Though it was never an outright hit, St. Elsewhere punched way above its weight in terms of the careers it helped launch and a style that set the template for medical dramas that followed it. The show can also boast one of the more memorable series finales in TV history.
Created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey, St. Elsewhere followed the staff and patients at a struggling Boston hospital over six seasons on NBC, from 1982 to 1988. Like its fellow NBC show Hill Street Blues (both were from MTM Enterprises), St. Elsewhere pioneered a new kind of storytelling. Hospital dramas that came before it focused mainly on a lead character whose personal struggles didn’t interfere with their work and presented the health care system as orderly and well functioning (see Marcus Welby, M.D., Trapper John, M.D.). St. Elsewhere instead took a grittier tack, with overlapping, serialized stories and medical professionals who had complicated lives and sometimes could not save patients — traits that are recognizable in its successors, from ER to Grey’s Anatomy to The Pitt.
When the series debuted, that style was seen as a barrier to success: Reviewing the show in November 1982, THR critic Richard Hack wrote, “So real and graphic is the drama being presented here that we cannot believe that 20 million people across this country will find it entertaining enough to flip to.”
Nonetheless, St. Elsewhere would win 13 Emmys over its run, including six for its fourth season in 1986. It was nominated for best drama series in all six seasons, though it never took home that honor.
Three of the show’s regulars — William Daniels, Bonnie Bartlett and Ed Flanders — won acting Emmys for their roles. Equally impressive was the show’s eye for emerging talent: It helped kick-start the careers of Denzel Washington, Mark Harmon and David Morse, as well as comedian Howie Mandel, playing against type in a dramatic role.
The 1988 series finale cemented St. Elsewhere’s place in TV lore by suggesting that the entire show may have taken place inside the imagination of Tommy Westphall (played by Chad Allen), the autistic son of Flanders’ Dr. Donald Westphall. It was perhaps the most audacious choice an already groundbreaking show ever made.
This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Meghan Markle‘s reported casting in Guy Ritchie‘s The Gentlemen has been withdrawn, according to Tina Brown, who reported that the decision came after intense backlash in the U.K.
In a column published Saturday on Substack, Brown, the former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, wrote, “I learned this morning that the casting of Meghan Markle in season 3 of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen has been withdrawn. The backlash in the UK was so intense, it became untenable to go forward. This does not bode well for Meghan’s acting comeback in the UK.”
The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Markle’s representative and WME, which represents both Markle and Ritchie and didn’t receive comment.
THR also reached out to Brown, who said she stands by her reporting. Brown is the author of two bestselling books about the British royal family.
The report comes a day after THR learned that the Duchess of Sussex was in advanced discussions to join season three of The Gentlemen, which films in the U.K. Her role was being written for the third season, which has not yet been renewed.
Season two of The Gentlemen premieres Sept. 3 and stars Theo James. Ritchie, who created the series, which was adapted from his 2019 film of the same name, met Markle through mutual acquaintances, THR was told. Netflix declined to comment.
Markle’s potential role in The Gentlemen would have marked the Suits star’s return to acting after she stepped away from the profession in 2017 when she got engaged to Prince Harry. The couple recently revealed that they are moving back to the U.K., with Brown reporting that Markle’s potential acting role was a significant factor in the decision.
The couple also have a history with Netflix. After moving to California in 2020, Prince Harry and Markle signed an overall deal with the company, resulting in several docuseries, including Harry & Meghan, Polo, and With Love, Meghan. The deal downgraded to a first-look deal last year. Earlier this year, Netflix announced that it was exiting Markle’s lifestyle brand.
In a new court filing, the former child actress Raquel Lee alleges she was repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted by a Disney worker during production of The Poof Point, a 2001 Disney Channel original movie. The suit, which doesn’t name the perpetrator, accuses the studio of negligence.
Lee, who was 14 years old at the time, claims that a “middle-aged, male employee who was involved in the filming of the movie” groomed and then assaulted her, first on multiple occasions in his room at a hotel where the cast and crew were staying during production in Salt Lake City and then later on a flight back to Los Angeles. In addition, the alleged assailant “regularly whispered sexually explicit and harassing comments” into her ear while on set and “used hugs to get close to her.”
