Jennifer Coolidge and Eddie Kaye Thomas may have played a pair of lovers in the American Pie movies, but when they lived together in real life, things didn’t go quite the same way.

Coolidge played Stifler’s mom in the teen comedy movie, while Thomas played Finch. If you know your American Pie lore, then you know they hook up both in the first movie and in a couple of the sequels as well.

The two of them even lived together for a year or two in Los Angeles in the early noughties, though Coolidge was quick to say she ‘wasn’t the love of his life’ and they stayed in separate rooms.

Jennifer Coolidge lived with her American Pie co-star for a year or two, but it was all platonic. (Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images)

She told GQ that they were platonic housemates and that Thomas ‘had girlfriends’ who he’d bring round.

Her own bedroom ‘was across the hallway from his’ and they didn’t bring their on-screen relationship into their actual lives.

Reflecting on her part in American Pie, she did say that the role gave her love life a quite considerable boost.

At one point Coolidge said she’d slept with around 200 people because of American Pie, but she later clarified ‘that was sort of an exaggeration’ as she said that it had helped her love life even if it wasn’t quite as much as 200 people.

She said: “It helped my dating life in a way that I can’t ever explain.

“If I hadn’t had that movie, I don’t think… Well, let’s just say it would’ve been a very dull decade.”

She said being Stifler’s mom resulted in an interesting decade for her. (Universal Pictures)

Coolidge once told Ariana Grande that her part as Stifler’s mom helped introduce her to a number of ‘very, very charming’ men, including one she remembered very fondly who also managed to recommend her a good place to get a blow dry afterwards.

And things are going rather well for Coolidge at the moment, as she’s been celebrated for her part in The White Lotus.

She gave a somewhat sweary acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, but when you’ve been invited on stage to celebrate your winning a major award a bit of swearing ought to be forgiven, though she did accidentally call it The Oscars at one point.

In that same year, 2023, she was named as Harvard’s ‘woman of the year’ and had a parade thrown in her honour, an experience which sounds like it must be a lot of fun indeed.

She showed up in an animal print coat and a fluffy pink hat to collect her accolade.

The death of a parent is often the most difficult thing you will ever have to go through.

But for Matthew McConaughey, the passing of his father was particularly tough for an unusual reason.

The Interstellar star, 54, opened up about the turbulent relationship between his parents in his memoir Greenlights, which was published back in 2020.

Kay and James McConaughey were divorced twice and got married three times.

Describing his mum and dad ‘like the Pacific Ocean in a storm’, McConaughey said the tough moments were ‘superseded by the love and humanity’.

Shockingly though, the actor revealed that his dad predicted that he would die while ‘making love’ to his wife, and that’s exactly what happened.

When he died during sex, McConaughey said his mum refused to cover up his father’s huge manhood.

Describing the moment in his book, he wrote: “I got a call from my mum: ‘Your dad died.’ My knees buckled.

Matthew McConaughey with his mother Kay McCabe and father James Donald McConaughey (Lester Cohen/WireImage)

“I couldn’t believe it. He was my dad. Nobody or nothing could kill him. Except mum.

“He’d always told me and my brothers, ‘Boys, when I go, I’m gonna be makin’ love to your mother.’ And that’s what happened. He had a heart attack when he climaxed.”

Although this is pretty explicit in itself, it turns out there’s more to the story that McConaughey decided to leave out of the book.

Instead, he spilled on the beans on an episode of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, stating: “There’s other parts of the story that aren’t even in the book.

“I found out later that when the ambulance came to get him at the house, obviously all the neighbours came out on the street.

“And they came and told me later that my mum, in her negligee nightie that she had woke up in, wouldn’t let the paramedics cover him.

Kay McConaughey has opened up about the moment (Michael Tran/Getty Images)

“She kept ripping the sheet off going: ‘Uh-uh, I want the world to see why his nickname was Big Jim, don’t you cover him!'”

Well, I guess that’s one way to honour his memory – the neighbours won’t be forgetting that nickname anytime soon.

Kay herself also opened up about her late husband in a 2020 episode of the Red Table Talk in which she said: “You know how he died, don’t you?

“My husband died making love to me, and I remember saying when he fell back, I said, ‘What’s the matter, big boy? I wear you out?’

“And he’s [giving] no response, no response and I’m thinking, ‘Oh my god, something’s wrong.'”

She continued: “I had no idea that it was too much. His heart just stopped, you know? We had a party for him, kind of a celebration of his life.”

Love Actually is one of those movies which has aged a bit weirdly, some parts of it which seemed sweet in cinemas don’t quite hold up all these years later.

For example, why the hell does Emma Thompson’s character stick around after she gets the Joni Mitchell CD for Christmas?

