People USA 11.1.2021

Your first series with Netflix, The Goop Lab, Life Partners
touched on pleasure; this time it’s the main
act. Have you always felt comfortable talking “There’s just
about sex? Why focus on pleasure now? something amazing
I’ve always been a curious person and wanted to about us together,”
know what works for everybody. Your sexuality is
so important for overall wellness. Repressing sex- says Paltrow of
uality and specifically female pleasure has been a Falchuk (on their
mechanism of control for a long time. If a woman wedding day in
likes sex, there’s nothing wrong with her! Do what 2018 and, below, on
gives you pleasure, and don’t shame yourself. And vacation in 2019).
vibrators are kind of funny! “I feel so grateful.”
Some of the show’s methods are unortho-
dox—including a hands-on body treatment to ‘MY
help sexual healing. How far would you go? FAMILY IS
I really believe in absolute freedom and agency of
sexuality and self-acceptance. But I’m also from a SUCH A
generation where I’m like, I don’t think I could do BLESSING’
that on-camera, I’ll say that.
Has everything you learned on the show made Model Mom
you think differently about past relationships?
There are definitely times in my life when I think, “They’re raised
God, I was so not aligned with myself, and therefore without judgment,”
I was in a relationship that was not positive for me. says Paltrow of Apple
We don’t like to fail—we white-knuckle through it (above) and Moses
and push that inner voice down. I think back mul-
tiple times when I didn’t vocalize a concern. You (right, in 2021).
want to be the cool girl, don’t want to rock the boat. “Now I just marvel at
But when you start to admit the hard stuff to your-
self, there’s no way back. It was really around 40 who they are as
when I realized the importance of [being authentic these young adults.”
in a relationship]. I wish I had gotten to that radical
truth when I was 20, but that wasn’t my path.
The show focuses on overcoming sexual trau-
ma or shame. How did that resonate for you?
An astonishing percentage of women in our culture
have had some degree of sexual trauma. It’s some-
thing very difficult to talk about. But I think there’s
acceptance in [saying], “I went through something
that was really out of alignment with what I felt

GWYNETH’S TIPS FOR SEXUAL WELLNESS

1/Take 2/Understand 3/Eradicate 4/Change 5/Give
Your Time Your Body Shame Your Thinking Self-Love

“Understand what “The female libido is “Judgment “Try to shift “Female
gives you pleasure. complicated, and it’s has no place in the paradigm on pleasure should
We are sexual beings. normal to feel the effects conversations climax. There is be celebrated,
of stress or hormonal about pleasure. It’s a broad spectrum not hidden away
And your sexual really time to undo of pleasure, and if somewhere. It’s up
language, or how changes. But it’s a those tropes of you let go of the to each individual,
you communicate disservice to say people puritanical thinking pressure to climax, but the thesis is, do
sexually, is important. lose their sexuality when and repression. what feels good.
Stay faithful to they’re older. You can Sex is how we play you can truly And don’t judge
what you want. It can have an amazing sex life enjoy each part of yourself for it.”
be hard to do.” as adults.” the experience.”
after menopause.”

November 1, 2021 49

SELLING Ho t Toy Arousing
SEXUAL ‘Vitamins’
WELLNESS Goop’s new self-heating
$89 vibrator was The latest product
(“we had to make
designed to look “fun the name a little
and approachable,” says punk rock”) is a
Paltrow. “You can just leave natural supplement
it out on your counter!” ($55) for “stronger

libidos,” says
Paltrow.

Lover’s Oil Suggestive Scents

Goop sells a The name of this $45 roll-on fragrance (which also comes in candle
variety of products form) was intended as a conversation starter. “If you laugh, there’s
already a crack in the veneer,” says Paltrow of her approach to products.
to encourage
intimacy, including

this sensual
body massage
oil by Province
Apothecary ($32).

was right. There was a breach that left me feeling plan for, a second marriage can be a beautiful gift.
The key to it has been about being as accountable
injured.” I think all of us have that to some degree. as possible for the negative ways I was in earlier
relationships. I have worked hard to break old
People see a happy relationship and say, patterns and work on long-held intimacy issues
in order to get the most out of my marriage.
“What’s your secret?” But you’ve been open What is the least “Instagram perfect” thing
about your relationship with Brad?
that there’s no magic formula. I have to say I am really lucky I married Brad.
We’ve been able to build on the stuff we’ve gone
One of the most detrimental things that can come through and create something amazing. Every Sat-
urday I make him a #boyfriendbreakfast, which
between [a couple] is the Instagram relationship. is something I started when we were dating. It’s
always something special. On the other hand, I’m
People think, “God, they’re so perfect.” We start not a good fighter. I’ll shut down. And he’s amazing
because he’ll say what’s happening and he won’t
to look externally and say, “They have something let me out of it. This happened last night, actually.
We had a really difficult, but ultimately wonderful,
I don’t have.” No, whatever relationship you’re in conversation. It’s about accountability and show-
ing up, and that’s really hard for me sometimes.
right now, it’s there to teach you something. Rela- What does sexy feel like for you now?
I always feel the sexiest when I’m on vacation.
tionships are supposed to be hard. They’re sup- I also have a little bit of the blessing of a honey-
moon phase happening again in my late 40s. I’m
posed to have friction. very grateful for our chemistry. That can get you
through some tough spots.
This being your second marriage, what Do you feel your relationship with your body
has changed from your 20s?
have you learned? Yeah. I had kids in my early 30s, coming out of my
20s when you’re in that sexy-young-girl phase.
While divorce is never Body Love And then it was like, “How do I reconcile who I am
now with that?” We have all these expectations. I
something you hope or “It’s hard as you age wanted to give myself time to be a mother and let
and change,” says my body dictate where I was going. [Paltrow paus-
Paltrow (in a 2019 es to drink a Goop tincture, part of her wellness
birthday post). “I’m protocol.] Constantly taking the freaking tincture.
working toward real
acceptance and ways
to feel really good.”

50 November 1, 2021 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: COURTESY GOOP(4); SEBASTIAN KIM/AUGUST

You said, “My next phase GOOP
has to be around real body BY THE
acceptance.” What did NUMBERS
you mean by that?
Unfortunately, women are 180
always looking at ourselves employees
with a critical eye. I’d love to
get to a place where I don’t do 1500
that anymore. I want to show
up for myself in a more lov- Goop vibrators sold
ing way, because it’s all going on Valentine’s Day
south from here! There’s
nothing we can do about it.

I’ve started to realize it’s less $4.50
about, “Oh, I have this wrin-
kle. Am I going to fix it?” It’s lowest-priced item
on Goop’s site (the

more, “Do I feel vibrant?” I highest is $35K!)

focus on meditation, hydra-

tion, eating nutrient-dense

foods and not having tons of alcohol, which I had

way too much of during the pandemic.

Do you talk to your kids about sex?

No. Teenagers do not want to talk about sex with

their mother, ever. I just try to be neutral. If they

need me for something, I’m there. And I try to rein-

force all the time that they’re amazing exactly as

they are. I think that carries through to their sexu-

ality when they’re older. Hopefully.

How have your relationships shifted as you’ve

been in your 40s?

I don’t have time in my life anymore for people

who are not dedicated to honesty and growth.

My circle is getting smaller as I get older, and I

think that’s a good thing. And I would never want

to go back to my 20s or 30s. I know myself, and I

like myself. And I no longer worry about so many

things I used to worry about.

What has gotten you through tough times?