The complaint contends that this misconduct was done “in plain view of the cast and crew and could be heard by the sound technicians managing the cast’s microphones” — yet “no one at Disney intervened.” The filing also asserts that the man “regularly made sexually explicit jokes and commentary on the set” around minors, including “sexually explicit comments about” Lee’s body. (In addition, she was allegedly allowed to be separated from her on-set guardian “for the vast majority of each day.”)
Lee notes that her professional performance soon noticeably declined and that multiple Disney executives attacked her “changed behavior and trauma response,” accusing her of “being ‘out of control,’ causing the movie to go ‘haywire,’ ‘need[ing] Jesus,’ having ‘a demon inside her’ and engaging in sex acts with a member of the crew at the age of 14.” The litigation adds, “Disney threatened to, and did, cancel” her role in a then-forthcoming production with the studio.
Lee is represented by Doug Wigdor, a prominent plaintiffs’ employment and sexual-misconduct lawyer. He has previously represented Cassie Ventura against Sean “Diddy” Combs; Nafissatou Diallo, the hotel housekeeper who accused then-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault; and multiple women who alleged misconduct by Harvey Weinstein.
Both Wigdor and Disney declined to comment on the litigation.
The complaint contends that Lee’s experience was part of a long pattern at the studio: “This is not the first time that Disney has enabled a sexual predator to target and abuse vulnerable victims.” Wigdor’s filing cites a litany of previously reported accusations of predatory misconduct over decades which have been connected to the company.
Shortly after The Poof Point, Lee went on to recur as a voiceover artist on the animated Disney Channel animated sitcom The Proud Family, and recently participated again in its Disney+ revival, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. She also worked with the company when she appeared on FX’s Snowfall in 2019.
In addition, Lee participated in the hit 2024 docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, in which she reflected on her treatment as a Black performer on Nickelodeon’s The Amanda Show. She didn’t levy her The Poof Point claims in the docuseries, which became a cultural phenomenon for its focus on alleged misconduct against child actors. However, after its airing, she noted that Drake Bell’s discussion of experiencing on-set sexual abuse was “retraumatizing” for her.
Patrick Ball, an actor who is quickly becoming one of Hollywood’s top young stars, first burst onto the scene in 2025 with the debut of HBO Max’s emergency room-set drama series The Pitt, on which he plays Dr. Frank Langdon, a senior emergency medicine resident. Langdon works under senior attending physician Dr. “Robby,” who initially regards him as a protégé, but later loses faith in him upon learning that he has been stealing prescription painkillers from the hospital in order to work through a back injury.
The show, which marks a reunion of ER star Noah Wyle, writer R. Scott Gemmill and showrunner John Wells, has found a large and loyal audience, garnered massive critical acclaim and last year, for its first season, was awarded five Emmys including best drama series. This year, for its second season, it has landed a field-leading 25 noms, including, in the category of best supporting actor in a drama series, one for Ball, who the TV Academy egregiously overlooked for his work on season one.
Over the course of a conversation at the LA offices of The Hollywood Reporter, the 36-year-old reflected on his path to acting and the years-long journey of personal and professional ups and downs that preceded him landing The Pitt; how his extensive theater background, professional uncertainty on his first major screen project and own battles with addiction (he’s now four years sober) have informed the way he plays Langdon; why, even while shooting season two and the forthcoming third season of The Pitt, he continued to act in theater in L.A. and in New York on Broadway, respectively; plus more.
Gavin Newsom signaled his support on Friday for settlement talks in the antitrust suit seeking to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.
When asked about his stance on the controversial merger and the antitrust suit from 12 states challenging it at a press appearance in San Francisco, the California governor gestured to remarks made by the state’s Attorney General Rob Bonta earlier in the week. “Look, I was appreciative, I think this week, earlier this week, you heard the attorney general himself say he’d prefer this settled in the boardroom, not the courtroom,” Newsom said. “So I think there’s some universal sentiment there, if that’s possible. The question is if that’s possible. And what’s the best deal, what’s the landing? And that has to be worked through.”
The governor suggested that talks were already happening to determine a way forward for the parties. “That’s a process that’s unfolding, I assure you, in real time,” he said on Friday. “I know there are many meetings that are going on and there’s a lot of conversation about what that could look like, but the attorney general is not just representing the state of California, he’s also part of this coalition with a dozen other states. So we also have to be mindful of that coalition as well.”
Newsom’s remarks followed a report in The Wall Street Journalon July 31 stating that the governor was concerned about the states‘ antitrust suit. The story reported that, wary of potential consequences for employment in California, Newsom had encouraged Bonta to find a solution out of court. At the time, the governor did not confirm or comment on the record about his stance.
