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S U N D AY, D E C E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 1 1

The Sexiest

THE YEAR’S BEST GIFTS FOR READERS

Family Man Alive

“When I became a parent, my heart grew five times,” says Matt Damon, who stars in the new film We Bought a Zoo © PARADE Publications 2011. All rights reserved.

Personality Walter Scott,s

PARADE

Parade.com/celebrity

Q: What’s the status of the film Wendy Williams was making about her life?

WALTER SCOTT ASKS …

—M.M.G., Los Angeles

Sandra Lee

A: “When the movie

P Wendy Williams

cantly. “One month later, I received an offer to do The Wendy Williams Show,” she explains. “While the movie is really good, I’ve decided to eventually recast it and make it bigger and better.” So who’ll get the starring role?

“We got Robin Givens [for the last one], and it was great,” Williams says. “But next time, I absolutely will do it.”

2 • December 11, 2011

What are your Christmas plans this year? I’m doing my seven

Q: Can you tell me more

d trees like last year and a gingerbread village all the way around the kitchen. My poor honey [boyfriend Andrew Cuomo, governorr of New York] is going to come home and go, “Seriously?” tAny other traditions? We always exchange love letters at Christmas and Valentine’s, because they’re the one thing you can’t ys. buy. Taking time to be grateful is the calming part of the holidays.

about the actor Michael Fassbender? —Jennie Nguyen, Westwood, Calif.

A: The X-Men: First Class

star grew up in Ireland, where his parents ran a restaurant—something he considered doing if acting didn’t pan out. “I love the idea of a couple who go out only a handful of times a year coming in and feeling special,” says Fassbender, 34. The actor is

What do you say to critics of your semi-homemade approach to o cooking? I don’t think anyone has a right to judge a woman who

is overextended trying to take care of her family and make n a happy, healthy home. My job is to say, “Whatever you have in your pantry, I bet there’s a meal there.” me, Is it true you wanted to be Cher growing up? She had a great time, and she was sassing Sonny before sassing was in. If I could get nd. away with dyeing my hair jet-black now, I’d do it in a nanosecond.

Email your questions to Walter Scott at Parade.com/contact. Letters can be sent to P.O. Box 5001, Grand Central Station, New York, N.Y. 10163-5001.

generating Oscar buzz in two films: A Dangerous Method, in which he plays Carl Jung, and Shame, about a sex addict. To find out what his dad thought of the latter role, go to Parade.com/fassbender.

Priestley, who played cleancut heartthrob Brandon Walsh on the hit ’90s series.

“I don’t think a reunion of that show would ever happen; we’ve all moved on with our careers,” says the actor, 42, who currently

stars in Call Me Fitz, the DirecTV series set in a used-car dealership, which he also produces and directs. “It would be almost impossible to get us all in the same place for long enough!”

★ PRESENTS ★

Who Said It? P Jason Priestley

Q: Are there any plans for a reunion of the cast of Beverly Hills, 90210?

—Lindsay Minton, Maryville, Tenn.

A: Not according to Jason

MARIAH CAREY | JESSICA SIMPSON

<

—81-year-old Clint Eastwood, when asked if growing older has affected him

P Michael Fassbender

<

“I think aging so far has been okay.

I think it’s good.”

The 45-year-old TV host and celebrity chef’s latest book, Easy Entertaining at Home, is in stores now.

“People always say that pregnant women have a glow, and I say it’s because you’re sweating to death.”

See the answer at wonderwall.com/whosaidit

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wrapped three years ago, we had lots of interest,” says Williams, 47. But then the talk show host’s life story changed signifi-

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My coworkers often put insulated lunch bags in the office fridge. As the bag insulates its contents from the cold, doesn’t this practice keep the food warmer? —B. Thomas, Tucson

DELIVERED TO YOUR

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Yes. But keeping the bags at their desks in a 72-degree room would be even worse.