There were multiple times in my life when I went

through low points. But everything got me to where

I am. And I don’t hold on to those hard phases so

tightly anymore. I know that everything’s going to

be okay. You’ve got to just keep riding the waves.

‘I look back at all the And rocking the boat!
things I’ve tried,
•Yes! We like to rock the boat.
all the mistakes I made,
and I really wouldn’t Scan this QR code
change anything’ to watch People

Cover Story:
Gwyneth Paltrow

on PeopleTV.

November 1, 2021 51

A Trans Child, ABIMAGES
a Loving Mother
Photographs by ALEX J. BERLINER
‘This Is
My Daughter

Ruby’

WHEN JAMIE LEE CURTIS’ DAUGHTER
RUBY CAME OUT AS TRANS TO HER
FAMILY, A CONVERSATION BEGAN.

LI T ’S O N G O I N G By J A S O N S H E E L E R
Last year Jamie Lee Curtis’s daughter Ruby sat down
in the family’s Los Angeles backyard with her mother
and her father, comedy director Christopher Guest.
Ruby had something to say. She was going to come out
as trans. But she wasn’t able to. “It was scary—just
the sheer fact of telling them something about me they
didn’t know,” Ruby says with a small laugh. Instead,
“I texted my mom later.” Says Jamie Lee: “I called her
immediately. Needless to say there were some tears
involved.” But today Ruby, 25—who works as a video
editor for a gaming personality on YouTube—is more
at ease as she, alongside her mom, talks about her jour-
ney publicly for the first time. And Jamie Lee, 62—still
with a few tears—remains ready to listen.
Ruby, for many LGBTQ people coming out is not
a onetime thing. When were you first able to say,
“I am Ruby” to yourself?
RUBY When I was about 16, a friend of mine who is
trans asked me what my gender was. I told her, “Well,
I’m male.” After, I’d dwell on the thought. I knew
I was—maybe not Ruby per se, but I knew I was dif-
ferent. But I had a negative experience in therapy,
so I didn’t come out [as trans] immediately when I
probably should have. Then, seven years later, still
being Tom at the time, I told the person who is now
my fiancé that I am probably trans. And they said, “I
love you for who you are.”
JAMIE LEE When Ruby just said her dead name—I
haven’t ever heard her say that name. It so doesn’t

52 November 1, 2021

FAMILY FUN fit anymore. That was, of course, the hardest thing.
Just the regularity of the word. The name that you’d
Ruby, dressed as given a child. That you’ve been saying their whole life.
a character And so, of course, at first that was the challenge. Then
the pronoun. My husband and I still slip occasionally.
from the game RUBY I don’t get mad at them for that.
Undertale, JAMIE LEE I think that’s sort of evolutionary and a
attended the very important step in our home. We have tried to
maintain it in a big way. And, of course, have failed. I
Halloween Kills feel like I’m a bit of a student. I don’t know much. I’m
premiere on learning a lot from Ruby.

Oct. 12 with Curtis, Jamie Lee, there is that expression “A mother knows.”
who dressed as
her own mom: JAMIE LEE I knew Ruby had had a boyfriend; I knew
that Ruby had used the word bi. But gender identi-
Janet Leigh in the ty and sexual orientation—those are two separate
movie Psycho. things. And I knew that Ruby played female avatars
in video games. But when you ask, “Did you have an
inkling that Ruby was trans?” I would say no. But
when I replayed Ruby’s life, I went, “Hmm, that,
that, those, hmm.”

Ruby, while you and your sister Annie have well-
known parents, you are both private people. Did
your family’s Hollywood legacy have any effect on
your coming out? Did it add pressure?

RUBY Yeah, no one knows anything about me, and
I’ve tried my best until now to keep it that way. But
I’m happy to talk about my experiences now. Is it
helpful to come out? Yeah. Like, people will still
remember me for who I was, but I haven’t changed
that. They finally get to see who I’ve always been, you
know, inside, but now I finally get to show it on the
outside. But me coming out has nothing to do with
my mom being famous. I’ve tried to stay out of the
spotlight for many years, or at least done my best to.
I’m happy to be more visible if it helps others.
JAMIE LEE Look, I am a public person. I have shared my
own struggle with plastic surgery, my own issues with
alcoholism and opiate addiction specifically to share
my experience, strength and hope with other people.
I’m not proselytizing, and I’m not trying to force-feed
something to people. I’m simply saying, “This is our
family’sexperience.”IamheretosupportRuby.Thatis

my job. Just as it is to care and love and sup-
port her older sister Annie in her journeys.

Jamie Lee, as the student, do you have a
question for Ruby?

JAMIE LEE I want to know: How can I do
this better? Really, I’m asking for all those
parents. If one person reads this, sees a pic-
ture of Ruby and me and says, “I feel free to
say this is who I am,” then it’s worth it.
RUBY You’ve done the most you can, and
that’s all I want. Helping others is some-
thing everyone should do. I don’t think it’s
only our household thing. It should be a

•human thing.

November 1, 2021 53

A Long Search for Justice JERRY DAVIS; INSET: FBI

KILLED IN THE
LINE OF DUTY?

Thomas Wales
(inset) had a
perfect record as
an Assistant U.S.
Attorney. People
familiar with his
case suspect that
he was shot in
his Seattle home
(right) in 2001 by
someone settling
a legal score.

54 November 1, 2021

THE TENACIOUS PROSECUTOR WAS MURDERED IN
HIS SEATTLE HOME 20 YEARS AGO. WILL A NEW $2.5
MILLION REWARD FINALLY HELP CATCH HIS KILLER?

By M A RC P E YS E R and C H R I S T I N E P E L I S E K

In his 18 years as an assistant U.S. attor-
ney in Seattle, Thomas Wales never
lost a case. It made him something of
a legend by 2001—a meticulous, hard-
charging prosecutor who neighbors
thought looked a lot like Sam Water-
ston’s district attorney character Jack
McCoy on Law & Order. But Wales had
a softer side too. He was a doting father
to kids Tom and Amy, the kind of dad
who never missed softball or soccer
games, who stopped by Dairy Queen
on the ride home for a treat and read
bedtime stories that he’d tweaked so
that the female characters were the
protagonists as often as the males. “He
was a fantastic girl dad,” says Amy. “He
made our childhood magic. He would
absolutely protect us, hold us close.”

So it all came as an earth-shattering
shock when Amy, then in her 20s and
living in the U.K., got a call that her
father—who always made sure every-
one else was safe—had himself been
killed. On the evening of Oct. 11, 2001,
Wales, 49, was shot in the neck by bul-
lets whizzing through the basement
window of the family’s home in their
quiet Queen Anne neighborhood and
was later pronounced dead at the hos-
pital. And while it might seem that
suspects in the murder of a prosecutor
would be easily identified—and that a

November 1, 2021 55

A Life Cut Wales (out on the
Short water) “just really

loved being in
serene places in the

world,” says his
daughter Amy.

