Feb. 3, where she'll star in Pepsi's top-spot Super Bowl ad. The Daily Mail reports Cardi has signed on as the soda company's new spokesperson, taking over for Cindy Crawford, who reimagined her famous 1992 Pepsi ad last year. The newly single rapper is also expected to perform with Bruno Mars at a Super Bowl weekend event in Atlanta, though it's unclear whether she'll catch up with her ex, Offset, who's slated to play a concert with Migos, Ludacris, Lil Jon and other Atlanta-based hip hop stars a few days before the game. Previous Pepsi Super Bowl ad stars have included Madonna, Mariah Carey and Britney Spears.
Ariana Grande accused of ripping off Princess Nokia on '7 Rings'
Is Ariana Grande's new single, "7 Rings," plagiarized? After the track was released this week along with a video, Princess Nokia shared a video that showed her listening to Ariana's song before cuing up "Mine," from her "1992" mixtape. "Does that sound familiar to you? 'Cause that sound really familiar to me," she says in the post. "Ain't that the lil song I made about brown women and their hair? Hmmm… sounds about white." Pitchfork points out Princess Nokia's not the only one who hears the similarity. "[Ariana Grande]'s new album literally plagiarizes flows, words, bars from Nokia," read a post Nokia retweeted. Nokia's reps declined to comment on the allegation when contacted by Pitchfork. As of early Friday, Ariana's team had not yet commented.
Taraji P. Henson opens up about single motherhood, waiting for Mr. Right and Hollywood's pay gap problem
It took Taraji P. Henson, 48, two years to finally confirm rumors she was dating former NFL star Kelvin Hayden. They got engaged last May, but as the Oscar and Emmy nominated actress explains in PorterEdit's latest cover story (via the Daily Mail), that happy turn of events came after a long and difficult period during which Taraji avoided romantic relationships while she focused on her raising her son, Marcell, whose father was murdered in 2003. "It's hard. I dreamed he would go stay with his dad in his teens, or my dad," she says of Marcell, who's now 24, and his father, from whom she was separated. "I didn't date. I wondered: 'Does he have enough confidence in himself as a black man?" These days, Taraji says she sees a therapist every week. "I wouldn't wish being a single mother on my worst enemy. You need both parents," she says. Once she started dating again, she was only interested in Mr. Right. "I didn't wanna settle. I just waited," she admits. "[When he proposed,] his hand was all clammy. [I was like], 'Dude, you have been quizzing me for a year about getting married. Do you think I'm gonna say no?!" she jokes. The "Empire" star has plenty of experience saying "no" in other departments, though. After writing in her memoir that she earned less than 2 percent of what her white co-stars made for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Taraji has come to enjoy conversations in which, having been lowballed for a role, she finds herself asking her agent, "They wanna pay what?" before asserting, "Honey, a zero is missing. Tell them to go find it then call me back. If you come to Taraji P. Henson, you need to come with that money, because I earned it."