That changed on Friday. When asked about a recent threat made by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison to take one or two of Hollywood’s remaining historic studios out of California if the antitrust suit isn’t resolved by October, Newsom said he was taking the remarks “seriously.” He said, “We’re hoping that doesn’t happen. And I’m of the belief that they don’t want to see that happen. It’s not, I don’t think, in the company’s long-term interest, but I take it seriously.”
He added that he was talking to people on all sides of the debate, given the stakes for California. “I’m very mindful of what this means to the state, I‘m concerned about the state, our reputation,” the governor said.
His support for settlement talks puts him in the same camp as Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for California governor in this year’s elections. It also aligns him with L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who expressed her desire for both parties to “come to the table” and “work urgently to find common ground” on Thursday.
The director of the Oscar-nominated docudrama The Voice of Hind Rajab has criticized the Israeli military investigation announced this week into the death of the 5-year-old Palestinian girl, who was killed after Israeli forces fired on her family’s car in Gaza City.
“For more than two years, the evidence has been there: independent investigations, satellite imagery, ballistic analysis,” Ben Hania wrote. “And there was the most devastating evidence of all: Hind’s own voice, describing the Israeli tanks circling around her. What more did we need? Did we really have to wait for the accused to decide to investigate itself (yes, itself!) before these facts could finally be taken seriously?”
She added, “Look at the cases the Israeli military is choosing to speak about today: they are precisely the ones that international public opinion has made impossible to ignore. And what about all the others? Those whose names we will never know because their deaths never broke through the wall of international indifference? Meanwhile, the Israeli military continues to kill Palestinians in Gaza, while the occupation intensifies in the West Bank.”
Suggesting that Israel’s move to launch a criminal investigation into Rajab’s death is a “public relations operation,” Ben Hania wrote, “What is needed is justice (delivered by an independent authority) for Hind and for all the victims of the genocide in Gaza.”
Israel’s military this week said it fired at the Rajab family’s car and an ambulance dispatched to help them — all six people in the car and two paramedics were killed — as the family was trying to flee an Israeli invasion. The military has launched an investigation into its troops’ conduct.
Like Ben Hania, Rajab’s mother Wesam Hamada has also called for an independent investigation and questioned the delay on Israel’s probe.
“Why did the investigation and the acknowledgment of the shooting at Hind’s car and at the paramedics come only after more than two years?” Hamada told the Associated Press. “It’s an attempt to distract from what’s happening in Gaza and improve the (Israeli) army’s image to the world. That’s it.”
The voices of Rajab and her 15-year-old cousin Layan Hamada calling for help from January 2024 were released by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and excerpted in The Voice of Hind Rajab.
When asked earlier this year if she thought there would someday be justice for Rajab, Ben Hania told The Hollywood Reporter, “I hope so, because we can’t live in a world without accountability. … I don’t have a crystal ball, but my hope is that this film can be part of the change. Because we can’t live in a world where just because you have the biggest gun, you rule the world. “
Mark Ruffalo has been a consistent opponent of Paramount’s $111 billion deal for Warner Bros., testifying against the merger to a Senate hearing, signing an open letter along with hundreds of actors opposing the buy and amplifying his message on social media consistently.
His latest missive took aim at Larry Ellison, the Oracle founder worth about $200 billion who’s the father of Paramount CEO David Ellison. Larry’s billions are a key backstop to help his son’s merger of the two historic Hollywood studios cross the finish line.
Ruffalo’s post on Instagram highlighted Oracle’s ties to the Israeli military, circulating a clip of former Oracle chief Safra Catz talking up Oracle’s tech at the Israeli-American Council National Summit in 2024 as it related to Israel’s war effort in Gaza. The executive spoke about “profoundly scary technologies” the company had built that could be deployed. The Marvel actor described the war as a “genocide” that “was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.”
Ruffalo’s implication to his audience was to link Oracle, the Ellisons and their media empire all together, saying that the moguls “are crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power and concentrated dominance.”
A spokesperson at Paramount took the normally unusual step of issuing a lengthy reply to Ruffalo’s comments, both calling for the temperature of the debate to be lowered while also deeming that actors’ remarks “antisemitic.”
