Over the last 12 months, HuffPost Live has played host to musicians, models, movie stars, authors and even a former president. It’s been another year of thought-provoking, news-making interviews, and as 2015 draws to a close, it’s the perfect time to revisit the unforgettable conversations that streamed through your laptop, your iTunes account or your new favorite mobile entertainment network.
Legendary musician David Crosby pulled no punches during a rollicking conversation with HuffPost Live’s Alyona Minkovski in June. From his disdain for Kanye West and SeaWorld to his strained relationship with Neil Young, Crosby was an open book, including in his tenderhearted update on the ailing health of his longtime friend Joni Mitchell, who had recently suffered an aneurysm.
This summer, The Runaways bassist Jackie Fuchs opened up about being raped by her manager in 1975, when Fuchs was just 16, in a powerful interview with HuffPost’s Jason Cherkis. After the story was published, Fuchs joined HuffPost Live’s Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani for a revealing on-camera conversation about the trauma of being raped in front of nearly a dozen people in a hotel room and the pain of hiding her story for four decades.
The press tour for “Trainwreck” made a pit stop at our studio in July, bringing with it a cargo of hilarity. With Judd Apatow, Bill Hader and Vanessa Bayer all in one place, the laughs never stopped. Hader shared a spot-on impression of Apatow, who also looked back on interviewing Jerry Seinfeld as a teenager in 1984, and the entire group responded to former Disney CEO Michael Eisner’s claim that “the hardest artist to find is a beautiful, funny woman.”
It’s not every day that you get a half hour with a former leader of the free world, and rarely is a conversation with a politician as open and revealing as this one with President Jimmy Carter. In a July interview about his memoir “A Full Life,” Carter opened up about his partnership with his wife Rosalynn, his take on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and why he thinks Jesus would approve of gay marriage.
It doesn’t get much more candid than this. When hip-hop artist Future dropped by HuffPost Live in July to chat about his album “DS2,” he held nothing back in discussing his well-documented personal life. Perhaps the greatest gem was his reaction to the news that his ex Ciara and her new flame, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, are abstaining from sex until marriage. Future admitted that while Ciara didn’t make him wait, she did insist that they pray together after doing the deed.
When “SNL” star Jay Pharoah dropped by HuffPost Live in August to discuss his comedy special “Can I Be Me?”, it was as hilarious as you would expect, complete with gut-busting impressions of Eddie Murphy, Kevin Hart and Stewie from “Family Guy.” But the conversation also took a surprisingly serious turn, in which the comedian opened up about suffering from a deep depression as an overweight teen. “At the time, when I was massively depressed like that,” Pharoah said, “I really didn’t want my life anymore.”
When Salma Hayek visited HuffPost Live in August, the country was still smarting from Donald Trump’s controversial characterization of Mexicans as criminals and rapists. During the interview about her film “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet,” the Oscar nominee analyzed Trump’s problematic rhetoric, shared stories of her own experience with racial discrimination and explained why she feels ostracized from Hollywood studios.
If you’ve ever seen an episode of “Project Runway,” you know Tim Gunn is not afraid to say what he feels. His sharp tongue and quick wit were on full display in this delightful interview from November, in which he dressed down Kanye West’s fashion designs and explained why he can’t help but gag when someone brings up the name Kardashian.
Honesty is always in style, and fashion designer Donna Karan proved that during this November conversation about her book My Journey. Karan opened up about having an abortion, falling for her second husband while still married to her ex and her relationship with famous friends Barbra Streisand and Anna Wintour.
HuffPost Live’s most controversial celebrity interview of the year came with just days remaining in 2015. R. Kelly dropped by on Dec. 21 to discuss his new album “The Buffet,” but things took a turn when host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani asked about Kelly’s long history of sexual misconduct allegations. After deflecting questions and commenting on his interviewer’s appearance and intelligence, Kelly walked off set mid-conversation and ended the segment early, prompting discussions across the Internet about whether we should consider the personal flaws of an artist when we decide whether to consume his art.
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