The daily gossip: Ashton Kutcher defends awkward red carpet photos with Reese Witherspoon, Maria Menounos expecting 1st child 'after a decade of trying everything,' and more

1. Ashton Kutcher defends awkward red carpet photos with Reese Witherspoon

Dude, where's their chemistry? Ashton Kutcher is defending himself after being brutally mocked over awkward red carpet photos with his co-star, Reese Witherspoon. Twitter had a field day with pictures of the two at events for their new rom-com Your Place or Mine, where they looked like total strangers or perhaps estranged siblings forced to uncomfortably take photos together. On the Chicks in the Office podcast, Kutcher admitted his wife, Mila Kunis, agreed with social media on this, texting them, "Guys, you gotta act like you like each other." But Kutcher defended not putting his arm around Witherspoon or even acting "friendly with her," suggesting that if he did so, there would be rumors that they're "having an affair." So he put his hands in his pockets to ensure "there's no chance that that could be the rumor," not realizing this may just spark a new rumor that the distance between them was due to his questionable bathing habits.

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2. Maria Menounos expecting 1st child 'after a decade of trying everything'

Maria Menounos is about to be a Noovie mom. The 44-year-old television host is expecting her first child with husband Keven Undergaro via a surrogate, as she confirmed on Live with Kelly and Ryan. She noted that she and her husband had been trying to have a baby for years, as she began IVF treatments in 2012. "Just after a decade of trying everything, we are so grateful to the beautiful family helping us conceive our baby," Menounos said in a statement to People, also explaining on Kelly and Ryan, "They've tried to get me pregnant, that didn't work. Kevin had a surgery, that didn't work. He's hung me upside down like a chicken, that didn't work." But she said they got "so lucky" by finding a surrogate, whom she's "so, so grateful" for, adding, "Our surrogate and her family are literal angels." Show up 20 minutes early to your next movie for the gender reveal.

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People

3. Leonardo DiCaprio isn't dating a 19-year-old after all

Maybe even Leo draws the line somewhere. A new report says Leonardo DiCaprio is, thankfully, not dating a 19-year-old, as had been rumored. The actor was recently spotted at a party with Israeli model Eden Polani, leading to speculation that the two were an item even though she's 19 and DiCaprio is a 48-year-old man. It didn't seem far-fetched, though, given he is famously known for dating much younger women, usually no older than 25. But this would have been a massive age gap even for him, and Twitter was understandably weirded out. To put this in perspective, one viral tweet noted it would be roughly equivalent to Pedro Pascal dating his Last of Us co-star Bella Ramsey. Well, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief, as TMZ says that DiCaprio and Polani are "not dating and not a couple whatsoever" — and DiCaprio is presumably grateful these rumors have made it so his next 23-year-old girlfriend will seem downright age-appropriate by comparison.

TMZ

4. Jean Smart to play Andy Samberg's ex-girlfriend in a movie

Andy Samberg, meanwhile, is about to pull a reverse DiCaprio, at least on screen. The 44-year-old Brooklyn Nine-Nine star is set to lead a romantic comedy that pairs him with 71-year-old Jean Smart. That's because the movie, titled 42.6 Years and directed by I, Tonya's Craig Gillespie, is about a man who "undergoes an experimental procedure which sees him cryogenically frozen" in order to save his life, only to wake up more than 40 years later and find himself "alone in a future with no one to turn to but his ex-girlfriend," who is now much older even though he has stayed the same age, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In case you were wondering, in real life, Smart would be 28 before the movie's time jump to Samberg's 44, because even in a wacky science-fiction scenario, Hollywood couldn't imagine a man dating a woman his own age.

The Hollywood Reporter

5. Fired 'Rick and Morty' co-creator 'stopped showing up' years ago, report says

The message from team Rick and Morty is coming in loud and clear: Justin Roiland won't be missed … because he was barely there to begin with. A new Hollywood Reporter piece alleges Roiland, who was recently fired from Rick and Morty over domestic violence charges, has made colleagues uncomfortable in the workplace, including by parading a "high-profile porn star through" the writers room and openly discussing threesomes, and he was allegedly "involved in at least one instance of alleged sexual harassment." But though Roiland has continued to voice Rick and Morty, the Reporter says he hasn't had "any meaningful creative presence" on the show for some time. Roiland reportedly "hasn't been on speaking terms" with co-creator Dan Harmon and "simply stopped showing up" during the third season. Indeed, the Reporter says some former colleagues haven't heard from Roiland in years, while other Rick and Morty staffers never even met him, suggesting he was into "quiet quitting" before it was cool.

The Hollywood Reporter