An avid outdoors- “He was adventurous
man, Wales (in an and romantic,” says
undated pic) had
girlfriend Marlis
trekked up the DeJongh (with
Northwest’s most Wales in May 2001
challenging peaks. on Mount Baker).

crime scene that included clues like spent casings ‘TOM favorite resident in his neighborhood, known for
from the murder weapon would lead to a quick SHOULD his work on community planning councils as well
arrest—the case remains open. Now authori- HAVE BEEN as for the fruitcakes he made at Christmas, and
ties hope that additional focus, and funding, will FEARFUL. the coffee mug that read, “Get even. Give Fruit
change that. The Department of Justice just in- HE JUST Cake.” His desire to help wasn’t reserved just for
creased the reward for finding Wales’s killer to $2 LACKED THE friends and family. Wales specialized in white-
million, and the National Association of Former FEAR GENE’ collar crimes such as embezzlement and fraud, and
U.S. Attorneys put up an additional $500,000. he often found himself charging low-level bank tell-
“There are many cases that have been pending for —RALPH ers who had given in to temptation to steal because
a long time where the public contributes informa- FASCITELLI, they couldn’t pay their own bills. “It was his job to
tion they might think is insignificant but it actual- FRIEND prosecute them,” said Ralph Fascitelli, 69, a long-
ly helps us fill in the last piece of the puzzle,” says time friend, “but it ate at him at the same time.” So
Nick Brown, U.S. Attorney for the Western District
of Washington. “We’re hoping that $2.5 million in- CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY MARLIS DEJOHNGH(2); FBI(3); STEVE MILETICH/THE SEATTLE TIMES
centivizes people to bring that sort of information
forward.” For Amy, 42, and her brother Tom, 44,
there is hope. “This case,” says Amy, “is solvable.”

Intelligent, charming and ambitious, Wales was the FEW CLUES

kind of guy who seemed as comfortable in a court- Authorities have:
room as he was on a mountain or camping in the a sketch of a man
wilderness during a snowstorm. Though he had seen in Wales’s
gone through a divorce from his wife of 27 years,
Elizabeth, in 2000, they remained friendly, and he neighborhood
was close to his kids. He chose to stay in the home (above) and a letter
the family had shared. “Our ability to love deeply
is a reflection of how we were brought up,” says purporting to be
Amy, now a mom of two. “And the love we had in from the killer (top
our household.” right). Shawna Reid
(right, at far left,
Wales was in a new relationship—with girl- outside court in May
friend Marlis DeJongh, a court reporter who of- 2021) was the only
ten joined him on mountain hikes—and was a person arrested in

56 November 1, 2021 this case.

Wales set up a sort of “scared straight”
program where he’d introduce tellers
to convicted embezzlers to drive home
the risks of what may have seemed like
a petty crime. “Most of us do our very
best to be good human beings, but Tom
was special,” says Fascitelli.

After returning home from work on KEEPING HIS Just last month Wales’s former colleagues
MEMORY ALIVE took control of the murder investigation, after
Oct. 11, 2001, Wales gave his elderly being kept away because of concern that they
cat medication and was sitting at his On the 20th were too close to it. The lawyers there now have
desk in the basement of his beautiful anniversary of two decades’ worth of leads to comb through,
Craftsman-style home at about 10:40 Wales’s death, Amy including one of the most puzzling: a letter sent
p.m. writing emails when a gunman (top right and above) to the FBI four years after the murder in which
approached, spied Wales through a spoke and greeted the writer claims to have killed Wales after being
window and shot him. The murder friends and family hired by a “nice-talking lady.” The letter contains
weapon has never been found; the who had gathered no traces of DNA, was mailed from Las Vegas and
FBI hasn’t even confirmed the num- at Thomas C. Wales lists the name on the return address as “Gidget.”
ber of shots fired. Park in Seattle. “I’m a Though mum on specifics, “we hope to charge
those responsible for Tom’s murder,” says pros-
Who wanted Wales dead? The fighter just ecutor Brown, who notes a conference room in
most logical answer is that someone like him,” she says. their building is named for Wales, as well as an
he’dlocked upcame backto annual award for exemplary service. “His pres-
DANIEL KIM/TTHE SEATLE TIMES(2) get even. If so, Wales would ence is felt here tremendously.”
be the first sitting Assistant
U.S. Attorney killed in the For daughter Amy, it’s a presence that nev-
line of duty. Law enforce- er fades. Weeks before his murder, she woke up
ment have focused much screaming—she dreamed he’d been shot. She
of their attention on a called him, and “he joked that he would be alive
pilot Wales prosecuted on for a long time and that the largest problem that
felony-fraud charges relat- we would have with him would be his flirting with
ed to a private helicopter the ladies in the old people’s home,” she says. “We
company he owned. The exchanged ‘I love yous’.”
pilot has not been charged
in this case. The only per- Now, despite her heart-wrenching nightmare
son who has, Shawna Reid, pleaded guilty to a come true, she wants people to remember her
misdemeanor for giving contradictory state- father for who he was and not how he died: “My job
ments to authorities about someone she said is to stay strong, and I’ll do that lovingly and easily
was involved in Wales’s murder. “Her memory,”
says her attorney Michael Nance, “was muddled.” •because my dad lives on in me.”

Wales may have had enemies unrelated to If you have information on this case, contact
his job. When his son Tom was in high school, the FBI: 206-622-0460 or [email protected]
a student shot two classmates in the hall with
a stolen handgun. The act led Wales to become
the president of the Seattle chapter of Washing-
ton CeaseFire, an organization that has raised
millions and lobbied for background checks for
gun purchases and a host of other restrictions.
About two weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, Wales
went on TV to argue against arming commer-
cial pilots, a popular proposal at the time. “He
completely defied the stereotype that people
concerned about gun violence are sort of hip-
pies,” says Trevor Neilson, vice president of
Washington CeaseFire under Wales. “He was
tough as hell, and he knew how to fight.”

November 1, 2021 57

Ady Barkan
knows he’s dying
of ALS. But it’s
not his only fight:
He’s also battling
to get home health
care for everyone

who needs it

‘This Is
My Legacy’

|B y J O H N N Y D O D D P h o t o g r a p h s b y P E T E R B O H L E R

INSETS FROM TOP: COURTESY ADY BARKAN; PEOPLE’S TELEVISIONOn a lazy Sunday afternoon in 2016, Ady Barkan
and his wife, Rachael King, were out for brunch
with one of his closest friends, a medical resident
in neurology, when Ady mentioned he thought
he’d developed carpal tunnel syndrome from
holding his 4-month-old son Carl. Once the
plates were cleared, his friend performed simple
strength and reflex tests on Ady’s left hand. Unsat-
isfied, she directed Ady, after they’d paid their
check, to pace the sidewalk while she observed.
Next, she ordered him into the back of her car for

Oa test of foot and knee reflexes. “She wasn’t happy

with what she found,” Ady once wrote of the mem-
ory. “She said, ‘You should see a neurologist.’ ”

That day and those words fatefully marked the
beginning of a new reality for Ady, then 32 and
working full-time for a nonprofit after graduating
from Yale Law School. Days later, after numerous
doctor visits, more muscle and reflex tests and
several MRIs, he would receive the news he calls
his “death sentence.” Ady had amyotrophic later-
al sclerosis, or ALS, a disease causing progressive
paralysis of the muscles responsible for chewing
food, speaking and walking. It eventually leads to
complete respiratory failure, usually within five
years. “Rachael and I were both stunned,” says
Ady, who now speaks by looking at a computer-
ized keyboardthat transforms hiseye movements
into machine-generated words. “I never imagined
it could be something as insidious as ALS. My life
completely changed overnight.”

Undaunted, Ady, who depends on a ventilator
to breathe and has 24-hour nursing care at his
home in Santa Barbara, is determined to use his
remaining strength to help others by fighting for
more public funding for health care. In 2017, after
a video went viral of Ady meeting former Arizona
senator Jeff Flake on an airplane and asking him
to “be an American hero” by voting against a tax
bill that Ady believed could restrict health care to
people like him, he launched his “Be a Hero” cam-
paign. Since then Ady has emerged as one of the
nation’s most powerful voices for comprehensive

A New Reality

“The hardest
part is not being
able to speak,”
says Ady (inset,
with Rachael and
son Carl in 2016;
left, at home in
Santa Barbara in
September 2021;
right, reviewing

medical bills).

