Ahem, sing along if you know this one: KarJenner babies and a Bennifer wedding. (Finally!) Harry's big tour and Olivia's dressing. Quinta Brunson chasing all of her dreams. These are a few of E!'s favorite things.
Taylor Swift's album and the return of White Lotus. SpitGate and Housewives and Bieber with Gomez. Nick Cannon building his own football team. These are a few of E!'s favorite things!
When the slap comes. When the stars split. When Keanu's sad. We simply remember our favorite things and then we don't feel soooooo baaaaaad.
And we're not alone in embracing the reason for the season. Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, we asked a slew of stars what they're thankful for in 2022 and they brought heaping portions of gratitude to the table. From Caelynn Miller-Keyes' Hawaiian engagement to Adrienne Bailon-Houghton's tiny bundle of joy, these are the blessings your favorite celebs will be counting before settling in for that nice tryptophan-induced food coma.
While the Duchess of York likely won't be carving into a turkey on Nov. 24, she's a big fan of both the holiday and the chance to reflect on the blessings of the previous months. "I'm so deeply, deeply grateful for the amount of wonderful, incredibly courageous children that I met this year," the royal told E! News. Having traveled to Poland, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie's mom got to know the refugees who'd escaped from the war in their native Ukraine. "They just have the will and they have the strength and they have the peacefulness in their hearts because they want a better future for themselves," she marveled. "And they want to go back to the Ukraine and they want to build again. It inspires me to keep fighting on and to keep believing in the innocence and the goodness of children.
Also on her gratitude list: Her time with the late Queen Elizabeth II. "When I think of the Queen," she shared. "I think of beautiful, beautiful memories of strength, of leadership, of compassion, forgiveness and embracing what is truly right and good."
Turns out the Strange World star is thankful for the same things as the rest of us. "My family!" the actress raved to E! News of husband Dwyane Wade and kids Dahveon, Zaire, Zaya, Xavier and Kaavia. "My family and good health."
While we're most pleased about Aquaman's, uh, cheeky sense of humor, he's giving thanks for Nakoa-Wolf and Lola, his kids with ex Lisa Bonet. Asked what he's most grateful for at his Slumberland premiere, the actor told E! News, "Oh my god, my family, my children, my daughter, my love, my little lovie and my son who's a wild animal and he's around here somewhere." One arm wrapped around Lola, he continued, "My babies, my family. That's the most important thing."
This Thanksgiving, the country singer is feeling especially grateful for her little turkey. "Last year at this time, he almost died," she recalled to E! News of her 21-month-old son Grayson, with husband Grant Savoy. "He had this really bad stomach bug which turned into sepsis and dehydration." With that "awful" ICU stay now 12 months in the rearview, "I'm so grateful for him," said the "I Still Pray" musician. "So, so grateful."
If the rest of her story is still unwritten, The Hills alum is glad for every twist and turn. For the past few years, the Uncommon James founder and mom of three has strived "to be present and experience everything that life has to offer—the good, the bad, the ugly," she told E! News, presumably including her divorce from former NFL QB Jay Cutler in the mix. "I think that with those uncomfortable moments comes a lot of growth and so I'm actually thankful for those opportunities."
Bringing that "Down for Whatever" energy into 2023, the singer told E! News she's grateful for "my family, my health." But also, added the mom to 8-year-old Titan and 22-month-old Noah (with husband Tim Weatherspoon), "Just possibilities of any and everything."
The Strange World star knows all too well that he has it pretty good. "I'm grateful for a lot," the L.A. native told E! News at the premiere for his animated Disney flick. "I'm grateful for all the opportunities I have and I'm grateful for the people I love in my life who love me." Yes, he knows he's basically saying he's #blessed, adding, "I know that sounds pretty general, but I'm so grateful for it."
Having made a brand new start of it in old New York, the triple threat is thankful for the reception she's received from the Broadway community. "I was so welcomed and embraced coming here," she told E! News at the premiere of & Juliet of her run in the comedy POTUS. "I love reinvention. I am doing a show here in December and trying new thing so I think just the idea that anything is possible!"
