Speaking of the Stonewall riots, Marsha P. Johnson was there fighting on the first line. Born as Malcolm Michaels Jr in 1945, Johnson spent her whole life fighting for gay causes. She was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, and also of the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), fighting for many of the rights that members of today's LGBT community take for granted. She was well known among the New York scene at the time, and was a favorite model of Andy Warhol's.
Johnson lived a troubled life, and paid a heavy price for her activism. She struggled to find work, and relied on friends for charitable support and a place to stay. Struggling with both her mental and physical health, she was found dead shortly after the Pride parade in 1992. Friends insist that she was murdered, but police at the time were reluctant to investigate the possibility.
Chefs made their way into celebrity land a while ago. But how many celebrities that weren’t trained as professional cooks are actually whizzes in the kitchen? Here are several that come to mind.
Actress Julia Roberts is confident about her cooking skills. “I’m quite a good cook,” she told E! News. “I’m like a closet home ec teacher…I can really cook anything.” Roberts has said she often cooks fish for herself and her kids. And speaking of her three children, “They think that I’m a good cook,” Roberts told People. “They actually told me that I should open a restaurant.” She also relishes cooking for the holidays, particularly shredded Brussel sprouts. Roberts hasn’t published a cookbook, but we did find recipes attributed to her for peach crisp and banana hemp muffins. Or you can make the same summer salad the actress supposedly eats.
Chrissy Teigen started off as a supermodel. Then her love of cooking filtered into her professional life too. At this point, she’s created recipes for a limited Blue Apron release and also just launched her own home and cooking line at Target named “Cravings,” after the two cookbooks she’s released. Teigen describes cooking as “a time of peace” for herself. So maybe peace out to her tuna melt sandwich or the fried chicken wings that are a favorite of her husband, John Legend.
Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, comes from a cooking Italian family. Her father started his own restaurant in New York and also published a cookbook. And apparently, Lady Gaga has inherited the family’s cooking genes. Her Instagram account occasionally features photos of her culinary activities. Sure, sometimes it’s topless cooking. But other times it’s more poignant like in the post she shared about her bringing food to the family of her dear friend who passed away. Want to try a Gaga/Germanotta family favorite? Check out her recipe for whole wheat pasta with a sweet fennel sauce.