Minka Kelly Visits Rescued Lions, Tigers And Other Big Cats

Minka Kelly

Actress Minka Kelly recently visited the Safe Haven Wildlife Sanctuary in Imlay, Nevada with International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to raise awareness about the thousands of lions, tigers and other big cats that suffer as a result of being bred and exploited for the cub handling and private pet business. Continue reading

Minka Kelly Dishes About Her “Complicated” Relationship With Stripper Mom

Life has not always been peachy for the beautiful Minka Kelly, most famous for her roles in Friday Night Lights and the upcoming TV reboot of Charlie’s Angels

Minka, Derek Jeter‘s 31-year-old ex-girlfriend, opens up in the October issue of Cosmopolitan magazine about the “pretty complicated” mother-daughter relationship she went through with her stripper mother, Maureen Kelly, prior to Maureen’s death in 2008.

“She was 5’11”, Minka recalls of Maureen and then continues, “Legs up to her ears, gorgeous. She got along on that for as long as she could.”

Growing up with a stripper mom, Minka was frequently the one who had to be the responsible party. Often times, her mom would try to get Minka to ditch school to go shopping by waking her up in the middle of the night after getting home from the strip club. “That was like our big Friday,” she recalls. “She would want me to skip school [the next day]. I was like ‘No, Mom, I’ve gotta go to school!'”

Maureen was a single mom and Minka’s father, onetime Aerosmith guitarist Rick Dufay, wasn’t around much in Minka’s life. He “wanted to try the family thing,” but Minka says her mother “was too busy having fun.” She laments, “It wasn’t like he didn’t want to be part of our lives.”

“I didn’t know how to appreciate what good friends we were,” Kelly admits. “Because I just wanted her to be my mom.”

Sadly, Minka’s mother died of colon cancer three years ago. “That’s detectable,” Kelly says. “Talk about being reckless and not paying attention to your body.”

Thankfully, the duo ended things on good terms before it was too late. “By the time [my mom] passed I was holding her,” Kelly says. “I was with her until her last breath. We made it.”

Minka Kelly Talks About Marriage To Derek Jeter

Esquire named the former Friday Night Lights star, Minka Kelly, the 2010 sexiest woman alive, so I get why she was able to steal Derek Jeter’s heart.

Minka is featured in the February issue of GQ magazine where she talks about her engagement to Jeter, the infamous Delta flight, and her upcoming movie, The Roommate.

Mainly though, Minka clears up rumors about what Gawker called an “airplane freak-out” where Minka supposedly threw a temper tantrum about her dog not being allowed to sit with her in first class on a Delta flight. Per a Gawker informant, “She called boyfriend Derek Jeter and handed the phone to him to try and rationalize with the seven flight attendants it took to calm her down.”

Here are some excerpts from the interview:


On her looming marriage to Derek Jeter:

“I promise you, I’m not getting married in the next month.”

On the Delta flight:
“Do people think that somewhere in my brain, I think Derek can save me from someone telling me my dog can’t fly? If that’s the way I worked, he would have left me a long time ago.”

Read more of Minka’s interview by getting yourself a copy of the new issue of GQ magazine on stands January 25.

Minka Kelly Named Esquire’s Sexiest Woman Alive

Esquire has named Minka Kelly, the former Friday Night Lights actress and girlfriend of Yankee Derek Jeter, the Sexiest Woman Alive in its November issue.

“I think it’s the most exciting birthday I think I’ve ever had,” the actress tells Esquire. “I’m so excited to be a woman. Done with the twenties.

“I’m confident…in my skin, and I’m cool with my flaws and all that stuff. It just feels nice to be at peace with yourself. I think my thirtieth birthday gave me permission to have all that.”

Judging by the cover, I think this issue of Esquire will be a hot selling copy.