Thankful for Ben Affleck's tiny mask
It's Gossip Time!
Hello and welcome to Gossip Time, a weekly guide to the stars by Allie Jones. This week: a celebrity couple visits a jewelry store, an actress has dinner with her dog, and Ashlee Simpson goes to Applebee’s.
What are you thankful for this year? If you’re Ben Affleck, you might say, “My photogenic girlfriend.” He’s been dating Ana de Armas for a full year now, if you can believe it, and you probably can, because there are so many photos of them together. Affleck, 48, and de Armas, 32, started their relationship on the set of Deep Water in New Orleans last fall, and they returned to the city last week for reshoots. The paparazzi followed, of course, giving us shots of Affleck smoking (classic) and wearing a child-sized mask (unexplained mystery).
Photographers also caught de Armas wearing what looks like an engagement ring, but apparently it was a prop for the movie. That said, the couple seems to be encouraging engagement rumors; the day before Thanksgiving, they were photographed walking out of XIV Karats in Beverly Hills.
Affleck reportedly told the paparazzi gathered at the jewelry store, “I’m not engaged!” to which I say, “yet.” I bet we see an announcement on de Armas’s Instagram around New Years.
What about the second-most photographed celebrity couple of the pandemic, Katie Holmes, 41, and her restaurateur boyfriend Emilio Vitolo Jr., 33? They’re getting serious, too. The paparazzi spotted them buying flowers in Manhattan this week for first Thanksgiving together.
A source told Us Weekly earlier this month that Holmes “doesn’t care what people may say about rushing into the romance. In her mind, this is the real deal, they’re riding a beautiful wave together and she’s already decided it’s got the potential to go all the way.”
Do you think Vitolo Jr.’s decided the same thing? At least we know he isn’t afraid to get serious with someone, as he was engaged to another woman when he started dating Holmes in September.
There is one more couple that promises to deliver tabloid excitement this holiday season: Michael B. Jordan and Lori Harvey. The 33-year-old actor and 23-year-old daughter of Steve Harvey were photographed getting off a plane together in Atlanta the day before Thanksgiving — TMZ has the exclusive shots. Jordan and Harvey haven’t been spotted together before this week, but a hometown holiday visit indicates something is happening between them, right?
Jordan was named People’s Sexiest Man Alive! last week, and in the interview, he said he was single. Harvey, meanwhile, was last linked to Future, but the pair reportedly broke up in August. Stay tuned.
Do you know who’s just fine? That would be Jennifer Aniston. The 51-year-old actress posted this instantly iconic photo of herself with her new rescue dog Lord Chesterfield yesterday, indicating to her 35 million followers that she did the responsible thing and spent Thanksgiving at home alone (or perhaps with a small group of friends sitting just out of frame).
Aniston’s ex-husband Justin Theroux, 49, commented some positive emojis (clapping hands, prayer hands, red heart) on the post. He also made a similar declaration on his Instagram page, sharing a photo of himself eating dinner alone with his rescue dog Kuma. “We’re doing this one alone so the rest can be with loved ones,” he wrote in the caption. (He did not explain why he highlighted certain elements of the photo in gold, including his dog’s food.)
It’s been almost three years since Aniston and Theroux announced they were splitting up in a statement released by Aniston’s longtime publicist Stephen Huvane. Do you remember it? “Normally we would do this privately,” the statement said, “but given that the gossip industry cannot resist an opportunity to speculate and invent, we wanted to convey the truth directly.”
The truth is that there’s no evidence they were ever legally married, but they did not convey that at the time, directly or indirectly. Neither one of them ever hired a divorce lawyer, and it seems like everything worked out okay.
STUFF BY HILARY DUFF: Hilary Duff had homemade pizza for Thanksgiving.
Finally, I’ll leave you with these stunning, sponsored images of Ashlee Simpson and her husband Evan Ross (son of Diana Ross) drinking XL frozen cocktails at Applebee’s in L.A. last weekend:
On Instagram, Simpson posted a video in which she narrated the day’s activity. “At Applebee’s. Having holiday drinks with my man. Yep!” she said.
Yep.
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