“We are, as always, troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,” the Paramount rep stated. “Words like ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid,’ applied to a corporate transaction, aren’t just wrong — they’re a bridge too far, and they cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe. This doesn’t deserve a response in kind — and to be clear, we don’t tolerate prejudice of any kind, against anyone.”
The studio rep added, “This brings us to a moment to lower the temperature, not raise it. We’d rather build than further engage in such rhetoric. This simply exposes the true motivation of some who have advocated opposition to this transaction. On the other hand, our commitment to great content is matched by our commitment to acceptance – to every story, every storyteller, and no blacklists, no exceptions, for anyone.
The rep added, “We understand people feel strongly about this merger and are hopeful and expect that it will be judged based on the legal merits, not underlying bias. We’re asking for the same good faith we’re extending: less rhetoric, more understanding. Paramount’s future is being written for everyone who wants to make and watch great stories.”
Oracle, the Austin-based tech conglomerate, increasingly has become an AI power player as well as a stakeholder in TikTok’s U.S. operations. The far-reaching applications for its technology have come under increasing criticism from opponents of the Israel war in Gaza, as well as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that has lobbied against companies doing business with Israel.
Mark Ruffalo’s caption referencing Oracle’s ties to the Israeli military.
Chris Aronson, former domestic distribution chief at Paramount Pictures, has sued the studio, alleging he’s owed millions of dollars in compensation after being let go last September as part of a round of layoffs shortly after its merger with Skydance Media.
Aronson’s attorney, Barry Kaufman, tells The Hollywood Reporter he filed the complaint with Superior Court of Los Angeles County on Aug. 20 but it hasn’t yet been formally processed yet before the document leaked online. “I have not even received back a conformed copy of the Complaint and the associated documents from the court confirming that it was accepted for filing,” Kaufman added. Aronson did not reply for comment.
In the complaint, Aronson claims that on Sept. 29 of last year — months into a new contract agreement inked in July that would have kept him at Paramount until Dec. 1, 2028 — he was summoned to a meeting with new Paramount co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein.
The duo informed him that he was terminated “without cause,” the complaint states, and that Greenstein assured him that Paramount would “pay you everything you’re owed under your contract” and “added words to the effect that ‘you’re worth every penny.’” Aronson claims that he was also informed that Paramount intended to “downgrade the position” he was occupying.
As to that pay, “the remaining salary and incentive compensation under the agreement had an estimate value approaching $3.9 million,” Aronson’s complaint states, per the unprocessed court document confirmed by Kaufman to THR that leaked without a case number to Deadline. “When the value of lost employment benefits and related compensation components is included, Aronson’s projected economic damages exceed $4 million.”
Shortly after the timeline Aronson outlines, Paramount announced in November that it hired Shaun Barber, who spent 18 years at Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment handling such blockbuster franchises like John Wick, The Hunger Games and Twilight, as its new domestic distribution chief. Aronson stayed on until Dec. 1, when Barber took over that role.
At the time of his layoff, Aronson was 69 years old. The executive’s complaint states that as part of his termination process, he received disclosure data related to broader layoffs at the company and his own independently commissioned analysis found a statistical pattern of age discrimination. That included layoffs of 62 employees aged 40 years or older and 30 staffers under the age of 40. Aronson claims that Paramount’s HR department was aware of age-related impacts of its employment moves made for business strategy reasons.
Aronson, who had overseen the theatrical distribution efforts on titles like Top Gun: Maverick, as well as multiple Mission: Impossible, Sonic the Hedgehog and A Quiet Place installments, stayed with the studio through December of last year. He joined Paramount in 2019 after running distribution at 20th Century Fox prior to the Disney acquisition of Fox studio assets. His contract was renewed in 2022 by Paramount and again in 2025, months before he was terminated.
At the time of the September meeting, Paramount execs had “suggested and dangled the prospect of a future consulting relationship” that never materialized. Aronson had subsequently taken on a consulting role to Rentrak Theatrical, the box office data platform formerly known as Comscore Movies, a division that he once founded.
Aronson’s complaint says that Paramount not only terminated the role but “abruptly ended what reasonably appeared to be the final chapter of a distinguished career in theatrical distribution.” Paramount declined comment on the suit.
It’s been nearly 20 years since Keeping Up With the Kardashians premiered on E! and helped shift the reality TV genre. Now, after years of having her own life and family filmed, Khloé Kardashian is stepping behind the camera to put the spotlight on her closest group of friends with her new unscripted series, The Girls: A Khloé Kardashian Project.