They could open the bags before putting them in the refrigerator, but insulated containers take up a lot of space, and they serve no purpose in there. A better solution is to carry an insulated bag to work, thus keeping the food cool during the commute, and then transfer the contents to a paper bag before stowing it in the fridge.

• Exclusive celebrity updates and interviews

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Family has always been such an integral part of who I am,” says Carole King, who proves it on her new album, A Holiday Carole, produced by her daughter Louise Goffin and featuring her three grandsons on various tracks.

The Brooklyn-bred King, 69, has also been working on a memoir, A Natural Woman, due in April. “I wrote every word in it,” she tells Chris Willman, calling from her homestead in Idaho.

PARADE What’s a typical Sunday like?

Are you outdoors a lot?

I am, but one of the things I love about my cabin is that you’re

never far from a big window that lets you feel at one with the outdoors—which is great in winter, to be warm and get to look out on everything, all frozen and sleeping. Sundays aren’t that different, except I get fewer calls and emails. I usually take two walks a day. In the winter, I crosscountry ski, and that’s my “walk.”

Was it a passion of yours to make a holiday album? Or were people saying, “Carole, it’s about time”?

The latter. When it came up again last year, my manager at the time said, “Why don’t you Watch our favorite ask Louise to produce Carole King it?” I didn’t have new duets at Parade ideas for songs, and .com/king she was overflowing

PHOTO, THIS PAGE: COURTESY OF CAROLE KING. OPPOSITE: KEVIN MAZUR/WIREIMAGE.COM

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6 • December 11, 2011

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P I E R C E

B R O S N A N

with them. So I was able to put creative energy into the singing and the joy of being in the studio with her.

There is a tradition of Jewish singers making Christmas albums, but while yours has tunes like “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” the only truly religious song is “Chanukah Prayer.”

Growing up, we celebrated both, and so did I with my children.

But I did want to do “Chanukah Prayer” to honor my heritage. I get weepy every time I hear that song, because I feel the presence of all my ancestors.

The response to the Troubadour Reunion Tour you did with James Taylor must have been hugely gratifying.

James’s and my music was the soundtrack of so many people’s lives—and not just our generation; the grandkids are familiar with it, too, and that astonishes me every time. People tend to think of James and me as authentically who we are.

There aren’t a lot of bells and whistles to us.

Has authenticity been lost in contemporary pop?

ady Interestingly, Lady Gaga came backstage ckstage when we were in Australia. You might say, “That’s “ the quintessential example of bells and whistles.” But Lady Gaga is authentically who she is, and I have so much respect for her and her talent. If you took away all the costumes, she would still be a great performer.

What’s it like knowing that every time there’s an earthquake, the radio’s going to play “I Feel the Earth Move”?

[laughs] I sure didn’t have that in mind when I wrote it.

TWO-NIGHT TELEVISION EVENT

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HOW MATT DAMON TAMED THE

CELEBRITY

BEAST

THE STAR OF WE BOUGHT A ZOO ENJOYS A LOW-KEY FAMILY LIFE FULL OF ESTROGEN (HE HAS FOUR DAUGHTERS) AND DEVOID OF THE MEDIA MADNESS THAT PLAGUES HIS FAMOUS PALS

By BROOKE HAUSER

Q

Cover and opening photograph by SAM JONES

uick: Think of the last time you saw Matt Damon on the cover of a tabloid. Now try to come up with the names of his wife and children. Having trouble? Good—that’s just how he wants it. Despite his movie star status, Damon has managed to keep his life relatively private, especially compared to some of his famous friends. Take the Jolie-Pitt clan, for instance. “Brad and Angie, there’s much more pressure on them than there is on me,” Damon says, recalling a chat he had not long ago with Pitt.

“He asked me what my everyday is like. I said, ‘Well, I grab the kids from school, and then we go over to the park.’ And he was just looking at

me, like, ‘How can you do that?’ Because he can’t.”