November 1, 2021 59

Ady’s Journey: From Pain & Fear
Patient to Powerhouse
“This has been
heartbreaking for
our friends,” says
Ady (center, with,
from left, pal Simeon,
Rachael, Carl and
friend Davida, after
his diagnosis in 2016).

No Apologies Essential Care

Ady (being arrested at a “It’s a huge cost,” Rachael says of
protest in Washington, D.C., the medical care Ady (with aide
Robert Martinez in September)
in 2017) says battling his needs. “But Ady really can’t live
insurance company helps “fuel
the advocacy I do every day.” without home health aides.”

publicly funded health care. His most recent cru- ty, had just started a new family. Rachael had
sade is adding $400 billion to President Biden’s given birth four months earlier to their first
proposed infrastructure bill for home health care child, Carl, and was on track to gain tenure as an
givers of the elderly and disabled. “Providing care English professor at the University of Califor-
for people we love isn’t a Republican or Democrat- nia, Santa Barbara. Ady, a child of immigrants
ic issue,” says Ady, now 37, who credits home care from Israel who was raised in California, had
with giving him “a beautiful, full life” with family worked as a clerk for the federal judge who
instead of alone in a nursing home. “It’s an Ameri- helped to eventually end the New York Police
can issue and a moral one to ensure that everyone Department’s controversial stop-and-frisk pro-
gets to live safely, with dignity and respect.” gram. In California, Ady was leading a national
campaign to reform the Federal Reserve. “We
Ady’s passion for expanded health care— knew nobody who seemed happier or luckier
which has led to several arrests at the U.S. Capi- than us,” says Ady. But within two years of the
tol and during a six-week, 22-state speaking tour
in the 2018 midterm elections cycle—is chroni- Support System
cled in the new documentary Not Going Quietly,
which is making the film-festival circuit and is “A big part of
available to stream. “Ady embodies a weird com- my resilience
bination of refusing to compromise under the comes from being
direst of conditions and an incredibly effective, surrounded each day
pragmatic political mind,” says actor Bradley by my family—their
Whitford, his friend and an executive producer deep love fuels me,”
of the documentary. “Democracy is his religion.” says Ady (with,
from left, Willow,
The medical nightmare that upended Ady and Rachael and Carl).
Rachael’s lives came at a time when the couple,
who met as undergrads at Columbia Universi-

60 November 1, 2021 (RACHAEL) HAIR & MAKEUP: TAHNI SMITH; COUNTERCLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY ADY BARKAN; MICHAEL NIGRO

diagnosis, Ady had completely lost his ability HOME fully dependent on a ventilator along with the
to walk. “ALS is the story of things becoming HEALTH 24-hour care his insurer finally agreed to cover.
impossible,” he says. “Things I used to take for CARE: “Home care saved my marriage, as Rachael and I
granted, like going for a run or chasing Carl BY THE got to be partners and co-parents again instead of
around, are simply just not possible.” NUMBERS patient and caregiver,” says Ady. “But my reality is
the exception. . . . Even good health insurance does
Before long the couple were battling their 820 not cover the full-time care that living with ALS
health insurance provider after the company requires.” More than 800,000 children, adults and
denied Ady’s request for a ventilator to help him THOUSAND seniors are currently on waiting lists for Medic-
breathe, medication to slow the loss of his physical Patients on aid’s home- and community-based care, he says.
functions and in-home care. “The experience of Medicaid waiting
pleading for my life,” says Ady, “was completely lists for home care Despite being paralyzed from the neck down,
dehumanizing.” Adds Rachael, 36: “The system Ady—whose caretakers take two hours each morn-
is set up to make people struggle all the time. $17K ing to get him ready for the day and another two
They would deny things right away, hoping that hours at night preparing him for bed—spends “a
we would just pay and not challenge the bill.” Average monthly big chunk of each day scheming with friends and
But the weaker Ady became physically, the more cost for 24-hour comrades” on Zoom calls, he says, making media
fiercely determined he was to use the example of appearances and writing emails and memos. In the
his rapidly deteriorating body to make health care home care evenings, Carl and Willow crawl up on his lap and
the top issue for voters in 2018. His days during listen to music, often Aretha Franklin, and watch
his cross-country trek, driving in a wheelchair- 39 Sesame Street. “I keep going because giving up
accessible van purchased in part with GoFundMe Average wait won’t make life easier,” says Ady. “I want to leave
donations, were filled with speeches, protests and time, in months, behind a legacy that inspires at least a couple of
meetings with lawmakers and activists. In 2019, new people to get involved, be part of our political
shortly before the arrival of the couple’s daugh- for home care process. The cure for what ails American democ-
ter Willow, Ady had a tracheostomy and was
•racy is more American democracy.”

‘I get to live
a beautiful
life because
of 24-hour
home care’

—ADY
BARKAN

double
talk

T IM OT HÉE D A Y A
HA LA MET
HeatiHngolUlypwoodC & ZEN

TWO OF THE UNIVERSE’S
MOST CELEBRATED YOUNG
STARS CHAT ABOUT FAME,

FAMILY, FASHION AND
THEIR SCI-FI EPIC DUNE

By M I A M c N I EC E

Interstellar
Journey

“I had to bring
my A game,”
says Zendaya (as
warrior Chani
with Chalamet
as royal heir Paul
Atreides) of
Dune, in theaters
and on HBO Max
on Oct. 22.

What happens when you bring together two
25-year-old stars at the top of their game?
For Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya, it
was instant chemistry. When they first met
about costarring in Dune, recalls Zendaya,
“I didn’t want to be presumptuous because
I hadn’t gotten the job yet, but I was like,
‘That went really well.’ We had a good vibe.”
On-set they forged a close friendship. “She
was like a breath of fresh air,” says Chala-
met. “She had a great energy.”

Filming the outer-space saga involved
heavy emotions and harsh environments,
like the sand dunes of Jordan. But the two
still managed to have fun. “In between
action and cut, we were going 1,000 percent.
But after, we were having dance parties
with all the actors,” Chalamet says. (The
cast also includes Javier Bardem, Josh
Brolin, Oscar Isaac and Jason Momoa.)

The pair’s careers are continuing to
boom: Zendaya returns as Spidey’s love MJ
in Spider-Man: No Way Home in Decem-
ber. Chalamet is playing iconic candyman
Willy Wonka in the prequel Wonka, now
filming. They hope to maintain their bond
as they navigate Hollywood. Says Zendaya:
“I’m just so grateful that this experience has
been with this guy, because he’s massively
talented but also such a good person.”

As your careers skyrocket, how do you
stay grounded?

ZENDAYA I have a massive family, lots of
brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews,
pulling my ass back down to the ground,
which is great. You need that ground-
ing and that support. I’m lucky to also
have great friends—this guy has become
one of them.