The cast includes six women: Nicole Williams English, Olivia Pierson, Khadijah Haqq-McCray, Natalie Halcro, Malika Haqq and Yris Palmer. While all have experience in front of the camera except Palmer, they bring different histories and relationships to the group. Malika and Khadijah are longtime friends of Kardashian’s, while Williams English, Pierson and Halcro previously starred together on WAGS, another E! reality series.
The show, which premiered Friday on Hulu and Disney+, follows the women as they navigate motherhood, marriage, dating, business and their friendships with one another. Kardashian serves as an executive producer and narrator and appears onscreen at times,= but intentionally doesn’t position herself as a main castmember.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Kardashian opens up about the drama that surprised her, balancing being a boss and a friend as an EP and why she doesn’t want The Girls to feel like another Kardashian spinoff. She also praises her sisters Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner’s acting era and what’s ahead for the third season of her podcast, Khloé in Wonder Land. The Hollywood Reporter can also exclusively reveal that season eight of The Kardashians will premiere in October.
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What made you feel like this group of women deserved their own show and spotlight?
I knew they were comfortable in front of the camera. I also know that they genuinely like each other. At least some more than others, as I realized later. (Laughs.) So how we’ve all hung out, and what I didn’t really realize until we started filming was that there are definitely more little cliquey groups, or some hang out more one on one than others, and not all six have ever really hung out in depth this way. So if I’m having a birthday party or a kid’s birthday party, they’re always there.
Also, them being in my family, meaning all these girls are friends with different sisters in different ways, and they’ve all been around for so many years — at least a decade. I felt like this would be a great show. It’s an extension of us. They really are friends. They know where all the bodies are buried. They’re all really good girls. They all get along really well, so I thought. (Laughs.) How they have their own dynamics within each of the six of them is also really fascinating. Whenever I post them, people always have questions, so I’m like, OK, let’s let people see who they are because they’re such great, phenomenal women who have so much to offer and so much to show. People should know who they are.
You’ve spent so much of your life being filmed. What was it like to be on the other side of the camera and deciding what parts of your friends’ lives audiences get to see?
I left what parts of their lives up to them. But I did say, “When you do a reality show, the best thing to do is to be as open and transparent as possible.” Although they’re friends or acquaintances, when you’re doing a show with other people that aren’t family, those other people will probably want to expose you. (Laughs.) No matter how friendly you guys are. Because if someone feels like they are carrying more weight than the other, other people can get resentful.
I film with my sisters and family, and when we go through that where we feel like we’re doing more work than someone else, we get resentful, we’re frustrated and say our piece on camera. And the grace that family gives one another is also very different. So I made that very clear from the start: Be open. Some girls took that advice. Some girls didn’t. And you will see that unfold on camera.
These women are all been your close friends for years but not necessarily friends with each other. Some of them we’ve seen on reality TV beforewhile others are being introduced for the first time. Did you feel responsibility for putting them back into the spotlight?
I had moments in this where I sort of regretted doing any of this because of the fighting and drama and me being in the middle because I put them all together. I’m now the EP. I didn’t think I would be involved as much as I was trying to navigate them through certain things. I thought, Most of them are used to TV. They’re fine on camera. Some of them took so many years off that it was like they were starting over again. And the insecurities of when you watch, like, “Is this going to sound right?” Because they don’t get to watch the show before it airs, so everyone’s spiraling and freaking out.
Also, because I am friends with them, they do feel like they can call me and be like, “So and so said this about me, and I didn’t like that and to get these cameras back up.” It was so fucking middle school. I was so shocked that these girls acted like that. Some of them are more cliquey than others, which is totally fine, but they never spent this much time with one another, and that didn’t go well for a few of them. I felt bad, like, did I ruin some friendships with one another? I don’t know. I thought it would be a much more seamless process, and it wasn’t. But with all that being said, I think that would make for great TV.
Was there any particular friendship that had drama and surprised you?
I didn’t think Natalie and Yris would not get along the way they did, and there’s some contention between those two, which surprised me. They would butt heads a lot throughout the season, and it would be more continuous. I wasn’t expecting that to happen. (Laughs.)
Nicole Williams English, Olivia Pierson, Khadijah Haqq-Mccray, Natalie Halcro, Malika Haqq and Yris Palmer of The Girls.