Damon doesn’t exactly blend into a crowd— the steel-blue eyes and toothpaste-ad smile are a dead giveaway—but he certainly tries. Today, the 41-year-old actor is dressed inconspicuously in a ski cap, jeans, and a dark jacket embossed with the title Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, a souvenir from George Clooney’s 2002 directorial debut, in which he and Pitt had cameos. For our interview, he has chosen one of the more unlikely venues for celebrity spotting in Manhattan: a large, empty steakhouse that Damon and his wife, Luciana, frequent on a semi-regular basis. There are no autographs to sign or camera phones to pose

8 • December 11, 2011

© PARADE Publications 2011. All rights reserved.

Š PARADE Publications 2011. All rights reserved.

for here—only a friendly Indian staffer who relishes the chance to introduce Damon to Bollywood movies and beams when the actor asks him to write down a couple of titles. “You know,” the staffer says when Damon is out of earshot, “he’s just a calm, cool guy.”

Damon has a theory as to why he can keep a low profile. “I’ve been left alone, even by the paparazzi, because what sells is sex and scandal,” he says. “Absent that, they really don’t have much interest in you. I’m still married, still working, still happy.”

He brings that regular-guy persona to his new film, We Bought a Zoo (in theaters Dec. 23), a feel-good drama directed by Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire). In the movie, based on the memoir by Benjamin Mee, Damon plays a widowed journalist who quits his job to move with his two children to the country and take over a dilapidated animal park. At first, the actor had some doubts about doing a family film filled with kids and wildlife. “What I don’t think I could live down is the worst version of this movie, the super-Disney version.

It’s just not something I’d want to make or see,” he says. But he decided that at its core, the film was less about animals and more about the relationships between people.

“What really moved me was the idea of losing a partner and having to try to make it all happen on your own,” Damon says. He pauses before trying to articulate how it feels to be a parent, emotions he tapped into for his character. “The only way I can describe it—it sounds stupid, but—at the end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, you know

ABOVE, DAMON AND SCARLETT JOHANSSON IN WE BOUGHT A ZOO. LEFT, WITH WIFE LUCIANA IN SEPTEMBER. OF SHAVING HIS HEAD FOR A FILM, HE SAYS, “IT’S MUCH EASIER NOT WORRYING IF MY HAIR IS STICKING UP.”

how his heart grows, like, five times its size? Everything is full; it’s just full all the time.”

The family man role marks a departure for Damon, who has made a career out of playing against type.

In person, he talks lovingly about his four girls, ranging in age from 13 months to 13 years: Stella, Gia, Isabella, and Alexia, Luciana’s daughter from a previous marriage.

The couple married in 2005 after meeting in Miami, where she was working as a bartender and he was filming 2003’s Stuck on You. “I jumped into the deep end with Lucy,” Damon says. “I mean, Alexia was already 4. I was an extra dad.”

But onscreen, Damon is best

known for edgier roles: a or all of his intensity onscreen, disaffected genius (Good Damon knows how to lighten Will Hunting), a serial killer up. On NBC’s 30 Rock, he (The Talented Mr. Ripley), earned raves for his turn as an amnesiac assassin (The Liz Lemon’s emotional boyfriend, Bourne Identity), a crooked a pilot named Carol Burnett. And cop (The Departed). He has when he was anointed People’s worked hard to avoid getSexiest Man Alive, Damon sent a ting pigeonholed. “That’s a letter to the magazine suggesting real trap,” he says. “EventuTom Brady for the honor instead. ally you can’t do anything “He’s like a taller, better-looking else.” Instead, he has been a version of me anyway,” he wrote. bit of a chameleon, losing Even when he isn’t in on the joke, weight for one role (Courage Damon comes across as a good Under Fire), packing on the sport. After the actor criticized pounds for another (The Barack Obama’s performance earlier Informant!). Most recently, this year, the president skewered him Damon shaved his head to at the White House Corresponplay an ex-convict in the dents’ Association Dinner, saying, sci-fi drama Elysium, due in 2013. “Well, Matt, I just saw The Adjust“This is long, like a week grown ment Bureau, so … right back atcha, out,” he says, running a hand over buddy.” Damon sips his coffee and the bristle, dark blond with an ocsays with a laugh, “Anybody with a casional glint of gray. He smiles sense of humor is okay on my list.” when he recalls the reaction at home.