November 1, 2021 63

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET I too have a great family Scan this QR code tearsbytheend.Thathasstayedwithmealongtime.
that can yank me back to earth. My mom was an with your phone’s ZENDAYA I grew up with Shakespeare because my
actress. My sister’s an actress. So they get it. camera to watch mom worked at a Shakespeare theater company
People Features: starting when I was just 2 years old. As a child I
What’s going through your head when Timothée Chalamet saw every Shakespeare play a million times, and I
you’re standing on a massive red carpet like loved it. I would just sit in the back with my little
at the Oscars or the Venice Film Festival? and Zendaya hot chocolate and watch it. Somehow I under-
on PeopleTV. stood it. I was like, “I don’t know what they’re
CHALAMET It feels like Looney Tunes in the best doing, but I want to do that. I want to be up there.”
way. You’ve got to soak it in and not take it for
granted for a second. We are so lucky. If you can What are your favorite projects of each other’s?
support yourself as an actor, pay your rent, that’s
already a dream come true. But then if you get CHALAMET Euphoria blew me away. Zendaya’s
to work on stuff you like with people you enjoy role is incredible and insightful and just a beau-
spending time with, that’s a treat. tiful performance.
ZENDAYA Aw, thanks, man. He continuously
Do you still enjoy getting dressed up for events? comes up with beautiful performances. There’s
not a pretentiousness in how you go about choos-
CHALAMET Hell, yeah! You can have fun with it ing things. It has nothing to do with “Oh, it’s a
now. I don’t think actors 30 years ago would have. good career move.” It’s just like, “This feels good
I love the energy of a big event. for my soul as an actor.” I’m excited for the things
ZENDAYA We’re fashion kids for sure. Fashion is a you have coming out, and I’m always going to be
form of self-expression. supporting you.

What influenced you to go into acting You’re both insanely busy. What are you going
when you were kids? to do when you get a day off?

CHALAMET I saw a show called Slava’s Snowshow CHALAMET Finally finish watching White Lotus.
when I was 12 or 13 in New York. My mom dragged
meto it,and there is aRussianclowninit.Iencour- •ZENDAYA Sleep!
ageanybodytogoonYouTubeandlookitup.Itwasa
clown show that was so emotional and deep with no
words.Youhadatheaterfullofadultsandchildrenin

How They Became Superstars at 25

Oakland-born Zendaya fell in After starring on Disney In 2020 she won an Emmy Zendaya
love with acting while watching Channel’s Shake It Up in 2010, for her role in the HBO series rocked
plays at a Shakespeare theater she found film success playing a yellow
MJ in Spider-Man: Homecoming Euphoria and celebrated Valentino
in Orinda, Calif., where her with her friends and family dress at
mother was the house manager. opposite Tom Holland. during the virtual telecast. the 2021
Oscars and
a Maison
Alaïa two-
piece look
at the Dune
premiere
in Paris.

In the Beginning Breakout Roles Fame and Acclaim Style
Standouts

New York City native Chalamet At 21, he wowed audiences He nabbed an Oscar nod Chalamet
appeared in commercials as as a youth exploring his and an Indie Spirit Award paired a white
for Call Me by Your Name. satin tuxedo
a kid and says 2008’s The Dark sexuality in the coming-of- “Two years ago . . . no one
Knight helped inspire him age drama Call Me by Your knew who I was,” he said. jacket with
to pursue an acting career. Name (with Armie Hammer). Converse and
sweats at this
64 November 1, 2021
year’s Met
Gala; he wore
Louis Vuitton

at 2019’s
Golden Globe

Awards.

(PREVIOUS SPREAD) JULIAN UNGANO; INSET: COURTESY WARNER BROS. PICTURES; (THIS SPREAD) CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT:
JULIAN UNGANO; MATT BARON/BEI/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; EVAN AGOSTINI/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; BROADIMAGE/
SHUTTERSTOCK; FRENESY FILM CO/SONY/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK; COURTESY TIMOTHEE CHALAMET; COURTESY ZENDAYA;
EVERETT; ABC/GETTY IMAGES; CHRIS PIZZELLO/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; KCS PRESSE/MEGA

‘You’ve got
to soak it
in and not
take it for
granted for
a second’

—CHALAMET
ON SUCCESS

FOR ADULTS WITH RELAPSING MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (MS)

BE READY FOR WHAT’S NEXT

I take ZEPOSIA, a once-daily pill.

And I take on GOAL that matter to me.

Ask your MS healthcare team about ZEPOSIA today.

® †
†
o
IMPORTANT FACTS o
o
® o

oo o
oo o
o o
o
o •

IMPORTANT FACTS (CONT’D) •
• •
•
• •
•
• •

• •
• •
•
oo
• oo
o
• oo
• •
•
• •
•
• •
•
• oo
• oo
• •

• oo
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• o
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®

®

Her Harrowing
Journey

Blair (left) lost her
hair during her 2019
stem cell transplant
in Chicago and says

“it’s important”
that people see the

full scope of her
experience with MS.

SELMA
BLAIR

‘I Want THE ACTRESS SHARES
to Tell THE BRUTAL REALITY
OF LIVING WITH THE

CHRONIC DISEASE
AND EXPLAINS WHY
IT’S SO IMPORTANT
TO SHOW THE WORLD

By KA R A WA R N E R

the Truth
About
MS’

68 November 1, 2021

MAGDALENA WOSINSKA/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX IIn the summer of 2019 Selma Blair’s
doctor told her to prepare herself for
the worst ahead of possibly life-altering
but risky stem cell treatment. The
actress had been diagnosed with mul-
tiple sclerosis in 2018, and the chronic
degenerative neurological disease had
wreaked havoc on her body, at times
leaving her struggling to walk and even
talk. The intense two-month procedure
was her best option for jump-starting
her immune system, but it didn’t come
with any guarantees. “I was told to make
plans for dying,” she says in a scene from
the unfiltered and unflinching new doc-
umentary Introducing, Selma Blair.
In the film the actress, best known for
her supporting roles in movies like Cru-
el Intentions and Legally Blonde, offers
an intimate and often difficult-to-watch
look at what she’s endured since going
public with her diagnosis Oct. 20, 2018.
“It was a really hard time in my life,”
the star, 49, says of the period of illness,
treatment and recovery captured in
the documentary. The gripping scenes
in a Chicago hospital where she
received treatment show a woman
robbed of her energy, her appetite, her
optimism and her hair. “People don’t
say how excruciating, emotionally, it
can be to kind of prove you’re not well,”
she says of the lack of awareness about
the disease and her motivation for
doing the documentary. “But I want to
tell the truth about MS. It is important
to me that people see what living with
a chronic illness is like.” Shot over 25
days between 2019 and 2020 by film-
maker and now close friend Rachel
Fleit, the film (currently in theaters and
streamingondiscovery+) takes viewers
on Blair’s journey while showcasing
her sense of humor and resilience in
the face of her new and varied life chal-
lenges. “I’m trying to look dead for a
dramatic ending,” she deadpans while
lying on the floor in one scene.

November 1, 2021 69

THE MAKING OF A Friends and
LIFE-CHANGING Collaborators

DOCUMENTARY Director Rachel Fleit
(left) says she felt an
instant connection

to Blair. “She was
disarming and

charming,” says Fleit.

One year after the stem cell treatment, Blair’s MS A Safe Space
is officially in remission (meaning there is currently
no evidence of disease progression), and although “It’s not a ‘celebrity
she says she’s noticed “huge improvements” in doc’ to me,” says

Blair (above, enjoying
backyard pool therapy
in Introducing, Selma

Blair). “It’s not
polished. It’s intimate

and easy.”

her speech and movement, she often uses a cane

to walk. She’s also quick to note she is not cured, as Wheeling Around cult that needed to be shown to the world,” she says.
there is no cure for MS. Some days, she explains, the
“severe fatigue is still such a gargantuan boulder in Filming the doc “was
my way,” but she’s constantly working on ways to easy for me because
curb it and spend as much time as possible with her I was being taken care
son Arthur, 10, whose dad is fashion designer Jason of all the way around,”
Bleick, whom she dated from 2010 to 2012. “Noth-
ing was off-limits,” Fleit says of her access to Blair. says Blair (right,
with assistant Bonny

Burke and friend
Julie De Santo).