Someone's serving up a heaping dose of perspective this holiday season. While promoting McCormick's brand-new spice kit called The TEN, the Nope actress told E! News, "I'm most grateful for my health, the ability to do all the things I love and move freely in the world. I think the older I get, the more I realize what is truly priceless in life."
On the To All the Boys star's 2022 highlight reel: An excursion to Vietnam with Re:wild, a nonprofit environmental conservation organization dedicated to protecting and restoring wildlife. "It was the most incredible trip ever," the newly engaged actress raved to E! News. "I was so beyond grateful because not only did I get to learn so much about conversation efforts and native wildlife to the various regions we visited, but I got to be back in my home country and learn so much more about where I come from. I am just so grateful for the experience and for meeting so many amazing people."
Who cares that the guest in question hasn't yet mastered solids, the E! News co-host is stoked to add another place setting to her Thanksgiving table. Prepped to carve the turkey again ("I host it every year at my house," she said of her "favorite" holiday), Bailon-Houghton is feeling "thankful for so many things," she told E! News. Topping that list: son Ever James, who arrived in August after five-plus years of miscarriages and failed IVF cycles. "Since this year is my first year as a mom," she said, "I'm most thankful for my baby boy."
All the Dance Moms alum wants for Christmas is girlfriend Avery Cyrus. "It's going to be my first Thanksgiving with a significant other. It's going to be my first Christmas with a significant other," she raved to E! News while discussing her partnership with Ocean Spray. "So I'm really excited about that." And she's feeling in step with everyone on her (dance) team. "I feel like this year-slash-right now is the best people that I've ever had around me," she noted. As a result, said the multihyphenate, "I feel like this year I've really grown into who I really am and I think that's really special and something that's not easy. And so I'm thankful to the universe for aligning for that to be possible."
For the dancer, the high, uh, pointe of 2022 is "getting to do what I love everyday, which is ballet," she told E! News, "and that's very much connected to being healthy, healing from minor injuries and having the assets and access to things that help you take care of yourself." But she's also grateful for the ability to bust out of her ballet slippers every once in awhile. Stylist Yael Quint "came into my life and changed my entire mentality around fashion and how I dress," Komysha shared. "She's like, 'This is what I want you to look like.' And she's just phenomenal. She's really inspired me and changed me in the best way."
Who gets The Bachelorette alum's metaphorical rose? "I have a long list," he admitted to E! News while discussing his Amazon gift picks. "I'll start with my family. I'm thankful for all that we've been through and how we've been able to stick together and navigate all these waters together." Though they've suffered loss—most notably the 2020 death of his mom Andrea Cameron—"We've also had some great moments together and just to be able to go through this whole journey with them is something I'm grateful for." And having experienced the worst, he's extra appreciative of those that still surround him, including friends and everyone he's worked with. "Those can be things that we take for granted so easily," he said. "Then, something can happen unexpectedly."
Hurdles? Bring 'em on. "I would have to say that I'm really grateful for any disappointment or anything that I felt was a setback," the musician revealed to E! News, "because it has just made me into the person that I keep praying every day I turn into." Not that she wasn't singing the blues in the moment. "Everything feels so heavy sometimes," Bailey acknowledged while discussing her new American Express partnership, "but when you fast-forward a couple of months, you're like 'Oh wow, I was there and look at me here.' Sometimes I have to go through the disappointments so that I can get to the other side."
Why, yes, the Bachelor alum is grateful that love Dean Unglert pulled off the most dramatic proposal ever on the coast of Hawaii's Kauai island. "It's probably cliché, but since I just got engaged, I'm definitely thankful for Dean and just excited for this chapter in our lives," the host of the new iHeartRadio podcast True Crime Reality told E! News. "I'm excited to be a fiancée and excited to spend the rest of my life with him."