Getting one-upped by the presi“For a minute, they were a little dent may be a dubious honor, but it’s taken aback,” he says of his older a marker of just how far Damon has daughters, even though they’d been come since making his acting debut prepared in advance. “But the baby with a one-line role in 1988’s Mystic just loves it. If I put my head down, Pizza. The younger son of a stockshe starts smacking it and laughing.” broker and a professor of early childRarely has he played off the good hood development who divorced looks he lampoons in the Jimmy when he was 2, Damon moved at 9 Kimmel video “Handsome Men’s with his mother and brother from Club” (4.3 million YouTube hits and Newton, Mass., to Cambridge, counting)—not even in his big acwhere he became friends with Ben tion franchise. “On the first Bourne Affleck. The two even opened a joint movie, I was in the best shape of my bank account as teenagers so they life, and we purposely never did a could go to New York for auditions. shot of me with my shirt “We were these businessoff,” Damon says with a oriented actors who took certain amount of pride. our careers very seriously,” “There’s one scene where Damon says, “but we also SEE DAMON PLAY [Bourne’s lover] is pullused the money for video SANTA FOR WATER.ORG; ALSO, ing the shirt over my games.” Damon went GET HIS TAKE ON head, but what the camon to enroll at Harvard, WORKING WITH era sees are the two bullet dropping out 12 credANIMALS AND GOING ON A holes in my back. It’s not its shy of his bachelor’s KARAOKE DATE, gratuitous; there’s a point degree to pursue acting.

ALL AT PARADE.COM to it. I try to stay away The 1997 film Good Will /DAMON from the beefcake shots.”

Hunting, which he wrote

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Damon | from page 8

10 • December 11, 2011

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with Affleck, launched both their careers and won them Best Original Screenplay Oscars.

With overnight success came overnight problems. Damon chafed at the interest in his relationships with actresses like Minnie Driver and Winona Ryder. “It was a time in my life when I just felt so little trust for anybody,” he says of the media.

In the years since, he has learned how to use his fame to his advantage. These days, when Damon does an interview, it’s to promote a movie or philanthropic cause that’s close to his heart, such as Water.org, a nonprofit he cofounded that helps provide clean water and sanitation in developing countries.

After visiting a village in Zambia, Damon saw how even small improvements can have huge ripple effects. “Everything changes, particularly for the girls, whose lives are built around collecting water to keep the family alive,” he says. “If you can give them access to water, they can go to school. What you’re actually giving them is hope.”

Back home, Damon has been outspoken on issues like tax inequality and education— leading activist filmmaker Michael Moore to champion him for president. Though the actor has denied any interest in running for office, he knows how to land a political punch.

“Look, Mitt Romney wasn’t going to win the governorship in Massachusetts if he didn’t take certain positions, and he’s not going to win the nomination unless he takes other positions,” Damon says. “But I wish he stood for something.”

Damon’s list of upcoming projects is continued on page 15

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Rudy Awards Presented by PARADE and Inspireum, the High School Rudy Awards honor football players who have overcome adversity to show true commitment to the game. These young athletes have been nominated by their communities. Now you can help select one of them to be this year’s Rudy Award winner.

Quinton Anderson Joplin, Mo.; Sr. •

Kaleb Mackey Afton, Okla.; Sr. •

“Always take that extra step”—that’s Anderson’s motto. He lost both parents and suffered severe leg injuries in the tornado that devastated his town. And yet he attended practice each week and cheered on his teammates from the sidelines.

Mackey, a straight-A student who’s already taking college courses, has cerebral palsy, leaving him with limited use of the lef left side of his body.