“There was nothing we couldn’t show or couldn’t ‘This “There’s emotion and pain, but it isn’t a sad story.
isn’t a sad It’s actually quite an inspiring one.”
talk about. She didn’t even do hair and makeup story. It’s
quite an An unexpected side effect of Blair’s hemato-
the whole time.” To that Blair quips, “Rub it in!” inspiring
poietic stem cell transplantation (see sidebar)
But seriously, she continues, “I was too busy not one’ that she’s now dealing with is what she calls
“instant” perimenopause. “That was a real body
feeling well. Let’s hope that never happens again.” —DIRECTOR hit,” she admits, joking that menopause will be
RACHEL FLEIT “our next documentary, about the seven years
Despite the brutal reality presented onscreen, of perimenopause that I look forward to.” Still,
she’s focused on the positive changes in her daily
Fleit notes that Introducing

Defining isn’t a sob story. “I found this
Moments incredible, remarkable sub-
ject who was going through
A scene from something quite intense and
Introducing, Selma extremely painful and diffi-
Blair (below), just
before she received

her stem cells.

WHAT IS A STEM CELL TRANSPLANT?

The goal of Blair’s hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT)
was to reset her malfunctioning immune system. “In autoimmune diseases

your immune cells get confused and attack your own body,” her doctor
Richard K. Burt of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, explains in Introducing,

Selma Blair. A stem cell transplant replaces damaged and lost cells
and tissues, but first several rounds of intense chemotherapy reset the

immune system “to zero” so it can be rebuilt, clinical research nurse
Kathleen Quigley of Feinberg School of Medicine explains. “The stem
cells then help boost your immune system back.” According to the film,

the treatment has an 83 percent success rate after two years.

70 November 1, 2021 COUNTERCLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY DISCOVERY+(3)

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life. “I’m working on it. Little by lit- Making an Impact
tle, I can do all these things,” she says,
adding that she and Arthur now play Blair’s activism on behalf
football together, albeit a slightly of MS awareness has
one-sided version. “I just get pelted
with balls,” she says. “I mean, I can’t the potential to change
say I could go running, but I can jog lives. “She’s talking about
down to the mailbox if I were to prac-
tice a few times.” all of the challenges,
the good and the bad,”
She has also spent the past year says Multiple Sclerosis
during the pandemic working with Association of America
vocal and physical therapists over CEO Gina Ross Murdoch,
Zoom to improve her movement who has worked with Blair
and balance and has learned help- on community outreach.
ful techniques to manage her body’s “That honest, raw look
minor flare-ups. “My version of MS is incredibly helpful to
really screws with my mind,” she tell the story of what the
says. “It’s triggered by my own emo- disease is about and the
daily struggles. She’s
using her platform to
connect and empower
people and educate those
who don’t know about
MS. She’s given the MS
community a great gift.”

tions and fears, adrenaline, as well

as lights and sounds. I am working

on those things. If you see me start to shake,

it means my nerves got big. Getting into a ball

for a minute and resetting myself helps. Or I’ll

jump into the cold pool and swim.”

Although it continues to be an uphill climb,

she’s proud of the awareness she is helping to

raise about the disease and is working on making

changes within the community. She would love

to be involved with making adaptive clothing

with magnetic options ‘If I can

HER CIRCLE since buttons can be continue to
OF SUPPORT challenging for people move this
living with MS. “All last needle for
Forever Friends week I couldn’t undo

Blair has relied on my buttons for some myself and get
encouragement from strong again,
longtime pals Shannen reason,” she says. “I’m that’s a game
Doherty (left) and Sarah asking everyone—my
Michelle Gellar (center), son, the babysitter—for changer’
her Cruel Intentions costar. help. I even had to ask

a stranger on the air- — S E L M A B L A I R

plane to help me undo

my pants so I could use the restroom. I’m an

outgoing, possibly too outgoing of a person, so

that’s not that hard for me, but I imagine there’s

a lot of other people who would wind up wetting

their pants in the scenario.”

As she continues working to overcome every-

day obstacles, Blair is enjoying life’s simple plea-

Mom’s No. 1 Fan sures, such as horseback riding and spending

Blair’s son Arthur time with Arthur and their dog Pippa. She hopes
said he was “proud”
of his mother as he her openness about her own struggles will help
joined her (above)
at a screening of her others going through MS not to feel alone. “I’m
documentary in L.A.
trying to develop a love story with life right
on Oct. 14.
now,” she says. “Things are coming along for
COUNTERCLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: STORME ATLANTIS
WORTHINGTON; JORDAN STRAUSS/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK •sure. I really do feel like a new person.”

November 1, 2021 73

M eghanMcCainhasmadeacareer
out of saying exactly how she
feels—about everything. But
now there’s something she is
“really nervous” to share: In the
six months after she gave birth to baby Liberty in
September 2020, the daughter of the late Sen.
John McCain was plagued by severe postpartum
anxiety. “It’s the second hardest thing I’ve ever
[gone through] other than my dad dying,” McCain,
37, tells People in her first interview about her pri-
vate pain. Gripped by an irrational certainty that
someone would try to kidnap her infant daughter
(“I wanted armed guards outside our house” ) and
fearful even to leave home, the former cohost of
The Viewsays it took a pediatrician’s intuition and
a treatment plan to bring her back to “feeling
steady.” With her new audio memoir Bad Repub-
lican,out Oct. 21, McCain now hopes to help other
new moms who are suffering realize they are not
alone. “I feel raw and vulnerable about it, but peo-
ple need to share stories about struggles with

MENTAL HEALTH ‘I wanted
to get better,
Let’s Talk
About It but it was
really hard’
MEGHAN McCAIN
—MEGHAN
My Struggle McCAIN

With Postpartum
Anxiety
OVERJOYED TO HAVE A CHILD LAST YEAR, EMILY SHUR/AUDIBLE
T H E V I E W A LU M S O O N F E LT OV E R W H E L M E D

AS WELL. NOW SHE’S SPEAKING OUT
ABOUT TREATMENT AND THE IMPORTANCE
OF SUPPORTING MOMS By A DA M C A R L S O N

74 November 1, 2021

Looking Back at Liberty’s First Year

Settling In

Meghan and
husband Ben
(below) are
raising Liberty

in a quaint
neighborhood
outside D.C.