That’s far from the only problem with the movie, which has grown a bit more controversial in recent years, but one thing which really surprises people is the age gap Keira Knightley has with other actors in the film.

She was just 18 when the film was made, putting her only five years older than Thomas Brodie-Sangster was in the same movie.

What’s more, Chiwetel Ejiofor – who played Keira’s husband in the movie – was 26 at the time of filming, meaning the eight-year age gap between the on-screen married couple is actually larger than that between Keira and Thomas.

Universal

Meanwhile, Andrew Lincoln (better known these days from The Walking Dead) was 30.

Every Christmas people stumble upon this bit of film trivia, prompting an explosion of the mind which ripples across social media:

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@emrazz

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Just found out that I’m the last person to learn there was only a five year age gap between Thomas Brodie-Sangster (13) and Keira Knightley (18) when they filmed Love Actually. I will not be taking questions at this time.

4:32 AM · Nov 2, 2020

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Craig

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Yearly reminder that there is only a five year age gap between Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Keira Knightley in Love Actually

1:39 PM · Dec 9, 2021

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In the film, Knightley’s Juliet is married to Peter (Ejiofor), and they’ve been together long enough for the latter’s best pal Mark (Andrew Lincoln) to fall in love with her. Not creepy at all.

Then you’ve got Brodie-Sangster’s Sam, a kid who looks around 10-years-old and is in love with his classmate, despite having never spoken to her. Again, not creepy at all.

In fact, comedian George Fox did a deep dive on all the issues he had with the Richard Curtis film.

Kicking things off, he wrote: “My girlfriend made me watch the movie Love Actually for the first time ever last night and I would like to discuss what an absolute f***ing unceasing nightmare every single scene in it is.

First on the agenda, he took aim at Hugh Grant’s character, the Prime Minister.

Universal

George ranted: “One of the main characters is your normal every day ACTUAL PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN. And his storyline is he wants to do the tea lady at Number 10.

“He literally just moved in and wants to pork the help and it is never framed as anything but the upmost rOmAnCe!?!”

Next up, he criticised Liam Neeson’s story arc.

He continued: “Next up we have Liam Neeson whose wife just died. Leaving him to raise a stepson alone. In an early scene he breaks down crying and EMMA THOMPSON says ‘Get a grip, people hate Sissies. No-one’s ever gonna s**g you if you cry all the time.'”

“This is THE DAY AFTER THE FUNERAL!?!”

Universal

As for Colin Firth: “Oh hey did you find the Hugh Grant storyline creepy? Well guess what. They have a completely different character with the EXACT SAME STORYLINE except this time the hired help CAN’T SPEAK ENGLISH.

“WHAT F***ING NIGHTMARE IS THIS FILM!?!?”

To be honest, it might be best to just let yourself get swept up in all the romance and not think too much about the dubious details.

It’s a potentially very exciting time for Aaron Taylor-Johnson, as the rumours swirling around him suggest he’ll be the next James Bond.

Of course these claims are unconfirmed so should be taken with a pinch of salt, but The Sun reports he’s been ‘formally offered’ the chance to succeed Daniel Craig as 007.

Apparently the offer is on the table and all Taylor-Johnson needs to do is sign on the dotted line, then it’s on with the suits and time to shoot some bad guys who have a doom rocket pointed at the world or something.

Of course it’s entirely possible that he’s just one of the many names still in contention for the job.

He might be the bookies’ favourite, but until there’s official confirmation, we’ll all just have to wait and see what the result is.

Aldara Zarraoa/Getty Images

If Aaron Taylor-Johnson, already a popular and prolific actor, has not quite yet been thrust into that harsh glare of the spotlight, then he certainly has with the Bond rumours.

This is a man who could spend the next few years of his life being one of cinema’s most iconic characters, not to mention a bona fide British institution.

With that harsh glare of the spotlight has come some less than positive attention, as some have been making unkind comments about his marriage.

Here’s the quick version, Aaron met his wife Samantha Taylor-Wood in 2009 on the set of movie Nowhere Boy, which she directed and he was the lead star in when he was 18 and she was 42.

They started dating and in 2012 ended up getting married, with them both changing their surnames to ‘Taylor-Johnson’, as before then he’d been Aaron Johnson.

CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP via Getty Images

The couple have two daughters together, and he is a stepfather to her two children from a previous marriage.

While some have had their opinions on his relationship, in a recent interview with Rolling Stone UK he said he found people’s thoughts on his marriage ‘bizarre’.

He said: “What you gotta realise is that what most people were doing in their twenties, I was doing when I was 13.

“You’re doing something too quickly for someone else? I don’t understand that. What speed are you supposed to enjoy life at? It’s bizarre to me.”

The man’s got more important things on his plate than people making weird comments about his marriage, and he’s ‘flattered’ about all the speculation linking him to being the next James Bond, but is focused on staying grounded.