But that didn’t stop the lineman from making huge plays. “He’s got the biggest heart,” says his coach.

Ryan Anderson Kent, Ohio; Sr. •

Andrea Marsh Panama, N.Y.; Sr. • Who says a girl can’t lace ’em up with the guys? Marsh, who’s played for nine years and whose training methods have included include running with a cement block tied to her waist, led her league in interceptions this year and was named a team captain.

Earlier this year, Anderson was a nationally ranked offensive guard with offers from several colleges.

Now he’s battling bone cancer, but with the same determination he brought to the field: “There’s no other option for me than to beat this.”

Shane Halpin Gulf Breeze, Fla.; Sr. • First Halpin adapted to a disorder that affected his motor processing and coordination skills, earning a spot on the team; then he overcame injuries and infection after being pinned beneath a truck. This season he was captain of the offensive line.

Rashawn King Raleigh, N.C.; Sr. • Imagine playing while undergoing chemotherapy and you’ll appreciate how tough Rashawn King is. The running back—who was diagnosed with leukemia last year, now in remission—says he “kept pushing” all the way to the state playoffs.

Addison Marshall Fulshear, Tex.;

Sr. • Marshall and his family were uprooted by Katrina in 2005; then in 2009,, he battled leukemia, which returned with a vvengeance in April of 2010. But throughout his illness he worked to stay in shape, and he returned to the field this season.

Vote for Your Favorite!

Help us elect the High School Rudy Awards’ grand prize recipient. To read more about these exceptional players and vote for your top pick, go to Parade.com/rudy. The winner will be revealed in our AllAmerica issue, out Jan. 15.

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF INSPIREUM

TOP SIRLOINS

12 • December 11, 2011 Produced by Women’s Marketing Inc. 203.256.4132 womensmarketing.com

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Taylor McKnight Canyon Country, Calif.; Sr. • He had cranial surgeries and didn’t walk till age 2 due to a genetic condition, but this lineman has made ma up for lost time, playing ball, coaching kids, and tutoring teammates—a snap for a guy with a 4.08 GPA. Dazmond Patterson Plant City, Fla.; Sr. • He was Plant City’s leading running back and is bound for Ohio University next year. At home, he helps his single mom care for two younger siblings and several foster children, all while earning a 4.8 GPA.

Matt Riniker Luxemburg, Iowa; Soph. • A horrific four-wheeling accident left this fullback with a leg so mangled that he chose to have it amputated, knowing he might never play again. One year later, he’s back on the gridiron, playing with a prosthesis.

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Juan Diego Temple San Juan Capistrano, Calif.; Sr. • Despite losing his dad to cancer in 2009, this lineman, who is active in his school’s community outreach program, has an optimism that makes him “revered by students and staff,” says his coach.

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Andrew Thomas Chadds Ford, Pa.; Sr. • With his dad out of work, this noseguard started a lawn care business to support the family. His dad found a job out of state, and then his mom suffered a stroke, so Thomas, a team captain, is caring for his five siblings.

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flower, a butterfly, or an Easter egg?” asks the 10-yearold cook as she fastidiously plates her fettuccine Alfredo in cookie-cutter shapes and surrounds each mound of pasta with New Zealand mussels.

Her chef uniform consists of cargo shorts, a T-shirt, and a wide purple bandanna tied around her head, her slender arms wielding knives like a miniature samurai. There is no recipe in sight. There is, however, a great deal of enthusiasm, as well as a pronouncement: “Hey! You’re getting a free lunch!”

Welcome to the kitchen of Matisse Reid, fifth grader, cooking blogger, and serious foodie. All this despite the fact that, because of a rare condition called chronic idiopathic intestinal pseudo obstruction, she couldn’t digest a single mouthful of food for the first decade of her life.

“It was a cruel trick,” says her mom, Jodee, “because this kid was born to eat.”