First Birthday Hard to Let Go

‘Chaotic’ Labor The celebration included “a Meghan now has separation
million balloons” and a cake pangs when she leaves but keeps
Liberty was born by emergency C-section while
The Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry Baby” played. for smashing—but Liberty just them in check: “She’s perfectly

picked out the strawberries. fine with my husband.”

motherhood—not just it being picture perfect.” Bad Republican, “The pediatrician pulled me aside and was like, ‘You
With all the hubris of a self-described “alpha,” available on Audible, need to talk to someone.’ ” Domenech, whose dad
is part memoir and friends had warned him to watch for postpartum
McCain skipped online birthing classes during her part political critique. distress “because it can get serious fast,” says he’s
pandemic pregnancy. “I hate Zooms, I was like, “grateful she got help.” McCain started Zoom ses-
‘I’ll figure it out,’ ” she recalls. So she felt especially sions with a therapist specializing in postpartum
unprepared when a prolonged labor ended in an issues. But she was “hesitant” about medication
emergency C-section, and then extended hospital- until Halloween proved a terrible tipping point. The
ization for postpartumpreeclampsia,whichraised thought of taking Liberty around the neighborhood
her blood pressure so high she sometimes couldn’t in her pumpkin onesie left McCain in tears. “I was
breathe. But having Liberty was bliss. “I fell in love like, people are going to come towards us. I was hav-
with her so quickly,” McCain says. “And I found it ing a hard time doing something as simple as leaving
overwhelming at the same time.” thehousewithababyinastroller,”shesays.Acourse
of antidepressants steadied her. “I trust medical
It was when McCain—feeling “really paranoid professionals,” McCain says. “I did everything they
andbarelyshoweringorfunctioning”—andherhus- told me to do because I wanted to get better.” After
band, the conservative website publisher Ben Do- her maternity leave ended in early January, McCain
menech, 39, took their daughter to her second pe- found she no longer had the stomach for what she
diatrician’s visit in early October 2020 that McCain calls The View’s “toxic environment.” She left in
was given a postpartum questionnaire on how she August. What’s next? She thinks about doing polit-
was feeling. “Clearly I didn’t ace it,” she jokes now. ical consulting and running for office herself—“at
some point, maybe.” For now McCain is happy at
COURTESY MEGHAN MCCAIN(4) Ups and Downs on Live TV home—in the Washington, D.C. area—playing with
Liberty for hours at a time. “Everything she does
‘It Got Really entertains me,” McCain says. “I can’t believe how
Negative’
•muchIlikeit.Nooneismoresurprisedthanme.”
The acidity that
seeped into The How to get help: Experts say postpartum anxiety
View during COVID can be addressed with a combination of treatments—
isolation—as when including talk therapy and medication, as appropriate.
Joy Behar (left) If you or someone you know needs mental health
said, after McCain’s help, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line
maternity leave, “I at 741-741 to be connected to a certified counselor.
did not miss you”—
helped spur her exit,

McCain says.

November 1, 2021 75

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COURTESY ELANA MCDONALD AND DELANA WARDLAW Mission I t Ta ke s Tw o local radio show and their website thetwin
sisterdocs.com,thesisters,wholeanoneach
THESE SISTERS BUILD TRUST “It’s good to other for advice (“If I have an issue at 2 in
WITH THEIR PATIENTS IN HOPES have a colleague the morning, guess who I call?” says Ward-
readily available,” law), have worked together to build trust
OF KEEPING THEIR PHILLY quips Dr. Delana in their communities. Since the pandem-
CO M M U N I T Y H E A LT H Y Wardlaw (left) ic they’ve focused on COVID-19, volun-
teering at testing sites and school vaccine
G rowingupinanorthPhila- with twin Dr.
delphianeighborhoodchal- Elana McDonald. clinics and addressing vaccine hesitancy.
lenged by poverty, identical “African Americans were disproportion-
twin sisters Delana Ward- Below: Testing ately affected by COVID,” says Wardlaw.
law and Elana McDon- a patient. “And there is so much misinformation.”
ald learned an important
lesson about community. ‘OUR WORK To confront it, the sisters, each of
“Everybody was involved in IS AN whom is married with two teenage kids,
keeping an eye on the chil- EXTENSION often share personal stories with patients. “I tell
dren, making sure everyone OF OUR them I’ve taken the vaccine, my children have been
was safe,” recalls Wardlaw. SISTERHOOD’ vaccinated, and I trust the science,” McDonald says.
But over time the sisters, who lost their That convinced Stanley Adams, 72, a longtime
grandmother to breast cancer when she —DR. ELANA patient who was initially skeptical. “It took encour-
was just 53, realized that while there was McDONALD agement for me from Dr. Wardlaw to break down
no shortage of love in at-risk neighbor- and get the COVID shot,” says Adams. “She has my
hoods, there was a lack of quality health care. De- best interest at heart.” That’s exactly the message
termined to change that—and with encouragement the sisters hope they send. “We’re humbled by how
from parents who made education a priority—both appreciative people are, and we’re grateful for the
eventually decided to become doctors. “I wanted to opportunity to do this every day,” McDonald says.
enter a profession where I could make a long-term
difference in people’s lives,” says McDonald. By STEPHANIE EMMA PFEFFER

For the past two decades the sisters, now 46, have with reporting by DIANE HERBST
been doing just that, McDonald as a pediatrician
and Wardlaw as a family practitioner, both choos-
ing to root their practices in their hometown. “Our
goal was to make sure people in underserved areas
aregettingthebesthealthcarepossible,”McDonald
says. Through town hall meetings, a guest spot on a

November 1, 2021 77

The Podcast for
People in the Know

A new podcast covering the most talked-about
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features, and inspiring stories about real people.

SNAP TO LISTEN Hosted by
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JANINE RUBENSTEIN

Holiday

VIEWING
GUIDE

’TIS ALREADY

SISTER SWAP: THE SEASON FOR
A HOMETOWN
HOLIDAY AND CHRISTMAS MOVIES,
SISTER SWAP:
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY SPECIALS
IN THE CITY
AND MORE!
Ashley Williams,
Kimberly 1 FAMILY AFFAIRS 5 REASONS TO CURL
UP WITH SOME COCOA
Williams-Paisley
Sisters Finally Share the Screen
Dec. 5 & Dec. 12
on Hallmark

Ashley Williams and Kimberly Williams-Paisley’s first onscreen pairing has been almost a
lifetime in the making. “We’ve been wanting to work together since Ashley was born,” jokes
Kimberly, 50 (right). The siblings serve as executive producers and play sisters in a two-movie
event on the Hallmark Channel, Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday and Sister Swap: Christmas
in the City. “Our characters end up switching places,” explains Ashley, 42. “I take her job, and she

goes back to the hometown where I normally live, and we get to experience each other’s
worlds.” Adds Kimberly: “We rely on each other so much, and that’s what these characters do as
well.” The family connection includes Ashley’s husband, Neal Dodson, an executive producer

on both films, and Kimberly’s husband, country star Brad Paisley, who wrote a song
for one of them. Says Kimberly: “It was really one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”

PORTRAIT: LARSEN&TALBERT A Father-Daughter Act HOLIDAY IN
SANTA FE
Mario Lopez cast his 11-year-old daughter Gia in his latest Lifetime
holiday movie, Holiday in Santa Fe, which he also executive-produced. Mario Lopez,
“I wanted it to have heart, to focus on family,” he says in People’s new Gia Lopez
special edition It’s a Wonderful Lifetime Christmas (available now). “I
Dec. 10 on
wanted it to be funny and have a little Latin flavor. . . . My daughter Lifetime
plays my niece and sort of steals the show.”

79

2 A BELOVED MUSICAL

Taraji Brings
Villainous Joy

For Taraji P. Henson, there are no hard
knocks about performing live as Miss
Hannigan, the crooked head of an

orphanage, in Annie Live! “There’s always
some butterflies when it comes to

doing live events, but that’s part of the fun,”
says Henson, 51, who began her career in

theater. Celina Smith, 12, plays Annie, and
Harry Connick Jr. plays Daddy Warbucks.
“The holidays are an opportunity to bring
people together and prioritize happiness,

and that’s what musicals do,” says
Henson. “They’re joyous and make you
feel you’re part of a larger community.”

