Just A-Paws

Meghan Markle gave paws for thought when she made a surprise appearance via video link to open the new wing of an animal charity named in honor of her late friend Oli Juste.

The Riven Rock resident emotionally told how the dog trainer suddenly died in January 2022, leaving her heartbroken as his family and friends gathered at the Mayhew in London for the ceremony.

A photo on the Sussexes new website, Sussex.com showed Meghan crouching down and petting a dog.

She has been a patron of the organization since 2019. It is said to be her favorite charity…

Family Reflections

Montecito actor Billy Baldwin’s wife, Chynna Phillips, has laid bare her “very complicated” and “tragic” relationship with her father detailing how his “horrible, horrible addiction to drugs and alcohol” marred her childhood.

In a recently resurfaced video posted two years ago on her YouTube channel, the 56-year-old Wilson Phillips singer gets candid about her father, John Phillips, who was the front man for The Mamas and the Papas. 

She says her dad was: “very troubled and tortured” and “did some things I know he’s not proud of.”

During her video, Chynna holds up her “favorite photo” of her and her father taken in 1970.

“You can just see the love that he had for me in his eyes and the love I have for him in my eyes,” she says. “It’s such a sincere, beautiful photo and it makes me really sad because my relationship with my father was so complicated and so tragic.

“I just wish things could have been a whole lot different. They weren’t!”

It’s Showtime!

Montecito actor Michael Keaton has opened up about his long-awaited sequel to his hit Beetlejuice, simply titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Keaton, 72, is returning as the title character for the sequel that fans have been demanding for more than three decades, which is scheduled in theaters Sept. 6.

“It’s been the most fun I’ve had on set for a long time,” he says. “On the one hand, you’re well ‘of course, it’s the most fun. It looks like fun.’ As you know, it doesn’t always work like that.”

The original Beetlejuice was a box office hit taking in $73.7 million (which adapted for inflation is $192 million in 2024 dollars) from a $10 million budget, becoming the tenth highest grossing film in 1988.

“I was hesitant and cautious,” adds Keaton. “Director Tim Burton and I were both on the same page when it came to the use of CGI and special effects.

“It had to feel handmade, not too much technology.” 

Con-D’oh for Sale

Dan Castellaneta, the iconic voice of Homer Simpson on the Fox TV series, is selling his condo at Montecito Shores for $4.5 million.

The two-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom property was purchased for $3 million in 2015.

It was built in 2011.

A Titanic Listing

Titanic director James Cameron has dropped the asking price for his 102-acre Hollister Ranch-based estate.

It was last offered for $33 million and has now been relisted for $28.5 million.

Tranquility Base, as the property completed in 1990 is known, has an 8,000 square foot main residence with five bedrooms and seven bathrooms.

Cameron, who is spending more time at his home in Wellington, New Zealand, has also sold his Montecito retreat for $8.2 million.

Seeking Longevity

Montecito actor Rob Lowe has expressed his “concern” over the increasing popularity of weight loss drugs.

The 59-year-old, who is known for his approach to health and wellness, says weight loss aids, such as diabetes drugs like Ozempic, are “great,” but do not align with “longevity of everything.”

In an interview with People, Rob shared his thoughts on the rise of people trying to lose weight using the FDA approved medication for people with Type 2 diabetes.

The 9-1-1: Lone Star actor, who celebrated his 33rd year of sobriety in May 2023, says “lifestyle” is more important for him.

“I see people who are taking the new weight loss drugs,” says Rob. “That’s great and it has really changed their lives. But my concern always is, OK, now what? What’s the plan for the longevity of everything?”

‘American Idol’ of the West

The Music Academy of the West’s Lehmann Hall hosted music of a very different kind when American Idol held auditions there.

The first episode of ABC’s new season aired earlier this month and featured two of the auditions held on the oceanside Miraflores campus.

Former Dos Pueblos High student Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan, the regular judges, were present.

By coincidence Katy used to take music lessons as a teenager with the academy’s vocal and music instructor Agatha Carubia.

Record Applicants for Scholarships

The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara has received 3,594 applications for financial aid in the 2024-25 academic year – an increase of 3.3% or 117 applicants over 2023’s total.

The applications are currently under review and recipients will be announced in April and May.

Last year the foundation awarded nearly $7.2 million to 1,864 students throughout Santa Barbara County.

“Applications for financial assistance from the Scholarship Foundation are up some 30% over the last two years, underscoring a growing desire for access to post-secondary education in our community,” says Melinda Cabrera, the Foundation’s president and CEO.

Remembering Princess Ira

On a personal note, I remember Princess Ira von Fürstenberg – an original ‘It’ girl who inspired artist Salvador Dali – who has died in Rome at the age of 83.

Ira, a niece of Fiat heir Gianni Agnelli, patron of La Dolce Vita, had an incredibly colorful life working as a model, starring in several films, and even becoming a successful author.

Raised in Venice at the Villa Fürstenberg, she married Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg – who turned the Spanish fishing village of Marbella into a jet set playground – when he was 30 and she only 15.

Among her close friends were Queen Elizabeth’s sister, Princess Margaret, and Prince Rainier III of Monaco, with the rumor mill in overdrive in the 1980s she was in a relationship with the Monégasque royal.

Her brother Egon, ex-husband of fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg, was a good friend in New York. He died in Rome in 2004 aged 57.

We both appeared on Oprah’s TV talk show in Chicago in 1996, along with Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, mother of Dynasty actress Catherine Oxenberg.

I last saw the captivating peripatetic beauty at Brazilian billionaire Gilberto Scarpa’s Cristal-soaked 20th wedding anniversary bash for 550 guests, including Pelé, Margaux Hemingway, Catherine Deneuve, and Gina Lollobrigida in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in 1996.

An utterly charming, beautiful, and talented individual.

Sightings

Oprah Winfrey at the Arlington for author Abraham Verghese’s UCSB Arts & Lectures appearance… Katy Perry in Sydney, Australia, for the first night of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour… Meghan Markle lunching at the new Cipriani in Beverly Hills.

Pip! Pip!