Cristian Lopez/Disney
Were there any arguments or storylines that unfolded after cameras wrapped?
Oh my gosh, there’s a trip to Vegas that they take on camera, and there’s moments of that, and I should have known that maybe there’s some tension with them taking them to Vegas, where they’re partying. I just should have known that probably wasn’t going to go well. I just thought it was going to go really well, and there was definitely fighting there. We got a lot of it on camera, but we missed some. But they do make up for it, and there’s a lot of them. You still know exactly what happened. But even after the fact, I think everyone’s in their own heads.
I get it. Maybe the anxiety of not knowing what’s going to come out exactly, because you film so much and not knowing what’s going to make it air versus what won’t, that anxiety will probably eat away at anyone. So there’s a lot of phone calls, often like, “Are you sure I’m gonna look good, or did I say something like this? Did I do that?” I could never do that. So I empathize, but I really think everyone’s gonna love it.
With you appearing on the show and being an EP, there’s obviously a huge draw to it and a Kardashian connection. But you aren’t a main castmember, so was it important to you to make sure this felt like their show rather than another Kardashian spinoff?
Correct, and that’s exactly right. I’m in a certain amount of episodes, but I pop in and out because, in real life, I would be at those lunches, I would be doing those things. So I made sure to do what I would normally be doing with them, but I didn’t want to feel like a main character. I didn’t want it to feel like a Kardashian spinoff, like you said. I want them to have their own legs and to run with it. They’re that great of girls, and they can definitely carry the weight of the show. But I am also the narrator of the show, so it’s an extension of me for sure or my family.
I don’t want people to get confused and think it’s another Kardashian spinoff — it’s definitely not. This is all them. But in reality I am their friend, so I would be spending time with them. I think we did a really good job of me being around but not dominating.
Do any of your sisters or anyone in the family make an appearance on the show, or was it,like you said, that you wanted to keep it separate for this project?
Yeah, they do. Kylie does because Kylie and Yris are really great friends, so it’s literally just our organic relationships. And Kim does, because Kim, Natalie and Olivia are really great friends. If I remember correctly, my mom does, too.
I think it would be weird if they didn’t, because this is just how we interact with these girls. It could be as little as FaceTimes, but these are really people in our close circle that we speak to. I speak to some of them every single day. It’s not us dominating. We are very much in the background. It’s not like it’s going to be a Kylie episode. It’s more like her having a conversation with Yris — just a very natural type of thing.
You’ve been doing reality TV for almost 20 years. What did you learn from being on the other side of the camera that you maybe wish you had known when you first started?
I’ll be honest with you: I loved how green I was. In hindsight, I loved that we were told, You guys might not get a second season, so go big or go home. This probably won’t go anywhere. Kourtney and I specifically did not think about it. We just were like, “Fuck it, we’re gonna film whatever we want to do.”
We were just goofs. We weren’t overthinking. We never thought we were gonna be famous or be a star — nothing like that. And that’s what made everything work the way it did because you could smell that stuff. You know when someone’s putting on. You know when someone’s contrived. We were just who we were. I was 22 years old. And to be green, naive and not overthink anything. What a blessing.
I remember watching in season three of Keeping Up With the Kardashians that you took an acting class, and Kourtney went with you for support. With your sisters Kim and Kylie breaking into the acting world over the last couple of years, with American Horror Story, All’s Fair and The Moment, is acting something that still interests you? Is that something you still ever think about?
I’m literally traumatized from that whole experience. (Laughs.) We can blame season three for why I am so traumatized when it comes to acting. But I get asked to act all the time and to do these roles. I’m never gonna say never, but currently it’s not something I feel like makes my heart happy. It’s not like where my passion is with anything.
But, oh my God, do I remember that scene and that acting class and having to say the word “hat” in so many different tones. It was horrible! But I love Kim and Kylie’s acting era.
Are there any projects you can say you were approached for?
I don’t know anything specific, but I get asked all the time: “Would you ever do a movie?” People will say someone wants you for a movie, and I’m like, no, no, no. I have taken meetings with people who wanted to do a scripted series with me, and I just don’t know if it’s my thing.
I’m so honored and so flattered. But I also don’t want to do something that I don’t feel like I could give 100 percent with. I don’t think it’s fair to any production, any people that are working their butts off. It would have to be something I take classes in, really study and try to be the best I can be at it. It’s not something I would ever do, like, OK, acting sounds cool today. That’s just not who I am. I would have to take it seriously, and right now, I don’t know if I have the bandwidth to do all that extra stuff to give another workplace what they deserve out of me.