At three months, without a functioning digestive system, Matisse was released from the New Zealand hospital where she was born and sent home to die. But her mother says, “I made a promise that I would never stop trying to help her.”

There was no single hospital that could offer Matisse the care she needed, so her parents made hundreds of visits to four different facilities, before ultimately moving the family ( Jodee and her husband, Wayne, have three other kids: Rachel, Kalani, and Fraanz) to Pittsburgh in January 2007.

The children’s hospital there had the most experience and the best outcomes with the one operation

AMERICAN

STORIES

The Girl Who Couldn’t Eat

Matisse Reid loved to cook but spent her whole life unable to eat—until a cutting-edge procedure transformed her into a 10-year-old foodie By Kate Meyers

she start a cooking blog, and matisseskitchen.blogspot.com was born. Her humor and spunk were evident from day one, when she wrote: “I’m only a kid but I have a lot to say about cooking, so keep coming back so my grandparents are not my only audience!”

M

atisse may cook

beyond her years, but she’s like any other fifth-grade girl in many ways. Her room is filled with Pillow Pets, Justin Bieber paraphernalia, and a funky hat collection. For years her condition meant she couldn’t enjoy sleepovers, pizza parties, or playing outside, but she made the most of her time indoors: When she’s not in the kitchen, she likes to draw and write songs. Showing off her room, Matisse picks up a guitar and belts out one of her compositions. (Rock star is a close second to chef on her career wish list.)

Seeing Matisse today, you might find it hard to believe how sick she’s been for most of her life. But ONE TOUGH COOKIE Above, the budding she will always be on anti-rejection chef and food blogger sets to work in her family’s kitchen. Left, Matisse with medication, and her family now her parents, Jodee and Wayne. anxiously hopes for a visa that would allow them to stay in Pittsdreaming, what did she choose for burgh, close to the care that will her first meal? Squid! (It’s still a give her the best chance at a future. top request, along with shrimp, “Matisse will likely never get a mussels, lobster, and sushi.) complete fairy tale endBut even when ing,” says Jodee. “But that could change Matisse’s life— After years Matisse was unable to it’s wonderful to see a transplant of a new small and of ogling large intestine. In the meantime, eat, she loved to cook, her enjoying all of and dreaming, she could receive all her treatment creating her own the things that she what did she in one place, though she was in recipes. She’s a Food couldn’t before— choose for her pain and still needed to be hooked Network addict and playing basketball, first meal? up to an IV line and a feeding has watched Julie and joining the Girl Squid! tube 16 hours a day, every day.

Julia dozens of times.

Scouts. Matisse was born Then in December 2010, the While recovering last spring, on Christmas Day, but this family got the call they had been the once lethargic Matisse was year we’re having two parties— waiting for—the transplant was exploding with energy, but she had one to celebrate her 11th birthon. And within six weeks of to stay home from school because day, and another to celebrate surgery, Matisse was finally able of her compromised immune the first anniversary of her to eat. After years of ogling and system. So her mom suggested transplant, and her new life.”

PHOTOS: NICOLE POLK FOR PARADE

D

o you want a

14 • December 11, 2011

© PARADE Publications 2011. All rights reserved.

Damon | from page 11

as diverse as ever. He plans to play Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger in a film Affleck is slated to direct, and he’ll star opposite Michael Douglas, who’s cast as Liberace, in an HBO movie.

Next year, Damon plans to direct a script he wrote with The Office’s John Krasinski. Did he feel like he was cheating on Affleck? “Well,” Damon says straight-faced, referencing Gone Baby Gone, which Affleck adapted with Aaron Stockard, “he cheated on me first.”

As busy as he is, Damon understands how fickle Hollywood can be. He recalls a conversation with Clooney back in 2001 concerning an actor’s shelf life.

“We started talking about people who were big stars 10 years earlier,” Damon says, “and there’s an incredible turnover.” When the pals saw each other recently, “I was like, ‘We did it,’ ” Damon says, breaking into a big smile. “ ‘We made it—10 years.’”

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