Carol Burnett, ANNIE LIVE!
who played Miss
Hannigan in 1982’s Taraji P.
Annie, “will always Henson, Harry
be one of my biggest
Connick Jr.,
inspirations,” Celina Smith
says Henson (right,
Dec. 2 on NBC
in character).

3 REUNIONS

Saturday CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: EVERETT; LIFETIME; COLUMBIA/KOBAL/REX/
Night Live SHUTTERSTOCK; PAUL GILMORE/NBC; ARMANDO SANCHEZ/LIFETIME; EVERETT; MARY ELLEN

High School A CLÜSTERFÜNKE CHRISTMAS The Brady PEOPLE PRESENTS: MATTHEWS/NBCU PHOTO BANK/GETTY IMAGES; DAVID DOLSEN
Musical Bunch BLENDING CHRISTMAS
December on MTV Studios
A CHRISTMAS DANCE REUNION SNL alums Ana Gasteyer and Dec. 12 on Lifetime
Rachel Dratch cowrote and Original Bradys Barry
Dec. 3 on Lifetime star in this celebratory send-up of Williams, Christopher Knight,
After three HSM movies, Monique romantic holiday TV movies. Mike Lookinland and Susan
Coleman and Corbin Bleu play former Also starring Vella Lovell (top) Olsen play loud uncles and an
dance partners coming together to aunt trying to help Liam (Aaron
celebrate the Winterleigh Resort and Cheyenne Jackson. O’Connell) with a surprise
before it closes its doors. Will it be the proposal to Emma (Haylie Duff).
start of something new? Bet on it!

80 November 1, 2021

5 SERIES & SPECIALS

4 SEQUELS

THE PRINCESS SWITCH 3: ELLEN’S 12 DAYS OF GIVEAWAYS
R O M A N C I N G T H E S TA R • Nov. 18 on Netflix
People is partnering with The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Vanessa Hudgens pulls triple duty again to make this December’s giveaways even bigger—
with aplomb as Queen Margaret, Princess and five lucky readers will win a pair of tickets for a

Stacy and Margaret’s cousin Fiona. “12 Days” show. Visit people.com/ellen to enter.

COUNTERCLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: LIFETIME; PAUL ARCHULETA/GETTY IMAGES; KEVIN ESTRADA/AMAZON PRIME VIDEO; OWN; HOME SWEET THE BIG HOLIDAY
MICHAEL ROZMAN/WARNER BROS; MARK MAINZ/NETFLIX; PHILIPPE BOSS/20TH CENTURY STUDIOS; UPTV HOME ALONE FOOD FIGHT

Nov. 12 on Disney+ Nov. 16 on OWN
At least one Kym Whitley hosts
as three home cooks
McCallister turns up
in this Home Alone attempt to wow
reboot led by Archie judges Gina Neely,
Yates. Ellie Kemper Darnell “SuperChef”
and Rob Delaney are Ferguson and James
the would-be thieves.
Wright Chanel
CHRISTMAS with recipes that
WITH A PRINCE:
THE ROYAL BABY have become
family traditions.
Nov. 7 on UPtv
In the series’ third WITH LOVE
movie, Tasha (Kaitlyn
Dec. 17 on Amazon
Leeb) and Alec Each episode
(Nick Hounslow) are
follows siblings Lily
expecting their and Jorge Diaz
first child . . . or two?
(Emeraude Toubia
THE CHRISTMAS and Mark Indelicato)
HOUSE 2: DECK
THOSE HALLS during a different
holiday as they try to
on Hallmark
The modern Mitchell find love. Vincent
Rodriguez, Rome
family is back for Flynn and Constance
more “shenanigans,” Marie also star.
co-creator and star

Robert Buckley
teased from set.

MERRY LIDDLE
CHRISTMAS BABY

Nov. 27 on Lifetime
Jacquie (Kelly
Rowland), Tyler

(Thomas Cadrot)
and the rest of the
Liddle family have
much to celebrate in
their third go-round.

HOLIDAY 22OCT. 12 88 $50,000
MOVIES new original holiday
BY THE Date of the first 2021 holiday holiday TV movies TV movies coming to approximate snow budget per holiday movie
NUMBERS TV movie (You, Me & the since 2012 have Hallmark, Lifetime & GAC
starred $2 million approximate budget
Christmas Trees on Hallmark) Lacey Family alone in 2021 for a Hallmark movie
Chabert

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lifestyle

Allyson Felix

What My Life’s Really Like

THE GOLD MEDALIST, 35, TALKS ABOUT HER INTENSE WORKOUTS, BEING A MOM
AND HOW SHE HOPES TO MAKE THE WORLD BETTER By B R I A N N E T R AC Y

Things haven’t slowed down since the Pe r fe c t Te a m

Olympics . . . I have the World Athletics “I’m the
disciplinarian,
Championships coming up in 2022, and he’s very
free-flowing,”
so I’m training daily. After dropping Felix says of

my daughter off at school in the parenting
with her husband,
morning, I’ll head to the track and do hurdler Kenneth

conditioning for three hours. Then Ferguson
(in Mexico
I’ll have some lunch and go to the gym last year).

for strength work for another two

hours. I’m always checking to make

sure I’m hydrating enough!

I had my own doubts about coming

back after pregnancy . . . I suffered Going Glam

‘I constantly from severe preeclampsia, and Felix wore a Fendi
remind myself after childbirth I struggled with Couture gown for the
not feeling like myself. What Met Gala in September.
that even if really helped was surrounding “I loved getting ready
I never win myself with positivity and
another medal, people who believed in me. That with my teammate
Simone Biles,”
I am still she says.
enough’
DAILY
and looking at the data that I was on STATS

pace. To have it come together at the Alarm
set for . . .
games was really special. I was proud 6:30 a.m.

Her Biggest Win to represent other moms. First thing . . .
10 minutes of
“She’s at such I’m always running around as a mom . . .  meditation.
a fun age,” Felix
says of daughter I remember two days after I got home Coffee . . .
Camryn, 2 (with Nope. I try to
their dog Lucy). from the Olympics, I got a call from get three liters
of water a day.
Making my daughter’s school saying she was Lights out . . .
History 12:30 or 1 a.m.
sick and needed to be picked up. I don’t sleep as On Her
At the Tokyo much since Nightstand
Olympics You just get right back into life and having a child! 
The memoir My
Felix became the knowing this little person needs Time Will Come
most decorated by activist and
U.S. track and you to take care of them. poet Ian Manuel:
field athlete of “It’s incredibly
And now I’m also trying to build a
all time, with powerful,”
11 medals. company . . . After I parted ways with she says.

(OLYMPICS) PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES; (MET) JOHN SHEARER/ Nike [in protest of the company’s
WIREIMAGE; (WATCH) COURTESY APPLE; (SHOE) COURTESY ATHLETA
maternity-leave policies] last year, I

needed shoes to wear at the Olympics.

My brother was like, “What if we do

this ourselves?” It sounded crazy.

But the more I sat with it, I was like, Side
Hustle
“Wow, this is an opportunity.” Instead Data Focused
She launched
of asking for change, actually becom- Running or Saysh in
cycling, she uses
ing that change. Being an athlete, I her Apple Watch June—and
to track her heart the first
always felt like I needed to focus on
rate “and my style is now
performance. But getting older, I’ve sleep, which is available
really important at Athleta.
•realized the power of my voice. for recovery.”
83

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