Do you see yourself producing more reality shows centered on outside your family? Is building a slate of shows something that you want to do?
I do. I mean, again, I want to be very passionate and intentional with everything that I do. But I do see that. I really do enjoy it. I think with your friends, it’s a different level of work involved because it does get very personal. But I still really enjoy it.
I like being a therapist in a way to people. (Laughs.) But businessly, I find it really cool, really creative. I like the ins and out of it all. So yeah, I could see myself doing more.
Kardashian on her Khloé In Wonder Land podcast with guest Dolly Parton.
Khloe Kardashian/YouTube/Screenshot
Season three of Khloé in Wonder Land is releasing later this year. What are you excited about with that? And do you have any more dream guests to appear? You’ve had some really great ones.
I’ve had some fabulous guests. I’m excited for this new season because it’s going to be longer, which means I have more room to diversify a bit and see what has stuck with my audience versus what has not. The biggest thing that I want to do is branch out a little bit more. Last season, I did a lot of family [episodes], which I still love doing. I think people love that with us. It may be nostalgic for them. But I want to branch out into a ton of different genres.
I do love conspiracies. I love all that crazy stuff. I still love self-help-type things. Other doctors that know how to break down whatever issues are so fascinating. I did something with Dr. Amen, and the amount of people that got all this positive knowledge from him made me feel so good because it’s almost like I was giving back to people that couldn’t afford to see him themselves or didn’t have access to his clinics. So that makes me feel good when I’m able to provide real information to people where they have a takeaway. Those obviously aren’t in every podcast episode, but I love when I’m able to do things like that.
I could go from a celebrity to a doctor to a conspiracy theorist, and I have more room to play. I love how all over the place it is, but that’s why it’s Khloé in Wonder Land because my brain is fascinated by anything and everything.
Zach Hickerson wrote to TMZ on Friday, giving the outlet a detailed account of what he experienced the day that the Heroes and Nashville actor was found unresponsive in the Airbnb in Greenville, South Carolina, where the on-off couple had just arrived. Brian Hickerson dated Panettiere on and off since 2018; he was arrested several times in the subsequent years for domestic abuse and, at one point, pleaded no contest to two felony charges related to an assault against Panettiere.
A heavily redacted incident report from the Greenville Police Department released this week reveals details of the brothers’ reaction to Panettiere’s death. After first responders attempted but failed to revive Panettiere, Brian Hickerson became very emotional, according to the report; he also showed authorities a bag containing medication he said she was taking.
Zach Hickerson reached out to TMZ to clarify the public record on what he experienced on Sunday so that he can now “mourn without additional noise, chaos, and misinformation being created and propagated by the media as well as the public.”
“There are a lot of assumptions, speculations and accusations currently swirling,” he said in his statement, which TMZ published on Friday. “The truth will come out as the authorities complete and release additional details from the investigation. And that is important because the people who loved and adored Hayden deserve the truth.”
Zach said that on Sunday morning he attended a church service and, on his way, exchanged messages with Brian; they planned to get lunch and play indoor golf together after the service. When he left church, he called and texted both Panettiere and his brother. He said he assumed they had fallen back asleep, so he drove to the Airbnb where the two were staying in Greenville, where the brothers’ grandmother also lives. He said he did not have the door code and was unable to enter.
A loud knock on the door woke his brother, he said; both Brian and Panettiere had been asleep on the fold-out couch in the townhouse’s living room.
“When we went in and tried to wake Hayden up for lunch, we realized she was unconscious,” he recalled. “I immediately called 911 and Brian gave her Narcan. We then jointly performed CPR while 911 was on speaker until Fire and EMS arrived. At that point we watched as they tried every measure possible to save her life.”
A Narcan bottle was reported to have been at the scene of the actor’s death, and reports emerged that first responders had discussed an “overdose.” The account from the younger brother of Panettiere’s boyfriend and longtime abuser confirms that Panettiere was potentially the victim of a drug overdose.
Zach Hickerson expressed his deep sense of loss over Panettiere’s death.
“I am beyond heartbroken and devastated by this tragic and traumatic loss,” he told TMZ. “Hayden was one of my dearest and closest friends that I loved and cared about for the last 8 years.”
