Tag archives: Oprah Winfrey

A Hazy 4th
By Richard Mineards   |   July 16, 2024

Mother Nature was decidedly uncooperative as 250 guests gathered on the Serena Rooftop of mega winemaker Bill Foley’s Hotel Californian for the third year to watch the much-anticipated July 4 pyrotechnics over the harbor. But the evening soon resembled a scene from Wuthering Heights as a heavy marine layer rolled in totally obscuring the colorful […]

On the Katy Train
By Richard Mineards   |   July 9, 2024

Santa Barbara warbler Katy Perry has teased the lyrics of her new fantasy song “Woman’s World” in a most environmental way, wearing them on the back of her Balenciaga dress during Paris Fashion Week. While her one-shoulder red velvet look featured a super-short hemline, it also included an extraordinary train that trailed an unbelievable 200 […]

Lending a Helping Hand
By Richard Mineards   |   June 18, 2024

Former TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has generously been playing mortgage lender to family members to get them on the property ladder. The 66-year-old serial real estate flipper, with her former actress wife Portia de Rossi, has been dishing out home loans to relatives wanting to get a property, according to the London Daily […]

Whirlwind Tour
By Richard Mineards   |   May 21, 2024

It was a royal tour in all but name when Prince Harry and his actress wife Meghan Markle touched down in Nigeria for a 72-hour visit. Just hours after arriving in the capital Abuja, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were visiting children of the Wuse Lighting Academy, which is supported by the twosome’s Archewell […]

Real New Neighbors
By Richard Mineards   |   April 23, 2024

Real Housewives of New Jersey alumna Dina Cantin is our rarefied enclave’s latest celebrity resident. She and her husband David Cantin have just snapped up a nearly 6,000 square foot five bedroom, five-and-a-half bathroom Tuscan-style villa for $16 million in Montecito. The tony twosome relocated to the Left Coast in 2015, settling in Malibu. Originally […]

Birthday Boy Rob
By Richard Mineards   |   April 2, 2024

The stars were out in abundance in our Eden by the Beach when perpetually youthful actor Rob Lowe celebrated his 60th birthday with a host of Hollywood stars who traveled up the 101 to help the 9-1-1: Lone Star star celebrate until the early hours with a live band. “I love the milestone birthdays because […]

Milk Money
By Richard Mineards   |   March 26, 2024

An old friend Ingrid Seward – longtime editor of the U.K’s. Majesty Magazine and prolific royal author/TV commentator – sends me her latest book My Mother and I: The Inside Story of the King and Our Late Queen, which has reached Number 4 in the British bestseller list. Ingrid who has written innumerable bestsellers on […]

House Off Market
By Richard Mineards   |   March 14, 2024

Former TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres just signed off on one of Montecito’s biggest property sales this year, selling the iconic 1919 villa Pompeian Court on San Ysidro Road for $32 million, shy of the original $46.5 million asking price. Less than one year prior the eight-acre estate traded hands for $22.5 million. During […]

O Letting Go
By Richard Mineards   |   March 12, 2024

Former TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey is leaving the board of WeightWatchers and will donate her stake in the company “to eliminate any perceived conflict of interest around her taking weight loss medications,” according to the company, also known as WW International. Shares in WW International fell by 27% in extended trading following the […]

Going Big at Operation Bigs
By Richard Mineards   |   November 21, 2023

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle paid a visit to Camp Pendleton, the U.S. Marines base near San Diego, ahead of Veterans Day. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stopped by Operation Bigs, a mentoring program tailor-made for children of military families, according to the couple’s Archewell foundation. Meghan wore a $1,490 Carolina Herrera cardigan embroidered […]

Off to See the Desert Stars
By Richard Mineards   |   November 14, 2023

Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle joined Cameron Diaz and her husband, Benji Madden, and Avatar actress Zoe Saldana on a private plane from Santa Barbara to Las Vegas to watch one of local singer Katy Perry’s last concerts of her two-year residency at the Resorts World Theatre. They were joined in the venue’s VIP […]

VP O
By Richard Mineards   |   October 31, 2023

Former TV talk show titan Oprah Winfrey, 69, suggested teaming up with Senator Mitt Romney on a 2020 White House run to beat out Donald Trump, according to a new book. There has always been frequent speculation that Oprah, a longtime resident of our rarefied enclave, had political aspirations, and analysts said her popularity and […]

What’s the Cost of Happiness?
By Richard Mineards   |   September 26, 2023

Santa Barbara, not surprisingly, is the most expensive city to be happy in the U.S. An Australian-based money exchange service, S Money, has ranked the most costly cities in America based on data from a 2018 Purdue University study on the relationship between happiness and income to find the price of happiness in every metropolis. […]

More Help to Maui
By Richard Mineards   |   September 12, 2023

In other Maui news, former TV talk-show titan Oprah Winfrey, 69, has teamed up with actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, 51, in committing $10 million to make direct payments to the Hawaiian island of Maui devastated by wildfires. The People’s Fund of Maui will give $1,200 to adults not being able to return to their […]

Helping Hawaii
By Richard Mineards   |   August 22, 2023

Oprah Winfrey, who owns more than 2,000 acres on the Hawaiian island of Maui with three different properties, has been helping out at a local rescue center after the catastrophic wildfires killed nearly 100 people and destroyed hundreds of homes. The former TV talk show titan, 69, brought diapers, pillows, and bottles of shampoo to […]

Security Concerns
By Richard Mineards   |   June 6, 2023

Prince Harry has suffered a major defeat in the British courts and now faces a hefty $620,000 legal bill. The Riven Rock resident sought a judicial review over a Home Office decision that he should not be allowed to pay U.K. police for his personal protection. The Duke of Sussex, 38, was stripped of police […]

Oprah’s Hawaiian Digs
By Richard Mineards   |   March 21, 2023

While former TV talk-show titan Oprah Winfrey has been reducing her waistline as a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers, now rebranded WW, she has been expanding her property empire. The longtime Montecito resident, 69, now owns nearly 1,000 acres of land on the Hawaiian island of Maui, I learn. She has splashed out $6.6 million on […]

Local Couple Renews Vows
By Richard Mineards   |   February 14, 2023

After tying the knot 15 years ago, former TV talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres, 65, and actress wife Portia de Rossi, 50, renewed their wedding vows at their $70 million Montecito estate. The dynamic duo’s good friend, Kris Jenner, matriarch of the Kardashian clan, officiated at the intimate ceremony with guests including near neighbor Prince Harry […]

A Birthday Surprise
By Richard Mineards   |   January 31, 2023

It wasn’t quite James Bond, but certainly top secret when Montecito animal activist Gretchen Lieff celebrated her birthday at the La Lieff wine tasting room in the Funk Zone. Nearly 20 people gathered for the hush-hush fête with Gretchen taken totally off guard by the bash. “I had absolutely no idea!” she gushed. “What a […]

Opening the Castle Doors
By Richard Mineards   |   January 10, 2023

Milt and Arlene Larsen opened the doors of their former club, the Magic Castle, to let the public know that the space by the Bird Refuge is now available for rental. Sarah Anticouni’s Groovy Vintage Clothing is already leasing space in the property, the former Cafe del Sol, so guests, including Alan and Lisa Parsons, […]