Burnt eyebrows, family traditions, and lots of pie: How celebrities spent 2021 Thanksgiving

Popular American singers, actors and media personalities gave their followers a sneak-peek into their Thanksgiving celebrations on Thursday (25 November).

From talk show host Jimmy Kimmel’s burnt eyebrow to Christina Aguilera’s unusual Turkey Day family outing, here’s a round-up of the best Thanksgiving celebrity moments you may have missed.

Jimmy Kimmel

The late-night talk show host burned his “hair and eyebrow off lighting the oven” to prepare Thanksgiving dinner.

On his Instagram, Kimmel posted a photograph of himself covered in ash and standing in front of what appears to be a brick oven.

Kimmel’s 30-year-old daughter Katie commented on the post: “Again?????”

In response, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! star said: “Yep. It’s now a holiday tradition.”

This isn’t the first time Kimmel has had a fire-related incident in the kitchen. During a past interview with Ellen Degeneres, Kimmel revealed his barbecue exploded during a Fourth of July celebration.

At the time, he said: “I burned my beard off and my eyebrow off and my eyelashes off.”

Tori Spelling

The Beverly Hills,90210 star spend the day “chatting, cheering and cooking” with her daughters, Stella Doreen (13) and Hattie Margaret (10).

Spelling posted a photo of the “three empowered women” preparing the ingredients for a sweet potato casserole, while “sipping mimosas” and “watching a holiday rom-com”, on Instagram.

The actor clarified that her daughters’s mimosas were alcohol-free, while hers was made with champagne.

It has been reported that Spelling is living separately from her husband Dean McDermott, with whom she also shares three sons.

Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton

The recently married couple flew to Oklahoma for Turkey Day.

Stefani and Shelton, who met while judging American singing talent show The Voice, got married in the Sooner State in July this year, and have a new home there.

Sharing their plans for the couple’s “first married” Thanksgiving, Stefani told Entertainment Weekly: “It’s a tradition. My whole family flies out, and we have not been back there since the wedding. So I’m really looking forward to it.”

The “Sweet Escape” singer said she’s “very grateful, very excited” for their “new life” to begin in Shelton’s home state.

Nick Jonas

Nick Jonas “crushed the rumour” there was trouble in his marriage with actor Priyanka Chopra on Thanksgiving.

The singer posted a picture of Jonas and Chopra in London, looking happy and in love. He captioned it: “Happy thanksgiving everyone! Grateful for you Priyanka Chopra” with a heart emoji.

After the Bollywood superstar dropped Jonas’s surname from her social media accounts, there was speculation the couple – who tied the knot in 2018 – were headed for separation.

Putting those rumours to bed, Chopra also posted the same photograph on her Instagram account with the caption: “I love you Nick Jonas. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating”.

Michael B Jordan and Lori Harvey

Steve Harvey’s daughter 24-year-old Lori teased the Thanksgiving spread that was laid out at the Harvey household, including truffle mac ‘n’ cheese, mixed greens, short ribs, barbecue salmon and turkey, on her Instagram Stories.

She also teased her boyfriend, Black Panther actor Michael B Jordan, for loading up three full plates.

Later, Harvey shared a series of photos from the couple’s Thanksgiving dinner on her Instagram profile with the simple caption: “Extremely thankful”.

Camila Cabello

The former Fifth Harmony singer spent a quiet Thanksgiving meditating and surrounded by her three dogs, following her split from Shawn Mendes earlier this month.

In a video posted on Thursday, Cabello expressed gratitude for her “whole squad” of dogs “trying to hang with me while I meditate”.

Cabello’s caption read: “Happy gratitude day everybody! I’m very thankful for all of you on here who send me love, listen to my music, and support me on this creative/ life journey!”

One of the dogs visible in Cabello’s video was Tarzan, the puppy she adopted with Mendes last year.

The pair announced their break up last week, after dating for two years.

Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne Johnson surprised a navy veteran with the gift of his own pickup truck.

In a video posted by the Red Notice actor, Oscar Rodriguez broke down in tears while reading Johnson’s card that read: “Thank you for your service, brother. Enjoy your new truck...”

Johnson revealed that he wanted to do something special for Rodriguez, whose “story moved me” when he read it during a special fan screening of Red Notice.

“[He] takes care of his elderly mama, personal trainer, leader in his church,” Johnson said, adding that the navy veteran also “supports and provides meals for women who are victims of domestic violence”.

Johnson said he was grateful he had a large platform to “illuminate good, solid, grateful human beings, like Oscar, the kind we could always use more of”.

Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera took her fiancé Matthew Rutler and their seven-year-old daughter to New York’s Children’s Slime Museum on the popular American holiday.

The singer posted a series of photos from the family’s outing on her Instagram Stories, captioning one of the pictures: “Don’t forget to have fun.”

Lizzo, Kate Hudson and Chrissy Teigen

Lizzo, Kate Hudson and Chrissy Teigen showed off their pie-making skills.

While Teigen was preparing some kind of banana pie, with singer-husband John Legend appearing on her Instagram Stories occasionally, Lizzo made a mushroom pot pie for the celebratory dinner.

Jennifer Garner

Jennifer Garner won the holiday with her Lego recreation of the Friends episode where Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) puts meat in a Thanksgiving trifle.

The 13 Going on 30 actor dubbed over Lego versions of Rachel, Ross (David Schwimmer) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) in a one-minute video posted on Instagram.

Garner’s near-perfect impressions of the Friends cast garnered appreciation from celebrities like supermodel Gisele Bundchen and her fans alike.

One user commented: “Could it beeee any more Thanksgiving?” imitating Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom.

Mark Hoppus

The Blink-182 singer reflected on receiving chemo therapy treatment amid his battle with cancer, expressing gratitude for all that he is “blessed” to have.

Hoppus shared a picture of himself from June “halfway through chemo” and “relegated to the bathroom floor, retching” to remind himself of “how bad things can be”.

The singer announced he was cancer-free in September this year, after receiving five months of treatment.

Hoppus was diagnosed with lymphoma in June, 2021.

Christina Ricci

Christina Ricci endorsed a turkey-free Thanksgiving dinner on her social media.

The American actor posted a picture of a cut-out turkey with the words: “Save a turkey. Eat more vegetarian.”

Ricci captioned the post: “Happy Thanksgiving from us hypocrites”.

Earlier this week, Billie Eilish also encouraged her followers not to eat turkey on her Instagram Stories.

The singer, who is a long-time vegan, posted a picture of herself cradling a live turkey, and wrote: “Turkeys are some of the most gentle creatures in the world, and 46 million of them killed every Thanksgiving.”

Paris Hilton

Paris Hilton jetted off to Bora Bora with her husband Carter Reum, who she married earlier this month.

The 40-year-old shared three photographs of herself on a boat – wearing a rainbow butterfly flag – and expressed gratitude for all the friends and family “that supported” the couple ahead of their wedding.

She continued: “This next chapter will be my best to come, not only as a wife, advocate and business woman, but as the Paris I’m more and more proud to be every day.”

Hilton and Reum began dating around Thanksgiving in 2019, and Reum proposed to The Simple Life star on 13 February this year.