Backstreet's back, all right. And Richardson said he and his bandmates are appreciative of the chance to rock their bodies once more on their 2023 DNA World Tour. "Being in front of people, seeing the smiles, feeling the energy, it has been a beautiful gift," he told E! News while discussing the group's holiday collaboration with MeUndies. And they're thrilled to be able wrap something up for their fans. "We're really excited to have a holiday album," he noted, "that that can hopefully be a part of a lot of people's Christmas traditions moving forward."
The newlywed is so flippin' happy that a long ago psychic reading proved to be spot-on. Chatting with E! News at the Rose Box store in NYC, The Real Housewives of New Jersey star said she was "thankful" for husband of three months Luis "Louie" Ruelas, daughters Gia, Gabriella, Milania and Audriana and the ease at which they blended their families. "I have two stepsons that I'm so grateful for," said Giudice. "It's so crazy because a psychic told me a while ago that I was going to have a son and now I have two."
To the Brazilian singer, parents Míriam Macedo and Mauro Machado are simply the best. "I'm grateful for the family I have and the way they raised me so I could go through this whole process of creating, innovating," the Grammy's Best New Artist nominee raved to E! News ahead of being named the top music innovator at WSJ. Magazine's Innovator Awards. "I'm grateful for my parents."
For the Bling Empire star, Dr. Gabriel Chiu is the perfect antidote to any show drama. "I'm so grateful for my husband," the reality star told E! News at UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital Party On The Pier. Referencing one on-camera confrontation that saw the plastic surgeon provide backup, she noted, "I don't usually see him standing up for me. He usually does it behind the scenes, but on the show he really like, got in there, and I was like, 'Whoa, that's kind of sexy.' After being married for 16 years, it's really nice to see your hubby rip off his mic when someone is bullying you."
Chiu's close friend similarly feels the love from filmmaker spouse Rob Minkoff. At the UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital fete, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star told E! News she was "thankful for my incredibly supportive husband" and their kids Zoe and Max. With two seasons of the addictive Bravo series under her designer belt, she admitted, "Doing the show has been a new adventure for our family and they are just the most positive, supportive people ever and so I'm grateful."
She may have said goodbye to one partner in 2022, ending a three-marriage to Matthew Lawrence, but Burke's dance card isn't exactly empty. Though she's completed her final spin through the ballroom, "I'm grateful for Dancing With the Stars just as a whole," she told E! News at the IMARAïS Beauty by Sommer Ray x FLIP launch party. "I'm grateful for my family and friends who have stuck by me through a year that I'm not gonna say ups and downs, but I'll say ups and learning experiences because it's been a huge lesson and something that I'll never forget. But you know who your friends are."
The reality stars aren't about to be tardy for the gratitude party. While The Real Housewives of Atlanta alum told E! News she's thankful for "my family and our health," her husband chimed in with a third. "I might just add our continued freedom," he noted. "You're free to make your own choices and free to marry who you want to marry, free to do what you want with your life and where you want to go and all those things and I think that we sometimes take for granted those choices in our life."
She's got a heart like a truck, it's been drug through the mud. But it's also full of gratitude, the country singer confessed to E! News, sharing how dad Brian Wilson "got really sick" this summer. A July fungal infection led to a stroke, nine surgeries that included removing an eye and bones in his face and some pretty scary nights. "We thought we were going to lose him there for a minute," admitted the CMA's New Artist of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year. "He ended up pulling out of it. He was in ICU for two months and fighting for his life. I'm so thankful that we still have my daddy."
Two years after wife Rebecca King-Crews' successful battle with breast cancer, the Terry's Crew author is still counting that particular blessing. Following a double mastectomy in March 2020—just days before the world shut down—the singer "is 100 percent cancer free and I am so thankful, just beyond thankful, that it was diagnosed early and she was proactive and she's here," the actor raved to E! News. "She's happy. She's healthy. I just continue to be thankful for that every day and it's so beautiful."
—With reporting by Brody Brown, Marenah Dobin, Alyssa Morin, Sara Ouerfelli, Charles O'Keefe, Keri O'Keeffe, Isabelle Reich, Alex Ross, Jacqueline Uddo, Mike Vulpo & John Wood